bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Charge balance in the α‐hydroxyacid dehydrogenase vacuole: An acid test
Authors: Cortes Antonio , Emery David C. , Halsall David J. , Jackson Richard M. , Clarke Anthony R. , John Holbrook J.
Published: February 2009

The proposal that the active site vacuole of NAD+‐S‐lactate dehydrogenase is unable to accommodate any imbalance in electrostatic charge was tested by genetically manipulating the cDNA coding for human muscle lactate dehydrogenase to make a protein with an aspartic acid introduced at position 140 instead of the wild‐type asparagine. The Asn 140–Asp mutant enzyme has the same kcat as the wild type (Asn 140) at low pH (4.5), and at higher pH the Km for pyruvate increases 10‐fold for each unit increase in pH up to pH 9. We conclude that the anion of Asp 140 is completely inactive and that it binds pyruvate with a Km that is over 1,000 times that of the Km of the neutral, protonated aspartic‐140. Experimental results and molecular modeling studies indicate the pKa of the active site histidine‐195 in the enzyme‐NADH complex is raised to greater than 10 by the presence of the anion at position 140. Energy minimization and molecular dynamics studies over 36 ps suggest that the anion at position 140 promotes the opening of and the entry of mobile solvent beneath the polypeptide loop (98–110), which normally seals off the internal active site vacuole from external bulk solvent.
Spectroscopic and chemical studies of the interaction between nerve growth factor (NGF) and the extracellular domain of the low affinity NGF receptor
Authors: Timm David E. , Vissavajjhala Prabhakar , Ross Alonzo H. , Neet Kenneth E.
Published: February 2009

Nerve growth factor (NGF) interacts with a cell surface receptor on responsive neurons to initiate a series of cellular events leading to neuronal survival and/or differentiation. The first step in this process is the binding of NGF to a low affinity and/or a high affinity receptor. In the present report, we have studied the conformation and stability of recombinant receptor extracellular domain (RED) from the human low affinity receptor and the structural basis of its interaction with NGF. Circular dichroism (CD) studies indicate that the RED is primarily random coil in nature with little regular secondary structure. Thermal stability studies have shown that this irregular conformation is a specific structure that can undergo a reversible two‐state thermal denaturation with a concomitant fluorescent and CD change. During heating at 100 °C for 15 min, the structure of RED is sufficiently unfolded for a reducing agent, dithiothreitol, to inactivate the receptor toward NGF binding and cross‐linking. The complex formation between the RED and NGF has been examined by differential CD measurements, and we have shown that a small, reproducible change in conformation occurs in RED or NGF upon interaction. These results are interpreted in terms of the initiation of NGF cell surface binding and possible modes of signal transduction.
Zero effective electrong‐factor of QD realized by optically induced nuclear field
Authors: Sasakura H. , Adachi S. , Kaji R. , Yamada K. , Muto S.
Published: February 2009

We investigated an optically created nuclear field in a single InAlAs quantum dot and demonstrated that the zero effective electrong‐factor could be achieved by the cancellation of the external magnetic field by the nuclear field at one edge of the nuclear polarization bistability. In addition, we discussed more practical way to realize the zerog‐factor using the unique maximum value of the nuclear field, which keeps steady value against the fluctuation of excitation power. The cancellation for the electron Zeeman splitting provides the accurate holeg‐factor. Since excitong‐factor is obtained by the Zeeman splitting without the nuclear field due to the linearly polarized excitation, we can evaluate the magnitudes and the signs of electron and holeg‐factors in the growth direction of the single quantum dot. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Surface electronic properties of Mg‐doped InAlN alloys
Authors: King P. D. C. , Veal T. D. , Schaff W. J. , McConville C. F.
Published: February 2009

High resolution X‐ray photoemission spectroscopy is utilised to determine the variation in surface Fermi level pinning position for Mg‐doped c ‐plane Inx Al1–x N alloys with x ≥ 0.4. For In‐rich alloys, a transition from inversion to hole depletion was inferred at an alloy composition of x ∼ 0.7. For Al‐rich alloys, insulating samples resulted due to the difficulty of p‐type doping AlN and Al‐rich alloys, resulting in approximately flat‐band conditions, with little surface space‐charge. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Nanodomain growth in amorphous Si–C–N
Authors: Gruber W. , Starykov O. , Schmidt H.
Published: February 2009

Polymer‐derived amorphous Si–C–N ceramics are phase separated into amorphous nanodomains after thermolysis. These nanodomains are expected to have a crucial importance for the extraordinary high temperature stability of these materials. We investigated nanodomain growth during isothermal annealing at 1400 °C using small angle X‐ray scattering. The as‐thermolyzed sample shows a domain radius of about 5 Å as determined from Guinier plots. During annealing, fast nanodomain growth up to 9 Å is observed for times up to 30 h while for longer annealing times up to 165 h the growth considerably slows down, resulting in a domain size of 11 Å. The experimental data can be fitted by a model based on diffusion controlled domain growth and simultaneous slow‐down of diffusion due to structural relaxation. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Methylguanine DNA Methyltransferase-Mediated Drug Resistance-Based Selective Enrichment and Engraftment of Transplanted Stem Cells in Skeletal Muscle
Authors: Lee Antonio S. J. , Kahatapitiya Prathibha , Kramer Belinda , Joya Josephine E. , Hook Jeff , Liu Renjing , Schevzov Galina , Alexander Ian E. , McCowage Geoff , Montarras Didier , Gunning Peter W. , Hardeman Edna C.
Published: February 2009

Cell replacement therapy using stem cell transplantation holds much promise in the field of regenerative medicine. In the area of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase MGMT (P140K) gene-mediated drug resistance-based in vivo enrichment strategy of donor stem cells has been shown to achieve up to 75%–100% donor cell engraftment in the host's hematopoietic stem cell compartment following repeated rounds of selection. This strategy, however, has not been applied in any other organ system. We tested the feasibility of using this MGMT (P140K)-mediated enrichment strategy for cell transplantation in skeletal muscles of mice. We demonstrate that muscle cells expressing an MGMT (P140K) drug resistance gene can be protected and selectively enriched in response to alkylating chemotherapy both in vitro and in vivo. Upon transplantation of MGMT (P140K)-expressing male CD34+ve donor stem cells isolated from regenerating skeletal muscle into injured female muscle treated with alkylating chemotherapy, donor cells showed enhanced engraftment in the recipient muscle 7 days following transplantation as examined by quantitative-polymerase chain reaction using Y-chromosome specific primers. Fluorescent in situ hybridization analysis using a Y-chromosome paint probe revealed donor-derived de novo muscle fiber formation in the recipient muscle 14 days following transplantation, with approximately 12.5% of total nuclei within the regenerated recipient muscle being of donor origin. Following engraftment, the chemo-protected donor CD34+ve cells induced substantial endogenous regeneration of the chemo-ablated host muscle that is otherwise unable to self-regenerate. We conclude that the MGMT (P140K)-mediated enrichment strategy can be successfully implemented in muscle.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest is found at the end of this article.
Evaluation of two different methods for vascular sampling by three‐dimensional power Doppler angiography in solid and cystic‐solid adnexal masses
Authors: Alcázar J. L. , Prka M.
Published: February 2009

Objective

To analyze two different methods for performing three‐dimensional power Doppler angiography (3D‐PDA) vascular sampling in solid and cystic‐solid adnexal masses.

Methods

Twenty‐one 3D‐PDA volumes from 18 consecutive and unselected solid or cystic‐solid adnexal masses (13 malignant and five benign) were analyzed. A single examiner (J. L. A.) acquired all the volumes according to a predetermined scanning protocol. Two different observers (one inexperienced and the other experienced) calculated 3D‐PDA vascular indices (vascularization index (VI), flow index (FI) and vascularization flow index (VFI)) from solid tumor areas. First, manual sampling (Plane A, 15° rotation‐step) was performed, and 1 week later 5‐cm3 sphere sampling from the most vascularized area was carried out. The observers made a record of any difficulty that they encountered in delineating the solid areas of tumors or in distinguishing true tumor vessels from pre‐existing vessels, the time spent performing each analysis was recorded and inter‐ and intraobserver reproducibility was evaluated for each method using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC).

Results

In four (19.0%) of the 21 volumes sphere sampling could not be performed because it was not possible to obtain a sphere smaller than 5.5 cm3. This happened in cases in which image zooming was used when acquiring the 3D volume. The inexperienced observer encountered more difficulty, but not significantly more, than the experienced observer when analyzing 3D‐PDA volumes both by manual sampling (29% vs. 14% of cases) and 5‐cm3 sphere sampling (35% vs. 18% of cases). The mean time spent by the inexperienced observer was significantly greater (P < 0.001) than that spent by the experienced observer both for manual sampling (6.11 min vs. 1.85 min) and 5‐cm3 sphere sampling (2.93 min vs. 2.15 min). Contrary to the findings for the experienced observer, the inexperienced observer required less time to perform sphere sampling than they did manual sampling. Interobserver agreement was high for both methods: ICC for manual volume, 0.993; manual VI, 0.908; manual FI, 0.913; manual VFI, 0.914; sphere volume, 0.949; sphere VI, 0.954; sphere FI 0.850; and sphere VFI, 0.953. Intraobserver reproducibility was also high, with all ICCs above 0.99.

Conclusions

Manual and 5‐cm3 sphere sampling are reproducible methods for 3D‐PDA vascular sampling. Caution is required when image zoom is used at the time of acquiring the volume because this may prevent sphere sampling. Difficulties found in performing both manual and sphere sampling do not seem to significantly affect the reproducibility of Doppler index calculations. Copyright © 2009 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Agent‐based task representation and processing in pervasive computing environment
Authors: Liu Bo , Luo Junzhou , Cao Jiuxin
Published: February 2009

It is an effective approach to adopt software agent in pervasive computing (Per‐Com) environment. Meanwhile, task execution is the key problem which is affected directly by task representation method in Per‐Com environment. The task of agent in Per‐Com environment is dynamic and changeful, so the task representation should be flexible and agent‐oriented. However, most of the existing task representation methods cannot present task relationship clearly and lack unified format, which leads to a drawback that the corresponding task processing efficiency is not satisfying. In this paper, firstly, an agent‐based Per‐Com architecture is presented in which the agent is endowed with certain role. Secondly, through analyzing task relationship, an agent role based task relationship tree (TRT) model and an XML‐based agent task representation method are proposed. Thirdly, based on TRT, an agent task decomposing and online multi‐agent scheduling algorithm are presented to solve time‐optimal problems. Meanwhile, a load balancing strategy based on probability is proposed to increase agent utilization. Finally, a prototype of an application on traffic monitoring is presented. The results of evaluation indicate that the architecture is feasible and the simulation tests of time performance indicate that the proposed TRT‐based task processing methods have a better performance than others. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Biochemical and physiological observations in meerkats (Suricata suricatta) at two zoos during a dietary transition to a diet designed for insectivores
Authors: Gutzmann Lori D. , Hill H. Karl , Koutsos Elizabeth A.
Published: February 2009

This research (involving two separate institutions) assessed the serum chemistries and body weights of meerkats (Suricata suricatta) over a 6–10‐week feeding trial to determine the acceptability of a commercially available manufactured diet intended for the feeding of insectivorous animals. Five animals at two zoos were heavier than desired and otherwise healthy at the start of the studies. Measurements of blood chemistries including cholesterol and cell blood count remained within physiologic expected ranges throughout the short‐term study. Plasma and serum amino acid levels also remained within normal expected ranges, except taurine, which was much higher than predicted, although there were no significant changes in taurine over time. After initiation of the 6‐week trial, these trials were extended for longer‐term evaluation of animals in regards to body weight maintenance. In the long‐term study, some individuals were restricted in their access to diet, and achieved a beneficial weight loss while maintaining good health. Approximate dietary consumption for captive meerkats in our study averaged 32–44 g, or calculated 92–127 kcal GE/meerkat*day (83–114 kcal ME/meerkat*day), and weight loss of animals at one institution of 10.4% was accomplished over 151 days from day 0, at approximately 30 g, or calculated 86 kcal GE/meerkat*day (78 kcal ME/meerkat*day). Zoo Biol 28:307–318, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
First-Principles Study of the Band Gap Structure of Oxygen-Passivated Silicon Nanonets
Authors: Lin Linhan , Li DeXing , Feng Jiayou
Published: February 2009

A net-like nanostructure of silicon named silicon nanonet was designed and oxygen atoms were used to passivate the dangling bonds. First-principles calculation based on density functional theory with the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) were carried out to investigate the energy band gap structure of this special structure. The calculation results show that the indirect–direct band gap transition occurs when the nanonets are properly designed. This band gap transition is dominated by the passivation bonds, porosities as well as pore array distributions. It is also proved that Si–O–Si is an effective passivation bond which can change the band gap structure of the nanonets. These results provide another way to achieve a practical silicon-based light source.
Performance of the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) according to bipolar subtype and symptom severity
Authors: Gervasoni Nicola , Weber Rouget Béatrice , Miguez Mélissa , Dubuis Vesselin , Bizzini Vera , Gex-Fabry Marianne , Bondolfi Guido , Aubry Jean-Michel
Published: February 2009

Objective

To evaluate the performance of the French version of the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) in patients attending a general psychiatric outpatient service as well as whether MDQ scores are independent of patient mood state at time of completion.

Method

183 patients completed the MDQ and were assessed with the MADRS and YMRS scales, before being interviewed with the SCID (time 1). MDQ, MADRS and YMRS assessment was repeated four to six weeks later (time 2).

Results

According to the SCID, 44 patients were suffering from bipolar spectrum disorder and 102 from unipolar disorder (37 patients dropped out). The MDQ provided high specificity (83.3%). Sensitivity was 63.6%, with better identification of bipolar I (85.0%) than bipolar II patients (45.8%). In the whole sample, test-retest reliability was satisfactory (kappa = 0.64). Modest correlations were observed between the number of endorsed MDQ items and YMRS scores at time 1 (Spearman r = 0.19; p = 0.021) and time 2 (r = 0.26; p = 0.002).

Conclusions

Despite some fluctuations over time and a discrete influence of symptom severity, the screening algorithm can be used reliably, whether in the acute or remission phase of a depressive episode.
Effects of Concurrent Use of an Ankle Support with a Laterally Wedged Insole for Medial Knee Osteoarthritis
Authors: Segal Neil A. , Foster Norah A. , Dhamani Shweta , Ohashi Kenjirou , Yack H. John
Published: February 2009

Objective

To determine the biomechanical and symptomatic effects of concurrent use of an ankle support and a laterally wedged insole on adults with symptomatic medial compartment knee osteoarthritis.

Design

Randomized, crossover clinical trial.

Setting

Outpatient gait analysis laboratory.

Participants

Fourteen adults, mean age 51.9 ± 8.3 years, with symptomatic medial compartment knee osteoarthritis and no previous lower‐limb surgeries or history of wedged insole use were recruited through a radiology database and phone screen.

Interventions

Subjects were randomized to use a laterally wedged insole before (n = 8) or after (n = 6) use of the insole with an ankle support for 2 weeks.

Main Outcome Measures

Lower‐limb alignment by radiographic hip–knee–ankle angle, talocalcaneal, and talar tilt angles; medial compartment loading by the external knee adduction moment; and pain by visual analog scale and the Knee Osteoarthritis Outcome Score pain subscale.

Results

There were no differences between groups for age, gender, body mass index, baseline knee pain, or alignment. Augmentation of the wedged insole with the ankle supporter did not result in any significant changes in lower‐limb alignment or external knee adduction moment. Intergroup crossover comparisons demonstrated a 10.5‐point greater average improvement in Knee Osteoarthritis Outcome Score pain subscale (P < .011) and a trend towards a 10.2‐point improvement in the Activities of Daily Living subscale (P < .055) with the wedged insole alone in comparison with concurrent use of the ankle support with the wedged insole.

Conclusion

Concurrent use of an ankle support did not appear to improve the effects of a laterally wedged insole on lower‐limb mechanical alignment or medial compartment loading. Improved pain and activities of daily living with use of the wedged insole alone suggests that use of an ankle support may attenuate clinical benefit.
Deltaic plain development and environmental changes in the Petite Camargue, Rhone Delta, France, in the past 2000 years
Authors: Rey Tony , Lefevre David , Vella Claude
Published: February 2009

The deltaic plain of the Petite Camargue which constitutes the western part of the Rhone Delta, began its main progradation around 2000 yr ago. Several delta lobes follow each other and have participated in the deltaic evolution. The deltaic lobes have distinct morphologies which reflect the dynamic fluvial and marine processes under the influence of climatic and human controls. Two delta lobe systems were built by the Daladel and Peccaïs channels, after which a deflected wave-influenced delta lobe was formed by the La Ville and Saint-Roman channels. The latest channel, the Rhone Vif channel, is skewed because this channel was completely canalized and engineered up to its mouth in the beginning of the 16th century. Since the avulsion of this channel about 1550 A.D., the coastline of the Petite Camargue has been especially affected by the influence of waves and currents. The spits replaced the beach ridges which juxtaposed themselves and have migrated westward since the 16th century. The formation of the western part of the delta in the last 2000 yr is affected by not only the fluvial sedimentary fluxes and the coastal dynamics to the mouth but also climatic change and human influence.
Ad hoc multilateral diplomacy: the United States, the Contact Group, and Namibia
Authors: Karns Margaret P.
Published: February 2009

In April 1977 the United States and four other major Western governments embarked on a unique diplomatic exercise in the hope of negotiating an agreement for the independence of the territory of Namibia, or South West Africa. The “Contact Group” as it became known (or Western Five), consisting of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, and the Federal Republic of Germany, functioned actively from April 1977 until mid-1982 as an ad hoc multilateral mediating and facilitating team in close proximity to but not directly linked with the United Nations. The five countries secured basic agreement in 1978 on a plan calling for UN supervised elections for a constituent assembly in the territory leading to early independence and the appointment of a UN special representative to ensure the necessary conditions for such elections.
The United Nations and Decolonization: the Case of Southern Yemen
Authors: Chang King-yuh
Published: February 2009

Since 1962 the United Nations, mainly through the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (Special Committee of 24), has attempted to effect political change in dependent territories in accordance with the principle of self-determination of peoples. While the organization usually demands that the inhabitants be given a chance to determine their political future and to choose their government, its primary objective has been somewhat more specific. Spurred on by the influx of new members that occurred around the start of the decade, most of them former colonies, the UN has pressured for the complete displacement of alien rule in dependent territories and has tended to accept whatever type of government emerges as long as it is indigenous, that is, not controlled by a colonial power or European settlers.
Introduction: in defense of some optimism
Authors: Quester George H.
Published: February 2009

The spread of nuclear weapons would make the world a much less stable place, and such a spread may be difficult to stop. Yet proliferation is not as yet inevitable.

Several viewpoints are implicitly rejected in this collection. One is that nuclear proliferation would actually be desirable for the world. Another is that such weapons spread is inevitable. Other rejected viewpoints are that such spread can be halted only by a crash program, by a brutal exercise of American national power, or by a substantial surrender of such power.

The international system may indeed hamper a nonproliferation effort in various ways—for example, in a drastic worsening of Soviet-American relations or a major disruption of world oil production.

Yet the most important counter to pessimism about containing proliferation comes from the world's awareness of how bad actual proliferation would be. States which pretend to be indifferent or resigned to such nuclear weapons spread will quietly be making contributions to halting it.
Multinational alternatives and nuclear nonproliferation
Authors: Scheinman Lawrence
Published: February 2009

The use of multinational institutional arrangements to control sensitive nuclear fuel cycle activities has interested policymakers since the dawn of the nuclear age. Several such ventures have been tried during the past several decades, largely for economic, commercial, or technical reasons, and they have enjoyed varying degrees of success. More recently, with the spread of sensitive nuclear technologies, multinational arrangements have received increasing attention as a means of reinforcing international safeguards which, together with political commitments on peaceful use, have been the principal components of the nonproliferation regime.

The political acceptability and efficacy of multinational arrangements is related to the historic experience with multinational ventures, the changed political circumstances of the 1970s, and the probable requirements for constructive future cooperation. As part of a comprehensive regime covering the development of sensitive nuclear activities, multinational arrangements can reinforce the regime in a manner that is widely acceptable. A political effort to win support for such arrangements is thus worthwhile.
Domestic reform and international change: the Gorbachev reforms in historical perspective
Authors: Bunce Valerie
Published: February 2009

Two rounds of stagnation and reform in Russia have occurred: from Nicholas I to Alexander II (1825–81) and from Brezhnev to Gorbachev (1964–90). A comparison between them reveals striking similarities in the sources of stagnation, the approach to reform, and the international and domestic consequences of the reforms. What emerges in particular is a pattern wherein international stability, Russian conservatism, and expanding Russian power in the international system (all of which describe developments during the regimes of Nicholas I and Brezhnev) give way to instability in Europe, liberalization of Russian politics, and Russian downward mobility in the international system (the pattern exhibited during the Alexandrine and Gorbachev eras). These similarities suggest at the very least that we should question the common assumptions about the unique properties of the postwar order, Soviet socialism, and Gorbachev's revolution. The parallels also imply certain revisions in our understanding of the relationship between domestic and international change, the nature of the European order in the nineteenth century, and the determinants of state power in the international system.
An Analytical Assessment of the United States-Canadian Defense Issue Area
Authors: Swanson Roger Frank
Published: February 2009

This article examines the United States-Canadian defense issue area from a transnational and transgovernmental perspective, and attempts to develop conceptually the transgovernmental dimension through empirical application. The first part delineates those factors that encourage transnational and transgovernmental activity in the defense issue area. The second part considers pure intergovernmental transactions, referring to United States-Canadian dealings in which there is no transnational or transgovernmental activity. Because we know so little about how these dealings occur, this section examines pure intergovernmental transactions as a three-stage issue flow: preprocess, process, and postprocess. The third section identifies and examines the dynamics of mixed transactions, referring to intergovernmental flows having transnational or transgovernmental activity that does not essentially alter the outcomes of the flows. The fourth part identifies transformative transactions, referring to intergovernmental flows that become transnational or transgovernmental flows (or the reverse) through the involvement of new actors that significantly alter the outcomes of the flows. In summation, the fifth section considers those factors militating against transnational and transgovernmental activity in the defense area.
Market solutions for state problems: the international and domestic politics of American oil decontrol
Authors: Ikenberry G. John
Published: February 2009

The dramatic upheaval in oil prices in the 1970s posed difficult policy dilemmas for the United States. Like other industrial importing nations, the United States was forced to make decisions concerning how to adjust its economy and society to the new and troubling international energy reality. From the Nixon to the Carter administrations, government officials attempted to implement policies of energy adjustment. These efforts began with ill-fated international schemes to form a “consumer cartel” of industrial nations, and ended with the decision in 1979 to decontrol oil prices.
The Letters of Adam Marsh and the Franciscan School at Oxford
Authors: Lawrence C. H.
Published: February 2009

Salimbene called the Franciscan Adam Marsh ‘one of the greatest clerks of the world’, an accolade he reserved for a small group of men whom he regarded as the master minds of his time. A glance at Adam's letters suggests that Salimbene's opinion was widely shared by Adam's contemporaries. Few men without official position can have had their advice so eagerly sought by so many different people in high places. He was the counsellor of Henry III and the queen, the confidant of Simon de Montfort and his wife, the mentor of bishops and consultant to the rulers of his order. He enjoyed the trust of men as different as Archbishop Boniface of Savoy, who tried to recruit him to his familia, and Grosseteste, a lifelong friend, with whom he collaborated in the study and transmission of Greek texts. He moved with equal assurance in the world of ecclesiastical politics and the scholastic world of the university. The nature of his political influence has been the subject of frequent surmise, but the importance of his part in directing the Franciscan school at Oxford and creating the scholastic organisation of the English province has long been recognised. Yet several phases of his career and life remain obscure or at best enigmatic. My object here is to elucidate some of the more opaque points of his career and to re-examine his place in the history of the early Franciscan school.
Anti-Bolshevism and Antisemitism: The Catholic Church in Germany and National Socialist Ideology 1936–1937
Authors: Besier Gerhard
Published: February 2009

In his essay ‘Judaism and Christianity in the ideology and politics of National Socialism’ Klaus Scholder outlined the basic principles of Hitler's world view and examined his perception of the relationship between Christianity and antisemitism. According to Hitler, there could be no doubt that Christian leaders, given the nature of their beliefs, should be active exponents of antisemitism. He revitalised the old motif of the Jews as ‘Christ killers’ and described Jesus as ‘a leader of the people’ who ‘opposed Jewry’. Because of this he had been murdered on the initiative of the Jews and the Jew Paul ’refined, falsified and exploited the teaching of the Galilean for his own ends’.
Bishops as Pawns in Early Fifth-Century Gaul
Authors: Frye David
Published: February 2009

From 408 to 420 two men dominated the political landscape of southern Gaul: Constantine III and Constantius. They found there a region that was rife with centrifugal forces - fierce city rivalries, a squabbling priesthood, and an opportunistic nobility. But they also found a region whose unique resources made it indispensable to the stability of their regimes; southern Gaul was then both highly urbanised and rich in commerce, a prime source for taxes and educated bureaucratic officers. Not surprisingly, both Constantine and Constantius focused a great deal of energy on ensuring the continued loyalty and stability of the region. Both men were soldiers, and thus occasionally brutal in pursuit of their objectives, but their Gallic policies also reflected intelligent statecraft and an acute awareness of the changing world in which they lived. It was a world in which the border between Christianity and politics was rapidly fading, and the work of these two men both anticipated and epitomized the mixture of religion andrealpolitikso characteristic of the medieval world.
John Locke and the Jews
Authors: Matar Nabil I.
Published: February 2009

In 1813, a century after the death of John Locke, an anonymous pamphleteer in London, writing under the pseudonym of ‘Abraham, saac and Jacob’, complained about the restrictions which were placed on the Jews. InThe Lamentations of the Children of Israel representing the Hardships they suffer from the Penal Laws, the author recalled John Locke as a defender of the Jews, and quoted one of the philosopher's favourable comparisons between Jews and Gentiles. The author evidently felt that Locke's advocacy of toleration for dissenters in the second half of the seventeenth century could be applied to the Jews of nineteenth–century England: having argued in defence of non–Anglicans, Locke was believed to have argued for non–Christians too.
Adam and Eve: Gender in the English Free Church Constituency
Authors: Field Clive D.
Published: February 2009

The vital contribution of women to the early development of English dissent, especially during the era of the Civil War and Interregnum, has received considerable scholarly attention since the appearance of Keith Thomas's seminal study in 1958. However, the focus of interest has chiefly been on the roles played by individual women as preachers or church founders, and no concerted attempt has yet been made to replicate analyses of New England Puritanism during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries which have highlighted the disproportionate numbers of women in church membership. There has been a similar lack of effort to document the effects of gender in determining English religious practice in the period after 1700, despite the beginnings of academic preoccupation with women's experience of Christianity in the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, and despite an abundance of evidence from sociologists and statisticians since the Second World War about women's greater performance on most indicators of religious belief and behaviour. This brief article therefore hopes to break new ground in assembling evidence about the strength of female support for Protestant Nonconformity in England from 1650 to the present day, using three distinct assessment criteria: membership, attendance, and profession.
Edward Gibbon (1737–1794) and Early Christianity
Authors: Frend W. H. C.
Published: February 2009

Thus Gibbon opened the thirty-seventh chapter of the History of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, a lengthy chapter devoted to the twin topics of ‘the institution of monastic life’ and ‘the conversion of the northern barbarians’. The connection between the history of the Roman Empire and the Christian Church was indeed indissoluble. The Church was destined to follow the pattern of the empire by gradually degenerating as it grew in strength from original purity in the life of Christ and the Apostles to become a corrupt and baleful influence on the fortunes of secular society. Looking back over twenty years of research and writing (1767–87) he wrote near the beginning of his final chapter, ‘In the preceding volumes of this History, I have described the triumph of barbarism and religion and I can only resume in a few words, their real or imaginary connection with the ruin of ancient Rome.’ He goes on to list ‘potent and forcible causes of destruction’ by barbarians and Christians respectively. As he finally laid down his pen on 27 June 1787 at Lausanne, he concluded with a sentence whose strict accuracy has sometimes been doubted: ‘It was among the ruins of the Capitol that I first conceived the idea of a work which has amused and exercised twenty years of my life, and which, however inadequate to my wishes, I finally deliver to the curiosity and candour of the public.’ The date of this decision was 15 October 1764. Here we survey briefly the role of ‘religion’, i.e. Christianity in the ruin of the Roman Empire.
‘Monuments Answerable to Mens Worth’: Burial Patterns, Social Status and Gender in Late Medieval Bury St Edmunds
Authors: Dinn Robert
Published: February 2009

In the Middle Ages it was believed that the souls of those who died in a state of mortal sin were consigned to hell immediately after death, those that were free from sin went straight to heaven, while those guilty of venial sins, the majority, entered purgatory, a state in which sin was cleansed through suffering. Bodily death for most of the faithful was, therefore, seen as initiating a period of transition between life on earth and eternal bliss in heaven. The emphasis on the soul during this period of transition, and the complex variety of prayers for reducing the soul's sufferings in purgatory, have been extensively explored by historians.
Religion and the Rise of Liberalism: The First Disestablishment Campaign in Scotland, 1829–1843
Authors: Brown Stewart J.
Published: February 2009

On 18 May 1843, the Established Church of Scotland was broken up by the Disruption, as most of the Evangelical party walked out of the annual meeting of the General Assembly. They left in protest over lay patronage in appointments to church livings and what they perceived as the State's refusal to recognise the Church's spiritual independence. In all over a third of the ministers and perhaps half the lay membership left the establishment. On the day of the Disruption, the prominent Edinburgh Dissenting minister, Dr John Brown of the United Secession Church, Broughton Place, felt called to play a part in the event. Early that afternoon, his biographer related, he was in a peculiarly solemn mood and ‘could not resist the impulse’ to enter the still empty Tanfield Hall where the outgoing ministers were to gather. He took a seat on the platform and waited. In time, the procession of outgoing ministers and elders arrived followed by the immense crowd. As they streamed into the hall, Brown stepped forward to greet them. He was, however, immediately enveloped in the crowd and his gesture passed unnoticed. It was a telling moment. During the past decade, Brown had been one of the most stern and unbending of the Scottish Voluntaries, those who believed that church membership must be entirely voluntary and who opposed in principle the connection of Church and State. A leading campaigner for the disestablishment of the Church of Scotland, Brown had refused to pay the Edinburgh church rate, or Annuity Tax, in highly publicised case of civil disobedience.
The Bishop as Pastor and Solitary: Bede and the Spiritual Authority of the Monk-Bishop
Authors: Coates Simon J.
Published: February 2009

‘One is always aware of Bede's Church as an institution of men and women, meetings and buildings, and especially as a bishops' Church.’ With this comment, J. M. Wallace-Hadrill directed attention to a fundamental aspect of Bede's world which requires further examination. From early childhood until his death, Bede was and remained a monk. He had entered themonasteriumof Wearmouth and Jarrow at the age of seven and was to remain in it all his life. Although he was ordained to the priesthood by John of Beverley he never advanced to episcopal office. Despite the fact that he was nurtured in a world of reflective scholarship at Wearmouth and Jarrow it is now less common for historians to view Bede as ‘a lonely intellectual locked in an elite minority community’ and a scholar who lived out his life away from the events of the outside world. He perceived that world and the clergy who occupied it, however, through monastic eyes. Since Bede is, and indeed should be, seen as a representative and guardian of a monastic culture heavily influenced by Benedictine spirituality his views concerning the episcopate have not been analysed to the same extent as his views concerning monasticism. This is somewhat surprising since Bede himself perceived a clear link between the episcopal and monastic lives and was deeply concerned with the early Anglo-Saxon Church as an episcopally governed institution. The purpose of this article is to examine Bede's exploration of the manner in which individual bishops came personally to define their prestige, power and authority. This involves an investigation of their continued attachment to ascetic traditions once they had been elevated to the episcopate and an examination of the models applying ascetic sanctity to an episcopal context which Bede inherited from his predecessors in the late antique and early Christian world.
The Origin of the Legend of Maurice and the Theban Legion
Authors: Woods David
Published: February 2009

The primary account of the martyrdom of Maurice and the Theban legion occurs in a letter addressed by Eucherius, bishop of Lyonsc.434–50, to a fellow bishop, Salvius. This relatively brief document has attracted a degree of scholarly attention out of all proportion to its length, the purpose of which has been to investigate its historical basis. There are those who believe with varying degrees of certainty that there is a historical basis to the story which Eucherius relates, that there did indeed exist a group of Theban soldiers who were executed in the Alps during the early years of the reign of Emperor Herculius Maximianus because they refused, for religious reasons, to obey his commands. However their arguments have left many unconvinced. Denis Van Berchem's thorough examination of the story has raised many doubts about its veracity, and many commentators now incline to believe, with him, that no such martyrs ever existed.
Counter-Reformation Sanctity: The Bollandists' Vita of Blessed Hemma of Gurk
Authors: Kern Edmund
Published: February 2009

It is now commonplace for historians of religion to treat the creation of saints as a political process that included such issues as doctrinal orthodoxy, church authority and popular practices and beliefs. The early twentieth-century Bollandist scholar of sanctity, Hippolyte Delehaye sj, touched on these when he considered the problems facing the critical, but devout, hagiographer in his history, The work of the Bollandists:

To question the lawfulness of the cult of a saint, or to raise doubts as to the authenticity of his relics, were issues which could not in most cases remain theoretical, but which demanded practical measures, and in the application of these more than usual tact was required. How was it to be made clear to the faithful that the authority of the Church was not responsible for certain vagaries? How were devotions which had taken root in the heart of the people to be suppressed without causing serious disturbances? On the other hand how were they to be upheld, in the face of the conviction that they were without foundation?… Of course the faithful have never been taught that the lives of the saints are to be believed in the same measure as the Gospel, but it is a fact that they incline to this belief. Hence was it not dangerous, from the standpoint of faith, to destroy certain pious illusions?
Jerome and the Sham Christians of Rome
Authors: Curran John
Published: February 2009

This rhetorical question was poseu by Jerome in AD 411 to challenge a young man of good family from Toulouse who was contemplating the responsibilities of monastic life. The old man of Bethlehem wrote on city life with some authority; he had achieved fame and notoriety simultaneously at the court of Pope Damasus in Rome in the 380s.2 And yet, as both men knew well, the moral and physical dangers of the city, the latter resoundingly demonstrated by the Gothic capture of Rome in the previous year, had not prompted the rejection of urban life by western Christians, save by a small and eccentric group of extreme ascetics. Jerome's praise for this group is well known, and his criticism of less committed Christians in Rome is legendary. But when one examines the uniquely vivid testimony of Jerome's letters, one can detect beneath the praise and polemic a vigorous struggle for the support of the city's elite. The social background to the struggle as revealed in Jerome's writings is the subject of this article. What emerges is a complex, contradictory and divided Christian community which Jerome unsuccessfully attempted to influence, a failure that brought final and ignominious exile from Rome.
British Policy and Spanish America, 1783–1808
Authors: Lynch John
Published: February 2009

‘The liberation of South America’, wrote Castlereagh in 1807, ‘must be accomplished through the wishes and exertions of the inhabitants; but the change can only be operated…under the protection and with the support of an auxiliary British force’. The argument, familiar in political debate, was rare in official policy. Britain, it is true, had long regarded Spanish America as a source of strength for her rivals and a potential market for her manufactures. After the Peace of 1783 interest became more intense as British observers, impressed by the vulnerability of empires, claimed to see signs of rapid decline in the empire of Spain. Intelligence reports on Spanish America accumulated in government departments; plans for British attacks flowed from official and private sources; and a section of merchant opinion increased its agitation for military intervention in the area. Yet, apart from the conquest of Trinidad in 1797 and the attempted conquest of the Río de la Plata in 1806–7, British policy towards Spanish America was diffident in its approach and vague in its intent. There were, indeed, compelling reasons why Spanish America should remain on the margin of British policy. Britain's existing European and imperial interests necessarily dominated her policy and absorbed her resources. Until 1806, moreover, existing channels of trade in Europe and the rest of the world were sufficient to take the bulk of British industrial production. And military resources were usually insufficient to release troops either from Europe or the West Indies for major operations in a new theatre of war.
Autonomy of Standing Committees in the Chilean Senate
Authors: Agor Weston H.
Published: February 2009

One of the most provocative statements in Jewell and Patterson's recent textbook on the American legislative process is that there is an inherent contradiction between political party and committee leadership. They posit: ‘Where committees are strong and independent, party leadership is weak. Where party leadership is strong, the committees are either weak or simply agents of the party leaders.’ As an example, the authors argue that congressional committees in the United States are strong, proud and independent, whereas the leadership of political parties is comparatively weak. This independence is based in part on the fact that chairmen of committees are selected by seniority and traditionally have not been removed by party leaders. Party lines are often crossed in the voting within committee, and chairmen have considerable say over whether a bill will be reported out or not.
The Division of Some Mexican Haciendas during the Liberal Revolution, 1856-1862
Authors: Bazant Jan
Published: February 2009

In the middle of the nineteenth century, ecclesiastical wealth in Mexico consisted basically of real estate and mortgages. The Church avoided investments in mining, industry and commerce. There were regional differences, the Church being richer in some parts of the country than in others: in the two most important cities, Mexico and Puebla, the different ecclesiastical corporations owned about half of the total real estate, whereas in some of the smaller cities, such as Veracruz, Jalapa, Orizaba, Córdoba and San Luis Potosí, the Church was proportionately much poorer. The urban real estate consisted of houses rented on fairly favourable terms to both rich and poor, monastic buildings and churches. In the countryside, the Church was considerably poorer than in the cities: its haciendas were few compared to the number of those privately owned, and their value amounted to about 5 per cent of that of all rural estate. Real estate formed about one-half of Church possessions; the other half consisted of mortgages.
Chile During the First Months of the War of the Pacific
Authors: Sater William F.
Published: February 2009

Charles Darwin once described the Atacama as the world' most desolate desert, and it is hardly surprising that its ownership was not vigorously contested before the 1860s. The discovery, however, first of guano and then of nitrates, made the Atacama the object of a diplomatic dispute between Chile and Bolivia, both of which now coveted this once undesirable land.
Codifying Marginality: The Evolution of Mexican Agricultural Policy and its Impact on the Peasantry
Authors: Gates Marilyn
Published: February 2009

Mexican agrarian philosophy has been characterised by remarkable consistency over the 70 years since the Revolution despite drastic changes in the overall economic context. The symbols of Revolutionary reform persist untarnished – ‘land and liberty’, Zapata and theejido, an unique form of peasant land tenure. ‘El agro’and agrarian policy remain a highly sensitive area shrouded in the mystique of past social struggles, so that the legacy of previous development decisions tightly constrains present-day options.