ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
A conditional p-center location problem of three warehouses for unilever ghana limited: a case study of the Ashanti Region of Ghana

Location problems deal with finding the right site where one or more new facilities should be placed in order to optimize some criteria, such as, minimizing cost or travel distance from demand points and so on. A location problem is considered as a conditional p-centre problem when we are given the location of existing facilities and we are to locate p additional facility or facilities so as to minimize the maximum travel distance between the demand points, each to its nearest facility whether existing or new. This thesis considers the problem of locating three additional warehouses for Unilever Ghana Limited as a p-center problem given that some existing warehouses are already located in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The Berman and Drezner (2008) method was used on an 18-node network which had three existing warehouses and three closest nodes to these facilities. Three additional facility locations were added. Three sites, namely Konongo, Ejisu and Suame were determined by the method. Factor rating method was used to determine that Konongo was located first, followed by Ejisu and Suame.

Source: KNUST
Conflict among the Teacher Associations in Ghana Education Service and its impact on performance of students in Brong Ahafo Region

Conflicts are part of human nature and it is extremely important to study, it is not only for theoretical purposes but also for organizational practice. Many researchers suggests that conflict analysis and its resolutions have an important role in private, public and political organizations, as well as in judicial and work disputes, in military operations and many other institutions. The main purpose of the study is to find out the effect of conflict among Ghana National Association of Teachers and the National Association of Graduate Teachers on the performance of students at the senior high school level. The study adopted a quantitative approach with a sample size of 110 respondents using stratified and simple random sampling as the data collection technique. The results from the study indicated that the major cause of the conflicts among the teacher associations in GES was inequitable rewards in terms of salary. Again, the GNAT felt they were more important than the NAGRATS in terms of workload as they cater for the young ones which is more difficult than the adults at the senior high level. More so conflict affects the performance of students negatively. The researcher recommended to the management of Ghana Education Service to develop a good conflict management strategy. Also, Ghana Education Service should assist National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) to acquire their own collective Bargaining Certificate.

Source: KNUST
Conflict management practices in selected basic Schools in the Ashanti Region

Conflict has always been an inseparable part of all organizations due to the fact that there are differences in the behavior of the various workers within the organization. However, conflict in spite of its negative effects has its own positive outcomes. This has therefore given rise to the theory of conflict management which ensures that the positive aspect of conflict is maximized while the negative aspect is minimized as much as possible. This study therefore looked at the concept of conflict management in institutional growth. The main objective of the study was to explore conflict management in basic schools in Ashanti Region of Ghana. The study reviewed literature on the concept of conflict management in organizations. Face-to-face interviews were used to solicit responses from teachers alongside participant observation. The sampling technique used by the researcher which aided in the collection of data was the purposive sampling technique. Content analysis was used in analyzing the data collected. The study discovered that the integrating style of managing conflict was the most widely used conflict management style in basic schools in the region. This style placed more emphasis on high concern for self and others as well. It was also discovered that of all the challenges encountered in managing conflicts, lack of cooperation on the part of the two parties was considered the most striking challenge. Furthermore, it was also discovered that conflict management played a major role in strengthening the bond between management and workers. The study concluded on the note that the most influencing factor in managing conflict in organizations was organizational culture. The study also recommended that organizations should organize training and educational programs for their members to enable them accommodate and deal effectively with the issue of individual differences in the workplace.

Source: KNUST
Conflict in primary school and its effects on teaching and learning: a case study of Ejisu-Juaben District

Human beings form groups through voluntary means (clubs, societies) and involuntary means (families, ethnic groups). Conflict is basically the misunderstanding between two or more persons or a group of people. Conflict can therefore be grouped under four categories – intrapersonal conflict, interpersonal conflict, intragroup conflict and intergroup conflict. It is obvious that people understand quality education to be how efficient teachers are, availability of teaching and learning resources, infrastructure and the ability of the pupils to absorb lessons and reproduce when needed. Conflict in the basic schools affects teaching and learning especially when it occurs between a teacher and a pupil. It is in the interest of the researcher to identity types of conflict in the basic schools, their causes and how to mitigate their effect on teaching and learning and suggest measures to reduce conflict in the primary schools in Ejisu- Juaben district in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The researcher employed qualitative method through out this work. A number of libraries were also visited to review literature related to the study. Because the population was wide, the researcher sampled thirty- three percent (33%) of the total number of primary schools in the district. Three research tools (questionnaire, interview and observation) were used to solicit information from the field. The outcome of the study revealed that conflict among pupils where rampant and occurred almost everyday in the basic schools in the Ejisu- Juaben district. It was also found that, teacher- parent conflict was mostly caused by pupils. Again the study brought to the fore that pupils were not aware of conflict resolution mechanism in their respective schools, again most schools did not have defined conflict resolution mechanism and the existing ones were not effective enough. Upon the outcome of the research, the researcher recommends that guidance and counseling unit in most basic schools in the district needs reinforcement to equip them with conflict resolution strategies to educate pupils on better ways to handle conflict. Communication link between teachers and parents needs to be strengthened so that relationships between these key persons in education will cordial to reduce intractable problems of conflict in the school. The researcher here again recommends that pupils should be informed and involved in conflict resolution bodies and procedures in the school since it concerns them and how to channel their grievances through them. Schools that have not established conflict resolution unit should as a matter of urgency form one to reduce issues of conflict in their schools to promote effective teaching and learning.

Source: KNUST
Conflicts in Construction Projects in Ghana: Analysis of Causes and Management Approaches

The main aim of every client in construction projects is to attain a successful project, a project that has been properly planned, designed and constructed in accordance with plans and specifications, and completed within initially anticipated cost and time. But the realization of a construction project depends on a number of variables. One of them is how conflicts are approached when it arises. This dissertation looks at the causes and management approaches of conflicts in construction projects in Ghana. The main objective of the study is to identify internal conflicts and their causes. That is, conflicts among the project participants within the project team. To achieve the above objective, the study established from literature and survey critical symptoms of conflicts, factors causing them and the approaches used in resolving the conflicts. The study found that factors causing conflicts are in several forms. There are those related to the nature of contracts, where the contracts are unclear and ambiguous they give room for contracting parties to develop unscrupulous behaviour when post adjustments are needed. There are those factors which are accounted for by the role functions when the parties fail to perform as expected. As such the study confirmed that contractual incompleteness and consequent post contract adjustments and opportunistic behaviour of some construction project participants are root causes of conflicts in Ghana. Nonetheless, the study recognized that there are sufficient mechanisms to deal with conflicts in the standard forms of construction contracts used and when the provisions are against the interests of the parties, the parties resort to amicable resolution approaches. Although the availability of mechanisms in the standard forms of contracts to deal with conflicts, the study proposes a strategy that could be used to reduce the occurrences of conflicts in construction projects.

Source: KNUST
Congenital Transmission of Toxoplasma gondii and Plasmodium falciparum co-infections in pregnant women and their new born babies in the Kumasi Metropolis

Toxoplasmosis is a disease caused by the protozoan parasite, Toxoplasma gondii. About 90% of the world’s population is reported to be infected with the parasite. The disease is important for its serious implications in immunocompromised individuals including pregnant women and its severe consequences on fetuses in congenital transmission. Malaria caused by one of its most virulent species, P. falciparum continues to be a major health challenge in sub-Saharan Africa. This study investigated T. gondii and P. falciparum infections in pregnant women and their babies in the Kumasi metropolis. A total of 183 pregnant women and 186 babies were tested. Risk factors associated with toxoplasmosis and malaria infection were assessed by a questionnaire guide. Maternal and fetal blood was safely drawn from the appropriate blood vessels of the placenta after delivery. Blood blots were made on filter papers and whole blood was spun to obtain sera. Serum samples were tested for anti-Toxoplasma IgG and IgM using commercial ELISA kits and DNA was extracted from blotted blood samples for detection of T. gondii and P. falciparum infections by a nested PCR. An overall seroprevalence of 44.8% (82/183) anti-T. gondii IgG was recorded. Parasite prevalence as determined by PCR was 23% (42/183) for T. gondii only and 3.8% (7/183) for P. falciparum only. About 2% (4/183) pregnant women were co-infected with both parasites. This is the first report of Toxoplasma infection in the Kumasi metropolis. Results reveal an appreciable prevalence in pregnant women thus calling for the need to create awareness and intensify public education in women of child bearing age and implement measures for screening of Toxoplasma infection during antenatal care.

Source: KNUST
Congestion-Aware Routing (CAR): Vehicular Traffic Routing based on Real-Time Road Occupancy Estimates

Burgeoning of data and road networks have been a major bolster for the global economy. These two sectors have been in competition for a while and whichever wins tends to render the other obsolete. I believed if there were transportation systems that would allow people to teleport from one continent to another in a split second at a lesser cost than the cost of sending an email, half of email users would switch from emailing to face-to-face message delivery. Traffic congestion, however, plaques the roads of most cities globally but especially in developing countries. Data networks have however, attained a state of better traffic management and transfer protocols, proper control algorithms, optimized routing and better traffic decongestion strategies as compared to road networks. This thesis work attempts to address the problem of routing vehicular traffic in order to ameliorate vehicular traffic congestion. Fair routing is effected using real-time data. Routing information is in the form of which route provides the fastest set of interlinked road segments between any departure-destination pair of nodes of road network. Routing traffic in such a way minimizes the overall traffic congestion on road networks. The thesis adopts a routing algorithm used in data networks and modifies it for application to vehicular traffic routing in road networks. The adopted algorithm is Dijkstra’s Shortest Path First (SPF) algorithm. To adapt SPF algorithm to the solution of the traffic congestion problem, the concept of classical Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controllers and the Eddie model of traffic modeling are exploited. The PID controller concept is used to adjust road occupancy data acquired from a sensor network superimposed on the road network. Simulations have been performed to show the computations involved in deriving travel time from road occupancy data. Also, a hypothetical road network has been used to illustrate the vehicular traffic routing algorithm. Finally the method is implemented as a mobile application that draws data from a database server on the sensor network of a road sub-network in Accra, Ghana. A use case is presented. It has been shown that the method is more practicable and easier to use than a method in literature—Spatial and Traffic Aware Vehicular Routing (STAR).

Source: KNUST
Congruence through repeatability of position solutions by different GNSS survey techniques

In this study, we determined three-dimensional (3D) position coordinates for eight new Continuous Operating Reference Stations (CORS) in Ghana through three different GNSS positioning techniques. The three GNSS positioning techniques whereby the network of CORS was tied to ITRF14 and War Office 1926 datums included:1) Precise Point Positioning (PPP); 2) Precise Differential GNSS (PDGNSS), using reference stations based on ITRF14; and 3) PDGNSS, using reference stations based on War Office. The PPP solutions were computed using the Canadian Spatial Reference System Precise Point Positioning software (CSRS-PPP), available online and as an open source GNSS laboratory tool software (gLAB). The PDGNSS solutions were obtained from OPUS and AUSPOS online services, as well as from self-post-processing using Topcon Tools software v8.2.3. All solutions were computed using 24-hour data for twelve consecutive days in the month of October 2018 (GPS DoY 284 to GPS DoY 295). The quality, reliability, and acceptability of position solutions were measured by computing the average positioning error, the rate of ambiguity resolution and the repeatability ratios of the solutions. The variability of coordinate differences for each pair of different positioning techniques was computed to determine their solution congruences. Ultimately, , the average positioning errors in northing, easting, and height were 0.003m, 0.005m and 0.009m, respectively. The rate of ambiguity resolution was between 75.3% and 90.3%. Repeatability ratios ranged between 1: 68,500,000 and 1: 411,100,000. Finally, the minimum and maximum range of variability in coordinate differences for each pair of positioning techniques was 1mm to 16mm for horizontal positions and 2mm to 137mm for vertical positions.

Source: KNUST
Conservation of dura oil palm in agroforestry systems in the Sunyani West District of the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana

This study was carried out in the Sunyani West District of the Brong Ahafo Region. The aim was to determine the factors that could contribute to the conservation of dura oil palm. Eight communities were selected for this study. Both primary and secondary data were collected. Primary data was collected through the administration of semi-structured questionnaire to 80 farmers randomly selected from population of 410 farmers. Secondary data was obtained from existing literature and journals as well as Ministry of Food and Agriculture. The information obtained from the socio-economic survey was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Cross tabulation and Chi-square test were used to compare and test some important variables such as age, gender, education and household size on dura conservation. The study revealed that two types of agroforestry systems can contribute to dura oil palm conservation. These were agrisilvicultural and apiculture. Arisilvicultural system emerged as the highest (62.5%) and apiculture as the least (27.5%). Four agroforestry technologies were considered under agrisilvicultural system to contribute to dura conservation. These were cocoa agroforest (50%) plantation crop combination (31%), improved tree fallow (12.5%) and trees on croplands (6.5%) and some of the management practices that farmers carry out to ensure dura oil palm conservation include; dura left during land preparation (100%), weeding (95%), bushfire control (81), pruning (51%) and dura left in tenera plantations (50%). The major constraints hindering farmers in an attempt to conserve dura oil palm were; demand of the dura trees for wine tapping (98%), land scarcity/fragmentation (89%), inadequate knowledge about conservation (83%), bushfires (78%), lower yields (78%), long maturity period of dura (69%) and lack of financial support (49%).

Source: KNUST
Consequences of Risk Management on the performance of a Company: the evidence of Kuapa Kokoo Limited (KKL)

Risk management is an area of paramount importance to an organization. Because every company is exposed to risks, effective risk management is necessary for the progression of a business entity. In spite of the well structured process in managing risk exposures at Kuapa Kokoo Limited (KKL), the company still faces the problem of embezzlement, stealing, theft, inaccurate and unreliable information provided by officials on the field. The general objective of the study is to review the consequences of risk management on the performance of companies. The specific objectives included: to review the risk management processes, practices and policy of the company; to understand the level of awareness of staff of risk management practices of the company; to review the measures adopted to minimise losses through good risk management processes. Related literature was reviewed. The study adopted the cross- sectional research design. The study population was staff of KKL. A sample size of thirty three respondents was used for the study. The purposive sampling technique was adopted. Data was collected through interview and questionnaire. The data collected were analyzed using tables and findings were made as a result of that. Some of the findings made included: The company has clear objectives and these have been communicated so as to provide effective direction to employees on risk management and control issues. The management appropriately evaluates risk when planning for new product or activity. There exist processes for independent verification of transaction of officers. The Akuafo Cheque System of payment is not used by District officers and Purchasing Clerks as required by government. Farmers prefer payment through the cash system to that of the cheque system and purchasing clerks are forced to pay them by cash because of competition. Recommendations were also made which included: The government/policy makers should insist that the Akuafo Cheque System of payment should be the only mode of paying farmers and any official of the company who breaches such directives should be severely punished. Officials of the company should not be allowed to transport cash from the urban centres or district capitals to the farmers in villages.

Source: KNUST
The constraint in credit accessibility among the SMEs in Ghana. A case of selected businesses in the Kumasi metropolis

The main objective of the study is to determine the challenges SMEs face in accessing credit within the Ashanti Region of Ghana, precisely Kumasi metropolis. Taking cognizance of some of the alternative sources of funding the SMEs are resorting to and how viable these alternatives are as well as the diverse instruments the Government of Ghana can extend to curb such challenges of the SMEs in the country. In most jurisdictions, the study examined the detailed profile of the SMEs in Kumasi metropolis, explained that most SMEs are micro entrepreneurs where they employ less than 15people considerably dominated by the trade and commerce sector to transform the economy. Again, the existence of these financial institutions towards entrepreneurial growth and to address the various problems encountered by the SMEs in credit accessibility. The study also indicated that the Government of Ghana with its financial institutions have brought positive effect on the growth of the SMEs through managerial training, better access to loans, savings enhancement and provision of businesses by the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre(MASLO C) and Ghana Venture Capital Trust Fund(GVCTF) to dominate. Irrespective of the various contributions of the Government, there are still many problems which tends to affect the operations of the SMEs, presented as high rate of interest charges by banks, poor credit history, high cost of taxes, changes in the environment such as globalization, political, social, economic and technological differences which result in the limited knowledge of business opportunities leading to non-productivity. In order to enhance a sustained and accelerated growth in the industry of SMEs, there must be a united body to implement some restrictive measures of managerial via employee training programs for all enterprises to be equipped as well as bargaining with the various financial institutions on the high interest rate levels to a reduction

Source: KNUST