Ho Polytechnic

ABSTRACT The exploitation of frogs for human consumption is one of the drivers contributing to their extinction or population decline. This study assessed the determinants of consumption intentions for the Togo Slippery Frog, a Critically Endangered species endemic to the Volta-Togo Highlands, using the Theory of Planned Behavior with an extended construct of Wildlife Value Orientations, and perceived susceptibility to zoonoses. Data were collected from 287 households and analyzed using the Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) technique in SmartPLS software. The findings revealed that attitude was the most important determinant in explaining the intention to consume the Togo slippery frog, followed by subjective norms. The study suggests that conservation campaigns and strategies to attenuate the consumption of Togo slippery frogs should emphasize attitudinal change. Local influential leaders should be involved in conservation campaigns due to the influence of subjective norms.

Abstract Introduction Maternal mortality is a global issue with documented interventions aimed at its reduction. Ghana has experienced a decline in maternal mortality ratios from 2017 to 2021. However, the Ho municipality has consistently reported the highest maternal mortality ratios in the Volta region of Ghana between 2017 and 2021. This study aimed to determine the trend and distribution, causes and contributory factors of maternal mortality and examine the referral patterns of maternal deaths in referral facilities in the Ho municipality. Method This retrospective descriptive cross-sectional study reviewed all maternal deaths recorded in health facilities within the Ho municipality between 2017 and 2021. Maternal audit reports were reviewed using a structured data extraction tool. Data analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS version 22. Results The average age of maternal death cases was 30 years, with the majority occurring among women during their second and fifth deliveries. The lowest cases were recorded among women with no formal education (2%). The leading causes of maternal death were hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (36%) and hemorrhage (25%). Key institutional contributory factors included: inappropriate case management (42%), delayed referrals (34%), and unavailability of blood and blood products (10%). A significant proportion of maternal deaths resulted from referrals from district hospitals outside the municipality, accounting for 95% of all referral deaths. Conclusion Maternal mortality in the Ho municipality is increasing, predominantly from hypertensive disorders in pregnancy and hemorrhage, associated with poor case management, largely from referral cases from district hospitals outside the municipality.

Abstract Human consumption of snakes is listed as one of the main threats to their conservation status. Consumer behavior change interventions are identified as the most effective means to conserve species threatened by human consumption. However, knowing which behavioral drivers of consumption intention to focus on is necessary to guide change interventions effectively. This study determined the factors influencing behavioral intentions to consume the Vulnerable (VU) snake species Bitis gabonica in Ghana. Data were collected from 296 households in the Avatime traditional area in October and November 2024 with in-person interviews using a structured questionnaire. Analysis was done using the partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique in SmartPLS 3.2.8. The findings revealed that the paths between attitude perceived behavioral control, and social norm towards consumption intention of Bitis gabonica were positive and significant. Attitude was the most important predictor of Bitis gabonica consumption followed by perceived behavioral control, and subjective norm. The study recommends behavior change campaigns that emphasize changes in attitude toward human consumption of Bitis gabonica. Persuasive messages focused on changing beliefs and emotions towards snakes should be the aim of attitudinal change efforts.

Dashboard indicator light symbols convey information about vehicles status and functioning, but action taken to address issues associated with these symbols depend on drivers' familiarity and comprehension of the symbols as well as demographic factors. Thus, this study assesses drivers' familiarity and comprehension of dashboard indicator light symbols and further examines the impact of driver background factors and comprehension level of the symbols on drivers' preventive maintenance compliance. Through a survey involving 2530 drivers, familiarity and comprehension of 25 dashboard indicator symbols used on most vehicles were collected. Descriptive analysis and Generalised Ordered Logistic Regression were used to analyse the data. Indicator light symbols that recorded a higher percentage of familiarity and were deemed appropriate were comprehended by most drivers. Symbols with pictorial signs were better understood. Overall, there were substantial significant differences among symbols in drivers' familiarity and comprehension. Regression analysis indicates that the majority of dashboard indicators with low comprehension had a positively significant relationship, while symbols with better understanding recorded a negative relationship with driver's preventive maintenance compliance. However, symbols such as tyre pressure, traction, 4*4 active, and power steering warning lights, which were poorly comprehended, showed a negative significant association with preventive maintenance compliance. The complex relationship between comprehension and drivers' preventive maintenance compliance underscores the importance of including driver education programs and symbols standardisation to improve comprehension and preventive maintenance compliance, promoting road safety and vehicle reliability.

The extended family system in the Ghanaian culture is akin to the growth of a gourd or calabash vine. This parallel assertion underpins the common bond and belonging of family members, emphasizing the necessity of mutual responsibility, care, and cooperation. Each gourd contributes to the vine’s health, just as each family member contributes to the well-being and stability of the extended family. The basic concept of this study is to depict the extended family system philosophically utilizing various bottle types. The study utilised a qualitative research approach and a descriptive research design with Marshall’s Aesthetico Action research cycle. To maintain consistent supplies of these bottles, a one-of-a-kind mould was constructed using one original bottle as a template. The tangible conceptual artistic composition was created by combining clay, iron rods in the form of metallic rings, acrylic paints, and glazes. Their composition highlights the contrasts in resilience, temperament, charm, perspective, affluence, age, intrinsic attributes, and other characteristics among extended family members and stresses the underlying cohesiveness. Results revealed that art in the form of ceramic sculpture composition can serve as a conduit pipe to establishing family standards of identity, loyalty, and responsibility; thus projecting the significance of artistry in socio-cultural dynamics.

Logophoric pronouns in West African languages occur in attitude environments and are anaphorically linked to an attitude holder in a superordinate clause. This has motivated theorists to treat logophoric pronouns semantically as an obligatorily bound variable (bound from the edge of an embedded complement clause). Culy (Linguistics 32:1055–1094, 1994) and Bimpeh and Sode (in Proceedings of TripleA, vol. 6 pp. 1–16, 2021), however, point out that logophoric pronouns in Ewe do not behave like obligatorily bound variables, allowing both sloppy (bound) and strict (non-bound) readings in focus contexts involving ‘only’ and ellipsis. We strengthen this line of criticism by providing novel cross-linguistic data that indicate that logophoric pronouns in Ewe, Igbo and Yoruba support strict readings. We offer an alternative formal account to existing approaches that builds on Bimpeh et al. (in Proceedings of the 40th WCCFL, pp. 1–10, 2024) and can capture both strict and sloppy interpretations, while preserving the requirement that a logophoric pronoun be anaphoric to an attitude holder. The main novelty involves decomposition of logophoric pronouns into two syntactic components at LF—a variable that can in principle be free and refer strictly, and a semantic presuppositional feature log that can be ignored in ellipsis and focus sites, following similar ideas in the literature on pronominal features (Sauerland in Proceedings of SALT 23, pp. 156–173, 2013). Our analysis implies that in terms of their syntactic and semantic make up, logophors are essentially no different from other pronouns, consisting of a referential index plus semantic features.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11050-025-09242-x.

The study investigates the serial mediation of psychological ownership and workplace innovation in the nexus between organizational leadership and employee performance among healthcare workers in Ghana. Six hundred and thirty-seven samples were selected using convenience sampling technique. The data gathered using self-reported questionnaire were analyzed using SEM-PLS. The findings reveal that organizational leadership directly improves healthcare employee's psychological ownership, workplace innovation and employee performance. Psychological ownership and workplace innovation separately and serially mediate the relationship between organizational leadership and healthcare employees' performance. The study highlights the significant influence of organizational leadership, psychological ownership and workplace innovation on the performance of healthcare employees. Healthcare organizations ought to allocate resources toward leadership development strategies to foster a favorable work atmosphere that promotes innovation and enables employees to assume ownership of their tasks and contribute to continuing enhancement, ultimately leading to enhanced performance. This research is a pioneering study on serial mediation of psychological ownership and workplace behavior in the association between organizational leadership and performance in healthcare settings in Ghana.

PurposeThis study examined university students’ participation in campus-based events (CBEs). Using the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) theory, the study specifically assessed the effect of motivation on emotional attachment and experiential value and how these affect the satisfaction and subjective well-being of students.Design/methodology/approachAn online questionnaire programmed using the Kobo toolbox was used to collect data from 840 CBE participants in August 2023. AMOS Graphics version 23 was used to establish the measurement and structural model to be validated and tested.FindingsThe study found that the organismic elements (emotional attachment and experiential value) significantly mediated stimulus (motivation) and response (satisfaction and subjective well-being). In all, the six hypotheses tested were significant.Practical implicationsThe study’s findings suggest that CBE stakeholders must consider the underlying motivations of students, the emotional attachment, and experiential values likely to be derived when designing and organizing CBE activities, and use impactful advertising media to entice and arouse students’ interest in participating in CBEs.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the understanding of the factors that influence CBE participants’ satisfaction and subjective well-being. The study’s focus on motivation, emotional attachment, and experiential value provides insights into developing effective strategies for the events industry.

Abstract The seeds of lesser-known tropical legume trees are currently being promoted as a cost-effective method of increasing broiler productivity, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Several feeding trials have evaluated the effects of baobab seed meal (BSM) on broiler chicken productivity. However, due to differences in experimental conditions among feeding trials, drawing broad conclusions using this large volume of data appears difficult. Thus, the meta-analytic effect of BSM on growth performance [i.e., feed intake, feed conversion ratio (FCR), and body weight gain (BWG)] and carcass characteristics of broilers were investigated using 14 peer-reviewed published articles. These articles were retrieved via a systematic search conducted on Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, Elicit.com, and PubMed databases. The effect size was calculated via a random effect model, and results were expressed as standardised mean differences (SMD) at 95% confidence intervals. The pooled results showed that broilers fed BSM had significantly lower BWG (SMD = −0.77; −0.19, −0.30; p < 0.001), dressed carcass weight (SMD = −0.84; −1.44, −0.23; p = 0.007), and higher FCR (SMD = 0.55; 0.19, 0.91; p < 0.001) than those fed control diets. However, feed intake, dressing percentage, and weights of breast, thigh, and drumstick were not significantly affected. Subgroup analyses showed that the Marshall strain-fed BSM-based diets had significantly heavier BWG (p < 0.001) than the Hubbard, Ross, and Anak strains. Similarly, results revealed that broilers fed soaked and roasted BSM had significantly better FCR and BWG than broilers fed sundried and fermented BSM. Broilers fed BSM-based diets from days 29–56 (SMD = 0.17; −0.51, 0.84; p = 0.622) and days 1−56 (SMD = −0.89; −1.41, −0.36; p < 0.001) had significantly improved FCR compared to those offered BSM-based diets from days 1–21 (SMD = 2.58; 1.65, 3.51; p < 0.001), days 1–28 (SMD = 0.85; 0.35, 1.34; p < 0.001), and days 22–42 (SMD = 1.82; 1.02, 2.62; p < 0.001). Similarly, broilers fed BSM-based diets from days 29–56 (SMD = 0.21; −0.38, 0.79; p = 0.484) and days 1−56 (SMD = 0.92; 0.16, 1.69; p = 0.018) had significantly higher BWG than those offered BSM-based diets from days 1–21 (SMD = −3.39; −4.41, −2.37; p < 0.001), days 1–28 (SMD = −1.32; −1.91, −0.72; p < 0.001), and days 22–42 (SMD = −2.24; −2.75, 1.73; p < 0.001). Meta-regression revealed a low to moderate effect of processing methods, broiler strains, inclusion level, and feeding duration as covariates, explaining most of the sources of heterogeneity. In conclusion, broilers fed 1–10% of soaked, and roasted BSM from days 1 to 56 had improved growth performance parameters when compared to those on the control.

In spite of the growing micro ventures in rural India, villages have number of problems basically functional arising in production, financial, marketing, and human resource. These barriers over the years remain the same. Researcher adopted all those roots under main functional title for investigation .To get to that, micro entrepreneurs are interrogated on five point scale to know the severity. The purpose of this paper is identifying factors of functional problems faced by rural micro entrepreneurs. For study, 259 rural micro entrepreneurs were questioned using a planned schedule in 94 sample villages in Maharashtra's Sangli district towards 4 functional problems viz., production, financial, marketing, and human resource. In the study, the major factors of functional problems are investigated. This paper demonstrates to find out commonalities regarding production, financial, marketing, and human resource problems into preferences factor analysis has been applied.