EFFICIENCY OF WIND INDEXED TYPHOON INSURANCE FOR RICE

Index-based weather insurances are innovative tools for mitigating weather risks in agriculture. Several donor agencies and development organisations are investing substantially to propagate these programmes in developing countries. However, often due to high basis risks, these products mitigate risk only through diversification effect, thereby defeating the intended purpose. Besides, they send confusing messages to the farmers regarding the very concept of insurance. Therefore, this paper investigates the efficiency of two such index-based weather insurances in Philippines, designed to mitigate rice yield loss caused by strong typhoon winds. The insurance products are designed assuming negative linear correlation between wind speed and rice yield. To verify, we used satellite data and GIS tools to tabulate typhoon wind speeds, concurrent crop stage and the subsequent rice yield in five provinces which have both the programmes. Regression analyses and Ramsey RESET tests confirm that rice yield loss is not a function of incident typhoon wind speed, irrespective of the crop stage. Basis risk estimations, based on minimum variance hedging ratio for a risk averse expected utility maximising consumer show that the products entail basis risks of the order of 99%. Typhoons damage all crops, but wind indexed insurance is inadequate when the insured crop has low head weight and is agile like rice, since wind onslaughts do not determine the degree of yield loss. Notably, a thorough burn analysis for basis risk is a necessity before investing time and money implementing index-based weather insurance schemes as a tool for poverty alleviation.Basis risk, Typhoon, Index-based Insurance, Crop Production/Industries, Risk and Uncertainty,

Weather Derivatives Revisited : A discourse on scalability, feasibility and Sustainability

Over the last decade, weather derivatives have been offered in developing countries to mitigate weather risk in agriculture, but the demand remains low. Chapter One explains this demand anomaly by decomposing an insurance seeker’s motivation into three summands. The first summand discusses the effect of contractual non-performance due to basis risk, the second one discusses the effect of subsidies and the third one discusses the effect of adverse selection on motivation to purchase weather derivatives. Chapter Two analyses the basis risk of wind indexed weather derivatives for Typhoon risks of rice farmers in the Philippines. A regression analysis could not reject the null hypothesis that wind speed does not affect rice yields. Resultant high basis risks lead to mitigation of risk through diversification and not indemnification. Chapter Three introduces pay-off period as a factor for frequent post-pilot discontinuation of weather derivatives. The discounted pay-off period and loss ratio are introduced as important decision variables for insurers, in deciding the loan or grant parameters as well as quota share reinsurance parameters. Restructuring the pilot programmes as well as coupling weather derivatives with micro-loans have been recommended. Chapter Four introduces the case of inter-temporal adverse selection in weather derivatives. Farmers might base their insurance purchase decisions on weather outcomes of prior months. Thereof resultant financial repercussion of adverse selection on the insurers’ reserve has been estimated. Additionally, a method to identify the source of this information asymmetry has been proposed. This helps the insurer decide whether to restructure the product and when to initiate the contract. Weather derivatives are necessary proxies to traditional crop insurance. This dissertation makes theoretical as well as empirical contributions towards a growing literature on weather derivatives and its participation pattern. The goal is to help policy makers and insurers make better designs and decisions so that weather derivatives can perform efficiently as tools of poverty alleviation by hedging weather related risks in agriculture

A critical review on polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)/zinc oxide (ZnO) based piezoelectric and triboelectric nanogenerators

In the recent era of energy crisis, piezoelectric and triboelectric effects are surfacing out of several research topics. Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and its copolymers are well known piezoelectric polymers due to their high piezoelectricity and widely used in flexible devices. PVDF is greatly utilized in preparation of triboelectric layer also due to its higher electronegative nature amongst common polymers. On the other hand, zinc oxide (ZnO) has been studied widely to investigate its multifunctional properties including piezoelectricity, pyroelectricity and antibacterial activity. This versatile material can be prepared, using low cost and environmental friendly routes, in various morphologies. Various research is already performed to capture the synergistic effect of reinforcing ZnO within PVDF polymeric matrix. This work firstly describes the basic principles of piezoelectric and triboelectric effects. Thereafter, piezoelectric and triboelectric performances of PVDF and ZnO based materials are briefly depicted based on their structures. Finally, challenges and future scopes, associated with the mechanical energy harvesting from such materials, are highlighted

Policy for implementation of Index Based Weather Insurance revisited: the case of Nicaragua

International development organisations, through partnerships with local insurance companies, have been promoting weather index based insurance (WIBI) in developing countries. Due to lower operational costs, they expect shorter pay-off period, often overlooking high initial design costs. Experiences however show high post-pilot mortality of these programmes. Literatures report lack of insurance participation. We propose lack of push from insurance providers as an additional factor. To verify, cash flows of a Nicaraguan groundnut based WIBI and a comparable but hypothetical named peril insurance are simulated against 80 scenarios. Additionally, a test of stochastic dominance of their estimated Net Present Values show that WIBI take comparatively longer to pay-off yielding lower returns with considerable risk. WIBI, given its advantages is undoubtedly an efficient agricultural risk management tool. Therefore, to make it sustainable, long-term pilots and technical assistance is required until the product pays-off and yield profits for insurance providers

EFFICIENCY OF WIND INDEXED TYPHOON INSURANCE FOR RICE

Index-based weather insurances are innovative tools for mitigating weather risks in agriculture. Several donor agencies and development organisations are investing substantially to propagate these programmes in developing countries. However, often due to high basis risks, these products mitigate risk only through diversification effect, thereby defeating the intended purpose. Besides, they send confusing messages to the farmers regarding the very concept of insurance. Therefore, this paper investigates the efficiency of two such index-based weather insurances in Philippines, designed to mitigate rice yield loss caused by strong typhoon winds. The insurance products are designed assuming negative linear correlation between wind speed and rice yield. To verify, we used satellite data and GIS tools to tabulate typhoon wind speeds, concurrent crop stage and the subsequent rice yield in five provinces which have both the programmes. Regression analyses and Ramsey RESET tests confirm that rice yield loss is not a function of incident typhoon wind speed, irrespective of the crop stage. Basis risk estimations, based on minimum variance hedging ratio for a risk averse expected utility maximising consumer show that the products entail basis risks of the order of 99%. Typhoons damage all crops, but wind indexed insurance is inadequate when the insured crop has low head weight and is agile like rice, since wind onslaughts do not determine the degree of yield loss. Notably, a thorough burn analysis for basis risk is a necessity before investing time and money implementing index-based weather insurance schemes as a tool for poverty alleviation

Mechanical Thrombectomy in Cerebral Venous Thrombosis Systematic Review of 185 Cases

Background and Purpose-Cerebral venous thrombosis is generally treated with anticoagulation. However, some patients do not respond to medical therapy and these might benefit from mechanical thrombectomy. The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of the efficacy and safety of mechanical thrombectomy in patients with cerebral venous thrombosis, by performing a systematic review of the literature. Methods-We identified studies published between January 1995 and February 2014 from PubMed and Ovid. We included all cases of cerebral venous thrombosis in whom mechanical thrombectomy was performed with or without intrasinus thrombolysis. Good outcome was defined as normal or mild neurological deficits at discharge (modified Rankin Scale, 0-2). Secondary outcome variables included periprocedural complications and recanalization rates. Results-Our study included 42 studies (185 patients). Sixty percent of patient had a pretreatment intracerebral hemorrhage and 47% were stuporous or comatose. AngioJet was the most commonly used device (40%). Intrasinus thrombolysis was used in 131 patients (71%). Overall, 156 (84%) patients had a good outcome and 22 (12%) died. Nine (5%) patients had no recanalization, 38 (21%) had partial, and 137 (74%) had near to complete recanalization. The major periprocedural complication was new or increased intracerebral hemorrhage (10%). The use of AngioJet was associated with lower rate of complete recanalization (odds ratio, 0.2; 95% confidence interval, 0.09-0.4) and lower chance of good outcome (odds ratio, 0.5; 95% confidence interval, 0.2-1.0). Conclusions-Our systematic review suggests that mechanical thrombectomy is reasonably safe but controlled studies are required to provide a definitive answer on its efficacy and safety in patients with cerebral venous thrombosi

Mossbauer, EPR, magnetic properties and thermally induced stereochemical studies on some double complex salts of cyclic ligand containing cationic copper(II) complexes and hexacyanoferrate(III) anion in the solid state

1604-1608Novel cyanide-bridged double complex salts of cationic copper(II) salts with cyclic ligand, viz., morpholine (Morph), N-methyl morpholine (Me-Morph) and homopiperazine (Hpz) and hexacyanoferrate(III) ion have been synthesized and characterized. Mossbauer spectra of the complexes have been recorded at 80 K and 300 K to investigate the metal-metal charge transfer and the impact of cyclic ligand present in the cationic part of the double complex salt on the Mossbauer spectra of hexacyanoferrate(III) ion. Metal-metal charge transfer transition has been supported by electronic spectra and magnetic susceptibility values. Variable temperature EPR spectra have been recorded to study the distortion of crystal systems. Activation energy and inception temperature for the thermochemical reactions show that the order of stability of the double complex salts follows the trend, Hpz>Me-Morph>Morph