The consumption of contaminated vegetables has a great impact on human health. Due to this fact, we conduct the study to estimate the heavy metals in groundwater, soil, and vegetables by using the atomic adsorption spectroscopy (AAS) and find out the health risk using THQ and TCR caused by using these vegetables. The mean concentrations of As (0.015–0.40 mg/L), Cd (0.02–0.029 mg/L), Co (0.31–0.38 mg/L), Cr (1.02–1.09 mg/L), Cu (2.14–2.17 mg/L), and Hg (0.01–0.04 mg/L) are high in groundwater from threshold values given by WHO. The mean concentrations of As (22.17–23.14 mg/kg), Cd (4.21–4.54 mg/kg), Cu (21.24–24.36 mg/kg), and Pb (32.12–33.48 mg/kg) are high in soil samples from threshold values given by WHO. The mean concentrations of As, Cd, Pb, Cr, Fe, Hg, and Mn values exceeded the recommended values with concentration ranges: 1.75–4.56, 0.41–0.67, 2.12–3.12, 1.44–4.56, 87.12–135.25, 2.09–2.64, and 33.41–129.32 mg/Kg, respectively. The vegetable sample’s average concentration of heavy metals was in decreasing order cabbage ˃ brinjal ˃ okra ˃ tomato. The EDI values for As, Co, and Hg calculated for both adults and children is high. The target hazard quotients (THQ) for As, Co, and Hg are greater than the threshold value by consuming vegetables, which indicated the health risk for both adults and children. Similarly, HI due to tomato, cabbage, okra, and brinjal’s consumption is ˃ 1, with HI values 8.1975, 15.3077, 8.7312, and 10.2306, respectively. This advised the possible health effect in this area by using these vegetables. Target Cancer risk (TCR) exposed the adverse cancer risk persuaded by As, Cr, and Hg as their values exceeded the normal range by USEPA by consumption of these vegetables. This study concluded that vegetables imply the total health risk on local people, and regular monitoring of heavy metals is strongly suggested in this region.

No abstract

No abstract

The discourse objective of the study is to investigate the effect of free cash flow on the profitability of firms listed in automotive sector of Germany. The study adopted a descriptive survey that aimed at analyzing the effect. Furthermore, the population of the study consisted of dominant and large firms, for simple random sampling method was used and all the firms within the automotive industry had equal chance of being studied, but only 5 firms were comparatively identified for the purpose of study from the population available and notably the secondary data used for the study were extracted from the audited annual reports and financial statements of the firms listed under the automotive industry of Germany for the period of ten years (2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016). Consequently, the regression results indicated that there was a positive relationship between the free cash flows and profitability of listed firms. However, Leverage has an inverse insignificant impact on profitability (ROA) and evidence for this comes from testing the proxies (Leverage, Current asset, Firm size, Capital liquidity, Sales growth, FCF). The findings further denoted R-squared= 0.766504 which substantiates the regression model used for the study is a good predictor, and it explained 76.65% of the variation in profitability (ROA) of the firms.