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Attitudes about menstruation
Title
Attitudes about menstruation: a qualitative study of implicit and explicit attitudes.
Author
Baldwin, Kaitlyn
Abstract/Description
Studies have been conducted to understand menstrual stigma, supporting the hypothesis that women internalize stigma and feel required to modify their behaviors to adapt to societal rules surrounding menstruation. Conflicting results have been reported regarding current attitudes toward menstruation, with some reporting that the stigma is still prevalent, while others have found no evidence of stigma. The purpose of the current research is to expand on these studies, further exploring the...
Show moreStudies have been conducted to understand menstrual stigma, supporting the hypothesis that women internalize stigma and feel required to modify their behaviors to adapt to societal rules surrounding menstruation. Conflicting results have been reported regarding current attitudes toward menstruation, with some reporting that the stigma is still prevalent, while others have found no evidence of stigma. The purpose of the current research is to expand on these studies, further exploring the prevalence of and reasons for menstruation stigma and to explore individual perceptions surrounding the discussion of women's menstrual cycles in college women and men. In a pilot study (Study 1) we found that, on a 7-point Likert scale, women and men self-report neutral to slightly positive attitudes toward menstruation, averaging slightly positive. In contrast, 87.7% of women and 76.9% of men have witnessed menstruation related bullying, and 52.3% of women have personally experienced it. These findings expose a discrepancy between experienced menstruation stigma and expected biases. As such, we modified our previous survey with more direct questions to better reveal the true attitudes of college students. The modified survey (Study 2) included questions regarding perceived stigma, internalized stigma, experienced stigma, and menstruation related stereotypes and an Implicit Association Task (IAT) to measure internalized menstruation stigma. We expected that Study 2 would replicate previous results regarding societal perceptions of menstrual stigma and personal attitudes toward menstruation trending positively. In addition, we expect to find that the IAT reveals participants to hold implicit negative associations about menstruation.
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Date Issued
2020
Identifier
1151766549, WFE0000684
Format
Document (PDF)
Haunting truth
Title
The Haunting truth: crime mapping around cemeteries in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Author
Barrett, Elizabeth
Abstract/Description
New Orleans, Louisiana is a famed tourist location in the United States. It is known for hosting elaborate Mardi Gras celebrations, creating mystery through the popularization of Voodoo, and calling itself home to major sports teams such as the New Orleans Saints. Alongside these claims to fame, New Orleans is also a city known for its high crime rate and elaborately designed cemeteries. Cemeteries are often a highly visited area within the city due to their unique history and architecture....
Show moreNew Orleans, Louisiana is a famed tourist location in the United States. It is known for hosting elaborate Mardi Gras celebrations, creating mystery through the popularization of Voodoo, and calling itself home to major sports teams such as the New Orleans Saints. Alongside these claims to fame, New Orleans is also a city known for its high crime rate and elaborately designed cemeteries. Cemeteries are often a highly visited area within the city due to their unique history and architecture. This project aims to educate tourists to the city about what crimes are most prevalent around the cemeteries in the city so they can stay safe while paying homage to the deceased of New Orleans. This project examines crime within a half mile radius of all New Orleans cemeteries from 2011-2018 by utilizing ArcGIS Pro to spatially examine the calls for service for the city during that time frame. By examining patterns of crime in these areas, tourists can be properly informed as to the crime they could experience while visiting the unique cemeteries in the city.
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Date Issued
2020
Identifier
1154769909, WFE0000705
Format
Document (PDF)
Ideological caucus membership and committee assignments in the U.S. House of Representatives
Title
Ideological caucus membership and committee assignments in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Author
Kinnard, Benjamin
Abstract/Description
The most important step in passing legislation in Congress lies in the committees where legislation is marked up and sent to the floor of the chamber for a vote. Understanding the composition of these committees is an important step in understanding why legislation is passed and why legislation is shaped the way it is. Ideological caucuses have been described as formal organizations that seek to use their votes to achieve policy outcomes counter to the desires of party leadership. The...
Show moreThe most important step in passing legislation in Congress lies in the committees where legislation is marked up and sent to the floor of the chamber for a vote. Understanding the composition of these committees is an important step in understanding why legislation is passed and why legislation is shaped the way it is. Ideological caucuses have been described as formal organizations that seek to use their votes to achieve policy outcomes counter to the desires of party leadership. The relationship between the two is what this project covers. This project analyzes why ideological caucuses get the seats in committees in the House of Representatives that they do. Using the partisan theory of committee assignments and the assumption that caucuses wish to achieve goals counter to those of party leadership, with data from the House from 2005- 2010, three hypotheses regarding the relationship between caucus membership and committee assignments were tested. The results show that ideological caucus members do not tend to be assigned to desirable committees more often than non-caucus members in most cases. However, the Democratic party does assign moderate members to constituency committees significantly more often than extreme members, whereas the reverse is true for the Republican party, pointing to a difference in the two parties not accounted for in the models. This research shows that while ideological caucuses may be a factor in committee assignments, there is not enough evidence to prove that caucus membership significantly predicts committee assignments. Rational choice models of members of Congress only go so far in explaining the variance in committee assignments.
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Identifier
1151767436, WFE0000686
Format
Document (PDF)
Measuring depression, anxiety and stress in nursing students using the DASS-21 scale
Title
Measuring depression, anxiety and stress in nursing students using the DASS-21 scale.
Author
Snow, Morgan
Abstract/Description
Nursing school students were predicted to have high levels of depression, anxiety, and stress due to academic and career pressures. Academic literature research showed that the DASS-21 was a reliable tool to measure depression, anxiety, and stress in nursing students and registered nurses. Before the assessment, a pilot study with two volunteers was completed; their responses are not included in the final data set. A sample of 50 nursing students from the Fall 2019 University of West Florida...
Show moreNursing school students were predicted to have high levels of depression, anxiety, and stress due to academic and career pressures. Academic literature research showed that the DASS-21 was a reliable tool to measure depression, anxiety, and stress in nursing students and registered nurses. Before the assessment, a pilot study with two volunteers was completed; their responses are not included in the final data set. A sample of 50 nursing students from the Fall 2019 University of West Florida Bachelor of Science in Nursing program volunteered to take the DASS-21 using a secure online survey tool, Qualtrics. Depression levels were the lowest of the three domains. The average scores for depression, anxiety, and stress were 4.84 out of 14, 7.96 out of 10, and 9.08 out of 17 respectively.
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Date Issued
2020
Identifier
1153935905, WFE0000702
Format
Document (PDF)
Oral hygiene regimes
Title
Oral hygiene regimes: how oil pulling and conventional mouthwashes affect dental biofilms, focus on Cariogenic Streptococci.
Author
Bercier, Charles H.
Abstract/Description
This research addresses whether nontraditional oral hygiene regimes provide antimicrobial efficacy comparable to commercially available synthetic mouthwashes. A common interest among holistic communities is "oil pulling"--a practice originating in ancient Ayurveda oral hygiene. It consists of rinsing the mouth with vegetable oils, of which sesame and coconut oils are preferred, to enhance oral hygiene. This study focused on whether oil pulling reduces cariogenic Streptococcus mutans to the...
Show moreThis research addresses whether nontraditional oral hygiene regimes provide antimicrobial efficacy comparable to commercially available synthetic mouthwashes. A common interest among holistic communities is "oil pulling"--a practice originating in ancient Ayurveda oral hygiene. It consists of rinsing the mouth with vegetable oils, of which sesame and coconut oils are preferred, to enhance oral hygiene. This study focused on whether oil pulling reduces cariogenic Streptococcus mutans to the same degree as does common mouthwash. Volunteers above age 18 were to participate in this UWF-IRB-approved study. Participants would provide oral rinses of 20mL with sterile saline before and after treatments of Listerine®, or pulling oil; the rinses were transported to the lab to test for S. mutans and other oral bacteria. After the first round of treatments were complete, a 1-week "reset" period allowed normal microbial flora to re-establish, after which another treatment regime began; the cycle continued until all participants underwent all treatments. Samples were plated on a highly selective medium, favoring growth of S. mutans. Samples were also used to inoculate two broth dilution-tube series consisting of 1) a non-selective general medium TSB, and 2) a S. mutans-selective medium. Preliminary trials of this protocol showed that Listerine® reduced S. mutans and other oral bacteria by over 1-thousand-fold. Furthermore, almost all visible background growth was eliminated from the media plates after Listerine® treatment.
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Date Issued
2020
Identifier
1153936619, WFE0000704
Format
Document (PDF)
Spatial and temporal variability of abiotic and biotic components of Thompson Bayou
Title
Spatial and temporal variability of abiotic and biotic components of Thompson Bayou.
Author
Wagner, Nicholas
Abstract/Description
Freshwater wetlands are unique habitats with notable levels of diversity. Interest and research regarding wetlands have increased in the past several decades, leading to legislation for their protection with the "Protection of Wetlands" executive order, the Clean Water Act of 1972, and the subsequent regulations and stipulations (Votteler 2002). Most research has focused primarily on functional aspects of freshwater microbial ecology, rather than elucidating microbial composition (Bodelier...
Show moreFreshwater wetlands are unique habitats with notable levels of diversity. Interest and research regarding wetlands have increased in the past several decades, leading to legislation for their protection with the "Protection of Wetlands" executive order, the Clean Water Act of 1972, and the subsequent regulations and stipulations (Votteler 2002). Most research has focused primarily on functional aspects of freshwater microbial ecology, rather than elucidating microbial composition (Bodelier 2013). This study was carried out in Thompson Bayou near the University of West Florida (UWF) with the objective of correlating microbial flora composition to varable spatial and temporal factors in the topwater of a temperate bayou ecosystem. Results indicated that pH, water temperature, and salinity displayed a consistent linear trend spatially, as well as significant temporal variability. The presence of 16S rRNA, pufM, and "Marine Groups" genes was detected.
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Date Issued
2020
Identifier
1156322305, WFE0000706
Format
Document (PDF)