Tag: Climate Change Disinformation

How misinformation affects cognition and behaviour is of increasing interest. Research has identified predictors of susceptibility, but how they play out during real-world behaviour remains unclear. We urge misinformation neuroscience researchers to prioritize ecological validity by collecting data across the ecological spectrum.

Abstract

This article reviews three recent books that introduce challenging insights to and suggest critical implications for how behavioral science can address the broad, vexing social issues that challenge human well-being. The Chaos Machine (Fisher, 2022), How the World Really Works (Smil, 2022), and What We Owe the Future (MacAskill, 2022) offer provocative discussions of increasingly important social issues—the impact of social media, the consequences of misunderstanding science, and overcoming the delay discounting that will affect future generations, respectively—that can inform behavior scientists’ thinking about improving the future while presenting a multitude of opportunities to advance our science.

Abstract

Deepfakes raise various concerns: risks of political destabilization, depictions of persons without consent and causing them harms, erosion of trust in video and audio as reliable sources of evidence, and more. These concerns have been the focus of recent work in the philosophical literature on deepfakes. However, there has been almost no sustained philosophical analysis of deepfakes from the perspective of concerns about honesty and dishonesty. That deepfakes are potentially deceptive is unsurprising and has been noted. But under what conditions does the use of deepfakes fail to be honest? And which human agents, involved in one way or another in a deepfake, fail to be honest, and in what ways? If we are to understand better the morality of deepfakes, these questions need answering. Our first goal in this paper, therefore, is to offer an analysis of paradigmatic cases of deepfakes in light of the philosophy of honesty. While it is clear that many deepfakes are morally problematic, there has been a rising counter-chorus claiming that deepfakes are not essentially morally bad, since there might be uses of deepfakes that are not morally wrong, or even that are morally salutary, for instance, in education, entertainment, activism, and other areas. However, while there are reasons to think that deepfakes can supply or support moral goods, it is nevertheless possible that even these uses of deepfakes are dishonest. Our second goal in this paper, therefore, is to apply our analysis of deepfakes and honesty to the sorts of deepfakes hoped to be morally good or at least neutral. We conclude that, perhaps surprisingly, in many of these cases the use of deepfakes will be dishonest in some respects. Of course, there will be cases of deepfakes for which verdicts about honesty and moral permissibility do not line up. While we will sometimes suggest reasons why moral permissibility verdicts might diverge from honesty verdicts, we will not aim to settle matters of moral permissibility.

Dr Shira Joudan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. Her environmental analytical chemistry research group studies the environmental fate of organic contaminants, including halogenated chemicals like per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

Abstract

Background

Pain attributed to musculoskeletal disorders are a significant hinderance to work ability and economic growth, especially in developing countries. Quality of life and lived experience of workers with musculoskeletal disorders have not been explored enough to determine whether person-centred care is provided. There is a wealth of evidence for using the biomedical approach in the management of workers with musculoskeletal disorders, which has proved ineffective in reducing absenteeism and symptoms experienced by workers. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experience of workers seeking care for musculoskeletal disorders and how their pain attitudes and beliefs influenced their experience.

Methods

A qualitative approach with thematic analysis was used. Purposive sampling was used to recruit six participants for semi-structured interviews. All participants were either experiencing pain attributed to a musculoskeletal disorder or had received care for a musculoskeletal disorder.

Results

Pain attitudes and beliefs of workers with a musculoskeletal disorder and healthcare professionals greatly influenced the care and recovery process of musculoskeletal disorders. There is a primary biomedical lens informing care of workers with musculoskeletal disorders received. Workers expect healthcare professionals to explore their concerns further, but the focus of care for most participants was their presenting complaint. There is also a need for the autonomy of workers to be preserved, and communication between healthcare professionals and workers with musculoskeletal disorders needs to improve.

Conclusions

Many stakeholders are involved in the recovery process from musculoskeletal disorders. There is a need for a biopsychosocial informed practice to improve return-to-work (RTW) in workers with musculoskeletal disorders. Change is needed at all healthcare system levels to reduce the negative experiences of workers and maladaptive pain beliefs that is associated with persisting symptoms and extended absenteeism.

Abstract

Corporate reputation, the collective perception of company attractiveness towards stakeholders, impacts business outcomes, while effective communication strategies play a critical role in shaping and maintaining the reputation. The role of communication is highlighted during crises, crisis communication being a strategic approach to managing and mitigating the impact of unexpected or adverse events on the reputation, operations, and stakeholders. These concepts are deeply interrelated with interactive marketing. This study explores the dynamics of corporate reputation and crisis communication during a recent global crisis by combining a literature review, opinion mining, and classification analysis. This is because stakeholders rely on various information sources and engage in online discussions, which can impact the reputation, and pose new challenges. The opinion mining analysis draws from the media communication of selected stock-listed companies during a crisis. The key findings shed light on the dynamics of corporate reputation and crisis communication and the impacts on interactive marketing. Critical components of crisis communication are identified to include monitoring, tactics of responding, and response management. Linkages between these, crisis communication theories, and corporate reputation are synthesised. Indications are provided on how the crisis can affect the corporate reputation and the significance of the speed of preventive communication measures.

Abstract

The celebrated 1980 announcement that smallpox had been eradicated was made using the following definition of eradication: “Permanent reduction to zero of the worldwide incidence of infection caused by a specific agent as a result of deliberate efforts: intervention measures are no longer needed.” Public health around the world works with this definition of “eradication,” setting it as a goal for other infectious disease control programs. The definition is simple. Its application, however, has produced long-running and complex public health campaigns that threaten the commitment of funders, health care providers, and governments. In this paper, the authors demonstrate the disease-specific challenges of eradication through the example of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). While many deem eradication worth its high costs because it is the end of morbidity and mortality from a disease, it does not mean the end of disease control efforts. Public health must be prepared for the possibility of disease reoccurrence in the form of undetected natural reservoirs of disease, lab leaks from stored samples, bioterror attacks using stolen samples, and the synthetic recreation of microbes. This paper clarifies the role of reoccurrence prevention in eradication, calling for its addition in the definition of eradication.

Abstract

This commentary article considers the current contentious debates over the national school science curriculum in Aoteaora New Zealand. The co-authors of this commentary are members of a group of science teacher educators and science education researchers who met recently to discuss concerns over aspects of these debates in the context of a wider political contest over the control and direction of education policy.

Abstract

This study is an analysis of the international debate on open science that took place during the pandemic. It addresses the question, how did the COVID-19 pandemic impact the debate on open science? The study takes the form of a qualitative analysis of a large corpus of key articles, editorials, blogs and thought pieces about the impact of COVID on open science, published during the pandemic in English, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. The findings show that many authors believed that it was clear that the experience of the pandemic had illustrated or strengthened the case for open science, with language such as a “stress test”, “catalyst”, “revolution” or “tipping point” frequently used. It was commonly believed that open science had played a positive role in the response to the pandemic, creating a clear ‘line of sight’ between open science and societal benefits. Whilst the arguments about open science deployed in the debate were not substantially new, the focuses of debate changed in some key respects. There was much less attention given to business models for open access and critical perspectives on open science, but open data sharing, preprinting, information quality and misinformation became most prominent in debates. There were also moves to reframe open science conceptually, particularly in connecting science with society and addressing broader questions of equity.

Abstract

Food systems drive human and environmental change, reflect diverse cultural and ecological contexts, and, in their diversity, can bolster nutrition and planetary health. Ignoring structural inequities in food system transformations risks offsetting potential gains. We summarize current evidence on the context-dependent implications of EAT–Lancet goals and propose six priority areas to guide equitable food system transformations, targeting food and nutrition security, just sustainability and cultural diversity. Priority areas—namely, diverse and nutritious food access, food industry regulation, climate-resilient food production, localized, small-scale food systems, cultural diversity and social well-being—can be achieved through public, private and civil society action.