‘Difficulties when learning, easiness when fighting’: Why do families in Latvia choose (pre)schools with a language of instruction other than their L1?

Aims and objectives: Language debates in Latvia often focus on the role of Latvian as official and main societal language. Yet, Latvian society is highly multilingual, and families with home languages other than Latvian have to choose between different educational trajectories for their children. In this context, this paper discusses the results of two studies which addressed the question of why families with Russian as a home language choose (pre)schools with languages other than Russian as medium of instruction (MOI). The first study analyses family narratives which provide insight into attitudes and practices which lead to the decision to send children to Latvian-MOI institutions. The second study investigates language attitudes and practices by families in the international community of Riga German School. Methodology: The paper discusses data gathered during two studies: for the first, semi-structed interviews were conducted with Russian-speaking families who choose Latvian-medium schools for their children. For the second study, a survey was carried out in the community of an international school in Riga, sided by ethnographic observations and interviews with teachers and the school leadership. Data and analysis: Interviews and ethnographic observations were subjected to a discourse analysis with a focus on critical events and structures of life trajectory narratives. Survey data were processed following simple statistical analysis and qualitative content analysis. Findings/conclusions: Our data reveal that families highly embrace multilingualism and see the development of individual plurilingualism as important for integration into Latvian society as well as for educational and professional opportunities in the multilingual societies of Latvia and Europe. At the same time, multilingualism and multiculturalism, including Russian, are seen as a value in itself. In addition, our studies reflect the bidirectionality of family language policies in interplay with practices in educational institutions: family decisions influence children’s language acquisition at school, but the school also has an impact on the families’ language practices at home. In sum, we argue that educational policies should therefore pay justice to the wishes of families in Latvia to incorporate different language aspects into individual educational trajectories. Originality: Language policy is a frequent topic of investigation in the Baltic states. However, there has been a lack in research on family language policy and school choices. In this vein, our paper adds to the understanding of educational choices and language policy processes among Russian-speaking families and the international community in Latvia

LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE OF THE BALTIC STATES: DATA, RESULTS, FUTURE RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES

This paper gives an overview of activities which have been carried out in the fi eld of Linguistic Landscapes (LL) at Rēzekne University College (Rēzeknes Augstskola, RA) since 2008. Between 2009 and 2012, LL research was carried out within the framework of one of the work groups of the TILRA project funded by the European Social Funds (ESF). TILRA has had the overarching aim to support research in the humanities which may be helpful for understanding local identity and contribute to the regional development of Latgale. In this light, LL research has proven to be of high value for triggering effects in education at all levels, academic research and for enhancing discussions within politics and regional development. The paper fi rst provides a summary of the basic principles of the LL approach as they have been developed in the international linguistic community throughout the past decade. It addresses how the method has gained more and more popularity world-wide and moved from mostly quantitative and descriptive reports of the languages on signs in the public sphere to by far more interdisciplinary studies. Today, scholars in the fi eld of LL do research on signs of all kinds with regard to aspects such as functions of languages, semiotics, or the negotiation of and confl icts on ownership of and power in a territory. After this general introduction, the paper reports of how the LL method has been taken to the Baltic States, at fi rst in education and research at RA. The first of these activities were limited to Latvia (Rēzekne, Ventspils), but soon research was also taken to Lithuania (Alytus, Druskininkai) and Estonia (Pärnu, Narva). The paper then provides examples of the results of the research. On the one hand, a data base with almost 5,000 signs from the 6 towns in the Baltic States where research was carried out has been created. This data base allows for a detailed contrastive analysis of signs in the public sphere with regard to aspects such as the number and hierarchies of languages on the signs and their locations and functions. In cases of, for instance, signs at shops, also the type of shop is included. The research found 23 different languages, of which the titular languages of the Baltic States (Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian) dominated, followed by English and Russian. English appears mostly as a language of high prestige, often with predominantly symbolic value. Other languages were rare, and also the regional language of Latgalian was identified on only a small proportion of the signs in Rēzekne. In total, about one third of the signs in the data base is multilingual, the other two thirds displaying only one language (most often, but not always, the respective titular language). On the other hand, the data base has been supplemented by qualitative data obtained through 46 interviews (conducted in Rēzekne, Narva and Druskininkai) with people working in the field of tourism, but also with passers-by in the streets. The interviews focus on e.g. roles of languages in tourism, reflections of regional identities in the LL or connections between the LL and language policies. With regard to tourism, English was found to be of highest importance as a lingua franca, but also Russian plays an important role. The research also asked explicitly whether small private signs may reflect linguistic or ethnic conflicts, but no such examples were found, and interviews confirmed that on a small, local level, the LL is not a place where such conflicts take place. The paper then reports of impacts which the LL activities have had with regard to the popularization of linguistic topics in society at large. By now, several schools in Latvia have used the LL approach in their activities and adapted it to their individual purposes. Other debates to which the LL research has contributed and where LL research and the publications created during the project have proven to have an impact on broader societal developments, are e.g. the relation between language use in private and in public domains, the functions of different languages in the internet, reflections of paralinguistic notions and the economic potential of languages, the latter in particular with regard to the Latgalian language. Finally, the paper highlights directions of future research. This includes the analysis of language contact in micro situations such as on specific notice boards or the use of LL data in discourse analytical studies. More broadly speaking, it is envisaged also to analyse existing LL patterns in the Baltic States in contrast to LL studies in other parts of the world, e.g. the role of Latgalian in the LL vis-à-vis other regional or minority languages in Europe. The paper also provides an overview of important publications which have been prepared or triggered as a result of the LL research, including several master theses and an on-going PhD project. In total, the paper thereby shows how the TILRA project has contributed to establishing research and awareness of the LL approach in the Baltic States, and how it at the same time has given LL research in the Baltic States a recognized standing among international LL researchers. The paper is supplemented by a list of LL publications, including many of those publications published by the project’s participants both in Latvian and international contexts, and by the questionnaire which served as a point of departure for the semi-structured interviews during the research

THE LATGALIAN LANGUAGE AS A REGIONAL LANGUAGE IN LATVIA: A CHARACTERISATION AND IMPLICATIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF LANGUAGES IN EUROPE

This article looks at Latgalian from a perspective of a classification of languages. It starts by discussing relevant terms relating to sociolinguistic language types. It argues that Latgalian and its speakers show considerable similarities with many languages in Europe which are considered to be regional languages – hence, also Latgalian should be classified as such. In a second part, the article uses sociolinguistic data to indicate that the perceptions of speakers confirm this classification. Therefore, Latgalian should also officially be treated with the respect that other regional languages in Europe enjoy

Bryophytes: how to conquer an alien planet and live happily (ever after)

There are many push and pull factors that commonly drive individuals to leave their homeland. For example, escaping competition and occupying a novel habitat undoubtedly offer the advantage of new opportunities to pilgrims, but the absence of unfavorable biotic interactions can be counterbalanced by other antagonistic abiotic forces. After all, conquering an alien planet is not now nor ever was an easy task. We cannot know how many attempts and failures have punctuated the journey that led ancestral, photosynthetic organisms to leave the aquatic world and successfully establish on dry land. However, some traits developed by the ancestors of modern bryophytes that allowed them to adapt their life cycle to such a different habitat and persist there, have been undoubtedly identified

Quantification of run-of-river hydropower potential in the Upper Indus basin under climate change

IntroductionDespite ambitious plans to quadruple hydropower generation in the Indus basin, a quantitative assessment of the impact of climate change on hydropower availability in the basin is missing. To address this gap, we combine downscaled CMIP6 projections with the Hydropower Potential Exploration (HyPE) model to quantify future hydropower potential available in the upper Indus basin.MethodsHyPE uses a spatial cost-minimization framework to evaluate four classes of hydropower potential, namely theoretical, technical, financial and sustainable, considering various constraints on the siting and sizing of two run-of-river hydropower plant configurations.ResultsUnder future discharge projections, all classes of potential increase while subbasin changes align with the spatial patterns projected in hydro-climatology. Theoretical potential changes by 3.9–56 %, technical potential by −2.3–46.8 %, financial potential by −8.8–50.4 % and sustainable potential by −6.1–49.7 %. A small decline is observed in the northwestern subbasins where increase in potential is lower than in the southeast. In contrast, with increasing variability in the Indian Summer Monsoon in the future, the southeastern subbasins have the strongest increase in sustainable potential accompanied by higher increase in plant size, decrease in costs and higher variability. The southeastern Satluj subbasin is the hotspot where sustainable potential has the highest increase of up to 145 %. The northwestern Kabul subbasin has the highest decrease of up to −27 %. The Swat subbasin has the lowest variability in sustainable potential while the Jhelum and Indus main subbasins remain the subbasins with the cheapest potential into the future. The performance of future sustainable portfolios differ from the performance of historical portfolios by −11.1–39.9 %.DiscussionHence, considering future climate in the present-day planning of hydropower will lead to improved performance under a majority of scenarios. The sufficiency of hydropower potential to fulfill energy security depends on future population growth. Energy availability is projected to decline in the northwest as population increases faster than hydropower potential. The per capita sustainable potential In the Kabul subbasin reduces to a third of the historical value. A socio-hydrological approach is necessary to address the complexity of achieving sustainable and equitable hydropower development in the Indus basin under such spatial mismatch between hydropower availability and energy demand in a resource-limited world

Photosynthetic traits and biochemical responses in strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa duch.) leaves supplemented with led lights

Selected light wavebands promote plant development and/or the biosynthesis of targeted metabolites. This work offers new insights on the effects of red (R), green (G), blue (B), and white (W – R:G:B; 1:1:1) LED light supplementation on physiochemical traits of strawberry leaves. Gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, photosynthetic pigments, and superoxide anion (•O2–) content were analysed in plants grown for 1 (T1) and 17 (T17) d with light supplementations. At T1, light supplementations resulted in the enhancement of the de-epoxidation state of xanthophylls and nonphotochemical quenching, but no changes were observed in maximal photosynthetic rate (PNmax), irrespective of light spectra. At T17, xanthophyll contents remained higher only in R-supplemented plants. Overall, W light resulted in higher photosynthesis, whilst R and B light depressed PNmax values and promoted•O2 – formation at T17. G light did not induce variations in photosynthetic traits nor induced oxidative stress at both T1 and T17

Supplemental red LED light promotes plant productivity, “photomodulate” fruit quality and increases Botrytis cinerea tolerance in strawberry

This work provides new evidences on the effect of pre-harvest red (R), green (G), blue (B), and white (W - R:G:B; 1:1:1) LED light supplementation on production, nutraceutical quality and Botrytis cinerea control of harvested strawberry fruit. Yield, fruit color, firmness, soluble solid content, titratable acidity, primary and specialized metabolites, expression of targeted genes and mold development were analyzed in fruit from light-supplemented plants, starting from the strawberry flowering, radiating 250 mu mol m-2 s-1 of light for five hours per day (from 11:00 to 16:00 h), until the fruit harvest. Briefly, R light induced the highest productivity and targeted antho-cyanin accumulation, whilst B and G lights increased the accumulation of primary and secondary metabolites especially belonging to ellagitannin and proanthocyanidin classes. R light also promoted pathogen tolerance in fruit by the upregulation of genes involved in cell wall development (F x aPE41), inhibition of fungus poly-galacturonases (F x aPGIP1) and the degradation of B. cinerea beta-glucans (F x aBG2-1). Our dataset highlights the possibility to use red LED light to increase fruit yield, "photomodulate" strawberry fruit quality and increase B. cinerea tolerance. These results can be useful in terms of future reduction of agrochemical inputs through the use of R light, enhancing, at the same time, fruit production and quality. Finally, further analyses might clarify the effect of pre-harvest supplemental G light on postharvest fruit quality

Glutathione Transferase from Trichoderma virens Enhances Cadmium Tolerance without Enhancing Its Accumulation in Transgenic Nicotiana tabacum

BACKGROUND: Cadmium (Cd) is a major heavy metal pollutant which is highly toxic to plants and animals. Vast agricultural areas worldwide are contaminated with Cd. Plants take up Cd and through the food chain it reaches humans and causes toxicity. It is ideal to develop plants tolerant to Cd, without enhanced accumulation in the edible parts for human consumption. Glutathione transferases (GST) are a family of multifunctional enzymes known to have important roles in combating oxidative stresses induced by various heavy metals including Cd. Some GSTs are also known to function as glutathione peroxidases. Overexpression/heterologous expression of GSTs is expected to result in plants tolerant to heavy metals such as Cd. RESULTS: Here, we report cloning of a glutathione transferase gene from Trichoderma virens, a biocontrol fungus and introducing it into Nicotiana tabacum plants by Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer. Transgenic nature of the plants was confirmed by Southern blot hybridization and expression by reverse transcription PCR. Transgene (TvGST) showed single gene Mendelian inheritance. When transgenic plants expressing TvGST gene were exposed to different concentrations of Cd, they were found to be more tolerant compared to wild type plants, with transgenic plants showing lower levels of lipid peroxidation. Levels of different antioxidant enzymes such as glutathione transferase, superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase, guiacol peroxidase and catalase showed enhanced levels in transgenic plants expressing TvGST compared to control plants, when exposed to Cd. Cadmium accumulation in the plant biomass in transgenic plants were similar or lower than wild-type plants. CONCLUSION: The results of the present study suggest that transgenic tobacco plants expressing a Trichoderma virens GST are more tolerant to Cd, without enhancing its accumulation in the plant biomass. It should be possible to extend the present results to crop plants for developing Cd tolerance and in limiting Cd availability in the food chain