The ‘Infodemic’: Is International Law Ready to Combat Fake News in the Age of Information Disorder?

This article considers the readiness of international law to protect States from information operations that are launched as the means of disrupting government response to the spread of infectious diseases, such as COVID-19. It examines both the external- and internal-facing dynamics for international regulation of misinformation, with the focus on the principle of non-intervention as an external regulation of misinformation under general international law and freedom of expression guaranteed under human rights treaties for internal regulation.

Developing a Motivation Scale for Engineering Studies in a Francophone Context

Based on self-determination theory, this research presents the development of a scale to assess motivation for engineering studies in a Francophone context. Three phases of data collection were conducted (N = 462, 545 and 864) for a total of 1871 engineering students (59.2% female). Results from both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses support a seven-factor structure for the scale: 1) intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivations characterised by 2) identified regulation – altruism, 3) introjected regulation – ego, 4) introjected regulation – conscience, 5) external regulation – security, 6) external regulation – social prestige and, finally, 7) amotivation. The dimensions of altruism and security are specific to engineering studies. The scale meets generally accepted criteria for reliability and verifies different types of validity evidence.

Sport Motivation of Paralympic Athletes after Injury

Motivation for performing sport is complex because most athletes have multiple motivations, including extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Understanding the motivation dynamics of athletes, especially after a sports injury, is crucial because the injury may have a detrimental effect on the athlete's psychosocial conditions. This study figured out the motivation level of Paralympic athletics athletes after injury. A total of 44 Paralympic athletes were involved in the survey. The Sports Motivation Scale (SMS) was used to identify the level of athlete motivation. The SMS was developed within the Self Determination Theory (SDT) framework to assess various forms of motivation, namely amotivation, external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, integrated regulation, and intrinsic motivation. This study found that out of 44 Paralympic athletics athletes after an injury, 5 (4.55%) of the athletes reported high levels of amotivation, and 15 (34.09%) of the athletes were identified in the moderate level of amotivation. This finding indicates that injury does not impact amotivation, as the athletes exhibit a high level of extrinsic motivation (external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, integrated regulation) and intrinsic motivation. Based on these motivation profiles, the Paralympic coaches should adjust their approach in motivating the Paralympic athletes to return to their training and competitions after injury.

Exercise Experience of Elderly Medicaid Beneficiaries with Osteoarthritis Based on Self-Determination Theory

Background: Osteoarthritis is the most common chronic disease among elders, and it crucially requires self-management. This study aimed to qualitatively examine exercise experiences of elderly Medicaid beneficiaries with osteoarthritis receiving exercise intervention based on self-determination theory (SDT).Methods: Eight elders who received a community-based exercise intervention were interviewed three times. Using the interview transcriptions and field notes, researchers conducted an interpretative phenomenological analysis based on SDT to explore the motivational process of exercise compliance.Results: Three meaningful profiles (non-compliant, intermitter, and compliant) were identified along with satisfaction with needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) that motivate exercise compliance based on SDT. Compliance of exercise is primarily initiated by external regulation and followed by the internalization process of recognizing and accepting the value of the behavior.Conclusions: The concepts of SDT could be used to explore factors associated with motivation and gradual behavior change among elderly Medicaid beneficiaries with osteoarthritis. Autonomy, competence, relatedness, external regulation, and identified regulation control may be applied to establish a strategy that promotes behavior change by satisfying the psychological needs and internalizing the behavior of these elders.

Influences of Caregiving on Development: A Sensitive Period for Biological Embedding of Predictability and Safety Cues

Across species, caregivers exert a powerful influence on the neural and behavioral development of offspring. Increasingly, both animal and human research has highlighted specific patterns in caregivers’ behavior that may be especially important early in life, as well as neurobiological mechanisms linking early caregiving experiences with long-term affective behavior. Here we delineate evidence for an early sensitive period during infancy and toddlerhood when caregiver inputs that are predictable and associated with safety may become biologically embedded via influences on corticolimbic circuitry involved in emotion regulation. We propose that these caregiver signals prime corticolimbic circuitry to be receptive to later stage-specific caregiver influences, such as caregivers’ external regulation of children’s emotional reactivity. Following adversity that disrupts the predictability and safety associated with caregivers during this sensitive period, accelerated maturation of children’s corticolimbic circuitry may foreshorten the protracted period of plasticity and caregiver influence that is characteristic of humans. This work has implications for both prevention and intervention efforts targeting children exposed to adversity early in life.

Cherry-Picking and Lemon-Dropping Lessons from Anti-Doping to Boost Abuse Prevention in Sport

Unethical behaviors in sport are a matter of global concern. The current surge in reports on abuse of athletes across Sports and all over the world is reminiscent of the doping scandals in the 1980s and 1990s that made many believe that doping was endemic in sport. This realization eventually led to a concerted effort of sport stakeholders and the founding of the World Anti-Doping Agency, which has since established itself as the world’s governing body in anti-doping with substantial influence and power. Framing the history and trajectory of anti-doping as a precedent of what has worked and what has not in righting sports’ wrongs, this review asks: what can the two-decades-long anti-doping ‘fight’ teach us about protecting athletes from abuse? Exploring various aspects from the effectiveness of external Regulation and the challenges of a centralized legalistic approach to athlete health protection and accountability, several lessons that have implications for safeguarding athletes can be identified. Behavior change is a long and demanding process for individuals and organizations. Centering athletes’ voices and lived experiences in practical research approaches while integrating multi-sector stakeholders can help ensure that methods and findings are fit-for-purpose and inform effective, sustainable athlete-safeguarding practices, programs, and policies.

Satisfaction with Self and External Regulation of Learning in Higher Education Students in Brazil

The satisfaction of university students with the variables that regulate their learning provides very valuable information to improve the quality of teaching processes. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the learning of Brazilian university students, exploring both self-regulation variables, such as study techniques; and more external regulation variables, namely, satisfaction with the teaching–learning process and with the infrastructure, based on three variables: gender, the institution of higher education and the academic year of the students. To achieve this, 560 students of the Pedagogy degree were evaluated with two questionnaires: a questionnaire of satisfaction with the educational infrastructure and the teaching–learning process and a questionnaire on study techniques. Statistically significant differences were obtained, especially depending on the type of institution and the academic year. The students of private schools and earlier academic years were the ones who obtained the most satisfaction with the study techniques and with the infrastructure. Those from private centers also expressed more satisfaction with the teaching–learning processes. These results provide greater knowledge about the processes of self-regulation and external regulation of university learning and of their satisfaction with them, which can contribute to improving educational policies in Brazil.

Audit quality implications of regulatory change in South Africa

PurposeThis paper explores how technical constructions of audit practice are influenced by mandatory audit firm rotation (MAFR) regulations. The paper responds to calls for additional research on how external regulation influences audit quality and supplements the predominately quantitative research dealing specifically with firm rotation and its relevance for audit quality.Design/methodology/approachData are collected from South Africa which is the latest jurisdiction to adopt MAFR (from 2017). Detailed interviews with 49 participants comprising 24 audit partners and 25 non-auditors are conducted to explore how MAFR can impact audit quality. For this purpose, audit quality is defined according to a schematic developed interpretively and based on professional auditing standards and the prior research on audit quality.FindingsThere is no guarantee that MAFR will bolster auditors' independence or contribute to a more thorough audit approach. On the contrary, the effort required by incoming audit firms to gain an understanding of new clients coupled with material tendering costs is expected to decrease the profitability of audit engagements with adverse implications for audit quality. A loss of client experience and staff retention challenges may contribute further to a decline in audit quality. There may be some improvements to audit practice when an incumbent firm's work is going to be scrutinised by a new auditor but audit methodologies, including the nature and extent of testing performed, are not expected to change significantly because of MAFR. In this way, the regulation may be a symbolic response to a perceived decline in audit quality and auditor independence rather than part of an effective strategy to encourage more rigorous audit practice for the benefit of the users of financial statements.Originality/valueThe current paper provides one of the first exploratory accountants of how MAFR is expected to impact audit practice and, in turn, audit quality. The research responds to the call for more field-work studies on the mechanics of the audit process by engaging directly with practitioners instead of relying on inferential testing of broad audit quality surrogates. The study also makes an important empirical contribution by providing primary evidence on how external regulation influences audit practice from a seldom studied African perspective.