Willingness of farmers to participate in food traceability systems:improving the level of food safety

In order to solve frequently emerging food safety problems and adapt to the developing trends in the international food safety field, the Chinese government is establishing and developing food traceability systems. Whether or not food traceability sys- tems can guarantee food safety is a problem well worth discussing. Hence, we constructed a theoretical model to explore the effect of incentives in a food traceability system in order to improve food safety levels. The following results were obtained： enhancing the ef- fectiveness of a food traceability system, increasing the payment to farmers who supply safe agricultural products and strengthening the penalty for unsafe food supply actions are necessary conditions to improve the level of food safety. How to encourage farmers to use food traceability systems is another problem explored in our investigation. Based on a field survey on the willingness of vegetable growers to participate using a vegetable traceability system in Beijing, the first city in China to develop such a system, we used a de- scriptive statistics and a binary logistic regression model to investigate the factors which dominate the decision on the part of farmers to participate in a food safety system. The results indicate that i： younger farmers are more likely to get involved in a food traceability system than older farmers, ii： income from non-agricultural activities decreases the willingness of farmers to participate, iii： the high- er the cost-benefit ratio of growing vegetables, the more likely for farmers to engage in a food traceability system, iv： farmers with a great concern for food safety information have a high propensity to participate and v： increased penalties against unsafe food supply actions and high-risk expectation are adverse incentives. In contrast, high-price expectation is a positive incentive for farmers to par- ticipate, while agricultural training, government subsidies and being part of an industrial organization will significantly strengthen the confidence of farmers to participate in a food safety system.

The Modified Contingent Valuation Method for Evaluating the Willingness of the Citizenry to Participate in Excavation and the Restoration of the Ancient Theatre of Lefkada

This proposed project is not viable in profitable terms to private enterprise, so it applied a modified version of the CVM （Contingent Valuation Method） to realize this project. A survey was conducted in Lefkada Island in Greece, where 200 interviewees took part in order to consider whether they wish to voluntarily participate in the excavation and restoration of the ancient theater of Lefkada. Half of the interviewees were given information on the history of the site and then were asked to fill out a questionnaire. The other half of the interviewees were given no historical information on the archeological site and also were asked to fill out a questionnaire. The interviewees who were not given any information on the history of the site briefed on the history and then were asked to fill out another questionnaire. The purpose was to observe the different responses that the interviewees gave before and after being informed. This study aims to compare the WTP （Willingness To Participate） for this public good among those who were informed and those who were not.

The impact of organizational resources and managerial interpretation on willingness to participate in carbon market

On the basis of resource-based view and managerial cognition,this research aims to explore which and how organizational resources facilitate organizational willingness to participate in carbon market(WTP-CM).In particular,it classifies resources into two dimensions,general resources(GR)and professional resources(PR),and investigates how these two types of resources interact with managerial interpretation and then influence organizational WTP-CM using a sample of 222 Chinese industrial firms.The findings show that environmental talents(PR)and low-carbon technologies(PR)have positive influences on organizational WTP-CM not only directly,but also indirectly through accelerating managers to interpret carbon trading as an opportunity,rather than a threat.On the contrary,only via managerial interpretation can capital reserve(GR)and environmental practices(PR)affect organizational WTP_CM positively.Furthermore,the impact of environmental practices on managerial interpretation does not depend on the performance of environmental practices(i.e.,success or failure).It means,regardless of environmental performance,the cumulation of environmental experience would promote managers to interpret carbon market as an opportunity and then advance their WTP-CM.Last,this partial mediating role of managerial interpretation between organizational resources and WTP-CM varies depending on organizational social position.Compared to centralfirms,peripheralfirms tend to be more responsive to managerial interpretation.The chain from organizational resources,to interpretation of carbon market as an opportunity,andfinally to the willingness to participate is stronger for peripheralfirms than for central ones.

The Potential of Commercial Pension Insurance to Develop into One of the Pillars of Rural Pension Insurance:A Study from the Demand Perspective

The development of a multi-pillar pension insurance system is an effective solution for an aging society.Commercial pension insurance,as the third pillar of pension insurance,is an integral part of this system in China and can play a critical and complementary role in rural areas where support for the elderly is a more pressing concern and a second pillar of pension insurance remains absent.To this end,we first elaborate on the theoretical logic that commercial pension insurance can develop into one of the pillars of rural pension insurance.We then empirically test rural residents’willingness to participate in a commercial pension insurance plan(CPIP)in a probit model with household research data from rural areas in major labor-exporting provinces,such as Sichuan and Henan so as to explore whether commercial pension insurance has the potential to become one of the pillars of rural pension insurance.Our research findings can be synthesized in three points.First,rural residents out of agricultural production for five consecutive years are more willing to participate in a CPIP than other rural residents,indicating that progress in industrialization and urbanization can significantly boost such willingness.Second,the younger rural residents are more inclined to participate in a CPIP than the older generation.Third,income increases can significantly boost rural residents’willingness to participate in a CPIP.Thus,with progress in industrialization and urbanization and an increase in rural disposable income,commercial pension insurance has a promising potential in rural areas and can hopefully develop into one of the pillars of rural pension insurance.

Factors Hindering Pakistani Farmers' Choices Towards Adoption of Crop Insurance

This study was conducted to analyze the factors that negatively influence Pakistani farmers＇ willingness to participate in crop insurance. Probit model was applied to identify the significant factors which influenced our dependent variable ＂not willing to participate＂. The results of the analyses showed that crop insurance premium was the most influencing factor which had positive and significant impact on dependent variable. Similarly dissatisfaction with crop loan insurance scheme, lacking of knowledge about crop insurance, believing of being against Islamic rules and time taking process was also found to be positive and significantly influenced the dependent variable. While limited decision power and limited perils were not found to be significant in the results.

Melatonin for Pre- and Postoperative Pain and Anxiety: A Cancelled Clinical Trial

Designing and completing clinical intervention trials can be challenging. Many aspects must be considered to ensure that patients who fulfill the inclusion criteria for the intervention are identified and recruited effectively. The aim of this paper was to disseminate the results of a cancelled trial and present unpredictable barriers met underway, so future researchers can learn from these. The trial examined perioperative analgesic and anxiolytic effects of melatonin. It was registered at https://clinicaltrials.gov/ (NCT02386319) and a study protocol was published a priori. Participants were recruited from the plastic surgery ward of a Danish private hospital. The intended sample size of the trial was 72 patients based on power calculations of the outcome measures. During the six-month recruitment period, six patients were included, with only three completing the trial. Unpredictable barriers were poor communication between investigators and facility staff, lack of access to booking and operation schedules at the recruitment facility, the patient group being unwilling to participate, and the timing of recruitment conversations being unsuited as patients often did not have time to talk to the investigators. Too few data were collected to make any meaningful statistical analyses. Our trial was cancelled prematurely because of unpredictable barriers after commencing recruitment. Considering these barriers when designing a clinical trial may help future researchers avoid cancelling trials. Transparency of research is important and even prematurely cancelled trials should publish their findings.

Economic Analysis of the Internalization the Externalities in Environmental Goods

The environment is characterized as a public good. Public goods are goods that provide benefits for society as a whole or part of it, usually regardless of whether the individual people are willing to pay to have these benefits. This proposed project is not viable in profitable terms to private enterprise, so it applied a modified version of the CVM （Contingent Valuation Method） to realize this project. The purpose of the paper is to present a modified model of an internalizing external costs caused by the operation of a manufacturing unit in conjunction with the new reality created. Using the CBA （Cost-Benefit Analysis）, all critical parameters problem attributed to a single base assessment, which facilitates decision making process. The basis of evaluation is to compare benefits and costs. It is used the CVM in case study and the results show that there is less sensitivity for restoration of the cultural heritage monuments in comparison with the sensitivity for restoration of the natural and urban environment in general.

Empirical analysis of the farmer's behavior under the new rural financial cooperatives in China

It's been well recognized for the big role played by innovative rural cooperative financial organizations in terms of spreading farmers' operation risk,increasing farmers' income,and developing rural economy.However,no sufficient research has been conducted regarding those factors which may have effects on the farmer's willingness to participate in the new rural financial organization.This paper tries to fill out the gap of identifying various factors which may have potential influence on the farmer's willingness to participate in the new type of rural financial cooperatives.In the process,442 farmer households and small-micro-enterprises are sampled from the cooperative finance experiment villages in Panjin municipality of Liaoning province.The potential influencing factors are classified into four categories,including the famer household's characteristics,financial cooperative reputation,transaction costs,and service quality.A discrete Logit model is used for the parameter estimations.The results show that most assumed factors display statistical significance effect on the farmer's willingness to take part in the rural cooperative financing organizations but with different level of sensitivity.The cause and effect are fully discussed following by addressing policy issues related to the rural financing cooperative reforms.