SWOSU Research and Scholarly Activity Fair 2016

Welcome to the Twenty-Third SWOSU Research and Scholarly Activity Fair! On display today are 117 presentations involving 187 student researchers, writers, presenters, and artists, and 45 faculty sponsors encompassing scholarly activity from the SWOSU School of Nursing and the SWOSU Departments of Art, Communication, and Theatre; Biological Sciences; Business & Computer Science; Chemistry and Physics; Education; Engineering Technology; Language and Literature; Music; Pharmaceutical Sciences; Psychology; and Social Sciences. In addition, there are poster presentations from the Western Technology Center Biomedical Academy

SWOSU Research and Scholarly Activity Fair 2018

On behalf of the members of the Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU) University Research and Scholarly Activity Committee (USRAC) - Welcome to the Twenty-Fifth SWOSU Research and Scholarly Activity Fair! There are 130 poster presentations and 10 oral presentations involving 293 student researchers, writers, presenters, artists, collaborators, and faculty sponsors encompassing activities from the SWOSU College of Pharmacy; SWOSU School of Nursing & Allied Health Sciences; and SWOSU Departments of Art, Communication, & Theatre; Biological Sciences; Business & Computer Science; Chemistry and Physics; Education; Engineering Technology; Language & Literature; Music; Psychology; and Social Sciences. This also includes guest presenters from the Biomedical Academy at the Western Technology Center, El Reno Public Schools, BlueSTEM AgriLearning Center, and Francis Tuttle Technology Center

SWOSU Research and Scholarly Activity Fair 2017

Welcome to the Twenty-Fourth SWOSU Research and Scholarly Activity Fair! On display today are 158 poster presentations and 11 oral presentations, involving 314 student researchers, writers, presenters, and artists, and 47 faculty sponsors encompassing scholarly activity from the SWOSU Departments of Art, Communication, and Theatre; Biological Sciences; Business & Computer Science; Chemistry and Physics; Engineering Technology; Language & Literature; Music; Pharmaceutical Sciences; Psychology; and Social Sciences; and SWOSU School of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences. In addition, there are poster presentations from the Western Technology Center Biomedical Academy, Francis Tuttle Technology Center, El Reno Public Schools, and BlueSTEM AgriLearning Center

What Water Works for SWOSU?

Bottled water has become a staple of our fast paced lives. Between 2000 to 2008, the sales of bottled water in the United States doubled from $6.1 to$12.6 billion (“Bottled Water,” 2008). One of the major reasons that bottled water drinkers give for their preference is convenience. Alternatively, critics assert that bottled water hurts the environment, is overpriced, and is no safer than tap water. This raises the question: does taste or other less physiological factors such as cost and availability affect what water people choose to drink? A study conducted at University of Applied Sciences Hamburg sampled females on whether type of water affecd sensitivity to taste (Hoehl, Schoenburger, & Busch- Stockfishch, 2010). Researchers found most subjects tasted a sourness when sampling water containing minerals. Nordin, Razani, Markison, & Murphy (2003) reported older subjects to have a poorer ability to discriminate between taste intensities. These researchers also observed some gender differences. Therefore, the objective of our study was to determine whether taste, age, gender, cost and/or availability have an effect on what water that people at Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU) actually prefer

The Relationship Between Salivary Measures and Perceived Stress and Anxiety in First Semester Pharmacy Students

The Anxiety and Depression Association of America defines stress as the response to a threat in a situation, whereas anxiety is the reaction to the stress1. This means the acute fight-or-flight stress response ends once the situation is resolved, but anxiety is the resulting, long-term worry that may be manifested in such symptoms as headaches, high blood pressure, heart palpitations, and insomnia. Marshall et al. (2008) reported mental health-related quality of life scores for third-year student pharmacists were significantly below U.S. mean scores for individuals aged 20 to 34 years old, and, as stress increased, their scores decreased2. Votta and Benau (2013) found year in pharmacy program correlated negatively with stress levels, with first year student pharmacists being most stressed3. Preliminary evaluation of survey data from this study found first year, first semester student pharmacists perceived to have experienced significantly more stress and anxiety later in the semester as compared to the start4. Therefore, it is hypothesized that physiological measures of stress will also increase over the semester, and therefore be directly related to survey measures of stress and anxiety. Lajaunie et al. (2016) found no clear preference among the comparator and three relaxation techniques in this study, other than student pharmacists rated the comparator (Power Posing) as being easiest to conduct4. In contrast, it is hypothesized that treatment differences will be found when using changes in physiological measures to more objectively assess effects on student pharmacists. Ultimately, findings will be used to encourage student pharmacists to mitigate stress and anxiety levels

The Effects of Relaxation Techniques on Salivary Measures in Student Pharmacists

In 2011, the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education1 mandated measurement of stress in Student Pharmacists, specifically potential negative impacts on learning experiences and morale. Votta and Benau (2013)2 provided supporting evidence that pharmacy students experience elevated, but not extreme, levels of perceived stress as compared to the general population. Leffler et al. (2016)3 imposed a relaxation or non-relaxation technique on student pharmacists - they found two relaxation techniques (Mindfulness and Body Scan Meditation) and one control (Power Posing) were rated as easiest to conduct, most liked, and to cause subjects to feel more relaxed. In contrast, Mental Stimulation and 4x4 breathing were found to be the least useful to reduce stress. Salivary measures were determined in these same student pharmacists, to evaluate whether they provide similar outcomes when evaluating the effects of relaxation and non-relaxation techniques on student pharmacists as compared to survey results