1st International Research Conference of Tamale Technical University – 2018

Introduction

INCOTaTU proceedings provide an avenue for information and innovations transfer in engineering, science, technology and business related fields from the Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) fraternity in Africa. The papers in all areas of the subject shall be published once in a year.

The Editorial Board welcomes the submission of manuscripts that are of high standards, containing materials of broad interest and of significant contribution to scientific excellence, solutions to key development challenges and industrialization of Africa. Text, tables, and figures should be included in a single Microsoft Word file (preferably in Times new roman) and submitted electronically as an attachment through incotatu@tatu.edu.gh.

Regular articles
Regular articles should describe new and carefully confirmed findings, and experimental procedures should be given in sufficient detail for others to verify the work. The length of a full paper should not be more than 12 pages and should describe and interpret the work clearly.

Reviews
Submissions of reviews and perspectives covering topics of current interest are welcome and encouraged. Reviews should be concise and no longer than a maximum of 4 printed pages (about 12 manuscript pages). Reviews are also peer-reviewed.

Review Process of Manuscripts
All manuscripts are reviewed by an editor and members of the Editorial Board or qualified outside reviewers. Decisions will be made as early as possible, and reviewers’ comments will be returned to authors as soon as possible. The authors are then expected to revise their manuscripts accordingly. The Editorial Board will read through the revised manuscripts before accepting or rejecting the manuscript for presentation. Final acceptance depends on satisfactory revision. It is the goal of INCOTaTU to publish the conference proceedings as soon as possible after presentations. High standard articles will further be reviewed for publication in the scientific journal of CAPA.

ORGANIZATION OF MANUSCRIPT

Format
Each manuscript should be written in clear and concise English and should be limited to a maximum of 12pages. All text and artwork (including figure captions) should fall within a typing area that ensures an all-round margin of 1, single line space on A4 size paper. The text should be typed in black or word-processed using Times New Roman 12 pt. All pages should be numbered starting from the title page. The editors reserve the right to adjust style to certain standards of uniformity. The format of articles should be in the following order: Title page; Abstract; Introduction; Materials and Methodology; Findings; Discussion and Conclusions; Recommendations; Acknowledgement; References and Appendices.

Style of text
The whole manuscript from introduction to conclusion must conform to current standards of British English style and usage. Headings and subheadings for different sections of the paper should be clearly indicated (use font 14). A main heading should be in capital letters and has one line spacing above and below it. A secondary heading should have one line of space above it but no line space below it. A third grade heading should have one line space above it. There is no full stop following the heading. Paragraphs should be in block style with a line space above. Personal pronouns such as “he”, “she”, “we”, “I” etc. should be avoided.

A list of non-standard Abbreviations should be added. In general, non-standard abbreviations should be used only when the full term is very long and used often. Each abbreviation should be spelt out and introduced in parentheses the first time it is used in the text. Only recommended SI units should be used. Authors should use the solidus presentation (mg/ml). Standard abbreviations (such as ATP and DNA) need not be defined. Italics should be used for scientific names (except for authority), Latin expressions and descriptive foreign phrases. In reporting measurement, the use of up to three significant figures is sufficient.

Title Page
The cover letter should include the authors’ full names and affiliations, the name of the corresponding author along with address, email information and telephone/fax numbers. Present addresses of author(s) should appear as a footnote.

Title
The Title should be a precise and concise description of the contents of the paper. In addition, it should be specific and informative and should be placed 1’’ from the top of the front page. Type the exact title of the paper in Upper and Lower Case (i.e. Capitalise Each Word) with Bold Typeface Using Font 14. Please centre the title.

Author’s Name and Affiliation
Type the names(s) of author(s) with bold typeface font 12, and centered below the title. Each name should appear in the order of surname, middle name and first name. Please designate affiliation of each author by typing superscript numbers next to his/her name in the list of author(s). The complete list of affiliation(s) and full postal address should be given after the list of author(s) in font 12 and should be left aligned.

Abstract
The Abstract should be informative and completely self-explanatory, briefly present the topic, state the scope of the experiments, indicate significant data, and point out major findings and conclusions. The Abstract should not exceed 250 words in length. Complete sentences, active verbs, and the third person should be used, and the abstract should be written in the past tense. Standard nomenclature should be used and abbreviations should be avoided. No literature should be cited. A list of four to six keywords that will provide indexing references may be included in italics below the abstract.

Introduction
The Introduction should provide a clear statement of the problem, the relevant literature on the subject, and the proposed approach or solution. It should be understandable to colleagues from a broad range of scientific disciplines.

Methodology
Methodology should be complete enough to allow experiments to be reproduced. However, only truly new procedures should be described in detail; previously published procedures should be cited, and important modifications of published procedures should be mentioned briefly. Capitalize trade names and include the manufacturer’s name and address. Subheadings should be used. Methods in general use need not be described in detail.

Findings
Findings should be presented with clarity and precision. The results should be written in the past tense when describing findings in the authors’ experiments. Previously published findings should be written in the present tense. Results should be explained, but largely without referring to the literature. Discussion, speculation and detailed interpretation of data should not be included in the Results but should be put into the Discussion section.

Discussion and conclusions
The Discussion should interpret the findings in view of the results obtained in this and in past studies on this topic. State the conclusions in a few sentences at the end of the paper. The Findings and Discussion sections can include subheadings, and where appropriate, both sections can be combined.

Recommendations
Recommendations should address the research problems/questions and should be worth noting by the scientific community and policy makers

Acknowledgements
The Acknowledgments of people, grants, funds, etc should be brief.

Tables
Tables should be kept to a minimum and be designed to be as simple as possible. Each table should be numbered and supplied with a heading and a legend. Tables should be self-explanatory without reference to the text. The details of the methods used in the experiments should preferably be described in the legend instead of in the text. The same data should not be presented in both table and graph form or repeated in the text. Place table titles above the tables. Allow one line of space between the table and the adjacent text.

Figure legends
Figure legends should be typed in numerical order. Graphics should be prepared using applications capable of generating high resolution GIF, TIFF, JPEG or PowerPoint before pasting in the Microsoft Word manuscript file. Tables should be prepared in Microsoft Word. Use Arabic numerals to designate figures and upper case letters for their parts (Figure 1). Begin each legend with a title and include sufficient description so that the figure is understandable without reading the text of the manuscript. Information given in legends should not be repeated in the text. Place figure captions below the figures. Allow one line of space between the table and the adjacent text. Standard abbreviations may be used in tables and figures if necessary.

Citations and references
In the text citations, a reference identified by means of an author‘s name should be followed by the date of the reference in parentheses. When there are more than two authors, only the first author‘s name should be mentioned, followed by ’et al‘. In the event that an author cited has had two or more works published during the same year, the reference, both in the text and in the reference list, should be identified by a lower case letter like ’a‘ and ’b‘ after the date to distinguish the works.
Examples:

Naporoo (2016), Kaleem et al. (2013), (Abaki, 2015), (Abu and Tijani, 2010), (Zeinab, 2009; Alabaani, 2016a,b; Akosua, 2010, 2016), (Boakyi et al., 2001)

References should be listed at the end of the paper in alphabetical order. Articles in preparation or articles submitted for publication, unpublished observations, personal communications, etc. should not be included in the reference list but should only be mentioned in the article text (e.g., K. Yenka, University of Ghana, Ghana, personal communication).

Examples of Reference list
Arrami, M. & Garner, H. (2008) A tale of two citations. Nature, 451 (7177), 397-399.

Barros, B., Read, T. & Verdejo, M. F. (2008) Virtual collaborative experimentation: an approach combining remote and local labs. IEEE Transactions on Education, [Online]51(2),242-25 Available from: doi:10.1109/TE.2007.908071 [Accessed 9th June 2010].
Department of Health (2008) More help for people with dementia. [Online] Available from: http://nds.coi.gov.uk/content/detail.asp?NewsAreaID=2&ReleaseID=371217 [Accessed 20th June 2008].

Goldacre, B. (2008a) Dore – the media’s miracle cure for dyslexia.Bad Science. Weblog. [Online] Available from: http://www.badscience.net/2008/05/dore-the-medias-miracle-cure-for-dyslexia/#more-705 [Accessed 19th June 2008].

Goldacre, B.(2008b) Trivial Disputes. Bad Science. Weblog.[Online] Available from: http://www.badscience.net/2008/02/trivial-disputes-2/[Accessed 19th June 2008].

Henderson, J.(2005) Google Scholar: A source for clinicians? Canadian Medical Association Journal, 172 (12), 1549-1550.

Pears, R. & Shields, G. (2008) Cite them right: the essential referencing guide. 3rd ed. Durham, Pear Tree Books.

Smith, A. (2004) Making mathematics count: the report of Professor Adrian Smith’s inquiry into post-14 mathematics education. London, The Stationery Office.

PROOFS AND REPRINTS

Electronic proofs will be sent (e-mail attachment) to the corresponding author as a PDF file. Page proofs are considered to be the final version of the manuscript. With the exception of typographical or minor clerical errors, no changes will be made in the manuscript at the proof stage. Conference proceedings will be published freely online to attract a wide audience, and authors will have free electronic access to the full text (in both HTML and PDF) of the article.

COPYRIGHT

1. Submission of a manuscript implies that: the work described has not been published before (except in  the   form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, or thesis);
2. It is not under consideration for publication elsewhere and
3. If and when the manuscript is accepted for publication, the authors agree to automatic transfer of the copyright to the publisher.

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