Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Improving the team Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Improving the team - Essay Example Openness was a positive ambiance in the team but the same freedom was taken for granted and the members forgot to empathize with John and Shaun. All the responsibility was overburdened to John and Shaun and it made them weak emotionally and physically. Shaun was yelling and John was cursing himself for what was happening to him which is a perfect reflection of the ineffective team. Shaun could not handle the situation in an emotionally balanced manner and his approach was not constructive. Mutual help was missing among them and frequent discussions on the difficulties they face did not happen. On the whole the team spirit was missing which let the team down. 1) Every team member must be aware of the What is in it factor. Each of them must know their goals and what is the personal benefit they get out of the project. Once this awareness exists, eventually this motivates the team and the team members will show a sense of belongingness and accountability. 2) Instead of forcing responsibilities to members, self delegation is a better approach which makes them accountable. Conduct meetings and ask team members to volunteer to take responsibilities. Ensure that a leader is declared in the same meeting. 3) Organize team meetings frequently and get to discuss problems that the members of the team face. Invite solutions and suggestions from every team member. Appreciate the team members for their smallest

Monday, October 28, 2019

Hawthorne studies Essay Example for Free

Hawthorne studies Essay A student of science conducts a research study in order to test a hypothesis or a theory. He/she is guided by a problem and or questions that he/she hopes to answer in order to refute or confirm existing theoretical constructs. A research study is an application of the scientific method and a researcher delves into that with a set of predetermined hypotheses. There are many ways of conducting researches but experiments are the most applicable if the study seeks to establish cause and effect. The Hawthorne studies started out with the purpose to prove that lighting in the workroom had an effect on worker productivity (Ballantyne, 2000). Although the motivation for conducting the research was utilitarian it however forever changed the concept of management and gave birth to the â€Å"Hawthorne Effect†. The insights I gained from digesting the Hawthorne studies were that a research study does not necessarily confirm our research assumptions (Fawcett Downs, 1999). Conducting a research is actually like wading into a pool full of disparate objects and sometimes what we find is not what we are looking for. It is important to maintain objectivity and we must not force or lead our discussions and findings towards supporting our hypothesis if we truly want to be scientific and maintain academic integrity. Another thing I learned was that even if we are guided by a research problem that we wish to answer, it is how we measure and manipulate the variables that we want to explore dictates the results that the study yields. In the Hawthorne studies on lighting and work productivity, although the variable degree of illumination was manipulated to test whether work output increased, the relationship was not established because the researchers was not able to identify beforehand that the presence of the researchers was an extraneous variable (Levine Parkinson, 1994) hence the concept of the â€Å"Hawthorne effect† which referred to the phenomenon where the presence of the researcher corrupts the results of the experiment. Lastly, the Hawthorne studies demonstrated that even the most rigorous experiments or study has limitations and anyone who wishes to conduct experiments must recognize in the outset what the limitations of his/her study are.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Lennie And George :: essays research papers

Lennie and George: In what ways are they 'mates'? Is this a true friendship, as you understand friendship? George and Lennie are in every instance 'mates'. I suppose that some opposition comes from the book where George often says that Lennie is a nuisance, and he got stuck with him because of an auntie of Lennie's. In the novel you get an idea that this is an act, and he cares for Lennie because Lennie says, "'Cause you got me, George and I got you" and George agrees. George is a reasonably intelligent, hardworking ranchman. Lennie on the other hand always manages to find trouble. He is equally as hardworking and honest as George but his simple childlike mind always finds him trouble wherever he goes. However they have one thing that unites the two of them as close as any bond can. This is that they both share the same dream of owning their own ranch - and after many hard working years, moving from ranch to ranch, living in complete poverty and working for next to nothing they finally try to achieve this life long dream. To maintain a companion you must have things in common, you must be able to disagree with a sort of respectful understanding, and finally you must care legitimately about that person. Lennie and George's friendship meet and implement all the needed requirements for being friends. They are a textbook example of loyal friends. They, together, are like two old people living their life in companionship. Lennie gives George someone to talk to and someone to keep him on track. George gives Lennie insight on the world and someone that will respect him even though he isn't intelligent. They, more importantly, give each other something to live for. If Lennie didn't meet George he would of died soon after his aunt did, because he would either have got himself in a bind with no one to help him or he would of simply wondered off and died of loneliness. Although, no matter how much he tries, George cannot make up for the huge gap in Lennies mind. Lennie is so childish it is hard to believe, for example when he sees things he wants to grab and touch them. Throughout the book, the stress of Lennie's retardation begins to weigh down on George. Because of Lennie, they are nomads. Wherever they go, Lennie gets them in trouble.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Nuclear Weapons and their effects :: essays research papers

A nuclear explosion is caused by the release of energy in an atom, either through fission or fusion. Fission weapons cause an explosion by the splitting of atomic nuclei. This happens when a neutron collides with the nucleus of an atom. The protons in the nucleus are transformed into a great amount of energy and two or three more neutrons are sent out, which go on to split other nuclei. If this continues, a chain reaction will occur. The result is a gigantic explosion. To form a chain reaction, a certain amount of material is needed. This amount is known as the critical mass. If the amount is too small it is called a subcritical mass. The critical mass of a material depends on its purity. The materials used in making fission weapons are uranium and plutonium. They are the only elements able to be used in making a fission weapon.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The destructive power in fusion weapons comes from the combining of very light atoms, such as hydrogen. The atoms of the element are fused, and they release a great amount of energy. The element must first be heated to a temperature of 50 million degrees Celsius. The only way to do this, without using more energy than is produced, is to use a fission explosion. So, a ball of hydrogen is surrounded by either uranium or plutonium and then by a non-nuclear explosive. The explosive is set off, and it causes the uranium or plutonium to react through fission, which in turn causes the hydrogen to fuse. Once again, the result is a colossal explosion meant for mass destruction.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The three main effects that would follow a nuclear explosion are blast, thermal radiation or heat, and radiation. The very first thing to happen is the formation of a fireball. The fireball gives off the thermal radiation that cremates anything within a quarter mile and ignites any and all flammable materials within ten miles. The thermal radiation can cause eye injuries as well as skin burns called flash burns. Between 20 and 30 percent of the deaths at Hiroshima and Nagasaki were caused by flash burns. When the fireball begins to dissipate it forms a blast wave that travels away from the explosion at speeds up to 400 miles per hour. This destroys most building within 6 miles. It also kills most people within 3 miles and severely injures or kills most people up to 6 miles away. Nuclear Weapons and their effects :: essays research papers A nuclear explosion is caused by the release of energy in an atom, either through fission or fusion. Fission weapons cause an explosion by the splitting of atomic nuclei. This happens when a neutron collides with the nucleus of an atom. The protons in the nucleus are transformed into a great amount of energy and two or three more neutrons are sent out, which go on to split other nuclei. If this continues, a chain reaction will occur. The result is a gigantic explosion. To form a chain reaction, a certain amount of material is needed. This amount is known as the critical mass. If the amount is too small it is called a subcritical mass. The critical mass of a material depends on its purity. The materials used in making fission weapons are uranium and plutonium. They are the only elements able to be used in making a fission weapon.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The destructive power in fusion weapons comes from the combining of very light atoms, such as hydrogen. The atoms of the element are fused, and they release a great amount of energy. The element must first be heated to a temperature of 50 million degrees Celsius. The only way to do this, without using more energy than is produced, is to use a fission explosion. So, a ball of hydrogen is surrounded by either uranium or plutonium and then by a non-nuclear explosive. The explosive is set off, and it causes the uranium or plutonium to react through fission, which in turn causes the hydrogen to fuse. Once again, the result is a colossal explosion meant for mass destruction.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The three main effects that would follow a nuclear explosion are blast, thermal radiation or heat, and radiation. The very first thing to happen is the formation of a fireball. The fireball gives off the thermal radiation that cremates anything within a quarter mile and ignites any and all flammable materials within ten miles. The thermal radiation can cause eye injuries as well as skin burns called flash burns. Between 20 and 30 percent of the deaths at Hiroshima and Nagasaki were caused by flash burns. When the fireball begins to dissipate it forms a blast wave that travels away from the explosion at speeds up to 400 miles per hour. This destroys most building within 6 miles. It also kills most people within 3 miles and severely injures or kills most people up to 6 miles away.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Early Greek and Roman Civilizations

Early Greek and Roman Civilizations Charles Inabnitt American InterContinental University Abstract The early Greek and Roman empires or civilizations shared a lot of similarities in geography for they both are Mediterranean countries. They had similar religions also. These are some of the cultural aspects that are compared and contrasted. Early Greek and Roman Civilizations The following are examples of cultural elements of comparison and contrast: geography, government, economy, art, philosophy, religion. Furthermore, the graph below will go into more detail in all of the subjects discussed above. Greece| Roman| Geography| Some of the Greek poleis or city states as they were called where naturally separated by the sea from the mainland. Now the mainland was very mountainous. | Geographically, Rome was built on seven hills on the east bank of the Tiber River. The lower lying areas were prone to flooding. | Government| Greek governments were divided in groups by the great Aristotle, a nd are still used today by historians, into monarchies, oligarchies, tyrannies, and democracies. | Rome was ruled by kings at the beginning of their time. Then it became a republic with emperors of royal blood and a senate and an assembly. | Economy| The Greeks since their poleis where unreachable by land they were reached by sea. Thus in the early part of the history of Greece the main source of economy was through fishing and trading. Later led onto agriculture and the growing of wheat. | Romans where known for their trading and were also known for taking slaves from all of the wars that they had from the expansion of their empire. Therefore, the people of Rome had grown a custom to slave labor. Art| The Greeks where known for the art form of perfecting the human body. They were known for sculptures and other famous art works known as ideal artistic form of art. | The Roman people were engineers. Concrete was one of the greatest inventions by the romans. They were able to make great expanded forms of architecture. | Philosophy| Philosophy or ‘love of wisdom’ was the enriched need of knowledge without the use of history. Some of the greatest thinkers came from ancient Greece mainly from Athens. | Roman philosophy was borrowed from the Greeks philosophy and the concepts of ethical and political. Religion| The religion of the Greeks where that of gods for every aspect of life. For example, there were gods for things like the sea ruled by Poeidon and the underworld ruling over the dead ruled by Hades. Then the all mighty Zeus ruler of all gods and of mankind. | Roman also believed in gods for every aspect of life. Therefore they borrowed the Greeks gods and just renamed them. | So in conclusion, as we can see that the Greeks and the Romans had many similarities. Reasons of this may stem from the fact that the Romans develop from the Greek colonies and also the Etruscan settlements. This may be the reason why the philosophy and the religion of the Greek and Romans are very similar. As you can also see though both civilizations had their differences in how their civilizations were maintained and ran in everyday life and morals. References Miller, Lee, Patrick. , Reeve, C. D. C. (2006). Introductory Readings in Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy. Indianapolis, Indiana: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc Sayre, Henry. (2010). Discovering the Humanities. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Hall

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Modern Working Life

Modern Working Life People as well as organizations are motivated to move from one status to another. This urge for advancement is the internal constrain that catalyzes human behaviours and growth. Trigger on human behaviours depends on the workplace inspirations. There is various motivation theories concern with interpreting how human beings behave at the workplace. Arguably there is need to understand the constraints affecting modern work-life and stress at the workplace.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Modern Working Life specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The motivational theories may not be universally acceptable but they are important in studies concerning individual and organizational behaviour in modern workplaces. This paper addresses the effects of modernization at the workplace and its outcomes on individuals and organizations. How can the motivation be important on implementation of organization’s goals and addressing i ndividuals’ needs especially in the twenty first century? Introduction Today’s business world requires employees who are ready to share knowledge. This has emerged as an urgent business need and a measure of maintaining high-level role of intelligence. The biggest challenge to the individual is the need brings about the individual obligation to be equipped with the latest technological sophistication. Most work environments today are technologically oriented. There is however very little indication that majority of the companies or organizations are working to meet employee’s needs to motive them to achieve the organizations’ goals through assessing their behaviours. The firms expect employees to workout any newly implemented systems at their own peril and struggle. Most managers are result oriented who lack consideration for their achievement. This leaves the employees with the task of figuring out how the new technology should workout. Effects of Motiva tion Theories at the work place The personal view of the workplace determines individuals’ behaviours during the process of undertaking a task. According to McGregor, the human elevation of entrepreneurship indicates that, some people have an inherent dislike of specific jobs or tasks and they literally try to avoid various chores, which seem stressful to them. As a result, this is a major impact on the organization’s social, cultural and economical growth. Another major impact of this notion is the effect of the individuals’ need to overcome or control the situation at hand. An average human being would prefer guidance to making individual decisions rather that being responsible over bad decisions at the work place. Responsibility comes with the need to be ambitious other than rely on job security. This is not only an effect on the individual who lacks career and economical growth but also the organization. The organization run by low-minded individuals lack ch ances for economical growth.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The assumptions or arguments based upon this theory indicate the need for a managerial choice between tough administration and control or softness in governance to enhance harmony at the work place. Today the latter situation merely exists, In line with McGregor (1984); this presumption does not bestow employees with the required high working motivation in the aim of fulfilling goals more than the need to ensure they receive financial remunerations. The employees behave in an unanticipated manner thus depriving the organization its goals. The organization is capable of maximizing the potential of the employees by first addressing certain workplace conditions especially during the complex modern business world. Today people are not in a position to seek and accept responsibility as a way of achieving job o r career satisfaction. This is due to the huge work requirements and in-turn low returns. The organization can only receive commitment and good results if the employees involved feel satisfied and motivated. These problems at the work place are solvable through creativity, imagination and ingenuity, which in consideration are the drives towards accepting liability for development. Proper treatment of the employees makes them to act by directing themselves towards commitments of the organizational goals, vision and mission. According to MaGrgor (1984), views over employees’ management, any member of staff is not ready to accept punishment in terms of poor working conditions or forceful control over performance. The humble treatment by the employer towards the employees would sound ambiguous and unachievable particularly in large organizations. As much as it is effective in administrating managers or professionals due to its nature of conductively supporting participative probl em solving procedures, it can work for junior employees as well. Modern work places are full of commanding managers who want to exercise their authoritative rights thus offending and depressing the junior workers most of whom would be humble in fear of accusations over insubordination. This major effect comes about because today’s employees lack of security in the work force. The job that one does is the only security thus the fear for losing it. The blame would be the low rates of returns. The income has various deductions to a point of denying the earner a chance for personal investment.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Modern Working Life specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More People have endless need or urge to control others and this can lead to misery or failure in the workplace. It is very crucial to assign responsibilities in order to control tasks. One person is not supposed to control everything in the org anization. The power distribution strategy promotes growth due to proper decision-making procedures. In most work places today, the consultation of general employees over problem solving occur only when it is the last and only option especially when the required information is technical in nature. Employees feel emotionally important and positively motivated towards their jobs if consulted over issues affecting the organization especially when it concerns their lines of duty. In the modern life, technology advancement, require quick upgrading of personal skills. This issue make most managers to feel threatened by other junior staff over their job titles. ( Reitman and Schneer, 2008) Research has indicated this as a major source of conflicts and disagreements over desirable results of a task. This situation mostly affects the organization’s growth because of managers abandoning the most desirable results as irrelevant since they pose as challenges over their careers. According to McGregor (1984), proper management calls for requesting explanations over complex matters or issues at hand for full understanding of purpose of action. This procedure put forth the character-trends and empowerment for improved working methods. (McGregor, 1984) Improved results in the workforce are achievable if employees are elevated to a view of being in charge and having a respectable and important position along the management hierarchy. His is termed as â€Å"participative management of problems solving† which is evidently better compared to the authoritarian system of leadership. According to McGregor (1984), Staff members only contribute towards the organization’s growth if the managerial treatment indicates responsibility and value of the employees. Effects and outcomes of stress in the workplace on individuals Today, people are fighting to achieve or seek excellence and appreciation over their offers to the organization. The overtime experiences are the de terminant forces over human needs. By nature, majority of people are high achievers seeking excellence, frequent recognition and appreciation. Unlike the olden days, today’s employees are not ready to take the significant risks, which have high chances of career gain.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Secondly, human needs require them to search for affiliation to harmonize relationships with others and create compliance with instances that assist them to stand out from the crowd. Some people will shy away from seeking approval and recognition form fellow workmates but will rather try to find relationship that harmonize their association with others. Today’s work setting has created power seekers who aim at controlling others and seeking higher achievement in the administration ladder without considering professional achievements. The need to achieve higher power control or higher career goals calls for one to hunt for agreement and compliance among fellow employees or management. If people try to understand the need for professional experience, then they appreciate their social, educational and the category, which they belong to and this would enable them curb the excessive personal predispositions at the workplace. (Maslow, 1987) Than logical facts, personal feeling affe cts thoughts of people at the work place. If initiated, the personal feelings tend to stick because they are independent of facts and evidences. They are emotional preferences, which tend to stay put even when the original thoughts are invalid of the situation at hand. The managers ought to initiate some rational or logical sense into the employee to get them emotionally involved or engaged in a task. The establishment of emotions leads to removal or ignorance of the rational thoughts yet the rationality behind one’s feelings plays an important role in reasoning. Research indicates that personal attitudes and behaviours at work are the root cause of uncharacteristic behaviours at the work place. It is rare to find someone who has positive attitude towards work. The attitude mainly lowers self-motivation and disfigures key organizational goals or mission. If constrained to specific circumstances, attitudes deteriorate consistency, social desirability and personal experiences. It is important for managers to monitor such reactions or behaviours other than assuming that the attitude would workout to the desired performance. According to Maslow, (1987), the undesired attitude often causes confusion at the work place. People at the work place will behave as though the challenges involved do not belong to them. Attributing the cause of events in the workplace creates a big sense of control. Today the workplace is full of the blame game because of the habit of attributing the problems to internal and external factors. A person will blame the internal personality factors or the external factors when the errors seem to incline to their side. This is a personal trait, which if not curbed, can cause the organization to suffer from economically stunted growth. For instance if a team wins in a competition, the supporters will state, â€Å"we won† while when the team loose they say â€Å"they lost† and not â€Å"we lost† or they say â€Å"the ot her team won†. Naturally, no one wants to say we lost. Emotional and motivational factors drive the personal attributions. People often face with the challenge of having internal over external attributes. Making internal attributions about others within the organization damages the trust among employees. The repetitive problem leads to cognitive dissonance of an organization sticks when the blame persists. People can only take care of these vice if they are in position to eliminate the incorrect attributions. (Maslow, 1987) In the world of technology, the difference of opinion usually referred to as dissonance, is a powerful motivator which enables us to change conflicting believes or actions. Dissonance creates a feeling of painful tension due to conflicting thoughts. It solely depends on the importance of the subject matter, amount of tension on the dissonant mind and the inability to rationally control and resolve the conflict. People will have a strong dissonance when the personal believe is strong and they act centrally to that believe. Cognitive dissonance is a strong central mechanism appearing in most situations and it increases with importance or impact of the decision, which in most cases is difficult to reverse. The feeling of uneasiness in the workplace ought to send aside so that the affected can find persuasive ways to change believes personal values, attitudes and behaviours. (Maslow, 1987) When personal inner feelings are in alignment, then it is easy for one to achieve a comfortable condition. In order to control conflicts in an organization, one would deny, ignore and rationalize excuses over performance. Other ways of controlling the conflicting situations may include separating entities, transcendence, changing the entities or persuading. There is need for managers to show how the conflict may affect other important social norms of the organization. The commonness of inconsistency today calls for deeper thoughts regarding other people ’s potential ability in the workplace with relation to the undertaken task. (Romando, 2007) The other burning issue in the work place involves setting goals. The employees find set goals they might not be able to achieve. They need to be involved so that they participate in laying down understandable, unambiguous but challenging, and achievable goals. In relation to Romando (2007), organizational goals include directional objectives in which case motivation aims at arriving to particular conclusions. Organizational goals enable employees and employers to narrow down their differences to think over and support a conclusion. People become optimistic on the subject of achieving goals when deliberation is non-existent. Such a setting creates motivation due to the anticipated ability to arrive to a possible conclusion that supports advancement especially when the cost of being inaccurate seems to be very high. Unpredictably, investors are willing to invest more if the efforts are inclining to high and accurate goals. The organization’s chances of advancement depend upon influences over choices concerning beliefs and decision-making regulations. Accurateness of goals causes complex responses thus making people to think purposefully about their actions. According to Romando in 2007, personal preference entails the ultimate choice. While probing Maslow’s work Romando (2007) explained that, Maslow’s research over human behaviours in the workplace explains the ERG management theory. It is a satisfactory theory that examines organizational leadership style from a humanistic philosophical perspective. â€Å"Abraham Maslow, author of Motivation and Personality, views people from a holistic perspective and delineates a hierarchy of human needs as physiological, safety, esteem, self-actualization, belongingness and love. This he simplified into three sets of needs: Existence, Relatedness and Growth (hence ERG).† People need to seek social g rowth at their work places because this is the basis for creativity and hence the organization is physical, social, cultural and economical growth. Social growth also enhances the sense of completeness and fulfilments. (Romando, 2007) Conclusion over Job Satisfaction Current stress or stains at the workplace build up due to inefficient job satisfaction. The situation may be caused by the overall degradation of the economy thus the financial strains among organizations, low income, low resources, high rates of conflicts among workers, poor decision making procedures, fear for break-down and job dissatisfaction. Reduction of stain entails achieving satisfaction or changing the approaches used towards work. â€Å"People either take work as a job mainly for financial rewards but not interest, as a career where interest is advancement on the career ladder or as a calling where the focus is on the work itself other than advancement or financial fulfilment.† People should gather som e good behavioural patters such as having mechanisms for improving personal skills, coming up with personal projects and enhancing good rapport with co-workers to gain knowledge and encounter new challenges. There is urgent need for people to learn the concepts of braking job monotony such as engaging in volunteer work to meet new challenges and make best out of the difficulties encountered as a way of managing stress. (MFMER, 2006) Today’s challenges involve the turbulence on careers which often involve changes of employers, location, and occupation. In line with Reitman and Schneer (2008), emphasis for better stress free work environments depends on organizational governance or accountability. The global economy remains competitive, the technology pervasively require advancement; knowledge-based firms continue to mutate thus the needs for dynamism in the workforce. â€Å"In order to support individual behaviours organizations should embrace the realities of 21st century ca reers and recognize the importance of programs and policies that enable the careers of their employees such as part-time options, job sharing, free-time, and telecommuting.† (Summers and Hyman, 2005) References Mayo foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER). (2006). Web. McGregor, D. (1984) the Human Side of Enterprise. McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Web. Maslow, A. (1987). Motivation and Personality (third edition). HarperCollins College Div. Reitman, F. and Schneer, J. (2008). Enabling the new careers of the 21st century. Organization Management Journal. Web. Romando, R. (2007). Motivation Theory. Web. Summers, J and Hyman, J. (2005). Employee participation and company  Performance: Joseph rowntree foundation. Web.

Monday, October 21, 2019

MTBE and the environment essays

MTBE and the environment essays In 1990, the federal Clean Air Act was passed to improve air quality in the United States. President Bush's proposed amendments to the Clean Air Act initially would have led to the introduction of alternative, non-petroleum fuels. The petroleum and oxygenate industries responded by offering a reformulated gasoline program as a substitute for most of the alternate fuel proposals. As a result, the amendments to the federal Clean Air Act adopted in 1990 required steps to achieve lower vehicle emissions, including programs to oxygenate and reformulate gasoline. Oxygenated gasoline is designed to increase the combustion efficiency of gasoline, thereby reducing carbon monoxide emissions. Since January 1995, the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments require areas that have the most severe ozone pollution to use reformulated gasoline containing fuel oxygenates to improve air quality. Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether is one of the most commonly used fuel oxygenates because it is produced in very large amounts from isobutylene, a waste product in the refining process. MTBE can be easily produced at the refinery, at a low cost, and can be transferred through existing pipelines once it has been blended with gasoline. In contrast to other gasoline additives used in the past, MTBE is a member of a class of chemical compounds, ethers, whose unique properties are enhanced solubility in water and chemical attraction to water molecules. These properties, along with widespread use of MTBE, have resulted in frequent detection of MTBE in samples of shallow groundwater from urban areas throughout the United States. MTBE moves quickly to shallow groundwater because it is not attached to soil particles, and is chemically attracted to water molecules. MTBE the potential to impact regional groundwater sources and may present a cumulative contamination hazard due to its mobility and apparent recalcitrance. The United States Geological Survey, in a paper p...