ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Non-performing loans and performance of Rural and Community Banks (RCBS) in the Northern and Upper East Regions of Ghana

This study examined the effect of Non-Performing loans on performance of selected six RCBs in the Northern and Upper East Regions of Ghana and the incident trend of non-performing loans among these selected banks. Secondary data was collected from these RCBs for the period of 2008-2016. The Ordinary Least Square (OLS) was used to evaluate the effect of Non-Performing loans on financial performance, whereas the Polynomial function was used to determine the incidence trend of Non-Performing Loans. Performance was measure by profitability. Two separate models were estimated; thus one without interest rate and another with the interest rate variable. For the first model, the result of the OLS showed that non-performing loans and current loans were both statistically significant at 5% levels, whiles inflation was found not statistically significant. Whereas both non-performing loans and inflation were found to be negatively related to profitability, current loans were fund to be positively related to profitability. In the case of the second model, current loans and interest rate were found to be statistically significant at 5%, while inflation remain insignificant. However, non-performing loans, this time became insignificant. Current loans was estimated to have positive relation to performance, whereas non-performing loans, inflation and interest rates all indicated a negative relation with performance. The polynomial trend analysis indicates a growing trend of non-performing loans in all the selected RCBs, with only few showing signs of declining trend in Non-Performing loans towards the end years of the period of the study. The study therefore recommends that, the selected RCBs should ensure; adequate and robust credit management policies, fortify credit management structures and Internal Audit, train Board, management and staff, especially in the areas of credit regulatory compliance and accurate credit reporting. These will improve quality loans assets and enhance profitability.

Source: KNUST
Non–performing loans and performance of Rural Banks - A case study of selected rural banks in Ashanti Region

The objective of the study was to determine the causes, trends, effects and management of NonPerforming loans (NPLs) in rural banks in Ghana. Three banks were selected on the basis of convenience and both secondary and primary data were collected for the study. The causes and management of non-performing loans were uncovered through the responses obtained from the questionnaire administered to credit officers and management of the selected banks. The trend and effect of non-performing loans on the financial performance of the selected banks were analysed using secondary data from the annual reports of the banks for the period 2005/2014. The study analysed the effects of Non-Performing Loans on three indicators of financial performance namely return on shareholders’ funds (ROSF), return on assets (ROA) and lending potential using loaned funds (LF) as proxy. Other variables that impact on bank performance such as deposits, liquidity, capital adequacy, bank size, board size, inflation and oil prices were used as control variables. Random effect model was employed to determine the effect of nonperforming loans on banks’ financial performance. The study identified loan diversion, improper monitoring of clients, bad customer attitude to loan repayments, management and board interference as some of the major causes of NPLs. The study revealed that the combined Non-Performing Loan ratio of the selected banks was 7.16% close to the industry average of 7%. In absolute terms, the banks have seen upward trends in the loans that are becoming nonperforming. The study revealed that Non-Performing Loans associated negatively with all the financial performance variables used in the study. The study recommends that rural banks should embark on rigorous loan appraisals and follow ups to ensure that loans granted to clients are used for the intended purposes. In addition, measures should be put in place to curtail the interference by management and board members in the recovery effort of credit officer.

Source: KNUST
Non–performing loans and performance of rural banks - A case study of Bosomtwe Rural Bank Limited

Financial intermediation remains a major part of the traditional roles played by banks. As part of this, banks acquire money through deposits and further extend them as loans to interested customers. Granting of loans is a major activity of rural banks which contributes a greater portion of their income when repaid with interest. However, this poses serious threat to the survival of the bank when most of the loans disbursed tends to be non-performing. This study aimed at evaluating the effect of Non –Performing Loans on performance of Bosomtwe Rural Bank Limited from 2009 to 2013. Questionnaires and interview guide were used to collect data from 30 bank officials. Performance indicators used were profitability, liquidity and asset quality. The study showed that NPL ratio of the bank over the period was inconsistent though there was a steady rise from 2009 to 2011. The bank recorded the highest credit impairment loss of (GH¢218,804.82) in 2012. The major causes of NPL in the bank were loan diversion, willful default, and poor credit appraisal among others. The bank lost huge portions of its profit to NPL in each year with the highest in 2012 (19.39%). Despite the credit impairment losses the bank managed to maintain its Return on Asset ratio below the industry benchmark. However, it failed to satisfy the requirement for Return on Equity ratio for 2009 and 2010. The bank kept its asset quality below the industry maximum of 10% from 2009 to 2013. The study revealed that NPL generally affected the profitability of the bank hence pragmatic measures were proposed to minimize the incidence of loan default.

Source: KNUST
NORTH-SOUTH migration and livelihood sustainability: Analysis of migrants’ adaptation and coping mechanisms to urban volatilities in the Kumasi Metropolis.

This study examined north-south migration and livelihood sustainability. It sought to analyse migrants’ adaptation and coping mechanism to urban volatilities. Many studies in Ghana have focused on the causes and consequences of north-south migration in the origin and destination communities without considering volatile urban scenarios that confront migrants at their destinations and how migrants are able to cope and adapt to such volatile scenarios. The Central Business District (CBD) of Kumasi Metropolis and three Sub-metropolises around the CBD were selected to represent Kumasi Metropolis. Survey, questionnaires, structured interviews and focus group discussions were used as data collection tools to assess the situation. Quantitative data analysis was done with SPSS, and the results presented in the form of tables, graphs and charts while direct quotations from respondents were used to present qualitative data. The results from the study revealed that north-south migration is driven by pull factors such as employment opportunities, high income levels and remittance sent home by colleagues and push factors such as unemployment and poverty at the origin. Also, increase in unemployment situation, non availability of accommodation, high cost of educational facilities and health care, high cost of living and poverty situation create noteworthy volatile urban scenarios for migrants. It was however discovered that, migrants are able to adapt to these scenarios by moving from one livelihood activity to another and also depending on borrowed funds from friends and family. Again, it was discovered that KMA’s interventions are not targeted at assisting migrants to adapt to the volatile urban scenarios but to the general population. Drawing on the results from the study, it is suggested that any future interventions should better be targeted on migrants in the urban areas. Also, a more pro-active, holistic and systematic approach to minimise north-south migration through alternative livelihood creation should be implemented as a national policy.

Source: KNUST
Noun-noun compounding in Esahie

Noun-noun (N-N) compounds have been argued to constitute the commonest and most productive category of compounds cross-linguistically (cf. Downing 1977; Clark et al. 1985; Bauer 2017; Gagné & Spalding 2010; Guevara & Scalise 2009) and this fact is well-established in Kwa languages as well (cf. Akan: Appah (2013), Lɛtɛ: Akrofi Ansah (2012), Ewe: Agbadah (2017), and Dangme: Lawer (2017), Lawer & Appah (2020)). However, the subject remains to be explored as far as Esahie, which also belongs to the Kwa group of languages, is concerned. This paper, therefore, examines the form and function of N-N compounds in Esahie, from a Construction Morphology (Booij 2010) perspective. Among other things, the study reveals that subordinate compounds are predominantly right-headed, while attributive compounds are predominantly left-headed, and that the former is the most productive compounding type. Our findings on Esahie noun-noun compounds corroborate Booij’s (1992) observation that there is a strong correlation between recursion and productivity. Furthermore, we show that semantic headedness (rather formal headedness) provides the most reliable criterion for determining headedness in Esahie N-N compounds. Data is collected through documentary fieldworks conducted in Esahie-speaking communities of the Western North Region of Ghana.

Source: KNUST
The novels of Ayi Kwei Armah: a study in the macrotext of the recit

The last or late part of the nineteenth century witnessed the emergence of modernism, a conscious literary cult which sought to overthrow the cherished beliefs of the ordinary reader. The modernist novel completely alienated itself from veridical reality. It appeared also to be an answer to science’s questioning of the continuous relevance and place of literature in the world of scientific imperatives and advancement. It therefore marked the elevation of literature to a different level where the focus on structures became sacrosanct and a vigorous religious ritual. This resulted in structuralism. The anti-humanism and the alienation from veridical reality led to a vigorous verbal antagonism between the modernists and the traditionalist (modern). This polemics can simply be reduced to the form-content tug-of-war which characterized literary circles in the past. The periodic emergence of this form-content argument has been both beneficial and destructive for Literature. Therefore the need to bridge this gap and to consciously harmonize the form-content struggle in African novels has become imperative, and writers like Ayi Kwei Armah have become the pioneers in this aspiration to make form and content complement each other. Therefore, in this research we sought to prove that Ayi Kwei Armah started his work as a modernist and maintained it throughout his six novels as far as Mood is concerned. His works, from The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born to Osiris Rising, are consciously structured and Genette’S category of Mood can be applied to analyse them just as K. O. O. Armah demonstrated with Ayi Kwei Armah’s works as far as the category of time is concerned, and P. P. Adolinama and John Aning have also done with Ngugi and Achebe’ s works respectively. To achieve the above aim, the theoretical framework of Genette’s Schema of Mood was used to analyse Ayi Kwei Armah’s six novels: The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born, Fragments, Why Are We So Blest, Two Thousand Seasons, The Healers and Osiris Rising. In addition, we examined Armah’s works eclectically in order to demonstrate any modifications in his application of Mood. So we applied basically analysis as our methodology in arriving at our conclusions. In our research, we observed that Ayi Kwei Armah’s works are consciously crafted as far as Mood is concerned. The form of his works was structured to communicate to the reader. Consequently, in Armah’s works form complements the histoire. Therefore we reconmiend that readers can best interpret and enjoy Armah’s works thematically if they are encoded to use the macrotext of the recit to interpret the histoire.

Source: KNUST
Novotel Hotel (Kumasi)

The impact of the global economic recession has certainly slowed down economic growth in both developed and developing countries and to correct their balance of payment deficits and stimulate social and economic development, many of these states have resorted to tourism development as economic panacea. This is because it is one sector of the global economy that has maintained a steady growth over the years world-wide even in the face of fluctuations in producer prices of oil, manufacturing and agricultural products. It is for this reason that Ghana has taken advantage of the tourism potential she has and accordingly identified and designated tourism as a priority sector for economic growth and to develop it to the level that would enable her realize this all important economic goal. With a steady increase in the number of international tourists visiting the country annually, a corresponding expansion in tourism infrastructure and receptive facilities in the area of accommodation, transportation and services is necessary to match the growing tourist traffic. The aim of this study is to identify and assess Ghana’s tourism asset and potential as well as policies put in place for the development of the sector. It also takes a look at the current availability and adequacy of quality guest receptive facilities with particular emphasis on hotel accommodation, their general distribution in the country vis-â-vis the location of tourist attractions and to come up with a design proposal for the 4-star hotel facility to be located in Kumasi; the quality and location of which is determined by findings of the study.

Source: KNUST
Novel Designs Of Highly Sensitive Multi Channel Surface Plasmon Resonance Biosensers Using Photonic Crystal Fibers

Containing deadly viral out breaks such as Ebola requires the use of portable miniaturized highly sensitive devices the need to carry out in situ laboratory exercises. Verification of such viruses carried by a patient would normally require taking a sample all the way to the nearest well equipped laboratory with highly skilled personnel for testing. The whole process takes up so much time and resources increasing the risk of the virus spreading. Similarly, increasing access to improved diagnostic health care for patients remotely located can be realized in a far shorter span of time at less cost with the use of such bio sensors which do not require advanced knowledge and skill to operate. This thesis explores the use of photonic crystal fibres in the context of opto fluidics refractive index sensing based on surface plasmon resonance for portable, label-free, biosensors. Noise signals that make it difficult to detect the changes of interest eliminated using self-referencing scheme to reject environmental influences such as temperature and humidity. The relevant characteristics of two photonic crystal fibre architectures are explored numerically with one being an improvement of the other. In addition, the first design being a novel highly birefringent photonic crystal fibre introduced the concept of multi analyte sensing while the second photonic crystal model demonstrated multi analyte sensing with a metal oxide over layer enabling it to operate in both dual analyte sensing and self-referencing modes with greatly improved sensitivity, of both operational modes. Biosensor architectures for the two fundamental modes ( and ) have been elucidated using a finite element method (FEM) with perfectly matching areas (PML). Results show high sensing capabilities as compared to traditional fibre optic biosensors with structural architectures enabling realisation of compact and portable devices.

Source: KNUST
Nudity in painting: art or pornography? a case study of the Department of Painting and Sculpture (KNUST)

One of the pertinent problems which artists face today in our society on nude painting is the negative impression associated with the painting of female nude figures. Thus, some people consider female nude painting as immoral and pornographic. This may be due to their religious background, especially if they are Christians, Moslems, Traditional believers or other faiths. The study employed qualitative method of research with purposive sampling technique and simple random sampling with interview and questionnaire to collect the necessary data. The study revealed that nudity in painting or figure painting was introduced by the colonial educators who came to teach art at Achimota College in the 1960s. The research discovered that nudity in painting is art but not pornography: because it is used as a study object by the students in the Department of Painting and Sculpture in KNUST where models are used to learn the anatomical structure of the human figure in order to train high calibre painters who meet the artistic standards of the international arts market. Also there is no clear difference between nude figures and that of pornography. Both carry nakedness of the person but there is a thin line between them, which should be left to the viewer to decide which aspect is pornography and which aspect of the nude figure is art based on the purpose of the human figure. In order to train high calibre painters to help the country develop economically, the research recommends that the Government of Ghana see to it that Nudity in Painting becomes an accepted subject in the school curriculum so that pupils and students could study the anatomical structure of the human figure without being ashamed. This is because students who come out as doctors, artists and other professionals would know the formation of the muscles, bones, and the different shapes of the human figure. This will enable fashion design to know the shape of the human figure to enable them design good dresses for each shape of human being whether slim, large, big or medium and also surgeons could know how to draw the human figure before an operation is conducted on them and how to identify the exact position of the disease from which that the patient is suffering.

Source: KNUST
Numerical Determination of the Portability of Treated Water Using Ordinary Differential Equations: A Case Study in Vea- Gowrea Water Treatment Plant

The problem of the Vea – Gowrea Water Treatment Plant was to develop a mathematical model of the flow of chlorine from the chlorine chamber to the clearwell, to numerically determine the concentration levels of chlorine of the treated water at any given moment so as to help minimize the number of experiments carryout every 2hours by management to ensure water portability. Runge – Kutta second order numerical solution method to an ODE model using ode23 solver of MATLAB 7.9.0 (R2009b) revealed that the numerical determination of the portability of treated water would be a better complement to the experimental method solely used by management of the Vea – Gowrea Water Treatment Plant of the Upper East Region of Ghana. The research results also showed the concentration levels of chlorine by – products such as THMs and HAAs which have long term effects on human health when found in excess beyond the recommended limits.

Source: KNUST
Numerical investigation of forced convective MHD tangent hyperbolic nanofluid flow with heat source/sink across a permeable wedge

The combined effect of wedge angle and melting energy transfer on the tangent hyperbolic magnetohydrodynamics nanofluid flow across a permeable wedge is numerically evaluated. Electronic gadgets produce an excessive amount of heat while in operation, so tangent hyperbolic nanofluid (THNF) is frequently used to cool them. THNF has the potential to dissipate heat more efficiently, thereby lowering the possibility of excessive heat and malfunctioning components. The effects of thermal radiation and heat source/sink are also examined on the flow of THNF. The flow has been formulated in the form of PDEs, which are numerically computed through the MATLAB solver BVP4c. The numerical results of BVP4c are relatively compared to the published work for validity purposes. It has been detected that the results are accurate and reliable. Furthermore, from the graphical results, it has been perceived that the rising impact of the Weissenberg number accelerates the velocity and thermal profile. The effect of the power-law index parameter drops the fluid temperature, but enhances the velocity curve. The variation in the wedge angle boosts the shearing stress and energy propagation rate, whereas the increment of Wi declines both the energy transfer rate and skin friction.

Source: KNUST
Numerical Investigation of Fractional-Order Kawahara and Modified Kawahara Equations by a Semianalytical Method

In this work, the optimal homotopy asymptotic method (OHAM) has been used to find approximate solutions to the nonlinear fractional-order Kawahara and modified Kawahara equations. The method convergence is controlled by a flexible function known as the auxiliary function. The values of the unknown arbitrary constants in the auxiliary function are computed using the Caputo derivative fractional-order and the well-known approach of least squares. Fractional-order derivatives are taken in the Caputo sense with numerical values in the closed interval ½0, 1 . The suggested method is directly applied to fractional-order Kawahara and modified Kawahara equations, with no need for small or large parameter assumptions. The numerical results obtained by the proposed method are compared to the new iterative method (NIM). Results reveal that the proposed method converges faster to the exact solution than other methods in the literature.

Source: KNUST
Numerical Simulation and Design of Stand-alone Solar Hydrogen System

A photovoltaic system consists of an array, a storage medium and elements for power conditioning. Many photovoltaic systems operate in a stand-alone mode and the total energy demand is met by the output of the photovoltaic array. The output of the photovoltaic system fluctuates and is unpredictable for many applications making some forms of energy storage or backup system necessary. The role of storage medium is to store the excess energy produced by the photovoltaic array, to absorb momentary power peaks and to supply energy during sunless periods or during night. One of the storage modes is the use of electrochemical techniques, with batteries and water electrolysis as the most important examples. An attempt has been made to study the concept of storing solar energy in the form of hydrogen using stand-alone solar hydrogen system. Hydrogen in this study was produced from the standpoints of: optimum electrolysis cell concentration; concentration dependent of current; hydrogen production efficiency depending on the cell concentration. The system characteristics: quantity of hydrogen produced based on cell concentration, current/voltage output with concentration, production efficiency, and simulated current/voltage output were measured and analysed. A 50W photovoltaic panel rated as 17.4V, 2.87A yielded a maximum volume of about 8.6rnl per minute for 1 .OM cell concentration. Numerical simulation was used to compare the experimental results and also the possibility of increasing the cost-effective yield of hydrogen.

Source: KNUST
“Numerical simulation of a reinforced concrete shield around a nuclear reactor”

Ghana currently operates a Research Reactor and other nuclear facilities including a Gamma Irradiation Facility, a Radiographic Non-Destructive Testing laboratory and would be operating in the nearest future a Radiotherapy Centre. Each of these has a concrete radiation shield as a major safety device. In carrying out its functions, a concrete radiation shield may be subjected to thermal and mechanical stresses. A facility for analysing these stresses is desirable. Two computer codes have been developed under this programme for radiation shielding computation and stress analysis of cylindrical reactor shields.

Source: KNUST