Bicultural Socialization Experiences of Black Immigrant Students in Selective Predominantly White Institutions in America

Minority and dominant cultures present a power dynamic that could promote or impede academic achievement for Black immigrant students. Drawing upon bicultural socialization as a conceptual framework, this study explores the predictability of various factors on academic outcomes among foreign-born compared to US-born Black immigrant students. Using a sample of 959 Black students (662 US-born and 297 foreign-born) from the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen (NLSF) conducted in the fall of 1999–2003, the current study examines indicators that inform the integration of Black immigrants into mainstream college environments by disaggregating the Black student population by nativity, to look more closely at variations in educational attainment among this population. Controlling for demographic factors, the results show that interracial relations, campus racial segregation, and commitment to racial diversity were associated with four- and six-year graduation. This study finds that negative racial relations and campus racial segregation are inimical to the diversity rendering of institutional vision for creating a conducive environment and promoting academic excellence. Students’ viewpoints on racial diversity on campus speak volumes regarding how they perceive the world around them. The theoretical implications are relevant for predicting appropriate outcome measures for a balanced integration culture, improving institutional commitment to diversity, and controlling campus segregation. The findings have implications for preventive interventions addressing the current achievement gap for Black immigrant students while delineating pathways for students, faculty, institutional leaders, and policymakers to promote interactive and interracial campus culture, improve institutional transparency, and evolve strategic plans to close achievement gaps and promote peer/faculty involvement in out-of-class encounters. The findings show that there is a relationship between family income and four- and six-year graduation. Moreover, Black immigrant students appear to be more sensitive to racial segregation. As the level of racial segregation on a campus increases, the likelihood of Black immigrant students graduating within four years decreases. The study views diversity from a heterogeneous perspective, underlines attributes of Black immigrant students that predict dynamics of their adjustment into mainstream culture, and adds to the existing literature on factors impacting their learning educational outcomes. The study presents valuable implications for policy and practice. The explanatory predictors are useful to predict college graduation, promote interactive and interracial culture, enhance institutional climate while helping to develop plans to close achievement gap. It may promote peer and faculty involvement that addresses students’ social and academic needs, extol values of cultural /ethnic organizations on campus and to a large extent, cultivate intercultural relations on campus. Future research should expand research on the black immigrant students at less selective four-year, HBCU’s and two-year colleges where these institutions enroll a large proportion of black students in order to explore how these institutions serve the needs of black immigrant students and how their bicultural socialization contribute to college completion. It should compare US-born immigrant black students with other significant pool of black immigrant students from other regions and their adaptation patterns in college and adding GPA or academic/cognitive factors in future research for a more robust model. Keywords: foreign-born/US-born Black immigrant students, bicultural socialization, achievement gap, college graduation, integration into mainstream culture

Assessment of Heavy Metal in Urbanized Tropical River in Ibadan, Nigeria

Contamination by heavy metals in river water is a global problem especially in developing countries like Nigeria. Ten heavy metals were investigated in River Ona located in Ibadan, a state capital in Nigeria. The river which stretches over more than 30km length drains through different land uses in the city. Laboratory analysis conducted on ten water samples collected at 1km equidistance position reveals that concentration levels of six (Lead, Cobalt, Copper, Zinc, Manganese and Iron) out of the ten heavy metal investigated in the study conform to the World Health Organization (2011) recommendation for human consumption while the remaining for elements (Cadmium, Chromium, Nickel and Arsenic) were above the WHO (2011) recommended levels. The mere presence of heavy metals in concentration near those limits considered safe for human consumption should be a matter of concern especially for residents who use the river water for domestic activities and those who consume fish from the river. A number of recommendations were subsequently put forward as a way of quality management of the river water.  KEYWORDS: Heavy Metals, Contamination, Pollution, Urbanization, Environmen

Problem-generating structures in Nigeria's rural development

Contents: I. Objectives, Scope, Methods and Hypothesis -- II. Nigeria: The Historical Background -- III. The Genesis of the Problem -- IV. Rural-urban Relations as Problem-generating Structures -- V. Field Data: Analysis and Interpretation -- VI. Summary and Conclusions</p

Bicultural Socialization Experiences of Black Immigrant Students in Selective Predominantly White Institutions in America

Minority and dominant cultures present a power dynamic that could promote or impede academic achievement for Black immigrant students. Drawing upon bicultural socialization as a conceptual framework, this study explores the predictability of various factors on academic outcomes among foreign-born compared to US-born Black immigrant students. Using a sample of 959 Black students (662 US-born and 297 foreign-born) from the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen (NLSF) conducted in the fall of 1999–2003, the current study examines indicators that inform the integration of Black immigrants into mainstream college environments by disaggregating the Black student population by nativity, to look more closely at variations in educational attainment among this population. Controlling for demographic factors, the results show that interracial relations, campus racial segregation, and commitment to racial diversity were associated with four- and six-year graduation. This study finds that negative racial relations and campus racial segregation are inimical to the diversity rendering of institutional vision for creating a conducive environment and promoting academic excellence. Students’ viewpoints on racial diversity on campus speak volumes regarding how they perceive the world around them. The theoretical implications are relevant for predicting appropriate outcome measures for a balanced integration culture, improving institutional commitment to diversity, and controlling campus segregation. The findings have implications for preventive interventions addressing the current achievement gap for Black immigrant students while delineating pathways for students, faculty, institutional leaders, and policymakers to promote interactive and interracial campus culture, improve institutional transparency, and evolve strategic plans to close achievement gaps and promote peer/faculty involvement in out-of-class encounters. The findings show that there is a relationship between family income and four- and six-year graduation. Moreover, Black immigrant students appear to be more sensitive to racial segregation. As the level of racial segregation on a campus increases, the likelihood of Black immigrant students graduating within four years decreases. The study views diversity from a heterogeneous perspective, underlines attributes of Black immigrant students that predict dynamics of their adjustment into mainstream culture, and adds to the existing literature on factors impacting their learning educational outcomes. The study presents valuable implications for policy and practice. The explanatory predictors are useful to predict college graduation, promote interactive and interracial culture, enhance institutional climate while helping to develop plans to close achievement gap. It may promote peer and faculty involvement that addresses students’ social and academic needs, extol values of cultural /ethnic organizations on campus and to a large extent, cultivate intercultural relations on campus. Future research should expand research on the black immigrant students at less selective four-year, HBCU’s and two-year colleges where these institutions enroll a large proportion of black students in order to explore how these institutions serve the needs of black immigrant students and how their bicultural socialization contribute to college completion. It should compare US-born immigrant black students with other significant pool of black immigrant students from other regions and their adaptation patterns in college and adding GPA or academic/cognitive factors in future research for a more robust model. Keywords: foreign-born/US-born Black immigrant students, bicultural socialization, achievement gap, college graduation, integration into mainstream culture

Observation on the growth of hubbard parent stock broilers raised for 20 weeks by manipulating the feed supply under restricted feeding regime

A study was carried out to monitor the effect of feed manipulation on the growth and development of male and female line Hubbard broiler parent stock reared under tropical open sided poultry house without any form of cooling system or any temperature regulating mechanism. A total of 255 females and 105 males for the male line and 360 females and 150 males for the female line were used. The birds were fed a normal soya cake/groundnut cake and maize based broiler starter ration of 2900kcal/kg ME and 20% CP and a grower ration containing 2650kcal/kg ME with 16% CP as stipulated by the Hubbard rearing guide. The birds were fed ad libitum for the first 2 weeks and thereafter placed on restricted feeding in line with the standard rearing guideline provided by the Hubbard breeding company for optimum growth and development. It was observed that the body weights of the birds did not differ much from the standard body weight expected at 20 weeks even though they were reared in the normal tropical open sided poultry house without sophisticated modern facilities. This shows that feed manipulation can be used to achieve desired weight in broiler parent stock rearing. Keywords: Feed manipulation, parent stock, open sided house, growth performance, broilers

A new methodology for measuring land fragmentation

The presence of land fragmentation can indicate that an existing land tenure structure is problematic. It can be a major problem in many regions because it restricts rational agricultural development and reduces the opportunities for sustainable rural development although in some cases, it can prove beneficial and desirable for social and environmental reasons. Whilst policies to counter land fragmentation require reliable measurement of the situation, current fragmentation indices have significant weaknesses. In particular, they ignore critical spatial variables such as the shape of parcels as well as non-spatial variables such as ownership type and the existence or absence of road access for each land parcel. Furthermore, there is no flexibility for users to select the variables that they think appropriate for inclusion in the fragmentation index, and no variable weighting mechanism is available. The aim of this paper is to introduce a new 'global land fragmentation index' that combines a multi-attribute decision-making method with a geographic information system. When applied to a case study area in Cyprus, the new index outperforms the existing indices in terms of reliability as it is comprehensive, flexible, problem specific and knowledge-based. The methodology can be easily applied to assess the quality of any existing system for which evaluation criteria can be defined with values ranging from the worst to best conditions