Social Media Interaction and Self-Perception in Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer

Social Media Interaction and Self-Perception in Adolescents and Young Adults with Cance

A Focus Group Exploration of Sexual Identity Formation in Nonmonosexual Women

Nonmonosexuality invisibility in the scientific literature is explored as well as opposing historical viewpoints of nonmonosexuality\u27s origins and nature. A focus group was used to explore the sexual identities of self-identified nonmonosexual women, their own journeys toward sexual identity formation, and the extent to which society has impacted their ability to express these identities. Using Consensual Qualitative Methodology (C. E. Hill, S. Knox, B. J. Thompson, E. N. Williams, S. A. Hess, & N. Ladany, 2005; C. E. Hill, B. J. Thompson, & E. N. Williams, 1997), several themes emerged: (a) defining one\u27s identity; (b) social consciousness; (c) experiences of marginalization; and (d) strategies for managing one\u27s identity in the face ofbiphobia. Results are discussed in light of focus group dynamics and benefits. Keywords: qualitative analysis, focus group, bisexual, women, identity formation, social structur

Engineers\u27 Motivation to Influence Public Decision Making: A Grounded Theory Approach

In the United States of America, public policies and public decision making associated with the engineering field are set by individuals who does not possess expertise and knowledge to carry out these tasks [1]. Most of decision makers are lawyers and social scientists, not engineers [2]. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the various factors which either encourage or inhibit engineers from influencing and participating in public policy. In this study, a grounded theory approach will be followed, data will be collected using semi-structured interviews and analyzed to develop a theory of research direct toward increasing the motivation of engineers to participate in public policy

Behavioral flexibility of a generalist carnivore

Innovative problem solving, repeated innovation, learning, and inhibitory control are cognitive abilities commonly regarded as important components of behaviorally flexible species. Animals exhibiting these cognitive abilities may be more likely to adapt to the unique demands of living in novel and rapidly changing environments, such as urbanized landscapes. Raccoons (Procyon lotor) are an abundant, generalist species frequently found in urban habitats, and are capable of innovative problem solving, which makes them an ideal species to assess their behavioral flexibility. We gave 20 captive raccoons a multi-access puzzle box to investigate which behavioral and cognitive mechanisms enable the generation of innovative and flexible behaviors in this species. Over two-thirds of raccoons tested were not only capable of innovative problem solving, but displayed repeated innovation by solving more than one solution on the multi-access puzzle box and demonstrated that they learned multiple solutions to a novel problem. Although we found no relationship between our measure of inhibitory control and a raccoon’s ability to exhibit repeated innovations, we did find a positive relationship between the diversity of behaviors that an individual exhibited when interacting with the problem and the number of solution types that they solved. We identified other predictors of problem-solving performance, including neophobia and persistence. Finally, we examine the implications of our results in the context of the cognitive-buffer hypothesis and consider whether the widespread success of an adaptive generalist carnivore could be due in part to having these cognitive and behavioral traits