Inventários : aspectos do consumo e da vida material em Lisboa nos finais do Antigo

O ensaio erudito e a reportagem curiosa têm dominado os trabalhos sobre a história da vida quotidiana. Terra de ninguém, esta área de estudos chega por vezes a confundir-se com o repor tório de pormenores, pequenos rendilhados do saber histórico que dão origem a uma "retórica do supérfluo". 0 lado exótico e espectacular da informação é sobrevalorizado, enquanto a ideia de tempo que informa a "vida quotidiana" é a de uma filigrana de acontecimentos independentes, ou até, em curto circuito interno. Na fase inicial deste trabalho, a leitura dos ensaios de Mareei Mauss sobre as técnicas de expressão corporal, e sobre a economia do "dom", abriu caminhos para uma abordagem diferente dessa mesma problemática, renovando o interesse numa tentativa de análise aplicada. A ideia de um quotidiano socialmente marcado, ganhou consistência. Tratava-se então de examinar em que medida mecanismos de poder e estratégias de emulação social, não conta minariam todo o campo da vida piSblica e privada. O quadro da investigação foi adquirindo solidez. Desde muito cedo se tornou claro que os corpos documentais geralmente empregues no estudo da vida quotidiana (fontes lite rárias e para-literárias) , além de sofrerem dos defeitos e qualidades inerentes aos discursos feitos na primeira pessoa do singular, apresentavam um carácter absolutamente segmentàrio, não permitindo a comparação no espaço e no tempo de fenómenos de uma mesma natureza. Por outro lado, interessava-nos adoptar uma perspectiva em que os comportamentos , atitudes e háDitos dos indivíduos não surgissem apr ior lsticamente desligados das suas condiçóes de subsistência. 0 objecto de investigação escolhido, foi assim, não a vida quotidiana, mas as í nf raestruturas mate riais da vida quotidiana, os patrimónios dos agregados, suportes silenciosos para as rotinas e aventuras do dia-a-dia

A versatile acoustic beacon for navigation and remote tracking of multiple underwater vehicles

In this paper, we present a low-cost versatile device developed to support the navigation of autonomous underwater vehicles. Unlike the usual transponders extensively used for LBL acoustic navigation of a single vehicle, this device allows the navigation of multiple vehicles and the remote tracking of their positions, without any extra acoustic signals being transmitted. The navigation beacon has a radio buoy connected to an underwater reconfigurable multi-frequency transponder. A remote tracking station receives data from the buoy and monitors the position of the vehicles in real time. We describe the mechanical, electronic and software modules involved, as well as the tracking algorithm, and we also present experimental data from an operational mission

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

A nacionalização da electricidade em Portugal

Este artigo mostra que a nacionalização da electricidade em Portugal ocorrida na transição para o regime democrático não representou uma rotura em relação ao regime ditatorial do Estado Novo. Três ideias, a de empresa única (1966-1974), de nacionalização técnica (1974-1975) e de nacionalização política (1975-1976) prolongaram na prática a estratégia de fusões de empresas de serviço público e de concentração de activos Municipais levadas a cabo desde os anos 1960

The European debate on rate systems in the interwar period

This article describes a particular branch that evolved in the diffusion of electrical rate systems in twentieth-century Europe and the debate that ensued between the competitive, promotional and cost based approaches. Three major questions are addressed: What factors and historical circumstances favoured the emergence of more or less efficient pricing schemes? Why did some enterprises opt for promotional rates while others defended the cost based alternative? What is the historical origin of marginal cost pricing? It is shown how the volatility of the costs that characterize hydro-electric production made this particular technology very sensitive to a cost approach towards pricing and to a seasonal and time-of-day perspective on rate systems.Rate systems Utilities Price discrimination