Jesse Saginor and Yue Ge
The purpose of this research is to analyze a county’s housing market over 23 years to determine what impact, if any, multiple hurricanes have had on the residential real estate…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to analyze a county’s housing market over 23 years to determine what impact, if any, multiple hurricanes have had on the residential real estate market.
Design/methodology/approach
This research uses a hedonic price model to determine the impacts that multiple hurricanes had on housing values.
Findings
There was a significant and negative countywide impact on housing sales values in the 1996, which can directly be attributed to three hurricanes impacting Brunswick County. Economic factors, rather than hurricanes and related storms, are more likely to impact sales values in all other years.
Research limitations/implications
This research is limited only to single-family home sales in Brunswick County, North Carolina, from 1984 to 2007. The model does not include multi-family residential uses.
Practical implications
Unlike many other areas that have been studied regarding natural disasters, Brunswick County has been hit multiple times by hurricanes and related storms, providing some insight into the long-term implications of the impact of storms on housing values over an extended period of time. The practical implication is that despite the likelihood of hurricanes and proximity to the ocean, people are willing to pay to live in coastal areas, even an area with a history of repeated direct and indirect strikes by hurricanes.
Originality/value
Unlike much of the peer-reviewed research that looks at a single occurrence of a natural disaster, this research looks at the impacts of multiple hurricanes on a single county over 23 years to determine what impact, if any, these storms have on the overall housing market.
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Manisha Bhandari, Rajan Sharma, Savita Sharma, Hanuman Bobade and Baljit Singh
The purpose of this study is to address consumer’s preference of natural pigments over synthetic ones and their use in various product developments rather than using synthetic…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to address consumer’s preference of natural pigments over synthetic ones and their use in various product developments rather than using synthetic colours. A budding interest of using natural pigments has made researchers to explore several techniques for their stabilization and application in different food products.
Design/methodology/approach
In this review, four major natural pigments with potential health benefits have been studied. Betalins, carotenoids, anthocyanins and chlorophylls, in spite of having excellent bio-functional and therapeutic profile, are found to be unstable. Therefore, various nanoencapsulation techniques are used to increase their stability along with their therapeutic properties.
Findings
Nanoencapsulation of natural pigments improves their stability, their effect on therapeutic properties and their application in different food products. These findings could be attributed to the encapsulating material as it acts as a barrier and ushers changes in the matrix of natural pigments. Also, nanoencapsulation not only increases stability but also provides several health benefits such as anti-inflammation, anti-cancer, anti-allergic and anti-thrombotic properties.
Originality/value
This paper highlights the openings for the use of nanoencapsulation of natural pigments to stabilize them and use them as a potential colourant and functional ingredient in different food products. Phenols, carotenoids and antioxidant activity are the major factors that are responsible for promoting several health benefits.
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Guoyu Zhang, Honghua Wang, Tianhang Lu, Chengliang Wang and Yaopeng Huang
Parameter identification of photovoltaic (PV) modules plays a vital role in modeling PV systems. This study aims to propose a novel hybrid approach to identify the seven…
Abstract
Purpose
Parameter identification of photovoltaic (PV) modules plays a vital role in modeling PV systems. This study aims to propose a novel hybrid approach to identify the seven parameters of the two-diode model of PV modules with high accuracy.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed hybrid approach combines an improved particle swarm optimization (IPSO) algorithm with an analytical approach. Three parameters are optimized using IPSO, whereas the other four are analytically determined. To improve the performance of IPSO, three improvements are adopted, that is, evaluating the particles with two evaluation functions, adaptive evolutionary learning and adaptive mutation.
Findings
The performance of proposed approach is first verified by comparing with several well-established algorithms for two case studies. Then, the proposed method is applied to extract the seven parameters of CSUN340-72M under different operating conditions. The comprehensively experimental results and comparison with other methods verify the effectiveness and precision of the proposed method. Furthermore, the performance of IPSO is evaluated against that of several popular intelligent algorithms. The results indicate that IPSO obtains the best performance in terms of the accuracy and robustness.
Originality/value
An improved hybrid approach for parameter identification of the two-diode model of PV modules is proposed. The proposed approach considers the recombination saturation current of the p–n junction in the depletion region and makes no assumptions or ignores certain parameters, which results in higher precision. The proposed method can be applied to the modeling and simulation for research and development of PV systems.
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O. Felix Ayadi, Arinola O. Adebayo and Eddy Omolehinwa
Outlines previous research on measuring the performance of banks and the factors leading up to the banking crisis in Nigeria in the 1990s. Applies data envelopment analysis to…
Abstract
Outlines previous research on measuring the performance of banks and the factors leading up to the banking crisis in Nigeria in the 1990s. Applies data envelopment analysis to 1991‐1994 data on ten listed Nigerian banks to assess their relative efficiency and tabulates the results for each year, year by year. Discusses the consistency of the findings with other research and draws conclusions on the root causes of Nigeria’s banking problem, e.g. government interface, poor management, unprofessional practices etc. Calls for a halt to government interference and better bank performance monitoring.
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Bhanu Prakash Saripalli, Gagan Singh and Sonika Singh
Estimation of solar cell parameters, mathematical modeling and the actual performance analysis of photovoltaic (PV) cells at various ecological conditions are very important in…
Abstract
Purpose
Estimation of solar cell parameters, mathematical modeling and the actual performance analysis of photovoltaic (PV) cells at various ecological conditions are very important in the design and analysis of maximum power point trackers and power converters. This study aims to propose the analysis and modeling of a simplified three-diode model based on the manufacturer’s performance data.
Design/methodology/approach
A novel technique is presented to evaluate the PV cell constraints and simplify the existing equation using analytical and iterative methods. To examine the current equation, this study focuses on three crucial operational points: open circuit, short circuit and maximum operating points. The number of parameters needed to estimate these built-in models is decreased from nine to five by an effective iteration method, considerably reducing computational requirements.
Findings
The proposed model, in contrast to the previous complex nine-parameter three-diode model, simplifies the modeling and analysis process by requiring only five parameters. To ensure the reliability and accuracy of this proposed model, its results were carefully compared with datasheet values under standard test conditions (STC). This model was implemented using MATLAB/Simulink and validated using a polycrystalline solar cell under STC conditions.
Originality/value
The proposed three-diode model clearly outperforms the earlier existing two-diode model in terms of accuracy and performance, especially in lower irradiance settings, according to the results and comparison analysis.
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Anan Zhang, Cong He, Maoyi Sun, Qian Li, Hong Wei Li and Lin Yang
Noise abatement is one of the key techniques for Partial Discharge (PD) on-line measurement and monitoring. However, how to enhance the efficiency of PD signal noise suppression…
Abstract
Purpose
Noise abatement is one of the key techniques for Partial Discharge (PD) on-line measurement and monitoring. However, how to enhance the efficiency of PD signal noise suppression is a challenging work. Hence, this study aims to improve the efficiency of PD signal noise abatement.
Design/methodology/approach
In this approach, the time–frequency characteristics of PD signal had been obtained based on fast kurtogram and S-transform time–frequency spectrum, and these characteristics were used to optimize the parameters for the signal matching over-complete dictionary. Subsequently, a self-adaptive selection of matching atoms was realized when using Matching Pursuit (MP) to analyze PD signals, which leading to seldom noise signal element was represented in sparse decomposition.
Findings
The de-noising of PD signals was achieved efficiently. Simulation and experimental results show that the proposed method has good adaptability and significant noise abatement effect compared with Empirical Mode Decomposition, Wavelet Threshold and global signal sparse decomposition of MP.
Originality/value
A self-adaptive noise abatement method was proposed to improve the efficiency of PD signal noise suppression based on the signal sparse representation and its MP algorithm, which is significant to on-line PD measurement.
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Hadi Kashefi, Ahmad Sadegheih, Ali Mostafaeipour and Mohammad Mohammadpour Omran
To design, control and evaluate photovoltaic (PV) systems, an accurate model is required. Accuracy of PV models depends on model parameters. This study aims to use a new algorithm…
Abstract
Purpose
To design, control and evaluate photovoltaic (PV) systems, an accurate model is required. Accuracy of PV models depends on model parameters. This study aims to use a new algorithm called improved social spider algorithm (ISSA) to detect model parameters.
Design/methodology/approach
To improve performance of social spider algorithm (SSA), an elimination period is added. In addition, at the beginning of each period, a certain number of the worst solutions are replaced by new solutions in the search space. This allows the particles to find new paths to get the best solution.
Findings
In this paper, ISSA is used to estimate parameters of single-diode and double-diode models. In addition, effect of irradiation and temperature on I–V curves of PV modules is studied. For this purpose, two different modules called multi-crystalline (KC200GT) module and polycrystalline (SW255) are used. It should be noted that to challenge the performance of the proposed algorithm, it has been used to identify the parameters of a type of widely used module of fuel cell called proton exchange membrane fuel cell. Finally, comparing and analyzing of ISSA results with other similar methods shows the superiority of the presented method.
Originality/value
Changes in the spider’s movement process in the SSA toward the desired response have improved the algorithm’s performance. Higher accuracy and convergence rate, skipping local minimums, global search ability and search in a limited space can be mentioned as some advantages of this modified method compared to classic SSA.
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The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of dimple textures on the friction and wear properties of tapered roller bearings (TRBs) with many pattern parameters, e.g…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of dimple textures on the friction and wear properties of tapered roller bearings (TRBs) with many pattern parameters, e.g. diameter, depth and area density under starved lubrication.
Design/methodology/approach
The pattern parameters include the dimple diameter (D; 60, 100 and 200 µm), dimple depth (H; 5, 10 and 20 µm) and area density (S; 6%, 12% and 24%). Dimples were fabricated on the outer ring (OR) of TRBs using a laser marking machine. The tribological properties of dimple-textured TRBs under starved lubrication were studied on a vertical universal friction wear tester with special friction pairs. The effect mechanisms of dimple textures on the tribological properties of TRBs are presented and summarized through experiments and discussions.
Findings
When dimple-textured TRBs revolve under starved lubrication, the average coefficients of friction (ACOF) and wear losses are markedly lower than those of non-textured bearings. S has the greatest influence on the COF curve. When D is 100 µm and S is 24%, the ACOF and wear losses are both lowest, i.e. 0.00426 and 0.51 mg, respectively. Under the same test conditions, compared with the non-textured group, its COF and wear loss decreased by 35.6% and 62.5%, respectively.
Originality/value
This work provides a useful reference for the research on the raceways of textured TRBs.
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Yingmei Tang, Yue Yang, Jihong Ge and Jian Chen
The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the impact of weather index insurance on agricultural technology adoption in rural China.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the impact of weather index insurance on agricultural technology adoption in rural China.
Design/methodology/approach
A field experiment was conducted with 344 rural households/farmers in Heilongjiang and Jiangsu Provinces, China. DID model was used to evaluate farmers’ technology adoption with and without index insurance.
Findings
The results show that weather index insurance has a significant effect on the technology adoption of rural households; there is a regional difference in this effect between Heilongjiang and Jiangsu. Weather index insurance promotes technology adoption of rural households in Heilongjiang, while has limited impact on those in Jiangsu. Weather, planting scale and risk preference are also important factors influencing the technology adoption of rural households.
Research limitations/implications
This research is subject to some limitations. First, the experimental parameters are designed according to the actual situation to simulate reality, but the willingness in the experiment does not mean it will be put into action in reality. Second, due to the diversity of China’s climate, geography and economic environment, rural households are heterogeneous in rural China. Whether the conclusion can be generalized beyond the study area is naturally questionable. A study with more diverse samples is needed to gain a fuller understanding of index insurance’s effects on farmers in China.
Originality/value
This research provides a rigorous empirical analysis on the impact of weather index insurance on farmers’ agricultural technology adoption through a carefully designed field experiment.