bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
What makes full artificial agents morally different
Authors: Firt Erez 
Published: February 2024

Abstract
In the research field of machine ethics, we commonly categorize artificial moral agents into four types, with the most advanced referred to as a full ethical agent, or sometimes a full-blown Artificial Moral Agent (AMA). This type has three main characteristics: autonomy, moral understanding and a certain level of consciousness, including intentional mental states, moral emotions such as compassion, the ability to praise and condemn, and a conscience. This paper aims to discuss various aspects of full-blown AMAs and presents the following argument: the creation of full-blown artificial moral agents, endowed with intentional mental states and moral emotions, and trained to align with human values, does not, by itself, guarantee that these systems will have human morality. Therefore, it is questionable whether they will be inclined to honor and follow what they perceive as incorrect moral values. we do not intend to claim that there is such a thing as a universally shared human morality, only that as there are different human communities holding different sets of moral values, the moral systems or values of the discussed artificial agents would be different from those held by human communities, for reasons we discuss in the paper.
Demonstrating the reliability of in vivo metabolomics based chemical grouping: towards best practice
Authors: Viant Mark R. , Amstalden E. , Athersuch T. , Bouhifd M. , Camuzeaux S. , Crizer D. M. , Driemert P. , Ebbels T. , Ekman D. , Flick B. , Giri V. , Gómez-Romero M. , Haake V. , Herold M. , Kende A. , Lai F. , Leonards P. E. G. , Lim P. P. , Lloyd G. R. , Mosley J. , Namini C. , Rice J. R. , Romano S. , Sands C. , Smith M. J. , Sobanski T. , Southam A. D. , Swindale L. , van Ravenzwaay B. , Walk T. , Weber R. J. M. , Zickgraf F. M. , Kamp H. 
Published: February 2024

AbstractWhile grouping/read-across is widely used to fill data gaps, chemical registration dossiers are often rejected due to weak category justifications based on structural similarity only. Metabolomics provides a route to robust chemical categories via evidence of shared molecular effects across source and target substances. To gain international acceptance, this approach must demonstrate high reliability, and best-practice guidance is required. The MetAbolomics ring Trial for CHemical groupING (MATCHING), comprising six industrial, government and academic ring-trial partners, evaluated inter-laboratory reproducibility and worked towards best-practice. An independent team selected eight substances (WY-14643, 4-chloro-3-nitroaniline, 17α-methyl-testosterone, trenbolone, aniline, dichlorprop-p, 2-chloroaniline, fenofibrate); ring-trial partners were blinded to their identities and modes-of-action. Plasma samples were derived from 28-day rat tests (two doses per substance), aliquoted, and distributed to partners. Each partner applied their preferred liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) metabolomics workflows to acquire, process, quality assess, statistically analyze and report their grouping results to the European Chemicals Agency, to ensure the blinding conditions of the ring trial. Five of six partners, whose metabolomics datasets passed quality control, correctly identified the grouping of eight test substances into three categories, for both male and female rats. Strikingly, this was achieved even though a range of metabolomics approaches were used. Through assessing intrastudy quality-control samples, the sixth partner observed high technical variation and was unable to group the substances. By comparing workflows, we conclude that some heterogeneity in metabolomics methods isnotdetrimental to consistent grouping, and that assessing data quality prior to grouping is essential. We recommend development of international guidance for quality-control acceptance criteria. This study demonstrates the reliability of metabolomics for chemical grouping and works towards best-practice.
Identification of key neuronal mechanisms triggered by dimethyl fumarate in SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells through a metabolomic approach
Authors: Araújo Ana Margarida , Marques Sandra I. , Guedes de Pinho Paula , Carmo Helena , Carvalho Félix , Silva João Pedro 
Published: February 2024

AbstractDimethyl fumarate (DMF) is an old drug used for psoriasis treatment that has recently been repurposed to treat relapse–remitting multiple sclerosis, mostly due to its neuro- and immunomodulatory actions. However, mining of a pharmacovigilance database recently ranked DMF as the second pharmaceutical most associated with cognitive adverse events. To our best knowledge, the signaling mechanisms underlying its therapeutic and neurotoxic outcomes remain mostly undisclosed. This work thus represents the first-hand assessment of DMF-induced metabolic changes in undifferentiated SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells, through an untargeted metabolomic approach using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The endometabolome was analyzed following 24 h and 96 h of exposure to two pharmacologically relevant DMF concentrations (0.1 and 10 μM). None of these conditions significantly reduced metabolic activity (MTT reduction assay). Our data showed that 24 h-exposure to DMF at both concentrations tested mainly affected metabolic pathways involved in mitochondrial activity (e.g., citric acid cycle, de novo triacylglycerol biosynthesis), and the synthesis of catecholamines and serotonin by changing the levels of their respective precursors, namely phenylalanine (0.68-fold decrease for 10 μM DMF vs vehicle), and tryptophan (1.36-fold increase for 0.1 μM DMF vs vehicle). Interestingly, taurine, whose levels can be modulated via Nrf2 signaling (DMF’s primary target), emerged as a key mediator of DMF’s neuronal action, displaying a 3.86-fold increase and 0.27-fold decrease for 10 μM DMF at 24 h and 96 h, respectively. A 96 h-exposure to DMF seemed to mainly trigger pathways associated with glucose production (e.g., gluconeogenesis, glucose-alanine cycle, malate-aspartate shuttle), possibly related to the metabolism of DMF into monomethyl fumarate and its further conversion into glucose via activation of the citric acid cycle. Overall, our data contribute to improving the understanding of the events associated with neuronal exposure to DMF.
A perspective into ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone and lactides: effect of, ligand, catalyst structure and system dynamics, on catalytic activity and polymer properties
Authors: Munzeiwa W. A. , Omondi Bernard Owaga , Nyamori V. O. 
Published: February 2024

AbstractPolylactic acid (PLAs) and polycaprolactones (PCLs) are emerging to be polyesters of choice because they are biodegradable and biocompatible. The industrial viable method currently used for their production is catalytic ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of their respective cyclic ester monomers. The catalyst is at the core of ROP chemical transformation and as such research is dedicated towards the innovation of more efficient and selective catalysts. Catalyst structural features greatly influence catalyst performance in ROP, and this review discusses the effects of ligand and catalyst structure and system dynamics, on catalytic activity and polymer properties. The effects of associated catalyst components such as initiating groups, ligand chirality, and stereochemical in relation to catalyst activity and polymer properties were also reviewed. The effects of metal nuclearity and catalyst flexibility on catalytic activity were also reviewed. The effect of solvent and temperature was briefly considered.
Graphical abstract
Einfluss des sozioökonomischen Status auf Art und Häufigkeit notärztlicher Einsätze
Authors: Arrich Jasmin , Dammann Ulrike , Reichel Jens , Behringer Wilhelm 
Published: February 2024

Zusammenfassung
Hintergrund
In den vergangenen Jahren hat die Anzahl der notärztlichen Rettungsdiensteinsätze signifikant zugenommen und die adäquate Gesundheitsversorgung vor Herausforderungen gestellt. Studien haben gezeigt, dass ein niedrigerer sozioökonomischer Status (SES) mit einer höheren Inanspruchnahme der notfallmedizinischen Einrichtungen verbunden ist. Ziel dieser Studie war es, einen möglichen Zusammenhang zwischen dem sozioökonomischen Status und den notärztlichen Einsätzen zu finden und diesen hinsichtlich der Erstdiagnose und der Erkrankungsschwere weiter zu charakterisieren.

Methoden
Im Rahmen einer retrospektiven Kohortenstudie wurden die Protokolle der im Jahr 2019 in Jena durchgeführten notärztlichen Einsätze analysiert. Der SES wurde auf Aggregatebene anhand der Wohngebiete der PatientInnen über Indikatoren wie Armutsverteilung, Jugendarbeitslosigkeit, Wohnfläche je Einwohner und Migrationshintergrund definiert. Die Endpunkte der Analyse waren die notärztliche Einsatzrate, die Erstdiagnose und die Erkrankungsschwere der PatientInnen. Die Resultate wurden für das Alter und das Geschlecht der PatientInnen angepasst.

Ergebnisse
Die notärztlichen Einsatzraten lagen für PatientInnen in sozioökonomisch benachteiligten Gebieten um 33 % höher als in den anderen Gebieten Jenas (adjustierte Odds ration (OR) 1,33; 95 %-Konfidenzintervall (KI) 1,25–1,42). Bei PatientInnen mit niedrigerem SES war die Erstdiagnose einer psychiatrischen Erkrankung um 63 % häufiger (OR 1,63; 95 %-KI 1,26–2,10), die einer pulmonalen Erkrankung um 37 % häufiger (OR 1,37; 95 %-KI 1,06–1,80) als bei PatientInnen mit einem höheren SES. Der SES hatte keinen signifikanten Einfluss auf die Erkrankungsschwere der PatientInnen.

Diskussion
Ein niedrigerer SES ist in bestimmten Wohngebieten mit einer relevant höheren Rate an notärztlichen Einsätzen und einem höheren Anteil an psychiatrischen und pulmologischen Erstdiagnosen vergesellschaftet. Dies könnte ein Indikator für eine strukturelle Unterversorgung der regulären medizinischen Einrichtungen und eine höhere Krankheitsbelastung in Gebieten mit niedrigerem SES sein. Es bedarf weiterer gezielter Interventions- und Evaluationsstudien, um die Ursachen des erhöhten Aufkommens an notärztlichen Einsätzen zu identifizieren, die reguläre Gesundheitsversorgung dieser Gebiete zu verbessern und Rettungsdienste und nachgeschaltete Notfallzentren zu entlasten.

Graphic abstract
Locating network trees by a bilevel scheme
Authors: Greco Luigi , Guarino Lo Bianco Serena , Mallozzi Lina 
Published: February 2024

AbstractIn this paper we investigate how to choose an optimal position of a specific facility that is constrained to a network tree connecting some given demand points in a given area. A bilevel formulation is provided and existence results are given together with some properties when a density describes the construction cost of the networks in the area. This includes the presence of an obstacle or of free regions. To prove existence of a solution of the bilevel problem, that is framed in Euclidean spaces, a lower semicontinuity property is required. This is obtained proving an extension of Goła̧b’s theorem in the general setting of metric spaces, which allows for considering a density function.
Leveraging privacy profiles to empower users in the digital society
Authors: Di Ruscio Davide , Inverardi Paola , Migliarini Patrizio , Nguyen Phuong T. 
Published: February 2024

AbstractProtecting privacy and ethics of citizens is among the core concerns raised by an increasingly digital society. Profiling users is common practice for software applications triggering the need for users, also enforced by laws, to manage privacy settings properly. Users need to properly manage these settings to protect personally identifiable information and express personal ethical preferences. This has shown to be very difficult for several concurrent reasons. However, profiling technologies can also empower users in their interaction with the digital world by reflecting personal ethical preferences and allowing for automatizing/assisting users in privacy settings. In this way, if properly reflecting users’ preferences, privacy profiling can become a key enabler for a trustworthy digital society. We focus on characterizing/collecting users’ privacy preferences and contribute a step in this direction through an empirical study on an existing dataset collected from the fitness domain. We aim to understand which set of questions is more appropriate to differentiate users according to their privacy preferences. The results reveal that a compact set of semantic-driven questions (about domain-independent privacy preferences) helps distinguish users better than a complex domain-dependent one. Based on the outcome, we implement a recommender system to provide users with suitable recommendations related to privacy choices. We then show that the proposed recommender system provides relevant settings to users, obtaining high accuracy.
Embedding Owner-Manager Values in the Small and Medium Sized Enterprise Context: A Lockean Conceptualisation
Authors: Oldham Simon 
Published: February 2024

AbstractThe salience of owner-manager values to small and medium sized enterprise (SME) engagement with ethics and social responsibility is well documented. Despite this, understanding of how these values are transposed into and become embedded within the culture, norms and practices of SMEs remains limited. Through drawing on a sample of SMEs in the South West of England, this paper identifies the mechanisms which owner-managers seek to use to embed their values within their organisations—rational values sharing, affective values sharing and building values-aligned relationships—while distinguishing a number of barriers they meet in the process. It further builds on previous research and explicates such embedding processes by means of discerning and providing rich descriptions of eight key owner-manager values. The work of Alain Locke on values is drawn on theoretically to frame the embedding of such values as a reflexive, ongoing process, while the utility of his work—largely absent from the field of business ethics so far—is highlighted.
Performance of urine samples compared to cervical samples for detection of precancer lesions among HPV-positive women attending colposcopy clinic in Mexico City
Authors: Meneses-León Joacim , Hernández-Salazar Sonia , Torres-Ibarra Leticia , Hernández-López Rubí , Rivera-Paredez Berenice , Robles-Rivera Karina , Lazcano-Ponce Eduardo , García-Vera Alba , Godínez-Pérez Mélany , León-Maldonado Leith , Salmerón Jorge 
Published: February 2024

Abstract
Background
High-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) detection in self-collected urine samples (SeCUS) may be a promising alternative for cervical cancer screening because of its greater acceptability, as long as it can offer comparable sensitivity to clinician-collected cervical samples (CCoS) for detecting precancer lesions.

Objective
To evaluate the performance of the SeCUS compared to that of the CCoS for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 (CIN3) detection among hrHPV-positive women receiving colposcopy in Mexico City using different specific extended HPV typing procedures: HPV16/18, HPV16/18/35/39/68 or HPV16/18/35/39/68/31.

Methods
From March 2017 to August 2018, 4,158 female users of the cervical cancer screening program at Tlalpan Sanitary Jurisdiction in Mexico City were invited to participate in the FRIDA-Tlalpan study. All participants provided ≥ 30 mL of SeCUS, and then a CCoS was obtained with Cervex-Brush®, which was used for hrHPV typing. Participants who tested positive for hrHPV in CCoS were referred for colposcopy for diagnostic confirmation, and all SeCUS of these women were also tested for hrHPV typing.

Results
In total, 561 hrHPV-positive women were identified by CCoS via colposcopy, and 82.2% of the SeCUS of these women were also hrHPV positive. From both CCoS and SeCUS, 7 cases of CIN3 were detected. Considering HPV16/18 typing, CCoS and SeCUS detected 4 cases of CIN3, but after HPV16/18/35/39/68/31 extension typing, both CCoS and SeCUS detected all 7 of the CIN3 cases among the hrHPV-positive women.

Conclusions
Using extended hrHPV typing based on HPV16/18/35/39/68/31, our results suggest that the performance of SeCUS may be equivalent to that of CCoS for detecting CIN3 lesions. Although our results are inconclusive, they support the hypothesis that SeCUS may be an attractive alternative worthy of further research.
Assessment of extreme records in environmental data through the study of stochastic orders for scale mixtures of skew normal vectors
Authors: Arevalillo Jorge M , Navarro Jorge 
Published: February 2024

AbstractScale mixtures of skew normal distributions are flexible models well-suited to handle departures from multivariate normality. This paper is concerned with the stochastic comparison of vectors that belong to the family of scale mixtures of skew normal distributions. The paper revisits some of their properties with a proposal that allows to carry out tail weight stochastic comparisons. The connections of the proposed stochastic orders with the non-normality parameters of the multivariate model are also studied for some popular distributions within the family. The role played by these parameters to tackle the non-normality of multivariate data is enhanced as a result. This work is motivated by the analysis of multivariate data in environmental studies which usually collect maximum or minimum values exhibiting departures from normality. The implications of our theoretical results in addressing the stochastic comparison of extreme environmental records is illustrated with an application to a real data study on maximum temperatures in the Iberian Peninsula throughout the last century. The resulting findings may elucidate whether extreme temperatures are evolving for such a long period.
Whole-genome resequencing identifies exonic single-nucleotide variations in terpenoid biosynthesis genes of the medicinal and aromatic plant common sage (Salvia officinalis L.)
Authors: Ceylan Fatima , Uncu Ayse Ozgur , Soyturk Patat Aysenur , Uncu Ali Tevfik 
Published: February 2024

AbstractCommon sage (Salvia officinalis L.), the type species of the genus Salvia, is a historically acknowledged medicinal and aromatic plant that is utilized in several different industries for manufacturing diverse end products, including food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, personal hygiene products and insect repellants. The medical uses of sage essential oil terpenoids have made these secondary metabolites a focus of medical/pharmaceutical chemistry research. In the present work, the common sage genome was resequenced and assembled, and the protein-encoding gene content was annotated. The terpenoid biosynthesis gene repertoire, which includes 75 terpene synthase and 67 terpenoid backbone biosynthesis pathway genes, was predicted and located on assembly scaffolds, revealing tandem duplication blocks on the chromosomes. Variant analysis identified 188 variable single-nucleotide loci in the coding sequences of sage terpenoid biosynthesis genes. A total of 24,570 single-nucleotide polymorphisms were identified in the common sage total exome, representing a database of potential variable loci for targeted genotyping research. Given that terpene synthase activity is highly prone to modulation by point mutations and that the genotype plays an important role in the complex traits of terpenoid composition, single-nucleotide polymorphisms located in coding sequences constitute candidate functional markers that can be associated with terpenoid compositional traits in future research.
The effects of salinity on the distribution and survival of two exotic ostracods in the Iberian Peninsula
Authors: Mestre Alexandre , Sorlí Raül , Mesquita-Joanes Francesc 
Published: February 2024

AbstractRecent research highlighted the need to include experimental estimates of tolerance limits to varying environmental conditions when investigating what factors limit species distributions. However, most niche approaches are only based on the statistical dependence between environmental and occurrence data. Here, we combined field data with survival experiments to assess the role of salinity as a limiting factor in the distribution of two species of exotic ostracods from the Iberian Peninsula. Vizcainocypria viator is a free-living species associated with rice fields and Ankylocythere sinuosa is a commensal of the red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii). Experiments and field data indicate that the distribution of V. viator is limited by adult survival at low and high salinities (below electrical conductivity of 0.6 mS/cm and above 10 mS/cm). In the case of A. sinuosa, the analysis of field data shows that its prevalence is negatively affected by high salinity, whereas experiments indicate an optimal survival at high salinities (conductivity above 10.2 mS/cm), thus suggesting that high salinity may impact A. sinuosa distribution indirectly through affecting host traits (e.g. reduced activity). The habitat of close ancestors (marine versus non-marine respectively for A. sinuosa and V. viator) most likely explains the contrasting differences in salinity tolerance between both ostracod species.
Better to Grow Up Poor in a Richer Place? Social Housing, Neighbourhood Comparisons, and English Teenagers’ Well-Being
Authors: Bezzo Franco Bonomi , Vanhuysse Pieter 
Published: February 2024

AbstractHow does being comparatively socio-economically disadvantaged within their neighbourhood affect the lived experiences of young teenagers? We explore this question on a sample of 13 to 15-year-old teenagers living in social housing in England. We explore three major domains of young teenagers’ well-being: (a) their sense of generally leading a bad life, (b) conflictual family interactions, and (c) unhappy social interactions with their peers. We find that living in a social housing estate within a less deprived neighbourhood does not negatively affect teenagers’ general sense of leading a bad life and does not increase conflictual family interactions. But it does make them less likely to report unhappy social interactions with their peers, indicating a positive effect of social mixing at the neighbourhood level.
Interplay of intrinsic motivation and well-being at school
Authors: Grassinger Robert , Landberg Monique , Määttä Sami , Vasalampi Kati , Bieg Sonja 
Published: February 2024

AbstractFeeling well at school is crucial for both young people’s healthy self-development and their intrinsic learning motivation. Both concepts, subjective well-being and intrinsic motivation, are central to self-determination theory, but their reciprocal relationship is not studied very well. We hypothesized that the concepts affect each other directly: Students who are intrinsically motivated feel well at school due to positive emotions and the strive for understanding the learning content, which is an intrinsic motivation immanent. Beyond, students who feel well at school are intrinsically motivated, because subjective well-being represents an intrinsic value of the learning situation. This hypothesis is tested using a sample of 773 secondary school students (mean age: 12.7 years, SD = 1.8), who were answering questionnaires at the beginning (T1), at mid (T2) and at the end (T3) of a school year. The data were analyzed using a cross-lagged panel model. The results gave evidence on cross-lagged effects and an indirect effect from subjective well-being to intrinsic motivation to subjective well-being.