What Factors Influence the Academic Success of Somali Graduate Students?

As Somali refugees arrive in the United States, their unique culture and religion has become a challenge for academic institutions unaware of how to accommodate these new students with unique academic needs and social status. This study aims to identify the factors influencing the academic success of Somali graduate students and explore ways the Somali graduate students overcome the academic challenges. This phenomenological study analyzed the experiences and perceptions of ten Somali graduate students in the Midwest universities. Participants were either foreign born or second-generation born Americans. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews aimed at identifying challenges in the academic environment, and the ways the participants overcame their unique academic challenges. This study revealed that the primary factors affecting their academic success are in the presence of/or absence of inclusions academic environments, socioeconomic status, level of family obligation, levels of resilience, and encountering racism. These students overcame academic challenges by taking un-Islamic financial assistance, prioritizing English language learning, relying on family/spousal support, making connections with faculty, and forming ethnically homogenous academic support groups. Somali students have a plethora of academic factors affecting their success, most of which are common to more minority students in America. The ways these students deal with those academic challenges are unique to first-generation Somalis, especially concerning the paramount cultural and religious values around the importance of education which was the main source of academic motivation. Future research for Somali graduate students should be focused on what separates them from others in their same ethnic group who do not go to college. Keywords: academic, achievement, challenges, integration, retention, economic integratio

Developing a monitoring and evaluation system for the ceasefire gang violence programme in Hanover Park, Cape Town

Includes bibliographical references.This study is a formative evaluation of the Ceasefire gang violence programme in Hanover Park, Cape Town, South Africa. The primary audience of this evaluation is the Ceasefire programme management. The Ceasefire programme is a project of the City of Cape Town's Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading Unit (VPUU). The Ceasefire programme is run by the First Community Resource Centre (FCRC) in Hanover Park. The main aim of this evaluation is to develop a results-based monitoring and evaluation system for the Ceasefire programme

Reducing Teacher Turnover: Factors of Teacher Retention Success

This post-positivist confirmatory correlational study examined four contributing factors found in the literature to influence teacher retention. The four factors were working conditions and school climate; administrative support and leadership practices; teacher self-efficacy; and the COVID-19 pandemic. The researcher developed two questionnaires (i.e., Teacher Retention Questionnaire for Teachers and Teacher Retention Questionnaire for Administrators) to gather the data for the study. A total of 324 teachers (30.39% return rate) and 26 administrators (50% return rate) from an urban Midwest P-12+ public school district participated in this study and anonymity was assured. Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory and Self-Efficacy Theory were used to frame this study. Findings indicated working conditions and school climate, along with administrative support and leadership practices were shown as most correlated to teacher retention. No correlation with retention was obtained when teacher self-efficacy or COVID-19 pandemic issues were explored. Recommendations for school administrators resulting from this study relate to enhancing school climate to increase job satisfaction and implementing leadership practices that value a personal connection (i.e., trust, respect) with teachers. School leaders should assist teachers with increasing parent involvement, addressing disruptive behaviors, and aiding students with low academic interest to boost the school climate. Recommendations for future research focuses on understanding self-efficacy results (i.e., not correlated to retention) and to continue exploring other factors that prevent teacher retention phenomenon. Keywords: school climate, working conditions, administrative support, leadership practices; teacher self-efficacy, COVID-19, pandemic, teacher retention, factors, indicator

Mid-Cretaceous (Cenomanian) snakes from Wadi Abu Hashim, Sudan: the earliest snake assemblage

The Cenomanian (mid-Cretaceous) beds at Wadi Abu Hashim (Sudan) have yielded a snake assemblage that is very rich and diverse for its geological age. It is by far the oldest known snake fauna. As the assignment of the hitherto earliest presumed snake (Barremian) to the Serpentes may now be questioned, this diverse fauna is only slightly younger than the earliest certain appearance of snakes (late Albian). The fauna is a surprising mixture of very primitive and comparatively advanced snakes. It includes two forms belonging to the lapparentophiid-grade of snakes (‘ lapparentophiid-grade snake A ’ and ‘ lapparentophiid-grade snake B ’), an indeterminate Madtsoiidae, a possible Palaeophiidae, the aniliid Coniophis dabiebus sp. nov., Coniophis cf. C. dabiebus, the nigerophiid Nubianophis afaahus gen. et sp. nov., Nubianophis cf. N. afaahus, the russellophiid Krebsophis thobanus gen. et sp. nov., a Colubroidea incertae sedis (indeterminate family), and two indeterminate snakes. In sum, at least nine species, perhaps twelve, are present. They represent at least seven families: at least one family of lapparentophiid-grade (?Lapparentophiidae), Madtsoiidae, ?Palaeophiidae, Aniliidae, Nigerophiidae, Russellophiidae, and an indeterminate colubroid family. The presence of colubroid snakes (Russellophiidae and an indeterminate family) as early as the mid-Cretaceous is especially unexpected. It may be inferred from phylogenies that the higher taxa of snakes (Anilioidea, Booidea, Acrochordoidea, Colubroidea, and obviously Scolecophidia) were already present during mid-Cretaceous times. The diversity of this fauna, coupled with the presence of advanced forms (colubroids), suggest that the origin of snakes markedly antedates the Cenomanian. Africa played an important role in the early radiation and, probably, in the origin of snakes.The Council's Research Committe, University of the Witwatersrand; National Science Foundatio

Amphibians and squamate reptiles from the lower Eocene of Silveirinha (Portugal)

Silveirinha (Portugal) has produced a diverse herpetofauna. In Europe, it is the only described assemblage of amphibians and squamate reptiles from the base of the Eocene (MP 7). The fauna includes at least two species of amphibians (belonging to the Salamandridae and perhaps the Pelobatidae) and at least 15 species of squamates (at least nine families: Iguanidae, Agamidae, Gekkonidae, one or two families of scincomorphans, Anguidae, ?Varanidae, Amphisbaenidae, Boidae, Tropidophiidae, and likely an indeterminate family of snakes). But, except for the snake Dunnophis matronensis, identifications at species level are not possible. The presence of iguanid lizards and of the snake D. matronensis in the base of the Eocene (MP 7) of Europe is confirmed. The fauna includes several squamates that show close affinities with North American taxa

Low radon exposures and lung cancer risk: joint analysis of the Czech, French, and Beaverlodge cohorts of uranium miners.

It is well established that high radon exposures increase the risk of lung cancer mortality. The effects of low occupational exposures and the factors that confound and modify this risk are not clear and are needed to inform current radiation protection of miners. The risk of lung cancer mortality at low radon exposures (< 100 working-level months) was assessed in the joint cohort analysis of Czech, French, and Canadian uranium miners, employed in 1953 or later. Statistical analysis was based on linear Poisson regression modeling with grouped cohort survival data. Two sensitivity analyses were used to assess potential confounding from tobacco smoking. A statistically significant linear relationship between radon exposure and lung cancer mortality was found. The excess relative risk per working-level month was 0.022 (95% confidence intervals: 0.013-0.034), based on 408 lung cancer deaths and 394,236 person-years of risk. Time since exposure was a statistically significant modifier; risk decreased with increasing time since exposure. A tendency for a decrease in risk with increasing attained age was observed, but this was not statistically significant. Exposure rate was not found to be a modifier of the excess relative risk. The potential confounding effect of tobacco smoking was estimated to be small and did not substantially change the radon-lung cancer mortality risk estimates. This joint cohort analysis provides strong evidence for an increased risk of lung cancer mortality from low occupational radon exposures. The results suggest that radiation protection measures continue to be important among current uranium miners

Fragmentação do poder e a complexidade de governar nas regiões metropolitanas

As a result of the greater mobility of services, capital and people, the metropolitan issue becomes more prominent. Although the Federal Constitution had already recognized the metropolitan regions, it was with the Metropolis Statute, Lawn. 13,089/2015, that some progress was achieved in relation to the Brazilianinterfederal governance. The government aimed to fill the gaps and explore the potential of several political urban instruments for the production of good governance from the promotion of federative cooperation and coordination initiatives that were neglected by the Public Administration for decades. However, the very fragmentation of power and the complexity of governing these regions make their management and governance fragile and call the viability and the effectiveness of the Metropolis Statute into question. Thus, by using the hypothetico-deductive method, the present research aims to analyze some innovations brought by the Metropolis Statute or that should have been disciplined by it and how they approach or not the essential questions for a solid governance or even in order to overcome the institutional fragilities of these regions.Com a maior mobilidade de serviços, capital e pessoas, a questão metropolitana ganha notoriedade. Embora a Constituição já reconhecesse as regiões metropolitanas, foi com o Estatuto da Metrópole, Lei n. 13.089, de 2015, que houve algum avanço em relação à governança interfederativa. Pretendia-se preencher as lacunas e explorar o potencial de diversos instrumentos político-urbanísticos visando à boa governança com base no fomento às iniciativas de cooperação e coordenação federativa, por longas décadas negligenciadas pelo Poder Público. Contudo, a própria fragmentação do poder e a complexidade de governar essas regiões tornam frágeis a gestão e a governança delas, pondo em xeque a viabilidade e a efetividade do Estatuto. Assim, o presente estudo, utilizando o método hipotético-dedutivo, visa analisar algumas inovações trazidas pelo Estatuto ou que deveriam ter sido disciplinadas por ele e o modo como estas se aproximam ou não dos itens essenciais para uma sólida governança e para a superação das fragilidades institucionais

Exceptional soft tissues preservation in a mummified frog-eating Eocene salamander

Fossils are almost always represented by hard tissues but we present here the exceptional case of a three-dimensionally preserved specimen that was ‘mummified’ (likely between 40 and 34 million years ago) in a terrestrial karstic environment. This fossil is the incomplete body of a salamander, Phosphotriton sigei, whose skeleton and external morphology are well preserved, as revealed by phase-contrast synchrotron X-ray microtomography. In addition, internal structures composed of soft tissues preserved in three dimensions are now identified: a lung, the spinal cord, a lumbosacral plexus, the digestive tract, muscles and urogenital organs that may be cloacal glands. These are among the oldest known cases of three-dimensional preservation of these organs in vertebrates and shed light on the ecology of this salamander. Indeed, the digestive tract contains remains of a frog, which represents the only known case of an extinct salamander that fed on a frog, an extremely rare type of predation in extant salamanders. These new data improve our scarce knowledge on soft tissue anatomy of early urodeles and should prove useful for future biologists and palaeontologists working on urodele evolutionary biology. We also suggest that the presence of bat guano and carcasses represented a close source of phosphorus, favouring preservation of soft tissues. Bone microanatomy indicates that P. sigei was likely amphibious or terrestrial, and was probably not neotenic

Competition in the Norwegian Mortgage Market: Use of Diversion Ratios to Investigate the Competitive Proximity between DNB and Sparebanken Vest

In this thesis, we use an empirical approach to investigate which implications a potential merger between DNB and Sparebanken Vest will have on the competitive situation in the mortgage market and if there are any distinctions in the answers and diversion ratios between marginal, non-marginal, and average customers. We conduct a survey on a sample of residents in Bergen with a mortgage in DNB or Sparebanken Vest. We find that a potential merger will cause an upward pricing pressure and an increased market concentration which raises competition concerns. The diversion ratios between the banks are relatively high. However, from the critical loss analysis, we find that the banks not will benefit from a price increase, which indicates that they not are close competitors and that it is not likely that a merger will cause anticompetitive behavior. Moreover, we find that there are distinctions between marginal, non-marginal and average customers. Our findings indicate that marginal customers are more active in the banking market and take more advantage of the competition. In addition, we find that the estimated marginal and non-marginal diversion ratios from DNB to Sparebanken Vest differ significantly. This indicates that when the competition authorities assess mergers, they should not assume that all customers have the same responses and are non-marginal, as this may lead to a wrong conclusion.nhhma