The influence of career stage on the work attitudes of male and female accounting professionals

The present study compared work commitments, overall job satisfaction, intrinsic and extrinsic rewards satisfactions, and organizational and professional turnover intentions of 718 male and female accounting professionals at different career stages. Career stage was measured by professional tenure. The results indicate that there are some differences in work attitudes across career stages for male accounting professionals. Job involvement, organizational commitment, and intrinsic and extrinsic rewards satisfaction are positively related to professional tenure. Organizational turnover intentions are negatively related to professional tenure for male accounting professionals. There are no significant differences in work attitudes across career stages for female accounting professionals. An examination of reasons for differences in work attitude patterns between male and female accountants suggests the need for research to determine whether later career stages (advancement and maintenance) differ for men and women. The results also suggest that future research should consider defining career stage in terms of the overlap between stages defined using alternate career stage measures.     

GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE AND PUBLIC PERCEPTION: THE CHALLENGE OF TRANSLATION1

ABSTRACT: Global climate change is examined from the perspective of its relevancy and urgency as a public policy issue. Interpreting from literature specific to investigations into public awareness and concern, climate change is seen as a legitimate though less than urgent issue. The literature reveals that the general public holds surprising misconceptions about the processes contributing to climate change, including failure to grasp the fundamental connection to CO₂. General ambivalence is also suggested from the results of two surveys conducted by The Groundwater Foundation. They first asked participants in a recent Groundwater Guardian Conference to rate levels of discussion and concern for water resources implications in the participants' communities. A second survey polled national water resource organizations about the extent climate change has been a focus of their educational, investigative, or advocacy efforts. The paper concludes by describing basic barriers to stimulating public response to climate change, which education about the issue should address, and by offering a model to educate and involve citizens based on the Groundwater Guardian program developed by the The Groundwater Foundation.     

Evaluation of wetland methyl mercury export as a function of experimental manipulations

Mercury associated with natural enrichment, historic mining, and ore processing is a contaminant of concern in watersheds of the western USA. In this region, water is a highly managed resource and wetlands, known to be important sites of methyl mercury production, are often an integral component of watersheds. This study applied controlled manipulations of four replicated experimental wetland designs with different water and soil mercury concentrations to determine the potential impacts on methyl mercury export. Wetlands were manipulated by drying and wetting, changing hydraulic retention time, and adding sulfate and nitrate to influent waters. In a summer drying and wetting manipulation, an immediate increase in total methyl mercury release was observed with rewetting, however, concentrations decreased quickly. Drying all wetlands over the winter and rewetting in the spring resulted in high net methyl mercury output relative to that observed before drying. Net methyl mercury output was not influenced by changes in hydraulic retention time from 4 to 8 h or to 30 min, or by increasing the nitrate concentration from 0.1 to 10 mg L(-1). The addition of sulfate to the inlet waters of two mesocosms to increase concentrations from approximately 100 to 250 mg L(-1) did not result in a clear effect on methyl mercury output, most likely due to sulfate concentrations being higher than optimal for methyl mercury production. Despite the lack of response to sulfate amendments, the change in sulfate concentration between the inlet and outlet of the mesocosms and temperature were the parameters best correlated with methyl mercury outputs.     

Aldehyde Concentrations in Ambient Air of Coastal Georgia, U.S.A.

Aldehydes are an airborne byproduct of many industrialprocesses, vehicle transportation, and emissions fromnumerous natural sources. To characterize aldehydeconcentrations in ambient air of the Savannah, Georgiaarea, air samples for 3 aldehydes (formaldehyde,acetaldehyde, and propionaldehyde) were collected atfive sites on a monthly basis over a 12-month periodfrom December of 1995 through November 1996. Four ofthe sites were in central Savannah and the fifth sitewas located in a rural area about 56 km south ofSavannah. During each 24-hr sampling episode, sampleswere collected in two 12-hr periods approximatingdaylight and nighttime hours, following U.S. EPAMethod TO-11. Formaldehyde concentrations ranged from0.17 to 6.80 g m^-3, acetaldehydeconcentrations ranged from 0.07 to7.60 g m^-3, and propionaldehyde levels rangedfrom 0.02 to 9.10 g m^-3. On average, thefour sites in Savannah had higher aldehydeconcentrations than the rural site (2.0 versus1.2 g m^-3 for formaldehyde, 2.3 versus1.7 g m^-3 for acetaldehyde, and 1.2 versus1.0 g m^-3 for propionaldehyde). The daytimeconcentrations for formaldehyde and acetaldehyde werehigher than the nighttime levels. The data from allthe sites were within published worldwide backgroundvalues for aldehydes.     

Analysis of the effects of combustion emissions and Santa Ana winds on ambient ozone during the October 2007 southern California wildfires

Combustion emissions and strong Santa Ana winds had pronounced effects on patterns and levels of ambient ozone (O₃) in southern California during the extensive wildland fires of October 2007. These changes are described in detail for a rural receptor site, the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve, located among large fires in San Diego and Orange counties. In addition, O₃ changes are also described for several other air quality monitoring sites in the general area of the fires. During the first phase of the fires, strong, dry and hot northeasterly Santa Ana winds brought into the area clean continental air masses, which resulted in minimal diurnal O₃ fluctuations and a 72-h average concentration of 36.8 ppb. During the second phase of the fires, without Santa Ana winds present and air filled with smoke, daytime O₃ concentrations steadily increased and reached 95.2 ppb while the lowest nighttime levels returned to ～0 ppb. During that period the 8-h daytime average O₃ concentration reached 78.3 ppb, which exceeded the federal standard of 75 ppb. After six days of fires, O₃ diurnal concentrations returned to pre-fire patterns and levels.     

Variability of atmospheric dust loading over the central Tibetan Plateau based on ice core glaciochemistry

A Mt. Geladaindong (GL) ice core was recovered from the central Tibetan Plateau (TP) spanning the period 1940–2005 AD. High-resolution major ion (Na⁺, K⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Cl^?, SO₄^2?, NO₃^?) time-series are used to investigate variations in atmospheric dust loading through time. The crustal source ions vary seasonally with peaks in dust concentrations occurring during the winter and spring which are consistent with atmospheric dust observations at local meteorological stations. However, both similarities and dissimilarities are displayed between the decadal variation of atmospheric dust in the GL core and dust observation records from meteorological stations, which can be attributed to local environmental effects at the stations. This paper compares the 1980s and 1970s as case periods for low and high atmospheric dust loading, respectively, two periods reflecting shifts in spring atmospheric circulation (a weakening of zonal and meridional winds) from the 1970s (a period of enhanced dust aerosol transportation to central TP) to the 1980s (a period of diminished dust aerosol transportation to central TP), especially a significant decrease of meridional wind speeds in the 1980s. GL ice core dust proxies (Ca²⁺ and K⁺) are correlated with Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) Aerosol Index (AI) data in spring over the TP and in the northwestern China (especially for K⁺). Thus variability of crustal ions in central TP ice core provides a proxy for reconstructing a history of atmospheric dust loading not only on the TP, but also in northwestern China.     

Water Quality Functions of a 15-Year-Old Riparian Forest Buffer System1

Newbold, J. Denis, Susan Herbert, Bernard W. Sweeney, Paul Kiry, and Stephen J. Alberts, 2010. Water Quality Functions of a 15-Year-Old Riparian Forest Buffer System. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(2):299-310. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00421.x Abstract: We monitored long-term water quality responses to the implementation of a three-zone Riparian Forest Buffer System (RFBS) in southeastern Pennsylvania. The RFBS, established in 1992 in a 15-ha agricultural (row crop) watershed, consists of: Zone 1, a streamside strip (∼10 m wide) of permanent woody vegetation for stream habitat protection; Zone 2, an 18- to 20-m-wide strip reforested in hardwoods upslope from Zone 2; and Zone 3, a 6- to 10-m-wide grass filter strip in which a level lip spreader was constructed. The monitoring design used paired watersheds supplemented by mass balance estimates of nutrient and sediment removal within the treated watershed. Tree growth was initially delayed by drought and deer damage, but increased after more aggressive deer protection (1.5 m polypropylene shelters or wire mesh protectors) was instituted. Basal tree area increased ∼20-fold between 1998 and 2006, and canopy cover reached 59% in 2006. For streamwater nitrate, the paired watershed comparison was complicated by variations in both the reference stream concentrations and in upslope groundwater nitrate concentrations, but did show that streamwater nitrate concentrations in the RFBS watershed declined relative to the reference stream from 2002 through the end of the study in early 2007. A subsurface nitrate budget yielded an average nitrate removal by the RFBS of 90 kg/ha/year, or 26% of upslope subsurface inputs, for the years 1997 through 2006. There was no evidence from the paired watershed comparison that the RFBS affected streamwater phosphorus concentration. However, groundwater phosphorus did decline within the buffer. Overland flow sampling of 23 storms between 1997 and 2006 showed that total suspended solids concentration in water exiting the RFBS to the stream was on average 43% lower than in water entering the RFBS from the tilled field. Particulate phosphorus concentration was lower by 22%, but this removal was balanced by a 26% increase in soluble reactive phosphorus so that there was no net effect on total phosphorus.     

Levels of dechlorane plus and polybrominated diphenylethers in human milk in two Canadian cities

Flame retardant dechlorane plus (DP) and several polybrominated diphenylether (PBDE) congeners have been measured in 87 human milk samples collected in two Canadian cities: Kingston and Sherbrooke. The levels of PBDEs in human milk (mean (median), ng g^− 1 lipid weight = 10 (5.9), 4.1 (2.8), 3.0 (1.6), 5.12 (1.6), and 15 (ND) for BDE-47, BDE-99, BDE-100, BDE-153, and BDE-209, respectively) were comparable to those reported in Europe, U.S.A. and China. The levels of DP, with a mean value of 0.98 ng g^− 1 and a median value of 0.60 ng g^− 1 (lipid weight), were two to ten times lower than those of concurrently measured major PBDEs including BDE-209. While there is little difference in the levels of measured contaminants in milk samples collected from the two cities, the contaminants levels in human milk show, indicated by Principal Components Analysis, that DP, deca-BDE, and penta-BDE come from three distinct sources. The mean and median isomer ratio values of DP in milk were 0.67 and 0.69, respectively, very similar to that of DP commercial products.     

Integrated approach to PCE‐impacted site characterization,site management,and enhanced bioremediation

Tetrachloroethene (PCE)‐ and trichloroethene (TCE)‐impacted sites pose significant challenges even when site characterization activities indicate that biodegradation has occurred naturally. Although site‐specific, regulatory, and economic factors play roles in the remedy‐selection process, the application of molecular biological tools to the bioremediation field has streamlined the assessment of remedial alternatives and allowed for detailed evaluation of the chosen remedial technology. The case study described here was performed at a PCE‐impacted site at which reductive dechlorination of PCE and TCE had led to accumulation of cis‐dichlorethene (cis‐DCE) with concentrations ranging from approximately 10 to 100 mg/L. Bio‐Trap® samplers and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) enumeration of Dehalococcoides spp. were used to evaluate three remedial options: monitored natural attenuation, biostimulation with HRC®, and biostimulation with HRC‐S®. Dehalococcoides populations in HRC‐S‐amended Bio‐Traps deployed in impacted wells were on the order of 10³ to 10⁴ cells/bead but were below detection limits in most unamended and HRC‐amended Bio‐Traps. Thus the in situ Bio‐Trap study identified biostimulation with HRC‐S as the recommended approach, which was further evaluated with a pilot study. After the pilot HRC‐S injection, Dehalococcoides populations increased to 10⁶ to 10⁷ cells/bead, and concentrations of cis‐DCE and vinyl chloride decreased with concurrent ethene production. Based on these results, a full‐scale HRC‐S injection was designed and implemented at the site. As with the pilot study, full‐scale HRC‐S injection promoted growth of Dehalococcoides spp. and stimulated reductive dechlorination of the daughter products cis‐DCE and vinyl chloride. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.