International Journal of Technology and Management Research

Determination of phytochemicals in Thaumatococcus daniellii (sweet prayer leaves) and Musa paradisiaca (plantain leaves) as a food packaging material

Ryan Osei-Asibey — Mon, 04 Sep 2023 08:37:15 +0000

Leaves from the plants of Thaumatococcus daniellii and Musa paradisiaca are used for wrapping foods in Ghana. In this study, the types of phytochemicals present in the two leaves were qualitatively determined. Standard qualitative phytochemical tests by Trease and Evans, Sofowora and Harborne were employed in screening for ten selected phytochemicals. The following phytochemicals were present in T. daniellii leaf extracts; saponins, polyuronides, phenolic compounds, reducing sugars, alkaloids, flavonoids, cyanogenic glycosides, phytosterols and anthracenosides. However, triterpenes were absent. M. paradisiaca also showed the presence of saponins, phenolic compounds, cyanogenic glycosides, polyuronides, reducing sugar, flavonoids and phytosterols. However, alkaloids, triterpenes and anthracenosides were absent. From the results obtained, T. daniellii contained more classes of healthful phytochemicals than that of M. paradisiaca. Since, the leaves of both T. daniellii and M. paradisiaca contribute more than just a means of packaging to these local delicacies, their continued use should be highly encouraged and widely promoted.

Service, game and livelihood, the new dimensions of neutralization techniques in Internet Romance Fraud: Extending the Neutralization Theory in Modern Internet crimes.

Lomatey Toku, Martin Otu Offei — Mon, 04 Sep 2023 09:10:00 +0000

Internet romance fraud is a serious international crime made possible by the use of the internet and social
media dating sites. It is a relationship fraud based on mutual love shared between the victims and their
offender partners, without the victim knowing that the offenders have criminal intent to defraud the victim.
This crime affect victims in developed countries who are referred to as ‘clients’ by their offenders’ partners.
Offenders use neutralization techniques to rationalize and justify their deviant behavior by deflecting the quilt
associated with this crime. This study surveyed 320 respondents in validated internet romance fraud (IRF)
hotspots. Variance-based partial least square (SmartPLS) with structural equation modeling (SEM) was used
to investigate casual relationships among the various. The findings indicate internet romance fraudsters”
(IRF) use neutralization methods (“condemn of the condemners”, “denial of injury”, “denial of victim,”
“denial of responsibility”, game, service and livelihood) to justify their crimes. The offenders do not use
defense of necessity and metaphor of the ledger to rationalize their crimes against their victims. The evidence
from this study suggests new dimensions of neutralization techniques (game, service and livelihood) have
been introduced by criminals to justify their crimes. The empirical evidence from this study suggests that
crime intention in the context of IRF is carried on to the actualization of the crime, a novelty in IS research.
The implication of this suggests that criminals are using new techniques in emerging crimes (IRF). Law
enforcement and prosecution should arm themselves to deal with the new way of crime justification and
rationalization.

The Real Estate Market in Ghana: The Driving Factors and Housing Price.

FIRMIN ANEWUOH, William Gyadu-Asiedu, Kennedy Appiadu-Boakye — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 11:12:20 +0000

Abstract

The pricing of real estate houses in Ghana is a great concern to most Ghanaians. Numerous factors contribute to this. The purpose of this study was to discover the key variables influencing Ghanaian real estate pricing. Members of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA) were given a total of 196 sets of structured questionnaires. The members comprised of contractors, consultants, the client’s team, and others. Out of these questionnaires distributed, 130 completed questionnaires were returned. The results of the analysis showed the following as the main factors driving real estate prices: construction cost, financial market, structural features, government policies, macroeconomic determinants, and shifting population demography to be the major factors driving the pricing of real estate residential houses in Ghana. The value of R (the correlation coefficient of the regression analysis) was 0.846, indicating a very high positive correlation existing between the dependent and independent variables. This suggests that the two variables are moving in the same direction. The study concludes that population demographics, construction cost, structural feature, macroeconomic variables, government policy, and financial market explain 62.9 percent of the variability in the pricing of real estate residential dwellings in Ghana.

The client’s consent strengthens the ‘Gamers’ hand; The deterrence theory’s perspective of the Internet romance fraudsters.

Martin Otu Offei — Thu, 31 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Internet romance fraud (IRF) is an international crime which has great consequences for individuals, businesses and nations. This emerging crime is based on a romantic love relationship over the internet between a victim (with love intention) and an offender with a criminal intention. Offenders recruit victims from dating sites with the sole intention of defrauding these victims by deception. This study surveyed 320 respondents from validated internet romance fraud (IRF) hotspots which includes, internet cafés and university campuses in Ghana. Structural equation modelling (SEM), with partial least square (PLS) was use to model and analyze the casual relationships of the dependent and independent variables. The evidence from this study suggests, deterrence - dimensions of punishment (certainty, severity) and shame (certainty severity) negatively influence intention to commit internet romance fraud (IRF) however, intention to commit internet romance fraud (IRF) positively influence the actual IRF crime. Whereas, punishment dimensions are negative and significant, shame dimensions are negative and insignificant, implying IRF are not shamed in their quest to defraud their victims. Internet romance fraudsters are not deterred by punishment and or shame to defraud their victims, although they know their acts are criminal in nature and punishable by law. Offenders’ criminal intention ensures that victims are ultimately defrauded under the pretense of romantic love relationship. This embolden attitude of internet romance offenders must inform law enforcement and prosecutions. Maybe the punishment meted to IRF criminals are not deterrent enough, thereby, sending the wrong signals to IRF criminals and encouraging more young persons to participate in internet romance fraud (IRF) activities.