Trust, regulatory processes and NICE decision-making: Appraising cost-effectiveness models through appraising people and systems.

This article presents an ethnographic study of regulatory decision-making regarding the cost-effectiveness of expensive medicines at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in England. We explored trust as one important mechanism by which problems of complexity and uncertainty were resolved. Existing studies note the salience of trust for regulatory decisions, by which the appraisal of people becomes a proxy for appraising technologies themselves. Although such (dis)trust in manufacturers was one important influence, we describe a more intricate web of (dis)trust relations also involving various expert advisors, fellow committee members and committee Chairs. Within these complex chains of relations, we found examples of both more blind-acquiescent and more critical-investigative forms of trust as well as, at times, pronounced distrust. Difficulties in overcoming uncertainty through other means obliged trust in some contexts, although not in others. (Dis)trust was constructed through inferences involving abstract systems alongside actors’ oral and written presentations-of-self. Systemic features and ‘forced options’ to trust indicate potential insidious processes of regulatory capture

Transcendental-Phenomenological Proof and Descriptive Metaphysics

Following P.F. Strawson's reading of Kant, the majority of the literature on transcendental arguments seeks to divorce such arguments from their original Kantian context. This thesis is concerned with Mark Sacks's recent defence of transcendental arguments, which takes a different approach. A critique is given of Sacks's work and extensions and modifications of his approach are recommended. It is proposed that certain difficulties encountered by Kant's transcendentally-ideal approach can be overcome with Hegelian solutions

How can we recognize continuous quality improvement?

Objective: Continuous quality improvement (CQI) methods are foundational approaches to improving healthcare delivery. Publications using the term CQI, however, are methodologically heterogeneous, and labels other than CQI are used to signify relevant approaches. Standards for identifying the use of CQI based on its key methodological features could enable more effective learning across quality improvement (QI) efforts. The objective was to identify essential methodological features for recognizing CQI. Design: Previous work with a 12-member international expert panel identified reliably abstracted CQI methodological features. We tested which features met rigorous a priori standards as essential features of CQI using a three-phase online modified-Delphi process. Setting: Primarily United States and Canada. Participants: 119 QI experts randomly assigned into four on-line panels. Intervention(s): Participants rated CQI features and discussed their answers using online, anonymous and asynchronous discussion boards. We analyzed ratings quantitatively and discussion threads qualitatively. Main outcome measure(s): Panel consensus on definitional CQI features. Results: Seventy-nine (66%) panelists completed the process. Thirty-three completers self-identified as QI researchers, 18 as QI practitioners and 28 as both equally. The features'systematic data guided activities,''designing with local conditions in mind' and'iterative development and testing' met a priori standards as essential CQI features. Qualitative analyses showed cross-cutting themes focused on differences between QI and CQI. Conclusions: We found consensus among a broad group of CQI researchers and practitioners on three features as essential for identifying QI work more specifically as'CQI.' All three features are needed as a minimum standard for recognizing CQI methods. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press in association with the International Society for Quality in Health Care

Influence on polarization of samples polivinilchloride engine oil components

It has been studied how semi-synthetic motor oil affects the polarization of polyvinyl chloride samples. It has been defined that the oil components influence the process of polyvinyl chloride polarization. We have showed that the input and exhaust motor oil contains polar components which bring to the density growth of the polyvinyl chloride charge being guided by the electric field direction. The injected charges initiate a chemical interaction of oil components. The water higher rate containing in the exhaust oil is reflected in the parameters of charge density of the samples, as well as of the activation energy of the electrically active defects