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The paper addresses the issue of maximising resistance of tribological system elements against wear in the conditions of dry friction. A method of virtually multiplying wear resistance of solid bodies, particularly metals, has been found. This effect appears where the temperature of a friction area is equal to the characteristic temperature, and thus markedly different than temperatures applied in typical tribological experiments. Increased wear resistance of a system of bodies is effected by a system transfer of material between surfaces of rubbing bodies and stabilisation of the friction coefficient. Resistance to abrasive wear in conditions of dry friction and oxidational wear was tested in selected frictional systems (specimens from steels C45 and counter-specimens from 145Cr6, in different structural states of the material). In order to identify composition and structure of the friction products and the types of ferrous compounds arising from friction present on the surface of rubbing components, especially secondary oxide structures, Mössbauer spectral analysis was applied. The wear testing required construction of an original test device to measure wear in conditions of formation and regulation of the isothermic limit of temperature variation at a precisely determined distance from a contact of rubbing bodies by means of release (by cooling) or supply (by heating) of heat energy.

My PhD thesis consists of three papers which study how interest rate products' prices react to both the central bank's policy goals and communication. As tool I make use of various econometric techniques such as affine models, general method of moments or Haar like filtering. The first chapter studies government bond excess term premia. I show that their predictability is driven by monetary policy. The long term impact of the central bank actions on risk free bonds returns are examined via a study of one year holding period for bond excess returns. The analysis demonstrates that the premia predictability increases for the bond maturities closer to respective central bank policy goals. I decompose macroeconomic data into transitory and persistent components of various frequencies to model monetary policy. I accommodate two effects in the single MP factor: slow persistent long term relation and short exogenous shocks, which produce a significant predictive power of bond excess returns. The second chapter focuses on the direct impact of Federal Open Market Committee meetings and policy announcements on the corporate bond market. In the case of FOMC announcements we obtain the probability of a good state, using 30-day Fed Funds futures transaction prices. We find that market makers protect themselves by adjusting the bid and offer prices depending on this probability. Additionally, we document very different behaviour across buy and sell sides in relation to mid prices. The last chapter shows how future monetary policy uncertainty, measured as the 30 day Fed funds futures signal to microstructure noise ratio, variation throughout a FOMC cycle (time period between two consecutive and scheduled meetings) leads to changes in returns and liquidity of the US corporate bond market. It shows that the FOMC communication generates two distinct corporate bond return regimes. I advocate that the cycle pattern, large and statistically significant excess bond returns only in even we

My PhD thesis consists of three papers which study how interest rate products' prices react to both the central bank's policy goals and communication. As tool I make use of various econometric techniques such as affine models, general method of moments or Haar like filtering. The first chapter studies government bond excess term premia. I show that their predictability is driven by monetary policy. The long term impact of the central bank actions on risk free bonds returns are examined via a study of one year holding period for bond excess returns. The analysis demonstrates that the premia predictability increases for the bond maturities closer to respective central bank policy goals. I decompose macroeconomic data into transitory and persistent components of various frequencies to model monetary policy. I accommodate two effects in the single MP factor: slow persistent long term relation and short exogenous shocks, which produce a significant predictive power of bond excess returns. The second chapter focuses on the direct impact of Federal Open Market Committee meetings and policy announcements on the corporate bond market. In the case of FOMC announcements we obtain the probability of a good state, using 30-day Fed Funds futures transaction prices. We find that market makers protect themselves by adjusting the bid and offer prices depending on this probability. Additionally, we document very different behaviour across buy and sell sides in relation to mid prices. The last chapter shows how future monetary policy uncertainty, measured as the 30 day Fed funds futures signal to microstructure noise ratio, variation throughout a FOMC cycle (time period between two consecutive and scheduled meetings) leads to changes in returns and liquidity of the US corporate bond market. It shows that the FOMC communication generates two distinct corporate bond return regimes. I advocate that the cycle pattern, large and statistically significant excess bond returns only in even we