Focus
on Research
Penn State Intercom......April
12 , 2001
Atmospheric chemistry is key
to global and local air pollution
By A'ndrea Elyse Messer
Public
Information 
The chemical cycles in the troposphere along with pollutants of human and natural origincan alter the composition of the air and affect local, regional and global environmental quality, according to a University researcher.
The troposphere -- the area of the Earth's atmosphere from the surface to 10 miles above the surface where weather exists -- is also where pollution becomes a problem. In the atmosphere, a complex series of chemical reactions can alter some pollutants so that they rain out as aerosol particles or acid rain and clear the air. Other compounds remain in the air, changing and changing again as other chemicals cause reactions.
"Pollution from megacities and biomass burning, including precursor gases to hydrogen oxides such as acetone and formaldehyde, lofted into the upper troposphere, can become the dominant hydrogen oxide source and result in efficient ozone production," said William Brune, professor of meteorology and head of the Department of Meteorology. "These compounds can also be transported great distances before descent, possibly influencing the chemistry of remote regions."
Ozone is complicated. In the stratosphere it serves to protect life from the detrimental effects of the sun's ultraviolet radiation. At ground level, it is a pollutant implicated in respiratory problems and eye irritation. Sunlight breaks ozone apart resulting in the creation of the very reactive hydroxyl radical which begins the process that removes some pollutants from the air.
However, when hydroxyl radicals break down some compounds, they produce other hydrogen oxides, which react with other pollutants and form ozone.
"The hydroxyl radical drives atmospheric oxidation by reacting with chemicals emitted from Earth's surface, thus creating new chemicals that are more easily scavenged and removed by aerosols, clouds and rain," Brune said.
"But in the oxidation process, hydroperoxyl radicals form and combined with the industrial pollutant nitric oxide produces ozone. The sun then breaks down this ozone, creating hydroxl radicals and starting the cycle all over again."
Brune is part of ongoing studies to measure the amounts of hydroxyl radical and hydroperoxyl radical in the atmosphere over various areas of the globe during different times of the day. So far, using airplane-mounted equipment, they have tested air over the south Pacific near Hawaii, Fiji, Tahiti and Easter Island, over the North Atlantic flight corridor, and are preparing for flights over the western pacific from Hong Kong and Tokyo.
Measures of hydroxyl and hydroperoxyl radicals reflect the outflow of air carrying pollutants off China and other industrialized nations. The study over the North Atlantic flight corridor assessed the contribution of air travel to this type of pollution.
Brune has also tested air from ground towers in lower Michigan and Houston.
A'ndrea Elyse Messer can be reached at aem1@psu.edu
Credit card use doesn't
define materialists
For college students, it's not how many credit cards you own that makes you a materialist, but how you use them, a study shows.
"College students who rate themselves low on materialism own as many credit cards as their materialistic peers, but are less prone to use them to buy status symbol items," said Mary Beth Pinto, assistant professor of marketing at Penn State Erie. "Our study revealed no significant difference between students with high vs. low materialism scores in terms of the number of credit cards owned. Subjects rating themselves high on materialism possessed, on average, 2.61 credit cards each, while those scoring low on materialism owned 2.69, suggesting that credit card ownership per se does not point to a materialistic or consumerist mindset."
"High materialism students reported using their credit cards more frequently in grocery stores, bars, motels and hotels and for clothing and gifts," said Diane H. Parente, assistant professor of management at Penn State Erie. "Significantly greater credit card purchases of clothes and gifts by the high materialism group support the belief that materialists place more value on 'impression management' or the show of possessions as a means to enhance social status."
Materialistic students in general cited more willingness to use credit cards to gratify immediate desires, according to Todd S. Palmer, assistant professor of business law and management at Penn State Erie. But, self-styled materialistic students did not report significantly larger credit card balances than the low materialism group.
In their study, the researchers surveyed 1,022 students at three colleges in the northeastern United States. Of the 735 students who owned at least one personal credit card, the average number of credit cards per student was 2.66, with a range from 1 to 18 and an average monthly balance of $846.
The researchers interpreted the students' attitudes toward use of credit cards by evaluating their scores on the Richins and Dawson's Materialism Scale (1992). This survey measures the degree to which an individual makes material possessions central to his or her lifestyle and uses possessions to define success and happiness.
"The proliferation of credit cards and their ease of acquisition ensure that students today have more opportunities for making credit purchases to a far greater degree than any other generation of college student," Parente said. "The good news is that the default rate among college students is lower than for the overall population."
Study: Children with psychiatric
disorders benefit from hospital stay
Children diagnosed with serious psychiatric disorders gain more benefit from intensive hospital-based therapy than from outpatient therapy of equal duration, according to a recent study.
The principal researchers, Susan Mayes, professor of psychiatry at the College of Medicine, and Valentins Krecko, director of the child psychiatry unit, found that a child's level of functioning improved significantly during hospitalization. The study, based on data collected from a standardized rating scale administered to each child at admission and discharge, one month post discharge and six months post discharge, show that a two-week hospital stay with therapeutic intervention in a controlled environment is clinically effective.
According to Mayes and Krecko, the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at The Hershey Medical Center offers a clinically feasible approach to evidence-based practice. Evidence-based practice is essential because it provides information regarding treatment effectiveness. This is important in view of the current restrictions on mental health care including shorter admissions, insurance authorization and reimbursement practices that may limit patient care.
Mayes and her colleagues collected data from standardized instruments, rating scales and questionnaires used to assess interpersonal relationships, mood and behavior, academic functioning and use of leisure time.
Test scores for children admitted to a psychiatric unit for an average of 14 days showed a significant improvement in psychological functioning from admission to discharge.
This improvement was far above that of a comparison group of children whose treatment was delivered primarily on an outpatient basis for a similar time interval.