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To elaborate the nature of fact-checking in the domain of political information by examining how fact-checkers assess the validity of claims concerning the Russo-Ukrainian conflict and how they support their assessments by drawing on evidence acquired from diverse sources of information.

Descriptive quantitative and qualitative content analysis of 128 reports written by the fact-checkers of Snopes – an established fact-checking organisation – during the period of 24 February 2022 – 28 June, 2023. For the analysis, nine evaluation grounds were identified, most of them inductively from the empirical material. It was examined how the fact-checkers employed such grounds while assessing the validity of claims and how the assessments were bolstered by evidence acquired from information sources such as newspapers.

Of the 128 reports, the share of assessments indicative of the invalidity of the claims was 54.7%, while the share of positive ratings was 26.7%. The share of mixed assessments was 15.6%. In the fact-checking, two evaluation grounds, that is, the correctness of information and verifiability of an event presented in a claim formed the basis for the assessment. Depending on the topic of the claim, grounds such as temporal and spatial compatibility, as well as comparison by similarity and difference occupied a central role. Most popular sources of information offering evidence for the assessments include statements of government representatives, videos and photographs shared in social media, newspapers and television programmes.

As the study concentrated on fact-checking dealing with political information about a specific issue, the findings cannot be extended to concern the fact-checking practices in other contexts.

The study is among the first to characterise how fact-checkers employ evaluation grounds of diverse kind while assessing the validity of political information.

This research examines the evolution of automated fact-checking at Africa Check, a prominent fact-checking organisation based in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal, through the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) tools into its fact-checking process. The progress focuses on three phases, which include claim detection to identify check-worthy claims, claim matching to retrieve already verified information and robot-checking to validate claims. The methodology used in this study involved analysing the experiences of reporters and editors from Africa Check. In-depth interviews were conducted to reveal the advances in time and effort required to verify information, providing key insights into the relationship between technology and journalism. The findings also shed light on how AI can be used to combat misinformation and promote media literacy in Africa, demonstrating how the adoption of AI has helped Africa Check to expand its reach and increase its impact. As a result, these improvements have profound implications for political accountability, trust in the media, and the fight against misinformation. This research offers valuable contributions to the ongoing debates about the adoption of technology in journalism and the importance of leveraging technology to strengthen the relationship between journalists and their audiences.

Given the rapid growth in efforts on misinformation correction, the study aims to test how evidence type and veracity interact with news agreement on the effectiveness of fact-checking on how well a corrective message discount a false news information.

Experimental participants (N = 511) in Hong Kong were exposed to the same news article and then to a piece of corrective information debunking the news article with variation in the types of evidence (numerical vs narrative) and veracity (no verdict vs half false vs entirely false) in 2019.

Among the participants who disagreed with the news article, numerical fact-checking was more effective than narrative fact-checking in discounting the news article. Some evidence of the backfire effect was found among participants for whom the article was attitude incongruent.

When debunking false information with people exposed to attitude-incongruent news, a milder verdict presented in the form of a half-false scale can prompt a more positive perception of the issue at stake than an entirely false scale, implying that a less certain verdict can help in mitigating the backfire effect compared to a certain verdict.

This study aims to intend and implement the optimal power flow, where tuning the production cost is done with the inclusion of stochastic wind power and different kinds of flexible AC transmission systems (FACTS) devices. Here, the speed with fitness-based krill herd algorithm (SF-KHA) is adopted for deciding the FACTS devices’ optimal sizing and placement integrated with wind power. Here, the modified SF-KHA optimizes the sizing and location of FACTS devices for attaining the minimum average production cost and real power depletions of the system. Especially, the objective includes reserve cost for overestimation, cost of thermal generation of the wind power, direct cost of scheduled wind power and penalty cost for underestimation. The efficiency of the offered method over several popular optimization algorithms has been done, and the comparison over different algorithms establishes proposed KHA algorithm attains the accurate optimal efficiency for all other algorithms.

The proposed FACTS devices-based power system with the integration of wind generators is based on the accurate placement and sizing of FACTS devices for decreasing the actual power loss and total production cost of the power system.

Through the cost function evaluation of the offered SF-KHA, it was noted that the proposed SF-KHA-based power system had secured 13.04% superior to success history-based adaptive differential evolution, 9.09% enhanced than differential evolution, 11.5% better than artificial bee colony algorithm, 15.2% superior to particle swarm optimization and 9.09% improved than flower pollination algorithm.

The proposed power system with the accurate placement and sizing of FACTS devices and wind generator using the suggested SF-KHA was effective when compared with the conventional algorithm-based power systems.

Nutrition labels provide a cost-effective method of conveying nutrition information to consumers. This study aimed to assess the use of nutrition facts panels, knowledge of traffic light labelling (TLL) and perceived healthiness of food items using TLL among consumers.

A web-based cross-sectional study was conducted among adults in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (n = 1,322). TLL knowledge score was derived for each participant. Conjoint analysis was used to calculate the utilities and relative importance of the perceived healthiness scores for four attributes (fat, saturated fat, total sugar, salt) at the aggregate level.

Participants had a positive attitude towards TLL but were less familiar with TLL than the nutrition facts panel (47.4 vs 85.8%). The mean TLL knowledge score was 3.6 out of 7 (51.6%). Younger age, higher education, higher income, and health-related qualifications were associated with higher scores. Conjoint analysis showed that participants tend to choose products with greener labels, especially for sugars (80.1%) and avoid red labels for fats. Sugars had the highest percentage value of relative importance compared to the other attributes (27.1%).

The study outcomes offer valuable insights into the extent of consumer awareness, comprehension and utilization of nutrition facts panels in the UAE. These findings contribute essential knowledge for a deeper understanding of the impact of nutrition labels on consumer behaviour and decision-making in the region.

This chapter examines strategies deployed at individual and institutional levels to combat fake news in two media houses in Uganda. Grounded in the hierarchy of influences model, we examine journalists' and editors' perspectives on how Vision Group and Nation Media Group newsrooms respond to fake news. Journalists' and editors' responses, obtained through semi-structured interviews as well as document review enabled us to underscore the centrality of professional standards, training and technology in combating fake news. We found that technology plays a key role in fact-checking, although newsrooms are yet to adopt advanced digital tools such as artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithms. The newsrooms under investigation deploy conventional hardware and software to detect, flag and debunk fake news. We posit that for the strategies adopted at the organisational level to succeed, they ought to appeal to individual reporters' goals and interests. Further, discourses on adoption of newer technology ought to reflect the contexts in which the news organisations operate in addition to their financial standing.

This paper explores the role that the control system – understood as a set of financial and non-financial mechanisms – introduced by the Ministerial Decree of 15th February 1860 played in promoting the ethical tolerance of prostitution in the Kingdom of Italy.

A qualitative research method was adopted. Specifically, this study draws on literature on accounting and deviant behaviors and on Suchman's theories of legitimation (1995) to interpret empirical evidence collected from archival primary sources as well as secondary sources.

The paper highlights how the accounting mechanisms introduced by the law were molded to limit the serious consequences of prostitution from a public health standpoint and to demonstrate that the State neither profited from prostitution nor used public money to fund it. This should have stimulated ethical tolerance of the law itself and, consequently, of the prostitution that was regulated.

This paper opens a new research avenue in the field of accounting history by exploring the connection between accounting and prostitution. Moreover, unlike the extant literature on accounting and deviant behaviors, this study delves into the role played by accounting mechanisms to promote ethical tolerance rather than to activate normalization processes.

This study aims to investigate Australian civil tribunal decisions to ascertain compliance with decisional quality standards in Australian law, with a particular focus on strata and community title cases.

An orthodox doctrinal legal analysis and assessment of cases and tribunal policies was adopted. All Australian jurisdictions were surveyed, including federal, state and territory jurisdictions. The case law in each jurisdiction was screened to identify whether the principles applicable to decisional quality were engaged and then analysed as to the extent of that engagement.

Where a party presents a substantial, clearly particularised argument relying upon established facts, tribunals are obliged to address those facts and the arguments by way of an active intellectual process. However, appellate decisions disclose a degree of deference not often accorded to judicial officers, and there is a need for a more disciplined approach to ascertain whether any errors have been made by a tribunal lie on the critical path to the decision. As strata and community title disputes become more complex, the importance of decisional quality standards can only increase.

Up to date as of 1 March 2023.

The present position would appear to be that where a party presents a substantial, clearly particularised argument relying upon established facts, a tribunal must address its mind to those facts and the arguments by way of an active intellectual process. The requirement is limited to circumstances prescribed by a statute and factual and legal issues which are necessary to be determined in order for the tribunal to be satisfied as to circumstances prescribed by a statute. However, where the errors are not gross and plainly obvious, appeals from defective tribunal decisions are unlikely to succeed. There is a degree of deference not often accorded to judicial officers. That deference is unfortunate when tribunals are allocated jurisdiction over what quite often are significant property disputes.

The impact on community living of uncorrected poor quality tribunal decisions can be immense, depending on the degree of error. For example, water ingress into people’s homes might remain unremedied for many years, as, for example, occurred in the Marinko case.

The research and analysis is entirely original. A search of journals and textbooks did not identify any prior analysis, at least in the Australian context, relating to decisional quality standards of tribunals.

This study aims to investigate the quality of disclosure of a cutting-edge reporting tool – integrated reporting (<IR>) – in terms of its effectiveness to report on COVID-19 pandemic information, its ability to provide forward-looking information and risk impact implications, and its quality determinants in challenging times.

Thanks to a content analysis of 247 <IR> for FY20, an integrated reporting disclosure score was developed to assess the disclosure quality provided by the sampled companies. Three research questions were tested through logistic regressions.

Non-financial disclosure activities struggle to provide adequate information in terms of potential future scenarios, risk assessment and forward-looking analyses. However, companies incorporated in “Anglo-Saxon” territories drafted integrated reports of higher quality. More recently, incorporated companies have made a greater effort to measure and report COVID-19 pandemic impacts on environmental, social and governance and business activities, also increasing their risk assessment and mitigation efforts. Concerning the determinants of disclosure quality, leverage, corporate governance structures, country of incorporation and belonging to “high impact” industries all lead to a higher quality of <IR> disclosure.

Examining in detail corporate social responsibility activities and corporate governance integrity is pivotal to orienting strategy towards sustainable trajectories: to do so, corporate reporting and disclosure practices are essential tools. In this context, corporate governance systems that emphasize board diversity are proven, even in disruptive circumstances, to play a crucial role in providing corporate reports of higher quality. High disclosure quality that goes beyond mere financial results is considered to be necessary to remain competitive strategically, socially and environmentally.