ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Stakeholders’ perceptions of hospitality and tourism management internship at UCC

Internship is one of the most effective models of practical learning in Hospitality and Tourism Management (HTM) education. It has become necessary to ensure that graduates are equipped with appropriate practical skills. Furthermore, the combination of theory and practice is viewed as an essential component of a student’s HTM education. However, there is still much debate on the nature of training collaboration that exists among the stakeholders. This thesis investigates stakeholders’ perceptions of HTM internship. Data for the study were obtained through a survey for 121 final year HTM students from the University of Cape Coast and interview guide for 10 faculty members and employers in the industry. A census was conducted for the students; purposive sampling for faculty members and a multi-stage sampling technique was used for selecting employers. Generally, the study found that some form of training collaboration exists among stakeholders regarding placement, duration and assessment; however, this collaboration is somewhat weak and must be improved. The study also revealed that stakeholders generally have a positive perception about the HTM internship. Based on the findings, it was concluded that collaboration among stakeholders is somewhat weak and therefore a positive perception about the effectiveness of internship will be achieved when stakeholders strengthen the existing collaboration among them in order to train students during internship.

Source: UCC
Stakeholders’ perceptions of the main challenges facing Ghana’s mental health care system: a qualitative analysis

Mental health remains a low priority in Ghana. No comprehensive studies have assessed the current status of mental health policy, legislation and services in Ghana. This paper presents the qualitative results of a situation analysis conducted as part of the first phase of the Mental Health and Poverty Project. The aim of this paper was to explore what a range of stakeholders perceive as the main challenges facing Ghana’s mental health system and the primary ways of addressing them. A total of 81 interviews and seven focus groups were held with key stakeholders drawn from five of the 10 regions in Ghana. The major challenges identified included: inadequate implementation of mental health policy; legislative limbo; inadequate human and financial resource; widespread stigma; dominance of psychiatric hospitals; and insufficient human rights protections for the mentally ill. A range of policy, legislative and service-related recommendations were made for addressing the situation. The results revealed that mental health services in Ghana need to scaled-up to respond to unmet needs in ways that are cost-effective within the budget of a low-income country. Enacting the current mental health bill and identifying strategies for overcoming the barriers to policy implementation will mark significant steps forward

Source: UCC
Stakeholders’ perceptions of the re-introduction of in-school feeding at Ankaful Psychiatric Nursing Training College

The School Feeding Programme (SFP) has benefited pupils in the basic level of education worldwide. It served as safety nest to reduce hunger and reduce nutritional disorder. In the nursing training colleges in Ghana, SFP were adopted to ensure that trainee nurses are not unnecessarily hungry throughout the training period hence improve their cognitive functioning. However, after about 43 years into the programme, the Ankaful Psychiatric Nurses Training College (APNTC) suspended the school feeding programme. After about four years of suspension, the management is considering reintroducing the school feeding programme. This study examined the perception of stakeholders regarding the reintroduction of the school feeding at the APNTC. The study employed the descriptive survey design and drew samples from APNTC. Questionnaire was the main instrument used to gather data. The main findings of the study were that, students go through stress in cooking by themselves, students contract several ailments as a result of eating food outside the school and waste a lot of time on cooking. The study further revealed that reintroduction of school feeding will help reduce electricity bills as a result of the use of electrical appliance for cooking meals, school feeding will help improve on teaching and learning activities in the college. It was recommended that Management of the nursing training colleges should engage trainee nurses in the menu planning to enhance efficient implementation of the feeding programme and the policy makers should come out with a policy to standardize feeding in all nursing training colleges in the country, hence making school feeding formal and its usefulness to the trainee nurses clearly stated.

Source: UCC
Stakeholders’ preference and adoption of improved cowpea varieties in the Northern Region, Ghana

The main objective of this research was to examine Stakeholders’ preference and adoption of improved cowpea varieties in the Northern region of Ghana. A cross-sectional quantitative research design was used to collect data using a multistage, snowball, and convenience sampling techniques from farmers (n=415), marketers (n=60), and consumers (n=120) respectively. Content-validated questionnaires and structured interview schedules were used to collect the data. Descriptive statistics, chi-square test, Kruskal-Wallis H test, Kendall’s coefficient of concordance, correlation coefficients, and logistic regression were used to analysed the data. The study revealed that, farmers have mixed feelings on the overall perceived attributes of improved cowpea varieties. There was low level of participation of all stakeholders (farmers, consumers, and marketers) in the development and release of improved cowpea varieties with no significant difference in the development of improved cowpea varieties. Also, improved cowpea varieties were highly adopted by farmers. The logistic regression revealed four independents (years of experience in cowpea production, farm size, access to extension, and observability) as the best predictors of the adoption of improved cowpea varieties and contributed 28.0% to 39.0% of the variance in the adoption of improved cowpea varieties. Lack of credit facilities, high cost of seeds, lack of information, among others were some of challenges that militated against farmers in the adoption of improved cowpea varieties. The study recommended, among others, seed breeders and scientist should involve major stakeholders’ in future cowpea breeding process, and establishment of demonstrations plots by extension agents on these improved cowpea varieties

Source: UCC
Stakeholders’ satisfaction of the computerized school Selection and placement system in Ghana: The case of Mfantseman municipality

The study sought to investigate stakeholders’ satisfaction of the Computerized School Selection and Placement system (CSSPS), with regard to information quality, system quality, service quality, technological issues and IT self-efficacy, prior, during and after the opening of the system as against the manual way of selection and placement in the Mfantseman Municipal in the Central region of Ghana. A sample size of 526 respondents made up of 496 students, 23 basic school headteachers, four SHS assistant headmasters, one exams officer and two ICT coordinators was used for the study. Both the purposive and the simple random sampling were used. Questionnaire was employed as the research instrument to collect data for the study. A reliability test using the internal consistency method was carried out. The Cronbach alpha reliability statistics value of 0.93 and 0.86 were obtained for both students’ questionnaire and head teachers questionnaire respectively. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequencies, mean, standard deviations, variance) and the Pearson’s product-moment correlations. It was found that stakeholders perceived the selection and placement processes were easier and faster for both candidates and their parents as compared to the manual way. Also, stakeholders were satisfied that the less privileged candidates get placement without paying any amount of money to any of the SHS heads for admission. ICT self-efficacy and technological issues were good before the opening of the system but information quality was bad. During the opening of the system, information quality was good while service quality was not encouraging. The CSSPS Secretariat should upgrade their system so that when more people are accessing the site, the system would not slow down or freeze.

Source: UCC
Stakeholders’ view on propose privatization of electricity supply sector of Ghana on customers in the lower income bracket

A reliable supply of electricity is fundamental to a well-function economy. However, the increasing national demand for every energy in Ghana is far more than the supply resulting in load shedding of power. There are issues with underpricing, subsidizing, overstaffing, and inadequate maintenance of equipment especially with the distribution function by Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG). These problems are attributed to the natural monopoly of the company, hence, the call by the Ghanaian public and stakeholders for government to privatize ECG and solve the crisis “dumsor”. In principle the study examined the current electricity policies and also the needs to be addressed or modernize these policies in order to help accelerate economic growth if there is a need for private ownership, A random sampling method was used to gathering primary data, by administering semi –structured questionnaires to 440 voluntary participants. The key findings was analyzed using 5 point Likert scale model with a bench (BM) of 3.5. The result was used to either accept or reject a test hypothesis for the research questions. The test concluded that, majority of Ghanaians strongly agreed to the privatization of ECG to help improve service delivery, accessibility, pricing subsidies, and high network losses, new technologies and solution which will ensure effective maintenance of their network infrastructural development and service delivery. However, the research recommended that Government must be decisive whether to go for full privatization or Private participation when planning to privatize the electricity sector. ECG privatization requires holistically analysis with stakeholders” Involvement and define whether partial of full privatization is the best appropriate option.

Source: UCC
The stanine grading system used in the basic education certificate examination in Ghana: A critical assessment

The thesis sought to establish an understanding of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) grading system and thus deciphering the mechanisms through which candidates’ final grades are determined. The study objective was realised through semi-structured interviews with ten test experts from the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Ghana Education Service (GES), University of Cape Coast (UCC) and University of Education, (UE) Winneba. The recorded interviews were transcribed and analysed. The research revealed that, the stanine grading system used in grading BECE candidates is norm-referenced and one not suitable for both selection and certification. Secondly, an individual’s grade is determined not only by his/her achievements and efforts but also by achievements and efforts of his/her cohorts. This suggests that aggregate scores of candidates are not comparable between years and thus evaluating educational standards over time is impossible. It is therefore, recommended that Ghana joins the rest of the world by adopting a criterion-referenced system of grading at the basic level of her educational structure. It is further recommended that the Ministry of Education should define a National Minimum Standard (NMS) in the basic education system and incorporate same in the school curriculum.

Source: UCC
Stark-cyclotron resonance in an array of carbon nanotubes

Using the kinetic approach based on the semiclassical Boltzmanns transport equation with constant relaxation time, we theoretically studied the Stark cyclotron resonance in an array of carbon nanotubes. Exact expression for the current density was obtained. We noted that Stark-cyclotron resonance occurs when the Larmor frequency coincides with the Stark frequency

Source: UCC
A STAT6 Intronic Single-Nucleotide Polymorphism is Associated with Clinical Malaria in Ghanaian Children

ABSTRACT: Malaria pathogenesis may be influenced by IgE responses and cytokine cross-regulation. Several mutations in the IL-4/STAT6 signaling pathway can alter cytokine cross-regulation and IgE responses during a Plasmodium falciparum malarial infection. This study investigated the relationship between a STAT6 intronic single-nucleotide polymorphism (rs3024974), total IgE, cytokines, and malaria severity in 238 Ghanaian children aged between 0.5 and 13 years. Total IgE and cytokine levels were measured by ELISA, while genotyping was done by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). Compared with healthy controls, heterozygosity protected against clinical malaria: uncomplicated malaria (odds ratios [OR] = 0.13, P , 0.001), severe malarial anemia (OR = 0.18, P , 0.001), and cerebral malaria (OR = 0.39, P = 0.022). Levels of total IgE significantly differed among malaria phenotypes (P = 0.044) and rs3024974 genotypes (P = 0.037). Neither cytokine levels nor IL-6/IL-10 ratios were associated with malaria phenotypes or rs3024974 genotypes. This study suggests a role for rs3024974 in malaria pathogenesis and offers further insights into an IL-4/STAT6 pathway mutation in malaria pathogenesis.

Source: UCC
A STAT6 Intronic Single-Nucleotide Polymorphism is Associated with Clinical Malaria in Ghanaian Children

Malaria pathogenesis may be influenced by IgE responses and cytokine cross-regulation. Several mutations in the IL-4/STAT6 signaling pathway can alter cytokine cross-regulation and IgE responses during a Plasmodium falciparum malarial infection. This study investigated the relationship between a STAT6 intronic single-nucleotide polymorphism (rs3024974), total IgE, cytokines, and malaria severity in 238 Ghanaian children aged between 0.5 and 13 years. Total IgE and cytokine levels were measured by ELISA, while genotyping was done by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). Compared with healthy controls, heterozygosity protected against clinical malaria: uncomplicated malaria (odds ratios [OR] 0.13, P , 0.001), severe malarial anemia (OR 0.18, P , 0.001), and cerebral malaria (OR 0.39, P 0.022). Levels of total IgE significantly differed among malaria phenotypes (P 0.044) and rs3024974 genotypes (P 0.037). Neither cytokine levels nor IL-6/IL-10 ratios were associated with malaria phenotypes or rs3024974 genotypes. This study suggests a role for rs3024974 in malaria pathogenesis and offers further insights into an IL-4/STAT6 pathway mutation in malaria pathogenesis.

Source: UCC
State Of Biology Teaching In Public Senior High Schools In The Cape Coast Metropolis

ll1e purpose of this study was to tind out state of Biology teaching in public senior high schools in the Cape Coast Metropolis. The study sought insight into the difficulties both Biology teachers and students encounter in teaching and learning some Biology topics respectively, the teachers' specialised area of teaching and experience in the number of years of teaching, teaching methodologies employed, teaching and learning resources available, how Biology students are assessed and standard equipment in the classroom/laboratory: An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was used for the study. The purposive sampling technique was used to select 28 teachers teaching Biology and used a multistage sampling technique to select 281 senior high Biology school students from 6 schools. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistical methods and inferential statistics. Classroom observations and interviews were used to suppOtt and explain the findings from the quantitative data. It was found out that over one-half of the teachers and students perceived Kreb's cycle as a difficult Biology topic to teach and learn respectively. Again, teachers and students perceived the Life cycle of insects and Ecology as easy or very easy to teach and easy or very easy to learn. Teachers combined more than one teaching method/strategy to teach. Effective teaching and learning strategies may help students to overcome their learning difficulties. It was, therefore, recommended that teachers teaching biology must update their knowledge on difficult biology topics and find more effective teaching strategies to teach it.

Source: UCC
State of Garment production under Agoa in the free zone areas of Ghana

The general objective of the study was to look at the state of garment production under AGOA in the freezone areas of Ghana. The study was conducted using 116 workers from four garment producing industries in Accra and Tema. Questionnaires and interview schedules were developed and used to collect data from the sampled workers. Statistical techniques such as means and percentages were used to analyse the data collected. The industries are in a way benefiting from the AGOA objectives but not as was stated. There is a difference between current production capacity of the industries and actual production capacity of the Industries. The industries and workforce have major challenges such as lack of motivation, inadequate facilities and amenities, lack of finance, insufficient managerial ability. The following recommendations, among others, were made: 1. The production managers and quality control units in the industries in Ghana should organize workshops and training for workers of the industries to educate them on garment producing techniques, garment performance, good fishing practices etc using technical men in the area. 2. The Ghana Trades Union should monitor the industries and make sure the workers are duly paid for what they work for and on time.3. The Government should help the industries financially or help them assess loans or the US credit facilities that will enable them acquire modern equipments and pay their workers well. Also this will enable them run the industries swiftly

Source: UCC
The State of Pesticide Use Among Cocoa Farmers in Volta Region of Ghana

The main objective of this study was to assess knowledge, attitude and practices with respect to pesticide usage, alternative pest control methods and associated risks among cocoa farmers in the Volta region. A multi-stage sampling procedure which included purposive and simple random sampling was employed to choose a sample of 225 cocoa farmers. Mixed research design including field survey and experimental techniques (soil sampling) were employed in the study. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data for the study. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted on the data using IBM SPSS version 21, STATA version 13 (Stata Corp, College Station, TX, USA) software. The study revealed that majority of the farmers were knowledgeable of the names of pests and diseases, pesticides used (88.0 %) and their health effects on humans (94.0 %). The farmers demonstrated positive attitude towards pesticides use, however, this did not translate in to safe pesticide use practices. Out of the 225 farmers, only 56 representing 25.0 % were aware and practiced some form of alternative pests and diseases control methods. Cultural method was the most (79.0 %) practiced alternative pest control method in the study area. The Generalized Linear Model result showed that farmers’ knowledge of alternative pests control methods was influenced by agrochemical shops, degree of pest infestation and their community status. It was also discovered that the pesticides used posed risks to humans and the environment. Corn cob biochar was found more efficient for remediation of pesticide polluted soils in the study area. Famers should be trained and sensitized on regular bases on safe use of pesticides and alternative pests and diseases control methods.

Source: UCC
Statecraft, Chieftaincy and Local Government in Anlo State, 1560s to 1990s

This thesis traces the origins of the Awoame and Kaklaku stools and establishes their significance to the creation and consolidation of the Anlo State. It then reconstructs the socio-economic and political history of the state up to 1999 when the last descendant of the Bate royal clan, Togbi Adeladza II, ruled over Anlo. It highlights the fact that the lawlessness and moral decadence which characterised the formative years of the Anlo state were brought to an end with the enstoolment of Awoamefia, Togbi Sri I, whose wise counsels became the guiding principles for the indigenes of Anlo. The promulgation of capital punishment and banishment system (nyikoƒoƒo) by Awoamefia, Togbi Nditsi, also guided the people of Anlo on the path of moral uprightness. Using archival sources, other primary sources as well as secondary documents and oral interviews for information on the history of the Anlo state through qualitative method, the thesis argues that the successes achieved by the rulers of Anlo, particularly during the pre-colonial times were attributable to the legitimacy and authority they derived from the Awoame and Kaklaku stools. The advent of missionaries and later British colonial rule changed the course of the history of the administration of the Anlo state. These events served to promote the development of the state by virtue of the preparedness of the paramount chiefs of Anlo to collaborate with the missionaries and British colonial officials. The study contributes to the understanding of Anlo state under the umbrella of the Europeans – Danes and British – and its subsequent effects on the political, social and economic lives in Anlo. This study adds to the historical knowledge of students, traditional rulers, opinion leaders, historians, readers and the general public about the history of the Anlo state.

Source: UCC
Static versus dynamic model for estimating asymmetric price transmission in the Ghanaian maize market

A conventional approach to analysing asymmetric price transmission involves the use of the Houck’s static model. This paper compares this time invariant approach to a dynamic variant of the model. The static model is a standard regression type model where parameters are assumed fixed over time, whereas the more flexible dynamic Houck’s model allows parameters to vary over time. The flexibility of the dynamic modelling revealed the existence of price asymmetry in the Ghanaian maize market. This result was not supported by the Houck’s static model. The results suggest that within the price transmission modelling framework, static and dynamic variants of the same approach may lead to differences in conclusion

Source: UCC
Stating the research problem: A genre-based study of english language M.Phil. Theses in a Ghanaian Public University

Despite the numerous studies on such academic genres as the research abstract, introduction and literature review, the rhetorical section of the statement of the research problem has received little attention. To fill this gap, we examined the schematic structure and communicative purpose of the statement of the research problem section of Master of Philosophy in English Language theses at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. Data which were made up of twenty theses were collected randomly from the Department of English library. Based on Swales’s (1990) CARS model, the analysis of the data showed that the statement of the research problem section exhibited two core moves, and that students showed an appreciable knowledge of both the pedagogical and communicative importance of the rhetorical unit. These findings, thus, have implications for further research in genre studies and serves as useful material for instructors in teaching and in bringing to the notice of their students the generic importance of stating the research problem

Source: UCC