ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Community School - Taifa

Through this thesis, it has been possible to create that interesting aid stimulating environment to sustain the interest of the child and to lure the child who dislikes leaving home to cone to school. The design has the advantage of splitting the large school population into smaller courts and families aid then bringing them together in different hierarchy at’ sixes according to the activity and encouraging socialization wherever possible. Apart from formal teaching spaces, facilities have been provided which will enable pupils and students to develop their body and manipulative and aesthetic skills. A wide scope has been provided for children to appreciate and imbibe the Ghanaian culture whilst at the same time gaining exposure to modern trends end civilization. The medium of instruction shell be English Language from class one to improve the standard of spoken English. Because of rapid changes in a educational demands, the school has been planned to allow flexibility and adaptability of the spaces, the classroom unit and the school as a whole affording the same sense of natural security and intimacy with is which the child is familiar at home Another important consideration has been the issue of affordability which baa influenced the planning, choice of materials, architectural design and construct ion details. Where there is a conflict between educational a rid cost considerations a sensible balance has been sought.

Source: KNUST
A community survey on the factors influencing the utilization of skilled delivery services in the offinso south

The fifth Millennium Development Goal (MDG-5) is to improve maternal health by targeting a reduction in maternal mortality ratios by 75% between 1990 and 2015, and increasing the proportion of all births assisted by skilled attendants to at least 90% globally by 2015. Progress towards these targets seems to have slowed down and even stagnated in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa where many women continue to deliver at home without skilled assistance. The Ghana Demographic Health Survey (GDHS) 1988- 2003 reports for instance show that for over two decades, the percentage gain in skilled assistance was just six points, rising from 41% in 1988 to 47 % in 2003. The Offinso District which lies in the Ashanti region of Ghana has observed rising trends in its maternal mortality ratio (MMR) figures over the past three years with a steady decline in the proportion of ANC attendants who deliver in health facilities and thus receive skilled assistance. Marternal Mortality Ratio has risen from 140/100 000 in 2004 to 210/100 000 in 2006 and skilled attendance has declined from 92% to 81% over the same period. To determine the factors influencing the utilization of skilled delivery services in the Offinso district of Ghana and identify the barriers that pregnant women encounter in their bid to access delivery. A descriptive cross sectional study was done between September and October 2008 by administering a structured questionnaire to 400 women between the ages of 15-49 years who had delivered within 12months prior to the survey. Socio-demographic, household level, community, pregnancy care and delivery related factors were collected and analysed. A majority, (97%) of respondents attended ANC at least once, and another 80% of them attended four times or more. Only 63% had skilled assistance at delivery with the rest delivering at home. Barriers cited include transportation (27%); money (23%); short labour (22%) and socio-cultural (11%). Urban residency, (contrast rural) odds ratio (OR)=4.32 (2.82-6.63); women with more than basic formal education, (contrast less) OR=3.55 (2.33-5.40); women living in proximity to a health facility, (contrast living afar) OR=3.60 (1.90-6.72); with relatively higher income (compared to lesser) OR=7.10 (3.7- 13.7) and respondents who paid four or more ANC visits during pregnancy (in contrast to those who paid fewer) OR=8.52 (4.8-15.1) all showed statistical association with the utilization of skilled assistance during labour. ANC coverage is high but delivery care coverage has stagnated at 61% since 2003 GDHS. There are still significant rural urban disparities, and women with lower education, lower monthly earnings and living far from health facilities face challenges accessing skilled care and hence deliver at home. Transportation, money and socio cultural barriers need to be overcome to improve delivery care coverage in district.

Source: KNUST
Community-Based Management of Acute Malnutrition Programme: Rural and Urban Maternal Socio-Demographic and Implementation Differentials in Ghana

Malnutrition is a public health problem in Ghana, and is estimated to contribute indirectly to more than half of under-five deaths. This study was designed to describe how implementation of the Community based Management of Malnutrition (CMAM) programme in Ghana differs in the rural and urban parts of the country. A mixed methods approach was used in a community-based survey that studied 497 mothers/caregivers and under-five pairs quantitatively, 25 health service providers qualitatively, and 25 mothers caregivers qualitatively. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively with Stata 14.0 (Stata Corp, Texas, USA) while the qualitative data were analysed thematically with Atlas.ti, version 7.5 (Scientific Software Development GmbH, Berlin). Programme implementation was assessed using the following variables: availability of CMAM tools, availability of CMAM supplies, organization of out-patient therapeutic and supplementary feeding programmes, personnel availability, availability of community-based components of CMAM and maternal experience with CMAM services. While the number of children alive, provision of nutrition education and counselling, and demonstration of food preparation significantly influenced program effectiveness (p<0.05) in the urban site, no variables were found to do similar in the rural district. The rural facilities were more likely than the urban ones to be without tools. Less than 10% of mothers/caregivers in both study sites acknowledged the availability of the community-based components of CMAM. Programme implementation in the two study districts is poor; in order to ensure that the CMAM intervention translates into a reduced malnutrition burden among children under-five in Ghana, the programme implementation should be revised to address the identified shortcomings.

Source: KNUST
Compact-open topology and application to approximation by polynomials.

Polynomials are widely known by mathematicians and they are very useful. In many situations, we find that in topology and real analysis, we have to use continuous functions, especially continuous real-valued functions on a closed interval. The continuous functions form a very large class of functions. Often there is the need to find a smaller class of functions which are dense in the space of continuous functions. One such useful example is the classical Weierstrass approximation theorem. The purpose of this thesis is to study a modem generalization of the Weierstrass approximation theorem and find an appropriate proof for it. Stone’s theorem provides an elegant or a well-designed generalization and a proof. Therefore this project deals with Stone’s theorem and its application to Weierstrass approximation theorem. The main tool used is compact-open topology. Hence, the need for the idea of topological spaces, metric spaces, the separation axioms and compactness of the spaces.

Source: KNUST
Company share valuation: the cases of Atwima Kwanwoma Rural Bank Ltd. & Okomfo Anokye Rural Bank Ltd.

Pricing is a key factor in the sourcing of long-term funds. It is a very major aspect of the valuation of stock. Stock price is determined primarily by demand and supply. Individual stock prices generally rise and fall in concert with collective expectations for each firm’s profit. This study examines the various values and the corresponding prices per share of the two rural banks viz Atwima Kwanwoma Rural Bank and Okomfo Anokye Rural Bank using three methods or approaches of stock valuation. The various values obtained from different methods were weighted to arrive at the weighted market values of the banks. The banks’ goodwill were also determined. The overall market value of each bank was obtained from addition of the weighted market value and the goodwill. The major theories that constitute the framework for the study include the fundamentalist’s approach to stock valuation, the Discounted Cashflow valuation, Asset Based and Earning approaches to valuation. Others include the Profit Opportunity Approach, Bank Valuation, Market Comparables and Financial Statement Interpretation. It is hoped that the findings of the study shall be useful to Board of Directors and management of rural banks, researchers and the general public.

Source: KNUST
Comparative analysis of breast cancer characteristics in young premenopausal and postmenopausal women inGhana

Breast cancer is increasingly common among young women in Ghana. BCa is heterogeneous with unique traits that impact causes, prognostic, and predictive outcomes of patients before and after menopause. However, limited evidence exists on diferences between young premenopausal (YPM) and postmenopausal cases in Ghana. This study compared breast tumour characteristics between YPM women (under 35 years) and postmenopausal women. We conducted a prospective cross-sectional study involving 140 BCa-diagnosed women at the Breast Care Clinic of Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Kumasi from November 2019 to June 2021. Thirty-one (22.1%) of participants were YPM and 109 (77.9%) were postmenopausal. The median ages for YPM and postmenopausal were 32.0 (range: 25.0–35.0) and 57.0 (48.0–86.0) respectively. Invasive carcinoma was the most common histological type (97.1%). Left tumour location was the most frequent in both groups (51.6% for YPM and 51.8% for postmenopausal). Lumps detected were frequently in the outer upper quadrant in both groups (61.3% and 56.0%). The majority of the YPM women (80.7%) and postmenopausal women (87.0%) had stage III and IV diseases. Most YPM (64.5%) and postmenopausal women (64.4%) exhibited triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Both YPM 13 (56.6%) and postmenopausal participants 40 (56.3%) exhibited a predominantly partial response to neo-adjuvant chemotherapy but YPM women (21.7%) experienced disease progression than the postmenopausal women (12.7%). The study highlights consistent tumour characteristics and advanced clinical stages at diagnosis in both groups with a higher prevalence of TNBC. TNBC and HER2+subtypes respond better to Anthracycline based neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Establishing Breast Care Clinics in district and regional hospitals for early detection is crucial and further studies are warranted to understand the higher TNBC prevalence in black Africans and re-evaluate breast education programs to address the persistently late presentations.

Source: KNUST
Comparative Analysis Of Convergence Times Between Ospf, Eigrp, Is-Is And Bgp Routing Protocols In A Network

In a computer network, the transmission of data is based on the protocol which selects the best routes between any two nodes. Different types of protocols are applied to specific network environment. Routing protocol is one of the significant factor in determining the quality of IP communication. One of the factors that discriminate different protocols is convergence time. This time is one of the key factors which determines performance of the dynamic routing protocol. The time of convergence of a network is very essential and networks that converges faster are considered to be very reliable. Routing protocols specify how routers communicate with each other by disseminating information. The router has prior knowledge about the adjacent networks which can assist in selecting the routes between nodes. There are different types of protocols in the IP networks. Four typical types of routing protocol are chosen as the simulation samples: OSPF, BGP, IS- IS and EIGRP The primary objective of this research is to deliver an in depth understanding of OSPF, BGP, IS-IS and IGRP and compare the convergence duration of these protocols. A more detailed description of these four routing protocols will be included. In this thesis, GNS3 will be used to simulate OSPF, BGP, IS-IS and EIGRP in order to compare their attributes and performance. According to the convergence we can find out which protocols are suitable for different sizes and types of network.

Source: KNUST
Comparative analysis of financial performance of the three state owned banks in Ghana

The study examined the financial performance of GCB Bank Limited, National Investment Bank Limited (NIB LTD.), and Agricultural Development Bank Limited (ADB) from 2004 to 2014 using financial ratios and indicators. Annual data from financial reports and statements were employed to compute all performance indicators and ratios. The results showed that GCB Bank and ADB were more profitable compared with NIB. All the three banks were more effective and sound in their use of deposits. The results further showed that GCB maintained good books among all the three banks. All the banks were sufficient in terms of their minimum capital adequacy ratio of 10% except NIB which had 8.66% in 2008. Recommendations offered in the study were that the banks should be creative and innovative in asset and product creation to be able to increase their total income. They should also try and reduce their cost of operations whiles increasing their total income. Not all, these banks should have a strong and well-resourced credit risk department and a loan monitoring and rigorous loan recovery team. Finally, ADB and NIB should be listed on Ghana Stock Exchange to enable them raise enough capital and dilute the percentage of the government’s shareholding.

Source: KNUST
A Comparative Analysis of Financial Performance of Selected Credit Unions in Ashanti Region

The study sought to assess the financial performance of Saint Peter's Co¬operative Credit Union (SPCCU), OTEC Co-operative Credit Union (OCCU) and Kumasi Polytechnic Co-operative Credit Union (KPCCU), all members of the Ashanti regional chapter of Credit Unions Association (CUA) of Ghana. The three unions were purposively selected to represent the composition of the credit union industry in the region. SPCCU is a community-based parish credit union (open-bond union); OCCU is la community-based secular credit union (open- bond union); and KPCCU is a work-place- based (closed-bond union). Specifically, a content analysis of the audited financial statements of SPCCU, OCCU and KPCCU from 2003 to 2007 financial years was done in five financial performance dimensions: effective financial structure; rates of return and cost; signs of growth; operational efficiency and liquidity. Line graphs and a bar chart have been used to demonstrate trends of performance of the three credit unions. Notable among the findings are that the three credit unions experienced an undulating performance during the five-year period and that the community-based credit unions maintained an effective financial structure during the five-year period. Among the conclusions of the study are that workplace-based closed bond credit unions in Ashanti region are growing faster than the community-based open credit unions and that community-based credit unions are more operationally efficient than workplace-based credit unions in Ashanti region. Prominent among the recommendations of the study are that credit unions in Ashanti region should reduce their lending rates and that management of the community-based unions should intensify their promotional campaigns to facilitate the rapid growth of the unions.

Source: KNUST
Compactness and its applications

In this study, we explore the concept of compactness as a core of general topology. Compactness together with Continuity and Connectedness form the so called 3 Cs of general topology. We delve into some of the useful theorems in general topology before singling out the less intuitive topic of compactness touching on almost every aspect of the topic. This work does not shy away from the usefulness of compactness in mathematical analysis and hence explains its application therein. The study nally looks at an example of the applications of compactness in a real life situation.

Source: KNUST
Comparative Analysis Of K-Means Data Mining And Outlier Detection Approach For Network-Based Intrusion Detection

New kind of intrusions are detected every day, which network administrators are unable to discover, let alone react to. Thus, research community is constantly seeking for solutions in a form of proper training, required for the Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) to learn about the new types of attacks very frequently. Motivated by this fact, this study examines the efficiency rate of K-means data mining and Outlier detection techniques that detects anomalies present in a network traffic flow. Their efficiency rate was measured by comparing various performance metrics by means of various confusion matrix in determining which one had a higher classification rate and low false alarm rate. The study also examined the amount of time and resource required by both IDS techniques to detect an intrusion. For an IDS to have an accurate declaration of intrusion, the FPR and FNR should be low with maximum CR as seen in the results. Thus K-means is more accurate in identifying more number of TCP injections and UDP flooding flows than outlier detection. The outcome signifies that k-means algorithm consumes 10% to 20% of the CPU and takes approximately 5-10 seconds to execute. On the other hand, outlier detection consumed 50% to 60% of the CPU and takes approximately 40-50 seconds to execute on all the datasets. In addition, the study observed that k-means took an almost negligible amount of RAM as compared to outlier detection which consumed nearly 40% of RAM available freely during its execution. Overall, K-means was more accurate and precise and has better classification rate than outlier detection in intrusion detection in network traffic flows. Also, the amount of CPU and RAM consumed by outlier detection is much more than K-means which make outlier detection more time

Source: KNUST
A comparative analysis of project management delivery in the financial sector: the role of stakeholders

The objective of this study is to examine the role stakeholders play in the delivery of financial products and service packages. To achieve this objective, the study focused on identifying the stakeholders of the financial services industry, and they included employees and management, customers and clients, competing financial institutions, regulatory agencies, contractors and consultants, civil society groups and community leadership, and the general public. The study also focused on establishing the roles performed by the various constituents towards the development and delivery of financial products and services. Another area explored was the critical success factors for effective management of stakeholders within the financial services industry. Lastly, challenges inherent in the management of stakeholders towards project delivery were examined. The study targeted employees within five (5) financial institutions in the Sunyani Municipality of the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana, and comprised 50 employees. A structured survey was used to collect data from respondents and information gathered on their views was analyzed and the results attained revealed that regulatory agencies, customers and clients, and employees and management were considered to be the most important stakeholder groups. The study also established the need to appreciate certain factors that are critical for the successful management of stakeholder. It further exposed the challenges inherent in managing stakeholders, with respondents agreeing that unplanned changes in project scope and design as well as poor stakeholder representation in decision making were the major challenges faced in product and service design and delivery. The study concluded with recommendations for improving stakeholder engagement practices and suggestions for future studies in the study area.

Source: KNUST
Comparative analysis of technical efficiency and profitability of cabbage production in selected urban, peri-urban and rural areas of Ashanti Region.

Resources use efficiency varies from one production environment to the other. The areas of resource abundance are not necessarily areas of highest resource use efficiency and vice versa. The study examined and compared the technical efficiency and profitability of cabbage farmers in selected rural, peri-urban areas of the Ashanti Region. Using a pre-test structured questionnaires, data were collected from a total of 230 cabbage farmers in the study area....

Source: KNUST
Comparative analysis of solar thermal box cooking systems and solar photo voltaic box cooking systems

This study presents experimental study of three solar cookers with reference to a black cooking pot, put in the open sun. During the tests, outputs are recorded and the results compared. The three types were; a solar flat cooker, a solar inclined cooker and a photovoltaic cooker. The flat and inclined cookers were set up in the sun at the same time. Three black pots were filled with a liter of water each. Two of them were placed inside the solar cookers. The third pot was left in the open sun. Temperature loggers were placed inside the water and temperature probes were also placed in the heat sink of the cooking systems. Data was recorded every 10 minutes. In another setup, a litre of water was placed in the solar Photovoltaic cooker. A temperature logger was placed in the water and the data recorded. The Solar photovoltaic box cooking system attained the highest temperature of 101 °C at 105 minutes from the start of experiment, followed by the solar flat cooker at 55.7 °C at 170 minutes at an average irradiance value of 323 W. The solar oven had 46.9 °C at 70 minutes at a solar irradiance value of 485 W. The reference pot recorded 38.3 °C at 90 minutes and 485 W radiation. Solar flat box cooking system was the most efficient cooker attaining an efficiency of 44.6 % followed by the inclined cooker at 28.7 % and the least, the PV cooker being the least efficient at 18 % .

Source: KNUST
Comparative analysis of the performance of Equities (Stock) and Treasury Bills in Ghana

One very important function of financial markets is helping to channel funds from surplus units to deficit units at appropriate prices. Despite the existence of an organized stock exchange in Ghana, many Ghanaians are so much impressed with the observable high interest rate in treasury bills that many believe treasury bills offer high returns than other securities. The study compared risk and returns characteristics of stock exchange traded shares and treasury bills in Ghana to find out which of the two instruments gives better rewards to investors. We made use of annualized returns of these instruments and applied statistical measures of average annual returns, standard deviations and co-efficient of variations for the analysis. Comparing investor A (GSE All-Share Investment) and investor B (Treasury Bills Investment) as sample study for the period of 1991 to 2005, it was revealed that GSE All-Shares Index has higher risk and higher return. This result confirms the general expectation of the relationship between rate of returns and the risk associated with investment – the higher the risk, the higher the return. The Study further revealed that the market performance of both treasury bills and GSE All-Share Index outperformed the rate at which prices were rising (average inflation rate) for the period 1991 – 2005. Additionally investors have been adequately rewarded for bearing risk as stock exchange traded shares for the period under study returned a positive average annual risk (market risk) premium of 11.81% over treasury bills.

Source: KNUST