The Epstein-Zin model with liquidity extension

In this paper, we extend the Epstein and Zin (1989, 1991) model with liquidity risk and assess the extended model's performance against the traditional consumption pricing models. We show that liquidity is a significant risk factor, and it adds considerable explanatory power to the model. The liquidity-extended model produces both a higher cross-sectional R2 and a smaller Hansen and Jagannathan (1997) distance than the traditional consumption-based capital asset pricing model (CCAPM) and the original Epstein-Zin model. Overall, we show that liquidity is both a priced factor and a key contributor to the extended Epstein-Zin model's goodness-of-fit

Transaction costs, liquidity risk, and the CCAPM

In this paper, we make a liquidity adjustment to the consumption-based capital asset pricing model (CCAPM) and show that the liquidity-adjusted CCAPM is a generalized model of Acharya and Pedersen (2005). Using different proxies for transaction costs such as the effective trading costs measure of Hasbrouck (2009) and the bid-ask spread estimates of Corwin and Schultz (2012), we find that the liquidity-adjusted CCAPM explains a larger fraction of the cross-sectional return variations

The relationship between information technology and competitive advantages among small and medium tourism enterprises: Kota Kinabalu, Sabah / Leviana Andrew

Understanding how IT contributes to enterprises’ competitive advantages has long been of interest. While IT improved the business operation and communication to the extent that some enterprises managed to be competitive through the utilization of IT system, some enterprises seemed do not benefit from it. This study seeks to clarify the relationship between IT and competitive advantages among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia by focusing on tour and travel agents in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Several theories such as the resource-based view, market-based view and Porter’s model of competitiveness are discussed to further explain the association between these two variables. IT Infrastructure, IT Capability Agent and IT Competencies are the elements of IT while Customer Service, Low Cost, Agility, Innovation and Differentiation are the elements of competitive advantages that were included in this study. The element of strategic planning is added in the relationship as a moderator to the relationship between variables. A total of 111 responses from 364 distributed questionnaires were used for the analysis of this study. Factor analysis extracted one more factor in IT elements which is Modularity and deleted out the element of agility from competitive advantages. The results showed that the relationship between IT and competitive advantages is positive, high and significant; with element IT Infrastructure has the most influence on competitive advantages. However, the result of hierarchical regression analysis suggested that strategic planning does not moderate the relationship but it is more of a factor contributing to competitive advantages. These results showed the importance of integrating IT into business operation to meet information processing demands in dynamic environments. Further, this paper provides both theoretical and managerial implications for the industry and suggestions for future research

A Robust Epoxy Resins @ Stearic Acid-Mg(OH)₂ Micronanosheet Superhydrophobic Omnipotent Protective Coating for Real-Life Applications

Superhydrophobic coating has extremely high application value and practicability. However, some difficult problems such as weak mechanical strength, the need for expensive toxic reagents, and a complex preparation process are all hard to avoid, and these problems have impeded the superhydrophobic coating’s real-life application for a long time. Here, we demonstrate one kind of omnipotent epoxy resins @ stearic acid-Mg­(OH)₂ superhydrophobic coating via a simple antideposition route and one-step superhydrophobization process. The whole preparation process is facile, and expensive toxic reagents needed. This omnipotent coating can be applied on any solid substrate with great waterproof ability, excellent mechanical stability, and chemical durability, which can be stored in a realistic environment for more than 1 month. More significantly, this superhydrophobic coating also has four protective abilities, antifouling, anticorrosion, anti-icing, and flame-retardancy, to cope with a variety of possible extreme natural environments. Therefore, this omnipotent epoxy resins @ stearic acid-Mg­(OH)₂ superhydrophobic coating not only satisfies real-life need but also has great application potential in many respects

Biomimetic Multi-Functional Superamphiphobic FOTS-TiO₂ Particles beyond Lotus Leaf

It is widely known that natural examples like lotus leaves can only repel room-temperature water but cannot repel hot water and oils. Even though superamphiphobic surfaces composed of re-entrant “mushroom-like” or “T-shaped” structures are promising, they are generally regarded as substrate-dependent and difficult to fabricate, and hence, their practical use on various materials has been limited. Here, we synthesize a flower-like superamphiphobic FOTS-TiO₂ powder by solvothermal process and self-assembly functionalization. These structured and functionalized submicron particles can repel the liquids with surface tension as low as 23.8 mN·m^–1 (<i>n</i>-decane), which is the lowest among powder samples. With respect to the biomimetic aspect, the surface morphology of FOTS-TiO₂ particle is similar to the hierarchical micro/nano-structures of the lotus leaf surface, but it is beyond the lotus leaf for superoleophobic capacity. The difference in the oleophobicity is suggested to be the interplay of quasi-spherical re-entrant structure and perfluorined modification. Because of superior superamphiphobicity of the powder, a facile yet versatile strategy is developed, adhesive-assisted sieve deposition fabrication (AASDF), for preparing superamphiphobic coatings on various substrates. The investigation results pertaining to the water/oil proofing, mechanical durability, self-cleaning, and antifouling performances prove that the FOTS-TiO₂ coating is robust and multifunctional, which will enable more opportunities for practical applications. Apart from these general applications, we find that the superamphiphobic FOTS-TiO₂ powders when coated on sponge as anti-icing surface have good ice delay and icephobic performances. Furthermore, they can be used to prepare magnetic Fe₃O₄&FOTS-TiO₂ composite particles through liquid marbles, implying significant scientific value

Charged Polymer Brushes-Grafted Hollow Silica Nanoparticles as a Novel Promising Material for Simultaneous Joint Lubrication and Treatment

The fabrication of core/shell charged polymer brushes-grafted hollow silica nanoparticles (PSPMA-<i>g</i>-HSNPs) is reported. Because of the excellent hydration capability of the shells consisting of charged polymer brushes, the functional nanoparticles can achieve a good lubricating effect in aqueous media via hydration lubrication mechanism. The mesoporous hollow silica cores endow the nanoparticles with drug loading–release capability. Aspirin, as a useful drug for treating arthritis, was employed to carry out in vitro drug loading and release studies. It is clear that brushes-modified hollow silica exhibited long-term drug release performance. The combination of lubrication and drug loading capabilities results in the great clinical potential of new multifunctional nanoparticles as injectable joint lubricant fluid in arthritis treatment

The cross-sectional return predictability of employment growth: A liquidity risk explanation

Employment growth (EG) is related to liquidity fundamentals of investment opportunities, firm health, and information environment and quality. This, in turn, implies that liquidity risk may play a role in explaining the relation between EG and stock returns. We find strong empirical evidence supporting the link between EG and liquidity risk. Stocks of high-EG firms are more liquid and exposed to lower liquidity risk than stocks of low-EG firms. After adjusting for liquidity risk, EG loses its power to predict returns

High-Performance Magnetic and Electric Control of Liquid Metal Droplets

In the present study, we propose a magnetically controlled and electrically controlled magnetic liquid metal (MLM) method to achieve high-performance multiple manipulation of droplets. The prepared MLM has good active and passive deformability. Under the action of the magnetic field, controllable transport, splitting, merging, and rotation are realized. In addition, controllable electric field manipulation in alkaline and acidic electrolytes is realized. This simple preparation method can be applied to the precise and rapid control of the magnetic field and electric field at the same time. Compared with other droplet manipulation methods, we realized droplet manipulation independent of special surfaces. It has the advantages of easy implementation, low cost, and high controllability. It shows great application potential in the fields of biochemical analysis, microfluidics, drug transportation in complex limited space, and intelligent soft robots

High-Performance Magnetic and Electric Control of Liquid Metal Droplets

In the present study, we propose a magnetically controlled and electrically controlled magnetic liquid metal (MLM) method to achieve high-performance multiple manipulation of droplets. The prepared MLM has good active and passive deformability. Under the action of the magnetic field, controllable transport, splitting, merging, and rotation are realized. In addition, controllable electric field manipulation in alkaline and acidic electrolytes is realized. This simple preparation method can be applied to the precise and rapid control of the magnetic field and electric field at the same time. Compared with other droplet manipulation methods, we realized droplet manipulation independent of special surfaces. It has the advantages of easy implementation, low cost, and high controllability. It shows great application potential in the fields of biochemical analysis, microfluidics, drug transportation in complex limited space, and intelligent soft robots

Dramatically Tuning Friction Using Responsive Polyelectrolyte Brushes

We present a paradigm that dramatically tunes friction from superior lubrication (μ ∼ 10^–3) to ultrahigh friction (μ > 1) using responsive polyelectrolyte brushes. The tunable friction is based on counterion-driven interactions in polyelectrolyte brushes that can be simply achieved by exchanging the counterions. We systematically investigated the effects of opposite counterions of different types on the friction properties of polyanionic, polycationic, and polyzwitterionic brushes. For cationic brushes with quaternary ammonium groups, the friction coefficient was progressively tuned from ∼10^–3 to ∼10⁰ according to the counterions series Cl^– < ClO₄^– < PF₆^– < TFSI^–. The friction of anionic brushes can be tuned by oppositely charged surfactants (tetraalkylammonium) with different length of hydrophobic tails, multivalent metal ions, and protons. The friction increase of cationic brushes is due to the dehydration and the collapse of polyelectrolyte chains induced by ion-pairing interactions. For anionic brushes, the friction increased with the length of hydrophobic tails of surfactants, which resulted from hydrophobicity induced electrostatic interaction among surfactants and polymer chains. The anionic brushes with the carboxylate and the sulfonate side groups revealed different friction responses, which is owing to the carboxylate groups getting stronger specific interaction with the quaternary ammonium and thus with the multivalent metal ions as well. The mechanism of tuning friction was finally concluded; that is, highly hydrated and swelling polymer brushes show superior lubrication, partially collapsed polymer chains have moderate lubrication, and completely dehydrated and collapsed conformation loses lubricating capability