Abstract: Warqe/enset processing is carried out dominantly by rural women using traditional tools such as bamboo scraper, serrated wooden tool and metal knife where losses in quality and quantity are exceptionally high. Above all, the traditional way of warqe/enset processing causes to much physically drudgery among the rural women. In an effort to alleviate the problem, an engine driven warqe/enset decorticating machine was designed, constructed, tested and evaluated. The performance evalua...
Abstract: For most Ethiopian rural households, food insecurity has been the most critical concern. Small-scale irrigation is among the first measures in increasing vegetable production, diversifying household assets and income, and improving household food security. This study measured the impact of small-scale irrigation use on household vegetable production and food security using outcome indicators of household food consumption score, household dietary diversity score and yield of onion. ...
Abstract: Rice is one of the most important cereal crops in Fogera Plain. Despite its potential and production in Ethiopia, its productivity varies from year to year and over locations due to seasonal and intra-seasonal climate variability and household characteristics. The objectives of this study were to identify rice farm typologies, drivers of rice yield, climate change, and adaptation strategies to analyze climate variability and trend changes, and to assess dry spell management practic...
Abstract: The significance of spice technology in enhancing production and productivity can be realized when yield increasing technologies are extensively used and diffused.This research addresses the case of improved turmeric variety that has been intensively promoted in major producing area to enhance the level and degree of technology use among smallholder farmers.Hence,in this study, an attempt was made to examine factors affecting adoption and intensityof use of improved turmeric variet...
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to identify and evaluate determinant factors of renting-in threshing machine and the impact of machine renting-in service on reduction of threshing cost of the household. To address the objectives the study used cross-sectional data collected from 180 machine users and non-users households in Haramaya district. Sample size of respondent from each selected two kebeles was determined using probability proportional to size sampling technique. The sample f...
Abstract: Ethiopian economy is highly dependent on agriculture, especially crop production takes the major share in economic growth. Hence, supporting the sector through introducing new agricultural technologies, like row planting technology is crucial. However, application of better technologies remained low in Ethiopia and also in the study area due to several factors. Therefore, study was to assess the status of adoption decision of wheat row planting technology and identify factors affec...
Abstract: Tef is the major crop grown in Ethiopia and the study area. However, its productivity is low mainly due to limited use of improved varieties and low soil fertility as result of intensive soil erosion and long history of cultivation. Therefore ,a field experiment was carried out on a farmer’s field at Gelan Akaki district during the 2018 main cropping season (from July to November 2018) to assess the response of tef varieties to blended NPSB fertilizer rates and to identify the ec...
Abstract: This research is aimed at developing a Setswana grammar checker for Setswana declarative sentences using Long Short-Term Memory Recurrent neural networks (LSTM-RNNs). The research was motivated by the fact that Setswana is recognized as one of the under-resourced languages in the world and the language lacks Natural language processing (NLP) tools such as grammar checkers; this delays the language’s technological progress. A Setswana grammar checker is a pre-requisite to th...
Abstract: The presence of harmonics in solar Photo Voltaic (PV) energy conversion system results in deterioration of power quality. To address such issue, this paper aims to investigate the elimination of harmonics in a solar fed cascaded fifteen level inverter with aid of Proportional Integral (PI), Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Fuzzy Logic (FL) based controllers. Unlike other techniques, the proposed FLC based approach helps in obtaining reduced harmonic distortions that intend to an...
Abstract: It is anticipated that laser cladding assisted with preheat (LCAP)-deposited Tribaloy (T-800) composite coatings enhances resistance to structural degradation upon exposure to elevated-temperature oxidation service environments. The oxidation kinetics of LCAP T-800 composite coatings deposited on EN8 substrate and its mechanisms have not been explored in severe conditions that are similar to operational parameters. The isothermal oxidation behaviour of the T-800 composite coating d...
Abstract: Fossil fuels, particularly crude oil, have proven to be a source of energy to households, transportation and power industries over the past decades. This natural reserve is diminishing at an alarming rate with crude oil having reserves to last the earth for the next half a century. As a result, researchers are constantly seeking remedial technologies to close this gap. Thermochemical conversion processes such as pyrolysis, gasification and liquefaction (PGL) offer an alternative so...
Abstract: Al2O3.TiO2 ceramic composites exhibit versatile properties such as high hardness and excellent wear, chemical, thermal and corrosion resistance. As such, they have been used in various applications such as optical and electronic, gas separation, biomedical processes, and support for transition metal catalysts, wear resistant coatings in machinery, textile and printing industries. However, alumina and alumina-based composites often exhibit high brittleness which limits their potenti...
Abstract: Coal due to its relatively large quantities and wide distribution worldwide has generated renewed interest in research and development with the aim of establishing coal conversion technologies that are technically reliable, environmentally and economically feasible. It has proved to be a prominent energy source in emerging markets with increasing energy demand by accounting for the largest increase in the demand of energy amongst all other energy sources. Furthermore, with its high...
Abstract: Before disposal of any metallurgical waste to the environment, it is the responsibility of mining institutes to adhere to the permissible metal content limits. Base metals, especially iron and copper, have adverse effects of reducing the soil pH and excessive concentrations of these in the disposed waste may result in soil pollution and toxicity, with adverse effects on plant growth and animal health. Copper slag is a metallurgical waste that is disposed by way of stockpiling at de...
Abstract: The research presents a comparative study on the effectiveness of blending plant based natural coagulants (Cactus Opuntia and Moringa Oleifera extracts) and a synthetic coagulant (aluminium sulphate or alum) in treatment of raw water. The low production rates of natural coagulants has derailed their commercialization this has driven the idea of blending synthetic coagulants which is envisaged to be the more appropriate means of application in this study. To measure the effectivenes...