ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
The nature and extent of the employment problem in rural areas - a case study of Ayerede settlement in Nkoranza District

The population in most developing countries is growing fast. Since the majority of the population is living in rural areas, the absolute population increase comes from the rural areas. The predominant agricultural sector cannot grow as fast as the population and hence cannot provide enough employment and incomes to the growing population. This thesis underscores the severity of the employment situation in developing countries and gives some explanation on the nature of the employment problem in rural areas. It provides a brief discussion on the concepts of employment examines the role of employment in rural development and briefly looks into the sources and causes of employment problems. A sample survey of households in Ayerede settlement within Nkoranza district was carried out so as to examine the nature and give an indication as to the extent of the employment problem in rural areas. The study was made possible through collection and analysis of primary and secondary data. The main rural employment problems identified include low incomes, seasonal lack of employment, and considerable underemployment. Based on this background, a series of recommendations aimed at solving the problem were also made. The main issues covered include; increasing productivity of the agricultural sector and creating non-agricultural employment. The strategy is based on utilisation of existing potentials.

Source: KNUST
Navigating taxpayers attitude: Exploring support for urban sanitation surcharge in Kumasi

Background: Urban sanitation challenges persist in Ghana, prompting Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to explore innovative funding mechanisms such as surcharges to fund sanitation services. This study assesses property owners’ attitudes toward the imposition of sanitation surcharge for pro-poor sanitation improvement in the Kumasi Metropolis. Method: An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted among 424 property owners in the Kumasi metropolis. Structured questionnaires were utilized to solicit information from respondents using multi-stage sampling techniques. Results: Findings indicated that 36.1% of respondents were willing to pay the sanitation surcharge, while 63.9% opposed its implementation in the Metropolis. Property ownership and support for a sanitation surcharge were associated with higher odds of willingness to pay. Participants paying property rates had decreased odds of supporting the sanitation surcharge. Factors associated with pro-poor spending support included age (61-80 years) [AOR = 1.81, 95%CI = 1.60-3.82] and willingness to pay sanitation surcharge [AOR = 11.07, 95%CI = 6.63-18.49]. Protective factors against supporting pro-poor spending included residing in medium-class communities [AOR = 0.25, 95%CI = 0.08-0.81], perceiving improvement in sanitation status [AOR = 0.41, 95%CI = 0.21-0.81) and having a home toilet facility (OR = 0.65, 95%CI = 0.36-0.95). Conclusion: The study revealed a nuanced landscape where concerns about fund utilization, perceived tax burdens, and trust in local institutions significantly shape public sentiment. To enhance public acceptance and participation, policymakers should prioritize transparent communication to build trust and convey the effective utilization of funds from the sanitation surcharge.

Source: KNUST
The Nature of the Logistic Function as a Nonlinear Discrete Dynamical System

The logistic equation is a model of population growth rst introduced by Pierre- Francios Verhulst. This model is a continuous form that depends on time and a possible way of restructuring this continuous form of the equation into a discrete equation is known as the logistic map. The discrete logistic equation as a model is written as: xn+1 = rxn(1􀀀xn) where n = 0; 1; 2; 3:::; xn is the state at the discrete time n andr is the control parameter which operate within any given range and as a very simple example for nonlinear map in dynamics, it changes in behavior moving from one regime to another regime depends on the adjustment or variation of the control parameter. For some parameter values of r the logistic map display periodic behaviour (period-1 orbits \ xed point", period-2 orbits and period-n orbits), and for others, it displays chaotic behavior. This research seeks to explore and look into the behavior of the equation as r the parameter keeps increasing within a speci ed interval 1 to 4 inclusive [1, 4]. A geometrical procedure to examine the logistic function behavior through graphical analysis irrespective of the variations of the parameter r gives a pictorial nature of the map. In the displayed of the logistic map into periodic-orbits points through iterating, it shows the attracting and repelling behavior which depend on the parameter values. Beyond period-2 orbits are various kinds of period doubling that shows the logistic map behavior from the periodic regime into chaotic. Diagrammatically, bifurcation as commonly used in nonlinear dynamics gives a better behavior of the logistic map in dynamics as the control parameter r is varied. So, ideally in this research I seek to determine each periodic solution of range of the parameter r values by performing analysis for the periodic orbits so as to get a very good understanding of the bifurcation that are encountered in the logistic map. Chaotic regime as the nal regime of the logistic map as observed in the working lies on the increase of the parameter r within a certain range or for a particular value. Through higher periodic oscillating unstableness occurs leading to chaos, and it shows that the nal behavior of the logistic map is the chaotic regime. In studying the logistic map as a good and a perfect model into chaos, the concepts of iteration and orbits was also studied carefully as a foundation to the build-up of the main work. Work on iterating function and orbits were studied vigorously. Hence concluding that iterations occur when a particular function is evaluated over and over with its outputs starting with an initial inputs, the outputs obtained from each evaluation form the orbits in sequential order.

Source: KNUST
The need for training in the preparation of teaching and learning materials for students of French in Ghana’s Colleges of Education

This study was conducted on the need for training in the preparation of Teaching and Learning Materials to students of French in Mount Mary College of Education at Somanya, and Wesley College of Education in Kumasi. The qualitative research design with descriptive research methods were used for the research. The accessible population for this study consisted of 30 first year students and 50 second year students of French in each of two sampled Colleges. One tutor and the Head of Department of each of the French department of the two Colleges were also selected and interviewed. The findings revealed that teacher trainees of French do not offer Visual Arts even though they would teach to their pupils in the Basic schools French lessons which need some pictures and lettering to enhance the pupils’ understanding. Consequently, it was realized that knowledge and skills in Basic Design, Drawing Techniques and Lettering would facilitate the preparation of Teaching and Learning Materials to enable the students of French to enhance the quality of their teaching and also when they go to the schools they would be posted to. The study recommends that Visual Arts should be re-introduced into the French Curriculum as it used to be during the era of 3-year Post Secondary teacher training programme in the Colleges of Education in Ghana to equip the French teacher trainees with skills in preparation of teaching and learning materials for effective teaching in Basic schools.

Source: KNUST
Nephroprotective and hepatoprotective effects of terminalia ivorensis a. chev. ethanolic stem bark extract on sprague dawley rats

Terminalia ivorensis has been West African ethnomedicine for the management of several diseases. For instance, to treat ulcers, wounds, general body pains, hemorrhoids, diuresis, malaria and yellow fever. In this study, T. ivorensis was assessed for potential nephroprotective and hepatoprotective actions using potassium dichromate and gentamycin as nephrotoxicant and hepatotoxicant respectively in Sprague Dawley rats. The extract (100 – 5000 mg/kg) administered to the rats for 24 hours in an acute toxicity study did not show undesirable effects on the general behavior of rats and no death was recorded. The LD50 was estimated to be above 5000 mg/kg of extract. In the nephroprotective study, administration of potassium dichromate (20 mg/kg; sc) caused elevation of creatinine from the control value of 27.83 μmL/L to 358.70 μmL/L. Urea levels also increased from 5.09 mmol/L to 56.55 mmol/L. Administration of the T. ivorensis extract with the nephrotoxicant reduced the elevated creatinine to 123.70 μmL/L and urea to 27.81 mmol/L at the highest dose of 1000 mg/kg of the extract. The reduced levels of endogenous antioxidants observed with potassium dichromate treatment, was also significantly reversed by T. ivorensis extract. Similar results were obtained with gentamycin as the nephrotoxicant. In the hepatoprotective investigations using gentamycin as hepatotoxicant, T. ivorensis the elevated levels of AST, ALT and GGT from 985.5 U/L to 361.2 U/L, 218.8 U/L to 126.2 U/L and 4.6 U/L to 2.0 U/L respectively. The Histopathological studies confirmed that T. ivorensis extract is nephroprotective and hepatoprotective in rats by a mechanism possibly related to the antioxidant effect of the extract.

Source: KNUST
Network and Systems Security Assessment using penetration testing in a university environment: The case of Central University College.

In an organization, irrespective of its size and volume, one of many roles played by the Network and System Administrators is to improve the security of computer infrastructure. However, with increasing complexity of information systems and the rapid development of new vulnerabilities and exploits, sometimes even a fully patched system or network may have security flaws. There are different security measures which administrators can deploy to secure the network or system, however, the best way truly to prove that the network or system is secure, is to perform penetration testing. Penetration testing can provide Network and System Administrators with a realistic assessment of security posture by identifying the vulnerabilities and exploits which exist within the computer network infrastructure. Penetration testing uses the same principles as hackers to penetrate computer network infrastructure and thereby verify the presence of flaws and vulnerabilities and help to confirm the security measures. The aim of this thesis is to explore the use of penetration testing in the assessment of network infrastructure of Central University College, and to demonstrate attacks and intrusion into the network infrastructure. Vulnerability assessment is presented as a part of the penetration test also types, classifications and phases of a penetration test are described. Some free and open source tools (Nmap, Nessus, OpenVAS and Metasploit), techniques to simulate possible attacks that Network and System Administrators can use against their network or systems are presented. After the theoretical part these tools are used to exploit discovered vulnerabilities in the University‘s Network Infrastructure by using appropriate publicly known exploits. This work shows that if penetration testing is conducted in a methodological manner it could assist Systems and Network administrators improve the security of their network infrastructure.

Source: KNUST
Neonatal hearing screening at mother and baby unit, KATH

The purpose of the study was done to identify hearing loss in neonates with risk factors at Mother and Baby Unit, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital .The research design and sampling method for the study was descriptive survey and purposive sampling. 100 neonates were under study consisted 55 (55%) males and 45(45%) females. Self-administered questionnaire designed for the purpose of providing a general description of neonates was used as data collection tool. The questionnaire provided for acquisition of important information identifying risk factors and identifying the awareness level of neonatal hearing screening by parents/caregivers and were self – administered Neonates were screened with the gsi Grason-Stadler Corti OAE system and their results were recorded. The automated OAE results of the initial screening as well as follow-up results were recorded on the questionnaire sheet. Seventy seven percent of the neonates77 (77%) passed the hearing screening, 4(4%) were referred in both ears, 3 (3%) of them could not be tested, 9 (9%) passed in right ear whilst 7(7%) passed in left ear only. An increased awareness amongst parents/caregivers and the general public are crucial for the long-term feasibility of such a programme

Source: KNUST
Network intrusion detection and countermeasure selection in virtual network (NIDCS)

Intrusion in a network or a system is a problem today as the trend of successful network attacks continue to rise. Intruders can explore vulnerabilities of a network system to gain access in order to deploy some virus or malware such as Denial of Service (DOS) attack. In this work, a frequency-based Intrusion Detection System (IDS) is proposed to detect DOS attack. The frequency data is extracted from the time-series data created by the traffic flow using Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT). An algorithm is developed for anomaly-based intrusion detection without any false alarm which further detect known and unknown attack signature in a network. The frequency of the traffic data of the virus or malware would be inconsistent with the frequency of the legitimate traffic data. A Centralized Traffic Analyzer Intrusion Detection System called CTA-IDS is introduced to further detect inside attackers in a network. The strategy is effective in detecting abnormal content in the traffic data during information passing from one node to another and also detects known attack signature and unknown attack. This approach is tested by running the artificial network intrusion data in simulated networks using the Network Simulator2 (NS2) software.

Source: KNUST
New Borstal Institution

The old adage “A chain is as strong its weakest link” depicts the vital relationship between a whole and any of its parts that characteristics the crucial importance of the harmful effects upon the entire societal group of the criminal or delinquent acts of a few of its members. The incidence at anti-social behaviour is especially significant in a democratic society. Our future progress depends in a great part upon the kind of personnel and social development and adjustment that our young people are experimenting with at present. Far it in the youth of today who will become the adults at the helm at National Affairs tomorrow, making the way they develop into nature adulthood of utmost importance for this reason, if for none at all, national leaders and policy makers should display a vital interest in the prevention of delinquents behaviour and in the reformation and rehabilitation of delinquent children and teenagers.. As Concerns the prevention of delinquent behaviour, this is catered for by the combined efforts of the juvenile courts, the Department of Social Welfare and a series of reformatories classified according to the age at offenders. This is further elaborated upon in this work. The facility under consideration, The Ghana Borstal Institution at Maamobi, the only such of its category in the country is meant for male Juvenile offenders between the ages of 16 - 21 years, This institution states its aim as being: “Dedicated to the belief that intraining of citizenship lies In the hope for the future” All in an attempt to make thee more fit for the responsibilities of the adult citizen of the free and democratic society in which we live. This consists summarily of the reformation and rehabilitation through industrial training to enable the offender to return to the society a responsible citizen. Personal visits to the Institution and experience of the atmosphere of the place, said to be established for the above mention reason, led me to Judge the place Inadequate for the purpose This work therefore is a personal reaction to r experience, what it tries to do, In a nutshell, is this: i) To closely examines the facility as it stands at the moment and identify the exact elements that make it inadequate for its stated purpose. ii) To discover what constitutes an adequate and effective facility end then based on these. ii) Proceed to make a fresh design proposal for the facility all together. What even solutions evolve frog those studies, it Is aim that the behaviour of the adolescent inmate be not only guided merely to avoid further court action but also that he be encouraged to acquire the much needed improvement in his fundamental attitudes and behaviour thereby dealing with the problem at its riot cause.

Source: KNUST
Networking Bost Company Depots to Reduce Cost of Transporting Petroleum Products.

BOST Company established in 1993 is a Government Institution responsible for transporting and storing petroleum products in Ghana. It has six operational depots; Accra Plains Depot (APD), Kumasi depot situated at Kaase, Buipe depot, Bolgatanga depot, Akosombo depot and Mami-Water depot. APD is an originating Depot with storage capacity of 139,250 cubic meters which is connected by pipelines to Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) and Conventional Buoy Mooring (CBM). TOR is the only refinery in Ghana and has a production capacity of 45,000 barrels a day. CBM is a discharge port at Kpong near Tema where refined petroleum products imported pass through. Transportation of petroleum products from TOR and APD to other depots are mostly carried out by tanker trunks referred to as bulk road vehicles. Road transportation of petroleum products is a means of transporting petroleum products which is expensive and not reliable in terms of time of delivery and safety. The Transportation Algorithm was used to re-network the shipping schedule of BOST Company to reduce the total transportation cost from GHC 804,298.79 to GHC 661,114.19 a day. The Minimum Cost Method (MCM) which is an initial solution method of the transportation algorithm was used to obtain an initial transportation cost of GHC 698,551.23 and was improved to GHC 661,114.19 by the MODI Method.

Source: KNUST
New Cone Metrics on the Sphere

We give an explicit construction of lattices in P U (1, 2). A family of these lattices was originally constructed by Livn´e [15]. Parker [19] constructed these lattices of Livn´e as the modular group of certain Euclidean cone metrics on the sphere. In this work we give a construction of these lattices which includes that of Parker’s as the modular group of certain Euclidean cone metrics on the sphere. Our cone metrics on the sphere had five cone points with cone angles (π − θ + 2φ, π + θ, π + θ, π + θ, 2π − 2θ − 2φ) Where θ > 0, φ > 0 and θ + φ < π. These corresponds to a group of five tuples lattices generated by Thurston [27] in his paper Shapes of Polyhedra and Triangulations of the Sphere . Hence our choice of θ and φ in order to obtain discreteness are as follows: θ 2π/3 2π/3 2π/3 2π/4 2π/4 (2π/5) 2π/5 2π/6 φ π/4 π/5 π/6 π/3 π/4 (2π/5) π/3 π/3 Certain automorphisms which we considered on our cone metrics yielded unitary matrices R1, R2 and I1. Using these matrices, we obtained our fundamental polyhe- dron D by constructing our vertices, edges and faces to define the polyhedron. Our vertices were obtained by the degeneration of certain cone metrics. The polyhedron D is contained in bisectors whose intersection give us the edges of the polyheron. The faces are also contained in the bisectors. Then finally we proved using Poincar´e’s polyhedron theorem that the group Γ generated by the side pairings of D is a dis- crete subgroup of P U (1, 2) with fundamental domain D and presentation: J 3 = Rp = Rp = (P −1J )k = I , \ 1 2 Γ = J, P, R1, R2 : R2 = P R1P −1 = J R1J −1, P = R1R2

Source: KNUST
A new image processing algorithm for computer aided prediction of glaucoma in Ghana

Glaucoma is a term that describes a family of eye diseases that damage the optic nerve. About 8% of the entire population of Ghanaians above the age of 30 suffer from what is known as Primary Open Angle Glaucoma (POAG). The nemesis of POAG is blindness. POAG usually presents no symptoms, thus the only way to prevent blindness from POAG is early detection and consistent monitoring of progression of the disease, as well as the effect of medications. Diagnosing POAG in Ghana is typically done by eye specialists using a method known as ophthalmoscopy, which involves examining the interior of the eye (the fundus) with a magnifying instrument. The challenge with this however is with the availability of experienced eye specialists, especially in rural areas where POAG is most prevalent. This thesis employs the use of a relatively new type of Artificial Neural Network known as the Pulsed Coupled Neural Networks together with thresholding techniques and a simple multi-layer back propagation neural network to predict glaucoma from fundus images. We propose a new algorithm for extracting key glaucoma prediction parameters – the vertical cup to disc ratio and the inferior superior nasal temporal rule assessment. The system then subsequently predicts glaucoma. A total of 166 fundus images from Soyuz Medical Imaging and Diagnostic Center in Accra, Ghana was analyzed by the department of optometry and visual science in KNUST by primary eye care specialists, and set as the standard for measuring the reliability of the algorithm. The system correctly extracted and measured the vertical cup-to-disk ratio with a root mean square error of 0.11. Further, it achieved a specificity of 91.4% and a sensitivity of 88.6%. The system is thus reliable, and can be employed in a mass screening application.

Source: KNUST
New dimension in the design of Asante gold and silver smithing products

Gold and silversmithing has prospects of becoming major contributor of the nontraditional export trade in Ghana However, there are weaknesses in design and finishing which need redress. The research seeks to identify some of these problems stemming from weaknesses in design and finishing. It proposes ways to correct them to meet contemporary market competition. The research methods employed are descriptive and analytical. The scope covered a random sampling of two major groups of Asante gold / and silversmiths. About fifteen out of the thirty indigenous brass casters were interviewed for information on their trade. Twenty-five out of the sixty workshops of the second group were covered in the research. Officials of the Ghana Export Promotions Council were consulted for standards of products for international markets. In the research, some guidelines have been suggested as a means of improving the existing designs. It has also been proposed that product design be incorporated into the profession. On finishing of the products, step by step procedures have been given and it is hoped that if these are patiently followed, the standard at work would be stepped up. The research revealed that with the rich stock of symbolic maxims, the traditional gold/and silversmith has an advantage over other foreign workshops in terms of uniqueness. The weakness lies in the repetitive nature of designs. There is therefore the need for diversity. It was also revealed that much attention is not given to the finishing procedure. All these have resulted in poor standard of products.

Source: KNUST