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Predicting the evolution of the Lassa virus endemic area and population at risk over the next decades
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RBINS Staff Publications 2022 OA
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Evolution and Diversity of Bat and Rodent Paramyxoviruses from North America
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RBINS Staff Publications 2022 OA
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Een zeldzame Otodus obliquus Agassiz, 1843 uit een zand-suppletie op het strand van Dishoek (Walcheren, Nederland)
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In this contribution, we describe a tooth of Otodus obliquus Agassiz, 1843, found in sand supplementation material on the beach of Dishoek, Walcheren (The Netherlands). Even though this species has a broad distribution in Paleocene and early Eocene successions in Western Europe, in the Netherlands it was thus far only known to occur reworked in younger strata in the subsurface of the northern part of the country, and has never been described from sand supplementation material. The described specimen was found in material dredged up from the Middeldiep, a trough in the Zeeuwse Banken area. The associated mollusk fauna suggests that the material is derived from the mid-Pleistocene to early Holocene Kreftenheye Formation, in which the described early Eocene tooth likely occurred as reworked. Potentially, it was originally derived from the early Eocene Tielt Formation, outcropping to the south of Brugge, Belgium, and transported by local rivers to the Zeeuwse Banken area during the Pleistocene. Alternatively, flint and chalk material present in the sand supplementation material suggests that the described specimen could also be originated across the North Sea, derived from the early Eocene Harwich and London Clay deposits exposed in Kent and Essex (England) and transported eastwards by the paleo-Thames.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
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Tackling the evaporation rates of volatile HNS: A lab- scale experiment to serve marine pollution response
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Release of volatile Hazard Noxious Substances (HNS) at sea can lead to the formation of toxic, flammable or explosive gas plumes that can travel large distances and pose risks over a wide area in relatively short timescales. Yet, when an emergency is declared, key information regarding the short-term behavior of HNS is not available for responders. For volatile organic compounds (VOCs), one critical parameter that should be systematically predicted and/or assessed is the evaporation kinetics: this would warn first-responders against risks of gas clouds that might originate from the HNS slick. This paper presents new experimental data on the evaporation kinetics of several VOCs that were collected using the new Cedre’s wind tunnel in the framework of the MANIFESTS1 project. The air and liquid temperatures as well as the wind velocity profile were continuously monitored above the pool. The evaporation of each liquid was monitored following the weight loss fraction over time. The final objective was to assess mass fluxes at the sea-air interface and to compare it to analytical models. It appeared that, while pure chemicals showed a linear mass loss over time, the same chemicals spilled at the surface of seawater generally presented a non-linear mass loss over time, i.e., different and longer evaporation rates. The evaporation was also generally highlighted by a sharp decrease in temperature of the liquid. These new data were finally compared to the OSERIT – Evaporation module developed in MANIFESTS and will contribute to the improvement of the prediction accuracy of existing evaporation models. This will offer crisis management stakeholders more precise information regarding the formation of toxic gas clouds (Go/No Go decision).
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RBINS Staff Publications 2023
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Palaeopathological and demographic data reveal conditions of keeping of the ancient baboons at Gabbanat el-Qurud (Thebes, Egypt)
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Since predynastic times, baboons (Papio hamadryas and Papio anubis) were important in ancient Egypt for ritual and religious purposes. These species did not occur naturally in Egypt and therefore had to be imported, but little is known about their exact provenance and the conditions in which they were kept through time. Here, we analyse the skeletal remains of a collection of baboon mummies coming from Thebes (Egypt), representing a minimum of 36 individuals, from a palaeopathological and demographic point of view. The pathological cases are described, figured where relevant, and the discussion attempts to understand their aetiology. The prevalence of the different types of deformations and pathologies is compared with that of other captive baboon populations from more or less contemporary (Tuna el-Gebel and Saqqara) or older (predynastic Hierakonpolis) sites. This is combined with observations on the age and sex distribution and the proportion of hamadryas and anubis baboons to draw conclusions about the conditions of keeping, possible breeding on-site, provenance of the animals and the trade routes used for import. As in Tuna el-Gebel and Saqqara, the baboons from Gabbanat el-Qurud suffered from numerous metabolic diseases due to chronic lack of sunlight and an unbalanced diet. This and the demographic data suggest that there was a local breeding population derived from animals captured downstream from the Sudanese Nile Valley (for anubis) and from the Horn of Africa or the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula (for hamadryas). A new series of radiocarbon dates is provided, placing the baboons from Gabbanat el-Qurud between the end of the Third Intermediate Period and the beginning of the Late Period.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2023