Political history of the Afar in Ethiopia and Eritrea

"Wie in vielen Teilen Afrikas haben die kolonialen Grenzziehungen auch in den heutigen Staaten am Horn von Afrika das politische Geschehen wesentlich geprägt. Da die Grenzziehungen ausschließlich auf den Interessen der europäischen Expansionsstaaten beruhten, die den ethnischen Aufbau der Gesellschaften vollkommen ignorierten, wurden gleichartige ethnisch-linguistische Gruppen getrennt und fanden sich in zwei oder mehreren aneinandergrenzenden Staaten wieder. Diese Teilungen, die sowohl die traditionellen Verwaltungen als auch die sozioökonomischen Systeme belasteten, schürten die Konflikte in der Region am Horn von Afrika noch zusätzlich. Das Land des homogenen nomadischen Volkes der Afar wurde zwischen drei Staaten (Äthiopien, Eritrea und Djibouti) aufgeteilt. Im Anschluss an ihren anti-kolonialen Widerstand sahen sich die Afar mit administrativen Gebietsteilungen und einer Marginalisierung durch die zentralen Mächte in diesen drei Staaten konfrontiert. Ihr ein halbes Jahrhundert andauernder Kampf um Selbstbestimmung wurde als Weg hin zu einem unabhängigen Staat begriffen. Doch ist die Bildung eines Staates Afarria oder eines 'Afar-Dreiecks' tatsächlich das endgültige Ziel der politischen Bewegungen der Afar? Was bedeuten Einheit und Selbstbestimmung für sie? Dieser Aufsatz zeichnet den Beginn der modernen politischen Orientierung der Afar und ihren Kampf von der Zeit des europäischen Kolonialismus bis zur Dominierung durch die nationalen Regierungen am Horn von Afrika nach." (Autorenreferat)"Like in many parts of Africa, the colonial map-making has left its deep-seated mark on the political features of present-day states in the Horn of Africa. As the making of the boundaries was entirely based on the vested interest of European expansionists that absolutely ignored the ethnic make-up of societies, similar ethno-linguistic groups were cut up to two or more adjacent states. These divisions, that gravely challenged the traditional administrative as well as socio-economic systems further fuelled conflicts in the Horn region. Among many cases of such tragic partitions, the land of the homogenous nomadic nation of Afar was divided among three states in the African Horn, namely Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. Subsequent to their anti-colonial resistance, the Afar have faced further intrastate divisions and marginalization enforced by the central powers in the respective states. Their half-a-century old quest of and struggle for self-determination was regarded as paving the way to an independent state. Is creating a nation called Afarria or else the Afar Triangle the ultimate goal of the Afar political movements? What does unity and self-determination mean for the Afar? This paper will discuss the inception of the modern political orientation of the Afar and their struggle from the era of European colonialism to the time of domestic domination." (author's abstract

Melt processable biomaterials for degradable surgical fixation devices

There are currently few biomaterials which combine controlled degradation rates with ease of melt processability. There are however, many applications ranging from surgical fixation devices to drug delivery systems which require such combination properties. The work in this thesis is an attempt to increase the availability of such materials. Polyhydroxybutyrate-polyhydroxyvalerate copolymers are a new class of potentially biodegradable materials, although little quantitative data relating to their in vitro and in vivo degradation behaviour exists. The hydrolytic degradation of these copolymers has been examined in vitro under conditions ranging from `physiological' to extremes of pH and elevated temperature. Progress of the degradation process was monitored by weight loss and water uptake measurement, x-ray diffractometry, optical and electron microscopy, together with changes in molecular weight by gel permeation chromatography. The extent to which the degradation mechanism could be modified by forming blends with polysaccharides and polycaprolactone was also investigated. Influence of the valerate content, molecular weight, crystallinity, together with the physical form of the sample, the pH and the temperature of the aqueous medium on the hydrolytic degradation was investigated. Its progress was characterised by an initial increase in the wet weight, with concurrent decrease in the dry weight as the amorphous regions of the polymer are eroded, thereby producing an increase in matrix porosity. With the polysaccharide blends, this initial rate is dramatically affected, and erosion of the polysaccharide from the matrix markedly increases the internal porosity which leads to the eventual collapse of the matrix, a process which occurs, but less rapidly, in the degradation of the unblended polyhydroxybutyrate-polyhydroxyvalerate copolymers. Surface energy measurement and goniophotometry proved potentially useful in monitoring the early stages of the degradation, where surface rather than bulk processes predominate and are characterised by little weight loss

Impact of Managerial Factors on Commercial Bank Profitability: Empirical Evidence from Ethiopia Banks

The main purpose of this paper was to determine the impact of managerial factors on profitability, empirical evidence of commercial banks of Ethiopia. Specifically, the study empirically examined impact of bank liquidity, capital adequacy, bank size, cost efficiency and deposit to asset ratio on banks profitability. This study adopted explanatory research design with arrangement of secondary method of data collection via document analysis, panel, quantitative approach and deductive method of inquiry. The sample of this study was taken 10 banks covering the period 2010-2016. Descriptive and regression analysis were performed to analyze the data using Stata version 12. Besides, econometric model estimation procedures and specification tests plus multiple regression assumptions were tested. Accordingly, random effect regression model was chosen. The results of random effect regression analysis revealed that capital adequacy and cost efficiency were positively associated to banks profitability, whereas bank liquidity and deposits to asset ratio was negatively correlated with banks profitability. However, banking size has negative but statistically insignificant relationship with profitability of banks in Ethiopia. Therefore, in the case of Ethiopia banks, bank size has not considered as a factor that effect on profitability of Ethiopia banks. Keywords: Managerial Factors,   Profitability, multiply regression and Commercial banks of Ethiopia

Impact of Internet Banking on Financial Performance: Empirical Evidence from Commercial Banks of Ethiopia

The main objective of this study was to examine the impact of internet banking on financial performance, empirical evidence of commercial banks of Ethiopia. Specifically, the study empirically examined impact of internet banking, bank liquidity, capital adequacy, bank size, cost efficiency, deposit to asset ratio and inflation on financial performance. This study adopted explanatory research design with arrangement of secondary method of data collection via document analysis, panel, quantitative approach and deductive method of inquiry. The sample of this study was taken 10 banks covering the period 2010-2016. Descriptive and regression analysis were performed to analyze the data using Stata version 12. Besides, econometric model estimation procedures and specification tests plus multiple regression assumptions were tested. Accordingly, random effect regression model was chosen. The results of random effect regression analysis revealed that capital adequacy and cost efficiency were positively associated to banks financial performance, whereas bank liquidity, deposits to asset ratio and inflation was negatively correlated with banks financial performance. However, internet banking and size of banks has positive and negative respectively but statistically insignificant relationship with financial performance of banks in Ethiopia. Therefore, in the case of Ethiopia banks, internet banking and bank size has not considered as a factor that impact on financial performance of Ethiopia banks. Keywords: Internet banking, financial performance, multiply regression and Commercial banks of Ethiopia

Impact of Internet Banking on Financial Performance: Empirical Evidence from Ethiopia Banks

The main objective of study was examined the impact of internet banking on financial performance, empirical evidence of commercial banks of Ethiopia. Specifically, the study empirically examined impact of internet banking, bank liquidity, capital adequacy, bank size, cost efficiency and deposit to asset ratio on financial performance. This study adopted correlation explanatory research design with arrangement of secondary method of data collection via document analysis, panel, quantitative approach and deductive method of inquiry. The sample of this study was 10 banks covering the period 2010-2016. Descriptive and regression analysis were performed to analyze the data. Besides, econometric model estimation procedures and specification tests plus multiple regression assumptions were tested. Accordingly, fixed effect regression model was chosen. The results of fixed effect regression analysis revealed that internet banking, capital adequacy and cost efficiency were positively associated to banks financial performance, whereas deposits to asset ratio were negatively correlated with banks financial performance. Hence, those banks with adoption of internet banking, higher capital adequacy, higher cost efficiency and lower deposit asset ratio established better banks financial performance than those with non-adoption of internet banking, lower capital adequacy, lesser cost efficiency and higher deposit to asset ratio established banks in Ethiopia. However, size of banks and banks liquidity has negative but statistically insignificant relationship with financial performance of banks in Ethiopia. Therefore, in the case of Ethiopia banks, bank size and banks liquidity have not considered as a factor that impact on financial performance of Ethiopia banks. Keywords: Internet banking, financial performance, multiply regression and Commercial banks of Ethiopia

Genotype x environment interaction and yield stability in Field pea (pisum sativum L.) tested over different locations in Southern Ethiopia

Twenty-four field pea (pisum sativum L.) genotypes were evaluated for genotype x environment interaction (GEI) and yield stability across five locations in 2006/2007. ANOVA test showed the main effects due to genotype, locations and the genotype x location were highly significant for grain yield and other yield related traits. Highly significant (P<0.01) to significant (P<0.05) rank correlation were found among stability parameters such as ecovalence (Wi); deviation from regression (S2d i) and AMMI stability value (ASV) implying their close resemblance and effectiveness in identifying stable genotypes. As a result, these relationships reveal that one of them could be sufficient to select genotypes of interest in a field pea. On the basis of results, field pea genotype ‘IG-51980’ in a pipe line was the most suitable and desirable genotype which showed stable yields and was recommended for commercial cultivation in south  Ethiopia ,whereas the highest yielding genotype Gume was not stable. Keywords: Field pea, genotype x environment interaction, stability parameters, yiel

Human Capital Development, Special Economic Zones, and Dubai as Case Study: a Literature Review

Purpose: This article maps the scholarly conversation on two important topics in the field of economic development: human capital and special economic zones. While these have been studied separately, little work is available on their intersection.   Design/methodology/approach: The article is a systematic literature review. It followed the preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis (PRISMA) criteria.   Findings: While human capital development has been largely discussed from the perspective of developed countries, it hasn’t been examined specifically in connection to SEZs. Moreover, there is solid evidence of the positive impact of industrial clusters, suggesting that SEZs that pursue the formation of industrial clusters might have the strongest effect on human capital development. The piece argues the intersection of human development and SEZ establishment is currently a gap in the literature calling for further empirical investigation   Originality: The literature review is brought to bear on the experience of the Emirate of Dubai, in order to highlight features of its development history that make it an ideal case study for empirical investigation

Physico-chemical and bacteriological quality of drinking water of different sources, Jimma zone, Southwest Ethiopia

Additional file 3: Table S3 . Correlations among measured parameters of water samples from five different water sources, Serbo town and its surroundings, 2012

Fuzzy logic power management for a PV/Wind microgrid with backup and storage systems

This work introduces a power management scheme based on the fuzzy logic controller (FLC) to manage the power flows in a small and local distributed generation system. The stand-alone microgrid (MG) includes wind and PV generators as main power sources. The backup system includes a battery storage system (BSS) and a diesel generator (DG) combined with a supercapacitor (SC). The different energy sources are interconnected through the DC bus. The MG is modeled using MATLAB/Simulink Sim_Power System™. The SC is used to compensate for the shortage of power during the start-up of the DG and to compensate for the limits on the charging/discharging current of the BSS. The power balance of the system is the chief objective of the proposed management scheme. Some performance indexes are evaluated: the frequency-deviation, the stability of the DC bus voltage, and the AC voltage total harmonic distortion. The performance of the planned scheme is assessed by two 24-hours simulation sets. Simulation results confirm the effectiveness of FLC-based management. Moreover, the effectiveness of the FLC approach is compared with the deterministic approach. FLC approach has saved 18.7% from the daily load over the deterministic approach. The study shows that the quality of the power signal in the case of FLC is better than the deterministic approach