US Western Research Articles

An Extended IEEE 118-Bus Test System With High Renewable Penetration

This article describes a new publicly available version of the IEEE 118–bus test system, named NREL-118. The database is based on the transmission representation (buses and lines) of the IEEE 118-bus test system, with a reconfigured generation representation using three regions of the US Western Interconnection from the latest Western Electricity Coordination Council (WECC) 2024 Common Case [Transmission expansion planning home and GridView WECC database]. Time-synchronous hourly load, wind, and solar time series are provided for one year. The public database presented and described in this manuscript will allow researchers to model a test power system using detailed transmission, generation, load, wind, and solar data. This database includes key additional features that add to the current IEEE 118-bus test model, such as the inclusion of ten generation technologies with different heat rate functions, minimum stable levels and ramping rates, GHG emissions rates, regulation and contingency reserves, and hourly time series data for one full year for load, wind, and solar generation.

War in the 21st century as a tool of the imperial control of planetary “periphery”

The paper analyses how the (mis)use of the concept of international society in the context of the US and other Western countries` foreign policies legitimises an alleged defensive role of the interventionist imperial policy towards rogue, weak and failed states, as well as towards various non-state actors who contest the universality of liberal order. The starting assumption is that the asymmetric character of armed conflicts in the late 20th and early 21st century - combined with notions of international society, democratic peace, and world division into the ?civilised? (liberal) centre and ?uncivilised? periphery - has conditioned the planning and waging wars as disciplinary tools of the Western imperial control policy which is asserted over planetary periphery. The analysis focuses on several indicators which reveal how the methodology of the policing, the criminal justice system and the penalty system is embedded into the ontology of military interventions pursued by the United States, alone or within ad hoc coalitions with other Western and/or regional powers. The author concludes that war as a social practice lost in the early 21st century its traditional ontological features by assuming the structural characteristics of crime control policy, which caused the disruption of the ethical framework in the discursive and practical treatment of hostile states and their soldiers and non-state actors.

VENEZUELA’S DEFENSE POLICY: MILITARY-TECHNICAL COOPERATION, OIL FACTOR AND GEOPOLITICAL DIVIDENDS

The article describes the history of Venezuela's military-technical cooperation (MTC, arms trade) with foreign states in the period from the 1950s until now. There are three stages of the military-technical cooperation of Venezuela: pre-Chaves stage (before Hugo Chavez came to power), Chavez stage, post-Chavez stage (after Hugo Chavez's death during the reign of Nicholas Maduro). The nature and direction of the MTC, as well as the structure of suppliers of weapons and military equipment, as well as the factors that contributed to this orientation are described for each of these stages. The conclusion is made that the MTC of Venezuela depends on two key factors - the political attitudes of the current leadership and the market environment for Venezuela's key export commodity - oil. Taking into account the severe economic, social and financial crisis that hit Venezuela, China remained the only exporter continuing large shipments of military equipment to Venezuela. At the same time, a slight recovery in oil prices allows Russian exporters to expect the Venezuelan arms market to recover in the medium term. However, competition with Chinese exporters of military equipment will require granting Venezuela large-scale soft loans. At the same time, the Venezuelan debt market will remain high-risk because of political instability in the country, foreign policy pressures and volatility of hydrocarbon prices. If the government of Nicholas Maduro falls and the Bolivarian revolutionary project is scrapped, Caracas will be politically and militarily reoriented to the US and other Western countries with a high degree of probability. However, the inertia of Russian-Venezuelan military-technical cooperation will be a solid foundation for its continuation after the stabilization of the economic situation in the country, regardless of the foreign policy orientation of the future governments of Venezuela. In any case, the Russian political leadership and the management of the military equipment exporters, working together with the expert community and academic science, must constantly carefully assess the economic and political risks of continuing the Russian-Venezuelan military-technical cooperation, on the one hand, and its potential commercial and geopolitical dividends, on the other.

‘Cruising toward nuclear danger’: Canadian anti-nuclear activism, Pierre Trudeau’s peace mission, and the transatlantic partnership

In March 1982, news broke that the US Air Force planned to test cruise missiles in Canada. The issue brought the Euromissiles Crisis home to Canada, as Canadians took to the streets in record numbers to oppose the tests. Anti-nuclear activists linked their ‘refuse the cruise’ protests to anti-nuclear demonstrations taking place across the West. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau too saw testing in a transatlantic context, insisting they were part of Canada’s NATO obligations. Neither European nor American, the Canadians had an unusual place in NATO. Often, this translated to being completely ignored: transatlantic issues, including the decade-long Euromissiles Crisis, tended to be seen as US–Western European issues. This article considers the ways in which the Euromissiles Crisis came home to Canada and situates Canada in a broader transatlantic landscape. The Euromissiles Crisis framed Canadian debates over cruise missile testing, encouraging activists and politicians to think about how the threat of nuclear war could be reduced.

Contact process with exogenous infection and the scaled SIS process

Abstract Propagation of contagion in networks depends on the graph topology. This article is concerned with studying the time-asymptotic behaviour of the extended contact processes on static, undirected, finite-size networks. This is a contact process with nonzero exogenous infection rate (also known as the $\epsilon$-susceptible-infected-susceptible model). The only known analytical characterization of the equilibrium distribution of this process is for complete networks. For large networks with arbitrary topology, it is infeasible to numerically solve for the equilibrium distribution since it requires solving the eigenvalue-eigenvector problem of a matrix that is exponential in $N$, the size of the network. We derive a condition on the infection rates under which, depending on the degree distribution of the network, the equilibrium distribution of extended contact processes on arbitrary, finite-size networks is well approximated by a closed-form formulation. We confirm the goodness of the approximation with small networks answering inference questions like the distribution of the percentage of infected individuals and the most-probable equilibrium configuration. We then use the approximation to analyse the equilibrium distribution of the extended contact process on the 4941-node US Western power grid.

Seasonal and geographic variations in the incidence of asthma exacerbations in the United States

ABSTRACTBackground: Exacerbations drive the burden of asthma and lead to significant morbidity and consumption of health care resources. Many prior studies of the epidemiology of asthma exacerbations have relied upon data from hospital care. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine US patterns of geographic and seasonal variations of asthma exacerbations being defined as asthma episodes requiring hospital care and/or a prescription for oral steroid. Methods: The study was a retrospective observational cohort study using administrative claims data for insured individuals from the HealthCore Integrated Research Database, including around 43 million members in the United States. Analyses examined 3 age groups, 6–17, 18–64, and ≥65 years and four US regions, Northeast, Southeast, Central, and Western. Results: Monthly rates of asthma exacerbations showed the greatest variation over the year in children, less so in adults and in the elderly. Clinically important differences in rates of asthma exacerbation were observed between regions with the Western Region having the lowest in all three age groups followed by the Northeast, Central, and Southeast regions. Peaks in children occurred in the early fall following troughs in the summer months, and peaks at year-end occurred in adults, particularly in those over 65 years. Conclusions: There is a striking seasonal variation in asthma exacerbations in the United States. Substantial differences between regions of the United States in asthma exacerbation rates cannot readily be explained and invite further investigation.

CSM 2017 Sports Physical Therapy Section Poster Presentations (Abstracts SPO1–SPO152)

CSM 2017 Sports Physical Therapy Section Poster Presentations (Abstracts SPO1–SPO152)

Mental health in 2020 for men who have sex with men in the United States.

Despite continued advances in HIV prevention and treatment, gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) remain the population most impacted by HIV/AIDS in the US and many other Western countries. Additionally, MSM are disproportionately affected by various psychological problems, including depression, distress, trauma and substance use. These challenges frequently co-occur, and are associated with higher rates of behaviours related to HIV acquisition and transmission, HIV infection, and, for those living with HIV/AIDS, lower levels of treatment engagement. Moreover, racial disparities exist among MSM in the US; for example, young African American MSM bear a disproportionate burden of the continuing HIV epidemic, likely related to disparate HIV prevalence in partner pools as well as long-standing structural inequities. In this review, the mental health challenges facing MSM primarily in the US, related to HIV and STI prevention and across the HIV care cascade, including HIV diagnosis, engagement and retention in care, and antiretroviral adherence, are illustrated. Disparities among MSM including racial and ethnic, age-related and structural barriers associated with HIV prevention and treatment, as well as current interventions, are also described. Moving forward towards 2020, resources will be needed to assess and implement scalable intervention strategies to address psychological and social barriers to HIV and STI risk reduction and treatment for MSM, with a particular focus on the most vulnerable subpopulations. As access to prevention and treatment strategies expand, and new breakthroughs continue to emerge, behavioural strategies will continue to be needed to reduce risk and increase uptake and engagement among MSM most at risk through 2020 and beyond.

Evaluating differences in forest fragmentation and restoration between western natural forests and southeastern plantation forests in the United States

Changes in forest ecosystem structure and functions are considered some of the research issues in landscape ecology. In this study, advancing Forman's theory, we considered five spatially explicit processes associated with fragmentation, including perforation, dissection, subdivision, shrinkage, and attrition, and two processes associated with restoration, i.e., increment and expansion processes. Following this theory, a forest fragmentation and restoration process model that can detect the spatially explicit processes and ecological consequences of forest landscape change was developed and tested in the current analysis. Using the National Land Cover Databases (2001, 2006 and 2011), the forest fragmentation and restoration process model was applied to US western natural forests and southeastern plantation forests to quantify and classify forest patch losses into one of the four fragmentation processes (the dissection process was merged into the subdivision process) and to classify the newly gained forest patches based on the two restoration processes. At the same time, the spatio-temporal differences in fragmentation and restoration patterns and trends between natural forests and plantations were further compared. Then, through overlaying the forest fragmentation/restoration processes maps with targeting year land cover data and land ownership vectors, the results from forest fragmentation and the contributors to forest restoration in federal and nonfederal lands were identified. Results showed that, in natural forests, the forest change patches concentrated around the urban/forest, cultivated/forest, and shrubland/forest interfaces, while the patterns of plantation change patches were scattered sparsely and irregularly. The shrinkage process was the most common type in forest fragmentation, and the average size was the smallest. Expansion, the most common restoration process, was observed in both natural forests and plantations and often occurred around the previous expansion or covered the previous subdivision or shrinkage processes. The overall temporal fragmentation pattern of natural forests had a “perforation-subdivision/shrinkage-attrition” pathway, which corresponded to Forman's landscape fragmentation rule, while the plantation forests did not follow the rule strictly. The main land cover types resulted from forest fragmentation in natural forests and plantation forests were shrubland and herbaceous, mainly through subdivision and shrinkages process. The processes and effects of restoration of plantation forests were more diverse and efficient, compared to the natural forest, which were simpler with a lower regrowth rate. The fragmentation mostly occurred in nonfederal lands. In natural forests, forest fragmentation pattern differed in different land tenures, yet plantations remained the same in federal and nonfederal lands.

Nie tylko wizyta u Stalina. Ksiądz Stanisław Orlemanski i jego bracia

Not Simply a Visit With Stalin — Rev. Stanislaus Orlemanski and His Brothers For the past 71 years the life of Rev. Stanislaus Orlemanski has been described by a series of catchphrases, the summary of which reads — a Polish–American Communist who invited himself to Moscow, an overconfident country bumpkin who thought he could outsmart Stalin, a priest who departed without the permission of his diocesenal superior. Reverend Stanislaus was not the most radical of the three Orlemanski brothers, who were priests, rather it was Casimir, who was deeply engaged in the Pittsburgh union movement and is well known to students of the US Labor movement. Reverend Stanislaus was known to the Polish–American community — the leading conservative paper — Dziennik Związkowy , published his articles criticizing the description of Poles and Italians in the Catholic Encyclopedia. In the ensuing years, Orlemanski’s articles appeared in both Polish and English language press. The decision that Stanislaus Orlemanski was to travel to Moscow was made some six months prior to his departure, during the Moscow Conference of October 1943. This decision is multiplaned and relates not only to the 1944 US Presidential election, but also to a future Polish government as well as Stalin’s desire to impress both Anglicans and Roman Catholics with his openness to religion. Clearly FDR and his closest advisors saw the benefits of this proposal as did the Soviet government. Efforts to include clergy in the „Wasilewska” government also involved Fr. Walter Ciszek, SJ and Fr. Wilhelm Kubsz. Mid–January 1944 correspondence of Ambassador Harriman with Washington relates that the People’s Commissar of the USSR had proposed that Krzycki, Lange and Orlemanski all serve as members of a future Polish government. Stalin’s late January 1944 letter to Roosevelt requesting issuance of passports to Orlemanski and Lange served as a camouflage for FDR; while his response to Stalin attempts to distance himself from the project. A passport was issued, as were permits for travel from the US Western Defense Command and the Alaska Defense Command, as well as others valid for travel through Egypt, Iraq and Persia (Iran) confirming the deep involvement of the US and British Government in this project. Correspondence from the US National Catholic Welfare Conference to the Papal Nuncio in Washington sent prior to the departure of Orlemanski and contains specific references to his probable position in the future government. The well–publicized suspension of Reverend Orlemanski was simply pro forma and lasted but several days. Drafts of his apology are located in NCWC files. Finally, the invitation to participate in the 50th anniversary celebrations of a strongly anti–communist Cardinal of the Curia, confirm at the least, that the Vatican was aware that Orlemanski was not an agent. What is now left to discover is the text of the Stalin document transmitted for Orlemanski by Father Marie Leopold Braun A. A., from Moscow to the Vatican and the Roman Curia’s full analysis of this document. That must await the declassification of the Pope Pius XII records held by the Vatican. What is clear is that the Rev. Stanislaus Orlemanski, although a leftist, was not a radical anomaly but rather an intensely pro–Polish US citizen who saw the sole enemy as Germany and supported any organization that fought against the enemy.

Vulnerability of the US western electric grid to hydro-climatological conditions: How bad can it get?

Large-scale assessments of the vulnerability of electric infrastructure are usually performed for a baseline water year or a specific period of drought. This approach does not provide insights into the full distribution of stress on the grid across the diversity of historic climate events. In this paper we estimate the Western US grid stress distribution as a function of inter-annual variability in regional water availability. We softly couple an integrated water model (climate, hydrology, routing, water resources management, and socioeconomic water demand models) into an electricity production cost model and simulate electricity generation and delivery of power for combinations of 30 years of historical water availability data. Results indicate a clear correlation between grid vulnerability (unmet electricity services) for the month of August, and annual water availability. There is a 21% chance of insufficient generation (system threshold) and a 3% chance that at least 6% of the electricity demand cannot be met in August. Better knowledge of the probability distribution of the risk exposure of the electricity system due to water constraints could improve power system planning. Deeper understanding of the impacts of regional variability in water availability on the reliability of the grid could help develop tradeoff strategies.

Abundance of fluorescent biological aerosol particles at temperatures conducive to the formation of mixed-phase and cirrus clouds

Abstract. Some types of biological particles are known to nucleate ice at warmer temperatures than mineral dust, with the potential to influence cloud microphysical properties and climate. However, the prevalence of these particle types above the atmospheric boundary layer is not well known. Many types of biological particles fluoresce when exposed to ultraviolet light, and the Wideband Integrated Bioaerosol Sensor takes advantage of this characteristic to perform real-time measurements of fluorescent biological aerosol particles (FBAPs). This instrument was flown on the National Center for Atmospheric Research Gulfstream V aircraft to measure concentrations of fluorescent biological particles from different potential sources and at various altitudes over the US western plains in early autumn. Clear-air number concentrations of FBAPs between 0.8 and 12 µm diameter usually decreased with height and generally were about 10–100 L−1 in the continental boundary layer but always much lower at temperatures colder than 255 K in the free troposphere. At intermediate temperatures where biological ice-nucleating particles may influence mixed-phase cloud formation (255 K ≤ T ≤ 270 K), concentrations of fluorescent particles were the most variable and were occasionally near boundary-layer concentrations. Predicted vertical distributions of ice-nucleating particle concentrations based on FBAP measurements in this temperature regime sometimes reached typical concentrations of primary ice in clouds but were often much lower. If convection was assumed to lift boundary-layer FBAPs without losses to the free troposphere, better agreement between predicted ice-nucleating particle concentrations and typical ice crystal concentrations was achieved. Ice-nucleating particle concentrations were also measured during one flight and showed a decrease with height, and concentrations were consistent with a relationship to FBAPs established previously at the forested surface site below. The vertical distributions of FBAPs measured on five flights were also compared with those for bacteria, fungal spores, and pollen predicted from the EMAC global chemistry–climate model for the same geographic region.

AB002. Biomarkers for prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed non-cutaneous solid malignant tumor in the United States. Traditionally, Asian men have been considered low risk for prostate cancer. However, recent research suggests that the prevalence of prostate cancer is increasing in Asian men. This may represent an emerging public health problem with potentially serious consequences for patients and for health care systems. Given a predicted increase in the number of men diagnosed with prostate cancer in Asian countries, there is a clear and present need for optimized protocols for diagnosis and management of this condition in Asian men. Development of such protocols may benefit from novel technologies and lessons learned in Western countries; in this manner patients may receive optimal care and healthcare systems may mitigate the burden of over diagnosis (and subsequent overtreatment) which has complicated management of prostate cancer in the US and other Western nations. Genomic and other molecular testing offers a unique way to stratify oncological risk beyond simple serum, histological, and radiographic markers. These technologies measure genomic or molecular markers that provide novel insights into the biology of prostate tissue and prostate tumors. A variety of molecular biomarkers are in commercial use currently; these include tests designed to: (I) appropriately identify men for prostate biopsy, (II) select men likely to benefit from definitive treatment, and (III) determine which men who should consider adjuvant treatment after initial therapy. Integration of these molecular markers into the care of prostate cancer patients will require changes in how physicians make clinical decisions and counsel patients. These technologies must also be considered in light of improvements in imaging for prostate cancer. In the future, appropriate utilization of traditional, molecular, and radiographic tools will hopefully optimize care of the prostate cancer patients while simultaneously reducing costs to healthcare systems.

Training Young Russian Physicians in Uganda: A Unique Program for Introducing Global Health Education in Russia

BackgroundGlobal health is a new concept in Russia. There has been an ongoing academic collaboration between the Yale School of Medicine in the United States and Makerere University College of Health Sciences in Uganda since 2010, and the US Western Connecticut Health Network/University of Vermont College of Medicine since 2012, to introduce global health concepts to Kazan State Medical University (KSMU) in Russia. The purpose was to educate Russian physicians and medical trainees about the practice of clinical medicine and medical education, as well as the general practice of global health in culturally diverse, resource-limited settings. ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to evaluate the initial outcomes of this multi-institutional partnership and to assess the impact of the global health elective on the participants and on KSMU. MethodsParticipants were selected to attend a 6-week elective in global health at Mulago Hospital in Kampala, Uganda. The elective consisted of clinical experience, education about Uganda's common diseases, and region-specific sociocultural classes. It included a predeparture orientation and, upon return, completion of a standard questionnaire to assess the program's impact. ResultsSince 2010, there have been 20 KSMU members (4 medical students, 4 interns, 9 residents, 2 fellows, and 1 faculty member) who have participated in the program. As a result of the elective, the participants reported increased knowledge of tropical medicine (70%) and HIV/AIDS (75%), and 95% reported increased cultural sensitivity and desire to work with the underserved. The majority noted a very positive impact of their careers (90%) and personal life (80%). KSMU established the first successful collaborative program in global health education in Russia, leading to the integration of tropical medicine and global health courses in medical school curriculum. ConclusionThis elective has proven highly effective in introducing the concept of global health to faculty, fellows, residents, and medical students at KSMU. It trained these participants to address the challenges faced by physicians in culturally diverse and resource-limited countries.

South Asia symposium on pneumococcal disease and the promise of vaccines – Meeting report

Despite the licensure of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) in the US and other Western countries for over 14 years, as of September 2014 only 4 South Asian countries were using PCV in their universal immunization program. To generate momentum toward addressing this issue a “South Asia symposium on pneumococcal disease and the promise of vaccines” was organized just prior to the 9th international symposium on pneumococci and pneumococcal diseases held in India recently. Leading scientists, program managers, and decision makers including ministry officials from the region participated in the meeting. The participants discussed available data on pneumococcal disease burden in South Asia, surveillance methods, efficacy and safety of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV), the status of PCV introduction, programmatic challenges in introducing PCV and available data on the impact of PCV in South Asia and globally. There was a strong consensus that available data on disease burden and the global experience with PCV justified the introduction PCV in all Asian countries in order to accelerate the gains in child survival in the region.

SUSCEPTIBILITY AND ANTIBODY RESPONSE OF VESPER SPARROWS (POOECETES GRAMINEUS) TO WEST NILE VIRUS: A POTENTIAL AMPLIFICATION HOST IN SAGEBRUSH-GRASSLAND HABITAT.

West Nile virus (WNV) spread to the US western plains states in 2003, when a significant mortality event attributed to WNV occurred in Greater Sage-grouse ( Centrocercus urophasianus ). The role of avian species inhabiting sagebrush in the amplification of WNV in arid and semiarid regions of the North America is unknown. We conducted an experimental WNV challenge study in Vesper Sparrows ( Pooecetes gramineus ), a species common to sagebrush and grassland habitats found throughout much of North America. We found Vesper Sparrows to be moderately susceptible to WNV, developing viremia considered sufficient to transmit WNV to feeding mosquitoes, but the majority of birds were capable of surviving infection and developing a humoral immune response to the WNV nonstructural 1 and envelope proteins. Despite clearance of viremia, after 6 mo, WNV was detected molecularly in three birds and cultured from one bird. Surviving Vesper Sparrows were resistant to reinfection 6 mo after the initial challenge. Vesper sparrows could play a role in the amplification of WNV in sagebrush habitat and other areas of their range, but rapid clearance of WNV may limit their importance as competent amplification hosts of WNV.

Western intelligence cooperation on Vietnam during the early Cold War era

ABSTRACTIn the aftermath of the 1954 Geneva Conference, Canada, the UK, the US and other Western allies cooperated in gathering and sharing of human intelligence on and in North Vietnam. The British and Canadian foreign ministries played a key role in these efforts. Focusing mainly on the activities of these two countries, we explore the Vietnam intelligence program and discuss some of its implications on a broader Western, multilateral Humint cooperation. While the focus of this article is on efforts in Indochina in the mid-1950s, the pattern of intelligence cooperation described here continued into early and mid-1960s. Western intelligence liaison is not limited to the Vietnam case, as reflected in the intelligence activities of Western allies in Cuba (the 1960s–1970s), Tehran (1978–1980), Bosnia (the 1990s) and elsewhere.

‘Masking madness with gaiety’: innovating sound exhibition in Australia and the Royal Commission's failure to prevent the talkie wars

The 1927–1928 Royal Commission on the Moving Picture Industry in Australia sought to strengthen the domestic film industry's competitiveness against foreign investment, technology and manpower. Although it concluded before the wide-scale rollout of sound exhibition, it began collecting evidence after the coming of sound had already begun to make waves. Beginning in 1924 and continuing beyond the Commission, agents of the US De Forest Phonofilms company, primed the local market for sound through a series of publicity events. Their activities lead the local trade press to dub the Australian Phonofilms franchise as the instigator of a ‘Talkie War’, challenging the Commission's ability to curtail the expansion of human capital and technology from the USA. Within a year of its conclusion, agents from the US Western Electric company arrived in Australia to wire the major capital city theatres with sound. Initially, this strengthened Hollywood's foothold in ways that the Commission was anxious to avoid. Hoyts Theatres intensified the ‘Talkie-gear war’ by backing the ‘Australian-made’ Markophone as a competitor to the US Fox–Movietone sound system. Hence, while the Commission failed to achieve its aims, local pioneers took action by innovating rival sound systems with local technology, engineering and showmanship. Markophone wired up the ‘Talkie War’ in face of local and international competition in ways that differed from nearly all alternative sound systems.

3-D orientation and distribution of ammonites in a concretion from the Upper Cretaceous Pierre Shale of Montana

One of the most common modes of preservation of ammonites in the Upper Cretaceous US Western Interior is in concretions. We examine an accumulation of ammonites from a single concretion in the lower Maastrichtian Pierre Shale of eastern Montana. The concretion is an oblate spheroid 50 cm in length and 26 cm in diameter, with its long axis parallel to the substrate. It contains approximately 90 ammonite specimens representing three species of Hoploscaphites including adults and juveniles. The concretion also contains other fauna, primarily bivalves and gastropods. A total of 33 ammonites, mostly adults, are concentrated in a cluster that spans 71 % of the length of the concretion (called the “sculpture”). 3-D measurements of the ammonites in the sculpture reveal that (1) the shells dip at all angles, with a significant trend toward more horizontal from west to east; (2) the shells dip with a highly significant bias toward the east, suggesting a current from that direction; and (3) a highly significant number of the shells that are non-vertical face with their left side up. Most of the shells show lethal damage as indicated by missing pieces of body chamber. After settling to the bottom, the shells may have piled up against each other, creating a sediment trap. Other organisms such as scavenging gastropods may have been attracted to the site to feed on the stranded ammonite carcasses. The chambers of the ammonite phragmocones and even some of the body chambers are empty, suggesting relatively rapid burial. Oxygen and carbon isotopic analyses of the ammonite shells reveal that they preserve their original isotopic signature. The values of δ13C of the carbonate cement in the concretionary matrix are much lighter than those in the ammonite shells and imply that cementation of the concretion occurred in association with the decomposition of organic matter.

“Dollar in the Teeth”: Upsetting the Post-Western after Leone or Worlding the Western

This article aims to show the complex cultural and political intertextualities that feed into Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained” as a post-Western through examining its relationships with Jamaican reggae and film, Blaxploitation, and the many traditions of the US Western in popular culture.