Journal of Science and Technology (Ghana)

Assessment of Shallow Drilling Geohazards for Safe Well Placement from Seismic Data in the Tano Basin, Offshore Ghana

2025-03-14T14:55:20+00:00

The increasing global demand for oil and gas underscores the need for comprehensive assessments of geohazards in offshore drilling operations to ensure safety and efficiency. This study investigates shallow drilling hazards in the Tano Basin, offshore Ghana, focusing on geologic structures and conditions that pose risks to well placement. Utilising high-resolution 3D seismic data, seabed features and subsurface horizons were mapped, and structural depth analyses were performed to evaluate potential drilling risks. The study identified a northwest trending canyon with steep flanks prone to sliding or rotation, posing a risk to wellbore stability. Faults were prevalent in Unit B, with significant gas accumulations associated with an unconformity at Horizon 1. This unconformity serves as a potential trap for gas, elevating the risk of blowouts during drilling activities. Minor gas accumulations were also detected between Horizons 1 and 2, indicating drilling hazards. Key recommendations include avoiding well placements near seabed canyons, fault zones, and areas with gas accumulations. These regions are susceptible to mass movements, explosions, and structural instability, which could compromise drilling operations. The findings emphasise the critical role of seismic data analyses in identifying geohazards and guiding safe and cost-effective drilling strategies. By providing insights into seabed morphology and shallow subsurface geology, this study contributes to mitigating risks and enhancing the safety of offshore petroleum exploration within Tano Basin.

“I” Love “You”: Issues of Love and Domestic Abuse in Accra, Ghana

2025-03-11T15:12:56+00:00

Domestic abuse remains a lingering predicament of romantic relationships. However, it appears that the novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) spiked a resurge in domestic abuse globally. In Ghana, the stress associated with the pandemic and its concurrent social distancing and safety protocols partly aggravated domestic abuse. Both the traditional and social media repeatedly reported cases of all shades of domestic abuse. For a very long time, researchers have provided plausible reasons, including patriarchal social and cultural norms, women’s lack of autonomy over their bodies, and economic and cultural lives as major drivers of domestic abuse. Focusing on the phenomenon of the pandemic as a major entry phenomenon in holding the gendered status quo of domestic abuses, I discuss the issue of intimate partner violence by interrogating the issues of love. As I shall discuss, “I love you” generally serves as the entry protocol for initiating a romantic relationship. And yet, intimate partner violence remains a major fault line of romantic relationships. Deploying ethnographic data, involving interviews with students at the University of Ghana in 2019 and 2022, I argue that the issues of “love” in romantic relationships are complicated by their transactional undercurrents. Thus, in addition to all the reasons and concurrent measures offered to remedy domestic abuses, I argue that if the expression of romantic “love” could be routinised as part of human ontological social deficiency, anchored on human inherent dignity, the need for the other may stem the tide against othering as susceptible for abuses.

Designing of Academic Library Spaces: A Survey of Selected Public University Libraries in Ghana

2025-03-11T18:41:11+00:00

Redesigning academic library spaces has become a contemporary issue of concern in tertiary institutions worldwide, especially in the present era, where the changing pattern of sophisticated information needs of library users is growing rapidly. Using a mixed sampling method, three hundred and three (303) postgraduate students and twenty (20) librarians were selected to participate in this study. This study used both structured and semi-structured questionnaires as the data collection instrument. The study’s findings showed that students and staff generally had a positive attitude towards the functionality of the designed library space in both institutions. Accessibility and variability of the designed library space through the use of single study carrels, group study areas, seminar rooms, and quiet study areas were all highly patronised by students. An increase in noise pollution, especially during examination periods and high demand for information, has been shown as the challenges associated with the newly designed library spaces. Some recommendations, such as reducing noise levels in the libraries, providing more study areas, sufficient power, and adequate funding, were made to improve the services in the redesigned library space.

Journal of Science and Technology: A Review of Research Philosophies and Approaches of Published Papers From 2000-2020

2025-03-11T15:18:30+00:00

Understanding research philosophies and approaches are important for identifying appropriate research design, their suitability, reliability and validity for research projects. Here, research philosophies and approaches employed by contributors to the Journal of Science and Technology (JUST) from the year 2000 to 2020 are reviewed. All papers (580 articles) were retrieved from African Journals Online (AJOL), the KNUST institutional repository and the JUST Website. The papers were grouped to reflect the academic disciplines offered at KNUST, the publishers of JUST. The abstracts of the papers were first scrutinised to appreciate the contents and collated keywords. Thereafter, the introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, and conclusions sections were thoroughly critiqued. The findings revealed that positivism rooted in deductive reasoning dominates the JUST accounting for 87.8% of articles. The use of quantitative analytical tools namely, statistical analysis (68.27%), simulation (7.41%) and mathematical modelling (0.17%) featured in the order presented. Interpretivism rooted in inductive reasoning/qualitative analytical tools represented 14.31% in use. Agriculture, Health and Pure Sciences widely used statistics whilst disciplines in Engineering relied mostly on simulation and modelling. While Agriculture used mostly inferential statistics, the health-related disciplines produced mostly descriptive statistics. Social sciences and humanities including Library and Information studies relied largely on descriptive statistics except economics, which was dominated by inferential statistics. Built environment research relied largely on descriptive statistics while Art-based programmes rely largely on qualitative approaches and narrations. These findings are important in helping the JUST to identify the strengths and weak areas towards encouraging a multi philosophically inclusive publications in the JUST, as a multidisciplinary academic journal. The findings could be helpful to the management of JUST and interested stakeholders towards expanding the profile of research publications knowledge promotion and as training manual for potential authors.

Flattening the Hierarchy: A Solution to the Male Problem of Bullying

2025-03-14T14:17:51+00:00

Bullying is a social problem that not only physically and psychologically affects victims but also disrupts the process of teaching and learning in senior high schools (SHS). We used an exploratory sequential mixed-method design comprising a survey and a double-blinded experiment to study the role of dominance hierarchy as the primary mechanism of bullying to effectively design anti-bullying strategies. The sample size used in the survey to validate the influence of dominance hierarchical structures on bullying was 79 students, while the experimental design to causally link dominance hierarchy to bullying included a sample of 21 students. The dominance hierarchy is one in which bullying behavior is exhibited as a means to rise up a social hierarchy. The current study validated that the dominance hierarchy is the more prevalent form of bullying in Ghana. We also observed that while bullying behavior sharply increases in SHS 3, bullying victimization does the opposite. This allows us to implement anti-bullying strategies for the most affected groups. Finally, the highest percentage of bullied individuals in SHS 1 are those who have a high social status relative to their peers, and the students who bully most frequently in SHS 3 are those who have a lower social status in school compared to their peers. Flattening the hierarchy is an effective way to significantly decrease bullying behavior. Therefore, measures such as increasing senior-junior cooperation through leadership positions, which are largely absent in SHS, will be effective at substantially decreasing bullying behavior in our schools.

Linkages Between Breast Milk Substitute Limiting Interventions and Breastfeeding Outcomes: A Scoping Review

2025-03-26T14:33:15+00:00

Background: The initiation of infants to human milk within the first hour of delivery, exclusive breastfeeding for 180 days and continued breastfeeding up to 24 months or beyond are standard breastfeeding recommendations. However, globally, the majority of infants do not experience optimal breastfeeding for many reasons including the unethical and inappropriate commercial marketing strategies that expose children to breast milk substitutes (BMS). Research Aim: To identify and categorise published interventions that promote, protect and support breastfeeding while limiting exposure to and use of BMS, globally.

Methods: Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) scoping review process guided this review. An initial search of peer-reviewed health-related literature databases was updated by searching through CINAHL, Google Scholar, Pubmed, PSYCHINFO, and SCOPUS. WHO and UNICEF’s websites. Keywords used included human milk, breastfeeding, breast milk substitute, formula feeding and interventions. Full-text, peer-reviewed research articles published in the English language between 1990-2022 were eligible for the review. Thematic data analysis was done.
Results: We identified 447 records and of these, there were seven articles that were eligible for inclusion in this review. Seven themes were discovered as key intervention strategies to facilitate breastfeeding and limit BMS use, globally. The interventions included health worker training programs and educational strategy; implementation and revitalisation of the Baby- Friendly Hospital Initiative; formula payment policy; diaper bag donation (not containing BMS); government-owned breastfeeding programs; enforcement of the International Code of Breastmilk Substitutes and implementation of other enabling factors.
Conclusion: Globally, there are few facility-and community-based strategies to mitigate the marketing and use of BMS. The adoption of the identified BMS interventions can be leveraged to protect, promote and support optimal breastfeeding.