• Inspiratory muscle training improves rowing performance.

      Volianitis, Stefanos; McConnell, Alison K.; Koutedakis, Yiannis; McNaughton, Lars R.; Backx, Karriane; Jones, David A. (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2001)
      To investigate the effects of a period of resistive inspiratory muscle training (IMT) upon rowing performance. Performance was appraised in 14 female competitive rowers at the commencement and after 11 wk of inspiratory muscle training on a rowing ergometer by using a 6-min all-out effort and a 5000-m trial. IMT consisted of 30 inspiratory efforts twice daily. Each effort required the subject to inspire against a resistance equivalent to 50 % peak inspiratory mouth pressure (PImax) by using an inspiratory muscle training device. Seven of the rowers, who formed the placebo group, used the same device but The inspiratory muscle strength of the training group increased by 44 +/- 25 cm H2O (45.3 +/- 29.7 %) compared with only 6 +/- 11 cm H2O (5.3 +/- 9.8 %) of the placebo group (P < 0.05 within and between groups). The distance covered in the 6-min all-out effort increased by 3.5 +/- 1.2 % in the training group compared with 1.6 +/- 1.0 % in the placebo group (P < 0.05). The time inthe 5000-m trial decreased by 36 +/- 9 s (3.1 +/- 0.8 %) in the training group compared with only 11 +/- 8 s (0.9 +/- 0.6 %) in the placebo group (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the resistance of the training group to inspiratory muscle fatigue after the 6-min all-out effort was improved from an 11.2 +/- 4.3 % deficit in PImax to only 3.0 +/- 1.6 % (P < 0.05) pre- and post-intervention, respectively. IMT improves rowing performance on the 6-min all-out effort and the 5000-m trial.
    • Measuring the effectiveness of information technology management: a comparative study of six UK local authorities

      Worrall, Les (University of Wolverhampton, 1998-09)
      Evaluating and managing the effective delivery of IT services is an issue which has been brought into sharper relief recently. This has been particularly prevalent in the UK public sector where the growing emphasis on formalised client-contractor relationships, outsourcing and benchmarking (both between local authorities and between local authorities and private sector organisations) has meant that the definition of service standards and agreeing performance criteria has attracted considerable practitioner attention. This research is based on 300 interviews conducted in six UK local authorities. The investigation used both gap analysis and perceptual mapping techniques to develop an understanding of the aspects of IT service delivery that users' value most in conjunction with an assessment of how well they perceive their IT department is performing on these criteria. The paper exposes considerable differences in the relative performance of the six local authorities from both the gap analysis and the perceptual mapping elements of the investigation. The methodology is shown to provide an effective way of identifying key performance issues from the user perspective and benchmarking service performance across organisations.