Inadequate or ineffective health financing poses a significant challenge to the Government of Lao People’s Democratic Republic’s goal of achieving universal health coverage by 2030. Here we explore possible application in the Lao context of the Center for Global Development’s New Compact approach, including locally-led evidence-informed prioritisation, domestic financing and consolidated supplementary aid. Using WHO’s political economy analysis guide we identify opportunities and barriers and propose a road map towards implementation of the New Compact. This includes firstly, increasing local capacity and systems to generate and use evidence in policy and resource allocation decisions, starting with specific use cases related to the Essential Services Health Package and vaccines portfolio. Secondly, shifting available domestic resources to highest priority services, including at the primary health care level, based on deeper understanding of existing funding and where efficiency, cost-effectiveness and equity can be optimised. Thirdly, improving government and donor coordination aligned to national priorities and gradually increasing funds pooling as feasible.

This paper presents a compact, ultrawideband (UWB), high-gain antipodal Vivaldi antenna (AVA), which consists of two metal layers and a dielectric substrate. The top metal layer is a radiation fin with a microstrip feeding line, and the bottom metal layer is composed of the same radiation fin with a gradient grounding line and a clover-shaped director. Here, the director composed of three elliptical parasitic patches is employed along the radiation direction to enhance the gain. In order to expand the operating bandwidth and further improve the gain, a comb-like radiation fin with four gradual partially elliptical slots in its outer side is introduced to expand the surface current path and reduce reverse current; therefore, the presented AVA is only 0.75λL × 0.30λL × 0.007λL, where λL is the wavelength at the lowest operating frequency. Simulation and measurement results show that the proposed AVA possesses a frequency range from 2.2 to 48 GHz. The peak realized gain is over 14.3 dBi at 12 GHz, and the average gain within the entire operating frequency band is over 10.9 dBi. As a result, the proposed AVA is a good candidate for those applications that require UWB, high-gain, and miniaturized antennas.

An highly miniaturized multiband polarizer for C to Ka-band applications is proposed. The polarizer design consists of resonating patch printed on top of the FR-4 grounded substrate. During reflection, the x/y polarized incident EM wave becomes circularly polarized with Axial Ratio (AR ≤ 3 dB) from 7.88 to 8.01 GHz, 9.01 to 11.65 GHz, 15.36 to 36.57 GHz, and 31.88 to 35.38 GHz, respectively. In addition, this design also demonstrates linear–cross conversion with a minimum 90% Polarization Conversion Ratio (PCR) from 8.28 to 8.60 GHz, 12.56 to 14.19 GHz, and 28.26 to 30.59 GHz. Transfer Matrix Method (TMM) explains the polarization conversion phenomena, and surface current distribution at resonant frequencies supports the multi-polarization conversion phenomena. The proposed design is compact with a periodicity of 0.063λL × 0.076 λL, where λL is the free-space wavelength corresponding to the lowest operating frequency. The fabricated prototype is verified experimentally. The authors believe that the features of the proposed design, like multiband, miniaturized unit cell architecture, and better angular stability, make it a promising contender for satellite applications.

The global utility of acceptance and commitment therapy highlights the need for adapting measures that can effectively capture the richness of psychological flexibility. One such instrument is the Comprehensive Assessment of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Processes (CompACT). We translated the CompACT into Luganda and adapted it for use in Uganda. The original CompACT was translated into the Luganda language and reviewed through a series of evaluations. Nine mental health professionals participated in one-on-one interviews, while a focus group of eight culturally competent laypersons provided further insights. Their feedback resulted in revisions to enhance the instrument’s clarity, relevance, acceptability and completeness. The revised version was then cognitively tested with n = 25 trainees at Makerere University. Input from these various groups was synthesized and triangulated to develop the final version. A total of 23 items were adapted to improve the comprehensibility and completeness of the scale. Overall, respondents deemed the tool clear and acceptable. This study highlights the importance of a rigorous adaptation process, including translation, expert review, cognitive testing and feedback triangulation, to ensure psychological measures remain valid and relevant across cultures. Such an approach ensures accuracy in diverse contexts and provides a model for adapting psychological instruments for non-Western populations.

A compact microstrip eight-channel diplexer based on quad-mode stepped impedance resonator (QMSIR) is proposed in this paper. The proposed diplexer is composed by two second-order quad-band bandpass filters (BPFs) and common-port distributed coupling matching circuit. Each quad-band BPF is formed by two coupled-QMSIRs controlling the passband characteristics. By introducing multiple coupling paths between input and output ports, the isolation between the eight channels is performed. For demonstration, an eight-channel diplexer based on QMSIR is designed and fabricated with microstrip technology. The use of the QMSIR can lead to significant size reduction for the multiplexer, this is because the required resonator number is reduced. As a result, the diplexer occupies a compact size of 0.083λ2, which is smaller than most of the eight-channel diplexers that have been proposed. And the 3 dB fractional bandwidth is 97% (2.5–7.2 GHz). Measurement results correlate well with the simulated predictions, showing that a good isolation of better than 20 dB and upper stopband of better than 10 dB.

This article presents an ultrawide bandpass filter structure developed along a notch band using a small rectangular impedance resonator. The proposed filter structure consists of a coupled rectangular resonator (CRR), open stub, and composited split ring resonator (CSRR) at the bottom of the structure. In-band and out-of-band properties are improved by the CRR and open stub. The notch band is obtained by placing CSRR below the rectangular resonator. A filter with a compact size of 0.15 × 0.10 λg is obtained at a lowered cutoff frequency of 3.0 GHz, where λg is the corresponding guided wavelength. The proposed structure has been constructed on 5880 Rogers substrate with a thickness of 0.787 mm and a dielectric constant of 2.2. Additionally, equivalent lumped parameters were obtained, and a lumped equivalent circuit was created to explain how the suggested filter operated. The Electromagnetic (EM)-simulated results are in good agreement with the circuit-simulated and measured result. The various machine learning approaches such as artificial neural network, K-nearest neighbour, decision tree, random forest (RF), and extreme gradient boosting algorithms are applied to optimize the design, in which RF algorithms achieve more than 90% accuracy for predicting the S parameters of the ultrawideband filter.

This paper presents a novel compact self-quintuplexing antenna using a half-mode substrate-integrated waveguide cavity to implement multi-operation wireless services. The proposed antenna design incorporates five triangular protrusions of different dimensions, assembled with SIW to function as the radiating elements. Each radiator supports the one-eighth mode of the SIW cavity. The resonance frequencies of radiators are 3.63, 4.44, 5.23, 6.21, and 7.05 GHz. Each radiator operates at a distinct frequency due to the differing dimensions and is independently driven by 50 Ω microstrip lines. The measured reflection coefficients and isolation among any two ports are less than −10 dB and better than 23.6 dB, respectively. The measured gains at their respective resonant frequencies are 5.66, 4.84, 5.03, 7.08, and 6.59 dBi. The front-to-back ratio is better than 8.7 dB in each band. The difference of co-to-cross-polarization is greater than 19.3 dB.

This article presents the modeling and realization of a compact substrate integrated coaxial line (SICL) based butler matrix operating at 5 GHz for beam-forming applications. The proposed 4 × 4 butler matrix is developed using SICL-based hybrid coupler, crossover, and phase shifter. A compact 90∘ coupler comprising of center tapped unequal stubs is designed to enhance the size reduction as well as to extend the out of band rejection. Wideband SICL-based crossover operating from DC to 10 GHz is conceived for the proposed butler matrix using a plated through hole as transition. The SICL crossover features very high measured isolation of 65 dB owing to the reduction in coupling between the two signal paths within a lateral footprint of only 0.034 $\lambda_g^2$. A meandered SICL-based line is used in order to provide the necessary 45∘ and 0∘ phase shift to realize the butler matrix. The fully shielded and self-packaged compact 4 × 4 SICL-based butler matrix is fabricated and experimentally validated to operate at 5 GHz.

In this paper, a new method based on a genetic algorithm and Minkowski Island fractal is proposed for multiband antennas. Three-antenna configurations are chosen to validate the proposed optimization procedure. The first configuration is a wide-band antenna, operating in the WLAN (wireless local area network) UNII-2C band. The second configuration is a dual-band antenna, operating in the WLAN UNII-2 and UNII-2C bands. In contrast, the third is a tri-band antenna operating in the UNII-2, UNII-2C, and UNII-3 bands. The optimization process is accelerated by using the Computer Simulation Technology (CST) Application Programming Interface which allows all genetic operators to be performed in MATLAB while the numerical calculations are running in the internal CST Finite-Difference Time-Domain -solver using parallel computing with GPU acceleration. All three designed configurations are manufactured using a $\textstyle0.8\;\text{mm}$ thick FR4 epoxy substrate with a relative dielectric constant of $4.8$. The return loss and the radiation pattern’s measurements agree well with the simulation results. Further, the methodology presented can be very effective in terms of size reduction; the designed antennas are $24 \times 24 \times 0.8\;{\textrm{m}}{{\textrm{m}}^3}$ ($460\;{\textrm{m}}{{\textrm{m}}^3}$).

This contribution presents miniaturization techniques for folded circular substrate integrated waveguide (FCSIW) cavity filters. The cavities support dual-mode operation. Two of these cavities are combined to form a fourth-order filter. Two filter designs are implemented. The first one serves as a reference and exhibits good manufacturability. For the second one, the cavity is modified, which leads to $50\%$ more compactness. The designs are experimentally verified with 10 GHz bandpass filters. Even though the achieved level of compactness requires higher technological effort, the measurements validate the miniaturization concept. The out-of-band rejection exceeds 40 dB between 11.2 and 30 GHz for the reference filter and between 11.3 and 33 GHz for the miniaturized one. The implemented components are compared with state-of-the-art filters.

This work proposes a novel, extremely miniaturized wideband linear–circular and linear–cross metasurface-enabled reflective polarizer. This design comprises a Meander-line structure with horizontal dipoles as the top frequency selective surface, printed on a 1 mm thin-grounded FR-4 substrate. The x/y-polarized incident electromagnetic wave is converted as circularly polarized from 10.60 to 10.92 GHz (LHCP/RHCP), 12.12 to 17.32 GHz (RHCP/LHCP), and 22.72 to 37.76 GHz (LHCP/RHCP) during reflection with 2.97, 35.33, and 49.74% Fractional Bandwidth (FBW). In addition, this design shows linear–cross conversion with a minimum 90% polarization conversion ratio from 11.41 to 12, 19.01 to 22.34, and 40.74 to 46.82 GHz with an FBW of 5.04, 16.11, and 13.89%. The device performance is considerably stable under different oblique incidences, and the polarizer's unitcell is compact with a structural periodicity of 0.089 × 0.064 $\lambda _L^2$, and ultra-thin low-profile substrate thickness of 0.035λL. The proposed prototype is fabricated, and the measured results are in good agreement with the simulated one. This article also mentions how this polarizer could be tuned for dual-band K- and Ka-band satellite applications. The authors believe that the design's novelty lies in the multiband conversion with circular-polarization orthogonality, a highly miniaturized unitcell's volume of 0.199 $\lambda _L^3$/1000, and better angular stability made this design a potential candidate for real-time satellite applications.

This paper furnishes a compact modified hourglass-shaped aperture-coupled antenna for radar applications. The effect of slots of various shapes and various slot lengths on the input impedance, radiation pattern, and gain of the antenna are analyzed. The proposed antenna, designed using a modified hourglass-shaped aperture, offers a gain of 8.214 dBi for an compact antenna with a dimension of 20.4 × 20.4 × 1.041 mm3 and an aperture area of 2.495 mm2. Implementation of this proposed modified hourglass-shaped aperture offers a high gain per unit radiating patch area of 40.26 dB/$\lambda _g ^2$ and a high gain per unit aperture area of 1324.84 dB/$\lambda _g ^2$. The proposed aperture feeds a circular patch which radiates at its resonant frequency of 10.5 GHz. The proposed design is fabricated and the simulated results are verified experimentally. Equivalent circuit analysis is also done. A measured gain of 7.2 dBi is observed at 10.5 GHz. The physical area of the antenna is reduced without compromising the gain by judiciously choosing the shape of slot with more degree of freedom for impedance matching. The proposed antenna is well suited for the unit cell of phased array antennas for X-band missile radar applications.

In this paper, a broadband, low insertion loss, and compact folded substrate integrated waveguide (FSIW) phase shifter is proposed for the first time. By loading the complementary split-ring resonators (CSRRs) on the middle metal layer of the FSIW, a closed-type slow-wave transmission line (TL) is obtained, which can provide a wideband phase shift (39%) compared with the equal-length fast-wave one. The enclosed structure of the CSRR-loaded FSIW prevents the CSRRs from radiation as suffered in the previous reported CSRR-loaded TLs, resulting in a low insertion loss. This feature greatly reduces the amplitude imbalance between the main line and the reference line of the phase shifter. In addition, no transition structure is required between the FSIWs with and without CSRRs for broadband impedance matching, which makes the phase shifter more compact and easier to integrate with other FSIW devices. To validate the performance of the proposed phase shifter and to illustrate its ease integration, a novel FSIW 180° directional coupler that consists of an FSIW 90° coupler and an FSIW 90° phase shifter is designed, fabricated, and measured. The measured results agree well with the simulated data.

A compact ultrawideband (UWB) antenna with reconfigurable triple band notch characteristics is proposed in this paper. The antenna consists of a coplanar waveguide-fed top-cut circular-shaped radiator with two etched C-shaped slots, a pair of split-ring resonators (SRRs) on the backside and four p-type intrinsic n-type (PIN) diodes integrated in the slots and SRRs. By controlling the current distribution in the slots and SRRs, the antenna can realize eight band notch states with independent switch ability, which allows UWB to coexist with 5G (3.3–4.4 GHz)/WiMAX (3.3–3.6 GHz), WLAN (5.15–5.825 GHz), and X-band (7.9–8.4 GHz) bands without interference. By utilizing a nested structure of C-shaped slots and SRRs on the backside, a compact size of 18 × 19.5 mm2 is achieved along with multimode triple band notch reconfigurability. The antenna covers a bandwidth of 3.1–10.6 GHz. A prototype is fabricated and tested. The simulated and experimental results are in good agreement.