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In many practical problems, both decision and estimation are involved. This dissertation intends to study the relationship between decision and estimation in these problems, so that more accurate inference methods can be developed. Hybrid estimation is an important formulation that deals with state estimation and model structure identification simultaneously. Multiple-model (MM) methods are the most widelyused tool for hybrid estimation. A novel approach to predict the Internet end-to-end delay using MM methods is proposed. Based on preliminary analysis of the collected end-to-end delay data, we propose an off-line model set design procedure using vector quantization (VQ) and short-term time series analysis so that MM methods can be applied to predict on-line measurement data. Experimental results show that the proposed MM predictor outperforms two widely used adaptive filters in terms of prediction accuracy and robustness. Although hybrid estimation can identify model structure, it mainly focuses on the estimation part. When decision and estimation are of (nearly) equal importance, a joint solution is preferred. By noticing the resemblance, a new Bayes risk is generalized from those of decision and estimation, respectively. Based on this generalized Bayes risk, a novel, integrated solution to decision and estimation is introduced. Our study tries to give a more systematic view on the joint decision and estimation (JDE) problem, which we believe the work in various fields, such as target tracking, communications, time series modeling, will benefit greatly from. We apply this integrated Bayes solution to joint target tracking and classification, a very important topic in target inference, with simplified measurement models. The results of this new approach are compared with two conventional strategies. At last, a surveillance testbed is being built for such purposes as algorithm development and performance evaluation. We try to use the testbed to bridge the gap between theory and practice. In the dissertation, an overview as well as the architecture of the testbed is given and one case study is presented. The testbed is capable to serve the tasks with decision and/or estimation aspects, and is helpful for the development of the JDE algorithms.

Context: Although over half of married South African women of reproductive age (15-49 years) use a method of fertility control, 15 percent of them have an unmet need for family planning. Women’s unmet need for family planning is often attributed to traditional norms ascribing decision-making power to men. However, rural-urban migration, exposure to western style education; constitutional guarantee of gender equity and exposure to outside influences via the internet and mass media make such an assumption untenable in contemporary society. Method: Using logistic regression, eight models are separately fitted for the independent variables related to the background and socio-economic characteristics of the woman; the characteristics of the husband; their comparative characteristics; sexual and reproductive factors; sources of information and communication; reproductive as well as HIV/AIDS knowledge and attitudes. The final model, using backward stepwise analysis, estimates the effects of the factors associated with a joint or a male vs. a female pattern of dominance in decision-making about using fertility control. Results: The final model shows that joint decision-making is positively correlated with fifth or higher birth order, being raised in a town, living in a household in the middle wealth quintile, having between four and five children; using fertility control to limit births getting a lot of information about HIV/AIDS from the husband, spousal discussions about family planning and not knowing whether good nutrition stops HIV transmission. Male dominance is positively associated with having only one union, having the same amount of education as the husband or not knowing how much education he has, spousal communication about family planning, first marriage occurring 5-19 years ago, not knowing if the condom was used at last intercourse, knowing that condoms are used for family planning only, not getting information about family planning from posters and irregular exposure to the radio. Conclusions: In the era of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and emphasis on the reproductive health approach in family planning, there is a need for studies, at the local level, that include both individuals in the relationship. Qualitative studies focusing on the nature, context and content of couple communication about sexuality and reproduction can provide important information about gender relationships in the South African context. There is also a need to understand the effect of gender and community norms on sexual and reproductive decision-making. Studies on HIV discordant couples can provide important information on the impact of the epidemic on sexual and reproductive decisionmaking. Studies focusing on family formation can provide information on the impact of social change on intergenerational and gender relationships as well as trends in reproductive attitudes and behaviours in transitional South African society

Background: Aphasia is an acquired language disorder, usually due to stroke, that affects the social functioning and the quality of life of the person with aphasia as well as the quality of life of his or her family and caregivers. Traditional aphasia therapy has tended to focus on decontextualized tasks and discrete elements of language functioning. The Life Participation Approach to Aphasia (LPAA) focuses on the collaborative nature of communication and addresses communication within personally relevant contexts. Joint decision-making is one type of social interaction that occurs frequently between married couples and has received considerable attention in the literature. To date, no study has investigated how married couples affected by aphasia collaboratively make decisions. Aim: The present study aims to provide foundational information on joint decision-making by married couples affected by aphasia. Methods and Procedures: Fourteen married couples in which one of the spouses had aphasia volunteered to participate in the study. A variety of assessment measures were administered to the participants with aphasia to characterize their speech and language deficits and all participants were administered a non-verbal reasoning test and a marital quality scale. The primary task of interest in this study involved a joint decision-making activity in which spouses were read two hypothetical ‘survival-type’ scenarios and were given a list of items for each scenario. The spouses were instructed to decide on six items and then rank their selected items in order of importance in terms of their value in helping them survive the scenarios. Participants’ interactions were audio- and video-recorded, and their verbal communication transcribed verbatim. The participants’ communicative interactions were coded for speech functions and analyzed by comparing differences in communication behaviors between the spouses with and without aphasia. Results: Findings showed that participants with and without aphasia utilized a variety of speech functions but that the participants with aphasia made far fewer attempts to persuade their spouse to agree with them and that the spouses without aphasia tended to dominate the interaction, resulting in an imbalance of power in the decision-making process. Despite the differences in communication behaviors, both groups of spouses were supportive of the ideas suggested by their significant other and conflicts were typically resolved quickly. Conclusion: Findings from this study revealed potential discrepancies in the balance of power between the spouses with and without aphasia in decision-making communication. Suggestions are provided for tailoring interventions and guiding future research in joint decision-making in couples affected by aphasia.

This dissertation mainly consists of three parts. The first part proposes generalized linear minimum mean-square error (GLMMSE) estimation for nonlinear point estimation. The second part proposes a recursive joint decision and estimation (RJDE) algorithm for joint decision and estimation (JDE). The third part analyzes the performance of sequential probability ratio test (SPRT) when the log-likelihood ratios (LLR) are independent but not identically distributed. The linear minimum mean-square error (LMMSE) estimation plays an important role in nonlinear estimation. It searches for the best estimator in the set of all estimators that are linear in the measurement. A GLMMSE estimation framework is proposed in this disser- tation. It employs a vector-valued measurement transform function (MTF) and finds the best estimator among all estimators that are linear in MTF. Several design guidelines for the MTF based on a numerical example were provided. A RJDE algorithm based on a generalized Bayes risk is proposed in this dissertation for dynamic JDE problems. It is computationally efficient for dynamic problems where data are made available sequentially. Further, since existing performance measures for estimation or decision are effective to evaluate JDE algorithms, a joint performance measure is proposed for JDE algorithms for dynamic problems. The RJDE algorithm is demonstrated by applications to joint tracking and classification as well as joint tracking and detection in target tracking. The characteristics and performance of SPRT are characterized by two important functions—operating characteristic (OC) and average sample number (ASN). These two functions have been studied extensively under the assumption of independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) LLR, which is too stringent for many applications. This dissertation relaxes the requirement of identical distribution. Two inductive equations governing the OC and ASN are developed. Unfortunately, they have non-unique solutions in the general case. They do have unique solutions in two special cases: (a) the LLR sequence converges in distributions and (b) the LLR sequence has periodic distributions. Further, the analysis can be readily extended to evaluate the performance of the truncated SPRT and the cumulative sum test.

Background: Today’s organizations operate in a competitive and dynamic business environment in which the attainment of economic, social and environmental sustainability targets has become crucial for firms. Supply chain collaboration is considered as a strategic issue for the fulfillment of these targets. Thus, studies on supply chain collaboration for sustainability have increased, especially for manufacturing firms. However, there is a lack of research of the perspective of logistics service providers in this context, requesting scientific investigations. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore vertical supply chain collaboration between logistics service providers and their partners with regards to improving economic, environmental and social sustainability at logistics service providers. Method: Within this multiple case study and a deductive research approach, qualitative data from three logistics service providers is gathered by conducting interviews and analyzed. Firstly, each individual case is investigated by using an explanation building, and thereafter compared and generalized by means of a cross-case analysis. Findings and Conclusion: Considering the improvement of sustainability at logistics service providers, the research reveals that economic, environmental and social sustainability can be improved by vertical supply chain collaboration jointly conducted by logistics service providers and their key suppliers as well as key customers. However, strong interdependencies between the three sustainability dimensions are noticeable as they overlap in-between. Besides, the findings indicate that the executed vertical supply chain collaboration practices mostly have the potential to improve economic sustainability at logistics service providers. Environmental and social sustainability are less improved or sometimes even negatively affected.

This research project focuses on decision-making about large hydropower dams, particularly the process and outcomes of impact assessment, involving state, corporations, and local Indigenous communities. The objective of the study is to investigate whether state-led impact assessment, as one tool of regulatory decision-making, can be a way to address environmental justice concerns for Indigenous peoples affected by natural resource infrastructure. The core of this research is a case study comparison between the Belo Monte dam (Brazil) and Site C dam (Canada) to examine the effectiveness of environmental impact assessment (EIA) and decision-making. I analyse these processes’ ability to address the inequities caused by disparate adverse effects of dams on Indigenous peoples. Despite evidence of the impacts of large dams on Indigenous peoples, there is limited literature on their experiences with large hydropower projects and their decision-making processes, and mechanisms that would account for Indigenous peoples’ experiences. This research aims to fill in that gap in the literature by exposing the limitations of impact assessment and proposing recommendations for environmental decision-making to address Indigenous peoples’ concerns and experiences. I start with a review of the development of the environmental justice (EJ) literature as the research’s analytical framework. Environmental justice focuses on diagnosing the inequities caused to localized communities under the argument of a necessary ‘smaller evil,’ so that the larger society may benefit from natural resources development. However, the research participants’ experiences pointed to the need to revise the EJ framework towards a more integral approach to environmental decision-making, recognising the fundamental relationship between land and human beings. This research project concludes that EJ for Indigenous peoples helps reinstate decision-making purposes – evaluating the impacts, proposing alternatives to projects, promoting transparency and accountability, and considering the possibility of rejecting projects – when done within a genuine government-to-government collaborative framework between state and Indigenous governments. / Graduate

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Deciding together is common in our everyday life. However, the process of this joint decision-making plays out across different levels, for example language, intonation, or non-verbal behaviour. Here we focused on non-verbal interaction dynamics between two participants in probability discounting. We applied a gamified decision-making task in which participants performed a series of choices between a small but safe and a large but risky reward. In two experiments, we found that joint decision-making resulted in lower discounting and higher efficiency. In order to understand the underlying mechanisms in greater detail, we studied through which process this variation occurred and whether this process would be modulated by the social distance between both participants. Our findings suggested that socially close participants managed to reduce their discounting by interactive processes while socially distant participants were influenced by the social context itself. However, a higher level of efficiency was achieved through interactive processes for both groups. In summary, this study served as a fine-grained investigation of collaborative interaction processes and its significant impact on the outcome of choices with probabilistic consequences.

Recently, South African company law underwent a dramatic overhaul through the introduction of the Companies Act 71 of 2008. Central to company law is the promotion of corporate governance: companies no longer are accountable to their shareholders only but to society at large. Leaders should direct company strategy and operations with a view to achieving the triple bottom-line (economic, social and environmental performance) and, thus, should manage the business in a sustainable manner. An important question in company law today: In whose interest should the company be managed? Corporate governance needs to address the entire span of responsibilities to all stakeholders of the company, such as customers, employees, shareholders, suppliers and the community at large. The Companies Act aims to balance the rights and obligations of shareholders and directors within companies and encourages the efficient and responsible management of companies. The promotion of human rights is central in the application of company law: it is extremely important given the significant role of enterprises within the social and economic life of the nation. The interests of various stakeholder groups in the context of the corporation as a “social institution” should be enhanced and protected. Because corporations are a part of society and the community they are required to be socially responsible and to be more accountable to all stakeholders in the company. Although directors act in the best interests of shareholders, collectively, they must also consider the interests of other stakeholders. Sustainable relationships with all the relevant stakeholders are important. The advancement of social justice is important to corporations in that they should take into account the Constitution, labour and company law legislation in dealing with social justice issues. Employees have become important stakeholders in companies and their needs should be taken into account in a bigger corporate governance and social responsibility framework. Consideration of the role of employees in corporations entails notice that the Constitution grants every person a fundamental right to fair labour practices. Social as well as political change became evident after South Africa's re-entry into the world in the 1990s. Change to socio-economic conditions in a developing country is also evident. These changes have a major influence on South African labour law. Like company law, labour law, to a large extent, is codified. Like company law, no precise definition of labour law exists. From the various definitions, labour law covers both the individual and collective labour law and various role-players are involved. These role-players include trade unions, employers/companies, employees, and the state. The various relationships between these parties, ultimately, are what guides a certain outcome if there is a power play between them. In 1995 the South African labour market was transformed by the introduction of the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995. The LRA remains the primary piece of labour legislation that governs labour law in South Africa. The notion of industrial democracy and the transformation of the workplace are central issues in South African labour law. The constitutional change that have taken place in South Africa, by which the protection of human rights and the democratisation of the workplace are advanced contributed to these developments. Before the enactment of the LRA, employee participation and voice were much-debated topics, locally and internationally. In considering employee participation, it is essential to take due cognisance of both the labour and company law principles that are pertinent: the need for workers to have a voice in the workplace and for employers to manage their corporations. Employee participation and voice should be evident at different levels: from informationsharing to consultation to joint decision-making. Corporations should enhance systems and processes that facilitate employee participation and voice in decisions that affect employees. The primary research question under investigation is: What role should (and could) employees play in corporate decision-making in South Africa? The main inquiry of the thesis, therefore, is to explore the issue of granting a voice to employees in companies, in particular, the role of employees in the decision-making processes of companies. The thesis explores various options, including supervisory co-determination as well as social co-determination, in order to find solutions that will facilitate the achievement of employee participation and voice in companies in South Africa. / LLD, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015