Strength of Weak Ties Theory and College-University Marketing: A Case Study of ETSU\u27s Clemmer College

As scholarly institutions enter a new era of hyper-competition, seeking innovative ways to engage with student populations has become central to social media marketing efforts. Developing strategies and tactics to interact with existing student populations presents new challenges for marketing departments, as well as the stakeholders who are often asked to provide user-generated content. Strong ties among stakeholder relationships can enhance communication with effective outcomes; however, it is the weak ties that may have the most impact. This study draws on existing literature regarding Strength of Weak Ties Theory and faculty and student surveys in East Tennessee State University’s Clemmer College were conducted, to explore how ethos, pathos, logos, and Kairos can be leveraged in earned, owned, and shared media. This data is then used to inform future marketing campaigns that use professor-student engagement

Effects of life stage, site, and species on the dragonfly gut microbiome

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Insects that undergo metamorphosis from juveniles to adults provide an intriguing opportunity to examine the effects of life stage, species, and the environment on their gut microbiome. In this study, we surveyed the gut microbiomes of 13 species of dragonfly collected from five different locations subject to different levels of human impact. Juveniles were collected as nymphs from aquatic habitats while airborne adults were caught at the same locations. The gut microbiome was characterized by next generation sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene. Life stage was an important factor, with the gut microbiomes of dragonfly nymphs differing from those of adult dragonflies. Gut microbiomes of nymphs were influenced by sample site and, to a lesser extent, host species. Neither sample location nor host species had a strong effect on the gut microbiome of dragonfly adults. Regardless of life stage, gut microbiomes were dominated by members of the Proteobacteria, with members of the Bacteroidetes (especially in adults), Firmicutes, and Acidobacteria (especially in nymphs) also being proportionally abundant. These results demonstrate that different life stages of metamorphosing insects can harbor very different gut microbiomes and differ in how this microbiome is influenced by the surrounding environment

Building a Systems Map:Applying Systems Thinking to Unhealthy Commodity Industry Influence on Public Health Policy

Background Unhealthy commodity industries (UCIs) engage in political practices to influence public health policy, which poses barriers to protecting and promoting public health. Such influence exhibits characteristics of a complex system. Systems thinking would therefore appear to be a useful lens through which to study this phenomenon, potentially deepening our understanding of how UCI influence are interconnected with one another through their underlying political, economic and social structures. As such this study developed a qualitative systems map to depict the complex pathways through which UCIs influence public health policy and how they are interconnected with underlying structures. Methods Online participatory systems mapping workshops were conducted between November 2021 and February 2022. As a starting point for the workshops, a preliminary systems map was developed based on recent research. Twenty-three online workshops were conducted with 52 geographically diverse stakeholders representing academia, civil society (CS), public office, and global governance organisations (CGO). Analysis of workshop data in NVivo and feedback from participants resulted in a final systems map. Results The preliminary systems map consisted of 40 elements across six interdependent themes. The final systems map consisted of 64 elements across five interdependent themes, representing key pathways through which UCIs impact health policy-making: (1) direct access to public sector decision-makers; (2) creation of confusion and doubt about policy decisions; (3) corporate prioritisation of commercial profits and growth; (4) industry leveraging the legal and dispute settlement processes; and (5) industry leveraging policy-making, norms, rules, and processes. Conclusion UCI influence on public health policy is highly complex, involves interlinked practices, and is not reducible to a single point within the system. Instead, pathways to UCI influence emerge from the complex interactions between disparate national and global political, economic and social structures. These pathways provide numerous avenues for UCIs to influence public health policy, which poses challenges to formulating a singular intervention or limited set of interventions capable of effectively countering such influence. Using participatory methods, we made transparent the interconnections that could help identify interventions in future work

Building a Systems Map: Applying Systems Thinking to Unhealthy Commodity Industry Influence on Public Health Policy

Background Unhealthy commodity industries (UCIs) engage in political practices to influence public health policy, which poses barriers to protecting and promoting public health. Such influence exhibits characteristics of a complex system. Systems thinking would therefore appear to be a useful lens through which to study this phenomenon, potentially deepening our understanding of how UCI influence are interconnected with one another through their underlying political, economic and social structures. As such this study developed a qualitative systems map to depict the complex pathways through which UCIs influence public health policy and how they are interconnected with underlying structures. Methods Online participatory systems mapping workshops were conducted between November 2021 and February 2022. As a starting point for the workshops, a preliminary systems map was developed based on recent research. Twenty-three online workshops were conducted with 52 geographically diverse stakeholders representing academia, civil society, public office and global governance organisations. Analysis of workshop data in NVivo and feedback from participants resulted in a final systems map. Results The preliminary systems map consisted of 40 elements across six interdependent themes. The final systems map consisted of 64 elements across five interdependent themes, representing key pathways through which UCIs impact health policymaking: 1) direct access to public sector decision-makers; 2) creation of confusion and doubt about policy decisions; 3) corporate prioritisation of commercial profits and growth; 4) industry leveraging the legal and dispute settlement processes; and 5) industry leveraging policymaking, norms, rules, and processes. Conclusion UCI influence on public health policy is highly complex, involves interlinked practices, and is not reducible to a single point within the system. Instead, pathways to UCI influence emerge from the complex interactions between disparate national and global political, economic and social structures. These pathways provide numerous avenues for UCIs to influence public health policy, which poses challenges to formulating a singular intervention or limited set of interventions capable of effectively countering such influence. Using participatory methods, we made transparent the interconnections that could help identify interventions future work

Building a Systems Map: Applying Systems Thinking to Unhealthy Commodity Industry Influence on Public Health Policy

Background Unhealthy commodity industries (UCIs) engage in political practices to influence public health policy, which poses barriers to protecting and promoting public health. Such influence exhibits characteristics of a complex system. Systems thinking would therefore appear to be a useful lens through which to study this phenomenon, potentially deepening our understanding of how UCI influence are interconnected with one another through their underlying political, economic and social structures. As such this study developed a qualitative systems map to depict the complex pathways through which UCIs influence public health policy and how they are interconnected with underlying structures. Methods Online participatory systems mapping workshops were conducted between November 2021 and February 2022. As a starting point for the workshops, a preliminary systems map was developed based on recent research. Twenty-three online workshops were conducted with 52 geographically diverse stakeholders representing academia, civil society, public office and global governance organisations. Analysis of workshop data in NVivo and feedback from participants resulted in a final systems map. Results The preliminary systems map consisted of 40 elements across six interdependent themes. The final systems map consisted of 64 elements across five interdependent themes, representing key pathways through which UCIs impact health policymaking: 1) direct access to public sector decision-makers; 2) creation of confusion and doubt about policy decisions; 3) corporate prioritisation of commercial profits and growth; 4) industry leveraging the legal and dispute settlement processes; and 5) industry leveraging policymaking, norms, rules, and processes. Conclusion UCI influence on public health policy is highly complex, involves interlinked practices, and is not reducible to a single point within the system. Instead, pathways to UCI influence emerge from the complex interactions between disparate national and global political, economic and social structures. These pathways provide numerous avenues for UCIs to influence public health policy, which poses challenges to formulating a singular intervention or limited set of interventions capable of effectively countering such influence. Using participatory methods, we made transparent the interconnections that could help identify interventions future work

Interventions to prevent obesity in children aged 5 to 11 years old

Objectives: This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (intervention). The objectives are as follows:. The overall aim of the review is to determine the effectiveness of interventions to prevent obesity in 5 to 11-year-old children. The four objectives are:. to evaluate the effects of interventions that aim to modify dietary intake on changes in zBMI score, BMI and serious adverse events among children; to evaluate the effects of interventions that aim to modify physical activity, sedentary behaviour, sleep, play and/or structured exercise on changes in zBMI score, BMI and serious adverse events among children; to evaluate the combined effects of interventions that aim to modify both dietary intake and physical activity/movement behaviours on changes in zBMI score, BMI and serious adverse events among children; to compare the effects of interventions that aim to modify dietary interventions with those that aim to modify physical activity/movement behaviours on changes in zBMI score, BMI and serious adverse events among children. The secondary objectives are designed to explore if, how, and why the effectiveness of interventions on zBMI/BMI varies depending on the following PROGRESS factors. Place of residence Race/ethnicity/culture/language Occupation Gender/sex Religion Education Socioeconomic status Social capital. The PROGRESS acronym is intended to ensure that there is explicit consideration of health inequity, the unfair difference in disease burden, when conducting research and adapting research evidence to inform the design of new interventions (O'Neill 2014). The PROGRESS acronym describes factors that contribute to health inequity. Recent work on race and religion in the UK suggests that consideration of these factors is critical to the design of new interventions (Rai 2019). We will also collect, from RCTs, information about the costs of interventions so that policymakers can use the review as a source of information from which they may prepare cost-effectiveness analyses

Interventions to prevent obesity in children aged 12 to 18 years old

Objectives: This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (intervention). The objectives are as follows:. The overall aim of the review is to determine the effectiveness of interventions to prevent obesity in 12 to 18-year-old children and adolescents. The four objectives are:. to evaluate the effects of interventions that aim to modify dietary intake on changes in zBMI score, BMI and serious adverse events among children and adolescents; to evaluate the effects of interventions that aim to modify physical activity, sedentary behaviour, sleep, play and/or structured exercise on changes in zBMI score, BMI and serious adverse events among children and adolescents; to evaluate the combined effects of interventions that aim to modify both dietary intake and physical activity/movement behaviours on changes in zBMI score, BMI and serious adverse events among children and adolescents; to compare the effects of interventions that aim to modify dietary interventions with those that aim to modify physical activity/movement behaviours on changes in zBMI score, BMI and serious adverse events among children. The secondary objectives are designed to explore if, how, and why the effectiveness of interventions on zBMI/BMI varies depending on the following PROGRESS factors. Place of residence Race/ethnicity/culture/language Occupation Gender/sex Religion Education Socioeconomic status Social capital. The PROGRESS acronym is intended to ensure that there is explicit consideration of health inequity, the unfair difference in disease burden, when conducting research and adapting research evidence to inform the design of new interventions (O'Neill 2014). The PROGRESS acronym describes factors that contribute to health inequity. Recent work on race and religion in the UK suggested that consideration of these factors is critical to the design of new interventions (Rai 2019). We will also collect, from RCTs, information about the costs of interventions so that policymakers can use the review as a source of information from which they may prepare cost-effectiveness analyses

Complex Interventions for a Complex System? Using Systems Thinking to Explore Ways to Address Unhealthy Commodity Industry Influence on Public Health Policy

Background Interventions are needed to prevent and mitigate unhealthy commodity industry (UCI) influence on public health policy. Whilst literature on interventions is emerging, current conceptualisations remain incomplete as they lack considerations of the wider systemic complexities surrounding UCI influence, which may limit intervention effectiveness. This study applies systems thinking as a theoretical lens to help identify and explore how possible interventions relate to one another in the systems in which they are embedded. Related challenges to addressing UCI influence on policy, and actions to support interventions, were also explored. Methods Online participatory workshops were conducted with stakeholders with expertise in UCIs. A systems map, depicting five pathways to UCI influence, and the Action Scales Model were used to help participants identify interventions and guide discussions. Codebook thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Results Fifty-two stakeholders participated in 23 workshops. Participants identified 27 diverse, interconnected and interdependent interventions corresponding to the systems map’s pathways that reduce the ability of UCIs to influence policy, e.g., reform policy financing; regulate public-private partnerships; reform science governance and funding; frame and reframe the narrative, challenge neoliberalism and GDP growth; leverage human rights; change practices on multistakeholder governance; and reform policy consultation and deliberation processes. Participants also identified four potential key challenges to interventions (i.e., difficult to implement or achieve; partially formulated; exploited or misused; requires tailoring for context), and four key actions to help support intervention delivery (i.e., coordinate and cooperate with stakeholders; invest in civil society; create a social movement; nurture leadership). Conclusion A systems thinking lens revealed the theoretical interdependence between disparate and heterogenous interventions. This suggests that to be effective, interventions need to align, work collectively, and be applied to different parts of the system synchronously. Importantly, these interventions need to be supported by intermediary actions to be achieved. Urgent action is now required to strengthen healthy alliances and implement interventions

Effects of Life Stage, Site, and Species on the Dragonfly Gut Microbiome

Insects that undergo metamorphosis from juveniles to adults provide an intriguing opportunity to examine the effects of life stage, species, and the environment on their gut microbiome. In this study, we surveyed the gut microbiomes of 13 species of dragonfly collected from five different locations subject to different levels of human impact. Juveniles were collected as nymphs from aquatic habitats while airborne adults were caught at the same locations. The gut microbiome was characterized by next generation sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene. Life stage was an important factor, with the gut microbiomes of dragonfly nymphs differing from those of adult dragonflies. Gut microbiomes of nymphs were influenced by sample site and, to a lesser extent, host species. Neither sample location nor host species had a strong effect on the gut microbiome of dragonfly adults. Regardless of life stage, gut microbiomes were dominated by members of the Proteobacteria, with members of the Bacteroidetes (especially in adults), Firmicutes, and Acidobacteria (especially in nymphs) also being proportionally abundant. These results demonstrate that different life stages of metamorphosing insects can harbor very different gut microbiomes and differ in how this microbiome is influenced by the surrounding environment