Editors\u27 Note

Dear colleagues, The International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning is undergoing some major changes. The layout of the journal has been overhauled, giving it a look that better aligns with the quality of the content. As we continue to struggle with SoTL “counting” as scholarship at some institutions, it is important to package our work in a way that reinforces its value. We hope you enjoy the new look! Articles are being assigned DOI (digital object identifier) numbers. All articles, past and present, will be tagged and linked to metadata as indexing is completed over the next year. Review Board membership is being updated. Reviewers play a critical role in maintaining the quality of publications, so it is important to keep a robust board with diverse expertise. Current board members will be notified and asked to verify their status and willingness to continue to serve. We will also be adding new members; nominations or self-nominations for the Review Board can be sent to [email protected]. While many things are changing, the scope of the journal will remain the same. We encourage everyone to continue to submit research articles or reflective SoTL essays. This is an exciting time for us and we welcome any feedback or suggestions that you may have concerning these changes! Respectfully, Delena Bell Gatch & Laura B. Regassa Editor

Editors\u27 Note

Transition

Editors\u27 Note

Dear colleagues, The International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning is undergoing some major changes. The layout of the journal has been overhauled, giving it a look that better aligns with the quality of the content. As we continue to struggle with SoTL “counting” as scholarship at some institutions, it is important to package our work in a way that reinforces its value. We hope you enjoy the new look! Articles are being assigned DOI (digital object identifier) numbers. All articles, past and present, will be tagged and linked to metadata as indexing is completed over the next year. Review Board membership is being updated. Reviewers play a critical role in maintaining the quality of publications, so it is important to keep a robust board with diverse expertise. Current board members will be notified and asked to verify their status and willingness to continue to serve. We will also be adding new members; nominations or self-nominations for the Review Board can be sent to [email protected]. While many things are changing, the scope of the journal will remain the same. We encourage everyone to continue to submit research articles or reflective SoTL essays. This is an exciting time for us and we welcome any feedback or suggestions that you may have concerning these changes! Respectfully, Delena Bell Gatch & Laura B. Regassa Editor

Investigation of the mechanical properties of Acacia tortilis fiber reinforced natural composite

The work presented in this paper is motivated by the fact that use of natural fiber materials for structural and non-structural applications have increased within the last two decades. In addition to the known benefits of composite materials as structural elements such as high specific modulus, high specific strength and low thermal conductivity, composites of natural fibers are eco-friendly materials and have minimum effect on environment and human health. However, the mechanical and structural performance of diverse natural fiber composites still need closer scrutiny. The objective of this study is to characterize the mechanical properties of a novel Acacia tortilis fiber reinforced polyester composite using experimental methods. In particular, the study focuses on determining the tensile and flexural properties of the composite at different fiber volume ratio, which was fabricated by hand lay-up methods. The results show that Acacia tortilis fiber reinforced polyester composites have generally competitive strength and Young’s modulus compared with common natural fiber reinforced composites such as sisal, kenaf, coir natural fiber reinforced composite materials. In addition, NaOH treated samples exhibited higher strength and Young’s modulus compared with their untreated counterparts, with few exceptions.publishedVersio

Fasciolosis: Prevalence, financial losses due to liver condemnation and evaluation of a simple sedimentation diagnostic technique in cattle slaughtered at Hawassa Municipal abattoir, southern Ethiopia

This study was carried out from November 2007 to April 2008 to determine the prevalence of fasciolosis and costs incurred due to liver condemnation and evaluate the sensitivity of direct sedimentation method for diagnosis of fasciolosis in cattle slaughtered at Hawassa Municipal abattoir. A total of 3251 adult indigenous cattle were slaughtered at the abattoir during the study period, of which 931 animals (28.63%) were found to be positive for fasciolosis. There was a statistically significant (χ2 = 33.10; p = 0.004) variation in prevalence between the study months where the highest (35.6%) and lowest (21.03%) prevalence were recorded in February and April, respectively. Fasciola hepatica (58.9%) was the predominant fluke identified compared to F. gigantica (10.6%). Mixed infections by both species and unidentified immature flukes were detected in 14.7% and 15.8% of the affected livers, respectively. The mean fluke burden in the affected livers was 55 flukes per liver. As to the severity of infection, 36.63%, 52.31% and 11.06% were lightly, moderately and severely affected, respectively. Moderately affected livers showed the highest mean fluke count (69 ± 1.91) followed by severely (48 ± 1.71) and lightly affected ones (25 ± 1.75) signifying the presence of acquired resistance and local tissue reaction as chronicity of infection supervenes. Taking liver examination as gold standard for diagnosis of fasciolosis, the sensitivity of the direct sedimentation technique was found to be 67.13% and the specificity 100% with substantial agreement (k = 0.74) between the two methods. The financial loss due to liver condemnation was estimated to be 106,400 Ethiopian birr (8312.5 USD) per annum. In conclusion, the observation of such a level of infection in the dry season, high fluke pathogenicity and substantial financial loss associated with condemnation of infected livers warrants the institution of appropriate control measures. Keywords: Cattle, fasciolosis, financial loss, Hawassa abattoir, prevalence, southern Ethiopi

Access to credit and heterogeneous effects on agricultural technology adoption: Evidence fromlarge rural surveys in Ethiopia

Modern agricultural technologies hold huge potential for increasing productivity and reducing poverty in developing countries. However, adoption levels of these technologies have remained disappointingly low in Africa. This paper analyzes the effect of access to credit on the likelihood of adoption and use intensity of chemical fertilizers using data from large rural surveys in Ethiopia. Using a heteroscedasticity-based identification strategy to address the endogenous nature of access to credit, we find that access to credit has significant positive effects on adoption and intensity of use of chemical fertilizers. However, important heterogeneities are observed. Credit obtained from formal sources is more important for the intensity of use than for the decision to adopt chemical fertilizers. Credit taken with the primary purpose of financing agricultural inputs is more likely to promote adoption of chemical fertilizers than credit taken per se. Furthermore, reported credit effects are larger when estimated against the sample of credit-constrained non-users as compared with the pool of the whole sample of credit non-users. The results remain robust to several sensitivity analyses. Our results yield useful implications for the design, promotion, and targeting of credit services to leverage their effect on adoption of agricultural technologies

Cryptosporidium in Calves, Lambs and Kids at Haramaya, eastern Ethiopia

A cross sectional study was carried out from November 2010 to April 2011 to determine the prevalence of Cryptosporidium in calves, lambs and kids and to assess potential risk factors in Haramaya, eastern Ethiopia. Hence, fecal samples from a total of 237 study animals (133 calves, 63 lambs and 41 kids) were tested with Sheather’s flotation technique and Modified Ziehl-Neelsen Staining. Accordingly, the overall prevalence was found to be 23.6% (56/237) with the prevalence of 27.8% (37/133) in calves, 22.2% (14/63) in lambs and 12.2% (5/41) in kids. The prevalence of Cryptosporidium significantly (p = 0.047) varied with species of study animals being three times higher likelihood of occurrence in calves compared to its chance of occurrence in kids (OR = 2.8, 95%CI = 1.0, 7.6). No significant difference in prevalence was observed between kids and lambs. The occurrence of the disease was also assessed among the species of animals by taking into consideration different demographic characteristic of the animals including breed, age and sex. For caprine, the prevalence was higher in the cross breed animals (28.6%) followed by the breed of Hararge highland (25%) with no report of the disease in Boer and Ogaden breeds. In ovine, no association was observed between the infection occurrence and the potential risk factors. Analysis of the risk factors in bovine revealed a significant (p = 0.044) difference in disease occurrence among age groups with almost three times more likelihood of the disease occurrence in calves under 3 months than older age category(OR = 2.9, 95%CI = 1.0, 8.2). In conclusion, this study demonstrated the importance of Cryptosporidium in young ruminants with a higher prevalence among calves than lambs and kids.Key words: Cryptosporidium; Prevalence; Risk Factors; Calves, Lambs, Kids, Haramaya, Ethiopi

Farmers’ preferences and willingness to pay for traits of sorghum varieties: Informing product development and breeding programs in Tanzania

Smallholder farmers’ decisions to adopt improved varieties are expected to be critically governed by their preferences and willingness to pay for different traits of these varieties. This study examined farmers’ preferences for sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) variety attributes and estimated their willingness to pay (WTP) for these attributes using choice experiment data from >1,300 sorghum farmers in Tanzania. Empirical findings showed that farmers had strong preferences for sorghum varieties that were tolerant to environmental stresses, high yielding, early maturing, fetching higher grain prices, and white in color. Significant heterogeneity was observed in farmers’ preferences across various traits. The WTP estimates revealed that farmers were willing to pay the highest premium for tolerance to environmental stresses, amounting, on average, to three times higher than the WTP for other traits. Our results have important implications for demand-driven variety development that could contribute to improving crop productivity and household welfare

Livestock producers' knowledge, attitude, and behavior (KAB) regarding antimicrobial use in Ethiopia

Introduction: Inappropriate antimicrobial use (AMU) in livestock production is an important aspect of the global burden of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). In Ethiopia, a low-income country with a large and increasing livestock population, AMU in food animals is not properly regulated. Hence, farmers are fully free to use antimicrobials to their (perceived) benefit. Therefore, understanding farmers' mindsets is important to improve antimicrobial stewardship in the livestock sector. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted to assess livestock disease management practices and knowledge, attitude, and behavior (KAB) among livestock producers regarding AMU, residues, and resistance, as well as factors potentially explaining differences in KAB. We determined the KAB of livestock owners of three selected districts of central and western Ethiopia (n = 457), using a pretested questionnaire administered through face-to-face interviews. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between potential explanatory variables and the KAB scores of the respondents. Results: The results showed that 44% of the farmers used antimicrobials in the past few years, where antibiotics (21%) and trypanocides (11%) were most widely used to manage livestock diseases. Furthermore, most farmers showed poor knowledge about AMU, residues, and AMR (94%) and unfavorable attitudes (<50% correct answers) toward contributing factors for AMR (97%). On the contrary, 80% of the respondents had overall good behavior scores (≥50% correct answers) related to AMU. Multivariate analysis results showed that having good knowledge, keeping ≥2 animal species, and the occurrence of ≥4 livestock diseases on the farm in a year were strong predictors of bad behavior scores (p < 0.05). The findings of the current investigation also revealed that the incidence of livestock diseases on the farm and a higher level of formal education significantly contributed to better knowledge and desirable attitudes but bad AMU behavior. Conclusion: A low level of awareness about and undesirable attitudes toward AMU and AMR could potentially affect farmers' behavior toward judicious AMU, thus requiring awareness creation efforts on livestock disease management practices

Systematic review and meta-analysis: prevalence of alcohol use among young people in eastern Africa.

OBJECTIVE: Systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies of alcohol use among young people (age 15-24 years) in eastern Africa to estimate prevalence of alcohol use and determine the extent of use of standardised screening questionnaires in alcohol studies. METHODS: Five databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, Global Health, Africa-wide, and PsycINFO) were searched for publications until 30th June 2013. Results were summarised using the guidelines on preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) and on quality assessment using the modified quality assessment tool for systematic reviews of observational studies (QATSO). Heterogeneity was assessed using the I(2) statistic (DerSimonian-Laird). RESULTS: We identified 2785 potentially relevant studies, of which 56 were eligible for inclusion. Only two studies (4%) used the standardised Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) questionnaire, and six studies (13%) used the Cut down, Annoyed, Guilt, Eye opener (CAGE) questionnaire. The reported median prevalence of alcohol use was ever-use 52% [interquartile range (IQR): 20-58%], use in the last month 28% (IQR: 17-37%), use in the last year 26% (IQR: 22-32%), and problem drinking as defined by CAGE or AUDIT 15% (IQR: 3-36%). We observed high heterogeneity between studies, with the highest prevalence of ever use of alcohol among university students (82%; 95%CI: 79-85%) and female sex workers (66%; 95%CI: 58-74%). Current use was most prevalent among male sex workers (69%; 95%CI: 63-75%). CONCLUSIONS: Reported alcohol use and problem drinking were common among diverse groups of young people in eastern Africa, indicating the urgent need for alcohol-focused interventions in this population. Few studies have used standardised alcohol screening questionnaires. Epidemiological research to investigate alcohol-focused interventions in young people should aim to apply such questionnaires that should be validated for use in this population