Legal Pluralism and the Implementation of International Human Rights Law in Africa: The Case of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD) in Ghana

Most African states are legally pluralistic. As a result, the universalism and cultural relativism approaches to the implementation of international human rights norms in African domestic settings are largely unsuccessful because they do not factor in legal pluralism. A better approach appears to be the cultural pluralism approach. This approach has fared well in Ghana’s implementation of the international convention on the rights of the child. A thorough examination of this case study reveals that the cultural pluralism approach requires an additional step to make it more effective in domesticating international human rights norms. This dissertation identifies this third step: the creation of an interface between state and non-state law for international law and customary law to meet; examines its robustness, and tests it against the implementation of disability rights in Ghana as a measure to improve those set of rights in Ghana

Development of black coating on filtering media and its effect on filter performance at Kpong headworks of Ghana

Kpong water Treatment plant is one of the two major Water treatment plants supplying the Accra/ Tema Metropolitan areas. The filtering media at Kpong water works has been observed to develop a black coating after three to four years of commissioning. This appearance results in more water than necessary being used for backwashing the filters. The source and toxicity of the black coating material as well as the possibility of it leaching into the treated water have not been determined. The main objective of this study was to characterize and investigate the development of black coating on the Kpong filtering media and its effect on the filter performance. Another focus of the study was to conduct water quality analysis of effluents from the riparian industries, and the raw water at strategic points within the study area in order to trace the source of the black coating material. The effect of the black coating on filter performance with respect to iron removal was investigated using a laboratory based batch reactor. The study showed the chemical components of the black coating of the Kpong filter media to be mainly iron, manganese, sulphates and sulphides. Other components like copper, lead, mercury occurred in trace concentrations. The blackening of the filter media at Kpong is probably due to occurrence of iron sulphates and sulphides, hydroxides and / oxides of iron and manganese ions in the raw water. The black coating has a limiting effect on the iron removal capacity of the coated (Kpong) filter media. The adsorption phenomenon on the coated media of the Volta River Authority and the fresh filter media was mainly chemisorption.Keywords: Filter media, black coating, filter performance, iro

Defluorination of drinking water using surfactant modified zeolites

The prevalence of high concentrations of fluoride (i.e. > 1.5 mg/l) in groundwater in the Northernpart of Ghana especially around the Bongo communities has been an issue of concern.Owingto the arid nature of these localities, the inhabitants (who are mainly peasant farmers), relymore on groundwater sources for their drinking water. With the strenuous nature of their joband the warm weather conditions, the farmers generally consume more water, thus becomingmore vulnerable to dental and skeletal fluorosis. This study focused on the removal of fluoridefrom groundwater by employing surfactant modified zeolites (SMZ) synthesized using locallyavailable kaolin material as precursor. The zeolite synthesis involved calcination of kaolin, alkaline fusion and hydrothermal treatment. The final product was modified with 5g/L Hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (HDTMABr). The zeolite was characterised by Xray Diffraction(XRD), Energy Dispersive Xray (EDX) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and the modified form employed in batch fluoride removal studies. The fluoride adsorption kinetics was studiedusing model water with varying initial fluoride concentration. From the EDX analysis, the synthesized zeolite NaLSX was found to comprise predominantly Oxygen (60%), Silicon (15%), and Aluminium (13%). The SEM showed the zeolite NaLSX crystals to be octahedrally shaped. The unmodified zeolite NaLSX was incapable of adsorbing fluoride ions but the surfactant modified zeolite adsorbed fluoride. The fluoride adsorption capacity of the modified zeolite was pH dependent and peaked at pH 6.0 – 7.0. Keywords: characterization, defluoridation, groundwater, surfactant, zeolite

Levels of vitamin A supplementation of a steer-fattening ration containing high or low levels of silage

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1965 B91Master of Scienc

Evaluating Access to Potable Water and Basic Sanitation in Ghana's Largest Urban Slum Community: Old Fadama, Accra

Access to potable water and basic sanitation in urban poor communities remains a critical issue in the developing world. This paper examines access to potable water and basic sanitation in Ghana's largest urban slum and the level of commitment by stakeholders to improve the current conditions. It drew on an extensive field survey, interviews, focus group discussions and drinking water quality analyses. The study revealed that the community depend entirely on vended water for their daily water supply needs. Apart from being sold at exorbitant prices, the sources of drinking water is also contaminated with attendant health risks. Household toilets are non-existent in the community and thus residents rely exclusively on public latrines; KVIP and pan latrines which are also inadequate. This partly accounts for the practice of open defecation in the community with possible health effects such as diarrhea and cholera. Indiscriminate dumping of refuse, choked drains and pools of stagnant water are ubiquitous thereby posing health threats. There is a low level of commitment to improving access to water and sanitation in the community by major stakeholders in spite of the glaring health effects. The outcomes of this study will be useful to relevant stakeholders and authorities in developing suitable strategies for improving access to water and sanitation for urban poor communities. Keywords: Accra, health, Old Fadama, sanitation, slum, wate

Effect of crystallization time on the hydrothermal synthesis of zeolites from kaolin and bauxite

Kaolin and bauxite were used as alumina and silica sources to synthesize zeolites hydrothermally. The source mate-rials as well as the synthesized zeolites were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) scanning electron microscopy (SEM), en-ergy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDX) and Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). XRD spectra of the bauxite showed Gibbsite phase whereas that of kaolin gave 32.4 % quartz and 67.6 %. The main phases of zeolites obtained after hydrothermal crystallizations were zeolite types LTA, analcime and zeolite X. Longer crystallization time resulted in phase change of the zeo-lites into sodalite. Hence, natural raw materials such as bauxite and kaolin have the attractive features of providing the staring reagents for the synthesis of ultrapure synthetic zeolites

Effect of Locally Available Fruit Waste on Treatment of Water Turbidity

Turbidity is one of the main problems associated with surface water treatment. Chemical coagulants are already being used for treatment but their enormous cost, human and environmental issues associated with their use have led to searching for alternatives like natural coagulants (plant-based). Although the use of natural coagulants for drinking water treatment has been discussed for a long time, the practice is still not employed in most poor developing countries, probably due to availability of materials and their usage as food crops. Therefore locally available fruit waste are now being evaluated for their suitability. Laboratory scale studies using jar test experiments were performed on river water containing synthetic turbidity of kaolinite to analyze the effect of Mangifera indica (Duncan mango)  and Citrus aurantiifolia (key lime) seeds as  locally available fruit waste on treatment of water turbidity. Experiments were carried out using different turbidity levels classified as low, medium and high: 50, 100 and 150 NTU with pH kept constant at 7.25.  Results indicated that the seed extracts of Duncan mango and key lime have coagulating potential. They were very effective for treatment of medium and high water turbidity. For treatment of high water turbidity using the seed extracts of Duncan mango and key lime as primary coagulants, 92.0 % and 91.1 % turbidity removal were achieved.  Compared to alum, the turbidity removal effectiveness was: alum > Duncan mango seed extract>key lime seed extract for all water turbidity levels. The pH of the treated water were within neutral (basic) due to the buffering capacity of the seed extracts. Result further indicated that the seed extracts of Duncan mango and key lime have the potential for use as coagulant aids with alum as primary coagulant for treatment of low, medium and high water turbidity. Keywords: Mangifera indica, Citrus aurantiifolia, Turbidity, Natural coagulants, Seed extracts, Fruit wast

Demonstration of astrocytes in cultured amniotic fluid cells of three cases with neural-tube defect

We have investigated the origin of rapidly adhering (RA) cells in three cases of neural tube defects (two anencephali, one encephalocele). We were able to demonstrate the presence of glial fibrillary acidic (GFA) protein in variable percentages (4–80%) of RA cells cultured for 4–6 days by use of indirect immunofluorescence with GFA antiserum. Cells cultured from amniotic fluids of normal pregnancies and fetal fibroblasts were completely GFA protein negative. GFA protein is well established as a highly specific marker for astrocytes. Demonstration of astrocytes may prove to be a criterion of high diagnostic value for neural tube defects. The percentage of astrocytes decreased with increasing culture time, while the percentage of fibronectin positive cells increased both in amniotic fluid cell cultures from neural tube defects and normal pregnancies