International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 20-23, 2003 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / The NMSUSat is part of the AFRL/NASA University Nanosatellite program. The constellation will consist of a main microsatellite that will have a command link from ground and a telemetry link to ground while a picosatellite will act as a sensor reporting data to the microsatellite. Innovative command and data handling will be incorporated at low cost and greater accessibility. In this paper we present the necessary communications and control architecture for the space segment and the ground segment of the nanosatellite.

The broad aim of this research was to assess the decision-usefulness of environmental reports produced by South African companies that are listed on the Johanessburg Securities Exchange (JSE) to users of the reports. The study was motivated by a lack of research on the decision-usefulness of environmental reports in South Africa. The study was conducted in two phases. The first phase in form of a content analysis evaluated the decision-usefulness of the environmental reports of top 100 JSE-listed South African companies using a control list and a judgement scale. The second phase in form of a questionnaire survey was aimed at determining, the information needs of users of environmental reports produced by South African companies (that are listed on the JSE), the extent to which they read and employ the reports for making decisions. In addition, this phase was meant to ascertain the degree of users' satisfaction with the decision-usefulness of the environmental reports as well as elicit their suggestions on ways of improving the reports. Furthermore, the second phase was aimed at determining the users’ perception of the relative importance of environmental reports as well as ascertaining whether there was an expectation gap between the users and the preparers of the reports with regard to their decision-usefulness. The results of the content analysis phase of the study indicate that the environmental reports of the sampled companies were decision-useful, however their decision-usefulness varied widely. Although decision-useful, the environmental reports of the sampled companies were not comparable. In addition, the environmental reports of companies from sectors with a significant impact on the environment, and those of large companies were more decision-useful than the reports of companies from sectors with an insignificant impact on the environment and those of smaller companies. The results of the questionnaire survey phase of the study indicate that users prefer balanced environmental reports that disclose both negative and positive aspects that identify and describe key relevant issues, that are specific and contain accurate information, and that provide future oriented information. In addition, users prefer environmental reports that identify and address key stakeholders and their concerns, demonstrate the integration of environmental issues into core business processes, and that compare quantitative impacts against best practice. Furthermore, the results also indicate that users do read environmental reports, mostly from companies’ websites Portable Document Format (PDF) annual reports and that they mostly use the environmental reports for research, their own knowledge, and to hold companies accountable. However, users are not fully satisfied with the decision-usefulness of the environmental reports as they feel that there is a need to improve the reports in order to make them more decision-useful. The results also indicate that users perceive environmental reports to be more important than any other type of reports, most notably the financial reports. Comparing the responses of the users to those of preparers on various issues pertaining to the decision-usefulness of environmental reports, significant differences were found between the views of the two groups. These differences provide ample evidence that is consistent with the existence of an environmental reporting expectation gap in South Africa. This study makes several original contributions to environmental reporting literature, most notable of which is that, it is the first study in the South African context to empirically evaluate the quality (decision-usefulness) of environmental reports in line with the accounting conceptual frameworks and the GRI guidelines combined. By so doing, the study introduces to the academic literature an extensive five dimensional qualitative characteristic framework for evaluating the quality (decision-usefulness) of environmental reports. In addition, the study uniquely employs the decision-usefulness theory to provide insights into the environmental reporting practices of South African companies that are listed on the JSE. In so doing, it re-contextualises the theory that is typically employed in explaining financial reporting, and demonstrates its applicability in explaining the decision-usefulness of the environmental reporting practices of South African companies that are listed on the JSE. / Accounting / D. Com. (Accounting)

Many organisations today are still not making use of Management Accounting tools to assist in providing sustainability information for decision-making and the influence this can have on the financial performance of an organisation. This may have a negative impact on the financial performance of organisations, the result of the number of errors and miscalculations that can occur, including obsolete cost drivers; miscalculated business decisions, inaccurate information and human errors. Without applying Management Accounting tools, managers of organisations may find it difficult to improve the day-to-day operations and to take decisions to enhance the financial performance of their business. In this study, information was collected from interviews to determine whether Management Accounting tools could provide sustainability information for decision-making, and how this would influence the financial performance of an organisation. The research was carried out in organisations listed on the JSE. This study found that Management Accounting tools are important in providing sustainability information for decision-making and in determining how this information influences the financial performance of JSE listed organisations. Furthermore, Management Accounting tools provide strategies that influence decision-making and performance, although decision-making is the responsibility of executives or directors of the organisations. The study also found that Management Accounting tasks are performed by financial managers who focus solely on financial statements and reporting. Hence future research should focus on the importance of devolving Management Accounting roles to financial accountants or managers to enable the organisation to focus on different reports for different outcomes. / Management Accounting / M. Phil. (Management Accounting)

The overall theme for this European-style dissertation is an examination of how social identities are represented in treatment studies for social anxiety disorder and how fears of confirming stereotypes about one’s social identities affect social anxiety disorder in the form of stereotype confirmation concerns. In the first chapter, I introduce social anxiety disorder (SAD), describe cognitive behavioral therapy for SAD, review recruitment strategies to increase the representation of social minority groups in treatment research, discuss the importance of accurately reporting the social identities represented in samples, describe the particular relevance of stereotypes for social anxiety disorder, and provide a theoretically grounded rationale for the ways in which stereotype confirmation concerns may impact the experience and treatment of social anxiety disorder. For the second chapter, I present a study that examines the extent to which the demographic characteristics of participants (e.g., age, gender) are reported in treatment outcome research for social anxiety disorder. The findings from this study illuminate who participates in clinical trials for social anxiety (and therefore, to whom they may apply), as well as the infrequency with which some social identities are reported. Failure to report demographic characteristics of participants treated for social anxiety disorder makes it impossible to determine the external validity of the empirical literature. It also begs the question of whether we may be failing to identify salient constructs related to the social identities of our participants that affect our understanding of the social anxiety disorder and its treatment. The third and fourth chapters present two papers on the effects of stereotype confirmation concerns on both the experience and the treatment of social anxiety disorder. The final chapter describes how the series of studies presented in this dissertation fits into research on social anxiety disorder, as well as directions for future research.

In Canada, the lifetime prevalence of the sexual abuse of boys is estimated at one in six (Dorais, 2009; Dube, Anda, Whitfield, Brown, Felitti, Dong, & Giles, 2005; Hopper, 2010; Briere & Elliot, 2003). Despite growing awareness of male victims of childhood sexual abuse, it is estimated that police reports are made in only 4.4% of cases (Priebe & Svedin, 2008). There continues to be little understanding as to why the reporting rate is so low. A sample of 155 male survivors of childhood sexual abuse was obtained through a community agency that provides support to this population. Data were gathered from participants’ intake forms on four variables that were expected to influence police reporting: 1) the survivors' age at the time of the first incident 2) the duration of the abuse; 3) the relationship between the survivor and the perpetrator; and 4) the sex of the perpetrator. It was predicted that the perpetrator's sex would be the most powerful predictor of a male's decision to report sexual abuse because of the ‘feminization of victimization’ phenomenon. This is the culturally based assumption that victims are female and perpetrators are male that leads male victims’ to question their own experiences and to a tendency by others to not take their victimization seriously. The findings revealed that perpetrator sex was not a significant predictor of police reporting. Only abuse duration was associated with whether a police report had been made. Other important findings were: 1) the mean age of this sample seeking support for childhood abuse was 50 years; 2) in almost 30% of cases, abuse began before the participant was six years old; 3) 49% of participants had been abused by family members; 4) 20% of participants had been abused by female perpetrators; and 5) in 75% of cases, a police report had not been made. Further research is needed to identify the factors influencing whether sexual abuse of boys is reported to police in order to enhance support services and police response. / May 2016

The purpose of this dissertation was to use the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to predict Texas pharmacists’ intention to report serious adverse drug effects (ADEs) to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The study explored the utility of the TPB model constructs (attitude [A], subjective norm [SN], perceived behavioral control [PBC]), as well as past reporting behavior (PRB), and perceived moral obligation (PMO) to predict pharmacists’ intention to report serious ADEs to the FDA. The study also determined if the pharmacists’ A, SN and PBC were related to practice characteristics and demographic factors. A survey was developed based on two focus group interviews, pretested and mailed to 1,500 Texas practicing pharmacists. An overall response rate of 26.4 percent was obtained (n = 377 pharmacists). Overall, pharmacists intended to report serious ADEs, had a favorable attitude towards reporting, were somewhat influenced by social norms regarding reporting and perceived themselves to have some control over reporting serious ADEs to the FDA. For direct measures, A and SN were significant predictors of intention to report serious ADEs, but PBC was not. The TPB constructs together accounted for 34.0 percent of the variance in intention to report serious ADEs to the FDA. Using indirect measures, A, SN and PBC were significant predictors of intention and together accounted for 28.8 percent of the variance in intention to report serious ADEs. PRB and PMO improved the explanatory power of the regression models (direct and indirect measures) over and above the TPB constructs. Unlike most other practice characteristics and demographic factors examined, knowledge was significantly related with the TPB constructs. In summary, A, SN, PBC (indirect measures), PRB, and PMO influence the formation of pharmacists’ intention to report serious ADEs. The TPB has utility in predicting ADE reporting behavior. Pharmacy educators should explore pharmacists’ attitudes, beliefs, and expectations of important others in designing educational programs. Strategies to help pharmacists report more serious ADEs should focus on altering their perception of social pressure towards reporting and addressing the barriers towards ADE reporting (e.g., lack of knowledge). / text

Standard setters recently proposed increasing audit disclosures and reporting. Two experiments examine the effects of auditor-provided disclosures on financial statement users’ perceptions of auditor independence, management credibility, reporting quality, materiality, and investment decisions. In the first experiment, I manipulate auditor agreement with management’s estimates and whether the estimates are incentive-consistent for management. I find that users view auditors as more (less) independent when they agree (disagree) with management, given an unqualified opinion. I also find that users are able to identify management bias using audit disclosures, and that the disclosures are value-relevant. In the second experiment, I provide users with either an explicit or implicit materiality disclosure and elicit users’ materiality judgments either before or after the disclosure. I find that users’ materiality judgments are closer to the auditor’s when elicited after an explicit materiality disclosure. Path analysis demonstrates that users’ materiality judgments affect subsequent investment and audit-related judgments but do not affect important decisions related to auditor liability and investment. The findings provide empirical support for the argument that additional audit disclosures would increase the transparency and value-relevance of the audit report.

<p>Globaliseringen har bidragit till nya möjligheter men också hot för företag. Västvärldens företag kan lägga produktionen i delar av världen där kostnaden för att tillverka en vara är lägre än i hemlandet. I dessa leverantörsled kan missförhållanden uppstå såsom kränkningar av mänskliga rättigheter. Intressenter av olika slag fordrar mer transparens av företagen, det vill säga de kräver information utöver den finansiella i företagens rapporter.</p><p>Hållbarhetsredovisning är en form av redovisning som har blivit allt vanligare och anses generellt innehålla information om företagets ekonomiska, miljömässiga och sociala prestanda. I jämförelse med den finansiella redovisningen existerar det ännu inga standarder för denna form av rapportering. Global Reporting Initiative är en internationellt erkänd organisation som arbetar för att utforma riktlinjer för hållbarhetsrapportering, vilka är frivilliga att upprätta. Hållbarhetsredovisningen visar på att redovisningen går mot en ny era där det inte endast räcker med finansiell redovisning utan företagen bör ta ett större ansvar gentemot samhället och miljön.</p><p>Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur företag mäter och redovisar mänskliga rättigheter. En kvalitativ metod har använts för att genomföra studien, där fem företags hållbarhetsredovisningar har undersökts. Teorin som ligger till grund för undersökningen är de informationskvalitativa egenskaperna, vilka genomsyrar den finansiella redovisningen.</p><p>Slutsatserna visar att fallföretagen inte mäter mänskliga rättigheter på arbetsplatsen i kvantitativa termer. Däremot redovisar de mänskliga rättigheter i form av kvalitativ information. Av studien framkom även att informationen i de undersökta hållbarhetsredovisningarna är begriplig, att uppförandekoder är en del av relevansen, att granskningen ökar tillförlitligheten och att jämförbarheten blir relativt god tack vare GRI: s riktlinjer och dess innehållsförteckning.</p>

The three objectives of this dissertation were to develop a question type model for predicting linguistic features of responses to interview questions, create a tool for linguistic analysis of documents, and use lexical bundle analysis to identify linguistic differences between fraudulent and non-fraudulent financial reports. First, The Moffitt Question Type Model (MQTM) was developed to aid in predicting linguistic features of responses to questions. It focuses on three context independent features of questions: tense (past vs. present vs. future), perspective (introspective vs. extrospective), and abstractness (concrete vs. conjectural). The MQTM was tested on responses to real-world pre-polygraph examination questions in which guilty (n = 27) and innocent (n = 20) interviewees were interviewed. The responses were grouped according to question type and the linguistic cues from each groups' transcripts were compared using independent samples t-tests with the following results: future tense questions elicited more future tense words than either past or present tense questions and present tense questions elicited more present tense words than past tense questions; introspective questions elicited more cognitive process words and affective words than extrospective questions; and conjectural questions elicited more auxiliary verbs, tentativeness words, and cognitive process words than concrete questions. Second, a tool for linguistic analysis of text documents, Structured Programming for Linguistic Cue Extraction (SPLICE), was developed to help researchers and software developers compute linguistic values for dictionary-based cues and cues that require natural language processing techniques. SPLICE implements a GUI interface for researchers and an API for developers. Finally, an analysis of 560 lexical bundles detected linguistic differences between 101 fraudulent and 101 non-fraudulent 10-K filings. Phrases such as "the fair value of," and "goodwill and other intangible assets" were used at a much higher rate in fraudulent 10-Ks. A principal component analysis reduced the number of variables to 88 orthogonal components which were used in a discriminant analysis that classified the documents with 71% accuracy. Findings in this dissertation suggest the MQTM could be used to predict features of interviewee responses in most contexts and that lexical bundle analysis is a viable tool for discriminating between fraudulent and non-fraudulent text.

Sound financial management is a growing concept in the public sector, especially in local government. The South African government has put in place policies and mechanisms to create a conducive environment for municipalities to manage finances in an effective manner. The management of municipal finance is supported by a set of policies and regulations to strengthen the use of public money. Among the respective policy frameworks, the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa expects the government entities to be transparent and accountable. Here in, these financial measures are also guided by the Municipal Finance Management Act 56 of 2003 and the Public Finance Management Act 1 of 1999 (as amended 29 of 1999). Measured transparency is critically important for management public funds. Accountability is an essential element in achieving institutional goals, especially where public funds are used. Accountability allows public institutions to provide assurance to the tax payers and to their principals. The Auditor General expects municipalities to be accountable for their financial activities through regular reporting. The Annual Report will therefore be compiled for reporting and it must include all required information. Audit Committee becomes very critical, as a structure established to guide the municipality on finances and ensure that the report is credible in every respect. Metsimaholo municipality has however been facing challenges as per the opinions of the Auditor General based on financial reporting, amongst other things. This study involves the extent to which financial reporting serves as a tool for promoting accountability. In order to test the hypothesis, literature was reviewed to analyse and evaluate financial reporting and accountability. Empirical research was conducted to test and analyse the existence of practices, procedures and policies that promote sound financial management and their effectiveness. Data was collected through questionnaires and face to face structured and unstructured interviews, with respondents from employees of Metsimaholo Local Municipality and community structures. This study found among others that: *Policies for financial reporting exist but are not fully complied with *There is a lack of follow up with and implementation of Auditor General’s recommendations *Audit Committee recommendations are not fully implemented *There are no clear lines of responsibilities between councillors and officials with regard to financial management The study concludes with recommendations to assist the municipality in committing themselves to adopt strategies towards financial reporting for improved accountability. / Thesis (M. Development and Management (Public Management and Government))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013