The taxonomy of Fusarium species has been controversial. The controversy surrounding the morphology-based classification, as well as the limitations and advantages of the various tools used to circumvent this problem are discussed as an introduction to the research presented in this thesis. Emphasis in this case was on the F. oxysporum species complex. The body of the research focuses on Fusarium species in Ethiopian agriculture about which little has been published. Results from this study suggest that F. oxysporum and F. solani are the two species most commonly isolated from agricultural soils and plant tissues from Ethiopia. The Ethiopian F. solani isolates were further characterized using AFLPs which showed that these isolates group into two separate clusters. Additional characterization using EF-1á sequence analyses showed that all these isolates belong to one of the three clades previously designated for the F. solani-Nectria haematococca species complex. Nine SSR markers were developed for studying the F. oxysporum complex. These markers are highly polymorphic and should be useful for many different population genetic studies of the F. oxysporum species complex. Ethiopian F. oxysporum isolates, and F. oxysporum isolates obtained from other fungal collections, were characterized using AFLPs, SSRs and DNA sequence analyses. These studies resolved the isolates into three concordant groups that corresponded to the three clades of F. oxysporum previously designated for this species complex. Most of the Ethiopian isolates grouped in one of these three clades. This and the high degree of AFLP- and SSR-based genetic similarity observed among the Ethiopian isolates suggested that these isolates are largely clonal. In addition, a PCR-based diagnostic was developed to allow for the accurate differentiation between F. oxysporum and F. redolens which has proved to be difficult using morphological characters. The studies presented in this thesis contribute to a better understanding of Fusarium species commonly found in Ethiopia. Clearly, there is much that will still need to be done. The research presented in this thesis establishes a foundation for other studies and also provides a stimulus for further studies of these important fungi in Ethiopia. Copyright 2006, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Bogale, MA 2006, Molecular characterization of Fusarium isolates from Ethiopia, PhD thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-11072006-172206 / > D87/ag / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Genetics / Unrestricted

Understanding our evolutionary history as a species has since long been one of the most attracting and controversial themes of the scientific investigation. From its geographical position, outstanding fossil record and richness of human diversity, the Horn of Africa and, particularly, the Ethiopian region offers an unmatched opportunity to investigate our origins from a genetic perspective. To carry out a genome-wide survey of this region, 13 out of the estimated 80 extant Ethiopian populations were typed on an Illumina Omni 1M SNP array. The results showed a good concordance between genetic and linguistic stratification and, overall, a complex population structure placing the Ethiopians in between North and Sub Saharan Africans, due to the recent non African gene flow which was dated at around 3000 years ago. Furthermore the SNP array data unveiled putative traces of the out of Africa migrations as well as, in two of the typed populations, signatures of genetic adaptation to high altitude. To obtain an unbiased, high resolution representation of the Ethiopian genetic landscape, 25 individuals from each of five populations were newly collected and sequenced on an Illumina HiSeq platform. These populations were chosen, from among the ones typed on the SNP array, to represent the main components of Ethiopian genetic diversity. Of the 25 samples per population, 24 were sequenced at low depth to generate a broad list of genetic variants, while one sample from each was sequenced at high depth to provide a higher resolution list of variants peculiar to each analysed population. The 125 Ethiopian genomes thus sequenced, while overall consistent with the genotyping results, described the Ethiopian populations in a less biased way than the SNP array data. Furthermore estimation of past effective population size fluctuations from the individual genomes unveiled a unique pattern in the ancestry of the Ethiopian populations in the early stages of human evolution. These results provide a data resource which can be used in future analyses.

This diploma thesis deals with the development of world coffee market and impacts for economic development of Ethiopia. First part is focused on characteristics of and trends in the world coffee market in terms of cultivation demands, world production, exports and domestic consumption in coffee growing regions. The analysis of world coffee prices, consequences and potential solutions of the global coffee crisis builds the core of the first part. The second part continues with analysis of economic development and economic structure of Ethiopia, from which follows the enormous economic importance of coffee for this poor country. Further, the coffe market and its developments is characterized - as far as produced and exported volume and prices paid to producers in the country are concerned. In conclusion of the second part the implications of Ethiopian development strategies into coffee sector are examined.

Magister Commercii - MCom / Oilseed is the third most important export item in Ethiopian foreign trade. It has registered a high export growth rate over recent years both in terms of volume and value. Besides its growing share in export, it is widely used for the extraction of edible oil and oilcake that is supplied to the domestic market. Although farmers are the primary producers of oilseeds, they are not able to benefit from the growing market share of the product due to the fact that they find themselves at the end of an extended market chain. As a result they only receive a very small proportion of what the final buyers are paying for the oilseed products. In addition, there is not much experience on the part of the farmers to process oilseeds, change it to edible oil and oilcake and retain the value addition in the local economy. This thesis used the value chain approach to investigate the possibilities for the primary producers to increase their income share from the selling of their products either by directly selling to exporters or by processing oilseeds, producing edible oil and oilcake, and retaining the value addition in the local economy. / South Africa

No abstract available. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / gm2014 / Centre for Human Rights / unrestricted

Text in English / Telehealth makes healthcare services accessible by underserved and resource-constrained rural communities of developing countries such as Ethiopia. However, the limitation of frameworks on telemedicine-based healthcare inequality reduction is a challenge for developing countries. In Ethiopia there are four telemedicine projects; however, there is no evidence that any of these projects have been evaluated by considering contextual issues. This academic research explored telehealth practices in Ethiopia with the aim of developing a comprehensive telehealth evaluation framework for developing countries. Such a conceptual framework could be used to inform health institutes and governmental policy makers and in so doing create a vehicle for the implementation of improved health practices in Ethiopia. A grounded theory approach is used to qualitatively explore the usefulness of telemedicine practices in Ethiopia, in mitigating healthcare inequality. Grounded theory makes use of emerging insights in order to contribute to new knowledge. From the inductive analysis of the study, themes such as barrier removal, service quality, synergetic effect, localization, technical setup, resource utilization and managerial readiness emerged to formulate a framework for evaluating telemedicine-based healthcare inequality reduction in the context of developing countries like Ethiopia. This study contributes to the understanding of the question of how telemedicine practices can be evaluated, to support the healthcare service and reduce the healthcare inequalities in resource constrained communities in Ethiopia. Moreover, the framework could be used during evaluation of telemedicine-based healthcare inequality reduction in the context of developing countries like Ethiopia. / School of Computing / Ph.D. (Information Systems)

Seed-oil based biodiesel production particularly biodiesel production from the nonedible oil seed bearing plant - Jatropha curcas L. - is a key strategic direction outlined in the biofuels strategy of the Government of Ethiopia. The main objective underlying the strategy include substitution of imported diesel oil used in the road transport sector while at the same time contributing to the local and global greenhouse gasses (GHG) reduction efforts. In this study the environmental benefits and costs of production and use of Jatropha biodiesel in the road transport sector of Ethiopia is assessed using a life cycle analysis (LCA) methodology. The analysis focused on determining the potential environmental impacts and net non-renewable energy saving potential of biodiesel from Jatropha oil-seeds using the following metrics: (i) Net Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reduction, and (ii) Net Energy Balance (NEB) relative to diesel oil. The study shows that the net GHG emissions reduction potential of Jatropha Methyl Ester (JME) is highly influenced by the magnitude of initial carbon loss occurring in the process of conversion of different land uses to Jatropha plantation, and less so on other unit processes of JME production system analysed. The NEB of JME relative to use of diesel oil per functional unit of one GJ is less sensitive to impacts of land use change and is generally positive. Where no land use change impacts is considered, or where Jatropha is grown on lands with low carbon stock such as grasslands, substitution of diesel oil with JME in Ethiopia can provide GHG emission reduction of about 43%, and for each MJ of JME produced the nonrenewable energy requirement will be 0,38 MJ. Production of JME by converting lands with high above ground, below ground and/or soil carbon stocks such as shrub lands or well stocked forest lands will result in net loss of carbon and require ecological carbon payback time of 50 to hundreds of years. The impact of introducing and use of JME-diesel oil blends by Anbassa City Bus Services Enterprise (ACBSE) bus fleets shows that, displacement of diesel oil with JME that have positive GHG reduction potential, will also contribute to the reduction of air pollutants and improvement of ambient air quality in Addis Ababa. Two key recommendations of this research work are that to ensure environmental sustainability of biodiesel production from Jatropha seeds (i) land availability and land suitability assessment for estimating the potential available land for Jatropha (and other oil-seed bearing plants) shall be conducted, and (ii) minimum requirements on GHG reduction and NEB requirements on biodiesel shall be established. / Environmental Sciences / M. Sc. (Environmental Management)

The major objective of this empirical research is to identify and explain the level of regional development and analyse the challenges of policy implementation with special focus on Tigray and Gambella Regions from 1995 to 2015. In line with the research objectives and statement of the problem, this study was designed to determine the level of development of the two regional states, the critical factors of regional growth in the regions, and what the major challenges were in the implementation of regional development policy. This research was explanatory cross-sectional in its design. In this research, both primary and secondary sources were consulted. Key informant interview, document review and observation were used to collect the necessary information. Accordingly, based on their expertise knowledge, and the position they held, a total of 24 regional and federal key informants were purposively selected and interviewed. The findings of the study showed that both regions made remarkable improvements and changes in health, education, road network, agricultural and revenue collection performance. However, contrary to the perceptions of the respondents, the secondary data when divided by regional population showed that in the past 20 years Gambella has been better off in terms of health, education, road networks and some agricultural indicators than Tigray. Tigray, however, grew more in terms of infrastructure than Gambella during the same period. The study found that the Government regional development policy designed and implemented as measured by growth-oriented indicators brought encouraging results. The most important determinant factors for regional economic development between the two sampled regions were: initial historical level of development; capacity of resource utilisation; leadership commitment, cultural differences, recurrent conflicts and insecurity, governance issues, political will, capacity of the regional government authorities; and rent-seeking attitude of politicians and civil servants. To address some of the challenges, few recommendations are made: designing a regional specific development policy, strengthening intergovernmental relations, protecting the environment, ensuring good governance, maintaining peace and security, strengthening capacity building, supporting infrastructural development for Gambella and the provision of additional financial incentives to regions. / Development Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Development Studies)

The Main Ethiopian Rift is a part of the East African Rift, from where the African plate is being teared apart and separated from the Indian and the Arabian plate. Even though earthquakes in this area are relatively less frequent, the subsurface structure is a subject of big research interest, since information about the subsurface layers has considerable relevance when it comes to site amplication related to earthquakes. The aim of this project is to map and compare the subsurface structures of two sites located in the Ethiopian Rift, using seismic refraction technique. By looking at the first arrivals of artificial seismic waves on a designated site, the velocities as well as the thicknessof the subsurface layers can be obtained. The result showed that the both sites contained a low velocity structure which contained weathered material.

The study investigates the impediments caused by criminalisation of abortion in cases of forced pregnancy as a result of rape. It focuses on the premise that restrictive abortion laws and practices in such cases has devastating impact on women’s lives as they are likely to engage in unsafe abortion. Focuses on rape and abortion in Swaziland in relation to cultural norms and traditional beliefs on the issue of access to legal abortion by rape victims. Also discusses the law on abortion in Ethiopia. / A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Dr. Girmachew Alemu Aneme, Faculty of Law, University of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa))--University of Pretoria, 2009. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM