Bay Area Blueprint: Worker Cooperatives as a Community Economic Development Strategy

The growing low-wage service sector in our economy, combined with overall wage and wealth gaps that are especially concentrated in communities of color, means many working adults don’t make enough money to cover basic needs. Businesses that are owned and run by their workers offer a different way of doing business that benefits workers, businesses, and society. Worker coops are a key component of a “new economy,” and as such, Community Economic Development efforts should incorporate worker cooperative development into their strategies. This paper describes a project in the Bay Area of California to create a local action plan for moving towards scale and impact of worker cooperative development by engaging multi-sectoral actors. It includes a framework for assessing the opportunities in a local region to increase worker coops to benefit low wage workers, and takeaways for other regions that want to apply a similar approach

Conductometric titration method for determination of naftidrofuryl oxalate, propafenone HCl and sotalol HCl using silver nitrate

A simple, precise, rapid, and low-cost conductometric method for determination of naftidrofuryl oxalate, propafenone HCl and sotalol HCl in pure form and in pharmaceutical formulations using silver nitrate has been described. The method is based on the precipitation of oxalate or chloride ions coming from the cited drugs with silver ions, yielding silver oxalate or silver chloride and the conductance of the solution is measured as a function of the volume of titrant. The studied drugs were evaluated in double distilled water in the range of 1-15 mg. Various experimental conditions were established and results obtained showed good recoveries with relative standard deviation of 0.909, 0.955 and 0.983 for naftidrofuryl, propafenone and sotalol, respectively. The proposed procedures were applied successfully to the analysis of these drugs in their pharmaceutical formulations. Results were favorably comparable to the official or reference methods

Conductometric determination of naproxen in bulk and pharmaceutical dosage form

This study aimed at the development of simple and cheap conductometric method that can be used for the determination of naproxen in bulk and dosage forms. During the study, naproxen was titrated with sodium hydroxide (Method A) and potassium hydroxide (Method B) and the end points were determined with conductivity cell. Variables affecting the end point determination were also studied in the range of 1-10 mg/mL of naproxen. The proposed methods were validated by precision and recovery studies. The percentage recoveries ranged from 99.15±0.659 and 101.13±0.543 with % RSD of 0.897 and 0.749 with sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide, respectively. The methods were effectively applied for the determination of naproxen in tablet dosage form. The methods proposed in this study can be used as substitute for more composite and classy methods used for the determination of naproxen and are highly reproducible as compared to other reported methods

Nature of the anodic tellurate wave at the dropping mercury electrode

Tellurate solutions at the dropping mercury electrode show an adsorption type anodic wave in the vicinity of zero volts vs. S.C.E. The presence of this anodic wave is attributed to depolarization of mercury electrode and the formation of an insoluble mercurous tellurate film given by the reaction 2 Hg[deg] + H6TeO6 --> Hg2H4TeO6 + 2H+ + 2e. Under similar conditions an anodic wave is not observed with tellurite, selenate, selenite and arsenate.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/32317/1/0000385.pd

Effects of phosphate, glucose, and ammonium on cell growth and lincomycin production by Streptomyces lincolnensis in chemically defined media

Cell growth and lincomycin production were measured in batch cultures of Streptomyces lincolnensis in chemically defined media. In these fermentations the specific rate of antibiotic production was maximal during growth and always declined at the end of the growth phase. It was found that both phosphate and ammonium salts, while required for cell growth, had negative effects on antibiotic production. By increasing the concentration of magnesium sulfate, it was possible to increase both the production rates and final titers of lincomycin. The mechanism for this effect was found to be the reduction of soluble phosphate in the medium through the precipitation of ammonium magnesium phosphate. Lincomycin production rates were not inhibited by glucose at concentrations of up to 30 g/L.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/37891/1/260270318_ftp.pd

Training as a social purpose: are economic and social benefits delivered?

This paper reports original research which measures the social and economic impact of training and skills development on individuals who participated in training provided by social purpose, nonprofit organizations. An implicit policy assumption is that such organizations contribute to social and economic regeneration. Examining the costs and benefits of training to trainees, an adapted Return on Investment methodology measures any economic benefit, while an Index of Social Benefit measures changes in individual well-being. The results demonstrate that while changes to both the economic and social wellbeing of trainees occur, it does not necessarily relate solely to the training they received. Instead, changes reflect other, often complex, aspects of trainees’ lives, although training may facilitate change. Furthermore, social purpose, nonprofit organizations need to evince the socioeconomic benefits of their training programmes to secure future funding, public or private, but proving their successful delivery may be difficult to determine

A study of the metal binding capacity of saccharinic acids formed during the alkali catalysed decomposition of cellulosic materials: nickel complexation by glucoisosaccharinic acids and xyloisosaccharinic acids

The stoichiometry of the metal complexes formed between nickel and the ligand β-glucoisosaccharinic acid (β-GISA) and a racemic mixture of enantiomers of xyloisosaccharinic acid (XISA) has been determined at both neutral and alkaline pHs. Bjerrum plots, Job's plots and conductance measurements indicated that for each of the systems one to one Ni(ligand) complexes were formed at near neutral pHs (13) sparingly soluble Ni2(ligand)(OH)4 complexes were formed. The stability constants for the Ni(β-GISA), Ni(α-GISA) and Ni(XISA) complexes formed at neutral pH were determined under identical conditions using polarographic studies. The measured stability constants for Ni(β-GISA) (log10 β = 1.94 ± 0.15) and for Ni(α-GISA)(log10 β = 2.07 ± 0.13) are very similar; the value measured for the Ni(XISA) complex (log10 β = 0.83) was an order of magnitude smaller. The stability constants for the Ni2(Ligand)(OH)4 complexes formed at highly alkaline pHs were determined using the Schubert method. The measured stability constant for Ni2(β-GISA)(OH)4 (log10 β = 30.6 ± 0.5) was an order of magnitude bigger than the value for Ni2(α-GISA)(OH)4 (log10 β = 29.0 ± 0.5) measured under identical conditions. Attempts to measure the stability constant for Ni2(XISA)(OH)4 were unsuccessful; Ni2(XISA)(OH)4 complexes were not present in significant amounts at high pH to allow the log10β value to be determined by the Schubert method