Refereed Journals

This study investigated the prevalence rate and identified the associated factors influencing helmet use in Kumasi, Ghana. The data used in this study were collected from motorcycle riders in the Kumasi metropolis through questionnaire survey. The contributing factors influencing helmet use were determined using a logistic regression model. The results show that the rate of helmet use was about 47% and the influential factors include rider’s gender, marital status, educational attainment, ownership of a helmet, and motorcycle license. The most important reasons influencing noncompliance with helmet use as reported by the riders include dis-comfort, distance travelled, not owning a helmet, and forgetfulness. The findings highlight the need for policymakers to set up policy guidelines to enforce compliance with helmet use. For instance, any effort seeking to increase helmet use may first have to deal with helmet ownership, which also relates to the cost of helmet. In addition, helmet producers should conform to high quality standards in order to avoid discomfort while wearing a helmet.

Ghana is the first country in the Sub-Sahara African region to reform its mining sector and has become the poster child for such change in the developing world. Obuasi is the hub of gold mining in Ghana. The Obuasi mine is currently operated by AngloGold Ashanti (AGA), and contributes immensely to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Ghana. Mining is however, an activity that causes disturbance to the natural habitat and threatens biodiversity. Mining of mineral resources results in extensive soil damage, altering microbial communities and affecting vegetation leading to destruction of vast amounts of land which needs to be reclaimed and restored. Reclamation is the process to restore the ecological integrity of these disturbed mine land areas. Mining at the Eaton Tuner Shaft (ETS) area has been decommissioned and this paper seeks to explain processes leading to the sustainable design of a safe and suitable landform for the ETS as part of closure plan by reclaiming the vast land currently in the heart of Obuasi town. This is an exploratory study employing survey methods, geotechnical profiling and topographical survey to obtain data for the landform design and ultimate land reclamation. The study revealed that the soils at the ETS area have an upper stratum of sandy Gravels underlain by strata of silts or sands with average plasticity index of 14.46% and can be used as fill material with mean allowable bearing capacity between 781KPa and 1,413KPa. For a sustainable landform design, the study recommends a gentle slope transition of about 2.5% and 1:2 for embankments.

Climate change is a contemporaneous challenge with a projected increase of 1°C to 5°C in global temperature by the year 2100. With fossil fuel combustion, population growth and land use changes being the primary drivers, warming of the global, micro and indoors environments are certain. Warming is a major determinant of thermal comfort, energy used for mechanical cooling and greenhouse gas emissions. Data on thermal comfort in the Savannah Climatic zone of Ghana is not available. International research findings and standards exist but are not true reflections of the responses of people in the tropics. Local studies cited were conducted outside the climatic zone. Assessment of outdoor and indoor thermal comfort, subjective occupant comfort, and building envelope performance has not been done concurrently creating gaps in knowledge. The aim of the research is to assess the prevailing thermal comfort conditions of residential buildings in the Upper East Region in the Savannah Climatic Zone. To assess the levels of thermal stress of the ambient environment on the inhabitants as the first objective, RaymanPro software was used to derive Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) and Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) values. Also to determine the frequency and severity of overheating of the indoor environment as the second objective, indoor air temperature with monthly threshold temperature derived from the ASHRAE 55-2017 adaptive equation. Furthermore, in evaluating the subjective occupant thermal comfort as the third objective, a longitudinal thermal sensation survey was conducted. Lastly, to simulate the optimal building envelope element details to reduce indoor overheating as the fourth objective, EnergyPlus 9.0.1 was used to simulate treatments of thermal mass increases, roof overhang extension and wall insulation on an existing building. The study area is the Bolgatanga Municipality and Gowri, Kunkua and Sabodaa communities in the Bongo District. Twelve single storey compound houses were purposively selected for thermal sensation survey. Monitoring of indoor air temperature and speed, and relative humidity was conducted by the use of Hobo U12-012 and Arno AVM 440. For the outdoors, air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and global horizontal solar radiation was sourced from the West Africa Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) Eddy Covariant (EC) station in Sumbrungu. The study was carried out in the six warmest months of November and December of 2014, February, March, April and May of 2015. The results showed that the ambient thermal stress poses risk of ‘moderate’ to ‘extreme thermal’ stresses on the PET Scale. The indoor environment had exceedance and frequency of overheating above 56% and 38 degree hours. Also, 85% of the respondents accepted temperatures ranging from 25.5°C to 33°C with 30.3°C as neutral temperature. A combination of thermal mass, exterior wall insulation, roof extension generated a reduction of 18.5% in overheating. In contributing to knowledge, a more representative adaptive thermal sensation equation was established. Exceedance and severity of overheating procedure showed the challenges in its use in the tropics. The simulation of treatments on building envelope provides reference points for future simulation studies.

E-procurement implementation in other parts of the world has brought benefits such as efficiency, cost reduction, reduced procurement process, minimised corruption, enhanced compliance and standardisation of procurement. Though the Public Procurement Authority has made many strides in the adoption of e-procurement in the Ghanaian Public Sector, the pace for the implementation and adoption is still very slow. Thus, the aim of this study is to evaluate the critical factors for the implementation of e-procurement in Ghana. With the knowledge of these critical factors for e-procurement implementation a survey was conducted involving 60 procurement professionals. The mean score ranking test was then used to determine the factors that were significant to the implementation of e-procurement. The results revealed that availability of internet, power stability, capacity enhancement of procurement officers, availability of infrastructure were important critical factors when it comes to implementation of e-procurement while the mandatory use of e-procurement, technical interoperability budgetary control among others were of less importance. This study therefore evaluates the critical factors for e-procurement implementation in public sectors. The implication is that the finding offers useful factors that will guide the stakeholders and policy makers in e-procurement implementation. It provides practitioners with better understanding of e-procurement environment.

The use of geosynthetics to control reflective cracking is fairly new in Ghana. The Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) used geogrids on the 22km Apedwa-Bunso road to reduce reflective cracking of the asphaltic concrete overlay. Geosynthetics are however widely used in the world to reduce reflective cracking in asphaltic concrete overlays (Button and Lytton 2003). Evaluation of the effectiveness of a geosynthetic reinforced asphaltic concrete overlay will need monitoring in the long term to determine and evaluate its benefits. In Ghana, some investigations have been made to determine the effect of geogrids on the California bearing ratio of lateritic soil (Adams et al. 2015, 2016) and the effect of geogrid reinforced subgrade on layer thickness design of low volume bituminous seal road pavements (Adams et al. 2014). Recently the GHA reported the use of geogrid reinforced asphaltic concrete overlay on a section of the Kumasi-Konongo road segment (GHA 2007), providing an opportunity to study the effectiveness of the geogrid reinforced segment and possibly to introduce it into the GHA technical specifications. This study monitored, between 2007 and 2017, the effectiveness of the geogrid reinforced road pavement by comparing it with a non-reinforced segment as well as a redesigned segment.