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

Activation thresholds in epidemic spreading with motile infectious agents on scale-free networks

We investigate a fermionic susceptible-infected-susceptible model with mobility of infected individuals on uncorrelated scale-free networks with power-law degree distributions $P (k) \sim k^{-\gamma}$ of exponents $2<\gamma<3$. Two diffusive processes with diffusion rate $D$ of an infected vertex are considered. In the \textit{standard diffusion}, one of the nearest-neighbors is chosen with equal chance while in the \textit{biased diffusion} this choice happens with probability proportional to the neighbor's degree. A non-monotonic dependence of the epidemic threshold on $D$ with an optimum diffusion rate $D_\ast$, for which the epidemic spreading is more efficient, is found for standard diffusion while monotonic decays are observed in the biased case. The epidemic thresholds go to zero as the network size is increased and the form that this happens depends on the diffusion rule and degree exponent. We analytically investigated the dynamics using quenched and heterogeneous mean-field theories. The former presents, in general, a better performance for standard and the latter for biased diffusion models, indicating different activation mechanisms of the epidemic phases that are rationalized in terms of hubs or max $k$-core subgraphs.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Comparison of musculoskeletal networks of the primate forelimb

Anatomical network analysis is a framework for quantitatively characterizing the topological organization of anatomical structures, thus providing a way to compare structural integration and modularity among species. Here we apply this approach to study the macroevolution of the forelimb in primates, a structure whose proportions and functions vary widely within this group. We analyzed musculoskeletal network models in 22 genera, including members of all major extant primate groups and three outgroup taxa, after an extensive literature survey and dissections. The modules of the proximal limb are largely similar among taxa, but those of the distal limb show substantial variation. Some network parameters are similar within phylogenetic groups (e.g., non-primates, strepsirrhines, New World monkeys, and hominoids). Reorganization of the modules in the hominoid hand compared to other primates may relate to functional changes such as coordination of individual digit movements, increased pronation/supination, and knuckle-walking. Surprisingly, humans are one of the few taxa we studied in which the thumb musculoskeletal structures do not form an independent anatomical module. This difference may be caused by the loss in humans of some intrinsic muscles associated with the digits or the acquisition of additional muscles that integrate the thumb more closely with surrounding structures

Algebraic properties of the set of operators with 0 in the closure of the numerical range

Sets of operators which have zero in the closure of the numerical range are studied. For some particular sets T subset of B(H), we characterize the set of all operators Lambda subset of B(H) such that 0 is an element of for every T is an element of T.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

First anatomical network analysis of fore- and hindlimb musculoskeletal modularity in bonobos, common chimpanzees, and humans

Studies of morphological integration and modularity, and of anatomical complexity in human evolution typically focus on skeletal tissues. Here we provide the first network analysis of the musculoskeletal anatomy of both the fore- and hindlimbs of the two species of chimpanzee and humans. Contra long-accepted ideas, network analysis reveals that the hindlimb displays a pattern opposite to that of the forelimb: Pan big toe is typically seen as more independently mobile, but humans are actually the ones that have a separate module exclusively related to its movements. Different fore- vs hindlimb patterns are also seen for anatomical network complexity (i.e., complexity in the arrangement of bones and muscles). For instance, the human hindlimb is as complex as that of chimpanzees but the human forelimb is less complex than in Pan. Importantly, in contrast to the analysis of morphological integration using morphometric approaches, network analyses do not support the prediction that forelimb and hindlimb are more dissimilar in species with functionally divergent limbs such as bipedal humans