ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
An investigation into first year elective science and integrated science students’ understanding of length in measurement at Kadjebi Asato Senior High School (KASEC)

Conversion within quantities of same units and between quantities of different units is a thorny subject to students at Kadjebi Asato Senior High (KASEC) and its treatment by tutors sometimes becomes very difficult such that most tutors resort to handling the subject theoretically / abstractly. When this happens most students seemed not to comprehend the subject. In view of this, one aspect of the DTML-Conversion models (i.e. D-Conversion model) was used. The DTML-Conversion Models is a model that has been designed by the researcher to make the teaching of conversion in measurement very easy to tutors and meaningful to students.

Source: UG
An investigation into knowledge acquisition idiosyncrasies in Ghanaian universities

Purpose – This paper aims to fill the research and knowledge gap in knowledge management studies in Ghana. Knowledge acquisition is one of the unexploited areas in knowledge management literature, especially in the Ghanaian context. This study tries to ascertain the factors affecting knowledge acquisition in Ghanaian universities. Design/methodology/approach – The study used the quantitative approach. The cross-sectional survey was adopted as the research design. A questionnaire consisting of Likert scale questions was used to collect data from the respondents. The items and the constructs were derived from the extant literature. The questionnaire was sent to 350 respondents, out of which 250 were returned fully completed. Data were quantitatively analysed using descriptive methods and factor analysis. Findings – This study provides empirical evidence about the factors affecting knowledge acquisition in Ghanaian universities. Findings from the study show that programme content, lecturers’ competence, student academic background and attitude and facilities for teaching and learning influence knowledge acquisition in Ghanaian universities. Research limitations/implications – Although the study seeks to generalize the findings, this should be cautiously done, as some scholars have advocated for large sample size. Nonetheless, there are some studies that have used sample size less than the one used in this study. Practical implications – The study takes notice of the need for Ghanaian universities to use modern facilities and infrastructures such as electronic libraries and information technology equipment and also provide reading rooms to enhance teaching and learning. Originality/value – Studies looking at knowledge acquisition in Ghanaian universities are virtually non-existent, and this study provides empirical findings on the factors affecting knowledge acquisition in Ghanaian universities. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Source: UG
Investigation into mall visitation motivation and demographic idiosyncrasies in Ghana

This paper aims to investigate shoppers’ motivations for visiting the mall in respect of their demographic characteristics. The study was Cross-sectional and adopted the quantitative method. Structure questionnaire was used to collect data through a mall intercept approach. Factor analysis was conducted to determine the mall visitation motivations of shoppers and Chi-square test and regression analysis used to help answer the research questions. The paper found eight (8) key mall visitation motivations attract Ghanaian shoppers. Escapism influences the shoppers most, followed by pleasure flow, safety, aesthetic and architectural leisure, respectively. The least motivational factor is exploration. The result suggests that shoppers in Ghana are most likely to see the mall as an escape route from their daily hectic conditions and a place for relaxation.

Source: UG
An Investigation into the Gender Dimensions of Taxation in Ghana

Little attention is paid to gender biases in taxation. This chapter fills this gap by addressing three questions: (1) do the personal income tax laws in Ghana ensure formal and substantive equality for women and men (2) who bears the burden of indirect taxation in Ghana and (3) what can be learnt about the gender dimensions of tax burden in Ghana. The analysis finds that there is considerable formal equality in the personal income tax structure. Tax laws do not explicitly differentiate between women and men and tax rates are the same for both sexes. In terms of substantive equality the personal income tax system discriminates against the single-earner households many of which are headed by women. Policy reforms are needed to lessen the burden of taxation on poor households that have more children. Tax reforms should target and reduce the burden of taxes on commodities such as fuel for household use, since such taxes are disproportionately regressive for households in which females are the majority.

Source: UG
Investigation into the risk of exposure to antibiotic residues contaminating meat and egg in Ghana

In Ghana and many developing countries, little is known about food safety in relation to antibiotic residues. The objectives of the study were to (i) determine the prevalence of antibiotic residues in animal source food and estimate the risk to consumers (ii) identify factors predisposing animal source food to contamination with antibiotic drug residues. A total of 634 samples of various animal source foods, including beef, chevon, mutton, pork and egg were screened for drug residues. Additionally, epidemiological data related to antibiotic usage on animals and consumption patterns of animal source food was collected from animal farmers and consumers of animal source food respectively. Overall, the prevalence of drug residues in animal source food was 21.1%, which translates to an average risk of exposure every fifth time animal source food is consumed. The prevalence rates of drug residues in the various animal source foods were; 30.8% (beef); 29.3% (chevon); 28.6% (pork); 24% (mutton); and 6.8% (egg). The trends of consumption of the animal source foods were similar, and majority of the consumers consumed the food every week. Considering the relatively high contamination rates of animal source food as well as their high rates of consumption, it is likely that consumers experience a high risk of exposure to drug residues, especially through beef. Specific causal factors associated with non-adherence of withdrawal requirements of drugs, and therefore contaminations of food were mainly knowledge related factors. This underscores the importance of health education of farmers in dealing with the problem of drug residues contaminating animal source food.

Source: UG
An Investigation into the Teaching and Learning of Twi in the Middle School with Particular Reference to Schools at and around Akropong – Akwapim

In the Primary Schools under review children enter school at the age of six. On the whole, by the time they enter school they have not had any previous instruction in reading and writing. The technique employed in teaching of spoken Twi include language games, picture description, story – telling, conversations, simple rhymes and tongue – twisters, dramatisation and sentence construction exercises. The use of words are taught through model sentences, sentence construction and context study.

Source: UG
The investigation of a class of capacitated arc routing problems: the collection of garbage in developing countries

The collection, transport and disposal of solid waste, which is a highly visible and important municipal service, involves a large expenditure but receives, scant attention. This problem is even more crucial for large cities in developing countries due to the hot weather. A constructive heuristic which takes into account the environmental aspect as well as the cost is proposed to solve the routing aspect of garbage collection. This is based on a look-ahead strategy which is enhanced by two additional mechanisms. Interesting results were obtained when tested on instances with and without the presence of the effect of the environment.

Source: UG
An investigation of celebrity brand hate influence in the arts marketing sector of Ghana

Purpose – This study aimed at investigating negative past experience (NPE), symbolic incongruity and ideological incompatibility on celebrity brand hate (CBH) within the arts marketing sector. Design/methodology/approach – Anchored on the self-congruity theory (SCT), the study is based on two studies with 618 hip-life music (HLM) listeners in Ghana (Study 1 5 340 face-to-face participants; study 2 5 278 online participants), who responded to 20 celebrities they hate. The study validates Hegner et al.’s (2017) product brand hate (BH) model in the arts sector utilizing the structural equal modeling in testing the research hypotheses. Findings – The study found that negative past experience, symbolic incongruity, and ideological incompatibility significantly influences CBH. Furthermore, CBH significantly influences celebrity brand avoidance (CBA) and negative word-of-mouth (NWoM), brand retaliation, private complaint and brand switching. Nevertheless, CBH had no significant influence on CBA in the second study. In all, BH had the strongest effects on NWoM for products in Hegner et al. (2017) model, whereas in our model BH strongly impacts on brand retaliation for celebrities (i.e. people). Practical implications – The study provided evidence to marketing scholars, celebrity image managers and brand professionals, on critical factors to consider in building and sustaining celebrity brands as viable currencies for economic leveraging within the arts industry. Originality/value – Though BH has received academic recognition, little is known about the concept of CBH and its outcomes in the arts marketing literature

Source: UG
Investigation of critical hydraulic gradient and its application to the design and construction of bentonite-grout curtain

The application of salt–bentonite (Salt–Bent) grouting for the design and construction of grout curtain to form vertical barriers (VB) to serve as seepage remediation measures has been investigated. Recent experiences on the high cost of grout injection materials when conducting a grouting campaign have necessitated the authors to consider the use of clay of the montmorillonite (Mt) type (Wyoming bentonite), which is less expensive; readily available naturally occurring; yet very effective and environmentally friendly grouting material for the construction of grout curtain. Grout curtain is formed by injecting grout slurry into a series of boreholes, drilled through the weathered zone of the subsurface, to form VB. Vertical barriers play a significant role in geo-environmental engineering for the control of horizontal groundwater flow and contaminant spread into the unsaturated–saturated zone of the subsurface. The design and construction of effective grout curtain is key to the overall performance of the barrier and this is dependent on the accurate determination of a design parameter, the critical hydraulic gradient (CHG). A laboratory investigation of the CHG was conducted through grout injection into fractures of aperture sizes 100–60 µm and river sand compacted to different porosities (0.33 ≤ n ≤ 0.40), to determine the safety thickness of a bentonite-grout curtain to withstand a given hydraulic gradient without failure. The study finds that, the CHG due to the fractured and porous media ranges between 30 and 35; and 180 and 200, respectively. The resulting permeability values obtained from the grouted samples were in the order of 10−7cm/s or less. It can be inferred from the results that, bentonite-grouting can provide the required permeability for an effective barrier. The results also suggest that, accurate determination of the safety thickness of the barrier is of great importance for sustainable barrier system.

Source: UG
Investigation of formation of precipitates and solidification temperatures of ferritic stainless steels using differential scanning calorimetry and Thermo-Calc simulation

The phase transformations in unstabilized and stabilized ferritic stainless steels during solidification were studied using Thermo-Calc and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The solidus and liquidus temperatures of the Thermo-Calc simulations were compared to the liquidus and solidus temperatures measured with DSC. Thermo-Calc software revealed the precipitates of the ferritic stainless steels to be MnS, TiN, Ti4C2S2, NbC, and Ti(C,N). Given the low volume fraction of precipitates, DSC could not be used to reveal the onset of precipitation. There was reasonable correlation between the liquidus and the solidus temperature, as calculated using Thermo-Calc and as measured using DSC. Generally, a higher niobium content resulted in a higher solidification temperature range

Source: UG
Investigation of gender bias in the mental imagery of faces

People tend to think of the prototypical person as a man more than as a woman, but this bias has primarily been observed in language-based tasks. Here, we investigated whether this bias is also present in the mental imagery of faces. A preregistered cross-cultural reverse-correlation study including participants from six WEIRD and non-WEIRD countries varying in gender equality (i.e., China, Ghana, Norway, Pakistan, Turkey, and the US (N = 645) unexpectedly suggested that people imagine the face of a generic “person” more as a woman than as a man. Replicating this unexpected result, a second preregistered study (N = 115) showed that U.S. participants imagine the face of a typical person as being more similar to their imagined face of a woman than of a man. We discuss explanations for these unexpected findings, including the possibility that the prototypical person is male-biased— consistent with previous work—but the default face may be female-biased.

Source: UG
An investigation of Ghana's tourism positioning

The purpose of this paper is to gain a deeper understanding of Ghana's tourism positioning and whether a literature-derived positioning framework can further elaborate the latter. Using the face-to-face long interviews among key policy makers, marketing managers and experts, and observation techniques, data were collected and analyzed via the inductive reasoning approach. The results show that Ghana's tourism positioning aim is built around perceptions of a "competitive middle class tourist destination," i.e., "profit and status" through the pursuit of "functional" positioning objective. Positioning strategies including "service", "value for money", "culture", "selectivity", " attractiveness", "reliability", "manpower development", "quality controls" and "ecology" are pursued in order to achieve the aim and objectives. The latter are managed/positioned in the "primal" positioning life cycle stage. Conclusions, managerial implications, future research directions and limitations are noted. © 2004 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.

Source: UG
Investigation of hydrochemical characteristics of groundwater from the Cretaceous-Eocene limestone aquifer in southern Ghana and southern Togo using hierarchical cluster analysis

The most relevant controls on the water quality within the Cretaceous-Eocene limestone aquifer of the Keta Basin, Ghana, and the coastal sedimentary basin of Togo were assessed using Q-mode hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and mass-balance modelling. The pattern recognition technique of HCA was employed for partitioning hydrochemical data from a total of 65 surface and borehole samples from the study area into water groups. A spatial plot of the water groups consisting of samples from the limestone aquifer shows that the vast majority of samples belonging to the same group are located in close proximity to one another, suggesting the same processes and/or flow paths in the limestone aquifer system. Geochemical reaction models of selected water groups were constructed using PHREEQC-2. The hydrochemical compositions of the water groups and the mass-balance calculations indicate that the dominant processes and reactions responsible for the hydrochemical evolution in the system are: (1) carbonate equilibria, (2) silicate weathering reactions, (3) limited mixing with saline water, and (4) ion exchange. The combined use of HCA and mass-balance modelling has shown to be a useful approach in interpreting groundwater hydrochemistry in an area where large uncertainties exist in the understanding of the groundwater flow system. © Springer-Verlag 2007.

Source: UG
An investigation of persistent microfilaridermias despite multiple treatments with ivermectin, in two onchocerciasis-endemic foci in Ghana

The Department of Parasitology conducts research into parasitic diseases of public health importance with the overall goal of reducing their transmission and the heavy disease burden that they impose on affected populations. The Department maintains focus on parasitic diseases in general. These include major diseases such as malaria, and others listed under the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) control initiative such as, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminthiasis, trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis.

Source: UG
Investigation of Selected Trace and Heavy Metals in Two Tropical Fish Species from the Coastal Waters of Ghana

Cadmium (Cd), copper, (Cu), Iron (Fe), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn) burdens were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) in two tropical fish species (Chloroscombrus chrysurus and Sardinella maderensis) from the western coast of Ghana. Fish samples were collected during three designated Sampling Periods (January 2008 to March 2008 - Periods 1; September 2008 to November 2008 - Period 2; and February 2009 to March 2009 - Period 3) at three sites (Half-Assini, Aboadze and Elmina). Trace elements and heavy metal concentrations in both species followed the order Fe>Zn>Cu while Cd and Pb were below detection limits. High levels of Fe were detected in the fish samples with concentration ranges of 13.05-376.4 μg/g dw. Levels of Cu generally recorded during Period 1 were above FAO maximum recommended limits of 30 μg/g in fish while Zn burdens were below FAO recommended limit of 40 μg/g. S. maderensis and C. chrysurus, can be considered safe for human consumption with respect to Cd, Pb and Zn contaminations. However, Cu will require further monitoring to protect public health. Hazard quotients and hazard indices computed indicate that metal exposure from consumption of the two fish species will not result in any appreciable health risk. Levels of Cu and Zn recorded may however pose threats to physiological functioning of fish since levels were high enough to cause sublethal effects to fish. Metal burdens studied provide background information prior to the commercial exploitation of oil in Ghana’s marine waters.

Source: UG
Investigation of the Accuracy of Scatter Correction in 3D body scanning on the HR+PET tomography

The accuracy of scatter correction in 3D body scanning on the HR + PET tomography has been investigated using both a uniform (Utah) phantom with various compartments and inserts, and a body shaped phantom with heart and liver inserts. With both phantoms, scans were made with one compartment outside and others inside the field-of-view to see how radioactivity outside the field-of-view could affect the measurements of image counts. In most cases where the scattered correction had worked efficiently, the ratio of the mean activity of the region of interest to the region of interest of the surrounding ‘background’ mean activity is less than 5%. The investigations further revealed that the accuracy of scatter correction depend not only on the shape, size of the source body, but also on the radioactivity distribution inside the field-of-view of the PET scanner. The presence of an additional radioactive region inside the field-of-view is, however, a source of a potentially noisy image data, and since noise can cause artefacts in scatter correction, it is therefore necessary to ensure that adequate filtering and attenuation corrections are applied to the data prior to scatter correction. The provision of side shielding could help to improve the detection efficiency of the PET scanner, and also prevent unnecessary exposure to clinicians.

Source: UG
Investigation of the Risk of Infection of Urinary Schistosomiasis at Mahem and Galilea communities in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana

Urinary schistosomiasis is of great public health importance in developing countries. It has adverse economic and health implications on residents living in endemic areas. Various factors including human behaviour are known to play key role in the transmission of the disease. The knowledge of the levels of risk of infection of urinary schistosomiasis and people’s perception will be an important tool in its control. The study determined the prevalence of urinary schistosomiasis and the risk of infection in some communities near the Weija lake in the Ga District. It assessed the knowledge base of the subjects on the disease and its impact on transmission. Data were collected on demographic variables, some behavioural activities in water bodies, knowledge base on the disease and sanitary facilities. Urine samples were analysed using the centrifugation technique. The percentage prevalence for Mahem and Galilea were 58% and 49%, respectively. The difference in prevalence was insignificant; 0.09 (-0.04, 0.21; P < 0.426). Bloody urine was associated with high risk of infection; OR of 4.55 (2.82, 7.36); P < 0.001. Subjects with primary level of education and invariably below 26 years of age had about two times the risk of infection; OR of 2.12 (1.13, 3.97); P < 0.02. The communities had 52% prevalence of urinary schistosomiasis. Frequent contacts and use of the infested lake were associated with infection. Educational intervention alone may not be effective in the control of the disease. The use of an integrated approach should be given favourable consideration.

Source: UG
Investigation of the risk of infection of urinary schistosomiasis at Mahem and Galilea communities in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana.

Urinary schistosomiasis is of great public health importance in developing countries. It has adverse economic and health implications on residents living in endemic areas. Various factors including human behaviour are known to play key role in the transmission of the disease. The knowledge of the levels of risk of infection of urinary schistosomiasis and people’s perception will be an important tool in its control. The study determined the prevalence of urinary schistosomiasis and the risk of infection in some communities near the Weija lake in the Ga District. It assessed the knowledge base of the subjects on the disease and its impact on transmission. Data were collected on demographic variables, some behavioural activities in water bodies, knowledge base on the disease and sanitary facilities. Urine samples were analysed using the centrifugation technique. The percentage prevalence for Mahem and Galilea were 58% and 49%, respectively. The difference in prevalence was insignificant; 0.09 (-0.04, 0.21; P < 0.426). Bloody urine was associated with high risk of infection; OR of 4.55 (2.82, 7.36); P < 0.001. Subjects with primary level of education and invariably below 26 years of age had about two times the risk of infection; OR of 2.12 (1.13, 3.97); P < 0.02. The communities had 52% prevalence of urinary schistosomiasis. Frequent contacts and use of the infested lake were associated with infection. Educational intervention alone may not be effective in the control of the disease. The use of an integrated approach should be given favourable consideration.

Source: UG