Educational data mining for students’ academic performance analysis in selected Ethiopian universities

Universities are working in a very dynamic and powerfully viable environment today. Due to the advent of information technology, they gather large volumes of data related to their students in electronic form in various formats like records, files, documents, images, sound, videos, scientific data and many new data formats. This study focuses on predicting performance of student at an early stage of the degree program, in order to help the university not only to focus more on bright students but also to initially identify students with low academic achievement and find ways to support them. The knowledge is hidden among the educational data set and it is extractable through data mining techniques. The aim of this paper is to use data mining methodologies to design and develop a Data Mining model to predict academic performance of students at the end of first year degree program in selected Ethiopian higher educational institutions (universities).The data of different undergraduate students has been mined with decision tree classifiers. A model is built using C4.5 Decision tree learning algorithm – generates five classification rule set classifiers (predictors) in an experiment. The experiment using a test data set produces 81.4% accuracy.Keywords: Educational Data, Educational Data mining, Decision tree, Classification rule, C4.

Ethnicity and Local Identity in de Folklore of the South-western Oromo of Ethiopia: a Comparative Study

Abbink, G.J. [Promotor

Prevalence and Associated Factors of Hypertension Among Civil Servants Working in Arba Minch Town, South Ethiopia

Despite Hypertension is a global public health challenge and a leading modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease and death attention was not given in developing countries. Therefore measuring the prevalence and identifying predictors of Hypertension is very important. Institution based cross sectional study design was employed from March–April, 2016 by taking 319 randomly selected civil servants working in in Arba Minch town. Data was collected using structured questionnaire and standardized instruments for physical examination by 5 trained nurses. SPSS version 20 was used for data analysis. Bi-variable and Multivariate logistic regression was employed for analysis of risk factors. The mean SBP and DBP of study participants were 120.87 + 14.15 mmHg and 80.28 + 8.8 mmHg, respectively. The prevalence of hypertension was found to be 27.8% (95% CI = 22.9-32.7%). Civil servants of age 50 years and above [AOR = 13.3], age 40-49 years [AOR = 5], age 30-39 years [AOR = 3.5], abdominal obesity [AOR=12.2], general obesity [AOR = 4.2], stress status [AOR = 12.3], current alcohol drink [AOR = 3.3], ex-drinker [AOR = 8.9] and family history of hypertension [AOR = 5.6] were found to be significantly associated with hypertension. The prevalence indicates that it is hidden epidemic in this population; therefore for screening and risk reduction program are needed

Incidence of Opportunistic Infections Among Adult HIV Positive People Receiving Co-trimoxazole Prophylaxis

In Ethiopia, Co-trimoxazole prophylaxis therapy (CPT) used to prevent opportunistic infections among people living with HIV is the standard of practice; however incidence of opportunistic infection and their predictors are rarely documented in the country. This was a retrospective follow up study to describe the incidence and predictors of opportunistic infections among 244 adults receiving CPT. Participants were followed for a median time of 72 weeks. During a study period a total of 53opportunistic infections were recorded; making the overall incidence rate 23.9/100 person-years. High incidence of opportunistic infections is likely to occur if: the clients were married (adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) 1.965;(95% CI: 1.109, 3.451), had history of tuberculosis treatment (AHR: 2.34(95% CI:1.05, 5.24)), patients who are indicated for CPT because of both clinical and WHO clinical staging criteria(AHR 2.418 (95% CI:1.02, 5.72 ),and had poor adherence to CPT (AHR, 2.11 (95% CI: 1.19-3.72)). Eventhough adherence is non-substitutable strategy to prevent opportunistic infection, the cohort of HIV patients failed to adhere to CPT, which in turn resulthigh incidence of opportunistic infections among them, therefore improving adherence as guideline should be a priority to prevent OIs among people living with HIV in the study region

Location of the Zeros of Certain Complex-Valued Harmonic Polynomials

Finding an approximate region containing all the zeros of analytic polynomials is a well-studied problem. But the numb er of the zeros and regions containing all the zeros of complex-valued harmonic polynomials is relatively a fresh research area. It is well known that all the zeros of analytic trinomials are enclosed in some annular sectors that take into account the magnitude of the coefficients. Following Kennedy and Dehmer, we provide the zero inclusion regions of all the zeros of complex-valued harmonic polynomials in general, and in particular, we bound all the zeros of some families of harmonic trinomials in a certain annular region.Comment: 8 page

Byssinosis and other respiratory symptoms among factory workers in Akaki textile factory, Ethiopia

Background: Textile cotton workers are at risk for occupational lung disease, including Byssinosis and chronic Bronchitis. Byssinosis is primarily associated with exposure to cotton dust.Objectives: To determine the prevalence of and factors associated with byssinosis and respiratory symptoms among workers in cotton mills of Akaki textile factory.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 417 randomly selected factory workers. Information was collected through interview using the modified American Thoracic Society standard respiratory symptoms questionnaires. Forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC) and FEV1/FVC ratio were measured using portable medical spirometers. Area sampling for cotton dust concentration in the work environment was measured using Data RAM 4 real time measurement for 8 hours during a day shift.Results: The highest prevalence of respiratory symptoms was found in the carding section - cough 77%, phlegm 62%, chest tightness 46% and dyspnea 62%. The Overall prevalence of chronic bronchitis was 32%. Those working in the carding section appeared 13 times more likely to have chronic bronchitis compared to other sections (Adjusted OR=13.4, 95% CI 3.43-52.6). The prevalence of byssinosis was 38%; the highest being recorded in the carding section at 84.6%. High exposure to cotton dust was noted among those in the blowing and carding section at mean dust levels of 32.2 mg/m3 and 8 mg/m3, respectively. About 11% of byssinotics developed severe chronic FEV1 changes. Conclusion: This study provides evidence of a strong relationship between exposure to cotton dust and byssinosis and other respiratory impairments, which is mediated through chronic ventilator impairments. Preventive measures are warranted in order to reduce the high prevalence of byssinosis and other respiratory disorders in textile manufacturing. [Ethiop. J .Health Dev. 2010;24(2):133-139

Magnitude and Associated Factors of Neural Tube Defects in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Neural tube defects remain a major problem in developing countries, but there are limited comprehensive national reports to date in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the prevalence of neural tube defects and associated factors in Ethiopia. Electronic databases and other sources were used to retrieve studies. Fifteen out of 862 studies were included in the final analysis. The estimated pooled prevalence of neural tube defects among children in Ethiopia was 63.3 cases per 10 000 children. The pooled prevalence of spinal bifida, anencephaly, and encephalocele was 41.09, 18.90, and 1.07 per 10 000 children, respectively. Previous family history and unplanned pregnancy were risk factors for neural tube defects. Folic acid supplementation during the first trimester of pregnancy was found to be protective. Neural tube defects are widespread in Ethiopia. Hence, fortification of food with folic acid or folic acid supplementation during childbearing age is recommended