RESUMEN
Pure zinc oxide and Sn-doped ZnO thin films were deposited on a pre-heated glass substrate from tin (II) chloride dihydrate (SnCl2.2H2O) and zinc acetate (Zn(CH3COO))2 precursors using spray pyrolysis technique. The doped films were achieved by adding various quantities of (SnCl2. 2H2O) precursor to the solution of zinc acetate in volume percent range of 0-10. Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS) was used to characterise the prepared films to determine their thickness and elemental composition. To examine the films' optical characteristics, a UV spectrometer operating at room temperature and covering a wavelength range of 300-1100 nm was employed. The film's thickness and composition show that as the volume of Sn in the thin films increases, so does the film's thickness. With average transmittance values up to 70 %, all the films are quite transparent in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum and have a significant UV cut-off at roughly 380 nm. The reflectivity of Sn-doped ZnO films is seen to be independent of the volume of Sn in the films, and the reflectivity of the films diminishes as the wavelength increases. Sn-doped ZnO thin film has an optical band gap of 3.14-3.18 eV. The properties of the thin film produced make it suitable for solar energy collection and improve the efficiency of solar energy system, various optoelectronics devices and sensor.
RESUMEN
Background: Increasing global commitment to Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in the past decade has triggered UHC-inspired reforms and investments to expand health service coverage in many Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). UHC aims to ensure that all people can access quality health services, safeguard them from public health risks and impoverishment from out-of-pocket payments for healthcare when household members are sick. Aim: This paper reviews the role of health insurance as a policy tool to address health financing as a contributory mechanism for accelerating the achievement of UHC in LMICs. We focus on Nigeria's legal framework for health insurance coverage for its whole population and the role of technology in facilitating enrollment to health insurance schemes. Methods: From May to July 2022, we adopted a cross-sectional case study design combining: (i) a literature review of the effects of UHC with (ii) document analysis of health insurance systems in Nigeria, and (iii) secondary analysis of health insurance datasets to understand experiences of deploying MedStrat, a locally-developed digital health insurance management system, and its features that support the administration of health insurance schemes in multiple states of Nigeria. We drew on contemporary technology adoption models to triangulate diverse data analyzed from literature and documents reviews and from health insurance datasets to identify: (i) enablers of adoption of digital insurance schemes, (ii) the contribution of digital technology to expanding access to health insurance, and (iii) further scalability of digital insurance intervention. Results: Preliminary findings suggests that digital insurance management systems can help to increase the number of enrollees for insurance especially among poor households. Three contextual enablers of adoption of digital insurance schemes were a favourable policy environment, public-private-partnerships, and sustained stakeholder engagement and training. Discussion and conclusion: Key elements for successful scaling of digital health insurance schemes across Nigeria and similar contexts include: (i) ease of use, (ii) existing digital infrastructure to support electronic insurance systems, and (iii) trust manifested via data encryption, maintaining audit trails for all data, and in-built fraud prevention processes. Our findings affirm that digital health technology can play a role in the attainment of UHC in LMICs.
RESUMEN
In an aqueous bath, quaternary thin films (TFs) of copper zinc iron sulphide (CZFS) were deposited on glass (soda-lime) substrates. The present study aimed to analyse the effect of deposition periods on the properties of the prepared CZFS TFs using Chemical bath deposition (CBD). The precursor and films were examined by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to check for the chemical formation present. Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) was used to determine the elemental compositions and stoichiometry of the deposited films. The optical characteristics were observed by a UV-Vis Spectrophotometer and a four-point probe (FPP) for the electrical properties. The optical characterization revealed a direct transition band-gap energy that decreased from 1.96 to 1.50 eV with an increase in deposition period. The optical constants were studied with respect to the wavelength within the range of 300-900 nm. The films exhibited high resistive properties with a conductivity that varied with an increase in deposition period. The effect of deposition periods on the optical properties of refractive index, extinction coefficient, and real and imaginary parts of dielectric constants has been reported. All these parameters were found to increase with deposition period except for the film deposited for 18 h (C3). These results confirm that the aqueous deposited CZFS films can be tuned for various optoelectronic applications.
