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The genus Colpopyga Semenov-Tian-Shanskij, 1954 is recorded from sub-Saharan Africa for the first time. A new species, Colpopyga madli sp.n., is described from Cameroon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essay presents an exploratory study of the equub, a form of community-based finance that is well-established in the Ethiopian diaspora in Germany. Equubs render visible the financial expertise developed in the majority world and its circulation in diasporic space. As such, equubs exemplify the power of People of African Descent in Germany to organize against financial exclusion. The essay draws on the theory of diverse economies and its method of reading for difference to analyze the characteristics of the equub as a nonmarket financial institution, showing its praxis of building community economies and its linkages to the diverse economy at large. Processes of decommodification, collective governance, and ethical decision making around financial needs politicize finance, making the equub an interesting case of a postcapitalist-finance imaginary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The federal government of Ethiopia set a national target to restore 15 million hectares of degraded and deforested lands by 2030. While forest and landscape restoration governance is intended to be a multi-actor process through which various land uses are coordinated, in practice it turns out to be difficult to bring specialised government agencies together to achieve restoration targets. We conducted a policy document review, 56 semi-structured interviews and 14 focus group discussions to understand the different challenges that exist in the governance of forest and landscape restoration in Ethiopia. We found three cross-sector challenges that influence the way in which national restoration targets are implemented at the local level in Ethiopia: 1) food security dominates the restoration policy frame and budgetary allocation at the expense of alternative restoration pathways that foster forestry livelihoods and biodiversity benefits, 2) agricultural and environmental policy objectives and targets, and restoration mandates at the sub-national level are incoherent, and 3) a siloed land use planning instrument makes it difficult to negotiate trade-offs and find synergies between sectoral policy objectives. Our results point out the need for an integrated land use planning instrument to achieve a wider range of restoration benefits. Given existing power imbalances between land-based sectors, we posit that an independent integrated land use planning authority that can draw on hierarchical authority is required to better balance different sector interests and different forms of conservation and restoration. • The different ways in which sectoral interests can be misaligned are conceptualised. • Three cross-sector challenges in Ethiopian restoration governance are analysed. • To better balance sectoral interests, a dedicated land use planning agency is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While theory around identity processes is abundant, scarce literature has examined how immigrants themselves identify and experience issues related to their identity. This phenomenological study aims to understand how young Israelis of Ethiopian origin relate to their identity and what, for them, are the salient issues involved in their identity negotiations. Nineteen participants, who immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia as children and adolescents, were interviewed for this study. Data analysis yielded themes related to participants' experiences of identity-related issues: their sense of identity and its' components, skin colour and identity, personal versus group identity, processes and routes for searching for identity. The findings highlight the interplay between society and personal identity negotiation and have practical and theoretical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study develops a quality function deployment model that integrates requirements and solutions through a qualitative information approach to break the current low-quality trap and ensure the improvement of the leather products manufacturing industry. This industry is a priority sector in Ethiopia's industrial development strategy, but its performance is below par due to quality-related problems. Prior studies lack a model explaining the pathways to implement quality improvement interventions. The improvement of this industry requires qualitative assessment and is subject to uncertainty due to the linguistic preferences of decision makers. This study adopts the fuzzy Delphi method to arrive at a valid set of attributes and a fuzzy quality function deployment method to address their relationships. The findings demonstrate that 22 requirements and 16 solutions are valid measures. The top solutions include ensuring interdisciplinary design, employing process mapping, implementing quality-related standards and customer-centric operations, and establishing a quality-at-the-source attitude. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The socialization of the Ethiopian Jewish community, known as Beta Israel in Israeli society, is marked by performing cultural customs and rituals to establish its unique tradition and collective ethnic narrative. The Sigd is a holiday that is celebrated on the 29th of the Hebrew month of Heshvan, when the community marks its devotion to Zion by renewing the covenant between the Jewish people, God, and the Torah. This narrative of return to the homeland is also expressed and framed in a tragic context by observing a Memorial Day for the members of the Ethiopian Jewish community who perished during their journey to Israel from Sudan. These two commemorative dates support the narrative of Beta Israel and advance its public recognition. This ethnographic study examines why and how these practices were mentioned and performed in an Israeli Reform Jewish congregation, a community that does not include Ethiopians members, and has a religious and cultural character that is different from the traditions of Beta Israel. Both the Reform community and the Ethiopian community deal with stereotypes and institutional and public inequality in Israel. I argue that their solidarity is constructed and based on social perceptions and experiences of social alienation and immigration traumas. This political motivation to mark the narrative of the 'other', particularly as an excluded religious group that fights against the Orthodox Jewish monopoly in Israel, marks the Reform community as an egalitarian agent that gives voice to the marginalized. The fact that most Reform congregants are 'sabras' (native) Israelis sheds light on how their perception as a majority, and not only as a minority, produces a critical statement about Zionist immigration and acclimatization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay brings to light how the Italian loss at Adwa of 1896 inspires Enrico Corradini to reimagine the dream of an imperial Italy in his novel La patria lontana (1910). By turning to a little-known episode in the history of Italo-Brazilian relations that forms part of the backdrop for La patria lontana, this essay reveals that Brazil functions as a stand-in for Ethiopia in Corradini's imaginary. In this highly Africanized, tropical, South American country, where large numbers of Italians had confronted hostile and resistant natives at the turn of the twentieth century, Corradini discovered a space that offered an opportunity to restage the First Italo-Ethiopian War as one in which Italians emerge victorious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors examine the links between economic and social upgrading in a developing country with stringent industry policy and employment legislation, focusing on the strategies of local firms participating in global apparel production networks. Based on the 2015 case studies of five textile and garment firms in Ethiopia, they find that employment security and physical well‐being were driven mainly by government labour regulations negotiated by local employers, workers and trade unions rather than by global buyers and conclude that upgrading and downgrading can occur simultaneously within a firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Epilepsy remains one of the world’s most common neurological diseases, but it appears to be widely misunderstood, particularly in under-resourced countries like Ethiopia. Improving individuals’ knowledge and attitude toward epilepsy is critical for reducing the multifaceted impacts of epilepsy. Therefore, in this study, we sought to estimate the pooled levels of good knowledge and a favorable attitude toward epilepsy and also identify the associated factors using available data collected from dierent segments of the population. Methods: Articles were searched in international electronic databases. A standardized Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and STATA software version 16 were used for data extraction and analysis, respectively. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) checklist was used to write this report. The random-eect meta-analysis model was used to estimate Der Simonian-Laird’s pooled eect. Statistical heterogeneity of the meta-analysis was checked via Higgins and Thompson’s I 2 statistics (0–100%), and Cochran’s Q test at P < 0.10. Subgroups, based on the study regions, and sensitivity analyses were also performed. Publication bias was examined subjectively using funnel plots and objectively using the nonparametric rank correlation test of Begg and the regression-based test of Egger for small study eects with P < 0.05 considered to indicate potential publication bias. Furthermore, the Trim-and-fill method of Duval and Tweedie was used to explore sources of publication bias for the favorable level of attitudes toward epilepsy. Result: A total of 12 studies with 6,373 study participants and 10 studies with 5,336 study participants were included to estimate the pooled level of good epilepsy knowledge and favorable attitudes respectively. The overall estimated levels of good epilepsy knowledge and favorable attitudes toward epilepsy among Ethiopians were 47.37% [(95% CI: 35.00, 59.74), I 2 = 99.2, P < 0.001] and 46.83%[(95% CI: 32.75, 60.90), I 2 = 99.2, P < 0.001] respectively. Subgroup analysis revealed that the pooled level of good epilepsy knowledge was 48.51% [(95% CI: 38.95, 58.06), I 2 = 95.6%, P < 0.001] in the Amhara region. Conclusion: In the current review, we found out that there is a huge knowledge gap and an unfavorable level of attitudes towardepilepsy, which demand immediate public health action as well as a targeted policy intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing number of studies have confirmed that written corrective feedback (hereafter WCF) is vital for improving learners' L2 writing. However, many scholars could not agree whether this improvement was due to direct, indirect, or both forms of WCF. Thus, this study first investigated the role of WCF students' writing achievement; it then investigated if there was a statistically significant difference in writing achievement between groups that received direct and indirect WCF forms. To this end, a quasi-experimental research design involving three intact first-year classes from a university found in northwest Ethiopia was used. Two experimental groups and one comparison group of learners were participants in this study. Test scores analyzed by analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) revealed that WCF has an influential role in enhancing learners' writing performance. Moreover, this study showed that learners in the direct WCF accompanied by a metalinguistic explanation group outperformed their counterparts in the indirect WCF group in writing paragraphs. Based on the study's findings, it is possible to conclude that the provision of WCF is vital in the Ethiopian context; moreover, learners could benefit more from using linguistic structures correctly if metalinguistic explanations accompany the provision of direct WCF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social participation is a vital part of life and has multifaceted positive outcomes on personal health and wellbeing. Social participation or the lack thereof might have more profound psychological impacts on individuals in a collectivist culture than its counterpart. The current study explored personal and environmental barriers that have hindered the effective social participation of secondary students with visual impairments. Exploration addressed various activities in and outside school settings in Ethiopia and discussed findings in relation to the prevailing cultural orientation. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather qualitative data on barriers to social participation of 17 secondary students with visual impairments in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The qualitative data were analysed thematically, yielding four major themes and identifying twenty sub-themes that limited the social participation of students with visual impairments, such as personal, attitudinal, sociocultural, and practical barriers. The study showed a range of barriers that participants experienced related to social participation, the criticality of cultural orientation in providing context to understand the impacts of social participation, and the need for future research in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The Ethiopian magic scrolls are traditional parchment artifacts used by the Christians of Ethiopia as protection against disease and demonic possessions. On the occasion of their restoration in the Accademia delle Belle Arti di Bologna (Italy); a preliminary characterization before the treatments has been performed on four Ethiopian scrolls belonging to the Archivio storico della provincia di Cristo Re dei Frati Minori dell'Emilia Romagna of Bologna (Italy). In order to plan an effective preservative restoration procedure and; at the same time; to investigate the manufacturing techniques; the text and the decorations on the magic scrolls were studied and characterized. A combined approach by imaging and compositional techniques was used: Infrared Reflectography (IRR) for the preliminary characterization of the graphic supports and the identification of the points to sample the chemical measurements; and the spectroscopic analyses to clarify the hypothesized investigations and confirm the chemical composition of the inks. In particular; Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy has provided information relating to the molecular composition of inks and pigments; while a characterization of the constituent elements is obtained with the Ion Beam Analysis (IBA). The ink composition proved to be consistent with data generally documented in the literature and contributing to the expansion of knowledge on Ethiopian magic scrolls and their production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The purpose of this project was to examine the role of cultural differences in shaping the management of diabetes among Ethiopian immigrants living in Israel. Methods: A qualitative, in‐depth study involved semistructured interviews with 16 Ethiopian immigrants with diabetes living in Israel. The interviews were audio‐recorded, transcribed and translated into Hebrew, if necessary. The authors each identified themes in the responses and then through discussion came to a consensus about the most significant ones and how to categorize them. Results: A main theme was revealed structuring the participants' perception of diabetes: an oscillation between a familiar narrative, associated with traditional life in Ethiopia, and a foreign one. Five additional subthemes were also identified as an oscillation about the causes of disease, between collectivism and individualism, between accessible food and a balanced diet, between relying on bodily sensations and prescribed treatment and between culturally oriented and translated knowledge. Conclusion: The participants understood that they could be adversely affected both by the changes in lifestyle following their move and by adhering to the traditional norms. They agreed that professional liaisons and peers who have successfully managed their diabetes could help provide a bridge between the narratives. Summary statement: What is already known about this topic? Diabetes is a worldwide epidemic where immigrant populations are more likely to suffer from it.Language and cultural barriers pose a challenge to immigrants when accessing healthcare.Among immigrants, diabetes‐related distress is often accompanied by distress due to the challenges of immigration and acculturation.What this paper adds? Among Ethiopian immigrants, there exists a division between two main narratives about their illness and the way it is treated: the familiar and the foreign.Ethiopian communities play an important role in the treatment of an individual's illness, for better or worse.Translation alone is not sufficient to make language accessible; it must be combined with a medically‐culturally tailored approach.The implications of this paper: An understanding of the oscillations between narratives that Ethiopian immigrants experience is important for promoting person‐centred care for this population.During individual and group training, nurses should include Ethiopian immigrants who have successfully managed their diabetes.Nurse managers should ensure that their clinic has professional liaisons not only for translation but also for the provision of culture‐based health care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a hydropower system, inflow is an uncertain stochastic process that depends on the meteorology of the reservoir's location. To properly utilize the stored water in reservoirs, it is necessary to have a good forecast or a historical inflow record. In the absence of these two pieces of information, which is the case in Ethiopia and most African countries, the derivation of the synthetic historical inflow series with the appropriate time resolution will be a solution. This paper presents a method of developing synthetic historical inflow time series and techniques to identify the stochastic process that mimics the behavior of the time series and generates inflow scenarios. The methodology was applied to the Ethiopian power system. The time series were analyzed using statistical methods, and the stochastic process that mimics the inflow patterns in Ethiopia was identified. The Monte Carlo simulation was used to generate sample realizations of random scenarios from the identified stochastic process. Then, three cases of inflow scenarios were tested in a deterministic simulation model of the Ethiopian hydropower system and compared with the actual operation. The results show that the generated inflow scenarios give a realistic output of generation scheduling and reasonable reservoir content based on the actual operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural Ethiopian communities rely mostly on biomass fuels for subsistence and productive purposes. With an increasing population and dwindling forest resources, wood fuel consumption has exceeded its supply. Besides, people do not know ways of maximising biomass efficiency. The study involves the burning efficiencies of woods with varied moisture contents. Eucalyptus wood of five different moisture contents was used in five identical wood-burning stoves purposefully constructed for this purpose. Tests were conducted over 5 days, thereby giving five replications. In the tests, food temperature, stove body temperature, and stove smoke outlet temperature measurements were conducted along with ambient air temperatures. Wood with 10% moisture content performs better during combustion with respect to low and high moisture content wood. High moisture content delayed the cooking onset and low moisture decreased the duration of effective cooking. The 50% moisture content or greater with respect to oven-dried wood failed to cook. Moisture content of around 30% delayed the time to reach cooking temperature by two and hence elongated the cooking time. There is also the extended smoke time as observed from the smoke outlet temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. In Ethiopia, livestock contributes 45% of agricultural GDP. Despite the economic role played by the sector, there have been little efforts to genetically improve the indigenous cattle. Morphological characterization of selected Ethiopian indigenous cattle has been made for (Bonga, Jimma, and Kerayu) cattle types. But, the selected indigenous cattle were not characterized at molecular level (genetic diversity information). Hence, this work was initiated to detect and determine the genetic diversity and population structure of selected Ethiopian indigenous cattle ecotypes using microsatellite markers. Results. Different alleles were identified (131) and thirty-three of these alleles were unique to specific ecotypes. All loci used were informative with PIC values ranging from 0.5 (TGLA126) to 0.84 (ETH10) with a mean of 0.70 per locus. The Shannon information index ranged from (I = 1.02) ILST006 to (I = 1.63) ETH10 with an average of 1.28 revealing there is genetic diversity. Moreover, analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed 84% genetic variation within a population and 13% variation among populations. The value of F -statistics (Fst) (0.129 = 13%) indicated that there was moderate genetic differentiation among ecotypes. The (UPGMA) revealed, Bonga and Jimma clustered together while Kerayu cattle were relatively distinct, Principal coordinates analysis (PCOA) and structure analysis grouped the individual into different clusters confirming the presence of ecotype admixture due to geographical origins and uncontrolled mating. Conclusion. In general, this study has successfully characterized the genetic diversity and population structure of Bonga, Jimma, and Kerayu cattle ecotypes using high polymorphic/informative microsatellite markers. According to this study, Kerayu cattle have high AR and PA when compared to Bonga and Jimma cattle populations. So, the Kerayu population is more diverse than others and it is the hotspot for genetic diversity study. The generated information is very relevant for breeder and genetic conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flax is a commercial crop grown in many parts of the world both for its seeds and for its fibers. The seed-based flax variety (linseed) is considered less for its fiber after the seed is extracted. In this study, linseed straw was utilized and processed to extract fiber and cellulose through optimization of retting time and a multi-step alkaline peroxide extraction process using the Taguchi design of experiment (DOE). Effects of retting duration on fiber properties as well as effects of solvent concentration, reaction temperature, and time on removal of non-cellulosic fiber components were studied using the gravimetric technique, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and thermal studies. Based on these findings, retting for 216 h at room temperature should offer adequate retting efficiency and fiber characteristics; 70% cellulose yield was extracted successfully from linseed straw fiber using 75% ethanol–toluene at 98 °C for 4 h, 6% NaOH at 75 °C for 30 min, and 6% H2O2 at 90 °C for 120 min. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Contraception has a clear impact on the health of women and families in developing countries. This study aims to identify multilevel determinants of nonuse of modern contraceptives among Ethiopian rural married women in their productive age group. Method: The study relied on data from the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Surveys. A multilevel logistic regression model was used for analysis. Result: In rural areas, nonuse of modern contraceptives is surprising high (81.7%), primarily due to fear of side effects (12.89%) and breastfeeding (8.2%). Among women aged 35 to 49 years (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 0.66; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.540.81), husbands with secondary and above education levels (AOR = 0.83; 95% CI: 0.7–1), those in the high wealth index (AOR = 0.61; 95% CI: 0.51–0.72), and those who have had 1 to 2 children in the past 5 years (AOR = 0.28; 95% CI: 0.24–0.33), there was a lower chance of not using contraception. Muslims are less likely to want to use modern contraceptives (AOR = 1.2; 95% CI: 0.96–1.4). Women living in Afar (AOR = 20.9; 95% CI: 9.6–44.7), Oromia (AOR = 1.5; 95% CI: 1.01–2.3), Somali (AOR = 71.1; 95% CI: 24.1–209.2), Gambela (AOR = 2.3; 95% CI: 1.4–3.9), Harari (AOR = 4.4; 95% CI: 2.24–8.72), and Dire Dawa (AOR = 3.2; 95% CI: 1.5–6.9), regional states, were less likely to want to use modern contraceptives as compared to those in Tigray. Conclusion: Family planning interventions should target younger women, women living in rural areas, the poor, and Muslim women. In order to maximize the effectiveness of family planning promotion policies, it's important to address the reasons for nonuse of contraceptives identified in each region and contextual differences regarding women of reproductive age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses how migrant community practices of transnational lived citizenship were altered by both, COVID‐19 and the policy response from the Kenyan government. It is based on interviews with members of the Eritrean and Ethiopian diaspora residing in Nairobi. The paper demonstrates how policies introduced because of the pandemic caused migrant communities to lose local and remittance income. More than the loss of material resources, however, they were impacted by the elimination of social spaces that enable diaspora lives. These two dynamics have intensified a trend that may have been present before the pandemic, a local turn of transnational lived citizenship. By focusing on lived experiences and how they have been re‐assessed during the pandemic, the paper argues that transnational lived citizenship is always in flux and can easily become reconfigured as more localized practices. The concept of transnational lived citizenship is demonstrated to be a useful lens for analysing shifting migrant livelihoods and belonging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is evident in this study that the social media sphere which has been highly controlled by the Ethiopian government for a long seems to untie right after the advent of the new political reform commenced in 2018. Following the transition, it is apparent that people are relatively enjoying the freedom of expression. On the contrary, the new digital platform is deemed to be subdued by the emergence of hate speech which is attributed to political, ethnic, and religious underpinnings. The study employs a quantitative approach to analyze users' comments collected from rivalry ethnic-based Television channels' Facebook and YouTube. Using a binary analysis, a substantial prevalence of social media hate speech is found. Mainly ethnic, religious, and political-based hate natures are also found. Most of the hate comments are offensive; however, a few comments are laid on incitement to violence, and genocide severity levels. Contesting memory of the past, associating ethnicity with religion, culture, and language issues are the main triggering factors of hate speech in Ethiopia. The online commenters imitate the offline ethnic tension in the country that upsurge during the political reform. Thus, identity-driven hate speech in tandem with the reform incidents has suffocated the Ethiopian social media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Since then, the reference intervals of serum hsCRP in apparently healthy Ethiopian children are unknown. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the reference intervals of serum hsCRP for apparently healthy children. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 492 apparently healthy children aged 5-17 years were recruited from residents of Addis Ababa. Well-trained professionals took anthropometric measurements. The biochemical analysis was performed with the automatic biochemical analyzer Cobas Integra 400 Plus from Roche. The 2.5th and 97.5th percentile limits were calculated using a non-parametric method as per the Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI) guide. A box plot was used to show the distribution of hsCRP by age and gender. Furthermore, bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were carried out to evaluate factors associated with elevated hsCRP levels. Percentiles were displayed by age subgroup and sex. p-values <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: The study included 245 boys and 247 girls. For the age group of 5-11 years, the combined 2.5th and 97.5th percentiles, which can be used as a reference interval for children in Addis Ababa, were 0.15-6.78 mg/L, while for the older age group (12-17 years), the determined percentile was 0.14-4.40 mg/L. Likewise, the current study shows that never or occasionally eating vegetables and/or fruits (AOR = 2.28, 95% CI, 0.84-4.97), and being obese (AOR = 3.63, 95% CI, 1.14- 11.53) were independent risk factors for elevated serum hsCRP concentrations. Conclusion: This study is the first to determine the reference intervals of hsCRP concentrations among apparently healthy Ethiopian children. Notable differences were observed in the established percentiles of hsCRP in comparison with published literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early 1960s a Pentecostal movement broke out in Ethiopia and formed the Mulu Wongel (the Full Gospel) Church throughout the country. During the free spirited revival at the early stage of the movement and when the church was closed during the socialist regime, women enjoyed key ministerial and leadership positions. However, women ministers were sidelined when peace was restored and an organized body was established. This article is mainly interested in uncovering women's role in the history of Ethiopian Pentecostal revival and its aftermath based on the information gained from main participants of the movement and important secondary documents. It also underlines the eventual achievement of ministerial equality between men and women despite problems that are still hindering women's involvement in the higher ministerial posts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the factors constraining public service and commercial television channels in constituting the public sphere in Ethiopia. It focuses on three television stations and their respective programs, such as the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation's Ethiopian television (ETV)'s Medrek, Fana Broadcasting Corporation's Zuria Meles, and LTV's Sefiw Mehidar. The data was collected starting from 2019 to 2020 in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, where the three TV stations are located. These programs were designed to entertain different views, including ideologies, policies, and strategies to be deliberated and critiqued. They have created opportunities for debate and discussion as the Ethiopian media did not have new program formats for public deliberation-related shows previously. However, results showed that these platforms remained ineffective to entertain a diversity of views. One of the major challenges for this is that the production process encounters multiple obstructions from the media, the guests, and the government authorities. Guests fear to deliberate their views openly and prefer to remain abstinent. Also, the hosts lacked the courage, professionalism, and basic knowledge about the topics for discussion. Government authorities do not want the programs to be critical and deliberative. Equally, failures to achieve an inclusive public sphere are the outcomes of the unstable political landscape in the country. Therefore, due to different factors, including a highly controlled media landscape in Ethiopia, creating platforms for public debate seems unattainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most prevalent and incident cancers worldwide with an Increasing prevalence in a younger age in developing countries. The aim of the study was to determine the staging and imaging pattern of CRC at diagnosis. METHODS: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study including all consecutive cases of CRC found in the departments of radiology and oncology during the study period from March 2016 - February 2017. RESULTS: A total of 132 CRC cases were studied with M: F = 2.4:1, mean age of 46yrs and 67.4%

This essay represents the first formal attempt to identify themes of theosis within the Ethiopian Orthodox Tawāḥǝdo Church (EOTC). The first half explores four historical phases in the development of the doctrine of theosis: Ancient Pagan, Biblical, Patristic, and Medieval and Modern. It is argued that theosis finds strong support in the biblical corpus but that it is best to clarify which historical type one has in view due to its complex development. The second half of the paper considers themes of theosis within three genres of Ethiopic literature: Hagiography, Liturgy, and National Epic. New discoveries and insights are leveraged in order to demonstrate that although theosis lacks a precise equivalent in Classical Ethiopic, the literature of the EOTC demonstrates a strong familiarity with the basic contours of the doctrine of deification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ischemic stroke (IS) is a multifaceted, complicated illness resulting from a confluence of genetic, environmental and vascular risk factors. Many genes that may contribute to ischemic stroke have been discovered in humans. The genetic contribution appears to be greater in IS patients with hypertension. There is conflicting evidence about a positive correlation between the AGT M235T polymorphism and ischemic stroke. The aim of this study was to examine the possible association of the AGT M235T gene polymorphism with the risk of ischemic stroke. A hospital-based case-control study was carried out in 36 ischemic stroke patient cases and 36 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Clinical parameters were measured to assess the associated risk factors. DNA was isolated from blood samples, and the AGT M235T genotypes were identified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis. The AGT-TT genotype (OR = 4.64, 95% CL = 1.23–17.4; p = 0.023 and T allele (OR = 2.54, 95% CL = 1.28–5.02; p = 0.003) were significantly more common in patients than in controls, indicating that it may be a major risk factor for the development of ischemic stroke. The results suggest that there may be a significant correlation between the AGT M235T gene polymorphism and the development of ischemic stroke in the studied Ethiopian population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hookah smoking is emerging as a popular social practice and health behavior risk among Ethiopian and Eritrean Americans. This qualitative study was the second phase of a sequential exploratory mixed methods study and examined factors that enable the initiation and facilitate the continuation of hookah smoking among Ethiopian and Eritrean Americans. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty-five Ethiopian and Eritrean American hookah smokers residing in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area of the United States. Interview questions were guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior and addressed: (1) initiation of hookah smoking, (2) past and current patterns of hookah smoking, and (3) behavioral, control and normative beliefs toward hookah smoking. Several themes were identified under the core constructs of 'factors influencing hookah smoking initiation' and 'factors influencing hookah smoking continuation' such as curiosity, lack of health knowledge, socio-cultural acceptance, accessibility, flavor, physical dependence, physiological effects and social connections. Based on these findings, it is recommended that future prevention activities (e.g. health messages) be embedded into a comprehensive tobacco prevention approach to address individual misperceptions of harm and addiction, community social norms and environmental access around hookah smoking, which contribute to both initiation and continuation in the Ethiopian and Eritrean American populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1980s, analyses of African political identities have emphasized identity manipulation as a governance tool. In the Somali Horn of Africa, however, politicians' efforts to reinvent identities confront rigid understandings of genealogical clanship as a key component of identity and political mobilization. This article explores how government efforts to construct a new 'Ethiopian–Somali' identity within Ethiopia's ethnic-federal system are entangled with attempts to reinterpret clan genealogies and histories. We focus on efforts to revise the history of clans within the broader Ogaden Somali clan group and trace the possibilities and limits of these revisions in relation to legacies of colonialism as well as popular understandings of Ogaden identity. Drawing on fieldwork and archival research, we show that political struggles over Somalis' integration with Ethiopia orient around Somali clanship, but that clanship is not a mechanical tool of mobilization, as it is often portrayed. We suggest that genealogical relatedness does not equate to political loyalty, but genealogical discourse provides a framework by which various actors reinterpret contemporary events by collapsing history into the present to imbue clan, ethnic, and national identities with political significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An unsigned homage to August Dillmann on the occasion of his 100th birthday was recently found in a copy of Dillmann's Lexicon linguae aethiopicae, after the 200th anniversary of his birthday. The text was presumably composed by Bruno Violet, who was Dillmann's student and the previous owner of the copy of the Lexicon in question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the standard reference works for Ethiopian and Eritrean studies, one finds a Homily on Holy Easter (CAe 1265) attributed to Gregory of Nazianzus and identified as one of his Orations (CPG 3010). Both the attribution and identification are, however, incorrect. Rather, this Homily on Holy Easter, which is actually attributed to an otherwise unknown John Theologos in the earliest recoverable layer of the Ethiopic tradition, is to be identified as an Ethiopic version of a homily, recorded as CPG 4163.2, attested in two Arabic manuscripts, one where it is attributed to Ephrem and the other where it is anonymous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the growth of a cult for the Armenian martyr Hripsime in Ethiopia during the Middle Ages, no malkəʾ-hymn dedicated to her can be found in manuscripts predating the eighteenth century. There are two extant witnesses, one from the early eighteenth century and one from the nineteenth or twentieth century, to a Malkəʾa ʾArsimā containing seventeen stanzas. Evidently this hymn is the one named in a list of titles of malkəʾ-hymns extant in four manuscripts, two of which indicate that the hymn should have seventeen stanzas. While shorter than most, the hymn skilfully incorporates allusions to biblical stories, including Esther and Judith, paraphrases of and references to verses from the Old and New Testaments, and references to the flight to Egypt and Mount Koskam. While the text seemingly fell out of use, there being no later manuscript witnesses or printed editions of it, a different, longer malkəʾ-hymn was at some point composed and is now widespread in printed collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thus far, very little is known of the social origin and position of scribes and calligraphers in the premodern Islamic world. The difficulty in finding data on the biographies and activities of the professional practitioners of calligraphy in historiographical works is probably one of the main causes of this regrettable situation. Taking as a starting point the results of some previous groundbreaking research, the present article gathers scattered information retrieved from different sources about two calligraphers from the Horn of Africa that lived and worked in the Middle East during the Mamlūk period. In the analysis of these two cases, it is hoped that some light will be shed on the presence of calligraphic masters from the Horn in the Arab world from which may be gained, on a more general level, a better picture of the personalities of calligraphers in the Islamic world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between Ethiopia and Prester John, the mythical ruler from the East searched for by the Latin Christians of Europe since the twelfth century, is long established in scholarship for the period between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries. This relationship, however, appears one sided in the surviving source corpus with no reference to Prester John found in any Gəʿəz texts. Indeed, the Ethiopian monks at the Council of Florence in 1441 were recorded as actively rejecting such an association between this Prester John and their ruler to the Latin Christians. The absence of Gəʿəz sources aside, this article presents an edition and translation of four letters written in Arabic by the Ethiopian ambassador to Lisbon between 1509 and 1520, Mateus, to Dom Manuel, King of Portugal, which present him as the anbašadūr Brist Ǧuwān and pose further questions for this discussion. The letters provide examples of a counter narrative to the outright dismissal of the myth by the monks at Florence. With only one known clear proponent of each stance, and in different centuries, the discussion concerning Ethiopia's rejection of the Prester John myth may require more nuance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the rise to power of the Christian Solomonic dynasty (1270-1974) in Ethiopia, Christian rule expanded to encompass the regions inhabited by the Betä Ǝsraʾel (Ethiopian Jews). This process was accompanied by military campaigns (fourteenth-seventeenth century), during which the Betä Ǝsraʾel gradually lost their political autonomy. The Betä Ǝsraʾel oral tradition remembers the campaign waged by the Solomonic monarch Yəsḥaq against them as the most decisive in their history--because of it, their political power was greatly reduced, and their continued existence was jeopardized. This campaign is also commemorated in Solomonic texts, and both Christian and Betä Ǝsraʾel holy sites are associated with it. This article will examine the ways in which this campaign and its aftermath are depicted by the two respective communities and reflected their religious sites and in landmarks in Wägära and the Səmen Mountains. Based on the sources at hand, it will attempt to trace the geographical aspects of the campaign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Alexander Romance is vague about Alexander's passage from India to the realm of Candace of Meroë, but seems to suggest it is accomplished swiftly and easily. The earliest versions of the Romance, moreover, indicate there were close relations between Candace's kingdom and India, even that her ancestors once held power over India. If Candace's realm is identified as Ethiopia, this is a perplexing state of affairs. But it seems to have taken on a plausibility with the rise of the kingdom of Aksum. In the De Vita Bragmanorum Palladius depicts Aksum as a province of a vast empire centred on Sri Lanka. But it is John Malalas, in his universal chronicle, who modifies the story of Alexander and Candace to explicitly locate it in Aksum, or the land of the 'Inner Indians', as distinct from both India and Ethiopia. This modification not only made sense of several details in the Alexander Romance, but was also consistent with shifting attitudes toward Ethiopians and Aksumites in Late Antiquity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An altar block found not far from Ǝntǝčč̣ ọ bears an Ethio-Sabaean inscription which documents the dedication of the altar to the goddess ḏāt Ḥamēn by a female. This new find is of particular historical significance as it gives the name of a previously unattested king, who can be assigned genealogically to one of the known lines of rulers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An inscription stone was found by peasants in a site at Śǝ̣ rḥan in the Aḥfärom wäräda of the Tǝgray region. The author examined the site and carried out an archaeological outline of it for the Tǝgray Culture and Tourism Bureau. The original condition of the inscription, however, had been affected by the peasants' handling of the stone, which in the same time offers an instructive insight into local traditions. Furthermore, the high resolution photography taken of the inscription has been lost due to looting during the recent war. However, lower resolution photography has survived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most children in Ethiopia, especially from economically disadvantaged families, often have no exposure to English before school and learn English in government-sponsored public schools with insufficient resources, semi-qualified or unqualified non-native teachers with poor teaching methods. Assessment results have shown that Ethiopian children's reading performance is below the standards set for each grade level and that they are poorly prepared for the next level of education. The present study aimed to determine whether a systematic and explicit rime-based analogy-phonics intervention could improve English word recognition ability in Ethiopian children. The participants were 3rd grade children (N=67) at two public primary schools in Hawassa, Ethiopia. A randomized pretest-intervention-posttest-control group research design was used, with half the children (N=33) randomly assigned to the experimental group and the other half (N=34) to the control group. The intervention was conducted for 40 minutes a day, 3 days a week for 12 weeks. Pre and posttests were used to measure the word recognition ability of the children and a t-test was employed to analyze the results. After controlling for the initial variables, posttest results showed that systematic and explicit rimebased analogy-phonics instruction led to significant improvements in children's word recognition ability. The study further indicated that such instruction could also be considered as a useful intervention tool to improve English reading performance of Ethiopian primary school children and contributed to the little-known literature on the subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was intended to analyze the Ethiopian Federal TVET Institute trainees' academic and professional needs of the English language and its relevance to their needs. In the study, descriptive design was employed and data collection tools, namely close-ended questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and content analysis were used. Eighty trainees and 30 former graduates were included using simple random sampling technique to fill in questionnaires and for interviews two major course trainers and two former graduates among those who filled in the questionnaires were selected using the same sampling technique, and all the available (4) Communicative English Skills course instructors were included. Moreover, Communicative English Skills I and II course materials/modules were also analyzed to examine the relevance of the courses to meet the trainees' academic and professional needs. The questionnaires data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitative data were analyzed using thematic data analysis methods. The study showed that reading technical course books, lecture handouts and examination papers, taking lecture notes, writing organized paragraphs concisely, exam answers, term papers and researches, presenting project reports and seminars orally in the classroom, and listening to lectures and technical conversations are the most frequently needed English sub-skills by the trainees. The findings also showed that most of the language contents are not compatible with the trainees' English language needs. Thus, the teaching material currently in use lacks topical/thematic relevance to the trainees' fields of study in almost all the units. The findings might have implications for ESP material developers and course designers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethiopian wolves, a canid species endemic to the Ethiopian Highlands, have been steadily declining in numbers for decades. Currently, out of 35 extant species, it is now one of the world's most endangered canids. Most conservation efforts have focused on preventing disease, monitoring movements and behavior, and assessing the geographic ranges of sub-populations. Here, we add an essential layer by determining the Ethiopian wolf's demographic and evolutionary history using high-coverage (∼40×) whole-genome sequencing from 10 Ethiopian wolves from the Bale Mountains. We observe exceptionally low diversity and enrichment of weakly deleterious variants in the Ethiopian wolves in comparison with two North American gray wolf populations and four dog breeds. These patterns are consequences of long-term small population size, rather than recent inbreeding. We infer the demographic history of the Ethiopian wolf and find it to be concordant with historic records and previous genetic analyses, suggesting Ethiopian wolves experienced a series of both ancient and recent bottlenecks, resulting in a census population size of fewer than 500 individuals and an estimated effective population size of approximately 100 individuals. Additionally, long-term small population size may have limited the accumulation of strongly deleterious recessive mutations. Finally, as the Ethiopian wolves have inhabited high-altitude areas for thousands of years, we searched for evidence of high-altitude adaptation, finding evidence of positive selection at a transcription factor in a hypoxia-response pathway [CREB-binding protein (CREBBP)]. Our findings are pertinent to continuing conservation efforts and understanding how demography influences the persistence of deleterious variation in small populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cotton is the most important natural textile fiber in the world used to produce apparel, home furnishings and industrial products. However, in the last decades cotton stickiness has become a very serious problem caused by excess sugars on the lint, either from the plant itself or from insects and it is a challenge for cotton growers, ginners, and spinners. It affects the processing efficiency as well as the quality of the product. Ethiopian textile industries are facing this problem every season and not solved it yet. In this article, the Ethiopian northern region cotton stickiness properties have been characterized and their spinning risk probability identified. The stickiness was measured for hand and roller ginned cotton fiber using sticky cotton thermo-detector (SCT), high-speed stickiness detector (CONTEST-S), high volume instrument method (CONTEST-F) and colorimetric method according to ES ISO 12027:2013 and UNI EN 14278–3 standard methods. The statistical analysis of test results showed that the studied locations' cotton fiber stickiness properties significantly change in SCT, CONTES-S and CONTEST-F methods at P-values of 0.0423, 0.003 and 0.008, respectively. The cotton stickiness has slightly reduced after the roller ginning process compared to hand ginning. Metema and Humera's cotton fiber have a better stickiness property than other northern areas. Generally, nine northern parts of Ethiopian cotton fiber stickiness resulted in a 'No Risk' class 'Low Risk' spinning risk probability grade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]