ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
A cis-regulatory sequence driving metabolic insecticide resistance in mosquitoes: functional characterisation and signatures of selection.

Although cytochrome P450 (CYP450) enzymes are frequently up-regulated in mosquitoes resistant to insecticides, no regulatory motifs driving these expression differences with relevance to wild populations have been identified. Transposable elements (TEs) are often enriched upstream of those CYP450s involved in insecticide resistance, leading to the assumption that they contribute regulatory motifs that directly underlie the resistance phenotype. A partial CuRE1 (Culex Repetitive Element 1) transposable element is found directly upstream of CYP9M10, a cytochrome P450 implicated previously in larval resistance to permethrin in the ISOP450 strain of Culex quinquefasciatus, but is absent from the equivalent genomic region of a susceptible strain. Via expression of CYP9M10 in Escherichia coli we have now demonstrated time- and NADPH-dependant permethrin metabolism, prerequisites for confirmation of a role in metabolic resistance, and through qPCR shown that CYP9M10 is >20-fold over-expressed in ISOP450 compared to a susceptible strain. In a fluorescent reporter assay the region upstream of CYP9M10 from ISOP450 drove 10× expression compared to the equivalent region (lacking CuRE1) from the susceptible strain. Close correspondence with the gene expression fold-change implicates the upstream region including CuRE1 as a cis-regulatory element involved in resistance. Only a single CuRE1 bearing allele, identical to the CuRE1 bearing allele in the resistant strain, is found throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, in contrast to the diversity encountered in non-CuRE1 alleles. This suggests a single origin and subsequent spread due to selective advantage. CuRE1 is detectable using a simple diagnostic. When applied to C. quinquefasciatus larvae from Ghana we have demonstrated a significant association with permethrin resistance in multiple field sites (mean Odds Ratio = 3.86) suggesting this marker has relevance to natural populations of vector mosquitoes. However, when CuRE1 was excised from the allele used in the reporter assay through fusion PCR, expression was unaffected, indicating that the TE has no direct role in resistance and hence that CuRE1 is acting only as a marker of an as yet unidentified regulatory motif in the association analysis. This suggests that a re-evaluation of the assumption that TEs contribute regulatory motifs involved in gene expression may be necessary.

Source: UG
Citation Analysis of Dissertations at the Department of Information Studies, University of Ghana, Legon.

A citation analysis of dissertations accepted by the Department of Information Studies at the University of Ghana, Legon, from 1998 to 2004, was performed with a view to ascertain patterns in the use of different types of information source formats such as books, journals, etc. A total of 67 dissertations generated 2,212 citations. Books and monographs were cited more than journals: 969 or 43.8% of the citations were books and monographs, followed by journal articles (550 or 24.9%), and unpublished materials (4 or 0.2%) being the least cited material. These findings corroborate the work of other authors in the social sciences. The study also found out that information technology and evaluation of service are emerging and most active research areas, whereas reading habits being was relatively an obsolescent and inactive research area.

Source: UG
Cities at risk? Exploring the synergies between smartphones and everyday vulnerabilities

Smartphones present new forms of spatiality and sociality for cities worldwide. The sudden outburst in smartphone technologies has revolutionised human relations creating new possibilities of encounter and connectivity. This paper examines people's smartphone usage patterns and highlights how this is increasing human vulnerabilities in cities with resultant wider societal implications. Drawing on the theory of vulnerability, Hofstede's cultural dimension theory and carrying out semi-structured interviews in the United Kingdom and Ghana, the paper reveals that the current scale of usage and addiction to smartphones and social media are fostering emerging forms of everyday vulnerabilities. Victimisation, privacy breach, home emergencies and road accidents are prevalent vulnerabilities in both Accra and London. By comparing participants' smartphone usage patterns and their motives for adopting or ignoring certain social media practices, the study illustrates how the concept of attitudinal vulnerability extends our understanding of Hofstede's theory of collectivism and individualism. While the finding from Accra complicates Hofstede's collectivism label as there seems to be a loss of genuine sense of care and people-centeredness among participants it confirms individualism tendencies among the participants in London though some tendencies of ‘virtual collectivism’ were observed. In conclusion, the study emphasises how significant behavioural changes among smartphone users can reduce human-induced vulnerabilities in cities. By so doing, we add weight to the literature that focuses on the importance of developing context-specific cutting-edge ICT policies vis-à-vis building smart, safe and sustainable cities.

Source: UG
Citizenship, Indigeneity, and the Experiences of 1.5- and Second-Generation Fulani Herders in Ghana

Issues of indigeneity and citizenship rights for second-generation pastoralist migrants across the West African States have received little to no attention in migration and pastoralist studies. This article explores this under-researched area in the field of mi gration studies and revisits the highly contested migration–citizenship nexus among Fulani herders in the Shai-Osu-Doku and Agogo traditional areas of Ghana. The article captures the crises of citizenship facing descendants of Fulani herders and families, par ticularly in relation to their integration into local host communities. I argue that second generation migrants remain at the margins, spatially and socio-politically defined, of both development and society. While they do not have any ties with their ancestral “home countries,” they are also considered non-citizens and face growing hostility in the places they call home. Being a citizen is not simply a static legal position, but a status developed through routine practices, building relations, and shared experiences.

Source: UG
Citizenship, Belonging and Crisis-Induced Returns of Ghanaian Migrants from Côte d’Ivoire

The socio-economic embeddedness of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) foreign nationals and migrants in Côte d’Ivoire has been amply described. Despite previous episodes of political violence and the somewhat recent anti-immigrant policies, Côte d’Ivoire has served and will continue to serve as a haven for foreign-born populations of ECOWAS nationals and Ivorian-born descendants of foreigners. This paper draws on the notion of citizenship and belonging, and qualitative data gathered through interviews to explore the experiences of returned Ghanaian migrants who were victimized and trapped in a conflict situation in Côte d’Ivoire in 2002–2003 and 2010–2011. All interviews were transcribed fully, and the reflexive thematic coding and analysis technique was employed to analyze the qualitative data. The findings show that despite playing a passive role as perpetrators of the violence, Ghanaian migrants experienced harassment, intimidation and physical attacks, which in turn contributed to traumatic feelings beyond the crisis period. While the notion of citizenship and belonging facilitated migrants’ easy entry to Ghana upon return, they had to navigate multiple challenges, including hostile attitudes of militants, rebels and vigilante groups at border checkpoints, extortion of cash and other material possessions. Re-integration and resettlement were further exacerbated due to their experiences. These findings have important implications for emergency responses to situations of migrants being caught up in crisis.

Source: UG
Citrus Extract Found Potent in the Control of Seed-Borne Fungal Pathogens of Pearl Millet—A Recommendation for Farmers’ Seed Saving Systems

Seed saving is crucial to ensure seed and food security, especially in developing countries. In Ghana, about 90% of pearl millet farmers utilise farmer-saved seed for production. Such seeds usually have a low germination rate, and may carry important seed-borne pathogens. In this study, the quality of farmer-saved seeds and the potential of botanicals to control seed-borne fungi were examined. A structured questionnaire was administered to 120 farmers from Garu, Bongo and Kassana-Nankana districts in Ghana. During the survey, 60 samples of farmer-saved seed were obtained for seed quality evaluation. Aqueous extracts of neem (Azadirachta indica) and citrus (Citrus sinensis) were prepared as seed treatments compared with a control. Fourteen (14) fungal species were associated with the seed samples, but the four dominant ones were Curvularia spp. (62%), Talaromyces spp. (53%), Aspergillus spp. (52%) and Exserohilum spp. (42%). The application of citrus extract inhibited fungal incidence (15–31.7%) compared to neem extract (33.3–93.3%) and the control (96.7–98.3%). The application of citrus extract resulted in a higher (74.7–82.8%) field germination rate compared to neem extract (62.3–73.2%) and the control (65.5–69.2%). The citrus extract was the most efficient treatment in reducing the incidence of fungi and enhancing the seed germination and vigour of pearl millet.

Source: UG
City attractions: Enhancing assets adaptation strategies of the urban poor in Accra and Tamale in Ghana

Populations in African cities are growing rapidly which poses challenges for the urban poor whose assets are poor and require enhancement. Improving the assets adaptation strate gies of the urban poor will boost the attractions in the city. However, ways to enhance the assets adaptation strategies of the urban poor have received less attention in the literature. This study employed mixed methods to investigate the phe nomenon and found that enhancing assets adaptation strate gies for the poor should be linked to the type of vulnerability experienced. The study further found that ways to enhance financial assets include (creating sustainable jobs), physical assets (provision of water storage facilities), human assets (edu cation and skills), social assets (improving the extended family system, providing social support), and natural assets (increasing ccess to water). These findings enable policymakers to strate gize and enhance assets adaptation strategies for the urban poor.

Source: UG
City profile: Tamale, Ghana.

Tamale is the capital of the Northern Region of Ghana. It emerged as a growth point for northern Ghana upon in-dependence in 1957, and has since become the third largest urban centre in the country. The city has the secondhighest annual population growth rates after Kumasi Metropolitan Area. In this paper, we profile Tamale regard-ing its social, economic and spatial growth dynamics, transformation and governance as well as highlight the im-plications of the city's growth trajectories for its sustainable futures.

Source: UG
Civic engagement and participation among Ghanaian and Kenyan students and their correlates

This article examines levels of civic engagement among university students in Ghana and Kenya and identifies factors that may account for their civic engagement. Overall, the students reported low civic engagement, with the Kenyans reporting higher engagement. Demographic factors (gender and age) and personal values hardly contributed to the students’ civic engagement. Political interest and attentiveness, barriers and motivation towards participation made a consistent and significant contribution to political participation and future participation. Furthermore, trust, social endorsement and social efficacy showed a consistent and significant contribution to civic engagement. The findings underscore the need to work towards getting the youth more engaged.

Source: UG
Civic Engagement in Public Policy Making: Fad or Reality in Ghana?

Ghana's 55 years of nationhood have largely been lived under successions of undemocratic rule. There is the perception that the undemocratic governments, among others, excluded Ghanaians from the public policy-making process. However, many now believe the reintroduction of constitutional rule since 1993 has democratized policy decision making in ways that have engaged civil society actors via consultation and open public participation. The analysis of two cases (Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy I and Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy II) enables this study to determine if this perception is correct. I conclude that although a gradual shift to participatory decision making has occurred and improved policy processes and outcomes, it is bedeviled by several structural challenges that place premium on elite preferences to the neglect of those of unorganized and marginalized rural folk. This finding leaves important question marks surrounding some of the fundamental principles of the good governance mantra. © The Policy Studies Organization.

Source: UG
Civil Society and Governance

This chapter reviews and analyzes the contributions of Ghanaian civil society to democratic development since the inception of the Fourth Republic in 1993. The central argument is that the space for civil society has been slowly but steadily expanding, that it plays an important role in the promotion of good governance, and that its growth and relevance can partially be attributed to civil society itself. Further contributions of civil society to democracy in Ghana, however, are constrained by several factors; environmental, cultural, political, economic, as well as ones that have to do with its current nature. Three key questions are addressed; first, how has civil society changed in Ghana? Second, what role has it played in fostering good governance? And third, what are some obstacles that prevent civil society from making a more significant contribution to democracy in the country?

Source: UG
Civilisations of Antiquity

This book draws attention to two important but often ignored facts about pre-industrial antiquity. The first is that certain lifestyles and life-conditions in antiquity, along with their corresponding attitudes, motivations, dispositions, and practices do promote our physical and social-psychological well-being much more efficiently than certain modern lifestyles and life-conditions. The second is that the increasingly globalised standards of excellence in the artistic, scientific and technological enterprise have had a long gestation and are the common heritage of mankind: they date back several thousand years and are the culmination of various creative and imaginative efforts by innumerable, often anonymous, individuals from several cultures of antiquity, including African, Arabic, Chinese, Graeco-Roman, Indian, Mesoamerican, and Mesopotamian cultures. These two facts must interest all those who seek to understand how the past has shaped the present and can guide us towards the future.

Source: UG
The claims of the missionary work in West Africa and the importance of training a native ministry

The ordination, on the 10th of November, 1841, of Samuel symbols, Thomas Raston, Samuel Annear, William allen , Robert Lyon, and .john Brown, Excited unusual interest, partly because it ,was the First service of the kind held in the Great Room in The century -hall, which is registered according to Act of Parliament for religious worship, but more Especially from the circumstance, that the first four Were appointed(l to fill vacant Stations in Western Africa from whence intelligence had been only Recently received of painful afflictions and bereavement Which the Gold-Coast mission had experienced. After the six candidates had been solemnly set apart By the imposition of hands to the ,work and office of The Christian ministry, they received an impressive Charge from the rev. Thomas Jackson, on the General duties which they were placed under obligation to perform The following remarks especially addressed by the mission secretary , to the four whose names first on the list.

Source: UG
A Classical LTE Cellular System Simulator for Computer Network Education

The proposal of LTE in the standardization of cellular network systems has received considerable attention in the research domain, and most subscribers widely use it. Despite the enormous acceptance of the system, academia as an industry is usually disadvantaged in training students due to the cost implication in setting up a prototype. In bridging this gap, simulators are traditionally developed as a testbed to aid students appreciate how these systems work. Although there are several simulators available on the market, these simulators are quite expensive to acquire while others come with license restrictions. In this study, a classical LTE cellular system simulator is proposed as a testbed to aid the education of computer networks at college. The proposed simulator is an extension of the functionality of LTE-Sim frameworks. Usability testing of the proposed study reveals that the system is much easier to simulate the various scenarios in wireless communication.

Source: UG
Classical r-matrices via semidualisation

We study the interplay between double cross sum decompositions of a given Lie algebra and classical r-matrices for its semidual. For a class of Lie algebras which can be obtained by a process of generalised complexification we derive an expression for classical r-matrices of the semidual Lie bialgebra in terms of the data which determines the decomposition of the original Lie algebra. Applied to the local isometry Lie algebras arising in three-dimensional gravity, decomposition, and semidualisation yields the main class of non-trivial r-matrices for the Euclidean and Poincaré group in three dimensions. In addition, the construction links the r-matrices with the Bianchi classification of three-dimensional real Lie algebras. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.

Source: UG
Classification of elite cassava varieties (Manihot esculenta Crantz) cultivated in Benin Republic using farmers’ knowledge, morphological traits and simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is an important food security crop or resource for poor rural communities particularly in Africa. The crop’s ability to produce high yields even under poor conditions and storability of its roots underground for longer periods or until needed makes it a model ‘food security crop’. In Benin Republic, cassava has been recognized as one of the major crop contributing towards dynamic value chains generating incomes for small-holder farmers. The crop is grown all over the country, however, the increased production are mainly recorded from far south and central parts of the country. Genetic improvement of cassava in Benin Republic is limited because of poor knowledge of genetic diversity present within the country. The main objective of this study was to assess the genetic diversity and relationships among elite cassava varieties collected from different regions of Benin using fluorescently labelled simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers and to compare the results with farmer’s knowledge and morphological traits. A total of 96 cultivars collected from major cassava growing areas such as Southern and Central Benin were classified into 24 different groups using farmers’ knowledge, while classification based on 18 morphological traits resulted in five groups. In total, sixteen SSR markers were tested for molecular analysis of the ninety-six cassava varieties. Among the sixteen, twelve SSR markers gave good banding pattern and were used to genotype the varieties. An average of 3.58 and 0.47 for number of alleles and polymorphism information content respectively was observed. The observed heterozygosity (Ho) ranged from 0.23 to 1.0 with an average of 0.66 indicating moderate level of diversity among the cultivars. Based on the proportion of shared alleles and hierarchical clustering, the 96 elite cassava varieties were classified as 74 unique varieties. Principal component analysis and analysis of molecular variance revealed no significant variation between the regions thus, explaining regular exchange of planting materials among cassava farmers across various regions. The moderate level of genetic diversity in famer’s field, revealed in the present study, is a good indication of the need for broadening the genetic base of cassava in Benin Republic and establishing a formal breeding program in the country.

Source: UG
Classroom engagement dynamics: examining the potency of reflective teaching approach among some selected universities in Ghana

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of the use of reflective teaching approach by university lecturers in Ghana to achieve improved student learning outcomes. The research utilised a quantitative survey design involving 180 lecturers who were accidentally or haphazardly selected from four universities in Ghana to complete a reflective teaching survey (RTS) questionnaire. The results showed that participants frequently engaged in varied reflective teaching activities, and were successful in evaluating the effectiveness of their pedagogies. The research concluded that the approach should be an essential component of the teacher performance appraisal system.

Source: UG
Clausal Conjunction in Akan

The focus of this paper is the clausal coordinating connective nà in Akan, roughly corresponding to English and. Nà makes a conjunction of sentences optimally relevant when it has cognitive effects over and above the cognitive effects due to each of its conjuncts taken individually. Specifically the use of nà tells the interlocutor to look out for certain kinds of inferential relations between the conjuncts. These inferential relations, which become crucial in aiding the interlocutor to arrive at the intended interpretation of the utterance as a whole, could be temporal, causal, parallel, contrastive, and also the second conjunct can be interpreted as an explanatory comment on the information represented in the first conjunct. This paper is an attempt to account for what is semantically encoded as the meaning of nà. More significantly, it explores the pragmatics that influences the specific inferential relations between conjuncts. Specifically it examines the ways in which the logical form of an Akan conjunction of sentences is likely to be strengthened through context-dependent inference.

Source: UG