Does Mutual Fund Performance Vary over the Business Cycle?

Conditional factor models allow both risk loadings and performance over a period to be a func- tion of information available at the start of the period. Much of the literature to date has allowed risk loadings to be time-varying while imposing the assumption that conditional performance is constant. We develop a new methodology that allows conditional performance to be a function of information available at the start of the period. This methodology uses the Euler equation restriction that comes out of the factor model rather than the beta pricing formula itself. The Euler equation restrictions that we develop can be estimated using GMM. It is also possible to allow the factor returns to have longer data series than the mutual fund series as in Stambaugh (1997). We use our method to assess the conditional performance of funds in the Elton, Gruber and Blake (1996) mutual fund data set. Using dividend yield to track the business cycle, we nd that conditional mutual fund performance moves with the business cycle, with all fund types except growth performing better in downturns than in peaks. The converse holds for growth funds, which do better in peaks than in downturns

Multi-wire submerged arc welding: a study of secondary process parameters

The goal of this thesis is to investigate the effect of secondary process parameters on the geometry of the weld bead in multi-wire submerged arc welding. Bead-on-plate welding experiments will be conducted using 3, 4 and 5 wires. The parameters being varied will be the wire stick out, the angles of the torches and the spacing in between. Primary process parameters like voltage, current and welding speed will be kept constant. Penetration, bead width and height, percentage dilution, HAZ, weld penetration shape factor and weld reinforcement shape factor will be measured and evaluated. Fewer experiments will be needed because of the use of a design of experiments approach, namely a fractional factorial design. This will allow to determine the significance of each single parameter and their mutual interaction with respect to weld bead shape

Empirical and theoretical investigation of the noise performance of indirect detection, active matrix flatâ panel imagers (AMFPIs) for diagnostic radiology

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134855/1/mp7919.pd

New insights about the introduction of the Portuguese oyster, Crassostrea angulata, into the North East Atlantic from Asia based on a highly polymorphic mitochondrial region

It is commonly presumed that the Portuguese oyster Crassostrea angulata was introduced into the North East (NE) Atlantic from Asia. The analysis of the nucleotide sequence of a highly polymorphic non-coding mitochondrial region (major noncoding region - MNR) of C. angulata samples collected in Europe (Portugal), Africa (Morocco) and Asia (Shantou and Taiwan) provided new insight into the introduction of this species into the NE Atlantic. Sixty haplotypes and a nucleotide diversity of 0.0077 were observed in 130 analyzed sequences. Higher nucleotide diversity levels were observed in NE Atlantic sites than in Asian sites and significant genetic differentiation was found between the two. Our results suggest that C. angulata might have been introduced to the NE Atlantic by multiple introductory events, though the exact origins remain unknown since none of the analyzed Asian sites seemed to have been a source of introduction. The nucleotide diversity of C. angulata was higher than that previously reported for Pacific oyster C. gigas in Europe and Asia for the same mitochondrial region. The results obtained in the present study suggest that NE Atlantic C. angulata stocks are a unique genetic resource, which highlights the importance of their conservation

Performance of Glass Resistive Plate Chambers for a high granularity semi-digital calorimeter

A new design of highly granular hadronic calorimeter using Glass Resistive Plate Chambers (GRPCs) with embedded electronics has been proposed for the future International Linear Collider (ILC) experiments. It features a 2-bit threshold semi-digital read-out. Several GRPC prototypes with their electronics have been successfully built and tested in pion beams. The design of these detectors is presented along with the test results on efficiency, pad multiplicity, stability and reproducibility.Comment: 16 pages, 15 figure

Construction and commissioning of a technological prototype of a high-granularity semi-digital hadronic calorimeter

A large prototype of 1.3m3 was designed and built as a demonstrator of the semi-digital hadronic calorimeter (SDHCAL) concept proposed for the future ILC experiments. The prototype is a sampling hadronic calorimeter of 48 units. Each unit is built of an active layer made of 1m2 Glass Resistive Plate Chamber(GRPC) detector placed inside a cassette whose walls are made of stainless steel. The cassette contains also the electronics used to read out the GRPC detector. The lateral granularity of the active layer is provided by the electronics pick-up pads of 1cm2 each. The cassettes are inserted into a self-supporting mechanical structure built also of stainless steel plates which, with the cassettes walls, play the role of the absorber. The prototype was designed to be very compact and important efforts were made to minimize the number of services cables to optimize the efficiency of the Particle Flow Algorithm techniques to be used in the future ILC experiments. The different components of the SDHCAL prototype were studied individually and strict criteria were applied for the final selection of these components. Basic calibration procedures were performed after the prototype assembling. The prototype is the first of a series of new-generation detectors equipped with a power-pulsing mode intended to reduce the power consumption of this highly granular detector. A dedicated acquisition system was developed to deal with the output of more than 440000 electronics channels in both trigger and triggerless modes. After its completion in 2011, the prototype was commissioned using cosmic rays and particles beams at CERN.Comment: 49 pages, 41 figure

Malignant Catarrhal Fever Induced by Alcelaphine herpesvirus 1 Is Associated with Proliferation of CD8+ T Cells Supporting a Latent Infection

Alcelaphine herpesvirus 1 (AlHV-1), carried by wildebeest asymptomatically, causes malignant catarrhal fever (WD-MCF) when cross-species transmitted to a variety of susceptible species of the Artiodactyla order. Experimentally, WD-MCF can be induced in rabbits. The lesions observed are very similar to those described in natural host species. Here, we used the rabbit model and in vivo 5-Bromo-2′-Deoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation to study WD-MCF pathogenesis. The results obtained can be summarized as follows. (i) AlHV-1 infection induces CD8+ T cell proliferation detectable as early as 15 days post-inoculation. (ii) While the viral load in peripheral blood mononuclear cells remains below the detection level during most of the incubation period, it increases drastically few days before death. At that time, at least 10% of CD8+ cells carry the viral genome; while CD11b+, IgM+ and CD4+ cells do not. (iii) RT-PCR analyses of mononuclear cells isolated from the spleen and the popliteal lymph node of infected rabbits revealed no expression of ORF25 and ORF9, low or no expression of ORF50, and high or no expression of ORF73. Based on these data, we propose a new model for the pathogenesis of WD-MCF. This model relies on proliferation of infected CD8+ cells supporting a predominantly latent infection

Infrastructure for Detector Research and Development towards the International Linear Collider

The EUDET-project was launched to create an infrastructure for developing and testing new and advanced detector technologies to be used at a future linear collider. The aim was to make possible experimentation and analysis of data for institutes, which otherwise could not be realized due to lack of resources. The infrastructure comprised an analysis and software network, and instrumentation infrastructures for tracking detectors as well as for calorimetry.Comment: 54 pages, 48 picture

Measurements of Transverse Energy Flow in Deep-Inelastic Scattering at HERA

Measurements of transverse energy flow are presented for neutral current deep-inelastic scattering events produced in positron-proton collisions at HERA. The kinematic range covers squared momentum transfers Q^2 from 3.2 to 2,200 GeV^2, the Bjorken scaling variable x from 8.10^{-5} to 0.11 and the hadronic mass W from 66 to 233 GeV. The transverse energy flow is measured in the hadronic centre of mass frame and is studied as a function of Q^2, x, W and pseudorapidity. A comparison is made with QCD based models. The behaviour of the mean transverse energy in the central pseudorapidity region and an interval corresponding to the photon fragmentation region are analysed as a function of Q^2 and W.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Eur. Phys.