Dissertations / Theses: 'Administrative environmental decision making'

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Taratoot, Cole Donovan. "Administrative Law Judge Decision Making in a Political Environment, 1991 - 2007." Digital Archive @ GSU, 2008. http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/political_science_diss/5.

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Unelected bureaucrats make a broad range of important policy decisions raising concerns of accountability in a democratic society. Many classics in the literature highlight the need to understand agency decisions at stages prior to the final vote by agency appointees, but few studies of the bureaucracy do so. To this point, scholars have treated the issue of shirking as one where laziness and inefficiency are the driving forces. However, it is more realistic to expect that shirking comes in the form of ideological resistance by administrators. I develop a theory that the independence afforded to the bureaucracy is functionally comparable to that of the judiciary, allowing for the insertion of individual attitudinal preferences by bureaucrats. Drawing from the attitudinal model of judicial research, I look at whether attitudes affect the decision making of administrative law judges at the National Labor Relations Board, the influence administrative law judge decisions have on reviewing bodies, and whether attitudinal decision making can be controlled by external political and legal actors. Results demonstrate that Democratic judges are more likely than Republican judges to rule for labor in unfair labor practice cases, administrative law judge decisions provide the basis for subsequent decisions of reviewing bodies, and that few political and legal controls exist over this set of bureaucrats. This research provides evidence that lower level bureaucrats make decisions based on their own political preferences and that these preferences have far ranging consequences for policy and law.

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Davis, Millicent Amanda. "Decision Making of Environmental Engineers on Project Selection." ScholarWorks, 2016. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/2808.

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Some environmental engineers do not understand how to perceive profitable opportunities in redeveloping the large number of contaminated brownfield sites in New Jersey. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to find effective decision-making strategies that help environmental engineers acquire profitable environmental redevelopment projects. The target population consisted of 4 environmental engineers in an environmental organization in Camden County, New Jersey who possessed proven decision-making strategies that helped them acquire profitable environmental redevelopment projects in the past 5 years. The conceptual framework for this study was the multiple criteria decision method (MCDM). Semistructured interviews were conducted with the engineers, and company documents were additional sources of data gathered. Triangulation and member checking were used to ensure the trustworthiness of interpretations. Five themes emerged from the analyses relating to strategies for an MCDM assessment in project management, a go/no-go assessment in project selections, education and training, ethics as an organizational value, and project management. These findings may lead to social change in Camden County, New Jersey community organizations, such as schools, daycare centers, and local businesses, which may benefit from the knowledge and safety recommendations of remediation decision making. Furthermore, these findings may provide opportunities for environment organizations to teach and train stakeholders on environmental processes while providing profitable opportunities to shareholders through sustainable practices.

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Masesa, Raphael Chisubo. "Towards democratic decision-making In environmental law: An investigation of the implementation of public Participation and access to administrative justice." University of the Western Cape, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/11394/8259.

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Magister Legum - LLM
An environment, which is not dangerous to the health or well-being of individuals, is every South African's basic Human right.1 In addition.it is every South African's basic human right to have the environment protected for the · "benefit of present and future generations, through reasonable legislative and other measures".2 These measures must aim at preventing pollution and ecological degradation. The measures must further advance. conservation, and guarantee ecologically sustainable development and use of natural .· resources. 3 Stakeholders, such as, non-governmental, organizations (henceforth NGOs), and the community as a whole have important roles to play.4

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Eckerd, Adam Michael. "Equal Partners at Every Level of Decision Making: Environmental Justice and the Policy Process." The Ohio State University, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1306513752.

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Oliveira, Luis. "Decision-making in SME internationalization : The role and use of Control in decisions made under the uncertainties of foreign market expansion." Licentiate thesis, Högskolan Dalarna, Mikrodataanalys, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:du-35373.

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Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make the backbone of virtually all economies but most of them are only marginally engaged with global markets, particularly those from developing countries. Our ability to advise these firms is currently limited for two major reasons: on the one hand, conventional International Business literature treats the firm as a black box and does not advance in decision-making dynamics that are critical to SMEs' foreign expansion; on the other, recent SME internationalization studies have achieved important progress but seem dependent on the use of Effectuation theory to represent the decisions that guide SME internationalization. This thesis focuses on closing this gap, developing a treatment of SME internationalization that focuses specifically on characterising internationalization-related decisions as being based on firms’ control of their own means, which allow them to proactively create opportunities and take advantage of contingencies (that is, the control principle). Empirically, this thesis builds on a quantitative research design based on survey data collected from 851 SMEs distributed in Brazil, China, Italy, Poland, and Sweden. Analyses of these data were performed with multiple regression equations and structural equation modelling using partial least squares. Results show that SMEs seem more inclined to adopt control-based decisions during internationalization when under uncertainties related to their business networks and when they come from emerging markets. They also reveal that the paths toward the realization of international market performance with control-based decisions seem to involve both firm-level and individual-level dynamics, with social networking playing a critical role. Finally, the findings collectively make it possible to draw a picture that clarifies the conceptualization of the control principle and hints on the multi-level nature of control-based internationalization. Despite limitations, such findings contribute to both International Business and International Entrepreneurship literatures while advancing extant understanding of the nature of the control principle and its role in SME internationalization.

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Hedgren, Amanda, and Daniel Genberg. "Multi criteria decision making approach for strategic evaluation of environmental trade-off solution in logistics : A case study at Northvolt." Thesis, Luleå tekniska universitet, Institutionen för ekonomi, teknik, konst och samhälle, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-85731.

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The purpose of this thesis is to investigate to what extent the environmental agenda should be taken into consideration during the project phase of logistics at Northvolt. The objective is to build an optimization model for route planning with a trade-off solution for three criteria; cost, emission and time. An abductive research approach is used. The empirical data was collected quantitatively in accordance with cross-industry standard process for data mining. The results obtained from the optimization model were based on an emission calculation framework and weights assigned to the three selected criteria by five decision makers. These results are compared to an as-is analysis of current and of historical transportations as well as to expected future transportations. These results provide insights and emphasize the importance of agility in decision making aiming at the reduction of emissions. The analysis shows that increased costs do not have a clear correlation with reduced emissions or transportation time. It also demonstrates that transporting goods on sea would increase the transportation time but decrease the emissions. The conclusions of the study are that costs can be reduced by 8%, emissions by 6% and transportation time by 14%, compared to their current operations. Short-term recommendations address the need of being agile in the route planning and analyse each shipment individually where the weights of the criteria should be alternated depending on the status of the project. This requires increased communication with the installation team on site and negotiation of contractual rates from additional ports in Sweden. Long-term recommendations emphasise the importance of developing and using emission key performance indicators to set targets in combination with a strategy in order to steer daily operations.

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Hjertquist, Jonna, and Sofie Jung. "Effortless shopping : A qualitative study of Gen Z's shopping behaviour and how they value the environmental sustainability in the fashion industry." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för marknadsföring (MF), 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-95904.

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The purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of Gen Z’s structure in the buying decision-making process and how they value environmental sustainability within the fashion industry. In this context, the following research questions was formulated: (1) What structure does the buyer decision-making process follow for Gen Z when it comes to apparel shopping? (2) How does Gen Z value environmental sustainability when buying apparel? Theories used in the literature review have included the main concepts of sustainability in the fashion industry, the buyer decision-making process and Gen Z. In order to clarify the relationship between the main concepts a conceptual framework was presented, which together with the theoretical framework was used to analyse the empirical data. The empirical data of this study refers to the collection of multiple interviews with individuals born between 1996-2002. By following a qualitative research method an understanding of Gen Z´s shopping behaviour and whether they are affected by environmental issues was collected. With regard to the concept being a relatively unexplored area in the business research, this thesis is based on a deductive research approach. It was concluded that the Gen Z does not follow the traditional structure of the buyer decision-making process and do not value environmental sustainability when buying apparel. Finally, the minority purchasing sustainable apparel have a higher involvement in their buyer decision-making process due to their motivation towards sustainable choices.

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Carr, Laura. "Agency Decision-Making for Climate Change: Cost-Benefit Analysis, the Precautionary Principle, and the Bounds of Rationality." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2013. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/pomona_theses/77.

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Climate change tests the limits of human understanding of complexity and uncertainty. It challenges assumptions about our presumed power of control over this planet. This paper examines the theory of how governmental executive branch agencies make regulation decisions about climate change using the decision-making methodologies of cost-benefit analysis and the precautionary principle, and as influenced by perceptions of the bounds of human rationality and ability to deal with risk and uncertainty.

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Zhang, Xinyu, and Stacy Besong Enow Egbe. "Sustainable Consumption in Food Industry: In what stages do consumers implement sustainability in their decision making process?" Thesis, Internationella Handelshögskolan, Högskolan i Jönköping, IHH, Företagsekonomi, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-47137.

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This paper examines the concept of sustainable development and sustainable consumption in the food industry and how consumers relate with the idea of organic food produce and their alternatives. The research was developed by using the Consumer Decision Making model and the Norm Activation Model to be able to understand what motivates consumers in their buying choices and why. These models break down the steps a consumer goes through before making a purchase and the emotional evaluation that occurs after that decision is made. With a total of 70 responses from a structured survey sent out, the results indicated that consumers are conscious about sustainable products, are aware of the environmental and social impact but 30.6% of consumers have never looked out for sustainable products.

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Reiners, Derek S. "Institutional effects on decision-making and performance in public land agencies the case of wildfire in the Interior West of the United States /." [Bloomington, Ind.] : Indiana University, 2006. http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/fullcit/3206872.

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Political Science, 2006.
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-01, Section: A, page: 0324. Adviser: Elinor Ostrom. "Title from dissertation home page (viewed on Feb. 8, 2007)."

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Rödström, Christin. "Analys av en projektorganisations beslutsprocess : En fallstudie på Trafikverket." Thesis, Karlstads universitet, Fakulteten för hälsa, natur- och teknikvetenskap (from 2013), 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-68791.

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Syftet med detta arbete var att utvärdera förbättringsmöjligheterna i projektorganisationers beslutsprocesser så att deras leveranser kan följa en övergripande metod. Vidare skall det kunna användas inom olika organisationsmodeller, såsom offentliga, privata men också inom offentlig- privat samverkan. Målet har varit att påvisa skillnader i leveransernas kvalitet samt demografiska skillnader med utgångspunkt från den övergripande metoden. En kvalitativ undersökning i form av en fallstudie har gjorts på Trafikverket på avdelningen Investering-Teknik & Miljö där den interna metoden för bedömning av omgivningspåverkan för projekt utan planläggning har analyserats med avseende på kvalitet och regionala skillnader. En dokumentstudie av 25 projekt från Trafikverkets sex regioner samt semistrukturerade intervjuer med projektdeltagare visade på en stor spridning och variation i både kvalitet, prioritering av redovisning samt regionala skillnader. Resultatets spridning och variation beror troligtvis på att projektens beslut huvudsakligen har fattats på intuitiva grunder samt att den övergripande metoden uppfattats och tolkats olika. Så är även fallet om man jämför de olika regionerna. Den viktigaste insikten i denna undersökning är vikten av att använda en rationell beslutsmodell för att på så sätt få projekten att konsekvent och genomgående använda och redovisa alla de delar och moment som finns med i metoden. Med ett digitalt system för motivering och redovisning av de olika delarna skulle det bli lättare att styra och jämföra projekten på regional och nationell bas.
The purpose of this thesis has been to evaluate the improvement opportunities in project organizations' decision-making processes so that their deliveries can follow an overall approach. Furthermore, it may be used in different organizational models, such as public, private but also in public-private partnerships. The objectives have been to investigate differences in delivery quality as well as demographic differences based on the overall method. A qualitative survey in the form of a case study has been carried out at the Swedish Transport Administration at the Investment-Technology & Environment Department, where the internal method for Assessing the environmental impact of projects without planning has been analyzed in terms of quality and regional differences. A document study of 25 projects from the Swedish Transport Administration's six regions and semi structured interviews with project participants showed a wide spread and variation in both quality, prioritization of presentation and regional differences. The spread and variation of the results is probably due to the fact that the decisions of the projects are mainly taken on intuitive grounds, and that the overall method has been perceived and interpreted differently. This is also the case when comparing the different regions. The most important insight from this study is the importance of using a rational decision-making model in order to get the projects to consistently use and present all the parts and elements included in the method. With a digital system for motivating and reporting the different parts, it would be easier to control and compare projects on a regional and national basis.

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MacDonald, Irene Maria. "School violence, administrative leadership in decision-making." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp02/NQ29067.pdf.

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Beckman, Maria. "Green Brand Equity in industrial B2B markets : A cross-sectional study of Sandvik Coromant’s customers." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Företagsekonomiska institutionen, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-388952.

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The concept of Green Brand Equity is based on the assumption that customers will be more favorable towards a firm's brand when the firm provides products and services that satisfy the customers' environmental needs. While environmental and brand management have been researched thoroughly in business-to-consumer (B2C) markets, similar research inbusiness-to-business (B2B) contexts is still scarce. This study aims to contribute to environmental management and B2B brand research through an empirical study of customers' perceptions of Green Brand Equity in industrial B2B markets. A qualitative study was conducted analyzing customers who purchase products from a brand of a Swedish high-tech and global industrial engineering company. The findings suggest that although traditional aspects like price, quality and delivery performance are of high importance, customers in B2B markets also take environmental impact into consideration in their purchase decisions. The customers' consideration of environmental impact mainly stemmed from the customer firms' Green Policies, as well as the individual buyer's Green Concerns. The findings further showed that supplier firms can strengthen Green Brand Equity through sustainability initiatives. By supporting the applicability of Green Brand Equity in a B2B context, this study contributes to the theoretical discussion as well as to practitioners in the field.

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Scarabello, Filho Sinesio. "O artifice e a ferramenta : a participação publica na gestão ambiental areas da Serra do Japi - Jundiai/SP." [s.n.], 2005. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/258658.

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Orientador: Rozely Ferreira dos Santos
Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e Urbanismo
Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-05T13:58:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ScarabelloFilho_Sinesio_D.pdf: 10608444 bytes, checksum: b9501d25df8ed418d696bfd9913257e6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005
Resumo: As vantagens e a conveniência da participação pública na gestão de áreas naturais têm sido intensamente discutidas. A grande maioria dos administradores, empresas e órgãos públicos que fomentam este debate apontam a participação pública como algo vantajoso, conveniente e até necessário. No entanto, as dificuldades para se incorporar a participação pública nos processos de tomada de decisão são muitas e igualmente reconhecidas, o que tem mantido o assunto sob intenso debate. Este trabalho parte do pressuposto de que a participação pública é, de fato, necessária. Contudo, procura identificar os requisitos para que ela ocorra de forma positiva e efetiva e, principalmente, investigar a possibilidade de manutenção de uma aliança estável entre os atores sociais. Para tanto, foi instalado e observado um processo de participação pública, orientado por um modelo designado MOD - Modelo de Organização do Diálogo, concebido a partir de considerações e conclusões extraídas da bibliografia pesquisada. Três aspectos foram especialmente focalizados: a forma de organização da participação pública, o estabelecimento da articulação entre os atores sociais e as dificuldades para a tomada de decisão diante de questões complexas, relativas à gestão das áreas da Serra do Japi, localizadas no Município de Jundiaí, Estado de São Paulo. Para auxiliar a tomada de decisão foi desenvolvido e aplicado outro modelo que procura representar geometricamente o sistema ambiental e, por este motivo, foi denominado MG ¿ Modelo Geométrico de Apoio à Tomada de Decisão. A aplicação do modelo ocorreu em um estudo de caso, o do loteamento denominado ¿Chácaras Serra da Ermida¿, situado no território da Serra do Japi. Além dos modelos citados, o recurso de concepção de cenários revelou-se extremamente útil para a identificação de alternativas e compreensão dos respectivos efeitos ou conseqüências. O relato do processo procura caracterizar as circunstâncias de cada momento, as dificuldades surgidas e as soluções encontradas e, no final, o trabalho propõe a idéia de complementaridade entre o artífice e a ferramenta, e procura enfatizar a importância assumida pela capacitação dos atores sociais, a partir da qual o artífice pode adquirir a habilidade necessária para o uso adequado da ferramenta
Abstract: The advantages and suitability of citizen participation in the management of protected areas have been discussed intensely. Most of de managers, companies and public agencies that foment this debate point the citizen participation as something advantageous, convenient and even necessary. The ideas about sustainability, arisen from the echo-development concepts and sustainable development, consider that public participation is an essential quality of this new view, which includes the environmental component in the planning and management actions, and in the make decisions process. However, the difficulties to incorporate the public participation in the process of making decisions are many and equally recognized, what has been keeping the subject on intense discussion. This job takes for granted that public participation is, in fact, necessary. But, it tries to identify the requirements so that it happens in positive and efficient way and, mainly, to investigate the possibility of maintenance of a stable alliance among the citizen participants. For that, it was installed and observed a process of public participation, guided by a designated model MOD ¿ Model of Organization of the Dialogue, conceived from considerations and conclusions derived of the researched bibliography. In the course of the process, and with the aid of theoretical knowledge and methodologies and adapted tools, concret, complex and important issues about the management of the Japi Mountains, in Jundiaí boroughs, were approached. Three aspects were specially focused: how to organize the public participation, the establishment of articulation between social participants and the difficulties of making decision in the presence of complex issues. In order to contribute the understanding of the methods of multi-criteria decision making support it was developed another model that tries to represent the environmental system geometrically and, for this reason, was denominated ¿Geometric Model for Decision Making Support¿. The report of the process tries to describe the circumstances in each moment, the appeared difficulties and the solutions found, ending with considerations about the principles that should guide the formulation of an environmental politic, on the function of public participation and organization form and; about the relationship among the contribution of the craftsmen, actors of the process, and the instruments and tools used by them. Finally, it is presented a reflection that proposes the idea of complement between the craftsman and the tools, and it tries to emphasize the importance assumed by the education, starting from which the craftsman can acquire the necessary ability for appropriate use the tool
Doutorado
Saneamento e Ambiente
Doutor em Engenharia Civil

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George, Bradley Alan. "Strategic decision making in new ventures the relationship between decision comprehensiveness and growth in differing environments /." [Bloomington, Ind.] : Indiana University, 2007. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3290767.

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, 2007.
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-11, Section: A, page: 4769. Adviser: Jeffrey G. Covin. Title from dissertation home page (viewed May 22, 2008).

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Aldred, Jonathan Simon. "Value conflicts in environmental decision-making." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.343404.

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Allars, M. N. "Coordination and administrative discretion." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1985. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.371505.

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Gillespie, Steven. "Fire Ground Decision-Making| Transferring Virtual Knowledge to the Physical Environment." Thesis, Grand Canyon University, 2013. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3590526.

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The primary purpose of this quantitative study was to examine if simulation training correlated with the decision-making abilities of firefighters from two departments (one in a mountain state and one in a southwest state). The other purposes were to determine if firefighter demographics were correlated with the completion of the simulation training and/or predicted decision-making abilities. The independent variables of this study were the completion simulation-training program and selected firefighter demographics with the naturalistic decision-making abilities of these firefighters as the dependent variable. Using purposive sampling, the participants selected were members of the two sample fire departments. The survey contained three categories: demographic information, simulation-based training program overview, and simulation-training assessment. The study produced some statistically significant findings which provided empirical evidence regarding the effective use of simulation training to the decision-making ability of firefighters. It also addresses the void in the existing knowledge base on the effectiveness in using simulation training on the decision-making ability on the fire ground, which firefighters need particularly.

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Pakravanmobarakeh, Mohammad Hossein. "Economic Input-Output Analysis for Battery Recycling Programs at the Higher Education Institutions and Regional Sustainability Planning." University of Dayton / OhioLINK, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1397736905.

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Obadina, Derek Adetokunboh. "Impact of judicial review on local authority decision-making processes." Thesis, Cardiff University, 1988. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.244814.

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Holmkvist, Jesper, and Victor Almerfors. "Making sense of the brand extension decision." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Företagsekonomiska institutionen, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-450151.

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The purpose of this study is to utilize the sensemaking perspective to increase the understanding of what makes managers consider brand extensions, and how the decision is formed throughout the sensemaking process. The study aims to add to the existing literature by providing knowledge about the largely unexamined domain of managerial practice related to brand extensions. Furthermore, this study is designed as a qualitative multiple case study on four Swedish distilleries. The data was gathered primarily through semi-structured interviews and processed using a thematic method of analysis. This study found that brand extension decisions are influenced by managers subjective interpretive frameworks and previous organizational identity constructions. Contextual factors affects managers perceived need of brand extensions following the attention to one or more cues.

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Young, Richard. "Dealing with uncertainty in environmental decision making." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 1999. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/1567/.

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Костюченко, Надія Миколаївна, Надежда Николаевна Костюченко, Nadiia Mykolaivna Kostiuchenko, Денис Олегович Смоленніков, Денис Олегович Смоленников, and Denys Olehovych Smolennikov. "Institutional decision-making in environmental management system." Thesis, Вид-во СумДУ, 2010. http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/8144.

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Mowbray, A. R. "Administrative guidance : a public law study." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/19168.

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Duan, Yanqing. "The use of expert systems for decision making in organizations." Thesis, Aston University, 1993. http://publications.aston.ac.uk/10872/.

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The research described in this thesis investigates three issues related to the use of expert systems for decision making in organizations. These are the effectiveness of ESs when used in different roles, to replace a human decision maker or to advise a human decision maker, the users' behaviourand opinions towards using an expertadvisory system and, the possibility of organization-wide deployment of expert systems and the role of an ES in different organizational levels. The research was based on the development of expert systems within a business game environment, a simulation of a manufacturing company. This was chosen to give more control over the `experiments' than would be possible in a real organization. An expert system (EXGAME) was developed based on a structure derived from Anthony's three levels of decision making to manage the simulated company in the business game itself with little user intervention. On the basis of EXGAME, an expert advisory system (ADGAME) was built to help game players to make better decisions in managing the game company. EXGAME and ADGAME are thus two expert systems in the same domain performing different roles; it was found that ADGAME had, in places, to be different from EXGAME, not simply an extension of it. EXGAME was tested several times against human rivals and was evaluated by measuring its performance. ADGAME was also tested by different users and was assessed by measuring the users' performance and analysing their opinions towards it as a helpful decision making aid. The results showed that an expert system was able to replace a human at the operational level, but had difficulty at the strategic level. It also showed the success of the organization-wide deployment of expert systems in this simulated company.

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Sun, Yichen S. M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "Decision making process and factors routing." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/82853.

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Thesis (S.M. in Transportation)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2013.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 124-131).
This research studies the decision-making process and the factors that affect truck routing. The data collection involved intercept interviews with truck drivers at three rest area and truck stops along major highways in North America. The computerized survey solicited information on truck routing decisions, the identity of the decision-makers, the factors that affect routing and sources of information consulted in making these decisions. Stated Preferences (SP) experiments were conducted, where drivers' choice behaviour between two hypothetical scenarios were observed and modeled. 252 drivers completed the survey, yielding 1121 valid SP observations. This data was used to study the identity of routing decision makers for various driver segments and the sources of information used both in pre-trip planning and en-route. A random effects logit model was estimated using the SP data. The results show that there are significant differences in the route choice decision-making process among various driver segments, and that these decisions are affected by multiple factors beyond travel time and cost. These factors include shipping and driver employment terms, such as the method of calculation of pay and bearing of fuel costs and tolls.
by Yichen Sun.
S.M.in Transportation

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Harrison, Kenneth Watson. "Environmental and Water Resources Decision-Making Under Uncertainty." NCSU, 2002. http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-06042002-150804/.

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"Decision-making under uncertainty" is an important area of study in numerous disciplines. The variety of quantitative methods that have been proposed to address environmental and water resources problems reflects the importance of this subject. In a review of the literature, methods were compared and contrasted and promising areas for future research were identified. Conclusions drawn from the review were that 1) large gains may be realized from cross-disciplinary research, 2) significant benefits may be realized from considering uncertainty, 3) advanced algorithms?probabilistic search methods and efficient methods for Bayesian analysis?and increased computing power should greatly extend the applicability of existing methods, and 4) in particular, decision-theoretic methods that have wide application for sequential decision-making. A new decision-theoretic method, Bayesian programming (BP), was developed that takes advantage of the increased computing power and improvements in Bayesian analysis methods. The method has wide applicability, suitable for problems in which there is 1) uncertainty in the modeling, 2) stochastic behavior in the systems that are modeled, 3) the possibility to reduce uncertainty through data collection, and 4) the opportunity for a recourse decision after a period of data collection. The approach combines systematic search methods (mathematical programming) and Bayesian statistical analysis techniques (Markov chain Monte Carlo) in a decision analysis framework. The BP method is tested with application to a hypothetical, but realistic river basin management problem, using real data from the much-studied Athabasca River in Alberta, Canada. The management problem involves balancing the objectives of pulp mill development and water quality protection (dissolved oxygen). Results from application of the BP method were compared with those applying other methodologies. Examination of the results indicated that the BP method is a practical method worthy of additional research. Ultimately, it is hoped, this research will lead to computer-based tools that will improve environmental and water resources decision-making.

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Benini, Lorenzo <1982&gt. "Sustainability indicators for environmental management and decision making." Doctoral thesis, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, 2011. http://amsdottorato.unibo.it/3772/.

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The general objective of this research is to explore theories and methodologies of sustainability indicators, environmental management and decision making disciplines with the operational purpose of producing scientific, robust and relevant information for supporting system understanding and decision making in real case studies. Several tools have been applied in order to increase the understanding of socio-ecological systems as well as providing relevant information on the choice between alternatives. These tools have always been applied having in mind the complexity of the issues and the uncertainty tied to the partial knowledge of the systems under study. Two case studies with specific application to performances measurement (environmental performances in the case of the K8 approach and sustainable development performances in the case of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy) and a case study about the selection of sustainable development indicators amongst Municipalities in Scotland, are discussed in the first part of the work. In the second part of the work, the common denominator among subjects consists in the application of spatial indices and indicators to address operational problems in land use management within the territory of the Ravenna province (Italy). The main conclusion of the thesis is that a ‘perfect’ methodological approach which always produces the best results in assessing sustainability performances does not exist. Rather, there is a pool of correct approaches answering different evaluation questions, to be used when methodologies fit the purpose of the analysis. For this reason, methodological limits and conceptual assumptions as well as consistency and transparency of the assessment, become the key factors for assessing the quality of the analysis.

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Nunes, Breno T. S. "Greening operations : an investigation of environmental decision making." Thesis, Aston University, 2011. http://publications.aston.ac.uk/15851/.

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This PhD thesis belongs to three main knowledge domains: operations management, environmental management, and decision making. Having the automotive industry as the key sector, the investigation was undertaken aiming at deepening the understanding of environmental decision making processes in the operations function. The central research question for this thesis is ?Why and how do manufacturing companies take environmental decisions? This PhD research project used a case study research strategy supplemented by secondary data analysis and the testing and evaluation of a proposed systems thinking model for environmental decision making. Interviews and focus groups were the main methods for data collection. The findings of the thesis show that companies that want to be in the environmental leadership will need to take environmental decisions beyond manufacturing processes. Because the benefits (including financial gain) of non-manufacturing activities are not clear yet the decisions related to product design, supply chain and facilities are fully embedded with complexity, subjectivism, and intrinsic risk. Nevertheless, this is the challenge environmental leaders will face - they may enter in a paradoxical state of their decisions – where although the risk of going greener is high, the risk of not doing it is even higher.

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Moote, Margaret Ann 1965. "Changing models of administrative decision-making: Public participation in public land planning." Thesis, The University of Arizona, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/278479.

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A case study is used to illustrate and assess the applicability of participatory democracy theory to public participation in public land decision-making. In this case, public outcry against a Bureau of Land Management acquisition plan resulted in adoption of a coordinated resource management process, an application of participatory democracy theory which is purported to improve public acceptance of administrative decisions by providing improved access and representation, information exchange and learning, continuity of participation, and shared decision-making authority. The study suggests that in order to satisfy the public, a participatory democracy approach to public participation should give participants tangible evidence that their input will influence agency decisions, preferably by giving them the authority to collectively make decisions that will be binding on all participants, including agencies. Furthermore, organizational and decision-making rules, as well as legal and bureaucratic limitations on the process, must be explicit.

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Vlado, Veldic. "GIS for spatial decision-making." Pretoria : [s.n.], 2005. http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-11242005-101724/.

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Vlado, Veldic. "GIS for spatial decision-making." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/29747.

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Western, Rachel Elizabeth Joy. "Decision making in nuclear waste management : the use of the synoptic approach." Thesis, Aston University, 1993. http://publications.aston.ac.uk/10862/.

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This thesis is concerned with the use of the synoptic approach within decision making concerning nuclear waste management. The synoptic approach to decision making refers to an approach to rational decision making that assumes as an ideal, comprehensiveness of information and analysis. Two case studies are examined in which a high degree of synoptic analysis has been used within the decision making process. The case studies examined are the Windscale Inquiry into the decision to build the THORP reprocessing plant and the Nirex safety assessment of nuclear waste disposal. The case studies are used to test Lindblom's hypothesis that a synoptic approach to decision making is not achievable. In the first case study Lindblom's hypothesis is tested through the evaluation of the decision to build the THORP plant, taken following the Windscale Inquiry. It is concluded that the incongruity of this decision supports Lindblom's hypothesis. However, it has been argued that the Inquiry should be seen as a legitimisation exercise for a decision that was effectively predetermined, rather than a rigorous synoptic analysis. Therefore, the Windscale Inquiry does not provide a robust test of the synoptic method. It was concluded that a methodology was required, that allowed robust conclusions to be drawn, despite the ambiguity of the role of the synoptic method in decision making. Thus, the methodology adopted for the second case study was modified. In this case study the synoptic method was evaluated directly. This was achieved through the analysis of the cogency of the Nirex safety assessment. It was concluded that the failure of Nirex to provide a cogent synoptic analysis supported Lindblom's criticism of the synoptic method. Moreover, it was found that the synoptic method failed in the way that Lindblom predicted that it would.

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Halliday, Simon. "Judicial review and administrative justice : a study of administrative decision-making in three local government homeless persons units." Thesis, University of Strathclyde, 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.366939.

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Lu, Di. "Environmental life cycle driven decision making in product design." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/34843.

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There is growing interest in the assessment of products from a life cycle perspective. Product life cycles are often dominated by extensive chemical supply chains that lead up to the materials contained in the products and the overwhelming contribution that the production of these chemicals make to the overall life cycle due to their energy intensity. Hence, chemical engineers are uniquely positioned to carry out significant components of this assessment because of their skills in chemical process design and analysis. Furthermore, the complexity and extent of life cycle concerns creates opportunities for new process systems tools to be developed to support product design and analysis. The specific thesis objectives are threefold. The first is to develop a systematic methodology to optimize material selections for a product based on life cycle inventory (LCI) characteristics. The second is to use this methodology combined with sustainability assessment standards to assess whether these standards are congruent with life cycle assessment. The third is to develop an approach to design product sustainability assessment standards that are clear and consistent with life cycle principles. The overall contributions will be in the applied domain of life cycle assessment and its integration into standards setting, and in contributions to optimization tools and methods. The three objectives will be illustrated in the domain of carpet systems. Previous research has generated a substantial database of gate-to-gate (GTG) life cycle inventories for various chemicals that make up carpet, extending from the inputs to the final carpet mill back to the natural resources such as oil, natural gas and mined calcium carbonate. Carpet recycling is a promising alternative approach for reducing life cycle impacts and is being practiced at a growing scale in the U.S. This thesis uses the specific individual LCI gate-to-gate blocks for virgin materials and for important carpet recycling and general polymer recycling processes. A database for the GTG LCI will be used to construct a virtual chemical tree that automatically that represents the potential cradle-to-gate (CTG) use of resources. The alternatives for each possible route for the product will be generated, and optimization approaches will be applied to optimize the performance of the carpet system according to life cycle objectives. Sustainability assessment standards are currently being developed for a range of building products, such as carpet, resilient flooring, commercial textile coverings and office furniture. This activity has been stimulated through the considerable success of the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) LEED standard. The LEED Standard is points-based: the building design and construction earns points for having certain attributes or promoting certain activities. The points are totaled and then the building earns a rating based on the total being above a certain threshold. The second thesis objective is met through extending the LCI optimization methodology to represent point-based standards. A product can then be optimized to maximize the number of points it earns or to minimize its life cycle attributes. This approach can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of an emerging carpet sustainability standard, NSF-140, in integrating LCI into the standard. The last objective, standard design, is approached through designing the tables that award points in the standard to be consistent with life cycle information. Certain minimum principles of consistency are articulated and then the designs shown to be consistent with these principles in the case that the life cycle impact assessment method maps the life cycle inventory to impact through a linear weighting.

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Lohan, Dagmar. "Science in environmental decision-making : a case-study analysis." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.270438.

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Hossack, Iain Donald. "Online computer-mediated decision-making for sustainable environmental management." Thesis, University of the West of Scotland, 2009. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.556202.

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This thesis describes emerging European Union challenges for environmental justice: public participation with transparent decision-making; and knowledge transfer of complex scientific information. It describes the Delphi technique, a pen-and-paper decision support framework developed during the late 1950s and 1960s and its potential to meet environmental justice challenges, if coupled with internet-based computer technologies; online computer mediated decision making (OCMDM). Through various case studies, mainly with one group of soil experts, a long term assessment of OCMDM is presented. This thesis argues that OCMDM provides a technologically flexible, relatively inclusive and efficient framework for discourse capture. However, from a social perspective, OCMDM is far from universally popular, mirroring long-held views of traditional pen-and-paper-based Delphis. At this time, the tool could not be recommended as a transferable panacea for public consultation. Nevertheless, a long-term study of user group engagement with the tool identifies significant utility for conflict resolution, with scope for application within contentious decision-making arenas, if utilised sparingly and thoughtfully. Criteria for successful 'real-world' acceptance of application and research with the tool are provided, together with examples of real-world decision-making arenas that meet them. Through analysis of participants' perceptions, a tantalising glimpse of potentially complex fractal-based decision processes is offered: honing and spiraling towards an ever-refining definition of a truth. This study suggests that this singular decision is itself only part of other archetypal honing-spiraling mechanisms of decision-making, either objectively or metaphorically; each of differing attractions and repulsion to an end user. By identifying some of these fundamental rules of participation, this study provides an opportunity to explore human interaction and decision-making with greater accuracy. There is considerable potential to eliminate most, if not all, OCMDM participant concerns.

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Shearer, David. "Between two worlds : Maori values and environmental decision-making." Thesis, University of Canterbury, 1986. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/10379.

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This study investigates the way in which Maori values are incorporated into environmental decision-making. Recently, the implementation of large resource developments have drawn protest from Maori communities and focussed attention on these values. The study examines the nature of these values, associated with the way the Maori people use and perceive the environment, and determines that these are still strongly held today. It then establishes that as an indigenous minority culture Maori values should be specifically considered. From this basis, environmental decision-making procedures are examined. The findings reveal that many procedures do not sufficiently account for Maori values. Two options are formulated to improve the existing situation. The first option looks at changes to present procedures. The second option investigates implementing reforms to encourage earlier participation with Maori communities.

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De, Beer Mikael. "Eating anew : improving nutrition through environmental decision-making aids." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/53353.

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Recognising food security as a subset of the broader health debate surrounding life-style disease within South Africa s burgeoning informal settlements lead to an investigation into the designed landscape s ability to influence eating habits. Much has been written on the potential health benefits of landscape architecture, yet very little that focuses on the influence landscape architecture has on health Recognising food security as a subset of the broader health debate surrounding life-style disease within South Africa s burgeoning informal settlements lead to an investigation into the designed landscape s ability to influence eating habits. Much has been written on the potential health benefits of landscape architecture, yet very little that focuses on the influence landscape architecture has on health through food choices (other than productive agricultural landscapes). An eating toolbox is developed to guide design decisions it is based on psychological and behavioural science principles. The toolbox encourages social norm dissemination, not creating cognitive fatigue, the exposure to healthy choices and the utilisation of healthy foods in self-image creation, amongst others. Some of these tools require a salutogenic (healthy) environment. A clean, accessible and legible street is proposed and supported by an ancillary landscape system. This food street is proposed as the most effective manner in which healthier consumption patterns may be aided. The congruence of existing networks in Alaska, the influence on pedestrians along a linear route, the facilitation of existing subsistence agriculture and upgrading of existing infrastructure all serve to create Alaska s first urban street. The design and incorporation of transporting, producing, displaying, trading, preparing, consuming and recycling food all blends into creating a healthy eating experience.
Mini Dissertation (ML(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2015.
tm2016
Architecture
ML(Prof)
Unrestricted

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Herselman, Lodewikus Stephanus. "Lawful, reasonable and fair decision-making in disciplinary cases in secondary schools." Thesis, University of Pretoria, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/44144.

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Section 16 A (2) (d), (e) and (f) of the South African Schools Act, Act 84 of 1996 assumes that a school principal has specialised knowledge in interpreting legislation, dealing with disciplinary matters pertaining to learners, educators and support staff, and making disciplinary decisions. The legal framework of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act, Act 3 of 2000, as well as section 33 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996, affects disciplinary decision making in education. The need to understand how legislation affects disciplinary decision making is important, because s ection 16 A of the South African Schools Act, Act 84 of 1996 assumes that education managers have the requisite knowledge and understanding of the law when dealing with disciplinary decision making. Disciplinary decisions taken by education managers fall in the domain of administrative law. The Promotion of Administrative Justice Act, Act 3 of 2000, forms the foundation for administrative action that is lawful, reasonable and fair. Since this Act is relatively new, and education managers have a lack of education law knowledge in general, it can be argued that principals might struggle to take disciplinary decisions that are lawful, reasonable and fair. Thus, there is a need to answer the following question: What are the legal requirements that should be considered in taking disciplinary decisions that are lawful, reasonable and fair and how can these disciplinary decisions be made more effectively? The purpose of the study was to understand the context and content of Section 33 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996, the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act, Act 3 of 2000, and Section 16A of the Schools Act , Act 84 of 1996 and how they would positively influence disciplinary decision making in South African education. The main research question was: What are the legal requirements that should be considered in taking disciplinary decisions that are lawful, reasonable and fair and how can these disciplinary decisions be made more effectively? Chapter 2 answered the research question of which decision-making processes could assist the education manager to take disciplinary decisions that are lawful, reasonable and fair. It was established that principals make frequent use of the rational model for decision making. However, the more comprehensive data-driven decision-making model was proposed. This not only focuses on a single disciplinary decision, but on the cause and trends of all transgressions that exist in a school. This model enables a principal to draw up a plan of action to deal with the cause of the problem. After analysing the applicable legal framework, the concepts of lawful, reasonable, and fair were defined and interpreted in Chapter 3. An administrative action is lawful when an administrator is duly authorised by law to exercise power. Reasonableness has two elements, namely rationality and proportionality. Rationality means that evidence and information should support a decision an administrator takes, while the purpose of rationality is to avoid an imbalance between the adverse and beneficial effects. The approach to fairness has changed since the pre-democratic era. The main components that are linked to procedural fairness are the common-law principles of audi alteram partem, and nemo iudex in sua causa. The qualitative approach was followed in this study to shed light on the perceptions of the participants on the meaning of the legal concepts of lawful, reasonable, and fair in disciplinary decision making, and their understanding of the legal framework of this study. Furthermore, this study sought answers to which decision-making processes could assist the education manager, as well as to the advantages of having a disciplinary coordinator to assist education managers in making lawful, reasonable and fair disciplinary decisions. Convenience and purposeful sampling was used because the schools were conveniently located. Four secondary school principals in Cape Town were chosen, as well as two officials from the Western Cape Department of Education. The reason for purposive sampling was that two of the four schools that were selected had to have a discipline coordinator. Semi-structured interviews were held with the abovementioned principals and officials to answer the main research question. The following information emerged from the semi-structured interviews which were incorporated in the data-driven, decision-making model of school improvement. Some of the findings were: i. Animosity exists between some school principals and the Western Cape Education Department (WCED). There is a lack of communication between the WCED and principals, as well as a lack of training on disciplinary decision making. ii. It was also established that principals made common mistakes related to the interpretation of legislation or applicable regulations. iii. A good practice emanating from the study is a paper trail of all interventions kept by schools. iv. Principals tend to use only the South African Schools Act as a legal framework for disciplinary decision making. v. Principals need to focus on strategies to address the link between bad behaviour and poor academic performance. vi. A discipline coordinator can assist the principal in maintaining discipline, investigating transgressions, organising disciplinary hearings, and in disciplinary decision making. Decision making, lawfulness, reasonableness, and fairness were combined in this research to establish the legal requirements that should be considered in taking disciplinary decisions that are lawful, reasonable and fair, and how these disciplinary decisions can be more effective for the sole purpose of school improvement.
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2014.
tm2015
Education Management and Policy Studies
PhD
Unrestricted

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Sainsbury, Roy. "Deciding social security claims : a study in the theory and practice of administrative justice." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/19276.

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Fleming, Gabriel Catherine. "Rival goals and values in administrative review: a study of migration decision making." University of Sydney. Law, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/839.

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Some form of administrative review of executive action is accepted in the common law world for the reason that it serves certain basic values and goals. This study draws on political, legal and management theory in considering the values that underlie administrative review. It is primarily concerned with the role of tribunal review. A full range of values are considered, including fairness, justice, consistency, rationality, dignity, respect, accessibility, equity, efficiency and economy. Some are seen as fundamental to the administrative review system while others have different purposes. There is general agreement on many of the values and goals of administrative review. In their practical application however, values compete, overlap and evolve in accordance with economic, social, political and legal change. There are value tensions in, for instance, the role of independent tribunals as a check on the power of the executive while they are also within the executive, in the extent of the obligation on administrative tribunals to apply government policy and in the setting of proper limits of judicial review. There is continuing tension in demands for individual dignity and rights to fair treatment on the one hand and notions of the 'public interest' on the other. This thesis argues that the provision of tribunal review of administrative decisions is increasingly ideologically driven and focussed on 'functional' or 'management' values. At times these have trumped other values in decisions about entitlements to procedural fairness, access to review, effectiveness in public administration and the achievement of the 'correct and preferable' decision in the instant case. The focus of this thesis is a case study of migration decision-making. The importance of this area of study is evident in the potentially devastating consequences that migration decisions can have for individuals and families. In the context of Australia's history of inadequate and racially based migration policies, independent administrative review provides security against arbitrariness and discrimination in decision-making. An analysis of administrative review of decisions made under the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) by the Migration Review Tribunal, and its predecessor the Immigration Review Tribunal, illustrates the claim that values, in their application, have real, practical and local importance. Issues of tribunal independence and accountability, the normative goal of review and procedural justice are considered in depth. It is argued that where compromises are made in administrative review, underlying values should be revealed so that their practical consequences may be better understood. The need to articulate and analyze these issues has never been greater. The Australian administrative review system is in a period of change analogous to that of the introduction of the 'new' administrative law in the 1970s. If tribunals are to continue to play an effective role then it is important to think clearly about how they can, in practice, embody the right mix of administrative law values.

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Schultz, Courtney Allison. "Cumulative effects analysis in U.S. Forest Service decision-making." Diss., [Missoula, Mont.] : The University of Montana, 2009. http://etd.lib.umt.edu/theses/available/etd-06102009-101714.

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Lakshmanan, Hariharan 1980. "Resource allocation problems in stochastic sequential decision making." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/47736.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2009.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 159-162).
In this thesis, we study resource allocation problems that arise in the context of stochastic sequential decision making problems. The practical utility of optimal algorithms for these problems is limited due to their high computational and storage requirements. Also, an increasing number of applications require a decentralized solution. We develop techniques for approximately solving certain class of resource allocation problems that arise in the context of stochastic sequential decision making problems that are computationally efficient with a focus on decentralized algorithms where appropriate. The first resource allocation problem that we study is a stochastic sequential decision making problem with multiple decision makers (agents) with two main features 1) Partial observability Each agent may not have complete information regarding the system 2) Limited Communication - Each agent may not be able to communicate with all other agents at all times. We formulate a Markov Decision Process (MDP) for this problem. The features of partial observability and limited communication impose additional computational constraints on the exact solution of the MDP. We propose a scheme for approximating the optimal Q function and the optimal value function associated with this MDP as a linear combination of preselected basis functions. We show that the proposed approximation scheme leads to decentralization of the agents' decisions thereby enabling their implementation under limited communication. We propose a linear program, ALP, for selecting the parameters for combining the basis functions. We establish bounds relating the approximation error due to the choice of the parameters selected by the ALP with the best possible error given the choice of basis functions.
(cont.) Motivated by the need for a decentralized solution to the ALP, which is equivalent to a resource allocation problem with separable, concave objective function, we analyze a general class of resource allocation problems with separable concave objective functions. We propose a distributed algorithm for this class of problems when the objective function is differentiable and establish its convergence and convergence rate properties. We develop a smoothing scheme for non-differentiable objective functions and extend the algorithm for this case. Finally, we build on these results to extend the decentralized algorithm to accommodate non-negativity constraints on the resources. Numerical investigations on the performance of the developed algorithm show that our algorithm is competitive with its centralized counterpart. The second resource allocation problem that we study is the problem of optimally accepting or rejecting arriving orders in a Make-To-Order (MTO) manufacturing firm. We model the production facility of the MTO manufacturing firm as a queue and view the time of the production facility as a resource that needs to be optimally allotted between current and future orders. We formulate the Order Acceptance Problem under two arrival processes - Poisson process (OAP-P), and Bernoulli Process (OAP-B) and formulate both problems as MDPs. We provide insights into the structure of the optimal order acceptance policy for OAP-B under the assumption of First Come First Served (FCFS) scheduling of accepted orders.
(cont.) We investigate a class of randomized order acceptance policies for OAP-B called static policies that are practically relevant due to their ease of implementation and develop a procedure for computing the policy gradient for any static policy. Using these results for OAP-B, we propose 4 heuristics for OAP-P. We numerically investigate the performance of the proposed heuristics and compare their performance with other heuristics reported in literature. One of our proposed heuristics, FCFS-ValueFunction outperforms other heuristics under a variety of conditions while also being easy to implement.
by Hariharan Lakshmanan.
Ph.D.

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Clark-Murphy, David. "Managing change without changing managers: An investigation of influences on decision making performance of public sector managers within novel and complex environments." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 1997. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/902.

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This study examines relationships between the cognitive and decision making styles of individual managers, and their decision making performance , within public sector environments during structural and cultural reform. The main purpose is to develop a more effective means of matching managers to their novel and complex working environments, to minimise staff turnover and improve productivity.

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Setterlin, Cathy. "Connecting With Nature Through Land Use Decision Making." Antioch University / OhioLINK, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1206642069.

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Péron, Martin Brice. "Optimal sequential decision-making under uncertainty." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2018. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/120831/1/Martin%20Brice_Peron_Thesis.pdf.

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This thesis develops novel mathematical models to make optimal sequential decisions under uncertainty. One of the main objectives is to scale Markov decision processes, the framework of choice for selecting the best sequential decisions, to larger problems. The thesis is motivated by the management of the invasive tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus across the Torres Strait Islands, an archipelago of islands at the doorstep of the Australian mainland.

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Twohey, Rebecca Jean. "Strategically Integrating Human Dimensions into Marine Conservation Decision Making." Thesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2018. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10937297.

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There is a broad perception that many of the greatest knowledge gaps in marine conservation are in understanding and integrating human dimensions. Marine governance must go beyond the rhetoric that conservation will benefit from including human dimensions, and dig deeper into social science disciplines to find specific tools that may be useful. Bennett et al. (2017) advocate for “fostering knowledge on the scope and contributions of the social sciences to conservation” from the inception of conservation projects, during all stages of planning and implementation and at all scales, and encourage the mainstreaming of social science into conservation. However, the fractured nature of literature pointing to the importance of social science has left many unsure what is really important or what to do. This dissertation seeks to remedy this, first by mainstreaming how to strategically consider social equity, and second by learning from collective action studies.

Social equity is increasingly included in conservation mission statements – either because it is an intrinsic goal or because it is believed to have functional value to help reach other objectives. Until now, social equity has been vaguely defined, and therefore been difficult to include, monitor and evaluate in environmental governance. Chapter 1 presents a theoretical foundation for defining and distinguishing between different types of social equity and considering social equity’s role in conservation outcomes. First, we introduce the equity landscape as a way to describe the distributions of resources and participation rights in a society supported by social norms in a given community. We use case studies to illustrate how environmental management can benefit from considering the equity landscape in both short- and long-term strategy. Through collaborative efforts, we also describe social equity to include several dimensions – including participation (or input to conservation interventions), and spatial, access, and financial outcomes of a conservation intervention (Klein et al. 2015). Chapter 1 motivates collecting empirical evidence of how different types of equity are experienced in a community and their influence on stakeholder behavior.

Therefore, in Chapter 2 we investigate how fishers perceive and experience these different dimensions of equity, and how different dimensions of equity influence fisher compliance with social norms and willingness to punish defectors. Our interdisciplinary approach combines a behavioral experiment and surveys, and informs important decisions on critical design elements, such as should the intervention focus on participation, or outcomes of the intervention, such as access or financial benefits? Should equity objectives be equal or fair? And, how should managers measure these objectives? This research provides important empirical insight on how equity and conservation outcomes are interlinked and how management actions may influence stakeholder cooperation, thus presenting a unique insight into equity that is applicable to a wide range of settings.

Second, this dissertation highlights the potential benefits of integrating collective action literature in fisheries management. Most problems in fisheries management are rooted in some sort of tragedy of the commons. Understanding the conditions under which cooperation can emerge and how to create policies around those conditions is extremely important for successful fisheries governance. The collective action literature contains a wealth of knowledge on how diverse types of societies can solve cooperation problems and real-world management questions.

Chapter 3 investigates two such applied questions: Do self-assembled or randomly assigned groups cooperate better? And, if there are costs to random assignment, what strategies might help offset some of these costs? We show that self-assembly and the ability to communicate face-to-face both increase compliance with rules and punishment of defectors, although self-assembly has a greater effect.

This work is specific to artisanal fishing communities in Tañon Strait, Philippines, but provides an approach to solving questions managers have to make on a range of key issues that likely have big consequences on conservation outcomes. By combining interdisciplinary theory and methods, my dissertation highlights how social science can both integrate into and aid conservation efforts.

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Bisantz, Ann M. "Modeling environmental uncertainty to understand and support dynamic decision making." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/25734.

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Bhattachary, Darren Paul. "Critical reflections for environmental decision making : Habermas, participation and rationality." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.394159.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Administrative environmental decision making'

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