Influence of the deposition pressure on the properties of transparent and conductive ZnO: Ga thin-film produced by r.f. sputtering at room temperature

Thin Solid Films, vol. 427, nº 1-2

Do hospitals react to random demand pressure by early discharges?

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Economics from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

O acesso ao tratamento em saúde Mental na microregião de Itajubá/MG-Brasil

RESUMO: A integração da saúde mental à atenção básica é a recomendação feita para facilitar o acesso ao tratamento. A pesquisa teve por objetivo mapear e analisar os facilitadores e as barreiras ao acesso ao tratamento em saúde mental da Microrregião de Itajubá, estado de Minas Gerais, Brasil, composta por 15 municípios. A metodologia pautou-se na triangulação dos métodos, combinando a abordagem quantitativa e qualitativa de pesquisa. Para tal foi feito o mapeamento da capacidade instalada dos recursos existentes e identificação das principais lacunas com base nos parâmetros da saúde pública, a partir de roteiros de entrevistas e grupos focais com os principais atores sociais implicados. Constatou-se que o maior facilitador ao acesso ao tratamento tem sido a atuação das equipes de PSF (Programa Saúde da Família), que atuam diretamente nas comunidades. Outros facilitadores foram: a atuação dos CRAS (Centro de Referência de Assistência Social); a existência de um CAPS (Centro de Atenção Psicossocial), embora não credenciado ao SUS (Sistema Único de Saúde); Colegiados de Saúde Mental que promovem discussões, informação, educação, e pressionam os municípios para a implantação de serviços de saúde mental. A falta de “vontade política”, isto é, uma intervenção mais clara da gestão pública da saúde, com estabelecimento de prioridades para prover a ampliação do acesso, foi identificada como a maior barreira a ser enfrentada na microrregião, especialmente por falta de organização e planejamento das ações em saúde mental. Serviços que trabalham de forma isolada, sem a construção de uma rede; pouca participação política dos usuários dos serviços de saúde mental; e falta de recursos humanos, e profissionais pouco preparados para a função compõem as outras barreiras de acesso. Vê-se que diante dos facilitadores e barreiras expostos é preciso que os municípios realizem um levantamento sistemático, a fim de criar um plano de ação em saúde mental para compartilhar informações, recursos, serviços, disponibilidade, disposição e ações em rede.-------------- ABSTRACT: Integrating mental health care in primary-care services is recommended in order to improve access to treatment. Access to mental health treatment has been a worldwide debated theme. In Brazil, with the Psychiatric Reform, there has been a change of paradigm in the way of treating persons with mental disorders. Various health devices were created, building a net of treatment and care that replaces the asylum system and where human rights are respected and defended and the offered treatment is the closest possible to their social space. The research aims to map and analyse the barriers and the facilitators to mental health treatment in the micro-region of Itajubá, state of Minas Gerais/Brazil, made up of 15 counties. The methodology was based on the triangulation of methods, combining quantitative and qualitative research. For that, a mapping of the installed capacity of the existent resource was carried out; identification of the main voids based on the parameters of public health through scripts of interviews and focus groups with the social actors involved. It was found that the main facilitator to treatment has been the performance of PSF, who act directly in the communities. Other facilitators also stand out: the work of CRAS; the existence of CAPS, although not accredited to SUS; Mental Health Collegiate, promoting discussions, information, education, and forcing pressure on the counties for the implantation of mental health services. The lack of political will was identified as the major barrier to be faced in the micro-region, especially due to lack of organization and planning in the actions towards mental health. The services working isolatedly, without a communication net, and the lack of human resources as well as poorly prepared professional, are the main difficulties faced by access to mental health treatment. Becomes clear that the counties need to undertake a systematic survey towards creating a plan of action in mental health, in order to share information, resources, services, availability, disposition and networking.

Comparing exchange market pressure in West and Southern African countries

We compare the performance of Cape Verde and Mozambique concerning financial credibility as measured by Exchange Market Pressure, an institutional feature that has often been overlooked in the literature as a relevant institution for economies. Drawing on previous research by Macedo et al. (2009), we expand their analysis and, using several definitions of “financial credibility”, all related to different angles on Exchange Market Pressure indices, we conclude that - against reasonable benchmarks in their respective regions - financial credibility has been very good for Cape Verde and fairly good for Mozambique.

The agroindustrial residue valorisation with high pressure CO2 within biorefinery concept

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Química e Bioquímica

Development of a "green process" for the isolation of natural functional extracts with anti-cancer activity - Application of high-pressure technology

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Química e Bioquímica

Correction of the anisotropy in resistivity: application to pore pressure prediction

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Geológica (Georrecursos)

Integrated care approaches and skills mix policies in Europe

ABSTRACT - Background: Integration of health care services is emerging as a central challenge of health care delivery, particularly for patients with elderly and complex chronic conditions. In 2003, the World Health Organization (WHO) already began to identify it as one of the key pathways to improve primary care. In 2005, the European Commission declared integrated care as vital for the sustainability of social protection systems in Europe. Nowadays, it is recognized as a core component of health and social care reforms across European countries. Implementing integrated care requires coordination between settings, organizations, providers and professionals. In order to address the challenge of integration in such complex scenario, an effective workforce is required capable of working across interdependent settings. The World Health Report 2006 noted that governments should prepare their workforce and explore what tasks the different levels of health workers are trained to do and are capable of performing (skills mix). Comparatively to other European countries, Portugal is at an early stage in what integrated care is concerned facing a growing elderly population and the subsequent increase in the pressure on institutions and professionals to provide social and medical care in the most cost-effective way. In 2006 the Portuguese government created the Portuguese Network for Integrated Care Development (PNICD) to solve the existing long-term gap in social support and healthcare. On what concerns health workforce, the Portuguese government already recognized the importance of redefine careers keeping professional motivation and satisfaction. Aim of the study: This study aims to contribute new evidence to the debate surrounding integrated care and skills mix policies in Europe. It also seeks to provide the first evidence that incorporates both the current dynamics of implementing integrated care in Portugal and the developments of international literature. The first ambition of our study is to contribute to the growing interest in integrated care and to the ongoing research in this area by identifying its different approaches and retrieve a number of experiences in some European countries. Our second goal of this research is to produce an update on the knowledge developed on skills mix to the international healthcare management community and to policy makers involved in reforming healthcare systems and organizations. To better inform Portuguese health policies makers in a third stage we explore the current dynamics of implementing integrated care in Portugal and contextualize them with the developments reported in the international literature. Methodology: This is essentially an exploratory and descriptive study using qualitative methodology. In order to identify integrated care approaches in Europe, a systematic literature review was undertaken which resulted in a paper published in the Journal of Management and Marketing in Health care titled: Approaches to developing integrated care in Europe: a systematic literature review. This article was recommended and included into a list of references identified by The King's Fund Library. A second systematic literature review was undertaken which resulted in a paper published in the International Journal of Healthcare Management titled: Skills mix in healthcare: An international update for the management debate. Semi-structured interviews were performed on experts representing the regional coordination teams of the Portuguese Network for Integrated Care Development. In a last stage a questionnaire survey was developed based on the findings of both systematic literature reviews and semi-structured interviews. Conclusions: Even though integrated care is a worldwide trend in health care reforms, there is no unique definition. Definitions can be grouped according to their sectorial focus: community-based care, combined health and social care, combined acute and primary care, the integration of providers, and in a more comprehensive approach the whole health system. Indeed, models that seek to apply the principles of integrated care have a similar background and are continually evolving and depend on the different initiatives taken at national level. . Despite the fact that we cannot argue that there is one single set typology of models for integrated care, it is possible to identify and categorize some of the basic approaches that have been taken in attempts to implement integrated care according to: changes in organizational structure, workforce reconfiguring, and changes in the financing system. The systematic literature review on skills mix showed that despite the widely acknowledged interest on skills mix initiatives there is a lack of evidence on skills mix implications, constraints, outcomes, and quality impact that would allow policy makers to take sustained and evidence-based decisions. Within the Portuguese health system, the integrated care approach is rather organizational and financial, whereas little attention is given to workforce integration. On what concerns workforce planning Portugal it is still in the stage of analyzing the acceptability of health workforce skills mix. In line with the international approaches, integration of health and social services and bridging primary and acute care are the main goals of the national government strategy. The findings from our interviews clarify perceptions which show no discrepancy with the related literature but are rather scarce comparing to international experience. Informants hold a realistic but narrow view of integrated care related issues. They seem to be limited to the regional context, requiring a more comprehensive perspective. The questionnaire developed in this thesis is an instrument which, when applied, will allow policy makers to understand the basic set of concepts and managerial motivations behind national and regional integrated care programs. The instrument developed can foster evidence on the three essential components of integrated care policies: organizational, financial, and human resources development, and can give additional input on the context in which integrated care is being developed, the type of providers and organizations involved, barriers and constraints, and the workforce skills mix planning related strategies. The thesis was successful in recognizing differences between countries and interventions and the instrument developed will allow a better comprehension of the international options available and how to address the vital components of integrated care programs.

Do hospitals react to random demand pressure by early discharges?

This project tries to assess whether hospitals react to random demand pressure by discharging patients earlier than expected. As a matter of fact, combining an unpredictable demand for medical services with limited and, to some extent, fixed medical resources, generates strong incentives to discharge patients earlier than expected when demand is high − increasing the risk of readmission and decreasing the benefit from treatment. This work was conducted as a way to determine whether those incentives actually affect discharging decisions. Analysis of Portuguese hospitals data shows that hospital utilization levels at the time of admission, prior to the admission and post admission do have a negative impact over the length of stay in hospital, although this impact is quantitatively irrelevant. More than that, larger utilization levels have a positive impact over the probability of being discharged at certain days of the week, indicating that an early discharges problem may exist.

Exchange rate pressure in Angola

The objective of this work is to develop an operational tool to analyze exchange rate pressure in the context of Angola. The Angolan economy exhibits a number of relevant characteristics: a closed financial account, a partially controlled current account, a highly dollarized economy and exports (oil) price determined in World markets. These features have a direct effect on the demand of foreign currency and motivate their inclusion in the specification of a model for Angola. The model provides the rational for a measure of an exchange market rate pressure (EMP) index that contains exports changes, imports changes, the foreign interest rate and inflation and the change in foreign reserves corrected for a measure dollarization. The empirical performance new measure is comparable (slightly better) to the performance of the EMP indexes obtained in Eichengreen Rose and Wyplosz (1994) and Klassen and Jager (2011).