Biofilm production, gel and esp gene carriage was enumerated among forty six vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) and vancomycin susceptible enterococci (VSE) beach isolates. A higher proportion (61.54%) of biofilm producers was observed among beach sand as compared to beach water enterococci isolates (30%) indicating that enterococci within the sand column may be more dependent on biofilm pr...

The formation of environmentally toxic acidic waste from mining activities is a world-wide problem. Neutralization of this waste can be accomplished by physicochemical and/or biological means. In this short-term study, synthetic acid mine drainage was added to sandfilled mesocosms containing silica-dominated (quartz) sand. Glucose was added as a carbon source for microbial iron and/or sulphate ...

A new species of abertellid sand dollar, Abertella miskellyi n. sp., is described from the Miocene Camarones Formation of Patagonia, southern Argentina. The new taxon corroborates the existence of the genus in South America, given that Abertella is most common in the southeastern USA and the eastern coast of Central America. It is characterized by a unique basicoronal circle, in which the inter...

The possible presence of sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) among colonies of Gunnison's prairie dogs, Cynomys gunnisoni Baird, was investigated on or near ranches with histories of vesicular stomatitis (VS) in domestic livestock in the mid-Rio Grande River Valley, NM, and west-slope region of Colorado. Sampling was conducted at six locations, three in each region, using three methods: standard ...

Fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) are nearly ubiquitous in California (CA) beach sands. Sands were collected from 55 beaches along the CA coast. Ninety-one percent of the beaches had detectable enterococci (ENT) while 62% had detectable E. coli (EC) in their sands. The presence of a putative bacterial source (such as a river), the degree of wave shelter, and surrounding land use explained a signif...

In this study, geochemical and particle size analyses of thirty-four street sediment samples collected from an urban environment around Guanabara Bay, shows highway run-off to be a potential source of heavy metals for the pollution of near-shore sedimentary deposits. Concentrations of Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Pb, Cr and Ni were found to be higher in these sediments when compared to concentrations found ...

A hybrid technique is presented that simultaneously uses both electromagnetic and acoustic waves in a synergistic manner to detect buried land mines. The system consists of an electromagnetic radar and an acoustic source. The acoustic source causes both the mine and the surface of the earth to be displaced. The electromagnetic radar is used to detect these displacements and, thus, the mine. To ...