Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factor Assessment and Lifestyle Adjustments in African Americans

Multiple studies have indicated a higher burden of overweight/obesity and exposure to environmental toxins, such as alcohol and tobacco smoke, in association with higher prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the African American population. Thus, the purpose of this research was to determine if there was a significant difference in the use of lifestyle adjustments such as moderating alcohol consumption, weight loss, and smoking cessation on the prevalence of CVD in the African American population. The theoretical foundation was social cognitive theory and the social ecological model that posits the interplay of individual, social, and environmental factors. This cross-sectional quantitative study was designed to assess the effects of lifestyle adjustments of weight loss, moderating alcohol consumption, and smoking cessation in the prevalence of CVD in African Americans between 40 and 60 years of age. Analysis of secondary data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination survey for the years 2013-2014 was conducted using binary logistic regression. The findings showed no significant difference in the use of weight loss, moderating alcohol consumption, and smoking cessation in the prevalence of CVD in African Americans between 40 and 60 years of age. However, the odds of moderate alcohol consumption and weight loss were greater than 1. Thus, this study may have a small potential impact on CVD in African Americans by encouraging lifestyle adjustments, and may contribute to positive social change by increasing life expectancy, improving quality of life, and reducing the burden of certain chronic diseases and reduction of healthcare cost

The Legal Status of Communal Land Tenure System in Ethiopia and Its Congruency with the FDRE Constitution

The article investigates the factors behind the dwindling condition ofcommunal lands and their legal status in Ethiopia in light of the country`sinternational and regional commitments. As the nation is comprised of anoverwhelming proportion of agrarian community, who in addition to theirindividual farmlands for crop production are highly dependent on communalland and resources such as timber, firewood, traditional medicine, fodderand thatching grass and places for ritual ceremonies. Currently, anationwide, communal land on which the life of the rural mass is based on isadmitted to be on the brink of literal disappearance. Even though a numberof factors ranging from climate change, population growth and others maybe ascribed to the dwindling of communal lands and landed resources, thisstudy argues, through a doctrinal analysis, that the denial of legislativerecognition on its part, categorically adds fuel to an unfettered extinction.Thus, the writer urges government both at federal and regional (state) levelought to accord sufficient legislative recognition of communal land tenure aswell as protection of legitimate tenure rights of the rural poor which hassurvived for ages

Factors Affecting Non-Performing Loans in Commercial Banking Sector: A Comparative Study of Public and Private Banks A Case Study of Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and Dashen Bank District in Southern Region of Ethiopia

The study aims to identify factors affecting non-performing loans in commercial banking sector; in public and private banks of the study area. To achieve the “general and specific objectives” the study was look institutional and customer specific factors affecting NPLs and the remedial practices can be implemented to reduce the level of NPLs. This study also used descriptive research design and quantitative research approach were used and the primary source of data were collected from 52 credit staff members from CBE and Dashen banks District in Southern Region. The sampling techniques were purposive sampling method. However, the sample was selected from credit staff only. For data analysis, descriptive statistics including mean, std. deviation, frequency and percentages were used. The results of the study indicated Bank specific factors include Bank size and performance, credit size, poor credit assessment, poor credit terms, lack of aggressive credit collection system, inadequate nature of collateral were identified as bank specific factors affecting NPLs. On the other hand unwillingness of borrower to pay back loan, customers funds diversion for unexpected purpose were identified as customer specific factors affecting NPLs. Hence, to reduce the occurrence of loan default it is suggests the stakeholders in the credit system including the banks and government must implement policies that will facilitate the minimization of the internal as well as external factors that precipitate NPLs. Keywords: Bank Specific Factors, Customer Specific Factors, Non-Performing Loans DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/10-3-0

Prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites of dogs and community awareness about zoonotic diseases in Chagni town, northwestern Ethiopia

This cross-sectional study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of gastrointestinal helminth species found in stray dogs and to assess the awareness of the community about dog parasitic zoonoses in Chagni town, northwest Ethiopia. Standard fecal and postmortem examination and questionnaire survey methods were used to collect data. A total of 202 fecal samples were collected and examined using the Kato-Katz methodology to indicate intestinal helminthes in dogs of the study area. Postmortem examination was done on 9 stray dogs to detect the presence of adult worms. Necropsy of the 9 stray dogs revealed that all of them (100%) were positive for at least one intestinal helminth parasite. The following cestodes were identified: Echinococcus granulosus, Taenia pisiformis, T. hydatigena, T. ovis, Dipylidium caninum and Mesocestoides. Other intestinal worms in dogs were Toxocaracanis, Tirchurisvulpis and Ancylostoma caninum. Most helminths were recovered from the large intestine. Of the interviewed community members, 68.3% reported that tapeworms locally called “kosso” were zoonotic agents, followed by roundworms, locally called “wosefat”. Majority of the respondents reported they feed their own dogs raw condemned offal’s and human. The findings showed that there is significant infestation of intestinal helminthes among the dogs of the study area coupled with the high levels of illiteracy among community members about canine parasites and transmission. This shows that immediate action needs to be taken to decrease infection rates in dogs and to raise education levels of the community about zoonotic diseases. Keywords: Chagni; Dog; Helminthes; Intestinal parasites; Prevalence; Zoonose

A Glance at the Developmental Opportunities of Gibe III Hydro Electric Power Project of Ethiopia at National Level Vis-A-Vis Local Communities

With a great deal of enthusiasm to make a way out of extreme poverty the government of Ethiopia is claiming the fact that it was embarked on a track of developmental ventures that would bring economic transformation for the nation To this end priorities were given to the power sector which is believed to be serving as foundation for the upcoming shift from agrarian economy to the manufacturing industry in short period of time as was envisaged by the Growth and Transformation Plan of the incumbent gov t Accordingly massive investments are on the stake in power generation projects particularly in the hydroelectric sector One of such endeavours is the Gibe III hydroelectric power project which is launched in 2006 The purpose of this short article is to observe the balance of national development initiative with the concern of local communities adjacent to the project centre Accordingly the government is keen explaining the projects role in boosting the nation s energy supply in the field of electric city and above all it opens the way for earning foreign currency since part of the energy produced is going to be exported to the neighbouring states including Kenya With regard to localities of the project area based on the information directly obtained from informants representing the communities there are some developmental opportunities associated with the project which includes infrastructure social services alternatives labour intensive economic activities support in some aspects of agricultural modernization providing productive crops species Et

The Role of Decentralization in Promoting Good Governance in Ethiopia: The Case of Wolaita and Dawuro Zones

Decentralization is widely recognized to improve sustainable development through promoting good governance. However, like many African countries, Ethiopia has faced a number of challenges in good governance building process. Thus, this research focuses on assessing the role of decentralization in promoting good governance in Wolaita and Dawuro Zones. The study employed descriptive research design to describe the practices of decentralization and its role in promoting good governance. Both primary and secondary data were used. The primary data was collected through questionnaire and interview while secondary data was collected by conducting extensive desk review from published and unpublished documents like journals, articles, books, reports, etc. To realize the objective of the study 400 employees were selected from 12 selected public sectors of Wolaita and Dawuro zone using simple random sampling techniques. The collected data were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative method of data analysis. The finding of the study shows that the practice of political and administrative decentralization was good. But fiscal decentralization was lowly practiced and remains the problem in promoting good governance. This was mainly because power of rising and controlling own revenue, extent of expenditure planning and financing, revenue transfer ratio, autonomy to borrow fund, financial management capacities of local governments were low in Wolaita and Dawuro zones. Therefore, the government should pay attention to fiscal decentralization by encouraging local governments to have enough fiscal control and capacity to plan their activities in most effective and efficient manner. Keywords: Decentralization, Good Governance, Political decentralization, Administrative decentralization, Fiscal decentralizatio

Corporate Social Responsibility for Social Dimension of Human Development in Ethiopia: A Conceptual Paper

CSR is an important agent of change to address the challenges of social dimension of human development However, Ethiopia lagged behind the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) guideline and framework. The central theme of this paper is to analyze how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is important for human development. Based on analysis of 50 scholarly papers and research journals, books and organizational website products/ leaflets, the importance of CSR for human development is discussed in relation to the experiences of Japan and South Africa and their relevance to Ethiopia. CSR is an essential concept for the accumulation of social capital (in the form of social networks development and activities of voluntary associations) thereby facilitating greater participation in civic and political associations, trust, honesty, reliability, and developing collaboration in the society. Ethiopians and CSR are compatible because Ethiopians are “open minded” and receptive towards socio-cultural life as reflected by the extended family structure; “collectivism” is a dominant national culture. It is suggested that it is essential that Ethiopians practice CSR by focusing on indigenous opportunities that are available locally without dogmatic copying of other countries. Keywords: Collectivism, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Human development, Social Capital

Thermally Stimulated Luminescence Study of Vitamin-E Containing Ultra-High Molecular weight Polyethylene(UHMWPE)

oxidation degradation of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene(UHMWPE) due to gamma-irradation has been a major concern in total hip and knee joint arthroplasty. Irradiation( gamma or electron beam) is used for sterilization or crosslinking of UHMWPE.However, in the past decade the use of the biocompatible stabilizer alpha-tocopherol (vitamin-E) has been introduced to reduce or eliminate radiation-induced oxidation of UHMWPE. While existing literature contains information about consolidated UHMWPE, we have studied UHMWPEpowder, because it more readily and uniformly reacts with oxygen or air, in an attempt to gain more knowledge about the antioxidative effect of vitamin-E on UHMWPE. In conjunction with electron spin resonance (ESR) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, thermally stimulated luminescence(TSL) techniques was employed in this study. TSL of gamma irradiated UHMWPE with or without vitamin E shows multiple glow peaks orignating from the species resulting from reaction of free radicals with oxygen following irradiation. Major peaks near 140, 210, and 240 oC are observed only in UHMWPE, whereas an additional strong peak near 180 oC is observed in vitamin-E containing UHMWPE.The glow peaks in UHMWPE without vitamin-E are weak when irradiation is performed in nitrogen; they subsequently start to grow as a function of aging in air, suggesting that these peaks( or luminescence at these temperatures) are produced by species formed after the reaction of oxygen with the free radicals. However, in the presence of vitamin E, these peaks are found to decrease in intensity as a function of aging. The antioxidation effect of of vitamin E is found to be more pronounced in the TSL data than in those obtained fromESR or FTIR measurements

Dimensionally Homogeneous Jacobian using Extended Selection Matrix for Performance Evaluation and Optimization of Parallel Manipulators

This paper proposes a new methodology for deriving a point-based dimensionally homogeneous Jacobian, intended for performance evaluation and optimization of parallel manipulators with mixed degrees of freedom. Optimal manipulator often rely on performance indices obtained from the Jacobian matrix. However, when manipulators exhibit mixed translational and rotational freedoms, the conventional Jacobian's inconsistency of units lead to unbalanced optimal result. Addressing this issue, a point-based dimensionally homogeneous Jacobian has appeared as a prominent solution. However, existing point-based approaches for formulating dimensionally homogeneous Jacobian are applicable to a limited variety of parallel manipulators. Moreover, they are complicated and less intuitive. This paper introduces an extended selection matrix that combines component velocities from different points to describe the entire motion of moving plate. This proposed approach enables us to formulate an intuitive point-based, dimensionally homogeneous Jacobian, which can be applied to a wide variety of constrained parallel manipulators. To prove the validity of proposed method, a numerical example is provided utilizing a four-degree-of-freedom parallel manipulator