This thesis aims to develop a knowledge structuring framework to organize knowledge according to means-ends relationships. Means-ends relationships are particularly relevant in technology and goal-oriented domains such as the geo-engineering domain, where technical problems are identified, and solutions proposed. The proposed goal oriented representation in this thesis does not replace current classification methodologies. In this project, a small corpus of research publications from a technology domain is used to help construct the framework. The main means-ends relationships from the articles are manually extracted and represented in a graphical model showing which problems are approached, by which solutions proposed, and in which publications. Proposed solutions can lead to new problems which are in turn addressed by solutions proposed in other publications. A metamodel is derived to capture the important concepts and relationships relevant for this purpose. The metamodel, and the framework have undergone several iterations before finalization.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Riverside, 2009. / Includes abstract. Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Title from first page of PDF file (viewed March 23, 2010). Includes bibliographical references. Also issued in print.

abstract: Multiple health-related benefits have been associated with adherence to plant-based diets, including vegan, vegetarian, and pescatarian dietary patterns. Despite a consistent body of evidence on the importance of healthy diets, Americans continue to find difficulty in establishing and adhering to dietary goals that could elicit long-term health benefits. Recent research suggests an important role for goal-setting strategies in health behavior change attempts, with some success shown in dietary behavior change, specifically. The current study thus aimed to explore whether having multiple goals alongside one primary goal of following a vegetarian, vegan, or pescatarian diet would increase the achievability of that goal. Participants of this study were broken into two groups: currently following a plant-based diet (ADHERE) and striving to follow a plant-based diet (STRIVE). Researchers hypothesized that the number of health and/or diet related alternative goals set by participants would differ between the two groups, that the ADHERE group would report that their alternative goals were more helpful and less interfering in achieving their dietary goal than the STRIVE group, and that a higher rank of importance of the dietary goal would predict being in the ADHERE group. Results showed that the number of health and/or diet related alternative goals did not differ between groups. The ADHERE group and STRIVE group did not have significantly different helpfulness and interference reports. Although, in an exploratory analysis, it was shown that those participants who reported at least 2 health/diet related alternative goals found those goals to be significantly more helpful than those who reported 0 or 1 health/diet goal. Results showed that rank of dietary goal did not predict group assignment. Overall, the results from this study showed that the type of alternative goal was very important when pursuit of multiple goals was in effect. Type of alternative goal seemed to be a higher predictor of the perceived helpfulness of the alternative goals than previous achievement of goals. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Nutrition 2018

Há consenso que a presença abundante de alimentos altamente calóricos contribui para o aumento do sobrepeso e obesidade nas populações. Considerada uma epidemia pela Organização Mundial da Saúde (OMS), este problema de saúde pública tem atraído a atenção de governos, gerando metas globais para combater o problema. O sobrepeso e obesidade não somente representam um problema social, como também afetam o bem-estar do próprio indivíduo. Pesquisas multidisciplinares nas áreas de psicologia, comportamento do consumidor, nutrição, medicina, e outros campos de interesse, desenvolveram teorias na tentativa de explicar as razões pelas quais os indivíduos - mesmo cientes dos malefícios - falham no controle de peso em certas ocasiões. Baseado na teoria do conflito de objetivos no comportamento alimentar e goal priming, estudos mostram relativo sucesso no uso de diet reminders como intervenção situacional, reativando os objetivos de redução de peso e suprimindo o prazer do consumo imediato para indivíduos em restrição calórica. Em outra iniciativa, seguindo nesta mesma linha, a britânica Royal Society for Public Health promoveu recentemente uma larga discussão na mídia sobre a inserção de activity equivalent labels nos rótulos de alimentos para mostrar aos consumidores o quanto devem se exercitar para compensar o ganho calórico. Entretanto, estas duas iniciativas recentes ainda apresentam pouco suporte empírico, e pesquisadores da área clamam por mais estudos. Um estudo experimental utilizando ambos os métodos e promovendo o avanço do conhecimento nesta área, foi aplicado em laboratório, simulando escolhas reais por meio do menu de uma conhecida rede de fast-food. Quatro tipos de estímulos (nenhuma informação, somente calorias, diet reminders e activity equivalent label) foram testadas em mais de quinhentos indivíduos. Utilizando-se primordialmente análises de covariâncias (ANCOVAs) para reduzir a interferência de outros efeitos, os resultados sugerem significativa redução de calorias devido ao efeito de goal priming. Adicionalmente, um achado inédito sugere que os efeitos do activity equivalent label podem potencializar a redução do consumo em indivíduos que praticam atividades físicas regulares. Este é o primeiro estudo experimental que une e compara estes dois tipos de intervenção - diet reminders e activity equivalent label-, contribuindo para o avanço teórico sobre o uso do goal priming como incentivo aos comportamentos alimentares saudáveis. Além disso, o estudo traz relevante contribuição gerencial, principalmente no auxílio da tomada de decisão envolvendo políticas públicas. / There is a common understanding that ample availability of high caloric food contributes to an increase in excessive weight and obesity among populations. Considered an epidemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), this health issue has caught the attention of governments and led to the creation of global aims to fight the problem. Excessive weight and obesity not only represent social issues, but also affect individual well-being. Multidisciplinary research in psychology, consumer behavior, nutrition, medicine, and other fields of interest have posited theories trying to explain why individuals-even those aware of the harm-fail to control their weight in certain instances. Based on the theories of goal conflict model of eating behavior and of goal priming, studies have suggested relative success using diet-reminders as a useful situational intervention in reactivating weight-loss goal, as well as suppressing thoughts associated with food pleasure right at the time of consumption for restrained eaters. In another initiative studying the same issue, the British Royal Society for Public Health promoted ample discussion on media regarding the adoption of activity-equivalent labels on food-packaging in order to show consumers how much exercise they needed to burn intaken calories. However, both initiatives have gathered little empirical evidence of their efficiency and researchers are now claiming for more studies on the issue. An experiment using both methods and further advancing knowledge in this field, has been conducted in a laboratory simulating the real set of menu choices available at a well-known fast-food chain. Four experimental types of stimulus (no information given, amount of calories, diet reminders, and activity equivalent labels) were defined and tested on more than five hundred individuals. Using analysis of covariances (ANCOVAs) to reduce the noise of other variables, results have suggested a significant reduction on the amount of calories ordered from the menu due to goal priming effects. Additionally, a new finding suggests activity equivalent labels may potentialize a reduction of calorie-intake in restrained eaters who also exercise regularly. This is the first experiment combining and comparing both types of intervention - diet reminders and activity equivalent labels -, and advancing knowledge regarding the use of goal priming to promote healthy eating behaviors. Furthermore, this study has managerial implications, especially in the form of an insight for public policies regarding decision-behavior.

Concerns about energy supply and climate change have been driving companies towards more sustainable manufacturing while they are looking on the economic side as well. One practicable task to achieve sustainability in manufacturing is choosing more sustainable technologies among available technologies. Combination of two functions of ‘Technology Selection’ and ‘Capacity Planning’ is not usually addressed in the research literature. The importance of integrated decisions on technology selection and capacity planning at such strategic level is therefore essentially important. This is supported by justifications in some selected manufacturing areas particularly concerning economies of the scale and accumulated knowledge. Furthermore, manufacturing firms are working in a global competitive environment that is changing in a continuous way. Strategic design of systems under such circumstances requires a carefully modelled approach to deal with the complexity of uncertainties. The overall project aims are to develop an integrated methodological approach to solving the combined ‘technology selection’ and ‘capacity planning’ problems in manufacturing sector. The approach will also incorporate the multi-perspective concept of sustainability, while taking uncertainties into account. A framework consisting of four modules is proposed. Problem structuring module adopts an Ontology method to map the technology mix combinations and to capture input data. ‘Optimisation for Sustainable Manufacturing’ module addresses the optimisation of technology selection and capacity planning decisions in an integrated way using Goal, Mixed Integer Programming method. The model developed takes the multi-criteria aspect of sustainability development into account. Three criteria, namely a) Environmental (e.g. Energy consumption and Emissions), b) Economics, and c) Technical (e.g. Quality) are involved. ‘Normalisation algorithm by comparison with the best value’ method is adopted in this research in order to facilitate a systematic comparison among various criteria. The economic evaluation is based on ‘Life-Cycle Analysis’ approach. The ‘Present Value (PV)’ method is adopted to address ‘Time Value of Money’, while taking both ‘Inflation’ and ‘Market Return’ into account in order to make the proposed model more realistic. A mathematical model to represent the total PV of each technology investment, including both capital and running costs, is developed. ‘Sensitivity Analysis’ module addresses the uncertainty element of the problem. A controlled set of re-optimisation runs, which is guided by a tool coded in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), is developed to perform intensive sensitivity analyses. It is aimed to deal with the uncertainty element of the problem. Within ‘Solution Structuring’ module, two knowledge structuring schemes, namely Decision Tree and Interactive Slider Diagram, are proposed to deal with the large size of solution sets generated by the “Sensitivity Analysis” module. An innovative, hybrid, Supervised and Unsupervised Machine Learning algorithm is developed to generate a decision tree that aims to structure the solution set. The unsupervised learning stage is implemented using DBSCAN algorithm, while the supervised learning element adopts C4.5 algorithm. The methodological approach is tested and validated using an exemplar case study on coating processes in an automotive company. The case is characterised by three operations, twelve possible technology mix states, both capital budget and environmental limits, and 243 different sensitivity analysis experiments. The painting systems are evaluated and compared based on their quality, technology life-cycle costs, and their potential VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) emissions into the air.

Context. Most organizations are aware of the significance of software measurement programs to help organizations assess and improve the ways they develop software. Measurement plays a vital role in improving software process and products. However, the number of failing measurement programs is high and the reasons are vary. A recent approach for planning measurement programs is GQM+Strategies, which makes an important extension to existing approaches, it links measurements and improvement activities to strategic goals and ways to achieve this goals. However, concrete guides of how to collect the information needed to use GQM+strategies is not provided in the literature yet. Objectives. The contribution of this research is to propose and assess an elicitation approach (The Goal Strategy Elicitation (GSE) approach) for the information needed to apply GQM+strategies in an organization, which also leads to a partial evaluation of GQM+strategies as such. In this thesis, the initial focus is placed on eliciting the goals and strategies in the most efficient way. Methods. The primary research approach used is action research, which allows to flexibly assess a new method or technique in an iterative manner, where the feedback of one iteration is taken into the next iteration, thus improving on the method or technique proposed. Complementary to that, we used literature review with the primary focus to position the work, explore GQM+strategies, and to determine which elicitation approach for the support of measurement programs have been proposed. Results. The Goal Strategy Elicitation (GSE) approach as a tool for eliciting goals and strategies within the software organization to contribute in planning a measurement program has been developed. The iterations showed that the approach of elicitation may not be too structured (e.g. template/notation based), but rather shall support the stakeholders to express their thoughts relatively freely. Hence, the end-result was an interview guide, not based on notations (as in the first iteration), and asking questions in a way that the interviewees are able to express themselves easily without having to e.g. distinguish definitions for goals and strategies. Conclusions. We conclude that the GSE approach is a strong tool for the software organization to be able to elicit the goals and strategies to support GQM+Strategies. GSE approach evolved in each iteration and the latest iteration together with the guideline is still used within the studied company for eliciting goals and strategies, and the organization acknowledged that they will continue to do so. Moreover, we conclude that there is a need for further empirical validation of the GSE approach in further full-scale industry trials.

Denna studie handlar om målkonflikter och har haft som syfte att ta reda på hur målkonflikter hanteras grundskolor. Vi har använt oss utav en kvalitativ metod där vi har gjort intervjuer med två skolchefer och tre rektorer inom skolverksamheten. Vi har använt oss av två teorier, vilka är agentteorin och målsättningsteorin. Den första teorin som vi har använt oss av var agentteorin som menar att agenten handlar i egenintresse. Den andra teorin vi använde var målsättningsteorin som handlar om att undersöka individernas motivation till att uppnå de uppsatta målen samt vad som gör att målen uppnås. Tidigare forskning menar att individer kan uppleva att det uppstått en målkonflikt på olika sätt. Det beror på hur den enskilda individen känner kring de uppsatta målen för verksamheten, men forskningen tyder även på att om målen inte är självbestämmande upplevs en målkonflikt. Tidigare forskning har visat att en konflikt kan hanteras genom att tvinga, integrera, kompromissa, påverka och omvandla. Vi har i denna studie kommit fram till att konflikterna hanteras genom att kompromissa. Vi har även i vår analys kommit fram till att målkonflikter hanteras genom dialog, öppet klimat och delaktighet. En målkonflikt mellan budget- och kvalitetsmål hanteras genom att kvalitetsmålen prioriteras högst då alla elever på en grundskola ska ha rätt till utbildning samt ska kunna klara av sina studier. En målkonflikt mellan individuella- och verksamhetsmål hanteras genom att verksamhetsmålen prioriteras högst då de personliga målen oftast är desamma som verksamhetsmålen. En målkonflikt mellan mål och motivation hanteras genom att alla i skolverksamheten är delaktiga. / This study wants to get a deeper comprehension and knowledge about goal conflicts. The aim of our study was to research how goal conflicts are managed in elementary schools. We used a qualitative approach as a method and we decided to interview three principals and two chiefs in school sector. We have used two theories, which are agency theory and goal-setting theory. The first theory that we have used was the agency theory, which means that the agent is acting in his own interest. The second theory we used was the goal-setting theory, which investigate the motivation of individuals to achieve the goals that are set. Previous research indicates that individuals can experience that a goal conflict has occurred in different ways. It depends on how the individual feel about the goals that are set, but the research also indicates that if the goals aren't self-determination it often feels like a goal conflict. Previous research have shown that a conflict is managed by forcing, integrate, compromise, affect and convert. We have, in this study, showed that goal conflicts are managed by compromise. We have also showed in our analysis that goal conflicts are managed by dialogue, open climate and participation. Our conclusion in this study showed that goal conflicts are managed in the same way in both private- and public elementary schools. A goal conflict between budget and quality are managed the way that quality priorities higher than budget because all students in an elementary school are entitled to education and to be able to complete their studies. A goal conflict between individual- and operational goals are managed the way that the operational goals priorities higher than the individual goals. A goal conflict between goal and motivation are managed the way that everyone in school participate.

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.

In the first part there are theoretical basis of work performance. The essential stages of the work performance process are described. The object of the analysis in the practical part is the process of work performance and its stages. The work mostly focuses on the stage of goal setting and monitoring of work performance. The impact of the most recent changes was examined through research and survey on the satisfaction of the employees with the new BI system. In the conclusion there are stated few possible changes that can be made to improve the system and work performance in the company.

This dissertation examined different facets of teacher turnover in Southern Arizona by using literature from education, educational psychology, and industrial and organizational psychology. The purpose of synthesizing across research domains was to obtain a more nuanced understanding of the phenomenon. Motivation for the study reflected the teacher shortages faced on a national (Sutcher, Darling-Hammond, & Carver-Thomas, 2016) and regional level (Educator Retention and Recruitment Task Force, 2015). In order to identify potential strategies for increasing teacher retention, the dissertation project pursued three studies on this topic. Study 1 utilized data from the Schools and Staffing Survey project. Participants were matched across the 2011-2012 Teacher Questionnaire and 2012-2013 Teacher Follow-Up Survey (TFS) in order to determine whether teachers' beliefs at Time 1 varied by their occupational status at Time 2 (i.e., stayer, leaver, or mover). The study also asked whether teachers' beliefs and attitudes predicted the odds of being a stayer, mover, or leaver at Time 2. Exploratory factor analyses, analyses of variance, and logistic regressions were utilized. Results indicated that there were no differences between teacher groups; and, none of the variables predicted TFS status. Study 2 specifically examined whether teachers differentiated between organizational (school) and occupational (profession) beliefs, particularly in regards to turnover intentions. The study also examined whether specific variables differentially predicted organizational and occupational turnover intentions. The purpose was to identify specific areas that increased both types of retention. Analyses relied on confirmatory factor analyses, analyses of variance, and structural equation modeling. Results indicated that teachers’ beliefs were empirically distinct and that each type of turnover consisted of unique predictors. Study 3 emphasized perceived school goal structure, or school-level goals for teachers, teacher learning, and performance. Mastery school goal structure generally reflected goals for teacher development whereas performance goal structure reflected testing and high performance goals. Both school goal structures were examined in relation to teachers’ occupational turnover intentions, emotion, and coping. Exploratory factor analyses, correlation analyses, and hierarchical linear regression analyses were used in the study. Results indicated that there were two performance school goal structures rather than one anticipated structure: one that emphasized testing and another that emphasized social comparison for teachers. Perceived mastery school goal structure related to lower intentions to leave the profession and more productive coping. Perceived performance-testing school goal structure generally related to more negative affect and ineffective coping; neither performance goal structure related to turnover intentions. Overall, the three studies inform the literature regarding teacher beliefs, motivation, and turnover intentions. The dissertation increases our understanding of teachers' school- and work-related beliefs, and it informs what we know about teachers' turnover intentions. Furthermore, the findings encourage future research on teachers' beliefs and actual turnover, particularly within the current educational context.