An integrated packed bed-oscillating heat pipe system for energy efficient isothermal adsorption processes

Energy use in buildings accounts for a large portion of global and regional energy demand and energy-related CO2 emissions. To steer the world towards a low carbon future, the development of new and more efficient technologies is required. In hot and humid climates, the high latent heat loads results in uncomfortable and unhealthy indoor environments, accounting for 30% to 50% of standard air conditioning energy requirements. Physical adsorption of water vapour on solid desiccants is found to offer an energy efficient alternative to conventional dehumidification process using standard air conditioning systems. However, the isosteric heat of adsorption released increases the surface vapour pressure of the solid desiccants resulting in a decreased adsorption capacity. In packed beds of solid desiccants, this heat of adsorption increases the bed temperature, exit air temperature and exit air humidity ratio subsequently imposing an increased cooling load requirement and high energy requirement in the regeneration of the solid desiccants. In literature, several approaches used in removing in situ the heat of adsorption released in packed bed systems were fraught with several limitations. To this end, an integrated packed bed-oscillating heat pipe (OHP) system was proposed. The concept was for the evaporator of the OHP to remove the heat of adsorption generated by the packed bed and reject at its condenser towards an energy efficient isothermal adsorption process. To achieve this, theoretical investigations of the individual systems and the integrated systems preceded experimental testing of a rig set up in the laboratory. For the theoretical studies, the OHP was helically coiled at both ends, filled with ethanol, methanol and water working fluids respectively at 50% volume fraction and numerically investigated using the Eulerian Volume of Fluid (VOF) model in ANSYS Fluent R15.0. The packed bed on the other hand was configured as a Heggs et al (1994) Z-type flow arrangement for enhanced radial flow using the Porous Media model in ANSYS Fluent R15.0 set up with the properties of Silica Gel. ANSYS Fluent R15.0 System Coupling limitations led to the development of mathematical models for the prediction of the integrated system performance. The experimental investigations were in line with the theoretical only in this case the optimum working fluid, deionized water, was used as the main working fluid in the helically coiled OHP (HCOHP). The results showed reasonable agreement between the performance of the numerical model and experimental prototype. The HCOHPs were capable of passively removing heat from the packed bed systems. Mean bed temperature reduction between the integrated packed bed-HCOHP system and corresponding individual packed bed configurations were about 5.61°C, 9.48°C and 10.14°C respectively for the large annulus (LAPB), medium annulus (MAPB) and small annulus (SAPB) packed bed configurations. Average packed bed outlet temperature reductions of about 6.61°C, 9.19°C and 6.29°C were also achieved for the respective configurations. A validation of the theoretical model showed average temperature difference of about 5.60°C between the experimental prototype of the integrated system and results predicted using experimental packed bed temperature data and HCOHP thermal resistance. Compared to other similar systems in literature, the integrated packed bed-HCOHP system showed capacity to passively remove significant amounts of the heat of adsorption released in silica gel packed beds towards isothermal adsorption

Partnerships with partner organizations in Ghana

The national community water and sanitation programme (CWSP) of Ghana was designed to work through the private sector for the provision of all goods and services. Specifically, it is central to the CWSP’s approach to contract Partner Organizations (PO’s) to assist communities in developing their own capabilities, provide technical assistance and deliver hygiene education. A PO, under the CWSP concept is supposed to be a small village or district level association oriented towards self help activities under contract (Project Preparation Contract) to provide planning and organisational service support to communities to enable the communities plan their own water supply and sanitation facilities

Towards institutional repository sustainability: Lecturers awareness, patronage and content submission to the University of Cape Coast repository

Having been hardest hit by the crisis of inadequate funding for journal subscription, academic institutions, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa have embraced open access institutional repositories as alternative means of scholarly communication. Upon the embrace of this approach to knowledge sharing, the University of Cape Coast’s Institutional Repository, UCCSpace, like most academic repositories, has had to contend with the issues of sustainability in the area of content recruitment. The study thus assesses lecturers’ awareness and perception of institutional repositories in the context of content population and sustainability of IRs. Through the Descriptive Survey Design, the study engages 714 lecturers in a survey, yielding a 21.8% response rate, with the questionnaire analyzed descriptively. The results indicate that the respondents were generally aware of open access institutional repository concept with a positive perception about their value. Ironically, they had little knowledge of the existence and operations of UCCSpace, and equally contributed less to its content owing to reasons of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), fear of plagiarism and absence of water-tight peer review, accounted for the low patronage. The study recommends the education of lecturers and other members of the university community, increasing repository awareness via physical and virtual platforms, addressing issues of IPRs and instituting motivation schemes to encourage content submission

Evaluation of over the counter vaginal lubricants Nonoxynol-9 and KY Jelly as potential inducer of proinflammatory cytokines in human immune cells

Topical microbicides such as Nonoxynol-9 (N9) and KY jelly have been used as vaginal microbicides in clinical trials as anti-HIV-1 products. The objective of this study was to determine if the use of these microbicides may cause production of proinflammatory cytokines in vitro. Such cytokines include, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interlukin-1β (IL-1β), interlukin-6 (IL-6), and Interlukin-8 (IL-8). Cellular viability was determined for the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and Macrophages by culturing them for 24 hours in the presence of serial dilutions of product or placebo. Product and placebo dilutions that gave culture viabilities of ≥ 60% compared to control cultures were considered to be nontoxic. The non-toxic dilutions were 1:100 for KY jelly in both PBMCs and Macrophages. Whereas, the non-toxic dilutions were 1:1000 for N9 in both PBMCs and Macrophages. The values of IL1β, TNF-α, were 0.1 0.001) when N9 was compared to KY jelly. However, the results were significant when comparing N9 to KY jelly for TNF-α (p < 0.001) production. The two microbicides tested in their non-toxic formulation in the two models of PBMCs and macrophages showed relatively low levels of IL-1b, TNF-α and IL-6. This indicated safety and low toxicity of these microbicide in terms of cytokines release. On the other hand, IL-8 has shown relatively higher levels in all microbicide tested in their non-toxic formulation

Explaining energy conservation and environmental citizenship behaviors using the value-belief-norm framework

Despite decades of research, uncertainty remains about what motivates individuals to engage in pro-environmental behavior. The multifaceted and complex nature of energy conservation, like other forms of pro-environmental behavior, still poses a challenge to efforts at accurately explaining or predicting it. This paper examines the extent to which variables in the value-belief-norm framework are able to explain engagement in energy conservation and environmental citizenship behavior in an institutional setting. The results indicate that value-belief-norm constructs, which largely reflect environmental considerations, were more successful at explaining subjects’ pro-environmental citizenship behavior than their energy conservation behavior. Individuals’ personal norms and self-transcendence values were found to be the most influential precursors of their pro-environmental behavior. Subjects’ behavior-specific beliefs also influenced their pro-environmental behavior and were mediated by their personal norms. The implications of our results for the design of pro–energy conservation intervention are discussed

The rental system in Ghana’s low-income housing communities, challenges and adaptation strategies

Shelter is one of the fundamental needs of human survival aside food and clothing. However, provision of adequate housing to accommodate people in urban areas has been a challenge in developing countries, including Ghana. This has caused many Ghanaians, especially the low-income group, to resort to the rental sector for their housing needs. It is widely discussed in the literature that each city user is to be accorded the needed right to utilise what exists in the city, including decent accommodation. This article examines the strategies put in place by low-income house tenants to cope with the challenges of renting houses in the Wenchi Municipality, in order to rightly utilise urban housing. The study used a quantitative approach and a questionnaire survey to collect data from 245 tenant household heads. Purposive and systematic sampling techniques were used to select the respondents for the study. The data was analysed using SPSS. The study revealed that rental problems faced by tenants and adaptation measures developed to cope in cities and bigger towns are not different from what exists in the smaller towns. The study recommended that rent control should be strengthened to perform its duties in the rental sector well enough to protect the interest of the urban low-income renters

Evaluating the relationship between the formal and informal economy in Ghana : a case study of Koforidua in the Eastern Region.

This thesis re-evaluates the relationship between formal and informal work in third world cities. Until now, informal work has been theorised either as a residue (modernisation), by-product of contemporary capitalism conducted out of economic necessity (structuralism) or an alternative to formal work chosen due to either an overburdensome state (neo-liberalism) or for social, redistributive, resistance or identity reasons (post-structuralism). Keith Hart was the first scholar to use the concept of the "informal sector", which he employed to describe a large segment of the economy of Ghana during the 1970s. Following Hart's seminal work, there has been a continuous debate about the nature of the relationship between the informal and formal sector. This thesis returns to the birthplace of the concept and through a survey of the contemporary informal economy in' Koforidua it critically re-evaluates these various competing theories of the relationship between formal and informal work. Reporting on data from a study of 80 households and three key institutions in Koforidua in Ghana, the study identifies the multifarious relationships between formal and informal work in Ghana. The major finding is that even though each and every theoretical perspective may be applicable to specific types of informal work, no one theory captures the varied character and multiple meanings of the informal economy as a whole in Ghana. As a consequence, this study asserts that a more far-reaching understanding of the multifaceted and diverse character of the informal economy will only be achieved by using all the theoretical perspectives. The outcome is a call for a rethinking of how to explain the relationship between formal and informal work and for an appreciation of the multiple meanings of informal work in different contexts. This thesis concludes by calling for a review of the potential wider applicability of these findings

Factors Affecting ICT Adoption in Tertiary Institutions in Ghana: A Case of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

Ghana as a country has made ICT its cornerstone for development, this is evident from its ICT policy of ICT4D; part of this policy is to promote ICT in schools in other to turn the country into an information society. This study is to help understand the factors affecting ICT adoption and use in tertiary institutions in Ghana. This is an imperial study utilizing both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection. The study showed that perceive usefulness and ease of use is a primary factor driving ICT adoption. The study also revealed that ICT is not fully integrated in teaching, research and learning at KNUST. A major obstacle is that though most users are aware of the potential benefits they are not ready or unwilling to fully embrace ICT. Several factors were also identified including inadequate infrastructure and skills to use ICT. The study recommended that management of Tertiary Institutions in Ghana must have a clear model of integration that will help to increase the adoption and use of ICT in their institutions. In fact, the integration of ICT is associated with several factors that encourage and discourage the use of ICT which the researcher termed as enabling forces and restraining forces. Therefore, to increase the rate of ICT adoption, Tertiary Institutions need to improve the encouraging factors and reduce the discourage factors to a minimal. Keywords:ICT Adoption, Tertiary Institutions, Ghana, Model of Integration, ICT4D

Emerging trends of Electronic Banking in Ghana

The Government and Bank of Ghana have made it a priority to motivate existing banking customers and to reach the unbanked through the use of ICT.  This strategy is also recognized as a relevant tool in the fight against poverty.  In spite of this effort majority of Ghanaians still remain unbanked because the present financial service delivery methods are not able to meet the challenges of the customers, especially when it comes to serving remote communities and market men/women who finds it difficult to leave their shops and visit the bank.  An ICT innovation like the speedbanking provides some hope to help solve these problems. Keywords: speedbanking, electronic cards, unbanked, Information and Communication Technology (ICT

Antecedents of marketing climate change adaption construction materials: Evidence from Ghana

Purpose: Climate Change affects all countries in the world. It impacts negatively on the living conditions of humankind, especially livelihood, temperature change, rainfall regime, and rise in tidal waves. Design/Methodology/Approach: The population in the real estate industry. A descriptive design was used, including questionnaires, to gather data. Since the study sought to examine the willingness to purchase accordingly, a logit regression model was used to predict the likelihood that the dependent variable willingness to pay (WTP) equals 1 (rather than 0). Findings: Income level, price of the products, respondent’s age, gender, and availability of policies concerning eco-friendly products and identified associated health risks positively influence respondents’ WTP. The study reveals that in the real estate sector of the Ghanaian economy, there is a positive WTP eco-friendly roofing product; hence, entrepreneurs and investors should take advantage of the urgency to reduce the impact of climate change in Ghana by investing in eco-friendly products for both the real estate and construction sectors of the economy. Recommendations: The results show that any eco-friendly roof material must raise consumer awareness about the effects of climate change and shape consumer perceptions