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In emerging markets, a significant share of the revenue of Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) manufacturers comes from the traditional retail channel, composed of millions of independent family-owned nanostores. Nanostore owners typically have limited cash flow and are driven by the modest goal of making a living. It is common practice for manufacturers to dispatch sales representatives to visit nanostores directly in order to drive product sales. We study the sales visit and pricing decisions of manufacturers supplying to a nanostore over an infinite time horizon. We first consider the case of a single manufacturer and show that the manufacturer should price the product such that the nanostore can earn enough to pay for his subsistence spending. Such a supplier-retailer mutual reliance relationship continues to hold for the two-manufacturer model where the manufacturers compete for the nanostore’s cash resources under shelf space limitations. Further, under some conditions, the two manufacturers can mutually benefit, that is, instead of jeopardizing each other through competition, they contribute collectively to satisfy the nanostore family’s subsistence needs such that nanostores are more likely to survive; besides, each can earn more profit than in a single-supplier setting. The results can help us understand the current industry dynamics in this vital sector.

Sinojackia huangmeiensis is a critically endangered tree species in the Styracaceae endemic to China. To create tools to better evaluate the genetic diversity of this species, we used a modified genomic library enrichment method, the PETUER (Probe Extension and TEACl Universal EnRichment) method, to develop genetic markers. The resulting 18 microsatellite loci had high polymorphism with 3–12 alleles per locus and showed negligible stutter. Observed (HO) heterozygosities were 0.057–0.724, and polymorphism information content (PIC) was 0.109–0.794. No significant linkage disequilibrium between pairs of loci was found. All 123 individuals found in the National Natural Reserve of Longgan Lake was genotyped at the 18 loci and used to estimate a UPGMA dendrogram. Using an iterative clustering method, a set of 18 individuals was established as a core collection to represent genetic diversity and would be useful to facilitate the conservation for S. huangmeiensis. In addition, we tested the 18 loci for cross-species amplification in three other Sinojackia species and the closely related Changiostyrax dolichocarpa. These polymorphic loci will be valuable for future population genetic and phylogenetic studies of S. huangmeiensis and congeneric species, as well as in closely related Styracaceae.

Peatland ecosystem processes are strongly influenced by hydrology linked to climate change. However, how transpiration, as major water loss pathway in closed peatland, responds to climate change and then regulates ecosystem water balance that remains poorly understood. Here, we reported an 18,000-year fossil phytolith record from an herbaceous community-dominated mountain peatland in central China to reconstruct climate changes and vegetation evolution and reveal the interactions between regional climate changes and peatland ecosystem. The abundance of bulliform phytoliths—a silicified type of cells that regulate the movements of plant leaves to reduce light exposure and transpiration rate—shows close correlations with the Holocene climate variations with higher bulliform abundance in response to warm-dry climate (11,500–9600 cal yr BP; 7500–3000 cal yr BP) and lower values associated with cold-wet climate (13,000–11,500 cal yr BP; 3000 cal yr BP-present). Spectral analysis reveals that bulliform abundance and reconstructed climate vary with a major ~1000-year periodicity during the Holocene, suggesting a possible causal relationship to solar activity. A high bulliform abundance and warm-dry climate correspond with enhanced solar activity, and vice versa. We interpret that the resultant leaf water deficit resulted from greater light interception, high temperature and drought promoted the production of bulliform cells to fold leaf for water conservation, which is an effective protective mechanism of peatland grasses from the environmental stress. These results expand our understanding of how grass-dominated peatland plant water regulation recorded by bulliform phytoliths responds to solar radiation and local hydroclimate during geological period.

Sinojackia is a Chinese endemic genus of Styracaceae, containing eight species. The taxonomy of one species, Sinojackia dolichocarpa (≡ Changiostyrax dolichocarpa ), is controversial. Here we investigate the distribution of leaf wax n -alkanes to clarify the chemotaxonomic position of S. dolichocarpa . Leaf samples of six Sinojackia species from Wuhan Botanical Garden in central China were collected during April, July, and December in 2010 to capture different developmental stages of the epicuticular waxes. Our results show that the waxes of S. dolichocarpa differ from the other five species by having a lower abundance of n C 31 but a higher abundance of n C 33 . Although developmental variations of n -alkane distributions were observed during the sampling periods, cluster analysis based on the percentages of n -alkanes from C 27 to C 33 separates S. dolichocarpa from the other Sinojackia species. Based on these finding, we suggest S. dolichocarpa is a species independent of the Sinojackia genus.

This study has focused on the processes of soil degradation and chemical element concentration in tea-growing regions of Rwanda, Africa. Soil degradation accelerated by erosion is caused not only by topography but also by human activities. This soil degradation involves both the physical loss and reduction in the amount of topsoil associated with nutrient decline. Soil samples were collected from eleven tropical zones in Rwanda and from variable depth within each collecting site. Of these, Samples from three locations in each zone were analyzed in the laboratory, with the result that the pH of all soil samples is shown to be less than 5 (pH

Biomass energy is drawing more and more attention from the community because of its renewable characteristics. The article has analyzed the position of biomass energy development and utilization in China. At the same time, the article has studied the main problems inherent in biomass energy development and utilization in China and introduced special proposals and policies.