scholarly journals Vernacular Landscapes

2021 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-53
Author(s):  
Mercedes Chavez
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Time Scale ◽  
Florida Everglades ◽  
Independent Director ◽  
Environmental Sound ◽  
Critical Attention ◽  
Core Concepts ◽  
A Site

This essay employs Anthropocene frameworks to examine United States independent director Kelly Reichardt’s quiet vignettes of American precarity through the interpretive cinematic apparatus. Reichardt’s slow style and lingering gaze are primarily read as affective interpretations of human exhaustion or as a critique of capital temporalities. However, the critical attention paid toward the human in Reichardt’s films overlooks the primacy of landscape as a site of knowledge in the visual aesthetic. It is the entanglement between the human and the landscape in Reichardt’s films that invites an Anthropocene reading based on core concepts of time, scale, and the disruption of the modernist nature/culture binary. In Old Joy (2006) and Wendy and Lucy (2008), local, global, and planetary scales are made explicit and conflict with human structures such as gender and neoliberal economies. Reichardt’s work explores the manufactured landscape of Oregon and the Florida Everglades (respectively) in Night Moves (2013) and River of Grass (1994), pointing toward larger structural issues at play in traditional conservationism and narratives of progress. Finally, in her Western-influenced films Meek’s Cutoff (2010) and Certain Women (2016), Reichardt’s use of environmental sound provides the critique of American expansionist ideology’s depiction of and attempt to consume Indigeneity. Taken together, Reichardt’s filmography presents a compelling case for cinema’s role as mediator of the Anthropocene crisis.

scholarly journals On the probability distribution of daily streamflow in the United States

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 3093-3103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annalise G. Blum ◽  
Stacey A. Archfield ◽  
Richard M. Vogel
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Probability Distribution ◽  
The United States ◽  
Good Representation ◽  
Lognormal Distributions ◽  
Daily Streamflow ◽  
The Us ◽  
Flow Duration Curves ◽  
A Site ◽  
Physiographic Regions

Abstract. Daily streamflows are often represented by flow duration curves (FDCs), which illustrate the frequency with which flows are equaled or exceeded. FDCs have had broad applications across both operational and research hydrology for decades; however, modeling FDCs has proven elusive. Daily streamflow is a complex time series with flow values ranging over many orders of magnitude. The identification of a probability distribution that can approximate daily streamflow would improve understanding of the behavior of daily flows and the ability to estimate FDCs at ungaged river locations. Comparisons of modeled and empirical FDCs at nearly 400 unregulated, perennial streams illustrate that the four-parameter kappa distribution provides a very good representation of daily streamflow across the majority of physiographic regions in the conterminous United States (US). Further, for some regions of the US, the three-parameter generalized Pareto and lognormal distributions also provide a good approximation to FDCs. Similar results are found for the period of record FDCs, representing the long-term hydrologic regime at a site, and median annual FDCs, representing the behavior of flows in a typical year.

Intraseasonal Teleconnection between North American and Western North Pacific Monsoons with 20-Day Time Scale

2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (11) ◽  
pp. 2664-2679 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xianan Jiang ◽  
Ngar-Cheung Lau
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
North American ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Time Scale ◽  
Western North Pacific ◽  
Wave Train ◽  
Eastern Pacific ◽  
Southwestern United States ◽  
Low Level ◽  
The North

Abstract Based on a recently released, high-resolution reanalysis dataset for the North American region, the intraseasonal variability (ISV; with a time scale of about 20 days) of the North American monsoon (NAM) is examined. The rainfall signals associated with this phenomenon first emerge near the Gulf of Mexico and eastern Pacific at about 20°N. They subsequently migrate to the southwestern United States along the slope of the Sierra Madre Occidental. The rainfall quickly dissipates upon arrival at the desert region of Arizona and New Mexico (AZNM). The enhanced rainfall over AZNM is accompanied by strong southeasterly low-level flow along the Gulf of California. This pattern bears strong resemblance to the circulation related to “gulf surge” events, as documented by many studies. The southeasterly flow is associated with an anomalous low vortex over the subtropical eastern Pacific Ocean off California, and a midlatitude anticyclone over the central United States in the lower troposphere. This flow pattern is in broad agreement with that favoring the “wet surges” over the southwestern United States. It is further demonstrated that the aforementioned low-level circulations associated with ISV of the NAM are part of a prominent trans-Pacific wave train extending from the western North Pacific (WNP) to the Eastern Pacific/North America along a “great circle” path. The circulation anomalies along the axis of this wave train exhibit a barotropic vertical structure over most regions outside of the WNP, and a baroclinic structure over the WNP, thus suggesting the important role of convective activities over the WNP in sustaining this wave train. This inference is further substantiated by an analysis of the pattern of wave-activity–flux vectors. Variations in the WNP convection are correlated with the ISV of the monsoons in both North American and East Asian (EA)/WNP sectors. These relationships lead to notable teleconnections between NAM and the EA/WNP monsoon on 20-day time scales.

Japanese Commemorations of World War II in the Mariana Islands

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith L. Camacho
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mariana Islands ◽  
World War ◽  
War Memories ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
A Site

This chapter examines the creation and contestation of Japanese commemorations of World War II in the Mariana Islands. As an archipelago colonized by Japan and the United States, the Mariana Islands have become a site through which war memories have developed in distinct and shared ways. With respect to Japanese commemorations, the analysis demonstrates why and how they inform and are informed by Chamorro and American remembrances of the war in the Mariana Islands. By analyzing government, media, and tourist accounts of the war from the 1960s to the present, I thus show how we can gain an understanding and appreciation for the complex ways by which Japanese of various generations reckon with a violent past.

Mexico

2019 ◽  
pp. 67-96
Author(s):  
Yossi Harpaz
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Recent Trend ◽  
The United States ◽  
Upper Class ◽  
Easy Access ◽  
Insurance Policy ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Dual Nationality ◽  
Strategic Acquisition ◽  
A Site

This chapter studies the growth in U.S. dual nationality in Mexico, and specifically the phenomenon of strategic cross-border births. This involves middle- and upper-class Mexican parents who travel to the United States to give birth, aiming to secure U.S. citizenship for their children. The families who engage in this practice typically have little interest in emigrating. Instead, they mainly view the United States as a site of high-prestige consumption and wish to provide their children with easy access to tourism, shopping, and education across the border. The American passport is also an insurance policy that allows easy exit at times of insecurity in Mexico. This strategic acquisition of U.S. dual nationality by upper-class Mexicans can be juxtaposed with another recent trend: the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Mexican undocumented immigrants, who take their U.S.-born children with them to Mexico. For the former group, dual nationality is voluntary and practical; for the latter, it is an imposed disadvantage.

scholarly journals Rates and patterns of molecular evolution in marine animals following the Isthmian emergence

1992 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 68-68
Author(s):  
Timothy Collins
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Evolution ◽  
Time Scale ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Rate Variation ◽  
Marine Animals ◽  
Sequence Comparisons ◽  
Western Atlantic ◽  
Taxonomic Groups ◽  
A Site ◽  
Rates Of Molecular Evolution

The marine vicariant event resulting from the Pliocene emergence of the Central American Isthmus presents a unique opportunity for calibrating rates of molecular evolution. The synchronous fragmentation of the ranges of previously widespread taxa into Western Atlantic and Eastern Pacific components (geminates) enables one to make comparisons of rates among higher taxa on the same time scale and to evaluate the regularity of rates of molecular evolution among all species sampled. Other advantages of this approach are that the time scale (approximately 3 Ma) is one of particular interest for evolutionary biologists concerned with speciation and one that minimizes the ambiguities associated with augmentation of divergence values to account for multiple hits at a site. The divergence values derived for geminate pairs are independent, allowing statistical evaluation of variance in rates.The current popularity of the relative rates test as the final arbiter of questions regarding rates and rate variation is primarily a matter of convenience and not a reflection of methodological superiority. A review of the commonly used techniques for calibrating rates of molecular evolution shows that each approach has limitations. Temporally based calibrations of rates are necessary complements to time-independent comparisons.Interpretation of transisthmian molecular comparisons in the literature have in many cases been unduly influenced and confused by molecular clock assumptions and the restriction of studies to single higher-level taxa. Analysis of the apparently contradictory published data as well as new results from sequence comparisons of fishes, urchins and snails suggests a synthesis: taxon specific rates of molecular evolution, with reduced variance within taxonomic groups and great variance among all groups sampled.

A Site-Portfolio Model for Multiple-Destination Recreation Trips: Valuing Trips to National Parks in the Southwestern United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
George Parsons ◽  
Christopher G. Leggett ◽  
Joe Herriges ◽  
Kevin Boyle ◽  
Nancy Bockstael ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
National Parks ◽  
Southwestern United States ◽  
A Site

scholarly journals Variations of U.S. Regional Precipitation and Simulations by the NCEP CFS: Focus on the Southwest

2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 3211-3231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Song Yang ◽  
Yundi Jiang ◽  
Dawei Zheng ◽  
R. Wayne Higgins ◽  
Qin Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Atmospheric Circulation ◽  
Annual Cycle ◽  
West Coast ◽  
Time Scale ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
The United States ◽  
The West ◽  
Western Atlantic ◽  
Precipitation Seasonality

Abstract Variations of U.S. regional precipitation in both observations and free-run experiments with the NCEP Climate Forecast System (CFS) are investigated. The seasonality of precipitation over the continental United States and the time–frequency characteristics of precipitation over the Southwest (SW) are the focus. The differences in precipitation variation among different model resolutions are also analyzed. The spatial distribution of U.S. precipitation is characterized by high values over the East and the West Coasts, especially over the Gulf Coast and southeast states, and low values elsewhere except over the SW in summer. A large annual cycle of precipitation occurs over the SW, northern plains, and the West Coast. Overall, the CFS captures the above features reasonably well, except for the SW. However, it overestimates the precipitation over the western United States, except the SW in summer, and underestimates the precipitation over the central South, except in springtime. It also overestimates (underestimates) the precipitation seasonality over the intermountain area and Gulf Coast states (SW, West Coast, and northern Midwest). The model using T126 resolution captures the observed features more realistically than at the lower T62 resolution over a large part of the United States. The variability of observed SW precipitation is characterized by a large annual cycle, followed by a semiannual cycle, and the oscillating signals on annual, semiannual, and interannual time scales account for 41% of the total precipitation variability. However, the CFS, at both T62 and T126 resolution, fails in capturing the above feature. The variability of SW precipitation in the CFS is much less periodic. The annual oscillation of model precipitation is much weaker than that observed and it is even much weaker than the simulated semiannual oscillation. The weakly simulated annual cycle is attributed by the unrealistic precipitation simulations of all seasons, especially spring and summer. On the annual time scale, the CFS fails in simulating the relationship between the SW precipitation and the basinwide sea surface temperature (SST) and the overlying atmospheric circulation. On the semiannual time scale, the model exaggerates the response of the regional precipitation to the variations of SST and atmospheric circulation over the tropics and western Atlantic, including the Gulf of Mexico. This study also demonstrates a challenge for the next-generation CFS, at T126 resolution, to predict the variability of North American monsoon climate.

Jails in the Early American Republic

2016 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen E. Tillotson ◽  
Jennifer A. Colanese
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Special Populations ◽  
Early American Republic ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Penal Policy ◽  
Early American ◽  
A Site

Recent state-level penal policy reforms have the potential to shift the burden of incarceration to local jails. We argue that such transcarceration is not a new phenomenon, but rather, is a persistent aspect of incarceration in the United States. In this article, we provide an historical analysis of jails in the Early American Republic (1790-1850), including their role expansion to include felon and misdemeanant incarceration, their role contraction alongside the development of institutions for various special populations, and their enduring function as a site of “rabble” management.

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