scholarly journals The Epistemic Virtues of a Closed Mind: Effective Science Reporting in the Golden Age of the Con

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Bishop ◽  
J. D. Trout
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Epistemic Virtue ◽  
Magic Bullet ◽  
Science Reporting ◽  
Best Response ◽  
Scientific Experts ◽  
The Face ◽  
Effective Science ◽  
Blind Faith

A financial confidence game (or “con”) aims to separate you from your money. An epistemic con aims to influence social policy by recruiting you to spread doubt and falsehood about well-established claims. You can’t be conned if you close your wallet to financial cons and your mind to epistemic cons. Easier said than done. The epistemic con has two elements. First are magic bullet arguments, which purport to identify the crucial fact that proves some well-established hypothesis is false. Second are appeals to epistemic virtue: You should be fair, consider the evidence, think for yourself. The appeal to epistemic virtue opens your mind to the con; countless magic bullet arguments keep it open. As in most cons, you (the mark or victim) don’t understand the game. You think it’s to find the truth. But really, it’s to see how long the con artist can string you along as his unwitting shill (an accomplice who entices victims to the con). Strategic Reliabilism says that reasoning is rational to the extent it’s accurate, easy to use, and practical (it applies to significant problems). It recommends that we give close-minded deference to settled science, and thus avoid a large class of epistemic cons. Settled science consists of the general consensus of scientific experts. These experts are defined not by their personal characteristics but by their roles within the institutions of science. Close-minded deference is not blind faith or certainty. It is belief that does not waver in the face of objections from other (less reliable) sources. When the epistemic con is on, the journalist faces a dilemma. Report on magic bullet arguments and thereby open people’s minds to the con. Or don’t, and feed the con artist’s narrative that evidence is being suppressed. As always, the journalist’s best response is sunshine: Report on the story of the epistemic con. Show people how they work. The story of the epistemic con has, at its heart, a wicked reveal: Your reaction to the story is itself part of the story, and it tells you whether the true villain of the story lurks within you.

scholarly journals Social policy in the face of a global pandemic: Policy responses to the COVID ‐19 crisis

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-260
Author(s):  
Daniel Béland ◽  
Bea Cantillon ◽  
Rod Hick ◽  
Amílcar Moreira
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The Face

Moving Social Policy from Mental Illness to Public Wellbeing

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
MATTHEW FISHER
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Universal Access ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Theory Of Change ◽  
Psychological Wellbeing ◽  
Policy Action ◽  
Recent Theoretical Work ◽  
The Face ◽  
Fundamental Shift

Abstract In the face of global epidemics of mental ill-health, the future of social policy lies with promotion of public wellbeing. This article aims to provide an explanatory rationale and methods for a fundamental shift in social policy; away from a remedial focus on mental ill-health defined in terms of disease or aberrant behaviour and toward a focus on universal access to social conditions favourable to psychological wellbeing. The paper begins with prefacing argument about the urgent need for such a shift, noting the high rates of mental ill-health globally and the failure of current biomedical responses to reduce these. Building on recent theoretical work on public wellbeing and evidence on social determinants of mental health, the paper then proposes nine domains for social policy and broader public policy action, to create conditions supportive of wellbeing abilities. Finally, the paper presents several conceptual issues relating to the challenge of putting such action into practice and concludes that contemporary understanding of wellbeing offers a theory of change to shift social policy from mental illness to public wellbeing.

Hybrid Biometrics and Watermarking Authentication

2017 ◽  
pp. 37-61
Author(s):  
Kareem Kamal A. Ghany ◽  
Hossam M. Zawbaa
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Hybrid Approach ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Face Image ◽  
Discrete Wavelet ◽  
Dna Encoding ◽  
Security Authentication ◽  
The Face ◽  
Tools And Techniques

There are many tools and techniques that can support management in the information security field. In order to deal with any kind of security, authentication plays an important role. In biometrics, a human being needs to be identified based on some unique personal characteristics and parameters. In this book chapter, the researchers will present an automatic Face Recognition and Authentication Methodology (FRAM). The most significant contribution of this work is using three face recognition methods; the Eigenface, the Fisherface, and color histogram quantization. Finally, the researchers proposed a hybrid approach which is based on a DNA encoding process and embedding the resulting data into a face image using the discrete wavelet transform. In the reverse process, the researchers performed DNA decoding based on the data extracted from the face image.

Senior policy in Warmia and Mazury. Assumptions and directions of measures

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-89
Author(s):  
Anna Leszczyńka-Rejchert ◽  
Majka Łojko
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
The Face ◽  
Demographic Processes ◽  
A Priority ◽  
Implementation Status

Senior policy is a priority challenge for social policy in the face of dynamical changes in demographic processes in Poland. The authors undertook an attempt to present the assumptions, implementation status and planned directions of the senior policy in Warmia and Mazury, as well as to assess them basing on the analysis of key strategic documents in this area.

scholarly journals ATTITUDES IN FRONT OF DEATH: NURSES’ VIEWS IN THE HOSPITAL ENVIRONMENT

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Filomena Passos Texeira Cardoso ◽  
Maria Manuela Ferreira Pereira da Silva Martins ◽  
Letícia de Lima Trindade
Keyword(s):  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Hospital Environment ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The North ◽  
Professional Characteristics ◽  
Occupational Characteristics ◽  
The Face ◽  
Attitudes Towards Death ◽  
Spss Software ◽  
The Relationship

ABSTRACT Objective: to analyze the relationship between personal characteristics and the profile of attitudes towards death among nurses in a Portuguese hospital. Method: a cross-sectional, quantitative, exploratory and descriptive study, carried out in a hospital in the North of Portugal, with 981 nurses, who answered a questionnaire composed by the scale of evaluation of the Profile of Attitudes about Death. Data collection was carried out in February and March 2018 in the services, and the findings went through descriptive and analytical statistical analysis with the aid of the SPSS software. Results: the nurses revealed to have the attitudes of approach (36.29 points), fear (27.82 points), neutrality (27.25 points), avoidance (17.48 points) and escape (15.52 points) in the face of death, and these were associated with the different socio-occupational characteristics of these professionals, including gender, marital status, age, having children, type of employment relationship, professional category, specialty, time of service, and the practice or belief of some religion. Conclusion: the profile of the nurses' attitudes towards death is influenced by their socio-professional characteristics, which points to the importance of rethinking training strategies in the academic environment, in health organizations and in services, favoring the better reception of patients and family members, but also in relieving the suffering of the professionals in the face of finitude.

scholarly journals LGG-27. TARGETED THERAPY FOR PEDIATRIC LOW-GRADE GLIOMAS AND PLEXIFORM NEUROFIBROMAS WITH TRAMETINIB

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. iii371-iii371
Author(s):  
Tiffany Nguyen ◽  
Kathleen McMahon ◽  
Molly Hemenway ◽  
Jean Mulcahy Levy ◽  
Nicholas Foreman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Targeted Therapy ◽  
Retrospective Chart Review ◽  
Neurofibromatosis Type ◽  
Mek Inhibitor ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
Plexiform Neurofibromas ◽  
Low Grade Gliomas ◽  
Common Location ◽  
Best Response ◽  
The Face

Abstract BACKGROUND Targeted therapy aimed at modulating the RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK pathway is of increasing interest for patients with plexiform neurofibromas and low-grade gliomas. Trametinib is an FDA-approved MEK inhibitor that has little published pediatric experience to date. METHODS A retrospective chart review of patients treated with trametinib for low-grade gliomas (LGG) and/or plexiform neurofibromas (PN) between 2015–2018 was conducted at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Data collected included patient demographics, lesion location, Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) status, best response of PN/LGG to trametinib, duration of trametinib therapy, and reported toxicities at least possibly attributed to trametinib. RESULTS Thirty (57% male; 73% NF1) patients were identified. Sixteen (53%) patients had PN only, 12 (40%) had LGG only, and two (7%) patients had both PN and LGG. The most common LGG location was the optic pathway/hypothalamus (72%). The most common location of PN was the face (63%). Two-thirds (8/12) of patients with LGG had a BRAF alteration or NF1 mutation. The median age at start of trametinib therapy was 9.9 years (range, 2.0 – 18.8 years). The median duration of trametinib therapy was 0.8 years (range 0.1 – 2.9 years). The most commonly reported adverse event was rash. No patients developed retinal toxicity or cardiotoxicity. Only two (7%) patients discontinued for toxicity and one (3%) for progressive disease. CONCLUSIONS Trametinib can be administered without significant toxicity to children with PN or LGG. Clinical benefit is noted in this cohort; however, prospective clinical trials are necessary to characterize efficacy formally.

scholarly journals The crisis of Neoliberal project of aging during the COVID-19 pandemic: from compulsory activity to mandatory isolation

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Bogdanova ◽  
Irina Grigoryeva
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Older Person ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Face ◽  
Further Development ◽  
Critical Overview

Purpose This paper aims to consider how the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic questions the neoliberal project of ageing, based on a notion of a healthy, active, working older person. A long-term struggle to include older people has been (temporarily) replaced with a struggle to exclude them. This seems to be one of the most sensitive sore spots of the coronavirus crisis and one of the most serious challenges to social policy and welfare systems the world over. The purpose of this paper is to consider where the concepts of ageing and the action on ageing were at right before the crisis and what their further development may look like. Design/methodology/approach This paper provides a critical overview of main conceptions based on the neoliberal project of ageing. Findings The main principle of the neoliberal project of ageing, which had been formed on the crossroad of social theory and policy through decades, became vulnerable in the face of COVID-19 pandemic. The new forced ageing reveals its repressive nature through ensuring seniors’ safety from exposure, their removal from work and isolation. The theory now faces new challenges of meshing a neoliberal actor – active, independent and productive – with an older person in isolation, who needs safeguarding, of re-conceptualizing social exclusion of seniors in a situation where exclusion is equated with safety, of resolving a dilemma between isolation and respect of human rights and of keeping progress in anti-ageism. Research limitations/implications This paper presents an overview of the main conceptions, underlying the neoliberal project of ageing. It aims to designate the vulnerabilities of the project, which were revealed under the situation of pandemic. Further development of the discussion needs detailed analysis of theoretical conceptions of ageing. Practical implications Theoretical debate reflects policy of ageing. Discussion of theoretical problems of ageism, social exclusion, safeguarding of the elderly and compulsion are necessary for improvement of social policy of ageing. Social implications When the neoliberal project of ageing comes into collision with the reality with the reality, the authors recognize it as a crisis. It moves the society, and especially the elderly, to the situation of uncertainty. This paper calls for discussion and search for a new balance among the generations in a society. Originality/value This paper relies upon the current debate on neoliberal project of ageing and responds immediately to the situation of pandemic. Now conceptual problems in theories of ageing and policy projects became visible, and the authors suppose it is time to initiate this discussion.

Legalistic Entrepreneurship in the Digital World

2021 ◽  
pp. 156-172
Author(s):  
Fahri Özsungur
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Digital Environment ◽  
Digital World ◽  
The Face ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Conclusion Section

This study aims to explain the legalistic entrepreneurship by introducing the type of legalistic entrepreneurship that transforms compliance with laws into entrepreneurship action, and answer the question of how information and communication facilities brought by the digital world can be turned into opportunities in the face of legal obstacles. In this chapter, the concept and components of legalism, the conceptual framework of legalistic entrepreneurship, processes, personal characteristics of legalistic entrepreneurs are explained. In the conclusion section, recommendations are made to policymakers, entrepreneurs, and academicians on virtual commerce and initiatives to be developed in the digital environment and legalistic entrepreneurship.

scholarly journals Reviewing the Smart City Vienna Framework Strategy’s Potential as an Eco-Social Policy in the Context of Quality of Work and Socio-Ecological Transformation

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 859
Author(s):  
Jana Brandl ◽  
Irina Zielinska
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Economic System ◽  
Smart City ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Green Economy ◽  
Quality Of Work ◽  
Psychosocial Wellbeing ◽  
The Face

In the face of an increasing awareness of environmental issues and the urgent need to tackle them without shifting the burden onto the most vulnerable social groups, calls for a socio-economic transformation are growing louder. However, there is no consensus on what transformative strategies should look like. Within the German-language literature one can broadly distinguish two transformative paradigms: the green economy paradigm, arguing for soft political steering mechanisms and technological innovations in order to green the current economic system and the degrowth paradigm, drawing the current growth-oriented economic system into question. In both approaches a tendency to marginalize issues of quality of work prevails. We argue that work is not only an integral part of one’s income, but also of one’s identity and psychosocial wellbeing as well as of social peace and cohesion and that it should therefore be at the heart of socio-ecological transformative strategies. We apply these theoretical considerations to the analysis of the Smart City Vienna Framework Strategy (SCWR), which is promoted as a holistic sustainability strategy paper. Additionally, we conducted expert workshops and interviews in order to analyze how stakeholders within the sectors with the highest CO2 emissions in Vienna perceive the SCWR in relation to work. We found that the SCWR does not live up to its potential as an eco-social policy as it remains tightly rooted within the green economy paradigm and does not account for the ecological dimension of work. The stakeholders’ perspectives on the SCWR vary according to the degree to which they are embedded within the green economy paradigm as well as their position within the economic system. However, generally the SCWR is not perceived as an eco-social policy and no connection is made between environmental issues and quality of work. We argue that transformative degrowth strategies could greatly benefit from making this connection explicit.

Predictors of Longitudinal Changes in Older Adults’ Physical Activity Engagement

2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiska Cohen-Mansfield ◽  
Dov Shmotkin ◽  
Shira Goldberg
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Risk Factors ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Significant Risk ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Female Gender ◽  
Cognitive Status ◽  
Physically Active ◽  
Activity Engagement ◽  
The Face

The study aimed to investigate factors influencing older adults’ physical activity engagement over time. The authors analyzed 3 waves of data from a sample of Israelis age 75–94 (Wave 1n= 1,369, Wave 2n= 687, Wave 3n= 154). Findings indicated that physical activity engagement declined longitudinally. Logistic regressions showed that female gender, older age, and taking more medications were significant risk factors for stopping exercise at Wave 2 in those physically active at Wave 1. In addition, higher functional and cognitive status predicted initiating exercise at Wave 2 in those who did not exercise at Wave 1. By clarifying the influence of personal characteristics on physical activity engagement in the Israeli old-old, this study sets the stage for future investigation and intervention, stressing the importance of targeting at-risk populations, accommodating risk factors, and addressing both the initiation and the maintenance of exercise in the face of barriers.

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