Sexually transmitted disease prevention: knowledge, attitudes, and practices among school pupils in rural Ghana

ABSTRACT Introduction: Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are serious problems for adolescents and young people. To protect adolescents from these diseases, there is a need to educate them on STD prevention by providing them with relevant information and equipping them with the life skills that will enable them to put knowledge into practice. It is recommended that STD-prevention programmes should take into account sex differences. However, limited data are available on how adolescent boys and girls differ in knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding STD prevention in the same study setting. Aim: To examine sex differences in knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding STD prevention among junior secondary school pupils in the Kassena-Nankana district, Ghana. Design: This research report is based on secondary data analysis of a cross-sectional knowledge,attitude, and practice survey of sexual and reproductive health conducted among junior secondary school pupils in the Kassena-Nankana district in 2005. The original survey had been carried out before the subject ‘Adolescent sexual and reproductive health’ was initiated in junior secondary schools in this district as an intervention study. Responses from 6,225 school pupils aged 10-19 years (3,011 schoolboys and 3,214 schoolgirls) were analysed using StataTM version 9.0 software. Results: The study found that school pupils had unsatisfactory knowledge about STDs; boys tended to be more knowledgeable than girls (p < 0.05). In terms of attitude towards condom use, a significantly higher percentage of boys (70%) compared with girls (61%) felt confident about insisting on condom use whenever they had sex. However, boys were more likely to be involved in sexual risk behaviours than girls. Eighteen percent of boys and 8% of girls reported being sexually experienced (p < 0.05). Boys started having sex earlier than girls (at 14.5 compared with 15.1 years, p < 0.05). Sixty-two percent of boys had sex with multiple partners compared with 32% of girls (p < 0.05). The mean number of lifetime sexual partners of boys and girls was 4.2 and 2.5, respectively (p < 0.05). The percentage of people reporting non-use of condoms during last sexual encounter was significantly higher among boys (37%) than girls (29%). Differences were observed in association of knowledge and attitudes regarding STD prevention with sexual activities among both boys and girls

Study on terrain response of the military mobile repair vehicle towing power generator trailer before and after improvement

Mobile repair vehicles play an indispensable role on the battlefield and are increasingly being improved to enhance their effectiveness. When moving to repair locations on the battlefield, they often tow trailers, which include power generator sets. In some cases, these generator sets are replaced by trailers to transport ammunition or carry wounded soldiers. The article proposes improvements to the suspension system on the generator trailers and discusses the impact of vehicle speed and random road roughness on the movement of the mobile repair vehicle-trailer combination before and after the improvements. A dynamic model of the multi-body system is constructed, with the towing vehicle being a three-axle truck. The random roughness profile of the road surface is determined from simulation results based on ISO&nbsp;8068 standards. The equations of motion are established using Lagrange's method and solved through simulation using Matlab software. The results of the article indicate the oscillation of the mobile repair vehicle-trailer combination when traveling at speeds of 36&nbsp;km/h and 54&nbsp;km/h on road surfaces with random roughness levels of class D and class E. After the improvement of the suspension system on the generator trailers, smoother trailer motion is observed. The study has shown that the vertical oscillation amplitude of the trailer decreased by up to 18&nbsp;%, while the oscillation speed decreased by as much as 40&nbsp;%. The findings provide a basis for further improving the suspension system on generator trailers to minimize oscillations, which is crucial for replacing generator trailers with specialized trailers for transporting ammunition or wounded soldiers on the battlefield. This is a significant issue in the field of national security and defens

Effect of Rare Earth on M7C3 Eutectic Carbide in 13% Chromium Alloy Cast Iron

The crystallization process of hypoeutectic white cast iron consists of the first secreted austenite branch after the reaction of the austenite -carbide crystal is formed, and the phase crystal fills in the middle of the austenite branches. If the austenite branches are small and smooth, the crystals carbide are fine. The cast iron with 13% chromium which has 3 – 3.2% carbon, have the carbide crystalline as M7C3. The elements in rare earth have a strong affinity for oxygen and sulfur to produce rare earth oxides. These rare earth oxides can create heterogeneous germ center for austenite phases and smooth down these phases. The effect of rare earth on the M7C3 and crystals of 13% chrome white iron has been elucidated. Along with the increase of rare earth content, the microstructure of M7C3 with fine finely graded, more uniformly distributed, dispersed throughout the sample surface. When the carbide is fine and dispersion, will contribute to improving the properties of cast iron especially the impact strength as well as the abrasion resistance of the alloy. The research results show that in the presence of rare earth, rare earth elements created with oxygen and form La2O3 and Ce2O3 as the nucleation for the solidification process and create the small fineness of phases. The orientation of the crystal structure of these oxides is similar to the crystal structure orientation of Fe-γ phase. Finding and proving the oxides of rare earth has crystal structure with phase γ which will be small smooth exogenous minds that the microstructure has a smooth, small size

RESEARCH ON THE MANUFACTURING MAGNESIUM FROM THANHHOA DOLOMITE BY PIDGEON PROCESS

The magnesium and magnesium alloys has applied widely in different industrial aspects in Vietnam in the modern life. Especially, the products from magnesium alloys implementing in the automotive have increased rapidly since the car elements tend to be generated by the light alloys in order to save the fuel. However, in the current time, Vietnam has no factories to produce the magnesium to adapt the domestic demand although it owns an enrich resource of raw materials. This research indicates the possibility of using the dolomite ore in Thanhhoa – Vietnam to make the magnesium as well as evaluate the primary factors like recovering temperature, reducing agent rate, recovering time having effect on the reduction efficiency of Thanhhoa dolomite by metallothermic method in vacuum (Pidgeon Process). This is basic process, low investment and suitable for the small and medium scales in Vietnam. The experiment includes heating, indicating the chemical ingredients and recovering experiment on the dolomite after calcination (dolime) by using ferrosilicon. The thermodynamic model is created to estimate the recovering efficiency in the Pidgeon. The result shows that the CaO/MgO molar ratio of calcination dolomite in Thanhhoa is nearly 1.5 which is suitable to produce magnesium in the case of highly-required efficiency and pureness. Besides, the result from the furnace of the experiment is lower than the one in the model. The samples are set up to check the influence of the rate of ferrosilicon in the compound. The result indicates that the ideal efficiency reaches 85 % with 30 % ferrosilicon. Moreover, the study confirms that the optimal operating conditions in this process are recovering during three hours at 1200 °C and 100 Pa pressure. This result proves the potential application of Thanhhoa dolomite in the industry suitable with the current condition in Vietna

Studying the influence of engine speed on the entire process of span-lowering of the heavy mechanized bridge

The paper presents a dynamic model of the TMM-3M heavy mechanized bridge during the span lowering stage. The model is constructed as a multi-body mechanical system, taking into account the elastic deformation of the cable, rear outriggers, front tires, and front suspension system. It is a mechanical model driven by a cable mechanism. Lagrangian equations of the second kind have been applied to establish a system of differential equations describing the oscillations of the mechanical system and serve as the basis for investigating the dynamics of the span-lowering process. The system of differential equations is solved using numerical methods based on MATLAB simulation software. The study has revealed laws of the displacement, velocity, and acceleration of components within the mechanical system, especially those related to the bridge span depending on the choice of the drive speed of the engine during lowering by operator. The research results show that the lowering time increases from 52&nbsp;seconds to 104&nbsp;seconds when the engine speed decreases from 1800&nbsp;rpm to 900&nbsp;rpm. The tension force on the cable is surveyed to confirm the safety conditions during the span-lowering process. The study also provides recommendations for selecting appropriate engine speeds to minimize span-lowering time while ensuring the safety conditions of the TMM-3M bridge during the span-lowering process. This research is an important part of a comprehensive study on the working process of the heavy mechanized bridge TMM-3M to make practical improvements, aiming to reduce deployment time, decrease the number of deployment crew members, and increase the automation capability of the equipmen

Modified sunflower optimization for network reconfiguration and distributed generation placement

This paper proposed modified sunflower optimization (MSFO) for the combination of network reconfiguration and distributed generation placement problem (NR-DGP) to minimize power loss of the electric distribution system (EDS). Sunflower optimization (SFO) is inspired form the ideal of sunflower plant motion to get the sunlight and its reproduction. To enhance the performance of SFO, it is modified to MSFO wherein, the pollination and mortality techniques have been modified by using Levy distribution and mutation of the best solutions. The results are evaluated on two test systems. The efficiency of MSFO is compared with that of the original SFO and other algorithms in literature. The comparisons show that MSFO outperforms to SFO and other methods in obtained optimal solution. Furthermore, MSFO demonstrates the better statistical results than SFO. So, MSFO can be a powerful approach for the NR-DGP problem

‘Never testing for HIV’ among Men who have Sex with Men in Viet Nam: results from an internet-based cross-sectional survey

© 2013 García et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Background Men who have sex with men in Viet Nam have been under-studied as a high-risk group for HIV infection, and this population’s percentage and determinants of HIV testing have not been comprehensively investigated. Methods A national Internet-based survey of self-reported sexual and health seeking behaviours was conducted between August and October 2011 with 2077 Vietnamese men who had sex with men in the last twelve months to identify the frequency of ‘never testing for HIV’ among Internet-using MSM living in Viet Nam, as well as the factors associated with this HIV-related high-rish behavior. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the demographic characteristics and behaviours predicting never testing for HIV. Results A total of 76.5% of men who have sex with men who were surveyed reported never having been voluntarily tested for HIV. Predictors of never being tested included having a monthly income less than VND 5 Million, being a student, using the Internet less than 15 hour per week, and not participating in a behavioural HIV intervention. Conclusions Never testing for HIV is common among Internet-using men who have sex with men in Viet Nam. Given the dangerously high prevalence of this high-risk behaviour, our findings underscore the urgent need for segmented and targeted HIV prevention, care and treatment strategies, focusing on drastically reducing the number of men who have sex with men never testing for HIV in Viet Nam

Propagating arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi associated with coffee plant by using the herbaceous host

Coffee (Coffea spp.) is one of important industrial crops. Additionally, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) provide many benefits for plants such as increasing nutrient uptake, enhancing tolerance in drought and stress condition, etc. Therefore, preservation and propagation of AMF spores collected from coffee’s rhizosphere are necessary for coffee cultivation. The AMF preservation on coffee plant is not feasible because coffee is a long-term plants, which led to study on symbiotic ability of AMF on several short-term host plants (maize (Zea mays), plantain (Plantago spp.), rice (Oryza sativa), beggarticks (Bidens pilosa), and bahia grass (Pensacola bahia)) to maintain AM association. Investigation of symbiosis ability with four types of AMF spores showed that maize had the highest rate of fungal infection. The total number of AMF spore per 50g soil after 3 months of inoculation on maize reached 352 spores, which was 4.1 times higher than that of the origin while the lowest figure recorded in bahia grass is with only 2.3 times