The acquisition of new genetic traits by horizontal gene transfer and their incorporation into preexisting regulatory networks have been essential events in the evolution of bacterial pathogens. An example of successful assimilation of virulence traits is Salmonella enterica, which acquired, at distinct evolutionary times, Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 (SPI-1), required for efficient invasi...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE In 1991 we developed the Stroke Prognosis Instrument (SPI-I) to stratify patients with transient ischemic attack or ischemic stroke by prognosis for stroke or death in 2 years. In this article we validate and improve SPI-I (creating SPI-II). METHODS To validate SPI-I, we applied it to 4 test cohorts and calculated pooled outcome rates. To create SPI-II, we incorporated ...

In this paper we present survey data characterizing the implementation of SPI in 85 UK companies. We aim to provide SPI managers with more understanding of the critical success factors of implementing SPI. We present an analysis of the critical implementation factors identified in published case studies. We use a questionnaire to measure the use of these factors in ‘typical’ software companies....

In this paper we present findings from our empirical study of software process improvement (SPI) implementation. We aim to provide SPI practitioners with insight into designing appropriate SPI implementation initiatives in order to achieve better results. Thirty-four interviews were conducted with Australian practitioners. Three SPI implementation issues were investigated: reasons for embarking...

Software process improvement (SPI) is a widely recognized approach that software companies implement to improve quality, productivity, and time-to-market. Assessing and analyzing performance improvements are important SPI activities. However, many SPI managers have found it difficult to develop and implement effective performance measurement programs for SPI, in part because guidelines for cond...

In this research, complex coacervation between soy protein isolate (SPI) and gum arabic (GA) constituted a preliminary step for developing chia oil (CO)-in-water emulsions suitable subsequent spray-drying. The contributions of total biopolymer concentration, SPI-GA ratio w/w ionic strength on coacervate yield (CY) were quantified through 3×6×4 factorial design. ratios that gave the highest CY v...

When starting the software process improvement (SPI) journey, there are many SPI standards toselect from. Selecting good SPI standards can be a technical problem, from a software engineeringpoint of view, but it can also be a political problem, some standards fitting more with internal politicalagendas than others. As it is well-known that SPI without management commitment can have<...

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BACKGROUND Previous reports suggest that beneficial effects of soy on bone quality are due to the estrogenic actions of isoflavone phytochemicals associated with the protein. However, mechanistic studies comparing the effects of soy diet and estrogens on bone, particularly in rapidly growing animals are lacking. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We studied the effects of short term feeding o...