Do free-of-charge public health services impede cost recovery policies in Khartoum state, Sudan?

We carried out a household survey in Khartoum state in 2001 to analyse the characteristics of those who receive free public health services and to ascertain whether there are any impediments to cost recovery policies for health care use. Data were collected through interviews based on an adapted questionnaire. Those who had other income, always or sometimes had dependents and visited the health services twice in the previous 3 months were more likely to receive free public healthservices. This does not support claims that beneficiaries of these services are the welloff.health services; Sudan

Determination of elemental composition of air particulates and soils in Khartoum area

Investigations were carried out for elemental composition of air particulates in the background air and near roadsides in Khartoum area. Investigations were also performed for the elemental composition of soils at the same locations. A cyclone and a dichotomous virtual impactor wereused to measure the air particulates. The cyclone was adjusted to collect particles having an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5!m. The virtual impactor, through its fine channel, was capable of collecting airborne particles with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 μm. Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) analysis was used to study the elemental concentrations of the air and soil samples. The analysis of the results indicated that all elements in the proximity of roadsides have elevated concentrations compared to the background air levels. Enrichment factors were calculated relative to crust rock and Khartoum soil. The results showed that the elements K, Ca,Ti, Fe, and Sr in the aerosols have their origin from the soil, while the elements Zn, Ni and Pb have their source from automobile emissions. The results also indicated a correlation between lead and bromine. The lead to bromine ratio was found to be within the range of those derived from vehicular exhaust, and in good agreement with the ratios obtained from some other countries

Do free-of-charge public health services impede cost recovery policies in Khartoum state, Sudan?

International audienceWe carried out a household survey in Khartoum state in 2001 to analyse the characteristics of those who receive free public health services and to ascertain whether there are any impediments to cost recovery policies for health care use. Data were collected through interviews based on an adapted questionnaire. Those who had other income, always or sometimes had dependents and visited the health services twice in the previous 3 months were more likely to receive free public healthservices. This does not support claims that beneficiaries of these services are the welloff

An Energy-Efficient Proactive Routing Scheme for MANET: Game Theoretical Approach of Forwarding with Selfish Nodes

In Mobile Ad-hoc Networks, nodes exchange packets with each other using intermediate nodes as relays. Since nodes in MANETs are battery powered, energy conservation is a crucial issue. Accepting relay all request may not be in the best interest of a node. But if many nodes prefer not to consume energy in relaying packets on behalf of others, the overall performance of routing in network will be influenced. In this paper we address the energy-efficient routing problem in MANETs with selfish nodes. We modeled this problem as a game-theoretic constraint optimization; we defined the utility of each node as a weighted difference between a performance metric and some transmission costs. A motivate mechanism is proposed in order to induce nodes to forwarding cooperation. Each node independently implements the optimal equilibrium strategy under the given constraints. Simulation results by NS3 simulator show that our proposed approach can improve system performance in network lifetime and packet delivery ratio

Air Quality Assessment over Sudan using NASA Remote Sensing Satellites Data and MERRA-2 Model

Satellite remote detecting instruments have been to a great extent used to evaluate air pollutants on the ground and their impacts on human wellbeing. These instruments play an essential job by assessing emanations and air quality models yield. The study concentrated on the analysis of monthly data for the period January 2003 -December 2016 using remote sensing technology and via satellite data products for NASA's Earth navigation satellite. The tools used are Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrophotometer (MODIS), Multi-angle Imaging Spectrophotometer (MISR), the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), and the Retrospective Analysis of Modern Times for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2). Sudan is influenced by airborne particles because of its diverse climate systems, which differ from the desert in the north to poor savanna in the center and to rich savanna in the south. The impact of air pollution is obvious during these years in Sudan. Likewise, OMI trace gas vertical column observations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) watched higher convergences of tropospheric column NO2 in 2016 than in 2005 over Khartoum that recommends NOx emissions have increased in the city over this time period. The most elevated grouping of dust, a particulate matter (PM2.5), observed in March 2012 over Khartoum state. The highest concentration of sulfur dioxide (SO2) saw by MERRA-2 over Kuwait and South Sudan during December 2015. Noteworthy centralization concentration of black carbon observed over Iraq, Egypt, Central Africa, and South Sudan in December 2015. The most contamination from carbon monoxide watched by MERRA-2 over Iraq and north of Uganda during December 2014

A Coalition-Formation Game Model for Energy-Efficient Routing in Mobile Ad-hoc Network

One of the most routing problems in Mobile Ad-hoc Network is the node’s selfishness. Nodes are generally selfish and try to maximize their own benefit; hence these nodes refuse to forward packet on behalf of others to preserve their limited energy resources. This selfishness may lead to a low efficiency of routing. Therefore, it is important to study mechanisms which can be used encourage cooperation among nodes, to maintain the network efficiency. In this paper, we propose a cooperative game theoretic model to support more energy-aware and available bandwidth routing in MANET. We introduce a novel framework from coalitional-formation game theory, called hedonic coalition-formation game. We integrate this model to OLSR protocol that is an optimization over the classical link state protocol for the MANETs. Within each coalition, a coalition coordinator acts as a special MPR node to improve the energy efficient and the packet success rate of the transmission. Simulation results show how the proposed algorithm improve the performance in terms of the percentage of selected MPR nodes in the network, the percentage of alive nodes by time, and the Packet Delivery Ratio. Which prove that our proposed model leads, to better results compared to the classical OLSR

De la nécessité d’un nouveau design de l’offre de financement au Maroc pour la PME marocaine en présence d’un contexte de multi-crises

Moroccan SMEs are of undeniable importance in the economic fabric in which they represent 95% according to the statistics of the confederation of SMEs. They constitute a neuralgic axis of our economy with 40% of the production and 13% of exports. They are present in all sectors of economic activity. In spite of the turbulence of the environment, the SME are pretentious to grow and to develop through the investment which requires a strong capital to be concretized. Nevertheless, the company's own funds remain insufficient in the face of the ambitions of these small firms. There remains only one demand which is the recourse to bank financing which remains laborious to obtain. Nevertheless, the investment is conducted in a context of uncertain future which is rewarded by a risk premium, which explains the high cost of bank financing to SMEs. It is therefore imperative to call for a change in the managerial culture of SMEs, mainly newly created structures, and to encourage banks to make scalable financing proposals ensuring prosperity and sustainability for SMEs. The objective of our article is thus to well identify the conditions of granting of credit for the SME especially in period of crisis and to demonstrate the role of the intervention of the State as intermediary between the establishments of credit and the SME by the means of the guarantees. Thus, our article focuses on a narrative literature review that seeks to focus on the design of the financing offer for the benefit of Moroccan SMEs in an economic context of crisis.   Keywords: Financing offer, growth, Moroccan SMEs, financial failure JEL Classification: G17, H12. Paper type: Theoretical Research.Les PME Marocaines sont ornées d’une importance incontestable dans le tissu économique dans lequel elles représentent 95% selon les statistiques de la confédération de la PME. Elles constituent un axe névralgique de notre économie avec 40% de la production et 13% des exportations. Elles sont présentes dans tous les secteurs d’activités économiques. Malgré les turbulences de l’environnement, les PME sont prétentieuses de croitre et de se développer à travers l’investissement qui nécessite un capital fort pour être concrétisé. Néanmoins, les fonds propres de l’entreprise restent insuffisants face aux ambitions de ces petites firmes. Il ne reste alors qu’une seule revendication qui est le recours au financement bancaire qui demeure laborieux à obtenir. Néanmoins, l’investissement est mené dans un contexte d’avenir incertain, ce qui est récompensé par une prime de risque, ce qui explique la cherté de l’offre de financement bancaire au PME. Il est donc impératif d'appeler à un changement de la culture managériale des PME, principalement des structures nouvellement créées, et d'inciter les banques à faire des propositions extensibles de financement assurant la prospérité et la pérennité pour les PME. L’objectif de notre article est donc de bien cernée les conditions d’octroi de crédit pour les PME surtout en période de crise et de démontrer le rôle de l’intervention de l’État comme intermédiaire entre les établissements de crédit et les PME par le moyen des garanties. Donc notre article porte sur une revue de littérature narrative qui cherche à mettre le point sur le design de l’offre de financement au profit des PME marocaines dans un contexte économique enragé de crise .   Mots clés : L’offre de financement, croissance, PME marocaine, défaillance financière. Classification JEL :  G17, H12. Type de l’article : Article théoriqu

Association of Air Pollution Levels to Atmospheric Weather Regimes over Europe

The ability to link air pollution to weather regimes may help municipalities to activate in advance plans to protect citizens from severe episodes of air pollution. The aim of this work was to associate the atmospheric circulation patterns and air pollution over Berlin using observational data from three air quality monitoring stations (Urban, Suburban and Traffic stations) during the period January 1990 to December 2002, with weather type's classifications issued in the frame of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology project (COST733). Results obtained in this work shows similar higher ozone (O3) concentrations and weather regime type during the summer season for both the three stations and the two cluster methods used viz. Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) and cluster analysis of principal components (CAP). The highest concentration level of ozone was observed in the suburban station. High pollution that occurred from the particulate matter (PM10) was observed in the urban station during the winter season. The highest nitrogen dioxide (NO2) value was observed in the traffic station during the spring season. However, the traffic station is probably not a very good indicator of the sensitivity of air quality in meteorology, because it is too much affected by local sources

The Design of A Telegram IoT-based Chicken Coop Monitoring and Controlling System

Less ideal chicken coop condition is one reason for the low productivity of chickens in Indonesia. Based on this condition, breeders need monitoring and control devices that can be used easily anywhere and anytime. In this study, the monitoring and control devices based on the Internet of Things (IoT) were successfully designed using the ESP8266 microcontroller. The monitoring system used a DHT11 temperature sensor while the controller used a bulb and fan as the actuator. Monitoring data and control commands were displayed via Telegram. Coop testing was carried out with three different treatments-the light was on, the fan was on, and both were on-resulting in temperature and humidity measurement data ranging from 24–32 ºC and 61–78%, respectively. Therefore, this monitoring and control device can prevent the conditions of the chicken coop that are ideal less so that chickens' productivity increases.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17977/um024v5i22020p05