International review of institutional models to support the development of the National Sanitation Authority in Ghana

The Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources in Ghana has stated the Government of Ghana’s intention to establish a National Sanitation Authority (NSA) to provide the institutional home for sanitation sector development. The NSA aims to accommodate various functional attributes related to planning/programming, financing, implementation and monitoring of infrastructure and service delivery for improved sanitation. However, the details of how these will be formulated and how these fit within the current institutional arrangement in Ghana have yet to be discussed or agreed. This paper describes the process of stakeholder engagement and consultation and how the results from an international study of institutional models from fifteen countries in Africa and Asia were used to support the consultation

Bringing toilets back to Kumasi's compound houses: landlord and tenant behaviours and motivators

In the low-income urban communities of Kumasi, Ghana, a large part of the population live in compound housing, where they often share the same living space with more than 20 tenants. Partly resulting from the high prevalence of public toilets in the city, the vast majority of these tenants have no access to ‘inhouse’ sanitation. Led by the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, a five-year strategy is being prepared to promote increased adoption, access, usage and maintenance of compound toilets in Kumasi’s lowincome communities. This paper shares the results of a desk and field-based study commissioned to inform the strategy: among the key challenges to be confronted are the clarification of responsibilities between landlords and tenants with regards to financing sanitation improvements, and the need to motivate landlords - at the hub of compound level sanitation governance - to improve the situation for the betterment of their tenants

The Impact of Selected Socioeconomic Factors on Residents’ Perceptions of Benefits of Community Gardens

Participating in community gardens is believed to have several benefits; yet, there has been limited research on socioeconomic factors and their impact on community gardens. Therefore, this study assessed the impact of selected socioeconomic factors on residents’ perceptions of benefits of community gardens. Using a questionnaire, data were obtained from a convenience sample of 217 participants from Macon County, Alabama, and analyzed using descriptive statistics and ordinal logit analysis. The results showed that a majority (at least 73%) agreed or strongly agreed with statements regarding nutritional benefits, health benefits, and community benefits of community gardens. In addition, several socioeconomic factors; age, education, and annual household income, had statistically significant effects on perceptions of benefits of participating in community gardens. Consequently, it was recommended that policies and programs that encourage participation in community gardens be put in place for residents in the study area, with cooperation among, county officials, University scientists, and community residents. This will lead to benefits of eating more fruits and vegetables, eating fresher foods, and possibly, in the long-term, reducing chronic diseases. Keywords: Community gardens, Socioeconomic factors, Macon County, Rural communitie

Production of high levels of poly-3-hydroxybutyrate in plastids of Camelina sativa seeds

Poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) production in plastids of Camelina sativa seeds was investigated by comparing levels of polymer produced upon transformation of plants with five different binary vectors containing combinations of five seed-specific promoters for expression of transgenes. Genes encoding PHB biosynthetic enzymes were modified at the N-terminus to encode a plastid targeting signal. PHB levels of up to 15% of the mature seed weight were measured in single sacrificed T1 seeds with a genetic construct containing the oleosin and glycinin promoters. A more detailed analysis of the PHB production potential of two of the best performing binary vectors in a Camelina line bred for larger seed size yielded lines containing up to 15% polymer in mature T2 seeds. Transmission electron microscopy showed the presence of distinct granules of PHB in the seeds. PHB production had varying effects on germination, emergence and survival of seedlings. Once true leaves formed, plants grew normally and were able to set seeds. PHB synthesis lowered the total oil but not the protein content of engineered seeds. A change in the oil fatty acid profile was also observed. High molecular weight polymer was produced with weight-averaged molecular weights varying between 600 000 and 1 500 000, depending on the line. Select lines were advanced to later generations yielding a line with 13.7% PHB in T4 seeds. The levels of polymer produced in this study are the highest reported to date in a seed and are an important step forward for commercializing an oilseed-based platform for PHB production

High-Temperature Stable Operation of Nanoribbon Field-Effect Transistors

We experimentally demonstrated that nanoribbon field-effect transistors can be used for stable high-temperature applications. The on-current level of the nanoribbon FETs decreases at elevated temperatures due to the degradation of the electron mobility. We propose two methods of compensating for the variation of the current level with the temperature in the range of 25–150°C, involving the application of a suitable (1) positive or (2) negative substrate bias. These two methods were compared by two-dimensional numerical simulations. Although both approaches show constant on-state current saturation characteristics over the proposed temperature range, the latter shows an improvement in the off-state control of up to five orders of magnitude (−5.2 × 10−6)

Spatial quantitation of drugs in tissues using liquid extraction surface analysis mass spectrometry imaging

Liquid extraction surface analysis mass spectrometry imaging (LESA-MSI) has been shown to be an effective tissue profiling and imaging technique, producing robust and reliable qualitative distribution images of an analyte or analytes in tissue sections. Here, we expand the use of LESA-MSI beyond qualitative analysis to a quantitative analytical technique by employing a mimetic tissue model previously shown to be applicable for MALDI-MSI quantitation. Liver homogenate was used to generate a viable and molecularly relevant control matrix for spiked drug standards which can be frozen, sectioned and subsequently analyzed for the generation of calibration curves to quantify unknown tissue section samples. The effects of extraction solvent composition, tissue thickness and solvent/tissue contact time were explored prior to any quantitative studies in order to optimize the LESA-MSI method across several different chemical entities. The use of a internal standard to normalize regional differences in ionization response across tissue sections was also investigated. Data are presented comparing quantitative results generated by LESA-MSI to LC-MS/MS. Subsequent analysis of adjacent tissue sections using DESI-MSI is also reported

The Nexus between entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurial self-competencies: a social enterprise perspective

The purpose of the study was to examine the mediation roles of student satisfaction and entrepreneurial self-efficacy in the nexus between entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurial self-competencies within a social enterprise context. The study used a cross-sectional survey design, with a sampled population of 185 business students from three universities (Accra Technical University, Cape Coast Technical University and the University of Ghana) in Ghana. A PLS-SEM approach was used to examine the relationships among the independent–dependent constructs in the study. Entrepreneurial education had positive and significant relationships to student satisfaction and entrepreneurial self-efficacy, but it showed an insignificant relationship to entrepreneurial self-competencies. Student satisfaction was also found to relate positively and significantly to entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial self-competencies. Furthermore, both student satisfaction and entrepreneurial self-efficacy were found to fully mediate the nexus between entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurial self-competencies. The study highlights the crucial roles of student satisfaction and self-efficacy in the implementation of entrepreneurial education in higher education institutions. In a discipline that is characterised by paucity, this study provides a unique and original assessment of the important roles of student satisfaction and student self-confidence in building entrepreneurial competencies among students

Perceived stressors of climate vulnerability across scales in the Savannah zone of Ghana: a participatory approach

Smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are confronted with climatic and non-climatic stressors. Research attention has focused on climatic stressors, such as rainfall variability, with few empirical studies exploring non-climatic stressors and how these interact with climatic stressors at multiple scales to affect food security and livelihoods. This focus on climatic factors restricts understanding of the combinations of stressors that exacerbate the vulnerability of farming households and hampers the development of holistic climate change adaptation policies. This study addresses this particular research gap by adopting a multi-scale approach to understand how climatic and non-climatic stressors vary, and interact, across three spatial scales (household, community and district levels) to influence livelihood vulnerability of smallholder farming households in the Savannah zone of northern Ghana. This study across three case study villages utilises a series of participatory tools including semi-structured interviews, key informant interviews and focus group discussions. The incidence, importance, severity and overall risk indices for stressors are calculated at the household, community, and district levels. Results show that climatic and non-climatic stressors were perceived differently; yet, there were a number of common stressors including lack of money, high cost of farm inputs, erratic rainfall, cattle destruction of crops, limited access to markets and lack of agricultural equipment that crossed all scales. Results indicate that the gender of respondents influenced the perception and severity assessment of stressors on rural livelihoods at the community level. Findings suggest a mismatch between local and district level priorities that have implications for policy and development of agricultural and related livelihoods in rural communities. Ghana’s climate change adaptation policies need to take a more holistic approach that integrates both climatic and non-climatic factors to ensure policy coherence between national climate adaptation plans and District development plans