ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Susceptibility pattern of some bacterial isolates from chronic Wounds to selected local brands of antibiotics

Chronic wounds continue to be a challenging problem causing morbidity and mortality to mankind and represent a considerable healthcare burden globally. Despite the fact that antibiotics are not the first choice of treatment for chronic wounds, they remain widely used and abused. Also, because of the high demand of antibiotics, substandard and counterfeit antibiotics are getting into the global supply chain and fuelling resistance. Antibiotic resistance impact negatively on chronic wounds by increasing the hospital cost, economic cost and the hospitalization period needed for treatment. The aim of this study was to identify the susceptibility pattern of some bacteria isolates from chronic wounds to selected local brands of antibiotics commonly used in the treatment of these wounds. A total of 260 wound swab samples were collected from chronic wound patients attending SPH and NGH and inoculated into appropriate media. Bacteria pathogens were isolated, identified and characterized using standard microbiological techniques. Seven local brands of commonly used antibiotics identified were bought and tested against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas spp. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing of the clinical isolates was done according to CLSI guidelines. Identification of MRSA and ESBL was also done. A total of 211 (81.2%) wound swab samples produced bacterial growth and 237 isolates were recovered. Staphylococcus aureus (30.8%) was the predominate organism isolated, followed by Pseudomonas spp. (24.9%). Majority of the patients (87.31%) with chronic wounds received antibiotics, metronidazole and cefuroxime are the most common (21.74%) antibiotics prescribed. 30.47% and 25.76% of the patients investigated from NGH and SPH respectively had used herbs on their wounds. The results identified 21 (28.8%) out of 73 Staphylococcus aureus isolates as MRSA and 35% of the Pseudomonas spp. to be ESBL. Five out of the seven local brands of antibiotics tested showed biological activity similar to the standard commercial controls. In this study, the observed susceptibility percentages and mean zones of inhibition of most local brands of antibiotics tested were statistically comparable (p> 0.05) to the standard controls used.

Source: KNUST
Technical design, economic and environmental assessment for installation of a solar pv system at kiku-kinderhaus in kumasi

This study investigates the technical design, the economic and environmental feasibility of Solar PV systems for installation at the Kiku Kinderhaus in Kumasi. Three systems scenarios namely grid-tied without battery system, grid-tied with battery energy storage system and Stand-alone system for four different orientations (South, East, West, East & West) were investigated. The systems were simulated with „RETSreen 4‟ to obtain the annual energy yields and other technical performance parameters. The economic analysis was also done with Microsoft Excel. It was found that the optimum tilt angle and orientation for all the systems that would give the best yield and allow self-cleaning is 100 and South orientation respectively. The most economically feasible system scenario was found to be grid-tied without battery system and it gave a positive net present value (NPV) with no government subsidy for all system orientations and the also gave the lowest levelized cost of energy (LCOE) compared to all the PV systems. The grid-tied with battery energy storage system would give a positive NPV at about 11 % government subsidy while the Stand-alone system would give a positive NPV at about 40 % government subsidy when installed at one orientation. The development of the proposed case PV system gives a CO2 emission reduction of about 70.8 % of the base case local grid system

Source: KNUST
The Calculation of Polyhedral in Algebraic Topology

This thesis report on the historical background of topology and its application historical background of polyhedral and its application, characteristic of platonic solids generalization of platonic solid, graphs, winding and turning of polyhedral for establishment of regular polyhedral (convex) which is extended to non-convex solids. In this thesis to conclude, polygonal methods step by step geometric construction will be demonstrated

Source: KNUST
The Effect of Surging Utility Tariffs On The Poor and Low Income Households, A Multiple Regression Approach

The study was conducted to investigate the effect of surging utility tariffs on incomes of households of residents of the Abokobi community. To achieve the objectives, self-administered questionnaires were used to collect the data. A multiple regression analysis technique was employed to model the data collected. Distribution tables and a graph were drawn for the relevant responses. A sample of one hundred and four (104) households was selected from a total 413 households within the community. The outcome of the study revealed that household income over the past one year period generally has increased with few households moving from lower income ranges to higher income ranges. From the analysis 19% of households experienced an increase in income whereas with utility cost, household consumption has moved from a lower band to a higher band with an average increment in consumption of about 30.8%, 42.3% and 45.2% for water, electricity and telecommunication respectively. The changes in household income and utility cost therefore appear in a different tangent/trend; that is, the rate of change in household income is relatively lower than the changes in the utility cost hence depicting the effect of the increases in the utilities on household income. From the results of the multiple regression model, there is a significant effect of a combined change in the utility rates on income. Thus if the utility tariffs collectively varied upward this would have a significant effect on household income of about 65.78% change in income. However the telecommunication variable was dropped because it had no significant effect on the model. To determine the individual effects of a change in utility cost on income the t-test was used. The model shows that the individual impact of change in water and electricity are statistically significant. And going by the relationships between the individual utilities and income, the regression indicates that both water and electricity tariffs have positive relationship with income.

Source: KNUST
The effects of formal education on poverty reduction in Ghana: the case of Jirapa District

There was a paucity of empirical evidence on the effects of formal education on poverty reduction in Ghana, particularly in the Jirapa District of the Upper West Region. This study used the case study design to investigate the extent to which formal education had an effect on poverty reduction among rural households in the Jirapa District. A multi-stage sampling methods were used to select a sample of 701 heads of households who provided data for the study. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, focus group discussions and non-participant observation. The data were analyzed using percentages and frequency charts, chi-square tests and multivariate binary logistic regression and cross tabulations to explore relationships between poverty and relevant variables in the context of social Darwinism and structural theories using SPSS version 22 software. The results reveal that the causes of poverty in the study area include geographically difficult environment, lack of formal education and governmental policies. The findings of the study raises provocative, startling and challenging conclusions that, the causes of poverty in the study area is endemic in that the people are trapped in a geographically difficult environment which affects their income negatively and creates a vicious cycle of poverty. The findings of the study further show that formal education reduces levels of poverty through educational empowerment that results in human capital formation, skills training and employment generation. The study established a statistically significant relationship between formal education and income, dwelling unit and nutrition. The theories have also been found to hold based on the revealed results. The study shows that the formally educated have greater chances of being part of the social fabric as well as being active participants in the governance of their locality, the district and country. Thus, formal education consolidates the individual‘s position as being a non poor entity. On the bases of these findings, it is recommended that education at secondary level should be freely accessible to all in the country.

Source: KNUST
The Fusion of an Ikat Yarn Dyeing with Asante Traditional Kente Weaving

This subject tries to investigate the extent to which an integration of an Ikat patchy yarn dyeing decoration technique introduced into Ashanti Kente weaving tradition to effect an innovative Kente cloth production. This concept provides an opportunity to help the Kente weaver learn yarn-dyeing embellishment prior to weaving to minimize the shortage of specific colours needed any desired production. The study reviews existing work on Ikat yarn dyeing techniques, practices in the ancient countries like Indonesia, India, Japan, to mention a few and traditional Kente weaving practices in Ghana. For how the two aforementioned traditional weaving practices, examined wee integrated and how these two techniques can blend effectively to produce a unique cloth. The approach of the study was qualitative in nature and the instrument used to collect data were mainly interviewed (one-to-one) and participant observation with players in the traditional Kente weaving industry, dyers of cloth, yarns in addition to any secondary data. The scope of the study covered selected indigenous textile centres in the Ashanti region of Ghana. The population of the study was limited to five dyers, in which Bepoase (3), Ntonso (1) and Tewobabi (1). Forty-five weavers mostly from Adawomase (12), Bonwire (17),Onno (7), and dyers from Bepoase (1), Ntonso (5) and Tewobabi (3). The concepts under investigation included the dyeing affinity of rayon yarns with vat dyes and its ability to withstand abrasion resistance and tensile strength during the weaving processes. The patchy dyed effect on the warp and weft yarn had a strong impact on the traditional Kente weaves and this suggest that the fusion of Ikat yarn dyeing technique into traditional Kente weaving introduces a profound new face of Kente in Ghana. It became evident from the study that the traditional weavers previewed to the good practice of dyeing yarns into any preferred colours without any difficulties like bleeding or poor yarn dye affinity were eager to introduce the new concept.

Source: KNUST
The Prevalence Of Obesity, Comorbidities And Oxidative Stress Among Adults In Tamale Metropolis, Ghana

Obesity increases the risk of developing hypertension, diabetes and other cardiovascular diseases, and oxidative stress has been linked with the development of these complications. Also, the incidence of these Non Communicable Diseases are on the rise in Ghana but their risk factors and how they are interrelated are not fully understood. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and the interrelationships between overweight/obesity, high blood pressure and hyperglycemia amongst the adult population of Tamale Metropolis of the Northern region in Ghana, and also to evaluate the association between obesity and oxidative stress among the population. Three hundred and fifty-five free living adults above eighteen years of age were recruited at the household levels. Weight, height and waist circumference were measured with appropriate equipment, and BMI and waist-to-hip ratio were calculated. Serum reduced glutathione levels were measured following standard protocols. The 24-hour dietary recall was used to assess dietary intake, while the Stunkard figure rating scale was used to assess body image perception. Prevalence of obesity was 21.1%, hyperglycemia 23.4%, hypertension 38.8% and central obesity 69.3%. Slightly more than 4 in 10 participants had low reduced glutathione (GSH) levels. Nutrient intakes showed about 40% of males did not meet their RDA for iron, compared with over 70% of females. A weak negative association existed between vitamin C and GSH levels (R=-0.148, p=0.005), while a weak positive correlation was observed between GSH and BMI (R=0.129, p=0.017). However there were no associations between BMI status and dietary nutrients. Although over 57% had wrong perception of their body image, there were no associations between wrong or right body image perception and BMI status. Although not statistically significant, weak negative correlations were observed between GSH and waist circumference, mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures and FBS, controlled for locality (rural or urban), indicating that the higher the serum GSH, the lower the above parameters. Regression analysis showed females had 1.56 increased odds of being overweight/obese compared with males, while overweight/obese participants were more likely to desire to lose weight. Moreover, those with high energy intake had lower odds of being overweight/obese (OR 0.13, 95% CI 0.02, 0.85, p=0.033), compared with those with low intake. In conclusion, findings of the study suggest obesity and associated complications, including low antioxidiant status are a problem in this adult population. Further studies are needed to understand the determinants further in order to intervene appropriately

Source: KNUST
The Role of Infographics in News: A Study of its Effective Use in GBC News and TV3 News

Television is well-known as a reliable source for news. According to the results of a research by Bradford (2004) about 65 percent of the human population are visual learners. The fierce competition in the media space and the growing focus on visual language among consumers have led media organizations to look into the potential of visualizing information. Multimodality and interactivity have been identified as inducements to individual’s news processing and infographics as that communication aid which arouses interest, makes understanding of information clearer and helps in the recall and sharing of information. This study investigated the attention given to infographics in Television News, Ghana. Drawing from a comparative perspective of the oldest TV news network – GBC News and one of her closest contemporary competitor – TV3 News, the research sheds more light on representation of Infographics by these two competitors using a quantitative content analysis to identify infographic elements and find out similarities and differences between their representations. The results show quite a significant presence of infographics in the news by the two news networks. Although there were some visualization differences in the various news segments, both channels employed the use of statistical based infographics, the most commonly used type of infographics. In conclusion, the study confirms the positive role of infographics as a communication aid that assists journalists in their reportage and also supports learning, cognitive processing and future recognition and recollection.

Source: KNUST
The scalability metric, based on cost-effectiveness in distributed systems using fundamental laws

Today’s computer systems are more complex, more rapidly evolving, and more essential to the conduct of business than those of recent past. The complexity becomes more rigid in the case of distributed systems. A distributed system is a collection of independent computers that appear to its users as a single coherent system. A distributed system should be deployable in a wide range of scales, in terms of numbers of users and services, quantities of data stored and manipulated, rates of processing, numbers of nodes, geographical coverage, and sizes of networks and storage devices. The derived scalability metric of this thesis is based on cost effectiveness, in which the effectiveness is a function of the system's throughput and its Quality of Service. It is a strategy based scalability metric that generalizes the well -known metrics for scalability of parallel computations to describe heterogeneous distributed systems. Scalability is measured by the range of scale factors that gives a satisfactory value of the metric, since a good scalability is a joint property of the initial design and the scaling strategy. What makes this derived metric unique is the fact that, it separates the impact of throughput and response time on the metric, formalizing the notation of a scaling strategy, introducing QoS evaluation and more also, introducing formal scalability enablers which are optimized at each scale factor. Throughput curves for all systems with bottleneck demand 𝐷𝑚𝑎𝑥 are constrained to lie below the line 1𝐷𝑚𝑎𝑥⁄. If one needs to improve the performance further than this limit, then it is necessary to reduce the demand at the bottleneck center somehow.

Source: KNUST
The Use of Jute Sack as a Potential Material for Fashion Accessories in Ghana

In view of the global concern for the environment, jute being natural and eco-friendly has the potential to be used for the production of numerous items in place of other materials that cause harm to humans and the environment at large. Jute is less used in the Ghanaian fashion industry though much is seen in the fashion industry of other countries. The fine textured jute material is expensive and not common in the Ghanaian market. On the other hand, jute sacks are cheaper, available in the market and have some qualities similar to materials for the production of fashion accessories. However, its roughness to skin and limitation in colour and texture deter its usage in the fashion industry. Hence, the aim of this research is to enhance jute sack through various colouring methods and surface treatment to promote its usage in the production of fashion accessories in Ghana. The research idea focused on identifying and analysing the characteristics and types of jute sacks appropriate for fashion accessories. Various colouring techniques such as screen-printing, batik, tie-dye, konkonte resist and spraying with the auto base paint were explored on the identified jute sacks to enhance its aesthetic appeal and usage. The enhanced jute sacks were used to produce five bags for various purposes such as shopping, dressing, travelling, backpack and briefcase to ascertain its effectiveness and usage. The researcher employed the qualitative research method coupled with the descriptive and exploratory designs and adopted observation and semi-structured interview to help draw meaningful analysis and conclusion for the success of the research. The population of the study was limited to jute sack sellers, jute sack users, fashion accessory producers and fashion accessory users in the Ashanti Region specifically Alabar, Adum, Asafo, Ayigya, Central Market and Aboabo, all in Kumasi. The research revealed that the application of the selected surface treatment and colouration techniques on the jute sacks with less stains, dirt and compact weave structure yielded a unique aesthetic value to the original colour of the jute sack. This study will encourage fashion accessory producers to use the enhanced jute sacks to produce interesting accessories thereby improving on their products and also to expand its usage in other fields. Government and other stakeholders should help in the revival of the jute factory in Ghana so that jute cultivated in some parts of the northern Ghana for food and the stalks used for ropes, mats, hats and other domestic purposes can as well be processed into sacks in Ghana. This will create employment and eradicate the cost of importing the jute sacks into the country

Source: KNUST
Training Student-Teachers on Tlms Design and Production at St. Ambrose College of Education – Dormaa Akwamu, Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana

Education is very crucial in the development of every nation, and TLMs play critical role in the teaching and learning processes globally. The study focused on uncovering deficiencies and inefficiencies on the use of TLMs by student-teachers of St. Ambrose College of Education; and equipping them with requisite knowledge and skills for TLMs selection, design, production and utilization. The research design used was qualitative, and the method employed in conducting the study was action research. The target population for the study was 360 student-teachers, which is the entire students’ population of St. Ambrose College of Education, Dormaa-Akwamu. The accessible population was 90 student-teachers, consisting of 60 second year visual art student-teachers and 30 final year student-teachers on practicum, who were sampled using convenience and purposive sampling techniques respectively. Personal observations and one-on-one interview were the research instruments used, and the result revealed lack of knowledge and skills on the part of student-teachers regarding TLMs design and production. Student-teachers were then equipped with the needed knowledge and skills for TLMs selection, design and production through training. The outcome of this training was massive, and six new TLMs were produced and tested in real classroom lessons. The test-results of all the six TLMs were positive as they were appropriate and effective for the lessons. The level of improvement attained by the student-teachers at the end of the training was very huge when the new TLMs produced were compared to the old ones used by their colleagues on the practicum. The study recommends that, skills development in TLMs selection, design, production and utilization should be integrated into the curriculum of colleges of education in Ghana, to make teachers more resourceful and efficient.

Source: KNUST
Urban Governance 3 (2023) 278–291 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Urban Governance journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ugj Policy and practice: Stakeholders’ satisfaction with conventional and participatory land use planning in Ghana

Land use planning remains an integral tool for guiding the growth and development of human settlements due to competing interests and claims of individuals over land. Two major land use planning approaches are adopted - conventional and participatory - with inconclusive findings on the best approach to employ towards promoting orderly development and growth. This study thus contributes to this debate by exploring how conventional and participatory land use planning approaches affect the preparation and outcome of land use plans in Ghana, using Abuakwa Newtown in the Atwima Nwabiagya Municipality and Krapa No.1 of in the Ejisu Municipality as case study areas. Through a comparative case research design, quantitative and qualitative approaches were employed to gather and analyse data from 397 property owners and other relevant stakeholders. The aim was to explore the similarities and differences between the two approaches and stakeholders’ perception and satisfaction with both processes. The findings largely revealed differences in the land use plan preparation process – plan initiation, preparation and approval - in the two communities. It was revealed that only plan implementation activities had similar outcomes in both communities. The ordered logistic regression model deemed significant at p ≤ 0.05, re- vealed a negative relationship of satisfaction between tenure security, plan initiation and preparation in Abuakwa Newtown, but a positive relationship in Krapa No.1. The research recommends that planning authorities adopt participatory land use planning and improve upon communication in the processes for active participation and involvement, 2023.

Source: KNUST