White Wolf Research Articles

Polar wolf optimization algorithm for solving optimal reactive power problem

Polar wolf optimization algorithm for solving optimal reactive power problem

Quantifying the Biomagnification Capability of Arctic Wolf and Domestic Dog by Equilibrium Sampling.

The mechanism underlying contaminant biomagnification is a decrease in the volume (V) and the fugacity capacity (Z) of food during digestion in the gastrointestinal tract. Traditionally, biomagnification is quantified by measuring contaminant concentrations in animal tissues. Here, we present a proof-of-concept study to noninvasively derive the thermodynamic limit to an organism's biomagnification capability (biomagnification limit -BMFlim) by determining the ratio of the V·Z-products of undigested and digested food. We quantify Z-values by equilibrating food and feces samples, which have been homogenized and spiked with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), with silicone films of variable thickness coated on the inside of glass vials. We demonstrate the feasibility of this method for wolf (Canis lupus hudsonicus) and domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris). For an adult wolf eating a relatively lean meat diet, a BMFlim (averaged over several PCB congeners) of approximately 41 was observed, whereas the BMFlim reached 81 for an adult domestic dog eating a lipid-rich diet. Besides the dietary lipid content that strongly affects the Z-value of the diet, the capability of an animal to digest its diet also influences the BMFlim by controlling the Z-values of their feces and the volume reduction of the food in the gastrointestinal tract. Less efficient digestion leads to a lower BMFlim in a juvenile dog (approximately 35) compared to its older self, even though their diets had similar lipid contents. The effect of the volume reduction (VD/VF ranging from 4 to 15) was comparable to the effect of the Z-value reduction (ZD/ZF from 3 to 20).

Power loss reduction by arctic wolf optimization algorithm

This paper proposes Arctic Wolf optimization (AWO) algorithm to solve the optimal reactive power problem. Deeds of the Arctic wolf have been imitated to formulate the proposed algorithm. Arctic wolf also identified as the white wolf or polar wolf is a breed of gray wolf inhabitant from Melville Island to Ellesmere Island. It is average size, very smaller when compared to north western wolf, it possess whiter coloration, narrower braincase and big carnassials. Particle swarm optimization, Genetic algorithm has been used to improve the Exploration & Exploitation ability of the algorithm by utilizes flag vector & position, velocity update properties. Proposed Arctic Wolf optimization (AWO) algorithm has been tested in standard IEEE 30 bus test system and simulation results show the projected algorithms reduced the real power loss considerably.

Arctic Wolf by W. Flaherty / Bowhead Whale by J. Karpik / Walrus by H. Paniaq

Flaherty, William. Arctic Wolf. Illustrated by Sean Bigham. Inhabit Media, 2018. Karpik, Joanasie. Bowhead Whale. Illustrated by Sho Uehara. Inhabit Media, 2018. Paniaq, Herve. Walrus. Illustrated by Ben Shannon. Inhabit Media, 2017.
 
 Inhabit Media has published three more volumes in their successful “made in the Arctic” Animals Illustrated Series. Herve Paniaq’s Walrus, Joanasie Karpik’s Bowhead Whale and William Flaherty’s Arctic Wolf follow the pattern of the earlier works in this series (see review https://doi.org/10.20361/G2NM3W). Each book is a natural history of the animal, including range, physical characteristics, diet, babies, and fun facts. Each book also has one or two sections specific to the animal. For example, in Arctic Wolf, there is a section for “Wolves in Human Form.” Both Bowhead Whale and Walrus have sections on “Traditional Uses.”
 Although there is a different illustrator for each volume, the styles are similar and the content of the images are parallel throughout the three books. For example, page 6 of each book shows a naturally coloured skeleton on a black background, while page 12 is about Babies, and each book shows a mother and baby image. The illustrations are excellent throughout and extend to the end pages. 
 This series would be good research material for elementary school children studying the North. These books are highly recommended for public libraries and elementary school libraries. 
 Highly recommended: 4 out of 4 stars Reviewer: Sandy Campbell
 Sandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines. Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give.

Spiders as biomonitors of metal pollution at Arctic mine sites: The case of the Black Angel Pb-Zn-mine, Maarmorilik, West Greenland

Abstract Metal pollution from mining activities is a well-known environmental concern, and detailed environmental monitoring before, during, and after mining is essential to evaluate the contamination status of a mining area. We therefore investigated the use of Arctic wolf spiders as a potential monitoring organism for metal contamination. In the Arctic, spiders are the most abundant group of terrestrial predators, with documented abilities to accumulate metals. In Greenland however, most contamination studies in relation to mining have targeted the marine environment, with less attention given to the terrestrial. Following a distance transect (0–40 km) near the former Black Angel Pb-Zn-mine, Maarmorilik, West-Greenland, we collected samples of two species of wolf spiders (Pardosa glacialis and P. groenlandica), along with supporting samples from soil and lichens, and analyzed these for geochemical elements using Q-ICP-MS and DMA. We show that metal concentrations in spiders generally reflect the contamination trend of the area, i.e. decreasing concentrations with increasing distance from the old mine, but also that large differences in bioaccumulation efficiency occurs between elements (Ag > Cd > Zn > Cu > Hg > Pb). We also found larger differences between juvenile and adult (female) spiders than between species. Adults generally contained higher concentrations than juveniles, suggesting that distinguishing between age classes of spiders is critical in future assessments of the environmental contamination status using spiders as bioindicator- and biomonitoring organisms. Although further studies are needed, we conclude that, especially in the case of Ag and Cd, Arctic wolf spiders are show a promising biomonitor of metal contamination near Arctic mine sites and elsewhere.

Population genomics of grey wolves and wolf-like canids in North America.

North America is currently home to a number of grey wolf (Canis lupus) and wolf-like canid populations, including the coyote (Canis latrans) and the taxonomically controversial red, Eastern timber and Great Lakes wolves. We explored their population structure and regional gene flow using a dataset of 40 full genome sequences that represent the extant diversity of North American wolves and wolf-like canid populations. This included 15 new genomes (13 North American grey wolves, 1 red wolf and 1 Eastern timber/Great Lakes wolf), ranging from 0.4 to 15x coverage. In addition to providing full genome support for the previously proposed coyote-wolf admixture origin for the taxonomically controversial red, Eastern timber and Great Lakes wolves, the discriminatory power offered by our dataset suggests all North American grey wolves, including the Mexican form, are monophyletic, and thus share a common ancestor to the exclusion of all other wolves. Furthermore, we identify three distinct populations in the high arctic, one being a previously unidentified “Polar wolf” population endemic to Ellesmere Island and Greenland. Genetic diversity analyses reveal particularly high inbreeding and low heterozygosity in these Polar wolves, consistent with long-term isolation from the other North American wolves.

The 1952 Kern County, California earthquake: A case study of issues in the analysis of historical intensity data for estimation of source parameters

Seismic intensity data based on first-hand accounts of shaking give valuable insight into historical and early instrumental earthquakes. Comparing an observed intensity distribution to intensity-prediction models based on modern calibration events allows the magnitude to be estimated for many historic earthquakes. Magnitude estimates can also potentially be refined for earthquakes for which limited instrumental data are available. However, the complicated nature of macroseismic data and the methods used to collect and interpret the data introduce significant uncertainties. In this paper, we illustrate these challenges and possible solutions using the 1952 Kern County, California, earthquake as a case study. Published estimates of its magnitude vary from MW 7.2–7.5, making it possibly the second largest in California during the 20th century. We considered over 1100 first-hand reports of shaking, supplemented with other data, and inferred the magnitude in several ways using intensity prediction equations, yielding a preferred intensity magnitude MI 7.2 ± 0.2, where the uncertainty reflects our judgement. The revised intensity distribution reveals stronger shaking on the hanging wall, south of the surface expression of the White Wolf fault, than on the footwall. Characterizing the magnitude and shaking distribution of this early instrumental earthquake can help improve estimation of the seismic hazard of the region. Such reinterpreted intensities for historic earthquakes, combined with U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Did You Feel It? data for more recent events, can be used to produce a uniform shaking dataset with which earthquake hazard map performance can be assessed.

The analysis of morphometric data on rocky mountain wolves and artic wolves using statistical method

Morphometrics is a quantitative analysis depending on the shape and size of several specimens. Morphometric quantitative analyses are commonly used to analyse fossil record, shape and size of specimens and others. The aim of the study is to find the differences between rocky mountain wolves and arctic wolves based on gender. The sample utilised secondary data which included seven variables as independent variables and two dependent variables. Statistical modelling was used in the analysis such was the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). The results showed there exist differentiating results between arctic wolves and rocky mountain wolves based on independent factors and gender.

Exploring the diet of arctic wolves (Canislupusarctos) at their northern range limit

The grey wolf (Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758) is one of the most widespread large carnivores on Earth, and occurs throughout the Arctic. Although wolf diet is well studied, we have scant information from high Arctic areas. Global warming is expected to increase the importance of predation for ecosystem regulation in Arctic environments. To improve our ability to manage Arctic ecosystems under environmental change, we therefore need knowledge about Arctic predator diets. Prey remains in 54 wolf scats collected at three sites in the high Arctic region surrounding the Hall Basin (Judge Daly Promontory, Ellesmere Island, Canada, and Washington Land and Hall Land, both in northwestern Greenland) pointed to a dietary importance of arctic hare (Lepus arcticus Ross, 1819; 55% frequency of occurrence) and muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus (Zimmermann, 1780); 39% frequency of occurrence), although we observed diet variation among the sites. A literature compilation suggested that arctic wolves (Canis lupus arctos Pocock, 1935) preferentially feed on caribou (Rangifer tarandus (Linnaeus, 1758)) and muskoxen, but can sustain themselves on arctic hares and Greenland collared lemmings (Dicrostonyx groenlandicus (Traill, 1823)) in areas with limited or no ungulate populations. We suggest that climate change may alter the dynamics among wolves, arctic hare, muskoxen, and caribou, and we encourage further studies evaluating how climate change influences predator–prey interactions in high Arctic environments.

Taxonomic differences of gut microbiomes drive cellulolytic enzymatic potential within hind-gut fermenting mammals.

Host diet influences the diversity and metabolic activities of the gut microbiome. Previous studies have shown that the gut microbiome provides a wide array of enzymes that enable processing of diverse dietary components. Because the primary diet of the porcupine, Erethizon dorsatum, is lignified plant material, we reasoned that the porcupine microbiome would be replete with enzymes required to degrade lignocellulose. Here, we report on the bacterial composition in the porcupine microbiome using 16S rRNA sequencing and bioinformatics analysis. We extended this analysis to the microbiomes of 20 additional mammals located in Shubenacadie Wildlife Park (Nova Scotia, Canada), enabling the comparison of bacterial diversity amongst three mammalian taxonomic orders (Rodentia, Carnivora, and Artiodactyla). 16S rRNA sequencing was validated using metagenomic shotgun sequencing on selected herbivores (porcupine, beaver) and carnivores (coyote, Arctic wolf). In the microbiome, functionality is more conserved than bacterial composition, thus we mined microbiome data sets to identify conserved microbial functions across species in each order. We measured the relative gene abundances for cellobiose phosphorylase, endoglucanase, and beta-glucosidase to evaluate the cellulose-degrading potential of select mammals. The porcupine and beaver had higher proportions of genes encoding cellulose-degrading enzymes than the Artic wolf and coyote. These findings provide further evidence that gut microbiome diversity and metabolic capacity are influenced by host diet.

Post-conflict opponent affiliation reduces victim re-aggression in a family group of captive arctic wolves (Canis lupus arctos).

Post-conflict affiliative interactions have been widely investigated in primates but not extensively in other species. Using the Post Conflict-Matched Control (PC-MC) comparison method, this study investigated the patterns of post-conflict opponent affiliation (POA) of a captive family group of 19 arctic wolves (Canis lupus arctos), investigating the correlation with various factors. We found that POAs occurred mainly in the non-feeding context and more often when the victim was dominant and the aggressor subordinate. Furthermore, POAs were more likely to have been initiated by the victim than the aggressor. Victims’ stress related behaviours occurred more in PC than MC periods, and more after high vs. low intensity aggressions but they were not more likely to occur after conflicts between wolves with a stronger social bond and POAs did not reduce their rate of occurrence. Our results showed that re-aggression was twice less frequent when a friendly interaction occurred between the aggressor and the victim, and consistent with this, victims engaged in POAs more often than the aggressor. Overall, our results support the hypothesis that POAs in wolves may have been selected for as a mechanism to avoid conflict escalation, which could lead to social disruption and hence jeopardize cooperative activities. The high relatedness among individuals in the pack and the greater dependence of all members on cooperation in breeding and hunting may reduce the importance of ‘relationship quality’ as a mediating factor of POAs, although dominance relationships, which are directly linked to the risks of further conflicts, do play an important role.

Was the Mw 7.5 1952 Kern County, California, earthquake induced (or triggered)?

Several recent studies have presented evidence that significant induced earthquakes occurred in a number of oil-producing regions during the early and mid-twentieth century related to either production or wastewater injection. We consider whether the 21 July 1952 Mw 7.5 Kern County earthquake might have been induced by production in the Wheeler Ridge oil field. The mainshock, which was not preceded by any significant foreshocks, occurred 98 days after the initial production of oil in Eocene strata at depths reaching 3 km, within ~1 km of the White Wolf fault (WWF). Based on this spatial and temporal proximity, we explore a potential causal relationship between the earthquake and oil production. While production would have normally be expected to have reduced pore pressure, inhibiting failure on the WWF, we present an analytical model based on industry stratigraphic data and best estimates of parameters whereby an impermeable splay fault adjacent to the main WWF could plausibly have blocked direct pore pressure effects, allowing the poroelastic stress change associated with production to destabilize the WWF, promoting initial failure. This proof-of-concept model can also account for the 98-day delay between the onset of production and the earthquake. While the earthquake clearly released stored tectonic stress, any initial perturbation on or near a major fault system can trigger a larger rupture. Our proposed mechanism provides an explanation for why significant earthquakes are not commonly induced by production in proximity to major faults.

Dominance relationships in a family pack of captive arctic wolves (Canis lupus arctos): the influence of competition for food, age and sex.

BackgroundDominance is one of the most pervasive concepts in the study of wolf social behaviour but recently its validity has been questioned. For some authors, the bonds between members of wolf families are better described as parent-offspring relationships and the concept of dominance should be used just to evaluate the social dynamics of non-familial captive pack members (e.g., Mech & Cluff, 2010). However, there is a dearth of studies investigating dominance relationships and its correlates in wolf family packs.MethodsHere, we applied a combination of the most commonly used quantitative methods to evaluate the dominance relationships in a captive family pack of 19 Arctic wolves.ResultsWe found a significant linear and completely transitive hierarchy based on the direction of submissive behaviours and found that dominance relationships were not influenced by the competitive contexts (feeding vs. non-feeding context). A significant linear hierarchy also emerges amongst siblings once the breeding pair (the two top-ranking individuals) is removed from analyses. Furthermore, results suggest that wolves may use greeting behaviour as a formal signal of subordination. Whereas older wolves were mostly dominant over younger ones, no clear effect of sex was found. However, frequency of agonistic (submissive, dominant and aggressive) behaviours was higher between female–female and male–male dyads than female–male dyads and sex-separated linear hierarchies showed a stronger linearity than the mixed one. Furthermore, dominance status was conveyed through different behavioural categories during intra-sexual and inter-sexual interactions.DiscussionCurrent results highlight the importance of applying a systematic methodology considering the individuals’ age and sex when evaluating the hierarchical structure of a social group. Moreover, they confirm the validity of the concept of dominance relationships in describing the social bonds within a family pack of captive wolves.

Book Review: Coming Full Circle: Constructing Native Christian Theology

Coming Full Circle: Constructing Native Christian Theology. Edited by Steven Charleston and Elaine A. Robinson. Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 2015. xvii + 218 pp. $39.00 (paper).Coming Full Circle was conceptualized by Elaine Robinson, Academic Dean at Saint Paul School of Theology in Oklahoma City, and Steven Charleston, who at the time was a visiting professor there. The seminary locates itself within the Wesleyan tradition and the holiness movement based on the Deuteronomic command echoed in the Gospels of Mark and Luke to love God with all ones heart, mind, soul, and strength and to love ones neighbor as oneself.Coming Full Circle was published by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) through Fortress Press, Augsburg Fortress's imprint for academic titles. The eight essays in this anthology include contributions from authors with a range of perspectives, including the Indian Missionary Conference of the United Methodist Church, Native American Episcopal priests (including one bishop), and the Director of Native American Studies at the University of Georgia. These essays are bookended with contributions by Charleston: Articulating Native American Theory and a concluding chapter on Theological Anthropology in which he interviews Ada Deer, an American politician, on her childhood, Native identity, and her fight for Menominee restoration following the Congressional decision to terminate the Menominee people of Wisconsin.In his piece in Coming Full Circle, Martin Brokenleg reflects that his Lakota Christian identity was shaped more by family and First Nations than by the institutional church (p. 137). Carol Gallagher, another contributor to the volume, observes that despite the misunderstanding and hegemony of many well-meaning missionaries, the gospel became a part of our story, woven into the ancient fabric of our lives and traditions (p. 83). These perspectives, controversial in postcolonial contexts, nevertheless appear to reflect not-insignificant sectors of living reality. The titular concept for the volume, coming circle, is drawn from Charleston's first chapter, in which he discusses coming full circle as he is discovering new dimensions of Christian thought through his research on Native theory. David Wilson's chapter describes the history and experience in the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference (OIMC), a Methodist organization in which 95 percent of clergy and lay leadership is indigenous. In his essay in the volume, Thom White Wolf Fassett notes that the church's desire for reconciliation and restoration has put it in a place of self-examination and reflection and thus in a place, if it is willing to turn and return to God and Native peoples, to receive a new heart and a new spirit. …

Thermal evolution of the Sierra Nevada batholith, California, and implications for strain localization

The Sierra Nevada batholith (California, USA) hosts multiple shear zones of different ages and different styles of deformation. In this study we present new data syntheses and maps of U-Pb zircon and hornblende and biotite Ar age distributions through the batholith in order to examine the temporal and thermal settings under which contractional and transpressional shear zones arose. These maps highlight the localization of intrabatholithic shear zones at the boundaries between swaths of some of the oldest and youngest plutons, and help to distinguish deformation styles in the southern and central Sierran arc. We also present new ^(40)Ar/^(39)Ar ages and crystallization and deformation temperatures from along the Kern Canyon fault system in the southern part of the batholith, and contrast these new constraints with previously published thermochronological conditions for shear zones to the north. The transpressional proto–Kern Canyon fault was continuously active from ca. 95 to 85 Ma. Deformation temperatures along the fault increase by ∼100 °C from north to south, following the trend of increasing pluton emplacement pressures. These observations, in conjunction with a steep cooling path for the southeastern section of the batholith east of the proto–Kern Canyon fault, support previous interpretations that rapid exhumation in the southernmost part of the batholith followed the arrival and low-angle subduction of an oceanic plateau (the Shatsky Rise conjugate). We suggest that local forces such as these triggered mid-Cretaceous shear zone development in the southern Sierra Nevada batholith, while shear zones in the central part of the batholith, which record the transition from 100–90 Ma compression to 90–80 Ma transpression, were triggered by changing kinematic patterns in regional subduction forcing. This idea is supported by our thermochronologic color contour maps, which reveal an east-west–trending older (and colder) swath within the batholith that may have prevented the more northern shear zones from propagating southward. We contrast the cooling paths of regions within the southernmost part of the batholith, and propose a two-part deformation history in which (1) the 95–85 Ma ductile proto–Kern Canyon fault initiated in the southeast as a compressional structure that transitioned to transpressional, and (2) the 85–75(?) Ma ductile to brittle Kern Canyon–White Wolf fault initiated in the southwest, accommodated extrusion of shallowly subducted accretionary material and thinning of the overlying batholith, and then overprinted the proto–Kern Canyon fault along its northern end. Shear zone activity within the central Sierra Nevada batholith can thus be distinguished by location: in the central zone deformation arose from regional forces, and in the southern zone deformation was triggered by local forces.

Wastewater disposal and earthquake swarm activity at the southern end of the Central Valley, California

AbstractFracture and fault zones can channel fluid flow and transmit injection‐induced pore pressure changes over large distances (>km), at which seismicity is rarely suspected to be human induced. We use seismicity analysis and hydrogeological models to examine the role of seismically active faults in inducing earthquakes. We analyze a potentially injection‐induced earthquake swarm with three events above M4 near the White Wolf fault (WWF). The swarm deviates from classic main aftershock behavior, exhibiting uncharacteristically low Gutenberg‐Richter b of 0.6, and systematic migration patterns. Some smaller events occurred southeast of the WWF in an area of several disposal wells, one of which became active just 5 months before the main swarm activity. Hydrogeological modeling revealed that wastewater disposal likely contributed to seismicity via localized pressure increase along a seismically active fault. Our results suggest that induced seismicity may remain undetected in California without detailed analysis of local geologic setting, seismicity, and fluid diffusion.

Targeted capture and resequencing of 1040 genes reveal environmentally driven functional variation in grey wolves.

In an era of ever-increasing amounts of whole-genome sequence data for individuals and populations, the utility of traditional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) array-based genome scans is uncertain. We previously performed a SNP array-based genome scan to identify candidate genes under selection in six distinct grey wolf (Canis lupus) ecotypes. Using this information, we designed a targeted capture array for 1040 genes, including all exons and flanking regions, as well as 5000 1-kb nongenic neutral regions, and resequenced these regions in 107 wolves. Selection tests revealed striking patterns of variation within candidate genes relative to noncandidate regions and identified potentially functional variants related to local adaptation. We found 27% and 47% of candidate genes from the previous SNP array study had functional changes that were outliers in sweed and bayenv analyses, respectively. This result verifies the use of genomewide SNP surveys to tag genes that contain functional variants between populations. We highlight nonsynonymous variants in APOB, LIPG and USH2A that occur in functional domains of these proteins, and that demonstrate high correlation with precipitation seasonality and vegetation. We find Arctic and High Arctic wolf ecotypes have higher numbers of genes under selection, which highlight their conservation value and heightened threat due to climate change. This study demonstrates that combining genomewide genotyping arrays with large-scale resequencing and environmental data provides a powerful approach to discern candidate functional variants in natural populations.

A method to assess relative preference for training and environmental enrichment in captive wolves (Canis lupus and Canis lupus arctos).

It is currently debated as to whether or not positive reinforcement training is enriching to captive animals. Although both husbandry training and environmental enrichment (EE) have been found to benefit animal welfare in captivity, to date, no systematic investigation has compared an animal's preference for performing a trained behavior to engaging freely with a stimuli provided as EE. In the current paper, we used four captive wolves to (1) test the efficacy of a paired-stimulus preference assessment to determine preference for engaging in a trained behavior as a choice; and to (2) use a paired-stimulus preference assessment to determine whether or not individuals prefer to engage in a previously trained behavior versus a previously encountered EE stimuli. Of the four subjects tested, visual inspection of the graphs revealed that two of the subjects preferred trained behavior stimuli and two of the subjects preferred EE stimuli; only one of the wolves had a statically higher preference for an EE stimulus over a trained behavior. We believe that letting the animals choose between these two events is the first step in answering the question of whether or not is training enriching, however more research needs to be done and suggestions for future research is discussed.

How do “ghost transients” from past earthquakes affect GPS slip rate estimates on southern California faults?

In this study, we investigate the extent to which viscoelastic velocity perturbations (or “ghost transients”) from individual fault segments can affect elastic block model‐based inferences of fault slip rates from GPS velocity fields. We focus on the southern California GPS velocity field, exploring the effects of known, large earthquakes for two end‐member rheological structures. Our approach is to compute, at each GPS site, the velocity perturbation relative to a cycle average for earthquake cycles on particular fault segments. We then correct the SCEC CMM4.0 velocity field for this perturbation and invert the corrected field for fault slip rates. We find that if asthenosphere viscosities are low (3 × 1018 Pa s), the current GPS velocity field is significantly perturbed by viscoelastic earthquake cycle effects associated with the San Andreas Fault segment that last ruptured in 1857 (Mw = 7.9). Correcting the GPS velocity field for this perturbation (or “ghost transient”) adds about 5 mm/a to the SAF slip rate along the Mojave and San Bernardino segments. The GPS velocity perturbations due to large earthquakes on the Garlock Fault (most recently, events in the early 1600s) and the White Wolf Fault (most recently, the Mw = 7.3 1952 Kern County earthquake) are smaller and do not influence block‐model inverted fault slip rates. This suggests that either the large discrepancy between geodetic and geologic slip rates for the Garlock Fault is not due to a ghost transient or that un‐modeled transients from recent Mojave earthquakes may influence the GPS velocity field.

Descent, and: Flesh Vessels

Descent, and: Flesh Vessels Dennis Trudell (bio) Descent A woman calls up to a mall Santafrom beside the line where childrenwait to replace the one on his lap.He can only hear the word, "boys"through a girl's voice inches away.She shrieks, "I want my two boys!"He sees the words pierce everyonein sight. Only "Frosty the Snowman"from speakers ignores her. She stillfaces the Santa, who feels the girlleave, return to parents. He willget drunk tonight, seeing her eyeswide with pain as a security guardmoves to her—hearing, "Please!My two little boys!", a siren-likewail taking the rest of her strength,that wild face shrinking as she falls. His wife will be sympathetic, buther words won't drown the woman's.Neither will booze. He will learnfrom Security the woman has nochildren, is divorced. She had twostillbirths. Though the Santa needsthe money, he won't climb againup to the mall throne. He will trythat next day, stop in his costume.Take off the beard. Feel her wordsstill there above the voices, music,scuffling around him. "Aren't yougoing to be Santa?" a young girlwill ask. That's not who she wasstaring at, he won't say. Will justshrug. It was God. He won't tryto tell her or anyone how that felt. [End Page 102] Flesh Vessels A man might stand from dinner tonightat a senior home and call for attention."Please! Listen, I want to tell somethingyou haven't thought about!" He mayrepeat it louder before the room quiets.And he points outside where it is snowing."Out there now somewhere is a white wolf.A white wolf!" I envision the four womenat that table averting eyes from his as hesits. The rhythm of voices around themchanged. A frail woman has now risenacross the room. "I know something, too.I know something interesting, too!"The assistant director moving to the manwho'd interrupted the meal pauses. "Myfather's ashes," she and the rest of themhear. "In this large urn I keep upstairs.I don't know why, but they weigh lesswhen I play music. Mozart. I have a scale,and it always happens. Don't know why—"Before those last words, two others havestood. The assistant director hearing,"Ssssh" from all sides as she begins a firmcall for order, obeying that sound. "He'sright about the wolf," a tall man bent one-thirdof his height declares. "Everyone'sright about what they believe. I went towar. I killed a man. I've seen him sincethousands of times. In many faces. I'venodded, and he's nodded back." Othersstanding as he sits; the assistant directorsitting also, seeing the snow now appearingto slant upward. Upward-she'd swear it.She wonders if she has enough courageto say that to these flesh vessels aftermore of them speak and it feels her turn. [End Page 103] Dennis Trudell Dennis Trudell had recent and forthcoming poems in Arts & Letters, Main Street Rag, The Progressive, and Saranac Review. His Fragments in Us: Recent & Earlier Poems was published by The University of Wisconsin Press. Copyright © 2013 Dennis Trudell