Challenging our Simplistic Notions of Community? A Snapshot of Dynamics and Livelihood Struggles from Dumase Community, Ghana

Conceptions of community tend to influence community development activities and outcomes. However, it appears many community development practitioners gloss over these and operate with a homogenising mindset in rural communities that may appear very simple to the outsider. This paper undertakes a qualitative study of a rural community that has been seriously affected by surface mining problems in the western region of Ghana. It analyses how community dynamics seem to have led to negative reinforcements at the local level, and how these have stalled effective community level responses to the surface mining problems. The findings reveal that collective action is not automatic; community interests may also diverge even in rural settings that may seem laid-back to the casual observer. The paper argues that a lack of in-depth understanding of community dynamics is likely to produce ineffective responses to community problems. Community development workers may therefore need to abandon simplistic, homogenizing and harmonious notions of community and strive to gain more realistic understanding of community dynamics in order to achieve development objectives.Key words: Community, Development, Interests, Mining, Pollutio

Syntheses, characterization and kinetics of nickel-tungsten nitride catalysts for hydrotreating of gas oil

This thesis summarizes the methods and major findings of Ni-W(P)/ã-Al2O3 nitride cata-lyst synthesis, characterization, hydrotreating activity, kinetic analysis and correlation of the catalysts’ activities to their synthesis parameters and properties. The range of parameters for catalyst synthesis were W (15-40 wt%), Ni (0-8 wt%), P (0-5 wt%) and nitriding temperature (TN) (500-900 °C). Characterization techniques used included: N2 sorption studies, chemisorption, elemental analysis, temperature programmed studies, x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray, infrared spectroscopy, trans-mission electron microscopy and x-ray absorption near edge structure. Hydrodesulfurization (HDS), hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) and hydrodearomatization (HDA) were performed at: tem-perature (340-380 °C), pressure (6.2-9.0 MPa), liquid hourly space velocity (1-3 h-1) and hydro-gen to oil ratio (600 ml/ml, STP). The predominant species on the catalyst surface were Ni3N, W2N and bimetallic Ni2W3N. The bimetallic Ni-W nitride species was more active than the individual activities of the Ni3N and W2N. P increased weak acid sites while nitriding temperature decreased amount of strong acid sites. Low nitriding temperature enhanced dispersion of metal particles. P interacted with Al2O3 which increased the dispersion of metal nitrides on the catalyst surface. HDN activity in-creased with Ni and P loading but decreased with increase in nitriding temperature (optimum conversion; 60 wt%). HDS and HDA activities went through a maximum with increase in the synthesis parameters (optimum conversions; 88. wt% for HDS and 47 wt% for HDA). Increase in W loading led to increase in catalyst activity. The catalysts were stable to deactivation and had the nitride structure conserved during hydrotreating in the presence of hydrogen sulfide. The results showed good correlation between hydrotreating activities (HDS and HDN) and the catalyst nitrogen content, number of exposed active sites, catalyst particle size and BET surface area. HDS and HDN kinetic analyses, using Langmuir-Hinshelwood models, gave activation energies of 66 and 32 kJ/mol, respectively. There were no diffusion limitations in the reaction process. Two active sites were involved in HDS reaction while one site was used for HDN. HDS and HDN activities of the Ni-W(P)/ã-Al2O3 nitride catalysts were comparable to the corre-sponding sulfides

The Challenges Confronting Computerized Health Records System Performance of the Pentecost Hospital, Accra: A Qualitative Study

Background: Despite the use of computerized health records systems, its application is fraught with several obstacles, which slow down the pace of operations in Pentecost Hospital in Accra in Ghana. Aim: This study was designed to identify the challenges confronting the Computerized Health Records System performance of the Pentecost Hospital in Accra in Ghana.  Methodology: The study espoused a qualitative method with a case study design through a well-structured interview guide and focus group discussions.  In all, forty-five (45) respondents including ten (10) principal informers who were purposely selected due to their interest in the performance of the Computerized Health Records System at the Pentecost Hospital in the La Nkwantanang Madina Municipality took part in the study. Results and discussion: The study found that the introduction of the computerized health records system was faced with several challenges and they included inadequate knowledge about computerized health records systems, the breaks in internet connections of the systems, and the like. Recommendation: Effective monitoring mechanisms, provision of adequate financial and economic resources and the involvement of all the stakeholders in providing quality and efficient computerized health record systems as well as the provision of adequate training are key recommendations for improving the performance of the system. Conclusion: It is good to mention that efficient application of a computerized health record system which is geared towards efficient quality healthcare would flourish when parity, effectiveness, efficiency, and responsiveness of resource utilization for quality healthcare are considered as the building blocks

Highlighting the Relevance of Motivation and Job Satisfaction of Nurses in Ghanaian Hospitals

Background: Provision of quality and accessible health services comes with its challenges. Therefore, the need to highlight how motivation and job satisfaction can impact nurses’ performances at the Korle-Bu teaching hospital. Objectives: The research aimed to practically highlight nurses’ motivation and job satisfaction by identifying what constituted motivation packages of nurses and how the work they did could give them satisfaction at the Korle-Bu teaching hospital. Methods: The research employed a qualitative method with a case study design. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions (data triangulation) were used for primary data collection. A total of 40 respondents, including ten key informants, were selected using the purposive and convenience sampling techniques. Results: The research found that the recognition of needs of nurses, improved remunerations, enhanced conditions of service of the nurses’, regular payment of nurses’ salaries’, the institution of study leave with pay policy, among others, were considered as factors that could contribute to nurses’ motivation and job satisfaction. These findings are consistent with the findings of other studies. Again, the study found that professional allowances paid to nurses, reduced rent, and the like are current motivation packages directed at nurses at the Korle-Bu teaching hospital. Conclusion: It is important to state that for motivation to accomplish its intended purpose, there is the need for the hospital to identify the individual needs to satisfy to enhance job satisfaction

Thematic Analysis of President Akufo-Addo’s 2023 State of the Nation Address

This study examines the items given prominence in President Akufo-Addo’s 2023 State of the Nation Address. As a qualitative research with textual analysis design, the study adopted the Theme-Rheme model of Halliday and Matthiessen’s (2014) Systemic Functional Linguistics theory with which the clause is construed as a message.  The findings of the study indicate that (1) topical, interpersonal and textual Themes have their representation and distribution in the text. The most frequent ideational/topical Theme used in English is Participant followed by Circumstance. Process is the least thematised experiential. The textual Theme include mostly conjunctions, followed by conjunctive adjuncts. Interpersonal Theme includes mostly vocatives and few modal adjuncts and very few finite verbal operators. The elements of the topical Theme which present the core content of the message include; Participant such as Actor, Scope, Senser, and Identified – realized by pronouns and nominal group; Circumstantial of Temporal Location, Duration, Manner, Cause, Accompaniment, Role, Angle of Viewpoint. The study could be a significant contribution to scholarship in functional grammar, particularly in Theme-Rheme analysis of English use in ESL context. It demonstrates how a grammatical theory highlights foregrounding of experiences in a discourse and facilitating text composition and comprehension

Implementing Debt Relief for the HIPCs

The Cologne Initiative (hereafter CI) re-opens the international official discussion about the HIPC (highly indebted poor country) debt crisis. Unfortunately, the CI leaves in place many of the serious flaws of the original HIPC initiative of 1996. To a first approximation, the current debt servicing "system" works as follows. Part of the debt service that is due is postponed, formally, or de facto as arrears. Of the substantial debt service that is actually paid, some gets covered through new loans and the rest through grants from bilateral donors. In the end, the HIPCs generally receive more than they pay, but the amounts of net resource transfers are small, less that US$10 per person in 1997. Even though the net resource transfers tend to be positive, the debt servicing system is fundamentally flawed. First and most urgently, the net resource transfers are not large enough to enable the HIPC governments to meet basic health and education needs of the population. Second, the bilateral grants do not neatly offset the heavy burden of debt servicing, even if they appear to do so in formal accounting. The debt burden falls heavily on the budget, and therefore on line ministries (such as the ministry of health) while grants frequently finance extra-budgetary activities established by the donors. Third, the process of offsetting heavy debt payments with grants and new loans is highly unstable and erratic. There is no guarantee that new grants will fill the fiscal void left behind by the heavy debt servicing; indeed sometimes there is a self-fulfilling collapse of fiscal resources. The instability, unpredictability, and time-consuming nature of these rollover mechanisms contribute to the incapacity of HIPC governments and the international community to formulate long-term solutions to the pressing social crises in the HIPC countries. While the new CI aims at more "ambitious" debt reduction targets than the 1996 HIPC Initiative, the basic problem remains that the new standards are as arbitrary as the old ones. Both initiatives focus mainly on the relationship of debt to exports, even though debt-to-export ratios have little if anything to do with the real ability of governments to meet urgent social needs while servicing debts. An effective process of HIPC debt relief should be grounded on the following principles: the unmet social needs of most HIPC countries require significant net resource inflows; to achieve these increased inflows, it will be necessary to cancel most or all old debts; to the extent possible, new inflows should be highly concessional; debt relief should be guided by a process that helps to insure that the increased resource transfers will be channeled into areas of urgent human need, especially in public health and primary education

Developing a Model Curriculum for a University Course in Health Impact Assessment in the United States

As Health Impact Assessment (HIA) become increasingly common in the U.S. there is growing demand for instruction beyond sho1i courses and online training. As of October 2013, there are graduate level courses that include instruction on HIA in at least 17 universities in the U.S., including 4 courses that focus explicitly on HIA. Instructors of these four courses collaborated to develop a model curriculum for teaching HIA that draws on a framework for experiential learning and on a theoretical model of curriculum formulation. This article includes an in-depth analysis of these courses and presents a model curriculum for HIA instruction during an academic quaiier or semester course in a University. This model curriculum may help faculty develop a graduate level HIA course at their institution, as well as inform public health and community design professionals interested in building capacity to conduct HIAs, and students considering taking an HIA course. International instructors could also learn from the U.S. experience, and apply the model curriculum to their setting and educational structure.This work was supported in part by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Faculty Innovation Fund

Enhanced Osseous Integration of Human Trabecular Allografts Following Surface Modification With Bioactive Lipids

In this study, we used extracellular matrix (ECM) gels and human bone allograft as matrix vehicles to deliver the sphingolipid growth factor FTY720 to rodent models of tibial fracture and a critical-sized cranial defect. We show that FTY720 released from injectable ECM gels may accelerate callous formation and resolution and bone volume in a mouse tibial fracture model. We then show that FTY720 binds directly to human trabecular allograft bone and releases over 1 week in vitro. Rat critical-sized cranial defects treated with FTY720-coated grafts show increases in vascularization and bone deposition, with histological and micro-computed topography (microCT) evidence of enhanced bone formation within the graft and defect void. Immunohistochemical analysis suggests that osteogenesis within FTY720-coated grafts is associated with reduced CD68(+) macrophage infiltration and recruitment of CD29(+) bone progenitor cells. Matrix binding of FTY720 thus represents a promising and robust bone regeneration strategy with potential clinical translatability

Alignment and Composition of Laminin-Polycaprolactone Nanofiber Blends Enhance Peripheral Nerve Regeneration

Peripheral nerve transection occurs commonly in traumatic injury, causing deficits distal to the injury site. Conduits for repair currently on the market are hollow tubes; however, they often fail due to slow regeneration over long gaps. To facilitate increased regeneration speed and functional recovery, the ideal conduit should provide biochemically relevant signals and physical guidance cues, thus playing an active role in regeneration. To that end, laminin and lamininpolycaprolactone (PCL) blend nanofibers were fabricated to mimic peripheral nerve basement membrane. In vitro assays established 10% (wt) laminin content is sufficient to retain neurite-promoting effects of laminin. In addition, modified collector plate design to introduce an insulating gap enabled the fabrication of aligned nanofibers. The effects of laminin content and fiber orientation were evaluated in rat tibial nerve defect model. The lumens of conduits were filled with nanofiber meshes of varying laminin content and alignment to assess changes in motor and sensory recovery. Retrograde nerve conduction speed at 6 weeks was significantly faster in animals receiving aligned nanofiber conduits than in those receiving random nanofiber conduits. Animals receiving nanofiber-filled conduits showed some conduction in both anterograde and retrograde directions, whereas in animals receiving hollow conduits, no impulse conduction was detected. Aligned PCL nanofibers significantly improved motor function; aligned laminin blend nanofibers yielded the best sensory function recovery. In both cases, nanofiber-filled conduits resulted in better functional recovery than hollow conduits. These studies provide a firm foundation for the use of naturalsynthetic blend electrospun nanofibers to enhance existing hollow nerve guidance conduits