Introduction:The study modelled the physicians predictable allocation by medical specialty, in the horizon of 2025. It was based on the physicians demographics in Portugal and through the development of different future scenarios. Material and Methods:In the study was developed a Supply Model, which represents the capacity of medical training installed in Portugal, and a Necessity Model that perspective possible futures for the provision of medical professionals. Results: Each model comprehends several scenarios, according to different context variables (introduction or not of limits to postgraduate training capacity, demographic trends, ratios recommended by Colleges Specialty ...). Discussion/Conclusion: The models comparison lead to the conclusion that the training system has the capacity to meet the needs of physicians in all scenarios developed, and it even generates a surplus of medical professionals that may not be absorbed by the healthcare system, in the horizon of 2025.

The operation of a novel large area micro-patterned gaseous electron multiplier, made from a 125 micron thick copper claded kapton foil, the COBRA_125, is presented. The CO-BRA_125 is equiped with 3 independent electrodes which allow to establish 2 independent multiplication regions in a single micro-patterened gaseous electron mutiplier. We report on the operation of a COBRA_125 with an active area of 100×100 mm 2 . Charge gains above 10 4 and energy resolutions in the range 18%-20% were achieved in a mixture of Ar-CH 4 (90%-10%) by irradiation with X-rays from 55 Fe source. Gain and energy resolutions were stable over the detector area, with maximum deviation from the average values of 8% and 15%, respectively.

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A new technique for detection of slow neutrons with gaseous detectors using ultra-thin layers with 10B atoms is presented. The reaction between a thermal neutron and a 10B atom releases two secondary particles, namely a 7Li ion and an alpha particle, which due to momentum conservation are emitted in opposite directions, along the same line (back to back). Current boron coated neutron detectors are equipped with 10B films with thicknesses of several micrometers, deposited on very thick substrate plates. However, since the ranges of the 7Li ion and the alpha particle are of few micrometeres in most materials, one of these particles is always lost in the 10B layer or substrate. As such, these detectors lose the ability to reconstruct the reaction line of action and to precisely determine the neutron position, as only one of the two secondary particles tracks can be measured. With the technique now presented, the sum of the 10B layer and the substrate thicknesses is small enough to allow for both secondary particles to escape and ionize the gas in opposite sides of the 10B converter foil. Independent readout structures, one on each side of the 10B converter foil, detect each secondary particle and determine its track centroid and the deposited energy. Since the two secondary particles are emitted back to back, the neutron position can be obtained by combining the information recorded by the two readout structures. Through GEANT4 simulations, we verified that the spatial resolution can be significantly improved: our results show that, by using a B4C layer with a thickness of 1 μm on a 0.9 μm Mylar substrate, the spatial resolution can by improved by a factor of eight, compared to conventional detectors with thick 10B detection layers.

A novel neutron detection approach is presented, consisting of a neutron sensitive aerosol obtained by dispersing B4C fine powder in a gaseous proportional counter operating in continuous flow, which proved to effectively detect thermal neutrons. This technique shows potential to be an affordable alternative to 3He neutron detectors, providing an additional mechanism to overcome the 3He shortage crisis that compromises the deployment and maintenance of neutron detectors in research facilities and security applications. The effect of the B4C nanoparticles in the charge gain and energy resolution of a proportional counter filled with Ar-CH4 (90%-10%), by irradiation with x-rays from a 55Fe source shown an average gain loss of 36% and increase in energy resolution (FWHM) by 15% (absolute value). Results obtained by thermal neutron irradiation are also presented, showing neutron captures in which the simultaneous energy deposition of both reaction products from the 10B neutron capture reaction was achieved.