213 research outputs found
Multivariate analysis of phenotypic diversity elite bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes from ICARDA in Ethiopia
No full textWheat is an important crop for food security, providing a source of protein and energy for the growing population in Ethiopia. However, both biotic and abiotic factors limit national wheat productivity. The availability of genetically diverse wheat genotypes is crucial for developing new wheat varieties that are both high-yielding and resilient to stress. Therefore, this field trial aimed to assess phenotypic variation and relationship among ICARDA-derived bread wheat genotypes using multivariate analysis techniques. The trial was conducted at three locations: Enewari, Wogere, and Kulumsa using an alpha lattice design with two replications during the main cropping seasons of 2022 and 2023. Phenotypic data on eight agronomic traits and the severity of yellow rust were collected and R programming was used for data analysis. Individual and combined location data analysis of variance showed significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) among genotypes for most of the studied traits. The highest heritability and genetic advance as a percentage of the mean were observed in days to heading (90.8, 21.29), plant height (72.4, 28.6), seeds per spike (61.7, 28), thousand kernel weight (61.9, 12), and area under the disease progress curve (67, 39.8), suggesting a predominance of additive gene action. Grain yield showed a strong positive correlation with days to maturity, plant height, spike length, spikelet per spike, and thousand kernel weight for each location. Dendrogram and phylogenetic tree methods were used to group genotypes into four genetically distinct clusters. Cluster II and III had the greatest inter-
cluster distance, indicating higher diversity among their genotypes. This study identified new candidate genotypes with superior agronomic performance, high grain yield traits, and robust resistance to yellow rust, making them valuable for both current and future wheat breeding programs. Additionally, the comprehensive dataset produced in this study could facilitate the identification of genetic variations influencing desirable traits through genome-wide association analysis
Location Privacy Protection Systems in Presence of Service Quality and Energy Constraints
No full textThe wide-ranging application of location-based services (LBSs) through the use of mobile devices and wireless networks has brought about many critical privacy challenges. To preserve the location privacy of users, most existing location privacy-preserving mechanisms (LPPMs) modify their real locations associated with different pseudonyms, which come at a cost either in terms of resource consumption or quality of service, or both. However, we observed that the effect of resource consumption has not been discussed in existing studies. In this paper, we present the user-centric LPPMs against location inference attacks under the consideration of both service quality and energy constraints. Moreover, we modeled the precision-based and dummy-based mechanisms in the context of an existing LPPM framework, and also extended the linear program solutions applicable to them. This study allowed us to specify the LPPMs that decreased the precision of exposed locations or generated dummy locations of the users. Based on this, we evaluated the privacy protection effects of optimal location obfuscation function against an adversary’s inference attack function using real mobility datasets. The results indicate that dummy-based mechanisms provide better achievable location privacy under a given combination of service quality and energy constraints, and once a certain level of privacy is reached, both the precision-based and dummy-based mechanisms only perturb the exposed locations. The evaluation results also contribute to a better understanding for the LPPM design strategies and evaluation mechanism as far as the system resource utilization and service quality requirements are concerned
A Game-Theoretic Framework to Preserve Location Information Privacy in Location-Based Service Applications
No full textRecently, the growing ubiquity of location-based service (LBS) technology has increased the likelihood of users’ privacy breaches due to the exposure of their real-life information to untrusted third parties. Extensive use of such LBS applications allows untrusted third-party adversarial entities to collect large quantities of information regarding users’ locations over time, along with their identities. Due to the high risk of private information leakage using resource-constrained smart mobile devices, most LBS users may not be adequately encouraged to access all LBS applications. In this paper, we study the use of game theory to protect users against private information leakage in LBSs due to malicious or selfish behavior of third-party observers. In this study, we model a scenario of privacy protection gameplay between a privacy protector and an outside visitor and then derive the situation of the prisoner’s dilemma game to analyze the traditional privacy protection problems. Based on the analysis, we determine the corresponding benefits to both players using a point of view that allows the visitor to access a certain amount of information and denies further access to the user’s private information when exposure of privacy is forthcoming. Our proposed model uses the collection of private information about historical access data and current LBS access scenario to effectively determine the probability that the visitor’s access is an honest one. Moreover, we present the procedures involved in the privacy protection model and framework design, using game theory for decision-making. Finally, by employing a comparison analysis, we perform some experiments to assess the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed game-theoretic model over the traditional solutions
Prevalence of Gastrointestinal Parasites of Small Ruminants in and Around Jimma Town, Western Ethiopia
No full textA cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2011 to April 2012 with the objectives of
determining the prevalence, identifying the species involved and assessing risk factors of gastrointestinal
parasites in small ruminants in and around Jimma town. Faecal samples were collected from 214 sheep and 170
goats and examined coprologically. The study found that 191(89.3%) sheep and 148(87.1%) goats were found
to harbor one or more gastrointestinal parasites. All species, sex, age groups were infected with identical
parasite species, but with different levels of infection. The prevalence of various types of parasites in sheep
and goats were respectively: Fasciola species 19.6%,7.6%; Paramphistomum species 22.4%,14.1%;
Haemonchus species 37.4%, 42.9%; Trichostrongylus species 26.2%, 23.5; Strongloid 20.1%, 25.9%; Ostertagia
species 16.8%, 24.1%; Oesophagastamum species 9.3%, 8.2 %; Trichuris species 7.9%, 5.3%; Chabertia species
4.2%, 8.2%; Bonustomum species 2.3%, 5.3%; Monezia 13.1%, 8.8 %; Emeria species 11.7%, 20.6%. h Fasciola
species and Paramphistomum species prevalence were higher significantly in sheep whereas the reverse is
true for Emeria species in goats. The prevalence of Haemonchus species, Ostertagia species, Strongloid
species, Chabertia species and Bonustomum species were higher in goats but revealed statistically no
significant difference (P>0.05), where as Trichostrongloid species, Oesophagastamum species, Trichuris and
Monezia species were higher in sheep than goats with no significant difference as well (P>0.05). The prevalence
of some gastrointestinal parasites (Haemonchus species, Strongloids species, Emeria species, Trichuris and
Chabertia) were higher in young than adult small ruminants shown significant difference (P<0.05), where as
Paramphistosomum, Ostertagia, Trichostrongylus, Oesophagastamum and Bonustomum were also higher in
younger than adult sheep and goats, but statistically not significant (P>0.05). In this study Fasciola was
found significantly higher in adult than younger animals (P<0.05), while the reverse is true for monezia.
The prevalence of paramphistosomum and Haemonchus was significantly higher in female sheep and goats
than males (P <0.05). From studied animals 33.9% lightly, 26.0% moderately and 28.4% heavily infected.
Therefore, awareness creation to the farmers should be instituted in the study area on the effect of
gastrointestinal parasites of small ruminants and its control and strategic deworming of small ruminants
should be practiced
Skills & gaps : a capacity needs assessment of dairy chains in the Addis Abeba milk-shed
No full text
Can markets be developed to promote economic self-reliance of refugees? An evaluation of the promotion of digital financial services in Ethiopia by SHARPE
No full textThe Strengthening Host and Refugee Populations in Ethiopia (SHARPE) programme uses a market systems development approach to promote increased self-reliance and economic opportunities for refugees and host communities in three areas in Ethiopia: Jijiga, Dollo Ado, and Gambella. SHARPE aims to generate economic opportunities for refugee hosting communities through the piloting and scaling of interventions across different sectors. This approach is based upon understanding the economic barriers that refugee and host communities face, and working with key stakeholders – including businesses, government, and service providers - to improve market function for both host community members and refugees residing in target communities. SHARPE identified the financial market as a strong target for market systems interventions, based on reforms to the Refugee Proclamation in Ethiopia in 2019 allowing refugees to access telecommunications and banking services. As a result, nascent mobile money platforms aligned with banks could begin to market digital financial services to refugees. As digital financial services had already been growing in Somali region, we focused impact evaluation work around the investments SHARPE was making in the financial market system in the two areas of Somali region (Jijiga and Dollo Ado)
A Review of Fundamental Optimization Approaches and the Role of AI Enabling Technologies in Physical Layer Security
No full textWith the proliferation of 5G mobile networks within next-generation wireless communication, the design and optimization of 5G networks are progressing in the direction of improving the physical layer security (PLS) paradigm. This phenomenon is due to the fact that traditional methods for the network optimization of PLS fail to adapt new features, technologies, and resource management to diversified demand applications. To improve these methods, future 5G and beyond 5G (B5G) networks will need to rely on new enabling technologies. Therefore, approaches for PLS design and optimization that are based on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have been corroborated to outperform traditional security technologies. This will allow future 5G networks to be more intelligent and robust in order to significantly improve the performance of system design over traditional security methods. With the objective of advancing future PLS research, this review paper presents an elaborate discussion on the design and optimization approaches of wireless PLS techniques. In particular, we focus on both signal processing and information-theoretic security approaches to investigate the optimization techniques and system designs of PLS strategies. The review begins with the fundamental concepts that are associated with PLS, including a discussion on conventional cryptographic techniques and wiretap channel models. We then move on to discuss the performance metrics and basic optimization schemes that are typically adopted in PLS design strategies. The research directions for secure system designs and optimization problems are then reviewed in terms of signal processing, resource allocation and node/antenna selection. Thereafter, the applications of AI and ML technologies in the optimization and design of PLS systems are discussed. In this context, the ML- and AI-based solutions that pertain to end-to-end physical layer joint optimization, secure resource allocation and signal processing methods are presented. We finally conclude with discussions on future trends and technical challenges that are related to the topics of PLS system design and the benefits of AI technologies
The Role of Soil Conservation on Mean Crop Yield and Variance of Yield: Evidence from the Ethiopian Highlands
No full textWorking papers in Economics, No 408, School of Business, Economics and Law at University of Gothenburg
Does maternal coffee consumption affect birth weight? A comparative cross sectional study on postnatal mothers from health facilities in southwest showa, oromia region
No full textBackground;-World Health Organization estimates that 26 million low birth weight infants are
born each year(birth weight less than 2.5kg), constituting 17% of all births, nearly 95% of them
in the developing world. Babies with LBW are more prone to death in neonatal and infancy
periods than those with normal birth weight. LBW is a major problem for developing countries.
Caffeine intake during pregnancy has also been suggested as a risk factor for birth weight like
coffee, tea, chocolate/cocoa, and cola soft drinks which are a major source of caffeine.
Objective;- The objective of this study was to assess level of coffee consumption during
pregnancy and its association with birth weight among postnatal mothers in health facilities 4
selected woredas in south west Shewa zone, Oromiya.
Methods: Facility based comparative cross sectional study design was conducted on post natal
mothers from randomly selected four woredas in south west Shewa zone of Oromiya. 342 total
study subjects were classified into 171(48.6%) normal coffee consumers mothers who were
consume 5 cups
(> 350ml) of coffee per day sampled mothers were studied from March 25 –April
23,2014.Multivariate analysis was used to identify independent predictors of birth weight.
Result;- Female new born were seven times more likely to had LBW when compared to male
new born (AOR.7.361(95% CI =1.025, 52.864 ) and women who had pregnancy interval of < 2
yrs. were 14 times as have LBW baby when compared to those with birth inter pregnancy
interval of two years and above( AOR=13.7(95%=CI 2.580,.217) . Mothers with >21 cm MUAC
were 97 times less likely to deliver LBW when compared to mothers <21cm MUAC (AOR=
0.031(CI= 0.006, 0.171) and Mothers with current pregnancy medical problem were eight times
more likely to deliver LBW baby when compared with those mothers with no medical problem
on the current pregnancy with (AOR=7.763(CI= 1.256, 47.983).
Conclusion;-This study showed that maternal coffee consumption had insignificant association
with birth weight, rather other factors like maternal MUAC, pregnancy birth interval ,sex of the
new born and maternal current pregnancy medical problem was independently significant
predictors with birth weight
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