ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Effect of antiretroviral therapy on all-cause mortality among people living with HIV/AIDS in Ghana using Mahalanobis distant metric matching within propensity score caliper analysis: A retrospective cohort study

Several health interventions have been put in place to improve health outcomes of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) in Ghana. We evaluated the impact of Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) on all-cause mortality in Ghana using matching procedures. This was a retrospective cohort study of 12,881 HIV/AIDS patients initiated on ART at 40 sentinel sites and 199 treatment centers between 2013 and 2016 countrywide. Patients were included if they had date of ART initiation and if they had mortality outcome recorded. Mahalanobis distant metric matching within propensity score caliper and other matching procedures were used to evaluate the effectiveness of ART in reducing the risk of all-cause mortality among PLHIV in Ghana. We performed sensitivity analysis using different matching procedures including Kernel weighting adjustment and Mahalanobis distance metric matching with nearest neighbour to ascertain the robustness of our results in the presence of unmeasured covariates. The proportion of patients on ART was 60.3% (95% CI: 59.5–61.1). The total number of mortalities reported was only 734 representing 4.6% (95% CI: 4.2–4.9) of the studied population. The risk of all-cause mortality has reduced by 11.6 percentage point among HIV/AIDS patients who were on ART compared to those who were not on ART (95% CI: 9.6–13.4). ART was associated with a decreased risk of all-cause mortality. Effort being made by Government and non-Governmental organizations in support of ART treatment in Ghana should continue unabated to help reduce mortality rate and improve health outcomes among HIV/AIDS. To reduce bias to the barest minimum between treatment and intervention group when evaluating the effectiveness of health interventions, it is recommended to use matching procedures especially when the study design is not a randomized control trial.

Source: UG
Effect of Asymptomatic Plasmodium falciparum Parasitaemia on Platelets Thrombogenicity in Blood Donors

Currently, blood donors in Ghana are not screened for malaria parasites. Therefore, this study assessed platelet thrombogenicity in blood donors infected asymptomatically with Plasmodium falciparum and the relationship between tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFa), 8-iso-prostaglandin F2a oxidative stress biomarker (8- iso-PG2a), C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and D-dimer, and platelet thrombogenes levels. Haematology analyser was used to enumerate platelet count and platelet indices in 80 P. falciparum infected blood donors and 160 matched noninfected controls. Replicate serum levels of von Willebrand Factor (vWF), platelet factor 4 (PF4), P-selectin thrombogenic factors as well as TNF-a and 8-iso-PG2a were determined using enzyme immuno-assay while high sensitive hs-CRP and D-dimer concentrations were determined by fluorescent immunoassay. The geometric mean of parasite density in malaria infected donors was 1784 parasites/ lL (505-2478 parasites/lL). This led to significant increase in the mean levels of 8-iso-PG2a, hs-CRP, TNF-a and D-dimer. However, PF4, P-selectin were significantly lower in infected donors while vWF levels did not differ significantly among the groups even though lower levels were observed in the infected donors. Significant direct relationship existed between both P-selectin and PF4 and platelet count, and plateletcrit and platelet large cell ratio whereas these thrombogenic factors varied inversely to 8-iso-PG2a, TNF-a and hs-CRP. Relative thrombocytopaenia was associated with significant reduction in P-selectin and platelet factor 4 levels together with increased 8-iso-PG2a, hs-CRP, TNF-a and D-dimer levels. Taken together, it is recommended that all P. falciparum infected blood donors should be deferred.

Source: UG
Effect of Ball Milling Time on the Physical, Thermal and Fracture Behaviour of 2MgO.2Al2O3.5SiO2 Precursors

In this study, an evaluation has been made into the influence of milling time on the thermo-physical and fracture properties of a MgO-Al2O3-SiO2 system. The powdery and compacted formulation of the raw materials was studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), particle size distribution (PSD), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), and acoustic emission technique (AE). The milling mechanism comprised of essentially three stages of milling time viz.; 120, 240, and 360 min respectively, with no milling (0 min) serving as the control batch. During the first stage of milling (120 min), it was observed that the greatest deformation occurred for the powdery formulation with increasing surface area, control batch inclusive, from 26.4 to 41.1 m2 g−1. It was also noticed that the density of the samples increased with progressive ball milling time. The mean crystallite sizes of un-milled and milled powders were calculated as 36.61, 48.82, 34.27 and 52.13 μm for control batch and powders milled at 120, 240, and 360 min, and denoted as MT0, MT120, MT240, and MT360, respectively. The mean crystallite sizes further reduced with increasing milling time up to 240 min and increased with milling time up to 360 min. These results were in line with the SEM findings. The acoustic emission (AE) intensity increased reaching a maximum at MT240, and a noticeable decline in the case of MT360 was observed. This indicated a gradual crack growth behavior because of the highly stressed powders used for the compacts.

Source: UG
Effect of Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdcourt) varieties on development of Callosobruchus maculatus Fab. (Coleoptera: Bruchidae)

The development of Callosobruchus maculatus Fab. on five varieties (Botosinkpila, Sinkpikara, Sinkpibia, Sinkpipiela and Sinkpisabla) of stored bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdcourt) seeds was assessed in the laboratory, under fluctuating temperature and relative humidity of 25.3 to 30.3˚C and 26.7 to 75% R.H. Fifteen grammes 15g of seeds of each variety treatment were weighed separately into 500ml bottles and infested with four pairs (male and female) of 0-48 hrs old adult beetles. Each treatment was replicated 5 times. The number of adults that emerged from eggs was lower than the number of eggs laid on seeds of each variety; however, the emerging progenies were on average much lower in the resistant varieties relative to the susceptible ones. Varieties Sinkpibia, Sinkpipiela and Sinkpisabla were relatively susceptible to infestation by the beetle. Higher numbers of adults emerged from these seeds. The susceptible varieties also suffered more than 50% weight loss after 3 months of storage. Their susceptibility index values ranged from 13-14. Botosinkpila and Sinkpikara varieties produced relatively fewer adults which caused less than 50% weight loss. Susceptibility indices of 12-13 were recorded for these and suggest them to be moderately resistant or tolerant to attack. The two resistant varieties had hard seed coats, with seed coat force values greater than 20 Newton (N) as compared to the soft in the susceptible varieties which had force values of less than 20 N. The significance of these findings to the resource-poor subsistence farmers is discussed

Source: UG
Effect of band-gap tuning on absorption of phonons and acoustoelectric current in graphene nanoribbon

We report the use of Boltzmann Transport Equation (BTE) in the hypersound regime for investigating the gen eration of acoustoelectric (AE) current in an armchair graphene nanoribbon (AGNR). The AE current obtained was deduced from the absorption due to the Landau damping of quantized sound waves (LD-QSW) energy. By stimulating the AGNR with a non-quantized electric field, the absorption and the AE current were analysed against the frequency, the wavenumber, the width of the bandgap and the drift velocity. The absorption was observed to switch to amplification as the drift velocity was varied. At high drift velocities, the amplitude of the AE current decreases as the band-gap (that depends on the applied electric field) was increased, suggesting a potential use of AGNR in the design of tunable acoustoelectric current devices.

Source: UG
The effect of banking sector reforms on interest rate spread: Evidence from Ghana

The wide interest rate spread has been a matter of concern for many developing economies. In Ghana, the perception is that the interest rate spread is too wide and that banks have linked it to various variables affecting them. This study examines the effect of banking sector reforms on bank interest rate spread in Ghana over the period 2008–2020, using an unbalanced panel-data dynamic equation regression model. The findings reveal that bank size, profitability, gross domestic product, and inflation rate significantly influence Ghana’s bank interest rate spread. Results also suggest that these factors account for determining the interest rate spread in the universal banking industry in Ghana. The industry needs to mitigate the interest rate spread by improving the macroeconomic environment, address industry-specific issues, strengthen institutional systems, such as govern ance and supervision, and also continue to ensure stability in the political environ ment. The study provides valuable insights regarding the design and formulation of competitive policies and regulatory changes on interest rate regimes, to help pro mote the competitiveness of the universal banking industry in the country. Policymakers and regulators should emphasize enterprise risk management prac tices in Ghana’s universal banking industry to check credit risk and other risk forms.

Source: UG
The effect of Bellwether analysis on software vulnerability severity prediction models

Vulnerability severity prediction (VSP) models provide useful insight for vulnerability prioritization and software maintenance. Previous studies have proposed a variety of machine learning algorithms as an important paradigm for VSP. However, to the best of our knowledge, there are no other existing research studies focusing on investigating how a subset of features can be used to improve VSP. To address this deficiency, this paper presents a general framework for VSP using the Bellwether analysis (i.e., exemplary data). First, we apply the natural language processing techniques to the textual descriptions of software vulnerability. Next, we developed an algorithm termed Bellvul to identify and select an exemplary subset of data (referred to as Bellwether) to be considered as the training set to yield improved prediction accuracy against the growing portfolio, within-project cases, and the k-fold cross-validation subset. Finally, we assessed the performance of four machine learning algorithms, namely, deep neural network, logistic regression, k-nearest neighbor, and random forest using the sampled instances. The prediction results of the suggested models and the benchmark techniques were assessed based on the standard classification evaluation metrics such as precision, recall, and F-measure. The experimental result shows that the Bellwether approach achieves F-measure ranging from 14.3% to 97.8%, which is an improvement over the benchmark techniques. In conclusion, the proposed approach is a promising research direction for assisting software engineers when seeking to predict instances of vulnerability records that demand much attention prior to software release.

Source: UG
Effect of blanching and frying on textural profile and appearance of yam (Dioscorea rotundata) French fries

Response surface methodology was employed to characterize the effects of blanching temperature, blanching time and final frying time on texture and appearance of fried yam chips produced from two cultivars of white yam (Dioscorea rotundata). Fifteen treatment combinations were derived from Box-Behnken design (k=3) and run. Analysis of variance and multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to determine the effects of factors on the texture and color indices and to fit models for predicting the response variables. There were differences in the effects of the same set of factor combinations on textural attributes (hardness, fracturability, cohesiveness, gumminess and chewiness) and color (L, a, b) indices of the two cultivars used. Blanching temperature and frying time had a greater impact on texture and appearance of fried chips than blanching time. Adequately fitted models were derived for predicting the effects of blanching and frying on the textural profile and color of yam chips. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Source: UG
Effect of boiling and roasting on the fermentation of soybeans into dawadawa (soy-dawadawa)

Soybeans which had initially been dehulled by either boiling (boiled/dehulled) or roasting (roasted/dehulled) before peeling, were cooked and fermented into dawadawa, a traditional food condiment. The micropopulation, enzymatic activities, proximate composition, amino acid, and aroma profiles of the two types of soybean dawadawa were evaluated during fermentation. Only minor differences were found in the microbial profiles of the two types of soy-dawadawa. Although boiled/dehulled soy-dawadawa initially had lower microbial counts, it recorded higher counts at the advanced stages of fermentation. Proteolytic and amylolytic Bacillus species including Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus pumilus, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus cereus, and Bacillus firmus dominated the micropopulation of the two types of soy-dawadawa with Bacillus subtilis accounting for about 50% of the Bacillus species in all samples. Lactic acid bacteria and yeasts occurred in low numbers in the two types of soy-dawadawa. The proximate composition of the two types of soy-dawadawa were similar, and their contents of moisture and protein increased whilst fat and ash decreased during fermentation. Both types of fermenting soy-dawadawa recorded similar levels of α-amylase activity, but boiled/dehulled soy-dawadawa showed slightly higher protease activity. The levels of isoleucine, leucine, lysine, phenylalanine, arginine and proline increased significantly with fermentation time in both types of soy-dawadawa. With respect to differences in their aroma profiles, hexanodecanol, octadecyl acetate, 1,2-dimethyl benzene, tetradecene, (E)-5-eicosene, cyclohexadecane, and hexacosane were found only in the roasted/dehulled samples, whilst 1,2-ethanediol, ethyl acetate, dimethyl disulfide, cyclotetradecane, decene, indole , 2 butyl-octenal, acetophenone, and toluene were found only in the boiled/dehulled samples. A market focus group showed preference for roasted/dehulled soy-dawadawa over boiled/dehulled soy-dawadawa. Apart from the volatile aroma compounds, the biochemical and microbiological profiles of the two types of soy-dawadawa showed only minor differences and were also similar to the profiles reported for African locust bean dawadawa. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Source: UG
The effect of brand heritage in tourists’ intention to revisit

Purpose – Utilising brand equity dimensions, this study aims to enhance the literature by conceptualising and testing heritage brand equity dimensions (i.e. awareness, image, quality and value) and the intentions of international tourists to revisit moderated by safety and security within the tourism sector. Design/methodology/approach – The study was cross-sectional in nature and used the quantitative research approach with questionnaires for the collection of data. In total, 392 international tourists were purposively sampled from the departure hall of Kotoka International Airport. The data gathered were analysed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Findings – The findings revealed that heritage brand image, perceived quality and value had positive significant effects on the intentions of tourists to revisit. Nevertheless, heritage brand awareness had a negative insignificant impact on intentions to revisit. Safety and security significantly moderate the relationship between heritage brand equity and the intentions of international tourists to revisit. Research limitations/implications – The Ghana tourism industry should increase the activities that will create more awareness, to generate the interest of potential tourists within the international community. Such initiatives can increase the likelihood of the destination being visited. In addition, policymakers must guarantee that associated government entities, as well as other stakeholders, work together within the tourism industry to promote safety and security. Originality/value – This study adds to the ongoing discussions in the hospitality and tourism industry by providing a comprehensive overview of brand equity in heritage tourism, operationalised as heritage brand equity dimensions.

Source: UG
The effect of camber bed drainage landforms on soil nutrient distribution and grain yield of maize on the Vertisols of the Accra plains of Ghana

The Vertisols of the Accra Plains of Ghana are water logged after significant rainfall due to the low-lying topography (0.1-1 %). Camber bed (Cb) drainage landforms have been developed at the Agricultural Research Centre, Kpong, for draining off excess water. Field experiments were conducted to verify if maize growth and yield gradient from the trough to the crest were the result of nutrient gradient or some other factors. Four 5 m and two 10 m Cbs and a 20-m flatland were prepared in a split-split plot design, with landform as main plot, nutrient levels as sub plot and crop row as sub-sub plot. A pot experiment was also carried out for detailed studies. Soil movement brought about a nutrient gradient from the trough of the camber bed to the crest, and also made the soil profile homogeneous. The trough was low in nutrients, compact and prone to water logging, but nutrient levels increased through the middle slope to the crest. The flatland did not have a nutrient gradient but was prone to water logging due to its low-lying nature. Total dry matter (TDM) of maize and grain yield similarly increased from the trough to the crest. Grain yield of maize on the flatland ranged from 2.5–2.6 t ha-1, while yields on the 5-m Cb were 3.6, 4.2 and 4.8 t ha-1 on the trough, middle slope and crest, respectively. Excess application of 15-15-15 NPK and sulphate of ammonia fertilizers (150% of recommended levels) did not appreciably increase biomass and grain yield in the troughs. However, the maize crop in pots, with soil from the trough, responded positively to fertilizer application, thus confirming that low yield in the trough was the result of both low nutrient availability and the compact subsoil.

Source: UG
The effect of capital structure on profitability: an empirical analysis of listed firms in Ghana

Purpose – This paper seeks to investigate the relationship between capital structure and profitability of listed firms on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) during a five-year period. Design/methodology/approach – Regression analysis is used in the estimation of functions relating the return on equity (ROE) with measures of capital structure. Findings – The results reveal a significantly positive relation between the ratio of short-term debt to total assets and ROE. However, a negative relationship between the ratio of long-term debt to total assets and ROE was found. With regard to the relationship between total debt and return rates, the results show a significantly positive association between the ratio of total debt to total assets and return on equity. Originality/value – The research suggests that profitable firms depend more on debt as their main financing option. In the Ghanaian case, a high proportion (85 percent) of the debt is represented in short-term debt. © 2005, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Source: UG
The effect of carbon farming training on food security and development resilience in Northern Ghana

Carbon farming has recently been advocated for as a climate change and variability mitigation and/or adaptation strategy in global agriculture. In this study, we address an important research question of whether carbon farming training can improve household resilience capacity as well as food security by employing internationally standardized indicators. Household resilience capacity and its components are measured using the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)’s resilience capacity index while the food security measures used include household and child food insecurity experience scale (FIES and CFIES), food consumption score (FCS) and household dietary diversity score (HDDS). We relied on doubly robust treatment effect estimators to account for potential selection bias and heterogeneity. We find that carbon farming training has no statistically significant effect on overall household resilience capacity. However, we find a large and statistically significant effect on key components of resilience (specifically, access to basic services, assets and social safety nets) and a marginal improvement in adaptive capacity. We also find statistically significant effect on FCS and HDDS but not for the other food security indicators (FIES and CFIES). Overall, the results suggest that agricultural training programs, particularly climate change adaptation capacity building initiatives, could improve important welfare measures in developing countries.

Source: UG
Effect of caregiver feeding behaviours on child nutritional status in rural Ghana

A six-month observational study involving 100 mothers with infants between the ages of 6 and 12months was conducted in the Manya Krobo district of Ghana. The objective was to assess the role of caregiver feeding behaviours on child nutritional status using a modified positive deviance approach. Each child was in the study for 6months, during which they were observed at home once a month. On each visit, data were collected on the child anthropometry, child meal frequency, diet diversity, responsiveness of caregiver during feeding, child’s appetite and feeding atmosphere as well as caregiver hygienic practices related to feeding. Using weight-for-age (WAZ) and length-for-age (LAZ) scores, the children were classified as positive or negative deviant children. The study revealed significant differences between the two groups of children in terms of caregiver feeding behaviours. Positive deviant children had significantly higher meal frequencies (3.1±0.4 vs. 2.4±0.6, P=0.001), diet diversity scores (6.3±0.6 vs. 3.7±1.1, P=0.001), were fed under better hygienic conditions (7.2±0.9 vs. 4.2±1.1, P=0.001) and were much more interested in food during feeding (85.8% vs. 59.3%). Caregiver responsiveness during feeding was also significantly higher among the positive deviant group (6.5±0.8 vs. 4.5±0.9, P=0.001). This study has demonstrated the tremendous effect of caregiver feeding behaviours on child nutritional outcomes and provides a scientific basis for introducing care during feeding as a component of intervention to improve child nutritional status in Ghana. © 2017 Wiley. All rights reserved.

Source: UG