ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Leveraging data science to understand and address multimorbidity in sub- Saharan Africa: the MADIVA protocol

Introduction Multimorbidity (MM), defined as two or more chronic diseases in an individual, is linked to adverse outcomes. MM is increasing in sub- Saharan Africa due to rapidly advancing epidemiological and social transitions. The Multimorbidity in Africa: Digital Innovation, Visualisation and Application Research Hub (MADIVA) aims to address MM by developing data science solutions informed by stakeholder engagement. Methods and analysis MADIVA uses complex, individual- level datasets from research centres in rural Bushbuckridge, South Africa and urban Nairobi, Kenya. These datasets will be harmonised, linked and curated, and then used to develop MM risk prediction models, novel data science methods and interactive dashboards for research and clinical use. Pilot projects and mentorship programmes will support data science capacity development. Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval has been granted. Dissemination will occur through scientific meetings and publications. MADIVA is committed to making data FAIR: findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable.

Source: UG
Leveraging Digital Media in Advancing Ghana’s Foreign Policy under President Akufo –Addo’s Administration

The use of websites, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube have become a major part of diplomacy today. Developed states have taken to these platforms and using them as a tool to advance their foreign policy and to showcase their soft power. Developing states, on the other hand, are adapting to the use of websites, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to advance their foreign policy objectives although, there is room for improvement. Using the concept of soft power, the study explored how these digital media platforms can be used in Ghana to advance its foreign policies. The study looked at the extent which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, the Information Services Department and the Ghana Tourism Authority have leveraged digital media in advancing Ghana’s foreign policy. The study argues that the effective use of digital media by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, the Information Services Department and the Ghana Tourism Authority could help advance the state’s foreign policy objectives. Findings from the study indicate that these institutions do have some presence on at least two of these digital media platforms but they do not collaborate on these platforms. Some of the successes achieved by these institutions in using these digital media platforms include reaching a wider audience, educating their followers and embarking on online advertising campaigns. Lack of stable internet, political interference and institutional challenges are some of the challenges faced by these institutions regarding the use of digital media. Based on the findings, the study recommends education, collaboration and stable internet to help Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, the Information Services Department and the Ghana Tourism Authority leverage digital media to advance Ghana’s foreign policy.

Source: UG
Leveraging fine-grained sentiment analysis for competitivity

The surge in the use of social media tools by most businesses and corporate society for varied purposes cannot be over emphasised. The two top social media sites heavily patronised by businesses are Facebook and Twitter. For companies to harness the business potential of social media to increase competitive advantage, sentiments behind textual data of their customers, fans and competitors must be monitored and analysed with keen interest. This paper demonstrates how companies in the Telecommunication industry can understand consumer opinions, frustrations and satisfaction through opinion mining analyses and interpret customers' textual data to enhance competitiveness. Sentiment analysis that classifies positive, negative and neutral sentiments of customers of the top three telecommunication companies in Ghana (MTN, Vodafone and Tigo) is studied. The proposed method extracts "intelligence" from the classified customers' comments and compares it with responses from the companies. The results show how customer sentiments can be harnessed into successful online advertising projects. Companies can use the results to enhance their responsiveness to customer-centred, improve on the quality of their service, integrate social sentiments into PR plan, develop a strategy for social media marketing and leverage on the advantages of online advertising. © 2018 World Scientific Publishing Co.

Source: UG
Leveraging global links for local advocacy: WACAM’s challenge to the power of transnational mining corporations

This article explores local–global interconnections in the context of local rights-based struggles against the adverse impact of gold mining by transnational corporations in Ghana. It examines how a small community-based organisation, WACAM, approached a situation of huge power asymmetry by both mobilising local resistance and developing national and international linkages. In explaining WACAM's relative success in challenging corporate and state powers behind gold mining activities, we focus on its ability to maximise the benefits of alliances with selected organisations, while minimising the risks of doing so through staying locally grounded. This we attribute to WACAM's political orientation to rights advocacy, based in a democratic left political tradition.

Source: UG
Leveraging Information Technology (IT) in Recruitment and Selection Processes- A Comparative Study

Information Technology (IT) has changed the business world many times over. In the Information Age, the advent of computers and the Internet has increased that impact significantly. Many businesses particularly banking industry cannot even function without the use of computer technology. This impact is seen in nearly all areas of business, including human resources, where technology continues to have a significant impact on Human Resource (HR) practices.The purpose of the study was to investigate the role of IT on HR functions in Fidelity Bank and National Investment Bank (NIB). The Survey approach was adopted for this study, with staff from the HR department as the subjects. The purposive sampling technique was adopted and the SPSS as an analytical tool was used to create tables and correlation of some variables. It was found out that Online Social Network (OSN) among other IT tools is mostly used for recruitment by private banks whereas daily newspapers are used by the public banks. Moreover, the study revealed that HR functions in scope and responsibilities have increased in the last three years in both private and public banks. Furthermore, it was revealed no relationship between the e-recruiting and employee performance. It is recommended that banks endeavour to heighten intensive application of existing HRIS and employee appraisal to help with the implementation of IT in HR functions.

Source: UG
Leveraging National and Global Links for Local Rights Advocacy: WACAM's Challenge to the Power of Transnational Gold Mining in Ghana

This article explores local–global interconnections in the context of local rights based struggles against the adverse impact of gold mining by transnational corporations in Ghana. It examines how a small community-based organization, WACAM, approached a situation of huge power asymmetry by both mobilizing local resistance and developing national and international linkages. In explaining WACAM’s relative success in challenging corporate and state powers behind gold mining activities, we focus on its ability to maximise the benefits of alliances with selected organisations, while minimising the risks of doing so through staying locally grounded. This we attribute to WACAM’s political orientation to rights advocacy, based in a democratic left political tradition.

Source: UG
Leveraging ongoing research to evaluate the health impacts of South Africa's salt reduction strategy: A prospective nested cohort within the WHO-SAGE multicountry, longitudinal study

Introduction: Attempting to curb the rising epidemic of hypertension, South Africa implemented legislation in June 2016 mandating maximum sodium levels in a range of manufactured foods that contribute significantly to population salt intake. This natural experiment, comparing two African countries with and without salt legislation, will provide timely information on the impact of legislative approaches addressing the food supply to improve blood pressure in African populations. This article outlines the design of this ongoing prospective nested cohort study. Methods and analysis: Baseline sodium intake was assessed in a nested cohort of the WHO Study on global AGEing and adult health (WHO-SAGE) wave 2 (2014-2015), a multinational longitudinal study on the health and well-being of adults and the ageing process. The South African cohort consisted of randomly selected households (n=4030) across the country. Spot and 24-hour urine samples are collected in a random subsample (n=1200) and sodium, potassium, creatinine and iodine analysed. Salt behaviour and sociodemographic data are captured using face-to-face interviews, alongside blood pressure and anthropometric measures. Ghana, the selected control country with no formal salt policy, provided a nested subsample (n=1200) contributing spot and 24-hour urine samples from the SAGE Ghana cohort (n=5000). Follow-up interviews and urine collection (wave 3) in both countries will take place in 2017 (postlegislation) to assess change in population-level sodium intake and blood pressure. Ethics and dissemination: SAGE was approved by the WHO Ethics Review Committee (reference number RPC149) with local approval from the North-West University Human Research Ethics Committee and University of the Witwatersrand Human Research Ethics Committee (South Africa), and University of Ghana Medical School Ethics and Protocol Review Committee (Ghana). The results of the study will be published in peer-reviewed international journals, presented at national and international conferences, and summarised as research and policy briefs.

Source: UG
Leveraging smallholder livestock production to reduce anemia: A qualitative study of three agroecological zones in Ghana

Livestock production and Animal-Source Foods (ASFs) like meat, milk, and eggs are excellent sources of essential micronutrients, including iron and zinc. There is evidence that encouraging increased access to and consumption of these ASFs may either positively or negatively impact anemia, or have no nutritional effects. Drawing upon first-hand experiences in Ghana, this study sought to: (1) identify the main motivations for raising livestock in Ghana; (2) describe the major barriers to consuming ASFs, especially among women of reproductive age (WRA); and (3) explore the feasibility of different livestock-centered interventions to reduce anemia. Key informant interviews and focus group discussions were held with relevant stakeholders at different geographical scales - the national, regional, district, and community levels. The results suggest that livestock enable savings, allow re source-poor households to accumulate assets, and help finance planned and unplanned expenditures (e.g., school fees and illness). Due to these multiple and often pressing uses, direct consumption of home-reared ASFs is not a major priority, especially for poor households. Even when ASFs are consumed, intra-household allocation does not favor women and adolescent girls, demographic groups with particularly high micronutrient requirements. The study participants discussed possible interventions to address these challenges, including (1) increasing livestock ownership through in-kind credit; (2) encouraging nutrition-related behavior change; (3) improving livestock housing; and (4) hatchery management. The paper discusses these interventions based upon potential acceptance, feasibility, cost effectiveness, and sustainability in the Ghanaian context.

Source: UG
Leveraging Social Media Platforms in Mark aging Social Media Platforms in Marketing Libr eting Library Services In Ghanaian Universities

With the continuous improvement of library services across the globe owing to automation, technological advancement, and growth in student population, rapid access to social media (SM) platforms has become a vital part of keeping present and would-be users well-versed about academic library service. The study brings to bear on the use of SM platforms in promoting library services. Using the survey approach, one hundred and seventy-six (176) library users of the University of Ghana (UG), Library System (LS) were selected to provide primary data via questionnaires. All respondents were selected through simple random sampling. The SPSS was used to generate Pearson correlation, mean, and standard deviation results. The results revealed that the effectiveness of SM platforms has a significant positive relationship with users’ perception and its usefulness. The deployment of SM as a marketing tool in university libraries, marketing library resources, and information centrescan be promoted greatly. Moreover, few challenges encountered by library users in using the SM include lack of privacy, the confidentiality of information, power cut or shortage, and inadequate training opportunities for the UGLS staff among others. The study presents opportunities useful for professional librarians.

Source: UG
Leveraging Social Media Platforms in Marketing Library Services in Ghanaian Universities

With the continuous improvement of library services across the globe owing to automation, technological advancement, and growth in student population, rapid access to social media (SM) platforms has become a vital part of keeping present and would-be users well-versed about academic library service. The study brings to bear on the use of SM platforms in promoting library services. Using the survey approach, one hundred and seventy-six (176) library users of the University of Ghana (UG), Library System (LS) were selected to provide primary data via questionnaires. All respondents were selected through simple random sampling. The SPSS was used to generate Pearson correlation, mean, and standard deviation results. The results revealed that the effectiveness of SM platforms has asignificant positive relationship with users’ perception and its usefulness. The deployment of SM as a marketing tool in university libraries, marketing library resources, and information centrescan be promoted greatly. Moreover, few challenges encountered by library users in using the SM include lack of privacy, the confidentiality of information, power cut or shortage, and inadequate training opportunities for the UGLS staff among others. The study presents opportunities useful for professional librarians. Keywords: social media,marketing, academic libraries, library services, information professionals, Ghana, higher learning institutions.

Source: UG
Lexical Inventiveness in Ghanaian Socio-Political Discourse: The Form, Meaning and Motivation for Dumsor and Dumsor-Based Neologisms

Lexical expansion may be triggered by different factors. A recent case of protracted intermittent power outages in Ghana gave rise to dumsor, an Akan word which means 'turn off' and 'turn on'. This word spawned many neologisms, some of which became part of the political discourse in Ghana at the time. However, very few of the neologisms are actually in use because the situation that gave rise to them no longer exists and the formation of most of them was purely jocular. Based on data collected from Facebook posts and status updates, this paper discusses what is called the dumsor lexicon and the morphological and sociolinguistic motivations for the formation of the dumsor-based neologisms. First, we observe that the motivation for the linguistic behaviour that spawns such neologisms is consistent with the lightheartedness of Ghanaians. We show that the neologisms fall into various semantic classes and that the morphological processes of compounding and affixation are employed predominantly but dumsor itself is partially anglicized and the affixes employed in the derivation of the neologisms are of English origin, because Akan, from which dumsor emanates, lacks equivalent affixes. Additionally, we observe that the use of English affixes could be because the originators of the neologisms either did not know alternative processes in Akan that could yield the same result or possibly did not find them useful because of the multilingual setting of the platform. Thus, we argue that the morphology of the neologisms and the range of items and concept they refer to betray the possible social backgrounds of the originators of the words and the multilingual setting of the linguistic behaviour.

Source: UG
Lexical Signaling of Information Structure in Akan

Akan (Kwa, Niger Congo) has a rich inventory of lexical items for the purposes of signaling information structure. This paper examines the communicative role of a number of these markers. The focus marker na singles out the constituent within its scope as the only new information in the utterance in which it is contained. Two inclusive markers are identified; they are (n)so and mpo. (N)so is an additive focus marker which indicates that the utterance to which it is attached has to be interpreted in a context parallel to that of the immediately preceding utterance. Mpo is a scalar marker; the entity within its scope is considered quite low on a pragmatically given scale. Exclusive markers in the language include the restrictive nko and the multifunctional ara. The latter combines with features of the context to communicate restriction, simultaneity, continuity, or it may cause the accompanying utterance to receive a scalar reading. Finally, the traditional analysis associated with the information structural marker de is shown to be untenable. Thus, an alternative analysis is proffered, based on critical examination of its discourse function, using attested data.

Source: UG
Lexicons of women's empowerment online: Appropriating the other.

In this essay, we examine discourses of women's emancipation online. We examine some nuances of how these lexicons of empowerment play out. One discursive formation examined is websites around female genital mutilation (FGM) in online activism while a second is the Americans for United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) website. The third case is based in work offline trying to develop strategies for online marketing. This case discusses the (im)possibility of sustaining handloom and craft communities through online marketing of such products, arguing that online marketing of such products often tends to be subsumed by the logic of charity towards oppressed women. We try to show how lexicons of women's empowerment online are situated in an ideological framing that ends up being counterproductive over the long run. In each of the cases described, the possibilities for articulation are constrained by the same discourse that claims to empower.

Source: UG
Liberate Your Mind: Ghana and Kwame Nkrumah’s Influence on Contemporary Pan-African Consciousness in the USA

This article interrogates the influence of Ghana and Kwame Nkrumah on the development of contemporary Pan-African consciousness in the USA. The research occurred between December 2018 and January 2020 in Accra Ghana, Washington, DC, and the San-Francisco Bay Area. The study included in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and participatory observation at Pan-African events such as Kwanzaa, PANAFEST, and African Liberation Day. The findings suggest the development of Pan-African consciousness is obtained through engagement and interaction with historical and contemporary Pan-African leaders. Two main themes emerged they are (1) Linkages exist between the development of Pan-African consciousness among the Diaspora and Kwame Nkrumah and Ghana’s historical role in the Pan-African Movement, and (2) Pan-African institutions that engage in political education contribute to exposing the Diaspora to Pan-African consciousness.

Source: UG
Liberation of public data: Exploring central themes in open government data and freedom of information research

This paper conducts a comparative literature survey of Open Government Data (OGD) and Freedom of Information (FOI), with a view to tracking the central themes in the two civil society campaigns. With seeming similarities and a growing popularity in research, the major themes framing research on the two movements have not clearly emerged. Topic modelling, text mining and document analysis methods are used to extract the themes as well as key named entities. The topics are subsequently labeled and with expert guidance, their semantic meaning are provided. The results indicate that the major theme in FOI research borders on issues relating to disclosure, publishing, access and cost of requests. On the other hand, themes in OGD research have largely centered on technology and related concepts. The approach also helped in determining key similarities and differences in the two campaigns as reported in research

Source: UG
Liberation Philology: Decolonizing Classics In Africa, A Native View From The South

If you were a manumitted slave, the child of a slave or descendant of enslaved or dispossessed people or, say, you were a member of your society’s lowest castes and you were given the opportunity to study, and perhaps even to take up scholarship as your life’s work, your vocation, what subject would you, should you elect to learn?

Source: UG
Librarians in Ghana: a survey of their social origins and status

The paper sets out to determine the social origins and professional status of librarians in Ghana with a view to understanding them as a professional group of working individuals. It examines the personal characteristics such as age, sex and marital status of the librarians. Parental influences on the choice of profession, as well as the status of individual librarians in their organizations and institutions are investigated. The results of this study indicate that most librarians in Ghana come from working class homes and that librarians in Ghana are satisfied with their status in their organizations and institutions.

Source: UG
Librarianship as a profession in Ghana.

The aim of this paper is to review the development of the library profession in Ghana from its inception during the colonial period to the present day. It discusses the achievements of the profession as well as its problems. Suggestions are made for solutions to these problems. Wherever possible, comparisons are made with other library professions in the sub-region, particularly with the Nigeria Library Association which is a sister organisation. The writer concludes that a lot still needs to be done by the Ghana Library Association in order to fulfil the basic attributes of the profession

Source: UG
Libraries and information provision in Government ministries and departments in Ghana

This is a brief review of libraries and information provision in the Government Ministries and Departments in Ghana. It is based on personal visits to ten of these libraries in Accra, as well as interviews with some of the staff and users of these libraries. The study attempts to describe the existing facilities in terms of accommodation, library stock, services, finance and staffing, indicating whether they meet the needs of the Ministries and Departments they serve. Recommendations are made for the improvement of libraries in order to make them effective for the cultural, economic, social, political and industrial development of the country.

Source: UG