bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Plant pollen as a resource affecting the development and survival of the mosquitoes Anopheles quadrimaculatus and Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae)
Authors: Taka Nah Jelah , Yee Donald A
Published: March 2023

Mosquito larvae often subsist on inputs of terrestrial-derived resources, including leaves and dead insects. However, seasonal inputs of plant pollen is an underexplored resource for many species. We compared the effects of three levels (low, medium, high) of two pollen types (corn, pine) on development, mass, and survival in Anopheles quadrimaculatus (Say) and Culex quinquefasciatus (Say) (Diptera: Culcidae). We also examined the nutrient content of adults (%nitrogen, %carbon, C:N) and stable isotopes (δ15N, δ13C). Culex quinquefasciatus had the highest survival rates when grown on high and medium pine pollen compared with low pine. Survival of Culex quinquefasciatus was generally higher compared to that of An. quadrimaculatus on any level of pine, with the latter species having higher survival in high corn. Nutrient content for An. quadrimaculatus did not vary significantly in either pollen type or amount but were more enriched in δ15N in corn pollen relative to pine pollen. For Cx. quinquefasciatus, %N decreased and C:N ratio increased across low to high amounts of corn. Adults raised in corn had generally more δ13C compared to pine pollen. No developmental differences across diets were observed for either species, however both sexes of Cx. quinquefasciatus were generally larger when grown in high pine and medium and high corn pollen compared with other treatments. The poor performance of An. quadrimaculatus on corn pollen was unexpected, however, we show a benefit of corn pollen to Cx. quinquefasciatus with implications for West Nile virus transmission in the United States, especially around agricultural areas where corn is grown.
Risk prediction of hepatitis B or C or HIV among newly diagnosed cancer patients
Authors: Unger Joseph M , Till Cathee , Hwang Jessica P , Arnold Kathryn B , Leblanc Michael , Hershman Dawn L , Ramsey Scott D
Published: March 2023

Background

Screening for viral infection in cancer patients is inconsistent. A mechanism to readily identify cancer patients at increased risk of existing or prior viral infection could enhance screening efforts while reducing costs.

Methods

We identified factors associated with increased risk of past or chronic hepatitis virus B, hepatitis virus C, or HIV infection before initiation of systemic cancer therapy. Data were from a multicenter prospective cohort study of 3051 patients with newly diagnosed cancer (SWOG-S1204) enrolled between 2013 and 2017. Patients completed a survey with questions pertaining to personal history and behavioral, socioeconomic, and demographic risk factors for viral hepatitis or HIV. We derived a risk model to predict the presence of viral infection in a random set of 60% of participants using best subset selection. The derived model was validated in the remaining 40% of participants. Logistic regression was used.

Results

A model with 7 risk factors was identified, and a risk score with 4 levels was constructed. In the validation cohort, each increase in risk level was associated with a nearly threefold increased risk of viral positivity (odds ratio = 2.85, 95% confidence interval = 2.26 to 3.60, P < .001). Consistent findings were observed for individual viruses. Participants in the highest risk group (with >3 risk factors), comprised of 13.4% of participants, were 18 times more likely to be viral positive compared with participants with no risk factors (odds ratio = 18.18, 95% confidence interval = 8.00 to 41.3, P < .001).

Conclusions

A risk-stratified screening approach using a limited set of questions could serve as an effective strategy to streamline screening for individuals at increased risk of viral infection.
Cannabidiol prevents chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain by modulating spinal TLR4 via endocannabinoid system activation
Authors: dos Santos Rafaela , Veras Flávio , Netto Gonçalves , Elisei Lívia , Sorgi Carlos , Faccioli Lúcia , Galdino Giovane
Published: March 2023

Objectives

This study aimed to investigate the effect of cannabidiol (CBD) on type 4 Toll-like receptors (TLR4), glial cells and pro-inflammatory cytokines during the neuropathic pain induced by the chemotherapy agent paclitaxel (PTX), as well as the involvement of the endocannabinoid system in this process.

Methods

Male C57BL6 mice were subjected to PTX-induced neuropathic pain. To evaluate the involvement of the TLR4, glial cells and cannabinoid CB2 receptor, specific inhibitors or antagonists were intrathecally administered. The western blotting and immunofluorescence assay was performed to evaluate the spinal expression of TLR4, microglia, astrocytes and cannabinoid CB2 receptor. The levels of spinal pro-inflammatory cytokines and endocannabinoids were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis, respectively.

Key findings

CBD prevented PTX-induced neuropathic pain, and the cannabinoid CB2 receptor antagonist AM630 reversed this effect. In addition, CBD treatment inhibited the spinal expression of TLR4 and Iba1 in mice with neuropathic pain. CBD also increased spinal levels of endocannabinoids anandamide and 2-arachidonoylglycerol, and reduced levels of cytokines in mice with neuropathic pain.

Conclusions

CBD was efficient in preventing PTX-induced neuropathic pain, and this effect may involve inhibition of the TLR4 on microglia spinal with activation of the endocannabinoid system.
‘Consider yourself kissed’: Intimacy, Engagement, and Material Culture in Nineteenth-Century  Middle-Class English Love Letters
Authors: Kalenak Maggie
Published: March 2023

The passage of the Postal Duties Bill in 1840 and the implementation of the penny post expanded the epistolary lives of English men and women, particularly the middle classes, overnight. The affordability of postage, the commercial boom in letter-writing appurtenances, and the increased social pressure for regular correspondence augmented and altered how individuals built all sorts of relationships, especially romantic ones. This paper relies on 45 case studies of middle-class couples’ love letters to examine the role of romantic correspondence, particularly during the life-period of engagement, throughout the nineteenth century. Correspondence collections are used to examine how couples negotiated and built intimate relationships as they progressed (or not) towards their nuptials. Not only valued for their written contents, love letters took on talismanic, fetishistic, and embodied properties representing their senders and the relationships they facilitated. Their comings and goings marked time, their length signified depth of feeling, and their presentation reflected intimacy. As romantic culture adapted to progressions in epistolary technology and assigned meaning to its various aspects, correspondence became a venue for individuals and couples to create and explore their emotional, sensual, and sentimental selves.
Seed germination variability: why do genetically identical seeds not germinate at the same time?
Authors: Sharma Eshan , Majee Manoj
Published: March 2023

For survival in the natural environment, plants have evolved a ‘bet-hedging’ strategy where individual variation is high and a range of phenotypes is produced. When faced with unpredictable environmental conditions, fluctuation in seed behaviour is a beneficial trait that allows plant species to survive, particularly if seedlings from early-germinated seeds die. However, this is not a desired trait from an agricultural perspective, where a set of uniformly growing seedlings is required. Whilst variability in seed behaviour is unavoidable, over the centuries humans have attempted to select seeds with minimum variability for agricultural use. In the model plant Arabidopsis, even non-stratified seeds in the same silique germinate variably, and it remains elusive how this variability is manifested from genes to a physiological outcome and what molecular mechanisms of bet-hedging facilitate this diversity. Will the re-introduction of valuable wild alleles into domesticated crops contribute to this variability between individual seeds by promoting bet-hedging? Recent advances have shed light on possible molecular pathways of germination that are affected at the level of single seeds and single cells. Here, we review the hormonal, molecular, and cellular mechanisms that might affect the germination outcome of individual genetically identical seeds.
Searching for continuous Gravitational Waves in the second data release of the International Pulsar Timing Array
Authors: Falxa M , Babak S , Baker P T , Bécsy B , Chalumeau A , Chen S , Chen Z , Cornish N J , Guillemot L , Hazboun J S , Mingarelli C M F , Parthasarathy A , Petiteau A , Pol N S , Sesana A , Spolaor S B , Taylor S R , Theureau G , Vallisneri M , Vigeland S J , Witt C A , Zhu X , Antoniadis J , Arzoumanian Z , Bailes M , Bhat N D R , Blecha L , Brazier A , Brook P R , Caballero N , Cameron A D , Casey-Clyde J A , Champion D , Charisi M , Chatterjee S , Cognard I , Cordes J M , Crawford F , Cromartie H T , Crowter K , Dai S , DeCesar M E , Demorest P B , Desvignes G , Dolch T , Drachler B , Feng Y , Ferrara E C , Fiore W , Fonseca E , Garver-Daniels N , Glaser J , Goncharov B , Good D C , Griessmeier J , Guo Y J , Gültekin K , Hobbs G , Hu H , Islo K , Jang J , Jennings R J , Johnson A D , Jones M L , Kaczmarek J , Kaiser A R , Kaplan D L , Keith M , Kelley L Z , Kerr M , Key J S , Laal N , Lam M T , Lamb W G , Lazio T J W , Liu K , Liu T , Luo J , Lynch R S , Madison D R , Main R , Manchester R , McEwen A , McKee J , McLaughlin M A , Ng C , Nice D J , Ocker S , Olum K D , Osłowski S , Pennucci T T , Perera B B P , Perrodin D , Porayko N , Possenti A , Quelquejay-Leclere H , Ransom S M , Ray P S , Reardon D J , Russell C J , Samajdar A , Sarkissian J , Schult L , Shaifullah G , Shannon R M , Shapiro-Albert B J , Siemens X , Simon J J , Siwek M , Smith T L , Speri L , Spiewak R , Stairs I H , Stappers B , Stinebring D R , Swiggum J K , Tiburzi C , Turner J , Vecchio A , Verbiest J P W , Wahl H , Wang S Q , Wang J , Wang J , Wu Z , Zhang L , Zhang S ,   IPTA Collaboration
Published: March 2023

The International Pulsar Timing Array 2nd data release is the combination of data sets from worldwide collaborations. In this study, we search for continuous waves: gravitational wave signals produced by individual supermassive black hole binaries in the local universe. We consider binaries on circular orbits and neglect the evolution of orbital frequency over the observational span. We find no evidence for such signals and set sky averaged 95 per cent upper limits on their amplitude h95. The most sensitive frequency is 10 nHz with h95 = 9.1 × 10−15. We achieved the best upper limit to date at low and high frequencies of the PTA band thanks to improved effective cadence of observations. In our analysis, we have taken into account the recently discovered common red noise process, which has an impact at low frequencies. We also find that the peculiar noise features present in some pulsars data must be taken into account to reduce the false alarm. We show that using custom noise models is essential in searching for continuous gravitational wave signals and setting the upper limit.
Why and when to expect Gaussian error distributions in epoch of reionization 21-cm power spectrum measurements
Authors: Wilensky Michael J , Brown Jordan , Hazelton Bryna J
Published: March 2023

We explore error distributions in Epoch of Reionization 21-cm power spectrum estimators using a combination of mathematical analysis and numerical simulations. We provide closed-form solutions for the error distributions of individual bins in 3d-power spectra for two estimators currently in use in the field, which we designate as ‘straight-square’ and ‘cross-multiply’ estimators. We then demonstrate when the corresponding spherically binned power spectra should (and should not) have Gaussian error distributions, which requires appealing to non-standard statements of the central limit theorem. This has important implications for how upper limits are reported, as well as how cosmological inferences are performed based on power spectrum measurements. Specifically, assuming a Gaussian error distribution can over- or underestimate the upper limit depending on the type of estimator and produces overly compact likelihood functions for the power spectrum.
Scaling relations in the network of voids
Authors: Aragon-Calvo M A
Published: March 2023

The large-scale distribution of matter in the Universe forms a network of clusters, filaments, and walls enclosing large empty voids. Voids in turn can be described as a cellular system in which voids/cells define dynamically distinct regions. Cellular systems arising from a variety of physical and biological processes have been observed to closely follow scaling laws relating their geometry, topology, and dynamics. These scaling laws have never been studied for cosmological voids, the largest known cellular system. Using a cosmological N-body simulation, we present a study of the scaling relations of the network of voids, extending their validity by over 30 orders of magnitude in scale with respect to other known cellular systems.
Diverse glasses revealed from Chang’E-5 lunar regolith
Authors: Zhao Rui , Shen Laiquan , Xiao Dongdong , Chang Chao , Huang Yao , Yu Jihao , Zhang Huaping , Liu Ming , Zhao Shaofan , Yao Wei , Lu Zhen , Sun Baoan , Bai Haiyang , Zou Zhigang , Yang Mengfei , Wang Weihua
Published: March 2023

Lunar glasses with different origins act as snapshots of their formation processes, providing a rich archive of the Moon's formation and evolution. Here, we reveal diverse glasses from Chang’E-5 (CE-5) lunar regolith, and clarify their physical origins of liquid quenching, vapor deposition and irradiation damage respectively. The series of quenched glasses, including rotation-featured particles, vesicular agglutinates and adhered melts, record multiple-scale impact events. Abundant micro-impact products, like micron- to nano-scale glass droplets or craters, highlight that the regolith is heavily reworked by frequent micrometeorite bombardment. Distinct from Apollo samples, the indigenous ultra-elongated glass fibers drawn from viscous melts and the widespread ultra-thin deposited amorphous rims without nanophase iron particles both indicate a relatively gentle impact environment at the CE-5 landing site. The clarification of multitype CE-5 glasses also provides a catalogue of diverse lunar glasses, meaning that more of the Moon's mysteries, recorded in glasses, could be deciphered in future.
Hepatitis C Virus Micro-elimination Among People With HIV in San Diego: Are We on Track?
Authors: Cheema Jaskaran S , Mathews William C , Wynn Adriane , Bamford Laura B , Torriani Francesca J , Hill Lucas A , Rajagopal Amutha V , Yin Jeffrey , Jain Sonia , Garfein Richard S , Cachay Edward R , Martin Natasha K
Published: March 2023

Background

Rising incidence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) among people with HIV (PWH) in San Diego County (SDC) was reported. In 2018, the University of California San Diego (UCSD) launched a micro-elimination initiative among PWH, and in 2020 SDC launched an initiative to reduce HCV incidence by 80% across 2015–2030. We model the impact of observed treatment scale-up on HCV micro-elimination among PWH in SDC.

Methods

A model of HCV transmission among people who inject drugs (PWID) and men who have sex with men (MSM) was calibrated to SDC. The model was additionally stratified by age, gender, and HIV status. The model was calibrated to HCV viremia prevalence among PWH in 2010, 2018, and 2021 (42.1%, 18.5%, and 8.5%, respectively), and HCV seroprevalence among PWID aged 18–39 years, MSM, and MSM with HIV in 2015. We simulate treatment among PWH, weighted by UCSD Owen Clinic (reaching 26% of HCV-infected PWH) and non-UCSD treatment, calibrated to achieve the observed HCV viremia prevalence. We simulated HCV incidence with observed and further treatment scale-up (+/− risk reductions) among PWH.

Results

Observed treatment scale-up from 2018 to 2021 will reduce HCV incidence among PWH in SDC from a mean of 429 infections/year in 2015 to 159 infections/year in 2030. County-wide scale-up to the maximum treatment rate achieved at UCSD Owen Clinic (in 2021) will reduce incidence by 69%, missing the 80% incidence reduction target by 2030 unless accompanied by behavioral risk reductions.

Conclusions

As SDC progresses toward HCV micro-elimination among PWH, a comprehensive treatment and risk reduction approach is necessary to reach 2030 targets.
Jerome and the Vulgate Gospels
Authors: Kreinecker Christina M.
Published: March 2023

Abstract: This chapter revisits key questions concerning the Vulgate gospels and discusses their character as a revision in relation to Jerome’s preface and his linguistic abilities. Various examples of typical textual features and differences in comparison with the translation technique of the Old Latin Bible are presented together with key aspects of Jerome’s method of revision. The perennial challenge of identifying possible Latin and Greek templates will be met by looking at the methodological assumptions underlying previous suggestions. It is argued that these are mostly based on an outdated text-critical understanding of the New Testament manuscript tradition. Instead, a broader approach to the transmission of the Vulgate gospels will be favored, which is not limited to manuscripts but makes full use of biblical quotations in contemporaneous Christian writings.
Latin Biblical Scholarship in the Humanist Age
Authors: François Wim
Published: March 2023

Abstract: Biblical humanists as Lorenzo Valla, Erasmus of Rotterdam, and Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples, amongst others, had prepared the path for the study of the Bible with the help of philological methods and the knowledge of original languages. After the advent of the Reformation, humanist biblical scholarship continued to be practised among both Catholic and Protestant theologians and philologists. This scholarship largely expressed itself in Latin (and exceptionally also in the vernacular), although it was not only based upon the Latin Bible, but even more upon the “original” Hebrew and Greek. Towards the end of the sixteenth century, the biblical–humanist approach, without disappearing altogether, was curbed by more outspoken doctrinal concerns, an evolution characteristic of an increasingly confessionalized era.
The Earliest Latin Translations of the Bible
Authors: Houghton H. A. G.
Published: March 2023

Abstract: The Old Latin version (Vetus Latina) refers to the earliest Latin biblical translations and their revisions up to the end of the fourth century. Few manuscripts are extant, so for most books the principal evidence is supplied by scriptural quotations in early Christian writers. These are used by editors to reconstruct text-types current in particular times and places. The majority of translations probably originated in North Africa around the end of the second century: the surviving evidence for each book appears to derive from a single initial version which underwent multiple subsequent revisions. Both the Old Testament and New Testament were based on Greek sources and preserve important ancient readings. Old Latin forms of text continued to be copied for many centuries, and their influence can be seen in theology, and liturgy as well as paratextual material. Several of the books later incorporated in the Vulgate, including the whole of the New Testament, are based on Old Latin versions.
Early Manuscripts of the Latin Bible
Authors: Ganz David
Published: March 2023

Abstract: This chapter surveys the surviving manuscripts of the Latin Bible copied before 800 CE, along with the evidence for their production, correction, and use. Information is taken from ancient writings, scribal colophons, and other notes in manuscripts. Additional paratextual material is discussed, such as prefaces, canon tables, and chapter lists. The topics include the size and format of the books, including luxury copies on purple parchment, the scripts used to copy them, the liturgical annotations showing when particular passages were read, and the presence of glosses to the biblical text. Insular Gospel Books, early pandects and Carolingian manuscripts are treated in separate sections. An account is also given of the earliest illustrations in Latin Bibles.
Paris Bibles and Scholarship
Authors: Dahan Gilbert
Published: March 2023

Abstract: In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Paris was the center of scholarship on the Latin Bible, giving rise to a distinctive type of manuscript known as the “Paris Bible.” This chapter traces the development of biblical studies from the schools to the university, along with the typical didactic structure of these lessons. It also gives an account of the role of religious orders (especially the Dominicans and Franciscans). The characteristic features of the Paris Bibles are described, followed by other scholarly tools such as the correctoria, concordances, and distinctiones. The most famous biblical commentators associated with Paris in this period are listed, along with their principal exegetical outputs.
Gender
Authors: Reno Joshua M. , Ahearne-Kroll Stephen P.
Published: March 2023

Major issues and scholarship in the theoretical approaches to ancient gender are addressed in the first half of this essay. Scholarly approaches stem from the study of gender in classics, since these studies represent the wider and dominant gender norms in the ancient world, but there is a need to adapt them to the study of the Synoptics to account for the geographical differences and nature of the literature in comparison to classical literature. A gender analysis is performed on Mark 7:24–30 (the interaction of Jesus with the Greek Syrophoenician woman); Matthew 1:1–2:21 (comparing the masculinity of the adult King Herod and the very young royal Jesus); and Luke 1 (considering the reversal of gender in Zechariah and Mary). Each of these analyses touches on some key principles of studying ancient gender, most significantly the need for a intersectional framework that includes social status as a key consideration, without exhausting all the ways that gender could be considered in each passage.
Jewish Sectarianism
Authors: Kampen John
Published: March 2023

The dominance of methods of literary criticism of the Synoptic Gospels such as form and redaction criticism in New Testament studies directed attention away from their context in the Jewish history of the late Second Temple period. New attention to sociological methods in the study of the Synoptic Gospels in the late twentieth century accompanied the designation and examination of some Jewish groups from this period as sectarian. Criteria for the evaluation of sectarian texts center on understanding the level of tension with the sociocultural environment evident within them. Based upon the resulting criteria, the Gospel of Matthew exhibits a much greater level of that tension than the other Synoptic Gospels. This permits an analysis of the first Gospel as an example of the literary production of a first- century Jewish sectarian body.
Resurrection and the Afterlife
Authors: Somov Alexey
Published: March 2023

Modern scholarship regards the New Testament views on resurrection and the afterlife as much more multifaceted than was traditionally presupposed. This essay addresses the questions of whether there is unanimity or polysemy in the Synoptics’ views on resurrection and what kind of afterlife it represents for the authors of these texts. First, the essay outlines the difficulties of the traditional approaches to the resurrection and overviews some recent approaches, discussing various problems with defining resurrection in the Synoptics; then it analyzes different types of resurrection in early Jewish literature and proceeds with an analysis of Jesus’s resurrection as that of a righteous sufferer and an examination of the eschatological resurrection in the Synoptics. In the final part, the essay offers a cognitive metaphor approach to the concept of resurrection in the Synoptics, which provides an explanation for the ambiguity of the representation of the afterlife existence.
Food and Meals
Authors: Al-Suadi Soham
Published: March 2023

Food and meal communities belong directly together when one looks at the Synoptic Gospels and the sociohistorical context behind them. This article examines the literary and socio-historical perspectives in which meals were eaten in the ancient Mediterranean world. It gives a short introduction to the meal in the Greco-Roman world and the foodstuffs used by participants in these meals. Then meal scenes found in the Synoptic Gospels are discussed, comparing their descriptions of the life, Passion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Particular attention is drawn to the meal scenes in which various theological, social, and political courses and agendas are established.
Portraits of Women
Authors: Myers Susan E.
Published: March 2023

Women appear throughout all of the Gospels, sometimes unnamed or unacknowledged. While first-century Palestine was patriarchal, women often had more autonomy and independence than modern readers sometimes accord them. This essay examines the question of locating the women in the Gospels before turning to stories of several notable women, comparing, when possible, the differing reports of their presence in the different Synoptic Gospels. Among those treated here are the Syrophoenician or Canaanite woman; the woman who anoints Jesus; the woman with the flow of blood and Jairus’s daughter; Mary Magdalene; Mary, the mother of Jesus; and Mary and Martha. The treatment of the women varies between the gospels, with greater authority granted the women in the Gospel of Mark, while women in the Gospel of Luke, while numerous, are reduced in authority.
Kingdom, Authority, and Power
Authors: Peppard Michael
Published: March 2023

This article analyzes narratives and images of power, both earthly and heavenly, in the Synoptic Gospels. It first assesses how each Gospel situates the story of Jesus at the nexus of earthly and heavenly kingdoms. It then summarizes scholarly viewpoints about the sociopolitical context of Galilee and Judea under Roman imperial rule, including forms of resistance to occupation. Scholars attuned to the Roman imperial presence have offered empire-critical interpretations of the Gospels. Representative and influential approaches to the political characteristics of Mark and Matthew are reviewed, with special attention to insights from postcolonial criticism. Finally, forms of spiritual power are classified according to the categories of Spirit-empowerment, healing, and exorcism, noting the contributions of disability studies. The article concludes by discussing Jesus’s exorcism of a “Legion” of demons, a narrative which may hold the key to understanding various forms of power in the Synoptic Gospels.
Violent Imaginaries
Authors: Rollens Sarah E.
Published: March 2023

This chapter examines language of violence in the Synoptic Gospels. Sidestepping the challenges of connecting violent situations in texts with historical scenarios, the discussion instead examines the roles that violent imagery plays within the contours of the texts. The chapter first situates Jesus’s and John the Baptist’s deaths within a wider framework of violence against envoys of God; the violent rejection that Jesus, John the Baptist, and the early followers of Jesus experienced could thus be understood (and rationalized) as part of a long legacy of violence evident in Israelite traditions. The analysis then turns to the use of violence in many of Jesus’s parables, showing that the stories often reflect an agrarian world of routine violence and social inequality. Finally, it considers the well-known violence that accompanies apocalyptic traditions in the Synoptics. Overall, the chapter regards violence as a valuable, intellectual resource for the authors of the Gospels.
The Synoptic Gospels and Apocryphal Narratives
Authors: Spittler Janet E.
Published: March 2023

This essay treats three points of intersection between the Synoptic Gospels and apocryphal narratives that were indicated decades ago by François Bovon but have not yet been pursued in full: (1) apocryphal narratives as key evidence for the reception of the Synoptic Gospels; (2) the compositional process of apocryphal narratives, particularly apocryphal acts, as an analogy for the compositional process of the Synoptic Gospels; and (3) apocryphal narratives as a repository of early traditions concerning the composition of the Synoptic Gospels. This essay takes up a concrete example of each point (in the Acts of John, the Acts of John in Rome, and the Acts of Timothy, respectively) in an effort to illustrate the potential of such study and to amplify Bovon’s initial call for more research in these areas.
History
Authors: Becker Eve-Marie
Published: March 2023

This chapter shows how the Synoptic Gospels—from Mark to Matthew and Luke-Acts—shape early Christian historiographical thinking through literary narratives about the “beginnings of the gospel story.” “History,” in early Christian writings as in ancient historiography in a broader sense, comes as the result of narrativizing past time events for present understanding. The Synoptic Gospel writers participate in the Hellenistic culture of history writing and produce their respective writings under the general impact of the “Early Roman Imperial” Zeitgefühl (sense of time)—however, without bringing out antiimperialist thinking. Rather, the Synoptic Gospels provide distinctive narrative tools of “time mastery.” This chapter shows how time mastery works when Mark practices the historian’s mode of foreseeing the future, and how Luke, as historian, further elaborates on the Markan concept of history writing, while Matthew suppresses his Vorlage by presenting Jesus as a “timeless teacher.”
Ancient Rhetoric as an Evaluative Tool for Literary Dependence
Authors: Damm Alexander
Published: March 2023

Ancient rhetoric in all its variety is becoming a significant tool for inferring literary dependence among the Synoptic Gospels. Highlighting the conviction that more realistic scenarios of literary dependence should base themselves on ancient reasoning and conventions that stand independent of the Gospels themselves, this essay has two tasks. The first is to review and comment critically on appeals to three traditions of ancient rhetoric as tools for addressing the Synoptic Problem. The second is to illustrate their appeals to ancient conventions by arguing for Matthew’s rhetorically sensitive use of Mark in the story of the healing of the blind man/blind men (Mark 10:46–52 // Matt 20:29–34).
Israel’s Scriptures
Authors: Docherty Susan
Published: March 2023

This essay introduces the major features of the use of Israel’s scriptures in each of the Synoptic Gospels, considering formal citations, significant allusions, and the deployment of scriptural motifs and models such as “son of David,” “new Moses,” and “prophet like Elijah.” This overview is followed by a comparative discussion of key issues, such as text form and exegetical techniques, set within the wider context of early Jewish scriptural interpretation. The investigation highlights some interesting differences between the evangelists: the preference for allusions over citations in Mark, for example, and the uniquely Matthean fulfillment quotations. A greater number of commonalities across the Gospels are identified, however, including the frequent appeal to Isaiah and the Psalms; the influence of the wisdom literature on the teaching sections; the shaping of narratives to fit prophetic oracles; and the application to Jesus of texts with an originally general or ambiguous referent.
Implicit Bias, Behavioral Realism, and the Purposeful Intent Doctrine
Authors: Kang Jerry
Published: March 2023

Over the past quarter-century, scientific discoveries from experimental social psychology have altered our understanding of how racial discrimination takes place. Specifically, we have learned that our decisions are influenced by implicit biases, which are attitudes and stereotypes that we cannot easily sense in ourselves through direct introspection. Scholars in law and psychology committed to the idea of “behavioral realism” have argued that legal doctrine should evolve in response to this updated understanding. This chapter provides a brief primer on implicit bias, behavioral realism, and examines how courts have started to reinterpret antidiscrimination law in light of the new scientific understandings. In particular, we are witnessing a chipping away of the purposeful intent doctrine across multiple bodies of civil rights laws.
Child Protection in Mediterranean Countries
Authors: Bertotti Teresa , Di Rosa Roberta T. , Asimopoulos Charis
Published: March 2023

This chapter explores the child protection systems in Italy and Greece. Both countries have to deal with immigrant children due to the conflict between the rights of minors and immigration laws on control and defense. In Italy, the child protection system is the result of a patchwork of norms and regulations addressing different societal demands and pressures. Family and cash-transfers are fundamental factors in Italy’s child welfare system. Greece, on the other hand, has adopted fragmented measures and policies connected with financial benefits, income support, social security, social care for disabled people, and rehabilitation for children at risk. The chapter also notes how the 2010 financial crisis affected the Greek child protection system.
The Child Protection System in the Slovak Republic
Authors: Kvašňáková Lenka , Balogová Beáta
Published: March 2023

This chapter explores the child protection system in the Slovak Republic. Following the split with Czech, Slovakia’s documents on the protection of children’s rights are based on the EU’s European Charter of Fundamental Rights and the UNCRC’s optional protocols. Additionally, Slovak children are a target of socio-legal protection which protects the rights and legitimate interests of minors. Intervention is required in line with the failure of the natural family environment to preserve the children’s rights and needs. The chapter expounds on the legislative changes that sparked the process of transformation and deinstitutionalization of substitute care. The legislation is based on the principles or preferences like a natural family environment or substitute care.
Child Welfare in Canada
Authors: Trocmé Nico , Doucet Melanie , Fallon Barbara , Nutton Jennifer , Esposito Tonino
Published: March 2023

This chapter looks into the child welfare system in Canada, which is focused on the child’s safety instead of the welfare of the family and child. Child protection systems have characteristics of mandatory reporting of suspected cases, service eligibility depending on maltreatment investigations, the option of using court orders, and out-of-home care settings. Indigenous children are significantly overrepresented in the child welfare system and children being placed in out-of-home care. The chapter also notes the rise of child welfare services in response to industrialism, capitalism, and urbanization as it sparked social issues like child labor, poverty, and the destitution of families.
Child Protection in Iran
Authors: Takaffoli Marzieh , Vameghi Meroe , Arshi Maliheh , Ostadhashemi Leila
Published: March 2023

This chapter explores child protection in Iran. The Child Development Index, based on the indicators of health, education, and nutrition, shows growth and development. Additionally, the definition of a child is based on the age of maturity in Islam: nine years old for girls and fifteen years old for boys. The physical health and moral nurture of children are vital factors that would lead to an intervention and court decisions to child custody. However, the criteria for mistreatment are not comprehensive enough to only have a single interpretation in courts. On other hand, the Orphaned and with Inappropriate Care Givers Children and Youth Protection Act facilitates the adoption process, especially for kids with inappropriate caregivers.
Child Protection in Australia and New Zealand
Authors: Cashmore Judith , Taylor Nicola
Published: March 2023

This chapter delivers an overview of child protection services in Australia and New Zealand. Both nations’ main concern primarily revolves around numerous reports of children at risk and the overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) children in Australia and Māori children in New Zealand. In Australia, child protection legislation, policy and practice processes are mostly similar across states and territories and differ in terms of reporting, investigation, and interventions for a child in either risk or need of protection and care. On the other hand, New Zealand’s whangai system was eroded due to state intervention to protect children and westernized laws governing adoption and welfare. The over-representation of Indigenous children living away from their whanau sparked major reform of the country’s child protection system.
The Development of the Korean Child Protection System
Authors: Chung Yiyoon , Lah T. J.
Published: March 2023

This chapter explicates the development, cultural influences, unique challenges, and policy strategies of the child protection system in Korea. The Korean government fronted its critical challenge of enforcing an indigenous Korean child protection philosophy and institutions. Traditionally, child-rearing is a task for individuals instead of government intervention. The chapter expounds on the CPS system of social allocations, social provisions, delivery, and finance dimensions. The delivery and financing of services proved to be a significant policy issue. The chapter also emphasizes how the definition of child-rearing and child maltreatment are heavily influenced by cultural traditions and beliefs. Family preservation has been the ultimate goal of Korean child protection services.
Child Protection Policy and Service in China
Authors: Zhao Fang , Xu Yanfeng
Published: March 2023

This chapter discusses China’s child protection policies and services. Children are considered as a family’s private property in China following its Confucianism influence. Since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, the child protection policy has been influenced by its sociopolitical system and transitioned from a residual welfare system to a modest institutional system. While the country witnessed the rapid development of its policies and practices, China is still fronting issues such as insufficient supportive measures to implement child protection legislation, and lack of clarification on the concept of child abuse and neglect. Building a family-centred child welfare policy and comprehensive welfare services are vital in improving the Chinese child protection system.
Child Protection in South Africa
Authors: Sloth-Nielsen Julia
Published: March 2023

This chapter discusses South African child protection in line with the transition from an apartheid regime to a democratic multi-party democracy. The child protection system remains shaped by the apartheid history, thus it recently underwent an overhaul with the Children’s Act 38 of 2005. The legislation, additionally, became fully operational by 2010. Child protection in South Africa also covers the parent-child relationship, domestication of Hague Abduction and Intercountry Adoption Conventions, and contractual surrogacy. Moreover, non-governmental organizations and church groups mostly delivered child protection services despite its result of racially skewed, patchy, and unequal network of services at the conclusion of the apartheid.
Child Protection Systems in Ghana
Authors: Dako-Gyeke Mavis , Adubea Mills Abigail , Akyere Boateng Doris
Published: March 2023

This chapter discusses the child protection systems in Ghana. Extended family still participates in the protection and support activities for children in the possibility of stretching the care environment of children beyond their nuclear family. Building a protective environment for children is indispensable for their optimal growth and development since it ensures that suffering children are easier to identify and protect. Additionally, child protection encompasses prevention and response to violence, neglect, abuse, and exploitation against children. However, the implementation of laws for the protection of children remained weak. Some of the provisions of the Children’s Act based on the UNCRC were considered socio-culturally unsuitable for Ghana.
Child Protection and Welfare in France
Authors: Bolter Flora
Published: March 2023

This chapter explicates child protection and welfare in France. The overall structure of France’s child protection system relies on collaboration between the justice system and social services, the latter implementing virtually all care orders through the département-based Aide sociale à l’enfance. The main sources of funding for social action are fiscal after it devolved to départements as a consequence of the decentralization of state competencies. The chapter also notes the types of danger, local disparities, and principles of intervention. It looks into how the French child protection and welfare system is based on national solidarity and profoundly territorialized since most issues are connected to a lack of data and consistency over the territory.
Building the Child Protection System in Argentina
Authors: Villalta Carla , Llobet Valeria
Published: March 2023

This chapter explores the construction of the Argentinian child protection system. Whilst Argentina was one of the first countries to develop a strong Welfare State in Latin America, the nation’s child protection matters did not perform nearly as well. The expansion of children’s rights occurred parallel to the retraction of citizenship and welfare protection and the rise of poverty. Thus, transformation in education, social protection, and family laws was framed by rights focused on children’s interests and needs. The chapter expounds on the process of local reception and institutionalization of children’s rights discourse, the local debates, and disputes over the definition of the aforementioned rights and their actors.
Print Culture and the Mediation of the Classical Canon in the Twentieth-Century United States
Authors: Rubin Joan Shelley
Published: March 2023

Alongside technological innovations, in the twentieth-century United States print culture served the efforts of figures and institutions to bring understanding of classical music to broad audiences. Such efforts varied significantly according to the extent to which mediators balanced commitments to shaping taste against the priorities of a thriving consumer culture. Daniel Gregory Mason, Frances Elliott Clark, Sigmund Spaeth, Aaron Copland, and the leadership of the Book-of-the-Month Club Record Division exemplify this variation. Their activities underscore the importance of recognizing that the middlebrow was not monolithic, and that the mediation of the classical canon reflected wider trends in American cultural history.
Afrofuturist Cinema
Authors: Kilgore De Witt Douglas
Published: March 2023

Afrofuturism is a term that seeks to capture how Black artists are envisioning the “not yet” of a human future divested from the delimiting effects of whiteness. This chapter emphasizes the work of Afrofuturism as a cinematic practice, arguing that while Afrofuturist filmmaking is not a coherent aesthetic, its practitioners consistently stress the role of Afrocentricity in developing science fiction’s generic potential. Suggesting the array of approaches that Afrofuturism involves, the chapter recognizes three types of Afrofuturist film—thin, strong, and revolutionary—that together demonstrate the politico-aesthetic of Afrofuturist film as it appears in a variety of independent and mainstream examples.
Biopolitics and Bioethics
Authors: Vint Sherryl
Published: March 2023

This chapter outlines ideas central to biopolitical theory and demonstrates how they have proven especially useful for analyzing science fiction (sf) films, particularly those concerned with the social reproduction of humanity into the future, and those exploring themes about society’s differentiation between valued and disposable life—a distinction that sf has often represented as a matter of species difference. The primary text used to examine ideas about the valuation of life is Claire Denis’s High Life.
Feminist Materialism
Authors: McDonald Frances
Published: March 2023

The twentieth century saw Newtonian physics superseded by quantum field theory, a paradigm shift based in scientists’ discovery that matter is dynamic and lively, not inert and static. Feminist materialism begins with the assertion that how people think about matter, matters. How does the discovery of matter’s vitality call into question and permit a reworking of traditional notions of embodiment, agency and causation, and kinship and ethics? In important ways, feminist materialism understands itself as doing science fictional work. Karen Barad and Donna Haraway in particular have been invested in building speculative practices that materially upset the presumed limits of time, space, and bodies. This chapter offers an overview of feminist materialism that demonstrates how its methods and goals resonate with those of science fiction (sf), particularly via a close reading of Shane Carruth’s 2013 experimental sf film Upstream Color.
Posthumanism
Authors: Telotte J. P.
Published: March 2023

This chapter on posthumanism and science fiction (sf) describes a range of posthuman film narratives, including stories about human adaptation through technological means, apocalyptic extinctions of the human, and the potential transcendence of the current human condition. Drawing on the work of such figures as Donna Haraway, Rosi Braidotti, and N. Katherine Hayles, the chapter examines the increasingly blurred sense of what constitutes the human and contemporary culture’s often frustrating efforts to redefine that nature. Using posthumanist theory, it traces the development of this condition through a range of films, including 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Alien Resurrection (1997), Ex Machina (2016), and Arrival (2016).
Queer Cinema
Authors: Constable Catherine , Denny Matt
Published: March 2023

This chapter demonstrates the usefulness of adopting queer theory for exploring differing constructions of the artificial person in science fiction (sf) cinema, focusing on the key “synthetic” characters found in the Alien franchise (1979–). Contextualizing performativity as a radical theory of subjectivity, this chapter shows how a queer perspective can be used to illuminate the artificial person’s potential to act as a key site of denaturalization and critique of both normative gender roles and conventional notions of “humanness.”
Biopunk Film
Authors: Schmeink Lars
Published: March 2023

With the contemporary proliferation of genetic engineering and the resulting ability to directly change the makeup of human life, narratives about genetic alteration have become a staple of the popular cultural imagination. While not the only science fictional approach to such developments, biopunk is one of the dominant forms such narratives have taken. Using films such as Gattaca, Code 46, Antiviral, and The Girl with All the Gifts, this chapter situates biopunk in the larger context of postmodern and posthuman science fiction. It argues that biopunk films deliver dystopian warnings about the misuse of genetic engineering, while attempting to project a voice for posthuman becomings.
Cli-Fi Cinema
Authors: Bould Mark
Published: March 2023

This chapter outlines the relationship between science fiction (sf) and climate fiction, both literary and cinematic, and urges a broader understanding of what it means to tell stories about anthropogenic climate destabilization. It considers a wide range of cli-fi movies in relation to several dominant narrative trends—strategic realism, techno-utopianism, and apocalyptic environmentalism—and concludes by demonstrating how a film such as Arrival (2017) might be read as an unconscious treatment of climate change concerns.