Tag Archives: Economy

Making Do with More: Joint BioEnergy Institute Researchers Engineer Plant Cell Walls to Boost Sugar Yields for Biofuels

By Guest PostApril 29, 2013Environmentabove ground organs, apfl, arabidopsis, artificial, berkeley lab, dominique loque, earth, Economy, fan yang, fuel sugars, good idea, henrik scheller, hydrolytic enzymes, jbei, joint bioenergy institute, key tissue, lignocellulosic biomass, ling zhang, model plant, organic material, polysaccharides, positive feedback loop, prajakta mitra, production of lignin, resource, sugars for biofuels, yves verhertbruggen

When blessed with a resource in overwhelming abundance it’s generally a good idea to make valuable use of that resource. Lignocellulosic biomass is the most abundant organic material on Earth. For thousands of years it has been used as animal feed, and for the past two centuries has been a staple of the paper industry. This abundant resource, however, could also supply the sugars needed to produce advanced biofuels that can supplement or replace fossil fuels, providing several key technical challenges are met. One of these challenges is finding ways to more cost-effectively extract those sugars. Major steps towards achieving this breakthrough are being taken by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI).

“Through the tools of synthetic biology, we have engineered healthy plants whose lignocellulosic biomass can more easily be broken down into simple sugars for biofuels,” says Dominique Loque, who directs the cell wall engineering program for JBEI’s Feedstocks Division. “Working with the model plant, Arabidopsis, as a demonstration tool, we have genetically manipulated secondary cell walls to reduce the production of lignin while increasing the yield of fuel sugars.” (more…)

Putin: ‘USA’s get-out attitude to Russia unacceptable’

By Guest PostDecember 20, 2012Politicsadoption, american citizens, anarchy, anti russian law, anti soviet law, ban, capital in russia, cia prisons, dmitry anatolievich, echo, Economy, euro area, foreign adoption, foreign journalists, gdp, get out attitude, industrial growth, inflation rate, izvestia, jackson vanik amendment, m 10 highway, magnitsky act, military personnel, moscow, moscow radio station, negative attitude, poor harvest, prime minister, putin, recession, russia, russian, russian children, russian officials, russian president, skolkovo project, st. petersburg, stability in russia, state duma, statistics, united states, vladimir putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin started his large press conference at midday, December 20^th. The conference brought together more than 1,200 Russian and foreign journalists.

The head of state started with statistics. According to him, the growth of GDP in January-October of this year made up 3.7 percent. According to Vladimir Putin, this is a good result. Recession in the world economy (and in particular in the euro area) became an obstacle for reaching better results, as well as a poor harvest in Russia. Last year, more than 90 million tons of grain were collected. This year, the harvest has dropped to 74 million tons. (more…)

After the Storm, Haiti’s Food Situation Looks Bleak

By Guest PostDecember 11, 2012Economy, Environment, Politicsafter the storm, aftermath, agriculture, athena kolbe, bleak outlook, chronic underdevelopment, destruction, economic efforts, Economy, education, employment, farmers, financial assistance, food crisis, food insecurity, haiti leaders, households, hurricane sandy, marie puccio, michigan, natural disaster, natural disasters, political scienc, rain triggered mudslides, robert muggah, southern haiti, university, urban center, village market, violent crime

ANN ARBOR — The aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, which ripped through southern Haiti in October, will extend beyond destruction and injury. The current and future food security looks bleak barring significant intervention during the next year, according to a University of Michigan report.

Rain-triggered mudslides throughout the country from the hurricane has not only washed out homes, but also roadways and bridges—bringing transportation to a near standstill, says Athena Kolbe, the report’s lead author and a U-M doctoral candidate in social work and political science. The natural disaster compounded Haiti’s long struggles to transport enough produce from the countryside to village markets and major urban centers. (more…)

A Country of Two Tales

By Guest PostNovember 23, 2012Economy, PoliticsChina, confucius institute, country, delaware, Economy, gdp, global impact, gross domestic product, growth engine, iew, Japan, jastak burgess hall, jianguo chen, market, policy, soes, state capitalism, state owned enterprises, two tales, united states, university

Confucius Institute director addresses global impact of China’s economy

China’s economy has undergone astounding growth during the past 60 years, with its gross domestic product (GDP) climbing from just under $18 billion in 1949 to almost $6 trillion in 2011. Most of that growth has occurred since 1980, when the country’s economic reform began.

The result? China has emerged from being known as “the world’s most populous country” to the “growth engine for the world’s economy.”

But the double-digit growth that China witnessed every year from 2003 to 2011 has slowed, leading to much debate about the seriousness of the downturn and how it will reverberate across the globe. (more…)

comScore Reports $41.9 Billion in Q3 2012 U.S. Retail E-Commerce Spending, Up 15 Percent vs. Year Ago

By Guest PostNovember 7, 2012Technology2012, apparel, Comscore, comscore chairman, double digit, ecommerce sale, ecommerce sector, Economy, estimate, event tickets, gian fulgoni, growth, growth rate, macroeconomic environment, q3, rate, retail, showrooming behavior, US, us consumer

comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni to Present Overview of Q3 2012 E-Commerce Trends in Upcoming Webinar

RESTON, VA, November 7, 2012 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its Q3 2012 U.S. retail e-commerce sales estimates, showing that online retail spending reached $41.9 billion for the quarter, up 15 percent versus year ago. This represents the twelfth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and eighth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. (more…)

UA’s Kate Kenski Tracks Election Through Talking Points, Tweets

By Guest PostOctober 22, 2012Politics2008 campaign, analyze, arizona, Barack Obama, bethany conway, colbert report, corey pavlich, daily show, democrat, democratic president, Economy, election, election season, Facebook, facebook page, factor, jon stewart, kate kenski, Media, mitt romney, money, naes, networking site, obama victory, political ads, political communication, political gaffes, political humor, Politics, polling data, polls, presidential candidate, republican, republican candidate, social media, tax season, Twitter, twitter follower, university

Kate Kenski, an associate professor in the UA communication department, is studying the 2012 election using talking points, Twitter feeds and also jokes.

Election season is to politics-watchers as tax season is to accountants. There are polls to follow, debates to dissect and political ads to analyze.

For Kate Kenski, an associate professor in the University of Arizona communication department and School of Government and Public Policy, election season provides a wealth of data that she analyzes to write and teach about public opinion and political communication.

For the 2012 election, Kenski is keeping a keen eye on whether the frequent explanations for wins and losses in previous campaigns hold true for this campaign. Will the economy be the determining factor? Or will candidate personality or message strategy tip the campaign in one candidate’s direction over the other’s? (more…)

IBM and Oxford Survey: Getting Closer to Customers Tops Big Data Agenda

By Guest PostOctober 17, 2012Technologyanalytics, big data, business school, customer experience, data mining, database, Economy, geospatial data, global snapshot, ibm, ibm study, initiative, internal system, it professional, janet smart, michael schroeck, organization, oxford, primary objective, query, reporting, saïd, sensor data, social media, social network, solution, source, structured data, uk, university, unstructured data

Less than half of organizations analyzing external data; only 43 percent looking at social media for deeper understanding about consumer preferences
Lack of advanced analytics skills for tackling unstructured data biggest challenge

ARMONK, N.Y. and OXFORD – 17 Oct 2012: A new global report released today by IBM and the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford reveals that most Big Data initiatives currently being deployed by organizations are aimed at improving the customer experience. Yet, despite the strong focus on the customer, less than half of the organizations engaged in active Big Data initiatives are currently collecting and analyzing external sources of data, like social media.

One reason is that many organizations are struggling to address and manage the uncertainty inherent within certain types of data, such as the weather, the economy, or the sentiment and truthfulness of people expressed on social networks. In the survey, respondents questioned their ability to trust comments, reviews, tweets and other forms of freely offered opinions online. While uncertain, social media data still contains valuable information. Organizations need to embrace and manage data uncertainty and determine how to use it to their advantage. (more…)

Coastal Power Surveys

By Guest PostOctober 10, 2012Environmentbeacon motel, canr, cape henlopen, coastal power, computer simulation, delaware, delaware beach, delaware coast, delaware shore, drilling platform, Economy, energy production, fishing, floating lab, george parsons, gulf coast, higher energy, hotel blue, jacob fooks, janet johnson, joshua duke, kent messer, Mexico, offshore, oil, rehoboth beach, seth olsen, state, state university, survey, university, virden center, virginia, walker jones, wind turbine

UD’s Messer gauges Delaware beachgoers’ reactions to offshore energy

The University of Delaware’s Kent Messer leads a research team that is conducting two studies at the Delaware coast to determine how people would react to offshore energy production and how that could impact the state’s economy.

The first study was conducted at Cape Henlopen and Rehoboth Beach and involved students surveying beachgoers to see how open they were to the idea of offshore energy, specifically wind turbines and oil drilling platforms. (more…)