Lung Function Impairment and Workplace Control Measures among Marble Stone Carvers in Sa-Kyin Village, Madayar Township, Myanmar

Introduction: Marble rocks, composed of dust containing calcium carbonate and silica particles, predispose to a higher prevalence of occupational lung diseases. This study aimed to assess workplace control measures and lung function impairment among marble stone carvers. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 120 marble stone carvers in Sa-Kyin Village, Madayar Township in May 2019. Information about existing control measures in the workplace was assessed using a pre-tested structured questionnaire and participants’ lung function using spirometry. Respirable dust measurements in twelve randomly selected workers were performed by personal air sampling pumps. Results: It was found that 9.2% of marble stone carvers used disposable or cloth masks throughout the working time, but no one was found using appropriate devices like respirators. No one reported about regular medical checkup and provision of health education at the workplaces. Spirometry testing showed 55.8% had lung function impairment. Concentrations of respirable dust ranged from 7.19 to 10.13 mg/m3, significantly higher than the recommended Threshold Limit Value (3 mg/m3). In multivariable logistic regression analysis, development of lung function impairment was associated with age [adjusted Odds Ratio (aOR) = 2.84; 95% CI = 1.02,7.91] and use of face mask (aOR = 0.11; 95% CI = 0.01,0.91). Conclusion: The working environment was found dusty, and a significant proportion of workers had lung function impairment. It is essential to adopt proper dust control measures in stone carving workplaces. Preventive measures like medical surveillance and health education program are vital to reduce the burdens from occupational lung diseases.

Tombstones of the Cemetery at the Basilica of Mangup

The basilica located atop Mangup plateau in the south-western highland is one of the Christian monuments of the Crimea which research provided abundant archaeological materials. Especially interesting to historians are the data related to the investigations at the Christian cemetery which developed in different chronological periods within the basilica and around it. Supplementary excavations of the basilica (1967–2005) uncovered a series of carved tombstones, which featured the architectural properties different from early slab covering of the graves. The tombstones in question testify to the flourishing of the art of stone carving in Taurica in the fourteenth and fifteenth century. From their description and analysis, it is possible to draw the conclusions concerning the stone-carving art forms development in the mediaeval Crimea. It has been remarked that the Mangup stone-carvers considered the religion of the persons who lived there and paid especial attention to the decorative design of the monuments. In the making of the tombstones for the Christian cemetery at the basilica, the local stone-carvers applied artistic techniques taken from various styles (Byzantine, Seljuk, North Caucasus), which resulted in the appearance of specific “Mangup” style of architectural ornamentation. The local craftsmen re-worked decorative and carving techniques borrowed from foreign stone-carvers. The local products featured brevity and restrained manner.

Conjuring Ghosts of the Past: Landscapes and Hauntings in Jane Urquhart’s The Stone Carvers

Jane Urquhart’s novel The Stone Carvers (2001) portrays the struggles of a community of German immigrants in the nineteenth century, as they attempt to settle in Western Ontario; it also includes a fictionalized account of the construction of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial 1 (for First World War Canadian dead, and missing, presumed dead, in France). The article explores the issues of dealing with loss, and re-living the past, which are interwoven by Urquhart into a larger narrative, forming an ongoing meditation on the experience of ‘in-betweenness’— transgressing not only spatial, but also temporal boundaries— and incorporating individual and communal histories as they are passed on through generations. The lives of Urquhart’s characters are marked by the ambivalence of belonging— the experience of having more than one homeland, in more than one landscape. They are haunted by lost places, and by the memory of people who perished as a result of war, or who they left behind in the course of their own personal journey. The article explores the issue of ‘landscape biography’, and also examines Urquhart’s employment of the literary topoi of nekuia/katabasis (i.e., encounters with the dead). It demonstrates how the confrontation with the past becomes, in the novel, a prerequisite for regeneration of the present, and the establishment of the future.

Portraits in Stone

Elite residents of Charleston, South Carolina, sought a unique means of memorializing their dead: gravestones embellished with bust-length depictions of the deceased. Commissioned from stone carvers in Boston, these portrait gravestones reimagined the small, ivory form of the portrait miniature at a public scale suitable for the cemetery. This chapter examines why Charlestonians patronized this type of memorial, tying the gravestones to residents’ horror at the savagery unleashed upon corpses by putrefaction and to their desire to preserve bodies’ former politeness. Considering portrait gravestones along with mourning rituals and coffin construction illuminates the stones’ role as protective containers that kept savagery at bay, an important function given Charleston’s high death rate and steamy climate. Recognizing the memorials’ similarity to boundary markers, such as those erected to mark the Mason Dixon line, illuminates how the gravestones demarcated a space of colonial control. By erecting stone portraits of civil persons, Charlestonians created a social network with incredible permanence.

Documentation and dissemination of the sculptural elements of Canada's Parliamentary Buildings: Methodology development and evolution, a case study

Parliament Hill consists of four historic gothic revival buildings, which form part of the Parliament Buildings National Historic Site of Canada in the National Capital of Ottawa. There are more than 2000 masonry sculptural elements throughout the four buildings. Three of the buildings are in the middle of multi-year rehabilitation projects. Extensive Heritage Documentation is being undertaken to support various activities and conservation teams throughout the interior and exterior of the buildings while also serving as a key posterity records. One of the significant heritage documentation projects is the 3D digitization of the 2000+ heritage character defining sculptural elements. The Heritage Conservation Directorate (HCD) of Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) was tasked by the Parliamentary Precinct Branch (PPB) of PWGSC to document these character defining elements. The sculptures vary in size from as small as 100mm in width to up to 2 meters in size. This project is in its third year and much has been learned and researched about the most appropriate and efficient means by which to document these elements. Although a methodology was in place to document the sculptures at the inception of the project, it has gone through several iterations in order to improve the gathered data, and in turn increase the efficiency, quality and speed of data acquisition. This paper will describe the evolution of the methodology, as well as the rationale for the alterations in technique. <br><br> With over 600 of the approximate 2000 (heritage character defining) sculptural elements captured to date, the project is entering a critical phase where an efficient and effective method for sharing and disseminating the information to a wide audience is being explored and evaluated. The end result is intended to allow the client (PPB) and the general public a way to look at and interactively manipulate the viewpoint of each digital model. This will provide a unique opportunity for a wide audience to evaluate and appreciate these elaborate works of art. This database of information can also be of use for academic study and research. <br><br> To date the data captured by HCD has been utilized by conservation professionals and by the Carleton Immersive Media Studio (CIMS) of Carleton University. HCD has partnered with CIMS to explore a wide variety of potential uses for the data including the creation of 2D-drawings, stone carving profile templates, 3D printed scale models, CNC carved maquettes, robotic stone carving, and digitally-designed replacement elements. CIMS and HCD have tested the limits of digital technologies to assist stone carvers in restoring carved elements while also learning from the sculptors and masons to better understand their approach when conserving or restoring a sculptural element. Examples of how the conservation team, specifically the stone carvers have been working with the data and technology will also be presented.