Ebony Wood Research Articles

Sifat Kimia Kayu Eboni pada Perbedaan Pola Strip dan Arah Radial (Chemical Properties of Diospyros celebica Bakh. in Different Streaks Pattern and Radial Direction)

The heartwood of ebony displayed series of axial and alternating black and paler streaks. Accordingly, ebony from Central Sulawesi was classified in two different streaks patterns i.e. SL (spider web) and batang macis (matches stick). We investigated the chemical properties (holocellulose, cellulose, lignin, extractive content, ash and pH value) of sapwood, intermediate, and heartwood from the different streaks patterns of ebony wood. The mean value of holocellulose, cellulose, lignin, ethanol-toluena extractive, hot water extractive, ash contents, and pH value were 76.59±3.02%, 50.62±4.86%, 26.72±3.05%, 9.71± 2.97%, 13.54±1.43%, 0.97±0.32%, 5.56±0.39, respectively. On the basis of t-test, holocellulose, cellulose, and hotwater soluble contents were differed significantly between the two streaks patterns. Analysis of variance showed the radial direction also affected significantly on the chemical contents. The contents of the holocellulose, cellulose, lignin, extractive ethanol-toluen and ash were significantly differed among sapwood, intermediate and heartwood. The heartwood showed higher levels of cellulose, lignin, ethanol-toluena extractive and ash contents than those of other parts. On the contrary, the lowest levels of cellulose, lignin, and ash contents and pH value were found in the intermediate wood region. Keywords : chemical properties, Diospyros celebica, radial direction, spider web, streaks pattern

The eburnated bone–cement interface

© 2014 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.Background: The cement-bone interface has been well studied as the weakest link where initiation of long-term aseptic loosening occurs in cemented arthroplasty. During total knee replacement, one is often confronted with eburnated bone in patients with severe arthritis. We aimed to study shear strength of the eburnated cement-bone interface and the effect of varied surface topology of eburnated bone on this interface strength. Methods: We used blocks of ebony wood to simulate eburnated bone. They were engineered to produce three surface topologies: smooth, drill holes, and cross-hatch pattern. These were cemented to metal (steel) blocks. Each specimen was then mounted onto a loading machine that created a shear force at the simulated cement-bone interface. Force displacement curves were recorded for all specimens until interface failure. Results: The smooth surfaced blocks were found to fail at the cement-wood (bone) interface at an average force of 0.5 MPa. Both the other surface topology alterations resulted in an increased ability to withstand force (average 3.7 MPa) before failure. Examination of the failed specimens revealed a combination of failure at both interfaces as well as cement deformation. Conclusions: One must alter the smooth surface of eburnated bone when dealing with bone defects in cemented arthroplasty. The pattern employed does not make a difference to the strength of the construct. The resulting mechanical bond of the cement with bone is as strong as any component in the metal-cement-bone construct.

Laboratory Simulation of Solar Dryer for Tropical Woods: The Case of Ebony (Diospyros Crassiflora)

In the present paper, a numerical modeling of solar dryer is doing. This solar dryer operates in the natural convection condition and his construction is not difficult because, local materials are used and it is not necessary to follow a particular formation. We have obtained a numerical solution which explains experimental solution. Application is doing on ebony wood that is a wood most difficult to dry and most utilized for the sculpture. With 30mm of thickness, the sample passed 25 days to reduce his water content to 15%, initial water content was equal to 27%, and the drying period is the month of March from the town of Yaoundé, political capital of Cameroon. This modeling proposed is a modest contribution to explain the solar drying of tropical woods at the laboratory scale

Methodology Optimization of DNA extraction from fresh leaf tissues of Melanoxylon brauna (Fabaceae)

Melanoxylon brauna (Fabaceae - Caesalpinioideae) is an endemic and valuable hardwood tree species in the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest; it is comparable to African ebony wood. We tested three protocols of DNA extraction based on the citrimonium bromide (CTAB) method and evaluated the quantity, purity and integrity of the DNA. We also determined whether these procedures interfere with PCR amplification in order to develop a protocol for M. brauna. We found that the quality and integrity of DNA were improved with the use of proteinase K in the extraction buffer and by modifications in the centrifugation speed. The lowest concentration of DNA was obtained with Doyle and Doyle's protocol (5.42 ng/μL). Ferreira and Grattapaglia's protocol modified for M. brauna provided the most DNA (36.89 ng/μL) and the highest quality DNA (purity ratio of 1.80 nm). The original Ferreira and Grattapaglia protocol provided 13.42 ng/μL DNA; however, the purity ratio (1.44 nm) indicates protein contamination. PCR results showed that Ferreira and Grattapaglia's protocol modified for M. brauna gave satisfactory quantity and purity of DNA for molecular studies.

The listening ebony: moral knowledge, religion, and power among the Uduk of Sudan

Notions of the person and of the foundations of bodily and moral experience lie at the heart of this second ethnographic volume devoted to the Uduk-speaking people of Sudan. The first part discusses enduring elements of personal knowledge in the context of a hunters' worldview. The second part gives an account of how alien religious discourse has confronted the Uduk in the course of the region's political history. The third section tells the story of the contemporaneous rise of a new diviners' movement, in part an antithetical response drawing upon the older cultural strata. The key act of the diviners is oracular consultation of the burning ebony wood: through the ebony, personal healing is sought and the foreign gods are kept at bay. The author abandons a number of older anthropological paradigms and their relativist assumptions. In drawing upon general moral philosophy, historical writing, and literary criticism, she offers a modern, humane analysis with important implications for the cross-cultural study of religion. In a new introduction Wendy James explains how the Sudan-Ethiopian borderlands were overrun by war in 1987, and how all the villages described in the original edition were destroyed. Having revisited the Uduk for various UN agencies she is able to provide an indication of the way in which they have since been embroiled in the war, and how the survivors have increasingly embraced Christianity in the course of their exile. She refers to her own reports and publications written since 1988 and to the TV documentary on the Uduk and other refugees which she made with Granada in 1993. Details of other recently published work on the region and to relevant new emphases in anthropology which focus on displacement, violence, and memory have also been added.

119 Occupational asthma due to Indian ebony wood dust

119 Occupational asthma due to Indian ebony wood dust

THE ANALYSIS OF SOME TROPICAL WOODS OF SIAM.

Having performed an analysis of the cially hard tropical woods of superial quality described hereafter by employing the Schorger's method, we found that they have marked characteristics if compared with those of hard woods grown in the temperate zone.1. Rose wood, Dalbergia cochinchinensis Pierre.2. Rose wood, Darbergia sp.3. Ebony wood. Diospyros mollis Griff.4. Iron wood, Cassia siamea Lamb.5. Pradu wood, Pterocarpus indicus Willd.In the first place, it must be pointed out that these woods contain a large quantity of soluble matters, that means, ca 24% of hot water extract, ca 12% of ether extract, and ca 43% of 1% NaOH extract. Almost the half of the hot water extract consists of tannin and sugars, but the remainder is quite unknown.In the second place, it has been found out that they contain a remarkable quantity of β cellulose surpassing two times of γ cellulose.In the third place, it will be worthy of note that the iron wood contains 0, 17% of mannan; this finding shows an exception to the hard wood, but a resemblance with the coniferous wood.Finally, we should like to emphasize that the woods mentioned above, excepting ebony wood, contain neither mannan nor galactan as in the case of monocotyled on viz. palm and bamboo (I. Miura, and T. Honda, Chemistry of Wood, part 2, Bulletin of Tokyo Imperial University Forest No.15).