ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Measuring the Affordability of Nutritious Diets in Africa: Price Indexes for Diet Diversity and the Cost of Nutrient Adequacy

Policies and programs often aim to improve the affordability of nutritious diets, but existing food price indexes are based on observed quantities that may not meet nutritional goals. To measure changes in the cost of reaching international standards of diet quality, we introduce a new cost of diet diversity index based on the lowest-cost way to include at least five different food groups as defined by the widely used minimum dietary diversity for women (MDD-W) indicator and compare that to a Cost of Nutrient Adequacy indicator for the lowest-cost way to meet estimated average requirements of essential nutrients and dietary energy. We demonstrate application of both indexes using national average monthly prices from two very different sources: an agricultural market information system in Ghana (2009–14) and the data used for national consumer price indexes in Tanzania (2011–15). We find that the cost of diet diversity index for Ghana fluctuated seasonally and since mid-2010 rose about 10% per year faster than national inflation, due to rising relative prices for fruit, which also drove up the cost of nutrient adequacy. In Tanzania there were much smaller changes in total daily costs, but more adjustment in the mix of food groups used for the least-cost diet. These methods can show where and when nutritious diets are increasingly (un)affordable, and which nutritional criteria account for the change. These results are based on monthly national average prices, but the method is generalizable to other contexts for monitoring, evaluation, and assessment of changing food environments.

Source: UG
Measuring the extent of Gender Segregation in the Labour Market: Evidence from Ghana

This paper makes an attempt to investigate the extent of gender segregation in the Ghanaian labour market using widely used indexes. An assessment of gender differences in the labour market points to a relatively high, but rapidly declining female labour force participation and employment rates in the 1990s as per the GLSS 3&4. The 2000 population census however, puts the employment and participation rate of women marginally below their male counterpart. The market is found to be characterised by higher and increasing unemployment and underemployment rates among women than men and declining female-male earning ratio on account of the concentration of females in low rewarded and less prestigious jobs. A measure of gender segregation however reveals a generally low segregation in the Ghanaian labour market based on distribution of employment by sector, type of employment, occupation and industry. The study nevertheless finds the index as an increasing function of the number of disaggregated groups in the labour force distribution and that the degree of segregation depends on the type of index.

Source: UG
Measuring the Gender Asset Gap in Ghana

1. Gender equality matters not only for growth, but also for the well-being of women, children and men. Data abounds on gender gaps in employment, education, health and politics. However, very little data exists on the ownership of assets by women and men because most large-scale household surveys do not collect this. Based on data collected during the Ghana Household Asset Survey conducted in 2010, estimates are provided on the gender asset and wealth gaps for a wide array of assets. Most assets in Ghana, with the exception of businesses and jewellery, are owned by men. The incidence of joint ownership of assets is observed to be low. About 30% of the gross physical wealth of households in Ghana is owned by females. The study also identified marital and inheritance regimes as critical factors explaining women’s ownership of assets.

Source: UG
Measuring the role of forest income in mitigating poverty and inequality: Evidence from south-eastern Nigeria

Income derived from forest extraction occupies a significant proportion of total household income for many forest communities in sub-Saharan African. However, there is a dearth of empirical evidence in general on the distributional implications of forest income on poverty and inequality. In addition, there is a gap in our knowledge on the factors underlying households' participation in forest extraction activities as well as income derived from forest extraction. We use data from a survey of 1457 households from nine local government areas (LGAs) in the Cross River State in south-eastern Nigeria. Results from poverty and inequality decomposition experiments suggest that forest income plays a significant role in mitigating poverty and inequality in the region with varying impacts across the LGAs. Furthermore, results from a Tobit model with sample selection on the determinants of forest income indicate that the age, education and sex of household heads, alternative household income sources, household size, membership in forest management institutions, household poverty status and distance from homestead to the forest have statistically significant impacts on both the probability to participate in forest extraction and the amount derived from forest gathering. Possibly policy implications of the findings are extensively discussed. © 2013 Taylor & Francis.

Source: UG
“Measuring” the Erosion of Academic Freedom as an International Human Right: A Report on the Legal Protection of Academic Freedom in Europe

This Article reports and comments on the results of an assessment of the legal protection of the right to academic freedom (an examination of its factual protection to be undertaken at a future point) in EU member states, having examined these countries’ constitutions, laws on higher education, and other relevant legislation. The assessment relied on a standard scorecard, developed by utilizing indicators of protection of academic freedom, notably as reflected in UNESCO’s Recommendation concerning the Status of HigherEducation Teaching Personnel, a document of 1997 that is not legally, but “politically” binding, and which concretizes international human rights requirements in respect of academic freedom—a right under international human rights law. The results for the various countries have been quantified, and the countries have been ranked in accordance with “their performance.” Overall, the state of the legal protection of the right to academic freedom in Europe appears to be one of “illhealth.” Increasingly, European countries are merely paying lip service to this important right. While the concept of institutional autonomy is being misconstrued, self-governance in higher education institutions and employment security are being subjected to rigorous processes of erosion.

Source: UG
Mechanical and Bioactivity Assessment of Wollastonite/PVA Composite Synthesized from Bentonite Clay

Glass/polymer composites can mimic the natural structure of bone by possessing a fibre-matrix configuration which provides appropriate physical and biological properties. Wollastonite ceramics are known for their promising bioactivity and biocompatibility when applied in bone regeneration. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) has various attractive properties including biocompatibility and degradability which may be exploited as a polymer matrix in composites for biomedical applications. Therefore, a cost–effective method of preparing wollastonite/PVA composites is desirable by starting from bentonite clay as silica source for the glass, instead of traditional alkoxysilanes. Results obtained revealed for the composite a compressive strength of 0.3 MPa, the ability to induce apatite on its surface when immersed in simulated body fluid (SBF) for 7 days, and exhibited desirable controlled degradation. Оur method can be up-scaled for preparation of wollastonite/PVA composite commercially for possible use in bone regeneration.

Source: UG
Mechanical and hyperthermic properties of magnetic nanocomposites for biomedical applications.

An understanding of the properties of multifunctional materials is important for the design of devices for biomedical applications. In this paper, a combination of experiments and models was used to study the mechanical and hyperthermic properties of magnetic nanoparticles (MNP)-filled PDMS composites for biomedical applications. These are studied as a function of the weight of MNP, γ-Fe2O3. The results showed the effects on mechanical behavior, and specific losses in a magnetic field. The measured Young's moduli are in good agreement with the moduli predicted from the Bergström-Boybce model. Specific losses calculated from magnetic measurements are used to predict the thermal dose under in-vivo conditions. The implications of the results were discussed for potential applications in biomedical devices.

Source: UG
Mechanical and Structural Characterization of Pineapple Leaf Fiber

Evidence-based research had shown that elevated alkali treatment of pineapple leaf fiber (PALF) compromised the mechanical properties of the fiber. In this work, PALF was subjected to differential alkali concentrations: 1, 3, 6, and 9% wt/wt to study the influence on the mechanical and crystal properties of the fiber. The crystalline and mechanical properties of untreated and alkalitreated PALF samples were investigated by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and tensile testing analysis. The XRD results indicated that crystal properties of the fibers were modified with 6% wt/wt alkali-treated PALF recording the highest crystallinity and crystallite size of 76% and 24 nm, respectively. The FTIR spectra suggested that all alkali-treated PALF samples underwent lignin and hemicellulose removal to varying degrees. An increase in the crystalline properties improved the mechanical properties of the PALF treated with alkali at 6% wt/wt, which has the highest tensile strength (1620 MPa). Although the elevated alkali treatment resulted in decreased mechanical properties of PALF, crystallinity generally increased. The findings revealed that the mechanical properties of PALF not only improve with increasing crystallinity and crystallite size, but are also dependent on the intermediate bond between adjacent cellulose chains.

Source: UG
Mechanical Properties of Epoxy/Clay Composite Coatings on an X65 Steel Substrate

This paper presents the results of a combined experimental and theoretical study of the interfacial and mechanical properties of epoxy/clay composites coatings on a mild steel substrate. This was studied using nano-indentation and Brazil Disk techniques to determine the Young’s moduli, hardness values and mode mixity characteristics of the composite coatings. The Young’s moduli of the rein forced composites comprising 1, 3, and 5 wt. % of montmorillonite clay particles are shown to improve, respectively, by about 23%, 58%, and 50% while the respective hardness values increased by about 46%, 80%, and 88%, relative to those of pristine epoxy. The measured mechanical properties have also shown to compare favorably with predictions from composite theories (rule-of-mixture and shear lag theories). The interfacial toughness between X65 steel and the epoxy/clay coatings increases with increasing mode mixity. This is associated with crack-tip shielding by crack deflection and crack bridging. The trends in the measured mode-mixity dependence of the interfacial fracture toughness values are consistent with predictions from the simplified zone, normal zone, and row models (at lower mode mixity). The insights from the observations and the measured crack profiles are incorporated into zone and row models for the estimation of crack-tip shielding. The implications of the results are discussed for the design of epoxy/clay composites with attractive combinations of mechanical properties.

Source: UG
Mechanical properties of natural hydroxyapatite using low cold compaction pressure: Effect of sintering temperature

This study describes the effect of sintering temperature on the microstructural, calcium/phosphorus (Ca/P) ion ratios and mechanical properties of non-separated biowastes processed hydroxyapatite (HAp) prepared through a low cold compaction protocol. The HAp was produced by a sintering temperature of 900 °C. Furthermore, HAp sintered at 900 °C was subjected to sintering temperatures of 1000 and 1100 °C.The structural and morphological evolution of the fabricated biomaterials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with electron dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) respectively. Uniaxial compaction using a pressure of 500 pa was used to produce rectangular shaped pellets to investigate the influence of sintering temperature on the mechanical properties of the produced pellets. From XRD analysis, it was found that hydroxyapatite derived from the biowastes showed good thermal stability and did not exhibit phase instability with traces of other calcium phosphates. The SEM micrographs showed microporous structure of the biomaterials and an increase in temperature reduced the porosity and enhanced the mechanical properties. It was also noticed that the trend of transformation of the average shape of pores was from strongly flattened to round at higher sintering temperatures. Electron dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) revealed that the atomic Ca/P ratios of the as-sintered HAp specimens ranged from 1.58 to 1.79 for sintering temperatures of 900–1100 °C. The synthesized hydroxyapatite powder showed inclusion of the fluorapatite phase at sintering temperature of 1000 °C with a reduction in the crystallite size. For both scenarios (sintering temperature and compaction pressure), a consistent trend in mechanical properties (microhardness, fracture toughness and Young's modulus) is noticed at every point of measurement except for compressive strength. The reduction in compressive strength when compaction pressure was applied could be as a result of the stress induced in the HAp powders during compaction which may have made it more susceptible to cracks. The hardness value obtained for the synthesized hydroxyapatite pellets is in the range of that of actual human femoral cortical bone.

Source: UG
Mechanical vibration monitoring system for electrocardiogram machine based on Hilbert-Huang transformations

The monitoring of health and the technologies that are related to it are an exciting area of research. The paper proposes a mechanical manufacturing vibration monitoring system that is based on Hilbert-Huang transformation (HHT) feature extraction to monitor the running state of the spindle of a mechanical numerical control (NC) machine tool of an electrocardiogram (ECG) machine. Real-time monitoring of the time–frequency characteristic quantity of the spindle vibration signal for ECG signals has been made possible due to the online empirical mode decomposition (EMD) method, which is used to obtain the time–frequency characteristic quantity of the spindle vibration signal based on HHT. The experiment shows that the frequency doubling characteristic components in the time– frequency distribution are obvious in the time interval without copper rod contact, but they disappear in the time interval during which copper rods are in contact (0.3 1.1 s, 3 4s in the figure). It has been demonstrated that the system is capable of not only accurately monitoring the characteristic quantity in the frequency domain of the vibration signal produced by the NC machine tool spindle, but also of successfully implementing the monitoring of the time–frequency characteristic quantity in real time.

Source: UG
Mechanism of orthophosphate (PO4-P) adsorption onto different biochars

The adsorption mechanisms of phosphate (PO4-P) onto cocoa pod husk (CP), corn cob (CC), rice husk (RH) and palm kernel shell (PK) biochar pyrolyzed at 300 ◦C and 650 ◦C were investigated. A series of batch experiments were undertaken to assess the effects of contact time and pH. Results show that PO4-P adsorption equilibria for the biochar types was within 6–15 h, being rapid in the 300 ◦C-biochar types. The equilibrium pH for maximum PO4-P adsorption varied among biochar types, ranging from of 2.6 to 4.8 and increasing with decreasing PO4-P adsorption. Pseudo-secondorder and Elovich models explained the adsorption data well indicating a chemisorption process on heterogeneous biochar surface. PO4-P adsorption was controlled initially by intraparticle diffusion and subsequently by chemisorption. Per the properties of the biochars (FTIR and elemental composition) and pH (equilibrium pH and ΔpH), PO4–P was adsorbed through electrostatic attraction, surface precipitation and ligand exchange, and the relative importance of these processes differed among the biochar types. Biochar types (PK300, PK650, CP300, CP650, RH650 and CC650) that adsorbed PO4-P through surface precipitation and ligand exchange reactions can be used to remove PO4-P from wastewater since PO4-P is strongly adsorbed, controlling PO4-P enrichment of water bodies.

Source: UG
Mechanism of pyrimethamine resistance in recent isolates of plasmodium falciparum

Clones of Plasmodium falciparum prepared from recent isolates of infected blood were studied to determine the molecular mechanism of naturally occurring pyrimethamine resistance. Total DNA, as well as thymidylate synthetase and dihydrofolate reductase activities, were characterized from these lines. Restriction analysis of DNA from pyrimethamine-susceptible and -resistant lines of the parasite showed no obvious amplification of any DNA fragment. Further, analysis of DNA from resistant and susceptible lines by centrifugation in cesium chloride-ethidium bromide revealed no extrachromosomal amplification in the resistant line. Comparison of the dihydrofolate reductase enzyme activity in the two lines revealed similar K(m)s for substrate but a large difference in the inhibition constant for pyrimethamine. Additionally, the enzyme from the resistant line was considerably more stable in vitro than the corresponding enzyme from the susceptible line. The thymidylate synthetase activity in the two lines was similar and unaffected by pyrimethamine. The mechanism of drug resistance in this isolate involves altered properties of the dihydrofolate reductase conferring both a different affinity for the drug and increased stability.

Source: UG
Mechanisms and modelling approaches for excessive rainfall stress on cereals: Waterlogging, submergence, lodging, pests and diseases

As the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events are projected to increase under climate change, assessing their impact on cropping systems and exploring feasible adaptation options is increasingly critical. Process-based crop models (PBCMs), which are widely used in climate change impact assessments, have improved in simulating the impacts of major extreme weather events such as heatwaves and droughts but still fail to reproduce low crop yields under wet conditions. Here, we provide an overview of yield-loss mechanisms of excessive rainfall in cereals (i.e., waterlogging, submergence, lodging, pests and diseases) and associated modelling approaches with the aim of guiding PBCM improvements. Some PBCMs simulate waterlogging and ponding environments, but few capture aeration stresses on crop growth. Lodging is often neglected by PBCMs; however, some stand-alone mechanistic lodging models exist, which can potentially be incorporated into PBCMs. Some frameworks link process-based epidemic and crop models with consideration of different damage mech anisms. However, the lack of data to calibrate and evaluate these model functions limit the use of such frame works. In order to generate data for model improvement and close knowledge gaps, targeted experiments on damage mechanisms of waterlogging, submergence, pests and diseases are required. However, consideration of all damage mechanisms in PBCM may result in excessively complex models with a large number of parameters, increasing model uncertainty. Modular frameworks could assist in selecting necessary mechanisms and lead to appropriate model structures and complexity that fit a specific research question. Lastly, there are potential synergies between PBCMs, statistical models, and remotely sensed data that could improve the prediction ac curacy and understanding of current PBCMs’ shortcoming

Source: UG
Mechanisms of erythropoiesis inhibition by malarial pigment and malaria-induced proinflammatory mediators in an in vitro model

One of the commonest complications of Plasmodium falciparum malaria is the development of severe malarial anemia (SMA), which is, at least in part, due to malaria-induced suppression of erythropoiesis. Factors associated with suppression of erythropoiesis and development of SMA include accumulation of malarial pigment (hemozoin, PfHz) in bone marrow and altered production of inflammatory mediators, such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and nitric oxide (NO). However, studies investigating the specific mechanisms responsible for inhibition of red blood cell development have been hampered by difficulties in obtaining bone marrow aspirates from infants and young children, and the lack of reliable models for examining erythroid development. As such, an in vitro model of erythropoiesis was developed using CD34+ stem cells derived from peripheral blood to examine the effects of PfHz, PfHz-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC)-conditioned media (CM-PfHz), TNF-α, and NO on erythroid cell development. PfHz only slightly suppressed erythroid cell proliferation and maturation marked by decreased expression of glycophorin A (GPA). On the other hand, CM-PfHz, TNF-α, and NO significantly inhibited erythroid cell proliferation. Furthermore, decreased proliferation in cells treated with CM-PfHz and NO was accompanied by increased apoptosis of erythropoietin-stimulated CD34+ cells. In addition, NO significantly inhibited erythroid cell maturation, whereas TNF-α did not appear to be detrimental to maturation. Collectively, our results demonstrate that PfHz suppresses erythropoiesis by acting both directly on erythroid cells, and indirectly via inflammatory mediators produced from PfHz-stimulated PBMC, including TNF-α and NO.

Source: UG
Mechanisms of inclusion removal from aluminum through filtration

Ceramic Foam Filters (CFF) are used to remove inclusions from aluminium in laboratory experiments. Morphology and composition of inclusions in aluminium are identified using before and after filtration using optical microscope, SEM, XRD and EPMA. Qualitative analysis of results form various filtration experiments indicates that CFF filtration is an effective process to remove inclusions from molten aluminium. Interaction between inclusions and filter materials is investigated, which includes the effects of surface energy change before and after attachment, inclusion size, and fluid flow. Mechanisms of inclusion removal through filtration are then proposed. Both uncoated and slurry coated Al2O3 CFFs were found to have very good filtration efficiencies. However, qualitative analysis showed that the uncoated filter has more excellent filtration capabilities than the slurry coated filters.

Source: UG