16 research outputs found
The effects of improved sanitation on diarrheal prevalence, incidence, and duration in children under five in the SNNPR State, Ethiopia: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.
BACKGROUND: Diarrhea is one of the leading causes of death, killing 1.3 million in 2013 across the globe, of whom, 0.59 million were children under 5Ā years of age. Globally, about 1 billion people practice open defecation, and an estimated 2.4 billion people were living without improved sanitation facilities in 2015. Much of the previous research investigating the effect of improved sanitation has been based on observational studies. Recent studies have executed a cluster-randomized controlled trial to investigate the effect of improved sanitation. However, none of these recent studies achieved a sufficient level of latrine coverage. Without universal or at least a sufficient level of latrine coverage, a determination of the effect of improved latrines on the prevention of diarrheal disease is difficult. This cluster-randomized trial aims to explore the net effect of improved latrines on diarrheal prevalence and incidence in children under five and to investigate the effect on the diarrheal duration. METHOD/DESIGN: A phase-in and factorial design will be used for the study. The intervention for improving latrines will be implemented in an intervention arm during the first phase, and the comparable intervention will be performed in the control arm during the second phase. During the second phase, a water pipe will be connected to the gotts (villages) in the intervention arm. After the second phase is completed, the control group will undergo the intervention of receiving a water pipe connection. For diarrheal prevalence, five rounds of surveying will be conducted at the household level. The first four rounds will be carried out in the first phase to explore the effect of improved latrines, and the last one, in the second phase to examine the combined effects of improved water and sanitation. For documentation of diarrheal incidence and duration, the mother or caregiver will record the diarrheal episodes of her youngest child on the "Sanitation Calendar" every day. Of 212 gotts in the project area, 48 gotts were selected for the trial, and 1200 households with a child under 5 will be registered for the intervention or control arm. Informed consent from 1200 households will be obtained from the mother or caregiver in written form. DISCUSSION: To our knowledge, this is the second study to assess the effects of improved latrines on child diarrheal reduction through the application of Community-Led Total Sanitation. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current Controlled Trials, ISRCTN82492848
Benefits and Costs of a Community-Led Total Sanitation Intervention in Rural Ethiopia-A Trial-Based ex post Economic Evaluation.
We estimated the costs and benefits of a community-led total sanitation (CLTS) intervention using the empirical results from a cluster-randomized controlled trial in rural Ethiopia. We modelled benefits and costs of the intervention over 10 years, as compared to an existing local government program. Health benefits were estimated as the value of averted mortality due to diarrheal disease and the cost of illness arising from averted diarrheal morbidity. We also estimated the value of time savings from avoided open defecation and use of neighbours' latrines. Intervention delivery costs were estimated top-down based on financial records, while recurrent costs were estimated bottom-up from trial data. We explored methodological and parameter uncertainty using one-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses. Avoided mortality accounted for 58% of total benefits, followed by time savings from increased access to household latrines. The base case benefit-cost ratio was 3.7 (95% CI: 1.9-5.4) and the net present value was Int'l $1,193,786 (95% CI: 406,017-1,977,960). The sources of the largest uncertainty in one-way sensitivity analyses were the effect of the CLTS intervention and the assumed lifespan of an improved latrine. Our results suggest that CLTS interventions can yield favourable economic returns, particularly if follow-up after the triggering is implemented intensively and uptake of improved latrines is achieved (as opposed to unimproved)
Altered Cell Viability and Proliferation Activity of Peripheral Lymphocytes in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease
Predisposing, enabling, and need factors associated with utilization of institutional delivery services:A community-based cross-sectional study in far-western Nepal
Rapid sintering of TiO2 photoelectrodes using intense pulsed white light for flexible dye-sensitized solar cells
Intense pulsed white light (IPWL) sintering was carried out at room temperature, which is suitable dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) fabrication process on plastic substrates for the mass production. Five seconds irradiation of IPWL on TiO2 electrode significantly improves the photocurrent density and power conversion efficiency of DSSCs by more than 110% and 115%, respectively, compared to the DSSCs without IPWL treatment. These improvements were mainly attributed to the enhanced interconnection between the TiO2 nanoparticles induced by IPWL illumination, which is confirmed by the impedance spectra analysis
Coherent heteroepitaxial growth of I-III-VI<sub>2</sub> Ag(In,Ga)S<sub>2</sub> colloidal nanocrystals with near-unity quantum yield for use in luminescent solar concentrators
Colloidal Ag(In,Ga)S2 nanocrystals (AIGS NCs) with the band gap tunability by their size and composition within visible range have garnered surging interest. High absorption cross-section and narrow emission linewidth of AIGS NCs make them ideally suited to address the challenges of Cd-free NCs in wide-ranging photonic applications. However, AIGS NCs have shown relatively underwhelming photoluminescence quantum yield (PL QY) to date, primarily because coherent heteroepitaxy has not been realized. Here, we report the heteroepitaxy for AIGS-AgGaS2 (AIGS-AGS) core-shell NCs bearing near-unity PL QYs in almost full visible range (460 to 620ānm) and enhanced photochemical stability. Key to the successful growth of AIGS-AGS NCs is the use of the Ag-S-Ga(OA)2 complex, which complements the reactivities among cations for both homogeneous AIGS cores in various compositions and uniform AGS shell growth. The heteroepitaxy between AIGS and AGS results in the Type I heterojunction that effectively confines charge carriers within the emissive core without optically active interfacial defects. AIGS-AGS NCs show higher extinction coefficient and narrower spectral linewidth compared to state-of-the-art heavy metal-free NCs, prompting their immediate use in practicable applications including displays and luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs)
Rapid Dye Adsorption via Surface Modification of TiO<sub>2</sub> Photoanodes for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
A facile method for increasing the
reaction rate of dye adsorption,
which is the most time-consuming step in the production of dye-sensitized
solar cells (DSSCs), was developed. Treatment of a TiO<sub>2</sub> photoanode with aqueous nitric acid solution (pH 1) remarkably reduced
the reaction time required to anchor a carboxylate anion of the dye
onto the TiO<sub>2</sub> nanoparticle surface. After optimization
of the reaction conditions, the dye adsorption process became 18 times
faster than that of the conventional adsorption method. We studied
the influence of the nitric acid treatment on the properties of TiO<sub>2</sub> nanostructures, binding modes of the dye, and adsorption
kinetics, and found that the reaction rate improved via the synergistic
effects of the following: (1) electrostatic attraction between the
positively charged TiO<sub>2</sub> surface and ruthenium anion increases
the collision frequency between the adsorbent and the anchoring group
of the dye; (2) the weak anchoring affinity of NO<sub>3</sub><sup>ā</sup> in nitric acid with metal oxides enables the rapid
coordination of an anionic dye with the metal oxide; and (3) sufficient
acidity of the nitric acid solution effectively increases the positive
charge density on the TiO<sub>2</sub> surface without degrading or
transforming the TiO<sub>2</sub> nanostructure. These results demonstrate
the developed method is effective for reducing the overall fabrication
time without sacrificing the performance and long-term stability of
DSSCs
New Hybrid Hole Extraction Layer of Perovskite Solar Cells with a Planar pāiān Geometry
We
report a highly efficient pāiān type planar perovskite
solar cell with a hybrid PEDOT/NiO<sub><i>x</i></sub> hole-extraction
layer. It has been found that the perovskite solar cell with a NiO<sub><i>x</i></sub> thin film as a hole-extraction layer generally
exhibits lower fill factor compared to the conventionally used PEDOT:PSS
thin film, whereas it shows higher photocurrent and photovoltage.
The fill factor of the NiO<sub><i>x</i></sub>-based perovskite
solar cell can be significantly improved by treating the NiO<sub><i>x</i></sub> surface with a dilute PEDOT solution. The photoluminescence
quenching study and impedance spectroscopic (IS) analysis have revealed
that the hole injection at the perovskite/NiO<sub><i>x</i></sub> interface is significantly facilitated with the PEDOT treatment,
which should lead to the increased fill factor. As a result, the pāiān
type planar perovskite solar cell with the new hybrid hole-extraction
layer exhibits a high conversion efficiency of 15.1% without the hysteresis
effect