bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Comparing assumptions and applications of dynamic vegetation models used in the Arctic-Boreal zone of Alaska and Canada
Authors: Heffernan Elise , Epstein Howard , Declan McQuinn T , Rogers Brendan M , Virkkala Anna-Maria , Lutz David , Armstrong Amanda
Published: July 2024

Modeling Arctic-Boreal vegetation is a challenging but important task, since this highly dynamic ecosystem is undergoing rapid and substantial environmental change. In this work, we synthesized information on 18 dynamic vegetation models (DVMs) that can be used to project vegetation structure, composition, and function in North American Arctic-Boreal ecosystems. We reviewed the ecosystem properties and scaling assumptions these models make, reviewed their applications from the scholarly literature, and conducted a survey of expert opinion to determine which processes are important but lacking in DVMs. We then grouped the models into four categories (specific intention models, forest species models, cohort models, and carbon tracking models) using cluster analysis to highlight similarities among the models. Our application review identified 48 papers that addressed vegetation dynamics either directly (22) or indirectly (26). The expert survey results indicated a large desire for increased representation of active layer depth and permafrost in future model development. Ultimately, this paper serves as a summary of DVM development and application in Arctic-Boreal environments and can be used as a guide for potential model users, thereby prioritizing options for model development.
Legal Personhood, Migrant Groups, and Stateless Peoples
Authors: Arstein-Kerslake Anna
Published: July 2024

This chapter applies the right to legal personhood to the situation of migrant groups and stateless peoples. This is one of the first of such analyses for these groups in academic literature. It begins by highlighting the limitations of enforcing the right due to state sovereignty claims regarding regulating national borders and decisions regarding citizenship. Drawing on the arguments in Chapter 2, it is claimed that state sovereignty should not be allowed to supersede the right to legal personhood—even in regard to citizenship and national borders. The key barriers to legal personhood for undocumented immigrants, documented immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, as well as stateless peoples, are described. Finally, the challenges in realising the right to legal personhood for these groups is acknowledged, but a robust re-examination of social justice goals and legal systems in order to achieve such realisation of the right is encouraged.
Identifying Implications and Creating Solutions Breaking Down the Barriers to Legal Personhood
Authors: Arstein-Kerslake Anna
Published: July 2024

This final chapter provides a summary of the book and discusses the implications of realising the right to legal personhood for all. It discusses the implications in the context of human rights law—how the realisation of the right would necessitate a transformation of human rights law towards the de-prioritisation of state sovereignty for certain rights, such as the right to legal personhood. It also discusses them in the context of the global legal order, including the challenge to national borders that will be faced if the right to legal personhood for migrant groups is realised, for example. The ultimate goal with this book is the exploration of the right to legal personhood as a means to achieve social justice goals and mitigate marginalisation.
The Edge of Sentience
Authors: Birch Jonathan
Published: July 2024

Can octopuses feel pain and pleasure? What about crabs, shrimps, insects, or spiders? How do we tell whether a person unresponsive after severe brain injury might be suffering? When does a fetus in the womb start to have conscious experiences? Could there even be rudimentary feelings in miniature models of the human brain, grown from human stem cells? And what about AI? These are questions about the edge of sentience, and they are subject to enormous, disorienting uncertainty. The stakes are immense, and neglecting the risks can have terrible costs. We need to err on the side of caution, yet it’s often far from clear what ‘erring on the side of caution’ should mean in practice. When are we going too far? When are we not doing enough? The Edge of Sentience presents a comprehensive precautionary framework designed to help us reach ethically sound, evidence-based decisions despite our uncertainty.
A Walk along the Edge
Authors: Birch Jonathan
Published: July 2024

There is a family of cases at the edge of sentience. In these cases, grave decisions hinge on whether we regard sentience (initially introduced informally as ‘ethically significant experience’) to be present or absent in a person, animal, or other cognitive system. The family includes people with disorders of consciousness, embryos and fetuses, neural organoids, other animals (especially invertebrates), and AI technologies that reproduce brain functions and/or mimic human behaviour. It is worth studying these cases together not because there is a moral equivalence between them but because they present us with similar types of uncertainty. We need frameworks for helping us to manage that uncertainty and reach decisions. This book aims to develop a consistent precautionary framework that enshrines (but also goes beyond) the insight that we must err on the side of caution in these cases, take proportionate steps to manage risk, and avoid reckless or negligent behaviour.
The Mind-Body Problem
Authors: Birch Jonathan
Published: July 2024

Reasonable disagreement about sentience requires responsiveness to evidence and argument. It excludes baseless recommendations, dogmatic adherence to refuted theories, and morally abhorrent (e.g. sadistic) positions. However, the uncertainty in this area is such that many very different positions can be held by reasonable people. This chapter examines sources of disagreement that have their origins in the philosophy of mind. Major metaphysical pictures including materialism, epiphenomenalism, interactionism, Russellian monism, biopsychism, and the ‘integrated information theory’ are introduced and their major strengths and weaknesses are considered. The chapter then turns to other axes of disagreement. One concerns the importance of agency and embodiment, real or virtual. Another concerns the scale of functional organization that matters. A third concerns whether the edge of sentience is sharp or blurred.
Converging on Precautions
Authors: Birch Jonathan
Published: July 2024

This chapter looks for points of consensus across the zone of reasonable disagreement. To do this, it introduces two bridging concepts: sentience candidates and investigation priorities. Crucially, the relatively inclusive theories of Panksepp, Damasio, and Merker, which link sentience to evolutionarily ancient mechanisms in the midbrain, describe realistic possibilities, so a system with these mechanisms is a sentience candidate. When the evidence falls short of showing that a system is a sentience candidate, but there are still welfare risks that may call for a precautionary response, the system should be classed as an investigation priority. There is an ethical consensus around a duty to avoid causing gratuitous suffering to sentient beings. Suffering is not gratuitous if it occurs in the course of a defensible activity. Suffering is gratuitous if the activity is indefensible or the precautions taken fall short of what is proportionate. These ideas lead to the principle that precautions may be proportionate whenever a being is a sentience candidate.
Debating Proportionality
Authors: Birch Jonathan
Published: July 2024

How could a citizens’ panel reach an informed judgement about proportionality? This chapter describes a possible procedure (intended as a realistic, feasible ideal) based on a pragmatic analysis of proportionality. The panel is presented with a shortlist of feasible options on which stakeholders have been openly consulted. To each policy option, the panel applies four tests in sequence: permissibility-in-principle, adequacy, reasonable necessity, and consistency. Proposals that fail a test are set aside. Proposals that pass all four of the ‘PARC tests’ are judged proportionate. The PARC tests induce a division of labour between the panel and its expert advisers. At each stage, the expert advisers provide on-demand input regarding the likely consequences of different policy options, but it falls to ordinary citizens to debate the central evaluative questions. These questions can be easily understood and do not require arbitrating scientific disagreements. Although a government is the ideal implementing agent for such a process, other organizations can conduct similar exercises.
Neural Organoids
Authors: Birch Jonathan
Published: July 2024

Human neural organoids are showing great promise as models of the human brain. It would be hasty to dismiss the possibility they could develop sentience. However, scepticism about this idea is appropriate when considering current organoids (at the time of writing). This is not because of their size, but because of their organization: current organoids lack a functioning brainstem or anything equivalent to one. There are nonetheless troubling early warning signs suggesting that organoid research may create forms of sentient being in the future. Researchers with very different views about the neural basis of sentience can unite behind the ‘brainstem rule’: if a neural organoid develops or innervates a functioning brainstem that registers and prioritizes its needs, regulates arousal, and leads to sleep-wake cycles, then it is a sentience candidate. Artificial brainstem substitutes may also be enough. If organoid research leads to the creation of sentience candidates, a moratorium (time-limited ban) or indefinite ban on the creation of this particular type of organoid may be appropriate. An alternative approach, consistent with existing approaches to animal research, is to require ethical review and harm-benefit analysis whenever a neural organoid is a sentience candidate.
The Clearest Candidates
Authors: Birch Jonathan
Published: July 2024

Debate in recent years has shifted from vertebrates towards invertebrates, where sentience candidature is more contestable. Octopuses are often regarded as sentient due to their large brains and impressive intelligence. Yet we should be aware of the possibility of decouplings between intelligence, brain size, and sentience in the animal kingdom. Precautions to safeguard animal welfare should be driven by markers of sentience. Yet even when we restrict our focus to markers of sentience, octopuses are clearly sentience candidates. A review in 2021 considered the evidence of sentience in cephalopod and decapod crustaceans, constructing a framework based on eight theoretically well-motivated criteria. It reported with high confidence that octopuses satisfied at least seven of the eight criteria. The question of exactly when enough evidence has amassed to imply a realistic possibility of sentience that it would be irresponsible to ignore is a difficult judgement. The coleoid cephalopods and decapods of the Pleocyemata suborder are clear sentience candidates, whereas decapods of the Dendrobranchiata suborder are investigation priorities.
Pushing the Boundaries
Authors: Birch Jonathan
Published: July 2024

The idea of pain in insects has often been dismissed on the grounds that insects will continue normal feeding and mating behaviours despite catastrophic injury. But this is compatible with insects having aversive experiences in response to other stimuli, such as heat, and there is emerging evidence that they do. Importantly, though, sentience is not just pain, and there are ways to make a case for insect sentience that do not proceed via responses to noxious stimuli. There is evidence that insects have a behavioural control unit functionally similar to the vertebrate midbrain. There is also evidence, mainly from bees, of working memory and of forms of associative learning that seem to be facilitated by conscious experience in humans. These lines of evidence push us to take seriously the possibility of sentience in insects. When we turn our attention to molluscs other than the cephalopods and other arthropods we find a frustrating paucity of studies looking for markers of sentience. These animals should be seen as investigation priorities.
Against Complacency
Authors: Birch Jonathan
Published: July 2024

We should not be complacent about the risks of developing sentient AI in the near future. Large language models (LLMs) already present some risk. Three other pathways to artificial sentience candidates are also worth taking seriously. The first involves emulating the brains of sentience candidates such as insects, neuron by neuron. The resulting virtual brains are sentience candidates if they display the same pattern of behavioural markers that we take as sufficient for sentience candidature in the biological original. A second path involves evolving artificial agents that converge on similar patterns of behavioural markers to biological sentience candidates. A third involves deliberately implementing a minimal version of a large-scale computational feature credibly linked to sentience in humans. All three pathways present ways in which we might come to recognize a system as an artificial sentience candidate. We must be mindful of the possibility of significant decouplings of sentience from intelligence in this area.
Large Language Models and the Gaming Problem
Authors: Birch Jonathan
Published: July 2024

When an artificial agent can intelligently draw upon huge amounts of human-generated training data, the result can be gaming of our criteria for sentience. Gaming occurs when systems mimic human behaviours that are likely to persuade human users of their sentience without possessing the underlying capacity. The gaming problem leads initially to the thought that we should ‘box’ AI systems when assessing their sentience candidature, denying them access to a large corpus of human-generated training data. However, this would destroy the capabilities of any LLM. What we really need in the AI case are deep computational markers, not behavioural markers. If we find signs that an LLM has implicitly learned ways of recreating a global workspace or perceptual/evaluative reality monitoring system, this should lead us to regard it as a sentience candidate. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, we lack the sort of understanding of the inner workings of LLMs that is needed to ascertain which algorithms they have implicitly acquired during training.
Domesticating Death
Authors: Foster Ann-Marie
Published: July 2024

This chapter explores the domestic memorialization of the dead through the display of objects and ephemera, and through the performance of rituals within private spaces. It contends that both individuals and families based key memorialization practices in their domestic space. This represented an area they could, to some extent, control, and through which they could grieve. They did so by repurposing photographs, and creating new objects of mourning, such as commemorative plates and ‘disaster glasses’. During the First World War, the fact that this home-based memorialization was essential to mourning was recognized by the government, who ran a competition to find a suitable domestic memorial item. However, this came late in the war, and for many domestic remembrance allowed families to memorialize the dead in a space which was significant to them long before any official public recognition was granted.
Introduction
Authors: Strømmen Hannah M
Published: July 2024

This introductory chapter argues that attention to the contemporary contexts in which Bibles abide provides a chance but also a challenge for biblical scholarship. It discusses the broader concerns at play in taking contemporary contexts seriously for any and all biblical interpretation, before turning to Contextual Bible Study as a specific approach to reading the Bible. The chapter foregrounds how this volume takes seriously that biblical interpretations are produced by, with, and amidst political practices, attitudes to sexuality, embodiments of gender, digital culture, class identities, and histories of biblical scholarship. Attending to context cannot leave biblical studies as a discipline untouched as the spaces in which biblical scholarship takes place are also contextual. As this chapter suggests, and as the contributors to the volume as a whole demonstrate, there is enormous potential for work to be done in biblical studies that turns to contemporary contexts.
Challenging Contexts from the Lions’ Den
Authors: van Klinken Adriaan , Stiebert Johanna
Published: July 2024

This chapter presents a case of queer contextual Bible reading in a contemporary African context. It reflects on the process of reading the story of Daniel in the lions’ den and reimagining this story in dramatic form, together with a group of Ugandan LGBTQ+ refugees based in Nairobi, Kenya. Particular focus is placed on the motifs of the lions and the den. The chapter begins with a collective description of the participants at the heart of this project, who are all connected to a community-based group called The Nature Network. Next, it describes the methodology that underlies engagement with the biblical story. Finally, it explores how life stories and shared experience combine with communal creativity to achieve liberatory and empowering results of striking originality. The analysis of the process and findings is framed in terms of a hermeneutics of trust, as contrasted with a hermeneutics of suspicion.
Opening Up Contexts
Authors: Claassens L Juliana
Published: July 2024

This chapter contemplates the role of popular culture such as novels and films in opening up contexts for readers when it comes to exploring the intersection of gender and the Bible. In the first part of the chapter, I will argue that reading contemporary trauma narratives alongside biblical trauma narratives constitutes a creative encounter that draws readers in, creating a fertile space for ethical reflection. Contemporary novels may unlock new insights in biblical narratives, many of which, one could say, have been read to death. In the second part of the chapter, I reflect on the role of popular culture in the classroom, particularly the role of literature/film/media in broaching difficult topics. Particularly regarding non-heteronormative forms of sexuality, film works well to help students enter the life-worlds of others, employing the power of stories, to face issues pertaining to gender and sexuality in their respective contexts.
Introduction
Authors: Lewis William
Published: July 2024

That the later Roman empire was divided into eastern and western halves is well known. When, how, and why this came about is much less well known. This book uses an in-depth analysis of the reigns of the sons of Constantine as a case study of imperial administration and division in the fourth century, using this important period as a springboard to consider the long process of how the empire came to be permanently divided by the end of the fourth century. This introduction outlines the historical context of the fourth-century Roman empire and the historiographical traditions for understanding multiple emperorship and division. It then proposes a set of working criteria for defining division, and, finally, sets out the structure of the book as a whole.
Fabius Titianus and the Urban Prefecture of Rome
Authors: Lewis William
Published: July 2024

In January 350, Constans was deposed and murdered by a cadre of his officers and officials. Within his former territory, three usurpers vied for power: Magnentius, Vetranio, and Nepotianus. This chapter will examine the circumstances leading up to and following this event, with a particular focus on the urban prefecture of Rome. The occupants of this office are attested unusually well by the standards of the period, and many of them played important roles in the civil war, not least Fabius Titianus. This chapter will proceed via a study of the urban prefecture through to the known office holders in the 340, before following them through the usurpations of Magnentius, Vetranio, and Nepotianus. In particular, it will argue that the divided empire of Constantius and Constans helped create conditions where Constans could be replaced, and the usurpers had high expectations that the empire would remain divided—they were wrong.
The Actuality of Kant’s Aesthetics
Authors: Costello Diarmuid
Published: July 2024

The final chapter considers what the author calls the ‘methodological availability’ of Kant’s aesthetics. One challenge of appealing to Kant is the metaphysics of Transcendental Idealism underwriting his broader critical project. The author briefly considers competing positions in the literature as to how substantive a metaphysical thesis this is, before embracing Lucy Allais’s moderately metaphysical understanding of Kantian ‘humility’. The chapter uses these implications of Kant’s broader project to show why natural beauty would have to be considered both epistemically and morally more significant than artistic beauty. This is borne out by Kant’s own, highly compressed, remarks about the ‘supersensible substrate’ implicated by judgements of taste. For this reason, de Duve’s suggested substitution of the ‘this is art’ for Kant’s ‘this is beautiful’ cannot yield a theory that remains Kantian—his protestations that Kant ‘got it right’ notwithstanding. The book concludes with a ‘burden of proof’ challenge to Kant’s detractors.
Very Practical Ethics
Authors: Benatar David
Published: July 2024

Very Practical Ethics discusses moral problems that ordinary people face in their everyday lives. These are not moral problems that arise only in extraordinary circumstances, nor those which are confronted only by select people in their professional or public roles. Instead, they are problems that most people face regularly. They are very practical issues, both because of their ubiquity and because individuals reaching conclusions about them are typically able to implement those conclusions readily. Among the questions asked are: When is sex morally permissible? What duties do I, as an individual, have with regard to the environment? When may one engage in practices such as smoking that might cause discomfort to, and increase risk for others? How extensive are an individual’s duties to give charity or otherwise assist the world’s poor and others in dire need of help? Is it morally permissible to consume animals and their products? When is language prejudicial? Is it wrong to swear? How should we address and refer to others? When, if ever, is controversial humour morally permissible? Is it always wrong to bullshit, or to fail to call out the bullshit of others? When should we forgive—and when should we not forgive?
Introduction
Authors: Benatar David
Published: July 2024

This chapter introduces the reader to the sub-area of practical ethics to which the book is devoted—namely ‘quotidian ethics’, or the ethics of everyday life. It outlines the methodology that will be used in grappling with these questions, defines various terms (such as ‘right’ and ‘wrong’), and discusses the scope of morality, distinguishing this from the scope of (moral) duty. The relationship between morality and manners is elucidated, as are the relationships between morality and, respectively, religion and law. The chapter concludes with an explanation of why the topics covered in the book are appropriately thought to be very practical ethics.
Environment
Authors: Benatar David
Published: July 2024

This chapter discusses the nature and extent of an individual’s duties towards the environment. It begins with an explanation of the facts of anthropocentric global warming and resultant climate change. It then considers and responds to two objections to the view that individuals have any duty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions—the non-identity problem, and then the causal inefficacy (or inconsequentialist) objection. It is argued that each individual has some duty to reduce their emissions, but that this duty is limited. Particular means for reducing one’s greenhouse gas emissions are considered. These include installing energy efficient lights and recycling (both of which make only little difference), as well as changing one’s diet, driving, flying, and procreating less. Finally, the chapter discusses whether individuals have a political duty to help bring about the kinds of systemic changes that are necessary for climate change to be adequately addressed.
Giving Aid
Authors: Benatar David
Published: July 2024

This chapter discusses what duties individuals have towards those, such as the world’s absolute poor, who are in dire need. Two kinds of argument for the conclusion that we have very extensive duties to those living in absolute poverty are considered. The first of these, and the main focus of the chapter, is Peter Singer’s famous argument. A crucial premise is challenged, as is the extent of the conclusion. Among the arguments advanced is that giving as much away as Peter Singer thinks his argument demands, would put the purported duty bearers into a position of voluntary servitude, a sacrifice that exceeds that which his argument actually demands. The chapter also provides a self-insurance argument against a conclusion as demanding as the one Peter Singer draws. Towards the end of the chapter a restitution argument for extensive duties to the world’s poor is presented and evaluated.
Consuming Animals
Authors: Benatar David
Published: July 2024

This chapter discusses whether it is morally permissible to purchase or consume non-human animals and their products (such as milk, eggs, and leather). The chapter first details some of the ways in which farm animals are currently treated by humans. It argues that irrespective of which of the most plausible ethical theories one adopts, such treatment is morally impermissible. To the extent that an ethical theory does permit this treatment of animals, it is committed to permitting similar treatment of some humans. The chapter considers and rejects the most important challenge to ethical veganism, namely causal inefficacy (or ‘inconsequentialism’). It then considers some desperate attempts to rescue meat-eating. Some possible exceptions to a prohibition on eating meat are considered. These include laboratory grown meat, and roadkill. The chapter concludes with a practical postscript.
The Normalization of the Radical Right
Authors: Valentim Vicente
Published: July 2024

Radical-right behavior is increasing across Western democracies, often very fast. Previous research has shown, however, that political attitudes and preferences do not change this fast. This book argues that, to understand these patterns, one needs to appreciate the crucial role of social norms as drivers of political behavior. It builds on a norms-based theory of political supply and demand, arguing that growing radical-right behavior is driven by individuals who already held radical-right views, but who did not act on them because they thought that they were socially unacceptable. If these voters do not express their preferences, politicians can underestimate how much latent support there is for radical-right policy. This leaves the radical right with less skilled leaders, who are unable to mobilize even radical-right voters to support them. However, if politicians realize that there is more private support for radical-right policy than is typically observable, they have an incentive to run for election on a radical-right platform and mobilize silent radical-right views. Their electoral success, in turn, makes radical-right individuals become more comfortable showing their views, and impels more politicians to join the radical right. The argument of the book makes us rethink how political preferences translate into behavior, shows how social norms affect the interaction of political supply and demand, and highlights how a political culture that promotes inclusion can erode.
A norms-based theory of political supply and demand
Authors: Valentim Vicente
Published: July 2024

This chapter argues that social norms should play a more central role in analyses of political behavior, and changes therein. It puts forward a theory of how norms can affect voters, politicians, and their interactions. It argues that the political behaviors of citizens are either public or private. If norms affect public behaviors, politicians can underestimate the prevalence of counternormative views. This gives them an incentive not to run for election on a counternormative platform, reducing the pool of potential candidates with that platform, and leaving it with less skilled leaders. Thus, norms can indirectly affect electoral behavior. If their preferred party platform is counternormative and has worse candidates, voters are likely not to vote for it. The chapter also discusses how change can happen within this framework. That norms explain a wide range of processes on their own underlines the importance of bringing them into analyses of political change.
Confounder selection in firearm policy research: a scoping review
Authors: Schleimer Julia P , Rencken Camerin A , Miller Matthew , Swanson Sonja A , Rowhani-Rahbar Ali
Published: July 2024

Legislative firearm policies are often proposed as a way of preventing firearm-related harm. Confounding is a substantial threat to accurately estimating the causal effects of firearm policies. This scoping review characterizes the selection of potential confounders in US firearm policy evaluations in the health sciences literature. We identified empirical research articles indexed in PubMed from January 1, 2000, to January 9, 2021, that examined any of 18 prespecified firearm policies and extracted key study elements, including the exposure (firearm policy), outcomes, potential confounders adjusted for in analyses, and study approach (ie, static, uncontrolled pre-post, and controlled pre-post). There was wide variation in potential confounders within study approach/policy outcome combinations. The most common potential confounders included sociodemographic and economic variables, rurality/urbanicity, violent crime, law enforcement–related variables, alcohol use, and firearm access (mostly measured via proxies for firearm ownership). Firearm policies other than the policy being evaluated were included in the adjustment set in 23% to 44% of studies, depending on the study approach. Confounder selection was most often said to be based on prior research (n = 49, 40%) or not explicitly stated (n = 48, 39%). This scoping review provides a comprehensive resource for critically appraising the firearm policy literature and offers considerations to support more rigorous confounding control in future firearm policy research.
MetalinksDB: a flexible and contextualizable resource of metabolite-protein interactions
Authors: Farr Elias , Dimitrov Daniel , Schmidt Christina , Turei Denes , Lobentanzer Sebastian , Dugourd Aurelien , Saez-Rodriguez Julio
Published: July 2024

From the catalytic breakdown of nutrients to signaling, interactions between metabolites and proteins play an essential role in cellular function. An important case is cell–cell communication, where metabolites, secreted into the microenvironment, initiate signaling cascades by binding to intra- or extracellular receptors of neighboring cells. Protein–protein cell–cell communication interactions are routinely predicted from transcriptomic data. However, inferring metabolite-mediated intercellular signaling remains challenging, partially due to the limited size of intercellular prior knowledge resources focused on metabolites. Here, we leverage knowledge-graph infrastructure to integrate generalistic metabolite-protein with curated metabolite-receptor resources to create MetalinksDB. MetalinksDB is an order of magnitude larger than existing metabolite-receptor resources and can be tailored to specific biological contexts, such as diseases, pathways, or tissue/cellular locations. We demonstrate MetalinksDB’s utility in identifying deregulated processes in renal cancer using multi-omics bulk data. Furthermore, we infer metabolite-driven intercellular signaling in acute kidney injury using spatial transcriptomics data. MetalinksDB is a comprehensive and customizable database of intercellular metabolite-protein interactions, accessible via a web interface (https://metalinks.omnipathdb.org/) and programmatically as a knowledge graph (https://github.com/biocypher/metalinks). We anticipate that by enabling diverse analyses tailored to specific biological contexts, MetalinksDB will facilitate the discovery of disease-relevant metabolite-mediated intercellular signaling processes.
Propensity weighting plus adjustment in proportional hazards model is not doubly robust
Authors: Gabriel Erin E , Sachs Michael C , Waernbaum Ingeborg , Goetghebeur Els , Blanche Paul F , Vansteelandt Stijn , Sjölander Arvid , Scheike Thomas
Published: July 2024

Recently, it has become common for applied works to combine commonly used survival analysis modeling methods, such as the multivariable Cox model and propensity score weighting, with the intention of forming a doubly robust estimator of an exposure effect hazard ratio that is unbiased in large samples when either the Cox model or the propensity score model is correctly specified. This combination does not, in general, produce a doubly robust estimator, even after regression standardization, when there is truly a causal effect. We demonstrate via simulation this lack of double robustness for the semiparametric Cox model, the Weibull proportional hazards model, and a simple proportional hazards flexible parametric model, with both the latter models fit via maximum likelihood. We provide a novel proof that the combination of propensity score weighting and a proportional hazards survival model, fit either via full or partial likelihood, is consistent under the null of no causal effect of the exposure on the outcome under particular censoring mechanisms if either the propensity score or the outcome model is correctly specified and contains all confounders. Given our results suggesting that double robustness only exists under the null, we outline 2 simple alternative estimators that are doubly robust for the survival difference at a given time point (in the above sense), provided the censoring mechanism can be correctly modeled, and one doubly robust method of estimation for the full survival curve. We provide R code to use these estimators for estimation and inference in the supporting information.
In vitro evaluation of the accuracy of electronic apex locators and cone-beam CT in the detection of oblique root fractures
Authors: Koç Simay , Harorlı Hatice , Kuştarcı Alper
Published: July 2024

Objectives

This study aimed to compare the accuracy of cone-beam CT (CBCT) scanning and 3 different electronic apex locators (EALs) in the detection of simulated oblique root fractures (ORF) in different localizations.

Methods

The study utilised a total of 80 human maxillary incisors, which were categorised into two groups based on the location of the ORF (apical and middle third of the root) formed on the buccal side of the root surface. The measurement of the distance between the incisal edge and the intersection of the ORF with the root canal was conducted using a stereomicroscope. This measurement is referred to as the actual working length (AWL). Additionally, three EALs—Dentaport ZX, EndoRadar Pro, and Propex II—were utilised to determine the electronic working length (EWL). Furthermore, CBCT images were employed to assess the distance, known as the CBCT working length (CWL). The differences were determined by subtracting AWL from EWL and CWL.

Results

Based on the accuracy of the devices, there were no significant differences observed among Dentaport ZX, EndoRadar, Propex II, and CBCT measures in both the apical and middle third ORF groups, within the acceptable range of 0.5 and 1 mm.

Conclusions

The accuracy of Dentaport ZX, Propex II, and CBCT was higher in the middle third ORF group compared to the apical third ORF group, with a tolerance of 0.5 mm. However, there were no significant differences seen among the devices.
Wireworm species associated with corn and soybean agroecosystems in Ontario, Canada
Authors: Smith Jocelyn L , van Herk Willem G , Schwinghamer Timothy , Baute Tracey , Limay-Rios Victor , Frewin Andrew , Sevcik Mika , Vernon Bob
Published: July 2024

Wireworms, the larvae of click beetles (Coleoptera: Elateridae), are often the target of insecticide seed treatments commonly used in corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) production in North America. Nevertheless, there is a lack of knowledge of the species, life history, and economic impact of wireworms present in these agroecosystems. An extensive survey of wireworms was conducted in corn and soybean fields in Ontario, Canada, from 2014 to 2017 to document species distribution and co-occurrence and to identify risk factors related to their abundance. In total, 4,332 specimens were collected from 1,245 different sampling records. The dominant species collected was Limonius agonus (Say) (Coleoptera: Elateridae) comprising 71.5% of the specimens. The remaining wireworm specimens were identified as Hypnoidus abbreviatus (Say), Melanotus similis (Kirby), M. cribulosus (LeConte), M. depressus (Melsheimer), M. communis (Gyllenhal), Agriotes mancus (Say), Aeolus mellillus (Say), and Hemicrepidius spp (Germar). Multiple wireworm species were found to commonly occur within the same field and the same sample. Path analysis was conducted to investigate whether site, soil, and agronomic characteristics influenced wireworm distribution and abundance. Several significant relationships were found between wireworm species and geographic factors, soil texture, and agronomic practices. The results of this survey provide critical information that can be used to improve integrated pest management of the major wireworm genera found in corn and soybean agroecosystems in Ontario.
Securitization, Deterrence, and Extended Deterrence by Denial: The War in Ukraine
Authors: Lupovici Amir
Published: July 2024

The war in Ukraine created a situation in which various actors issued and responded to existential threats. These incidents of aggressive rhetoric invite a scholarly discussion about the securitizing moves of deterrence. More specifically, I identify five interrelated securitizing moves—each responding to the other moves—within which deterrent threats are embedded: It allows us to trace how Russian enunciators securitized the threat from the West and Ukraine and justified taking the exceptional measures of an invasion. This resulted in Ukraine making a counter-securitizing move, with the aim to receive international military assistance. In addition, the Russians securitized a potential direct involvement of NATO in the war in order to deter it. Locked between these securitizing moves of Russia on the one hand and Ukraine on the other, NATO members eventually chose to advance an extended deterrence by denial strategy through the unique means of providing weapons. By delivering the message that they are committed to support Ukraine, they aim to convince the Russians that allocating resources to fight in Ukraine is a worthless endeavor. Examining this case thus offers interesting implications for both deterrence and securitization theories.
Supplementation of sodium acetate improves the growth performance and intestinal health of rabbits through Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway
Authors: Ni Mengke , He Hui , Chen Mengjuan , Li Zhichao , Cai Hanfang , Chen Zhi , Li Ming , Xu Huifen
Published: July 2024

Acetic acid, which is one of the most abundant short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) in rabbits’ cecum, has been reported to play an important function during various physiological metabolic processes. The present study was conducted to elucidate the effects of sodium acetate on growth performance and intestinal health by evaluating feed intake and efficiency, diarrhea score, serum and cecum metabolites, cecal pH and SCFA, histological staining, nutritional composition of meat and gene expression profile of cecum in rabbits. As a result of sodium acetate supplement, the feed conversion ratio, diarrhea score, and diameter of muscle fiber were significantly decreased (P < 0.05). Additionally, dietary sodium acetate significantly increased in total area of muscle fibers and content of crude ash (P < 0.05). Dietary sodium acetate significantly increased serum glucose, total bile acid, and total cholesterol levels and decreased amylase, lipase, and tCO2 content (P < 0.05). Further examination suggested that sodium acetate supplementation enhanced the micro-environment of cecum, evidenced by significantly increased levels of total antioxidant capacity, total superoxide dismutase, and glutathione peroxidase, and decreased pH and amylase levels (P < 0.05). According to transcriptome sequencing of cecal tissues, differentially expressed genes were predominantly enriched in cell cycle, ABC transporters, and chemokine signaling pathways. Sodium acetate was further suggested to stimulate the proliferation and migration of rabbits’ cecum epithelial cells by activating Wnt/β-catenin pathway both in vivo and in vitro. In conclusion, dietary sodium acetate supplementation improved growth performance and intestinal health in rabbits.
Timing-dependent effects of elevated temperature on reproductive traits in the European corn borer moth
Authors: Velikaneye Brittany A , Kozak Genevieve M
Published: July 2024

Elevated temperature often has life stage-specific effects on ectotherms because thermal tolerance varies throughout ontogeny. Impacts of elevated temperature may extend beyond the exposed life stage if developmental plasticity causes early exposure to carry-over or if exposure at multiple life stages cumulatively produces effects. Reproductive traits may be sensitive to different thermal environments experienced during development, but such effects have not been comprehensively measured in Lepidoptera. In this study, we investigate how elevated temperature at different life stages alters reproduction in the European corn borer moth, Ostrinia nubilalis. We tested effects of exposure to elevated temperature (28 °C) separately or additively during larval, pupal, and adult life stages compared to control temperatures (23 °C). We found that exposure to elevated pupal and adult temperature decreased the number of egg clusters produced, but exposure limited to a single stage did not significantly impact reproductive output. Furthermore, elevated temperature during the pupal stage led to a faster transition to the adult stage and elevated larval temperature altered synchrony of adult eclosion, either by itself or combined with pupal temperature exposure. These results suggest that exposure to elevated temperature during development alters reproduction in corn borers in multiple ways, including through carry-over and additive effects. Additive effects of temperature across life stages are thought to be less common than stage-specific or carry-over effects, but our results suggest thermal environments experienced at all life stages need to be considered when predicting reproductive responses of insects to heatwaves.
Real-world evidence of triplet therapy efficacy in patients with metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer: a Japanese multicenter study
Authors: Urabe Fumihiko , Imai Yu , Goto Yuma , Tashiro Kojiro , Hashimoto Masaki , Yoshihara Kentaro , Yamamoto Shutaro , Hara Shuhei , Miyajima Keiichiro , Fukuokaya Wataru , Enei Yuki , Iwatani Kosuke , Kayano Sotaro , Igarashi Taro , Aikawa Koichi , Yanagisawa Takafumi , Kimura Shoji , Tsuzuki Shunsuke , Murakami Masaya , Hata Kenichi , Shimomura Tatsuya , Yamada Hiroki , Miki Jun , Kimura Takahiro
Published: July 2024

Background

Two randomized trials demonstrated that the survival benefits afforded by triplet therapy were greater than those of doublet therapy, thus changing the treatment paradigm for metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer (mCSPC). This is the first study to assess the real-world use, performance, and safety of triplet therapy in Japanese patients.

Methods

This retrospective multicenter study included 45 consecutive mCSPC patients who received triplet therapy composed of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), docetaxel, and darolutamide between January 2023 and June 2024. Baseline patient characteristics and their clinical parameters during triplet therapy were collected. Adverse events (AEs) were graded using Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 5.0, and imaging responses were evaluated following the RECIST criteria. The prostate-specific antigen (PSA) nadir was defined as the lowest PSA value during follow-up, and the PSA decrease was the initial PSA value minus the PSA nadir.

Results

The median patient age was 70 years and the median follow-up duration was 10 months. High-volume disease was present in 82.2% of patients. Concurrent administration of docetaxel and darolutamide was scheduled for 22.2% of cases. The incidence of any AE was 86.7%, with 55.5% of patients experiencing grade 3–4 AEs. Neutropenia was common, but prophylactic granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) significantly reduced the incidence of neutropenia of grade 3 or higher. Febrile neutropenia occurred in four patients (8.9%); these patients had not received prophylactic G-CSF. A decline in PSA of 90% was observed in 95.6% of patients, and an imaging response was seen in 97.8%.

Conclusions

Triplet therapy with ADT, darolutamide, and docetaxel was highly efficacious and tolerable in Japanese mCSPC patients, particularly those with high-volume disease. Prophylactic G-CSF prescription is crucial to manage neutropenia effectively. Further studies with longer follow-ups are needed to confirm these findings and explore the long-term outcomes.
‘Being free’: Indigenous youth and future making in the wake of forced migration
Authors: Nichols Briana
Published: July 2024

Taking migration discourse (Dick 2010, 2013; Dick and Arnold 2017) as a starting point, this paper examines how Indigenous youth in Guatemala navigate and understand complex migratory contexts at home before they decide, or are compelled, to migrate. Using methods of discourse analysis, I illuminate how talk about migration becomes a key site for young people to challenge transnational migration as an opportunity and thereby create alternate spatiotemoral renderings of the future for themselves and their communities. I argue that through their migration discourse young people are engaging in a form of everyday politics that helps complicate our understandings of the migratory contexts they are part of. As such, this work contributes to how we conceptualize migratory contexts that do not fall neatly into categories of ‘voluntary’ and ‘involuntary’ and instead argues for an attentiveness to migratory decision-making as a complex negotiation—a complexity which is often lost when we position ‘deciding to leave’ and ‘fleeing’ as incommensurate and analytically distinct categories.
Stereoscopic Microscopy of Snow Crystals
Authors: Sturm Robert
Published: July 2024

Snow crystals (snowflakes) are composed of an enormous diversity of shapes that have attracted significant scientific attention over the past decades. Under the microscope, these natural structures are frequently characterized by high complexity, the detailed exploration of which requires the use of enhanced magnifications. In the work presented here, an insight into the microcosm of snow crystals is presented by application of specific light microscopy techniques. Micrographs were produced by means of a low-temperature (LT) device that prevented premature melting of the structures. Additionally, single crystals were imaged as to a stereoscopic visualization allowing the detailed spatial investigation of specific structural elements.