bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Genes Are Tools of Intelligent Cells
Authors: Reber Arthur S. , Baluška František , Miller William B. 
Published: October 2023

Abstract
In our biological system, self-referential cognitive competent cells assess imperfect information individually and collectively to solve cell-centred problems. Accordingly, the conscious cell is the epicentre of biological activity. The cellular measurement of environmental cues depends on a cell-wide senomic apparatus and a highly refined information management system. The real-time assessment of ambiguous environmental cues drives evolution as a cellular informational interactome by which cells can make productive cell-based predictions from environmental cues. In the 20th century, the neo-Darwinian Modern Synthesis dominated the evolutionary narrative, whose cardinal assumptions were that evolution resulted from random genetic mutations and natural selection. In that construct, genes were viewed as the evolutionary driver. Twenty-first-century biology recognizes that genes are tools of intelligent measuring cells. Decades of contemporary research reveal that the central genome represents one among many contributors to the retrievable and deployable memory systems of cells. Consequently, genes are participants in complex cell-wide information-based activities as a crucial archive of successful viral–cellular solutions to cellular problems. The central genome and a large body of contributory cellular sources of genetic code continuously assist in a greater narrative of the cellular assimilation of the external environment.
The N-Space Episenome
Authors: Reber Arthur S. , Baluška František , Miller William B. 
Published: October 2023

Abstract
Biological order depends on information simply because the maintenance of internal cellular integrity requires its self-referential measurement. That internal assessment, as noted in several places in earlier chapters, depends on the reception of environmental information through the cellular plasma membrane. A critical aspect of information management is the cellular attachment to an information ‘space’, an integrated pervasive information field (PIF). This field represents a partitioning of the universal information field, enabling a cell to internally coordinate environmental sensory inputs and connecting the vital cellular senome to its genome, epigenome, cytoskeleton, and endomembranes. In multicellular organisms, individual PIFs aggregate into a higher-order information space: a multicellular N-space Episenome. This collective information field is necessary for the functional sharing of information among the wide variety of highly differentiated cells and the obligate microbial fraction of holobionts. This same N-space Episenome further functions as a collective information architectural matrix which operates as a heritable, transferable, and adaptive morphogenetic template for multicellular biological development. Accordingly, the N-space Episenome is conceived as a whole cell read–write informational matrix that assists in every aspect of multicellular life and is fundamental to conscious self-reference.
Anaesthetics and Their Cellular Targets
Authors: Reber Arthur S. , Baluška František , Miller William B. 
Published: October 2023

Abstract
Since the discovery of ether anaesthesia by William Morton in 1846, numerous studies about the effects of anaesthetics have been published and several theories trying to explain this phenomenon have been proposed. Despite being accepted as one of the greatest discoveries in the history of medicine, anaesthesia remains a mystery. One of the most remarkable features of anaesthetics is that they induce anaesthesia in animals as different on an evolutionary basis as humans and nematodes. In 1876, Claude Bernard demonstrated that ether-induced anaesthesia in plants and animals have the same features. He concluded that the sensitivity to anaesthetics represents a basic living feature and general property of life. His view was later confirmed not only in all multicellular organisms but also in unicellular organisms including prokaryotic ones. This chapter analyses the cellular targets of anaesthetics and concludes that lipids of cell membranes, the cytoskeleton, and diverse proteins with hydrophobic pockets represent the primary targets of anaesthetics. Importantly, the reversal of anaesthesia by imposed pressure suggests a fundamentally biophysical nature of anaesthesia. Further, endogenous anaesthetics are induced in all organisms under stressful situations and help them to adapt and survive.
Conservation on the Urban Fringe
Authors: Pejchar Liba , Reed Sarah E. 
Published: October 2023

Abstract
Suburbs are some of the most land-intensive and fastest-growing forms of urbanization. They are also increasingly socially diverse and are ripe targets for biodiversity conservation. This work synthesizes the policies, tools, and strategies for conserving and managing biodiversity in suburbs and exurbs. It reviews suburban history and policy contexts, including how suburbs have expanded around cities over time to become a dominant land-use type in the US and around the world. It also describes the policies and practices that have shaped the current distribution of open space and biodiversity, human settlement and segregation, and which people have access to environmental benefits. This work synthesizes the science on the relationship between residential development patterns, land management practices, and distributions and persistence of biodiversity. In doing so, it introduces and examines a portfolio of policy tools and strategies for conserving and restoring suburban and exurban biodiversity and reviews the scientific evidence on the implementation of these tools, examines how they have achieved success in sustaining biodiversity, and considers their potential to either alleviate or exacerbate environmental injustices. Finally, it reflects on the ways in which conservation and equity goals (e.g., habitat conservation versus affordable housing construction) are often presented as mutually exclusive or conflicting goals for suburban and exurban communities. It moves beyond these perceived dichotomies to show how housing and open space can both sustain nature and engage people, to the benefit of biodiversity and human communities.
The Role of Urban Tree Canopies in Environmental Justice and Conserving Biodiversity
Authors: Locke Dexter H. , Grove J. Morgan , Pickett Steward T. A. 
Published: October 2023

Abstract
Urban trees generally form the base habitat for much of urban biodiversity. Trees in cities and suburbs are also probably the most common form of urban biodiversity that people see and interact with. Yet a long history of urban forestry work has demonstrated trees are inequitably distributed across urban areas. Specifically, neighborhoods that are wealthier and/or Whiter have more trees, a higher diversity of trees, and larger trees. Beyond biodiversity benefits, urban trees offer people a host of other environmental benefits such as shading and cooling, aesthetics, and improved health and well-being. The inequities in the distribution of the urban forest therefore undermine urban biodiversity conservation and perpetuate environmental injustices. If urban biodiversity conservation stands to bolster our broader conservation goals, there is an urgent need to develop climate-resilient and equitably distributed urban tree canopies across our cities and suburbs.
Making Nature’s City
Authors: Stanford Bronwen , Ikyanan Kelly , Grossinger Robin , Beller Erin , Benjamin Matthew , Grenier J. Letitia , Bazo Micaela , Heller Nicole , Aronson Myla , Felson Alexander , Groffman Peter , Spotswood Erica 
Published: October 2023

Abstract
Conserving urban biodiversity will rely on updating our planning paradigms. This work synthesizes urban ecological research and identifies seven elements—patch size, connections, matrix quality, habitat diversity, native vegetation, special resources, and stewardship and management—as key factors associated with urban biodiversity. It then distils these findings into a science-based framework for building urban biodiversity. Beyond providing a framework, it demonstrates how to use this approach to integrate conservation into urban planning and provides an example where this framework has been applied. Such a landscape ecological approach will provide a science-driven approach to advance urban biodiversity and promote equitable access to urban nature.
Firms of Note in 1922
Authors: Barry Frank 
Published: October 2023

Abstract
This chapter identifies and details the histories of the notable manufacturing firms in operation in 1922, many of which appear in the pages of James Joyce’s Ulysses, which is set in the Dublin of 1904. Many of the company names survive as well-known brands to the present day. No more than eighty manufacturing firms employed 500 or more at any stage up to 1972. Firms of this size are tracked throughout the book. A glimpse of the subsequent histories of others that were well known in 1922 is also provided. Food, drink, and tobacco accounted for almost 50 per cent of manufacturing employment in 1926, the benchmark year for the first Free State Census of Industrial Production. Textiles, clothing, and footwear accounted for a further 20 per cent. The remainder were distributed across a range of other sectors. Major employers at the time included Guinness, biscuit company W. & R. Jacob, the Ford tractor plant in Cork, the railway engineering works at Inchicore and Dundalk, and the massive Condensed Milk Company of Ireland, which would collapse in the early 1920s and whose history serves as a microcosm of the economic and political conflicts of the era. The several dozen breweries and distilleries in operation at the establishment of the state are also identified.
The Irish Free State of the 1920s
Authors: Barry Frank 
Published: October 2023

Abstract
Official data on economic conditions in the Irish Free State are available only from 1926: analyses that take this as their starting point are likely to understate significantly the industrial expansion that occurred over the first decade of independence. Much of the criticism of the economic policies adopted at the time is argued to have been misplaced. Because the Free State had emerged from a victorious rather than a defeated empire, its major export market remained intact. Pressures to create new jobs were also far weaker than in the newly established ‘successor states’ on Europe’s eastern peripheries: land redistribution in Ireland was much further advanced, there were fewer landless labourers, and emigration options remained more easily accessible. The stability-oriented monetary and fiscal policies of the time would yield benefits both then and into the future. Nor did the governments of the 1920s adhere as closely to laissez-faire principles as is generally imagined. The modest ‘experimental’ tariffs adopted created considerable numbers of jobs, which would have been included in the official data for 1926. The chapter also identifies the largest manufacturing employers in operation in the state on the eve of the Great Depression. Even by 1929, four of the five largest employers were foreign-owned. The foreign share of employment across all of industry is likely to have been around 15 per cent in 1922. It had grown to around 20 per cent by the end of the decade.
From the Great Depression to the End of the Emergency
Authors: Barry Frank 
Published: October 2023

Abstract
This chapter analyses industrial developments over the four sub-periods into which the decades between the beginning of the Great Depression and the formation of the first Inter-Party government in 1948 can be roughly divided. Irish industry, and the economy more generally, was only modestly affected over the early years of the Great Depression. The decline in manufacturing employment between 1929 and 1931 was a fraction of the fall recorded in the United Kingdom. The accession of Fianna Fáil to power in 1932 brought a major shift in policy, though similar policies were being adopted across the world. While agriculture suffered severely as a consequence of the land annuities dispute with Britain, industrial employment expanded dramatically with the move to full protection. Brewing was one of the few industries to decline over the period to 1938: this was associated with the opening of a Guinness brewery in London. Many of the largest manufacturing employers of later decades emerged over this period. Despite legislation that attempted to restrict foreign control, many were foreign-owned. The performance of industry in neutral Ireland over the Second World War era is examined. The vigorous post-war rebound paralleled developments across the rest of Western Europe. The worsening balance-of-payments position and the austerity policies that it triggered would be met with the transformative policy responses of the mid-to-late 1950s. The largest manufacturing employers of 1948 are identified.
A CANDID FRIEND
Authors: Steane Andrew 
Published: October 2023

Abstract
The themes of the book are introduced: presentation of science for the general reader; correction of popular misconceptions; a critique of some modern cultural practices. The misconceptions are (1) that scientific study is able to explain how there can be a physical universe as opposed to no physical universe, (2) that biological evolution is without direction or purpose, (3) the claim that social, aesthetic and moral experience is largely explained by evolutionary genetics. The critique is around the notion that science is somehow owned or only fully appreciated by one outlook which calls itself ‘scientific’.
QUANTUM FLUCTUATION?
Authors: Steane Andrew 
Published: October 2023

Abstract
‘Quantum fluctuation’ has entered into common language, but what does it mean? It is widely taken to mean something untrue. It is widely taken to mean that the vacuum of space is a kind of froth of randomly appearing and disappearing particles or chaotic ripples. But in fact the vacuum is smooth in both space and time and no particles spontaneously appear in it. The term ‘fluctuation’ is misleading. The physics here is really about a smooth spread of values. This is expounded through various examples and analogies.
THE VERY EARLY UNIVERSE
Authors: Steane Andrew 
Published: October 2023

Abstract
Astronomy and the physics of gravity and quantum fields together give much evidence about the early stages of the universe. In particular, the concept of ‘false vacuum’ arises. This is a state of the fields where they are temporarily of one form, and then morph into another, like dew drops forming in a saturated water vapour. This process, and what it says about the early universe, is presented.
NOTHING COMES OF NOTHING
Authors: Steane Andrew 
Published: October 2023

Abstract
The chapter discusses the fact that physics does not account for the origin of the physical world. Rather, it describes the patterns and evolution of that set of structures which have physical existence. Science cannot solve the metaphysical question of existence itself, because it does not have the tools to address it. As soon as we invoke a mathematical equation to describe something physical we have assumed already that the thing described by that equation has physical existence.
WHAT SCIENCE CAN AND CANNOT DO
Authors: Steane Andrew 
Published: October 2023

Abstract
The discussion returns to the difference between physics and metaphysics, and more generally what science contributes to our overall understanding. Science has a valuable contribution to make, but we should understand what it is doing. It is essentially descriptive. The method of observation and rational deduction and empirical testing can uncover and describe what is there, and it can show links between one thing and another, but it cannot account for how all these links, and the things thus linked, can be there in the first place. The physics profession should not mislead the public about this.
SCIENCE, SCIENCE FICTION AND THE MULTIVERSE
Authors: Steane Andrew 
Published: October 2023

Abstract
The concept of a multiverse is introduced and discussed. This kind of concept is at the border between science and speculation. It is unclear whether it amounts to explanation, because it is unclear whether it is falsifiable. We should ask also whether the attitude that tends to be involved here is appropriate. We should hesitate before thinking that a mere equation or a physical theory can give us warrant to speak of multiple universes. We hardly know what we would be talking about.
SINKING THE SELFISH GENE
Authors: Steane Andrew 
Published: October 2023

Abstract
The text now turns to evolutionary biology. The overall process of neo-Darwinian evolution is discussed, especially with a view to bringing out elements which have been omitted in much of modern discourse. It is argued that, in his book The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins has mixed up teleology with causation, and consequently major parts of the argument of that book are flawed. Also, the logic of negotiation, along with that of competition, is highly influential in evolution and ought not to be overlooked. Finally, the relation of genome to cell is not simply one of controller to controlled. It is also argued that central parts of another argument by Dawkins, in The Blind Watchmaker, are flawed. Although evolution is not a goal-driven process, it is nevertheless false to say that it has no direction, because it is subject to all the constraints placed on it by the patterns which we call laws of nature.
SCIENCE AND SENSIBILITY
Authors: Steane Andrew 
Published: October 2023

Abstract
Religious sensibility is considered, and how it works alongside scientific analysis. Scientific analysis invokes models which are not themselves the natural world, but which help us understand. Religious sensibility involves a willingness to encounter the world directly, interested to apprehend, as fully and truthfully as possible, the nature of each thing and person. We are not always looking for explanation; we are looking for the meaning of the verb ‘to be’, and for the personal resources to enact our own role appropriately.
INTRODUCTION
Authors: Katzir Shaul 
Published: October 2023

Abstract
The Introduction sets out the historical and historiographical context of piezoelectricity’s technological applications discussed in this book. In particular, reflecting the book’s main theme, the Introduction discusses the relationships between science and technology in the early twentieth century and the proper ways to analyse them, building on the work of historians and sociologists. In lieu of contrary claims, science and technology are seen as interacting but distinguished human endeavours, with different characteristics. The transformation of the field of research and knowledge from an early non-applicable disciplinary science, to being the basis of technological development, to applied research and development of devices and their methods of use, and back and forth to disciplinary science are described as a five-stage model that reveals how technologies evolve from scientific fields and how they in turn shape these fields.
THE TUNING-FORK ROOTS OF THE QUARTZ CLOCK
Authors: Katzir Shaul 
Published: October 2023

Abstract
The chapter explores the development of new exact tuning-fork frequency-measuring standards useful for the novel range of radio communication during WWI and its aftermath, and the construction of the first electronic clock required to monitor the accuracy of such a standard. It begins with the war research and development of wireless communication by academic French and British scientists and engineers utilizing the novel electronic valve oscillator (triode), and who independently constructed the first triode-maintained tuning-fork along with new means of multiplying its frequency. The high exactitude of the device, the tradition of exact measurements, and the increasing demands for high accuracy in regulating and using radio led the British National Physical Laboratory to construct such a standards system. The American Telephone and Telegraph Company produced its own system, which included a continuously working clock, that would allow it to integrate its telecommunication network in order to strengthen its monopoly.
DEVELOPMENT OF NEW APPLICATIONS BEYOND SONAR AND FREQUENCY CONTROL
Authors: Katzir Shaul 
Published: October 2023

Abstract
Following the inventions of sonar and crystal frequency control, engineers, scientists, and inventors suggested quite a few novel usages of piezoelectricity. This chapter surveys the main employments of the phenomenon to new technical applications in the interwar period, from the highly useful frequency filters (a case of multiple discovery) through optical relays and delay lines to various kinds of pressure meters. It examines how the inventors became acquainted with piezoelectricity and their main reasons to exploit it, rather than other phenomena. Thereby, it shows that the recognition of the phenomenon as technically useful changed attitudes to it, and led to the development of new applications, devices, and methods.
The Experience of Totality
Authors: Littmann Mark , Espenak Fred 
Published: October 2023

Abstract
This introductory chapter details the experience of totality. The first sign of totality is a tiny nick on the Sun’s western side, but the naked eye cannot detect the difference. As time flies, the sky grows darker and the shadow of the Moon approaches. At the midpoint in totality, the corona of the Sun stands out most clearly, its shape and extent are never quite the same from one eclipse to another. The darkness of the Moon’s shadow is enough to let Venus, Mercury, and other bright planets near the Sun be visible. The chapter mentions the instinct of experiencing outside of the normal human experience.
The First Eclipse Chasers
Authors: Littmann Mark , Espenak Fred 
Published: October 2023

Abstract
This chapter tackles the first records of total solar eclipses. It starts with Francis Baily laying the foundations of the field of solar physics by sparking the immediate, intense, and unending study of the Sun’s physical properties that had been generally ignored or discounted. The chapter details the observations of the corona made by great astronomer Johannes Kepler, Spanish astronomer José Joaquín de Ferrer, and Italian-born French astronomer Giacomo Filippo Maraldi. Meanwhile, professional photographer Berkowski captured the first successful photograph of the Sun. The chapter also considers the emergence of spectroscopy, citing how Pierre Jules César Janssen mapped solar prominences.
The Eclipse That Made Einstein Famous
Authors: Littmann Mark , Espenak Fred 
Published: October 2023

Abstract
This chapter looks into the 1919 total solar eclipse that proved Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Einstein realized his principle of equivalence that relativity required gravity to bend light rays, much as it bends the paths of particles. Moreover, Erwin Freundlich tested the aspects of relativity by obtaining solar eclipse photographs from observatories around the world. The chapter explores Einstein’s attempts to prove his general theory of relativity by referencing the motions of Mercury and gravitational redshift. It mentions how scientists travelled the world to measure and re-measure the bending of starlight around the Sun at every total eclipse. In the 1970s, a new method emerged for testing relativity by the deflection of radiation around the Sun.