ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
An application of the ADAPT-ITT model to an evidence-based behavioral HIV prevention intervention for men who have sex with men in Ghana

Despite constituting only about 1% of Ghana’s population, men who have sex with men (MSM) carry a disproportionate burden of HIV infections, constituting 18% of the population of people living with HIV in the country. Scholars have associated the disproportionate infection rates of HIV among MSM with existing structural factors(such as criminalization and stigma against MSM), and individual-level factors(such assex without a condom, and transactional sex). Nonetheless, only a few scholars consider intervention as an approach to reducing HIV and other STD risk among MSM in the country. As such, in collaboration with community partners, we engaged MSM through the use of the ADAPT-ITT model to adapt the Many Men Many Voices (3MV) to address the needs of MSM. We addressed STD risk factors and ways to reduce HIV infections. In this paper, we describe the use of the ADAPT ITT model in the adoption and adaptation of the 3MV with MSM in Ghana. Whereas the 3MV was a good fit for our target population, we made modifications to fit the Ghanaian cultural setting by examining HIV and other STD risk in the context of bisexuality, insisting on discretion in choosing our location, and on incorporating a historical colonial setting in contextualizing sexuality and stigma in the Ghanaian sociocultural context. Our implementation process shows the efficacy of collaboration with community partners to implement culturally relevant interventions in HIV and STD prevention efforts in highly stigmatized environments.

Source: UG
Application of the QuEChERS procedure and LC–MS/MS for the assessment of neonicotinoid insecticide residues in cocoa beans and shells Journal of Food Composition and Analysis

The Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged and Safe (QuEChERS) procedure was applied and validated for the analysis of neonicotinoid insecticide residues in cocoa bean matrix with high fat and high pigments. Samples employed in the study were fermented and dried beans obtained from major cocoa producing regions in Ghana where neonicotinoids are extensively used. Shells covering the beans were removed and analyzed separately to examine insecticide distribution. Analytes in both matrices were extracted in acetonitrile with sodium acetate and magnesium sulfate salts, cleaned up using a sorbent mixture of primary secondary amine (PSA), C18 and graphitized carbon black (GCB), and quantified using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS). Average recoveries at four levels of fortification ranged from 92 to 111% with relative standard deviation of 16% for all analytes. Limits of quantification ranged from 3 to 10 mg/kg for all neonicotinoids. Imidacloprid was the most frequently encountered neonicotinoid and was quantified in more than 10% of deshelled bean and 30% of cocoa shell samples, with concentrations ranging from 11.5 to 35.6 mg/kg and 11.8 to 214 mg/kg in cocoa beans and shells, respectively. The findings from this study suggest a need for greater efficiency in neonicotinoid application, to avoid the build-up of these insecticides to unsafe levels in cocoa beans.

Source: UG
Application of the WHO keys of safer food to improve food handling practices of food vendors in a poor resource community in Ghana

Data was collected from food vendors in a poor resource community in Ghana, which showed that the vendors constituted an important source of oro-faecal transmission. Following this, the WHO five keys of safer food were utilized in an evidence based training programme for the vendors to improve their food handling practices. Impact assessment of the food safety training showed that 67.6% of the vendors had acquired some knowledge from the workshop and were putting it into practice. Lack of food safety equipment was a major hinderance to behavioral change among the vendors as far food handling practices are concerned.

Source: UG
Application of theory of planned behaviour to households’ source separation behaviour in Ghana

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that encourage households’ source separation behaviour in Accra and Tamale Metropolises in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach Using a cross-sectional design, 855 households of Ghana were interviewed based on the theoretical framework of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). The ordered probit regression model was employed to examine the factors that influence households’ source separation intention. Findings The results indicated that educational attainment of head of household, total income of household, occupation type of household head, information, past experience with source separation, inconvenience in terms of time, space and availability of formal source separation scheme, attitude, subjective norm and the location of the respondents significantly predicted households’ solid waste separation intentions. Research limitations/implications The cross-sectional design does not determine causality but an association. Thus, future studies should examine actual household waste separation behaviour by using the experimental design to test the TPB model. Practical implications To promote solid waste separation at source, the public should be educated and provided with solid waste separation schemes that are efficient and compatible with households’ preference. Originality/value This study was partly motivated by the fact that despite the benefits associated with source separation, little attention has been given to formal source separation in Ghana. Moreover, there are limited studies on source separation behaviour in Ghana using the TPB as the theoretical framework.

Source: UG
The application of Westcott Formalism k 0 NAA method to estimate short and medium lived elements in some Ghanaian herbal medicines complemented by AAS

The epithermal neutron shape factor, α of the inner and outer irradiation sites of the Ghana Research Reactor-1 (GHARR-1) was determined obtaining results of 0.105 for the inner (Channel 1) Irradiation site and 0.020 for the outer (channel 6) irradiation site. The neutron temperatures for the inner and outer irradiation sites were 27°C and 20°C, respectively. The α values used in Westcott Formalism k 0 INAA was applied to determine multi elements in 13 Ghanaian herbal medicines used by the Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine (CSRPM) for the management of various diseases complemented by Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. They are namely Mist. Antiaris, Mist. Enterica, Mist. Morazia, Mist. Nibima, Mist. Modium, Mist. Ninger, Mist Sodenia, Mist. Tonica, Chardicca Powder, Fefe Powder, Olax Powder, Sirrapac powder and Lippia Tea. Concentrations of Al, As, Br, K, Cl, Cu, Mg, Mn, Na and V were determined by short and medium irradiations at a thermal neutron flux of 5×10 11ncm -2s -1. Fe, Cr, Pb, Co, Ni, Sn, Ca, Ba, Li and Sb were determined using Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS). Ba, Cu, Li and V were present at trace levels whereas Al, Cl, Na, Ca were present at major levels. K, Br, Mg, Mn, Co, Ni, Fe and Sb were also present at minor levels. Arsenic was not detected in all samples. Standard Reference material, IAEA-V-10 Hay Powder was simultaneously analysed with samples. The precision and accuracy of the method using real samples and standard reference materials were evaluated and within ±10% of the reported value. Multivariate analytical techniques, such as cluster analysis (Q-mode and R-mode CA) and principal component analysis (PCA)/factor analysis (FA), have been applied to evaluate the chemical variations in the herbal medicine dataset. All the 13 samples may be grouped into 2 statistically significant clusters (liquid based and powdered herbal medicines), reflecting the different chemical compositions. R-mode CA and PCA suggest common sources for Co, Mg, Fe, Ca, Cr, Ni, Sn, Li and Sb and Na, V, Cl, Mn, Al, Br and K. The PCA/FA identified 3 dominant factors as responsible for the data structure, explaining 84.5% of the total variance in the dataset. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.

Source: UG
Application programming interface (API) research: A review of the past to inform the future

The purpose of this study is to perform a synthesis of API research. The study took stock of literature from academic journals on APIs with their associated themes, frameworks, methodologies, publication outlets and level of analysis. The authors draw on a total of 104 articles from academic journals and conferences published from 2010 to 2018. A systematic literature review was conducted on the selected articles. The findings suggest that API research is primarily atheoretical and largely focuses on the technological dimensions such as design and usage; thus, neglecting most of the social issues such as the business and managerial applications of APIs, which are equally important. Future research directions are provided concerning the gaps identified.

Source: UG
Applied Health Economics and Health Policy

Background: Many Sub-Saharan African countries may not achieve the Millennium Development goal of reducing child mortality by 2015 partly due to the stalled reduction in neonatal deaths, which constitute about 60 % of infant deaths. Although many studies have emphasized the importance of accessible maternal healthcare as a means of reducing maternal and child mortality, very few of these studies have explored the affordability and accessibility concerns of maternal healthcare on neonatal mortality.Objective: This study bridges this research gap as it aims to investigate whether the number of antenatal visits and skilled delivery are associated with the risk of neonatal deaths in Ghana.Methods: Using individual level data of women in their reproductive years from the 2008 Demographic and Health Survey, the study employs an instrumental variable strategy to deal with the potential endogeneity of antenatal care visits.Results: Estimates from the instrumental variable estimation show that antenatal care visits reduce the risk of neonatal death by about 2 %, while older women have an approximately 0.2 % higher risk of losing their neonates than do younger women.Conclusion: Findings suggest that women who attend antenatal visits have a significantly lower probability of losing their babies in the first month of life. Further, results show that women’s age significantly affects the risk of losing their babies in the neonatal stage. However, the study finds no significant effect of skilled delivery and education on neonatal mortality. © 2014, Springer International Publishing Switzerland.

Source: UG
Applying Constructivist Theories of Teaching and Learning to the Teaching and Learning of Adult numeracy in the Further Education Sector in the UK

The pursuit of mathematical connections in teaching has intensified in recent years and a number of studies in numeracy teaching have identified two types of numeracy teachers – those with constructivist approaches to the teaching and learning of numeracy and those with a transmission view of the subject generally. Of the two, constructivist teachers have been found to be the more effective teachers of numeracy because they are better in bringing about identified learning outcomes. What constructivism promotes is a more progressive model that is rooted in discussions between teacher and student and between student and student. It involves the process of meaning-making whereby students simultaneously construct and make sense of their world, and is also more democratic in the sense that roles of teacher and student can be reversed. Indeed, the fundamental goal of numeracy instruction should be to help students build structures that are more complex than those they possessed before instruction and that can be used in different contexts. Here, the teacher's role is not to merely convey to students information about numeracy but to facilitate profound cognitive restructuring through negotiation of meanings of contextualised activities. Hence the importance of constructivism in the teaching of adult numeracy.

Source: UG
Applying mathematics in real-life problems: A case study of two senior high schools in Ghana

The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the extent to which senior high school students could apply mathematics in real life situations by examining the relationship between their performance on “routine” mathematical calculations and that on a “shortwriting” task related to the application of mathematics. It involved thirty boys and thirty girls from two Senior High Schools in Accra, the capital of Ghana in West Africa. All the sixty participants were in Form 1 (SHS1) at the time of the study. Data for the study was collected between June and August 2008 using tasks and interviews. Both qualitative and quantitative analytical techniques were used to analyse the data. The results of the study showed no significant gender differences in the students’ performance on both the routine and the short-writing tasks but showed marked differences between the students’ performance on the routine calculations and that on the short-writing task. The students’ mean score for the routine calculations was significantly higher than their mean score for the short-writing task as the difference between the two mean scores was statistically significant at the 0.1% level. Furthermore, there was a strong correlation between the students’ performance on the two different tasks. The implications of the results for the teaching and learning of mathematics are discussed

Source: UG
Applying the Ancient Afrakan Foundation of Ma’at and Symptomatic Thinking with Mdw Ntchr

Our present day educational systems in America and throughout the entire western world, including all of Afraka and the diaspora are based on symbolic thought, Religious mythology, white supremacy and racism which is steeped in unrealistic allegory and superstition. And this symbolic cancerous thinking is at the heart of our educational intuitions and dysfunctional families. It is set up to retard, enslave, impoverish, imprison, completely destroy and devastate our positive self esteem, dignity, consciousness and creativity. As a result, the masses are upside down inside out and backwards! I am proposing a new but ancient revolutionary way of thinking called Symptomatic thought developed by Brother Edgar Ridley, also using the Mdw Ntchr, and Ma’at, an ancient Kash and Kemety Spiritual System of the Hapy Eteru Valley as a liberating tool, which develops good character that will change the way we think making a major paradigm shift to pro Pan-Afrakan and pro nature! Through the power of Symptomatic thought and the writing of the Mdw Ntchr with its sacred science, mathematics, astrology, astronomy and Architectural structures will lead us to a reservoir of unlimited Knowledge and wisdom based upon Ma’at. This Ma’atian center teaches balance, love, peace of mind, reciprocity and right order, so that we as Afrakan people can become the leaders of our glorious destiny in the 21st century as world leaders! Ankh Udja Snb Nb Hem Sem Tpy of Jhuty Heru Nb-Hu

Source: UG
An appraisal of institutions of global governance: the case of the African human rights system.

This paper examines the effectiveness of global governance institutions in the light of changes in the global system, and how such changes can be observed in the international arena. This study focuses on the African system of human rights as an example of global governance institutions operating within the liberal global order created in the post-war era by the United States. This paper uses Oran Young's1 framework of effectiveness of international institutions to examine whether the African human rights system is effective. Based on that framework, the paper observes that the African human rights system has been able to move beyond human rights treaty ratification by African states to the establishment of treaty bodies that have demonstrated dynamism in response to challenges in the African human rights system, as well as changes in the liberal global order. However, there is more to effectiveness of institutions of global governance beyond the dynamism demonstrated by the African system of human rights.

Source: UG
The appraisal of mathematics teachers in Ghana

This study examined the nature and existing methods of teacher appraisal in Ghana. 441 secondary mathematics teachers participated, of whom 193 teach the subject at the junior secondary level and 248 teach it at the senior secondary level. In addition, 44 Ghana Education Service Officials and 6 Heads of secondary schools who appraise mathematics teachers were sampled. Methods used included questionnaires, interviews and observation of appraisers at work. Chi-squarex2 and discriminant analysis statistics were used. Highly significant relationships were found between mathematics teachers' perceived professional support and appraisal experience, mathematics teaching experience and professional status at the senior secondary level; and between perceived support and appraisal experience at the junior secondary level. The results indicated inefficiencies in the appraisal system employed by the Ghana Education Service (GES) in supporting mathematics teachers to improve their work.

Source: UG
APPRAISING THE IMPACT OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION ON WORKER SATISFACTION IN ORGANIZATIONAL WORKPLACE

Today, more and more businesses depend on communications for their success since a well-organized communication system is shown to be an important factor in stimulating worker satisfaction in organizations. The purpose of this paper is to assess organizational communication and its impact on worker satisfaction in organizational workplace. The paper examines three Ghanaian organizations in the formal sector using a quantitative survey of ninety respondents to gain information for the study. The chi-square test was used with cross-tabulation of the independent and dependent variables to test and answer the hypothesis and research questions formulated for the study. Findings show that there is a significant relationship between efficient organizational communication and employee satisfaction. Findings also show that organizational communication has a positive impact on employee performance. Analysis of the findings further reveals that workers prefer good leadership communication behavior because it has positive effects on workers in organizations. The study proposes that organizations in the formal sector will achieve their objectives if they pay proper attention to the communication processes through efficient organizational communication in the workplace.

Source: UG
Appreciating the complexity of localized malaria risk in Ghana: Spatial data challenges and solutions

Various factors have been associated with the ongoing high prevalence of malaria in Ghana. Among these are poor sanitation, low socioeconomic status (SES), building construction and other proximate micro environmental risks, and individual behaviors. What makes the curbing of malaria more challenging, is that for many of the most impacted areas there is little data for modeling or predictions, which are needed, as risk is not homogenous at the sub-neighborhood scale. In this study we use available local surveillance data combined with novel on-the ground fine scale environmental data collection, to gain an initial understanding of malaria risk for the Teshie township of Accra, Ghana. Mapped environmental risk factors include open drains, stagnant water and trash. Overlaid onto these were clinical data of reported malaria cases collected between 2012 and 2016 at LEKMA hospital. We then enrich these maps with local context using a new method for malaria research, spatial video geonarratives (SVGs). These SVGs provide insights into the underlying spatial-social patterns of risks, to reveal where traditional data collection is lacking, and how and where to develop local intervention strategies.

Source: UG
Approaches for the Elimination of Microbial Contaminants from Lippia multiflora Mold. Leaves Intended for Tea Bagging and Evaluation of Formulation

Elimination of microorganisms from herbal products has been a major concern due to its implicated health risk to consumers. Drying of herbal materials has been employed for centuries to reduce the risk of contamination and spoilage. )e present study adopted three drying approaches in an attempt to eliminate microorganisms from Lippia multiflora tea bag formulation. )is study also evaluated the tea bags and optimized the extraction procedure. )e L. multiflora leaves for tea bagging were air-dried and milled (A), oven-dried and milled (B), and microwaved (the milled air-dried leaves) (C). )e moisture contents were determined at 105°C ± 2°C for 2 hours to constant weight. Phytochemical parameters such as phytochemical constituents, total water extractive, and pH were assessed. )e microbial safety and quality of the L. multiflora tea bags were evaluated using the British Pharmacopoeia 2019 specifications. )e uniformity of the mass of the formulated tea bags was also determined. Extraction from the Lippia tea bags was optimized. )e results showed that using the approaches (A, B, and C) adopted for drying and processing, the moisture contents of the formulated tea bags were in the range of 9.75–10.71% w/w. All the formulated tea bags contained reducing sugars, phenolic compounds, polyuronides, flavonoids, anthracenosides, alkaloids, saponins, and phytos terols. )e pH range of the formulations was 7.11–7.54, whereas the total water extractive values were in the range of 19.12–20.41% w/w. )e one-way analysis of variance demonstrated no significant difference in the data obtained from the results from A, B, and C. )e formulation from A was found to be unsafe for consumption due to unacceptable microbial contamination limits. Microbial load of the formulations from B and C were within the BP specifications. All the batches of the formulations passed the uniformity of mass test. An optimized extraction procedure was obtained when one tea bag was extracted in 250 mL of hot water within the specified time. L. multiflora leaves meant for tea bagging should be oven-dried or microwaved before tea bagging for safe consumption

Source: UG
Approaches in Information Research

Research approaches are general techniques that researchers follow when conducting a study. Employing research approaches in information research is noted to vary from one researcher to another based on the investigator’s choice as well as the nature of the topic under investigation. The differences in the use of research approaches in information research do not rely on data gathering alone, but also on the practical consequences of the inquiry and the interpretation of the findings. The study looked into the three most major research approaches, qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods, and discussed how the adoption of these approaches fit into information research. It was found that application of research approaches in information research is beneficial. However, information researchers are advised to be cautious of the weaknesses of the approaches they would adopt for a study.

Source: UG
Approaches to Regulating Adolescent Sexual Behavior in Ghana: Qualitative Evidence from Somanya and Adidome

This article examines perceptions of why HIV infection is severe among adolescents in Somanya and less so in Adidome-two seemingly similar communities in Ghana-through analysis of the social control measures employed by these communities to regulate adolescent sexual initiation. Using focus group discussions with parents and caregivers of adolescent children, the study found that parents in Somanya and Adidome used different regulatory mechanisms to influence adolescent sexual initiation. While parents in Somanya relied largely on parental monitoring, parents in Adidome depended more on a combination of neighborhood monitoring and community barriers (informal rules) to control adolescent sexual onset. The study findings showed that contextual factors (socioeconomic and cultural) shaped the social realities of people in these two communities accounting for the differences in HIV prevalence.

Source: UG