Urban Transformation and Associated Emerging Urban Forms: An Examination of Physical Density from Planning Interventions Perspective

Rapid urbanization frequently results in unanticipated morphological traits that could have multifaceted consequences, especially in the urban physical transformation of cities in developing countries. This study aimed to examine these spatial transformation events and identify the related emergent urban forms in the morphogenesis of Dire Dawa, Ethiopia from the perspective of plan-led and spontaneous developments. The researchers conducted a thorough on-site investigation to gather the necessary physical information and supplemented it with a desk review and focus group discussion. We utilized the Spacematrix software to examine the data and pinpoint the evolving urban structures from different time periods. Overall, the research demonstrated that point-type low-rise development dominated organically developed sites, whereas plan-driven developments were dominated by block-type low-rise and block-type midrise forms. Furthermore, except for outlying areas, there has been a rising trend in the floor space index and spatial coverage patterns over the course of the city’s morphological eras. This may indicate a growing concern for space efficiency and sustainable development. The density of the street network in organically developed portions, on the other hand, was greater than that in formally planned areas. This shows the relevance of considering the concept behind organic development in planning and designing interventions besides the formal western planning philosophy

Urban Transformation and Associated Emerging Urban Forms: An Examination of Physical Density from Planning Interventions Perspective

Rapid urbanization frequently results in unanticipated morphological traits that could have multifaceted consequences, especially in the urban physical transformation of cities in developing countries. This study aimed to examine these spatial transformation events and identify the related emergent urban forms in the morphogenesis of Dire Dawa, Ethiopia from the perspective of plan-led and spontaneous developments. The researchers conducted a thorough on-site investigation to gather the necessary physical information and supplemented it with a desk review and focus group discussion. We utilized the Spacematrix software to examine the data and pinpoint the evolving urban structures from different time periods. Overall, the research demonstrated that point-type low-rise development dominated organically developed sites, whereas plan-driven developments were dominated by block-type low-rise and block-type midrise forms. Furthermore, except for outlying areas, there has been a rising trend in the floor space index and spatial coverage patterns over the course of the city’s morphological eras. This may indicate a growing concern for space efficiency and sustainable development. The density of the street network in organically developed portions, on the other hand, was greater than that in formally planned areas. This shows the relevance of considering the concept behind organic development in planning and designing interventions besides the formal western planning philosophy

Study on the prevalence and risk factors of bovine tuberculosis in dairy cattle in Adama city, central Ethiopia

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is a serious infectious disease of cattle with significant economic impact and public health risk. It is particularly important in Ethiopia where effective control measures are lacking. This cross-sectional study was carried out between April and July 2016 on 1038 cattle selected from 206 dairy farms in Adama city located in central Ethiopia to estimate the prevalence of bTB and identify the potential risk factors using comparative intradermal tuberculin skin test. Accordingly, the individual animal level prevalence was found to be 2.1% (95% CI: 1.35 – 3.22). Of the 206 dairy farms included in the study, 7.3% (95% CI: 4.29 – 11.98) had one or more 15 cattle positive for the tuberculin test. Furthermore, 5.5% of the examined cattle were found reactive for atypical Mycobacterium. Among the risk factors considered, age and lactation status of the animals were significantly associated (p< 0.05) with the prevalence of bTB. It was noted that the apparent prevalence of bTB positive reactivity was greater in young and non-lactating cattle than their counterparts. In conclusion, the present study revealed 2.1% prevalence of bTB in the dairy farms investigated and culling of positive reactors is recommended as a feasible control intervention. Keywords: Adama; Bovine tuberculosis; CIDT; dairy cattle; Ethiopi

Complementary and alternative medicine in psychotic disorders

The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), including alternative therapies (ALT) and natural health products (NHP) such as vitamin and herbal supplements, is increasingly accepted in both the general population as well as in patients with mood and anxiety disorders. The level of acceptance and use of CAM, however, is unknown among patients being treated for psychotic disorders. Psychotic patients were surveyed about their use of and attitudes toward CAM. Questions included basic demographic and socio-economic items as well as the lifetime and 12-month use of CAM. Data were collected from June to October 2005. A sample of 172 participants representing 8.4% of the total eligible population of the outpatient clinics within the Schizophrenia Program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto Canada completed the survey. Considering all forms of CAM, the lifetime and 12-month prevalence rate were 88% and 68%, respectively. The use and perceived safety of CAM by this population is similar to that reported by the general population. Clinical and public health implications of these findings are discussed.peer-reviewe

Cost and Benefit Analysis of Dairy Farms in the Central Highlands of Ethiopia

አህፅሮት      ይህ ጥናት የወተት ላም የወጪ-ገቢ ትንተና ለማድረግ የታቀደ ነዉ፡፡ ጥናቱ ከ35 ትናንሽ እና 25 ትላልቅ የወተት ፋርሞች ላይ የተደረገ ነዉ፡፡ መረጃዉ ከአራት እስከ ስድስት ተከታታይ ወራት የተሰበሰበ ስሆን ይህን መረጃ ለማጠናከር የወተት ፋርሞች መልካም አጋጣሚዎችና ተግዳሮቶች ተሰብስቧል፡፡ መረጃዉ የተሰበሰበዉ ፋርሙ ዉስጥ ካሉት ሁሉም የዲቃላ የወተት ላሞች ነዉ፡፡ የዚህ ምርምር ግኝት እንደሚያመለክተዉ 80 ፐርሰንት የሚሆነዉ የወተተወ ላሞች ወጪ ምግብ ነዉ፡፡ ትናንሽ ፋርሞች ከትላልቅ ፋርሞች 35 ፐርሰንት የበለጠ ወጪ ያወጣሉ፤ ነገር ግን ትላልቅ ፋርሞች ከትናንሽ ፋርሞች በ55 ፐርሰንት የበለጠ ዓመታዉ ትቅም ያገኛሉ፡፡ ትልቁ የወተት ላሞች ገቢ ከወተት ስሆን የጥጃ ገቢም በተከታይነት ትልቅ ቦታ የሚሰጠዉ ነዉ፡፡ በዚህ ጥናት ግኝት መሰረት የትላልቅ ፋርሞች ያልተጣራ ማርጂን ከትናንሽ ፋርሞች በሦስት እጥፍ እንደሚበልጥ ተረጋግጧል፡፡ የጥቅም-ወጪ ንፅፅር 1.43 እና 2.24 ለትናንሽና ለትላልቅ የወተት ፋርሞች በቅድመ ተከተል እንደሆነ ጥናቱ ያመለክታል፡፡ ይህም ትላልቅ ፋርሞች ከትናንሽ ፋርሞች የበለጠ ትርፋማ እንደሆኑ ያሚያሳይ ነዉ፡፡ የማስፋፍያ መሬት እጥረት፣ የብድር አገልግሎት አለመኖር፣ የሞያዊ ድጋፍ አለመኖር፣ የመኖና የመድሃኒት ዋጋ ንረት፣ ከፍተኛ የወት ዋጋ መለያየት፣ የማዳቀል አገልግሎት ዉጤታማ ያለመሆን፣ የጽንስ መጨናገፍ በፋርሞቹ ባለቤቶች የተነሱ ተግዳሮቶች ናቸዉ፡፡ በዚህ መሰረት ምርታማነታቸዉ ዝቅተኛ የሆኑትን ላሞች ማስወገድ፤ የላሞች ቁጥር ማብዛት፣ በስልጠና የፋርሞቹን ባለቤቶችና የማዳቀል አገልግሎት የሚሰጡትን አካላት ማብቃትና የገብያ ትስስር ማጠናከር፣ አርሶ-አደሩን በመደራጀት የመኖ ማቀነባበርያ መትከል አስፈላጊ እንደሆነ ይህ ጥናት ምክረሃሳብ ያቀርባል፡፡  Abstract  This study was conducted to estimate costs and gross profits of dairy farms under small and large diary management in central highlands of Ethiopia. Thirty-five small and 25 large farms were randomly selected. Quantitative data was collected from sampled households/farms for six to seven consecutive months. Qualitative data was also collected to supplement the quantitative data. All crossbreed milking cows of the sample households were included for the study. The result of the study showed that small commercial farms disbursed 38% more cost than large commercial dairy farms. More than 80% of the variable costs went to feed in both small and large dairy farms. The result also revealed that large dairy farms earned 55% more annual revenue than small farms. The larger revenue share was from milk sale followed by calf sale for both large and small dairy farms. The gross margin of large dairy farms was higher than the small counterparts by more than three folds. The benefit-cost ratio was 1.43 and 2.24 for small and large dairy farms, respectively, implying that large dairy farms are more profitable than small dairy farms. The benefits from both small and large dairying indicated that dairying is a beneficial business. Shortage of land, lack of credit, lack of technical support, lack of adequate market outlet, inefficiency of AI services, abortion, high price of feed and medicine were identified as the main constraints of dairy farming. It is suggested that the need to establish feed processing machines, cull unproductive cows, empower dairy farmers and key service providers through training, promoting, complementary technology packages and market infrastructures.     

Development of a Molecular-Imprinted-Polymer based sensor for the electrochemical determination of Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP)

.The explosive triacetone triperoxide (TATP), which can be prepared from commercially readily available reagents following an easy synthetic procedure, is one of the most common components of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Molecularly-imprinted polymer (MIP) electrochemical sensors have proved useful for the determination of different compounds in different matrices with the required sensitivity and selectivity. In this work, a highly sensitive and selective molecularly imprinted polymer with electrochemical capabilities for the determination of TATP has been developed. The molecular imprinting has been performed via electropolymerisation onto a glassy carbon electrode surface by cyclic voltammetry from a solution of pyrrole functional monomer, TATP template and LiClO4. Differential Pulse Voltammetry of TATP, with LiClO4 as supporting electrolyte, was performed in a potential range of −2.0 V to +1.0 V (vs. Ag/AgCl). Three-factor two-level factorial design was used to optimise the monomer concentration at 0.1 mol·L−1 , template concentration at 100 mmol·L−1 and the number of cyclic voltammetry scan cycles to 10. The molecularly imprinted polymer-modified glassy carbon electrode demonstrated good performance at low concentrations for a linear range of 82–44,300 µg·L−1 and a correlation coefficient of r2 = 0.996. The limits of detection (LoD) and quantification (LoQ) achieved were 26.9 μg·L−1 and 81.6 μg·L−1, respectively. The sensor demonstrated very good repeatability with precision values (n = 6, expressed as %RSD) of 1.098% and 0.55% for 1108 and 2216 µg·L−1 , respectively. It also proved selective for TATP in the presence of other explosive substances such as PETN, RDX, HMX, and TNT

Rapid screening method for new psychoactive substances of forensic interest: electrochemistry and analytical determination of phenethylamines derivatives (NBOMe) via cyclic and differential pulse voltammetry

The NBOMe derivatives are phenethylamines derived from the 2C class of hallucinogens. Only a few human pharmacologic studies have been conducted on these drugs and several cases of intoxication and deaths have been reported. Presently, NBOMe are not a part of the routine drugs-of-abuse screening procedure for many police forces and there are no rapid immunoassay screening tests that can detect the presence of those compounds. In this paper, the voltammetric behavior of 25B NBOMe and 25I NBOMe were investigated and their electroanalytical characteristics determined for the first time. A novel, fast and sensitive screening method for the identification of the two most common NBOMes (25B-NBOMe and 25I-NBOMe) in real samples is reported. The method uses the electrochemical oxidation of these molecules to produce an analytical signal that can be related to the NBOMe concentration with an average lower limit of quantitation of 0.01mg/mL for both of them. The method is selective enough to identify the two compounds individually, even given the great similarity in their structure

Deltaic and Coastal Sediments as Recorders of Mediterranean Regional Climate and Human Impact Over the Past Three Millennia

International audienc