Land use land cover dynamics at Bilate Alaba sub-watershed, southern Ethiopia

This study was intended to detect land use/land cover changes over 44 years in the Bilate Alaba Subwatersed, Southern Ethiopia. Four Landsat images (1972, 1986, 2008 and 2017) were used to as inputs to produce four land cover maps of the subwatershed; ERDAS imagine and ArcGIS software were utilized to accomplish the analysis. In the period between 1972 to1986 cultivated and settlement showed an incremental change by 280.91 and 71.43 ha respectively, while bare land and shrub & grass land decreased by 225.26 and 140.25 ha respectively. In the period 1986 to 2008 cultivated and bare land increased by 105.13 and 52.90 ha while forest and shrub & grass land decreased by 103.41 and 50.84 ha respectively. Between 2008 and 2017 settlement and bare land increased by 83.20 and 65.54 ha respectively while shrub & grass land and forest land decreased by 112.59 and 46.16 ha respectively. The results showed that cultivated land and settlement land expanded by 67.38% and 532% respectively whereas forest land, shrub land &grass land declined by 66.35%, 18.36% respectively over the analysis period (1972-2017). There should be appropriate rural land use/management policy by identifying proper land for specific purpose so that degraded lands would not put under cultivation.Keywords: Land use, Land cover, GIS, Landsa

Verification, Validation, and Credibility Assessment of a Computational Model of the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED)

No abstract availabl

Development of a Pulsed 2-micron Laser Transmitter for CO2 Sensing from Space

NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC), in collaboration with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), is engaged in the development and demonstration of a highly efficient, versatile, 2-micron pulsed laser that can be used in a pulsed Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL)/Integrated Path Differential Absorption (IPDA) instrument to make precise, high-resolution CO2 measurements to investigate sources, sinks, and fluxes of CO2. This laser transmitter will feature performance characteristics needed for an ASCENDS system that will be capable of delivering the CO2 measurement precision required by the Earth Science Decadal Survey (DS)

Lack of Dietary Sources of Iodine and the Prevalence of Iodine Deficiency in Rural Women from Sidama Zone, Southern Ethiopia

Iodine deficiency has been reported to affect a large number of people in Ethiopia. Although significant progress against iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) has been reported worldwide, millions of people remain with insufficient iodine intake. Multiple factors may contribute to iodine deficiency. Hence, the objective of this study was to investigate iodine deficiency and dietary intake of iodine. A crosssectional survey design was used to assess urinary iodine concentration (UIC), goiter and dietary intake of iodine in a sample of 202 non-pregnant women living in three rural communities of Sidama Zone, southern Ethiopia. Urinary iodine concentration was analyzed using the Sandell-Kolthoff reaction, goiter was assessed using palpation and dietary source of iodine was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire. Data were analyzed using selected descriptive and analytical statistical measures with SAS software. Mean (SD) age, mid upper arm circumference (MUAC) and body mass index [BMI - Wt(kg)/(Ht(m))2] were 30.8 (7.9) y, 24.8(2.5) cm and 20 (2.2) respectively. Median UIC was 37.2 μg/L. Participants with UIC <20 μg/L, classified as severely iodine deficient were 22.8%; 46.5% had UIC between 20 to <50 μg/L, classified as moderately iodine deficient, and 27.2 % had UIC in the mild deficiency range of 50 to <100 μg/L. Only 3.5% of the women had UIC ≥ 100 μg/L. The total goiter rate was 15.9%, which was 1.5% visible and 14.4% palpable goiter. A majority of the participants consumed Enset (E. ventricosum), corn and kale frequently and meat was consumed rarely. None of the participants reported ever consuming iodized salt or ever having heard about use of iodized salt. Adjacent communities (Alamura, Tullo and Finchawa) showed significant differences in UIC, goiter rate and frequency of fish and dairy consumption. The findings of the present study revealed that iodine status of the population is a significant public health problem. Hence, there is a need to supply iodized salt in order to achieve the goal of elimination of iodine deficiency disorders in the community.Key words: urinary iodine, goiter, food frequenc

Advanced Microturbine Systems

In July 2000, the United Technologies Research Center (UTRC) was one of five recipients of a US Department of Energy contract under the Advanced Microturbine System (AMS) program managed by the Office of Distributed Energy (DE). The AMS program resulted from several government-industry workshops that recognized that microturbine systems could play an important role in improving customer choice and value for electrical power. That is, the group believed that electrical power could be delivered to customers more efficiently and reliably than the grid if an effective distributed energy strategy was followed. Further, the production of this distributed power would be accomplished with less undesirable pollutants of nitric oxides (NOx) unburned hydrocarbons (UHC), and carbon monoxide (CO). In 2000, the electrical grid delivered energy to US customers at a national average of approximately 32% efficiency. This value reflects a wide range of powerplants, but is dominated by older, coal burning stations that provide approximately 50% of US electrical power. The grid efficiency is also affected by transmission and distribution (T&D) line losses that can be significant during peak power usage. In some locations this loss is estimated to be 15%. Load pockets can also be so constrained that sufficient power cannot be transmitted without requiring the installation of new wires. New T&D can be very expensive and challenging as it is often required in populated regions that do not want above ground wires. While historically grid reliability has satisfied most customers, increasing electronic transactions and the computer-controlled processes of the 'digital economy' demand higher reliability. For them, power outages can be very costly because of transaction, work-in-progress, or perishable commodity losses. Powerplants that produce the grid electrical power emit significant levels of undesirable NOx, UHC, and CO pollutants. The level of emission is quoted as either a technology metric or a system-output metric. A common form for the technology metric is in the units of PPM {at} 15% O2. In this case the metric reflects the molar fraction of the pollutant in the powerplant exhaust when corrected to a standard exhaust condition as containing 15% (molar) oxygen, assuring that the PPM concentrations are not altered by subsequent air addition or dilution. Since fuel combustion consumes oxygen, the output oxygen reference is equivalent to a fuel input reference. Hence, this technology metric reflects the moles of pollutant per mole of fuel input, but not the useful output of the powerplant-i.e. the power. The system-output metric does embrace the useful output and is often termed an output-based metric. A common form for the output-based metric is in the units of lb/MWh. This is a system metric relating the pounds of pollutant to output energy (e.g., MWh) of the powerplant