Relationships and the availability of credit to New Small Firms

We analyze the loans that startup firms obtain from banks by testing our predictions on a set of small, young Italian companies founded during the 1992-2004 period. According to our investigation, the amount of borrowing is determined by (1) the size of the firm, (2), the ability to offer collateral (3) perceived risk. Contrary to expectations, however, the length of the relationship with the lender has a weak influence.

Le attività imprenditoriali delle donne in Mali

Western african women have traditionally been quite autonomous in the pre-colonization period thanks to their trading businesses. More recently, the negative impact of structural adjustment programmes has further increased the number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) run by women. This study draws on about a hundred interviewes to women entrepreneurs carried out in two medium-sized cities of Mali in the beginning of 2004. The female activities are spread in all economic sectors and are mainly carried out to provide the family with an additional income.Married women support about one third of the family expenses and in particular their children’s education. Wives and husbands’ patterns of time use of are consistent with the evidence of many industrialized and developing countries. The entrepreneutrial activity appears to have an empowerment effect, especially when carried out within productive associations

Aluminum-Titanium Bilayer for Near-Infrared Transition Edge Sensors

Transition-edge sensors (TESs) are single photon detectors attractive for applications in quantum optics and quantum information experiments owing to their photon number resolving capability. Nowadays, high-energy resolution TESs for telecommunication are based on either W or Au/Ti films, demonstrating slow recovery time constants. We report our progress on the development of an Al/Ti TES. Since bulk aluminum has a critical temperature (Tc) of ca. 1.2 K and a sufficiently low specific heat (less than 10(-4) J/cm³K²), it can be employed to produce the sensitive material for optical TESs. Furthermore, exploiting its high Tc, Al-based TESs can be trimmed in a wider temperature range with respect to Ti or W. A first Al/Ti TES with a Tc ≈ 142 mK, investigated from a thermal and optical point of view, has shown a response time constant of about 2 μs and single photon discrimination with 0.34 eV energy resolution at telecom wavelength, demonstrating that Al/Ti films are suitable to produce TESs for visible and NIR photon counting.Transition-edge sensors (TESs) are single photon detectors attractive for applications in quantum optics and quantum information experiments owing to their photon number resolving capability. Nowadays, high-energy resolution TESs for telecommunication are based on either W or Au/Ti films, demonstrating slow recovery time constants. We report our progress on the development of an Al/Ti TES. Since bulk aluminum has a critical temperature (Tc) of ca. 1.2 K and a sufficiently low specific heat (less than 10(-4) J/cm³K²), it can be employed to produce the sensitive material for optical TESs. Furthermore, exploiting its high Tc, Al-based TESs can be trimmed in a wider temperature range with respect to Ti or W. A first Al/Ti TES with a Tc ≈ 142 mK, investigated from a thermal and optical point of view, has shown a response time constant of about 2 μs and single photon discrimination with 0.34 eV energy resolution at telecom wavelength, demonstrating that Al/Ti films are suitable to produce TESs for visible and NIR photon counting

Repeatability of the Aesthetic Index for adolescent scoliosis idiopathic evaluation

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Stem Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles and Immune-Modulation

Extra-cellular vesicles (EVs) are bilayer membrane structures enriched with proteins, nucleic acids and other active molecules and have been implicated in many physiological and pathological processes over the past decade. Recently, evidence suggests EVs to play a more dichotomic role in the regulation of the immune system, whereby an immune response may be enhanced or supressed by EVs depending on their cell of origin and its functional state. EVs derived from antigen (Ag)-presenting cells for instance, have been involved in both innate and acquired (or adaptive) immune responses, as Ag carriers or presenters, or as vehicles for delivering active signalling molecules. On the other hand, tumor and stem cell derived EVs have been identified to exert an inhibitory effect on immune responses by carrying immuno-modulatory effectors, such as transcriptional factors, non-coding RNA (Species) and cytokines. In addition, stem cell-derived EVs have also been reported to impair dendritic cell maturation and to regulate the activation, differentiation and proliferation of B cells. They have been shown to control natural killer cell activity and to suppress the innate immune response. Studies reporting the role of EVs on T lymphocyte modulation are controversial. Discrepancy in literature may be due to stem cell culture conditions, methods of EV purification, EV molecular content and functional state of both parental and target cells. However, mesenchymal stem cell-derived EVs were shown to play a more suppressive role by shifting T cells from an activated to a T regulatory phenotype. In this review we will discuss how stem cell-derived EVs may contribute towards the modulation of the immune response. Collectively, stem cell-derived EVs mainly exhibit an inhibitory effect on the immune system

Micro-SQUIDs based on MgB2 nano-bridges for NEMS readout

We show the results obtained from the fabrication and characterisation of MgB2 loops with two nano-bridges as superconducting weak links. These ring structures are made to operate as superconducting quantum interference devices and are investigated as readout system for cryogenics NEMS resonators. The nano-constrictions are fabricated by EBL and ion beam milling. The SQUIDs are characterised at different temperatures and measurements of the noise levels have been performed. The devices show high critical current densities and voltage modulations under applied magnetic field, close to the critical temperatures

PISA 2012 Ergebnisse: Was Schülerinnen und Schüler wissen und können - Schülerleistungen in Mathematik, Lesekompetenz und Naturwissenschaften. Bd. 1

The publication summarises pupils' results from the global school performance study PISA 2012. The main focus lies on the areas mathematics, sciences and reading competences. For the fifth time the PISA study provides an overview of the results of the participating countries within an economic and social context. The study, which the OECD (Organisation for economic cooperation and development) publishes every three years, makes the extensive data material from 64 countries comparable due to the specifically developed indicators. PISA 2012 is aimed at education ministers, scientists and at readers who would like to gain an insight into the effectiveness of one's own country as compared to the international standards.Der Band fasst die Ergebnisse der Schülerinnen und Schüler aus der weltweiten Schulleistungsstudie PISA 2012 zusammen. Der Schwerpunkt liegt auf den Bereichen Mathematik, Naturwissenschaften und Lesekompetenz. Die PISA-Studie betrachtet bereits zum fünften Mal die Ergebnisse der beteiligten Länder im wirtschaftlichen und sozialen Kontext. Die Studie, die von der Organisation für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (OECD) im Dreijahresturnus herausgegeben wird, macht das umfangreiche Datenmaterial aus 64 Ländern mit Hilfe von speziell entwickelten Indikatoren vergleichbar. PISA 2012 wendet sich an Bildungspolitiker, Wissenschaftler und an Leserinnen und Leser, die einen Überblick über die Leistungsfähigkeit des eigenen Landes im internationalen Vergleich gewinnen möchten