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Background. There exist continuing challenges with communication medium used during health service provision. These challenges relate to clients and health institution, intra- and interhealth institution communications. This study reviewed the existing healthcare communication medium from the perspectives of clients and health professionals at a tertiary hospital in Ghana. Methods. Cross-sectional design was employed with a multilevel sampling method to select a total of 650 participants consisting of 303 clients, 303 health workers, and 44 hospital directorate managers for the study. A structured survey questionnaire was used to collect data from respondents. Results. Close to ninety percent (89.8%) of staff resort to direct means (face-to-face medium) to communicate among each other. Majority (64.4%) of them also communicated with management through meetings sections. Nearly all healthcare providers (97.4%) communicated with clients through direct means (face-to-face medium). Almost all forms of communication between the hospital management members and the general public were done through letters and official memos. Conclusions. The study revealed blended forms of communication media used by health providers and health service consumers. These differences in medium of communication could amount to possible difficulties such as lack of information and truncation of information flow. Developing a systematic way of information flow using a common information platform will improve access to health services.

We present a new quasi D-shaped plasmonic photonic crystal fiber (PCF) microsensor with dual polarization for back-to-back measurement of refractive index (RI) and temperature. The PCF structure of the microsensor is form birefringent and supports two orthogonal polarizations for independent probing of both RI and temperature variations. Thin layers of tantalum pentoxide (Ta2O5) and gold (Au) are applied to the side-polished plane to form the RI sensing section. Furthermore, four micro air holes in the lower part of its outer cladding ring are gold-coated and selectively infiltrated with a temperature-sensitive liquid. A detailed investigation and numerical analyses of the coupling characteristics and sensing responses are presented using the finite element method (FEM) with a circular perfectly matched layer (PML). The RI metrics show a maximum wavelength sensitivity of 5000 nm/RIU and a maximum amplitude sensitivity of 266.54 RIU−1 from 1.35 to 1.46 RI range in the specified operating wavelength range of 1.25- $1.65~\mu \text{m}$ . The corresponding RI resolution is $2.0\times 10^{-5}$ RIU. For the temperature sensing metrics, a maximum amplitude sensitivity of $4.8\times 10^{-2}\,\,^\circ \text{C}^{-1}$ , a maximum wavelength sensitivity of 3.0 nm/°C, and a maximum resolution of $3.33\times 10^{-2}\,\,^{\circ }\text{C}$ from −50°C to 50°C is achieved. With appropriate instrumentation incorporating a polarization selector, the microsensor can double as a real-time simultaneous multiparameter sensor. Applications for the proposed microsensor can be found in molecular science, medical measurement and analysis, terrestrial environmental engineering and data assessment, aquatic ecosystem investigations, pharmaceutical and alimentary process control and validation, cryogenic studies, and several others.

Background There is a dearth of data on scabies from Ghana. In September 2019, local health authorities in the East Mamprusi district of northern Ghana received reports of scabies from many parts of the district. Due to on-going reports of more cases, an assessment team visited the communities to assess the effect of the earlier individual treatment on the outbreak. The assessment team furthermore aimed to contribute to the data on scabies burden in Ghana and to demonstrate the use of the International Alliance for the Control of Scabies (IACS) diagnostic tool in a field survey in a resource limited setting. Methodology/Principal findings This was a cross sectional study. Demographic information and medical history was collected on all participants using a REDCap questionnaire. A standardised skin examination of exposed regions of the body was performed on all participants. Scabies was diagnosed based on the criteria of the International Alliance for the Control of Scabies (IACS). Participants were mostly female (61.5%) and had a median age of 18.8 years (IQR 13–25). Two hundred out of 283 (71%) of participants had scabies with most (47%) presenting with moderate disease. Impetigo was found in 22% of participants with scabies and 10.8% of those without scabies [RR 2.27 (95% CI 1.21–4.27)]. 119 participants who received scabies treatment in the past months still had clinical evidence of the disease. 97% of participants reported a recent scabies contact. Scabies was commoner in participants ≤16 years compared to those >16 years [RR 3.06 (95% CI 1.73–5.45)]. Conclusion/Significance The prevalence of scabies was extremely high. The lack of a systematic approach to scabies treatment led to recurrence and ongoing community spread. The IACS criteria was useful in this outbreak assessment in Ghana. Alternative strategies such as Mass drug administration may be required to contain outbreaks early in such settings., Author summary Scabies, recently categorised as a Neglected Tropical Disease by the WHO is caused by infestation with Sarcoptes scabiei and is characterised by intense pruritus and rash that typically involves the genitalia and the web spaces of the fingers and toes. It has a large global burden and is associated with significant morbidity and socio-economic burden. Secondary bacterial infections following scabies can lead to significant complications including chronic kidney disease from glomerulonephritis and possibly rheumatic heart disease. An outbreak of scabies was reported in Ghana’s East Mamprusi district in September 2019. Despite earlier treatment of individual cases, scabies prevalence was 71%. About 19% of participants had impetigo which was mostly mild in severity. Absence of a systematic approach to treat scabies led to recurrence and ongoing community spread. The recently published IACS criteria for diagnosing scabies proved useful in this outbreak assessment in Ghana. Alternative strategies such as Mass drug administration may be required to contain outbreaks in such settings.

A novel method for estimating the passenger densities of minivan taxis popularly known as Trotros in Ghana is proposed. A smartphone is used to collect time, location and velocity data from groups of passengers travelling in parts of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, Ghana. Passengers are clustered by four different combinations of their location, time and average acceleration data using the agglomerative hierarchical clustering algorithm. A classification method was then used to externally validate the results by comparing the cluster labels to an initial class labelling which had been assigned during data collection called the group code. The count of the group code represented the estimated number of passengers aboard the vehicle. Results from the various clustering combinations performed indicated that using the time and location variables only for classification gave the highest accuracy of about 89.2% as compared to the other combinations. The proposed method of counting passengers in moving vehicles is particularly useful in the Ghanaian context due to the fact that trotros do not have to be retro-fitted with expensive devices for data collection and thus can be implemented without financially burdening the privately-owned trotro industry. Also, counting passengers in trotros adds to the growing pool of trotro research data which is beneficial for improvements in the trotro industry and also for future research.

The nurse rostering problem describes the task of distributing nurses over working time slots, called shifts, in such a way that the workforce demand for each shift in a scheduling period is met, while ensuring that each nurse is not overttasked or undertasked. This problem is a major issue in Ghana, which this research aims to tackle. To that end, the performance of a heuristic algorithm that showed promise, called the Harmony Search algorithm, is examined. The algorithm, as applied to solving the nurse rostering problem in a hospital in Ghana, was implemented and evaluated with the Python programming language. The results suggest that the algorithm performs well in generating 1-week duty rosters but falters for extended periods, indicating that it may not on its own be potent enough to handle optimization problems. Finally, we outline some recommendations future researchers may want to note.

A four-ring microstructure photonic crystal fibre with a descending air hole ring cladding is presented. Numerical analysis of the structure is done using full vectorial finite element method with perfectly matched layer (PML) boundary condition. It is demonstrated that it is possible to achieve at 1.55 µm confinement loss of 2.767 × 10−5 dB/m, birefringence of 0.00346 and a nonlinear co-efficient of 41.77 km−1 W−1. Also, chromatic dispersion realised suggests a tuneable zero dispersion at 0.9–1.1 µm wavelength range.

A numerical analysis of a hexagonal PCF structure with four circular air hole rings around the core has been presented in this paper. By utilizing a full vectorial finite element method with perfectly matched layers, propagation properties such as birefringence, chromatic dispersion and confinement losses are numericaly evaluated for the proposed PCF structure. Specifically, birefringence of 2.018 × 10–2, nonlinear coefficients of 40.682 W−1 km−1, negative chromatic dispersion of − 47.72 ps/km.nm at 1.55 µm and − 21 to − 105 ps/km.nm at the telecommunication band of C-U have been reported.

Background: There exist continuing challenges with communication media used during health service provision. These challenges relate to clients and health institution, intra and inter-health institution communications. This study reviewed the existing healthcare communication media from the perspectives of clients and health professionals at a tertiary hospital in Ghana. Method: cross-sectional design was employed with a multilevel sampling method to select a total of 651 participants consisting of 304 clients, 303 health workers and 44 hospital directorate managers for the study. A well-structured survey questionnaire was used to collect data from respondents. Results: Two thirds of the hospital staff (66.4%) used a blend of social media and direct means (face-to-face medium) to communicate among themselves. The majority (89.8%) of the staff communicated with management through meetings sections. Nearly all healthcare providers (97.4%) communicated with clients through direct means (face-to-face medium). Almost all forms of communication between the hospital management members and the general public was done through letters and official memos. Conclusions: The study revealed blended forms of communication media used by health providers and health service consumers. Delayed information flow and poor feedbacks contributed to the dissatisfaction levels associated with the traditional communication media platforms used.

Background: The issue with communication mediums during service provision and for making enquiries to a hospital on the type of services available, availability of physicians and beds at the receiving hospitals, and a reminder system remains a challenge for patients and providers of the health service in sub-Sharan Africa. This present study sought to review the existing healthcare communication mediums from the perspectives of patients and health professionals at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi Ghana. Method: A descriptive cross-sectional design was employed with a multilevel sampling method to select a total of 651 participants consisting of 304 patients, 303 health workers and 44 hospital directorate managers for the study. A well-structured survey questionnaire was used to collect data from respondents. Results: Most hospital staff (66.4%) used a blend of social media and direct means (face-to-face medium) to communicate among themselves whereas 89.8% only communicates with management through meetings sections. Predominantly, 97.4% of the staff communicated by direct means (face-to-face medium) with patients. Almost all management members of the hospital communicated with the general public using letters and official memos. Conclusions: There is evidence of combination of both traditional mediums (face-to-face) and the technological mediums (social media) for communications by health providers and health consumers. However, there is a dissatisfaction with delayed information flow and poor feedbacks with the use of the traditional mediums. Therefore, a digital mobile application communication system is recommended to offer efficient communication within and outside the Ghanaian health facilities.

In this work, we report a novel design of a photonic crystal utilizing elliptic rods. The two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystal consists of an asymmetric distribution of unit cells to ensure the one-way transmission of light. Analysis performed indicated that the orientation of the ellipse along the major and minor axis has an influence on the shift of the transmission. In particular, this results in shift of the transmission towards high frequencies and subsequent oscillation of its magnitude. The peak of the transmission band was also found to be strongly influenced by the orientation angle, θ . It has been demonstrated that the strong asymmetric propagation properties of the proposed photonic crystal structure enables the switching of incident light from one direction to another. The proposed structure may be applied as a building block to integrated photonics applications.

In this paper, we have proposed a design of an Optical Diode-like in two-dimensional (2D) Photonic Crystal (PC) waveguide. The proposed device consists of 2D square-lattice PC structures, and it is based on two PC waveguides with different symmetric guiding modes, where various configurations of defects, including elliptic or/and semi-circular defects have been incorporated. The proposed one-way light propagation Optical Diode has been designed and optimized by employing in-house 2D Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) numerical method. We have reported that the unidirectional light propagation depends strongly on the coupling region between the introduced defects and the adjacent waveguides, and it also depends on the matching and mismatching between the defects and waveguide modes. It has been shown also that owing to its tunable features, the proposed Optical Diode can be potentially applied as a building block in future complex optical integrated circuits.

Background: The issue with communication mediums during service provision and for making enquiries to a hospital on the type of services available, availability of physicians and beds at the receiving hospitals, and a reminder system remains a challenge for patients and providers of the health service in sub-Sharan Africa. This present study sought to review the existing healthcare communication mediums from the perspectives of patients and health professionals at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi Ghana. Method: A descriptive cross-sectional design was employed with a multilevel sampling method to select a total of 651 participants consisting of 304 patients, 303 health workers and 44 hospital directorate managers for the study. A well-structured survey questionnaire was used to collect data from respondents. Results: Most hospital staff (66.4%) used a blend of social media and direct means (face-to-face medium) to communicate among themselves whereas 89.8% only communicates with management through meetings sections. Predominantly, 97.4% of the staff communicated by direct means (face-to-face medium) with patients. Almost all management members of the hospital communicated with the general public using letters and official memos. Conclusions: There is evidence of combination of both traditional mediums (face-to-face) and the technological mediums (social media) for communications by health providers and health consumers. However, there is a dissatisfaction with delayed information flow and poor feedbacks with the use of the traditional mediums. Therefore, a digital mobile application communication system is recommended to offer efficient communication within and outside the Ghanaian health facilities. Keywords: Communication, hospital, patients, healthcare.

Introduction. Malaria is a leading cause of mortality among children below 5 years in Ghana. Its parasites are known to cause the degradation of hemoglobin, resulting in the production of reactive oxygen species and hence oxidant stress. Therefore, this study was carried out to compare the levels of oxidative stress between children with complicated and uncomplicated malaria infection in Kumasi, Ghana. Method. Subjects were recruited from hospitals in the Kumasi Metropolis. This was a cross-sectional study, involving 17 complicated malaria subjects, 51 uncomplicated malaria subjects, and 15 nonparasitemic subjects. The rapid diagnostic test (RDT) was used to determine presence or absence of falciparum malaria among the study participants. Blood samples from subjects were used to determine hemoglobin, malondialdehyde (MDA), and vitamin C levels. Results. Majority of the subjects (67.5%) were within the age of 0-5 years. The mean age (±SD) of uncomplicated malaria subjects was 4.32 (±2.81) years, while that of complicated malaria was 4.27 (±2.96). Mean levels of HB decreased significantly in the following order: control subjects > uncomplicated malaria subjects > complicated malaria subjects (p uncomplicated malaria > complicated malaria subjects. However, for the complicated malaria cases, there were significantly higher mean vitamin C levels in females than in males (p Conclusion. Malaria progression increases MDA levels and decreases the ascorbate (vitamin C) and hemoglobin levels. It is recommended that future studies should investigate changes in other antioxidant vitamins, like vitamins A and E.

Optical sensing has undergone tremendous advancements with the advent of photonic crystal fibers (PCFs). Similarly, optical sensing utilizing surface plasmon resonance (SPR) operation has produced remarkable outcomes and new paradigms for providing prompt and label-free platforms for ultra-sensitive and high-resolution determinations in chemical, biological, and related sensing applications. Here we review refractive index photonic crystal fiber surface plasmon resonance biosensors (RI PCF SPRBs) with a focus on low, high, and wide-ranged RI PCF SPRBs. A performance comparison based on operating refractive index range amongst various RI PCF SPRBs shows that, to date, most of the RI PCF SPRBs proposed and/or fabricated belong to the high index category. Due to their extensive operating range, wide-ranged RI PCF SPRBs can function both as low and as high RI PCF SPRBs making them more attractive for lab-on-photonic crystal fiber (LOPCF), lab-in-photonic crystal fiber (LIPCF), and allied applications, where one or more laboratory functions are scaled to a single device for in vitro or in vivo screening and analysis. It is suggested that future research should continue to improve upon sensing metrics based on innovativeness not only in core and cladding designs but also in optimization of structural parameters and implementation of new plasmonic materials such as silicene, germanene, and phosphorene whose growths have been demonstrated recently.

This paper presents a novel non-defective core photonic crystal fiber (PCF) which was found to produce three zero dispersion wavelength (ZDW), which may lead to a very powerful spectral densities compared to that of single or double ZDW PCFs. More so, the presented PCF design not only has the three ZDW achieved for the PCF, but also, been able to achieve a high negative chromatic dispersion (−220.39 ps/km.nm), and ultra-flatted chromatic dispersion of ±0.9 ps/km·nm within operating wavelength range of 1.53–1.8 μm. These characteristics may be helpful for applications in the fields of supercontinuum generation (SCG), soliton pulse transmission, and detecting or sensing and optical communication systems. The propagation properties of the proposed PCFs: effective index, confinement loss and chromatic dispersion, are well researched making use of full vectorial finite element method (FEM).

This Research Full Paper presents challenges and solutions of using the widely accepted Geolocation Database (GLDB), as the main Vacant Channel (VC) detection method in Television White Spaces (TVWS) technology, which is emerging as a potential alternative for supporting the increasing need for wireless transmissions. TVWS are unused and unassigned licensed spectra allocated to Primary Users (PUs) like TV stations. However, at any geographic location where VCs released by the GLDB are limited for multiple unlicensed Secondary Users (SUs) to transmit, due to contention, the tendency for collisions amongst the SUs is always high. To make the GLDB resilient, secured, and trusted, we propose a modified architecture by introducing a Dynamic Database Agent (DDA) Middleware, a layer between the main GLDB and the SUs. The DDA Middleware coordinates with the main GLDB to select available VCs for the SUs in a regulated pattern. The DDA depends on two critical pieces of information: 1) all incoming or arriving SUs at any geographic location and 2) the expected VC transmission time of every SU, which we term as Maximum Vacant Channel Occupancy Time (MVCOT). We model and simulate channel allocation techniques using the Normal GLDB proposed by regulators and our layered DDA Middleware GLDB. We measure the statistical probability of SU vs SU collisions for both databases to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of our approach. Simulated results show that our DDA Middleware intervention reduces collisions due to the co-existence of SUs by 52.3%.

This paper proposes an image processing algorithm that segments and measures the optic cup and the optic disc, by using a pulsed coupled artificial neural network and a line profile technique respectively. Our approach extracts two key glaucoma prediction features-the vertical cup-to-disc ratio (vCDR) and the Inferior Superior Nasal Temporal (ISNT) rule. A total of 126 fundus images have been used to evaluate the proposed algorithm. The vCDR and ISNT rule evaluation was manually determined by experienced eye specialists. The proposed algorithm was then used to automatically estimate the same parameters on the same images. The algorithm achieved a RMSE of 0.11. Furthermore, we conducted a similarity test between the values for the parameters extracted using our algorithm and that of the manual estimation, using a student's T-test. The probability of difference in datasets was 2.08∗10−13%. This could be a key step in providing good features for subsequent autonomous screening of glaucoma.

A numerical analysis of a novel birefringent photonic crystal fiber (PCF) biosensor constructed on the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) model is presented in this paper. This biosensor configuration utilizes circular air holes to introduce birefringence into the structure. This PCF biosensor model shows promise in the area of multiple detection using HEx11 and HEy11 modes to sense more than one analyte. A numerical study of the biosensor is performed in two interrogation modes: amplitude and wavelength. Sensor resolution values with spectral interrogation yielded 5 × 10-5 RIU (refractive index units) for HEx11 modes and 6 × 10-5 RIU for HEy11 modes, whereas 3 × 10-5 RIU for HEx11 modes and 4 × 10-5 RIU for HEy11 modes are demonstrated for the amplitude interrogation.

A photonic crystal fiber (PCF) based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor has been presented at this work. The sensor sensitivity for multiple analyte depending on operating wavelength and spectral interrogation mode has been investigated thoroughly. Our numerical results indicate that the sensitivity of the x-polarized fundamental mode is 4100nm/Refractive Index Unit (RIU) and 4400nm/RIU for the y-polarized fundamental mode with 2.4×10−5 RIU and 2.3×10−5 RIU sensor resolutions respectively.

his paper presents a theoretical study on a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) surface plasmon resonance biosensor. The proposed PCF sensor introduces the concept of simultaneous detection with H E11x and H E11x modes, which opens up some possibilities for multianalyte/multichannel sensing. Analysis was performed which considered the operation of the sensor in both amplitude and wavelength interrogation modes. Typical sensor resolutions of 4×10-5 RIU and 8×10-5 RIU with respect to H E11x and H E11y, respectively, are reported for the amplitude interrogation mode, while resolutions of 5 × 10-5 RIU and 6×10-5 RIU are reported for H E11x and H E11y, respectively, for the wavelength interrogation mode.

This paper presents a theoretical study on a novel chemical sensor platform based on a 2-D photonic crystal with negative refraction (PCNR). The proposed device consists of distributed multinanocavities embedded within the PCNR. A 2-D finite-difference time-domain method with perfectly matched layers has been employed to investigate the performance of the sensor for different analytes and structural parameters. The calculations show that it is possible to detect simultaneously two analytes when the refractive index is larger than that of water. The quality factor was determined to be around 105 when the radii of the central nanocavity is and that of the external is .

A single-mode photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with low chromatic dispersion, low bend, and rotational sensitivity is presented. The transverse electric field vector distributions of the fundamental, higher order and fundamental space filling modes, their effective indices, chromatic dispersion, confinement, bending and rotational losses are reported using full-vector finite-element method (FEM). In addition, the endlessly single mode behavior is demonstrated by employing the V parameter of the proposed PCF. It has also been shown that the proposed PCF design is insensitive to bends and rotations.

Copyright © 2015 The Author(s). In this paper, a biosensor based on photonic crystal fiber (PCF) is proposed and designed using Full-Vectorial Finite Element Method (FVFEM). The proposed PCF sensor consists of three concentric circles surrounding the core. The key optical sensor characteristics such as sensitivity, the field profiles and real part of the refractive index of the proposed PCF structure are investigated by employing the FVFEM. The proposed sensor can be deployed for environmental sensing when the PCF active region is filled with either analytes such as liquids or gas. By careful selection of the design parameters such as the radius of the sensing circle, the diameter of air holes in the core region and hole to hole spacing, Λ, the sensitivity analytes is determined. Our simulation results show that, the electric field distribution is primary localized in the third concentric circle with a radius of 16 μm. Effects of PCF bending on the sensitivity is also studied and reported.

In this study, the relative sensitivity coefficient of the proposed hexagonal shaped photonic crystal fiber (PCF) has been investigated by employing the full vectorial finite element method (FEM ). Propagation loss and effective refractive index of 36 air holed PCF over wide wavelength range has been investigated. Also, the applications and the propagation characteristics of the proposed PCF structure which occurs with the interaction of the fundamental mode and the central liquid filled hole has been discussed.

This paper presents a theoretical study of a highly sensitive photonic crystal fibre (PCF) surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor. The proposed sensor consists of a gold-silver bimetallic structure as a transducing layer in the micro-fluidic slots which ensures optimum spectral sensitivity, low losses and narrow spectral width. The loss spectra and sensitivity of the proposed biosensor have been presented using a full — vector finite element method (FEM) with perfectly matched layers (PML). Typical sensor sensitivity of 3200 nm / RIU with has been demonstrated.

This paper presents a theoretical study on a planar waveguide surface plasmon biosensor based on the Otto Configuration. The analysis employs an eigenmode solver with perfectly mached layers (PML) to provide insight into optimization of sensor sensitivity and full width at half maximum (FWHM). It has been shown that by selecting appropriate design parameters, it is possible to achieve sensor sensitivity 3400 nm/RIU and FWHM of 180.81nm for an aqueous analyte.

This paper presents some key concepts in the design and optimisation of solid core photonic crystal fibres (PCFs) based on hexagonal (triangular) lattice of low index circular inclusions, for broadband applications. The performance of PCFs with respect to key structural parameters such as pitch (Λ), number of air hole rings and air hole diameter (d) is investigated using full-vector finite-element method (FEM) with perfectly matched layers (PML).

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors provide high sensitivity without the use of molecular labels (Homola, Yee, and Gauglitz 1999). They been widely used in the analysis of biomolecular interactions (BIA) and detection of chemical and biological analytes (Homola, Yee, and Gauglitz 1999), where they provide benefits of real-time, sensitive and label-free technology. They have also been used for the detection of various chemical and biological compounds in areas such as environmental protection, food safety and medical diagnostics (Mouvet et al. 1997; Nooke et al. 2010).

A theoretical study on a novel planar waveguide surface Plasmon Biosensor is presented in this paper. The proposed biosensor has a configuration similar to the Otto excitation mechanism for surface Plasmon polaritons. The performance of the device with respect to key system parameters such as gap-width and device length is investigated using an eigenmode solver with perfectly matched layers (PML). Device resolution of 2.3 x 10(-6) RIU has been demonstrated for an aqueous analyte.

A theoretical study on a dual channel planar waveguide surface plasmon biosensor is presented in this paper. The proposed device consists of a planar waveguide with two active regions. It has been demonstrated that the proposed waveguide sensor can be configured to operate in either multi anlalyte or self referencing mode. The channel discriminative property of the device is investigated using an eigenmode solver with perfectly matched layers (PML).