Surface modification of polyester using chicken feather keratin hydrolysate to improve water absorbency and dye uptake

PET fiber has an intrinsic low hydrophilic character and an inactive surface which make it uncomfortable for wearing purpose. Moreover, it is difficult to colour polyester fabric other than disperse dyes. Therefore, surface modification of PET is very important to improve its absorbency and bring the possibility to dye polyester with anionic dyes by altering its surface characteristics. This research was focused on surface modification of polyester using chicken feather which involves serine as the most abundant amino acid with hydroxyl groups. The treated polyester fabric using 20ml/L concentration of chicken feather extract showed improved water drop absorbency from 45 into 3 seconds and the reactive dye uptake by 36 folds from 0.15 to 5.37 K/S values

The status of textile-based dry EEG electrodes

Electroencephalogram (EEG) is the biopotential recording of electrical signals generated by brain activity. It is useful for monitoring sleep quality and alertness, clinical applications, diagnosis, and treatment of patients with epilepsy, disease of Parkinson and other neurological disorders, as well as continuous monitoring of tiredness/ alertness in the field. We provide a review of textile-based EEG. Most of the developed textile-based EEGs remain on shelves only as published research results due to a limitation of flexibility, stickability, and washability, although the respective authors of the works reported that signals were obtained comparable to standard EEG. In addition, nearly all published works were not quantitatively compared and contrasted with conventional wet electrodes to prove feasibility for the actual application. This scenario would probably continue to give a publication credit, but does not add to the growth of the specific field, unless otherwise new integration approaches and new conductive polymer composites are evolved to make the application of textile-based EEG happen for bio-potential monitoring

Gametogenesis Eliminates Age-Induced Cellular Damage and Resets Life Span in Yeast

Eukaryotic organisms age, yet detrimental age-associated traits are not passed on to progeny. How life span is reset from one generation to the next is not known. We show that in budding yeast resetting of life span occurs during gametogenesis. Gametes (spores) generated by aged cells show the same replicative potential as gametes generated by young cells. Age-associated damage is no longer detectable in mature gametes. Furthermore, transient induction of a transcription factor essential for later stages of gametogenesis extends the replicative life span of aged cells. Our results indicate that gamete formation brings about rejuvenation by eliminating age-induced cellular damage.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant GM62207

Robust reference intervals for Liver function test (LFT) analytes in newborns and infants

BACKGROUND: Reference intervals (RIs) are ranges of upper and lower limits of a given analyte which are used for a laboratory test to determine whether a disease is present or absent or to know if the patient is at risk for future disease states. In Ethiopia, a country with highly diversified population groups and geographical sites, there are no established RIs to metabolic analytes including the liver function test (LFT) analytes for the pediatric population though it has been known that liver function assessment in this population is vital as a result of varied vulnerability to both endogenous and xenobiotic substances. METHODS: A cross sectional study was conducted in Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital (TASH) and Teklehaymanot Health Center (THC) from November 2010 to April 2011. 117 cord blood (from newborns) and venous blood samples (from infants) were collected and analyzed using HumaStar 300. All pre-analytical, analytical and post-analytical aspects were thoroughly controlled. A robust, CLSI/ IFCC recommended, method was used for the determination of upper and lower end points covering 95% of the reference values of each analyte with respective 90% CIs using MedCalc® software. RESULTS: Combined RIs for newborns and infants were established for albumin, AST, ALP, direct bilirubin and total bilirubin to be 3.88-5.82 g/dl, 16.1-55.4U/l, 130-831U/l, <0.41 mg/dl and <1.37 mg/dl respectively. But, separated RIs were indicated for ALT and GGT as 1.2-23.1U/l and 6.94-24.8U/l ALT; and 30.6-160.7U/L and 10–28.2U/l GGT for newborns and infants respectively. Some maternal and infantile factors were identified to affect the values of analytes. CONCLUSION: Almost all analytes were different from previously reported values for other target population of similar age group, kit insert values and adult values. So, interpretation of values of these analytes in newborns and infants of Ethiopian population sounds better to be performed by using such RIs taking the effect of some maternal and infantile factors in to account

Integrated Nutrient Management for Food Security and Environmental Quality

One of the most important challenges facing humanity today is to conserve/sustain natural resources, including soil and water, for increasing food production while protecting the environment. Integrated nutrient management (INM) system or integrated nutrient supply (INS) system aims at achieving a harmony in the judicial and efficient use of chemical fertilizers in conjunction. INM addresses environmental consideration by tailoring nutrient application to crop needs and soil conditions in order to eliminate both excessive applications that increase potential loss to water or air and insufficient application that result in soil fertility degradation. Integrated nutrient management holds great promise in meeting the growing nutrient demands of intensive agriculture. It can also help in maintaining production sustainability without deterioration in quality of plants environment Keywords: Agriculture, Integrated nutrient management, fertilizer

Evaluation of Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L) Moench) Varieties and Environments for Yield Performance and Stability

Sorghum is a major food crop grown in Western Hararghe, accounting for 59.3% followed by maize 32.8%, and tef 4.15% of the total cultivated areas. The objectives of this study was to evaluate the adaptability and stability of released sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L) Moench)) varieties at three location in West Hararghe, Ethiopia. Five sorghum varieties (Mesay, ESH-1, Meko, Chare and Girana-1) were planted in Randomized Complete Block design (RCBD) in three locations, with three replications. The AMMI analysis of variance for grain yield showed that the main effect of Variety (V), environment (E), and G X E account for 4.5, 86.9 and 2.3 % of the total variation, respectively. The variety ESH-1 (38.67 Qut ha-1) produced the  highest grain yield than other varieties while the lowest grain yield was recorded in Mako variety (28.89 Qut ha-1). ESH -1 resulted in higher yield advantage than Girana-1 ( 13.21%), Mesay ( 22.4%), Chare (24.4%) and Mako (25.29%). Environments were positively correlated one another. Miesso and Hawi Gudina were moisture stress area and suitable environment for sorghum production than Mechara. The result clearly indicated that ESH-1 and Girana-1 were the tolerable variety than other variety at all locations. Finally ESH-1 and Girana-1 was preferred for further demonstration and promotion in low moisture stress area of West Hararghe to contribute to food security in the area. Keywords: AMMI model, Environment X variety interaction, Sorghum variet

Influence of Cowpea and Soybean Intercropping Pattern in Sorghum on Striga (striga hermonthica) Infestation and System Productivity at Mechara, Eastern Ethiopia

Striga is a serious constraint to sorghum, millet, rice and maize production in the dry land zones of Africa Field experiment was conducted at Mechara Agricultural Research Center during ; to determine the effect of cowpea and soybean intercropping pattern on Striga hermonthica infestation in sorghum and to assess the effect of S. hermonthica and intercropping on system productivity. The treatments included two legume crops (soybean and cowpea), their  planting time (simultaneously and at first weeding of sorghum),three planting patterns of legumes (double alternate plants within sorghum plants, two rows in between two rows of sorghum and both double alternate plants and two rows in between two rows of sorghum) along with sole crops (sorghum, soybean and cowpea). The experiment was conducted in randomized complete block design with three replications. The results showed that cowpea proved significantly superior to soybean in reducing striga infestation. Though simultaneous planting of soybean with sorghum in double alternate plants and two rows in between two rows of sorghum had minimum Striga infestation, but it was statistically at par with cowpea planted simultaneously with sorghum under all the planting patterns and planting with first weeding in sorghum under double alternate plants and two rows in between two rows of sorghum. Interaction of legumes with planting pattern significantly influenced sorghum plant height and aboveground dry biomass yield, while legumes and their time of planting and time of planting and planting pattern had significant effect on crop stand count and kernel weight per head, respectively. Keywords: Cowpea, infestation level, intercropping, planting pattern, productivity, sorghum, soybean, Strig

Performance Difference Between Credit User and Non-Credit User Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) in Amhara Region of Ethiopia

Microfinance services play significant role to the socio-economic development of developing countries. Studies tried to examine the impact of microfinance services on MSEs. However, most studies ignored comparing the performance of microfinance credit users with non-users. The objective of this study is, therefore, to examine the real effect of credit access on the performance of MSEs. The researcher employed mixed research approach. The study population for the survey was both credit user and non-user MSEs in the four major cities of Amhara region of Ethiopia. Purposive sampling, quota sampling and simple random sampling techniques were used sequentially to select respondents. Both closed ended and open-ended survey questionnaire, and semi-structured interview with higher officials of microfinance institutions were used as data collection tools. A two-sample mean-comparison test and Wilcoxon signed rank sum test with median value were also used to compare the performance difference between credit user and non-credit user MSEs. Thus, the result of the study indicated that the performance of credit user MSEs was significantly greater than from the performance of non-credit users. This finding leads to a suggestion that preparing infrastructure for easy credit access should be given due attention alongside its related orientations on how to use the credit. Keywords: microfinance, credit user, non-credit user, MSEs, Amhara Region, Ethiopi

Tax Policy Reforms, Trends and Composition of Tax Revenue in Ethiopia

Taxation is a vital fiscal policy instrument indispensable for the development of both developed and developing countries. However, in Ethiopia the resource mobilization effort through tax collection is low though tax policy reforms are done in various periods. Hence, the major objective of this study is to analyze the tax policy reforms, trends and composition of tax revenue in Ethiopia using the data covering 40 years (1974/75-2013/14). Descriptive analysis method was used to address the objective. The finding of the study indicates that most of the tax policy reforms are concentrated on tax legislation and the pace of institutional reform is slow. In addition, the amount of tax revenue collected is characterized by cyclical trends and it is highly dependent on foreign trade taxes. Therefore, the tax system of the country fails to generate adequate revenue commensurate with the growth of the economy. Hence, the institutional reform should be dynamic to improve the tax mobilization effort. Similarly, the government should strength its effort towards direct taxes to raise adequate revenue emanated from the economy as the tax revenue sources from foreign trade is unpredictable provided the volatile nature of the international market situation. Keywords: Tax revenue; tax policy reforms, composition of tax revenue, Ethiopi

Technology and Motivation : Can the use of Technology Increase Student Motivation in the Science Classroom?

This thesis project examines education and technology as they intersect in order to increase educators understanding of the use of technology as it bears on motivational factors present in today’s student population. The study explores current research regarding motivation, science education, and the use of technology in the classroom. The researcher taught students to use technology as a tool for their science learning and then used assessment measures to understand whether the use of technology in science education had any effect on their participation and motivation levels in the classroom. As part of the study, technology was utilized to present material in a science classroom to middle school students and they, in turn, used technology for research, investigations, and presentation. The study was conducted in a small urban charter school in Central New York in a seventh grade science class of 24 students. Data was gathered through student assessment using specific tech-based vs. non-tech based student work and teacher observation and journal notes through the course of the study. Study results also measured student participation in class during traditional lessons and during technology-based lessons. Conclusions support the use of technology to engage and motivate students in a science classroom. The study also suggests that general student behaviors were improved in the technology focused classroom space