PAUL G GODDEY | Accra Technical University (original) (raw)

Papers by PAUL G GODDEY

This conceptual TVET project, envisioned the establishment of TVET centre which would focused on ... more This conceptual TVET project, envisioned the establishment of TVET centre which would focused on providing middle level TVET programme on highly demanded subject, i.e. Medical Equipment technology (Medical equipment maintenance, repairs, operations, training and services) with a capacity of providing repair and maintenance for more than 2000 assorted medical equipment, and further expand its programme on demand base. The project aim is to create job opportunities for 1150 persons in a period of five (5) years, at an average of 230 students per annum to be train as medical equipment technicians. Maintenance and repairs of medical equipment requires a wide range of technical abilities, and the costs and time required to train a technician increase markedly with the level of skill that has to be attained. The lack of middle level manpower, for instance, was found to be bottleneck for development, and as one of the measures to alleviate this problem, technical and vocational training programs have been created in a large number of countries from 1970 onwards. Experience in many developing countries in Africa, particularly Ghana, has revealed that training of technicians to a high level of skills is very expensive. Therefore, the approach for the training of technicians is to do front-line maintenance, for medical equipment in health facilities and delivers benefits to a larger population, supporting primary health care, by servicing large volume of essential medical equipment in a widely distributed health facilities in the capital city and other parts of regional and district administrations. The envisioned Centre therefore, includes provision of services like maintenance training, and repair of medical equipment, focusing on building sustainable technical capacity, implementing transparent & pragmatic systems, while focusing on the preventative care and safe usage of medical equipment.

In this work management of pediatric patients doses for Computed Tomography examinations have bee... more In this work management of pediatric patients doses for Computed Tomography examinations have been studied at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. The assessment of the management system involved: Estimation of Weighted Computed Tomography Dose Index (CTDI w), Volumetric Computed Tomography Dose Index (CTDIvol), Dose Length Product (DLP) and Effective dose (E); and Evaluation of quality assurance and quality control programmes to optimize pediatric patient doses. The frequency of CT examinations for pediatric patients accounted for 1300 out 5200 examinations (25%) of the total examinations recorded for the year 2008-2009.Adult CT exposure parameters such as the KV, mAs, scan length, pitch, and collimation values were being used in pediatric CT examination. Effective dose estimated for children were higher than that for adults by factors of 5.1, 1.8, 3.1 and 3.9 more for head, chest, abdomen and pelvis examinations respectively. From the questionnaire administered and dosimetry results there was no established justification policy, procedures and referral criteria for CT examination requests for children. There was no Quality Assurance Committee to see to the implementation of dose management system dedicated to pediatric patients. There was the need for the Hospital Authorities to formulate policies in the training of CT equipment operators, radiographers and radiologist in modern CT technology as well as in the selection of appropriate parameters tailored to individual patient size that can achieve desirable diagnostic image quality at low doses. 1.0 Introduction Computed Tomography (CT) has emerged as one of the most important imaging techniques of modern times. Since its development in the early 1970s with a great promise of exploring inner structure of the human organs, it faced challenge with the introduction and refinement of non-radiation devices, such as ultrasound and MRI in late 1970s, and has emerged not only survivor but rather its clinical applications continue to increase (Aldrich JE et al,2006).The recent advances in CT such as multi detector-row technology, with sub-second acquisition and CT fluoroscopy have boosted CT applications, even more enabling interventional radiological (IR) procedures, which were traditionally performed with C-arm X-ray units. The continual increase in number of slices that can be scanned in one rotation of the X ray tube has brought multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) into dynamic imaging. Increasing applications mean increasing collective radiation dose to the population (ICRP, 2000). But that is not bad as long as individual CT examination is clinically justified and doses are optimized to be not more than what is necessary. But experience shows that individual patient doses are increasing [Brenner DJ et al, 2004). In one of the reports from the United States, it was estimated that CT scanning accounts for more than 10 % of all radiological examinations and about two-thirds of the radiation dose to patients. Large variation in exposure parameters and patient doses even for a single CT examination have been reported (Mettler Jr,2000).It is noted that at specific exposure parameters, the radiation dose to the patient from various CT models can be totally different due to changing CT geometry and filtration. There was also growing realization that very often CT image quality is much higher than actually required to produce accurate clinical diagnosis and a number of studies reported large dose reductions using modified exposure parameters (Huda W et al, 2000]. Taking all these into consideration, as well as the continuous need to balance between the net benefits and the risks of using such a modality, various international organizations have published guidelines so as to standardize CT examinations and optimize radiation dose (IAEA 2004). DRLs provide the means to improve patient protection, if it is required, identify poor performance and monitor CT performance in periodic measurements. The foregoing discussion reveals the need for proper management of radiation dose in a CT facility. This study aims at assessing the dose management system at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital during pediatric CT examinations, and provides practical advice to manage the radiation dose keeping them ALARA while maintaining diagnostic quality 1.2. Objectives The main purpose of this project is to assess the status of CT dose management system being applied to pediatric patients undergoing CT examination at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Greater Accra Region of Ghana. There have been many national, regional and global efforts towards ensuring that the principles of justification

The disposal of large amounts of waste biomass generally regarded as rubbish and pollutants is a ... more The disposal of large amounts of waste biomass generally regarded as rubbish and pollutants is a major environmental management problem in Ghana. The challenge, therefore, was to convert the large amounts of waste biomass into useful products. In developed countries, plant based waste biomass are converted into Liquid Smoke which is used as a substitute to wood smoke during the traditional smoking of fish. In this study, liquid smoke was produced from coconut shell, coconut husk and mahogany wood by pyrolysing separately known weights of each biomass in a closed system, and absorbing the smoke in water by passing the condensed smoke vapours at 6 o C through three flasks filled with distilled water and connected in series (Flask 1 ̶ Flask 2 ̶ Flask 3) to obtain a liquid smoke fraction in each flask. Yields of liquid smoke from coconut husk, Mahogany and coconut shell were 40.0%(v/w), 23.25%(v/w) and 15.6%(v/w) respectively. The yields, pH, colour, and flavour profiles of the Liquid smokes depended significantly (p≤0.05) on the type of biomass, and the liquid smoke fraction. However, Liquid smokes from different batches of the same biomass did not differ significantly (p>0.05) in yields, pH, colour, and flavour profiles. The production setup could easily be scaled up into a simple, affordable, and easy to maintain form for community-level liquid smoke production ventures to convert waste biomass into Liquid smoke. This would be a more productive, sustainable and cleaner way to manage waste biomass in Ghana than the current practices of burning and prolonged decomposition.

With regard to earlier experiment conducted to determine the characteristics of diluted waste wat... more With regard to earlier experiment conducted to determine the characteristics of diluted waste water, a confirmation was obtained experienced by the levels shown using the litmus paper. This then provided a basis for the design of the filtration system which was simulated to ascertain its suitability. This can be said by " drink a minimum of two litres or eight glasses of 8 liquid ounces daily " is a statement with which we are all familiar; it is the recommendation by the UK Food Standard Agency (FSA), corroborated by the US-EPA (UKFSA 2002, & USEPA, 1945). In the high-pressure pipeline, the water energy may dissipate after flowing through the channels and the flow rate can be controlled to meet the water need of the life. To ensure the emitter's hydraulic performance, before the fabrication of emitter, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is used to predict emitter's flow rate and analyze its hydraulic performance under various water pressures. The quality of the emitter has an important effect on the reliability, life span of the drip irrigation system and irrigation quality. Usually, the structure of the emitter channel is very complex with a dimension. A CFD/FloXpress analysis was carried out to determine the suitability of the filtration system while analysis of filtered water also confirmed that, production of the filters could help in enhancing the purification of the diluted Chemu lagoon and similar water system(Ing. Govi and Gablah, 2015). 1.0 Introduction However in Ghana, water is becoming more and more a scarce and valuable resource as population and consumption rise. Evaluation of these factors, as well as technology and action to support healthy water supplies, is necessary to gain control of the situation. Agricultural use of water accounts for nearly 70 % of the water used throughout the world, and the majority of this water is used for irrigation. A successful uniform application through drip irrigation system depends on the physical and hydraulic characteristics of the drip tubing (Al-Amoud, 1995). In surface drip irrigation systems, uniformity can be evaluated by direct measurement of emitter flow rates. The emission uniformity (EU) criterion is used largely to design micro irrigation laterals and large at CFD/FloXpress. The EU is affected by the variation of pressure head due to elevation changes and head losses along the lines, as well as by water temperature, manufacture's variation, grouping of emitters, clogging, variability in soil hydraulic characteristics, and emitter spacing (Wu, 1997). 1.1 Filtration System Images from the FloXpress/ CFD simulation of the designed filter are discussed in terms of velocity, pressure and discharge. The CFD/FloXpress discusses only the design, the suitability of which will affect the functionality of the elements when they are placed in the vessel. The pollutant concentration levels have been proven to be effectively dissolved/ removed by the use of the media chosen which were mainly obtained from natural sources than synthetic so that it becomes sustainable. 1.2 CFD Design An air filter is generally a paper-like or fibrous material, folded accordion-style and arranged on a plastic or metal frame to fit your car's air filter holder. In an air filtration system, the air must pass through some sort of filter which traps impurities in the air. The design of the filter determines which impurities will be trapped. Most fuel injected vehicles use a pleated paper filter element in the form of a flat panel. This filter is usually placed inside a plastic box connected to the throttle body with an intake tube. Pleated paper filter elements are the nearly exclusive choice for automobile engine air cleaners, because they are efficient, easy to service, and cost-effective. A paper for air filters needs to be very porous and have a weight of 100-200 g/m 2. Normally long fibrous pulp is used to get these properties. The paper is normally impregnated to improve the resistance to moisture. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is considered to be the most cost effective solution for flow analysis of intake system along with filter media.

Many people, especially the youth, are also turning to the internet for news at the expense of Ne... more Many people, especially the youth, are also turning to the internet for news at the expense of Newspapers. Financial viability for newspapers, at least for now, requires retaining as many existing print readers as possible. However, as trend for Newspaper circulation shows a continuous decline over the past decade, publishers need to ensure that production waste is reduced to the barest minimum to keep costs down so as to remain afloat. The newspaper business has trived on high advertising revenue for decades until now that they are confronted with the Internet and new media. The study will critically examine the existing production system, including systematic work flow and ascertain the possibilities to identify and eliminate the perceived waste in the production chain. This critical assessment will be carry out using appropriate statistical tool to reveal the consequential impacts of such waste in the production system.