In response to growing concerns about environmental degradation and climate change,demand for green products and services has increased. The use of environmental claimsas a marketing tool in order to gain a competitive advantage has also increased.The goal of this study is to close this gap by understanding how perceptions ofgreenwashing influence Angolan consumers of Generation Z's green trust and greenpurchasing intention. Through a qualitative approach, with 20 semi-interviews, thisresearch reveals that greenwashing perception has a negative impact on green trust, butthe same is not true for green purchase intention. Nonetheless, green trust has a positiveinfluence on green purchase intention, and green concern, in turn, has a positive influenceon greenwashing perception, green trust, and green purchase intention. Since consumerconcern over the environment is on growing, it is critical for businesses to be aware ofthis development, while still meeting customer expectations. This alteration should beseen as a challenge for both general organizational management and the marketingdepartment in particular.

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Many types of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), including per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), have been found in leachate of operating municipal landfills. However, information on CECs in leachate of historic landfills (≥3 decades since closure, often lacking engineered liners or leachate collection systems) and the related risk posed from groundwater plumes discharging to nearby aquatic ecosystems is limited. In this study, 48 samples of leachate-impacted groundwater were collected from 20 historic landfills in Ontario, Canada. The CECs measured included artificial sweeteners (ASs), PFAS, organophosphate esters (OPE), pharmaceuticals, bisphenols, sulfamic acid, perchlorate, and substituted phenols. Several landfills, including ones closed in the 1960s, had total PFAS concentrations similar to those previously measured at modern landfills, with a maximum observed here of 12.7 μg/L. Notably elevated concentrations of several OPE, cotinine, and bisphenols A and S were found at many 30-60 year-old landfills. There was little indication of declining concentrations with landfill age, suggesting historic landfills can be long-term sources of CECs to groundwater. A full-year field study was performed on a 0.5-km reach of an urban stream receiving contaminated groundwater from nearby historic landfills. Elevated concentrations of ammonium, the AS saccharin, an indicator of old landfill leachate, and CECs (e.g., maximum total PFAS of 31 μg/L) in the shallow discharging groundwater were relatively stable across the seasons but were spatially restricted by hyporheic exchange and discharge of other groundwater. This indicates a patchy but long-term exposure for endobenthic organisms, which are rarely monitored. Stream water concentrations were more dilute, but increased markedly across the landfill stretch, and showed signs of increases in winter and after rain/snowmelt events. These findings provide guidance on which CECs may require monitoring at historic landfill sites and suggest how landfill monitoring programs could be improved to fully capture the risk to receiving water bodies. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / Historic landfills are a known source of groundwater contamination. This study investigated whether these landfills contain new groups of chemicals, called contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), which are suspected to pose serious environmental and human health risks. This study found many CECs at high concentrations in most of the 20 historic landfill sites investigated, even those closed up to 60 years. A full-year investigation at one historic landfill site showed that organisms living in the sediments of a nearby stream are exposed to high concentrations all year long. Concentrations in the stream increased as it flowed past the landfill, and may be higher in winter and after rains, times monitoring is rarely done. The elevated concentrations of harmful contaminants in this water are potentially threatening the stream ecosystem. Operators of historic sites should consider testing for CECs and ensure that monitoring strategies accurately evaluate the risk posed to the environment.

This project attempts to bridge conversations between the predominantly Western canon of animal studies and the frequently humanist approach to postcolonial African studies. Drawing on these sometimes incompatible fields, this thesis proposes two premises that emerge from close readings of African cultural texts. First, “Africa” as a discursive construct has long been associated with animals, animality, and the category of the nonhuman, evident in, to give some examples, the current touristic promotion across the globe of African wildlife as an essential part of its continental identity, local and global anxieties over zoonotic transmissions of disease, and the history of race science’s preoccupation with animalizing black and indigenous African bodies. My second premise suggests that in postcolonial and especially African contexts ostensibly “human” concerns are inextricably tied to both the categorical limitations imposed by imperial paradigms of animalization and the precarious existence of nonhuman animals themselves, concern for whom is often occluded in anthropocentric postcolonial discourse. In my dissertation, I examine the role that texts play in directing affective relations of concern locally and globally, reading fictional texts as well as news media, conservation literature, and tourist advertisements. Through these works I examine the complex and often cantankerous politics of cultivating interspecies concern in postcolonial contexts, ranging from the globalized commodification of African wildlife and the dubious international policies that ostensibly protect it, the geography of the North American safari park, the animalization of queer bodies by African state leaders, textual representations of interspecies intimacy, and accounts of the Rwandan genocide. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis responds to the question of how we show concern for animals in postcolonial, globalized, and postconflict worlds. Drawing on the example of multiple texts in African literature, film, and other media, it explores how Africa itself has long been construed in the global imagination as a zone associated with animality. This association appears in texts produced within the West and Africa whose accounts of the continent imagine it to be outside the realm of human ethical concern. Demonstrating how exclusive human ethical concern is for African lives, both human and animal, this thesis argues for an ethics of concern that does not revolve around exclusively the human in postcolonial African studies.

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The purpose of this study was to determine the levels of concern of central office instructional administrators, building level principals, and teachers in Superintendents' Region Seven as they implement Virginias' Standards of Learning initiative. The Stages of Concern (SOC) Questionnaire and demographic sheet were mailed to a sample of 405 instructional personnel of Superintendents' Region Seven in Virginia; 231 responded. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis of variance procedures at the a=. 05 level of significance. Results revealed that central office instructional administrators (N=31), elementary principals (N=31), secondary principals (N=32), and elementary (N=33) and secondary teachers (N=33) not responsible for administering SOL Tests possessed profiles indicative of nonusers. The concerns for these groups were typically highest on stages 0, 1, and 2 and lowest on stages 4, 5, and 6. When the data were analyzed for elementary (N=30), and secondary teachers (N=41) responsible for administering SOL Tests, the findings identified these groups as possessing similar concerns. These groups were highest in stages 3, 6, and 2, respectively. A series of ANOVAs and Scheffes' post hoc analyses at the .05 level were conducted to analyze the data according to the group position/user or nonuser in relation to the seven stages of concern. When the participants were grouped according to position/grade level in relation to the seven stages of concern, an analysis of variance and Scheffes' post hoc were conducted to determine if the groups were significantly different at the .05 level. How practitioners feel about and perceive change will in large part determine whether or not change actually occurs in schools. The amount and scope of educational change needed to successfully implement the Standards of Learning is evident. It is believed the results of this study will provide reformers with an assessment of the various perceptions educators in Superintendents' Region Seven have regarding the implementation of the Standards of Learning. The implications and recommendations could aid reformers as they continue to implement the Standards of Learning and as they implement future initiatives. / Ed. D.

Under the going-concern concept, an entity is assumed to be a going concern when it is able and willing to continue operations in the foreseeable future. Although substantial agreement exists as to the meaning and role of the going-concern concept, it is difficult to make going-concern assessments in the course of an audit. In particular, existing auditing guidelines contained in SAS No. 34 are inadequate and existing going-concern prediction models are flawed. In view of this, the objective of the dissertation is to construct a going-concern prediction model (hereafter called the Koh model) that is based upon improved statistical techniques and methodology. A sample of 165 companies that filed for bankruptcy during the period 1980 to 1985 and a matched sample of 165 non-bankrupt companies are used to construct and test the Koh model. Following the lead taken by the proposed SAS on going-concern assessments, a non-going concern is operationalized as a bankrupt company. For each of the sample companies, six financial ratios as specified by the proposed theory of bankruptcy are obtained. Probit analysis with the weighted exogenous sample maximum likelihood procedure is used to estimate the coefficients of the Koh model. Using the Lachenbruch U method, the hold-out accuracy rates of the Koh model are computed. They are 85.45% for non-going concerns, 100.00% for going concerns, and 99.91% overall. With these accuracy rates, the Koh model compares favorably with other going-concern prediction models suggested in the literature and the auditors. The effects of misclassification costs of Type I and Type II errors on the Koh model are also considered. It is found that the optimal cut-off probability for the Koh model is very insensitive to varying relative misclassification costs. Coupled with its high predictive ability and stability, the Koh model can be an effective prediction model, analytical tool, and defensive device for auditors. Further, the methodology developed and employed in the dissertation can contribute to the current state-of-the-art in constructing prediction models such as going-concern or bankruptcy prediction models, takeover/acquisition prediction models, and loan default prediction models. / Ph. D.

Bakgrund Av bolag som omfattas av frivillig revision väljer 75 procent bort revision trots att den genomsnittliga kostnaden endast uppgår till 10 000 SEK per år för mindre bolag. Syftet med avskaffandet av revisionsplikten år 2010 var att minska småbolagens kostnader för att på så sätt underlätta verksamhetsdriften. Trots att forskning visar att revisorn hjälper till att förbättra och utveckla bolaget väljer majoriteten av bolagen bort den externa kompetensen om möjlighet finns. Resursberoendeteorin säger samtidigt att revisorn är en värdefull resurs som är nödvändig för småbolags överlevnad. Syfte Denna uppsats syftar till att förklara sambandet mellan revision och risken för konkurs för småbolag. Metod Denna kvantitativa studie utgår från en deduktiv ansats. Hypoteser har formulerats med utgångspunkt i resursberoendeteori. En tvärsnittsdesign används med syfte att undersöka risken för konkurs vid en viss tidpunkt. Det empiriska underlaget utgörs av sekundärdata. Slutsats Det finns ett negativt samband mellan revision och risken för konkurs bland svenska småbolag. Revisorn minskar risken för konkurs med 10,42 % varför revision bör ses som en nödvändig resurs för småbolagens överlevnad. / Introduction Despite the fact that the average cost of auditing for SMEs only amounts to 10 000 SEK per year, 75 percent of the SMEs refrain from voluntary audit. The purpose of the abolition of mandatory audit in 2010 was to reduce costs for SMEs in order to benefit their operations. Although research has shown that the auditor helps to improve and develop the company, the majority of the SMEs in Sweden refrains from this external resource. At the same time, according to resource dependence theory, the auditor is a valuable resource that is essential for SMEs. Purpose This study seeks to explain the relationship between auditing and the risk of bankruptcy for SMEs. Method This quantitative study is based on a deductive approach, where hypotheses have been formulated on the basis of resource dependence theory. A cross-sectional design is used in order to study the risk of bankruptcy at a given time. The empirical data consists of archival data. Conclusion There is a negative relationship between auditing and the risk of bankruptcy among SMEs in Sweden. The auditor reduces the risk of bankruptcy with 10.42 %. Hence, the auditor should be seen as essential for the survival of SMEs.