Find My College is an app to help people who are interested in pursuing a collegiate degree; find a college/s that is right for them. This app is designed using the Ionic Framework, to allow access across all operating systems such as Android and MacOS. We wanted to create an app that people using Android or Apple can use, and this framework allows us to do that. The app is very user friendly and straightforward, which makes it usable to all types of people. It will be a free to use app that can be improved and adjusted if changes are needed/wanted.

Silicone wristbands consist of a porous surface with the potential to sequester organic contaminants in the environment. Their properties allow for them to be used as a novel sampling approach to assessing personal human exposure to environmental contaminants. The purpose of the study was to understand the effectiveness of silicone wristbands as sampling devices. This was addressed by identifying and quantifying pesticide recovery from exposed wristbands. Triplicate groups of wristbands were dosed with 37 persistent organochlorine or organophosphate pesticides and then extracted to estimate human exposure through recovery. Results suggest that silicone wristbands have the potential to absorb a number of pesticides and organic contaminants, although at varying rates and quantities. As more uptake and sequestration rates can be established, wristbands have the potential to serve as indicators of human exposure to a variety of pesticides and other chemical groups at trace amounts.

Beginning in the early 1990s, nuclear forensic science is a relatively young field that focuses on “re-establishing the history of nuclear material of unknown origin” (Mayer, et al. 2010, p. 1). Specifically, investigators compare these unknown materials, pre-detonation in this case, based on their characteristics and process history (Mayer, et al. 2010, p. 1). In 2010, the Committee of Nuclear Forensics made ten recommendations on the procedures that could lead to improvement in investigation methods. In particular, this paper discusses Recommendation 6: “The nuclear forensics community should develop and adhere to standards and procedures that are rooted in the applicable underlying principles that have been recommended for modern forensic science, including calibration using reference standards; cross-comparison with other methods; inter-laboratory comparisons; and identification, propagation, and characterization of uncertainties'' (Committee of Nuclear Forensics, 2010, p. 11). The main objective of this paper is to compile a literature review to determine how this recommendation was followed, if at all, and produce a list of suggestions that could complement any effort towards the improvement of the field. Out of the methods recommended, that which has fostered the most growth has been cross-comparison. For example, the need for human supervision has decreased, which has decreased the need for human error (Reading, et al., 2017, p. 6013). However, areas that would benefit from development are increasing the number of disciplines in the field (Croudace, et al., 2016, p. 128). These conclusions provided the basis for improvements to other existing studies like DNA and fingerprinting.

As the opioid epidemic continues to rise, so does the incidence of neonatal abstinence syndrome. Neonatal abstinence syndrome, or NAS, is a withdrawal condition that occurs when a fetus has been exposed to addictive drugs prior to birth, most commonly opioids. Newborns with NAS can experience a variety of symptoms at and after birth, including trembling, sleep problems, seizures, and vomiting. Women who use opioids during pregnancy have a much higher risk of their newborn developing NAS. If a woman is suspected of using drugs during her pregnancy, the newborn will likely be tested toxicologically for NAS or other exposure to drugs. There is debate about the procedures that are used to determine who is tested and who is not. Institutions are currently being left to make their own decisions about how newborn toxicology tests will be performed and who receives such tests. Unless a mother self-reports her use, a test may not be performed unless certain factors are observed. This leaves room for variation and inconsistency across the board. Guidelines have been created in some institutions regarding several indicators of drugs abuse during pregnancy. However, this is not consistent between institutions across the nation and allows for the possibility of misdiagnosis or the lack of one altogether. Standards should be implemented regarding these toxicology tests for newborns to ensure all cases of infants with NAS are identified and able to be treated. This paper will examine neonatal abstinence syndrome, how toxicology testing is performed in newborns, why standards should be implemented, and provide a comparison between an upcoming and a current method of testing in newborns for NAS.

Studying the effects of viruses and toxins on honey bees is important in order to understand the danger these important pollinators are exposed to. Hives exist in various environments, and different colonies are exposed to varying environmental conditions and dangers. To properly study the changes and effects of seasonality and pesticides on the population dynamics of honey bees, the presence of each of these threats must be considered. This study aims to analyze how infected colonies grapple more deeply with changing, seasonal environments, and how toxins in pesticides affect population dynamics. Thus, it addresses the following questions: How do viruses within a colony affect honey bee population dynamics when the environment is seasonal? How can the effects of pesticides be modeled to better understand the spread of toxins? This project is a continuation of my own undergraduate work in a previous class, MAT 350: Techniques and Applications of Applied Mathematics, with Dr. Yun Kang, and also utilizes previous research conducted by graduate students. Original research focused on the population dynamics of honey bee disease interactions (without considering seasonality), and a mathematical modeling approach to analyze the effects of pesticides on honey bees. In order to pursue answers to the main research questions, the model for honey bee virus interaction was adapted to account for seasonality. The adaptation of this model allowed the new model to account for the effects of seasonality on infected colony population dynamics. After adapting the model, simulations with arbitrary data were run using RStudio in order to gain insight into the specific ways in which seasonality affected the interaction between a honey bee colony and viruses. The second portion of this project examines a system of ordinary differential equations that represent the effect of pesticides on honey bee population dynamics, and explores the process of this model’s formulation. Both systems of equations used as the basis for each model’s research question are from previous research reports. This project aims to further that research, and explore the applications of applied mathematics to biological issues.