Effectiveness of cleaning and sanitizing procedures in controlling the adherence of Pseudomonas fluorescens, Salmonella Enteritidis, and Staphylococcus aureus to domestic kitchen surfaces

The effectiveness of cleaning and sanitizing procedures in controlling Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella Enteritidis, and Pseudomonasfluorescens adhered to granite and stainless steel was evaluated. There was no significant difference (p > 0.05) in the adherence of pure cultures of these microorganisms to stainless steel. The numbers of P. fluorescens and S. Enteritidis adhered to granite were greater (p < 0.05) than the numbers of S. aureus. Additionally, the adherence of P. fluorescens was similar to the adherence of S. Enteritidis on granite surface. In a mixed culture with P. fluorescens, S aureus adhered less (p < 0.05) to stainless steel surfaces (1.31 log CFU.cm-2) than when in a pure culture (6.10 log CFU.cm-2). These results suggest that P. fluorescens inhibited the adherence of S. aureus. However, this inhibition was not observed in the adherence process for granite. There was a significant difference (p < 0.05) between the number of adhered cells before and after pre-washing for S. aureus on stainless steel and granite surfaces, and after washing with detergent for all microorganisms and surfaces. The efficiency of the cleaning plus sanitizing procedures was not significantly different (p > 0.05) between the surfaces. However, a significant difference was observed (p < 0.05) between the sanitizer solutions. Sodium hypochlorite and peracetic acid were more bactericidal (p < 0.05) than a quaternary ammonium compound. With regard to microorganisms, S. aureus was the least resistant to the sanitizers. These results show the importance of good cleaning and sanitization procedures to prevent bacterial adherence and biofilm formation.

Saksan graniittimarkkinoiden analysointi: Case Ylamaa Group Oy

Tämän kandidaatintyön tavoitteena on analysoida Saksan graniittimarkkinoiden houkuttelevuutta suomalaisen yrityksen näkökulmasta. Ylamaa Group Oy on rakennus-, ympäristö- ja sisustuskiveä tuottava yritys, joka on jo toimittanut Saksan alueelle tuotteitaan, mutta toiminta on ollut siellä vielä varsin vähäistä. Saksaa markkina-alueena analysoidaan PESTEn, sekä talouden ja maan raken-nusalan tulevaisuudennäkymien avulla, kilpailuasetelmaa puolestaan Porterin viidellä voimalla. Lisäksi tutkitaan asiakkaan kokemia arvoja graniitin tapauksessa ja etsitään yhteyksiä niiden, ja case-yrityksen ydinosaamisten välillä. Näin osoitetaan, miten yritys voi luoda itselleen kilpailuetua. Työn tuloksena käy ilmi, että Saksan markkinoille kannattaa laajentua. Kuitenkin kilpailu Saksassa on kovaa Euroopan yhtenäisen talousalueen vuoksi. Ylamaa Groupin tuleekin ottaa tuotannossaan ja markkinoinnissaan huomioon erinäisiä seikkoja Saksan markkinoilla pärjätäkseen, kuten hinta-laatusuhteen ja ympäris-töystävällisyyden korostamista.

Letter - A. Monro Grier to W.B. Rankine, 20 March 1902

A letter from A. M. Grier to W.B. Rankine referencing the purchase of granite for the "Tunnel Portal Lining". Grier discusses the purchase of granite with MacIntosh Granite and Marble Company for Stanstead Granite. Grier also discusses a wire sent to a Mr. Brock in regards to the purchase and supply of granite for the project.

Receipt - Rigg Bros.

Receipt from Rigg Bros. Marble and Granite Dealers, Niagara Falls - H.K. Woodruff, Dec. 11, 1922.

La vulnérabilité face aux risques environnementaux à Kigali (Rwanda) : enjeux et facteurs

L’objectif de ce mémoire est de faire un état des lieux des connaissances produites sur les risques environnementaux et la vulnérabilité et appliquer ces connaissances à la ville de Kigali (Rwanda). Après avoir présenté différentes approches, nous avons retenu le cadre d’analyse qui s’inscrit dans l’approche de J.C. Thouret et R.D’Ercole (1996). Cette approche est articulée autour de trois dimensions : enjeux, facteurs de la vulnérabilité et réponses sociales. A travers l’application des éléments pertinents de ces trois dimensions dans le cas de la ville de Kigali, réalisée grâce à une analyse qualitative, centrée sur l’analyse des documents et des entrevues semi-dirigées, voici les principaux résultats que nous avons obtenus: l’analyse des enjeux a révélé que la ville de Kigali est confrontée à plusieurs dommages, parmi lesquels, on peut mentionner les pertes des vies humaines, la démolition des maisons, la contamination des rivières, la prolifération des maladies et la perturbation des besoins de base ( eau potable, électricité, transport) dues aux risques. Cette situation s’explique par la combinaison de plusieurs facteurs dont le relief collinaire, le sol granitique, les pluies violentes, le caractère centrifuge du réseau hydrographique, le sous-dimensionnement des ouvrages d’évacuation et le réseau d’assainissement insuffisant. D’autres facteurs amplifient la vulnérabilité dont l’explosion démographique consécutive à une urbanisation spontanée et inconsciente en zones inondables, l’ensablement des lits des rivières, le vide juridique, les politiques fragmentaires et le dysfonctionnement des acteurs impliqués dans la gestion des risques. Cette situation aurait probablement été améliorée si les réponses sociales étaient efficaces. Or, d’un côté, la faible perception de risque chez les résidants affectés par les risques accélère davantage la vulnérabilité et de l’autre côté, l’intervention significative des CIB n’est pas accompagnée d’actions complémentaires des institutions publiques et des agences internationales.

Análisis de la Política Exterior Rusa en materia energética, comercial y militar hacia la República de Moldavia (Período 2000-2010)

Rusia sufrió grandes cambios tras la desintegración de la URSS en 1991. No obstante, con la llegada de Vladimir Putin al poder, los intereses geoestratégicos de Rusia sobre el espacio postsoviético revivieron con nuevo ímpetu debido a una mayor cantidad de recursos a disposición del Estado. La República de Moldavia es un claro ejemplo del resurgir de la política exterior rusa hacia el espacio postsoviético, siendo incluso, una región clave en la lucha de la Federación Rusa por recuperar su zona de influencia.

Edaphic influences on plant community adaptation in the Chiquibul forest of Belize

Edaphic variables figure significantly in plant community adaptations in tropical ecosystems but are often difficult to resolve because of the confounding influence of climate. Within the Chiquibul forest of Belize, large areas of Ultisols and Inceptisols occur juxtaposed within a larger zone of similar climate, permitting unambiguous assessment of edaphic contributions to forest composition. Wet chemical analyses, X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy were employed to derive chemical (pH, exchangeable cations, CEC, total and organic C, total trace elements) and physical (texture, mineralogy) properties of four granite-derived Ustults from the Mountain Pine Ridge plateau and four limestone-derived Ustepts from the San Pastor region. The soils of these two regions support two distinct forests, each possessing a species composition reflecting the many contrasting physicochemical properties of the underlying soil. Within the Mountain Pine Ridge forest, species abundance and diversity is constrained by nutrient deficiencies and water-holding limitations imposed by the coarse textured, highly weathered Ultisols. As a consequence, the forest is highly adapted to seasonal drought, frequent fires and the significant input of atmospherically derived nutrients. The nutrient-rich Inceptisols of the San Pastor region, conversely, support an abundant and diverse evergreen forest, dominated by Sabal mauritiiformis, Cryosophila stauracantha and Manilkara spp. Moreover, the deep, fine textured soils in the depressions of the karstic San Pastor landscape collect and retain during the wet season much available water, thereby serving as refugia during particularly long periods of severe drought. To the extent that the soils of the Chiquibul region promote and maintain forest diversity, they also confer redundancy and resilience to these same forests and, to the broader ecosystem, of which they are a central part. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Characterization of mineral surfaces using FIB and TEM: a case study of naturally weathered alkali feldspars

Using a focused ion beam (FIB) instrument, electron-transparent samples (termed foils) have been cut from the naturally weathered surfaces of perthitic alkali feldspars recovered from soils overlying the Shap granite, northwest England. Characterization of these foils by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has enabled determination of the crystallinity and chemical composition of near-surface regions of the feldspar and an assessment of the influence of intragranular microtextures on the microtopography of grain surfaces and development of etch pits. Damage accompanying implantation of the 30 kV Ga+ ions used for imaging and deposition of protective platinum prior to ion milling creates amorphous layers beneath outer grain surfaces, but can be overcome by coating grains with > 85 nm of gold before FIB work. The sidewalls of the foil and feldspar surrounding original voids are also partially amorphized during later stages of ion milling. No evidence was found for the presence of amorphous or crystalline weathering products or amorphous "leached layers" immediately beneath outer grain surfaces. The absence of a leached layer indicates that chemical weathering of feldspar in the Shap soils is stoichiometric, or if non-stoichiometric, either the layer is too thin to resolve by the TEM techniques used (i.e., <=similar to 2.5 nm) or an insufficient proportion of ions have been leached from near-surface regions so that feldspar crystallinity is maintained. No evidence was found for any difference in the mechanisms of weathering where a microbial filament rests on the feldspar surface. Sub-micrometer-sized steps on the grain surface have formed where subgrains and exsolution lamellae have influenced the propagation of fractures during physical weathering, whereas finer scale corrugations form due to compositional or strain-related differences in dissolution rates of albite platelets and enclosing tweed orthoclase. With progressive weathering, etch pits that initiated at the grain surface extend into grain interiors as etch tubes by exploiting preexisting networks of nanopores that formed during the igneous history of the grain. The combination of FIB and TEM techniques is an especially powerful way of exploring mechanisms of weathering within the "internal zone" beneath outer grain surfaces, but results must be interpreted with caution owing to the ease with which artifacts can be created by the high-energy ion and electron beams used in the preparation and characterization of the foils.

The composition and crystallinity of the near-surface regions of weathered alkali feldspars

Our ability to identify thin non-stoichiometric and amorphous layers beneath mineral surfaces has been tested by undertaking X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) work on alkali feldspars from pH 1 dissolution experiments. The outcomes of this work were used to help interpret XPS and TEM results from alkali feldspars weathered for <10,000 years in soils overlying the Shap Granite (north-west England). The chemistry of effluent solutions indicates that silica-rich layers a few nanometers in thickness formed during the pH I experiments. These layers can be successfully identified by XPS and have lower Al/Si, Na/Si, K/Si and Ca/Si values than the outermost similar to 9 nm of unweathered controls. Development of Al-Si non-stoichiometry is coupled with loss of crystal structure to produce amorphous layers that are identifiable by TEM where >similar to 2.5 nm thick, whereas the crystallinity of albite is retained despite leaching of Na to depths of tens to hundreds on nanometers. Integration of XPS data over the outermost 6-9 nm of naturally weathered Shap feldspars shows that they have stoichiometric Al/Si and K/Si ratios, which is consistent with findings of previous TEM work on the same material that they lack amorphous layers. There is some XPS evidence for loss of K from the outermost couple of nanometers of Shap orthoclase, and the possibility of leaching of Na from albite to greater depths cannot be excluded using the XPS or TEM results. This study demonstrates that the leached layer model, as formulated from laboratory experiments, is inapplicable to the weathering of alkali feldspars within acidic soils, which is an essentially stoichiometric reaction. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Travail des enfants et droit à l’éducation au Burkina Faso: L’exemple de la carrière de Pissy

Cet article décrit et analyse le travail des enfants dans une carrière de granit d’un quartier de la ville de Ouagadougou, interroge le rapport entre l’école et le travail du point de vue des acteurs du site pour apprécier l’argument de la scolarisation comme solution alternative au travail des enfants. Les données proviennent d’une enquête réalisée dans le cadre de notre recherche doctorale au Burkina Faso, de février à avril 2009, dont la carrière de Pissy a été un des terrains d’enquête1. Les enquêtés sont constitués de parents et de leurs enfants âgés de moins de 16 ans ayant des trajectoires différentes : non scolarisés,scolarisés, déscolarisés et à la fois écoliers et travailleurs. Les personnes ont été choisies aléatoirement selon leur accord et disponibilité, en variant leur emplacement. L’approche choisie privilégie le point de vue des différents acteurs du site,l’analyse de leurs discours et l’observation de leurs pratiques de travail. La prise en compte du point de vue des enfants s’appuie sur la perspective théorique développée par James & Prout (1997), où les enfants sont des acteurs compétents dans la sphère du travail et de la vie sociale. L’article présente d’abord le processus d’institutionnalisation de l’école et la situation du travail des enfants au Burkina Faso, puis décrit les logiques autour du travail des enfants dans la carrière en montrant que celui-ci n’est pas seulement lié à la nécessité économique. Enfin, il confronte les alternatives au travaildes enfants invoquées par les enfants et leurs parents aux solutions d’éducation proposées par l’état et la société civile. This article is about a particular case of children in working situation: children crushing the granite in the quarry of Pissy. Their working conditions are considered as dangerous by national and international legal texts. This article aims to grasp the experience of children who work in this frame in order to test the hypothesis according to which schooling would be an effective tool of struggle against child labour. The fieldwork reveals that child labour in the quarry is not only guided by economic aspects. The wish of the parents (and of some children and teenagers) to find another job for working children reopen the debate on “the right to work” for children.

Analysis and risk estimates to workers of Brazilian granitic industries and sandblasters exposed to respirable crystalline silica and natural radionuclides

Occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica and to radiation emitted by natural radionuclides present both in rocks and sands was studied in the Brazilian extractive process and granite product manufacture. Respirable airborne dust samples were collected in working environments, where workers perform different tasks with distinct commercial granites types, and also in places where sandblasters work with sands from different origins. The free crystalline silica contents were determined using X-ray diffraction of the respirable particulate fraction of each sample. Dust samples from granite cutting and sandblasting ambient had the natural radionuclides concentrations measured by gamma spectrometry. Dust concentrations in the workplaces were quite variable, reaching values up to 10 times higher than the respirable particle mass threshold limit value (TLV) set by the American Conference for Governmental Industrial Hygienists of 3 mg m(-3). Also the free crystalline silica concentrations were high. reaching values up to 48 times the TLV of 0.025 mg m(-3). Additionally, our results suggest that the risk of radiation-induced cancer in the granite or marble industries is negligible. However, the combined exposure to dust, gamma radiation, and radon daughter products could result in the enhancement of lung cancer risks associated to sandblasting activities. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rankamaite from the Urubu pegmatite, Itinga, Minas Gerais, Brazil: Crystal chemistry and Rietveld refinement

A new occurrence of rankamaite is here described at the Urubu pegmatite, Itinga municipality, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The mineral forms cream-white botryoidal aggregates of acicular to fibrous crystals, intimately associated with simpsonite, thoreaulite, cassiterite, quartz, elbaite, albite, and muscovite. The average of six chemical analyses obtained by electron microprobe is (range in parentheses, wt%): Na(2)O 2.08 (1.95-2.13), K(2)O 2.61 (2.52-2.74), Al(2)O(3) 1.96 (1.89-2.00), Fe(2)O(3) 0.01 (0.00-0.03), TiO(2) 0.02 (0.00-0.06), Ta(2)O(5) 81.04 (79.12-85.18), Nb(2)O(5) 9.49 (8.58-9.86), total 97.21 (95.95-101.50). The chemical formula derived from this analysis is (Na(1.55)K(1.28))(Sigma 2.83)(Ta(8.45)Nb(1.64)Al(0.89)Fe(0.01)(3+)Ti(0.01))(Sigma 11.00)[O(25.02)(OH)(5.98)](Sigma 31.00). Rankamaite is an orthorhombic ""tungsten bronze"" (OTB), crystallizing in the space group Cmmm. Its unit-cell parameters refined from X-ray diffraction powder data are: a = 17.224(3), b = 17.687(3), c = 3.9361(7) angstrom, V = 1199.1(3) angstrom(3), Z = 2. Rietveld refinement of the powder data was undertaken using the structure of LaTa(5)O(14) as a starting model for the rankamaite structure. The structural formula obtained with the Rietveld analyses is: (Na(2.21)K(1.26))Sigma(3.37)(Ta(9.12)NB(1.30) Al(0.59))(Sigma 11.00)[O(26.29)(OH)(4.71)](Sigma 31.00). The tantalum atoms are coordinated by six and seven oxygen atoms in the form of distorted TaO(6) octahedra and TaO(2) pentagonal bipyramids, respectively. Every pentagonal bipyramid shares edges with four octahedra, thus forming Ta(5)O(14) units. The potassium atom is in an 11-fold coordination, whereas one sodium atom is in a 10-fold and the other is in a 12-fold coordination. Raman and infrared spectroscopy were used to investigate the room-temperature spectra of rankamaite.

Neoproterozoic geodynamic evolution of SW-Gondwana: a southern African perspective

Our current understanding of the tectonic history of the principal Pan-African orogenic belts in southwestern Africa, reaching from the West Congo Belt in the north to the Lufilian/Zambezi, Kaoko, Damara, Gariep and finally the Saldania Belt in the south, is briefly summarized. On that basis, possible links with tectono-stratigraphic units and major structures on the eastern side of the Rio de la Plata Craton are suggested, and a revised geodynamic model for the amalgamation of SW-Gondwana is proposed. The Rio de la Plata and Kalahari Cratons are considered to have become juxtaposed already by the end of the Mesoproterozoic. Early Neoproterozoic rifting led to the fragmentation of the northwestern (in today`s coordinates) Kalahari Craton and the splitting off of several small cratonic blocks. The largest of these ex-Kalahari cratonic fragments is probably the Angola Block. Smaller fragments include the Luis Alves and Curitiba microplates in eastern Brazil, several basement inliers within the Damara Belt, and an elongate fragment off the western margin, named Arachania. The main suture between the Kalahari and the Congo-So Francisco Cratons is suspected to be hidden beneath younger cover between the West Congo Belt and the Lufilian/Zambezi Belts and probably continues westwards via the Cabo Frio Terrane into the Goias magmatic arc along the Brasilia Belt. Many of the rift grabens that separated the various former Kalahari cratonic fragments did not evolve into oceanic basins, such as the Northern Nosib Rift in the Damara Belt and the Gariep rift basin. Following latest Cryogenian/early Ediacaran closure of the Brazilides Ocean between the Rio de la Plata Craton and the westernmost fragment of the Kalahari Craton, the latter, Arachania, became the locus of a more than 1,000-km-long continental magmatic arc, the Cuchilla Dionisio-Pelotas Arc. A correspondingly long back-arc basin (Marmora Basin) on the eastern flank of that arc is recognized, remnants of which are found in the Marmora Terrane-the largest accumulation of oceanic crustal material known from any of the Pan-African orogenic belts in the region. Corresponding foredeep deposits that emerged from the late Ediacaran closure of this back-arc basin are well preserved in the southern areas, i.e. the Punta del Este Terrane, the Marmora Terrane and the Tygerberg Terrane. Further to the north, present erosion levels correspond with much deeper crustal sections and comparable deposits are not preserved anymore. Closure of the Brazilides Ocean, and in consequence of the Marmora back-arc basin, resulted from a change in the Rio de la Plata plate motion when the Iapetus Ocean opened between the latter and Laurentia towards the end of the Ediacaran. Later break-up of Gondwana and opening of the modern South Atlantic would have followed largely along the axis of the Marmora back-arc basin and not along major continental sutures.

The Sphene-Centered Ocellar Texture: An Effect of Grain-Supported Flow and Melt Migration in a Hyperdense Magma Mush

The sphene-centered ocellar texture consists of leucocratic ocelli with sphene (titanite) crystals at the center, enclosed in a biotite-rich matrix. This texture has been recognized worldwide in hybrid intermediate rocks. On the basis of structural, petrological, and geochronological data from selected outcrops of the Variscan Ribadelago pluton (NW Iberian Massif), we propose that the ocelli were formed by migration and accumulation of a residual melt through a plagioclase- and biotite-dominated crystalline framework. At the late stage of crystallization, the magma acted as a hyperdense suspension and reacted to the pressure gradient caused by the regional stress field, entering the domain of grain-supported flow. Microstructures reveal that aligned crystal domains arose in the crystal framework from the shearing and compaction of the crystal mush and behaved as magmatic microshears. Relative displacement of adjacent crystal clusters along these microshears corresponded to the onset of Reynolds dilatancy that generated an expansion of the crystal mush, involving melt migration and pore aperture. The mineralogy of the ocelli, dominated by andesine and sphene, represents the composition of the migrating melt. The chemistry of this late, Ti-rich melt stems from the incongruent melting of biotite. Magmatic sphene from the ocelli yields a U-Pb age of 317 +/- 1 Ma, which represents the final crystallization of the hybridized magmatic system. Moreover, this texture offers an opportunity to better understand the rheological behavior of highly crystallized magmas.