Bachelor's Essays

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Browsing Bachelor's Essays by Issue Date "2013-07-19"

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
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    Forensic DNA genotyping of pelagic marine fish larvae sampled across the Western North Atlantic Continental Shelf
    (2013-07-19) Cole, Amanda M; Shedlock, Andrew M
    This project generated an archive of purified genomic DNA from 300 pelagic marine fish larvae collected through the CofC Transects program from November 2003-November 2005 at 20 oceanic sampling stations spanning the continental shelf of South Carolina. High phenotypic plasticity of open-ocean larval organisms prohibits their reliable identification by conventional morphological character analysis. Therefore PCR amplification and DNA sequencing of Cytochrome Oxidase subunit 1 (CO1), a mitochondrial protein encoding gene, and the non-coding mitochondrial D-loop was used to forensically genotype larvae at two distinct loci. Of the 300 samples processed, over 100 yielded clean target sequences. PCR products were analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis prior to sequencing, and online BLAST-based informatics of genomic data revealed taxonomic diversity of more than 25 distinct families of fishes. These successful genotyping results are being integrated with physical oceanography and biogeography to help bridge a large gap in our ability to model juvenile recruitment and community dynamics of ecologically important pelagic fish populations.
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    Hemodynamic variables and risk factors in a biracial stroke population
    (2013-07-19) Coker, Amanda C; Lackland, Daniel T; Meyer-Bernstein, Elizabeth
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    Human Trafficking and State Legislation
    (2013-07-19) Davis, Victoria Ashley; Wofford, Claire
    Different theoretical approaches to state human trafficking legislation. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of the legislation of Florida, California, and New York in terms of prosecution and victim services.
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    Implementation of a Worksite Wellness Program for the Physical Plant Employees at the College of Charleston
    (2013-07-19) Davis, Kelcey Olivia; Scheett, Timothy P
    The combination of obesity and overall poor health has become a pandemic across the US. With this pandemic comes a great increase in many preventable diseases, which are detrimental to an individual’s health, one’s overall wellbeing and are very costly in terms of healthcare expenses. Worksite wellness is a growing trend in today’s companies as it has been shown to offer many benefits, not just to employees but to the company overall as productivity increases and overall health and rapport of employees improves. The College of Charleston’s Physical Plant employees represent a population that has a high rate of preventable diseases such as diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease. The goal of this project was to improve overall health awareness of this population by providing health education lectures on overall nutrition, information on various preventable metabolic diseases, benefits of proper nutrition and regular physical activity, and healthy food preparation. The program also included a physical activity instructional component. This included information on safety concerns and precautions of exercise and also instruction on proper exercise technique. Methods: Employees within the College of Charleston’s Physical Plant were recruited for involvement in the program on a voluntary basis. They had the opportunity to attend 6 lectures upon receiving permission from their supervisor. The lectures each covered a particular topic and included a multimedia presentation followed by question and answers and a discussion session. Physical activity instructional classes were offered three days a week on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. To note and record changes, participants completed surveys, one about the physical activity portion of the program and the other about the lecture/health education portion. Data drawn from these surveys was used to determine changes in behavior, attitude and knowledge of the participants. Results: Participants who attended at least one lecture (n=31) completed the lecture survey and all those who attended at least one physical activity session (n=24) completed the physical activity survey at the end of the program. Ninety-six percent of participants reported that they at least agreed or strongly agreed (70%) that they felt that their knowledge on health had improved as a result of attending one or more of the health lectures. Ninety-two percent reported that they agreed or strongly agreed (57%) that they felt better prepared to make healthy choices about food and 92% reported that they agreed or strongly agreed (60%) that they have a better understanding of the chronic diseases discussed in lecture (diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, etc.) The physical activity survey revealed the following information; a total of 83% of participants reported an overall increase in physical activity, whether it was that they just started an exercise routine (58%) or they had increased the amount since the start of the program (25%). Furthermore, 88% of the participants reported that they agreed (33%) or strongly agreed (54%) that they felt more confident exercising. Discussion: The use of a worksite wellness model was a viable means for implementing a healthy lifestyle intervention program for the representative underserved population. Integrating the program within and around the work schedule of employees made it more convenient and easier for participants to join and adhere to. Many individuals spend at least a third of their day at work making lifestyle intervention programs a feasible means to increase health education and participation in physical activity of employees, which led to positive healthy lifestyle changes among participants.
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    Microscopic Evaluations of Differences Between Synchronous and Asynchronous Insect Flight Muscles
    (2013-07-19) Crowe, Mary E; Ayme-Southgate, Agnes J
    Projectin and mp20, protein components of insect muscle are under investigation for their role in muscle contraction. Many studies in <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> flight muscles indicate that projectin is found between the Z and I band regions, whereas mp20 is totally absent. In this study we used locations reported in <i>D. melanogaster</i> as a model to investigate the location of the projectin epitopes and mp20 in <i>Danaus plexippus</i> (monarch butterfly), <i>Manduca sexta</i> (tobacco hornworm moth), <i>Apis mellifera</i> (bee) and <i>Acheta domesticus</i> (cricket). All insects listed apart from <i>A. mellifera</i> have flight muscles with properties different from <i>D. melanogaster</i>. Using indirect immunofluorescence microscopy (IMF), the protein locations were studied in each insect model, and confocal micrographs were obtained. Also, RT-PCR data were collected to determine the presence or absence of mp20 in the cricket and bee. Data suggest that the projectin location in the three insect models appears to agree with the predictions from <i>D. melanogaster</i>. Our data show that the location of mp20 depends on the muscle types, but not the physiological nature (synchronous or asynchronous).
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    Power Laws, CEO Compensation, and Inequality
    (2013-07-19) Vaught, Dyanne Ashleigh; Blackwell, Calvin
    CEO compensation, top incomes, and the net worth of the richest Americans have been increasing rapidly over the last thirty years. We hypothesize that the trends in CEO compensation have been caused by the same economy-wide factors that have contributed to increases in wealth and income. We test this hypothesis by using ExecuComp, Forbes 400, and IRS tax data to estimate power law distributions and compare the behavior of these distributions over time. Using the method of maximum likelihood, we estimate a power law distribution for each year observed for CEO compensation and net worth of the wealthiest Americans. Using linear regression techniques, we estimate a power law distribution for CEO compensation and individual income. We find that the Forbes 400 distribution changes little over time, while CEO compensation changes significantly. We find no evidence for the hypothesis that these two distributions move together. However, the parameters of income distribution and the distribution of CEO compensation are correlated; there is evidence that these distributions move together.
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    The Shift in the REIT Risk Profile
    (2013-07-19) Gambill, James Angus; Evans, Dr. Jocelyn