100 research outputs found
Women on the cutting edge: logging and gender in Solomon Islands
No full textOver the past weeks, The Guardian featured a mind-boggling series called Pacific Plunder, which focuses to a large extent on the effects of logging in Solomon Islands. In this blogpost Tessa Minter sheds light on the one story that remains untold: the story of women’s experiences.748242Global Challenges (FSW
Dr. David Minter
No full textBlack and white photograph of David Minter.English Professor David Minter was appointed by President Malcolm Gillis to serve as interim provost in Spring 1999. Then current provost David Auston left Rice on July 1, 1999 to take the presidency of Case Western University. Minter first came to Rice in 1967 after lecturing at Yale University in English and American Studies. In 1980 he left Rice and took a position as dean of Emory College and vice-president of arts and sciences at Emory University. He returned to Rice in 1990, served at interim vice-provost and university librarian in 1995-1996, and then as interim provost in 1999. He is the author of many articles and books in his area of research, American literature in the period of 1880-1940. Dr. Minter was honored by alumni in 2011 with the Caroline S. and David L. Minter Endowment, Rice's first endowment to specifically support undergraduate excellence in the English major. The endowment supports student prizes for research, student trips to libraries and archives for senior theses, students working with faculty on research projects and the development of new courses for the English major
'A new and exceedingly brilliant star': L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, and Mary Miles Minter
No full textFollowing the success of Anne of Green Gables (1908), and of the first film version (1919), both L. M. Montgomery and the actress Mary Miles Minter found themselves being reinvented in Anne's image. The relationship between author, heroine, and actress was played out through the public circulation of celebrity names and images. Journalists projected onto Montgomery the qualities they discerned in her heroine, notably wholesomeness and an association with the pastoral, while Minter strategically identified herself with the same values. But whereas Minter turned Anne into an American girl, the media image of Montgomery-as-Anne depended on a conception of Canada as a refuge from American modernity
An investigation into the powers of the Auditor-General SA and its ability to strengthen the quality of democracy in South Africa
Get PDFThe overall objective of the study is to provide commentary on the extent to which the public sector audit process contributes to the strength of democracy in South Africa by enhancing accountability. By studying audit outcomes, the concerns of the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) around lack of accountability due to auditee non-responsiveness was confirmed. The amendments to the Public Audit Act which give the AGSA the power to sanction individuals is therefore considered necessary as a mechanism to change the culture of non-responsiveness amongst auditees and to therefore ensure accountability going forward. A comparative evaluation was conducted for the Ugandan public service where the Ugandan Auditor General has similar powers. This case study points to the necessity of supreme audit institutions in developing countries having enhanced powers to ensure accountability and thus enhance the quality of democracy, although there may be a trade off with the other dimensions of democracy, bringing in to question the overall quality of democracy. The study also outlines areas for future considerations which may impact on the strength of public financial accountability
Common critical academic success factors of postgraduate accounting students
Get PDFRecent research by the Human Sciences Research Council has indicated that there is a large need for skills in the Financial and Accounting Services (FAS), governmental and private sectors of the South African economy. Local and international events have led the call for greater ethical behaviour and accountability from financial professionals. South African Chartered Accountants are equipped with the necessary skills and education to fulfil these demands, and thus should be a major contributor to this demand. The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) has a member profile that is not in line with the current demographics of the country. Females and non-whites are the two groups that have very poor representation within the SAICA membership. There are current initiatives that are attemrting to redress these imbalances. A degree or equivalent in Accounting is the first requirement on the path to qualification for South African Chartered Accountants. Thus, tertiary institutions in South Africa are a very important part of the process to produce more qualified financial personnel. Tertiary institutions also need to be aware of the challenges that the FAS sector and SAIC A face. The University of Cape Town (UCT) is a significant contributor of academically qualified financial personnel for admission to SAICA's training programme for potential Chartered Accountants. In light of the restructuring of government grants to tertiary institutions and the personnel needs of public and private sectors, UCT needs to be aware of how to maximise its throughput of students. This implies admitting students with identified potential. Identifying successful student characteristics of academic performance will assist the university in setting admissions policies. This will thus increase graduation rates and the throughput of qualified personnel, and decrease the current high rate of student attrition and its related cost. The Post-Graduate Diploma in Accounting is the only post-graduate programme at the University of Cape Town that is recognised by SAICA for direct eligibility To write Part 1 of the Qualifying Examination
Impact of King III: The relationship between corporate governance mechanisms and listing suspensions
Get PDFIn this study, the main focus was to investigate the relationship between listing suspensions and corporate governance mechanisms which are related to the board of directors. The study also examined the effectiveness of King III in improving corporate governance on companies listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange of South Africa (JSE). The matched pairs research design was utilised where a comparison of 56 suspended companies were selected for the study. The period covered by the study was 2006 to 2017. Control companies were selected to match all the relevant suspended companies. The matching was done in terms of time, industry and size (measured by total assets). The control company should not have been suspended in the year under consideration. With the use of the conditional logistic regression model to analyse the data, the study found that the practice of board performance evaluation significantly reduced the odds of suspension. Another key finding of the study was that the number of directors with shares in the company has a statistically significant negative correlation to the odds of suspension. A comparison of King II and King III regimes indicates a stronger corporate governance era during the King III phase. Board size, the proportion of non-executive directors, and the number of independent directors and board performance evaluations increased significantly during the King III phase. Additionally, the study notices a decrease in the number of JSE listing suspensions during the King III era as compared to King II which implies that King III brought in stronger governance measures to listed companies in South Africa. Corporate governance is a critical focal point in managing corporates, raising capital as well as performing valuations of entities. The governance aspects relating to the actions of directors appear to have a direct correlation in determining whether a company will be suspended or not from the JSE. Findings of the study have contributed to the body of literature in proving the presence of a correlation between corporate failure and the failure of corporate governance structures. The findings in this study have a significant impact on policymakers in South Africa as they continue to strengthen corporate governance
An assessment into the state of transformation disclosure for the top 50 companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange
Get PDFThe main purpose of this study is to examine the current extent of transformation disclosure in the integrated reports/annual reports of the top 50 listed South African companies on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) for the 2018 year. A longitudinal assessment to discern the developments in transformation disclosure trends over a 5-year period (2014 -2018) was also undertaken. Transformation for purposes of this study refers to transformation of the workplace “to be truly non-racial and non-sexist within companies”. Transformation is very topical in South Africa bearing in mind the historical injustices of the past and thus the need for redress. Disclosure relating to transformation is argued to be a pivotal contributing instrument that could empower stakeholders towards holding companies accountable. The specified transformation disclosure is required by the Employment Equity Act and is considered to be mandatory. The transformation disclosure reported by companies within their annual reports/integrated reports was thus critically scrutinised by application of a scoring technique relating to a closed list of 15 variables selected. Results showed that disclosure relating to the transformation variables was low overall despite there being a statutory requirement, with the highest scores recorded around the corporate social responsibility variable. The stunted level of transformation disclosure has wider implications for users of these reports and their ability to be afforded the opportunity to facilitate action and thus exercise accountability in relation to these companies
The positioning and suitability of the internal audit function to perform the assessment of organisational culture
Get PDFThis study sets out a qualitative assessment of the positioning and suitability of the Internal Audit Function (IAF) to perform the assessment of organisational culture within their entities. Literature relating to management science, social psychology and the Internal audit profession was analysed prior to conducting interviews with Chief Audit Executives (CAEs) and Audit Committee Chairpersons across various industries and sectors, to determine their perspectives on: 1. Establishing the definition of organisational culture. 2. Identifying what the key drivers of organisational culture are for the various organisations and assessing how it compares to theoretical framework(s) identified. 3. Determining the characteristics of the IAF that will determine whether or not the IAF is in a position to carry out these assessments. The results show varying perspectives on the definition of organisational culture, pointing to the complexity that is inherent in the process of defining culture. Participants identified key drivers of organisational culture within their organisations which were in line with those identified in the theoretical framework(s) identified, and further identified additional factors that they viewed as resulting in an impact on organisational culture. The results also point to the independence of the IAF placing them in a suitable position to perform the assessment of organisational culture, however, the background education and training they currently undergo is perceived not to provide the suitable skills to perform the assessment of organisational culture
The Structure of Stable Codimension One Integral Varifolds near Classical Cones of Density
Get PDFFor each positive integer , we prove a multi-valued
regularity theorem for varifolds in the class ,
i.e., stable codimension one stationary integral -varifolds which have no
classical singularities of vertex density , which are sufficiently close to
a stationary integral cone comprised of half-hyperplanes (counted with
multiplicity) meeting along a common axis. Such a result furthers the
understanding of the local structure about singularities in the (possibly
branched) varifolds in achieved by the author and
N.~Wickramasekera (\cite{minterwick}) and generalises the authors' previous
work in the case (\cite{minter-5-2}) to arbitrary . One notable difference with previous works is that our methods do not need
any a priori size restriction on the (density ) branch set to rule out
density gaps.Comment: 27 pages, comments welcome
- …
