There has been a dearth of research on ‘auditors and environmental matters’ since Collison (1996) and Collison and Gray (1997) completed their study on the views of UK auditors about whether auditing is changing, or should be changing, in relation to environmental concerns. It is now more than ten years since the publication of that study. Growing international concern for environmental matters has since led to the issue of International Auditing Practice Statement (IAPS) -1010: The consideration of environmental matters in the audit of financial report in 1998 and, in New Zealand, Audit Guidance Statement (AGS) -1010: The consideration of environmental matters in the audit of a financial statement in 2001. Yet, to date, there has been no examination of the impact of IAPS-1010 or AGS-1010 on either current audit practice, or the issues raised by Collison (1996) and Collison and Gray (1997). This doctoral thesis has attempted to address the environmental impact gap in the auditing research literature. In particular, it has investigated the consideration of environmental matters in the audit of financial reports in the light of AGS-1010, with a view to understanding better the following issues: (1) how auditors generally perceive the consideration of environmental matters in the audit of financial reports; (2) the common approaches and practices auditors undertake when auditing environmental matters; (3) the challenges (if any) that auditors face in the audit of environmental matters (4) the impact (if any) of AGS 1010 on current audit practice and, finally, (5) how current practices in the audit of environmental matters may be improved and further developed to meet better the espoused aims of AGS-1010. Qualitative interviews with twenty-seven senior financial audit practitioners and others in New Zealand provided the basis for the findings. The interviews were taped, transcribed and managed with the use of computerised qualitative analysis software (NViVo7). Key findings from the research interviews were as follows: (1) the introduction of AGS-1010 had little impact on current audit practice in New Zealand; (2) environmental matters were treated no differently from any other audit issues, and auditors tended to apply common, familiar audit approaches in dealing with environmental matters; (3) auditors found the effective auditing of environmental matters challenging owing to their inability to identify such matters, and their lack of relevant expert knowledge. The most significant finding from this study is that, in general, common audit practices were riddled with issues of concern. These issues point to a broader and more significant problem. It would seem that current audit practices fail to consider many potential audit issues (including environmental matters) adequately in the audit of financial reports. For auditors to be more effective in their audit practice and in protecting the public interest, not only does audit methodology need a major review, but auditors themselves need to change their attitudes and mindsets in their approach to auditing.

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Οι επιπτώσεις των αιωρουμένων σωματιδίων στην υγεία τεκμηριώνονται σε σειρά μελετών (π.χ. Griffiths, 2011). Κατά τα τελευταία χρόνια επίσης έχουν μελετηθεί οι πηγές των αιωρουμένων σωματιδίων οι οποίες διαφέρουν ανάλογα με τον τόπο, την εποχή καθώς και τις ανθρώπινες δραστηριότητες (π.χ. Koçak et al, 2011; Schleicher et al, 2011; Song and Gao, 2011). Οι άνθρωποι εκτίθενται στα αιωρούμενα σωματίδια όχι μόνο κατά την παραμονή τους σε εξωτερικούς χώρους αλλά και σε εσωτερικούς. Η έκθεση αυτή είναι και η σημαντικότερη, δεδομένου ότι η πλειοψηφία των ανθρώπων βρίσκεται το μεγαλύτερο διάστημα της ημέρας σε εσωτερικούς χώρους. Η ποιότητα εσωτερικού αέρα ως προς τα αιωρούμενα σωματίδια έχει μελετηθεί σε κατοικίες (π.χ. Massey et al, 2012), γυμναστήρια (π.χ. Braniš et al, 2011), μέσα μαζικής μεταφοράς (π.χ. Kim et al, 2011) κ.λ.π. Στην εργασία θα γίνει ανασκόπιση και κριτική ανάλυση της πρόσφατης διεθνούς επιστημονικής βιβλιογραφίας που αφορά στη μελέτη των αιωρουμένων σωματιδίων στο εσωτερικό κτιρίων διαφόρων τύπων χρήσης. Η εργασία θα εστιάσει στη βιβλιογραφική ανασκόπηση των πηγών των αιωρουμένων σωματιδίων σε εσωτερικούς χώρους καθώς και των παραγόντων που επηρεάζουν τις συγκεντρώσεις τους. Θα διερευνηθεί η σχέση μεταξύ συγκεντρώσεων αιωρουμένων σωματιδίων στους χώρους και ταυτοχρόνως στο εξωτερικό περιβάλλον ως συνάρτηση των επικρατουσών κλιματολογικών συνθηκών. Θα δοθεί έμφαση στην ανάλυση των διαφόρων ερευνητικών αποτελεσμάτων και θα επιχειρηθεί η μεταξύ τους σύνδεση. Θα δοθεί ιδιαιτέρως έμφαση στη διερεύνηση και συγκριτική αξιολόγηση των μεθόδων που χρησιμοποιήθηκαν για την εξαγωγή των αποτελεσμάτων και στη σύγκριση και αντιπαραβολή των αποτελεσμάτων αυτών. Θα επιχειρηθεί επίσης και κριτική θεώρηση των στόχων της μεθοδολογίας, των αποτελεσμάτων και των συμπερασμάτων όσον αφορά στις επιπτώσεις σε διάφορους επιστημονικούς τομείς. / The impact of particulate matters (PM) on health is documented in a series of studies (e.g. Griffiths, 2011). Also the sources of PM have been studied recently. These differ, depenting on the location, the season and the type of human activities. (e.g. Kocak et al, 2011; Schleicher et al,2011; Song and Gao, 2011). Humans are exposed to PM not only outdoors but also in indoor spaces. This indoor exposure has a more important impact, since the majority of the population spend most of their time indoors. The indoor air quality (IAQ) with respect to PM has been studied in residential buildings (e.g. Massey et al, 2012), sports halls (e.g. Branis et al, 2011), public transportation means (e.g. Kim et al, 2011), etc. This work reviews and analyses the recent international scientific literature related to PM in indoor spaces of various uses. It focuses on the review of indoor PM sources and on the parameters affenting their concentrations. The relation between indoor and outdoor PM concentrations as a funtion of the weather conditions will also be studied. Emphasis willbe given on the analysis and synthesis of the variouw research results. Acomparative evaluation of the methods used will be performed. Also the aims of the methodology and the conclusions regarding their impact on various scientific fields will be critically analysed.

Este trabalho tem por objetivo mostrar o uso de piadas em sala de aula de Língua Inglesa em um Centro de Línguas, procurando verificar se houve um aprendizado maior e se a motivação aumentou com a introdução dessa nova estratégia. Nossa pesquisa foi norteada por três teóricos do humor do século vinte, que explicam a função social do humor, o prazer causado pela liberação de energia, essencial em nossa pesquisa, que lida com o riso ou mesmo, o sorriso na sala de aula. Esses teóricos também trataram do fator que causa o humor - a incongruência. Estudamos a piada sob três aspectos: sua interpretação, sua estrutura e a aprendizagem por meio delas. Tais prismas oferecem uma forma mais completa para a análise das piadas, uma vez que elas não podem ser vistas por um único olhar. Questões culturais estiveram também presentes, pois os chistes podem ser considerados como manifestação cultural de um povo e, em se tratando de duas culturas, é natural que apareçam as barreiras culturais: o aluno não consegue entender o implícito no texto. A compreensão de piadas também exige que se preste atenção às diferenças individuais, pois serão elas que informarão ao professor das possíveis mudanças de estratégias que são necessárias para obter o resultado esperado - aprender a língua estrangeira de maneira divertida. A metodologia que foi aplicada é a análise de interação, e os instrumentos de pesquisa, utilizados foram: observação, testes, entrevistas e questionários. Observamos sete grupos, durante três semestres. Primeiramente, aplicamos um questionário para todos os alunos do Centro de Línguas e suas respectivas professoras. Tabulamos todos os questionários. As observações foram feitas em turmas de controle, sem o uso da piada, e nas turmas experimentais, com as piadas. Em ambas as turmas, a professora foi a mesma. Também observamos outra professora para exemplificar com maior precisão os métodos empregados nas aulas do Centro de Línguas. / The objective of this thesis is to show the use of jokes in classes of English as a foreign language in a Language Center and verify whether students learn more and are more motivated when this new strategy is introduced in their classes. Our research was guided by three twenty-century theoreticians that wrote about humor, explaining its social role - the pleasure caused by the released of energy, essential to our research which deals with laughter (or even smiles) in class. These philosophers also deal with the factor that causes humor - incongruence. We study jokes from three different aspects: their interpretation, their structure and as learning tool, which offer a methodology rather complete to analyze jokes, since these humor texts cannot be observed from only one point of view. Cultural issues were also present, because jokes can be considered a cultural manifestation of a people and, as we deal with two cultures, it is more than natural that to understand humoristic texts, cultural barriers will have to be faced. In order to tell/understand jokes it is also necessary to individual differences, because they will inform the teacher of the need of possible changes in strategies so that his/her goal will be reached, i.e., to make students learn a foreign language having fun. The methodology applied is interaction analysis, and we used, as research instruments, observation, tests, interviews, and questionnaires. We observed seven groups, during three semesters. First we applied a questionnaire to all the students and their respective teachers. We computed the results. The observations were carried out in control classes, where no jokes were used, and in experimental classes, with jokes. The teacher was the same in both classes. We also observed a different teacher to exemplify more precisely the methodologies employed in the classes at the Language Center.