Surface Induced Ordering on Model Liquid Crystalline Dendrimers

We present results from Monte Carlo simulations of liquid crystalline dendrimers (LCDrs) adsorbed on flat, impenetrable substrates. A tractable coarse grained force field for the inter-dendritic and the dendrimer-substrate interactions is introduced. We investigate the conformational and ordering properties of single, end-functionalized LCDrs under homeotropic, random (or degenerate) planar and unidirectional planar aligning substrates. Depending on the anchoring conditions of the mesogenic units of the LCDr and on temperature a variety of stable LCDr states, differing in their topology, are observed and analysed. The influence of the denritic generation and core functionality on the surface-induced ordering of the LCDrs are examined.Comment: 23 pages, 11 figure

Response of Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) to Nitrogen Fertilizer Application at Angecha, Southern Ethiopia

Nitrogen is one of the most limiting essential nutrients for plant growth and development. Its fertilizations play an important role in the balance between vegetative and reproductive growth of potato. In this context, field experiment was conducted during 2015/16 cropping season at Angacha testing site of Areka Agricultural Research Center to determine the optimum N fertilizer rate for potato production. Treatments consisted of two potato varieties: Gudane (CIP-386423.13) and Belete (CIP393371.58) with seven N levels (0, 23, 46, 69, 92, 115 and 138 kg ha-1 N) were combined in factorial and laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replications. Analysis of variance revealed that N rates had significant effect on days to flowering and physiological maturity where both parameters were prolonged with increasing N rates. Significant differences were detected due to effect of varieties by N rates interactions on days to flowering and maturity where for both varieties days to flowering and physiological maturity delayed with increasing N rates. Regarding variety by N rate interactions, the highest plant height was observed for Gudane at N rate of 138 kg ha-1 and the lowest plant height was recorded for Belete from non N application plots. Varieties by N rates interactions resulted in significant differences on marketable tuber yield with the highest marketable tuber yield was observed for Belete at N rate of 69 kg ha-1. In line with this, varieties significantly differed for total tuber yield where variety Belete gave  higher total tuber yield than that of variety Gudane. This result revealed that both varieties gave better yield that N rate of 69 kg/ha with superior performance of variety Belete.  Based on this finding, application of 69kg N ha-1 for both cultivars could be recommended for production at Angecha and similar agro-ecologies. Keywords:  Varieties, Nitrogen fertilizer, Tuber yield, Tuber number, Economic feasibilit

Post Harvest Loss Management and Quality Control of Fruits and Vegetables in Ethiopia for Securing Food and nutrition – A review

High quality and disease free produce with a good shelf life is the result of sound production practices providing food and nutrition security for the community. Therefore, this review will be focused on the postharvest management include harvesting, handling, packaging, storage, transportation, role of mass media, policy makers, marketing, hygiene and sanitation, ultimate utilization of fruits and vegetables to enhance food and nutrition security. Currently there are limited review on management of postharvest losses of fresh fruits and vegetables in Ethiopia due to lack of research works in the sector. Being able to maintain a level of freshness perishables horticultural commodity from harvesting to the ultimate utilization presents many challenges. Therefore, there is an urgent need by developing feasible technology to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables for securing food and nutrition of the society. Keywords: Loss management, Quality, food security DOI: 10.7176/FSQM/100-04 Publication date:August 31st 202

Farmer’s Willingness to Accept Buffer Zone Land around Lake Tana: Evidence from Fogera and Libokemkem Districts, Ethiopia

The main objective of the study was to identify the determinants of rice farmers’ willingness to accept for leaving the land around Lake Tana as a buffer zone. The study used the household survey collected from 189 respondents by using semi structured questionnaire. A significant difference in household’s characteristics between who are WTA and not WTA was observed. Farmers were reported that water hyacinth appeared on rice farms since 2013. Majority of households were not willing to leave their land as a buffer zone. Based on binary logistic model estimation results, household rice farming experience, sex, residence from lake Tana, location and perception on the importance of conserving Lake Tana ecosystem were affected the decision of households’ willingness to leave the land as buffer zone. The study suggested that the adoption of payment for ecosystem services as national conservation and livelihoods enhancement policy tool to conserve ecosystems. Keywords: rice farmers; water hyacinth; willingness to accept; binary logistic model DOI: 10.7176/JESD/13-23-04 Publication date: December 31st 202

Review the Extent and Cause of Post Harvest Loss of Fruits and Vegetables in Ethiopia

Horticulture is an important sector for economic development and contributes to increased food security and improves the populations’ nutrition intake. Horticultural crop production (Fruits and vegetables) is the major farming system in Ethiopia and farmers have willingness to increase the production and productivity of the crops even if it faces many challenges. Post-harvest loss of fruit and vegetable is a matter of great economic concern in agriculture. The post-harvest systems covers the period that runs from exit from the field to the time of consumption.Post-harvest loss is a global problem but it is more critical in developing countries. Post-harvest losses can be measured both by quality and quantity losses. The major causes of postharvest losses can be classified into direct /primary (technical origin) and indirect /secondary (socio economic origin) factors. The extent of post-harvest losses may vary greatly among commodities, production areas, season of production, ways of handling, management practices and economic status of the country. Higher postharvest losses not only reduce the availability of fruits but also result in increase in per unit prices of the produce and thus limit the accessibility by the majority of community segments. Postharvest loss as going beyond the loss of the actual crop to include loss in the environment, resources, labor needed to produce the crop and livelihood of the individual involved in the production process. Currently there are limited literatures to review on the cause and extent of postharvest losses of fresh fruits and vegetables in Ethiopia due to lack of research works in the sector. Although, it is possible to estimate such losses of perishables horticultural commodity based on the annual production data of central statistics agency (CSA) and food and agricultural organization of the country (FAO). It is too early to reach a conclusive recommendation since limited study were conducted in the cause and extent of post harvest loss of horticultural crops. Hence, further studies must be done to tackle the cause of post harvest loss of horticultural crops and minimized the extent of post harvest losses. Keywords: Post harvest loss, cause, extent DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/11-13-01 Publication date:July 31st 202

The Cause and Extent of Post Harvest Loss of Fruits and Vegetables in Ethiopia - Review

Horticulture is an important sector for economic development and contributes to increased food security and improves the populations’ nutrition intake. Horticultural crop production (Fruits and vegetables) is the major farming system in Ethiopia and farmers have willingness to increase the production and productivity of the crops even if it faces many challenges. Post-harvest loss is a global problem but it is more critical in developing countries. Post-harvest losses can be measured both by quality and quantity losses. The major causes of postharvest losses are direct /primary (technical origin) and indirect /secondary (socio economic origin) factors. The extent of post-harvest losses may vary greatly among commodities, production areas, season of production, and ways of handling, management practices and economic status of the country. Postharvest loss as going beyond the loss of the actual crop to include loss in the environment, resources, labor needed to produce the crop and livelihood of the individual involved in the production process. Currently there are limited review on the cause and extent of postharvest losses of fresh fruits and vegetables in Ethiopia due to lack of research works in the sector. It is too early to reach a conclusive recommendation since limited study were conducted in the cause and extent of post harvest loss of horticultural crops. Hence, further studies must be done to tackle the cause of post harvest loss of horticultural crops and minimized the extent of post harvest losses. Keywords: Post harvest loss, cause, extent DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/12-19-01 Publication date:October 31st 202

Farmer’s Perception and Improving Agricultural Productivity on Salt –affected Soil in Northern Ethiopia

This study was designed to measure farmers’ perceptions about the existence of salinity in their farmlands and its impact on agricultural production and household food security. The survey data was collected from a total of 101 farmers from Raya-Alamata district of Ethiopia. Farmers were selected using a random sampling from a household list. Focus Group Discussions were conducted with farmers in each district to investigate their perceptions of the soil salinity, its impacts and their adaptive strategies. Data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS descriptive statistics and chi-square test. Farmers’ responses showed that they were concerned about increasing soil salinity problems and its impact on their crop productivity and well-being. The results showed that observing white crust and dark brown color of the soil are the major indicators used by farmers to identify salinity on their fields. Irrigation water quality and Poor irrigation methods are perceived as the main causes for salinity development. Farmers’ perceptions on salinity should be used as an entry point by different stakeholders to develop strategies for the salt-affected areas. Keywords:Soil salinity, food security, coping strategies, farmers’ perception. JEL Code: DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/14-9-02 Publication date:July 31st 202

INEFFICIENCY OF DATA MINING ALGORITHMS AND ITS ARCHITECTURE: WITH EMPHASIS TO THE SHORTCOMING OF DATA MINING ALGORITHMS ON THE OUTPUT OF THE RESEARCHES

This review paper presents a shortcoming associated to data mining algorithm(s) classification, clustering, association and regression which are highly used as a tool in different research communities. Data mining researches has successfully handling large amounts of dataset to solve the problems. An increase in data sizes was brought a bottleneck on algorithms to retrieve hidden knowledge from a large volume of datasets. On the other hand, data mining algorithm(s) has been unable to analysis the same rate of growth. Data mining algorithm(s) must be efficient and visual architecture in order to effectively extract information from huge amounts of data in many data repositories or in dynamic data streams. The increasing use of information visualization tools (architecture) and data mining algorithm(s) stems from two separate lines of research. Data visualization researchers believe in the importance of giving users an overview and insight into the data distributions. Many powerful visual graphical interfaces are built on top of statistical analysis and data mining algorithms to permit users to leverage their power without a deep understanding of the underlying technology. The combination of the graphical interface is permit to navigate through the complexity of statistical and data mining techniques to create powerful models. Therefore, there is an increasing need to understand the bottlenecks associated with the data mining algorithms in modern architectures and research community. This review paper basically to guide and help the researchers specifically to identify the shortcoming of data mining techniques with domain area in solving a certain problems they will explore. It also shows the research areas particularly a multimedia (where data can be sequential, audio signal, video signal, spatio-temporal, temporal, time series etc) in which data mining algorithms not yet used

The Determinant of Saving Behavior of Women’s in Urban Ethiopia In Case of Arba Minch Town

The role of savings in investment and therefore in the development of a country cannot be exaggerated. In poor countries like ours most of the savings is done by households. In this paper the behavior of women saving in Arba Minch town is examined. Total of 50 women’s samples is taken using systematic sampling and Logistic regression model using MLE technique was applied. It has been shown that various factors influence the saving behavior of women’s including credit, employment , income, urban agriculture, family size, education attainment of women’s and age. It is found that, education and age have negative influence on saving but statistically insignificant. Whereas, ownership of urban agriculture and income level have significant and positive effect on saving behavior of women’s. Access to credit and family size has a significant negative influence on the behavior of women saving. Tests of goodness of fit of the model shows the model is fitted, robust hetroscedasticity test prove that the model is free from the problem. The link test also shows the model is correctly specified. Keywords: Saving, Odds Ratio, Logistic Regression, Marginal Effect, Link tes

Caesarean Scar Ectopic Pregnancy

Caesarean scar ectopic pregnancy (CSEP) is one of the rarest forms of ectopic pregnancy. It is characterised by a gestation implanted in a caesarean section scar and surrounded by the myometrium and the fibrous tissue of the scar. With rising caesarean delivery rates and widespread use of ultrasound in early pregnancy, there is a parallel upward trend in the incidence of CSEP. The most significant risk associated with a CSEP is an early uterine rupture with life-threatening maternal haemorrhage leading to hysterectomy and loss of reproductive potential. An early diagnosis can offer conservative treatment options capable of preserving the uterus. This chapter discusses the clinical presentation, diagnosis and evidence-based treatment options of CSEP