The liquidity management of institutional investors and the pricing of liquidity risk

This dissertation studies how mutual funds and hedge funds manage their liquidity and reduce trading costs, and the pricing of liquidity level and liquidity risk in financial markets. Chapter 1 documents the trading behavior of actively managed equity mutual funds from the perspective of their trading cost management. Chapter 2 analyzes what size for the liquidity risk premium can be justified theoretically. Here we calculate the liquidity risk premiums demanded by large investors by solving a dynamic portfolio choice problem with stochastic price impact of trading, CRRA utility and a time-varying investment opportunity set. Chapter 3 studies how hedge funds adjusted their holdings of liquid and illiquid stocks before, during and after the 2008 financial crisis

Heterologous Expression of the Leuconostoc Bacteriocin Leucocin C in Probiotic Yeast Saccharomyces boulardii

The yeastSaccharomyces boulardiiis well known for its probiotic effects such as treating or preventing gastrointestinal diseases. Due to its ability to survive in stomach and intestine,S. boulardiicould be applied as a vehicle for producing and delivering bioactive substances of interest to human gut. In this study, we cloned the genelecCencoding the antilisterial peptide leucocin C from lactic acid bacteriumLeuconostoc carnosuminS. boulardii. The constructedS. boulardiistrain secreted a peptide, which had molecular weight corresponding to leucocin C in SDS-PAGE. The peptide band inhibitedListeria monocytogenesin gel overlay assay. Likewise, concentratedS. boulardiiculture supernatant inhibited the growth ofL. monocytogenes. The growth profile and acid tolerance of the leucocin C secretingS. boulardiiwere similar as those of the strain carrying the empty vector. We further demonstrated that the cells of the leucocin C producingS. boulardiiefficiently killedL. monocytogenes, also without antibiotic selection pressure. These results showed that antilisterial activity could be added to the arsenal of probiotic activities ofS. boulardii, demonstrating its potential as a carrier for therapeutics delivery.Peer reviewe

Accumulation Pattern of Flavonoids in Cabernet Sauvignon Grapes Grown in a Low-Latitude and High-Altitude Region

Particular climate conditions in a low-latitude and high-altitude region endow grape berries with distinctivequality characteristics. So far, few reports have been concerned with the formation of berry flavour in such aregion. This study aimed to investigate the accumulation pattern of flavonoids in Vitis vinifera L. cv. CabernetSauvignon grape berries growing at different altitudes of the highland in southwest China in two consecutivevintages. In addition to the 3-O-monoglucosides and 3-O-acyl monoglucosides of the five main anthocyanidins(delphinidin, cyanidin, peonidin, petunidin and malvidin), some uncommon anthocyanins, such as threediglucosides of anthocyanidins and pelargonidin-3-O-glucoside, were detected in the grape berries. Higheraltitude cultivation greatly promoted the production of anthocyanins and flavonols, particularly cyanidintypeanthocyanins and quercetin-type flavonols from the F3’H branch of the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway.Flavan-3-ols from both branches were comparatively less influenced by vineyard altitude. Vintage in thishigh-altitude region also had a dramatic influence on the accumulation of flavonoids. Most of the anthocyaninand flavonol components were affected more by vineyard altitude than by vintage, whereas the accumulationof flavan-3-ols differed mainly between vintages. The present data will not only improve the understandingof flavonoid accumulation in grapes from a high-altitude region with different climates, but also providepractical guidance for the production of high-quality grapes and wine

Interaction Mechanism of Benzene and Phenanthrene in Condensed Organic Matter: Importance of Adsorption (Nanopore-Filling)

Although microporosity and surface area of natural organic matter (NOM) are crucial to mechanistic evaluation of the sorption process for nonpolar organic contaminants (NOCs), they have wrongly been estimated by the N2 adsorption technique. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (13C NMR), and benzene, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen adsorption techniques were used to characterize structural and surface properties for different condensed NOM samples, which were related to the sorption behavior of phenanthrene (Phen). It was found that the revised Freundlich model by taking the chemical activity into account can well describe the isotherms for benzene and Phen. The benzene and Phen adsorption volumes for the coal samples are similar to or lower than the CO2-nanopore volumes. Adsorption volumes of both benzene and Phen are significantly related to the aliphatic carbon structure, and their correlation lines are nearly overlapped, suggesting that the nanopore filling for Phen and benzene on the investigated samples is the dominating mechanism, and also is not affected by water molecules. The entrapment of benzene and/or the pore deformation in the NOM nanopore are likely responsible for the observed hysteresis of benzene. The above results demonstrate that Phen and benzene adsorption on the condensed NOM is closely associated with the aliphatic carbon structure of the investigated samples