BACKGROUND The attainment of technical competence for surgical procedures is fundamental to a proficiency-based surgical training program. We hypothesized that aptitude may directly affect one's ability to successfully complete the learning curve for minimally invasive procedures. The aim was to assess whether aptitude has an impact on ability to achieve proficiency in completing a simulated mi...

Background and Objectives: During crisis, hospitals have great responsibility in saving life and protect health of the damaged individuals. Fulfilling this responsibility relies on preparedness of hospital staff, particularly the clinicians to face the relevant challenges. Given the lack of adequate information on the topic from Iran, the present study aimed to explore the technical crisis prep...

BACKGROUND Little is known about which characteristics of chiropractors and physiotherapists matter to patients and influence their preferences when seeking care. OBJECTIVE To examine the impact of four factors (patient gender, practitioner gender, practitioner specialty-chiropractor or physiotherapist and practitioner reputation-technical ability or interpersonal skills) on patients' choice ...

This paper shows that an employer’s two roles of supporting employees as well as assessing their abilities and making appropriate replacement decisions are inextricably intertwined. Offering support in the form of advice, resources, time, or freedom not only helps the worker to succeed in his job but either impedes or facilitates the assessment of his ability. This interaction has broad implica...

Background and Objective: Breast cancer patients need a variety of skills and abilities to deal with the consequences of the illness. Self-management is one of the operational strategies that leads to disease acceptance, treatment adherence, and improving the quality of life. The use of smartphone applications (apps) can play a pivotal role in the support and self-management of breast cancer pa...

In the research for the treatment of spinal cord injury (SCI), the evaluation of motor function in model rats must be as objective, noninvasive, and ethical as possible. The maximum speed and acceleration of a mouse measured using a SCANET system were previously reported to vary significantly according to severity of SCI. In the present study, the motor performance of SCI model rats was examine...

Article history: Received 25 October 2008 Received in revised form 19 July 2009 Accepted 5 January 2010 Available online 18 January 2010 In the finance literature, statistical inferences for large-scale testing problems usually suffer from data snooping bias. In this paper we extend the “superior predictive ability” (SPA) test of Hansen (2005, JBES) to a stepwise SPA test that can identify pred...

iii Dedications To my dear parents, who always encourage me to reach high; To my wonderful husband, Hanhui, who always backs me up without a word; To my sweet boys, Tian and Hai, who are my real motivations to move forward. iv Acknowledgements Seven years ago, when I first knocked on his office door, my thesis advisor, Dr. William Theurkauf, welcomed me with his profound scientific insight and ...

Acknowledgements This thesis arose, in parts, out of couple of years of my research that started in 2007 when I came to KTH – Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. During the course of my research, I worked with a great number of people whose contributions, in assorted ways, towards my research and the making of this thesis deserve a special mention. It's my pleasure to convey my de...

OBJECTIVE Regular checking of the fitness to drive of elderly car-license holders is required in some countries, and this will become increasingly important as more countries face aging populations. The present study investigated whether the analysis of saccadic eye movements could be used as a screening method for the assessment of driving ability. METHODS Three different paradigms (prosacca...