Many local authorities are major polluters and are ignoring each and every rule in the book. Raw sewerage is dumped in to rivers and the Vaal River is already a national health threat. Pollution of land, air and water is a common consequence by large corporations capable of causing harm to humans and other living organisms. Research on the pollution of these key natural resources is required to understand cumulative impacts, so as to take measures of precaution to minimize such pollution and reduce its consequences. Risk Assessments are therefore encouraged to identify and explore in quantitative terms, the types, intensities and likelihood of undesired consequences related to the risk of pollution. This study has identified a potential risk from creosote bleedings at Eskom pole yards and aims to explore the probability of such occurrences cumulatively so as to identify precautionary measures at the forefront of this problem to develop effective contingency plans. Soil samples were collected systematically and analysed for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), a component of creosote that preserves wood. Studies have indicated that concentrations of this preservative beyond acceptable limits can impact negatively on natural resources especially water and soil. The laboratory analysed data indicates that the soil samples collected from the Howick Pole Yard were contaminated with PAH beyond the threshold values. The severity of the contamination, as determined by the application of the Risk Assessment tool, indicates that mitigation measures are essential. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2008.

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No description available.

This research examines the cross-section of expected returns in the UK stock market for the period January 1969-December 2001, with particular reference to the role of risk adjustments and the pricing of characteristic factors. This study has three empirical parts. This first part of the empirical study is concerned with the testing for cross-sectional relationships between expected returns and firm size, book-to-market equity ratio and beta. A methodology similar to that of Fama and French (1992) is employed for this purpose. Most of the research relating the behavior of stock returns to variables such as beta, size and book-to-market equity ratio has been done for the US markets, but there has been limited research relating to the UK markets. In order to further fill the gap, this study provides new evidence by using a more up to date dataset for the UK stock market. In addition, this study further tests the relationship by employing methods not previously employed for the UK market. The cross sectional relationships are tested using robust regressions. Because of seasonal patterns and small-firm effects detected in prior cross-sectional studies, this study also explores cross-section relations for different months of the year and different size cohorts. In the second part, this study analyses models that explain the time series of stock returns using portfolios that mimic the characteristics found to be priced in the first stage cross-section analysis. It was ascertained whether these characteristics proxy for sensitivity to risk factors in returns or whether the characteristics themselves explain the cross section of expected stock returns. This study also discriminates between these two explanations by testing whether it is the time variation in expected risk premiums as measured by the characteristic factors or time variation in the risk loadings as measured by the risk factors arising from characteristic factors. In the third part, it was detennined whether the characteristic factors found to priced in the first and second stage have any explanatory power relative to the loadings on the factors through the different asset pricing risk models. Throughout the study, other issues in both the cross-section and time-series analysis, such as data-snooping biases and residual analysis are also addressed. From all three parts, there is strong evidence that the book-to-market equity ratio is a very important detenninant of the cross-sectional variation in average stock returns while there is hardly any role for beta or size effects in explaining returns. However, the book-to-market effect is only visible for portfolios of small firms and for the month of April. This study further finds some evidence supporting a rational asset-pricing risk model as a possible explanation of book-to-market and size premiums and some evidence supporting book-to-market and size characteristics as a possible explanation. But the analysis of risk-adjusted returns through different factor models suggests that, the priced firm characteristics like book-to-market equity and size are not proxying for loadings on omitted factors that are priced.

No description available.

<p>Assessing and understanding the health needs and abilities of university and college students is vital in creating healthy campus communities. Student learning is a central part of the higher education academic mission, and health promotion serves this mission by supporting students and creating healthy learning environments. Findings from various studies suggest that students entering the university setting put themselves at risk through unhealthy behaviours. Health science students are the future health professionals who will teach health promotion and disease prevention. The aim of this study was to determine and analyse health risk behaviours and health promoting behaviours among health science students at the University of the Western Cape. The study further aimed to identify the factors influencing these students' engagement in these risk behaviours.</p>

Recent international regulatory reforms have put more responsibility on auditors for detecting financial statement fraud. The recent changes to international auditing standards make it compulsory for members of the audit team to discuss the susceptibility of an entity to fraudulent misstatements at the audit planning stage. These standards do not stipulate the format of these group discussions, nor provide any explicit guidelines on how to carry out effective discussions. This dissertation reports on two studies that examine different discussion techniques which could lead to a better identification of audit fraud risks at the audit planning stage, and may in turn help in fraud detection. Study One tests whether two enhanced forms of interacting group processes (brainstorming guidelines and premortem instructions) have advantages over an interacting group (without brainstorming guidelines). The brainstorming group is provided with Osborn???s (1957) original brainstorming guidelines. Premortem is a variation of the mental simulation idea developed by Klein (1999) invoking a scenario where participants actively search for a flaw in their plans. The auditors in both the brainstorming group treatment and the premortem group treatment generated a larger number of potential frauds than the interacting group treatment. These results were robust across a range of dependent variables used to measure quantity and quality of fraud items. The results also show that more premortem groups listed rare frauds compared to the other two group structures. There was a negative relationship between the number of items listed and the assessed likelihood of fraud. Participants who estimated a higher likelihood of fraud provided a more complete mental simulation of how a fraud could be perpetrated. Study Two focuses on the individual brainstorming phase which may occur before the group brainstorming session. It examines whether giving additional brainstorming guidelines and task decomposing (in addition to the original brainstorming guidelines), improve performance compared to having only the original brainstorming guidelines. Both the additional brainstorming guidelines and the task decomposition treatments generated a larger number of potential frauds than the brainstorming guidelines treatment. Task decomposition helps participants focus equally on all task subcategories leading to a more diverse set of ideas.

Thesis (doctoral)--University of Manchester, 1988. / BLDSC reference no.: D87691.

Thesis (M.S.)--Auburn University, 2007. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references (ℓ. 74-76)

Thesis (M.S.)--Humboldt State University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 39-44). Also available via Humboldt Digital Scholar.