Evaluation of an integrative masters program in occupational health at the Tel Aviv University Medical School

Tel Aviv University conducts the Master's program in occupational health in Israel. The program is composed from three different disciplines: occupational physicians, industrial hygienists and psychosocial workers. The aim of the program was to train graduate academic professionals for the developing occupational health system in Israel. The program is a two year study, opens every second year and accommodates about thirty students per class. After the second class, comprehensive assessment was conducted by the Unit of Medical Education. The evaluation was done by means of personal interview of class leaders, teachers and students, using structured questionnaires. A similar evaluation was again conducted after graduation of the fourth class in 1993. Three aims of the assessment were defined: to learn about the students' and teachers' expectations of the course, the level of integration achieved between the occupational health professionals in the three disciplines; and to evaluate the employment status of the graduates upon completion of the course. Following the first evaluation, changes were implemented in the methods of student selection for the program. A new entering examination was constructed to ensure a common basic knowledge of the potential students in the three disciplines. Changes were also made in the curriculum regarding teaching hours and subjects. A major problem at that time was that most of the graduates could not find positions in the field, because of low awareness for occupational health in Israel. In the second evaluation done in 1993 a higher level of satisfaction of students and teachers from the program was noted. The average level of the accepted students was higher compared with those accepted earlier. Better and deeper integration between the three disciplines of studies was appreciated. More graduates of the program found jobs in the area of occupational health and there is a higher level of awareness of employers and high regards to the course.     

EVALUATION OF NITRATE DATA IN THE OCKLAWAHA RIVER BASIN,FLORIDA (1953–2002)1

ABSTRACT: Nitrate levels in the Ocklawaha River Basin in north central Florida were reviewed over a 50‐year period. Data were obtained from the literature, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) STOrage and RETrieval (STORET), and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) databases. The study objective was to determine whether nitrate concentrations are increasing and if so, whether this increase is linked to land use changes. Increasing nitrate levels were seen at 5 of the 14 stations, while other stations showed no trend or a decreasing trend. Median nitrate concentrations in the Ocklawaha River increased from 0.07 mg‐N/L to 0.78 mg‐N/L at sites downstream from the Silver River. Throughout the Rodman Reservoir, median nitrate concentrations decreased from 0.48 mg‐N/L to 0.01 mg‐N/L and increased to 0.04 mg‐N/L after the Kirkpatrick Dam. Flow and concentration relationships were correlated for five stations. At four of the five stations nitrate concentrations decreased in response to increasing flow, likely the result of dilution with nitrate poor water. Changes in land use over a 20‐ year period (1970 to 1990) also were monitored. Sources of nitrate have been linked by isotopic analysis to organic and inorganic fertilizers, which appear to be related to increased urbanization and an increase in lawns that require nutrient fertilization.     

Thermal desorption of PCB-contaminated waste at the waukegan harbor superfund site

In June 1992, SoilTech ATP Systems, Inc., completed the soil treatment phase of the Waukegan Harbor Superfund Project in Waukegan, Illinois, after approximately five months of operation. SoilTech successfully treated 12,700 tons of sediment contaminated with polychlorinated hiphenyls (PCBs) using a transportable SoilTech anaerobic thermal processor (ATP) system nominally rated at ten tons per hour throughput capacity. The SoilTech ATP technology anaerobically desorbs contaminants such as PCBs from solids and sludges at temperatures over 1,000° F. Principal products of the process are clean, treated solids and an oil condensate containing the hydrocarbon contaminants. At the Waukegan Harbor Superfund site, PCB concentrations in the sediments excavated and dredged from a ditch, lagoon, and harbor slip averaged 10,400 parts per million (ppm) (1.04 percent) and were as high as 23,000 ppm (2.3 percent). Treated soil was backfilled in an on-site containment cell. The removal efficiency of PCBs from the soil averaged 99.98 percent, relative to the project performance specification of 97 percent, and treated soil PCB concentrations were measured below 2 ppm. Approximately 30,000 gallons of PCB oil, desorbed from the feed material, were returned to the owner for subsequent off-site disposal. After modifications to the emissions control equipment, compliance with the 99.9999 percent destruction and removal efficiency (DRE) for PCBs in stack emissions required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was achieved.     

Three scales of professional deviance within organizations

Salaried professionals may exhibit organizational deviance when faced with conflict resulting from their mutual role as professional and employee. Some of this behavior may be directly harmful to both the individual and the organization, whereas some may constitute adaptive maladjustments. An earlier study proposed that these deviant behaviors could be organized into Guttman scales. In this article, three such scales were tested for underlying unidimensionality and cumulativeness using scalogram analysis. Not only was the practice of organizational deviance, although not widespread, confirmed, but the scales survived the parameters of the Guttman procedure. A replication of the scales produced sufficient validation for their further development and usage.     

RUNOFF POLLUTION FROM MULTIPLE FAMILY HOUSING1

ABSTRACT: Increasingly, residential development in urbanizing areas is accomplished by large housing projects, composed of clusters of townhouses or garden partments. It is hypothesized that the runoff from such developments should carry more pollution than that from the same number of housing units on separate plots, because the runoff is conveyed directly to drainage channels rather than being drained across lawns and gardens, which may absorb part of the pollutants. In order to evaluate this effect, storm event data were obtained from a planned unit development near Hightstown, N. J., using samples taken every 10 minutes throughout the storm at two different storm sewers. Results show heavy metals pollution about what had been anticipated, in accordance with the hypothesis given above, and BOD ammonia and phosphates higher than predicted. The results are significant for areawide water quality planning in metropolitan areas, where projections of future pollution loadings depends upon the land use.     

INSTREAM FLOW REQUIREMENTS IN THE POWDER RIVER COAL BASIN1

ABSTRACT: As coal resources are developed in the Northern Great Plains regions, new reservoirs are being considered to meet expanding water demands. The amount of water available for industrial diversion, however, could be limited by regulations that require minimum flow levels to be maintained downstream of the reservoir sites. Computer simulations of potential reservoirs were used to determine to what extent, if any, instream flow requirements might limit the ability of reservoirs to deliver industrial water supplies. Data on instream flow requirements, potential reservoir sites, and historic runoff were input for the simulation of the Powder River Region of Montana and Wyoming. Results of the simulations compared the maximum amount of water available for industrial diversion with and without requiring instream flow criteria.     

PETROLEUM HYDROCARBONS IN URBAN RUNOFF1

ABSTRACT: Estimates were made of petroleum hydrocarbon pollution loadings reaching the Delaware Estuary by determining storm event loadings of hydrocarbons from four storm sewers, draining areas of different land uses. Although refinery effluents constituted the largest source of petroleum pollution in 1975, it appears that after completion of currently required treatment processes urban runoff will be the largest remaining source of petroleum pollution. The petroleum in urban runoff resembles used crankcase oil in composition and contains toxic chemicals such as polynuclear hydrocarbons. Further research is clearly desirable. Remedial programs to control such pollution may be warranted on the basis of information now available.     

Unionization and deprofessionalization: Which conies first?

This paper constitutes a review of the question whether unionization leads to deprofessionalization or whether deprofessionalization occurs first to be followed by union efforts to restore professional Matus to a profession under attack from social, political, and enconomic forces, including the bureaucracy. The evidence mustered from the historical literature appears to support the latter hypothesis, although it is questionable whether a union by itself can return an established profession to its original status prior to deprofessionalization.