Office of Research University of South Carolina 2018 Collected Abstracts: Collected abstracts that showcase research, scholarship, leadership and creative projects by undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral scholars and medical scholars representing the entire USC System. Prepared for DISCOVER USC April 20, 2018. www.sc.edu/DiscoverUSC 1 Table of Contents Undergraduate Student presentations 3 - 288 Graduate Student presentations 290 - 397 Postdoctoral Scholar presentations 398 - 408 Medical Scholar presentations 410 - 474 2 Undergraduate Students presentations 3 Adams, Maria Mentor(s) -- Ms. Amber Fallucca The Power of Education Education is something that we as college students often take for granted. Our entire lives we have been going to school with the goal of attending college and getting our dream job. There are millions of children around the world that do not have the opportunity to receive an education at all, let alone attend college. During my time at the University of South Carolina, I was elected to serve as a repre- sentative for an organization called Circle of Sisterhood. Circle of Sisterhood is a non-profit organi- zation founded and powered by sorority women on a mission to raise financial resources to remove education barriers for girls facing poverty and oppression. Myself and twelve other women have worked for two years to raise awareness and funds to build a school in Senegal in December 2018. One school build at time, we will help break the cycle of poverty by providing young women with the opportunity to receive an education. When a woman receives an education, she has the power to change the world. Through my experience of working with such a diverse group of women, I have learned not only learned how to be a servant leader, but also the importance of diversity. I have grown in my communication, leadership, and problem solving skills. My presentation will discuss the impor- tance of education and diversity and also highlight the leadership and personal skills I have gained while serving this organization. Adams, Hope Mentor(s) -- Dr. Keri Weed Math Anxiety May Be Reduced With Awareness And A Positive Interpretation The purpose of this study is to see if reinterpreting anxiety in a positive way is equally effective for math anxious students with different levels of mindfulness. A 2 (mindfulness: high or low) by 2 (con- dition: anxiety reappraisal, no anxiety reappraisal) between subjects design was used. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two reappraisal condition. The experimental group watched a video that focused on reappraising anxiety within three performance domains: karaoke, public speaking, and math. This video explains that interpreting anxiety positively improves performance in all three domains. The control group watched a promotional video of college students enjoying a winter kara- oke gathering. The sample will include 60 undergraduate women. Surveys measured math anxiety and mindfulness (in general and math specific); a median split was used to classify participants into high and low mindfulness groups. Electrodermal activity was measured while participants completed a computerized arithmetic verification task. We expect to find that participants with high mindfulness combined with anxiety reappraisal will result in optimal performance (i.e., better accuracy, faster reaction time, and greater EDA reactivity) and the group with high mindfulness without anxiety reap- praisal will perform the worst, because they are aware of their bodily sensations but may interpret them negatively. A pilot of this study found that math anxiety was related to judgmental attitudes. Our goal for research is to allow math anxious individuals to reappraise their anxiety positively, and in turn, perform better. Data will be analyzed using an analysis of variance (ANOVA) in SPSS when data collection is complete. Agho, Victory Mentor(s) -- Dr. Cheryl Armstead Weight Bigotry, Racism, and Shiftwork Stressors Predict Body Habitus Among Morbidly Obese African American Women Inequities and injustices in the distribution of chronic stressors, among southern African-American women (AAW) may contribute to poor adherence to weight loss programs and bariatric surgery out- comes. AAW who are morbidly obese (BMI>= 35) and have serious weight related health conditions may require bariatric surgery as an adjunctive tool to promote weight loss. In South Carolina, AAW represent a disproportionately high rate of bariatric (weight loss) surgery patients. Multiple stress 4 burdens contribute to poor dietary adherence, should a woman decide to have later bariatric surgery. I am reporting secondary analyses in support of my Magellan Guarantee Project. My data comes from a clinical community-based lifestyle randomized trial (CCTT). My findings will contribute to developing a culturally tailored intervention trial addressing weight bigotry, racism, perceived stress, and occupa- tional stress among AAW preparing for bariatric surgery. Methods: Questionnaire responses from 146 adult AAW were analyzed. Participants had post-high school educations. Measures of body habitus were body mass index [BMI = weight(kg) / height(m)2], fat mass [FM], and waist to hip ratio [WHR]). Participants, on average, were at the Class 2level of obesity (Mean BMI of 34.7(±7.7) kg/m2). Their average fat mass in pounds was 91.82(±35.03). Their mean WHR was 0.85(±0.80). Participants engaged in 5.4 years (± 7.9) of lifetime shift work on aver- age. Depressive symptoms were relatively high (6.6, ±5.1). Results: Stepwise linear regression models estimated the role of stressors in predicting body habitus. Weight discrimination (bullying) was the strongest and most consistent predictor across our three body habitus models. BMI was predicted by increased weight discrimination, depressive symptoms, lifetime shift work, and lower levels of racism (R2=.25, p<.001). Predictors of FM were weight discrim- ination, depressive symptoms, lifetime shift work, (R2=.20, p<.001). Eleven percent of the variance in the WHR was predicted by weight discrimination and education (p<.001). General life stress had no explanatory value. Conclusions & Recommendations: Our results show that inequitable treatment and shift work stress contribute to adverse body habitus among southern AAW. Culturally tailored pre-surgical behavioral interventions focusing on resilience, action, and adaptive coping to social stressors are beneficial for AW preparing for bariatric surgery. Ahrens, Ella Mentor(s) -- Dr. Jessica Klusek Propositional Density as an Indicator of Premature Language Decline in Women with the FMR1 Premutation Introduction: Approximately 1 in every 151 women has the FMR1 premutation, which means they are a carrier for the gene responsible for the most commonly inherited intellectual disability known as fragile X syndrome (Seltzer et al., 2012). Considering how prevalent the FMR1 premutation is, little is known about the associated phenotype, especially regarding language use. A study conducted by Sterling et al. (2013) found that speech dysfluencies, which reflect difficulties with linguistic planning and execution, increased with age for women with the premutation while the comparison group had no correlation between speech dysfluencies and age (Sterling, 2013).This suggests that women with the premutation show premature language decline. The goal of this study was to determine if women with the FMR1 premutation show other language deficits, such as decreased propositional density during a picture description task compared to age-matched control women. Propositional density is a measure of how much information (adjectives, prepositions, verbs, conjunctions, and adverbs) is con- veyed in a text or an utterance related to the total number of words and has been shown to decrease with age (Kemper & Sumner, 2001). Methods: Participants included 32 FMR1 premutation women (mean age=45.84) and 15 control women with no premutation (mean age=43.17). Both groups were given two picture description tasks: the cookie theft description task and the picnic description task. Both pictures displayed a scene that the participant narrated. Their narration was recorded and then transcribed according to the Systematic Analysis of Language Transcriptions conventions. From those language samples, propositional density was calculated using Computerized Propositional Idea Density Rater (CPIDR). The CPIDR program obtains a propositional density proportion score by calculating the number of propositions divided by the total number of words. Results: There were no significant differences between propositional density in women with the FMR1 premutation (M=.497, SD=.011) and control women (M=.494, SD=.013), p=.406. Conclusion: These results suggest that women with the FMR1 premutation do not have lower propositional density scores than the typical 5 population and that propositional density may not be an indicator of premature language decline in middle-aged women with the permutation. References: Full references on poster. Albrecht, Claire Mentor(s) -- Ms. Lisa Camp Female Leadership in Marching Music’s Major League I lead The Cadets Drum Corps through two summers over 90 consecutive days each season. I was the head drum major who conducted an ensemble of 150 world-class musical performers. The Ca- dets are 10-time Drum Corps International World Champions and are an 84-year-old marching music organization based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. As the head drum major, my role was to keep the drum