Measuring on Farm Diversity and Determinants of Barley Diversity in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

Maintaining on-farm diversity of crop varieties has received increasing attention as a strategy for mitigating production risk and protecting food security in resource-poor farming systems with few opportunities for insurance or trade. Barley is grown under a wide range of environmental conditions and in marginal areas or seasons where the production of other cereals is limited. Food consumption preferences and variable tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses influence the mixture and number of varieties to be grown. Phenotypic diversity was determined using Shannon diversity index. An econometric approach has been applied to identify the social and economic factors that influence levels of diversity maintained on-farm. A high phenotypic diversity index (0.79) was recorded from sampled barley varieties. Censored regression indicates that physical characteristics of the farm (land fragmentation index, farm size), agro climatic features of the site (altitude, rainfall, temperature) and household characteristics (only number of children) had a significant and positive impact on diversity and area allocation of barley. The significant negative relation of number of extension contact with barley diversity implies further attention and analysis. Key words: On farm diversity, Determinants of diversity, On farm conservation, Diversity inde

Agronomic performance of some haricot bean varieties (haseolus vulgaris L.) with and without phosphorus fertilizer under irrigated and rain fed conditions in the Tigray and Afar regional states, northern Ethiopia

Haricot bean is an important source of protein, calories and cash for small holder farmers of Ethiopia. Five genotypes of haricot bean were grown with and without phosphorous fertilizer application, under irrigation and rain fed growing conditions in randomized complete block design with three replications in three locations of the Tigray and Afar regional states, northern Ethiopia. The aim of the study was to examine the performance and select the best and well adapted varieties, as well as to determine the role of phosphorus on yield response of varieties and on root nodulation. Varieties like Awash-1 and Mexican-142 were better in terms of earliness to maturity. Variety Chore exhibits high mean grain yield (24.5 qt/ha under irrigation and 19.6 qt/ha under rainfed) followed by Awash-Melka (20.7qt/ha under irrigation and 19 qt/ha under rainfed). Phosphorus application did not significantly affect various parameters examined and its effect was erratic and inconsistent. Significant variations were observed among haricot bean varieties for number of nodules per plant. It is recommended to grow early maturing varieties Awash-1 and Mexican 142 under rain-fed and the intermediate to late maturing and better yielding varieties such as Awash-Melka and Chore under irrigation.Keywords: Haricot bean varieties, Fertilizer-P, growing season, Northern Ethiopia

A Comparative Analysis of Values-Based Leadership Theories: A Review and Future Research Agenda

This paper systematically reviews the literature on values-based leadership (VBL) theories by analyzing 161 studies published in different peer-review journals from 2000 to 2022. The study first identified the literature on VBL and found that terms “values-oriented, values-centered, or value-based” leadership are used interchangeably as a roof term for various theories focusing on the moral, authentic, principled, and ethical dimension of leadership. The literature on leadership offers different types of leadership theories that constitute VBL, but we focused on six leadership theories that are widely cited as forms of VBL and have a strong theoretical background. This was followed by a comparative analysis to identify the key theoretical components of each theory and how it relates with the other forms of VBL theories. Our results from the comparative analysis revealed that transformational leadership is a broader theory and many of the key dimensions of the other five VBL theories overlap with the essential theoretical components of transformational leadership which obviously raises a question on their distinctiveness as separate theory. Based on our literature review we offered a more comprehensive conceptual framework that can bring clarity to the concept. Finally, we presented a conclusion and forwarded an agenda for future research

Modeling of relative permeabilities including dynamic wettability transition zones

Wettability is a pore-scale property that impacts the relative movement and distribution of fluids in a porous medium. There are reservoir fluids that provoke the surface within pores to undergo a wettability change. This wettability change, in turn, alters the dynamics of relative permeabilities at the Darcy scale. Thus, modeling the impact of wettability change in relative permeabilities is essential to understand fluids interaction in porous media. In this study, we include time-dependent wettability change into the relative permeability--saturation relation by modifying the existing relative permeability function. To do so, we assume the wettability change is represented by the sorption-based model that is exposure time and chemistry dependent. This pore-scale model is then coupled with a triangular bundle-of-tubes model to simulate exposure time-dependent relative permeabilities data. The simulated data is used to characterize and quantify the wettability dynamics in the relative permeability--saturation curves. This study further shows the importance of accurate prediction of the relative permeability in a dynamically altering porous medium

Using Choice Experiments to Improve Equity in Access to Socially Marketed HIV Prevention Products

Designing strategies to introduce new HIV prevention technologies requires balancing equitable access with sustainable distribution, particularly in resource constrained settings with high HIV prevalence. This paper explores how knowledge of preference heterogeneity can guide the equitable targeting of HIV prevention products using differentiated advertising and product placement to balance increased access with sustainability. A discrete choice experiment elicited 1016 women's preferences for distribution of HIV prevention products in South Africa. Qualitative research guided the experimental design which considered distribution outlet, collection method, advertising message, and price. A range of choice models, including random parameters logit, latent class and latent class random parameters logit models, were compared for fit. A latent class model showed the best fit and distinguished two classes of women: Class 1 were significantly more likely to be cohabiting and unemployed, who preferred products advertised for HIV prevention distributed through clinics and were highly price sensitive. Class 2 significantly preferred distribution through pharmacies and advertising around women's empowerment, while price was not a key factor. This analysis suggests that equity in access to new products could be advanced through exploiting preference heterogeneity between groups. The identified groups can be then used to design social marketing differentiated distribution strategies. Distributing free products promoted for HIV prevention could discourage ‘leakage’ of highly subsidised products to women with some capacity to pay, while priced products marketed for women's empowerment through pharmacies could encourage cost recovery with minimal reductions in coverage among employed women

Concordancia entre la técnica de hemaglutinación indirecta e inmunoabsorción ligado a enzimas en el diagnóstico de toxoplasmosis porcina

El documento digital no refiere un asesorDetermina la concordancia entre las pruebas de HAI y ELISA, para detectar IgG anti-Toxoplasma gondii en el diagnóstico de toxoplasmosis porcina. El trabajo se desarrolla en 407 animales provenientes de crianzas porcinas ubicadas en la franja costera del departamento de Lima. Se colectan las muestras de sangre de cerdos en la fase de acabado, posteriormente las muestras de suero son conservadas en congelación (-70ºC) hasta su procesamiento en el Laboratorio de Parasitología de la Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria de la UNMSM. La concordancia de las técnicas diagnósticas y la seroprevalencia correspondiente se evalúan mediante dos diferentes modelos estadísticos: Indice de Kappa y la prueba de McNemar. En los resultados se halla que la concordancia entre las pruebas de HAI-ELISA a través del índice de Kapa es igual a 26% considerándose de tipo regular, con valores de 18.7 ± 3.8% por el método de HAI, y 14.7 ± 3.4%, por el método de ELISA; sin embargo, mediante la prueba de McNemar no se encuentra diferencias significativas y sugerirían que ambas técnicas son mutuamente reemplazables. Concluyendo que, como la correlación es regular, no se recomienda.Tesi

Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 354 diseases and injuries for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2017 (GBD 2017) includes a comprehensive assessment of incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability (YLDs) for 354 causes in 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2017. Previous GBD studies have shown how the decline of mortality rates from 1990 to 2016 has led to an increase in life expectancy, an ageing global population, and an expansion of the non-fatal burden of disease and injury. These studies have also shown how a substantial portion of the world's population experiences non-fatal health loss with considerable heterogeneity among different causes, locations, ages, and sexes. Ongoing objectives of the GBD study include increasing the level of estimation detail, improving analytical strategies, and increasing the amount of high-quality data. Methods We estimated incidence and prevalence for 354 diseases and injuries and 3484 sequelae. We used an updated and extensive body of literature studies, survey data, surveillance data, inpatient admission records, outpatient visit records, and health insurance claims, and additionally used results from cause of death models to inform estimates using a total of 68 781 data sources. Newly available clinical data from India, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Nepal, China, Brazil, Norway, and Italy were incorporated, as well as updated claims data from the USA and new claims data from Taiwan (province of China) and Singapore. We used DisMod-MR 2.1, a Bayesian meta-regression tool, as the main method of estimation, ensuring consistency between rates of incidence, prevalence, remission, and cause of death for each condition. YLDs were estimated as the product of a prevalence estimate and a disability weight for health states of each mutually exclusive sequela, adjusted for comorbidity. We updated the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a summary development indicator of income per capita, years of schooling, and total fertility rate. Additionally, we calculated differences between male and female YLDs to identify divergent trends across sexes. GBD 2017 complies with the Guidelines for Accurate and Transparent Health Estimates Reporting. Findings Globally, for females, the causes with the greatest age-standardised prevalence were oral disorders, headache disorders, and haemoglobinopathies and haemolytic anaemias in both 1990 and 2017. For males, the causes with the greatest age-standardised prevalence were oral disorders, headache disorders, and tuberculosis including latent tuberculosis infection in both 1990 and 2017. In terms of YLDs, low back pain, headache disorders, and dietary iron deficiency were the leading Level 3 causes of YLD counts in 1990, whereas low back pain, headache disorders, and depressive disorders were the leading causes in 2017 for both sexes combined. All-cause age-standardised YLD rates decreased by 3·9% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 3·1–4·6) from 1990 to 2017; however, the all-age YLD rate increased by 7·2% (6·0–8·4) while the total sum of global YLDs increased from 562 million (421–723) to 853 million (642–1100). The increases for males and females were similar, with increases in all-age YLD rates of 7·9% (6·6–9·2) for males and 6·5% (5·4–7·7) for females. We found significant differences between males and females in terms of age-standardised prevalence estimates for multiple causes. The causes with the greatest relative differences between sexes in 2017 included substance use disorders (3018 cases [95% UI 2782–3252] per 100 000 in males vs s1400 [1279–1524] per 100 000 in females), transport injuries (3322 [3082–3583] vs 2336 [2154–2535]), and self-harm and interpersonal violence (3265 [2943–3630] vs 5643 [5057–6302]). Interpretation Global all-cause age-standardised YLD rates have improved only slightly over a period spanning nearly three decades. However, the magnitude of the non-fatal disease burden has expanded globally, with increasing numbers of people who have a wide spectrum of conditions. A subset of conditions has remained globally pervasive since 1990, whereas other conditions have displayed more dynamic trends, with different ages, sexes, and geographies across the globe experiencing varying burdens and trends of health loss. This study emphasises how global improvements in premature mortality for select conditions have led to older populations with complex and potentially expensive diseases, yet also highlights global achievements in certain domains of disease and injury. Funding Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation