Camp Fire Inland Northwest

To manage predation risk, prey navigate a dynamic landscape of fear, or spatiotemporal variation in risk perception, reflecting predator distributions, traits, and activity cycles. Prey may seek to reduce risk across this landscape using habitat at times and in places when predators are less active. In multipredator landscapes, avoiding one predator could increase vulnerability to another, making the landscape of fear difficult to predict and navigate. Additionally, humans may shape interactions between predators and prey, and induce new sources of risk. Humans can function as a shield, providing a refuge for prey from human-averse carnivores, and as a predator, causing mortality through hunting and vehicle collisions and eliciting a fear response that can exceed that of carnivores. We used telemetry data collected between 2017 and 2021 from 63 Global Positioning System-collared elk (Cervus canadensis), 42 cougars (Puma concolor), and 16 wolves (Canis lupus) to examine how elk habitat selection changed in relation to carnivores and humans in northeastern Washington, USA. Using step selection functions, we evaluated elk habitat use in relation to cougars, wolves, and humans, diel period (daytime vs. nighttime), season (summer calving season vs. fall hunting season), and habitat structure (open vs. closed habitat). The diel cycle was critical to understanding elk movement, allowing elk to reduce encounters with predators where and when they would be the largest threat. Elk strongly avoided cougars at night but had a near-neutral response to cougars during the day, whereas elk avoided wolves at all times of day. Elk generally used more open habitats where cougars and wolves were most active, rather than altering the use of habitat structure depending on the predator species. Elk avoided humans during the day and ~80% of adult female mortality was human caused, suggesting that humans functioned as a "super predator" in this system. Simultaneously, elk leveraged the human shield against wolves but not cougars at night, and no elk were confirmed to have been killed by wolves. Our results add to the mounting evidence that humans profoundly affect predator-prey interactions, highlighting the importance of studying these dynamics in anthropogenic areas.

Objectives: Geospatial “smart” technology such as PulsePoint is increasingly used to crowdsource community response for suspected out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Although the clinical focus of this strategy is OHCA, dispatch identification is imperfect such that activation often occurs for the non-arrest patient. The frequency and clinical profile of such non-arrest patients has not been well characterized. Methods: Prospective 3-year cohort investigation of patients for whom the PulsePoint was activated for suspected OHCA in four United States communities (total population ~1 million). We evaluated those patients with a PulsePoint activation for suspected OHCA who were subsequently not found to be in cardiac arrest on arrival. The response cohort included off-duty, volunteer public safety personnel (verified responders) notified regardless of location (public or private) as well as laypersons who were only notified to public locations. We linked the PulsePoint information with EMS records to report the frequency, condition type, and EMS treatment for these patients. Results: Of 1779 calls where volunteers were activated, 756 were OHCA, which left 1023 non-arrest patients for evaluation. The most common EMS assessments were syncope (15.9%, n=163), altered mental status (15.5%, n=159), seizure (14.3%, n=146), overdose (13.0%, n=133), and choking (10.5%, n=107). These findings were similar for private and public locations. The most common EMS interventions included placement of an intravenous line (43.1%, n=441), 12-Lead ECG (27.9%, n=285), naloxone administration (9.8%, n=100), and airway or ventilation assistance (8.7%, n=89). Conclusions: More than half of patients activated for suspected OHCA by PulsePoint in both public and private had conditions other than cardiac arrest. A subset of these conditions may benefit from earlier care provided by both layperson and public safety volunteers if they were appropriately trained and equipped.

Traditional aluminum direct-chill rolling ingot casting uses a fixed mold bore opening (MBO) that is optimized to cast an ingot that is flat in the steady-state region under particular conditions. A fixed MBO mold is chosen as a compromise between cast speed and amount of ingot butt swell. The APEXTM Casting System has controllable rolling faces that allow the MBO to change dynamically during casting. The mold can optimize the shape of the ingot over a wide range of casting parameters from cast start to end. This expands the traditional limits on speed with a fixed MBO. With the ability to cast faster and increase pit productivity, internal metallurgical properties such as macrosegregation and porosity can become the limiting factor for speed. Comparisons of metallurgical data from ingots cast at different speeds up to 120 mm/min with the APEX™ Casting System will be discussed and compared with other technologies.

Abstract Boyd, Castañeda, and Koenig (2013) recently published a hypothesis in American Antiquity that Red Linear style rock art predates, or is contemporaneous with, the Pecos River style. While the authors present intriguing examples of over-painting at 41VV83 and 41VV612, their definition of the Red Linear style should be questioned based on its lack of diagnostic characteristics relative to the Pecos River style. The Boyd et al. report is preliminary in its findings and falls short of overturning the existing regional chronology; thus, further stylistic studies of Red Linear art are recommended.