ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Seasonal Variation In Species Composition, Diversity And Biomass Of Seaweeds In Selected Coastal Communities In Greater Accra, Ghana

Ghana has a coastline of about 540 km; however, there is limited information on the growth, productivity and utilization of her seaweed resources. Seaweeds are well distributed along the coastal areas of Ghana but there is no clear knowledge on the effects of the variation in weather and seawater quality on the presence and distribution of seaweeds. Ghana has two main seasons: the dry and wet seasons. This research investigated the season that best supports the growth of the seaweeds along four coastal communities in the Greater Accra Region namely Old Ningo, Ahwiam, Prampram and Tema Newtown. Five quadrats and transects were laid using a consistent quadrat positioning procedure at all the four locations, making a total of 20 quadrats sampled monthly for seaweeds from May 2016 to April 2017. In addition, seawater samples were collected monthly for analysis of physicochemical and nutrient parameters. The results show that the common seaweeds at all the four locations were Hydropuntia dentata, Hypnea musciformis and Ulva fasciata. Hydropuntia dentata was the dominant seaweed at Ahwiam, Old Ningo, and Prampram but Ulva fasciata was the dominant seaweed at Tema Newtown. The ubiquitous seaweed was Ulva fasciata. The wet season had high species richness than the dry season at Old Ningo, Tema Newtown and Prampram but at Ahwiam, the species richness was the same for the two season. In contrast to this, the growth of seaweeds was high during the dry season than the wet season at Old Ningo, Tema Newtown and Prampram and vice versa for Ahwiam. The dry season had a high concentration of nutrients and physicochemical parameters mostly for all the locations tallied the maximum seaweed growth. The wet season had low concentrations of nutrients and physicochemical parameters possibly due to dilution, mixing, upwelling and run-offs from freshwater and lagoon sources as a result of increased rainfall, hence minimum seaweed growth.

Source: KNUST
Sectoral performance and carbon dioxide emissions in Ghana

This study investigated the effect of sectoral performance on carbon dioxide (〖CO〗_2) emissions in Ghana. It employed the use of annual time series data sourced from the World Bank’s World Development Indicators from 1974 to 2011. The ADF test proved all the variables to be stationary after first differencing except forest area (used as a proxy for climate change in the study) which assumes stationarity at the log level. There is an existence of co integration among the series. It found a statistically significant negative relationship between the service sector performance and 〖CO〗_2emissions. It also found the industrial and agricultural sectors performance to have a positive impact on 〖CO〗_2 emissions in the long-run but negative in the short-run.

Source: KNUST
Seasoning characteristics of the wood of celtis mildbraedii

This is a study of the physical and seasoning properties of the wood of Celtis mildbradii. Engl. locally called “Esa fufuo” which is perishable and exhibits strong tendencies to degrade during seasoning. This work used samples from five trees of the Bobiri Forest Reserve and determined the basic density, moisture content distribution, shrinkage characteristics (including the effect of under water storage) and proposes two kilning schedules based on Terazawa’s (1985) oven sample method. The basic density determination based on the green volume and oven-dry weight using a water displacement method was found to average 664 kg/m3 in the “heartwood” and 638 kg/m3 in the “sapwood”. The difference between the “heartwood” and sapwood” densities were only significant at the 80% level. The moisture content distribution patterns obtained by oven-drying 2cm cubes at 100°C did not exhibit wide variations and no consistent pattern emerged, either radially or vertically. The average radial moisture content was 54% with standard deviation 5.7% with 255 degrees of freedom. The variation, of shrinkage with height was erratic, alternately rising and falling between 10.4% at the base and 6.9% at the top of the tree. Radially, the “sapwood” shrunk less than the “heartwood” (7.9% against 9.2%). This was accompanied by abnormal shrinkage (13.3%) in the region of the “sap-heart” interface. Shrinkage values from the pith were similarly high (10.4%). Generally samples that had undergone water storage shrunk more than those that had not. Strangely, those that had undergone long periods of water storage shrunk less than those that had shorter storage periods. These differences were more apparent at higher moisture content: by the oven-dry stage all plots converged on the same final average. Samples measuring 2cm x 10cm x 20cm dried at 100°C exhibited strong tendency to honeycomb, collapse and end-check. Twisting and cupping was observed in a third of the samples. Some exudation and peculiar cracking was observed. Two Kiln schedules are proposed. The first is based on the majority classification (schedule 1 initial temperature 45°C, wet bulb depression 1.8°C and final temperature 79°C) and a conservative schedule 2 with initial temperature 45°C, wet bulb depression. 1.8°C, and final temperature 77°C.

Source: KNUST
Seasonal Variations in Physicochemical and Nutrient Water Quality of River Tano in Ghana

Increasing anthropogenic activities within the catchment of River Tano continues to threaten the river water quality but data is limited. Seasonal variations in some physicochemical and nutrients water quality parameters of River Tano were studied between November, 2016 and October, 2017 using electrometric and standard methods. The objective was to assess changes in physicochemical parameters and nutrient concentrations with the season and to generate useful information for water quality managers and policy makers to ameliorate the problem. The results showed significantly higher rainy season values for all the nutrients and the physicochemical parameters studied. The source of River Tano recorded pH levels lower than WHO minimum permissible level for both seasons but got corrected after 7.2 km from the source. The river was also challenged in terms of colour (61.0±4.6 NTU), total phosphorus content (0.376±0.3 mg/L), total suspended solids (69.7±24 mg/L), turbidity (96.2±21 mg/L) and electrical conductivity (252±33 μS/cm) since the levels of these parameters exceeded the permissible levels for WHO. Some physicochemical parameters and nutrients correlated strongly to indicate a possible common source to the water body. Cluster analysis extracted two clusters of the seasonal sampling sites for physicochemical parameters and three clusters for nutrients also confirming their respective possible common sources to the river. It is recommended that the buffer zone policy must be enforced to avert further deterioration of the river water quality. Industries must be compelled to treat their effluent before discharging into water bodies

Source: KNUST
Secure property right as a determinant of SME’s access to formal credit in Ghana: dynamics between Micro-finance Institutions and Universal Banks

Does registered land title help to improve tenure security and enhance one’s chances of securing a loan from formal financial institutions? This question continues to sharply divide opinions among academics, policy-makers and international development partners. The long running debate on the subject of ‘Property in the Commons’, which serves as the ideological origin of what has become known as ‘Washington Consensus’ in contemporary times claims that there is positive correlation between the possession of registered land title and access to credit. However, this has often received considerable rebuttals. Even if the ‘Washington Consensus’ is accepted, the argument is still laced with some fundamental difficulty because it inherently assumes and treats financial institutions as a homogenous class of business. Yet financial institutions exhibit greater diversity in their operations and decision-making process. This paper attempts to contribute towards developing improved understanding between the ‘secure land title and access to credit relationship’ by disaggregating financial institutions into Micro-finance and Universal Banks (UBs) and examining what role secure land title play in granting credit from the perspectives of these two categories of financial institutions. To achieve this, field level investigations were conducted amongst officials of both Micro-finance Institutions (MFIs) and UBs in Ghana using structured questionnaires. A total of 200 questionnaires – 100 each to MFI and Universal Banks were administered of which a response rate of 51 and 57 was, respectively, achieved. The data were analysed using various non-parametric statistics. The study amongst other things established that UBs and MFIs differ in their opinions on how important secure titles are in the lending process and the nature of the influence they can exert on the final lending decision. It was established that both categories of lenders do regard secure titles as important but whether or not it will influence their decision to accept a given landed property as collateral varies across lender types.

Source: KNUST
Secure Energy-Efficient Cluster-Based Routing In Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless Sensor Networks are increasingly used for various applications, such as home monitoring, environmental monitoring, health monitoring, heavy industrial monitoring, and military monitoring. Sensors are low cost tiny devices with limited storage, computational capability and power. Since numerous sensors are usually deployed on remote and inaccessible places, the deployment and maintenance should be easy and scalable. This study proposes a Secure Energy-efficient Cluster-based Data Routing Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks based on Symmetric Key Cryptography. The network is divided into a number of clusters and a selected cluster head set within each cluster. The cluster head-set members are responsible for control and management of the network. On rotation basis, a cluster head-set member receives data from its cluster nodes and transmits the aggregated results to the distant base station. Communication between sensor and the sink takes place in four levels; sensor → cluster head → gateway → sink. Encryption of the sensed data is transmitted to the cluster head, which aggregated the data received from the sensor nodes of its cluster before forwarding to the next cluster head on the path or through its gateway to the sink or base station. Sensors do not participate in the routing scheme; their energy is conserved at each sensor node.

Source: KNUST
Secure Remote Network Management And Network Access Control (Case Study At University Of Education-Kumasi Campus)

Remote network management and Network Access Control (NAC) are of immense interest to industry since it supports decision-making in management and control, and eventually end-user satisfaction. The purpose of this project is to classify a successful remote network management and access control tool for remotely managing a network and network access control at the College of Technology Education, Kumasi. This study utilized remote management tools and network access control techniques such as SSH client, PacketFence and Remote Desktop applications to carefully troubleshoot issues that pertained to the administration of the network of College of Technology Education. The entire system was deployed based on Linux operating system architecture with various workstations and hand-held smart devices as clients; providing real-time network access to network support administrators to remotely resolve problems identified on the network. These systems were also implemented to ensure the operation of security systems and effective network access control through the use of Captive Portal. The researcher recommended that since the implemented tools and techniques were able to successfully authenticate user/devices access to the LAN of the College of Technology Education, Kumasi, institutions, organizations etc. should adopt these techniques for network protection and user access control to ensure effective network policy enforcement.

Source: KNUST
Sediment core profile of heavy metals in Lake Amponsah in the mining district of Bibiani, Ghana

The many years of gold mining in Ghana has generated huge environmental legacy issues, such as land degradation and environmental contaminations from heavy metals. The present study evaluated the contamination from arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), mercury (Hg) and lead (Pb) at Bibiani, a historical gold mining town in Ghana. The study took a retrospective look at these contaminations by conducting sediment core analysis of heavy metals in sediments collected from Lake Amponsah in the Bibiani district. Sediment core was sampled to the depth of 30 cm applying a PVC corer and sliced into 5 cm segments. The concentration of As was analysed applying the Palintest (Wagtech) method, while Cd, Pb, Cu and Hg were determined applying the Anodic Stripping Voltammetry (ASV) method. The concentrations of the various metals in the sediment core ranged as follows – As: 21 – 97 mg/kg, Hg: 0.01 – 0.04 mg/kg, Cd: 0.09 – 0.74 mg/kg, Pb: 0.05 – 3.40 mg/kg, and Cu: 0.98 – 4.92 mg/kg. Generally, the concentrations of the metals were mostly greater in the upper portions of the sediment core relative to the bottom portions. This suggests greater impacts from anthropogenic activities in recent times in the Lake Amponsah watershed. Arsenic correlated strongly with Hg at the bottom half (15 – 30 cm) of the sediment core (r = 0.88). The two metals however did not correlate in the upper half (0 – 15 cm) of the sediment core. It presupposes a historically relevant association between these two metals in the older bottom sediments, culminating from largely a single source factor. It provides evidence of historical application of Hg in gold extraction in the Lake Amponsah watershed, with As as a byproduct from the arsenopyrite ore. The absence of correlation between the two metals in the upper portions of the sediment core suggests that recent contaminations from these two metals originated from quite varied source factors, which may include activities related to small scale mining, farming and leachates from waste dumps. Finally, it was established that Lake Amponsah was undergoing sedimentation at a rate of 1.76 cm/year.

Source: KNUST
Seed and grain quality characteristics of some rice varieties in Ghana

Forty six rice varieties, (34 from Crop Research Institute in Kumasi, Ghana and 11 from WARDA and 1 from Ivory Coast) were evaluated for their seed and grain quality. These varieties were multiplied at the Nobewam rice multiplication center in the Ashanti Region, Ghana. Forty five days after harvesting, the seeds were tested for their milling quality, pasting characteristics and germination and vigor percentages. Grain length, length to width ratio and the thousand hulled and milled rice grain weights were also determined. Based on the thousand hulled grain weights, the varieties were categories into five ranges; 27-30grams, 30-33grams, 33-36grams, 36-39grams and above 39grams. The hulled grain length were classified into three, as very long (32), long (12) and medium (2). Based on the width, the hulled grains were also classified as semi-spherical (39 varieties). Using the data on the length and length to width ratio of the milled rice grains, the varieties were classified as extra long (33 varieties), long (12 varieties) and medium (1 variety). They were further classified base on their length to width ratio as slender (27 varieties). From the germination and vigor tests, eleven varieties had good vigor percentages (above 80%). The varieties performed differently during the milling test. Of the forty six varieties rice varieties tested for the milling performance, twenty nine varieties were categorized as grade 1 among the head rice percentage varieties. For pasting characteristics, the breakdown viscosities ranged from 0.0 BU to 71.0 BU. Based on the breakdown viscosity values, the varieties were categorized into three groups; low (≥0≤10.9BU) 29 varieties, intermediate (≥11≤19.9BU) 5 varieties and high (≥20BU) 12 varieties. The time used by the varieties to reach gelatinization temperature ranged from 17. 53 minutes to 29.18 minutes. Based on the parameters studied, 29 varieties are recommended for distribution to farmers to increase the number of varieties that farmers and consumers have to choose from.

Source: KNUST
Sedimentation and sediment core profile of heavy metals in the Owabi reservoir in Ghana

Tropical reservoirs are important for numerous socioeconomic and ecological rea‐ sons, including water supply, fishing and flood control. These functions are easily compromised, however, when reservoirs undergo accelerated sedimentation with increased inputs of chemical contaminants. The present study applied the concept of sediment core analysis to evaluate the sedimentation rate in Owabi Reservoir, which has served as a source of drinking water supply in Kumasi, Ghana, for nearly a century. The temporal variation of contamination from heavy metals was also as‐ sessed over this period. The sedimentation rate for Owabi Reservoir was estimated to be 6.82 mm/year, suggesting a relatively low rate of sedimentation, which is eco‐ logically healthy in preventing a rapid loss of reservoir water volume. Heavy metal concentrations in the sediment cores taken from the reservoir reflected varying degree of contamination from the 1930s to 2010s. The concentration of iron (Fe) (1,560–1,770 mg/kg) was found to be the highest among the metals in the sediment core, while mercury (Hg) concentration (0.01–0.04 mg/kg) was the lowest. Lead (Pb) contamination peaked in the 1980s. Arsenic (As) and mercury (Hg) contamination exhibited more recent peaks in the 2000s, coinciding with recent widespread issues of artisanal and small‐scale gold mining (ASGM) in Ghana. Thus, even though ASGM activities are known to occur in remote districts, releases from such activities might eventually contaminate reservoirs designated as urban drinking water supplies.

Source: KNUST
Seed desiccation tolerance and germination of seven important forest tree species in Ghana.

Seed desiccation and germination studies were conducted on seven important tree species in Ghana namely: Garcinia kola, Garcinia afzelii, Terminalia superba, Terminalia ivorensis, Khaya anthotheca, Entandrophragma angolense and Mansonia altissima. Seed desiccation was carried out using silica gel as well as drying under shade and seed germination trials conducted at various moisture contents to assess the effect of drying on seed viability. Drying was carried out on whole seeds of G. afzelii, T superba, T. ivorensis, K. anthotheca, E. angolense and M. altissima. In the case of G. kola whole seeds, and seed sections/fragments namely: the proximal section (PS) and the distal sections (DS) were desiccated. Seeds of T. superba, T. ivorensis, K. anthotheca, E. angolense and M. altissima survived desiccation to moisture contents of approximately 4-5% with very little or no loss in viability. Seeds of G. afzelii declined in viability as they were desiccated and viability drastically reduced below its “critical moisture content” of 25%. Seeds and seed fragments of desiccated G. kola also decreased in viability as they were desiccated and viability drastically reduced below their ‘critical moisture contents’ of 30%. Germination of T. superba, T. ivorensis and K. anthotheca were enhanced by alternating temperatures using the Grant 2-way thermogradient plate. Seeds of K. anthotheca placed at alternating temperatures of 20/25ºC; 20/35ºC; 25/15ºC; 25/30ºC and 30/20ºC gave 100% germination. T. ivorensis seeds set at 15/35ºC; 20/35ºC and 30/35ºC resulted in germination percentages above 73%. On the other hand seeds of T. ivorensis placed at a constant temperature of 30/30ºC gave 87% germination. T. superba seeds incubated at alternating temperatures of 35/15ºC; 35/40ºC; 40/25ºC and 40/30ºC gave germination percentages of 93% and beyond. Normal seedlings of Garcinia kola could be raised from the proximal; half proximal; distal end chipped off and proximal end chipped off sections of G. kola seed. Water sorption isotherm curves of all the species exhibited the reversed sigmoidal shape. Electrical conductivity measurements of leachates from Garcinia kola seeds increased as seeds were dried to lower moisture content.

Source: KNUST
Seed health testing of rice and the comparison of field incidence and laboratory counts of Drechslera oryzae (Bipolaris oryzae) and Pyricularia oryzae in Ghana

A study was set up to find out the prevalence and occurrence of two fungi pathogens, Bipolaris oryzae and Pyricularia oryzae on rice (oryzae sativa L) seeds. Thirty- three (33) seed samples were collected from rice growers in seven communities in the four agro-ecological zones of Ghana (Sudan Savannah, Guinea Savannah, Forest Zone and Coastal Savannah). Laboratory seed health test was conducted on all the samples by blotter method, and four varieties were selected, one each from the ecological zones and a comparable count of different fungi was obtained under near ultraviolet light before sowing and after sowing. Visual symptom of blast and brown spot were also observed on the rice plants during the field experiments. Pyricularia oryzae was not observed on any of the seed samples collected when the blotter method was used for the health test. Sudan Savannah recorded the highest infection of Bipolaris oryzae with nine numbers of infections recorded out of nine samples used with infection rate ranging from 1.5% to 29.5%, whilst Guinea Savannah recorded the least infection rate, ranging from 0 to 0.5% when one sample was used. Nerica 14 was used for Guinea Savannah zone and before sowing it recorded 0.5% of Bipolaris oryzae but recorded 0% at harvest. Jet 3 variety from the Coastal Savannah recorded 0.5% infection before sowing and recorded 9% infection level at harvest. Also Nerica 2 from the forest zone recorded 0% infection level before sowing but a recorded high infection level of 5% at harvest. Curvularia pallescens was not recorded in the forest zone (nerica 2 variety) and in the Guinea savannah (Nerica 14 variety) before sowing but recorded significantly higher percentages at harvest at 86% and 46.5% respectively.Also Sudan Savannah (Jasmine 85 variety) and Coastal Savannah recorded 8.5% and 4.5% infection of Curvularia pallescens before sowing respectively but recorded significantly higher percentages of 60% and 61% respectively.

Source: KNUST