Impact of Macroeconomic Variables on Stock Price Index: Evidence from Vietnam Stock Market

Vietnam stock market after nearly 20 years of operation has undergone many ups and downs. In addition to the contribution to the development of the national economy, the Vietnam Stock market still has some certain shortcomings. Goods on the market have increased in size, quantity, and categories but not much of diversity. The potential risks due to many different causes, always hurt investors. Therefore, the study of Macroeconomic factors affecting the volatility of stock indexes has been paid special attention by society. Research results show that, in the long term, the VNI stock price index is affected by the oil price, money supply, interest rate, SJC gold price, and exchange rate. In the short term, the stock price index has a causal relationship with oil prices, interest rates, and the M2 money supply. When there are impacts of market shocks, short-term corrections affect extremely slow to the long-term balance. Keywords: macroeconomic factors, VNI, Vietnam stock market, ECM, VAR DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/10-12-04 Publication date:June 30th 2019

Isolation, screening antimicrobial activity and identification of fungi from marine sediments of the area Thanh Lan, Co To, Vietnam

Marine environment is rich in natural product resources, including marine microorganisms, especially fungi which are not only seen as a potential source of highly applicable bioactive substances but also can provide for science new chemical structures. The objective of this study is to isolate and screen fungal strains with antibacterial activity from the marine environment. Twenty five strains of fungi were isolated from marine sediments of Thanh Lan, Co To island and assessed on antibiotic activity against 7 tested microbial strains, including three Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli ATCC25922, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC27853, Salmonella enterica ATCC13076), three Gram-positive bacteria (Enterococcus faecalis ATCC29212, Stapphylococus aureus ATCC25923, Bacillus cereus ATCC 13245), and the yeast Candida albicans ATCC10231. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against the tested microorganisms was determined for the crude extracts obtained from the culture broths after ethyl acetate extraction and vacuum rotary evaporation. Three strains with the highest antimicrobial activity M26, M30 and M45 were capable of inhibiting 4 - 5 of the 7 tested microorganisms with MIC values from 64 to 256 μg/ml, depending on each tested strain. Morphological and phylogenetic investigations based on 18S rRNA gene sequences of the three selected strains showed that strains M26 and M30 belonged to the genus Penicillium, whereas strain M45 belonged to the genus Neurospora. The sequences of 18S rRNA gene of three strains M26, M30 and M45 were registered on GenBank database with accession numbers: MH673730, MH673731, MH673732, respectively. Research results showed that marine environment has a great potential in isolation of fungal strains for the search for antibacterial substances as well as other biologically active compounds

TURBIDITY REMOVAL BY MUCILAGE FROM BASELLA ALBA

Coagulation and flocculation are preliminary used in water treatment processes for turbidity removal, using popularily synthetic chemicals with health and environmental concerns. The use of natural flocculants has known to be a promising alteratives for chemical ones due to their environmental friendly behavior. This research investigated turbidity removal efficiency of mucilage extracted from Basella alba - an indigenous species in Vietnam - in the role of a flocculant. The removal efficiency of mucilage was investigated in combination with PAC or Alum on To Lich river water by mean of Jar tests. PAC or Alum alone can remove maximum 97% and 90% turbidity of To Lich river water at its original pH for the sedimentation time of 30 minutes. The combination of mucilage and PAC or Alum increased the efficiencies of turbidity removal and reduced the amount of chemicals needed. The corresponding increases were maximum 7% and 18%, respectively; while the reduction of PAC/Alum used was 75-80%

Enzimatska obrada iskorištenih listića zelenog čaja i njihova primjena u proizvodnji čajnog peciva s velikim udjelom prehrambenih vlakana

Research background. By-products of food industry have been studied as sources of high fibre and antioxidant ingredients for healthy food products, because of their economic and environmental benefits. However, the soluble dietary fibre content of these materials is usually lower than the recommended value that is claimed to bring positive health effects. Enzymatic treatment could be an efficient method for modifying insoluble and soluble dietary fibre contents of these materials. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of enzymatic treatment conditions on soluble, insoluble and total dietary fibre mass fractions in spent green tea leaves, and evaluate the quality of dough and cookies when different mass fractions of untreated and treated leaves were added to the recipe. Experimental approach. The mass fractions of soluble, insoluble and total dietary fibre in spent tea leaf powder was evaluated after the leaves were treated with cellulase amount of 0−25 U/g for 0 to 2 h. Wheat flour was replaced by untreated and treated spent tea leaf powder at 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40% in cookie formulation. Textural properties of dough, proximate composition, physical properties and overall acceptability of cookies were analysed. Results and conclusions. The appropriate conditions for enzymatic treatment were enzyme loading of 20 U/g and biocatalytic time of 1.5 h, under which the mass fraction of soluble dietary fibre in spent tea leaves increased by 144.5% compared to that of the control sample. The addition of spent tea leaves led to the increase in dough hardness. Increase in the spent tea leaf amount also enhanced fibre mass fraction, antioxidant activity and hardness of cookies but reduced their overall acceptability. Moreover, the enzymatic treatment of spent tea leaves improved the soluble to total dietary fibre ratio of the cookies, which influenced their textural properties and health benefits. The cookies with added 20% untreated or treated spent tea leaves were overall accepted by the panel. Novelty and scientific contribution. For the first time, spent tea leaves have been treated with enzymes to improve their soluble to total dietary fibre ratio. The treated spent tea leaves are a new promising high-fibre antioxidant ingredient for cookie preparation.Pozadina istraživanja. Nusproizvodi prehrambene industrije ispituju se iz ekonomskih i ekoloških razloga kao izvori sastojaka s velikim udjelom prehrambenih vlakana i antioksidacijskim učinkom koji se mogu upotrijebiti u proizvodnji zdrave hrane. Međutim, udjel topljivih prehrambenih vlakana u nusproizvodima je obično manji od preporučenih vrijednosti koje mogu imati pozitivan učinak na zdravlje. Enzimatska obrada bi mogla biti učinkovita metoda modificiranja netopljivih i topljivih prehrambenih vlakana iz otpada prehrambene industrije. Svrha je ovog rada bila ispitati utjecaj različitih uvjeta enzimatske obrade na masene udjele topljivih, netopljivih i ukupnih prehrambenih vlakana u iskorištenim listićima zelenog čaja, te procijeniti kakvoću tijesta i čajnog peciva s dodatkom različitih masenih udjela obrađenih i neobrađenih listića. Eksperimentalni pristup. Maseni udjeli topljivih, netopljivih i ukupnih prehrambenih vlakana u prahu od iskorištenih listića zelenog čaja mjereni su nakon njihove obrade s 0–25 U/g celulaze tijekom 0 do 2 h. U smjesi za čajno pecivo je pšenično brašno zamijenjeno s 0, 10, 20, 30 i 40 % obrađenog ili neobrađenog praha iskorištenih listića zelenog čaja. Ispitani su tekstura tijesta te kemijski sastav, fizikalna svojstva i ukupna prihvatljivost dobivenog čajnog peciva. Rezultati i zaključci. Pri povoljnim uvjetima enzimatske obrade, a to su 20 U/g enzima i vrijeme trajanja biokatalitičkog procesa od 1,5 sata, maseni udjel topljivih prehrambenih vlakana u iskorištenim listićima zelenog čaja porastao je za 144,5 % u usporedbi s kontrolnim uzorkom. Dodatkom iskorištenih listića zelenog čaja povećala se tvrdoća tijesta. Povećanjem količine listića čaja povećali su se i maseni udjel vlakana, antioksidacijska svojstva i tvrdoća čajnog peciva, ali se smanjila njihova prihvatljivost. Osim toga, enzimatskom se obradom iskorištenih listića zelenog čaja poboljšao omjer topljivih i ukupnih vlakana u čajnom pecivu, što je utjecalo na njegovu teksturu i pozitivan učinak na zdravlje. Panel ocjenjivača je okarakterizirao čajno pecivo s dodatkom 20 % obrađenih ili neobrađenih iskorištenih listića čaja kao prihvatljive. Novina i znanstveni doprinos. Prvi put je enzimatskom obradom iskorištenih listića zelenog čaja poboljšan njihov omjer topljivih i ukupnih prehrambenih vlakana. Obrađeni iskorišteni listići zelenog čaja novi su obećavajući sastojak s antioksidacijskim svojstvima koji se može upotrijebiti u pripremi čajnog peciva

Customer satisfaction and corporate investment policies

This paper examines the effect of satisfaction with firms’ products and services on their capital investment policies. Using data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index from 1994 to 2013, the results of the regression models show that firms with higher customer satisfaction will invest more heavily in capital expenditures in the future. The results further show that this positive effect is more pronounced for firms with less growth opportunities or a high cost of capital. This would include those firms with low market-to-book ratios, young and small firms, or firms in more competitive industries. Overall, this study argues that customer satisfaction is an important factor affecting the firm’s investment policy. The findings provide a better understanding of the role of customer satisfaction which can generate growth opportunities, reduce cost and motivate a firm to invest more in capital

Constituents from stem barks of Anacolosa poilanei Gagnep. (Olacaceae)

Four compounds were isolated from the stem barks of Anacolosa poilanei Gagnep. Theirs structures were established by spectroscopic analysis including MS and NMR. Accordingly, the isolates were identified as trichadenic acid B (1), trichadonic acid (2), amentoflavone (3) and β-sitosterol (4)

Secondary metabolites produced by marine bacterirum micromonospora sp. G019

Nine compounds were isolated and characterized from the culture broth of the marine bacteria Micromonospora sp.G019 strain, which was isolated from sediment collecting at Ha Long Bay. Their structures were determined by spectroscopic analysis including MS and 2D NMR, as well as by comparison with reported data in the literature