Western Africa - Science topic

The leafy vegetable Telfairia occidentalis is a tropical vine grown in West Africa; it is indigenous to Southern Nigeria and is usually subjected to extreme salt stress in Southern Nigeria as well as in the world that results in significant loss of T. occidentalis production. Therefore, the present investigation was aimed at evaluating the response...

The leafy vegetable Telfairia occidentalis is a tropical vine grown in West Africa; it is indigenous to Southern Nigeria and is usually subjected to extreme salt stress in Southern Nigeria as well as in the world that results in significant loss of T. occidentalis production. Therefore, the present investigation was aimed at evaluating the respo...

Reference book «Industrial fish from oceanic water of Northern West Africa» describes 132 species of industrial objects from the waters of Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal. Scientific and Russian names, main synonyms, standard FAO and local names, illustrations, short biological description of the species, techno-chemical and technological proper...

In this study, the impact of behavioural finance on investment decision-making using a selected investment banks was investigated. A total of 200 questionnaire items were administered to the respondents of the four surveyed investment banks including Afrinvest West Africa Limited, Meristem Securities, Vetiva Capital and ARM Nigeria Limited, out of...

The paper investigates the effect of economic integration on agricultural export performance in West African economies using the gravity model of bilateral trade on the annual time series data straddling the period 1970 to 2016. The empirical evidence is based on the pooled OLS and fixed effects estimator. We find that economic integration, as meas...

Based on a qualitative study, this paper aims to develop an understanding of the role of trust in SME internationalisation in West Africa. To date most of the literature on trust and SME internationalisation reveals a paucity of studies on how trust enables internationalisation networks in West African SMEs. This paper attempts to address this gap...

Satellite-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data records offer important sources for long term correlation modelling over West Africa. In this study, we assessed long range correlations in half monthly NDVI records over West Africa from 1982 to 2011 using GIMMS NDVI. In our analysis, we assessed (a) the annual and seasonal trend...

The misrepresentation of the diurnal cycle of boundary-layer clouds by large scale models strongly impacts the modeled regional energy balance in southern West Africa. In particular, recognizing the processes involved in the maintenance and transition of the nighttime stratocumulus to diurnal shallow cumulus over land remains a challenge. This is d...

West African countries are ranked especially low in global corruption perception indexes. The health sector is often singled out for particular concern given the role of corruption in hampering access to, and utilization of health services, representing a major barrier to progress to universal health coverage and to achieving the health-related Sus...

Plantain (Musa paradisiaca) fibers are cheap and readily available residues in tropical West Africa currently with little competitive use. Production of bio-chars from plantain fibers is a potential avenue to recover the energetic content of the biomass. For this purpose, an updraft biomass gasifier with retort heating was designed and fabricated....

Pastoral livestock farming systems effectively promote a highly constrained agro-climatic territory, they are both a source of protein and income for the majority of poor people in Africa. At the same time, climate change is a threat to livestock farming because of the impact on animal performance and the quality and availability of pastoral resour...

The summertime West African Sahel has the worldwide highest degree of thunderstorm organisation into long-lived, several hundred-kilometre elongated, fast propagating systems that contribute 90% to the annual rainfall. All current global weather prediction and climate models represent thunderstorms using simplified parameterisation schemes which de...

Knowledge about land use and land cover (LULC) dynamics is of high importance for a number of environmental studies including the development of water resources, land degradation and food security. Often, available global or regional data sets are used for impact studies, although they have not been validated for the area of interest. Validation is...

Background: Although patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and chronic constipation (CC) have an impaired health-related quality of life (HRQoL), little is known in black African patients compared with control subjects. This study provided the magnitude and the influencing factors of HRQoL impairment in black African outpatients with IBS or...

Formant amplitude differences (A1-A2) have been suggested (Fulop et al. 1998) as specific indicators for an advanced and retracted tongue root (ATR/ RTR) mechanism in vowels. Based on a consistent difference of normalized A1-A2 (Iseli & Al-wan 2004), corroborating an F1 difference in ±ATR vowels in 14 (6 female / 8 male) native speakers of Ebira, a...

Integrated soil fertility management options are being promoted as ways of adapting agricultural systems to sustain yields on highly degraded and poor soils encountered throughout West Africa. The efficiency of these practices may be affected by high variability and uncertainty associated with seasonal rainfall, especially for areas such as Côte d’...

Eight new species of mollusks are described from the Gulf of Mexico, Virgin Islands, and Brazil in the Tropical Western Atlantic, and also Gambia, West Africa and the Gulf of Aqaba, northern Red Sea. These new taxa include: the muricid Jaton rikae n. sp. from Gambia; six cone shells including Darioconus bratcherae n. sp. from the Gulf of Aqaba, Jas...

Physico-chemical characteristics of different silica sands from Houéyogbé municipality were evaluated. Samples were characterized by different techniques, such as granulometry, ICP-OES, X-ray diffraction (XRD), FT-IR analysis, Optical microscopy, and Thermogravimetric/ Differential Thermal Analyses confirmed that these sands contain a high percenta...

Intertidal mangrove forests are a dynamic ecosystem experiencing rapid changes in extent and habitat quality over geological history, today and into the future. Climate and sea level have drastically altered mangrove distribution since their appearance in the geological record ∼75 million years ago (Mya), through to the Holocene. In contrast, conte...

Mathematical models are versatile and often provide accurate description of physical events. Scientific models are used to study such events in order to gain understanding of the true underlying system. These models are often complex in nature and requires advance algorithms to solve their governing equations. Outputs from these models depend on ex...

The devastating Ebola virus (EBOV) outbreak in West Africa in 2013-2016 has flagged the need for the timely development of vaccines for high-threat pathogens. To be better prepared for new epidemics, the WHO has compiled a list of priority pathogens that are likely to cause future outbreaks and for which R&D efforts are, therefore, paramount (R&D B...

To meet food demand after the failure of irrigation system developments, agricultural intensification is occurring in inland valley agro-ecosystems in sub-Saharan Africa. Agricultural enhancement in inland valleys, which undermines environmental sustainability, was assessed using ‘Driving Force–Pressure–State–Impact–Response’ approach in four agro-...

Resumo: Paulo Fernando de Moraes Farias é historiador brasileiro com renomado trabalho desenvolvido no Centre of West African Studies, da Universidade de Birmingham. Sua longa trajetória de residência e pesquisa no Reino Unido se deu após anos decisivos, em que viveu em diferentes países da África Ocidental. Perseguido politicamente pela ditadura c...

This paper examined the possibility of refocusing research on security training for school administrators as strategy for enhancing school security in West Africa in an uncertain future. This is necessary because schools around the world have become targets of attacks by terrorists and other violent criminals in society. In spite of this ugly trend...

In recent years, interest in solar energy production has increased greatly in West Africa (WA) with many ongoing projects in the region currently. Nevertheless, surface incoming solar radiation (and thus solar power) is characterized by high intermittency which is largely due to variability of cloud cover and dust. Cloud cover in particular is high...

Monkeypox is a rare viral zoonotic disease; primary infections are reported from remote forest areas of Central and West Africa. We report an investigation of a monkeypox outbreak in Lobaye, southwest Central African Republic, in October 2018.

The West African climate is unique and challenging to reproduce using standard resolution climate models as a large proportion of precipitation comes from organised deep convection. For the first time, a regional 4.5 km convection permitting simulation was performed on a pan-African domain for a period of 10 years (1997–2006). The 4.5 km simulation...

The Global South harbors a large share of imperiled biodiversity. Effective research and conservation in the Global South are negatively affected by weak or turbulent socio-political contexts, such as poor governance and/or high violence levels. There is a need to understand how priorities for research and conservation relate to different levels of...

Rifting and related normal stress regime in the equatorial continental margin of Brazil ceased during the Late Cretaceous, when the stress regimes in eastern South America and West Africa changed to induce strike-slip or reverse motion. In this study, we explore the postrift tectonic, geomorphic, magmatic, and sedimentary responses to stress change...

In recent years, there has been increased migration of pastoralists from countries in Central and West Africa into Nigeria. Such movements are supported by the ECOWAS Transhumance Protocol and the Nigerian Constitution respectively. The movement of pastoralists has been associated with multi-dimensional practical and policy implications. This paper...

The quality of school plant construction determines the quality and extent to which the school environment is conducive, safe and secured for effective teaching and learning. This paper examines the kind of safety and security considerations that should be paramount in the construction of school plant in West Africa. The paper underscores the need...

This study examines the moderating effect of inflation on the finance–growth nexus in the West African region during 1980–2014. We find that the linear financial development has a positive impact on economic growth, while the interaction term between financial development and the inflation rate has a negative impact on growth. The marginal effect o...

From the smallest of songbirds to the largest of raptors, every year billions of birds engage in epic migrations to exploit seasonal food bonanzas across the globe. In so doing, these travellers display remarkably accurate navigational abilities. Whether it be the Spotted Flycatcher that arrives to a Lancashire garden from West Africa in May, the M...

It is the right of all humans to have access to safe, quality and effective medicines. This article seeks to expound on the problems of drug manufacturing and challenges of accessing medicines in West Africa, and evaluate the strategies being adopted by international developmental partners and the governments to address them. West Africa is uniquel...

This study reviewed occurrence of earthquake in Africa, particularly in Nigeria. Earthquake is a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves Record showed that African tectonic setting was constituted by the breakup of Gondwana in 200Ma (Mega-annum). This resulted to the interaction of Nubia with Eurasia along the forme...

As animal populations continue to decline, frequently driven by large‐scale land‐use change, there is a critical need for improved environmental planning. While data‐driven spatial planning is widely applied in conservation, as of yet it is rarely used for primates. The western chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) declined by 80% within 24 years and...

This guidebook is an outcome from a Shared Learning Convening on Alternative Funding Models for Civil Society organised by the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI) and Innovation for Change (I4C) - Africa. The convening attracted 25 civil society actors and organisations from Africa, Latin America and Europe to share strategies, models, expe...

This study reviewed occurrence of earthquake in Africa, particularly in Nigeria. Earthquake is a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves Record showed that African tectonic setting was constituted by the breakup of Gondwana in 200Ma (Mega-annum). This resulted to the interaction of Nubia with Eurasia along the forme...

2019 West Africa Built Environment Research (WABER) Conference

Air quality over Tamale requires urgent attention due to several years of anthropogenicpollutions. The aerosol optical depth (AOD) was obtained from satellite measurement, that is, Multi-angle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer (MISR). The dataset was first treated and then separated using the average monthly values. The average AOD dataset was used to est...

Filoviridae currently includes five official and one proposed genera. Genus Ebolavirus includes five established and one proposed ebolavirus species for Bombali virus (BOMV), Bundibugyo virus (BDBV), Ebola virus (EBOV), Reston virus (RESTV), Sudan virus (SUDV) and Taï Forest virus (TAFV), and genus Marburgvirus includes a single species for Marburg...

Poverty is complex and multidimensional and particularly pronounced in children living in semi-arid West Africa. Unfortunately, few studies have addressed multidimensional child poverty in this region. Using novel data generated from 431 randomly selected households in the Boucle du Mouhoun region in Burkina Faso, the Alkire–Foster methodology was...

The illegal pangolin trade is of global concern and is placing all pangolin species under high levels of threat. Following a preliminary analysis of global pangolin seizures from 2010 to 2015, Germany emerged as a transit country, especially for pangolins being shipped from Africa to Asia. We analysed seizure data involving Germany from 2010 to 201...

In April 1891, one of the major illustrated papers of 19th-century France, L’Illustration, published ghastly engravings of decapitated corpses from actual photographs. Joannès Barbier, a photographer who was in Bakel (Senegal) at the time, recorded the scene of what looked like summary executions. French troops in the area seemed to have a degree o...

This study investigates the variability of convective properties during West and Central African monsoon season at both intra-seasonal and seasonal time scales based on 16-year Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) precipitation features (PFs). Three rainforests (west coast, dry, Nigeria–Cameroon), two savannahs (Nigeria, Central Africa and...

Objectives Despite the increasing number of interventions aiming to integrate cervical cancer screening into HIV clinics in sub-Saharan Africa, Women living with HIV (WLHIV) still have a high risk of developing cervical cancer. The aim of this study was to estimate the coverage of cervical cancer screening and associated factors among WLHIV in Abid...

Landolphia owariensis is a plant common in West Africa with many ethnomedicinal uses. The leaves of the plant were investigated for phytochemical constituents. Successive extraction and chromatographic purification led to the isolation of two flavonoid glycosides myricitrin and quercitrin, and the triterpenoid and sterol glucoside, α-amyrin and dau...

This study examines the role of terrestrial forcings on the regional climate of sub-Saharan Africa through the application of a multivariate statistical method, stepwise generalized equilibrium feedback assessment, to an array of observational, reanalysis, and remote sensing data products. By applying multiple datasets, data uncertainty and the rob...

Capsicum annum(pepper) is a ubiquitous spice widely consumed in Nigeria, West Africa and many parts of the world. A few studies have been done in Nigeria on Capsicum frutescens and Capsicum annum [1,2] The present study was carried out to investigate the effect of Capsicum annum on gastric acid secretion. 48 male and female albino Wistar rats weigh...

The reality of aerosol loading is synonymous to climate change. According to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) imagery, aerosol deposition over West is very high compared to other parts of the world. The danger of aerosol loading is grave when in excess and little effort is made by government in the West Africa region to embark o...

Aim: This study was conducted to determine the insect vectors living in refuse dumps at Gombe Metropolis in Gombe State of Nigeria. Study Design: The metropolis were divided into four longitudinal zones, and in each zone three dumpsites were randomly selected. Visual observations were used to estimate the composition of the refuse dumps. Place and...

Geophagia is a feeding behavior involving the regular intake of soil, including clay-like kaolin. Frequent in Africa, kaolin consumption is associated with heavy metal intoxication, iron and other micronutrient deficiencies, geohelminth infection and inactivation of concomitantly taken drugs. It is expected that this practice would be imported into...

Background: Road traffic accidents (RTA) remain a global public health concern in developing countries. The aim of the study was to document the frequency, characteristics and hospital outcomes of road traffic accidents in Guinea from 2015 to 2017. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using medical records of RTA victims from 20 ho...

Background Road traffic accidents (RTA) remain a global public health concern in developing countries. The aim of the study was to document the frequency, characteristics and hospital outcomes of road traffic accidents inGuinea from 2015 to 2017. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using medical records of RTA victims from 20 hospit...

Visibility ultimately increases citation counts as well as improving the research productivity of researchers. Analyzing the e-visibility status of faculties in Africa using Google Scholar Citation index as a yardstick is the objective of the study. Comparative causal- effect Ex Post Facto research design was employed in to achieving the desired ob...

Zika virus (ZIKV) strains belong to the East African, West African, and Asian/American phylogenetic lineages. RNA viruses, like ZIKV, exist as populations of genetically-related sequences whose heterogeneity may impact viral fitness, evolution, and virulence. Genetic diversity of representative ZIKVs from each lineage was examined using next genera...

Fringe communities in protected areas (national parks) are thought to benefit immensely from ecotourism development emanating from such facilities. This study sought to assess the perceived benefits of ecotourism development in nearby communities to two West African national parks namely: Kainji Lake National Park (KLNP) in Nigeria and Mole Nationa...

Enhanced summer insolation during the early and mid-Holocene drove increased precipitation and widespread expansion of vegetation across the Sahara during the African Humid Period (AHP). While changes in atmospheric dynamics during this time have been a major focus of palaeoclimate modelling efforts, the transient nature of the shift back to the mo...

Background In November 2014, the World health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with UNICEF, and the World Food Programme, produced interim guidelines (iGL) on providing nutritional support to patients in Ebola treatment units (ETUs). They have been translated into French and issued by the Ministry of Health, UNICEF and WHO in adapted versions t...

This study analyzes the characteristics of GPS tropospheric estimates (zenith wet delays – ZWDs, gradients, and post-fit phase residuals) during the passage of mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) and evaluates their sensitivity to the research-level GPS data processing strategy implemented. Here, we focus on MCS events observed during the monsoon s...

Wildfire outbreaks in West Africa during the last decade has become a huge challenge towards, biodiversity, soil fertility, fora and fauna, agricultural sector development and the promotion of traditional medicine in this zone, and facilitates land degradation as well. This is because large wildfire outbreaks have destroyed tons of forests and farm...

The dearth of ecological data from protected areas at relevant scales challenges conservation practice in West Africa. We conducted the first camera survey for Burkina Faso and Niger to elucidate interactions between resource users and mammals in the largest protected area complex in West Africa (W‐Arly‐Pendjari, WAP). We differentiated direct (e.g...

Human mobility, the host countries welcoming systems, the migration drivers, the dynamics and characteristics of migratory flows (routes, strategies and migration types) represent a wide field where University and research can play a fundamental role in the University Social Responsibility (USR) perspective carried out, as cultural institution. The...

Background The limited availability of microbiology services in sub-Saharan Africa impedes accurate diagnosis of bacterial pathogens and understanding of trends in prevalence and antibiotic sensitivities. We aimed to characterize bacteremia amongst hospitalized children in The Gambia and to identify factors associated with bacteremia and mortality....

Hepatitis B viral infection (HBV) remains a global health threat. About 257 million people currently living with HBV worldwide. HBV is prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa with prevalence of >8% established including West Africa. Though Anti-HBV vaccines existed since 1982, as the single most important Hepatitis B prevention measure. Ghana started activ...

In the present study, we describe and illustrate several new taxa of the subfamily Ichneumoninae (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) from Gabon (Central Africa) and one species from Sierra Leone (West Africa). Five new species are hereby described: Adelotropis gabonense nov.sp., Adelotropis spinosus nov. sp., Compsophorus coxator nov. sp., Compsophorus fu...

Parachanna obscura is a member of African Channidae with great aquaculture potential in west Africa. The knowledge on chemical composition of P. obscura as food is very poor. Therefore, this study was carried out to determine the proximate composition and mineral contents of P. obscura from Eleyele reservoir, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: Three l...

Open-source primary biodiversity data, or digital accessible knowledge (DAK), are widely used in biodiversity informatics to understand the status of global biodiversity, model species' ecological niches and geographic distributions, and inform biodiversity conservation decisions. However, these datasets are often unavailable, incomplete, or uneven...

Open-source primary biodiversity data, or digital accessible knowledge (DAK), are widely used in biodiversity informatics to understand the status of global biodiversity, model species' ecological niches and geographic distributions, and inform biodiversity conservation decisions. However, these datasets are often unavailable, incomplete, or uneven...

This paper analyses the β-convergence process of West African countries with a focus on Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Togo. It has been motivated by the apparent persistence of income gap between West African countries. To achieve the objective of the study, we use both descriptive statistics and econometric approach. The study covers the time p...

Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) is a viral disease affecting domestic and small wild ruminants. Endemic in large parts of the world, PPR causes severe damages to animal production and household economies. In 2015, FAO and OIE launched a global eradication program (GCSE) based on vaccination campaigns. The success of GCSE shall depend on the implem...

Our findings demonstrated that high-risk sexual behaviors should be assessed by taking into account several sexual practices in order to better tailor risk-reduction interventions among Western African MSM.

Background: Lassa fever is a viral haemorrhagic disease, endemic in West Africa, and with great potential for nosocomial spread. Objectives: The study set out to assess the knowledge and serostatus of Lassa fever among health workers in an Esan West LGA of Edo State, South-South Nigeria. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out...

Background: Intrabody concealment of illicit substances is a common practice in the trafficking chain. Bodystuffing, which consists of precipitously swallowing packets of substances for concealment from law-enforcement officers in anticipation of impending search or arrest, is particularly dangerous. There is a risk of rupture of the loosely wrappe...

Background: Lassa fever is a viral haemorrhagic disease, endemic in West Africa, and with great potential for nosocomial spread. Objectives: The study set out to assess the knowledge and serostatus of Lassa fever among health workers in an Esan West LGA of Edo State, South-South Nigeria. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out...

The purpose of the article is to find some peculiarities of Indigenization of the English language in one of the greatest countries of West Africa - Nigeria. In regard to it an inclusive approach was used: linguistic and cultural specificity of the relationship of the English language and culture of Nigeria is carried out on the one hand as the inf...

Timbuktu civilization began as a seasonal settlement for trade caravans in the early 11th century. It later flourished in trade and as one of the early African centres of Islamic culture. This book reviews the trend of Timbuktu civilization from prehistoric period up to the current state of its political impact of the region. The book further focus...

The colony of Sierra Leone was characterized by an unusually heterogeneous population made up of immigrants. The diverse population and the dynamics that led to its creation constitute a valuable case study for mating theories. This article examines the determinants of marriage patterns in early nineteenth-century urban Sierra Leone relying on cens...

Coastal zones and in general the transitional environments between marine and continental ecosystems are among the most densely populated areas of the world with consequent conflicting economical and other interest of use. In the developing African nations this risk is increasing because of the difficult balance between the fast economic and popula...

Background: The gap between fertility outcomes and fertility ideals is notably higher in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) than elsewhere, relating to both under- and overachievement of fertility ideals. We consider the extent to which the relationship between fertility ideals and fertility outcomes is related to educational achievement. Further, we consid...

This study investigates the projected effect of vegetation feedback on drought conditions in West Africa using a regional climate model coupled to the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Land Model, the carbon-nitrogen (CN) module, and the dynamic vegetation (DV) module (RegCM-CLM-CN-DV). The role of vegetation feedback is examined b...

Comparative analysis of preferences and key criteria for selecting cowpea ( Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.) varieties was conducted using the data collected from farmers’ participatory varietal selection (FPVS) activities conducted over 3 years with a total of 2401 farmers (1230 male and 1171 female) in 13 villages in Tougouri department in northern re...

This contribution aims to shed further light on the role of languages and translation in danger zones through an interview with Ellie Kemp, the Head of Crisis Response at Translators without Borders (TWB), a non-profit organization that provides language assistance in disaster settings. In the humanitarian sector, TWB is well-known for its work in...