scholarly journals Musical symbols of good and evil in “Psalms of Repentance” by Alfred Schnittke

Author(s):  
Nadezhda Velerovna Shirieva

This article is dedicated to determination of the system of musical-expressive means used by Alfred Schnittke to symbolically reflect the ethical opposition of good and evil in the “Psalms of Repentance”. The relevance of this research is substantiated from the perspective of heightened attention of the composers of the XX century to the musical symbolism that replaced programmability. The study is based on the method proposed by E. M. Akishina for determining the symbols of good and evil in different layers of timbre and texture arrangement of instrumental compositions of A. Schnittke. Application of this method to “Psalms of Repentance” for a cappella choir allows tracing the manifestation of these symbols on the timbre, phonism, melodic arrangement, musical language, and composition. The novelty of this article consists in the fact that unlike instrumental music of A. Schnittke, his compositions for a cappella choir are viewed from such analytical perspective for the first time. The following conclusions were made: the choral and instrumental compositions of A. Schnittke contain a ramified system of musical-expressive means, which clearly distinguishes the symbols of good and evil;  these symbols outline the logic of dramatic development of each part of the “Psalms of Repentance”; their interaction within the framework of general concept of the cycle contains the ultimate ideological message – human choice, which determines his path along the line of sin as eternal Evil or through repentance – on the way towards God as the highest Good.

Author(s):  
N. Yakovchuk

The chamber-instrumental ensemble music in the Ukrainian musical culture of the last third of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries occupies one of the leading places and is characterized by powerful processes in its development. Such circumstances caused the Ukrainian musicologist interests to the problems of chamber-instrumental music creativity and performance. There are appeared researches in the field of theory, history and performance problems covering the most important questions like chamber music definitions, specific genre issues, the growing function of piano in the Ukrainian chamber music, the increasing questions of technique and timbre importance of modern instrumental ensembles. In the significant multifaceted creative work of contemporary Ukrainian composer, Oleksandr Yakovchuk, the genre of chamber instrumental ensemble music represents a complex and interesting phenomenon. Original and skillfully written compositions reflect artistic world of the composer of postmodern time and gained recognition in music life of Ukraine and beyond. These works are highly appreciated in performing practice of our days. The purpose of the article is to analyze the work — “Little Trio” for clarinet, bassoon and piano (1980), which has the signs of neoclassical tendency in the composer’s style. The methodological basis of this research is a comprehensive approach in theoretical understanding of the subject of research (the methods of textology, source study as well as the method of interviewing the author were used). The scientific novelty of this article is in the priority of its main provisions, since the “Little Trio” entered the scientific circulation for the first time. The three-movement “Little Trio” (1980) is notable for the light feeling of timbre colours and the shape clarity. The Ist movement — Allegretto giocoso — is written in a sonata form following all classical traditions. Quite interesting are the two monologues of clarinet and bassoon from the IInd movement, they represent very modern line in Ukrainian chamber music — the possibility of sincere confession which comes through the solo cadence. In the IIIrd movement, the composer took advantage from the folk Ukrainian dance “hopak” using the rhythm of it and creating dance character of the Final.


2020 ◽  
pp. 22-38
Author(s):  
Natalia Guseva ◽  
Vitaliy Berdutin

At present, the problem of establishing disability is a point at issue in Russia. Despite the fact that medical criteria for disability are being developed very actively, high-quality methods for assessing social hallmarks are still lacking. Since disability is a phenomenon inherent in any society, each state forms a social and economic policy for people with disabilities in accordance with its level of development, priorities and opportunities. We have proposed a three-stage model, which includes a system for the consistent solution of the main tasks aimed at studying the causes and consequences of the problems encountered today in the social protection of citizens with health problems. The article shows why the existing approaches to the determination of disability and rehabilitation programs do not correspond to the current state of Russian society and why a decrease in the rate of persons recognized as disabled for the first time does not indicate an improvement in the health of the population. The authors proposed a number of measures with a view to correcting the situation according to the results of the study.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 206-210
Author(s):  
Ty Viet Pham ◽  
Thang Quoc Le ◽  
Anh Tuan Le ◽  
Hung Quoc Vo ◽  
Duc Viet Ho

A phytochemical investigation of the leaves of Annona reticulata led to the isolation and structural determination of β-sitosterol (1), ent-pimara-8(14),15-dien-19-oic acid (2), ent-pimara- 8(14),15-dien-19-ol (3), quercetin (4), quercetin 3-O-α-L-arabinopyranoside (5), and a mixture of quercetin 3-O-β-D-galactopyranoside (6a) and quercetin 3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (6b). Of these, compounds 2 and 3 were isolated from the genus Annona for the first time. Compound 3 showed strong cytotoxicity against SK-LU-1 and SW626 cell lines with IC50 values of 17.64 ± 1.07 and 19.79 ± 1.41 μg mL-1, respectively.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 568-573
Author(s):  
Soheil Sedaghat ◽  
Ommoleila Molavi ◽  
Akram Faridi ◽  
Ali Shayanfar ◽  
Mohammad Reza Rashidi

Background: Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), an oncogenic protein found constitutively active in many types of human malignancies, is considered to be a promising target for cancer therapy. Objective: In this study for the first time, a simple and accurate method has been developed for the determination of a STAT3 dimerization inhibitor called stattic in aqueous and plasma samples. Methods: A reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) composed of C18 column as stationary phase, and the mixture of acetonitrile (60%) and water (40%) as mobile phase with a UV detection at 215 nm were applied for quantification of stattic. The developed method was validated by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guideline. Results: The method provided a linear range between 1-40 and 2.5-40 µg mL-1 for aqueous and plasma samples, respectively, with a correlation coefficient of 0.999. The accuracy (as recovery) of the developed method was found to be between 95-105% for aqueous medium and 85-115% for plasma samples. The precision (as relative standard deviation) for aqueous and plasma samples was less than 6% and 15%, respectively. The sensitivity of the developed method based on FDA guideline was 1 µg mL-1 for aqueous and 2.5 µg mL-1 for plasma samples. Conclusion: These results show that the established method is a fast and accurate quantification for stattic in aqueous and plasma samples.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lijuan Liu ◽  
Shengting Zhang ◽  
Xiaodan Zheng ◽  
Hongmei Li ◽  
Qi Chen ◽  
...  

Fusobacterium nucleatum has been employed for the first time to synthesize fluorescent carbon dots which could be applied for the determination of Fe3+ ions in living cells and bioimaging in vitro and in vivo with excellent biocompatibility.


Author(s):  
Guglielmo Federico Antonio Brunetti ◽  
Samuele De Bartolo ◽  
Carmine Fallico ◽  
Ferdinando Frega ◽  
Maria Fernanda Rivera Velásquez ◽  
...  

AbstractThe spatial variability of the aquifers' hydraulic properties can be satisfactorily described by means of scaling laws. The latter enable one to relate the small (typically laboratory) scale to the larger (typically formation/regional) ones, therefore leading de facto to an upscaling procedure. In the present study, we are concerned with the spatial variability of the hydraulic conductivity K into a strongly heterogeneous porous formation. A strategy, allowing one to identify correctly the single/multiple scaling of K, is applied for the first time to a large caisson, where the medium was packed. In particular, we show how to identify the various scaling ranges with special emphasis on the determination of the related cut-off limits. Finally, we illustrate how the heterogeneity enhances with the increasing scale of observation, by identifying the proper law accounting for the transition from the laboratory to the field scale. Results of the present study are of paramount utility for the proper design of pumping tests in formations where the degree of spatial variability of the hydraulic conductivity does not allow regarding them as “weakly heterogeneous”, as well as for the study of dispersion mechanisms.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 1612
Author(s):  
Andrea Paut ◽  
Ante Prkić ◽  
Ivana Mitar ◽  
Perica Bošković ◽  
Dražan Jozić ◽  
...  

A novel ion-selective electrode with membranes based on iron(III) phosphate and silver sulfide integrated into a completely new electrode body design has been developed for the determination of iron(III) cations. The best response characteristics with linear potential change were found in the iron(III) concentration range from 3.97× 10−5 to 10−2 mol L−1. The detection limit was found to be 2.41× 10−5 mol L−1 with a slope of –20.53 ± 0.63 and regression coefficient of 0.9925, while the quantification limit was 3.97× 10−5 M. The potential change per concentration decade ranged from –13.59 ± 0.54 to –20.53 ± 1.56 for Electrode Body 1 (EB1) and from –17.28 ± 1.04 to –24 ± 1.87 for Electrode Body 2 (EB2), which is presented for the first time in this work. The prepared electrode has a long lifetime and the ability to detect changes in the concentration of iron cations within 20 s. Membrane M1 showed high recoveries in the determination of iron cations in iron(III) standard solutions (98.2–101.2%) as well as in two different pharmaceuticals (98.6–106.5%). This proves that this type of sensor is applicable in the determination of ferric cations in unknown samples, and the fact that all sensor parts are completely manufactured in our laboratory proves the simplicity of the method.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 1602
Author(s):  
Ya-Ping Guo ◽  
Hong Yang ◽  
Ya-Li Wang ◽  
Xiao-Xiang Chen ◽  
Ke Zhang ◽  
...  

Crataegi folium have been used as medicinal and food materials worldwide due to its pharmacological activities. Although the leaves of Crataegus songorica (CS), Crataegus altaica (CA) and Crataegus kansuensis (CK) have rich resources in Xinjiang, China, they can not provide insights into edible and medicinal aspects. Few reports are available on the qualitative and quantitative analysis of flavonoids compounds of their leaves. Therefore, it is necessary to develop efficient methods to determine qualitative and quantitative flavonoids compounds in leaves of CS, CA and CK. In the study, 28 unique compounds were identified in CS versus CK by qualitative analysis. The validated quantitative method was employed to determine the content of eight flavonoids of the leaves of CS, CA and CK within 6 min. The total content of eight flavonoids was 7.8–15.1 mg/g, 0.1–9.1 mg/g and 4.8–10.7 mg/g in the leaves of CS, CA and CK respectively. Besides, the best harvesting periods of the three species were from 17th to 26th September for CS, from 30th September to 15th October for CA and CK. The validated and time-saving method was successfully implemented for the analysis of the content of eight flavonoids compounds in CS, CA and CK for the first time.


Analytica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 38-49
Author(s):  
Ettore Guerriero ◽  
Massimo Iorizzo ◽  
Marina Cerasa ◽  
Ivan Notardonato ◽  
Bruno Testa ◽  
...  

The paper would like to show a direct injection into GC-MS/QqQ for the determination of secondary aromas in white wine samples fermented in two different ways. The procedure has been compared with more traditional methods used in this field, i.e., headspace analysis and liquid–liquid extraction. The application of such direct injection, for the first time in the literature, allows us to analyze Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in the range 0.1–100 µg mL−1, with Limits of Detection (LODs) and Limits of Quantification (LOQs) between 0.01–0.05 µg mL−1 and 0.03–0.09 µg mL−1, respectively, intraday and interday below 5.6% and 8.5%, respectively, and recoveries above 92% at two different fortification levels. The procedure has been applied to real wine samples: it evidences how the fermentation in wood (cherry) barrel yields higher VOC levels than ones in wine fermented in steel tank, causing production of different secondary aromas and different relative flavors.


Toxins ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annika Jagels ◽  
Viktoria Lindemann ◽  
Sebastian Ulrich ◽  
Christoph Gottschalk ◽  
Benedikt Cramer ◽  
...  

The genus Stachybotrys produces a broad diversity of secondary metabolites, including macrocyclic trichothecenes, atranones, and phenylspirodrimanes. Although the class of the phenylspirodrimanes is the major one and consists of a multitude of metabolites bearing various structural modifications, few investigations have been carried out. Thus, the presented study deals with the quantitative determination of several secondary metabolites produced by distinct Stachybotrys species for comparison of their metabolite profiles. For that purpose, 15 of the primarily produced secondary metabolites were isolated from fungal cultures and structurally characterized in order to be used as analytical standards for the development of an LC-MS/MS multimethod. The developed method was applied to the analysis of micro-scale extracts from 5 different Stachybotrys strains, which were cultured on different media. In that process, spontaneous dialdehyde/lactone isomerization was observed for some of the isolated secondary metabolites, and novel stachybotrychromenes were quantitatively investigated for the first time. The metabolite profiles of Stachybotrys species are considerably influenced by time of growth and substrate availability, as well as the individual biosynthetic potential of the respective species. Regarding the reported adverse effects associated with Stachybotrys growth in building environments, combinatory effects of the investigated secondary metabolites should be addressed and the role of the phenylspirodrimanes re-evaluated in future research.


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