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This paper aims to present numerical simulations for a series of flight processes for the postlaunching stage of the “balloon-borne UAV system.” It includes the balloon further ascent motion after airborne launching. In terms of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the tailspin state and the charge-out process with an anti-tailspin parachute-assisted suspending are analyzed. Then, the authors conduct trajectory optimization simulations for the long-distance gliding process.

The balloon kinematics model and the parachute Kane multibody dynamic model are established. Using steady-state tailspin to reduced-order analysis and achieving change-out simulation by parachute suspension dynamic model. A reentry optimization control problem is developed and the Radau pseudo-spectral method is used to calculate the glide trajectory.

The established dynamic model and trajectory optimization method can effectively simulate the motion process of balloons and UAVs. The system mass reduction for launching UAVs will not cause damage to the balloon structure. The anti-tailspin parachute can reduce the UAV attack angles effectively. The UAV can glide to the designated target position by adjusting the attack angle and sideslip angle. The farthest flight distance after launching from 20 km height is 94 km and the gliding time is 40 min, which demonstrates the potential application advantage of high-altitude launching.

The research content and related conclusions of this article achieve a closed-loop analysis of the flight mission chain for the “balloon-borne UAV system,” which provides simulation references for relevant balloon launching experiments.

This paper establishes a complete set of numerical simulation models and can effectively analyze various postlaunching behaviors.

In this article, we propose a new class of flexible seasonal time series models to characterize the trend and seasonal variations. The proposed model consists of a common trend function over periods and additive individual trend (seasonal effect) functions that are specific to each season within periods. A local linear approach is developed to estimate the trend and seasonal effect functions. The consistency and asymptotic normality of the proposed estimators, together with a consistent estimator of the asymptotic variance, are obtained under the α-mixing conditions and without specifying the error distribution. The proposed methodologies are illustrated with a simulated example and two economic and financial time series, which exhibit nonlinear and nonstationary behavior.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effects of member size and external incentives (food safety certification and target market) on cooperative’s product quality, using data collected from 135 apple producing cooperatives in China.

Given that different indicator variables were used to measure apple quality, the authors employed a principle component analysis method to reduce the measurement dimension. An ordinary least square regression was employed to analyse the effects of member size and selective incentives of agricultural cooperatives on product quality.

The empirical results show that member size and cooperative’s product quality bear an inverse “U-shape” relationship, and food safety certification and target market variables tend to positively and significantly influence cooperative’s product quality. In particular, the cooperatives with more food safety certificates and targeting supermarkets and export enterprises are more likely to supply high-quality products.

This study provides the first attempt to measure apple quality and investigate the factors that influence cooperative’s product quality.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of trust and transaction costs on farmers’ contract enforcement choices using cross-sectional data collected from apple farmers in China.

This study employs ordered probit model in a two-stage regression procedure to conduct the empirical analysis.

The empirical results show that trust and transactions costs significantly influence smallholders’ contract enforcement choices. In particular, longer distance to collective place and delayed payment have negative and significant impacts on contract enforcement, while farmers’ cognition trust has a positive and significant impact on contract enforcement. Factors such as education, distance to main road and price premium also tend to have positive and statistically significant impacts on contract enforcement choices.

This study used first-hand survey data to examine the impact of transaction costs and trust using proxy variables on apple farmers’ contract enforcement choices.

The editors are pleased to offer the following papers to the reader in recognition and appreciation of the contributions to our literature made by Robert Engle and Sir Clive Granger, winners of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Economics. Please see the previous dedication page of this volume. The basic themes of this part of Volume 20 of Advances in Econometrics are time-varying betas of the capital asset pricing model, analysis of predictive densities of nonlinear models of stock returns, modeling multivariate dynamic correlations, flexible seasonal time series models, estimation of long-memory time series models, the application of the technique of boosting in volatility forecasting, the use of different time scales in Generalized Auto-Regressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (GARCH) modeling, out-of-sample evaluation of the ‘Fed Model’ in stock price valuation, structural change as an alternative to long memory, the use of smooth transition autoregressions in stochastic volatility modeling, the analysis of the “balancedness” of regressions analyzing Taylor-type rules of the Fed Funds rate, a mixture-of-experts approach for the estimation of stochastic volatility, a modern assessment of Clive's first published paper on sunspot activity, and a new class of models of tail-dependence in time series subject to jumps. Of course, we are also pleased to include Rob's and Clive's remarks on their careers and their views on innovation in econometric theory and practice that were given at the Third Annual Advances in Econometrics Conference held at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, on November 5–7, 2004.

Docking technology plays a crucial role in enabling long-duration operations of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). Visual positioning solutions alone are susceptible to abnormal drift values due to the challenging underwater optical imaging environment. When an AUV approaches the docking station, the absolute positioning method fails if the AUV captures an insufficient number of tracers. This study aims to to provide a more stable absolute position visual positioning method for underwater terminal visual docking.

This paper presents a six-degree-of-freedom positioning method for AUV terminal visual docking, which uses lights and triangle codes. The authors use an extended Kalman filter to fuse the visual calculation results with inertial measurement unit data. Moreover, this paper proposes a triangle code recognition and positioning algorithm.

The authors conducted a simulation experiment to compare the underwater positioning performance of triangle codes, AprilTag and Aruco. The results demonstrate that the implemented triangular code reduces the running time by over 70% compared to the other two codes, and also exhibits a longer recognition distance in turbid environments. Subsequent experiments were carried out in Qingjiang Lake, Hubei Province, China, which further confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed positioning algorithm.

This fusion approach effectively mitigates abnormal drift errors stemming from visual positioning and cumulative errors resulting from inertial navigation. The authors also propose a triangle code recognition and positioning algorithm as a supplementary approach to overcome the limitations of tracer light positioning beacons.

The purpose of the investigation was to research the best process of electroless nickel (EN) plating on AZ91D magnesium alloy and the performance of EN plating coating.

Through single factor test and orthogonal test, EN plating on AZ91D magnesium alloy was researched. The plating rate and porosity were analyzed. The coating appearance of EN plating coating and magnesium alloy substrate was evaluated. The electrochemical properties of EN plating coating and substrate were researched using electrochemical workstation, and their compositions and structure were examined using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy.

The results made by combination of experimental and orthogonal test showed that the best formula of EN plating was 8.8 g·L⁻¹ nickel ion, 25 g·L⁻¹ lactic acid, 28 g·L⁻¹ reducing agent, 1.8 ml·L⁻¹ corrosion inhibitor, 1 mg·L⁻¹ stabilizer, temperature at 85°C and pH value at 5.5. The plating was uniform, dense and with no cracks. The electrochemical tests showed that the corrosion resistance of EN plating was better than that of magnesium alloy substrate.

The results indicated that the corrosion resistance of magnesium alloy improved markedly after EN plating at the best formula and the plating covered magnesium alloy completely.

People's conciliation is a grass‐roots effort for conflict management in China. It settles civil disputes without characterizing them as conflicts between blameworthy adversaries. It does not take legal effect. But with support from the people's court and government, it is generally honored as an institution to maintain and promote mutual confidence and reciprocal relations among rural villagers, urban residents, and work unit employees. This paper attempts to provide a comprehensive description and analysis of people's conciliation. The origin, development, and organization are approached in relation to conciliation in Chinese history as well as other forms of intervention such as self‐conducted, lawyer‐assisted, administrative, and judicial conciliation. Case variety, principle, prohibition, strategy, procedure, and conciliator training are examined Illustrative cases are provided. Ideological and institutional aspects are analyzed in light of Maoism, political economy, culture and community, and public attitude in China.

All along the length of the supply chain, fresh food firms face the challenge of managing both product quality, due to the perishable nature of the products, and product cost. The purpose of this paper to develop a method to assist logistics managers upstream in the fresh food supply chain in making cost optimized decisions regarding transportation, with the objective of minimizing the total cost while maintaining the quality of food products above acceptable levels.

Considering the case of multiple fresh food products collected from multiple farms being transported to a warehouse or a retailer, this study develops a total cost model that includes various costs incurred during transportation. The practical application of the model is illustrated by using several computational intelligence approaches including genetic algorithms (GA), fuzzy genetic algorithms (FGA) as well as an improved simulated annealing (SA) procedure applied with a repair mechanism for efficiency benchmarking. The authors demonstrate the practical viability of these approaches by using a simulation study based on pertinent data and evaluate the simulation outcomes.

The application of the proposed total cost model was demonstrated using three approaches of GA, FGA and SA with a repair mechanism. All three approaches are adoptable; however, based on the performance evaluation, it was evident that the FGA is more likely to produce a better performance than the other two approaches of GA and SA.

This study provides a pragmatic approach for supporting logistics and supply chain practitioners in fresh food industry in making important decisions on the arrangements and procedures related to the transportation of multiple fresh food products to a warehouse from multiple farms in a cost-effective way without compromising product quality.

This study extends the literature on cold supply chain management by investigating cost and quality optimization in a multi-product scenario from farms to a retailer and, minimizing cost by managing the quality above expected quality levels at delivery. The scalability of the proposed generic function enables the application to alternative situations in practice such as different storage environments and transportation conditions, etc.