Noise-created bistability and stochastic resonance of impurities diffusing in a semiconductor layer

We investigate the dynamics of impurities walking along a semiconductor layer assisted by thermal noise of strength $D$ and external harmonic potential $V(x)$. Applying a nonhomogeneous hot temperature in the vicinity of the potential minimum may modify the external potential into a bistable effective potential. We propose the ways of mobilizing and eradicating the unwanted impurities along the semiconductor layer. Furthermore, the thermally activated rate of hopping for the impurities as a function of the model parameters is studied in high barrier limit. Via two state approximation, we also study the stochastic resonance (SR) of the impurities dynamics where the same noise source that induces the dynamics also induces the transition from mono-stable to bistable state which leads to SR in the presence of time varying field.Comment: Accepted for publication in EPJ

The Experiences of Ethiopian Unaccompanied and Separated Migrant Children in Yemen

International child migration has become a modern form of brutality. Ethiopia is also one of the source countries for thousands of young migrants leaving their villages in search of better opportunities elsewhere. The article aims to explore the experiences of Ethiopian unaccompanied and separated migrant children in Yemen. The study was conducted using constructivist research paradigm qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry with a cross sectional exploratory study design. Twelve purposefully selected unaccompanied and separated migrant children returnees from Yemen, with the registered age of sixteen and seventeen, had participated in the study. Data collected through in-depth interviews, focus group discussion and observation were analyzed thematically. The finding indicated dreadful experiences such as detention; bomb attack; physical abuses; emotional problems; imprisonment; starvation; military recruitment; and sexual abuse which were part of the lives of unaccompanied and separated migrant children in Yemen. The study concluded that the experiences of the migrant minors in Yemen were against the universally declared basic human and child rights that recognize the inherent dignity of all human beings and the developmental needs of children in particular. Findings implied points for comprehensive social work practice, and further research endeavors on the topic under investigation.Keywords: Child migrants, Unaccompanied Child, Separated Child, Ethiopia, Experiences, Yeme

Infestation of Ixodidae Ticks in Cattle: Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors in Ambo District, Western Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, ticks cause serious economic loss particularly in ruminants. A cross sectional study was conducted in Ambo district, Western Ethiopia from October, 2018 to June, 2019 with the objectives of determining the prevalence, identifying the associated risk factors and the tick species of cattle in the area. From five purposively selected kebeles (the smallest administrative unit of Ethiopia) of the district, a total of 384 cattle were selected by systematic random sampling method. Adult Ixodid ticks were collected from different body parts of infested cattle, preserved in 10% formalin and transported to Ambo University Veterinary Parasitology Laboratory for stereomicroscopic identification to species level. Among 384 cattle examined, 201 (52.34%) cattle were infested with one or two tick species. A higher prevalence of tick infestation was recorded in Degele Gatira kebele (53.25%), followed by Abebe Doyo (50.65%), Gosu Kora (50.65%), Kisose Liban (50.65%), and Senkele Faris (56.59%). The study investigated three genera of Ixodid ticks namely Rhipicephalus (41.7%), Boophilus (0.8%) and Amblyomma (2.60%). Mixed infestations were common including Rh. Boophilus and Amblyomma 24(6.25%) and Rh. Boophilus and Rhipicephalus 4(1.04%). The study identified four species of ticks; namely Rh. (Bo.) decoloratus 109 (28.40%), Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus 43(11.20%), Amblyomma vareigatum 3(0.80%) and Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi 11(2.90%). The difference in tick infestation was found to be statistically insignificant (P >0.05) between different age groups and kebeles but statistically significant (P <0.05) among sex groups, breeds, and different body condition scores (P <0.05). In conclusion, this study indicated a high prevalence of tick infestation and identified the most important ticks that can transmit various livestock diseases. A proper tick eradication campaign should be conducted to reduce the tick burden in the study area, and concomitantly reduce tick-borne diseases and associated economic losses

Phenotypic Characterization of Camels and their Production System in Yabello and Melka Soda Districts,

 አህፅሮት የዚህ ጥናት ዋና ዓሊማ በያቤልና መሌካሶዳ ወረዳዎች በሚገኙ ግመልች ውጪያዊ ባህሪያቸውን በመጠንና በብዛት መሇየት መሠረት ያደረገ ነበር፡፡ በዚህም መሠረት ከሁሇቱ ወረዳዎች ከሚኖሩት አርብቶ አደሮች ሇውጫዊ ባህርይ ትንተና ጥናት 192 አባወራዎችና 3ዏዏ ግመልች በነሲብ ተመርጠዋሌ፡፡ በመሌካሶዳ የሚገኙ ግመልች ከፍተኛና ጉሌህ የሆነ ሌዩነት ከያቤል ግመልች ማሇትም ደረት ዙር፣ በደረት ስፋት፣ በሰውነት ክብደት፣ በሸንጥ/ዳላ ስፋት፣ በደረት ጥሌቀት፣ በጉብሌ ዙሮሽ እንደሚበሌጡ ጥናቱ አመሌክቷሌ፡፡ የግመልች ፆታ ሌዩነት (ወንድና ሴት ግመሌ) በተመሇከተ የፊት እግር ርዝመት፣ የኃሊ እግር ርዝመት፣ የጫንቃ ከፍታ፣ የደረት ዙር፣ የሆድ ስፋት ዙር፣ የሰውነት ክብደት፣ የደረት ስፋት፣ ሻኛ/ጉበሌ ዙሮሽ፣ ሻኛ/ጉበሌ ርዝመት፣ የፊት ሾከና ዙር/ስፋት፣ የኋሊ ሾከና ዙር/ስፋት ሌዩነት እንዳሊቸው ከጥናቱ ሇመረዳት ተችሎሌ፡፡ በጥናቱ የግመልች ዕድሜ መጠን ከሁለም የሰውነት ክብደት ሌኬቶች ጋር ጉሌህ የሆነ ሌዩነት እዳሇው ሇመገንዘብ ተችሎሌ፡፡ በተጨማሪ የደረት ስፋትና የደረት ጥሌቀት ተሇዋዋጭ ሌኬት ሇሰውነት ክብደት ውጫዊ ገጽታ መሇኪያነት ሉያገሇግለ ይችሊለ፡፡ የወንድ ግመልች እክብ ናሙና በቀጥታ ሇሰውነት መሇኪያዎች ማሇትም የደረት ዙርና ሆድ ዙር/ስፋት ጠንካራ አዎንታዊ ዝምድና (r=0.03) ከሰውነት ክብደት ጋር አሊቸው፡፡ የሴት ግመልች ክብደት ጠንካራ አዎንታዊና (P<0.05) ጉሌህ ዝምድና ከደረት ዙር (r=0.95) ጋር አሇው፡፡ የዚህ የግመልች ውጪአዊ እይታ መረጃ በዋነኛነት ሇግመልች ዝርያ ጥበቃ ሇድቀሊና ሇመረጣ በሥነ-ባህርይ ትንተና በተደገፇ እስትራተጂ ሉያገሇግሌ ይችሊሌ፡፡ በተጨማሪ በቦረናና አካባቢ እንዲሁም በላልች የሀገሪቱ ክፍልች የሚኙትን ማህበረሰብ የግመልችን የምርት ውጤት ፍሊጐት ሇሟሟሊት ከፍተኛ ትኩረት በመስጠት በግመልች ሊይ ብዙ መሠረት እንዳሇበት ይጠቁማሌ፡፡ ይህ ጥናት በያቤልና በመሌካ ሶዳ አካባቢ የሚገኙትን የግመሌ ሀብት ሇወደፊት ዝርያቸውን ሇማሻሻሌና ሇመጠበቅ በሚደረገው እንቅስቃሴ በዋነኛነት እንደ መረጃ ሉያገሇግሌ ይችሊሌ፡፡AbstractThe objectives of the study were to characterize the production system of camel in Yabello and Melka Soda districts and to characterize phenotypically camel based on quantitative and qualitative traits. A total of 192 households were selected for characterization of the production system and 300 camels were sampled randomly for characterization of phenotypic traits. Camels of Melka Soda had significantly higher in heart girth, barrel girth, body weight, hip width, chest depth and hump circumference (P<0.05) than Yabello camels. Sex of the camels had significant (P<0.05) effect on forelimb length, hind limb length, wither height, heart girth, barrel girth, body weight, chest width, hump circumference, hump length, fore hoof circumference and hind hoof circumference. Body weight and all the body measurements were significantly (P<0.05) affected by age. Heart girth and barrel girth were found to be the most important variables for estimation of body weight in camels. In male sample populations of linear body measurements, heart girth and barrel girth had strong positive correlation (r=0.93) with body weight. In female sample camels body weight had strong positive and significant (P<0.05) correlation with heart girth (r=0.95). This phenotypic information can serve as a basis for designing appropriate conservation, breeding and selection strategies for camels in the study area and could be complemented with genetic analyses. Thus attention should be given to exploit the performance of camels based on their specialization to fulfill the current demand of camel and camel by-products in the Borena and also in different parts of the country. The present study can be used to understand the camel resources of the study sites for future genetic improvement and conservation actions

Maize Lethal Necrosis Disease in Ethiopia: A Newly Emerging Threat to Maize Production

The occurrence of maize lethal necrosis (MLN) disease in Ethiopia was first reported in 2014. Thereafter, consecutive surveys were carried out in all majormaize growing areas across the country to understand the levels of distribution and incidence as well as potential alternate hosts of the disease.  Symptomatology was used to determine the incidence and level of damage caused by MLN at the field level. Samples of maize plants and alternative  grass hosts showing MLN symptoms were collected in all areas surveyed. Viruses associated with the symptoms were diagnosed in the laboratory using  Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), Lateral Flow Assay (LFA), Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR), Multiplex RT-PCR, and RT-PCR  using porous ceramic cube. The results showed a wider distribution of MLN in Ethiopia with incidence levels reaching as high as 100% in some areas.  Maize planted during the off-season were found to be severely affected by MLN as compared to the main season crop. In addition to maize, MLN viruses  were found to infect various grass species indicating the presence of alternate hosts. This study confirmed seed transmission of MLN disease, but  variable rates of transmission were observed that needs to be studied further. Considering the current rate of MLN disease distribution in Ethiopia,  necessary management strategies should be devised and implemented before the disease causes significant damage to maize production.&nbsp

Integrating Family Planning Training into Medical Education: A Case Study of St. Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College (SPHMMC), Addis Ababa

https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/148156/1/integrating-family-planning-into-medical-education-a-case.pdf-1Description of integrating-family-planning-into-medical-education-a-case.pdf : Case Study (PDF

Production performance and egg quality evaluation of indigenous chickens across different agro-ecologies of Southern Ethiopia

Indigenous chickens were evaluated for their egg production, growth performances, and external and internal egg quality parameters across three agro-ecologies. For experiment 540 (180 male and 432 female) chickens were distributed to the three agro-ecologies (lowland, midland, and highland) at their 20 weeks age. Body weight was recorded from each chicken during distribution, 4th week, and 8th week after distribution into pre-selected households. Egg production potential was identified from the indigenous chickens across different agro-ecologies. Moreover, egg quality traits were evaluated from randomly selected 270 (90 from each agroecology) eggs. Egg production of indigenous chickens in the highland was 47.7 which was highly significantly (P = 0.0001) lower number than of midland (54.2) and lowland (51.4). Except for Shell weight, all the external egg quality parameters evaluated were exhibited significant differences across different agro-ecologies. Among the internal egg quality parameters only albumen weight had a significantly (P = 0.007) higher in midland than highland. Most of the variation in egg weight was due to the positive correlation with egg length (69%), and egg width (67%). There was a variation for performance and egg quality traits of indigenous chickens in different agro-ecologies, especially better in midland, which might be resulted from the variation in environment, feed resources availability, and better management followed by households

Identification of putative candidate gene markers for grain zinc content using recombinant inbred lines (RIL) population of IRRI38 X Jeerigesanna

Nutrients in food crops can be enriched by adopting biofortification. Identifying the target quantitative trait loci (QTL) genes will help achieve biofortification with greater precision and accuracy. The objective of this experiment is to estimate grain zinc content, evaluation of candidate gene markers in recombinant inbred lines (RIL) derived from IRRI38 X Jeerigesanna and validation of putative candidate gene markers with rice accessions. Grain zinc content ranged from 16.1 to 35.5 ppm with an average of 23.7 ppm. Among twenty four candidate gene markers, eight showed polymorphism and out of three simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers, three showed polymorphism. Single marker analysis revealed that four (OsNAC, OsZIP8a, OsZIP8c and OsZIP4b) candidate gene markers showed significant variation among RIL population with a phenotypic variation of 4.5, 19.0, 5.1 and 10.2% respectively. Validation with 96 rice genotypes showed three markers (OsZIP8a, OsNAC and OsZIP4b) with phenotypic variation of 11.0, 5.8 and 4.8%, respectively.Keywords: Zinc, biofortification, single-marker analysis (SMS) and marker assisted selection (MAS)African Journal of Biotechnology, Vol. 13(5), pp. 657-663, 29 January, 201

A multi-site, non-randomized study of the feasibility and acceptability of a family-led postnatal care model in the Ada District, Ethiopia

Postnatal care is a critical intervention to reduce newborn and maternal mortality in high-mortality settings. However, it is underutilized in many countries. Family-led postnatal care (FPNC) is an innovative postnatal care service delivery model that leverages self-care principles to address key barriers identified in the Ethiopian context, including women’s preference to stay home in the first week after delivery and receive support from trusted family members. Utilizing an improved discharge process, coupled with user-friendly monitoring devices made available as a home care kit kept with preferred community custodians, this self-care model for postnatal care will be evaluated as a potential solution to very low coverage of postnatal care in the first week of life. METHODS: The study will use mixed sequential methods: quantitative pre-intervention and post-intervention survey and phenomenological qualitative study. Four health centers in Ada Districtof Oromia, Ethiopia will be purposively selected. A pre-intervention survey will measure coverage and content of postnatal checks and care-seeking behavior. Health centers will then implement family led postnatal care. Once FPNC is initiated, post-intervention quantitative data will be collected. Approximately 218 postnatal women are to be included in the quantitative survey.  Qualitative interviews with approximately 20 mothers, 20 partners, 20 families, eight health managers, 12 postnatal discharge counselors, 20 health extension workers, and eight home care kit custodians will be conducted. A quantitative measurement of sustainability six months after the endline will also be assessed. CONCLUSIONS: Optimally, the study will contribute evidence to inform decision makers locally and globally on whether FPNC is a feasible and acceptable service delivery model for postnatal care, and whether it improves women’s empowerment and/or increases men’s support and connection to women and newborns in the early postnatal period