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

Impurity and quaternions in nonrelativistic scattering from a quantum memory

Models of quantum computing rely on transformations of the states of a quantum memory. We study mathematical aspects of a model proposed by Wu in which the memory state is changed via the scattering of incoming particles. This operation causes the memory content to deviate from a pure state, i.e. induces impurity. For nonrelativistic particles scattered from a two-state memory and sufficiently general interaction potentials in 1+1 dimensions, we express impurity in terms of quaternionic commutators. In this context, pure memory states correspond to null hyperbolic quaternions. In the case with point interactions, the scattering process amounts to appropriate rotations of quaternions in the frequency domain. Our work complements a previous analysis by Margetis and Myers (2006 J. Phys. A 39 11567--11581).Comment: 16 pages, no figure

The perception and preference of consumers for local poultry meat in the Kumasi metropolis of Ghana

The study examined the preference for and perception of consumers concerning the locally produced poultry meat in the Kumasi metropolis in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Fifty consumers were randomly selected. The results demonstrated that most consumers preferred the local poultry meat to the imported meat. The logit estimates indicated that factors such as age, gender, cold store, cut parts, and healthiness significantly influence consumers’ preference for the locally produced poultry meat. Age, gender and healthiness positively influence consumer’s preference, while cold store and cut parts negatively associated with consumer preference for local poultry meat. On the perception, 68 per cent of the consumers strongly agreed that local poultry meat is tough, while 58 per cent alleged that imported poultry meat is rather tough. In terms of affordability, 46 per cent of the consumers disagreed that local poultry meat is affordable, while 52 per cent strongly objected to the idea that imported poultry meat is relatively cheaper. In terms of availability, 54 per cent of the consumers admitted that local poultry meat is not readily available, while 58 per cent indicated that imported poultry meat is readily available and can be obtained at anytime. Sixty per cent of the respondents were of the opinion that local poultry meat taste better, while 46 per cent of the respondents indicated that imported poultry meat do not taste better. This was probably due to long period of refrigeration, which reduced its freshness and taste and made it less healthy for consumption. It is suggested that the government should subsidize the cost of inputs for the local poultry industry, since the results indicated that high cost was the major factor that influenced consumers’ purchasing decision

Housing attributes and relative house prices in Ghana

Purpose The study of house prices has become more relevant in recent times after the global financial crisis. Using a housing data set from three regions of Ghana (collated from real estate agents), the purpose of this paper is to estimate the relative importance of housing attributes to house prices. Design/methodology/approach The hedonic regression analysis conducted indicates that location is the most powerful determinant of house prices. Other relevant factors are the number of bedrooms, the number of floors, the total floor area, land size, age of the house and luxury finishing. Findings The implications of these results are many. Policy wise, the study provides an evidence-based empirical study that supports the need for better urban planning to improve communities, which in turn is associated with house price appreciations. Homeowners, investors and creditors, particularly mortgage lenders could be the immediate beneficiaries. Drawing on this, improved urban planning could mitigate strategic defaults that results from house prices falling below mortgage loan balances. This is important for financial market stability. Originality/value The paper provides a comprehensive and unique understanding of the hedonic determinants of house prices in Ghana. Future studies could examine the effect of location upon mortgage lending in Ghana

COVID-19 pandemic and dental practice in Ghana

With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare systems and their provision of care has globally been challenged, including the delivery of Oral healthcare. In Ghana, it has become imperative that healthcare delivery including the practice of Dentistry and its sub-specialties be re-oriented in our peculiar setting to ensure minimal risk of spread of the infection. This article discusses the impact of COVID-19 on the practice of Dentistry in the country

Quality of life among cervical cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy.

IntroductionThere has been an increasing rate of the incidence and mortality of cervical cancer in Ghana. Cancer and the treatment's side effects have adverse effects on the patients and this affects patient's well-being and lifestyle during and after radiotherapy. The study sought to assess the impact of demographic and clinical characteristics on Quality of Life (QoL) among cervical cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy in Ghana.MethodsA cross sectional quantitative study design was carried out on 120 cervical cancer patients who were conveniently sampled from the study site. The data was collected between the months of December, 2017 and February, 2018. QoL was measured using the FACT-G questionnaire. The mean scores of QoL were determined, whiles the chi-square test was used to determine the impact of socio-demographic and clinical characteristics on the QoL of the patients.ResultsThe mean age of the patients was 56.8 years. Majority of the patients reported stable QoL. The social well-being of the older patients was more affected than other patients. The unmarried, widows and patients who underwent surgery with radiotherapy were emotionally affected. Majority (56%) of the participants had stable QoL whiles 22% each had poor and good QoL. Significant association was found among 35-39 age group with physical well-being and overall QoL (p=0.017 and 0.029) respectively.ConclusionThere is a need to embrace a QoL assessment instrument in the study site so as to help the oncology team in the identification and addressing of specific indicators that affect the QoL of cervical cancer patients

Teleportation, Braid Group and Temperley--Lieb Algebra

We explore algebraic and topological structures underlying the quantum teleportation phenomena by applying the braid group and Temperley--Lieb algebra. We realize the braid teleportation configuration, teleportation swapping and virtual braid representation in the standard description of the teleportation. We devise diagrammatic rules for quantum circuits involving maximally entangled states and apply them to three sorts of descriptions of the teleportation: the transfer operator, quantum measurements and characteristic equations, and further propose the Temperley--Lieb algebra under local unitary transformations to be a mathematical structure underlying the teleportation. We compare our diagrammatical approach with two known recipes to the quantum information flow: the teleportation topology and strongly compact closed category, in order to explain our diagrammatic rules to be a natural diagrammatic language for the teleportation.Comment: 33 pages, 19 figures, latex. The present article is a short version of the preprint, quant-ph/0601050, which includes details of calculation, more topics such as topological diagrammatical operations and entanglement swapping, and calls the Temperley--Lieb category for the collection of all the Temperley--Lieb algebra with physical operations like local unitary transformation

The Goal Programming as a Tool for Measuring the Sustainability of Agricultural Production Chains of Rice

Agricultural activity is characterized by an intensive use of capital and a considerable dependence on external financing. Access to credit is often limited by the scarcity of resources and lack of guarantees, seriously affecting the productivity and economic performance of agricultural exploitations. The objective of this paper is to assess the sustainability of agricultural production chain of rice in Latin America using multi-criteria analysis tools to facilitate decision-making through a benchmarking process to contribute to their economic sustainability. The implementation of the model in an exploitation typy depending on financing sources (conservative, intermediate, and innovative) has revealed the conflict between the goals, being the intermediate exploitation, which gets the best results. The conclusions show that the flexibilization of financing options positively affects the economic performance

Economic Impacts of Climate Change on Cereal Production: Implications for Sustainable Agriculture in Northern Ghana

This paper investigates the economic impacts of climate change on cereal crop production in Northern Ghana using 240 households comprising maize and sorghum farmers. The Ricardian regression approach was used to examine the economic impacts of climate change based on data generated from a survey conducted in the 2013/2014 farming seasons. Forty-year time-series data of rainfall and temperature from 1974 to 2013, together with cross-sectional data, were used for the empirical analysis. The Ricardian regression estimates for both maize and sorghum showed varying degrees of climate change impacts on net revenues. The results indicated that early season precipitation was beneficial for sorghum, but harmful for maize. However, mid-season precipitation tended to promote maize production. Temperature levels for all seasons impacted negatively on net revenue for both crops, except during the mid-season, when temperature exerted a positive effect on net revenue for sorghum. Our findings suggest that appropriate adaptation strategies should be promoted to reduce the negative impacts of prevailing climate change on cereal crop production