ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
A study on project managers’ willingness to take risk.

The success of any project depends on effective risk management, and the precursor of effective risk management is determining the level of project risk tolerances. Risk is the distribution of possible outcome in terms of time, cost, and performance of an endeavor, and risk tolerance is the willingness of a person or the organization to accept or avoid such risk. Project managers in relation to their stakeholders are likely to have a direct view of the outcomes of projects and the extent to which such outcome could be materialized or achieved. Project managers’ ability to take risk is relatively dependent on the job security and the organizational culture. This study was aimed at examining why project managers take risk and to know the extent to which they are willing to take these risks. Quantitative research was used to collect data and the descriptive approach was deployed to help with the study findings. A questionnaire was designed to be sent by mail or hand distributed to respondents. It came to light that; project managers would always like to factor their experience with similar projects mostly in taking such decisions. Adequate project risk management practices which encourages sustainability was the most recognized benefit per the survey. It was followed by the greater expectation for project success and results maximized while the least considered benefit was to accelerate project delivery. In conclusion, project managers are to ensure that their team gains expertise in their field to effectively work and guarantee success of projects. It was suggested that organizations and top management should also provide their support to project management team throughout the life cycle of projects. Stakeholders should involve themselves more from beginning to end to ensure the issue of information dispersion is dealt with.

Source: KNUST
A study on the challenges faced by the domestic tax revenue division of GRA in collecting VAT within the Kumasi Metropolis

For any country to achieve its developmental goals it would have to domestically generate its own revenue through usual taxes and this was the main reason for the introduction of VAT in Ghana to improve revenue collection. However the GRA which is charge of revenue mobilization just like other revenue institutions in developing countries have faced challenges in their operations. This study therefore sought to determine the various challenges faced by D.T.R.D’s of GRA in VAT collection and administration. The non- probability sampling technique specifically the purposive sampling technique was used to select 100 tax officials within the Kumasi Metropolis which were used as case study. Based on this, questionnaires were used to gather relevant data from respondents. Research findings indicated that, the D.T.R.D’s faced challenges such as improper records and bookkeeping by taxpayers, lack of tax education, high rate of VAT, unprofessional attitude of some tax officials, inadequate staffs to collect tax, high illiteracy level among taxpayers, lack of infrastructure and logistics, technological constraints as well as improper filing of returns. Also, results showed that training for tax officials are insufficient and that both tax education and tax system would have to be improved to make revenue mobilization efficient. The study therefore recommends that, the GRA should undertake recruitment and adequate training for tax official, massive tax education, provision of improved infrastructure and logistics as well as implementing tougher punishments for taxpayers as these would improve revenue mobilization and boost national growth and development.

Source: KNUST
A study on the effects of management practices on the completion time of building projects

The aim of the study was to identify various management practices and how they affect the completion time of building projects in Ghana, The study involved sampling the views of | major parties involved in a building project, that is client (both individual and corporate), [ consultants(designers and supervisors) and contractors (D1K1 classification). The study investigated the various management practices applied on a building project and determined | which of the practices had strong effect on completion time. It went further to determine how significant the strongest factors were in terms of it affecting or not affecting completion time. It also determined whether consultants, clients and contractors differed in their responses as to which of the management functions (Planning, directing, organising, staffing and controlling) had the strongest effect on the completion time of building projects. The study also considered respondents application of some of the management practices on projects. Responses from contractors, consultants and clients put together produced findings such as: identification of fifty management practices. Among these management practices, poor planning, inadequate contractor experience, long waiting time for approval of drawings by client, delay in design information and discrepancies in design, etc. were identified as some of the strongest management practices affecting delay. Again, among the strongest factors that were identified, poor site management and supervision was the most significant factor at the 95th percentile with respect to it affecting or not affecting completion time. Another finding was that clients, contractors and consultants differed in the management functions they perceived as having the strongest effect on time. The study concluded that management practices indeed had a strong effect on completion time of building projects, A key recommendation made from the study is the need for people m the industry to be more knowledgeable in management practices (especially the usage of various planning techniques) and if possible become one of the key qualifications for classification under the Ministry of Works and Housing.

Source: KNUST
A study on the impact of project management on the profitability of beverage producing companies: A focus of coca cola company

Project Management (PM) is an inventive management practice that tends to achieve state or specified objectives within specific time and budget limits through optimum use of resources. The aim of the study was to assess how PM has been adopted and its effect on the profitability of the company. The study sought to identify the development of PM over the years; find out the practices, procedure and techniques of PM adopted in the practices of formalized PM and assess the impact of PM on the profitability of the company. Quantitative research approach was used in this research. The targeted population for this study consisted of all management staffs of Coca-Cola Company Limited. Purposive sampling was used to select the respondents. 20 respondents were sampled from Coca-Cola Ghana Company Limited in order to attain precise information, in addition to cost and time constraints. The primary data was collected from the respondents through survey by administration of questionnaires. Quantitatively, the data collected was checked, grouped and statistically analyzed using SPSS. Frequencies and percentages were used in the analysis with help of comprehensive tables and illustrations to facilitate inferences, interpretations of the data comparisons. The study revealed that with the introduction of PM, the best and most qualified project management workers were hired. Majority of the respondents were of the view that the practices, procedures and techniques of PM were adopted in the company‘s PM department have contributed enormously to the profitability of their organization. The study recommended that project committee should be formed to monitor and supervise the success of the project for the satisfaction of the project beneficiaries

Source: KNUST
Study on the Technical Challenges and Impact of Integrating High Penetration Photovoltaic (PV) Systems into the Ghanaian Transmission Grid

Growing concerns about energy security, the sky rocketing prices of fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emission control have heightened interest in the harnessing of renewable energy resources in response to these critical issues. However, the integration of high shares of renewable energy such as Solar Photovoltaic into the electrical transmission grid brings with it a host of technical challenges. The lack of understanding and technical know-how to resolve these challenges has preempted the development of renewable energy in many countries, especially in Africa. The inherently intermittent nature of renewable energy sources poses operational, efficiency and reliability challenges to current power systems due to temporal fluctuations, geographical dispersion of renewable energy sources and inadequacy of the existing power grid. This research focused on the technical challenges and impact associated with the integration of high scale Solar PV on the Ghanaian transmission grid and provides systemic solutions and standards necessary for the successful integration of large share Solar PV systems. The research undertook the modeling and simulation of 2.0 MWp PV of the Volta River Authority’s Renewable Energy Development. The simulated results at various penetration levels for voltage, power losses and total harmonic distortion are presented and analyzed. It can be concluded from the simulated results and analysis that the injection of high penetration solar PV causes a voltage rise, which is directly proportional to the penetration level. Further, there is a decrease in total power losses and an increase in total harmonic distortion at all penetration levels.

Source: KNUST
Studying the Impact of the Environment on Radio Frequency Signal Quality: A Case Study of KNUST Wireless Local Area Network

With the expansion of WLAN, and the proliferation of handheld mobile devices such as PDA, cell phones, laptops, etc there is growing interest in optimizing the WLAN infrastructure so as to increase productivity and efficiency in the various campuses, airports, hotels and other areas where access points (APs) are mostly found. This is achieved by effectively deploying APs to provide adequate signal coverage also to minimize co-channel interference and coverage overlap. This study was conducted on the campus of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, where received signal strength indicator (RSSI) measurements were collected from some selected APs on the campus in LOS and NLOS environment scenarios. Path loss exponents, standard deviation and root mean square error were determined for these environments scenarios using least-square regression analysis. The results were compared with those of other published results and showed good agreement. Empirical models (prediction) were derived for LOS and NLOS environments and validated by comparing them with some existing models such as COST231 Hata, Stanford University Interim and Free Space Loss model. The results from the comparison were found to be satisfactory indicating that the derived models can be used for effective deployment of wireless networks at KNUST. Index Terms- NLOS, LOS, RSSI, Path loss exponents, environment scenario, WLAN

Source: KNUST
A Study to Ascertain the Growth Situation of the Kumasi Metropolitan Area (KMA): A Remote Sensing Approach

Urban sprawl has led to the loss of lots of natural resources such as water bodies, wetlands, agricultural lands, forest, etc which are necessary biodiversities needed to create a balanced environment and ecosystem. As towns and cities expand due to the increase in urban population, enormous pressure is exerted on the surrounding natural resources in order to create space to cater for the increasing urban population. Urban sprawl generally leads to the wasteful development of land, and also poses health and other hazardous threat to people due to its overcrowded characteristic. This has made it essential to understand the phenomenon of urban sprawl, especially with the perspective of a developing country like Ghana. The problem of urban sprawl is known to be an outcome of improper planning, inadequate policies and lack of good governance due to diverse reasons. The inability of the planning mechanism to envisage probable areas of sprawl and its growth is persistent with the lack of appropriate spatial information and indicators. With the need for sustainable development, it is essential to integrate the various factors responsible for dynamic process and establish the complex relationships amongst them. Remote System (RS) techniques applied on remotely sensed images and topographic data were carried out to assess the urban growth of the Kumasi Metropolitan Area (KMA) of the Ashanti region of Ghana. Semi-structured questionnaires were also administered to carry out a socioeconomic survey to ascertain its influence on the expansion of the KMA. Spatial analysis and statistical analysis revealed the pattern and growth of the urban area from 1974 to 2007. The change in urban growth of the KMA was discovered to be three times more than the change in population growth. The reasons for uncontrolled development were also revealed by the socioeconomic survey. The results suggested that the KMA is sprawled. The sprawl is due to the increasing population growth, unequal income (poverty), and noncompliance to laid down developmental plans within the KMA.

Source: KNUST
Studying the use of termination as project cost control techniques in the construction industry

Building construction project termination is a very common phenomenon in Africa of which Ghana is not an exception, he argued that, the phenomenon can be attributed to lack of political continuity of projects started by predecessors and the frequent award of contracts to party apparatchiks. The study revealed that Ghana in the last two decades has experienced the highest number of abandoned building projects in its development history, they opined that, the situation is alarming and needs national dialogue to put an end to the menace, their findings also suggest that, the situation has huge financial implication on Ghana’s struggling economy as a developing country. This revealed the need to investigate the possible usage of project termination as a project cost control mechanism. The main goal of the study is the use of termination as project cost control technique in the construction industry. Specifically, the study looked at factors that causes project termination, secondly, the study was to identify termination methods that can be used as a project cost control mechanism in the construction and finally, the study was to investigate the relationship between project termination factors and project cost control. To achieve the aforementioned objectives the researcher employed descriptive survey research design approach using research questionnaires as a data collection instrument. The study sampled 40 respondents using a non-probability (convenient sampling) sampling technique. Findings from the study revealed that, political factors were the most severe project termination factors with a Relative Importance Index (RII) of 0.813, followed by managerial factors, financial factors and the least severe project termination factor was identified as sustainable factors. furthermore, findings identified termination by default is the best termination method used to control project cost, more than 80% of the respondents endorsed project termination by default as the most appropriate termination tool to prevent and control project cost at the municipal assemble level. Finally, a Kurskal Wallis test of association showed the relationship between project termination factors and project cost control. All the project termination factors were all statistically significant at alpha (α) =5%. Based on these findings the researcher recommends that, the award of contracts by municipal assemblies must be preceded by due diligence to determine the financial status of the contracting firms and their competent level in the line supposed project.

Source: KNUST
Suame magazine urban redevelopment (Auto Mechanic Heavy Duty Equipment Repairs

Auto mechanics as it stands now has undergone numerous degrees of phases and changes over the years as man made one discovery after the other. The various stages of mans development in descriptive terms meant an agglomeration of certain types of goods and services within that particular era, which also can be interpreted into various systems and mechanisms of exchange within time and space. Auto mechanic activities within the whole country — (Kumasi Suame Magazine ) has developed to the stage whereby earth moving equipment which once used to be enjoyable and highly safe to use has now become a much dreaded experience due to leak of artisans in the country, low technical knowhow, and its negative socio-economic and health implications. The thesis aims at solving or reducing this existing menace by providing the public with an alternative unit — one stop heavy duty equipment auto mechanical shops, which is designed principally to satisfy the needs of both the industrial companies and the prospective spare part seller. This outfit by design solves the problems of circulation, ventilation, lighting, storage spaces etc. For this reason and more, this project is sited at Suame Magazine Kumasi. This means that prospective customers and sellers are really taken away from the congested zone to a less congested zone where commerce can go on with minimal special restrictions.

Source: KNUST
Subsurface characterization of the Pwalugu multi-purpose dam site using shallow seismic refraction technique

2D shallow seismic refraction survey technique has been applied at the proposed Pwalugu dam site to find out how suitable the subsurface is, for the engineering project. The geology of the project site is made up of the Upper Voltaian which is mainly characterised by sandstone. Ten traverses having different lengths oriented across the strike with geophone separation of either 4 or 5 m were conducted at the site. Seismic data were collected using 10 Hz electromagnetic geophones with the ABEM Terraloc Mk.6, a 24 channel recording system. The data was processed with the ReflexW software into 2D velocity depth models unveiling three acoustic layers. P-wave velocities averaging up to1400,3200 and 5300m/s were recorded for the first, second and third layers respectively. The 2D velocity depth models together with geologic information from the study area reveal that the overburden is made up of alluvium, the intermediate layer is made up of compacted alluvial deposits whilst the third layer suggest the massive sandstone bed. The seismic method delineated the bedrock at depths greater than 20 m at thevarious locations.

Source: KNUST
Subgroups of adult‑onset diabetes: a data‑driven cluster analysis in aGhanaian population

Adult-onset diabetes mellitus (here: aDM) is not a uniform disease entity. In European populations, five diabetes subgroups have been identified by cluster analysis using simple clinical variables; these may elucidate diabetes aetiology and disease prognosis. We aimed at reproducing these subgroups among Ghanaians with aDM, and establishing their importance for diabetic complications in different health system contexts. We used data of 541 Ghanaians with aDM (age: 25–70 years; male sex: 44%) from the multi-center, cross-sectional Research on Obesity and Diabetes among African Migrants (RODAM) Study. Adult-onset DM was defined as fasting plasma glucose (FPG) ≥ 7.0 mmol/L, documented use of glucose-lowering medication or self-reported diabetes, and age of onset ≥ 18 years. We derived subgroups by cluster analysis using (i) a previously published set of variables: age at diabetes onset, HbA1c, body mass index, HOMA-beta, HOMA-IR, positivity of glutamic acid decarboxylase autoantibodies (GAD65Ab), and (ii) Ghana-specific variables: age at onset, waist circumference, FPG, and fasting insulin. For each subgroup, we calculated the clinical, treatment-related and morphometric characteristics, and the proportions of objectively measured and self-reported diabetic complications. We reproduced the five subgroups: cluster 1 (obesity-related, 73%) and cluster 5 (insulin-resistant, 5%) with no dominant diabetic complication patterns; cluster 2 (age-related, 10%) characterized by the highest proportions of coronary artery disease (CAD, 18%) and stroke (13%); cluster 3 (autoimmune-related, 5%) showing the highest proportions of kidney dysfunction (40%) and peripheral artery disease (PAD, 14%); and cluster 4 (insulin-deficient, 7%) characterized by the highest proportion of retinopathy (14%). The second approach yielded four subgroups: obesity- and age-related (68%) characterized by the highest proportion of CAD (9%); body fat-related and insulin-resistant (18%) showing the highest proportions of PAD (6%) and stroke (5%); malnutrition-related (8%) exhibiting the lowest mean waist circumference and the highest proportion of retinopathy (20%); and ketosis-prone (6%) with the highest proportion of kidney dysfunction (30%) and urinary ketones (6%). With the same set of clinical variables, the previously published aDM subgroups can largely be reproduced by cluster analysis in this Ghanaian population. This method may generate in-depth understanding of the aetiology and prognosis of aDM, particularly when choosing variables that are clinically relevant for the target population.

Source: KNUST
Subsurface transport of phosphorus through the soil

Phosphorus (P) is critical to the production of crops in agriculture. But the strategies adapted to increase phosphorus capital P capital in the soil tend to neglect subsurface transport of P with the assumption that it is bonded strongly to soil particles and would therefore not be a threat to groundwater contamination. Discovery of high concentrations of P in ground and surface water has inspired investigations into factors that contribute to its transport. The study was conducted to determine the subsurface transport of P through soils under cocoa plantation and arable land. Soil samples were taken at a depth of 0-30 cm from two land-use systems namely, a cocoa plantation and an arable land under cultivation. The samples were air-dried and passed through a 2 mm sieve. The soil particles that passed through the 2 mm sieve were used for the transport experiments. Different rates of P were applied at 0, 69, 137, 206, 274 and 343 ppm. For macropore flow, pores were varied in depth (5, 10 and 15 cm), number (1, 3 and 5) and diameter (2, 4, 6 and 8 mm). The study showed that soil organic carbon (SOC) improved hydraulic conductivity of soils and enhanced their water flux density. The cocoa plantation was more liable to groundwater contamination than the arable land. The concentration of the discharged P effluents increased as the rate of P increased in soils under both land-use systems. This showed that massive application of P to increase “soil phosphorus capital” for plant uptake could increase the risk of subsurface loss of P from agricultural systems into both ground and surface waters. This could lead to environmental problems such as eutrophication of surface water. Macropore depth, number and diameter and their interactions significantly affected preferential flow of P. The contribution of the different macropore parameters to subsurface transport of P in both land-use systems were in the order depth> number> diameter. The impact of soil macropores on xii preferential flow of P was more profound in soils under the arable land as compared to the cocoa plantation. The study also showed that P solutions moving through the soil profile may enhance more P sorption at the upper horizons than the lower horizons.

Source: KNUST