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In the early 1980s, mechanical hands were little more than two‐fingered grippers, or quick‐disconnect wrists with different tools for each job. Today, thanks to engineering ingenuity, shrinking components and government funding for space station and other applications, they are becoming much more. One example of such evolving technology is the Salisbury Hand.

This paper describes a series of kinematic and haptic analyses which lead to the design of a particularly simple, yet useful multi‐hand, multi‐finger haptic interface. The proposed device is desktop‐based and has been built with maximizing transparency in mind. By interacting with virtual environments, using two fingers per hand, users are able to grasp and manipulate virtual objects, something that current state‐of‐the‐art commercial desktop haptic devices do not allow. These additional capabilities lend themselves to more complex virtual reality and teleoperation applications such as surgical training, hand rehabilitation and nanomanipulation.

Describes the development and application of the haptic whole arm manipulator (WAM) robotic arm in surgical operations. Discusses the fusion of 2D and 3D body images with the robot which allows the precise positioning of laparoscopic and other surgical tools to assist human surgeons. Benefits attributed to this system include minimally invasive surgery, reduced collateral damage, reduced infection risks and reduced requirements for revision surgery.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential counteracting influence of individual resilience levels on the tendency of role stressors, stress arousal and burnout to reduce job satisfaction and increase turnover intentions.

This study surveys 332 auditors from the offices of nine public accounting firms. The structural equations modeling procedures examine an expanded role stress model to assess the nature and extent of the role that resilience plays in reducing stress, burnout, job dissatisfaction and turnover intentions.

Resilience has a significant direct negative association with stress arousal and burnout, a significant indirect positive association with job satisfaction and a significant indirect negative association with turnover intentions.

As a cross-sectional study that incorporates self-report instruments, no definitive statements can be made about causality. However, the results extend the extant knowledge related of the role of resilience as a coping mechanism within the role stress paradigm in auditor work settings.

This study’s findings suggest the potential value of resilience training programs at public accounting firms to reduce staff burnout. In turn, reduced burnout has an increased likelihood ceteris paribus of increasing job satisfaction and reducing auditor turnover intentions.

This study’s findings suggest that resilience training for public accounting staff to reduce burnout may provide the organizational and personal benefits associated with enhancing job satisfaction and decreasing turnover intentions.

This paper aims to evaluate the efficacy of the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale 10 (CD-RISC 10) (Campbell-Sills and Stein, 2007) for use in public accounting settings.

The analyses include an examination of possible demographic differences in overall score, the scale’s factor structure, the invariance of its factor structure across gender and age groups, the scale’s reliability and its convergent and divergent validity.

There are significant gender and age group difference in scores, but a common univariate factor structure for the scale. The authors further find that a two-factor solution provides a superior fit to the data compared to the single factor structure used in the most prior research. Spearman–Brown reliability coefficients, item-total correlations and coefficient alphas each support the reliability of the items loading on the scale for the full sample, as well as for each of the above-referenced demographic subsamples.

Limitations are acknowledged related to the use of self-report measures, absence of test-retest score comparisons and convergent and divergent assessments limited to the heterotrait–homomethod approach.

The CD-RISC 10 is an expedient resilience measure, as it can be completed and scored in just a few minutes. Human resource administrators at public accounting firms can use it as an initial screening measure to identify staff who might benefit from resilience training. The paper adds to the appreciation of what not to do in the face of crisis by the government and those in charge of large accounting organizations.

The CD-RISC 10 can be used in research and clinical efforts to reduce voluntary turnover of audit staff and enhance the well-being of auditors in the workplace.

This study provides empirical evidence that the CD-RISC 10 is a valid and reliable measure for future assessments of auditor resilience levels.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role stress model originally developed by Fogarty et al. (2000) using more refined measures, a context-specific performance metric and a targeted respondent group. The investigation uses a sample of working professional auditors to investigate the associations between job stressors, burnout and job outcomes using an industry-specific measure of job performance.

The analyses use structural equations modeling procedures to examine a model that postulates that burnout will mediate the relations between job stressors and job outcomes. The data for the study come from 293 survey instruments completed by auditors working at the offices of 11 public accounting firms. A parsimonious job satisfaction scale based on Churchill et al.’s (1985) 27-item scale is developed using classical test-item analysis and is incorporated into the analysis.

The results suggest three significant items of note. First, although prior research has found that burnout partially mediates relations between job stressors and job outcomes, this study shows that burnout fully mediates these associations. Second, the study provides support for the reduced audit quality practices (RAQP) scale as an audit-specific construct for job performance. Finally, results show that the 27-item job satisfaction scale can successfully be reduced to a six-item scale.

While this study is subject to the limitations inherent to all cross-sectional studies that use self-report instruments, the results further the knowledge related to the role stress paradigm in auditor work settings.

This study’s findings provides a cogent argument for human resource managers at public accounting firms to monitor staff burnout levels and implement interventional strategies (Jones III et al., 2010) when these levels become excessive. Efforts to mitigate staff burnout levels may decrease the likelihood of staff engagement in dysfunctional audit practices and the associated costs to the firm and the individual(s) involved.

The findings also demonstrate the superiority of the RAQP scale in terms of explaining variance in auditor performance when compared to the modified performance measures utilized in prior research.