VERIFYING NEWS DURING THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK FACT-CHECKING JOURNALISM

Over the past two decades, fact-checking has expanded from internal media function to 237 independent organizations that actively check and verify the statements of public figures and track disinformation across 78 countries. This study investigates the role of watchdog reformers and fact-checkers as an emerging movement that seeks to secure the accuracy of information by holding accountable public figures and media networks for any errors or the dissemination of false claims across the globe. Three of these organizations located in US. Europe, and Africa are operating as non-profit organizations, and analyzed for this research study: Factcheck.org, Full Fact, and Africa Check. This study conducts textual analysis with a close reading of articles dealing with the coverage of coronavirus from the three websites. The study aims to analyze how these dedicated fact-checking organizations are operating, and how the functions encompassed by social responsibility theory guide their motives. The data is gathered through the collection of fact-checking articles on the organizations’ websites. It is showed that the selected functions of social responsibility theory guide the objectives of the three fact-checking organizations analyzed, which are to supply public affairs information, enlighten society, keep watch against the governments. This study approaches different mechanisms to map areas of convergence as well as divergence within these fact-checking outlets

The role of female reproductive fluid in sperm competition

The role of non-gametic components of the ejaculate (seminal fluid) in fertility and sperm competitiveness is now well established. Surprisingly, however, we know far less about female reproductive fluid (FRF) in the context of sexual selection, and insights into male–FRF interactions in the context of sperm competition have only recently emerged. Despite this limited knowledge, evidence from taxonomically diverse species has revealed insights into the effects of FRF on sperm traits that have previously been implicated in studies of sperm competition. Specifically, through the differential effects of FRF on a range of sperm traits, including chemoattraction and alterations in sperm velocity, FRF has been shown to exert positive phenotypic effects on the sperm of males that are preferred as mating partners, or those from the most compatible or genetically diverse males. Despite these tantalizing insights into the putative sexually selected functions of FRF, we largely lack a mechanistic understanding of these processes. Taken together, the evidence presented here highlights the likely ubiquity of FRF-regulated biases in fertilization success across a diverse range of taxa, thus potentially elevating the importance of FRF to other non-gametic components that have so far been studied largely in males. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Fifty years of sperm competition'.

A New Class of History–Dependent Evolutionary Variational–Hemivariational Inequalities with Unilateral Constraints

In this paper we study a new abstract evolutionary variational–hemivariational inequality which involves unilateral constraints and history–dependent operators. First, we prove the existence and uniqueness of solution by using a mixed equilibrium formulation with suitable selected functions together with a fixed-point principle for history–dependent operators. Then, we apply the abstract result to show the unique weak solvability to a dynamic viscoelastic frictional contact problem. The contact law involves a unilateral Signorini-type condition for the normal velocity combined with the nonmonotone normal damped response condition while the friction condition is a version of the Coulomb law of dry friction in which the friction bound depends on the accumulated slip.

Modeling tree diameters using mixtures of skewed Student’s t and related distributions

The size structure of tree populations making up a forest stand provides a scientific basis for evaluating the forest resources and scheduling future silviculture treatments. We evaluated the efficiency of the skewed Student’s t (ST) model to predict the distributions of various complex diameter at breast height (DBH) data. The ST model was compared with finite mixtures of selected functions (gamma, log-normal, and Weibull). Additionally, two scenarios were employed to determine the number of components: (1) the use of the Bayesian information criterion and (2) visual analysis of the histogram of the DBH relative frequencies. The ST model demonstrated the highest degree of flexibility for fitting the DBH distributions. It outperformed other competitors in modeling the DBH variables in terms of all implemented scenarios. It possesses a high degree of flexibility. This model should be used to fit the DBH distributions of multigeneration forest patches with diverse size structures.

Top-down engineering of complex communities by directed evolution

Directed evolution has been used for decades to engineer biological systems from the top-down. Generally, it has been applied at or below the organismal level, by iteratively sampling the mutational landscape in a guided search for genetic variants of higher function. Above the organismal level, a small number of studies have attempted to artificially select microbial communities and ecosystems, with uneven and generally modest success. Our theoretical understanding of artificial ecosystem selection is still limited, particularly for large assemblages of asexual organisms, and we know little about designing efficient methods to direct their evolution. To address this issue, we have developed a flexible modeling framework that allows us to systematically probe any arbitrary selection strategy on any arbitrary set of communities and selected functions, in a wide range of ecological conditions. By artificially selecting hundreds of in-silico microbial metacommunities under identical conditions, we examine the fundamental limits of the two main breeding methods used so far, and prescribe modifications that significantly increase their power. We identify a range of directed evolution strategies that, particularly when applied in combination, are better suited for the top-down engineering of large, diverse, and stable microbial consortia. Our results emphasize that directed evolution allows an ecological structure-function landscape to be navigated in search for dynamically stable and ecologically and functionally resilient high-functioning communities.

Evidential Modification of a Statement in a News Discourse: A Functional Aspect

The results of a study of the modalization of statements in terms of reportative evidentiality in the news discourse based on the material of Russian, English and German-language articles are presented in the article. Particular attention is paid to the functions of quoted or reported speech and indicators of reportative evidentiality, which are considered as two components that make up the structural-semantic whole of statements with quotation inclusions. The novelty of the study is in an attempt to conduct a comprehensive study of the functional aspect of reportative-evidential modification of the utterance. The relevance of the study is due to the importance of the information and news genres of media discourse in modern society, as well as the insufficient development of the functional aspect of reportative-evidential modalization of the utterance in the news discourse for all the high frequency of quotation inclusions in the texts of this genre. A classification is proposed that includes eight functions: three functions of the evidential framework (meta-informing, increasing the recipient's trust in the reliability of the message and delegation of responsibility) and five functions of quoted and reported speech (informative, synthesizing, expressive-evaluative, nominative, argumentative). The conclusion about the interconnectedness of the selected functions among themselves, as well as about the possibility of implementing several functions within the framework of one utterance and in each case introducing into the utterance both reported speech and reportative evidentials is drawn.

Analisis belanja daerah menurut urusan dan hubungannya terhadap jumlah pengangguran di Provinsi Jambi

This study aims to determine and analyze: 1). The dynamics of regional expenditure development according to functions, namely mandatory and optional functions as well as the number of unemployed people in Jambi Province during the period 2008 - 2018, 2). Allocation of regional expenditure to regional expenditure according to mandatory and optional functions in Jambi Province during the period 2008 - 2018 and 3). The relationship between regional expenditure according to mandatory functions and optional functions to the number of unemployed people in Jambi Province during the period 2008-2018. The data analysis method used in this study was the Pearson development, ratio, and correlation formulas. Based on the results of research during the years 2010-2018, the results are regional expenditure according to mandatory functions, regional expenditure according to selected functions, and the number of unemployed in Jambi Province has increased on average. The allocation of regional expenditures according to mandatory functions and regional expenditures according to selected functions in Jambi Province has increased on average. Expenditures according to mandatory functions and expenditures according to selected functions have a very strong and negative relationship to the number of unemployed in Jambi Province during 2010-2018 at α = 1% two-tailed (2-tailed) test. Keywords: Obligatory affairs, regional spending according to selected functions, the number of unemployed

Linguodidactic functions of the peer review method in teaching students written speech utterance

The peer review method is one of the problem learning methods. Its essence lies in the mutual study of each other’s written works by students in order to comment and evaluate them for further revision. Like any teaching method, the peer review method has linguodidactic properties – characteristics that underlie it, essential for the methods of teaching foreign languages and distin-guishing this method from others. Also, the method of peer review has specific linguodidactic functions – an external manifestation of the linguodidactic properties of the teaching method, which show what educational and cognitive tasks are solved by using this method in practice in foreign language teaching. Based on the analysis of the literature, the following linguodidactic functions of this method are identified: a) the development of student mentoring in teaching; b) sharing of responsibility by students for mastering the educational material; c) the use of blended learning in the implementation of the peer review method; d) changing the role of a teacher from a “bearer of knowledge” to a moderator of educational and cognitive activities of students; e) changing the ratio between classroom and extracurricular educational and cognitive activities of students; f) reduction of the terms of checking students’ training written works. The work describes in detail each of the selected functions.

THE MONITORING SYSTEM OF THE WATER ENVIRONMENT HYDROPHYSICAL FIELDS

The article considers the functions performed by the system for monitoring the fine structure of the water environment hydrophysical fields, starting from initialization the system parameters to visualization the received information. As a result of a detailed analysis the selected functions, which consists in determining the input information flows, their representation and transformation, a functional diagram of the measuring system for monitoring the fine structure of the water environment hydrophysical fields was developed, which allows reducing the cost of conducting sounding and ensuring the necessary measurement accuracy, thanks to the chosen sensing strategy and the use of a database of simulated parameters of turbulated layers .