Israeli public diplomacy toward the United States: a network and narrative approach

Israel’s public diplomacy efforts in the U.S. are aimed at garnering American public support for Israeli foreign policy. This study aims to identify the networks of Israeli public diplomacy toward the United States. Using the theoretical frameworks of networked public diplomacy and strategic narrative, the authors try to understand how network strategy is used and information is circulated to create a strategic narrative. Therefore, the two methods of social network analysis and qualitative content analysis are applied to identify the networks of Israeli public diplomacy in the United States and the content produced by it. The study finds that in Israel’s public diplomacy model, the networking method stands in contrast to its government-oriented strategic narrative. Thus, new forms of communication are applied to conduct old strategies. The research identifies four types of actors who apply new public diplomacy techniques and dissects the strategic narrative they employ to affect the American public in the service of Israeli interests. Despite the effort to apply new forms of public diplomacy, strategic narrative production and dissemination remain highly governmental and closed, which is indicative of the persistence of old forms of public diplomacy.     

Comparison of the effects of acute and chronic psychological stress on metabolic features in rats

This study was aimed to compare the effects of acute and chronic psychological stress on metabolic factors. Forty-two male Wistar rats were divided into control and stressed groups. Stress was applied by a communication box acutely (1 d) and chronically (15 and 30 d). Blood sampling was carried out by retro-orbital-puncture method. The plasma levels of glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride, insulin, and corticosterone were measured. In addition, feed and water intake, latency to eat and drink, adrenal and body weights were determined. Acute and chronic psychological stress did not significantly change basal plasma corticosterone levels. However, immediately (1 min) after acute exposure to stress, plasma corticosterone level increased compared to that before stress exposure. Acute stress increased plasma insulin levels significantly. Fifteen days of stress exposure resulted in plasma glucose increase. Chronic stress significantly increased feed intake, latency to eat, and adrenal weight compared to acute stress. The body weights of both control and stressed groups increased markedly during the experiment. Homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) index did not change significantly in the stressed group. In conclusion, application of acute and chronic psychological stress leads to different metabolic and/or behavioral changes but the metabolic changes resulting from acute exposure to stress seem to be more pronounced.