The Translator’s New Clothes Translating the Dual Audience in Andersen’s “The Emperor’s New Clothes”

‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ is one of Hans Christian Andersen’s best known fairy tales. All over the world it appeals to children and adults alike. As such it belongs to what Zohar Shavit (1986) called ‘children’s literature with an ambivalent audience.’ This study addresses the question as to how translators deal with this dual audience. Do they stick to it or do they rather adapt the story more clearly to children? The corpus consists of the original Danish text and fourteen translations and adaptations in six languages. The research focuses on the implied dual audience as it is given shape in source and target texts on the phonological, lexical-semantic, syntactic and pragmatic levels. The first part of the article investigates how substitutions, omissions and rearrangements might change the dual orientation of the text. The second part deals with the additions and examines how they influence the divertive, creative, emotional and educative function of the text.« Les habits neufs de l’empereur » est un des contes les plus célèbres de Hans Christian Andersen. Il plaît aux enfants comme aux adultes dans le monde entier. Cette histoire peut dès lors être considérée comme une oeuvre de la littérature enfantine qui s’adresse à un double public, que Zohar Shavit (1986) désigne comme « ambivalent audience ». Dans notre étude, nous examinons comment les traducteurs gèrent cette double orientation. Est-elle préservée ou les traductions s’adressent-elles plus spécifiquement aux enfants ? Le corpus est formé de la version danoise originale et de quatorze traductions ou adaptations en six langues. L’étude se concentre sur le double public implicite qui transparaît, tant dans le texte-source que dans le texte-cible, sur le plan phonologique, lexical et sémantique, syntaxique et pragmatique. Nous étudions tout d’abord les changements, suppressions et glissements pour vérifier s’ils entraînent une modification de la double orientation. Dans la seconde partie, nous nous concentrons sur les additions et l’analyse de la manière dont celles-ci influencent les fonctions ludiques, créatives, émotionnelles et éducatives

Norovirus transfer between foods and food contact materials

Human infective noroviruses (NoVs) are a worldwide leading cause of foodborne illness and are frequently spread via infected food handlers preparing and manipulating food products such as deli sandwiches. The objective of the current study was to determine the efficiencies whereby NoV could be transferred between surfaces associated with the preparation of manually prepared foods such as deli sandwiches. Nonfood surfaces included gloves and stainless steel discs, and boiled ham, lettuce, and a sandwich bun were the ingredients of the deli sandwich. Both NoV GII.4 and the murine NoV 1 (MNV-1, a cultivable human NoV surrogate) were included in the presented study. Transfer of NoV GII.4 and MNV-1 between surfaces was performed by pressing an inoculated donor surface against an acceptor surface. To evaluate the effect of subsequent contact, donor surfaces were pressed a second time to an identical acceptor surface. Subsequently, NoV GII.4 and MNV-1 were detected using real-time reverse transcription PCR assays and plaque assays, respectively. Transfer of both viruses from gloves to stainless steel was inefficient, and virus transfer from food products to stainless steel occurred with inure variability for NoV GII.4 than for MNV-1. Virus transfer from the stainless steel discs to the gloves was substantially more efficient than from the gloves to the stainless steel. NoV GII.4 and MNV-1 transfer from food products to the doves occurred with varying efficiencies, although this variation was more evident for NoV GII.4. The MNV-1 inoculum was significantly less efficiently transferred to the acceptor surface at the second contact, which was not the case for NoV GII.4. The obtained transfer efficiency data may provide insights into the transfer of NoV during preparation of foods and can be included in risk assessment models describing the transmission of NoVs in this context

Coagulase-negative staphylococci: contagious or environmental?: outline of two ongoing studies

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Limited association between disinfectant use and either antibiotic or disinfectant susceptibility of Escherichia coli in both poultry and pig husbandry

Background Farm disinfectants are widely used in primary production, but questions have been raised if their use can select for antimicrobial resistance. The present study examined the use of disinfectants in poultry and pig husbandry and its contribution to the antibiotic and disinfectant susceptibility of Escherichia coli (E. coli) strains obtained after cleaning and disinfection. On those field isolates antibiotic susceptibility was monitored and susceptibility to commonly used active components of farm disinfectants (i.e. glutaraldehyde, benzalkoniumchloride, formaldehyde, and a formulation of peracetic acid and hydrogen peroxide) was tested. Results This study showed a high resistance prevalence (> 50%) for ampicillin, sulfamethoxazole, trimethoprim and tetracycline for both production animal categories, while for ciprofloxacin only a high resistance prevalence was found in broiler houses. Disinfectant susceptibility results were homogenously distributed within a very small concentration range. Furthermore, all E. coli strains were susceptible to in-use concentrations of formaldehyde, benzalkoniumchloride and a formulation of peracetic acid and hydrogen peroxide, indicating that the practical use of disinfectants did not select for disinfectant resistance. Moreover, the results showed no indications for the selection of antibiotic resistant bacteria through the use of disinfectants in agricultural environments. Conclusion Our study suggests that the proper use of disinfectants in agricultural environments does not promote antibiotic resistance nor reduce E. coli disinfectant susceptibility

Effect of a pre-milking teat foam and a liner disinfectant on the presence of mesophilic and (proteolytic) psychrotrophic bacteria prior to milking

Contamination of raw milk by psychrotrophs can lead to the production of heat-resistant proteases and subsequent spoilage of UHT milk. Therefore, this research communication evaluated the effect of a pre-milking teat disinfectant (active components: L-(+)-lactic acid and salicylic acid) and a liner disinfectant (active components: peracetic acid and hydrogen peroxide) on the number of mesophilic and (proteolytic) psychrotrophic bacteria prior to milking. The teat orifices of 10 cows were sampled using a swabbing procedure before and after treatment with a pre-milking teat disinfectant on six subsequent days. On the teat orifices, there was a small but statistically significant decrease in the psychrotrophic bacterial counts between pre and post dipping. No differences were observed for the mesophilic bacterial counts and proteolytic active counts. Liners were also sampled using swabs pre and post disinfection. No statistically significant decrease in the bacterial counts was observed post liner disinfection, although there was a numerical decrease. Sixty-two percent of the proteolytic psychrotrophs were pseudomonads: 16.5% of which were P. fragi, 14.3% P. lundensis, 10.0% P. fluorescens and 2.9% P. putida. Trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS) analysis revealed a wide variety in proteolytic activity (from 0 to 55 mu mol glycine/ml milk) and the presence of high producers. It can be concluded that there was only a minor effect of teat and liner disinfection on the psychrotrophic bacterial counts indicating that the measures presented did not result in a reduction of the targeted bacteria on teat orifices and liners

Exposure of ciprofloxacin-resistant Escherichia coli broiler isolates to subinhibitory concentrations of a quaternary ammonium compound does not increase antibiotic resistance gene transfer

Resistance to antibiotics threatens to become a worldwide health problem. An important attributing phenomenon in this context is that pathogens can acquire antibiotic resistance genes through conjugative transfer of plasmids. To prevent bacterial infections in agricultural settings, the use of veterinary hygiene products, such as disinfectants, has gained popularity and questions have been raised about their contribution to such spreading of antibiotic resistance. Therefore, this study investigated the effect of subinhibitory concentrations of benzalkoniumchloride (BKC), a quaternary ammonium compound (QAC), on the conjugative transfer of antibiotic resistance genes. Five Escherichia coli field strains originating from broiler chickens and with known transferable plasmid-mediated ciprofloxacin resistance were exposed to subinhibitory BKC concentrations: 1/3, 1/10 and 1/30 of the minimum bactericidal concentration. Antibiotic resistance transfer was assessed by liquid mating for 4 h at 25 degrees C using E. coli K12 MG1655 as recipient strain. The transfer ratio was calculated as the number of transconjugants divided by the number of recipients. Without exposure to BKC, the strains showed a ciprofloxacin resistance transfer ratio ranging from 10(-4) to 10(-7). No significant effect of exposure to subinhibitory concentrations of BKC was observed on this transfer ratio

Comparison of droplet digital PCR and qPCR for the quantification of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli in bovine feces

Cattle are considered to be the main reservoir for Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and are often the direct or indirect source of STEC outbreaks in humans. Accurate measurement of the concentration of shed STEC in cattle feces could be a key answer to questions concerning transmission of STEC, contamination sources and efficiency of treatments at farm level. Infected animals can be identified and the contamination level quantified by real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR), which has its specific limitations. Droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) has been proposed as a method to overcome many of the drawbacks of qPCR. This end-point amplification PCR is capable of absolute quantification independent from any reference material and is less prone to PCR inhibition than qPCR. In this study, the qPCR-based protocol described by Verstraete et al. (2014) for Shiga toxin genes stx1 and stx2 and the intimin gene eae quantification was optimized for ddPCR analysis. The properties of ddPCR and qPCR using two different mastermixes (EMM: TaqMan((R)) Environmental Master Mix 2.0; UMM: TaqMan((R)) Universal PCR Master Mix) were evaluated, using standard curves and both artificial and natural contaminated cattle fecal samples. In addition, the susceptibility of these assays to PCR-inhibitors was investigated. Evaluation of the standard curves and both artificial and natural contaminated cattle fecal samples suggested a very good agreement between qPCR using EMM and ddPCR. Furthermore, similar sensitivities and no PCR inhibition were recorded for both assays. On the other hand, qPCR using UMM was clearly prone to PCR inhibition. In conclusion, the ddPCR technique shows potential for the accurate absolute quantification of STEC on the farms, without relying on standardized reference material

Nie ma śpiącej królewny bez kolców. Tłumaczenie baśni. Propozycja modelu analizy porównawczej

Few stories have been translated so often and into so many languages as the classical fairy tales. Therefore, they are a true challenge for translation studies. This article wants to outline a methodology for investigating fairy tales in translation. The method is essentially a comparative textual analysis, inspired by translation studies, literary theory, linguistic criticism and discourse analysis. It can be applied to the synchronic research of fairy tale translations within a restricted period of time as well as to the diachronic research of translations of one or more fairy tales over a longer period of time. A step-by- -step model is presented which makes it possible to classify and analyze changes in translations as well as adaptations. In order to bridge the gap between content and linguistic levels, a linguistic analysis is linked to focal points, grouped under categories from literary studies. The examples are taken from six recent Dutch translations of Sleeping Beauty, published between 1995 and 2007. In the fi nal part of this study, a scheme is offered for the interpretation of the changes the analysis brought to light. It takes into account individual as well as social factors and it is based on the concepts of norms, systems and functions. By presenting a structured method of analysis, this article hopes to reinvigorate the study of fairy tales in translation