Ethics and health care 'underfunding'

There are continual “crises” in health care systems worldwide as producer and patient groups unify and decry the “underfunding” of health care. Sometimes this cacophony is the self interest of profit seeking producers and often it is advocacy of unproven therapies. Such pressure is to be expected and needs careful management by explicit rationing criteria which determine who gets access to what health care. Science and rationality, however, are unfortunately, rarely the rules of conduct in the medical market-place

Reforming the contract of UK consultants

The NHS Plan expressed the intention of government to "fundamentally overhaul" the national contract for UK hospital specialists to "reward and incentivise those who do most for the NHS." How can this be achieved

Challenges for the National Institute for Clinical Excellence

Rationing health care is inevitable, and NICE should inform NHS decision making. Adoption of new technologies by NHS clinicians should be informed by costs as well as effectiveness. The NHS needs better information from NICE on the equity implications of new and existing technologies. NICE appraisal should focus not only on service enhancement but also on withdrawal of existing ineffective or inefficient therapies. Giving NICE a real budget to fund its recommendations would encourage it to examine the effect of its decisions on the whole NHS

The effect of sea quarks on the mass of the charm quark from Lattice QCD

We compute the mass of the charm quark using both quenched and dynamical lattice QCD calculations. We examine the effects of mass dependent lattice artifacts by comparing two different formalisms for the heavy quarks. We take the continuum limit of the charm mass in quenched QCD by extrapolating from three different lattice spacings. At a fixed lattice spacing, the mass of the charm quark is compared between quenched QCD and dynamical QCD with a sea quark mass around strange. In the continuum limit of quenched QCD, we find m_c(m_c)=1.29(7)(13) GeV. No evidence was seen for unquenching.Comment: Added NP analysis of quenched data, corrected error in PCAC RGI mass, updated strange quark mass discussion and references, unified notation and corrected typos. No change in final result. Version accepted for publication in JHE

The mass of the charm quark from unquenched lattice QCD at fixed lattice spacing

We determine the mass of the charm quark ($m_c$) from lattice QCD with two flavors of dynamical quarks with a mass around the strange quark. We compare this to a determination in quenched QCD which has the same lattice spacing (0.1 fm). We investigate different formulations of the quark mass, based on the Vector Ward Identity, PCAC relation and the FNAL heavy quark formalism. Based on these preliminary results we find no effects due to sea quarks with a mass around strange.Comment: Presented at 21st International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (LATTICE 2003), Tsukuba, Japan, 15-19 July, 200

Electronic filters, hearing aids and methods

An electronic filter for an electroacoustic system. The system has a microphone for generating an electrical output from external sounds and an electrically driven transducer for emitting sound. Some of the sound emitted by the transducer returns to the microphone means to add a feedback contribution to its electrical output. The electronic filter includes a first circuit for electronic processing of the electrical output of the microphone to produce a first signal. An adaptive filter, interconnected with the first circuit, performs electronic processing of the first signal to produce an adaptive output to the first circuit to substantially offset the feedback contribution in the electrical output of the microphone, and the adaptive filter includes means for adapting only in response to polarities of signals supplied to and from the first circuit. Other electronic filters for hearing aids, public address systems and other electroacoustic systems, as well as such systems and methods of operating them are also disclosed

Measurements of Heat-Transfer and Friction Coefficients for Helium Flowing in a Tube at Surface Temperatures up to 5900 Deg R

Measurements of average heat transfer and friction coefficients and local heat transfer coefficients were made with helium flowing through electrically heated smooth tubes with length-diameter ratios of 60 and 92 for the following range of conditions: Average surface temperature from 1457 to 4533 R, Reynolds numbe r from 3230 to 60,000, heat flux up to 583,200 Btu per hr per ft2 of heat transfer area, and exit Mach numbe r up to 1.0. The results indicate that, in the turbulent range of Reynolds number, good correlation of the local heat transfer coefficients is obtained when the physical properties and density of helium are evaluated at the surface temperature. The average heat transfer coefficients are best correlated on the basis that the coefficient varies with [1 + (L/D))(sup -0,7)] and that the physical properties and density are evaluated at the surface temperature. The average friction coefficients for the tests with no heat addition are in complete agreement with the Karman-Nikuradse line. The average friction coefficients for heat addition are in poor agreement with the accepted line

Market Potential for Locally Produced Meat Products

The goal of this research was to guide livestock producers in marketing, product design and pricing decisions. Tools included a focus group, a consumer taste-testing and willingness-to-pay survey, and a restaurant survey. Experience attributes of locally produced ground beef were especially competitive, and demand for credence attributes packaged under the "local" label appears consistent with a niche market that could justify verification programs. Restaurants are a potentially receptive outlet for local meats, allowing producers to avoid the barriers to entry in mainstream grocery outlets.Agribusiness,

Evolutionarily Stable Strategies in Quantum Games

Evolutionarily Stable Strategy (ESS) in classical game theory is a refinement of Nash equilibrium concept. We investigate the consequences when a small group of mutants using quantum strategies try to invade a classical ESS in a population engaged in symmetric bimatrix game of Prisoner's Dilemma. Secondly we show that in an asymmetric quantum game between two players an ESS pair can be made to appear or disappear by resorting to entangled or unentangled initial states used to play the game even when the strategy pair remains a Nash equilibrium in both forms of the game.Comment: RevTex,contents extended to include asymmetric games,no figur