Value chain finance(VCF)represents the aligning and structuring of finance within a value chain or as a result of its existence.Given the growing need to explore innovative approaches to rural and agricultural finance...Value chain finance(VCF)represents the aligning and structuring of finance within a value chain or as a result of its existence.Given the growing need to explore innovative approaches to rural and agricultural finance in Nigeria,such financing solutions have become imperative.However,few studies on the ex-ante impact of financing innovations exist.Therefore,to ascertain the benefits derivable from VCF,this paper analyzes the potential impact of VCF on plantain production in Nigeria.The expected benefits are estimated based on the economic surplus model,using the Dynamic Research Evaluation for Management(DREAM)software.Results from a 25-year simulation period at a 15%discount rate and an innovation cost of USD 1,300,000,show that,in the least optimistic scenario,the economy is expected to have an overall net gain(economic surplus)of USD 3256,800,with a net present value of USD 3406,880,benefit-cost ratio of 3.83,and an internal rate of return or break-even discount rate of 36.80%.These results indicate the positive impact of VCF,measured in terms of net present value and net benefit,expressed as producer and consumer surplus.This suggests VCF is a viable and beneficial financing innovation for food production in Nigeria.Finally,it is recommended that a value chain financing agency be established to make finance available to farmers to boost food production in Nigeria.展开更多
The quick response code based artificial labels are applied to provide semantic concepts and relations of surroundings that permit the understanding of complexity and limitations of semantic recognition and scene only...The quick response code based artificial labels are applied to provide semantic concepts and relations of surroundings that permit the understanding of complexity and limitations of semantic recognition and scene only with robot's vision.By imitating spatial cognizing mechanism of human,the robot constantly received the information of artificial labels at cognitive-guide points in a wide range of structured environment to achieve the perception of the environment and robot navigation.The immune network algorithm was used to form the environmental awareness mechanism with "distributed representation".The color recognition and SIFT feature matching algorithm were fused to achieve the memory and cognition of scenario tag.Then the cognition-guide-action based cognizing semantic map was built.Along with the continuously abundant map,the robot did no longer need to rely on the artificial label,and it could plan path and navigate freely.Experimental results show that the artificial label designed in this work can improve the cognitive ability of the robot,navigate the robot in the case of semi-unknown environment,and build the cognizing semantic map favorably.展开更多
基金This study received partial funding from Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa in the area of data collection.
文摘Value chain finance(VCF)represents the aligning and structuring of finance within a value chain or as a result of its existence.Given the growing need to explore innovative approaches to rural and agricultural finance in Nigeria,such financing solutions have become imperative.However,few studies on the ex-ante impact of financing innovations exist.Therefore,to ascertain the benefits derivable from VCF,this paper analyzes the potential impact of VCF on plantain production in Nigeria.The expected benefits are estimated based on the economic surplus model,using the Dynamic Research Evaluation for Management(DREAM)software.Results from a 25-year simulation period at a 15%discount rate and an innovation cost of USD 1,300,000,show that,in the least optimistic scenario,the economy is expected to have an overall net gain(economic surplus)of USD 3256,800,with a net present value of USD 3406,880,benefit-cost ratio of 3.83,and an internal rate of return or break-even discount rate of 36.80%.These results indicate the positive impact of VCF,measured in terms of net present value and net benefit,expressed as producer and consumer surplus.This suggests VCF is a viable and beneficial financing innovation for food production in Nigeria.Finally,it is recommended that a value chain financing agency be established to make finance available to farmers to boost food production in Nigeria.
基金Projects(61203330,61104009,61075092)supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaProject(2013M540546)supported by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation+2 种基金Projects(ZR2012FM031,ZR2011FM011,ZR2010FM007)supported by Shandong Provincal Nature Science Foundation,ChinaProjects(2011JC017,2012TS078)supported by Independent Innovation Foundation of Shandong University,ChinaProject(201203058)supported by Shandong Provincal Postdoctoral Innovation Foundation,China
文摘The quick response code based artificial labels are applied to provide semantic concepts and relations of surroundings that permit the understanding of complexity and limitations of semantic recognition and scene only with robot's vision.By imitating spatial cognizing mechanism of human,the robot constantly received the information of artificial labels at cognitive-guide points in a wide range of structured environment to achieve the perception of the environment and robot navigation.The immune network algorithm was used to form the environmental awareness mechanism with "distributed representation".The color recognition and SIFT feature matching algorithm were fused to achieve the memory and cognition of scenario tag.Then the cognition-guide-action based cognizing semantic map was built.Along with the continuously abundant map,the robot did no longer need to rely on the artificial label,and it could plan path and navigate freely.Experimental results show that the artificial label designed in this work can improve the cognitive ability of the robot,navigate the robot in the case of semi-unknown environment,and build the cognizing semantic map favorably.
