ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
The attitudes of students and staff of Asamankese Senior High School towards environmental sanitation

Environmental Sanitation is fundamental to health, survival, growth and development. Having a healthy school environment sets a school on track for development. Asamankese Senior High School is currently experiencing poor environmental sanitation. The main objective of the study is to examine the attitudes of students and staff of Asamankese Senior High School towards Environmental sanitation. The study adopted the descriptive sample survey. The main instruments used for gathering the data for the study were questionnaire and observation. This enabled the researcher to capture as closely as possible, the attitudes of students and staff towards environmental sanitation. The sampled population for the study consisted of 300 students and30 teachers from Asamankese Senior High School in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Data collected were analyzed using frequency counts and percentages. The study revealed differences in attitude towards environmental sanitation among students and teachers. However, the general environmental sanitation condition in Asamankese Senior High School is not up to expectations. The research findings also showed that both students and teachers consider water shortage and littering as major environmental problems in Asamankese Senior High School. The study again found out that, inadequate dustbins accounts for the reasons why students and teachers litter. To ensure good environmental sanitation in schools, the study recommended that, there is the need to train teachers with suitable sanitation strategies while they are still at the Universities Colleges of Education. This will ensure that, by the time they come out, they are already acquainted with sanitation issues and strategies for their promotion and the roles they have to play to bring about effective sanitation practices in our schools.

Source: UEW
Attitudes towards English in Ghana

The paper considers official and individual attitudes towards bilingualism in English and a Ghanaian language. We ask whether bilingualism in English and Ghanaian languages is a social handicap, without merit, or an important indicator of ethnic identity. Ghana has about 50 non-mutually intelligible languages, yet there are no statistics on who speaks what language(s) where in the country. We consider attitudes to English against the current Ghanaian language policy in education as practised in the school system. Our data reveal that parents believe early exposure to English enhances academic performance; English is therefore becoming the language of the home.

Source: UEW
Attrition and retention of Junior High School English teachers in the K.E.E.A municipality

Education delivery at the basic school level cannot be carried out effectively without the required quality and quantity of teachers. This implies that the government and educational administrators must ensure that at any point in time, measures have been instituted to retain teachers. In view of this realization, an investigation was conducted in why teachers leave the service and how they can be retained in the Komenda Edina Eguafo Abrem Municipality. The research design for this study was the descriptive survey. A sample of 190 respondents made up English teachers and those who have left the service were selected for data collection but in the end 140 took part in the study. A self-administered questionnaire and interview guide were the instruments used for data collection. Data collected were edited and analyzed using the SPSS and descriptive statistical tools such as simple frequency and relative frequency tables and percentages. Results of the study indicated that lack of motivation and poor compensation and working conditions were the main causes of teacher attrition in Komenda Edina Eguafo Abrem Municipality. It was revealed that adequate retirement benefit for teachers will enable them to stay in the service. A good number of teachers also mentioned end of year bonuses to teachers and improved medical services for teachers and their dependents. Therefore, the study recommended that in order to retain teachers the government should put in place the necessary measures in the short to medium time to reverse the current rate at which teachers are leaving the classrooms.

Source: UEW
Audiovisual communication the use of videos for antenatal education

In recent times, the use of audiovisual media to communicate and support maternal health messages have become germane to antenatal health education in Ghana. Despite this interest, studies on the use of audiovisual media for maternal health education in general and its reception are relatively scanty in Ghana. Hence, the study focused on designing persuasive audiovisual on maternal nutrition and examining health workers and pregnant women perceptions about the use of the audiovisual media antenatal educational setting. The study amalgamated the Persuasive Health Message Framework, the Multimedia Learning Theory, the Technology Acceptance Model and the Decoding-Encoding Model into a conceptual framework to situate and ground the study. The study was situated in the interpretivism paradigms; hence the qualitative approach was used. The study used the artistic research design and structured it along three stages: pre-studio, studio and post-studio research. The research employed the purposive and convenience sampling techniques with a total sample of thirty (30) participants from government health facilities in the Ga South Municipal Assembly. Interviews, observation and visual study were used for data collection. Again, the study used thematic and textual analysis used during data analysis. Findings from pre-studio research revealed that there were no officially designed videos from the Ghana Health Service to support antenatal education. Thus, available visual aids on maternal nutrition are predominately print materials even though it emerged that videos were mostly preferred. Consequently, health officers resort to exotic videos from internet sources despite serious communication limitation. During studio research, storyboards and animatics were used to conduct audience research which helped to refine the form and content of the video. During actual production cinematic elements and aesthetics decisions were guided by cognitive theory of multimedia learning. The post-studio research revealed that health workers viewed the persuasive video very useful and easy to use due to threat and efficacy elements which improved understanding among pregnant women and efficiency among health workers. Despite the positive impact of efficacy and threat elements which shaped and generated preferred readings among the selected pregnant women, susceptible elements produced negotiated meanings and identities among pregnant women due to strong religious beliefs. The study concluded that integration of audiovisual media into antenatal education sessions improved the effectiveness the education and reception among the selected pregnant women. The study recommends the adoption of persuasive audiovisual media into all pregnancy schools to support effective antenatal health education.

Source: UEW
Audiovisual communication- the use of videos for antenatal education

In recent times, the use of audiovisual media to communicate and support maternal health messages have become germane to antenatal health education in Ghana. Despite this interest, studies on the use of audiovisual media for maternal health education in general and its reception are relatively scanty in Ghana. Hence, the study focused on designing persuasive audiovisual on maternal nutrition and examining health workers and pregnant women perceptions about the use of the audiovisual media antenatal educational setting. The study amalgamated the Persuasive Health Message Framework, the Multimedia Learning Theory, the Technology Acceptance Model and the Decoding-Encoding Model into a conceptual framework to situate and ground the study. The study was situated in the interpretivism paradigms; hence the qualitative approach was used. The study used the artistic research design and structured it along three stages: pre-studio, studio and post-studio research. The research employed the purposive and convenience sampling techniques with a total sample of thirty (30) participants from government health facilities in the Ga South Municipal Assembly. Interviews, observation and visual study were used for data collection. Again, the study used thematic and textual analysis used during data analysis. Findings from pre-studio research revealed that there were no officially designed videos from the Ghana Health Service to support antenatal education. Thus, available visual aids on maternal nutrition are predominately print materials even though it emerged that videos were mostly preferred. Consequently, health officers resort to exotic videos from internet sources despite serious communication limitation. During studio research, storyboards and animatics were used to conduct audience research which helped to refine the form and content of the video. During actual production cinematic elements and aesthetics decisions were guided by cognitive theory of multimedia learning. The post-studio research revealed that health workers viewed the persuasive video very useful and easy to use due to threat and efficacy elements which improved understanding among pregnant women and efficiency among health workers. Despite the positive impact of efficacy and threat elements which shaped and generated preferred readings among the selected pregnant women, susceptible elements produced negotiated meanings and identities among pregnant women due to strong religious beliefs. The study concluded that integration of audiovisual media into antenatal education sessions improved the effectiveness the education and reception among the selected pregnant women. The study recommends the adoption of persuasive audiovisual media into all pregnancy schools to support effective antenatal health education.

Source: UEW
The audit service and fighting corruption in public institutions in the Ashanti Region of Ghana

This study examined the role of the audit service in fighting corruption in public institutions in the Ashanti Region. The population for the study encompassed all audit workers in the audit department in the Kumasi Metropolis in the Ashanti Region. A sample of twenty auditors was selected for the study through convenience sampling technique. The findings from the study indicated that there was high level of corruption in public institutions in the Ashanti Region and that the role of the audit service in fighting corruption in public institutions was very minimal and had little impact on curbing corruption. In addition, the findings showed that the audit service was beset with a lot of challenges such as inadequate office accommodation, interference from politicians and lack of motivation among others which impeded the effectiveness of the service in fighting corruption in public institutions in the region. It was therefore recommended that the audit service be well-resourced, equipped, motivated and made more independent to put in place best practices to curb the menace of corruption in public institutions the Ashanti Region.

Source: UEW
Automated log based recovery algorithms used to recover lost data in cloud computing

Cloud computing is an emerging technological breakthrough that offers a long-dreamed concept of computing as a service. The development of this modern technology in the IT domain has influenced almost all of the private and public sector organizations. Though cloud is implementing the dynamic and cost-effective model of on-demand operation, pay as you go, and assigning resources, security is often the area of concern in terms of its adoption. Moreover, due to the varying nature of the operation and implementation process, traditional in-depth security framework for defense cannot be implemented directly on cloud-based platform. However to safeguard the cloud-based infrastructure, the same principle of can be used. Many entities have used the disaster recovery method to promote continuity of operations. Disaster recovery mechanisms, however, require extensive personal intervention to restore the failed system and this cannot mitigate service outages because it may take longer following a network breakdown to get backup system fully functional. This dissertation proposed an automatic data recovery system that aims to achieve a robust, efficient, adaptable and effective recovery mechanism on a cloud-based system to help and support in this regard. First, a method was proposed to take advantage of cloud service and automatically restore from volatile network failure, without complicated manual operation. This improves service stability by offering a centralized self-organizing system, which can automatically recognize and restore failures. Then a model is proposed and extensively explained on the basis of the mechanism. Ultimately a test was deployed based on the concept to show the performance advantages of using this approach in cloud-based data recovery.

Source: UEW
Automatic determination of fiber orientation on OSB surface using line detection method based on small eigenvalue analysis

The modulus of rupture (MOR) which is the key to the strength of oriented strand board (OSB) depends on the fiber orientation on OSB surface. In order to improve the quality of OSB products, it is essential to optimize the flake alignments of the wood strands. In this paper, a line detection method based on small eigenvalue in conjunction with Canny edge detector was adopted to simulate the fiber strands with the ultimate aim of optimizing the fiber orientation and quality of the manufactured product. Then ellipse fitting analysis and/or line fitting analysis were used to determine the fiber orientation for all line or ellipse connectedness labeling, which expresses the fiber strands. The fiber orientation measured automatically was compared to that measured manually. It was observed that the ratio of the fiber orientation measured manually to that measured automatically was close to unity. The results indicated that the method developed in this paper when used to determine fiber orientation of the face surface in OSB was effective. However, the method developed in this paper was not effective for the under surface because small strands tend to fall when the face and middle layer were distributed, on the edge formation of fiber strands. � INRA, EDP Sciences, 2005.

Source: UEW
Availability and efficiency among food industries in Ghana

Food traceability systems availability and efficiency was investigated using 74 food businesses along the food chain in Ghana. Questionnaire with closed and open ended questions were given to purposefully sampled staff in key positions in the food businesses to answer on qualification of technical personnel, availability of documentation procedure and how these businesses were controlling traceability systems. Most food businesses were using Higher National Diploma graduates in the technical/supervisory positions. Documentation was poor and although there was awareness on trace ability across the food businesses, implementation and maintenance was not effective. Only 23.8% manufactur ing/processing units, 20% hospitals, 16.7% hotels and 14.8% schools could complete traceability test within 4 hours. It was recommended that more short training programmes on quality and safety be designed for workers in the food in dustry by appropriate institutions while science students from the Senior High Schools are encouraged to enroll on food science and food manufacturing technology programs to improve on the current situation.

Source: UEW
Availability and frequence of use of instructional technologies in selected science colleges of education in Ghana

This research was conducted to investigate the availability of instructional technologies in the science departments of selected science colleges of education and the usage of these technologies by tutors in lesson delivery. The target population comprised the 15 science and mathematics colleges of education in Ghana. The accessible population however consisted of four science colleges of education in the Volta and Eastern Regions of Ghana. Questionnaire, informal observation and interview schedules were used to collect data on instructional technologies available in the sampled colleges and how they were used in teaching. The findings indicated that electrically powered instructional technologies such as computers, LCD projectors and video recordings were in a very limited supply in the colleges while the use of these technologies in teaching by the tutors University of Education,Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh 12 was also not encouraging. The non-electrically powered materials such as chalkboards, flip charts including locally available materials were commonly used by the tutors during lessons. It was concluded that the use of instructional technologies for science lessons was not going on as expected in the selected colleges of education. This was highly unsatisfactory since colleges of education are tertiary institutions. This apart, the teacher trainees are very likely to be influenced by the instructional approaches adopted by their tutors. Among the most notable recommendations for improvement and efficiency in the use of these materials by college tutors is the support that the college administration must give to the science departments by making available the technologies and the adaptation of maintenance culture in the colleges.

Source: UEW
Availability and frequence of use of instructional technologies in selected science colleges of education in Ghana

This research was conducted to investigate the availability of instructional technologies in the science departments of selected science colleges of education and the usage of these technologies by tutors in lesson delivery. The target population comprised the 15 science and mathematics colleges of education in Ghana. The accessible population however consisted of four science colleges of education in the Volta and Eastern Regions of Ghana. Questionnaire, informal observation and interview schedules were used to collect data on instructional technologies available in the sampled colleges and how they were used in teaching. The findings indicated that electrically powered instructional technologies such as computers, LCD projectors and video recordings were in a very limited supply in the colleges while the use of these technologies in teaching by the tutors was also not encouraging. The non-electrically powered materials such as chalkboards, flip charts including locally available materials were commonly used by the tutors during lessons. It was concluded that the use of instructional technologies for science lessons was not going on as expected in the selected colleges of education. This was highly unsatisfactory since colleges of education are tertiary institutions. This apart, the teacher trainees are very likely to be influenced by the instructional approaches adopted by their tutors. Among the most notable recommendations for improvement and efficiency in the use of these materials by college tutors is the support that the college administration must give to the science departments by making available the technologies and the adaptation of maintenance culture in the colleges.

Source: UEW
The availability and use of teaching aids in public primary schools in Agona West Municipality

This research examines the availability and use of teaching aids in public primary schools in Agona West Municipality. The study was carried out through descriptive survey. The study population included all public primary school teachers in the Agona West Municipality. From this population, a sample of 175 teachers were randomly selected from 35 public primary schools in the Agona West Municipality. The research instrument used for data collection was the Availability and Utilization of Teaching Aids (AUTA) questionnaire, which was constructed by the researcher, for the purpose of data collection. Descriptive statistics namely: frequencies and percentages were used to analyze the data. The findings of the study showed that models, games, text books, computers, and pictures were moderately available while projectors, public address system, television, cassettes and head phones were not available in public primary schools. Also, from the findings, it was discovered that models were regularly utilized, while pictures, games, computers and text books were seldom utilized. However, projectors, television, public address system, cassettes and head phones were not utilized in public primary schools in Agona West Municipality. The conclusion drawn from the study was that the availability and use of teaching aids are indispensable for the effective teaching of pupils as the readiness and appropriate utilization of instructional facilities makes the teaching and learning among pupils concrete rather than abstract and improves educational programs. It is highly recommended that teachers should always try their best to make use of available instructional materials where necessary, to make their lessons more concrete and interesting to the students.

Source: UEW
Awareness and knowledge about prostate cancer among male teachers in the sunyani municipality, Ghana

Objective: The study was aimed at assessing the awareness and knowledge of prostate cancer (PC) among male teachers in the Sunyani municipality of Ghana. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted using a structured questionnaire to collect data from 160 male teachers aged 45 years or more, randomly selected from public elementary and high schools in the Sunyani Municipality. Pearson�s Chi square and Fishers exact tests were used to examine the association between socio-demographic characteristics and knowledge of PC. Results: On average, respondents were aged 50�3.95 years. There was a universal awareness of PC. Most of the respondents could identify at least one signs and symptoms of PC (88.1%), risk factors of PC (78.8%), and indicated that PC could be treated through surgery (70.6 %), but only 37.5% of respondents knew about screening tests for PC. The study found 57.5% of them had adequate knowledge about PC. Socio-demographics characteristics were not associated with knowledge about PC. Main sources of information were the television (68%) and radio (57 %). Conclusion: The outcomes of the study suggest the need for general educational campaigns with emphasis on modalities for the screening of PC using the appropriate media channels for accessibility. � 2021 Asare B Y-A et al.

Source: UEW