bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Clearest Candidates
Authors: Birch Jonathan 
Published: July 2024

Abstract
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

Abstract
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

Abstract
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

Abstract
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

Abstract
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

Abstract
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

Abstract
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

Abstract
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

AbstractThat 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

AbstractIn 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

Abstract
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

Abstract
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

Abstract
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

Abstract
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

Abstract
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

Abstract
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

Abstract
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

Abstract
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

Abstract
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

Abstract
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.