Acoustical properties of wood in string instruments soundboards and tuned idiophones: biological and cultural diversity

The acoustical properties of wood for instruments have mostly been studied on a few archetypal woods in Western musical instruments. The objective of this paper is to extend knowledge on the diversity in wood properties and uses in instruments from different geo-cultural areas. A wide set of data has been collected on vibrational properties of 452 species, through experiments and literature survey. Property distributions within broad categories confirm the known characteristics of softwoods, but also evidence specificities of tropical hardwoods compared to temperate-zone species. A relational database has been created to link wood properties and uses in musical instruments of the world. Two case studies on acoustically important functions in different geo-cultural areas show contrasted trends: (i) species used for xylophone bars and slit-drums in different continents all share a very low internal friction, (ii) on the contrary, the only characteristic common to soundboards' woods is a lower than average density, whereas their acoustical properties differ widely between them and with the "Western" standard in wood choice. All these materials being nevertheless adapted to their context, cultural specificities in the structure, playing mode and "sonority" preferences should also be taken into account.     

In-situ M?ssbauer spectroscopy with MIMOS II

The miniaturized M?ssbauer spectrometer MIMOS II was developed for the exploration of planetary surfaces. Two MIMOS II instruments were successfully deployed on the martian surface as payload elements of the NASA Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission and have returned data since landing in January 2004. M?ssbauer spectroscopy has made significant contributions to the success of the MER mission, in particular identification of iron-bearing minerals formed through aqueous weathering processes. As a field-portable instrument and with backscattering geometry, MIMOS II provides an opportunity for non-destructive in-situ investigations for a range of applications. For example, the instrument has been used for analyses of archaeological artifacts, for air pollution studies and for in-field monitoring of green rust formation. A MER-type MIMOS II instrument is part of the payload of the Russian Phobos-Grunt mission, scheduled for launch in November 2011, with the aim of exploring the composition of the martian moon Phobos. An advanced version of the instrument, MIMOS IIA, that incorporates capability for elemental analyses, is currently under development.     

Solid-State NMR Characterization of Biodegradable Shape-Memory Polymer Networks

Copolymer networks synthesized from dilactide and diglycolide were characterized by solid-state ¹³C CPMAS NMR in terms of composition, cross-link density, and rate of cross-linking by UV irradiation. The latter is directly evident by a signal at 44 ppm in the ¹³C NMR spectrum. Comparison of solid-state NMR data with the determination of the gel content revealed that this NMR method is sensitive to the chemical cross-link density whereas the gel content is also influenced by physical constraints such as entanglement. Furthermore, these copolymer networks show a shape-memory effect, i.e. a temporary macroscopic shape can be programmed by heating the network above its glass transition temperature together with fixation during cooling. Reheating without fixation recovers the permanent shape. The recovery of the permanent shape could be followed by ¹H DQ NMR buildup curves for a sample that was stretched by 80%.     

Cytotoxicity of cobalt complexes of furan oximes in murine and human tissue‐cultured cell lines

The copper complexes of 2‐furaldehyde and furan oximes have previously demonstrated potent cytotoxicity, L1210 DNA synthesis inhibition, DNA topoisomerase II inhibition and DNA fragmentation. Currently a series of cobalt metal complexes of 2‐furaldehyde oximes were compared with copper complexes of furan oximes to determine whether the type of metal is important to the cytotoxicity and mode of action of the complexes. The cobalt complexes of furan oximes, like the copper complexes, were shown to be cytotoxic to suspended tumor cell lines, e.g. leukemias, lymphomas, acute monocytic leukemia and HeLa‐S³ uterine carcinoma. The cobalt complexes did not demonstrate dramatic cytotoxicity against the growth of tumors derived from solid human tumor lines. The cobalt complexes preferentially inhibited L1210 DNA synthesis, followed by inhibition of RNA and protein synthesis from 25 to 100 µM over 60 min. These agents, like the copper complexes of 2‐furaldehyde and furan oximes, were inhibitors of DNA polymerase α activity and de novo purine synthesis with marginal inhibition of ribonucleoside reductase and dihydrofolate reductase activities with DNA fragmentation. Unlike the copper complexes, the cobalt complexes did not inhibit L1210 DNA topoisomerase II activity but did reduce thymidylate synthetase activity. Thus, varying the type of metal within the complexes of 2‐furaldehyde and furan oximes produces differences in both cytotoxicity and mode of action. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The production of methylated organoantimony compounds by Scopulariopsis brevicaulis

Cultures of the fungus Scopulariopsis brevicaulis were grown in antimony-rich media. Although volatile compounds of other elements were readily detected in the culture headspace, volatile antimony compounds were formed irreproducibly and at only ultratrace levels. In order to monitor the media for nonvolatile methylantimony compounds, a method of sample preparation was developed, based on solid-phase extraction. This enabled the separation of large quantities of soluble inorganic antimony species from trace amounts of organoantimony compounds before speciation by HG–GC–AAS. By this methodology methylated antimony compounds were detected at concentrations of 0.8– 7.1 µg Sbl⁻¹ in all media in which S. brevicaulis was grown in the presence of antimony(III) compounds. These methylantimony species were not detected in any of the nonliving or medium-only controls. Methylated compounds were not detected where S. brevicaulis was grown in the presence of antimony(V) compounds. This is the first study to show that antimony(III) compounds are biomethylated by S. brevicaulis under aerobic-only growth conditions. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Degradable Cationic Nanohydrogel Particles for Stimuli‐Responsive Release of siRNA

Well‐defined nanogels have become quite attractive as safe and stable carriers for siRNA delivery. However, to avoid nanoparticle accumulation, they need to provide a stimuli‐responsive degradation mechanism that can be activated at the payload's site of action. In this work, the synthetic concept for generating well‐defined nanohydrogel particles is extended to incorporate disulfide cross‐linkers into a cationic nanonetwork for redox‐triggered release of oligonucleotide payload as well as nanoparticle degradation under reductive conditions of the cytoplasm. Therefore, a novel disulfide‐modified spermine cross‐linker is designed that both allows disassembly of the nanogel as well as removal of cationic charge from residual polymer fragments. The degradation process is monitored by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS). Moreover, siRNA release is analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis and a fluorescent RNA detection assay. The results exemplify the versatility of the applied nanogel manufacturing process, which allows alternative stimuli‐responsive core cross‐linkers to be integrated for triggered oligonucleotide release as well as effective biodegradation for reduced nanotoxicity.