title: Michael Sheard

text: He appeared as Imperial Navy Admiral Ozzel in "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980), where George Lucas cited Ozzel's death by the force-choke stare by Darth Vader as his favourite movie death scene. Lucas told Sheard at the time that it was "the best screen death I've ever seen". Although Sheard initially regarded Star Wars as "just another part in a very busy actor's career", the role gained him wide recognition among fans and he appeared frequently at Star Wars conventions while an Admiral Ozzel action figure was released.


title: Michael Sheard

text: In February 2005, he played a small cameo role as the narrator in "Star Wars" the UK fan film "Order of the Sith: Vengeance" and its sequel "Downfall - Order of the Sith", alongside Jeremy Bulloch and David Prowse. These British fan films were made in support of Save the Children.


title: Michael Sheard

text: Sheard died of cancer on 31 August 2005, aged 67, at his home on the Isle of Wight, leaving his wife, Rosalind Moir, whom he married in 1961, and three children; two sons: Simon and Rupert and a daughter Susannah A few weeks earlier, on 9 August, he took part in a phone-in on LBCs Iain Lee show, and talked about his career in film and television.


title: Véhicule Blindé Léger

text: The Panhard Véhicule Blindé Léger ("Light armoured vehicle"), also known by its acronym Panhard VBL or simply VBL, is a French wheeled 4x4 all-terrain vehicle built by Panhard. The vehicle is offered in various configurations, and was designed to combine the agility of the Peugeot P4 liaison vehicle with adequate protection against small arms fire, artillery fragments, mines and NBC weapons. Produced between 1985 and 2010, the vehicle has been used by the French Army and other European, African and Central American armies in various conflicts since the 1980s.


title: Véhicule Blindé Léger

text: The French VBL programme started in 1978. The French Army was looking for a light reconnaissance vehicle, intended to work with the AMX-10 RC "wheeled tank", the Hotchkiss M201 jeep being obsolete when compared with the Soviet BRDM-2 armoured car. The new vehicle needed to be armed with a single machine gun for reconnaissance (recce) or with the MILAN missile for anti-tank combat, while being protected from NBC hazards and small arms fire. Both Renault and Panhard proposed a prototype, the trials beginning in 1982. Before its selection by the French armed forces in 1985, the Panhard model was ordered by the Mexican Army in 1984. In 1985, a preproduction of 15 vehicles for the French Army was launched while the VBL started its active operational service in the French Army in 1990. The French Army ordered 569 VBLs in 1990, 330 between 1994 and 1997, and 700 VB2L (lengthened variant) before 2004. The VBL, sold abroad as the ULTRAV M-11 has been produced at Marolles-en-Hurepoix, south of Paris. Around ten vehicles were produced each month in 2004. The 1,500th VBL was produced in 2001 and the last VBL of the 2,600 VBLs left the plant in 2010.


title: Véhicule Blindé Léger

text: The VBL has two compartments: a motor bay, placed forward to protect the second compartment, which is for the crew. Its compact internal dimensions led to the design of a lengthened version of the VBL. The crew of the VBL is protected against NBC weapons. The recce versions have two crew members while the anti-tank versions have a crew of three.


title: Véhicule Blindé Léger

text: The French Army version of the VBL is equipped with a Peugeot XD3T turbo-diesel engine. This engine is used on many civilian cars, such as the Peugeot 505, Peugeot 605 and Talbot Tagora. The VBL used many other standard civilian components, too. Its power and power ratio enable the VBL to drive at . It has a fuel consumption of per . Its range of can be extended to by two external fuel tanks. Designed to be lighter than , the mass of the VBL has increased to due to the addition of more weapons, armour and systems.


title: Véhicule Blindé Léger

text: The VBL is fully amphibious and drives at in water; it is also air transportable by C-130, C-160, Il-76 and A400M. It can be transported underslung by larger helicopters, such as the AS332 Super Puma, and may also be para-dropped.


title: Véhicule Blindé Léger

text: The Reco version (7.62 or 12.7) is equipped with TR-VP 213 or PR4G radio, OB 41 and OB 43 night vision goggles and DUK-DUR 440 radiation meter and a dosimeter. In the MILAN version, the TR-VP 213 is replaced by a TR-VP 13 radio and the OB 41 by OB 51 night goggles.


title: Véhicule Blindé Léger

text: The VBL has been used in many peacekeeping operations of the French Army, notably in Lebanon, Bosnia, Rwanda and Kosovo. On 13 March 1985, the French contingent of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon in Beirut received three VBLs: one used on a static post, another as a liaison vehicle and the last one kept in reserve. The VBL was also often seen in the Siege of Sarajevo, due to the contribution of the French Army to the Blue Helmets in Yugoslavia. It was used as a means of transport by the main commanders of the UN forces, including General Lewis MacKenzie, earning the nickname "Sarajevo Taxi". Some were captured by the Army of Republika Srpska after the NATO bombings against Bosnian Serb Force. In other missions, a troop of three VBLs of the régiment d'infanterie-chars de marine in Rwanda was tasked to make contact with the Rwandan Patriotic Front and the civilian population during the Opération Turquoise, and in Kosovo, the operational requirements of the liaison mission led to the development of the Petit Véhicule Protégé program to supplement the VBL.


title: Véhicule Blindé Léger

text: In the 2000s and 2010s, the VBL has also been used by French forces in Ivory Coast. Between 2002 and 2003, the VBLs and the ERC-90s armored cars opened fire on MPIGO rebels to block their incursions. They were later used in Abidjan during the operation to oust Laurent Gbagbo from power in April 2011. In Afghanistan, the VBL units protected Kabul Airport and logistics axes. In Mali, the VBLs were deployed in 2013 in the Operation Serval; in the subsequent Operation Barkhane, several soldiers crewing VBLs were killed by improvised explosive devices. The VBL was also used in the Central African Republic in 2013.


title: Véhicule Blindé Léger

text: The other European VBL users also used their vehicles in peacekeeping missions. Portuguese VBLs have been deployed as part of the Kosovo Force (KFOR) in Kosovo, working alongside the old Bravia Chaimite for escorts, control missions or mobile checkpoints. In this operation, the Greek military police company, tasked with traffic regulation on the Pristina-Skopje road, was equipped with VBLs. The Greek Battalion of the KFOR fielded six VBLs for reconnaissance missions. The Greek VBLs were also used in North Macedonia in 2001 during Operation Essential Harvest, and in Afghanistan.


title: Véhicule Blindé Léger

text: Besides the French, other VBLs were also deployed in Africa. In Rwanda, the Forces Armées Rwandaises used their VBLs against the Rwandan Patriotic Front during the Rwandan Civil War, with the country's "reconnaissance squadron" ("Escadron de Reconnaissance") having been trained by French advisors to use MILAN ATGMs as well as VBLs. Vehicles captured by the Rwandan Patriotic Army later saw action in the First and Second Congo Wars. In Nigeria, the Nigerian Army used the Panhard VBL as part of the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group during the Sierra Leone Civil War. They have seen further use during the Boko Haram insurgency, some being lost to Boko Haram. In the Horn of Africa, the Djiboutian VBLs served against the FRUD during the Djiboutian Civil War in the 1990s: in contrast to the better motorised Humvees, the armour of the VBLs enabled them to resist the rebels' ambushes.


title: Véhicule Blindé Léger

text: Across the Atlantic, the Mexican VBLs faced the Zapatista Army of National Liberation during the Chiapas conflict.


title: Véhicule Blindé Léger

text: The first user of the VBL was the Mexican Army, which ordered 40 in 1984. They were also the first ones to be delivered, in 1985. Three versions were bought: standard armed with a FN MAG, VBL PC (command post, on short chassis) and VBL MILAN.


title: Véhicule Blindé Léger

text: Portugal ordered its first VBL in December 1987. Locally designated M-11 for the short version and M-11D 4x4 M/89-91 for the long version, they have been serving in the Recce squadrons of the Intervention and of the Rapid Reaction brigades. The M-11s are armed with a Browning M1919 machine gun or with a MILAN missile and the M-11Ds with M2 Browning machine gun or SB-40 grenade-launcher on a PL127 ring-mount or with a radar. Greece ordered six VBLs in 1997 to use them in Albania, where the Hummer was too large and too unstable in frozen roads. The success of the vehicles drove to ten more orders between 1997 and 2004. The Greek VBLs are similar to the ones of the French Army, with short and long chassis, some with PL-127 ring-mount or with MILAN missiles. Having received 1,621 VBLs, the French Army has 1,446 VBLs in service in 2019.


title: Véhicule Blindé Léger

text: Niger ordered one VB2L and six short VBLs with 7.62 machine guns in 1985, all delivered in 1986. Gabon ordered in 1985 twelve VBLs for its presidential guard, one with an Elta radar, the others with a 12.7 machine gun on a CTM-105 mount or with an AA-52. Togo ordered and received in 1986 two standard VBLs. Rwanda ordered sixteen VBLs, including VBL PC, VBL standard and six VBL MILAN in 1986. Cameroon ordered in 1987 one VB2L PC and four short chassis others with a 12.7 machine gun on a CTM 105 ring-mount or with a 7.62 machine gun. The 1st squadron of the "Guluf Battalion" of the Djiboutian Army has been equipped with seven VBLs since 1987. Some of these VBLs are equipped with a NSV machine gun. A first order of 40 VBLs signed in 1985 by Nigeria was canceled but 72 were ordered in 1992 and delivered, including ten with CTM-105 ring-mount, ten VB2L PC and others with FN MAG machine guns. Around 30 were in operational service in 2004.


title: Véhicule Blindé Léger

text: The Kuwait National Guard received twelve VBL TOW and eight VBL with PL 127 in 1996. All these vehicles are armed with a secondary FN MAG machine gun. Qatar ordered sixteen VBLs, in three versions (standard with FN MAG, CTM-105 and MILAN) to equip a recce squadron. After intensive tests in 1994, the sultanate of Oman ordered more than 132 VBLs for its anti-tank and recce squadrons. Several versions have been ordered, such as the standard FN MAG version, the VBL TOW, the VBL CTM-105 and a version with Mistral SAMs. The Kuwait Ministry of Interior ordered twenty VBL Mk 2 for its special forces in 2008.


title: Véhicule Blindé Léger

text: Indonesia ordered eighteen VBLs, armed with the FN MAG, in 1996. However, economic difficulties and the Timor Leste crisis prevented them from buying more.


title: Military coups in Nigeria

text: Since Nigerian independence in 1960, there have been five military coup d'états in Nigeria. Between 1966 and 1999, Nigeria was ruled by a military government without interruption, apart from a short-lived return to democracy under the Second Nigerian Republic of 1979 to 1983. However, the most recent coup occurred in 1993, and there have been no significant further attempts under the Fourth Nigerian Republic, which restored multi-party democracy in 1999.


title: Military coups in Nigeria

text: On 15 January 1966, a group of young military officers overthrew Nigeria's government, ending the short-lived First Nigerian Republic. The officers who staged the coup were mostly Igbo Christian southerners, led by Kaduna Nzeogwu, and they assassinated several northerners, including Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa, Northern Region Premier Ahmadu Bello, Western Region Premier Ladoke Akintola, finance minister Festus Okotie-Eboh, and the four highest-ranking northern military officers. The coup leaders publicly pledged to eliminate corruption, suppress violence, and hold new elections. Major General Johnson Aguiyi Ironsi, also an Igbo but not party to the original conspiracy, intervened to impose discipline on the military and became head of state. He suspended the constitution, dissolved all legislative parties, banned political parties, and formed an interim federal military government, though without specifying the date on which civilian rule would be restored.


title: Military coups in Nigeria

text: On 29 July 1966, a counter-coup commenced, and Ironsi's regime had fallen by 1 August. Lieutenant Colonel Yakubu Gowon became head of state. Ironsi and the governor of the Western Region, Lieutenant Colonel Francis Adekunle Fajuyi, were among the casualties. Muhammadu Buhari, who was himself installed as head of state in the 1983 coup, was one of the officers involved. Both the coup and the counter-coup assumed an "ethnic colouration" and they fuelled ethnic violence, contributing to events which ultimately led to the Nigerian civil war. After the end of the war, in October 1970, Gowon reiterated an earlier pledge to ensure that military rule would be terminated on 1 October 1976. In 1974, however, he postponed democratisation, explaining that Nigerians had not yet demonstrated "moderation and self-control in pursuing sectional ends".


title: Military coups in Nigeria

text: On 29 July 1975, Colonel Joseph Nanven Garba, a close friend of Gowon's, announced on Radio Nigeria that he and other officers had decided to remove Gowon as head of state and commander-in-chief. The coup was bloodless: Gowon was abroad, attending a meeting of the Organisation of African Unity in Kampala. He was replaced by Brigadier Murtala Muhammed, with Brigadier Olusegun Obasanjo installed as deputy head of state. The "New York Times" reported that General Hassan Katsina, a former Chief of Army Staff who had been demoted by Gowon, was said to be "the real author of the coup". On 1 October, Muhammed, like Gowon, pledged a return to civilian rule: following the drafting of a new constitution and various institutional changes, elections would be held, allowing for a transfer of power on 1 October 1979.


title: Military coups in Nigeria

text: On 13 February 1976, Muhammed was assassinated at the outset of an abortive coup attempt. His driver and aide were also killed; as was Ibrahim Taiwo, the military governor of Kwara state. The coup was led by a group of officers who called themselves "young revolutionaries" in a radio broadcast; however, they lacked both civilian and military support. The coup was denounced by division commanders and government leaders outside Lagos and was quickly suppressed. Obasanjo became head of state. The Nigerian government reported that the coup had been led by Lieutenant Colonel Bukar Suka Dimka and had aimed at restoring Gowon's regime. 125 people were arrested in connection with the coup attempt and, in March, 32 people received death sentences, among them Dimka and the defence minister, Major General Illiya D. Bisalla.


title: Military coups in Nigeria

text: On 31 December 1983, a group of senior military officers led a coup which ended the Second Nigerian Republic. The coup deposed the democratically elected government of President Shehu Shagari, which, in the first military broadcast after the coup, Brigadier Sani Abacha called "inept and corrupt". Abacha, who was himself appointed head of state a decade later, was said to have played "a key role" in the coup. The sole reported casualty occurred when Brigadier Ibrahim Bako was killed in a fire fight during Shagari's arrest in Abuja. Major General Muhammed Buhari was installed as head of state.


title: Military coups in Nigeria

text: On 27 August 1985, officers led by Major General Ibrahim Babangida, the army chief of staff, usurped Buhari's government in a palace coup while Buhari himself was away from Lagos and his chief aide, Major General Tunde Idiagbon, was on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. The coup was announced on the radio in the morning by Major General Joshua Dogonyaro, and Babangida later addressed the country, saying that Buhari's regime had been "rigid and uncompromising" and had demonstrated "inconsistency and incompetence".


title: Military coups in Nigeria

text: On 22 April 1990, military officers led by Major Gideon Orkar attacked Dodan Barracks in an attempt to overthrow Babangida's administration. Babangida escaped successfully, and fighting stopped ten hours later, when senior military commanders elsewhere in the country announced their support for Babangida. 42 men convicted of involvement in the coup attempt were executed by firing squad in July 1990.


title: Military coups in Nigeria

text: Facing pressure to shift towards a democratic government, Babangida resigned and appointed Ernest Shonekan as interim president on 26 August 1993. Shonekan's transitional administration lasted only three months: on 17 November 1993, it was overthrown in a palace coup led by General Sani Abacha. This followed the annulment of the presidential elections which had been advertised as the beginning of a Third Nigerian Republic. In September 1994, although he had pledged to restore democracy, Abacha issued a decree that placed his government above the jurisdiction of the courts, effectively giving him absolute power.


title: Military coups in Nigeria

text: In recent decades, there have been several high-profile arrests in connection with alleged coup plots:


title: Military coups in Nigeria

text: According to Nigerian historian Max Siollun, "Military coups and military rule (which began as an emergency aberration) became a seemingly permanent feature of Nigerian politics." The abundance of natural resources have also been cited as a reason for the prevalence of military coups in Nigeria's history.


title: Military coups in Nigeria

text: The regional rivalries which have played such a large part in recurrence of coups were a result of colonialism creating an artificial state encompassing several different distinct ethnic groups. These distinct ethnic groups were represented by regional parties, which ensured that "none of the parties could govern Nigeria on its own, and… that conflict was only a matter of time away." Therefore, there was no centralised opposition to military rule; when a coup occurred, it was therefore just another faction of military rule.


title: Military coups in Nigeria

text: The economic effects of military rule were disastrous. The traditional agricultural based economy was abandoned and they became extremely dependent on exports of oil which due to frequent fluctuations in oil prices led to an unstable economy. The Babangida regime was characterised by "gross incompetence and unbridled, waste and mismanagement, the privatisation of public office and public resources, the neglect of non-oil sectors and misplaced priorities". As a result of the military economic policy of the 1980s, 45% of foreign-exchange earnings were going into debt servicing and there was very little growth. This led to a rise in poverty, crime, child abuse, disease, institutional decay and urban dislocation. The instability and dissatisfaction caused by these policies was one of the causes of the consistent pattern of coups.


title: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

text: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete, originally released in Japan as simply is a role-playing video game developed by Game Arts and Japan Art Media as a remake of 1992's "". While the overall plot remains true to the original, accommodations are made to the game's story to allow for a larger, richer cast, as well as additional scenarios.


title: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

text: Initially released on the Sega Saturn in 1996, the game has gone through several variations, beginning with enhanced video support in conjunction with the Saturn's MPEG graphics add-on in 1997, and later being ported to Sony's PlayStation in 1998. The PlayStation version was released in North America by Working Designs, who had also produced the English adaptation of the original game, in May 1999.


title: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

text: Like its forerunner, the game follows the exploits of Alex, a young boy from a small, humble town who enters a life of adventure and intrigue after being chosen as the heir-apparent to the title of "Dragonmaster", guardian of the forces of the planet. With the help of his expanding band of companions, Alex must pass the trials set by ancient dragons to claim his place in history, and stop a powerful sorcerer and former hero from controlling the world.


title: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

text: Since its English release, "Silver Star Story" has garnered much attention from critics for its use of fluid full-motion animated sequences, lavish game packaging, and quality of the English script. The game was followed by a sequel, "", in 1998. Two more remakes of "", "Lunar Legend" and "", were released in 2002 by Media Rings and Ubisoft and in 2009 by GungHo Online Entertainment and Xseed Games, respectively.


title: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

text: "Silver Star Story Complete" is a traditional, top-down role-playing video game featuring two-dimensional character and background graphics. Using the Sega Saturn and PlayStation's advanced hardware, many elements of the 's presentation have been altered, including a larger color palette, more sophisticated visual effects, and improved sound quality. Throughout gameplay, the story is interspersed with fully animated cut scenes designed to give the game a cinematic feel, and allow the player to get more involved in the game's plot. Players advance the game's narrative by completing story-based objectives and interacting with non-player characters. In the original version, players encountered enemy monsters randomly every few steps when traveling in a harsh environments, while the remake now makes enemies visible, with combat ensuing only after a character has come in contact with one.


title: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

text: Many of the game's new battle features were adapted from "", including the auto-battle feature that allows players to set moves and actions in advance. While in combat, a player may choose to attack an enemy, move about the battlefield, use magic or items, stand their ground and defend, or flee the battle entirely. "Silver Star Story Complete" retains the original version's movement feature, which requires characters to be within a certain distance of an enemy before it can be attacked. Battles are won when all enemies are defeated, yielding experience points that allow characters to gain levels, making them stronger as well as allowing access to better abilities. By gaining levels, as well as finding or purchasing increasingly more powerful weapons and armor, characters can battle increasingly more powerful enemies as the game progresses. Bosses will have their abilities scaled to the party's level with no limit.


title: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

text: The cast of "The Silver Star" all return for the game's remake, retaining their original designs by anime and manga artist Toshiyuki Kubooka. Players assume the role of Alex, who is joined by a menagerie of playable and supporting characters who aid him on his quest.


title: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

text: Each character's personalities were expanded for the new version to make them easier for the player to relate to, and give each of them more presence in the game's story. As the game's designers felt that Luna was lacking presence in the original game, she was included in the player's party for a longer period and her past was expanded by giving her confounding dream sequences.


title: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

text: Ghaleon, a dark magician who seeks godhood, serves as the primary antagonist, and initially appears as an ally to Alex's cause. In the new version, Ghaleon's personality is altered to make him a more sympathetic character. Motivation for his plans to rule the world were shifted from revenge to misplaced concern for humanity not having a true leader. He is still undeniably ruthless and cruel, however. Game Arts added new villains to the story, feeling that the game's opposition lacked enough characterization. These include Royce and Phacia, two powerful sorceresses who are sisters to Xenobia, Ghaleon's top general who appeared in the original as his sole underling (who, in this version, actually has romantic feelings for him).


title: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

text: The plot of "Silver Star Story Complete" remains true to the original Sega CD version written by Kei Shigema. Novelist Keisuke Shigematsu was recruited as the remake's scenario writer, and was tasked with expanding the previous script written by Shigema to make the game more current. As in the original version, players assume the role of Alex, a young boy who hopes to become a great hero like his idol, the legendary Dragonmaster Dyne. At the insistence of his fortune-hunting friend Ramus, Alex travels to the nearby Dragon's Cave with his cat-like companion Nall, and sweetheart Luna, to seek a precious gem. When the team reaches the cave's interior, they find Quark, an aged, wise dragon who sees hidden potential in Alex, and beckons him to travel the world and become its protector as the new Dragonmaster. Returning home, the group expresses mutual interest in Alex's quest; Ramus wishes to sell the dragon gem at a large city, Nall wants to find out what he is, and Luna merely to protect Alex. The group sets off across the frontier to the port town of Saith to continue their journey.


title: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

text: Traveling through the Weird Woods, Luna sings a magic song to clear a patch of thick fog in their path, yet is not sure how she knew it would work. The group is surrounded by a horde of monsters, and are defended by a traveling warrior named Laike. Finding Alex's quest to become Dragonmaster humorous, Laike nonetheless wishes him and his friends luck as they leave the forest. Arriving at Saith, the group meets Nash, a magician-in-training from a prestigious magic school who needs transport back to his home, and joins the group on a boat to the eastern continent. Unlike the original Sega CD version, Luna continues with Alex rather than stay behind to give her a bigger role in the plot. After arriving in the port town of Meribia, Ramus leaves the group to become a salesman at his own shop, while the rest of the team travels to the floating city of Vane to meet Ghaleon, a former adventurer who traveled with Dyne before his death. Ghaleon sends Alex and Luna on a quest to stop a false Dragonmaster from harassing a village where he meets Jessica, a priestess and daughter of the legendary hero "Hell" Mel. Returning to Vane, Ghaleon tells Alex he wants to see Quark to discuss his future as Dragonmaster, with Luna joining them on a return trip to Burg. After arriving at the dragon cave, Ghaleon and Quark reminisce before Ghaleon cryptically asks whether Luna is "the one from back then". Upon hearing an affirmation, Ghaleon's mood changes, and suddenly transforms into a more sinister form, The Magic Emperor, who turns Quark to energy and kidnaps Luna, remarking that he will now use her in his quest to rule the world.


title: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

text: The game's final scenario and the reason for Ghaleon's actions differ slightly from the original, with the Goddess Althena's instability serving as the catalyst for the events rather than a rampaging Black Dragon. In this version, Laike relates the story of how one day fifteen years ago, the Goddess Althena concluded that people were depending too much on her, rather than growing as people and as a civilization, and that by continuing to mother them, she was doing more harm than good. Despite Ghaleon's pleas, Dyne and Althena used their powers to spread her life force throughout the world, transforming her into an infant, to live out a mortal life as a human. Ghaleon, believing humanity could not survive without a god watching over them, cut off all ties to his former friend and set his plan into motion to ascend to godhood himself in Althena's place; his cause set on rule rather than revenge as in the original. Believing that humanity was strong and resourceful enough to live on their own, Dyne left the young girl in the care of Alex's parents to raise her as their own daughter before he began his new life as Laike, a traveling adventurer. Now knowing the truth of Luna's origins, Alex and his friends travel to the Goddess tower to save her and stop Ghaleon from seizing control of the world. Defeating his generals, Alex confronts Ghaleon at the tower's upper pagoda, where the ritual to transfer Luna's power to him has already begun. Echoing Dyne's earlier declaration on the strength of humanity, Alex's team attacks and defeats Ghaleon as his fortress crumbles around them. With Luna still caught in a trance, Alex attempts to reason with her to leave while the others are teleported to safety. Playing his ocarina, Alex awakens Luna's memories before the two are transported to the surface as the tower collapses, re-uniting with their companions.


title: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

text: The remake initially began as "Lunar: Silver Star Story", developed by a collaboration between Game Arts and Japan Art Media. Immediately after producing "" for the Sega CD console in 1994, much of the original staff expressed interest in remaking the first "Lunar" title on current, more advanced hardware. Displeased with many aspects of the original game's design, Game Arts sought to improve the original version to coincide with their initial vision of the project, including more sophisticated animation, better quality CD music, and a more engaging script. "Silver Star Story" was headed by producer Youichi Miyaji, who had previously worked on the first two Sega CD "Lunar" titles, who enlisted help from the staff of Japan Art Media to aid in the heavy-cost production of the game. While the original game contained roughly ten minutes of animation produced internally, the remake features fifty minutes of new, fully animated cut scenes by Studio Gonzo. For the game's first release on the Sega Saturn in October 1996, in-game movies could only display in quarter-screen and low fidelity due to the system's video limitations. This was corrected for the game's second release in June 1997 with the introduction of the Saturn's MPEG card adapter, which allowed for full-screen playback at better quality. Both Saturn versions would be published by Kadokawa Shoten. In May 1998, "Silver Star Story" was ported to the PlayStation system in Japan, this time published by Entertainment Software Publishing. This version, while retaining all the extra features of the second Saturn release, including full-screen movies, was unable to produce the same high-fidelity playback as its video card-enhanced predecessor.


title: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

text: In late 1995, California-based software company Working Designs, who had previously provided the translation for the original "Silver Star", signed on to produce the English-language version. The company originally expressed interest in localizing the Saturn version under the name "Lunar: Silver Star Story Director's Cut" to be released in Fall 1996. When Fall 1996 arrived the localization was still in its early stages, and the release date was accordingly pushed back to the fourth quarter of 1997. Working Designs stated that its conflict with Sega of America would not impact the four Saturn projects from Working Designs which were already in progress, but though the other three all were released as promised, "Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete" was not. Work began on the PlayStation version in 1998. "Silver Star Story Complete" was headed by company president Victor Ireland, who also served as head translator and localizer. Like the original game, the English version features a lighthearted, non-literal interpretation of the original Japanese script while retaining the same basic story, which now includes American pop culture references, breaking the fourth wall, and slapstick humor. Working Designs kept in close contact with the original Japanese team, adding several new features to the North American version including DualShock controller support, the ability to switch between memory card slots on the save screen, and the ability to create up to fifteen save files instead of three. Programming and production difficulties stifled progress, resulting in numerous delays and changing release dates until the game's eventual release in May 1999. A stand-alone demo version of the game was distributed to several game stores across the United States which preceded the final version, as well as a Ghaleon punching puppet available with pre-order of "Lunar 2 Eternal Blue".


title: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

text: "Silver Star Story Complete" was initially released in North America as a limited collector's edition which included two game discs, a hardbound instruction manual, a soundtrack CD, a "Making of "Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete"" special disc, and a cloth map of the "Lunar" world. The package retailed for $60.00 to cover the cost of the elaborate extras. Working Designs would also publish their own strategy guide for the game, also billed as a collector's item. Ireland's team would add an easter egg to the "Making of" video disc in the form of a minigame based on Atari's arcade game "Warlords" called "Lords of Lunar" accessed by using a code found in-game. In February 2002, a special "Fan-Art Edition" of the game was released featuring disc artwork by contributors to the Working Designs website, which lacked the extras of the collector's edition. A Windows-based PC version of "Silver Star Story" was released in Japan in December 1999 by DigiCube featuring higher resolution graphics and video playback. Working Designs had expressed interest in bringing this version to North America in 2002, but claimed that the English version was too buggy and unstable to be released.


title: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

text: The music for "Silver Star Story Complete" consists of entirely new background themes by Noriyuki Iwadare. While Hiroshi Fujioka, Isao Mizoguchi, and Yoshiaki Kubodera collaborated with Iwadare on the Sega CD version, only Iwadare would return for the remake, composing nearly one hundred new songs. When creating the music for "Silver Star Story Complete", Iwadare drew from his own experiences, admitting that he was trying to put a personal touch on his work and "express [myself] through [my] honest emotions". Music director Isao Mizoguchi claims that the music process was "a little different" from the companany's previous works, with the game's main themes being composed before they viewed the scenes that required them, making adjustments as they went along. Each song was divided into four categories: town or village, dungeon, battle, or field; each with their own pacing and emotional direction. Iwadare described the game's music as "very well received" according to fan feedback. The Japanese version features a new opening theme, "Tsu·Ba·Sa" (TSU・BA・SA, lit. Wings) performed by Kyōko Hikami. An intermediary song, , also called "The Boat Song", was added to the game to heighten the emotion of Alex and Luna's departure into the world, which was kept at Mizoguchi's insistence even as material was being cut for time.


title: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

text: For the North American release, Victor Ireland had expressed interest in replacing many of the new themes with ones from the Sega CD version, including the original opening theme "Fighting Through the Darkness". After translating the game, however, Working Designs was left with very little extra space on each game disc, and the idea was abandoned. Many of the arranged songs meant for the English release were included on a special soundtrack packaged with the collector's edition. The English version features the opening theme, "Wings", performed by Jennifer Stigile, who also performs "Wind's Nocturne". Additionally, Working Designs' arrangements of classic "Lunar: The Silver Star" pieces were used to replace the new music in two animation sequences, "A Trinity of Terror" and "The Green Earth".


title: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

text: "Silver Star Story Complete" features twenty voiced characters, four times the original version. The characters' voices are used in pre-designated cut scenes, animated interludes and when using special attacks in battle. The English cast was composed of family and friends of the Working Designs staff, as well as local talent from the area. Ashley Angel, Jennifer Stigile, Rhonda Gibson, Jackie Powers, Hal Delahousse, and John Truitt reprise their roles, and were joined by a number of talents to fill out the game's expanded speaking roles. Working Designs had considered replacing Angel, as Victor Ireland felt he may have aged too much to convincingly play a young boy, but reconsidered after his rehearsal, commenting that "the players have all aged a bit since the original, so Alex could have aged a bit, too". Stigile sings the intro song as well as the "Boat Song" in the English version. While the English cast returned, the Japanese version was completely re-cast from the Sega CD original, bringing in several established anime and game voice actors, including pop idol Sakura Tange. A four-volume sound drama album series, "Lunatic Festa", was released in Japan between August and November 1996 featuring the Japanese voice actors performing skits and songs in-character, as well as arranged music tracks from the game.


title: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

text: The Saturn version of "Silver Star Story" was well received in Japan, with "Weekly Sega Saturn Magazine" recognizing it as one of the most memorable gaming experiences of 1997. The PlayStation version received a 7 out of 10 score from "Hyper PlayStation" magazine, remarking that although it contained lower quality visual effects and movie playback than the previous Saturn releases, it still remained a solid role-playing game. It sold enough to qualify for Sony's "PlayStation the Best" distinction, and was subsequently re-released in Japan in April 1999 at a budget price.


title: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

text: "Silver Star Story Complete" sold over 223,000 units within its first year in North America, including the entire production run of the four-disc collector's edition. The game became the highest-selling Working Designs title to date, and the third highest-selling role-playing game of 1999 behind "Final Fantasy VIII" and "". A heavy media push in magazines and websites brought recognition to the game, and alerted customers that Working Designs planned to cease production of the title starting December 31, 1999. English reviews of the game were typically favorable, with critics such as "Electronic Gaming Monthly" remarking that "Lunar"s "plot, writing and voice acting are about the best you'll find", awarding the game an editor's choice gold award. The game's translation was equally applauded by "", calling it "spotless", and remarking that Working Designs' unique humor was applied to every bit of text in the game, including weapon descriptions. "Official PlayStation Magazine" remarked that "what little ["Lunar"] lacks in visual punch, it more than makes up for in style, story and wholly engrossing gameplay" calling attention to the game's programming and extra packaging.


title: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

text: The game's two-dimensional graphics were among its most panned feature, with "GamePro" commenting that the "flat battle areas, wimpy spells, and itty-bitty enemies will assault your eyes", citing the in-game animated cut scenes as the only saving grace. "Game Informer" conversely declared that the animated interludes were grainy and often would not display in true fullscreen, but remarked that it was "really a small gripe because "Lunar" has an entertaining story filled with enjoyable quips". "Gamers' Republic" recognized the inferiority of "Lunar"s graphics to current role-playing games, but nonetheless found them "charming". GameSpot simply described the graphics as "truly dated", adding that many of "Lunar"s aesthetic qualities could be re-created on a Super Nintendo. Technology magazine "Silicon Mag" called the game a "masterpiece", awarding it a 95% rating and declared it an asset to the game industry, calling it "a game that will sell systems, with gamers actually buying PlayStations just to play it". In 2000, "Silver Star Story Complete" ranked 22nd in IGN's list of top PlayStation games of all time, while in 2001 "Electronic Gaming Monthly" ranked it 75th on its list of the top 100 games of all time.


title: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

text: "Next Generation" reviewed the PlayStation version of the game, rating it three stars out of five: "See, playing an upgraded "Lunar" now is a bit like getting to watch a digitally enhanced "Thundercats" with Dolby Surround: you're either going to think that's really cool, or you won't. If you do, then the entire package [...] will satisfy the most avid completists".


title: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

text: The game's engine and several design concepts, such as fully animated video interludes and collectible bromides, would later be used in the development of "Magic School Lunar!" in 1997 and "" in 1998. Working Designs used the game's strong sales as justification to produce the English version of "Eternal Blue Complete" in North America, which also featured an elaborate collector's edition. A four-part Japanese novelization of "Silver Star Story's" events would later be written by Kei Shigema and published in 2001.


title: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

text: "Silver Star Story Complete" would be the first of three major revamps of the first "Lunar" game. In 2002, a new version of the game developed by Media Rings was released for the Game Boy Advance handheld system under the name , with the title's English version being the first game in the series not published by Working Designs, but rather Ubisoft. Later in 2010, "" was released for PlayStation Portable, marking the last major revamp of the series.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: An arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) (plural "mycorrhizae", a.k.a. "endomycorrhiza") is a type of mycorrhiza in which the symbiont fungus ("AM fungi", or AMF) penetrates the cortical cells of the roots of a vascular plant forming arbuscules. (Not to be confused with ectomycorrhiza or ericoid mycorrhiza.)


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Arbuscular mycorrhizae are characterized by the formation of unique structures, arbuscules and vesicles, by Glomeromycota and Mucoromycota, sister clades of the more well-known and diverse dikaryan fungi (all three are together called "symbiomycota"). AM fungi help plants to capture nutrients such as phosphorus, sulfur, nitrogen and micronutrients from the soil. It is believed that the development of the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis played a crucial role in the initial colonisation of land by plants and in the evolution of the vascular plants.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: It has been said that it is quicker to list the plants that do not form endomycorrhizae than those that do. This symbiosis is a highly evolved mutualistic relationship found between fungi and plants, the most prevalent plant symbiosis known, and AMF is found in 80% of vascular plant families in existence today.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Advances in research on mycorrhizal physiology and ecology since the 1970s have led to a greater understanding of the multiple roles of AMF in the ecosystem. An example is the important contribution of the glue-like protein glomalin to soil structure (see below). This knowledge is applicable to human endeavors of ecosystem management, ecosystem restoration, and agriculture.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Both paleobiological and molecular evidence indicate that AM is an ancient symbiosis that originated at least 460 million years ago. AM symbiosis is ubiquitous among land plants, which suggests that mycorrhizas were present in the early ancestors of extant land plants. This positive association with plants may have facilitated the development of land plants.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: The Rhynie chert of the lower Devonian has yielded fossils of the earliest land plants in which AM fungi have been observed. The fossilized plants containing mycorrhizal fungi were preserved in silica.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: The Early Devonian saw the development of terrestrial flora. Plants of the Rhynie chert from the Lower Devonian (400 m.yrs ago) were found to contain structures resembling vesicles and spores of present "Glomus" species. Colonized fossil roots have been observed in "Aglaophyton major" and "Rhynia", which are ancient plants possessing characteristics of vascular plants and bryophytes with primitive protostelic rhizomes.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Intraradical mycelium was observed in root intracellular spaces, and arbuscules were observed in the layer thin wall cells similar to palisade parenchyma. The fossil arbuscules appear very similar to those of existing AMF. The cells containing arbuscules have thickened walls, which are also observed in extant colonized cells.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Mycorrhizas from the Miocene exhibit a vesicular morphology closely resembling that of present Glomerales. This conserved morphology may reflect the ready availability of nutrients provided by the plant hosts in both modern and Miocene mutualisms. However, it can be argued that the efficacy of signaling processes is likely to have evolved since the Miocene, and this can not be detected in the fossil record. A finetuning of the signaling processes would improve coordination and nutrient exchange between symbionts while increasing the fitness of both the fungi and the plant symbionts.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: The nature of the relationship between plants and the ancestors of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi is contentious. Two hypotheses are:


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Both saprotrophs and biotrophs were found in the Rhynie Chert, but there is little evidence to support either hypothesis.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: There is some fossil evidence that suggests that the parasitic fungi did not kill the host cells immediately upon invasion, although a response to the invasion was observed in the host cells. This response may have evolved into the chemical signaling processes required for symbiosis.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: In both cases, the symbiotic plant-fungi interaction is thought to have evolved from a relationship in which the fungi was taking nutrients from the plant into a symbiotic relationship where the plant and fungi exchange nutrients.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Increased interest in mycorrhizal symbiosis and the development of sophisticated molecular techniques has led to the rapid development of genetic evidence. Wang "et al." (2010) investigated plant genes involved in communication with order Glomales fungal partners (DMI1, DMI3, IPD3). These three genes could be sequenced from all major clades of modern land plants, including liverworts, the most basal group, and phylogeny of the three genes proved to agree with then current land plant phylogenies. This implies that mycorrhizal genes must have been present in the common ancestor of land plants, and that they must have been vertically inherited since plants colonized land.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: It was revealed that AM fungi have the bacterial type core enzyme (ribonuclease III) of sRNA processing mechanism possibly related with symbiosis, by the result of horizontal gene transfer from cyanobacterial ancestor. This finding of genetic fossil inside AM fungi raises the hypothesis of the intimate relationship between AM fungi and cyanobacterial ancestors. At the same time, "Geosiphon"–"Nostoc" symbiosis was reported previously.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Surprisingly, despite their long time evolution as underground partner of the plant root of which environment is far from light or temperature fluctuation, AMF still have conserved circadian clock with its activation of fungal circadian oscillator ("frq") by the blue light, similar to the case of the model circadian fungus "Neurospora crassa". The proved conservation of circadian clock and output genes in "R. irregulare" opens the door to the study of circadian clocks in the fungal partner of AM symbiosis. The characterized AMF "frq" gene by same research is the first "frq" gene identified outgroup of Dikarya, which suggest the "frq" gene evolution in fungal kingdom is much older than previously investigated.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: The development of AM fungi prior to root colonization, known as presymbiosis, consists of three stages: spore germination, hyphal growth, host recognition and appressorium formation.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Spores of the AM fungi are thick-walled multi-nucleate resting structures. The germination of the spore does not depend on the plant, as spores have been germinated under experimental conditions in the absence of plants both "in vitro" and in soil. However, the rate of germination can be increased by host root exudates. AM fungal spores germinate given suitable conditions of the soil matrix, temperature, carbon dioxide concentration, pH, and phosphorus concentration.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: The growth of AM hyphae through the soil is controlled by host root exudates known as strigolactones, and the soil phosphorus concentration.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Low-phosphorus concentrations in the soil increase hyphal growth and branching as well as induce plant exudation of compounds that control hyphal branching intensity.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: The branching of AM fungal hyphae grown in phosphorus media of 1 mM is significantly reduced, but the length of the germ tube and total hyphal growth were not affected. A concentration of 10 mM phosphorus inhibited both hyphal growth and branching. This phosphorus concentration occurs in natural soil conditions and could thus contribute to reduced mycorrhizal colonization.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Root exudates from AMF host plants grown in a liquid medium with and without phosphorus have been shown to affect hyphal growth. Spores of Gigaspora margarita were grown in host plant exudates. Hyphae of fungi grown in the exudates from roots starved of phosphorus grew more and produced tertiary branches compared to those grown in exudates from plants given adequate phosphorus. When the growth-promoting root exudates were added in low concentration, the AM fungi produced scattered long branches. As the concentration of exudates was increased, the fungi produced more tightly clustered branches. At the highest-concentration arbuscules, the AMF structures of phosphorus exchange were formed.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: This chemotaxic fungal response to the host plants exudates is thought to increase the efficacy of host root colonization in low-phosphorus soils. It is an adaptation for fungi to efficiently explore the soil in search of a suitable plant host.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Further evidence that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi exhibit host-specific chemotaxis, that enable hyphal growth toward the roots of a potential host plant: Spores of Glomus mosseae were separated from the roots of a host plant, nonhost plants, and dead host plant by a membrane permeable only to hyphae. In the treatment with the host plant, the fungi crossed the membrane and always emerged within 800 µm of the root, but not in the treatments with nonhost plants and dead plants.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Molecular techniques have been used to understand the signaling pathways between arbuscular mycorrhizae and plant roots. In 2003 it was shown how the AM undergoes physiological changes in the presence of exudates from potential host plant roots, to colonize it. Host plant root exudates trigger and turn on AM fungal genes required for the respiration of spore carbon compounds. In experiments, transcription rate of 10 genes increased half-hour after exposure and at an even greater rate after 1 hour. after 4 hours exposure AM respond with morphological growth. Genes isolated from that time are involved in mitochondrial activity and enzyme production. The fungal respiration rate, measured by O consumption rate, increased by 30% 3 hours after exposure to root exudates, indicating that host plant root exudates stimulate AMF spore mitochondrial activity. It may be part of a fungal regulatory mechanism that conserves spore energy for efficient growth and the hyphal branching upon receiving signals from a potential host plant.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: When arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal hyphae encounter the root of a host plant, an appressorium or 'infection structure' forms on the root epidermis. From this structure hyphae can penetrate into the host's parenchyma cortex. AM need no chemical signals from the plant to form the appressoria. AM fungi could form appressoria on the cell walls of “ghost” cells in which the protoplast had been removed to eliminate signaling between the fungi and the plant host. However, the hyphae did not further penetrate the cells and grow in toward the root cortex, which indicates that signaling between symbionts is required for further growth once appressoria are formed.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Once inside the parenchyma, the fungus forms highly branched structures for nutrient exchange with the plant called arbuscules. These are the distinguishing structures of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus. Arbuscules are the sites of exchange for phosphorus, carbon, water, and other nutrients. There are two forms: "Paris" type is characterized by the growth of hyphae from one cell to the next; and "Arum" type is characterized by the growth of hyphae in the space between plant cells. The choice between "Paris" type and "Arum" type is primarily determined by the host plant family, although some families or species are capable of either type.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: The host plant exerts a control over the intercellular hyphal proliferation and arbuscule formation. There is a decondensation of the plant's chromatin, which indicates increased transcription of the plant's DNA in arbuscule-containing cells. Major modifications are required in the plant host cell to accommodate the arbuscules. The vacuoles shrink and other cellular organelles proliferate. The plant cell cytoskeleton is reorganized around the arbuscules.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: There are two other types of hyphae that originate from the colonized host plant root. Once colonization has occurred, short-lived runner hyphae grow from the plant root into the soil. These are the hyphae that take up phosphorus and micronutrients, which are conferred to the plant. AM fungal hyphae have a high surface-to-volume ratio, making their absorptive ability greater than that of plant roots. AMF hyphae are also finer than roots and can enter into pores of the soil that are inaccessible to roots. The fourth type of AMF hyphae grows from the roots and colonizes other host plant roots. The four types of hyphae are morphologically distinct.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: AM fungi are obligate symbionts. They have limited saprobic ability and depend on the plant for their carbon nutrition. AM fungi take up the products of the plant host's photosynthesis as hexoses.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Carbon transfer from plant to fungi may occur through the arbuscules or intraradical hyphae. Secondary synthesis from the hexoses by AM occurs in the intraradical mycelium. Inside the mycelium, hexose is converted to trehalose and glycogen. Trehalose and glycogen are carbon storage forms that can be rapidly synthesized and degraded and may buffer the intracellular sugar concentrations. The intraradical hexose enters the oxidative pentose phosphate pathway, which produces pentose for nucleic acids.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Lipid biosynthesis also occurs in the intraradical mycelium. Lipids are then stored or exported to extraradical hyphae where they may be stored or metabolized. The breakdown of lipids into hexoses, known as gluconeogenesis, occurs in the extraradical mycelium. Approximately 25% of the carbon translocated from the plant to the fungi is stored in the extraradical hyphae. Up to 20% of the host plant's carbon may be transferred to the AM fungi. This represents the host plant's considerable carbon investment in mycorrhizal network and contribution to the below-ground organic carbon pool.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Increasing the plant's carbon supply to the AM fungi increases uptake and transfer of phosphorus from fungi to plant Likewise, phosphorus uptake and transfer is lowered when the photosynthate supplied to the fungi is decreased. Species of AMF differ in their abilities to supply the plant with phosphorus. In some cases, arbuscular mycorrhizae are poor symbionts, providing little phosphorus while taking relatively high amounts of carbon.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: The main benefit of mycorrhizas to plants has been attributed to increased uptake of nutrients, especially phosphorus. This may be due to increased surface area in contact with soil, increased movement of nutrients into mycorrhizae, a modified root environment, and increased storage. Mycorrhizas can be much more efficient than plant roots at taking up phosphorus. Phosphorus travels to the root or via diffusion and hyphae reduce the distance required for diffusion, thus increasing uptake. The rate of phosphorus flowing into mycorrhizae can be up to six times that of the root hairs. In some cases, the role of phosphorus uptake can be completely taken over by the mycorrhizal network, and all of the plant's phosphorus may be of hyphal origin. Less is known about the role of nitrogen nutrition in the arbuscular mycorrhizal system and its impact on the symbiosis and community. While significant advances have been made in elucidating the mechanisms of this complex interaction, much investigation remains to be done.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Mycorrhizal activity increases the phosphorus concentration available in the rhizosphere. Mycorrhizae lower the root zone pH by selective uptake of NH (ammonium-ions) and by releasing H ions. Decreased soil pH increases the solubility of phosphorus precipitates. The hyphal NH uptake also increases the nitrogen flow to the plant as the soil's inner surfaces absorb ammonium and distribute it by diffusion.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are most frequent in plants growing on mineral soils, and are of extreme importance for plants growing in nutrient-deficient substrates such as in volcanic soil and sand dune environments. The populations of AM fungi is greatest in plant communities with high diversity such as tropical rainforests and temperate grasslands where they have many potential host plants and can take advantage of their ability to colonize a broad host range. There is a lower incidence of mycorrhizal colonization in very arid or nutrient-rich soils. Mycorrhizas have been observed in aquatic habitats; however, waterlogged soils have been shown to decrease colonization in some species.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are found in 80% of plant species and have been surveyed on all continents except Antarctica. The biogeography of glomeromycota is influenced by dispersal limitation, environmental factors such as climate, soil series and soil pH, soil nutrients and plant community. While evidence from 2000 suggests that AM fungi are not specialists on their host species, studies as of 2002 have indicated that at least some fungi taxa are host specialists. The ecology of Mucoromycotinian fungi, which form ‘fine root endophyte’ arbuscular mycorrhizas is largely unknown.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: The specificity, host range, and degree of colonization of mycorrhizal fungi are difficult to analyze in the field due to the complexity of interactions between the fungi within a root and within the system. There is no clear evidence to suggest that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi exhibit specificity for colonization of potential AM host plant species as do fungal pathogens for their host plants. This may be due to the opposite selective pressure involved.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: In pathogenic relations, the host plant benefits from mutations that prevent colonization, whereas, in a mutualistic symbiotic relationship, the plant benefits from mutation that allow for colonization by AMF. However, plant species differ in the extent and dependence on colonization by certain AM fungi, and some plants may be facultative mycotrophs, while others may be obligate mycotrophs. Recently, mycorrhizal status has been linked to plant distributions, with obligate mycorrhizal plants occupying warmer, drier habitats while facultative mycorrhizal plants occupy larger ranges of habitats.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: The ability of the same AM fungi to colonize many species of plants has ecological implications. Plants of different species can be linked underground to a common mycelial network. One plant may provide the photosynthate carbon for the establishment of the mycelial network that another plant of a different species can utilize for mineral uptake. This implies that arbuscular mycorrhizae are able to balance below-ground intra–and interspecific plant interactions.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Since Glomeromycota fungi live inside plant roots, they can be influenced substantially by their plant host and in return affect plant communities as well. Plants can allocate up to 30% of their photosynthate carbon to AM fungi and in return AM fungi can acquire up to 80% of plant phosphorus and nitrogen. The diversity of AM fungal communities has been positively linked to plant diversity, plant productivity and herbivory. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi can be influenced by small scale interactions with the local plant community. For example, the plant neighborhood around a focal plant can alter AM fungal communities as can the order of plant establishment within sites.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: During invasions of plant species, the AM fungal community and biomass can be drastically altered. In the majority of cases AM fungal biomass and diversity decrease with invasions. However, some mycotrophic plant species may actually increase AM fungal diversity during invasion.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: The mycorrhizal status of invasive plant species often varies between regions. For example, in the United Kingdom and central Europe recently invasive plants are more frequently obligately mycorrhizal than expected, while invasive plants in California were found to be less frequently mycorrhizal than expected.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: All symbionts within a plant host interact, often in unpredictable ways. A 2010 meta-analysis indicated that plants colonized by both AM fungi and vertically transmitted endophytes often are larger than plants independently colonized by these symbionts. However, this relationship is context-dependent as AM fungi can interact synergistically with fungal endophytes inhabiting the leaves of their host plant, or antagonistically. Similar ranges of interactions can occur between AM fungi and ectomycorrhizal fungi and dark septate endophytes.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi vary across many environmental gradients. Their tolerance to freezing and drying is known to shift between AM fungal taxa. AM fungi become less prevalent and diverse at higher soil nutrient and moisture concentrations, presumably because both plants allocate less carbon to AM fungi and AM fungi reallocate their resources to intraradical hyphae in these environmental conditions. Over the long term, these environmental conditions can even create local adaptation between plant hosts, AM fungi and the local soil nutrient concentrations.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: AM composition often becomes less diverse on mountain tops than at lower elevations, which is driven by the composition of plant species.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: AM fungi have been shown to improve plant tolerance to abiotic environmental factors such as salinity. They alleviate salt stress and benefit plant growth and productivity.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis affects the community and diversity of other organisms in the soil. This can be directly seen by the release of exudates, or indirectly by a change in the plant species and plant exudates type and amount.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Mycorrhizae diversity has been shown to increase plant species diversity as the potential number of associations increases. Dominant arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi can prevent the invasion of non-mycorrhizal plants on land where they have established symbiosis and promote their mycorrhizal host.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Recent research has shown that AM fungi release an unidentified diffusional factor, known as the myc factor, which activates the nodulation factor's inducible gene MtEnod11. This is the same gene involved in establishing symbiosis with the nitrogen fixing, rhizobial bacteria (Kosuta "et al." 2003). When rhizobium bacteria are present in the soil, mycorrhizal colonization is increased due to an increase in the concentration of chemical signals involved in the establishment of symbiosis (Xie "et al." 2003). Molecules similar to Nod factors were isolated from AM fungi and were shown to induce MtEnod11, lateral root formation and enhance mycorrhization. Effective mycorrhizal colonization can also increase the nodulations and symbiotic nitrogen fixation in mycorrhizal legumes.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: The extent of arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization and species affects the bacterial population in the rhizosphere. Bacterial species differ in their abilities to compete for carbon compound root exudates. A change in the amount or composition of root exudates and fungal exudates due to the existing AM mycorrhizal colonization determines the diversity and abundance of the bacterial community in the rhizosphere.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: The influence of AM fungi on plant root and shoot growth may also have indirect effect on the rhizosphere bacteria. AMF contributes a substantial amount of carbon to the rhizosphere through the growth and degeneration of the hyphal network. There is also evidence to suggest that AM fungi may play an important role on mediating the plant species' specific effect on the bacterial composition of the rhizosphere.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Global climate change is affecting AM fungal communities and interactions between AM fungi and their plant hosts. While it is generally accepted that interactions between organisms will affect their response to global climate change, we still lack the ability to predict the outcome of these interactions in future climates. In recent meta-analyses, AM fungi were found to increase plant biomass under drought conditions and decrease plant biomass under simulated nitrogen deposition studies. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi themselves have been shown to increase their biomass in response to elevated atmospheric


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Members of the mustard family (Brassicaceae), such as cabbage, cauliflower, canola, and crambe, do not establish arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on their roots.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: In the past ten years there have been spectacular advances in molecular genetic technologies and tools. These advances allow microbial and mycorrhizal ecologists to ask new and exciting questions about the ecological and evolutionary roles of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi as individuals, in communities and ecosystems. Genetic analyses of AM fungi have been used to explore the genetic structure of single spores using multilocus genotyping, AM fungal diversity and adaptation across multiple grassland communities, all the way up to a global investigation of AM fungal diversity, which greatly increased the described molecular diversity within the phylum Glomeromycota.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: All the recent advances in molecular genetics clearly permit the analysis of microbial communities at much finer and functional scales and potentially with more confidence than previous methods. The classical AM fungal identification method of spore extraction from soil and further spore morphological analysis is fraught with complicating issues due to the various strategies and forms of AM fungi, e.g., lack of sporulation in certain species, seasonality, high unculturability, possible misidentification (human error), and new evidence of multi-nucleate spores and high genetic variation within clonal AM species. Because of these various problems, in the past researchers likely misrepresented the true composition of AM fungal communities present at any one point in time or place. Additionally, by following the traditional extraction, culture and microscopic identification methods, there is no way to determine active/functioning AM fungal populations, which are likely the most important when attempting to relate plant-AM symbiotic interactions and mechanisms to ecological or ecosystem function. This is especially true in the case of root colonization analyses, which can determine percentage of roots colonized by AM fungi. The major problem with this analysis is in field soils, which contain multiple species of AM fungi in association with a target plant at the same time (see Ecology of AM). The identification of the associated fungal symbionts is impossible without the use of molecular methods. Though genetic analysis of AM fungal communities has advanced a great deal in the past decade, the methodology is not yet completely refined. Below is an overview of the methods used in molecular genetic analyses of AM fungi, along with applications to research, future directions and some of their problems.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Genetic analyses of AM fungi from soil and root samples range in their applicability to answer ecological or phylogenetic questions. DNA analyses utilize various nuclear markers to describe AM fungi and represent different regions of the nuclear ribosomal operon (18S rRNA) found in all eukaryotic organisms. The DNA analysis of AM fungi using these markers began in the early 1990s and are continuing to be developed today. The small subunit (SSU) rRNA gene, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) gene, and the large subunit (LSU) rRNA gene are currently the most common DNA markers used. The SSU region has been used most frequently in ecological studies, while the ITS and LSU regions have been predominantly used in taxonomic constructions of the phylum Glomeromycota.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Real-time PCR or quantitative PCR (qPCR), is becoming a well-established method to quickly amplify and simultaneously quantify targeted AM fungal DNA from biological samples (plant roots or soils). Fairly recent developments in qPCR markers allow researchers to explore the relative abundance of AM fungal species within roots in greenhouse experiments as well as in the field to identify local AM fungal communities.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: qPCR markers for arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi will consist of AM specific primers and fluorescently labeled hydrolysis probes. These AM specific primers (discussed above) can be chosen by the researcher and this decision is typically guided by the question at hand, resources available, and willingness to troubleshoot in the lab.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: DNA microarray analysis is currently being used in AM fungal research to simultaneously measure the expression of many genes from target species or experimental samples. The most common tool or method is to use functional gene array (FGA) technology, a specialized microarray that contains probes for genes that are functionally important in microbial processes such as carbon, nitrogen or phosphorus cycling. FGAs have the ability to simultaneously examine many functional genes. This technique is typically used for general analysis of functional microbial genes, but when complemented with genetic sequencing, inferences can be made about the connection between fungal community composition and microbial functionality.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Specific organismal chemical signatures can be used to detect biomass of more cryptic organisms, such as AM fungi or soil bacteria. Lipids, more specifically phospholipids and neutral lipids, contain fatty acids connected to a glycerol backbone. The fatty acid composition of organisms varies, and the proportions of specific fatty acids can be organism specific. For example, in AM fungi the proportion of the fatty acids, 16:1ω5 and 18:1ω7, in the phospholipid portion account for approximately 58% of total fatty acid composition. The fatty acid, 16:1ω5 is the most commonly used acid to characterize AM fungi in soils and can be used as a strong indicator of mycelial biomass in soil sample.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Neutral lipid fatty acid analysis of AM fungi is typically looked upon as a method to indicate energy storage, but most importantly, the ratio of NLFA (16:1ω5) to PLFA (16:1ω5) can potentially be used to indicate nutritional status of AM fungi in soils. Energy is mainly stored in AM fungi as neutral lipids in storage structures like spores and vesicles. Because of this NLFA correlates quite well with the number of spores in a given volume of soil. The ratio of NLFA concentration to PLFA concentration (active mycelia) can then give the proportion of carbon allocated to storage structures (spores, measured as NLFA).


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Problems with lipid fatty acid analyses include the incomplete specificity of fatty acids to AM fungi, the species- or genera-specific variation in fatty acid composition can complicate analysis in systems with multiple AM fungal species (e.g. field soil), the high background levels of certain fatty acid concentration in soils, and that phospholipids are correlated to an organism's membrane area, and the surface to volume ratio can vary widely between organisms such as bacteria and fungi. More work must be done to identify the efficacy of this method in field soils with many genera and species of AM fungi to discern the methods ability to discriminate between many varying fatty acid compositions.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: One prospect for future analysis of AM fungi is the use of stable isotope probes. Stable isotope probing (SIP) is a technique that can be used to determine the active metabolic function of individual taxa within a complex system of microbes. This level of specificity, linking microbial function and phylogenetics, has not been achieved previously in microbial ecology. This method can also be used independently of classical culture methods in microbial ecology, allowing for "in situ" analysis of functional microbes. Application of sequencing of single nucleus from spores of AM fungi has also been developed recently and also circumvents the need of culture methods.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: SIP, more explicitly DNA/RNA-based SIP, uses stable-isotope enriched substrates, such as C, N, or HO, and then analyzes the 'labeled' markers using species specific DNA or RNA markers. The analysis of labeled DNA is performed by separating unlabeled and labeled DNA on a cesium chloride gradient formed in an ultra centrifuge. Because all microbial organisms are capable of importing water into their cells, the use of HO stable isotope probing is a very exciting new method that can shed light on questions microbial ecologists and biologists have struggled with answering for years, in particular, what are the active microbial organisms in my system? The HO, or heavy water method will target all organisms that are actively growing, and induce little influence on growth itself. This would be especially true with most greenhouse experiments with arbuscular mycorrhizas because plants must be watered anyway, and water does not directly select for organisms with specific metabolic pathways, as would happen when using C andN.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Little has been done with this method in arbuscular mycorrhizal experiments, but if proven to work in a controlled experiment, and with further refinement of DNA/RNA fungal community analyses techniques, this may be a viable option to very specifically determine the actively growing portion of AM fungal species across growing seasons, with different plant hosts or treatments, and in the face of climate change.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: sRNAs have been reported to take crucial role in the crosstalk between host and symbiont. sRNAs processing mechanism is thus, important for understanding AM symbiosis. It seems that AM fungi have their unique features to have bacterial type core enzyme as well as the large number of Argonaute proteins in their sRNA processing system (or RNAi system). sRNA and sRNA processing mechanism research is also exciting topic to understand AM fungi symbiosis.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Disturbance of native plant communities in desertification-threatened areas is often followed by degradation of physical and biological soil properties, soil structure, nutrient availability, and organic matter. When restoring disturbed land, it is essential to replace not only the above ground vegetation but also biological and physical soil properties.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: A relatively new approach to restoring land is to inoculate soil with AM fungi when reintroducing vegetation in ecological restoration projects (phytoremediation). It has enabled host plants to establish themselves on degraded soil and improve soil quality and health. Soils' quality parameters were significantly improved long-term when a mixture of indigenous arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi species was introduced compared to noninoculated soil and soil inoculated with a single exotic species of AM fungi. The benefits were increased plant growth, increased phosphorus uptake and soil nitrogen content, higher soil organic matter content, and soil aggregation, attributed to higher legume nodulation in the presence of AM fungi, better water infiltration, and soil aeration due to soil aggregation. Native strains of AM fungi enhance the extraction of heavy metal(s) from the polluted soils and make the soil healthy and suitable for crop production.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Many modern agronomic practices are disruptive to mycorrhizal symbiosis. There is great potential for low-input agriculture to manage the system in a way that promotes mycorrhizal symbiosis.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Conventional agriculture practices, such as tillage, heavy fertilizers and fungicides, poor crop rotations, and selection for plants that survive these conditions, hinder the ability of plants to form symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Most agricultural crops can perform better and are more productive when well-colonized by AM fungi. AM symbiosis increases the phosphorus and micronutrient uptake and growth of their plant host (George "et al." 1992).


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Management of AM fungi is especially important for organic and low-input agriculture systems where soil phosphorus is, in general, low, although all agroecosystems can benefit by promoting arbuscular mycorrhizae establishment.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Some crops that are poor at seeking out nutrients in the soil are very dependent on AM fungi for phosphorus uptake. For example, flax, which has poor chemotaxic ability, is highly dependent on AM-mediated phosphorus uptake at low and intermediate soil phosphorus concentrations (Thingstrup "et al." 1998).


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Proper management of AMF in the agroecosystems can improve the quality of the soil and the productivity of the land. Agricultural practices such as reduced tillage, low phosphorus fertilizer usage, and perennialized cropping systems promote functional mycorrhizal symbiosis.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Tillage reduces the inoculation potential of the soil and the efficacy of mycorrhizaes by disrupting the extraradical hyphal network (Miller "et al." 1995, McGonigle & Miller 1999, Mozafar "et al." 2000).


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: By breaking apart the soil macro structure, the hyphal network is rendered non-infective (Miller "et al." 1995, McGonigle & Miller 1999). The disruption of the hyphal network decreases the absorptive abilities of the mycorrhizae because the surface area spanned by the hyphae is greatly reduced. This, in turn, lowers the phosphorus input to the plants that are connected to the hyphal network (Figure 3, McGonigle & Miller 1999).


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: In reduced-tillage system, heavy phosphorus fertilizer input may not be required as compared to heavy-tillage systems. This is due to the increase in mycorrhizal network, which allows mycorrhizae to provide the plant with sufficient phosphorus (Miller "et al." 1995).


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: The benefits of AMF are greatest in systems where inputs are low. Heavy usage of phosphorus fertilizer can inhibit mycorrhizal colonization and growth.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: As the soil's phosphorus levels available to the plants increases, the amount of phosphorus also increases in the plant's tissues, and carbon drain on the plant by the AM fungi symbiosis become non-beneficial to the plant (Grant 2005).


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: A decrease in mycorrhizal colonization due to high soil-phosphorus levels can lead to plant deficiencies in other micronutrients that have mycorrhizal-mediated uptake such as copper (Timmer & Leyden 1980).


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Cover crops are grown in the fall, winter, and spring, covering the soil during periods when it would commonly be left without a cover of growing plants.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Mycorrhizal cover crops can be used to improve the mycorrhizal inoculum potential and hyphal network (Kabir and Koide 2000, Boswell "et al."1998, Sorensen et al. 2005).


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Since AM fungi are biotrophic, they are dependent on plants for the growth of their hyphal networks. Growing a cover crop extends the time for AM growth into the autumn, winter, and spring. Promotion of hyphal growth creates a more extensive hyphal network. The mycorrhizal colonization increase found in cover crops systems may be largely attributed to an increase in the extraradical hyphal network that can colonize the roots of the new crop (Boswell "et al." 1998). The extraradical mycelia are able to survive the winter, providing rapid spring colonization and early season symbiosis (McGonigle and Miller 1999). This early symbiosis allows plants to tap into the well-established hyphal network and be supplied with adequate phosphorus nutrition during early growth, which greatly improves the crop yield.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Restoration of native AM fungi increases the success of ecological restoration project and the rapidity of soil recovery. AM fungi enhance soil aggregate stability is due to the production of extraradical hyphae and a soil protein known as glomalin.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Glomalin-related soil proteins (GRSP) have been identified using a monoclonal antibody (Mab32B11) raised against crushed AMF spores. It is defined by its extraction conditions and reaction with the antibody Mab32B11.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: There is other circumstantial evidence to show that glomalin is of AM fungal origin. When AM fungi are eliminated from soil through incubation of soil without host plants, the concentration of GRSP declines. A similar decline in GRSP has also been observed in incubated soils from forested, afforested, and agricultural land and grasslands treated with fungicide.


title: Arbuscular mycorrhiza

text: Glomalin is hypothesized to improve soil aggregate water stability and decrease soil erosion. A strong correlation has been found between GRSP and soil aggregate water stability in a wide variety of soils where organic material is the main binding agent, although the mechanism is not known. The protein glomalin has not yet been isolated and described, and the link between glomalin, GRSP, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi is not yet clear.


title: SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs

text: SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs is a series of third-person tactical shooter video games for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable created by Zipper Interactive and released between 2002 and 2011. The title for the series comes from the United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) which is a Unified Combatant Command. The games focus on various teams of United States Navy SEALs (an operating component under SOCOM) completing missions with occasional help from other special operations forces from around the world such as the SAS, SBS and GROM.


title: SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs

text: Exclusively for the PlayStation Portable, the gameplay became less run-and-gun and more command and strategic.


title: SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs

text: The second title for the PlayStation 3 and the latest title in the franchise, "SOCOM 4" is set in Malaysia and serves as the sequel to "SOCOM 3".


title: Christian views on the Old Covenant

text: The Mosaic covenant or Law of Moses which Christians generally call the "Old Covenant" (in contrast to the New Covenant) played an important role in the origins of Christianity and has occasioned serious dispute and controversy since the beginnings of Christianity: note for example Jesus' teaching of the Law during his Sermon on the Mount and the circumcision controversy in early Christianity.


title: Christian views on the Old Covenant

text: Rabbinic Jews assert that Moses presented the Jewish religious laws to the Jewish people and that those laws do not apply to Gentiles (including Christians), with the exception of the Seven Laws of Noah, which (according to Rabbinic teachings) apply to all people.


title: Christian views on the Old Covenant

text: Most Christians, such as the Catholic Church, Reformed Churches and Methodist Churches, believe that of the Old Covenant, only parts dealing with the moral law (as opposed to ceremonial law) are still applicable (cf. covenant theology), a minority believe that none apply, and dual-covenant theologians believe that the Old Covenant remains valid only for Jews. Messianic Jews hold the view that all parts still apply to believers in Jesus and in the New Covenant.


title: Christian views on the Old Covenant

text: Theologian Thomas Aquinas explained that there are three types of biblical precepts: moral, ceremonial, and judicial. He holds that moral precepts are permanent, having held even before the Law was given, since they are part of the law of nature. Ceremonial precepts (the "ceremonial law", dealing with forms of worshipping God and with ritual cleanness) and judicial precepts (such as those in Exodus 21) came into existence only with the Law of Moses and were only temporary. The ceremonial commands were "ordained to the Divine worship "for that particular time" and to the foreshadowing of Christ". Accordingly, upon the coming of Christ they ceased to bind, and to observe them now would, Aquinas thought, be equivalent to declaring falsely that Christ has not yet come, for Christians a mortal sin.


title: Christian views on the Old Covenant

text: However, while the judicial laws ceased to bind with the advent of Christ, it was not a mortal sin to enforce them. Aquinas says, "if a sovereign were to order these judicial precepts to be observed in his kingdom, he would not sin." Although Aquinas believed the specifics of the Old Testament judicial laws were no longer binding, he taught that the judicial precepts contained universal principles of justice that reflected natural law. Thus some scholars refer to his views on government as "General Equity Theonomy."


title: Christian views on the Old Covenant

text: Unlike the ceremonial and judicial precepts, moral commands continue to bind, and are summed up in the Ten Commandments (though the assigning of the weekly holiday to Saturday is ceremonial). The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:


title: Christian views on the Old Covenant

text: The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the Apostles instituted the religious celebration of Sunday without transferring to it the ceremonial obligations associated with the Jewish Sabbath, although later some of these obligations became attached to Sunday, not without opposition within the Church. The Roman Catholic Church thus applies to Sunday, the Lord's Day, the Third Commandment.


title: Christian views on the Old Covenant

text: The distinction between Law and Gospel is that Law demands obedience to God's will, while Gospel refers to the promise of forgiveness of sins in the light of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Between 1580 and 1713 (considered the age of Lutheran Orthodoxy) this principle was considered of fundamental importance by Lutheran theologians.


title: Christian views on the Old Covenant

text: The foundation of evangelical Lutheran biblical exegesis and exposition is contained in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession (Article 4) (1531):


title: Christian views on the Old Covenant

text: Lutherans, quoting Colossians 2 and Romans 14, believe that circumcision and the other Old Testament ceremonial laws no longer apply to Christians.


title: Christian views on the Old Covenant

text: The view of the Reformed churches or Calvinism, referred to as Covenant Theology, is similar to the Roman Catholic view in holding that Mosaic Law continues under the New Covenant, while declaring that parts of it have "expired" and are no longer applicable. The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) divides the Mosaic laws into three categories: moral, civil, and ceremonial. In the view of the Westminster Divines, only the moral laws of the Mosaic Law, which include the Ten Commandments and the commands repeated in the New Testament, directly apply to Christians today. Ceremonial laws, in this view, include the regulations pertaining to ceremonial cleanliness, festivals, diet, and the Levitical priesthood.


title: Christian views on the Old Covenant

text: Advocates of this view hold that, while not always easy to do and overlap between categories does occur, the divisions they make are possible and supported based on information contained in the commands themselves; specifically to whom they are addressed, whom or what they speak about, and their content. For example, a ceremonial law might be addressed to the Levites, speak of purification or holiness and have content that could be considered as a foreshadowing of some aspect of Christ's life or ministry. In keeping with this, most advocates also hold that when the Law is spoken of as everlasting, it is in reference to certain divisions of the Law.


title: Christian views on the Old Covenant

text: Anglican and Methodist theology regarding the Old Covenant is expressed by their historic defining statements known as the Thirty-Nine Articles and Articles of Religion, respectively.


title: Christian views on the Old Covenant

text: As a theological system, Dispensationalism is rooted in the writings of John Nelson Darby (1800–1882) and the Brethren Movement, but it has never been formally defined and incorporates several variants. Dispensationists divide the Bible into varying numbers of separate dispensations or ages. Traditional dispensationalists believe only the New Testament applies to the church of today whereas hyperdispensationalists believe only the second half of the New Testament, starting either in the middle of Acts or at Acts 28, applies.


title: Christian views on the Old Covenant

text: Wayne G. Strickland, professor of theology at the Multnomah University, claims that his (not necessarily "the") Dispensationalist view is that "the age of the church has rendered the law inoperative".


title: Christian views on the Old Covenant

text: This view holds that Mosaic Laws and the penalties attached to them were limited to the particular historical and theological setting of the Old Testament. In that view, the Law was given to Israel and does not apply since the age of the New Covenant.


title: Christian views on the Old Covenant

text: Replacing the Mosaic Law is the “Law of Christ”, which however holds definite similarities with the Mosaic Law in moral concerns, but is new and different, replacing the original Law. Despite this difference, Dispensationalists continue to seek to find moral and religious principles applicable for today in Mosaic Law.


title: Christian views on the Old Covenant

text: Believing the New Covenant to be a new dispensation, George R. Law has proposed that the Law of Christ is recorded in Matthew 5-7. He suggests that Matthew’s record of the Sermon on the Mount is structured similar to the literary form of an ancient Near Eastern covenant treaty. Law’s theory is built on the work of Viktor Korošec, Donald J. Wiseman, and George E. Mendenhall. This new covenant form, like other variations of the covenant form throughout ancient history, can be identified by its combination of ancient covenant elements. If this record in Matthew can be identified as the record of the promised New Covenant, then its contents can also be identified as the formal presentation of the Law of Christ (and includes Christ’s new Ten Commandments).


title: Christian views on the Old Covenant

text: A misunderstanding of Dispensationalism sees the covenant of Sinai (dispensation #5) to have been replaced by the gospel (dispensation #6). However, Dispensationalists believe that ethnic Israel, distinct from the church, and on the basis of the Sinai covenant, are featured in New Testament promises, which they interpret as referring to a future time associated with the Millennium of Revelation 20 (dispensation #7). In Dispensational thought, although the time from Jesus' resurrection until his return (or the advent of the Millennium) is dominated by the proclamation of the gospel, the Sinai covenant is neither terminated nor replaced, rather it is "quiescent" awaiting a fulfillment at the Millennium. This time of Jewish restoration has an especially prominent place within Dispensationalism, see also Christian Zionism.


title: Christian views on the Old Covenant

text: Starting in the 1970s and 1980s, an obscure branch of Calvinism known as Christian Reconstructionism argued that the civil laws as well as the moral laws should be applied in today's society (a position called Theonomy) as part of establishing a modern theonomic state. This view is a break from the traditional Reformed position, including that of John Calvin and the Puritans, which holds that the civil laws have been abrogated though they remain useful as guidance and revelation of God's character.


title: Christian views on the Old Covenant

text: Some theonomists go further and embrace the idea that the whole Law continues to function, contending that the way in which Christians observe some commands has changed but not the content or meaning of the commands. For example, they would say that the ceremonial commands regarding Passover were looking forward to Christ's sacrificial death and the Communion mandate is looking back on it, the former is given to the Levitical priesthood and the latter is given to the priesthood of all believers, but both have the same content and meaning.


title: Christian views on the Old Covenant

text: New Covenant Theology (or NCT), is a recently expressed Christian theological system on this issue that incorporates aspects of Dispensationalism and Covenant Theology.


title: Christian views on the Old Covenant

text: NCT claims that all Old Covenant laws have been fulfilled by Christ and are thus cancelled or abrogated in favor of the Law of Christ or New Covenant law. This can be summarized as the ethical expectation found in the New Testament. Thus NCT rejects antinomianism as they do not reject religious law, only the Old Covenant law. NCT is in contrast with other views on Biblical law in that most other Christian churches do not believe the Ten Commandments and other Divine laws of the Old Covenant have been "cancelled."


title: Christian views on the Old Covenant

text: New Covenant theologians see the Law of Christ or New Testament Law as actually including many of the Divine Laws, thus, even though all Old Covenant laws have been cancelled, many have still been renewed under the Law of Christ. This is a conclusion similar to older Christian theological systems on this issue, that some Old Covenant laws are still valid, but this understanding is reached in a different way. On the issue of the law, Dispensationalism is most similar to NCT, but New Covenant Theology may be still evolving a coherent system that will better distinguish itself from it. Richard Barcellos has criticized NCT for proposing that the Ten Commandments have been cancelled.


title: Christian views on the Old Covenant

text: In the years after the Holocaust, at least one article has questioned whether Christianity requires a triumphalist stance towards Judaism. Christian teaching traditionally holds the supersessionist view that under the New Covenant the Christian people were the new spiritual Israel, further, that "the old carnal Israel had been superseded".


title: Christian views on the Old Covenant

text: There are some Christians who reject the supersessionist view. In direct contrast with Supersessionism (and also the doctrines of Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus and Solus Christus) is Dual-covenant theology. This is a Liberal Christian view that holds that God's biblical covenant with the Jewish people is everlasting.


title: Christian views on the Old Covenant

text: Torah-observant Christians view Mosaic Law as of continuing validity and applicability for Christians under the new covenant. This view is based on the idea that Jesus, as the Son of God and Messiah, could not and did not change the standard of Godly obedience, but rather affirmed the ongoing applicability of even the least of the Torah's commandments. There are both ethnically Jewish and Gentile Torah-observant Christians.