Miguel Alves Pereira

Abstract
The harmonious interaction between humans and the biosphere determines how sustainable existence and coexistence are. However, when social challenges appear, sustainability is heavily compromised. Health is one of the areas affected by such challenges, with the delivery of health services being ensured by health systems. Consequently, understanding how sustainable health services are, especially those that consume the majority of resources-hospitals-is indispensable for a sustainable future. For this reason, we propose using a hybrid data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach to study hospital sustainability in Portugal under environmental, social, and economic perspectives, in cooperation with the Portuguese Ministry of Health. In particular, the proposed methodology incorporates the preference information of decision makers (via the construction of utility scales and the determination of Mobius coefficients) and criteria interactivity, due to the integration of the Choquet multiple criteria preference aggregation model in the DEA approach. In the end, despite approximately 30% of the sampled 29 assessed hospitals were deemed as efficient across the three perspectives in 2018, only 1 was entirely sustainable.

Abstract
With the increase in renewable energy generation and its problems related to output instability, storage systems must be implemented in parallel to account for this effect. Therefore, it is valuable to deepen the study of these technologies' performances in their several application tiers, thus understanding the potential of each alternative, both per tier and as a whole. For this reason, a collaborative multi-criteria decision -aiding framework is proposed to rank the various available options in several layers of the energy storage market, constructed alongside experts and policy-makers from each tier that serve as actors of the decision -making process and using Portugal as a case study. Based on the Choquet multi-criteria preference aggregation model, to the best of the authors' knowledge, this framework is an unprecedented application in the energy sector. Beyond a critical review of the results, a scenario analysis was performed to explore interesting future possibilities that may aid governments to make decisions in the search for an energy sustainable development. Chemical storage solutions, such as Hydrogen and Methane, as well as several electrochemical batteries, especially Lithium-and Nickel-based ones, were the standout energy storage solutions. Chemical storage was shown to have the desired characteristics for the Long-term grid tier. Meanwhile, batteries, including Redox Flow in the first case, have overperformed in the Microgrid and Mobility tiers. No standout solutions appeared in the Short-term grid tier. Unsurprisingly, the aforementioned chemical storage systems, batteries, and Hot Water have presented themselves as the most politically interesting technologies, due to their multipurpose uses and intrinsic characteristics.

Abstract
Health systems are complex organisations that attempt to deliver health services to meet the needs of the population. Regardless of the degree of access to and quality of those health services, the systems' sustainability has been the object of special attention by governments worldwide. To ensure their adequate functioning in light of the accountable and transparent facets of New Public Governance, one must resort to regulatory mechanisms, such as sunshine regulation. By publicly displaying the results of benchmarking assessments, sunshine regulation “embarrasses” operators with poor performances in an effort to force them to correct such divergences. Thus, in this paper, we propose a sunshine regulatory model to the public hospitals in Portugal using multi-criteria decision analysis. In particular, we created a five-star rating that categorises those operators according to their performances, by means of the outranking method ELECTRE TRI-NC. As a result, we provide evidence of the existence of a majority of providers assigned to the ‘Average’ category of “Three stars” and the nonexistence of providers with unique extreme category assignments (“One star” or “Five stars”), both of which are supported by extensive stability and robustness analyses, and discussed in terms of policy implications for relevant stakeholders. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd

Abstract
Seeking to "ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all" is an admirable Sustainable Development Goal and an honourable commitment of the United Nations and its Member States regarding the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation services (WSSs). However, the majority of countries are not on target to achieve this by 2030, with several of them moving away from the best practices. Brazil is one of these cases, given, for example, the existing asymmetries in the access to water supply and sanitation service networks. For this reason, we propose a benchmarking exercise using a two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis to measure the technical and scale efficiency of the Brazilian municipalities' WSSs, noting their contextual environment. Our results point towards low mean efficiency scores, motivated by the existence of significant scale inefficiencies (the vast majority of municipalities are operating at a larger than optimal scale). Furthermore, the Water source was found to be a statistically significant efficiency predictor, with statistically significant differences found in terms of Ownership and Geography. Ultimately, we suggest policy-making and regulatory possibilities based on debureaucratization, the implementation of stricter expenditure control policies, and investment in the expansion of WSSs.

Abstract
Nowadays, public health and sustainable development go hand in hand towards the renovated percep-tion of the former. Indeed, "ensuring healthy lives and promoting the well-being for all at all ages", which established one of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), seeks to ensure that this conception is not only reinforced, but also that saving lives takes into account the physical, mental, and social well-being of populations whose "development meets the needs of the present without com-promising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". Accordingly, it is useful to interpret and convey information pertaining to this multidimensional concept in a way that encapsulates all its facets. Since this can be achieved through a composite indicator (CI), we propose a sustainable public health index framework, based on the 13 targets of the UN's SDG 3 between 2016 and 2020. For this rea-son, using the popular CI-generating 'Benefit-of-the-Doubt' approach while considering desirable and undesirable indicators, we apply this framework to 181 World Health Organization Member States. We show that, from 2016 to 2020, less than 28% of them remained efficient and the European Region clearly dominated the remaining regions, which tended to decrease their performance, on average. Finally, we also reveal the global efforts towards improving the Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel and the Density of medical doctors per 10,000 population, and the failure in achieving an acceptable Neonatal mortality rate, Under-five mortality rate, and a Number of people requiring interven-tions against neglected tropical diseases.