ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
A New Generated Family of Distributions: Statistical Properties and Applications with Real-Life Data

Several standard distributions can be used to model lifetime data. Nevertheless, a number of these datasets from diverse fields such as engineering, finance, the environment, biological sciences, and others may not fit the standard distributions. As a result, there is a need to develop new distributions that incorporate a high degree of skewness and kurtosis while improving the degree of goodness-of-fit in empirical distributions. In this study, by applying the T-X method, we proposed a new flexible generated family, the Ramos-Louzada Generator (RL-G) with some relevant statistical properties such as quantile function, raw moments, incomplete moments, measures of inequality, entropy, mean and median deviations, and the reliability parameter. The RL-G family has the ability to model “right,” “left,” and “symmetric” data as well as different shapes of the hazard function. The maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) method has been used to estimate the parameters of the RL-G. The asymptotic performance of the MLE is assessed by simulation analysis. Finally, the flexibility of the RL-G family is demonstrated through the application of three real complete datasets from rainfall, breaking stress of carbon fibers, and survival times of hypertension patients, and it is evident that the RL-Weibull, which is a special case of the RL-G family, outperformed its submodels and other distributions

Source: KNUST
A Novel Analysis of Generalized Perturbed Zakharov–Kuznetsov Equation of Fractional-Order Arising in Dusty Plasma by Natural Transform Decomposition Method

The natural transform decomposition method (NTDM) is a relatively new transformation method for finding an approximate differential equation solution. In the current study, the NTDM has been used for obtaining an approximate solution of the fractional-order generalized perturbed Zakharov–Kuznetsov (GPZK) equation. The method has been tested for three nonlinear cases of the fractional-order GPZK equation. The absolute errors are analyzed by the proposed method and the q-homotopy analysis transform method (q-HATM). 3D and 2D graphs have shown the proposed method’s accuracy and effectiveness. NTDM gives a much-closed solution after a few terms.

Source: KNUST
A NOVEL SOIL MOISTURE, TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY MEASURING SYSTEM- AN IOT APPROACH

The world is currently experiencing a rapid population growth resulting in increased food demand. To avoid the risk of famine in especially low-income countries, effective and efficient agricultural practices that will enhance food production at a lower cost is desired. For effective food production, soil quality is very important. There should be improved techniques to determine precise soil moisture, humidity, and temperature measurement to guide farmers to be efficient. In Sub-Saharan African countries such as Ghana, farmers use conventional methods to check how good the soil is for cultivating crops; they examine the soil with their bare hands. This approach has proven to be ineffective as it requires significant amount of human effort. To address this challenge, an IoT based soil moisture, humidity, and temperature measurement system is proposed. It consists of a moisture probe to determine the moisture percentage of the soil, a temperature and humidity sensor for measuring the temperature and humidity of the soil, and a Wi-Fi module for transmitting the data to a data repository for analysis. A prototype is developed based on a conceptual framework which is tested under live conditions. Based on ideal parameters for the cultivation of certain crops which are stored in the data repository, and the live data captured by the sensors, the farmers are alerted electronically on the most suitable crops to plant. The system was tested in five different locations and based on the data gathered, it recommended the products that are suitable for cultivation in a particular field. The proposed system outperformed other referenced models in identifying soil suitability for the cultivation of crops. The system was able to recommend suitable crops for planting based on data on soil parameters, a feature that made it novel.

Source: KNUST
A NovelComputerVisionModel forMedicinal Plant Identification Using Log-Gabor Filters and Deep Learning Algorithms

Computer vision is the science that enables computers and machines to see and perceive image content on a semantic level. It combines concepts, techniques, and ideas from various fields such as digital image processing, pattern matching, artificial intelligence, and computer graphics. A computer vision system is designed to model the human visual system on a functional basis as closely as possible. Deep learning and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) in particular which are biologically inspired have significantly contributed to computer vision studies. is research develops a computer vision system that uses CNNs and handcrafted filters from Log-Gabor filters to identify medicinal plants based on their leaf textural features in an ensemble manner. e system was tested on a dataset developed from the Centre of Plant Medicine Research, Ghana (MyDataset) consisting of forty-nine (49) plant species. Using the concept of transfer learning, ten pretrained networks including Alexnet, GoogLeNet, Den-seNet201, Inceptionv3, Mobilenetv2, Restnet18, Resnet50, Resnet101, vgg16, and vgg19 were used as feature extractors. The DenseNet201 architecture resulted with the best outcome of 87% accuracy and GoogLeNet with 79% preforming the worse averaged across six supervised learning algorithms. e proposed model (OTAMNet), created by fusing a Log-Gabor layer into the transition layers of the DenseNet201 architecture achieved 98% accuracy when tested on MyDataset. OTAMNet was tested on other benchmark datasets; Flavia, Swedish Leaf, MD2020, and the Folio dataset. The Flavia dataset achieved 99%, Swedish Leaf 100%, MD2020 99%, and the Folio dataset 97%. A false-positive rate of less than 0.1% was achieved in all cases.

Source: KNUST
A principal component analysis on marketing 2.0 on business performance in ghana

The study analyzed the impact of marketing 2.0 on business performance in Ghana. Marketing 2.0 has become an integral part of most business' communication strategies, and for a long time, marketing had been mainly focused on the traditional aspect, but has since adapted to ii new contexts such as online platforms, with the emergence of user generated content. Again, marketing 2.0, which involves interactive communication between consumers and businesses. Many supermarkets perceive social media as unprofitable, as they are unaware of its benefits in terms of customer relations and roi. The study focused on a principal component analysis of marketing 2.0 and its effect on business performance in Ghana. Questionnaires (likert scale questionnaire was used for data collection) would be employed. Secondary data would be retrieved from journals and scientific reports, articles, academic papers. Data gathered was presented in tables and bar charts using business management statistical package for social sciences version 26 for hypothesis testing, correlation analysis, and regression analysis. Data was collected from 240 workers of nestle Ghana limited - Accra metropolis. Convenience sampling method was used to select the respondents. Data was analyzed quantitatively. The results revealed that there is very strong positive correlation between marketing 2.0 and supermarket performance. The correlation values were 0.00 denoting statistically significant relationship as marketing 2.0 is the latest trend in marketing that focuses on leveraging digital and social media platforms to reach customers and drive sales. It involves using a customercentric approach to engage with customers, personalizing content and messaging, and leveraging data to create more effective campaigns. Therefore, it was recommended that researching on how digital technologies can be used to boost supermarket performance is essential as technology develops further and new digital solutions become accessible. Keywords: marketing 2.0, business performance, social media marketing

Source: KNUST
A probabilistic assessment of the contribution of wastewater-irrigated lettuce to Escherichia coli O157:H7 infection risk and disease burden in Kumasi, Ghana

Wastewater use for vegetable production is widespread across the cities of many developing countries. Studies on the microbial health risks associated with the practice have largely depended on faecal indicator organisms with potential underestimation or overestimation of the microbial health risks and disease burdens. This study assessed the Escherichia coli O157:H7 infection risk and diarrhoeal disease burden measured in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) associated with the consumption of wastewater-irrigated lettuce in Kumasi, Ghana using data on E. coli O157:H7 in ready-to-harvest, wastewater-irrigated lettuce. Two exposure scenarios – best case and worst case – associated with a single consumption of wastewater-irrigated lettuce were assessed. The assessment revealed wastewater-irrigated lettuce is contributing to the transmission of E. coli O157: H7 in Kumasi, Ghana. The mean E. coli O157:H7 infection risk and DALYs in the wet and dry seasons, irrespective of the exposure scenario, were above the World Health Organization tolerable daily infection risk of 2.7 × 10 7 per person per day and 10 6 DALYs per person per year. It is recommended that legislation with clear monitoring indicators and penalties is implemented to ensure that farmers and food sellers fully implement risk mitigating measures

Source: KNUST
A Proposed Method for Finding Initial Solutions to Transportation Problems

The Transportation Model (TM) in the application of Linear Programming (LP) is very useful in optimal distribution of goods. This paper focuses on finding Initial Basic Feasible Solutions (IBFS) to TMs hence, proposing a Demand- Based Allocation Method (DBAM) to solve the problem. This unprecedented proposal goes in contrast to the Cost- Based Resource Allocations (CBRA) associated with existing methods (including North-west Corner Rule, Least Cost Method and Vogel’s Approximation Method) which select decision variable before choosing demand and supply constraints. The proposed ‘DBAM’ on page 66 is implemented in MATLAB and has the ability to solve large-scale transportation problems to meet industrial needs. A sample of five (5) examples are presented to evaluate efficiency of the method. Initial Basic Feasible Solutions drawn from the study are of higher accuracy and will rapidly converge to optima in less iterations. The comparative results also showed that the DBAM outperforms other methods under this study which qualifies it as one of the best methods to solve industrial TMs.

Source: KNUST
A Proposed Framework For Interoperability Of Electronic Health Record Systems In Ghana

Electronic Health Record Systems (EHR’s) plays a major role in today’s health care delivery. Problems associated with patients’ records scattered across many different health facilities have become enormous. It has therefore become very necessary that these Electronic Health Records systemsare interoperable. This would enable health care providers to have comprehensive records about their patients in order to provide them with better care. This work proposes a framework that would enable interoperability of Electronic Health Records from different health facilities across Ghana. The framework underlines certain key requirements such as reliable internet connectivity, biometric finger print scanner and mapping of various tables of the individual databases from different EHRs to the adapter of the framework for interoperability to take place. A simulation and virtualization test about the framework was conducted based on connectivity,search for patients who has visited many facilities and those who don’t have their records in any of the facilities to examine how it would perform if used in the real world. The simulation results from the virtualized framework revealed that it does not require many resources such as high internet speed, one programming language platform for the EHRs, computer servers with high memory and CPU to allow interoperability of patients’ records. Therefore, the framework would highly help health care providers to care for their patients well, due to the vast amount of information they would have on their patients. As part of the recommendations, each EHR in the health facility needs a backup internet, electricityand standby sever for the framework in order to function effectively. Finally, further works could also be done on this study to generate trends reports

Source: KNUST
A qualitative study of health system barriers to accessibility and utilization of maternal and newborn healthcare services in Ghana after user-fee abolition

Background: To reduce financial barriers to access, and improve access to and use of skilled maternal and newborn healthcare services, the government of Ghana, in 2003, implemented a new maternal healthcare policy that provided free maternity care services in all public and mission healthcare facilities. Although supervised delivery in Ghana has increased from 47% in 2003 to 55% in 2010, strikingly high maternal mortality ratio and low percentage of skilled attendance are still recorded in many parts of the country. To explore health system factors that inhibit women’s access to and use of skilled maternal and newborn healthcare services in Ghana despite these services being provided free. Methods: We conducted qualitative research with 185 expectant and lactating mothers and 20 healthcare providers in six communities in Ghana between November 2011 and May 2012. We used Attride-Stirling’s thematic network analysis framework to analyze and present our data. Results: We found that in addition to limited and unequal distribution of skilled maternity care services, women’s experiences of intimidation in healthcare facilities, unfriendly healthcare providers, cultural insensitivity, long waiting time before care is received, limited birthing choices, poor care quality, lack of privacy at healthcare facilities, and difficulties relating to arranging suitable transportation were important health system barriers to increased and equitable access and use of services in Ghana. Conclusion: Our findings highlight how a focus on patient-side factors can conceal the fact that many health systems and maternity healthcare facilities in low-income settings such as Ghana are still chronically under-resourced and incapable of effectively providing an acceptable minimum quality of care in the event of serious obstetric complications. Efforts to encourage continued use of maternity care services, especially skilled assistance at delivery, should focus on addressing those negative attributes of the healthcare system that discourage access and use.

Source: KNUST
A stable scheme of the Curvilinear Shallow Water Equations with no-penetration and far-field boundary conditions

This paper presents a stable and highly accurate numerical tool for computing river flows in urban areas, which is a first step towards a numerical tool for flood predictions. We start with the (linearized) well-posedness analysis by Ghader and Nordström (2014), where far-field boundary conditions were proposed and extend their analysis to include wall boundaries. Specifically, we employed high-order Summation-by-parts (SBP) finite-difference operators to construct a scheme for the Shallow Water Equations. We also developed a stable SBP scheme with Simultaneous Approximation Terms that impose far-field and wall boundaries. Finally, we extended the schemes and their stability proofs to non-Cartesian domains. To demonstrate the strength of the schemes, we performed computations for problems with exact solutions to obtain second, third, and fourth (2, 3, 4) convergence rates. Finally, we applied the 4𝑡ℎ-order scheme to steady river channels, the canal (or floodcontrol channel simulations), and dam-break problems. The results show that the imposition of the boundary conditions is stable, and the far-field boundaries cause no visible reflections at the boundaries.

Source: KNUST
A review of the water resources of Ghana in a changing climate and anthropogenic stresses

An extensive narrative review approach is adopted to present existing information on the consumptive and non-consumptive uses and their related issues, such as floods and droughts, climate and the environment in Ghana. Total annual rainfall in the country ranges between 800 mm/y (south-east coat) and 2,000 mm/y (south-west coast) with a bimodal and mono-modal patterns in the south and north, respectively. Annual total runo from the 3 river systems (the Volta river system, the South-western river system and the Coastal river system) in Ghana is estimated at 40 billion m3 out of about 53 billion renewable freshwater resources. Groundwater yields ranges from 6 m3 /h in the Volta basin sedimentary formations to 180 m3 /h in the limestone formations. It is estimated that the total water withdrawal as a percentage of total renewable water resources is about 2%. At an average per capita consumption of water of 50 l/p/d, estimated daily water demand for the 2021 population of 31 million people stands at about 566 million m3 /y. Current water supply systems are overstretched and it is further estimated that about US $ 240 million is required per year as capital expenditure in urban and rural water supply. Moreover, climate change is projected to increase the scarcity of water in future. Wastewater generated through domestic and industrial uses including storm water in urban Ghana is estimated at about 760 million m3 /y. Ghana’s irrigation potential to reduce climate change impact on agriculture is put at between 0.36 and 2.9 million ha, accounting for about 66.4% of the consumptive water withdrawal. Estimated water demand for cattle, sheep and goats in 2010 was put at about 22 million m3 /y. Other services obtained from surface water are the provision of fish (the Volta Lake is estimated to contributes to 16% of total catch in Ghana); hydropower generation accounting for about 40% of total power installed capacity (Akosombo = 1,020 MW, Kpong = 160 MW, and Bui = 404 MW); water transportation (notably on the Volta Lake); tourist attractions [are 550 km Ghana’s shoreline that has about 90 lagoons, the Volta Lake, the lower Volta (e.g., Sogakope, Ada) and some other inland waters like Lake Bosumtwi] and wetlands (recognized by RAMSAR convention of 1971) In the legal context, water governance issues are handled by various institutions created by Acts of Parliament.

Source: KNUST
A review on the provenance of the Voltaian Basin, Ghana: Implications for hydrocarbon prospectivity

The Voltaian Basin of Ghana has taken significance as a potential oil and gas basin. Since Ghana became a petroleum-producing country, every attempt is being made to understand the sedimentary basins within the country’s territorial boundaries, particularly, the Voltaian Basin. This review paper investigates studies on the Voltaian Basin drawing on a comprehensive literature review based on database searches from Scopus, Web of Science, and Science Direct, among others. Several branches of geology such as mineralogy, geochemistry, igneous and metamorphic petrology, geochronology, and sedimentary geology among others were integrated to reconstruct the source of the Voltaian Basin sedimentary rocks. Application of compositional analyses to determine provenance using petrographic, mineralogical, and geochemical techniques are also discussed. Results based on articles retrieved from the comprehensive literature review summarize the findings on provenance studies; stating the sediment source and history of the rock types in the Voltaian Basin to be most likely from the Pan-African orogenic rocks having a felsic source with some inputs from metasedimentary source rocks. Findings from provenance studies further point to the depositional environment being of shallow marine source and having a fluvial to deltaic environmental features, suggesting that the depositional environment is suitable for hydrocarbon source rocks as well as reservoir rocks formation. With regards to petroleum exploration, a lot of research work needs to be done to identify the type of sedimentary organic matter present in the shales and the limestones of the Voltaian Basin. Furthermore, the rock properties that define petroleum reservoirs such as porosity, permeability, pore type, and rock compressibility as well as electrical properties of some important sandstones need to be thoroughly investigated.

Source: KNUST
A study of the factors influencing the performance of public basic schools in Ga West District.

The main purpose of the study is to identify the factors responsible for the poor academic performance of public basic school pupils in the Ga-West District. The researchers adopted descriptive research design in order to analyze the topic thoroughly. In this study, the target population was made up of teachers and students of some selected public basic schools in the Ga-West District. Studying the whole population would have greatly enhanced the outcome of the study. The various students and teachers from the selected public basic schools in the district were selected using quatrain which convenience sampling was used to select the individuals who responded to the questionnaire. Both primary and secondary sources of data were obtained for the study. The used descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, frequency distribution in analyzing the data. The study revealed that there is no adequate teaching and learning materials, there no ultra-modern library facility, there is no availability of good classroom building and also there is no availability of laboratory. Findings again revealed that parent related factors causing low academic performance are inability to provide textbooks and supplementary readers, family structure, and low parental involvement in Parent Teacher Association (PTA). Pupil related factors affecting low academic performance were indices of lateness to school and absenteeism, lack of assistance with studies at home and use of local language in the classroom. It is recommended that the schools administration should maintain a cordial relationship between teachers, parents, students so as to help students towards better or excellent performance.

Source: KNUST