Modeling the Effects of Bile and Nutrients on Microbes and the Evolution of Temperature, Electrical Conductivity, Surface Tension and pH during Biodegradation of Used Engine Oil Contaminated Water

At five levels of Bile (No bile, 1.2 ml, 1.4 ml, 1.6 ml and 1.8 ml) and two nutrient levels (Nutrient medium and No Nutrients)  the effect of Bile and Nutrients on microbes and the evolution of  temperature, electrical conductivity, surface tension and pH were studied and modeled during the bioremediation of a petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated water. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) for ?=0.05 was used to show the variations in parameter values according to the levels of Bile and Nutrients. Microbial colony numbers and pH generally did not show a uniform evolution trend as the level of Bile increased but showed an increasing trend with increment in Nutrients level. Temperature increased with increasing Bile and Nutrients levels only when either Bile or Nutrients Medium was the lone supplement in the experiment. Electrical conductivity increased with increasing levels of Bile whiles surface tension decreased with increasing levels of Bile and Nutrients. Keywords: Bile, Nutrients, microbes, temperature, electrical conductivity, surface tension, pH Biodegradation, Bioremediatio

Testing for Mispricing of Stocks on the Ghana Stock Exchange: A Case of Selected Banking Stocks

This paper is aimed at investigating mispricing of stocks on the Ghana stock exchange. Four stocks mainly the banking stocks were sampled for the purpose of this study. Mispricing of stocks in this paper is measured as the difference between the current dividend-price ratio and rationally estimated fundamental value of stock using Campbell and Shiller (1988) model. A monthly mispricing is estimated for the period 2000 to 2015 and the results of the test for mispricing on the selected stocks show that their prices significantly deviate from their fundamental value. Keywords: Rationality, Market pricing, Imperfect market, Fundamental value, Stock prices, Mispricin

The Syntax and Semantics of Relative Clauses in Kusaal

This paper looks at the syntax and semantics of relative clause constructions in Kusaal, a Mabia (Gur) language spoken in the Upper East Region of Ghana. Although extensive work has been done on sister Mabia languages on this topic, little can be said of same in relation to Kusaal. This paper presents a comprehensive discussion on the various elements, functions, and formations of Kusaal relative clauses and, among other things, shows that the language has both in-situ internally-headed relative clauses and left-headed internally-headed relative clauses (Hiraiwa et al. 2017). This is carried out with data collected on fieldwork, in addition to the author’s own native speaker intuitions

CONCEPTUALISING THE MATURITY OF CITIZENS FOR CONSUMER HEALTH INFORMATICS IN LOW AND MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF CHILE, GHANA, IRAQ, KOSOVO, TURKEY, AND UKRAINE

Einführung: Consumer Health Informatics (ConsHI) ist eine Fachdisziplin, die basierend auf Methoden, Diensten und Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologie-Ausstattung Laien in die Lage versetzt, eine aktive Rolle hinsichtich ihrer Gesundheit sicher zu spielen. ConsHI verspricht, ein Heilmittel für die Myriaden an Gesundheitsherausforderungen zu sein, welche die Welt bedrängen, hauptsächlich nach der Covid – 19 Pandemie. Während Consumer Health Informatics (ConsHI) eine Menge verspricht, besteht ein Mangel an Modellen zur Bewertung der Annahme dieser Konzepte in verschiedenen Ländern, insbesondere Entwicklungsländern. Auch sind die zahlreichen Modelle der Annahme von Technologie und von Gesundheitsfürsorge uneinheitlich und der kritische Bedarf an einem zusammengesetzten Modell ist mehr ausgeprägt denn je. Diese Studie zielt darauf ab, Faktoren zu bewerten, die die Annahme von ConsHI in low-middle income countries (LMICs) zu erleichtern und die vorherrschenden Faktoren zu modellieren, welche Vorhersagen über die Reife ihrer Bürger für die Annahme von ConsHI treffen. Methoden: Wir haben eine umfassende Suche danach durchgeführt, wie Laien in Entwicklungs- wie in entwickelten Ländern IKT für ihre Gesundheit einsetzten und haben aus vielen Optionen drei wesentliche Modelle identifiziert. Die Modelle waren Unified Theory of Acceptance and Utilisation of Technology (UTAUT), Patient Activation Measure (PAM) und Consumer Health Informatics (ConsHI) Modelle, welche die individuelle Annahme und Teilnahme an Technologie und Gesundheitsfürsorge parallel überprüften. Wir haben unter Nutzung dieser drei Modelle ein zusammengesetztes Modell entwickelt. Wir haben es anschließend mittels Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test und Item Response Theory validiert. Wir haben eine mehrstufige ad-hoc-Datensammlung (convenience sampling) durchgeführt, um den Fragebogen 1800 Befragten aus sechs LMICs in einer Querschnittserhebung vorzulegen. Die Befragten waren z.T. gesund, z.T. bei eingeschränkter Gesundheit, 18 Jahre oder älter – der Rücklauf war fast 100%, von einigen fehlenden Daten abgesehen, da die Untersucher die Erhebungsblätter persönlich vorlegten. Die Daten wurden sowohl mit explorativen wie auch konformativen Faktoranalyse-Techniken analysiert, so zum Beispiel partial least square structural equation models in Rstudio und SmartPLS 4.0, je nach Gegebenheit. Unser Datensatz erfüllte alle Grundannahmen der explorativen und konfirmativen Faktorenanalyse ohne signifikante Probleme. Aus der explorativen Faktorenanalyse haben wir Faktoren (e – factors) extrahiert und Fakten aus empirischen Modellen (t – factors) gegenübergestellt. Auch haben wir mittels Strukturgleichungsmodellen Reifefaktoren (m – factors) aus den t – factors zusammengestellt. Ergebnisse: Wir haben zwei hauptsächliche Ergebnisse erzielt. Zunächst, in einer Voruntersuchung, haben wir einen Fragebogen mit 43 Items, gestaltet als 5-Punkt-Likert-Items zusammengestellt und validiert und acht demographische Items hnzugefügt, als Moderatoren der m – factors zur Vorhersage der ConsHI-Reife. Zum zweiten haben wir aus dem Datensatz sechs explorative Faktoren als erleichternde Elemente für ConsHI extrahiert. Die e – factors waren wesentlich durch ein Gestaltexperiment gekennzeichnet und spiegelten die drei theoretischen Faktoren (t – factors) unseres Modells wider. Wir haben auch konfirmative Modellierung höherer Ordnung angewandt, um vier m – factors (Aptitute, Attitude, Confidence und Motivation) als Prädiktoren der Reife von Bürgern in LMICs zusammenzusetzen. Attitude (Haltung) trug am meisten zur Vorhersage der Reife von Bürgern in LMICs bei, aptitude (Eignung) am wenigsten. Die prädiktive Relevanz und Stärke des Modells wurden validiert und waren auf dem 95%-Konfidenzniveau signifikant. Zu beachten ist, dass eine Mehrgruppenanalyse die statistische Signifikanz der beobachteten Heterogenität und den moderierenden Effekt mehrerer demogrpahischer Variablen, wie z.B. Alter, die Vorhersehbarkeit für ConsHI in LMICs bestätigten. Schlüsse: Soweit es uns bekannt ist, ist unsere Studie ein Vorreiter, indem sie ein zusammengesetztes Modell aus UTAUT, PAM und ConsHI erstellt; diese Forschung macht die Notwendigkeit von Politikformulierung zur Maximierung der Technologie in der Gesundheitsversorgung und zur Optimierung eines ausgeweiteten Zugangs zu mobiler Telefonie zum zentralen Thema. Die Studie hat ein prädiktives lineares Modell zur Bestimmung der Reife von Bürgern in LMICs für ConsHI formuliert. Die Ad-Hoc-Datenerhebung war eine wichtige Einschränkung der Studie; als Querschnittstudie, da sich Faktoren mit der Zeit ändern, könnten ihr auch dynamische Umgebungsfaktoren entgangen sein. Wir empfehlen, dass künftige Studien Zufallsstichprobenvefahren anwenden, und Anstrengungen, aktive Techniken in einer Verhaltensstudie zu verwenden, würden auch helfen. Schlüsselwörter: Verbrauchergesundheitsinformatik, Moderatoren, Reife der Bürger von LMICs, Ländern mit niedrigem mittlerem Einkommen und Vorhersagemodell

Towards an Interdisciplinary Approach to Food Accessibility Research

An approximately 54.4 million people or 17.7% of the U.S population live in areas without nutritious food outlets, have low access to a vehicle and have challenges accessing a nutritious food outlet. The lack of access to nutritious food outlets mainly affects low-income residents of both urban and rural areas and remains a challenge because the deprived residents mostly depend on innutritious food outlets such as neighborhood convenience stores, which can be detrimental to their health. Researchers of varying disciplines have examined the problem of food access, however, in a piecemeal nature. This paper, therefore, critically examines research across two disciplines concerned with food accessibility - geography and public health to create a more comprehensive approach to food accessibility research based on their perspectives and approaches. Although some dissimilarities exist between the perspectives and approaches employed in food accessibility research by the two disciplines, common grounds are established via the identification of the concept of place and socio-economic characteristics of people as the main driving factors of food accessibility research among the disciplines.These perspectives are integrated along the common driving elements to form an interdisciplinary research approach and construct a comprehensive understanding of the problem of food accessibility

Serial verb reduplication in the Mabia languages of West Africa

This paper introduces and discusses the notion of Serial Verb Reduplication (SVR) in two Mabia languages of West Africa, Dagaare and Kusaal. The authors show that the phenomenon of SVRs, though under-represented in the literature, has a wide scope occurrence in natural language usage within serializing languages. Theoretically, two lexical semantic notions: semantics of verbs (verb meaning) and pluraction, are advanced to explain the intricacies of the syntax and semantics of SVRs. The paper identifies two groups of SVRs: canonical SVRs and pluractional SVRs and proposes that semantically bleached verbs can only be reduplicated in pluractional benefactive and causative SVRs in these languages

Short-term therapy with rosiglitatzone, a PPAR-¿ agonist improves metabolic profile and vascular function in non-obese lean wistar rats

A number of preclinical and clinical studies have reported blood-pressure-lowering benefits of thiazolidinediones in diabetic subjects and animal models of diabetes. This study was designed to further elucidate vascular effects of rosiglitazone, on healthy nonobese, lean animals. Adult male Wistar rats were randomized and assigned to control and rosiglitazone-treated groups and were dosed daily with either vehicle or rosiglitazone (10 mg kg(−1) day(−1)) by oral gavage for 5 days. Compared with control group, rosiglitazone treatment significantly reduced plasma levels of triglycerides (>240%) and nonesterified free fatty acids (>268%) (both, P < 0.001). There were no changes in vascular contractility to KCl or noradrenaline between two groups. However, rosiglitazone therapy improved carbamylcholine-induced vasorelaxation (93 ± 3 % versus control 78 ± 2, P < 0.01) an effect which was abolished by L-NAME. There was no difference in sodium nitroprusside-induced vasorelaxation between the control and rosiglitazone-treated animals. These results indicate that short-term rosiglitazone therapy improves both metabolic profile and vascular function in lean rats. The vascular effect of rosiglitazone appears to be mediated by alteration in NO production possibly by activation of endothelial PPARγ. This increased NO production together with improved lipid profile may explain mechanism(s) of blood-pressure-lowering effects of thiazolidinediones on both human and experimental animals

Ownership and Access to Land in Urban Mamprugu, Northern Ghana

This paper explores land ownership and access to land in the urban areas of Mamprugu in the Northern Region of Ghana. An overview of the system of land ownership and access in the rural areas for both residential and agricultural purposes has been used as a background for the understanding of the changes provoked by urbanization. The information used was qualitative through key informant interviews, observation and group discussions. The study revealed that land ownership and access in the traditional rural context was often in tranquility and rarely encountered conflicts. Occasional conflicts arising from the traditional rural arrangements were often easier to resolve. Also, the financial costs have been considered to be within the means of the average family or household in the locality.  However, it was observed that access to land by women in the traditional framework subtly deprived women because of the patrilineal system of inheritance and the role assigned to women by the society. In the urban context, land ownership and access is in transition with a combination of traditional and modern institutions in land administration for residential and public infrastructure purposes. The study observed increasing incidence of land disputes in Mamprugu as urbanization progresses. It is recommended that the three district assemblies in Mamprugu in collaboration with the traditional authorities initiate a joint programme to address causes of the emerging problems in the few urban settlements. A successful handling of the problems of land administration in the few urban settlements would serve as gateway to urban land administration in future emerging towns and cities in the traditional area

To Develop Linear Programming (LP) Model to Determine the Best Combination or Mix of Products to Produce to Reach the Maximum Profit

Lending is a life wire or prominent business activity for banks. Loan portfolio therefore form a substantial amount of the assets of banks because it is the predominate source of interest income. The study was carried out to establish the impact of Linear programming model on the financial performance of banks, focusing on the Rural Bank X Lamashegu branch so that it can allocate funds to prospective loan seekers in order to maximize profits. To achieve this goal, a secondary data from the annual reports and financial statements were extracted for this study. Based on this data, LP model was formulated. A computerized software application called QM windows solver based on Revised Simplex Algorithm was used to solve the problem. The results from the model showed that Rural Bank X will be making annual profit of GH¢ 189144.14 from the amount GH ¢825812.77 invested on loan portfolio as against GH¢ 96879.00 in 2013 if the bank had the LP model in place. These product mix (ie. Midrofinance, Over draft and Commercial loans) were recommended for investment. The study also identified ineffective loan monitoring and poor credit vetting as the major factors accounting for some of the loan not performing in the loan portfolio, especially the Personal and Agricultural and Agro processing loans. Keywords: Loan portfolio, Linear programming, Simplex method, Bad debt and Over draf

Farmers&apos; Perception on Soil Erosion Problems and Conservation Methods among Rural Farmers in Talensi- Nabdam Districts of Upper East Region of Ghana

This study was carried out in Upper East Region of Ghana, Talensi-Nabdam districts,to assess how farmers perceive soil erosion problems and the causes that trigger soil erosion problems, identify the existing soil conservation practices adopted by farmers on their farms and examine the socio-economic and constraints influencing farmer&apos;s perceptions to implement different soil conservation methods. Five communities were purposively selected from that district namely Belungu, Kongo, Damolgo, Zalerigu and Nangodi. A total of 100 farmers were selected and the simple random technique was used to select 20 farmers from each community. These five communities were selected because of the severity of erosion in those areas. Data was analysed using frequency tables and percentages of descriptive statistics in SPSS. Male&apos;s form 79% of the respondents and 21% were females. The perceptions of farmers on the causes of erosion in the study area were: high intensity of rainfall, inadequate vegetative cover, deforestation and lack of proper conservation methods. The indicators of soil erosion problems in the study were presence of gullies (45%) making it impossible for profitable cultivation , 20% said removal of the top soil by water or wind, 20% reported that it makes the land infertile, 5% as exposure of the root of trees and finally change of soil color as 5%.The conservation methods adopted by the farmers include; stonebunds, earthbunds, vertiver grass, manure, local grass, tree planting, drainage trench, wood logs and ploughing across slope