Agricultural Practices and Nitrogen Cycling Microbes: The Impact of Sustainable Farming Practices on Nutrient Movement in Indianapolis Urban Farms

As population movement to urban centers and decreased availability of fresh foods becomes more common, the prevalence of food deserts is becoming far greater. Urban farming can potentially help address these issues by bringing healthy and fresh food sources directly to these areas that lack access to quality food. Urban farming is reliant on the implementation of sustainable practices, like the use of cover crops, to increase the amount of nutrients that are accessible to plants from the soil. Nitrogen is a vital nutrient but cannot be readily produced by plants, so it must be obtained by either an external or internal source. The internal supply of Nitrogen is obtained through a mutualistic, commensal, or symbiotic relationship between the plant and nitrogen (N)-cycling microbes found in soil. This study aims to quantify the number of N-cycling microbes that are present in urban farms throughout the city of Indianapolis. These factors indicate that N transformations between different chemical types are occurring within the soil, which will likely affect the immediate and long-term supply of N. This process is essential to increase the health of the soil. The focus of this study is how sustainable farming practices and an increased N supply in the soil can lead to further success in urban farming in Indianapolis, therefore addressing some of the problems of food insecurity impacting many urban centers. It is hypothesized that sustainable practices will increase the amount of N-cycling occurring, making soil healthier for urban farming. I predict that soil samples retrieved from the growing beds of farms that implement sustainable practices will have higher quantity and diversity of N-cycling microbial genes than samples retrieved from outside the growing beds. This study used samples from 4 urban farms in the Indianapolis area. The samples were gathered from inside growing beds and surrounding non-farmed background soil areas. The samples were amplified using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and then quantified using Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction qPCR. Thought there was variability in our results, we found that the samples gathered from inside the growth beds had higher quantity of N-cycling genes than outside the growth beds

Construction and statistical analysis of group auditory tests for grades one, two and three.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

An analysis in mental imagery in grade five.

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

2020: Suki Kwon

During Women’s History Month, the University of Dayton Women’s Center coordinates, as an experiential learning opportunity for students, an annual exhibit highlighting the contributions women have made at the University of Dayton. Theme for 2020: Women of Courage.https://ecommons.udayton.edu/women_of_ud/1037/thumbnail.jp

Evaluation of the Energetic Factors in Crystalline Pharmaceuticals Using Solid-state Density Functional Theory and Low-frequency Vibrational Spectroscopy

Due to the importance of maintaining stable and effective pharmaceutical solid doses, it is critical to study the variety of solid forms that active pharmaceutical ingredients can adopt including polymorphs, hydrates, and cocrystals. In this work, low-frequency vibrational spectroscopies and rigorous quantum mechanical simulations are combined to provide a new technique for characterizing and investigating pharmaceutically relevant polymorphs, hydrates, and cocrystals as well as a series of model cocrystals. Low-frequency spectra in the sub-200 cm-1 range provide not only unique and characteristic spectra for all of the systems explored here but, along with X-ray structural parameters, they offer a way to benchmark computational models and ensure that the models are fully capturing essential components such as the packing arrangement and the intermolecular forces present. Accurate quantum mechanical simulations allow us to determine the exact motions associated with specific low-frequency vibrational modes and this work demonstrates that large pharmaceuticals, including ones with multiple species like cocrystals, can be successfully modeled with solid-state density functional theory. Solid-state density functional theory also delivers a way to investigate how the conformations of molecules differ between polymorphs and how manipulation of the hydrogen bonding network of a solid may affect the overall stability. By studying the intermolecular forces present in the different forms, insights into stability can be made to aid future pharmaceutical crystal engineering endeavors

Practicing Democracy in the NCLB Elementary Classroom

The practice of teaching democracy in school is diminishing. The implementation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has forced teachers to teach to the test, and has required some to follow scripted curriculum, leaving little time or incentive for teaching democracy. This study examines the importance of practicing democracy and identifies ways in which it can be done in the NCLB classroom. The literature demonstrates the importance of teaching democracy through practice in schools. Ideas on how to accomplish this in the pre-NCLB classroom are well documented. By surveying public school teachers, this paper endeavors to bring awareness to its importance and to provide ways in which the NCLB classroom teacher can practice democracy. Results indicated that teachers are interested in practicing democracy and believe it is important. The survey and interviews found specific areas of concern and ways for teachers to bring democracy into the NCLB classroom

Climatic Changes in Southern Connecticut Recorded by Pollen Deposition at Rogers Lake

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/119125/1/ecy1969503409.pd