ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Toxicological Evaluation of Cryptolepis sanguinolenta, Momordica charantia and Euphorbia hirta in Rats.

There is a pressing need to make available scientifically tested herbal medicines to smallholder livestock farmers for increased livestock production in Ghana. Cryptolepis sanguinolenta (Linn), Momordica charantia (Linn) and Euphorbia hirta (Linn) are plants used for treating various diseases in both humans and livestock in African folkloric medicine. Extracts of these medicinal plants were tested for antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus and Klebsiella sp isolated from animals in livestock markets in the Greater Accra region. Aqueous extracts of the plants were screened for the presence of plant compounds and also compared with orthodox antibiotics used in veterinary practice for their activity against the test organisms. The extracts showed higher antibacterial activity compared to most orthodox antibiotics. Major plant chemicals including; alkaloids, reducing sugars, saponins, flavonoids, polyuronides and sterol triterpenes were found to be present. Acute and 14-day subacute toxicity studies of the aqueous extracts of the dried roots of C. sanguinolenta, the leaf extracts of M. charantia and whole plant extracts of Euphorbia hirta were carried out per os in rats. Effects of the crude extracts of the plants on body weights, relative weights of vital body organs, liver and kidney function, haematology and histopathological effects were evaluated. The crude extracts did not produce toxicity in rats after oral doses of up to 3000 mg/kg body weight. Biochemical analyses of renal and hepato-biliary function following treatment by the crude extracts of the three plants did not show any signs of nephrotoxicity and hepatotoxicity, as confirmed by histopathological examination. Treatment with the crude extracts did not alter haematological parameters in relation to the control groups. The result suggest that the aqueous extracts of the dried roots of C. sanguinolenta, the leaves extracts of M charantia and whole plant extracts of E. hirta up to mg/kg are safe and tolerated by rats.

Source: KNUST
Trace elements level in type 2 Diabetic Nephropathy

Trace elements are essential nutrients with numerous biological functions resulting from their action as major components of enzymes throughout metabolism. The trace elements (Cu, Zn, Se & Cr) for this study play a key role in the pathogenesis of diabetes and its complications. Decreased levels of these trace elements have been found to be associated with DN type 2 because they are excreted by the kidney through the urine, thus hyperzincuria is a cause of low plasma zinc in diabetics. The basic aim of the study is to determine whether Zn, Cu, Se and Cr are involved in the development of DN in Ghanaian type 2 diabetic patients. Blood samples of 5-10 mL were aseptically collected from the median antecubital or cephalic veins of the study subjects, after an overnight (12 hr) fast. The blood was then dispensed into labelled plain BD vacutainer®, tubes, and fluoride oxalate coated tubes (to prevent glycolysis) for fasting blood glucose. Samples for blood glucose assay were immediately analysed. After clotting, blood sample in the plain tubes were centrifuged at 3000 g for 3 min and the serum stored at -20°C until ready for analysis of kidney function test and trace element respectively. The trace elements (Zn, Cu, Se & Cr) analysis was performed at Ghana Atomic Energy Commission using the International neutron activation analysis (lNAA) which is a sensitive, non-destructive method for determining the elemental composition of the sample. An early morning urine sample was collected in a sterile wide mouth container and screw capped for urine protein which was immediately analyzed. A total of 80 diabetics and 48 non-diabetics were involved in this case-control study. The mean age of the diabetics was 51.70 ± 6.23 years with 51.2% being the majority between the ages of 50-59 years whereas the mean age of the non-diabetics was 49.50 ± 6.17 years with majority between the ages of 40-49 years. Blood pressure and BMI showed no significant differences between the two groups. However, 17.5% and 2.5% of the diabetics had grade 1 and 2 hypertension respectively. Also, 30.0% were found to be obese with 8.8% morbid obese respectively. On the other hand, 16.7% and 14.6% of the non-diabetics had grade 1 and 2 hypertension respectively. A percentage of 37.5 were found to be obese with 10.4 being morbid obese respectively. There was a significant difference (p<0.0001) in the blood glucose levels among the diabetics and non-diabetics. The levels of Zn (p=0.001) and Cu (p=0.002) showed a significant difference in the diabetics compared to the non-diabetics whereas that of Se and Cr were not significantly different. Renal function among the patients with diabetes shows significantly increased urea and potassium with decreased creatinine levels on comparison with the non-diabetic patients. Significant differences (p=0.0001) was also observed when proteinuria was compared between the two groups with 48.8% and 4.2% of the diabetics and non-diabetics respectively having increased urine protein.

Source: KNUST
Towards the improvement of works procurement planning by district assemblies in Ghana

There is a lot of public expenditure made by the various public institutions in Ghana in the area of procurement of works. The Local Government Bodies in the country which include the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies are no exception to the huge expenditure made in the procurement of works. Value for money, which is the foremost principle of procurement, is very much needed in the processes leading up to the procurement of these various works. The development and the implementation of effective and efficient procurement plans can lead to the optimization of allocated resources. However, the development of very sound procurement plan for the procurement of works has always been a problem to most people responsible for Procurement Activities within the Local Government setup in Ghana. The aim of this research therefore was to investigate towards the ways of improving works procurement planning by District Assemblies in Ghana. Hence, the specific objectives of the study included: the documentation of the processes and procedures adopted by District Assemblies in the preparation of their works procurement plans, the identification of key challenges associated with the procedures and processes documented and the identification of strategies to improve works procurement planning in the District Assemblies in Ghana. Quantitative approach was adopted for data collection from targeted respondents. Data generated from the survey were analyzed accordingly, using descriptive statistics as well as mean score ranking. The findings of the study indicates that drafting of procurement plan, acceptance of input from relevant agents (internal), requisition of input to the procurement plan, acceptance of input from relevant external agents, approval of procurement plan, review of procurement plan, updating of procurement plan, and publication of procurement plan were the processes and procedures adopted by District Assemblies in Ghana in the preparation of their works procurement plans. It also identified political interference, corrupt procurement practices, delay in release of funds, diversion of funds meant for scheduled procurement, unrealistic timelines, lack of adequate knowledge and skills in procurement and weak enforcement of Procurement Act as some of the key challenges affecting the processes and procedures in procurement planning in District Assemblies in Ghana. Finally, the study revealed, strict enforcement of procurement laws, interdepartmental coordination on developing plan, training and education procurement staff, minimal political interference, complete understanding of what is to be purchased, discuss procurement options and possible procurement methods and ability to keep accurate records as some of the strategies if adopted could help improve works procurement planning in District Assemblies in Ghana.

Source: KNUST
Trade Liberalisation and Small Scale Industries in Ghana

Development economists have, for long, disagreed on trade strategies that have enabled countries to attain higher growth and develop their industrial potential. Arguments concerning an appropriate trade strategy are based on inward looking (import substitution and outward looking (export promotion) orientations. Ghana, after attaining independence embarked on large scale import substitution industrialisation which was seen as a hope for achieving rapid economic development. In order to allow the infant industries enough time to grow, protective barriers like tariffs, import and export controls were used. These protective measures however led to inefficiencies and limited growth of the local industries. In 1983, the government of Ghana embarked on economic recovery programme (ERP) to resuscitate the ailing Ghanaian economy. One of the underlying principles of the recovery programme was the introduction of trade liberalisation (free market system) which aims, among others, at assisting the entire industrial sector to be vibrant and internationally competitive. The freer economy has led to inflow of all forms of goods leading to severe competition. The contribution of small-scale industries (SSIs) to the national economy is potentially very large. They contribute more to G.D.P. than their larger counterpart. Employment generation for instance stood at 364,000 for SSIs in 1978 as against 64,000 for large scale firms. SSIs also accounted for 25 percent of Ghana’s value added manufacturing in the same year. Inspite of the contribution of SSIs in employment generation and contribution to manufacturing, a number of constraints were identified as limiting their growth potential prior to the ERP. Among the constraints were lack of access to inputs, spare parts, and credit and limited market. This study assesses the performance of SSIs under the free market system to find out the extent to which the new trade policy has contributed to SSIs in terms of employment generation, output growth and marketing of products. The study was limited to small scale manufacturing firms in Ghana with reference to Kumasi and Takoradi within the time frame of 1975-1997. Revelations from the analysis showed improvement in output and employment but contraction in demand for products. Other problems revealed by the study included high input costs and inadequate access to credit. In the aggregate, this study revealed that trade liberalisation in the country is, on a balance, favourable to the needs and activities, growth and development of SSIs. Inspite of the favourable response, some form of “infant sector” protection for these firms is still necessary to ensure their sustainability.

Source: KNUST
Traces in complex hyperbolic geometry

This thesis concerns the study of traces in complex hyperbolic geometry. In this thesis we review a paper by Parker. We begin by looking at basic notions of complex hyperbolic geometry, specifically for the complex hyperbolic space. The main results of the thesis fall into three broad chapters. In the third chapter we reconstruct the proof of proposition We prove that A has a unique fixed point in H2 C corresponding to one of the eigenspaces. We also amplify calculations given by Parker. Finally we discuss the merits on the two ways to parametrise pair of pants groups. As an application, we compute traces of matrices generated by complex reflections in the sides of complex hyperbolic triangle groups in the fifth chapter.

Source: KNUST
Trade Liberalization and Economic Growth in Ghana (1986 – 2007)

Trade liberalisation is often considered to be conducive for economic growth. In addition to the comparative advantage argument of the classical economists, trade liberalisation enhances competition, promotes large market, transfer of technology and hence efficiency in production. In the light of this, most developing countries have embraced the trade liberalisation policy as part of structural reforms. Ghana has gradually liberalised its trade regime especially after 1986 when the country accepted the World Bank and IMF Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). The main purpose of the liberalisation policy was to open up the economy to increase competition to improve efficiency in domestic industries so as to enhance economic growth. The study was therefore carried out to find out the impact of the trade liberalisation policy on the GDP growth of Ghana from 1986 – 2007. The study used the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach to estimate the model specified for the study. The choice of the ARDL approach was mainly due to the smallness of the sample size. In the study, openness (sum of exports and imports to GDP) was used as a measure of liberalisation. Using annual time series data from 1986 – 2007, the study found that trade liberalisation enhances GDP growth in Ghana in the long run but hampers growth in the short run. Capital stock, population growth, and inflation were all found to have positive impacts on GDP growth in both the short run and long run while foreign direct investment was found to have a negative impact on GDP growth. The study recommended that domestic consumers should be encouraged to patronise locally made goods and services. This can be done through the organisation of rural trade fairs and exhibitions to bring made in Ghana goods to the doorsteps of the people. It was also recommended that foreign direct investors should be encouraged to invest in the agriculture and industrial sectors.

Source: KNUST
Trade Centre - Kumasi

Over the years Ghana’s export trade has relied heavily on a few traditional products of cocoa, gold and timber with dwindling export receipts. The need for diversification became apparent and this necessitated the setting up of the Ghana Export Promotion Council (GEPC) in 1969 as the main public organization for the development and promotion of nontraditional exports. To further boost export earnings the Economic Recovery Programme (ERP) was launched in 1983. As a result of policy reforms initiated under the ERP and the programmed activities of the GEPC since 1990 earnings from the non-traditional export sector which was a mere US$2m in 1983 rose significantly to IJS$119m in 1994. This figure still falls short of the targeted growth of 15% of total export receipts.

Source: KNUST
Trade openness, population health status and health financing in Sub-Saharan Africa

Improvements in population health and health financing in SSA has been slow and relatively poor when compared with other regions (Middle East and North Africa and East Asia and Pacific) of the world. The study employed a balanced panel data for fortytwo (42) Sub-Saharan African countries over the period 1995-2013. Population health status was measured by total life expectancy at birth, infant mortality rate and under-five mortality rate. Fixed effect (FE), Random Effect (RE) and one step system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) models were employed in estimating the relationships. The empirical results across all the estimation techniques show that trade openness improves population health. Specifically, the results showed a positive and significant relationship between trade openness and life expectancy, negative and significant relationship between trade openness and infant mortality rate and negative relationship between trade openness and under-five mortality rate. The study also showed a positive relationship between trade openness and health financing. The study further found that countries whose openness exceeds the optimal level of openness experience deteriorated health and reduced health financing. The study recommends that countries whose openness is below the optimal openness should continue to open up to trade to enjoy the benefits of improved access to health products and medical knowledge spill over

Source: KNUST
The Trade Union as an avenue for promoting employee satisfaction in the mining industry: The case of Anglogold Ashanti and Newmont Ghana

Trade Unions have been thought of as “employees’ voice” who are always on the negotiating table with Management “wanting more” for their members. Interestingly, measuring employee satisfaction at the workplace has never been an easy task for both Human Resource Professionals and Trade Union Leaders alike. Even when employees are thought of being satisfied at some point, maintaining that satisfaction at the workplace throughout the work cycle is perhaps a daunting task as well. The objective of the study was to investigate trade union as an avenue for promoting employee satisfaction in the mining industry with specific focus on Anglogold Ashanti and Newmont-Kenyase. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The population of the study was Five Thousand Seven Hundred (5,700) comprising Ghana Mining Workers Union (GMWU) and Professional and Managerial Staff Union (PMSU). Since the research was exploratory in nature, purposive and convenient strategies were used as sampling techniques. Interviews and questionnaires were used for primary sources of data collection. Due to the nature of data collected, Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used in processing primary data from questionnaires. At the end, the study found that trade unions have played very significant roles in areas such as employees wage negotiations, dispute resolution, job security, promotions as well as fighting against employee victimization and collective bargaining. As a means of improving employee satisfaction, the study recommends that Trade Unions should make budgetary allocations for refresher courses on conflict resolution and modern ways of settling industrial unrest. Promoting employee satisfaction also calls for interpersonal and informational concerns. Trade unions are hereby encouraged to improve their Management Information Systems (MIS) to ensure effective information dissemination.

Source: KNUST
Traditional African Art Forms: Sources of inspiration for graphic design

African traditional art forms possess rich, diverse aesthetic properties as well as unique characteristics which served as inspiration to modern art pioneers such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Georges Braque. Out of this experience came the birth of art movements such as Cubism and Expressionism. However, these unique cultural artifacts have not been fully explored and used by contemporary Ghanaian artists. African graphic designers in their search for inspiration barely consider traditional African art forms as sources of inspiration to solve design problems. This research employed the descriptive technique of qualitative research methodology to focus on the nexus between culture and graphic design. The findings reveal the relationship between African aesthetics and graphic design as evidenced in the works produced by student graphic designers of the Department of Communication Design, KNUST. The study also showcases the awareness of traditional African art forms as inspiration through creating an alternative method for designers, using culturally inspired creativity in solving design problems. The student participants were motivated by the aesthetic appearance and symbolism of their referent art forms in the production of graphic design.

Source: KNUST
Traditional carving techniques in contemporary sculpture

This project titled “ Traditional Carving Techniques in Contemporary Sculpture “, sought to achieve a unique kind of rendition based on Cubism as a concept of stylization. This technique used was the traditional carving technique which dwelt massively on the profound use of the adzes. Skilful use of the adzes enhances speed and accuracy as well as a perfect finish. The adzes when used unprofessionally might inflict major wounds on the carver. It is therefore incumbent on the carver to employ traditional carving techniques where the adzes are used exclusively only when the carver has perfected his or her skills so far as this particular technique is concerned. Contemporary carvings in the country or on the continent in general, embody a lot of foreign or western attributes due to cultural imperialism or cultural alienation. Traditional wood carvings on the other hand, are invariably masked with indigenous or aboriginal cultures. Therefore, the carver, by employing traditional carving techniques to produce contemporary sculptures, has married two different cultures to produce cultural hybridization. The end result is something new. The end result is what has culminated in the figurative sculptures produced so far in this project.

Source: KNUST
Traditional costumes and their relevance as cultural symbols to film making in Ghana Asante case study

Fifty years after the independence of Ghana, the Ghanaian film makers have not adopted a particular Ghana national costume by which the characters in Ghanaian films can be identified as Ghanaians. As a result of this, the Ghanaian screen has been overtaken by the Nigerian film. This is partly due to the fact that most Ghanaians can identify Nigerian characters in terms of costume, make-up and manner of behaviour in the Nigerian film; while to a large extent, they strangely lack that affinity with the characters in the current Ghanaian video productions on the Ghanaian screen. As a possible solution, the study proposed Asante traditional costumes as relevant cultural symbols that could be the premise for the development of creative costumes for characterization in Ghanaian filmmaking. This is based on the assumption that Asante culture is representative of Ghanaian culture and therefore its popular traditional costumes are recognised as Ghanaian cultural symbols. It is also evident that the creation of a Ghanaian cultural identity on the film screen would make a bold political and cultural statement which would project Ghana on the world scene and yield economic benefits. The investigation has identified Asante traditional costumes, established reasons for similarities and differences between their symbolism and those of the other Ghanaian cultures. It has also critically analysed Asante traditional costumes to determine their level of relevance in creating a Ghanaian cultural identity for characters in filmmaking. The cultural orientation of filmmakers has been explored to determine their perception on the issue of representation and cultural identity in filmmaking in this country. These objectives have been achieved in the thesis by largely employing the qualitative research approach.

Source: KNUST