LocLess: Do You Really Care Where Your Cloud Files Are?

Physical location of data in cloud storage is a problem that gains a lot of attention not only from the actual cloud providers but also from the end users' who lately raise many concerns regarding the privacy of their data. It is a common practice that cloud service providers create replicate users' data across multiple physical locations. However, moving data in different countries means that basically the access rights are transferred based on the local laws of the corresponding country. In other words, when a cloud service provider stores users' data in a different country then the transferred data is subject to the data protection laws of the country where the servers are located. In this paper, we propose LocLess, a protocol which is based on a symmetric searchable encryption scheme for protecting users' data from unauthorized access even if the data is transferred to different locations. The idea behind LocLess is that "Once data is placed on the cloud in an unencrypted form or encrypted with a key that is known to the cloud service provider, data privacy becomes an illusion". Hence, the proposed solution is solely based on encrypting data with a key that is only known to the data owner

Chemical analysis of the Assale (Ethiopia) rock salt deposit

This paper describes the chemical analysis for the major constituents and trace (contaminants) elements found in the Assale (Ethiopia) rock salt. The results showed that the rock salt is found to be the best natural common salt. This was proved by comparison with the chemical requirement and trace elements in common and table salt set by the Ethiopian Quality and Standards Authority. However, during excavation together with the rock salt some soil, mud and other contaminants are found that require further processing or separation.KEY WORDS: Rock salt, Assale (Ethiopia), Major elements, Trace elementsBull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2006, 20(2), 319-324

Fidelity of Peer Mediation and its Role in Improving Students’ Oral English Communication Skills

The purpose of this study was to examine fidelity of peer mediation and its role in improving students’ oral English communication skills at Debre-Berhan University. A Communicative English Skills class was randomly selected as a study group. From this class, high- and medium together with low-performing students in oral English communication skills were identified as peer mediators (N=15) and mediatees (N=61), respectively. The mediatees were categorized into medium and low achieving peer groups, each of which comprised five members, including one peer mediator assigned randomly to the group. During a three-week teacher-led session, the peer groups were trained in the peer mediation procedures that involved meditation strategies for enhancing such aspects of oral abilities as organization of related bits of information, succession of events and description of individual qualities in personal introduction. The findings revealed that there was an acceptable level of agreement between both the peer mediators and the mediatees on fidelity of the peer mediation as they rated the fidelity checklist. Pre-to post-test oral communication scores significantly improved for low and medium achievers as a result of the peer mediation. Based on the findings, recommendations were made for purposes of examining sustained practicality of peer mediation toward improving students’ learning and performance in oral English communication skills

The Impact of Microfinance on Living Standards, Empowerment and Poverty Alleviation of the Poor People in Ethiopia, A Case Study in ACSI

The study tries to look at the impact of microfinance on the lives of the poor people. There are different views on micro credit as a powerful development tool regarding its success in developing the lives of the poor and some times these views are contradictory. However poverty is a global issue; it is a problem that even the wealthiest nation is facing. In this scenario country like Ethiopia is facing a great challenge to alleviate or reduce poverty because poverty is becoming cause of many problems like illiteracy, unemployment, diseases like depression, stress etc. In order to control these diseases first we have to control poverty. At government level and also at international level many strategies are made every day to control poverty. But now Dr. Younis gave a formula of micro credit that successfully worked in Bangladesh and is now replicated all over the world and also in Ethiopia so; the purpose of the study was to observe that what role micro credit plays in Ethiopia on living standards, empowerment and poverty alleviation. The study was conducted in two branches of Amhara Credit and saving institutions that are Debratabor and Estie. Those people are targeted who have taken micro credit so that the comparison of living standard before and after use of micro credit can be made and hence it can be seen that, if there is any improvement in their living standard after using micro credit or not. The study was based on questionnaires which were distributed to the clients of Debratabor and Estie branches of ACSI along with experienced data collectors; as a result, the respondents can easily understand it and fill it accordingly. Sample for this survey was 150 with 75 respondents per branch. Some of the factors that show poverty reduction are Training and education, clean water and hygienic environment, nutrition and adequate food, accommodation, income and savings. Overall we can say that training and education, clean water and hygienic environment, nutrition and adequate food, accommodation, income and savings are important factors of poverty reduction. The results that have been analyzed with microfinance permit the following conclusions:  almost all the clients reported an increase in their incomes which has improved their standard of living, have sent their children to school; have been able to pay for their medical bills and can feed their families, can cope with future crises using their savings, have been empowered economically and their positions in the family as well as in the society

WTO Agricultural Trade and the Unfulfilled Promise of Development

The World Trade Organization (WTO) was established with an alluring promise of enhancing the living standards of people around the world, creating jobs and spurring development, while ensuring equitable distribution of the fruits of trade, with particular regard to the needs of the poor. However, critics see the WTO as a mercantilist system tailored to the commercial interests of wealthy nations and their corporations, with little or no attention to the interests of the poor. What happens to agriculture affects the poor disproportionately. If spurring economic development and thereby enhancing the living standards of people is indeed the WTO’s goal, no sector seems more significant to the accomplishment of that mission than agriculture. Hence, probing the fairness of agricultural trade provides a special insight with which to judge whether the WTO is true to its word, and conversely, to evaluate the validity of criticism directed against the trading regime. That is the aim of this article. It examines the WTO agricultural trade regime and concludes that the fact that agricultural trade remains the most protected and distorted sector, despite its unrivaled significance to development, is hardly a characteristic of a pro-development trading system

Effects of Teacher Scaffolding on Students’ Reading Comprehension

No Abstrac

Households Willingness to Pay for Camel Milk in Aba'ala Woreda, Afar Regional State.

Although camel’s milk is known for its various economic and health benefits, unlike the live camel, there is no market for it in Aba'ala woreda. In this study, the researcher have attempted to investigate how much value the households can assign (willing to pay) for camel milk and the determinants of willingness to pay (WTP) for it using a Contingent Valuation Method. The CVM was based on face to face interview and the surveyed sample households were asked doublebounded dichotomous choice questions followed by open-ended questions to elicit their WTP for camel milk. Out of the total 250 sample households only 3 were not willing to purchase and the remaining 247 were willing to purchase. In this study, three econometric models; Tobit, Probit and Bivariate Probit models were employed. The result from the Tobit model revealed that households' income, age, remittance and the randomly offered bid positively affected households' maximum WTP for camel milk. On the other hand, age square affects households' maximum WTP for camel milk negatively. In the Probit model, the main determinants of the households' probability of accepting the randomly assigned bid are income, remittance, age, age square, the randomly offered bid, education of the household head and adult ratio. Income of the household, remittance, age of the household head and education level of the household head positively and significantly affects the probability of accepting the randomly offered bid by the sample households. On the other hand, age square, the randomly offered bid and adult ratio negatively and significantly affects the probability of saying "yes". In this study the Bivariate Probit model was employed to verify the statistical efficiency gain of the double-bounded over the singlebounded dichotomous choice model. Therefore, it is found that the double-bounded dichotomous choice model does not increase statistical efficiency over the single-bounded dichotomous choice model. Hence, we can employ the single-bounded dichotomous choice model instead of the double-bounded dichotomous choice model

Data for the evaluation of irrigation development interventions in Northern Ethiopia

This data article provides the datasets that are used in the holistic ex-ante impact evaluation of an irrigation dam construction project in Northern Ethiopia [1]. We used an expert knowledge elicitation approach as a means of acquiring the data. The data shared here captures all the parameters considered important in the impact pathway (i.e. the expected benefits, costs, and risks) of the decision to construct an irrigation dam. The dataset is disaggregated for two impact pathway models: one complementing the dam construction with catchment restoration and the other without catchment restoration. Both models are scripted in the R programming language. The data can be used to examine how the construction of an irrigation dam affects the incomes as well as the food and nutritional status of farmers that are affected by the intervention