The UK NHS Economic Evaluation Database : Economic issues in evaluations of health technology

Objective: The U.K. NHS Economic Evaluation Database (EED) project is commissioned to identify papers on economic evaluations of health technologies and to disseminate their findings to NHS decision makers by means of structured abstracts that are available through a public database and the Cochrane Library. This paper discusses current issues relating to the economic aspects of producing NHS EED abstracts. Methods: A review of NHS EED was undertaken between 1994 and 1999 to determine the methodologies adopted and issues that influence the usefulness of economic evaluations. Methods adopted to improve the quality of NHS EED abstracts are also reported. Results: Eighty-five percent of NHS EED abstracts are cost-effectiveness analyses (CEAs), 9.3% are cost-utility analyses (CUAs), and only 1.4% are cost-benefit analyses (CBAs). Of the total abstracts, 65.9% are based on single studies, 19.5% on reviews, 3.9% on estimates of effectiveness, and 10.7% on combinations of these sources. Models are utilized in 16.7% of CEAs, 60.2% of CUAs, and 20% of CBAs. Analyses of CBA studies reveal a degree of misuse of well-established definitions. NHS EED internal control mechanisms are reported that provide a means of ensuring that abstracts are based on sound academic principles. Conclusions: Most economic evaluations are conducted by means of CEA, followed by CUA, while CBA accounts for an extreme minority of cases. Single studies form the principal source of effectiveness data, although models are widely used, principally in CUA. The structure of NHS EED abstracts provides decision makers with the principal results and an interpretation of the relative strengths and weaknesses of economic evaluations

Themed section

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/109995/1/bph13028.pd

Earthquake slip surfaces identified by biomarker thermal maturity within the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake fault zone.

Extreme slip at shallow depths on subduction zone faults is a primary contributor to tsunami generation by earthquakes. Improving earthquake and tsunami risk assessment requires understanding the material and structural conditions that favor earthquake propagation to the trench. We use new biomarker thermal maturity indicators to identify seismic faults in drill core recovered from the Japan Trench subduction zone, which hosted 50 m of shallow slip during the Mw9.1 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake. Our results show that multiple faults have hosted earthquakes with displacement ≥ 10 m, and each could have hosted many great earthquakes, illustrating an extensive history of great earthquake seismicity that caused large shallow slip. We find that lithologic contrasts in frictional properties do not necessarily determine the likelihood of large shallow slip or seismic hazard

Re Int\u27l Union of Electrical Workers, Local 510, and Phillips Cables Ltd

Employee Grievance alleging improper lay-off. The facts: A statement of the facts upon which this grievance arose has been agreed to by the parties. At approximately 3:30 p.m. on October 5, 1967, a power inter­ruption cut off the supply of water to a portion of the company\u27s Brockville plant and the company was informed that this situ­ation was not likely to be corrected before morning. The compa­ny therefore, at 6 p.m. on October 5, 1967, sent home four tuber operators whose machines were affected by reduced air pressure. These operators were the grievors John Link, W. Skelton, James Donaghue and Karl Frohle. At 8 p.m. on the same day, because the work on the sparkers and winders came from the machines of the four employees mentioned, five other employees, three sparker operators, one winder operator and one clerk were sent home

Modelling the atomic structure of very high-density amorphous ice

The structure of very high-density amorphous (VHDA) ice has been modelled by positionally disordering three crystalline phases, namely ice IV, VI and XII. These phases were chosen because only they are stable or metastable in the region of the ice phase diagram where VHDA ice is formed, and their densities are comparable to that of VHDA ice. An excellent fit to the medium range of the experimentally observed pair-correlation function g(r) of VHDA ice was obtained by introducing disorder into the positions of the H2O molecules, as well as small amounts of molecular rotational disorder, disorder in the O--H bond lengths and disorder in the H--O--H bond angles. The low-k behaviour of the experimental structure factor, S(k), is also very well reproduced by this disordered-crystal model. The fraction of each phase present in the best-fit disordered model is very close to that observed in the probable crystallization products of VHDA ice. In particular, only negligible amounts of ice IV are predicted, in accordance with experimental observation.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, v2: changes made in response to referees' comments, the justification for using certain ice phases is improved, and ice IV is now disordered as wel

Re Int\u27l Ass\u27n of Machinists and Gabriel of Canada Ltd

Employee Grievance alleging improper demotion. Only the portions of the award dealing with a preliminary objection are published. Preliminary objection: On a preliminary objection Mr. Williamson argued that there was no basis under the collective agreement upon which this board of arbitration could interfere with the company\u27s decision to demote the grievor for lack of skill and ability. Article 3, it was argued, puts the matter entirely in the hands of the company

Making a Place for the Next Generation of Geoscientists

Early-career scientists from the AGU Mentoring Network discuss how the global pandemic has exacerbated long-standing issues with the availability of positions in and the diversity of the geosciences.</jats:p

Broad Area Cooler Concepts for Cryogenic Propellant Tanks

Numerous studies and ground tests have shown that broad area cooling (also known as distributed cooling) can reduce or eliminate cryogenic propellant boil-off and enable long duration storage in space. Various combinations of cryocoolers, circulators, heat exchangers and other hardware could be used to build the system. In this study, several configurations of broad area cooling systems were compared by weighing hardware combinations, input power requirements, component availability, and Technical Readiness Level (TRL). The preferred system has a high TRL and can be scaled up to provide cooling capacities on the order of 150W at 90