This thesis investigated the functional significance ofthe personality construct of action-state orientation (Kuhl, 1981), which is suggested to mediate the efficiency of the volitional approach taken to overcome the difficulties associated with goal initiation, maintenance and completion under competitive pressure. The role of volition, defined as 'the act of deciding upon a course of action and initiating it' [Syn. Will] (German Dictionary of psychology, 1934, p.283) in sport has emerged from unequivocal findings taken from coaches and athletes regarding the effectiveness of goal setting as a performance enhancement strategy (Burton, Weinberg, Yukelson & Weigand, 1998; Weinberg, Burton, Yukelson & Weigand, 2000). Further research exploration of goal setting practices concluded that the most realistic explanation for the lack of goal attainment when utilising goal setting is the lack of an adequate 'action plan' (Burton, Naylor & Holliday, 2000). Whilst goal setting is a process of motivation that ends with a decision to act (Beckmann, 2002; Heckhausen, 1991; Kuhl, 1987), the processes of goal initiation and completion are related to action plans and goal striving, which are issues of volition (Kuhl, 1984; Latharn 2000). Volitional competence is determined by the opposing personality dispositions of action- versus state-orientation. Action-orientation is characterised by an efficient present focus on action and making plans under pressure, whereas state-orientation is associated with an increased propensity to ruminate over real or imagined failure and the state the individual is in, rather than focus on the task at hand (Kuhl, 1994a). Study 1 explores the performance strategies and coping skills utilised by action- and state-oriented athletes under competitive pressure. Scores on the Athlete Coping Skills Inventory (ACSI-28; Smith, Schultz, Smoll & Ptacek, 1995)demonstrated a significantly higher usage of goal setting, relaxation and imagery as well as better emotional control and lower levels of negative thinking in the actionoriented group. Results from the Test of Performance Strategies (TOPS; Thomas, Murphy & Hardy, 1999) showed comparable scores between action- and stateoriented athletes in the areas of self-talk and coachability. A similarity which highlights an increased propensity in state-oriented athletes to submit to external control and the beliefs of others in preference to their own personal judgement. Study 2 documents the impact of 5-month intervention with endurance athletes to enhance volitional functioning and self-access to their personal wants, needs and beliefs utilising Personality Systems Interaction theory (PSI; Kuhl, 2000a), which contends volition efficiency is facilitated by positive affect. Eight out of eleven baseline state-oriented athletes scores on the Volitional Components Inventory (VCI; version 6, US-I; Kuhl & Fuhrmann, 1998) showed significantly improved differences in 23 out of a total 35 areas of volitional functioning, including enhanced levels (p<O.05) of emotional control, initiating and self-determination. Significantly decreased scores (p<O.05) in areas including inhibition and fear of failure were also shown. Study 3 presents follow-up interviews with intervention programme athletes to specifically investigate personal experiences and perceptions of behaviour change. Qualitative exploration indicated more pronounced use of avoidance coping strategies related to self-awareness and the adoption of mental skills in three athletes who showed no improved volitional competency. These athletes demonstrated inappropriate and performance impairing methods of enacting their intentions. Overall, results suggest that volitional efficiency is related to the ease of access to personal beliefs, needs and wants as these self-related constructs provide goals with the dynamic properties of being self-determined and intrinsicallymotivated. Goal pursuit can be severely debilitated by intentions that lack energising and protective qualities because limited self-awareness and the use of denial create a situation where intentions are never actually associated with the constructs that govern motivational meaning and action initiation. It is necessary that athletes learn to trust their own judgements and function quickly and correctly when under competitive pressure. If athletes do not develop the ability to appropriately access the mechanisms that enable them to overcome the difficulty of goal enactment, their performance can be compromised. A key implication for professional practice is the need to develop easily adhered-to self-monitoring tools and functionally relevant affect regulation training programmes. Future research directions including the furthering of both the issues of theoretical understanding and the role played by volition in sport are presented.

Physical activity (PA) offers numerous physical and mental health benefits. Unfortunately, most people struggle to lead an active lifestyle, particularly when they are concurrently striving to balance other pursuits that may interfere with their engagement in PA. The self-regulatory strategies of action planning (AP) and coping planning (CP) have been proposed as a means of helping people initiate and maintain PA, though inconsistent findings have been observed to this effect. The primary objectives of the present dissertation, achieved by way of two original articles, were to (a) review the extant planning for PA literature in order to summarize and synthesize knowledge in the area to date, and (b) examine AP and CP in relation to more than one goal at a time, while testing the relevant moderator of academic goal conflict. The first article comprised a meta-analysis of correlational (k = 19) and experimental (k = 21) studies on planning for PA, which revealed a medium-to-large summary effect for correlational studies, and a small summary effect for experimental studies. Furthermore, AP and CP emerged as partial mediators in the relation between behavioural intention and PA. Numerous moderators were also found. Among other key findings, this article cast light on the fact that, despite multiple goal pursuit being the rule rather than the exception, most studies reviewed examined a single goal in isolation. Further, the summary effects found were more modest than expected and highly heterogeneous, pointing to the value to testing relevant moderators. Thus, the second article contained two studies that examined the moderating role of academic goal conflict on the relations between AP and CP with PA using samples of university students concurrently pursuing an academic and a PA goal. Study 1 (N = 317) used a 6-week prospective design, and Study 2 (N = 97) used a 1-week daily diary design and measures of self-reported PA behaviour and goal progress. Across both studies, it was found that academic goal conflict moderated the influence of planning on PA outcomes. AP and CP were found to play differential roles in predicting PA when students were experiencing goal conflict: AP related to better PA outcomes at lower levels of academic goal conflict, whereas CP related to better PA outcomes at higher levels of academic goal conflict. These two self-regulatory strategies appear to play a different, yet complementary role in the goal pursuit process. Overall, the present dissertation contributes to knowledge synthesis in the area of planning for PA. In addition, novel research findings are presented which specifically target identified gaps in the literature. Theoretical, methodological, and practical implications are discussed, and future research avenues are proposed.

As the impacts of climate change become more severe, coastal communities are required to prepare plans for adaptation to the invasive environmental changes. A well-prepared adaptation plan can effectively reduce the overall risks of coastal communities. However, a plan is not the final solution for the climate change on coastal communities. How to take the plan into action and implement it in the local communities and find the opportunities for the enhanced preparedness and development of coastal communities is the primary consideration of this thesis research. Many organizations are engaged in developing adaptation tools and guidebooks. For completing their adaptation plans, communities need to develop clear, operational, action plans, and discover the opportunities to enhance the sustainability of coastal communities. To make coastal communities more sustainable in the face of the changing climate, the public’s attention and community participation is critical. The purpose of this study is to develop an adaptation framework and action plan process system for coastal communities and at the same time, provide the general public with an enhanced opportunity to contribute their understanding about what is being done for their costal community around them and how to react when an event happens. The research is applied to the coastal communities of Richmond County, Cape Breton, Canada as a case study. The result of the work develops an adaptation “Action Plan” website for Richmond County. The website features the development, application, and simulation of a mobile communication “Action plan” application designed and implemented with the action website along to provide coastal community with communication options that exploit the local community network and enhance the community’s capacity for climate change adaptation. The emergency response community mobile app and the accompanying website are models for other communities especially those that from the coastal communities in Canada and the Caribbean as part of the C-Change ICURA project to which this research is affiliated.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第20686号 / 工博第4383号 / 新制||工||1681(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科都市社会工学専攻 / (主査)教授 藤井 聡, 准教授 山田 忠史, 准教授 SCHMOECKER Jan-Dirk / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

Multi-agent planning and control is an active and increasingly studied topic of research, with many practical applications, such as rescue missions, security, surveillance, and transportation. More specifically, cases that involve complex manipulator-endowed systems  deserve extra attention due to potential complex cooperative manipulation tasks and their interaction with the environment. This thesis addresses the problem of cooperative motion- and task-planning of multi-agent and multi-agent-object systems under complex specifications expressed as temporal logic formulas. We consider manipulator-endowed robotic agents that can coordinate in order to perform, among other tasks, cooperative object manipulation/transportation. Our approach is based on the integration of tools from the following areas: multi-agent systems, cooperative object manipulation, discrete abstraction design of multi-agent-object systems, and formal verification. More specifically, we divide the main problem into three different parts.The first part is devoted to the control design for the formation control of a team of rigid-bodies, motivated by its application to cooperative manipulation schemes. We propose decentralized control protocols such that desired position and orientation-based formation between neighboring agents is achieved. Moreover, inter-agent collisions and connectivity breaks are guaranteed to be avoided. In the second part, we design continuous control laws explicitly for the cooperative manipulation/transportation of an object by a team of robotic agents. Firstly, we propose robust decentralized controllers for the trajectory tracking of the object's center of mass.  Secondly, we design model predictive control-based controllers for the transportation of the object with collision and singularity constraints. In the third part, we design discrete representations of multi-agent continuous systems and synthesize hybrid controllers for the satisfaction of complex tasks expressed as temporal logic formulas. We achieve this by combining the results of the previous parts and by proposing appropriate trajectory tracking- and potential field-based continuous control laws for the transitions of the agents among the discrete states. We consider teams of unmanned aerial vehicles and mobile manipulators as well as multi-agent-object systems where the specifications of the objects are also taken into account.Numerical simulations and experimental results verify the claimed results. / <p>QC 20180219</p>

The human motor system is constantly faced with decisions about how to choose a path when navigating our environment. These types of decisions occur rapidly and constantly, from initial movement planning, through movement execution, to completion. With infinite ways to complete any given task, the central nervous system generally, and motor control systems specifically, must somehow “decide” the best way to do this while taking into account physiological and environmental constraints. In addition, these movement choices must consider the feasibility and efficiency of all movement alternatives. For example, when deciding between paths that vary in reach distance and walking distance, the path with the shorter reach distance is more likely to be chosen, as reaching is deemed to be ~10x more costly than walking a given distance (Rosenbaum et al., 2011; Rosenbaum, 2012). It is not clear, however, how much more costly the non-chosen path is, compared to the chosen path, and what factors are mediating these decisions. Thus, the purpose of this thesis was to investigate potential underlying non-cognitive mediators of behavioural decisions involved with posture selection during tasks that occur within a constrained task environment, by quantifying the biomechanical mechanisms that may be driving these decisions. Chapter 2 replicated and extended upon the work of Rosenbaum et al. (2011) by recording whole-body motion capture during a bucket transfer task. This study was the first to look at the loading of the shoulder joint and trunk during the reaching and walking decision paradigm, comparing joint loading in the chosen versus unchosen paths. In Chapter 3, participants made decisions between movements with seemingly similar functional distances, in a four-choice reaching and walking paradigm. Behavioural outcomes suggest that the decision-making process reflects spatial coding of the movement goal that is backwards planned from the task sub-goal. Chapter 4 explored how perceived costs of multiple task variables are prioritized and integrated into action planning. Here, participants prioritized decreased reach distance over bearing an increased load. Collectively, this thesis provides evidence that bottom-up processes, namely the biomechanics of the shoulder and trunk, exert influence on cognitive decision-making and action planning, as reflected in decreased joint loading in chosen versus unchosen paths. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis assesses the link between action and cognition early in development. Thus the notion of an embodied cognition is investigated by tying together two levels of action control in the context of reaching in infancy: prospective motor control and executive functions. The ability to plan our actions is the inevitable foundation of reaching our goals. Thus actions can be stratified on different levels of control. There is the relatively low level of prospective motor control and the comparatively high level of cognitive control. Prospective motor control is concerned with goal-directed actions on the level of single movements and movement combinations of our body and ensures purposeful, coordinated movements, such as reaching for a cup of coffee. Cognitive control, in the context of this thesis more precisely referred to as executive functions, deals with goal-directed actions on the level of whole actions and action combinations and facilitates directedness towards mid- and long-term goals, such as finishing a doctoral thesis. Whereas prospective motor control and executive functions are well studied in adulthood, the early development of both is not sufficiently understood. This thesis comprises three empirical motion-tracking studies that shed light on prospective motor control and executive functions in infancy. Study I investigated the prospective motor control of current actions by having 14-month-olds lift objects of varying weights. In doing so, multi-cue integration was addressed by comparing the use of visual and non-visual information to non-visual information only. Study II examined the prospective motor control of future actions in action sequences by investigating reach-to-place actions in 14-month-olds. Thus the extent to which Fitts’ law can explain movement duration in infancy was addressed. Study III lifted prospective motor control to a higher that is cognitive level, by investigating it relative to executive functions in 18-months-olds. Main results were that 14-month-olds are able to prospectively control their manual actions based on object weight. In this action planning process, infants use different sources of information. Beyond this ability to prospectively control their current action, 14-month-olds also take future actions into account and plan their actions based on the difficulty of the subsequent action in action sequences. In 18-month-olds, prospective motor control in manual actions, such as reaching, is related to early executive functions, as demonstrated for behavioral prohibition and working memory. These findings are consistent with the idea that executive functions derive from prospective motor control. I suggest that executive functions could be grounded in the development of motor control. In other words, early executive functions should be seen as embodied.

Objective: The concept of recovery has become an integral part of modern mental health care. Understanding the outcomes and underlying mechanisms of key recovery interventions, such as Wellness Recovery Action Planning (WRAP), is essential in order to expand the theoretical understanding of recovery and inform how to target recovery in treatment. Therefore a systematic review of the literature was conducted to evaluate the mental health outcomes of WRAP for adults. The empirical study then explored three constructs in relation to WRAP and recovery. These were social problem solving, cognitive defusion and social identification. Method: The systematic review of the mental health outcomes of WRAP was conducted by searching four databases, contacting the authors of WRAP research and seeking evaluative information from organisations that deliver WRAP. Fourteen relevant studies met the inclusion criteria. Whereas, the empirical study recruited participants on a trans-diagnostic basis from across Scotland. Using a quantitative cross sectional design, 109 participant's completed 5 self-report questionnaires. These were the Knowledge, Attitudes and Beliefs about WRAP Questionnaire (WRAP beliefs), the Recovery Assessment Scale - Short (RAS-S), the Social Problem Solving Inventory - Revised - Short (SPSI-R-S), the Four Item Measure of Social Identification (FISI) and the Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire (CFQ). Correlation, regression and mediation analysis were used to explore relationships, and in particular, the predictors and mediators of recovery. Results: The systematic review provided strong evidence that WRAP has a significant positive impact on hope and also reduces the symptoms of mental illness. However, whether WRAP improves personal levels of recovery was unclear and a possible risk of disempowerment was found. Promising preliminary mental health outcomes in the areas of confidence in managing mental health, quality of life, service use, self-advocacy and knowledge attitudes and beliefs about recovery were highlighted. Only studies that did not use peer facilitators failed to find significant increases in hope compared to treatment as usual control groups. In the empirical study, the results indicated that all the constructs examined were correlated to recovery. In the regression analysis, WRAP beliefs, social problem solving and cognitive defusion also demonstrated a predictive relationship with recovery. Mediation analysis indicated that, social problem solving mediated two distinct relationships. One between WRAP beliefs and recovery, and another between cognitive defusion and recovery. The social problem solving subscales also showed how the two predictors relate to recovery through social problem solving in different ways. Social identification with the WRAP group did not significantly predict or mediate recovery. Conclusions: The systematic review indicated having peer facilitators delivering WRAP is key to helping participants foster hope and that a further randomised control trial could help clarify if improved personal recovery is an outcome of WRAP. It additionally suggested how the relationship between WRAP beliefs and recovery could be explored, as per the design of the empirical study. Findings from the empirical study implied that improving participants' social problem solving and cognitive defusion should be specifically targeted in WRAP delivery. The studies combined indicate that to achieve the best recovery results interventions, like WRAP, should target inspiring hope through peer support, improving knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about recovery and cognitive defusion from unhelpful thoughts.

Despite documented best practices and specialized tools, software organizations struggle to deliver quality software that is on time, within budget, and meets customer requirements. Managers seeking improved software project outcomes face two dominant software paradigms which differ in their emphasis on upfront planning, customer collaboration, and product documentation: plan-driven and agile. Rather than promoting one approach over the other, this research advocates improving software management practices by developing the organization’s ambidextrous capability. Ambidextrous organizations have the ability to simultaneously succeed at two seemingly contradictory capabilities (e.g. discipline and agility) which leads to enhanced organizational performance. Overall, this study asks the question: How can an ambidextrous perspective facilitate improvement in software practices? Driven by this question, and based on a two year action research study at a small software firm, TelSoft, the objectives of this research are to: 1. Identify dualities involved in improving software practices 2. Design interventions based on these dualities to improve software practices 3. Explore the process of becoming an ambidextrous software organization The resulting dissertation consists of a summary and four papers that each identify and address particular dualities encountered during software process improvement. The first paper asserts that both process-driven and perception-driven inquiry should be used during assessment of software practices, presents a model that shows how this combination can occur, and demonstrates the use of this model at TelSoft. The second paper explicates two theories for understanding and resolving issues in requirements engineering practice – repeat-ability and response-ability – and argues for the need to negotiate between the two. The third paper identifies a tension between managing legacy and current processes and proposes a model for software process reengineering, a systematic process for leveraging legacy processes created during prior SPI efforts. Finally, the fourth paper applies the theoretical lens of ambidexterity to understand the overall change initiative in terms of the tension between alignment and adaptability. The study used a variety of data sources to diagnose software practices, including semi-structured interviews, software process documents, meeting interactions, and workshop discussions. Subsequently, we established, facilitated, and tracked focused improvement teams in the areas of customer relations, requirements management, quality assurance, project portfolio management, and process management. Furthermore, we created and trained two management teams with responsibility for ongoing management of SPI and project portfolio management respectively. We argue that these activities improved software practices at TelSoft and provided a stronger foundation for continuous improvement. Keywords: Ambidexterity, software process improvement (SPI), action research, requirements engineering assessment, action planning, software process reengineering, software management.

This study assessed the relationship of variables from the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) with intentions to use condoms at next sex and action planning for condom use for main partners and for casual partners among an online of men who have sex with men (MSM) in a Midwestern state. The purpose of this study was to investigate variables of TPB among an online sample of HIV negative, Midwestern MSM and assess significant predictors of intentions separately by casual partners and main partners. Next, action planning was assessed as a potential variable to address the intention-behavior gap. The sample was recruited through an online social networking site, a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) - themed statewide newspaper and website. Participants completed an online survey that took 15-20 minutes to complete. Items assessed variables related to the TPB as well as action planning, stages of change, alternative strategies to reduce risk of HIV, and demographic variables including age, urban or rural residence, and HIV status. The results revealed that all TPB variables were strongly, significantly related for both casual and for main partners. The final regression models to predict intentions to use condoms at next sex accounted for 62% of the variance for main partners and 68% for casual partners. The regression models to predict action planning differed by partner type. For main partners, perceived behavioral control and intentions were significant predictors and explained 40% of the variance in action planning. For casual partners, self-efficacy was the significant predictor in the final model and explained 72% of the variance. Potential reasons for the differences in models by partner type for action planning are offered. Action planning is suggested as a potential mediating variable between intention and behavior that requires further research. Implications for HIV prevention interventions with MSM are discussed in light of reduced funding for low incidence states.