1,006 research outputs found
Pricing Weather Derivatives
No full textThis article presents a general method for pricing weather derivatives. Specification tests find that a temperature series for Fresno, CA follows a mean-reverting Brownian motion process with discrete jumps and autoregressive conditional heteroscedastic errors. Based on this process, we define an equilibrium pricing model for cooling degree day weather options. Comparing option prices estimated with three methods: a traditional burn-rate approach, a Black-Scholes-Merton approximation, and an equilibrium Monte Carlo simulation reveals significant differences. Equilibrium prices are preferred on theoretical grounds, so are used to demonstrate the usefulness of weather derivatives as risk management tools for California specialty crop growers. Copyright 2004, Oxford University Press.
Should i publish in an open access journal?
No full textAn “author pays” publishing model is the only fair way to make biomedical research findings accessible to all, say Matthew Kurien and David S Sanders, but James J Ashton and R Mark Beattie worry that it can lead to bias in the evidence base towards commercially driven results
The sexual excitation/sexual inhibition inventory for women: psychometric properties
No full textThis is a post-print version of the article. The official published version can be found at the link below.This article reports on the development of a new questionnaire designed to assess the propensity for sexual excitation and sexual inhibition in women: The Sexual Excitation/Sexual Inhibition Inventory for Women (SESII-W). The theoretical model underlying this research, the Dual Control Model, postulates that sexual response depends on a balance between excitatory and inhibitory mechanisms and that individuals vary in their propensity for excitation and inhibition. This study describes the development and initial validation of the SESII-W in a sample of 655 women (M age, 33.9 years). Factor analysis identified eight factors and two higher-order factors: one related to sexual excitation and one to sexual inhibition. The measure demonstrated good test-retest reliability and discriminant and convergent validity. Our data underscore that a number of factors affect women's sexual arousal and these appear to be related to opposing processes of sexual excitation and sexual inhibition. Theoretical issues, possible gender differences, and the value of using qualitative data to inform questionnaire development are discussed.This study was funded, in part, by a grant from the Lilly Centre for Women‟s Health
Generating goodwill and friendliness in Attic forensic oratory
No full text© 2016, Oxford University Press. The attached document (embargoed until 30/06/2018) is an author produced version of a chapter uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self- archiving policy. Sanders, E. 2016 Hope, joy, and affection in the Classical world. Caston, R. & Kaster, R. (eds.). New York: Oxford University Press, p. 163-18
Generating goodwill and friendliness in Attic forensic oratory
No full text© 2016, Oxford University Press. The attached document (embargoed until 30/06/2018) is an author produced version of a chapter uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self- archiving policy. Sanders, E. 2016 Hope, joy, and affection in the Classical world. Caston, R. & Kaster, R. (eds.). New York: Oxford University Press, p. 163-18
Western Reserve Neighborhoods as the stuff of fiction
No full textScott Sanders reflects on the history of the Western Reserve and how growing up in the region shaped his sense of place and influenced his career as an author. Conference paper; originally published in Western Reserve Studies Symposium (6th:1991 : Cleveland, Ohio
Maternalism in a Paternalist State: The National Organization for the Protection of Motherhood and Infancy in Fascist Italy
No full textThe essay explores government-backed attempts to improve maternal-infant health under Fascism in Italy. It argues that women's attempts to turn the fascist politization of motherhood to their own advantage can be viewed as a form of maternalism - one in which mothers expressed their needs through unorganized resistance and by wielding indirect influence on state welfare policies. The author arguees that the government's emphasis on pronatalism created opportunities for some women: it facilitated the emergence of female networks and led to the professionalization of occupations as nursing and social work, while also granting both working and non-working mothers a greater sense of entitlement to assistance. Nevertheless, Fascism's provisions on maternity and infancy helped pave the way for a more modern social welfare system and laid the groundwork for "postwar opportunities and scenarios for a new kind of female citizenship"
Multiple Horizons and Information in USDA Production Forecasts
No full textUSDA livestock production forecasts are evaluated for information across multiple horizons using the direct test developed by Vuchelen and Gutierrez. Forecasts are explicitly tested for rationality (unbiased and efficient) as well as for incremental information out to three quarters ahead. The results suggest that although the forecasts are often not rational, they typically do provide the forecast user with unique information at each horizon. Turkey and milk production forecasts tended to provide the most consistent performance, while beef production forecasts provided little information beyond the two quarter horizon.Livestock Production/Industries,
The Value of Public Price Forecasts: Additional Evidence in the Live Hog Market
No full textUSDA and Cooperative Extension Service forecasts of hog prices are directly tested for incremental value vis-Ã -vis futures-based forecasts in a forecast encompassing framework. At horizons less than six months, the lean hog futures-based forecast is found to be more accurate than both the USDA and Extension Service forecasts, and the difference in forecasting performance is statistically significant. Not only are the agency forecasts less accurate, but neither the USDA nor the Extension Service forecasts add incremental information relative to the futures forecast. The results suggest that extension forecasters may want to refocus forecasting efforts on basis relationships, longer forecast horizons, or commodities without active futures markets.forecast encompassing, hog prices, public forecasts, Demand and Price Analysis, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,
Price Discovery in Private Cash Forward Markets - The Case of Lumber
No full textCash forward contracting is a common, and often preferred, means of managing price risk for agribusinesses. Despite this, little is known about the performance of cash forward markets, in particular the role they play in price discovery. The lumber market provides a unique case for examining this issue. The Bloch Lumber Company maintains an active cash forward market for many lumber products, and publishes benchmark forward prices on their website and disseminates these prices to data vendors. Focusing on 2x4 random lengths lumber and 7/16 oriented strand board, this research examines the lead-lag relationships between the three-month forward prices published by Bloch Lumber and representative spot prices. Results suggest that at least for 2x4 random lengths lumber, the forward prices published by Bloch Lumber lead the spot price. However, spot prices do not lead the forward prices for 2x4 random lengths lumber, but do for oriented strand board. While these results suggest that the Bloch Lumber forward cash prices are contributing to price discovery, the dominant market for price discovery may be an existing spot or futures market.Marketing,
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