A survey of indigenous knowledge about food and medicinal properties of Solanum torvum in East Akim District of Eastern Region of Ghana

Solanum torvum is a popular plant in Ghana, especially among the Akan communities. It is believed that the plant has special properties of stimulating the production of blood cells and could be helpful in treating anaemia. A survey was carried out in 20 randomly selected communities in the East Akim District in the Eastern Region of Ghana to gather indigenous knowledge on food and medicinal properties of the plant. The respondents indicated that the plant had huge potential in controlling certain diseases, including malaria and cough. They also believed that the plant had certain properties that helped in producing blood cells. Nutritional analysis of the plant showed S. torvum to be a good source of iron, an essential element in haemoglobin production. However, further work needs to be done to verify the acclaimed properties of the plant

The rural farmer and plant genetic resources conservation: A case study in the Fanteakwa District in the Eastern Region of Ghana

The methods of conservation used by rural farmers were studied in the Fanteakwa District in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Ten rural communities were randomly selected, and10 rural farmers were interviewed in each community. Questions posed ranged from methods of conservation to traditional belief systems associated with conserving certain plants. It was observed at the end of the study that rural farmers are true conservers and their basically traditional methods of conservation are handed down to them from generation to generation. An example of these traditional methods is ntute, used to conserve cocoyam. However, most methods used by rural farmers are mostly effective on the short-term basis, according to scientists of the Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute (PGRRI), which has necessitated the need for long-term conservation methods. Also, it was established that some traditional belief systems associated with conservation had helped rural farmers to conserve certain plants. In all these, rural farmers have, in their own small ways, contributed to the sustainability of plants for a considerable period.Il a été établi que l'on ne peut pas parler de la conservation de plantes sans considérer les agriculteurs ruraux qui cultivaient les cultures sur une longue période de temps. L'étude cherche à savoir davantage de méthodes de conservation employées par les agriculteurs ruraux dans le district de Fanteakwa de la Région de l'Est du Ghana. Dix communautés rurales étaient sélectionnées au hasard dont dix agriculteurs ruraux étaient interviewés dans chaque communauté. Les questions formulées variaient de méthodes de conservation aux sytèmes de croyance traditionnelle liés à la conservation de certaines plantes. Il était observé à la fin de l'étude que les agriculteurs ruraux sont les conservateurs véritables et leurs méthodes de conservation sont fondamentalement traditionnelles qui se transmettent à eux de génération en génération. Un exemple de ces méthodes traditionnelles est ntute qui est employé pour conserver le taro. Toutefois la plupart de méthodes employées par les agriculteurs ruraux sont surtout efficaces à court terme selon les scientifiques de l' Institut pour la Recherche de Resources Génétiques de Plante qui a nécessité le besoin pour les méthodes de conservation à long terme. De plus, il était établi que vraiment les agriculteurs ruraux ont quelques sytèmes de croyance traditionnelle liés à la conservation qui leur ont aidé de conserver certaines plantes. En tout, ces agriculteurs ruraux, à leurs manières, ont contribué à la durabilité des plantes sur une période de longtemps. Ghana Journal of Agricultural Science Vol. 40 (2) 2008: pp. 159-16

Operation and maintenance of small towns water supply systems in Ghana

The Operation and Maintenance (O&M) of small towns water supply systems have been neglected in the past in Ghana. This has affected the functionality of many water supply systems and impacted negatively on the well-being of beneficiary communities. There is the need to redefine the roles and responsibilities of the various actors involved in operation and maintenance. The government, because of heavy financial burdens and efficiency problems, is gradually changing its role of “provider of services” to that of “facilitator of processes”. Communities, therefore, have increasing responsibilities, not only in the operation and maintenance of their water supply schemes, but also in the financial management of these systems. Some experiences and best practices that have been learned are shared and recommendations made to enhance O&M

Operation and maintenance management of small towns water supply schemes in Ghana

The Operation and Maintenance Management of small towns water supply schemes have been neglected in the past in Ghana. This has affected the functionality of many water supply schemes and impacted negatively on the well-being of concerned people. There is the tendency to redefine the roles and responsibilities of the various actors involved in operation and maintenance. The government, because of heavy financial burdens and efficiency problems, is gradually changing its role of “provider of services” to that of “facilitator of processes”. Communities, therefore, have increasing responsibilities, not only in the operation and maintenance of their water supply schemes, but also in the financial management of these schemes. Some experiences and best practices that have been learnt in this case study are shared and recommendations made to enhance effective O&M management

Sustainable operation and maintenance of small towns water supply systems in Ghana

The Operation and Maintenance (O&M) of small towns water supply systems have been neglected in the past in a great number of developing countries. It is estimated that 30 to 60 percent of existing water supply systems are not operational, which has a high impact on the well-being of concerned populations (WHO, 2000). There is the tendency in developing countries to redefine the roles and responsibilities of the various actors involved in operation and maintenance. Indeed governments, because of heavy financial burdens and efficiency problems, are gradually changing their role of “provider of services” to that of “facilitator of processes”. Communities, therefore, have increasing responsibilities, not only in the operation and maintenance of their water supply systems, but also in the financial management of these systems. Some experiences and best practices that have been learnt in this case study are shared and recommendations made to enhance sustainable operation and maintenance

Using SEA principles to improve application of landfill guidelines in Ghana

The Ghana Landfill Guidelines was published in 2002. Since then a number of local government staff have received training on its application. Since the recommendation of by the National Development Planning Commission(NDPC) and the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) for the application of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) principles in formulation of policies, plans, programmes, tools have been developed for the water and environmental sanitation sector. An assessment of the Ghana Landfill Guidelines shows how SEA can be applied to critical stages of the landfill selection process. The central process-principle of SEA seeks to enhance broad stakeholder engagement, especially of non-specialists, improve transparent decision making and consensus building and thus add value to decision-making that enhances the likelihood of landfill development progressing to implementation. SEA further promotes community appreciation of issues concerning environmental quality and therefore demystifies the preparation of Environmental Impact Assessment as an exercise carried out only by experts

Mainstreaming SEA in water and environmental sanitation in Ghana

Building the capacity of sector practitioners in applying Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to water and environmental sanitation policies, plans, programmes (PPPs) is a pre-requisite to meeting MDG 7, Target 9. In Ghana, SEA has been applied to the process of developing a new National Water Policy and revising an existing Environmental Sanitation Policy and in the process stakeholders appreciation of SEA and capacity to use derived tools has been enhanced. This paper presents a number of key elements of applying SEA to water and environmental sanitation PPPs, the drivers for mainstreaming SEA in all sectors and challenges of institutionalisation the use of the SEA tools that have been developed

The ACS Survey of Galactic Globular Clusters. II. Stellar Evolution Tracks, Isochrones, Luminosity Functions, and Synthetic Horizontal-Branch Models

The ACS Survey of Galactic Globular Clusters, an HST Treasury Project, will deliver high-quality, homogeneous photometry of 65 globular clusters. This paper introduces a new collection of stellar evolution tracks and isochrones suitable for analyzing the ACS survey data. Stellar evolution models were computed at [Fe/H] = -2.5, -2.0, -1.5, -1.0, -0.5, and 0; [α/Fe] = -0.2, 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8; and three initial He abundances for masses from 0.1 to 1.8 M⊙ and ages from 2 to 15 Gyr. Each isochrone spans a wide range in luminosity, from MV ~ 14 up to the tip of the red giant branch. These are complemented by a set of He-burning tracks that extend from the zero-age horizontal branch to the onset of thermal pulsations on the asymptotic giant branch. In addition, a set of computer programs are provided that make it possible to interpolate the isochrones in [Fe/H], generate luminosity functions from the isochrones, and create synthetic horizontal-branch models. The tracks and isochrones have been converted to the observational plane with two different color-Teff transformations, one synthetic and one semiempirical, in ground-based B, V, and I, and F606W and F814W for both ACS WFC and WFPC2 systems. All models and programs presented in this paper are available at the Dartmouth Stellar Evolution Database and the Multimission Archive at the Space Telescope Science Institute

Urban sprawl and microclimate in the Ga East Municipality of Ghana

Climatic elements such as temperature and rainfall provide great and unquantifiable benefits to human health. However, rapid urban sprawl has the tendency to undermine these health consequences. The relationship between urban sprawl and microclimate in the Ga East Municipality has been assessed to present the extent of sprawl that inhibit temperature and rainfall in recent times. Methodologically, satellite imagery and meteorological data (minimum and maximum temperature and rainfall) from 1990 to 2020 were used. The results indicate that rapid urban sprawl in recent times has significantly undermined the local climate through land use and land cover changes. There was strong statistical relationships between temperature and built-up areas (p \u3c 0.05), grass/shrub cover (p \u3c 0.04) and all vegetation cover (p \u3c 0.03). There was also strong statistical relationship between rainfall and built-up areas (p \u3c 0.03), grass/shrub cover (p \u3c 0.04) and all vegetation (p \u3c 0.02). Thus, expansion in built up areas and reduced grass/shrub cover led to increases in temperature, rainfall and surface water run off while reduction in all vegetation led to increase in both temperature and rainfall. These changes in climate brought about by urban sprawl will affect crop production, increase cataclysmic floods as well as growth of some harmful insects. There is the need for the amalgamation of urban growth and climate change into spatial planning through an all-embracing approach

Stellar Population Models and Individual Element Abundances I: Sensitivity of Stellar Evolution Models

Integrated light from distant galaxies is often compared to stellar population models via the equivalent widths of spectral features--spectral indices--whose strengths rely on the abundances of one or more elements. Such comparisons hinge not only on the overall metal abundance but also on relative abundances. Studies have examined the influence of individual elements on synthetic spectra but little has been done to address similar issues in the stellar evolution models that underlie most stellar population models. Stellar evolution models will primarily be influenced by changes in opacities. In order to explore this issue in detail, twelve sets of stellar evolution tracks and isochrones have been created at constant heavy element mass fraction Z that self-consistently account for varying heavy element mixtures. These sets include scaled-solar, alpha-enhanced, and individual cases where the elements C, N, O, Ne, Mg, Si, S, Ca, Ti, and Fe have been enhanced above their scaled-solar values. The variations that arise between scaled-solar and the other cases are examined with respect to the H-R diagram and main sequence lifetimes.Comment: 33 pages, 13 figures, accepted to Ap