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Who is looking for expertise?
Deanne Taenzer

People relate to the human side of an organization and visitors want to see the team behind the scenes. It’s an important consideration for a range of audiences – from prospective customers and partners to journalists looking to identify an expert source. It pays major dividends to position your organization’s expertise and highlight your team’s knowledge of the topics and news events that audiences are most interested in.  The following chart shows the key audiences and how they value access to expertise from prospects to media and more.

Are there any underlying security motives for the Trump administration wanting to acquire Greenland?
Francis Galgano, PhD

"The Greenland [acquisition] talk has roots in a real issue about the Northwest Passage. The receding sea ice, and the shipping lane that's been created up there because of that, brings the passage into contact with Greenland. And the point is, what are you going to do if the Russians—who cause all kinds of problems within those different, varied sovereignty claims—set up a base in northern Greenland now? Or even the Chinese? It is a real national security issue, one I would say is moderately critical, and I think the national security people understand what he's talking about. It's about maintaining control over the Northwest Passage."

In an era where it is too easy for anyone to alter images or video, what are some of the dangers that can be associated with these deep fakes? How can this negatively impact the election, and just life in general with having this kind of misinformation out there?
Lance Hunter, PhD

There can be multiple concerns regarding disinformation and elections. One, if voters make decisions about whether to vote for a candidate based on disinformation/misinformation, this is a concern for elections because in a democracy the hope is that voters can make informed voting decisions based on accurate information.Second, if millions of people are exposed to disinformation/misinformation and only a small percentage of those are not aware that the disinformation/misinformation is false, this could have significant effects for elections. The reason is that in recent presidential elections, and likely in the upcoming election, the margin of victory in some swing states can be less than 1% of the total state vote in some cases. Thus, if only a small percentage of individuals who are exposed to disinformation/misinformation believe the information is true, and the disinformation/misinformation affects their voting decisions, that could have significant effects on the election outcome of a given swing state. Furthermore, we know that the election outcome of each swing state has important implications for the overall presidential election outcome.

What role (if any) does President Biden’s decision in July to end his presidential re-election campaign have on the economic conflict between the US and China?
George Alessandria

Changing candidates probably doesn’t change the Democratic Party’s approach on trade policy, but it would be worthwhile to hear about this issue from the candidates in the lead-up to the election. I don’t think the outlook on trade policy changes much with Kamala Harris as the presumptive Democratic nominee, although it would be good for the candidates to discuss these issues. Our economic model recovers estimates of switching between trade war and trade peace from the actions of the firms most affected by these tariffs. These firms probably thought there was a chance that Harris could be president when making their decisions. It would be good for Harris and Trump to debate this issue.

How long do you think the current trade war between the U.S. and China will last?
George Alessandria

Based on the way firms have been changing suppliers, our model predicts there is a less than 20 percent chance the trade war is over by 2025. Our model estimates that the US-China trade war has a 17 percent chance of ending in 2025, so it will most likely last at least four or five more years. Of course, there’s always a chance that something will break this logjam. It was a big surprise in 1971 when Nixon lifted a 21-year trade embargo on China. Nixon was attempting to get us out of the Vietnam War, and he was hoping the Chinese, who were supporting the Vietnamese, could put some backroom pressure on Vietnam. But it’s not clear what factors exist today that could pull us out of the current trade war.

In going after your Apple ID, cyber criminals will send you a text message, claiming to be from Apple. They will then ask you to click on a link to access an "important message," what happens next?  
Michael Nowatkowski, PhD

You will click on a link and it will go to what appears to be a legitimate page but it's really just something that's been recreated. From there, the fake website will then ask users to hand over their Apple ID information. That would give someone access to your contacts, your payment information

A warning has been issued to all iPhone users after tech experts discovered a new cyberattack targeting Apple IDs, what are they after?
Michael Nowatkowski, PhD

In this case it's an Apple ID. Your Apple ID is what really opens your phone and you can really think of it as like a master key.

Might it be worth transferring high-interest credit card debt to a 0% balance transfer APR card and then transferring the outstanding balance at the end of the promo period to another 0% balance transfer APR card?
Wendy  Habegger, PhD

I do not recommend this tactic. While someone might be able to do this a few times, it will eventually catch up with them and have a negative impact. All credit-related actions are captured and documented on one's credit report, and this juggling gives the appearance that the customer is at increased risk of default. This will trigger being charged an increased interest rate. So, future credit providers will see this pattern and eventually deny the customer's application for the balance transfer. Until a customer's application is denied, they should be expected to pay higher balance transfer fees because of their increased default risk.

Could making a large purchase on a 0% APR card affect one’s credit score?
Wendy  Habegger, PhD

A large purchase indirectly impacts one's credit score based on credit utilization. If one uses more than 30% credit utilization, it could impact credit scores.

How did no cameras and recordings in the courtroom affect potential voters in the former President Donald Trump case? 
Mary-Kate Lizotte, PhD

"Seeing them actually give their testimony rather than having someone who was in the courtroom describe how believable they seem to be — people like to make up their own minds. I think a lot of that stuff probably would have gone viral if there was video of it. And right now, the average American isn’t really paying attention to the trial because it’s not making good TikTok content. It’s not making good social media content because there aren’t those clips.”