ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Binary logistic regression analysis of males with Cardiovascular diseases in ayawaso east, Accra-ghana

Cardiovascular disease is currently gaining face recognition on the health facilities' monthly and yearly chat in Ayawaso East. The aim of this study is to model a Binomial logit regression in assessing and identifying attributable factors of cardiovascular disease in males living within Ayawaso East and be able to model, also evaluate goodness of _t of binomial logit and to determine the salient factors that help coup CVD cases in diagnostic patients. Of the target population of 320 males from the study area, it was observed that forty-four percent (44%) have a cardiovascular related disease which is on the high side from the descriptive statistics. Further analysis revealed prevalence rate of cardiovascular disease is 44%. The odds ratio of patient who is with CVD is 1041.88% more times if there is one unit increment in angina holding all other factors constant as compared to those without which implies that majority of patients are unaware of risk factors of CVDs where the model. The essence of this study is to provide the determinants of predicting CVDs in males with these indicates; age, rest blood pressure, blood sugar, maximum heart rate and exercise angina. The salient factors to determine CVDs in males are maximum heart rate and angina.

Source: KNUST
Burden of Malaria, Anaemia and Preventive Measures among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Care at Nkawie –Toase Hospital in the Atwima-Nwabiagya District, Ashanti Region

Pregnant women are generally affected by malaria and usually show a high prevalence of anaemia than the general population. This study was thus conducted in the Atwima-Nwabiagya District in the Ashanti Region of Ghana to determine the prevalence of malaria infection and anaemia in relation to some red blood cell parameters and the predisposing factors of infection in pregnant women attending antenatal care at Nkawie-Toase Government Hospital. A total of two hundred and sixty-one (261) pregnant women at different stages of pregnancy attending antenatal care were randomly selected for the study, blood samples were collected and a structured questionnaire were used to obtain information on the pregnant women attending antenatal care at the Nkawie-Toase Government Hospital. Classification of anaemia were done using the MCH (mean corpuscular haemoglobin) and MCV (mean corpuscular volume) values obtained from full blood count (FBC) analysis. Sixty-six (25.3%) out of the 261 pregnant were infected with P. falciparum malaria while 195 (74.7%) were not infected with malaria parasiteamia. The study showed that 119 (45.6%) pregnant women were anaemic at various degrees. 77 (64.7%) had mild anaemia, 38 (31.9%) had moderate anaemia and 4 (3.4%) had severe anaemia and 142 (54.4%) were non-anaemic. The findings revealed a significant difference (p<0.04) between anaemia and malaria infection. Gestational period of pregnancy and malaria infection were the predisposing factors on Hb and anaemia prevalence in pregnant women in the district. The types of anaemia were determined based on 157 pregnant women, of which 21.6% (34) had microcytosis, 5.1% (8) had macrocytosis, and 73.2% (115) had normocytosis red blood cell morphologies. Significant associations were found between Hb and all red cell indices. The study revealed iron deficiency anaemia as the most prevalent (48.4%) type of anaemia found among the pregnant women. Most of the studied population perceived mosquito bites and dirty environment as cause of malaria infection. Several preventive measures were identified by the pregnant women but the most commonly mentioned were use of ITN, insecticide spray and coil. It is important to continue to educate the pregnant women and encourage them to always visit the Antenatal clinic

Source: KNUST
Changes in land use and land cover and cocoa production in relation to gold mining in the Amansie West district, Ghana

Artisanal and small-scale gold mining can greatly impact cocoa production by reducing land cover, labour force and the quantity of cocoa produced, yet these effects have been scarcely studied. This study examined the effects of land use/land cover change as a result of artisanal and small-scale gold mining on cocoa production from 1997 to 2016 in the Amansie West District, Ghana, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Google Earth, Landsat images and Geographical Information System (GIS) were used to estimate and map land use/land cover changes over the period. Purposive and double-staged cluster sampling methods were used to obtain information on the subject matter from three relevant institutions and 434 cocoa farmers, respectively, in the district. The t-test was used to evaluate the differences in cocoa production between the periods 1997 to 2006 and 2007 to 2016, whereas the Pearson correlation was used to assess the relationship between the farm size and cocoa harvested over the same period. Change matrices for the periods 1986 to 2007 and 2007 to 2016 were used to ascertain the extent to which artisanal gold mining had taken over cocoa land cover. Results indicated a significant decrease in cocoa production over the period 2007 to 2016 compared to the period 1997 to 2006. There was also a statistically significant positive correlation between the extent of farms size and cocoa produced over both. The extent of land cover of cocoa farms accounted for 10 % variance in cocoa production. Subsequently the maps showed that the land cover of cocoa increased by 13% from 1986 to 2007 while in 2016 there was a 1.8 % increase in land cover. Artisanal and small-scale gold mining on the other hand experienced an increase of 124% in land cover from 1986 to 2007, and again, a dramatic increase of 12442% increase in 2016. The change matrices for both 1986 to 2007 and 2007 to 2016 showed that land converted to artisanal mining sites were covered mostly by cocoa farms. These outcomes reflected a direct linkage between the extent of land use and land cover changes due to artisanal and small-scale gold mining and cocoa production which can be effectively addressed if the plight of the cocoa farmer is made the prime focus.

Source: KNUST
Characterisation and Treatment of Effluent Using A Treatment Filter

An emerging group of pollutants Known as pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) are present in effluents from pharmaceutical companies. Most pharmaceutical companies in Ghana release their effluents directly into nearby public drainage systems, without any form of treatment and this has dire public health concerns. However, energy consuming effluent treatments plants are financially unsustainable for small scale pharmaceutical companies so cost effective measures to manage effluents are required. This project investigated the potential of the biosand filter to treat pharmaceutical effluent as a cheaper alternative to conventional methods. Two filters were built and run according to standard design criteria. Removal of four common active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) i.e. ciprofloxacin hydrochloride, cefuroxime axetil, amoxicillin trihydrate and diclofenac sodium were monitored. The filters were fed pharmaceutical effluent dosed with 1g of each API. The results showed that the biosand filter was efficient in removing APIs from the effluent water. The average removal of ciprofloxacin hydrochloride, cefuroxime axetil, amoxicillin trihydrate and diclofenac sodium at the recommended flow rate were 93.32%, 91.05%, 89.33% and 92.42% respectively. The removal of the APIs by the biosand filters may have been achieved through a combination of mechanisms like settlement, sand straining and charcoal adsorption.

Source: KNUST
Characterisation and treatment of pharmaceutical effluent using a biosand filter

An emerging group of pollutants known as pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) are present in effluents from pharmaceutical companies. Most pharmaceutical companies in Ghana release their effluents directly into nearby public drainage systems, without any form of treatment and this has dire public health concerns. However, energy consuming effluent treatments plants are financially unsustainable for small scale pharmaceutical companies so cost effective measures to manage effluents are required. This project investigated the potential of the biosand filter to treat pharmaceutical effluent as a cheaper alternative to conventional methods. Two filters were built and run according to standard design criteria. Removal of four common active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) i.e. ciprofloxacin hydrochloride, cefuroxime axetil, amoxicillin trihydrate and diclofenac sodium were monitored. The filters were fed pharmaceutical effluent dosed with 1g of each API. The results showed that the biosand filter was efficient in removing APIs from the effluent water. The average removal of ciprofloxacin hydrochloride, cefuroxime axetil, amoxicillin trihydrate and diclofenac sodium at the recommended flow rate were 93.32%, 91.05%, 89.33% and 92.42% respectively. The removal of the APIs by the biosand filters may have been achieved through a combination of mechanisms like settlement, sand straining and charcoal adsorption.

Source: KNUST
Classification of tumours from breast cancer metastasized Sites using artificial neural network on somatic mutation data

The primary site of a given cancer and its histopathology are two major factors that predict a human cancers clinical behaviour. However due to metastasis, primary and secondary sites can't be distinguished in some instances even after a careful radiological examination. It becomes a great challenge to the effectiveness of the cancer treatment method used since some treatment methods like surgery are applied depending on the nature of the primary site for the cancer. If the primary site of a given cancer is identified correctly then treatment that works well for the cancer in question may be applied making the treatment method more effective. There has been an enormous increase in the amount of sequenced gene data due to the development in the sequencing technologies. However application of simple linear classifiers on the numerous data available is a major obstacle in improving classification performance. To address this challenge a cancer primary site classifier was developed by applying the Artificial Neural Network algorithm on somatic mutation data from the Catalogue of Somatic Mutations in Cancer (COSMIC). The classifier was able to classify cancer primary sites that are primarily invaded by breast cancer with an accuracy of 77.03%. The error involved in the classification was estimated using the negative logarithm function. Data collected for this study did not include tumours from brain and bones. It is therefore recommended that tumours from these sites should be included while collecting data for classification of primary sites of organs basically invaded by breast cancer.

Source: KNUST
Contribution of cocoa certification to environmental management and protection in the Amenfi west municipality, Ghana

The study examined cocoa certification in Amenfi West Municipality, its contribution to environmental management and protection. The study sought to determine the contribution of certification to environmental management and protection, levels of soil chemical properties (organic carbon, soil organic matter, soil pH, etc.) between systems of production, evaluated the perception of farmers on impact of voluntary standards and certification schemes on sustainability of cocoa production and verified the extent of management control plans on cocoa farms. The study obtained information from one hundred and fifty (150) respondents mainly through questionnaires. The results indicated that farmers of Utz and Rainforest Alliance were strongly convinced that voluntary certification had impacted on their production. It was realized that certified schemes help farmers get market for their produce, certification organizations give right prices or premium to cocoa produce. On management control plans adopted on cocoa farms, the study showed that certified farmers avoided the burning of bushes and forest in order to preserve organic life and save the forest. More so, Utz and RA certified farms had buffer zones between farms aquatic systems and areas of human activity from agrochemicals. The main aim is to protect contamination of water bodies. The results from conventional farms however showed that majority of them had no buffer zones. On agrochemical storage and the usage of protective gears for applying fertilizers and pesticides, the results showed that most certified farmers stored and kept agrochemicals in agro stores or temporal sheds compared to only a few conventional farmers who kept such chemicals in their kitchen and bedrooms. Among the recommendations made were that cocoa farmers employ resourced person to help explain such certification, its impacts and challenges to them before enrolling as there is more to these certified programmes than what cocoa farmers in the Amenfi West Municipality know. It was also recommended that training programmes on the use of agrochemicals and other harmful pesticides should be extended to non-certified farmers as they all fall or live within the same municipality and rely on each other. Training non certified farmers will go a long way to safeguard water bodies and other environmental issues.

Source: KNUST
Darko, Doris Obenewaa

Mortality rate is considered an important indicator of a geographic area's (country, state, county) quality of life or overall health status. However, there are fewer studies in the field of mortality rates in most developing countries like Ghana. This research set side by side mortality rate trend and estimations using data from Ghana Universities State Superannuation Scheme (GUSSS). The actuarial estimate of mortality was used in estimating the initial mortality rates. It was observed that initial mortality rates were generally increasing with fluctuations as the age of the member increased. Due to this, the smoothing spline graduation method was extensively employed in smoothing the trend of the mortality rates for use in pension plans. The mortality rates estimates for the members of GUSSS were obtained using the Smoothing Spline with tuning parameters h=0.05550275 and df=3.020395. The estimates of mortality rates were then used to compute the death liabilities of each members' age.

Source: KNUST
Dilemmas in model selection in time series analysis

This study seeks to resolve two important dilemmas in model selection in time series analysis. These are to compare the performance of the graphical and the information criterion methods in selecting the true model. In addition, Yu et al. (2005) relative precision performance stability was modi_ed. For the graphical and information criterion comparison, dataset from ARIMA models were simulated. Also the cocoa production and rainfall datasets in Ghana were used to validate the modified relative precision performance stability of Yu et al. (2005). It was observed from the study that, in comparison to the performance of the graphical method and the Akaike information criterion (AIC) in selecting the ARIMA models, the information criterion performs better than the graphical method. Also, in verifying for the size of the evaluation sets in forecasting, whether to select a single model or combine the models of di_erent models, our findings showed that the size of the evaluation sets may not influence the decision of selecting or combining since 97% of the decisions were to combine the models. In addition to that, though there was a modification on the computations of the relative prediction performance stability formerly utilized by [Yu et al., 2005], the decision rule still remains the same. Hence, whether the use of the mean or median on different the size of evaluation sets and interval, the combining strategy still outperforms.

Source: KNUST
Distribution and risk assessment of heavy metals in Peri-urban areas of Kumasi

The occurrence of heavy metals in urban soil is of great environmental concern due to the effects associated with excessive exposure. The main purpose of the work was to measure the levels and determine possible health risks due to excessive exposure to some selected metals. A total of 73 soil samples were collected from the top soil of Peri- Urban areas of Kumasi at a depth of 0-10 cm and subjected to the X - ray fluorescence spectroscopy analysis. Soil pH, conductivity and total organic content were also determined. pH and electrical conductivity were in a range of 6.5 - 8.5 and 153 S/cm - 8990 S/cm respectively for all samples. The mean concentrations of metals analyzed were Pb (18.60 0.53 mg/kg), Cu (20.20 2.34 mg/kg), Ni (29.33  2.0mg/kg), Cr (77.97 4.35 mg/kg), Zn (49.27 3.56 mg/kg), Fe (23031 10.56 mg/kg), Mn (158.688.56 mg/kg) ,V (78.215.34 mg/kg), Sn (8.834.85 mg/kg), Cd (12.9152 mg/kg) and As (10.112.93 mg/kg). The enrichment factor (0.2090.004), contamination factor (0.4830.003) and Pollution Load Index (0.0570.004) indicated that soil in the study area is not polluted. The Potential Ecological Risk Index projected low risk effect whereas Hazard Index and Carcinogenic Risk Index indicated no human health risk associated with exposure to these metals. Bioaccessibility of surface soil samples was estimated using the modified in vitro physiologically based extraction test (PBET), with the results indicating that the bioaccessibility of the metals were all below 100%. However, to regulate bioaccumulation effect, constant monitoring is required

Source: KNUST
Effect of drying on physicochemical properties and lycopene Content of different varieties of tomato

Tomato is one of the vegetables consumed worldwide due to its nutritional value and enormous health benefits. It is a good source of antioxidants such as beta-carotene and lycopene. Although lycopene is very beneficial to human health, it can only become bioavailable through processing. However, it can be degraded by light, oxygen and processing time. This study evaluated the lycopene content and the physicochemical properties of open-field and greenhouse dried tomatoes. Seven (7) varieties of tomatoes (“505, 520, 101, Prostar F1, Rano, Asante and Cocoa ABA”) were obtained in the red ripe stage and homogenized prior analysis. Varieties with high lycopene content were subjected to drying at 40oC using hot air oven. The lycopene content, proximate composition, physicochemical and antioxidant properties of the tomatoes were determined in the fresh state and dried state of the sample. The results for the lycopene content of the fresh samples showed a significant difference among all the varieties (p<0.05) with “Asante” showing the highest lycopene content (2.83±0.03mg/g). The results also showed a marked decrease in lycopene content for all varieties after drying. Moisture, ash and protein contents showed a reduction after drying, whereas there was an increase in the fat and crude fibre content. An increase in lightness and a decrease in redness was observed after drying. Total soluble solids content and pH were affected by drying whereby there was a reduction. Tomato samples showed a high percent DPPH scavenging ability both in its fresh state and also in its dry state. However, the total phenolic content of the dried sample showed a marked increase in two of the varieties as compared to the fresh sample. The study showed that the open-field variety had good nutritional quality and is able to retain some of its nutritional qualities even after thermal processing

Source: KNUST
Effect of religious orientation on supply chain performance: the roles of resource deployment capability and socio-cultural orientation

Religion is deemed to have a potency to influence personal conducts and the policies of business organisations. However, research on how religious orientation influences the performance of these organisations is limited. Additionally, the conditions under which religious orientation impacts business performance remain under-researched. The study, therefore, aimed to examine how and under what conditions religious orientation influences supply chain performance (SCP). To this end, the study investigates how the resource deployment capability (RDC) of the firm mediates the effect of religious orientation on supply chain performance under varying conditions of socio-cultural orientation. The study relies on the upper echelon and resource based theories to conceptualize religious orientation as a firm resource that may impact on the RDC of the firm to influence supply chain performance. The effect of religious orientation on performance is thus posited to be channeled through development of the firm’s RDC. The study also draws on Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimensions’ model to conceptualize socio-cultural orientation as a complementary firm resource that increases in its magnitude strengthens the effect of religious orientation via RDC on SCP. Using primary data from 233 owner-managers of MSMEs operating in Ghana, a sub-Saharan African society, the study finds that higher levels of religious orientation is associated with increases in supply chain performance. The study further finds that RDC mediates the relationship between religious orientation and SCP. The study also finds that variability in the levels of socio-cultural orientation dimensions moderates the effect of religious orientation on RDC as well as the effect of RDC on SCP. Specifically, the study finds that the relationship between religious orientation and RDC is strengthened when risk aversion is high and ambiguity intolerance is low. Also, the effect of RDC on SCP is weakened when individualism is high, but is strengthened when collectivism is high. Theoretically, this study contributes to existing knowledge by showing that the nexus between religious orientation and supply chain performance is a function of the mediating effect of RDC and the moderating effect of socio-cultural orientation. The managerial implication is that religious orientation is an important firm resource whose economic value is attained when it is developed to build a firm’s resource deployment capability under differing conditions of socio-cultural orientation.

Source: KNUST