PARTICLE DEPOSITION ON SUPERHYDROPHOBIC SURFACES BY SESSILE DROPLET EVAPORATION

Prediction and active control of the spatial distribution of particulate deposits obtained from sessile droplet evaporation is essential in ink-jet printing, nanostructure assembly, biotechnology, and other applications that require localized deposits. In recent years, sessile droplet evaporation on bio-inspired superhydrophobic surfaces has become an attractive method for depositing materials on a site-specific, localized region, but is less explored compared to evaporative deposition on hydrophilic surfaces. It is therefore of interest to understand particle deposition during droplet evaporation on superhydrophobic surfaces to enable accurate prediction and tunable control of localized deposits on such surfaces. The purpose of the present work is to explore the morphology of particles deposited on superhydrophobic surfaces by the evaporation of sessile water droplets containing suspended latex spheres. Droplet evaporation experiments are performed on non-wetting, textured surfaces with varying geometric parameters. The temporal evolution of the droplet contact radius and contact angle throughout the evaporation process are tracked by visualizing the transient droplet shape and wetting behavior. The droplets are observed to exhibit a combination of the following modes of evaporation: the constant contact radius mode, the constant contact angle mode, and the mixed mode in which the contact angle and the contact radius change simultaneously. After complete dry-out, the remaining particulate deposits are qualitatively and quantitatively characterized to describe their spatial distribution. In the first part of the study, the test surfaces are maintained at different temperatures. Experiments are conducted at ambient conditions and at elevated substrate temperatures of approximately 40°C, 50°C, and 60°C. The results show that droplet evaporation on superhydrophobic surfaces, driven by either mass diffusion at ambient conditions or by substrate heating, suppresses deposition of particles at the contact-line during droplet evaporation. This behavior provides an effective means of localizing the deposition of suspended particles. In the second part of the study, the droplets are allowed to evaporate at ambient conditions on test substrates with significant relative differences in surface morphology. These differing surfaces yield a wide range of surface wettability as a means to control the particulate deposition process. Analysis of the droplet wetting behavior throughout the evaporation process show that the droplet could either remain in the Cassie state (resting on top of the roughness elements) or transition into the Wenzel state (roughness elements flooded). Top- and side-view images of the droplet profile are visualized to confirm the droplet wetting state near the end of evaporation. Experimental observations are compared with a theoretical trend of the Cassie-to-Wenzel transition based on the capillary-Laplace pressure balance at transition between wetting states. The results reveal a relationship between localized deposit size and surface morphology based on this ultimate wetting state. An optimum surface morphology for minimizing the deposit coverage area is identified

A Study on the Importance of Innovation in Healthcare Sector in India

There is a famous saying “Health is Wealthâ€. As years goes by technology is upgrading and it is being applied in almost all the fields. India is a developing economy and it’s rich in human resources. But the Indian Government is lacking capital to fulfil the needs of the citizens of the country. Moreover millions of people die in India due to lack of proper medical facilities and money needed for the treatments. Though there are a number of government hospitals in India the technologies usage in these hospitals is still under developed as compared to private hospitals. Since majority of Indian population lie below the poverty line they do not have enough money to get treated in the specialty hospitals and are forced to get minimum medical support. Health care sector is growing tremendously in our country. It means the needs of the people are also increasing day by day. Today the people are more health conscious and are getting more education related to health care. Health care providers are focusing more on the customer needs and provide the best of the service. Each health-care providers compete with their competitor’s by bringing new and upgraded technologies so as to survive in this business world

Household Food Security Status and Child Health Outcomes in Kenya

Interminable access to sufficient, nutritious, and safely prepared food is a human right. Attributed to insufficient food and nutrient intake, malnutrition is a major health burden in developing economies that has maimed socioeconomic development. In children, undernourishment impairs the functioning of the immune system, increases susceptibility to diseases, and undermines physical and cognitive development. In Kenya, there exists a paucity of empirical corroboration of the effect of household food security status (HFSS) on child health outcomes. Using data drawn from the 2014 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey, this paper focuses on analyzing the causal link between HFSS and child health outcomes and to provide evidencebased policy recommendations to promote child health outcomes. We employed three measures of HFSS: households that lacked food/enough money to purchase food, the Reduced Coping Strategy Index (CSI), and the Food Consumption Score (FCS). The child health production function was estimated using the two-stage residual inclusion (2SRI) technique to control for potential endogeneity. The results indicate that households that lacked food/enough money to purchase food were significantly associated with stunted, wasted, and underweight growth in children. Similarly, the Reduced CSI was a significant determinant of stunted and underweight growth in children. However, the effect was insignificant relative to wasted growth. The findings also indicate that FCS contributes significantly to improvements in child health outcomes. Our evidence has the potential to inform policies on the promotion of child health outcomes. We recommend implementation of programs such as social assistance, integration of nutrition and WASH, and capacity-building to promote women’s knowledge of health, nutrition, and better child-care practices

E-Commerce and Banking Performance in Nigeria

E-commerce is relatively new in Nigeria and this business approach is fast gaining momentum. It has gradually emerged strongly and it’s advancing rapidly in all areas of financial intermediation and financial markets. This development has no doubt earned a competitive advantage owing to the fact that the recent development in telecommunications and information technology has resulted in new delivery channels for banking products and services. One of such derived benefits from e-commerce and its resultant impact on banking performance is its improved efficiency and effectiveness, convenience, reliability, flexibility, speed, etc. in order to enhance effective service delivery and boost banking performance in the Nigerian economy. However, as to how e-commerce practices can be employed in the pursuit of a sustainable development and economic growth is yet to be firmly established. This research work particularly describes the significance of e-commerce system by explaining the transition from the traditional business practices to the evolving electronic commerce practices which has broken many new grounds and has taken a global dimension.  Again, it explains why the electronic commerce channels such as the use of ATM, telecommunications, social networks, internet banking, POS terminals, Mobile phones, software applications, etc could enable business to blossom and reduce the movement of cash/cash handling which in turn helps to curb crime rates, mitigate other barricading challenges and would protect us from many dangers.  Also, it explains why it has gained greater height of acceptability and thus explains how information communication technology (ICT) could be exploited and enhanced for this purpose.  Conclusively, it develops a strategic management framework for leveraging e-commerce practices by providing considerable and practical suggestions on the use of e-e-commerce - its features, benefits, success factors and possible attendant risks associated with e-commerce. It guarantees customers’ patronage,  improve the standard of living, as well as facilitating economic, social and technological changes as certain values are expoused by sustainable development which in turn, would help to foster economic growth in the Nigerian economy . it was recommended that government and banks should establish adequate regulatory framework that will ensure customers’ protection and security of investment. Keywords: e-commerce, e-banking, mobile commerce/mobile banking, internet banking, information technology, social networks.

Health Expenditures and Health Outcomes in Kenya

Health inputs are critical in attaining a healthy nation and improving health outcomes. Kenya, like other developing countries, grapples with limited health expenditures and poor population health indicators. Specifically, Kenya is yet to achieve the allocation of least 15% of the government’s annual budget to improve the health sector as enshrined in the Abuja Declaration. Though there is an improvement with regards to infant mortality rate decreasing from 96.6 per 1, 000 live birth in 1970 to 30.6 per 1, 000 live birth in 2018. This indicator of population health outcome is currently far below the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) target of reducing the under five mortality rate to as low as 12 deaths per 1,000 live births by 2030. The literature suggests that increase in government’s budgetary allocation to the health sector can improve country’s health outcomes. Evidence on the impact of health expenditures on health outcomes is mixed and limited in developing countries. This study aims to analyze the impact of public health expenditures on health outcomes, among other control variables in Kenya. The study uses time series data from 1970 to 2018. The variables are found to be integrated of different orders suggesting the choice of Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model. ARDL provides a useful link between long run equilibrium relationships and short run disequilibrium dynamics is estimated. The ARDL bounds test suggests presence of cointegration thus leading to the estimation of Error Correction Model (ECM). The findings suggest that improvements in public health expenditures enhance health outcomes in Kenya. The control variablesthat are found to be important determinants of infant mortality rate in Kenya include the national income and number of hospital beds per 100, 000. The study recommends that Kenyan government should increase annual budgetary allocation to health sector. Such increase is likely to lead to investments in physical and human capital in the health sector thus translating to improved health outcomes in Kenya

Catastrophic Health Expenditures And Impoverishment In Kenya

Background: Out-of-pocket health expenditures leave households exposed to the risk of financial catastrophe and poverty whenever they entail significant dissaving or the sale of key household assets. Even relatively small expenditures on health can be financially disastrous for poor households and similarly, large health care expenditures can lead to financial catastrophe and bankruptcy for rich households. Objective: There is increasing evidence that out-of-pocket expenditures act as a financial barrier to accessing health care, and are a source of catastrophic expenditures and impoverishment. This paper estimates the burden of out-of-pocket payments in Kenya; the incidence and intensity of catastrophic health care expenditure and impoverishment in Kenya. Methods: Using Kenya Household Health Expenditures and Utilization Survey data of 2007, the study uses both descriptive and econometric analysis to investigate the incidence and intensity of catastrophic health expenditures and impoverishment as well as the determinants of catastrophic health expenditures. To estimate the incidence and intensity of catastrophic expenditures and impoverishment, the study used both Wagstaff and van Doorslaer, (2002) and Xu et al. (2005) and applied various thresholds to demonstrate the sensitivity of catastrophic measures. For determinants of catastrophic health expenditures, a logit model was employed. Findings: Among those who utilized health care, 11.7 percent experienced catastrophic expenditures and 4 percent were impoverished by health care payments. In addition, approximately 2.5 million individuals were pushed into poverty as a result of paying for health care. The poor experienced the highest incidence of catastrophic expenditures. Conclusion: The paper recommends that the government should establish avenues for reducing the burden of out-of-pocket expenditures borne by households. This could be through a legal requirement for everyone to belong to a health insurance and targeting the poor, the elderly and chronically ill through the devolved system of the government and devolved funds

An Econometric Analysis Of Health Care Utilization In Kenya

Background: Increasing access to health care has been a policy concern for many governments, Kenya included. The Kenyan government introduced and implemented a number of initiatives in a bid to address the healthcare utilization challenge. These initiatives include 10/20 policy, exemptions for user fees for some specific health services (treatment of children less than five years, maternity services in dispensaries and health centers, Tuberculosis treatment in public health facilities), and increase in the number of health facilities and health workforce. These initiatives notwithstanding, healthcare utilization in Kenya remains a challenge. The Kenya Household Health Expenditure and Utilization Survey of 2007 found that 17 percent of those who needed health care services could not access the services from both government and private health facilities largely due to financial constraints. This paper employed econometric analysis to examine what could be constraining health care utilization in Kenya despite all the efforts employed. Methods: Using the 2007 Kenya Household Health Expenditures and Utilization Survey (KHHEUS) data (n = 8414), this paper investigates the factors that affect health care utilization in Kenya by estimating a count data negative binomial model. The model was also applied to public and private health facilities to better understand the specificities of poverty in these two facility types. Common estimation problems of endogeneity, heterogeneity, multicollinearity and heteroskedasticity are addressed. Findings: The econometric analysis reveals that out-of-pocket expenditures, waiting time, distance, household size, income, chronic illness area of residence and working status of the household head are significant factors affecting health care utilization in Kenya. While income and distance are significant factors affecting public health care utilization they are not significant in explaining healthcare utilization in private facilities. In addition, working status of the household head, insurance cover and education are significant in explaining private and not public health care utilization. A striking finding is the positive relationship between distance and health care utilization implying that people will travel long distances to obtain treatment. This is perhaps associated with expectations of higher quality of care at far away higher level facilities, especially in rural areas. Conclusion: The paper confirms the existing evidence of the negative effects of Out-of-Pocket (OOP) expenditures and other determinants of health care utilization. With a better understanding of why people use or do not use health services, health care organizations can seek to improve the quality of human life. The bypassing of health facilities for higher level far away facilities implies that it is not so much about availing health facilities, but the quality of the services offered in those facilities. The government should therefore assure quality to increase utilization of the lower level facilities, especially in the rural areas