• Journal of English Language & Literature
• /
• v.57 no.4
• /
• pp.599-624
• /
• 2011

Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian (and the Border Trilogy) can be used as a touchstone with which the limit of American literature is tested. For his text is particularly significant in the sense that its language mixes English with Spanish; its characterization confronts Americans with non-Americans; and its narrative structure traverses the geographical and symbolic borderlands between America and Mexico. In this sense, his novels deserve to be reexamined under the rubric of Chicano/a Studies, Hemispheric American Studies, transnationalism, etc. Rereading McCarthy's Blood Meridian, this paper attempts to rethink its historical complexity in relation to Manifest Destiny, focusing on the border-crossing motifs of filibustering and scalp-hunting. For this purpose, I pay due and careful attention to the ways in which the ideology of Manifest Destiny was created, circulated, and manipulated among the 19th century American expansionists and border-crossing agents. Of course, my discussion does not omit the significance of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands in the contemporary Chicano/a Studies and Hemispheric American Studies. In these historical and interdisciplinary contexts, I investigate how the 19th century filibusters like Captain Smith and his followers fall prey to the imperial practice of Manifest Destiny. I would also interrogate whether and how the Glanton Gang's scalp trade is involved in the capitalist desire of Manifest Destiny.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.25.1-25.16
• /
• 2020

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) emerged into Canada in January 2014, primarily affecting sow herds. Subsequent epidemiological analyses suggested contaminated feed was the most likely transmission pathway. The primary objective of this study was to describe general biosecurity and management practices implemented in PEDV-positive sow herds and matched control herds at the time the virus emerged. The secondary objective was to determine if any of these general biosecurity and farm management practices were important in explaining PEDV infection status from January 22, 2014 to March 1, 2014. A case herd was defined as a swine herd with clinical signs and a positive test result for PEDV. A questionnaire was used to a gather 30-day history of herd management practices, animal movements on/off site, feed management practices, semen deliveries and biosecurity practices for case (n = 8) and control (n = 12) herds, primarily located in Ontario. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and random forests (RFs). Case herds were larger in size than control herds. Case herds had more animal movements and non-staff movements onto the site. Also, case herds had higher quantities of pigs delivered, feed deliveries and semen deliveries on-site. The biosecurity practices of case herds were considered more rigorous based on herd management, feed deliveries, transportation and truck driver practices than control herds. The RF model found that the most important variables for predicting herd status were related to herd size and feed management variables. Nonetheless, predictive accuracy of the final RF model was 72%.