ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Depression, Anxiety and Stress Levels among Students in a Ghanaian Public University During the Covid-19 Pandemic

The purpose of the study was to determine the level of mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety and stress among Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) students, the differences between the conditions with respect to gender, age, level of study and identify the correlation between the conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study applied a cross-sectional research design and quantitative approach on an accessible population of 2,844 students at the College of Health Sciences, KNUST, Kumasi aged between 18 years to 45 years. A purposive sampling technique was employed with a sample size of 350 administered with the structured DASS-21 data collection instrument online via emails and WhatsApp from Google forms. Data processing and analysis included descriptive statistical procedures with Office word, Excel and IBM’s SPSS. Correlations between the conditions were determined by Pearsons’ correlation and Sperman’s rho. Reslts indicated that 60% of the respondents had depression, 65% for anxiety and 37% with stress. The male and female respondents represented 45.1% and 54.9% respectively however, the difference between the mean mental health conditions was not statistically significant at a confidence interval of 95%. A strong correlation was observed between depression, anxiety and stress among the students. The current study has identified students who have reported mental health conditions requiring psychiatric, psychological and counselling interventions. It is recommended that the university management should put in place interventions to address the mental health challenges among the students

Source: UCC
Depression, Delinquency and Peer Problems among Children and Adolescents Affected by HIV/AIDS in Ghana: The Mediating Role of Child Labour

Although in the developing countries, child labour is still on the increase despite several efforts to end it, little is known about rates of child labour among orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC). The paper explores levels of child labour and its relationship with psychological wellbeing among OVC in Ghana. Method: This study employed cross-sectional, quantitative survey that involved 291 children aged 10-18 years in the Lower Manya Krobo District of Ghana and examined their psychological wellbeing and child labour. Results: The findings of the present study indicate that, compared with children who were not experiencing HIV/ AIDS in their families, children orphaned by AIDS and children living with HIV/AIDS-affected caregivers had higher levels of psychological symptoms. These associations were mostly unattenuated when relevant socio-demographic factors. Overall, children affected by HIV/AIDS (OVC) reported engaging in significantly more domestic chores and care responsibilities than comparison children and that child labour strongly mediates the association between orphanhood status and psychological problems. Conclusion: The findings call for the development of comprehensive intervention programmes that address both factors specific to HIV/AIDS and contextual variables such as child labour.

Source: UCC
Depression, Delinquency and Peer Problems among Children and Adolescents Affected by HIV/AIDS in Ghana: The Mediating Role of Child Labour

Background: Although in the developing countries, child labour is still on the increase despite several efforts to end it, little is known about rates of child labour among orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC). The paper explores levels of child labour and its relationship with psychological wellbeing among OVC in Ghana. Method: This study employed cross-sectional, quantitative survey that involved 291 children aged 10-18 years in the Lower Manya Krobo District of Ghana and examined their psychological wellbeing and child labour. Results: The findings of the present study indicate that, compared with children who were not experiencing HIV/ AIDS in their families, children orphaned by AIDS and children living with HIV/AIDS-affected caregivers had higher levels of psychological symptoms. These associations were mostly unattenuated when relevant socio-demographic factors. Overall, children affected by HIV/AIDS (OVC) reported engaging in significantly more domestic chores and care responsibilities than comparison children and that child labour strongly mediates the association between orphanhood status and psychological problems. Conclusion: The findings call for the development of comprehensive intervention programmes that address both factors specific to HIV/AIDS and contextual variables such as child labour

Source: UCC
Dermatofibrosarcoma Protuberans: Experience with Management of Eighteen Cases

Soft Tissue Sarcoma (STS) are a heterogeneous group of rare tumours that arise predominantly from the embryonic mesoderm. They account for about 0.7% of all adult malignancies but up to 15% of childhood malignancies1. In Nigeria it is said to constitute about 1.3% of solid malignancies2. Previous reports from this hospital showed that the commonest form of STS was fibrosarcoma3, 4. Dermatofibrosacoma protruberans (DFSP) is a variant of STS. DFSP is a cutaneous malignancy that arises from the dermis and invades deeper subcutaneous tissue (e.g. fat, fascia, muscle, bone). cellular origin of DFSP is not clear at this time. Evidence exists that supports the cellular origin being fibroblastic histiocytic or neuroectodermal. It is known for its locally aggressive growth and high rate of local recurrence. Our study investigates the age and sex distribution, clinical presentation and site at presentation in a Nigerian Teaching Hospital.

Source: UCC
Descriptive study on service quality and clients satisfaction in ophthalmology care In Nsawam Government Hospital

The main thrust of the study was to assess the service quality and patients’ satisfaction at the ophthalmology unit of the Nsawam Government Hospital. To achieve this purposes, the study employed quantitative approach through the use of descriptive survey. In the quest of selecting the sample, Convenience sampling method was used in the study to select 260 clients of ophthalmology unit of the Nsawam Government Hospital for the study. A self- developed questionnaire was used for the data collection. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics (means and standard deviation, frequencies and percentages) and inferential statistics (Linear Multiple Regression). The results on objective one gave ample evidence to settle that generally, most of the clients at the ophthalmology unit of the Nsawam government hospital have a high expectation about the service quality at the ophthalmology unit. Again, it was found that most clients at the ophthalmology unit of the Nsawam government hospital are somewhat satisfied with the services rendered by the hospital. Finally, it was evidence from the study that all the service dimensions are key determinants for clients expect at the ophthalmology unit of the Nsawam government hospital. However, Tangibility and assurance recorded the highest values to suggest that they have significant effect on the clients’ expectation. It was recommended that the management of health facilities in the metropolis should, as matter of urgency, take drastic steps to improve upon the quality of care given at their facilities in order to improve upon the satisfaction level of patients because they are generally not satisfied with their services.

Source: UCC
Design and construction of a pneumatic transfer control unit for cyclic neutron activation analysis

Pneumatic Transfer System (PTS) is an auxiliary system of Ghana Research Reactor -1 (GHARR-1) to transfer sample capsule in and out of the reactor irradiation sites. The PTS controller unit design and construction was carried out because the transfer system was not designed to operate in cyclic Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) and as a result could not determine radionuclides whose half-lives are equal or less than 100 seconds. In addition, most of the components used to design the present one-short conventional NAA controller unit are outmoded and out of market, posing threat to future maintenance. To address these situations, a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) has been used to design and construct a control unit to facilitate a cyclic neutron activation analysis for the PTS. The design has been simulated successfully using a LOGO Soft Comfort software, version 8. Function block diagram programming language was used. The constructed control unit has been tested experimentally using 220 AC volts electric bulbs to represent solenoid valves. The results show that the sample- IN and sample-OUT bulbs come ON and go OFF to represent the solenoid valves’ opening and closing for sample transfer. The results obtained from the study would eliminate the difficulty of getting up-to-date components to replace the outmoded ones in the PTS control. The study has shown that the computer based PLC controller unit for PTS is capable of facilitating both cyclic and conventional NAA application for GHARR-1 and especially, the Miniature Neutron Source Reactors

Source: UCC
Design and construction of household ventilated improved pit latrines: gaps between conventional technical guidelines and construction practices in Cape Coast, Ghana

This study was conducted to identify the gaps that exist between ventilated improved pit (VIP) latrine construction practices in Cape Coast, Ghana, and conventional technical guidelines, and to assess how any non-compliance with technical guidelines influences the users ‘perception of odor and fly nuisances. An inspection guide was used to assess 127 VIP latrines, while a questionnaire survey was used to obtain feedback from 211 users of the latrines on their perception of odor and fly nuisance. Not a single latrine was found to be fitted with a vent pipe that satisfied the recommended diameter of 150 mm. Aside from the vent pipe diameter, only 5.5% of latrines complied with all four other design guidelines that were assessed. However, with the exception of failure to install insect screens on vent pipes, which was associated with the users seeing flies in the latrine cubicles, failure to comply with other guidelines did not necessarily lead to significantly higher user perception of the targeted nuisance. The findings of the study suggest that user perception of odor in their latrines may be more influenced by non-structural factors such as the management or cleanliness of the latrines rather than their structural designs

Source: UCC
Design and construction of pneumatic transfer system controller unit for Ghana MNSR

Pneumatic Transfer System (PTS) is an auxiliary system of Ghana Research Reactor-1 (GHARR-1) used to transfer sample capsule in and out of the reactor irradiation sites. The PTS’ controller unit design and construction were carried out because the original transfer system was not designed to operate in cyclic NAA. To address these situations, a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) has been used to design and construct a control unit to facilitate a cyclic neutron activation analysis (CNAA) application for GHARR1. The design has been simulated successfully using a LOGO Soft Comfort software, version 8. The constructed control unit has been tested experimentally using 220 AC volts electric bulbs to represent solenoid valves. The results show that the sample-IN and sample-OUT bulbs come ON and go OFF to represent the solenoid valves opening and closing for sample transfer. The study has shown that the computer based PLC controller unit for PTS is capable of facilitating both cyclic and conventional NAA application for the GHARR-1

Source: UCC
Design And Fabrication Of An Electronic Instrument For Testing And Characterizatlon Of Photomultiplier Tubes To Improve The Image Quality Of LFOV Siemens Gamma Camera

A photomultiplier tube (PMT) electronic instrument was designed and fabricated. High voltage (-2000 V) and low voltage supplies (+8, ± 12 V) were also designed and constructed for the instrument. 40 PMTs were tested for voltage gains to determine whether they were good or bad using photoelectric effect principle. Good and bad PMTs were identified during the measurement of their gains. The dark currents of the PMTs were measured with a Keithy Electrometer and PMTs with high dark current (10k ~ Ix jJA) were declared bad alongside the bad PMTs and were rejected. PMTs that were identified as good during the testing were then sorted by their gains and arranged on the NaI (Tl) detector of the gamma camera, The PMT with the highest gain was placed at the centre, and PMTs with the lowest gains were placed at the outer circle (edge) of the detector. The power supplies and the signal processing boards of the gamma camera were then aligned (calibrated) to bring their offset voltage to zero (±O.OOI V) and the PMTs HV pots were adjusted to bring their individual energy to the same photo-peak (140 Kev of the 99mTe radionuclide). Quality control pictures which were taken after alignment and fine-tuning the PMTs showed some high improvement of image quality. The central field of view (CFOV) Integral Uniformity was 1.64 %; and the Differential Uniformity was 1.13 %. The Useful field of view (UFOV) Integral and Differential Uniformities were 1.67 % and 1.26 %, respectively. The results compared to NEMA showed that the Gamma camera uniformity and linearity were highly improved .

Source: UCC
Design and fabrication of voltage stabilizer using 8051 microcontroller

This study deals with the design and fabrication of a single-phase voltage stabilizer using 8051 microcontroller. The basic building blocks for this design include an AT89S51 microcontroller, a solid-state relay (SSR), a stabilizer transformer, a diode-based bridge rectifier, a 7805 regulator, an ADC 0804 and LEDs to display the digital value of the input voltage. This design is based on the principle of varying the input voltage to obtain an output voltage that is considerably constant. Any time there is a change in the input mains supply voltage, a corresponding voltage is digitised and fed into the microcontroller which then switches on an appropriate SSR to add or subtract a winding to or from the transformer, so as to maintain the output voltage. Apart from the voltage stabilisation, the device also provides voltage protection against transient voltages that are harmful to industrial, laboratory and domestic appliances. The voltage differences from red, yellow and green windings were however higher. The sudden change in AC voltage was due to only two additional windings. As a result, three relays were used to select the output voltages as the input voltage changes. This situation can be avoided when a transformer with more windings (tappings) are used. A variable transformer was used to vary the AC input voltage from 270 V AC and the corresponding voltages on the ADC output and the AC outputs from the Red, Yellow and Green tappings of the transformer were recorded.

Source: UCC
Design and fabrication of water phantom for treatment verification in high dose rate (hdr) brachytherapy of the cervix

The aim of this study is to design and fabricate a local anatomical water phantom for dose distribution measurements during high dose rate brachytherapy of the cervix. Phantoms for dosimetry are used when there is a need to simulate the conditions of a procedure to measure dose at certain points of interest. It is dangerous to place a human being in a beam for dose measurements. Perspex (PMMA) sheets of thickness 6 mm and 10 mm were used in fabricating the phantom. The phantom designed is cuboid in shape with predominantly 6mm thickness of the perspex material. It has a height of 41 cm and breadth 31 cm. The pieces of Perspex material were glued to each other using Trichloromethane (chloroform) at room temperature. It is an organic compound with the formula CHCI3. A perspex sheet of 10 mm was used to make one end of the phantom thicker than the other. This was done to support the reconstruction box. Two thin film holder slabs of dimensions 31.5 × 2.8 cm 2 were fabricated by joining two sheets of 6 mm perspex together with the chloroform. A small cavity of 2.8 × 2.5 cm2 was created in the slab to represent the bladder and the rectum (organs at risk). These same cavities are meant to hold the detectors (films) in place for the measurement of dose to the organs at risk. The film holders with the cavities were then positioned vertically, but anterior and posterior to each other. Another holder, rectangular in shape was fabricated to hold the film holders. This holder was made from perspex sheets of thickness 6 mm and 10 mm with dimensions of 6.8 × 6.8cm2 .This is to allow for the distances between the bladder and the rectum to be varied during the dose measurements. It must be noted that the anatomical distance between the bladder and the rectum which are posterior and anterior to the cervix vary from patients to patients. Special clamping devices were fabricated to hold the applicators in a firm position during the intracavitary brachytherapy insertions. These special clamps were made by joining perspex of 10 mm thickness in a cuboid shape; a hole was drilled in them to enable a plastic screw to lock the applicators. The relative electron density of the phantom designed was determined to be 1.069 which is comparable to water. This makes the phantom suitable for dose distribution measurements

Source: UCC
Design and Implementation f a Smart Low Energy Ram Pump Solar - Powered Arduino Aquaponics (Slersopaa)

Aquaponics is a system of farming that combines both fish and crops within a closed-loop ecosystem. However, high setup costs (HSC), high operational costs (HOC), and high energy demands (HED) pose significant challenges, particularly in regions with limited access to electricity. In this thesis, Smart Low Energy Ram Pump Solar-Powered Arduino Aquaponics (SLERSOPAA) was designed. This innovative approach aims to reduce HSC, HOC, and HED of aquaponics by integrating bamboo grow beds, solar-powered Arduino automation (SPAA), and hydraulic ram pump (HRP), also known as ram pump (RP), into the system. The integration of HRP and SPAA results in a remarkable reduction of HED by 70.25%, while using of bamboo reduces the HSC by 80%. The effect of the reduced HED on water quality parameters in SLERSOPAA within the six months is: a potential hydrogen (pH) range of 7.22–8.05, dissolved oxygen (DO) range of 4.00–5.71 mg/L, electrical conductivity (EC) range of 1.30–1.81 mS/cm, and total dissolved solids (TDS) range of 0.986–1.160 g/L. Besides that, the results of growth rates for the following vegetables, such as hot pepper, tomato, cabbage, and cucumber, in just four weeks were reported. The growth rate of catfish was monitored closely. The obtained average mass of 209.3 g and length of 11.3 cm were recorded within three months. Aside from the bamboo reducing the HSC, it also provides the following antioxidant compounds, such as phenols, flavonoids, vitamin C, and E, which are natural alternatives for the developing functional foods and nutraceuticals within the system for vegetable growth. The SLERSOPAA offers a promising solution to food shortages, promotes clean energy usage, reduces household vulnerabilities, creates employment opportunities, and enhances resilience in sub-Saharan Africa.

Source: UCC
Design of a Comprehensive Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Experiment: Phase Variation Caused by Recombinational Regulation of Bacterial Gene Expression

Scientific experiments are indispensable parts of Biochem- istry and Molecular Biology. In this study, a comprehensive Biochemistry and Molecular Biology experiment about Sal- monella enterica serovar Typhi Flagellar phase variation has been designed. It consisted of three parts, namely, inducement of bacterial Flagellar phase variation, antibody agglutination test, and PCR analysis. Phase variation was observed by baterial motility assay and identified by anti- body agglutination test and PCR analysis. This comprehen- sive experiment can be performed to help students improve their ability to use the knowledge acquired in C 2014 by The Inter- Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Source: UCC
Design of capacitance measurement module for determining critical cold temperature of tea leaves

Critical cold temperature is one of the most crucial control factors for crop frost protection. Tea leaf's capacitance has a significant response to cold injury and appears as a peak response to a typical low temperature which is the critical temperature. However, the testing system is complex and inconvenient. In view of these, a tea leaf's critical temperature detector based on capacitance measurement module was designed and developed to measure accurately and conveniently the capacitance. Software was also designed to measure parameters, record data, query data as well as data deletion module. The detector utilized the MSP430F149 MCU as the control core and ILI9320TFT as the display module, and its software was compiled by IAR5.3. Capacitance measurement module was the crucial part in the overall design which was based on the principle of oscillator. Based on hardware debugging and stability analysis of capacitance measurement module, it was found that the output voltage of the capacitance measurement circuit is stable with 0.36% average deviation. The relationship between capacitance and 1/Uc2 was found to be linear distribution with the determination coefficient above 0.99. The result indicated that the output voltage of capacitance measurement module well corresponded to the change in value of the capacitance. The measurement error of the circuit was also within the required range of 0 to 100 pF which meets the requirement of tea leaf's capacitance

Source: UCC
Design of shea nut rotary roasting machine used for shea butter production in Ghana

Shea nuts are dominantly grown in the Northern region of Ghana. Studies have shown that shea nuts undergo hydrolytic destruction during traditional post- harvest processing and storage. Due to poor infrastructure, local women in the area go through extreme measures of stress to process shea nuts into shea butter coupled with their inability to control moisture, a factor for the high yield of shea butter. The sole aim of this paper is to propose the design of a rotary roaster for shea butter production in references to the oil quality and yield. A preliminary study was conducted on the shea nuts in relation to their thermal pre-treatment in terms of oil quality and yield in which certain physicochemical properties like free fatty acid values, acid values, and peroxide values were examined. This aided the design of the rotary roaster, which uses pellets of firewood as its fuel source. The machine is designed for a capacity of 60 kg/batch to reduce fresh shea nuts moisture content from 40% to an appreciable amount so as to increase the oil yield. The proposed materials for the construction of the machine are local materials that are affordable and will make the manufacture of the rotary roaster affordable for the local women in the Northern region of Ghana

Source: UCC