CSIS regularly produces original expert-guided podcasts on a range of critical issues.
Listen in on iTunes, Spotify, TuneIn, Stitcher, or directly on the CSIS website.
Have questions or comments? Email us at Podcasts@csis.org.
In The Trade Guys Andrew and the Trade Guys take on the world of digital trade with Victoria Espinel, president and CEO of BSA | The Software Alliance.
In this episode, Erol Yayboke and Melissa Dalton discuss what they've learned so far in their ongoing CSIS effort, supported by Chemonics International, centered on the implementation of the Trump Administration's Stabilization Assistance Review (SAR).
Dan and Larry discuss the importance of including monitoring and evaluating in development programs.
Frank Verrastro and Haim Malka discuss the current political developments in Algeria. Their discussion includes the challenges of creating a legitimate transitionary process, ongoing protests, and uncertainty for energy production and oil markets.
This episode explores China's ambitions to reform and influence global governance, and the resulting effects on the international system.
Canadian Deputy Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman discusses tariffs and the USMCA.
American and Chinese representatives from industry, finance, government and think tanks discuss how to best foster, protect, and advance innovation.


This romantic ballad, originally by Dolly Parton, is what I, and many others, will remember you for. Such a loss to die so young.
XLVI? I have fond memories of III.
The coin is tossed. Giants get to call, call tails, and lose. Pats elect to kick. Funny, in my experience, it seems the call is almost always heads, and it almost always comes up heads.
First Jint drive stalled by short loss followed by sack. Punt puts Pats deep.
Brady flagged for intentional grounding from end zone. Safety; Jints up by two.
Jints drive for TD, Manning to Cruz, after fumble recovery by Pats nullified by penalty. So far, Pats can't buy a thrill. Down in yardage about 100-0.
Pats offense finally got going, but stalled in red zone, so settled for FG, making it 9-3 Jints. After that, lots of back and forth. Jason Pierre-Paul, who batted down two Brady passes, is from my college alma mater, South Florida.
Pats drive the length of the field for a TD that makes it 10-9 in their favor at half. Pierre-Paul is alternatively hero and goat, as he tackles for a loss on 2nd and goal, but drops into pass coverage on 3rd, giving Brady time to find his receiver.
Halftime. Madonna has antlers. "Springtime for Hitler"? Time for a quick visit to the loo.
Awful halftime show continues. No wardrobe malfunctions. "World peace"? Yes, please.
Chrysler ad looked like it could be an Obama ad.
2nd half kickoff. Pats start on 20; Brady promptly completes two passes, then a long outside run gets them to Jints 35. Drive ends in TD pass. Brady sets record for consecutive pass completions in Super Bowl.
Jints FG makes it 17-12.
Sackarooni! Pats forced to punt from deep; Jints get ball on Pats' side of midfield.
Jints drive stalled; another FG makes it 17-15.
Brady's pass intercepted deep; fumble on next play recovered by Jints. Are the football gods back on NY's side? Maybe. Disputed sideline catch near midfield called in NY's favor.
Lots of stuff at the end; Jints came back with TD to go up 21-17. They hang on with end zone defelection of Brady's Hail Mary pass. So, the Giants' curse on the Patriots continues.
Super Bowl games used to be almost predictably dull. This one was good.


Bayern Munich attacker Toni Kroos has admitted his team were not at their best in Tuesday's Champions League win over Lille.
A Thomas Mueller penalty after 20 minutes helped Bayern to a 1-0 victory despite their below-par performance.
Kroos, 22, is determined for Bayern to record two home wins from their three remaining matches to secure progress.
"Lille played quite a good game, but I think we deserved to win. They put in a lot of tackles, but we managed to control them, scored a goal and deserved to win the game," he told the UEFA website.
"Of course, we can play better football, but after our defeat against BATE (Borisov on matchday two) we needed to win our next game. On Tuesday evening, we battled.
Bayern have collected six points from three games to be level on points with Valencia and BATE in Group F.


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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">

<title>ComponentOrientation (Java Platform SE 8 )</title>
<meta name="date" content="2014-12-17">
<meta name="keywords" content="java.awt.ComponentOrientation class">
<meta name="keywords" content="LEFT_TO_RIGHT">
<meta name="keywords" content="RIGHT_TO_LEFT">
<meta name="keywords" content="UNKNOWN">
<meta name="keywords" content="isHorizontal()">
<meta name="keywords" content="isLeftToRight()">
<meta name="keywords" content="getOrientation()">
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../stylesheet.css" title="Style">

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java.awt

Class ComponentOrientation

java.lang.Object

java.awt.ComponentOrientation

All Implemented Interfaces:

Serializable

public final class ComponentOrientation
extends Object
implements Serializable

The ComponentOrientation class encapsulates the language-sensitive
 orientation that is to be used to order the elements of a component
 or of text. It is used to reflect the differences in this ordering
 between Western alphabets, Middle Eastern (such as Hebrew), and Far
 Eastern (such as Japanese).

 Fundamentally, this governs items (such as characters) which are laid out
 in lines, with the lines then laid out in a block. This also applies
 to items in a widget: for example, in a check box where the box is
 positioned relative to the text.

 There are four different orientations used in modern languages
 as in the following table.

 LT          RT          TL          TR
 A B C       C B A       A D G       G D A
 D E F       F E D       B E H       H E B
 G H I       I H G       C F I       I F C

 (In the header, the two-letter abbreviation represents the item direction
 in the first letter, and the line direction in the second. For example,
 LT means "items left-to-right, lines top-to-bottom",
 TL means "items top-to-bottom, lines left-to-right", and so on.)

 The orientations are:

LT - Western Europe (optional for Japanese, Chinese, Korean)

RT - Middle East (Arabic, Hebrew)

TR - Japanese, Chinese, Korean

TL - Mongolian

 Components whose view and controller code depends on orientation
 should use the isLeftToRight() and
 isHorizontal() methods to
 determine their behavior. They should not include switch-like
 code that keys off of the constants, such as:

 if (orientation == LEFT_TO_RIGHT) {
   ...
 } else if (orientation == RIGHT_TO_LEFT) {
   ...
 } else {
   // Oops
 }

 This is unsafe, since more constants may be added in the future and
 since it is not guaranteed that orientation objects will be unique.

See Also:

Serialized Form

Field Summary

Fields

Modifier and Type
Field and Description

static ComponentOrientation
LEFT_TO_RIGHT

Items run left to right and lines flow top to bottom
 Examples: English, French.

static ComponentOrientation
RIGHT_TO_LEFT

Items run right to left and lines flow top to bottom
 Examples: Arabic, Hebrew.

static ComponentOrientation
UNKNOWN

Indicates that a component's orientation has not been set.

Method Summary

All Methods Static Methods Instance Methods Concrete Methods Deprecated Methods

Modifier and Type
Method and Description

static ComponentOrientation
getOrientation(Locale locale)

Returns the orientation that is appropriate for the given locale.

static ComponentOrientation
getOrientation(ResourceBundle bdl)

Deprecated.

As of J2SE 1.4, use getOrientation(java.util.Locale).

boolean
isHorizontal()

Are lines horizontal?
 This will return true for horizontal, left-to-right writing
 systems such as Roman.

boolean
isLeftToRight()

HorizontalLines: Do items run left-to-right?

 Vertical Lines:  Do lines run left-to-right?

 This will return true for horizontal, left-to-right writing
 systems such as Roman.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Field Detail

LEFT_TO_RIGHT

public static final ComponentOrientation LEFT_TO_RIGHT

Items run left to right and lines flow top to bottom
 Examples: English, French.

RIGHT_TO_LEFT

public static final ComponentOrientation RIGHT_TO_LEFT

Items run right to left and lines flow top to bottom
 Examples: Arabic, Hebrew.

UNKNOWN

public static final ComponentOrientation UNKNOWN

Indicates that a component's orientation has not been set.
 To preserve the behavior of existing applications,
 isLeftToRight will return true for this value.

Method Detail

isHorizontal

public boolean isHorizontal()

Are lines horizontal?
 This will return true for horizontal, left-to-right writing
 systems such as Roman.

isLeftToRight

public boolean isLeftToRight()

HorizontalLines: Do items run left-to-right?

 Vertical Lines:  Do lines run left-to-right?

 This will return true for horizontal, left-to-right writing
 systems such as Roman.

getOrientation

public static ComponentOrientation getOrientation(Locale locale)

Returns the orientation that is appropriate for the given locale.

Parameters:

locale - the specified locale

getOrientation

@Deprecated
public static ComponentOrientation getOrientation(ResourceBundle bdl)

Deprecated. As of J2SE 1.4, use getOrientation(java.util.Locale).

Returns the orientation appropriate for the given ResourceBundle's
 localization.  Three approaches are tried, in the following order:

Retrieve a ComponentOrientation object from the ResourceBundle
      using the string "Orientation" as the key.

Use the ResourceBundle.getLocale to determine the bundle's
      locale, then return the orientation for that locale.

Return the default locale's orientation.

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For further API reference and developer documentation, see Java SE Documentation. That documentation contains more detailed, developer-targeted descriptions, with conceptual overviews, definitions of terms, workarounds, and working code examples.
 Copyright © 1993, 2015, Oracle and/or its affiliates.  All rights reserved.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
FOOD + BEV
PRINT + E-NEWS
How a movement has kept Canadian restaurants united and afloat in a raging sea
Coffee: the carbon cost of your daily cup, and how to make it climate-friendly
PERMANENT SELF-SANITATION SOLUTION FOR HIGH-TOUCH SURFACES
Taco Power
Ivy Knight January 7, 2021
2021 is finally here and I think we're all realizing that the latest season of Drag Race isn't going to save us. These next two months are always notoriously scary for restaurants and bars, but this winter is almost guaranteed to be a full-on horror show.
Let me take you back to a happier time, to a taco on a beach in British Columbia.
Tacofino was born behind a Tofino surf shop in 2009, the lovechild of two visionary surfers. The following year I visited that beautiful coastal town, and I remember looking out over the ocean with one of their particularly perfect tacos in hand and feeling like a god. It was a truly unforgettable moment; like when Johnny Utah, slack-jawed, first laid eyes on Bodhi in Point Break. Swayze's Bodhi was the stuff of legend. Much like this taco! Why couldn't all tacos be this good?
I'm talking about the taco to illustrate a larger point. At that time I was still fully immersed in restaurant culture, but I no longer worked in restaurants. There were things I hated about the business, and even though I questioned them, I didn't really expect anything to ever change. I stood on that beach thrilled at my new freedom. I was out, but my blood was still pure Kool-Aid.
Little did I know that change would come to the restaurant industry. That Me Too and BLM would smash holes in the gastronomic temples that had always seemed immovable, that the Kool-Aid in my body would turn back into real human blood. It is possible the transubstantiation began with that unbelievable taco. Stay with me.
Tacofino has grown from that surf shop to eight locations across BC. In 2019 they hosted an industry event called Shift Change, which at its heart is about fostering empathy within hospitality. It was a big hit, so they planned to do it again. But, as we all know, event calendars got wiped out for 2020. Tacofino just wouldn't quit though; they wanted to do this event so bad they scheduled not one, but four new dates, moved it online, and slashed ticket prices to zero dollars so everyone could take part.
We have seen change in the years since my taco epiphany on that west coast beach, but we are nowhere near where we should be. Anyway, who in their right minds would be worrying about empathy (!) while our entire industry teeters on the brink? Those surfers from Tofino, that's who. They are absolutely devoted to changing our industry for the better. I'm telling you, that taco was magic – as if it were crafted by Bodhi himself.
I talked to Taylor Chobotiuk, Tacofino's head of HR, about why, during the most brutal year the restaurant business has ever faced, this fleet of BC taco shops was so determined to keep their little event alive.
First off, you grew up in landlocked Calgary, how did you come to be hooked up with a bunch of taco-slinging surfers?
I was born and raised in Calgary and went to the University of Lethbridge. I've been in Vancouver for about eight years. I'm a white cisgender male, and for me, I always had a conflict with who I was as an individual and what society expected. In Alberta you fell into certain categories—you were either gay or straight, there wasn't a spectrum, you were just expected to fit. Those expectations being imposed on me never felt natural.
Alberta is dear to my heart, I spent the lion's share of my life there, but Vancouver, with its diversity and its culture and food, there is a bit more acceptance. It was the first place I've ever felt really welcomed. It felt like home.
Tell me about Shift Change, what is it exactly?
It's a space for industry professionals and community leaders to come together to share ideas and learn from each other. In 2019 we focused on mental health, addiction and gender. Close to two hundred people showed up. During the pandemic, we really wanted to keep Shift Change going so we looked for an opportunity to do it differently. It's very important for us to connect with community leaders, people we see doing really great things, and then we get out of the way. Tacofino offers the space and supports the marketing.
What is something you've learned from these sessions?
My takeaway from the last Shift Change was about recognizing that if we're splitting people up into a binary model then we're excluding a lot of people. Recognizing the policies you have in place as a business, as it relates to uniforms, or pronouns—that can really exclude people.
You have to review everything you do as a human being and as a business. Not making assumptions about people, but asking them. As employers, I don't think we should be afraid of that. Opening up a dialogue shows that you're genuinely concerned about inclusion. Why do we hold onto old social norms like male and female? Why should it matter?
I'm thankful to Vancouver for that too, the celebration of LGBT and two-spirit. That in itself was one of the first things that made me fall in love with this city.
That all sounds wonderful, but why keep it going in 2020, and now into 2021? Shouldn't you guys be focused on saving your restaurants from impending ruin?
Originally the content that became Shift Change was just going to be leadership training for Tacofino, but then we saw that we could open it up for the whole industry and create change for other people. The past year has been a struggle, and it's really difficult to stay afloat. The people in this industry are going through a tough time, so we made tickets free and moved online. We donate $1250 per session to the speaker's cause of choice.
These systemic issues, we're aware of them and we want to disrupt them. We want to create a different industry altogether.
In the kitchen. Photo courtesy of Shift Change.
You work in this business; can you tell me why Shift Change is important to you personally?
I've spent a lot of my working life in non-profit. I've worked in immigrant services and focused on diversity and inclusion. In 2019, the focus for the session was on mental health. I'm diagnosed with mood disorders; I have depression and anxiety. I also have ADHD—those are all parts of me and things that I've dealt with in my life. Now, if you're raised as what is generalized as a male—one of the traits you are raised with is not being able to talk about these things. You have to be stoic and silent. We can see the ramifications of that if we look at the data behind substance dependence and suicide. It took me a long time to do things that are healthy instead of destructive. In our industry mental health and substance dependence is a big thing. Even suicide; we have to destigmatize it and talk about it so people know that they're not alone.
How do you address a situation in a restaurant where someone tells you they're suicidal? As leaders how do you deal with that? Leaders are taught operations for business, so we're all at a loss when it comes to those situations.
We all want to be better to support people in those situations and Shift Change created a place for us to openly talk about all of these things.
The current Shift Change theme is 'Diversity, Inclusion and Equity,' tell me a bit about that.
Covid really highlighted the inequity in the world. We recognize that significant barriers exist and we look at those and learn how to be a part of dismantling them. We're working towards a world where opportunities are available to everyone. This is such a beautiful industry made up of people who are artistic and passionate and caring. We have an opportunity to improve and continue to be better.
Why is it important to connect with our industry peers right now? Isn't it better to isolate and just cry ourselves to sleep every night?
The better we understand each other the better we're able to empathize with each other. I wholeheartedly believe that the world improves when people connect—when we don't generalize and we see each other as individuals.
Any divide that exists between people comes from a lack of exposure, a lack of curiosity, it's us versus them. I hope we just continue to learn about each other and have genuine curiosity, then we can be more inclusive and create equity.
People have really been feeling that they are in this together, and are trying to better understand each other—I'm hopeful that will continue beyond the pandemic and that we'll have a more compassionate world where we're all looking out for each other.
Group photo from a 2019 Speakers for Change session.
Upcoming Shift Change sessions will feature Lisa Beecroft on employing adults with cognitive diversity, on January 12th. And on Feb. 9th Heat Laliberte will talk about visibility for LGBT and two-spirit people in the back of house. Tickets available here.
Featured Image: Taylor Chobotiuk, Gino Di Domenico, Jason Sussman, Puneet Kochar. Photo by Amy Ho.
Stacey Newman January 20, 2021
The Conversation January 20, 2021
SUSTAIN Editorial January 20, 2021
THE HEROES WE NEED
Ivy Knight January 20, 2021
Women take lead roles in India's farmers' protest
Modern Meat in the Dairy Alternative Market with its Line of Oat M*lk, Almond M*lk, and a Barista Edition
SUSTAIN Editorial January 6, 2021

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Given the huge number of completely free VPN apps for iPhone out there, it is hard for any VPN company to say which the best. BUT here at Appsverse, we dare say it anyway, and here is why.
At any given time, the Apple App Store is full of VPN apps claiming to offer best privacy features while still being completely free. "No-logs", "Wi-Fi Security" and "Privacy Protection" are some of the buzz words thrown at mobile users. Unfortunately, consumers are not given a host of statistics or real tools to put the company's word to the test or to prove it.
While any completely free VPN app for iPhone you eventually download is likely to fulfill its intended purpose (such as to allow you to let you change your location, unblock certain geo-restricted content, or hide your internet activity from the government or internet service provider or ISP etc), what these VPN companies do with your private and sensitive data and also to your device still remains a subject of mystery.
Completely free VPNs - Why should you worry about them?
As VPNs companies incur very significant operating costs, the only sensible way that understand how completely free VPN companies can stay alive, is to know that they DO find a way to make money- and they are just not telling you how.
In a study done by researchers at UC Berkeley, a technical investigation into over 283 VPN apps in the Google Play Store found serious privacy and security vulnerabilities such as possible malware presence, third-party library embedding, and traffic manipulation.
Therefore, it is almost guaranteed that any completely free VPN app for iPhone iOS is likely to suffer the same fate. VPN companies have to run multiple VPN servers worldwide and which are kept alive 24/7 and often in quantities more than one given country or city. The high costs associated with keeping up the service is makes it impossible not to find ways to make money from its users or the users' data.
3. Analyzing your data for other businesses etc.
Read here to read more ways how completely free VPNs make money from your usage data.
Why is Appsverse & Proxy VPN different?
At Appsverse, we have been seasoned players in the consumer and mobile privacy space for years now. Our top-ranking privacy browser, the Photon Flash Browser, not only allows users to run Adobe Flash on an iPhone or iPad, but can also helps users to hide their internet activity and or bypass geographical restrictions.
It has always been our mission to make user privacy and security accessible to any Internet user in a completely safe and protected way. We knew that if we were to release a VPN app, it would be completely free but completely transparent and without any of the dubious practices used by the other VPN companies.
Proxy VPN today is one of the top-rated and completely free VPN apps that you can download for iOS and Android. In less than a year, Proxy VPN for iOS is a 4.6-star rated app with over 4.4K ratings, while Proxy VPN for Android is 4.5-star rated app with over 179 positive ratings since 2 months ago in January 2019.
It's a really bold statement to say that something is the best.
If you are looking a something completely free VPN for iPhone, chances are your personal data and privacy is compromised.
However, this is never the case with Proxy VPN and we would say Proxy VPN is the best free VPN app for iOS.
Proxy VPN is the best, because provide nothing short of the best privacy and security features. In other words, we do our best to treat you better than how most paid premium VPN will treat you, but we refuse to charge you and choose to make it free and accessible for everyone.
Download completely free VPN Proxy for iOS or VPN Proxy for Google Play and you will see what we mean.
If you need free VPN for iPhone with no app, Proxy VPN is also available for Windows and MacOS (coming soon!).


You need a great automobile to take you around Pitcairn whether you're traveling for a business or pleasure. Check out the top sites around the area and pull up in front of the best restaurants in Pitcairn. CarRentals.com has collected the most frequently asked questions about car rentals in Pitcairn. Read on to find out how to get the best rates on your ideal vehicle.
How do I find a bargain rental car in Pitcairn?
These tips can help you save even more on your next car rental in Pitcairn.
What rental suppliers have outlets in Pitcairn?
What type of rental car should I get for my trip to Pitcairn?
What's the age requirement to rent a car in Pitcairn?
Generally, to rent a car in Pitcairn you must be at least 21—the same as it is across the rest of the United States of America. Additionally, many suppliers charge an added fee if you are under 25. Be sure to go through the supplier's terms to determine what the total is before you book your vehicle.
Does Pitcairn require rental car insurance?
Insurance is mandatory, no matter where you rent a car. With that said, your current car insurance may cover you. Additionally, if you pay using your credit card, the card's policy may also insure you. Keep in mind, those policies may not provide total coverage, and you'll have to add it on to your booking. Check in advance and, if it's required, you can just include it at checkout.
Unlimited miles is a good choice if you decide to do a little sightseeing or visit several business associates all over Pitcairn. You can drive wherever you like and not incur additional charges. Be sure to read your policy to see if there are any limitations.
Know that you can depend on a grand car that will leave you with extra cash to spare when you book with CarRentals.com. Cash in on cheap deals on your perfect Pitcairn car rental when you book with us. We'll see you out here.


Like many girls, I first started wearing deodorant in middle school. I went through several different drugstore brands, finding each leaving my underarms red and irritated, even the "sensitive skin" versions. I turned to the health food store before I even knew what "organic" meant, just so I could find a gentle deodorant. I haven't gone back to drugstore deodorants since. The selection was much smaller back then, and I wish there had been products like Good for you Girls deodorant when I was a teen.
I love the branding of this line, with clean whites and friendly designs to appeal to young women. I also like the light citrus scent and many organic extracts in the ingredients. It rated about a 3 on EWG's Skin Deep scale, which is pretty gentle. However, I would love to see this deodorant made a little stronger. I sweat more than the average person, and I could definitely tell that this deodorant helped. It just wasn't quite strong enough for me. I think it would be fine for most people, especially young women. This deodorant is a nice option for tweens and teens, especially if you want something that is vegan, gluten-free, and cruelty-free.


text:
Lamb Age has Little Impact on Eating Quality
The Snacking Chameleon: Psychological Proximity Increases Imitation of Food Intake Independently of Brand Choice
A New Edible Film to Produce In Vitro Meat
Beyond Healthiness: The Impact of Traffic Light Labels on Taste Expectations and Purchase Intentions
clear zoom_out_map search menu
10.3390/foods9020186
Pérez y Pérez, L.
Gracia, A.
Barreiro-Hurlé, J.
Not Seeing the Forest for the Trees: The Impact of Multiple Labelling on Consumer Choices for Olive Oil
Luis Pérez y Pérez
1,2 ,
Azucena Gracia
1,2,* and
Jesús Barreiro-Hurlé
Unidad de Economía Agroalimentaria y de los Recursos Naturales, Centro de Investigación y Tecnología Agroalimentaria de Aragón (CITA), Av Montañana, 930, 50059 Zaragoza, Spain
Instituto Agroalimentario de Aragón (CITA-Universidad de Zaragoza), 50059 Zaragoza, Spain
European Commission. Joint Research Centre (JRC), 41092 Seville, Spain
Foods 2020, 9(2), 186; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9020186
Received: 25 December 2019 / Revised: 4 February 2020 / Accepted: 10 February 2020 / Published: 13 February 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue How Visuals Affect Food Choice?)
Multiple quality labels that signal whether a particular food has special characteristics relating to geographical origin or production method have become standard within European food policy. The aim of this paper was to investigate how two of these labels in particular influence consumers' food choices. We assessed consumers' preferences for an extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) displaying EU quality labels and focus on whether they are complements or substitutes. In order to do so, we used a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to estimate main and two-way interactions effects with data from a self-administrated survey in a Spanish region. Results indicate that while consumers positively value both the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and the organic labels, the valuation for PDO is almost double that of the valuation of the organic label. Furthermore, the findings show that for a majority of consumers considered both labels substitutes, while a small group considered them complements. These findings can help producers identify an optimal labelling strategy to maximize returns on certification investments.
European food quality labels; protected designation of origin (PDO); organic production; extra virgin olive oil (EVOO); Spain
Olive oil is one of the main components of the Mediterranean diet that is considered worldwide as one of the healthiest food diets. In recent years, consumption of olive oil in Mediterranean countries has shifted towards one of a higher quality. Quality olive oils can be differentiated using EU regulated labels such as those under regulation of a quality scheme for agricultural foodstuffs [1,2]. The first one regulates the designation of geographical origin and the second the organic production system.
Quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs in the EU are laid down in [1]. This Regulation is an amending version based, inter alia, on [3] for wine products, [4] relating to honey, [5] for traditional specialties and [6] on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs.
Agricultural foodstuffs bearing the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) label are those whose quality or characteristics are determined by the geographical environment with its natural and human factors, and whose production, processing and preparation are always carried out in the defined geographical area from which they take their name. Registration under a PDO guarantees compliance with quality requirements additional to those required for other products without this mention [1]. Registration is voluntary for the products that meet these requirements and they are included in an EU register. There are currently 102 PDOs registered in Spain and products labelled as PDOs are protected by intellectual property rights and can be recognized by the EU symbol on their packaging [7,8].
Organic production is an agri-food management and production system that combines best environmental practices and the application of high animal welfare standards that lead to high levels of biodiversity and the preservation of natural resources. Organic production has been regulated in Spain since 1989. With 2.2 million hectares of cultivated area in 2018, Spain occupies the first place in organic farming in the EU and is among the top five in the world. In 1993, the first Community Regulation came into effect and currently Regulation on organic production and labelling of organic products is in force [2]. All organic products packaged must bear the EU logo and the numerical code of the responsible inspection body, in addition to the producer's own brand and the specific terms of organic production. For the purpose of our research, extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) was selected for two main reasons. Firstly, olive grove is one of Spain's most important agricultural land use covering 2.5 million hectares and producing about 60% of the world's olive oil. Secondly, this product has a high prevalence of geographic origin and organic labels.
EU labels were introduced to help consumers in making their food choice as the information they carry transforms the credence attributes, which cannot be observed by the consumers even after purchase, in our case, the geographical origin and the production method, into search attributes, which consumers can look for when purchasing. In addition, labels also provide a form of quality assurance in terms of product traceability to with a given production area [9]. However, different studies into the effect of labels on food purchasing decisions show that they are not the main drivers of consumer choice and that other product characteristics such as price, color, origin, etc. are more relevant. In the case of olive oil, [10,11] found that price is a more important driver than PDO certification. Moreover, a review of demand studies for Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) [12] found that after brand, organic production and origin certifications have the greatest influence on consumers' willingness to pay (WTP). As brand creation is a lengthy and costly process, a higher sales price can be more easily achieved via these labelling schemes.
Applications that identify consumer preferences or intention to purchase for the product studied here, EVOO, exist for both the PDO (i.e., [11,12,13,14]) and organic production labels (i.e., [15,16]). Studies focusing on both labels simultaneously are less common. Other research [17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24] analyzed the consumption of other olive oils types.
The goal of this paper was to investigate how the two labels (geographical origin and production method) influence consumer food choices providing a significant contribution to our understanding of consumer preference for multiple product labelling. We focused on EVOO in Spain and two European food quality labels, those of PDO and the EU organic production. Willingness to pay for these labels was estimated using a stated preference valuation method, discrete choice experiment (DCE). In particular, we estimated whether consumers are willing to pay a premium for these EU labels and whether these can be seen as complementary or substitute strategies. The empirical analysis has been applied to the PDO "Aceite del Bajo Aragón", a PDO olive oil produced in the province (NUTS3) of Teruel (Aragon), a rural territory with extreme climatic conditions, low productivity soils, extensive arid areas characterized by strong north-eastern winds, scarce and irregular rainfall and one of the lowest population densities in Spain. This area accounts for a total of 14,800 square kilometers and a population of 136,000 inhabitants with a population density of nine inhabitants per square kilometer, close to what is defined as a demographic desert. Moreover, if we subtract the population of the capital city (approximately 36,000), this density falls to under seven inhabitants per square kilometer. In addition, the region is characterized by an ageing population (46.5 years compared to 43.4 for the Spanish average) and follows a declining trend since the 1970s [25]. Teruel is considered a remote rural area that faces serious challenges to ensure its future economic development [26]. Agriculture continues to play an important role in its economy and most crops are rain-fed, with olive groves occupying 24,245 hectares in 2017 [25].
To achieve the objectives stated above, we used a DCE approach because this method allows the simultaneous valuation of multiple food attributes, is consistent with the random utility theory [27] and the choice task mimics real purchases in the market [28]. Consumers face different products described as combinations of different levels of attributes and must decide which of the available alternative products to buy or decide not to buy any of them.
Data were obtained from a self-administrated questionnaire delivered to a sample of individuals over 18 years of age resident in Aragon and responsible for food purchase in the household. The questionnaire was structured in three parts. The first part included questions related to olive oil purchasing and consumption habits. The second contained the DCE tasks, preceded by a description of the attributes and levels to participants to ensure that they were aware of the alternative products to be selected (see below). In addition, a cheap talk script [29] was included to encourage respondents to reveal their real preferences in order to minimize the possible hypothetical bias. The third part of the questionnaire contained socio-demographic characteristics and other features of the interviewees. Before administering the final questionnaire, a pilot survey was carried out with a small sample (N = 20) to check the correct understanding of the questionnaire and that the duration did not lead to fatigue effects.
The fieldwork took place in 2014 and the first interviewees were randomly selected from a consumer panel. They were then contacted via e-mail with the questionnaire (as an attachment or as a link for on-line completion) asking them to respond to the questionnaire and send it back. Furthermore, the questionnaire was provided to contact people in consumer associations and public city centers already known to us for their random distribution with a similar request for completion and return. The final sample used consisted of 540 valid observations representing a sample error of 4.2 % using a confidence level of 95% and the more conservative sample proportions (p = q = 0.5).
2.2. Choice Experiment Design
The first aspect of the choice experiment design that needs to be tackled is that of the selection of the attributes and their levels. Our final design included three attributes to respond to our research objective: two attributes reflecting the labels of interest and a price vector to allow the estimation of the willingness to pay. The levels of the attributes were firstly based on market research of the available olive oils in different shopping outlets (supermarkets and hypermarkets), which resulted in a database of 260 EVOO with information on price, bottle size, bottle type, presence of PDO and organic production labels and geographical origin. They were further based on the results of a focus group conducted with 12 (three men and nine women) olive oil shoppers in Zaragoza (the main town in Aragon) in order to examine the consumption habits of olive oil and the importance of several attributes. An interview guide was provided to help the moderator define the development of the meeting and articulate and organize various issues of the debate while respecting the time limit of 1 h. The guide identified three parts for the meeting: (i) an introduction with presentation of our study and distribution of some relevant information regarding PDO and Organic labels; (ii) a section with open, neutral and easy to understand questions; and iii) final summary of the discussions.
The analysis of the database on olive oils characteristics combined with the results from the focus group served to identify the most prevalent and purchased format of olive oil: one liter bottle of EVOO. In addition, the most important attributes for olive oil purchase were identified: price, brand, geographic origin indication in all its various specifications (PDO and other non-regulated claims such as local origin) and its production system (organic or conventional). Thus, the three attributes selected were price, geographic origin and organic production labels. Brand was discarded because, although the olive oil market is generally driven by brand, the market for EVOO with quality labels is not. This is because these high-quality olive oils are produced by small regional companies that focus more on the quality claimed on the label rather than the promotion of their brands. The levels of the attributes were set to two (presence, absence) for the two types of labels and to four for prices. Based on the information contained in the database we identified the highest and lowest price for one-liter bottles of EVOO: 3 € and 9 €, respectively. The other two price levels were taken to allow an even distribution of the price vector between the extremes (5 € and 7 €). As this research was funded by the Research Program of the Teruel Investment Fund we focused on the only PDO for olive oil in Teruel, "Aceite del Bajo Aragón". The attributes selected and their levels are summarized in Table 1.
A full factorial design for choice sets with two options plus a non-purchase alternative for three attributes with four, two and two levels, respectively, would lead to 256 choice sets [(4 × 2 × 2)2]. As these are far too many choices to present to our sample, we built the choice set design following the [30] theoretical framework to produce optimal and near-optimal designs for different number of alternatives, attributes and levels assuming zero priors [31]. Starting with the 16 profiles that represent the full factorial design to ensure that effects are uncorrelated, we applied a shifting procedure to these 16 profiles to create the other alternative. In particular, different generators (set of numbers that are applied to the starting design to shift the levels on the attributes based on orthogonal arrays) have to be used depending on the type of choice experiment to be designed [32]. The resulting design consisted of 24 choice sets. To avoid that interviewees must respond to a large number of choice sets and to minimize the risk of a fatigue effect, the total number of choice sets was randomly split into three blocks of eight choices. Respondents were randomly allocated to one of the blocks. Respondents should indicate which of the two products in each of the choice sets would choose, or whether they would not choose any of them. Figure 1 shows one example of a choice set.
2.3. Specification and Estimation
Choice modelling assumes that consumers choose between different products consisting of some attributes with different levels to maximize their utility. Following [33], total consumer utility of the product is the sum of the utilities for the different attributes. The consumer knows his utility but the researcher can only observe part and assume the rest behaves stochastically, following the random utility theory [27]. With this in mind, utility is assumed as a random variable that can be represented, for our empirical model, as follows:
U n j t = α + β 1 P R I C E n j t + β 2 P D O n j t + β 3 O R G n j t + β 4 P D O ∗ O R G n j t + ε n j t
where n is the number of respondents, j represents the different alternatives seen by the individual when making choices (two products plus the non-purchase option) and t the number of the choice set (in this case the eight choices made by the individual). Coefficient α is a constant reflecting the utility associated to the purchase of one of the alternatives coded as a dummy variable that takes the value of 0 for the non-purchase option (neither A nor B) and 1 for the two product alternatives (A and B). It is expected to be positive and statistically significant. PRICE is defined by the price levels in the design (3 €/L, 5 €/L, 7 €/L and 9 €/L). PDO and ORG are defined as dummy variables, where 1 indicates that the product carries the PDO and the organic labels, respectively and 0 otherwise. The interaction between the PDO and the organic labels (PDO*ORG) is calculated by multiplying PDO and ORG. Finally, εnjt is an independent identically distributed (i.i.d.) error term over time, respondents and alternatives.
If we assume that consumers are homogeneous in terms of preferences, the utility function expressed in (1) can be estimated using a conditional logit model (MNL) [27]. However, significant evidence (including the studies referenced in the introduction) have signaled that consumers' preferences for food products are heterogeneous. To capture this, the model specification should allow the parameters to vary among individuals. Two alternatives exist to take into account preference heterogeneity: the Random Parameter Logit (RPL) model and the Latent Class logit (LC) model, depending whether preferences are assumed to be individual-specific or lumpy by consumer groups [34]. We do not have a-priori reasons to believe that preferences for these labels are lumpy and thus we implement an RPL model where each individual has his own specific preferences. Heterogeneity is included by adding a vector of parameters that incorporates individual preference deviations with respect to the mean preference values βn in Equation (1). Moreover, correlations across utilities and across parameters could exist and appropriate specification of those correlations should take into account.
Correlation across utilities can be generated because the non-purchase alternative is experienced by the consumer in a real shopping situation, while the experimental alternatives are designed and vary across choice tasks. Therefore, the utilities of the designed options might be more correlated between them and have higher variance than the utilities of the non-purchase alternative. In other words, the experimental designed alternatives could share an extra error component that is not present in the utility of the experienced one [35]. To take into account the extra variance of experimentally designed alternatives, an additional error component must be included in the model specification. This results in the so-called Error Component Random Parameter Logit (ECRPL), which is parsimonious (it only requires one parameter extra) and improves the model fit [36]. In addition, correlation across parameters can be expected if some attributes are inter-dependent. In this case, the correlation structure of βn should follow a multivariate normal distribution (normal with vector mean μ and variance–covariance matrix Ω). If at least some of the estimates for elements of the Cholesky matrix C (where C'C = Ω) are statistically significant, this means that dependence across parameters exists [37].
We report estimates of three models to identify the impact of the different econometric options on results and test whether the assumptions above hold. We start with a simple Multinomial Logit Model (MNL) assuming homogenous preferences. Second, we relax the homogeneity assumptions by estimating an RPL using the panel structure of the data and taking into account that each individual made eight choices [38]. Last, we allow for the existence of a correlation across utilities and parameters estimating an Error Component Random Parameters Logit (ECRPL) with correlated errors. All estimations were conducted using NLOGIT 5.0 assuming that price is a fixed coefficient (preferences for income are homogenous across consumers) and that the coefficients for the three dummy variables (PDO, ORG and PDO*ORG) are random following a normal distribution. For the estimation of the RPL and ECRPL models, 200 Halton draws rather than pseudo-random draws were used since the former provides more accurate simulations [38].
Expected signs for the estimated parameters relate to the underlying consumer theory and prior findings. α is expected to be positive and significant, indicating that consumers obtain a lower level of utility when they select the non-purchase option, as they are frequent consumers of olive oil. The PRICE coefficient is expected to have a negative sign as following a specific purchase decision, more disposable income should be preferred against less. Last, the PDO and ORG variables were expected to have a positive effect based on the evidence identified in the reviewed studies. We have no a-priori expectation for the interaction coefficient. If the estimated interaction coefficient is negative, both labels can be considered substitutes as the utility derived from the joint provision of them is lower than the sum of the utilities associated with the PDO and ORG considered in isolation. Therefore, some of the utility provided by each of the labels is already being provided by the other [39]. On the contrary, if this interaction coefficient is positive, both labels would be complementary as the presence of both labels adds additional utility to that provided by both in isolation.
Based on the parameters estimates, the relative importance for each of the attribute levels can be assessed. The importance scores (IS) were calculated by multiplying the absolute value of the estimated coefficients by the difference between the highest and lowest value of each attribute level [40]. The score measures the extent to which consumers' utility changes as the level of the attribute is moved and is calculated using the following expression:
IS 1 = β 1 ( Highest − Lowest ) ∑ n β k ( Highest − Lowest )
where k indicates the number of attribute levels, in our case 4 (Equation (1)). IS provides the consumers' importance ranking for the different attributes-levels (PRICE, PDO, ORG and PDO*ORG).
Finally, from the estimated parameters, the marginal willingness to pay (WTP) for each of the attributes and for the interaction between the PDO and the organic labels and the total marginal WTPs for the combination of the two labels including the interaction factor term were calculated. These WTPs are the extra price consumers are willing to pay for each of the labels. The marginal WTP is the price change associated with an increase in a given attribute and can be calculated as the ratio of the partial derivative of the utility function with respect to the non-monetary attribute of interest, divided by the derivative of the utility function with respect to the monetary one (price). Since in our empirical application the non-monetary attributes are coded as dummy variables, the marginal WTPs for the main effects are calculated by taking the ratio of the mean parameter estimated for the non-monetary attributes to the mean price parameter multiplied by minus one as follows:
WTP 2 = − β 2 β 1
In addition, the total marginal WTP, accounting for both main and interaction effects, are calculated as follows [41]:
WTP Interaction = − ( β 2 + β 3 + β 4 ) β 1
3. Results and Discussions
3.1. Sample Descriptive Statistics
Table 2 presents the variables and characteristics of the sample and that of the target population (Aragon) and that of Spain. Women accounted for 65.1% of respondents above their weight in the reference populations, a value higher than the population averages but reflecting that women are still mainly in charge of food purchases in the household. The average age of those surveyed was 48.9 years and the average household size was 2.8 persons. These values are also slightly higher than the average values for Aragon and Spain, something that is logical for the latter since those under 18 were excluded from the sample. Regarding education, 55.7% of the respondents had a university degree and only 14.4% of them have primary studies. The greater proportion of people with university studies in the sample is common in this type of studies because more educated people are more prone to respond to questionnaires [42].
3.2. Estimation Results
The estimation results for the three models are shown in Table 3. The first column presents the results for the MNL, the second column for the RPL and the third shows the estimations for the ECRPL with correlated errors.
We can confirm that consumer preferences are heterogeneous according to the coefficients of the standard deviations of parameter distribution in the RPL model. Two of them are statistically significant at the 1% significance level, indicating that consumer heterogeneity exists. This is further confirmed by the improvement of the log-likelihood value at convergence and the adjusted pseudo R2. To calculate the gain in this model performance in the presence of the set of estimated parameters for the attributes levels, we compared the log likelihood of the model at convergence for the RPL (−3018.05) and the null log likelihood (−4317.63). In addition, to test the overall statistical significance of the model, we calculated the Likelihood Ratio (LR) between the log likelihood of the model at convergence and the restricted log likelihood (−4746), which accounts for 3456. This value is greater than the χ2 for 8 degrees of freedom [43], corroborating the overall significance of the model. To test whether utilities and parameters are indeed correlated we focus on the comparison between the RPL and the ECRPL models. Again, both the log-likelihood value at convergence and the adjusted pseudo R2 improve, indicating that the ECRPL model was better than the RPL. Moreover, the σε for the error component was statistically significant, consistent with the idea that an error component model must be specified. To see whether parameters are correlated, we observe that two of the values in the diagonal of the Cholesky matrix were statistically significant at the 5% level, indicating that the errors were correlated, and thus, a multivariate normal distribution was the best assumption. In the same way, to calculate the gain in performance of the later model with the set of estimated parameters for the attributes levels, we compared the log likelihood of the model at convergence for the ECRPL (−2802.35) and the null log likelihood (−4317.63). In addition, to test the overall statistical significance of the model, we calculated the Likelihood Ratio (LR) between the log likelihood of the model at convergence and the restricted log likelihood (−4746), which accounts for 3888. This value is greater than the χ2 for 12 degrees of freedom corroborating the overall significance of the model. We selected the ECRPL with correlated errors as the best specification; therefore, this model was used to provide results and to conduct further analysis.
As expected, α was positive and significant, indicating that consumers obtain higher utility from choosing any alternative than from the non-purchase option. The PRICE variable was negative and statistically significant in line also with theoretical consistent expectations. The estimated parameters for the main effects of the PDO and ORG labels were positive and statistically significant at the 1% level. Our consumers positively value the PDO and the organic production labels, and the effect of the PDO label in the utility is higher than the effect of the organic label. Last, the interaction coefficient between the two labels was negative and statistically significant. This result indicates that the utility for the olive oil with both the PDO and the organic production labels is slightly and negatively adjusted when compared to the sum of the utilities derived by the PDO and the organic production labels. Thus, both labels can be considered substitutes indicating an overlap between the concepts associated to each of the labels. In other words, the concepts are perceived as interchangeable indicating that no added value is created by the combination of the two labels [44].
Table 4 presents the relative importance of the two labels and the price (Equation (2)) as well as the marginal WTP for the main effects (Equation (3)) and the total WTP accounting for the main and interaction effects (Equation (4)). The importance scores indicate that the most important attribute when purchasing EVOO is PRICE, which drives 64% of the final choice. The PDO label and the EU organic logo are secondary attributes, with PDO explaining twice the choice of the organic. This result is in agreement with previous empirical papers mentioned above and in the literature review by [12]. In addition, [18] found that for a majority of consumers the most important attribute for the EVOO is the price.
Marginal WTP estimates for each of the labels were positive and statically significant. This result is in agreement with several empirical applications on olive oil [17,18,19,20] that also estimate positive WTPs for these two labels. On the contrary, [22,23] found a negative valuation for organic olive oil in Spain and [21] state that Italian consumers are not willing to pay for the PDO label. In addition, our findings indicated that consumers' valuation of the PDO label was higher than that of the organic production label, in particular, the extra price consumers were willing to pay is double for the PDO label. Specifically, consumers were willing to pay an extra premium of approximately 2 €/L for a bottle with the PDO label in respect to one without this label, and approximately 1 €/L for a bottle with the organic label in relation to one without this label. This finding is in line with [17], who found that the WTP for the PDO is slightly higher than the WTP for the organic label. However, our results differ from [19,20], who estimated that the WTP for the organic label is higher than the WTP for the PDO. The marginal WTP for the interaction (PDO*ORG) is negative (−0.377 €/L), indicating the price discount when the two labels are presented together [45]. Thus, the total WTP accounting for the main and interaction effects was 2.6 €/L instead of 3 €/L. If the EVOO is labelled with the PDO and organic label, a typical consumer is willing to pay 2.6 €/L more than for the EVOO without these two labels. However, the value of a single label of PDO is 2 €/L and that of organic is 1 €/L [46]. Consumers might perceive the values of the PDO and organic labels to be overlapping when they are presented simultaneously [45]. Then, our data show that, on average, consumers find that for EVOO the PDO and organic labels are competing because either some of the quality aspects of each label are partly covered by the other or that information overload generates mistrust. However, because preferences were heterogeneous, we found a minority of our sample (12%) who had a positive WTP for the interaction of both labels. Thus, we turn to examining who these consumers are.
To achieve this, we grouped the respondents into two segments according to whether the coefficient of the interaction between the two labels in the ECRPL model with correlated errors ( β 4 ) has a negative or positive impact on utility. Then, we looked at whether there were differences between those segments based on socio-demographic and economic characteristics and some olive oil shopping habits (frequency of food shopping, importance attached when shopping olive oil and EVOO to different aspects, purchase intent of EVOO with PDO and actual purchase of EVOO with PDO and/or organic label). These tests of differences between the two segments were done using chi-square or analysis of variance test [47], for discrete and continuous variables, respectively. Table 5 presents the analysis of variance and chi-square test results between the two segments and the different consumer characteristics that will allow profiling them.
In particular, some of the consumers' characteristics displayed in Table 2 and the olive oil shopping habits mentioned above were found to be statistically different between segments at least at a 10% significance level (Table 5). Thus, whether considering the two labels substitutes or complements is explained by differences in some consumer socio-demographics, purchasing habits and attitudes. In particular, the segment that considered both labels complementary (thus providing a higher value to the multiple presence of labels in the product) consists of consumers with university level education, living in smaller households, even if their monthly income is lower. In addition, the frequency of food purchase has been found statistically different and consumers in the segment that considered both labels as complementary are more involved in the food purchasing of the household. As far as the importance consumers attached to different aspects while shopping for olive oil and EVOO, they considered both labels complementary and gave more importance to organic production and taste when shopping for olive oil, and to the olive variety ("empeltre") and the type of bottle when shopping for EVOO, than those that considered them substitutes. Thus, knowledge of the specific characteristics of the PDO (at least an 80% of "empeltre" variety has to be used if the PDO "Aceite del Bajo Aragón" is to be used) means consumers perceive the presence of both labels as complementary. On the contrary, they gave less importance to the taste of the EVOO. Consumers who considered both labels substitutes are more likely to buy EVOO with the PDO "Aceite del Bajo Aragón". Finally, a higher proportion of consumers that considered both labels substitutes had sometimes purchased EVOO with the PDO and/or organic label.
In this paper we have assessed how EU food quality labels, in particular PDO and organic labels, influence consumer food choice. The results of the DCE application confirm that consumers derive positive utility for EVOO carrying these EU quality labels. In addition, while both PDO and organic production labels are positively valued by consumers, the utility for the olive oil with both the PDO and the organic production labels is slightly and negatively adjusted when compared to the sum of the utilities derived by the PDO and the organic production.
Consumers might perceive the values of the PDO and organic labels to be overlapping when they are presented simultaneously. Our data shows that for the majority of consumers, the PDO and organic labels in the EVOO are competing (substitutes), while a small group of consumers considered them as complementary.
The finding can help producers identify an optimal labelling strategy to maximize returns on certification investments. As the extra price consumers are willing to pay for the PDO label is double (2 €/L) that for the organic one (1 €/L), producers should first apply the PDO label. In a second stage, they could evaluate the appropriateness of adding an organic label to the previous PDO taking into account that the joint provision of both will not lead to the full 1 €/L price premium for the organic label, but only an extra price of 0.6 €/L over the price of the PDO EVOO. Thus, if the costs of applying the ORG label exceed this price, it is advisable to use only the PDO label. Assessing the profitability of organic conversion based only on the WTP for the stand-alone label could lead to sub-optimal outcomes.
This work provides a new contribution to the debate on whether two different EU quality labels, the PDO and the organic, are most valued by consumers and it is among the first to provide an answer to the question of whether the PDO and the organic labels are complements or substitutes.
Although price is the biggest determinant of food consumption in the EU, a fact confirmed by our EVOO consumers, consumers prefer and value products with one of the PDO or organic labels, but there is a diminishing marginal utility of additional labels. As EU labels are a driving force for demand for foods labelled as such, we recommend public authorities and producing and marketing companies promote and implement promotional campaigns to increase awareness of EU labels. This would likely increase the demand for this type of food and should be directed above all at young people, as they are most concerned with issues of food quality, safety and sustainability.
Finally, this work has some limitations that must be taken into account and that constitute other avenues of research for the future. The result of this study cannot be automatically transferred to other product categories. The sample used was not sufficiently representative and the choice experiment could be further extended including other products and attributes. The study has been carried out solely for a PDO for olive oil and in a Spanish region, thus, the empirical results are reduced only to this geographical coverage. With 29 PDOs for olive oil in Spain and located in a small number of regions, it would be appropriate to extend the case studies that would allow these results to be contrasted and generalized. Furthermore, although [48] found that hypothetical bias was not high when analyzing the consumer valuation for two claims, local and organic, for tomatoes in the US, the use of a real choice experiment would be advisable to avoid hypothetical bias and further corroborate the findings.
Conceptualization, L.P.P., A.G. and J.B.-H.; Formal analysis, L.P.P., A.G. and J.B.-H.; Investigation, L.P.P. and A.G.; Resources, L.P.P. and A.G.; Software, L.P.P. and A.G.; Writing—original draft, L.P.P., A.G. and J.B.-H. All authors have read and agree to the published version of the manuscript.
This research was funded by the project "Production chain, market potential and territorial externalities in the Designation of Origin Aceite del Bajo Aragón (454-A)" of the Research Program of the Teruel Investment Fund (Plan FITE 2014-16).
The authors would like to thank Leoni Burgess who provide the choice design used in this paper and Sofie Bosma for language editing. Additionally, we would like to thank those who responded anonymously to the questionnaire and to the reviewers for their comments that have significantly improved the initial version of the work.
The authors declare no conflict of interest. The views expressed are purely those of the authors and may not in any circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the European Commission.
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Figure 1. Choice set example of the unlabeled experiment *. * Original figures were presented in Spanish, Source: own elaboration.
Table 1. Extra virgin olive oil attributes and levels.
Visual Logo
Price (€/L) 3 €/L
5 €/L
Price per liter tag
"Aceite del Bajo Aragón"
Organic production Presence
Source: own elaboration.
Table 2. Socioeconomic variables of the sample, Aragon and Spanish population.
Gender Female (dummy) (%) 65.1 50.3 50.8
Age (sample average) Age (continuous) 48.9 43.9 42.1
Household size (average) Number of people 2.8 2.5 2.5
Household monthly per capita income Income (Above sample average) (%) 46.4 n.d. n.d.
Highest level of education achieved Primary studies (%) 14.4 27.2 25.5
Secondary studies (%) 29.8 46.1 46.3
University degree (%) 55.7 26.6 28.1
Source: Own elaboration based on data from the questionnaire and [25].
Table 3. Estimates for the utility models.
ECRPL
Mean Values
α 3.2314 (36.07) *** 4.098 (34.53) *** 5.4675 (29.70) ***
PRICE −0.4919 (−37.10) *** −0.6216 (−34.49) *** −0.6634 (−52.11) ***
PDO 0.9442 (11.89) *** 1.2636 (11.68) *** 1.3111 (11.43) ***
ORG 0.5815 (8.86) *** 0.6537 (6.77) *** 0.6819 (6.73) ***
PDO*ORG −0.2947 (−3.50) *** −0.2874 (−2.92) *** −0.2501 (−1.99) ***
Standard deviations of parameter distributions
PDO – 1.3480 (13.75) *** 1.4103 (8.87) ***
ORG – 1.4200 (16.41) *** 1.2713 (11.57) ***
PDO*ORG – 0.0555 (0.33) 0.4490 (2.96) ***
Diagonal values in Cholesky matrix
PDO – – 1.4103 (8.87) ***
ORG – – 1.0757 (9.88) ***
PDO*ORG – – 0.0011 (0.00)
Standard deviation of the latent random effect
σε – 2.4062 (13.87) ***
N 4320 4320 4320
Log-likelihood at convergence −3238.1 −3018.0 −2802.3
Adjusted Pseudo R2 0.25 0.36 0.41
Source: own elaboration. Wald statistics are in parenthesis. Null log likelihood = −4317.6. Restricted log likelihood = −4746.0. *** indicate significance at 1%.
Table 4. Relative importance and marginal willingness to pay for the attributes (%, €/L).
Importance Score
Marginal WTP Main Effects
Marginal WTP Total: Main and Interaction Effects
β 1 : PRICE 64.0
β 2 : PDO 20.9 1.9765 ***
β 3 : ORG 10.9 1.0275 ***
β 4 : PDO*ORG 4.2 −0.3770 *** 2.6
Source: own elaboration. ***, ** and * indicate significance at 1%, 5% and 10%, respectively.
Table 5. Characterization of consumers' segments.
Complement Label
Substitute Labels
Total Sample
Proportion of respondents in the segments 12% 88%
Highest level of education achieved*
Primary 17.9 13.4 14.4
Secondary 19.4 31.3 29.8
University 62.7 54.7 55.7
Household monthly income (average) ** 2284 2570 2534
Household size (average) ** 2.6 2.9 2.8
Frequency of food purchase*
Always 58.2 45.0 46.7
Often 25.4 34.3 33.1
Sometimes 16.4 16.3 16.3
Hardly never 0.0 4.4 3.9
Importance attached when shopping olive oil to:
Organic production ** 2.8 2.4 2.5
Taste * 4.3 4.1 4.2
Purchases EVOO with PDO label at least sometimes * (%)—Yes 68.7 77.6 76.5
Purchase organic EVOO at least sometimes * (%)—Yes 68.7 76.3 75.4
Intention to purchase EVOO with the PDO "Aceite del Bajo Aragón"
Yes and likely yes 68.7 79.3 77.9
I do not know 22.4 15.9 16.7
No and likely no 8.9 4.9 5.4
Importance attached when shopping EVOO to:
Taste 4.0 4.2 4.2
Variety (Empeltre) 3.4 3.1 3.1
Type of bottle (plastic, glass, etc.) 3.2 2.9 2.9
Source: own elaboration. Note: ***, ** and * denotes statistical significance at 1%, 5% and 10% respectively.
Pérez y Pérez, L.; Gracia, A.; Barreiro-Hurlé, J. Not Seeing the Forest for the Trees: The Impact of Multiple Labelling on Consumer Choices for Olive Oil. Foods 2020, 9, 186. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9020186
Pérez y Pérez L, Gracia A, Barreiro-Hurlé J. Not Seeing the Forest for the Trees: The Impact of Multiple Labelling on Consumer Choices for Olive Oil. Foods. 2020; 9(2):186. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9020186
Pérez y Pérez, Luis, Azucena Gracia, and Jesús Barreiro-Hurlé. 2020. "Not Seeing the Forest for the Trees: The Impact of Multiple Labelling on Consumer Choices for Olive Oil" Foods 9, no. 2: 186. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9020186
Foods, EISSN 2304-8158, Published by MDPI


text:
'This Ain't Your Mother's Marijuana,' Surgeon General Says
There has been a three-fold increase in the concentration of the active ingredient THC in cultivated plants over the last 20 years, Surgeon General Jerome Adams said
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar	• Published at 9:24 am on August 29, 2019
Federal health officials issued a national warning Thursday against marijuana use by adolescents and pregnant women, as more states legalize the increasingly potent drug for medicinal and recreational use.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Surgeon General Jerome Adams made the announcement, with Azar calling marijuana "a dangerous drug." Officials said President Donald Trump has donated $100,000 — one-quarter of his annual government salary — toward a digital campaign to raise awareness of the risks. Trump has forgone his official salary since taking office.
The warning comes as legal marijuana has grown into a $10-billion industry in the U.S. with nearly two-thirds of states legalizing it, mainly for medical uses. An increasing number of states and localities are also allowing personal, recreational use.
Countering the opioid epidemic is a top issue for the White House, but marijuana had not gotten such high-level attention.
Adams said science shows that marijuana is harmful to the developing brains of teenagers and to the human fetus. The drug has also gotten stronger, with a three-fold increase in the concentration of the active ingredient THC in cultivated plants over the last 20 years.
"This ain't your mother's marijuana," Adams said.
While many states have changed their marijuana laws, federal law still treats it as a controlled substance akin to opioids.
Federal officials say they fear the trend toward legalization may make it more enticing for teenagers to try marijuana. It's a commonly used drug among youths, they said, along with alcohol and e-cigarettes. No states allow legal marijuana use by teens.
Adams said that for teens it carries a risk of affecting brain development, which continues in the 20s. Frequent marijuana use by teenagers is associated with changes in parts of the brain that are involved with attention, memory, decision-making and motivation.
Among pregnant women, marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug, with about 7% reporting they had used it within the past month in a 2017 study. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Academy of Pediatrics advise women not to use marijuana during pregnancy, and to discontinue the drug if they find out they are pregnant.
HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir said pregnant women taking marijuana to relieve morning sickness should stop. "If you have morning sickness, talk to your physician," he said.


• Eduardo Aguirre Jr., nominated as ambassador to Spain in 2005. While on the board of directors of the Bank of America, he met President George H.W. Bush – who asked him to serve as the Bush family banker during the Bush I presidency. According to the State Department, he served as the first director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), an undersecretary position in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In 1992 Aguirre was appointed to the Texas Board of Regents by then-Governor Bush and served on the National Commission for Employment Policy under Bush's father. Ambassador Aguirre's predecessor in Spain, George Argyros, wrote a $100,000 check to the Bush-Cheney inaugural committee. He also was a 2000 Bush Pioneer.
[T]he day will dawn when our elected leaders rediscover the need for dialogue and reasonable accommodation in our international relationships. When that happens, the job of repairing the enormous damage done to those relationships and restoring our reputation, credit, and influence in the world will fall in large part to America's diplomats, most particularly, American ambassadors, i.e., the senior representatives of the American government and people abroad. What better time, then, to re-examine the almost uniquely American practice of including among those representatives large numbers of people only rarely qualified for the job.


I cannot access my modem gateway without a modem reset.
sadsack wrote: I cannot access my modem gateway without a modem reset.
We would recommend getting in touch with the modem manufacturer for support in this regard.
Your hardware may be approaching its use-by date, but have you used the telnet interface? This uses different software from the html interface, and can be used for all aspects of configuration. Eg, telnet 192.168.1.1 and log in as admin. You will be presented a simplified Linux terminal, usually Busybox.
In the very stripped down Linux these things run, most applications log errors and die. This may be happening to you. A reset loads the app or daemon again from permanent storage.


As iconic comedy Still Game nears its much-anticipated finale next week with its ninth series, fans of the show are being asked to vote for their favourite episode.
Scotland's favourite evergreen pensioners, Jack Jarvis and Victor McDade, have held a special place in viewers hearts alongside their Craiglang pals Isa, Navid, Tam, Winston and Boabby.
Having started life as a theatre show before moving to radio, becoming a TV sketch and then a sitcom in 2002, over the years, fans have laughed along with the friends as they embraced the spirit of growing old disgracefully. Writers, creators and stars of the show, Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill announced in 2018 that the ninth series of Still Game would be the last with plans to put the characters into comedy retirement.
Ten of the most-watched episodes from series 1-8 of Still Game (2002-2018) have been selected and viewers can vote for their number one.
The episode which tops the poll will be announced on The Nine on Thursday 28 March and will be screened the following evening on Friday 29 March at 10.30pm on the BBC Scotland TV channel.
Voting opens on Wednesday 20 March at 10am and closes a week later on 27 March at 5pm.
Tony Nellany, channel manager, BBC Scotland, said: 'From devil dugs to creepy undertakers, Scotland's favourite pensioners have had many an exciting adventure over their 17 years on TV.
Votes can be cast at bbc.co.uk/stillgame.


LeBron James still has time to recruit more players for Space Jam 2 and we hope he does! So, I'll be as active as I need to be for us to get better and go from there.
"It's absolutely fair that our fans feel the way they feel, because when you are a Los Angeles Laker, and you have done the things that you've done over the course of time of being part of this organization, all the way from Minneapolis, all the way to Los Angeles, that's how it should be", James said. The Lakers entered Friday's matchup against the Los Angeles Clippers at 35-44, guaranteeing a record below.500 for a sixth straight year.
LeBron James won't be in the postseason for the first time since 2006, back when he was not even near his prime with the Cleveland Cavaliers in his first go-round with the team, and was amid his third season in the National Basketball Association. That's why I came here. And there's a lot of talent out there, and a lot of guys that can help our franchise. "It's like we're either competing for a championship or winning championships, and I love that".
The Los Angeles Lakers swung and missed badly on Anthony Davis at the trade deadline earlier this season, and a rash of injuries to the team has derailed LeBron James' first year in Los Angeles.
"I'm positive and very optimistic that Magic (Johnson) and Rob (Pelinka) and the franchise will be great", James said. "Obviously, the franchise is going to live forever".


Every t-shirt, pin, and tote bag you purchase goes to supporting the IFF!
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After the visit to Ethiopia – World Best Tourist Destination for 2015 (European Council on Tourism and Trade), United States President Barack Obama prepares an overhaul of the country stagnating tourism industry in order to make United States a top Tourist Destination.
Barack Obama said that: [Today,] I directed my administration to send me a new national tourism strategy, focused on creating jobs.
And some of America's most successful business leaders –- some who are here today –- have signed up to help.
We're going to see how we can make it easier for foreign tourists to find basic information about visiting America.
And we're going to see how we can attract more tourists to our national parks.
We want people visiting not just Epcot Center, but the Everglades, too.
The more folks who visit America, the more Americans we get back to work. It's that simple.
The US President said that his goal is to ensure that the United States is the top tourist destination in the world.
In the last period of time, the well sought out title of Best Tourist Destination obtained a plus of 3 million tourists for Laos, the winner of the title in 2013 and an 80% increase in revenues and number of tourist for Zimbabwe, the winner of world tourism accolade for 2014.
If accepted as a top tourist destination is appreciated that more than 8 million Americans will have jobs in the service and tourism sector.
Barack ObamaEpcot CenterEthiopiaEvergladesI directed my administration to send me a new national tourism strategyPRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA LAUNCHES TOURISM AND TRAVEL NATIONAL STRATEGYthe last period of timethe more Americans we get back to work. It's that simpleThe more folks who visit AmericaThe US President said that his goal is to ensure that the United States is the top tourist destination in the world.the visit to Ethiopia – World Best Tourist Destination for 2015 (European Council on Tourism and Trade)the well sought out title of Best Tourist Destination obtained a plus of 3 million tourists for Laosthe winner of the title in 2013 and an 80% increase in revenues and number of tourist for Zimbabwethe winner of world tourism accolade for 2014.United States President Barack Obama prepares an overhaul of the country stagnating tourism industry in order to make United States a top Tourist Destination.


text:
Río Mininco kan syfta på följande platser:

Chile

 Río Mininco (vattendrag i Región de la Araucanía),
 Río Mininco (vattendrag i Región del Biobío, lat -37,67, long -72,00),

Robotskapade Chileförgreningar

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The recessions during the 2000s are still fresh in the minds of real estate investors and those who lost their properties during the period. The US managed to recover, particularly the housing market, but the concerns are still there. Mansion Global cited that homeowners and property investors still prefer to remain cautious, resulting in the slowdown of the real estate market.
Investors should not think of any investment as 'recession-proof,' he added, although he was also quick to point out a solution. There are other properties, such as multi-family homes in low-supply, high-demand locations, and designer homes, that can be considered good investments. Not completely recession-proof, but they are designed to be alternative investments during a lean time.
There are those who would say that no two assets are alike. This is true, as analyzed by Cashflow Connections' review. A good majority of these investments are reliant on economic factors working together to prosper. However, it's easier said than done that these investments will keep on agreeing with each other.
The time right now is for another form of investments. The article noted examples such as vacation homes, mobile home parks, real estate notes, and self-storage facilities as good investment engines. The similarity in investments like these is that they are a service, and the demand for them is unaffected by any kind of recessions-in some cases, the dependence on them is increased.
There are some ways to protect property, as pointed out by experts, from a costly recession. Concentrating on the improvement of a home is one way to keep these investments from going stale. When the recession comes, an investor or homeowner can sell this asset for a substantial profit, or lease it to someone with the money. A good example is vacation homes close to the beach.
Downturns can be costly for owners, while it can be a heaven-send for those looking to invest. It pays to diversify to avoid having the negative effects of recession weigh properties down.


text:
U.S. children see 90% increase in COVID-19 cases as schools begin to reopen; health experts warn of September spike
With more than 5 million COVID-19 cases in the U.S. - the one group that has seen a noticeable rise in infections is children.
Over the past four weeks - there has been a 90% hike in known COVID-19 cases among children in the U.S., according to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association.
Public health officials have warned about opening schools in states with COVID-19 hot-spots. Medical experts say having youth in crowded hallways and classrooms poses a significant threat.
There are currently 800 students in Georgia's Cherokee County that are in quarantine due to possible coronavirus exposure. This is just one week after in-person learning began.
Some health experts like Michael Osterholm, a director at the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, are concerned another big spike in cases is on the way.
"We think we're going to see an explosion of cases in September that will far surpass what we saw after Memorial Day and this is just going to continue increasing, getting higher and higher in terms of numbers."
Researchers say an effective testing strategy would help communities properly determine if and when to reopen schools for in-person teaching.


Little Manila Rising co-founders Dillon Delvo (far left) and Dawn Bohulano Mabalon (far right) at the dedication event for the Little Manila Historic Site in Stockton, California. Courtesy of Dillon Delvo.
A banner marking the Little Manila Historic Site featuring Pablo "Ambo" Mabalon (left), Dawn Bohulano Mabalon's grandfather and owner of the old Lafayette Lunch Counter restaurant in Stockton, California. Photo by Patrick Epino.
The last three buildings of the old Little Manila including the Rizal Social Club (far left). Photo by Patrick Epino.
Little Manila Rising co-founder and executive director Dillon Delvo and Long Distance host and producer Paola Mardo at the Little Manila Historic Site in Stockton, California. Photo by Patrick Epino.
A banner marking the Little Manila Historic Site in Stockton, California is surrounded by a freeway, a gas station, and a McDonald's. Photo by Patrick Epino.
Little Manila Rising arts director Brian Batugo (center) teaches a group of students at the Little Manila After School Program at Edison High School in Stockton, California. Photo by Patrick Epino.
Celin Corpuz (center) presents her group project at the Little Manila After School Program at Edison High School in Stockton, California. Photo by Patrick Epino.
The students and teachers of the Little Manila After School Program at Edison High School in Stockton, California. Host and producer Paola Mardo and co-producer Patrick Epino are also pictured. Courtesy of LMASP.
This episode mentions the following works and even features some clips from them. The works are shared below and are as follows: An Offshore podcast story produced by Paola Mardo about Filipino Tiki bartenders; a video of Dawn Bohulano Mabalon's speech at the Little Manila Historic Site dedication event filmed by Dillon Delvo; a video showing the destruction of one of the last remaining blocks of Little Manila by Dillon Delvo; two music videos for the Black Eyed Peas song Bebot directed by Patricio Ginelsa and edited by A.J. Calomay.
Research and interviews were conducted by Paola Mardo. Below is a list of some research sources. Paola also wrote this Buzzfeed story about why we need to remember Stockton, California's Filipino American legacy.
Title design and episode art by Paola Mardo.
Special thanks to the students and teachers of Little Manila. To learn more about them and their work, head to littlemanila.org. Big thanks to my family, especially family historian Frances Pangilinan, with key assists from Gaya Lontok and Trixie Pangilinan-Mardo. Very, very special thanks to Rafael Bernardo Pangilinan.
If you dig the show and want to help, here are some ways: Subscribe to the podcast. Tell your friends. Follow the show on Instagram. Join the Long Distance Radio Club. Like the Facebook page. Say hello.
*There was an editing glitch around the 18:30 mark and a few words were cut off. A revised version was uploaded at 3:00am PST on Thursday, November 15, 2018.
*An incorrect fact about the telephone was made around the 5:20 mark. It was stated that the telephone was invented in 1919, but early telephones and communication devices had already been made in the decades before. This statement has been removed and a revised version was uploaded at 8:30pm PST on Thursday, November 15, 2018.