ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Using morphological and physiological factors to evaluate six cowpea varieties for drought tolerance

A potted experiment was conducted from August to October 2011, in a planthouse at Soil Research Institute (SRI), Kwadaso/Kumasi. The objective was to evaluate the performance of cowpea varieties for drought tolerance using morphological and physiological traits. A completely andomized design replicated three times with two water treatments (control and water-stressed conditions) and six cowpea varieties was used. Data collected included biomass (BM), water use efficiency (WUE), relative water content (RWC), plant height (PHT), number of leaves per plant (NL), stem diameter (SD), root dry mass (RDM) and leaf senescence (LS). There were significant differences among the cowpea genotypes, as regards the water treatments and their interaction for these morpho-physiological parameters. Water stress significantly decreased growth and development of cowpea genotypes, and the variety Dan illa showed no significant difference between the two water regimes in relative water content, plant height, number of leaves per plant and stem diameter. Highly strong positive relationships were obtain between biomass and water use efficiency, and between water use efficiency and number of leaves per plant among water-stressed cowpea varieties with r2 = 0.92 and r2 = 0.82, respectively. With relatively better performance under water-stressed condition, as indicated by the drought susceptibility index, the three varieties Dan illa, TN88-63 and Asontem were the genotypes recommended to be used as source for drought tolerance in a cowpea breeding programme.

Source: KNUST
Using Revenue Sharing to Achieve Supply Chain Coordination for Angel Herbal Mixture: A Product of Angel Herbal Industry

Fierce competitions in today’s global markets and the heightened expectations of consumers have forced business enterprises to invest in and focus attention on, the relationships with their customers and suppliers. While the need for increased efficiency in enterprise operations persists, modern management thinking advocates the collaboration among business partners and the responsiveness to client needs as additional thrusts towards a successful competitive strategy. It is within this context that Supply Chain Management (SCM) has become part of the senior management agenda since the 1990s, particularly in the manufacturing and retailing industries. For the improvement of the supply chain led to channel coordination which aims at improving supply chain performance by aligning the plans and the objectives of individual enterprises. The objective of the thesis is to show conditions under which it is optimal for a vendor to only purchase the item (Angel Herbal Mixture) outright, or only obtain the item on consignment, or both and also show that a consignment scheme can be used to achieve channel coordination and present pricing formulas that a manufacturer can use to “force” the vendor to order, in total and in the best interest of the channel. The supply chain channel coordination was achieved using models developed by developed by Lawrence, J. A. and Pasternack, B. A. (1998) to Angel Herbal Mixture, where we consider a single period inventory (newsboy) problem in which a Angel Herbal Industry will both sell Angel Herbal Mixture to a vendor outright as well as offer the item to a vendor on a revenue sharing (consignment) basis. In the latter case, the amount of money the vendor pays per unit is less than if the item is purchased by the vendor, but the vendor must share some of the revenue with the Angel Herbal Industry. From the application of the model, revenue sharing is an intriguing method for a manufacturer to achieve channel coordination which shows both the retailer and the manufacturer gaining which brings about a win-win situation.

Source: KNUST
Using Reservoir Storage Effects for Urban Flood Management: Case Study of Mamahuma Basin of Tema

With the increase in the public awareness of flooding and flood-related issues, many Municipalities and Regulatory Authorities are requiring a higher degree of accuracy in flood studies and analysis. Today, this approach is needed specifically in urban areas where the risks are higher for the population and the infrastructure. Annual floods have claimed several lives and property. The rapid evolution in urbanization has precipitated a change in the approach to stormwater management and therefore the existing concept for the rapid removal of stormwater runoff from developed areas by channelization, must now be combined with methods for storing stormwater runoff to prevent overloading the existing drainage systems for effective flood management. To meet the increased requirements for urban flood mitigation in Ghana, a possible strategy is to introduce the use of reservoir storage concept, which has been successfully practiced in some developed countries, in combination with the « traditional channelization approach. Abandoned agricultural reservoirs could be considered for flood mitigation without having to be reclaimed as usually prevails in the country. Comprehensive study was carried out on an existing reservoir in the Mamahuma basin of Tema as a case study. The geomorphologic instantaneous unit hydrograph model was used to obtain an inflow hydrograph based on rainfall event in the study area and routed through an existing reservoir to predict the impact of the reservoir on flood peak attenuation. The result showed that with the introduction of the reservoir storage approach, a large percentage of the flood plain was protected from inundation. The reservoir storage concept is thus recommended and for use where appropriate in combination with the existing system in the management of urban floods in Ghana.

Source: KNUST
Using seismic attributes and petrophysical analysis for reservoir characterization – a case study of the offshore cape three-points (OCTP) block in the Tano basin, Ghana.

Seismic amplitudes and petrophysical analysis of well logs for reservoir characterization have been undertaken in this project. The seismic attribute that was considered in this research was the Root Mean Square (RMS) amplitude which is good discriminator of reservoir sands. A total of three wells were considered in the study and three reservoirs were successfully characterized. 3D seismic data and data from three wells were obtained from the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC). The study was carried out in two discovery areas; the Gye Nyame and Sankofa discovery area located in the Offshore Cape Three-Points (OCTP) Basin, Ghana. For each well studied, resistivity log, formation density log, compensated neutron-porosity log and gamma ray logs were collected and analysed. The seismic data was subjected to RMS amplitude extraction that helped to delineate the reservoir sands zones. A detailed petrophysical property model was constructed for each well and the following petrophysical parameters were computed; reservoir thickness, net pay, net-to-gross ratio, porosity and water saturation. The reservoir thickness values ranged from 16.5 to 22.1 m, net pay ranged from 1.7 to 15.3 m, net-to-gross ratio ranged from 10 to 75 %, porosity ranged from 10 to 24 % and water saturation values ranged from 24 to 34 %. The depositional environment for each reservoir was determined from the shape of the gamma ray log. The depositional environment for the reservoir in the Leo 1 well was a fan whiles that of the reservoir in the Capitol well was fine grained sandstone at the upper part of a tidal channel grading into laminated tidal flat mudstone at the base and that of the reservoir in the Silicon well was probably a tidal channel.

Source: KNUST
Using Selected Visual Art Activities as a Strategy to Boost Girl-Child Education at Trabuom in the Atwima Kwanwonma District of Ashanti Region

Education is a human right and not a privilege. Though the United Nations Conventions on the right of the child makes education a right to all children irrespective of age and gender, some children at Trabuom in Ashanti Region of Ghana are denied this right. Though the 1992 Constitution of Ghana guarantees Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education to every child of school going age irrespective of gender, religion, ethnicity or cultural background, some girls are being denied Basic Education. To explore this phenomenon, the study adopted the action research method to find out why some of the girls in Trabuom in Atwima Kwanwonma District of Ashanti Region do not go to school and then adopted some practical art activities that could encourage and sustain more girls’ interest in school. The study found the factors that negatively affect the girl-child education in the area as poverty, pregnancy, lack of female models, low level of parents’ education, negative parental attitude towards education, low value attached to education and sexual harassment by male teachers. The study recommends that the district assembly should give the farmers and the traders in the community some soft loans to expand their farms and businesses to enable them earn enough income so that they can cater for their children. The district girl-child education officer should organise seminars on sex education for the girls to understand their bodies and the effects of teenage pregnancy which is rampant in the town to reduce and thereby encourage more girls to go to school and complete at the highest level. Furthermore, more female teachers must be posted to the town to serve as role models to the girls in the town. In addition, parents and guardians must be educated to know the importance of girl-child education so that they will not be discriminated against. The district assembly should also assist girls who are needy but brainy to get access to school.

Source: KNUST
Using simulated annealing approach for scheduling sports tournament traveling problem (A case study of Ghana Football)

The problem of finding optimal schedules for professional sports leagues has attracted interests of many researchers in recent years. On the one hand, the scheduling of sport leagues is an economically important class of combinatorial optimization applications, since sport leagues generate considerable amount of revenue for major radio and television networks and neither the sporting event organizers nor the participating teams want to waste their investments and resources due to the poor schedules of games. On the other hand, sport scheduling poses a very challenging optimization problem with multiple objectives and constraints combining issues of feasibility and optimality.

Source: KNUST
Using the case study method to improve the problem solving skills of management students at Takoradi Polytechnic

This action research is a study into bow effectively case study methodology can be used to improve the problem-solving skills of Management students at Takoradi Polytechnic. The research methodology was in three stages. The first stage comprised activities to collect data which described the nature of the problem under investigation — Evidence I data. The data gathering instruments which were used at this stage included questionnaires, interviews and a diagnostic test. Analysis of Evidence I data revealed that the problem-solving skills of students had not been sufficiently developed. It was established that the students could not use their knowledge of management principles and theories to solve practical problems. At the second stage of the methodology, the interventions stage, the case method of teaching was introduced. Students were taught how to identify problems and their causes, formulate alternative solutions, evaluate and compare the alternatives so that they could decide on the best alternative. Only written cases were used for this project. The students were given more case studies as exercises to help in developing their problem-solving skills. The final part of the methodology was an evaluation of the impact of the interventions. The data for this stage, Evidence II data, were collected with questionnaires, interviews, informal interactions, assignments, tests and examinations. The analysis of Evidence II data indicated that the case method had been effective in improving the problem- solving skills of the students. The quality of answers students produced improved as they were better able to identify problems and the causes, suggest possible solutions and select the best. They were also able to relate their answers to appropriate theories and principles and also explain them better. The conclusion was therefore drawn that the case method was successful in improving the problem-solving skills of Management students. This problem-solving skill when improved could be transferred to new situations including real-life situations.

Source: KNUST
Using selected natural fibres as a support for picture making.

This research has been undertaken to experiment in the use of natural fibre such as pawpaw leaves , teak tree bark, raffia, cabbage leaves, pineapple, corn shucks and militia toningii for picture making. In achieving the objective the study sought to identify and describe the selected natural fibres which are located in the local environment. Except for the raffia which was purchased on the open market, all other fibres were obtain at no cost. Those were performed through experiments and processing of the fibres into support showing different textures. There were several steps involved in making the support including boiling, pounding, forming, couching, pressing, drying and pressing methods. Natural fibre support were produce and tested with water based paint and pastel. The results have proved to be successful in terms of colour flow.

Source: KNUST
Using the generic functions of the human resource management as a model to examine sustainable competitive advantage in selected hotels in Kumasi

The rate at which the hospitality industry is growing worldwide compels every government to develop the sector in order to have its share of the cake and Ghana is no exception. There is a growing awareness and evidence that organizational performance depends largely on the development of human resource. The emphasis on human capital in an organization reflects the view that market value depends less on tangible resources but rather on intangible ones, particularly the human resource (Stile et al, 2003) Notwithstanding, most hospitality companies neglect the welfare of the human capital, resulting to high labour turnover in the industry. Globalization which is exposing the Ghanaian hospitality market to keen competition makes the issue of the human capital a force to reckon with. As a result, this thesis seeks to uncover how a hotel company can use the generic function of HRM to build sustainable competitive advantage through employees in Kumasi hospitality market. In this respect, the work attempts to review the concepts of competitive advantage ana the generic function of HRM, integrating these concepts to show how performance of an organisation can be enhanced.The research, which was based on survey method, reveals that generic function of HRM is of great importance to the hotels in Kumasi and that by training and developing the right employees, labour turnover in the industry can be minimised since the trained and developed employees become much loyal to the company. More so, most of the hotels in Kumasi are cost leadership minded but its implementation is not effective among the lower star rating hotels. But the high star rating hotels are very effective with the implementation of differentiation strategy. Recruitment of low calibre of labour with little training is one of the main findings, so it is recommended that hotel managers should consider long term benefit, and recruit, train and develop the right calibre of staff since it is vital to sustainable competitive advantage.

Source: KNUST
Utilisation of antenatal care services among women in the Asutifi south district of the Brong-Ahafo region, Ghana

Maternal and neonatal health remain a global concern. Many interventions have been initiated over the years to improve the health of the mother and the baby before and during pregnancy and after delivery. Antenatal care services have been found to be one of the effective measures to improve maternal and neonatal heath. Currently, the WHO has developed a new model of ANC services that requires every pregnant woman to have a minimum of 8 ANC visits during pregnancy. This study seeks to assess the utilisation of ANC services among women in the Asutifi South District of the Brong-Ahafo Region. It is a cross-sectional study involving 422 participants aged 15-49 who have recently delivered in the district attending post-natal services who were selected by using simple random technique. Data were analysed using STATA version 14.0. Logistic regressions were run to assess the factors influencing utilisation of ANC services and pregnancy outcomes. From the study, 18.5% of respondents made eight or more ANC visits during pregnancy. Although, all the respondents in the study ever attended ANC services during pregnancy, the study revealed a knowledge gap in the timing for ANC among respondents. Among the factors studied, ANC utilisation was significantly influenced by marital status, knowledge on the required number of ANC visits, partner and family accompaniment. Respondents who had knowledge on the number of required ANC visits during pregnancy had higher odds of making eight or more visits (AOR=11.769, CI=5.459-25.370). Additionally, respondents who made eight or more ANC visits had significantly higher odds of having babies with birth weight of 2.5kg and above (AOR= 3.623, 95%CI= 1.274- 10.301). Therefore, there is a need to create awareness on the required number of ANC visits to be made during pregnancy among pregnant women in the district. Additionally, families, partners and community members should be encouraged to support and accompany pregnant women for ANC services.

Source: KNUST
Using the Logistic Map as Compared to the Cubic Map to Show the Convergence and the Relaxation of the Period–1 Fixed Point

point of a system, speci cally, the period—1 xed point. e study has shown that the period—1 xed point of a logistic map as a recurrence has its convergence at a transcritical bifurcation having its power-law t with exponent ­ − 1 when 1 and 0. e cubic map shows its convergence to the xed point at a pitchfork bifurcation decaying at a power law with exponent ­ − (1/2) 1 and 0. However, the system shows their relaxation time at the same power law with exponents and z − 1.

Source: KNUST
Using the Hydrogen Sulfide Method in the Assessment of Microbial Quality of Drinking Water for Selected Communities of the Ho West District of the Volta Region of Ghana

The Ho West District is one of the twenty-five (25) Districts in the Volta Region that lacks basic amenities including potable drinking water and thus residents are infected with various water related illnesses. The study was aimed at assessing the potential of using simple, reliable and inexpensive method that can be performed by the ordinary man in a rural area where people are compelled to drink highly contaminated water. One such method, the H2S test, was used to assess the microbial quality of drinking water from nine (9) selected communities of the District. The test was conducted alongside standard Presence/Absence and membrane filtration methods. All (54) test samples developed black precipitate (FeS) within the predetermined period of 72 hours, indicating that they contained bacteria of faecal origin. In terms of seasonal variation, there was significant (P ≤ 0.05) difference in the colour development time for the rainy and dry season samples. Also there was significant (P ≤ 0.05) difference in the E. coli counts for the rainy and dry season samples of all the communities except Vane, Tsikor and Kpoeta where the counts were not significantly (P > 0.05) different. The difference in colour development time for source and distribution samples was also significant (P < 0.05). There was also significant (P < 0.05) difference in the E. coli counts for distribution and source samples of all the communities except for Vane and Kpedze where the counts were not significantly (P > 0.05) different. The results of this study were conclusive evidence that the water supplies in all the communities under the study pose a serious threat to the health of consumers.

Source: KNUST
Utilisation of Irrigation Facilities towards Reducing Poverty in the Upper West Region of Ghana

The economy of the UWR is largely agrarian with an estimated 86 percent of the population engaged in agricultural production as a source of livelihood. However, agriculture in the region is beset with erratic rainfall which leads to poor yield of crops. This goes to worsen the poverty situation of the people (88 percent of population is poor) (UNDP-Ghana, 2007). In order to mitigate the negative impact of single maxima and erratic rainfall pattern on agriculture, the GoG and other development partners like IFAD and PLAN Ghana have provided a number of irrigation facilities in the region to ensure all-year-round farming activities so as to increase food production. The irrigation facilities are however underutilised. This study therefore set out to find the underlying causes of the underutilisation. A study of three selected schemes (Sankana, Piina and Bullu) was conducted through field interviews of irrigation farmers and non-irrigation users, and institutions like GIDA, MoFA and SARI to find out their views and perceptions, and reasons for the underutilisation of the facilities. The study found among other things, the causes of underutilisation to be non adherence to the project planning stages, poor construction work leading to inadequate water distribution, low technical capacity of AEAs, weak WUAs, invasion of irrigation fields by domestic animals due to their closeness to settlements and lack of fencing, high nematodes infestation, no ready market for produce, and chieftaincy conflicts. The study also found the pipe network and tank system to be efficient in water application. The recommendations were therefore to use the DMTDPs as a means of identifying irrigation projects, building the capacity of AEAs in irrigation agronomy and water management, researching into the nematode problem, establishing a maintenance unit at GIDA to facilitate prompt and appropriate repairs of facilities, and creating markets for the farm produce by linking farmers to boarding schools and the School Feeding Programme. WUAs should also be retrained in water application and management.

Source: KNUST