The Adoption of ICT by Libraries of Teacher Colleges of Education in Northern Ghana: challenges and prospects

This study was conducted to investigate the adoption of ICT by libraries of teacher training colleges of education located in northern Ghana. The study an area covers five administrative regions located in northern Ghana. These are the Northern Region, North East Region, Upper East Region, Savanna Region and Upper West Region. The survey method was used and questionnaire was used as data gathering tool. Copies of the questionnaire were issued to eight librarians of the eight teacher college libraries in the study area. Findings of the study revealed that the adoption of ICT by libraries of teacher training colleges of education located in northern Ghana was still a new phenomenon and therefore in a conception stage. The study also revealed that although the libraries use ICT in the provision of some services these services were inadequate because of some challenges such as inadequate funding, lack of skilled staff, and the lack of support from management. The study recommended that ICT literacy training should be given to college librarians since ICT is a dynamic environment which needs constant practice and training. It was also recommended that management of teacher colleges of education provide adequate support to the libraries by equipping them with modern ICT tools such as computers, printers and scanners to support their house keeping activities. The study also recommended that college librarians go on attachment programmes to understudy librarians in mainstream university libraries in order to learn the best practices in modern librarianship

Sustainability of Raw Water Supply in Nawuni River for Tamale Metropolis and Environs, Ghana

Water supply service is possibly the most essential of all public service in Ghana and any obstruction to its delivery threatens human survival. A major challenge to water supply is the rapid urbanisation, which has increased water demand in the urban areas, placing pressure on service providers to meet demand. Perennial water shortages in Tamale, is linked to several factors including the inability of the service provider to keep pace with the demand of the rapidly increasing population of the city. This situation could be exacerbated by natural climate variation and competing water uses upstream the city supply source. This study investigates the sustainability of raw water supply to Tamale metropolis and environs using Water Evaluation and Planning Model (WEAP). The investigation was based on scenarios analysis: Reference scenario, Population and Socio-economic growth, intensifying upstream water use and Extended Dry Climate. The results revealed that, intensifying upstream water use as projected in the study do not have impact on the downstream water availability for sustainable water supply. However, the assessment based on High Population and Socio-economic growth results showed significant value (229 million cubic meter) of Unmet Demand in year 2035 for Urban and rural demand site. The results also showed that, the water demand will outstrip raw water supply by 2029 when Extended Dry Climate occurred under scenario High population and Socio-economic growth. Possible options of water storage reservoir should be investigated so as to mitigate the effect of extended dry season. Keywords: Downstream water, Reliability, Supply requirement, Supply delivered, Un-met demand. DOI: 10.7176/JEES/13-6-05 Publication date:August 31st 202

Source Node Expansion Algorithm for Coherency Based Islanding of Power Systems

The electric power system is an exposed man-made structure susceptible to wide arrays of disturbance. If not cleared, a lingering disturbance can plunge the system into the unstable mode in a fairly short time frame. In distributed generation, a drawn-out perturbation can cause system components to operate under unacceptable conditions. When restoration controls fail to revive the troubled system, generators may lose synchronism causing them to swing haphazardly in groups. This crisis separates the power system into unbalanced regions called islands.In this thesis, Source Node Expansion Algorithm based on Slow Coherency has been proposed to resolve unintentional islanding. The algorithm initiates expansion from generator source,engulfs connected loads until desired power mismatch is met. It then terminates and optimal cutsets deduced from the Adjacency Matrix. The proposed technique is tested on 14 and 37-bus systems to endorse its potency. The experimentation is carried out in the PowerWorld platform

Epsilon-near-zero nanoparticles

In this work, we propose epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) nanoparticles formed of metal and dielectric bilayers and employ the effective medium approach for multilayered nanospheres to study their optical response. We obtained a passive tunable ENZ region by varying the radii of the proposed bilayer nanospheres, ranging from visible to near-IR. In addition, we present the absorption and scattering cross-section of ENZ nanoparticles using an open-source, transfer-matrix-based software (STRATIFY). %, and a commercial FDTD software (LUMERICAL). The proposed ENZ nanoparticle is envisioned to be experimentally realized using chemical synthesis techniques

Sorting the facts from the lots: Contribution of artisanal and small-scale mining (galamsey) to rural livelihood configurations in sub-Saharan Africa

In recent times, what is common in the scientific literature is findings showcasing the environmental and social menaces associated with artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM)–low-tech, low capital investment, and labor-intensive mineral extraction and processing. However, a better understanding of how ASM shapes livelihood and rural economies may present nuances as to how its negative ramifications can be addressed. As a result, this paper examines how galamsey engenders livelihoods and the transformation of rural economies in Ghana. We produced a nuanced counter-debate to the widely held view that galamsey is evil and a menace to national development by sourcing data from 236 operators using a questionnaire and key informant interviews with 11 relevant stakeholders in north-western Ghana. Findings show that galamsey is a source of employment, income, and accumulation of assets such as houses, motorbikes, cars, and filling stations, which together make the local economy thrive, thereby fostering a local economic boom. However, there is limited collaboration between regulatory agencies and local stakeholders in implementing sustainable mining policies in Ghana. To address this problem, the government should engage local community actors such as the chiefs and landlords, assembly members, and the lead miners on possible steps to streamline and effectively monitor galamsey operations as opposed to military clamp downs

The Effect of teacher motivation and instructional methodologies on student outcomes in integrated science in the upper east region, Ghana

This study\u27s focus was to ascertain how teaching strategies and teacher motivation affected students\u27 performance in integrated science in Ghana\u27s Upper East. The researcher employed a survey design. Heads of senior high schools and teachers of integrated science constitute the study\u27s population. Purposeful and straightforward random samplings were utilised to choose the respondents. 84 respondents made up the sample, comprising 80 integrated science teachers and 4 school heads. A structured questionnaire served as the primary tool, and the Statistical Package for Social Sciences was used to analyse the data (SPSS). The data analysis revealed that a large percentage of integrated science instructors (52.5%) thought that teacher motivation led them to perform in-depth study in order to teach effectively. Additionally, it was found that every integrated science instructor stated that skilled teachers employ effective teaching strategies to raise student achievement

Humidity-Controlled Tunable Emission in a Dye-Incorporated Metal-Hydrogel-Metal Cavity

Actively controllable photoluminescence is potent for a wide variety of applications from biosensing and imaging to optoelectronic components. Traditionally, methods to achieve active emission control are limited due to complex fabrication processes or irreversible tuning. Here, we demonstrate active emission tuning, achieved by changing the ambient humidity in a fluorescent dye-containing hydrogel integrated into a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) system. Altering the overlapping region of the MIM cavity resonance and the absorption and emission spectra of the dye used is the underlying principle to achieving tunability of the emission. We first verify this by passive tuning of cavity resonance and further experimentally demonstrate active tuning in both air and aqueous environments. The proposed approach is reversible, easy to integrate, and spectrally scalable, thus providing opportunities for developing tunable photonic devices.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Polarization-dependent wideband metamaterial absorber for ultraviolet to near-infrared spectral range applications

The need for wideband metamaterial absorbers (WBMA) for applications other than sensing and filtering has demanded modifications to the conventional three-layer metal-insulator-metal (MIM) absorber configuration. This modification often results in complex geometries and an increased number of layers requiring complex lithographic processes for fabrication. Here, we show that a metamaterial absorber with rectangular geometry in the simple MIM configuration can provide wideband absorption covering the ultraviolet and near-infrared spectral range. Due to its asymmetric nature, the WBMA is sensitive to the polarization of the incident light and independent of the angle of incidence up to about 45° depending on the polarization of the incident light. The characteristics of the WBMA presented here may be useful for applications such as detectors for wide spectral band applications.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Testing content validity of teacher-made test: Profiling teacher perceptions and demographic variables

The content validity of teacher-made tests (TMT) in Malaysian Chinese primary schools was explored in this research. The study used teacher-made tests to analyze the selected Chinese primary schools, which have yet to be thoroughly explored in the context of these school types. It also investigated how well teachers in the sampled schools understand the table of specifications (TOS). The study further examined the extent to which included demographic variables affect the validity of teacher-made tests. A total of 660 questionnaires were distributed randomly to teachers from 21 Chinese primary schools. There were 381 completed questionnaires (58% of total rate) received and analyzed. The findings demonstrated that most teachers have a basic understanding of the TOS and that teacher-made test levels are valid. K-group MANOVA analysis also revealed that work experience and age had a significant influence on teacher understanding. Work experience and age, on the other hand, had no effect on the teacher-made test. Furthermore, the findings demonstrated that both teacher understanding and teacher-made tests were unaffected by teacher gender

Qubit–qubit entanglement mediated by epsilon-near-zero waveguide reservoirs

This work investigates qubit entanglement in rolled-up and plasmonic rectangular epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) waveguide reservoirs. We explore the robust entanglement of qubits coupled to these reservoirs using the concurrence metric formalism and the emergence of driven steady-state entanglement under continuous pumping. The results indicate that the proposed rolled-up ENZ waveguide shows a high long-range entanglement of qubits embedded within as compared to the rectangular ENZ waveguide channel.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe