Revealing body proportions of the enigmatic choristodere reptile Khurendukhosaurus from Mongolia

Khurendukhosaurus is an enigmatic genus of choristodere, recorded from the Lower Cretaceous of East Asia, Mongolia, and Siberian Russia. Until now, it was known only from isolated skull and postcranial elements, limiting comparison with other genera. Three major morphotypes have been recognised within Choristodera: longirostrine neochoristoderes with short-necks, and brevirostrine non-neochoristoderes with either short or long necks. The morphotype of Khurendukhosaurus was uncertain, although it had been inferred to be long-necked, based on cervical and caudal vertebral morphology shared with the Chinese Hyphalosaurus and on the results of phylogenetic analysis that placed it within a clade of Sino-Japanese long-necked taxa. Newly discovered material from the Mongolian type locality, Khuren-Dukh, preserves most major postcranial elements of a single individual. This specimen confirms that Khurendukhosaurus belongs to the long-necked morphotype, in having at least 13 cervical vertebrae. Moreover, a new phylogenetic analysis supports the placement of Khurendukhosaurus as a sister group of the Hyphalosaurus + Shokawa clade. Based on the new material, Khurendukhosaurus is estimated to have been roughly 1 m in total length, placing it at the upper end of the size range for long-necked choristoderes

The effect of portable HEPA filter air cleaners on indoor PM2.5 concentrations and second hand tobacco smoke exposure among pregnant women in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia: The UGAAR randomized controlled trial

Background Portable HEPA filter air cleaners can reduce indoor fine particulate matter (PM2.5), but their use has not been adequately evaluated in high pollution settings. We assessed air cleaner effectiveness in reducing indoor residential PM2.5 and second hand smoke (SHS) exposures among non-smoking pregnant women in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Methods We randomized 540 participants to an intervention group receiving 1 or 2 HEPA filter air cleaners or a control group receiving no air cleaners. We followed 259 intervention and 253 control participants to the end of pregnancy. We measured one-week indoor residential PM2.5 concentrations in early (~11weeks gestation) and late (~31weeks gestation) pregnancy and collected outdoor PM2.5 data from centrally-located government monitors. We assessed blood cadmium in late pregnancy. Hair nicotine was quantified in a subset (n=125) to evaluate blood cadmium as a biomarker of SHS exposure. We evaluated air cleaner effectiveness using mixed effects and multiple linear regression models and used stratified models and interaction terms to evaluate potential modifiers of effectiveness. Results The overall geometric mean (GM) one-week outdoor PM2.5 concentration was 47.9?g/m3 (95% CI: 44.6, 51.6?g/m3), with highest concentrations in winter (118.0?g/m3; 110.4, 126.2?g/m3). One-week indoor and outdoor PM2.5 concentrations were correlated (r=0.69). Indoor PM2.5 concentrations were 29% (21, 37%) lower in intervention versus control apartments, with GMs of 17.3?g/m3 (15.8, 18.8?g/m3) and 24.5?g/m3 (22.2, 27.0?g/m3), respectively. Air cleaner effectiveness was greater when air cleaners were first deployed (40%; 31, 48%) than after approximately five months of use (15%; 0, 27%). Blood cadmium concentrations were 14% (4, 23%) lower among intervention participants, likely due to reduced SHS exposure. Conclusions Portable HEPA filter air cleaners can lower indoor PM2.5 concentrations and SHS exposures in highly polluted settings.Canadian Institute of Health Research (MOP 142380)Simon Fraser University, Faculty of Health Sciences (Mowafaghian Child Health Faculty Award

Seedling emergence and establishment of Pinus sylvestris in the Mongolian forest-steppe ecotone

Syftet med studien är att undersöka och beskriva pedagogers uppfattningar av hur de skapar delaktighet och inflytande, i en kommuns förskoleverksamhet och organisation.Mina frågeställningar är hur pedagogerna beskriver sina möjligheter och hinder för att få och skapa delaktighet och inflytande, samt vilka inre och yttre faktorer som finns som påverkar möjligheten för delaktighet och inflytande.För att undersöka detta har jag valt en kvalitativ forskningsansats. Jag har genomfört semistrukturerade intervjuer med sju pedagoger. Det empiriska materialet har bearbetats kvalitativt i en empirinära ansats.I resultatet såg jag att ett större fokus på processkvaliteten behöver läggas och medvetenheten behöver ökas, kring den pedagogiska dokumentationens betydelse.Sammanfattningsvis behöver den undersökta kommunens förskolor en gemensam samsyn i hela systemet i ett förståelsebaserat och tolkande perspektiv som gynnar en långsiktig och hållbar utveckling.Participation and influence in the preschool, a study with teachers in one municipality.The purpose of this study is to explore and describe teacher’s perceptions of how they create participation and influence, in a municipality´s preschool and organization.My questions are how teachers describe their opportunities and barriers to get and create participation and influence, and what internal and external factors that affecting the ability of participation and influence.To examine this, I have chosen a qualitative research approach. I have conducted semi structured interviews, with seven teachers. The empirical data have been processed in a qualitative empirical closely approach.In the result, I found that a greater focus on process quality needs to be added and awareness needs to be increased, on the pedagogic documentations significances.In conclusion, needs the municipal preschools, which have been examined, get a common consensus of the entire system in a understanding based and interpretive perspective, that support a long term and sustainable development

A new tritylodontid synapsid from Mongolia

The Upper Jurassic Ulaan Malgait Beds in the Shar Teg locality of southwestern Mongolia have yielded remains of a new tritylodontid therapsid (Synapsida), Bienotheroides shartegensis sp. nov. The specimen consists of a fragmentary skull associated with lower jaws. It is assigned to Bienotheroides based on its short snout, a premaxilla−palatine contact, very reduced maxilla, relatively rounded corner of upper postcanine teeth (PC), and PC cusp formula of 2−3−3. It differs from the other species of Bienotheroides in having a much more reduced middle mesial cusp of PC. It further differs from B. zigongensis and B. ultimus in having shorter and wider PC, from B. ultimus in lacking a projection at the middle mesial margin of PC, and from B. wansienensis in lacking the vestigialmost mesiobuccal cusp of PC and in lacking a diastema between upper I1 and I2. This is the first discovery of the Tritylodontidae in Mongolia. This discovery extends the taxonomic (morphological) diversity and geographic range of Bienotheroides and underlies the success of the genus in the Middle to Late Jurassic biota of eastern Eurasia

The first discovery of pterosaurs from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia

Cervical vertebrae of azhdarchid pterosaurs were discovered in two Upper Cretaceous (Baynshire Suite) dinosaur localities, Bayshin Tsav and Burkhant, in the Gobi Desert. These are the first discoveries of pterosaur remains in the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia. The Burkhant specimen includes a nearly complete atlas−axis complex, which has rarely been described in this clade of pterosaurs. Although all elements comprising this complex are fused together, a wing−like atlas neural arch is still discernable. The postzygapophyseal facet of the axis is long anteroposteriorly and convex dorsally, and would likely have allowed a fairly large range of dorsoventral flexion at the axis−third cervical joint unlike in other well−known ornithocheiroids such as Pteranodon and Anhanguera. Both Mongolian localities represent inland, terrestrial environments, which were apparently not typical habitats of pterosaurs, thus adding further evidence for the ubiquity of Azhdarchidae during the Late Cretaceous

The Nemegt Basin - One of the best field laboratories for interpreting Late Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystems

One of the richest and most productive Late Cretaceous vertebrate regions, both in terms of numbers of specimens and represented biota, is the part of the Gobi Desert in southern Mongolia. The Nemegt Formation is the gem of the region because of its highly diverse fauna confined within a discrete stratigraphic interval that is exposed in a relatively small area (175 by 50 km). The type locality for this stratigraphic unit is located south of Nemegt Uul (Nemegt Mountain), with half a dozen sites scattered through the northern parts of the Nemegt Basin. Although less well documented, the Nemegt Formation is also exposed discontinuously in neighboring basins to the west and northwest. The history of development of the stratigraphy and paleontology of this region is complex and encompassesmore than 70 years of research activities, tens of fossil localities (Fig. 1), hundreds of unique specimens, and remarkable efforts to challenge illegal fossil poaching in the country

The Nemegt Basin - One of the best field laboratories for interpreting Late Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystems

One of the richest and most productive Late Cretaceous vertebrate regions, both in terms of numbers of specimens and represented biota, is the part of the Gobi Desert in southern Mongolia. The Nemegt Formation is the gem of the region because of its highly diverse fauna confined within a discrete stratigraphic interval that is exposed in a relatively small area (175 by 50 km). The type locality for this stratigraphic unit is located south of Nemegt Uul (Nemegt Mountain), with half a dozen sites scattered through the northern parts of the Nemegt Basin. Although less well documented, the Nemegt Formation is also exposed discontinuously in neighboring basins to the west and northwest. The history of development of the stratigraphy and paleontology of this region is complex and encompasses more than 70 years of research activities, tens of fossil localities (Fig. 1), hundreds of unique specimens, and remarkable efforts to challenge illegal fossil poaching in the country

Discovery of a crocodyliform tooth from the upper Eocene Ergilin Dzo Formation, Mongolia

Although the distribution of Asian crocodyliforms was extended northwards during the Paleocene–Eocene greenhouse world, the fossil record in northern Asia becomes scarce towards the end of the Eocene. We here report the first crocodyliform (an isolated tooth) from the upper Eocene Ergilin Dzo Formation of southeastern Mongolia, the mammalian fauna of which defines the Ergilian Asian Land Mammal Age. The conical non-recurved crown, the near complete root with the central resorption facet, and its late Eocene age suggest the crocodyliform affinity of the tooth. The current finding represents one of the northernmost occurrences of crocodyliforms in the upper Eocene of Asia (paleolatitude ca. 49°30’ N), and demonstrates that SE Mongolia probably met thermal requirements of crocodyliforms during the late Eocene

Nowy owiraptorozaur [Dinosauria, Theropoda] z Mongolii: pierwszy dinozaur z pygostylem

A description of Nomingia gobiensis gen. et sp. n., the first known dinosaur with a pygostyle, the structure known so far only in birds, is presented. The specimen comes from the Late Cretaceous strata at Bugin Tsav, Trans-Altai Gobi, Mongolia. N. gobiensis is assigned within the Oviraptorosauria based on the following characters: pneumatized caudal vertebrae, posteriorly concave ischium, and deep cervicodorsal hypapophyses. This specimen has been previously partially described without being formally named (Barsbold et al. 2000).Opisano nowego dinozaura z grupy terapodów, Nomingia gobiensis gen. et sp. n., z osadów wieku późnokredowego Mongolii w Bugin Caw na Gobi Zaałtajskiej. Niekompletny szkielet pozaczaszkowy tego dinozaura został znaleziony na pustyni Gobi, w Mongolii, przez mongolsko-japońską wyprawę paleontologiczną. Najbardziej charakterystyczną cechą N. gobiensis jest zakończony pygostylem i nieco skrócony ogon, liczący tylko 24 kręgi (Sloan 1999; Barsbold et al. 2000). Pygostyl nie był dotychczas znany u żadnego dinozaura i był uważany za cechę swoistą wyłącznie dla ptaków. N. gobiensis został uznany za przedstawiciela Oviraptorosauria o nieustalonej przynależności rodzinowej, wykazuje jednak pewne podobieństwa do słabo poznanego przedstawiciela rodziny Caenagnathidae, Chirostenotes pergracilis Gilmore, 1924