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<p>Pre-modern societies were subjected to risks attributed to fate, and human-made hazards that were considered manageable. Late-modern society is increasingly exposed to emerging environmental health risks that are products of the modernization process itself (e.g. genetically modified organisms). These risks result from broad changes in the environment and/or human activity. Some of these provoke high public perceptions of risk, and often institutions and communities must respond to these in the absence of scientific knowledge.</p> <p>This dissertation explores the determinants of the perception of food allergies – a recent addition to the environmental risk landscape. A recently assembled national database on food allergies was analyzed using multivariate logistic regression (n=3,462). In parallel, a media analysis of nine years of Canadian newspaper coverage of food allergy issues (n = 598 articles) explored the role of a primary source of risk communication.</p> <p>Results revealed a number of important determinants at the individual-level , as well as a number of experiential (e.g. exposure to food allergy-related information) and attitudinal covariates . The policy environment, was also implicated as an important modifying factor for risk perceptions. The media analysis revealed how food allergies are being constructed by different social actors through the news media, with substantial implications for public understanding. The dissertation concludes with a description of a conceptual framework for characterizing public response to emerging environmental health. This tool may prove crucial for increasing the understanding of the links between people, perceptions, and places as new environmental risks continue to emerge on the landscape.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Today, there are few studies about risks and accidents at work with harvesters, but each study creates a better basis to prevent future accidents to occur. The purpose of this study was to examine machine driver's perception of risks and accidents at work with harvesters Komatsu 901, 901TX. The focus was on the drivers of the model Komatsu 901 and 901TX, a common thinning and final felling machine in Sweden. Results show that there are deficiencies that are recurring on multiple machines. These deficiencies also have a connection to the actual accidents. Half of the drivers felt that there were defects (flaws) around the handle and the footboard and only one driver had access to the alarm box. The drivers believe the current structure of harvester can be improved but is not always taken seriously when they make their requests for improvements to reduce risks.

The past thirty years have seen rapid advances in the technological component of banking services and as a consequence new legal issues have come to the fore, especially with regard to Electronic Fund Transfers (EFTs) which are now used to transfer money around the world, and have made fund transactions between payers and payees easier, faster and more secure. The method involves risks for both banks and customers, due to the possibility of unauthorized payments risks, credit and insolvency problems, and confidentiality issues. Most contracts and obligations now depend on the new technology, although there is a variety of methods for dealing with the concomitant risks. EFTs share a number of similarities with paper-based funds transfers in regard to methods of regulation, and the careful observer can identify patterns and themes. Today, the business world depends heavily on EFT systems for its procedures; and government and academia have also taken a keen interest in EFTs. This thesis reviews and examines the existing legal position of liability of banks and customers for risks associated with EFT transactions: unauthorized EFT instruction and the problem of customer identity, credit risk and privacy, especially, the systems employed for safeguarding the customer’s transactions and data. The thesis also makes recommendations for change. The rules for the allocation of risk are based on the various mechanisms used to access the account. Also, due to the complexities of EFT, consumer protection becomes a paramount goal and is a subject of much concern, particularly when it comes to determining liability for losses. The UK government implemented the Payment Services Directive 2007 by adopting the Payment Services Regulations 2009, to regulate the system. However, such Regulations do not constitute a comprehensive regime that applies to all legal issues arising in the context of the EFT system. This study argues the necessity for a re-examination of existing laws and proposes a model for the future approach to the issues associated with EFT payment. Different approaches to EFT will be assessed, and the comparative and contrasting elements will be analysed in order to propose a comprehensive solution to the deficiencies in the current framework. Central to the problem is the absence of any uniform standard: individual banks offer differing contractual terms and conditions and different means of accessing accounts. Consequently it is time to formulate new and comprehensive rules for the allocation of liability of risks associated with EFT transactions.

This thesis comprehends a notable research gap through its exploration of risk and opportunity perception for Swedish firms’ internationalizing to Cuba, by conducting a multiple-case study of three Swedish firms’. A qualitative research method has been used in accordance with an abductive approach. The conceptual framework illustrates the correlation between the theories, which has been applied to the empirical findings. Conclusions derived throughout the analysis and the significant theoretical implications demonstrate answers to the dominance of arbitrage opportunities. Empirical implications illustrate why risks and opportunities might be acknowledged differently due to industry, whereas managerial implications emphasize the importance for Swedish firms’ to understand the complexity impregnating the business environment.

SMEs in the 21 century have to cope with an increasingly dynamic and competitive environment. In order to work effectively within this environment, SMEs have to collaborate with other enterprises in forms of virtual organisations. Despite the increased interest in the area of virtual organisation collaboration, useful information is still lacking about the risk sources of virtual organisation, where the enterprise face more complicated risk threats than those in traditional enterprise due to the new form of relationships between partners. The aim of this research was to identify a risk management contribution where this research has identified key areas of risk that SMEs are likely to face when working collaboratively in VO. It also enables SMEs to understand the relative importance of these risks. A further contribution is made by use of tools (ISM and ANP) to enable SMEs to understand the inter-relationships of risk sources. Multiple analysis techniques provide triangulation of analysis results, leading to validation of results. The secondary research showed all of the risk sources identified in the relevant literature and some of the relationships between them, whilst the primary research addressed all of the direct and indirect relationships using the Interpretive Structural Modeling. Also the primary data sources from the questionnaires and the case study shed light on the relative importance of these sources using the Analytical Network Process. Areas for further research are suggested to close the gaps and to continue enriching the research.

The goal of this study is to see how risk assessment is executed on the social media platform Facebook. The aim is to see how risk assessment in contrast of Ulrich Becks (2012) theory about risk society and reflexive modernization can help understand how users on Facebook minimize the possible risk of their actions on Facebook. The study is of a qualitative variety and is based on interviews with ten different Facebook users and processed by being thematised by criminalty, risks of health, politic risks, economical risks and risks about integrity. It is also summarized by different strategies to minimize risks that the participants discussed in the interviews. The most important results in this study was connected to risks about source criticism and actions that could have an impact on work-related questions. It was possible to see in the study that if a user had knowledge about potential risks they were mostly more likely to protect themselves against it. Also it concludes that in some cases experience that users learns from does not have to be related to their own experiences.

One of the most serious phenomena plaguing families and societies worldwide is teenage pregnancy. In South Africa teenage mothers are permitted to return to schools after giving bith however, not much is done to support these mothers in order to ensure that they are not psychosocially vulnerable and not drop out of school due to possible stress, frustration and lack of scholastic progress. This is where this study is located. This was a Qualitative study that used symbolic drawings accompanied by short descriptive narratives and individual, semi-structured interviews as data collection methods. The study involved 10 teenage mothers who had been re-admitted to schools after giving birth. The participants were aged 15 and 16 and is grades 9 and 10. The findings show that teenage mothers enjoyed family support, had dreams for the future, were anchored in religion and spirituality, had determination and that they had abilities to learn from mistakes. I could not locate a study that had focused on the typical vulnerabilities and empowerment of teenage mothers. Therefore, this study provides useful insight into the factors that are known to render young girls vulnerable to teenage pregnancy and the resultant motherhood and the personal and exological processes that combine in complex ways in order to enable young mothers to cope resiliently. The findings add to theory and have implications for practice / Thesis (MEd (Learner Support))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

This thesis investigates the concept of environmental justice (EJ) by tracing its origins, the process of its shaping and reshaping, and its adoption in Taiwan. EJ addresses the phenomenon of disproportionate distribution of environmental risks among social groups. As no one can actually “see” how risks are distributed, one has no choice but to rely on scientific (or other) techniques to visualise and then conceptualise these risks. After so doing, EJ has been turned into specific indicators to gauge EJ/injustice and the technical methods to measure it, even though the scope of these concerns is much broader and goes far beyond the technical. Using detailed historical exposition in tandem with interviews, this thesis seeks to demonstrate the processes that have led to the dominant constructions of environmental justice. The main argument of this thesis is that the phenomenon of EJ/injustice is a condensation of power relations/struggle, and the discourses that describe and the measures that gauge it are an expression of this struggle. Specifically, in this thesis I attempt to show that EJ is being constructed through the very process of debate among EJ supporters and with their challengers. Seen from this angle, this thesis shows that the conceptions of EJ differ and are mutable. To say that these conceptions change is not to deny that there is environmental injustice, but to recognise that the key characteristics can be categorised or explained differently. This research discloses that claims about EJ can be framed in much greater variety in terms of identity, difference, territory and governance. This thesis suggests that although understanding EJ through specific indicators and some sorts of techniques are necessary, a just society cannot be achieved through scientific research alone. The question of how much or what sort of data is sufficient to prove the existence of (in)justice is not a scientific one, but a social one. Our research could become much more meaningful if we recognise the specificity and limitations of the dominant approach and if the phenomenon of EJ/injustice is put in context. To achieve this, our intellectual endeavours should be properly conceived as being about a theory of endless political struggles over the issue, rather than simply about “discovering” EJ.

Förtöjningsarbete är ett rutinarbete ombord på de flesta fartyg vid ankomster och avgångar men det är även sett som ett riskfyllt arbete med olyckor till följd. Syftet med det här examensarbetet är att undersöka varför det fortätter ske allvarliga olyckor i samband med förtöjning trots att det är ett rutinjobb. Genom att göra dokumentanalys av olycksfallsrapporter med hjälp av analysmodellen HFACS-MA har 24 olycksfallsrapporter analyserats. Modellen är framtagen som en ram för mänskliga och organisatoriska orsaker och faktorer. Faktorerna från rapporterna placerades i fem olika nivåer. Resultatet av analysen visar att den största bidragande faktorn är förutsättningarna, i arbetet även kallat ”Preconditions”, för besättningarna. Bland annat förtöjningstrossar som varit i dåligt skick och därför brustit, vilket i vissa fall lett till dödsfall eller allvarliga skador. Resultatet visar också att faktorer som misstag och bristande uppmärksamhet har lett till allvarliga olyckor. För att se vad som reglerar förtöjningsarbetet undersöktes gällande regelverk och rekommendationer. Det konstaterades att som det är idag finns inte tillräckligt utförliga bestämmelser om hur ett säkert förtöjningsarbete ska gå till. / Mooring is an routine work onboard most vessels when arriving or departing a port but it is also considered a hazardous work task that have led to some very serious accidents. The purpose of this paper is to try to understand why these serious accidents continue to happen. 24 accident reports have been analysed using the HFACS-MA model. The model is developed as a framework for human and organisational causes and factors, where the causes and factors were placed in five different levels. The result shows that the largest contributing factor is the ”Preconditions”, especially considering the material such as mooring ropes that were in poor condition and therefore leading to failure and in some cases the rope parted and killed or seriously injured the crew member. The result also shows that human factors such as mistakes and lack of attention have caused serious accidents. Additionally this study examines the existing regulations and recommendations concerning mooring operations and it becomes clear that these are not thorough enough to ensure a safe working routine onboard.