Curvelet Approach for SAR Image Denoising, Structure Enhancement, and Change Detection

In this paper we present an alternative method for SAR image denoising, structure enhancement, and change detection based on the curvelet transform. Curvelets can be denoted as a two dimensional further development of the well-known wavelets. The original image is decomposed into linear ridge-like structures, that appear in different scales (longer or shorter structures), directions (orientation of the structure) and locations. The influence of these single components on the original image is weighted by the corresponding coefficients. By means of these coefficients one has direct access to the linear structures present in the image. To suppress noise in a given SAR image weak structures indicated by low coefficients can be suppressed by setting the corresponding coefficients to zero. To enhance structures only coefficients in the scale of interest are preserved and all others are set to zero. Two same-sized images assumed even a change detection can be done in the curvelet coefficient domain. The curvelet coefficients of both images are differentiated and manipulated in order to enhance strong and to suppress small scale (pixel-wise) changes. After the inverse curvelet transform the resulting image contains only those structures, that have been chosen via the coefficient manipulation. Our approach is applied to TerraSAR-X High Resolution Spotlight images of the city of Munich. The curvelet transform turns out to be a powerful tool for image enhancement in fine-structured areas, whereas it fails in originally homogeneous areas like grassland. In the change detection context this method is very sensitive towards changes in structures instead of single pixel or large area changes. Therefore, for purely urban structures or construction sites this method provides excellent and robust results. While this approach runs without any interaction of an operator, the interpretation of the detected changes requires still much knowledge about the underlying objects

Strategic Renewal: Past Research, Theoretical Tensions and Future Challenges

Strategic renewal has become a prominent theme in a variety of organization and management research domains in recent years. It refers to the process that allows organizations to alter their path dependence by transforming their strategic intent and capabilities. With contributions from an increasing range of theoretical perspectives and research contexts, the strategic renewal literature has become fragmented and lacks common definitions and conceptual clarity, which prevent cross-fertilization and harm further development. This study systematically reviews the various literature streams on strategic renewal to provide a more integrative perspective. The authors identify three key theoretical tensions at the heart of strategic renewal research, namely learning vs. resource, induced vs. autonomous, and co-alignment vs. co-creation. By exploring these key tensions, the authors define strategic renewal's conceptual core, identify gaps in the past literature, and provide guidance for future research

DAMARIS – a flexible and open software platform for NMR spectrometer control: DAMARIS – a flexible and open software platform for NMRspectrometer control

Home-built NMR spectrometers with self-written control software have a long tradition in porous media research. Advantages of such spectrometers are not just lower costs but also more flexibility in developing new experiments (while commercial NMR systems are typically optimized for standard applications such as spectroscopy, imaging or quality control applications). Increasing complexity of computer operating systems, higher expectations with respect to user-friendliness and graphical user interfaces as well as increasing complexity of the NMR experiments themselves have made spectrometer control software development a more complex task than it used to be some years ago. Like that, it becomes more and more complicated for an individual lab to maintain and develop an infrastructure of purely homebuilt NMR systems and software. Possible ways out are: ● commercial NMR hardware with full-blown proprietary software or ● semistandardized home-built equipment and common open-source software environment for spectrometer control. Our present activities in Darmstadt aim at providing a nucleus for the second option: DArmstadt MAgnetic Resonance Instrument Software (DAMARIS) [1]. Based on an ordinary PC, pulse control cards and ADC cards, we have developed an NMR spectrometer control platform that comes at a price tag of about 8000 Euro. The present functionalities of DAMARIS are mainly focused on TD-NMR: the software was successfully used in single-sided NMR [2], pulsed and static field gradient NMR diffusometry [3]. Further work with respect to multipulse/multitriggering experiments in the time domain [4] and solid state NMR spectroscopy multipulse experiments are under development

Overexpression of the urokinase receptor splice variant uPAR-del4/5 in breast cancer cells affects cell adhesion and invasion in a dose-dependent manner and modulates transcription of tumor-associated genes

mRNA levels of the urokinase receptor splice variant uPAR-del4/5 are associated with prognosis in breast cancer. Its overexpression in cancer cells affects tumor biologically relevant processes. In the present study, individual breast cancer cell clones displaying low vs. high uPAR-del4/5 expression were analyzed demonstrating that uPAR-del4/5 leads to reduced cell adhesion and invasion in a dose-dependent manner. Additionally, matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) was found to be strongly upregulated in uPAR-del4/5 overexpressing compared to vector control cells. uPAR-del4/5 may thus play an important role in the regulation of the extracellular proteolytic network and, by this, influence the metastatic potential of breast cancer cells

Selective Detection of Aromatic Compounds with a Re-Designed Surface Acoustic Wave Sensor System Using a Short Packed Column

A self-developed and newly re-designed chemical SAW sensor system composed of four polymer-coated and four differently modified nano-diamond-coated SAW sensors was applied to measure aromatic compounds in gasoline in a low-cost, fast, and easy way. An additional short packed column at the system inlet improve the selectivity for various possible fuel applications. The column allows the direct sampling of liquid fuels and pre-separates the different components in groups (aromatic and aliphatic compounds) from a fuel sample. Since the sensors employed show linearity towards concentration, an easy quantification of single fuel components was possible even within the group of aromatic compounds

Cell-Type-Specific Differences in KDEL Receptor Clustering in Mammalian Cells

In eukaryotic cells, KDEL receptors (KDELRs) facilitate the retrieval of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) luminal proteins from the Golgi compartment back to the ER. Apart from the well-documented retention function, recent findings reveal that the cellular KDELRs have more complex roles, e.g. in cell signalling, protein secretion, cell adhesion and tumorigenesis. Furthermore, several studies suggest that a sub-population of KDELRs is located at the cell surface, where they could form and internalize KDELR/cargo clusters after K/HDEL-ligand binding. However, so far it has been unclear whether there are cell-type- or species-specific differences in KDELR clustering. By comparing ligand-induced KDELR clustering in different mouse and human cell lines via live cell imaging, we show that macrophage cell lines from both species do not develop any clusters. Using RT-qPCR experiments and numerical analysis, we address the role of KDELR expression as well as endocytosis and exocytosis rates on the receptor clustering at the plasma membrane and discuss how the efficiency of directed transport to preferred docking sites on the membrane influences the exponent of the power-law distribution of the cluster size.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, 2 table

How willing are you to accept sexual requests from slightly unattractive to exceptionally attractive imagined requestors?

This is the post print version of the article. The official published version can be accessed from the link below.In their classic study of differences in mating strategies (Clark & Hatfield, 1989), men and women demonstrated a striking difference in interest in casual sex. The current study examined the role of requestor physical attractiveness (slightly unattractive, moderately attractive and exceptionally attractive) on men's and women's willingness to accept three different requests (go out, come to apartment, go to bed) in a questionnaire study. We tested two hypotheses, using a sample of 427 men and 443 women from three countries. Hypothesis 1 states that men, relative to women, will demonstrate a greater willingness to accept the “come to apartment” and “go to bed” requests but not the “go out” request for all three levels of requestor attractiveness. This hypothesis reflects Clark and Hatfield's (1989) main findings. Hypothesis 2 states that the physical attractiveness of a potential partner will have a greater effect on women's than on men's willingness to accept all three requests, and particularly for the explicit request for casual sex. The results partially supported Hypothesis 1 and fully supported Hypothesis 2. The discussion highlights limitations of the current research and presents directions for future research

Fixed Route Refueling-Strategy for Fuel Cell Trucks

Road logistics are essential to ensure the smooth flow of production and delivery of goods to their destination. Heavy-duty transportation places high demands on the power supply and driving range. Fuel cell electric powertrains appear to be the most suitable solution in the context of zero-emission targets for long-haul trucks. While several companies are working on the development of drivetrains and vehicle concepts, the supply of the required hydrogen remains a challenge. Many uncertainties in the logistics industry are caused by the lack of hydrogen fuel stations. This paper presents a concept to detect suitable hydrogen fuel stations along a planned route and select those that minimize hydrogen consumption. The concept is applied to a known set of fuel stations in Germany and a fixed route defined by the operational task of the truck. First, fuel stations that are relevant to the operational task are identified. Then, the energy consumption of the refueling strategy is minimized by solving the fixed-route vehicle-refueling problem (FRVRP), taking into account vehicle characteristics and unknowns such as the precise distance to the refueling station. An external application programming interface provides the route information. The optimization is then implemented as a mixed integer program (MIP). The resulting strategy indicates the sequence of fuel stations that need to be visited to reach the route destination in the most energy-efficient way. The implementation of the strategy shows that the operation of heavy-duty hydrogen vehicles in Germany is feasible with certain boundary conditions. Therefore, integrating the refueling strategy into the navigation task to avoid running out of fuel is a step towards reaching the zero-emission targets