European Norm Research Articles

New insights for rapid evaluation of bactericidal activity: a semi-automated bioluminescent ATP assay

A new assay, much more rapid and efficient than the existing standardized tests, is introduced for the evaluation of bactericidal activity of chemical disinfectants and antiseptics under simulated practical conditions of use. The bactericidal activity of biocides was quantified using a novel semi-automated assay based on the European Norm (EN) standard suspension tests but determining bacterial cell viability by intracellular adenosine tri-phosphate (ATP) content quantification instead of traditional culture-based microbiological techniques. The new test was validated by comparison to the standard suspension tests EN 1276 and EN 13727. During the validation, the linearity of the ATP detection system, limit of detection, specificity, sensitivity, relative accuracy and precision (repeatability and reproducibility) were determined. The validation study showed that the new assay evaluates the activity of biocides as well as the EN standard suspension tests, but it allows a large number of test conditions to be efficiently analysed. The new test can therefore be applied to accurately establish the lowest active concentration (MBCs) of disinfectants or antiseptics under simulated practical conditions of use and to compare the susceptibility of a large number of strains and conditions via inactivation curves. This is not possible in any reasonably practicable way with the EN standards considering the time and cost required for each determination.

Antimicrobial efficacy of alcohol-based hand gels with a 30-s application

The objective of this study was to assess the antimicrobial efficacy of alcohol-based hand gels according to European Norm 1500 (EN 1500). We assessed the antimicrobial efficacy of 12 alcohol-based hand gels produced in Brazil, containing 70% w/w or v/v ethyl alcohol as the active ingredient, according to EN 1500, with a 30-s application. In addition, 70% w/w ethyl alcohol and three alcohol-based hand rubs commonly used in Europe and effective according to EN 1500 were also tested. Eight of 12 (67%) alcohol-based hand gels produced in Brazil failed by EN 1500. In contrast, 70% w/w ethyl alcohol and European alcohol-based hand rubs were approved by EN 1500. In this study, the majority of Brazilian alcohol-based hand gels showed limited efficacy on hand hygiene within 30 s. The findings of this study may be used as an important argument to motivate Brazilian manufacturers to improve the antimicrobial efficacy of alcohol-based hand gels, because it is prudent to suppose that alcohol-based hand gels can be recommended for use in healthcare settings only if they show antimicrobial activity at least similar to that of alcohol-based liquid preparations, including the traditional 70% w/w ethyl alcohol.

Condensed tannins from grape pomace: Characterization by FTIR and MALDI TOF and production of environment friendly wood adhesive

Condensed tannins were extracted from grape pomace using a water medium in presence of three different bases as catalyst (NaOH, Na2CO3 or NaHCO3) and were characterized by FT-IR and MALDI-TOF spectrometry. It was demonstrated that the tannin extracts contained oligomers up to 6 repeating flavonoid units, with dominant procyanidin with a minor amount of prodelphinidin units. The structure of grape pomace tannin extracted did not present noticeable discrepancy exception of the ratio of the opening pyran ring which was different as a function of the catalyst used. Two different formulations (nonfortified tannin adhesive and fortified with addition of 20% of polymeric 4,4′-diphenyl methane diisocyanate (pMDI)) were used to press one layer particle board. It has been proved that the extraction processes largely affect the adhesive properties of the extracts obtained from the same raw material. Especially the particleboards prepared from tannins extracted using Na2CO3 as catalyst and without pMDI, give a high internal bonding value (IB=0.45MPa), which was good enough to pass relevant international standard specifications for interior grade panels. Formaldehyde emission of these panels is very low, well under the European Norm requirements (≤6.5mg/100g panel).

The proxy problem anatomized: child-parent disagreement in health related quality of life reports of chronically ill adolescents

BackgroundDiscrepancy between self-reports and parent-proxy reports of adolescent health-related quality of life (HRQoL) has been repeatedly acknowledged in the literature as the proxy problem. However, little is known about the extent and direction of this discrepancy. The purpose of this study is to explore to what extent and in what direction HRQoL self-reports of adolescents with chronic conditions and those of their parents differ.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted among adolescents suffering from chronic conditions and their parents. Socio-demographic and disease-related characteristics were collected and information about consequences of the chronic condition was assessed. HRQoL was measured with KIDSCREEN-10 and DISABKIDS condition generic measure (DCGM-10). Agreement was analysed through defining a threshold of agreement based on half of the standard deviation of the HRQoL score with the highest variance. Agreement occurred if the difference between adolescent and parent scores was less than or equal to half of the standard deviation. Intra-class correlation coefficients and Bland-Altman plots were also computed. The characteristics associated with direction of disagreement were statistically tested with one-way ANOVA and Chi-square tests.Results584 paired HRQoL scores were obtained. Ratings from both adolescents and parents were high, compared to European norm data. Differences between adolescents and parents were statistically significant, yet relatively small. Disagreement existed in both directions: in 24.5% (KIDSCREEN-10) and 16.8% (DCGM-10) of the cases adolescents rated their HRQoL lower than did their parent, while in 32.2% (KIDSCREEN-10) and 31.7% (DCGM-10) of the cases the opposite was true. Adolescent's age, educational level and type of education, parent's educational level, number of hospital admissions and several other disease-related factors influenced direction of disagreement.ConclusionsIn a reasonable proportion of cases the adolescent and parent agreed on the adolescent's HRQoL (43-51% of the cases) and most disagreement tended to be minor. Thus, the proxy problem may be smaller than presented in the literature and its extent may differ per population. As adolescents are expected to become partners in their own health care, it is recommended to focus on adolescents' own perceptions of HRQoL.

Comparative efficacy of commercially available alcohol-based hand rubs and World Health Organization-recommended hand rubs: Formulation matters

Use of alcohol-based hand rubs (ABHRs) effectively reduces transmission of pathogenic microorganisms. However, the impact of alcohol concentration and format on product efficacy is currently being debated. Two novel ABHR formulations containing 70% ethanol were evaluated according to American Society for Testing and Materials E1174 (Health Care Personnel Handwash [HCPHW]) and European Norm (EN) 1500 global standards. Additionally, using E1174, the efficacy of these formulations was compared head-to-head against 7 representative commercially available ABHRs and 2 World Health Organization recommended formulations containing alcohol concentrations of 60% to 90%. The novel ABHR formulations met efficacy requirements for both HCPHW and EN 1500 when tested at application volumes typically used in these methods. Moreover, these formulations met HCPHW requirements when tested at a more realistic 2-mL product application. In contrast, the commercial ABHRs and World Health Organization formulations failed to meet HCPHW requirements using a 2-mL application. Importantly, product performance did not correlate with alcohol concentration. Product formulation can greatly influence the overall antimicrobial efficacy of ABHRs and is a more important factor than alcohol concentration alone. Two novel ABHRs based on 70% ethanol have been formulated to meet global efficacy standards when tested at volumes more representative of normal product use in health care environments.

シラン系浸透性吸水防止剤の性能評価─欧州規格（EN 1504-2）との比較─

シラン系浸透性表面含浸材を対象に，国内外それぞれの規格に基づく性能評価試験を実施し，得られた測定値ならびに測定値に基づくグレーディングを比較した。その結果，含浸材塗布により止水性能は著しく向上し，塩化物イオン浸透抵抗性も著しく向上するものの，中性化抑制にはほとんど効果がないこと，および標準的な塗布量を超えて施工しても止水性能には影響しないことがわかった。欧州規格と国内規格の要求事項を比べた場合，共通の評価項目が少なく，かつ試験条件も大きく異なるため，評価結果の直接比較は困難であることが確認された。

Influence of Filler Fractional Voids on Mastic and Mixture Performance

This study proposed the fractional voids test for mineral fillers introduced by Rigden in 1947 and currently adopted as the European norm, as part of asphalt mixture design and quality control. Laboratory testing conducted in this study included a large collection of natural and manufactured fillers currently used in various regions of the United States. Results showed that filler fractional voids influenced mastic viscosity and nonrecoverable compliance. These mastic properties were also found to be highly correlated with mixture performance measures. This study used mixture performance limits to derive mastic limits based on mixture-to-mastic correlations. Regression models developed to predict mastic performance as a function of filler fractional voids and asphalt binder properties were proposed as a means for incorporating fractional voids into the mix design procedure as a quality control measure. This paper discusses the tested materials and the analysis approach and summarizes the data justifying the proposed limits.

Wettability and surface roughness characteristics of medium density fiberboard panels from rhododendron (Rhododendron ponticum) biomass

Wettability and surface roughness properties of medium densityberboard (MDF) panels made from Rhododendron biomass were examined in this study. Rhododendron dominates the understory layer of the forests throughout the Black Sea Region in Turkey with substantial biomass potential. � is study was conducted to evaluate suitability of Rhododendronber for MDF production. For the experiments, rhododendron and commercially-manufactured-chip (Pinus sylvestris L. and Quercus robur L.) with 11% moisture content were used. � e mixing ratios of rhododendron with commercially-manufactured-chip were 100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75 and 0:100 %, respectively. Commercial urea formaldehyde (UF) adhesive was used as a binder. A stylus method was employed to evaluate the surface characteristics of the samples. Roughness measurements by the stylus method were taken perpendicularly to theber. � ere was a signicant dierence (p=0.05) between surface roughness parameters (R a , R z , R q , and R y ). � e results obtained in this study revealed that all the panels have met the general purpose-use requirements of European Norm (EN). It was found that panels made with a 25/75 ratio of rhododendron to commercially-manufactured-chip had a signicantly lower contact angle (88.14 o ) than panels made with a 100/0 ratio (117.91 o ). Surface roughness measurements are based on four roughness parameters, average roughness (R a ), mean peak-to-valley height (R z ), root mean square roughness (R q ), and maximum peak-to-valley height (R y ) were considered to evaluate the surface characteristics of the panels and supported the above � ndings as the panels made with a 25/75 ratio had a slightly rougher surface with average values of 2.929 �m (R a ). From the tests performed, we conclude that increasing the rhododendron mixing portion increased surface roughness and decreased wettability. Based on these results, rhododendron biomass could be an alternative raw material for MDF manufacturing.

Novel long-lasting impregnation technique transferred from clothing to bednets: extended efficacy and residual activity of different pyrethroids against Aedes aegypti as shown by EN ISO 6330-standardized machine laundering

A novel long-lasting insecticide-treated net (LLIN) has been designed by embedding the pyrethroids deltamethrin, cyfluthrin, permethrin, or etofenprox, onto the fibres of bed net cotton fabric by transferring a new polymer-coating technique from clothing to netting material. EN ISO 6330, the more stringent European Norm for domestic washing and drying procedures for textile testing, has been newly employed to monitor and validate more precise wash durability and residual bioactivity of LLINs. Wash durability, residual insecticidal activity and mosquito landing/biting protection has been investigated and compared with four commercially available LLINs. The pyrethroid-embedding impregnation technique allows binding of high concentrations exceeding 8,000 mg permethrin/m(2) within one single-polymer layer. Recovery rates of 95.7 ± 5.8%, 92.4 ± 14.0%, 70.2 ± 9.1%, and 64.2 ± 6.3% for cyfluthrin; 32.4 ± 11.4%, 32.4 ± 12%, 35.1 ± 16.2%, and 35.8 ± 15.7% for deltamethrin; 75.3 ± 12.9%, 57.1 ± 15.8%, 48.5 ± 4.0%, and 35.6 ± 4.7% for etofenprox; and 95.7 ± 5.8%, 80.2 ± 8.6%, 39.1 ± 7.9%, and 34.1 ± 8.8% were measured after 1, 5, 10, and 20 launderings. Laundering resistance was highest with cyfluthrin > deltamethrin ≈ etofenprox ≈ permethrin. After one and five launderings, commercial LLINs revealed percentage pyrethroid recovery rates of 26.3 ± 11.8% and 0.9 ± 1.2% for the Care Plus(®) net; 31.8% and 28.9% for the Permanet(®) 2.0; 61.4% and 45.6% for the Net Protect(®); and 80.4% and 68.3% for the Conmanet(®). Recovery rates reveal that the polymer-coating method resulted in extended wash durability. Dose-dependent 100% knockdown rates were most effective with deltamethrin > cyfluthrin > permethrin ≈ etofenprox. LLINs tested at concentrations up to 8,000 mg permethrin/m(2) did not protect from mosquito bites. Results on long-lasting efficacy and bioactivity of the polymer-coating technique show that this new LLIN technique is a highly promising potential candidate for future malaria control strategies. Standardized machine laundering and drying according to EN ISO 6330 is highly recommended to monitor and validate wash durability and residual activity of LLINs.

Testing of the World Health Organization-recommended formulations for surgical hand preparation and proposals for increased efficacy

The 2009 World Health Organization (WHO) Guidelines on hand hygiene in health care recommend alcohol-based hand rubs for both hygienic and pre-surgical hand treatment. Two formulations based on ethanol 80% v/v and 2-propanol 75% v/v are proposed for local preparation in healthcare settings where commercial products are not available or too expensive. Both formulations and our suggested modifications (using mass rather than volume percent concentrations) were evaluated for their conformity with the efficacy requirements of the forthcoming amendment of the European Norm (EN) 12791, i.e. non-inferiority of a product when compared with a reference procedure (1-propanol 60% v/v for 3 min) immediately and 3 h after antisepsis. In this study, the WHO-recommended formulations were tested for 3 min and 5 min. Neither formulation met the efficacy requirements of EN 12791 with 3 min application. Increasing the respective concentrations to 80 w/w (85% v/v) and 75 w/w (80% v/v), together with a prolonged application of 5 min, rendered the immediate effect of both formulations non-inferior to the reference antisepsis procedure. This was not the case with the 3h effect, which remained significantly inferior to the reference. Although the original formulations do not meet the efficacy requirements of EN 12791, the clinical significance of this finding deserves further clinical trials. To comply with the requirement of EN 12791, an amendment to the formulations is possible by increasing the alcohol concentrations through changing volume into mass percent and prolonging the duration of application from 3 min to 5 min.

Communication processes, public administration and performance evaluation

Albanian efforts to fulfill European standards and norm in its Public Administration and service delivery, are becoming a research argument for academics and practitioners as well. Even if significant efforts have been made in this direction there is still a gap in analyzing the link between the communication process which creates and delivers the public service, effect of the used tools in service provision and delivery, the performance evaluation of this sector and the future of the sector itself affected by the intersection of these factors. This brings a great necessity to watch very close those evolutions, processes and the impacts they have in the Albanian social tissue. At the same time, it is very important to understand what streamline has been followed till now by micro and macro huge progresses which have affected the systems, the relations between pairs which not necessarily are being expressed in standards. There is no sustainable change or improvement, if they aren’t built at the cellular level, and when we talk about the state, institutions and citizens, the way they relate, if it is standardized or not by laws or procedures, it becomes the most important reading that we must do to understand the substratum of those progresses. Relations, communications and the future of the communicative situations between citizens and public operators including the public administration during the public service proceedings, indicate the quality and sustainability of Albanian evolutions in social view, as well as the forecasting we can do regarding their impact in the future. Tools by which strategies have been applied, seems to affect the process as well as affect pairs perception of fairness, justice and low conformity. This oblige us investigate about effects and impacts they have had during the service proceedings. We may judge the transparence’s perception related to how much equal citizens consider they are being treated by public operators, what’s its influence in trust climate, notably on the citizens trust towards public administration, whose salaries are being paid by public and who theoretically must carry over public interest. We may, as well, investigate the impact that this variable has had in the new dimension of accountability which is a strong indicator of the evolution of public administrations in Albania, showing how the way public services are being delivered and how much the public itself is actually ruling through a careful reading of the communications hold between them and public administrations.

Condensed tannin reactivity inhibition by internal rearrangements: Detection by CP-MAS 13C NMR

Tannin extracts were prepared from barks of maritime pine (Pinus maritimus), aleppo pine (Pinushalepensis), Norway spruce (Picea abies) and from a mixture of barks of different pine species (Pinusspp., namely 20% black pine (Pinus thunbergii)+ 30% Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) + 20% maritime pine(Pinus maritimus) + 10% Aleppo Pine (Pinus halepensis) + 5% Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) +15% Norway spruce (Picea abies)) at a paper mill. The 13C-NMR spectra were carried out from thesetannins. Blending systems adhesives were prepared with 5% paraformaldehyde to measure the reactivityby gel time, and to determinate the mechanical resistance by thermomechanical analysis (TMA) andthe internal bond strength (IB) according to the European Norm EN-312. The CP MAS 13C NMR bandsat 163 ppm and the increase number of smaller bands between 20 and 65 ppm clearly indicate that theextraction of procyanidin-type tannins has been incorrect yielded high relative proportions of catechinicacid structures and diarylpropanol-catechinin acid dimer caused by internal flavonoid rearrangement, andcausing the blockage of the C6 and C8 reactive sites, rendering unusable the tannin for wood adhesiveapplications. Thus, the gel times are very long except for the maritime pine tannin with a value of 51(s). The TMA analysis gave very low MOE values for almost all the tannin extract samples, except formaritime pine. This situation was confirmed by the IB test. Only maritime pine tannin presented a goodmechanical resistance with a value of 0.6 (MPa). Only this sample fulfils the standard requested.

Limited Influence? The Role of the Party of European Socialists in Shaping Social Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe

AbstractThis article looks at the role of the Party of European Socialists (PES) in its attempts to shape social democratic parties in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) towards a West European norm. It discusses how existing views in the academic literature on the role of transnational parties are inadequate. We argue that the PES did not play a key role in encouraging the establishment and development of parties in the CEE states from the 2004 enlargement in the early stages of accession. We contend that the overall influence of party federations has been limited, and that these limitations were as much in evidence before enlargement took place as they were afterwards.

Ethanol in pre-surgical hand rubs: concentration and duration of application for achieving European Norm EN 12791

In Europe, ethanol is a common active agent in hand rub formulations and nowadays it is also recommended in guidelines for hand hygiene published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and by the World Health Organization. However, data on the range of concentrations and durations of application providing a basis for passing the efficacy test of the European norm EN 12791 are still lacking. Therefore, the bactericidal efficacy of rubbing clean hands with pure ethanol in volume concentrations of 95%, 85% or 75% during 3 min was compared with that of the reference procedure of EN 12791 employing n-propanol 60% v/v for 3 min, immediately and 3h after disinfection. Ethanol 85% was also tested at a 5 min application. A Latin-square design was used with 20 randomly allotted volunteers. Whereas the mean immediate bacterial reductions caused by ethanol at concentrations of 75% (log RF 1.68) and 95% (log RF 2.70) were significantly less efficacious compared to that of the reference (log RF 3.27), at 85% they were not significantly less active with both applications, 3 and 5 min (log RFs 2.90 and 3.12, respectively). Three hours after antisepsis, the bacterial reduction on the gloved hand was only significantly less efficacious than that of the reference when 75% ethanol was used. It is concluded that ethanol-based hand rubs have a good chance of meeting the EN 12791 requirements if their ethanol concentration is >75% v/v but <95% v/v and if they are applied for at least 3 min.

Energetic characterization of forest biomass by calorimetry and thermal analysis

The rational and sustainable exploitation of natural resources is one the priority objectives of our consumer society as an unavoidable strategy for survival. In previous articles, research group TERBIPROMAT has established the bases for the elaboration of energy maps of forest biomass. With those data, it is possible to classify the species in terms of their energy content and of their possible application as biofuels following European Norm CEN/TS 14961/2005 on solid biofuels. Main forest species used in this study were Populus and Paulownia. These species have a fast growth and produce big amounts of energetic biomass. To complete this study a comparison with autochthonous forest species, Eucalyptus and Pinus, was made. In this study, a thermogravimetric analysis is employed to qualitative study the resistance to thermal degradation of different forest species. These studies complete those made through static bomb calorimetry, elemental analysis, and different mechanical tests trying to get relationships between thermal behaviour and some physical properties.

Identification of Irradiated Prawn (Penaeus monodon) Using Thermoluminescence and 2-Alkylcyclobutanone Analyses

Thermoluminescence (TL) and 2-alkylcyclobutanone (2-ACB) analyses were performed to identify irradiated prawns ( Penaeus monodon ). With the TL method, minerals were extracted from prawns using acid hydrolysis. The experimental results satisfied the evaluation criteria of European Norm (EN) 1788, even after low-dose irradiation (0.5 kGy) and a 60 day storage at -20 °C. With the 2-ACB method, 2-dodecylcyclobutanone (2-DCB) and 2-tetradecylcyclobutanone (2-TCB) were successfully extracted from prawns by direct solvent extraction with purification using a conventional silica column and a sulfoxide column, which was used for 2-ACB for the first time. Both 2-ACB derivatives were absent from the non-irradiated samples but were identified in all irradiated samples by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Moreover, 2-DCB and 2-TCB production correlated with the applied dose (2.5-10 kGy), and the correlation did not diminish after 60 days of storage at -20 °C for any dose. Therefore, these two techniques provide rapid, simple, and promising methods for routine investigation of frozen prawns.

Biodiesel production from waste soybean oil biomass as renewable energy and environmental recycled process

Alternative fuel is currently an important issue all over the world due to the efforts on reducing global warming which is contributed by the combustion of petroleum or petrol diesel. Biodiesel is non-toxic, biodegradable, produced from renewable sources and contributes a minimal amount of net green house gases, such as CO2, SO2 and NO emissions to the atmosphere. The study was carried out to produce biodiesel from waste/recycled oils to reduce the cost of biodiesel, waste and pollution. Some important variables such as volumetric ratio, types of reactants and catalytic activities were selected to obtain a high quality biodiesel fuel within the specifications of the American Standard for Biodiesel Testing Method (ASTM D 6751) and European Norm (EN 14214). The highest biodiesel yield was obtained (71.2%) under the conditions of 1:1 volumetric oil-to-methanol weight ratio, 0.5% NaOH catalyst at 50°C reaction temperature and 320 rpm stirring speed. The results showed that biodiesel produced from different oil to methanol ratios, alcohol types and shaking time exhibited considerable differences. There was also a considerable difference of biodiesel yield produced by using methanol, ethanol and 1butanol. The biodiesel yield increased in the order of 1-butanol < ethanol <methanol. There was a little difference in viscosity, acid value and chemical elements (Fe, Mg, Ca, Na, P etc.) at different parameters. The research showed that biodiesel obtained under optimum conditions from completely waste oil was of good quality and could be used as a diesel fuel which is considered as potential use of waste cooking oil. In addition, bioenergy could be renewed and environmental recycling process could be maintained potentially using waste soybean cooking oil.

ENHANCED QUANTITATIVE EVALUATION OF THE HPTLC-BIOLUMINESCENCE DETECTION

The HPTLC bioluminescence coupling is a method, which combines the separation ability of HPTLC with biodetection, applying the luminescent bacterium Vibrio fischeri that is also used in a cuvette assay for wastewater analysis according to a European norm method. As a result, a black and white image of the HPTLC plate is obtained, on which bioactive substances appear as dark spots on a brightly luminizing background. The evaluation of the image was usually done visually and, hence, qualitatively. Currently, available image evaluation programs showed to be unsuitable for quantitative evaluation because of insufficient background correction and/or tedious procedures. Furthermore, special corrections like a horizontal background correction and the recalculation of the sigmoid dose response relationship of the bacteria's reaction are needed. Available programs could not fulfill these requirements. Therefore, a method was developed by using existing common or freeware programs with which the proper corrections could be accomplished. Steps were the selection of the regions of interest from the HPTLC image, the conversion of the image file into a text file, followed by the main calculation in the spreadsheet program Microsoft Excel. For calculation, adapted versions of the cuvette test calculations were used. As Excel does not contain the necessary integration tools, two export methods were included. The first method allowed for a routine evaluation of chromatograms giving peak height and area as parameters. The second method enables an in-depth evaluation of chromatograms using an HPLC software leading to parameters like, e.g., signal-to-noise ratio, peak asymmetry, or peak width. Results obtained with the method were convincing. With a macro bundle, the calculations were not very time consuming and could be applied for routine use.

Citizenship Attribution in a New Country of Immigration: Ireland

This article examines how the change in Ireland's demographic condition from a country of emigration to one of large-scale immigration has affected citizenship attribution. The article outlines the origin of Irish citizenship laws, with particular reference to the pure ius soli system applied to those born on the island of Ireland until 2005. While significant changes in citizenship attribution have emerged in response to increasing immigration, the specific character of these changes has been shaped also by other forces, including the issue of Northern Ireland, the relationship of the Republic of Ireland to the UK, and the development and expansion of the European Union. These have influenced recent notable changes in the attribution of citizenship at birth and on the basis of marriage, and proposed changes in requirements for naturalisation. The article examines whether and to what extent these changes represent a convergence towards a European norm and whether they signify a changing conception of citizenship in Ireland.

Mineralogy and modulus of rupture of roofing slate: Applications in the prospection and quarrying of slate deposits

The European norm UNE 12326 for roofing slate defines the mechanical properties of a slate tile through the Bending Strength test, which defines the modulus of rupture (MoR) of the tile. This MoR is related to the durability of the slate, and is one of its main commercial quality properties. During the prospection task previous to open a new slate quarry, it is crucial to define the MoR. The Bending Strength test needs proper slate tiles and a flexion press. To supply these slate tiles it is frequently necessary to open experimental quarry fronts, which are very expensive, and do not guarantee the viability of the quarry. Therefore, a method which could reduce the costs and time for the mechanical characterization would be very useful. In this work we have tried to relate the MoR to the mineralogical and petrographic characteristics of slate, using the Petrographic Examination test, also part of UNE 12326. This test contemplates the finding of a numerical index called Mica Stacking Index (MSI) which quantifies the mica layers fabric. We collected fifteen samples of roofing slates from the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula and we studied them by using the Bending Strength and Petrographic Examination tests, plus mineralogical quantification using X-ray diffraction and measure of the illite crystallinity (Kubler Index) to determine the metamorphic grade. We have found a strong positive correlation between MoR values and MSI, and a negative correlation between MoR and Mica percentages. These correlations may be used to deduce the MoR, reducing costs during the exploitation labours in roofing slate mining, and also can be used in the quality controls on a working slate quarry.