Increased potential for shell competition among hermit crabs (Pagurus beringanus and Pagurus granosimanus) in the rocky intertidal

We examined the prevalence and shell use of two species of hermit crabs (Pagurus granosimanus and Pagurus beringanus) in exposed and protected microhabitats at five sites in the rocky temperate intertidal on San Juan Island, Washington, to compare present habitat partitioning and potential interspecific competition to that reported nearly 50 years ago. We found that, in contrast to previous findings, the two species of hermit crabs overlapped extensively at some sites, typically those with less wave action. While the hermit crabs typically inhabited certain types of shells significantly more than others, and that use was congruent across microhabitats and species of hermit crabs at the same site, the dominant domicile differed substantially across sites. We provide a more complete ranking of shell use than previous authors and note site-specific dominant shell use. We conclude that previous habitat partitioning by depth may have weakened at protected sites. We hypothesize that increasing temperatures have caused P. granosimanus to expand its range deeper into the intertidal, which may increase the degree of interspecific competition for shells at the edge of the species’ tidal height range, where they overlap. Whether the habitat shift by this hermit crab is due to recent alterations in climate (particularly elevated temperatures, ocean acidification and lower local open ocean salinity) is unknown, but warrants further study.

Effect of Discectomy on Dynesys Dynamic Fixation in the Treatment of Lumbar Degenerative Diseases

Objective. To compare the effect of decompression of the spinal canal with or without discectomy on the clinical efficacy of Dynesys dynamic fixation treatment in lumbar degenerative diseases. Methods. A total of 62 patients treated for single-segment lumbar degenerative disease from October 2010 to November 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients underwent decompression of the spinal canal with Dynesys dynamic fixation and were divided into two groups. Twenty-seven patients in group A did not undergo discectomy, and 35 patients in group B underwent discectomy. The intervertebral height, range of motion, Pfirrmann grade of the surgical segment and the upper adjacent segment, function scores, and operation information were compared. Results. All patients were followed up for an average of 30.7 ± 11.5 months. At the final follow-up, the intervertebral height and range of motion of the surgical segment decreased significantly in both group A and B ( p < 0.05 ), the range of motion of the upper adjacent segment increased significantly ( p < 0.05 ), and the intervertebral height did not change significantly ( p < 0.05 ). The retained percentages of surgical segment intervertebral height and ROM in group A were significantly better than those in group B ( p < 0.05 ). The intervertebral height ( p > 0.05 ) and range of motion ( p < 0.05 ) of the surgical segment in group A were higher than those in group B. The surgical segment Pfirrmann grading of group A was better than that of group B ( p < 0.05 ). Conclusion. Dynesys in the treatment of lumbar degenerative diseases may lead to a good clinical effect. In selected cases without discectomy, the range of motion and intervertebral height may be better preserved, and disc degeneration may be reduced.

Standing Tall: the evolution of habitable room height limits in New Zealand building controls

Although it is often thought that the 3 February 1931 Napier earthquake led to the first New Zealand building codes, they have a far longer history. Often developed by the local town, city or borough engineer, these codes or by-laws covered a wide range of topics, not just structural safety. Two surveys of local government building bylaws undertaken to support the development of national building controls, have created digests of details from a number of these codes. The 1924 survey of 37 municipalities supported the development of the first national code for timber buildings, while the 1938 survey of 84 municipalities was used to develop NZSS 95 Model Building By-law during the 1930s and early 1940s. The digests provide an opportunity to explore the 1930s development of building by-laws by geographical and topic coverage, as well as the impact on building controls since that time.These local building bylaws often included requirements that affected the interior architecture of buildings, such as the requirement for minimum dwelling or bedroom room heights. In 1924 these minima ranged from 8 ft to 10 ft (2.4 m to 3.0 m) for either a dwelling or an attic room. However, by 1938 while the height range for dwelling rooms was unchanged for attic rooms the range was reduced by 1 foot (0.3 m) to 7 ft to 9 ft (2.1 to 2.9 m). Although the 1992 New Zealand Building Code does not specify minimum habitable room heights, the House Improvement Regulations 1947 are still in force. These initially set the habitable room height requirement to 2.1 m, increasing in 1975 to 2.4 m.The paper explores the development of minimum dwelling height requirements in New Zealand using these two surveys with analysis of Wellington and Dunedin City Councils from the 1870s to the 1930s. These requirements will be compared to UK codes, exploring both the international evolution of room height requirements and the relationship to New Zealand.

Global balanced wind derived from SABER temperature and pressure observations and its validations

Zonal winds in the stratosphere and mesosphere play important roles in atmospheric dynamics and aeronomy. However, the direct measurement of winds in this height range is difficult. We present a dataset of the monthly mean zonal wind in the height range of 18–100 km and at latitudes of 50∘ S–50∘ N from 2002 to 2019, derived by the gradient balance wind theory and the temperature and pressure observed by the SABER instrument. The tide alias above 80 km at the Equator is replaced by the monthly mean zonal wind measured by a meteor radar at 0.2∘ S. The dataset (named BU) is validated by comparing with the zonal wind from MERRA2 (MerU), UARP (UraU), the HWM14 empirical model (HwmU), meteor radar (MetU), and lidar (LidU) at seven stations from around 50∘ N to 29.7∘ S. At 18–70 km, BU and MerU have (i) nearly identical zero wind lines and (ii) year-to-year variations of the eastward and westward wind jets at middle and high latitudes, and (iii) the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) and semi-annual oscillation (SAO) especially the disrupted QBO in early 2016. The comparisons among BU, UraU, and HwmU show good agreement in general below 80 km. Above 80 km, the agreements among BU, UraU, HwmU, MetU, and LidU are good in general, except some discrepancies at limited heights and months. The BU data are archived as netCDF files and are available at https://doi.org/10.12176/01.99.00574 (Liu et al., 2021). The advantages of the global BU dataset are its large vertical extent (from the stratosphere to the lower thermosphere) and 18-year internally consistent time series (2002–2019). The BU data is useful to study the temporal variations with periods ranging from seasons to decades at 50∘ S–50∘ N. It can also be used as the background wind for atmospheric wave propagation.

CALIPSO Aerosol-Typing Scheme Misclassified Stratospheric Fire Smoke: Case Study From the 2019 Siberian Wildfire Season

In August 2019, a 4-km thick wildfire smoke layer was observed in the lower stratosphere over Leipzig, Germany, with a ground-based multiwavelength Raman lidar. The smoke was identified by the smoke-specific spectral dependence of the extinction-to-backscatter ratio (lidar ratio) measured with the Raman lidar. The spaceborne CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation) lidar CALIOP (Cloud–Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization) detected the smoke and classified it as sulfate aerosol layer (originating from the Raikoke volcanic eruption). In this article, we discuss the reason for this misclassification. Two major sources for stratospheric air pollution were active in the summer of 2019 and complicated the CALIPSO aerosol typing effort. Besides intense forest fires at mid and high northern latitudes, the Raikoke volcano erupted in the Kuril Islands. We present two cases observed at Leipzig, one from July 2019 and one from August 2019. In July, pure volcanic sulfate aerosol layers were found in the lower stratosphere, while in August, wildfire smoke dominated in the height range up to 4–5 km above the local tropopause. In both cases, the CALIPSO aerosol typing scheme classified the layers as sulfate aerosol layers. The aerosol identification algorithm assumes non-spherical smoke particles in the stratosphere as consequence of fast lifting by pyrocumulonimbus convection. However, we hypothesize (based on presented simulations) that the smoke ascended as a results of self-lifting and reached the tropopause within 2–7 days after emission and finally entered the lower stratosphere as aged spherical smoke particles. These sphercial particles were then classified as liquid sulfate particles by the CALIPSO data analysis scheme. We also present a successful case of smoke identification by the CALIPSO retrieval method.

Feasibility Study of Monsoon Effect on Wave Power for Wave Energy Converter in Sabah, Malaysia

This paper presents a research to determine the effects of the Northeast Monsoon (NEM) and the Southwest Monsoon (SWM) on wave power along the coastal area of Mandi Darah Island, Sabah. This study identified the daily data of wave height and wave period for 6 months from June to December 2018. The following period was chosen because it consisted of two monsoon seasons in Sabah. The data obtained from the Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) were thoroughly analyzed to estimate the wave height and the wave period to identify the wave power at Mandi Darah Island. The wave heights ranged from 0.01 m to 0.47 m while the wave periods ranged from 1.0 s to 8.6 s. The wave height range during the NEM was higher by 0.12 m than SWM, while the difference of wave period was significantly higher by 2.17 s during the NEM. The maximum wave power recorded at Mandi Darah Island was 1.57 kW/m throughout the period. During NEM, the wave power was significantly higher than during SWM, by 0.70 kW/m. These findings led to determining the wave energy type converter that suits the wave conditions at the Mandi Darah Island coastal area.

Human Skeletal Remains Recovered from a Napo Funerary Urn in the Ecuadorian Amazon

There is very little published literature regarding pre-Columbian burial practices that include human skeletal remains of the Napo culture (A.D. 1188–1480) in the western Amazon. Due to poor bone preservation and a history of looting practices, bioarchaeologists have rarely been able to collect, analyze, and interpret skeletal remains. Here, we provide the initial publication of a human skeleton from the Ecuadorian Amazon belonging to the Napo culture, preserved in a funerary urn acquired by the Museo de Arte Precolombino Casa del Alabado in Quito, Ecuador. This partial adult skeleton, radiocarbon dated to cal A.D. 1021–1155, consists primarily of broken long bones that indicate a robust individual with a height range of 160–170 cm. Although no trauma was observed, pathological conditions including cysts and likely Osgood-Schlatter’s disease were present and robust muscle insertions were noted. Taphonomic damage from termite osteophagy was inferred by the presence of round bore holes, cavities, tunneling, and cortical etching on the humerus, femur, and tibia. The urn itself is an anthropomorphic polychrome vessel that opens at the bottom, with six equally spaced holes to facilitate closure. The urn burial is similar to those of other Amazonian Polychrome Tradition cultures located to the east in Brazil. Las prácticas funerarias precolombinas que incluyen restos humanos esqueléticos de la cultura Napo (1188–1480 D.C.), en el oeste de la Amazonía, han sido escasamente dadas a conocer en la literatura arqueológica. Debido a la pobre preservación de los huesos en ese medio y a una dilatada trayectoria de huaquerismo, desde la bioarqueología no ha sido posible recoger, analizar e interpretar restos humanos. Este artículo trata de solventar este vacío al atender desde una perspectiva bioarqueológica los restos óseos humanos provenientes de la Amazonía ecuatoriana pertenecientes a la cultura Napo, preservados en una urna funeraria que se conserva en el Museo de Arte Precolombino Casa del Alabado en Quito, Ecuador. Por un lado, este esqueleto parcial del que se conservan huesos largos fragmentados de un adulto fue datado mediante técnicas radiométricas entre 1021 y 1155 cal D.C.Habría sido una persona robusta, con una altura que oscilaría entre los 160 y 170 cm. Aunque no se ha observado ningún traumatismo, las patologías registradas incluyen quistes, como los debidos a la enfermedad de Osgood-Schlatter, e inserciones musculares robustas. Entre las afecciones tafonómicas más relevantes, se han apreciado las causadas por osteofagia de termitas, las cuales se infieren por la presencia de perforaciones redondas, cavidades, túneles y decapado cortical en húmero, fémur y tibia. Por otro lado, la urna es un ejemplar antropomorfo policromado de apertura basal con seis orificios espaciados que ayudaban a cerrarla. El entierro en urna es similar a aquellos otros de las culturas de la Tradición Polícroma Amazónica localizadas al este en Brasil.

Wide Fontanels, Delayed Speech Development and Hoarse Voice as Useful Signs in the Diagnosis of KBG Syndrome: A Clinical Description of 23 Cases with Pathogenic Variants Involving the ANKRD11 Gene or Submicroscopic Chromosomal Rearrangements of 16q24.3

KBG syndrome is a neurodevelopmental autosomal dominant disorder characterized by short stature, macrodontia, developmental delay, behavioral problems, speech delay and delayed closing of fontanels. Most patients with KBG syndrome are found to have a mutation in the ANKRD11 gene or a chromosomal rearrangement involving this gene. We hereby present clinical evaluations of 23 patients aged 4 months to 26 years manifesting clinical features of KBG syndrome. Mutation analysis in the patients was performed using panel or exome sequencing and array CGH. Besides possessing dysmorphic features typical of the KBG syndrome, nearly all patients had psychomotor hyperactivity (86%), 81% had delayed speech, 61% had poor weight gain, 56% had delayed closure of fontanel and 56% had a hoarse voice. Macrodontia and a height range of −1 SDs to −2 SDs were noted in about half of the patients; only two patients presented with short stature below −3 SDs. The fact that wide, delayed closing fontanels were observed in more than half of our patients with KBG syndrome confirms the role of the ANKRD11 gene in skull formation and suture fusion. This clinical feature could be key to the diagnosis of KBG syndrome, especially in young children. Hoarse voice is a previously undescribed phenotype of KBG syndrome and could further reinforce clinical diagnosis.

Observation of Cloud Base Height and Precipitation Characteristics at a Polar Site Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard Using Ground-Based Remote Sensing and Model Reanalysis

Clouds play a significant role in regulating the Arctic climate and water cycle due to their impacts on radiative balance through various complex feedback processes. However, there are still large discrepancies in satellite and numerical model-derived cloud datasets over the Arctic region due to a lack of observations. Here, we report observations of cloud base height (CBH) characteristics measured using a Vaisala CL51 ceilometer at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard. The study highlights the monthly and seasonal CBH characteristics at the location. It is found that almost 40% of the lowest CBHs fall within a height range of 0.5–1 km. The second and third cloud bases that could be detected by the ceilometer are mostly concentrated below 3 km during summer but possess more vertical spread during the winter season. Thin and low-level clouds appear to be dominant during the summer. Low-level clouds are found to be dominant and observed in 76% of cases. The mid and high-level clouds occur in ~16% and ~7% of cases, respectively. Further, micro rain radar (MRR2) observed enhanced precipitation and snowfall events during the winter and spring which are found to be associated with the lowest CBHs within 2 km from the ground. The frontal process associated with synoptic-scale meteorological conditions explains the variabilities in CBH and precipitation at the observation site when compared for two contrasting winter precipitation events. The findings of the study could be useful for model evaluation of cloud precipitation relationships and satellite data validation in the Arctic environment.

Extensive Limb Lengthening for Achondroplasia and Hypochondroplasia

Extensive limb lengthening (ELL) was completed in 75 patients: 66 achondroplasia and 9 hypochondroplasia. The average lengthening was 27 cm for achondroplasia (12–40 cm) and 17 cm for hypochondroplasia (range 10–25 cm). There were 48 females and 27 males. Lengthening was done either by 2-segment (14 patients; both tibias and/or both femurs) or by 4-segment lengthenings (64 patients; both femurs and tibias at the same time). Most patients also had bilateral humeral lengthening. Patients had 2 or 3 lower limb lengthenings and one humeral lengthening. Lengthenings were either juvenile-onset (31), adolescent-onset (38) or adult-onset (6). The average age at final follow-up was 26 years old (range 17–43 years). There were few permanent sequelae of complications. The most serious was one paraparesis. All patients returned to activities of normal living and only one was made worse by the surgery (paraparesis). This is the first study to show that ELL can lead to an increase of height into the normal height range. Previous studies showed mean increases of height of up to 20 cm, while this study consistently showed an average increase of 30 cm (range 15–40 cm) for juvenile-onset and mean increase of 26 cm (range 15–30 cm) for adolescent-onset. This results in low normal height at skeletal maturity for males and females. The adult-onset had a mean increase of 16.8 (range 12–22 cm). This long-term follow-up study shows that ELL can be done safely even with large lengthenings and that 4-segment lengthening may offer advantages over 2-segment lengthening. While all but the more recent cases were performed using external fixation, implantable limb lengthening promises to be an excellent alternative and perhaps an improvement.