Soil Parameter Estimation and Analysis of Bistatic Scattering X-Band Controlled Measurements

To date only very few bistatic measurements (airborne or in controlled laboratories) have been reported. Therefore most of the current remote sensing methods are still focused on monostatic (backscatter) measurements. These methods, based on theoretical, empirical or semi-empirical models, enable the estimation of soil roughness and the soil humidity (dielectric constant). For the bistatic case only theoretical methods have been developed and tested with monostatic data. Hence, there still remains a vital need to gain of experience and knowledge about bistatic methods and data. The main purpose of this paper is to estimate the soil moisture and the soil roughness by using full polarimetric bistatic measurements. In the experimental part, bistatic X-band measurements, which have been recorded in the Bistatic Measurement Facility (BMF) at the DLR Oberpfaffenhofen, Microwaves and Radar Institute, will be presented. The bistatic measurement sets are composed of soils with different statistical roughness and different moistures controlled by a TDR (Time Domain Reflectivity) system. The BMF has been calibrated using the Isolated Antenna Calibration Technique (IACT). The validation of the calibration was achieved by measuring the reflectivity of fresh water. In the second part, the sensitivities of the bistatic surface scattering to soil moisture and surface roughness will be discussed. Then, the validation of the specular algorithm by estimating the soil moisture of two surfaces with different roughness scales will be reported. Additionally, a new technique using the coherent term of the Integral Equation Method (IEM) to estimate the soil roughness will be presented, as well as evaluation of the sensitivity of phase and reflectivity with regard to moisture variation in the specular direction

Analysis Methods of Errors (Motion and Atmospheric) in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Images

A method to allow the analysis of the effects of motion and atmospheric errors in SAR images is here presented. The objective of the method is to allow the visualization of the effects of motion errors and atmospheric artefacts on the processed (focused) SAR image. The method is intended to allow the analysis of the interaction of motion and atmospheric errors with the adopted SAR processing procedure and motion compensation algorithms. In this article the analysis method has been applied and tested to a C-Band E-SAR (DLR airborne SAR system) data set where we see that the effects of linear and non-linear phase errors observed are in agreement with the theory

Der Einfluss von Analytics Tools auf das Controlling: Erste Ergebnisse

Der vorliegende Auswertungsbericht fasst die Ergebnisse einer Studie der TU Dresden zum Einfluss von Analytics Tools auf das Controlling der 3.000 größten Unternehmen in Deutschland im Jahr 2021 zusammen. Der Auswertungsbericht gibt einen Überblick über den Stand der Gestaltung und der Nutzung von Analytics Tools im Controlling. Befragt wurden die in den Unternehmen verantwortlichen Controllingleiter bzw. kaufmännische Geschäftsführer und CFOs mittels eines strukturierten Fragebogens. Der Rücklauf von 322 verwertbaren Fragebögen bei einer Rücklaufquote von 10,78 % unterstreicht das große Interesse der Praxis an dem Untersuchungsthema.:Inhaltsverzeichnis Abbildungsverzeichnis 1 Einleitung 1.1 Zielsetzung und untersuchte Aspekte 1.2 Inhalte des Auswertungsberichts und weitere Schritte im Forschungsprojekt 2 Grundkonzepte der Studie: Ein theoretischer Überblick 2.1 Der Begriff der Digitalisierung 2.1.1 Big Data als Grundlage für Business Analytics 2.1.2 Business Analytics 2.1.3 Abgrenzung von Business Analytics zu anderen Technologien 2.1.4 Business Analytics im Controlling 2.2 Psychologische Effekte von Digitalisierung (Rollenstress) 3 Datenerhebung und Auswertungsmethodik 3.1 Charakterisierung der Grundgesamtheit 3.2 Ablauf der Datenerhebung 3.3 Zusammenfassung des Fragebogenrücklaufs 3.4 Auswertungsmethodik 4 Empirische Ergebnisse zur Nutzung und Gestaltung von Analytics Tools im Controlling 4.1 Demografie der Antwortenden 4.2 Teil 1: Generelle Fragen zum Unternehmen 4.2.1 Organisatorische Einbettung des Controllings 4.2.2 Stand der Digitalisierung des Controllings im Unternehmen 4.2.3 Beitrag der Controlling-Abteilung für das Unternehmen 4.2.4 Einfluss der Corona-Pandemie 4.2.5 Veränderungen im Unternehmensumfeld 4.3 Teil 2: Fragen zur Controlling-Abteilung und zum Einsatz von Analytics Tools im Controlling 4.3.1 Aktivitäten der Controlling-Mitarbeiter (Rollenverständnis) 4.3.2 Verwendete Analytics Tools 4.3.3 Effekte der Analytics Tools 4.3.4 Art der Nutzung von Analytics Tools 4.3.5 Ressourcen für Analytics-Initiativen 4.3.6 Datenorientierung und Datenkultur 4.3.7 Big Data-Charakteristik der Daten 4.3.8 Eigenschaften von in Analytics Tools genutzten Daten 4.3.9 Technologische Charakteristika der Analytics Tools 4.3.10 Unterstützung durch das Top Management Team 4.3.11 Fähigkeiten der Führungskräfte im Controlling 4.3.12 Technische Fähigkeiten von Controlling-Mitarbeitern 4.3.13 Analytische Fähigkeiten der Controlling-Mitarbeiter 4.3.14 Wissenszugang und -nutzung 4.4 Teil 3: Fragen zum Einfluss von Analytics Tools auf die Tätigkeit und das Arbeitsumfeld von Controllingleitern 4.4.1 Auswirkungen von Informationen aus Analytics Tools 4.4.2 Arbeitsrelevante Informationen für die Tätigkeit als Controlling-Leiter 4.4.3 Umstände der Tätigkeit von Controllingleitern (Rollenüberlastung) 4.4.4 Wahrnehmungen der Arbeit von Controlingleitern (Rollenambiguität und Rollenkonflikt) 4.4.5 Einstellungen zum Unternehmen 4.5 Sonstige Hinweise der Studienteilnehmer 5 Management Summary 6 Literaturverzeichni

Matriptase regulates c-Met mediated proliferation and invasion in inflammatory breast cancer.

The poor prognosis for patients with inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) compared to patients with other types of breast cancers emphasizes the need to better understand the molecular underpinnings of this disease with the goal of developing effective targeted therapeutics. Dysregulation of matriptase expression, an epithelial-specific member of the type II transmembrane serine protease family, has been demonstrated in many different cancer types. To date, no studies have assessed the expression and potential pro-oncogenic role of matriptase in IBC. We examined the functional relationship between matriptase and the HGF/c-MET signaling pathway in the IBC cell lines SUM149 and SUM190, and in IBC patient samples. Matriptase and c-Met proteins are localized on the surface membrane of IBC cells and their expression is strongly correlated in infiltrating cancer cells and in the cancer cells of lymphatic emboli in patient samples. Abrogation of matriptase expression by silencing with RNAi or inhibition of matriptase proteolytic activity with a synthetic inhibitor impairs the conversion of inactive pro-HGF to active HGF and subsequent c-Met-mediated signaling, leading to efficient impairment of proliferation and invasion of IBC cells. These data show the potential of matriptase inhibitors as a novel targeted therapy for IBC, and lay the groundwork for the development and testing of such drugs

Chromospheric seismology above sunspot umbrae

The acoustic resonator is an important model for explaining the three-minute oscillations in the chromosphere above sunspot umbrae. The steep temperature gradients at the photosphere and transition region provide the cavity for the acoustic resonator, which allows waves to be both partially transmitted and partially reflected. In this paper, a new method of estimating the size and temperature profile of the chromospheric cavity above a sunspot umbra is developed. The magnetic field above umbrae is modelled numerically in 1.5D with slow magnetoacoustic wave trains travelling along magnetic fieldlines. Resonances are driven by applying the random noise of three different colours---white, pink and brown---as small velocity perturbations to the upper convection zone. Energy escapes the resonating cavity and generates wave trains moving into the corona. Line of sight (LOS) integration is also performed to determine the observable spectra through SDO/AIA. The numerical results show that the gradient of the coronal spectra is directly correlated with the chromosperic temperature configuration. As the chromospheric cavity size increases, the spectral gradient becomes shallower. When LOS integrations is performed, the resulting spectra demonstrate a broadband of excited frequencies that is correlated with the chromospheric cavity size. The broadband of excited frequencies becomes narrower as the chromospheric cavity size increases. These two results provide a potentially useful diagnostic for the chromospheric temperature profile by considering coronal velocity oscillations

Glutamatergic dysfunction leads to a hyper-dopaminergic phenotype through deficits in short-term habituation: a mechanism for aberrant salience

Psychosis in disorders like schizophrenia is commonly associated with aberrant salience and elevated striatal dopamine. However, the underlying cause(s) of this hyper-dopaminergic state remain elusive. Various lines of evidence point to glutamatergic dysfunction and impairments in synaptic plasticity in the etiology of schizophrenia, including deficits associated with the GluA1 AMPAR subunit. GluA1 knockout (Gria1−/−) mice provide a model of impaired synaptic plasticity in schizophrenia and exhibit a selective deficit in a form of short-term memory which underlies short-term habituation. As such, these mice are unable to reduce attention to recently presented stimuli. In this study we used fast-scan cyclic voltammetry to measure phasic dopamine responses in the nucleus accumbens of Gria1−/− mice to determine whether this behavioral phenotype might be a key driver of a hyper-dopaminergic state. There was no effect of GluA1 deletion on electrically-evoked dopamine responses in anaesthetized mice, demonstrating normal endogenous release properties of dopamine neurons in Gria1−/− mice. Furthermore, dopamine signals were initially similar in Gria1−/− mice compared to controls in response to both sucrose rewards and neutral light stimuli. They were also equally sensitive to changes in the magnitude of delivered rewards. In contrast, however, these stimulus-evoked dopamine signals failed to habituate with repeated presentations in Gria1−/− mice, resulting in a task-relevant, hyper-dopaminergic phenotype. Thus, here we show that GluA1 dysfunction, resulting in impaired short-term habituation, is a key driver of enhanced striatal dopamine responses, which may be an important contributor to aberrant salience and psychosis in psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia

Analysis of Epithelial Growth Factor-Receptor (EGFR) Phosphorylation in Uterine Smooth Muscle Tumors

Uterine fibroids are the commonest uterine benign tumors. A potential mechanism of malignant transformation from leiomyomas to leiomyosarcomas has beendescribed. Tyrosine phosphorylation is a key mechanism that controls biological functions, such as proliferation and cell differentiation. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the phosphorylation of epithelial growth factor-receptor (EGFR) in normal myometrium, uterine myomas and uterine leiomyosarcomas. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue samples from normal myometrium, leiomyomas and leiomyosarcomas were studied. Samples were immunohistochemically (IHC) assessed using the anti-EGFR phosphorylation of Y845 (pEGFR-Y845) and anti-pEGFR-Y1173 phosphorylation-specific antibodies. IHC staining was evaluated using a semiquantitative score. The expression of pEGFR-Y845 was significantly upregulated in leiomyosarcomas (p < 0.001) compared to leiomyomas and normal myometrium. In contrast, pEGFR-Y1173 did not differ significantly between the three groups of the study. Correlation analysis revealed an overall positive correlation between pEGFR Y845 and mucin 1 (MUC1). Further subgroup analysis within the tumoral group (myomas and leiomyosarcomas) revealed an additional negative correlation between pEGFR Y845 and galectin-3 (gal-3) staining. On the contrary no significant correlation was noted within the non-tumoral group. An upregulated EGFR phosphorylation of Y845 in leiomyosarcomas compared to leiomyomas implicates EGFR activation at this special receptor site. Due to these pEGFR-Y845 variations, it can be postulated that MUC1 interacts with it, whereas gal-3 seems to be cleaved from Y845 phosphorylated EGFR. Further research on this field could focus on differences in EGFR pathways as a potentially advantageous diagnostic tool for investigation of benign and malignant signal transduction processes

PAK1 phosphorylation of MEK1 regulates fibronectin-stimulated MAPK activation

Activation of the Ras–MAPK signal transduction pathway is necessary for biological responses both to growth factors and ECM. Here, we provide evidence that phosphorylation of S298 of MAPK kinase 1 (MEK1) by p21-activated kinase (PAK) is a site of convergence for integrin and growth factor signaling. We find that adhesion to fibronectin induces PAK1-dependent phosphorylation of MEK1 on S298 and that this phosphorylation is necessary for efficient activation of MEK1 and subsequent MAPK activation. The rapid and efficient activation of MEK and phosphorylation on S298 induced by cell adhesion to fibronectin is influenced by FAK and Src signaling and is paralleled by localization of phospho-S298 MEK1 and phospho-MAPK staining in peripheral membrane–proximal adhesion structures. We propose that FAK/Src-dependent, PAK1-mediated phosphorylation of MEK1 on S298 is central to the organization and localization of active Raf–MEK1–MAPK signaling complexes, and that formation of such complexes contributes to the adhesion dependence of growth factor signaling to MAPK