Public expenditure and economic growth with special reference to Portugal

The present study is an attempt in applied research to examine the growth of the public sector in a developing economy. All the analysis, from the collection of the original data and its treatment, has been directed towards the determination of the factors which contributed more significantly to that growth, and to establishing its relations with the historical (economic, political and social) events in a particular country: Portugal. In the end, an interpretative scheme had to be evolved to explain the phenomenon observed. However, apart from the relations which emerged, and the value of the explanations advanced, there is a service for which we believe we can lay claim; that of having taken the pains of collecting; and grouping the thousands of items of the Portuguese government accounts since the beginning of the century in categories suitable for the analysis of the economist; and this did not represent the minor effort in our task. Such a work had not been undertaken before, and no similar study, even of a smaller coverage, or for a shorter period of time, existed. We hope it will contribute to throw some light into the process of the transformation of the Portuguese economy during the last six decades. In presenting the data for the period aftex- 1930, it has "been possible to find in an almost adequate form, a breakdown of the expenditures of the central government into economic aim functional categories, in "Estatisticas Financeiras" - a publication of the National Institute of Statistics. For the period up to 1930, we had no other solution but to go through the two annual volumes of the original accounts of the state, which in their :,ld form, and in the expression of the legislator who reformed them, "cost one thousand escudos, weight 12kg., have thousand pages, and nobody reads them". In addition to that, many data on expenditures which, by every meaningful criterion or definition of the public sector belonged to that sector, but due to administrative or some other reason had been excluded from the formal structure of the "unitary" budget and remained scattered through a series of publications and reports (or not published at all), had to be collected separately or obtained from the archives and through kind co-operation of the bodies concerned. Now they are, at least, put together and systematically classified. If the interpretations can be challenged, we hope that the result of this effort of classification will remain, inviting new explanations and further research. The first step has been done

The Effects of Preferred Music on Laparoscopic Surgical Performance: A Randomized Crossover Study

Introduction: Music can have a positive effect on stress and general task performance. This randomized crossover study assessed the effects of preferred music on laparoscopic surgical performance in a simulated setting. Methods: Sixty medical students, inexperienced in laparoscopy, were included between June 2018 and November 2018. A randomized, 4-period, 4-sequence, 2-treatment crossover study design was used, with each participant acting as its own control. Participants performed four periods, consisting of five peg transfer tasks each period, on a laparoscopic box trainer: two periods while wearing active noise-cancelling headphones and two periods during music exposure. Participants were randomly allocated to a sequence determining the order of the four periods. The parameters time to task completion, path length and normalized jerk were assessed. Mental workload was assessed using the Surgical Task Load Index questionnaire. Also, heart rate and blood pressure were assessed. Results: Participants performed the peg transfer task significantly faster [median difference: − 0.81 s (interquartile range, − 3.44–0.69) p = 0.037] and handled their instruments significantly more efficient as path length was reduced [median difference, − 52.24 mm (interquartile range, − 196.97–89.81) p = 0.019] when exposed to music. Also, mental workload was significantly reduced during music [median difference, − 2.41 (interquartile range, − 7.17–1.83) p = 0.021)]. No statistically significant effect was observed on heart rate and blood pressure. Conclusion: Listening to preferred music improves laparoscopic surgical performance and reduces mental workload in a simulated setting. Trial registration: Trial registration number: NCT04111679

Free Vibrations of Multilayer Anisotropic Cylindrical Shells

A theoretical analysis is presented for determining the free vibra tional characteristics of thin-walled, circular cylindrical shells with layers of anisotropic elastic material arbitrarily laminated either sym metrically or unsymmetrically about the shell middle surface. An arbitrarily laminated, anisotropic version of Love's first-approximation shell theory is used to formulate the coupled equations of motion. An exact solution with a classical checkerboard nodal pattern is found for the case of a shell with specially orthotropic layers arbitrarily laminated and with freely supported ends. For a boron/epoxy composite cylinder, the significant effect of omitting bending-stretching coupling is demonstrated and various lamination arrangements are investigated. Also, a general solution is presented for the axisymmetric modes of an arbitrarily laminated anisotropic shell. Finally, an approximate solution, using a combination of two helical-nodal-pattern modes, is obtained for the unsymmetric modes of the same general class of shell with a supported boundary condition.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

The effect of music on simulated surgical performance: a systematic review

Introduction Beneficial effects of music have been described on several cognitive domains, task performance, stress, anxiety and pain. Greater surgical skill is a factor that has been associated with improved patient outcome. The aim of this systematic review is to assess the effect of music on surgical performance. Methods An exhaustive literature search was performed. The following databases were searched: Embase, Medline Ovid, Web of Science, Cochrane CENTAL, PsycINFO Ovid, CINAHL EBSCOhost, ERIC EBSCOhost and Google Scholar. All prospective studies that assessed the effect of a music intervention compared to either another auditory condition or silence on surgical performance were included in a qualitative synthesis. The study was registered in the PROSPERO-database (CRD42018092021). Results The literature search identified 3492 articles of which 9 studies (212 participants) were included. Beneficial effects of music were reported on time to task completion, instrument handling, quality of surgical task performance and general surgical performance. Furthermore, a beneficial effect of music on muscle activation was observed. Conclusion Although beneficial effects of music on surgical performance have been observed, there is insufficient evidence to definitively conclude that music has a beneficial effect on surgical performance in the simulated setting. Future studies should be conducted using greater numbers of participants focusing on a more limited range of tasks, as well as validation in the live operating environment

The Effect of Perioperative Music on Medication Requirement and Hospital Length of Stay: A Meta-analysis

Objective: To assess and quantify the effect of perioperative music on medication requirement, length of stay and costs in adult surgical patients. Summary Background Data: There is an increasing interest in nonpharmacological interventions to decrease opioid analgesics use, as they have significant adverse effects and opioid prescription rates have reached epidemic proportions. Previous studies have reported beneficial outcomes of perioperative music. Methods: A systematic literature search of 8 databases was performed from inception date to January 7, 2019. Randomized controlled trials investigating the effect of perioperative music on medication requirement, length of stay or costs in adult surgical patients were eligible. Meta-analysis was performed using random effect models, pooled standardized mean differences (SMD) were calculated with 95% confidence intervals (CI). This study was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42018093140) and adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis guidelines. Results: The literature search yielded 2

Physiological traits of the symbiotic bacterium Teredinibacter turnerae isolated from the mangrove shipworm Neoteredo reynei

Nutrition in the Teredinidae family of wood-boring mollusks is sustained by cellulolytic/nitrogen fixing symbiotic bacteria of the Teredinibacter clade. The mangrove Teredinidae Neoteredo reynei is popularly used in the treatment of infectious diseases in the north of Brazil. In the present work, the symbionts of N. reynei, which are strictly confined to the host's gills, were conclusively identified as Teredinibacter turnerae. Symbiont variants obtained in vitro were able to grow using casein as the sole carbon/nitrogen source and under reduced concentrations of NaCl. Furthermore, cellulose consumption in T. turnerae was clearly reduced under low salt concentrations. As a point of interest, we hereby report first hand that T. turnerae in fact exerts antibiotic activity. Furthermore, this activity was also affected by NaCl concentration. Finally, T. turnerae was able to inhibit the growth of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, this including strains of Sphingomonas sp., Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus sciuri. Our findings introduce new points of view on the ecology of T. turnerae, and suggest new biotechnological applications for this marine bacterium

Aligning the goals of learning analytics with its research scholarship: an open peer commentary approach

To promote cross-community dialogue on matters of significance within the field of learning analytics (LA), we as editors-in-chief of the Journal of Learning Analytics (JLA) have introduced a section for papers that are open to peer commentary. An invitation to submit proposals for commentaries on the paper was released, and 12 of these proposals were accepted. The 26 authors of the accepted commentaries are based in Europe, North America, and Australia. They range in experience from PhD students and early-career researchers to some of the longest-standing, most senior members of the learning analytics community. This paper brings those commentaries together, and we recommend reading it as a companion piece to the original paper by Motz et al. (2023), which also appears in this issue.Horizon 2020(H2020)883588Algorithms and the Foundations of Software technolog