Hedge fund replication using strategy specific factors

Hedge funds have traditionally served wealthy individuals and institutional investors with the promise of delivering protection of capital and uncorrelated positive returns irrespective of market direction,allowing them to better manage portfolio risk.However,the financial crisis of 2008 has heightened investor sensitivity to the high fees,illiquidity,lack of transparency,and lockup periods typically associated with hedge funds.Hedge fund replication products,or clones,seek to answer these challenges by providing daily liquidity,transparency,and immediate exposure to a desired hedge fund strategy.Nonetheless,although lowering cost and adding simplicity by using a common set of factors,traditional replication products might offer lower risk-reward performance compared to hedge funds.This research explores hedge fund replication further by examining the importance of constructing clones with specific factors relevant to each hedge fund strategy,and then compares the strategy specific clone risk and reward performance against both actual hedge fund performance and hedge fund clones constructed using a more general set of common factors.Testing shows that using strategy specific factors to replicate common hedge fund strategies can offer superior risk-reward performance compared to previous general model clones.

Emerging frontier technologies for food safety analysis and risk assessment

Access to security and safe food is a basic human necessity and essential for a sustainable world. To perform hi-end rood safety analysis and risk assessment with state of the art technologies is of utmost importance thereof. With applications as exemplified by microfiuidic immunoassay, aptasensor, direct analysis in real time, high resolution mass spectrometry, benchmark dose and chemical specific adjustment factor, this review presents frontier food safety analysis and risk assessment technologies, from which both food quality and public health will benefit undoubtedly in a foreseeable future.

Effects on the Tumor Specific Growth Factor and Tumor Necrosis Factorαin Rats'Precancerous Lesion of Primary Hepatocellular Carcinoma by Direct Moxibustion at Ganshu(BL 18)Acupoint

Objective： To investigate the effect of direct moxibustion at Ganshu （BL18） on the serum concentrations of tumor specific growth factor （TSGF） and tumor necrosis factor a （TNF-a） in a rat model with precancerous lesion of primary hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC）, so as to explore the mechanism of moxibustion underlying improvement of HCC. Methods： Sixty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into control group （n=10）, model group （n=20）, prevention group 1 （n=15） and prevention group 2 （n=15）. The normal rats were injected with physiological saline as blank control. At the same time, the rats of other three groups were injected with diethylnitrosamine to establish the HCC model. Direct moxibusUon with grain-sized moxa was applied to bilateral Ganshu acupoint of the rats in the prevention group 1 （1 treatment course, 20 days） and prevention group 2 （2 treatment courses, 40 days）, 5 doses for each acupoint, 0.5 mg/dose, once every other day. At each time point （before model establishment, the end of 1st course prevention, the end of 2rid course prevention and the end of model establishment）, serum levels of TSGF and TNF-eL were detected using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results： Compared with the control group, there was a remarkably increase of serum TSGF and TNF-eL contents in the model group at the end of the experiment （P〈0.05）. At the end of the 1st course of direct moxibustion, the contents of serum TSGF and TNF- a of rats in the prevention group 1 were significantly increased compared with that of the model group （P〈0.05）. At the end of the 2nd course of direct moxibustion, serum TSGF and TNF-a levels of rats in the model group were higher than the normal group with significantly difference （P〈0.05）, and the levels of TSGF and TNF-a in the prevention group 2 were significantly reduced in comparison with the model group （P〈0.05）. Conclusion： It was possible that direct moxibustion could inhibit precancerous lesion and postpone hepatocarcinogenesis, and the therapeutic effect of two courses were better than one course.

Analysis of Rolling Pressure in Asymmetrical Rolling Process by Slab Method

The plane strain asymmetrical rolling was analyzed using slab method. The contact arc was replaced by parabola, and the constant surface friction status was adopted during the analysis. The deformation area was divided into three zones according to the direction of the friction. Then, the three zones were studied, respectively. A rolling force model and a rolling torque model were developed based on the analysis, and they were used to analyze the influ- ence of asymmetrical rolling factors on deformation area and unit pressure if they had good precision which was determined by comparing the calculated results with the measured ones.

Preparation and Determination of Immunological Activities of Anti-HBV Egg Yolk Extraction

To prepare an effective immune preparation to treat hepatitis B, hens were immunized with hepatitis B vaccines, and then anti-HBV egg yolk extraction （anti-HBV EYE） was refined from egg yolk by a dialyzable method. Its chemical characteristics were identified by ultraviolet spectrum, HPLC, Lowry analysis and pharmacopocia-raleted methods. The specific immunological activity was examined by leukocyte adherence inhibition （LAI） in vitro and delayed type hypersensitivity （DTH） in vivo. Anti-HBV EYE was a small dialyzable substance with molecular weight less than 12 kD containing 18 kinds of amino acids. The preparation could obviously inhibit LAI and DTH which was similar to hepatitis B virus-specific transfer factor of pig spleen. However, there were no similar effects observed in the nonspecific transfer factor （NTF） group, control egg yolk extraction （CEYE） group and hepatitis A virus （HAV） group. The results suggested that anti-HBV EYE contained hepatitis B virus-specific transfer factor （STF） and had the antigen-specific cell immune activity similar to PSHBV-TF. The STF obtained from egg yolk of the hens immunized with specific antigen, might be a potential candidate for immunoregulation in hepatitis B prevention and treatment.