Principles and characteristics of optical fibers

The principles, characteristics, and uses of typical optical fibers are described in this article. The definitions and physical description of an optical fiber are shown

Study on Prevalence of GI Nematodes in Indigenous Bonga Sheep Breed at Three Selected Agro Ecologies of Kaffa and Bench Maji Zones, Ethiopia

The current study was conducted to determine the prevalence of Gastro Intestinal Tract (GIT) nematodes of Bonga indigenous sheep breed in three selected districts of Kaffa and Bench Maji zones of Southern Region from September 2010 - April 2011. Cross sectional study for prevalence determination using post mortem and fecal examination and longitudinal prospective study for characterization of the partial seasonal dynamics of nematodes was carried out in the study. A total of 60 animals were subjected to post mortem examinations and 2304 fecal samples were analyzed using standard coprological techniques (flotation and modified McMaster fecal worm egg counts). Questionnaire survey was conducted in randomly selected 6 PA’s and 60 households from three districts. Results from coprological examination revealed the overall prevalence of nematodes in Bonga sheep were 96.7%. During post mortem examination, four nematode species (Haemonchus contortus, 76.8%), (Oesophagostomum venulasum, 43.3%), (Bunostomum trigonocephalum, 30%) and (Trichostrongylus axei 25%), were identified. Fecal examination results in all study sites from population of Bonga sheep  during two sampling periods (early rainy and late dry) indicated significant differences in mean Egg count per Gram (EPG)  in the two season of the years (p<0.05). About 90 % of Bonga sheep had EPG value 5- 800 the remaining had 801-1200. Poly parasitism predominated in all study areas varying from 100% in Adio kaka, and 95% in N.Bench, 95% in Gimbo. . Absence of veterinary services and lack of helminthes control strategies were believed to be responsible for such higher worm prevalence in the areas. These findings indicate that nematode parasites are a serious threat to the existing small ruminant population and livestock productivity at large in these study districts and require an immediate professional intervention. Key words: Gastro intestinal nematode species; Small ruminants; Prevalence; Egg per Gra

Adoption of Modern Agricultural Technologies in Urban Agriculture: A Case Study in Mekelle City-Vegetable Growers

Urban agriculture is an important strategy in supplying for every growing urban population affordable food and adding to their nutrients. Moreover, producing vegetable plays a significant role in contributing to the welfare of particularly poor urban residents. Vegetables are the main source of nutrients and their socio-economic importance is quite clear to the urban citizens. Consequently, production and productivity of vegetable in the urban areas should be improved. This improvement will solely be complete if modern agricultural technologies are utilized; among the most modern technologies fertilizer and pesticide take priority because of their contribution to soil fertility and hence output. In this study, the determinants of the likelihood of fertilizer and pesticide adoption decision, the intensity of use of fertilizer and volume of use of pesticide on vegetable production and whether or not income difference has come between the adopters and non-adopters of the growers in Mekelle city(the study area) were investigated. The heckman two-satage model, and OLS, which consists of a sample of 204 households, was used in the analysis. The study used both primary and secondary data for analysis. Probit regression model was employed to spot factors that determine adoption decision of the agricultural input chemical technologies like fertilizer and pesticide and heckman two-stage model was used to check financial gain difference between the adopters and non-adopters regarding to those technology adoptions. Additionally, the intensity of use of fertilizer and volume use of pesticide were investigated by employing the OLS (linear regression) model. Therefore, this study intends not solely to contribute one thing in filling the gap of data on urban agriculture by taking one part of urban agriculture that is technology adoption within vegetable production, but also aims to attract attention to the comparatively neglected area of urban agriculture. To this end, the study tried to spot the determinants that affected technology adoption decision and their intensity/volume of use in the city vegetable growers. It also tried to examine how technology adoption led to higher financial gain of the growers. Based on the result of this study, the factors that affect the likelihood of fertilizer, pesticide, and joint adoption, the intensity of use of fertilizer and volume of use of pesticide, and the income difference of the adopter and non-adopters were explained like age of household head, educational level of the household head, sex of the household head, household family size, farmer’s farming experience on vegetable cultivation, cost of fertilizer, farmer’s perception on fertilizer, soil fertility, closeness of farm land to homesteads, nearness of market to farm land, extension support, access to credit, farm size, sufficiency of irrigation water, off-farm activities, purpose of farming, total household income, cost of pesticide, and farmer’s attitude towards pesticide. This result has vital implication for the formulation of policies and programs targeted to promotion of chemical fertilizer and pesticide use in urban vegetable production mainly in the study area (Mekelle city) and other cities with similar ecological systems. Key words: Farm technology, adoption, intensity, heckman, Least Ordinary Square, Mekell

Evaluation of Effective Rhizobium Strain on Nodulation, Yield and Yield Attributes of Faba Bean in Case of Chancha Woreda Southern Ethiopia

Nitrogen is an important element for plant growth and its availability in sufficient amount boosts production per unit area, increases the total supply of food and contributes to the quality of food. However, resource poor farmers in the tropics especially in Ethiopia are not able to use enough amount of inorganic N fertilizer for crop production due to high cost, and hence looking for alternative means of improving available nitrogen in the soil is crucial. Therefore, this study was conducted to indentify the best Rhizobium strain for faba bean production in chancha woreda and to determine the yield and yield attributes of the faba bean with the application of Rhizobium strains. The ANOVA revealed that the significance difference between the inculcation of different rhizobium spices for faba bean production in chancha woreda. The highest mean in all parameters of the faba bean was recorded from the inculcation of strain 1035 with the combination 50kg DAP/ha. The finding of this research will be repeated in same agro ecological areas before farmer’s dissemination Keywords: Biological nitrogen fixation, Faba bean, Rhizobiu

Does health sector aid matter? Evidence from time-series data analysis in Ethiopia

Aims: Development assistance for health is an important part of financing health care in developing countries. In spite of the increasing volumes in absolute terms in development assistance for health, there are controversies on their effect on health outcomes. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the effect of development assistance for health on health status in Ethiopia. Methods: Using dynamic time series analytic approach for the period 1978-2013, this paper examines whether development assistance for health has contributed for health status change in Ethiopia. While life expectancy at birth was used as a measure of health status, vector error correction model was used for the analysis. Results: Development assistance for health expenditure (lagged one and two years) had a significant positive effect on life expectancy at birth in Ethiopia. Other things being equal, a 1% increase in per capita development assistance for health leads to 0.026 years improvement in life expectancy at birth (P<0.001) in the immediate year following the period of assistance, and 0.008 years (P=0.025) in the immediate two years following the provision of assistance. Conclusion: This study indicates that, seemingly, development assistance for health has significant favourable effect in improving health status in Ethiopia. The policy implication of this finding is development assistance for the health should continue as an interim means to an end. &nbsp

The association between substance abuse and HIV infection among people visiting HIV counselling and testing centres in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

No Abstract.Ethiopian Journal of Health Development Vol. 19 (2) 2005: 116-12

Knowledge, attitude, and practice of residents in medical research and barriers: A cross-sectional survey at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital

Background: Research activity is an important component of postgraduate training in medical institutions. However, only a few residents of Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital were able to publish research papers. Lack of funding and time, poor infrastructure, belief about research, and inadequate research knowledge and methodology were reported to be among the hindering reasons.Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the level of knowledge, attitude, practice, and barriers to conduct research among clinical residents.Methods: Three hundred and forty-four residents from 13 clinical departments were enrolled in a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted during December 2015 - May 2016. Participants of this study were determined using convenient sampling technique. This means that residents who showed willingness to participate in the study were included. Data were collected using standardized field tested questionnaire. After collecting the responses they were entered into SPSS (version 20) software. Descriptive statistics, one sample-T, and Pearson’s chi-square tests were used to analyze the data and report the finding.Results: Mean Knowledge score was 34.6% for all participants. Knowledge score was significantly better among females compared to males (p-value < 0.01 (95% CI: 0.32-0.85). Attitude towards research undertaking was positive with mean score of 3.8 (95 % CI: 3.75-3.86). Research practice (presentations and previous publications) were found to be very low (27.6% and 2% respectively). Research training received during graduate training was positively correlated with publications (practice) (p < 0.01). Inadequate financial and mentor support as well as lack of access to research equipment were found to be the main barriers the study participants face to conduct clinical research.Conclusion: Participants’ attitude towards research was positive, but their knowledge of research made their practice inadequate. There is a need for filling the gap between high level of positive attitude, low research knowledge and low research practice. This can perhaps be achieved through increasing their training during their graduate studies. Improving research equipment and the resident’s access to financial and better research mentorship are recommended to raise their knowledge and research practice. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2017;31(4):259-265]Keywords: Medical research, Knowledge, Attitude, Post graduate training, Ethiopi

Bypassing health centers in Tanzania: Revealed preferences for observable and unobservable quality

When patients bypass one health facility to seek health care at another, strong preferences are revealed. This paper advances the view that the patterns of bypassing observed in Iringa Rural district in Tanzania show evidence of patients' understanding of various measures of quality at the facilities that they visit and bypass. Importantly some of these measures are 'unobservable,' meaning that we do not expect patients to be able to evaluate whether or not these types of quality are present just from visiting a center. We use two data sets on various features of health facilities including consultation quality and prescription quality as evaluated by a team of clinicians. This is matched with data collected from health center registers that included the symptoms of patients and the village they traveled from. The register data is transformed into a patient-based sample and we use a multinomial/conditional logit regression on patient choice of provider to show the relationship between patient behavior and objective measure of technical quality in the health facilities. Patients seek facilities that provide high quality consultations, are staffed by more knowledgeable physicians, observe prescription practices, and are polite. They avoid facilities that use injections too liberally or over-prescribe medication

Bypassing Health Centers in Tanzania: Revealed Preferences for Observable and Unobservable

When patients bypass on one health facility to seek health care at another, strong preference are revealed. This paper advances the view that the patterns of bypassing observed in Iringa Rural district in Tanzania show evidence of patients understanding of various measures of quality at the facilities that they visit and bypass. Importantly some of these measures are "unobservable", meaning that we do not expect patients to be able to evaluate whether or not these types of quality are present just from visiting a center. We use two data sets on various features of health facilities including consultation quality and prescription quality as evaluated by a team of clinicians. This is matched with data collected from health center registers that included the symptoms of patients and the village they traveled from. The register data is transformed into a patient-based sample and we use a multinomial/conditional logit regression on patient choice of provider to show the relationship between patient behavior and objective measure of technical quality in the health facilities. Patients seek facilities that provide high quality consultations, are staffed by more knowledgeable physicians, observe prescription practices and are polite. They avoid facilities that use injections too liberally or over-prescribe medicatio