Performance indicators — Why,where and how?

The drive for ‘total quality control’ has strongly enhanced the interest for performance indicators in many companies. Introduction of these indicators has begun at many places. Often, the suggestion is made that performance indicators are something new. But in some way or another they have been used always to monitor the result of actions for improvement. New, however, is the name and the way they are looked upon: as a systematic tool to foster ‘continuous improvement’. This paper briefly describes how useful performance indicators are designed, what can be done with them, how they should be employed and what pitfalls have to be avoided during implementation. As such, it offers a quick overview of the subject.     

Vector measures: where are their integrals?

Let ν be a vector measure with values in a Banach space Z. The integration map $I_\nu: L^1(\nu)\to Z$ , given by $f\mapsto \int f\,d\nu$ for f ∈ L ¹(ν), always has a formal extension to its bidual operator $I_\nu^{**}: L^1(\nu)^{**}\to Z^{**}$ . So, we may consider the “integral” of any element f ^** of L ¹(ν)^** as I _ν ^** (f ^**). Our aim is to identify when these integrals lie in more tractable subspaces Y of Z ^**. For Z a Banach function space X, we consider this question when Y is any one of the subspaces of X ^** given by the corresponding identifications of X, X′′ (the Köthe bidual of X) and X′^* (the topological dual of the Köthe dual of X). Also, we consider certain kernel operators T and study the extended operator I _ν ^** for the particular vector measure ν defined by ν(A) := T(χ _A ).     

O?shore ?oating wind turbine and its dynamic problems?

Green energy sources and ocean wind power are plentiful in deep sea. More and more o?shore wind power plants are constructed in the deep water over hundred meters below the surface. While o?shore ?oating wind turbine system is working, wind turbine, ?oating foundation, and mooring system a?ect each other with wind, waves, and currents acting on them. Various o?shore ?oating wind turbine systems and the encoun-tered environmental loads are brie?y reviewed and discussed. It is di?cult and crucial to comprehensively analyze the aerodynamic-hydrodynamic-service system-structure un-der the coupling e?ect of o?shore ?oating wind turbine system. The environmental ?ow ?eld, structure scale, and rational applications of theories and approaches should be well considered in advance.     

Association schemes,fusion rings,C-algebras,and reality-based algebras where all nontrivial multiplicities are equal

Multiplicities corresponding to irreducible characters are defined for reality-based algebras. These algebras with a distinguished basis include fusion rings, C-algebras, and the adjacency algebras of finite association schemes. The definition of multiplicity generalizes that for schemes. For a broad class of these structures, which includes the adjacency algebras, it is proved that if all the nontrivial multiplicities are equal then the algebra is commutative, and is a C-algebra if its dimension is larger than two.     

b≤200O,m≤1 O的广义Fermat素数

设b为偶数,本文基于作者的原有结果,进一步改进了算法,对于b≤2000,m≤10给出了所有广义Fermat素数F(b,m)＝b2m+1,其中最大的是16321024+1,有3290位.     

Où en sont les mathématiques?

Feel like writing a review for The Mathematical Intelligencer? You are welcome to submit an unsolicited review of a book of your choice; or, if you would welcome being assigned a book to review, please write us, telling us your expertise and your predilections.     

Research on calculus: what do we know and where do we need to go?

In this introductory paper we take partial stock of the current state of field on calculus research, exemplifying both the promise of research advances as well as the limitations. We identify four trends in the calculus research literature, starting with identifying misconceptions to investigations of the processes by which students learn particular concepts, evolving into classroom studies, and, more recently research on teacher knowledge, beliefs, and practices. These trends are related to a model for the cycle of research and development aimed at improving learning and teaching. We then make use of these four trends and the model for the cycle of research and development to highlight the contributions of the papers in this issue. We conclude with some reflections on the gaps in literature and what new areas of calculus research are needed.     

解后思,思什么?

美籍数学家波利亚指出:"即使是相当好的学生,当他得到问题的解答,就会合上书本,找点别的事来做,这样,他们就错过了解题的一个重要而又教益的方面:通过回顾所完成的解答,通过重新考虑和检查这个结果,回忆得出这个结果的思路,学生们可以巩固他们的知识,发展他们的能力."可见,波利亚十分主张题后反思.因此,在解完数学题后,有必要回顾一下解题过程,并作进一步探究,即进行解题反思,这样,不仅能巩固已学过的知识,避免解题的错误,更重要的是还能掌握解题技巧,提高数学解题能力.教学实践证明,这样做常常可以收到事半功倍的效果.然而,我们要提高数学解题能力,需要反思些什么?笔者认为可以从以下四个方面进行反思.     

错,在哪里?

<正>在历年中考试题中,几何最值一直都是各省市的高频命题点,试题形式主要是结合动点考察相关线段和差、图形面积、点到线的距离等最值问题.这类试题的主要特点是几何关系复杂,计算难度大,而且基本上都放在选择填空题的压轴题或解答题的压轴题最后一小问,所以不少同学都选择了放弃.本文以一例几何最值为引,分析这类试题的易错点,以期与读者分享交流.