The empowering leadership questionnaire: the construction and validation of a new scale for measuring leader behaviors

This paper describes the construction and empirical evaluation of a new scale for measuring empowering leader behavior. Study One consisted of thorough interviews with external leaders and team members in three organizations. Behaviors elicited in the interviews were classified by researchers into eight categories of leader empowering behavior and the Empowering Leadership Questionnaire (ELQ) was constructed to measure each of these categories. In Study Two, the ELQ was administered to team members and leaders from two organizations. The results indicated that five‐factors (Coaching, Informing, Leading By Example, Showing Concern/Interacting with the Team, and Participative Decision‐Making) adequately describe the data. In Study Three, we cross‐validated the scale in a sample from five organizations and the factor analysis confirmed the five‐factor model. The ELQ dimensions were also compared with behaviors measured by two well‐established measures of leader behavior. The results indicated that the ELQ dimensions partially overlap with previously identified constructs, but that empowering leadership behavior can not be entirely accounted for by the earlier measures. Definitions and implications for the categories of empowering leader behaviors are offered. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The rich get richer: predicting participation in voluntary diversity training

This research examined whether trainee demographics and pre‐training competence predicted participation in voluntary diversity training. Results indicate that demographic variables had no impact on interest in training (Study One) or on actual training participation (Study Two). However, pre‐training competence levels had a positive effect on both outcomes. More competent trainees expressed more interest in additional training (Study One) and were more likely to attend a voluntary training session (Study Two). The authors suggest that trainees with low competence in the diversity domain are unaware of their low competence levels and therefore are not motivated to participate in training programs designed to increase diversity competence. Implications of these findings for organizations offering voluntary diversity training are discussed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sorption and predicted mobility of herbicides in Baltic soils

This study was undertaken to determine sorption coefficients of eight herbicides (alachlor, amitrole, atrazine, simazine, dicamba, imazamox, imazethapyr, and pendimethalin) to seven agricultural soils from sites throughout Lithuania. The measured sorption coefficients were used to predict the susceptibility of these herbicides to leach to groundwater. Soil-water partitioning coefficients were measured in batch equilibrium studies using radiolabeled herbicides. In most soils, sorption followed the general trend pendimethalin > alachlor > atrazine approximately amitrole approximately simazine > imazethapyr > imazamox > dicamba, consistent with the trends in hydrophobicity (log K(ow)) except in the case of amitrole. For several herbicides, sorption coefficients and calculated retardation factors were lowest (predicted to be most susceptible to leaching) in a soil of intermediate organic carbon content and sand content. Calculated herbicide retardation factors were high for soils with high organic carbon contents. Estimated leaching times under saturated conditions, assuming no herbicide degradation and no preferential water flow, were more strongly affected by soil textural effects on predicted water flow than by herbicide sorption effects. All herbicides were predicted to be slowest to leach in soils with high clay and low sand contents, and fastest to leach in soils with high sand content and low organic matter content. Herbicide management is important to the continued increase in agricultural production and profitability in the Baltic region, and these results will be useful in identifying critical areas requiring improved management practices to reduce water contamination by pesticides.     

Impacts of Variable Climate and Effluent Flows on the Transboundary Santa Cruz Aquifer

Assessing groundwater resources in the arid and semiarid borderlands of the United States and Mexico represents a challenge for land and water managers, particularly in the Transboundary Santa Cruz Aquifer (TSCA). Population growth, residential construction, and industrial activities have increased groundwater demand in the TSCA, in addition to wastewater treatment and sanitation demands. These activities, coupled with climate variability, influence the hydrology of the TSCA and emphasize the need for groundwater assessment tools for decision‐making purposes. This study assesses the impacts of changes in groundwater demand, effluent discharge, and climate uncertainties within the TSCA from downstream of the Nogales International Wastewater Treatment Plant to the northern boundary of the Santa Cruz Active Management Area. We use a conceptual water budget model to analyze the long‐term impact of the different components of potential recharge and water losses within the aquifer. Modeling results project a future that ranges from severe long‐term drying to positive wetting. This research improves the understanding of the impact of natural and anthropogenic variables on water sustainability, with an accessible methodology that can be globally applied.     

Determinants of brominated flame retardants in breast milk from a large scale Norwegian study

Brominated flame retardants (BFRs), particularly polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), are widely present in human populations. In order to investigate human exposure pathways and associations with socioeconomic and lifestyle factors, 393 breast milk samples from mothers living in various regions throughout Norway were analyzed. Up to ten PBDE congeners were measured in all the samples, hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) and BDE-209 in subsets of 310 and 46, respectively. The median concentrations of the sum of the seven most prominent PBDEs (BDE-28, 47, 99, 100, 153, 154 and 183), BDE-209 and HBCD were 2.1, 0.32 and 0.86 ng/g lipids, respectively. These concentrations are comparable to the levels generally observed in human populations in Europe. The frequency distributions were quite skewed with long tails towards higher concentrations. Maternal age, parity, education, having a cohabitant employed as electrician, and ventilation were factors significantly associated with some of the BFRs, although these factors only explained a small amount of the variability (R² 0.04–0.16). The mothers' diet was not found to influence the breast milk PBDE and HBCD levels. Our results show that sources other than the diet are important for the variability seen in breast milk BFR concentrations and that exposure from the indoor atmosphere should be emphasized in future studies.     

Improvements to standard methodologies for the analytical determination of metals in stationary-source emissions samples

Deficiencies with the current European reference method for the analysis using inductively couple plasma-mass spectrometry of metals in samples from stationary emissions sources are presented based on experimental data obtained from real samples. The effect of these deficiencies on the quality and accuracy of data is highlighted with biases of up to 40% being observed in real samples. Suggestions to improve the performance of the standard method are presented. In particular, the beneficial effect of using a drift correction procedure to account for the decrease in instrument sensitivity observed during an analytical measurement series is demonstrated. It is shown that this corrective procedure results in substantial improvements to the accuracy of data produced.