Individual Assignments Research Articles

Future elementary school teachers’ research culture formation employing individual assignments

In the modern dynamic society, quality education and the development of children’s creative abilities are the merits of successful teachers. The modern teacher must have independent learning skills, high motivation and developed research culture skills for effective teaching. The research aims to test the impact of individual student activity – future elementary school teachers, on the development of their research culture. The study was conducted employing various methods, using questionnaires to study the ability of future elementary school teachers to apply creative approaches and conduct pedagogical research in practice. The research participants were 32 teachers with more than 5 years of experience, a PhD degree, and 348 students – future elementary school teachers. Studied the level of motivation as a predictor of the research culture of students adapted and conducted a survey on the questionnaire of creative teaching, as well as self-assessment of students in solving research problems. Before the experiment, most students had low levels of motivation to learn online and self-study, as well as the results of creative teaching in the future, self-evaluation of the possibility of solving research. The introduction of the experimental factor in the learning process – students’ performance of independent assignments for three academic semesters, built on a gradual introduction to research activities, expansion and affirmation of knowledge about the need to find scientific ways to build lessons and learning process in general, the features and process of pedagogical research, had a positive impact on student’s motivation to learn, self-assessment of task capability and creative teaching ability in the bud The final ResCul survey shows students’ knowledge of research culture sufficiently formed. The results obtained apply to students who are studying in the speciality “Pedagogy and Methodology of Elementary Education”.

Developing the Cross-Cultural Understanding Course Materials for the English Major Students

Cross-Cultural Understanding (CCU) is one of the compulsory courses required of all six-semester students at the English Literature Study Program of Universitas Khairun. This course provides the students with an awareness of cross-cultural concepts. The problem is that the teaching and learning process of the CCU course in the English Literature Study Program has not been optimal in recent years. One of the reasons is a lack of teaching material to meet learning objectives. This research aims to create a technology-based CCU textbook that contains appropriate teaching materials for students. It is intended that the contents in the CCU textbook to be developed align with the curriculum and Semester Learning Plan (SLP) of the CCU course. Preliminary research as part of three phases of development research design was carried out. A need analysis was conducted to identify students' needs for teaching materials, learning methods, and assessment. A need analysis was conducted with questionnaires via Google form to collect data, involving 43 six-semester students at the English Literature Study Program of Universitas Khairun. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics. It was found that more than 97% of 43 students involved in the study strongly agreed and agreed that a technology-based textbook for the CCU course should be made available. In addition, the textbook of the CCU course should contain materials from online articles, YouTube videos, and links to online English newspapers as well as Indonesian online publications. It was also found that the learning activities reflected in the CCU course should include a discussion, a lecturer explanation, group presentations, individual assignment activities, and group assignment activities. Students' proficiency in the CCU course can be assessed using a variety of methods, including paper writing, projects, and exams.

Dynamic mathematical model for resource management and scheduling in cloud computing environments

The object of the research is resource management and scheduling in Kubernetes clusters, in particular, data centers. It was determined that in many publications dedicated to optimization models of scheduling for Kubernetes, mathematical models either do not include constraints at all, or only have the constraints determined on the high level only. The purpose of the research is the creation of a dynamic low-level mathematical optimization model for resource management and scheduling in cloud computing environments that utilize Kubernetes. Examples of such environments include the data centers where the customers can rent both dedicated servers and resources of shared hosting servers that are allocated on demand. The suggested model was created using the principles of creation of mathematical models of discrete (combinatorial) optimization, and was given the name “dynamic” because it takes the time parameter into account. The model receives data about individual servers in the cluster and individual pods that should be launched as an input. The model aims to regulate not only individual assignments of pods to nodes, but also turning on and off the servers. The model has objectives of: minimization of the average number of shared hosting servers running; maximization of the average resource utilization coefficient on such servers; minimization of the number of occasions when the servers are turned on and off; minimization of resource utilization by the pods that are running on shared hosting servers but created by the customers renting the dedicated servers. The model considers resource constraints, among other limitations.

A Comparison of Several Linear Genetic Programming Techniques

A comparison between four Genetic Programming techniques is presented in this paper. The compared methods are Multi-Expression Programming, Gene Expression Programming, Grammatical Evolution, and Linear Genetic Programming. The comparison includes all aspects of the considered evolutionary algorithms: individual representation, fitness assignment, genetic operators, and evolutionary scheme. Several numerical experiments using five benchmarking problems are carried out. Two test problems are taken from PROBEN1 and contain real-world data. The results reveal that Multi-Expression Programming has the best overall behavior for the considered test problems, closely followed by Linear Genetic Programming.

Differentiation and Taxonomic Identification of Roburoid Oaks in the Caucasian and Crimean Regions Using Nuclear Microsatellite Markers

The inter- and intra-specific structure of genetic variability was studied using 18 microsatellite loci (nSSRs) in closely related roburoid oaks in the Crimean-Caucasian region.The seven most widespread Quercus taxa in the region were studied in 29 morphologically pure populations from different parts of the North Caucasus, Transcaucasia, Crimea and northeastern Europe. Most taxa were studied using nSSR markers for the first time. Among the 492 trees studied, Bayesian clustering method implemented in STRUCTURE identified clusters corresponding to the pedunculate oak Quercus robur, the Hartwiss oak Q. hartwissiana, the Caucasian oak Q. macranthera, the downy oak Q. pubescens and three subspecies of sessile oak: Q. petraea ssp. petraea, Q. petraea ssp. iberica, Q. petraea ssp. medwediewii. Geographic structure was identified within Q. robur, Q. pubescens and Q. p. ssp. petraea. The 18 nSSR loci used are efficient in the taxonomic assignment of individuals, and identifying hybrids. The close relationship between the “long-pedunculate” roburoid oaks (Q. robur and Q. hartwissiana) is shown, with a greater difference from other species. For one of the subspecies of sessile oak, widespread in the North Caucasus and Crimea Q. petraea ssp. medwediewii (syn. Q. calcarea), or limestone oak, significant differences from other taxa were found, reaching the species level. The assumption of a possible hybrid origin of this taxon as a result of hybridization of Q. petraea and Q. pubescens is not confirmed by genetic analysis. The other two subspecies of Q. petraea (Q. p. ssp. petraea and Georgian oak Q. p. ssp. iberica) are differentiated to a lesser extent and are related to each other, which confirms the legitimacy of distinguishing two geographically isolated taxa at the rank of subspecies. The highest variability was observed in Q. pubescens (He = 0.777). In Q. p. ssp. medwediewii variability was lower than in other widespread taxa (He = 0.652), and was approximately at the level of variability of Q. hartwissiana (He = 0.633) and Q. macranthera (He = 0.659). Clear differentiation of taxa by nuclear markers shows the limited introgression in closely related oak species in the Caucasus and Crimea. The identified genetic clusters can be used as reference groups for further population genetic studies of oaks in the Crimean-Caucasian region.

Monitoring Seroprevalence of Infectious Diseases in the Florida Panther (Puma concolor coryi).

Infectious diseases can have detrimental effects on wildlife populations, particularly those that persist at small sizes, have low genetic diversity, and are affected by fragmented habitat. One such example is the endangered Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi), which has been intensively managed since the early 1980s, with the current population ranging between 120 and 230 individuals. For more than three decades, panthers have been captured, demographics recorded, and blood samples collected to monitor for multiple infectious diseases; however, an updated comprehensive study of many of these pathogens has not occurred since 1991. Our goal was to identify temporal patterns and spatial clustering in seroprevalence; determine if the pathogens of interest tend to co-occur; and describe relationships between an individual's genetic assignment (admixed or canonical) and seropositivity. We analyzed serology data for eight pathogens representing different modes of transmission (direct, indirect, vector borne) and infection duration (acute, chronic) from 232 panthers collected between 1992 and 2017. Panthers held consistently high seropositivity for feline calicivirus (62.3%) and panleukopenia virus (79.7%) throughout the study, whereas feline herpesvirus and feline leukemia virus were at lower prevalence (3.1% and 2.4%, respectively), although neither had been noted prior to 1992. Panthers were frequently seropositive for canine distemper virus and feline immunodeficiency virus, and seroprevalence fluctuated through time. West Nile virus seropositivity increased over the study period following its introduction in North America in 1999. Panthers were consistently negative for feline coronavirus, which causes feline infectious peritonitis. Genetics and demographics (sex and age) had little influence on serostatus, and coexposure among pathogens did not tend to occur. Both feline immunodeficiency virus and feline leukemia virus appeared to have spatial clusters of seropositive individuals. Our findings enhance the understanding of pathogen exposure in panthers, informing and supporting ongoing surveillance efforts for timely detection and management of potential disease threats in vulnerable populations.

Integrating Generative Artificial Intelligence and Problem-Based Learning into the Digitization in Construction Curriculum

This study proposes incorporating generative artificial intelligence large language models (LLMs) into the Master of Science (M.Sc.) curriculum on digitization in construction. The aim was to help students generate computer code to solve, automate, and streamline practical challenges in advanced construction engineering and management (CEM). To this end, a host of problem-based learning (PBL) individual assignments and collaborative team projects were developed, alongside a combination of flipped classroom models and blended learning lessons, in order to teach effective interactions with LLMs and mitigate concerns, such as bias and hallucination. The effective interaction with LLMs not only facilitated code generation, which would otherwise be complex without additional formal training, but also provided a platform for strengthening basic project management skills, such as departmentalization, work breakdown structuring, modularization, activity delegation, and defining key performance indicators. The effectiveness of this approach was quantitatively and qualitatively evaluated within two new modules, Digital Engineering and Construction and Digital Technologies in Field Information Modeling. These modules were offered over three semesters each as part of a new M.Sc. program in Technology and Management in Construction at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. It was observed that 86.4% of students fully completed the PBL projects, while the remaining 13.6% achieved over 50% completion across all six semesters. Furthermore, anonymous student surveys indicated a teaching quality index of 100% in five semesters and 96.4% in one semester. These preliminary results suggest that the proposed strategy can be used to effectively integrate LLMs to support students in code generation for open-ended projects in CEM. Further research was, however, found to be necessary to ensure the sustainable revision and redesign of the problems as LLM capabilities evolve.

Pemanfaatan Media Presentasi Powerpoint dalam Meningkatkan Minat Belajar Bahasa Inggris Siswa Madrasah Tsanawiyah

This study aims to enhance students' interest in learning English through the utilization of PowerPoint presentations as a teaching medium. The research was conducted at MTs Hidayatul Muhajirin Palangka Raya, involving eighth-grade students. The method employed was a lecture using PowerPoint presentations equipped with audio features. The material taught was "Descriptions of People’s Personalities." The results showed that the use of PowerPoint presentations was able to increase students' motivation and interest in learning. The visually appealing materials, complemented by audio features, along with group discussions and individual assignments, effectively accommodated various learning styles, particularly visual and auditory. Additionally, PowerPoint facilitated students' understanding of concepts, vocabulary, and English grammar. In conclusion, the utilization of PowerPoint presentations as a teaching medium is an effective step in improving the quality of English language learning.

Machine Learning-Based Optimization Models for Defining Storage Rules in Maritime Container Yards

This paper proposes an integrated approach to define the best consignment strategy for storing containers in an export yard of a maritime terminal. The storage strategy identifies the rules for grouping homogeneous containers, which are defined simultaneously with the assignment of each group of containers to the available blocks (bay-locations) in the yard. Unlike recent literature, this study focuses specifically on weight classes and their respective limits when establishing the consignment strategy. Another novel aspect of this work is the integration of a data-driven algorithm and operations research. The integrated approach is based on unsupervised learning and optimization models and allows us to solve large instances within a few seconds. Results obtained by spectral clustering are treated as input datasets for the optimization models. Two different formulations are described and compared: the main difference lies in how containers are assigned to bay-locations, shifting from a time-consuming individual container assignment to the assignment of groups of containers, which offers significant advantages in computational efficiency. Experimental tests are organized into three campaigns to evaluate the following: (i) The computational time and solution quality (i.e., space utilization) of the proposed models; (ii) The performance of these models against a benchmark model; (iii) The practical effectiveness of the proposed solution approach.

Contribution Of Parental And Teachers' Guidance Towards Independent Behavior Of Elementary School Children

The contribution of parental and teacher guidance to the independent behavior of elementary school children needs to be considered carefully. Although this guidance plays an important role in child development, overprotective attitudes, lack of consistency, and the influence of the social and technological environment can hinder children's independence. This study uses the library research method. The data collection technique in this study was carried out through documentation review or document review. To ensure the validity of the data in this study, the source triangulation technique was used. The results of the study showed that 1). The Role of Parents in Shaping the Independence of Elementary School Children is to play an important role in shaping children's independence, with democratic parenting patterns proven to be more effective in encouraging independence than authoritarian or permissive parenting patterns. 2). The Role of Teachers in Developing the Independence of Elementary School Children is to develop student independence through a teaching approach that encourages responsibility and active participation. By giving individual and group assignments, and involving students in projects and class discussions, teachers help students learn independently. 3). Collaboration of Parents and Teachers in Developing Independence of Elementary School Children is that parents and teachers play an important role in supporting the development of independence of elementary school children. Open communication and good cooperation between the two parties ensure that children receive consistent guidance, both at home and at school.

Factors Influencing Alignment Between Individual Assignments and Learning Objective

This study investigated the factors influencing alignment between individual assignments and learning Objectives of accountancy modules at the Institute of Accountancy Arusha, Dar es Salaam Campus. Utilizing an explanatory sequential design, the study combined qualitative and quantitative methods to collect and analyze primary data from a sample of 100 respondents, including both teachers and students selected through random sampling. The analysis, conducted using descriptive statistics, revealed a moderate alignment with significant variability in perception. Key qualitative insights highlighted the need for clearer, more specific learning objectives, consistent assignment design, and detailed rubrics. The study emphasizes the importance of regular assessment and adjustments to enhance alignment and improve student learning outcomes. Recommendations include revising learning objectives to be concise and directly tied to course content, providing illustrative examples, establishing clear assignment guidelines and rubrics. Additionally, ongoing professional development for faculty is essential to raise awareness of alignment principles and effective assignment design. Emphasizing clarity, consistent design, faculty training, and balancing academic rigor with real-world relevance will significantly contribute to better alignment between individual assignments and learning objectives, ultimately bridging theory and practice.

Reading Engagement and the Reader in the Foreign Language Classroom: Students' Perceptions on Assessment Methods

Despite the fact that Foreign Language (FL) literature is considered to be an important element in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) lessons, it is not part of the majority of classrooms (Bloemert et al. 2016). In most Spanish high-schools, FL literature is introduced by means of mandatory readers: these are often not worked on in the lessons and students are asked to read them on their own and take an exam. Taking into account that assessment methods have a direct influence on students’ level of engagement, reading motivation and learning achievement (Guthrie & Wigfield, 2000; Gujbels & Dochy, 2006; van der Watering et al. 2008), this study analyses the perceptions of 52 students in their first year of upper-secondary education on two different assessment methods during two different terms. In the first term, the reader was used in the classroom and students were asked to do an individual assignment at the end. In the second term, students read the reader on their own and took an exam. The data were gathered by means of a students’ questionnaire and systematic classroom observation. Overall, results show a preference towards the individual assignment in terms of reading engagement and a ‘deep learning’ approach to the reading experience.

Teaching data‐driven decision making for inventory analysis with Monte Carlo simulation

AbstractInventory management and the ability to make data‐driven decisions under uncertainty are two critical components of supply chain management. This brief describes how an Excel‐based Monte Carlo simulation of fuel and lottery purchases can be used to teach students to analyze a system with randomness. This exercise can serve as a group or individual assignment to demonstrate the ability of Monte Carlo simulation to estimate solutions involving uncertainty and to teach undergraduate business students how to implement a basic multiperiod fixed‐interval inventory policy with order‐up‐to‐levels. The important concepts of cycle service levels and confidence intervals are emphasized as are the proper implementation of one‐tailed and two‐tailed critical values. Students are encouraged to compare algebraic solutions to their simulation results.

Student preferences over module design

In this paper we use new experimental data to investigate students’ preferences regarding lecture mode and length, and assessment type across two unique dimensions: expected learning and enjoyment. Our main findings are as follows: first, students demonstrate a strong preference against online lectures. Students expect to learn more from, and enjoy, modules that have in-person lectures. Given that one-third of lectures in UK universities are now taught online—up from 4 percent before the pandemic—these results indicate a misalignment with students’ preferences. Second, students favour shorter lectures (1 h) over longer lectures (2 h). Students do not expect to learn more from longer lectures—suggesting diminishing expected marginal returns. Third, students prefer individual assignments to exams. Students expect to enjoy and learn more from modules that have individual assignments (as opposed to exams). These findings are robust across two samples of university students.

Homonymy of words belonging to different parts of speech: the activity-based approach to studying the topic at school

The article examines the homonymy of words of different parts of speech in the context of teaching orthography to schoolchildren. This phenomenon requires special attention because, firstly, it underlies the understanding of morphology as a branch of linguistics. Secondly, homonymy is one of the causes of spelling errors which are difficult to avoid. Thirdly, understanding the nature of this phenomenon facilitates the perception of language as a system. The paper discusses the activity-based approach to learning the Russian language. Within its framework, no ready-made rules are imposed on schoolchildren. Instead, they are given problems. Solving them contributes to the development of students’ critical thinking, as well as a deeper understanding and appropriation of independently discovered knowledge. On the one hand, the study is based on the examination of linguistic units, on the other – on the analysis of students’ activity when solving orthographic problems. Based on the experience of using the Elkonin-Davydov developmental education system, we propose a tentative structure of a lesson included in the system of lessons on the topic Homonymy of words of different parts of speech. The article also describes individual assignments which are of a research nature and contribute to the development of a few competencies that transform a schoolchild from a recipient of information into a student-researcher. The element common to these lessons is an increasingly complex algorithm for distinguishing homonyms which belong to different parts of speech and are characterised by differences in spelling. The key con[1]clusions of the study reflected in the article include a description of the activity-based approach principles in relation to the study of grammatical homonymy. Motivation built on a "success situation" and a "gap situation", the use of quasi-research techniques, reliance on an algorithm for solving problems, and step-by-step practicing of each algorithm opera[1]tion are among these principles.

CattleAssigner: A framework for accurate assignment of individuals to cattle lineages and populations using minimum informative markers

Assigning individual animals to their respective breeds, populations or lineages has immense significance in the evolutionary analyses of global cattle populations besides detecting the underlying genetic variation that may likely have facilitated the adaptation of these breeds to diverse environmental conditions. It is also important in discovering the geographic patterns of genetic variation in cattle populations as well as tracing the geographical origin of breeds, food products, and diseases. Given this, the present study was undertaken to elucidate the minimum number of informative single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers, originally generated using medium-density BovineSNP50 BeadChip across 1823 individuals represnting 73 populations, to assign individual animals to the corresponding lineage/group (African or European or Indicine or admixed) and respective populations within that lineage/group using two well-known supervised machine learning (ML) algorithms namely Random Forest (RF) and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost). Each of the two ML models were trained with the most informative SNP panels (with sizes of 48, 96, and 192) that were elucidated using two statistical methods i.e., principal component analysis (PCA) and Wright's fixation index (FST), and two ML methods (RF with Gini, and RF with MDA). Three panels with the topmost discriminant SNPs (at 192, 96, and 48 densities) were created for each of the marker preselection approaches. These panels were evaluated, based on their performance vis-à-vis animals’ assignment to respective lineage, population group or population. The results showed that XGBoost achieved the best accuracy of 95% with 192-SNP panel (selected via RF with MDA), followed by RF (93% accuracy) with 192-SNP panel (selected via RF with either Gini or MDA), for animal to lineage assignment. Similarly, RF trained with 48-SNP panel (selected via RF with Gini algorithm) achieved the best accuracy of 97% for assigning animals to African lineage, while it achieved the best accuracy of 89% for assigning animals to admixed populations using 96-SNP panel (selected via PCA). On the other hand, XGBoost achieved the best accuracy of 88% for assigning animals to European breeds using 192-SNP panel (selected via FST method). Furthermore, the results with both RF and XGBoost achieved a poor performance of assigning animals of Indicine lineage to the correct group as the best accuracy for such assignment was 66%, achieved using RF with 192-SNP panel (selected via FST method). In conclusion, the study reports the applicability of statistical and ML approaches for identification of discriminatory SNPs, useful the assignment of individuals to corresponding lineages and to respective populations within lineages besides revealing the efficiency of XGBoost and RF-based ML models in performing such assignments. Both the ML models achieved better performance as compared to statistical ones in assigning the animals to specific lineages while they faired comparably similar to each other for the assignment of individuals to respective populations within respective lineages or population groups.

Genetic homogeneity and weak signatures of local adaptation in the marine mussel Mytilus chilensis

The natural populations of the marine mussel Mytilus chilensis and the associated aquaculture industry forms a sensitive social-ecological system that relies on the released propagules for cultivation in the highly heterogeneous environment (temperature, productivity, and salinity) of northern Patagonia (42–44 °S). We assessed spatial genetic structure, signals of local adaptation, and population assignment of M. chilensis analyzing 5963 SNPs from 125 individuals across six natural populations sampled over two consecutive years along the southeast Pacific coast (39° 25′ to 43° 07′ S, ~ 430 km). Neutral and putatively adaptive loci revealed high genetic diversity and low genetic differentiation among populations. Of the whole dataset, less than 1% (50) of loci were identified as putatively adaptive through multiple approaches, with only 0.1% detected in by all of them, and only two loci of them were correlated with environmental variables. No evidence of Isolation by Environment (IBE) was found, albeit a slight differentiation in the southern sampling location (Yaldad). These results suggest that the genetic structure observed is primarily shaped by neutral processes with weak signals of local adaptation. Gene-flow appears to be the main evolutionary force influencing the species’ population genetic structure. Because of the importance for the industry, the probability of correct assignment of individuals to their population of origin using allelic frequencies was evaluated. Analyses exhibited relatively low probabilities (< 50% for four out of six sites) of accurately assigning individuals to their geographic origin, with a limited success of SNP markers the for such purposes. Likely, species' high dispersal capacity, seed translocation, and the spill-over effect of mussel aquaculture prevents population genetic differentiation through high effective gene flow, hindering local genetic adaptation.

Implementation of Differentiation Learning In SMK Negeri 9 Padang

This research was motivated by the discovery of different learning styles and characteristics of students, which became a challenge for culinary teachers. This research aims to describe the process of implementing differentiated learning in the culinary skills program at SMK Negeri 9 Padang starting from the initial stages, implementation, to evaluation. This type of research is descriptive research with a qualitative approach using the case study method. The informants for this research were 5 culinary teachers at SMK Negeri 9 Padang. The technique for taking informants uses the Purposive Sampling technique. Data collection techniques are carried out by conducting interviews, observation and documentation. In order to increase the accuracy of the data, the author tested the validity of the data by means of data triangulation. Next, the data is analyzed by collecting the data obtained, reducing the data, presenting the data, and drawing conclusions. The research results show that the initial stage of differentiated learning is carried out by planning lessons, teachers also attend various training and seminars to increase their skills and knowledge in implementing differentiated learning. The implementation of differentiated learning is divided into several activities according to the teaching module design. These learning activities are differentiated based on three components, namely content differentiation in the form of involving students in group assignments; process differentiation in the form of the use of learning video teaching media, textbooks, oral explanations, as well as the formation of study groups, and product differentiation in the form of practice with groups with different products so that students can learn from other groups, presentations in front of the class, and individual assignments. Evaluation of differentiated learning is carried out by teachers with assessments which include assessments at the beginning of the learning process, assessments during the learning process, and assessments at the end of learning which are used to see students' abilities in understanding and remembering lesson material.

The impacts of peer assessment on critical thinking competence: An epistemic network analysis

Critical thinking competence has recently become a popular topic in education research; however, it is insufficiently researched in tourism education. This study seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of peer assessment in developing critical thinking skills in a Chinese context. Peer assessment data were collected through group news presentations and individual assignments of college students studying tourism management. An epistemic network analysis was conducted to examine the role of peer assessment in students' critical thinking competence. The findings show that students’ critical thinking skills significantly improve as peer assessment activities are conducted, with higher-level critical thinking skills clearly emerging at a later stage of peer assessment activities.

The Complex Genetic Legacy of Hybridization and Introgression between the Rare Ocotea loxensis van der Werff and the Widespread O. infrafoveolata van der Werff (Lauraceae).

Hybridization and introgression are complex evolutionary mechanisms that can increase species diversity and lead to speciation, but may also lead to species extinction. In this study, we tested the presence and genetic consequences of hybridization between the rare and Ecuadorian endemic O. loxensis van der Werff and the widespread O. infrafoveolata van der Werff (Lauraceae). Phenotypically, some trees are difficult to identify, and we expect that some might in fact be cryptic hybrids. Thus, we developed nuclear microsatellites to assess the existence of hybrids, as well as the patterns of genetic diversity and population structure in allopatric and sympatric populations. The results revealed high levels of genetic diversity, even in the rare O. loxensis, being usually significantly higher in sympatric than in allopatric populations. The Bayesian assignment of individuals into different genetic classes revealed a complex scenario with different hybrid generations occurring in all sympatric populations, but also in allopatric ones. The absence of some backcrossed hybrids suggests the existence of asymmetric gene flow, and that some hybrids might be more fitted than others might. The existence of current and past interspecific gene flow also explains the blurring of species boundaries in these species and could be linked to the high rates of species found in Ocotea.