The Paradox of the Ugandan Health Insurance System: Challenges and Opportunities for Health Reform

Otieno Emmanuel,Namyalo Josephine 대한예방의학회 2024 예방의학회지 Vol.57 No.1

For nearly four decades, Ugandans have experienced a period marked by hope, conflict, and resilience across various aspects of healthcare reform. The health insurance system in Uganda lacks a legal framework and does not extend benefits to the entire population. In Uganda, community-based health insurance is common among those in the informal sector, while private medical insurance is typically provided to employees by their workplaces and agencies. The National Health Insurance Scheme Bill, introduced in 2019, was passed in 2021. If the President of Uganda gives his assent to the National Health Insurance Bill, it will become a significant policy driving health and universal health coverage. However, this bill is not without its shortcomings. In this perspective, we aim to explore the complex interplay of challenges and opportunities facing Uganda’s health sector.

A high bandwidth, high voltage amplifier for driving fast piezoelectric actuator-based nanopositioners used in atomic force microscopes

Otieno Luke Oduor,Nguyen Thi Thu,Juma Oyoo Michael,Nguyen Thi Ngoc,이영중,Park Jae Sung,이호,Alunda Bernard Ouma 한국물리학회 2023 THE JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY Vol.83 No.10

Some of the challenges of adapting high-voltage amplifer (HVA) designs and solutions for driving highly capacitive loads such as piezoelectric actuators (PEAs) fast include cost, implementation complexity, management of thermal load, and diffcult customization. In this work, we develop an easy to implement HVA with 525 kHz small signal bandwidth, 6 App, and 110 Vpp HVA using a low-cost high voltage operational amplifer (HV-OPA) and a self-biasing power amplifer (PA). At 100 kHz, the phase lag is about -24◦ and the HVA can be confgured for use with or without the PA stage to prioritize input tracking and output noise reduction or output stability improvement. When used to drive our custom high-speed atomic force microscope (HS-AFM) Z-scanner during imaging, compared to a conventional commercial HVA, our custom HVA is able to track topographical features at faster scan speeds.

안전한 모바일 클라우드 컴퓨팅을 위한 ID 관리 시스템

( Otieno Mark Brian ),이경현 ( Kyung-hyune Rhee ) 한국정보처리학회 2014 한국정보처리학회 학술대회논문집 Vol.21 No.2

Cloud computing is an up-and-coming paradigm shift transforming computing models from a technology to a utility. However, security concerns related to privacy, confidentiality and trust are among the issues that threaten the wide deployment of cloud computing. With the advancement of ubiquitous mobile-based clients, the ubiquity of the model suggests a higher integration in our day to day life and this leads to a rise in security issues. To strengthen the access control of cloud resources, most organizations are acquiring Identity Management Systems (IDM). This paper presents one of the most popular IDM systems, specifically OAuth, working in the scope of Mobile Cloud Computing which has many weaknesses in its protocol flow. OAuth is a Delegated Authorization protocol, and not an Authentication protocol and this is where the problem lies. This could lead to very poor security decisions around authentication when the basic OAuth flow is adhered to. OAuth provides an access token to a client, so that it can access a protected resource, based on the permission of the resource owner. Many researchers have opted to implement OpenID alongside OAuth so as to solve this problem. But OpenID similarly has several security flows. This paper presents scenarios of how insecure implementations of OAuth can be abused maliciously. We incorporate an authentication protocol to verify the identities before authorization is carried out.

A Secure Social Networking Site based on OAuth Implementation

Otieno Mark Brian,Kyung-Hyune Rhee 한국멀티미디어학회 2016 멀티미디어학회논문지 Vol.19 No.2

Implementation of a Sinusoidal Raster Scan for High-Speed Atomic Force Microscopy

Otieno Luke Oduor,Lee Yong Joong,Alunda Bernard Ouma 한국물리학회 2020 THE JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY Vol.77 No.7

To improve the speed of an atomic force microscope (AFM), one must improve the bandwidth of its components, and the lateral XY scanner is no exception. Sinusoidal raster scans provide a simple way of improving lateral scan rates without the need for additional hardware and/or complex control algorithms. However, a raster scan using a sinusoidal waveform leads to a non-uniform probe-sample velocity. Uniform spatial sampling of scan data can be achieved in this case by varying the sampling rate as the probe sample velocity varies. In this work, we present a field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based implementation of a sinusoidal raster scan with uniform spatial sampling for a high-speed atomic force microscope (HS-AFM). Using a home-made HS-AFM scanner and a custom controller, we demonstrate the performance of our approach by imaging Blu-ray disk data tracks in the contact mode. While the results show images comparable to those acquired using the traditional triangular raster scans, mirroring effects are better suppressed in high-speed imaging with sinusoidal scan signals.

Feedforward compensation for hysteresis and dynamic behaviors of a high-speed atomic force microscope scanner

Otieno Luke Oduor,Nguyen Thi Thu,Park Sang Joon,Lee Yong Joong,Alunda Bernard Ouma 한국물리학회 2022 THE JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY Vol.80 No.4

Piezoelectric actuators (PEAs) suffer from inherent creep, hysteresis, and mechanical resonances, and these phenomena have different characteristics. Creep is a low-speed phenomenon. Mechanical resonances are felt at high speeds while hysteresis is present for all speeds of operation. Some type of compensation for the weaknesses of PEAs is required to improve the tracking accuracy using PEA-based nano-positioning scanners. This work presents a feedforward compensation method for a highspeed atomic force microscope (HS-AFM) XY-scanner to mitigate the combined effects of hysteresis and scanner dynamics. Hysteresis is compensated for using an inverse Bouc-Wen (BW) model while the system dynamics are compensated for using the inverse models of the frequency response of the scanner. Cross-coupling effects at high frequencies are compensated for using low-pass filters (LPFs) to attenuate the high-frequency components of the drive signals. The compensated scanner is then used to acquire images of data tracks of a Blu-ray disk to demonstrate the efficacy of the adopted approach. The bandwidth of the scanner is limited by the choice of the LPF and the first occurrence of the scanner’s mechanical resonance.

Conductive graphite/polyurethane composite films using amphiphilic reactive dispersant: Synthesis and characterization

Geoffrey Otieno,Ju-Young Kim 한국공업화학회 2008 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Vol.14 No.2

Well-dispersed and conductive graphite (GP)/polymer composites films were fabricated using two different polymerizable amphiphilic dispersion agents namely urethane acrylate nonionomer (UAN) and polyethylene oxide (PEO) modified urethane acrylate (PMUA). Our GP/ polymer composites were fabricated via in situ polymerization of unmodified GP and UAN or PMUA mixtures where UAN and PMUA acted not only as dispersion agents but also as macromonomer for the formation of the polymeric matrix. Dispersibility of GP in the polymeric matrix strongly depended on the type of amphiphilic dispersion agent, which was confirmed by SEM measurements. Fabricated composite films exhibited electrical conductivities of 10-¹ S/cm for UAN and 10-² S/cm for PMUA at 50 wt% of GP loading. From the thermogravimetric analysis, the introduction of graphite exhibits a beneficial effect on the thermal stability of poly(UAN) and poly(PMUA).

Aloe-Emodin-Mediated Photodynamic Therapy Attenuates Sepsis-Associated Toxins in Selected Gram-Positive Bacteria In Vitro

( Woodvine Otieno ),( Chengcheng Liu ),( Yanhong Ji ) 한국미생물 · 생명공학회 2021 Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol.31 No.9

Sepsis is an acute inflammatory response that leads to life-threatening complications if not quickly and adequately treated. Cytolysin, hemolysin, and pneumolysin are toxins produced by grampositive bacteria and are responsible for resistance to antimicrobial drugs, cause virulence and lead to sepsis. This work assessed the effects of aloe-emodin (AE) and photodynamic therapy (PDT) on sepsis-associated gram-positive bacterial toxins. Standard and antibiotic-resistant Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pneumonia bacterial strains were cultured in the dark with varying AE concentrations and later irradiated with 72 J/cm-2 light. Colony and biofilm formation was determined. CCK-8, Griess reagent reaction, and ELISA assays were done on bacteriainfected RAW264.7 cells to determine the cell viability, NO, and IL-1β and IL-6 pro-inflammatory cytokines responses, respectively. Hemolysis and western blot assays were done to determine the effect of treatment on hemolysis activity and sepsis-associated toxins expressions. AE-mediated PDT reduced bacterial survival in a dose-dependent manner with 32 μg/ml of AE almost eliminating their survival. Cell proliferation, NO, IL-1β, and IL-6 cytokines production were also significantly downregulated. Further, the hemolytic activities and expressions of cytolysin, hemolysin, and pneumolysin were significantly reduced following AE-mediated PDT. In conclusion, combined use of AE and light (435 ± 10 nm) inactivates MRSA, S. aureus (ATCC 29213), S. pneumoniae (ATCC 49619), MDR-S. pneumoniae, E. faecalis (ATCC 29212), and VRE (ATCC 51299) in an AE-dose dependent manner. AE and light are also effective in reducing biofilm formations, suppressing proinflammatory cytokines, hemolytic activities, and inhibiting the expressions of toxins that cause sepsis.

Commentary on Reproductive Justice in Kenya and the State’s Human Rights Obligations

Smith Otieno 이화여자대학교 생명의료법연구소 2016 Asia Pacific Journal of Health Law & Ethics Vol.10 No.1

Reproductive rights constitute a category of rights protected by the Kenyan Constitution under the Bill of Rights. Reality however paints a grim picture as injustices to women seeking reproductive services have been legitimated. Women who cannot easily access contraceptives have been forced to seek the services of backstreet abortionists who pose grave dangers to their lives and have in many cases led to deaths of women. This coupled with the fact that abortion is illegal in Kenya gives women limited choices in controlling their bodies and amount to injustice. This paper argues for the adoption of a constitutional construal that guarantees the realization of full scope of reproductive rights by women including the right to seek safe abortion. The author argues that continued prohibition of abortion is counterproductive as the number of unsafe abortions will continue to rise.

A Secure Social Networking Site based on OAuth Implementation

Brian, Otieno Mark,Rhee, Kyung-Hyune Korea Multimedia Society 2016 멀티미디어학회논문지 Vol.19 No.2

With the advancement in the area of cloud storage services as well as a tremendous growth of social networking sites, permission for one web service to act on the behalf of another has become increasingly vital as social Internet services such as blogs, photo sharing, and social networks. With this increased cross-site media sharing, there is a upscale of security implications and hence the need to formulate security protocols and considerations. Recently, OAuth, a new protocol for establishing identity management standards across services, is provided as an alternative way to share the user names and passwords, and expose personal information to attacks against on-line data and identities. Moreover, OwnCloud provides an enterprise file synchronizing and sharing that is hosted on user's data center, on user's servers, using user's storage. We propose a secure Social Networking Site (SSN) access based on OAuth implementation by combining two novel concepts of OAuth and OwnCloud. Security analysis and performance evaluation are given to validate the proposed scheme.