Households Willingness to Pay for Improved Water Services: The Case of Burayu Town Administration: Application of Contingent Valuation Method

This study is initiated by the current deep rooted problem of improved water supply prevailing in Burayu town and its primary objective is to estimate mean willingness to pay of households using contingent valuation method. A total of 239 sampled households are interviewed in person. A single bounded closed ended followed by open-ended format were used to elicit willingness to pay for improved water. Of 217 respondents 160(73.3%) accepted bid values of improved water provided to them. The data was analyzed both in descriptive and econometric models. The probit and tobit models were used for empirical analyses. In closed ended format, the households’ mean willingness to pay for one Jeri can of improved water was 31.5 cents and 42.7 cents in open ended format. Households characteristics’ such as age, income, occupation and education are positively determine the probability of accepting the given bid value of improved water. The bid value, dummy variables such as source of water, quantity and quality negatively affect the willingness to pay for improved water in probit model. Those variables affecting the likely of willingness to pay positively also have the same sign in tobit model of determining the maximum willingness to pay. The aggregate willingness to pay of households was estimated to be 1613942.62 birr per month. The current average revenue of the town’s water supply and sewerage enterprise is estimated to 515009.95 birr for one per month. The study revealed that households are willing to pay more of the current tariff blocks for improvement. Therefore if the improvement scenario comes to effect in one way it solves the shortage of improved water problems in the other way the town’s water supply and sewerage enterprise can collect more revenue from service charges. Keywords: Willingness to pay, Contingent valuation, Use value and Non-use value. DOI: 10.7176/JESD/11-3-01 Publication date: February 29th 202

Contribution of Hot Pepper Production to Household Food Security: The Case of Gursum District, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

Food insecurity is the key policy challenge for Ethiopia in general and Gursum district in particular. To combat this problem diversifying the smallholders’ farming systems and income sources is an option. In this regards, the production of cash crops like hot pepper, groundnut and other market-oriented crops is indispensable. Although hot pepper production is important source of income of households, systematic and rigors analysis of its contribution to households’ food security has not been done in Gursum district.   Thus, this research was undertaken in Gursum district of Oromia regional state in two kebeles with the objectives of examining food security status of household, analyzing the contribution of hot pepper in household food security and identifying the factors affecting household food security and hot pepper production. The research used primary data generated from 150 randomly selected sample households and secondary data from secondary sources. Household calorie consumption method was used to identify food security status of the sample household. The collected data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics like mean, standard deviation, frequency and percentage. The chi-square(X2) test for systematic association of discrete/dummy variables with food security status and t-test for mean difference of continuous variables for food secure and food insecure households were used. Binary logit model was used to identify the factors affecting household food security in the study area. Among twelve hypothesized variables five were significantly affect food security status of the household those were household size at p<5%, land size at p<1%, level of education at p<5%, non-farm participation and income from hot pepper at p<1% probability level. In general from the empirical analysis, similar to other studies on income from cash crop has contribution for food security, thus, this study also confirms that income from hot pepper has significant contribution in improving food security status of the household. But low price, lack of improved and other constraints challenges the production of hot pepper. Therefore, local government, both local and international Non-government Organizations and other stakeholders should jointly work on hot pepper production and its income to improve food security of household. Keywords: Food security, Hot pepper, Binary Logit, Gursum DOI: 10.7176/FSQM/86-05 Publication date: April 30th 201

Factors Affecting Hot Pepper Production: The Case of Gursum District, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

Hot pepper is one of the vegetable crops which serves as spices, vegetables, cash crop and ensures food security as a result of its income generating crop. But this crop is devastating by different factors which reduce its production and quality. Therefore, this study intended to undertake factors affecting hot pepper production in Gursum district with the objectives of identifying factors affecting hot pepper production, and analyze linkages of its production with the household’s expenditures. The study used 150 households as sample respondents and collected primary data from them and secondary data from secondary sources, then analyzed data by mean, percentage and frequency. As a result, the finding shows that the factor affect the production of hot pepper are  low price, second disease, lack of improved seed, lack of pesticide, knowledge management, lack of market access, lack of land and others like bird attack respectively. Moreover, the finding linked hot pepper production with household expenditures and found household expenses their income from hot pepper on purchasing grain, school fees, clothing, health care, festivities and others like dowry respectively. Therefore, the government and other stakeholder should focus on negotiating the market price of hot pepper and other factors hindering hot pepper production. Keywords: Hot pepper, Gursum, cash crop DOI: 10.7176/FSQM/87-04 Publication date:May 31st 201

Small Scale Irrigation Farming Adoption as a Climate-Smart Agriculture Practice and Its Impact on Household Income in Ethiopia. A Review Paper

Small-scale irrigated farming has been offered as a climate-smart agriculture technology to boost production and diversify livelihood scenarios as an option to mitigate climate change and variability. Small-scale irrigation as a climate-smart agriculture strategy is one of the most important adaptation options for increasing agricultural production in rural areas, stabilizing agricultural production and productivity, and mitigating the negative effects of variable or insufficient rainfall. The reviewed literature showed that the adoption of small-scale irrigation farming as a climate-smart agriculture practice has a significant positive influence on farming income. Small-scale irrigation practice increases the adaptive capacity of households by enhancing farm income. Small-scale irrigation users are better off in crop production that enhances household income and enables buffer against climate variability compared with non-users. Small-scale irrigation is an important strategy in reducing risks associated with both rainfall variability production of different crops twice or three times within a year and increasing income of rural farm-households. Farmers' age, distance to market, and formal employment all negatively influence small-scale irrigation adoption. Off-farm employment, irrigation equipment, access to reliable water supplies, and awareness of water conservation practices all positively promote Small-scale irrigation adoption. As a result, governments and other key stakeholders should consider strengthening small-scale irrigated farming in rural families as climate smart agriculture. Keywords: CSA, Small-scale irrigation adoption, household income, livelihood. DOI: 10.7176/JESD/12-17-02 Publication date:September 30th 202

Deep Learning Frameworks for Accelerated Magnetic Resonance Image Reconstruction without Ground Truths

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is typically a slow process because of its sequential data acquisition. To speed up this process, MR acquisition is often accelerated by undersampling k-space signals and solving an ill-posed problem through a constrained optimization process. Image reconstruction from under-sampled data is posed as an inverse problem in traditional model-based learning paradigms. While traditional methods use image priors as constraints, modern deep learning methods use supervised learning with ground truth images to learn image features and priors. However, in some cases, ground truth images are not available, making supervised learning impractical. Recent data-centric learning frameworks such as deep learning (DL) frameworks are data hungry, and demand a large, labeled training data sets. To address the lack of large training datasets, in MRI reconstructions, researchers approach the problem in two ways: (1) using a method that efficiently use the limited dataset for training purpose. (2) unsupervised method where the model is trained without the presence of fully sampled data. In this dissertation, we first systematically investigate advantages and limitations of current oversampling methods. Then, we propose a novel oversampling method and a DL framework that systematically exploits the oversampling technique in the learning process as well as also increase the size of training data set. For (2) we propose an unsupervised deep learning framework for accelerated MRI that does not require ground truth images for training. Our framework combines a system prior derived from the MR acquisition model with generic image priors to build a more effective unsupervised deep learning framework. The system prior enforces data consistency while the generic image priors regulate the neural network parameters. Our experimental results demonstrate that our proposed unsupervised method outperforms state-of-the-art unsupervised methods and achieves performance comparable to that of supervised methods that require ground truth images for training

Supparative thrombophlebitis of facial vein: a variant of lemierre’s syndrome

Introduction: Lemierre’s syndrome refers to infectious thrombophlebitis of the jugular vein most commonly caused by Fusobacterium Necrophorum. The thrombophlebitis is a serious condition that may lead to systemic complications if not treated promptly. Case Description: This case involved a 33-year-old Hispanic female who presented with a 6-day history of fever, chills, nausea, vomiting and profound diarrhea. She received aggressive hydration and required pressors for persistent hypotension. Patient was started on broad spectrum antibiotics for sepsis of unknown origin. Her gastrointestinal symptoms resolved with above treatment; however, she continued to have fever and significant leukocytosis. Meanwhile, she complained of swelling of her right neck. Patient reported a history of dental abscess on the right side 3 months ago, but denied any current symptoms. Her initial blood cultures obtained in the ED grew Fusobacterium necrophorum. Although she did not have the typical history of pharyngitis, given the suspected submandibular lymph node and blood cultures growing Fusobacterium species, Lemierre’s syndrome was suspected and neck/chest/abdomen/pelvis CTs were obtained to investigate the source of infection and possible systemic septic emboli. The CTs indicated purulent thrombophlebitis of the right facial vein and periapical abscess of the right maxillary incisor, where a branch of the right facial vein was draining from. In addition, there were cavitary lesions in the right upper lobe of lung, which were suspicious for septic emboli. It is considered, that she had a variant of Lemierre’s syndrome. She was on intravenous metronidazole until her fever resolved and leukocytosis trended down. She continued oral Augmentin and amoxicillin for three weeks. Discussion: This case illustrates a variant of Lemierre’s syndrome that does not have preceding pharyngitis, involves the facial vein, and presents with prominent gastrointestinal symptoms. Recognizing atypical presentations of Lemierre’s syndrome is essential as prompt treatment is the key to prevent serious systemic complications

Participatory Demonstration and Evaluation of Integrated Maize-Forage Production and Soil Conservation through Forage Legumes under Sowing and Grass Strips on Soil Bunds

Soil conservation through integrating legumes with grain crops, and grass strips on soil bunds is an important option for food and feed security of human and livestock respectively. Based on this notion, this research activity was conducted with objectives of improve productivity of land and livestock through the integrated conservation and farm management, demonstrate integrated maize-forage production, and practices of soil and water conservation practices and improve soil fertility through the biological and physical conservation practices from 2016 to 2018 main cropping season in selected sites Kile, Adada1 and Wahil kebeles. The trial was conducted following the procedure of Randomized Control Block Design on three farmers’ fields at each site where farmers are used as replication. Soil bunds extending 20m across contour were constructed on each farm of three farmers. The design of structure was based on the slope of the land which encompasses bund height 70cm and bund width 50cm to protect over toping of flood and increases water retention in the soil. This research found that maize yield 2447.2 kg/ha, 3311.13kg/ha and 3808.66kg/ha; fresh weight of elephant grass 15, 400kg/ha, 6150kg/ha and 20,200kg/ha; and pigeon pea 8200kg/ha, 9620kg/ha, 13800kg/ha an increasing trend across sites throughout three years from the constructed soil bund with integrated system. Soil laboratory analysis also shows an increasing organic matter, available phosphorus and nitrogen because of these integrated systems. Therefore, promoting this integrated system is recommended to small holder farmers by government, Nongovernment and other stakeholders. Key words: Soil bund, Elephant grass, Pigeon pea, Conservation DOI: 10.7176/FSQM/100-02 Publication date:August 31st 202

Effects of Berberine, Cinnamon, and Fenugreek Seeds on Glucose and Lipid Metabolism in Prediabetes and Diabetes: An Assessment of the Quality of the Clinical Trials

The prevalence of diabetes is increasing globally. Although several anti-diabetic drugs are available to treat the disease, some patients with type 2 diabetes fail to achieve adequate glycemic control. Nutraceuticals may provide therapeutic potential and are widely used in integrative medicine. However, several clinical trials that evaluated the effectiveness of the anti-diabetic nutraceuticals have been inconclusive in their findings. This dissertation appraised the quality of the clinical trials that investigated the effects of berberine, cinnamon, and fenugreek seeds on glucose and lipid metabolism in prediabetes and diabetes. In addition, the effectiveness of the included nutraceuticals was assessed. Besides, ways to enhance the quality of clinical trials on nutraceuticals were suggested. Five databases (UB Wahlstrom, PubMed, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, and Science Direct) were systematically searched for randomized controlled studies that investigated the effects of berberine, cinnamon, or fenugreek seeds on glucose and lipid metabolism. Thirty-three studies (7, 16, 10 on berberine, cinnamon, and fenugreek, respectively), involving 2,518 study participants, were retrieved. The studies were appraised for trial and reporting quality using the Jadad scale and the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Randomized Controlled Trials checklist. The effectiveness of the nutraceuticals was analyzed using the patient-intervention-comparator-outcome chart. The results demonstrated that the quality of the clinical trials varied by the nutraceutical investigated. They included berberine, cinnamon, and fenugreek studies that had scores of 3.4, 3.2, and 2.3, respectively, on the Jadad scale. The berberine and cinnamon had acceptable scores, while the fenugreek studies had a low score, which is below the generally accepted score of 3 for a study of acceptable quality. The quality of the fenugreek trials is of such a low quality that they cannot be used in clinical decision-making. The effectiveness varied by the nutraceuticals and the endpoints analyzed. The analysis revealed that berberine improved HbA1C, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides levels. Berberine-related adverse reactions were reported mild and transient. The berberine trials may support clinical decision-making. The effects of cinnamon on glucose and lipid profiles were inconclusive. Randomized controlled clinical trials with emphasis on methodological and reporting quality need to be conducted to determine the effectiveness of these nutraceuticals