Data Link Institute of Business and Technology

In recent years, there has been global interest in meeting targets relating to energy affordability and security while taking into account greenhouse gas emissions. This has heightened major interest in potential investigations into the use of supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) power cycles. Climate change mitigation is the ultimate driver for this increased interest; other relevant issues include the potential for high cycle efficiency and a circular economy. In this study, a 25 MWe recompression closed Brayton cycle (RCBC) has been assessed, and sCO2 has been proposed as the working fluid for the power plant. The methodology used in this research work comprises thermodynamic and techno-economic analysis for the prospective commercialization of this sCO2 power cycle. An evaluated estimation of capital expenditure, operational expenditure, and cost of electricity has been considered in this study. The ASPEN Plus simulation results have been compared with theoretical and mathematical calculations to assess the performance of the compressors, turbine, and heat exchangers. The results thus reveal that the cycle efficiency for this prospective sCO2 recompression closed Brayton cycle increases (39% - 53.6%) as the temperature progressively increases from 550˚C to 900˚C. Data from the Aspen simulation model was used to aid the cost function calculations to estimate the total capital investment cost of the plant. Also, the techno-economic results have shown less cost for purchasing equipment due to fewer components being required for the cycle configuration as compared to the conventional steam power plant.

Abstract The study assessed gender‐based violence (GBV) in Northern Ghana with a focus on intimate partner violence (IPV), other forms of violence against women, and the general perception held on gendered‐based violence in the regions. The causal factors militating against the general development of women are also closely examined. It draws on the ecological model to unpack the dynamics of GBV in Northern Ghana with the general objective of promoting gender equality in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The study analyzed qualitative and quantitative data from 450 males and females sampled in three districts in Northern Ghana. The study finds that where there is a misunderstanding in conjugal relationships, men are likely to resort to the use of violence to resolve it. The sociocultural acceptance of GBV could mean that both genders do not perceive male violence as deviant behavior. Imperatively, governmental and nongovernmental agencies should prioritize challenging cultural norms that normalize deviant behaviors.

Background: Ghana ranked 31st worldwide and 3rd in Africa in the number of confirmed cases worldwide. We aimed to assess the intention to receive the monkeypox (MPOX) vaccine and its associated psychological antecedents among the Ghanaian population. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in Ghana from November to December 2022. Snowball sampling was used to recruit participants via social media platforms, such as WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Telegram, and Facebook. The validated 5C scale was used to assess five psychological factors that influence vaccination behavior and intent: confidence, complacency, constraints, calculation, and collective responsibility. Results: The study drew 605 participants; their mean age was 30.0 ± 6.8; 68.1% were single; 60.8 % were males, and 51.9% were living in Greater Accra (The capital and largest city of Ghana). About 53.9% of the studied Ghanaian population did not intend to receive the MPOX vaccination. Vaccine acceptance among non-healthcare workers (non-HCWs) was significantly lower than among HCWs (41.7 vs. 55.3, p < 0.001). The determinants of vaccine acceptance were male gender (AOR = 1.48, 95% CI, 1.00-2.18, p = 0.049), urban residence (AOR = 0.63, 95% CI, 0.41-0.96, p = 0.033), refusal of coronavirus 2019 vaccine (AOR = 0.29, 95% CI, 0.16-0.52, p < 0.001), confidence in vaccination ((AOR = 2.45, 95% CI, 1.93-3.15, and p < 0.001), and collective responsibility (AOR = 1.34, 95% CI, 1.02-1.75, p = 0.034)). Conclusions: The participants in this study did not show high levels of intention to accept the MPOX vaccination. Consequently, tailoring the efforts aiming to promote MPOX vaccination is needed especially among non-HCWs through increasing their confidence in vaccine effectiveness and safety and promoting the importance of self-vaccination to protect others.

The primary purpose of this research is to examine the effect of Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) on the profitability of universal banks in Ghana. The study is focused on the effect of non-performing loans on return on assets and return on equity of universal banks in Ghana. The study uses quarterly time series data collected by Bank of Ghana on all universal banks operating in the banking sector for the period 2007 - 2018. The multiple regression technique is used to analyse the models developed. The study reveals that non-performing loans have a significant negative effect on return on equity of universal banks in Ghana. The study also reveals a significant negative relationship between non-performing loans ratio and return on asset. The study recommends an improvement in the profitability of universal banks by reducing non-performing loans in individual banks. Universal banks must improve their loan monitoring strategies and manage their loan risk exposure to customers. The study recommends an improvement of the regulatory system of the central bank. Appropriate guidelines must be instituted by the central bank to prevent universal banks from advancing loans to customers with high credit risk. Keywords: non-performing loans, banks profitability, time series, universal banks DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/13-2-03 Publication date: January 31 st 2022

The authors explore how the milieu of workplace diversity affects the relationship between employee and performance. In particular, we theorize and empirically examine the moderating effects of four (4) categories of diversity context variables: age, gender, ethnicity, and educational background. The authors perform analyses on 175 out of 320 respondents consisting of academic and administrative staff of four selected private universities in Ghana. The results showed, for example, that workplace diversity has an overall influence on employee performance, however, educational diversity has more effect on employee performance in the universities compared to the other competing variables used in this study. Age and educational diversity had a significant impact on employee performance in the universities whilst gender and ethnicity diversity had no influence on their performance. We discuss future research directions regarding diversity, workgroup context, and performance outcomes and outline some recommendations for administrators and university leaders.

Spectral clustering is a very popular graph-based clustering technique that partitions data groups based on the input data similarity matrix. Many past studies based on spectral clustering, however, do not consider the global discriminative structure of the dataset. Also, the benefits of using more than one kernel have not been fully exploited with respect to spectral clustering, although it has been established by these past studies that using more than one kernel in clustering can result in a more accurate clustering than those obtained with a single kernel. Multi-kernel approaches, however, tend to be more time consuming compared to single kernel methods. To compensate these drawbacks, we integrate a global discriminative term into the clustering with an adaptive neighbor framework. This is done to preserve both the global geometric information and global discriminative information in a dual kernel space, in an attempt to optimize clustering performance. Via co-regularization, we utilize more than one kernel space to take advantage of the benefits of multiple kernels. We, however, use two heterogeneous kernels to help us reduce clustering time, since the ability to quickly process data is as equally important as its accuracy in this era of information explosion. Since these different kernel spaces admit the same underlying clustering of the data, we approach the problem looking for clustering consistent across the two kernel views. Hence we are able to detect the non-linear intrinsic geometrical information of the dataset. We perform clustering using the obtained indicator matrix from our modified Laplacian utilizing k-means. Our Experimental outcomes show that our approach gives satisfactory results in terms of accuracy and NMI, with time-to-cluster savings in comparison to other state-of-the-art clustering methods using both synthetic and public datasets.

Kernel-based Sparse Representation (SR) has impacted positively on the classification performance in image recognition and has eradicated the problems attributed to the nonlinear distribution of face images and its implementation with Dictionary Learning (DL). However, the locality construction of image data containing more discriminative information, which is crucial for classification has not been fully examined by the current Kernel Sparse representation-based approaches. Furthermore, similar coding outcomes between test samples and neighbouring training data, restrained in the kernel space are not being fully realized from the image features with similar image groupings to effectively capture the embedded discriminative information. To handle these issues, we propose a novel DL method, Kernel Locality-Sensitive Discriminative SR (K-LSDSR) for face recognition. In the proposed K-LSDSR, a discriminative loss function for the groupings based on sparse coefficients is introduced into a locality-sensitive DL (LSDL). After solving the optimized dictionary, the sparse coefficients for the testing image feature samples are obtained, and then the classification results for face recognition is realized by reducing the error between the original and reassembled samples. Experimental results have shown that the proposed K-LSDSR significantly improves the performance of face recognition accuracies compared with competing methods and is robust to various diverse environments in image recognition.

Neuromarketing is providing the leverage for marketers to delve into consumers' subconscious minds to determine behavior. Marketers, economists, and other consumer-related disciplines are looking to science to accurately determine consumer behavior. The purpose of this chapter is to provide insight into a burgeoning field of study, neuromarketing, documenting various research studies and applications of mechanisms in determining brain activities and other uses of science to benefit marketing research. Data for the study is derived from impartial cross-referencing of conceptual and empirical articles published in major journals. The application of neuroimaging technique in research have provided marketers with concrete evidence of brain activation that signal increased activities during stimulation. Further, the implication and causes of concern in using neuroscience methods in marketing are highlighted. Developing country studies on neuromarketing are examined to determine its application and use as a marketing research tool.

Consumer behaviour studies have taken a new turn. Marketers, economists and other consumer related disciplines are looking to science to accurately determine consumer behaviour. The purpose of this chapter is to provide insight into a burgeoning field of study, neuromarketing, documenting various research studies and applications of mechanisms in determining brain activities and other uses of science to benefit marketing research. Data for the study is derived from impartial cross-referencing of conceptual and empirical articles published in major journals. The application of neuroimaging technique in research have provided marketers with concrete evidence of brain activation that signal increased activities during stimulation (Lewis &amp; Bridger, 2005; Rossiter et al., 2001). Further, the implication and causes of concern in using neuroscience methods in marketing are highlighted. Developing country studies on neuromarketing are examined to determine its application and use as a marketing research tool.