Influence of vitamin B12 and light on the formation of chlorosomes in green- and brown-colored Chlorobium species

The specific Bchl a and c content of the vitamin B12-dependent Chlorobium limicola strain 1230 decreased strongly under vitamin B12 limitation. In comparison to a regularly grown culture (20 g vitamin B12/l) the specific Bchl c content of a B12-limited culture was reduced to 20% and the specific Bchl a content to 42%. By ultrathin sections it could be clearly demonstrated that B12-deficient cells contained no chlorosomes. After the addition of vitamin B12 to a deficient culture, chlorosomes were formed and the Bchl a and c content increased again to the level of regularly grown cells. The brown-colored Chlorobium phaeobacteroides strain 2430 (type strain) and the extremely low-light-adapted strain MN1 were compared with respect to the influence of light on the formation of chlorosomes and the Bchl e and carotenoid content. By ultrathin sections it could be demonstrated that strain MN1 produced two-fold larger chlorosomes. Chlorosome dimensions of strain MN1 decreased with increasing light intensities. The number of chlorosomes per cell in both strains did not change with different light intensities. Strain MN1 formed twice as much Bchl e as the type strain when grown at 30 or below 1 mol · m-2 · s-1. Under comparable light conditions strain MN1 formed 14–57% more carotenoids than the type strain. Low light intensities aaused the carotenoid content to increase by 25% in strain 2430 in comparison to high light intensity

Enoplognatha serratosignata (L. KOCH 1879) (Theridiidae) and Cheiracanthium gratum KULCZYNSKI 1897 (Clubionidae) are recorded for Germany for the first time

C. gratum is not regarded as a synonym of C. angulitarse SIMON 1876, and is revalidated. Both sexes are described, the female is described for the first time.Bei Untersuchungen der Spinnenzönosen von Binnendünen im norddeutschen Tiefland (MERKENS in Vorb.) wurden an zwei Lokalitäten am Talrand der Elbaue Enoplognatha serratosignata, auf einer Binnendüne an der Oder Cheiracanthium gratum erstmalig in Deutschland nachgewiesen. Bisher war E. serratosignata aus Ungarn, China, Sibirien und der Schweiz bekannt (BOSMANS & VAN KEER 1999), Männchen von C. gratum sind in Ungarn gefunden worden (CHYZER & KULCZYNSKI 1897)

IT verleiht Flügel? Aktuelle Tendenzen der räumlichen Verlagerung von Arbeit [Do information technologies (IT) give wings? Tendencies of the spatial relocation of work]

Results of the company case studies of the EMERGENCE-project (’Estimation and Mapping of Employment Relocation in a Global Economy in the New Communications Environment’) show that information and communication technologies without doubt widen the possibilities for the organization of work as well as their spatial distribution. The driving dynamics for certain trends of “winged” restructuring are however to be found in economic considerations of companies and in the controlling interests of management. Our analyses of current processes of a new spatial distribution of work as well as the reorganization of companies allow the conclusion that different logics of restructuring exist next to each other, in which centralization within the framework of international companies is as significant as decentralization and the development of networks. -- Die Ergebnisse aus den Betriebsfallstudien des EMERGENCE-Projekts zeigen, dass Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien zweifellos die Möglichkeiten für die Organisation von Arbeit sowie deren räumliche Verteilung erweitern; die Antriebsdynamik für bestimmte Richtungen der "beflügelten" Restrukturierung sind jedoch in den ökonomischen Kalkülen der Unternehmen und in den Kontrollinteressen des Management zu finden. Es wäre irreführend, einen einzigen Trend der Restrukturierung zu unterstellen, wie es häufig unter Anwendung der Netzwerk-Metapher geschieht: Die Herausbildung so genannter virtueller Organisationen ist nur eine Tendenz unter mehreren. Schließlich werden die technischen Potentiale sehr häufig dazu genutzt, Arbeit noch stärker an einzelnen Standorten zu konzentrieren. Unser Blick in aktuelle Prozesse der räumlichen Neuverteilung von Arbeit und der Reorganisation von Unternehmen lässt den Schluss zu, dass verschiedene Logiken der Restrukturierung nebeneinander bestehen, wobei die Zentralisierung im Rahmen internationaler Unternehmen ebenso bedeutend ist wie die Dezentralisierung und Herausbildung von Netzwerken.Call Center, Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologie (IKT), Globalisierung, Mobilität, Outsourcing, Restrukturierung, Softwareentwicklung, Standortwahl, Telekooperation, Verlagerung von Arbeit

Graph Tuple Transformation

Graph transformation units are rule-based devices to model and compute relations between initial and terminal graphs. In this paper, they are generalized to graph tuple transformation units that allow one to combine different kinds of graphs into tuples and to process the component graphs simultaneously and interrelated with each other. Moreover, one may choose some of the working components as inputs and some as outputs such that a graph tuple transformation unit computes a relation between input and output tuples of potentially different kinds of graphs rather than a binary relation on a single kind of graphs

Signatures in the Planck regime

String theory suggests the existence of a minimum length scale. An exciting quantum mechanical implication of this feature is a modification of the uncertainty principle. In contrast to the conventional approach, this generalised uncertainty principle does not allow to resolve space time distances below the Planck length. In models with extra dimensions, which are also motivated by string theory, the Planck scale can be lowered to values accessible by ultra high energetic cosmic rays (UHECRs) and by future colliders, i.e. M f approximately equal to 1 TeV. It is demonstrated that in this novel scenario, short distance physics below 1/M f is completely cloaked by the uncertainty principle. Therefore, Planckian effects could be the final physics discovery at future colliders and in UHECRs. As an application, we predict the modifications to the e+ e- to f+ f- cross-sections

Host Location of a Pupal Parasitoid in a Tritrophic System Compared to a Model Offering Mechanosensory Cues Only

Several species of hymenopteran parasitoids are able to locate concealed pupal hosts by vibrational sounding. However, the specific role of this technique of mechanosensory host location has not yet been investigated in a natural, tritrophic system with multiple cues. Here we compared the host location of the pupal parasitoid Xanthopimpla stemmator in a tritrophic system with corn borer pupae in maize stem to the behavior on a paper model offering mechanosensory cues only. In general, the behavioral pattern and the behavioral states exhibited by host-searching female parasitoid were identical in the model and in the tritrophic system, while quantitative aspects differed. Our results demonstrate that vibrational sounding maintains its significance for host location in an environment with multiple cues, and that additional cues may increase responsiveness of female

Territorial reforms in Europe: effects on administrative performance and democratic participation

Territorial reform is the most radical and contested reorganisation of local government. A sound evaluation of the outcome of such reforms is hence an important step to ensure the legitimation of any decision on the subject. However, in our view the discourse on the subject appears to be one sided, focusing primarily on overall fiscal effects scrutinised by economists. The contribution of this paper is hence threefold: Firstly, we provide an overview off territorial reforms in Europe, with a special focus on Eastern Germany as a promising case for cross-country comparisons. Secondly, we provide an overview of the analytical classifications of these reforms and context factors to be considered in their evaluation. And thirdly, we analyse the literature on qualitative performance effects of these reforms. The results show that territorial reforms have a significant positive impact on functional performance, while the effects on participation and integration are indeed ambivalent. In doing so, we provide substantial arguments for a broader, more inclusive discussion on the success of territorial reforms

More-Than-Human Eating.

This paper is concerned with emergent more-than-human eating practices and how they might challenge received understandings of bio- and geopolitics.After a brief review of the anthropology of food and eating and how its concerns may have to be expanded in the Anthropocene, we briefly analyse three empirical cases of anticipatory more-than-human eating practices: a set of artistic anticipations of future eating; microbiome research and related biohacking practices; and research on future food security in the context of planetary boundaries. We discuss how all three cases make the boundaries between body|mind|environment porous. The ‘I’ of the embodied human subject emerges as multiple – colonised and accompanied by a panoply of microorganisms. How might such a collective be subject to governance and ‘self’-technologies? We close by pleading for an experimental para-sitic anthropology that critically addresses emergent forms of bio/geopolitics in the Anthropocene.In diesem Artikel befassen wir uns mit more-than-human Praktiken des Essens und inwiefern diese unser gegenwärtiges Verständnis von Bio- und Geopolitik in Frage stellen. Wir beginnen mit einem komprimierten Überblick über anthropologische Perspektiven auf Essen und Ernährung und diskutieren mögliche notwendige Erweiterungen der Anliegen dieser in der gegenwärtigen Epoche des Anthropozän. Im Anschluss stellen wir unsere Analyse drei empirischer Fallstudien von antizipativen more-than-human Praktiken des Essens dar: ein Set von künstlerischen Antizipationen von Essen der Zukunft; Mikrobiom-Forschung und damit verknüpfte Praktiken des Biohacking; und zuletzt einen Forschungskomplex zur deutschen Ernährungssicherheit im Kontext von planetarischen Belastungsgrenzen. Die Art und Weise, wie die Grenzen von Körper|Geist|Umwelt in diesen drei Fällen porös gemacht werden, steht im Fokus unserer Analyse. Das Ich des verkörperten menschlichen Subjekts, so wird deutlich, tritt als multipel hervor – kolonisiert und begleitet von einer Vielfalt von Mikroorganismen. Wie könnte ein solches Kollektiv zum Subjekt von Governance und von Technologien des Selbst werden? Wir schließen mit einem Plädoyer für eine experimentelle para-sitische Anthropologie, die eine kritische Auseinandersetzung mit entstehenden Formen von Bio- und Geopolitik im Anthropozän ermöglicht.Peer Reviewe

Efficiency of vibrational sounding in parasitoid host location depends on substrate density

ISSN:0340-7594ISSN:1432-135