Nutrition and Trade Liberalization in Africa

Trade openness and nutrition are concepts that are closely related. Openness could contribute to an improvement in nutrition under only certain conditions. These include improved export earnings, ultimately the import capacity of the countries participating in the exchange, and maintaining a sufficient level of agricultural production. The objective of this article is to analyze the link between trade liberalization and nutrition in Africa. Trade openness and nutrition are concepts that are closely related. Openness could contribute to an improvement in nutrition under only certain conditions. These include improved export earnings, ultimately the import capacity of the countries participating in the exchange, and maintenance at a sufficient level of agricultural production. The objective of this article is to analyze the link between trade liberalization and nutrition in Africa

Growth and Survival Rate of Endemic Trees of Ethiopia: Olea Africana and Hagenia Abysinicca in the Degraded Lake of Haramaya Watershed, Ethiopia

The study was conducted to explore the growth and survival rate of the native tree species of Ethiopia, Olea africana and Hagenia abysinicca in the degraded Lake Haramaya Watershed, eastern Ethiopia. Three sub watersheds of Lake Haramaya Watershed, namely: Bachake, Damota, and Tinike were selected purposefully on the basis of their extreme degradation and nearby vanished Lake Haramaya. In each sub watersheds, a total of about 12 main standard quadrats have been applied and the required data has been recorded. The result of the study indicated that Olea africana performs well at Damota sub watershed, accounting 38% of survival rate followed by Tinike sub watershed having a survival rate of 37%. Only 29% of the total planted Olea africana were survived at Bachake sub watershed. Furthermore, it has been revealed via this study that about 55.6% of Hagenia abysinicca were survived at Damota sub watershed. Comparing the survival rate of the two species, Hagenia abysinicca were better withstand and grow under an extreme pressure of local peoples intervention at all sub watersheds. Therefore, the study indicated that growing and maintaining of these two endemic trees in all sub watersheds were difficult task unless much awareness will be made at grass root level. Lastly, the study encourages mega projects on growth and survival rate of other native trees species in the degraded areas of Ethiopia

Dry Spell Length Analysis for Crop Production Using Markov-Chain Model in Eastern Hararghe, Ethiopia

The information on the length of dry spells could be used for deciding a particular crop or variety, supplementary irrigation water demand and for others agricultural activities. The study was conducted in three districts: Babile, Haramaya and Kersa, eastern Hararghe, Ethiopia. The aim of the study was to analyze dry spell lengths and its implications on crop production in eastern Hararghe, so as to minimize unexpected damage due to long dry spells and to have effective and efficient planning for farming communities. Thirty years of rainfall data for each district were collected form National Meteorological Agency of Ethiopia. Data quality control has been done prior to analysis. Markov-Chain model were employed to analyze the collected data. The result of the study revealed that dry spells were highly hitting Babile district comparing to the other two districts. The probability of dry spell lengths of 5 and 7 days in Babile district was found to be about 99 and 80%, respectively. Whereas, in Haramaya district, the probability of dry spell length of 5 days was found to be 80% during 181(Days of the Year) DOY, then it falls to below 50 % by 221DOY. Moreover, the probability of the occurrences of dry spells of 10, 15, and 20 days were below 5% in Haramaya district during the main rainy season. The study also investigated that in Kersa district, the probability of occurrences of the dry spell lengths of 5, 7, 10, 15, and 20 days were estimated to fall below 30%, showing that the area was better in crop production as compared to the rest districts. The annual rainfalls in all the districts were decreasing as per the trend line and variable in all the districts: Babile, Haramaya and Kersa districts, having the CV values of, 41, 34 and 31%, respectively. Information regarding dry spell length analysis has to be well understood at grass root levels to ensure food security via lifesaving irrigation schemes or any other options

Pulmonary artery injury during mediastinoscopy controlled without gauze packing

The most serious complication that can occur during mediastinoscopy is hemorrhage from large vessels in the mediastinum, whereas there are few articles relating to injury to major vessels. We describe a case of 77-year-old male with mediastinal lymphadenopathy, who underwent a mediastinoscopy procedure. When the pretracheal lymph nodes adjoining the right pulmonary artery were biopsied, a massive amount of bleeding spilled out through the scope. Immediately, the scope was removed from the body and the bleeding was controlled with digital compression at the skin incision. Then we closed the incision in a three-layer manner without any gauze packing in the mediastinum. Although some reports recommended gauze packing for massive bleeding during mediastinoscopy, we believe not all cases need gauze packing because bleeding from a low-pressure circulation system component into closed compartment, such as mediastinum, would cease without resulting in a large hematoma or pseudoaneurysm

Effects of livestock feed sourcing and feeding strategies on livestock water productivity in mixed crop–livestock systems of the Blue Nile basin highlands of Ethiopia

Inefficient management and use of water is unanimously the most single constraint of agricultural production of Ethiopia. The study was conducted to assess the effect of livestock feed sourcing and feeding strategies on livestock water productivity (LWP) in mixed crop–livestock production systems of the Blue Nile Basin in Ethiopian Highlands. Three districts representing diverse agricultural farming systems were considered. Each district further stratified to different farming systems. Multi-stage stratified random sampling technique was employed to select farm households. Household survey, group discussions and plant biomass sampling were done to generate data on beneficial outputs, water depleted and feed sourcing and feeding strategies. LWP was estimated as a ratio of livestock’s beneficial outputs and services to depleted water. The results indicated that the major feed sources were mainly from crop residues (58.5 to 78.2%), natural pasture (10.9 to 33.4%) and aftermath grazing (9.9 to 24.3%) in study farming systems. The feed source from energy dense (improved forages) was low. The feeding strategies were relatively similar among the study farming systems. No apparent difference (P>0.05) was observed in LWP within all districts among the farming systems and the value falls between USD 0.15–0.19 m-3. However, LWP difference was observed within clustered wealth status within all farming systems and lower value of LWP general observed for the poor farm households. Such differences of LWP values can be accounted for by the strategies farm households are following in feed sourcing and how water productive those feed sources are. Hence, in the context of this work, options to improve LWP mainly involve sourcing water productive and higher quality feed

Translation of Viral News Topics into Digital Marketing

In today’s digital marketing driven environment, it is essential that organizations understand the strategies behind technology in advertising. Unfortunately, many marketers do not have a strategy when they begin utilizing digital marketing strategies. The purpose of this study is to understand how viral topics translate into digital marketing. The research includes a case study on United Airlines, followed by in-depth interviews with digital marketers, and accompanied by an analysis of the business’ digital marketing campaigns. Analysis of the campaigns reveal the different digital marketing strategies organizations use to build and maintain relationships with consumers. The study concludes with a discussion of the lessons learned from the research: the implementation of viral topics in digital marketing increases brand exposure; focusing more on relationships than sales, increases sales; interesting content promotes interaction

Acute intussusception in children seen at El Obeid Hospital, Western Sudan.

Objectives: To study the pattern, clinical presentations and management outcomes of childhood intussusception seen at El Obeid Hospital, Western Sudan. Patients and Methods: This is a retrospective descriptive study. The medical records of children who presented with intussusception during 2004 to 2007 at the University Surgical Unit, in El Obeid Teaching Hospital were reviewed. The data were analyzed for gender, age, clinical presentations and treatment outcomes. Results: There were 24 children, males were 14. Infants constituted 71% of the study group. Patients came from rural areas, mainly during the dry season. They had their symptoms for more than 36 hours, were seen and initially treated elsewhere and only 41% presented with classical clinical features. All patients were operated and found to have ileocolic intussusceptions, with no pathologic lead point. 54.2% of cases had resection and anastomosis for bowel ischaemia, while in 45.8% manual reduction was done. The post-operative mortality was 16.7%. Conclusions: Childhood intussusception was common in male infants from rural areas in the dry season. Late presentation to the surgeon necessitated major operative procedures for bowel ischaemia with considerable morbidity and mortality. Keywords: Bowel invagination, Western Sudan. Sudan Journal of Medical Science Vol. 3 (4) 2008: pp. 315-31

Examining English Language Teachersa Beliefs in the Context of English Language Education Reforms (By Eba Mijena)

This study was aimed to examine English language teachers beliefs about the teaching and learning of English language in the context of English language education reforms in western Ethiopia It made survey with 125 school teachers from 43 schools Data were collected during the ELT Enhancement Workshop organized by Wollega University at three of its campuses in the months of February 2013 March 2013 and April 2014 The questionnaire focused on gathering data on teachers current thinking using the Likert Scale The data collected using questionnaire were analyzised using percentages These data were substantiated with the data collected using interviews The findings of the study have shown that in spite of the introduction of various teacher development programmes like CPD induction ELIP and other related workshops English language teachers have mixed beliefs about the use of language teaching approaches The study therefore suggests that the pre-service and in service trainings which address teachers beliefs need to be the focus area in the future professional development programmes for ELT teachers in the study are

Point perturbations of circle billiards

The spectral statistics of the circular billiard with a point-scatterer is investigated. In the semiclassical limit, the spectrum is demonstrated to be composed of two uncorrelated level sequences. The first corresponds to states for which the scatterer is located in the classically forbidden region and its energy levels are not affected by the scatterer in the semiclassical limit while the second sequence contains the levels which are affected by the point-scatterer. The nearest neighbor spacing distribution which results from the superposition of these sequences is calculated analytically within some approximation and good agreement with the distribution that was computed numerically is found.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figure