The article studies the synthesis of a highly swelling polymer hydrogel based on the interaction of epichlorohydrin with HYPAN. There was analyzed the influence of temperature and the concentration of initial reagents on gelforming in the reaction mixture and swelling degree of the extracted hydrogel, also were established optimal conditions for hydrogel synthesis. The swelling kinetics of a hydrogel-based on HYPAN (hydrolyzed polyacrylonitrile) and epichlorohydrin were learned, and there was shown the optimum degree of grinding during the process of the hydrogel swelling in water. The article explains information on the synthesis of new macromolecular hydrogel based on HYPAN(hydrolyzed polyacrylonitrile) and CMTH (Carboxymethylcellulose) with new sewing agents, looked through synthesized products and determined their structure by various Physico-chemical and physic mechanical methods, shows the making and developing of industrial production of import-substituting products from local raw materials and industrial wastes to saturate the domestic market. The resulted hydrogel is used where there is not enough water, in places where the earth is rich in salts, to save mineral fertilizer and other spheres for the complete or partial solution of the problems.


This paper presents a dedicated hardware design for the DC and Chroma from Luma (CFL) intra-prediction modes of AV1 decoder. The hardware was designed to reach real-time when processing UHD 4K videos. The AV1 codec is an open-source and royalties-free video coding, which was developed by the AOMedia group, this group is composed of multiple companies like Google, Netflix, AMD, ARM, Intel, Nvidia, Microsoft, Mozilla and others. The proposed solution can support all 19 block sizes allowed in AV1 encoder, being able to process UHD 4K videos at 60 frames per second. The DC/CFL modules were synthesized to the TSMC 40 nm cells library targeting the frequency of 132.1 MHz. Synthesis results show the proposed hardware used 89.39 Kgates and a power dissipation of 7.96mW.


A magnetic levitation lab set is used to illustrate the performance limitation of a control system design.It is pointed out that the stability of a magnetic levitation system can be treated thoroughly by using the linearization equations,therefore the performance of the system becomes the main concern of the design.But the system performance(sensitivity) is limited by the Bode's integral theorem.The influence of the horizontal floating of the ball on the system bandwidth is also discussed.The achievable minimum of the sensitivity of the maglev system is obtained by using the Bode theorem and is verified by experiments.Based on the integral constraint,the achievable performance of the system can be predicted during the design stage,and it is meaningful for practical applications.


The 63.5mm×127mm UT 1X reticle is introduced, which is compatible with the original76.2mm×127mm UT 1X reticle on the same UltraTech stepper. Relevant data handling and toolutilities are modified to adapt the manufacture of this new type photomask. The throughput of the127mm×127mm blank is doubled and the manufacture procedure is accelerated with less castoff.Thus the cost is reduced and it is good for the environment protection too.


The Variable Block Row (VBR) format is an influential blocked sparse matrix format designed to represent shared sparsity structure between adjacent rows and columns. VBR consists of groups of adjacent rows and columns, storing the resulting blocks that contain nonzeros in a dense format. This reduces the memory footprint and enables optimizations such as register blocking and instruction-level parallelism. Existing approaches use heuristics to determine which rows and columns should be grouped together. We adapt and optimize a dynamic programming algorithm for sequential hypergraph partitioning to produce a linear time algorithm which can determine the optimal partition of rows under an expressive cost model, assuming the column partition remains fixed. Furthermore, we show that the problem of determining an optimal partition for the rows and columns simultaneously is NP-Hard under a simple linear cost model.
To evaluate our algorithm empirically against existing heuristics, we introduce the 1D-VBR format, a specialization of VBR format where columns are left ungrouped. We evaluate our algorithms on all 1626 real-valued matrices in the SuiteSparse Matrix Collection. When asked to minimize an empirically derived cost model for a sparse matrix-vector multiplication kernel, our algorithm produced partitions whose 1D-VBR realizations achieve a speedup of at least 1.18 over an unblocked kernel on 25% of the matrices, and a speedup of at least 1.59 on 12.5% of the matrices. The 1D-VBR representation produced by our algorithm had faster SpMVs than the 1D-VBR representations produced by any existing heuristics on 87.8% of the test matrices.


The invention relates to a photoactivatable compound comprising a support molecule which is selected from among non-polymeric carbon and/or sulphur and/or nitrogen and/or phosphorous compounds, polymers and oligomers. At least two entities are covalently linked to the support molecule, said entities containing chemical groups which, after irradiation of between 200 and 450 nm, are transformed into reactive species that can react with chemical groups belonging to other molecules. The invention also relates to a cosmetic composition comprising at least one photoactivatable compound in accordance with the invention and to a cosmetic treatment method using said composition.


Objective : The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of Bee Venom on the lipopolysaccharide, sodium nitroprusside and hydrogen peroxide induced expression phospholipase and calcium concentration in RAW 264.7 cells, a murine macrophage cell line. Method : The expression of phospholipase was determined by western blotting with corresponding antibodies, and the generation of intracellular calcium concentration was investigated by delta scan system in RAW 264.7 cells. Results : 1. Compared with control, expressions of lipopolysaccharide-induced phospholipase were decreased significantly by of bee venom and decreased by 0.5, of bee venom. 2. Compared with control, expressions of sodium nitroprusside-induced phospholipase were decreased significantly by of bee venom but increased by 0.5, of bee venom. 3. Compared with control, expressions of hydrogen peroxide-induced phospholipase were decreased significaltly by of bee venom and decreased by of bee venom but increased by of bee venom. 4. Compared with control, lipopolysaccharide, sodium nitroprusside and hydrogen peroxide- induced intracellular calcium concentrations were decreased by 0.5, 1, of bee venom and by indomethacin


A 28-year-old patient on oral contraceptives was tested for blood pressure during 30 months with irregular blind intervals with and without the medication. A clear and statistically significant increase in blood pressure was observed during the periods of medication; decrease in blood pressure during periods without medication occurred with a latent period of several weeks. 577 similar reported cases in the literature confirm this relationship between hypertension and oral contraceptives in specifically disposed women (those with present or anamnestic hypertension kidney disorders latent diabetes and women over 30). Changes in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system and a direct stimulation of the myocardia are considered possible causes. In such cases it is recommended that the blood pressure be checked routinely before starting oral contraceptives and then every 3-6 months. In women complaining of weight gain headaches or dizziness blood pressure control is particularly important. In hypertonic women a trial period should be made before starting oral contraceptives and blood pressure control therapy continued during the latent period after medication ceases. Oral contraceptives are contraindicated in women with vascular or heart disorders


The Church was not founded at Pentecost, as is sometimes said, but by Christ during the course of his ministry in Galilee and Judea. It was he who appointed the twelve to become what today, perhaps, would be called teaching officers, and who commissioned the seventy as a corps of evangelistic missioners. In the ancient world religious knowledge was sometimes committed to sacred writings, sometimes to a school of ideas, sometimes to a priestly caste or an assemblage of cultic observances, and sometimes it emerged episodically through the translations of oracles. Christ, in contrast, revealed his truth to a living company of people—'the People of God—who, after his corporeal departure, became his body on earth. Precisely because the message was thus conveyed organically it remained permanently new: able to adapt to changing intellectual modes and social filtration, capable of bringing forward fresh insights in the successive cultural shifts of a progressive humanity. Written texts do not transmit truth of themselves: they require re-interpretation, over long periods of time, if they are to achieve durable meaning. Priestly castes have the disadvantage of imploding into small coteries of exclusivity; they frequently become a mere adjunct of ruling elites. Philosophical systems tend to die when the surrounding culture to which they originally related transforms itself or disintegrates. But a living body of people, at the centre of whose religious insights is not a set of ideas but a person, has the verifiable capability of enduring through the centuries, forever changing yet forever the same.


Risk factors and prevention of suicidal behaviour in children and adolescents Suicide behavior in children and adolescents is a leading cause of injury and death in the paediatric age group. Recent statistics indicate that the num ber of suicides and suicide-related events in adolescents has risen in past few years. Boys succeed in their suicide attempts more frequently than girls, mainly because they use more lethal m eth ods, such as firearms or hanging. Girls generally attem pt suicide by ingesting pills and are more frequently resuscitated. According to the literature, there are following risk factors o f suicide: demographic, psychological, psychiatric, economic, bilogical. In formation about the epidemiology and risk factors o f such behavior is im portant for


This paper proposes new formulas for the probabilities of causation difined by Pearl (2000). Tian and Pearl (2000a, 2000b) showed how to bound the quantities of the probabilities of causation from experimental and observational data, under the minimal assumptions about the data-generating process. We derive narrower bounds than Tian-Pearl bounds by making use of the covariate information measured in experimental and observational studies. In addition, we provide identifiable case under no-prevention assumption and discuss the covariate selection problem from the viewpoint of estimation accuracy. These results are helpful in providing more evidence for public policy assessment and dicision making problems.


Structures and methods of protection of the membrane on the pressure sensor (membrane (membranes)). One example is to provide a pressure sensor having a backside cavity (backside cavity) defining a frame (frame) in the bottom of the membrane formed in the device layer. The pressure sensor may further include a cap coupled to the device layer (cap) by binding layer. Recess for reference cavity (reference cavity (reference cavity)) (recess (Recess)), the cap may be formed in one or more of the parts of the binding layer and the membrane or other device layers. Recesses, at least a first direction may have a width smaller than the width of the back cavity. In another example, the recess, it can be shaped to have an outer edge which is inside the outer edge of the back cavity. This may enhance the binding of the device layer and the frame. Recesses may define a device layer and the back cavity spaced active membrane from the junction (active layer (active membrane)).


Culture represent the overall of idea system, action and result are masterpiece of human being in life society. Form and content of culture, according to anthropologist at least has three forms (1) ideas, (2) activities and (3) artifacts. The form of culture are interactive each other. The most abstract system (ideas) looks like stay in the top of system to arrange social system activity more concrete, while the activities in social system yield the material culture (artifact). To ask about Nusantara fine arts, it will not release the Nusantara artifact culture result. Nusantara artifact culture in Java societies represent the expression of Java culture according to the philosophy and the culture system of values its self. Keyword: culture, philosophy,


Real-time monitoring instrumentation has been developed to measure halogen acid gases and their aerosols resulting from the thermal breakdown of halogenated fire suppression agents under live fire testing conditions. This halogen acid gas analyzer is designed to measure HF, HCl, HBr, and HI simultaneously. Linear response is indicated from laboratory generated gases and aerosols of each of the acids from a few mg/m3 to several thousand mg/m3. has the capability of extending the extraction module up to 2 m from the monitor, thus minimizing instrumentation losses should the test conditions become too hostile. It


Addition compound suitable as a wetting and dispersing agent and obtainable from the reaction of A) polyepoxides with B) at least one aliphatic and/or araliphatic primary amine of the general formula I H2N-R I where R is alkyl, cycloalkyl, aryl and aralkyl, and where the primary amine may also carry further functional groups selected from -OH, tertiary amine or carboxyl, and subsequent addition reaction of C) at least one modified isocyanate of the general formula IIa and/or IIb where R3 is alkyl, cycloalkyl, aryl or aralkyl, R1 and R2 independently of one another are H, alkyl and/or aryl, X is alkylene, cycloalkylene and/or aralkylene, Y is alkylene and/or cycloalkylene and n and m are independent of one another, the sum n+m being >=2, to form a urethane.


In this richly detailed and comprehensive account of environmental organizations in post-Soviet Russia, Laura A. Henry delivers an insightful analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the many green groups to emerge during the post-Soviet era and the challenges they face in sustaining a vibrant movement. Red to Green delivers an important contribution to the field of contemporary Russian politics by utilizing the environmental movement to illustrate the growth of civil society and the strategies used by civic organizations to overcome the institutional and normative barriers created by the legacy of Soviet rule. Given the deplorable state of the Russian Federation's environment, a strong environmental movement would seem a logical outcome of the internationally desired democratization and participation in civil society among the Russian citizenry. Yet as Henry is careful to point out, participation in social movement organizations is not always a natural consequence of environmental grievances, and in order for green groups to survive, they must make use of preexisting norms, institutions, and social networks that both enable and constrain their efforts to advocate for a safe and healthy environment.


Recently, the example-based super-resolution method has been extensively studied due to its vivid perception. However, this kind of method directly transfers the high-frequency details of the examples to the low-resolution image, incurring false structures and over-sharpness around the texture regions. In this paper, the problem in the example-based method is investigated from an analytic discussion. Then we propose a super-resolution method that reconstructs sharp edges using the redundancy properties. The super-resolution problem is formulated as a unified regularization scheme which adaptively emphasizes the importance of high-frequency residuals in structural examples and scale invariant fractal property in textural regions. The experimental results show that the high-lights of our method exist in the enhanced visual quality with sharp edges, natural textures and few artifacts.


This article focuses only on the basic aspects of asphalt emulsions: history, composition, classification, production, application, and selection. The author hopes that this article will not only increase contractor knowledge of the products they use that contain asphalt emulsion but will also spur readers onto further study of this topic. An extensive amount of technical information has been written on the subject over the past several decades. Key reference texts are listed at the end of the article.


A new species belonging to Masdevallia section Racemosae is described from South-Western Colombia. It is very similar to Masdevallia racemosa, the only other member of the section, with which it shares the characteristic repent habit, loose multi-flowered inflorescence, and striking red-orange flowers. However, Masdevallia mirandae can be distinguished by the adaxially hispid sepals and the elliptic petals with a rounded apex. The new species is restricted to The Farallones de Cali National Natural Park and its populations are threatened by illegal mining activities.


The results of observations and modeling of the ionosphere parameters in periods of the severe troposphere weather events in October 2017, 2018 are presented. We analyze variations in the F2-layer critical frequency (foF2), in the total electron content (TEC), in the sporadic E-layer critical frequency during meteorology disturbances in the troposphere. It was shown that the meteorology storms can influence on the ionosphere parameters through the gravity waves (GWs). The GWs generated in the meteorology storm area can propagate into upper atmosphere and ionosphere. The GWs dissipation leads to the formation of disturbances in the thermospheric state at spatial scales that are determined by the duration and spatial dimensions of the region located in the meteorological disturbance zone. To interpret the observed disturbances in the upper atmosphere, the experimental measurements are compared with the results of model calculations obtained with the Global Self-Consistent Model of Thermosphere— Ionosphere—Protonosphere (GSM TIP).


Rapid advancement and innovation of new technologies have led to global revolution on how governments carry out their businesses. Information Communication Technology(ICT) tools used to re-invent the public sector, have led to unprecedented benefits to government, compelling most countries both developed and undeveloped to embrace egovernment. Government agencies are deploying new ICT systems with specifications and solutions relevant to their particular requirements. However, they are not paying attention to the need to connect exchange and re-use data within systems, leading to weak interoperability in government. To address the issue of weak interoperability, we developed egovernment architecture to enable smooth deployment of interoperable systems between national and county governments. E-government architecture acts as an information management and planning tool to enable government optimize their ICT assets by rigorously analyzing, and identifying strategic opportunities from its various lines of business and business information. This enables the development of appropriate software applications in-line with technology investments. The exploratory research design and case analyses were used. The output of this research was designed egovernment architecture for a devolved government; county and national government.


In order to improve maneuvering perfomance of the steam powered large ships under special circumstances such as naval battle,avoidance of close collision and so on,to ensure that the boiler drum water level fluctuates at a range of prescribed requirement,it is necessary to lower the water level transient overshooting and to reduce the error in steady-state.Based on the SVM model predictive control(MPC) algorithm,by combining the advantages of model predictive control and cascade control,the boiler drum water level control strategy is proposed.The model predictive control is used in the inner loop to eliminatethe disturbance of feed water flow rapidly,as well as structure invariance principle based on feedforward compensation control is used in outer loop to solve the perpyurbation of steam flow.At the same time the strong robustness of MPC ensures the system still has good quality of regulation under the changes of the object characteristics.The simulation results show that the control strategy is effective and is really practicable.


Abstract: Danhong injection (DHI), a certificated Chinese medical product made from radix salviae miltiorrhizae and flos carthami, is prescribed to patients with coronary heart disease in China. To investigate if DHI can inhibit atherosclerosis, apolipoprotein E–deficient (Apoe−/−) or low-density lipoprotein receptor–deficient (Ldlr−/−) mice on high-fat diet were divided into 2 groups and received daily intraperitoneal injection of saline and DHI, respectively, for 16 or 20 weeks. After the treatment, mouse aortas were collected to determine lesions, expression of adenosine triphosphate–binding cassette transporter A1 and tumor necrosis factor-&agr; (TNF-&agr;), and macrophage accumulation. Additionally, serum lipid profiles and expression of hepatic HMG-CoA reductase messenger RNA and low-density lipoprotein receptor protein were determined. We observed that DHI inhibited lesions in both Apoe−/− and Ldlr−/− mice. Associated with the decreased lesions, the aortic adenosine triphosphate–binding cassette transporter A1 expression was increased, whereas the macrophage accumulation was decreased in male Apoe−/− mice and both male and female Ldlr−/− mice. Although DHI reduced HMG-CoA reductase messenger RNA expression in both female Apoe−/− and Ldlr−/− mice, it decreased low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels only in female Apoe−/− mice. In addition to attenuation of lipopolysaccharide-induced expression of TNF-&agr;, IL-1&bgr;, IL-6 in macrophages, and human C-reactive protein in hepatocytes, respectively, at the transcriptional level in vitro, DHI also reduced TNF-&agr; protein expression in aortic root of both Apoe−/− and Ldlr−/− mice, suggesting the importance of the anti-inflammatory properties of DHI in the inhibition of lesion development. Taken together, our study demonstrates that DHI inhibits atherosclerosis in both Apoe−/− and Ldlr−/− mice with various mechanisms, including anti-inflammation. The inhibition of atherosclerosis can be attributed to the cardioprotective properties of DHI.


The invention provides walnut sweet potato powder. The walnut sweet potato powder is prepared by batching and mixing the following components in percentage by weight: 65%-75% of sweet potato whole flour, 10%-20% of vegetable fat powder and 10%-20% of walnut powder. When the walnut sweet potato powder provided by the invention is used for preparing walnut sweet potato powder baked products, a preparation method is simple, convenient and fast, the batching process is completed by adding quantitative hot water to the walnut sweet potato powder, the raw material pretreatment processes such as sweet potato peeling, slicing and cooking and the trouble caused by weighing each raw material, mixing the raw materials and preparation are omitted, and the preparation process is greatly simplified. As the walnut sweet potato powder provided by the invention is a powdery product, the walnut sweet potato powder is relatively easy to store. The walnut sweet potato powder baked products prepared from the walnut sweet potato powder provided by the invention have attractive appearance, fine and smooth mouth feel, full-bodied roasted sweet potato empyreumatique and walnut fragrance and are baked products which are good in the color, the fragrance and the taste.


This paper proposesa thermal treatment or a metal pieces. For that case we use the eddy current treatment method of gear used in a conveyor by using an inductor with circular section. We have some problems like: thermal diffusion coupled with eddy currents. The problems was solve with FLUX 2D software package.


Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with huge-capacity batteries could be employed to wirelessly charge the ground sensor users (GSUs) and enhance the coverage of aerial wireless networks in outdoor Internet of Things (IoT). This paper investigates the information and energy coverage of UAV-enabled simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) networks. Both power splitting (PS) and time switching (TS) receiver architectures are considered. By using stochastic geometry approach, the general and explicit expressions of the information coverage probability (ICP), the energy coverage probability ( ECP) and the joint information and energy coverage probability (JIECP) are derived under the nonlinear and linear energy harvesting (EH) models, respectively. Particularly, the Laplace transform and the probability generating functional (PGFL) are used to derive the ICP. And, Campbell's theorem and the maximum function are applied to obtain the ECP and the JIECP, respectively. To achieve the optimal UAVs' deployment density, the maximization optimization problems are formulated for the PS-based and TS-based systems, respectively. By using the series expansion of Q(x) (Q-function) with large x, the closed-form approximating optimal solutions to the formulated problems are obtained. Monte Carlo simulations validate the correction of our obtained theoretical results, and numerical results show that the performance of the PS-based system is superior to that of the TS-based one. Moreover, when the energy requirement of GSUs or the transmit power of UAVs is relatively large, or when the information requirement of GSUs or the UAV deployment density is relatively small, compared with the nonlinear EH model, the analysis bias caused by traditional linear EH model is relatively large and in these cases, traditional linear EH model cannot be used to replace the nonlinear EH one for the system performance analysis or optimal system design.


How international research collaboration (IRC) activities of a country are evaluated can have a marked influence on policy and research funding decisions. This thesis explores this topic in three stages: first, the relevant literature on international research collaboration measurement (IRCM) is reviewed; following the review, the roles of three elements relevant to IRCM are explored, namely, data sources, measures, and indicators; finally, the findings are used to propose recommendations for using these elements when evaluating IRC. This thesis is beneficial in the contemporary academic landscape. Most academics are aware of the inequities that are systemically ingrained by the numerous metrics that are used to measure academic impact and excellence. These metrics may reflect inherent biases as they can be manipulated by individuals or countries seeking to improve their evaluation outcomes by capitalising on specific opportunities. Therefore, these metrics foster harmful competition and artificial elitism, and disadvantage marginalised communities and countries. This thesis challenges the common conception in IRCM that anything can be measured easily and sheds light on the fact that the way measurements are conducted influences the outcomes and as a result can have real-world consequences (e.g., how countries would be ranked according to international collaborative research activities).
This thesis consists of scientific papers that are combined into a larger research project, and is organised into three parts. Part 1 introduces the literature and fundamentals of the research. Part 2 presents empirical studies. Part 3 synthesises the results and features an overall conclusion to the thesis.
Part 1 includes an introductory chapter and literature reviews. The introduction chapter outlines the motivation, questions, and methodology that guide the overall project. Chapter 2 is the literature review chapter, which includes a scoping review study, a main path analysis paper, and a systematic review study. The scoping review can be considered exploratory research to identify the research topics and gaps in the IRCM domain. The main path analysis represents the next step to explore the development of knowledge surrounding these research topics individually. The systematic review inspects the approaches of combining different elements in IRCM.
Part 2 consists of empirical studies of the roles of the three important elements in IRCM: data sources, measures, and indicators. Chapter 3 consists of three scientific papers, each describing a study, that explores the role of data sources in IRCM. The first study establishes a method to resolve and complete authors' country affiliation data in bibliographic records, because missing country affiliation information is a problem for the accuracy of IRCM in both research and practice. The method proposed in that paper is then applied in the empirical studies that follow within the thesis. The second study explores the general effects of data set choices on measuring IRC, and the third study then assesses the quality of bibliographic data sources to evaluate and determine the most suitable data sources for measuring IRC. Chapter 4 then focuses on how the measures impact IRCM results and thus study outcomes, consisting of two papers describing one study each. The first study analyses how two different underlying methods of counting collaborations – whole count and fractional count – affect the results of IRCM. The second study assesses the effect of three approaches to choosing measures of IRC on the results of IRCM - absolute strength, bilateral similarity, and multilateral similarity - in IRCM. Chapter 5 focuses on empirical studies about the role of indicators in IRCM, consisting of two papers (again one study each). The first study examines the effects of different factors on IRC indicators: the country of the collaborators and the discipline of the publication are examined for their effect on asymmetric co-authorship relationships between countries. The second study examines the relationships between the primary indicators of IRC: the co-publications and co-patents are investigated to see how they affect each other over time.
Part 3 comprises a synthesis chapter and a conclusion chapter. Chapter 6 synthesises the roles of different elements and proposes a general measurement model of indicators in IRCM. The thesis concludes with a chapter outlining the conclusions and contributions of the above scientific papers in information science theory, methodology, and practice.


Lacunar strokes are small, deep brain infarcts typically associated with restricted clinical symptoms such as isolated unilateral weakness or sensory


RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES.Chemoembolization, using a combination of embolic and chemotherapeutic agents, appears to be an effective treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma. Although the postulated mechanism of effectiveness hinges on a prolonged drug delivery, increasing evidence suggests that embolization mixtures are not stable. The objective of this study was to investigate examples of these mixtures. METHODS.Dialysis techniques have been used to examine the pharmacokinetic properties of chemoembolization mixtures that contain doxorubicin, Lipiodol (Guerbet Products, Montreal, Quebec), and the embolizing agents Avitene (Alcon Laboratories Inc., Fort Worth, Texas), Gelfoam (Upjohn, Kalamazoo, MI), and Angiostat (Regional Therapeutic Inc., Pacific Palisades, CA). RESULTS.Lipiodol, Gelfoam, and Avitene, when combined with doxorubicin, had only a small effect on the diffusion of the drug when compared with the diffusion curve of doxorubicin alone. Gelfoam or Avitene produced a thrombus-like consistency when added to a doxorubicin/Lipiodol combination, and an additional decrease in the doxorubicin appearance rate was observed. However, after 6 hours, doxorubicin levels for these mixtures reached control values observed in 3 hours. Angiostat without Lipiodol produced a profound concentration-dependent decrease in the diffusion of doxorubicin. After 9 hours, only 23% of the doxorubicin had been released. CONCLUSION.The strong complexing ability of the embolic agent Angiostat may enable it to be a carrier for doxorubicin and surpass other mixtures currently employed for transcatheter chemoembolization


ABSTRACT Age and growth of a dominant lanternfish Ceratoscopelus warmingii in the South China Sea were investigated based on sagittal otolith microstructure of juvenile and adult specimens collected in June 2015. The length–weight (L-W) relationship for C. warmingii was Wf  = 0.00000814 L 3.1170 (females) and Wm  = 0.00001071 L 3.3043 (males), revealing both positive allometric growth and non-significant difference between the sexes. Three distinct zones of the otolith microstructure were depicted, a central zone (CZ), middle zone (MZ) and external zone (EZ). Age was estimated by summing the daily growth increments in otolith sections on the assumption of daily deposition. The von Bertalanffy models of females and males were fitted as Lf  = 75.9 [1−exp{−0.0074 (t−14.1)}] and Lm  = 65.0[1−exp{−0.0097 (t−7.6)}], respectively. The maximum growth rates estimated were 0.319 mm day−1 for females and 0.345 mm day−1 for males, and thereafter the growth rate decreased with age. The back-calculated hatching date of specimens collected was determined as from August of last year to March of next year with a peak in winter. Theoretical maximum growth of C. warmingii appeared to occur near the metamorphic period.


This article analyzes the change in municipal administrative efficiency in the post-merger period using the data of 92 municipalities in Ibaraki prefecture for the period 1979–2004. For this purpose, the authors employ a nonparametric programming method to compute a data envelopment analysis (DEA)/Malmquist indices (MI). These indices are decomposed into two component measures, namely, catch-up (CU) and frontier shift (FS) indices. The authors found that the administrative efficiency in Ibaraki prefecture in the post-merger period was monotonically regressed; however, the efficiency scores of merging municipalities were found to be higher than those of nonmerging ones. Scale change did not necessarily contribute to an efficiency change in the post-merger period. In the short run, scale affected Tsukuba city, which was formed by consolidating smaller municipalities.


The model of this thesis simulates a simple artificial eco-system in which evolving and learning agents try to survive by consuming balls of energy and surviving attacks by other agents. The study ...


Religious experience is one of the main contents of the religious consciousness which is the subject of religious psychology.Floyd explains the issue of mysterious experience in religion from the viewpoint of psychology for the first time,sets up the X model in his theory,revealing mysterious experiences such as " unity of man and god",which is in fact a kind of human sub-consciousness.This indicates that psychology is "a dangerous partner " of theology.The setting-up of Floyd's X model enable people to cognize the psychological subconscious theory scientifically and treat it in a correct way,which is beneficial to the construction of the new subject of religious psychology.


In the light of linkages in various scales and targets, the complex and nuanced design of the sustainable development goals (SDG) raises more challenges in their implementation on the ground. This paper reviewed 25 food security indicators, proposed improvements to facilitate operationalization, and illustrated practical implementation. The research focused on three essential blind spots that arise from the potential interactions between sustainable food production, consumption, and domestic material consumption (DMC). Projection of latent structure regression was applied to link food security and sustainable development goals. Findings revealed that the key target in reducing trade-offs was the integration of DMC with sustainable food production and consumption. DMC was positively correlated with the creation of coherent SDG strategies and sustainable food security. Practical implications were discussed by highlighting how to achieve food security across contrasting development contexts and the challenges of addressing the links between targets and indicators within and beyond SDGs 2 and 12. The results are useful for setting a proper strategy for sustainable production and consumption that can improve the efficient use of resources in the eight Central European countries.


To make comparison among gasification technology in China. One of the competitive factors for coal gasification project is to take overall consideration on selected technology in terms of liability and advantages,investment and operation fee,environmental protection input and social benefit.


Health took office, with the sorry happenings that have followed in her wake. Frank Law, who has been part of Moorfields ever since the first war (when he overlapped with Treacher Collins), helping, and still continuing to help, in so many capacities, was the obvious choice of author; and the book is clear, comprehensive, and indeed a model for the future historians of our great medical institutions. It must have been a problem to fumish a record of so much change, to catalogue the evolution of all the new departments that have emerged, to give life to all those shadowy personalities that crowded on to the stage, particularly when in I948 the Central London Ophthalmic Hospital was engulfed, the Institute started, and the 'Royal Westminster' at High Holborn united. Thereafter the changes and emergent departments in the last are decently appended (a resume of the history of the Royal Westminster from i8i6 to 1948 would have been a welcome addition to the record). And, above all, how difficult it must have been to condense that endless stream of minutes which formed the body of the record, with their depressing official jargon, their impersonal tones and passive tenses, their prolixity and stuffiness. One is grateful for the occasional anecdote and fleeting aside. Without them (and one longs for more) it would be rather like reading Bradshaw-an important record, but undeniably heavy going. Even so the biographical sketches of the main characters tend to read like the pious obituary notices from which many of his accounts were doubtless drawn. For they all


Tradenz hard business networks concept developed based on Danish initiative provide a means of companies grouping together to access overseas investment. These networks help the New Zealand companies to collaborate with other companies by helping them build relationships for the sustainable economic and political future.


Rezafungin (RZF) is a novel echinocandin antifungal (Figure 1) in development for treatment of candidemia and invasive candidiasis, and for prevention of invasive fungal diseases caused by Candida, Aspergilllus, and Pneumocystis (Figure 2). Vulnerable patient populations may receive antifungal prophylaxis with risks of drug-drug interactions (DDIs) that can alter the pharmacokinetics (PK) of immunosuppressive or anticancer agents. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of RZF on cyclosporine (CY), mycophenolate mofetil (MM), venetoclax (VX), and ibrutinib (IB). Figure 1.Structure of RezafunginFigure 2.Rezafungin Phase 3 Program

 A Phase 1, open-label study of 32 healthy inpatients (16 males [Group 1], 16 females [Group 2]) was conducted to assess DDIs between RZF (as perpetrator) and CY 200 mg, MM 500 mg (males only), IB 280 mg, or VX 50 mg (females only). Each was given alone and w/ IV RZF (1 h infusion; 400 mg followed by once-weekly 200 mg) with a suitable washout period between dosing (Figure 3). Validated LC-MS/MS methodology was used to determine plasma concentrations of mycophenolic acid, IB, VX and CY. Figure 3.Open-Label, Phase 1, DDI Study Design

 The PK of all 4 drugs were similar w/ and w/o RZF. Comparison of the exposure (AUC and Cmax) of the drugs given alone or w/ RZF is presented in Table 1. There were no clinically meaningful changes in exposure.
 Overall, all study drugs were well tolerated. Ten subjects (29.4%) experienced adverse events (AEs) following the administration of the substrate drugs alone and 15 subjects (46.9%) experienced AEs for the substrate drugs w/RZF. There were no deaths or serious adverse events. The most commonly reported AEs were headache and nausea. The majority of AEs were of mild intensity. Two subjects had one severe AE each (abdominal pain related to both RZF and VX and esophagitis related to CY). No trends in safety laboratory results were identified. Table 1.Summary of Statistical Comparisons of Cyclosporine, Mycophenolic Acid, Ibrutinib and Venetoclax Pharmacokinetic Parameters Following Administration of Cylosporine (200 mg), Mycophenolate Mofetil (500 mg), Ibrutinib (280 mg), and Venetoclax (50 mg) alone and in Combination with Rezafungin

 Once weekly IV administration of RZF w/ single doses of CY, IB, MM and VX did not result in any clinically meaningful change in the exposure of the concomitant medications. No dose adjustments of CY, MM, IB, or VX are expected to be necessary when given in combination w/ RZF.
 The administration of RZF 400 mg followed by 2 once weekly doses of 200 mg, coadministered w/ CY, IB, and MM or VX, in healthy subjects was considered generally well-tolerated with an acceptable safety profile.

 Shawn Flanagan, PhD, Cidara Therapeutics: Employee|Cidara Therapeutics: Stocks/Bonds Taylor Sandison, MD, MPH, Cidara Therapeutics: Employee|Cidara Therapeutics: Stocks/Bonds.


Objective To evaluate magnifying endoscopy combined with narrow-band imaging ( ME- NBI) for diagnosis of early gastric cancer (EGC). Methods A total of 150 focal lesions from 143 patients over 35 years old identified by white light endoscopy (WLE) from March 2010 to December 2010 in our tertiary referential institution were recruited in the prospective study with written informed consent. Focal lesions were defined as any small local mucosa with abnormal shape or color based on an assessment of findings of WLE without any specified criteria, including superficial, depressed and elevated lesions. The patients with local advanced gastric cancer, submucosal lesions and history of gastrectomy were excluded from the study. All the patients received ME-NBI. Based on literature, national criteria of early diagnosis with ME- NBI were established. All the lesions underwent biopsy and pathological examination. Diagnostic accuracy of ME-NBI for EGC was assessed with reference to histopathology. Results In 150 focal lesions, 19 were pathologically diagnosed as EGC, 8 of which were treated by endoscopic resection and 11 were resected surgically. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (pPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and accuracy of conventional WLE for diagnosing EGC were 94. 7%, 53.4%, 22. 8%, 98.6% and 58.7%, respectively. The counterparts of ME-NBI for diagnosing EGC were 73.7%, 99. 2%, 93.3% , 96. 3% and 96. 0%, respectively. The diagnostic accuracy of ME-NBI was significantly better than that of conventional WLE (96.0% vs. 58. 7%, P 〈0.05). With regard to the findings of EGC on ME-NBI, irregular or absent microsurface pattern and mierovascular pattern were characteristic features of EGC. Conclusion Conventional WLE is still an important and mandatory screening modality, which is significant for further procedures of suspected lesions, preferably accompanied with biopsy. ME-NBI achieved superior accuracy in the differential diagnosis of focal lesions detected with conventional WLE, but needs further verification.

Key words:
Early diagnosis;  Stomach neoplasms;  Magnifying endoscopy;  Narrow-band imaging


This research asserted the use of new ionic liquids as advantageous when performing organic transformations. This began with the characterisation of these liquids and included examples of organic synthesis achieved rapidly in mild conditions, outperforming methods previously observed in the literature.


In the oil supply chain, the refined petroleum products are transported by various transportation modes, such as rail, road, vessel and pipeline. The latter provides one of the safest and cheapest ways to connect production areas to local markets. This paper addresses the operational scheduling of a multi-product tree-like pipeline connecting several refineries to multiple distribution centers under demand uncertainty. A new deterministic mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model is first presented, and then a  two-stage stochastic model is proposed. The aim of this model is to meet depot requirements at the minimum total cost including pumping and stoppages costs. The efficiency and utility of the proposed model is shown by two numerical examples, which one of them uses the industrial and real data.


Two elements have characterized the rewards for public officials in the past two decades. One is the erosion of pay and perquisites in many democratic countries. The other is a continuing variety of rewards, especially when compared to those in the private sector. Using data from a variety of OECD countries and the European Union, this article investigates alternative explanations for these two elements. The data is adjusted for purchasing power of the different currencies and then related to the relative wealth of the countries. We find that ideas, interests and institutions all have some explanatory power, but that none is sufficient by itself to explain either variety or erosion in pay across the range of countries. The policy implications of these findings, in terms of both "how" and "how much" public officials should be paid, are also examined.


The determinants of adaptation strategies to climate change by farmers in sub-Saharan Africa have generated considerable development interest. From a policy perspective, it is important to document the experiences of farming communities in adapting to climate change, in order to determine suitable adaptation options for the future. The objective of this study was to analyse adaptation and coping strategies to climate change, and ascertain the factors influencing adaptation by farmers in Osun State, Nigeria. A multi-stage random sampling technique was used to select 180 households; while descriptive statistics and multinomial logit (MNL) were used to analyse the household data collected. The results show that the most widely used adaptation and coping strategies included diversifying household income sources, sharing planting materials and land in case of crisis, adjusting tasks within the households, listening to weather forecasts on radio, television and reading newspapers; and use of agro-chemical inputs and irrigation schemes. Factors influencing farmers' choice of adaptation methods included household size, access to credit and to extension agents, monthly farm income and access to climate change information. Consequently, to strengthen adaptive capacity of farmers to climate change, relevant agencies should liberalise access to credit, deepen scope of extension services and improve access to climate change information.


In accordance with the legislation, the
commissioner must adopt criteria for selecting teachers who may attend the
academies. Priority must be given to teachers who teach math and/or reading at
the grade levels indicated above at campuses at which 40% or more of the
students are educationally disadvantaged. Add


A set of lenses was fabricated from a low cost materials in a DIY (Do it yourself) process. The purpose was to demonstrate to teachers and students in high schools how to construct lenses by themselves with the local available materials. The lenses could be applied in teaching Physics, about the nature of a lens such as focal length and light rays passing through lenses in either direction, employing a set of simple laser pointers. This instrumental kit was made from a transparent 2 mm thick of acrylic Perspex. It was cut into rectangular pieces with dimensions of 2x15 cm2 and bent into curved shape by a hot air blower on a cylindrical wooden rod with curvature radii of about 3-4.5 cm. Then a pair of these Perspex were formed into a hollow thick lenses with a base supporting platform, so that any appropriate liquids could be filled in. The focal length of the lens was measured from laser beam drawing on a paper. The refractive index, n (n) of a filling liquid could be calculated from the measured focal length (f). The kit was low cost and DIY but was greatly applicable for optics teaching in high school laboratory.


This article deals with the problem of the Russian Federation competitiveness in matters of the economic progress innovations in the world market. It presents the basic directions and trends of the long-term strategy of innovative approach and possibilities to achieve the desired high level of innovative progress based on the new generated image of the modern science taking into account the world trends and the world science and technology progress. The article also analyses the role of the state policy and government budgeting in the field of scientific research and results to accelerate development of the high-tech areas and realization of products on their basis, which will be competitive in the world market of defense, extraction, aerospace and nuclear industries. The author presents a need of the state financing backing to develop nanotechnologies and create a programmatic approach, publicity, protection of interests and promotion of the entities' private initiative through the use of the certain state levers of regulation, priority market instruments and a principle of targeted use of budgetary funds, as well as provision of tax concessions, informational support, loans, subsidization, credits and other effective banking services. Project for creating special economic zones, which require stability, trust and integrated development for their successful operation, is also relevant. There is no doubt that creating favorable conditions for the rapid and effective development of the innovative approach of economic progress, as well as achievements and consolidation of leading positions and high competitiveness in the world market will affect the economic level of country.


Objective To investigate safety and feasibility of Painless gastrointestinal endoscopy in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease of gradeⅠ、Ⅱ.Methods Propofol combined with low doses of fentanyl were used in painless gastrointestinal endoscopy.Multifunction monitor was used to measure systolic blood pressure(SBP),diastolic blood pressure(DBP),heart rate(HR)and blood oxygen saturation(SPO2)of patients before、after and during Painless gastrointestinal endoscopy.Discomfort and complications was observed and recorded during and after operation.Results Painless gastrointestinal endoscopy was performed in all patients.Adverse reactions did not affect examination after reasonable disposal,including glossocoma,bucking and restlessness,decrease of oxygen saturation,arrhythmia,blood pressure drops,etc.Conclusion Painless gastrointestinal endoscopy is feasible and safe for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease of gradeⅠ、Ⅱthrough sufficient preparations before examination and observing adverse reactions closely and solving it timely during practice.


Abstract Clean, single crystals of silver iodide have been found to serve as a very poor nucleating agent for ice. The controlled introduction of impurities on the crystal surface by means of photolytic decomposition has been shown to greatly increase its nucleating ability.


This paper summarized the idea origin,category,functions and chromosomal locations of the gene loci involved in the production and distribution of the pigments in colored potatoes.The idea of the gene loci related to the pigments in colored potatoes originated from the two genetic models which attempted to explain the inheritant behaviors of the colorations of the stem tubers and other parts of tetraploid and diploid potatoes.The overall thirteen gene loci related to the pigments in colored potatoes could be classified into four kinds.The first,second and third kinds were related to the synthesis,acylation and distribution of the potato anthocyanins respectively,and the fourth kind was related to the production of the potato carotenoids.Locus I,P,R and Y encoded a MYB-domain transcription factor,flavonoid 3',5'-hydroxylase,dihydroflavonol 4-reductase andβ-carotene hydroxylase respectively.Various and complicated interactions among the gene loci synthetically determined the production and distribution of the pigments, especially the anthocyanins,in colored potatoes.Locus D and R were located on Chromosome 2 of potato,E,F,I and PSC on Chromosome 10,P on Chromosome 11,and Y on Chromosome 3.This paper could provide a reference for the exploration on the genetic mechanism of the colorations of colored potatoes.


Abstract Background Aesthetic physicians and surgeons should consider differences in anthropometric and anatomical characteristics between Asians and Caucasians in performing facial rejuvenation procedures using absorbable threadlifts in Koreans. Objectives This paper was prepared to propose empirical treatment protocols for Korean aesthetic physicians and surgeons. Methods A panel of 5 Korean experts on the aesthetic uses of an absorbable polydioxanone (PDO) monofilament threadlift (Mint Lift; HansBiomed Co. Ltd., Seoul, Korea), thus termed as "the Mint Consensus Group," was convened to recommend practical guidelines for empirical treatment with the Mint Lift. Results To summarize, our recommendations are as follows: First, the entry and exit points should be determined considering the anatomical characteristics of the face (level of evidence III). Second, treatment procedures may vary depending on indications (level of evidence III). Conclusions Here, the authors propose empirical treatment protocols for facial rejuvenation using a novel absorbable PDO monofilament threadlift in Koreans. But more evidence-based efforts should be made to update the current treatment protocols. Level of Evidence: 4


ABSTRACT Wastewater discharge from restaurants, hotels, household kitchens, confectionaries, meat, fruits, and vegetable processing units contain free fatty acids (FFAs) from fats, oils, and greases (FOG). These FFAs are one of the major causes of sewer overflows and blockages that cause health and environmental issues. This study has investigated the use of sewer wastewater as a source of lipids for the production of alkyl esters (Biodiesel) and provides a characterization of the resulting processed water. Amberlyst A21 basic resin in a column reactor was used to recover the FFAs by adsorption from an oily layer collected from the domestic wastewater drain (Chakri drain, Rawalpindi, Pakistan) having a 33.0 ± 2.08% oily fraction with 59.7 ± 1.1% FFAs. The recovered ethanol washed FFAs from the Amberlyst A21 surface were then turned into Fatty Acid Ethyl Esters (FAEEs) in the presence of an acidic resin catalyst Amberlyst 15. The esterification reaction was studied at temperatures 50, 60, and 70°C, molar ratios of 1:2 to 1:3, acidic resin weight % of 2 to 6, and reaction time of 2 to 8 hr, respectively. A maximum FFAs conversion into esters of 91.38 ± 1.13% was noted at an esterification temperature of 70°C, molar ratio of 1:3, acidic resin weight of 6%, and a reaction time of 8 h. The fractional distillation of the esterified reaction product at 100°C improved the ester content in the reaction mixture up to 96.6 ± 0.18%, with a distilled biodiesel yield of 95.52 ± 0.21%. The collected top oily layer from sewer drain wastewater was found to have a density 947.31 kg/m3, kinematic viscosity 32.69 mm2/sec, flash point 283°C, and LHV and HHV of 26 and 28 MJ/kg, respectively, while for the produced biodiesel the density was 886 kg/m3, kinematic viscosity 4.3 mm2/sec, flash point 137°C, and LHV and HHV of 39 and 41 MJ/kg was noted, respectively. Only oily layer free wastewater after passing through PAC was found to meet Pakistan NEQS, with COD <150 mg/L, pH 6–8, Alkalinity <1000 mg/L, and Ammonia-nitrogen <40 mg/L. For every 1000 gallons of domestic sewer drain wastewater treated per 8 h work shift or 3 work shifts in a day with FFAs recovered and their conversion into biodiesel, a net profit of 54.89 and 93.32 million Pakistani rupees can be gained in the first year and then in successive years, respectively. Thus, this research provides a way to produce renewable energy fuel, biodiesel from the waste lipids (FFAs) of wastewater drains to meet the energy requirements and a solution for the conservation of water bodies.


Steve Furber has made major contributions to both the processor architecture and neural networks fields. He was one of the developers of the Acorn RISC Machine microprocessor, which was the basis for the ARM processors that are now so common in cell phones. He also developed the SpiNNaker system that greatly expanded the power of neural networks. For these contributions, he received the 2013 IEEE Computer Society Pioneer Award. In this interview, David Alan Grier and Furber talk about his early interests, his industry and academic careers, the SpiNNaker project, and developments in the microarchitecture and neural networks fields.


The Soil and Terrain database for Senegal and The Gambia primary data (version 1.0), at scale 1:1 million (SOTER_Senegal_Gambia), was compiled of enhanced soil information within the framework of the FAO's program Land Degradation Assessment in Drylands (LADA). Primary soil and terrain data for Senegal were obtained through the Institut National de Pedologie Dakar; the digital soil map from the Centre de Suivi Ecologique. Adjustments made in the SOTER units were based on the SRTM-DEM derived data interpretations. SOTER forms a part of the ongoing activities of ISRIC, FAO and UNEP to update the world's baseline information on natural resources.The project involved collaboration with national soil institutes from the countries in the region as well as individual experts.


This paper discusses a decision-making problem related to logistics base location. Selection of logistics base is a complex task as it involves both qualitative and quantitative factors. This calls for the use of multiple criteria decision-making methods. A new method of unstructured decision making-attribute hierarchical model (AHM) is different from the analytic hierarchy precess (AHP) by Saaty. There are not eigenvector computations and consistency test in AHM. Through AHM, we can get the importance weights of all alternative logistics bases. The results of illustrative example show that AHM is simple and efficient, compared with AHP.


This report presents wind speed and direction summaries for a wide area of the Southeastern United States (including EPA Region 4) and portions of the Ohio and Mississippi River Valleys in a monthly time series format that is further broken down for eight hours of the day (01:00, 04:00, 07:00, 10:00, 13:00, 16:00, 19:00, 22:00 EST). The data used for these summaries were obtained from the International Station MeteorologicalClimate Summary (FCCA, 1996), a publicly available source of tabular data from weather stations around the world distributed through the National Climatic Data Center. The advantage of examining the data in the form presented in this report is that it is far easier to examine and understand regional and diurnal weather patterns than would be possible with the tabular data in its original format. The winds presented here can be viewed online in any of three formats through an Internet link. The first format is the traditional wind rose as used in our earlier reports f or 13 stations in the Southeast, c.f., Weber, Buckley, and Parker 2002 and Weber, Buckley, and Kurzeja 2003. The second format is the mode, or most frequent wind direction sector from the wind rose plots (i.e., the longest ''petal'' from the individual station roses). Finally, the third format depicted is the average wind vector. The average wind vector was determined by extracting the wind speed and direction for each of the 16 sectors from a station's wind record and then summing components of these vectors for the month and time of observation. Each station was then plotted on a sequence of maps for the Southeastern U.S. using ArcView software. These maps form a time series in 3-hour increments showing changes in vector wind speed and direction for each month of the year. The complete set of color figures are too numerous to be included in this report, but may be accessed by contacting one of the authors.


Abstract The tortricid moth "Eurythecta" leucothrinca Meyrick is here recorded from coastal salt marsh for the first time. The species is known from a number of sites, from eastern Canterbury to northern Southland, all in montane to sub-alpine grasslands. The female is very short-winged (brachypterous), which indicates that the species has limited dispersal ability. The flight-period of the adult males is April to early June in montane to sub-alpine areas, but in the salt marsh on Rabbit Island, Blueskin Bay, it was found flying in late June. Both populations of adults are diurnal. Possible reasons for the presence of the moths in the salt marsh are suggested by reference to past tectonic events in eastern Otago. This observation emphasises the conservation value of the salt marsh on Rabbit Island.


A discussion and research workshop for women around issues concerning the menopause, used as preparation and research for the film Red Moon Diaries.


Introduce the general situation,structure and technical characteristic of self-management oilfield's Christmas tree in Bohai Sea,CNOOC.Depend on the examples of Christmas trees' transformation for "Both Pumping Flooding in One Well",carry on the analysis of the technical request,difficulty,implemental ways and gaining effect in the Christmas trees' transformation in order to satisfy the demands for the different stimulation.Bring forward the proposal to the Christmas tree's choice and transformation from the selected angle of the Christmas trees' design,use and maintenance.


A prototype magnetically-coupled Stirling engine-driven heat pump module has been designed and fabricated by Sunpower, Inc. under sponsorship of the US Department of Energy and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Preliminary testing indicates that the magnetic coupling is an effective means for transmitting power from a free-piston Stirling engine to a refrigerant compressor. Compared with other power transmission concepts, the magnetic coupling has relatively low cost, and will help make commercial development of Stirling-driven heat pumps more likely in the future.


In this study, we examined perceived efficacy in solving marital conflicts as a mediator between adult attachment style and dyadic adjustment, while controlling for the effects of duration of marriage. A total of 1921 married women participated in the research. The results suggest that women with high attachment avoidance are more likely to perceive themselves as inefficient in marital conflict resolution and maladjusted to the dyadic relationship, compared to women with high attachment anxiety. Furthermore, the results suggest that perceived efficacy in solving marital conflicts mediates the effects of insecure attachment styles on dyadic adjustment. Finally, there is evidence for a reciprocal causation between efficacy expectations and dyadic adjustment.


In order to examine levonorgestrel as a postcoital contraceptive 77 women received an oral dose of 0.4 mg/coitus for 1011 cycles and 27 received 0.75 mg/coitus for 226 cycles. In the 1st dose group 7 women became pregnant (Pearls Index 8.3) while 2 pregnancies results in the 2nd group 1 of them because of faulty drug intake (uncorrected Pearls index 10.6; corrected Pearls Index 5.3). Menstrual irregularities mainly breakthrough bleeding and oligomenorrhea were observed in 84.4% and 88.9% of women. The number of cycle disorders increased with increasing intake rate and diminished when the drug was administered for longer than 6 months. The experiments undertaken to test the mechanisms of action indicated an influence on both cervical factor and endometrium whereas the occurrence of the LH peaks and biphasic body basal temperature patterns suggested the presence of ovulations. Application of levonorgestrel for postcoital contraception failed to be reliable routine method of hormonal contraception because of insufficient efficacy and considerable menstrual irregularities. The drug should be administered only after unprotected sexual intercourse to women with very low frequency of intercourse or during periods of reduced fertility. (authors modified) (summaries of ENG GER)


Community participation in the fight against corruption is meant to embody the rights and responsibilities of the public in the administration of the state that is free and clean of corruption. In addition, with the participation of the public will be more aware to implement social control over corruption. The types of research used in writing this article is a kind of normative legal research norms contained in the law as well as to investigate and regulations regarding public participation in combating corruption. The conclusion from this study showed the maximum yet both quantitatively and qualitatively community participation towards eradicating corruption, so that the necessary transformation of the legislation ensures that more involvement of community participation towards eradicating corruption in the future.


Balanced supply of essential nutrient is one of the most important factor for increasing rice yield. Hence, knowledge of interaction of N with other nutrients are very important for improving fertilizer use efficiency and consequently increasing rice yield. A Field experiment was carried out at Rice Research and Training Center experimental farm during 2016 and 2017 seasons to assess the influence of different combinations of N, P, K and Zn fertilizer on yield of Sakha105 rice variety, its attributes, NPK uptake, N-recovery efficiency and agronomic nitrogen use efficiency. The fertilizer combinations were: (1) control, (2) N, (3) N + P, (4) N + K, (5) N + Zn, (6) N + P + Zn, (7) N +K + Zn, (8) N + P + K, and (9) N + P + K + Zn. Yield and yield attributes of Sakha 105 rice cultivar were significantly affected by different combinations of N, P, K and Zn fertilizer. The NPKZn treatment resulted in the highest grain yield, number of panicles hill, number of filled grain panicle and lowest sterility percentage compared with the control. In addition, the uptake of N, P and K varied significantly by the application of different combinations of N, P, K and Zn fertilizer in both growing seasons. Nitrogen recovery efficiency % varied significantly with different fertilizers and ranged from 24.01 to 41.39% and from 26.08 to 43.99% in 2016 and 2017, respectively. The application of different chemical fertilizers significantly increased the available soil NH4 + content and available soil P concentration at different days after transplanting compared with the control. The study suggests that balance nutrient application using N, P, K and Zn fertilizers is a key management strategy for sustaining soil fertility and therefore increasing rice yield.


A proliposome POWDER AS SHOWN IN UNIQUE DISCRETE PARTICLE PHASE OF AN ACTIVE COMPOUND WITH BIOLOGICALLY a lipid or mixture of lipids having a temperature of phase transition below 37 (DEGREES) C.


Abstract The Museu Internacional de Arte Naïf do Brasil () in Rio de Janeiro has traditionally offered an active educational programme catering to schools within the state of Rio. However, attracting families to the museum has always been a challenge. The museum's educational team addressed this issue by developing a programme that would highlight the universal appeal of its collection: the colourfulness, playfulness and ingenuity of naïve art. The result was an interpreted visit, Naïf para Nenéns (Naïve for Tots). Using paintings from the exhibitions on display and its own collection, the museum made the museum experience accessible for families by enabling sensorial artistic interaction with the works of art. It created a regular monthly programme, which has in one year attracted over 1,000 babies and their families. It has also served to highlight the participation of visitors aged 0–3 years in museums and cultural institutions in Brazil. This paper discusses the theoretical and practical implications of this programme, the reasons for implementing baby programmes in museums, and the results of this programme so far.


Verbal violence is a phenomenon that often occurs on television, as evidenced by the ridicule, rude words, and curses that can not be spoken. However, in fact most people are more interested in challenging shows. This is evidenced by the rising ranking of one of the television shows namely the Indonesian Master Chef reality competition program which aired on television station RCTI.
Television audiences are mostly dominated by women, so this study aims to determine the position of the public housewife working as civil servants in the Grand Mandiri Land housing in Batu city, according to Stuart Hall's three categories of viewers in interpreting the statements of the judges and contestants of Master Chef Indonesia.
 This type of research is interpretive descriptive qualitative. This study analyzes the reception of Housewives working as Civil Servants using Stuart Hall's theory of encoding and decoding by seeing the communication process begins with the decoding process as opposed to the encoding process. Reception analysis focuses on media texts and audiences where the process of making meaning is carried out by the audience.
The results of this study there are three categories of reception, namely dominant (dominant hegemonic position), negotiation (negotiated code / position) and opposition (oppositional code / position). This study found that 25% of subjects in the dominant category interpreted the Indonesian Master Chef show as an entertaining and informative cooking talent show and words used by contestants and judges were considered reasonable and not verbal violence. Then, 50% of the subjects were in the negotiation category, which not only meant an entertaining and informative show of cooking talent, but also interpreted harsh words even though it was not verbal violence. After that, 25% of subjects in the opposition category interpret disagree with what is presented by Master Chef Indonesia, assuming that all that is displayed is only gimic to raise ratings and includes verbal violence.


Researchers and construction workers have been trying to fi nd an effective method of repairing microcracks in concrete from a long time. Concrete, due to its properties, accessibility and durability, is used in houses building and industrial constructions, practically in every climate. The main disadvantage of this material is its susceptibility to cracking (1). Microcracks are already formed during hardening of the concrete and they are considered as a general feature of concrete. The standards allow for the occurrence of microcracks to the opening of 0.2 mm, which do not present the reinforcement corrosion hazard in normal conditions of concrete exploitation. However, their occurrence promotes corrosion of concrete, caused by the aggressive solutions attack, principally of chlorides and sulfates and acids, what leads to faster material destruction and the formation of new, much larger cracks. The researches have been conducted for years on fi nding self-healing concrete and only the use of bacteria for this purpose has made the substantial step in this direction (2).


Scanning tunneling microscope (STM) images of Ga0.47In0.53As/InP multiquantum well (MQW) structures in air showed a corrugated pattern. This corrugation turned out to be not geometrical but rather to arise from a difference in tunneling conductance between the GaInAs and the InP layers. The amplitude of the corrugations was affected by various factors such as contamination and atmospheric humidity.


National Grid has divided the country into four regions and awarded Alliance contracts to manage and upgrade the transmission grid.


We establish various generating functions for sequences associated with central binomial coefficients, Catalan numbers and harmonic numbers. In terms of these generating functions, we obtain a large variety of interesting series. Our approach is based on manipulating the well-known generating function of the Catalan numbers.


. This study envisaged the application of Bottom ash as a replacement of fine aggregate. In this study, bottom ash is thoroughly mixed with a PC-based High range superplasticizer ( HRSP) having solid content more than 60%, this sand is called as modified bottom ash (MBA are mixed at doses of 0%, 0.25%, 0.5%, 0.75%, and 1% by weight of bottom ash. This prepared bottom ash is referred to as modified bottom ash (MBA). MBA is substituted for fine aggregates in ordinary concrete in varying amounts from 0 to 50% by river sand and the concrete has been tested for Compressive strength, flexural strength, split tensile strength, and other durability characteristics it has been found that 10% MBA produce superior outcomes, the purpose of use was not achieved. Therefore, MBA has been increased up to 60% replacement with fine aggregates, the strength and durability properties achieved for concrete produced by 50% MBA with fine aggregate (sand) are compared to 100% fine aggregate (sand) concrete and has observed similar results due to addition of HRSP. In the end, it can be concluded that High Range Superplasticizer HRSP is quite efficient for replacing Bottom ash with fine particles.


This paper examines the problem of choosing an optimum set of measurement locations for experimental modal testing and suggests criteria whereby the suitability of the chosen locations can be assessed. Two methods of coordinate selection are used: one based on Guyan reduction and the other on the Fisher information matrix. Each begins with a detailed finite element model of the structure being tested. Both procedures reduce this model by one degree of freedom at a time until the number of degrees of freedom in the reduced model equals the number of measurement locations required. The choice of the eliminated coordinates is generally automatic, and the coordinates of the reduced model are those used for modal testing


When five-coupler mechanism,called dual freedom mechanism in kinesiology,has only one input,the other structural components,because of the dynamic condition of mechanism,will move in an orderly way within a given scope together with aperiodic disorderly vibration,that is,chaotic motion.The paper also gives dynamics equation and carries out simulation calculation.


Localization is a very important problem in robotics and is critical to many tasks performed on a mobile robot. In order to localize well in environments with few landmarks, a robot must make full use of all the information provided to it. This paper moves towards this goal by studying the effects of incorporating line observations and negative information into the localization algorithm. We extend the general Monte Carlo localization algorithm to utilize observations of lines such as carpet edges. We also make use of the information available when the robot expects to see a landmark but does not, by incorporating negative information into the algorithm. We compare our implementations of these ideas to previous similar approaches and demonstrate the effectiveness of these improvements through localization experiments performed both on a Sony AIBO ERS-7 robot and in simulation.


EnglishThis work aims at studying the pottery and metal Iron Age assemblages from Galeria da Cisterna of the karst system of the Almonda River (Torres Novas), which were exhumed during the 1988–1989 excavation seasons at the cave site by J. Zilhao. Pottery is represented by 14 vessels whose chronology (4th–3rd centuries BC), based on typological comparisons, is in good accord with the one obtained by a radiocarbon dating of a wood sample from a spear found in 1998 in another sector of the gallery. This cave must have been a cemetery in Iron Age times portuguesO objetivo deste trabalho e estudar os conjuntos de cerâmica e metais recuperados da Galeria da Cisterna do sistema carsico do Rio Almonda (Torres Novas) nas escavacoes aqui realizadas em 1988–1989 por J. Zilhao. A cerâmica esta representada por 14 vasos cuja cronologia (seculos IV–III a.C.), baseada em comparacoes tipologicas, esta em acordo com uma datacao de radiocarbono obtida sobre uma amostra de madeira de uma lanca encontrada em 1998 noutro setor da galeria. Esta gruta devera ter sido um cemiterio durante a Idade do Ferro.


Using carefully controlled reactions of elemental fluorine, we have prepared and characterized the first perfluorocryptand [222], specifically perfluoro-4,7,13,16,21,24-hexaoxa-1,10-diazabicyclo[8.8.8]hexacosane. This is a very stable, inert, high boiling clear oil


ROYAL SOCIETY.—A revised and much enlarged edition of the Record of the Royal Society of London has lately been issued. The principal feature of the new edition is the inclusion of two lists of Fellows of the Society from its foundation to the end of 1900, one arranged chronologically and the other alphabetically. It would have been interesting to have portraits of the thirty-seven presidents, but none of those given in the former edition of the Record published in 1897 are repeated, while three only are now inserted. Geological science has been represented in the presidential chair by Wollaston, the Marquis of Northampton, and Huxley.


A modification of the method of Cusachs and Reynolds has been used to derive valence‐state ionization potentials for the 3d, 4s, and 4p orbitals of third‐row elements. For a fixed ionic charge, these VSIP are found to vary linearly with atomic number.


Abstract Digital images can now be produced by a number of different imaging technologies. The most popular digital technologies for printing colour images include D2T2 (dye diffusion thermal transfer), colour laser and ink jet. Ink jet has emerged as the preferred technology for home printing of digital photographs. The development of the inks and the media during recent years has improved the quality of the digital photographs to a level which is now close to that produced by silver halide technology. Digital photographs, produced by ink jet printing, now have excellent image quality, high gloss and high chroma, producing a good colour gamut. Some further challenges remain, however, and these include the image durability and the cost of producing the digital prints. Photographs produced by silver halide technology generally cost less and have greater image stability. They can be archived for many years with little sign of any deterioration in the image quality. The stability of ink jet images, on exposure to light, ozone or moisture, or under different climatic conditions (e.g. high humidity), can be a problem. The influence of the environment on image stability will be considered further in this paper.


Bayesian back analysis associated to Negro (1988) model for tunnel performance prediction was used for back analysis of K0 from field instrumentation data collected in the construction of a twin track tunnel of Line 5 of Santiago Metro, Chile. The ground is a thick deposit of fluvial-glacial, well graded and dense gravel, with boulders up to 30 cm, difficult to sample and test. Obtained values of K0 were much higher than what was assumed in the design, suggesting an overconsolidation condition of these deposits, otherwise not recognized.


Professionals on IEP teams increasingly are considering the potential contributions of assistive technology as they develop programs for students with disabilities. However, a significant technological "generational gap" may exist between the members of these teams and the young people they seek to serve, as the quality and quantity of student interactions with technology may differ dramatically from those of IEP team members. This gap may manifest itself in the selections of technology that may impair social acceptance of students with disabilities by their peers, or that students will not use. In this paper we suggest a variety of both low-tech and high-tech tools that hold unique dual promise to (a) facilitate successful access to the general education curriculum, and (b) enhance social acceptance by nondisabled peers. The reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997 (IDEA, P. L. 105-17) mandated that education professionals consider assistive technology (AT) when developing individualized education programs (IEPs) for all students with disabilities [§1414(d)(3)(B)(iv)]. This mandate presented substantive challenges to the educational community, given that (a) more than 3.8 million children with mild disabilities had not been afforded such consideration when their IEPs were initially developed (Edyburn, 2004); and (b) teacher preparation in assistive technology best practice service delivery remains less than effective (Lahm, 2003; Wojcik, Peterson-Karlan, Watts, & Parette, 2004). Compounding this scenario is the fact that today's students with mild disabilities are part of the Millennial generation (Howe & Strauss, 2000) whose exposure to technology, and preferences for technology applications, may be very different from the education professionals who may be making decisions about their IEPs. Millennials, or those children born between 1978 and 1982, have been described have having many characteristics that make them strikingly different from teachers working with them who may be from different generations (e.g., Gen Xers, Baby Boomers; Raines, 2001; Tapscott, 1998). A particularly noticeable difference between Millennial children and persons from preceding generations, is their perceptions of and experiences with technology across the developmental period. Exposure to and use of technology by these students is deeply embedded in the behavior and cultural values of these children. Whereas, many current education professionals have had to accommodate to technology, that is, learning in later life how it works and how it may be effectively used, Millennial children have grown up with technology, assimilating its use (Tapscott), and learning to use it far more quickly than people from preceding generations. This disparity between familiarity with and adeptness in using technology has been noted: "As with people without disabilities, there is certainly a generational gap related to technology use, particularly computer use, with younger generations adopting and using the technology more rapidly" (Mike Wehmeyer, personal communication, April 2, 2004). Millennial children, including students with mild disabilities, have grown up in world surrounded by varying technologies (e.g., computers; multimedia; cell phones; video games) and such exposure has shaped their Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Howard P. Parette, Department of Special Education, Illinois State University, Campus Box 5910, Normal, IL 61790-5910. Education and Training in Developmental Disabilities, 2005, 40(3), 320–331 © Division on Developmental Disabilities 320 / Education and Training in Developmental Disabilities-September 2005 preferences and expectations markedly. They are comfortable with using technology, and see it as a means to remain connected to the world around them (Raines). Unfortunately, little is known about the technology use patterns and preferences of students with mild disabilities (Parette, 2004; Peterson-Karlan & Parette, 2005). Longitudinal analyses of technology use patterns of Millennials have revealed differential and growing usage of an array of technology on a daily basis (Miller & Norton, 2003; Tapscott, 1998). Similarly, studies have shown higher technology abandonment rates for school devices (that may be outmoded, such as tape recorders) among older students with disabilities (Riemer-Reiss & Wacker, 1999), along with disparate rates of computer and Internet use when comparing typical peers and persons with disabilities (cf., DeBell & Chapman, 2001; Kaye, 2000). More generally, however, technology use is deeply embedded in the lives of Millennial children on a regular basis, and in ways that are not completely understood by today's education professionals (Parette). Lack of understanding regarding technology use patterns and preferences of students with disabilities is further complicated by the lack of wide-scale application of universal design for learning (UDL) principles (Center for Applied Special Technology, 1999-2004; Rose & Meyer, 2000). The focus of UDL is on creating learning environments where students "have access to the learning itself, that they experience changes in their knowledge and skills and that they grow in their capacity to learn" (Rose & Meyer, p. 68). If, in fact, education professionals are insensitive to the preferred technologies that students with disabilities may currently demonstrate that can facilitate their learning and increase their access to the general education curriculum, they may inadvertently be inhibiting optimal learning experiences for these students. One recent approach to addressing such concerns has been development of a technology 'toolkit', i.e., compilations of an array of technology devices having broad applicability to many students with mild disabilities in a particular classroom (Edyburn, 2000; Parette & Wojcik, 2004; Puckett, 2004; Watts, Thompson, & Wojcik, 2004). For example, Parette and Wojcik described specific categories in which technology held potential utility to increase access to the general education curriculum and facilitate learning for students with mental retardation. Puckett described an approach to identifying software, equipment, and strategies to support students with mild disabilities in general education standards in math and language arts. Other studies have been conducted to develop toolkits for students with severe disabilities (Heart of Illinois Low Incidence Association Resource Academy, 2004), develop skills in literacy (Fonner & Marfilius, 2005), and create broad toolkits having applicability to a diverse range of students (George, Fulcher, & Nichols, 2001; Lahm, Bell, & Blackhurst, 2002). Such efforts reflect a movement toward better understanding the relationship between specific technology applications and positive classroom outcomes among students with disabilities. Based on experiences of the authors of this article with regard to toolkit development and its applications in classroom settings, a range of technology devices have been identified that hold particular promise both from a UDL perspective, as well as a cultural perspective (i.e., sensitivity to Millennial children and preferences they may have for devices). We have termed these devices 'cool', or having appeal to current school-age students with mild disabilities given both their design and appearance, but their potential to facilitate learning and acceptance by typical peers who also use an array of technology solutions in their daily lives.


Hygrocybe monscaiensis sp nov of the subsection squamulosae (Bataille) Singer.
We describe, comment and illustrate a new species, in the subsection squamulosae (Bataille) Singer, with evident differences macroscopic, microscopic, arid ecological, with the neighbour taxa: H. Caleiphda
Amolds H. Corsica Candusso, H. Miniata (Fr.: Fr:) Kummer, H. Helobia (Amolds) Bon and H. Rhodophylla Kuhner.


After the lifting of the Martial Law, and the corresponding transformation of literature environment, the constant transition of historical standpoint as interpreted by literature, and the change of writers' writing materials, have resulted in the development and changes of native literature. Such a transformation is called "neo-navitism" or "post-navitism" to describe broadly the overall phenomenon of Taiwanese native literatures after the 90s. Both of the literature meanings of the writings describing "nativist experiences" and the literature experiences of writings describing "nativist meaning" after the 90s could explain that the transformation of the term "nativism" is relevant to the writings of "nativism." This paper investigates the new appearance of neo-navitism/post-navitism writing together with its succession and transformation. "Navitism" is not only the research subject of this thesis but also viewed as a viewpoint of the new theory, which is embedded into the history of Taiwanese native literature to explore writers' field of vision and writing styles. This paper adopts the viewpoints from sociology of literature as research methods to explore the studies of navitist literature in order to discuss the analyses of formation factors and expression forms of neo-nativism and post-nativism, and form the observation and interpretation of navitist novels after the nineties. The nativism that writers had imagined and experienced would necessarily have been accompanied with the ideology of "space" from the geographical landscape of literature. In addition, the name of "neo" or "post" suggests that writing properties have undergone the change of a gap or a stage. When issues, such as "evolution" and "dissimilation," are repeatedly seen in the writings of neo/post navitism, the concepts of modern aesthetics such as decadence and fantasticism could be important approaches for discussing the writings of navitist literature.


This paper analyzes the feasibility of establishing the mobile library based on 3G technology,introduces the development status of domestic mobile library,and points out the problems existing in the construction of the mobile library,and looks forward to the future of the mobile library.


Culture Digitally is a collective of scholars, gathered by Tarleton Gillespie (Cornell University) and Hector Postigo (Temple University). With the generous funding of the National Science Foundation, the group supports scholarly inquiry into new media and cultural production through numerous projects, collaborations, a scholarly blog, and annual workshops. For more information on projects and researchers affiliated with Culture Digitally, visit culture digitally.org or follow @CultureDig). On occasion, we invite two or more of our participants to engage in an intellectual back-and-forth, on a theoretical point of interest that emerges from discussions at our meetings, around blog posts, or based on evident, shared interests. In these dialogues, they are encouraged to grapple with theoretical questions, but to do so quite a bit faster than the glacial pace of publishing typically allows. We imagine them as the digital equivalent of the scholarly exchange of letters between pre-eminent scientists. The thinking is meant to be raw and provocative, a chance for the dialogue participants to prod each other beyond their own certainties.


Experimental details of a unique superconducting imaging array receiver are discussed. Each pixel contains an internally pumped receiver chip mounted on the back of the elliptical microwave lens. Each chip comprises a quasi-optical SIS mixer integrated with a superconducting flux-flow oscillator (FFO) both fabricated from the same Nb/AlO/sub x//Nb trilayer on a silicon substrate. Properties of the integrated lens antenna were studied using an externally pumped reference SIS mixer which showed antenna sidelobes below /spl sim/17 dB and a receiver double side band noise temperature, T/sub RX/(DSB), below 100 K within the frequency range 460-500 GHz that is close to the quantum noise. For the imaging array T/sub RX/(DSB)=150 K has been measured at 500 GHz using the internal flux-flow oscillator as a local oscillator (LO). A balanced SIS mixer was tested showing T/sub RX/(DSB)<100 K within the range of 480-510 GHz using the internal LO. A computer system was developed to control simultaneously the dc bias of the SIS mixer and the frequency and power provided by FFO. The system also performs automatic optimization of the receiver noise temperature.


Objective To compare the quality of tears with the saliva from parotid gland and submandibular gland,to study the feasibility of using the autologous saliva as a substitution of tears.Methods With the routine biochemical procedures,the secretion of submandibular gland and parotid gland and the tears of 30 normal people were tested and compared with each other.Results Although secretion of submandibular gland and parotid gland and tears differed in some contents,all contents of tears could be found in saliva;all mean values were close to each other except the values of sodium and osmolality;amylase concentration was also very high in tears of normal people.Conclusion The submandibular gland saliva may be used as the substitution of tears.


In transform-based wideband speech coding, the modulated lapped biorthogonal transform (MLBT) can be used to improve the frequency selectivity of the synthesis basis functions. In this work Campbell's coefficient rate and spectral entropy are used as a guide to develop band combining strategies to produce an adaptive nonuniform modulated lapped biorthogonal transform (ANMLBT). Due to the nonuniform nature of the transform, psychoacoustic quantization noise shaping is accomplished by employing time-varying pre/post filters. This new codec consists of a nonlinear approximation method to determine the best N basis functions that represent the current speech or audio frame. Preliminary coding results at an average rate of 16 Kbit/sec are demonstrated.


While many theories of accounts payable and receivable are related to firm performance, there has not been a direct test whether firms actively use them to manage their growth. We argue that it is not just the accounts payable but also the accounts receivable that matter. While the former help to alleviate imperfections in the financial market, the latter do so in the product market. Using over 2.5 million observations for 600.000 firms in 8 euro area countries in the period 1993–2009, we show that firms use the trade credit channel to manage growth. In countries where the trade credit channel is more present, the marginal impact is lower, but the total impact is still higher. Further, firms that are more vulnerable to financial market imperfections, rely more on the trade credit channel to manage growth. Finally, we show that also the overall conditions of the financial market matter for the importance of the trade credit channel for growth.