Baojing Sun, Changhao Guo and G. Cornelis van Kooten
The paper analyzes the hedging efficiency of weather-indexed insurance for corn production in Northeast of China. The purpose of this paper is to identify the potential weather…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper analyzes the hedging efficiency of weather-indexed insurance for corn production in Northeast of China. The purpose of this paper is to identify the potential weather variables that impact corn yields and to analyze the efficiency of weather-indexed insurance under varying thresholds for payouts (strike values).
Design/methodology/approach
Statistical relationships between climate variables and crop yields are used to construct weather-indexed insurance that enable a farmer to hedge against adverse precipitation outcomes. Mean root square loss is used to compare the efficiency of various weather products.
Findings
Based on efficiency comparisons, it turns out that in some, but not all circumstances, cumulative rainfall (CR) insurance can be used to hedge weather risk. When CR explains one-third or more of the variation in corn yields, a hedge can offset the revenue loss caused by the corresponding weather risk; but when it explains much less of the yield variation, it is inefficient for hedgers to buy weather insurance. If CR explains variation in crop yields, it is increasingly efficient to employ CR-indexed insurance as strike values decline for put options or increase for call options.
Practical implications
The paper provides a method for calculating the premium for an insurance product that provides a payout if CR in a growing season is too low.
Originality/value
This research is important because it illustrates the potential benefits of using weather insurance as an agricultural risk management strategy in China.
Details
Keywords
Yumei Song, Jianzhang Hao, Changhao Dong, Xizheng Guo and Li Wang
This paper aims to study a multi-level reinjection current source converter (MLR-CSC) that adds attracting properties such as the self-commutation and pulse multiplication to the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study a multi-level reinjection current source converter (MLR-CSC) that adds attracting properties such as the self-commutation and pulse multiplication to the thyristor converter, which is of great significance for increasing the device capacity and reducing current harmonics on the grid side. Particularly, designing advantageous driving methods of the reinjection circuit is a critical issue that impacts the harmonic reduction and operation reliability of the MLR-CSC.
Design/methodology/approach
To deal with the mentioned issue, this paper takes the five-level reinjection current source converter (FLR-CSC), which is a type of the MLR-CSC, as the research object. Then, a method that can fully use combinations of five-level reinjection switching functions based on the concept of decomposition and recombination is proposed. It is worthy to mention that the proposed method can be easily extended to other multi-level reinjection circuits. Moreover, the working principle of the three-phase bridge circuit based on semi-controlled thyristors in the FLR-CSC that can achieve the four-quadrant power conversion is analyzed in detail.
Findings
Finally, the simulation and experimental results of FLR-CSC verify the effectiveness of the proposed reinjection circuit driving method and the operating principle of four-quadrant power conversion in this paper.
Originality/value
The outstanding features of the proposed driving method for FLR-CSC in this paper include combinations of reinjection switching functions that are fully exploited through three simple steps and can be conveniently extended to other multi-level reinjection circuits.
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Keywords
Siqi Li and Yimin Deng
The purpose of this paper is to propose a new algorithm for independent navigation of unmanned aerial vehicle path planning with fast and stable performance, which is based on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose a new algorithm for independent navigation of unmanned aerial vehicle path planning with fast and stable performance, which is based on pigeon-inspired optimization (PIO) and quantum entanglement (QE) theory.
Design/methodology/approach
A biomimetic swarm intelligent optimization of PIO is inspired by the natural behavior of homing pigeons. In this paper, the model of QEPIO is devised according to the merging optimization of basic PIO algorithm and dynamics of QE in a two-qubit XXZ Heisenberg System.
Findings
Comparative experimental results with genetic algorithm, particle swarm optimization and traditional PIO algorithm are given to show the convergence velocity and robustness of our proposed QEPIO algorithm.
Practical implications
The QEPIO algorithm hold broad adoption prospects because of no reliance on INS, both on military affairs and market place.
Originality/value
This research is adopted to solve path planning problems with a new aspect of quantum effect applied in parameters designing for the model with the respective of unmanned aerial vehicle path planning.