Understanding the atmospheric conditions in remote areas contributes to assessing local weather phenomena. Obtaining vertical profiles of the atmosphere in isolated locations can introduce ...significant challenges for the deployment and maintenance of equipment, as well as regulatory obstacles. Here, we assessed the potential of consumer drones equipped with lightweight atmospheric sensors to collect vertical meteorological profiles off One Tree Island (Great Barrier Reef), located approximately 85 km off the east coast of Australia. We used a DJI Matrice 300 drone with two InterMet Systems iMet-XQ2 UAV sensors, capturing data on atmospheric pressure, temperature, relative humidity, and wind up to an altitude of 1500 m. These flights were conducted three times per day (9 a.m., 12 noon, and 3 p.m.) and compared against ground-based weather sensors. Over the Austral summer/autumn, we completed 72 flights, obtaining 24 complete sets of daily measurements of atmospheric characteristics over the entire vertical profile. On average, the atmospheric temperature and dewpoint temperature were significantly influenced by the time of sampling, and also varied among days. The mean daily temperature and dewpoint temperature reached their peaks at 3 p.m., with the temperature gradually rising from its morning low. The mean dewpoint temperature obtained its lowest point around noon. We also observed wind speed variations, but changes in patterns throughout the day were much less consistent. The drone-mounted atmospheric sensors exhibited a consistent warm bias in temperature compared to the reference weather station. Relative humidity showed greater variability with no clear bias pattern, indicating potential limitations in the humidity sensor’s performance. Microscale temperature inversions were prevalent around 1000 m, peaking around noon and present in approximately 27% of the profiles. Overall, the drone-based vertical profiles helped characterise atmospheric dynamics around One Tree Island Reef and demonstrated the utility of consumer drones in providing cost-effective meteorological information in remote, environmentally sensitive areas.
Wood, also designated as secondary xylem, is the major structure that gives trees and other woody plants stability for upright growth and maintains the water supply from the roots to all other plant ...tissues. Over recent decades, our understanding of the cellular processes of wood formation (xylogenesis) has substantially increased. Plants as sessile organisms face a multitude of abiotic stresses, e.g., heat, drought, salinity and limiting nutrient availability that require them to adjust their wood structure to maintain stability and water conductivity. Because of global climate change, more drastic and sudden changes in temperature and longer periods without precipitation are expected to impact tree productivity in the near future. Thus, it is essential to understand the process of wood formation in trees under stress. Many traits, such as vessel frequency and size, fiber thickness and density change in response to different environmental stimuli. Here, we provide an overview of our current understanding of how abiotic stress factors affect wood formation on the molecular level focussing on the genes that have been identified in these processes.
In this article, we provide a comprehensive review of the existing theoretical and empirical literature regarding spillover effects (effects of a crisis event in an announcing firm on other firms). ...In particular, we focus on the mechanism behind spillover effects and investigate factors that drive spillover effects. The results of our literature analysis show that spillover effects are most often significantly negative, that is, lead to losses in nonannouncing firms and depend on certain events and firm characteristics. On this basis, we derive implications for the risk management of spillover effects. Taking previous work on certain individual risk-management measures into account, we are the first to provide a holistic spillover risk-management process.
The retinal L-type Ca²⁺ channel Cav1.4 is distinguished from all other members of the high voltage-activated (HVA) Ca²⁺ channel family by lacking Ca²⁺-calmodulin-dependent inactivation. In synaptic ...terminals of photoreceptors and bipolar cells, this feature is essential to translate graded membrane depolarizations into sustained Ca²⁺ influx and tonic glutamate release. The sequences conferring Ca²⁺-dependent inactivation (CDI) are conserved throughout the HVA calcium channel family, raising the question of how Cav1.4 manages to switch off CDI. Here, we identify an autoinhibitory domain in the distal C terminus of Cav1.4 that serves to abolish CDI. We show that this domain (ICDI, inhibitor of CDI) uncouples the molecular machinery conferring CDI from the inactivation gate by binding to the EF hand motif in the proximal C terminus. Deletion of ICDI completely restores Ca²⁺-calmodulinmediated CDI in Cav1.4. CDI can be switched off again in the truncated Cav1.4 channel by coexpression of ICDI, indicating that ICDI works as an autonomous unit. Furthermore, we show that in the Cav1.2 L-type Ca²⁺-channel replacement of the distal C terminus by the corresponding sequence of Cav1.4 is sufficient to block CDI. This finding suggests that autoinhibition of CDI can be introduced principally into other Ca²⁺ channel types. Our data provide a previously undescribed perspective on the regulation of HVA calcium channels by Ca²⁺.
Currently, tourist destinations are, more than ever, confronted with specific challenges and also negative impacts arising from overarching developments. In order to address such challenges and to ...reduce negative impacts resulting from tourism, sustainable development has emerged as a widely accepted approach. Under special consideration of seemingly successful destinations, this article aims to identify complementary strategies towards sustainability in tourism, instead of developing completely new strategies which replace the existing ones. This will be done in the course of endogenous values and structures within a destination. To discuss this issue, the Canary island of Lanzarote is used as case in point, via a qualitative interview series consisting of eleven interviews with different direct and indirect tourism stakeholders from the island, which have been evaluated according to the GABEK®-method (German abbreviation for “GAnzheitliche BEwältigung von Komplexität”: holistic coping of complexity). The results show that aspects of mass tourism have a negative impact on the island and therefore a seemingly successful destination, at least in quantitative terms, is confronted with issues of sustainability and a need for action. In this field, diversification regarding both new offers and target groups is helpful to enable tourism and regional development to be more sustainable. In consequence and from a conceptual point of view, alternative product development as a new approach towards sustainability in tourism within established destinations will be presented.
The digital transformation is of increasing relevance for insurance companies’ business models. It leads to opportunities as well as challenges, especially for IT departments as core enablers or ...preventers. Against this background, the aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of digital technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence, cloud computing) and the resulting use cases for the insurance industry. To this end, we conduct a review of academic articles, industry studies and publications of the supervisory authorities. We point to the resulting requirements for an insurer’s IT and find many interdependencies between the digital technologies. Our results therefore emphasize the importance of a holistic digital strategy.
Climate change is one of the most important challenges for mankind in the far and near future. In this regard, sustainable production of woody crops on marginal land with low water availability is a ...major challenge to tackle. This dataset is part of an experiment, in which we exposed three genetically differentiated genotypes of Populus nigra originating from contrasting natural habitats to gradually increasing moderate drought. RNA sequencing was performed on fine roots, developing xylem and leaves of those three genotypes under control and moderate drought conditions in order to get a comprehensive dataset on the transcriptional changes at the whole plant level under water limiting conditions. This dataset has already provided insight in the transcriptional control of saccharification potential of the three Populus genotypes under drought conditions and we suggest that our data will be valuable for further in-depth analysis regarding candidate gene identification or, on a bigger scale, for meta-transcriptome analysis.
Interest rates have been very low for several years, which is particularly challenging for life insurers. Since 2001, German life insurers have had to set an additional reserve due to low interest ...rates to ensure the protection of policyholders. However, the method introduced at that time to calculate these reserves was criticized, therefore, the German Federal Ministry of Finance replaced it with a new approach. In this article, we investigated the effects of the different methods on a typical German life insurer in various future interest rate scenarios and from various perspectives. For this purpose, we modelled such a life insurer holistically, considered its asset liability management and projected its future development in different interest rate scenarios using simulation techniques. Taking into account dependencies between assets, liabilities and interest rates, we analyzed and discussed our results from the life insurer's, equity holders', policyholders' and regulators' perspectives. The results show that the new method eliminated the weaknesses of the previous one and seems to be a suitable alternative to determine the additional reserve.
Hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated channels (HCN1-4) play a crucial role in the regulation of cell excitability. Importantly, they contribute to spontaneous rhythmic activity in ...brain and heart. HCN channels are principally activated by membrane hyperpolarization and binding of cAMP. Here, we identify tyrosine phosphorylation by Src kinase as another mechanism affecting channel gating. Inhibition of Src by specific blockers slowed down activation kinetics of native and heterologously expressed HCN channels. The same effect on HCN channel activation was observed in cells cotransfected with a dominant-negative Src mutant. Immunoprecipitation demonstrated that Src binds to and phosphorylates native and heterologously expressed HCN2. Src interacts via its SH3 domain with a sequence of HCN2 encompassing part of the C-linker and the cyclic nucleotide binding domain. We identified a highly conserved tyrosine residue in the C-linker of HCN channels (Tyr476 in HCN2) that confers modulation by Src. Replacement of this tyrosine by phenylalanine in HCN2 or HCN4 abolished sensitivity to Src inhibitors. Mass spectrometry confirmed that Tyr476 is phosphorylated by Src. Our results have functional implications for HCN channel gating. Furthermore, they indicate that tyrosine phosphorylation contributes in vivo to the fine tuning of HCN channel activity.
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