BACKGROUND A variety of performance outputs are strongly determined by lower limbs volume and composition in children and adolescents. The current study aimed to examine the validity of thigh volume (TV) estimated by anthropometry in late adolescent female volleyball players. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) measures were used as the reference method. METHODS Total and regional body com...

We thank Marin-Franch for his comments on our recent paper. If some aspects of the statistical analysis were not as clear as they perhaps could have been, we are grateful for the opportunity to address them here. The first concern was that our conclusion was in conflict with previous findings. Hood et al. assumed that there is no relationship between retinal nerve fiber layer thickness and visu...

The performance characteristics of two bone alkaline phosphatase (ALP; EC 3.1.3.1) assays, a wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) precipitation assay and a new immunoadsorption assay (IAA), were compared. The withinand between-run imprecision of the IAA (3.6-4.2% and 3.6-7.7%) was comparable with that of the WGA assay. The mean crossreactivity with liver ALP appeared to be 4% in the WGA assay and 11 % i...

LWG issues 2465 and 2763 have seen considerable recent churn. Experimentation has revealed that these Issues’ latest Proposed Resolutions do not pass all expected tests. This paper presents revised wording as well as a corresponding implementation that does pass the tests of desired behavior. This wording also addresses the first part of LWG issue 2460 as well as several other concerns, and tak...

Presently Agile methods courses taught in universities focus primarily on providing hands-on experience of the process of development but ignore the evolution of, and theories behind, the Agile practices. “Without theory we are just groping in chaos” (Deming, 1986). Knowing the ‘why” in addition to the “how” of Agile methods will help develop reflective skills and give students an edge as they ...

A probability-updating method in probabilistic expert systems is considered in this paper based on the minimum discrimination information. Here, newly acquired information is taken as the latest true marginal probabilities, not as newly observed data with the same weight as previous data. Posterior probabilities are obtained by updating prior probabilities subject to the latest true marginals. ...

The tenets of goal theory have been well established as a motivation mechanism in the management literature. However, some quality-management advocates, such as W. Edwards Deming, often criticize the use of goals. This research investigates the tension between goals and quality management in the Six Sigma context. We find empirical support that goals can be effective in Six Sigma improvement te...