The National Examination Council of Tanzania serves to sort out proper career progress of secondary school students. This study demonstrates future implication to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers of candidates who sat for the Certificate of Secondary School Education (CSEE) in Mbeya city. Results collected from 58 schools, of which 32 were private schools. Number of candidates were roughly 8000 of which more than a quarter were from private schools. This study revealed that less than 40% of graduates were potential STEM careers out of which less than one third were girls. Interestingly, performance was free of gender disparity in private schools. On the other hand, boys outperformed girls in STEM subjects from public schools. Overall STEM performance showed that the smallest number of students about 13% passed physics compared to other STEM subjects in public school with number of boys being twice that of girls. Moreover, the study revealed that physics along with mathematics are the determinants of STEM career prospects. Therefore, at least 13% candidates were in the position to further studies in STEM careers from public schools.

Background: Tigray is one of the food-insecure regions with many people living under the condition of chronic hunger. Proper intervention mechanisms are vital for addressing food insecurity. Yet, food security intervention mechanisms of various levels are not researched well. 

Aims/Objectives: Previous studies have rarely addressed the objectives of food security intervention mechanisms in relation to the four pillars of food security: availability, access, utilization and stability. Thus, this study aims to investigate the food security intervention mechanisms in the drought-prone rural areas of Tigray in relation with the major components of food security.

Methods: This study has employed a cross-sectional study design based on a mixed research approach with primary and secondary data. For this, 363 households from three selected drought-prone rural districts, i.e. Atsbi-wenberta, Irob and Hintalo-wejerat were studied. Primary data were collected using questionnaires and key-informant interviews. And, secondary data were collected from relevant archives and policy documents. The obtained data were analyzed descriptively and content-wise.  

Results: Findings show that there were several international interventions intended to halt food insecurity sustainably through financial aid, but many of the interventions were found to be responding to humanitarian crises mainly the food shortages. Ethiopia’s Food and Nutrition Policy, Food Security Program, Food Security Strategy, and Food Security Pack program were the food security intervention mechanisms at the national level. These interventions were found to be inconsistent with each other in their intended goals. Regionally, no food security strategy or program was found intervening to the prevailing food insecurity of Tigray. More notably, the region has no food security bureau or office that deals with food security issues of the region. At a community level, food aid and PSNP transfers have been the usual food security intervention mechanisms.

Conclusions and Recommendations: The food aid and PSNP transfers were outrageously insufficient for the recipients to cope with food insecurity. Therefore, intervention mechanisms should focus on enhancing vulnerable households’ coping and adaptive capacities to deal with food security problems. In this regard, all the food security intervention mechanisms of various levels should be integrated into the common goal of achieving food security.     

In the Renaissance of fifteenth and sixteenth century Europe, nature was conceptualized as a living organism. Like humans, it had a body, soul, and spirit. The body was the earth mother, the planets the soul, and the fixed stars the spirit. Beyond that was God. In the seventeenth century, the metaphor changed to that of a machine made of dead particles controlled according to the laws of momentum and energy. Nature could be predicted and controlled, ultimately leading to the pollution and depletion of resources. However, through conservation and restoration, much of the damage could be undone. I believe that through a new ethic of partnership with nature, we can take, but also give back to the earth. Such an ethic would allow human lives and nature’s life to continue in an ongoing dynamic relationship.

The rivers and seas are vital ecosystems, in which various forms of life develop. Sediments act as a substrate for pollutants, including microplastics (MP) and heavy metals (HM) and other elements, which can have adverse effects on aquatic organisms and ecosystems. Contamination of river sediments by these pollutants can pose risks to human and animal health via the food chain or direct exposure, thus aggravating ecological imbalances.

The distinctive character of MPs is their small size, defined as particles with a dimension of 0.1 to 5 mm. Heavy metals, widespread contaminants in the environment, continually affect sediments and bodies of water. MPs, due to their non-degradable nature, and heavy metals act as persistent pollutants, and their combined pollution also poses a new threat to our lives.

This work describes an analytical methodology for sampling and analysis of microplastic pollution, including steps such as sample collection, chemical treatment, density separation and filtration[1]. Another objective of this study was also to prepare a protocol for isolating microplastics from organic matter in a river sediment system. Microplastic evaluation was carried out by optical microscopy and FTIR spectroscopy[2].

We used X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) to assess heavy metals and other elements present in sediments prepared as pressed pellets and loose powders, applying two different sets of standards[3]. In this way a comparative study was carried out using two different sets of standards to determine the quantity of heavy metals and other elements.