三个IT厂商酿成的惨痛教训

ｋｅｙｓｔｏｎｅ公司长期停滞的ＥＲＰ项目终于宣告成功，　系统将 １３０ 个厂房，全美国２０００ 多员工连接在一起。回首ｋｅｙｓｔｏｎｅ 信息化历程，其经验教训值得我们深思。     

One hundred and fifty years of sprint and distance running – Past trends and future prospects

Sprint and distance running have experienced remarkable performance improvements over the past century. Attempts to forecast running performances share an almost similarly long history but have relied so far on relatively short data series. Here, we compile a comprehensive set of season-best performances for eight Olympically contested running events. With this data set, we conduct (1) an exponential time series analysis and (2) a power-law experience curve analysis to quantify the rate of past performance improvements and to forecast future performances until the year 2100. We find that the sprint and distance running performances of women and men improve exponentially with time and converge at yearly rates of 4% ± 3% and 2% ± 2%, respectively, towards their asymptotic limits. Running performances can also be modelled with the experience curve approach, yielding learning rates of 3% ± 1% and 6% ± 2% for the women's and men's events, respectively. Long-term trends suggest that: (1) women will continue to run 10–20% slower than men, (2) 9.50 s over 100 m dash may only be broken at the end of this century and (3) several middle- and long-distance records may be broken within the next two to three decades. The prospects of witnessing a sub-2 hour marathon before 2100 remain inconclusive. Our results should be interpreted cautiously as forecasting human behaviour is intrinsically uncertain. The future season-best sprint and distance running performances will continue to scatter around the trends identified here and may yield unexpected improvements of standing world records.     

How to measure research efficiency in higher education? Research grants vs. publication output

An ongoing debate in the literature on the efficiency of higher education institutions concerns the indicator for research output for use in empirical analysis. While several studies have chosen to use the number of publications as this indicator, others rely on the amount of research grants. The present study investigates whether both measures lead to a similar assessment of universities. In addition, the number of publications belonging to the 10% and 1% most frequently cited papers in the corresponding subject category and publication year are evaluated. We show that there is a high correlation of efficiency values between the estimations using these indicators. This correlation is slightly higher when the efficiency values result from a data envelopment analysis than when they are determined with a stochastic frontier analysis. The results of this study provide helpful guidelines for researchers evaluating the efficiency of universities and are valueable for decision-makers in science policy.     

The Role of History and Ethics of Anatomy in Medical Education

While time spent on anatomical education in medical school curricula has been diminishing over the last decades, the recognized role of anatomical dissection has expanded. It is perceived by many students and faculty not only as the means of learning the structure and function of the human body, but also as an opportunity for the acquisition of professional competencies such as team work, patient–doctor interaction, medical epistemology, self-awareness, and an understanding of medical ethics. This viewpoint article proposes that this learning process can be supported effectively through studying examples from the history of anatomy, as insights from this history can help illuminate contemporary ethical issues in anatomy and medicine. Anatomical education can thus provide not only the opportunity of gaining awareness of ethical questions, but also a chance to practice these new insights within the protected environment of the laboratories, in interaction with the dead and the living. Consequently, a new role has developed for anatomists, which includes the interweaving of the scholarly exploration of the history and ethics of anatomy with the practical application of research results into a reframed concept of anatomical education. Anatomy, as a foundational discipline in the medical curriculum, can thus provide a first step on the educational path of empathetic and humane medical caregivers.     

Motivation counteracts fatigue-induced performance decrements in soccer passing performance

Recent theories suggest that negative effects of fatigue on performance are determined by perception of effort and motivation rather than being directly caused by reaching physiological limits. In the current experiment, the influence of motivation on fatigue-induced decrements in soccer performance was experimentally investigated. Sixty amateur soccer players performed a validated soccer-passing test before and after a fatigue protocol. Results showed that players’ motivation and performance decreased after the fatigue protocol for players in the control group. In contrast, players in the motivation group (i.e., with motivation experimentally induced after the fatigue protocol) were able to uphold their motivation and increase their performance. These results indicate that motivation plays a crucial role in performance under fatigue, as fatigue-induced decrements in soccer passing performance can be counteracted by high levels of motivation. Future research may explore the limits of this counteracting effect and extend findings to other relevant performance aspects.