Henri Temianka Photographs, Professional Acquaintances

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Dependence of field-aligned electron precipitation on season, altitude and pitch angle

The occurrence of field-aligned 2.3 keV electron precipitation was examined by using data from more than 7500 orbits of the polar-orbiting satellite, OGO-4. The frequency of occurrence of field aligned precipitation was highest at actual pitch angles between 7 and 10 deg, being highest in the winter months, at highest satellite altitudes. Acceleration by a localized parallel electric field established by electrostatic charge layers is proposed to explain particle observations

Strategic Outsourcing and Service Delivery in Guinness Ghana Limited and Everpure Company limited

The primary objective of the study is to examine the impact of strategic sourcing on service delivery within Guinness Ghana Limited and Everpure Company Limited in Kumasi. Purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used to sample 20 respondent’s for the study. Data was collected from the respondents using well structured questionnaire. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics and results were presented using tables, graphs and pie charts. The results of the study revealed that the companies consider multinational and domestic sourcing because some of the items they need can be obtain in the manufacturing country and the others outside the country. The major problems identified include; fluctuation in currency exchange, government policies laws and communication barriers. The recommendations that will be given are going to be suggested solutions to the above problems and to assist the organizations attain high effectiveness in their sourcing activities. Key word: outsourcing, strategies, Guinness Ghana Limited, Everpure Water  compan

Effect of zinc on protein-energy malnutrition

Many of the clinical symptoms of protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) also occur in zinc deficiency. Studies show that zinc deficiency often accompanies kwashiorkor--a form of PEM. This raises the possibility of the PEM syndromes being a mixture of both protein and zinc deficiency symptoms;Four studies were done with male Wistar rats. The effects of dietary protein level and moderate zinc deficiency on PEM symptoms were examined;Regression analyses showed that PEM was initiated solely by protein deficiency. Loss of appetite and body weight were first symptoms. About two weeks later, dietary zinc deficiency caused further loss of appetite and body weight as zinc was depleted;Edema, moisture accumulation in liver (i.e., hepatomegaly), hypoalbuminaemia and mortalities were due primarily to protein deficiency;Elevated Na(\u27+) and Fe(\u27++) due to dietary zinc deficiency were seen only in the brain in both control and PEM rats, suggesting that brain disorders of PEM may be due to zinc deficiency;Excess dietary zinc appeared toxic to the PEM rats. It caused deaths significantly earlier in one study. Recovery from PEM was slower in rats fed excess zinc. Excess dietary zinc gave greater zinc absorption in PEM. However, this was significantly less efficient than absorption in control rats;Low dietary zinc caused increased tissue Na(\u27+) and vice versa. Damage to the sodium pump by zinc deficiency may be responsible. Similar relationships were seen for zinc and iron;A high incidence of eye disorders occurred in PEM rats fed zinc deficient diets. Possibly, most xerophthalmia in PEM is related to zinc deficiency;The moderate zinc deficiency did not significantly change plasma alkaline phosphatase concentrations

Procurement Practices and Delivery of Cocoa by Agroecom District Office at Juaboso, Ghana

Government has expressed its desire to support COCOBOD and believes the target of 900,000metric ones for the 2015/2016 crop year could be attained, based on the trend of cocoa production over the past ten years and good agronomic practices being adopted by COCOBOD. The optimism from the state comes on the back of a disappointing cocoa production season with Ghana set to miss its production target 950,000metric ones for the 2014/2015 crop season. However, there has been a decrease in tonnage for 2015/2016 main crop season which resulted in importation of Cocoa bean from Ivory Coat. Thus the aim this study is to assess procurement practices of Agroecoms in Juaboso district and delivery of Cocoa beans by Agroecom District office at Juaboso, Ghana.  The study was a descriptive study and the population was the staff of Agroecom Ghana Ltd from Juaboso districts. The sampling technique used was a non–probability sampling and specifically purposive sampling was used. The sample size for the study was 16 for their importance to the analysis of the topic. Data was collected using both primary and secondary approach. Questionnaire and interview guide were the main research instruments. The data was analyzed using SPSS with conclusion and recommendations drawn from its analysis. The study recommend that district managers should ensure that only high quality beans are purchases and delivered at the right time to ensure that funding is sustained in the district Keywords: procurement practices;  Agroecom ; Juaboso; Ghan

The Implementation challenges of Public Procurement Act (ACT 663) faced by the Ejisu Government Hospital, Ghana

Keeping with government’s commitment to financial discipline, accountability, transparency and ethical conduct, effective management of public procurement to obtain value for state spending is paramount. This forms part of the reasons for the introduction of the Public Procurement Act 663 in Ghana to regulate public spending. However, this measure has been plagued with some difficulties in corruption, bureaucracy and general delays in the procurement processes. The study basically aimed at assessing the challenges associated with the implementation of the Act 663 in Ejisu Government Hospital. In all, fifteen (15) respondents were sampled for the study. Both primary and secondary data were used for the study. The primary data was collected using self administered questionnaire, supplemented by interview guide and focus group discussion. The study adopted descriptive to analyse the data collected with the help of SPSS version 16. The study revealed that, the implementation of the Act 663 caused delay in the procurement activities of the hospital. The study also revealed that, key challenges faced by the Hospital with regards to the implementation of the ACT 663 is inadequate qualified procurement officials to handle procurement activities in the hospital. However, the ACT brought some level of transparency in the procurement processes had been enhanced. It was therefore recommended that, the prevailing thresholds set for public entities should be reviewed to higher level to avoid delays in the procurement processes. Key words: Procurement Act, Ejisu government Hospital, Implementation challenge

Protons as the prime contributors to the storm time ring current

Following a large magnetic storm (17 June 1972), Explorer 45 measured the equatorial particle populations and magnetic field. Using data obtained during the symmetic recovery phase, it is shown that through a series of self-consistent calculations, the measured protons with energies from 1 to 872 keV, can account for the observed ring current magnetic effects within experimental uncertainities. This enables an upper limit to be set for the heavy ion contribution to the storm time ring current

Does the Resource Capacity of Exporters Differ Significantly from the Non-Exporters? Evidence from SMEs in an Emerging Economy

Compared to the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that remain continuously focused on a domestic market, it is argued that those that export learn from their exporting. Exporters learn from, for example, international competitors and consumers. Based on this motivation, the internationalisation of SMEs is flourishing across the world because by determining to remain competitive in the international market, the capacity of exporting firms is enhanced. Ghana has hailed the motivation of SMEs’ internationalisation. Consequently, policies and programmes are being implemented to encourage SMEs to export. Whilst the Ghanaian exporting sub-sector is growing, it is not known whether or not the resource capacity of exporting firms differs significantly from the non-exporters. The objective of the study is to compare the resource capacity between exporting and non-exporting SMEs and to establish whether or not the Ghanaian evidence compares with findings from other developing and developed economies, as well as to further inform public policy. The study draws from a firm level panel data set from the World Bank relating to SMEs from the Ghana manufacturing sector from 2000–2002. By employing the independent sample t-test, multivariate analysis of variance and the chi-square test a number of hypotheses are tested. The results show that the capacity of the exporting firms regarding the number of employees, productivity of staff and business experience were higher and differed significantly from the non-exporting firms. Following the results, it is recommended that current export-led programmes by the government of Ghana must be deepened because of the micro returns that are derived from export participation. Key Words: Internationalisation, Ghana, Exporting, Non-exporting, SMEs

Features of polar cusp electron precipitation associated with a large magnetic storm

Measurements of precipitating electrons made by the OGO-4 satellite reveal several interesting phenomena in the polar cusp. Extremely high fluxes of 0.7 keV electrons were observed in the polar cusp ninety minutes following the sudden commencement of a very large magnetic storm. Structured, fairly high fluxes of 7.3 keV electrons were also observed in the cusp region, accompanied by very strong search coil magnetometer fluctuations, indicative of strong field-aligned currents. The observations confirm previously reported latitudinal shifts in the location of the polar cusp in response to southward interplanetary magnetic fields

Assessing Differential Item Functioning in the Perceived Stress Scale

When an item on a test functions differently for subgroups of respondents with respect to an exogenous variable (or covariate) after conditioning on the latent variable of interest, the item is said to exhibit Differential Item Functioning (DIF). The 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS10) is administered to respondents via MTurk to quantify “perceived stress” and identify if items on the scale function differently for specific subgroups defined by age, sex, race, marital status, number of children, employment status and social media usage. The purpose of this study was to compare traditional DIF detection approaches (Mantel-Haenszel, logistic regression, likelihood ratio test and Raju’s area measure) with Rasch trees (a model-based recursive partitioning approach to DIF detection). The former are methods that can only compare two subgroups and so require continuous covariates to be arbitrarily dichotomized so the subgroups can be pre-specified; with the latter approach, subgroups do not need to be pre-specified and as a result, DIF can be detected in combinations of covariates. Current results corroborate that while traditional methods are able to detect DIF in items based upon sex, race, employment status and social media usage, the Rasch tree approach is able to detect DIF resulting from a combination of employment and social media covariates