bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Complex response of the forest nitrogen cycle to climate change
Authors: Bernal Susana , Hedin Lars O. , Likens Gene E. , Gerber Stefan , Buso Don C.
Published: February 2012

Climate exerts a powerful influence on biological processes, but the effects of climate change on ecosystem nutrient flux and cycling are poorly resolved. Although rare, long-term records offer a unique opportunity to disentangle effects of climate from other anthropogenic influences. Here, we examine the longest and most complete record of watershed nutrient and climate dynamics available worldwide, which was collected at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in the northeastern United States. We used empirical analyses and model calculations to distinguish between effects of climate change and past perturbations on the forest nitrogen (N) cycle. We find that climate alone cannot explain the occurrence of a dramatic >90% drop in watershed nitrate export over the past 46 y, despite longer growing seasons and higher soil temperatures. The strongest climate influence was an increase in soil temperature accompanied by a shift in paths of soil water flow within the watershed, but this effect explained, at best, only ∼40% of the nitrate decline. In contrast, at least 50–60% of the observed change in the N export could be explained by the long-lasting effect of forest cutting in the early 1900s on the N cycle of the soil and vegetation pools. Our analysis shows that historic events can obscure the influence of modern day stresses on the N cycle, even when analyses have the advantage of being informed by 0.5-century-long datasets. These findings raise fundamental questions about interpretations of long-term trends as a baseline for understanding how climate change influences complex ecosystems.
Saposins utilize two strategies for lipid transfer and CD1 antigen presentation
Authors: León Luis , Tatituri Raju V. V. , Grenha Rosa , Sun Ying , Barral Duarte C. , Minnaard Adriaan J. , Bhowruth Veemal , Veerapen Natacha , Besra Gurdyal S. , Kasmar Anne , Peng Wei , Moody D. Branch , Grabowski Gregory A. , Brenner Michael B.
Published: February 2012

Transferring lipid antigens from membranes into CD1 antigen-presenting proteins represents a major molecular hurdle necessary for T-cell recognition. Saposins facilitate this process, but the mechanisms used are not well understood. We found that saposin B forms soluble saposin protein–lipid complexes detected by native gel electrophoresis that can directly load CD1 proteins. Because saposin B must bind lipids directly to function, we found it could not accommodate long acyl chain containing lipids. In contrast, saposin C facilitates CD1 lipid loading in a different way. It uses a stable, membrane-associated topology and was capable of loading lipid antigens without forming soluble saposin–lipid antigen complexes. These findings reveal how saposins use different strategies to facilitate transfer of structurally diverse lipid antigens.
Activation of the
Escherichia coli
β-barrel assembly machine (Bam) is required for essential components to interact properly with substrate
Authors: Ricci Dante P. , Hagan Christine L. , Kahne Daniel , Silhavy Thomas J.
Published: February 2012

The outer membrane (OM) of Gram-negative bacteria such as
Escherichia coli
contains lipoproteins and integral β-barrel proteins (outer-membrane proteins, OMPs) assembled into an asymmetrical lipid bilayer. Insertion of β-barrel proteins into the OM is mediated by a protein complex that contains the OMP BamA and four associated lipoproteins (BamBCDE). The mechanism by which the Bam complex catalyzes the assembly of OMPs is not known. We report here the isolation and characterization of a temperature-sensitive lethal mutation,
bamAE373K
, which alters the fifth polypeptide transport-associated domain and disrupts the interaction between the BamAB and BamCDE subcomplexes. Suppressor mutations that map to codon 197 in
bamD
restore Bam complex function to wild-type levels. However, these suppressors do not restore the interaction between BamA and BamD; rather, they bypass the requirement for stable holocomplex formation by activating BamD. These results imply that BamA and BamD interact directly with OMP substrates.
Modernity and media portrayals of China
Authors: Cao Qing
Published: February 2012

China’s image in the Western media has long been a contentious issue. Many previous studies have focused on what images are constructed but few have examined how those images are generated. This article aims to address this issue by exploring cultural foundations of Western representations of China. The article falls into three parts. Part one traces configurations of modernity discourse, focusing on liberal humanism and industrialism as two important dimensions in reporting Chinese affairs. Part Two examines historical trajectories of Western images of China, highlighting different mix of the two versions of modernity at crucial historical junctures. Part three explores conceptual and methodological issues in relation to Western reporting of China. Based on structuralist narrative theories, an analytical model is proposed that is illustrated with specific examples. The article concludes with a critical assessment of current situations of Western reporting of China.
High-Density Polyethylene Pipe: A New Material for Pass-By Passive Integrated Transponder Antennas
Authors: Kazyak David , Zydlewski Joseph
Published: February 2012

Pass-by passive integrated transponder (PIT) antennas are widely used to study the movements of fish in streams. At many sites, stream conditions make it difficult to maintain antennas and obtain a continuous record of movement. We constructed pass-by PIT antennas by using high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and found them to be robust to high flows and winter ice flows. Costs for HDPE antennas were similar to those of traditional polyvinyl chloride (PVC) antennas, although construction was somewhat more complicated. At sites where PVC antennas are frequently damaged, HDPE is a durable and economical alternative for PIT antenna construction.

Received June 21, 2011; accepted October 6, 2011
Response inhibition and attentional control in anxiety
Authors: Pacheco-Unguetti AntoniaPilar , Acosta Alberto , Lupiáñez Juan , Román Naiker , Derakshan Nazanin
Published: February 2012

Traditionally, anxiety has been associated with a selective attentional bias for threat and a decreased capacity in attentional control. In two different experiments, we investigated whether individuals with different levels of self-reported state anxiety (Experiment 1) and induced anxiety (Experiment 2) had impaired response inhibition processes (attentional control deficit) as characterized by a different response style in the presence of negative stimuli under low and high perceptual load conditions. A go/no-go paradigm with emotional distractors (angry, happy, and neutral faces) was used to provide measures of perceptual sensitivity, inhibition, and response style. Our findings showed that perceptual sensitivity, as assessed by the d′ parameter of signal detection theory, was reduced in all participants for angry faces under low perceptual load, where enough perceptual resources were available to be attracted by distractors. Importantly, despite similar perceptual sensitivity, the beta parameter indicated that high state anxiety individuals in both experiments were less flexible at adjusting to task demands in the presence of angry face distractors by adopting a stricter criterion. Implications of findings are discussed within current models of attentional control in anxiety.
The Distinction between Tapping and Circle Drawing with and without Tactile Feedback: An Examination of the Sources of Timing Variance
Authors: Studenka Breanna E. , Zelaznik Howard N. , Balasubramaniam Ramesh
Published: February 2012

An internal clock-like process has been implicated in the control of rhythmic movements performed for short (250–2,000 ms) time scales. However, in the past decade, it has been claimed that a clock-like central timing mechanism is not required for smooth cyclical movements. The distinguishing characteristic delineating clock-like (event) from non-clock-like (emergent) timing is thought to be the kinematic differences between tapping (discrete-like) and circle drawing (smooth). In the archetypal event-timed task (tapping), presence of perceptual events is confounded with the discrete kinematics of movement (table contact). Recently, it has been suggested that discrete perceptual events help participants synchronize with a metronome. However, whether discrete tactile events directly elicit event timing has yet to be determined. In the present study, we examined whether a tactile event inserted into the circle drawing timing task could elicit event timing in a self-paced (continuation) timing task. For a majority of participants, inserting an event into the circle drawing task elicited timing behaviour consistent with the idea that an internal timekeeper was employed (a correlation of circle drawing with tapping). Additionally, some participants exhibited characteristics of event timing in the typically emergently timed circle drawing task. We conclude that the use of event timing can be influenced by the insertion of perceptual events, and it also exhibits persistence over time and over tasks within certain individuals.
Autophagosomes initiate distally and mature during transport toward the cell soma in primary neurons
Authors: Maday Sandra , Wallace Karen E. , Holzbaur Erika L.F.
Published: February 2012

Autophagy is an essential cellular degradation pathway in neurons; defects in autophagy are sufficient to induce neurodegeneration. In this paper, we investigate autophagosome dynamics in primary dorsal root ganglion neurons. Autophagosome biogenesis occurs distally in a constitutive process at the neurite tip. Autophagosomes initially move bidirectionally and then switch to unidirectional, processive movement toward the cell soma driven by dynein. Autophagosomes copurify with anterograde and retrograde motors, suggesting that the activity of bound kinesin motors is effectively down-regulated to yield robust retrograde motility driven by dynein. Both organelle and soluble cargoes are internalized into autophagosomes, including mitochondria and ubiquitin. As autophagosomes move distally to proximally, they undergo maturation and become increasingly acidified, consistent with the formation of an autolysosomal compartment that may more efficiently degrade cargo. This maturation is accompanied by a switch to bidirectional motility characteristic of lysosomes. Together, autophagosome biogenesis and maturation in primary neurons is a constitutive process that is spatially and temporally regulated along the axon.
A neuropeptide signaling pathway regulates synaptic growth in Drosophila
Authors: Chen Xu , Ganetzky Barry
Published: February 2012

Neuropeptide signaling is integral to many aspects of neural communication, particularly modulation of membrane excitability and synaptic transmission. However, neuropeptides have not been clearly implicated in synaptic growth and development. Here, we demonstrate that cholecystokinin-like receptor (CCKLR) and drosulfakinin (DSK), its predicted ligand, are strong positive growth regulators of the Drosophila melanogaster larval neuromuscular junction (NMJ). Mutations of CCKLR or dsk produced severe NMJ undergrowth, whereas overexpression of CCKLR caused overgrowth. Presynaptic expression of CCKLR was necessary and sufficient for regulating NMJ growth. CCKLR and dsk mutants also reduced synaptic function in parallel with decreased NMJ size. Analysis of double mutants revealed that DSK/CCKLR regulation of NMJ growth occurs through the cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)–protein kinase A (PKA)–cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) pathway. Our results demonstrate a novel role for neuropeptide signaling in synaptic development. Moreover, because the cAMP–PKA–CREB pathway is required for structural synaptic plasticity in learning and memory, DSK/CCKLR signaling may also contribute to these mechanisms.
TGF-β synergizes with defects in the Hippo pathway to stimulate human malignant mesothelioma growth
Authors: Fujii Makiko , Toyoda Takeshi , Nakanishi Hayao , Yatabe Yasushi , Sato Ayuko , Matsudaira Yasue , Ito Hidemi , Murakami Hideki , Kondo Yutaka , Kondo Eisaku , Hida Toyoaki , Tsujimura Tohru , Osada Hirotaka , Sekido Yoshitaka
Published: February 2012

Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is an incurable malignancy that is caused by exposure to asbestos and is accompanied by severe fibrosis. Because MM is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage and clinical identification of early lesions is difficult, its molecular pathogenesis has not been completely elucidated. Nearly 75% of MM cases have inactivating mutations in the NF2 (neurofibromatosis type 2; Merlin) gene or in downstream signaling molecules of the Hippo signaling cascade, which negatively regulates the transcription factor Yes-associated protein (YAP). In this study, we demonstrate a functional interaction between the Hippo and TGF-β pathways in regulating connective tissue growth factor (CTGF). Expression of CTGF in MM cells was induced by the formation of a YAP–TEAD4–Smad3–p300 complex on the CTGF promoter. Knocking down CTGF expression in MM cells prolonged the survival of xenografted mice, and a significant association was seen between CTGF expression and extracellular matrix deposition in MM xenografts and in patient tissue specimens. We further suggest that CTGF may influence the malignancy of mesothelioma because of the different histological expression patterns observed in human MM tissues. These data suggest that CTGF is an important modulator of MM growth and pathology and represents a novel therapeutic target for this disease.
The Sodium and Potassium Exchange between Intact Frogs and Their Environment
Authors: STEINBACH H. BURR
Published: February 2012

Intact living frogs (Rana pipiens) were partially immersed in dilute salt solution labeled with K42 or Na24 or, alternatively, injected with Ringer’s fluid containing the appropriate isotope and then partially immersed in unlabeled dilute salt. Before isotopic equilibrium, the animals were sacrificed and specific activities of K42 and Na24 were determined for medium, skin, plasma, and other tissues. With Na24, entering from the medium or escaping to the medium, specific activities of the skin approach that of the plasma. For K42, entering from the medium, the specific activity exceeds that of the plasma. The results are interpreted as indicating that the exchange rate for Na is greater plasma to skin than medium to skin, with the reverse situation for K. Values are given for average Na, K, and Cl contents of the various organ systems.
Early Receptor Potentials of Rods and Cones in Rodents
Authors: PAK WILLIAM L. , EBREY THOMAS G.
Published: February 2012

The second phase (negative peak) of the early receptor potential of cones has been studied in the all-cone eyes of the Mexican and antelope ground squirrels (Citellus mexicanus and Citellus leucurus) and compared with responses from the rod-dominant eyes of the rat and flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans). The responses obtained from the all-cone eyes tended to be smaller in amplitude, to have higher thresholds, and to be considerably more resistant to light adaptation than the responses from the rod-dominant eyes. The wave forms and time courses of the two types of responses were similar, although the cone potential tended to be less sensitive to temperature variations and its time constants tended to be shorter than those of the rod potential. The spectral sensitivity of the second phase of the early receptor potential of the Mexican ground squirrel closely follows the absorption spectrum of a Dartnall nomogram pigment having its absorption maximum at 540 mμ. Moreover, as in the case of the rat, the amplitude of the response appears to be linearly related to the amount of pigment bleached in a flash. Thus, in both all-rod and all-cone systems the early receptor potential appears to arise in the photoexcitation of the respective visual pigment and appears to be closely linked to the initial photochemical events. The similarity of the wave form, time course, and stimulus-response curves in the two systems suggests that the early receptor potential is produced by similar mechanisms in all-rod and all-cone systems.
The Active Transport of Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide into the Swim-Bladder of Fish
Authors: KUHN H.J. , MARTI E.
Published: February 2012

The active transport of oxygen and carbon dioxide into the swim-bladder of fish is discussed. The rete mirabile is a capillary network which is involved in the gas secretion into the bladder. The rete is regarded as a counter-current multiplier. Lactic acid which is produced in the gas gland generates in the rete single concentrating effects for oxygen and carbon dioxide; i.e., for equal partial pressures the concentrations of the gases in the afferent rete capillaries are higher than those in the efferent ones. The single concentrating effects were calculated from measurements of sea robin blood (Root, 1931). The multiplication of these effects within the rete for different rete lengths and different transport rates was numerically evaluated. The calculated O2 and CO2 pressures in the bladder are in good agreement with the experimental results of Scholander and van Dam (1953). The descent velocities at equilibrium between bladder pressure and hydrostatic pressure are discussed for fishes with different rete lengths.
Fresh-water Fish Chemoreceptors Responsive to Dilute Solutions of Electrolytes
Authors: KONISHI JIHEI
Published: February 2012

The existence of the palatal chemoreceptors responding specifically to dilute solutions of salts with monovalent cations was demonstrated in carp. The distilled water effect (a response produced by the application of distilled water after chemoreceptors had been rinsed out with hypertonic salt solutions) was assigned to the activity of the same receptor. Intensity of the response to dilute solutions of salts depended on the valency of the anion: the larger the valency, the greater the response. Positively charged sites of the receptor responsive to dilute salt solutions were suggested by previous treatments with acid and alkali, and dye salts. Increase in the ionic strength of the stimulating solution by the addition of supporting electrolytes caused a depression of response. In particular, strong depression of response was caused by the addition of a supporting electrolyte with a divalent cation. Effects of polarizing current on the chemoreceptor activity were investigated. Based upon the findings in this paper, a hypothesis is presented, which explains mechanisms underlying chemoreceptor responses to dilute solutions of electrolytes in terms of an interfacial electro-kinetic process.
MotEvo: integrated Bayesian probabilistic methods for inferring regulatory sites and motifs on multiple alignments of DNA sequences
Authors: Arnold Phil , Erb Ionas , Pachkov Mikhail , Molina Nacho , van Nimwegen Erik
Published: February 2012

Motivation: Probabilistic approaches for inferring transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) and regulatory motifs from DNA sequences have been developed for over two decades. Previous work has shown that prediction accuracy can be significantly improved by incorporating features such as the competition of multiple transcription factors (TFs) for binding to nearby sites, the tendency of TFBSs for co-regulated TFs to cluster and form cis-regulatory modules and explicit evolutionary modeling of conservation of TFBSs across orthologous sequences. However, currently available tools only incorporate some of these features, and significant methodological hurdles hampered their synthesis into a single consistent probabilistic framework.

Results: We present MotEvo, a integrated suite of Bayesian probabilistic methods for the prediction of TFBSs and inference of regulatory motifs from multiple alignments of phylogenetically related DNA sequences, which incorporates all features just mentioned. In addition, MotEvo incorporates a novel model for detecting unknown functional elements that are under evolutionary constraint, and a new robust model for treating gain and loss of TFBSs along a phylogeny. Rigorous benchmarking tests on ChIP-seq datasets show that MotEvo's novel features significantly improve the accuracy of TFBS prediction, motif inference and enhancer prediction.

Availability: Source code, a user manual and files with several example applications are available at www.swissregulon.unibas.ch.

Contact:  erik.vannimwegen@unibas.ch

Supplementary information:  Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Phylogenomic analysis of bacterial and archaeal sequences with AMPHORA2
Authors: Wu Martin , Scott Alexandra J.
Published: February 2012

Summary: With the explosive growth of bacterial and archaeal sequence data, large-scale phylogenetic analyses present both opportunities and challenges. Here we describe AMPHORA2, an automated phylogenomic inference tool that can be used for high-throughput, high-quality genome tree reconstruction and metagenomic phylotyping. Compared with its predecessor, AMPHORA2 has several major enhancements and new functions: it has a greatly expanded phylogenetic marker database and can analyze both bacterial and archaeal sequences; it incorporates probability-based sequence alignment masks that improve the phylogenetic accuracy; it can analyze DNA as well as protein sequences and is more sensitive in marker identification; finally, it is over 100× faster in metagenomic phylotyping.

Availability:  http://wolbachia.biology.virginia.edu/WuLab/Software.html.

Contact:  mw4yv@virginia.edu

Supplementary information:  Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Risk Assessment in Child Protection Services
Authors: Shlonsky Aron
Published: February 2012

Child welfare services are designed to promote the safety and well-being of children at risk of harm. In most high-income countries, these services are largely focused on preventing the occurrence or recurrence of child maltreatment. Risk assessment, in this context, amounts to a set of procedures, formal and informal, used by social workers and other human-services professionals to identify children at risk of harm as a result of maltreatment. The definition of child maltreatment can vary with regard to scope, frequency, and severity but generally entails an act of commission or omission toward a child that is, or can result in, damage or harm to the child’s physical or psychological well-being. Most often, risk assessments are conducted by child protection agencies investigating allegations of child maltreatment. In such instances, risk assessment generally involves determining the likelihood of future maltreatment and deciding whether action is needed to reduce the risk of future harm.
Food and Food Production
Authors: Altmann Peter
Published: February 2012

Food and food production form the settings for a plethora of Old and New Testament texts as well as the metaphorical material used by texts for a variety of purposes. The basic “Mediterranean diet” of olive oil, grains, and grapes and their production are the everyday staples, often supplemented by festive meals. Meals display important theological, anthropological, and political events, highlighting both the materiality of the biblical discourses and the use of material images for broader arguments. Uses of food in the Hebrew Bible are deeply influenced by the political and religious traditions of the ancient Near East, such as Assyria, Egypt, Babylon, and Ugarit. New Testament texts interact with both the Greco-Roman and earlier Israelite traditions.
Jewish Christianity
Authors: Reed Annette Yoshiko
Published: February 2012

“Jewish Christianity” is a modern scholarly category. In 19th- and early-20th-century scholarship, this and related terms (e.g., Judenchristentum, Judéo-christianisme, Judaeo-Christianity) were used primarily in discussions of the apostolic Jerusalem Church led by Peter and James, the traditions about them preserved in the Pseudo-Clementine literature, and the Ebionites and Nazoraeans mentioned in Patristic catalogues of “heresies.” Jewish Christianity continues to be studied along these lines. With the flowering of research on Jewish/Christian relations after World War II, the topic has also attracted new interest; special attention has been given to the possible place of Jewish Christians as early agents or targets of anti-Jewish polemics, as well as to the fate of Jewish Christianity and its consequences for the history of Jewish/Christian relations. In addition, the scope of materials brought to bear on Jewish Christianity has been expanded to include a range of archaeological, documentary, and literary data that might attest the combination of “Christian” beliefs with “Jewish” identity and practice—whether in direct continuity with the apostolic Jerusalem Church or in other early expressions of Christianity’s Jewish heritage. At the same time, increased attention to the Jewish cultural matrix of the Jesus Movement and early Christianity has contributed to heated debates about the definition of “Jewish Christianity” and its heurism as a category. More recently, evidence for Jewish Christianity has played an important part in studies of Christianity’s so-called Parting of the Ways with Judaism, and the topic has been richly discussed in relation to hybridity, heresiology, the dynamics of religious self-definition, and the challenges of constructing modern categories for the study of ancient identities.
Prophets
Authors: Reid Stephen Breck
Published: February 2012

“Prophets,” “prophecy,” and “prophetic” are the three words that form the core of this research area. Prophets interpret the present in light of a specific type of divination practices. Divination was and is a resource to provide a human client, individual, or group access to divine information about the present and the future. Prophets work within the institution and practices called prophecy. The artifacts left by the prophets are prophetic, whether literature or speech. The material described in this bibliography focuses on the prophetic books. These books are referred to as the Prophets in many circles but sometimes are referred to as the Latter Prophets (Judges through Kings have the designation the Former Prophets.).
Satan
Authors: Huber Lynn R.
Published: February 2012

The Satan of popular imagination, God’s cosmic archenemy and the source of evil, has a long and complex history. Although scholars typically locate this history within the context of ancient Jewish and Christian imaginations, these origins are complicated by a number of factors. Among these are the various uses of the Hebrew noun satan to describe both earthly and cosmic figures and the multiple aliases referring to God’s cosmic opponent in Jewish and Christian literature, including Belial or Beliar, Mastema, Beelzebul, Lucifer, and the Devil, and others. The roots of the character Satan are typically discussed in relation to the Hebrew Bible, although the image of the cosmic opponent emerges most clearly within the writings of early Judaism, in the literature of the Second Temple period (c. 515 bce–70 ce). Many scholars associate the emergence of this figure with ancient Near Eastern influence on early Judaism. Others highlight it as a response to the problem of evil; Satan and his retinue effectively distance God from acts difficult to reconcile with beliefs about God’s nature. Still others locate the emergence of Satan and satan figures within the context of social movements, arguing that the character of Satan serves as a tool for constructing communal identity and defining opposition. Satan, or the Devil or Beelzebul, as a cosmic opponent also plays an important role within the literature of the emerging Christian movement, especially the New Testament texts. In the Gospels the cosmic battle between God and Satan imagined in early Judaism is interpreted in relation to Jesus, whose defeat of Satan is evidenced through exorcism, healing, and resurrection. Although some interpreters contend that the depiction of Jesus as exorcist reflects the historical Jesus’ understanding of his ministry as the eschatological defeat of Satan, others maintain that Jesus’ conflict with Satan should be viewed in terms of his opposition to the Roman Empire. The question of whether or to what extent references to Satan and evil powers should be read as describing political, social, and other human forces permeates scholarship on Paul and Revelation as well. Scholarship on Satan appears in a variety of forms, including wide-ranging treatments of the character of Satan across literary and historical contexts; exegetical examinations of specific texts using the terms satan, Belial, and so on; and discussions of Satan in relation to demons, the problem of evil, serpent imagery, and other elements. Many of the latter are intertwined explicitly with theological concerns and questions.
Pauline Letters
Authors: Zetterholm Magnus
Published: February 2012

Thirteen letters in the New Testament bear the name of Paul, a Jewish follower of Jesus of Nazareth, who probably was born in Tarsus (in modern Turkey) in the beginning of the first century ce and who was, according to tradition, executed in Rome in the mid-60s. The letters were composed at various locations in Asia Minor and Europe and typically deal with local problems in the communities. In several cases they are direct responses to questions posed by those communities. However, the majority of New Testament scholars generally agree that Paul is not the author of all letters that bear his name. The Pauline corpus can thus be divided into two groups: (1) letters almost certainly written by Paul (authentic), (2) letters concerning which discussion is ongoing regarding authorship (disputed). Within this latter group, some letters are more disputed than others. In addition to the letters included in the New Testament, a number of noncanonical letters are also associated with Paul (e.g., the Epistle to the Laodiceans, 3 Corinthians), which clearly date from a later period. Among the authentic letters of Paul we find the earliest writings in the New Testament, and accordingly, the earliest witnesses to the Jesus movement. As such, they are of immense value for historical research on the emergence and development of the religious movement that would eventually be known as the Christian church.
Second Temple Judaism
Authors: Reed Annette Yoshiko
Published: February 2012

“Second Temple Judaism” is a common designation for the Jewish traditions that flourished between the return of exiles from Babylon and the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple under Persian patronage from 538 to 515 bce, and the destruction of the Temple by Roman forces in 70 ce. In practice, research on the period often focuses on the 4th century bce and following, and stretches into the 2nd century ce. Sometimes referred to erroneously as “intertestamental,” Second Temple Judaism has attracted sustained attention since the late 19th century as a transitional age between the ancient Israelite religion reflected in the early strata of the Hebrew Bible and the emergence of Christianity and classical rabbinic Judaism in their characteristically postsacrificial forms in late Antiquity. In relation to the former, it has been called “postexilic,” “post-biblical,” or “late Judaism,” and, in relation to the latter, “prerabbinic” or “early Judaism.” Particularly since the discovery and publication of the Dead Sea Scrolls, it has been studied increasingly for its own sake and on its own terms. By the 1970s, a nascent subfield was taking form, energized by a new emphasis on the diversity of the Judaism from within which Christianity arose. In the late 20th century, studies of the Dead Sea Scrolls revealed new insights into the significance of this period for the development of Judaism as well. Long deemed critical for Jewish engagement with Greek language and literature and for the spread of Jewish communities throughout the Mediterranean world, the Second Temple period has also become a new locus for research on halacha, purity, and biblical interpretation. In addition, its study continues to create a space for discussion and collaboration among specialists in the Hebrew Bible, Classics, New Testament, Jewish studies, and rabbinics. This entry focuses on the literary evidence for Second Temple Judaism, selectively treating themes and issues that cross the large span of periods and places encompassed by this scholarly designation; for material and documentary evidence for Jews in the Second Temple period, the reader is referred to the Oxford Bibliographies articles on specific locales and time periods. Please see also Inscriptions, Papyri, Coins, and Seals in the Oxford Bibliographies article Hellenistic Judaism.
Septuagint
Authors: Greenspoon Leonard J. , Ross William A.
Published: February 2012

The term Septuagint (or LXX) typically refers to a collection of ancient Jewish Greek texts produced in Egypt and Judea between the third century bce and the second century ce. Although there is some variation, the boundaries of the corpus are usually identified with the contents of modern textual editions, most recently that of Alfred Rahlfs and Robert Hanhart, published in 2006. The majority of the Septuagint corpus consists of Greek translations of books that are part of the canonical Hebrew Bible. In addition, the Septuagint also includes Greek translations of noncanonical Hebrew or Aramaic writings such as Tobit, 1 Maccabees, and Ben Sira. Furthermore, certain works originally composed by Jews in Greek, such as the Additions to Esther, 2 Maccabees, and perhaps Judith, are also considered part of the traditional Septuagint corpus. The earliest part of the Septuagint to be produced was the translation of the Pentateuch, which occurred in Ptolemaic Egypt, likely in or around Alexandria, and can be dated confidently to the mid- or late third century bce. The latest part of the corpus produced was likely 2 Esdras or Ecclesiastes, although certainty on this matter remains elusive, and important revisions and recensions of the corpus occurred in both Jewish and Christian communities into the fourth century ce. Contemporary scholarship on the Septuagint encompasses a wide array of areas of research. Primary among them are questions of textual production, transmission, and revision or recension in the ancient period. In addition, Septuagint scholarship also addresses the social, religious, and cultural contexts of Hellenistic Judaism in which most of the corpus was produced. Matters of language are also significant, as the Septuagint is the largest extant corpus of post-Classical (“Koine”) Greek. Other areas of study include translation, Jewish and early Christian theology and hermeneutics, New Testament textual criticism, and secondary versions produced from the Septuagint itself, such as the Vetus Latina. Septuagint scholarship is thus a thriving area of research that touches on many other subdisciplines within biblical scholarship and beyond. The primary hub of scholarly collaboration for the discipline is the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies (IOSCS), which maintains a website to curate disciplinary news, recent publications, and links to various related resources. The IOSCS also maintains a disciplinary journal, the Journal of Septuagint and Cognate Studies (formerly the Bulletin of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies, Vols. 1–43).
Sirach
Authors: Corley Jeremy , Gregory Bradley C.
Published: February 2012

This article deals with a 2nd-century bce Jewish wisdom book, known variously as Ben Sira (its Hebrew name), Sirach (its Greek name, also “Siracide” in French or Italian), or Ecclesiasticus (its Latin name). This long book deals with many theological issues (e.g., creation, divine election and providence, prayer, theodicy, death), as well as many topics of social ethics (e.g., poverty and wealth, women, family and friends, honor and shame). The educational teaching is significant for its personification of wisdom (e.g., Sirach 24) and for its close connection of wisdom, Torah, and fear of God (Sirach 19:20). Moreover, the Praise of the Ancestors (Sirach 44–50) offers a review of Israel’s history not found in earlier Hebrew wisdom writings. As a whole, Ben Sira’s work is historically and theologically important in filling the gap between earlier Hebrew wisdom books (e.g., Proverbs and Qoheleth) and later writings (e.g., the New Testament gospels and the Mishnah tractate Pirqe Abot). Sirach is regarded as deuterocanonical by the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, but apocryphal or noncanonical by Jews and most Protestants. The first wave of revived studies of Sirach came in the two decades after 1896, following the discovery of several medieval Hebrew Ben Sira texts in the storeroom of the Cairo synagogue (Cairo Genizah). Modern research on Sirach began in 1965, the year of publication of both the Hebrew Masada Scroll of Ben Sira and a critical edition of the Greek version.
Book of Jubilees
Authors: Endres John C.
Published: February 2012

The Book of Jubilees is a Jewish book from the 2nd century bce that presents the narrative of Genesis and Exodus 1–20 by retelling many of the stories in these books from a different perspective. Included in the collection of Jewish works known as the Pseudepigrapha, it has been known in the West only since the1840s, when European travelers acquired manuscripts from monasteries in Ethiopia and transported some of them to European locations. Preliminary studies of these manuscripts led scholars to believe that they were texts of a book previously known from citations from early Christian literature in Greek, fragments of which had been collected and published in the 1720s. Even before the discovery of Hebrew manuscripts at Qumran, it was argued that the book had been written in Hebrew and then translated into Greek; from the Greek, translations were made into Syriac, Latin, and Ethiopic. The revelatory framework is connected with Mount Sinai, where the events of God’s revelation to Moses in Exodus 20–24 set the background of the story. In Jubilees, however, the author recounts a revelation to Moses that came about quite differently: here, the angel of presence reads aloud to Moses the contents of the book from the heavenly tablets. This book creates the impression that most of Israel’s important laws, even those revealed at Sinai according to the Torah, already existed during the era of the patriarchs and matriarchs; thus, the antiquity of Jewish laws can be sustained from Jubilees. Related to these laws is the covenant between God and Israel; unlike the Torah (which includes covenants addressed to Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and Moses), there appears to be only one covenant in this book, and it remains operative for all time. As a covenant people, Israel’s role is to live a priestly existence, which necessitates separation from all other nations. Jubilees contains further novel aspects: the prominence of women in this era, the roles of the angels in the revelatory scheme, and the ideological and theological expressions in prayer and testamentary speeches.
Nicholas Love
Authors: Sargent Michael G.
Published: February 2012

Nicholas Love, prior of the Carthusian house of Mount Grace, in Yorkshire, 1410–1423, produced The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ, a translation of the Meditationes vitae Christi, probably by an Italian Franciscan named Johannes de Caulibus but regularly attributed to St. Bonaventure. The earliest version of the Mirror was probably composed c. 1400, but the “original copy” of the book was said to have been submitted to Thomas Arundel, the archbishop of Canterbury, c. 1410 for approval before it was more widely circulated. The reason for this is that the Lambeth Constitutions of 1409 required, as part of an attempt to control Wycliffite translation of the Bible, that any new translations of biblical material of any kind be submitted to diocesan authority. The Constitutions failed in their intention—the Wycliffite Bible versions survive in many more manuscripts than any other writing in Middle English—but Love’s Mirror, which contained a number of anti-Wycliffite defenses of orthodox theological positions, itself came to be widely circulated. The prominence of the Mirror among surviving works of late-medieval English spirituality has led to its being considered as a focal work in the history of vernacular theology.
The Renaissance Papacy
Authors: McGinness Frederick
Published: February 2012

A study of the papacy or the Holy See (the episcopal office of the bishop of Rome) between the years 1350 and 1650 must take into account the long history of the papacy, which extends back to the early centuries of the Common Era and continues to the present day. In this long stretch were laid, often haphazardly, the foundations of papal authority, the claims of the popes as spiritual leaders of the Western church, and the development of the complex administrative machinery centered on Rome to govern the institutional church. A study of the papacy must look as well at the continuous involvement of popes in the major religious, political, economic, and cultural movements in Europe and the East. In these centuries papal government and assertions of authority and influence extended into virtually every aspect of European life and thought. Scholars generally place the beginnings of the Renaissance papacy at Rome around 1421, when Odo Colonna, Pope Martin V, returned to his native city after the papal residence at Avignon (1309–1378), the resolution of the Western Schism, the dampening of the conciliarist crisis after the Council of Ferrara-Florence (1438–1445), and the reassertion of papal sovereignty and political power over the city of Rome and the Papal States. With the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks (1453) and the “loss” of the Eastern church, the papacy in the later 15th century assumed greater prominence as a princely power and as spiritual leader of Christians at a time of increasing peril to Christian Europe, and by this time most of the elements of the papacy as we know it today were set. The Renaissance at Rome is seen as waning after Martin Luther’s challenge to papal authority, the Reformation in northern Europe, and the devastating sack of Rome (1527) at the hands of the army of the Holy Roman Emperor. Only after the Council of Trent (1545–1563) and a series of zealous, reform-minded popes did the papacy appear to regain prestige and authority. By the 17th century the papacy’s spiritual and temporal authority and eminence were again acknowledged throughout the Catholic lands of Europe, and the institution played a major hand in the contest of empires throughout the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) and in the New World. At the war’s close, however, with the Peace of Westphalia (1648) and the Peace of the Pyrenees (1659), the pope’s role as a major player in the politics of Europe was largely exhausted.
Titian
Authors: Nichols Tom , King Rose
Published: February 2012

Titian (Tiziano Vecellio, b. c. 1488–d. 1576) was born in the remote mountain village of Pieve di Cadore but worked in Venice. He quickly became the dominant painter in the city, and by the end of his long career he was the most famous and wealthiest artist in Europe. His oil paintings (particularly his portraits) were much loved and sought after by courtly and aristocratic patrons in many countries and had a major impact on leading Baroque painters, such as Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony Van Dyck, and Diego Velasquez. On a critical level, however, idealist art theorists considered them too naturalistic and thus as less perfect in design (disegno) than Italian works from Florence and Rome. It was only toward the end of the 18th century, as cultural values shifted, that Titian’s paintings began to be taken seriously again as works of art. Under the impact of Romanticism and then modernism, Titian’s works were rapidly rehabilitated, their intense naturalism and masterly freedom of brushwork serving as a model for the newly individualistic cultural values. Interest in every aspect of Titian’s life and work quickly burgeoned: archival documents were gathered and published, and a newly historical image of Titian emerged. From the mid-20th century onward, attention shifted from a presiding concern with artistic form toward context, with new attention paid to Titian’s patterns of patronage; to his subject matter (literary and philosophical sources), materials, and techniques; and to the audience and critical reception of his paintings. More recently still scholars have intensified this kind of contextual understanding, focusing less on Titian as an individual genius and more on his place within wider cultural webs of material practice and meaning.
Art in Renaissance Venice
Authors: Nichols Tom , King Rose Z.
Published: February 2012

This article concentrates primarily on Venetian art and artists of the 15th and 16th centuries. In this period the achievements of the city’s painters, sculptors, and architects reached unparalleled heights. Though the tradition came back to life in the 18th century, most would agree that the “golden age” of Venetian art occurred in the two Renaissance centuries. The particular visual power of Venetian art in this period was immediately recognized, though it was often seen by outsiders as too naturalistic, sensual, or color based, or as insufficiently concerned with elevating intellectual ideas or forms. Many of the items listed in this bibliography bear witness to a remarkable revival of critical, scholarly, and public interest in the tradition over the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Though this upsurge initially began under the impact of Romantic, and then modernist, values, it has since taken on a new kind of historical objectivity under the impact of the foundation and development of art history as an academic discipline. Since the mid-19th century, study of the art of Renaissance Venice has been founded on close and systematic scholarly study, and to this extent it has represented a concerted attempt to understand the tradition on its own terms or in relation to its original artistic, social, and religious meanings and functions. This broad move toward historical contextualism has offered many new insights into the original material practices, processes, and discourses by and through which Venetian artworks were made and understood in their time. It has delivered a new understanding of just how far such works mirror the unique social, cultural, and physical environment of Venice itself, and of how far they represent an integral expression of the city’s emergent sense of itself.