Instagram Influencers: The Effects of Sponsorship on Follower Engagement With Fitness Instagram Celebrities

Instagram influencer marketing is one of the fastest growing trends in advertising. Part of what makes influencers so powerful is their ability to foster parasocial relationships with their followers. But does this relationship change when an influencer becomes affiliated with brands? This study assessed how brand promotions affect follower engagement with influencer posts through the lens of source credibility theory. A quantitative content analysis was performed on 100 fitness influencer posts and their comments (N = 7,716) to determine if followers interact differently with sponsored and organic posts. Significant differences in follower engagement and sentiments were found between sponsored and organic content. The researcher also conducted interviews with ten Instagram fitness influencers and found that influencers notice these effects and take steps to mediate them. These findings can benefit influencers and brand managers by providing them with some best practices for keeping engagement up during influencer campaigns. It also provides us with a greater understanding of the power of online communities and their influence on consumer opinion

Decreasing Blood Culture Contamination Rates in the Emergency Department

Introduction: Blood cultures (BCs) are a vital diagnostic tool for sepsis in patients with a suspected infection. Emergency departments are the primary place where BCs are drawn, but the BC contamination rates in emergency departments are the highest and most varied in healthcare. This project’s goal was to decrease the BC contamination rate below 3% (the national benchmark for BC contamination) in an ED in the Southeastern region through the implementation of a blood culture collection toolkit. Methods: The best practices for reducing the BC contamination rate in the emergency department was determined through a thorough literature review. A cost-effective, evidence-based plan was formed to utilize emergency department resources more effectively to decrease the BC contamination rate. The BC toolkit consisted of nursing education on proper BC collection, monthly aggregate level feedback in the ED, and packaged BC collection kit. Results: The monthly contamination rates were 3.6%, 1,7%, and 2.1% respectively during the 3-month implementation of the project. This emergency department had not had two consecutive months with contamination rates less than 3% in 3 years prior to this project. When compared to the corresponding 3 months from the previous year, there was a statistically significant decrease in the BC contamination rates during implementation. There was a clinically significant decrease in the BC contamination rates when compared to the 3 months immediately before implementation. Discussion: As evidenced by the results of this project, emergency departments can decrease BC contamination rates to meet the national benchmark of 3% through a well-structured strategy. Further, this can be accomplished at no additional cost to the emergency department. The cost-effective nature of this project combined with a strong sense of teamwork will lead to sustainable change in emergency departments to consistently improve the quality of care given to patients

The Posterior Spiracles of Hypoderma Lineatum de Villers (Diptera: Hypodermatidae) Larvae : Their Morphology and Development

There is little published material aviliable concerning cattle grub spiracles other than descriptions of the external surface of the stigmal plate. The representative species of Oestroid larvae studied by the early European morphologist was the northern cattle grub, Hypoderma bovis (L.) and their published conclusions of its spiracular exploration were meager. Major components of the spiracle such as a common atrium, stigmal plate and the hollow plates connecting these two structures were described to the extent necessary to establish differences between larval groups

ULAS J234311.93-005034.0: A gravitational lens system selected from UKIDSS and SDSS

We report the discovery of a new gravitational lens system. This object, ULAS J234311.93-005034.0, is the first to be selected by using the new UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS), together with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The ULAS J234311.93-005034.0 system contains a quasar at redshift 0.788 which is doubly imaged, with separation 1.4". The two quasar images have the same redshift and similar, though not identical, spectra. The lensing galaxy is detected by subtracting point-spread functions from R-band images taken with the Keck telescope. The lensing galaxy can also be detected by subtracting the spectra of the A and B images, since more of the galaxy light is likely to be present in the latter. No redshift is determined from the galaxy, although the shape of its spectrum suggests a redshift of about 0.3. The object's lens status is secure, due to the identification of two objects with the same redshift together with a lensing galaxy. Our imaging suggests that the lens is found in a cluster environment, in which candidate arc-like structures, that require confirmation, are visible in the vicinity. Further discoveries of lenses from the UKIDSS survey are likely as part of this programme, due to the depth of UKIDSS and its generally good seeing conditions.Comment: Accepted by MNRA

Ethics of computer use: A survey of student attitudes: Working paper series--06-02

The potential for misuse of computer systems and resources has been an important issue for many years. The rapid growth in use of remote access systems, the use of the internet and distributed systems for financial and other sensitive transactions, and the expansion in the availability of products in digital form is causing ethical issues surrounding misuse of computer resources to become an increasingly serious problem. This paper surveys ethical attitudes of a set of undergraduate business majors. The survey presents sets of scenarios in which students are asked to indicate whether a particular action is ethical or unethical using a 7 level Likert scale. Alternative base scenarios have been designed to present ethical issues relating to various types of unauthorized access to computer resources. Other sets of base scenarios focus on the use of computers to illegally copy products (software and music recordings). In addition, for each base scenario, alternative sub-scenarios are presented in which the motives of the individual vary between intellectual curiosity, securing resources for personal use, profit, and malice toward the affected entity. The scenarios are designed to provide an evaluation of how the level of malicious intent in the action affects the students' perception of the degree to which the action represents a breach of ethics. Results of this survey suggest that the intent of the individual engaging in unauthorized access or illegal copying does substantially affect student perceptions of the degree to which the behavior is a violation of ethics. In general, actions undertaken for profit or malicious intent are judged to be less ethical than the same actions undertaken for intellectual curiosity or to secure resources for personal use. In addition, a very strong majority of the students surveyed believe that any active participation in downloading is unethical

Variation in growth rates of branching corals along Australia's Great Barrier Reef

Coral growth is an important component of reef health and resilience. However, few studies have investigated temporal and/or spatial variation in growth of branching corals, which are important contributors to the structure and function of reef habitats. This study assessed growth (linear extension, density, and calcification) of three branching coral species (Acropora muricata, Pocillopora damicornis and Isopora palifera) at three distinct locations (Lizard Island, Davies/Trunk Reef, and Heron Island) along Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Annual growth rates of all species were highest at Lizard Island and declined with increasing latitude, corresponding with differences in temperature. Within locations, however, seasonal variation in growth did not directly correlate with temperature. Between October 2012 and October 2014, the highest growth of A. muricata was in the 2013–14 summer at Lizard Island, which was unusually cool and ~0.5 °C less than the long-term summer average temperature. At locations where temperatures reached or exceeded the long-term summer maxima, coral growth during summer periods was equal to, if not lower than, winter periods. This study shows that temperature has a significant influence on spatiotemporal patterns of branching coral growth, and high summer temperatures in the northern GBR may already be constraining coral growth and reef resilience

Prospectus, January 18, 2012

NEW SHOWS, EVENTS TO MAKE DEBUTS AT PARKLAND, Parkland Expands Science Course Offerings, National Defense Authorization Act Sparks Debate Among Studetns, Wikipedia, Google to Protest SOPA, 11th Annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration, Q&A With the Student Government President, Meet the Coffee Professor, Ask Buster: Questions From the Readers, Now\u27s the Time to Save for College, A United States of Europe?, What\u27s Your New Year Resolution?, Cobra Men Beginning to Hit Their Stride, Women\u27s Basketball Continue Strong Seasonhttps://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_2012/1000/thumbnail.jp