Contraception and culture : what society says and how women are impacted

The use of and access to contraception in American culture has been a topic of controversy for several decades, and more recently, it has become a highly popular issue in government and public conversations. This paper serves to examine the ways in which women can be impacted by societal messages relating to contraception for the purposes of preventing pregnancy. By exploring what contraception is, the significance of contraception in our society, how societal attitudes about contraception are formed, and what this can mean for women in the United States, a better understanding of the importance of reproductive and contraceptive rights can be gained.Honors CollegeThesis (B.?.

Women’s Individual and Relationship-Level Attitudes and Behaviors Regarding Solo Masturbation and Vibrator Use

poster abstractBackground: Both public health and developmental literature emphasize the importance of solo masturbation as one component in healthy sexuality, particularly for women. However, few studies have examined how the context of a woman’s sexual/romantic relationship may impact both her attitudes towards and her frequency of solo masturbation, particularly in terms of vibrator use. Better understanding of this context has important implications for sexual health education and intervention efforts. Methods: Data were drawn from a larger internet-based, cross-sectional survey examining adult men’s and women’s health and life experiences. For the current study, we retained all female participants (N=113; Mean Age=29.37 years [SD=9.91]). Outcome measures included solo masturbation and vibrator use attitudes and behaviors; independent variables were perception of partner's knowledge of and comfort with participant’s masturbation and vibrator use, sexual entitlement, and sexual openness. Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations, were utilized to describe and understand the relationships among variables of interest (SPSS, v.22.0 (all p<.05). Results: Of the 113 participants, 76.0% (n=85) identified as being in some form of established sexual/romantic relationship. 54.7% (n=52) of participants had ever used a vibrator, while 38.9% (n=37) described themselves as current vibrator users. A majority of participants (62.3%, n=66) indicated that they masturbate a few times per month or more, with 50.0% (n=26) of vibratorusers indicating that they use a vibrator almost every time or every time they masturbate. 42.9% (n=39) of participants described themselves as being completely comfortable with their partner’s masturbation habits, and 59.8% (n=52) described their partner as either somewhat or completely comfortable with the participant’s masturbation. 60.5% (n=55) of participants indicated that they felt either somewhat or completely comfortable discussing masturbation with their partner. 85.7% (n=42) of vibrator-users indicated that their partner knew about their vibrator use, and 66.0% (n=33) felt their partner was either somewhat or completely comfortable with their vibrator use. Considering participants both with and without current partners, greater sense of sexual entitlement was associated with more positive attitudes about masturbation and vibrator use (R=0.758), as well as greater frequency of masturbation (R=0.455). Higher frequency of masturbation also correlated with more positive attitudes about masturbation and vibrator use (R=.381) and greater sexual openness (R=.266). Regarding the relationship context, partner knowledge of vibrator use was positively associated with greater frequency of vibrator use for solo masturbation (R=.361). Greater comfort discussing masturbation with a partner was correlated with more positive perception of partner’s comfort with the participant’s masturbation (R=.389), which in turn was positively associated with greater participant comfort with their partner’s masturbation habits (R=.300). Conclusion: Solo masturbation and vibrator use for masturbation are common among adult women, even when they are in established sexual/romantic relationships. Positive perceptions of a partner’s comfort with masturbation and vibrator use, as well as open sexual communication, may contribute to developing a sex-positive relationship environment that is supportive of women’s solo sex activities. Our findings provide potential avenues for revising existing sexual health and therapeutic interventions for women (with or without a partner)

Using Commercially Available Picture Activity Schedules and System of Least Prompts to Teach Lego Assembly

This study investigated effects of commercially available picture activity schedules (PAS) and system of least prompts (SLP) to teach recreation skills to four high school students with Autism Spectrum Disorders and intellectual disabilities using Lego sets. Results were evaluated through a multiple probe across participants design and indicate that a combination of PAS and SLP was effective for teaching the students to build Lego sets. All students improved their ability to build and were able to generalize the skill to novel sets after the completion of intervention. Limitations and implications for future practioners are discussed

Comparative design study of a diesel exhaust gas heat exchanger for truck applications with conventional and state of the art heat transfer enhancements

The exhaust gas of heavy duty diesel engines can provide an important heat source that may be used in a number of ways to provide additional power and improve overall engine efficiency. The sizing of a heat exchanger that can manage the heat load and still be of reasonable size and weight without excessive pressure drop is of significant importance especially for truck applications. This is the subject of the present work. To approach the problem, a total of five different configurations are investigated and a comparison of conventional and state of the art heat transfer enhancement technologies is included. Two groups of configurations are examined: (a) a classical shell and tube heat exchanger using staggered cross-flow tube bundles with smooth circular tubes, finned tubes and tubes with dimpled surfaces and (b) a cross-flow plate heat exchanger, initially with finned surfaces on the exhaust gas side and then with 10 ppi and 40 ppi metal foam material substituting for the fins. Calculations were performed, using established heat exchanger design methodologies and recently published data from the literature to size the aforementioned configurations. The solutions provided reduce the overall heat exchanger size, with the plate and fin type consisting of plain fins presenting the minimum pressure drop (up to 98% reduction compared to the other configurations), and the 40 ppi metal foam being the most compact in terms of size and weight. Durability of the solutions is another issue which will be examined in a future investigation. However, coupling of the exhaust heat exchanger after a particulate trap appears to be the most promising solution to avoid clogging from soot accumulation

Effects of relationship context and social factors on women's solo masturbaton and vibrator use

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)Little existing research has examined women’s solo masturbation and vibrator usage in a way that highlights the importance of both sexual agency and the sexual/romantic relationship context. This research evaluates if and how social factors, partnership status and the relationship context, and sexual self-concept impact a woman’s behaviors and attitudes toward masturbation and vibrator use. Using cross-sectional survey data from adult women (N=112), descriptive and bivariate analyses were used to explore a variety of factors. Single and partnered women did not differ significantly on a majority of measures, suggesting that partnership status may play an insignificant role in predicting women’s solo sex attitudes and behaviors. Regarding the relationship context, partner communication and positivity toward masturbation and vibrator use significantly varied together. Finally, greater sexual openness and sexual entitlement were associated with higher masturbation frequency. Results from this study suggest that masturbation and vibrator use are common among adult women, and women are capable of sexual agency in relation to masturbation and vibrator use, whether they are in established partnerships or not

Sex differences in the movement patterns of free-ranging chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii): foraging and border checking

Most social primates live in cohesive groups, so travel paths inevitably reflect compromise: decision processes of individuals are obscured. The fission-fusion social organisation of the chimpanzee, however, allows an individual’s movements to be investigated independently. We followed 15 chimpanzees (8 male and 7 female) through the relatively flat forest of Budongo, Uganda, plotting the path of each individual over periods of 1-3 days. Chimpanzee movement was parsed into phases ending with halts of more than 20 minutes, during which individuals fed, rested or engaged in social activities. Males, lactating or pregnant females, and sexually receptive females all travelled similar average distances between halts, at similar speeds, and along similarly direct beeline paths. Compared to lactating or pregnant females, males did travel for a significantly longer time each day and halted more often, but the most striking sex differences appeared in the organisation of movement phases into a day’s path. After a halt, males tended to continue in the same direction as before. Lactating or pregnant females showed no such strategy and often retraced the preceding phase, returning to previously visited food patches. We suggest that female chimpanzee movements approximate an optimal solution to feeding requirements, whereas the paths of males allow integration of foraging with territorial defence. The ‘continually moving forwards’ strategy of males enables them to monitor their territory boundaries – border checking – whilst foraging, generally avoiding the explicit boundary patrols observed at other chimpanzee study sites