Diverse Bone Morphogenetic Protein Expression Profiles and Smad Pathway Activation in Different Phenotypes of Experimental Canine Mammary Tumors

BACKGROUND:BMPs are currently receiving attention for their role in tumorigenesis and tumor progression. Currently, most BMP expression studies are performed on carcinomas, and not much is known about the situation in sarcomas. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:We have investigated the BMP expression profiles and Smad activation in clones from different spontaneous canine mammary tumors. Spindle cell tumor and osteosarcoma clones expressed high levels of BMPs, in particular BMP-2, -4 and -6. Clones from a scirrhous carcinoma expressed much lower BMP levels. The various clones formed different tumor types in nude mice but only clones that expressed high levels of BMP-6 gave bone formation. Phosphorylated Smad-1/5, located in the nucleus, was detected in tumors derived from clones expressing high levels of BMPs, indicating an active BMP signaling pathway and BMP-2 stimulation of mammary tumor cell clones in vitro resulted in activation of the Smad-1/5 pathway. In contrast BMP-2 stimulation did not induce phosphorylation of the non-Smad pathway p38 MAPK. Interestingly, an increased level of the BMP-antagonist chordin-like 1 was detected after BMP stimulation of non-bone forming clones. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:We conclude that the specific BMP expression repertoire differs substantially between different types of mammary tumors and that BMP-6 expression most probably has a biological role in bone formation of canine mammary tumors

Risk governance in organizations

Dieses Buch dokumentiert 10 Jahre Risk-Governance-Forschung an der Universität Siegen. In 50 Beiträgen reflektieren Forscher und Praktiker Risk Governance vor dem Hintergrund ihrer eigenen Forschungen und/oder Erfahrungen und geben jeweils einen Entwicklungsimpuls für die Zukunft der Risk Governance. Das Buch zeigt die große Bandbreite und Tiefe des Forschungsgebietes auf und diskutiert Grundannahmen, Implementierungsfragen, die Rolle der Risk Governance als Transformationsmotor, ihre Wirkung in den verschiedenen betrieblichen Funktionen, Entwicklungsperspektiven und den Beitrag der Risk Governance zu einer nachhaltigen Ausrichtung von Unternehmen.This book documents 10 years of risk governance research at the University of Siegen. In 50 contributions, researchers and practitioners reflect on risk governance against the background of their own research and/or experience and provide a development impetus for the future of risk governance. The book shows the wide range and depth of the research field and discusses basic assumptions, implementation issues, the role of risk governance as transformation engine, its impact in the various operational functions, development perspectives, and the contribution of risk governance to a sustainable orientation of companies

Modelling human choices: MADeM and decision‑making

Research supported by FAPESP 2015/50122-0 and DFG-GRTK 1740/2. RP and AR are also part of the Research, Innovation and Dissemination Center for Neuromathematics FAPESP grant (2013/07699-0). RP is supported by a FAPESP scholarship (2013/25667-8). ACR is partially supported by a CNPq fellowship (grant 306251/2014-0)

Entity- und Equity-Verfahren bei autonomer Finanzierungsstrategie

Dieser Beitrag basiert auf den folgenden beiden Veröffentlichungen : - Hölscher, R. / Helms, N.: Konvergenz von APV- und WACC-Verfahren unter Auflösung des Zirkularitätsproblems (Teil 1), in: Wirtschaftswissenschaftliches Studium (WiSt) , 42. Jg., Heft 5/2013, S. 231-237. - Hölscher, R. / Helms, N.: Konvergenz von APV- und WACC-Verfahren unter Auflösung des Zirkularitätsproblems (Teil 2), in: Wirtschaftswissenschaftliches Studium (WiSt), 42. Jg., Heft 6/2013, S. 287-293. Er stellt eine Ergänzung und Erweiterung dar, weil der Beitrag nicht nur die Konvergenz innerhalb der Entity-Verfahren betrachtet, sondern auch überprüft, ob das Equity-Verfahren ebenfalls zu einem äquivalenten Unternehmenswert führt. Insgesamt wird eine breitere Einordung in das bestehende Theoriegerüst vorgenommen, indem insbesondere die Kapitalkostenbestimmung ausführlicher erläutert wird. Weiterhin wird das im Beitrag ausgeführte Zahlenbeispiel umfangreicher erläutert, als in den beiden oben aufgeführten Beiträgen

Automated investment management: Comparing the design and performance of international robo-managers

Robo-managers offer automated asset management; however, their overall performance is highly debated. We analyze 15 robo-managers from Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom by conducting a comprehensive qualitative and quantitative study. The qualitative comparison shows considerable differences between the various robo-managers, not only across but also within countries. The quantitative evaluation utilizes different measures to evaluate the performance of the robo-manager sample. Our results indicate that each country has one particularly favourable robo-manager. Furthermore, we find that the costs and characteristics of rebalancing measures have only a small effect on performance

The quality of risk reports: Integrating requirement levels of standard setters into text analysis

The intention of this paper is to shed light on the analysis of financial disclosure through the integration of requirement levels. This in return will lead to the development of a general applicable evaluation methodology based on Bloom's taxonomy system. Therefore, it will be possible to explicitly consider the relevance of the given information. To underline the appropriateness of our method, we combine the requirement levels with a qualitative content analysis. Based on the German accounting standard DRS 20, we clarify the respective application of the requirement levels in the context of the qualitative content analysis. Hence, we will discuss the limitations of our developed approach. In addition, we analyze further areas of application in the context of qualitative analysis of financial disclosure. All things considered, it is evident that our chosen approach, through the integration of a taxonomy system, contributes to the validity of established text analyzing methods

Adapting the German transport system to climate change and extreme weather events – First case study results connected to extreme precipitation

well developed, functional transport infrastructure that offers unrestricted use is of great importance for Germany as a transport nation in the centre of Europe. To address recent challenges like climate change and extreme weather events and to act towards a resilient transport system, knowledge and abilities available in German agencies are combined in a 'Network of Experts' under the umbrella of the German Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure. Thereby, the transfer of knowledge and technology across disciplines is promoted and the dialogue between experts in the areas of science, politics, administration and economy is fostered. This contribution introduces the structure of the network and presents first results connected to precipitation extremes. Using the case study of the December 2014 flood in Schleswig Holstein the performance of precipitation indices for the evaluation of flooding events is presented. Future increases in the frequency of heavy precipitation in winter are posing potential risks to land based infrastructures and may limit shipping. These results are confirmed by hydrological modelling, where an increasing number of days above a flood threshold and a decreasing number of days below a low-flow threshold are simulated for an ensemble of climate projections at the gauge of Kaub/Rhine. The analyses provide a first basis for the development of approaches to impact assessment for road, rail and waterway transport