Conservation of Insect Pollinators through Indigenous Traditional and Western Scientific Knowledge

Though useful indigenous knowledge systems are abound they are often overlooked by Western scientific research and development because of the oral tradition and certain inherent limitations in indigenous knowledge systems. This paper explores the usefulness of insect pollinators, harmful practices to the insect pollinators and their conservation, traditional indigenous knowledge that exists about insect pollinators, as well as the need for infusion of traditional indigenous knowledge and western scientific knowledge in the conservation and preservation of insect pollinators. The paper espouses the numerous benefits of insect pollinators right down from ecological to religious, financial and aesthetic. It also delved into some deliberate and inadvertent human practices that threaten the very existence of insect pollinators and the consequences. It is clear from the literature that though indigenous traditional knowledge about insect pollinators is in somewhat confused state its role and importance as a basis for participatory development is well recognized. Basically, several tacit indigenous traditional processes from diverse communities are in place to conserve insect pollinators. Some of such processes are facilitated by research scientists in the form of projects. Hence, more collaboration between indigenous traditionalists and research scientists in pollinator conservation is a step in the right direction and should be encouraged. Keywords: Indigenous, traditional, insect pollinator, conservation, pesticidal, scientific knowledg

Sex, HIV/AIDS and Students: a Baseline Study in Agona District in the Central Region of Ghana

A ZJER study on HIV/AIDS awareness programmes designed for Ghanaian students.The dreaded disease AIDS is on the increase in Ghana. To eradicate it, a number of organizations are stepping up the campaign against the disease. However, it has become necessary to know the attitudes of the youth especially junior and senior secondary school students to sex as well as their awareness levels about the facts concerning HIV/AIDS. As a result, the views of222 students were sampled in the Agona District in the Central Region of Ghana. From the results it was realized that the students were actively involved in sex and some of them started at the early age of eight years. Regrettably, a size- able number of those of them engaged in sex did not use the condom. Some of them avoided the condom to avoid negative remarks from others and as a result of shyness. Some of the students did not know the cause of HIV/AIDS whilst others thought that HIV/AIDS is due to a curse from God or gods and only offenders contract the disease. Some respondents did not even believe in the existence of HIV/AIDS. Despite the fact that some of the respondents had good knowledge of the modes of spread, symptoms, preventive measures and ways of living with people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), a large number of them also had all kinds of misconceptions. Respondents also seemed to have very little idea about why one should have sexual intercourse

Pseudo-High-Order Symplectic Integrators

Symplectic N-body integrators are widely used to study problems in celestial mechanics. The most popular algorithms are of 2nd and 4th order, requiring 2 and 6 substeps per timestep, respectively. The number of substeps increases rapidly with order in timestep, rendering higher-order methods impractical. However, symplectic integrators are often applied to systems in which perturbations between bodies are a small factor of the force due to a dominant central mass. In this case, it is possible to create optimized symplectic algorithms that require fewer substeps per timestep. This is achieved by only considering error terms of order epsilon, and neglecting those of order epsilon^2, epsilon^3 etc. Here we devise symplectic algorithms with 4 and 6 substeps per step which effectively behave as 4th and 6th-order integrators when epsilon is small. These algorithms are more efficient than the usual 2nd and 4th-order methods when applied to planetary systems.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa

The role of chaotic resonances in the solar system

Our understanding of the Solar System has been revolutionized over the past decade by the finding that the orbits of the planets are inherently chaotic. In extreme cases, chaotic motions can change the relative positions of the planets around stars, and even eject a planet from a system. Moreover, the spin axis of a planet-Earth's spin axis regulates our seasons-may evolve chaotically, with adverse effects on the climates of otherwise biologically interesting planets. Some of the recently discovered extrasolar planetary systems contain multiple planets, and it is likely that some of these are chaotic as well.Comment: 28 pages, 9 figure

Barriers to utilization of sexual and reproductive health services among young deaf persons in Ghana

Despite significant progress made to improve access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services to the general populace in Ghana, information on the accessibility of such services to deaf persons is limited. This study investigated access to and utilization of SRH services among young female deaf persons in Ghana. Sixty deaf persons were interviewed from six metropolis/municipalities/districts in three regions of Ghana. The data were collected using focus group discussion and one-on-one interviews. The data were subjected to content analysis, leading to the identification of two broad themes. The study identified barriers at two levels: point of service delivery and barriers at the individual level. For instance, at the point of service delivery, they were claims that deaf women were victims of negative attitudes from health workers. The study concludes on the need forhealth policymakers to consider collaborating with the Ghana National Association of the Deaf in an effort towards designinginclusive SRH programmes. (Afr J Reprod Health 2022; 26[12]: 58-66). Malgré des progrès significatifs réalisés pour améliorer l'accès aux services de santé sexuelle et reproductive (SSR) pour la population générale au Ghana, les informations sur l'accessibilité de ces services aux personnes sourdes sont limitées. Cette étude a examiné l'accès et l'utilisation des services de SSR chez les jeunes femmes sourdes au Ghana. Soixante personnes sourdes ont été interrogées dans six métropoles/municipalités/districts dans trois régions du Ghana. Les données ont été recueillies à l'aide de discussions de groupe et d'entretiens individuels. Les données ont fait l'objet d'une analyse de contenu qui a conduit à l'identification de deux grands thèmes. L'étude a identifié des obstacles à deux niveaux : le point de prestation de services et les obstacles au niveau individuel. Par exemple, au point de prestation de services, il y avait des allégations selon lesquelles les femmes sourdes étaient victimes d'attitudes négatives de la part des agents de santé. L'étude conclut sur la nécessité pour les décideurs de la santé d'envisager e collaborer avec l'Association nationale des sourds du Ghana dans le but de concevoir des programmes de SSR inclusifs. (Afr J Reprod Health 2022; 26[12]: 58-66)

Analytical studies of particle dynamics in bending waves in planetary rings

Particles inside a planetary ring are subject to forcing due to the central planet, moons in inclined orbits, self-gravity of the ring and other forces due to radiation drag, collisional effects and Lorentz force due to magnetic field of the planet. We write down the equations of motion of a single particle inside the ring and solve them analytically. We find that the importance of the shear caused by variation of the radial velocity component with local vertical direction cannot be ignored and it may be responsible for damping of the bending waves in planetary rings as observed by the Voyager data. We present the wave profile resulting from the dissipation. We estimate that the surface mass density of the C ring to be of the order of $\sigma \sim 1.2-1.6$gm cm$^{-2}$, and the height $h \sim 2.2-2.4$m. These theoretical results are in agreement with observations.Comment: 17 pages 3 figures MNRAS (In press