Domestic Origin Research Articles

Welfare Chauvinism in the Face of Ethnic Diversity: A Vignette Experiment across Diverse and Homogenous Neighbourhoods on the Perceived Deservingness of Native and Foreign-Born Welfare Claimants

Abstract The tenuous relationship between ethnic diversity and welfare solidarity has become a central focus in sociological and political inquiry. Yet, the question whether ethnic composition of the residential environment affects welfare chauvinism (favouring an encompassing welfare state that is preserved for ingroup members) has remained fundamentally unanswered. This article integrates extensive experimental data on welfare solidarity with hypothetical, unemployed persons from domestic and foreign origin among 23,015 native participants (to isolate welfare chauvinism), and detailed registry data (on the residential neighbourhood of these participants) from the Netherlands. This combination of contextual and experimental data allows us to test rivalling theoretical arguments on the relationship between ethnic diversity and welfare chauvinism, namely conflict, contact, and constrict theory. The outcomes of this enriched vignette survey experiment show that ethnic diversity has a specific and sizeable effect on welfare chauvinism under a range of model specifications. Diverse neighbourhoods drive down natives’ support for welfare distribution with migrants but not with natives. Ethnic diversity thereby stimulates the deservingness gap between natives and migrants, i.e., welfare chauvinism. We discuss the implications of these findings for conflict, contact, and constrict theory.

Reindeer fidelity to high quality winter pastures outcompete power line barrier effects

We investigated barrier effects of a 66 kV power line established in 1966 before and after the line was upgraded to 132 kV in 2004 over a period of 44 years (1974-2017) in the North Ottadalen wild reindeer area (3245 km2) of which 1038 km2 are in use as winter pastures. The power line transects a peninsula (135 km2) with high quality winter pastures in the southeast periphery. The reindeer population originated from a nucleus herd of 402 animals of domestic origin released in the area in 1964-1965 and 100 resident wild animals. Yearly winter survey started in 1974 and reindeer were first surveyed south of the 66 kV power line in 1982. Comparing the number of animals recorded in the peninsula vs. the number of individuals expected relative to available grazing area during the three periods (1974-2004, 1982-2004 and 2005-2017), the number of animals recorded in the peninsula was 3.6–4.9 times higher than expected. Since the upgrade of the power line, a substantial part of the reindeer population grazed in the peninsula every year. We therefore conclude that there was no long-term barrier effect from the original power line and no barrier effects at all from the upgrade. However, during the first 5 surveys of this study, there were no animals in the peninsula. Therefore, even if there are several possible reasons for this, we cannot exclude the possibility of short-term barrier effects resulting from the construction of the original power line. Our results support recent studies that report no effects from existing power lines and contrast some previous findings that have reported strong long-term barrier and avoidance effects of such infrastructure for Rangifer migration and grazing behaviour.

High Occurrence of Bacterial Competition Among Clinically Documented Opportunistic Pathogens Including Achromobacter xylosoxidans in Cystic Fibrosis.

Cystic Fibrosis (CF) airways favor abnormal microbial development. Infections are considered as polymicrobial and competition can be observed between microorganisms. The current literature on bacterial competition in CF mostly consists of studies with limited numbers of strains, mainly focused on the major pathogens Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa) and Staphylococcus aureus (Sa) and does not give a comprehensive overview of the overall importance of bacterial interactions or the behavior of less often encountered emerging bacteria such as Achromobacter. In this context, we screened a panel of 39 strains from six CF patients, of either clinical or domestic environmental origin, distinguished according to genotype and belonging to four opportunistic pathogens, Pa (n = 15), Sa (n = 3), Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (Sm, n = 10) and Achromobacter xylosoxidans (Ax, n = 11). We investigated their capacity to compete in terms of growth, motility, and pigment production on agar media through 203 crossing experiments. Eleven strains selected via the initial screening results were further studied for competitive growth in liquid medium and biofilm formation. Competition was noted for 33% (67/203) of the pairs of strains with 85 modifications observed between monocultures and co-cultures, impacting growth (23.6%), motility (13.8%), and/or pigment production (6.1%). Under all conditions of the study (clinical, environmental strains; intra-, inter-patients; intra-, inter-species levels), competition was significantly more frequent among pairs of strains with at least one clinical strain. While Pa mainly outcompeted other species, in one patient with chronic colonization by Ax and sporadic colonization by Pa, we showed that some Ax inhibited the growth and pigmentation of Pa whereas biofilm formation was drastically reduced. Enlarging the panel of strains tested in competition assays gave new perspectives on the complex interactions taking place among the CF airway community. Indeed, the frequent occurrence of varied, strain-dependent interactions is revealed here. We report the first results of competition assays for Ax with the ability of certain strains to outcompete Pa. Our results are linked to the patient’s colonization history and question the importance of bacterial competitiveness in the colonization pattern of CF airways.

Consumer Misuse of Country-of-Origin Label: Insights from the Italian Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Market.

Providing information to consumers through the label is a means for food companies to inform consumers about product’s attributes, including the country of origin (COO). In the EU, COO labeling has been made mandatory for several categories of food products, to enable consumers to make informed choices at the point of sale. In particular, Regulation (EU) No 29/2012 has introduced a mandatory country-of-origin labeling system for extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). In the present study, conducted in Italy, we test whether there is a price differential associated with the COO information for EVOO. To this end, we employ a hedonic price model and data about the purchase of EVOO products collected from 982 consumers at the supermarket checkout. Having interviewed these consumers, we also assess the share of EVOO consumers that correctly identify the country of origin of the product purchased. Our findings point out that, in Italy, the EVOO with domestic origin, indicated on the label, benefits of a premium price equal to +35% compared to the product labeled as blend of European EVOOs, while a discount of −10.8% is attached to EVOOs from a non-European origin. A significant share of consumers in our sample (19.04%) is, however, unable to correctly identify the origin of the EVOO purchased. This label misuse mostly occurs among consumers who report that they had purchased Italian EVOO, while they had actually purchased a blend of European EVOOs. Female and more highly educated consumers are less likely to misuse label information about the product’s origins.

HEALTH TOURISM IN THE UKRAINIAN CARPATHIANS AND THE BLACK SEA COAST: CURRENT STATE AND TRENDS

Problem Statement and Purpose. Medical, recovery and treatment and rehabilitation tourism is becoming more and more popular in the world. In Ukraine, this type of tourism occupies a high economic niche in two major recreation and tourism areas - the Carpathian and Black Sea region. These regions are characterized by unique forms of tourist services, which use health and healing properties of natural resources in the form of mineral waters and curative mud, as well as mountain and sea climate. The purpose of this article is an integrated assessment of social and economic factors and prerequisites for the development of balneological tourism in the Carpathian and Black Sea regions, as well as identifying the main aspects of economically viable tourist destinations in these territories.Data & Methods. The article uses official statistics on tourism in seven regions of Ukraine: four Carpathian regions (Transcarpathian, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv and Chernivtsi) and three regions of the Black Sea region (Mykolaiv, Odesa, Kherson). Analytical methods were used both by nature conservation and socio-economic instruments in order to value the tourism processes in there areas. As a methodological basis, the developments described in the scientific papers published by V.S. Preobrazhenskiy, O.O. Beydyk, M.P. Malska, O.O. Lyubitseva and other pofessionals are used.Results. To development of curatively-health, in particular balneological tourism in Carpathians and Ukrainian Black Sea Region recreational-tourist districts considerable resources and marketabilities of sanatorium-resort activity promote. Districts have in Ukraine most of the specialized establishments of placing and high indexes amounts of tourists, that are in these establishments. In today's unfavorable conditions for the development of relevant institutions in the country, the identified trends in the expanded use of forms of health tourism, primarily in the Black Sea region and to a lesser extent in the Carpathian region. The need for annual recuperation is already taking root in the psychology of broad layers of the population with middle and low income levels. The analysic showed the paramount importance of the studied territories for medical tourism. In the process of statistical processing, a certain increase in the coastal tourist destination over the mountain and balneological in the Carpathians was revealed. The article offers several groups of recommendations based on previous research and current statistics. They are common to the two areas studied. It is necessary to introduce a new tax regime and attract foreign investors, which will contribute to the effective work of enterprises. Expanding the list of tourist and recreational services will attract more tourists. The new advertising paradigm of promotion of sanatorium and resort services will allow to increase the number of tourists among all age and property layers of the population. The main directions of development of the medical and health-improving sphere in the Carpathians and the Black Sea region are: attraction of investments of domestic and foreign origin for renewal of material and technical base of sanatorium and resort establishments, increase of personal interest of industry workers in production indices, development of which has not yet been mastered.

Identification and quantitation of bile acids in bear bile by HPLC

A method for simultaneous quantitation of tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDC), taurocholic acid (TC) and taurochenodeoxycholic acid (TCDC) using high performance liquid chromatography with a Vydac reversed phase C18 column is described. Peak area ratios versus concentration calibration curve for TUDC, TC and TCDC showed linearity over the range of 50-2000 μg/mL with correlation coefficient (r) of 0.9999, 0.9989 and 1.0000, respectively. Intraday and interday precisions range from 0.08 to 5.63% for TUDC, 0.28 to 6.70% for TC and 0.14 to 4.82% for TCDC. Quantitative HPLC analysis was performed on 93 Ursidae bile salts. Average concentrations were 3087 μg/mL for TUDC, 212.6 μg/mL for TC and 1968 μg/mL for TCDC. Our data suggests that North American and polar bears contain a higher concentration of TC (relative to TUDC and TCDC), while the relative concentration of TC in Asiatic bears (wild or farmed) is much lower. Analytical results of 217 gall bladder (11 cases) items submitted as criminal evidence from customs officials indicate: 147 (67.74%) were of domestic pig origin; 42 (19.36%) were from Asiatic bears, 14 (6.45%) were from goat gall bladders and 14 (6.45%) were absent of animal bile.

Revisiting galvanic replacement between silver nanoparticles and mercury(II) ions in a cellulose membrane intended for optical assay application: Some new insights into silver-mercury interaction

Modification in optical responses of plasmonic metal nanoparticles by galvanic replacement reactions with metal ion contaminants has underpinned the development of Localised Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) based sensors during past decade. However, the studies reported so far mostly use nanoparticles in the form of colloidal solution with inadequate understanding on the sensing mechanisms. We herein revisit the galvanic reaction between silver nanoparticles and Hg2+ ions with aims to develop a cellulose based optical test strip for selective assay of Hg2+ ions in aqueous samples as well as to comprehend the mechanisms of LSPR modification of AgNPs in interaction with Hg. The contact of cellulose membrane hosted AgNPs with Hg2+ ions follows classical galvanic reaction and a linear correlation between the measured absorbance of AgNPs with Hg2+ concentration has been found, which formed the basis of the quantitative assay. The performance of the sensor test strip has been verified for three real water samples of environmental and domestic origin. The results obtained are within 1–6 % accuracy with 94–106 % recovery. The detection limit of the present test strip has been found to be 0.3 ppb, which is lower than a large number of Hg2+ sensor developed so far. Using combined small angle X-ray scattering, calculated extinction coefficient and electronic structure calculations of Ag-Hg system by density functional theory computations, it has been demonstrated that at lower mercury concentration (below 1 ppm), the AgNPs undergo coalescence to form bigger nanoparticles. However at higher concentration (1 ppm and above), the Hg atoms undergo an exceptional “coat to droplet” conversion on AgNP surface. The associated changes in LSPR of AgNPs have been explained using these models.

Products labeled as “made in domestic country”: the brand matters

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to better understand an increasingly widespread practice consisting, of a brand, in signaling the domestic origin of its products aimed at domestic consumers, that is, the “made in the domestic country” (MIDC) strategy. To this end, it is proposed to analyze the MIDC label as a cue interacting with the brand’s characteristics (brand equity and country of origin of the brand). Design/methodology/approach A between-subjects experiment is conducted among 293 French consumers on four different brands of pasta. The overall design is a 2 (with/without the MIDC label) × 2 (high/low brand equity) × 2 (domestic/foreign brand) mixed design. Findings The results show that intention to buy the product increases significantly with the presence of the MIDC label, but not so willing to pay. The positive effect on buying intention is greater when: the product has rather low brand equity, consumer ethnocentrism is high and/or consumers are strongly attached to their national identity. Research limitations/implications The present research extends the literature on country-of-origin effects by taking into account the role of the brand equity of the product. However, the study focused on only one low-involvement product category (pasta) and one country (France). Practical implications This study shows that adding an MIDC label to the product is empirically justified. Originality/value While moderate or high scores on “patriotic” variables reinforce the positive impact of the MIDC label, low scores reverse the trend, that is, cause rejection.

Recreational Value of Coastal and Marine Ecosystems in India: A Macro Approach

Coastal and marine ecosystems offer a large number of services for human well-being, including recreation, which is evidenced by people's willingness to spend on leisure. Traditional categories of national income accounting such as income from service sectors like "Hotels and Restaurants" do not capture the net welfare (consumers' surplus) from recreation that can be attributed to the existence of the ecosystem. This article presents the first estimates of a country-wide recreational value regarding the consumers' surplus generated by coastal and marine ecosystems in India using the Zonal Travel Cost Method. We found that the recreational value from nine coastal states in India generated consumers' surplus to the extent of 0.9% of India's gross domestic product at market prices [Rs93,888.76 billion or US$5,863 billion purchasing power parities (PPP)] in 2012–2013 for domestic and foreign tourist (at 2012–2013 current prices). The consumers' surplus generated for visitors of domestic origin is estimated at Rs295 billion (US$18.4 billion) and for visitors from the rest of the world is Rs562 billion (US$35 billion). This highlights the importance of ecosystems and provides a framework to estimate recreational demand functions. It also provides a mechanism to create suitable state-specific tariffs on recreational services for financing coastal and marine conservation.

Визначення розмірних характеристик частинок глинопорошків як нанонаповнювачів полімерних композицій

Comparative morphometric analysis of different types and brands of clay powders of domestic origin for the reasonable choice of filler of polymer nanocomposite materials with improved properties. Morphometric analysis of alumina particles was performed by optical polarization microscopy. Micrographs were obtained using a digital camera with an adapter. To quantify the size of clay particles, we used the image analysis method in ImageJ program. The area, perimeter were determined, and the equivalent diameter and particle shape index were calculated. Statistical processing of the experimental data was performed using the software packages "Statistica" and "Excel". A comparative morphometric analysis of various types and grades of clay powders of domestic origin, intended for use as nanofillers in the production of polymeric composite materials with improved properties, was performed. It was found that the nature of the distribution of particles of equivalent diameter in all the studied samples is qualitatively similar, but has certain differences in quantitative indicators. The distribution of particles of the studied brands of clay powders according to the shape indicator showed a pronounced asymmetry towards its maximum values. On the basis of a detailed morphometric analysis of particles of different types of clay powders, differences in the quantitative characteristics of the particle distribution by the equivalent diameter and shape index were established. The results obtained will allow a reasonable approach to the selection of the brand of clay, which will be used as filler in the production of polymeric nanocomposite materials.

Current understanding on industrial organic waste management by employing Eisenia fetida

Earthworms have the inherent capability of stabilising different organic waste materials of industrial as well as domestic origin. This review paper depicts the potential of epigeic earthworm species Eisenia fetida in the vermistabilisation of various industrial organic wastes such as silk industry waste, herbal pharmaceutical industry sludge, food industry sludge, milk processing industry sludge, tea factory coal ash, sugar mill sludge, cotton industrial waste, paper mill waste, and bio sludge of beverage industry. The analysis of results obtained clearly indicates the suitability of vermicomposting over conventional composting as an alternative technology for management, stabilisation and nutrient recovery from industrial organic waste.

Organizacja, struktury i udział w walkach regimentu piechoty Bogusława i Jana Leszczyńskich w latach 1658–1662

In the years 1655–1660, there were many military units operating in the territory of the proper Greater Poland. The reason for this was the invasion of the Kingdom of Sweden into the Republic of Poland, and the increased mobilization effort of the Polish army. Fighting against the invader took various forms, from regular army combat, through partisan warfare of the levy in mass to expeditions of the łans infantry. In 1658 the troops from Greater Poland were divided into two groups, one of which went on an expedition to Denmark and the other took part in the siege of Toruń. Boguslaw Leszczynski’s regiment, consisting of 5 companies, took part in the siege. It was a typical foreign levy infantry regiment, consisting of musketeer and pikemen rotas (military unit of the time consisting of 8–10 men). The only difference from other units of this type was the lack of the regimental staff and extensive company staffs. It consisted mainly of plebeians, and officer functions were performed by the nobility of both foreign and domestic origin.

The Time-varying Risk of Italian GDP

The uncertainty surrounding economic forecasts is generally related to multiple sources of risks, of domestic and foreign origin. This paper studies the predictive distribution of Italian GDP growth as a function of selected risk indicators, related to both financial and real economic developments. The conditional distribution is characterized by means of expectile regressions. Expectiles are closely related to the Expected Shortfall, a well-known measure of risk with desirable properties. Here a decomposition of Expected Shortfall in terms of contributions of different indicators is proposed, which allows to track over time the main drivers of risk. Our analysis of the predictive distribution of GDP confirms that financial conditions are relevant for the left tail of the distribution but it also highlights that indicators of global trade and uncertainty have strong explanatory power for both left and right tail. Their usefulness is supported also in a pseudo real-time predictive context. Overall, our findings suggest that Italian GDP risks have been mostly driven by foreign developments around the Great Recession, by domestic financial conditions at the time of the Sovereign Debt Crisis and by economic policy uncertainty in more recent years.

Status novijih anglicizama u leksičkom fondu učenika srednjoškolskog uzrasta

Language change is an important characteristic of any language, and its manifestations are most obvious in the structure and content of the lexicon. The lexicon of the Serbian language has been changing not only as a result of various word formation processes, but also under the influence of the process of borrowing, particularly from the English language, nowadays a dominant global language which permeates all areas of human activity. English loanwords play a significant role in the change of the lexicon of the Serbian language, and are being adopted and used in everyday oral and written communication, particularly by younger people, who are more open to accept these changes. This paper investigates the status of some English loanwords among secondary school students, and how these words affect their lexicon. The research focuses on the analysis of students' answers to the questions containing a corpus of selected loanwords taken from the dictionary 'Rečnik novijih anglicizama' (Vasić et al., 2001), whose aim is to determine which English loanwords have already been assimilated and perceived as words of domestic origin, and which words are still felt as foreign by the students. This paper also investigates semantic characteristics of these loanwords, and how the students use them and understand their original meaning. The analysis of the answers casts a deeper insight into the way loanwords are used in the target language the longer they stay therein.

The challenges of wastewater reuse in Peru

In Peru, particularly in the province of Lima, there exists a situation of high demand for water and limited availability, resulting from several factors, such as asymmetric distribution of water, accelerating population growth, and high levels of surface and subterranean water pollution. In addition, the region is experiencing the consequences of climate change and global warming, which aggravate the water scarcity situation. Given this scenario, the implementation of alternative resources is urgently required, so that additional sources of water supply can be generated, thereby reducing the pressure on existing natural water sources and improving the quality of receiving water bodies, since the purification of wastewater constitutes a sustainable mechanism to minimize environmental impacts. In this context, this article aims to address the following questions: What legislative solutions have been introduced to deal with the problem of water pollution in Peru, predominantly wastewater of untreated domestic origin? Moreover, how significant is the consideration of treated wastewater as an alternative water source? Specifically, the aim is to offer a legal analysis of the reusing of treated wastewater in Peru, based on a review and interpretation of the regulatory system which defines the administrative and technical aspects of water reuse regulation and management; however, the article begins by conducting an analysis of the recommendations produced by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) applicable to wastewater management, within theframework of the Country Program, and Peru’s incorporation into that initiative.

Trekking Tourism Potentiality in Ziro Valley of Arunachal Pradesh, India

The Ziro Valley of Arunachal Pradesh in India is bountiful in the prospects of the tourism as the land is endowed with rich natural and cultural landscape, though not properly explored so far. From the point of view of attractions, the area can prove to be a desired destination for tourists both domestic and foreign origin to carry forward sightseeing, trekking, angling, photography, ornithology study, etc. The paper focuses on the identification of potential trekking routes in the Ziro Valley of Lower Subansiri District of Arunachal Pradesh. The potential trek was identified with the help of locals, officials, NGO, trek identification with the help of GPS. The four major trek routes were identified namely: Trekking in Sibe to Pamu Yalang Trek; Hakhe Tari Trek; Dusu Kattu Trek & Talley Valley Trek. It was reviewed the overall physical features and attraction of trekking routes of the Valley, which may become the famous trekking routes among the other trekking routes in the world for nature lovers and adventure seekers.

Revisiting genetic structure of Wild Buffaloes Bubalus arnee Kerr, 1792 (Mammalia: Artiodactyla: Bovidae) in Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, Nepal: an assessment for translocation programs

Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve (KTWR) has the last remaining Nepalese population of the Endangered Asiatic Wild Buffalo (Bubalus arnee Kerr, 1792). Individual animals protected inside KTWR may be of purely wild, domestic or hybrid origin, and the wild population is under potential threat due to habitat loss and genetic introgression from feral backcrosses. Identification of genetically pure wild individuals is important for identifying animals for translocation to other areas within their former range. In this study we have sequenced a highly variable 422bp region of the Cytochrome b gene of 36 animals, and added 61 published sequences of both River and Swamp Buffalo from Italy and some southern Asian countries including India. The haplotype diversities ranged from 0.286-0.589 with slightly higher diversities in domesticated individuals. The AMOVA analysis revealed that 97.217% of the genetic variation was contained within groups and 2.782% occurred among groups. An overall fixation index (FST) was found to be 0.02782 (p>0.05). Phylogenetic relationships derived through a reduced median network and maximum parsimony analyses reconfirmed the ancestral nature of the Wild Water Buffalo. Moreover, this study has reviewed recent achievements of molecular research in wild buffalo, assessed the technical capacities of research institutes in Nepal to conduct molecular research required for identifying pure wild individual in KTWR and more importantly initiated DNA bank and DNA sequence library of buffalos, which will enable an international collaboration for advanced molecular research in the future.

Analysis of the Ukrainian collection of common hop varieties (Humulus lupulus L.) to highlight varieties with reference characters

Purpose. Conduct a generalized assessment of samples of the base collection of hops Humulus lupulus L. Institute of Agriculture Polissia of NAAS of Ukraine according to the level of manifestation of the main morphological characters to highlight domestic varieties with reference characters. Methods. Field, visual estimation, laboratory, analytical. Results. During 2011–2017 samples of the base collection of Humulus lupulus L. hops were evaluated in the conditions of Polissia; the level of manifestation of their main morphological characters was determined. An information base has been formed on the morphological characteristics of hop varieties with a list of foreign standard varieties and domestic applicants for standards on certain characteristics. It was revealed that breeds have varying degrees of characters manifestation. In particular, according to the intensity of the anthocyanin color of the stem from very weak – ‘Slavianka’, ‘Zahrava’ to very strong – ‘Hranit’; according to the color of the upper part of the leaf blade: from yellow-green, characteristic for the ‘Alta’ and ‘Khmeleslav’ varieties to green, for the ‘Zahrava’ and ‘Clon 18’ varieties. By flowering time and onset of technical ripeness of cones, the varie­ties are divided into groups: early – ‘Alta’, medium – ‘Clon 18’, ‘Zahrava’, later – ‘Xanta’, ‘Haidamatskyi’, ‘Hranit’. Among domestic applicants for standards in the form of a bush, the variety ‘Zmina’ – spindle-shaped, ‘Slavianka’ – cylindrical, ‘Alta’ –conical, and others; in the shape of a cone – variety ‘Clone 18’ – cylindrical, ‘Slavianka’ – narrow oval, ‘Ruslan’, ‘Alta’ – oval, ‘Zlato Polissia’ – wide oval and ‘Zhytych’ – spherical. Conclusions. Based on the results of long-term investigations, a comparative assessment of the reference varieties of foreign breeding and samples of the collection of domestic origin was carried out according to the characteristics of the vegetative (stem, leaf, bush), plant generative organs (cone) and phenological descriptions (time of flowering and cone harvesting), which allowed to determine the varieties with stable manifestation of the main identification signs of hops. Domestic varieties that are carriers of individual (‘Zlato Polissia’, ‘Zhytych’, ‘Ruslan’, ‘Poliskyi’) or several traits (‘Slavianka’, ‘Zahrava’, ‘Haidamatskyi’, ‘Clon 18’, ‘Khmeleslav’, ‘Alta’, etc.) are isolated and proposed for use as standards.

How do Kosovar and Albanian consumers perceive food quality and safety in the dairy sector?

Kosovo and Albania, in a manner similar to other Western Balkan countries, face serious challenges in relation to national food safety and control in terms of legislation, infrastructure, institutional capacity and private investments. Consequently, food safety is a major concern for consumers in this region. The objective of this study was to gain a better understanding of consumer perspectives on food safety and quality. Two surveys, one with consumers in Prishtina and one in Tirana, targeted more than 600 consumers. Despite the prevalent problems with food safety, Kosovars perceive domestic dairy products as significantly better than Albanians do when compared with imported food products. Conversely, Albanian consumers use food safety- and quality-related information about cheese and milk more frequently. The most frequently used safety and quality cues for both samples are expiry date, domestic and local origin and brand reputation. Food safety certificates are used by Albanians more often than by Kosovars, and international food standards such as ISO, HACCP or Global GAP are mostly unknown to both consumer groups.

Assessing the contribution of harvested wood products under greenhouse gas estimation: accounting under the Paris Agreement and the potential for double-counting among the choice of approaches

BackgroundThere are multiple approaches for estimating emissions and removals arising from harvested wood products (HWP) based on differences between when and where a given carbon stock change is calculated. At this moment, countries are free to use any HWP approach to prepare their annual greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory and determine emission reduction targets for their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), although under the Paris Agreement (PA), the production approach is used for standard reporting in GHG inventories. Global double-counting and non-counting of HWP might occur depending on the HWP approach each country uses; however, the impact of such double-counting and non-counting has not been thoroughly evaluated.ResultsWe identified all cases of global double-counting and non-counting of HWP for combinations of the six HWP approaches: ‘instantaneous oxidation’, ‘stock-change’, ‘production’, ‘stock-changes approach for HWP of domestic origin (SCAD)’, ‘simple-decay’ and ‘atmospheric-flow’ approaches. In Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), forest land is often partly or completely excluded, especially by developing countries. In such cases, HWP approaches that require comprehensive national data on wood harvesting and trade are not suitable for estimating HWP contributions. In addition, most developing countries apply the ‘instantaneous oxidation’ at the time of harvesting. Recent GHG inventories from Annex I countries show the averaged contribution of annual HWP emissions or removals to national total emissions is nearly 1%; therefore, the potential contribution of HWP to the accounted emission reduction volume is assumed to be a smaller value.ConclusionsInstantaneous oxidation remains a pragmatic approach for countries in which wood production is not a dominant part of the economy. The combination of ‘instantaneous oxidation’ with the ‘production’, ‘SCAD’ or ‘simple-decay’ approaches could be a practical solution to realize a global HWP accounting approach the eliminates double-counting. Regardless of how global double-counting and non-counting occur, the amount is not large. To improve the accuracy of the global assessment, it is important to reduce the uncertainty of estimation regarding when and how much HWP-related emissions occur at national level.