Addressing Key Issues in the Light of Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in Health and Family Welfare Sector in India

The cutback in public investment in social sector including health is an inevitable consequence of the financial crises faced by both developed and developing countries since late seventies. In India, the dismal performance and several deficiencies of the public health services rather added fuel to the fire. Circumstances made it pertinent to mobilise additional resources from within the health sector itself, as contained in the structural adjustment programme, for financing the health sector. Thus, the involvement of private parties, NGOs, PRIs, co-operatives etc. for delivery of health services started gaining ground gradually. However, this trend is considered as a retreat from socialistic norms and counterproductive for the economically disadvantaged class. The policies including that of World Bank and the recent Indian Health Report (WHO) 2000, now recognise the importance of investing in health & also providing for a safety net for the poor and vulnerable to promote economic development and reduce poverty. So, there is an urgent need to address several issues to revamp the entire health sector in India. The paper, apart from an extensive review of Indias health scenario also identifies the potential areas where further studies need to be undertaken for accelerating the reforms process in the desired direction.health, WHO

Addressing key issues in the light of structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in Health and Family Welfare Sector in India

The cutback in public investment in social sector including health is an inevitable consequence of the financial crises faced by both developed and developing countries since late s performance and several deficiencies of the public health services rather added fuel to the fire. Circumstances made it pertinent to mobilise additional resources from within the health sector itself, as contained in the structural adjustment programme, for financing the health sector. Thus, the involvement of private parties, NGOs, PRIs, co-operatives etc. for delivery of health services started gaining ground gradually. However, this trend is considered as a retreat from socialistic norms and counterproductive for the economically disadvantaged class. The policies including that of ‘World Bank’ and the recent ‘Indian Health Report (WHO) 2000’, now recognise the importance of investing in health & also providing for a ‘safety net’ for the poor and vulnerable to promote economic development and reduce poverty. So, there is an urgent need to address several issues to revamp the entire health sector in India. The paper, apart from an extensive review of India’s health scenario also identifies the potential areas where further studies need to be undertaken for accelerating the reforms process in the desired direction.Health CareFamily WelfareHealth Services

A multi-parent genetic algorithm for solving longitude–latitude-based 4D traveling salesman problems under uncertainty

In this study, we propose a mathematical model of a 4D clustered traveling salesman problem (CTSP) to address the cost-effective security and risk-related difficulties associated with the TSP. We used a multiparent-based memetic genetic algorithm to optimize paths between all clusters and proposed unique heuristic approaches to create clusters and reconnect them. We constructed a 4D CTSP considering multiple routes between two locations and multiple available vehicles on each route. Travel expenses and risks impact every itinerary; however, the behaviors of these costs and risks are always uncertain. We inspected various standard benchmark problems from (TSPLIB) using the proposed calculations. Real-life problems in the tourism industry motivate a longitude–latitude-based CTSP with risk constraints. Thus, we determined the risk of each path based on longitude and latitude. The contributions of this study are twofold: developing a genetic algorithm and heuristics based on mathematical modeling of a real problem.</p

Unsteady Heat and Fluid Flow through a Curved Channel with Rectangular Cross-section for Several Cases of Aspect Ratio

In this paper, a comprehensive numerical study is presented for the fully developed two-dimensional flow of viscous incompressible fluid through a curved rectangular duct with different aspect ratios 2 and 3 for a constant curvature 14δ=0.1"&gt; . Unsteady solutions are obtained by using a spectral method and covering a wide range of Dean number 14100≤Dn≤1000"&gt;  and the Grashof number 141000≤Gr≤2000"&gt; . The outer wall of the duct is heated while the inner wall is cooled. The main concern of this study is to find out the unsteady flow behavior i.e whether the unsteady flow is steady-state, periodic, multi-periodic or chaotic, if the Dean number or the Grashof number is changed. For the aspect ratio 2, it is found that the unsteady flow is a steady-state solution for 14Dn=100"&gt;  and 14Gr=100, 500, 1500, 2000"&gt;  but periodic at 14Dn=100"&gt;  and 14Gr=1000. "&gt; If the Dean number is increased i.e. at 14=500"&gt;  , it is found the unsteady flow is periodic at 14Gr=1000, 1500 "&gt;  but chaotic at 14Gr=100, 500, 2000."&gt;  If the Dean number is increased further i.e. at 14 Dn=1000"&gt; , the unsteady flow becomes chaotic for any value of Gr in the range. For the aspect ratio 3, however, it is found that the unsteady flow is a steady-state solution for 14 Dn=100"&gt;  at 14 Gr=100 "&gt; and 14 Gr=2000 "&gt;  but periodic at 14Dn=100"&gt;  and 14Gr=500,1000,1500"&gt; . If the Dean number is increased i.e. at Dn = 500 and 1000, the unsteady flow becomes chaotic for any value of Gr in the range. Contours of secondary flow patterns and temperature profiles are also obtained, and it is found that the unsteady flow consists of a single-, two-, three- , four-, five-, six-, seven- and eight-vortex solutions. It is also found that the chaotic flow enhances heat transfer more significantly than the steady-state or periodic solutions as the Dean number are increased

SS 433: Results of a Recent Multi-wavelength Campaign

We conducted a multi-wavelength campaign in September-October, 2002, to observe SS 433. We used 45 meter sized 30 dishes of Giant Meter Radio Telescope (GMRT) for radio observation, 1.2 meter Physical Research Laboratory Infra-red telescope at Mt Abu for IR, 1 meter Telescope at the State Observatory, Nainital for Optical photometry, 2.3 meter optical telescope at the Vainu Bappu observatory for spectrum and Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) Target of Opportunity (TOO) observation for X-ray observations. We find sharp variations in intensity in time-scales of a few minutes in X-rays, IR and radio wavelengths. Differential photometry at the IR observation clearly indicated significant intrinsic variations in short time scales of minutes throughout the campaign. Combining results of these wavelengths, we find a signature of delay of about two days between IR and Radio. The X-ray spectrum yielded double Fe line profiles which corresponded to red and blue components of the relativistic jet. We also present the broadband spectrum averaged over the campaign duration.Comment: 17 pages 10 figures MNRAS (submitted

Centrosymmetric-noncentrosymmetric Structural Phase Transition in Quasi one-dimensional compound, (TaSe4_4)3_3I

(TaSe$_4$)$_3$I, a compound belonging to the family of quasi-one-dimensional transition-metal tetrachalcogenides, has drawn significant attention due to a recent report on possible coexistence of two antagonistic phenomena, superconductivity and magnetism below 2.5~K (Bera et. al, arXiv:2111.14525). Here, we report a structural phase transition of the trimerized phase at temperature, $T~\simeq$~145~K using Raman scattering, specific heat, and electrical transport measurements. The temperature-dependent single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiments establish the phase transition from a high-temperature centrosymmetric to a low-temperature non-centrosymmetric structure, belonging to the same tetragonal crystal family. The first-principle calculation finds the aforementioned inversion symmetry-breaking structural transition to be driven by the hybridization energy gain due to the off-centric movement of the Ta atoms, which wins over the elastic energy loss.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, Under review as a regular articl

Detecting galaxies in a large H{\sc i}~spectral cube

The upcoming Square Kilometer Array (SKA) is expected to produce humongous amount of data for undertaking H{\sc i}~science. We have developed an MPI-based {\sc Python} pipeline to deal with the large data efficiently with the present computational resources. Our pipeline divides such large H{\sc i}~21-cm spectral cubes into several small cubelets, and then processes them in parallel using publicly available H{\sc i}~source finder {\sc SoFiA-$2$}. The pipeline also takes care of sources at the boundaries of the cubelets and also filters out false and redundant detections. By comapring with the true source catalog, we find that the detection efficiency depends on the {\sc SoFiA-$2$} parameters such as the smoothing kernel size, linking length and threshold values. We find the optimal kernel size for all flux bins to be between $3$ to $5$ pixels and $7$ to $15$ pixels, respectively in the spatial and frequency directions. Comparing the recovered source parameters with the original values, we find that the output of {\sc SoFiA-$2$} is highly dependent on kernel sizes and a single choice of kernel is not sufficient for all types of H{\sc i}~galaxies. We also propose use of alternative methods to {\sc SoFiA-$2$} which can be used in our pipeline to find sources more robustly.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, Accepted for publication in the Special Issue of Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy on "Indian Participation in the SKA'', comments are welcom

Excitation of whispering gallery modes with a "point-and-play", fiber-based, optical nano-antenna

We demonstrate the excitation and detection of whispering gallery modes in optical microresonators using a "point-and-play", fiber-based, optical nano-antenna. The coupling mechanism is based on cavity-enhanced Rayleigh scattering. Collected spectra exhibit Lorentzian dips, Fano shapes, or Lorentzian peaks, with a coupling efficiency around 13\%. The spectra are characterized by the coupling gap, polarization, and fiber tip position. The coupling method is simple, low-cost and, most importantly, the \textit{Q}-factor can be maintained at $10^8$ over a wide coupling range, thereby making it suitable for metrology, sensing, or cavity quantum electrodynamics (cQED) experiments