Determinants of farmers’ innovativeness in Alaba special Woreda, Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region, Ethiopia

For agriculture to enter a phase of self sustained growth and national progress to occur in the developing countries, agricultural transformation is essential. A great deal of the responsibility for bringing about this transformation rests on the shoulders of extension workers, researchers, development practitioners, and institutions involved in rural development. For extension workers, researchers, development practitioners, etc. to be successful in achieving this objective, they have to play a crucial role in increasing farmers’ competency, which is seen in their effort and ability to innovate. Strategies dealing with the diversity, complexity and variability of African rain-fed agriculture, from the start, incorporated reliance on farmers’ own knowledge and on their innovative capacity. The major concern of this study was, therefore, to identify demographic & personal, socio-cultural, wealth-related and institutional factors that could determine farmers’ innovativeness in the study area. The study was conducted in Alaba special wareda, Southern Nations, Nationalities & Peoples Regional State, Ethiopia. Multistage sampling procedure was employed to select PAs and respondents. Accordingly, six PAs were selected using Probability Proportional to Size sampling method from the two Farming Systems, viz. Teff/Haricot bean & Pepper/Livestock Farming Systems available in the area. A total of 180 farmers were interviewed to generate primary data. Interview schedule was developed, pre-tasted & used for the collection of the essential quantitative & qualitative data for the study. In addition, secondary data were collected from relevant sources. Binary logit model was employed to identify the determinant factors in farmers’ innovativeness. 16 explanatory variables were used for the binary logit model, out of which 8 were found to be significant to affect farmers’ innovativeness. These were time spent in the locality, farm experience, family size, number of livestock owned in TLU, participation in non-farm activities, mass media exposure ( frequency of radio listening), extension contact (Contact with Subject Matter Specialists and contact with woreda extension officials). Any effort in promoting farmers’ innovativeness, therefore, should consider these factors. If the same are taken in to account, any attempt to promote agricultural transformation through farmers’ innovativeness could be successful

Community Attitude and Associated Factors towards People with Mental Illness among Residents of Worabe Town, Silte Zone, Southern Nation's Nationalities and People's Region, Ethiopia.

BackgroundMental illnesses worldwide are accompanied by another pandemic, that of stigma and discrimination. Public understanding about mental illnesses and attitudes towards people with mental illness play a paramount role in the prevention and treatment of mental illness and the rehabilitation of people with mental illness.ObjectiveTo assess community attitude and associated factors towards people with mental illness.MethodsCommunity based cross-sectional study was conducted from April 28 to May 28, 2014. Quantitative data were collected through interview from 435 adults selected using simple random sampling. Data were collected using community attitude towards mentally ill (CAMI) tool to assess community attitude towards people with mental illness and associated factors. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to identify predictors of community attitude towards people with mental illness and the level of significance association was determined by beta with 95% confidence interval and P less than 0.05.ResultsThe highest mean score was on social restrictiveness subscale (31.55±5.62). Farmers had more socially restrictive view (β = 0.291, CI [0.09, 0.49]) and have less humanistic view towards mentally ill (β = 0.193, CI [-0.36, -0.03]). Having mental health information had significantly less socially restrictive (β = -0.59, CI [-1.13, -0.05]) and less authoritarian (β = -0.10, CI [-1.11, -0.06]) view towards mentally ill but respondents who are at university or college level reported to be more socially restrictive (β = 0.298, CI [0.059, 0.54]). Respondents whose age is above 48 years old had significantly less view of community mental health ideology (β = -0.59, CI [-1.09, -0.08]).Conclusion and recommendationResidents of Worabe town were highly socially restrictive but less authoritarian. There was high level of negative attitude towards people with mental illness along all the subscales with relative variation indicating a need to develop strategies to change negative attitude attached to mental illness in Worabe town at community level

Prevalence of Common Mental Disorders and Associated Factors among People with Glaucoma Attending Outpatient Clinic at Menelik II Referral Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

BackgroundThe burden of blindness from glaucoma is high. Therefore, people suffering from a serious eye disease such as glaucoma, which can lead to blindness, usually have an emotional disturbance on the patient. Untreated psychiatric illness is associated with increased morbidity and increased costs of care.ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess prevalence of common mental disorders and associated factors among people with Glaucoma attending Menelik II referral hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2014.MethodsInstitution based Cross-sectional study design was conducted in the Department of Ophthalmology Menelik II Referral Hospital from April 10 to May 15, 2014. 423 participants who had undergone through investigation, examination and diagnosed as patients of glaucoma were selected randomly from the glaucoma clinic. Data were collected through face to face interview using Self Reporting Questionnaire consisted of 20 items. Study subjects who scored ≥11 from SRQ-20 were considered as having common mental disorders. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analysis with 95% CI were done and variables with PResultsFour hundred five patients with glaucoma were included in our study with response rate of 95.7% and 64.5% were males. The average age was 59±13.37 years. Common mental disorders were observed in 23.2% of Glaucoma patients. It is quite obvious that levels of CMDs were high among patients with glaucoma. There was a significant association between age, sex, chronic physical illness, income and duration of illness at P Conclusion and recommendationSymptoms of common mental disorders were the commonest comorbidities among patients with glaucoma. It will be better to assess and treat Common mental disorders as a separate illness in patients with glaucoma

Boron-based nanostructures : synthesis, functionalization, and characterization

Advisors: Narayan S. Hosmane.Committee members: Jon Carnahan; Timothy Hagen; Yassuo Ito; Chong Zheng.Boron-based nanostructures have not been explored in detail; however, these structures have the potential to revolutionize many fields including electronics and biomedicine. The research discussed in this dissertation focuses on synthesis, functionalization, and characterization of boron-based zero-dimensional nanostructures (core/shell and nanoparticles) and one-dimensional nanostructures (nanorods). The first project investigates the synthesis and functionalization of boron-based core/shell nanoparticles. Two boron-containing core/shell nanoparticles, namely boron/iron oxide and boron/silica, were synthesized. Initially, boron nanoparticles with a diameter between 10-100 nm were prepared by decomposition of nido-decaborane (B10H14) followed by formation of a core/shell structure. The core/shell structures were prepared using the appropriate precursor, iron source and silica source, for the shell in the presence of boron nanoparticles. The formation of core/shell nanostructures was confirmed using high resolution TEM. Then, the core/shell nanoparticles underwent a surface modification. Boron/iron oxide core/shell nanoparticles were functionalized with oleic acid, citric acid, amine-terminated polyethylene glycol, folic acid, and dopamine, and boron/silica core/shell nanoparticles were modified with 3-(amino propyl) triethoxy silane, 3-(2-aminoethyleamino)propyltrimethoxysilane), citric acid, folic acid, amine-terminated polyethylene glycol, and O-(2-Carboxyethyl)polyethylene glycol. A UV-Vis and ATR-FTIR analysis established the success of surface modification. The cytotoxicity of water-soluble core/shell nanoparticles was studied in triple negative breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 and the result showed the compounds are not toxic. The second project highlights optimization of reaction conditions for the synthesis of boron nanorods. This synthesis, done via reduction of boron oxide with molten lithium, was studied to produce boron nanorods without any contamination and with a uniform size distribution. Various reaction parameters such as temperature, reaction time, and sonication were altered to find the optimal reaction conditions. Once these conditions were determined, boron nanorods were produced then functionalized with amine-terminated polyethylene glycol.Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy

Suomalaisten nuorten terveydenlukutaidon yhteys terveyskäyttäytymiseen : kuvaileva kirjallisuuskatsaus

Opinnäytetyön tarkoituksena oli kuvata suomalaisten nuorten terveydenlukutaidon yhteyttä terveyskäyttäytymiseen. Tavoitteena on kartoittaa jo olemassa olevan materiaalin perusteella, millainen terveydenlukutaito nuorilla on ja miten he osaavat hyödyntää sitä, sekä tehdä heidän elämäntapoihinsa vaikuttavia valintoja. Opinnäytetyö toteutettiin kuvailevana kirjallisuuskatsauksena. Artikkeleita etsittiin eri tietokannoista; Pubmedistä, Cinahlista, Medicistä sekä manuaalisella haulla. Mukaan otettiin kuusi aihetta käsittelevää artikkelia analysoitavaksi ja kaikki nämä artikkelit olivat julkaistu Suomessa tai Pohjoismaissa. Artikkelit analysoitiin induktiivisella sisällön analyysillä. Tuloksena voitiin todeta terveydenlukutaidolla ja terveyskäyttäytymisellä olevan yhteys. Korkeampi terveydenlukutaito liittyi parempaan terveyden tilaan. Hyvä terveydenlukutaito myös tasoitti sosioekonomisten ryhmien välisiä terveyseroja. Koulutustaso sekä koulutuspyrkimykset olivat myös merkittävässä roolissa nuorten terveyskäyttäytymisessä. Terveydenlukutaito on tärkeä tekijä ja sillä on pitkäaikaiset vaikutukset terveyskättäytymiseen ja sitä kautta elintapasairauksiin. Tämän vuoksi terveydenlukutaidon kehittäminen nuorilla toimii ennaltaehkäisevästi. Sosioekonomisten ryhmien väliset terveyserot ovat huolestuttavasti kasvamassa ja niiden on todettu useimmiten periytyvän vanhemmilta lapsille. Aihetta on tutkittu vähän ja jatkotutkimusta tulisi tehdä enemmän. Myös kulttuurin ja kulttuurierojen vaikutusta terveydenlukutaitoon olisi hyvä tutkia jatkossa

South-South migration and elections: evidence from post-apartheid South Africa

Little is known about the political consequences of immigration in Sub-Saharan Africa. In this paper, we estimate the effect of exposure to immigration on election outcomes in South Africa. Our analysis is based on municipality panel data and an instrumental variable (IV) strategy exploiting historical migrant settlement patterns. We find that local immigration concentration has a negative impact on the performance of the incumbent African National Congress, whereas support for the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, is found to increase in municipalities with a larger immigrant presence. These effects hold regardless of the skill levels of immigrants in a municipality. In terms of mechanisms, competition over jobs and local public services as well as ethnic diversity and cultural factors influence how immigration affects election outcomes. These findings are robust to a broad range of sensitivity checks. They provide evidence that immigration can be a politically salient issue in migrant-destination Sub-Saharan African countries. They also show that immigration can affect election results even in contexts where there is no single issue anti-migrant party

Emotion Recognition from EEG Signals using Machine Learning

The beauty of affective computing is to make machine more emphatic to the user. Machines with the capability of emotion recognition can actually look inside the user’s head and act according to observed mental state. In this thesis project, we investigate different features set to build an emotion recognition system from electroencephalographic signals. We used pictures from International Affective Picture System to motivate three emotional states: positive valence (pleasant), neutral, negative valence (unpleasant) and also to induce three sets of binary states: positive valence, not positive valence; negative valence, not negative valence; and neutral, not neutral. This experiment was designed with a head cap with six electrodes at the front of the scalp which was used to record data from subjects. To solve the recognition task we developed a system based on Support Vector Machines (SVM) and extracted the features, some of them we got from literature study and some of them proposed by ourselves in order to rate the recognition of emotional states. With this system we were able to achieve an average recognition rate up to 54% for three emotional states and an average recognition rate up to 74% for the binary states, solely based on EEG signals