Farm Management Information System for High Productivity in Agribusiness

The focus of this study is to present Farm Management Information System (FMIS) and its application in Agribusiness. FMIS is a software designed for high productivity in farming business (fish farming as a case study) and to assist agricultural farmers to perform various tasks with ease such as operational planning, implementation, documentation, and application for financial subsidies or grants. The study presents the template that could be used for fish farmers in order to ease their tasks. FMIS could be used by different stakeholders such as farmers, government organizations, service providers, and machinery or equipment or tools manufacturers to transfer information among each other. This paper discovered that lack of interoperability, insufficient stakeholder’s collaboration and a not clearly defined business model has hampered the proper functioning and adaptation of useful Information Communication Technologies (ICT’s) such as the FMIS. Manual approach is limited in the affairs of better farm fish management, one method by which this can be improved is by support system which this work focuses to address. The FMIS software designed uses C#, Visual Studio and SQL Server, will assist the users or Fish or Farm managers in solving their day to day problems such as accurate stocking record, sales/harvesting record, payment record among others. The study concluded that with the application of FMIS in Fish farming, the processing of farm information activities can be automated to a large extent, thereby reducing processing time an

Geospatial Assessment of Vegetation Changes around the Odublasi Quarry in Ghana

This study examined drivers of vegetation cover changes around the Odublasi quarry, analyzed trends of the change, and areas around the quarry prone to these drivers. Stakeholders were interviewed to identify drivers of vegetation cover change, while satellite imagery of the area from 2007, 2012, 2013, and 2014 were used for trend analysis. Field mapping of trees in the area was undertaken to acquire baseline data of vegetation for use in future studies and restoration projects. Identified drivers were; the construction of a new access road; switch in livelihoods of the local community members from small-scale quarrying to extracting biological resources around the quarry site; unsustainable farming and wood logging practices around the quarry; social exclusion; and afforestation programme around the quarry. A rising and falling trend in vegetation cover was observed in satellite images of the quarry site from 2007 to 2014. Activities around the quarry like shifting cultivation farming was a key driver of this undulating trend. Habitats along the access road to the quarry were identified to be vulnerable to the drivers of vegetation cover change and needed critical attention in any environmental restoration efforts

Physico-chemical Assessment of Mosquito Breeding Sites from Selected Mining Communities at the Obuasi Municipality in Ghana.

A survey was conducted in the Obuasi Municipality in Ghana to assess the impact of some physic-chemicals in waters of mosquito breeding sites from 15 randomly selected communities. The water samples, collected fortnightly for eight months, were analyzed using spectrophotometry and other standard laboratory protocols at the AngloGold Ashanti Environmental Quality Assurance Laboratory for temperature, total suspended solids, total dissolved solids, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity and pH. The physico-chemical parameters which ranged from 17.03 ± 0.18?C - 24.06 ± 0.18?C (temperature), 17.03 ± 4.04mg/L - 96.67 ± 4.04mg/L (TSS), 1.09±3.23mg/L - 35.67±3.23mg/L (TDS), 3.97 ± 0.13mg/L - 7.43 ± 0.13mg/L (DO), 17.00 ± 1.30µScm-3 - 83.00 ± 1.30 µScm-3 (EC) and 7.77 ± 0.0 - 10.70 ± 0.01 (pH) were much lower relative to the EPA Maximum Permissible Limits. It is apparent that under rising temperature conditions of climate change, the mosquito’s habitat may be highly favoured for adaptation and prolific breeding in the tropics and this further creates the opportunity for research partners to get actively involved in finding integrated control measures to counteract the life cycle of the pest. Keywords: Anglogold Ashanti, Obuasi Municipality, Physio-chemical Analysis, Mosquito Breeding Water

External electric field effect on electron transport in carbon nanotubes

Electronic transport properties of carbon nanotubes are studied theoretically in the presence of external electric field E(t) by using the Boltzmann's transport with constant relaxation time. An analytical expression for the current densities of the nanotubes are obtained. It is observed that the current density-electric field characteristics of the CNs exhibit total self-induced transparency and absolute negative conductivityComment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Understanding the Impact of Perceived Negative Consequences on Personal Health Information Disclosure: The Case of Ghana

In developing countries increased investments in electronic health record (EHR) systems are fueling efforts to digitize personal health information (PHI). However, in countries where widespread diseases such as HIV/AIDS are heavily stigmatized, people may not want to disclose their health information fearing that digitization may lead to privacy loss and negative consequences should unintended others know about their infection. Drawing on the privacy calculus, this study will use a scenario-based survey approach to examine the impacts of particular negative consequences (i.e. emotional, economic, social consequences) alongside trust and privacy concerns on individuals’ PHI disclosure decisions in digitized settings. The results are expected to provide insights into the impact of negative consequences and yield recommendations to practice on addressing such concerns about the privacy management of people’s PH

Phubbing Behavior and Quality of Friendship in Faculty of Public Health, Nusa Cendana University

Phubbing is a behavior or act of ignoring someone in the scope of the social environment by focusing on smartphones instead of paying attention to the interlocutor when interacting so that it affects interpersonal relationships. This study aims to determine the effect of phubbing behavior and the quality of friendship among students of the Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Nusa Cendana Kupang. This research method uses quantitative research with a simple linear regression analysis design. The number of samples was 100 students of the Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Nusa Cendana Kupang. The sampling technique used was simple random sampling. The results of this study indicate that the significance value (sig) is 0, 033 <of 0.05 and the value of t count> t table is -2.162> 1.984. This means that Ho is rejected and Ha is accepted that there is a negative effect of phubbing behavior on the quality of friendship among students of the Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Nusa Cendana Kupang

Traced Metals and Nutrients in Mosquito Breeding Sites at the Obuasi Municipality of Ashanti Region in Ghana

A survey was conducted in the Obuasi Municipality to assess the impact of some trace metals and nutrients on mosquito breeding sites from 15 randomly selected communities. The water samples, collected fortnightly for eight months, were analyzed using spectrophotometry and other standard laboratory protocols at the AngloGold Ashanti Environmental Quality Assurance Laboratory. The results on trace metals, and nutrients did not reveal any significant pattern of attendant pollution that would influence the breeding patterns of mosquitoes. However, the trace metals ranged from 0.12±0.01mg/L - 13.42±0.01mg/L and 0.01±0.01mg/L - 0.30±0.01mg/L for Fe and Pb respectively in the waters whilst As and Zn were not detected. For the nutrients - nitrate values which were > 1 ranged from 2mg/L – > 40mg/L. Sulphate levels varied between < 20mg/L and > 200mg/L and were above the EPA Maximun Permissible Limit of 1.5 mg/L  for polluted  natural water bodies. There was no definite pattern in the concentrations of phosphates which varied between 0.1mg/L and 1.5mg/L in the waters. It is apparent that under rising temperature conditions of climate change, the mosquito’s habitat may be highly favoured for adaptation and prolific breeding in the tropics and this further creates the opportunity for research partners to get actively involved in finding integrated control measures to counteract the life cycle of the pest. Keywords: Anglogold Ashanti, Obuasi Municipality, Traced Metal Analysis, Mosquito Breeding Water

The female partners’ perspective on vasectomy in the central region of Ghana

Background: Vasectomy is one of the safest and inexpensive modern contraceptive methods but it remains relatively‘invisible’ in Ghana. Support of women may be a significant incentive in influencing their partners to adopt vasec- tomy.Objective: To examine the perspectives of women on vasectomy as a contraceptive option.Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 298 women accessing long-term or perma- nent family planning methods at health facilities in three selected districts in the Central Region of Ghana. Pearson’s Chi-square was used to test associations between variables and the attitudes of women towards vasectomy. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered to be statistically significantResults: Awareness of vasectomy was low (32%). About 66% of the women who became aware of vasectomy during the study would prefer their partners to go for vasectomy compared with 50% of those who were aware prior to the study. Women who would either not prefer vasectomy or support their partner’s choice of vasectomy cited fear of impotency (39.6%). There was a statistically significant association (p<0.05) between ethnicity, previous contracep- tive use, awareness of male methods, and preference for vasectomy instead of bilateral tubal ligation (BTL). A statis- tically significant association (p<0.05) was also found between age of participant, duration of marriage, religious affiliation, and the willingness of women to support their partner’s choice of vasectomy.Conclusion: There is, therefore, the need for the involvement of women in the promotion of vasectomy through vigorous publicity and education.Funding: By authorsKeywords: vasectom , tubal, contraceptive agents, Ghana, sterilizatio

Adoption of improved cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp) technologies in Ghana

The Ghana Grains Development Project has developed and disseminated improved cowpea production technologies to farmers in Ghana since 1985. These technologies were improved varieties, row planting, and the use of pre- and post-flowering insecticides. To assess the extent of adoption of these technologies by farmers, eight cowpea production districts were surveyed across four agro-ecological zones in 1995 in Ghana. A random sample of 313 cowpea farmers participated in the survey. Results indicated that 70 per cent used recommended pre-flowering insecticides, and 26 per cent adopted post-flowering insecticides across the ecological zones. The highest adoption rate for improved varieties was observed in the Forest Zone (97 %). The adoption of row planting was highest in the Forest Zone (100 %), followed by the Guinea Savanna Zone (92 %), and lowest in the Coastal Savanna Zone (58 %). Most farmers agreed that by adopting improved production technologies, their yields and overall production increased, and they made more profit from cowpea cultivation.The whole family participates in various activities associated with cowpea production. However, men do strenuous work like land preparation, weeding and spraying of insecticides, while women and children participate in less strenuous work such as planting, harvesting and threshing. Le Project de Développement des Grains du Ghana a developpé et disséminé les technologies de la production de dolique amélioré aux cultivateurs au Ghana depuis 1985. Ces technologies étaient les variétés améliorées, la culture en lignes et usage d'insecticides avant et après la floraison. Pour évaluer le degré d'adoption de ces technologies par les cultivateurs, un sondage a été entrepris en 1995 en 8 districts de production de dolique à travers quatre zones agro-écologique au Ghana. Un échantillon pris au hasard de 313 cultivateurs de dolique participaient au sondage. Les résultats indiquaient que 70% utilisaient les insecticides d'avant floraison recommandés et 26% adoptaient les insecticides d'après floraison à travers les zones écologiques. La proportion d'adoption la plus élevée pour les variétés améliorées était observée dans la zone forestière (97 %). L'adoption de la culture en lignes est la plus élevée dans la zone forestière (100 %) et suivi par la zone savane-guinéenne (92 %) et la plus faible dans la zone savane-littorale (58 %). La plupart de cultivateurs étaient du même avis que par l'adoption des technologies de production améliorée, leur rendements et la production globale augmentaient, et ils avaient tiré plus de bénéfice de la production de dolique. Toute la famille participent aux activités différentes liées à la production de dolique. Cependant le travail ardu tel que la préparation de terre, le désherbage et la pulvérisation d'insecticide sont faites par les hommes alors que les femmes et les enfants participent aux travaux moins ardus tels que la plantation, la moisson et la battage. Ghana Journal of Agricultural Science Vol. 39 (1) 2006: pp. 25-3