ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Mainstreaming Climate Change Adaptation into Development Planning for Sustainable Development in the Kassena-Nankana West District

It is argued that climate change is the greatest contemporary global threat to sustainable development, and that the risks associated with climate change will become more severe over time. In Ghana, climate change has threatened the lives and livelihoods of people particularly in the three regions of the north. Despite this, adaptation to climate change which is fundamental for sustainable development has long been viewed to be far away from the immediate concerns of development and therefore not incorporated into poverty reduction programmesacross the country. In order to address the daunting challenges posed by climate change, central and local authorities need to undertake planned adaptation and integrate climate change in development planning in order to reduce the vulnerability of the poor. In this regard, the study sought to examine the extent to which climate change adaptation has been mainstreamed into development planning in the Kassena-Nankana West District.The study adopted the qualitative approach involving the use of in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and observation. The study found that, whereas the level of vulnerability to climate change in the District was high, adaptive capacity was low. Initiatives in the District were in response to environmental challenges rather than climate change hazards or impacts. As a result, the District’s approach to fighting climate change was reactive. Mainstreaming was ineffective both at the district and sub-district level. The District had no strategy for addressing climate change and the understanding and capacity of decentralized departments/agencies about climate change was low. A number of challenges accounted for the poor mainstreaming of climate change in Kassena-Nankana West District. These include limited knowledge on climate change risks and disaster preparedness, the neglect of indigenous knowledge and weak institutional capacity among others. Some of the prospects for mainstreaming climate change adaptation in the District include the wealth of unexploited indigenous knowledge on climate change adaptation and the non-institutionalization of climate change in the District. Therefore, the study recommends that, climate change adaptation should be institutionalized within the structures of the Assembly and indigenous knowledge on adaptation should be given priority attention.

Source: KNUST
The maintenance and servicing of sawmill machinery in some selected sawmills in Kumasi and Mim

Wood processing in sawmills uses machinery which are bound to fail at one time or the other, hence there is the need for a scientific approach to sawmill machinery maintenance to reduce the occurrence of sudden failures to the barest minimum. This will ensure high product quality, customer satisfaction and keep down overall production costs. This study seeks to gain insight into sawmill machinery maintenance and contribute to its improvement by: 1) Determining whether or not some sawmill machinery or components are prone to failure, 2) Investigating the causes of sawmill machinery breakdown, 3) Finding out the maintenance policies and practices existing in the sawmills, 4) Evaluating the reliability of sawmill machinery and systems, and 5) Determining the cost of prolonged breakdowns in terms of sales revenue loss. The methods employed were desk study, questionnaires, interviews, and field work. The desk study was carried out to compile relevant literature. Questionnaires and interviews were used to gather information from mill engineers and production managers about the management, operational and technical functions of maintenance; and certain aspects of system reliability. Field work involved observation of maintenance procedures, making of reliability block diagrams and collection of reliability data. The bandmill was found to be the critical element in the sawmill system. This is because its failure has the greatest effect on system effectiveness. Machinery failure could be broadly attributed to improper operation, poor maintenance practices and random shocks due to the environment. The maintenance policy used by the companies is a combination of preventive and corrective (breakdown) maintenance. Reliability data was available in only one of the five sawmills studied Even there, it lacked accuracy and depth, this limited the evaluation of machinery and system reliability. In the analysis of sales revenue loss, it was found that, a downtime of 8 hours could cost an estimated DM.14, 700 in sales revenue if Wawa was the main species processed at a rate of 30m3/8hr.

Source: KNUST
Maintenance of government bungalows: a case study in the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

Building maintenance is generally considered unproductive operation by majority of individuals, organisations, institutions and governments. It has therefore been a neglected area of technology all over the world until recently. Naturally, buildings decay or deteriorate in its structural functions with time or age. Since these buildings do not have the capacity to resist indefinitely to natural forces and hazards including time related degradation of materials, regular maintenance and repairs'are required Unfortunately, Ghana has had a poor maintenance culture especially in the area of government buildings. Most of these buildings are observed to be in a state of disrepair, some are seen inhabitable thus abandoned and new ones constructed to replace them. The state of disrepair of these buildings really pose some level of environmental and health threat and on a more dangerous note, some of these buildings fall off causing injury and even death to occupants. The issue of building maintenance was assessed in the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology with specific reference to the bungalows. Methods employed in the study included desk study for background information, use of structured questionnaires for occupants, maintenance and estate officials of the University. Condition assessment was also carried out on bungalows through general physical inspection to ascertain the state of disrepair and the current level of maintenance service delivery of the University. The study revealed varied factors contributing to the low building maintenance culture of the University. These included inadequate financial and human resources, lack of maintenance policy and planned programme, inadequate logistics, inadequate attention or priority, and unsatisfactory attitude of some occupants in the care and utilization of the bungalows. These factors have contributed to the poor condition of most of the bungalows. Some bungalows have been totally abandoned; thus reconstruction of inhabitable ones ongoing. The study clearly revealed that the maintenance service delivery of the University is poor as many of the bungalows are in a state of disrepair. There is therefore the critical need for the University to better appreciate building maintenance, making it' one of the priority areas of planned programme so as to salvage the situation and to contribute meaningful to the comfort of occupants.

Source: KNUST
Mainstreaming disaster risk reduction in the curricular of colleges of education in Ghana

ABSTRACT The global community is experiencing an increasing number of disasters, all of which may result in loss of life and property. This study assessed the mainstreaming of disaster risk reduction in schools’ curricular in Ghana. The study examined the coverage of disaster issues in the curricular of colleges, the types of disasters colleges of education are vulnerable to, knowledge and training teacher trainees need for disaster risk reduction and how disaster issues can be mainstreamed in the curricular of education. Four colleges of education from the Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Northern and Upper East Regions were purposively selected for the study. Individual surveys and key informants interviews were used as data collection methods to assess the situation. Teacher trainees were identified using accidental non probability sampling procedure while key informants were selected using purposive sampling. Quantitative data collected was analysed in SPSS (version 16.0) and the results presented in the form of tables, graphs and charts. Direct quotations from respondents were also used to present qualitative data. Generally, the teacher trainees responded in the study that their current textbooks did not provide detailed information on DRR, reflecting the limited extent to which DRR was taught in their schools, The majority of the trainees thus strongly agreed that DRR should be taught as a full subject in schools. Comparatively, respondents reported on fire outbreaks as the most frequently occurring disaster in their schools. However, the results indicated that a significant relationship existed between the location of the colleges of education and the types of disasters which have occurred in them. It was reported that majority of the teacher trainees did not have specific knowledge and training on DRR. They therefore reported that mainstreaming DRR in the curricula of the colleges of education will be beneficial in helping them to be well equipped to mitigate disasters. The study indicated a relatively high level of perception among the selected teachers and GES officials that there existed a low level of coverage of DRR in the current syllables of the colleges of education. The officials thus responded in the affirmative that such DRR education would help reduce the incidents and impacts of disasters in the country. On the basis of the results from the study, the study suggests that the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the GES should consider developing a full subject on DRR for the colleges of education.

Source: KNUST
Maintaining Quality Standards in the face of internal market competition in Ghana’s Cocoa Industry: A case study of Offinso Municipality

Cocoa purchasing in Ghana was privatised in 1992 following liberalisation of the cocoa sector. The privatisation brought in its wake intense competition among Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs) in the internal market for cocoa. Issues that bothered on the maintenance of cocoa quality came up in the wake of the privatisation as a consequence of competition. Quality is the secret behind the patronage for Ghana’s cocoa. This research is a case study conducted into the impact/effects of liberalisation and privatisation on quality of cocoa purchased within the Offinso Municipality. The objective is to determine how liberalisation, privatisation and competition in cocoa marketing can be converted into high production, high product quality, and high producer prices for cocoa farmers. Non-scientific sampling techniques were used in selecting respondents, while both quantitative and qualitative methods of research were employed in the data collection and analysis. The findings are that privatisation and competition have improved farmers’ earnings while quality standard of cocoa in the municipality is still high. Ghana’s earnings from cocoa have also increased. However, to some extent the quality standard of cocoa has dropped due to some farmers and officials of QCC not living up to their responsibility of ensuring cocoa quality at the farm-gate. The problem has also been attributed to greed of LBCs in the municipality. The study concludes with a call on stakeholders in the industry to guard against any practice that will dent the reputation of Ghana as producer of best quality cocoa so as to maintain the quality premium we enjoy as a result. Recommends have therefore been made to COCOBOD, QCC, LBCs, PCs and cocoa farmers to help maintain cocoa quality standard in the midst of the competition. Some recommendations have also been made to government particularly on how the cocoa sector in Ghana can be utilised effectively for national development.

Source: KNUST
Maintenance optimization for power transmission systems: A case study of Ghana Grid Company Limited

The focus of this research work is on the optimization of transmission assets at the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo). The company’s maintenance planning and work schedules are currently anchored on time-based maintenance strategy.GRIDCo has had a number of equipment breakdowns and catastrophic failures since its operationalization in August 2008.These catastrophic failures and the vulnerability of the transmission assets to unpredictable breakdowns have adverse impact on the reliability of Ghana’s electricity transmission network. Can GRIDCo manage its assets to achieve the optimum life cycle cost which will deliver the required availability, performance, efficiency and quality to meet business goals and objectives? Can the current method of equipment maintenance in GRIDCo be optimized to improve equipment and grid reliability? To answer these questions, the researcher sought to evaluate GRIDCo’s asset management systems and maintenance records on selected power equipment. Data on eight power transformers which failed catastrophically from 2008 to 2015 in the organization was obtained to facilitate the assessment of the existing maintenance strategy. The results of the research work on the eight failed transformers indicated that prior time-based preventive maintenance activities carried out on the power equipment failed to give asset health and warning of imminent catastrophic failure. The research work carried out to investigate cause of 12T3 20MVA 161/11.5/6.6kV power transformer failure revealed prior maintenance activities carried out in October 2008 before the transformer failed in December 2008 without giving early warnings. The results of my work at Buipe substation also revealed that prior planned, maintenance activities were conducted on the 33MVA 161/34.5kV power transformer power transformer codenamed 55T1 before it failed catastrophically in 2013. On the other hand the research work carried out at Kumasi substation using condition-monitoring maintenance approach on five power transformers indicated alarming levels of carbon dioxide and ethylene gases in the transformer oil of 13T5 33MVA 161/34.5kV power transformer. The results of the dissolved gas analysis (DGA) on the transformer oil was used to schedule a timely maintenance on the transformer codenamed 13T5 to avert the catastrophic failure of another power transformer in GRIDCo. The results of the research work indicate that if GRIDCo had used condition-monitoring approach for the maintenance of the eight failed power transformers, early warnings of upcoming failure would have been detected.

Source: KNUST
Making jewellery from plant materials

The unavailability of conventional materials, tool and equipments, coupled with the lack of technical know – how for the production of jewellery making in Ghanaian society have promoted this inquiry into “MAKING JEWELLERY FROM PLANT MATERIALS”. The study has been undertaken to point out local resources for basic tools and materials and the methodologies for adopting them to suit Ghanaian environment. It is to assist the jewelers and learners in procuring materials and tools from their own local resources for lessons in jewellery – making. It is an effort to make a range of ideas accessible to jewelers and art specialists. In view of this, a wide perspective of plant materials sources, nature and uses – and the practical methods of using the materials. It should be pointed out that many of the materials and methods used for this study are already in existence in the Ghanaian environment. However, these have been adapted to suit the objectives of the study. The information in the Long Essay does not in any way constitute an authority and subject to further development. This exercise has been made possible through personal observation, literary materials, experiments and interviews with resource personnel.

Source: KNUST
Maintenance practices of the manufacturing industry.

In order to ensure that a manufacturing company is able to achieve the optimum productivity and equipment reliability, an effective maintenance system must be implemented. This research formulated the maintenance strategy which leads to the deployment strategy for the development of maintenance personnel in manufacturing companies. it is necessary to understand the current maintenance practice in manufacturing industries and to establish the extent to which companies invest in developing its maintenance teams through employee development. An effective maintenance requires an understanding of the link between the maintenance and the effective maintenance practices and the challenges practitioners face. As such, there is a need for empirical research on the maintenance practices strategy for the development of maintenance personnel incorporated within the company’s maintenance strategy. The commitment of top management plays very important role in the implementation of maintenance strategy; most of the problems encountered in maintaining the machines and equipment are closely related to the human aspects, that is, maintenance personnel; higher the utilization of proactive and aggressive maintenance, better the improvement of equipment availability that could be expected; by conducting an appropriate and good training implementation, a better improvement of equipment availability could be achieved, there is higher improvement of equipment availability in the company which uses in-house maintenance. This work explores the maintenance practices in selected companies from Kumasi, Accra, Tema and Takoradi registered with the Association of Ghana Industries. A questionnaire was designed and administered. It involved carrying out a postal-survey questionnaire which examined and analyzed the maintenance implementation and the nature of problems and difficulties faced by the maintenance personnel in performing their tasks and activities. Data collected was analyzed using the MS Excel and SPSS software packages. A comparative study has also been carried out, as well as the correlation between variables measured which relate to the performance of the company.

Source: KNUST
Maize-grain legume intercropping for enhanced resource use efficiency and crop productivity in the Guinea savanna of northern Ghana

Smallholder farmers in the Guinea savanna practise cereal-legume intercropping to mitigate risks of crop failure in mono-cropping. The productivity of cereal-legume intercrops could be influenced by the spatial arrangement of the intercrops and the soil fertility status. Knowledge on the effect of soil fertility status on intercrop pro ductivity is generally lacking in the Guinea savanna despite the wide variability in soil fertility status in farmers’ fields, and the productivity of within-row spatial arrangement of intercrops relative to the distinct-row systems under on-farm conditions has not been studied in the region. We studied effects of maize-legume spatial in tercropping patterns and soil fertility status on resource use efficiency, crop productivity and economic profit ability under on-farm conditions in the Guinea savanna. Treatments consisted of maize-legume intercropped within-row, 1 row of maize alternated with one row of legume, 2 rows of maize alternated with 2 rows of legume, a sole maize crop and a sole legume crop. These were assessed in the southern Guinea savanna (SGS) and the northern Guinea savanna (NGS) of northern Ghana for two seasons using three fields differing in soil fertility in each agro ecological zone. Each treatment received 25 kg P and 30 kg K ha−1 at sowing, while maize received 25 kg (intercrop) or 50 kg (sole) N ha−1 at 3 and 6 weeks after sowing. The experiment was conducted in a randomised complete block design with each block of treatments replicated four times per fertility level at each site. Better soil conditions and rainfall in the SGS resulted in 48, 38 and 9% more maize, soybean and groundnut grain yield, respectively produced than in the NGS, while 11% more cowpea grain yield was produced in the NGS. Sole crops of maize and legumes produced significantly more grain yield per unit area than the respective intercrops of maize and legumes. Land equivalent ratios (LERs) of all intercrop patterns were greater than unity indicating more efficient and productive use of environmental resources by intercrops. Sole legumes intercepted more radiation than sole maize, while the interception by intercrops was in between that of sole legumes and sole maize. The intercrop however converted the intercepted radiation more efficiently into grain yield than the sole crops. Economic returns were greater for intercrops than for either sole crop. The within-row intercrop pattern was the most productive and lucrative system. Larger grain yields in the SGS and in fertile fields led to greater economic returns. However, intercropping systems in poorly fertile fields and in the NGS recorded greater LERs (1.16–1.81) compared with fertile fields (1.07–1.54) and with the SGS. This suggests that intercropping is more beneficial in less fertile fields and in more marginal environments such as the NGS. Cowpea and groundnut performed better than soybean when intercropped with maize, though the larger ab solute grain yields of soybean resulted in larger net benefits.

Source: KNUST
Making HND business programme of Tamale Polytechnic relevant to the needs of industry

The School of Business and Management Studies of Tamale Polytechnic has sometimes received reports from some user-organizations to the effect that some of its students on industrial attachment have problems in performing well certain basic duties related to their fields of study. This research found among other things that the inability of the students to perform well while on industrial attachment stemmed from the following: Some basic topics that taught the skills and knowledge students needed to perform well in industry were not in the course syllabi of the HND Business programme. Some other relevant topics though in the syllabi, were not detailed enough to cover what students needed in industry. Other relevant topics were quite detailed enough in the syllabi, but for various reasons were not emphasized in the teaching and learning processes. The style of examinations in the Business School did not emphasize the application of knowledge to practical situations. The ratios of tutor-to-student and student-to-equipment available were appalling. There was inadequate contact hours or teaching periods for practical-oriented courses. There was no consistent link and collaboration between the School of Business and industry whereby the School would be abreast with modern trends in industry so as to revise the syllabi as and when necessary. For the FIND Business programme of Tamale Polytechnic to be relevant to the needs of industry and continuously be abreast with the dynamics of modern industry, there is the need for close link and collaboration between the School and industry through the instrumentality of improved industrial attachment programme. There is also the need to enhance the teaching and learning processes through the provision of adequate and qualified tutors and equipment to improve the ratios of tutor to-student and student-to-equipments in the School.

Source: KNUST