New approaches to crop yield insurance in developing countries:

Natural disasters can be extremely disruptive to farmers and to others whose incomes depend on a successful crop. Society can gain from more efficient sharing of crop and natural disaster risks. However, the costs associated with traditional agricultural risk programs have historically exceeded the gains from improved risk sharing. This paper explores government intervention in agricultural risk markets and discusses new approaches to risk sharing with limited government involvement. In particular, we build the case for introducing negotiable state-contingent contracts settled on area crop yield estimates or locally appropriate weather indices. These instruments could replace traditional crop insurance at a lower cost to government while meeting the risk management needs of a wider clientele.Crop yields., Insurance, Agricultural Crops., Developing countries.,

Quintais agroflorestais e segurança alimentar de agricultores familiares no Baixo Irituia, Nordeste paraense.

Os quintais agroflorestais são compostos de uma variedade de espécies vegetais e de pequenos animais, disponibilizando produtos que contribuem para uma dieta diversificada e saudável. O objetivo da pesquisa foi avaliar a contribuição dos quintais agroflorestais para a segurança alimentar em unidades agrícolas familiares no Baixo Irituia, Nordeste Paraense. Através das técnicas de entrevista estruturada e semi-estruturada, turnê guiada, observação direta e recall 24 horas foram realizados um levantamento das espécies (vegetais e animais) nos 18 quintais agroflorestais e a verificação dos alimentos consumidos pelos 30 agricultores familiares, tanto daqueles produzidos nos quintais agroflorestais ou não, quanto daqueles de origem industrializadas. Das 130 espécies, 70 foram plantas alimentícias (das quais 44 frutíferas, 21 hortaliças e 5 de lavoura branca); 31 medicinais; 17 madeireiras; 7 ornamentais e 5 animais alimentícios. Das 70 alimentícias, 94% foram consumidas, especialmente as frutíferas (59%), seguidas das hortaliças (30%) e das de lavoura branca (11%). Os agricultores com quintais agroflorestais tiveram acesso a uma melhor condição nutricional ao consumirem maior quantidade e variedade de alimentos oriundos dos quintais, especialmente as frutas. Produtos industrializados como mortadela, suco artificial e galinha de granja foram consumidos em porcentagens maiores pelos agricultores nos espaços sem quintais agroflorestais. Através da aplicação do teste Student, mostrou-se diferença estatisticamente significativa nas médias da quantidade de alimentos consumidos dos quintais e os industrializados pelos dois grupos de agricultores familiares. Os quintais agroflorestais foram importantes para introduzir variações na dieta alimentar, pois contribuíram na diversificação e complementação alimentar.Editores técnicos: Roberto Porro, Milton Kanashiro, Maria do Socorro Gonçalves Ferreira, Leila Sobral Sampaio e Gladys Ferreira de Sousa

Evidence for a common physical description of non-Fermi-liquid behavior in f-electron systems

The non-Fermi-liquid (NFL) behavior observed in the low temperature specific heat $C(T)$ and magnetic susceptibility $\chi(T)$ of f-electron systems is analyzed within the context of a recently developed theory based on Griffiths singularities. Measurements of $C(T)$ and $\chi(T)$ in the systems $Th_{1-x}U_{x}Pd_{2}Al_{3}$, $Y_{1-x}U_{x}Pd_3$, and $UCu_{5-x}M_{x}$ (M = Pd, Pt) are found to be consistent with $C(T)/T \propto \chi(T) \propto T^{-1+\lambda}$ predicted by this model with $\lambda <1$ in the NFL regime. These results suggest that the NFL properties observed in a wide variety of f-electron systems can be described within the context of a common physical picture.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Free Magnetic Moments in Disordered Metals

The screening of magnetic moments in metals, the Kondo effect, is found to be quenched with a finite probability in the presence of nonmagnetic disorder. Numerical results for a disordered electron system show that the distribution of Kondo temperatures deviates strongly from the result expected from random matrix theory. A pronounced second peak emerges for small Kondo temperatures, showing that the probability that magnetic moments remain unscreened at low temperatures increases with disorder. Analytical calculations, taking into account correlations between eigenfunction intensities yield a finite width for the distribution in the thermodynamic limit. Experimental consequences for disordered mesoscopic metals are discussed.Comment: RevTex 4.0, 4.3 pages, 4 EPS figures; typos fixed, reference added, final published versio

The continuity of the inversion and the structure of maximal subgroups in countably compact topological semigroups

In this paper we search for conditions on a countably compact (pseudo-compact) topological semigroup under which: (i) each maximal subgroup $H(e)$ in $S$ is a (closed) topological subgroup in $S$; (ii) the Clifford part $H(S)$(i.e. the union of all maximal subgroups) of the semigroup $S$ is a closed subset in $S$; (iii) the inversion $\operatorname{inv}\colon H(S)\to H(S)$ is continuous; and (iv) the projection $\pi\colon H(S)\to E(S)$, $\pi\colon x\longmapsto xx^{-1}$, onto the subset of idempotents $E(S)$ of $S$, is continuous

Non-Fermi liquid behavior in a fluctuating valence system, the filled skutterudite compound CeRu_{4}As_{12}

Electrical resistivity $\rho$, specific heat C, and magnetic susceptibility $\chi$ measurements made on the filled skutterudite CeRu_4As_{12} reveal non-Fermi liquid (NFL) T - dependences at low T, i.e., $\rho$(T) $\sim$ T^{1.4} and weak power law or logarithmic divergences in C(T)/T and $\chi$(T). Measurements also show that the T - dependence of the thermoelectric power S(T) deviates from that seen in other Ce systems. The NFL behavior appears to be associated with fluctuations of the Ce valence between 3^+ and 4^+ rather than a typical Kondo lattice scenario that would be appropriate for an integral Ce valence of 3^+.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figure

Cash flow simulation for a model of outstanding liabilities based on claim amounts and claim numbers

In this paper we develop a full stochastic cash flow model of outstanding liabilities for the model developed in Verrall, Nielsen and Jessen (2010). This model is based on the simple triangular data available in most non-life insurance companies. By using more data, it is expected that the method will have less volatility than the celebrated chain ladder method. Eventually, our method will lead to lower solvency requirements for those insurance companies that decide to collect counts data and replace their conventional chain ladder method