http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/1393 2026-04-14T23:19:12Z http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/6331 Wavelength Markers for Malaria (Plasmodium Falciparum) Infected and Uninfected Red Blood Cells for Ring and Trophozoite Stages Opoku-Ansah, Jerry; Eghan, Moses Jojo; Anderson, Benjamin; Boampong, Johnson Nyarko Malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, uses haemoglobin in host red blood cells (RBCs) as a major source of nutrient in ring and trophozoite stages. This brings about changes in the morphology and functional characteristics of the RBCs. We investigate malaria infected RBCs and uninfected RBCs-ring and trophozoite stages using multispectral imaging technique. Four spectral bands were found to be markers for identifying infected and uninfected RBCs: 435 nm and 660 nm were common markers for the two stages whiles 590 nm and 625 nm were markers for the ring and the trophozoite stages respectively. These four spectral bands may offer potential diagnostic markers for identifying infected and uninfected RBCs, as well as distinguishing ring and trophozoite stages 9p:, ill. 2014-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/5247 Effects of anthropogenic activities on land-use dynamics in an upland tropical evergreen forest in Ghana Ghartey-Tagoe, Felicity; Ekumah, Bernard; Pappoe, Alexander Nii Moi; Akotoye, Hugh Komla The Atewa Range Forest Reserve (ARFR) in Ghanais threatened by anthropogenic activities. This study used geospatial techniques to assess the effects of human activities on land use and land cover (LULC) dynamics in ARFR using Landsat satellite images of 1986, 1991, 2006 and 2016. Estimated Normalized Differential Vegetation Index showed a continuous decline in LULC, signifying increasing stress on vegetation in ARFR. Between 1986 and 2016, the rainforest reduced from 345.83km2 to 183.48km2; logged land declined from 324.52km2 to 186.21km2; farmland increased from 328.43km2 to 384.68km2; and settlement expanded from 110.48km2 to 354.91km2, respectively 18p:, ill. 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/5246 Does the new alliance for food security and nutrition impose biotechnology on smallholder farmers in Africa? Vercillo, Siera; Kuuire, Vincent Z.; Armah, Frederick Ato; Luginaah, Isaac Almost one in three people who live in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are hungry, higher than anywhere else. This magnitude of food insecurity coupled with slow progress in regional integration, disease and epidemics, poor access to markets, gender disparities, lack of land tenure rights, and governance and institutional shortcomings on the continent have been used to justify a narrative for the inclusion of biotechnology in smallholder agriculture in SSA. The fact, however, suggests that even in the face of these challenges, smallholder farmers in SSA still produce 70% of the food on the continent. We critically examine the introduction of biotechnology in smallholder farming within the context of the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition and public–private partnerships in SSA. We explicitly address the bioethical concerns and implications for technology adoption goals in line with a neoliberal economic model that is encouraging smallholder farmers to adopt biotechnology as a way to secure more food for communities. This paper is not meant to pose a simplistic pro or anti stance on genetically modified (GM) crops or biotechnology, but rather to situate the debate about GM technology within issues of power, control in the global food agriculture systems, and point to the bioethical concerns that affect the lives of smallholder farmers and their families on a daily basis 14p:, ill. 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/5245 Does previous experience of floods stimulate the adoption of coping strategies? evidence from cross sectional surveys in Nigeria and Tanzania Boamah, Sheila A.; Armah, Frederick Ato; Kuuire, Vincent Z.; Ajibade, Idowu; Luginaah, Isaac; McBean, ` Gordon In sub-Saharan Africa, hydro-meteorological related disasters, such as floods, account for the majority of the total number of natural disasters. Over the past century, floods have affected 38 million people, claimed several lives and caused substantial economic losses in the region. The goal of this paper is to examine how personality disposition, social network, and socio-demographic factors mitigate the complex relationship between stressful life experiences of floods and ocean surges and the adoption of coping strategies among coastal communities in Nigeria and Tanzania. Generalized linear models (GLM) were fitted to cross-sectional survey data on 1003 and 1253 individuals in three contiguous coastal areas in Nigeria and Tanzania, respectively. Marked differences in the type of coping strategies were observed across the two countries. In Tanzania, the zero-order relationships between adoption of coping strategies and age, employment and income disappeared at the multivariate level. Only experience of floods in the past year and social network resources were significant predictors of participants’ adoption of coping strategies, unlike in Nigeria, where a plethora of factors such as experience of ocean surges in the past one year, personality disposition, age, education, experience of flood in the past one year, ethnicity, income, housing quality and employment status were still statistically significant at the multivariate level. Our findings suggest that influence of previous experience on adoption of coping strategies is spatially ubiquitous. Consequently, context-specific policies aimed at encouraging the adoption of flood-related coping strategies in vulnerable locations should be designed based on local needs and orientation 21p:, ill. 2015-11-20T00:00:00Z