For Popularity, Pleasure, or Other Reasons? The Treatment of Sex in The Novels of Ayi Kwei Armah

Sex or the intimate relationship between or among characters is an act that is explicitly depicted in the novels of Ayi Kwei Armah for various purposes. The purpose of sex should not just be sex for the sake of sex, or for the sake of making a writer ‘popular’. The paper argues that the act of sex plays a number of literary functions in these relationships. The thematic as well as other literary relevance of sex is explored through literary concepts such as ‘linguistic foregrounding’ and ‘paradigmatic associations’. Through these literary concepts of stylistic analysis, it becomes clear that sex plays the following roles in Armah’s novels: serves as an avenue for characterization; establishes a relationship as loving or adrift; is a tool of oppression and also vengeance; creates suspense and retains readers’ interest; obscures the real story plot for a literary effect such as ‘to motivate but also shock his (Armah’s) audience into activity’ (Fubara 72); and cures characters’ negative emotions like loneliness and anguish, among other roles. The paper concludes that Armah’s treatment of sex in largely explicit terms in his novels is not gratuitous, but fundamental for the appreciation of his literary works

Allergen-induced change in airway responsiveness to direct and indirect stimuli in mild atopic asthmatics

Methacholine (MCh) and mannitol challenges are tests used to assess airway responsiveness. It has been shown that airway responsiveness to direct bronchoconstrictors like MCh tends to increase following exposure to allergen but the response to mannitol an indirect stimuli, is not known. Furthermore, the provocative concentration causing a 20% decrease in Forced Expiratory Volume in one second (FEV1) for adenosine 5’ monophosphate (AMP) correlates better to sputum eosinophilia than MCh PC 20. Hence, we hypothesized that airway responsiveness will be greater when measured with mannitol than MCh. We studied airway responsiveness to MCh and mannitol first at 3 hours and then later at 24 hours after allergen challenge. The 3-hour study yielded results contrary to our hypothesis therefore a twenty-four hour study was undertaken. Ten mild atopic asthmatics who had a positive MCh challenge and an allergic response to allergen extracts such as cat, horse, and house dust mite completed the 3-hour study. Eleven mild atopic asthmatics with the criteria above completed the 24-hour study. Both studies were non-blinded, randomized clinical trials. Airway responsiveness to MCh was quantitated by changes in PC20. Airway responsiveness to mannitol was quantitated as PD15 in the 3-hour study and dose response ratio (DRR) in the 24-hour study. In both studies, the allergen challenges were separated by 14 days. Fractional exhaled nitric oxide measurements (FENO) were collected in both studies at varying time points to track airway inflammation. In the 3-hour study, the geometric mean MCh PC20 decreased significantly after allergen exposure from 0.88 mg/ml to 0.50 mg/ml (p = 0.02) indicating airway responsiveness to MCh increased. Conversely, the geometric mean mannitol PD15 increased significantly from 174 mg to 284 mg (p =0.02) indicating a decrease in airway responsiveness to mannitol. In the 24-hour study, the geometric mean MCh PC20 again decreased significantly from 5.9 mg/ml to 2.2 mg/ml (p= 0.01) after allergen exposure. The mannitol DRR increased significantly from 63 mg/∆%FEV1 to 158 mg/∆%FEV1 (p = 0.03). FENO levels increased significantly in MCh arm but not mannitol arm. That is pre allergen challenge versus 24 hours after allergen challenge (for MCh arm: 26 ppb pre to 55 ppb post; for mannitol arm: 31 ppb pre to 39 ppb post). In conclusion, at three and twenty-four hours after allergen challenge, a time when the airways are more responsive to MCh, there is a significant decrease in airway responsiveness to mannitol

Intergenerational Versus Intragenerational Equities and the Development of Resource-Rich But Poor Countries: The Case of Ghana

The fundamental objective of the paper is to proffer credible and empirical evidence to show that whilst the concept of intergenerational equity may be laudable, the proposition by the intergenerational equity theorists that a reasonable portion of resource revenue ought to be saved in financial instrument is not a prudent policy for the management of natural resource revenue in countries currently experiencing under development. The paper seeks to argue that basic amenities like education and health, which are currently in huge deficit, must be provided for in the country before a policy for saving of revenue in financial instruments are fashioned out and implemented in Ghana. This stance is buttressed by the legitimate concern that monies be locked up in some financial institutions (mostly of foreign origin) whilst the country borrows huge sums of money from these same foreign sources at huge interest. The intergenerational equity proposition is therefore seen as a principle that is rooted in antiquity. Recommendations made include the following; that resource-rich but poor countries ought to put in place legal and institutional framework and where they exist they must be resourced and all enforced to ensure that the country derives maximum benefits from resource endowment.  Also, resource-endowed but poor countries ought to sieve policies imposed or introduced by foreign sources like the IMF and the World Bank before adopting and implementing them  in their various countries. Keywords: Intergenerational equity, Intragenerational equity, developing countries, Resource-Rich but poor countries, Ghan

Financial Sector Development and Economic Growth: The Case of Ghana (1980-2014)

This paper examined the relationship between Financial Sector Development and Economic Growth in Ghana using an annual time series data from 1980-2014. The paper investigated empirically the impact of financial sector development on economic growth in Ghana using the Granger Causality Test, the Johansen Cointegration and the Error Correction Modeling (ECM) techniques. The intent of the framework used was to find out whether there exists a long-run relationship between growth and finance. The paper concluded that there exist a positive long run relationship between economic growth and financial sector development with financial sector developments Granger causing economic growth in Ghana. An enabling environment and financial sector interventions such as low interest rate that will enhance transfer of credit to the private sector must be pursued to enhance the economic development of Ghana. Keywords: Financial Sector Development, Economic Growth, Financial System, Granger-Causality, Cointegration, Error Correction Modeling (ECM

“I am his pawn, his slave and his property”: A stylistic analysis of the abuse of women in Amma Darko\u27s beyond the horizon

In Beyond the horizon, Amma Darko uses words in unique ways to bring the subject of gender representations and the abuse of women to the fore. Employing a stylistics framework of analysis, this study investigates the text’s parallelisms and deviations, and interprets and uncovers the implied and underlying meanings of issues related to the abuse of women in the novel. The analysis reveals how through patterned repetitions of words and sentences, as well as some language deviations in the text, men abuse women physically, emotionally, sexually and economically. The paper shows that through the use of patterned repetition of words and sentences, and deviations such as metaphor and simile, Darko reveals the struggles of and unequal relationships between the “pawn”, “slave” and “property” (largely represented by Mara) on one hand, and the “master”, “lord” and “pimp” (represented by Akobi, Oves and Osey) on the other hand

Children’s Drawings with Genitals: Art Works from Children Who Co-Sleep with Adults

Children’s drawings have been used by several therapist as a rare window into the subconscious of the child. One area which has benefitted much from this is sexual abuse of children. Several therapists agree that the presence of genitals in a child’s drawing is a strong indication of a possible abuse. However, these recommendations do not speak much of the social background of the child who produced the drawing. It was therefore necessary to find out whether the presence of genitals in the drawings of children who are in environments where mother showed breasts in the open during breastfeeding; and grandmothers seldom covered their chests. The study was conducted in two metropolitan areas in Ghana, one in the northern part and the other in the south. Children were asked to draw their families and these drawings were screened for genitals. Those which had genitals were separated and these children were taken through processes to understand the why genitals were present in their drawings. The study concludes that environment has influence on the drawings of children and when parents expose genitals to children in the environment without abusing the children, these genitals will find their way in the drawing of the child. Keywords: co-sleep, human figure drawing, kinetic family drawing, genita

Spatiotemporal Video Quality Assessment Method via Multiple Feature Mappings

Progressed video quality assessment (VQA) methods aim to evaluate the perceptual quality of videos in many applications but often prompt to increase computational complexity. Problems derive from the complexity of the distorted videos that are of significant concern in the communication industry, as well as the spatial-temporal content of the two-fold (spatial and temporal) distortion. Therefore, the findings of the study indicate that the information in the spatiotemporal slice (STS) images are useful in measuring video distortion. This paper mainly focuses on developing on a full reference video quality assessment algorithm estimator that integrates several features of spatiotemporal slices (STSS) of frames to form a high-performance video quality. This research work aims to evaluate video quality by utilizing several VQA databases by the following steps: (1) we first arrange the reference and test video sequences into a spatiotemporal slice representation. A collection of spatiotemporal feature maps were computed on each reference-test video. These response features are then processed by using a Structural Similarity (SSIM) to form a local frame quality.  (2) To further enhance the quality assessment, we combine the spatial feature maps with the spatiotemporal feature maps and propose the VQA model, named multiple map similarity feature deviation (MMSFD-STS). (3) We apply a sequential pooling strategy to assemble the quality indices of frames in the video quality scoring. (4) Extensive evaluations on video quality databases show that the proposed VQA algorithm achieves better/competitive performance as compared with other state- of- the- art methods

China and central Asia regional financial cooperation

The thesis is an essay that is an outcome of exploring and evaluating financial cooperation amongst China and Central Asian countries. The unique catch-up interest is China is a fast-growing economy under ''Socialism with Chinese characteristics'' with strong financial system while Central Asian countries seek to strengthen their economies and financial capabilities since the collapse of the Soviet Union. This paper, evaluate the functions and actability of the designated financial cooperation by bringing together shreds of evidence from empirical findings and from formed financial functionalism and experience from other regional financial cooperation and draw lessons to China and Central Asia financial cooperation. The government and market are promoting financial models drive the china and central Asia financial cooperation. Based on Principle Components Analysis (PCA) empirical evaluation on China-Central Asia cooperation on financial institutions and other government supported organization. The cooperation has significantly great potential to support regional financial development as its plays part in ensuring financial; stability, Accessibility, depth efficiency and intensifying the extent of local currency settlement, currency swap cooperation. PCA context based on individual countries, realizes the considerable difference in the level of financial development between China and Central Asian countries, China is highly developed in both financial institutions, financial markets and its internal financial system compared to central Asian countries which appears to only highly advanced into financial institutions than financial markets and low speed in the financial system advancement. Into the regional level, financial institutions are highly advanced than financial markets and financial institutions revealed to play a great role in accelerating the advancement of the regional financial system than financial markets. From that point, regional financial cooperation needs mechanisms for strengthening individual country and region financial system especially financial market system, a mechanism that can play part in heightening financial market access, depth and efficiency, that develop and integrate policies that allow private investors and financial markets to fully participate in regional investments. China and Central Asian countries can shift from just financial “cooperation model” into “institutional integration model” by formulating a regional financial institution that can coordinate cross borders, mutual trades, local regional banks, regulators of capital markets, controller of capital movement, establishing well exchange rate mechanism.The thesis is an essay that is an outcome of exploring and evaluating financial cooperation amongst China and Central Asian countries. The unique catch-up interest is China is a fast-growing economy under ''Socialism with Chinese characteristics'' with strong financial system while Central Asian countries seek to strengthen their economies and financial capabilities since the collapse of the Soviet Union. This paper, evaluate the functions and actability of the designated financial cooperation by bringing together shreds of evidence from empirical findings and from formed financial functionalism and experience from other regional financial cooperation and draw lessons to China and Central Asia financial cooperation. The government and market are promoting financial models drive the china and central Asia financial cooperation. Based on Principle Components Analysis (PCA) empirical evaluation on China-Central Asia cooperation on financial institutions and other government supported organization. The cooperation has significantly great potential to support regional financial development as its plays part in ensuring financial; stability, Accessibility, depth efficiency and intensifying the extent of local currency settlement, currency swap cooperation. PCA context based on individual countries, realizes the considerable difference in the level of financial development between China and Central Asian countries, China is highly developed in both financial institutions, financial markets and its internal financial system compared to central Asian countries which appears to only highly advanced into financial institutions than financial markets and low speed in the financial system advancement. Into the regional level, financial institutions are highly advanced than financial markets and financial institutions revealed to play a great role in accelerating the advancement of the regional financial system than financial markets. From that point, regional financial cooperation needs mechanisms for strengthening individual country and region financial system especially financial market system, a mechanism that can play part in heightening financial market access, depth and efficiency, that develop and integrate policies that allow private investors and financial markets to fully participate in regional investments. China and Central Asian countries can shift from just financial “cooperation model” into “institutional integration model” by formulating a regional financial institution that can coordinate cross borders, mutual trades, local regional banks, regulators of capital markets, controller of capital movement, establishing well exchange rate mechanism

Donkey-Cart Transport, a Source of Livelihood for Farmers in the Kassena Nankana Municipality in Upper East Region of Ghana

Even through donkeys have been extensively used by people in many areas in the world, their use has been synonymous with backwardness, underdevelopment and low status. In a qualitative and quantitative study of 120 households located within the Kassena-Nankana district, this study sought to provide an overview of the consequences of ‘development’ for donkey use and management. The study also tried to show how the use of donkeys had enabled these people to withstand some of the threats to their lives and livelihoods.   The paper provides several examples of how these different uses ensured the survival of women and men in hostile environments and enables them to integrate into the social and economic processes from which they are often excluded. Both primary and secondary data sources were used to gather relevant information for analysis and discussions. Purposive sampling was used to select four communities in the Kasena-Nankana East District. A hybrid sampling method was used to arrive at the sample population. Close and open ended questionnaire were used to collect data from the interviewees. In addition to the questionnaire, empirical verification was done via observation on attitudes and behaviors of farmers. Focused group discussions were held involving opinion leaders, farmer-group organizations, agric extension officers, and the 31st December Women’s Movement (DWM) chiefs. Data obtained was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Scientist (SPSS) and Microsoft Excel. The results of the study revealed that majority of the respondents were in 32- 50 year group. Most of the respondents, 93 (58 %) had no formal education. Majority (75.5 %, 124), were married with 47% (74) having household sizes between six and ten. The study revealed that, donkeys were used in agricultural production, mainly to transport manure to the fields and the harvest from the fields to the homes and to the market centres; the youth in agriculture production had realized the importance of donkey transportation and farm traction, which had a very significant impact on food security development. Keywords: Attitude, Donkey-Cart, Farmers, Gender, Households, Livelihood, Transpor

Management Information Systems and its Impact on Productivity in Higher Education: A Case of Colleges of Education in Ghana

The use of information technology in educational management has swiftly increased due to its efficiency and effectiveness. In the initial stages of its development, management information systems’ (MIS) main purpose was to improve the efficiency of school, office activities. Overall review of literature highlighted positive impact of MIS on school administration and management including better accessibility to information, more efficient administration, higher utilization of school resources, reduction in workload, better time management, and improvement in the quality of reports. In spite of all the successes chalked in the development of educational management; most educational institutions are confronted with numerous challenges especially in the area of Information and Communications Technology. A study into the Management Information Systems and its impact on productivity in higher educational institutions was undertaken among others to examine the relevance of MIS in improving educational management, assess ways MIS could improve capacities in data processing, storage, analysis and the timely supply of educational information to management and administrators to enhance quick and efficient decision making. Stratified and purposive sampling techniques were the main sampling techniques employed. Questionnaire and observational schedule were used to gather relevant data. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 25) was used to analyze the data. The study revealed that cost, lack of competent Information Technology staff to operate the system, lack of computer systems and accessories and inferiority complex (technology phobia) were the major constraints militating against the implementation of MIS in the understudy institutions. Recommendations together with suggestions for further studies were therefore made to arrest the challenges unearthed