An Investigation in to Students' Attitude towards Basic Writing Skills: The case of Civil Engineering at Hawassa University

This study investigated first year civil Engineering students attitude towards Basic writing Skills course The study used descriptive design and both qualitative and quantitative research approaches The participants of the study were 60 first year Civil Engineering students of Hawassa University The main data collection instruments used in this study was questionnaire and unstructured interview The results of the study indicated that first year Civil Engineering students have positive attitude towards the contents and topics provided in the writing course and the teaching approach applied in the writing class The study also confirmed that among the four major language skills writing is the second difficult skill Majority of the respondents prefer to practice writing outside the classroom The study found out that there are six basic difficulties shared by the participants The most frequent difficulty is vocabulary followed by grammar and fear of negative comments The remaining ones lack of motivation to write insufficient time and teacher s role are reported to be the least problemati

Exploring the Perception of Students' Towards the use of English by English Medium Teachers in Subject Classes

In all higher institutions where English is the medium of instruction students are expected to have minimum English competence to understand their subject matter during their study In order to help students to have the expected English language competence English medium teachers play a pivotal role If English medium teachers use appropriate English expressions throughout their lessons students may benefit a lot The main objective of this study was to investigate the perception of second and third year university students towards their English medium teachers English language usage while delivering their classes 172 second and third year Dilla University students were selected using simple random sampling technique to participate in this study Questionnaire interview and classroom observation were employed to collect data With regard to data analysis method both qualitative and quantitative were employed The findings of the study showed that second and third year students have positive attitude towards their English medium teachers English usage as a medium of instruction in English medium classes Majority of the students believe that their teachers are contributing in improving their students English language skills Positive aspects are favoring the use of English as a medium of instruction in other subject classes The result also indicates that significant numbers of English medium teachers are helping the students by facilitating positive environment to use English language for the classroom interaction Therefore the current study has been concluded with feasible recommendation

Perception of English in-Service Trainees towards the use of Studentsa Mother Tongue, Afan Oromo in this Case, in EFL Classes

The issue of whether the learners mother tongue should be used in the classroom has always been a subject of current debate by many researchers This paper attempts to investigate the perception of English in-service-trainees towards the use of students mother tongue Afan Oromo in this case in EFL classes The participants were 72English summer in-service trainees who came from West Arsi and Guji Zones of Oromiya region to pursue their degree program in 2016 summer program for two months at Hawassa University Data were collected through a questionnaire and semi structure interview The results indicated that EFL teachers have positive perception towards the use of Afan Oromo in their EFL classrooms The study also confirms that the use of Afan Oromo language was to explain new vocabulary especially abstract items to explain new concepts to help students develop their confidence to give instructions to raise students awareness of the differences and similarities between L1 and the target language to help students to complete pair small-group works activities to facilitate complicated English classroom tasks to help students to express their feelings and ideas when they fail to do that in English to build up a good rapport with students to explain the English idioms and expressions and to introduce new grammatical rules in order of importanc

Editing Fusarium graminearum genome with CRISPR/Cas9

Fusarium graminearum is a pathogenic fungus that causes scab or Fusarium head blight disease in barley and wheat. The disease not only reduces yield, but it also contaminates the kernel with harmful toxins. Therefore, the disease causes economic loss and poses a health risk to humans and animals (McMullen et al., 2012). There is no natural resistance to scab disease in barley and there are no effective fungicides to control it. Alternative approaches to protect barley from this devastating disease are badly needed. In recent years, an RNA-guided genome-editing system known as clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat and CRISPR-associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9), has become a popular method for genome modification (Jinek et al., 2012). This technology is a modification of the defense mechanism that many bacteria and archaea use to protect themselves against invading DNA viruses. CRISPR/Cas9 can be used to mutate genomes and make a pathogenic organism less infectious. During the 2019 SURP, we tested whether mutating F. graminearum with CRISPR/Cas9 makes it less infectious. We used CRISPR/Cas9 plasmids to mutate three genes in F. graminearum. One of the genes (AUR1) is a visual marker and the other two genes (MGV1 and Tri5) are essential for infection. The CRISPR/Cas9 plasmids also contained a hygromycin B resistance gene for selection. We transformed F. graminearum protoplasts and selected colonies on media containing hygromycin B. We hypothesized that transforming F. graminearum protoplasts with CRISPR/Cas9 plasmids would edit the target genes. We recovered many colonies on selective media. This suggests that colonies carry the CRISPR/Cas9 plasmids. However, we were unable to detect plasmid DNA in the colonies we screened by PCR. This might be due to the fact that F. graminearum is multinucleated and not all nuclei are transformed. Further research is needed to make the screening process more efficient in order to isolate homokaryons (cells with multiple identical nuclei)

Bibliography of Aquatic Sciences, Fisheries and Aquaculture in Ethiopia

This Bibliography of Aquatic Sciences, Fisheries and Aquaculture is prepared with the intention of providing the opportunity for different users to easily search for references that concentrate on Aquatic Sciences, Fisheries, and Aquaculture   (ASFA).  It is a collection of both grey literatures and scientific articles published in scientific journals. The grey pieces of literature include papers presented in conferences, symposia, and workshops, Ph.D. dissertations and MSc theses of various national and international universities submitted as an academic requirement for graduation. It should be noted that there are many more monographs of these types that could be found mainly in different universities in Ethiopia. The scientific papers published in Journals and included in this bibliography should be checked for reputability. As the bibliography contains grey literatures and published papers it can serve as a source of relevant information and data useful for metaanalysis on key topics/issues of ASFA.  It will also help the scientific community to enhance their teaching, research and extension activities. Moreover, the long list of references included in the bibliography shows the immense contribution of prominent researchers that promoted, not only their carrier but their profession in the aforementioned three specialized fields. Since the Bibliography is a collection of research reports taken from different sources, there may be a lack of consistency while writing the references. For instance, Ethiopian authors include full father name while writing most of the references, however, abbreviated father name is included whenever the original paper does not have full father name. Finally, it should be noted that this bibliography on ASFA is brought out for the first time in Ethiopia, and we are confident that it will be updated in due course through contributions and feedback from researchers in the field

Comparative diagnostic techniques in ruminant Fasciolosis: fecal sedimentation, indirect ELISA, liver inspection and serum enzyme activities

Different diagnostic tests have some disadvantages in diagnosing Fasciolosis. A cross-sectional study was conducted to estimate the prevalence and to compare the different diagnostic techniques in ruminant Fasciolosis: ELISA, biochemical analysis, liver and coprological examination. Out of the 324 cattle, 350 sheep and 385 goats slaughtered at Bishoftu, ELFORA Export Abattoir, 125 (38.5%), 4 (1.1%) and 2 (0.5%) and 108 (33%) 4 (1.1%) and 2 (0.5%) were found to be positive for lesions of fasciolosis and Fasciola eggs, respectively. The results of different diagnostic techniques in randomly selected 134 cattle, 68 sheep and 22 goats samples were compared. Out of the 134 examined cattle, 100 (75%) were found to be positive for antibodies against Fasciola specific f2 antigens followed by 54 (41%) for lesions of Fasciolosis, 40 (30%) for Fasciola eggs and 56 (42%) and 100 (75%) of the samples had an increased level of serum enzyme GGT and LDH above the normal values, respectively. The overall assessment indicates the test agreement of ELISA findings with the results of fecal examination is weak (Kappa=0.236), ELISA findings with the results of liver lesions is moderate (Kappa=0.373), liver lesions with GGT determination is moderate (Kappa=0.332) and liver lesions with level of LDH is absent (Kappa=-0.066). However, there was a strong relationship (Kappa=0.758) between fecal examination and liver lesions. In small ruminants, the prevalence of Fasciolosis was lower both in coproscopy and indirect ELISA tests: only one out of 68 sheep was positive coproscopically and 3 were positive serologically; and one out of 22 goats tested was positive both at coproscopy and serological examinations. The sensitivity of ELISA was higher compared to the others techniques in diagnosing ruminant fasciolosis. Coprological examination should be repeated and supported by other diagnostic methods.Keywords: Coproscopy; ELISA; Fasciola; Liver enzymes; Ruminant

Self-reported race/ethnicity in the age of genomic research: its potential impact on understanding health disparities

This review explores the limitations of self-reported race, ethnicity, and genetic ancestry in biomedical research. Various terminologies are used to classify human differences in genomic research including race, ethnicity, and ancestry. Although race and ethnicity are related, race refers to a person’s physical appearance, such as skin color and eye color. Ethnicity, on the other hand, refers to communality in cultural heritage, language, social practice, traditions, and geopolitical factors. Genetic ancestry inferred using ancestry informative markers (AIMs) is based on genetic/genomic data. Phenotype-based race/ethnicity information and data computed using AIMs often disagree. For example, self-reporting African Americans can have drastically different levels of African or European ancestry. Genetic analysis of individual ancestry shows that some self-identified African Americans have up to 99% of European ancestry, whereas some self-identified European Americans have substantial admixture from African ancestry. Similarly, African ancestry in the Latino population varies between 3% in Mexican Americans to 16% in Puerto Ricans. The implication of this is that, in African American or Latino populations, self-reported ancestry may not be as accurate as direct assessment of individual genomic information in predicting treatment outcomes. To better understand human genetic variation in the context of health disparities, we suggest using “ancestry” (or biogeographical ancestry) to describe actual genetic variation, “race” to describe health disparity in societies characterized by racial categories, and “ethnicity” to describe traditions, lifestyle, diet, and values. We also suggest using ancestry informative markers for precise characterization of individuals’ biological ancestry. Understanding the sources of human genetic variation and the causes of health disparities could lead to interventions that would improve the health of all individuals