Relationship Between University Student Characteristics and Water Conservation Behaviors

Water over-consumption is a critical issue due to it being a mismanaged, and virtually finite, natural resource. In order to convey this information to the public and promote change, it is important to understand the public’s current attitude towards the topic in order to develop more targeted teaching approaches. The purpose of this study was to determine college-age students’ perceptions about water resource usage, their personal levels of active engagement in water conservation, and if any differences existed between agriculture students and non-agriculture students. This study utilized an online quantitative survey, guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior, which was distributed to students enrolled at the University of Arkansas in the spring of 2020. There were 255 responses, with 56.5% being agriculture students and 43.5% being non-agriculture students. Demographics, perceptions, intentions, and engagement towards water conservation were descriptively described prior to bivariate correlational analysis between constructs and demographics. Results indicated that being an agriculture major or non-agriculture major had small effects on construct score differences for a students’ perceived importance of water and their perceived behavioral control and negligible effects on students’ perceived engagement levels, social norms, future intentions, and actual engagement behaviors. Regression analysis revealed that a linear combination of perceived engagement, perceived behavioral control and political orientation could explain 16% of the variance in actual engagement behaviors, while a linear combination of a student’s perceived importance, perceived engagement, perceived behavioral control, and social norms could explain 38% of the variance in their future intentions toward water conservation organizations, programs, and policies. The results concluded that being an agriculture or non-agriculture major does not predict a student’s engagement or intentions toward water conservation but did have small effects on two of the proposed predictors. It is recommended that the scale used to measure future intentions be used in future studies and that the influence of political orientation upon response bias be examined. It is also recommended that educators continue to express the importance of water as both an economic and environmental resource

Counting Shadows - Measuring trafficking in Persons in Australia

The true extent and nature of trafficking in persons in Australia remains a mystery despite wild speculations about the scale of this problem. This article aims to dispel some of the confusion surrounding trafficking in persons by examining the claims made about the prevalence of this offence and displacing many of the myths about the number of victims in Australia. This involves an analysis of the Australian Government's approach to data collection and a critical examination of the data provided by non-official sources, especially non-governmental organisations and advocacy groups. The article also investigates the 'dark figure' of trafficking in persons in Australia and concludes by developing recommendations to measure trafficking in persons in Australia more accurately and by offering directions for further research in this field

Functionalised Clathrochelate Complexes – New Building Blocks for Supramolecular Structures

Tris(dioxime) iron(II) clathrochelate complexes functionalised with 3- and 4-pyridyl groups have been employed as building blocks in the preparation of supramolecular structures by coordination-driven self-assembly. These complexes possess a number of desirable characteristics, being straightforward to synthesise and offering ample opportunity for steric and functional modification. Clathrochelate-based 4,4'-bipyridyl metalloligands from 1.5 nm to 5.4 nm in length were prepared in up to two steps and their potential as building blocks for supramolecular architectures demonstrated through the preparation of a discrete molecular square and a three dimensional (3D) coordination polymer. Furthermore, the structure-directing capability of clathrochelate building blocks was illustrated through the synthesis of octahedral cage compounds, which are capable of encapsulating the large, hydrophobic BPh4– anion in aqueous solvent mixtures

Rafting: A Post-Flood Biogeographic Dispersal Mechanism

Although biogeography has contributed important data to the debate on biological origins for centuries, global biogeographic models have had poor success at explaining biogeographic data. Heretofore, the best models (evolutionary biogeography models) have neither successfully explained the multi-taxon concurrence of trans-oceanic range disjunctions nor why areas of endemism exist where they do. Here a creationist dispersal mechanism is suggested. It is proposed that plants and animals rafted across oceans on and among masses of logs, plant debris, and vegetation mats in the immediate post-Flood world. United with post-Flood models of geology, climatology, and biology, a uniquely young-age creationist model of biogeography is generated which seems to explain not only the data explained by the best evolutionary models, but also data which such models fail to explain. Also introduced are eighteen biogeographic tests of the model

Peroxide Content of Secondary Organic Aerosol

Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formed from the oxidation of monoterpenes can impact the Earth’s radiation balance, act as cloud condensation nuclei and negatively affect human health. In the summer of 2015, the Secondary Organic Aerosol From Forest Emission Experiment (SOAFFEE) laboratory campaign was launched in order to study the physical properties of SOA generated from the oxidation of α−pinene and Δ-carene. Both compounds are gas-phase monoterpenes emitted into the atmosphere via biogenic sources. In this study, the peroxide content of SOA was determined using an iodometricspectrophotometric (IS) technique. It was found that the peroxide content of SOA generated during the SOAFFEE campaign was similar to that found in previous studies

A Compelling Creation: A Suggestion for a New Apologetic

From our experience with quantum mechanics, chaos theory, and the ingenuity of the carnal mind, we know that it is not possible, by logical argument alone -- either from first principles or from observations of the natural world -- to arrive at the conclusion that the God of the Bible created the world. Solely logical arguments lead a person at best to a conclusion of the mind -- not the heart. Our apologetic should involve compelling arguments which remind a person what they already know in their heart (Rom. 1 :20). A few compelling arguments from the creation are reviewed. Firstly, reinforced with the observation that the universe has low entropy as well as observations from chaos theory, the specified complexity found in observations which make up the anthropic principle provide compelling evidence that the universe -- from its basic lawlike underpinnings to the details of the earth\u27s atmosphere -- has been fashioned for man by a transcendent, omniscient, omnipotent designer Secondly, the language structure of DNA as well as the specified complexity, low entropy, and chaotic nature of biological systems argue compellingly that life was fashioned by an omniscient, omnipotent, communicating designer external to biological systems. Thirdly, thermodynamic and general relativity theories combined with observational data on galactic regression suggest that the universe had a beginning. From our experience with causality, there is compelling reason to believe that the universe began as the result of a conscious decision of a personal, immanent, transcendent, immaterial, changeless, eternal, omniscient, omnipotent being. These observations provide compelling argument not just for a god, but for the Creator God of Scripture

Reconstructed storm tracks reveal three centuries of changing moisture delivery to North America

Moisture delivery to western North America is closely linked to variability in the westerly storm tracks of midlatitude cyclones, which are, in turn, modified by larger-scale features such as the El Niño–Southern Oscillation system. Instrumental and modeling data suggest that extratropical storm tracks may be intensifying and shifting poleward due to anthropogenic climate change, but it is difficult to separate recent trends from natural variability because of the large amount of decadal and longer variation in storm tracks and their limited instrumental record. We reconstruct cool-season, midlatitude Pacific storm-track position and intensity from 1693 to 1995 CE using existing tree-ring chronologies along with a network of newly developed chronologies from the U.S. Pacific Northwest, where small variations in storm-track position can have a major influence on hydroclimate patterns. Our results show high interannual-to-multidecadal variability in storm-track position and intensity over the past 303 years, with spectral signatures characteristic of tropical and northern Pacific influences. Comparison with reconstructions of precipitation and tropical sea surface temperature confirms the relationship between shifting drought patterns in the Pacific Northwest and storm-track variability through time and demonstrates the long-term influence of El Niño. These results allow us to place recent storm-track changes in the context of decadal and multidecadal fluctuations across the long-term record, showing that recent changes in storm-track intensity likely represent a warming-related increase amplified by natural decadal variability