Perception of Postgraduate Students on Customer Service at the School of Graduate Studies, University of Cape Coast

The aim of this study was to examine the quality of service provided by the School of Graduate Studies, University of Cape Coast to its students (customers). This study employed a descriptive survey design. A questionnaire designed by the researchers was used to obtain data from 400 postgraduate students (customers), using the stratified sampling technique. Data were presented and analyzed using descriptive statistics which included frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviation. The study found that staff members at the School of Graduate Studies, University of Cape Coast provide quality services to postgraduate students at different dimensions when they seek assistance. It was therefore recommended that the Directorate of Human Resource in collaboration with Training and Development Section of the University of Cape Coast should include aspect of customer care topics in the training programmes for all categories of staff in order to improve professionalism in tangibility dimension of service delivery

The significance of variceal haemorrhage in Ghana: A retrospective review

Background: This study describes the burden of bleeding oesophageal varices at the main tertiary referral centre in Accra.Design: Retrospective design to describe the endoscopic spectrum and review mortality data following acute upper gastro-intestinal bleeding at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. Endoscopic data was reviewed in the Endoscopy Unit between 2007 and 2010. Mortality data was collated from the Department of Medicine between 2010 and 2013.Interventions: The study questionnaire compiled clinical and demographic characteristics, endoscopic diagnoses, length of hospital admission and treatment regimens. Main outcome measures: Aetiology and time-trend analysis of mortality rates following acute upper gastro- intestinal bleeding; variceal bleeding treatment modalities.Results: On review of the endoscopic diagnoses, gastro- oesophageal varices were identified in 21.9% of cases followed by gastritis 21.7%, duodenal ulcer, 17.0%, and gastric ulcer, 13.2%. Gastro-oesophageal varices were the predominant cause of death from acute upper gastro-intestinal haemorrhage from 46% in 2010 to 76% in 2013. Outcomes following acute upper gastro-intestinal bleeding were dismal with some 38% of fatalities occurring within the first 24 hours. Injection sclerotherapy was the dominant endoscopic modality for secondary prevention of variceal bleeding in comparison with band ligation, mainly as a result of cost and availability.Conclusions: At the tertiary centre in Accra, variceal bleeding is an increasingly common cause of acute upper gastro-intestinal haemorrhage in comparison with previous reviews in Ghana. Its significantly high in-hospital mortality reflects inadequate facilities to deal with this medical emergency. A strategic approach to care with endoscopic services equipped with all the necessary therapeutic interventions will be vital in improving the outcomes of variceal bleeding in Ghana.Keywords: gastro-oesophageal; varices; bleeding; gastro- intestinal, Ghana

Influence of salicylic acid and potassium nitrate on plant height and flowering time of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) under varying salinity and drought-induced stresses

This study was conducted to examine the effects of Salicylic acid (SA) and Potassium nitrate (KNO3) on plant height and flowering time of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) under induced stresses of salinity, drought and combined salinity and drought. Three watering regimes namely; normal, moderate and severe were used. For salinity stress, 50 mM NaCl, 100 mM NaCl, 150 mM NaCl and combination of water and salinity regimes were used. 50 μm KNO3 and 50 μm SA were separately applied to plants under water, salinity and combined water and salinity stresses. The mean plant height at 100 mM salt concentration were 42.29 cm for KNO3, 42.27 cm for SA, compared with 40.98 cm for control (F = 2.73; P ≤ 0.008). In combined severe watering and 150 mM NaCl treatment, flowering time was 57 DAP (days after planting) compared to 34 DAP in control plants. When KNO3 and SA were applied to severe watering and 150 mM NaCl combined stress induced plants, flowering time was 51 DAP and 53 DAP for KNO3 and SA treated plants respectively. In conclusion, the exogenous application of plant growth regulators such as SA and KNO3 reduce impact of water stress on groundnut and effectively improve yield

Optical Behavior of PANI/Sno2 Nanocomposites

This article reports the synthesis of Polyaniline (PANI) in Emeraldine form by in situ chemical oxidation method by using Ammonium persulphate as an oxidizing agent and a simultaneous synthesis of polyaniline (PANI)/SnO2 nanocomposites. The UV-Vis absorption spectra were studied to explore the optical behavior after incorporating SnO2 nanoparticles into PANI matrix. The absorption bands for the PANI/SnO2 sample were observed at ~370nm, ~550 nm and ~910 nm wavelengths. This, however shows significant shifts in the absorption spectral to higher wavelength when comparing the absorption spectrum of both PANI and PANI/SnO2. These bands may well correspond to ?-?* transition, polaron-?* transition and polaron-? transition, respectively. This could be attributed to the successful interaction of the SnO2 with the polymer chain. Hence, such shifts in absorption peak positions are related to the presence of the SnO2 in the matrix of PANI. The Attenuated Total Reflectance (ATR) spectrum of PANI/SnO2 provided the characteristic absorption peaks at 3227.54cm-1,1569.03cm-1, 1496.71cm-1, 1444.86cm-1, 1289.13cm-1, 1145.65cm-1,821.57cm-1, 506.68cm-1, and 412.08cm-1 due to the provision of information about the changes in the chemical structure of polymer. ATR spectra also give indication that the incorporation of SnO2 in the matrix of PANI seems to be effective for the improvement of the physicochemical properties of conducting polymers

Exploring financing options for higher education in Jamaica

The government of Jamaica (GOJ) funds seventeen tertiary level institutions (TLIs) inclusive of two Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). An initial review of the funding to these institutions suggested that the allocations were arbitrary as there were no correlation with their enrolment and missions. This led to the identification of the financing policies for HE which gave rise to the main question “What are the consequences (intended and unintended) of the different models adopted by Jamaica for the financing of higher education?” Also in tracing the evolution of HE in Jamaica four sub-questions arouse which were: 1. What are the consequences of an unchanged financing model for a system that has shifted from a single provider to diverse providers? <br /> 2. What are the consequences of financing both a national higher education system and a regional one? <br /> 3. What were the philosophical underpinnings to the allocation of resources to HE in Jamaica? <br /> 4. What models are available to the Jamaican government for allocating resources to HE? The fourth sub-question was used as the basis for the literature search and review. The issues of equity and efficiency were identified from the review as the main reasons for the state involvement in financing HE. Frameworks for analysing the consequences of the various Jamaican policies were also built from the study of the literature. The other questions were used as the background to the discussion and recommendations. Ground theory was the strategy of inquiry. The research drew on the views of Punch (1998) that the research questions and problems should direct the research instead of ones knowledge claim. Using interviews and documents and following the multiple processes of coding analysing and recoding as well as the use of the inductive logic, the research eventually identified some theoretical underpinnings which informed the recommendations for changes to the financing and resource allocation methodology for the Jamaican HE system.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Fasting blood glucose and glycosylated haemoglobin levels in randomly selected Ghanaian diabetic patients – the clinical implications

This work involved the measurement of fasting blood glucose (FBG) and glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) levels of diabetes mellitus patients as an index of glycaemic control. It was a prospective casefinding study using laboratory and general practice records. The subjects were confirmed diabetic patients, attending a Diabetic Clinic at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana. The fasting blood glucose levels were measured in millimolar concentration and corrected glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) levels expressed as percentages. The mean level of fasting blood glucose (± standard deviation) for the non-diabetics was 4.91 ± 1.08 mmol/L and the corresponding mean value for the HbA1c was 5.40 ± 0.84%. There was a linear correlation between the fasting blood glucose and HbA1c. Out of the 99 diabetics, 9 of them had near-normal levels of HbA1c while 64 had mean values between 12 and 16%. There was generally high levels of glycosylated haemoglobin in the majority of patients studied, reflecting their poor glycaemic control. This suggests a relatively large proportion of the diabetics could be predisposed to microvascular complications, while a small group with near-normal HbA1c levels could be prone to hypoglycaemic complications. Journal of Science and Technology Vol. 26(1) 2006: 8-1