ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Impact of Oil Refinery Effluent on the Water Quality: Case Study of Ekerikana Creek in Nigeria

Over the years Ekerikana creek in Okrika Local Government Area of Nigeria has served as the recipient water body where refinery effluents are discharged. The level of chemical contaminant in the treatment refinery waste water has always been a controversy. In the same way the level of impact of these discharges on the adjoining river has been a cause of worry to the community. A study was conducted on Ekerikana creek and its adjourning river to determine the impact of refinery effluent on the water quality. Standard methods were used to determine the physicochemical parameters of Refinery effluent and the effluent receiving river water bodies at four selected sites; Refinery effluent (S1), Point of Discharge (S2), Upstream river water (S3), and Downstream river (S4). The results obtained indicated that the physicochemical parameters of refinery effluent and river water bodies varied significantly (P<0.05). Parameters such as turbidity, Biochemical Oxygen Demand, Chemical Oxygen Demand, phosphate, ammonia, phenol, lead, cyanide, nickel and total coliform were all above maximum permissible limit as specified by Environmental Standards and Guidance for the Petroleum Industries in Nigeria (EGASPIN) in all stations while Parameters such as pH, temperature, sulphide, cyanide, vanadium, copper and zinc were all below permissible limit in all stations. Other parameters such as total suspended solids, total dissolved solids, and total chromium were above permissible limit in the river water than in the refinery effluent. However the concentration of heavy metals analysed on sediment samples in the river water were higher than the river water sample while other parameters were below permissible limit. Phytoplankton distribution and abundance among the sampling stations were very poor. A total of 40 taxas were recorded with 3 families namely; Bacillariophceae, Cyanobacteria and Chlorophyceae with Bacilliarophyceae dominating the entire phytoplankton distribution. Benthic organism distribution and abundance amongst the sampling stations were also very poor, a total of six species from the family Nereidae were recorded namely; Leonates decipiens, Dendronereis arborifera, Lopdorhynchus ucinatus, polycheate larvae, Capitella capitata and Arenicola spp. It was established from the results of this study that the refinery discharges had negative impact on the creek and adjoining river water qualities. Hence, extraction of water from these rivers for domestic and agricultural purposes requires some forms of physical and chemical treatment.

Source: KNUST
The impact of outsourcing revenue collection on the financial position of MMDAs in Ashanti Region

Outsourcing has become an important approach to generate value - when products or services are produced more effectively and efficiently by outside suppliers. This study identified; the reasons why MMDAs outsource revenue collection, the effectiveness of revenue collection agents, the effects of outsourcing revenue collection and the challenges associated with outsourcing revenue collection. Purposive sampling was adopted in selecting three (3) case study organizations whilst convenience sampling was also adopted to select one hundred respondents in Ashanti Region-Ghana. It came to light that the main reasons why MMDAs relied on private revenue collection agents were: difficulty in collecting revenues, the inability of MMDA revenue collection staff to widen their scope of reach or properly track areas of economic activities and poor record keeping. The study also revealed that the impact of the private revenue collectors on the volumes of revenues generated by the MMDAs is positive and significant. Revenue collection outsourcing help MMDAs to concentrate on the core organizational activities, assist in improved service delivery and also cut cost on human resource. Major risks encountered by MMDA’s in the outsourcing transaction are fraud, robbery and theft cases. From the perspective of the private revenue collectors, lack of revenue collection equipment, high operational costs and personnel shortage are challenges identified. Based on the research findings, the following recommendations are offered; that MMDAs select the best contractors and partners for the revenue collection activities, that MMDAs monitor and assess performance during and at the end of the contract for necessary review, termination ire engagement, and that MMDAs state their expectations of the outsourcing agreement clearly.

Source: KNUST
Impact of Nutrition Education on the Nutritional Status of Malnourished Stroke Patients at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi

There is a high malnutrition rate among stroke survivors and this leads to reduced functional recovery among these patients. There has not been much studies on how to improve the nutritional status of the stroke patients, especially out-patients in Ghana. This study was conducted to find out how nutrition education would impact the nutritional status of the malnourished stroke patients. The study was structured in two phases. Phase I involved screening the stroke patients for malnutrition, using subjective global assessment (SGA), biochemical, dietary and anthropometric indicators. In all, 81 patients were screened for malnutrition. Phase II involved giving nutrition education to the selected malnourished patients for three months. The patients were given the nutrition education twice each month. After three months, patients were re-assessed. Twenty-six (26) stroke patients were enrolled for phase II, but seventeen (17) completed this phase. The mean age of the 81 stroke patients was 55.9(±10.8) years. Prevalence of stroke among males was higher than in females. According to the various criteria used in the study, the levels of malnutrition recorded in the patients were; SGA, 32.1%, biochemical, 16%, BMI, 71.4% and MUAC, 41.1%. Malnutrition was highest among patients who were dependent on caregivers (p=0.008) and those with the lowest educational level (p=0.017). Energy intake was lower (942kcal) among the undernourished, compared with the well-nourished (1834kcal). Protein intake was also lower among the malnourished, compared with the well-nourished (p=0.032). Fruit and vegetable intake was low among the patients at baseline. Nutritional status of the malnourished patients improved after the intervention (p=0.000). Haemoglobin levels improved significantly over the baseline and there was increase in fruits and vegetables consumption. Protein and carbohydrate intake also increased after the three months of nutrition education. There was a strong positive association between increased nutirition knowledge and fruits and vegetables(r=0.576, p=0.000) protein (r=0.570, p=0.000) intakes. In conclusion, nutrition education improved the nutritional status of malnourished stroke patients.

Source: KNUST
The impact of outsourcing revenue mobilization on income generation in judicial service, Kumasi

The administrative of justice system in Ghana has been devilled with perceived corruption and other malpractices. In an attempt by judicial service management to eradicate these problems through changing attitude of staffs has proved futile. In order to put confidence into the public, management introduced outsourcing policy in 2007. Outsourcing known to be practiced of large manufacturing firms subletting part of their business function has now changed due to the ever changing consumer needs and wants and virtually every organization including judicial service are on the verge of outsourcing. The study investigates impact of outsourcing revenue mobilization on income generation in judicial service Kumasi. Both primary and secondary data were utilized. Samples of 100 respondents from various courts were chosen for the study using convenient sampling. In the process, quantitative data were sought using a researcher made questionnaire and the results analysed with frequency counts, charts, graph and pie using SPSS. The study established that operations of outsourcing in judicial service was usually opening tender process which involve bidden process, the study further revealed that outsourcing has minimise the stress of revenue mobilization which has affected the revenue volume positively. However operational cost in judicial service has been affected negatively in the sense that judicial service pay the salaries for the affected staffs as well as the outsource agent. The study concluded that the outsourcing decision should consider the past record of the vendor in terms of cost, quality and innovation. The study recommended that judicial service management should ensure proper monitoring and supervising of the activities of the outsource agent by linking them into the judicial service data base.

Source: KNUST
Impact of Perceived Leadership Behaviours of Principal Partners on Work Outcome of Graduate Quantity Surveyors

The purpose of this study was to investigate the general perception of graduate quantity surveyors of the leadership behaviours of their supervisors and their effects on their work outcomes such as Job satisfaction, Organisational commitment, and Productivity. Most researchers have evaluated leadership effectiveness with regards to the consequences of the leader’s actions on followers and organizations. Literature on perceived leadership’s impact on employee work outcomes in the construction sector appear limited, especially those that relate to Ghanaian graduate quantity surveyors. This problem is attributed to little understanding of construction experts for social science. Questionnaires used included: Kouzes and Posner’s (1987) Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI); Spector’s (1983) Job Satisfaction Survey scale (JSS), Porter et al.’s (1974) Organisational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) scale; and McNeese-Smith’s (1991) scale for Productivity. Also examined was the relationship between the demographic characteristics of the respondents and the outcomes. The respondents included 28 graduate surveyors selected through a combination of purposive and snowball sampling approaches from Architectural and Engineering Services Limited (AESL) in 9 regional offices of Ghana. The results indicated that there were significant relationships between leadership behaviours and employee outcomes of Job satisfaction and Organisational commitment. However, the correlation between leadership behaviours and Productivity was low at the 0.05 significance level. While the job satisfaction and organizational outcomes related significantly, none of the two related to the productivity outcome in any significant way. There was no significant relationship between demographic variables and employee outcomes. Stepwise regression analysis was used to determine how the five leadership behaviours-Inspire a Shared Vision, Model the Way, Challenge the Process, Encourage the Heart and Enable Others to Act associated with the work outcomes. Encourage the Heart and Challenge the Process accounted for the greatest amount of variance (R2=56.1%) in the Job satisfaction model. Encourage the Heart explained the total variance (R2=41.9%) in employee commitment to the organisation. The leadership behaviours did not associate with graduate productivity significantly. The survey was done on samples from 9 regional offices out of the 10 in Ghana. The sample size was small compared to the number of graduate quantity surveyors employed by AESL. An expanded sample covering all regions and more employees would have produced an increased understanding of the relationships. This study showed that heads of AESL in the regions demonstrate only moderate knowledge of the practices of Kouzes and Posner’s transformational leadership and calls for academic and professional bodies to incorporate leadership training in their curricula for graduate quantity surveyors and their heads.

Source: KNUST
The impact of ownership & management on the sustainability of rural piped systems in Ghana

The National Community Water and Sanitation Programme (NCWSP) was launched in 1994 to encourage beneficiaries to own and manage their own water supply facilities. Again the Government of Ghana is planning to convert about 110 rural piped systems to community ownership and management as a possible solution to the issue of sustainability in the rural water sector. However, the successful outcome of this venture is still a dilemma among stakeholders in the sector. This research analyzed quantitatively the extent to which sustainability is being achieved in some existing community managed rural piped systems and compared to those under GWSC management. In all, seven systems were studied; four systems under GWSC management and three systems under community management. The analyses were based on the following indicators: • water production to meet anticipated population increase • reliability of service delivery • accounted-for—water/saleable water • financial self-sufficiency • health benefits to the target population. Sustainability values of the above indicators were calculated on each system and compared with sustainability criteria that were developed for the assessment. Beside the health benefit that could not be calculated on the GWSC-managed systems due to lack of data, the assessment proved that all the four GWSC-managed systems were unsustainable whilst the three community-managed systems were found to be sustainable with respect to the above indicators. The outcome of this research has demonstrated that: • If local people are trained and given a project which is acknowledged as important and in which the local people have a vested interest, they can assume the responsibility to sustain the project. • Community ownership and management of rural piped systems will lead to sustainability. These in a way have proved communities’ ability to rely less on external resources that may not be forth coming when needed and to sustain the facilities from local resources when ownership and management responsibilities are entrusted to them. It is therefore the hope of the author that the government will adopt appropriate policies to allow beneficiaries to initiate their own programmes and also proceed to hand over the rural systems to the communities as community ownership and management are seen as necessary ingredients to achieve sustainability the the rural water sector.

Source: KNUST
Impact of performance management system on employees productivity in the public sector in Ghana. A case study Asokore Mampong Municipal Assembly in the Ashanti Region.

A productive performance management system in a highly competitive working environment can be a vital success factor. The study examines the impact of performance management system on employees‟ productivity in the public sector in Ghana. A case study of Asokore Mampong municipal assembly in the Ashanti region. The study used deductive approach. The research population comprised employees of Asokore Mampong Municipal Assembly out of which a sample size of 133 was sampled for the analysis. The sources of data were mainly primary source. The researcher adopted purposive sampling techniques in soliciting information for the study. Statistical package for Social Science (SPSS) and Microsoft excel was used in analyzing the data. The study established that, employee performance appraisals impact positively on employee productivity given that, the regression coefficient was positive which was significant. Again, employee reward systems have a positive impact on employee productivity given that the regression coefficient was positive. Thus, individual reward systems have strong effect on employee productivity. Thus, if the individual reward is improved by onepercent employee productivity will improved. Furthermore, the study concluded that, training and development had a positive impact on employee productivity given that the coefficients were all positive. Thus, if the training and development strategies are improved the Impact on employee productivity will be improved. The result is in consistence with Joy Emery (850), Black and Lynch (1996), Evans and Lindsay (1999) and De Cenzo and Robbins (1996). The study recommended that, training and development should be seen not only as the thread that ties together all human resource practices, but also as the instrument for establishing and signaling when and how work practices should change.

Source: KNUST
The impact of organizational cultural traits on staff retention in banking: (Stanbic Bank Ghana Limited in Kumasi Metropolis)

In an increasingly competitive banking environment, the design of an effective organizational culture can be an ideal success factor. The study investigates the impact of organizational culture on staff retention within the Ghanaian banking industry with particular focus on Stanbic bank Ghana Limited. The research population comprised customers, senior and junior staff of Stanbic Bank Ghana Limited within the year 2016 and was 500 out of which a sample of 150 was sampled for analysis. The researcher adopted purposive sampling techniques in soliciting information for the study. Statistical package for Social Science (SPSS) and Microsoft excel was used in analyzing the data. The study established that, the organizational culture traits of Stanbic Bank included Involvement, Consistency, Adaptability and Mission traits that were consistence with Denison’s model of organizational culture traits. Additionally, the result implied that there was a positive relationship between organizational culture and staff retention. According to the regression model, organizational culture traits had a positive impact on staff retention. The organizational cultures were statistically significant at p-value of 0.05. Also the organizational cultures had a predictive power ( R2 ) of 0.843 approximately 84.3 percent chance of predicting corporate profitability which was moderate. The study finally recommended that, Stanbic Bank Ghana Ltd. should work hard at the involvement, consistency and mission traits as they have greatest impact on staff retention.

Source: KNUST
Impact of pesticide applications on the populations of some soil microflora and fauna in the vegetable growing area of Akomadan, Ashanti Region of Ghana.

A questionnaire survey was carried out among randomly selected farmers, herbalists and hunters to obtain background information on the status o some plants and animal species of community interest in Akomadan, an intensive tomato producing area in the Ashanti region of Ghana. The study revealed that some species of plants and wild animals had disappeared or become rare. In addition, the effect of the continuous and indiscriminate use of pesticides on the population sizes of some indigenous microflora (bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes) and fauna (nematodes and earthworms) was investigated in fields where conventionally large quantities of pesticides are used annually. Soils were obtained from (i) fields currently under tomato cropping with pesticide management (ii) fields under different fallow periods (i.e. 1, 2 and 3 years) with histories of pesticide applications. Control soils were obtained from fields with no known history of pesticide applications. Populations of total aerobic bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes in the control fields were consistently higher than in fields with histories of pesticide applications. Six bacterial isolates, five fungi and two actinornycetes were identified from the control area. Reductions in the number of species of microbes were observed in soils from fields with histories of pesticide applications as compared to the control soils. Nematode and earthworm populations in the control soils were also higher than those in soils currently under tomato cropping with pesticide management. Similarly, populations of nematodes and earthworms in soils from fields under fallow were higher than those from fields currently under tomato cropping. Generally, observations in this investigation indicated that some species of plants and wild animals of community interest in Akomadan have become rare or disappeared. The study also revealed the negative environmental impacts of the long term pesticide use on the populations of microbes, nematodes and earthworms in the soil. However populations were able to recover after a break in pesticide applications. To ensure the maintenance of biodiversity, policies related to biodiversity conservation, food security, agricultural research and forestry management should be strengthened by the government. In the case of the effect of pesticide applications on soil organisms, long term investigations need to be conducted in order to obtain statistically significant results due to seasonal variability in microbiological and biochemical soil processes. Further, in the design of pest management strategies, the potential for the beneficial manipulations of soil floral and faunal communities to improve soil fertility should be considered.

Source: KNUST
Impact of pesticides application and farm management practices on soil dwelling arthropods in selected cocoa farms in the Eastern Region of Ghana

Soil arthropods are very vital links in the food chain as decomposers. In Ghana, the control of insect pests in cocoa farms is mainly by the use of synthetic pesticide. The impact of these applied pesticides and farm management practices on abundance and richness of soil arthropods within the litter and 0-10 cm depth of the soil in cocoa farms at New Tafo-Akim and Akwadum in the Eastern Region of Ghana was monitored for four months (October 2014 – January 2015). Berlese Tullgren extraction method was used for the extraction of the litter and soil arthropods. Collembola, Acarina, Hymenoptera, Araneae, Diptera, Coleoptera, Blattaria and Myriapoda were collected from the litter and soil. Collembola, Acarina and Hymenoptera constituted the most abundant while Araneae and Blattaria were the least abundant in both the litter and soil. Comparatively, cocoa farms where organic pesticides were used harboured numerically higher arthropod numbers than farms where synthetic pesticides were applied. There were no significant differences (P > 0.05) in the number of Collembola, Acarina, Hymenoptera, Diptera, Coloeptera, Blattaria and Myriapoda collected from farms subjected to the two pest management systems. There were significant differences (P < 0.05) in the number of arthropods collected from the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana’s (CRIG) plots with respect to the Diptera and Myriapoda. The use of herbicides as a farm management practice to control weeds had a significant effect on Collembola, Acarina and Araneae in the litter and on Diptera and Myriapoda in the soil. The soil physicochemical parameters (soil pH, soil moisture content and soil hydrocarbon) had no significant effect on the abundance and richness of soil arthropods. However, soil pH within the farm management system was observed to have a significant effect on the richness and abundance of soil arthropods. The results showed that pesticides application over the years have not adversely affected the abundance and richness of soil arthropods within the studied cocoa farms.

Source: KNUST