IIMA in HealthCare Management: Abstract of Publications (2000-2010)

The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA), was established in 1961 as an autonomous institution by the Government of India in collaboration with the Government of Gujarat and Indian industry. IIMA’s involvement in the health sector started with the establishment of the Public Systems Group in 1975. In the initial period, our research focused on the management of primary healthcare services and family planning. We expanded our research activities to include the management of secondary healthcare services in the 80s and to tertiary healthcare services in the 90s. Currently our research interests focus on the governance and management issues in the areas on Rural Health, Urban Health, Public Health and Hospital Management. In June 2004, IIMA Board approved the setting up of a Centre for Management Health Services (CMHS) in recognition of IIMA’s contributions to the health sector in the past and the felt need to strengthen the management of health sector in the context of socio-economic developments of our country. The overall objectives of CMHS are to address the managerial challenges in the delivery of health services to respond to the needs of different segments of our population efficiently and effectively, build institutions of excellence in the health sector, and influence health policies and wider environments. All our research projects are externally funded and we have developed research collaborations with 15-20 international universities in USA, UK, Europe, and Asia. CMHS has also established strong linkages with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare at the national and state government levels, particularly in the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Orissa, and Bihar. This working paper is a compilation of the abstracts of all our publications in the last 10 years, which include 40 referred journal articles, 54 Working Papers, 19 Chapters in Books and 18 Case Studies.

Nature-inspired Cuckoo Search Algorithm for Side Lobe Suppression in a Symmetric Linear Antenna Array

In this paper, we proposed a newly modified cuckoo search (MCS) algorithm integrated with the Roulette wheel selection operator and the inertia weight controlling the search ability towards synthesizing symmetric linear array geometry with minimum side lobe level (SLL) and/or nulls control. The basic cuckoo search (CS) algorithm is primarily based on the natural obligate brood parasitic behavior of some cuckoo species in combination with the Levy flight behavior of some birds and fruit flies. The CS metaheuristic approach is straightforward and capable of solving effectively general N-dimensional, linear and nonlinear optimization problems. The array geometry synthesis is first formulated as an optimization problem with the goal of SLL suppression and/or null prescribed placement in certain directions, and then solved by the newly MCS algorithm for the optimum element or isotropic radiator locations in the azimuth-plane or xy-plane. The study also focuses on the four internal parameters of MCS algorithm specifically on their implicit effects in the array synthesis. The optimal inter-element spacing solutions obtained by the MCS-optimizer are validated through comparisons with the standard CS-optimizer and the conventional array within the uniform and the Dolph-Chebyshev envelope patterns using MATLABTM. Finally, we also compared the fine-tuned MCS algorithm with two popular evolutionary algorithm (EA) techniques include particle swarm optimization (PSO) and genetic algorithms (GA)

Intrinsic localized modes in the charge-transfer solid PtCl

We report a theoretical analysis of intrinsic localized modes in a quasi-one-dimensional charge-transfer-solid $[Pt(en)_2][Pt(en)_2 Cl_2](ClO_4)_4$(PtCl). We discuss strongly nonlinear features of resonant Raman overtone scattering measurements on PtCl, arising from quantum intrinsic localized (multiphonon) modes (ILMs) and ILM-plus-phonon states. We show, that Raman scattering data displays clear signs of a non-thermalization of lattice degrees-of-freedom, manifested in a nonequilibrium density of intrinsic localized modes.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, REVTE

Identifications and SEDs of the detected sources from the AKARI Deep Field South

In order to find counterparts of the detected objects in the AKARI Deep Field South (ADFS) in all available wavelengths, we searched public databases (NED, SIMBAD and others). Checking 500 sources brighter than 0.0482 Jy in the AKARI Wide-S band, we found 114 sources with possible counterparts, among which 78 were known galaxies. We present these sources as well as our first attempt to construct spectral energy distributions (SEDs) for the most secure and most interesting sources among them, taking into account all the known data together with the AKARI measurements in four bands.Comment: 4 pages, 10 figures, To appear in: the proceedings of the conference "AKARI, a light to illuminate the misty Universe", February 16-19 2009, Toky

Textile Diamond Dipole and Artificial Magnetic Conductor Performance under Bending, Wetness and Specific Absorption Rate Measurements

Textile diamond dipole and Artificial Magnetic Conductor (AMC) have been proposed and tested under wearable and body centric measurements. The proposed antenna and AMC sheet are entirely made of textiles for both the substrate and conducting parts, thus making it suitable for wearable communications. Directive radiation patterns with high gain are obtained with the proposed AMC sheet, hence minimizing the radiation towards the human body. In this study, wearable and body centric measurements are investigated which include bending, wetness and Specific Absorption Rate (SAR). Bending is found not to give significant effect to the antenna and AMC performance, as opposed to wetness that yields severe performance distortion. However, the original performance is retrieved once the antenna and AMC dried. Moreover, notable SAR reduction is achieved with the introduction of the AMC sheet, which is appropriate to reduce the radiation that penetrates into human flesh

"Swarm relaxation": Equilibrating a large ensemble of computer simulations

It is common practice in molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo computer simulations to run multiple, separately-initialized simulations in order to improve the sampling of independent microstates. Here we examine the utility of an extreme case of this strategy, in which we run a large ensemble of $M$ independent simulations (a "swarm"), each of which is relaxed to equilibrium. We show that if $M$ is of order $10^3$, we can monitor the swarm's relaxation to equilibrium, and confirm its attainment, within $\sim 10\bar\tau$, where $\bar\tau$ is the equilibrium relaxation time. As soon as a swarm of this size attains equilibrium, the ensemble of $M$ final microstates from each run is sufficient for the evaluation of most equilibrium properties without further sampling. This approach dramatically reduces the wall-clock time required, compared to a single long simulation, by a factor of several hundred, at the cost of an increase in the total computational effort by a small factor. It is also well-suited to modern computing systems having thousands of processors, and is a viable strategy for simulation studies that need to produce high-precision results in a minimum of wall-clock time. We present results obtained by applying this approach to several test cases.Comment: 12 pages. To appear in Eur. Phy. J. E, 201

Why Should 5000 Children Die in India Every Day? Major Causes and Managerial Challenges

Globally, more than 10 million children under 5 years of age, die every year (20 children per minute), most from preventable causes, and almost all in poor countries. Major causes of child death include neonatal disorders (death within 28 days of birth), diarrhea, pneumonia, and measles. Malnutrition accounts for almost 35 % of childhood diseases. India alone accounts for almost 5000 child deaths under 5 years old (U5) every day. India.s child heath indicators are poor even compared with our Asian neighbors, namely Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Nepal and Bangladesh. Within India, the states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh account for almost 60 % of all child deaths India.s neonatal mortality, which accounts for almost 50 % of U5 deaths, is one of the highest in the world. India launched the Universal Immunization Program in 1985, but the status of full immunization in India has reached only 43.5 % by 2005-06. India started the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) in 1975 to provide supplementary nutrition to children, but 50 % of our children are still malnourished; nearly double that of Sub-Saharan Africa. The WHO/UNICEF training program on Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illnesses, known as IMNCI, started in India a few years ago, but the progress is very slow. What is unfortunate is the fact that most of these deaths are preventable through proven interventions: preventive interventions and/or treatment interventions, but the management of childhood illnesses is very poor. In this working paper, we bring out the nature and magnitude of child deaths in India (Chapter 1) and then share with you in Chapters 2, 3 and 4 our observations on the management of some of national programs of the government of India such as The Universal Immunization Program (UIP) The Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) The Integrated Management of Neonatal and Child Illnesses (IMNCI) In the final chapter (Chapter 5), we highlight certain managerial challenges to satisfactorily address the child mortality and morbidity in our country.

Knudsen gas in a finite random tube: transport diffusion and first passage properties

We consider transport diffusion in a stochastic billiard in a random tube which is elongated in the direction of the first coordinate (the tube axis). Inside the random tube, which is stationary and ergodic, non-interacting particles move straight with constant speed. Upon hitting the tube walls, they are reflected randomly, according to the cosine law: the density of the outgoing direction is proportional to the cosine of the angle between this direction and the normal vector. Steady state transport is studied by introducing an open tube segment as follows: We cut out a large finite segment of the tube with segment boundaries perpendicular to the tube axis. Particles which leave this piece through the segment boundaries disappear from the system. Through stationary injection of particles at one boundary of the segment a steady state with non-vanishing stationary particle current is maintained. We prove (i) that in the thermodynamic limit of an infinite open piece the coarse-grained density profile inside the segment is linear, and (ii) that the transport diffusion coefficient obtained from the ratio of stationary current and effective boundary density gradient equals the diffusion coefficient of a tagged particle in an infinite tube. Thus we prove Fick's law and equality of transport diffusion and self-diffusion coefficients for quite generic rough (random) tubes. We also study some properties of the crossing time and compute the Milne extrapolation length in dependence on the shape of the random tube.Comment: 51 pages, 3 figure