MENTAL HEALTH AND HEALTH LITERACY AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS

Background: The study evaluates whether there is an association between mental health and health literacy among college students. Mental health refers to the emotional, psychological, and social wellbeing of an individual. “Health Literacy refers to the capacity of an individual to obtain, process and understand basic health information needed to make an informed health decision.” Methods: This was a secondary data analysis of an existing data on college students. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were conducted with p values less than .05 used to denote significance. Results: In this study, 46.3% of the participants reported mild to moderate or serious psychological distress. According to the data analysis 27.4% reported to seeking help when reading medical instructions other materials from a doctor or pharmacy, while 23.8% reported occasionally. 71.5% reported to seeking help when asked how often doctors/clinic/hospital “appointment slips written in a way that is easy to read and understand”. 13.6% individuals reported to feeling confident when following “instructions on the label of medication bottles”. 33.2% individuals reported to somewhat confident when filling out medical forms by themselves. There is statistical significance association (P=0.005) between how confident the participants are when filling out medical forms by yourself and their mental health status. Conclusion: Improving health literacy should be considered a major public health priority to ensure adequate mental health status of college students

Assessment of Factors Affecting the Performance of Small and Micro-Enterprises in the Case of Goba Town, South East Ethiopia

This study was conducted in Bale Goba, Oromia region with the objective of assessing factors affecting the performance of small and micro enterprises. Specifically it was aimed to identify internal and external factors that affect the performance of small and micro enterprise as well as to analyze the performance of the small and micro-enterprises at the study area. Data was collected from both primary secondary sources. There were five sectors at the study area sample were proportionally determined and then random sampling techniques was used to take sample from each sectors. To analyze the collected data descriptive and narrative method of analysis were employed and then the result was presented in tabular and graphical forms. The study revealed that the small and micro enterprise owners were motivated to start up the business due to lack of alternative source of income and the respondents evaluated the  performance of their business as ;moderate’. The majority of the respondents reported that the major internal factors affecting the performance of their business were lack of enough capital and poor quality of product. The research also revealed that the major determining external factors affecting the performance of small and micro-enterprises were problem of market linkage at the study area and increase in the price of input. Government should give due consideration in market linkage, price of raw material and search alternative way to reduce capital problem. Keywords: Assessment, Factors, Goba, small-Enterprises, Micro-Enterprises, Performanc

Modeling Electrolyte Solutions in a Statistical Associating Fluid Theory (SAFT) Framework

SAFT-VR Mie is one of the most recent extensions of Statistical Associating Fluid Theory (SAFT). It is based on the Mie potential, which is a generalized form of the Lennard-Jones potential in which the exponents of the repulsive and attractive terms are allowed to vary from 12 and 6, respectively. In this thesis, the latest formulation of SAFT-VR Mie is implemented to accurately calculate densities and phase equilibria of both associating and non-associating fluid mixtures. The model is subsequently extended to mixtures with strongly dissociating electrolytes in water through the addition of a Born term to account for solvation effects and a Debye-Hückel term for long-range, electrostatic interactions. A single adjustable parameter is assigned to each ionic species (the cross dispersion energy between the ion and solvent) and is optimized against experimental data for electrolyte solution densities and mean ionic activity coefficients using a sequential Nelder-Mead algorithm with a parallel objective function evaluation. Model correlations for the activity coefficients and liquid densities, as well as predictive calculations of vapor pressure, osmotic coefficients and mixed ion properties, show that the model’s performance is comparable to that of other recent formulations for electrolyte solutions. Further improvement in a subsequent generation of the proposed equation of state will likely derive from a better description of dielectric phenomena, and adjustments to the parameter optimization strategy

DETERMINANTS OF FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT INTO SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: A Panel Data Analysis (1990-2016)

학위논문(석사)--서울대학교 대학원 :국제대학원 국제학과(국제지역학전공),2019. 8. Jeong, Hyeok.이 연구는 SSA 회원국의 외국인 직접 투자의 주요 결정 요인을 규명하는 것을 다룬다. 이 연구는 국가들이 각국뿐만 아니라 지역 차원에서 더 민감한 요소를 식별해야하는 FDI를 더 많이 끌어 들이기를 고려합니다. 따라서 FDI의 주요 결정 요인을 확인하는 것은 정책 입안자에게 중요한 과제이다. 다른 개발 도상국과 비교할 때, 사하라 사막 이남 아프리카에 대한 FDI 유입은 매우 낮다. 본 연구는 외국인 직접 투자 (Foreign Direct Investment, FDI)의 유치에있어 공식 개발 원조와 내륙 영향의 역할을 탐구한다. 어떤 방법이 우리의 데이터와 일치하는지 시험 한 후 연구는 1990 년에서 2016 년까지 SSA 44 개국의 추정치에 고정 효과 모델을 적용하고 토지를 더미 효과로 보는 간단한 OLS 추정법을 적용했다. 평가 결과에 따르면 시장 규모, 기반 시설, 개방성, 사적 및 정치적 안정성 및 인플레이션에 대한 국내 신용은이 지역의 외국인 직접 투자 유치의 주요 결정 요인이다. 그 결과는 또한 ODA와 인프라와의 상호 작용과 정치적 안정성을 보여주는 ODA가 SSA 국가들로의 FDI 유입에 상당한 영향을 미친다는 것을 보여준다. 게다가 국가들은 인프라 개발 및 정치적 안정을 개선해야한다. 이는 ODA가 FDI를 더 많이 끌 이 연구는 SSA 회원국의 외국인 직접 투자의 주요 결정 요인을 규명하는 것을 다룬다. 이 연구는 국가들이 각국뿐만 아니라 지역 차원에서 더 민감한 요소를 식별해야하는 FDI를 더 많이 끌어 들이기를 고려합니다. 따라서 FDI의 주요 결정 요인을 확인하는 것은 정책 입안자에게 중요한 과제이다. 다른 개발 도상국과 비교할 때, 사하라 사막 이남 아프리카에 대한 FDI 유입은 매우 낮다. 본 연구는 외국인 직접 투자 (Foreign Direct Investment, FDI)의 유치에있어 공식 개발 원조와 내륙 영향의 역할을 탐구한다. 어떤 방법이 우리의 데이터와 일치하는지 시험 한 후 연구는 1990 년에서 2016 년까지 SSA 44 개국의 추정치에 고정 효과 모델을 적용하고 토지를 더미 효과로 보는 간단한 OLS 추정법을 적용했다. 평가 결과에 따르면 시장 규모, 기반 시설, 개방성, 사적 및 정치적 안정성 및 인플레이션에 대한 국내 신용은이 지역의 외국인 직접 투자 유치의 주요 결정 요인이다. 그 결과는 또한 ODA와 인프라와의 상호 작용과 정치적 안정성을 보여주는 ODA가 SSA 국가들로의 FDI 유입에 상당한 영향을 미친다는 것을 보여준다. 게다가 국가들은 인프라 개발 및 정치적 안정을 개선해야한다.This study deals with to find out the main determinants of FDI in SSA countries. The studies consider countries to attract more FDI they should identify which factors are more sensitive for each countries as well as regional level. Therefore identifying the key determinants of FDI is a crucial task for policy makers. Compared to other developing countries, FDI inflow in to sub-Sahara Africa is very low, beside this study explores the role of Official Development Assistance and the landlocked effect in the attraction of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The study after testing which method is consistent with our data, fixed effect model is applied for the estimation of 44 SSA countries from the period 1990 to 2016 and simple OLS estimation method also applied to cheek the land looked dummy effect. The estimation results shows that Market size, Infrastructure, openness, Domestic credit to private and political stability and inflation are the key determinant in the attraction of FDI in this region. The results also show the interaction of ODA with infrastructure and ODA with political stability also has a significant effect of FDI inflow in to SSA countries. Besides, countries should also improve infrastructural development and political stabilities, as this strengthens the effectiveness of ODA in to attracting more FDI.CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Background of the study 1 1.2 Statement of the Problem 3 1.3 Objective of the study 4 1.4 Research question 5 1.5 Significance of the Study 5 1.6 Scope and Organization of the study 5 CHAPTER TWO: OVERVIEW OF SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 7 2.1 Introduction 7 2.2 Foreign direct investment to SSA countries 8 2.3 What determines the attraction of FDI in sub-Saharan Africa? 13 2.4 The nexus between FDI and foreign aid 14 CHAPTER THREE: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 16 3.1 Introductions 16 3.2 Theoretical Literature Review 17 3.2.1 Eclectic Theory of Foreign Direct Investment 18 3.2.2 Resource Seeking 20 3.2.3 Market Seeking FDI 21 3.2.3 Efficiency Seeking FDI 22 3.3 Empirical Literature Review 23 CHAPTER FOUR: DATA AND METHODOLOGY 27 4.1 Theoretical Framework 27 4.1.1 Model specification 27 4.1.2 Variables Descriptions 28 4.1.3 Data 32 4.2 Empirical Methodology 33 4.2.1 Advantage of Panel data regression 35 CHAPTER FIVE: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 36 5.1 Introduction 36 5.3 Result 38 5.3.1 Interaction effects 45 5.3.2 Robustness checks 48 CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION AND POLICY IMPLICATION 49 REFERENCE 53Maste

The impact of Ethiopian land certification on land conservation, maintenance and tree planting

This study analyses the impact of land registration and certification on rural farm households’ investment on conservation, maintenance and tree planting in Ethiopia. I used cross-sectional data collected from Tigray region in 2015. The Instrumental variable approach used to control for endogeneity in certificate ownership shows there is no systematic distribution in certificate ownership or no endogeneity. The estimation results suggest a mixed result with different outcome variables used as proxy for land related investment. There is positive and significant correlation between possession of land certificates and investment in conservation and maintenance or improvement of conservation structures. However, I didn’t find a significant correlation between certificate and tree planting. Variables such as distance of farm plots and public investment on plots tend to have a strong and positive effect on farmers decision on land related investments.M-ECO

Fatigue Life Assessment of Rib to Deck Welded Joint of the Hardanger Bridge – a Realistic Traffic Loading of FEM

The orthotropic steel decks in the Hardanger Bridge, as is common for long span suspension bridges, have welded joints that are susceptible to fatigue cracks. The rib-to-deck welded joints under the wheel load are the most common crack initiation sites. Crack in the weldment accelerates the degradation of other components of the bridge deck and ultimately shortens the fatigue life of the road bridge. The fatigue life of the rib-to-deck welded joint is determined by using Miner’s damage accumulation rule of the rainflow cycle counted stress ranges of the nominal and Hot Spot stresses. A full-scale 20 m long finite element model of the box girders in the Hardanger Bridge was built following the design drawings provided by the Norwegian Public Road Administration (NPRA). The model was loaded with fatigue load models (FLM) in Abaqus. A realistic dynamic design of the FLM traffic loading on the bridge was achieved by user subroutine. The thesis compared the fatigue life of two fatigue load models, the national (FLM-N) and Eurocode’s FLM4. The effect of velocity on fatigue life of the welded joint was assessed by simulating vehicle with three different velocities while ensuring equal sampling rate. A validated whole span global model of Hardanger Bridge was provided for this thesis. The global model was loaded by vehicle equivalent concentrated load and corresponding moment of FLM-N and FLM-4. Stress response calculated from moment and axial force was used to estimate fatigue life. The fatigue load models cause high cycle fatigue damage on the welded joints of the orthotropic steel decks of the Hardanger Bridge. The Hot Spot stress fatigue life of the welded rib-to-deck joint was 135 years (FLM-N) and 24 years (FLM4). The corresponding nominal stress fatigue life was 1180 years (FLM-N). Stresses from loading the global model with a single vehicle at a time did not induce fatigue damage. The effect of velocities of the vehicles loaded resulted in insignificant changes of the fatigue life of the welded joint