ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Nima Redevelopment

It has been forecast that by the turn of the century the population of the developing countries will have doubled, and about half this population more than 3000 million people will be living in poor rural and urban housing. The conception of the housing problem and the strategies governments are adopting to solve it are undergoing major change. In the face of the rapid rural-to-rural migration of the last 30 years and the low income of recent migrants, efforts to provide sufficient dwelling units through conventional private construction and government housing programme have proved unequal to the task. Governments have come to recognise both the failings of more conventional approaches and the potential of self—help housing efforts and their policies have begun to change accordingly, the government of Ghana is no different. New policies of upgrading existing settlements and providing serviced land on which low income group are permitted to build have received increased emphasis. The time has come for Architects and planners to deal with the grassroots of this housing problem. In Ghana Nima is one such place where equality and dignity are denied.. To tackle the problem systematically and logically a social detailed study of the community is important. Thus the chapters deal with each aspect of the problem. Chapter one tackles urbanization and associated problems and Nima as a phenomenon. Chapter two presents a short historical background. Chapter’s three, four and five deals with the present .physical and social conditions. In chapter six and seven the problems are analysed, and conclusions and broad proposals are made and finally chapter eight and nine presents the urban design and architectural design solutions.

Source: KNUST
njury rate and risk factors among small scale gold miners in Ghana

Background: To determine the potential risk factors for injury, estimate the annual injury rate and examine the safety perceptions, and use of personal protective equipment among small-scale gold miners in Ghana. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out with 494 small-scale gold miners from four major mining districts in Ghana. A household-based approach was used to obtain a representative sample of miners. The study was conducted from June 2015 to August 2016. A systematic sampling technique was used to select households and recruit respondents to interview. Miners were asked about any mining related injury that they had sustained in the past year. A logistics regression model was employed to examine the association between risk factors and injury. Data were analyzed with STATA version 14.0. Results: The annual incidence rate of mining-related injury was 289 per 1000 workers. Injuries were mainly caused by machinery/tools 66(46.1%), followed by slip/falls 46(32.2%). The major risk factor for injury was underground work (adjusted odds ratio for injury 3.19; 95% CI = 1.42–7.20) compared with surface work. Higher education levels were protective, with adjusted odds ratios of 0.48 (95% CI = 0.24–0.99) for middle school education and 0.38 (95% CI 0.17–0.83) for secondary school compared with no schooling. Only 15(3.0%) of miners reported to have had safety training in the past year and 105(21.3%) indicated that there were safety regulations at their work place. A moderate number of workers reported using work boots 178(36.0%) and hand gloves 134(27.1%), but less than 10% of workers used other personal protective equipment. Conclusion: The annual injury incidence rate among small-scale gold miners is high. Potential targets for improving safety include increasing safety training, increasing use of personal protective equipment, and better understanding potential changes that can be made in the machinery and tools used in small-scale mining, which were associated with almost half of all injuries.

Source: KNUST
Nitrite Assessment of Processed Meat Products Commonly Consumed in Ghana

Sodium and potassium salts of nitrite are used in meat products as preservative, antioxidant and colour fixative. However, high levels of these chemicals pose risks such as toxicity and carcinogenic effects due to the formation of nitroso compounds originated from nitrite sources. The present study was conducted to assess the nitrite residual levels and to evaluate the health risk of consumers from exposure of nitrite in commonly consumed processed meat products (sausage, corned beef and bacon) sold on the Ghanaian market. A total of 300 questionnaires were administered to all categories of ages in the study population in the Ayawaso West Sub Metro, Accra. Participants were made to fill out the 24 h food frequency questionnaire. A total of Fifty (50) samples of different types and brands of processed meat products were randomly selected and analyzed for nitrite residues by spectrophotometric method. The mean nitrite content in the samples was 139.85 mg/kg and the mean daily intake estimated at 114.89 mg/kg/day. Significant to the findings of this research is that the nitrite levels exceed the WHO/EU recommended levels of 125mg/kg in processed meat. First order Monte Carlo simulation at 10,000 iterations estimated chronic daily intake of nitrite as 5.05 mg/kg/day. Subsequently, the average risk of consumption of processed meat within the limits of reference dose of nitrite (0.33 mg/Bw/day) for the studied population was estimated at 15.65. This means that, the risk quotient or hazard quotient was far greater than 1, which was indicative of adverse health effect to the consumers.

Source: KNUST
Node search space reduction for optimal placement of pressure sensors in water distribution networks for leakage detection

This study presents a methodological framework for optimal placement of pressure sensors in Water Distribution Networks (WDNs) for leakage monitoring under uncertainty. Monte Carlo simulation is utilized to simulate leakages of different magnitudes at various nodes in the WDN taking into consideration background noise and minimum resolution of pressure sensors. A novel sensor preselection algorithm based on community detection and maximum entropy computation to reduce the search space of the pressure Sensor Placement Problem (SPP) is presented. The pressure SPP is formulated as a multi-objective optimization problem that seeks to maximize Joint Entropy, Coverage, and minimize Total Correlation. NSGA-II is used to solve the SPP and the solutions in the optimal Pareto front are ranked using a hybrid Entropy TOPSIS to eliminate potential bias and subjective human judgement in optimal sensor configuration implementation. The sensor preselection algorithm achieved a 67% reduction in the search space (possible sensor positions) of the case study, C-TOWN WDN, with only 2.78% reduction in coverage. The result of the pressure SPP indicates only 21 pressure sensors are needed to cover 95.45% of the WDN under study. Finally, the overall performance of the proposed methodological framework is presented and compared with other related works.

Source: KNUST
Noise and heat stresses associated with the pioneer food cannery limited, a fish processing factory

Noise and heat stresses often create intolerable environmental conditions at the work place that could pose very serious health hazards to workers. This study evaluated the physical stresses of heat and noise at a fish processing factory over an 8 hour working shift. Employees’ levels of awareness of these stresses were also measured. The study was carried out in five critical sections of the factory. Noise levels were measured using a portable Quest Integrated Sound Level Meter and heat using the HSM 100 CASELLA Heat stress monitor, a modern digital instrument which records Wet-Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT). The study was done using at least 60% of the workforce (n=188) and 120 structured questionnaires were administered using the proportionate stratified random sampling technique according to the various sections. Results showed that noise levels around the factory were low to moderately high ranging between 82.8 to 89.1dBA although noise levels in some parts of the factory were below the standard tolerable level of 85dBA. All the employees identified noise as an OHS hazard and 89.17% of them were concerned about the noise levels in their section. Four out of the five sections of the factory had mean heat levels above the threshold limit of 28oC and ranged between 27.1 and 31.6oC. Heat levels were highest at the Boiler and Retort sections. Majority (93.3%) of the employees also identified heat to be an OHS hazard and administrative controls were a major approach to heat stress management. The vibrant resident Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) team at the work place were the main facilitators in the increased awareness of the effects of noise and heat stresses as OHS hazards. Heat stress management was inadequate and therefore the need to intensify education and training and also the provision of specialized Personal Protective Equipment, provision of more water fountains and periodic rotation of workers to help minimize the effect of heat and noise stresses.

Source: KNUST
Noise-Induced Hearing Loss among Workers at the Kotoka International Airport

ABSTRACT Occupational noise exposure is a common cause of noise-induced hearing loss in airports across the world. Excessive noise exposure is harmful to the ears and hearing abilities of workers at the airports as well as people who reside in households close to the airport. This study investigated the prevalence of noise induced hearing loss among workers in and around the Kotoka International Airport using the NM 102 noise meter. Thirty (30) persons were also taken through audiometric and otoscopic examinations, where their hearing acuity was tested to check the effect of exposure to the excessive aircraft noise at the Airport Clinic and Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital respectively. The average noise level at the Kotoka International Airport of 74 dB (A) exceeds the acceptable EPA noise level of 70 dB and the level of noise generated by aircrafts during the day and night also exceeds the standard EPA noise level at 82.66 dB (A). Workers at the airport as well as persons living close to the airport suffer from noise induced hearing loss regardless of the number of years they have been exposed to aircraft noise. Modern and efficient ear-plugs should be provided for workers at the airports who work close to the aircraft and the wearing of ear-plugs should be made mandatory by the Ghana Airports Company and sanctions leveled at persons who flout such directive. The Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, The Ghana Airports Company and other aviation stakeholders together with the local authorities must commit to ensuring that the noise effects of aircraft on local communities under flight paths are within set limits by the EPA,2011

Source: KNUST
Non governmental organisations and community enablement for development in Northern Region: a case study of Saboba/Chereponi District

The cardinal concern of many development actors over the years has been how to build the capacity of deprived rural communities so as to make them play a more effective role in spearheading their own development processes. In 1988 the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements first enunciated the ‘enabling’ approach of government in its Global strategy for shelter to year 2000. The approach refers to policies and practices, which enable other actors particularly, deprived rural communities to make the most effective contribution towards solving their own problems. In the last two decades, many international NGOs have established themselves as key development actors in the entire country, but particularly in the three Northern Regions. Many of these organizations including Action Aid International Ghana have adopted the “enabling” development approaches intended to empower rural communities to significantly drive their own development. A case study of the activities of Action Aid in community driven development in the Saboba/Chereponi District of the Northern Region has shown that though the organization has contributed to some degree of enablement of the communities, a lot still remains to be done. To effectively contribute to the community enabling process initiated, a number of recommendations have been made and discussed. These include: basing Action Aid’s advocacy and alliance building activities primarily at the grassroots; intensification of their partnerships at the grassroots; the need to address the symptoms of poverty even though they have shifted focus; and working towards achieving synergy in the collective objectives of the respective development agencies in the region.

Source: KNUST
Non-adherence of oral hypoglycaemic agents medications among diabetic patients at South Suntreso Hospital

Background Diabetes is a non-communicable and chronic disease that currently contributes to a large and significant proportion of all global mortalities regardless of levels of economic achievement. The adherence of medication for the diabetes has become a problem for many patients. Therefore, this study was to evaluate adherence to oral hypoglycemic agents (OHAs) among patients attending the diabetes center at the Suntreso Government Hospital in Kumasi. Methods A cross sectional study where descriptive research method was adopted. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to obtain data from the participants. The study population were diabetic patients seeking for treatment at the Suntreso Government Hospital. A sample size of 200 diabetic patients were simple randomly selected. Data was obtained through the use of questionnaires and measurement of the fasting blood glucose of diabetic patients. Data was analyzed using a STATA v 16. Results It is identified in the study that the mean age of the diabetic patients was 58.75 ± 0.75 years and also the female patients made up the larger proportion of patients in this current study. Moreover, it was realized that the average fasting blood glucose levels of participants was 8.84 ± 0.29 mmol/l where most of them have been diagnosed of the disease for 1-3 years. The medication predominantly used by participants (71%) was Metformin, however, their rate of adherence to the medications was suboptimal (61%). Irrespective of their quiet impressive rate of adherence to medication, most of the participants have been diagnosed of other chronic conditions such as hypertension and depression. The major barriers toward adherence to OHAs by diabetic patientsx are drug-related and provider, social, and individuals factors. Conclusively, it is identified in this study that a significant relationship at 5% significance level exist between non-adherence to OHAs medication and gender, education, marital status, religion, and monthly income of the diabetic patients. Conclusion The adherence rate of OHAs medication among type 2 diabetic patients was good, however, some level of improvement is required to help avert the barriers confronting the adherence of medication among type 2 diabetic patients.

Source: KNUST
Non-fractional and fractional mathematical analysis and simulations for Q fever

The purpose of analysing the transmission dynamism of Q fever (Coxiellosis) in livestock and incorpo- rating ticks is to outline some management practices to minimise the spread of the disease in livestock. Ticks pass coxiellosis from an infected to a susceptible animal through a bite. The faecal matter can also contain coxiellosis, thus contaminating the environment and spreading the disease. First, a nonlinear integer order mathematical model is developed to represent the spread of this infectious disease in live- stock. The proposed integer model investigates the positivity and boundedness, disease equilibria, basic reproduction number, bifurcation, and sensitivity analysis. Through mathematical analysis and numerical simulations, it shows that if the environmental transmission and the effective shedding rate of coxiella burnetii into the environment by both asymptomatic and symptomatic livestock are zero, then the usual threshold hold and it produces forward bifurcation. It is noticed that an increase in the recruitment rate of ticks produces backward bifurcation. And also, it is seen that an increase in the natural decay rate of the bacterial in the environment reduces the backward bifurcation point. Furthermore, to take care of the memory aspect of ticks on their host, we modified the initially proposed integer order model by introducing Caputo, Caputo-Fabrizio, Atangana-Baleanu fractional differential operators. The existence and uniqueness of these three newly developed fractional-order differential models are shown using the Banach fixed point theorem. Numerical trajectories are obtained for each of the fractional-order math- ematical models. The trajectory of some fractional orders converges to the same endemic equilibrium point as the integer order. Finally, it is seen that the Atangana-Baleanu fractional differential operator captures more susceptibilities and fewer infections than the other operators.

Source: KNUST
Non-performing loans and performance of commercial Banks in Ghana: a case of Unibank (gh) ltd.

Non-performing loans has been identified as one of the major risk facing financial institutions all over the world. The banking sector in Ghana, in particular has been cited as having high non-performing loan levels compared to other countries in SubSaharan African (World Bank Annual report, 2015). Against this backdrop, the study examined non-performing loans and how it relates to the performance of universal banks, using uniBank (Gh.) Ltd as the case study bank. Both primary and secondary data was collected and analyzed to meet the objectives of the study. Descriptive data analysis was adopted to analyze both primary and secondary data. In addition, the responses from the interview was transcribed and presented in a form that meets the objectives of the study. The findings of the study show that even though the nonperforming loan of the bank reduced from 7.6% in 2004 to 0.5% in 2010, it has been rising since 2011. The study further discovered that the main causes of nonperforming loans include customer business failure, inadequate collateral security, poor monitoring mechanisms and inadequate loan appraisal. The study further found that non-performing loans negatively affect the financial performance of Unibank Ghana. The study recommends that the bank must adopt and adhere to effective credit granting standards in order to minimize the level of non-performing loans.

Source: KNUST
Non-optimal and optimal fractional control analysis of measles using real data

This study employs fractional, non-optimal, and optimal control techniques to analyze measles transmission dynamics using real-world data. Thus, we develop a fractional-order compartmental model capturing measles transmission dynamics. We then formulate an optimal control problem to minimize the disease burden while considering constraints such as vaccination resources and intervention costs. The proposed model’s positivity, boundedness, measles reproduction number, and stability are obtained. The sensitivity analysis using the partial rank correlation coefficient is shown for the fractional orders of 0.99 and 0.90. It is noticed that the rate of recruitment into the susceptible population (𝜋), the rate at which individuals in the latent class become asymptomatic (𝛼1), and the transmission rate (𝛽) contribute positively to the spread of the disease, while the rate at which individuals in the asymptomatic class become symptomatic (𝛼2), the vaccination rate for the first measles dose (𝛾1), and the rate at which individuals in the latent class recover from measles (𝛿1) contribute significantly to the reduction of measles in the community. Utilizing numerical simulations and sensitivity analyses, we identify optimal control strategies that balance the trade-offs between intervention efficacy, resource allocation, and societal costs. Our findings provide insights into the effectiveness of fractional optimal control strategies in mitigating measles outbreaks and contribute to developing more robust and adaptive disease control policies in real-world scenarios.

Source: KNUST
The nontraditional agricultural exports programme and environmental management - a case of pineapple production in the Akwapim South District

Majority of the people in the Akwapim South district live in the rural areas with agriculture being the main occupation. Pineapples used to be one of the traditionally produced crops for local consumption by the farmers. However, due to the government’s active promotion of NonTraditional Agricultural Exports (NTAE) particularly since 1983 as part the Economic Recovery Programme (ERP), available records indicate that about 77% of all farmers in the district have switched to production of pineapples for exports. Foreign exchange earnings through the exports of NTAE in general, and pineapple in particular, has been imniense, which shows a clear evidence of the potential of pineapple exports in the country. However, it is not certain whether the pineapple export programme could be sustainable since the programme has been associated with degrading soils. For continued realization of this potential, it is imperative that increased attention is given to programme impacts on the environment as a rational basis for its effective management. This study, therefore aimed at examining the farming practices and techniques adopted by pineapple farmers, and also analyse their effects on the environment, to be able to recommend measures to ensure its sustainability. A field survey was conducted in the Akuapem South District among 110 farming households and selected institutions. The analysis of the study revealed that, there has been actual and potential soil degradation in pineapple growing areas in the district. Even though pineapple production under the NTAE programmes exhibit positive signs of growth, this has been done at the expense of the physical environment. This is because the conservation of the physical environment as means to ensure sustainabiity of the programme, has not been given the necessary attention. This was found out to be due to low priority farmers place on environmental management practices, as well as institutional bottlenecks. Based on these findings, the study recommended the following strategic framework as means o safeguard the environment from iurthet deterioration: • Policy and Institution Reforms • Mitigative Actions, and • Developing Effective Monitoring Mechanism. The study concluded on the note that, pineapple production, if done on a sustainable manner, will continue to play a significant role in the economic development of Ghana.

Source: KNUST