ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Technical feasibility study on Ilauko raw water reservoir to supplement groundwater supply to save, Glazoue and Dassa-Zoume

In Benin, several billion cubic meters of raw water goes directly into the sea every year, through rivers and streams. It is pertinent that the government is not able to have adequate sources of water supply in some parts of the country. The use of groundwater as source of water supply is the main practice. In Save, Glazoue and Dassa-Zoume, the sources of groundwater for the public water supply systems are fully utilised. Indeed, water shortages become worsened each year. It is estimated that potential water demand on the public systems during dry season is about 40% greater than supply and, also leakage in distribution network is about 20% of supply. This study, which examines the conditions under which Ilauko reservoir can be used to supplement the groundwater supply, has revealed that the reservoir can be used to supplement groundwater supply provided: The irrigatable land (under sugar cane cultivation) would not exceed 52% of total irrigable land. Present irrigated land is 23.6% of total inigable land. • Zone A plus B and half of C could be irrigated with the existing storage capacity • Above 52% of irrigable land reservoir capacity cannot meet the water demand for both water supply and irrigation. • The study further revealed that: • The quality of raw water in the reservoir is good for water supply. There is the need to provide minimum treatment. • Both groundwater and treated surface water can be mixed before distribution. • The recommended water treatment method is conventional method. A preliminary design of the unit processes for treatment is provided. It is important to observe that the solution provided envisages water supply to 100% of the population as opposed to the current 40% by SBEE.

Source: KNUST
Techniques in ceramic murals

Art educators and students in Ghana rely mostly on paper, canvas, oil paint, pastel and water colour, etc for picture making, the prices of these materials are so exhorbitent that most of the educational institutions are not able to purchase sufficient materials for meaningful academic work. This pro1m, coupled with the reluctance of school authorities to release funds to buy art materials, often results in conflicts between some headmasters and their art teachers. The problem is often compounded by the fact that moat art teachers are not versatile enough in their teaching, Then teachers therefore use thin financial and material inadequacy as an excuse to teach the areas they can conveniently handle or even not teach at all and rest on their oars, Meanwhile, they could tall on clay, wood or odds and ends which abound greatly in the Ghanaian environment to help the students enjoy their art lesson and become on conversant with those media for flee sake of variety. This project is an attempt to introduce techniques in making pictures on clay slabs for decoration, documenting intonation and as a tool for art teaching, learning and appreciation. It will especially serve as a guide for art tutors in Teacher Training Colleges in Ghana to make their teaching innovative and interesting. Solutions to problems likely to be met in tile making arid decoration have been provided in the report. It is hoped that researchers, educators and students alike will benefit from this project as we strive to make the educational reforms work. This will enable the students they turn out become resourceful, active and conversant with the use of a variety of media instead of being stuck to the use of paper, colour and brush for two dimensional art work.

Source: KNUST
Techno-economic analysis of a 2.5mw Grid-connected Solar Photovoltaic System at Navrongo in the Upper East Region of Ghana

This study presents the performance assessment of a 2.5MW utility scale grid-connected, ground mounted solar photovoltaic power plant installed at Navrongo, Ghana (100 53’N, 010 06‘W).The study uses the actual performance data (hourly energy output and environmental data from June 2013 to May 2016) from the Navrongo plant which has 8640 modules inclined at fixed angle of 12.50, five inverters and a power transformer which helps to connect the plant to the national grid. A total energy of 10643.3MWh was generated within the period under review with a yearly average of 3547.8MWh. Furthermore, the average daily reference yield, final yield, performance ratio, capacity factor and system efficiency of the PV installation over the reporting period were found as 5.92 h/day, 4.17 h/day, 70.4%, 17.2 and 11.53% respectively. These performance indicators are compared with those of countries like Italy, Crete, Morocco South Africa and Jordan. A simple payback period for the plant was found to be 7.2 years with carbon dioxide saving of 3852 metric tons. The findings from this study indicates that grid connected solar photovoltaic system for electricity generation is feasible in Ghana and could contribute significantly to Ghana’s electricity generation deficit without degrading the environment.

Source: KNUST
Techno-Economic analysis of stand alone solar pv systems for remote base stations in Ghana. (A case study at Abofrem vodafone cell site)

nformation and Communications Technologies (ICT) have become an important part of today’s global economy. ICT infrastructural development is developing at a very fast pace in Ghana. Growth is above the 1.1% average for Sub-Saharan Africa. The growth in the sector has meant a massive investment in telecommunication infrastructure such as base stations from telecom companies such as Vodafone, Millicom, Glo, Espresso, MTN etc. Hundreds of base stations have been installed all over the country. Currently base stations depend mainly on the national grid, with diesel generators as backups, for its power requirement. In some remote or hilly areas where there are no grid supplied electricity, base stations are usually powered with diesel fuelled generators since lengthy grid extensions may not be cost effective. In addition to high fuel delivery and consumption costs, maintenance of the generators can also be expensive in terms of parts and labour time working on the unit. There are also concerns about environmental pollution using diesel generators. Photovoltaic technology has the ability to convert solar energy into electricity consuming no fossil fuels, using no moving parts, creating no pollution and noise, and lasting for years with little maintenance. The environmental, noise, reliability and power availability benefits of the PV system make it an attractive option. Ghana, being a few degrees north of the equator, is endowed with enormous solar energy resource spread across the entire country. Daily solar radiation level ranges from 4 kWh/m2 to 6 kWh/m2. The annual sunshine duration ranges between 1800 to 3000 hours offering very high potential for grid connected and off grid applications. In this thesis work, the use of solar PV technology as a cost effective source of power for cellular base stations in remote or hilly areas, far off the national grid, is reviewed. RETScreen software is used to determine the technical and financial viability of the PV system. iv The study shows that even though the initial investment in solar PV is higher than conventional diesel engines, overtime it becomes more cost efficient. The NPV is positive which indicates a potentially feasible project. The Benefit-Cost (B-C) ratio is greater than 1 indicating a profitable project and an equity payback of 4.9 years.

Source: KNUST
Techno-economic analysis of waste-to-energy in an integrated green economy - Ghana.

Ever since the United Nation Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in 1992, sustainable development has been the all-embracing objective of the Member States. Green Economy has been proposed as a means for supporting sustainable progress. One proposition which has the abilities of fixing three of above problems even is using MSW as an energy supply to enhance power convey. This will not only reduce the volumes of dense excess going into landfills but will also maintain the eco-balance between the amounts of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere and its uptake by plants. The objectives of this study was therefore to assess the contemporary waste management systems in Ghana; to design a waste management system that identifies cost & environmental-effective when efficiently combining scientific and engineering tools to manage solid waste; and to conduct Techno-economic analysis (TEA) of Waste-To-Energy (WTE) pathways to estimate their economic viability and environmental sustainability. This was accomplished by using the NPV and DPI under different scenarios. Proposing WTE plant capacity similar to that of United States Palm Beach Renewable Energy Facility No. 2, the findings of this study reveals that: the current waste management is not environmentally sustainable because there are high emissions of hazardous volatile organic and chlorinated hydrocarbons from the landfill and open burning. This study therefore recommended the metropolis to collaborate and coordinate with the government to develop a waste treatment and disposal infrastructure such as United States – Palm Beach Renewable Energy Facility No.2. Also, there is the need for intensive public education, public alertness and public connexion to change the public assertiveness towards solid waste management in the metropolis for successful ISWM system.

Source: KNUST
Technology for utilising non-edible oilseeds as renewable energy resources for rural communities

Worldwide concerns over energy and environmental issues have necessitated research into regenerative energy and biomass resources such as oilseeds have become attractive for investigation as fuels. Non-edible oils from Carapa procera and Jatropha curcas have been extracted by aqueous and mechanical pressing methods and evaluated as fuels. Oil contents of Carapa and Jatropha oilseeds were (62.95 ± 0.82) % and (30.95 ± 0.85) % respectively. Pre-conditioning of Carapa oilseeds via moderate heating at 100°C for 6 hours was found to improve oil yields over higher temperatures (i.e. 180°C for 2 hours). Mechanical pressing of Carapa and Jatropha oilseeds using a portable hand-operated mini-screw press yielded better results than aqueous methods. Employing a meal to water ratio of 1:3 and boiling for 2½ hours yielded the highest amount of oil (i.e. 32.57 ± 1.42% efficiency) which was not significantly different (p> 0.05) from traditional processing methods (25-35%). Gradual heating during aqueous extraction was noted to improve oil yields over rapid heating and the probable influence of lipase enzymes in aqueous extraction has been implicated. Calorific values of Carapa and Jatropha oils were 41.27 MJ/KG and 39.6 MJ/KG respectively and these were comparable to values for diesel (i.e. 40.0 MJ/KG) and kerosene (i.e. 41.5 MJ/kg). Viscosity of Carapa oil was however high and indicative of probable problems of flow and atomization in diesel-type engines or lanterns (with respect to wick capillarity). Carapa oil was found to contain over 60% saturated fatty acids. Phospholipids contents of all extracted Carapa oils were rather low. Implication of lipases in the research revealed that lipases could be utilized to reduce the large molecular structures of the vegetable oils to improve flow characteristics although the use of lipases as viscosity reducers would be expensive.

Source: KNUST
Technology as a tool in enhancing Internal Organizational Communication to achieve Corporate Objectives

The study was carried out to investigate how Technology as a tool could enhance internal Organisational Communication to achieve Corporate Objective at Ghana Post Company Ltd, Head Quarters. The study aimed at providing information on technology as a tool in enchancing internal organisational Communication which can be used as a basis for formulating qualitative process indicators that could be utilized in evaluation. A Total of 100 people was used for the target population. A sample of 50 respondents comprising of people in management positions, supervisory positions and operations was chosen from Human Resource Management, Operations and Expedited Mail Services (EMS) departments using stratified sampling technigue.The statistical method used for the study was the simple frequency count statistics and percentages to generate the data for analysis. It was discovered among other things that most of the employees were anxiously waiting for the platform that would bring about confidentiality in sending messages, messages reaching its intended recipient on time without delays.Most respondents were aware that in this age and time, the use of ICT as a means of communication is much preferred than the traditional methods of communicating. With the modal age range between 31-40 years, it is expected that this generation of persons will be most likely exposed TO ICT and be more interested in the introduction of modern technology to enchance internal Communication within the organisation. The adoption of web portals as the means of delivering detailed reference information to employees. Another recommendation is the use of a self-service Human Resource Management ( HRM) application. Deploying a self-service solution, this will enable every member of staff access all their relevant information through a secure web interface

Source: KNUST
Technology, Its Application And Productivity Optimisation in Ghana: A Case Study

Background of the Study Technology has two major components, hardware (the tool that embodies the technology as a material or physical object), and software (the knowledge base for the tool)” (Rogers, 2003). Information technology has become pervasive in many Ghanaian organizations. Many view information technology innovations as strategic organizational tools. Researchers suggest that technology applications for example, computers, telecommunication services and software are the goals of most organizations. Others contend that the use of the technology application services can enable organizations to reduce its inefficiencies and errors in the job processes thus improving organizational performance.

Source: KNUST
Technology for utilising non-edible oilseeds as renewable energy resources for rural communities

Worldwide concern over energy and environmental issues has necessitated research into regenerative energy and biomass resources such as oilseeds have become attractive for investigation as fuels. Non-edible oils from Carapa procera and Jatropha curcas have been extracted by aqueous and mechanical pressing methods and evaluated as fuels. Oil contents of Carapa and Jatropha oilseeds were (62.95 ±. 0 • 82) % and (30.95 ± 0. 85) % respectively. Pre-conditioning of Carapa oilseeds via moderate heating at 1000C for 6 hours was found to improve oil yields over higher temperatures (i.e. 1800C for 2 hours). Mechanical pressing of Carapa and Jatroph2 oilseeds using a portable hand-operated mini-screw press yielded better results than aqueous methods. Employing a meal to water ratio of 1:3 and boiling for 2½ hours yielded the highest amount of oil (i.e. 32.57 ± 1.42% efficiency) which was not significantly different (p >0.05) from traditional processing methods (25-35%). Gradual heating during aqueous extraction was noted to improve oil yields over rapid heating and the probable influence of lipase enzymes in aqueous extraction has been implicated. Calorific values of Carapa and Jatropha oils were 41.27 MJ/KG and 39.6 MJ/KG respectively and these were comparable to values for diesel (i.e. 40.0 MJ/KG) and kerosene (i.e. 41.5 MJ/kg). Viscosity of Carapa oil was however high and indicative of probable problems of flow and atomization in diesel-type engines or lanterns (with respect to wick capilarity). Carapa oil was found to contain over 60% saturated fatty acids. Phospholipid contents of all extracted Carapa oils were rather low. Implication of lipases in the research revealed that lipases could be utilized to reduce the large molecular structures of the vegetable oils to improve flow characteristics although the use of lipases as viscosity reducers would be expensive.

Source: KNUST
Technology-enhanced teaching and learning: a case of the faculty of Art in Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

Integrating technology into the teaching and learning environment has been a challenge for Ghanaian Universities. Delivery of instructions is mainly instructor-led, with partial or no student-lecturer electronic connection and the undergraduate departments at the Faculty of Art, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology are not an exception. Based on this, the researcher adopted a technology-enhanced course model (hybrid course model) that facilitated teaching and learning in large class sizes. The Educational design research under qualitative research design was used. Questionnaires and interviews were used to examine students and lectures proficiency, resources and readiness for teaching and learning with identified technologies. Convenience, purposive and proportional stratified sampling techniques were adopted; sampling 251 respondents–246 second year undergraduate students and 5 lecturers. The introduction of technologies into the classroom encouraged active learning by engaging students in the process. Technological additions to the teaching environment included Tablet PCs, wireless network access and social learning platforms. These individual technologies had the potential to change the classroom dynamics and fostered new teaching and learning approaches. Hence the introduction of the hybrid course model boosted student-instructor interactivity, students became motivated active learners and level of student engagement was increased. The data analysis revealed that, there is a high potential of using digital technologies to augment the traditional teaching method with the end objective of increasing the level of student engagement, motivation and interaction in large classes.

Source: KNUST
Tema Cultural Centre

‘Society has only one law, and that is custom’ – Hammerton “Man yields to custom and bows to fate – in all things ruled, mind, body and estate” – Crabbe The culture of custom embodies the acts, belief and social institutions and other characteristics of a community or race. As much as the culture is neither indiidua1istic nor does it depend on unborn instincts - it is purely social intervention. Across the world, different countries have different indigenous cultural practices. In a country like Ghana, each of the various tribes has an identifiable culture. In this twenty first century with increased development coupled with migration and resettlement, new townships built from scratch have become necessary. For such new townships, with settlers from various parts of the country, can we identify a singular culture? Or in this urban conglomeration with a variety of influences, is it more realistic to play on allunous and metaphors? A statement has to be made and that is what I have done. I only hope it will be appreciated by all and sundry.

Source: KNUST
Tema Development Corporation (T. D. C.) Head Office Complex

The study and practice of Architecture is an essential commodity in changing man’s environment to suit his needs. That is why architects were among the pioneers of the global economy: the world without frontiers where governments, financiers and consultants coalesce on any continent to provide the research and technological know-how that produces bridges, dams, airports, new cities and great buildings. For all concerned the mechanism of this forming is a great generator of public wealth. It is with this regard for the above reasons that the topic, “Tema Development Corporation (T.D.C.) Head offices complex” has been chosen, in order to seek ways of redefining a befitting shelter for their activities which is geared towards an important mission of developing the harbour city of Tema, as a gateway to Ghana. It is hoped that this study besides its academic dimension would prove to be of immense social benefit to our environment, even though attempts to combine forces of most design thesis, for one reason or another, have come to nothing. Given the odds of this kind, where most thesis projects exist only in beautiful’ masterplan proposals, it is still hoped that their undecided future would instill an awareness of the potentials for our environment. For a better appreciation of this study it will be worth gaining an insight into the historical factors that have given birth to the establishment of T.D.C.

Source: KNUST
Tema Sports Complex

The design thesis is to redevelop the Tema Sports Stadium into a complex, that is, one ma5or sport.ing activity combined with a variety of minor sporting activities. The scope of the urban renewal taking place in the municipality is to overhaul all infrastructure and amenities in the municipality. The redevelopment of the sports stadium will be within this context, thus the provision of a standard sporting facility. The redevelopment scheme will be limited to a detailed design of the out-door sporting facility, but the design will generally touch on all the various sports activities provided. METHODOLOGY: In accomplishing this scheme relevant data will be sought, interviews, research, measurements will be made and lastly photographs will be taken for visual impressions. The relevant data gathered will be documented, analysed and proposals made for a comprehensive design solution. LIMITATIONS: The limitations to this design thesis was the gathering of relevant data for synthesis from the National Sports Council, on monthly income generated by the Sports Stadium and the reallocation of a new site for the vast development of the sports complex, from the Tema Development Corporation

Source: KNUST