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Dopamine – The addiction Chemical

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Written by: Moses Alhassan | April 13, 2019 Ever wondered why you get so excited about doing something and keep doing that thing over and over? Have ever been curious to find out why people get addicted to certain activities or foods? Well…a major answer to this is Dopamine. Dopamine is secreted in the brain and it acts as both a neurotransmitter and a hormone. Most scientists refer to it as the motivation/reward hormone. Others even call it the addiction hormone/chemical . Either way, there are interesting facts about dopamine that you’ve got to know. When you derive pleasure from engaging in any activity, a moderate amount of dopamine is released and this makes you more excited. This then encourages you to keep on with that activity and over time, you get addicted to that activity because you get so excited by it. For instance, cocaine contains a lot of dopamine (which is even too much for the body) and people get so excited when they take cocaine. In exchange for takin

Volunteerism for positive impact

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I would like to again share some of my experiences with volunteerism and how that has helped me as a person. Inspya P.R.O with University of Ghana final year students A lot really goes into making a decision to volunteer. I have met most young people who frown at giving their time or other resources in an attempt to put smiles on the faces of others. Personally, I get excited when I just commit myself towards helping an organisation to meet their goals (mostly NGOs). “ Volunteers  do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart.” “You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give.” “ Volunteers  are the only human beings on the face of the earth who reflect this nation's compassion, unselfish caring, patience, and just plain loving one another.” I remember Dr. David Oyedepo once said "whatever you want to make happen for yourself, make it happen for others first". This world would be much better if we the young ones could be mot

Your worth - For Students

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-Written by Moses Alhassan Have you ever felt worthless because you got a bad grade? Do you think you don't measure up to academic standards? Don't worry if your answers to the above are "Yeses". Through out basic and high school, I have realized that students who give the wrong answers to questions are normally laughed at by other students and teachers. It's sad how society frowns on students who do not get the required grades. Should this be the way we can make positive impact? Moses Alhassan -with Basic school students I love what Albert Einstein Said...he once said "everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing its stupid/worthless. Our modern day school has helped a lot of students in so many ways...particularly those who are good with memorizing. But on a larger scale, our current educational system not only make fishes climb trees, but also makes them climb down.

Re-Learning Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

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Written by Moses Alhassan First time I heard and about Abraham Maslow's theory of needs was probably in Junior or senior high school. I recently revisited his theory on human behaviour and I got to understand a few things about how this theory applies to us as humans. Maslow's theory explains an aspect of developmental psychology, particularly behavioural motivation. The stages explored in this theory are; Physiological / Basic needs Safety (Security) needs Belonging and Love Social needs / Self esteem Self-actualization. This theory suggests that in order for motivation to occur at the next level, each level must be satisfied within the individual themselves. Basic needs pertain to food, water shelter and for someone to seek the next stage of needs, one must have fulfilled the previous stages.  After having your basic needs, the next thing you would want to do is to probably insure them, seek financial, emotional, health and personal security.  The ne

Dr. Bruce Tuckman's group developemt model

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Groups are common arrangements in social situations, especially in an attempt to foster development in rural areas. In agriculture, the formation of focus groups for evaluation as well as Farmer Based Organization or associations is vital in terms of augmenting agricultural production. It is essential for agricultural extension agents and other development agents to master the tenets of how groups are developed and the various stages involved in the entirety of their advancement in an attempt to improve and uplift the living standards of rural populace. Forming a Participatory Rural Appraisal Team, made up of participants of diverse fields is usually imperative in developing rural areas. Peradventure, the best known scheme for group development is one which was coined by Bruce Wayne Tuckman, who carried out research into group dynamics and published one of his theories in 1965 on the stage of group development, which he called Tuckman’s stages of group development. Tuckman ident

The diamondback moth

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The diamondback moth, Ptutella xylostella is known by most agricultural researchers to have been introduced to North America from Europe. This moth is known to belong to the lepidopteran order of the insecta class of arthropods. It is known to be the most destructive insect pest of brassica crops like cabbage and lettuce.  Over the years, most people who have tried controlling the incidence of this pest usually resort to solely using chemical control methods to reduce impact of pests usually realize that this moth develops resistance to the chemicals used to combat them. They generally easily build resistance to synthetic pyrethroid insecticides. The entirety of the growth stages of the diamondback moth is detrimental to brasssica crops. The moth lays eggs on plants and during the developmental stages of the pupa, the caterpillar usually tunnels like a leaf miner, causing defoliation on most leafy vegetables. It also causes contamination by pupating within Brussels spr

The Larger Grain Borer

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The larger grain borer, known scientifically as Prostephanus truncatus belongs to the hexapods class of the arthropoda phylum and of the coleoptera order. This insect has been thought of in a lot of situational analysis to be a pest. The larger grain borer has been observed in countless situations to be unacceptably abundant. It has also been known to obstruct the storage of most produce. Prostephanus truncatus was first discovered in the 1970s in East Africa. However, it has migrated to many parts of the world. This pest is largely known as a storage pest and in some rare cases, a field pest. It mostly feeds on maize and cassava. However in some cases, it feeds on other dried root crops, bamboo, rattan, wheat, dried sorghum and sweet potatoes. This grain borer has been observed by most entomologists to bore or create holes in grains as they feed. There are several ways of controlling the activities of the larger grain borer. But the question is, what method is the be