The existing audit risk model does not take business risk into account. The aims of this study are, firstly, to do research on the necessity of taking business risk into account in the audit risk model, and secondly, to indicate the influence of business risk on the audit risk model and on the scope of an audit. In this study, both audit and business risks were researched and it was determined that the existing audit risk model only considers the probabilities that auditors can give incorrect opinions. This study proposes a method whereby an auditor can consider both his own business risk and that ofhis client in determining an audit risk that is acceptable to him and in determining the scope ofhis audit. In addition to the probabilities of incorrect decisions by auditors the consequences thereof are also considered, thus limiting the auditor's engagement risk. / Die huidige ouditrisikomodel neem nie besigheidrisiko in ag nie. Die doel van hierdie studie is eerstens, om die noodsaaklikheid van die inagnerning van besigheidsrisiko in die ouditrisikomodel te ondersoek en tweedens, om die invloed van besigheidsrisiko op die ouditrisikomodel en op die omvang van 'n oudit aan te dui. In hierdie studie is literatuur oor ouditrisiko en besigheidsrisiko ondersoek waaruit aan die lig kom dat die huidige ouditrisikomodel net die waarskynlikhede in ag neem dat ouditeurs foutiewe menings kan uitspreek. Gevolglik stel die studie 'n metode voor waardeur 'n ouditeur beide sy eie besigheidsrisiko asook die van sy klient in ag kan neem tydens die bepaling van 'n ouditrisiko wat vir hom aanvaarbaar is en tydens die vasstelling van die omvang van sy oudit. Daardeur word nie alleen die waarskynlikhede nie, maar ook die gevolge van foutiewe besluitnemings deur ouditeurs oorweeg en 'n ouditeur se aanstellingsrisiko sodoende beperk. / Auditing / MCom (Ouditkunde)

Thesis (MScMedSc)-- Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Diving medical doctors frequently make use of Hyperbaric Facilities without fully realising their legal and ethical responsibilities towards the safety of their patients and their staff. Few have specific training in the technical or operational aspects of these facilities; this deficiency is exacerbated when these are established in remote areas. The potential dangers are real and the results can be devastating. Most current regulatory, manufacturing, safety and operational guidance documents are not flexible enough to be applied universally, nor do they offer practical guidance on the recognition and the mitigation of the unique and relevant hazards at a given facility. The goal of integrated safety is rarely achieved. The Risk Assessment Guide (RAG) was developed by the investigator as a tool to qualify the actual safety status of a hyperbaric facility and to offer guidance on how to improve and maintain it. Although the RAG has been subject to extensive peer review and field implementation over the past 13 years, it has not been subject to scientific validation. Therefore, the objective of this thesis was to do so by (1) retrospectively reviewing the most common safety concerns affecting facility status as identified by the RAG; (2) using the data derived from the analysis to produce a predictive model of likely safety status for un-assessed facilities; and (3) consolidating the results in the form of specific recommendations to improve and maintain safety status. Data collected from a consistent application of the RAG over a period of 13 years, covering 105 applicable facilities, was analysed to determine the common safety concerns, particularly those affecting safety status by means of a consolidated Risk Assessment Score (RAS). The RAS values permitted comparisons between the facilities assessed. The various factors associated with a higher RAS were determined by means of a multivariate regression. Thereupon, the most significant determinant factors were built into a predictive model for the likely safety status of an un-assessed facility. Finally, the most common safety concerns were identified and summarised so that medical practitioners are empowered to determine, improve and maintain the safety status of a given facility. The conclusions of this project are that: (1) the RAG is an appropriate tool to assess facilities for risk elements relevant to their safety status while simultaneously filling the knowledge gaps to equip medical practitioners and staff to improve and maintain safety; (2) reliable predictions on unknown facilities can be made to provide medical practitioners with the necessary information on whether a given facility is appropriate for patient referral; and (3) the RAG is a suitable benchmark for determining hyperbaric facility safety; the review of its application has provided objective data that will permit the formulation of future safety guidelines based on empirical rather than arbitrary information. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Duikmediese dokters maak dikwels gebruik van hiperbariese fasiliteite sonder om die wetlike en etiese verantwoordelikhede ten opsigte van die veiligheid van hul pasiënte en personeel te besef. Weinig het spesifieke opleiding in die tegniese of operasionele aspekte van hierdie fasiliteite; hierdie tekort is gewoonlik erger in afgeleë gebiede. Die potensiële gevare is wesenlik en die gevolge kan verwoestend wees. Meeste van die huidige regulatoriese-, vervaardigings-, veiligheids en operasionele leidingsdokumente is nie buigsaam genoeg om in die algemeen toegepas te kan word nie. Hulle bied ook nie praktiese leiding oor die erkenning en die versagting van unieke en relevante gevare by 'n gegewe fasiliteit nie. Die doelwit van geïntegreerde veiligheid word selde bereik. Die “Risk Asssessment Guide” (RAG) is voorheen deur die navorser ontwikkel as 'n instrument om die werklike veiligheidsstatus van 'n hiperbariese fasiliteit te kwantifiseer en leiding te bied oor hoe om dit te verbeter en in stand te hou. Alhoewel die RAG onderhewig was aan uitgebreide eweknie hersiening en praktiese uitvoering oor die afgelope 13 jaar, was dit nie voorheen onderhewig aan wetenskaplike validasie nie. Die doelwit van hierdie tesis is dus om hierdie te bewerkstellig deur (1) die mees algemene veiligheidskommernisse wat fasiliteitstatus beïnvloed, soos deur die RAG geïdentifiseer, retrospektiewelik te hersien; (2) die data wat deur die hersiening verkry is te gebruik om 'n model te ontwikkel vir onbeoordeelde fasiliteite, wat die waarskynlike veiligheidsstatus kan voorspel, en (3) die resultate te konsolideer in die vorm van spesifieke aanbevelings om veiligheidsstatus te verbeter en in stand te hou. Die data wat ingesamel is deur die konsekwente toepassing van die RAG oor 'n tydperk van 13 jaar en wat 105 fasiliteite gedek het, is ontleed om die algemene veiligheidskommernisse, veral die wat die veiligheidsstatus beïnvloed, deur middel van 'n gekonsolideerde Risikoassesserings waarde (RAW) te bepaal. Die duidelike en aangepaste RAW laat toe om vergelykings tussen die fasiliteite te tref. Faktore wat verband hou met 'n hoër RAW was deur middel van 'n meervoudige regressie bepaal. Daarna is die belangrikste determinante in 'n voorspellende model gebou om die waarskynlike veiligheidsstatus van 'n onbeoordeelde fasiliteit te bepaal. Ten slotte was die mees algemene veiligheidskommernisse geïdentifiseer en opgesom om sodoende mediese praktisyns te bemagtig om die veiligheidsstatus van 'n gegewe fasiliteit vas te stel, te verbeter en in stand te hou. Die gevolgtrekkings van hierdie projek is dat: (1) die RAG 'n geskikte instrument is om fasiliteite te evalueer vir risiko-elemente wat relevant is tot hul eie veiligheidsstatus en terselfdertyd die kennisgapings te vul om geneeshere en personeel toe te rus om veiligheid te verbeter en in stand te hou; (2) redelik betroubare voorspellings oor onbekende fasiliteite kan gemaak word om vir mediese praktisyns die nodige inligting te verskaf aangaande die geskiktheid van 'n gegewe fasiliteit vir pasiënt-verwysing, en (3) dat die RAG 'n geskikte maatstaf is vir die bepaling van hiperbariese fasiliteit veiligheid. Die hersiening van die toepassing het objektiewe data voorsien wat die formulering van toekomstige veiligheidsriglyne, geskoei op empiriese eerder as arbitrêre inligting, sal toelaat.

The high frequency and cost of flooding in Canada has demonstrated the need for effective risk assessment (Public Safety Canada (PSC), 2010). In response to this need, the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) developed HAZUS, a hazard risk assessment tool which relies on a geographic information system (GIS) (FEMA, 2015). Unfortunately, in many rural communities in Canada, only aggregate population data may be available. In those cases, the ability to further partition aggregated data may prove essential in generating robust and accurate risk assessments. The results of this study show that HAZUS can be adapted for use in Canada and provides a new methodology for conducting hazard estimations in areas where available data is coarsely aggregated. There was a strong relationship between nighttime light and population density. High populations were associated with developed land cover classification. These relationships can be used to increase the accuracy of HAZUS predictions. / October 2016

The purpose of this dissertation is to develop a theory that helps explain the conditions under which firms select certain project evaluation techniques. This study uses contingency theory to analyze the impact of environmental uncertainty on the choice of project evaluation techniques. In addition to a direct measure of uncertainty, several dimensions of uncertainty are included in this study. These dimensions of uncertainty include control structure, method of financing, foreign assets, method of growth, and product domination. This study also analyzes the use of project evaluation, management science and risk management techniques in US firms over time and in UK firms over time in order to compare to prior research. A comparison of firms in the two countries are also provided. The primary method of data collection was a survey instrument. Data were also collected from annual reports and various other public sources. The variables that appear significant in the choice of project evaluation technique in US firms are environmental uncertainty, control structure, method of financing, foreign assets, and product domination. The variable that appear significant in the choice of project evaluation technique in UK firms is method of financing. US firms favor discounted cash flow techniques although this study detected a slight decrease over time. UK firms continue to use non-discounted cash flow techniques, although the use of discounted cash flow techniques is widespread. There are significant differences between US and UK firms. US firms tend to use discounted cash flow techniques to a greater extent than UK firms. This research makes a significant contribution in attempting to develop a theory explaining the use of project evaluation techniques in firms in the US and UK. In addition, several other developments relating to project evaluation, management science and risk management are discussed. The results of this study can be used by managers in refining and improving their existing project evaluation processes.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Personal Financial Planning / Sonya L. Britt / This dissertation explores the personal financial planning risk-assessment process. Specifically, the study has five main purposes: 1. Explore the associations among independent risk-assessment variables. 2. Explore the concept that prudent financial risk-assessment goes beyond estimating an individual’s risk tolerance. 3. Explore the impact that each risk variable has on an individual’s overall Comprehensive Risk Profile (CRP). 4. Construct a comprehensive method of risk-assessment to estimate an individual’s overall risk profile. 5. Develop a weighted risk profile score and assign it to a target asset allocation model. Risk-assessment is one of the most instrumental components of the financial planning process. Financial planners and advisors have a fiduciary, as well as a suitability, responsibility to assess the level of risk individuals should bear with respect to their financial plan (Morse, 1998). Because of this, the evaluation of one’s risk profile impacts the success of an individual’s financial plan. If the risk-assessment is accurate, financial goals will have a higher likelihood of being met. To date, little research in the personal financial planning field has attempted to model financial risk-taking behavior in a way that is useful for practitioners, academics, and policy makers. The literature has tended to focus on either models of risk-taking rooted in economic utility theory, or tests of hypotheses related to the association among demographic and socioeconomic factors and risk-taking (Grable & Lytton, 1998). Traditional economic models do not fully account for the role that personal, behavioral, and environmental factors play in influencing individuals’ behavior beyond maximizing their expected utility (Hanna & Chen, 1997). Researchers have yet to develop a risk-profiling system that uses these behavioral or personal factors, to describe an individual’s financial risk-taking framework. Ultimately, the results of this study will lead to a multidimensional, comprehensive, accurate method of risk-assessment for both academic researchers, as well as practitioners. The following will serve as the empirical model for the study.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Computing and Information Sciences / Xinming Ou / If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it. Quantifying security with metrics is important not only because we want to have a scoring system to track our efforts in hardening cyber environments, but also because current labor resources cannot administrate the exponentially enlarged network without a feasible risk prioritization methodology. Unlike height, weight or temperature, risk from vulnerabilities is sophisticated to assess and the assessment is heavily context-dependent. Existing vulnerability assessment methodologies (e.g. CVSS scoring system, etc) mainly focus on the evaluation over intrinsic risk of individual vulnerabilities without taking their contexts into consideration. Vulnerability assessment over network usually output one aggregated metric indicating the security level of each host. However, none of these work captures the severity change of each individual vulnerabilities under different contexts. I have captured a number of such contexts for vulnerability assessment. For example, the correlation of vulnerabilities belonging to the same application should be considered while aggregating their risk scores. At system level, a vulnerability detected on a highly depended library code should be assigned with a higher risk metric than a vulnerability on a rarely used client side application, even when the two have the same intrinsic risk. Similarly at cloud environment, vulnerabilities with higher prevalences deserve more attention. Besides, zero-day vulnerabilities are largely utilized by attackers therefore should not be ignored while assessing the risks. Historical vulnerability information at application level can be used to predict underground risks. To assess vulnerability with a higher accuracy, feasibility, scalability and efficiency, I developed a systematic vulnerability assessment approach under each of these contexts. ​

Within the evolutionary framework of sexual selection and parental investment theory, the study employed four experiments to examine the effects of mating and parenting awareness on the perception and assessment of high risk sports. In Study 1, participants were exposed, in random order, five types of pictures---attractive female, regular female, attractive male, regular male, and award winning pictures. After the activation of each of these pictures, participants were asked to respond to pictures depicting high risk sport events. The reaction time to high risk sport events was shortest when men saw attractive female pictures. The same effect was not found in female participants viewing attractive male pictures. Study 2 used the same mating awareness manipulation (attractive female pictures versus other pictures) but also added parenting and child rearing pictures depicting pregnant women or young children with their mothers. The results showed that men's reaction time to high risk sports was shorter when exposed to attractive female pictures than other conditions and was longer when exposed to parenting-related pictures. Study 3 included socialsexual orientation as a covariate and results similar to Study 1 were obtained after controlling for the extraneous influence of socialsexual orientation. Study 4 focused on risk assessment in different domains including entertainment, financial investment, health and social risk. The results showed that men under-assessed risk in the entertainment domain when exposed to attractive female pictures than to award winning pictures. However, the same effect was not found with other risk domains. Overall, the findings support the evolutionary account of risk taking which is sexually selected male attribute as an ornament to attract mating partners and which is reduced when men shift from mating to parenting and child rearing concerns. One practical implication for controlling risk taking behaviors among adolescents is the knowledge that risk taking behavior may be more likely in mixed- than in single-gender social groups. / 李宏利. / Adviser: Lei Chang. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: 1923. / Thesis (doctoral)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 93-118). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / School code: 1307. / Li Hongli.

Amy S.Y. Ho. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-58).

Cheng, Man Chuen. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 118-134). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter Chapter 1: --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 2: --- Literature Review --- p.14 / Chapter Chapter 3: --- Methodology --- p.34 / Chapter Chapter 4: --- Emotion --- p.51 / Chapter Chapter 5: --- HIV/AIDS and STI --- p.74 / Chapter Chapter 6: --- Violence --- p.96 / Chapter Chapter 7: --- Conclusion --- p.111 / Bibliography --- p.117 / list of tables / Table 1: Socio -demographic characteristics of FSWs --- p.40 / "Table 2: Clients' typology, their descriptions, and FSWs' preference" --- p.87

Falls are a serious issue for the elderly living in long-term care facilities, as falls contribute to signi�cant health problems such as increased dependence, loss of autonomy, confusion, immobilization, depression, restriction in daily activities, and, in some cases, death. An estimated 424,000 fatal falls in elderly patients residing in long-term facilities occur annually in the United States costing $34 billion in direct medical costs. One way to reduce falls among elderly patients in long-term care is to assess for fall risk frequently and implement evidence-based strategies to prevent falls. Patients in this project site facility had been assessed for fall risk via the Briggs Fall Risk Assessment Tool with implementation of fall risk iinterventions only upon admission or when there was a fall. The purpose of this project was to assess whether changing to weekly use of the Briggs Fall Risk Assessment Tool with implementation of fall risk interventions by nursing staff could decrease fall rates in the elderly in long-term care in Harris County, Texas. The model of prevention served as the conceptual framework for this project. Thirty participants (20 females and 10 males) between the ages of 65-115 participated in the program. Pre-implementation data were collected for 1 month and post-implementation data were collected for 1 month. The total number of falls reported weekly was counted before and after the weekly implementation of the Briggs Fall Risk Assessment Tool. The number of falls decreased from 12(70.6%) before the implementation of the assessment tool to 5(29.4%) falls afterwards. A fall prevention program in long-term care may affect social change positively by reducing fall risk in long term care by reinforcing the importance of increased awareness of risk of falls to implement fall prevention strategies