Conservation laws arising in the study of forward-forward Mean-Field Games

We consider forward-forward Mean Field Game (MFG) models that arise in numerical approximations of stationary MFGs. First, we establish a link between these models and a class of hyperbolic conservation laws as well as certain nonlinear wave equations. Second, we investigate existence and long-time behavior of solutions for such models

Promoting Physical Exercise Participation: The Role of Interpersonal Behaviors for Practical Implications

he number of people engaging in physical exercise has been decreasing every year. These behaviors are known to be related with non-communicable chronic diseases and to drastically increase premature morbidity and mortality. Since “the lack of motivation” has been pointed out as one of the main reasons for not engaging in physical exercise, several theoretical and empirical studies have been conducted aimed at understanding what influences behavior regulation. According to literature, gym exercisers who perceive exercise instructors as supportive are more likely to maintain physical exercise participation over the long-run. Supporting autonomy, competence, and relatedness should be carefully considered when interacting with health club clients as a way to promote more autonomous motivation. Overall, it seems that exercise instructors should foster a supportive environment for gym exercisers, in order to encourage exercise as a habitual behavior.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The reform of the NHS in Portugal

The objective of this article is to describe the Portuguese National Healthcare Service, giving a special emphasis to the recent reforms that have been introduced since the beginning of 2002. Its main argument is that there are two different (but connected) rationales that underpin the orientation of the current reforms. One the one hand, the explicit rationale that refers mainly to the ‘visible’ and stated causes and motivations of the reforms. On the other hand, the implicit rationale, whose influence over the government’s actions is not expressed as such, either because it is not perceived, or because it is not assumed. For this purpose, it is essential to start by giving an historical account of how the NHS started in Portugal and in which direction it has been evolving in the last four decades. This section has particular interest considering that it gives meaning, together with other arguments, to the implicit rationale, to the extent that the current reforms are product of the historical context in which the NHS was created and its subsequent developments. In the second part, the focus is on the reformation period, that started in 2002 and that is still going on at the moment. The main reforms that are being conducted are analysed, being this section mainly of a descriptive nature. What is considered to be important in this section is to give the government’s account of the reforms, in order to make clear what are its motivations and its goals. Furthermore, by doing this analysis it makes it possible to put forward what is meant by explicit rationale and identify its features. In section three, the reforms described in section two are analysed individually in a critical way. The objective of this section is to ‘make sense’ of the reforms being undertaken by the government and consider some aspects that are still unclear and that need further reflection. It is throughout this section that the main argument of this article is explored, by discussing, when applicable, what is the rationale underpinning the different reforms

The reform of the NHS in Portugal

The objective of this article is to describe the Portuguese National Healthcare Service, giving a special emphasis to the recent reforms that have been introduced since the beginning of 2002. Its main argument is that there are two different (but connected) rationales that underpin the orientation of the current reforms. One the one hand, the explicit rationale that refers mainly to the ‘visible’ and stated causes and motivations of the reforms. On the other hand, the implicit rationale, whose influence over the government’s actions is not expressed as such, either because it is not perceived, or because it is not assumed. For this purpose, it is essential to start by giving an historical account of how the NHS started in Portugal and in which direction it has been evolving in the last four decades. This section has particular interest considering that it gives meaning, together with other arguments, to the implicit rationale, to the extent that the current reforms are product of the historical context in which the NHS was created and its subsequent developments. In the second part, the focus is on the reformation period, that started in 2002 and that is still going on at the moment. The main reforms that are being conducted are analysed, being this section mainly of a descriptive nature. What is considered to be important in this section is to give the government’s account of the reforms, in order to make clear what are its motivations and its goals. Furthermore, by doing this analysis it makes it possible to put forward what is meant by explicit rationale and identify its features. In section three, the reforms described in section two are analysed individually in a critical way. The objective of this section is to ‘make sense’ of the reforms being undertaken by the government and consider some aspects that are still unclear and that need further reflection. It is throughout this section that the main argument of this article is explored, by discussing, when applicable, what is the rationale underpinning the different reforms

Carnap’s Principle of Tolerance and logical pluralism

Logical pluralism is the claim that there is more than one adequate logic. Many authors consider Carnap as one of the forerunners of logical pluralism. More than that, they claim that Carnap’s Principle of Tolerance consists in one of the first explicit formulations a logical pluralism. Nonetheless, there is little detailed investigation to evaluate if the Principle of Tolerance necessarily implies a logical pluralism, and if so, of which kind. The aim of this paper is to analyze the Principle of Tolerance, as well as its context, and to investigate the relation between such principle and logical pluralism

Invariants and TQFT's for cut cellular surfaces from finite groups

We introduce the notion of a cut cellular surface (CCS), being a surface with boundary, which is cut in a specified way to be represented in the plane, and is composed of 0-, 1- and 2-cells. We obtain invariants of CCS's under Pachner-like moves on the cellular structure, by counting colourings of the 1-cells with elements of a finite group, subject to a "flatness" condition for each 2-cell. These invariants are also described in a TQFT setting, which is not the same as the usual 2-dimensional TQFT framework. We study the properties of functions which arise in this context, associated to the disk, the cylinder and the pants surface, and derive general properties of these functions from topology, including properties which come from invariance under the Hatcher-Thurston moves on pants decompositions.Comment: 28 pages, 27 figures. Revised version, including a topological proof of the property: the number of conjugacy classes of a finite group G equals the commuting fraction of G times the order of G. To appear in Boletim da Sociedade Portuguesa de Matem\'atic