Plants respond to pathogens both locally at the site of infection, as well as systemically in distant leaves. Systemic Acquired Resistance (SAR) is an immune response that involves the long-distance transport of SAR signal via the phloem from the site of infection to distant, uninfected leaves to establish long-lasting resistance. The Arabidopsis thaliana Defective in Induced Resistance 1 (DIR1) protein, which is required for SAR, accesses the phloem during SAR for long-distance travel to systemic leaves, and is thought to be part of a SAR signal complex. However, many questions remain about the long-distance movement of DIR1 during SAR – including the cellular route travelled to reach the phloem and whether other proteins are required for DIR1 movement. Fluorescent fusion lines of DIR1 and the related protein DIR1-like were previously created were investigated as potential tools to trace the movement of DIR1/DIR1-like during SAR. Immunoblot analysis of leaf extracts from these DIR1/DIR1-like fluorescent fusion lines revealed no signal, indicating that no fusion protein was present in these lines and therefore, they were likely not useful as a tool for assessing the movement of DIR1/DIR1-like during SAR. Lipid Transfer Protein 2 (LTP2) is required for SAR and interacted with DIR1 in a yeast-two-hybrid assay. To investigate if LTP2 is required for DIR1 movement into the phloem and long-distance, DIR1 signal was investigated by immunoblotting of phloem exudates from SAR induced ltp2-1 mutant plants. The presence of DIR1 signal in phloem exudates of local ltp2-1 leaves but not distant ltp2-1 leaves suggested that LTP2 may be required for the long-distance movement of DIR1 during SAR, but not for DIR1 to enter the phloem in induced leaves. Gene expression changes in the systemic, uninfected leaves are associated with the establishment of SAR, however, it remains less clear if there is a core set of genes important for SAR induction upregulated at the initial site of infection. To investigate this question, SAR was induced through differing treatments that first activated the PAMP-triggered immunity (PTI) pathway or Effector-triggered immunity (ETI) pathway. Common genes upregulated between all three SAR-inducing treatments were identified, revealing genes previously and currently under investigation by the Cameron lab, as well as genes that represent candidates for possible future studies. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

<p>Ostvarene su vi&scaron;efazne sinteze prirodnih citotoksičnih laktona (+)-murikatacina (<strong>1</strong>),<br />(&ndash;)-murikatacina (ent-<strong>1</strong>) i (+)-goniofufurona (<strong>2</strong>), kao i njihovih novih analoga (<strong>3a</strong>,&nbsp; <strong>4</strong>,<br /><strong>5</strong>,&nbsp; <strong>6</strong>,&nbsp; <strong>7</strong>,&nbsp; <strong>8</strong>,&nbsp; <strong>9</strong>,&nbsp; ent-<strong>7&nbsp;</strong>i ent-<strong>9</strong>), polazeći iz&nbsp; D-ksiloze ili iz&nbsp; D-glukoze. Ispitana je&nbsp; in vitro<br />citotoksična aktivnost sintetizovanih prirodnih proizvoda i analoga prema<br />odabranim humanim tumorskim ćelijskim linijama (K562, HL-60, Jurkat, Raji, HT-29,&nbsp;MDA-MB 231 i HeLa), kao i prema ćelijama fetalnih fibroblasta pluća (MRC-5).</p> / <p>Multiphase synthesis of natural cytotoxic lactones&nbsp; (+)-muricatacin (<strong>1</strong>),<br />(&ndash;)-muricatacin (ent-<strong>1</strong>) and (+)-goniofufurone (<strong>2</strong>), as well as synthesis of their<br />analogues (<strong>3a</strong>,&nbsp; <strong>4</strong>,&nbsp; <strong>5</strong>,&nbsp; <strong>6</strong>,&nbsp; <strong>7</strong>,&nbsp; <strong>8</strong>,&nbsp; <strong>9</strong>,&nbsp; ent-<strong>7</strong>and&nbsp; ent-<strong>9</strong>) was achived from&nbsp; D-xylose or<br />D-glucose as starting compounds. In vitro cytotoxic&nbsp; activity of synthetized natural<br />products and analogues against selected human tumour cell lines (K562, HL-60,<br />Jurkat, Raji, HT-29, MDA-MB 231 and HeLa) and against cells of natural foetal lung&nbsp;fibroblasts (MRC-5) was examined.</p>

nÃo hà / O mapeamento da poluiÃÃo de Ãleo no mar utilizando imagens de Radar de Abertura SintÃtica (SAR, do inglÃs Synthetic Aperture Radar) à uma importante Ãrea de interesse na Ãrea da vigilÃncia ambiental. Pode-se utilizar imagens SAR para extrair caracterÃsticas atravÃs de diferentes mÃtodos com o objetivo de predizer atravÃs de Redes Neurais Artificiais (RNAs) se uma regiÃo especÃfica contÃm ou nÃo uma mancha de Ãleo. O principal problema dessa abordagem à a ocorrÃncia de excessivos alarmes falsos decorrentes de erros de classificaÃÃo. Manchas de Ãleo sÃo eventos raros e a pequena disponibilidade de imagens contendo manchas à um fator limitante do desempenho dos classificadores. Este trabalho propÃe a utilizaÃÃo de mÃltiplos conjuntos de caracterÃsticas e mÃtodos de combinaÃÃo de classificadores para minimizar o nÃmero de alarmes falsos a fim de possibilitar a reduÃÃo de custos operacionais de sistemas automÃticos de deteÃÃo de manchas de Ãleo. As imagens SAR utilizadas neste trabalho nÃo estÃo limitadas a um Ãnico sistema de imageamento e diferentes conjuntos de caracterÃsticas baseados na geometria e textura das manchas foram testados. Os desempenhos de generalizaÃÃo de mÃtodos de combinaÃÃo de classificadores, como boosting e bagging, foram comparados com aqueles obtidos com classificadores individuais, como Perceptron Multi-Camadas (MLP, do inglÃs Multi-Layer Perceptron) e MÃquina de Vetor de Suporte (SVM, do inglÃs Support Vector Machine). Os resultados experimentais sugerem que a caracterizaÃÃo das manchas de Ãleo pode ser significativamente melhorada atravÃs do uso do boosting,mesmo quando poucas imagens amostrais estÃo disponÃveis. / Mapping ocean oil pollution by using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images is an important area of interest for environmental surveillance. One can make use of the SAR images to extract features by using different methods in order to predict if a specific region contains an oil spill or not using Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). A major problem in this approach is the number of false alarms due to misclassification. Oil spills are rare events and the number of available images containing spills is atistically small which is a limitation for the classifier performance. This work proposes the use of multiple feature sets and classifier combining methods to minimize the number of false alarms and thus, reduce the operational costs of automatic oil spill detection systems. The SAR images used in this work are not limited to a specific imaging system and different feature sets based on geometry and texture of the spills were tested. The generalization performances of classifier combination methods as boosting and bagging were compared with those resulting from single classifiers as Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) and Support Vector Machines (SVM). The experimental results suggest that oil spill characterization can be significantly improved using boosting even when few image samples are available and the feature sets have high dimensionality.

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is one of the most versatile tools ever invented for imaging. Due to its better Rayleigh resolution, SAR imaging provides the highest quality radar imagery. These images are used for many applications including but not limited to terrestrial mapping, disaster reconnaissance, medical imaging and military applications. Imaging techniques or geometries which can improve the resolution of the reconstructed imagery is always desired in the SAR imaging. In this dissertation both the linear and nonlinear frequency modulated chirp signals are discussed. The most widely used frequency modulated chirp signal, linear frequency modulated chirp signal, and some of its properties such as spectrum, point spread function and matched filter are summarized. A new nonlinear frequency modulated chirp signal which can be used to improve the image resolution is introduced. In order to validate the offered chirp signal, spotlight SAR imaging geometry together with 2D polar and Stolt format reconstruction algorithms are considered. The synthetic examples are generated using both chirps both with polar and Stolt format processing. Additionally a new change detection method which depends on the idea of generating two different final change maps of the initial and final images in a sequence is offered. The specific algorithms utilized for testing this method are the widely used correlation coefficient change statistic and the intensity ratio change statistic algorithms. This method together with the algorithms mentioned is first applied to synthetic data generated by Stolt format processing. It is shown that the method works on synthetic data. The method together with the algorithms mentioned is also applied to two case studies dfreal disasters, one is 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the second is 2008 China Sichuan earthquake. It is shown that two final change map method can reduce the false identifications of the changes. Also it is shown that intensity ratio change statistics is a better tool for identifying the changes due to oil contamination. The data used in this study is acquired by Japanese Aerospace Agency's Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) through Alaska SAR Facility (ASF), at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

Les travaux présentés dans cette thèse portent sur l'étude et la réalisation d'un système d'imagerie SAR (synthetic aperture radar) exploitant deux techniques provenant des communications numériques: la configuration MIMO et les signaux OFDM. Dans la première partie de cette étude, différentes méthodes de focalisation des signaux reçus pour la configuration MIMO sont proposées afin de mesurer l'impact de la configuration MIMO sur la robustesse du système d'imagerie SAR par rapport aux bruits. Par ailleurs, on mesure aussi l'impact de la configuration MIMO sur la résolution en azimut. Finalement, un système expérimental est développé au sein du laboratoire afin de confirmer les résultats obtenus par simulation. Dans la deuxième partie de cette étude, une méthode de réduction de l'ambiguïté en distance est proposée et validée par simulation. Cependant, l'utilisation de signaux classiques de type \textit{chirps} montre ses limites pour la réduction de l'ambiguïté en distance. Ainsi, une méthode de conception de signaux OFDM est développée afin de résoudre ce problème. Une dernière étude sur les signaux OFDM est mené dans le cadre de son utilisation dans la configuration MIMO pour l'imagerie SAR. L'impact des signaux OFDM sur la résolution azimutale ainsi que sur les différents paramètres de qualité images est étudié.

Pendant ces dix dernières années, les lancements successifs de satellites pour l'observation de la Terre dotés de capteurs SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) ont permis de montrer son fort potentiel, car ces systèmes sont capables de couvrir de vastes régions avec une résolution élevée, ce qui représente un avantage pour le suivi terrain. Cette thèse propose d'élargir les applications conventionnelles, en s'occupant d'investiguer le potentiel et les limites de l'interférométrie SAR pour la mesure de la déformation du terrain dans la région amazonienne, qui n'a pas encore été étudiée dans ce cadre spécifique. L'application consiste à estimer le déplacement de la surface de la Terre sur la zone urbaine de Manaus, la plus grande ville de l'État d'Amazonas au Brésil, qui représente un site important pour l'exploration pétrolière et gazière et pour le transport. Ce site est entouré par des écosystèmes fragiles, qui le rendent très sensible à la présence de l'industrie pétrolière. Dans ce contexte, une compréhension de la dynamique temporelle et de la distribution spatiale des phénomènes de néotectonique est fondamentale pour la définition de bonnes pratiques de gestion de l'environnement. Au niveau méthodologique, afin de lever les principales difficultés rencontrées pour l'application de l'interférométrie différentielle sur une pile de données Radarsat-1, une stratégie multi-échelles et "model free", basée sur l'information de déformation non-linéaire au cours du temps est adoptée avec succès. La caractéristique essentielle de cette procédure est la séparation du signal de phase en différentes échelles spatiales pour simplifier la séparation des trois composantes de phase (topographie, atmosphère et déplacement). Cela conduit à une plus grande robustesse et permet l'inversion de composantes de phase pour les petites piles d'images. Au niveau géophysique, l'application de l'interférométrie à l'étude du déplacement du terrain est réalisée pour la première fois sur le milieu de l'Amazonie, en complétant les études de géologie structurale antérieures basées sur les mesures issues de la corrélation des images optiques et les mesures de terrain. En complément des connaissances antérieures, la présente étude apporte une information précise sur l'hypothèse de mouvements de la croûte récents liés aux activités néotectoniques du bassin de l'Amazonie. Les résultats indiquent une zone de mouvement de la croûte adjacente à une structure de drainage circulaire dans la ville de Manaus. Les images Radarsat-1 et 2 acquises sur cette région apportent une meilleure compréhension des activités géologiques et du mouvement de la croûte dans le bassin de l'Amazonie.

Lake Vostok, der größte der über 70 subglazialen Seen in der Antarktis, ist derzeit einer der Forschungsschwerpunkte der geowissenschaftlichen Polarforschung. Der See erstreckt sich unter einer 4 000 m dicken Eisschicht auf über 250 km Länge mit einer Wassertiefe von bis zu 1 000 m. Ziel der hier vorliegenden Arbeit ist die Untersuchung des Einflusses der Gezeiten auf den Wasserstand des Sees, die eine bisher nicht betrachtete Komponente in der Zirkulation im See darstellen. Auf Grund seiner Ausdehnung ist das Gezeitenpotential an verschiedenen Punkten auf dem See nicht gleich, sondern weist differentielle Unterschiede auf. Unter der Annahme, dass sich die Seeoberfläche entlang einer Äquipotentialfläche ausrichtet, ergeben sich Gleichgewichtsgezeiten des Sees mit Amplituden von bis zu 4,6 mm für die größte ganztägige Tide K1 und 1,8 mm für die größte halbtägige Tide M2. Differenzen des Luftdruckes zwischen Nord- und Südteil des Sees rufen zusätzlich einen differentiellen inversen Barometer-Effekt hervor. Der inverse Barometer-Effekt besitzt im wesentlichen die spektralen Eigenschaften eines roten Rauschens. Die Variationen erreichen bis zu +/- 20 mm. Zum messtechnischen Nachweis derartiger Höhenänderungen an der Eisoberfläche über dem See wurden drei unterschiedliche Verfahren herangezogen. Differentielle GPS-Messungen zwischen einem Punkt auf aufliegendem Eis und einem zweiten in der südlichen Seemitte bestätigen die Modellvorstellungen und zeigen sowohl mit der Luftdruckdifferenz korrelierte Höhenänderungen als auch Höhenänderungen mit ganz- und halbtägigen Perioden. Die SAR-Interferometrie als flächenhaft arbeitende Methode zur Bestimmung von Höhenänderungen lässt den räumlichen Verlauf der Deformation erkennen. Dabei zeigt sich, dass sich die Aufsetzzone auf dem etwa 50 km breiten See bis in die Seemitte ersteckt. Erdgezeitenregistrierungen, die im Jahr 1969 in der Station Vostok durchgeführt wurden, zeigen zwar Auffälligkeiten wie etwa einen stark erhöhten Luftdruckregressionskoeffzienten und einen Phasenvorlauf der K1-Tide, diese können jedoch nicht eindeutig als Resultat von Höhenänderungen der Seeoberfläche identifiziert werden. Auf Grund der Lage der Station Vostok nahe dem Ufer des Sees ist die Deformation dort schon stark gedämpft. Die zu erwartenden Effekte liegen daher unterhalb der Auflösung der damaligen Messungen. Damit sind die theoretischen Grundvorstellungen über die Reaktion des subglazialen Sees auf Gezeiten- und Luftdruckanregungen herausgearbeitet, sowie diese Effekte mit zwei unabhängigen und komplementären Messverfahren nachgewiesen. / Lake Vostok, the largest of more than 70 subglacial lakes in the Antarctic, is one of the prominent topics of recent geoscientific polar research. The lake extends beneath the 4,000 m thick ice sheet to a length of more than 250 km with a water depth of up to 1,000 m. This thesis aims to investigate the influence of tides on the lake level which has not been considered so far in the discussion of water circulation within the lake. Due to the extent of the lake the tidal potential at different positions on its surface is not equal but exhibits a differential effect. Under the assumption of the lake level to be parallel to an equipotential surface the equilibrium tides of the lake yield amplitudes of up to 4.6 mm for the largest diurnal tidal constituent K1 and 1.8 mm for the largest semi-diurnal wave M2. In addition, differences in air pressure between the northern and the southern part of the lake result in a differential inverse barometric effect. This effect shows red noise characteristics with variations of up to +/- 20 mm. Three different types of measurements were used to verify corresponding height changes of the ice surface above the lake. Differential GPS measurements between one station on grounded ice and one in the southern centre of the lake confirm the concept and show height changes correlated to air pressure differences as well as changes with diurnal and semi-diurnal periods. SAR interferometry as a spatial method to determine height changes reveals the areal extent of the deformation with a grounding zone extending to the centre of the about 50 km wide lake. Gravimetric earth tide data recorded at Vostok Station in 1969 show pecularities such as an increased regression with air pressure and a phase lead of the K1 tide. However, these effects cannot be explicitly attributed to height changes of the lake surface. Due to the position of the station near the edge of the lake the effect is highly attenuated and below the noise level of these measurements. This work introduces the concept of the response of the subglacial lake to the tidal potential and to air pressure forcings and presents evidence for the effect by two different techniques proving the validity of the model.

Das Ceramid Transfer Protein (CERT) ist einer der geschwindigkeitsbestimmenden Proteine in der de novo Biosynthese von Sphingomyelin. Es ist verantwortlich für den nicht-vesikulären Transfer von Ceramid vom Endoplasmatischen Retikulum zum Golgi-Apparat. Die Inhibition von CERT wird als potenzielle Behandlung für Krankheiten wie Infektionen, Krebs oder Gain-of-Function-Mutationen des CERT Gens diskutiert. Kürzlich, wurde Lomitapide als potenter Inhibitor des CERT-vermittelten intermembran-Transfers identifiziert. Im ersten Teil dieser Arbeit wird die Synthese von Lomitapide Derivaten mit verbesserter Wirksamkeit und Selektivität präsentiert. Die synthetisierten Analoga wurden in vitro mithilfe eines liposomalen Transferassays auf ihre Inhibition der CERT-Transferaktivität getestet. Zusätzlich konnte durch die Messung des Ceramid-Sphingomyelin-Verhältnisses nach Inhibitor Behandlung die Aktivität in cellulo bestätigt werden. Die Selektivität gegenüber dem Mikrosomalen Triglycerid Transfer Protein (MTP) wurde durch Messung der MTP-vermittelten Sekretion von apoB ermittelt. Unter den synthetisierten Analoga zeigten einige verbesserte CERT-Transfer Inhibition und niedrigere Inhibition der apoB Sekretion, sogar bei fünffacher Konzentration verglichen mit Lomitapide. Obwohl die Bewertung der biologischen Aktivität noch im Gange ist, wurde eine vorläufige Struktur-Aktivitäts-Beziehung etabliert. Es wurden strukturelle Bestandteile identifiziert, die wichtig für die CERT-Inhibition sind und andere welche variabel sind, um die Wirksamkeit und Selektivität in Zukunft noch weiter zu steigern. Der zweite Teil dieser Arbeit beschreibt die Synthese von Lomitapide-basierten proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs) für CERT. PROTACs haben sich im letzten Jahrzehnt zu einem vielversprechenden therapeutischen Ansatz entwickelt und mehrere potenzielle Wirkstoffe hervorgebracht. PROTACs sind heterobifunktionale Moleküle, die sich den zellulären Weg der Proteinzersetzung zunutze machen, indem sie das gewünschte Protein zur Zersetzung markieren. Es wurde eine erste Serie von CERT PROTACs mit vielversprechender Abbauwirkung synthetisiert, welche eine bevorzugte Zersetzung von CERT aber nicht CERTL andeuten. CERTL ist eine längere Spleiß-Variante, welche vornehmlich im Herz, Gehirn und den Skelettmuskeln exprimiert wird. Eine zweite Serie von PROTACs mit variierter Linker Kettenlänge wurde synthetisiert. Untersuchung des Einflusses auf die apoB Sekretion aus HepG2 Zellen zeigte sogar bei 50-facher Konzentration einen niedrigeren Einfluss auf diese als Lomitapide. / The ceramide transfer protein (CERT) is one of the rate-limiting proteins in the de novo biosynthesis of sphingomyelin, facilitating the non-vesicular transfer of ceramide from the Endoplasmic Reticulum to the Golgi-apparatus. Inhibition of CERT has been proposed as a potential treatment for pathogenesis like infectious diseases, cancer, or disease-causing gain-of-function mutations within the CERT gene. Recently Lomitapide has been identified as a potent inhibitor of CERT-mediated intermembrane transfer. In the first part of this thesis, the synthesis of Lomitapide derivatives with improved potency and selectivity is presented. The synthesized analogs were tested in vitro for their inhibition of CERT-transfer using a liposomal transfer assay. Additionally, the activity could be confirmed in cellulo by monitoring the ceramide-sphingomyelin-ratio after inhibitor treatment. Selectivity against the microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) has been determined by monitoring the MTP-mediated cellular secretion of apoB. Among the synthesized analogs, several showed improved CERT-transfer inhibition and lower inhibition of apoB secretion even at five-fold higher concentrations compared to Lomitapide. Although the biological evaluation is still underway, a preliminary structure-activity-relationship has been established and identified structural motifs important for CERT inhibition and modifiable moieties to increase potency and selectivity even further in the future. The second part of the thesis describes the synthesis of Lomitapide-based proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs) for CERT. PROTACs have evolved in the last decade as a promising therapeutic technique and resulted in the development of several drugs which are currently in clinical trials. PROTACs are heterobifunctional small molecules that mediate the degradation of the target protein by hijacking the cellular proteasomal pathway. A first series of synthesized CERT PROTACs showed promising preliminary results for CERT degrader activity and indicated a preferred degradation of CERT over CERTL, a longer splicing variant expressed in the heart, brain, and skeletal muscles. Motivated by this a second generation of PROTACs with varying linker chain lengths was synthesized. Investigation of their inhibition of apoB secretion from HepG2 cells revealed lower activity on secretion than Lomitapide even at 50-fold concentrations for a set of CERT PROTACs.

Multitemporal SAR images have been used successfully for the detection of different types of environmental changes. The detection of urban change using SAR images is complicated due to the special characteristics of SAR images—for example, the existence of speckle and the complex mixture of the urban environment. This thesis investigates the detection of urban changes using SAR images with the following specific objectives: (1) to investigate unsupervised change detection, (2) to investigate reduction of the speckle effect and (3) to investigate spatio-contextual change detection. Beijing and Shanghai, the largest cities in China, were selected as study areas. Multitemporal SAR images acquired by ERS-2 SAR (1998~1999) and Envisat ASAR (2008~2009) sensors were used to detect changes that have occurred in these cities. Unsupervised change detection using SAR images is investigated using the Kittler-Illingworth algorithm. The problem associated with the diversity of urban changes—namely, more than one typology of change—is addressed using the modified ratio operator. This operator clusters both positive and negative changes on one side of the change-image histogram. To model the statistics of the changed and the unchanged classes, four different probability density functions were tested. The analysis indicates that the quality of the resulting change map will strongly depends on the density model chosen. The analysis also suggests that use of a local adaptive filter (e.g., enhanced Lee) removes fine geometric details from the scene. Speckle suppression and geometric detail preservation in SAR-based change detection, are addressed using the nonlocal means (NLM) algorithm. In this algorithm, denoising is achieved through a weighted averaging process, in which the weights are a function of the similarity of small image patches defined around each pixel in the image. To decrease the computational complexity, the PCA technique is used to reduce the dimensionality of the neighbourhood feature vectors. Simple methods to estimate the dimensionality of the new space and the required noise variance are proposed. The experimental results show that the NLM algorithm outperformed traditional local adaptive filters (e.g., enhanced Lee) in eliminating the effect of speckle and in maintaining the geometric structures in the scene. The analysis also indicates that filtering the change variable instead of the individual SAR images is effective in terms of both the quality of the results and the time needed to carry out the computation. The third research focuses on the application of Markov random field (MRF) in change detection using SAR images. The MRF-based change detection algorithm shows limited capacity to simultaneously maintain fine geometric detail in urban areas and combat the effect of speckle noise. This problem has been addressed through the introduction of a global constraint on the pixels’ class labels. Based on NLM theory, a global probability model is developed. The iterated conditional mode (ICM) scheme for the optimization of the MAP-MRF criterion function is extended to include a step that forces the maximization of the global probability model. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is better at preserving the fine structural detail, effective in reducing the effect of speckle, less sensitive to the value of the contextual parameter, and less affected by the quality of the initial change map compared with traditional MRF-based change detection algorithm. / <p>QC 20130610</p>

Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (PolSAR) has been used for various remote sensing applications since more information could be obtained in multiple polarizations. The overall objective of this thesis is to investigate urban area information extraction from PolSAR data with the following specific objectives: (1) to exploit polarimetric scattering model-based decomposition methods for urban areas, (2) to investigate effective methods for man-made target detection, (3) to develop edge detection and superpixel generation methods, and (4) to investigate urban area classification and segmentation. Paper 1 proposes a new scattering coherency matrix to model the cross-polarized scattering component from urban areas, which adaptively considers the polarization orientation angles of buildings. Thus, the HV scattering components from forests and oriented urban areas can be modelled respectively. Paper 2 presents two urban area decompositions using this scattering model. After the decomposition, urban scattering components can be effectively extracted. Paper 3 presents an improved man-made target detection method for PolSAR data based on nonstationarity and asymmetry. Reflection asymmetry was incorporate into the azimuth nonstationarity extraction method to improve the man-made target detection accuracy, i.e., removing the natural areas and detecting the small targets. In Paper 4, the edge detection of PolSAR data was investigated using SIRV model and Gauss-shaped filter. This detector can locate the edge pixels accurately with fewer omissions. This could be useful for speckle noise reduction, superpixel generation and others. Paper 5 investigates an unsupervised classification method for PolSAR data in urban areas. The ortho and oriented buildings can be discriminated very well. Paper 6 proposes an adaptive superpixel generation method for PolSAR images. The algorithm produces compact superpixels that can well adhere to image boundaries in both natural and urban areas. / Polarimetriska Synthetic Aperture Radar (PolSAR) har använts för olika fjärranalystillämpningar för, eftersom mer information kan erhållas från multipolarisad data. Det övergripande syftet med denna avhandling är att undersöka informationshämtning över urbana områden från PolSAR data med följande särskilda mål: (1) att utnyttja polarimetrisk spridningsmodellbaserade nedbrytningsmetoder för stadsområden, (2) att undersöka effektiva metoder för upptäckt av konstgjorda objekt, (3) att utveckla metoder som kantavkänning och superpixel generation, och (4) för att undersöka klassificering och segmentering av stadsområden. Artikel 1 föreslår en ny spridnings-koherens matris för att modellera korspolariserade spridningskomponent från tätorter, som adaptivt utvärderar polariseringsorienteringsvinkel av byggnader. Artikel 2 presenterar nedbrytningstekniken över två urbana områden med hjälp av denna spridningsmodell. Efter nedbrytningen kunde urbana spridningskomponenter effektivt extraheras. Artikel 3 presenterar en förbättrad detekteringsmetod för konstgjorda mål med PolSAR data baserade på icke-stationaritet och asymmetri. integrerades reflektionsasymmetri i icke-stationaritetsmetoden för att förbättra noggrannheten i upptäckten av konstgjorda föremål, dvs. att ta bort naturområden och upptäcka de små föremålen. I artikel 4 undersöktes kantdetektering av PolSAR data med hjälp av SIRV modell och ett Gauss-formad filter. Denna detektor kan hitta kantpixlarna noggrant med mindre utelämnande. Detta skulle den vara användbar för reduktion av brus, superpixel generation och andra. Artikel 5 utforskar en oövervakad klassificeringsmetod av PolSAR data över stadsområden. Orto- och orienterade byggnader kan särskiljas mycket väl. Baserat på artikel 4 föreslår artikel 6 en adaptiv superpixel generationensmetod för PolSAR data. Algoritmen producerar kompakta superpixels som kan kommer att följa bildgränser i både naturliga och stadsområden. / <p>QC 20160607</p>