Use of Social Networking Websites and Receipt of Cervical Cancer Screening

Pap smear screening detects cervical cancer in its earliest stages, yet thousands of women in the United States die annually from this disease. Social networking websites commonly provide information about recommended health screenings. In this quantitative study, the Health Belief Model provided the theoretical framework to determine if the use of social networking websites affected nurses\u27 decisions to receive Pap smear screening. A convenience sample of nurses was used, with the rationale that they were knowledgeable of and receptive to participating in a relevant health study. A total of 2,336 registered nurses practicing in Durham, North Carolina were invited to participate in the study. Over a period of 4 weeks, 107 participants responded to questions from the Health Belief Questionnaire and Pew Internet and American Life survey through an electronic questionnaire. Chi-square analysis determined the association between the receipt of Pap smear screening and the use of a social networking website use. Logistic regression further analyzed this association with age as a covariate. Nearly all participants reported having a Pap smear screening within the last 12 months. However, the lack of significant results showed that social networking website use was not a factor for higher screening rates. Despite the non-significant findings, the participants nevertheless reported a high use of social networking websites. These findings indicate that such platforms can be used to educate women on the importance of Pap smear screening. The study\u27s implications for positive social change are to use such sites to more effectively, to promote and educate on the importance of Pap smear screening

The Listening Theatre: A Metamodern Politics of Performance

This article offers a speculative analysis of emerging modalities and methods of creating within contemporary political performance made by British millennial artists that I argue have arisen in response to specific socio-economic, political and philosophical crises affecting us. By locating the term ‘millennial’ as a structure of feeling, as per Raymond Williams, I argue that, despite the inherent hypocrisy of generational research, the impact of these crises upon members of the generation has led particular artists to create empathetic dialogues between audience and performer. This article also argues that the emerging concept of metamodernism, popularised by Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den Akker, is inherent in understanding this reading of the millennial, and descriptive of particular ethical and aesthetic developments within millennial, political theatre. This article argues that these developments are in a direct response to the metamodern shift towards the essence of progress and truth as acts and ideas that also necessitate and propel constant crisis, oscillation and dialogue

A Silent Shout: Metamodern Forms of Activism in Contemporary Performance

There has been a recent and notable trend within contemporary performance spheres for artists to respond to various sociological, economic and political crises by creating participatory, community engaged performances. This article addresses how specific contemporary performance as activism projects have now evolved to respond to, and have been affected by, the emerging concept of the metamodern. By focusing on two 2017 productions, Mem Morrison’s Silencer and LaBeouf, Rönnkö & Turner’s HEWILLNOTDIVIDE.US, this article argues that the metamodern oscillation between sincerity and irony, as laid down by Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den Akker, has become an integral component in these artists’ performance-based activism. This article examines these performances in context with other politically engaged, participatory performance trends as well as the emerging concept of the metamodern in political and cultural spheres. The study offers a new insight into current practice formed upon the interstice of the metamodern and youth politics, and how performance as activism can be (re)defined within the current political landscape

Innovate to Mitigate: Science Learning in an Open-Innovation Challenge for High School Students

In this exploratory study, we report results from hosting two rounds of an open innovation competition challenging young people age 13-18 to develop a method for carbon mitigation. In both challenges, teams worked within the classroom and extensively on their own time out-of-school. The challenges were structured to engage participants to work collaboratively and independently in an open-ended, goal-oriented way, yet constrained their work by the parameters of the challenge, and supported it by a suite of tools, and resources. Evidence of learning science concepts and practices, student persistence, and the enthusiasm of participants, teachers and coaches, convince us that the Challenge structure and format is highly worthy of further development and investigation. Our findings indicate that Challenges such as this have the potential to enlarge the “ecosystem” of learning environments in the formal education system

Who Changes Who? Political Implications of the Rising Hispanic Population

Studying the growth of the Hispanic population yields specific political implications to be drawn based on the rate of growth for each Congressional District. Using Data from 2000, 2010, and 2020 Censuses along with Harvard’s Data Set titled, “Historical Congressional Legislation and District Demographics 1972-2014”, the information allows for interpretations to be made based on a Congressional District’s NOMINATE score and its percentage of the Hispanic population. After researching specific influences that help shape the Latino population in a political sense, like country of origin and level of generation in the United States, there were certain characteristics that have been demonstrated to correlate with a particular political party. Further, researching this topic presented some political theories about elected officials’ reactions to the growth of a minority population. The results of these findings warrant support for the linked fate voting theory and the racial threat theory, which are explanations for why Hispanics vote with those with shared experiences in mind and for existing populations to vote against Hispanic political agendas in times of Hispanic population growth, respectively. While region as a political indicator for the Hispanic population has been researched in the literature review, region is not tested in this research. Comparing regions like South vs. North would indicate those areas within the United States that are the most receptive to the Hispanic political agenda. Graphs that produced compelling results were scatter plots that tracked the NOMINATE score of members of the House of Representatives along with their percent Hispanic and tables that track differences in NOMINATE scores for some Congressional Districts over time. As the Hispanic population grows in Republican Congressional Districts, their NOMINATE score becomes more moderate; in Democratic Congressional Districts, their NOMINATE score becomes slightly more liberal. However, after a certain threshold, Democratic Congressional Districts also become more moderate. Applying these results to the Linked Fate theory and Racial Threat theory can produce an interesting debate on the influence of the growing Hispanic population on their Representatives. The conclusions of these findings represent that as the Hispanic population grows, they make a change in the voting behavior of their elected officials. This is important because of the rate of change that the United States is experiencing in terms of a rise in Hispanic population growth, and it gives possible indicators of the way that the future of politics will be shaped

The Listening Theatre: A Metamodern Politics of Performance

This article offers a speculative analysis of emerging modalities and methods of creating within contemporary political performance made by British millennial artists that I argue have arisen in response to specific socio-economic, political and philosophical crises affecting us. By locating the term ‘millennial’ as a structure of feeling, as per Raymond Williams, I argue that, despite the inherent hypocrisy of generational research, the impact of these crises upon members of the generation has led particular artists to create empathetic dialogues between audience and performer. This article also argues that the emerging concept of metamodernism, popularised by Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den Akker, is inherent in understanding this reading of the millennial, and descriptive of particular ethical and aesthetic developments within millennial, political theatre. This article argues that these developments are in a direct response to the metamodern shift towards the essence of progress and truth as acts and ideas that also necessitate and propel constant crisis, oscillation and dialogue.

African-American Male Identities in Adult Basic Education and Literacy Programs [Theorizing from the Literature]

This paper proposes that the relationship between literacy and identity holds potential for illuminating African-American men’s participation in ABEL programs and providing opportunities for learning