Cultivating an Opportunity: Access and Inclusion in Seattle\u27s Community Gardens

This thesis explores the social dynamics of community gardens and their participation within them in the contemporary food justice movement in Seattle, Washington. Community gardens are seen as solutions to myriad urban and environmental problems, such as food deserts, community empowerment, urban greening, environmental education and sustainability of the food system. Three case studies of Seattle organizations, the P-Patch Program, Lettuce Link and Alleycat Acres, provide a basis for analysis of the purported benefit of community empowerment as a function of organizational structure, history and policies. City government support, flexibility, and a critical outlook towards the processes of inclusion and methods of fostering community-based leadership are found to be essential to a garden project. However, the definition of who is the ‘community’ in a community garden is called into question as more potential stakeholders and beneficiaries emerge in a changing and increasingly interconnected city. These networks of organizations and activists, complicated as they may be are a boon to the community gardening scene as they increase avenues for access for more Seattleites to healthy, local food. Community gardens are another representation of the current global movements against social inequalities, and therefore, to take full advantage of this opportunity for social change, community garden organizers must remain critically conscious of who is included and how this participation occurs

Analyzing the Catalytic Role of Active Site Residues in the Fe-type Nitrile Hydratase from \u3cem\u3eComamonas testosteroni\u3c/em\u3e Ni1

A strictly conserved active site arginine residue (αR157) and two histidine residues (αH80 and αH81) located near the active site of the Fe-type nitrile hydratase from Comamonas testosteroni Ni1 (CtNHase), were mutated. These mutant enzymes were examined for their ability to bind iron and hydrate acrylonitrile. For the αR157A mutant, the residual activity (kcat = 10 ± 2 s−1) accounts for less than 1 % of the wild-type activity (kcat = 1100 ± 30 s−1) while the Km value is nearly unchanged at 205 ± 10 mM. On the other hand, mutation of the active site pocket αH80 and αH81 residues to alanine resulted in enzymes with kcat values of 220 ± 40 and 77 ± 13 s−1, respectively, and Km values of 187 ± 11 and 179 ± 18 mM. The double mutant (αH80A/αH81A) was also prepared and provided an enzyme with a kcat value of 132 ± 3 s−1 and a Km value of 213 ± 61 mM. These data indicate that all three residues are catalytically important, but not essential. X-ray crystal structures of the αH80A/αH81A, αH80W/αH81W, and αR157A mutant CtNHase enzymes were solved to 2.0, 2.8, and 2.5 Å resolutions, respectively. In each mutant enzyme, hydrogen-bonding interactions crucial for the catalytic function of the αCys104-SOH ligand are disrupted. Disruption of these hydrogen bonding interactions likely alters the nucleophilicity of the sulfenic acid oxygen and the Lewis acidity of the active site Fe(III) ion

Mental Health of Children in Refugee Camps

https://digitalcommons.wpi.edu/gps-posters/1476/thumbnail.jp

Analytic nuclear forces and molecular properties from full configuration interaction quantum Monte Carlo

Unbiased stochastic sampling of the one- and two-body reduced density matrices is achieved in full configuration interaction quantum Monte Carlo with the introduction of a second, "replica" ensemble of walkers, whose population evolves in imaginary time independently from the first, and which entails only modest additional computational overheads. The matrices obtained from this approach are shown to be representative of full configuration-interaction quality, and hence provide a realistic opportunity to achieve high-quality results for a range of properties whose operators do not necessarily commute with the hamiltonian. A density-matrix formulated quasi-variational energy estimator having been already proposed and investigated, the present work extends the scope of the theory to take in studies of analytic nuclear forces, molecular dipole moments and polarisabilities, with extensive comparison to exact results where possible. These new results confirm the suitability of the sampling technique and, where sufficiently large basis sets are available, achieve close agreement with experimental values, expanding the scope of the method to new areas of investigation.Comment: 11 page

Selection of large quantites of embryogenic calli from indica rice seeds for production of fertile transgenic plants using the biolistic method

fertile transgenic plants using the biolistic metho

Retention of Direct Care Professionals Supporting Intellectually Disabled Individuals

In the health and human service industry, employee turnover affects business practices and causes disruption of the lives of vulnerable individuals with intellectual disabilities receiving support. Using a human capital conceptual framework perspective, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies used to increase employee retention. The criteria for participation included organizational leaders from 3 Pennsylvania human service agencies that supported individuals with intellectual disabilities, tracked employee turnover for at least 2 years, and developed strategies to increase employee retention. Organizational leaders volunteered to participate and the first 3 organizations meeting the criteria were selected. Data collection included semistructured telephone interviews with organizational leaders, in addition to a review of company policies and turnover data. The interviews were transcribed and participants were asked to member check the draft findings. Constant comparison analysis occurred to analyze collected data. The findings included that the human capital theory alone did not inform retention strategies. Reoccurring themes included retention strategies that focused on developing the organization\u27s intellectual capital through development of human capital, structural capital, and relational capital. Organizational leaders could develop intellectual capital to reduce employee turnover costs, increase employee productivity, create a stable life for the individuals in need of support, and develop relationships with the community where integration occurs. The implications for positive social change include the potential to reduce employee turnover to organizational leaders from Pennsylvania agencies supporting individuals with intellectual disabilities

Best Practices for Collaborative Beekeeping in Northern Greece

Greek beekeepers may have the opportunity to meet the growing demand for honey and increase their incomes through collaboration. To facilitate this, the project aimed to identify collaborative practices to help grow the bee economy in northern Greece. Through interviews with beekeepers and government officials, we identified beekeeping practices and compared them with best practices synthesized from case studies. We identified opportunities for growth and made recommendations to increase collaboration in northern Greece