Information Technology Project Escalation: A Process Model*

Information technology (IT) a common and costly problem. While much is known about the factors that promote escalation behavior, little is known about the actual escalation process. This article uses an in‐depth case study to construct a process model of escalation, consisting of three phases: drift, unsuccessful incremental adaptation, and rationalized continuation. Each phase encompasses several within‐phase escalation catalysts and the model also identifies triggering conditions that promote transition from one phase to the next: project framing (antecedent condition), problem emergence, increased problem visibility, and imminent threat to project continuation (triggering the outcome deescalation). The results show that escalation is not necessarily the result of collective belief in the infallibility of a project. Rather, escalation results from continued unsuccessful coping with problems that arise during a project. Furthermore, the results suggest that the seeds of escalation are sown early: the very manner in which a project is framed contributes to whether or not the project will become prone to escalation. As problems ensue, repeated mismatches between attempted remedies and underlying problems contribute to fueling the escalation process. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

金砖国家装备制造业出口增加值比较研究

文章将KWW法扩展,从产业角度创新出口增加值核算方法。分解量化金砖国家装备制造业出口增加值,比较其在全球产业间的流动。不仅得到更真实的贸易利得,还实现了对出口增加值在全球行业间流动的动态分析。结果显示：（1）2000-2014年,中国该行业出口增加值经快速增长,远高于其他国家。2013年后增速回落,出口增加值率先降后升稳定于30%。中巴俄出口增加值率为30%左右,印度最低。（2）从全球流动现状看,金砖国家最终产品出口增加值占比较高。其中,中巴中间产品贸易有较大增加,深入到全球价值链分工体系。中国的重复统计项和出口返回部分最高。而俄印最终产品贸易比重不断增加。生产日益“碎片化”背景下,扩展的KWW法对研究出口增加值有重要的理论意义。     

Motivations for self-assembling into project teams

This study investigates the self-assembly mechanisms of ad hoc project teams using a bipartite network perspective. Individuals and projects are modeled as two types of nodes and team membership as relations between them. This approach enables us to investigate factors that impact voluntary team assembly at the individual, dyadic, and team levels simultaneously. Using Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGM/p*), we study players’ combat teams in a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) as a case of self-assembled project teams. Empirical results show that individuals are motivated to join ad hoc teams to complete difficult projects but not projects with long durations. We also found that individuals tend to collaborate with specific teammates who have complementary skills, those who have similar age or skill level, and those who are affiliated with the same organizational entity.     

Improving body image and sexual health behaviors among college women

ABSTRACT

Objective: To conduct a pilot test to determine if the Body Project, an eating disorder prevention program, was able to reduce risky sexual behaviors. Participants: Twenty college-age women ages 18–21 (in March, 2015) who endorsed both body image dissatisfaction and previous or current sexual activity. Methods: Participants were randomized to the Body Project or psychoeducational control group, and completed baseline, post-test, and 6-month follow-up measures assessing body image concerns, eating behaviors, and sexual behaviors and attitudes. Results: An intervention manipulation check demonstrated that body image variables were in expected directions, though were not significant by group. There was a significant interaction across group and time for “unanticipated sexual encounters,” which decreased in the Body Project group. Conclusions: This pilot study supports the feasibility of using an eating disorder prevention program to reduce other risky behaviors, specifically risky sexual behaviors.     

我国石油石化装备制造业发展的路径选择

我国石油石化装备制造业已具有一定基础,但与先进国家相比,还面临来自各方面的挑战。振兴我国石油石化装备制造业,要求我们做好以下几方面工作：一是强化规划科学引导,完善功能布局;二是发力高端装备制造,实现由大到强的战略转型;三是立足科学发展,着力增强自主创新能力;四是致力于国产化,提升石油石化装备国际话语权;五是努力拓展海外市场,寻求产业发展的更大空间;六是坚持走“绿色制造”之路,铸造新的辉煌。     

Many Faces of Openness in Adoption: Perspectives of Adopted Adolescents and Their Parents

Parents and adolescents (mean age, 15.7 years) from 177 adoptive families participating in the second wave of the Minnesota/Texas Adoption Research Project were interviewed about their post-adoption contact arrangements. The sample included families with no contact, stopped contact, contact without meetings, and contact with face-to-face meetings between the adolescent and birth mother. Openness arrangements were dynamic, and different openness arrangements were associated with different experiences and feelings. Adoptive families with contact reported having higher levels of satisfaction about their openness arrangements, experiencing more positive feelings about the birth mother, and possessing more factual and personal knowledge about the birth mother than did families without contact. Adolescents and adoptive mothers in the contact with meetings group reported the greatest satisfaction with their openness arrangements; those with no contact or stopped contact reported the least satisfaction with their arrangements. Participants having no contact were more likely to want the intensity of contact to increase in the future rather than stay the same. Many participants already having contact wanted it to increase in the future. Fewer than 1 percent of all participants wanted to see the intensity of contact decrease.     

Cyber Counselling: An Innovative Field Education Pilot Project

With the ascendancy of the cyber world, client demand for online counselling has increased and is expected to continue to increase dramatically in the coming years. The purpose of this article is to describe an innovative pilot practicum project in which social work graduate interns offered cyber counselling within a university to undergraduate students. In this paper, we describe the key elements of this project, including those that are unique and those that follow typical practicum processes, along with the challenges identified. Implications for practice and social work education are offered.     

The Impact of Nonagility on Service Level and Project Duration*

“Why projects are late” is a fundamental issue in theory and in practice. One well‐established explanation is that a project's network structure can be a significant factor—the “fatter” or more parallel the project, the later the project completion. Herein we show that a lack of agility, which may frequently arise in projects when there are external resources, can also be a significant factor in project delays—both in more serial‐like projects as well as more parallel ones. Specifically, this article formally characterizes the concept of agility in projects, shows how a lack of agility can have a significant impact on a project, and gives some general properties on agility with respect to a project's structure.     

关注大城市低生育水平下的出生人口波动

根据上海户籍人口变动趋势的预测数据 ,具体分析出生人口波动引起的未来年出生人数“大起大落”的状况及其对产科床位、托儿所、幼儿园、小学、初中、高中乃至大学发展所带来的重大负面影响。建议各地计生部门应在稳定低生育水平的同时 ,密切关注未来大城市户籍人口出生数的波动态势 ,加强未来出生人口波动的预测和预报 ,对现行生育政策作些“微调” ,因地制宜地搞好未来出生人口“削峰补谷”的宏观调控 ,引导年轻育龄夫妇通过适当提前或推迟生育 ,减缓未来城市户籍出生人数的波动。     

都江堰的文化探寻

都江堰是我国著名的古代水利工程。在两千余年的历史中,都江堰逐步形成了独具特色的治水文化,这一文化在实践中产生和发展,既反映了普遍的科学技术原理,又具有独特的个性特征与地区特征。它是我国传统文化中“天人合一”思想的高度展现,同时又具有鲜明而浓厚的蜀文化的特点