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With the goal of ensuring the security of passengers for automotive industry, the present work addresses the temperature and impact speed envelope allowing ductile failure of plasticized PVC to be obtained. A database of about 250 test results has been constructed for various conditions at ten test temperatures, four impact speeds and two specimen geometries (with or without scoring). The desired ductile failure was characterized by the shape of the load versus deflection curve together with the fracture surface morphology obtained. The temperatures for obtaining ductile failure threshold ( $$T_{\mathrm {dth}}$$ ) have been plotted as a function of the impact speeds for the two geometries. A gap of 20 $$^{\circ }$$ C on the $$T_{\mathrm {dth}}$$ was highlighted between the two geometries. Additionally, the impact strength of the plasticized PVC under study was estimated to be 0.25 kJ/m $$^2$$ .

Cost analysis has become increasingly commonplace in healthcare facilities in recent years. Regardless of the aim, the first consideration for a hospital costing process is to determine the point of view, or perspective, to adopt. Should the cost figures reflect the healthcare facility's point of view or enlighten perspectives for the public health insurance system? Another consideration is in regard to the method to adopt, as there are several. The two most widely used methods to determine the costs of hospital treatments in France are the micro-costing method and the gross-costing method. The aims of this work are: (1) to describe each of these methods (e.g. data collection, assignment of monetary value to resource consumption) with their advantages and shortcomings as they relate to the difficulties encountered with their implementation in hospitals; (2) to present a review of the literature comparing the two methods and their possible combination; and (3) to propose ways to address the questions that need to be asked before compiling resource consumption data and assigning monetary value to hospital costs. A final diagram summarizes methodologies to be preferred according to the evaluation strategy and the impact on patient care.

International audience; Cost analysis has become increasingly commonplace in healthcare facilities in recent years. Regardless of the aim, the first consideration for a hospital costing process is to determine the point of view, or perspective, to adopt. Should the cost figures reflect the healthcare facility's point of view or enlighten perspectives for the public health insurance system? Another consideration is in regard to the method to adopt, as there are several. The two most widely used methods to determine the costs of hospital treatments in France are the micro-costing method and the gross-costing method. The aims of this work are: (1) to describe each of these methods (e.g. data collection, assignment of monetary value to resource consumption) with their advantages and shortcomings as they relate to the difficulties encountered with their implementation in hospitals; (2) to present a review of the literature comparing the two methods and their possible combination; and (3) to propose ways to address the questions that need to be asked before compiling resource consumption data and assigning monetary value to hospital costs. A final diagram summarizes methodologies to be preferred according to the evaluation strategy and the impact on patient care.

International audience; The question of what monetary value should be assigned to consumed resources, that is to say the choice of the unit cost, is a major consideration in terms of impact on the cost analysis results. To date, no agreement has been reached regarding this methodological question. The choices made by methodologists and the subsequent impact on the results of the analysis are only rarely put forward. This work addresses the theoretical framework of health strategy evaluations that can be carried out either in the normative framework of the conventional economic approach of well-being, referred to as welfarist, or in that of an approach referred to as extra-welfarist. It also provides elements that help clarify the choice of the hospital unit costs used to calculate the cost of health strategies, so as to reconcile the use of such studies and improve their comparability. What is preferable, opting for specific per hospital unit costs or applying a standard unit cost to all facilities? How should a standard cost be calculated? Is it appropriate to calculate an average of the unit costs, as recommended by certain guidelines? The advantages and the limitations of the various modes of assessing hospital resources in the setting of multicentric trials are discussed.

International audience

The hospital costing process implies access to various sources of data. Whether a micro-costing or a gross-costing approach is used, the choice of the methodology is based on a compromise between the cost of data collection, data accuracy, and data transferability. This work describes the data sources available in France and the access modalities that are used, as well as the main advantages and shortcomings of: (1) the local unit costs, (2) the hospital analytical accounting, (3) the Angers database, (4) the National Health Cost Studies, (5) the INTER CHR/U databases, (6) the Program for Medicalizing Information Systems, and (7) the public health insurance databases., Les méthodes de costing hospitalier nécessitent d’avoir recours à des sources de données diverses, que l’on travaille selon une approche micro-costing ou gross-costing, le choix de la méthodologie reposant sur un compromis entre coût de recueil, précision et transférabilité. Ce travail décrit les sources de données disponibles en France, les modalités d’accès pratiques ainsi que les principaux avantages et inconvénients : (1) des coûts unitaires locaux, (2) de la comptabilité analytique hospitalière, (3) de la base d’Angers, (4) de l’Étude nationale des coûts, (5) des bases de données inter CHR/U, (6) du programme de médicalisation des systèmes d’information, (7) des bases de données de l’Assurance Maladie.