Paul Auster and the music of change: building new stories

In the work of Paul Auster (Newark, 1947 - ), we find two main themes: the sense of loss and existential drift and the loneliness of the individual fully committed to the work of writing, as if he had been confined to the book that commands his life. However, this second theme is clearly the dominant one because the character's space of solitude may include its own wandering, because this wandering is also often performed inside the four walls of a room, just like it is narrated inside the space of the page and the book. Both in his poetry, essays and fiction, Auster seems to face the work of writing as an actual physical effort of effective construction, as if the words that are aligned in the poem-text were stones to place in a row when building a wall or some other structure in stone.

Invisible cities: the table of contents and the labyrinths of reality

In Invisible Cities (1972), Italo Calvino contrasts a rigid outline structure with a flexible textual content. The tension comprised by the numerical structure proposed in the table of contents stands out against the set of polissemic texts which make up the subject matter of the book. The opposition between form and content point to a fruitful dichotomy in the conception of the novel linked to the theories of the open and closed work. This essay will investigate the structural construction of Invisible Cities by looking at its table of contents, seeking to discuss some models of formalistic representation proposed by the criticism and the specific contribution they may, or may not, provide. The objective is to analyse the pertinence of such theories in the light of historical and cultural approaches. Aiming to uncover possible meanings which arise from the debate, this essay will question to what extent structural complexities can be considered literary if they are not ultimately related to the culture in which a text is found.

The periodic table: contest and exhibition

The systemization and organization of ideas and concepts is an integral part of science. In chemistry, the organization of the periodic table of the chemical elements in the 1860s was one of the greatest scientific breakthroughs ever made and in fact during the 20th century it became a universally recognized scientific icon (1). The periodic table is the fundamental classificatory scheme of the elements and summarizes the realm of chemistry (2). Simply knowing the position of an element in the periodic table tells us about its properties and is usually enough to predict how the element will behave in a wide variety of different situations or reactions (1). Based on this potential mine of information, it is possible to make reliable predictions of the properties of the compounds that each element forms. Nowadays, the concept of the periodic table is starting to interact with other sciences and reports of periodic tables of amino acids (3), genetic codes (4), protein structures (5), and biology (6) can be found in the specialized literature. Symbiosis between science and art, for example, “The Periodic Table of The Elephants” (7), can also be seen. To appeal to a better understanding of the periodic table, the Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Instituto Politécnico do Porto and the Centro de Química da Universidade do Porto promoted a contest and exhibit with the goal of stimulating a wide and heterogeneous audience, ranging from young children and their parents to graduate students from several disciplines, to explore the nature of this icon. Imaginative educational activities such as contests (8–10), games (11, 12), and puzzles (13–15) provided a way to communicate with the general public with the goal of attracting students to science. This also constituted an interesting, informative, and entertaining alternative to non-interactive lectures. Simultaneously, artistic creativity was combined with scientific knowledge.

Nephrotoxicity effects of the wood preservative chromium copper arsenate on mice: histopathological and quantitative approaches

Chromium copper arsenate(CCA)was used for the protection of wood building material suntil the restriction by EPA in2002. During a short period of time 14–24h,a comparative nephrotoxicity study was performed regarding the effects of CCA and its compounds per se. Histopathological and histochemical features were correlated with the concentration of the total arsenic and chromium in mice kidney. Animals were subcutaneously injected with CCA(7.2mg/kg arsenic and 10.2mg/kg chromium per body weight), CrO3 (10.2 mg/kg),As2O5 (7.2 mg/kg)andNaCl(0.9%) per se. The histopathological examination of the renal sections evidenced acute tubular necrosis in the groups of animals exposed to CCA(in both periods of time). Although the same contents of pentavalent arsenic and hexavalent chromium were injected in treated animals with CCA and with the prepared solutions of As2O5 and CrO3, the arsenic concentration on kidneys of CCA-exposed animals was much higher than those in animals exposed to As2O5 (32- and28-fold higher at 14 and 24h,respectively). However,the elimination of chromium seems to occur similarly in the kidneys of animals treated with CCA and CrO3 per se. Interactions among the components of CCA result in a marked decrease of the ability of kidney to eliminate simultaneously both analytes.The nephrotoxicity of CCA was higher than its components per se, evidencing a possible synergetic effect.

Evaluation of atmospheric deposition and patterns of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in façades of historic monuments of Oporto (Portugal)

Atmospheric pollution by motor vehicles is considered a relevant source of damage to architectural heritage. Thus the aim of this work was to assess the atmospheric depositions and patterns of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in façades of historical monuments. Eighteen PAHs (16 PAHs considered by US EPA as priority pollutants, dibenzo[a,l]pyrene and benzo[j]fluoranthene) were determined in thin black layers collected from façades of two historical monuments: Hospital Santo António and Lapa Church (Oporto, Portugal). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used for morphological and elemental characterisation of thin black layers; PAHs were quantified by microwave-assisted extraction combined with liquid chromatography (MAE-LC). The thickness of thin black layers were 80–110 μm and they contained significant levels of iron, sulfur, calcium and phosphorus. Total concentrations of 18 PAHs ranged from 7.74 to 147.92 ng/g (mean of 45.52 ng/g) in thin black layers of Hospital Santo António, giving a range three times lower than at Lapa Church (5.44– 429.26 ng/g; mean of 110.25 ng/g); four to six rings compounds accounted at both monuments approximately for 80–85% of ΣPAHs. The diagnostic ratios showed that traffic emissions were significant source of PAHs in thin black layers. Composition profiles of PAHs in thin black layers of both monuments were similar to those of ambient air, thus showing that air pollution has a significant impact on the conditions and stone decay of historical building façades. The obtained results confirm that historical monuments in urban areas act as passive repositories for air pollutants present in the surrounding atmosphere.

Synthesis of molecular biomimetics

Biomimetics has paved the way toward new materials and technologies inspired in Nature. Biomolecules and their supramolecular organization have today a leading role in biomimetics, benefiting from the recent advances in nanotechnology. The production of biomimetic materials may be however a difficult task, because Nature does it very well. The use of several building blocks assembled in bottom-up arrangement is without doubt at the core of this process. Such building blocks include different molecules or molecular arrangements, of synthetic or natural origin, such as amino acids, lipids, carbohydrates, nucleic acids, carbon allotropes, dendrimers, or organosilanes, among others. The most common approaches to produce synthetic biomimetic materials are reported herein, with special emphasis to building blocks and their supramolecular arrangement.