Special challenges Eritrean refugees face in Europe

As Syrians refugees fleeing turmoil reach Europe, Yohannes Woldemariam discusses the impact on the flow of Eritreans also seeking a safe haven

Morocco’s new tango with the African Union #28thAUSummit

Ahead of the African Union Summit which takes place from 22-31 January 2017 in Addis Ababa, Yohannes Woldemariam analyses Morocco’s campaign for readmission to the continental body

Eritreans are being sacrificed in the Ethiopian civil war

The suffering of Eritrean refugees in Tigray has been largely hidden from coverage of Ethiopia’s current conflict. At the same time, a military intervention waged by the Eritrean state can only benefit the country’s ruling elites. Signs the war may be protracted reinforce the need for both countries to pursue a relationship that works for all people in the region, not one used for political advantage

Military confrontation in Ethiopia, Trump and the geopolitics of dams

Ethiopia’s internal conflicts are worsening at a time it needs unity for its tense relations with Egypt and Sudan resulting from the GERD infrastructure project. Donald Trump’s interjection into the controversy has only exacerbated the issue, with little regard for complexity in the region. Given the emerging conflict, asks Yohannes Woldemariam, will the countries affected by the dam use Ethiopia’s worsening situation to push through their agenda

The case for a loose confederation in Ethiopia

Ethiopia is in the grip of violent identity politics, with a regional conflict at risk of creating country-wide civil war. A loose political confederation could be necessary reform to prevent further escalation, says Yohannes Woldemariam, but only with significant planning and careful implementation

Desperately poor countries host refugees while the affluent world abandons them

Yohannes Woldemariam argues that European leaders could learn from Uganda’s compassionate policy towards refugees

Woody Species Composition, Diversity and Structure of Kumuli Dry Evergreen Afromontane Forest in Yem District, Southern Ethiopia

This study was conducted in Kumuli forest to investigate woody species diversity and structure of the forest. Woody vegetation data were taken from 32 (20 m x 20 m) systematically laid quadrats in three transects. Shannon-Wiener diversity and evenness index was applied to quantify species diversity and richness. MS excel spreadsheet was used for the data analysis. About 133 woody plant species representing 107 genera and 53 families were recorded in this study. Shrubs have the highest proportion (44.3%) followed by trees (26.3%), trees/shrubs (19%), woody climbers (6%) and lianas (3%). Asteraceae was the dominant family comprising 10% of the total woody species followed by Fabaceae (6%) and Celastraceae, Rosaceae and Rubiaceae (each 5%). The density of the woody species was 7791 stems ha-1. The total basal area of the forest was found to be 30.16 m2 ha-1. The trends in dbh structure showed an inverted J-type with highest densities falling in the lower dbh classes indicating good structure. Most tree species had low IVIs that is attributed to density-dependent and density-independent factors. Height structure analysis also showed a similar pattern with highest densities falling in lower classes, except that less density was observed in the 1st height class. Acanthus eminens, Myrsine africana, Olea capensis, Podocarpus falcatus and Syzigium guineense were species which showed good reproduction and good recruitment while Prunus africana showed both bad reproduction and bad recruitment.Keywords: woody species, dbh classes, Importance Value Index, Olea capensis, Myrsine african

The unenviable situation of Tigreans in Ethiopia

As ordinary Tigreans are increasingly targeted because of their ethnic association to Ethiopia's ruling party, Yohannes Woldemariam points out that the vast majority do not benefit from the rule of Tigrean People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and live in much the same conditions as most Ethiopians

FRAMEWORK FOR INCORPORATING NETWORK CONNECTIVITY IN TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS EVALUATION

In transportation investment evaluation, agencies often do not consider the impact of proposed projects in terms of the increased connectivity of the parent network. Thus, agencies may be inadvertently omitting a key and critical goal of transportation investment evaluation and decision making, particularly in regions and countries with sparse networks. This dissertation develops a framework for measuring network connectivity performance for use as an input for the evaluation process and is applicable to existing or proposed networks in any mode of transportation. The steps for the framework include selection of network performance measures (PMs), scaling the PMs, determining the level of topological performance for a given network, establishing the levels of node and link importance, and calculating the overall network connectivity performance. Another framework is used to quantify the overall connectivity level of the sparse networks with due consideration of the contribution of individual nodes in terms of economic, social, or political importance to the entire network. This dissertation also proposes a methodology to investigate the effect of prospective projects on sparse network connectivity to develop PM tradeoff curves (PMTC) that could be used to investigate the tradeoffs between the different measures of network topological performance. Application of the network connectivity framework using a case study network is also presented in this dissertation to demonstrate the usefulness of the framework in developing vital information of interest to transportation decision makers. The developed PM tradeoff curves were found to be useful for scenario analysis and investigating the relationships between PMs. The case study also demonstrated that the overall topological performance impact of a number of projects can be significantly different from the sum of their individual topological performance impacts. In other words, the effect of the sum of the stimuli is superior to the sum of the individual effects of the stimuli, which is consistent with holism, a basic concept in systems engineering. More importantly, this finding suggests that inter-project interdependencies, a phenomenon whose characterization has been largely elusive in the literature, can be demonstrated and measured in terms of network topological performance

Effects of Dietary Fatty Acids on Insulin Resistance, Tissue Lipid Profile and Adipose Tissue Cellularity in Sprague-Dawley Rat

Insulin resistance describes a dysfunctional state of glucose metabolism which often occurs in advance of any metabolic diseases in human population. Dietary fatty acids are closely linked to insulin resistance as they are known to modulate fatty acid and glucose metabolism in mammals. In this study, fatty acids from butter, soybean and menhaden oil were separately incorporated into rat chow diet to assess the differential effect of dietary fatty acids on the various indicators and risk factors of insulin resistance. These include glucose clearance functions, plasma insulin, body composition, tissue and plasma fatty acid profiles, blood lipids, adipose cellularity and leptin level. A total of 40 male Sprague-Dawley rats of 9 weeks age, randomly allocated to four treatment groups of ten animals each, were employed in this study. The treatment groups consisted of rats fed with chow diet (CD), rats fed chow diet fortified with 10% w/w butter (BCD), rats fed chow diet added with 6.67 % w/w menhaden oil and 3.33% w/w soybean oil (MCD), and rats fed chow diet added with 3.33 % w/w menhaden oil and 6.67 % w/w soybean oil (SCD). The rats were subjected to their respective treatment diets for 22 weeks and body weight was measured weekly. Intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test (IPGTT) and intraperitoneal insulin tolerance test (IPITT) were carried out on day 0, and then later in the 12th and 20th weeks of dietary intervention to assess changes as a result of insulin resistance. Serial plasma insulin levels were also quantified on day 0 and in the 20th week. Upon termination of the trial at the end of the 22nd week, post mortem body composition and inguinal fat cellularity were performed on the rats. Plasma leptin and blood lipids in all treatment groups were measured. Determination of fatty acid profile of selected tissues (plasma, red blood cell membrane, liver and skeletal muscle) were also carried out. Generally, tissue and plasma fatty acid profiles were reflective of the dietary fatty acid composition. Results showed that glucose clearance in all treatment groups was not compromised as a result of dietary intervention. However, the BCD group consistently showed higher blood glucose spike 15 minutes after initial glucose loading, and higher blood glucose readings even after insulin challenge during IPITT compared to the other groups. The glucose clearance capacities of MCD and SCD fed animals remained similar to that of their initial baseline values even after 20 weeks of treatment. Unlike glucose concentration, plasma insulin level was significantly (P<0.05) higher in a majority of time points in the BCD rats compared to the MCD and SCD rats in the 20th week. The corresponding total amount of plasma insulin by time as indicated by the area under the plasma insulin curve, (AUC) for the BCD rats was 456.7±27.7 ng/L min. This was significantly higher (P<0.05) than those of the CD (335.5±38.5 ng/L min), MCD (273.7±37.6 ng/L min) and SCD (265.9±21.7 ng/L min) rats. Area under the curve (AUC) values also showed that all treatment groups, (CD, MCD and SCD) had much higher (P<0.05) plasma insulin values after 20 weeks of treatment, compared to their baseline concentration of 200.3±21.6 ng/L min. Apart from being hyperinsulinaemic, the insulin sensitivity index of BCD rats was found to be significantly (P<0.05) compromised unlike those of the MCD and SCD rats. Risk factors associated with insulin resistance such as excessive body fat accumulation and adipocyte cellularity were altered by dietary fatty acids. Inguinal fat cellularity results showed large and hypertrophied adipocytes in the BCD rats, while adipocytes in the MCD and SCD rats became hyperplastic but significantly smaller (P<0.05) than those of BCD rats. Plasma leptin was elevated significantly (P<0.05) in the BCD rat (3.22±0.32 ng/mL) compared to MCD (2.37±3.2 ng/mL), SCD (2.29±0.35 ng/mL) and CD (2.16±0.11 ng/mL) groups. Blood lipid picture was found to be healthier in the MCD and SCD supplemented groups. These two groups had significantly (P<0.05) lower total cholesterol and triacylglycerol (TAG) contents than the BCDfed rats. This was accompanied by significantly reduced high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) in the MCD (0.15±0.05 mmol/L) and SCD (0.19±0.05 mmol/L) rats, compared to a value of 0.34±0.07 mmol/L observed for the BCD rats. Therefore, it was concluded that 10% dietary fat supplementation from menhaden and soybean oil could delay the onset of hyperinsulinaemia, and possibly insulin resistance in the rat model. Furthermore, PUFA was also shown to have an effect on the risk factors and other indicators for insulin resistance such as adipocyte cellularity, blood lipids and leptin