Dimensions of Poverty in Northeastern Ethiopia: Looking into Multitude Facets of Poverty for Poverty Reduction

Despite efforts being made and some signs of change, poverty in Ethiopia is staggeringly high and thus the country is undoubtedly among the poorest nations in the world in which poverty persists at debilitating levels and hence becomes multifaceted and longstanding problem over periods. The situation of northeastern Ethiopia, one of the poverty stricken areas in the country, does not be different from the above situations. A thorough examination different dimension of poverty and estimating the extent of each dimension are important for policy measures to tackle poverty. This study is, therefore, aims to analyze the economic, social and institutional dimensions of poverty in the northeastern Ethiopia. The study employed rural household survey questionnaire based on income and expenditure dataset of the 400 sample households from four study weredas using a two stage random sampling method proportionate to size. Data on the demographic, socio-economic and institutional characteristics of the sample households are also collected so as to analyze the various poverty dimensions. While the cost of basic needs approach was used to determine the poverty line, FGT family of poverty indices were used to estimate the extent of poverty in monetary terms. In addition, the analysis of multidimensional poverty is also supplemented by additional measures of poverty in terms of the economic, social and institutional aspects using the summary statistics and t-tests. Concerning the monetary measures of poverty, the absolute food and total poverty line are ETB 2866.14 and 3410.71 respectively and the extreme food and total poverty lines are 2149.39.59 and 2557.77 respectively. Based on the above absolute total poverty line, the incidence of poverty in rural northeastern Ethiopia is 39 percent. With regard to the other economic and social dimensions of poverty, households identified as poor in our survey confirms that they are worse off in almost all dimensions than average or better-off households so that poverty in rural northeastern Ethiopia is truly multi-dimensional. As a result, in most cases rural households in the study areas are facing adverse socio-economic composition which in turn increases the likelihood of falling into poverty. Therefore, the identified multitude dimensions and the respective estimated magnitudes of poverty in the study areas are worth considering as a positive knock for policymakers and anyone else who may have a stake on poverty reduction and hence better livelihood of rural households in northeasten Ethiopia in particular and in the country in general. Keywords: Poverty, dimensions of poverty, households, wollo, zones, northeastern Ethiopia, Ethiopi

Inflation, External market Performance and Government Policy: An Empirical Investigation Using VAR-VECM Approach in the Context of Ethiopia

This study aims at determining the effectiveness of demand management policies in stabilizing the macroeconomic environment of Ethiopian economy. Inflation and Balance of Payments are used as the two indicators of stability. The researcher made use of Co-integrated VAR approach and estimates inflation and balance of payments equations. All together the researcher used data for the period 1976-2011. The findings of the study imply the existence of two-way relationship between inflation and balance of payments. Excess balance of payment surplus leads to inflationary pressures in the economy while inflation booming deteriorates the country’s external balance

The Art of Space Flight Exercise Hardware: Design and Implementation

The design of space flight exercise hardware depends on experience with crew health maintenance in a microgravity environment, history in development of flight-quality exercise hardware, and a foundation for certifying proper project management and design methodology. Developed over the past 40 years, the expertise in designing exercise countermeasures hardware at the Johnson Space Center stems from these three aspects of design. The medical community has steadily pursued an understanding of physiological changes in humans in a weightless environment and methods of counteracting negative effects on the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal system. The effects of weightlessness extend to the pulmonary and neurovestibular system as well with conditions ranging from motion sickness to loss of bone density. Results have shown losses in water weight and muscle mass in antigravity muscle groups. With the support of university-based research groups and partner space agencies, NASA has identified exercise to be the primary countermeasure for long-duration space flight. The history of exercise hardware began during the Apollo Era and leads directly to the present hardware on the International Space Station. Under the classifications of aerobic and resistive exercise, there is a clear line of development from the early devices to the countermeasures hardware used today. In support of all engineering projects, the engineering directorate has created a structured framework for project management. Engineers have identified standards and "best practices" to promote efficient and elegant design of space exercise hardware. The quality of space exercise hardware depends on how well hardware requirements are justified by exercise performance guidelines and crew health indicators. When considering the microgravity environment of the device, designers must consider performance of hardware separately from the combined human-in-hardware system. Astronauts are the caretakers of the hardware while it is deployed and conduct all sanitization, calibration, and maintenance for the devices. Thus, hardware designs must account for these issues with a goal of minimizing crew time on orbit required to complete these tasks. In the future, humans will venture to Mars and exercise countermeasures will play a critical role in allowing us to continue in our spirit of exploration. NASA will benefit from further experimentation on Earth, through the International Space Station, and with advanced biomechanical models to quantify how each device counteracts specific symptoms of weightlessness. With the continued support of international space agencies and the academic research community, we will usher the next frontier in human space exploration

Defining Exercise Performance Metrics for Flight Hardware Development

The space industry has prevailed over numerous design challenges in the spirit of exploration. Manned space flight entails creating products for use by humans and the Johnson Space Center has pioneered this effort as NASA's center for manned space flight. NASA Astronauts use a suite of flight exercise hardware to maintain strength for extravehicular activities and to minimize losses in muscle mass and bone mineral density. With a cycle ergometer, treadmill, and the Resistive Exercise Device available on the International Space Station (ISS), the Space Medicine community aspires to reproduce physical loading schemes that match exercise performance in Earth s gravity. The resistive exercise device presents the greatest challenge with the duty of accommodating 20 different exercises and many variations on the core set of exercises. This paper presents a methodology for capturing engineering parameters that can quantify proper resistive exercise performance techniques. For each specified exercise, the method provides engineering parameters on hand spacing, foot spacing, and positions of the point of load application at the starting point, midpoint, and end point of the exercise. As humans vary in height and fitness levels, the methodology presents values as ranges. In addition, this method shows engineers the proper load application regions on the human body. The methodology applies to resistive exercise in general and is in use for the current development of a Resistive Exercise Device. Exercise hardware systems must remain available for use and conducive to proper exercise performance as a contributor to mission success. The astronauts depend on exercise hardware to support extended stays aboard the ISS. Future plans towards exploration of Mars and beyond acknowledge the necessity of exercise. Continuous improvement in technology and our understanding of human health maintenance in space will allow us to support the exploration of Mars and the future of space exploration

Evaluating Biophysical Attributes of Environmentally Degraded Landscapes in Northern Ethiopia using LANDSAT ETM data and GIS

Biophysical attributes of environmentally degraded landscapes in Adwa district, northern Ethiopia, were evaluated using LANDSAT ETM data and GIS. Satellite remote sensing (RS) has captured the spatial distribution and variability of Adwa land covers (75% classification accuracy, 73% Kappa statistic). GIS-based analysis of degraded land’s biophysical attributes has revealed associations between land-cover types, landform elements and major soils groups in the district. Agricultural farms were located closer to human settlements, while woodlands furthest away from settlements. Moreover, wooded croplands were found between arable and woodlands, indicating encroaching human activities through agricultural expansion. Forests and woodlands were dominant on high mountains, steep slopes and depressions, while degraded shrublands and scrublands were prominent on Leptosols and on dissected uplands and hills. On the other hand, agriculture was prominent on rolling hills and uplands, concave-shaped foot-slopes, and on the soils of the district characterized as Fluvisols and Vertisols. This study provides base-line information and add to land cover knowledge for this and similar regions. Additionally, it has identified associations among biophysical attributes in degraded Ethiopian highlands have important management implications for both under-developed and over-utilized areas.Keywords: Land cover, land degradation, soil erosion, land rehabilitation, deforestation, Ethiopian highland

Counting the cost: Coping with tariff increases amidst power supply shortfalls in urban households in Ethiopia

Although affordability is important, people do not need to be money poor to experience energy deprivation. This paper examines how an electricity tariff increase affects household energy consumption by situating the price change within the broader context of energy service provision in Ethiopia. We place households’ lived experience in interaction with the institutional and infrastructural dynamics that constitute the energy sector in Addis Ababa to observe how the price increase intersects with service provision. Since the tariff increase was implemented, households have changed their daily routines to control cost. Our findings show that energy consumption behaviour is also shaped by service-related inadequacies (unreliable supply and frequent power outages). However, families coping capacity (to the tariff increase and power supply shortfalls) is undermined by an energy market that is rife with information asymmetries and uncertainties. Thus, although socioeconomic factors underpin the energy insecurity households experience, inadequate supply, and diminishing confidence in service providing institutions appears to heighten their vulnerability. The paper argues that while the price change has an overall effect on consumption, its impact needs to be seen within the context of its systemic interaction with the broader energy governance and service delivery challenges

Postoperative Nosocomial Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance Pattern of Bacteria Isolates among Patients Admitted at Felege Hiwot Referral Hospital, Bahirdar, Ethiopia

Background: Nosocomial infection constitutes a major public health problem worldwide. Increasing antibiotic resistance of pathogens associated with nosocomial infections also becomes a major therapeutic challenge for physicians. Thus, the aim of this study was to identify post operative bacterial infections and determine their current antimicrobial resistance to commonly prescribed drugs.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted on patients under gone operation from October 2010 to January 2011 and followed for development of clinical signs and symptoms of surgical site and blood stream infection until the time of discharge. Structured questionnaire was used to collect socio demographic characteristics. Wound swab and venous blood samples were collected and processed for bacterial isolation and antimicrobial susceptibility testing following standard bacteriological techniques.Results: Out of 294 patients who had clean and clean-contaminated operation, 10.9% were confirmed of bacterial nosocomial infections. The rate of nosocomial infections among clean and clean-contaminated operations was 3.3% and 12.8% respectively. Nosocomial surgical site and blood stream infection rate was 10.2% and 2.4% correspondingly. A total of 42 bacterial pathogens were identified of which S. aureus was the leading isolates accounting 26.2% followed by E. coli and Coagulase negative Staphylococcus species each 21.4%. Nearly 100% of Gram positive and 95.5% of Gram negative bacterial isolates showed resistance against two or more antimicrobial drugs.Conclusions: Multiple drug resistance of isolates to antimicrobials was alarmingly high so that any empirical prophylaxis and treatment needs careful selection of effective drugs. To minimize such infections, adherence of strict aseptic surgical procedures and proper management of wounds is required

Effect of side chain length on the stability and structural properties of 3-(2’,5’-dialkoxyphenyl)thiophenes: a theoretical study

We report on the effect of the alkoxy chain length on the thermodynamic properties of neutral and the corresponding radical cations of 3-(2’,5’-dibutyloxyphenyl)thiophene (DBOPT), 3-(2’,5’-diheptyloxyphenyl)thiophene (DHOPT), and 3-(2’,5’-dioctyloxyphenyl)thiophene (DOOPT) and their dimers studied by Hartree-Fock (HF) and Density Functional Theory (DFT) methods. The DFT calculations suggest that dimers of the dialkoxyphenylthiophenes with longer side chains are thermodynamically more stable by about 61.39 kJ/mol than the ones with shorter side chains at the radical cation state. The results correlate well with the experimental observations made during the electrochemical synthesis of these polymers from their monomers.KEY WORDS: Density functional theory, Hartree-Fock, DialkoxyphenylthiophenesBull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2010, 24(1), 93-102

Genome-wide association analysis of cardiovascular-related quantitative traits in the Framingham Heart Study

Multivariate linear growth curves were used to model high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), triglycerides (TG), and systolic blood pressure (SBP) measured during four exams from 1659 independent individuals from the Framingham Heart Study. The slopes and intercepts from each of two phenotype models were tested for association with 348,053 autosomal single-nucleotide polymorphisms from the Affymetrix Gene Chip 500 k set. Three regions were associated with LDL intercept, TG slope, and SBP intercept (p < 1.44 × 10-7). We observed results consistent with previously reported associations between rs599839, on chromosome 1p13, and LDL. We note that the association is significant with LDL intercept but not slope. Markers on chromosome 17q25 were associated with TG slope, and a single-nucleotide polymorphism on chromosome 7p11 was associated with SBP intercept. Growth curve models can be used to gain more insight on the relationships between SNPs and traits than traditional association analysis when longitudinal data has been collected. The power to detect association with changes over time may be limited if the subjects are not followed over a long enough time period