Interformat price competition of multi-product retailers: Evidence for German grocery retailing

Agribusiness,

Regional variety preferences by teachers in USA

[EN] Spanish teachers in the USA are responsible for showing students what Spanish looks and sounds like (Ballman, Liskin-Gasparro & Mandell, 2001) and therefore act as role-models for their students in terms of their attitudes towards different varieties of Spanish. They must choose which features from which varieties to teach their students (Burns, 2018). Spanish teachers in the UK found Caribbean Spanish difficult to comprehend (Bárkányi & Fuerte Gutiérrez, 2019) and Spanish teachers in the USA preferred Peninsular Spanish over other varieties (Martínez-Franco, 2019), similar to Spanish teachers in Australia (Ortiz-Jiménez, 2019). The current study investigates (dis)preferences towards different regional varieties of Spanish by 63 primary, secondary and postsecondary teachers of Spanish in the USA. The findings indicate preferences split among four macro-varieties and a dispreference for Caribbean Spanish, highlighting the importance of comprehension and exposure to varieties regardless of prior explicit training on the topic.[ES] Los profesores de español en Estados Unidos son los responsables de mostrar a los alumnos cómo es y cómo suena el español (Ballman, Liskin-Gasparro & Mandell, 2001) y, por lo tanto, actúan como modelos para sus alumnos en cuanto a sus actitudes hacia las diferentes variedades del español. Deben elegir qué rasgos de qué variedades enseñar a sus alumnos (Burns, 2018). Los profesores de español en el Reino Unido encontraron el español caribeño difícil de comprender (Bárkányi & Fuerte Gutiérrez, 2019) y los profesores de español en los Estados Unidos prefirieron el español peninsular sobre otras variedades (Martínez-Franco, 2019), similar a los profesores de español en Australia (Ortiz-Jiménez, 2019). El presente estudio investiga las (des)preferencias hacia distintas variedades regionales del español por parte de 63 profesores de español de primaria, secundaria y postsecundaria en Estados Unidos. Los resultados indican preferencias divididas entre cuatro macrovariedades y una despreferencia por el español caribeño, destacando la importancia de la comprensión y la exposición a las variedades independientemente de la formación explícita previa sobre el tema.George, A.; Hoffman-González, A. (2023). Regional variety preferences by teachers in USA. Revista de Lingüística y Lenguas Aplicadas. 18:89-101. https://doi.org/10.4995/rlyla.2023.18221891011

Community solar initiatives in the United States of America: comparisons with – and lessons for – the UK and other European countries

Solar energy systems that are increasingly economic with regard to their design, delivery and operating costs, hold the potential to contribute considerably to a nation’s energy mix. While solar generation comes in many forms, ‘shared solar’, or a community-based system with an array size intermediate between a large-field and an individual residential system, offers many advantages that utility-scale projects are not able to deliver. The aim of this paper is to examine the development of shared solar initiatives in the recent history of US energy policy in order to reveal lessons that could be applied to future renewable energy generation in other developed nations including the UK and other European countries. Specifically the paper offers original appraisal of the ‘solar gardens’ scheme being trialled in Minnesota, drawing on findings from a survey with over 650 respondents representing a range of local renewable energy organizations and their customers. We examine the salience and influence of four key factors, namely: (i) perceived individual benefits; (ii) sources and trustworthiness of information; (iii) location; and (iv) project financing. Taken together the findings contribute understanding on the potential for community solar projects to assist in the transition towards a more sustainable and resilient energy future

Public values and community energy: lessons from the US and UK

This paper examines some of the normative aspects of community energy programmes — defined here as decentralized forms of energy production and distributed energy technologies where production decisions are made as close as possible to sources of consumption. Such projects might also display a degree of separation from the formal political process. The development of a community energy system often generates a great deal of debate about both the degree of public support for such programmes and the values around which programmes ought to be organized. Community energy programmes also raise important issues regarding the energy choice problem, including questions of process, that is, by whom a project is developed and the influence of both community and exogenous actors, as well as certain outcome issues regarding the spatial and social distribution of energy. The case studies, drawn from community energy programmes in both the United States and the United Kingdom, allow for a careful examination of all of these factors, considering in particular the complex interplay and juxtaposition between the ideas of 'public value' and 'public values'

Antisense-induced suppression of taxoid 14β-hydroxylase gene expression in transgenic Taxus × media cells

The enzyme taxoid 14β-hydroxylase (14OH) directs a side-route of taxol pathway to 14β-hydroxy taxoids. Suppression of this side-route could increase the production of taxol. To suppress taxoid 14β- hydroxylase gene (14OH) expression in theTaxus × media TM3 cell line, antisense RNA inhibition approach was used in this study. Following the construction of an antisense RNA expression vector of 14OH from Taxus chinensis, the antisense 14OH cDNA (as14OH) was introduced into TM3 cells by Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation. Southern blot analysis of hygromycin phosphotransferase gene (HYG) revealed that this selection gene was integrated successfully into the genome of Taxus × media cells. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis showed that the 14OH mRNA level in transgenic cells dropped dramatically, suggesting that the expression of endogenous14OH gene was significantly suppressed by the exogenous as14OH gene. Correspondingly, the total yield of three major C-14 oxygenated taxoids (yunnanxane, taxuyunnanine C, sinenxan C) was markedly reduced in the silenced cell lines when compared with those of the nontransgenic controls. These results indicated that the antisense RNA strategy is a useful tool in suppressing the expression of genes in Taxus and this method could be used to silence other important genes that divert Taxol pathway to side-route metabolites

Literature-based reading instruction: Problems, possibilities & polemics in the struggle to change

Concerns are being raised in both professional literature as well as in the popular press regarding certain aspects of the literature-based movement. Here we report on findings from a longitudinal study of a group of first -grade teachers who have been attempting (with varying degrees of success)to introduce literature-based teaching strategies into their classrooms. We inspect the experiences of these teachers in relation to four areas of concern that have been raised regarding literature-based teaching: 1. skills instruction; 2.guided reading strategies; 3. literature selection;and 4. thematic teaching (or curriculum integration). We describe classroom practices and the 9 problems and possibilities associated with teacher change in each of the four areas

Baseline Survey of Root-Associated Microbes of \u3cem\u3eTaxus chinensis\u3c/em\u3e (Pilger) Rehd

Taxol (paclitaxel) a diterpenoid is one of the most effective anticancer drugs identified. Biosynthesis of taxol was considered restricted to the Taxus genera until Stierle et al. discovered that an endophytic fungus isolated from Taxus brevifolia could independently synthesize taxol. Little is known about the mechanism of taxol biosynthesis in microbes, but it has been speculated that its biosynthesis may differ from plants. The microbiome from the roots of Taxus chinensis have been extensively investigated with culture-dependent methods to identify taxol synthesizing microbes, but not using culture independent methods.,Using bar-coded high-throughput sequencing in combination with a metagenomics approach, we surveyed the microbial diversity and gene composition of the root-associated microbiomefrom Taxus chinensis (Pilger) Rehd. High-throughput amplicon sequencing revealed 187 fungal OTUs which is higher than any previously reported fungal number identified with the culture-dependent method, suggesting that T. chinensis roots harbor novel and diverse fungi. Some operational taxonomic units (OTU) identified were identical to reported microbe strains possessing the ability to synthesis taxol and several genes previously associated with taxol biosynthesis were identified through metagenomics analysis