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Bioethanol produced from renewable resource has potential to solve environmental pollution and to satisfy the need of demand and supply. It favours the use of nonfood lignocellulosic materials. Ethanol produced from plant materials can sustain the economy by reducing cost of imported petroleum, emitting neutral CO2. Moreover, it enhances the economy by providing value added market opportunities for transportation and agricultural sector. Therefore, the objective of the study was to investigate bioethanol production from stalk residues of Chiquere and Gebabe varieties of sweet sorghum collected from West Arsi Zone, Ethiopia. Response surface methods with a three factor (inoculum size, pH, and dilution rate) with triplicate run by using the Box–Behnken method was referred. The experiment employed dilute acid hydrolysis, because it is an easy and productive process by treating the stalks with 4% of sulfuric acid for effective hydrolysis of substrate. Finally, the fermentation was carried out at 30°C for 72 hours on a shaker at 180 rpm by using Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The significance of the result was evaluated by using ANOVA, where P values

Construction managers that are conversant with project management knowledge areas handle the construction project. Intelligent means discerning or looking about, and these construction managers are well-versed in their fields. However, the majority of construction projects in construction companies fail around the world, particularly in low-income countries such as Ethiopia, due to a lack of construction project managers who are unfamiliar with contract management that are used without considering the company's situations and project contexts. The goal of this research is to create a machine-learning-based prediction model for finding the most effective contract type in construction companies. Data from Ethiopian construction enterprises and associations (particularly from the Amhara National Regional State Job & Training Bureau and its branches in Addis Zemen, Woreta, and Debre Tabor) were collected using a purposeful sample strategy. Support vector machines scored 93 %, decision trees scored 92.30 %, and K-nearest neighbors scored 91.20 %, and logistic regression scored 88 % on the testing data set, respectively. Furthermore, in comparison to the other classifiers, Support vector machines outperformed the best in the experiments. The study suggests gathering more building project datasets from construction businesses and comparing them to our findings to determine the most effective contract type.

Background: The area of Eucalyptus plantations has expanded greatly and the species dominates many rural and urban landscapes as it suits the limited resources of smallholder farmers, yields higher income than other tree crops and increasing demand for woodlot products. The study conducted in Wogera District within three purposively selected kebele administrations. Smallholder farmers at the study area are converting their crop land to Eucalyptus plantation. Therefore there should need to deal the pushing factors for the allocation of Eucalyptus. This study aims at identifying the factors influencing decision of land allocation for eucalyptus woodlot production, and estimating the land expectation value. Method: Cross sectional data was collected through semi-structured interview schedule. Data analysis employed descriptive statistics and Faustman formula. Results: The results of the household survey revealed that land degradation and neighbor influence are the main factors for smallholders’ land allocation decision for Eucalyptus plantation. Therefore, as per the results, most of the crop land has been converted to Eucalyptus plantation. However, this a rapid land conversion issue made a threat on most farmers in related to losing of indigenous crops so as it leads them to be food insecured. Conclusion: Farmers in the study area are rational in their land allocation for production of either annual or perennial crops including Eucalyptus woodlots. Finally the study recommends government intervention in the separate land management issue is mandatory to make balance in production of both Eucalyptus and crops.

Invasive alien weed species invasion are observed in areas of Woliata Zone, Southern Nations Nationalities Regional state. However, its distribution and abundance have not been determined. Therefore, the objectives of the study were to assess the distribution of P. hysterophorus, L. camara and A. mexicana in the study area. Data were recorded in a total of 120 quadrants of 5 m x 5 m laid at 10 Km interval on the roadsides. Abundance and distribution of the three selected invasive alien weeds were determined and maps showing these were developed using ArcGIS 9.1 software. A total of 13 invasive weed species that is P. hysterophorus, L. camara, A. Mexicana, Xanthium strumtarium L., Ageratum conyzoides L., Xanthium siponsum L., Cirsium vulgare Savi Ten, Senna didymobotra (Fresen.) Iriwin Bameby, Senna oxdentalis L. link, Casia occidentalis L., Caesalpinia decapetala (Roth) Alston, Datura stramonim L., and Ricinus communis L. representing six families were identified in the study area. The result of the study showed that most of the invasive weed species found were belongs to the family Asteraceae followed by Fabaceae. Invasive alien weed species were differently distributed with the relative frequency of 0.83 (P. hysterophorus), 0.83 (L. camara), 0.5 (A. Mexicana), 0.43 (S. oxdentalis), respectively, while the other IAWs were found less distributed. The result indicated that of the total (120) sampling points P. hysterophorus was found on 100 sampling plots (83.3%). The infestation of L. camara was observed in all districts and Sodo town administration of the zone. A. mexicana was absent on 60 (50.0%) of sampling points which are at Ofa, Humbo, and Sodo zuria districts P. hysterophorus has the highest mean abundance value (22.3%) followed by L. camara (10.0%). Invasive Alien Weed Species were observed in different habitats. Roadside and cultivated lands were the two frequently P. hysterophorus infested habitats. P. hysterophorus, L. camara and A. mexicana were found to a threat to the livelihood of the Wolayita farming households. Thus, there is an urgent need for well organized, coordinated and concerned efforts that must be made to control. Further long-term study is needed to verify the impact of P. hysterophorus L. camara and A. mexicana invasion.

An ethnobotanical study was conducted in Amaro Wereda, Southern Nations Nationalities and peoples Region (SNNPR), Ethiopia. The objective was to document indigenous knowledge of the people on the use of medicinal plants and investigate plant species that are used as medicines for the treatment of human health problems, document indigenous knowledge for the conservation of biological and cultural diversities and threatening factors of plant species. Vegetation data was collected along with ethnobotanical information from purposefully selected areas of the wereda. A total of 17 traditional healers with most of them aged from 28 to 70 years from different parts of the wereda were purposefully selected and information was collected through the use of questionnaires and personal interviews during field trips in the Korre ethnic group from August to December 2012. Descriptive analysis was made for the data collected. A total of 56 plant species were reported by traditional healers of the Korre ethnic groups for their medicinal uses, representing 52 genera and 32 families. The majority (76.8%) were wild. Of the plants, 21 were herbs (37.5%) and 19 shrubs (34%). Thirty-one human ailments were identified by the traditional healers of the study area. Leaves constituted 33 % of the total uses followed by roots (27 %). Fifty seven percent of the healer remedies were applied through oral tract while 23% were applied on the skin. The Korre plants were the ones with the highest fidelity level (FL) values, an indication of their high healing potential. Priority should, therefore, be given to these plants to test their efficacy and their toxicity. Conservation priority should be given for identified threatened medicinal plants, promoting in-situ and ex-situ conservation of medicinal plants in Korre community of Amaro wereda.