Despite international consensus and actions, child labour remains prevalent and a global agenda. This paper uniquely examines the dynamic impact of parental death on child labour using rich longitudinal data from Ethiopia, while acknowledging limitations for making full causal interpretation. The empirical analysis, based on a conditional staggered difference-in-difference estimator, reveals a statistically significant impact of parental death on child labour. I specifically documented four key results. First, the cumulative effect of parental death outweighs the immediate effect. Second, the findings suggest a relatively higher impact of parental death around the age of 12 than earlier or later ages. Third, parental loss appears to push children toward unpaid household services rather than economic activities. Finally, maternal death has a stronger association with child labour than paternal death. These findings highlight the need for context-specific policy interventions and long-term support initiatives to mitigate the negative consequences of orphanhood on child development. Future research should explore multi-country analyses to provide a more comprehensive understanding and enable broader generalization of the impact of parental death on child labour.
Africa is increasingly being exposed to the negative impacts of climate and environmental change, while having less capacity to respond compared to other continents. The vulnerability partially results from unprecedented demographic growth, urbanization, and industrialization. However, the continent has still largely been underserved by the broader Earth system science (ESS) community, as evidenced by the limited amount of ESS data and research that cover Africa compared to other areas of the world. Here, we present the recent University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) Africa Initiative that aims to enhance environmental sustainability in Africa by fostering international collaborative research partnerships coled by African scientists. Specifically, we outline urgent challenges and opportunities identified through an international workshop in six areas of ESS, namely, 1) air quality and health, 2) weather, 3) climate, 4) land and water, 5) social science perspectives, and 6) developing equitable collaboration and sustainable infrastructure. We highlight examples of successful partnerships and conclude with recommendations to advance collaborative, actionable ESS research that addresses Africa's critical environmental challenges.
While prior research emphasizes the socio-economic benefits of financial inclusion, its implications for bank profitability remain underexplored. This paper employs seven traditional and four digital indicators to create a financial inclusion index through principal component analysis (PCA).To capture potential nonlinearities, quadratic specifications are incorporated within a two-step system generalized method of moments (GMM) framework and validated using the Lind and Mehlum (2010) U-shape test, while Granger causality tests examine directional effects over the 2015-2023 period. Results indicate thattraditional financial inclusion positively influences profitability, although the hypothesized inverted U-shaped effect is economically plausible but not statistically confirmed. Digital financial inclusion initially reduces profitability, but its squared term reveals a statistically significant U-shaped effect, indicating gains after reaching a critical threshold. Granger causality test indicates bi-directional relationship for traditional inclusion and a uni-directional for digital inclusion.The results emphasize the need for banks to integrate cost-effective digital tools alongside traditional services. Policymakers recommended adopting supportive regulatory frameworks, enhancing financial literacy, and ensuring consumer protection to foster digital transformation without undermining profitability. An integrated and phased approach aligning financial inclusion with profitability strategies is essential for promoting a resilient and inclusive banking sector.
The purpose of the current study was to assess the prevalence and forms of bullying among students in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A sample of 1,113 students was selected using a multistage sampling technique. Findings indicated that 36.4% of students reported engaging in bullying. Physical bullying was identified as the most prevalent form. Male students (M = 2.84, SD = 0.79) were more involved in bullying than female students (M = 2.62, SD = 0.79), t (1111) = 0.847, p <. 01. Government school students were more engaged in physical bullying, F (1, 1111) = 8.27, p < .05, whereas private school students were more frequently involved in verbal bullying, F (1, 1111) = 5.06, p < .05. Therefore, school social workers, counselors, teachers, policy makers, and researchers should collaborate to address the prevalence of bullying perpetration.
The discharge of methylene blue dye from textile and pharmaceutical industries increasingly threatens environmental safety and human health by introducing toxic contaminants. Because of the high cost of commercial activated carbon and the limited efficiency of many alternative adsorbents, the development of efficient and cost-effective materials remains highly desirable. In this study, the AC derived from Maerua subcordata tuber (MS-AC) was prepared using a simple and scalable method involving Na2CO3 activation followed by thermal treatment. The elemental composition, structural features, and morphology of the prepared MS-AC were examined using XPS, FTIR spectroscopy, XRD, SEM, and SEM/EDX elemental mapping. XRD, SEM, and FTIR spectroscopic analyses confirmed the enhanced amorphous structure, high porosity, and enriched surface functional groups after Na2CO3 activation. Batch adsorption tests were performed to investigate the ideal conditions for MB adsorption on MS-AC. The adsorption behavior followed the Langmuir isotherm model, with a maximum adsorption capacity of 158.7 mg g-1 at 25 degrees C, which is superior to various materials reported earlier. The kinetic studies were best explained by the PSO model, while the Boyd model indicated film diffusion as the dominant rate-controlling step. Thermodynamic study disclosed negative Delta G degrees values, approving spontaneous adsorption, while a positive Delta H degrees value of 106.4 kJ mol-1 indicated an endothermic chemisorption process. MS-AC exhibited excellent selectivity toward MB in mixed-dye systems and remarkable stability, retaining over 90% removal efficiency after four adsorption-desorption cycles using ethanol. Furthermore, MS-AC achieved 96.7% MB removal from real wastewater samples. The adsorption mechanism is mainly ascribed to hydrogen bonding, pi-pi stacking interactions, and electrostatic interactions between the methylene blue molecules and the MS-AC surface.
