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The article explores the pervasive influence of whiteness as an ideology among supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump. It argues that whiteness has become a dominant force, shaping the values of a significant segment of the American population, particularly on the political Right. It highlights how false claims about election fraud and attempts to overturn election results demonstrate the overriding impact of whiteness as a guiding ideology among Trump's followers.

The U.S. government should establish a nongovernmental institute of expert spokespersons to counter foreign disinformation and propaganda more effectively. Such an institute would provide a media-friendly source of information and perspective from experts totally immersed in the relevant subject matters. They would debunk false charges, but also reframe the discussion to reveal disinformers' records of lies as well as the quirks of human belief that make many people susceptible to false claims. Government can play an essential role in uncovering the secret machinations of hostile state actors, but typically chooses spokespersons who are managers rather than subject matter experts. Not only do they lack in-depth knowledge of often obscure subjects, but also lack the autonomy to freely discuss highly controversial subjects. Nongovernmental expert spokespersons would suffer neither deficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines Trump's 2016 Greensboro rally performance of aggrieved white masculinity to shed light on the Access Hollywood scandal specifically and his appeal for supporters generally. Trump projected a persona of primitive, white, working-class masculinity; feminized the establishment through populist conspiracy; used psychological iconicity and inference to equate Clinton's assertions with what he depicted as his accusers' false claims of sexual assault; and dispelled their credibility through reenactment and partition. His sexism, conjoined with anger, also did displaced racist work by depicting his hypermasculine, authoritarian leadership as essential for restoring white men and the nation to their rightful places. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article in the Indian Journal of Surgery discusses the concerning impact of false claims and celebrity endorsements on medical treatments, particularly in the context of cancer. It highlights how celebrities promoting unverified or alternative treatments can harm patients by leading them away from evidence-based medical interventions. The authors emphasize the need for proactive activism, media regulation, and public health campaigns to counter misinformation and ensure cancer patients have access to accurate, scientifically validated information. The article calls for a more responsible approach to celebrity endorsements in the medical field to protect vulnerable patients from potentially harmful treatments. [Extracted from the article]

This article concerns the emergence, definition, and characteristic of the phenomenon of “post-truth” and how its characteristics are used in connection with historical narratives by various political forces for their own goals. The article’s goal is to identify how historical narratives are used by the spreaders of post-truth for various results in domestic and foreign policy, or, in the case of the post-truth spreader being a contesting politician vying for power, for electoral support. The research utilizes historical-narrative and historical-comparative methods, alongside methods of discourse and content analysis. After reviewing the literature, it is observed that from the point of view of historical politics, the methods of spreading the post-truth pose a tempting prospect of ensuring the ideological unity of the nation (or a part of it). The creation of an ideological and informational climate in which history consisted only of the heroism of "Us" and the various affronts and capture of “our old territories” by "the Other" contributes to internal stability. However, such historical politics, while useful in an “information bubble” in domestic policy, can be easily exposed and deconstructed by the neighboring powers decried as “the Other”, blamed for various historical grievances (in the case of a reigning regime using post-truth historical narratives), or by political rivals debunking false claims (in the case of a contesting political force using such narratives in a democracy). The post-truth relies on charisma and cognitive bias, rather than specific historical knowledge, and can be used to strengthen existing political support, more so than converting others. Post-truth accelerates the involvement of media consumers and the growth of their confidence in the correctness of the ideology. However, regardless of its utilitarian positives for political forces, a choice in favor of post-truth is a voluntary choice in favor of misinformation, anti-intellectualism and deception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to identify the communication activities in Islamic organizations to improve the image of Islam through applying to the Muslim World League, It also aims to identify the types of communication activities used by the Association and its role in improving the image of Islam from the perspective of its employees, and to identify methods used communication methods, It also aims to identify the challenges and constraints faced by communicators in the implementation of these communication activities. The researcher adopted the descriptive approach to reach the survey results of the study and its objectives . The researcher prepared a questionnaire that was applied to all communicators in the media departments of the Muslim World League and their number (73) Single, the research was divided into two chapters Chapter one covers the methodological and theoretical framework of research the second chapter consisted of presenting and discussing the results of the research as well as a summary of the final results and recommendations . The results showed that the most important communication activities carried out by the Association to improve the image of Islam are the organization of meetings, conferences and symposia, The results of the research also found that the most important role played by these activities is to thwart the false claims of linking terrorism with Islam and combating extremist and terrorist ideas, And that the most important means of communication used during the exercise of communication activities are Indirect personal communication, "electronic" and direct personal communication and Collective communication means, And that the most important communication methods used in the practice of communication activities is the establishment of intellectual forums to open a dialogue with scientists and experts in the West on everything that would highlight the correct concepts of Islam, While the most important challenges facing communicators in the implementation of communication activities of the Association were the lack of appropriate training. The research also made a number of recommendations, including work to provide the media departments of the Association with specialists and those with higher degrees in the field of media and public relations to develop their activities in accordance with a studied academic approach, And the need to hold workshops and training courses on a continuous basis for communication in the media departments to improve their skills and raise their level of competence, And to employ the experienced women and benefit from their energies and experiences, This comes in line with the vision of the Kingdom of 2030, which is concerned with the empowerment of women as half of society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conservation science practitioners seek to preempt irreversible impacts on species, ecosystems, and social–ecological systems, requiring efficient and timely action even when data and understanding are unavailable, incomplete, dated, or biased. These challenges are exacerbated by the scientific community's capacity to consistently distinguish between reliable and unreliable evidence, including the recognition of questionable research practices (QRPs, or "questionable practices"), which may threaten the credibility of research, including harming trust in well‐designed and reliable scientific research. In this paper, we propose a "toolkit" for open and pluralistic conservation science, highlighting common questionable practices and sources of bias and indicating where remedies for these problems may be found. The toolkit provides an accessible resource for anyone conducting, reviewing, or using conservation research, to identify sources of false claims or misleading evidence that arise unintentionally, or through misunderstandings or carelessness in the application of scientific methods and analyses. We aim to influence editorial and review practices and hopefully to remedy problems before they are published or deployed in policy or conservation practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing from the affect-reason-involvement model, we examine how misleading advertising about the environmental features of products, or greenwashing, affects how consumers perceive ads and brands. Using data from two experimental studies with quota-based samples in the United States (N = 486) and Germany (N = 300), we compare nondeceptive claims with two types of claims often used in greenwashing: vague claims and false claims. We also identify the presence of pleasant nature- evoking images and test for interaction effects with two types of environmental involvement: environmental concern and environmental knowledge. Results indicate that while vague claims do not enhance consumers' perceived greenwashing regardless of their environmental knowledge or concern, false claims do, which consequently harms consumers' attitudes toward those ads and brands. In the United States, consumers' environmental knowledge moderates that effect, whereas all consumers in Germany could identify false claims as attempts at greenwashing. Moreover, associating greenwashing claims with nature-evoking images activates an affective persuasive mechanism that appeals to consumers' affinity for nature, which not only positively influences their evaluations of ads and brands but also influences their attitudes toward ads and brands more strongly than perceived greenwashing. In closing, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent contributions to the philosophy of the social sciences have motivated ontological commitments using appeals to the social sciences (naturalized social ontologies). These arguments rely on social scientific realism about the social sciences, the view that our social scientific theories are approximately true. I apply a distinction formulated in metaontology between ontologically loaded and unloaded meanings of existential quantification to argue that there is a pragmatic approach to naturalized social ontology that is minimally realist (it treats existence claims as true or false) but that is ontologically austere. I argue that the extant arguments may be construed in terms of this pragmatic approach. The result is an approach to social ontology that is deflationist about naturalized social ontology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Turkish Culture & Haci Bektas Veli Research Quarterly is the property of Turkish Cultur & Haci Bektas Veli Research Quarterly and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The world's population is a significant variable that can be altered to help decrease global emissions. Most of the discussion surrounding this variable has concentrated on the moral issues involved: to what extent is a state justified in reducing its population? Are individual procreators morally obligated to have fewer children? However, while these moral concerns are important, little attention has been given to the feasibility of a proposed solution to overpopulation. This article aims to rectify that. By understanding whether (and how) feasibility impacts the truth‐value of an ought claim, important progress can be made on deliberating what to do about overpopulation. In Section 2, I outline the public health crisis that overpopulation causes and present Sarah Conly's argument as the most well‐thought‐out account of how to ethically and rapidly reduce the population. In Section 3, I borrow from Nicholas Southwood to explore when infeasibility makes an ought claim false. In Section 4, I show that rapidly reducing the population is infeasible. Therefore, regardless of any ethical merits, it should be eliminated as an option when deliberating what to do. Instead, we must put our time and resources into finding a feasible solution to overpopulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Common skin conditions, such as irritated, dry, aging, and oily skin or dark eye circles with periorbital edema, usually do not require pharmaceutical therapy in form of dermatological drugs. They can, however, still affect the quality of life significantly. With the advent of newer cosmetics, a more targeted treatment of these dermatological conditions has become available to the public. There are few clinical studies investigating the efficacy and safety of cosmetics, leaving consumers exposed to potentially false claims of the cosmetic industry. This study aims to assess the efficacy and safety of a novel skin care series addressing the aforementioned five common skin conditions. Methods: This open‐label, single‐center, 4‐week, prospective clinical study evaluated the efficacy and safety of five novel skin care formulations, each targeting one of five common skin issues in 176 study subjects. The primary endpoint parameters for the change in irritated skin, dark and puffy eyes, dry skin, aging skin, and oily skin were assessed through validated questionnaires, scales, and biomedical devices. Results: After 4 weeks of topical application of each formulation of a new targeted skin care, a significant improvement in all primary endpoints was detected. No undesirable effects occurred during this study. Conclusion: This study showed a significant improvement in five common dermatological conditions with a novel targeted skin care series. Moreover, this study leads the way for an overdue critical assessment and certification of cosmetic product claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Medical News article discusses a KFF poll about the public's exposure to and beliefs about inaccurate health information, as well as media use and trust in sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In [7, Theorem 1.1] , it is claimed that every finite 2-group of exponent 4 occurs as the group of units of a finite ring with characteristic 2. We now know this claim to be false: specifically, [7, Proposition 3.9] and its proof are incorrect. The purpose of this note is to provide a revised statement of [7, Theorem 1.1] , which holds for any finite 2-group of exponent 4 and nilpotency class at most 2 and for some (perhaps most) finite 2-groups of exponent 4 and nilpotency class 3. We also exhibit an example of a group of order 64 with exponent 4 and nilpotency class 4 that is not realizable in characteristic 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bart Streumer thinks that we cannot believe the global normative error theory. Streumer's argument presupposes a Cartesian theory of belief fixation. The Cartesian theory entails that we can understand a proposition without believing it. But the Cartesian theory of belief fixation is false, and the Spinozan theory is true. The Spinozan theory of belief fixation entails that we cannot understand a proposition without believing it. The present paper argues that Streumer's claim is false, and we can believe the global normative error theory because the Spinozan theory is correct. The paper then applies the Spinozan theory of belief fixation to the "Now what?" problem for global normative error theory and responds to objections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Balkan & Near Eastern Journal of Social Sciences (BNEJSS) is the property of Balkan & Near Eastern Journal of Social Sciences (BNEJSS) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The greatest threat of democratic breakdown stems from the federal structure of the US Constitution and from false claims of election fraud with the potential for state- or congressional- level reversals of popular vote outcomes. The potential for such a breakdown was revealed by the events of January 6, 2021, with tens of millions of voters still believing in the big lie and the repetition of that lie by legislators and government officials. It is exacerbated by hyperpolarization, minoritarian control caused by partisan gerrymandering for state legislative districts and in the US House, malapportionment in the US Senate, and the highest likelihood of Electoral College reversals of popular vote outcomes in more than a century. Democratic breakdown is also made more likely by recent legislation that makes it easier for legislators in some gerrymandered states to reverse the outcomes of the popular vote in their states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Essential oils and aromatic extracts (oleoresins, absolutes, concretes, resinoids) are often used as food flavorings and constituents of fragrance compositions. The flavor and fragrance industry observed significant growth in the sales of some natural materials during the COVID-19 outbreak. Some companies worldwide are making false claims regarding the effectiveness of their essential oils or blends (or indirectly point toward this conclusion) against coronaviruses, even though the available data on the activity of plant materials against highly pathogenic human coronaviruses are very scarce. Our exploratory study aimed to develop pioneering knowledge and provide the first experimental results on the inhibitory properties of hundreds of flavor and fragrance materials against SARS-CoV-2 main and papain-like proteases and the antiviral potential of the most active protease inhibitors. As essential oils are volatile products, they could provide an interesting therapeutic strategy for subsidiary inhalation in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on James B. Helmer, Jr. and his contributions to the legal profession, particularly in relation to the development and application of the False Claims Act (FCA).

Firms sometimes make selective or deceptive claims, which can have negative consequences for consumers, especially if consumers are not fully informed and the claims are hard to verify. This study aims to measure the decline in demand that a firm making such claims faces when caught. In addition, it seeks to understand which type of consumer these claims primarily affect. Using a panel data set of consumer purchases and firm advertising, the authors measure this impact by exploiting the fact that four popular products settled charges raised by the Federal Trade Commission. They further control for and document firm responses in terms of price and advertisement changes around the date of the settlement. Findings indicate a significant decline in demand following the termination of the claims, resulting in a 12%–67% monthly loss in revenue across the four products, which amounts to a $.40 million–$3.82 million loss in monthly revenue. They also find that these claims primarily affect consumers who are newcomers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pu-erh tea's quality and price are inextricably intertwined with age, but false claims about production year can harm both consumers and producers. While tea quality is currently assessed subjectively by experts, developing a scientific method to determine storage time is crucial for the tea industry's growth and integrity. In the present study, analysis of Pu-erh tea (PT) with different storage times showed that the storage process enhanced the complexity of the metabolite networks of extracts and flocs, but the metabolic network characteristics of tea flocs did not exhibit significant changes with the progression of storage time. It is noteworthy that the 41 storage-related core metabolites are important to the storage process; the storage score based on these metabolites was related to the biochemical indicators of the extract and the storage time. Our findings were validated in another independent metabolic data set of green tea (GT), oolong tea (OT), Assam black tea (ABT) and PT. Finally, our regression model based on the storage score could accurately predict the storage time of different teas (R2 = 95.70%). Overall, the findings of our have important guiding significance for expanding the methods for predicting tea storage duration. • The Pu-erh tea storage process enhanced the complexity of the metabolite network. • Metabolite network analysis of Pu-erh tea identified 41 storage-related core metabolites. • Storage score model was established based on 41 storage-related core metabolites. • The storage score model could predict the storage time of tea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]