Patient Satisfaction with Healthcare Services: Bangladesh Perspective

Patient satisfaction is a useful measure for providing a quality benchmark for healthcare services. Concern about the quality of healthcare services in Bangladesh has led to a loss of confidence in healthcare providers, low use of public health facilities and increased outflows of patients from Bangladesh to hospitals abroad. The key obstacles to access to health services are insufficient infrastructure and poor quality of existing facilities, lack of medical equipment, scarcity of doctors due to high patient load, long distance to the facilities and long waiting times until facilities have been reached, very short appointment hours, lack of empathy of health professionals, their generally callous and casual attitude, aggressive pursuit of monetary gains, poor levels of competence and, occasionally, disregard for the suffering that patients endure without being able to voice their concerns-all of these service failures are reported frequently in the print media. Such failures can play a powerful role in shaping patients\u27 negative attitudes and dissatisfaction with healthcare service providers and healthcare itself

Metal-insulator Transition (MIT) Materials for Biomedical Applications

Transitional metal oxides get considerable interest in electronics and other engineering applications over few decades. These materials show several orders of magnitude metal-insulator transition (MIT) triggered by external stimuli. Bio-sensing using Vanadium dioxide (VO2), a MIT material is largely unexplored. In this short article, we investigate the VO2 based thermal sensor performance for measuring the biomolecule concentration. Active sensing layer is chromium and niobium co-doped VO2 as it shows 11.9%/°C temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) with practically no thermal hysteresis. Our study demonstrated that VO2 based microsensors can be used to measure the biomolecule concentrations, which produce temperature changes in the mK range. For 1mK change in temperature, the maximum detection voltage is near 0.4V

Performance Comparison of Phase Change Materials and Metal-Insulator Transition Materials for Direct Current and Radio Frequency Switching Applications

Advanced understanding of the physics makes phase change materials (PCM) and metal-insulator transition (MIT) materials great candidates for direct current (DC) and radio frequency (RF) switching applications. In the literature, germanium telluride (GeTe), a PCM, and vanadium dioxide (VO2), an MIT material have been widely investigated for DC and RF switching applications due to their remarkable contrast in their OFF/ON state resistivity values. In this review, innovations in design, fabrication, and characterization associated with these PCM and MIT material-based RF switches, have been highlighted and critically reviewed from the early stage to the most recent works. We initially report on the growth of PCM and MIT materials and then discuss their DC characteristics. Afterwards, novel design approaches and notable fabrication processes; utilized to improve switching performance; are discussed and reviewed. Finally, a brief vis-á-vis comparison of resistivity, insertion loss, isolation loss, power consumption, RF power handling capability, switching speed, and reliability is provided to compare their performance to radio frequency microelectromechanical systems (RF MEMS) switches; which helps to demonstrate the current state-of-the-art, as well as insight into their potential in future applications

Nematic Liquid Crystal Composite Materials for DC and RF Switching

Liquid Crystals (LCs) are widely used in display devices, electro-optic modulators, and optical switches. A field-induced electrical conductivity modulation in pure liquid crystals is very low which makes it less preferable for direct current (DC) and radio-frequency (RF) switching applications. According to the literature, a conductivity enhancement is possible by nanoparticle doping. Considering this aspect, we reviewed published works focused on an electric field-induced conductivity modulation in carbon nanotube-doped liquid crystal composites (LC-CNT composites). A two to four order of magnitude switching in electrical conductivity is observed by several groups. Both in-plane and out-of-plane device configurations are used. In plane configurations are preferable for micro-device fabrication. In this review article, we discussed published works reporting the elastic and molecular interaction of a carbon nanotube (CNT) with LC molecules, temperature and CNT concentration effects on electrical conductivity, local heating, and phase transition behavior during switching. Reversibility and switching speed are the two most important performance parameters of a switching device. It was found that dual frequency nematic liquid crystals (DFNLC) show a faster switching with a good reversibility, but the switching ratio is only two order of magnitudes. A better way to ensure reversibility with a large switching magnitude is to use two pairs of in-plane electrodes in a cross configuration. For completeness and comparison purposes, we briefly reviewed other nanoparticle- (i.e., Au and Ag) doped LC composite’s conductivity behavior as well. Finally, based on the reported works reviewed in this article on field induced conductivity modulation, we proposed a novel idea of RF switching by LC composite materials. To support the idea, we simulated an LC composite-based RF device considering a simple analytical model. Our RF analysis suggests that a device made with an LC-CNT composite could show an acceptable performance. Several technological challenges needed to be addressed for a physical realization and are also discussed briefly

Experimental analysis and comparison of performance characteristics of catalytic converters

The purpose of this chapter is to present the results of an experimental study of the performance and conversion efficiencies of ceramic monolith three-way catalytic converters (TWCC) employed in automotive exhaust lines for the reduction of gasoline emissions. Two ceramic converters of different cell density, substrate length, hydraulic channel diameter and \vall thickness were studied to investigate the effect of varying key parameters on conversion efficiencies and pressure drop. Based on the emission test results, the conversion efficiencies of HC from both converters were calculated and evaluated

Experimental analysis to determine the relationship between noise and back pressure for muffler design – Part II: Experimental results

This chapter describes the final part of the detailed methodology of relationship between noise and back pressure for muffler design. This part includes experimental setup, experimental procedures, results and discussions. The experimental data show a general shape of an average design ofthe muffler which would be the most suitable for the test car

Exhaust system optimization using GT- Power

The exhaust system consists of the exhaust manifold, the header, the catalytic converter, the muffler, and the tailpipe. Certain flow characteristics must be met for the optimal performance of the exhaust system. The main objective of this chapter is to design exhaust system (particularly the exhaust manifold) using GT-Power software and to optimize its performance

Experimental analysis and simulation of catalytic converters

The purpose of this chapter is to present the results of an experimental study ofthe performance of ceramic monolith three-way catalytic converters (TWCC) employed in automotive exhaust lines for the reduction of gasoline emissions. Two ceramic converters of different cell density, substrate length, hydraulic channel diameter and wall thickness were investigated. After completing the test, the converters were cut to extract the substrate or 'honeycomb' inside the housing and being analyzed for microstructure and materials composition using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive Analysis (EDX). Simulation program using commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software packages, GAMBIT and FLUENT 6.1 was used to verify experimental results

Experimental analysis to determine the relationship between noise and back pressure for muffler design – Part I: Muffler design requirements

This chapter describes part of the detailed methodology of relationship between noise and back pressure for muffler design. Starting with a brief introduction, an attempt is made here to present different steps of muffler design considering the relation between noise and back pressure. The design ofthe muffler chamber separation and arrangement is essential in determining the muffler characteristics. Some design considerations are proposed in order to come up with an optimum muffler design

Canalscape : a conceptual study to modify the existing landform in relation to the environment for the sustainable development of rural Bangladesh

This study reviews the existing physical, environmental, agricultural, and socioeconomical conditions of Bangladesh and problems associated with these. Poverty, exploding population, poor production in agricultural sectors with natural disturbance (such as excessive flooding and drought), and other environmental problems (such as deforestation and extinction of biota) hinder the progress of the nation. This study also investigates the possibility to reshape the existing landscape to reduce the ongoing crises by carrying out a new idea Canalscape. In this investigation, an attempt has been made to test the idea into an actual vilage. An economic analysis of this project has also been done to test its effectiveness. Findings 1. The rural poor makes up most of the population in Bangladesh, and their economy is predominantly dependent on agriculture. Thus, agriculture plays a major role in the nation\u27s developmental planning. 2. Flooding is a major problem of Bangladesh. Primary and secondary floods cause damage to the standing crops and inhibit the cultivation of modern high yielding varieties (HYV). Although tertiary flooding causes severe destruction, this is not a regular event in the monsoon cycle. As for agriculture, primary and secondary floods seem more important because of their occurrence during the critical period of crop growth. 3. If primary and secondary floods can be controlled, the country can achieve a significant increase in crop production. 4. The flat topography of the existing landscape makes this delta prone to flooding. If the landform can be modified so that it can hold the excessive water during flooding seasons, more crop area can be opened for cultivation. 5. Embanking the major rivers without making any attempts to circulate the floodwater into the flood plain will cause long term economic and environmental harm. 6. A Canalscape is simply a network of canals along with levees/roads to reshape the existing flat topography. This will control the movement of floodwater during monsoons and provide irrigation for dry winter seasons by storing the excess water in its system. This transformation, moreover, will intensify the total use of the land. The Canalscape suggests coping with the flood events rather than stopping them. 7. The Canalscape provides a necessary physical infrastructure to apply a successful farming system. To increase the overall production the Canalscape generates other income sources such as fishery, forestry, livestock, and so forth. 8. The Canalscape induces a relatively safer environmental condition and designs an organized social structure into it to sustain the growth. 9. If the transformation can be done properly, the land will become more productive. The example analysis in this study indicates that an approximate 200 percent increase in overall production could be possible