When critics perform postcolonial readings of works by Gabriel García Márquez, most tend to gravitate toward overtly postcolonial novels such as100 Years of Solitude, No One Writes to the Colonel, or Autumn of the Patriarch. But what critics fail to adequately address is that the novels of Márquez dismissed as simply “romance” novels—Love in the Time of Cholera, Of Love and Other Demons, and Memories of My Melancholy Whores—reveal just as much evidence of postcolonial elements as in the novels that are overtly postcolonial. Using the term “postcolonial love” as a point of departure, this essay performs close readings that highlight the shared characteristics between postcolonial theory and the romances within these novels, exposing timeless concepts such as perpetual desire, the seduction of cultural imperialism, a desire to return to purity, nostalgia for a glorified past, and the Faulknerian decay of a people and an era. 

This essay argues that although the characters struggle to come to terms with their colonial past and move forward to the postcolonial future, the novels as a whole advocate a postcolonial future, where the most ideal kind of love is one that understands other cultures without necessarily agreeing with them. On a grander scale, this essay proposes that these three texts are an answer to Márquez’s call to use literature as a means “to render our lives believable.” The author’s background in journalism adds a verisimilitude to his writing that allows readers to comfortably accept the postcolonial leap that colors these romances.

Competition is one of the most important biotic interactions influencing animal communities and species distributions. In the Central Valley of California, several species of waterfowl compete for space and food during winter. Goose populations are increasing in California and the Pacific Flyway and are now at levels well above population targets. The growing numbers of geese may have negative impacts on smaller-bodied members of the Anatidae family. To evaluate the potential of this growing conflict, we used high frequency GPS-GSM telemetry to track 211 individuals of four species of geese: the Lesser Snow goose (Anser caerulescens caerulescens), Ross’s goose (Anser rossii), Pacific White-fronted goose (Anser albifrons sponsa), and Tule White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons elgasi; hereafter referred to as Tule goose) across the Sacramento Valley (the northern portion of the Central Valley) of California. Using step selection analyses, we modeled how field type, photo period (day or night), habitat condition (wet or dry) and age of those habitat conditions impact goose use and habitat selection. All species showed a strong preference for wet rice habitat at night, but daytime preferences varied. Lesser Snow and Pacific White-fronted geese were most similar, selecting wet fallow and dry rice habitats over wet rice and dry fallow during the day. Conversely, California species of concern, Tule geese, strongly preferred wetlands while Ross’s geese preferred dry rice, followed by wet and dry fallow habitats. Habitat age was important and the preference for wet rice and wetlands decreased over time, while selection of dry rice and wet fallow generally increased with age. Due to agricultural flood regimes, wet rice habitats likely offer substantial quantities of nutrient dense food resources to arriving migratory birds. However, over time, heavy consumption and decomposition caused by water cover reduces the attractiveness of this habitat, coinciding with the period which birds often switch to green browsing in other habitats.

ABSTRACT: History of present illness: A 64-year-old female presented to the emergency department feeling like she had “pills stuck in [her] throat,” specifically calcium and a multivitamin, which she tried to relieve with drinking, eating and sticking two fingers down her throat. She was sitting upright, speaking in full sentences but had a hoarse voice. She was tolerating her secretions but had frothy sputum in the posterior oropharynx.

Significant findings: Soft tissue lateral X-ray of neck was performed. The lateral soft tissue X-ray of the neck showed a metallic foreign body at the level cricoid.

Discussion: Most swallowed foreign bodies enter the esophagus. Larger foreign bodies tend to obstruct proximally and may cause airway compromise in addition to esophageal trauma.1 Foreign bodies tend to lodge at areas of anatomic narrowing, most commonly the upper and lower esophageal sphincters, physiologic angulation, and areas of pathologic stricture.2,3 Ensuring airway patency and ability to manage secretions is paramount and any concern for compromise should prompt emergent consultation with otolaryngology and/or gastrointestinal. Determination of which service to consult should be made based on the suspected location of obstruction and associated symptoms. In addition to obtaining a complete history of the ingestion including type of foreign body, size, and shape, it is prudent to ask what measures, if any, the patient has already taken to remove the object.

In this case, flexible fiberoptic laryngoscopy revealed swollen arytenoids and some small abrasions proximal to the vocal cords, which themselves appeared normal. She had copious secretions with no foreign bodies seen. On endoscopy, a metallic finger ring was found at the cricopharyngeus muscle along with non- obstructing laryngeal edema. The ring was removed with rat-toothed forceps. No pills were found. The patient had no recollection of swallowing the ring, but presumably, it slipped off her finger in the process of attempting to make herself vomit. After brief observation, she passed a bedside swallow assessment and was discharged in good condition. Repeat upper endoscopy 8 days later revealed a tortuous esophagus but was otherwise unremarkable.

Topics: Foreign body, laryngoscopy, endoscopy, airway management.

Topologically ordered phases of matter are quantum liquids with a non-local quantum order. Because of their unique properties due to the non-local quantum entanglement present in these phases, topological phases have been proposed as the basis of a physically fault-tolerant quantum computer. The formation of such topological order is well understood in terms of the mechanism of loop condensation in systems with loop-like degrees of freedom. Certain quantum dimer models posses topologically ordered dimer liquid ground states and can be mapped to loop models. In this dissertation we present a study of the geometric properties of the loop condensates of quantum dimer models and related models using classical Monte Carlo as well as ground state quantum Monte Carlo calculations. Additionally, we present an approach for the robust experimental generation of a topologically ordered phase in a system of neutral atoms trapped in an optical lattice.