Major Adjustment Problems, Help Seeking Behaviors and Coping Strategies of First Year Students in Wolaita Sodo University

The main objective of the study was to assess the adjustment problems, help seeking behaviors, coping strategies, the difference between male and female students in their separation anxiety and to determine the relationship between the overall campus adjustment and academic achievement of first year students at Wolaita Sodo University.  The target population was 770 first year students accepted to the university in regular program in the year 2014/15. Among these, 102 (57 male and 45 female) students were selected using multi-stage sampling technique and involved in the study.  The data were collected using questionnaires and interview guidelines. The questionnaires were adapted from the already existing tools, but the interview guide was locally developed based on literature in the area.  For analysis, both qualitative and quantitative methods were employed. The qualitative data depicted that the students were challenged by adjustment problems from four basic dimensions. These adjustment problem dimensions were academic, social, personal-emotional and institutional attachment dimensions. Quantitative analysis findings showed that students’ overall campus adjustment was at moderate level and male students were found to be better adjusted compared to female students. According to the results of the study there was statistically significant positive relationship between students’ adjustment and their academic achievement.  Academic adjustment became the first predictor of the students’ academic performance and followed by the personal-emotional adjustment.  It was revealed that the students primary help sources were non-professional sources such as their friends and senior students instead of campus counselor and their academic advisors. Dysfunctional coping strategies (smoking, chewing, prolonged worry and regret etc) were the main mechanisms used by the students to alleviate their adjustment problems. There was a significant difference between males (M =1.19, SD = 0.92) and females (M = 1.69, SD = 0.95) on parental over-protectiveness scores (POPS) question “My parents were very overprotective of me growing up,” t (104) = 2.74, p < .05. Female students reported a higher frequency in over-protectiveness from parents than males did. Keywords: Adjustment Problems, Help Seeking Behaviors and Coping Strategies

Cell mean versus best linear unbiased predictors in Biplot analysis of genotype × environment interaction in Barley

In multi-environment trials, accurate estimation of yields in individual environments and astute choice of models to extract and display gronomically relevant signals enhance genotype evaluation and accelerate breeding progress. The objective of this study is to (i) compare patterns of genotype × environment interaction (GE) using additive main effect and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) biplots arising from cell means versus best linear unbiased predictors (BLUPs), and (ii) examine some features of the genotype main effect plus GE interaction (GGE) in relation to AMMI in comprehending the GE patterns. A data set generated from 39 barley genotypes grown in 18 environments (three sowing dates and two crop protection treatments over three years) in the central highlands of Ethiopia was used. AMMI analysis of variance based on cell means depicted the first five principal components (PCs) to be significant. However, only the first two PCs were significant when BLUPs were used. Partitioning of the original GE sum of squares into signal and noise confirmed that only the first two AMMI PCs contained signals required to explain the real GE pattern. AMMI PC1 contained 76.5% and AMMI PC2 15.9% of the total GE variance. AMMI biplot based on BLUPs depicted patterns that were more in tandem with agronomic interpretations than biplot based on cell mean data. PC1 of GGE contained 66.9%, PC2 11.2% and PC3 14.5% of the total GE variance. AMMI2 explained as much GE variance as PC1, PC2 and PC3 of GGE put together. AMMI2 biplot depicted a GE pattern that was not obvious from GGE2. AMMI2 biplot was more similar to GGE PC1 versus PC3 biplot than GGE2 biplot. AMMI2 was more efficient than GGE2 for displaying patterns of GE interaction in this data set. However, GGE2 was quite elegant and simple for presenting G and GE combined in a biplot graph including the which-wonwhere pattern. BLUPs might improve yield estimation and pattern recognition, and that attempting both AMMI and GGE analysis might provide important insights on genotype performance and GE

The Relationship between Locus of Control and Student’s University Academic Achievement in Case of Wolaita Sodo University

This study was designed to investigate the relationship between Locus of Control both internal and external and academic achievement Emphasis was put on trying to establish the relationship between internal locus of control external locus of control and academic achievement of graduating class university students at Wolaita Sodo University The study employed the use of correlation design to establish the nature of the relationships The validity and reliability of research instruments was established and data was collected from 313 respondents selected from three colleges and two schools in the university by using the simple random sampling method To analyze the data the analysis of variance ANOVA T-Test and Pearson product moment correlation statistical tools were used with the aim of establishing the difference and relationship between students locus of control and their academic achievement of university graduating class students Findings revealed the existence of a significant difference in academic performance in students of different age significant difference in academic achievement of students from different gender group

On farm cultivar diversity of Enset (Ensete Ventricosum W.) in Southern Ethiopia

This study was initiated to explore farmers ’ strategy on choice of enset cultivar mix and features pertaining to farm cultivar diversity. The survey was undertaken on eight geographical zones in southern Ethiopia. Enset is an important food crop, after cereals and pulses, with coverage of 25% of arable land in the region. Primary data were collected from enset producing sample farmers. The crop supports 6.7 persons per household in 0.71 ha of land holdings on average. Large number of enset cultivars (312) was recorded with an average of 10.2 cultivars per individual holding. Diversity indices have shown that there exists high diversity of cultivars (on the basis of local vernaculars) with few cultivars appeared to be highly abundant with less common and rare cultivars characterize the distribution- abundance pattern. Uneven distribution and abundance of few cultivars suggest their relative importance and provide evidence for deliberate clonal mix for on- farm conservation. Farmers had also prioritized and rated traits/values for selection and maintenance of cultivars and the prime ones, among many others, were identified. The traits comprise disease resistance, early maturity, kocho quality, kocho yield and tolerance to drought. They are the decisive factors shaping the distribution-abundance pattern of cultivars. Nonetheless, several biotic and abiotic stresses, according to respondents, were confronting on-farm diversity management, particularly production and productivity due to varied level of susceptibility to shocks, while some cultivars celebrated for distinctive merits encountered risk of extermination. The association of farmers’ choice of values/traits with other cultural, socioeconomic and biophysical factors needs to be investigated further. Efforts aimed at maintaining enset landraces need to be enhanced and heightened via combination of approaches (gene banks, breeding programs and in-situ conservation). Due emphasis has to be given to farmers ascribed values/traits and resistance mechanisms to various shocks in landrace deployment efforts as part of enset variety development strategy

Peripheral nervous system defects in erbB2 mutants following genetic rescue of heart development

The ErbB2 tyrosine kinase functions as coreceptor for the neuregulin receptors ErbB3 and ErbB4 and can participate in signaling of EGF receptor (ErbB1), interleukin receptor gp130, and G-protein coupled receptors. ErbB2−/− mice die at midgestation because of heart malformation. Here, we report a genetic rescue of their heart development by myocardial expression of erbB2 cDNA that allows survival of the mutants to birth. In rescued erbB2 mutants, Schwann cells are lacking. Motoneurons form and can project to muscle, but nerves are poorly fasciculated and disorganized. Neuromuscular junctions form, as reflected in clustering of AChR and postsynaptic expression of the genes encoding the a-AChR, AChE, e-AChR, and the RI subunit of the cAMP protein kinase. However, a severe loss of motoneurons on cervical and lumbar, but not on thoracic levels occurs. Our results define the roles of Schwann cells during motoneuron and synapse development, and reveal different survival requirements for distinct motoneuron population

A Dual Role of erbB2 in Myelination and in Expansion of the Schwann Cell Precursor Pool

Neuregulin-1 provides an important axonally derived signal for the survival and growth of developing Schwann cells, which is transmitted by the ErbB2/ErbB3 receptor tyrosine kinases. Null mutations of the neuregulin-1, erbB2, or erbB3 mouse genes cause severe deficits in early Schwann cell development. Here, we employ Cre-loxP technology to introduce erbB2 mutations late in Schwann cell development, using a Krox20-cre allele. Cre-mediated erbB2 ablation occurs perinatally in peripheral nerves, but already at E11 within spinal roots. The mutant mice exhibit a widespread peripheral neuropathy characterized by abnormally thin myelin sheaths, containing fewer myelin wraps. In addition, in spinal roots the Schwann cell precursor pool is not correctly established. Thus, the Neuregulin signaling system functions during multiple stages of Schwann cell development and is essential for correct myelination. The thickness of the myelin sheath is determined by the axon diameter, and we suggest that trophic signals provided by the nerve determine the number of times a Schwann cell wraps an axon

Proteome profile of peripheral myelin in healthy mice and in a neuropathy model

Proteome and transcriptome analyses aim at comprehending the molecular profiles of the brain, its cell-types and subcellular compartments including myelin. Despite the relevance of the peripheral nervous system for normal sensory and motor capabilities, analogous approaches to peripheral nerves and peripheral myelin have fallen behind evolving technical standards. Here we assess the peripheral myelin proteome by gel-free, label-free mass-spectrometry for deep quantitative coverage. Integration with RNA-Sequencing-based developmental mRNA-abundance profiles and neuropathy disease genes illustrates the utility of this resource. Notably, the periaxin- deficient mouse model of the neuropathy Charcot-Marie-Tooth 4F displays a highly pathological myelin proteome profile, exemplified by the discovery of reduced levels of the monocarboxylate transporter MCT1/SLC16A1 as a novel facet of the neuropathology. This work provides the most comprehensive proteome resource thus far to approach development, function and pathology of peripheral myelin, and a straightforward, accurate and sensitive workflow to address myelin diversity in health and disease

The Impact of Basha Wolde Chilot’s Relocation Programme on Assets Associated with Housing

This research aimed at exploring the effects of a government relocation progra m on the productive assets of poor households relocated from Basha Wolde Chilot, one of the poor urban neighbo u rhoods in Addis Ababa. The article argues the relocation programme implemented at Basha Wolde Chilot has detrimentally affected the assets of poo r households associated with housing, which has had a tremendous impact on employment opportunities, access to social service provisions, transport costs, as well as social networking of evictees. A qualitative method has been used in the study. 21 study p articipants were drawn from evictees, government agencies, NGOs, and idirs 1 were involved in the research using Key Informant Interviews (KII) and Focus Group Discussion (FGD). The findings of the research revealed that the relocation program adversely aff ected the assets of poor households involved in the study and thereby engendered serious ramifications on the livelihoods of evictees including loss of market and an ensuing sharp fall in income, increasing transportation expenditure, time drain, loss of a ccess to public services, and breakdown of the neighbourhood support system (social capital) with vital resources for poor urban households

Electric portfolio modeling with stochastic water - climate interactions: Implications for co-management of water and electric utilities

Water supply constraints can significantly restrict electric power generation, and such constraints are expected to worsen with future climate change. The overarching goal of this thesis is to incorporate stochastic water-climate interactions into electricity portfolio models and evaluate various pathways for water savings in co-managed water-electric utilities. Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) is used as a case study to explore the above issues. The thesis consists of three objectives: Characterize seasonality of water withdrawal intensity factors (WWIF) for electric power generation and develop a risk assessment framework due to water shortages; Incorporate water constraints into electricity portfolio models and evaluate the impact of varying capital investments (both power generation and cooling technologies) on water use and greenhouse gas emissions; Compare the unit cost and overall water savings from both water and electric sectors in co-managed utilities to facilitate overall water management. This thesis provided the first discovery and characterization of seasonality of WWIF with distinct summertime and wintertime variations of ±17% compared to the power plant average (0.64gal/kwh) which itself is found to be significantly higher than the literature average (0.53gal/kwh). Both the streamflow and WWIF are found to be highly correlated with monthly average temperature (r-sq = 89%) and monthly precipitation (r-sq of 38%) enabling stochastic simulation of future WWIF under moderate climate change scenario. Future risk to electric power generation also showed the risk to be underestimated significantly when using either the literature average or the power plant average WWIF. Seasonal variation in WWIF along with seasonality in streamflow, electricity demand and other municipal water demands along with storage are shown to be important factors for more realistic risk estimation. The unlimited investment in power generation and/or cooling technologies is also found to save water and GHG emissions by 68% and 75% respectively at a marginal levelized cost increase of 12%. In contrast, the zero investment scenarios (which optimizes exiting technologies to address water scarcity constraints on power generation) shows 50% water savings and 23% GHG emissions reduction at a relatively high marginal levelized cost increase of 37%. Water saving strategies in electric sector show very high cost of water savings ($48,000 and$200,000)/Mgal-year under unlimited investment and zero investment scenarios respectively, but they have greater water saving impacts of 6% to CSU municipal water demand; while the individual water saving strategies from water sector have low cost of water savings ranging from ($37-$1,500)/Mgal-year but with less than 0.5% water reduction impact to CSU due to their low penetration. On the other hand, use of reclaimed water for power plant cooling systems have shown great water savings of up to 92% against the BAU and cost of water saving from ($0-$73,000)/Mgal-year when integrated with unlimited investment and zero investment water minimizing scenarios respectively in the electric sector. Overall, cities need to focus primarily on use of reclaimed water and in new generation technologies' investment including cooling system retrofits while focusing on expanding the penetration rate of individual water saving strategies in the water sector

The Impact of Basha Wolde Chilot’s Relocation Programme on Assets Associated with Housing

This research aimed at exploring the effects of a government relocation progra m on the productive assets of poor households relocated from Basha Wolde Chilot, one of the poor urban neighbo u rhoods in Addis Ababa. The article argues the relocation programme implemented at Basha Wolde Chilot has detrimentally affected the assets of poo r households associated with housing, which has had a tremendous impact on employment opportunities, access to social service provisions, transport costs, as well as social networking of evictees. A qualitative method has been used in the study. 21 study p articipants were drawn from evictees, government agencies, NGOs, and idirs 1 were involved in the research using Key Informant Interviews (KII) and Focus Group Discussion (FGD). The findings of the research revealed that the relocation program adversely aff ected the assets of poor households involved in the study and thereby engendered serious ramifications on the livelihoods of evictees including loss of market and an ensuing sharp fall in income, increasing transportation expenditure, time drain, loss of a ccess to public services, and breakdown of the neighbourhood support system (social capital) with vital resources for poor urban households