79 research outputs found
Lead accumulation in the roadside soils from heavy density motor way towns of eastern Ethiopia
The levels of lead pollution in the roadside soils of the heavy density motor ways of Eastern Ethiopia, in particular; Modjo, Bishoftu and Adama towns were studied. Soil samples were collected from a total of 22 sampling sites while the control samples were obtained from places about 1 km away from the main roads of each town. Concentrations of lead, in soil samples, were determined using flame atomic absorption spectrometer and the average concentrations of lead were found to be 93.3 ± 1.0, 79.4 ± 0.6 and 80.6 ± 0.4 μg/g for Modjo, Bishoftu and Adama towns, respectively. The concentrations of lead in soils sampled 1 km away from the main road for each town were: 13.5 ± 0.3, 19.6 ± 0.7 and 20.8 ± 0.8 μg/g for Modjo, Bishoftu and Adama towns, respectively. The contamination factors for the average lead concentrations of Modjo, Bishoftu and Adama towns were 6.9, 4.0 and 3.8, respectively. Besides, the correlations between the lead level and the traffic density of the corresponding roads were found to be r (4) = 0.82, p < 0.05 for Modjo, r (5) = 0.32, p < 0.05 for Bishoftu and r (9) = 0.81, p < 0.05 for Adama. KEY WORDS: Gasoline, Lead, Roadside soils, Traffic density, Vehicular emission, Ethiopia Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2014, 28(2), 161-176.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v28i2.
Fasciolosis: Prevalence, financial losses due to liver condemnation and evaluation of a simple sedimentation diagnostic technique in cattle slaughtered at Hawassa Municipal abattoir, southern Ethiopia
This study was carried out from November 2007 to April 2008 to determine the prevalence of fasciolosis and costs incurred due to liver condemnation and evaluate the sensitivity of direct sedimentation method for diagnosis of fasciolosis in cattle slaughtered at Hawassa Municipal abattoir. A total of 3251 adult indigenous cattle were slaughtered at the abattoir during the study period, of which 931 animals (28.63%) were found to be positive for fasciolosis. There was a statistically significant (χ2 = 33.10; p = 0.004) variation in prevalence between the study months where the highest (35.6%) and lowest (21.03%) prevalence were recorded in February and April, respectively. Fasciola hepatica (58.9%) was the predominant fluke identified compared to F. gigantica (10.6%). Mixed infections by both species and unidentified immature flukes were detected in 14.7% and 15.8% of the affected livers, respectively. The mean fluke burden in the affected livers was 55 flukes per liver. As to the severity of infection, 36.63%, 52.31% and 11.06% were lightly, moderately and severely affected, respectively. Moderately affected livers showed the highest mean fluke count (69 ± 1.91) followed by severely (48 ± 1.71) and lightly affected ones (25 ± 1.75) signifying the presence of acquired resistance and local tissue reaction as chronicity of infection supervenes. Taking liver examination as gold standard for diagnosis of fasciolosis, the sensitivity of the direct sedimentation technique was found to be 67.13% and the specificity 100% with substantial agreement (k = 0.74) between the two methods. The financial loss due to liver condemnation was estimated to be 106,400 Ethiopian birr (8312.5 USD) per annum. In conclusion, the observation of such a level of infection in the dry season, high fluke pathogenicity and substantial financial loss associated with condemnation of
infected livers warrants the institution of appropriate control measures.
Keywords: Cattle, fasciolosis, financial loss, Hawassa abattoir, prevalence, southern Ethiopi
Genotype by environment interaction and grain yield stability of Ethiopian black seeded finger millet genotypes
Finger millet ( Eleusine coracana \ua0(L.) Gaertn) is an important
cereal widely produced in Ethiopia across diverse agro-ecologies. It is
valued by local farmers for its ability to grow in adverse
agro-climatic conditions, where other cereals fail. The yield potential
of this crop is in the range of 4-5 tonnes/ha, but the current national
average grain yield is far below the potential (2.1 tonnes). Lack of
improve varieties which are stable, high yielder and stress tolerant is
a major limiting factor to production of this crop in Ethiopia. A field
experiment was conducted using twelve black seeded finger millet
(Eleusine coracana subsp. coracana) genotypes, including local and
standard checks (Degu) at two locations (Bako and Gute) in Ethiopia for
three years (2014 - 2016). The objective of this study was to identify
stable and high yielding genotypes for grain yield and other agronomic
traits among the black seeded finger millet genotypes of Ethiopia. The
additive main effect and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) model
analysis of variance revealed highly significant (P<0.01)
differences between environments, genotype, and Interaction Principal
Component Analysis (IPCA-I), but significant variations (P<0.05) for
G x E interactions. This indicates that the genotypes performed
differently over environments and that the test environments are highly
variable. Only the first IPCA-I showed high significance (P<0.01)
and contributed 48.39% of the total genotype by environment interaction
(G x E). Genotypes BKFM0020, BKFM0006 and BKFM0010, which had high
grain yield, but with IPCA value close to zero, indicated the wide
adaptability/stability. Similarly, analysis using Eberhart and Russell
model revealed that these genotypes were within the relatively
acceptable range of regression coefficients (bi), approaching to one
(0.742, 0.8176 and 1.0578), and deviation from regression closer to
zero (s2di) (0.0385, -0.0661 and -0.0248), respectively. This implied
that pipeline genotypes were stable, widely adaptable and high yielders
than the other genotypes. Genotype and genotype by environment (GGE
bi-plot) analysis also revealed that these candidate genotypes were
stable and high yielder. Besides, these genotypes showed resistance to
blast disease, which is a threat to finger millet production in the
study areas. Therefore, these genotypes were selected as potential
candidates for possible release in western Oromia and similar
agro-ecologies of the country.Le petit mil ( Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn) est une
c\ue9r\ue9ale importante largement produite en \uc9thiopie dans
les diff\ue9rents zones agro-\ue9cologiques. Il est
appr\ue9ci\ue9 par les agriculteurs locaux pour sa capacit\ue9 de
grandir dans des conditions agro-climatiques d\ue9favorables, o\uf9
les autres c\ue9r\ue9ales \ue9chouent. Le potentiel du rendement
en grain de cette culture de mil se situe entre 4 \ue0 5 t ha-1, mais
le rendement moyen national actuel est tr\ue8s inf\ue9rieur au
potentiel (2,1 tonnes). Le manque de vari\ue9t\ue9s
am\ue9lior\ue9es, stables, \ue0 rendement en grain
\ue9lev\ue9 et tol\ue9rantes au stress est un t facteur majeur
limitant la production de cette culture de mil en \uc9thiopie. Une
exp\ue9rience au champs a \ue9t\ue9 conduite avec douze
g\ue9notypes des grains noir de mil (Eleusine coracana subsp.
Coracana), y compris des contr\uf4les locaux et standard (Degu)
\ue0 deux locations (Bako et Gute) en \uc9thiopie pendant trois ans
(2014 - 2016). L\u2019objectif de cette \ue9tude \ue9tait
d\u2019identifier des g\ue9notypes stables et de rendement
tr\ue8s\ua0\ue9lev\ue9 pour le rendement en grain de mil et
d\u2019autres caract\ue9ristiques agronomiques parmi les genotypes
des grains noir de mil en \uc9thiopie. L\u2019analyse de variance du
methode avec effet principal additif et interaction multiplicative
(AIM) a r\ue9v\ue9l\ue9 des diff\ue9rences tr\ue8s
significatives (P <0,01) entre les locations, le g\ue9notype et
l\u2019analyse en composantes principales de l\u2019interaction
(IPCA-I), mais des variations significatives (P <0,05) pour G x E
interactions. Cela indique que les g\ue9notypes se sont
comport\ue9s diff\ue9remment selon les locations et que les
locations de test sont tr\ue8s variables. Seule la premi\ue8re
IPCA-I a montr\ue9 une signification \ue9lev\ue9e (P <0,01) et
a contribu\ue9 pour 48,39% du total des interactions g\ue9notype
par la location (G x E). G\ue9notypes BKFM0020, BKFM0006 et BKFM0010,
qui avait un rendement en grain \ue9lev\ue9, mais avec une valeur
IPCA proche de z\ue9ro, a indiqu\ue9 la grande adaptabilit\ue9 /
stabilit\ue9. De m\ueame, une analyse utilisant les
m\ue9thodes\ua0d\u2019Eberhart et Russell a r\ue9v\ue9l\ue9
que ces g\ue9notypes se situaient dans la plage relativement
acceptable des coefficients de r\ue9gression (bi), se rapprochant de
un (0,742, 0,8176 et 1,0578) et de l\u2019\ue9cart par rapport
\ue0 la r\ue9gression proche de z\ue9ro (s2di) (0,0385, 0,0661 et
-0,0248), respectivement. Cela impliquait que les g\ue9notypes de
pipeline \ue9taient stables, largement adaptables et ont eu le
rendement tr\ue8s\ua0\ue9lev\ue9 que les autres g\ue9notypes.
Les analyses de g\ue9notype et g\ue9notype par la location
(bi-parcelle GGE) ont \ue9galement r\ue9v\ue9l\ue9 que ces
g\ue9notypes candidats \ue9taient stables et avaient une bonne
rentabilit\ue9. En outre, ces g\ue9notypes ont montr\ue9 une
r\ue9sistance \ue0 la maladie fongique qui constitue une menace
pour la production de mil dans les zones d\u2018 \ue9tude. Par
cons\ue9quent, ces g\ue9notypes ont \ue9t\ue9
s\ue9lectionn\ue9s comme candidats potentiels pour une
lib\ue9ration \ue9ventuelle dans l\u2019ouest d\u2019Oromia et
des zones agro-\ue9cologiques similaires du pays
Natural coagulates for wastewater treatment; a review for application and mechanism
The increase of water demand and wastewater generation is among the global concerns in the world. The less effective management of water sources leads to serious consequences, the direct disposal of untreated wastewater is associated with the environmental pollution, elimination of aquatic life and the spread of deadly epidemics. The flocculation process is one of the most important stages in water and wastewater treatment plants, wherein this phase the plankton, colloidal particles, and pollutants are precipitated and removed. Two major types of coagulants are used in the flocculation process included the chemical and natural coagulants. Many studies have been performed to optimize the flocculation process while most of these studies have confirmed the hazardous effects of chemical coagulants utilization on the ecosystem. This chapter reviews a summary of the coagulation/flocculation processes using natural coagulants as well as reviews one of the most effective natural methods of water and wastewater treatment
Ethnobotany of medicinal plants in Ada’a District, East Shewa Zone of Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia
Principais alterações no leite por agentes causadores de mastite no rebanho caprino dos estados de Minas Gerais e Rio de Janeiro
Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search
Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translated into practice. To overcome this bottleneck, we have established the RElevant LIterature SearcH consortium consisting of more than 1500 scientists from 84 countries, who have collectively annotated the relevance of over 180 000 PubMed-listed articles with regard to their respective seed (input) article/s. The majority of annotations were contributed by highly experienced, original authors of the seed articles. The collected data cover 76% of all unique PubMed Medical Subject Headings descriptors. No systematic biases were observed across different experience levels, research fields or time spent on annotations. More importantly, annotations of the same document pairs contributed by different scientists were highly concordant. We further show that the three representative baseline methods used to generate recommended articles for evaluation (Okapi Best Matching 25, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency and PubMed Related Articles) had similar overall performances. Additionally, we found that these methods each tend to produce distinct collections of recommended articles, suggesting that a hybrid method may be required to completely capture all relevant articles. The established database server located at https://relishdb.ict.griffith.edu.au is freely available for the downloading of annotation data and the blind testing of new methods. We expect that this benchmark will be useful for stimulating the development of new powerful techniques for title and title/abstract-based search engines for relevant articles in biomedical research.Peer reviewe
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