AFRICAN TOURISM IN UNCERTAIN TIMES: COVID-19 RESEARCH PROGRESS

COVID-19 is a trigger event which is changing the complexion of African tourism and the directions of African tourism research. This article offers an overview and commentary on the state of African research produced during the uncertain times of 2020-2021 in specific response to the immediate impacts and changes which have been catalysed by the pandemic. The article is a progress report to capture and profile the body of focussed contributions on COVID-19 and tourism which have appeared for sub-Saharan Africa. Further, it is a contribution towards strengthening our understanding of tourism and change in the Global South. Overall, the discussion serves to highlight an emerging African scholarship which is engaged on a range of issues around three core themes of ramification, adaptation and transformation.

Integration of Light and Brassinosteroid Signaling during Seedling Establishment

Light and brassinosteroid (BR) are external stimuli and internal cue respectively, that both play critical roles in a wide range of developmental and physiological process. Seedlings grown in the light exhibit photomorphogenesis, while BR promotes seedling etiolation. Light and BR oppositely control the development switch from shotomorphogenesis in the dark to photomorphogenesis in the light. Recent progress report that substantial components have been identified as hubs to integrate light and BR signals. Photomorphogenic repressors including COP1, PIFs, and AGB1 have been reported to elevate BR response, while photomorphogenesis-promoting factors such as HY5, BZS1, and NF-YCs have been proven to repress BR signal. In addition, BR components also modulate light signal. Here, we review the current research on signaling network associated with light and brassinosteroids, with a focus on the integration of light and BR signals enabling plants to thrive in the changeable environment.

On the emerging global relevance of atmospheric rivers and impacts on landscapes and water resources

This progress report discusses the lineage of atmospheric rivers (ARs) research, focusing on the transformation of the topic from an important regional atmospheric feature along the U.S. West Coast to a globally relevant driver of extreme hydrometeorological events. As the AR literature has advanced, so has the regional expanse covered, initially expanding into the Central U.S. and Europe. Recently, new, emerging regions are being explored in the AR literature such as the high latitudes, New Zealand, China, North Africa, and the Middle East. The literature on the impact of AR-driven hydrometeorological events on land surface processes (e.g., landslides and avalanches) and water resources is also rapidly developing. This progress report seeks to expose the broader physical geography discipline to the global relevance of ARs and promote new applied research frontiers at the intersection of ARs and those processes studied by physical geographers.

Scholars and Literati in European Academia before 1800

This note is a progress report on the establishment of a relational database of scholars and literati active in European Academia from the inception of the rst universities to the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. This database is a necessary tool to quantify the role of academia in the "Rise of the West", using the methods of economics and statistics.