Explaining the relationships between age, job satisfaction, and commitment : an empirical test

A substantial body of research has established that both job satisfaction and organizational commitment are important work attitudes. Yet, while scholars have proposed some possible explanations for the positive relationship between age and job satisfaction, and between age and organizational commitment, these explanations have rarely been investigated directly. In addition, researchers who investigated reasons for demographic differences in job attitudes measured only chronological age, not subjective age (how old a person feels). The present study sought to redress this major shortcoming by testing alternative explanations for age-related differences in job satisfaction and commitment, and doing so by investigating both chronological age and subjective age. The study investigated four proposed mediators of the relationship between age and job satisfaction, and age and commitment. A survey was administered to 888 middle managers in a single large organization, and 458 usable questionnaires were obtained. The first proposed mediator, assessments about the employment relationship , emerged as a full mediator of the relationships between both chronological and subjective age, and affective commitment. In addition, it partially explained the relationship between both age measures and overall job satisfaction, as well as satisfaction with the work in the present job. In contrast, retirement reminders could not explain the relationship between age and continuance commitment because in this sample, tenure captured most of the variance in continuance commitment in the regression model. The next proposed mediator, recognitions from others about one's experience , partially mediated the relationship between subjective age and satisfaction with the work in the present job. Next, self-recognitions about one's work experience partially mediated the link between subjective age and affective commitment. However, recognitions by self and others did not explain the relationship between chronological age and either job satisfaction or affective commitment, emphasizing the importance of measuring subjective age in management studies. The findings also show that compared to chronological age, subjective age was a stronger correlate of overall job satisfaction, satisfaction with the work in the present job, and affective commitment, but a weaker correlate of continuance commitment. Subjective age contributed uniquely to predicting overall job satisfaction, satisfaction with work in the present job, and affective commitment, beyond chronological age

Michael Bérubé: Disability and Democracy

Michael Bérubé discusses his son who has Down\u27s Syndrome and his son\u27s education process, then discusses some ideas about how the theory and practice of democracy affects the concept of inalienable human rights. Bérubé is the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Literature at Pennsylvania State University, where he teaches American literature, disability studies, and cultural studies. He is the author of several books on cultural studies, disability rights, liberal and conservative politics, and debates in higher education. From 2010 to 2017, he was the Director of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at Penn State; from 1997 to 2001 he was the founding director of the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities. He was the 2012 president of the Modern Language Association, and served as vice president from 2010–2011. He served two terms on the National Council of the American Association of University Professors from 2005 to 2011, and three terms on the AAUP\u27s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure from 2009 to 2018. He was a member of the International Advisory Board of the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes for two terms, 2011-2017. Bérubé was named a University Scholar for research at the University of Illinois in 1995 and was awarded the Faculty Scholar medal for research from Penn State in 2012. The son of Maurice Berube (now Eminent Scholar Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Educational Leadership at Old Dominion University),Bérubé was born and raised in New York City. He attended Regis High School.He received a B.A. in English from Columbia University in 1982 and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia, where he studied from 1983 to 1989. Bérubé held a professorship in the English department at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 1989 to 2001, where he was affiliated with the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory and the Afro-American Studies and Research Program. In 2001, Bérubé moved to Penn State for the then-newly created Paterno Family Professorship in Literature, from which he resigned in the wake of the Penn State child sex abuse scandal

High temperature biological treatment of foul evaporator condensate for reuse

There is increasing interest in the treatment and reuse of the sewered portion of the evaporator condensate from krafl pulp mills. The treated evaporator condensate could be used in brown stock washing, recausticizing and bleaching, instead of clean water. In addition to reducing the contarninant load to the existing combined mill effluent treatment system, reducing the raw water requirements and potentially reducing the impact of discharging the treated condensate to the environment, reusing the condensate could also result in significant energy savings if the heat content of the evaporator condensate can be recovered. Also, some legislation proposes a number of incentives for treating and reusing the condensate as process water. Methanol and reduced sulphur compounds (RSC) were identified as the primary contaminants of concern contained in evaporator condensate. These contaminants are of concern primarily because they are hazardous air pollutants (HAP) and/or foul odorous compounds. Reusing evaporator condensate in a pulp mill without treatment could result in the subsequent emission of HAP and odorous compounds and generate unpleasant or even hazardous working conditions for mill staff. Some trace organic contaminants contained in evaporator condensate are also of concern primarily because they could disrupt the pulping process and impact pulp quality. A number of conventional technologies have been considered for the treatment of evaporator condensate for reuse. However, the relatively poof treatment efficiencies and/or high costs associated with these technologies provided incentives to investigate and develop a better treatment technology. A high temperature membrane bioreactor (MBR) was selected as the most promising novel technology for the treatment of evaporator condensate for reuse. A preliminary study indicated that the biological removal of methanol from synthetic evaporator condensate using a high temperature MBR was feasible. The results suggested that the specific methanol utilization coefficient was higher during high temperature biological treatment using an MBR, than in a conventional biological treatment system. However, simultaneous biological removal of methanol and RSC from synthetic condensate using a high temperature MBR was not feasible. A low operating pH was required for biological oxidation of RSC to occur at elevated temperatures. In addition, biological removal of methanol was significantly inhibited at the pH required for biological RSC removal to occur. Therefore, a two stage system, with the first stage operating at an acidic pH and the second stage operating at a neutral pH, would be required. This would add significantly to the cost of a biological system to treat evaporator condensate for reuse. Even at an optimal pH for the growth of sulphuroxidizing microorganisms, stripping due to the aeration system accounted for approximately 50 % of the RSC removed from the MBR. The results also indicated that the stability of a mixed microbial culture at a low pH is questionable. For these reasons, the biological oxidation of RSC in a high temperature MBR was not considered to be feasible and simultaneous biological removal of methanol and RSC was not further investigated. Further investigations revealed that it was possible to biologically remove methanol from synthetic evaporator condensate using a high temperature MBR, over the entire expected range of temperatures for evaporator condensate (55 to 70 °C). However, the operating temperature exerted a significant impact on methanol removal kinetics. A maximum specific methanol utilization coefficient and a maximum specific growth coefficient of approximately 0.84 ± 0.08 /day and 0.11 ± 0.011 /day, respectively, were observed at an operating temperature of 60 °C. Above 60 °C, both the specific methanol utilization coefficient and the specific growth coefficient declined sharply, suggesting that at high operating temperatures, the inactivating effect of temperature on the growth-limiting enzyme must be considered. A relatively simple model was proposed and used to accurately estimate the effect of high temperatures on methanol removal kinetics in an MBR over the temperature range investigated. Based on the model, the optimal operating temperature for the biological removal of methanol by a mixed microbial culture was determined to be approximately 60 °C. These results indicated that it is not only possible to operate an MBR at high temperatures, but also that a higher specific methanol utilization coefficient can be achieved at a higher operating temperature. However, care may need to be taken not to exceed the critical operating temperature of 60 °C. The operating temperature was also observed to have a significant effect on the observed microbial growth yield in the MBR. At increasing operating temperatures, a larger fraction of the methanol consumed was converted to energy, reducing the observed growth yield. These results indicate that at high temperatures, less excess sludge may be produced, potentially resulting in lower waste sludge handling and disposal costs. The specific methanol utilization coefficient measured during the treatment of real evaporator condensate was lower than that observed when treating synthetic evaporator condensate. The difference was not due to a direct toxic effect from compounds present in the real evaporator condensate matrix. The reduction was attributed to a shift in the composition of the microbial community present in the MBR. The shift resulted from competition between methylotrophic and partial-methylotrophic microorganisms for the available methanol. Microorganisms that were not capable of growth on methanol as sole substrate, but were capable of consuming methanol in the presence of other organic substrates, were defined as partial-methylotrophic microorganisms. The partialmethylotrophic microorganisms exhibited a lower specific methanol utilization coefficient (0.29/day) than the methylotrophic microorganisms (0.84/day), resulting in a lower overall specific methanol utilization coefficient for the mixed microbial culture of 0.59 ± 0.11 /day. Nonetheless, the specific methanol utilization coefficient observed at 60 °C was still more than 30 % higher than previously reported values from other studies of biological treatment of condensate at much lower temperatures. High temperature biological treatment using an MBR also successfully removed the nonmethanolic contaminants of concern contained in evaporator condensate. Over 99 % of the RSC contained in the evaporator condensate was removed during high temperature treatment using an MBR. The concentrations of hydrogen sulphide, methyl mercaptan, dimethyl sulphide and dimethyl sulphide in the evaporator condensate werereduced to below detection limits (approximately 0.4 mg/L) during high temperature operation using an MBR. Approximately 93 % of the organic compounds, measured as TOC, contained in the evaporator condensate could be removed. The concentration of TOC in the evaporator condensate was reduced from 504 ± 137 mg/L to 52 ± 3.6 mg/L. Over 78 % of the reduction in TOC was due to the removal of methanol. Based on assumed removal efficiencies of 99, 90 and 99 % for methanol, TOC and RSC (as hydrogen sulphide and methyl mercaptan), respectively, as well as the characteristics of the evaporator condensate from a local kraft pulp mill, a conceptual design for a fullscale, high temperature MBR to treat an evaporator condensate for reuse was developed. Capital and operating costs were estimated and compared to the costs for a steam stripping system. Depending on the type of ultrafiltration membranes used in the MBR design, the capital cost for the MBR system was 40 to 50 % less than the capital cost of a steam stripping system capable of achieving comparable contaminant removal efficiencies. The operating costs for the MBR system were also approximately 50 % less than the operating costs for a steam stripping system. Therefore, high temperature biological treatment is not only technically feasible, but is also appears to be economically more attractive than the currently favored treatment technology (i.e. steam stripping).Applied Science, Faculty ofCivil Engineering, Department ofGraduat

Quantification of air leaks through the building envelope using infrared thermography

A laboratory experimental procedure has been developed for the acquisition of thermograms of surface temperature distributions due to air leaks through the building envelope. Air leaks through a sample single layer building envelope assembly with a crack of variable width have been reproduced in an environmental chamber inside which conditions met during building envelope thermography surveys were reproduced. The reference emitter technique has been used for the improvement of the accuracy of the absolute temperature measurements with infrared thermography. A qualitative study of the thermograms obtained is presented highlighting the differences between temperature patterns due air leaks through the assembly under different conditions. Also, quantitative relationships between assembly surface temperature distributions due to air leaks and crack dimensions are established. Two methods are presented and discussed, the first based on image segmentation technique and the second on tomography, for building envelope cracks sizing using infrared thermography

A seismicity study of the Queen Charlotte Islands/Hecate Strait Region

The Queen Charlotte Islands are located east of the seismically active Queen Charlotte transform fault zone which separates the Pacific and North American plates. The fault zone is the locus of significant seismic activity and is distinguished bathymetrically by two steep scarps bounding a 15 to 25 km wide terrace. To better define regional seismicity characteristics, 16 portable seismographs and 6 ocean bottom seismographs were operated for 9 weeks and 5 days, respectively, during June to August 1983. Three hundred and seventeen events were detected; 130 events that were recorded on 3 or more stations have been located. Twenty' events were identified as possible blasts. Ninety-two of the located earthquakes lie along the Queen Charlotte transform fault zone, most within the 1949, Ms = 8.1, earthquake rupture zone along the inner scarp of the terrace. However, several earthquakes are located on the terrace and a few are aligned with the outer scarp where no activity has previously been observed. Most of the activity is well constrained to be less than 15 km in depth. Two areas of low seismicity were observed along the fault zone. Only two earthquakes occurred in the documented seismic gap bound on the north by the 1949 rupture zone and on the south by the 1970 M = 7.0 earthquake. They were both at -the southern tip of the gap. A similar region of low activity was observed for the fault along Graham Island. No major seismicity (M > 4.0) has been located in this region since the 1949 earthquake. Composite fault plane mechanism solutions were determined for five clusters of events along the fault zone. Events to the northwest of Graham Island are consistent with strike-slip motion along a fault in the direction of the Queen Charlotte transform fault. The four remaining clusters were located along Moresby Island. The mechanisms for these are dominated by thrust faulting with a component of compressional stress trending north-south. These events are interpreted as the result of oblique convergence between the Pacific and North American plate. Significant seismicity was located east of the main Queen Charlotte transform fault zone. Eighteen earthquakes, the largest ML = 3.8, were located in northeastern Graham Island and adjacent Hecate Strait - Dixon Entrance area. None could be associated with known faults. The focal depth of these events is well constrained within the crust so they could not be associated with a subducted plate. A composite fault plane mechanism solution determined for some of these earthquakes indicates a thrusting mechanism with north-south trending compressional stress. One event with a well constrained solution at a shallow focal depth occurred in southeastern Hecate Strait. This event could be associated with crustally pervasive faults identified in Hecate Strait. A magnitude scale based on the coda length of the earthquake signal was determined. Magnitudes were calculated for 265 of the events recorded during the study. For the complete data set a b-value of 0.55 ± 0.05 was determined. This value is significantly lower than values from other studies in the Canadian Cordillera, indicating that a greater percentage of the total number of earthquakes occurs at the higher magnitudes. However, the short period of recording and large magnitude seismic activity (4 earthquakes with ML > 3.8 in 9 weeks) might have biased the estimate toward a low value.Science, Faculty ofEarth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department ofGraduat

pH-Dependent Retention Changes during Membrane Filtration of Aluminum-Coagulated Solutions and the Effect of Precentrifugation

During jar tests on alum-based drinking water treatment, dissolved Al determinations on solutions coagulated at pH ≥ 6.5 were not reproducible. These determinations were performed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry after syringe filtration (0.45 μm polyethersulfone membrane). In order to better define these anomalies, the filtrates were collected in sequential fractions of 7.5 mL. At coagulation pHs of 6.5 and 7.0, retention changes were demonstrated by large filtrate concentration reductions at all temperatures tested (0.1, 5.0, and 17.0 °C). In all cases, the concentrations converged to levels <50 μg/L within the fourth sequential fraction. In comparison, no retention change was observed for jar tests conducted at the same temperatures but in the low range of the minimum solubility domain, at pHs 5.5 and 6.0. The retention changes were also eliminated by precentrifugation (7000<i>g</i> for 45 min; pH 6.5–7.2). At weaker precentrifugation conditions, as well as by varying membrane surface area or membrane fouling, the filtrate concentrations behaved according to a barrier buildup at the membrane–solution interface by unsettled flocculation residuals. The influence of flocculation time and temperature emphasized the importance of reaction rates, which could be enhanced at the interface by concentration polarization effects. These phenomena have implications on analytical protocols and on filtration in full-scale treatment