Exploring Gender Responsive Pedagogy Practices and Its Management in Higher Education Institutions: The Case of Wollo University, Ethiopia

This study focuses on exploring Wollo University’s gender responsive pedagogy (GRP) practices and the GRP management. Qualitative case study method was used for the research. Semi-structured interview and focus group discussion were used to collect the data. Three university teachers, three gender administrative office members and five female students for the were used for the purpose of in-depth interview. Besides, six female students were used for the purpose of focus group discussion.  The findings indicated the university had experiences in using gender policy and gender clubs to ensure gender equity and equality in educational delivery processes. However, it had limitations in using GRP dimensions specifically: gender receptive lesson planning; gender friendly teaching and learning materials; gender friendly language use in classrooms; gender responsive classroom interaction; addressing hidden gender-based violence and negative attitude of teachers and male students towards gender equality and equity. Additionally, the university had limitations in using gender friendly management structures that utilizes: gender policy effectively; empower students and teachers on GRP; and mainstreaming gender issues in GRP. Finally, recommendations on GRP practice and its management to GRP are discussed based on the findings of the study. Key terms: gender responsive pedagogy; practice, gender management, higher education institutions DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-16-03 Publication date:June 30th 202

Exploitation of Cell Mediated Immune Responses to Cancer Immunotherapy

Individual human tumors arise through a combination of genetic and epigenetic changes that facilitate immortality. Cancer occurs when there are changes to genes that control the way our cells grow and divide.. The increase in the prevalence of cancer with lack of specific treatment options became public health problem particularly in middle and low income nations. Activation of the immune system by products of viral oncogene prevents viral induced cancers. The in vitro stimulation of Dendritic cells with tumor or tumor antigen in the presence of cytokines for cross activation of CD8+ and CD4+ T cells or restoration of T cells functions  by blockade of immune blockers or modification tumor microenvironment or  adoptive transfer  of immune cells and stem T cells are promising cancer therapies. Compared with the convectional cancer therapies, immunotherapies are most tumors targeted without harmful side effects. DOI: 10.7176/JMPB/59-03 Publication date:September 30th 2019

Application of Biotechnology in Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Genetic Disorders

Biotechnology is the application of biological molecules to make useful products that can be used to solve problems in different sectors. Medical biotechnology in particular aims to know the root causes of genetic disorders and develop therapeutic strategies. Although human diseases are caused by different factors, those caused by genetic disorders are increasing in prevalent worldwide. Early detection and treatment of these condition is paramount important. Chemical treatments that cure only the symptom of genetic disorders were practiced so far to manage the effect. However, as a result of advances in understanding of biological molecules, treatment of the cause of the disease called gene therapy has been developed more popularity nowadays. Moreover, most research centers abandoned the classical techniques that are prone to error, and began to use high throughput technologies to correct genetic disorders. Among these, CRISPR Cas9 (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats Associated Cas9) is the most easy to use and allows precise gene editing in higher organisms to repair disease-causing genes by homologous directed repair. The recent development of modified versions CAs9 Nickase that  reduce off target effects and  the “base editor” that preform without double strand DNA break and  without the need to template indicated its application for therapeutic genome editing in man in the future. Keywords: Biotechnology, CRISPR Cas9, gene therapy, Nickase DOI: 10.7176/ALST/76-02 Publication date:September 30th 201

Extent and pattern of genetic diversity in Ethiopian white lupin landraces for agronomical and phenological traits

White lupin (Lupinus albus) is one of four economically important species of the Lupinus genus, and has been traditionally cultivated for thousands of years along the Nile valley, including in Ethiopia. An experiment comprising of 143 Ethiopian White lupin landraces and one genotype from Germany, was undertaken at Merawi in Ethiopia. The objective of the study was to cluster the Ethiopian white lupin accessions into similarity groups and assess the extent and pattern of diversity of the accessions. Data on 10 quantitative agronomic traits were recorded. Landraces significantly differed in most of the traits studied, and a significant number of local accessions performed as high as 5 metric tonnes per hectare of grain yield. Cluster analysis showed that landraces were grouped into seventeen clusters of different sizes, of which five were singletons. Some landraces were grouped together regardless of their geographic origin. On the other hand, landraces from Awi, South Gondar and West Gojam in Ethiopia were distributed over many clusters. Hence, the result did not support a definite relationship between geographic diversity and genetic diversity. Genetic distances between many pairs of clusters were significant, justifying crosses between parents from them to be desirable genetic recombinations and, hence, transgressive segregants.Keywords: Ethiopia, landrace populations, Lupinus albu

Why Has a Single Rice Cultivar Dominated the Lowland Rice Production Portfolio of Ethiopia for so Long?

አህፅሮት  ሩዝ በኢትዮጵያ የእርሻ ስርዓት ውስጥ ተመራጭ እየሆነ የመጣ ሰብል ነው፡፡ የፎገራ አካባቢ የአገሪቱን 68 ፐርሰንት የሩዝ መሬት ሽፋንና 71 ፐርሰንት ምርት ይሸፍናል፡፡ የዚህ ጥናት አላማዎች ለምን አንድ ኤክስ-ጅግና የተባለ የሩዝ ዝርያ በፎገራ አካባቢ ሳይተካ ለረጅም ጊዜ (ከ30 ዓመታት በላይ)  በምርት ሂደት ሊቆይ እንደ ቻለ እና ከዚህ ሁኔታ የሚገኙት አስተመህሮቶች ለብሔራዊ ሩዝ ምርምር ፕሮገራም የሚጠቅሙበትን ሁኔታ መሻት የሚሉ ናቸው፡፡ ኤክስ-ጅግና ከሰሜን ኮሪያ ወደ ኢትዮጵያ በ1980ዎቹ አጋማሽ የገባና በኮሪያዉያን ሳይንቲሰቶች ለፎገራ አካባቢ ተላማጅነቱ ተረጋግጦ  ወደ ማማረት ሂደት እዲገባ የተደረገ የሩዝ ዝርያ ነው፡፡ በ2009 እና 2010 ዓ.ም የተደረገ የሩዝ ዝርያ ስርፀት ጥናት አንዳመለከተው የፎገራ አካባቢ ሩዝ ልማት 81 ፐርሰንት የተሸፈነው በኤክስ-ጅግና ነው፡፡ ዝርያው ምንም እንኳን ለረጅም ጊዜ በማምረት ሂደት የቆዬ ቢሆንም ከፍተኛ ምርታማነት፤ ጥሩ የበሽታ መከላከል አቅም፤ በከፍተኛ ደረጃ በተጠቃሚዎች ተወዳጅነት (በተለይም ደግሞ ነጭ የፍሬ ቀለሙ) ባህሪያትን  እያሳዬ ይገኛል፡፡ ከዚህ በተጨማሪ አርሶ አደሮች የኤክስ-ጅግና  ዱቆቱ ወሃ ያነሳል እንጀራውም ቶሎ እይደርቅም ብለው ይገልፁታል፡፡ በአጠቃላይ አርሶ አደሮች ኤክስ-ጅግናን አብዛኛውን ተፈላጊ ባህሪያት የያዘ ዝርያ  ነው ይላሉ፡፡ የሩዝ ብሔራዊ ምርምር ፕሮገራም ከስድስት የሚበልጡ ለፎገራ አካባቢ ተስማሚና ምርታማ የተሻሻሉ የሩዝ ዝርያዎችን ለቋል፡፡ ይሁን እንጅ ከዝርያ የስርፀት ጥናት እነደምንረዳው አንዳቸውም ዝርያ ኤክስ-ጅግናን ሙሉ በሙሉ መተካት አልቻሉም፡፡ ብሔራዊ የምርምር ፕሮግራሙ ይህ ለምን እንደ ሆነ ቆም ብሎ ማሰብ ይኖርበታል፡፡ ፕሮግራሙ ከተከተለው መንገድና የተለቀቁት  ዝርያዎ አነስተኛ ስርፀጽ ከሚያመላክቱት ክፍተቶች አንዱና ዋነኛው የዝርያዎችን ነጠላ ባህሪ ማሻሻልን እንደ ስልት መከተሉ ነው፡፡ ለወደፊቱ ፕሮገራሙ ፍላጎት ተኮር እንዲሁም አብዛኛዉን ተፈላጊ ባህሪያት የሚያሟላ ዝርያ ለማውጣት በሚያስችል መልኩ መቃኘት ይኖርበታል፡፡   Abstract  Rice is becoming an enterprise of choice in the Ethiopian farming system. The Fogera plain accounts for 68% of the area and 71% of the production of rice in the country.  This paper attempts to explain why a single cultivar called ‘X-Jigna’ has dominated the lowland rice production portfolio of the Fogera plain in the country for more than 30 years and pinpoints the lessons that these inform to the national rice breeding program.  X-Jigna was introduced from North Korea and adopted and recommended by Korean scientists in mid-1980s. Rice adoption study (2016-2017) in the Fogera plain showed more than 81% X-Jigna cultivation. Despite its long time deployment into the production, it has been showing good performance in terms of grain yield, biomass yield with good palatability, good disease reaction, phenotypic acceptability, good tillering capacity, and white caryopsis color. Furthermore, the cultivar has a long and well-exerted panicle, uniform stand, good physical quality, acceptability, and wider utilization. In addition, farmers describe its quality in terms of high flour density ‘wuha yanesal’ and softness stay of the enjera. Generally, farmers describe X-Jigna as a variety that fulfills most of their important traits. The national breeding program developed at least six lowland rice improved varieties for the Fogera plain to replace X-Jigna. However, the replacement rate of the old varieties is quite low as evidenced by the high adoption rate and longtime cultivation of X-Jigna. The breeding program needs to stop by and question why this happened and the journey undergone to come here. One of the critical issues that can be learned from the over years of engagement of the breeding program is that it has followed a trait-based improvement approach to deploy new varieties, which led to the low adoption of new varieties. As a way forward, the breeding program has to be demand-driven and product-oriented

EXTENT AND PATTERN OF GENETIC DIVERSITY IN ETHIOPIAN WHITE LUPIN LANDRACES FOR AGRONOMICAL AND PHENOLOGICAL TRAITS

White lupin ( Lupinus albus ) is one of four economically important species of the Lupinus genus, and has been traditionally cultivated for thousands of years along the Nile valley, including in Ethiopia. An experiment comprising of 143 Ethiopian White lupin landraces and one genotype from Germany, was undertaken at Merawi in Ethiopia. The objective of the study was to cluster the Ethiopian white lupin accessions into similarity groups and assess the extent and pattern of diversity of the accessions. Data on 10 quantitative agronomic traits were recorded. Landraces significantly differed in most of the traits studied, and a significant number of local accessions performed as high as 5 metric tonnes per hectare of grain yield. Cluster analysis showed that landraces were grouped into seventeen clusters of different sizes, of which five were singletons. Some landraces were grouped together regardless of their geographic origin. On the other hand, landraces from Awi, South Gondar and West Gojam in Ethiopia were distributed over many clusters. Hence, the result did not support a definite relationship between geographic diversity and genetic diversity. Genetic distances between many pairs of clusters were significant, justifying crosses between parents from them to be desirable genetic recombinations and, hence, transgressive segregants.Le lupin blanc ( Lupinus albus ) est l\u2019une des quatre esp\ue8ces d\u2019importance \ue9conomique du genre Lupinus , cette esp\ue8ce a \ue9t\ue9 traditionnellement cultiv\ue9e pendant des milliers d\u2019ann\ue9es aux environs de la vall\ue9e du Nil, mais aussi en Ethiopie. Une exp\ue9rimentation comprenant 143 cultivars traditionnels de lupin blanc d\u2019origine Ethiopienne une accession d\u2019origine allemande, a \ue9t\ue9 conduite \ue0 Merawi en Ethiopie. L\u2019objectif \ue9tait de rassembler les accessions d\u2019origine Ethiopiennes au sein des groupes de similarit\ue9 et d\u2019\ue9valuer l\u2019\ue9tendue et la structure de diversit\ue9 de ces accessions. Des donn\ue9es sur 10 traits agronomiques ont \ue9t\ue9 collect\ue9es. Les cultivars ont montr\ue9 des diff\ue9rences significatives dans la plupart des traits \ue9tudi\ue9s et un nombre important d\u2019accessions ont eu des rendements impressionnants allant jusqu\u2019\ue0 5 tonnes de grains par hectare. La classification num\ue9rique a rassembl\ue9 les accessions au sein de dix-sept groups de d\u2019envergures diff\ue9rentes, dont cinq singletons. Certains cultivars ont \ue9t\ue9 group\ue9es ensemble ind\ue9pendamment de de leur origine g\ue9ographique. Par ailleurs, les accessions provenant de Awi, Gondar sud et Gojam oust en Ethiopie se sont disperses dans plusieurs groups diff\ue9rents. D\u2019o\uf9, le r\ue9sultat de l\u2019\ue9tude n\u2019a pas support\ue9 de fa\ue7on definitive la th\ue8se de relation entre l\u2019origine g\ue9ographique et la diversit\ue9 g\ue9n\ue9tique. Les distances g\ue9n\ue9tiques \ue9taient diff\ue9rentes entre plusieurs paires de groupes, justifiant ainsi que les croisements entre parents sont des d\ue9sirables de recombinaisons g\ue9n\ue9tiques, et donc s\ue9gr\ue9gants transgressifs