Replication Note: What is Political Incivility?

Because political incivility is so consequential and those consequences depend on observers’ perceptions, we must know what Americans perceive as uncivil. Stryker, Conway, and Danielson (2016) conducted one of the first studies addressing this using confirmatory factor analysis on 23 types of potential incivility, but the authors used a local sample representing undergraduates at one southwestern university. Using 20 of their 23 measures and replicating their analyses on a national sample of more than 2000 respondents representing U.S. whites, Blacks, and Latinx, this study finds the same conceptual structure for perceived political incivility with very similar response patterns as Stryker et al. (2016). Perceived political incivility is an overarching construct with three analytically distinct, inter-correlated dimensions: insulting utterances, deception, and behaviors that tend to shut down ongoing and inclusive discussion.

Emergency Remote Early Childhood Teaching: A Temporary Setting or Contemporary Necessity?

The COVID-19 pandemic and the protection of social distance between educators and learners have impacted all levels of education – significantly, early childhood. It has hindered activities carried out in a direct meeting and has forced education in the 2020-2021 school year to continue through emergency remote teaching. The study determined the fundamental structure of the views of early childhood educators on emergency remote teaching to reveal how they are thinking forward regarding their teaching skillset for either the continuity or change of education in the next school year. A phenomenological design of qualitative research was employed, and a local sample of 10 educators voluntarily informed the study. Through the interviews, five theme clusters emerged that reflected their 88 significant statements. The results evidenced to the extent that early childhood educators view emergency remote teaching as beyond being a temporary solution to learning when a pandemic threatens physical classes, but its potential to become a contemporary necessity is premature and highly dependent on how families will respond and how schools will proceed as a result of their response. Thus, further exploration of professional development topics is needed to support early childhood educators to teach in any situation moving forward.

Genomic surveillance reveals the spread patterns of SARS-CoV-2 in coastal Kenya during the first two waves

The transmission networks of SARS-CoV-2 in sub-Saharan Africa remain poorly understood. We analyzed 684 genomes from samples collected across six counties in coastal Kenya during the first two waves (March 2020 - February 2021). Up to 32 Pango lineages were detected in the local sample with six accounting for 88.0% of the sequenced infections: B.1 (60.4%), B.1.1 (8.9%), B.1.549 (7.9%), B.1.530 (6.4%), N.8 (4.4%) and A (3.1%). In a contemporaneous global sample, 571 lineages were identified, 247 for Africa and 88 for East Africa. We detected 262 location transition events comprising: 64 viral imports into Coastal Kenya; 26 viral exports from coastal Kenya; and 172 inter-county import/export events. Most international viral imports (61%) and exports (88%) occurred through Mombasa, a key coastal touristic and commercial center; and many occurred prior to June 2020, when stringent local COVID-19 restriction measures were enforced. After this period, local transmission dominated, and distinct local phylogenies were seen. Our analysis supports moving control strategies from a focus on international travel to local transmission.

Identification of Tomato Seed Pathogens (Fungi) of Different Cultivars and Varieties in Maiduguri Borno State

The experiment was conducted in the pathology of department of crop protection univesity of Maiduguri Borno state. Which is located at latitude 11051N and longitude 13015E to exermine or to isolate and identified the fungi pathogen responsible for damaging same tomatoes cultivars (Solanum lycopersicon) seed in maiduguri Borno state.The result show that the improve variety of tomatoes seed has number of fungal isolation in the sample where the fungal include Aspergillus niger, fusarium spp, penecillium spp .Whereby in the cullum, the Aspergillus were present. Just less in the following treatment T1(Rio grand), T2(Tema), T3(Uc-82B) Compared to that of fungal pathogen isolate in the local sample which are present T1(Seria dan zang), T2(Dan gashua), T3(Roman dan mazar), T4(Dan jino). Whereas in the Fusarium spp in the improved variety sample the fungal are present in T1(Rio grand), T2(Tema), T3(Uc -82B), and T5(Roa savannah) while in local variety sample the fungal pathogen are present in T1(Seria dan zang), T3(Roman dan mazar), T4(Dan jino) and T5(Utc) where in penilluim spp the fungal are present in the improve variety in T1(Rio grand), T2(Tema), T3(Uc-82B), and T5(Roma savannah) compared to that of the local variety sample which are in T2(Dan gashua), T3(Roman dan mazar) and T5(Utc) (Table1).Whereas in the mean disease index recorded on improved cultivars tomatoes. The result shows that T1with (98.14%) are recorded the highest index followed by T2(Tema) with (93.10%) while the least was recorded on T4(Roma vf) with (46.21%). (Table2) compared to that of local variety sample where by the highest disease index was recorded in T3(Roman dan mazar) with (100%) and the least was recorded on T1(Seria dan zang) with (97.23) and the least was recorded T4(Dan jino) with (92.26)(Table3).

Sightings trends and behaviour of manta rays in Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, Brazil

Despite substantial progress in mobulid research over the past decade, knowledge gaps in manta ray ecology and behaviour remain, particularly in the South Atlantic Ocean. Opportunistic photographic and video records of manta rays collected between 2002 and 2019 at Fernando de Noronha Archipelago (FNA) in northeast Brazil provide evidence to support the year-round use of the region by manta rays (believed to be Mobula cf. birostris). From a total of 130 sighting records, manta rays exhibited feeding behaviour in 36.9% (n = 48) of sightings, indicating that the shallow waters surrounding the archipelago are used as feeding grounds. Approximately half of the records (53.8%) corresponded to identified individuals that were re-sighted repeatedly, using the area in different seasons and for several years. Of the compiled records, 69.2% of sightings were of small individuals (≤3 m disc width). All identified males had undeveloped claspers and females had no visible mating scars, suggesting a juvenile population. Despite being limited to a small local sample, here we present the first report of manta rays at FNA and provide preliminary evidence of feeding behaviour by juvenile manta rays in Brazil. This information contributes to our understanding of the regional distribution and habitat use of manta rays in Brazilian waters.

Screening of awnless bromegrass collection samples in the taiga zone of Western Siberia

The paper presents the results of the study of collection samples of awnless bromegrass from the Federal Research Center N.I. Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR) to identify donors of valuable breeding traits. The study was carried in 2015-2018 in Tomsk region. The soils of the experimental plots were sod-podzolic, sandy loam by granulometric composition, with a humus content in the arable layer of no more than 2%. The recorded area of the plot was 0.5 m2. The trials were repeated two times. Procedures for trial establishment, phenological observations, harvest recording and data processing were performed in accordance with the methodological recommendations of the All-Russian Williams Fodder Research Institute, VIR and the State Variety Testing Methodology. The years of the study were characterized by uneven distribution of heat and moisture during the growing season. This made it possible to identify the most adaptive samples for selective breeding of awnless bromegrass which can be used as a hay and pasture plant in the taiga zone. The following valuable source materials were selected for tall varieties: Khabarovsky, Titan, Vozvyshensky, SibNIISkhoz 88; samples of wild plants Yakutia (K-14215), Vologda (K-14224), Omsk (K-14228), Sverdlovsk (K-14209) regions, a local sample of Tomsk region (K-14226). The following samples resistant to fungal diseases were identified: Morshansky, Khabarovsky and Erkeeni varieties; samples of wild forms of Irkutsk (K-14221, К-14227), Vologda (K-14212, К-14224), Omsk (K-14228) regions, a local sample of Tomsk region (K-14226). The following high-yielding varieties in terms of fodder mass were recognized: wild forms of Vologda region (K-14212, К-14222) and a local population of Tomsk region (K-14214); highly leafy varieties: Primorsky 46, SibNIISKHoz 88, wild forms of Komi (K-14208), Irkutsk (K-14227), Vologda (K14212, К-14224) regions, local samples of Tomsk region (K-14214, К-14226); varieties with high seed yield: Duet, Primorsky 46, Erkeeni, wild forms of Vologda region (K-14212, К-14224), a local sample of Tomsk region (K-14226). Based on the set of the main economically valuable traits for sowing in a polycross nursery, samples of wild plants from Vologda region (K-14212, К-14224), and local samples of Tomsk region (K-14214, К-14226) were selected.

Allometric Biomass Models for European Beech and Silver Fir: Testing Approaches to Minimize the Demand for Site-Specific Biomass Observations

In this paper, site-specific allometric biomass models were developed for European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) to estimate the aboveground biomass in Șinca virgin forest, Romania. Several approaches to minimize the demand for site-specific observations in allometric biomass model development were also investigated. Developing site-specific allometric biomass models requires new measurements of biomass for a sample of trees from that specific site. Yet, measuring biomass is laborious, time consuming, and requires extensive logistics, especially for very large trees. The allometric biomass models were developed for a wide range of diameters at breast height, D (6–86 cm for European beech and 6–93 cm for silver fir) using a logarithmic transformation approach. Two alternative approaches were applied, i.e., random intercept model (RIM) and a Bayesian model with strong informative priors, to enhance the information of the site-specific sample (of biomass observations) by supplementing with a generic biomass sample. The appropriateness of each model was evaluated based on the aboveground biomass prediction of a 1 ha sample plot in Șinca forest. The results showed that models based on both D and tree height (H) to predict tree aboveground biomass (AGB) were more accurate predictors of AGB and produced plot-level estimates with better precision, than models based on D only. Furthermore, both RIM and Bayesian approach performed similarly well when a small local sample (of seven smallest trees) was used to calibrate the allometric model. Therefore, the generic biomass observations may effectively be combined with a small local sample (of just a few small trees) to calibrate an allometric model to a certain site and to minimize the demand for site-specific biomass measurements. However, special attention should be given to the H-D ratio, since it can affect the allometry and the performance of the reduced local sample approach.

Application of a Negative Multinomial Model Gives Insight into Rarity-Area Relationships

The distribution of individuals of different species across different sampling units is typically non-random. This distributional non-independence can be interpreted and modelled as a correlated multivariate distribution. However, this correlation cannot be modelled using a totally independent and random distribution such as the Poisson distribution. In this study, we utilized the negative multinomial distribution to overcome the problem encountered by the commonly used Poisson distribution and used it to derive insight into the implications of field sampling for rare species’ distributions. Mathematically, we derived, from the negative multinomial distribution and sampling theory, contrasting relationships between sampling area, and the proportions of locally rare and regionally rare species in ecological assemblages presenting multi-species correlated distribution. With the suggested model, we explored the cross-scale relationships between the spatial extent, the population threshold for defining the rarity of species, and the multi-species correlated distribution pattern using data from two 50-ha tropical forest plots in Barro Colorado Island (Panama) and Heishiding Provincial Reserve (Guangdong Province, China). Notably, unseen species (species with zero abundance in the studied local sample) positively contributed to the distributional non-independence of species in a local sample. We empirically confirmed these findings using the plot data. These findings can help predict rare species–area relationships at various spatial scales, potentially informing biodiversity conservation and development of optimal field sampling strategies.