Notre travail vise à présenter, dans un cadre unifié, les fondements et les propriétés théoriques des mesures de performance de portefeuille basées sur la fonction de distance directionnelle. De fait, ce travail combine différents champ d'analyse : les mesures statiques et dynamiques des performances des actifs financiers, l'analyse du lien entre le sentiment des investisseurs et la rentabilité de l'indice de marché. Les modèles proposés permettent d'évaluer l'efficience des opportunités d'investissement disponibles sur les marchés financiers. Les mesures de performance sont formulées à partir de la fonction de distance directionnelle de Luenberger (1998). Cette fonction permet de définir des performances aussi bien dans un cadre quadratique que non-linéaire sur une période statique ou dynamique. Cette fonction de distance est utilisée pour mesurer la performance des Ç hedge funds È dans le cadre dynamique, celle des portefeuilles touristiques dans le cadre cubique et celle des valeurs de l'indice du CAC40 dans le cadre quadratique avec deux mesures de risque : la variance et l'écart-moyen absolu. Une étude de la relation entre l'indice de marché et le sentiment des investisseurs est proposée à la fin de cette thèse. / This research aims to present the foundations and theoretical properties of portfolio efficiency based on directional distance measure. We try to com- bine different field of analysis: static and dynamic measurements of financial assets performance and the analysis of the relationship between investor sentiment and profitability of the market index. Performance measures are formulated from the directional distance function Luenberger (1998). This function allows to define portfolio efficiency as well as in a quadratic or in nonlinear framework. It can also be used in both static and dyna- mic context. This distance function is used to measure the performance of hedge funds in the dynamic context. We measure the destination efficiency in mean-variance-skewness framework. We use two risk measures: variance and absolute deviation to measure the efficiency of CAC40 financial as- sets. A study of the relationship between the market index and investor sentiment is proposed at the end of this thesis.

The manufacturing of components with complex internal features, e.g. for automobile industry, aeronautics or medical applications, is a significant challenge. Such components are often machined in temporarily and locally separated stages of production. Due to these separated stages, the form deviations and positioning errors increase, which leads to additional efforts for the quality assurance. The technology that shall be developed within the project SwitchECM is supposed to enable machining of components with differing complex features in one single production stage and shall simultaneously allow for high precision. For this purpose, a multi-cathode system will be developed, in which every single cathode can be switched with specific parameters. The specific switching parameters shall be adjusted according to the requirements of the pre-defined features. For the manufacturing of different pre-defined features with one multi-cathode system the usage of pulsed direct current as well as continuous direct current shall be possible. Hence, removal experiments were carried out on 1.4301 stainless steel using a PEMCenter 8000 with varying feed rates and voltages at a pulsation frequency of 200 Hz. With this comparatively high frequency and a pulse duration of 4 ms pseudo direct current experiments are realized. The results are compared to experiments with a more common pulse frequency of 50 Hz. The mass removal analyses show, in which degree the transferability of experimental results from pulsed current to pseudo direct current or rather direct current is feasible.

No / Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) are considered to be extracellular pathogens, inducing attaching and effacing lesions following their attachment to the surface of eukaryotic cells; however, in vitro and in vivo invasion by EPEC has been reported in several studies. A cloned 4.6 kb fragment of EPEC plasmid pLV501 has been shown to facilitate invasion of E. coli K-12, and here we further investigate the nature of this process. Two of the three complete open reading frames contained within the plasmid fragment have been cloned to E. coli, and in HEp-2 adherence assays both tniA2 and pecM were shown to be expressed during the first 3 h of infection from a plac promoter. Escherichia coli transformants carrying pecM alone or in combination with tniA2 were able to both survive intracellularly and escape eukaryotic cells to re-establish themselves within the medium, whereas those bacterial cells carrying tniA2 alone could not be isolated from within HEp-2 cells after 24 h of infection, but were present in the previously sterile medium surrounding the cells. Bacteria carrying pecM and tniA2 adhered to HEp-2 cells with sites of adhesion characterized by underlying actin polymerization. The invasive potential conferred by these genes may give EPEC strains a survival advantage during prolonged infection.

In this paper we examine the short and long-term relations between stock price, book value and residual income.  We employ a panel error correction model, estimated with Engle & Granger’s (1987) two-step procedure and the single equation methodology. The models are estimated with FE-OLS and the MG-estimator. We find that stock prices adjust previous periods equilibrium error. Further, we find that book value has short and long-term effects on stock prices. Finally, this paper finds mixed results regarding residual incomes impact on stock prices. The MG-estimator finds evidence for a short-term relationship, while the FE-OLS provides insignificant or weak support for short-term effects. FE-OLS and MG-estimator find insignificant or weak support regarding residual incomes long-term effects.