The macroeconomic determinants of volatility in precious metals markets

This paper models the monthly price volatilities of four precious metals (gold, silver, platinum and palladium prices) and investigates the macroeconomic determinants (business cycle, monetary environment and financial market sentiment) of these volatilities. Gold volatility is shown to be explained by monetary variables, but this is not true for silver. Overall, there is limited evidence that the same macroeconomic factors jointly influence the volatility processes of the four precious metal price series, although there is evidence of volatility feedback between the precious metals. These results are consistent with the view that precious metals are too distinct to be considered a single asset class, or represented by a single index. This finding is of importance for portfolio managers and investors.     

不同碳源条件下草菇内切型纤维素酶基因（eg1）转录表达的分析

利用Northernblot方法分析了不同碳源条件下草菇切型纤维素酶基因(eg1)的表达.结果发现,在含有纤维素的液体培养基中生长10d,eg1在草菇菌丝中有高效表达;纤维二糖、α-乳糖、β-乳糖,也能诱导eg1的表达,但和纤维素相比,eg1的表达量相对较低,并且它们的诱导效应在加入这类糖12h后迅速减弱;槐糖和龙胆二糖的诱导作用非常弱.在天然稻草为基质的固体栽培料生长时,草菇eg1的表达和草菇菌丝生长与出菇相对应,在菌丝生长期(d8)可见eg1的表达,d12时菌丝已长满,表达减弱,在出菇及菇体的分化及增大期,eg1的表达量逐渐增强,在成熟期达到最高水平;表明在草菇菇体发育中需要更多碳源及能源的补充,eg1在这方面起着非常重要的作用.图4参14     

A novel approach to the sequential extraction of plutonium from oxic and anoxic sediment using sodium citrate to inhibit post-extraction resorption

Sequential extraction has been used extensively to study the solid partitioning of radionuclides in soils and sediments. A difficulty with sequential extraction is that radionuclides released by a particular extractant can be resorbed and artificially redistributed amongst the remaining solid phases. Here, we describe experiments (on selected model phase and natural materials), which were designed to determine whether the inclusion of a chelating agent (sodium citrate) in an established sequential extraction protocol (a) inhibits post-extraction resorption of plutonium, (b) increases non-targeted dissolution of sediment phases, and (c) gives rise to unwanted ligand competition for plutonium. The results clearly demonstrate the capacity of citrate to inhibit the resorption of plutonium from the various extractants, and confirm that there is no discernible increase in non-targeted phase dissolution, but indicate significant ligand competition with the carbonate phase. The merits of using citrate are discussed and an optimised sequential extraction protocol that includes citrate is proposed. Finally, the protocol is applied to oxic and anoxic sediments sampled in the NE Irish Sea and the Roads of Cherbourg, and it is shown that the bulk of the plutonium on these sediments is associated with the more labile geochemical fractions.     

不同碳源条件下草菇内切型纤维素酶基因(egl)转录表达的分析

利用Northern blot方法分析了不同碳源条件下草菇內切型纤维素酶基因(eg1)的表达.结果发现,在含有纤维素的液体培养基中生长10 d,eg1在草菇菌丝中有高效表达;纤维二糖、α-乳糖、β-乳糖,也能诱导eg1的表达,但和纤维素相比,eg1的表达量相对较低,并且它们的诱导效应在加入这类糖12 h后迅速减弱;槐糖和龙胆二糖的诱导作用非常弱.在天然稻草为基质的固体栽培料生长时,草菇eg1的表达和草菇菌丝生长与出菇相对应,在菌丝生长期(d 8)可见eg1的表达,d 12时菌丝已长满,表达减弱,在出菇及菇体的分化及增大期,eg1的表达量逐渐增强,在成熟期达到最高水平;表明在草菇菇体发育中需要更多碳源及能源的补充,eg1在这方面起着非常重要的作用. 图4 参14