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The aim of this paper is to identify and select an appropriate business model for the utilization of maize shelling technologies in small-scale farming practices. Though a very old practice, agriculture is still the central activity of the entire globe due the reason that it directly or indirectly affects the livelihood of the inhabitants. West Gojjam zone of the Amhara National Regional State (ANRS) in Ethiopia is among the known maize producing zones in Country for both consumption and as a cash crop. But, the problem is the high wastage of production due to post-harvest losses (PHL) due to mechanical shelling practices. Aiming to solve this PHL of maize production, at the shelling stage, assessments and discussion with the maize growing farmers and experts concerned were conducted. This paper tries to present an appropriate business model for enabling local small holder farmers get access to different maize shelling technologies. The research follows a survey-type design which provides both a quantitative and a qualitative description of operational and business variables, attitudes, or opinions of a population in the target area, and overall insight of the technology market. The current data shows that rental maize shelling service is feasible for the fragmented maize production of the West Gojjam zone, in the Amhara National Regional State of Ethiopia. Hence, a generic conceptual model has been developed based on the feedbacks of local smallholder farmers, agricultural agents, service providers and suppliers. This model shows how to select and make available appropriate maize shelling technologies that will fit the actual demand at household level. It also shows a rent-to-own approach of maize shelling service that will help the unemployed youth in the localities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An infant in the first 28 days following birth is referred to as a newborn baby. In Ethiopia, neonatal mortality is a serious problem that accounts for the lion's share of under-five mortality. Diagnosis and treatment of infant disease need specialized medical resources with plenty of expert knowledge and experience. Globally and particularly in low-income countries, there is a lack of such professional which make the diagnosis and treatment more difficult. The goal of this paper is to design a knowledge-based system for the diagnosis and treatment recommendation of neonatal diseases by collaborating with the knowledge obtained from machine learning and health experts. Design science research approach has been employed as the overall research design, and the hybrid data mining process model is used to extract knowledge from the collected clinical dataset. To this end, three classification algorithms in WEKA tools, namely, J48, PART, and JRip, were considered. Then, a partial decision tree (PART) algorithm under 10-fold cross-validation achieved the highest performance result with an accuracy of 98.06% and the researchers decided to use the generated rules for the development of a knowledge-based system. Evaluation results show that the developed prototype registers 90.9% accuracy in system performance testing and 89.2% in user acceptance testing. In conclusion, the system is used as an assistant tool for healthcare experts and could be effective if it could be implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From several countries trend bamboo has been used as a scaffolding material in building projects. Nonetheless, Ethiopia is known for the high population of bamboo vegetation such utilization of the material remained untapped. The purpose of this paper is to identify factors that influence bamboo’s structural suitability as a temporary material and to create a conceptual map for using it as an alternative structural material. Following the identification of important applications influencing parameters via literature analysis, both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to identify significant factors. The paper also used a series of protocols; at first, several documents were selected based on criteria to provide an overview of bamboo- based construction systems. Following that, four major categories for SWOT analysis were chosen to examine the Ethiopian construction industry’s stance on the use of bamboo as a scaffolding material. Finally, a scoring model was employed as a quantitative analysis protocol to calculate the weight of factors (safety, procedure and implementation, time, and cost) through expert opinions. The investigation revealed that the use of bamboo has a cost and time savings advantage, while an increase in trash at acute and intermittent areas was one of the challenges. Furthermore, one of the challenges in creating bamboo formwork is a lack of complementary joinery techniques. Besides that, it is expected that the bamboo content will fall short of technical requirements. On the Brightside, every single respondent stated unequivo- cally that bamboo-made formwork meets a low-cost requirement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to investigate the critical BIM adoption strategies for public construction projects in developing countries to enhance successful BIM implementation schemes in the AEC industry. Initially, an empirical study was conducted using a structured questionnaire survey which is first validated though a pilot test. Then, the study investigated the discrepancy of professional groups on the perception of critical adoption strategies using different statistical tools. Further, factor analysis was conducted to identify potential latent factors associated with public construction projects. The result indicates that the top ranked BIM adoption strategies are strategic & adequate IT infrastructure, availability of standards and guidelines for BIM adoption, and government policy. Similarly, six latent constructs were developed from the factor analysis: organization, application & tools, market, information management, project, and process. The study highlighted critical strategies that are deemed most important to various professionals and business owners, in an effort to improve BIM adoption in the developing countries. The novelty of this study is in relation to BIM implementation strategies towards infrastructure construction projects in developing countries, particularly in the east African region. This paper can also be particularly beneficial to construction firms involved in public construction projects to facilitate the implementation of BIM in their own organizational nature. Moreover, the crosscountry comparative analysis provides a global perspective to improve the gap in the understanding and adoption of BIM in the Sub-Saharan African region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with determination of the ethanol concentration and its heating value (calorific value in local distilled Ethiopian Areki, which is extracted from Maize, Dagussa (Sorghum) and Gibto (Lupin). The primary target of this paper is assessing the energy potential of some locally produced Ethiopian alcohols by identifying the major parameters like ethanol concentration, calorific value and its acidity. The samples of Areki were prepared in one of the vending houses in Injibara Ethiopia and raw material used for their preparation was measured before preparation. The levels of ethanol concentration among the sample were determined using a UV/vis spectrophotometer. After calibrating with a standard sample (benzoic acid), the GCV of the alcohol samples was determined experimentally using an oxygen bomb calorimeter (IKA® Model C200 bomb Calorimeter). The quantitative analysis of ethanol in the sample was done by preparing an aqueous solution of ethanol to draw by means of absorbance versus concentration calibration line at a wavelength of 986 nm. The investigation shows that maximum and minimum percentages of ethanol concentration (%v/v) in the samples were found for dagim maize (50.17%) and dagim lupin Areki(26.64%), respectively. The gross calorific value of local distilled areki ranges from 6.616 MJ/kg-13.1432 MJ/kg. The highest GCV was obtained by dagim maize alcohol due to the higher ethanol content and dagim lupin alcohol with a small ethanol concentration has the lowest GCV. According to the findings, dagim alcohols extracted from sorghum and maize have high potential energy and can be blended with other fossil fuels with little purification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To provide rural communities with low-cost electricity, innovative off-grid renewable energy producing techniques have emerged. The International Energy Agency estimates that around 45% of Ethiopia’s total population have access to electricity. Nearly 85% of Ethiopia’s urban population has access to public electricity, but this figure is only 29% for the rural population. This study examines the feasibility of using combined photovoltaic (PV)/diesel/battery systems to power a remote rural school in southern Ethiopia. The performance of various hybrid systems was assessed using techno-economic and environmental analyses, and the optimal solution was chosen using the Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable (HOMER) analytic tool. The evaluation criteria include net present cost (NPC), cost of energy (COE) and emissions. The results indicate that PV/DG/battery hybrid energy system (HES) with a 7.5 kW PV, 7.3 kW DG, 6.60 kW converter, and 11 units of batteries (case I) is the most feasible, optimized, cost-effective and environmentally friendly system among the systems considered. This system has a Net Present Cost (NPC) of $32,019 and a Cost of Energy (COE) of $0.254/kWh, as computed using current equipment values. The optimized system is also environmentally benign, emitting 793 kg of carbon dioxide per year, about 91% less than the PV/diesel combination (worst case IV). Furthermore, sensitivity analysis was performed to examine the impacts of altering factors such as solar radiation, fuel price, and battery minimum state of charge (SOCmin) on system cost and performance. We believe that the information given in this paper will shed light on the current state and future prospects for renewable energy deployment in Ethiopia, and also show that, if policymakers create the necessary investment environment, such projects can be a viable alternative to rural electrification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lean manufacturing (LM) practices and tools have played vital role in several manufacturing industries to enhance the competitive edge in in the global market. The purpose of this paper is to use the lean principles, practice and tools in Hibret Manufacturing & Machine Building Industries (HMMBI) in Ethiopia. The existence of high production lead time is getting the basic problem for HMBI that is why this research gives more attention. The study aims to improve the production lead time by minimizing non-value adding activities associated with several resources in the process. Both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods are used. The process time and floor layout are studied and mapped using Value Stream Mapping, and Spaghetti Diagram to identify wastes. The result shows that production lead time, work in process (WIP), non-value adding time (waiting time) and total distance traveled are reduced by 23.66%, 8.6%, 37.74%, 61.2% respectively. Finally, the process cycle efficiency is improved by 25.59%. The study is found significant for Hibret Manufacturing & Machine Building Industries (HMMBI) and for similar manufacturing industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to map regional ionospheric Total Electron Content (vTEC) using Global Positioning System (GPS) data from 10 different GPS receiver sites in Ethiopia, to capture ionospheric phenomena (such as storm effect, Equatorial Ionization Anomaly (EIA) distribution) and to see the hourly evolution of the ionosphere for a single stormy day. GPS based TEC data acquired on 17 March 2013 was used for diurnal and anomaly observations and 17 March 2015 storm-day (storm intensity, Dst = −222nT) data was used for storm-time vTEC mapping. For regional ionosphere characterization, we converted slant TEC (sTEC) to equivalent vTEC. This is done by applying the ionospheric thin shell model. For smooth latitude and longitude boundary interpolation inverse distance weighted (IDW) interpolation technique was used. The map was produced with spatial resolution of 0:80 by 0:80 latitude and longitude, respectively. The result shows significant diurnal dependence of TEC. It also exhibits an equatorial ionospheric anomaly, characterized by minimum vTEC associated to lower latitudes and maximum vTEC over the higher latitude in the region. We noted that the equatorial anomaly distribution is pronounced during several of the early afternoon hours (13:00Lt, 14:00 LT and 15:00LT). The maps showed the enhancement of vTEC up to 85TECU during 17 March 2015 storm compared to the depletion up to 40TECU on 19 March 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study presents analytical data-based multi-criteria approach of critical success factors of infrastructure construction projects analyzed in the Ethiopian con- struction industry. This multi-criteria technique helps to improve the decision cap- abilities and ultimate performance of construction processes in various low-income countries of the East African region. The aim of this paper is to establish a logical relationship and interdependencies of success-related factors for enhancing decision making for various project teams and identify priorities while taking into account all known construction organizational constraints. A structured hierarchical matrix was developed based on a pre-identified success-related factors, and initially evaluated by experienced professionals as part of a content validation of the survey. Different professionals working in various construction organizations in Ethiopia were invited to participate in the questionnaire survey. All the required data analysis, including sen- sitivity performance, was conducted through Expert Choice© 11. Further, Kendall’s coefficient of concordance was conducted to examine and compare multiple expert responses. Based on the findings, the top success-related factors that affect decision making in construction projects are Adequate Goals/Objectives, Consultant’s Competency, Prior Experience of Consulting Firms, Consulting Firm’s Willingness and Cooperation, and Financial Standing of Contractor. The results are based on their global priority weights in the hierarchical model. The findings highlighted that there is disagreement between the major stakeholders involved in the construction process. The contribution of the study is introducing a bench-marking multi-criteria decision analysis technique to enhance decision making in the Ethiopian infrastructure sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to a lack of solar radiation measurement instruments in various regions across the world, particularly in Ethiopia, many empirical models have been developed to estimate global solar radiation. Reliable global solar radiation infor- mation is essential for the design and development of solar energy systems.Thus, the aim of this paper is to investigate the feasibility of using Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to predict mean daily global solar radiation (GSR) and to compare the performance of ANN and empirical models based on sunshine in estimating mean daily global solar irradiation on a horizontal surface.For the ANN model, network inputs were daily data for a number of days, average daily data (sunshine hours, maximum temperature, minimum temperature, wind speed, relative humidity, and pressure), and while daily averaged global solar radiation was the network output.After training, the model had R values of 0.891 for training, 0.932 for validation, 0.920 for testing, and 0.903 for all, with validation performance of 0.0797.The results of the ANN model were compared to the empirical equations using statistical error evaluation (MBEANN = 0.0005, RMSEANN = 0.3310, and R2ANN = 0.7998).The agreement between the values of NASA and estimated values reveals that the ANN exhibits good performance in studying daily GSR. The result also shows that the mean daily GSR is varying between 3.675KWh/m² (August-1) and 6.935 KWh/m² (April-19) in the study site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuous improvement strategies are the way of making small incremental improvements in the organization processes. These organizations are in a constant need to maintain a low cost of quality, reduce waste, trim production lines, and speed up manufacturing to achieve a maintain competitiveness. Companies both from developed and developing countries are striving to acquire the habit of improvement using Kaizen, as well as to focus on a customer-driven strategy to improve productivity. The quality of products and services are continuously amassing marginal improvements over time. Kaizen, a Japanese concept that calls for continuous improvement has introduced in Ethiopia to strengthen organization performance through productivity and quality improvement. Even though, the interest in Kaizen implementation has been elapsed twenty years officially, the fruits of implementation rarely observed. This paper examines the acceptability and feasibility of Kaizen among organization in Southern Nation sand Nationality and People Regional State. A survey of 71 stakeholders and 24 pilot enterprises conducted out using questionnaire, interview, and observation in Region. The study revealed that participants demonstrated willingness to implement Kaizen. However, the study revealed some challenges confronting the feasibility of Kaizen practices. The results of the study have shown that Kaizen is acceptable and suitable among organizations under the study though its feasibility is very challenging. The study also found that the executives of the enterprises did not seem to be committed to the Kaizen teamwork. Though vital for continuous improvement, the front line workers are rarely invited to participate in teamworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design, construction, and maintenance of public infrastructures have a significant impact on the natural environment, and they are responsible for the degradation of scarce natural resources. In this respect, taking green building measures and initiatives has become a strategic concern for long-term development of nations around the world. Consequently, the study aims to develop a benchmarking green building rating system for public building projects in Ethiopia; investigate the current practice, and identify the key benefits and challenges of implementing green building schemes in the public infrastructure sector. To achieve these objectives, a questionnaire survey was employed, and mean score and the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) were used to analyse the collected data from various stakeholders including clients, consultants, and contractors. Data was analysed by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to conduct descriptive statistics and MS Excel for the AHP. The findings reveal that the top benefits of green building were identified as using renewable natural resources, enhancing and protecting ecosystem and biodiversity, and improving occupant's health and comfort. Similarly, the top challenges investigated were lack of adequate incentive for the promotion of green building, inadequate education/training about sustainable design and construction, and lack of awareness and readiness from the public. Moreover, the AHP analysis shows that the critical global weights were Site ecology (20.2%), Energy efficiency (23.33%), Water efficiency (24.7%), Indoor environmental quality (11.94%), and Transport (4.43%). The findings are believed to be helpful for various stakeholders and policy-makers in the Ethiopian construction industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater is the primary source of water supply in Ethiopia. The study area was challenged due to increasing water demand, uneven water resource distribution, and noticeable changes in groundwater levels. The study focused on the examining of existing abstraction and future water demand scenarios on groundwater balance in the Weyib watershed using the WetSpass-M and MODFLOW-2005 models. The input datasets, such as aquifer properties, observed groundwater heads, hydrogeology, groundwater recharge, the Digital Elevation Model (DEM), and hydrological data were used. Datasets were prepared to better represent subsurface hydrology and its future demand effects evaluated using calibrated steady-state numerical groundwater modeling. The WetSpass-M and MODFLOW-2005 models depicted good performances during the simulations of groundwater recharge and groundwater budget under existing abstractions and estimated demand scenarios, respectively. The mean annual groundwater recharge estimated was 177.66 mm/year. The existing groundwater abstraction was 34,686.39, estimated short-term and long-term water demand scenarios were 72,113.61 and 93,795.57 m3/day, respectively. The upstream area has the highest groundwater head and recharge, while decreasing as it approaches the Weyib watershed outlet. During the outflow groundwater budget, the groundwater abstractions increased as expenses of river leakage and head dept. bounds increased. Moreover, the increasing groundwater withdrawal would reduce groundwater heads, and the estimated future water demand scenarios would substantially impact the groundwater budget, which would also have an impact on the watershed hydrology and ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ethiopian Investment Commission was established to formulate suitable investment policy with good investment climate that enables investors to operate in a more macroeconomic friendly environment. Despite all efforts, domestic private investment in Ethiopia is still in its early stages. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the trends and determinants of domestic private investment in Ethiopia using a time series data over the period 1992–2022. To meet its goal, the study employed an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach through E-views version 12. The findings show that domestic private investment was negatively and significantly affected by the inflation rate, public investment, and real effective exchange rate over a period of both the short- and long-run. While domestic credit to the private sector, foreign direct investment, real GDP and trade openness were found to have positive and significant effect on domestic private investment in long run. Unemployment rate was found to have positive and significant effect in short run but insignificant in long run. Annual interest rate was found negative significant effect in short run but insignificant in long run. While total government expenditure was insignificant in both short and long run. Inflation has a negative relation with domestic private investment in both short and long run, therefore the study suggested that policymakers should recognize the cause for fluctuations in inflation and keep in a stable manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safety on road networks is the utmost important factor to consider for public well-being and transportation efficiency. This study introduces a new approach that combines Getis-Ord spatial statistics and crash rate analysis to identify significant road traffic accidents (RTAs) characterized by hotspots on road segments in Addis Ababa's road network. The study's results visually portray the crash locations, associating them with the underlying road network, which demonstrates a notable concentration of accident hotspots, between the years from 2014 to 2019 on Addis Ababa's roads network. The RTAs spatial analysis resulted in the identification of hotspots on 33 road segments, 3 intersections, and 10 roundabouts/squares. Among the identified hotspots, the road segment recognized as Djibouti Street, extending from Bole Edna Mall to the 22 "mazoriya" roundabouts, stands out as the most significant accident hotspot. It exhibits an average of 37.5 crashes per kilometer per year, encompassing a road segment length of 1141 m. Using both methods in this study is crucial for validating findings by identifying high-crash segments and enhancing their reliability and hotspot accuracy. This unique validation method links each traffic accident's spatial data with the road network using both crash rate and spatial statistical analysis, effectively pinpointing accident hotspots. Given the limited resources, this approach enhances awareness of accident-prone locations, enabling the prioritization of safety measures to improve road safety. It effectively addresses spatial analysis gaps related to RTAs in Ethiopia and holds practical significance by identifying and prioritizing safety measures aimed at reducing accidents within Addis Ababa's road network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aimed at improving the production of a household utensils manufacturing company with flow shop scheduling heuristics. To achieve the planned production volume, a company needs to establish an optimal production sequences. A household utensils manufacturer in Ethiopia was our case company to investigate. We have studied the production sequence of a flat cooking pan, where one packed set of a flat cooking pan comprises seven diametrically ordered flat cook pans. Three production scenarios were developed based on the production line constraints of the case company. Among the various flow shop scheduling heuristics, Campbell, Dudek and Smith (CDC), and Nawaz, Enscor and Ham (NEH) methods were applied. In all production scenarios the applied heuristics yields an optimal production sequences with considerable reduction of a makespan. The optimal production sequences improved the annually planned production volume by more than 22%. Moreover, the paper discusses the performance of the applied heuristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction industry is the sector involved with the repair of buildings and civil engineering structures in an economy. Public building construction projects are constructed repeatedly, and also it becomes difficult to complete projects in the stated period and the estimated cost of the project. Thus, the study was focused on regression modeling for the prediction of earned value indexes in public building construction projects. The regression model was used as a data analysis method to increase the accuracy of the standard earned value analysis method for the evaluation of project performance. The regression model was built on ten sets of building projects database gathering between 2019 and 2022 through the case study method as a data collection instrument from cities, the Ministry of Construction and Housing, consultants, and contractors. The analysis method was made by using a statistical package for social science and Microsoft excels as an analysis tool. It was found that the regression model can predict earned value indexes with the excellent rank of accuracy for the correlation coefficient (R) of the cost performance index model, schedule performance index model, to complete cost performance index model, and to complete schedule performance index model was 88.80%, 95.90%, 96.60%, and 91.40%, respectively, and also for the coefficient of determination (R2) was 78.90%, 91.90%, 93.20%, and 83.40%, respectively. Finally, it can be recommended that the regression analysis method was conducted for its practicality in predicting earned value indexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Project performance is a critical issue for the construction industry. The construction industry is complex in its nature because it contains a large number of parties involved in the planning, execution, and monitoring of all types of civil works. Moreover, construction industries are always unique and heterogeneous; they will always encounter many unforeseen events that will negatively affect the construction everywhere, and the construction projects suffer from many problems and complex issues in the performance of building projects. Therefore, the study was focused on assessing the factors affecting the performance of building projects. The study would employ an integrated methodology of factor analysis and fuzzy AHP methods. First, the factor analysis is used to classify and reduce the input variables and their variable coefficients are determined. Second, fuzzy AHP is used to determine the preference weights of the input variables, and for ranking. To achieve this objective, data were collected from primary and secondary sources. This study used an integrated methodology as a data analysis method, and SPSS software version 23 and Microsoft Excel were used as analysis tools. The study pointed out that project location (0.083), changes in design (0.068), market fluctuation (0.067), financial difficulties (0.066), and size of the project (0.064) are identified as the most significant factors that affect the performance of building construction projects. Finally, it can be recommended that the practitioners take appropriate actions in improving the performance of building projects, and the methodologies can be implemented to demonstrate its practicality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The change in land use and land cover (LULC) due to human activities is a major cause of hydrological process changes in watersheds. This study assesses the effects of LULC changes on the hydrological processes in the Bilate catchment, located in southern Ethiopia. Landsat images of 1986, 2002, and 2018 were used to classify LULC through supervised classification. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) evaluated the hydrological responses to LULC changes. Results indicate an increase in built-up areas (0.70%), water bodies (0.19%), cultivated land (10.54%), and barren land (1.265%) from 1986 to 2018. Conversely, the forest (8.52%) and grazing (3.18%) areas declined. An increase in water leaving the root zone (962.02 mm/year), potential evapotranspiration (593.85 mm/year), actual evapotranspiration (201.71 mm/year), and surface runoff (514.86 mm/year) was observed, while soil water content (1423.25 mm/year) decreased at the catchment level. The declining soil water content and increasing actual and potential evapotranspiration could result in a water shortage for crop production. The impact of LULC changes on hydrology provides vital knowledge for integrated LULC and water resource management. Water resource development planning must consider LULC changes to achieve sustainable development in the catchment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar energy is one of the renewable energy sources that can be used to solve Ethiopia’s current energy problems. However, global solar radiation data for the country are either not available at all levels or recorded for only a few years at some locations. In this study, monthly mean daily global solar radiation (H) over the horizontal surface at 15 sites in Ethiopia was calculated using sunshine hour-based models, such as the Angstrom-Prescott model (AP), the Louche model (LO), and the Glover-McCulloch Estimation Model (GM). For the performance of the proposed model, statistical error analysis and geospatial results were performed to ensure the validity of the model used. The validation results show that the H estimates from all stations agree well with the measured data from all models. Therefore, the proposed model can be used to predict global solar radiance. However, among the other models, the GM model performed the best H estimates for all sites, with an average r of 0.9574, an average RMSE of 0.6017, an average MPE of 0.00335, and an average MBE of −0.7555, respectively. Therefore, the GM model is suitable for estimating global insolation for the entire country. The highest measured solar radiation value (from NASA) was recorded in February (6.89 kWh/m²/day). Likewise, the highest estimated global solar irradiance in February was observed using the three empirical models, with values of 7.55, 7.12, and 7.47 kWh/m²/day for the AP, LO, and GM models, respectively. The lowest measured and calculated radiation values were recorded in July due to the country’s highest cloud cover and rainy season. The results also show that the estimated H in Ethiopia ranges from 3.45 6.89 kWh/m²/day (July) to 7.47 6.89 kWh/m²/day (February) based on the GM model calculations, with an annual average of 5.83 kWh/m²/day (average across all sites). This study can be utilized in the design, analysis and performance evaluation of solar energy potential, which is gaining significant attention from the Ethiopian government in the advocacy of a green economy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions as one of its political agendas to meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile phones have an impact on the economic development of a country as the technology develops through the provision of high-value 3G and 4 G data services accessed via smartphones, tablets, and dongles that deliver mobile data services to businesses and consumers. To be able to fully utilize the resources and to focus on service provision and faster troubleshooting, traffic analysis for the optimization process is of paramount importance. High-quality traces obtained can further be exploited to predict the network load and the net- work configuration. This can intern be used in re-optimization and other engineering tasks for further improvement of the whole 3G network performance. In this work, 3G packet-switched network traffic had been analyzed based on selected perfor- mance indicators. The analysis had compared two 3G radio technologies with respect to cellular mode, time, and geographical locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was conducted to assess factors that determine a household's participation and intensity of use in the Gemechis district. A multi-stage sampling technique was employed and 167 sample households were selected by using the Cochran formula. Both quantitative and qualitative data types from primary and secondary sources were collected. Cross-sectional data were gathered through a semi-structured questionnaire survey. For both dummy and continuous variables, chi-square (χ2) and independent t-test statistics were used, respectively, to test the significance of the mean value of the two groups of participants and non-participants. The double hurdle model was used to analyze determinants of farmers' decision to participate and intensity of use of small-scale irrigation practice. Results of the first part of the double hurdle (probit) model revealed that the sex of household heads, household size, the annual income of the household, farm distance from the water source, access to extensions, and credit services were found to significantly determine the participation decisions of farmers in the small-scale irrigated agriculture, at different significance levels. In the second part of the double hurdle (truncated) model indicates household size, access to own oxen, farming experience, and access to credit services were found to significantly determine the intensity of participation in small-scale irrigated farming, at different significance levels. Results further showed that farm distance from irrigation water was found to be a barrier for participation in irrigation with significant effect. Therefore, groundwater development and rainwater harvesting ponds should be practiced close to the irrigation land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature highlights that the success of construction projects differs in various attributes. However, only a few empirical studies have been conducted to examine the inter-sectorial aspects of critical success factors in developing countries. Hence, this study aims to investigate the comparative analysis of success factors in public and private sectors across the Ethiopian construction industry. A structured questionnaire matrix was prepared based on the hierarchical model developed through a systematic literature review. Then, the present study introduced a Delphi–Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique to analyze successful attributes in the Ethiopian construction sector. The two rounds of Delphi–AHP survey were conducted through a panel of experts working in different construction firms including owner, consultant, contractor, and academia. The result indicates that the top three ranked critical success factors (CSFs) in the private sector are clear project goals, financial capacity of contractor, and competency of consulting firm. However, CSFs such as adequacy of funds, political environment, and clear project goals are the major CSFs in public construction sector. More so, the findings reveal that there was a consensus among respondents on the rankings of success factors. The study provides practical implications and key recommendations regarding CSFs to enhance project management performance in the Ethiopian construction sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural electrification plans are a means of enhancing electricity services in a given area within a given period of time in accordance with pre-defined strategies. Establishment of prioritization concepts on the basis of objective criteria provides important indications for practical energy development. The choice of the most suitable electrification option with the given context is vital in energy planning. In developing countries, it's difficult to electrify a sparsely populated community. Lack of scientific and methodological know-how in regards planning, site selection, distribution and density of population settlement, economic level, and distance from the national grid are main factors to lowest electrification rates in Ethiopia. Therefore, the objective of this study is to study the introduction of renewable energy systems as a possible alternative for rural electrification by using geospatial technologies in South Gondar Zone. Data like sunshine hour/irradiance, wind speed, slope, land use-land cover, protected areas, water bodies, forest, and towns are collected and analyzed with ArcGIS. These data are used to identify optimal electrification options for particular areas in four districts of the Zone. The weighting factors of these criteria are also determined using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). This weighted and reclassified values are multiplied to produce the final map of electrification options. From the final results obtained, study area covers 5226.289 square kilometers from which 2897.742, 2836.134, and 802.003 square kilometer area is suitable for electrification using solar, wind, and grid extension, respectively. Solar energy is the optimal options for most of area in the Zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fuzzy logic controller system is one of the intelligent methods of energy management system that aims at conserving energy. The effectiveness of fuzzy logic controller is depending on set of restrictions, linguistic variables, values, and number of probabilistic combinations of resources to formulate the rules. These should be considered to obtain optimal results in terms of energy conservation. Therefore, the objective of this study was to maximize power supply from solar and battery for energy saving. The evaluated performances in this study were the demand and supply. Optimization was conducted with the rule-based fuzzy logic control system in MAT LAB software. A total of thirty-three (33) number of combinations/rules were performed. Using rule viewer tool in Mat lab as performance analysis, it was observed that the demand was the main set of restriction for all three resources to supply (35.3 contribution of grid,17.5 contribution of battery, and 17.5 contribution of solar, respectively), while the grid had the highest contribution to supply 35.3 kW of demand. Rule based fuzzy shown that the results obtained are in total conformance to that of the traditional energy management method, with intelligently switch the load to the available resources at a time. Thus, 80% of the national grid energy was saved during day time and 35% during night time. The majority of the loads were shared by solar in day time and battery and grid in night time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to evaluate the overall groundwater hydrogeochemical evolution and suitability for drinking in Andasa watershed (Northwestern Ethiopia). To achieve this, analyses of hydrogeochemical, multivariate (PCA, HCA), correlation matrix, and Water Quality Index (WQI) methodologies were employed. A total of 64 groundwater samples which had been collected during winter season (February–April, 2018) were assessed for ionic and composite variables (major physicochemical and composite parameters). The samples have been gathered from deep wells, shallow wells, hand dug wells and springs which are spatially distributed throughout the watershed. The study results revealed that major ions dominating are Ca>Mg>Na>K and HCO3> Cl>SO4> NO3> PO4 > F for cations and anions, respectively. Ca-HCO3, Mg-Ca-HCO3-Cl, Mg-Ca-Na-HCO3-SO4, Mg-HCO3-SO4, Mixed CaMgHCO3, Mixed CaNaHCO3 and Na-HCO3 were recognized as water types where Ca-HCO3 (59.69%) was identified as dominant. Ionic ratio plots are indications for groundwater enrichment by Na+, Ca2+ and Mg2+ cations (silicate minerals hydrolysis). Chloro-alkaline indices resulted for CAI-I (96.88%) and CAI-II (84.48%), showed Ca2++Mg2+ exchange in groundwater with Na++K+ in an aquifer, confirmed for cation exchanging. Four factor loadings (PCA analysis) explained for the existence of geogenic and anthropogenic pollutions. WQI values showed the majority of the samples comprised "good water" (57.81%), distributed in southern and western parts, followed by "excellent water" (20.31%). Additionally, WQI maps portrayed "Good" to "poor water" types in northern portions (waste disposal landfill, urban centers, irrigated areas), while "very poor" to "unsuitable" types are dispersed to northeastern tips. Generally, the study result is believed to give directions for groundwater management options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the research is to investigate the prevalence of workplace accident/injuries (policymakers) and the associated factor in Iron, Steel and Metal Manufacturing Industries (ISMMI) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. To achieve this objective, primary data using a questionnaire was collected from 446 production workers in 89 ISMMI. The major findings of the study showed that both availability and cultures of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) usage are found to be lower. The prevalence of workplace AoI in the metal manufacturing industries in Addis Ababa is found to be relatively very high as compared to previous studies. Employees have mostly faced AoI such as fracture, dislocation, abrasion, suffocation, burn and piercing in their workplace. Female workers are more likely to face cut AoI than their male counterparts. Moreover, employees who are working in medium and large size industries have more likely faced exhaustion, dislocation, sprain, fracture, and burn AoI than employees who are working in small size industries. The study concluded that workplace accident in ISMMI in Addis Ababa is very high and mostly caused by the absence of and poor culture on PPE usage that requires awareness creation and interventions from policymakers to improve the working environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]