Tuning Into Blockchain: Challenges and Opportunities of Blockchain-Based Music Platforms

Blockchain technology is an intensely discussed enabler of large-scale societal and economic change, but the circumstances under which different industries succeed or fail in implementing blockchain are not yet sufficiently understood. One example is the music industry, in which the promise of blockchain is not yet fulfilled, despite a growing number of ambitious blockchain pro-viders. This paper explores the challenges and opportunities of blockchain-based music platforms. Grounded in an exploratory qualitative case study within the music industry at seven organiza-tions and related literature, we identify three main challenges for digital music business, namely: 1) Inconsistent and incomplete music metadata, 2) Historically grown complex licensing struc-tures, and 3) Inefficient and non-transparent royalty payouts. We provide insight into how block-chain may address these challenges by means of a decentralized global song database that allows for automatic royalty payouts. Our results inform researchers and practitioners how the music in-dustry may create value from blockchain-based music platforms. We offer a nuanced and bal-anced view on value creation with blockchain and outline a path for further research and devel-opment on blockchain-based solutions for the music industry

The Synthetic Amphipathic Peptidomimetic LTX109 Is a Potent Fungicide That Disturbs Plasma Membrane Integrity in a Sphingolipid Dependent Manner.

The peptidomimetic LTX109 (arginine-tertbutyl tryptophan-arginine-phenylethan) was previously shown to have antibacterial properties. Here, we investigated the activity of this novel antimicrobial peptidomimetic on the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We found that LTX109 was an efficient fungicide that killed all viable cells in an exponentially growing population as well as a large proportion of cells in biofilm formed on an abiotic surface. LTX109 had similar killing kinetics to the membrane-permeabilizing fungicide amphotericin B, which led us to investigate the ability of LTX109 to disrupt plasma membrane integrity. S. cerevisiae cells exposed to a high concentration of LTX109 showed rapid release of potassium and amino acids, suggesting that LTX109 acted by destabilizing the plasma membrane. This was supported by the finding that cells were permeable to the fluorescent nucleic acid stain SYTOX Green after a few minutes of LTX109 treatment. We screened a haploid S. cerevisiae gene deletion library for mutants resistant to LTX109 to uncover potential molecular targets. Eight genes conferred LTX109 resistance when deleted and six were involved in the sphingolipid biosynthetic pathway (SUR1, SUR2, SKN1, IPT1, FEN1 and ORM2). The involvement of all of these genes in the biosynthetic pathway for the fungal-specific lipids mannosylinositol phosphorylceramide (MIPC) and mannosyl di-(inositol phosphoryl) ceramide (M(IP)2C) suggested that these lipids were essential for LTX109 sensitivity. Our observations are consistent with a model in which LTX109 kills S. cerevisiae by nonspecific destabilization of the plasma membrane through direct or indirect interaction with the sphingolipids

Steering carbon dioxide reduction toward C–C coupling using copper electrodes modified with porous molecular films

Copper offers unique capability as catalyst for multicarbon compounds production in the electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction. In lieu of conventional catalysis alloying with other elements, copper can be modified with organic molecules to regulate product distribution. Here, we systematically study to which extent the carbon dioxide reduction is affected by film thickness and porosity. On a polycrystalline copper electrode, immobilization of porous bipyridine-based films of varying thicknesses is shown to result in almost an order of magnitude enhancement of the intrinsic current density pertaining to ethylene formation while multicarbon products selectivity increases from 9.7 to 61.9%. In contrast, the total current density remains mostly unaffected by the modification once it is normalized with respect to the electrochemical active surface area. Supported by a microkinetic model, we propose that porous and thick films increase both local carbon monoxide partial pressure and the carbon monoxide surface coverage by retaining in situ generated carbon monoxide. This reroutes the reaction pathway toward multicarbon products by enhancing carbon–carbon coupling. Our study highlights the significance of customizing the molecular film structure to improve the selectivity of copper catalysts for carbon dioxide reduction reaction

Approches physicochimiques et microfluidiques vers l'ingénierie oscillante et les gouttelettes chimiques communicantes

Generation, propagation and reception of (bio/chemical) information between individual organisms are the keystone of many intelligent communicating systems, and are ubiquitous in Nature. Colonies of fireflies synchronize their flashes, and contraction and expansion of heart muscles are few examples among others, where bio/chemical signals generated by synchronized sources produce a cooperative behaviour. The final objective of this thesis is to develop a reliable platform for generating communicative networks of liposomes, encapsulating the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction as source of information or transmitted signals, and to study the dynamics of such a system. To reach this goal, several issues were addressed by following bottom-up and multi-scale approaches. First we investigated the interaction between both bulk DMPC liposomes, and liposomes doped with cholesterol, myristic acid, tetradecylsulfate, tetradecylamine, and the species involved in the BZ-reaction by using small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and UV-visible spectrophotometry. Than 1D arrays of micro-droplets were fabricated by encapsulating the BZ reaction into microdroplets by means of microfluidics, and the communication between adjacent droplets was studied. Later, we demonstrated an easy to assemble/disassemble and robust design for a microfluidic device with adjustable geometry, for generating monodisperse water-in-oil-in-water (w/o/w) double emulsions. Finally, the behavior of w/o/w double emulsions generated in a microfluidic device, using phospholipids as surfactant and chloroform as the oil phase, was reported. We showed, with this composition of the oil phase, that the dynamic behaviour of the double emulsions under flow gave rise to different phenomena, such as deformation and tip-streaming.La génération, propagation et la réception d’informations (bio/chimiques) entre les organismes individuels sont la clé de voûte de nombreux systèmes communicants intelligents et sont omniprésents dans la nature. Les colonies de lucioles synchronisent leurs flashs, et la contraction et l’expansion des muscles cardiaques sont quelques exemples parmi d’autres, où les signaux bio / chimiques générés par des sources synchronisées produisent un comportement coopératif. L’objectif final de cette thèse est de développer une plateforme fiable pour générer des réseaux de communication de liposomes, en encapsulant la réaction de Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) en tant que source d’information ou un signal transmis, et d’étudier la dynamique d’un tel système. Pour atteindre cet objectif, plusieurs questions ont été abordées par une approche “bottom-up” et multi-échelle. Tout d’abord, nous avons étudié l’interaction entre des liposomes de DMPC dopés et non-dopés avec le cholestérol, l’acide myristique, tétradécylsulfate, tétradécylamine, et les espèces impliquées dans la reaction BZ en utilisant la diffusion de rayons X aux petits angles et par spectrophotométrie UV-visible. Des rangées 1D de micro-gouttelettes ont été fabriquées en encapsulant la réaction BZ en microgouttelettes au moyen de la microfluidique et la communication entre les gouttelettes adjacentes a été étudiée. Plus tard, nous avons démontré un système microfluidique facile à monter / démonter avec une conception robuste et une géométrie modulable pour générer des emulsions doubles d’eau dans l’huile dans l’eau (E/ H / O). Enfin, le comportement de ces doubles emulsions générées dans système microfluidique en utilisant des phosphoplipides comme tensioactif et du chloroforme comme phase huileuse, est rapporté. Nous avons montré, avec cette composition de la phase d’huile, que le comportement dynamique des émulsions doubles sous écoulement donne lieu à des phénomènes riches incluant la déformation et du “tip-streaming”