Since its addition to the medical lexicon in 1992, the concept of ‘evidence-based medicine’ (EBM) has captured the imagination of the medical world, attracting both passionate advocates and ardent opponents. EBM is defined clinically as “the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients.” Yet, its boldest claim is an ethical one: that EBM, rather than any other method, is the most effective way to fulfill our moral duty to help patients achieve better health. Academic debate on this point has been deeply polarized, from those who assert that ethical practice is evidence-based practice to those who argue that evidence-based practice impoverishes practice and robs it of ethical substance. Mainstream psychiatrists have endorsed EBM which holds out the promise of greater ethical legitimacy for psychiatric disorders and treatments through improved scientific substantiation. Evidence-based psychiatry arises through the straightforward application of EBM to the practice of psychiatry and thus shares the same ethical goal of EBM, to improve patients’ health. Given the ethical debates that have framed psychiatry since its inception as a medical specialty, and the particular nature of mental disorders and their treatments, it is unclear if EBM can be applied to psychiatry, and therefore, whether it can deliver on its ethical promises. This thesis project involved two phases. The first, a conceptual phase, included an analysis of EBM’s ethical commitments as they are represented in its two authoritative textbooks (‘literal’ EBM). This provisional analysis was then extended by a qualitative analysis of the views of three groups of participants concerning the ethics of EBM: 1) EBM developers; 2) mental health practitioners; and 3) philosophers or bioethicists. Combining the analyses from both phases, a more complete depiction of the ethics of EBM was developed in order to address the main thesis question. Evidence-based psychiatric practice cannot be ethical practice by itself. Instead, it can play a small ethical role in clinical practice, only if it is situated within the larger value structure of contemporary medicine and psychiatry.

Worldwide, rural road networks serve a vital link in the chain leading goods to markets and people to places. The efficiency of rural road network services is influenced by road-related investment and policy decisions. Reaching good decisions, however, is complicated by: interrelationships among policy, investment, road use, road performance, and rural economies; and combinatorial challenges involving the distribution of discrete policy and investment arrangements across networks.</p><p>The main objective of this study is to address this complex problem as it pertains to rural road networks in Saskatchewan. Rural roads in Saskatchewan are suffering under increasing volumes of heavy truck traffic motivated principally by recent changes in the grain handling and transportation system. To address this problem, Saskatchewan Department of Highways and Transportation is considering a range of haul policy and road structure investment options. The question is, what (spatial) arrangement of available policy and investment options best meets this challenge. </p><p>To answer this question, a cost-based standard is incorporated within a network design modeling approach and solved using custom algorithmic strategies. Applied to a case study network, the model determines a demonstrably good arrangement of costly road structure modifications under each considered policy option. Resulting policy-investment combinations are subsequently ranked according to total cost and equivalent net benefit standards. </p><p>A number of important findings emerge from this analysis. Policy and investment decisions are linked; spatial arrangement of road structure modifications is contingent on the haul policy regime in place. Road performance and use characteristics are indeed sensitive to policy and investment decisions. Optimal budget levels computed by the model contradict perceptions that rural road networks in Saskatchewan are grossly under-funded. Despite best intentions, ill-considered policy can actually reduce the net benefits of road provision and use. </p><p> Model application and design limitations suggest promising avenues for future research. These include: model larger networks in Saskatchewan and beyond; determine optimal road budgets under benefit-cost standards reflecting competing economic needs; employ model within regional economic planning investigations to forecast road-related implications; and model policy endogenously to aid design of heavy haul sub-networks and to address questions concerning network expansion or contraction.

The focus of this thesis is to better explore and understand the effects of agent interactions, information feedback, and adaptive learning in a repeated game of bidding in farmland auction markets. This thesis will develop a multi-agent model of farm-land auction markets based on data from the Saskatchewan Dark Brown Soil Zone of the Canadian Prairies. Several auction types will be modeled and data will be gathered on land transactions between farm agents to ascertain which auction type (if any) is best suited for farmland markets. Specifically, the model gathers information for 3 types of sealed-bid auctions, and 1 English auction and compares them on the basis of efficiency, price information revelation, stability, and with respect to repeated bidding and agent learning. The effects of auction choice on macro-level indicators, such as farm exits, retirement, financial stability, average productivity, farm size, and participation were unknown at the outset of this thesis because of the complex dynamic nature of the environment. I find that the chosen learning mechanism employed here affects both price and variance of prices in all auctions. I also find that the second-price-sealed-bid auction generates the most perceived surplus, most equitable share of surplus, and also decreases uncertainty in the common-value element of prices. A priori it was believed that auction choice would have an impact on pricing efficiency, price levels, and shares of surplus generated from auctions as predicted by theoretical works. Surprisingly, auction choice does not influence market structure or evolution.

Stochastic Weather Generators (SWG) try to reproduce the stochastic patterns of climatological variables characterized by high dimensionality, non-normal probability density functions and non-linear dependence relationships. However, conventional SWGs usually typify weather variables with unjustified probability distributions assuming linear dependence between variables. This research proposes an alternative SWG that introduces the advantages of the Copula modeling into the reproduction of stochastic weather patterns. The Copula based SWG introduces more flexibility allowing researcher to model non-linear dependence structures independently of the marginals involved, also it is able to model tail dependence, which results in a more accurate reproduction of extreme weather events. Statistical tests on weather series simulated by the Copula based SWG show its capacity to replicate the statistical properties of the observed weather variables, along with a good performance in the reproduction of the extreme weather events. In terms of its use in crop growth models for the ratemaking process of new insurance schemes with no available historical yield data, the Copula based SWG allows one to more accurately evaluate the risk. The use of the Copula based SWG for the simulation of yields results in higher crop insurance premiums from more frequent extreme weather events, while the use of the conventional SWG for the yield estimation could lead to an underestimation of risks.

Since its addition to the medical lexicon in 1992, the concept of ‘evidence-based medicine’ (EBM) has captured the imagination of the medical world, attracting both passionate advocates and ardent opponents. EBM is defined clinically as “the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients.” Yet, its boldest claim is an ethical one: that EBM, rather than any other method, is the most effective way to fulfill our moral duty to help patients achieve better health. Academic debate on this point has been deeply polarized, from those who assert that ethical practice is evidence-based practice to those who argue that evidence-based practice impoverishes practice and robs it of ethical substance. Mainstream psychiatrists have endorsed EBM which holds out the promise of greater ethical legitimacy for psychiatric disorders and treatments through improved scientific substantiation. Evidence-based psychiatry arises through the straightforward application of EBM to the practice of psychiatry and thus shares the same ethical goal of EBM, to improve patients’ health. Given the ethical debates that have framed psychiatry since its inception as a medical specialty, and the particular nature of mental disorders and their treatments, it is unclear if EBM can be applied to psychiatry, and therefore, whether it can deliver on its ethical promises. This thesis project involved two phases. The first, a conceptual phase, included an analysis of EBM’s ethical commitments as they are represented in its two authoritative textbooks (‘literal’ EBM). This provisional analysis was then extended by a qualitative analysis of the views of three groups of participants concerning the ethics of EBM: 1) EBM developers; 2) mental health practitioners; and 3) philosophers or bioethicists. Combining the analyses from both phases, a more complete depiction of the ethics of EBM was developed in order to address the main thesis question. Evidence-based psychiatric practice cannot be ethical practice by itself. Instead, it can play a small ethical role in clinical practice, only if it is situated within the larger value structure of contemporary medicine and psychiatry.

Governance is a response to a recognition that traditional forms of decision-making have become inadequate to address complex societal and health problems generated by significant social and global changes (Chhotray & Stoker, 2009). The contributions of scientific and technical knowledge towards solving these complex problems have also been recognized as insufficient (Jasanoff, 2007). Community-based research (CBR) is an approach to research which is designed to make use of the knowledge of community and university members and their participation and collaboration ―in all phases of the research process, with a shared goal of producing knowledge that will be translated into action or positive change for the community‖ (Lantz, Israel, Schulz & Reyes, 2006, p. 239). However, although the contributions of lay knowledge have been acknowledged, how governance or collaborative decision-making is arranged in the context of community-based research is not well described in the literature. In order to address this knowledge gap, a study was undertaken in which in-depth interviews were conducted with community and university members of Canadian CBR collaborations to determine their governing experiences. Results are reported in a thesis by research papers. The first paper focuses on describing the governance structures that CBR collaborations used. In the second paper, the nature and content of problems which occurred in governing CBR collaborations, point to the importance of theory for conceptualizing and solving governance problems. To develop a theory of participation in governance of community-based research, the third paper uses Arnstein‘s theory of participation to propose a grounded theoretical basis for implementing participation in governance of CBR collaborations (Arnstein, 1969). Governance is a means of organizing, shaping and steering a course of decision-making. Governance is a critical component in the organization of knowledge production. Study and theory of governance in community-based research may help in improving understanding and implementation of a critical population health practice.

This thesis proposes a method for changing the lighting in some types of images. The method requires only a single input image, either a studio photograph or a synthetic image, consisting of several simple objects placed on a uniformly coloured background. Based on 2D information (contours, shadows, specular areas) extracted from the input image, the method reconstructs a 3D model of the original lighting and and 2.5D models of objects in the image. It then modifies the appearance of shading and shadows to achieve relighting. It can produce visually satisfactory results without a full 3D description of the scene geometry, and requires minimal user assistance. While developing this method, the importance of different cues for understanding 3D geometry, such as contours or shadows, were considered. Constraints like symmetry that help determine surface shapes were also explored. The method has potential application in improving the appearance of existing photographs. It can also be used in image compositing to achieve consistent lighting.

Community Based monitoring (CBM): How facilitators can help Dalit and Adivassi communities in rural villages to participate in government programs to improve their health, educate their children, receive social security benefits and pensions, access rural work programs, enroll in pre and post natal care programs, and buy from government sponsored discount shops for basic necessities. In many parts of rural India the Dalit (lower caste) and Adivassi (tribal) populations are unjustly discriminated against and denied access to many government sponsored programs that could greatly improve their lives. Unnati is a NGO based in Gujarat with a location in Rajasthan. From the Rajasthan office, Unnati and partner organizations worked through facilitators to help citizens in 50 different villages form citizen collectives. These collectives were trained in basic community based monitoring techniques. Through CBM (Community Based Monitoring), these citizens with help from their facilitators, Unnati, and partner NGOs begin taking a more active role in six government sponsored programs or schemes. The facilitator manual I helped create is being used to further train current facilitators in Rajasthan and Gujarat. The manual will also be shared with other NGOs so that this program can be replicated with ease. The manual consists of an introduction to CBMs, criteria for being an Unnati facilitator, the facilitator roles and responsibilities, facilitator and village collectives’ goals, and a case study of two villages. Unnati asked me to undertake this project so that documentation exists for best practices as the CBM project continues. The CBM project began in April 2011. Survey results were recorded beginning in May. In June, surveys were reformatted and the current format has remained in place till December of 2011. Additionally, a part of the manual includes survey results as a model of correct and incorrect ways to document information as well as to show the importance of each question and what it indicates in terms of overall community health.

Bakgrund: I slutet av 1980-talet slog de aktivitetsbaserade tankegångarna igenom, i form av ABC-kalkylering. Dock visade sig metoden vara komplex att använda i praktiken och därför introducerades tankegångar kring att istället använda den aktivitetsbaserade informationen i styrningssyften, ABM. Trots detta är det ABC som har fått störst genomslag i svensk tillverkningsindustri. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om svenska företag använder sig av ABM och i så fall hur de använder ABM. Dessutom är syftet att studera hur sambandet mellan ABM och ABC ser ut för att utröna om det föreligger något beroende dem emellan. Metod: Denna uppsats har genomförts med en kombinerad forskningsdesign. Det har utförts både en enkätundersökning och en fallstudie, därmed har såväl kvantitativ som kvalitativ metod använts. Slutsatser: Resultatet av föreliggande studie visar på att företag i svensk tillverkningsindustri inte känner till begreppet ABM men trots det används den aktivitetsbaserade informationen i styrningssyften. Det finns ett fåtal företag som uttryckligen säger sig använda ABM. De vanligaste användningsområdena inom ABM är kostnadsreducering och ständiga förbättringar. Dessutom visar resultaten att det inte föreligger något beroende mellan ABM och ABC. / Background: The activity-based ideas made its breakthrough in the late 1980's with the Activity-Based Costing, ABC. But the method proved to be difficult and complex to use in practice and that's the reason to the introduction of alternative ways to use the activity-based ideas, namely Activity-Based Management, ABM. But it is although ABC that has had the greatest breakthrough in the Swedish manufacturing industry. Purpose: In this study, the purpose is to investigate if companies in the Swedish manufacturing industry use ABM and if, how do they use ABM. The purpose is also to study the relation between ABM and ABC to investigate if there is any dependence between them. Method: This study has been carried out with a mixed method. Both a survey and a case study has been made, which means that both quantitative as well as qualitative research method has been used. Conclusions: The result of this study shows that the term ABM is unknown to companies in the Swedish manufacturing industry, but although use the activity-based information in control purposes, ABM. There are though a few companies that explicitly express the use of ABM. The most common used applications of ABM is cost reducing and continuous improvement. The result also shows that there are no dependence between ABM and ABC.Keywords: ABM (Activity-Based Management), ABC (Activity-Based Costing) and the ABCM-cross.

This thesis proposes a method for changing the lighting in some types of images. The method requires only a single input image, either a studio photograph or a synthetic image, consisting of several simple objects placed on a uniformly coloured background. Based on 2D information (contours, shadows, specular areas) extracted from the input image, the method reconstructs a 3D model of the original lighting and and 2.5D models of objects in the image. It then modifies the appearance of shading and shadows to achieve relighting. It can produce visually satisfactory results without a full 3D description of the scene geometry, and requires minimal user assistance. While developing this method, the importance of different cues for understanding 3D geometry, such as contours or shadows, were considered. Constraints like symmetry that help determine surface shapes were also explored. The method has potential application in improving the appearance of existing photographs. It can also be used in image compositing to achieve consistent lighting.