International review of ecodesign programs for products and lessons learned for China

ABSTRACT

Since the 1980s, ecodesign has emerged as a new guiding principle for integrating environmental aspects into product design and development, with the aim of reducing adverse environmental life-cycle impacts. For China, the concept of ecodesign is becoming important in advancing Chinese industrial development while mitigating the rise in national energy consumption and emissions. We reviewed 28 existing ecodesign labels and supporting programs adopted globally to identify lessons learned and best practices for the development of potential ecodesign labeling programs in China. We find that systematic framework and process and inclusion of various stakeholders in developing criteria, certification requirements and supporting policies in the form of green procurement, small local pilot subsidies, and active outreach and communication are key success factors of international programs. Based on international experiences and by leveraging existing Chinese frameworks for labeling and policies, China has an opportunity to lead in developing broader environmental criteria for a new ecodesign labeling program.     

转基因食品标签管制方式的经济学分析

目前各国对转基因食品采取了“不加贴标签”、“自愿加贴标签”以及“强制性加贴柝签”等三种标签管制方式。本文应用消费者拟线性效用函数模型,对强制性加贴标签管制方式对消费者福利的影响进行了深入探讨。在此基础上通过对现有三种标签管制方式的比较分析,确定了各种标签管制方式实施的条件与影响,并认为在我国现有条件下,只要检测成本不高到难以承受的地步,对转基因食品应采取强制加贴标签管制方式。     

基于统计的2-D人脸形状模型的建立

针对人脸面部特征提取技术是自动视觉翻译和人脸识别中的关键技术之一,介绍了基于统计的人脸形状模型建立原理。利用有标志点的图像训练集变化模式的先验知识而建立模型的方法能够将人脸形状的变化限制在合理的范围内,并能够充分表征人脸特征,实验证明该方法是有效的。     

Getting rid of trans fats in the US diet: Policies, incentives and progress

Artificial trans fats in foods increase chronic disease risk in the US population. Federal nutrition label regulation enacted in 2003 requires mandatory disclosure of trans fat content on packaged foods. This action created incentives for the food industry to reduce trans fats both in response to consumer demand and through competition to maintain product reputation. Subsequent public actions include a ban on trans fat use in New York city restaurants and lawsuits against food companies, which created further incentives to remove trans fats, especially in the food service industry. Industry has reformulated packaged foods and found substitutes for restaurant fry oils and trans fats are disappearing from the US food supply. Market response extends throughout the supply chain, and has spurred research to alter oilseed crop characteristics. The widespread and relatively rapid industry response likely has improved the quality of US diets, and demonstrates the potential for policy actions to spur such improvements.     

Moving up in taste: Enhanced projected taste and freshness of moving food products

Can implied motion enhance consumer judgment of food freshness and taste? Freshness plays an important role in determining anticipated taste. Different perceptual cues may influence judgments of freshness. While some cues such as coloring and bruising play an obvious role, the authors argue that cues that on face value appear unrelated to freshness may also influence judgments of freshness. Specifically, the authors argue that humans have learned to relate movement to food freshness, and that this leads perceived motion to generate enhanced judgments of freshness, and, consequently, projected taste. This proposition is demonstrated in four studies. The studies show that the inclusion of implied motion in food pictures leads to elevated judgments of freshness and projected taste.     

带标识信息的可追迹光跳线探讨

针对目前国内通信机房的实际情况,结合国外一些电信运营商对机房内光尾纤、跳纤的管理经验,进行了一些研究并提出建议,希望能提高国内机房的管理水平。     

Barriers and potential facilitators to the implementation of government policies on front-of-pack food labeling and restriction of unhealthy food advertising in Thailand

Thailand is experiencing an increasing burden of obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases. The Thai government has responded by developing a number of policies to protect and promote healthy eating. In particular, in 2008, the Thai Government passed a regulation to restrict unhealthy radio and television food advertising to children (RTA). In the following year, a voluntary front-of-pack nutrition labeling policy to promote those products that had reduced their sugar, fat and/or sodium content by at least 25% (25% SFS) was passed. However, the extent of implementation of both of these policies has been poor to date. The aim of this study was to identify barriers and potential facilitators to the implementation of both the RTA and 25% SFS policies. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 participants holding senior positions in government, industry and civil society organizations closely involved in the implementation of these policies. The interview data were analyzed using the thematic framework analysis approach. The major barriers to policy implementation perceived by participants were a lack of a monitoring and evaluation system, a lack of organization knowledge regarding skills required for implementation, poor governance system, lack of funding and resources, lack of effective multi-sectoral platforms, influence of the food industry, lack of clear policy content, organizational culture and structure, and changes in policy priorities. Factors that potentially facilitated implementation of these policies, as identified by participants, were policy being compatible to implementer’s context, individual support from government officials, good financial management mechanisms, inter-organization networks, and personal motivation to implementing policy. The successful implementation of policies to create healthy food environments in Thailand will likely require attention towards improving the capacity and authority of government agencies, infrastructure to support multi-sectoral platforms and inter-organizational networks, and adequate resources.     

国外机械图纸的识读方法介绍

随着我国经济的迅速发展,很多企业会用到国外机械图纸。文章重点介绍快速看懂国外机械图纸的方法,认为识别图纸的画法、掌握图纸标注尺寸的方法和技术要求的表达、熟悉图纸上常见的符号及缩略词的含义是快速看懂国外机械图纸的有效方法。     

论绿色标签的价格效应和环保效果

本文探讨绿色标签的价格效应和环保效果。采用的市场结构为:消费者和生产者各分为两类:一类是环保者,另一类是非环保者。生产者是价格接受者。本文的结论如下:由于绿色标签类似于公共产品的供给,存在外部性,它的环保效果依赖于市场中环保消费者的比例和他们的环保意识。若该比例大且消费者的环保意识强,则环保产品增值大且环保效果好,否则反而刺激非环保产品的需求增加,污染环境。此外,绿色标签不是帕累托改进管理工具,总有一部分人的福利受损;在国际贸易中,和贸易禁止、高环保标准等制度相比,自愿的绿色标签制度能缓和贸易冲突,提高社会福利。     

Consumer Attitude towards Organic Labeling Schemes in Japan

ABSTRACT

Japan is the most lucrative organic market in the Asian region and is projected to account for about 80% of the Asian market revenues by 2009 (Kuhlmann and Jones, 2006). This study identifies Japanese consumer preference and interest in two major labeling information- source of organic certification/traceability and country of origin for organic food products. Stated preference method (SPM) based survey data was collected from two major cities in Japan in order to develop Japanese consumers' organic food choice model. Findings show that Japanese consumers are willing to pay 10% price premium for the organic food products compared to conventional products that have no specific labeling, suggesting a significant profit margin to be possibly captured by the organic producers and marketers. The Japanese consumers have perceived value of the JAS label in their stated preference and showed willingness to pay a price premium for this quality certification system, which validates the importance of government-regulated mandatory labeling. Regarding the country origin labeling issue, the Japanese consumers showed clear preference for the domestic organic products to the imported products, while showing no preference for any particular country origin for imported organic products. For private-voluntary organic labeling, the consumer organization-led organic label is considered to be more reliable source than the retailer-guaranteed organic label.