Potential Risk Areas Research Articles

Estimating Audit Fees Post-SOX

SYNOPSIS: This article discusses the findings of structured interviews with audit practitioners with a goal of increasing our understanding of the audit fee estimation process and how that process has changed following the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). The data provide practicing auditors with information that may be helpful in the development or revision of their own audit fee pricing practices. The data are also relevant to audit committee members as they seek to better understand the audit fee pricing process and how potential risk areas or other matters may impact audit fees. Researchers may also find the results of the interviews useful for the enhancement of audit fee pricing models, whether to more-closely align estimation models with the reported fee estimation process, or to revise models to reflect post-SOX economic and regulatory changes.

Terrorism and hazardous material trucking: Promoting perceived collective efficacy for terrorism prevention.

Hazardous-material trucking has recently been identified as an area of high potential risk for terrorism. Some recent theory and case study papers have argued for the importance of collective efficacy to disaster-response, terrorism prevention, and other rare-but-risky events. Therefore, a study based on the collective efficacy literature was done to test an intervention for increasing perceived collective efficacy for terrorism prevention among Canadian hazardous-material truck drivers. Results supported the impact of the intervention in increasing perceived efficacy for terrorism prevention. Implications for theory, research, and application are discussed.

Cooperative Task Assignment Using Dynamic Ranking

The paper presents a novel approach to the decentralized task assignment for multiple cooperative unmanned air systems, in a multiple target-multiple task environment. The vehicles (or agents) may have complete or partial a priori information about the targets that populate the scenario. Each vehicle autonomously computes the cost for servicing each task available at each target using a path planning algorithm, taking into account obstacles, pop-up threats, and weights the total path cost including potential risk areas. Vehicles assign an initial ranking to each task, and then exchange their ranking information with the others. Each agent then updates the ranking of its tasks using a non linear dynamic programming algorithm that is proven to be stable and to converge to an equilibrium point. The ranking dynamics is initially formulated as a continuous time system, and then time-discretized depending on available data, and transmission rate among the network. Stability of the network and independence of steady state values from the data rate are proved analytically. Current studies are directed towards the effect of communication delays. The validity and performance of the proposed method are verified via extensive numerical simulation, and compared with alternate techniques such as an optimal MILP based integrated task assignment and path planning solver.

Community Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields in Jerusalem: A Pilot Study

ISEE-538 Objective: To map spatial distribution and hot spots for ELF and RF-MW in Jerusalem. Materials and Methods: Using maps and field surveys of high tension power lines (HTPL) (161 kV), location of cell phone antennas and transformer boxes, areas of potential risk for radiation exposure are identified in 3 Jerusalem neighborhoods. A Magnum 310 is used to measure ELF at a frequency of 40 to 310 Hz. A CA 43 Fieldmeter was used to measure RF-MW at a frequency of 0.1to 2500 MHz. Both use a 1-minute time weight. Measurements were taken at prechosen locations throughout the city, with findings mapped by GIS. Results: Readings >2 mG, (peak: 120 mG) were recorded near all 8 electrical transformer rooms. Three of these sites are in hallways with adjacent walls to residential apartments. In 1 older residential neighborhood (Beit HaKerem), the peak level in 3 residential locations close to HTPL was 1.5 mG. In contrast, 4 residential locations near newer HTPL (French Hill) readings ranged from 2.8 mG and 9.2mG. In 8 sites near cell phone antennae, intensity levels were <2 μW/cm2; however, 1 site recorded an intensity of 6.7 μW/cm2 at a distance of 20 meters from the source. Conclusions: Prior information from maps on location of power lines, transformers, and antennae helped us identify areas of potential concern for hot spots. The Benevento Statement of ICEMS has questioned the adequacy of INCRIP standards and has recommended application of precautionary strategies. The findings stated the case for notifying families living in apartments adjacent to transformers concerning hazard and potential risk and providing protective shielding. Municipal strategies for citywide exposure abatement include expanded identification of hot spots, burial of power lines, fiber optic last mile technologies, and other measures to reduce exposures to ELF and RF-MW to lowest possible levels.

Target regions for silvoarable agroforestry in Europe

Silvoarable agroforestry (SAF) has recently been proposed as an alternative land-use system for Europe. Data on soil, climate, topography, and land cover were integrated in a geographic information system (GIS) to identify agroforestry target regions where (i) productive growth of trees ( Juglans spp ., Prunus avium, Populus spp ., Pinus pinea, and Quercus ilex) in SAF systems could be expected and where (ii) SAF systems could potentially reduce the risk of soil erosion, nitrate leaching and increase landscape diversity. The analysis shows that the investigated tree species could grow productively in SAF systems on 56% of the arable land throughout Europe (potential productive tree growth area). 80% of the European arable land was classified as potential risk area for soil erosion, nitrate leaching, and/or landscape diversity. Overlaying potential productive tree growth areas with the arable land that was considered as environmental risk area yielded target regions. They were found to make up about 40% of the European arable land and thus SAF could contribute to soil protection on 4%, to mitigate nitrate leaching on 18% and to increase landscape diversity on 32% of European arable land. Although limited by constrained data availability, the study shows that SAF could be implemented in a productive way throughout Europe and that it could help resolve some of the major land-use problems. The environmental benefits could justify the support of SAF by subsidies.

Modeling freshwater snail habitat suitability and areas of potential snail-borne disease transmission in Uganda

Geographic information system (GIS-based modeling of an intermediate host snail species environmental requirements using known occurrence records can provide estimates of its spatial distribution. When other data are lacking, this can be used as a rough spatial prediction of potential snail-borne disease transmission areas. Furthermore, knowledge of abiotic factors affecting intra-molluscan parasitic development can be used to make "masks" based on remotely sensed climatic data, and these can in turn be used to refine these predictions. We used data from a recent freshwater snail survey from Uganda, environmental data and the genetic algorithm for rule-set prediction (GARP) to map the potential distribution of snail species known to act as intermediate hosts of several human and animal parasites. The results suggest that large areas of Uganda are suitable habitats for many of these snail species, indicating a large potential for disease transmission. The lack of parasitological data still makes it difficult to determine the magnitude of actual disease transmission, but the predicted snail distributions might be used as indicators of potential present and future risk areas. Some of the predicted snail distribution maps were furthermore combined with temperature masks delineating suitable temperature regimes of the parasites they host. This revealed the coinciding suitable areas for snail and parasite, but also areas suitable for host snails, but apparently not for the parasites. Assuming that the developed models correctly reflect areas suitable for transmission, the applied approach could prove useful for targeting control interventions.

Field Evaluation of a Risk Awareness and Perception Training Program for Younger Drivers

This study is an evaluation of a Risk Awareness and Training Program (RAPT) designed for younger drivers. Our prior study demonstrated that a version of RAPT improved the risk perception of younger, novice drivers in a driving simulator as indicated by their eye-fixations in critical situations. The current evaluation was carried out in the field, comparing a group of younger drivers (18–21 years old) trained with RAPT with an untrained group of the same age-range. Each driver was fitted with a head-mounted portable eye-tracker that collected data during the drive (a pre-determined course of approximately 16 miles that had ten critical locations similar in concept to the scenarios in the training session). The drivers' eye-movement data, especially point of gaze, were analyzed at these ten locations. There was a significant improvement in risk perception (as indexed by fixations on pre-determined areas of potential risk) for drivers who had completed RAPT. This is the first study to show that training of any kind can have an effect on drivers' detection of risky areas in the field.

Distribution of lead in urban soil and its potential risk in Shenyang City, China

The horizontal and vertical distribution characteristics of Pb in urban soil of Shenyang City, China were investigated in this study. The range of Pb concentration in the soil was 22.02–2910.60mg/kg. The standard deviation was 443.07mg/kg, and coefficient of variation was 1.64. Tiexi District was seriously contaminated by lead. In general, Pb concentration in the soil decreased with distance from pollution source. Lead concentration varied in different functional areas with the order of industrial area>commercial area>residential area>suburb>reference area. Pb concentration decreased with the depth of soil profile. Both geo-accumulation index and ecological risk index were used to estimate the potential risk of soil Pb pollution in Shenyang City. The results showed that the high potential risk area included Tiexi District and traffic roads.

Predicting outbreaks: a spatial risk assessment of West Nile virus in British Columbia

BackgroundWest Nile virus (WNv) has recently emerged as a health threat to the North American population. After the initial disease outbreak in New York City in 1999, WNv has spread widely and quickly across North America to every contiguous American state and Canadian province, with the exceptions of British Columbia (BC), Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland. In this study we develop models of mosquito population dynamics for Culex tarsalis and C. pipiens, and create a spatial risk assessment of WNv prior to its arrival in BC by creating a raster-based mosquito abundance model using basic geographic and temperature data. Among the parameters included in the model are spatial factors determined from the locations of BC Centre for Disease Control mosquito traps (e.g., distance of the trap from the closest wetland or lake), while other parameters were obtained from the literature. Factors not considered in the current assessment but which could influence the results are also discussed.ResultsSince the model performs much better for C. tarsalis than for C. pipiens, the risk assessment is carried out using the output of C. tarsalis model. The result of the spatially-explicit mosquito abundance model indicates that the Okanagan Valley, the Thompson Region, Greater Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and southeastern Vancouver Island have the highest potential abundance of the mosquitoes. After including human population data, Greater Vancouver, due to its high population density, increases in significance relative to the other areas.ConclusionCreating a raster-based mosquito abundance map enabled us to quantitatively evaluate WNv risk throughout BC and to identify the areas of greatest potential risk, prior to WNv introduction. In producing the map important gaps in our knowledge related to mosquito ecology in BC were identified, as well, it became evident that increased efforts in bird and mosquito surveillance are required if more accurate models and maps are to be produced. Access to real time climatic data is the key for developing a real time early warning system for forecasting vector borne disease outbreaks, while including social factors is important when producing a detailed assessment in urban areas.

CLASSIFICATION OF OCCUPATIONAL INJURY CASES USING THE REGRESSION TREE APPROACH

Occupational safety and illness surveillance has made a great effort to spread a "safety culture" to all workplaces and a great deal of progress has been made in finding solutions that guarantee safer working conditions.This paper analyses occupational injury data in order to identify specific risk groups and factors that in turn could be further analyzed to define prevention measures. A technique based on rule induction is put forward as a non-parametric alternative tool for analyzing occupational injury data which specifically uses the Classification And Regression Tree (CART) approach. Application of this technique to relevant work-related injury data collected in Italy has been encouraging. Data referring to 156 cases of injury in the period 2000–2002 were analyzed and lead to the factors that most affect work-related injuries being identified. According to the literature, up to the time of writing computer-intensive non-parametric modeling procedures have never been used to analyze occupational injuries. The aim of this paper is to use a real world application to illustrate the advantages and flexibility of applying a typical non-parametric epidemiological tool, such as CART, to an occupational injury study. This application can provide more informative, flexible, and attractive models identifying potential risk areas in support of decision-making in safety management.

Slope instability on pyroclastic deposits: Landslide distribution and risk mapping in Zacapoaxtla, Sierra Norte de Puebla, Mexico

In October 1999, rainfall induced landslides devastated different communities of the Sierra Norte, Puebla, causing more than 250 victims and economic losses greater than $ 450 million. The town of Zacapoaxtla was one of the sectors most affected by slope instability due to the existing geological features and geomorphic characters determined by material properties, landforms and processes. Extensive areas formed by pyroclastic piedmonts developed on the Quaternary volcanic ignimbrite deposits highly dissected by marginal gully erosion combined with an extreme rainfall event played a significant role as an ideal scenario for the occurrence of landsliding. Distribution of landslides triggered by rainfall within the main sector of the Zacapoaxtla municipality was analyzed by using IKONOS images in terms of exploring the likely relationship between mass movement incidence and levels of vegetation density. The later was undertaken by means of producing an NDVI and applying a fragmentation algorithm. Finally, a map of potential areas of mass movements risk was produced based on the combination of a socio-economic vulnerability index, geologic and geomorphological maps and the spatial landslide distribution.

LONG-TERM CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS—SOME ISSUES IN RELATION TO THE TAXATION OF FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS RULES

The Gorgon gas development project has an estimated cost of A$11 billion, the Bayu-Undan gas project has an estimated cost of A$4.2 billion and the Otway Basin gas project has an estimated cost of A$1.1 billion. The specialised equipment, technology and labour required for these costly oil and oas infrastructure projects must usually be sourced internationally and as such their costs are typically denominated in United States (US) dollars. Due to the value and long term nature of these projects, associated foreign exchange gains and losses are often significant.From an Australian income tax perspective, the treatment of foreign exchange gains and losses has been particularly uncertain and inconsistent for many years. As a result, taxation legislation in this area has recently undergone significant change. The new Taxation of Financial Arrangements legislation introduced in December 2003, has raised some complex and practically challenging concepts in relation to foreign exchange gains and losses on long term construction contracts. This paper will address two such concepts, namely forex realisation event 4 and the short-term foreign exchange rules. In particular, it will consider some of the potential compliance risk areas and how they can be managed when applying these concepts to long term construction contracts.

Potential for arsenic contamination of rice in Bangladesh: spatial analysis and mapping of high risk areas

Knowledge of the location and severity of arsenic contamination in Bangladesh is required to develop land and resource management strategies to reduce human exposure to arsenic and arsenic contamination of food and water supplies. Potential high risk areas for arsenic contamination of rice were identified using spatial analysis and modelling. Existing country-wide data on groundwater arsenic contamination, winter (boro) rice production and irrigation methods were used to identify areas where high production of groundwater irrigated boro rice corresponds to areas with high arsenic contamination of groundwater. Results show that 76% of irrigated boro rice is grown in upazila where mean groundwater arsenic concentrations are below 50 µg L-1, the Bangladesh health standard. Seven percent, however, is grown in areas with mean concentrations greater than 100 µg L-1, primarily in south-central and western-central Bangladesh. Mitigation strategies are suggested for the areas considered to be at risk for arsenic contamination of boro rice.

RISCO, VULNERABILIDADE FÍSICA À EROSÃO COSTEIRA E IMPACTOS SÓCIO-ECONÔMICOS NA ORLA URBANIZADA DO MUNICÍPIO DE MARICÁ, RIO DE JANEIRO

O estudo da erosão costeira no município de Maricá, no estado do Rio de Janeiro, aponta para a problemática resultante da&#x0D; ausência de um planejamento urbano para as orlas que considere de maneira adequada a vulnerabilidade física e os riscos envolvidos. Nos anos de 1995, 1996 e 2001 fortes ondulações atingiram os litorais sul e sudeste do Brasil provocando no litoral de Maricá graves danos sobre as construções. Os prejuízos financeiros em função das destruições, desvalorização imobiliária e das obras realizadas atingiram uma cifra de aproximadamente R$ 3 milhões. O presente artigo visa discutir o problema da erosão costeira no município de Maricá através da avaliação dos impactos socioeconômicos e da definição de áreas críticas e de risco potencial à erosão costeira. Os mapeamentos do grau de vulnerabilidade e risco demonstraram predominância ao longo do arco praial de segmentos com risco elevado e muito elevado em função da baixa resistência do litoral aos eventos erosivos, elevada exposição às tempestades, elevada densidade de construção na orla e casas e quiosques posicionados na escarpa ou na berma da praia. Este resultado combinado à caracterização das praias quanto ao grau de danos sofridos, aos tipos de adaptação e ao prejuízo financeiro permitiu definir áreas especiais para o planejamento na orla de Maricá, contribuindo com sugestões de possíveis medidas que visem reverter a atual situação.

Recognition of areas of anomalous concentration of potentially hazardous elements by means of a subcatchment-based discriminant analysis of stream sediments

The statistical technique of discriminant analysis associated with the calculation of an information coefficient has been applied to the concentrations of 37 chemical elements for calculating the mixing of stream sediments of different origin in the Mignone river basin. Discriminant analysis has been based on sample catchment basins (SCBs), defined as the part of the drainage basin between two consecutive sampling points along the same stream branch, and on the identification of 4 different litho-geochemical groups. This approach, has been used to define the membership probability values for every sample by applying Bayes' rule and calculating posterior probability. The grade of uncertainty for each group assignment has been evaluated by using an information coefficient, based on a classification entropy index, and running a procedure analogue to that used for processing membership values in fuzzy analysis. The maximum theoretical concentration that can be expected in soils near the sampling point ( enhanced concentration) has then been calculated from both the measured and the membership values by introducing a specific enhancement function. Theoretical background concentrations at every sampling point have been also calculated by weighting the average value of concentration in each group with the membership values for each sample. These have been successively compared with the measured and enhanced concentrations to identify anomalous areas. The distribution maps of Arsenic and Vanadium in the Mignone River basin (central Italy) have been drawn accordingly to this technique, leading to the identification of areas of potential risk for human health.

IT-based tunnelling risk management system (IT-TURISK) – Development and implementation

Abstract This paper presents the development and implementation of an information technology (IT)-based tunnelling risk assessment system (IT-TURISK). IT-TURISK has been developed in a geographic information system (GIS) environment with a capability of performing first-order assessment of tunnelling induced third party impact on surrounding environment within the framework of artificial intelligence (AI) technique. The main emphasis in this study was placed in developing a GIS framework that can be used in tunnelling risk assessment. The developed system permits users to identify potential risk areas by performing computationally intensive tunnelling induced third party impact assessment that takes full advantage of the GIS and the AI technologies. The developed system was successfully applied to a Seoul Metro subway extension project. This paper describes the concept and details of the IT-TURISK development and implementation.

Environmental diagnosis of risk areas related to gas stations

Studies were carried out on the localization and mapping of gas stations in the urban area of São Carlos city, for an environmental diagnosis related to soil, surface water and underground water contamination resulting from likely leaking in fuel underground storage tanks. Considering that a provision of legal restriction makes it possible that most of public areas are not located in gas station areas of potential risk, these information are useful for the development of programs designed to reduce risks to public safety and health and of the soil, surface water and underground water contamination.

Referral patterns: an audit into referral practice among doctors in emergency medicine

Objectives: To develop a standard for safe patient referral from emergency medicine (EM) staff to hospital inpatient specialities; to audit adherence to that standard, and from this audit, to identify...

A GIS-based approach for the long-term prediction of human health risks at contaminated sites

A Health Index/Risk Evaluation Tool (HIRET) has been developed for the integration of risk assessment and spatial planning using GIS capabilities. The method is meant to assist decision makers and site owners in the evaluation of potential human health risk with respect to land use. Human health risk defined as the potential adverse effects on human life or health is generally accepted as the most important aspect for site assessment and planning of remediation strategies. It concerns polluted sites that endanger human health on one hand and derelict land that does not cause the immediate risk on the other hand. In current state-of-the-art risk-assessment, long-term spatial and temporal changes of risks, in relation to changes in contamination patterns and land use functions, are not taken into account. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the methodology developed for human health risk assessment in aspect of spatial and temporal domain. HIRET was developed as an extension for ESRI software ArcView 3.2 and allows performing dynamic human health risk assessment in long-term period, which is relevant for land use planning. The paper illustrates how such methodology can assist in environmental decision-making to enhance the efficiency of contaminated land management. A case study of contaminated site is given showing how data can be used within a GIS framework to produce maps indicating areas of potential human health risk.

Psychosocial aspects in pediatric rheumatology.

PURPOSE OF THIS ARTICLE: To review recent publications examining psychosocial adjustment to and coping with a pediatric rheumatic disease. The articles discussed illustrate important areas of psychological vulnerability and potential risk for disturbance in affected children and adolescents within their environment. Children and adolescents with rheumatic diseases and their families face a multitude of psychosocial challenges. Some of these are related to the illness directly, some to treatment. There is need for more systematic research, including multicenter studies, to identify psychosocial needs of patients and their families.