With the accelerated ageing of the population in China, the health problems of elderly people have attracted much attention. Although religious belief has been shown to be a key way to improve the health of elderly people in various studies, little is known about the causal relationship between these variables in China. This paper explores the effect of religious belief on the health of elderly people in China, which will provide an important reference for China to achieve healthy ageing.Balanced panel data collected between 2012 and 2016 from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) were used. Health was assessed using self-rated health, and religious belief was measured by whether the respondents believed in a religion. The DID+PSM method was employed to solve the endogeneity problem caused by self-selection and omitted variables. In addition, the CESD score  and different matching methods (the method of PSM after DID method) were used to perform the robustness test.The results show that religious belief has no significant effect on the health of elderly people. With the application of different matching methods  and replacing the health indicator (the CESD score) with the above matching methods, the results are still robust.In China, religious belief plays a limited role in promoting “healthy ageing”, and it is difficult to improve the health of elderly people only via religious belief. Therefore, except for focusing on the guidance of religion with regard to healthy lifestyles, multiple measures need to be taken to improve the health of elderly people. The health of elderly people has become a worldwide issue in the context of ageing. At present, the ageing of China’s population has become more serious; specifically, the number of people aged 65 and above in China increased from 90 million in 2001 to 158 million in 2017.In recent years, religious fervour has increased in China, and the proportion of people with religious beliefs has risen rapidly. By 2018, the number of people with religious beliefs in China reached approximately 200 million, accounting for nearly 12.8% of the total population.A large number of studies have focused on the relationship between religious belief and health , 16. TheThe results of empirical studies on the relationship between religious belief and health are also mixed. Some studies have found that religious belief has a significant positive effect on health , 21, 30.Previous studies have examined the potential underlying mechanism between religious belief and health, and they have also provided important references for analysing the effect of religious belief on the health of elderly people in China. However, these studies also have certain shortcomings. First, most studies focus on Western countries, while studies on East Asian countries (such as China) are rare. Second, the data used in most of these papers are cross-sectional data, which makes it difficult to identify the causal relationship between religious belief and health . One chaChina is greatly influenced by traditional Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism, and the impact of religion on health in China may also be different from that in Western countries. Therefore, the conclusions about Western countries may not apply to China due to cultural differences. Moreover, most of the previous literature failed to recognize the causality between these variables because of endogeneity problems. Although Jiang et al.  tried toThe objective of this paper is to estimate the effect of religious belief on the health of elderly people in China by using panel data collected between 2012 and 2016 from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). To address endogeneity problems, the combination of difference-in-difference (DID) and propensity score matching (PSM) is used to eliminate the effect of time-invariant and unobservable factors and self-selectionReligious belief has a significant positive effect on the health of elderly people, as the dogmas of five major religions  in China may promote healthy lifestyles and provide comfort and a social support network for believers.This paper proceeds as follows. Section 2 describes the data and empirical model. Section 3 presents the empirical results. Section 4 includes the discussion, conclusions and policy suggestions.This paper uses data collected between 2012 and 2016 from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). The CFPS is a nationally representative longitudinal tracking survey conducted by the Institute of Social Science Survey (ISSS) of Peking University. The subsample frame of the CFPS was obtained via a three-stage (districts/counties - villages/communities - households) probability of random sampling, and the samples covered 621 villages/communities from 25 of China’s 30 provinces. The data were collected through computer-assisted personal interviews (CAPI). The baseline survey of the CFPS started in 2010, and the fourth follow-up was completed in 2016. The questionnaire assesses detailed information on the health, religious belief, socioeconomic characteristics and other factors of communities, households and individuals.Although the CFPS started in 2010, certain indicators used in 2010 changed in 2012 and in later surveys. Therefore, we take the data in 2012 as the baseline to keep the indicators consistent. As the data used in this paper are balanced panel data collected between 2012 and 2016; the samples that were lost or newly added during this period were deleted. In this paper, people with no religious belief in 2012 but with religious belief in 2016 are treated as the treatment group. People without religious belief throughout the study period are treated as the control group. Additionally, respondents under 60 were also excluded because the aim of this paper is to study the health of elderly people. In this process, the sample size changed as follows: the number of respondents in the balanced panel data between 2012 and 2016 was 27,209, and after excluding the respondents under 60 years old, 10,918 were left. Then, after excluding the respondents with missing variables, the final analytical sample was 8044.The dependent variable is the health status of the respondents, and it is mainly measured by self-rated health. Self-rated health has proven to be an effective and reliable indicator that measures individuals’ cognitive ability, morbidity and mortality and comprehensively reflects their physical and mental health status , 27. TheHowever, there exists a problem in that the same value of health change may have different meanings. For example, when the value is − 1, it may mean that the health of an individual changed from very healthy to relatively healthy or from healthy to fair. Although the value is the same, the change in health is different. Against this backdrop, in accordance with the practice of Sun and Wang , we redeIn addition, depression symptoms  were also used to perform the robustness test. Depression symptoms were measured by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CESD) scale. The CESD scale has proven to be reliable and effective in measuring mental health, as the design of the scale has internal consistency and sufficient repeatability . The totReligious belief is the independent variable in this paper. However, there is currently no consensus on the measurement of religious belief in academia. For example, in the previous literature, religious belief was measured by an individual’s attitude towards religion, whether an individual belongs to a religion or the frequency of participation in religious activities , 26, 34.The health of elderly people is also influenced by a series of individual demographics, household characteristics and socioeconomic factors , 14. In We first performed a descriptive statistical analysis of the variables in this paper. For dependent and independent variables, we reported the proportion of religious believers and non-believers and their median self-rated health scores, respectively. With respect to control variables, we reported the mean for continuous variables and the percentages for categorical variables. The maximum and minimum values of all control variables are also presented.The model used in this paper is a combination of the difference-in-difference (DID) technique and propensity score matching (PSM). Because believing in religion is a self-selection behaviour rather than a random distribution, this may lead to biased estimates. In addition, there also exist certain unobservable factors that will affect the results. Against this backdrop, it is difficult to identify the causal relationship between the health of elderly people and religious belief. PSM can solve the problem of self-selection by matching the control to the treatment based on a series of observable variables. However, the average treatment effect on the treated (ATT) is also biased because it cannot identify the effect of unobservable factors on health. DID can overcome the limitation of PSM by eliminating the influence of time-invariant and time-variant synchronistic unobservable factors on the results. PSM can also ensure that DID meets the common trend assumption to a certain extent. Therefore, DID+PSM can solve the endogeneity problems caused by self-selection and unobservable factors.1i is the health status of individual i in 2016, and Yi0 is the health status of individual i in 2012. P is the probability of individuals entering the treatment group or the control group. One-to-one matching, K-nearest neighbour matching, radius matching and kernel matching were used to match the treatment and control groups. In this model, health is the amount of health change between 2012 and 2016 rather than the health status at a certain point in time [Specifically, 1) we subtract the health score in 2012 from the health score in 2016 in the treatment and control groups; then, 2) we use the difference between the health of the two periods as the dependent variable and estimate the average treatment effect on the treated individuals based on a series of matched variables in the base period. The model is as follows:Additionally, individuals’ health status may affect their decision-making on religious belief. To solve the endogeneity problem caused by reverse causality, we also controlled for the individuals’ health status at baseline.Table Table The first step of PSM is to estimate the propensity score. The propensity score denotes the conditional probability of respondents entering the treatment group given multidimensional feature variables . In thisX represents covariates that affect an individual’s religious belief and health, including age, sex and educational level. The estimation results are presented in Table In this equation, “treated” is a dummy variable that represents whether an individual had religious belief in 2016 but not in 2012. Based on this equation, the probability of religious belief is predicted. p value of the combined test also shows that the propensity score of the combined distribution is the same between the two groups, which indicates that the quality of PSM is good  first. The details of SRH_d2 are described in the Methods section. Additionally, based on the variable SRH_d2, we then use different matching methods  to perform the robustness test. Table In this section, we test the robustness of the results by replacing the health indicator and using different matching methods. The existing studies found that religious belief can provide comfort and lift anxiety and fear, and it may have a significant effect on the mental health of elderly people , 6, 14. This paper estimates the effect of religious belief on the health of elderly people in China. We find that there is no evidence that religious belief significantly improves the health of elderly people. The result is still robust after replacing the health indicators  and using different matching methods. The reason may be that most elderly believers believe in Chinese traditional Buddhism and Taoism. Although Buddhism and Taoism teach followers to achieve healthy longevity and immortality through self-cultivation, believers are more likely to pray for good health and luck rather than change their unhealthy lifestyles. In addition, there is less communication and fewer collective activities among believers in traditional Chinese Buddhism and Taoism, so it is also difficult to form a social support network based on religion. The results of this paper also indicate that the role of religion in achieving healthy ageing is limited.Our findings contrast with the existing studies using data from other countries. Those studies tend to find significant positive or negative correlations between religious belief and health , 24, 29.The results are also associated with the development stage of China. Since the reform and opening up, China has made great progress in economic development, but imbalances and inadequacies still exist in different groups and regions. More people in China pursue material wealth than spiritual wealth. Moreover, people have the freedom to believe in religion in China. Against this background, religious belief is more based on instrumental rationality than value rationality in China . AdditioThis paper also has some limitations. It is difficult to distinguish the health effects of different religions because of the availability of data. In addition to the considerable differences between Chinese traditional religions and other countries’ religions, there are also differences in the historical background and dogmas among different religions in the same country. As a result, their health effects are also different. However, in this paper, the number of religious believers is only 350. Among them, those who believe in Buddhism accounted for approximately 77.86%; Protestantism accounted for approximately 12.86%; and Catholicism and Islam only accounted for 4 and 0.57%, respectively. Therefore, this paper could not analyse the specific health effects of different religious beliefs, which is an important direction for future studies.With the acceleration of ageing in China, the health problems of elderly people have attracted considerable attention. Elderly people face health problems caused by increasing diseases, declining physical function and reducing social networks and support. They need to maintain their health via a series of measures, such as leisure, exercise, and medical activities. Religious belief is also an important way for elderly people to increase their health. This paper uses data collected between 2012 and 2016 from the CFPS to estimate the effect of religious belief on the health of elderly people in China. The DID+PSM method is used to solve the endogeneity problem caused by self-selection and omitted variables. The results show that religious belief has no significant effect on the health of elderly people, and this finding is still robust after a series of tests. This result indicates that religious belief plays a limited role in promoting “healthy ageing”, and it is difficult to improve the health of elderly people only through religious belief. Therefore, multiple measures need to be taken to improve the health of elderly people. As the Chinese government implements policy on the freedom of religious belief, believers can adhere to relevant dogmas to form a healthy lifestyle. For non-believers, on the one hand, individuals should build health awareness and take responsibility for their own health. On the other hand, the government should take measures to comprehensively intervene in health-related factors, improve the medical security system and guide elderly people to prevent and treat diseases.


The food information environment includes food advertising disseminated in various media. With the COVID-19 pandemic and the shutdown of schools, universities, non-essential commerce, public leisure areas, bars, restaurants, among others, the food information environment has changed in Brazil. People spent more time at home which led to greater exposure to television and internet advertising content. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the food production sector has invested in new ways to advertise their products that include advertising messages of support, empathy and solidarity, as well as social responsibility campaigns looking for self-promotion such as food donation and financial aids. Sponsoring online events promoted by Brazilian musicians on social media was also enhanced during the pandemic and allowed food companies to become part of the consumer’s leisure and entertainment moments. The advertising strategies adopted by the food industry during the COVID-19 pandemic are used to generate market demands, influence the consumer purchase decision and increase their loyalty to the supplier brands. Consequently, individuals may have been more vulnerable to excessive consumption of ultra-processed foods during this health crisis. This commentary aims to describe the changes in the food information environment during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil and propose a pathway to promote a healthier food information environment after this health crisis. Perspectives for promoting a healthier food information environment after the pandemic are also discussed, focusing on regulating food advertising with a shared responsibility between government, the food industry, the academy and civil society. In Brazil, the first case of the disease was confirmed on 26 February 2020.COVID-19 is the disease caused by the new coronavirus,SARS-CoV-2, which was first reported in China in December 2019 that resulted in the shutdown of schools, universities, non-essential commerce, public leisure areas, bars, restaurants, among others. Consequently, people spent more time at home which led to prolonged exposure to television and internet advertising content. The time people spend watching television increased by 1 h and 20 min, and the internet usage grew up by 40–50 % during the pandemic. Furthermore, people have also changed their work habits and the way they consume goods and how they spend their time off, which impacted on how the food industry operates.In an attempt to prevent and slow the spread of the virus, some social distancing practices were implemented,8. Systematic reviews and meta-analysis showed an association between excessive exposure to food advertising and unhealthy eating,10. The contextual changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic may have increased the population exposure to ultra-processed food (UPF) advertising, which can have a negative impact on consumers’ health.All these changes have had an impact on the Brazilian food information environment, which is characterised by food advertising through various mediaThe objective of this commentary is to describe food information environment changes during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil and propose a pathway to promote a healthier food information environment after this health crisis., social media and food delivery apps. During the current health crisis, new marketing strategies have emerged.Monitoring studies conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic already pointed to a high prevalence of UPF advertising on television1 and 2).The advertisements have been aligned with the context of social distancing, using messages that appeal to eating at home, reinforcing the idea of staying at home with family and stimulating personal interaction through digital technologies such as video calls. An example is the fast-food industry sharing advertising messages to stimulate food delivery .Another strategy is the promotion of good hygiene practices and protection measures. Examples include big players in the beverage industry redesigning their product labels to display information on how to prevent the spread of the virus .Food companies have also highlighted the protective measures they adopted to prevent the infection of their employees. These measures, however, despite being considered essential in the current health context, have been used for self-promotion. An example is food delivery apps which started implementing basic protective measures to their riders (such as offering masks and hand sanitisers) only after being publicly criticised due to the awful working conditions their riders were facing  or finally by explicit advertisements made by the musicians themselves. For exemplification, an ultra-processed meat company developed a website to archive all the events that have been sponsored by the brand along with a channel for buying its products .Another advertising strategy that has been used by UPF companies during the COVID-19 pandemic is the sponsorship of live concerts promoted by Brazilian musicians on social media. The ten most watched live events during the pandemic that were still available for access on YouTube on 23 July 2020 gathered a total of 174 million views, but we have noticed an intensification of this practice during the pandemic. Second, the increased exposure of consumers to advertising of UPF may result in greater consumption of this kind of food with unfavourable public health outcomes, such as overweight, obesity and cardiometabolic risks.All these strategies can negatively impact on consumers’ health. First, social responsibility actions can increase the influence of the UPF industry on the country’s health agendas. Their lobbying has always been presentThe advertising strategies adopted by the food industry during the COVID-19 pandemic are generating market demands at the time of crisis, influencing the consumer purchase decision and increasing their loyalty to the supplier brands. Companies take advantage of a period of increased vulnerability of the population in terms of social, economic and personal relationships to consolidate their market share and reach new consumers.. Consumers’ exposure to brands through the sponsorship of live events means that the food company becomes part of the consumer’s leisure and entertainment moments, encouraging consumers to choose a certain food or drink to consume during the broadcasting in function of what is being advertised. It is also worth mentioning the power of celebrities consuming or endorsing a product to influence the consumer’s choice.The advertising messages of empathy and solidarity adopted by the food companies in their advertisements reflect a characteristic of humanisation of the brand that is associated with a closer relationship between company and consumer,23.These changes in the food information environment, associated with other changes in the individual’s context resulting from social distancing, such as greater exposure to media, new leisure and work habits, changes in the domestic routine, economic recession and changes in mental health, may leave individuals more vulnerable to excessive consumption of UPF. Previous monitoring studies have demonstrated there is a large offer of UPF in such apps,24; thus, a wider use of these tools can result in greater consumption of this food.An example is the growth of online commerce. During the lockdown, food delivery through apps grew by 9 % on weekdays and 10 % on weekendsConVid, carried out from April to May 2020 with 45 161 people, registered a decrease of about 4 % in regular consumption (5 d or more a week) of vegetables and beans and an increase of 4 % in frozen meals, 4 % in savoury snacks and 6 % in chocolate/sweet biscuits/pieces of tart from 2 d or more a week. In contrast, the NutriNet Brasil study, survey conducted with 10 116 individuals, showed a slight increase in the frequency of consumption of vegetables, fruits and beans, as well as a stable high consumption of UPF during the COVID-19 pandemic.The Brazilian online behaviour survey , which can worsen the health condition of individuals with COVID-19 since these conditions are independent risk factors in the prognosis of the disease. This demonstrates the need for new ways to minimise the impact of exposure to UPF advertising in Brazil after the pandemic.In any case, both the increase in the consumption of UPF and their consumption in high frequency could increase the prevalence of overweight (55·4 %) and obesity (20·3 %) in BrazilDiscussing a possible pathway to develop a healthier food information environment after the COVID-19 pandemic involves updating the existing food advertising regulation to the current context, enforcing its compliance and monitoring the food industry practices.. Also, the resolution 163/2014 of the National Council for the Rights of Children and Adolescents  handles the abusive advertising targeted to children.The Brazilian legislation regarding food advertising is described in the Consumer Protection Code (‘Código de Defesa do Consumidor’ – CDC in Portuguese), which guarantees the individual’s right to clear and adequate information about different products and services. The CDC protects the consumer against both misleading advertising, which is capable of inducing the consumer to misinterpret the information about the various aspects of a product, and abusive advertising, that is, the one which is capable of inducing the consumer to behave in a risky manner regarding their health or safety have shown that three of the big UPF companies had alone almost 4 million interactions  on Facebook from April to June 2020. The easy and speedy sharing of these advertisements makes it difficult to trace and attribute responsibility. The process of identifying the advertisements is also hampered by sponsorship strategies involving digital influencers or celebrities. Companies have consistently sponsored these influencers to advertise their products on social media, frequently hiding the commercial partnership behind it.Some limits on the application of this legislation have been observed in the digital environment. The wide reach and the many possibilities of engagement with advertising content in this environment allow ordinary people, who are not part of the food industry, to replicate such content by sharing or retweeting it on their social media. Data from the SocialBakers ranking. This affects the consumer’s right to be protected from these practices. Unlike General Data Protection Regulation in Europe, until recently Brazil did not have appropriate legislation to regulate data privacy on the internet.It is also worth mentioning, as a limitation of the current legislation, the use of personal data from media platforms to track potential consumers. Evidences demonstrate that companies have been using user data available on the internet to target advertisements and influence their choices. The health crisis cannot justify the promotion of the unhealthy food industry since it has a crucial impact on the epidemic of obesity and chronic non-communicable diseases, which in turn increases the population’s vulnerability to COVID-19 and emerging infectious diseases,18.Also, there are no regulations currently in place to protect consumers from the social responsibility actions of the food industry associated with self-promotion or sponsorship. When companies do not take responsibility for the health consequences of consuming their products and divert the attention from questionable practices through corporate social responsibility actions, they end up increasing their credibility before consumers, especially in vulnerable contexts such as the COVID-19 pandemicFinally, it is important to strengthen the regulation of food advertising in Brazil through effective compliance with legislation. This can be achieved by creating channels for registering complaints and forwarding them to the relevant bodies, and also by speeding up the process of dealing with these complaints. The food industry must comply with the regulatory terms in their advertisements and the public authorities must endeavour to inspect their actions. The academy should invest in research on the subject with the aim of systematically monitoring advertising practices in the food industry and their impact on consumer health. Civil society can be motivated through campaigns carried out by the academy and civil society organisations to raise public awareness regarding the issue of food advertising, which aims to encourage their participation in monitoring compliance with legislation by identifying and reporting breaches, and also by policing the competent bodies regarding the forwarding of these.The food information environment during the COVID-19 pandemic is changing in Brazil. The food industry, especially those of UPF, has switched their advertising strategy to incorporate messages of empathy, union and partnership, in addition to investing in social responsibility actions and sponsoring online events aiming at self-promotion. As a consequence, the consumer is more vulnerable to the consumption of UPF. Recommendations have been proposed in order to provide a healthier information food environment in Brazil after the COVID-19 pandemic, which include updating the regulatory legislation and its effective compliance through industry accountability and public authority oversight, research on the topic and engagement of civil society.


With the steady increase and popularization of innovations and applications on the Internet, more and more people are searching for and purchasing products online. The boom in e-commerce stimulates opportunities in online entrepreneurship. However, the risks and failure rate for online entrepreneurship are relatively high. Therefore, some universities are standardizing the implementation of online entrepreneurship programs (OEPs) with the aim of equipping students with knowledge for online entrepreneurship through instruction and practical methods to increase the chance of successful online entrepreneurship and also enhance the professional image of the department. The main purpose of the present study is to explore the key influencing factors affecting the willingness of universities’ department of business administration to implement OEP and its effectiveness. Using the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework by  With the globalization connection and popularization of the Internet, coupled with the rapid development of easy-to-use applications and the effective integration of mobile communication devices, the Internet has become an important medium for interacting and communicating with people and organizations and an important technology and transaction platform that is heavily relied upon. As the Internet-based E-commerce market continues to grow and develop, the number of transactions, the amount, and types are constantly increasing, making the online market a place with an extremely high potential for growth and business opportunities.In recent years, due to the reduced cost of information and communication technology equipment, the rise of open source software, and the continuous development of a large number of fast and easy-to-use building and development tools for web applications, the barrier to entry for online entrepreneurship has been greatly reduced. In addition to the thriving online market, the number of successful cases of online entrepreneurship  continues to increase, attracting many people to invest in online entrepreneurship, and the number of cases of online entrepreneurship is growing rapidly .Online entrepreneurship refers to an individual or a group of individuals establishing a new business in innovative ways and using the Internet (including wired and wireless Internet) as an operating platform to conduct business operations and related service activities . AlthougEducation is the most direct and effective way to improve the success of entrepreneurship . Many stTherefore, in the face of the opportunities and challenges of online entrepreneurship, some universities have gradually offered relevant courses, i.e., online entrepreneurship programs (OEPs), that aim to equip students through education and teaching with the skills for online entrepreneurship. Improving opportunities for success in online entrepreneurship not only enhances students’ competitiveness for future employment but can also improve the professional teaching abilities and image of the department. However, the implementation of OEP is an innovation and challenge for many universities. Departments would need to change and adjust the curriculum structure and design, teaching methods, teacher qualifications, and expertise to be oriented toward practice. At the same time, the content of the curriculum should be changed and adjusted according to changes in technology and market applications . In addiApplying the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework  and the Entrepreneurship positively affects a country’s economic development . When a Although entrepreneurship benefits a country’s overall development, it is also a high-risk endeavor with a high rate of failure. However, many studies  indicateThe main purpose of entrepreneurship education is to teach and guide students to effectively apply the theoretical knowledge of textbooks to practice and understand the entrepreneurial spirit; build their entrepreneurial confidence, motivation, and creativity; and transform them into actual entrepreneurial behaviors through practical learning . In termDifferent from traditional teaching methods, entrepreneurship education focuses on case teaching to enable students to connect with entrepreneurial ideas and stimulate students’ entrepreneurial spirit in taking risks. As for business ideas, entrepreneurship education focuses on allowing students to seek and discover business opportunities with high potential. Regarding the degree of involvement in entrepreneurial projects, entrepreneurship education encourages active student participation, enabling them to take risks to create a new business. With the popularization of the Internet, the rollout of new innovative applications, and the continuous growth of the e-commerce market, the Internet has become a business market with high potential, and more and more people and businesses look toward the online market with online entrepreneurship intentions. Different from traditional entrepreneurship, online entrepreneurship mainly uses the Internet as the operating platform for business ; at the Since there are many types of Internet applications and transactions, academia and the practical world have no consistent and standard way to categorize online entrepreneurship. Since online entrepreneurship mainly utilizes the Internet and other related information and communications technology as the operating platform, courses on Internet skills and knowledge must be added to OEP in addition to traditional entrepreneurship courses. Due to the Internet being a virtual world different from the physical world’s business environment, the business conditions, business model, competitive environment, opportunity search, corporate values, transaction security and risk, and consumer behavior all differ from traditional physical businesses. Therefore, the curriculum content and course materials must be adjusted, posing a challenge in innovation for universities intending to implement OEP. The TOE framework is a conceptual framework that does not indicate which factors should be included in each context. The important influencing factors are chosen depending on the research subject and innovation type. The main contribution of this framework is to provide researchers with a direction to contemplate and explore influencing factors and it can be integrated with many other innovative or organizational theories to increase the depth of research .Based on the TOE framework as the theoretical foundation, The IDT is a popular theory used by innovation studies. Proposed by Implementing OEP requires many resources to be invested, new practical designs, innovative teaching methods, and curriculum reform. Therefore, it is an important innovative action for many universities. The TOE framework has been applied to the topic of organizations’ innovation adoption by many empirical studies and has high explanatory power. Therefore, this study intends to use the TOE framework as its theoretical foundation. However, in the TOE framework, T refers to the technological context, i.e., characteristics of innovative technology. Since OEP is not an innovative technology, but an innovative practice, this study replaces the technological context with the innovation context. This study integrates the TOE framework with the IDT as the present study’s foundation. This type of theoretical integration is supported by relevant studies . In addiIntegrating the attributes of entrepreneurship programs and online entrepreneurship as well as related literature on organizational innovation adoption, the present study proposes 12 factors from the innovative, organizational, and environmental contexts that may affect the willingness of business management departments at universities to implement OEP and the effectiveness of OEP implementation. The research subjects are the universities’ business management departments. The research model is as shown in Data collection and analysis were divided into two stages. In the first stage, the present study collected surveys from teachers at universities’ business management departments to obtain key factors affecting the willingness to implement OEP. In the second stage, the subjects of analysis are business management teachers whose departments have implemented OEP, and significant influencing factors analyzed from the first stage were used as the independent variables to verify influencing factors for the effectiveness of implementing OEP.The measurement of variables in the present study was based on past related literature on organizational innovation adoption and effectiveness, and modified according to the characteristics of entrepreneurship education and online entrepreneurship. All measurement items were measured on a five-point Likert scale (strongly disagree–strongly agree). The contents of the survey were reviewed by nine experts and industry professionals for comprehensiveness, terminology, and relevance. The measurement items for the innovative, organizational, and environmental contexts as well as the dependent variables are as shown in This study distributed survey questionnaires to teachers responsible for curriculum planning in universities’ business management departments. A total of 105 responses were collected. The sample was 61.9% male, 38.1% female; 27.6% professors, 31.4% associate professors, 34.3% assistant professors, and 6.7% lecturers or others. The higher education system accounted for 56.2%, while the vocational system accounted for 48.3%; 41.9% have already implemented or are planning to implement OEP, while 58.1% are not planning to implement OEP.The smartPLS software with structural equation modeling was used for data analysis. The analysis procedure and standards were performed according to the recommendations of Regarding the significance testing of factors influencing the willingness to implement OEP, this study performed structural equation modeling using smartPLS and set the bootstrapping value at 5000 according to the recommendations of This study distributed survey questionnaires to the teachers responsible for curriculum planning in universities’ business management departments and whose departments had implemented OEP. A total of 65 responses were collected. The sample was 61.5% male, 38.5% female; 24.6% professors, 33.9% associate professors, 32.3% assistant professors, and 9.2% lecturers or others. The higher education system accounted for 56.9%, while the vocational system accounted for 43.1%.The smartPLS software with structural equation modeling was used for data analysis. The testing results on CR, AVE, and discriminant validity are as shown in The smartPLS was used to test hypotheses about factors influencing OPE implementation effectiveness. The bootstrapping value was set to 5000. Due to the exploratory nature of the present study, we extended the significance level to 0.1 as suggested by The results of this study showed that integrating the TOE framework and the IDT can effectively analyze the willingness to implement OEP at universities. OEP implementation is not only an issue of educational innovation but also an undertaking of the organization and external environment. As to the effectiveness of OEP implementation, the present study found that the organization and the external environment exert important influences. We discuss each influencing factor in the following passage.The empirical results show that the factors within the innovative context significantly affecting the willingness of universities’ department of business management to implement OEP are relative advantage, complexity, and image. Relative advantage positively affects the willingness of business management departments at universities to implement OEP. This study found that complexity negatively affects the willingness of business management departments to implement OEP. Complexity is the perceived difficulty, i.e., the difficulty an organization faces in understanding and learning how to implement an innovation . An innoThis study found that image positively affects the willingness of business management departments to implement OEP. Image refers to the degree to which the organization’s social image or status is enhanced after adopting an innovation. Previous studies on organizational innovation  also fouThe empirical results of the present study showed factors within the innovative context such as relative advantage, complexity, and image have no significant influence on the OEP effectiveness. Since these innovation factors are departments’ initial perceived anticipation, actual results are affected by organizational resources, organization support, and physical environment factors.The empirical results of this study showed that factors within the organizational context affecting the willingness of universities’ business management departments to implement OEP include top management support, department size, and the department readiness. The influence of top management support on departments’ willingness to implement OEP is very reasonable. To implement a new educational program or change instructional methods, a university-level meeting will review and approve. If top management such as principals or first-level supervisors support the innovation, passing the program is easier. If the opposite occurs, OEP implementation becomes difficult. In addition, to implement OEP, business management departments must acquire funding to obtain relevant resources such as a learning system for experiential simulations of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs with real entrepreneurial experience, or mentors such as venture capitalists to review whether entrepreneurial undertakings can become a success . This alIn addition, department size also positively affects business management departments’ willingness to implement OEP. The main reason may be the greater the number of teachers, the more chance some teachers want to actively implement new academic programs. For students of business management, entrepreneurship is one of the important plans for future career developments, and the importance of entrepreneurship education stems from the high youth unemployment rate . TherefoAnother factor within the organizational context positively affecting the willingness of business management departments to implement OEP is department readiness. The more prepared the faculty is for OEP, the greater the willingness to implement OEP will be. Compared to other schools’ business management departments, if teachers and administrators at a school’s business management departments possess relevant resources such as expertise, funding, and an online environment to implement OEP and are equipped to provide students with the knowledge necessary to start a new business, they will be more willing to implement OEPs. In terms of the effectiveness of business management departments implementing OEP, top management support and department size are two significant influencing factors. The effect of top management support on OEP effectiveness is higher. We infer if senior management or first-level administrators are interested in or support OEP implementation, they are bound to be more active, giving supporting resources, enriching resources to implementing the program, and ultimately improving its effectiveness. The empirical results of this study showed that the main factor within the environmental context affecting the willingness of universities’ business management departments to implement OEP is external support. External support is an important factor for many organizations when evaluating whether to adopt a technological innovation. When introducing innovative technology, the technological skills and service capabilities of related suppliers and whether the company can hire the necessary professionals to introduce innovation all influence decision-making for innovation adoption . For OEPFor factors influencing the effectiveness of business management departments’ OEP implementation, external support from the environmental context positively affects the effectiveness of OEP implementation. This result showed that adequate external support plays a key role in the success of OEP implementation. External support such as inviting mentors like consultants and entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, or online service companies with entrepreneurial experiences to co-sponsor the establishment of OEPs enables students to better understand the practical entrepreneurial skills and professionalism necessary for entrepreneurship in action and make implementing entrepreneurship programs more beneficial. Many teachers at the university do not have entrepreneurial experience; most of the course content is based on theory or books to teach students entrepreneurial knowledge, which may not meet students’ needs or allow students to truly realize the practical aspects of entrepreneurship. Consultants and entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, or online service companies with entrepreneurial experience all have substantial experience in personal entrepreneurship or identifying potential physical or online entrepreneurship businesses. Through sharing actual experiences and student interaction, students can better understand how to start a business, and it can also raise students’ entrepreneurial motivations. Such a pairing of theoretical teaching with practical mentoring is greatly beneficial to students’ absorption of entrepreneurial knowledge and the improvement of their entrepreneurial intentions. A survey by Integrating the TOE framework with the IDT, this study analyzed the key factors influencing OEP implementation at universities’ business management departments and its effectiveness using empirical research methods. We obtained the following four research findings and conclusions:(1)Integration of the TOE framework and the IDT can be used to analyze key factors influencing OEP implementation at universities’ department of business management and its effectiveness. Business management departments promoting the implementation of OEP must take into account the factors from the three contexts: innovation, organization, and environment.(2)This study found seven significant factors influencing the willingness to implement OEP: relative advantage, complexity, image, top management support, department size, department readiness, and external support. Relative advantage and complexity are the two most important factors.(3)For the effectiveness of OEP implementation, this study found three significant factors, which are top management support, department size, and external support.(4)Innovation factors have a greater influence on business management departments’ willingness to implement OEP, but the organization and the environment factors have greater influences on the effectiveness of OEP implementation. This finding can be used as a reference for departments implementing OEP and for achieving its effects.ccchiou@cc.ncue.edu.tw.The datasets presented in this article are not readily available because authors have promised not to disclose the survey data of the departments. Requests to access the datasets should be directed to C-CC, Ethical review and approval was not required for the study on human participants in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. All respondents filled in the questionnaire from an organizational perspective under their own free will. Written informed consent from the participants was not required to participate in this study in accordance with the national legislation and the institutional requirements.Y-MW contributed to the research topic, research model, data collection, statistical analysis, and writing. C-CC edited this manuscript, developed implications, and responsible for correspondence.The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.


Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) has a history of being interdisciplinary from its conception. Its beginnings have included computer scientists, psychologists, cognitive scientists, and educational researchers. These collaborations have been fruitful but have also posed challenges . This ar We also relied on a range of analyses from content analysis, bibliometric analyses, and a qualitative case example. The case example moves from a bird’s eye view of the field to a ground level description of how interdisciplinary collaboration results in new insights for the field. To set the context for the research questions and analyses that follow, we begin with a historical overview of the interdisciplinary beginnings of CSCL.Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) has a history of being interdisciplinary from its conception . Its begThe origin of the CSCL field dates back to the 1980s. Part of what makes this fundamentally interdisciplinary as a field is the relationship between the technology in the form of computational objects and the social interactions involved in learning . CSCL isAnother force that has contributed to the development of CSCL is the development of technology. It connected learners across geographical regions, enabling them to interact with learners and experts who are outside the geographical and temporal range of their social interactions. This interaction was mediated by a number of computational artifacts. A number of technologies and tools had been developed to help learners engage in collaborative sensemaking activities . Other tThese forces created tensions and conflicts from the beginning. Some found the significance of CSCL in its epistemological underpinnings and argued that it initiated a new paradigm of learning research . In contIn this article we address two research questions:(1)To what extent is CSCL an interdisciplinary research community?(2)How can different sources of evidence be used to paint a picture of interdisciplinary collaboration?Computers and Education, Computers in Human Behavior, International Journal of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning, International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, Journal of Learning Sciences, and Learning and Instruction. We screened over 1,600 articles published between 2005 and 2014 to ensure each article met the following criteria: (a) STEM education, (b) empirical research, and (c) use of technology to support collaborative learning. CSCL research refers to research articles in which participants learned collaboratively with the support of computers and/or other technologies. The technology also needed to be specific so that studies examining technology integration or adoption in general were not included. Studies about students with physical or learning disabilities were excluded because these can involve special technologies not typical in CSCL. Learners needed to interact in small groups or in some ways with peers at some point during the learning process. Studies needed to address learning, broadly defined (see n = 400). Funded by the United States National Science Foundation, n = 735). n = 869), which is basically the articles in the corpus used by Much of the literature discussed is a secondary analysis of systematic reviews presented in earlier publications  and builInternational Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning journal analysis, we selected multiple-authored ijCSCL articles from three time points which are 2006–2007, 2012–2013, and 2018–2019. These three 2-year periods were selected from the total number of complete issues of the journal which began its publication in 2006. This allowed examining historical trends over time and provided a view of the early issues and most recent with the 2012–2013 providing a midpoint.For the The articles that met our initial criteria were coded based on several dimensions. In our earlier examination of CSCL research practices, we examined CSCL research methods in terms of research design, research settings, data sources, and analysis methods . We addiFor the case study of the workshop, the first author went through the list of participants and the workshop report, identifying the academic disciplines of each of the participants based on their academic departments. Additional information regarding the workshop is drawn from the workshop report .The different methods and the need to incorporate them is part of what makes CSCL a multidisciplinary field . Analysin = 26). Thus, the field continues to use diverse methodological frameworks in CSCL but since the earlier analysis, more individual articles use multiple frameworks.The presence of diverse theoretical and methodological frameworks confirms that different disciplines contribute to CSCL research. The co-existence of these frameworks is reflective of the diverse research traditions that converge on CSCL and the interdisciplinarity of CSCL, but it is only a small piece of the picture. Another way to take advantage of this corpus to examine the (interdisciplinary) nature of CSCL as a field is through an analysis of the bibliometric data.Bibliometrics or scientometrics in particular analyzes scientific publications to measure and understand scientific research practices. It relies on citation or other statistical data related to academic publications. The development of digital technology and large databases such as Web of Science (WOS) and Scopus has contributed to its recent rise. It is increasingly used to understand questions such as the impact of specific research fields, a set of researchers or particular publications that connects different research fields, and/or publications with large impacts . Bibliogn = 869), they identified clusters of CSCL research that are linked by shared references. This is the expanded corpus mentioned in the previous section that included non-STEM articles to capture CSCL research clusters more widely. The BC analysis creates links between articles when they shared references (n = 134) did not share references with other CSCL articles, suggesting that there is some research that we have classified as CSCL that does not build on this literature and may draw on other research foundations.ferences . A commun = 145) and argumentation (n = 127) than topics such as peer assessment (n = 13) and gross anatomy education (n = 7). The cluster labels were derived automatically based on the most frequently used keywords. Each cluster represents sub-areas of CSCL research that are linked by distinct sets of shared references, suggesting that they are referencing different knowledge bases in CSCL research. Keywords frequently used by the articles within the clusters are used as cluster labels. The “knowledge building” cluster in References can reveal the intellectual traditions and disciplinary knowledge base that CSCL research draws upon. Articles in the same disciplines or sub-areas tend to cite similar publications. Another important marker of disciplinary association is the journals in which the article is published. Journals are outlets of academic research conducted in a particular field of research. They serve as gatekeepers of research and decide whether a particular piece of research is appropriate to their mission in terms of topics as well as quality . In thisn = 735) included in the ten CSCL clusters: (1) authors, (2) year of publication, and (3) publication source  (4) reference sources in the reference list , (5) discipline categories assigned by WOS called “WOS categories.” We extracted the meta-data of the indexed articles from WOS, but hand coded the meta-data using the pdf files for the articles that were not indexed in WOS.To examine these questions, we extracted the following information from the articles , for example, was clear that this journal is “dedicated to examining the use of computers from a psychological perspective.” This disciplinary focus was more likely to be the case in journals focused on science and anatomy education. Still, such explicit mono-disciplinary association is an exception rather than a rule. In sum, it appears that most CSCL articles are published in journals that explicitly promote multidisciplinary approaches or emphasize research problems rather than specific disciplinary approaches.We first examined the “aims and scope” statement of these journals as listed on the journal homepage to understand the disciplinary or interdisciplinary associations of the journals as identified by the editorial teams of the journals. These statements anchor the positions and directions of the journals and can serve as important guidelines for both authors and readers of the journals. We did not engage in formal coding, but looked for words or phrases that signaled associations with specific disciplines or interdisciplinary research. Most of the journals emphasize problems or research topics  rather than disciplinary associations. 1. WOS categories are quite detailed. There are three WOS categories for education, for example: “Education, Educational Research,” “Education, Scientific Disciplines” and “Education, Special”. Psychology has 11 WOS categories such as psychology, experimental, social, and so on. In order to examine the disciplines at a broad level more used in everyday discussion of disciplines, we grouped the WOS category of CSCL journals into four discipline groups: (1) Education (2) Technology (3) Social Sciences and Psychology, and (4) Knowledge Domains. Every journal or book indexed in WOS is assigned to at least one subject area category such as education or psychology. There are 256 WOS subject categories as of 2018Computers and Education and ijCSCL both belong to the Education as well as the Technology discipline groups. Computer Applications in Engineering Education (CAEE) belongs to three discipline groups: Education, Technology, and Knowledge Domains . About one-third (12 out of 31) of the CSCL publications are multidisciplinary in this sense. They all belong to the Education group, but varied in their second disciplinary association.One way to define the multidisciplinarity of a journal is to examine whether they belong to more than one discipline group. CSCL publishing journals often belong to more than one discipline group. For example, journals such as Computers and Education (n = 333), ijCSCL (n = 87), and Computer Applications in Engineering Education (n = 1). Technology disciplines are part of CSCL research, and yet again, CSCL research is not being published as widely in technology journals. This, however, may be an artifact of the corpus, since one of the criteria to be included in the corpus was that the articles need to be empirical articles (n = 133) and JLS (n = 28). In sum, while CSCL research is multidisciplinary in its historical origin and participating members’ disciplines, CSCL research may not be relevant to participating disciplines to the same extent. The main audiences for CSCL research are readers of education journals or journals that are at the intersection of education, technology, and neighboring disciplines.The number (and percentage) of articles in each discipline group is presented in articles . ArticleThe disciplinary composition of CSCL publishing journals may vary depending on the nature of the research question. When the use of the tools in the classroom and appropriate pedagogical interventions are the focus, it is more likely to be relevant to educational researchers and journals that publish such research. Computers and Education is cited by about half of the CSCL articles; Journal of the Learning Sciences (JLS) and Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (JCAL) are cited by about one-third of the CSCL articles. Computers and Education (C&E) continue to be the top referenced journals as well as publication outlet.The interdisciplinarity of CSCL research can also be examined based on the journals that it cites. There are 1,885 distinct reference sources cited by the CSCL research in the corpus, which include books and book chapters, but journal articles turn out to be major citing sources of CSCL research. Comparison between Nonetheless, the disciplinary composition of the citing journals largely remains more or less the same as the disciplinary composition of the publishing journals see . We analWe further examined the pattern of research uptake across CSCL research clusters. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (iJCSCL). It was established in 2006 as the field was being established. There are several major journals that publish substantial amounts of CSCL research, but it has quickly established itself as a major outlet of CSCL research. This is remarkable when we consider that ijCSCL publishes far fewer articles per year than those journals. In this section, we examine the interdisciplinarity of the journal in terms of the disciplinary associations of its editorial team and contributing authors.Another marker of CSCL as an interdisciplinary field is through the composition of the journal devoted specifically to CSCL research. This includes the editorial team as well as the authors of articles in the journal. Academic societies often have flagship journals which members consider to be representative of the research that they do in the community. In the case of CSCL, it is the ijCSCL. The founding co-editors included a computer scientist (Dr. Gerry Stahl) and a psychologist (Dr. Friedrich Hesse) with a similar composition among the newest co-editor team .One example of the interdisciplinary nature of the journal is the editorial team of the The interdisciplinary characteristics of ijCSCL can be inferred by looking at the range of the contributing authors’ disciplinary associations in multi-authored ijCSCL articles. The number and percentages of the multi-disciplinary multi-authored articles are presented in Although the journal citations and authorships provide some evidence of interdisciplinary collaboration, they may also underestimate the coherence in the community. Many workshops that try to solve CSCL problems are broadly interdisciplinary, a recognition that to build capacity in CSCL, a combination of technological, pedagogical and methodological approaches is needed. An example of this is the workshop organized by the first author . The worEducational research in general, and the learning sciences in particular is a multidisciplinary field that exists at the nexus of psychology, sociology, linguistics, anthropology, computer science, and technology . As an iijCSCL is a notable exception. Since its inception, this journal has had an international editorial team that includes computer scientists, learning scientists, educational psychologists, and discipline-based educational researchers (most notably in STEM education). This journal has generally had 20–30% of its articles composed of interdisciplinary collaborations. It is a venue that welcomes contributions from researchers across these domains (and a survey of the most recent volume of ijCSCL suggests at least one computer science contribution in each issue).Although CSCL began as a multidisciplinary endeavor with its research methodology and theoretical frameworks reflecting diverse traditions, the bibliometric analysis suggests that the main outlet and audience for CSCL research appears to be largely educational research journals, with some exceptions. In some sense, it is understandable. As a pedagogical strategy, there is a clear relevance to education. Still, the scarcity of journals that publish CSCL research devoted to disciplines other than education provide a barrier to CSCL research achieving its transdisciplinary goal. As the flagship journal of CSCL however, CSCL has been a collaboration between the technical and more socially oriented research fields. This research has appeared infrequently in journals that are dedicated to the teaching of specific disciplines such as STEM. These discipline-specific journals may be distributed across a range of fields and dilute the impact across any one field. We reported in our meta-analysis of CSCL that its effectiveness may vary depending on the learning domains and suggested that CSCL needs to be tailored to meet the needs of the knowledge domain . This maNonetheless, we do see opportunities for collaboration. Many of the journals that authors publish in, the theories and research methods that draw from multiple fields, and the in-person interactions suggest that these interdisciplinary collaborations can and do occur with some regularity and are reflected in the diverse theoretical frameworks and research methods. From the early history of the field to the current journal editorship, the collaborations and contributions have been between computer scientists, educational technologists, and social scientists from the learning sciences, educational psychology, and other education fields. As a field, CSCL requires knowledge of design and pedagogy, technical expertise, classroom research strategies, and knowledge of multiple research methods. Collaborations between socially oriented researchers and technically oriented scholars can help bring more ambitious and forward thinking visions than either can alone. Computer scientists can help envision technical possibilities and advancements whereas social scientists can think about a pedagogical wish list but may not be able to envision what is technically possible.2 (IAALDE). This organization has promoted sharing research across disciplines that include behavioral, educational, and computer science fields. These organizations have committed to showcasing work across the disciplinary boundaries. This represents an interdisciplinary effort among leaders of these societies.The possibilities of these collaborations are exciting but also are challenging. Different disciplines have different standards for publication. Conference proceedings are more valued in technical areas  but less so in social sciences and education. We note that our analyses did not examine conference proceedings. In addition, the genre of research will be tied to particular disciplines . University structures also tend to reward one publishing in one’s own disciplinary field, providing further barriers and disincentives for cross-disciplinary work. However, in our analysis, there are clearly some high-impact journals at the intersection of disciplines. Bringing people together in workshops and face-to-face conferences is one way that these interactions have been promoted . There aijCSCL editorial and authorship collaborations, and workshop interactions to make an argument for ways in which there are influences to and from different disciplines and actual interactions among them. Although both social sciences and technical disciplines have been an important part of CSCL, the CSCL field has foundations it can build on for an even more interdisciplinary future.Computer-supported collaborative learning is a field with multidisciplinary foundations and origins . ThroughCH-S worked on the sections on the systematic review, ijcscl analysis, and case example. HJ worked on the bibliometric analysis. Both authors contributed equally to the introduction and discussion.The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.


The university environment is especially suitable for implementing health promotion interventions and specifically for physical activity promotion among university students. The objective of this systematic review was to describe the strategies employed and the physical activity data collection tools that have been used in said interventions. A systematic search for articles was conducted using the PubMED, Cochrane, and PEDro databases. The articles selected were those describing a physical activity promotion intervention aimed at university students in their own university setting in which there was a control group. Eventually, 1074 articles were identified, of which 13 fulfilled the selection criteria. The results show eight strategies and nine different instruments for collecting physical activity data. The strategies identified were used in combination and they were adapted in each of the complex interventions. Validated questionnaires were the most widely used instrument. Future original studies are needed to find out the impact of these strategies in physical activity promotion among university students specifically in the university context. In 2010, the data and figures extracted by the World Health Organization (WHO) , which rThere is a striking difference between the inactive percentages of the adult and adolescent populations, which is even more alarming considering that adolescence (from 9 to 18 years of age) is the period when health behaviours develop and said behaviours significantly predict the physical activity that these subjects will carry out as adults . As the adolescent population is so vulnerable, it is not surprising that it should be the subject of most physical activity promotion interventions. However, in addition to the above, the fact that it has been observed that around the age of 15 there is a reduction in physical activity, among both the male and female population ,7, meansThis population shows characteristics that make them easier to work with and interventions that have been carried out show favourable results. It also has some disadvantages, such as the complicated organisational structure of universities, which makes it difficult to implement large-scale interventions, and higher education aims do not systematically prioritise health and well-being , which iThis gave rise to the strategy of Health Promoting Universities, universities committed to promoting health in the university environment, which “aspire to create a learning environment and organisational culture that improves health, well-being, and sustainability in its community, and allows people to reach their maximum potential” . In SpaiSome researchers have studied the effectiveness of health promotion interventions on university students, mainly on food, weight control, and stress, as well as physical activity ,14. HoweThe general objective of this systematic review is to compile and evaluate current existing evidence on physical activity promotion interventions in the university setting and to describe the different strategies and the tools used to collect variables related to physical activity.This study follows the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) . The articles included were those published in any language from 2013 to 2018 (both inclusive) that carried out a physical activity promotion intervention aimed at university students in their own university environment in which there was a control group. Studies were excluded if they were carried out on subjects with a specific disease or with participants under the age of 18, as well studies with monitoring time less than 3 months. All of the identified articles were independently analysed by two researchers from the present study and the final selection of the articles to be included was made by consensus.The systematic search was carried out in PubMED, PEDro, and Cochrane. The search in PubMED and Cochrane was:  AND  AND (university student OR college student OR young adults)) and  AND (university student OR college student OR young adults)). The following keywords were used in PEDro: health promotion, physical activity, college students, university students, young adults. A manual search was also carried out, including the references of the articles found and related articles.The variables included in Tables 1 and 2 were gathered, such as country of implementation and year of publication, population, measurement time, strategies carried out in the intervention group and control group, and tools for collecting information on physical activity.As shown in the PRISMA flow diagram , after tThe 13 studies included were carried out in seven different countries: Canada ,17, UnitThe monitoring periods for each study varied from 3 to 15 months. The smallest sample included in this review has 77 subjects , compareEach study included in the review applies different strategies for physical activity promotion in the university setting. These strategies have been classified into eight broad categories of strategies and are described in Throughout the 13 articles included in this review, nine different methods were used for evaluating the physical activity carried out by the subjects during each of the measurement periods, including questionnaires, self-recording of activity, and direct methods (accelerometers or pedometers) and identification cards to record attendance at sports centres.Five questionnaires for assessment of physical activity were used, including the Godin-Shephard Leisure-Time Physical Activity Questionnaire in three studies ,18,28; tThe self-recording methods include the 30-Day Physical Activity Recall (30-Day PAR) and the 8-response physical activity self-reporting measure (PA-8), both used in the same article . Other iThis systematic review identified 1074 articles, of which 13 fulfilled the selection criteria. The results show diverse strategies implemented in university environments, grouped in 8 categories and carried out in combination to promote physical activity among university students. Thus, nine different instruments for collecting physical activity data have been identified.In the studies included in this review, complex interventions were implemented, combining different strategies, as shown in An explicit setting approach in health promotion is implemented in the intervention developed by Bang et al. , organisPedometers and activity trackers have been used as a strategy for physical activity promotion itself, not just as a data collection tool. In one of the studies , the subRegarding the data collection instruments, The Godin-Shephard Leisure-Time Physical Activity Questionnaire  attemptsOne of the self-recording measures, the 30-Day PAR, asks the subjects to recall and record physical activity carried out over the last 30 days . WhereasOf all the data collection instruments, the most commonly used in the articles included in this review was validated questionnaires on physical activity, used by 9 of the 13 studies, partly thanks to its proven reliability and the reproducibility of results ,30,31. OA recent study  systematIn line with previous studies ,14, the p value was found, it was possible to observe effect sizes, from small to medium, and this indicates that applying the intervention did have an influence. It is also important that these variables are always used with correct randomisation and an appropriate sample size to represent the target population. It may be interesting to implement future studies to investigate protocols for the use of these variables in similar studies.Previous studies have analysed the possible influence of exam periods on levels of physical activity due to the increase in inactivity and sedentary behaviours ,37,39,40Regarding the risk of bias assessment, 10 of the 13 articles included were randomised clinical trials (RCT) that obtained 3 out of 3 on the Jadad scale, except for the study by Kim et al. , which oThe present systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA checklist. Despite this, one of the limitations we find in this study is the low number of articles included in the review and the great heterogeneity of countries in which they were carried out, although the majority of the studies were RCT. Likewise, the studies were not blinded and in some cases, they show considerable losses to follow-up during the monitoring period of the study. Nonetheless, the difficulty of blinding and the losses to follow-up could be considered inherent to the characteristics of the interventions carried out. At the same time, the diverse range of countries included also represents the different ways of adapting physical activity promotion strategies in the university setting in each country. In view of the results of this review, educational training in physical activity promotion could be applied for students of degrees related to health as they can be implemented as part of the curriculum of the degree. This could facilitate adherence as it would be carried out within the normal class schedule. The fact that many of the studies on promotion of health and physical activity were carried out at health discipline faculties partly backs our hypothesis. In other degrees that are not health disciplines, perhaps due to the difficulty in including this material in any of the subjects except on a voluntary basis, there might not be the same acceptance, although they could be included as voluntary extra-curricular courses or implementation could imply a token increase in qualifications. On the other hand, in other strategies like incentives, the intervention will strongly depend on economic resources as the minimum amount used in studies with good results is $20 a month, which would add up to about $120 per student at the end of the semester. Future studies on cost-effectiveness are necessary to inform decisions on the implementation of strategies implemented in a university setting.This systematic review describes the strategies implemented and the data collection instruments employed in physical activity promotion interventions among university students in the university environment. The eight strategies identified were used in combination and they were adapted in each of the complex interventions. Validated questionnaires were the most widely used instrument. Future original studies are needed to find out the characteristics of these measurement instruments and the impact, including health economy aspects, of these strategies on physical activity promotion among university students in the university setting.


Throughout history, humans have experienced epidemics. The balance of living in nature encircled by microorganisms is delicate. More than 70% of today’s emerging infections are zoonotic, i.e., those in which microorganisms transmitted from animals infect humans. Species are on the move at speeds never previously recorded, among ongoing climate change which is especially rapid at high latitudes. This calls for intensified international surveillance of Northern infectious diseases. Russia holds the largest area of thawing permafrost among Northern nations, a process which threatens to rapidly disrupt the balance of nature. In this paper, we provide details regarding Russian health infrastructure in order to take the first steps toward a collaborative international survey of Northern infections and international harmonization of the procured data. The primary perspectives on climate, ecosystem functionality and transitioning landscapes began to form at the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Alexander von Humboldt was the first scientist to talk about harmful human-induced climate change. This German investigator born in 1769 was the founder of “ecosystem sciences”. During his Russian expedition in 1829, von Humboldt listed three ways that humans were affecting the climate at that time: through ruthless irrigation, deforestation and the use of steam and gas for industrial purposes [According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ,4, warmiSince 2007, some ancient sites of permafrost in the Arctic have warmed by more than 0.5 °C . The sea2. This is predicted to decrease to 12 million km2 by 2040, followed by a rapid decrease to between 5 and 8 million km2 by 2080 [Permafrost is ground that continuously remains frozen for two or more years . Almost  by 2080 . Melting by 2080 ,13.Frozen ground across the globe holds an estimated 1500 billion tons of carbon—twice as much as is contained in the atmosphere —and halfThis thawing trend appears to be irreversible. Under an IPCC high greenhouse gas emissions scenario, stable permafrost will most likely remain only along the Arctic coasts of Russia and Canada and in the uplands of East Siberia . Most clhttp://www.interact-eu.net/#o=about).Rapid reaction to climate change usually demands long-term data collectionin order to assess pre- and post- climate change trends at the level of ecosystems and species . FortunaLarge global species redistributions associated with climate change have been taking place since the last glacial maximum. The geographical ranges of species naturally fluctuate in space and time, but recent climate changes could cause massive movements of animal populations to new territories. If cold-loving species cannot adapt to warming local conditions, they will seek new habitats closer to the poles, higher in the mountains or deeper in the oceans. . On averhttps://www.onehealthinitiative.com) takes a holistic approach to health risks and their mitigation among humans, animals and in the environment. The One Health concept emphasizes that human health and welfare are dependent on ecosystem health.One Health . They have different means of transmission, including through direct contact between animals and humans, hematophagous arthropods, intake of food and water contaminated with parasites and through the air . The SpaThe number of nosoforms observed in Arctic species has increased in recent years. These include avian cholera outbreaks in marine birds in Alaska and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, as well as mortalities within walrus and seal populations in the U.S. Arctic . ThawingThe spread of zoonotic diseases can take a major economic toll on many industries, including those in the manufacturing, agricultural, travel and hospitality sectors. Furthermore, the peace and economic stability of communities is both directly and indirectly connected to disease outbreaks .The connection between human and animal microbiology was originally recognized by Virchow and Osler in the nineteenth century , and theAccording to the WHO, the majority of zoonoses arise in natural ecosystems. Due to growing human involvement in natural landscapes, natural foci of infections, which have undoubtedly existed for a long time, have become more active. This problem is especially pressing because of the extensive incorporation of previously untouched territories in agriculture and recreational activities, as well as increased rates of tourism and migration . ZoonoseZoonotic disease management requires the collaboration of different types of disease-control and health specialists, since zoonotic disease agents can exist in humans, animals and the environment. Disease control should include host-control  and vector-control  programs; environmental cleanup or protection may also be required to control disease agents that remain viable on different surfaces, in water or in the soil .New infectious diseases seem to be inevitable and previously rare ones are increasingly seen in unexpected places due to global warming, deforestation, human intrusion into previously underexplored or never-explored sites, world travel and the increasing threat of biological terrorism or warfare. Increased human contact with wild and domestic animals, population growth and urbanization and a lack of necessary sanitation can increase the incidence and severity of zoonotic diseases .In 2019, a Nordforsk-funded Nordic Center of Excellence, Clinf (clinf.org) arranged a seminar with Russian colleagues at the Lomonosov Moscow State University Faculty of Geography focusing on the impacts of the transmission of infectious diseases in the North. It was decided that the discussions should be published as a paper with a focus on Russian research infrastructures in order to facilitate further collaborations.A dataset produced by CLINF showing the variability of certain diseases by country and over time is presented in As is clearly shown here, despite the obvious need for the harmonization of surveillance data, there is still a long way to go before international comparisons can be quickly and efficiently made in order to project and predict, and even prevent, outbreaks. Even in a part of the world where infrastructures are quite similar, as in the Nordic countries, surveillance data are far from harmonized. With the largest tundra in the world (in Russia) thawing, collaboration with Russian colleagues and harmonization with Russian health databases and infrastructures are essential. As these aspects of Russian health care are still quite unknown to many, here, we provide details of the pertinent infrastructures and suggest how collaboration could be approached. There are no data on gender and age among the official open data in Russia, but these can be found through the local  departments .Russia has the largest territory  in the world and covers more than one eighth of the habitable part of the Earth. It consists of 46 oblasts (provinces); 22 republics; 9 krais (territories); 4 autonomous okrugs (districts); 1 autonomous oblast; and 3 federal cities .The health care system in Russia consists of two main institutions, the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Federal Service for Supervision on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor), as well as two institutions which were separated from the MoH at the beginning of 2020, the Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare (Roszdravnadzor) and the Federal Medical Biological Agency (FMBA). The MoH is responsible for the implementation of medical aid for the population, medical education, research, the pharmaceutical and medical industries and control of private medicine. Rospotrebnadzor is responsible for sanitary and epidemiological supervision and federal state supervision in the area of consumer protection . RoszdraThe health care system of the MoH consists of the federal level (level IV)—the Federal MoH and the federal-level institutions directly subordinate to it that provide high-tech assistance to the population; the Regional level (level III)—the regional MoH, main regional hospitals with many departments which provide highly specialized medical care, regional insurance departments and regional pharmaceutics; the town/district level (level II)—town/district hospitals with several departments ; and the primary care level (level I)—medical points , medical offices and policlinics. Emergency/ambulance services and medical sanitary aviation function across all levels of the medical system .Rospotrebnadzor investigates outbreaks and cases of infectious diseases at all levels of medical care, inspects laboratory diagnostics of infectious diseases, conducts routine monitoring of the epidemiological situation and implements the assessment and monitoring of the quality of food, air and water.Any doctor or nurse who suspects the presence of any infectious disease in a patient at any level of medical care, in any medical establishment, must send an initial emergency notification to the epidemiological department of the territorial department of Rospotrebnadzor. The patient will be hospitalized or transferred to an infectious disease unit or hospital if isolation is necessary or if the severity of the patient’s condition requires it. The patient’s samples of biological fluids will be sent for laboratory testing. After the results of the laboratory tests are produced, a second emergency notification with information about confirming, excluding or changing the diagnosis is sent to Rospotrebnadzor. In parallel with treatment in medical facilities by specialists from the MoH, Rospotrebnadzor conducts investigations into cases and outbreaks of infectious diseases. Specialists from the MoH may also be involved in this process, for example, by providing emergency vaccination or conducting examinations of contact persons, etc. Rospotrebnadzor provides all summary data about cases of infectious diseases to the MoH on a monthly basis. Rospotrebnadzor also provides regular reports on infectious diseases .The Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED-mail) was organized in 1994 as an outbreak reporting system based on web technologies. In 1999, ProMED-mail started to operate as an official program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases. ProMED-mail is now an electronic outbreak reporting system for the monitoring of emerging infectious diseases globally. It acquires information from all open official and unofficial sources and works 24 h a day and seven days a week. ProMED-mail often announces outbreaks through public access systems before official notifications and makes information on them accessible to the public.The ProMED-mail Russian language service started in 2004. The Russian language network covers Russia and the former USSR countries. The ProMED-mail RUS team provide between one and three posts every day about disease outbreaks or unusual events relating to infectious diseases in Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union, which are distributed for free to more than 1000 subscribers. Subscription to the service is also free. Rospotrebnadzor frequently uses information posted in ProMED-mail about unusual events relating to infectious diseases abroad in its public reports. ProMED-mail RUS provides valuable contributions to the official epidemiological surveillance system in Russia for use in practical work.Although it is difficult to encompass, all local, regional and global decision-making regarding climate change countermeasures and planning must consider and include the resulting biological/ecological chain reaction.Epidemics have plagued humans throughout history. The balance of living in nature surrounded by microorganisms is delicate. Diseases can emerge when this balance is shifted by the various causes that occur when humans come into closer contact with previously uninhabited areas. Climate warming, which is currently indisputable, can accelerate this process. International surveillance of infectious diseases needs to be improved. However, as shown in this paper, despite the obvious need for the harmonization of surveillance data, there is still a long way to go before international comparisons can be quickly and efficiently made in order to project, predict and even prevent outbreaks.We believe that the first step for data harmonization should be an international conference with the participation of the Arctic states’ health authorities. We understand that it is difficult to hold such a conference at the global level (WHO). To begin with, it may be possible to hold such a conference at the level of Europe and Russia (the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and Rospotrebnadzor).As we have shown in this study, well-functioning international collaboration in surveillance and data collection is needed. We also point to the need for the involvement of local communities in such efforts. We have created a database that can be used by international experts from a variety of disciplines, as addressing climate-sensitive infections (CSIs) requires a multidisciplinary approach. There are no administrative borders for microorganisms and species, and in order to keep infectious diseases under control, we need broad and trustful international collaboration and harmonization of collected data.