ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Role of travel intermediaries in Ghana: focus on tour operators in the Accra metropolis

This study assesses the role of tour operators in Ghana’s tourism development. The mixed method approach was employed to collect data. The sampling technique applied was a census covering as many tour operators as were available. The survey instruments used were both questionnaires which were self-administered and in-depth interview to supplement the data obtained from the questionnaire administration. Statistical techniques employed were frequency tables, cross tabulation, the t-test and factor analysis with varimax rotation. The study found that tour operators facilitated travel arrangements and assessed quality of facilities. They also planned tours, offered education to clients, undertook pre-purchase risks and provided necessary information.. Ecotourism and heritage tourism were the top two tourist attractions patronized by Ghana’s tour operators. Their products included annual cultural festivals such as Odwira, Aboakyir, Hogbetsotso and Fetu Afahye. The major marketing tools adopted by the tour operators were brochures websites. Some implications of the findings were that tour operators in Ghana operated through linkages with other organisations. The findings also implied that foreign holiday makers were the most targeted markets by the country’s tour operators. Tour operators in Ghana combined tour operation business with travel agency activities. The study recommended that tour operation business in Ghana must be extended to other regional capitals in the country instead of being concentrated in the nation’s capital, Accra. Finally, the role of the state in travel intermediation practices in Ghana was proposed for further research.

Source: UCC
The role of trust in a self-organizing pharmaceutical supply chain model with variable drug quality and imperfect information

We present an Agent-Based Model (herea er ABM) for a pharmaceutical supply chain operating under conditions of weak regulation and imperfect information, exploring the possibility of poor qualitymedicines and their detection. Our interest is to demonstrate how buyers can learn about the quality of sellers (and their medicines) based on previous successful and unsuccessful transactions, thereby establishing trust over time. Furthermore, this network of trust allows the system itself to evolve to positive outcomes (under some but not all circumstances) by eliminating sellers with low quality products. The ABM we develop assumes that rational and non-corrupt agents (wholesalers, retailers and consumers) learn from experience and adjust their behaviour accordingly. The system itself evolves over time: under some — but not all — circumstances, sellers with low-quality products are progressively eliminated. Three distinct states of the supply chain are observed depending on the importance of trust built up from past experience. The “dynamic” state is characterised by a low level of trust leading to a continually changing system with new drugs introduced and rejected with little regard to quality. The “frozen” state arises from high levels of reliance on past experience and locks the supply chain into a suboptimal state. The “optimising” state has moderate reliance on past experience and leads to the persistence of suppliers with good quality; however, the system is still “invadable” by better quality drugs. Simulation results show that the state reached by the system depends strongly on the precise way that trust is established: Excessive levels of trust make it impossible for new, improved treatments to be adopted. This highlights the critical need to understand better how personal experience influences consumer behaviour, especially where regulation is weak and for products like medicines whose quality is not readily observable

Source: UCC
The Role of Tumor Microenvironment in Chemoresistance: To Survive, Keep Your Enemies Closer

Chemoresistance is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in cancer and it continues to be a challenge in cancer treatment. Chemoresistance is influenced by genetic and epigenetic alterations which affect drug uptake, metabolism and export of drugs at the cellular levels. While most research has focused on tumor cell autonomous mechanisms of chemoresistance, the tumor microenvironment has emerged as a key player in the development of chemoresistance and in malignant progression, thereby influencing the development of novel therapies in clinical oncology. It is not surprising that the study of the tumor microenvironment is now considered to be as important as the study of tumor cells. Recent advances in technological and analytical methods, especially ‘omics’ technologies, has made it possible to identify specific targets in tumor cells and within the tumor microenvironment to eradicate cancer. Tumors need constant support from previously ‘unsupportive’ microenvironments. Novel therapeutic strategies that inhibit such microenvironmental support to tumor cells would reduce chemoresistance and tumor relapse. Such strategies can target stromal cells, proteins released by stromal cells and non-cellular components such as the extracellular matrix (ECM) within the tumor microenvironment. Novel in vitro tumor biology models that recapitulate the in vivo tumor microenvironment such as multicellular tumor spheroids, biomimetic scaffolds and tumor organoids are being developed and are increasing our understanding of cancer cell-microenvironment interactions. This review offers an analysis of recent developments on the role of the tumor microenvironment in the development of chemoresistance and the strategies to overcome microenvironment-mediated chemoresistance. We propose a systematic analysis of the relationship between tumor cells and their respective tumor microenvironments and our data show that, to survive, cancer cells interact closely with tumor microenvironment components such as mesenchymal stem cells and the extracellular matrix.

Source: UCC
The Role of University Business Incubators in Facilitating Graduates Entrepreneurial Skills Acquisition

This study aims to analyse the role of University Business Incubators in facilitating graduates’ entrepreneurial skills acquisition. This helps creates an environment in which everyone can help the other to put their new ideas, special skills and abilities into new businesses. In other words, the traditional universities’ role has embedded with entrepreneurial responsibility to redirect new knowledge for economic development through BIs. The study adopted an analytical descriptive methodology approach that described the basic features of the data by using the descriptive research design. A qualitative (descriptive) approach used by the research enabled him to obtained the study’s data which further assisted him to describe the respondents’ perspective and behaviour, giving a more accurate picture of what happened. The possibility of receiving a lot of data from a sizable sample of 20 respondents is one benefit of this strategy. The research reveals that managers of business incubators who have registered with Traction's database have the necessary skills to fully support the expansion of SMEs. These business incubators therefore demonstrated promise for accelerating the development of SMEs and entrepreneurial competencies among incubated business owners, including managerial and entrepreneurial competencies, as the study's findings suggested that business management and entrepreneurial competencies are crucial for business managers in running a business incubator. The study also recommended that incubators managers who lack the necessary entrepreneurship skills should enrol in business courses at neighbouring institutions or universities. Finally, it was advised that government entities open up facilities based on cutting-edge technology to support graduates’ entrepreneurial skills acquisition.

Source: UCC
The Role of Zakāh in poverty alleviation

This paper examines the importance of the institution of Zakāh in Islam with the aim of highlighting its role as an effective tool for poverty alleviation. Zakāh has an immense value in the Islamic financial system. It is one of the five pillars of Islam and was enjoined as a compulsory duty on wealthy Muslims in the second year of hijrah. Therefore, it is perceived as a purification observance in three dimensions which include the moral, the economic and the social spheres. The institution or the office for the collection of Zakāh mobilizes from those on whom it is due their surplus wealth and distributes it to the recommended categories of individuals to provide the basic necessities of life in order to enhance their quality of life. This goes a long way to prevent waste in the economic system in which people might keep wealth for an extended period of time without any ethical commitment. Human welfare, therefore, is the end product of Zakāh and not the hoarding of wealth. The implication is that productive earnings enrich the whole community and, therefore, go a long way to alleviate the plight of those who do not have at any material moment of the Zakāh financial year

Source: UCC
Role Performance and Challenges of Male single-parent 'families' In the Central Region of Ghana

This study investigated the role performance and challenges of male single parents in the Central Region of Ghana using a descriptive and evaluative survey approach.multi stage sampling procedure was adopted to select 300 male single parents for the study. Pretested questionnaire and interview schedule were used to collect the data.The Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) (Version) 16.0 software was used to analyze the data. The major findings of the study were that the performance of instrumental and expressive roles had affected aspects of lives of the respondents.The major challenges faced) by the respondents included time constraints, fatigue and loneliness. It is recommended that the local government, central government and non-governmental organizations should undertake human resource development programmes in the Central Region to equip male single parents with the necessary knowledge skills and attitudes for the performance of both expressive and instrumental roles in the home. Family life professionals should also expand their programmes to cater for the interests and struggles of male single parents

Source: UCC
Roles of Parents and Teachers in Career Choice Among Junior High School Students in Ningo-prampram District In Ghana

This study investigated the involvement of parents, teachers, and students in career choice among Junior High School students in the Ningo-Prampram District. A convergent parallel mixed method design was used to conduct the research. A multi-stage sample technique was used to choose 90 teachers, 400 students, and 12 parents. Parents' information was gathered through an interview guide, while teachers' and students' information was gathered using a questionnaire. The qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis, while the quantitative data was analyzed using means and standard deviation. Parents were found to have a significant influence on their children's profession choices. The study found that teachers have a considerable impact on students' career choices. Teachers achieve this through offering job information to students, counselling them on potential career alternatives, and keeping track of their personality traits and job interests. The study further revealed that students took career advice from peers, share career information with peers, look-up for peers’ careers. Also, their academic performance, confidence and interest in the subject play significant roles in their career interest. It was proposed that the Ministry of Education, in collaboration with administrators, strengthen the skills of parents and teachers through training, workshops, and conferences so that they can better support their children in making good career choices. As a result, career counselling services may promote decision-making behaviour indirectly

Source: UCC
Roles of Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators (Sencos) in the Implementation of Inclusive Education In Southern Ghana

This study sought to investigate the roles of Special Educational Needs Co ordinators (SENCOs) in the implementation of inclusive education in southern Ghana. The study used mixed method approach, specifically the convergent design. Seventy-three SENCOs responded to the questionnaire for the quantitative phase while 15 SENCOs participated in the qualitative phase. A semi-structured interview guide was used to collect the qualitative data. The census approach was used for the quantitative study, whereas the purposive sampling technique, specifically the criterion sampling was used in sampling the participants for the qualitative phase. The study answered five research questions and tested five hypotheses. Frequencies, Percentages, Means, Standard Deviations, factorial ANOVA, factorial MANOVA as well as Multiple Regression Test were used in analysing the quantitative data. Thematic analysis was used in analysing the qualitative data to gain additional understanding of the phenomenon. The results of the study showed that SENCOs had high level of knowledge about their roles and are confident in playing their roles. The SENCOs also highlighted the roles they play, how they played their roles, and the challenges they have in the implementation of IE. Again, the study revealed that passion drives the confidence of SENCOs in playing their roles in IE. It was evident from the study that working experience is an important predictor to the successful performance of SENCOs in the implementation of IE in Ghana. Among the recommendations was the need for the Ministry of Education to redefine the roles of SENCOs in the implementation of IE Ghana

Source: UCC
A Rollercoaster Ride through the Equity Markets - Evidence from the Ghana Stock Exchange

We investigated the presence of regimes in volatility of returns of the Ghana Stock Exchange index using single- and two-regime Markov-switching threshold GARCH with skewed- and student-t innovations separately for model fit. We found that the 2-regime threshold GARCH(1,1) with skewed student-t innovations provide a better fit to the data by using the deviance information criterion (DIC) to discriminate among the candidate models. There are two clear regimes with different statistics describing the volatility of returns for the low and high regimes. Incorporating regime switching thus avoids the practice of the single regime choice which pulverises the unconditional volatility through complex averaging leading to the overestimation and underestimation of risk during the low and high regimes respectively.

Source: UCC
Romans 1:16-17 and its Appropriation in the SDA Church in Ghana

The study concerned a re-reading of Romans 1:16-17 and its appropriation in the SDA Church in Ghana. The study presented the fundamental beliefs of SDAs in the context of righteousness by faith. The study further showed that although the church members adequately understand justification by grace through faith as found in the text, the relationship between faith and works in obtaining salvation is not clear in the minds of many SDAs in Ghana. Church members perceive that the observance of doctrines constitute the basis of salvation and assurance. Data was collected and analyzed concerning the perception of members with regard to righteousness by faith and the need for integration. A brief and descriptive study of the biblical principles of righteousness by faith was presented. The methods used in this work were the combination of Rhetorical criticism of Robert Jewett and the tri-polar exegetical model of Jonathan A. Draper. The study concluded that, since the church has other resources that contain the doctrine of righteousness by faith in the English language, pastors who can contextualize the text to ease the understanding and appropriation should be empowered to handle the baptismal class of the churches as the starting point to transmit the exegetical knowledge to the church members.

Source: UCC
The roots tourism experience of diaspora Africans: a focus on the Cape Coast and Elmina Castles

Ghana is one of the countries visited y diaspora Africans seeking to trace their roots and reconnect with their kith and kin. However, promoting roots tourism to the African diaspora is a delicate undertaking. There is a need to understand the factors which are of importance to the roots tourism experience as this will help to package the roots tourism product appropriately to meet the expectations of tourists. This study therefore sought to examine the factors that underlie the roots tourism experience of diaspora Africans in Cape Coast and Elmina in Ghana. A cross-sectional survey of 264 diaspora Africans within the Cape Coast and Elmina Castles was conducted using convenience sampling procedures. The study identified four factors that underlie the roots tourism experience of diaspora Africans namely, host–guest relationship, authenticity, emotion and appearance of the slave castles. It is recommended that the roots tourism product is repackaged to include welcome ceremonies, visits to communities, re-enactment of the slave trade and initiation ceremonies in order to improve host–guest interactions

Source: UCC
Rorty’s point of departure from mainstream pragmatist approach to epistemology

Our main focus in this paper is to try to show Rorty’s point of departure from mainstream pragmatist treatment of epistemology. In his pragmatic approach to epistemology, Rorty urges that a good pragmatist should abandon epistemology as a foundational and rational discipline and instead opt for conversation, the view that knowledge is an expression of judgment of a historically conditioned social group.1 According to Rorty, the view that we should disentangle ourselves from rigid canons of epistemology is the quest of classical pragmatism traceable to the writings of William James and John Dewey. On this showing, Rorty argues that conversationalism is consistent with mainstream or original pragmatism. Contrary to Rorty’s claim we try to show, in the following pages, that his pragmatic approach to epistemology is a deviation from mainstream pragmatism. We establish that mainstream or classical pragmatists do not repudiate epistemology

Source: UCC
The Routledge encyclopaedia of UK education, training and employment: from the earliest statutes to the present day

The development of human capital in the UK (like in many other developed nations) has evolved rapidly in recent years. Unfortunately however, the changing nature, range and variety of systems, initiatives and agencies relating particularly to the fields of education, training and employment has invariably rendered this area (i.e., the development of human resource base) almost impenetrable to professionals and ordinary persons interested in making sense of the profound operations and relationships between its component parts. This problem is caused, more than anything else, by the lack of recognition of the overlapping nature of these three distinctive fields (i.e., education, training and employment) and the need to coordinate and join up activities in these areas. Through a thorough examination of materials from wide-ranging UK sources (i.e., publications from the Department of Work and Pensions; papers from the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, and their predecessors; and every annual report produced by the numerous education departments across the UK from 1839), this book has attempted and succeeded in capturing detailed information about the various bodies, agencies and initiatives that have developed in the UK over time in the area of development of human capital. Truly, the book has lived up to every word of its title. With relevant entries exceeding 1500, it has indeed crossed knowledge boundaries, providing for the first time in the history of the UK, and in the author’s own words, ‘an integrated map of national human capital development, and of the history, development and relationships between education, training and employment’ (xxxix).

Source: UCC
Rural Bank Financing and Performance of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Jirapa Municipality

Ghana’s Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are faced with challenges in accessing credit from Rural Banks which tends to have effects on their performances too. Consequently, this study used the quantitative approach in examining Rural Bank financing and the performance of Small and Medium sized Enterprises in the Jirapa Municipality. The stratified sampling technique was used to select 92 SME owners while 23 Sonzele Rural Bank staffs were equally selected, with all 115 respondents responding to questionnaires. The study revealed that the lack of access to Rural Bank financing is prevalent on the part of SMEs in the Jirapa municipal. It was discovered through the study that the few SMEs who access the loans/credits use them effectively as working/operating capital; to purchase fixed assets, for research and for development purposes. This tends to have positive effects such as encouraging the expansion of businesses, increasing capital, enabling the setting up of other businesses and an improvement in the overall standards of performance of SMEs. The study showed that the lack of guarantees or collateral, absence of positive track records, high risk attached to projects, absence of convincing business plans and inadequate source of repayment served as the major challenges on the part of SMEs in their attempt to access finance from the Rural Bank. Finally, it was recommended that Rural Banks should put in measures meant to increase and make credit facilities easier and more accessible to SMEs. It was also recommended that government and private individuals should establish more Rural Banks in the area to cater for the growing SMEs. The study recommended that SMEs should improve on their track records, go in for projects of no/minimal risk and also develop attractive business plans.

Source: UCC
The rural enterprises project 11 and the promotion of micro and small-scale enterprises in the Bawku West district in the Upper East region of Ghana

The study attempted to find out the extent to which the Rural Enterprises Project 11 has promoted the activities of micro and small-scale enterprises in the Bawku West District in the Upper EastRegion of Ghana, during the period 2004-2009. The study used the purposive, simplerandom, cluster and the stratified sampling techniques in the selection of respondents. The interview schedule and questionnaire were used to solicit information from the beneficiaries ofthe project interventions and the project facilitators, respectively. Microsoft Excel was used in the data analysis while presentation of the research findings was done by the use of frequency tables. The findings of the study show that the Rural Enterprises Project 11 has provided training, equipment support, marketing support and business counselling services to promote the activities of MSEs in the Bawku West District, with resultant increase in the number of customers, productivity and sales volume of MSEs in the district. To enhance the performance of the Rural Enterprises Project in the Bawku West District, the study recommends that the project and the District Assembly should form a functional MSE sub-committee,whilst the District Assembly aligns the project activities to its overall development plan. Again, the project should use other accredited non-bank financial institutions to administer credit to entrepreneurs, review the criteria for the release of funds, conduct needs assessment before interventions, and monitor beneficiaries after interventions.

Source: UCC