Methodological problems in evolutionary biology VIII. Biology and culture

Biology cannot accommodate all aspects of culture. Aspects of culture that a biological approach can take into account can be covered by the biological categories of phenotype and environment. There is no need to treat culture as a separate category. Attempts to elaborate biological explanations of cultural variation will meet with success only if biologists expand theories of development, and integrate them in evolutionary biology. The alternative — elaborating the idea of so-called cultural inheritance — makes little sense from a biological point of view.     

An account of the genus pythium Pringsheim in India

Summary Of the 20 species ofPythium reported from India, not more than seven assume parasitic role inciting mainly diseases in seed bed and sometimes in the fields such as damping-off, seedling blights and foot rots. The paper gives a brief account of the taxonomy of the Indian species and methods of controlling the diseases incited by them.     

The relationships between the structure of paddy levees and the plant species diversity in cultural landscapes on the west side of Lake Biwa,Shiga, Japan

Paddy levees form networks of narrow linear habitats and play various roles in cultural landscapes. Traditional landscapes on the west side of Lake Biwa consist of paddy field terraces and both stone and soil levees that have been maintained by paddy field management using local resources. Paddy levees in this study site are principally classified into five different types. Our study points out how differences in paddy levee structure as well as in management practices influence the plant species. Seventeen paddy levee transects were split into four habitat types based on their species components by TWINSPAN. Spatial characteristics and physical structures of paddy levees depended on natural conditions and human activities. The species–area curves of each levee type showed a clear distinction: the soil, stone and abandoned curves were steep, while the concrete and consolidated ones were gentle. The vegetation on consolidated levees was utterly different from the vegetation on traditional levee types from the aspect of species richness and species components. Soil type levees contained various woody plant species and included more diverse and indigenous plant species than abandoned type levees.     

Short- and long-term effects of ACTH on the adrenal zona glomerulosa of the rat

Summary Short-term ACTH treatment provoked a decrease in volume of the lipid-droplet compartment in rat zona glomerulosa cells, and a rise in plasma and intracellular concentrations of corticosterone and aldosterone. It enhanced activities of 3-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3HSD), 11-hydroxylase (11OH) and 18-hydroxylase (18OH). Long-term ACTH administration produced a hypertrophy of the zona glomerulosa and its parenchymal cells, a result of the increase in volume of the smooth endoplasmic reticulum and the mitochondrial compartment. The surface area per cell of mitochondrial inner membranes increased; the tubular cristae were transformed into a homogeneous population of vesicles. The plasma and intracellular concentrations of corticosterone further increased, whereas those of aldosterone fell below basal levels (the aldosterone-escape phenomenon). The activities of 3HSD and 11OH were enhanced, that of 180H decreased. Therefore, ACTH stimulates zona glomerulosa growth and transforms parenchymal elements into zona fasciculata celltypes. Cyanoketone nullified acute ACTH effects on plasma and intracellular concentrations of corticosterone and aldosterone, but did not affect the activities of 11OH and 18OH. Chronic ACTH treatment produced similar results, although 18OH activity was not suppressed. The mechanism underlying the aldosterone-escape phenomenon may thus involve a rise in the intracellular concentration of corticosterone, caused by the enhanced synthesis and activation of 3HSD and 11OH.     

‘Mental’ in ‘southie’: Individual,family, and community responses to psychosis in South Boston

The deinstitutionalization of psychiatric patients is a deeply cultural as well as political task. It entails the sharing of responsibility for human distress with family and community. Consequently, the locus of social control has also shifted from psychiatric and medical expertise to community and legal institutions. Diagnosis and treatment models must be more compatible with lay explanatory models. This paper explores the various meanings of going mental and being mental in the white, working class, ethnic neighborhood of South Boston. The data are extracted from a study of the impact of deinstitutionalization on a cohort of middle-aged, psychiatric patients discharged from Boston State Hospital in the attempt to return them to community living. Individual, family, and community responses to, and interpretations of, the symptoms of mental distress are discussed. The study indicates that even seriously disturbed individuals are sensitive to cultural meanings and social cues regarding the perception, expression, and content of psychiatric episodes. While madness invariably disenfranchises, it does not necessarily deculturate the individual.     

Obligation and the new naturalism

Although it has become increasingly evident that an adequate theory of obligation must rest on evolutionary biology and human ethology, attempts toward this end need to explore the full range of personal, cultural, and political obligations observed in our species. The new naturalism reveals the complexity of social behavior and the defects of reductionist models that oversimplify the foundations of human duties and rights. Ultimately, this approach suggest a return to the Aristotelian concept of natural justice.     

Large scale preparation of PA-oligosaccharides from glycoproteins using an improved extraction method

We have developed a new method for the large scale preparation of pyridylaminated (PA-) oligosaccharides from glycoproteins. Phenol/chloroform extration was adapted for the removal of protein and excess 2-aminopyridine, improving the efficiency of preparation. From a 2.5 g sample of human apo-transferrin, 25–30 mol of agalacto biantennary PA-oligosaccharide could be obtained. By increasing the concentration of PA-oligosaccharide substrate, we were able to detect a very low level ofN-acetylglucosaminlytransferase IV activity in CHO cell extracts.Abbreviations PA 2-aminopyridine - SDS sodium dodecyl sulfate - GlcNAc N-acetylglucosamine - GnT N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase - Gn,Gn-bi-PA GlcNAc1-2Man1-3(GlcNAc1-2Man1-6)Man1-4GlcNAc1-4GlcNAc-2-aminopyridine - Gn,Gn,Gn-tri-PA GlcNAc1-2(GlcNAc1-4)Man1-3(GlcNAc1-2Man1-6)Man1-4GlcNAc1-4GlcNAc-2-aminopyridine - Gn,Gn,Gn-trí-PA GlcNAc1-2Man1-3({GlcNAc1-2(GlcNAc1-6)Man1-6})Man1-4GlcNac1-4GlcNAc-2-aminopyridine - Gn,(Gn),Gn-bi-PA GlcNAc1-2Man1-3(GlcNAc1-4)(GlcNAc1-2Man1-6)Man1-4GlcNAc1-4GlcNAc-2-aminopyridine     

Adoptions expérimentales de larves entre des fourmis de genres différents:Leptothorax nylanderi Förster etSolenopsis fugax Latreille

Résumé En l'absence de son propre couvain,Solenopsis fugax a élevé des larves deLeptothorax nylanderi, à la température de 22°C. Les ouvrières deSolenopsis détruisirent une partie de ces larves mais nourrirent celles qu'elles épargnèrent; ces dernières grossirent lentement pendant cinq à six mois, sans atteindre le stade prénymphe. Lorsque les ouvrières deS. fugax et les larves deL. nylanderi furent soumises ensemble à un hivernage préalable, elles donnèrent les mêmes résultats que sans hivernage. La présence d'une jeune reine deSolenopsis fut défavorable aux larves deLeptothorax.Inversement,L. nylanderi fut capable d'élever, à la température de 22°C, des larves deS. fugax et de les amener jusqu'au stade adulte. En présence de leurs propres larves, les ouvrières deL. nylanderi détruisirent tapidement toutes les larves deS. fugax introduites dans leur nid. D'autre part, un jeune couvain deLeptothorax remplaçait plus ou moins rapidement les larves deLeptothorax enlevées au préalable; sa présence était alors défavorable au développement des larves deSolenopsis. Un hivernage en début d'expérience fut plutôt favorable auxS. fugax, de même que la présence d'une reine féconde deLeptothorax. LesSolenopsis ainsi obtenus n'ont pas vécu plus de sept semaines. Ils étaient tous de caste ouvrière et de taille très petite.

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Summary When its own eggs and larvae missed,Solenopsis fugax bred larvae ofLeptothorax nylanderi, at a temperature of 22°C. TheSolenopsis workers killed some of this larvae and fed the others; these slowly grew bigger during five or six months but never reached the pre-pupa stage. The result was the same if the workers ofS. fugax and the larvae ofL. nylanderi overwintered together or not at all. A youngSolenopsis queen being there was noxious to the larvae ofLeptothorax.On the contrary,L. nylanderi has been able to breed larvae ofS. fugax up to the imago stage, at a temperature of 22°C. When its own larvae were in the nest, together with larvae ofS. fugax, the workers ofL. nylanderi killed the larvae ofS. fugax. On the other hand, new eggs and young larvae ofLeptothorax had to replace, more or less quickly, the larvae which had been taken away, and that was noxious to the growth ofSolenopsis larvae. An overwintering at the beginning of the experiment was rather favourable toS. fugax as was the presence of a fecundLeptothorax queen. TheSolenopsis thus obtained lived no longer than seven weeks. They all were workers and very small.

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S. Fugax L. Nylanderi 22° . Leptothorax , , , , . . S. Fugax Leptothorax.,L. Nylanderi 22° S. Fugax . L. Nylanderi ( )Leptothorax ; S. Fugax Solenopsis, Leptothorax. S. Fugax . .

     

Ritual,the state,and the transformation of emotional discourse in Iranian society

This paper explores the social and cultural organization of Iranian emotional discourse and its transformation in post-revolutionary Iran. First, the Moharram dramas we participated in during field research are described, indicating how these performances organized a prototypical view of the social order, the self, and the passions. Using Kapferer's distinction between transcendental and transformative rituals, we argue that these dramas were traditionally organized as transcendental rites. Second, data on grieving rituals and depressive illness among Iranians is introduced, focusing on the transformative qualities of mourning rites and suggesting an interpretation of depression as a failure of the work of culture. Third, the appropriation of these symbolic forms of society, self, and the emotions by the current Iranian Islamic state and the role of the state in defming the meaning and legitimacy of emotions and their expression is analyzed.     

The carotenoids of Flavobacterium strain R1560

The main carotenoid of Flavobacterium strain R1560 has been identified as (3R,3R)-zeaxanthin. Also present were small amounts of 15-cis-phytoene, phytofluene, -carotene (7,8,7,8-tetrahydro-, -carotene plus 7,8,11,12-tetrahydro-, -carotene), neurosporene, lycopene, -zeacarotene, -carotene, -carotene, -cryptoxanthin, rubixanthin, 3-hydroxy--zeacarotene and several apo-carotenals. Zeaxanthin production was inhibited by nicotine (10 mM), and lycopene and rubixanthin accumulated. The biosynthesis of zeaxanthin is discussed in terms of pathways and also of half-molecule reaction sequences. The presence of zeaxanthin may be a characteristic of a group of Flavobacterium species, and may thus be useful in the taxonomic classification of these organisms.     

Action of rat liver Galβ1-4GlcNAc α(2-6)-sialyltransferase on Manβ1-4GlcNAcβ-OMe,GalNAcβ1-4GlcNAcβ-OMe,Glcβ1-4GlcNAcβ-OMe and GlcNAcβ1-4GlcNAcβ-OMe as synthetic substrates

Incubation of synthetic Man\1-4GlcNAc-OMe, GalNAc1-4GlcNAc-OMe, Glc1-4GlcNAc-OMe, and GlcNAc1-4GlcNac-OMe with CMP-Neu5Ac and rat liver Gal1-4GlcNAc (2-6)-sialyltransferase resulted in the formation of Neu5Ac2-6Man1-4GlcNAc-OMe, Neu5Ac2-6GalNAc1-4GlcNAc-OMe, Neu5Ac2-6Glc1-4GlcNAc-OMe and Neu5Ac2-6GlcNAc1-4GlcNAc-OMe, respectively. Under conditions which led to quantitative conversion of Gal1-4GlcNAc-OEt into Neu5Ac2-6Gal1-4GlcNAc-OEt, the aforementioned products were obtained in yields of 4%, 48%, 16% and 8%, respectively. HPLC on Partisil 10 SAX was used to isolate the various sialyltrisaccharides, and identification was carried out using 1- and 2-dimensional 500-MHz¹H-NMR spectroscopy.Abbreviations 2D 2-dimensional - CMP cytidine 5-monophosphate - CMP-Neu5Ac cytidine 5-monophospho--N-acetylneuraminic acid - COSY correlation spectroscopy - DQF double quantum filtered - HOHAHA homonuclear Hartmann-Hahn - MLEV composite pulse devised by M. Levitt - Neu5Ac N-acetylneuraminic acid - Neu5Ac2en 2-deoxy-2,3-didehydro-N-acetylneuraminic acid     

Electrophoretic variation between class II molecules expressed on HLA-DRw8 homozygous typing cells reveals multiple distinct haplotypes

Two-dimensional (2D) gel electrophoresis of immunoprecipitated HLA-DR antigens from eight homozygous typing cells (HTC) expressing the HLA-DRw8 specificity revealed a clustering of polymorphic chain patterns into distinct electrophoretic variants. The variant patterns correlate with three discrete HLA-D clusters that are defined in the mixed leukocyte culture reaction (MLR) using DRw8-positive HTC. These HLA-D clusters have been provisionally designated Dw8.1, detected primarily in Caucasoids, Dw8.2, detected primarily in American Indians, and Dw8.3, detected predominantly in Orientals. All three HLA-Dw8.1 cell lines express a single DR-locus product as defined by immunoprecipitation with a DR-specific monoclonal antibody, P4.1. This DR chain is identical among the Dw8.1 cell lines and different from the DR chains of the Dw8.2 and Dw8.3 cell lines. Two separate Dw8.2 HTC express a shared DR chain that is slightly more basic than the 8.1 DR molecule; interestingly, one of these lines also expresses an additional DR-like chain not found in the other cells. Thus, the two lines defining the Dw8.2 cluster share one distinct class 11 molecule, but differ in another and therefore are not biochemically HLA-identical. Cells from the Dw8.3 cluster are likewise distinct from all other Dw8 clusters. One additional DRw8-positive HTC has been analyzed and found to be distinct from the Dw8.1, 8.2 and 8.3 clusters by both MLR and 2D gels. lmmunoprecipitates using monoclonal antibody 1B5 [anti-DR and anti-DQ(DS)] identify additional polymorphic class II variants among the cell lines tested. These data indicate that HLA-DRw8 is a public serologic specificity present on class II molecules expressed on multiple distinct haplotypes. These haplotypes differ from each other in expression of polymorphic class II molecules encoded by at least two HLA loci. They also differ in HLA-D, even though they all type as HLA-DRw8 homozygous. In Dw8.2, variation in expressed chains is not reflected in variation in HLA-D, indicating that MLR, as well as serologic typing, does not detect the full degree of allelic polymorphism within HLA.     

Adoptions expérimentales de larves entre des fourmis de genres différents (II):Myrmica laevinodis Nylander etAnergates atratulus Schenck

Résumé Nous avons fait élever des larves d'Anergates atratulus par des ouvrières deMyrmica laevinodis à 22°C. Pour y parvenir, il n'est pas utile de faire hivernerensemble les larves d'Anergates et les ouvrières deMyrmica. La présence de larves autochtones n'empêche pas lesMyrmica d'élever des larves d'Anergates. Dans toutes les expériences lesMyrmica ont été soumises au fridavant de recevoir des larves d'Anergates. Aucune reine deMyrmica n'a été utilisée dans ces expériences.Sur les 64 larves d'Anergates que nous avons utilisées, 38 se sont transformées en imagos. C'est au début de l'adoption et au moment des métamorphoses que périrent la plupart des 26Anergates perdus. Les femelles vécurent en général 2 ou 3 jours et cherchèrent très tôt à quitter le nid natal. Les mâles vécurent 2 à 3 semaines.

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Summary Larvae ofAnergates atratulus were experimentally reared by workers ofMyrmica laevinodis, at 22°C. An overwintering of both larvae ofAnergates and workers ofMyrmica is not necessary for the success of that experiment. The presence of larvae ofMyrmica does not keep theMyrmica from rearing larvae ofAnergates. The workers ofMyrmica have been cooled, in all the experiments, before receiving larvae ofAnergates. No queen ofMyrmica have been used in that experiments.38 of the 64 larvae ofAnergates used became imagos. Most of the 26 lostAnergates died at the beginning of the adoption and during the metamorphosis. The females lived generally 2 or 3 days and tried, very early, to leave their native nest. The males lived 2 or 3 weeks.

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Anergates atratulus Myrmica laevinodis, 22 . bmecme Anergates Myrmica. Myrmica Anergates. Myrmica Anergates. Myrmica . 64 Anergates , 38 . 26 Anergates 2 3 . 2 3 .

     

Notes on the Mechanism of ATP Synthesis

The most commonly quoted mechanism of the coupling between the electrochemical proton gradient and the formation of ATP from ADP and P_i assumes that all states of the F₁ portion of the ATP synthase have subunits in tight, loose, and open conformations. Models based on this assumption are inconsistent with some of the available experimental evidence. A mechanism that includes an additional subunit conformation, closed, observed in the rat liver structure overcomes these difficulties.     

A cultural analysis of human behavioral breakdowns: An approach to the ontology and epistemology of psychiatric phenomena

This paper explores the usefulness of a concept of human behavioral breakdowns for studying psychiatric phenomena from a cross-cultural standpoint. The kinds of conceptualizations that are available in the English literature about human behavioral breakdowns across societies are reviewed. The way these breakdowns have been handled in the Western European Tradition of medicine is given special emphasis. Attention is focused on schizophrenia as one of the modern disease concepts of psychiatry that is a variant of human behavioral breakdowns. The essay then looks at schizophrenia using contemporary ideas about cultural relativism as these apply to the study of psychiatric phenomena in relation to society. Perspectives about the variable as versus the invariant in schizophrenia are reviewed.     

Production of a novel syrup containing neofructo-oligosaccharides by the cells of Penicillium citrinum

A novel syrup containing neofructo-oligosaccharides was produced from sucrose (Brix 70) by whole cells of Penicillium citrinum. The efficiency of fructo-oligosaccharides production was more than 55% and those of the main carbohydrate components, 1-kestose (Fruf 21Fruf 21 Glc), nystose (Fruf 21Fruf 21 Fruf 21 Glc) and neokestose (Fruf 26 Glc12 Fruf), were 22, 14 and 11%, respectively.     

Mauritania: A neocolonial desert

Conclusion The Mauritanian ruling class, imposed upon the masses in 1960, continued to be assisted and advised by French cooperants techniques in the post-colonial period working closely with international finance capital, and have been promising their subjects that the construction of their society depended on the successful operation of multinational cooperation, represented in the country by MIFERMA and SOMIMA. By the 1970's it became clear to the majority of the Mauritanian people that these foreign firms were carrying out the systematic pillage of their resources rather than stimulating the development of their country; and that the rapid growth of the extractive sector was part of a radical process of peripherization, which has woven the Mauritanian economy and society into the capitalist center. Moreover, external economic aid pushed the neo-colonial state into the debt trap. Accordingly, Bonte observed that while production apparently increased and while private capital certainly flowed into the country, it flowed out in even larger quantities. These flows led to a persistent deficit in the balance of payment and to a growing debt [95]. This trend has been worsening in recent years. Without loans from European, American, and conservative Arab regimes, the neo-colonial state would have collapsed financially. Indeed, from 1970 to 1975, foreign loans provided between 75 and 90 percent of the funds for the governmental development programs [96].The social conditions of the people drastically worsened in the 1970's. For instance, in 1976 a government official admitted that only 15 percent of the total population received medical attention. Moreover, the activities of the multinational corporations have destroyed the supportive communal structures of the rural masses which, in the past, have minimized the consequences of drought and other economic crises. When the 1969–74 drought occurred, innumerable droughtstricken nomads and subsistence agriculturalists found themselves helpless and completely destitute. Confronted with such as state of affairs, they had no alternative but to flee to the mushrooming slums surrounding the urban centers, there to lead mutilated and mutilating lives.For these masses neither Mauritanianization nor nationalization have prevented their growing immiseration. The extractive activities, whether under the aegis of multinational corporations or state-owned companies, which remain dependent on finance capital and its market, cannot resolve the fundamental problems of the Mauritanian people. On the contrary, the operations of these foreigndominated companies negate the possibility of a liberating, diversified industrial process that relies on, assesses and takes into account the primary needs of the people. Only an industry that results in large employment effects generated in proportion to the amount of capital invested and whose management is assumed to a large degree by the producers themselves, can achieve deep development of a country like Mauritania. Extractive industry controlled by multinational corporations cannot generate positive linkage effects [97] to the local economic sectors powerful enough to effectuate their development within a well-planned, culturally integrated, and economically fruitful national social economy. A neo-colonial state of the Mauritanian type — ruled by a class that owes its ascension to power to a retreating colonialism — formed as a mediating mechanism for prolonging the foreign exploitation of its own resources — cannot resolve the basic problems of the people. In short, when the iron ore of Mauritania is worked out, that country will go back to the desert [98]. However, this observation by Amin is apocalyptic, pessimistic, and dangerously deterministic. Another, more viable, more human, alternative is for the northwestern African peoples to extricate themselves from the world capitalist system, and its local comprador bourgeois allies. They must find a way to dis-establish the neo-colonial, inviable statelets and replace them with a confederation of socialist republics devoted to the elimination of exploitation and the construction of authentic national cultures.Mahfoud Bennoune is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Stockton State College, Pomona, New Jersey.     

Over expression of integrin α 5 β 1 in human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line suppresses cell proliferation in vitro and tumorigenicity in nude mice

Integrin 5 1 and 2 1 are the major integrin receptors in human hepatocytes. However, in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells it was found that the expression of integrin 5 1 was decreased and another integrin 6 1 increased. In this study, the SMMC7721 human hepatocellular carcinoma cells cotransfected or singlely transfected with integrin 5 and/or 1 cDNAs were established, and designated 5 1.6-7721, 5.3-7721, and 1.6-7721 cell lines, respectively. Transfection with cDNAs of integrin 5 and 1 subunits resulted in the overexpression of each integrin and modified biological properties, including a slowed growth rate, changes in the cell cycle from 15.5% of control cells in the G2/M phase to 12.1%, 9.6% and 9.4% in 5.3-7721, 1.6-7721, 5 1.6-7721, respectively, and a decrease in the Cell Mitosis Index from 1.6 in controls to 0.96, 0.95, and 0.72, and 34%, 28% and 52% derived from colony forming ability, respectively. Tumorigenicity was also tested in nude mice with inoculation of cells subcutaneously. Tumor masses growing in nude mice following inoculation with 1.6-7721,and 5 1.6-7721 cells weighed only 52% or 31% those of control cells. These results indicated that deletion or low expression of integrin 5 1 may play an important role in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma. Therefore, induction of expression of the integrin 5 1 in malignant cells could be a potential means of treating hepatocellular carcinoma.     

Further cytogenetic analyses of the Croatian triploid shallot “Ljutika” (Allium cepa var.viviparum, Alliaceae) and its comparison with the Indian triploid “Pran”

Feulgen and silver-stained karyotypes and meiosis of two triploid viviparous onion forms (Allium cepa var.viviparum), the Croatian Ljutika and the Indian Pran, were comparatively analyzed. The results of chromosome measurements show that Ljutika and Pran are karyologically not identical, although significant similarities were found in the morphology of their chromosomes. Five geographically distant clones of Ljutika showed good agreement in the number and gross morphology of the chromosomes and in the number and position of NORs and interphase nucleoli. Heterotrivalents were predominant in meiosis of Ljutika but a relatively high frequency of higher multivalents together with univalents and bivalents were also observed. The relationship between Ljutika and Pran and their possible origin are discussed.     

Über die Herkunft „synaptischer“ Bläschen in neurosekretorischen Axonen

Zusammenfassung In der Neurohypophyse fetaler und neugeborener Ratten entsteht die Mehrzahl der synaptischen Bläschen aus Erweiterungen der Neurotubuli. Ferner können pinocytotische Bläschen als synaptische Vesikel imponieren. Die Bläschenbildung aus Membranen von Elementargranula (vgl. Herlant, 1967) tritt dagegen in den Hintergrund. Ein Auftreten von Vesikeln im Innern von Elementargranula wurde nicht beobachtet.

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The origin of synaptic vesicles in neurosecretory axons

Summary In the neurohypophysis of fetal and newborn rats the majority of synaptic vesicles originate from dilatations of neurotubuli. Moreover, pinocytotic invaginations give rise to synaptic vesicles. Evaginations of elementary granule membranes, as described by Herlant (1967), are seldom to be found and do not seem to play an important role in the formation of synaptic vesicles. The occurrence of vesicles within elementary granules was not observed.

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Mit Unterstützung durch die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.