Strategies for capacity building for health research in Bangladesh: Role of core funding and a common monitoring and evaluation framework

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There is increasing interest in building the capacity of researchers in low and middle income countries (LMIC) to address their national priority health and health policy problems. However, the number and variety of partnerships and funding arrangements can create management problems for LMIC research institutes. This paper aims to identify problems faced by a health research institute in Bangladesh, describe two strategies developed to address these problems, and identify the results after three years of implementation.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This paper uses a mixture of quantitative and qualitative data collected during independent annual reviews of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) between 2006 and 2010. Quantitative data includes the number of research activities according to strategic priority areas, revenues collected and expenditure. Qualitative data includes interviews of researchers and management of ICDDR,B, and of research users and key donors. Data in a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (MEF) were assessed against agreed indicators.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The key problems faced by ICDDR,B in 2006 were insufficient core funds to build research capacity and supporting infrastructure, and an inability to direct research funds towards the identified research priorities in its strategic plan. Two strategies were developed to address these problems: a group of donors agreed to provide unearmarked pooled core funding, and accept a single common report based on an agreed MEF. On review after three years, there had been significant increases in total revenue, and the ability to allocate greater amounts of money on capacity building and infrastructure. The MEF demonstrated progress against strategic objectives, and better alignment of research against strategic priorities. There had also been changes in the sense of ownership and collaboration between ICDDR,B's management and its core donors.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The changes made to funding relationships supported and monitored by an effective MEF enabled the organisation to better align funding with research priorities and to invest in capacity building. This paper identified key issues for capacity building for health research in low and middle income countries. The findings have relevance to other research institutes in similar contexts to advocate and support research capacity strengthening efforts.</p

Suspended silicon integrated platform for the long-wavelength mid-infrared band

The atmospheric-transmission window and the fingerprint region of many substances overlaps with the long-wave infrared band. This has enabled the emergence of a new path for photonic integrated circuits, which could exploit the potential applications of this wavelength range, including chemical and bio sensing. In this work we review our latest advances in the suspended silicon platform with subwavelength grating lateral cladding at 7.7-µm wavelength. Suspended waveguides only require one lithographic etch step and can be specifically designed to maximize sensitivity when used as sensors. Waveguides with propagation loss of 3.1±0.3 dB/cm are demonstrated, as well as bends with less than 0.1 dB/bend. Suspended waveguides based on shifted Bragg grating lateral cladding are also reported, with propagation loss of 5.1±0.6 dB/cm. These results prepare the ground for the development of a platform capable of covering the entire mid-infrared band. Keywords: suspended silicon, mid-infrared, long-wave infrared, subwavelength grating, Bragg.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Black Literary Suite: Black Writing in Reel Time

These materials from the 9th Annual Black Literary Suite, Black Writing in Reel Time, include the video of the panel discussion from the Black Literary Suite exhibit. This record also contains supplementary materials about the discussion, the panelists, and a timeline.Countless works by Black authors have found multiple lives through film adaptations, recontextualizing the ways in which modern audiences can engage with these narratives. From Charles Chesnutt’s novel The House Behind the Cedars, and the 1927 film directed by Oscar Micheaux, to Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give and the 2017 film directed by George Tillman Jr., adaptations have brought renewed attention to works by Black authors expanding the discussion of a range of topics, including race, identity, coming of age, class conflict, and Black love. Black film, like Black writing, gives us history, past and present, real and reimagined. In order to highlight works within the Project on the History of Black Writing’s collection and demonstrate the impact these adaptations have had on the reception, circulation, and growing popularity of Black literature, this year’s Black Literary Suite (BLS) has selected the theme: “Black Writing in Reel Time.” The timeline, interactive map, and selected filmography highlight works that range from the Antebellum period, such as Solomon Northup’s autobiography Twelve Years a Slave, to the 21st century, where novels like The Hate U Give offer meaningful reflections that educate, challenge, and -yes- entertain us

A Comparison between Natural Resonances and Characteristic Mode Resonances of an infinite circular cylinder

[EN] Here, some aspects in the interpretation of the solutions of a PEC infinite circular cylinder with the Theory of Characteristic Modes are presented. First, natural resonances and characteristic mode resonances (CMRs) are introduced and compared. Second, characteristic eigenvalues are used to find those natural resonances considering complex ka values. Furthermore, by linking the standard and the generalized eigenvalue problems, a relation between natural resonances and characteristic mode eigenvalues is shown. Finally, the thesis stating that external CMR does not imply maximum field scattering is also demonstrated.Bernabeu Jiménez, T.; Valero-Nogueira, A.; Vico Bondía, F.; Kishk, AA. (2017). A Comparison between Natural Resonances and Characteristic Mode Resonances of an infinite circular cylinder. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation. 65(5):2759-2763. doi:10.1109/TAP.2017.2670368S2759276365

A Metaheuristic Based Approach for the Customer-Centric Perishable Food Distribution Problem

The CNRST has awarded H. El Raoui an excellence scholarship. D. Pelta acknowledges support from projects TIN2017-86647-P (Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness. Including FEDER funds) and PID2020-112754GB-I00 (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation).High transportation costs and poor quality of service are common vulnerabilities in various logistics networks, especially in food distribution. Here we propose a many-objective Customercentric Perishable Food Distribution Problem that focuses on the cost, the quality of the product, and the service level improvement by considering not only time windows but also the customers’ target time and their priority. Recognizing the difficulty of solving such model, we propose a General Variable Neighborhood Search (GVNS) metaheuristic based approach that allows to efficiently solve a subproblem while allowing us to obtain a set of solutions. These solutions are evaluated over some non-optimized criteria and then ranked using an a posteriori approach that requires minimal information about decision maker preferences. The computational results show (a) GVNS achieved same quality solutions as an exact solver (CPLEX) in the subproblem; (b) GVNS can generate a wide number of candidate solutions, and (c) the use of the a posteriori approach makes easy to generate different decision maker profiles which in turn allows to obtain different rankings of the solutions.CNRSTSpanish Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness TIN2017-86647-PEuropean Commission TIN2017-86647-PSpanish Government PID2020-112754GB-I0

Advanced Pedestrian Positioning System to Smartphones and Smartwatches

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the development of pedestrian navigation systems for satellite-denied scenarios. The popularization of smartphones and smartwatches is an interesting opportunity for reducing the infrastructure cost of the positioning systems. Nowadays, smartphones include inertial sensors that can be used in pedestrian dead-reckoning (PDR) algorithms for the estimation of the user's position. Both smartphones and smartwatches include WiFi capabilities allowing the computation of the received signal strength (RSS). We develop a new method for the combination of RSS measurements from two different receivers using a Gaussian mixture model. We also analyze the implication of using a WiFi network designed for communication purposes in an indoor positioning system when the designer cannot control the network configuration. In this work, we design a hybrid positioning system that combines inertial measurements, from low-cost inertial sensors embedded in a smartphone, with RSS measurements through an extended Kalman filter. The system has been validated in a real scenario, and results show that our system improves the positioning accuracy of the PDR system thanks to the use of two WiFi receivers. The designed system obtains an accuracy up to 1.4 m in a scenario of 6000 m2