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Sample records for test statistic proposed

  1. Bayesian models based on test statistics for multiple hypothesis testing problems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ji, Yuan; Lu, Yiling; Mills, Gordon B

    2008-04-01

    We propose a Bayesian method for the problem of multiple hypothesis testing that is routinely encountered in bioinformatics research, such as the differential gene expression analysis. Our algorithm is based on modeling the distributions of test statistics under both null and alternative hypotheses. We substantially reduce the complexity of the process of defining posterior model probabilities by modeling the test statistics directly instead of modeling the full data. Computationally, we apply a Bayesian FDR approach to control the number of rejections of null hypotheses. To check if our model assumptions for the test statistics are valid for various bioinformatics experiments, we also propose a simple graphical model-assessment tool. Using extensive simulations, we demonstrate the performance of our models and the utility of the model-assessment tool. In the end, we apply the proposed methodology to an siRNA screening and a gene expression experiment.

  2. Modified Distribution-Free Goodness-of-Fit Test Statistic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chun, So Yeon; Browne, Michael W; Shapiro, Alexander

    2018-03-01

    Covariance structure analysis and its structural equation modeling extensions have become one of the most widely used methodologies in social sciences such as psychology, education, and economics. An important issue in such analysis is to assess the goodness of fit of a model under analysis. One of the most popular test statistics used in covariance structure analysis is the asymptotically distribution-free (ADF) test statistic introduced by Browne (Br J Math Stat Psychol 37:62-83, 1984). The ADF statistic can be used to test models without any specific distribution assumption (e.g., multivariate normal distribution) of the observed data. Despite its advantage, it has been shown in various empirical studies that unless sample sizes are extremely large, this ADF statistic could perform very poorly in practice. In this paper, we provide a theoretical explanation for this phenomenon and further propose a modified test statistic that improves the performance in samples of realistic size. The proposed statistic deals with the possible ill-conditioning of the involved large-scale covariance matrices.

  3. Log-concave Probability Distributions: Theory and Statistical Testing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    An, Mark Yuing

    1996-01-01

    This paper studies the broad class of log-concave probability distributions that arise in economics of uncertainty and information. For univariate, continuous, and log-concave random variables we prove useful properties without imposing the differentiability of density functions. Discrete...... and multivariate distributions are also discussed. We propose simple non-parametric testing procedures for log-concavity. The test statistics are constructed to test one of the two implicati ons of log-concavity: increasing hazard rates and new-is-better-than-used (NBU) property. The test for increasing hazard...... rates are based on normalized spacing of the sample order statistics. The tests for NBU property fall into the category of Hoeffding's U-statistics...

  4. Robust inference from multiple test statistics via permutations: a better alternative to the single test statistic approach for randomized trials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ganju, Jitendra; Yu, Xinxin; Ma, Guoguang Julie

    2013-01-01

    Formal inference in randomized clinical trials is based on controlling the type I error rate associated with a single pre-specified statistic. The deficiency of using just one method of analysis is that it depends on assumptions that may not be met. For robust inference, we propose pre-specifying multiple test statistics and relying on the minimum p-value for testing the null hypothesis of no treatment effect. The null hypothesis associated with the various test statistics is that the treatment groups are indistinguishable. The critical value for hypothesis testing comes from permutation distributions. Rejection of the null hypothesis when the smallest p-value is less than the critical value controls the type I error rate at its designated value. Even if one of the candidate test statistics has low power, the adverse effect on the power of the minimum p-value statistic is not much. Its use is illustrated with examples. We conclude that it is better to rely on the minimum p-value rather than a single statistic particularly when that single statistic is the logrank test, because of the cost and complexity of many survival trials. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  5. Statistical tests for person misfit in computerized adaptive testing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Glas, Cornelis A.W.; Meijer, R.R.; van Krimpen-Stoop, Edith

    1998-01-01

    Recently, several person-fit statistics have been proposed to detect nonfitting response patterns. This study is designed to generalize an approach followed by Klauer (1995) to an adaptive testing system using the two-parameter logistic model (2PL) as a null model. The approach developed by Klauer

  6. Test Statistics and Confidence Intervals to Establish Noninferiority between Treatments with Ordinal Categorical Data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Fanghong; Miyaoka, Etsuo; Huang, Fuping; Tanaka, Yutaka

    2015-01-01

    The problem for establishing noninferiority is discussed between a new treatment and a standard (control) treatment with ordinal categorical data. A measure of treatment effect is used and a method of specifying noninferiority margin for the measure is provided. Two Z-type test statistics are proposed where the estimation of variance is constructed under the shifted null hypothesis using U-statistics. Furthermore, the confidence interval and the sample size formula are given based on the proposed test statistics. The proposed procedure is applied to a dataset from a clinical trial. A simulation study is conducted to compare the performance of the proposed test statistics with that of the existing ones, and the results show that the proposed test statistics are better in terms of the deviation from nominal level and the power.

  7. Interpreting Statistical Significance Test Results: A Proposed New "What If" Method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kieffer, Kevin M.; Thompson, Bruce

    As the 1994 publication manual of the American Psychological Association emphasized, "p" values are affected by sample size. As a result, it can be helpful to interpret the results of statistical significant tests in a sample size context by conducting so-called "what if" analyses. However, these methods can be inaccurate…

  8. 100 statistical tests

    CERN Document Server

    Kanji, Gopal K

    2006-01-01

    This expanded and updated Third Edition of Gopal K. Kanji's best-selling resource on statistical tests covers all the most commonly used tests with information on how to calculate and interpret results with simple datasets. Each entry begins with a short summary statement about the test's purpose, and contains details of the test objective, the limitations (or assumptions) involved, a brief outline of the method, a worked example, and the numerical calculation. 100 Statistical Tests, Third Edition is the one indispensable guide for users of statistical materials and consumers of statistical information at all levels and across all disciplines.

  9. A weighted generalized score statistic for comparison of predictive values of diagnostic tests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kosinski, Andrzej S

    2013-03-15

    Positive and negative predictive values are important measures of a medical diagnostic test performance. We consider testing equality of two positive or two negative predictive values within a paired design in which all patients receive two diagnostic tests. The existing statistical tests for testing equality of predictive values are either Wald tests based on the multinomial distribution or the empirical Wald and generalized score tests within the generalized estimating equations (GEE) framework. As presented in the literature, these test statistics have considerably complex formulas without clear intuitive insight. We propose their re-formulations that are mathematically equivalent but algebraically simple and intuitive. As is clearly seen with a new re-formulation we presented, the generalized score statistic does not always reduce to the commonly used score statistic in the independent samples case. To alleviate this, we introduce a weighted generalized score (WGS) test statistic that incorporates empirical covariance matrix with newly proposed weights. This statistic is simple to compute, always reduces to the score statistic in the independent samples situation, and preserves type I error better than the other statistics as demonstrated by simulations. Thus, we believe that the proposed WGS statistic is the preferred statistic for testing equality of two predictive values and for corresponding sample size computations. The new formulas of the Wald statistics may be useful for easy computation of confidence intervals for difference of predictive values. The introduced concepts have potential to lead to development of the WGS test statistic in a general GEE setting. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  10. Testing the Difference of Correlated Agreement Coefficients for Statistical Significance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gwet, Kilem L.

    2016-01-01

    This article addresses the problem of testing the difference between two correlated agreement coefficients for statistical significance. A number of authors have proposed methods for testing the difference between two correlated kappa coefficients, which require either the use of resampling methods or the use of advanced statistical modeling…

  11. A Modified Jonckheere Test Statistic for Ordered Alternatives in Repeated Measures Design

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hatice Tül Kübra AKDUR

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available In this article, a new test based on Jonckheere test [1] for  randomized blocks which have dependent observations within block is presented. A weighted sum for each block statistic rather than the unweighted sum proposed by Jonckheereis included. For Jonckheere type statistics, the main assumption is independency of observations within block. In the case of repeated measures design, the assumption of independence is violated. The weighted Jonckheere type statistic for the situation of dependence for different variance-covariance structure and the situation based on ordered alternative hypothesis structure of each block on the design is used. Also, the proposed statistic is compared to the existing test based on Jonckheere in terms of type I error rates by performing Monte Carlo simulation. For the strong correlations, circular bootstrap version of the proposed Jonckheere test provides lower rates of type I error.

  12. CUSUM-based person-fit statistics for adaptive testing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Krimpen-Stoop, Edith; Meijer, R.R.

    2001-01-01

    Item scores that do not fit an assumed item response theory model may cause the latent trait value to be inaccurately estimated. Several person-fit statistics for detecting nonfitting score patterns for paper-and-pencil tests have been proposed. In the context of computerized adaptive tests (CAT),

  13. CUSUM-based person-fit statistics for adaptive testing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Krimpen-Stoop, Edith; Meijer, R.R.

    1999-01-01

    Item scores that do not fit an assumed item response theory model may cause the latent trait value to be estimated inaccurately. Several person-fit statistics for detecting nonfitting score patterns for paper-and-pencil tests have been proposed. In the context of computerized adaptive tests (CAT),

  14. Significance levels for studies with correlated test statistics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Jianxin; Levinson, Douglas F; Whittemore, Alice S

    2008-07-01

    When testing large numbers of null hypotheses, one needs to assess the evidence against the global null hypothesis that none of the hypotheses is false. Such evidence typically is based on the test statistic of the largest magnitude, whose statistical significance is evaluated by permuting the sample units to simulate its null distribution. Efron (2007) has noted that correlation among the test statistics can induce substantial interstudy variation in the shapes of their histograms, which may cause misleading tail counts. Here, we show that permutation-based estimates of the overall significance level also can be misleading when the test statistics are correlated. We propose that such estimates be conditioned on a simple measure of the spread of the observed histogram, and we provide a method for obtaining conditional significance levels. We justify this conditioning using the conditionality principle described by Cox and Hinkley (1974). Application of the method to gene expression data illustrates the circumstances when conditional significance levels are needed.

  15. Testing and qualification of confidence in statistical procedures

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Serghiuta, D.; Tholammakkil, J.; Hammouda, N. [Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (Canada); O' Hagan, A. [Sheffield Univ. (United Kingdom)

    2014-07-01

    This paper discusses a framework for designing artificial test problems, evaluation criteria, and two of the benchmark tests developed under a research project initiated by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to investigate the approaches for qualification of tolerance limit methods and algorithms proposed for application in optimization of CANDU regional/neutron overpower protection trip setpoints for aged conditions. A significant component of this investigation has been the development of a series of benchmark problems of gradually increased complexity, from simple 'theoretical' problems up to complex problems closer to the real application. The first benchmark problem discussed in this paper is a simplified scalar problem which does not involve extremal, maximum or minimum, operations, typically encountered in the real applications. The second benchmark is a high dimensional, but still simple, problem for statistical inference of maximum channel power during normal operation. Bayesian algorithms have been developed for each benchmark problem to provide an independent way of constructing tolerance limits from the same data and allow assessing how well different methods make use of those data and, depending on the type of application, evaluating what the level of 'conservatism' is. The Bayesian method is not, however, used as a reference method, or 'gold' standard, but simply as an independent review method. The approach and the tests developed can be used as a starting point for developing a generic suite (generic in the sense of potentially applying whatever the proposed statistical method) of empirical studies, with clear criteria for passing those tests. Some lessons learned, in particular concerning the need to assure the completeness of the description of the application and the role of completeness of input information, are also discussed. It is concluded that a formal process which includes extended and detailed benchmark

  16. Statistical inferences for bearings life using sudden death test

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Morariu Cristin-Olimpiu

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we propose a calculus method for reliability indicators estimation and a complete statistical inferences for three parameters Weibull distribution of bearings life. Using experimental values regarding the durability of bearings tested on stands by the sudden death tests involves a series of particularities of the estimation using maximum likelihood method and statistical inference accomplishment. The paper detailing these features and also provides an example calculation.

  17. Ensuring Positiveness of the Scaled Difference Chi-square Test Statistic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Satorra, Albert; Bentler, Peter M

    2010-06-01

    A scaled difference test statistic [Formula: see text] that can be computed from standard software of structural equation models (SEM) by hand calculations was proposed in Satorra and Bentler (2001). The statistic [Formula: see text] is asymptotically equivalent to the scaled difference test statistic T̄(d) introduced in Satorra (2000), which requires more involved computations beyond standard output of SEM software. The test statistic [Formula: see text] has been widely used in practice, but in some applications it is negative due to negativity of its associated scaling correction. Using the implicit function theorem, this note develops an improved scaling correction leading to a new scaled difference statistic T̄(d) that avoids negative chi-square values.

  18. A Third Moment Adjusted Test Statistic for Small Sample Factor Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Johnny; Bentler, Peter M

    2012-01-01

    Goodness of fit testing in factor analysis is based on the assumption that the test statistic is asymptotically chi-square; but this property may not hold in small samples even when the factors and errors are normally distributed in the population. Robust methods such as Browne's asymptotically distribution-free method and Satorra Bentler's mean scaling statistic were developed under the presumption of non-normality in the factors and errors. This paper finds new application to the case where factors and errors are normally distributed in the population but the skewness of the obtained test statistic is still high due to sampling error in the observed indicators. An extension of Satorra Bentler's statistic is proposed that not only scales the mean but also adjusts the degrees of freedom based on the skewness of the obtained test statistic in order to improve its robustness under small samples. A simple simulation study shows that this third moment adjusted statistic asymptotically performs on par with previously proposed methods, and at a very small sample size offers superior Type I error rates under a properly specified model. Data from Mardia, Kent and Bibby's study of students tested for their ability in five content areas that were either open or closed book were used to illustrate the real-world performance of this statistic.

  19. Testing the statistical compatibility of independent data sets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maltoni, M.; Schwetz, T.

    2003-01-01

    We discuss a goodness-of-fit method which tests the compatibility between statistically independent data sets. The method gives sensible results even in cases where the χ 2 minima of the individual data sets are very low or when several parameters are fitted to a large number of data points. In particular, it avoids the problem that a possible disagreement between data sets becomes diluted by data points which are insensitive to the crucial parameters. A formal derivation of the probability distribution function for the proposed test statistics is given, based on standard theorems of statistics. The application of the method is illustrated on data from neutrino oscillation experiments, and its complementarity to the standard goodness-of-fit is discussed

  20. Finding differentially expressed genes in high dimensional data: Rank based test statistic via a distance measure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mathur, Sunil; Sadana, Ajit

    2015-12-01

    We present a rank-based test statistic for the identification of differentially expressed genes using a distance measure. The proposed test statistic is highly robust against extreme values and does not assume the distribution of parent population. Simulation studies show that the proposed test is more powerful than some of the commonly used methods, such as paired t-test, Wilcoxon signed rank test, and significance analysis of microarray (SAM) under certain non-normal distributions. The asymptotic distribution of the test statistic, and the p-value function are discussed. The application of proposed method is shown using a real-life data set. © The Author(s) 2011.

  1. Statistical Redundancy Testing for Improved Gene Selection in Cancer Classification Using Microarray Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Sunil Rao

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available In gene selection for cancer classifi cation using microarray data, we define an eigenvalue-ratio statistic to measure a gene’s contribution to the joint discriminability when this gene is included into a set of genes. Based on this eigenvalueratio statistic, we define a novel hypothesis testing for gene statistical redundancy and propose two gene selection methods. Simulation studies illustrate the agreement between statistical redundancy testing and gene selection methods. Real data examples show the proposed gene selection methods can select a compact gene subset which can not only be used to build high quality cancer classifiers but also show biological relevance.

  2. Testing statistical hypotheses

    CERN Document Server

    Lehmann, E L

    2005-01-01

    The third edition of Testing Statistical Hypotheses updates and expands upon the classic graduate text, emphasizing optimality theory for hypothesis testing and confidence sets. The principal additions include a rigorous treatment of large sample optimality, together with the requisite tools. In addition, an introduction to the theory of resampling methods such as the bootstrap is developed. The sections on multiple testing and goodness of fit testing are expanded. The text is suitable for Ph.D. students in statistics and includes over 300 new problems out of a total of more than 760. E.L. Lehmann is Professor of Statistics Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the recipient of honorary degrees from the University of Leiden, The Netherlands and the University of Chicago. He is the author of Elements of Large-Sample Theory and (with George Casella) he is also the author of Theory of Point Estimat...

  3. Statistical alignment: computational properties, homology testing and goodness-of-fit

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hein, J; Wiuf, Carsten; Møller, Martin

    2000-01-01

    The model of insertions and deletions in biological sequences, first formulated by Thorne, Kishino, and Felsenstein in 1991 (the TKF91 model), provides a basis for performing alignment within a statistical framework. Here we investigate this model.Firstly, we show how to accelerate the statistical...... alignment algorithms several orders of magnitude. The main innovations are to confine likelihood calculations to a band close to the similarity based alignment, to get good initial guesses of the evolutionary parameters and to apply an efficient numerical optimisation algorithm for finding the maximum...... analysis.Secondly, we propose a new homology test based on this model, where homology means that an ancestor to a sequence pair can be found finitely far back in time. This test has statistical advantages relative to the traditional shuffle test for proteins.Finally, we describe a goodness-of-fit test...

  4. Statistical testing of association between menstruation and migraine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barra, Mathias; Dahl, Fredrik A; Vetvik, Kjersti G

    2015-02-01

    To repair and refine a previously proposed method for statistical analysis of association between migraine and menstruation. Menstrually related migraine (MRM) affects about 20% of female migraineurs in the general population. The exact pathophysiological link from menstruation to migraine is hypothesized to be through fluctuations in female reproductive hormones, but the exact mechanisms remain unknown. Therefore, the main diagnostic criterion today is concurrency of migraine attacks with menstruation. Methods aiming to exclude spurious associations are wanted, so that further research into these mechanisms can be performed on a population with a true association. The statistical method is based on a simple two-parameter null model of MRM (which allows for simulation modeling), and Fisher's exact test (with mid-p correction) applied to standard 2 × 2 contingency tables derived from the patients' headache diaries. Our method is a corrected version of a previously published flawed framework. To our best knowledge, no other published methods for establishing a menstruation-migraine association by statistical means exist today. The probabilistic methodology shows good performance when subjected to receiver operator characteristic curve analysis. Quick reference cutoff values for the clinical setting were tabulated for assessing association given a patient's headache history. In this paper, we correct a proposed method for establishing association between menstruation and migraine by statistical methods. We conclude that the proposed standard of 3-cycle observations prior to setting an MRM diagnosis should be extended with at least one perimenstrual window to obtain sufficient information for statistical processing. © 2014 American Headache Society.

  5. Evaluating statistical tests on OLAP cubes to compare degree of disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ordonez, Carlos; Chen, Zhibo

    2009-09-01

    Statistical tests represent an important technique used to formulate and validate hypotheses on a dataset. They are particularly useful in the medical domain, where hypotheses link disease with medical measurements, risk factors, and treatment. In this paper, we propose to compute parametric statistical tests treating patient records as elements in a multidimensional cube. We introduce a technique that combines dimension lattice traversal and statistical tests to discover significant differences in the degree of disease within pairs of patient groups. In order to understand a cause-effect relationship, we focus on patient group pairs differing in one dimension. We introduce several optimizations to prune the search space, to discover significant group pairs, and to summarize results. We present experiments showing important medical findings and evaluating scalability with medical datasets.

  6. Using the Bootstrap Method for a Statistical Significance Test of Differences between Summary Histograms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Kuan-Man

    2006-01-01

    A new method is proposed to compare statistical differences between summary histograms, which are the histograms summed over a large ensemble of individual histograms. It consists of choosing a distance statistic for measuring the difference between summary histograms and using a bootstrap procedure to calculate the statistical significance level. Bootstrapping is an approach to statistical inference that makes few assumptions about the underlying probability distribution that describes the data. Three distance statistics are compared in this study. They are the Euclidean distance, the Jeffries-Matusita distance and the Kuiper distance. The data used in testing the bootstrap method are satellite measurements of cloud systems called cloud objects. Each cloud object is defined as a contiguous region/patch composed of individual footprints or fields of view. A histogram of measured values over footprints is generated for each parameter of each cloud object and then summary histograms are accumulated over all individual histograms in a given cloud-object size category. The results of statistical hypothesis tests using all three distances as test statistics are generally similar, indicating the validity of the proposed method. The Euclidean distance is determined to be most suitable after comparing the statistical tests of several parameters with distinct probability distributions among three cloud-object size categories. Impacts on the statistical significance levels resulting from differences in the total lengths of satellite footprint data between two size categories are also discussed.

  7. A NEW TEST OF THE STATISTICAL NATURE OF THE BRIGHTEST CLUSTER GALAXIES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lin, Yen-Ting; Ostriker, Jeremiah P.; Miller, Christopher J.

    2010-01-01

    A novel statistic is proposed to examine the hypothesis that all cluster galaxies are drawn from the same luminosity distribution (LD). In such a 'statistical model' of galaxy LD, the brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) are simply the statistical extreme of the galaxy population. Using a large sample of nearby clusters, we show that BCGs in high luminosity clusters (e.g., L tot ∼> 4 x 10 11 h -2 70 L sun ) are unlikely (probability ≤3 x 10 -4 ) to be drawn from the LD defined by all red cluster galaxies more luminous than M r = -20. On the other hand, BCGs in less luminous clusters are consistent with being the statistical extreme. Applying our method to the second brightest galaxies, we show that they are consistent with being the statistical extreme, which implies that the BCGs are also distinct from non-BCG luminous, red, cluster galaxies. We point out some issues with the interpretation of the classical tests proposed by Tremaine and Richstone (TR) that are designed to examine the statistical nature of BCGs, investigate the robustness of both our statistical test and those of TR against difficulties in photometry of galaxies of large angular size, and discuss the implication of our findings on surveys that use the luminous red galaxies to measure the baryon acoustic oscillation features in the galaxy power spectrum.

  8. CONFIDENCE LEVELS AND/VS. STATISTICAL HYPOTHESIS TESTING IN STATISTICAL ANALYSIS. CASE STUDY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ILEANA BRUDIU

    2009-05-01

    Full Text Available Estimated parameters with confidence intervals and testing statistical assumptions used in statistical analysis to obtain conclusions on research from a sample extracted from the population. Paper to the case study presented aims to highlight the importance of volume of sample taken in the study and how this reflects on the results obtained when using confidence intervals and testing for pregnant. If statistical testing hypotheses not only give an answer "yes" or "no" to some questions of statistical estimation using statistical confidence intervals provides more information than a test statistic, show high degree of uncertainty arising from small samples and findings build in the "marginally significant" or "almost significant (p very close to 0.05.

  9. The insignificance of statistical significance testing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Douglas H.

    1999-01-01

    Despite their use in scientific journals such as The Journal of Wildlife Management, statistical hypothesis tests add very little value to the products of research. Indeed, they frequently confuse the interpretation of data. This paper describes how statistical hypothesis tests are often viewed, and then contrasts that interpretation with the correct one. I discuss the arbitrariness of P-values, conclusions that the null hypothesis is true, power analysis, and distinctions between statistical and biological significance. Statistical hypothesis testing, in which the null hypothesis about the properties of a population is almost always known a priori to be false, is contrasted with scientific hypothesis testing, which examines a credible null hypothesis about phenomena in nature. More meaningful alternatives are briefly outlined, including estimation and confidence intervals for determining the importance of factors, decision theory for guiding actions in the face of uncertainty, and Bayesian approaches to hypothesis testing and other statistical practices.

  10. Statistical tests for power-law cross-correlated processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Podobnik, Boris; Jiang, Zhi-Qiang; Zhou, Wei-Xing; Stanley, H. Eugene

    2011-12-01

    For stationary time series, the cross-covariance and the cross-correlation as functions of time lag n serve to quantify the similarity of two time series. The latter measure is also used to assess whether the cross-correlations are statistically significant. For nonstationary time series, the analogous measures are detrended cross-correlations analysis (DCCA) and the recently proposed detrended cross-correlation coefficient, ρDCCA(T,n), where T is the total length of the time series and n the window size. For ρDCCA(T,n), we numerically calculated the Cauchy inequality -1≤ρDCCA(T,n)≤1. Here we derive -1≤ρDCCA(T,n)≤1 for a standard variance-covariance approach and for a detrending approach. For overlapping windows, we find the range of ρDCCA within which the cross-correlations become statistically significant. For overlapping windows we numerically determine—and for nonoverlapping windows we derive—that the standard deviation of ρDCCA(T,n) tends with increasing T to 1/T. Using ρDCCA(T,n) we show that the Chinese financial market's tendency to follow the U.S. market is extremely weak. We also propose an additional statistical test that can be used to quantify the existence of cross-correlations between two power-law correlated time series.

  11. Statistical Methods for the detection of answer copying on achievement tests

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sotaridona, Leonardo

    2003-01-01

    This thesis contains a collection of studies where statistical methods for the detection of answer copying on achievement tests in multiple-choice format are proposed and investigated. Although all methods are suited to detect answer copying, each method is designed to address specific

  12. Testing statistical hypotheses of equivalence

    CERN Document Server

    Wellek, Stefan

    2010-01-01

    Equivalence testing has grown significantly in importance over the last two decades, especially as its relevance to a variety of applications has become understood. Yet published work on the general methodology remains scattered in specialists' journals, and for the most part, it focuses on the relatively narrow topic of bioequivalence assessment.With a far broader perspective, Testing Statistical Hypotheses of Equivalence provides the first comprehensive treatment of statistical equivalence testing. The author addresses a spectrum of specific, two-sided equivalence testing problems, from the

  13. Statistical hypothesis testing with SAS and R

    CERN Document Server

    Taeger, Dirk

    2014-01-01

    A comprehensive guide to statistical hypothesis testing with examples in SAS and R When analyzing datasets the following questions often arise:Is there a short hand procedure for a statistical test available in SAS or R?If so, how do I use it?If not, how do I program the test myself? This book answers these questions and provides an overview of the most commonstatistical test problems in a comprehensive way, making it easy to find and performan appropriate statistical test. A general summary of statistical test theory is presented, along with a basicdescription for each test, including the

  14. A general statistical test for correlations in a finite-length time series.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanson, Jeffery A; Yang, Haw

    2008-06-07

    The statistical properties of the autocorrelation function from a time series composed of independently and identically distributed stochastic variables has been studied. Analytical expressions for the autocorrelation function's variance have been derived. It has been found that two common ways of calculating the autocorrelation, moving-average and Fourier transform, exhibit different uncertainty characteristics. For periodic time series, the Fourier transform method is preferred because it gives smaller uncertainties that are uniform through all time lags. Based on these analytical results, a statistically robust method has been proposed to test the existence of correlations in a time series. The statistical test is verified by computer simulations and an application to single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy is discussed.

  15. [The research protocol VI: How to choose the appropriate statistical test. Inferential statistics].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flores-Ruiz, Eric; Miranda-Novales, María Guadalupe; Villasís-Keever, Miguel Ángel

    2017-01-01

    The statistical analysis can be divided in two main components: descriptive analysis and inferential analysis. An inference is to elaborate conclusions from the tests performed with the data obtained from a sample of a population. Statistical tests are used in order to establish the probability that a conclusion obtained from a sample is applicable to the population from which it was obtained. However, choosing the appropriate statistical test in general poses a challenge for novice researchers. To choose the statistical test it is necessary to take into account three aspects: the research design, the number of measurements and the scale of measurement of the variables. Statistical tests are divided into two sets, parametric and nonparametric. Parametric tests can only be used if the data show a normal distribution. Choosing the right statistical test will make it easier for readers to understand and apply the results.

  16. The research protocol VI: How to choose the appropriate statistical test. Inferential statistics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eric Flores-Ruiz

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The statistical analysis can be divided in two main components: descriptive analysis and inferential analysis. An inference is to elaborate conclusions from the tests performed with the data obtained from a sample of a population. Statistical tests are used in order to establish the probability that a conclusion obtained from a sample is applicable to the population from which it was obtained. However, choosing the appropriate statistical test in general poses a challenge for novice researchers. To choose the statistical test it is necessary to take into account three aspects: the research design, the number of measurements and the scale of measurement of the variables. Statistical tests are divided into two sets, parametric and nonparametric. Parametric tests can only be used if the data show a normal distribution. Choosing the right statistical test will make it easier for readers to understand and apply the results.

  17. Polarimetric Segmentation Using Wishart Test Statistic

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skriver, Henning; Schou, Jesper; Nielsen, Allan Aasbjerg

    2002-01-01

    A newly developed test statistic for equality of two complex covariance matrices following the complex Wishart distribution and an associated asymptotic probability for the test statistic has been used in a segmentation algorithm. The segmentation algorithm is based on the MUM (merge using moments......) approach, which is a merging algorithm for single channel SAR images. The polarimetric version described in this paper uses the above-mentioned test statistic for merging. The segmentation algorithm has been applied to polarimetric SAR data from the Danish dual-frequency, airborne polarimetric SAR, EMISAR...

  18. Person Fit Based on Statistical Process Control in an Adaptive Testing Environment. Research Report 98-13.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Krimpen-Stoop, Edith M. L. A.; Meijer, Rob R.

    Person-fit research in the context of paper-and-pencil tests is reviewed, and some specific problems regarding person fit in the context of computerized adaptive testing (CAT) are discussed. Some new methods are proposed to investigate person fit in a CAT environment. These statistics are based on Statistical Process Control (SPC) theory. A…

  19. Efficient statistical tests to compare Youden index: accounting for contingency correlation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Fangyao; Xue, Yuqiang; Tan, Ming T; Chen, Pingyan

    2015-04-30

    Youden index is widely utilized in studies evaluating accuracy of diagnostic tests and performance of predictive, prognostic, or risk models. However, both one and two independent sample tests on Youden index have been derived ignoring the dependence (association) between sensitivity and specificity, resulting in potentially misleading findings. Besides, paired sample test on Youden index is currently unavailable. This article develops efficient statistical inference procedures for one sample, independent, and paired sample tests on Youden index by accounting for contingency correlation, namely associations between sensitivity and specificity and paired samples typically represented in contingency tables. For one and two independent sample tests, the variances are estimated by Delta method, and the statistical inference is based on the central limit theory, which are then verified by bootstrap estimates. For paired samples test, we show that the estimated covariance of the two sensitivities and specificities can be represented as a function of kappa statistic so the test can be readily carried out. We then show the remarkable accuracy of the estimated variance using a constrained optimization approach. Simulation is performed to evaluate the statistical properties of the derived tests. The proposed approaches yield more stable type I errors at the nominal level and substantially higher power (efficiency) than does the original Youden's approach. Therefore, the simple explicit large sample solution performs very well. Because we can readily implement the asymptotic and exact bootstrap computation with common software like R, the method is broadly applicable to the evaluation of diagnostic tests and model performance. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  20. A simplification of the likelihood ratio test statistic for testing ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The traditional likelihood ratio test statistic for testing hypothesis about goodness of fit of multinomial probabilities in one, two and multi – dimensional contingency table was simplified. Advantageously, using the simplified version of the statistic to test the null hypothesis is easier and faster because calculating the expected ...

  1. A critique of statistical hypothesis testing in clinical research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Somik Raha

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Many have documented the difficulty of using the current paradigm of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs to test and validate the effectiveness of alternative medical systems such as Ayurveda. This paper critiques the applicability of RCTs for all clinical knowledge-seeking endeavors, of which Ayurveda research is a part. This is done by examining statistical hypothesis testing, the underlying foundation of RCTs, from a practical and philosophical perspective. In the philosophical critique, the two main worldviews of probability are that of the Bayesian and the frequentist. The frequentist worldview is a special case of the Bayesian worldview requiring the unrealistic assumptions of knowing nothing about the universe and believing that all observations are unrelated to each other. Many have claimed that the first belief is necessary for science, and this claim is debunked by comparing variations in learning with different prior beliefs. Moving beyond the Bayesian and frequentist worldviews, the notion of hypothesis testing itself is challenged on the grounds that a hypothesis is an unclear distinction, and assigning a probability on an unclear distinction is an exercise that does not lead to clarity of action. This critique is of the theory itself and not any particular application of statistical hypothesis testing. A decision-making frame is proposed as a way of both addressing this critique and transcending ideological debates on probability. An example of a Bayesian decision-making approach is shown as an alternative to statistical hypothesis testing, utilizing data from a past clinical trial that studied the effect of Aspirin on heart attacks in a sample population of doctors. As a big reason for the prevalence of RCTs in academia is legislation requiring it, the ethics of legislating the use of statistical methods for clinical research is also examined.

  2. Explorations in Statistics: Hypothesis Tests and P Values

    Science.gov (United States)

    Curran-Everett, Douglas

    2009-01-01

    Learning about statistics is a lot like learning about science: the learning is more meaningful if you can actively explore. This second installment of "Explorations in Statistics" delves into test statistics and P values, two concepts fundamental to the test of a scientific null hypothesis. The essence of a test statistic is that it compares what…

  3. Distinguish Dynamic Basic Blocks by Structural Statistical Testing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Petit, Matthieu; Gotlieb, Arnaud

    Statistical testing aims at generating random test data that respect selected probabilistic properties. A distribution probability is associated with the program input space in order to achieve statistical test purpose: to test the most frequent usage of software or to maximize the probability of...... control flow path) during the test data selection. We implemented this algorithm in a statistical test data generator for Java programs. A first experimental validation is presented...

  4. Proposal and validation of a clinical trunk control test in individuals with spinal cord injury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quinzaños, J; Villa, A R; Flores, A A; Pérez, R

    2014-06-01

    One of the problems that arise in spinal cord injury (SCI) is alteration in trunk control. Despite the need for standardized scales, these do not exist for evaluating trunk control in SCI. To propose and validate a trunk control test in individuals with SCI. National Institute of Rehabilitation, Mexico. The test was developed and later evaluated for reliability and criteria, content, and construct validity. We carried out 531 tests on 177 patients and found high inter- and intra-rater reliability. In terms of criterion validity, analysis of variance demonstrated a statistically significant difference in the test score of patients with adequate or inadequate trunk control according to the assessment of a group of experts. A receiver operating characteristic curve was plotted for optimizing the instrument's cutoff point, which was determined at 13 points, with a sensitivity of 98% and a specificity of 92.2%. With regard to construct validity, the correlation between the proposed test and the spinal cord independence measure (SCIM) was 0.873 (P=0.001) and that with the evolution time was 0.437 (P=0.001). For testing the hypothesis with qualitative variables, the Kruskal-Wallis test was performed, which resulted in a statistically significant difference between the scores in the proposed scale of each group defined by these variables. It was proven experimentally that the proposed trunk control test is valid and reliable. Furthermore, the test can be used for all patients with SCI despite the type and level of injury.

  5. Properties of permutation-based gene tests and controlling type 1 error using a summary statistic based gene test.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swanson, David M; Blacker, Deborah; Alchawa, Taofik; Ludwig, Kerstin U; Mangold, Elisabeth; Lange, Christoph

    2013-11-07

    The advent of genome-wide association studies has led to many novel disease-SNP associations, opening the door to focused study on their biological underpinnings. Because of the importance of analyzing these associations, numerous statistical methods have been devoted to them. However, fewer methods have attempted to associate entire genes or genomic regions with outcomes, which is potentially more useful knowledge from a biological perspective and those methods currently implemented are often permutation-based. One property of some permutation-based tests is that their power varies as a function of whether significant markers are in regions of linkage disequilibrium (LD) or not, which we show from a theoretical perspective. We therefore develop two methods for quantifying the degree of association between a genomic region and outcome, both of whose power does not vary as a function of LD structure. One method uses dimension reduction to "filter" redundant information when significant LD exists in the region, while the other, called the summary-statistic test, controls for LD by scaling marker Z-statistics using knowledge of the correlation matrix of markers. An advantage of this latter test is that it does not require the original data, but only their Z-statistics from univariate regressions and an estimate of the correlation structure of markers, and we show how to modify the test to protect the type 1 error rate when the correlation structure of markers is misspecified. We apply these methods to sequence data of oral cleft and compare our results to previously proposed gene tests, in particular permutation-based ones. We evaluate the versatility of the modification of the summary-statistic test since the specification of correlation structure between markers can be inaccurate. We find a significant association in the sequence data between the 8q24 region and oral cleft using our dimension reduction approach and a borderline significant association using the

  6. Testing independence of bivariate interval-censored data using modified Kendall's tau statistic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Yuneung; Lim, Johan; Park, DoHwan

    2015-11-01

    In this paper, we study a nonparametric procedure to test independence of bivariate interval censored data; for both current status data (case 1 interval-censored data) and case 2 interval-censored data. To do it, we propose a score-based modification of the Kendall's tau statistic for bivariate interval-censored data. Our modification defines the Kendall's tau statistic with expected numbers of concordant and disconcordant pairs of data. The performance of the modified approach is illustrated by simulation studies and application to the AIDS study. We compare our method to alternative approaches such as the two-stage estimation method by Sun et al. (Scandinavian Journal of Statistics, 2006) and the multiple imputation method by Betensky and Finkelstein (Statistics in Medicine, 1999b). © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  7. Heteroscedastic Tests Statistics for One-Way Analysis of Variance: The Trimmed Means and Hall's Transformation Conjunction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luh, Wei-Ming; Guo, Jiin-Huarng

    2005-01-01

    To deal with nonnormal and heterogeneous data for the one-way fixed effect analysis of variance model, the authors adopted a trimmed means method in conjunction with Hall's invertible transformation into a heteroscedastic test statistic (Alexander-Govern test or Welch test). The results of simulation experiments showed that the proposed technique…

  8. Intelligent Condition Diagnosis Method Based on Adaptive Statistic Test Filter and Diagnostic Bayesian Network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Ke; Zhang, Qiuju; Wang, Kun; Chen, Peng; Wang, Huaqing

    2016-01-08

    A new fault diagnosis method for rotating machinery based on adaptive statistic test filter (ASTF) and Diagnostic Bayesian Network (DBN) is presented in this paper. ASTF is proposed to obtain weak fault features under background noise, ASTF is based on statistic hypothesis testing in the frequency domain to evaluate similarity between reference signal (noise signal) and original signal, and remove the component of high similarity. The optimal level of significance α is obtained using particle swarm optimization (PSO). To evaluate the performance of the ASTF, evaluation factor Ipq is also defined. In addition, a simulation experiment is designed to verify the effectiveness and robustness of ASTF. A sensitive evaluation method using principal component analysis (PCA) is proposed to evaluate the sensitiveness of symptom parameters (SPs) for condition diagnosis. By this way, the good SPs that have high sensitiveness for condition diagnosis can be selected. A three-layer DBN is developed to identify condition of rotation machinery based on the Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) theory. Condition diagnosis experiment for rolling element bearings demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method.

  9. Intelligent Condition Diagnosis Method Based on Adaptive Statistic Test Filter and Diagnostic Bayesian Network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ke Li

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available A new fault diagnosis method for rotating machinery based on adaptive statistic test filter (ASTF and Diagnostic Bayesian Network (DBN is presented in this paper. ASTF is proposed to obtain weak fault features under background noise, ASTF is based on statistic hypothesis testing in the frequency domain to evaluate similarity between reference signal (noise signal and original signal, and remove the component of high similarity. The optimal level of significance α is obtained using particle swarm optimization (PSO. To evaluate the performance of the ASTF, evaluation factor Ipq is also defined. In addition, a simulation experiment is designed to verify the effectiveness and robustness of ASTF. A sensitive evaluation method using principal component analysis (PCA is proposed to evaluate the sensitiveness of symptom parameters (SPs for condition diagnosis. By this way, the good SPs that have high sensitiveness for condition diagnosis can be selected. A three-layer DBN is developed to identify condition of rotation machinery based on the Bayesian Belief Network (BBN theory. Condition diagnosis experiment for rolling element bearings demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method.

  10. Intelligent Condition Diagnosis Method Based on Adaptive Statistic Test Filter and Diagnostic Bayesian Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Ke; Zhang, Qiuju; Wang, Kun; Chen, Peng; Wang, Huaqing

    2016-01-01

    A new fault diagnosis method for rotating machinery based on adaptive statistic test filter (ASTF) and Diagnostic Bayesian Network (DBN) is presented in this paper. ASTF is proposed to obtain weak fault features under background noise, ASTF is based on statistic hypothesis testing in the frequency domain to evaluate similarity between reference signal (noise signal) and original signal, and remove the component of high similarity. The optimal level of significance α is obtained using particle swarm optimization (PSO). To evaluate the performance of the ASTF, evaluation factor Ipq is also defined. In addition, a simulation experiment is designed to verify the effectiveness and robustness of ASTF. A sensitive evaluation method using principal component analysis (PCA) is proposed to evaluate the sensitiveness of symptom parameters (SPs) for condition diagnosis. By this way, the good SPs that have high sensitiveness for condition diagnosis can be selected. A three-layer DBN is developed to identify condition of rotation machinery based on the Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) theory. Condition diagnosis experiment for rolling element bearings demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method. PMID:26761006

  11. Proposal to Include Electrical Energy in the Industrial Return Statistics

    CERN Document Server

    2003-01-01

    At its 108th session on the 20 June 1997, the Council approved the Report of the Finance Committee Working Group on the Review of CERN Purchasing Policy and Procedures. Among other topics, the report recommended the inclusion of utility supplies in the calculation of the return statistics as soon as the relevant markets were deregulated, without reaching a consensus on the exact method of calculation. At its 296th meeting on the 18 June 2003, the Finance Committee approved a proposal to award a contract for the supply of electrical energy (CERN/FC/4693). The purpose of the proposal in this document is to clarify the way electrical energy will be included in future calculations of the return statistics. The Finance Committee is invited: 1. to agree that the full cost to CERN of electrical energy (excluding the cost of transport) be included in the Industrial Service return statistics; 2. to recommend that the Council approves the corresponding amendment to the Financial Rules set out in section 2 of this docum...

  12. Simplified Freeman-Tukey test statistics for testing probabilities in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This paper presents the simplified version of the Freeman-Tukey test statistic for testing hypothesis about multinomial probabilities in one, two and multidimensional contingency tables that does not require calculating the expected cell frequencies before test of significance. The simplified method established new criteria of ...

  13. Analysis of Preference Data Using Intermediate Test Statistic Abstract

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    PROF. O. E. OSUAGWU

    2013-06-01

    Jun 1, 2013 ... West African Journal of Industrial and Academic Research Vol.7 No. 1 June ... Keywords:-Preference data, Friedman statistic, multinomial test statistic, intermediate test statistic. ... new method and consequently a new statistic ...

  14. New Graphical Methods and Test Statistics for Testing Composite Normality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marc S. Paolella

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Several graphical methods for testing univariate composite normality from an i.i.d. sample are presented. They are endowed with correct simultaneous error bounds and yield size-correct tests. As all are based on the empirical CDF, they are also consistent for all alternatives. For one test, called the modified stabilized probability test, or MSP, a highly simplified computational method is derived, which delivers the test statistic and also a highly accurate p-value approximation, essentially instantaneously. The MSP test is demonstrated to have higher power against asymmetric alternatives than the well-known and powerful Jarque-Bera test. A further size-correct test, based on combining two test statistics, is shown to have yet higher power. The methodology employed is fully general and can be applied to any i.i.d. univariate continuous distribution setting.

  15. Test the Overall Significance of p-values by Using Joint Tail Probability of Ordered p-values as Test Statistic

    OpenAIRE

    Fang, Yongxiang; Wit, Ernst

    2008-01-01

    Fisher’s combined probability test is the most commonly used method to test the overall significance of a set independent p-values. However, it is very obviously that Fisher’s statistic is more sensitive to smaller p-values than to larger p-value and a small p-value may overrule the other p-values and decide the test result. This is, in some cases, viewed as a flaw. In order to overcome this flaw and improve the power of the test, the joint tail probability of a set p-values is proposed as a ...

  16. Testing Genetic Pleiotropy with GWAS Summary Statistics for Marginal and Conditional Analyses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deng, Yangqing; Pan, Wei

    2017-12-01

    There is growing interest in testing genetic pleiotropy, which is when a single genetic variant influences multiple traits. Several methods have been proposed; however, these methods have some limitations. First, all the proposed methods are based on the use of individual-level genotype and phenotype data; in contrast, for logistical, and other, reasons, summary statistics of univariate SNP-trait associations are typically only available based on meta- or mega-analyzed large genome-wide association study (GWAS) data. Second, existing tests are based on marginal pleiotropy, which cannot distinguish between direct and indirect associations of a single genetic variant with multiple traits due to correlations among the traits. Hence, it is useful to consider conditional analysis, in which a subset of traits is adjusted for another subset of traits. For example, in spite of substantial lowering of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) with statin therapy, some patients still maintain high residual cardiovascular risk, and, for these patients, it might be helpful to reduce their triglyceride (TG) level. For this purpose, in order to identify new therapeutic targets, it would be useful to identify genetic variants with pleiotropic effects on LDL and TG after adjusting the latter for LDL; otherwise, a pleiotropic effect of a genetic variant detected by a marginal model could simply be due to its association with LDL only, given the well-known correlation between the two types of lipids. Here, we develop a new pleiotropy testing procedure based only on GWAS summary statistics that can be applied for both marginal analysis and conditional analysis. Although the main technical development is based on published union-intersection testing methods, care is needed in specifying conditional models to avoid invalid statistical estimation and inference. In addition to the previously used likelihood ratio test, we also propose using generalized estimating equations under the

  17. Effect of non-normality on test statistics for one-way independent groups designs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cribbie, Robert A; Fiksenbaum, Lisa; Keselman, H J; Wilcox, Rand R

    2012-02-01

    The data obtained from one-way independent groups designs is typically non-normal in form and rarely equally variable across treatment populations (i.e., population variances are heterogeneous). Consequently, the classical test statistic that is used to assess statistical significance (i.e., the analysis of variance F test) typically provides invalid results (e.g., too many Type I errors, reduced power). For this reason, there has been considerable interest in finding a test statistic that is appropriate under conditions of non-normality and variance heterogeneity. Previously recommended procedures for analysing such data include the James test, the Welch test applied either to the usual least squares estimators of central tendency and variability, or the Welch test with robust estimators (i.e., trimmed means and Winsorized variances). A new statistic proposed by Krishnamoorthy, Lu, and Mathew, intended to deal with heterogeneous variances, though not non-normality, uses a parametric bootstrap procedure. In their investigation of the parametric bootstrap test, the authors examined its operating characteristics under limited conditions and did not compare it to the Welch test based on robust estimators. Thus, we investigated how the parametric bootstrap procedure and a modified parametric bootstrap procedure based on trimmed means perform relative to previously recommended procedures when data are non-normal and heterogeneous. The results indicated that the tests based on trimmed means offer the best Type I error control and power when variances are unequal and at least some of the distribution shapes are non-normal. © 2011 The British Psychological Society.

  18. Association testing for next-generation sequencing data using score statistics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skotte, Line; Korneliussen, Thorfinn Sand; Albrechtsen, Anders

    2012-01-01

    computationally feasible due to the use of score statistics. As part of the joint likelihood, we model the distribution of the phenotypes using a generalized linear model framework, which works for both quantitative and discrete phenotypes. Thus, the method presented here is applicable to case-control studies...... of genotype calls into account have been proposed; most require numerical optimization which for large-scale data is not always computationally feasible. We show that using a score statistic for the joint likelihood of observed phenotypes and observed sequencing data provides an attractive approach...... to association testing for next-generation sequencing data. The joint model accounts for the genotype classification uncertainty via the posterior probabilities of the genotypes given the observed sequencing data, which gives the approach higher power than methods based on called genotypes. This strategy remains...

  19. Similar tests and the standardized log likelihood ratio statistic

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Jens Ledet

    1986-01-01

    When testing an affine hypothesis in an exponential family the 'ideal' procedure is to calculate the exact similar test, or an approximation to this, based on the conditional distribution given the minimal sufficient statistic under the null hypothesis. By contrast to this there is a 'primitive......' approach in which the marginal distribution of a test statistic considered and any nuisance parameter appearing in the test statistic is replaced by an estimate. We show here that when using standardized likelihood ratio statistics the 'primitive' procedure is in fact an 'ideal' procedure to order O(n -3...

  20. Two independent pivotal statistics that test location and misspecification and add-up to the Anderson-Rubin statistic

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kleibergen, F.R.

    2002-01-01

    We extend the novel pivotal statistics for testing the parameters in the instrumental variables regression model. We show that these statistics result from a decomposition of the Anderson-Rubin statistic into two independent pivotal statistics. The first statistic is a score statistic that tests

  1. Caveats for using statistical significance tests in research assessments

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schneider, Jesper Wiborg

    2013-01-01

    controversial and numerous criticisms have been leveled against their use. Based on examples from articles by proponents of the use statistical significance tests in research assessments, we address some of the numerous problems with such tests. The issues specifically discussed are the ritual practice......This article raises concerns about the advantages of using statistical significance tests in research assessments as has recently been suggested in the debate about proper normalization procedures for citation indicators by Opthof and Leydesdorff (2010). Statistical significance tests are highly...... argue that applying statistical significance tests and mechanically adhering to their results are highly problematic and detrimental to critical thinking. We claim that the use of such tests do not provide any advantages in relation to deciding whether differences between citation indicators...

  2. Teaching Statistics in Language Testing Courses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, James Dean

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to examine the literature on teaching statistics for useful ideas that teachers of language testing courses can draw on and incorporate into their teaching toolkits as they see fit. To those ends, the article addresses eight questions: What is known generally about teaching statistics? Why are students so anxious…

  3. The Profile of Creativity and Proposing Statistical Problem Quality Level Reviewed From Cognitive Style

    Science.gov (United States)

    Awi; Ahmar, A. S.; Rahman, A.; Minggi, I.; Mulbar, U.; Asdar; Ruslan; Upu, H.; Alimuddin; Hamda; Rosidah; Sutamrin; Tiro, M. A.; Rusli

    2018-01-01

    This research aims to reveal the profile about the level of creativity and the ability to propose statistical problem of students at Mathematics Education 2014 Batch in the State University of Makassar in terms of their cognitive style. This research uses explorative qualitative method by giving meta-cognitive scaffolding at the time of research. The hypothesis of research is that students who have field independent (FI) cognitive style in statistics problem posing from the provided information already able to propose the statistical problem that can be solved and create new data and the problem is already been included as a high quality statistical problem, while students who have dependent cognitive field (FD) commonly are still limited in statistics problem posing that can be finished and do not load new data and the problem is included as medium quality statistical problem.

  4. A hardenability test proposal

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Murthy, N.V.S.N. [Ingersoll-Rand (I) Ltd., Bangalore (India)

    1996-12-31

    A new approach for hardenability evaluation and its application to heat treatable steels will be discussed. This will include an overview and deficiencies of the current methods and discussion on the necessity for a new approach. Hardenability terminology will be expanded to avoid ambiguity and over-simplification as encountered with the current system. A new hardenability definition is proposed. Hardenability specification methods are simplified and rationalized. The new hardenability evaluation system proposed here utilizes a test specimen with varying diameter as an alternative to the cylindrical Jominy hardenability test specimen and is readily applicable to the evaluation of a wide variety of steels with different cross-section sizes.

  5. SPSS for applied sciences basic statistical testing

    CERN Document Server

    Davis, Cole

    2013-01-01

    This book offers a quick and basic guide to using SPSS and provides a general approach to solving problems using statistical tests. It is both comprehensive in terms of the tests covered and the applied settings it refers to, and yet is short and easy to understand. Whether you are a beginner or an intermediate level test user, this book will help you to analyse different types of data in applied settings. It will also give you the confidence to use other statistical software and to extend your expertise to more specific scientific settings as required.The author does not use mathematical form

  6. Statistical analysis of non-homogeneous Poisson processes. Statistical processing of a particle multidetector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lacombe, J.P.

    1985-12-01

    Statistic study of Poisson non-homogeneous and spatial processes is the first part of this thesis. A Neyman-Pearson type test is defined concerning the intensity measurement of these processes. Conditions are given for which consistency of the test is assured, and others giving the asymptotic normality of the test statistics. Then some techniques of statistic processing of Poisson fields and their applications to a particle multidetector study are given. Quality tests of the device are proposed togetherwith signal extraction methods [fr

  7. Determination of Geometrical REVs Based on Volumetric Fracture Intensity and Statistical Tests

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ying Liu

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a method to estimate a representative element volume (REV of a fractured rock mass based on the volumetric fracture intensity P32 and statistical tests. A 150 m × 80 m × 50 m 3D fracture network model was generated based on field data collected at the Maji dam site by using the rectangular window sampling method. The volumetric fracture intensity P32 of each cube was calculated by varying the cube location in the generated 3D fracture network model and varying the cube side length from 1 to 20 m, and the distribution of the P32 values was described. The size effect and spatial effect of the fractured rock mass were studied; the P32 values from the same cube sizes and different locations were significantly different, and the fluctuation in P32 values clearly decreases as the cube side length increases. In this paper, a new method that comprehensively considers the anisotropy of rock masses, simplicity of calculation and differences between different methods was proposed to estimate the geometrical REV size. The geometrical REV size of the fractured rock mass was determined based on the volumetric fracture intensity P32 and two statistical test methods, namely, the likelihood ratio test and the Wald–Wolfowitz runs test. The results of the two statistical tests were substantially different; critical cube sizes of 13 m and 12 m were estimated by the Wald–Wolfowitz runs test and the likelihood ratio test, respectively. Because the different test methods emphasize different considerations and impact factors, considering a result that these two tests accept, the larger cube size, 13 m, was selected as the geometrical REV size of the fractured rock mass at the Maji dam site in China.

  8. A simple and robust statistical framework for planning, analysing and interpreting faecal egg count reduction test (FECRT) studies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Denwood, M.J.; McKendrick, I.J.; Matthews, L.

    Introduction. There is an urgent need for a method of analysing FECRT data that is computationally simple and statistically robust. A method for evaluating the statistical power of a proposed FECRT study would also greatly enhance the current guidelines. Methods. A novel statistical framework has...... been developed that evaluates observed FECRT data against two null hypotheses: (1) the observed efficacy is consistent with the expected efficacy, and (2) the observed efficacy is inferior to the expected efficacy. The method requires only four simple summary statistics of the observed data. Power...... that the notional type 1 error rate of the new statistical test is accurate. Power calculations demonstrate a power of only 65% with a sample size of 20 treatment and control animals, which increases to 69% with 40 control animals or 79% with 40 treatment animals. Discussion. The method proposed is simple...

  9. A comparison of test statistics for the recovery of rapid growth-based enumeration tests

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van den Heuvel, Edwin R.; IJzerman-Boon, Pieta C.

    This paper considers five test statistics for comparing the recovery of a rapid growth-based enumeration test with respect to the compendial microbiological method using a specific nonserial dilution experiment. The finite sample distributions of these test statistics are unknown, because they are

  10. The Use of Statistical Process Control-Charts for Person-Fit Analysis on Computerized Adaptive Testing. LSAC Research Report Series.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meijer, Rob R.; van Krimpen-Stoop, Edith M. L. A.

    In this study a cumulative-sum (CUSUM) procedure from the theory of Statistical Process Control was modified and applied in the context of person-fit analysis in a computerized adaptive testing (CAT) environment. Six person-fit statistics were proposed using the CUSUM procedure, and three of them could be used to investigate the CAT in online test…

  11. A new efficient statistical test for detecting variability in the gene expression data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mathur, Sunil; Dolo, Samuel

    2008-08-01

    DNA microarray technology allows researchers to monitor the expressions of thousands of genes under different conditions. The detection of differential gene expression under two different conditions is very important in microarray studies. Microarray experiments are multi-step procedures and each step is a potential source of variance. This makes the measurement of variability difficult because approach based on gene-by-gene estimation of variance will have few degrees of freedom. It is highly possible that the assumption of equal variance for all the expression levels may not hold. Also, the assumption of normality of gene expressions may not hold. Thus it is essential to have a statistical procedure which is not based on the normality assumption and also it can detect genes with differential variance efficiently. The detection of differential gene expression variance will allow us to identify experimental variables that affect different biological processes and accuracy of DNA microarray measurements.In this article, a new nonparametric test for scale is developed based on the arctangent of the ratio of two expression levels. Most of the tests available in literature require the assumption of normal distribution, which makes them inapplicable in many situations, and it is also hard to verify the suitability of the normal distribution assumption for the given data set. The proposed test does not require the assumption of the distribution for the underlying population and hence makes it more practical and widely applicable. The asymptotic relative efficiency is calculated under different distributions, which show that the proposed test is very powerful when the assumption of normality breaks down. Monte Carlo simulation studies are performed to compare the power of the proposed test with some of the existing procedures. It is found that the proposed test is more powerful than commonly used tests under almost all the distributions considered in the study. A

  12. Two-Sample Statistics for Testing the Equality of Survival Functions Against Improper Semi-parametric Accelerated Failure Time Alternatives: An Application to the Analysis of a Breast Cancer Clinical Trial

    Science.gov (United States)

    BROËT, PHILIPPE; TSODIKOV, ALEXANDER; DE RYCKE, YANN; MOREAU, THIERRY

    2010-01-01

    This paper presents two-sample statistics suited for testing equality of survival functions against improper semi-parametric accelerated failure time alternatives. These tests are designed for comparing either the short- or the long-term effect of a prognostic factor, or both. These statistics are obtained as partial likelihood score statistics from a time-dependent Cox model. As a consequence, the proposed tests can be very easily implemented using widely available software. A breast cancer clinical trial is presented as an example to demonstrate the utility of the proposed tests. PMID:15293627

  13. Two-sample statistics for testing the equality of survival functions against improper semi-parametric accelerated failure time alternatives: an application to the analysis of a breast cancer clinical trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Broët, Philippe; Tsodikov, Alexander; De Rycke, Yann; Moreau, Thierry

    2004-06-01

    This paper presents two-sample statistics suited for testing equality of survival functions against improper semi-parametric accelerated failure time alternatives. These tests are designed for comparing either the short- or the long-term effect of a prognostic factor, or both. These statistics are obtained as partial likelihood score statistics from a time-dependent Cox model. As a consequence, the proposed tests can be very easily implemented using widely available software. A breast cancer clinical trial is presented as an example to demonstrate the utility of the proposed tests.

  14. [Clinical research IV. Relevancy of the statistical test chosen].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Talavera, Juan O; Rivas-Ruiz, Rodolfo

    2011-01-01

    When we look at the difference between two therapies or the association of a risk factor or prognostic indicator with its outcome, we need to evaluate the accuracy of the result. This assessment is based on a judgment that uses information about the study design and statistical management of the information. This paper specifically mentions the relevance of the statistical test selected. Statistical tests are chosen mainly from two characteristics: the objective of the study and type of variables. The objective can be divided into three test groups: a) those in which you want to show differences between groups or inside a group before and after a maneuver, b) those that seek to show the relationship (correlation) between variables, and c) those that aim to predict an outcome. The types of variables are divided in two: quantitative (continuous and discontinuous) and qualitative (ordinal and dichotomous). For example, if we seek to demonstrate differences in age (quantitative variable) among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with and without neurological disease (two groups), the appropriate test is the "Student t test for independent samples." But if the comparison is about the frequency of females (binomial variable), then the appropriate statistical test is the χ(2).

  15. Statistical analysis and planning of multihundred-watt impact tests

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martz, H.F. Jr.; Waterman, M.S.

    1977-10-01

    Modular multihundred-watt (MHW) radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTG's) are used as a power source for spacecraft. Due to possible environmental contamination by radioactive materials, numerous tests are required to determine and verify the safety of the RTG. There are results available from 27 fueled MHW impact tests regarding hoop failure, fingerprint failure, and fuel failure. Data from the 27 tests are statistically analyzed for relationships that exist between the test design variables and the failure types. Next, these relationships are used to develop a statistical procedure for planning and conducting either future MHW impact tests or similar tests on other RTG fuel sources. Finally, some conclusions are given

  16. Statistical tests to compare motif count exceptionalities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vandewalle Vincent

    2007-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Finding over- or under-represented motifs in biological sequences is now a common task in genomics. Thanks to p-value calculation for motif counts, exceptional motifs are identified and represent candidate functional motifs. The present work addresses the related question of comparing the exceptionality of one motif in two different sequences. Just comparing the motif count p-values in each sequence is indeed not sufficient to decide if this motif is significantly more exceptional in one sequence compared to the other one. A statistical test is required. Results We develop and analyze two statistical tests, an exact binomial one and an asymptotic likelihood ratio test, to decide whether the exceptionality of a given motif is equivalent or significantly different in two sequences of interest. For that purpose, motif occurrences are modeled by Poisson processes, with a special care for overlapping motifs. Both tests can take the sequence compositions into account. As an illustration, we compare the octamer exceptionalities in the Escherichia coli K-12 backbone versus variable strain-specific loops. Conclusion The exact binomial test is particularly adapted for small counts. For large counts, we advise to use the likelihood ratio test which is asymptotic but strongly correlated with the exact binomial test and very simple to use.

  17. HOW TO SELECT APPROPRIATE STATISTICAL TEST IN SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vladimir TRAJKOVSKI

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Statistics is mathematical science dealing with the collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of masses of numerical data in order to draw relevant conclusions. Statistics is a form of mathematical analysis that uses quantified models, representations and synopses for a given set of experimental data or real-life studies. The students and young researchers in biomedical sciences and in special education and rehabilitation often declare that they have chosen to enroll that study program because they have lack of knowledge or interest in mathematics. This is a sad statement, but there is much truth in it. The aim of this editorial is to help young researchers to select statistics or statistical techniques and statistical software appropriate for the purposes and conditions of a particular analysis. The most important statistical tests are reviewed in the article. Knowing how to choose right statistical test is an important asset and decision in the research data processing and in the writing of scientific papers. Young researchers and authors should know how to choose and how to use statistical methods. The competent researcher will need knowledge in statistical procedures. That might include an introductory statistics course, and it most certainly includes using a good statistics textbook. For this purpose, there is need to return of Statistics mandatory subject in the curriculum of the Institute of Special Education and Rehabilitation at Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje. Young researchers have a need of additional courses in statistics. They need to train themselves to use statistical software on appropriate way.

  18. Statistical methods for conducting agreement (comparison of clinical tests) and precision (repeatability or reproducibility) studies in optometry and ophthalmology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McAlinden, Colm; Khadka, Jyoti; Pesudovs, Konrad

    2011-07-01

    The ever-expanding choice of ocular metrology and imaging equipment has driven research into the validity of their measurements. Consequently, studies of the agreement between two instruments or clinical tests have proliferated in the ophthalmic literature. It is important that researchers apply the appropriate statistical tests in agreement studies. Correlation coefficients are hazardous and should be avoided. The 'limits of agreement' method originally proposed by Altman and Bland in 1983 is the statistical procedure of choice. Its step-by-step use and practical considerations in relation to optometry and ophthalmology are detailed in addition to sample size considerations and statistical approaches to precision (repeatability or reproducibility) estimates. Ophthalmic & Physiological Optics © 2011 The College of Optometrists.

  19. Monte Carlo testing in spatial statistics, with applications to spatial residuals

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mrkvička, Tomáš; Soubeyrand, Samuel; Myllymäki, Mari

    2016-01-01

    This paper reviews recent advances made in testing in spatial statistics and discussed at the Spatial Statistics conference in Avignon 2015. The rank and directional quantile envelope tests are discussed and practical rules for their use are provided. These tests are global envelope tests...... with an appropriate type I error probability. Two novel examples are given on their usage. First, in addition to the test based on a classical one-dimensional summary function, the goodness-of-fit of a point process model is evaluated by means of the test based on a higher dimensional functional statistic, namely...

  20. A Statistical Perspective on Highly Accelerated Testing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Thomas, Edward V. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

    2015-02-01

    Highly accelerated life testing has been heavily promoted at Sandia (and elsewhere) as a means to rapidly identify product weaknesses caused by flaws in the product's design or manufacturing process. During product development, a small number of units are forced to fail at high stress. The failed units are then examined to determine the root causes of failure. The identification of the root causes of product failures exposed by highly accelerated life testing can instigate changes to the product's design and/or manufacturing process that result in a product with increased reliability. It is widely viewed that this qualitative use of highly accelerated life testing (often associated with the acronym HALT) can be useful. However, highly accelerated life testing has also been proposed as a quantitative means for "demonstrating" the reliability of a product where unreliability is associated with loss of margin via an identified and dominating failure mechanism. It is assumed that the dominant failure mechanism can be accelerated by changing the level of a stress factor that is assumed to be related to the dominant failure mode. In extreme cases, a minimal number of units (often from a pre-production lot) are subjected to a single highly accelerated stress relative to normal use. If no (or, sufficiently few) units fail at this high stress level, some might claim that a certain level of reliability has been demonstrated (relative to normal use conditions). Underlying this claim are assumptions regarding the level of knowledge associated with the relationship between the stress level and the probability of failure. The primary purpose of this document is to discuss (from a statistical perspective) the efficacy of using accelerated life testing protocols (and, in particular, "highly accelerated" protocols) to make quantitative inferences concerning the performance of a product (e.g., reliability) when in fact there is lack-of-knowledge and uncertainty concerning

  1. Kolmogorov complexity, pseudorandom generators and statistical models testing

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Šindelář, Jan; Boček, Pavel

    2002-01-01

    Roč. 38, č. 6 (2002), s. 747-759 ISSN 0023-5954 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA102/99/1564 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z1075907 Keywords : Kolmogorov complexity * pseudorandom generators * statistical models testing Subject RIV: BB - Applied Statistics, Operational Research Impact factor: 0.341, year: 2002

  2. statistical tests for frequency distribution of mean gravity anomalies

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ES Obe

    1980-03-01

    Mar 1, 1980 ... STATISTICAL TESTS FOR FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION OF MEAN. GRAVITY ANOMALIES. By ... approach. Kaula [1,2] discussed the method of applying statistical techniques in the ..... mathematical foundation of physical ...

  3. Understanding the Sampling Distribution and Its Use in Testing Statistical Significance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Breunig, Nancy A.

    Despite the increasing criticism of statistical significance testing by researchers, particularly in the publication of the 1994 American Psychological Association's style manual, statistical significance test results are still popular in journal articles. For this reason, it remains important to understand the logic of inferential statistics. A…

  4. Cosmological Non-Gaussian Signature Detection: Comparing Performance of Different Statistical Tests

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O. Forni

    2005-09-01

    Full Text Available Currently, it appears that the best method for non-Gaussianity detection in the cosmic microwave background (CMB consists in calculating the kurtosis of the wavelet coefficients. We know that wavelet-kurtosis outperforms other methods such as the bispectrum, the genus, ridgelet-kurtosis, and curvelet-kurtosis on an empirical basis, but relatively few studies have compared other transform-based statistics, such as extreme values, or more recent tools such as higher criticism (HC, or proposed “best possible” choices for such statistics. In this paper, we consider two models for transform-domain coefficients: (a a power-law model, which seems suited to the wavelet coefficients of simulated cosmic strings, and (b a sparse mixture model, which seems suitable for the curvelet coefficients of filamentary structure. For model (a, if power-law behavior holds with finite 8th moment, excess kurtosis is an asymptotically optimal detector, but if the 8th moment is not finite, a test based on extreme values is asymptotically optimal. For model (b, if the transform coefficients are very sparse, a recent test, higher criticism, is an optimal detector, but if they are dense, kurtosis is an optimal detector. Empirical wavelet coefficients of simulated cosmic strings have power-law character, infinite 8th moment, while curvelet coefficients of the simulated cosmic strings are not very sparse. In all cases, excess kurtosis seems to be an effective test in moderate-resolution imagery.

  5. Selecting the most appropriate inferential statistical test for your quantitative research study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bettany-Saltikov, Josette; Whittaker, Victoria Jane

    2014-06-01

    To discuss the issues and processes relating to the selection of the most appropriate statistical test. A review of the basic research concepts together with a number of clinical scenarios is used to illustrate this. Quantitative nursing research generally features the use of empirical data which necessitates the selection of both descriptive and statistical tests. Different types of research questions can be answered by different types of research designs, which in turn need to be matched to a specific statistical test(s). Discursive paper. This paper discusses the issues relating to the selection of the most appropriate statistical test and makes some recommendations as to how these might be dealt with. When conducting empirical quantitative studies, a number of key issues need to be considered. Considerations for selecting the most appropriate statistical tests are discussed and flow charts provided to facilitate this process. When nursing clinicians and researchers conduct quantitative research studies, it is crucial that the most appropriate statistical test is selected to enable valid conclusions to be made. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  6. Experiences of the REACH testing proposals system to reduce animal testing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Katy; Stengel, Wolfgang; Casalegno, Carlotta; Andrew, David

    2014-01-01

    In order to reduce animal testing, companies registering chemical substances under the EU REACH legislation must propose rather than conduct certain tests on animals. Third parties can submit 'scientifically valid information' relevant to these proposals to the Agency responsible, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), who are obliged to take the information into account. The European Coalition to End Animal Experiments (ECEAE) provided comments on nearly half of the 817 proposals for vertebrate tests on 480 substances published for comment for the first REACH deadline (between 1 August 2009 and 31 July 2012). The paper summarises the response by registrants and the Agency to third party comments and highlights issues with the use of read across, in vitro tests, QSAR and weight of evidence approaches. Use of existing data and evidence that testing is legally or scientifically unjustified remain the most successful comments for third parties to submit. There is a worrying conservatism within the Agency regarding the acceptance of alternative approaches and examples of where registrants have also failed to maximise opportunities to avoid testing.

  7. Statistical Estimation of Heterogeneities: A New Frontier in Well Testing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neuman, S. P.; Guadagnini, A.; Illman, W. A.; Riva, M.; Vesselinov, V. V.

    2001-12-01

    Well-testing methods have traditionally relied on analytical solutions of groundwater flow equations in relatively simple domains, consisting of one or at most a few units having uniform hydraulic properties. Recently, attention has been shifting toward methods and solutions that would allow one to characterize subsurface heterogeneities in greater detail. On one hand, geostatistical inverse methods are being used to assess the spatial variability of parameters, such as permeability and porosity, on the basis of multiple cross-hole pressure interference tests. On the other hand, analytical solutions are being developed to describe the mean and variance (first and second statistical moments) of flow to a well in a randomly heterogeneous medium. Geostatistical inverse interpretation of cross-hole tests yields a smoothed but detailed "tomographic" image of how parameters actually vary in three-dimensional space, together with corresponding measures of estimation uncertainty. Moment solutions may soon allow one to interpret well tests in terms of statistical parameters such as the mean and variance of log permeability, its spatial autocorrelation and statistical anisotropy. The idea of geostatistical cross-hole tomography is illustrated through pneumatic injection tests conducted in unsaturated fractured tuff at the Apache Leap Research Site near Superior, Arizona. The idea of using moment equations to interpret well-tests statistically is illustrated through a recently developed three-dimensional solution for steady state flow to a well in a bounded, randomly heterogeneous, statistically anisotropic aquifer.

  8. A goodness of fit statistic for the geometric distribution

    OpenAIRE

    Ferreira, J.A.

    2003-01-01

    textabstractWe propose a goodness of fit statistic for the geometric distribution and compare it in terms of power, via simulation, with the chi-square statistic. The statistic is based on the Lau-Rao theorem and can be seen as a discrete analogue of the total time on test statistic. The results suggest that the test based on the new statistic is generally superior to the chi-square test.

  9. 688,112 statistical results : Content mining psychology articles for statistical test results

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hartgerink, C.H.J.

    2016-01-01

    In this data deposit, I describe a dataset that is the result of content mining 167,318 published articles for statistical test results reported according to the standards prescribed by the American Psychological Association (APA). Articles published by the APA, Springer, Sage, and Taylor & Francis

  10. EVALUATION OF A NEW MEAN SCALED AND MOMENT ADJUSTED TEST STATISTIC FOR SEM.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tong, Xiaoxiao; Bentler, Peter M

    2013-01-01

    Recently a new mean scaled and skewness adjusted test statistic was developed for evaluating structural equation models in small samples and with potentially nonnormal data, but this statistic has received only limited evaluation. The performance of this statistic is compared to normal theory maximum likelihood and two well-known robust test statistics. A modification to the Satorra-Bentler scaled statistic is developed for the condition that sample size is smaller than degrees of freedom. The behavior of the four test statistics is evaluated with a Monte Carlo confirmatory factor analysis study that varies seven sample sizes and three distributional conditions obtained using Headrick's fifth-order transformation to nonnormality. The new statistic performs badly in most conditions except under the normal distribution. The goodness-of-fit χ(2) test based on maximum-likelihood estimation performed well under normal distributions as well as under a condition of asymptotic robustness. The Satorra-Bentler scaled test statistic performed best overall, while the mean scaled and variance adjusted test statistic outperformed the others at small and moderate sample sizes under certain distributional conditions.

  11. Statistical test of anarchy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gouvea, Andre de; Murayama, Hitoshi

    2003-01-01

    'Anarchy' is the hypothesis that there is no fundamental distinction among the three flavors of neutrinos. It describes the mixing angles as random variables, drawn from well-defined probability distributions dictated by the group Haar measure. We perform a Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) statistical test to verify whether anarchy is consistent with all neutrino data, including the new result presented by KamLAND. We find a KS probability for Nature's choice of mixing angles equal to 64%, quite consistent with the anarchical hypothesis. In turn, assuming that anarchy is indeed correct, we compute lower bounds on vertical bar U e3 vertical bar 2 , the remaining unknown 'angle' of the leptonic mixing matrix

  12. Corrections of the NIST Statistical Test Suite for Randomness

    OpenAIRE

    Kim, Song-Ju; Umeno, Ken; Hasegawa, Akio

    2004-01-01

    It is well known that the NIST statistical test suite was used for the evaluation of AES candidate algorithms. We have found that the test setting of Discrete Fourier Transform test and Lempel-Ziv test of this test suite are wrong. We give four corrections of mistakes in the test settings. This suggests that re-evaluation of the test results should be needed.

  13. Statistical treatment of fatigue test data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Raske, D.T.

    1980-01-01

    This report discussed several aspects of fatigue data analysis in order to provide a basis for the development of statistically sound design curves. Included is a discussion on the choice of the dependent variable, the assumptions associated with least squares regression models, the variability of fatigue data, the treatment of data from suspended tests and outlying observations, and various strain-life relations

  14. Comparing statistical tests for detecting soil contamination greater than background

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hardin, J.W.; Gilbert, R.O.

    1993-12-01

    The Washington State Department of Ecology (WSDE) recently issued a report that provides guidance on statistical issues regarding investigation and cleanup of soil and groundwater contamination under the Model Toxics Control Act Cleanup Regulation. Included in the report are procedures for determining a background-based cleanup standard and for conducting a 3-step statistical test procedure to decide if a site is contaminated greater than the background standard. The guidance specifies that the State test should only be used if the background and site data are lognormally distributed. The guidance in WSDE allows for using alternative tests on a site-specific basis if prior approval is obtained from WSDE. This report presents the results of a Monte Carlo computer simulation study conducted to evaluate the performance of the State test and several alternative tests for various contamination scenarios (background and site data distributions). The primary test performance criteria are (1) the probability the test will indicate that a contaminated site is indeed contaminated, and (2) the probability that the test will indicate an uncontaminated site is contaminated. The simulation study was conducted assuming the background concentrations were from lognormal or Weibull distributions. The site data were drawn from distributions selected to represent various contamination scenarios. The statistical tests studied are the State test, t test, Satterthwaite's t test, five distribution-free tests, and several tandem tests (wherein two or more tests are conducted using the same data set)

  15. Statistical hypothesis testing and common misinterpretations: Should we abandon p-value in forensic science applications?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taroni, F; Biedermann, A; Bozza, S

    2016-02-01

    Many people regard the concept of hypothesis testing as fundamental to inferential statistics. Various schools of thought, in particular frequentist and Bayesian, have promoted radically different solutions for taking a decision about the plausibility of competing hypotheses. Comprehensive philosophical comparisons about their advantages and drawbacks are widely available and continue to span over large debates in the literature. More recently, controversial discussion was initiated by an editorial decision of a scientific journal [1] to refuse any paper submitted for publication containing null hypothesis testing procedures. Since the large majority of papers published in forensic journals propose the evaluation of statistical evidence based on the so called p-values, it is of interest to expose the discussion of this journal's decision within the forensic science community. This paper aims to provide forensic science researchers with a primer on the main concepts and their implications for making informed methodological choices. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Test for the statistical significance of differences between ROC curves

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Metz, C.E.; Kronman, H.B.

    1979-01-01

    A test for the statistical significance of observed differences between two measured Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves has been designed and evaluated. The set of observer response data for each ROC curve is assumed to be independent and to arise from a ROC curve having a form which, in the absence of statistical fluctuations in the response data, graphs as a straight line on double normal-deviate axes. To test the significance of an apparent difference between two measured ROC curves, maximum likelihood estimates of the two parameters of each curve and the associated parameter variances and covariance are calculated from the corresponding set of observer response data. An approximate Chi-square statistic with two degrees of freedom is then constructed from the differences between the parameters estimated for each ROC curve and from the variances and covariances of these estimates. This statistic is known to be truly Chi-square distributed only in the limit of large numbers of trials in the observer performance experiments. Performance of the statistic for data arising from a limited number of experimental trials was evaluated. Independent sets of rating scale data arising from the same underlying ROC curve were paired, and the fraction of differences found (falsely) significant was compared to the significance level, α, used with the test. Although test performance was found to be somewhat dependent on both the number of trials in the data and the position of the underlying ROC curve in the ROC space, the results for various significance levels showed the test to be reliable under practical experimental conditions

  17. Normality Tests for Statistical Analysis: A Guide for Non-Statisticians

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghasemi, Asghar; Zahediasl, Saleh

    2012-01-01

    Statistical errors are common in scientific literature and about 50% of the published articles have at least one error. The assumption of normality needs to be checked for many statistical procedures, namely parametric tests, because their validity depends on it. The aim of this commentary is to overview checking for normality in statistical analysis using SPSS. PMID:23843808

  18. The statistical background to proposed ASME/MPC fracture toughness reference curves

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oldfield, W.

    1981-01-01

    The ASME Pressure Vessel Codes define, in Sec. 11, lower bound fracture toughness curves. These curves are used to predict the lower bound fracture toughness on the basis of the RT test procedure. This test is used to remove heat to heat differences, by permitting the lower bound (reference) curve to be moved along the temperature scale according to the measured RT. Numerous objections have been raised to the procedure, and a Subcommittee (the ASME/MPC Working Group on Reference Toughness) is currently revising the codified procedures for fracture toughness prediction. The task has required a substantial amount of statistical work, since the new procedure are to have a statistical basis. Using initiation fracture toughness (J-Integral R curve procedures in the ductile domain) it was shown that when CVN energy data is properly transformed it is highly correlated with valid fracture toughness measurements. A single functional relationship can be used to predict the mean fracture toughness for a sample of steel from a set of CVN energy measurements, and the coefficients of the function tabulated. More importantly, the approximate lower statistical bounds to the initiation fracture toughness behaviour can be similarly predicted, and coefficients for selected bounds have also been tabulated. (orig.)

  19. Comparison of small n statistical tests of differential expression applied to microarrays

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lee Anna Y

    2009-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background DNA microarrays provide data for genome wide patterns of expression between observation classes. Microarray studies often have small samples sizes, however, due to cost constraints or specimen availability. This can lead to poor random error estimates and inaccurate statistical tests of differential expression. We compare the performance of the standard t-test, fold change, and four small n statistical test methods designed to circumvent these problems. We report results of various normalization methods for empirical microarray data and of various random error models for simulated data. Results Three Empirical Bayes methods (CyberT, BRB, and limma t-statistics were the most effective statistical tests across simulated and both 2-colour cDNA and Affymetrix experimental data. The CyberT regularized t-statistic in particular was able to maintain expected false positive rates with simulated data showing high variances at low gene intensities, although at the cost of low true positive rates. The Local Pooled Error (LPE test introduced a bias that lowered false positive rates below theoretically expected values and had lower power relative to the top performers. The standard two-sample t-test and fold change were also found to be sub-optimal for detecting differentially expressed genes. The generalized log transformation was shown to be beneficial in improving results with certain data sets, in particular high variance cDNA data. Conclusion Pre-processing of data influences performance and the proper combination of pre-processing and statistical testing is necessary for obtaining the best results. All three Empirical Bayes methods assessed in our study are good choices for statistical tests for small n microarray studies for both Affymetrix and cDNA data. Choice of method for a particular study will depend on software and normalization preferences.

  20. Statistical test theory for the behavioral sciences

    CERN Document Server

    de Gruijter, Dato N M

    2007-01-01

    Since the development of the first intelligence test in the early 20th century, educational and psychological tests have become important measurement techniques to quantify human behavior. Focusing on this ubiquitous yet fruitful area of research, Statistical Test Theory for the Behavioral Sciences provides both a broad overview and a critical survey of assorted testing theories and models used in psychology, education, and other behavioral science fields. Following a logical progression from basic concepts to more advanced topics, the book first explains classical test theory, covering true score, measurement error, and reliability. It then presents generalizability theory, which provides a framework to deal with various aspects of test scores. In addition, the authors discuss the concept of validity in testing, offering a strategy for evidence-based validity. In the two chapters devoted to item response theory (IRT), the book explores item response models, such as the Rasch model, and applications, incl...

  1. Statistical data fusion for cross-tabulation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kamakura, W.A.; Wedel, M.

    The authors address the situation in which a researcher wants to cross-tabulate two sets of discrete variables collected in independent samples, but a subset of the variables is common to both samples. The authors propose a statistical data-fusion model that allows for statistical tests of

  2. The Bayesian Score Statistic

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kleibergen, F.R.; Kleijn, R.; Paap, R.

    2000-01-01

    We propose a novel Bayesian test under a (noninformative) Jeffreys'priorspecification. We check whether the fixed scalar value of the so-calledBayesian Score Statistic (BSS) under the null hypothesis is aplausiblerealization from its known and standardized distribution under thealternative. Unlike

  3. Extending multivariate distance matrix regression with an effect size measure and the asymptotic null distribution of the test statistic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McArtor, Daniel B; Lubke, Gitta H; Bergeman, C S

    2017-12-01

    Person-centered methods are useful for studying individual differences in terms of (dis)similarities between response profiles on multivariate outcomes. Multivariate distance matrix regression (MDMR) tests the significance of associations of response profile (dis)similarities and a set of predictors using permutation tests. This paper extends MDMR by deriving and empirically validating the asymptotic null distribution of its test statistic, and by proposing an effect size for individual outcome variables, which is shown to recover true associations. These extensions alleviate the computational burden of permutation tests currently used in MDMR and render more informative results, thus making MDMR accessible to new research domains.

  4. Analysis of Norwegian bio energy statistics. Quality improvement proposals; Analyse av norsk bioenergistatistikk. Forslag til kvalitetsheving

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2011-07-01

    This report is an assessment of the current model and presentation form of bio energy statistics. It appears proposed revision and enhancement of both collection and data representation. In the context of market development both in general for energy and particularly for bio energy and government targets, a good bio energy statistics form the basis to follow up the objectives and means.(eb)

  5. Use of run statistics to validate tensile tests

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eatherly, W.P.

    1981-01-01

    In tensile testing of irradiated graphites, it is difficult to assure alignment of sample and train for tensile measurements. By recording location of fractures, run (sequential) statistics can readily detect lack of randomness. The technique is based on partitioning binomial distributions

  6. Your Chi-Square Test Is Statistically Significant: Now What?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharpe, Donald

    2015-01-01

    Applied researchers have employed chi-square tests for more than one hundred years. This paper addresses the question of how one should follow a statistically significant chi-square test result in order to determine the source of that result. Four approaches were evaluated: calculating residuals, comparing cells, ransacking, and partitioning. Data…

  7. Reliability Evaluation of Concentric Butterfly Valve Using Statistical Hypothesis Test

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chang, Mu Seong; Choi, Jong Sik; Choi, Byung Oh; Kim, Do Sik [Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-12-15

    A butterfly valve is a type of flow-control device typically used to regulate a fluid flow. This paper presents an estimation of the shape parameter of the Weibull distribution, characteristic life, and B10 life for a concentric butterfly valve based on a statistical analysis of the reliability test data taken before and after the valve improvement. The difference in the shape and scale parameters between the existing and improved valves is reviewed using a statistical hypothesis test. The test results indicate that the shape parameter of the improved valve is similar to that of the existing valve, and that the scale parameter of the improved valve is found to have increased. These analysis results are particularly useful for a reliability qualification test and the determination of the service life cycles.

  8. Reliability Evaluation of Concentric Butterfly Valve Using Statistical Hypothesis Test

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chang, Mu Seong; Choi, Jong Sik; Choi, Byung Oh; Kim, Do Sik

    2015-01-01

    A butterfly valve is a type of flow-control device typically used to regulate a fluid flow. This paper presents an estimation of the shape parameter of the Weibull distribution, characteristic life, and B10 life for a concentric butterfly valve based on a statistical analysis of the reliability test data taken before and after the valve improvement. The difference in the shape and scale parameters between the existing and improved valves is reviewed using a statistical hypothesis test. The test results indicate that the shape parameter of the improved valve is similar to that of the existing valve, and that the scale parameter of the improved valve is found to have increased. These analysis results are particularly useful for a reliability qualification test and the determination of the service life cycles

  9. Statistical test for the distribution of galaxies on plates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garcia Lambas, D.

    1985-01-01

    A statistical test for the distribution of galaxies on plates is presented. We apply the test to synthetic astronomical plates obtained by means of numerical simulation (Garcia Lambas and Sersic 1983) with three different models for the 3-dimensional distribution, comparison with an observational plate, suggest the presence of filamentary structure. (author)

  10. Assessment of the beryllium lymphocyte proliferation test using statistical process control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cher, Daniel J; Deubner, David C; Kelsh, Michael A; Chapman, Pamela S; Ray, Rose M

    2006-10-01

    Despite more than 20 years of surveillance and epidemiologic studies using the beryllium blood lymphocyte proliferation test (BeBLPT) as a measure of beryllium sensitization (BeS) and as an aid for diagnosing subclinical chronic beryllium disease (CBD), improvements in specific understanding of the inhalation toxicology of CBD have been limited. Although epidemiologic data suggest that BeS and CBD risks vary by process/work activity, it has proven difficult to reach specific conclusions regarding the dose-response relationship between workplace beryllium exposure and BeS or subclinical CBD. One possible reason for this uncertainty could be misclassification of BeS resulting from variation in BeBLPT testing performance. The reliability of the BeBLPT, a biological assay that measures beryllium sensitization, is unknown. To assess the performance of four laboratories that conducted this test, we used data from a medical surveillance program that offered testing for beryllium sensitization with the BeBLPT. The study population was workers exposed to beryllium at various facilities over a 10-year period (1992-2001). Workers with abnormal results were offered diagnostic workups for CBD. Our analyses used a standard statistical technique, statistical process control (SPC), to evaluate test reliability. The study design involved a repeated measures analysis of BeBLPT results generated from the company-wide, longitudinal testing. Analytical methods included use of (1) statistical process control charts that examined temporal patterns of variation for the stimulation index, a measure of cell reactivity to beryllium; (2) correlation analysis that compared prior perceptions of BeBLPT instability to the statistical measures of test variation; and (3) assessment of the variation in the proportion of missing test results and how time periods with more missing data influenced SPC findings. During the period of this study, all laboratories displayed variation in test results that

  11. Study designs, use of statistical tests, and statistical analysis software choice in 2015: Results from two Pakistani monthly Medline indexed journals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaikh, Masood Ali

    2017-09-01

    Assessment of research articles in terms of study designs used, statistical tests applied and the use of statistical analysis programmes help determine research activity profile and trends in the country. In this descriptive study, all original articles published by Journal of Pakistan Medical Association (JPMA) and Journal of the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (JCPSP), in the year 2015 were reviewed in terms of study designs used, application of statistical tests, and the use of statistical analysis programmes. JPMA and JCPSP published 192 and 128 original articles, respectively, in the year 2015. Results of this study indicate that cross-sectional study design, bivariate inferential statistical analysis entailing comparison between two variables/groups, and use of statistical software programme SPSS to be the most common study design, inferential statistical analysis, and statistical analysis software programmes, respectively. These results echo previously published assessment of these two journals for the year 2014.

  12. Approximations to the distribution of a test statistic in covariance structure analysis: A comprehensive study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Hao

    2018-05-01

    In structural equation modelling (SEM), a robust adjustment to the test statistic or to its reference distribution is needed when its null distribution deviates from a χ 2 distribution, which usually arises when data do not follow a multivariate normal distribution. Unfortunately, existing studies on this issue typically focus on only a few methods and neglect the majority of alternative methods in statistics. Existing simulation studies typically consider only non-normal distributions of data that either satisfy asymptotic robustness or lead to an asymptotic scaled χ 2 distribution. In this work we conduct a comprehensive study that involves both typical methods in SEM and less well-known methods from the statistics literature. We also propose the use of several novel non-normal data distributions that are qualitatively different from the non-normal distributions widely used in existing studies. We found that several under-studied methods give the best performance under specific conditions, but the Satorra-Bentler method remains the most viable method for most situations. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

  13. Appropriate statistical methods are required to assess diagnostic tests for replacement, add-on, and triage

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hayen, Andrew; Macaskill, Petra; Irwig, Les; Bossuyt, Patrick

    2010-01-01

    To explain which measures of accuracy and which statistical methods should be used in studies to assess the value of a new binary test as a replacement test, an add-on test, or a triage test. Selection and explanation of statistical methods, illustrated with examples. Statistical methods for

  14. A goodness of fit statistic for the geometric distribution

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    J.A. Ferreira

    2003-01-01

    textabstractWe propose a goodness of fit statistic for the geometric distribution and compare it in terms of power, via simulation, with the chi-square statistic. The statistic is based on the Lau-Rao theorem and can be seen as a discrete analogue of the total time on test statistic. The results

  15. THE ATKINSON INDEX, THE MORAN STATISTIC, AND TESTING EXPONENTIALITY

    OpenAIRE

    Nao, Mimoto; Ricardas, Zitikis; Department of Statistics and Probability, Michigan State University; Department of Statistical and Actuarial Sciences, University of Western Ontario

    2008-01-01

    Constructing tests for exponentiality has been an active and fruitful research area, with numerous applications in engineering, biology and other sciences concerned with life-time data. In the present paper, we construct and investigate powerful tests for exponentiality based on two well known quantities: the Atkinson index and the Moran statistic. We provide an extensive study of the performance of the tests and compare them with those already available in the literature.

  16. 688,112 statistical results: Content mining psychology articles for statistical test results

    OpenAIRE

    Hartgerink, C.H.J.

    2016-01-01

    In this data deposit, I describe a dataset that is the result of content mining 167,318 published articles for statistical test results reported according to the standards prescribed by the American Psychological Association (APA). Articles published by the APA, Springer, Sage, and Taylor & Francis were included (mining from Wiley and Elsevier was actively blocked). As a result of this content mining, 688,112 results from 50,845 articles were extracted. In order to provide a comprehensive set...

  17. Proposed Objective Odor Control Test Methodology for Waste Containment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vos, Gordon

    2010-01-01

    The Orion Cockpit Working Group has requested that an odor control testing methodology be proposed to evaluate the odor containment effectiveness of waste disposal bags to be flown on the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle. As a standardized "odor containment" test does not appear to be a matter of record for the project, a new test method is being proposed. This method is based on existing test methods used in industrial hygiene for the evaluation of respirator fit in occupational settings, and takes into consideration peer reviewed documentation of human odor thresholds for standardized contaminates, industry stardnard atmostpheric testing methodologies, and established criteria for laboratory analysis. The proposed methodology is quantitative, though it can readily be complimented with a qualitative subjective assessment. Isoamyl acetate (IAA - also known at isopentyl acetate) is commonly used in respirator fit testing, and there are documented methodologies for both measuring its quantitative airborne concentrations. IAA is a clear, colorless liquid with a banana-like odor, documented detectable smell threshold for humans of 0.025 PPM, and a 15 PPB level of quantation limit.

  18. Testing statistical isotropy in cosmic microwave background polarization maps

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rath, Pranati K.; Samal, Pramoda Kumar; Panda, Srikanta; Mishra, Debesh D.; Aluri, Pavan K.

    2018-04-01

    We apply our symmetry based Power tensor technique to test conformity of PLANCK Polarization maps with statistical isotropy. On a wide range of angular scales (l = 40 - 150), our preliminary analysis detects many statistically anisotropic multipoles in foreground cleaned full sky PLANCK polarization maps viz., COMMANDER and NILC. We also study the effect of residual foregrounds that may still be present in the Galactic plane using both common UPB77 polarization mask, as well as the individual component separation method specific polarization masks. However, some of the statistically anisotropic modes still persist, albeit significantly in NILC map. We further probed the data for any coherent alignments across multipoles in several bins from the chosen multipole range.

  19. Optimal allocation of testing resources for statistical simulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quintana, Carolina; Millwater, Harry R.; Singh, Gulshan; Golden, Patrick

    2015-07-01

    Statistical estimates from simulation involve uncertainty caused by the variability in the input random variables due to limited data. Allocating resources to obtain more experimental data of the input variables to better characterize their probability distributions can reduce the variance of statistical estimates. The methodology proposed determines the optimal number of additional experiments required to minimize the variance of the output moments given single or multiple constraints. The method uses multivariate t-distribution and Wishart distribution to generate realizations of the population mean and covariance of the input variables, respectively, given an amount of available data. This method handles independent and correlated random variables. A particle swarm method is used for the optimization. The optimal number of additional experiments per variable depends on the number and variance of the initial data, the influence of the variable in the output function and the cost of each additional experiment. The methodology is demonstrated using a fretting fatigue example.

  20. Analysis of a proposed crucial test of quantum mechanics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Collett, M.J.; Loudon, R.

    1987-01-01

    An experiment based on an extension of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen argument has been proposed by Popper as a crucial test of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. Here the authors show, by a slightly more complete version of Popper's analysis, although still at a relatively primitive level of sophistication, that the proposed experiment does not in fact provide such a test. (author)

  1. Kepler Planet Detection Metrics: Statistical Bootstrap Test

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jenkins, Jon M.; Burke, Christopher J.

    2016-01-01

    This document describes the data produced by the Statistical Bootstrap Test over the final three Threshold Crossing Event (TCE) deliveries to NExScI: SOC 9.1 (Q1Q16)1 (Tenenbaum et al. 2014), SOC 9.2 (Q1Q17) aka DR242 (Seader et al. 2015), and SOC 9.3 (Q1Q17) aka DR253 (Twicken et al. 2016). The last few years have seen significant improvements in the SOC science data processing pipeline, leading to higher quality light curves and more sensitive transit searches. The statistical bootstrap analysis results presented here and the numerical results archived at NASAs Exoplanet Science Institute (NExScI) bear witness to these software improvements. This document attempts to introduce and describe the main features and differences between these three data sets as a consequence of the software changes.

  2. The Relationship between Test Anxiety and Academic Performance of Students in Vital Statistics Course

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shirin Iranfar

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Test anxiety is a common phenomenon among students and is one of the problems of educational system. The present study was conducted to investigate the test anxiety in vital statistics course and its association with academic performance of students at Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences. This study was descriptive-analytical and the study sample included the students studying in nursing and midwifery, paramedicine and health faculties that had taken vital statistics course and were selected through census method. Sarason questionnaire was used to analyze the test anxiety. Data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings indicated no significant correlation between test anxiety and score of vital statistics course.

  3. Common pitfalls in statistical analysis: The perils of multiple testing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ranganathan, Priya; Pramesh, C. S.; Buyse, Marc

    2016-01-01

    Multiple testing refers to situations where a dataset is subjected to statistical testing multiple times - either at multiple time-points or through multiple subgroups or for multiple end-points. This amplifies the probability of a false-positive finding. In this article, we look at the consequences of multiple testing and explore various methods to deal with this issue. PMID:27141478

  4. Testing statistical self-similarity in the topology of river networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Troutman, Brent M.; Mantilla, Ricardo; Gupta, Vijay K.

    2010-01-01

    Recent work has demonstrated that the topological properties of real river networks deviate significantly from predictions of Shreve's random model. At the same time the property of mean self-similarity postulated by Tokunaga's model is well supported by data. Recently, a new class of network model called random self-similar networks (RSN) that combines self-similarity and randomness has been introduced to replicate important topological features observed in real river networks. We investigate if the hypothesis of statistical self-similarity in the RSN model is supported by data on a set of 30 basins located across the continental United States that encompass a wide range of hydroclimatic variability. We demonstrate that the generators of the RSN model obey a geometric distribution, and self-similarity holds in a statistical sense in 26 of these 30 basins. The parameters describing the distribution of interior and exterior generators are tested to be statistically different and the difference is shown to produce the well-known Hack's law. The inter-basin variability of RSN parameters is found to be statistically significant. We also test generator dependence on two climatic indices, mean annual precipitation and radiative index of dryness. Some indication of climatic influence on the generators is detected, but this influence is not statistically significant with the sample size available. Finally, two key applications of the RSN model to hydrology and geomorphology are briefly discussed.

  5. Towards sensible toxicity testing for nanomaterials: proposal for the specification of test design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Potthoff, Annegret; Meißner, Tobias; Weil, Mirco; Kühnel, Dana

    2015-01-01

    During the last decade, nanomaterials (NM) were extensively tested for potential harmful effects towards humans and environmental organisms. However, a sound hazard assessment was so far hampered by uncertainties and a low comparability of test results. The reason for the low comparability is a high variation in the (1) type of NM tested with regard to raw material, size and shape and (2) procedures before and during the toxicity testing. This calls for tailored, nanomaterial-specific protocols. Here, a structured approach is proposed, intended to lead to test protocols not only tailored to specific types of nanomaterials, but also to respective test system for toxicity testing. There are existing standards on single procedures involving nanomaterials, however, not all relevant procedures are covered by standards. Hence, our approach offers a detailed way of weighting several plausible alternatives for e.g. sample preparation, in order to decide on the procedure most meaningful for a specific nanomaterial and toxicity test. A framework of several decision trees (DT) and flow charts to support testing of NM is proposed as a basis for further refinement and in-depth elaboration. DT and flow charts were drafted for (1) general procedure—physicochemical characterisation, (2) choice of test media, (3) decision on test scenario and application of NM to liquid media, (4) application of NM to the gas phase, (5) application of NM to soil and sediments, (6) dose metrics, (S1) definition of a nanomaterial, and (S2) dissolution. The applicability of the proposed approach was surveyed by using experimental data retrieved from studies on nanoscale CuO. This survey demonstrated the DT and flow charts to be a convenient tool to systematically decide upon test procedures and processes, and hence pose an important step towards harmonisation of NM testing. (paper)

  6. A nonparametric spatial scan statistic for continuous data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jung, Inkyung; Cho, Ho Jin

    2015-10-20

    Spatial scan statistics are widely used for spatial cluster detection, and several parametric models exist. For continuous data, a normal-based scan statistic can be used. However, the performance of the model has not been fully evaluated for non-normal data. We propose a nonparametric spatial scan statistic based on the Wilcoxon rank-sum test statistic and compared the performance of the method with parametric models via a simulation study under various scenarios. The nonparametric method outperforms the normal-based scan statistic in terms of power and accuracy in almost all cases under consideration in the simulation study. The proposed nonparametric spatial scan statistic is therefore an excellent alternative to the normal model for continuous data and is especially useful for data following skewed or heavy-tailed distributions.

  7. Robustness of S1 statistic with Hodges-Lehmann for skewed distributions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahad, Nor Aishah; Yahaya, Sharipah Soaad Syed; Yin, Lee Ping

    2016-10-01

    Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is a common use parametric method to test the differences in means for more than two groups when the populations are normally distributed. ANOVA is highly inefficient under the influence of non- normal and heteroscedastic settings. When the assumptions are violated, researchers are looking for alternative such as Kruskal-Wallis under nonparametric or robust method. This study focused on flexible method, S1 statistic for comparing groups using median as the location estimator. S1 statistic was modified by substituting the median with Hodges-Lehmann and the default scale estimator with the variance of Hodges-Lehmann and MADn to produce two different test statistics for comparing groups. Bootstrap method was used for testing the hypotheses since the sampling distributions of these modified S1 statistics are unknown. The performance of the proposed statistic in terms of Type I error was measured and compared against the original S1 statistic, ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis. The propose procedures show improvement compared to the original statistic especially under extremely skewed distribution.

  8. Combining Multiple Hypothesis Testing with Machine Learning Increases the Statistical Power of Genome-wide Association Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mieth, Bettina; Kloft, Marius; Rodríguez, Juan Antonio; Sonnenburg, Sören; Vobruba, Robin; Morcillo-Suárez, Carlos; Farré, Xavier; Marigorta, Urko M.; Fehr, Ernst; Dickhaus, Thorsten; Blanchard, Gilles; Schunk, Daniel; Navarro, Arcadi; Müller, Klaus-Robert

    2016-01-01

    The standard approach to the analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) is based on testing each position in the genome individually for statistical significance of its association with the phenotype under investigation. To improve the analysis of GWAS, we propose a combination of machine learning and statistical testing that takes correlation structures within the set of SNPs under investigation in a mathematically well-controlled manner into account. The novel two-step algorithm, COMBI, first trains a support vector machine to determine a subset of candidate SNPs and then performs hypothesis tests for these SNPs together with an adequate threshold correction. Applying COMBI to data from a WTCCC study (2007) and measuring performance as replication by independent GWAS published within the 2008–2015 period, we show that our method outperforms ordinary raw p-value thresholding as well as other state-of-the-art methods. COMBI presents higher power and precision than the examined alternatives while yielding fewer false (i.e. non-replicated) and more true (i.e. replicated) discoveries when its results are validated on later GWAS studies. More than 80% of the discoveries made by COMBI upon WTCCC data have been validated by independent studies. Implementations of the COMBI method are available as a part of the GWASpi toolbox 2.0. PMID:27892471

  9. Operational statistical analysis of the results of computer-based testing of students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Виктор Иванович Нардюжев

    2018-12-01

    Full Text Available The article is devoted to the issues of statistical analysis of results of computer-based testing for evaluation of educational achievements of students. The issues are relevant due to the fact that computerbased testing in Russian universities has become an important method for evaluation of educational achievements of students and quality of modern educational process. Usage of modern methods and programs for statistical analysis of results of computer-based testing and assessment of quality of developed tests is an actual problem for every university teacher. The article shows how the authors solve this problem using their own program “StatInfo”. For several years the program has been successfully applied in a credit system of education at such technological stages as loading computerbased testing protocols into a database, formation of queries, generation of reports, lists, and matrices of answers for statistical analysis of quality of test items. Methodology, experience and some results of its usage by university teachers are described in the article. Related topics of a test development, models, algorithms, technologies, and software for large scale computer-based testing has been discussed by the authors in their previous publications which are presented in the reference list.

  10. Cost estimate for a proposed GDF Suez LNG testing program

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Blanchat, Thomas K.; Brady, Patrick Dennis; Jernigan, Dann A.; Luketa, Anay Josephine; Nissen, Mark R.; Lopez, Carlos; Vermillion, Nancy; Hightower, Marion Michael

    2014-02-01

    At the request of GDF Suez, a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) cost estimate was prepared for the design, construction, testing, and data analysis for an experimental series of large-scale (Liquefied Natural Gas) LNG spills on land and water that would result in the largest pool fires and vapor dispersion events ever conducted. Due to the expected cost of this large, multi-year program, the authors utilized Sandia's structured cost estimating methodology. This methodology insures that the efforts identified can be performed for the cost proposed at a plus or minus 30 percent confidence. The scale of the LNG spill, fire, and vapor dispersion tests proposed by GDF could produce hazard distances and testing safety issues that need to be fully explored. Based on our evaluations, Sandia can utilize much of our existing fire testing infrastructure for the large fire tests and some small dispersion tests (with some modifications) in Albuquerque, but we propose to develop a new dispersion testing site at our remote test area in Nevada because of the large hazard distances. While this might impact some testing logistics, the safety aspects warrant this approach. In addition, we have included a proposal to study cryogenic liquid spills on water and subsequent vaporization in the presence of waves. Sandia is working with DOE on applications that provide infrastructure pertinent to wave production. We present an approach to conduct repeatable wave/spill interaction testing that could utilize such infrastructure.

  11. Estimation of In Situ Stresses with Hydro-Fracturing Tests and a Statistical Method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Hikweon; Ong, See Hong

    2018-03-01

    At great depths, where borehole-based field stress measurements such as hydraulic fracturing are challenging due to difficult downhole conditions or prohibitive costs, in situ stresses can be indirectly estimated using wellbore failures such as borehole breakouts and/or drilling-induced tensile failures detected by an image log. As part of such efforts, a statistical method has been developed in which borehole breakouts detected on an image log are used for this purpose (Song et al. in Proceedings on the 7th international symposium on in situ rock stress, 2016; Song and Chang in J Geophys Res Solid Earth 122:4033-4052, 2017). The method employs a grid-searching algorithm in which the least and maximum horizontal principal stresses ( S h and S H) are varied, and the corresponding simulated depth-related breakout width distribution as a function of the breakout angle ( θ B = 90° - half of breakout width) is compared to that observed along the borehole to determine a set of S h and S H having the lowest misfit between them. An important advantage of the method is that S h and S H can be estimated simultaneously in vertical wells. To validate the statistical approach, the method is applied to a vertical hole where a set of field hydraulic fracturing tests have been carried out. The stress estimations using the proposed method were found to be in good agreement with the results interpreted from the hydraulic fracturing test measurements.

  12. Statistical tests for the Gaussian nature of primordial fluctuations through CBR experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Luo, X.

    1994-01-01

    Information about the physical processes that generate the primordial fluctuations in the early Universe can be gained by testing the Gaussian nature of the fluctuations through cosmic microwave background radiation (CBR) temperature anisotropy experiments. One of the crucial aspects of density perturbations that are produced by the standard inflation scenario is that they are Gaussian, whereas seeds produced by topological defects left over from an early cosmic phase transition tend to be non-Gaussian. To carry out this test, sophisticated statistical tools are required. In this paper, we will discuss several such statistical tools, including multivariant skewness and kurtosis, Euler-Poincare characteristics, the three-point temperature correlation function, and Hotelling's T 2 statistic defined through bispectral estimates of a one-dimensional data set. The effect of noise present in the current data is discussed in detail and the COBE 53 GHz data set is analyzed. Our analysis shows that, on the large angular scale to which COBE is sensitive, the statistics are probably Gaussian. On the small angular scales, the importance of Hotelling's T 2 statistic is stressed, and the minimum sample size required to test Gaussianity is estimated. Although the current data set available from various experiments at half-degree scales is still too small, improvement of the data set by roughly a factor of 2 will be enough to test the Gaussianity statistically. On the arc min scale, we analyze the recent RING data through bispectral analysis, and the result indicates possible deviation from Gaussianity. Effects of point sources are also discussed. It is pointed out that the Gaussianity problem can be resolved in the near future by ground-based or balloon-borne experiments

  13. Dissolution comparisons using a Multivariate Statistical Distance (MSD) test and a comparison of various approaches for calculating the measurements of dissolution profile comparison.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cardot, J-M; Roudier, B; Schütz, H

    2017-07-01

    The f 2 test is generally used for comparing dissolution profiles. In cases of high variability, the f 2 test is not applicable, and the Multivariate Statistical Distance (MSD) test is frequently proposed as an alternative by the FDA and EMA. The guidelines provide only general recommendations. MSD tests can be performed either on raw data with or without time as a variable or on parameters of models. In addition, data can be limited-as in the case of the f 2 test-to dissolutions of up to 85% or to all available data. In the context of the present paper, the recommended calculation included all raw dissolution data up to the first point greater than 85% as a variable-without the various times as parameters. The proposed MSD overcomes several drawbacks found in other methods.

  14. Proposal of world network on material testing reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takemoto, Noriyuki; Izumo, Hironobu; Hori, Naohiko; Ishitsuka, Etsuo; Ishihara, Masahiro

    2011-01-01

    Establishment of an international cooperation system of worldwide testing reactor network (world network) is proposed in order to achieve efficient facility utilization and provide high quality irradiation data by role sharing of irradiation tests with materials testing reactors in the world. As for the first step, mutual understanding among materials testing reactors is thought to be necessary. From this point, an international symposium on materials testing reactors (ISMTR) was held to construct the world network from 2008, and a common understanding of world network has begun to be shared. (author)

  15. Near-exact distributions for the block equicorrelation and equivariance likelihood ratio test statistic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coelho, Carlos A.; Marques, Filipe J.

    2013-09-01

    In this paper the authors combine the equicorrelation and equivariance test introduced by Wilks [13] with the likelihood ratio test (l.r.t.) for independence of groups of variables to obtain the l.r.t. of block equicorrelation and equivariance. This test or its single block version may find applications in many areas as in psychology, education, medicine, genetics and they are important "in many tests of multivariate analysis, e.g. in MANOVA, Profile Analysis, Growth Curve analysis, etc" [12, 9]. By decomposing the overall hypothesis into the hypotheses of independence of groups of variables and the hypothesis of equicorrelation and equivariance we are able to obtain the expressions for the overall l.r.t. statistic and its moments. From these we obtain a suitable factorization of the characteristic function (c.f.) of the logarithm of the l.r.t. statistic, which enables us to develop highly manageable and precise near-exact distributions for the test statistic.

  16. Application of the modified chi-square ratio statistic in a stepwise procedure for cascade impactor equivalence testing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weber, Benjamin; Lee, Sau L; Delvadia, Renishkumar; Lionberger, Robert; Li, Bing V; Tsong, Yi; Hochhaus, Guenther

    2015-03-01

    Equivalence testing of aerodynamic particle size distribution (APSD) through multi-stage cascade impactors (CIs) is important for establishing bioequivalence of orally inhaled drug products. Recent work demonstrated that the median of the modified chi-square ratio statistic (MmCSRS) is a promising metric for APSD equivalence testing of test (T) and reference (R) products as it can be applied to a reduced number of CI sites that are more relevant for lung deposition. This metric is also less sensitive to the increased variability often observed for low-deposition sites. A method to establish critical values for the MmCSRS is described here. This method considers the variability of the R product by employing a reference variance scaling approach that allows definition of critical values as a function of the observed variability of the R product. A stepwise CI equivalence test is proposed that integrates the MmCSRS as a method for comparing the relative shapes of CI profiles and incorporates statistical tests for assessing equivalence of single actuation content and impactor sized mass. This stepwise CI equivalence test was applied to 55 published CI profile scenarios, which were classified as equivalent or inequivalent by members of the Product Quality Research Institute working group (PQRI WG). The results of the stepwise CI equivalence test using a 25% difference in MmCSRS as an acceptance criterion provided the best matching with those of the PQRI WG as decisions of both methods agreed in 75% of the 55 CI profile scenarios.

  17. Statistical Symbolic Execution with Informed Sampling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Filieri, Antonio; Pasareanu, Corina S.; Visser, Willem; Geldenhuys, Jaco

    2014-01-01

    Symbolic execution techniques have been proposed recently for the probabilistic analysis of programs. These techniques seek to quantify the likelihood of reaching program events of interest, e.g., assert violations. They have many promising applications but have scalability issues due to high computational demand. To address this challenge, we propose a statistical symbolic execution technique that performs Monte Carlo sampling of the symbolic program paths and uses the obtained information for Bayesian estimation and hypothesis testing with respect to the probability of reaching the target events. To speed up the convergence of the statistical analysis, we propose Informed Sampling, an iterative symbolic execution that first explores the paths that have high statistical significance, prunes them from the state space and guides the execution towards less likely paths. The technique combines Bayesian estimation with a partial exact analysis for the pruned paths leading to provably improved convergence of the statistical analysis. We have implemented statistical symbolic execution with in- formed sampling in the Symbolic PathFinder tool. We show experimentally that the informed sampling obtains more precise results and converges faster than a purely statistical analysis and may also be more efficient than an exact symbolic analysis. When the latter does not terminate symbolic execution with informed sampling can give meaningful results under the same time and memory limits.

  18. Comment on the asymptotics of a distribution-free goodness of fit test statistic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Browne, Michael W; Shapiro, Alexander

    2015-03-01

    In a recent article Jennrich and Satorra (Psychometrika 78: 545-552, 2013) showed that a proof by Browne (British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology 37: 62-83, 1984) of the asymptotic distribution of a goodness of fit test statistic is incomplete because it fails to prove that the orthogonal component function employed is continuous. Jennrich and Satorra (Psychometrika 78: 545-552, 2013) showed how Browne's proof can be completed satisfactorily but this required the development of an extensive and mathematically sophisticated framework for continuous orthogonal component functions. This short note provides a simple proof of the asymptotic distribution of Browne's (British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology 37: 62-83, 1984) test statistic by using an equivalent form of the statistic that does not involve orthogonal component functions and consequently avoids all complicating issues associated with them.

  19. On the Computation of the RMSEA and CFI from the Mean-And-Variance Corrected Test Statistic with Nonnormal Data in SEM.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Savalei, Victoria

    2018-01-01

    A new type of nonnormality correction to the RMSEA has recently been developed, which has several advantages over existing corrections. In particular, the new correction adjusts the sample estimate of the RMSEA for the inflation due to nonnormality, while leaving its population value unchanged, so that established cutoff criteria can still be used to judge the degree of approximate fit. A confidence interval (CI) for the new robust RMSEA based on the mean-corrected ("Satorra-Bentler") test statistic has also been proposed. Follow up work has provided the same type of nonnormality correction for the CFI (Brosseau-Liard & Savalei, 2014). These developments have recently been implemented in lavaan. This note has three goals: a) to show how to compute the new robust RMSEA and CFI from the mean-and-variance corrected test statistic; b) to offer a new CI for the robust RMSEA based on the mean-and-variance corrected test statistic; and c) to caution that the logic of the new nonnormality corrections to RMSEA and CFI is most appropriate for the maximum likelihood (ML) estimator, and cannot easily be generalized to the most commonly used categorical data estimators.

  20. Summary analysis of a Monte Carlo simulation of ecology's statistical guidance and a proposed alternative

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Petersen, S.W.

    1995-11-01

    The State of Washington has recommended a specific statistical test procedure for identifying soil contamination at a potential waste site, referred to here as the State test. An alternative to this test has been presented (DOE/RL 1994), which uses the Wilcoxon Rank Sum, Quantile, and Hot Measurement Comparison tests (WQH). These same tests are recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to determine if soils from a waste site differ from site-specific, reference-based standards

  1. Wilcoxon's signed-rank statistic: what null hypothesis and why it matters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Heng; Johnson, Terri

    2014-01-01

    In statistical literature, the term 'signed-rank test' (or 'Wilcoxon signed-rank test') has been used to refer to two distinct tests: a test for symmetry of distribution and a test for the median of a symmetric distribution, sharing a common test statistic. To avoid potential ambiguity, we propose to refer to those two tests by different names, as 'test for symmetry based on signed-rank statistic' and 'test for median based on signed-rank statistic', respectively. The utility of such terminological differentiation should become evident through our discussion of how those tests connect and contrast with sign test and one-sample t-test. Published 2014. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA. Published 2014. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

  2. Improved Test Planning and Analysis Through the Use of Advanced Statistical Methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, Lawrence L.; Maxwell, Katherine A.; Glass, David E.; Vaughn, Wallace L.; Barger, Weston; Cook, Mylan

    2016-01-01

    The goal of this work is, through computational simulations, to provide statistically-based evidence to convince the testing community that a distributed testing approach is superior to a clustered testing approach for most situations. For clustered testing, numerous, repeated test points are acquired at a limited number of test conditions. For distributed testing, only one or a few test points are requested at many different conditions. The statistical techniques of Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Design of Experiments (DOE) and Response Surface Methods (RSM) are applied to enable distributed test planning, data analysis and test augmentation. The D-Optimal class of DOE is used to plan an optimally efficient single- and multi-factor test. The resulting simulated test data are analyzed via ANOVA and a parametric model is constructed using RSM. Finally, ANOVA can be used to plan a second round of testing to augment the existing data set with new data points. The use of these techniques is demonstrated through several illustrative examples. To date, many thousands of comparisons have been performed and the results strongly support the conclusion that the distributed testing approach outperforms the clustered testing approach.

  3. Statistical Requirements For Pass-Fail Testing Of Contraband Detection Systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gilliam, David M.

    2011-01-01

    Contraband detection systems for homeland security applications are typically tested for probability of detection (PD) and probability of false alarm (PFA) using pass-fail testing protocols. Test protocols usually require specified values for PD and PFA to be demonstrated at a specified level of statistical confidence CL. Based on a recent more theoretical treatment of this subject [1], this summary reviews the definition of CL and provides formulas and spreadsheet functions for constructing tables of general test requirements and for determining the minimum number of tests required. The formulas and tables in this article may be generally applied to many other applications of pass-fail testing, in addition to testing of contraband detection systems.

  4. Statistical inference and Aristotle's Rhetoric.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macdonald, Ranald R

    2004-11-01

    Formal logic operates in a closed system where all the information relevant to any conclusion is present, whereas this is not the case when one reasons about events and states of the world. Pollard and Richardson drew attention to the fact that the reasoning behind statistical tests does not lead to logically justifiable conclusions. In this paper statistical inferences are defended not by logic but by the standards of everyday reasoning. Aristotle invented formal logic, but argued that people mostly get at the truth with the aid of enthymemes--incomplete syllogisms which include arguing from examples, analogies and signs. It is proposed that statistical tests work in the same way--in that they are based on examples, invoke the analogy of a model and use the size of the effect under test as a sign that the chance hypothesis is unlikely. Of existing theories of statistical inference only a weak version of Fisher's takes this into account. Aristotle anticipated Fisher by producing an argument of the form that there were too many cases in which an outcome went in a particular direction for that direction to be plausibly attributed to chance. We can therefore conclude that Aristotle would have approved of statistical inference and there is a good reason for calling this form of statistical inference classical.

  5. Evaluating three proposals for testing independence in non linear spatial processes

    OpenAIRE

    López Hernández, Fernando Antonio; Mate Sánchez-Val, María Luz; Artal Tur, Andrés

    2013-01-01

    [ENG]This paper evaluates the behaviour of different families of tests when checking for spatial independence in the presence of nonlinearities. To reach this goal, we select three representative proposals. The usual parametric tests of I-Moran, the nonparametric proposal of Brett and Pinkse (1997), and the semiparametric Scan test. In order to study how they perform, we simulate different nonlinear spatial structures by Monte Carlo methods, hence conducting empirical tests on ...

  6. P-Value, a true test of statistical significance? a cautionary note ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    While it's not the intention of the founders of significance testing and hypothesis testing to have the two ideas intertwined as if they are complementary, the inconvenient marriage of the two practices into one coherent, convenient, incontrovertible and misinterpreted practice has dotted our standard statistics textbooks and ...

  7. Statistical approach for collaborative tests, reference material certification procedures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fangmeyer, H.; Haemers, L.; Larisse, J.

    1977-01-01

    The first part introduces the different aspects in organizing and executing intercomparison tests of chemical or physical quantities. It follows a description of a statistical procedure to handle the data collected in a circular analysis. Finally, an example demonstrates how the tool can be applied and which conclusion can be drawn of the results obtained

  8. Confidence Intervals: From tests of statistical significance to confidence intervals, range hypotheses and substantial effects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dominic Beaulieu-Prévost

    2006-03-01

    Full Text Available For the last 50 years of research in quantitative social sciences, the empirical evaluation of scientific hypotheses has been based on the rejection or not of the null hypothesis. However, more than 300 articles demonstrated that this method was problematic. In summary, null hypothesis testing (NHT is unfalsifiable, its results depend directly on sample size and the null hypothesis is both improbable and not plausible. Consequently, alternatives to NHT such as confidence intervals (CI and measures of effect size are starting to be used in scientific publications. The purpose of this article is, first, to provide the conceptual tools necessary to implement an approach based on confidence intervals, and second, to briefly demonstrate why such an approach is an interesting alternative to an approach based on NHT. As demonstrated in the article, the proposed CI approach avoids most problems related to a NHT approach and can often improve the scientific and contextual relevance of the statistical interpretations by testing range hypotheses instead of a point hypothesis and by defining the minimal value of a substantial effect. The main advantage of such a CI approach is that it replaces the notion of statistical power by an easily interpretable three-value logic (probable presence of a substantial effect, probable absence of a substantial effect and probabilistic undetermination. The demonstration includes a complete example.

  9. A test statistic in the complex Wishart distribution and its application to change detection in polarimetric SAR data

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Conradsen, Knut; Nielsen, Allan Aasbjerg; Schou, Jesper

    2003-01-01

    . Based on this distribution, a test statistic for equality of two such matrices and an associated asymptotic probability for obtaining a smaller value of the test statistic are derived and applied successfully to change detection in polarimetric SAR data. In a case study, EMISAR L-band data from April 17...... to HH, VV, or HV data alone, the derived test statistic reduces to the well-known gamma likelihood-ratio test statistic. The derived test statistic and the associated significance value can be applied as a line or edge detector in fully polarimetric SAR data also....

  10. A study of statistical tests for near-real-time materials accountancy using field test data of Tokai reprocessing plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ihara, Hitoshi; Nishimura, Hideo; Ikawa, Koji; Miura, Nobuyuki; Iwanaga, Masayuki; Kusano, Toshitsugu.

    1988-03-01

    An Near-Real-Time Materials Accountancy(NRTA) system had been developed as an advanced safeguards measure for PNC Tokai Reprocessing Plant; a minicomputer system for NRTA data processing was designed and constructed. A full scale field test was carried out as a JASPAS(Japan Support Program for Agency Safeguards) project with the Agency's participation and the NRTA data processing system was used. Using this field test data, investigation of the detection power of a statistical test under real circumstances was carried out for five statistical tests, i.e., a significance test of MUF, CUMUF test, average loss test, MUF residual test and Page's test on MUF residuals. The result shows that the CUMUF test, average loss test, MUF residual test and the Page's test on MUF residual test are useful to detect a significant loss or diversion. An unmeasured inventory estimation model for the PNC reprocessing plant was developed in this study. Using this model, the field test data from the C-1 to 85 - 2 campaigns were re-analyzed. (author)

  11. "What If" Analyses: Ways to Interpret Statistical Significance Test Results Using EXCEL or "R"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ozturk, Elif

    2012-01-01

    The present paper aims to review two motivations to conduct "what if" analyses using Excel and "R" to understand the statistical significance tests through the sample size context. "What if" analyses can be used to teach students what statistical significance tests really do and in applied research either prospectively to estimate what sample size…

  12. Testing statistical significance scores of sequence comparison methods with structure similarity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leunissen Jack AM

    2006-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In the past years the Smith-Waterman sequence comparison algorithm has gained popularity due to improved implementations and rapidly increasing computing power. However, the quality and sensitivity of a database search is not only determined by the algorithm but also by the statistical significance testing for an alignment. The e-value is the most commonly used statistical validation method for sequence database searching. The CluSTr database and the Protein World database have been created using an alternative statistical significance test: a Z-score based on Monte-Carlo statistics. Several papers have described the superiority of the Z-score as compared to the e-value, using simulated data. We were interested if this could be validated when applied to existing, evolutionary related protein sequences. Results All experiments are performed on the ASTRAL SCOP database. The Smith-Waterman sequence comparison algorithm with both e-value and Z-score statistics is evaluated, using ROC, CVE and AP measures. The BLAST and FASTA algorithms are used as reference. We find that two out of three Smith-Waterman implementations with e-value are better at predicting structural similarities between proteins than the Smith-Waterman implementation with Z-score. SSEARCH especially has very high scores. Conclusion The compute intensive Z-score does not have a clear advantage over the e-value. The Smith-Waterman implementations give generally better results than their heuristic counterparts. We recommend using the SSEARCH algorithm combined with e-values for pairwise sequence comparisons.

  13. Historical information on ORNL proposals for ECCS testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1976-01-01

    This document contains a compilation of the correspondence and preliminary report which the Oak Ridge National Laboratory submitted to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission on the subject of in situ testing of emergency core cooling systems (ECCS) in pressurized water reactors. Most of the correspondence, which was prepared four to five years ago, deals with an ORNL proposal to evaluate the merits of conducting an in situ ECCS test in a full-scale commercial power plant. The end result of this work was to be a report in which the feasibility of conducting such an experiment would be discussed and a ''rough'' cost estimate provided. In support of this proposal, ORNL prepared a brief preliminary prospectus which identified some of the key questions that were to be addressed should the evaluation study be funded

  14. Ontology matching evaluation : A statistical perspective

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mohammadi, M.; Hofman, W.J.; Tan, Y.H.

    2016-01-01

    This paper proposes statistical approaches to test if the difference between two ontology matchers is real. Specifically, the performances of the matchers over multiple data sets are obtained and based on their performances, the conclusion can be drawn whether one method is better than one another

  15. Ontology matching evaluation : A statistical perspective

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mohammadi, M.; Hofman, Wout; Tan, Y.

    2016-01-01

    This paper proposes statistical approaches to test if the difference between two ontology matchers is real. Specifically, the performances of the matchers over multiple data sets are obtained and based on their performances, the conclusion can be drawn whether one method is better than one

  16. Improving the Crossing-SIBTEST Statistic for Detecting Non-uniform DIF.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chalmers, R Philip

    2018-06-01

    This paper demonstrates that, after applying a simple modification to Li and Stout's (Psychometrika 61(4):647-677, 1996) CSIBTEST statistic, an improved variant of the statistic could be realized. It is shown that this modified version of CSIBTEST has a more direct association with the SIBTEST statistic presented by Shealy and Stout (Psychometrika 58(2):159-194, 1993). In particular, the asymptotic sampling distributions and general interpretation of the effect size estimates are the same for SIBTEST and the new CSIBTEST. Given the more natural connection to SIBTEST, it is shown that Li and Stout's hypothesis testing approach is insufficient for CSIBTEST; thus, an improved hypothesis testing procedure is required. Based on the presented arguments, a new chi-squared-based hypothesis testing approach is proposed for the modified CSIBTEST statistic. Positive results from a modest Monte Carlo simulation study strongly suggest the original CSIBTEST procedure and randomization hypothesis testing approach should be replaced by the modified statistic and hypothesis testing method.

  17. A robust statistical method for association-based eQTL analysis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ning Jiang

    Full Text Available It has been well established that theoretical kernel for recently surging genome-wide association study (GWAS is statistical inference of linkage disequilibrium (LD between a tested genetic marker and a putative locus affecting a disease trait. However, LD analysis is vulnerable to several confounding factors of which population stratification is the most prominent. Whilst many methods have been proposed to correct for the influence either through predicting the structure parameters or correcting inflation in the test statistic due to the stratification, these may not be feasible or may impose further statistical problems in practical implementation.We propose here a novel statistical method to control spurious LD in GWAS from population structure by incorporating a control marker into testing for significance of genetic association of a polymorphic marker with phenotypic variation of a complex trait. The method avoids the need of structure prediction which may be infeasible or inadequate in practice and accounts properly for a varying effect of population stratification on different regions of the genome under study. Utility and statistical properties of the new method were tested through an intensive computer simulation study and an association-based genome-wide mapping of expression quantitative trait loci in genetically divergent human populations.The analyses show that the new method confers an improved statistical power for detecting genuine genetic association in subpopulations and an effective control of spurious associations stemmed from population structure when compared with other two popularly implemented methods in the literature of GWAS.

  18. Statistical correlation of structural mode shapes from test measurements and NASTRAN analytical values

    Science.gov (United States)

    Purves, L.; Strang, R. F.; Dube, M. P.; Alea, P.; Ferragut, N.; Hershfeld, D.

    1983-01-01

    The software and procedures of a system of programs used to generate a report of the statistical correlation between NASTRAN modal analysis results and physical tests results from modal surveys are described. Topics discussed include: a mathematical description of statistical correlation, a user's guide for generating a statistical correlation report, a programmer's guide describing the organization and functions of individual programs leading to a statistical correlation report, and a set of examples including complete listings of programs, and input and output data.

  19. Statistics for X-chromosome associations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Özbek, Umut; Lin, Hui-Min; Lin, Yan; Weeks, Daniel E; Chen, Wei; Shaffer, John R; Purcell, Shaun M; Feingold, Eleanor

    2018-06-13

    In a genome-wide association study (GWAS), association between genotype and phenotype at autosomal loci is generally tested by regression models. However, X-chromosome data are often excluded from published analyses of autosomes because of the difference between males and females in number of X chromosomes. Failure to analyze X-chromosome data at all is obviously less than ideal, and can lead to missed discoveries. Even when X-chromosome data are included, they are often analyzed with suboptimal statistics. Several mathematically sensible statistics for X-chromosome association have been proposed. The optimality of these statistics, however, is based on very specific simple genetic models. In addition, while previous simulation studies of these statistics have been informative, they have focused on single-marker tests and have not considered the types of error that occur even under the null hypothesis when the entire X chromosome is scanned. In this study, we comprehensively tested several X-chromosome association statistics using simulation studies that include the entire chromosome. We also considered a wide range of trait models for sex differences and phenotypic effects of X inactivation. We found that models that do not incorporate a sex effect can have large type I error in some cases. We also found that many of the best statistics perform well even when there are modest deviations, such as trait variance differences between the sexes or small sex differences in allele frequencies, from assumptions. © 2018 WILEY PERIODICALS, INC.

  20. An Efficient Stepwise Statistical Test to Identify Multiple Linked Human Genetic Variants Associated with Specific Phenotypic Traits.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iksoo Huh

    Full Text Available Recent advances in genotyping methodologies have allowed genome-wide association studies (GWAS to accurately identify genetic variants that associate with common or pathological complex traits. Although most GWAS have focused on associations with single genetic variants, joint identification of multiple genetic variants, and how they interact, is essential for understanding the genetic architecture of complex phenotypic traits. Here, we propose an efficient stepwise method based on the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test (for stratified categorical data to identify causal joint multiple genetic variants in GWAS. This method combines the CMH statistic with a stepwise procedure to detect multiple genetic variants associated with specific categorical traits, using a series of associated I × J contingency tables and a null hypothesis of no phenotype association. Through a new stratification scheme based on the sum of minor allele count criteria, we make the method more feasible for GWAS data having sample sizes of several thousands. We also examine the properties of the proposed stepwise method via simulation studies, and show that the stepwise CMH test performs better than other existing methods (e.g., logistic regression and detection of associations by Markov blanket for identifying multiple genetic variants. Finally, we apply the proposed approach to two genomic sequencing datasets to detect linked genetic variants associated with bipolar disorder and obesity, respectively.

  1. Statistical inference for the lifetime performance index based on generalised order statistics from exponential distribution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vali Ahmadi, Mohammad; Doostparast, Mahdi; Ahmadi, Jafar

    2015-04-01

    In manufacturing industries, the lifetime of an item is usually characterised by a random variable X and considered to be satisfactory if X exceeds a given lower lifetime limit L. The probability of a satisfactory item is then ηL := P(X ≥ L), called conforming rate. In industrial companies, however, the lifetime performance index, proposed by Montgomery and denoted by CL, is widely used as a process capability index instead of the conforming rate. Assuming a parametric model for the random variable X, we show that there is a connection between the conforming rate and the lifetime performance index. Consequently, the statistical inferences about ηL and CL are equivalent. Hence, we restrict ourselves to statistical inference for CL based on generalised order statistics, which contains several ordered data models such as usual order statistics, progressively Type-II censored data and records. Various point and interval estimators for the parameter CL are obtained and optimal critical regions for the hypothesis testing problems concerning CL are proposed. Finally, two real data-sets on the lifetimes of insulating fluid and ball bearings, due to Nelson (1982) and Caroni (2002), respectively, and a simulated sample are analysed.

  2. Using Relative Statistics and Approximate Disease Prevalence to Compare Screening Tests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Samuelson, Frank; Abbey, Craig

    2016-11-01

    Schatzkin et al. and other authors demonstrated that the ratios of some conditional statistics such as the true positive fraction are equal to the ratios of unconditional statistics, such as disease detection rates, and therefore we can calculate these ratios between two screening tests on the same population even if negative test patients are not followed with a reference procedure and the true and false negative rates are unknown. We demonstrate that this same property applies to an expected utility metric. We also demonstrate that while simple estimates of relative specificities and relative areas under ROC curves (AUC) do depend on the unknown negative rates, we can write these ratios in terms of disease prevalence, and the dependence of these ratios on a posited prevalence is often weak particularly if that prevalence is small or the performance of the two screening tests is similar. Therefore we can estimate relative specificity or AUC with little loss of accuracy, if we use an approximate value of disease prevalence.

  3. New robust statistical procedures for the polytomous logistic regression models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castilla, Elena; Ghosh, Abhik; Martin, Nirian; Pardo, Leandro

    2018-05-17

    This article derives a new family of estimators, namely the minimum density power divergence estimators, as a robust generalization of the maximum likelihood estimator for the polytomous logistic regression model. Based on these estimators, a family of Wald-type test statistics for linear hypotheses is introduced. Robustness properties of both the proposed estimators and the test statistics are theoretically studied through the classical influence function analysis. Appropriate real life examples are presented to justify the requirement of suitable robust statistical procedures in place of the likelihood based inference for the polytomous logistic regression model. The validity of the theoretical results established in the article are further confirmed empirically through suitable simulation studies. Finally, an approach for the data-driven selection of the robustness tuning parameter is proposed with empirical justifications. © 2018, The International Biometric Society.

  4. Lead-acid batteries in micro-hybrid applications. Part II. Test proposal

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schaeck, S.; Stoermer, A.O. [BMW Group, 80788 Muenchen (Germany); Albers, J. [Johnson Controls Power Solutions EMEA, 30419 Hannover (Germany); Weirather-Koestner, D. [ZSW Ulm, 89081 Ulm (Germany); Kabza, H. [Universitaet Ulm, Institut fuer Energiewandlung und -speicherung, 89081 Ulm (Germany)

    2011-02-01

    In the first part of this work selected key parameters for applying lead-acid (LA) batteries in micro-hybrid power systems (MHPS) were investigated. Main results are integrated in an accelerated, comprehensive test proposal presented here. The test proposal aims at a realistic representation of the pSoC operation regime, which is described in Refs. The test is designed to be sensitive with respect to dynamic charge acceptance (DCA) at partially discharged state (critical for regenerative braking) and the internal resistance at high-rate discharge (critical for idling stop applications). First results are presented for up-to-date valve-regulated LA batteries with absorbent glass mat (AGM) separators. The batteries are close to the limits of the first proposal of pass/fail-criteria. Also flooded batteries were tested; the first out of ten units failed already. (author)

  5. Lead-acid batteries in micro-hybrid applications. Part II. Test proposal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schaeck, S.; Stoermer, A. O.; Albers, J.; Weirather-Koestner, D.; Kabza, H.

    In the first part of this work [1] selected key parameters for applying lead-acid (LA) batteries in micro-hybrid power systems (MHPS) were investigated. Main results are integrated in an accelerated, comprehensive test proposal presented here. The test proposal aims at a realistic representation of the pSoC operation regime, which is described in Refs. [1,6]. The test is designed to be sensitive with respect to dynamic charge acceptance (DCA) at partially discharged state (critical for regenerative braking) and the internal resistance at high-rate discharge (critical for idling stop applications). First results are presented for up-to-date valve-regulated LA batteries with absorbent glass mat (AGM) separators. The batteries are close to the limits of the first proposal of pass/fail-criteria. Also flooded batteries were tested; the first out of ten units failed already.

  6. Comments on Brodsky's statistical methods for evaluating epidemiological results, and reply by Brodsky, A

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Frome, E.L.; Khare, M.

    1980-01-01

    Brodsky's paper 'A Statistical Method for Testing Epidemiological Results, as applied to the Hanford Worker Population', (Health Phys., 36, 611-628, 1979) proposed two test statistics for use in comparing the survival experience of a group of employees and controls. This letter states that both of the test statistics were computed using incorrect formulas and concludes that the results obtained using these statistics may also be incorrect. In his reply Brodsky concurs with the comments on the proper formulation of estimates of pooled standard errors in constructing test statistics but believes that the erroneous formulation does not invalidate the major points, results and discussions of his paper. (author)

  7. Monte Carlo based statistical power analysis for mediation models: methods and software.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Zhiyong

    2014-12-01

    The existing literature on statistical power analysis for mediation models often assumes data normality and is based on a less powerful Sobel test instead of the more powerful bootstrap test. This study proposes to estimate statistical power to detect mediation effects on the basis of the bootstrap method through Monte Carlo simulation. Nonnormal data with excessive skewness and kurtosis are allowed in the proposed method. A free R package called bmem is developed to conduct the power analysis discussed in this study. Four examples, including a simple mediation model, a multiple-mediator model with a latent mediator, a multiple-group mediation model, and a longitudinal mediation model, are provided to illustrate the proposed method.

  8. Paired preference data with a no-preference option – Statistical tests for comparison with placebo data

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Rune Haubo Bojesen; Ennis, John M.; Ennis, Daniel M.

    2014-01-01

    /preference responses or ties in choice experiments. Food Quality and Preference, 23, 13–17) noted that this proportion can depend on the product category, have proposed that the expected proportion of preference responses within a given category be called an identicality norm, and have argued that knowledge...... of such norms is valuable for more complete interpretation of 2-Alternative Choice (2-AC) data. For instance, these norms can be used to indicate consumer segmentation even with non-replicated data. In this paper, we show that the statistical test suggested by Ennis and Ennis (2012a) behaves poorly and has too...... when ingredient changes are considered for cost-reduction or health initiative purposes....

  9. Comment on "Proposal of a critical test of the Navier-Stokes-Fourier paradigm for compressible fluid continua".

    Science.gov (United States)

    Felderhof, B U

    2013-08-01

    Recently, a critical test of the Navier-Stokes-Fourier equations for compressible fluid continua was proposed [H. Brenner, Phys. Rev. E 87, 013014 (2013)]. It was shown that the equations of bivelocity hydrodynamics imply that a compressible fluid in an isolated rotating circular cylinder attains a nonequilibrium steady state with a nonuniform temperature increasing radially with distance from the axis. We demonstrate that statistical mechanical arguments, involving Hamiltonian dynamics and ergodicity due to irregularity of the wall, lead instead to a thermal equilibrium state with uniform temperature. This is the situation to be expected in experiment.

  10. Statistical Method to Overcome Overfitting Issue in Rational Function Models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alizadeh Moghaddam, S. H.; Mokhtarzade, M.; Alizadeh Naeini, A.; Alizadeh Moghaddam, S. A.

    2017-09-01

    Rational function models (RFMs) are known as one of the most appealing models which are extensively applied in geometric correction of satellite images and map production. Overfitting is a common issue, in the case of terrain dependent RFMs, that degrades the accuracy of RFMs-derived geospatial products. This issue, resulting from the high number of RFMs' parameters, leads to ill-posedness of the RFMs. To tackle this problem, in this study, a fast and robust statistical approach is proposed and compared to Tikhonov regularization (TR) method, as a frequently-used solution to RFMs' overfitting. In the proposed method, a statistical test, namely, significance test is applied to search for the RFMs' parameters that are resistant against overfitting issue. The performance of the proposed method was evaluated for two real data sets of Cartosat-1 satellite images. The obtained results demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method in term of the achievable level of accuracy. This technique, indeed, shows an improvement of 50-80% over the TR.

  11. On detection and assessment of statistical significance of Genomic Islands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chaudhuri Probal

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Many of the available methods for detecting Genomic Islands (GIs in prokaryotic genomes use markers such as transposons, proximal tRNAs, flanking repeats etc., or they use other supervised techniques requiring training datasets. Most of these methods are primarily based on the biases in GC content or codon and amino acid usage of the islands. However, these methods either do not use any formal statistical test of significance or use statistical tests for which the critical values and the P-values are not adequately justified. We propose a method, which is unsupervised in nature and uses Monte-Carlo statistical tests based on randomly selected segments of a chromosome. Such tests are supported by precise statistical distribution theory, and consequently, the resulting P-values are quite reliable for making the decision. Results Our algorithm (named Design-Island, an acronym for Detection of Statistically Significant Genomic Island runs in two phases. Some 'putative GIs' are identified in the first phase, and those are refined into smaller segments containing horizontally acquired genes in the refinement phase. This method is applied to Salmonella typhi CT18 genome leading to the discovery of several new pathogenicity, antibiotic resistance and metabolic islands that were missed by earlier methods. Many of these islands contain mobile genetic elements like phage-mediated genes, transposons, integrase and IS elements confirming their horizontal acquirement. Conclusion The proposed method is based on statistical tests supported by precise distribution theory and reliable P-values along with a technique for visualizing statistically significant islands. The performance of our method is better than many other well known methods in terms of their sensitivity and accuracy, and in terms of specificity, it is comparable to other methods.

  12. Testing Self-Similarity Through Lamperti Transformations

    KAUST Repository

    Lee, Myoungji; Genton, Marc G.; Jun, Mikyoung

    2016-01-01

    extensively, while statistical tests for self-similarity are scarce and limited to processes indexed in one dimension. This paper proposes a statistical hypothesis test procedure for self-similarity of a stochastic process indexed in one dimension and multi

  13. MIDAS: Regionally linear multivariate discriminative statistical mapping.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Varol, Erdem; Sotiras, Aristeidis; Davatzikos, Christos

    2018-07-01

    statistical significance of the derived statistic by analytically approximating its null distribution without the need for computationally expensive permutation tests. The proposed framework was extensively validated using simulated atrophy in structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and further tested using data from a task-based functional MRI study as well as a structural MRI study of cognitive performance. The performance of the proposed framework was evaluated against standard voxel-wise general linear models and other information mapping methods. The experimental results showed that MIDAS achieves relatively higher sensitivity and specificity in detecting group differences. Together, our results demonstrate the potential of the proposed approach to efficiently map effects of interest in both structural and functional data. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  14. Statistical test data selection for reliability evalution of process computer software

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Volkmann, K.P.; Hoermann, H.; Ehrenberger, W.

    1976-01-01

    The paper presents a concept for converting knowledge about the characteristics of process states into practicable procedures for the statistical selection of test cases in testing process computer software. Process states are defined as vectors whose components consist of values of input variables lying in discrete positions or within given limits. Two approaches for test data selection, based on knowledge about cases of demand, are outlined referring to a purely probabilistic method and to the mathematics of stratified sampling. (orig.) [de

  15. A powerful score-based test statistic for detecting gene-gene co-association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Jing; Yuan, Zhongshang; Ji, Jiadong; Zhang, Xiaoshuai; Li, Hongkai; Wu, Xuesen; Xue, Fuzhong; Liu, Yanxun

    2016-01-29

    The genetic variants identified by Genome-wide association study (GWAS) can only account for a small proportion of the total heritability for complex disease. The existence of gene-gene joint effects which contains the main effects and their co-association is one of the possible explanations for the "missing heritability" problems. Gene-gene co-association refers to the extent to which the joint effects of two genes differ from the main effects, not only due to the traditional interaction under nearly independent condition but the correlation between genes. Generally, genes tend to work collaboratively within specific pathway or network contributing to the disease and the specific disease-associated locus will often be highly correlated (e.g. single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in linkage disequilibrium). Therefore, we proposed a novel score-based statistic (SBS) as a gene-based method for detecting gene-gene co-association. Various simulations illustrate that, under different sample sizes, marginal effects of causal SNPs and co-association levels, the proposed SBS has the better performance than other existed methods including single SNP-based and principle component analysis (PCA)-based logistic regression model, the statistics based on canonical correlations (CCU), kernel canonical correlation analysis (KCCU), partial least squares path modeling (PLSPM) and delta-square (δ (2)) statistic. The real data analysis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) further confirmed its advantages in practice. SBS is a powerful and efficient gene-based method for detecting gene-gene co-association.

  16. Statistical Engine Knock Control

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stotsky, Alexander A.

    2008-01-01

    A new statistical concept of the knock control of a spark ignition automotive engine is proposed . The control aim is associated with the statistical hy pothesis test which compares the threshold value to the average value of the max imal amplitud e of the knock sensor signal at a given freq uency....... C ontrol algorithm which is used for minimization of the regulation error realizes a simple count-up-count-d own logic. A new ad aptation algorithm for the knock d etection threshold is also d eveloped . C onfi d ence interval method is used as the b asis for ad aptation. A simple statistical mod el...... which includ es generation of the amplitud e signals, a threshold value d etermination and a knock sound mod el is d eveloped for evaluation of the control concept....

  17. A proposed standard round compact specimen for plane strain fracture toughness testing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Underwood, J. H.; Newman, J. C., Jr.; Seeley, R. R.

    1980-01-01

    A round, disk-shaped specimen is proposed as a standard test specimen for addition to ASTM Test for Plane-Strain Fracture Toughness of Metallic Materials (E 399-78A). The specimen is diametrically cracked, and loaded in the same way as the existing standard compact specimen. Tests and analyses were performed to verify that the proposed round compact specimen and associated stress intensity factor K solution are appropriate for a standard plane strain fracture toughness test. The use of the round compact specimen for other fracture tests is described.

  18. A Note on Three Statistical Tests in the Logistic Regression DIF Procedure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paek, Insu

    2012-01-01

    Although logistic regression became one of the well-known methods in detecting differential item functioning (DIF), its three statistical tests, the Wald, likelihood ratio (LR), and score tests, which are readily available under the maximum likelihood, do not seem to be consistently distinguished in DIF literature. This paper provides a clarifying…

  19. An improved test for periodicity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Davies, S.R.

    1990-01-01

    I discuss two widely used methods of testing for periodicity, phase dispersion minimization and epoch-folding. Using an analysis of variance approach, I demonstrate the close relationship between these two methods. I also show that the significance test sometimes used in phase dispersion minimization is statistically inaccurate, and that the test used in epoch-folding is an approximation valid only for large sample sizes. I propose a new test statistic, applicable to either epoch-folding or PDM, which is statistically sound for all sample sizes, and which is also more sensitive to periodicity than the test statistics previously used with these two methods. (author)

  20. Data driven smooth tests for composite hypotheses

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Inglot, Tadeusz; Kallenberg, Wilbert C.M.; Ledwina, Teresa

    1997-01-01

    The classical problem of testing goodness-of-fit of a parametric family is reconsidered. A new test for this problem is proposed and investigated. The new test statistic is a combination of the smooth test statistic and Schwarz's selection rule. More precisely, as the sample size increases, an

  1. Statistical learning modeling method for space debris photometric measurement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Wenjing; Sun, Jinqiu; Zhang, Yanning; Li, Haisen

    2016-03-01

    Photometric measurement is an important way to identify the space debris, but the present methods of photometric measurement have many constraints on star image and need complex image processing. Aiming at the problems, a statistical learning modeling method for space debris photometric measurement is proposed based on the global consistency of the star image, and the statistical information of star images is used to eliminate the measurement noises. First, the known stars on the star image are divided into training stars and testing stars. Then, the training stars are selected as the least squares fitting parameters to construct the photometric measurement model, and the testing stars are used to calculate the measurement accuracy of the photometric measurement model. Experimental results show that, the accuracy of the proposed photometric measurement model is about 0.1 magnitudes.

  2. Comparison of Statistical Methods for Detector Testing Programs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rennie, John Alan [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Abhold, Mark [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

    2016-10-14

    A typical goal for any detector testing program is to ascertain not only the performance of the detector systems under test, but also the confidence that systems accepted using that testing program’s acceptance criteria will exceed a minimum acceptable performance (which is usually expressed as the minimum acceptable success probability, p). A similar problem often arises in statistics, where we would like to ascertain the fraction, p, of a population of items that possess a property that may take one of two possible values. Typically, the problem is approached by drawing a fixed sample of size n, with the number of items out of n that possess the desired property, x, being termed successes. The sample mean gives an estimate of the population mean p ≈ x/n, although usually it is desirable to accompany such an estimate with a statement concerning the range within which p may fall and the confidence associated with that range. Procedures for establishing such ranges and confidence limits are described in detail by Clopper, Brown, and Agresti for two-sided symmetric confidence intervals.

  3. Jsub(Ic)-testing of A-533 B - statistical evaluation of some different testing techniques

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nilsson, F.

    1978-01-01

    The purpose of the present study was to compare statistically some different methods for the evaluation of fracture toughness of the nuclear reactor material A-533 B. Since linear elastic fracture mechanics is not applicable to this material at the interesting temperature (275 0 C), the so-called Jsub(Ic) testing method was employed. Two main difficulties are inherent in this type of testing. The first one is to determine the quantity J as a function of the deflection of the three-point bend specimens used. Three different techniques were used, the first two based on the experimentally observed input of energy to the specimen and the third employing finite element calculations. The second main problem is to determine the point when crack growth begins. For this, two methods were used, a direct electrical method and the indirect R-curve method. A total of forty specimens were tested at two laboratories. No statistically significant different results were obtained from the respective laboratories. The three methods of calculating J yielded somewhat different results, although the discrepancy was small. Also the two methods of determination of the growth initiation point yielded consistent results. The R-curve method, however, exhibited a larger uncertainty as measured by the standard deviation. The resulting Jsub(Ic) value also agreed well with earlier presented results. The relative standard deviation was of the order of 25%, which is quite small for this type of experiment. (author)

  4. Evaluating Two Models of Collaborative Tests in an Online Introductory Statistics Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Björnsdóttir, Auðbjörg; Garfield, Joan; Everson, Michelle

    2015-01-01

    This study explored the use of two different types of collaborative tests in an online introductory statistics course. A study was designed and carried out to investigate three research questions: (1) What is the difference in students' learning between using consensus and non-consensus collaborative tests in the online environment?, (2) What is…

  5. An Unsupervised Method of Change Detection in Multi-Temporal PolSAR Data Using a Test Statistic and an Improved K&I Algorithm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jinqi Zhao

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, multi-temporal imagery from spaceborne sensors has provided a fast and practical means for surveying and assessing changes in terrain surfaces. Owing to the all-weather imaging capability, polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR has become a key tool for change detection. Change detection methods include both unsupervised and supervised methods. Supervised change detection, which needs some human intervention, is generally ineffective and impractical. Due to this limitation, unsupervised methods are widely used in change detection. The traditional unsupervised methods only use a part of the polarization information, and the required thresholding algorithms are independent of the multi-temporal data, which results in the change detection map being ineffective and inaccurate. To solve these problems, a novel method of change detection using a test statistic based on the likelihood ratio test and the improved Kittler and Illingworth (K&I minimum-error thresholding algorithm is introduced in this paper. The test statistic is used to generate the comparison image (CI of the multi-temporal PolSAR images, and improved K&I using a generalized Gaussian model simulates the distribution of the CI. As a result of these advantages, we can obtain the change detection map using an optimum threshold. The efficiency of the proposed method is demonstrated by the use of multi-temporal PolSAR images acquired by RADARSAT-2 over Wuhan, China. The experimental results show that the proposed method is effective and highly accurate.

  6. Observations in the statistical analysis of NBG-18 nuclear graphite strength tests

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hindley, Michael P.; Mitchell, Mark N.; Blaine, Deborah C.; Groenwold, Albert A.

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► Statistical analysis of NBG-18 nuclear graphite strength test. ► A Weibull distribution and normal distribution is tested for all data. ► A Bimodal distribution in the CS data is confirmed. ► The CS data set has the lowest variance. ► A Combined data set is formed and has Weibull distribution. - Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to report on the selection of a statistical distribution chosen to represent the experimental material strength of NBG-18 nuclear graphite. Three large sets of samples were tested during the material characterisation of the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor and Core Structure Ceramics materials. These sets of samples are tensile strength, flexural strength and compressive strength (CS) measurements. A relevant statistical fit is determined and the goodness of fit is also evaluated for each data set. The data sets are also normalised for ease of comparison, and combined into one representative data set. The validity of this approach is demonstrated. A second failure mode distribution is found on the CS test data. Identifying this failure mode supports the similar observations made in the past. The success of fitting the Weibull distribution through the normalised data sets allows us to improve the basis for the estimates of the variability. This could also imply that the variability on the graphite strength for the different strength measures is based on the same flaw distribution and thus a property of the material.

  7. Reply: Birnbaum's (2012 statistical tests of independence have unknown Type-I error rates and do not replicate within participant

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yun-shil Cha

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Birnbaum (2011, 2012 questioned the iid (independent and identically distributed sampling assumptions used by state-of-the-art statistical tests in Regenwetter, Dana and Davis-Stober's (2010, 2011 analysis of the ``linear order model''. Birnbaum (2012 cited, but did not use, a test of iid by Smith and Batchelder (2008 with analytically known properties. Instead, he created two new test statistics with unknown sampling distributions. Our rebuttal has five components: 1 We demonstrate that the Regenwetter et al. data pass Smith and Batchelder's test of iid with flying colors. 2 We provide evidence from Monte Carlo simulations that Birnbaum's (2012 proposed tests have unknown Type-I error rates, which depend on the actual choice probabilities and on how data are coded as well as on the null hypothesis of iid sampling. 3 Birnbaum analyzed only a third of Regenwetter et al.'s data. We show that his two new tests fail to replicate on the other two-thirds of the data, within participants. 4 Birnbaum selectively picked data of one respondent to suggest that choice probabilities may have changed partway into the experiment. Such nonstationarity could potentially cause a seemingly good fit to be a Type-II error. We show that the linear order model fits equally well if we allow for warm-up effects. 5 Using hypothetical data, Birnbaum (2012 claimed to show that ``true-and-error'' models for binary pattern probabilities overcome the alleged short-comings of Regenwetter et al.'s approach. We disprove this claim on the same data.

  8. Understanding Statistics and Statistics Education: A Chinese Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Ning-Zhong; He, Xuming; Tao, Jian

    2009-01-01

    In recent years, statistics education in China has made great strides. However, there still exists a fairly large gap with the advanced levels of statistics education in more developed countries. In this paper, we identify some existing problems in statistics education in Chinese schools and make some proposals as to how they may be overcome. We…

  9. Statistical evaluation of waveform collapse reveals scale-free properties of neuronal avalanches

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aleena eShaukat

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Neural avalanches are a prominent form of brain activity characterized by network-wide bursts whose statistics follow a power-law distribution with a slope near 3/2. Recent work suggests that avalanches of different durations can be rescaled and thus collapsed together. This collapse mirrors work in statistical physics where it is proposed to form a signature of systems evolving in a critical state. However, no rigorous statistical test has been proposed to examine the degree to which neuronal avalanches collapse together. Here, we describe a statistical test based on functional data analysis, where raw avalanches are first smoothed with a Fourier basis, then rescaled using a time-warping function. Finally, an F ratio test combined with a bootstrap permutation is employed to determine if avalanches collapse together in a statistically reliable fashion. To illustrate this approach, we recorded avalanches from cortical cultures on multielectrode arrays as in previous work. Analyses show that avalanches of various durations can be collapsed together in a statistically robust fashion. However, a principal components analysis revealed that the offset of avalanches resulted in marked variance in the time-warping function, thus arguing for limitations to the strict fractal nature of avalanche dynamics. We compared these results with those obtained from cultures treated with an AMPA/NMDA receptor antagonist (APV/DNQX, which yield a power-law of avalanche durations with a slope greater than 3/2. When collapsed together, these avalanches showed marked misalignments both at onset and offset time-points. In sum, the proposed statistical evaluation suggests the presence of scale-free avalanche waveforms and constitutes an avenue for examining critical dynamics in neuronal systems.

  10. Performing Inferential Statistics Prior to Data Collection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trafimow, David; MacDonald, Justin A.

    2017-01-01

    Typically, in education and psychology research, the investigator collects data and subsequently performs descriptive and inferential statistics. For example, a researcher might compute group means and use the null hypothesis significance testing procedure to draw conclusions about the populations from which the groups were drawn. We propose an…

  11. Statistical testing and power analysis for brain-wide association study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gong, Weikang; Wan, Lin; Lu, Wenlian; Ma, Liang; Cheng, Fan; Cheng, Wei; Grünewald, Stefan; Feng, Jianfeng

    2018-04-05

    The identification of connexel-wise associations, which involves examining functional connectivities between pairwise voxels across the whole brain, is both statistically and computationally challenging. Although such a connexel-wise methodology has recently been adopted by brain-wide association studies (BWAS) to identify connectivity changes in several mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, autism and depression, the multiple correction and power analysis methods designed specifically for connexel-wise analysis are still lacking. Therefore, we herein report the development of a rigorous statistical framework for connexel-wise significance testing based on the Gaussian random field theory. It includes controlling the family-wise error rate (FWER) of multiple hypothesis testings using topological inference methods, and calculating power and sample size for a connexel-wise study. Our theoretical framework can control the false-positive rate accurately, as validated empirically using two resting-state fMRI datasets. Compared with Bonferroni correction and false discovery rate (FDR), it can reduce false-positive rate and increase statistical power by appropriately utilizing the spatial information of fMRI data. Importantly, our method bypasses the need of non-parametric permutation to correct for multiple comparison, thus, it can efficiently tackle large datasets with high resolution fMRI images. The utility of our method is shown in a case-control study. Our approach can identify altered functional connectivities in a major depression disorder dataset, whereas existing methods fail. A software package is available at https://github.com/weikanggong/BWAS. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. The Statistic Test on Influence of Surface Treatment to Fatigue Lifetime with Limited Data

    OpenAIRE

    Suhartono, Agus

    2009-01-01

    Justifications on the influences of two or more parameters on fatigue strength are some times problematic due to the scatter nature of the fatigue data. Statistic test can facilitate the evaluation, whether the changes in material characteristics as a result of specific parameters of interest is significant. The statistic tests were applied to fatigue data of AISI 1045 steel specimens. The specimens are consisted of as received specimen, shot peened specimen with 15 and 16 Almen intensity as ...

  13. Conducting tests for statistically significant differences using forest inventory data

    Science.gov (United States)

    James A. Westfall; Scott A. Pugh; John W. Coulston

    2013-01-01

    Many forest inventory and monitoring programs are based on a sample of ground plots from which estimates of forest resources are derived. In addition to evaluating metrics such as number of trees or amount of cubic wood volume, it is often desirable to make comparisons between resource attributes. To properly conduct statistical tests for differences, it is imperative...

  14. Statistics applied to the testing of cladding tubes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Perdijon, J.

    1987-01-01

    Cladding tubes, either steel or zircaloy, are generally given a 100 % inspection through ultrasonic non-destructive testing. This inspection may be completed beneficially with an eddy current test, as this is not sensitive to the same defects as those typically traced by ultrasonic testing. Unfortunately, the two methods (as with other non-destructive tests) exhibit poor precision; this means that a flaw, whose size is close to that denoted as rejection limit, may be accepted or rejected. Currently, rejection, i.e. the measurement above which a tube is rejected, is generally determined through measuring a calibration tube at regular time intervals, and the signal of a given tube is compared to that of the most recently completed calibration. This measurement is thus subject to variations which can be attributed to an actual shift of adjustments as well as to poor precision. For this reason, monitoring instrument adjustments using the so-called control chart method are proposed

  15. Development and testing of improved statistical wind power forecasting methods.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mendes, J.; Bessa, R.J.; Keko, H.; Sumaili, J.; Miranda, V.; Ferreira, C.; Gama, J.; Botterud, A.; Zhou, Z.; Wang, J. (Decision and Information Sciences); (INESC Porto)

    2011-12-06

    (with spatial and/or temporal dependence). Statistical approaches to uncertainty forecasting basically consist of estimating the uncertainty based on observed forecasting errors. Quantile regression (QR) is currently a commonly used approach in uncertainty forecasting. In Chapter 3, we propose new statistical approaches to the uncertainty estimation problem by employing kernel density forecast (KDF) methods. We use two estimators in both offline and time-adaptive modes, namely, the Nadaraya-Watson (NW) and Quantilecopula (QC) estimators. We conduct detailed tests of the new approaches using QR as a benchmark. One of the major issues in wind power generation are sudden and large changes of wind power output over a short period of time, namely ramping events. In Chapter 4, we perform a comparative study of existing definitions and methodologies for ramp forecasting. We also introduce a new probabilistic method for ramp event detection. The method starts with a stochastic algorithm that generates wind power scenarios, which are passed through a high-pass filter for ramp detection and estimation of the likelihood of ramp events to happen. The report is organized as follows: Chapter 2 presents the results of the application of ITL training criteria to deterministic WPF; Chapter 3 reports the study on probabilistic WPF, including new contributions to wind power uncertainty forecasting; Chapter 4 presents a new method to predict and visualize ramp events, comparing it with state-of-the-art methodologies; Chapter 5 briefly summarizes the main findings and contributions of this report.

  16. A proposed test for the determination of the grindability of fine materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Levin, J.

    1984-01-01

    The grindability of ores is generally determined by the Bond standard grindability test. However, this test is not applicable to fine matetials such as sands; the grindability of fine materials must therefore be determined by a comparative grinding method, for which a reference material of known grindability is required. Suitable reference materials are not easily obtained, and a grindability test that does not depend on reference materials is needed. This report proposes such a test and records the results of some tests on the validity of the proposed method. The proposed grindability test uses the Bond standard test mill and a quantity called the 'equivalent energy per minute', which is the energy per minute that would be used by the mill if it were scaled up to a wet-grinding industrial mill of 2,44m (8 ft) diameter. The value of this quantity, denoted by E, was calculated from the results of Bond standard grindability test on various materials, and an average value of 1425X10- 6 kW.h/min was determined. It is suggested that values far removed from this figure indicate that the ores concerned do not conform to the Bond Law of Comminution. The proposed grindability test was applied to seven samples of ore from industrial secondary grinding mills and to one sample of sand, and good agreement was found between the energy consumption calculated in the laboratory tests and those reported for the operating plants. The energy consumption calculated from the results of the Bond standard grindability test agreed fairly well with the plant data for the secondary grinding circuits, but the correlation for the primary grinding circuit was erratic

  17. Common pitfalls in statistical analysis: Understanding the properties of diagnostic tests - Part 1.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ranganathan, Priya; Aggarwal, Rakesh

    2018-01-01

    In this article in our series on common pitfalls in statistical analysis, we look at some of the attributes of diagnostic tests (i.e., tests which are used to determine whether an individual does or does not have disease). The next article in this series will focus on further issues related to diagnostic tests.

  18. Testing University Rankings Statistically: Why this Perhaps is not such a Good Idea after All. Some Reflections on Statistical Power, Effect Size, Random Sampling and Imaginary Populations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schneider, Jesper Wiborg

    2012-01-01

    In this paper we discuss and question the use of statistical significance tests in relation to university rankings as recently suggested. We outline the assumptions behind and interpretations of statistical significance tests and relate this to examples from the recent SCImago Institutions Rankin...

  19. Efficient p-value evaluation for resampling-based tests

    KAUST Repository

    Yu, K.

    2011-01-05

    The resampling-based test, which often relies on permutation or bootstrap procedures, has been widely used for statistical hypothesis testing when the asymptotic distribution of the test statistic is unavailable or unreliable. It requires repeated calculations of the test statistic on a large number of simulated data sets for its significance level assessment, and thus it could become very computationally intensive. Here, we propose an efficient p-value evaluation procedure by adapting the stochastic approximation Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm. The new procedure can be used easily for estimating the p-value for any resampling-based test. We show through numeric simulations that the proposed procedure can be 100-500 000 times as efficient (in term of computing time) as the standard resampling-based procedure when evaluating a test statistic with a small p-value (e.g. less than 10( - 6)). With its computational burden reduced by this proposed procedure, the versatile resampling-based test would become computationally feasible for a much wider range of applications. We demonstrate the application of the new method by applying it to a large-scale genetic association study of prostate cancer.

  20. Design of durability test protocol for vehicular fuel cell systems operated in power-follow mode based on statistical results of on-road data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Liangfei; Reimer, Uwe; Li, Jianqiu; Huang, Haiyan; Hu, Zunyan; Jiang, Hongliang; Janßen, Holger; Ouyang, Minggao; Lehnert, Werner

    2018-02-01

    City buses using polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells are considered to be the most likely fuel cell vehicles to be commercialized in China. The technical specifications of the fuel cell systems (FCSs) these buses are equipped with will differ based on the powertrain configurations and vehicle control strategies, but can generally be classified into the power-follow and soft-run modes. Each mode imposes different levels of electrochemical stress on the fuel cells. Evaluating the aging behavior of fuel cell stacks under the conditions encountered in fuel cell buses requires new durability test protocols based on statistical results obtained during actual driving tests. In this study, we propose a systematic design method for fuel cell durability test protocols that correspond to the power-follow mode based on three parameters for different fuel cell load ranges. The powertrain configurations and control strategy are described herein, followed by a presentation of the statistical data for the duty cycles of FCSs in one city bus in the demonstration project. Assessment protocols are presented based on the statistical results using mathematical optimization methods, and are compared to existing protocols with respect to common factors, such as time at open circuit voltage and root-mean-square power.

  1. A Comparison of Several Statistical Tests of Reciprocity of Self-Disclosure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dindia, Kathryn

    1988-01-01

    Reports the results of a study that used several statistical tests of reciprocity of self-disclosure. Finds little evidence for reciprocity of self-disclosure, and concludes that either reciprocity is an illusion, or that different or more sophisticated methods are needed to detect it. (MS)

  2. Data-driven inference for the spatial scan statistic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Almeida, Alexandre C L; Duarte, Anderson R; Duczmal, Luiz H; Oliveira, Fernando L P; Takahashi, Ricardo H C

    2011-08-02

    Kulldorff's spatial scan statistic for aggregated area maps searches for clusters of cases without specifying their size (number of areas) or geographic location in advance. Their statistical significance is tested while adjusting for the multiple testing inherent in such a procedure. However, as is shown in this work, this adjustment is not done in an even manner for all possible cluster sizes. A modification is proposed to the usual inference test of the spatial scan statistic, incorporating additional information about the size of the most likely cluster found. A new interpretation of the results of the spatial scan statistic is done, posing a modified inference question: what is the probability that the null hypothesis is rejected for the original observed cases map with a most likely cluster of size k, taking into account only those most likely clusters of size k found under null hypothesis for comparison? This question is especially important when the p-value computed by the usual inference process is near the alpha significance level, regarding the correctness of the decision based in this inference. A practical procedure is provided to make more accurate inferences about the most likely cluster found by the spatial scan statistic.

  3. The proposed 'concordance-statistic for benefit' provided a useful metric when modeling heterogeneous treatment effects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Klaveren, David; Steyerberg, Ewout W; Serruys, Patrick W; Kent, David M

    2018-02-01

    Clinical prediction models that support treatment decisions are usually evaluated for their ability to predict the risk of an outcome rather than treatment benefit-the difference between outcome risk with vs. without therapy. We aimed to define performance metrics for a model's ability to predict treatment benefit. We analyzed data of the Synergy between Percutaneous Coronary Intervention with Taxus and Cardiac Surgery (SYNTAX) trial and of three recombinant tissue plasminogen activator trials. We assessed alternative prediction models with a conventional risk concordance-statistic (c-statistic) and a novel c-statistic for benefit. We defined observed treatment benefit by the outcomes in pairs of patients matched on predicted benefit but discordant for treatment assignment. The 'c-for-benefit' represents the probability that from two randomly chosen matched patient pairs with unequal observed benefit, the pair with greater observed benefit also has a higher predicted benefit. Compared to a model without treatment interactions, the SYNTAX score II had improved ability to discriminate treatment benefit (c-for-benefit 0.590 vs. 0.552), despite having similar risk discrimination (c-statistic 0.725 vs. 0.719). However, for the simplified stroke-thrombolytic predictive instrument (TPI) vs. the original stroke-TPI, the c-for-benefit (0.584 vs. 0.578) was similar. The proposed methodology has the potential to measure a model's ability to predict treatment benefit not captured with conventional performance metrics. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Testing the statistical isotropy of large scale structure with multipole vectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zunckel, Caroline; Huterer, Dragan; Starkman, Glenn D.

    2011-01-01

    A fundamental assumption in cosmology is that of statistical isotropy - that the Universe, on average, looks the same in every direction in the sky. Statistical isotropy has recently been tested stringently using cosmic microwave background data, leading to intriguing results on large angular scales. Here we apply some of the same techniques used in the cosmic microwave background to the distribution of galaxies on the sky. Using the multipole vector approach, where each multipole in the harmonic decomposition of galaxy density field is described by unit vectors and an amplitude, we lay out the basic formalism of how to reconstruct the multipole vectors and their statistics out of galaxy survey catalogs. We apply the algorithm to synthetic galaxy maps, and study the sensitivity of the multipole vector reconstruction accuracy to the density, depth, sky coverage, and pixelization of galaxy catalog maps.

  5. Statistics

    CERN Document Server

    Hayslett, H T

    1991-01-01

    Statistics covers the basic principles of Statistics. The book starts by tackling the importance and the two kinds of statistics; the presentation of sample data; the definition, illustration and explanation of several measures of location; and the measures of variation. The text then discusses elementary probability, the normal distribution and the normal approximation to the binomial. Testing of statistical hypotheses and tests of hypotheses about the theoretical proportion of successes in a binomial population and about the theoretical mean of a normal population are explained. The text the

  6. Resemblance profiles as clustering decision criteria: Estimating statistical power, error, and correspondence for a hypothesis test for multivariate structure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kilborn, Joshua P; Jones, David L; Peebles, Ernst B; Naar, David F

    2017-04-01

    Clustering data continues to be a highly active area of data analysis, and resemblance profiles are being incorporated into ecological methodologies as a hypothesis testing-based approach to clustering multivariate data. However, these new clustering techniques have not been rigorously tested to determine the performance variability based on the algorithm's assumptions or any underlying data structures. Here, we use simulation studies to estimate the statistical error rates for the hypothesis test for multivariate structure based on dissimilarity profiles (DISPROF). We concurrently tested a widely used algorithm that employs the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) to estimate the proficiency of clustering with DISPROF as a decision criterion. We simulated unstructured multivariate data from different probability distributions with increasing numbers of objects and descriptors, and grouped data with increasing overlap, overdispersion for ecological data, and correlation among descriptors within groups. Using simulated data, we measured the resolution and correspondence of clustering solutions achieved by DISPROF with UPGMA against the reference grouping partitions used to simulate the structured test datasets. Our results highlight the dynamic interactions between dataset dimensionality, group overlap, and the properties of the descriptors within a group (i.e., overdispersion or correlation structure) that are relevant to resemblance profiles as a clustering criterion for multivariate data. These methods are particularly useful for multivariate ecological datasets that benefit from distance-based statistical analyses. We propose guidelines for using DISPROF as a clustering decision tool that will help future users avoid potential pitfalls during the application of methods and the interpretation of results.

  7. Statistical characteristics of mechanical heart valve cavitation in accelerated testing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Changfu; Hwang, Ned H C; Lin, Yu-Kweng M

    2004-07-01

    Cavitation damage has been observed on mechanical heart valves (MHVs) undergoing accelerated testing. Cavitation itself can be modeled as a stochastic process, as it varies from beat to beat of the testing machine. This in-vitro study was undertaken to investigate the statistical characteristics of MHV cavitation. A 25-mm St. Jude Medical bileaflet MHV (SJM 25) was tested in an accelerated tester at various pulse rates, ranging from 300 to 1,000 bpm, with stepwise increments of 100 bpm. A miniature pressure transducer was placed near a leaflet tip on the inflow side of the valve, to monitor regional transient pressure fluctuations at instants of valve closure. The pressure trace associated with each beat was passed through a 70 kHz high-pass digital filter to extract the high-frequency oscillation (HFO) components resulting from the collapse of cavitation bubbles. Three intensity-related measures were calculated for each HFO burst: its time span; its local root-mean-square (LRMS) value; and the area enveloped by the absolute value of the HFO pressure trace and the time axis, referred to as cavitation impulse. These were treated as stochastic processes, of which the first-order probability density functions (PDFs) were estimated for each test rate. Both the LRMS value and cavitation impulse were log-normal distributed, and the time span was normal distributed. These distribution laws were consistent at different test rates. The present investigation was directed at understanding MHV cavitation as a stochastic process. The results provide a basis for establishing further the statistical relationship between cavitation intensity and time-evolving cavitation damage on MHV surfaces. These data are required to assess and compare the performance of MHVs of different designs.

  8. TRANSIT TIMING OBSERVATIONS FROM KEPLER. VI. POTENTIALLY INTERESTING CANDIDATE SYSTEMS FROM FOURIER-BASED STATISTICAL TESTS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Steffen, Jason H.; Ford, Eric B.; Rowe, Jason F.; Borucki, William J.; Bryson, Steve; Caldwell, Douglas A.; Jenkins, Jon M.; Koch, David G.; Sanderfer, Dwight T.; Seader, Shawn; Twicken, Joseph D.; Fabrycky, Daniel C.; Holman, Matthew J.; Welsh, William F.; Batalha, Natalie M.; Ciardi, David R.; Kjeldsen, Hans; Prša, Andrej

    2012-01-01

    We analyze the deviations of transit times from a linear ephemeris for the Kepler Objects of Interest (KOI) through quarter six of science data. We conduct two statistical tests for all KOIs and a related statistical test for all pairs of KOIs in multi-transiting systems. These tests identify several systems which show potentially interesting transit timing variations (TTVs). Strong TTV systems have been valuable for the confirmation of planets and their mass measurements. Many of the systems identified in this study should prove fruitful for detailed TTV studies.

  9. Transit timing observations from Kepler. VI. Potentially interesting candidate systems from fourier-based statistical tests

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Steffen, J.H.; Ford, E.B.; Rowe, J.F.

    2012-01-01

    We analyze the deviations of transit times from a linear ephemeris for the Kepler Objects of Interest (KOI) through quarter six of science data. We conduct two statistical tests for all KOIs and a related statistical test for all pairs of KOIs in multi-transiting systems. These tests identify...... several systems which show potentially interesting transit timing variations (TTVs). Strong TTV systems have been valuable for the confirmation of planets and their mass measurements. Many of the systems identified in this study should prove fruitful for detailed TTV studies....

  10. Price limits and stock market efficiency: Evidence from rolling bicorrelation test statistic

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lim, Kian-Ping; Brooks, Robert D.

    2009-01-01

    Using the rolling bicorrelation test statistic, the present paper compares the efficiency of stock markets from China, Korea and Taiwan in selected sub-periods with different price limits regimes. The statistical results do not support the claims that restrictive price limits and price limits per se are jeopardizing market efficiency. However, the evidence does not imply that price limits have no effect on the price discovery process but rather suggesting that market efficiency is not merely determined by price limits.

  11. A testing procedure for wind turbine generators based on the power grid statistical model

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Farajzadehbibalan, Saber; Ramezani, Mohammad Hossein; Nielsen, Peter

    2017-01-01

    In this study, a comprehensive test procedure is developed to test wind turbine generators with a hardware-in-loop setup. The procedure employs the statistical model of the power grid considering the restrictions of the test facility and system dynamics. Given the model in the latent space...

  12. Proposed experimental test of an alternative electrodynamic theory of superconductors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hirsch, J.E., E-mail: jhirsch@ucsd.edu

    2015-01-15

    Highlights: • A new experimental test of electric screening in superconductors is proposed. • The electric screening length is predicted to be much larger than in normal metals. • The reason this was not seen in earlier experiments is explained. • This is not predicted by the conventional BCS theory of superconductivity. - Abstract: An alternative form of London’s electrodynamic theory of superconductors predicts that the electrostatic screening length is the same as the magnetic penetration depth. We argue that experiments performed to date do not rule out this alternative formulation and propose an experiment to test it. Experimental evidence in its favor would have fundamental implications for the understanding of superconductivity.

  13. Outcomes Definitions and Statistical Tests in Oncology Studies: A Systematic Review of the Reporting Consistency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rivoirard, Romain; Duplay, Vianney; Oriol, Mathieu; Tinquaut, Fabien; Chauvin, Franck; Magne, Nicolas; Bourmaud, Aurelie

    2016-01-01

    Quality of reporting for Randomized Clinical Trials (RCTs) in oncology was analyzed in several systematic reviews, but, in this setting, there is paucity of data for the outcomes definitions and consistency of reporting for statistical tests in RCTs and Observational Studies (OBS). The objective of this review was to describe those two reporting aspects, for OBS and RCTs in oncology. From a list of 19 medical journals, three were retained for analysis, after a random selection: British Medical Journal (BMJ), Annals of Oncology (AoO) and British Journal of Cancer (BJC). All original articles published between March 2009 and March 2014 were screened. Only studies whose main outcome was accompanied by a corresponding statistical test were included in the analysis. Studies based on censored data were excluded. Primary outcome was to assess quality of reporting for description of primary outcome measure in RCTs and of variables of interest in OBS. A logistic regression was performed to identify covariates of studies potentially associated with concordance of tests between Methods and Results parts. 826 studies were included in the review, and 698 were OBS. Variables were described in Methods section for all OBS studies and primary endpoint was clearly detailed in Methods section for 109 RCTs (85.2%). 295 OBS (42.2%) and 43 RCTs (33.6%) had perfect agreement for reported statistical test between Methods and Results parts. In multivariable analysis, variable "number of included patients in study" was associated with test consistency: aOR (adjusted Odds Ratio) for third group compared to first group was equal to: aOR Grp3 = 0.52 [0.31-0.89] (P value = 0.009). Variables in OBS and primary endpoint in RCTs are reported and described with a high frequency. However, statistical tests consistency between methods and Results sections of OBS is not always noted. Therefore, we encourage authors and peer reviewers to verify consistency of statistical tests in oncology studies.

  14. A statistical test for outlier identification in data envelopment analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Morteza Khodabin

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available In the use of peer group data to assess individual, typical or best practice performance, the effective detection of outliers is critical for achieving useful results. In these ‘‘deterministic’’ frontier models, statistical theory is now mostly available. This paper deals with the statistical pared sample method and its capability of detecting outliers in data envelopment analysis. In the presented method, each observation is deleted from the sample once and the resulting linear program is solved, leading to a distribution of efficiency estimates. Based on the achieved distribution, a pared test is designed to identify the potential outlier(s. We illustrate the method through a real data set. The method could be used in a first step, as an exploratory data analysis, before using any frontier estimation.

  15. Diagonal Likelihood Ratio Test for Equality of Mean Vectors in High-Dimensional Data

    KAUST Repository

    Hu, Zongliang

    2017-10-27

    We propose a likelihood ratio test framework for testing normal mean vectors in high-dimensional data under two common scenarios: the one-sample test and the two-sample test with equal covariance matrices. We derive the test statistics under the assumption that the covariance matrices follow a diagonal matrix structure. In comparison with the diagonal Hotelling\\'s tests, our proposed test statistics display some interesting characteristics. In particular, they are a summation of the log-transformed squared t-statistics rather than a direct summation of those components. More importantly, to derive the asymptotic normality of our test statistics under the null and local alternative hypotheses, we do not require the assumption that the covariance matrix follows a diagonal matrix structure. As a consequence, our proposed test methods are very flexible and can be widely applied in practice. Finally, simulation studies and a real data analysis are also conducted to demonstrate the advantages of our likelihood ratio test method.

  16. Diagonal Likelihood Ratio Test for Equality of Mean Vectors in High-Dimensional Data

    KAUST Repository

    Hu, Zongliang; Tong, Tiejun; Genton, Marc G.

    2017-01-01

    We propose a likelihood ratio test framework for testing normal mean vectors in high-dimensional data under two common scenarios: the one-sample test and the two-sample test with equal covariance matrices. We derive the test statistics under the assumption that the covariance matrices follow a diagonal matrix structure. In comparison with the diagonal Hotelling's tests, our proposed test statistics display some interesting characteristics. In particular, they are a summation of the log-transformed squared t-statistics rather than a direct summation of those components. More importantly, to derive the asymptotic normality of our test statistics under the null and local alternative hypotheses, we do not require the assumption that the covariance matrix follows a diagonal matrix structure. As a consequence, our proposed test methods are very flexible and can be widely applied in practice. Finally, simulation studies and a real data analysis are also conducted to demonstrate the advantages of our likelihood ratio test method.

  17. Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistical test for analysis of ZAP-70 expression in B-CLL, compared with quantitative PCR and IgV(H) mutation status.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Bockstaele, Femke; Janssens, Ann; Piette, Anne; Callewaert, Filip; Pede, Valerie; Offner, Fritz; Verhasselt, Bruno; Philippé, Jan

    2006-07-15

    ZAP-70 has been proposed as a surrogate marker for immunoglobulin heavy-chain variable region (IgV(H)) mutation status, which is known as a prognostic marker in B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The flow cytometric analysis of ZAP-70 suffers from difficulties in standardization and interpretation. We applied the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) statistical test to make analysis more straightforward. We examined ZAP-70 expression by flow cytometry in 53 patients with CLL. Analysis was performed as initially described by Crespo et al. (New England J Med 2003; 348:1764-1775) and alternatively by application of the KS statistical test comparing T cells with B cells. Receiver-operating-characteristics (ROC)-curve analyses were performed to determine the optimal cut-off values for ZAP-70 measured by the two approaches. ZAP-70 protein expression was compared with ZAP-70 mRNA expression measured by a quantitative PCR (qPCR) and with the IgV(H) mutation status. Both flow cytometric analyses correlated well with the molecular technique and proved to be of equal value in predicting the IgV(H) mutation status. Applying the KS test is reproducible, simple, straightforward, and overcomes a number of difficulties encountered in the Crespo-method. The KS statistical test is an essential part of the software delivered with modern routine analytical flow cytometers and is well suited for analysis of ZAP-70 expression in CLL. (c) 2006 International Society for Analytical Cytology.

  18. Quantum Statistical Testing of a Quantum Random Number Generator

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Humble, Travis S [ORNL

    2014-01-01

    The unobservable elements in a quantum technology, e.g., the quantum state, complicate system verification against promised behavior. Using model-based system engineering, we present methods for verifying the opera- tion of a prototypical quantum random number generator. We begin with the algorithmic design of the QRNG followed by the synthesis of its physical design requirements. We next discuss how quantum statistical testing can be used to verify device behavior as well as detect device bias. We conclude by highlighting how system design and verification methods must influence effort to certify future quantum technologies.

  19. Spurious Seasonality Detection: A Non-Parametric Test Proposal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aurelio F. Bariviera

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper offers a general and comprehensive definition of the day-of-the-week effect. Using symbolic dynamics, we develop a unique test based on ordinal patterns in order to detect it. This test uncovers the fact that the so-called “day-of-the-week” effect is partly an artifact of the hidden correlation structure of the data. We present simulations based on artificial time series as well. While time series generated with long memory are prone to exhibit daily seasonality, pure white noise signals exhibit no pattern preference. Since ours is a non-parametric test, it requires no assumptions about the distribution of returns, so that it could be a practical alternative to conventional econometric tests. We also made an exhaustive application of the here-proposed technique to 83 stock indexes around the world. Finally, the paper highlights the relevance of symbolic analysis in economic time series studies.

  20. Test the Overall Significance of p-values by Using Joint Tail Probability of Ordered p-values as Test Statistic

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fang, Yongxiang; Wit, Ernst

    2008-01-01

    Fisher’s combined probability test is the most commonly used method to test the overall significance of a set independent p-values. However, it is very obviously that Fisher’s statistic is more sensitive to smaller p-values than to larger p-value and a small p-value may overrule the other p-values

  1. Data-driven inference for the spatial scan statistic

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Duczmal Luiz H

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Kulldorff's spatial scan statistic for aggregated area maps searches for clusters of cases without specifying their size (number of areas or geographic location in advance. Their statistical significance is tested while adjusting for the multiple testing inherent in such a procedure. However, as is shown in this work, this adjustment is not done in an even manner for all possible cluster sizes. Results A modification is proposed to the usual inference test of the spatial scan statistic, incorporating additional information about the size of the most likely cluster found. A new interpretation of the results of the spatial scan statistic is done, posing a modified inference question: what is the probability that the null hypothesis is rejected for the original observed cases map with a most likely cluster of size k, taking into account only those most likely clusters of size k found under null hypothesis for comparison? This question is especially important when the p-value computed by the usual inference process is near the alpha significance level, regarding the correctness of the decision based in this inference. Conclusions A practical procedure is provided to make more accurate inferences about the most likely cluster found by the spatial scan statistic.

  2. GENIUS-TF - a test facility for the GENIUS project. Proposal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Klapdor-Kleingrothaus, H.V.; Dietz, A.; Heusser, G.

    2001-02-01

    GENIUS is a proposal for a large scale detector of rare events. As a first step of the experiment, a small test version, the Genius Test-Facility is proposed to be built up at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS). With about 40 kg of natural Ge detectors operated in liquid nitrogen, Genius-TF could exclude (or directly confirm) the DAMA annual modulation signature within about two years of measurement using both, signal and signature of the claimed WIMP Dark matter. The funding of the experiment has already been approved and four 2.5 kg germanium detectors with an extreme low treshold of 500 eV have been produced. The installation can be started immediately. No additional space in the Underground Laboratory is required. (orig.)

  3. A new statistic for the analysis of circular data in gamma-ray astronomy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Protheroe, R. J.

    1985-01-01

    A new statistic is proposed for the analysis of circular data. The statistic is designed specifically for situations where a test of uniformity is required which is powerful against alternatives in which a small fraction of the observations is grouped in a small range of directions, or phases.

  4. Mathematical statistics

    CERN Document Server

    Pestman, Wiebe R

    2009-01-01

    This textbook provides a broad and solid introduction to mathematical statistics, including the classical subjects hypothesis testing, normal regression analysis, and normal analysis of variance. In addition, non-parametric statistics and vectorial statistics are considered, as well as applications of stochastic analysis in modern statistics, e.g., Kolmogorov-Smirnov testing, smoothing techniques, robustness and density estimation. For students with some elementary mathematical background. With many exercises. Prerequisites from measure theory and linear algebra are presented.

  5. Proposal of a segmentation procedure for skid resistance data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tejeda, S. V.; Tampier, Hernan de Solominihac; Navarro, T.E.

    2008-01-01

    Skin resistance of pavements presents a high spatial variability along a road. This pavement characteristic is directly related to wet weather accidents; therefore, it is important to identify and characterize the skid resistance of homogeneous segments along a road in order to implement proper road safety management. Several data segmentation methods have been applied to other pavement characteristics (e.g. roughness). However, no application to skin resistance data was found during the literature review for this study. Typical segmentation methods are rather too general or too specific to ensure a detailed segmentation of skid resistance data, which can be used for managing pavement performance. The main objective of this paper is to propose a procedure for segmenting skid resistance data, based on existing data segmentation methods. The procedure needs to be efficient and to fulfill road management requirements. The proposed procedure considers the Leverage method to identify outlier data, the CUSUM method to accomplish initial data segmentation and a statistical method to group consecutive segments that are statistically similar. The statistical method applies the Student's t-test of mean equities, along with analysis of variance and the Tuckey test for the multiple comparison of means. The proposed procedure was applied to a sample of skid resistance data measured with SCRIM (Side Force Coefficient Routine Investigatory Machine) on a 4.2 km section of Chilean road and was compared to conventional segmentation methods. Results showed that the proposed procedure is more efficient than the conventional segmentation procedures, achieving the minimum weighted sum of square errors (SSEp) with all the identified segments statistically different. Due to its mathematical basis, proposed procedure can be easily adapted and programmed for use in road safety management. (author)

  6. Speech emotion recognition based on statistical pitch model

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    WANG Zhiping; ZHAO Li; ZOU Cairong

    2006-01-01

    A modified Parzen-window method, which keep high resolution in low frequencies and keep smoothness in high frequencies, is proposed to obtain statistical model. Then, a gender classification method utilizing the statistical model is proposed, which have a 98% accuracy of gender classification while long sentence is dealt with. By separation the male voice and female voice, the mean and standard deviation of speech training samples with different emotion are used to create the corresponding emotion models. Then the Bhattacharyya distance between the test sample and statistical models of pitch, are utilized for emotion recognition in speech.The normalization of pitch for the male voice and female voice are also considered, in order to illustrate them into a uniform space. Finally, the speech emotion recognition experiment based on K Nearest Neighbor shows that, the correct rate of 81% is achieved, where it is only 73.85%if the traditional parameters are utilized.

  7. IEEE Std 101-1987: IEEE guide for the statistical analysis of thermal life test data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1992-01-01

    This revision of IEEE Std 101-1972 describes statistical analyses for data from thermally accelerated aging tests. It explains the basis and use of statistical calculations for an engineer or scientist. Accelerated test procedures usually call for a number of specimens to be aged at each of several temperatures appreciably above normal operating temperatures. High temperatures are chosen to produce specimen failures (according to specified failure criteria) in typically one week to one year. The test objective is to determine the dependence of median life on temperature from the data, and to estimate, by extrapolation, the median life to be expected at service temperature. This guide presents methods for analyzing such data and for comparing test data on different materials

  8. Application of statistical methods to the testing of nuclear counting assemblies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gilbert, J.P.; Friedling, G.

    1965-01-01

    This report describes the application of the hypothesis test theory to the control of the 'statistical purity' and of the stability of the counting batteries used for measurements on activation detectors in research reactors. The principles involved and the experimental results obtained at Cadarache on batteries operating with the reactors PEGGY and AZUR are given. (authors) [fr

  9. Proposed sealing field tests for a potential high-level radioactive waste repository in unsaturated tuff

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fernandez, J.A.; Case, J.B.; Tyburski, J.

    1992-01-01

    This paper contains a general description of the field tests proposed for the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project repository sealing program. The tests are intended to resolve various performance and emplacement concerns associated with sealing components. Ten discrete tests are proposed to address these concerns. These tests are divided into two categories -- simple and complex tests. The simple tests are: the small-scale in situ tests: the intermediate-scale borehole seal tests; the fracture grouting tests; the surface backfill tests; and the grouted rock mass tests. The complex tests are the seepage control tests; in situ backfill tests; in situ bulkhead tests; large-scale shaft seal tests; and remote borehole seal tests. These tests are proposed to be performed in welded and nonwelded tuff environments. The final selection of sealing tests will depend on the nature of the geologic and hydrologic conditions encountered during the development of the exploratory studies facility. Some tests may be performed before license application and some after license application

  10. A log-Weibull spatial scan statistic for time to event data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Usman, Iram; Rosychuk, Rhonda J

    2018-06-13

    Spatial scan statistics have been used for the identification of geographic clusters of elevated numbers of cases of a condition such as disease outbreaks. These statistics accompanied by the appropriate distribution can also identify geographic areas with either longer or shorter time to events. Other authors have proposed the spatial scan statistics based on the exponential and Weibull distributions. We propose the log-Weibull as an alternative distribution for the spatial scan statistic for time to events data and compare and contrast the log-Weibull and Weibull distributions through simulation studies. The effect of type I differential censoring and power have been investigated through simulated data. Methods are also illustrated on time to specialist visit data for discharged patients presenting to emergency departments for atrial fibrillation and flutter in Alberta during 2010-2011. We found northern regions of Alberta had longer times to specialist visit than other areas. We proposed the spatial scan statistic for the log-Weibull distribution as a new approach for detecting spatial clusters for time to event data. The simulation studies suggest that the test performs well for log-Weibull data.

  11. Incorporation of systematic uncertainties in statistical decision rules

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wichers, V.A.

    1994-02-01

    The influence of systematic uncertainties on statistical hypothesis testing is an underexposed subject. Systematic uncertainties cannot be incorporated in hypothesis tests, but they deteriorate the performance of these tests. A wrong treatment of systematic uncertainties in verification applications in safeguards leads to false assessment of the strength of the safeguards measure, and thus undermines the safeguards system. The effects of systematic uncertainties on decision errors in hypothesis testing are analyzed quantitatively for an example from the safeguards practice. (LEU-HEU verification of UF 6 enrichment in centrifuge enrichment plants). It is found that the only proper way to tackle systematic uncertainties is reduction to sufficiently low levels; criteria for these are proposed. Although conclusions were obtained from study of a single practical application, it is believed that they hold generally: for all sources of systematic uncertainties, all statistical decision rules, and all applications. (orig./HP)

  12. A proposal for the measurement of graphical statistics effectiveness: Does it enhance or interfere with statistical reasoning?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Agus, M; Penna, M P; Peró-Cebollero, M; Guàrdia-Olmos, J

    2015-01-01

    Numerous studies have examined students' difficulties in understanding some notions related to statistical problems. Some authors observed that the presentation of distinct visual representations could increase statistical reasoning, supporting the principle of graphical facilitation. But other researchers disagree with this viewpoint, emphasising the impediments related to the use of illustrations that could overcharge the cognitive system with insignificant data. In this work we aim at comparing the probabilistic statistical reasoning regarding two different formats of problem presentations: graphical and verbal-numerical. We have conceived and presented five pairs of homologous simple problems in the verbal numerical and graphical format to 311 undergraduate Psychology students (n=156 in Italy and n=155 in Spain) without statistical expertise. The purpose of our work was to evaluate the effect of graphical facilitation in probabilistic statistical reasoning. Every undergraduate has solved each pair of problems in two formats in different problem presentation orders and sequences. Data analyses have highlighted that the effect of graphical facilitation is infrequent in psychology undergraduates. This effect is related to many factors (as knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and anxiety); moreover it might be considered the resultant of interaction between individual and task characteristics

  13. Proposed waste form performance criteria and testing methods for low-level mixed waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Franz, E.M.; Fuhrmann, M.; Bowerman, B.; Bates, S.; Peters, R.

    1994-08-01

    This document describes proposed waste form performance criteria and testing method that could be used as guidance in judging viability of a waste form as a physico-chemical barrier to releases of radionuclides and RCRA regulated hazardous components. It is assumed that release of contaminants by leaching is the single most important property by which the effectiveness of a waste form is judged. A two-tier regimen is proposed. The first tier includes a leach test required by the Environmental Protection Agency and a leach test designed to determine the net forward leach rate for a variety of materials. The second tier of tests are to determine if a set of stresses (i.e., radiation, freeze-thaw, wet-dry cycling) on the waste form adversely impact its ability to retain contaminants and remain physically intact. It is recommended that the first tier tests be performed first to determine acceptability. Only on passing the given specifications for the leach tests should other tests be performed. In the absence of site-specific performance assessments (PA), two generic modeling exercises are described which were used to calculate proposed acceptable leach rates

  14. Statistical Significance for Hierarchical Clustering

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kimes, Patrick K.; Liu, Yufeng; Hayes, D. Neil; Marron, J. S.

    2017-01-01

    Summary Cluster analysis has proved to be an invaluable tool for the exploratory and unsupervised analysis of high dimensional datasets. Among methods for clustering, hierarchical approaches have enjoyed substantial popularity in genomics and other fields for their ability to simultaneously uncover multiple layers of clustering structure. A critical and challenging question in cluster analysis is whether the identified clusters represent important underlying structure or are artifacts of natural sampling variation. Few approaches have been proposed for addressing this problem in the context of hierarchical clustering, for which the problem is further complicated by the natural tree structure of the partition, and the multiplicity of tests required to parse the layers of nested clusters. In this paper, we propose a Monte Carlo based approach for testing statistical significance in hierarchical clustering which addresses these issues. The approach is implemented as a sequential testing procedure guaranteeing control of the family-wise error rate. Theoretical justification is provided for our approach, and its power to detect true clustering structure is illustrated through several simulation studies and applications to two cancer gene expression datasets. PMID:28099990

  15. Statistical auditing and randomness test of lotto k/N-type games

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coronel-Brizio, H. F.; Hernández-Montoya, A. R.; Rapallo, F.; Scalas, E.

    2008-11-01

    One of the most popular lottery games worldwide is the so-called “lotto k/N”. It considers N numbers 1,2,…,N from which k are drawn randomly, without replacement. A player selects k or more numbers and the first prize is shared amongst those players whose selected numbers match all of the k randomly drawn. Exact rules may vary in different countries. In this paper, mean values and covariances for the random variables representing the numbers drawn from this kind of game are presented, with the aim of using them to audit statistically the consistency of a given sample of historical results with theoretical values coming from a hypergeometric statistical model. The method can be adapted to test pseudorandom number generators.

  16. A scan statistic to extract causal gene clusters from case-control genome-wide rare CNV data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Scherer Stephen W

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Several statistical tests have been developed for analyzing genome-wide association data by incorporating gene pathway information in terms of gene sets. Using these methods, hundreds of gene sets are typically tested, and the tested gene sets often overlap. This overlapping greatly increases the probability of generating false positives, and the results obtained are difficult to interpret, particularly when many gene sets show statistical significance. Results We propose a flexible statistical framework to circumvent these problems. Inspired by spatial scan statistics for detecting clustering of disease occurrence in the field of epidemiology, we developed a scan statistic to extract disease-associated gene clusters from a whole gene pathway. Extracting one or a few significant gene clusters from a global pathway limits the overall false positive probability, which results in increased statistical power, and facilitates the interpretation of test results. In the present study, we applied our method to genome-wide association data for rare copy-number variations, which have been strongly implicated in common diseases. Application of our method to a simulated dataset demonstrated the high accuracy of this method in detecting disease-associated gene clusters in a whole gene pathway. Conclusions The scan statistic approach proposed here shows a high level of accuracy in detecting gene clusters in a whole gene pathway. This study has provided a sound statistical framework for analyzing genome-wide rare CNV data by incorporating topological information on the gene pathway.

  17. IMPLEMENTATION AND VALIDATION OF STATISTICAL TESTS IN RESEARCH'S SOFTWARE HELPING DATA COLLECTION AND PROTOCOLS ANALYSIS IN SURGERY.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuretzki, Carlos Henrique; Campos, Antônio Carlos Ligocki; Malafaia, Osvaldo; Soares, Sandramara Scandelari Kusano de Paula; Tenório, Sérgio Bernardo; Timi, Jorge Rufino Ribas

    2016-03-01

    The use of information technology is often applied in healthcare. With regard to scientific research, the SINPE(c) - Integrated Electronic Protocols was created as a tool to support researchers, offering clinical data standardization. By the time, SINPE(c) lacked statistical tests obtained by automatic analysis. Add to SINPE(c) features for automatic realization of the main statistical methods used in medicine . The study was divided into four topics: check the interest of users towards the implementation of the tests; search the frequency of their use in health care; carry out the implementation; and validate the results with researchers and their protocols. It was applied in a group of users of this software in their thesis in the strict sensu master and doctorate degrees in one postgraduate program in surgery. To assess the reliability of the statistics was compared the data obtained both automatically by SINPE(c) as manually held by a professional in statistics with experience with this type of study. There was concern for the use of automatic statistical tests, with good acceptance. The chi-square, Mann-Whitney, Fisher and t-Student were considered as tests frequently used by participants in medical studies. These methods have been implemented and thereafter approved as expected. The incorporation of the automatic SINPE (c) Statistical Analysis was shown to be reliable and equal to the manually done, validating its use as a research tool for medical research.

  18. Structural damage detection based on stochastic subspace identification and statistical pattern recognition: I. Theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ren, W. X.; Lin, Y. Q.; Fang, S. E.

    2011-11-01

    One of the key issues in vibration-based structural health monitoring is to extract the damage-sensitive but environment-insensitive features from sampled dynamic response measurements and to carry out the statistical analysis of these features for structural damage detection. A new damage feature is proposed in this paper by using the system matrices of the forward innovation model based on the covariance-driven stochastic subspace identification of a vibrating system. To overcome the variations of the system matrices, a non-singularity transposition matrix is introduced so that the system matrices are normalized to their standard forms. For reducing the effects of modeling errors, noise and environmental variations on measured structural responses, a statistical pattern recognition paradigm is incorporated into the proposed method. The Mahalanobis and Euclidean distance decision functions of the damage feature vector are adopted by defining a statistics-based damage index. The proposed structural damage detection method is verified against one numerical signal and two numerical beams. It is demonstrated that the proposed statistics-based damage index is sensitive to damage and shows some robustness to the noise and false estimation of the system ranks. The method is capable of locating damage of the beam structures under different types of excitations. The robustness of the proposed damage detection method to the variations in environmental temperature is further validated in a companion paper by a reinforced concrete beam tested in the laboratory and a full-scale arch bridge tested in the field.

  19. An omnibus likelihood test statistic and its factorization for change detection in time series of polarimetric SAR data

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Allan Aasbjerg; Conradsen, Knut; Skriver, Henning

    2016-01-01

    Based on an omnibus likelihood ratio test statistic for the equality of several variance-covariance matrices following the complex Wishart distribution with an associated p-value and a factorization of this test statistic, change analysis in a short sequence of multilook, polarimetric SAR data...... in the covariance matrix representation is carried out. The omnibus test statistic and its factorization detect if and when change(s) occur. The technique is demonstrated on airborne EMISAR L-band data but may be applied to Sentinel-1, Cosmo-SkyMed, TerraSAR-X, ALOS and RadarSat-2 or other dual- and quad...

  20. Change detection in a time series of polarimetric SAR data by an omnibus test statistic and its factorization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Allan Aasbjerg; Conradsen, Knut; Skriver, Henning

    2016-01-01

    Based on an omnibus likelihood ratio test statistic for the equality of several variance-covariance matrices following the complex Wishart distribution with an associated p-value and a factorization of this test statistic, change analysis in a short sequence of multilook, polarimetric SAR data...... in the covariance matrix representation is carried out. The omnibus test statistic and its factorization detect if and when change(s) occur. The technique is demonstrated on airborne EMISAR L-band data but may be applied to Sentinel-1, Cosmo-SkyMed, TerraSAR-X, ALOS and RadarSat-2 or other dual- and quad...

  1. Generalized statistics and the formation of a quark-gluon plasma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Teweldeberhan, A.M.; Miller, H.G.; Tegen, R.

    2003-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of a non-extensive form of statistical mechanics proposed by Tsallis on the formation of a quark-gluon plasma (QGP). We suggest to account for the effects of the dominant part of the long-range interactions among the constituents in the QGP by a change in the statistics of the system in this phase, and we study the relevance of this statistics for the phase transition. The results show that small deviations (≈ 10%) from Boltzmann–Gibbs statistics in the QGP produce a noticeable change in the phase diagram, which can, in principle, be tested experimentally. (author)

  2. Interactive statistics with ILLMO

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Martens, J.B.O.S.

    2014-01-01

    Progress in empirical research relies on adequate statistical analysis and reporting. This article proposes an alternative approach to statistical modeling that is based on an old but mostly forgotten idea, namely Thurstone modeling. Traditional statistical methods assume that either the measured

  3. The use of statistical tools in field testing of putative effects of genetically modified plants on nontarget organisms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Semenov, Alexander V; Elsas, Jan Dirk; Glandorf, Debora C M; Schilthuizen, Menno; Boer, Willem F

    2013-08-01

    To fulfill existing guidelines, applicants that aim to place their genetically modified (GM) insect-resistant crop plants on the market are required to provide data from field experiments that address the potential impacts of the GM plants on nontarget organisms (NTO's). Such data may be based on varied experimental designs. The recent EFSA guidance document for environmental risk assessment (2010) does not provide clear and structured suggestions that address the statistics of field trials on effects on NTO's. This review examines existing practices in GM plant field testing such as the way of randomization, replication, and pseudoreplication. Emphasis is placed on the importance of design features used for the field trials in which effects on NTO's are assessed. The importance of statistical power and the positive and negative aspects of various statistical models are discussed. Equivalence and difference testing are compared, and the importance of checking the distribution of experimental data is stressed to decide on the selection of the proper statistical model. While for continuous data (e.g., pH and temperature) classical statistical approaches - for example, analysis of variance (ANOVA) - are appropriate, for discontinuous data (counts) only generalized linear models (GLM) are shown to be efficient. There is no golden rule as to which statistical test is the most appropriate for any experimental situation. In particular, in experiments in which block designs are used and covariates play a role GLMs should be used. Generic advice is offered that will help in both the setting up of field testing and the interpretation and data analysis of the data obtained in this testing. The combination of decision trees and a checklist for field trials, which are provided, will help in the interpretation of the statistical analyses of field trials and to assess whether such analyses were correctly applied. We offer generic advice to risk assessors and applicants that will

  4. Proposed waste form performance criteria and testing methods for low-level mixed waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Franz, E.M.; Fuhrmann, M.; Bowerman, B.

    1995-01-01

    Proposed waste form performance criteria and testing methods were developed as guidance in judging the suitability of solidified waste as a physico-chemical barrier to releases of radionuclides and RCRA regulated hazardous components. The criteria follow from the assumption that release of contaminants by leaching is the single most important property for judging the effectiveness of a waste form. A two-tier regimen is proposed. The first tier consists of a leach test designed to determine the net, forward leach rate of the solidified waste and a leach test required by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The second tier of tests is to determine if a set of stresses (i.e., radiation, freeze-thaw, wet-dry cycling) on the waste form adversely impacts its ability to retain contaminants and remain physically intact. In the absence of site-specific performance assessments (PA), two generic modeling exercises are described which were used to calculate proposed acceptable leachates

  5. Testing for Statistical Discrimination based on Gender

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lesner, Rune Vammen

    . It is shown that the implications of both screening discrimination and stereotyping are consistent with observable wage dynamics. In addition, it is found that the gender wage gap decreases in tenure but increases in job transitions and that the fraction of women in high-ranking positions within a firm does......This paper develops a model which incorporates the two most commonly cited strands of the literature on statistical discrimination, namely screening discrimination and stereotyping. The model is used to provide empirical evidence of statistical discrimination based on gender in the labour market...... not affect the level of statistical discrimination by gender....

  6. Determination of Natural Levels of Radionuclides in Proposed Mushroom Reference Material (A Proficiency Test Exercise)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Waheed, S.; Rahman, A.; Siddique, N.; Ahmad, S.; Zaidi, J.H.

    2006-08-01

    A proficiency test (PT) was organized within the framework of international Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) project INT/1/054, entitled 'Preparation' of Reference Materials and Organization of Proficiency Test Rounds'. This exercise served to estimate the proficiency of the analytical laboratories from participating countries. This report presents the results of the proficiency test exercise on the proposed Mushroom Reference Material for the determination of natural levels of radionuclides. Laboratories from 6 different countries submitted data on the following three radionuclides: /sup 134/Cs, /sup 137/Cs, /sup 40/K. Results for /sup 134/Cs, 137/sup 137/Cs, and /sup 40/K in the mushroom reference material were reported by three or more participating laboratories and could be subjected to statistical evaluation. The original data of these raionuclides was subjected to a computer program 'Histo Vession 2.1' provided by IAEA. The four outlier tests i.e. Dixon, Grubbs, Skewness and Kurtosis were applied to the data sets. All values for these three radionuclides were accepted by the software. Consensus (overall) mean value, absolute standard deviation, relative standard deviation, standard error, median and range of values for these three radionuclides have been are obtained (at significance level 0.05). the consensus mean values and confidence intervals are given./sup 134/Cs: 4.4 Bq/kg (3.4-5.3 Bq/kg) /sup 137/Cs: 2899 Bq/kg (2740-3058 Bq/kg) /sup 40/K: 1136 Bq/kg (1046-1226 Bq/kg). (author)

  7. Statistics 101 for Radiologists.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anvari, Arash; Halpern, Elkan F; Samir, Anthony E

    2015-10-01

    Diagnostic tests have wide clinical applications, including screening, diagnosis, measuring treatment effect, and determining prognosis. Interpreting diagnostic test results requires an understanding of key statistical concepts used to evaluate test efficacy. This review explains descriptive statistics and discusses probability, including mutually exclusive and independent events and conditional probability. In the inferential statistics section, a statistical perspective on study design is provided, together with an explanation of how to select appropriate statistical tests. Key concepts in recruiting study samples are discussed, including representativeness and random sampling. Variable types are defined, including predictor, outcome, and covariate variables, and the relationship of these variables to one another. In the hypothesis testing section, we explain how to determine if observed differences between groups are likely to be due to chance. We explain type I and II errors, statistical significance, and study power, followed by an explanation of effect sizes and how confidence intervals can be used to generalize observed effect sizes to the larger population. Statistical tests are explained in four categories: t tests and analysis of variance, proportion analysis tests, nonparametric tests, and regression techniques. We discuss sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, receiver operating characteristic analysis, and likelihood ratios. Measures of reliability and agreement, including κ statistics, intraclass correlation coefficients, and Bland-Altman graphs and analysis, are introduced. © RSNA, 2015.

  8. Computer processing of 14C data; statistical tests and corrections of data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Obelic, B.; Planinic, J.

    1977-01-01

    The described computer program calculates the age of samples and performs statistical tests and corrections of data. Data are obtained from the proportional counter that measures anticoincident pulses per 20 minute intervals. After every 9th interval the counter measures total number of counts per interval. Input data are punched on cards. The output list contains input data schedule and the following results: mean CPM value, correction of CPM for normal pressure and temperature (NTP), sample age calculation based on 14 C half life of 5570 and 5730 years, age correction for NTP, dendrochronological corrections and the relative radiocarbon concentration. All results are given with one standard deviation. Input data test (Chauvenet's criterion), gas purity test, standard deviation test and test of the data processor are also included in the program. (author)

  9. A Note on Comparing the Power of Test Statistics at Low Significance Levels.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morris, Nathan; Elston, Robert

    2011-01-01

    It is an obvious fact that the power of a test statistic is dependent upon the significance (alpha) level at which the test is performed. It is perhaps a less obvious fact that the relative performance of two statistics in terms of power is also a function of the alpha level. Through numerous personal discussions, we have noted that even some competent statisticians have the mistaken intuition that relative power comparisons at traditional levels such as α = 0.05 will be roughly similar to relative power comparisons at very low levels, such as the level α = 5 × 10 -8 , which is commonly used in genome-wide association studies. In this brief note, we demonstrate that this notion is in fact quite wrong, especially with respect to comparing tests with differing degrees of freedom. In fact, at very low alpha levels the cost of additional degrees of freedom is often comparatively low. Thus we recommend that statisticians exercise caution when interpreting the results of power comparison studies which use alpha levels that will not be used in practice.

  10. Statistical Methods for Comparative Phenomics Using High-Throughput Phenotype Microarrays

    KAUST Repository

    Sturino, Joseph

    2010-01-24

    We propose statistical methods for comparing phenomics data generated by the Biolog Phenotype Microarray (PM) platform for high-throughput phenotyping. Instead of the routinely used visual inspection of data with no sound inferential basis, we develop two approaches. The first approach is based on quantifying the distance between mean or median curves from two treatments and then applying a permutation test; we also consider a permutation test applied to areas under mean curves. The second approach employs functional principal component analysis. Properties of the proposed methods are investigated on both simulated data and data sets from the PM platform.

  11. Generalized Reduced Rank Tests using the Singular Value Decomposition

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    F.R. Kleibergen (Frank); R. Paap (Richard)

    2003-01-01

    textabstractWe propose a novel statistic to test the rank of a matrix. The rank statistic overcomes deficiencies of existing rank statistics, like: necessity of a Kronecker covariance matrix for the canonical correlation rank statistic of Anderson (1951), sensitivity to the ordering of the variables

  12. Evaluation of the Wishart test statistics for polarimetric SAR data

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skriver, Henning; Nielsen, Allan Aasbjerg; Conradsen, Knut

    2003-01-01

    A test statistic for equality of two covariance matrices following the complex Wishart distribution has previously been used in new algorithms for change detection, edge detection and segmentation in polarimetric SAR images. Previously, the results for change detection and edge detection have been...... quantitatively evaluated. This paper deals with the evaluation of segmentation. A segmentation performance measure originally developed for single-channel SAR images has been extended to polarimetric SAR images, and used to evaluate segmentation for a merge-using-moment algorithm for polarimetric SAR data....

  13. Dissolution curve comparisons through the F(2) parameter, a Bayesian extension of the f(2) statistic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Novick, Steven; Shen, Yan; Yang, Harry; Peterson, John; LeBlond, Dave; Altan, Stan

    2015-01-01

    Dissolution (or in vitro release) studies constitute an important aspect of pharmaceutical drug development. One important use of such studies is for justifying a biowaiver for post-approval changes which requires establishing equivalence between the new and old product. We propose a statistically rigorous modeling approach for this purpose based on the estimation of what we refer to as the F2 parameter, an extension of the commonly used f2 statistic. A Bayesian test procedure is proposed in relation to a set of composite hypotheses that capture the similarity requirement on the absolute mean differences between test and reference dissolution profiles. Several examples are provided to illustrate the application. Results of our simulation study comparing the performance of f2 and the proposed method show that our Bayesian approach is comparable to or in many cases superior to the f2 statistic as a decision rule. Further useful extensions of the method, such as the use of continuous-time dissolution modeling, are considered.

  14. Proposals for cold testing of the ITER TF coils

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Libeyre, P.; Ciazynski, D.; Dolgetta, N.; Duchateau, J.L.; Lyraud, C.; Kircher, F.; Schild, T.; Fietz, W.H.; Zahn, G.

    2005-01-01

    The ITER Toroidal Field (TF) magnet system will be made of 18 coils using Nb 3 Sn as superconducting material. These coils will operate at a maximum field of 11.8 T for a nominal current of 68 kA carried by a dual channel cable-in-conduit conductor cooled by a forced flow of supercritical helium at 4.5 K. In each coil, seven 760 m conductor lengths wound in double pancakes will be connected to each other by low resistance joints. As a final step of the reception tests, it is proposed to perform cold tests of these coils at liquid helium temperature after completion of their manufacture. The testing shall include high voltage tests to check the quality of the insulation, leak tests and pressure drop measurements of the hydraulic circuits as well as measurement of the joint resistances. Testing the coils up to nominal current is a discussed option, addressing on one hand measurement of the electrical performances in self field and on the other hand the mechanical behaviour of the coils. To perform these tests, a dedicated test facility has to be built, allowing possible simultaneous testing of two coils, assembled together in a twin coil configuration, similarly to their assembly in the torus. (authors)

  15. Proposals for cold testing of the ITER TF coils

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Libeyre, P.; Ciazynski, D.; Dolgetta, N.; Duchateau, J.L.; Lyraud, C. [Association Euratom/CEA Cadarache, Dept. de Recherches sur la Fusion Controlee (DRFC), 13 - Saint-Paul-lez-Durance (France); Kircher, F.; Schild, T. [CEA Saclay, Dept. d' Astrophysique, de Physique des Particules, de Physique Nucleaire et de l' Instrumentation Associee, 91- Gif sur Yvette (France); Fietz, W.H.; Zahn, G. [Association Euratom-Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe (Germany)

    2005-07-01

    The ITER Toroidal Field (TF) magnet system will be made of 18 coils using Nb{sub 3}Sn as superconducting material. These coils will operate at a maximum field of 11.8 T for a nominal current of 68 kA carried by a dual channel cable-in-conduit conductor cooled by a forced flow of supercritical helium at 4.5 K. In each coil, seven 760 m conductor lengths wound in double pancakes will be connected to each other by low resistance joints. As a final step of the reception tests, it is proposed to perform cold tests of these coils at liquid helium temperature after completion of their manufacture. The testing shall include high voltage tests to check the quality of the insulation, leak tests and pressure drop measurements of the hydraulic circuits as well as measurement of the joint resistances. Testing the coils up to nominal current is a discussed option, addressing on one hand measurement of the electrical performances in self field and on the other hand the mechanical behaviour of the coils. To perform these tests, a dedicated test facility has to be built, allowing possible simultaneous testing of two coils, assembled together in a twin coil configuration, similarly to their assembly in the torus. (authors)

  16. Analysis of statistical misconception in terms of statistical reasoning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maryati, I.; Priatna, N.

    2018-05-01

    Reasoning skill is needed for everyone to face globalization era, because every person have to be able to manage and use information from all over the world which can be obtained easily. Statistical reasoning skill is the ability to collect, group, process, interpret, and draw conclusion of information. Developing this skill can be done through various levels of education. However, the skill is low because many people assume that statistics is just the ability to count and using formulas and so do students. Students still have negative attitude toward course which is related to research. The purpose of this research is analyzing students’ misconception in descriptive statistic course toward the statistical reasoning skill. The observation was done by analyzing the misconception test result and statistical reasoning skill test; observing the students’ misconception effect toward statistical reasoning skill. The sample of this research was 32 students of math education department who had taken descriptive statistic course. The mean value of misconception test was 49,7 and standard deviation was 10,6 whereas the mean value of statistical reasoning skill test was 51,8 and standard deviation was 8,5. If the minimal value is 65 to state the standard achievement of a course competence, students’ mean value is lower than the standard competence. The result of students’ misconception study emphasized on which sub discussion that should be considered. Based on the assessment result, it was found that students’ misconception happen on this: 1) writing mathematical sentence and symbol well, 2) understanding basic definitions, 3) determining concept that will be used in solving problem. In statistical reasoning skill, the assessment was done to measure reasoning from: 1) data, 2) representation, 3) statistic format, 4) probability, 5) sample, and 6) association.

  17. Exploiting the full power of temporal gene expression profiling through a new statistical test: Application to the analysis of muscular dystrophy data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Turk Rolf

    2006-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The identification of biologically interesting genes in a temporal expression profiling dataset is challenging and complicated by high levels of experimental noise. Most statistical methods used in the literature do not fully exploit the temporal ordering in the dataset and are not suited to the case where temporal profiles are measured for a number of different biological conditions. We present a statistical test that makes explicit use of the temporal order in the data by fitting polynomial functions to the temporal profile of each gene and for each biological condition. A Hotelling T2-statistic is derived to detect the genes for which the parameters of these polynomials are significantly different from each other. Results We validate the temporal Hotelling T2-test on muscular gene expression data from four mouse strains which were profiled at different ages: dystrophin-, beta-sarcoglycan and gamma-sarcoglycan deficient mice, and wild-type mice. The first three are animal models for different muscular dystrophies. Extensive biological validation shows that the method is capable of finding genes with temporal profiles significantly different across the four strains, as well as identifying potential biomarkers for each form of the disease. The added value of the temporal test compared to an identical test which does not make use of temporal ordering is demonstrated via a simulation study, and through confirmation of the expression profiles from selected genes by quantitative PCR experiments. The proposed method maximises the detection of the biologically interesting genes, whilst minimising false detections. Conclusion The temporal Hotelling T2-test is capable of finding relatively small and robust sets of genes that display different temporal profiles between the conditions of interest. The test is simple, it can be used on gene expression data generated from any experimental design and for any number of conditions, and it

  18. Generalized reduced rank tests using the singular value decomposition

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kleibergen, F.R.; Paap, R.

    2002-01-01

    We propose a novel statistic to test the rank of a matrix. The rank statistic overcomes deficiencies of existing rank statistics, like: necessity of a Kronecker covariance matrix for the canonical correlation rank statistic of Anderson (1951), sensitivity to the ordering of the variables for the LDU

  19. AN UNSUPERVISED CHANGE DETECTION BASED ON TEST STATISTIC AND KI FROM MULTI-TEMPORAL AND FULL POLARIMETRIC SAR IMAGES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Q. Zhao

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Accurate and timely change detection of Earth’s surface features is extremely important for understanding relationships and interactions between people and natural phenomena. Many traditional methods of change detection only use a part of polarization information and the supervised threshold selection. Those methods are insufficiency and time-costing. In this paper, we present a novel unsupervised change-detection method based on quad-polarimetric SAR data and automatic threshold selection to solve the problem of change detection. First, speckle noise is removed for the two registered SAR images. Second, the similarity measure is calculated by the test statistic, and automatic threshold selection of KI is introduced to obtain the change map. The efficiency of the proposed method is demonstrated by the quad-pol SAR images acquired by Radarsat-2 over Wuhan of China.

  20. Partial discharge testing: a progress report. Statistical evaluation of PD data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Warren, V.; Allan, J.

    2005-01-01

    It has long been known that comparing the partial discharge results obtained from a single machine is a valuable tool enabling companies to observe the gradual deterioration of a machine stator winding and thus plan appropriate maintenance for the machine. In 1998, at the annual Iris Rotating Machines Conference (IRMC), a paper was presented that compared thousands of PD test results to establish the criteria for comparing results from different machines and the expected PD levels. At subsequent annual Iris conferences, using similar analytical procedures, papers were presented that supported the previous criteria and: in 1999, established sensor location as an additional criterion; in 2000, evaluated the effect of insulation type and age on PD activity; in 2001, evaluated the effect of manufacturer on PD activity; in 2002, evaluated the effect of operating pressure for hydrogen-cooled machines; in 2003, evaluated the effect of insulation type and setting Trac alarms; in 2004, re-evaluated the effect of manufacturer on PD activity. Before going further in database analysis procedures, it would be prudent to statistically evaluate the anecdotal evidence observed to date. The goal was to determine which variables of machine conditions greatly influenced the PD results and which didn't. Therefore, this year's paper looks at the impact of operating voltage, machine type and winding type on the test results for air-cooled machines. Because of resource constraints, only data collected through 2003 was used; however, as before, it is still standardized for frequency bandwidth and pruned to include only full-load-hot (FLH) results collected for one sensor on operating machines. All questionable data, or data from off-line testing or unusual machine conditions was excluded, leaving 6824 results. Calibration of on-line PD test results is impractical; therefore, only results obtained using the same method of data collection and noise separation techniques are compared. For

  1. To test photon statistics by atomic beam deflection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Yuzhu; Chen Yudan; Huang Weigang; Liu Liang

    1985-02-01

    There exists a simple relation between the photon statistics in resonance fluorescence and the statistics of the momentum transferred to an atom by a plane travelling wave [Cook, R.J., Opt. Commun., 35, 347(1980)]. Using an atomic beam deflection by light pressure, we have observed sub-Poissonian statistics in resonance fluorescence of two-level atoms. (author)

  2. Water table tests of proposed heat transfer tunnels for small turbine vanes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meitner, P. L.

    1974-01-01

    Water-table flow tests were conducted for proposed heat-transfer tunnels which were designed to provide uniform flow into their respective test sections of a single core engine turbine vane and a full annular ring of helicopter turbine vanes. Water-table tests were also performed for the single-vane test section of the core engine tunnel. The flow in the heat-transfer tunnels was shown to be acceptable.

  3. Development of modelling algorithm of technological systems by statistical tests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shemshura, E. A.; Otrokov, A. V.; Chernyh, V. G.

    2018-03-01

    The paper tackles the problem of economic assessment of design efficiency regarding various technological systems at the stage of their operation. The modelling algorithm of a technological system was performed using statistical tests and with account of the reliability index allows estimating the level of machinery technical excellence and defining the efficiency of design reliability against its performance. Economic feasibility of its application shall be determined on the basis of service quality of a technological system with further forecasting of volumes and the range of spare parts supply.

  4. Statistical fracture mechanics approach to the strength of brittle rock

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ratigan, J.L.

    1981-06-01

    Statistical fracture mechanics concepts used in the past for rock are critically reviewed and modifications are proposed which are warranted by (1) increased understanding of fracture provided by modern fracture mechanics and (2) laboratory test data both from the literature and from this research. Over 600 direct and indirect tension tests have been performed on three different rock types; Stripa Granite, Sierra White Granite and Carrara Marble. In several instances assumptions which are common in the literature were found to be invalid. A three parameter statistical fracture mechanics model with Mode I critical strain energy release rate as the variant is presented. Methodologies for evaluating the parameters in this model as well as the more commonly employed two parameter models are discussed. The experimental results and analysis of this research indicate that surfacially distributed flaws, rather than volumetrically distributed flaws are responsible for rupture in many testing situations. For several of the rock types tested, anisotropy (both in apparent tensile strength and size effect) precludes the use of contemporary statistical fracture mechanics models

  5. Local multiplicity adjustment for the spatial scan statistic using the Gumbel distribution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gangnon, Ronald E

    2012-03-01

    The spatial scan statistic is an important and widely used tool for cluster detection. It is based on the simultaneous evaluation of the statistical significance of the maximum likelihood ratio test statistic over a large collection of potential clusters. In most cluster detection problems, there is variation in the extent of local multiplicity across the study region. For example, using a fixed maximum geographic radius for clusters, urban areas typically have many overlapping potential clusters, whereas rural areas have relatively few. The spatial scan statistic does not account for local multiplicity variation. We describe a previously proposed local multiplicity adjustment based on a nested Bonferroni correction and propose a novel adjustment based on a Gumbel distribution approximation to the distribution of a local scan statistic. We compare the performance of all three statistics in terms of power and a novel unbiased cluster detection criterion. These methods are then applied to the well-known New York leukemia dataset and a Wisconsin breast cancer incidence dataset. © 2011, The International Biometric Society.

  6. Computationally efficient algorithms for statistical image processing : implementation in R

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Langovoy, M.; Wittich, O.

    2010-01-01

    In the series of our earlier papers on the subject, we proposed a novel statistical hypothesis testing method for detection of objects in noisy images. The method uses results from percolation theory and random graph theory. We developed algorithms that allowed to detect objects of unknown shapes in

  7. Accelerated Testing with Multiple Failure Modes under Several Temperature Conditions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zongyue Yu

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available A complicated device may have multiple failure modes, and some of the failure modes are sensitive to low temperatures. To assess the reliability of a product with multiple failure modes, this paper presents an accelerated testing in which both of the high temperatures and the low temperatures are applied. Firstly, an acceleration model based on the Arrhenius model but accounting for the influence of both the high temperatures and low temperatures is proposed. Accordingly, an accelerated testing plan including both the high temperatures and low temperatures is designed, and a statistical analysis method is developed. The reliability function of the product with multiple failure modes under variable working conditions is given by the proposed statistical analysis method. Finally, a numerical example is studied to illustrate the proposed accelerated testing. The results show that the proposed accelerated testing is rather efficient.

  8. Role of statistics in characterizing nuclear waste package behavior

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bowen, W.M.

    1984-11-01

    The characterization of nuclear waste package behavior is primarily based on the outcome of laboratory tests, where components of a proposed waste package are either individually or simultaneously subjected to simulated repository conditions. At each step of a testing method, both controllable and uncontrollable factors contribute to the overall uncertainty in the final outcome of the test. If not dealt with correctly, these sources of uncertainty could obscure or distort important information that might otherwise be gleaned from the test data. This could result in misleading or erroneous conclusions about the behavior characteristic being studied. It could also preclude estimation of the individual contributions of the major sources of uncertainty to the overall uncertainty. Statistically designed experiments and sampling plans, followed by correctly applied statistical analysis and estimation methods will yield the most information possible for the time and resources spent on experimentation, and they can eliminate the above concerns. Conclusions reached on the basis of such information will be sound and defensible. This presentation is intended to emphasize the importance of correctly applied, theoretically sound statistical methodology in characterizing nuclear waste package behavior. 8 references, 1 table

  9. Role of statistics in characterizing nuclear waste package behavior

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bowen, W.M.

    1984-01-01

    The characterization of nuclear waste package behavior is primarily based on the outcome of laboratory tests, where components of a proposed waste package are either individually or simultaneously subjected to simulated repository conditions. At each step of a testing method, both controllable and uncontrollable factors contribute to the overall uncertainty in the final outcome of the test. If not dealt with correctly, these sources of uncertainty could obscure or distort important information that might otherwise be gleaned form the test data. This could result in misleading or erroneous conclusions about the behavior characteristic being studied. It could also preclude estimation of the individual contributions of the major sources of uncertainty to the overall uncertainty. Statistically designed experiments and sampling plans, followed by correctly applied statistical analysis and estimation methods will yield the most information possible for the time and resources spent on experimentation, and they can eliminate the above concerns. Conclusions reached on the basis of such information will be sound and defensible. This presentation is intended to emphasize the importance of correctly applied, theoretically sound statistical methodology in characterizing nuclear waste package behavior

  10. A statistical method for testing epidemiological results, as applied to the Hanford worker population

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brodsky, A.

    1979-01-01

    Some recent reports of Mancuso, Stewart and Kneale claim findings of radiation-produced cancer in the Hanford worker population. These claims are based on statistical computations that use small differences in accumulated exposures between groups dying of cancer and groups dying of other causes; actual mortality and longevity were not reported. This paper presents a statistical method for evaluation of actual mortality and longevity longitudinally over time, as applied in a primary analysis of the mortality experience of the Hanford worker population. Although available, this method was not utilized in the Mancuso-Stewart-Kneale paper. The author's preliminary longitudinal analysis shows that the gross mortality experience of persons employed at Hanford during 1943-70 interval did not differ significantly from that of certain controls, when both employees and controls were selected from families with two or more offspring and comparison were matched by age, sex, race and year of entry into employment. This result is consistent with findings reported by Sanders (Health Phys. vol.35, 521-538, 1978). The method utilizes an approximate chi-square (1 D.F.) statistic for testing population subgroup comparisons, as well as the cumulation of chi-squares (1 D.F.) for testing the overall result of a particular type of comparison. The method is available for computer testing of the Hanford mortality data, and could also be adapted to morbidity or other population studies. (author)

  11. Proficiency Testing for Determination of Water Content in Toluene of Chemical Reagents by iteration robust statistic technique

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Hao; Wang, Qunwei; He, Ming

    2018-05-01

    In order to investigate and improve the level of detection technology of water content in liquid chemical reagents of domestic laboratories, proficiency testing provider PT0031 (CNAS) has organized proficiency testing program of water content in toluene, 48 laboratories from 18 provinces/cities/municipals took part in the PT. This paper introduces the implementation process of proficiency testing for determination of water content in toluene, including sample preparation, homogeneity and stability test, the results of statistics of iteration robust statistic technique and analysis, summarized and analyzed those of the different test standards which are widely used in the laboratories, put forward the technological suggestions for the improvement of the test quality of water content. Satisfactory results were obtained by 43 laboratories, amounting to 89.6% of the total participating laboratories.

  12. Statistical and Machine Learning forecasting methods: Concerns and ways forward

    Science.gov (United States)

    Makridakis, Spyros; Assimakopoulos, Vassilios

    2018-01-01

    Machine Learning (ML) methods have been proposed in the academic literature as alternatives to statistical ones for time series forecasting. Yet, scant evidence is available about their relative performance in terms of accuracy and computational requirements. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate such performance across multiple forecasting horizons using a large subset of 1045 monthly time series used in the M3 Competition. After comparing the post-sample accuracy of popular ML methods with that of eight traditional statistical ones, we found that the former are dominated across both accuracy measures used and for all forecasting horizons examined. Moreover, we observed that their computational requirements are considerably greater than those of statistical methods. The paper discusses the results, explains why the accuracy of ML models is below that of statistical ones and proposes some possible ways forward. The empirical results found in our research stress the need for objective and unbiased ways to test the performance of forecasting methods that can be achieved through sizable and open competitions allowing meaningful comparisons and definite conclusions. PMID:29584784

  13. Statistical and Machine Learning forecasting methods: Concerns and ways forward.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Makridakis, Spyros; Spiliotis, Evangelos; Assimakopoulos, Vassilios

    2018-01-01

    Machine Learning (ML) methods have been proposed in the academic literature as alternatives to statistical ones for time series forecasting. Yet, scant evidence is available about their relative performance in terms of accuracy and computational requirements. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate such performance across multiple forecasting horizons using a large subset of 1045 monthly time series used in the M3 Competition. After comparing the post-sample accuracy of popular ML methods with that of eight traditional statistical ones, we found that the former are dominated across both accuracy measures used and for all forecasting horizons examined. Moreover, we observed that their computational requirements are considerably greater than those of statistical methods. The paper discusses the results, explains why the accuracy of ML models is below that of statistical ones and proposes some possible ways forward. The empirical results found in our research stress the need for objective and unbiased ways to test the performance of forecasting methods that can be achieved through sizable and open competitions allowing meaningful comparisons and definite conclusions.

  14. Recent Literature on Whether Statistical Significance Tests Should or Should Not Be Banned.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deegear, James

    This paper summarizes the literature regarding statistical significant testing with an emphasis on recent literature in various discipline and literature exploring why researchers have demonstrably failed to be influenced by the American Psychological Association publication manual's encouragement to report effect sizes. Also considered are…

  15. The Bayesian New Statistics: Hypothesis testing, estimation, meta-analysis, and power analysis from a Bayesian perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kruschke, John K; Liddell, Torrin M

    2018-02-01

    In the practice of data analysis, there is a conceptual distinction between hypothesis testing, on the one hand, and estimation with quantified uncertainty on the other. Among frequentists in psychology, a shift of emphasis from hypothesis testing to estimation has been dubbed "the New Statistics" (Cumming 2014). A second conceptual distinction is between frequentist methods and Bayesian methods. Our main goal in this article is to explain how Bayesian methods achieve the goals of the New Statistics better than frequentist methods. The article reviews frequentist and Bayesian approaches to hypothesis testing and to estimation with confidence or credible intervals. The article also describes Bayesian approaches to meta-analysis, randomized controlled trials, and power analysis.

  16. A method of statistical analysis in the field of sports science when assumptions of parametric tests are not violated

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elżbieta Sandurska

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Application of statistical software typically does not require extensive statistical knowledge, allowing to easily perform even complex analyses. Consequently, test selection criteria and important assumptions may be easily overlooked or given insufficient consideration. In such cases, the results may likely lead to wrong conclusions. Aim: To discuss issues related to assumption violations in the case of Student's t-test and one-way ANOVA, two parametric tests frequently used in the field of sports science, and to recommend solutions. Description of the state of knowledge: Student's t-test and ANOVA are parametric tests, and therefore some of the assumptions that need to be satisfied include normal distribution of the data and homogeneity of variances in groups. If the assumptions are violated, the original design of the test is impaired, and the test may then be compromised giving spurious results. A simple method to normalize the data and to stabilize the variance is to use transformations. If such approach fails, a good alternative to consider is a nonparametric test, such as Mann-Whitney, the Kruskal-Wallis or Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. Summary: Thorough verification of the parametric tests assumptions allows for correct selection of statistical tools, which is the basis of well-grounded statistical analysis. With a few simple rules, testing patterns in the data characteristic for the study of sports science comes down to a straightforward procedure.

  17. Examining publication bias—a simulation-based evaluation of statistical tests on publication bias

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andreas Schneck

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Background Publication bias is a form of scientific misconduct. It threatens the validity of research results and the credibility of science. Although several tests on publication bias exist, no in-depth evaluations are available that examine which test performs best for different research settings. Methods Four tests on publication bias, Egger’s test (FAT, p-uniform, the test of excess significance (TES, as well as the caliper test, were evaluated in a Monte Carlo simulation. Two different types of publication bias and its degree (0%, 50%, 100% were simulated. The type of publication bias was defined either as file-drawer, meaning the repeated analysis of new datasets, or p-hacking, meaning the inclusion of covariates in order to obtain a significant result. In addition, the underlying effect (β = 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, effect heterogeneity, the number of observations in the simulated primary studies (N = 100, 500, and the number of observations for the publication bias tests (K = 100, 1,000 were varied. Results All tests evaluated were able to identify publication bias both in the file-drawer and p-hacking condition. The false positive rates were, with the exception of the 15%- and 20%-caliper test, unbiased. The FAT had the largest statistical power in the file-drawer conditions, whereas under p-hacking the TES was, except under effect heterogeneity, slightly better. The CTs were, however, inferior to the other tests under effect homogeneity and had a decent statistical power only in conditions with 1,000 primary studies. Discussion The FAT is recommended as a test for publication bias in standard meta-analyses with no or only small effect heterogeneity. If two-sided publication bias is suspected as well as under p-hacking the TES is the first alternative to the FAT. The 5%-caliper test is recommended under conditions of effect heterogeneity and a large number of primary studies, which may be found if publication bias is examined in a

  18. Testing a statistical method of global mean palotemperature estimations in a long climate simulation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zorita, E.; Gonzalez-Rouco, F. [GKSS-Forschungszentrum Geesthacht GmbH (Germany). Inst. fuer Hydrophysik

    2001-07-01

    Current statistical methods of reconstructing the climate of the last centuries are based on statistical models linking climate observations (temperature, sea-level-pressure) and proxy-climate data (tree-ring chronologies, ice-cores isotope concentrations, varved sediments, etc.). These models are calibrated in the instrumental period, and the longer time series of proxy data are then used to estimate the past evolution of the climate variables. Using such methods the global mean temperature of the last 600 years has been recently estimated. In this work this method of reconstruction is tested using data from a very long simulation with a climate model. This testing allows to estimate the errors of the estimations as a function of the number of proxy data and the time scale at which the estimations are probably reliable. (orig.)

  19. Pivotal statistics for testing subsets of structural parameters in the IV Regression Model

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kleibergen, F.R.

    2000-01-01

    We construct a novel statistic to test hypothezes on subsets of the structural parameters in anInstrumental Variables (IV) regression model. We derive the chi squared limiting distribution of thestatistic and show that it has a degrees of freedom parameter that is equal to the number ofstructural

  20. Statistical Diversions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petocz, Peter; Sowey, Eric

    2008-01-01

    In this article, the authors focus on hypothesis testing--that peculiarly statistical way of deciding things. Statistical methods for testing hypotheses were developed in the 1920s and 1930s by some of the most famous statisticians, in particular Ronald Fisher, Jerzy Neyman and Egon Pearson, who laid the foundations of almost all modern methods of…

  1. Reliability assessment for safety critical systems by statistical random testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mills, S.E.

    1995-11-01

    In this report we present an overview of reliability assessment for software and focus on some basic aspects of assessing reliability for safety critical systems by statistical random testing. We also discuss possible deviations from some essential assumptions on which the general methodology is based. These deviations appear quite likely in practical applications. We present and discuss possible remedies and adjustments and then undertake applying this methodology to a portion of the SDS1 software. We also indicate shortcomings of the methodology and possible avenues to address to follow to address these problems. (author). 128 refs., 11 tabs., 31 figs

  2. Reliability assessment for safety critical systems by statistical random testing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mills, S E [Carleton Univ., Ottawa, ON (Canada). Statistical Consulting Centre

    1995-11-01

    In this report we present an overview of reliability assessment for software and focus on some basic aspects of assessing reliability for safety critical systems by statistical random testing. We also discuss possible deviations from some essential assumptions on which the general methodology is based. These deviations appear quite likely in practical applications. We present and discuss possible remedies and adjustments and then undertake applying this methodology to a portion of the SDS1 software. We also indicate shortcomings of the methodology and possible avenues to address to follow to address these problems. (author). 128 refs., 11 tabs., 31 figs.

  3. Testing for Statistical Discrimination based on Gender

    OpenAIRE

    Lesner, Rune Vammen

    2016-01-01

    This paper develops a model which incorporates the two most commonly cited strands of the literature on statistical discrimination, namely screening discrimination and stereotyping. The model is used to provide empirical evidence of statistical discrimination based on gender in the labour market. It is shown that the implications of both screening discrimination and stereotyping are consistent with observable wage dynamics. In addition, it is found that the gender wage gap decreases in tenure...

  4. New experimental proposals for testing Dirac equation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Camacho, Abel; Macias, Alfredo

    2004-01-01

    The advent of phenomenological quantum gravity has ushered us in the search for experimental tests of the deviations from general relativity predicted by quantum gravity or by string theories, and as a by-product of this quest the possible modifications that some field equations, for instance, the motion equation of spin-1/2-particles, have already been considered. In the present Letter a modified Dirac equation, whose extra term embraces a second-order time derivative, is taken as mainstay, and three different experimental proposals to detect it are put forward. The novelty in these ideas is that two of them do not fall within the extant approaches in this context, to wit, red-shift, atomic interferometry, or Hughes-Drever type-like experiments

  5. Statistical methods in epidemiology. VII. An overview of the chi2 test for 2 x 2 contingency table analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rigby, A S

    2001-11-10

    The odds ratio is an appropriate method of analysis for data in 2 x 2 contingency tables. However, other methods of analysis exist. One such method is based on the chi2 test of goodness-of-fit. Key players in the development of statistical theory include Pearson, Fisher and Yates. Data are presented in the form of 2 x 2 contingency tables and a method of analysis based on the chi2 test is introduced. There are many variations of the basic test statistic, one of which is the chi2 test with Yates' continuity correction. The usefulness (or not) of Yates' continuity correction is discussed. Problems of interpretation when the method is applied to k x m tables are highlighted. Some properties of the chi2 the test are illustrated by taking examples from the author's teaching experiences. Journal editors should be encouraged to give both observed and expected cell frequencies so that better information comes out of the chi2 test statistic.

  6. A Reliability Test of a Complex System Based on Empirical Likelihood

    OpenAIRE

    Zhou, Yan; Fu, Liya; Zhang, Jun; Hui, Yongchang

    2016-01-01

    To analyze the reliability of a complex system described by minimal paths, an empirical likelihood method is proposed to solve the reliability test problem when the subsystem distributions are unknown. Furthermore, we provide a reliability test statistic of the complex system and extract the limit distribution of the test statistic. Therefore, we can obtain the confidence interval for reliability and make statistical inferences. The simulation studies also demonstrate the theorem results.

  7. Comment on a proposed ''crucial experiment'' to test Einstein's special theory of relativity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rodrigues, Jr, W A [Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Brazil); Buonamano, V [Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Brazil). Instituto de Matematica

    1976-08-11

    A proposed ''crucial experiment'' to test Einstein's special theory of relativity is analysed and it is shown that it falls into the set of unsatisfactory proposals that attempt to make an experimental distinction between Einstein's special theory of relativity and a ''Lorentzian type'' special theory of relativity.

  8. A new non-parametric stationarity test of time series in the time domain

    KAUST Repository

    Jin, Lei

    2014-11-07

    © 2015 The Royal Statistical Society and Blackwell Publishing Ltd. We propose a new double-order selection test for checking second-order stationarity of a time series. To develop the test, a sequence of systematic samples is defined via Walsh functions. Then the deviations of the autocovariances based on these systematic samples from the corresponding autocovariances of the whole time series are calculated and the uniform asymptotic joint normality of these deviations over different systematic samples is obtained. With a double-order selection scheme, our test statistic is constructed by combining the deviations at different lags in the systematic samples. The null asymptotic distribution of the statistic proposed is derived and the consistency of the test is shown under fixed and local alternatives. Simulation studies demonstrate well-behaved finite sample properties of the method proposed. Comparisons with some existing tests in terms of power are given both analytically and empirically. In addition, the method proposed is applied to check the stationarity assumption of a chemical process viscosity readings data set.

  9. Linear regression models and k-means clustering for statistical analysis of fNIRS data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonomini, Viola; Zucchelli, Lucia; Re, Rebecca; Ieva, Francesca; Spinelli, Lorenzo; Contini, Davide; Paganoni, Anna; Torricelli, Alessandro

    2015-02-01

    We propose a new algorithm, based on a linear regression model, to statistically estimate the hemodynamic activations in fNIRS data sets. The main concern guiding the algorithm development was the minimization of assumptions and approximations made on the data set for the application of statistical tests. Further, we propose a K-means method to cluster fNIRS data (i.e. channels) as activated or not activated. The methods were validated both on simulated and in vivo fNIRS data. A time domain (TD) fNIRS technique was preferred because of its high performances in discriminating cortical activation and superficial physiological changes. However, the proposed method is also applicable to continuous wave or frequency domain fNIRS data sets.

  10. Statistical Inference at Work: Statistical Process Control as an Example

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bakker, Arthur; Kent, Phillip; Derry, Jan; Noss, Richard; Hoyles, Celia

    2008-01-01

    To characterise statistical inference in the workplace this paper compares a prototypical type of statistical inference at work, statistical process control (SPC), with a type of statistical inference that is better known in educational settings, hypothesis testing. Although there are some similarities between the reasoning structure involved in…

  11. Final focus test beam alignment: A draft proposal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fischer, G.E.; Ruland, R.E.

    1989-03-01

    The Final Focus Test Beam is a transport line designed to transmit 50 GeV electron beams of SLC emittance (3 x 10 -10 radian-meters) straight through the central arm of the Beam Switchyard (BSY C line) with a final focus point out in the Research Yard but relatively near the end of the switchyard tunnel. The hardware, methods and procedures outlined in this proposal are dedicated to measuring the placement of mechanical objects with respect to certain defined geometric axes. We wish to emphasize that the very difficult problems of locating the effective magnetic axes of focusing elements, the effective electrical center of beam position monitors and even the effective axis of the incident beam relative to mechanical reference surfaces is outside the scope of this work. Further, this proposal is restricted to the act of measurement and does not consider the vital task of on-line mechanical repositioning of elements that will, in likelihood, be called upon during operation of the system. 16 refs., 16 figs., 4 tabs

  12. Tests and Confidence Intervals for an Extended Variance Component Using the Modified Likelihood Ratio Statistic

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Ole Fredslund; Frydenberg, Morten; Jensen, Jens Ledet

    2005-01-01

    The large deviation modified likelihood ratio statistic is studied for testing a variance component equal to a specified value. Formulas are presented in the general balanced case, whereas in the unbalanced case only the one-way random effects model is studied. Simulation studies are presented......, showing that the normal approximation to the large deviation modified likelihood ratio statistic gives confidence intervals for variance components with coverage probabilities very close to the nominal confidence coefficient....

  13. Statistical power analysis a simple and general model for traditional and modern hypothesis tests

    CERN Document Server

    Murphy, Kevin R; Wolach, Allen

    2014-01-01

    Noted for its accessible approach, this text applies the latest approaches of power analysis to both null hypothesis and minimum-effect testing using the same basic unified model. Through the use of a few simple procedures and examples, the authors show readers with little expertise in statistical analysis how to obtain the values needed to carry out the power analysis for their research. Illustrations of how these analyses work and how they can be used to choose the appropriate criterion for defining statistically significant outcomes are sprinkled throughout. The book presents a simple and g

  14. A Census of Statistics Requirements at U.S. Journalism Programs and a Model for a "Statistics for Journalism" Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Justin D.

    2017-01-01

    This essay presents data from a census of statistics requirements and offerings at all 4-year journalism programs in the United States (N = 369) and proposes a model of a potential course in statistics for journalism majors. The author proposes that three philosophies underlie a statistics course for journalism students. Such a course should (a)…

  15. Statistical Analysis of Compressive and Flexural Test Results on the Sustainable Adobe Reinforced with Steel Wire Mesh

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jokhio, Gul A.; Syed Mohsin, Sharifah M.; Gul, Yasmeen

    2018-04-01

    It has been established that Adobe provides, in addition to being sustainable and economic, a better indoor air quality without spending extensive amounts of energy as opposed to the modern synthetic materials. The material, however, suffers from weak structural behaviour when subjected to adverse loading conditions. A wide range of mechanical properties has been reported in literature owing to lack of research and standardization. The present paper presents the statistical analysis of the results that were obtained through compressive and flexural tests on Adobe samples. Adobe specimens with and without wire mesh reinforcement were tested and the results were reported. The statistical analysis of these results presents an interesting read. It has been found that the compressive strength of adobe increases by about 43% after adding a single layer of wire mesh reinforcement. This increase is statistically significant. The flexural response of Adobe has also shown improvement with the addition of wire mesh reinforcement, however, the statistical significance of the same cannot be established.

  16. Confidence intervals permit, but don't guarantee, better inference than statistical significance testing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Melissa Coulson

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available A statistically significant result, and a non-significant result may differ little, although significance status may tempt an interpretation of difference. Two studies are reported that compared interpretation of such results presented using null hypothesis significance testing (NHST, or confidence intervals (CIs. Authors of articles published in psychology, behavioural neuroscience, and medical journals were asked, via email, to interpret two fictitious studies that found similar results, one statistically significant, and the other non-significant. Responses from 330 authors varied greatly, but interpretation was generally poor, whether results were presented as CIs or using NHST. However, when interpreting CIs respondents who mentioned NHST were 60% likely to conclude, unjustifiably, the two results conflicted, whereas those who interpreted CIs without reference to NHST were 95% likely to conclude, justifiably, the two results were consistent. Findings were generally similar for all three disciplines. An email survey of academic psychologists confirmed that CIs elicit better interpretations if NHST is not invoked. Improved statistical inference can result from encouragement of meta-analytic thinking and use of CIs but, for full benefit, such highly desirable statistical reform requires also that researchers interpret CIs without recourse to NHST.

  17. Why the null matters: statistical tests, random walks and evolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sheets, H D; Mitchell, C E

    2001-01-01

    A number of statistical tests have been developed to determine what type of dynamics underlie observed changes in morphology in evolutionary time series, based on the pattern of change within the time series. The theory of the 'scaled maximum', the 'log-rate-interval' (LRI) method, and the Hurst exponent all operate on the same principle of comparing the maximum change, or rate of change, in the observed dataset to the maximum change expected of a random walk. Less change in a dataset than expected of a random walk has been interpreted as indicating stabilizing selection, while more change implies directional selection. The 'runs test' in contrast, operates on the sequencing of steps, rather than on excursion. Applications of these tests to computer generated, simulated time series of known dynamical form and various levels of additive noise indicate that there is a fundamental asymmetry in the rate of type II errors of the tests based on excursion: they are all highly sensitive to noise in models of directional selection that result in a linear trend within a time series, but are largely noise immune in the case of a simple model of stabilizing selection. Additionally, the LRI method has a lower sensitivity than originally claimed, due to the large range of LRI rates produced by random walks. Examination of the published results of these tests show that they have seldom produced a conclusion that an observed evolutionary time series was due to directional selection, a result which needs closer examination in light of the asymmetric response of these tests.

  18. Assessment of noise in a digital image using the join-count statistic and the Moran test

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kehshih Chuang; Huang, H.K.

    1992-01-01

    It is assumed that data bits of a pixel in digital images can be divided into signal and noise bits. The signal bits occupy the most significant part of the pixel. The signal parts of each pixel are correlated while the noise parts are uncorrelated. Two statistical methods, the Moran test and the join-count statistic, are used to examine the noise parts. Images from computerized tomography, magnetic resonance and computed radiography are used for the evaluation of the noise bits. A residual image is formed by subtracting the original image from its smoothed version. The noise level in the residual image is then identical to that in the original image. Both statistical tests are then performed on the bit planes of the residual image. Results show that most digital images contain only 8-9 bits of correlated information. Both methods are easy to implement and fast to perform. (author)

  19. Statistical testing of the full-range leadership theory in nursing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kanste, Outi; Kääriäinen, Maria; Kyngäs, Helvi

    2009-12-01

    The aim of this study is to test statistically the structure of the full-range leadership theory in nursing. The data were gathered by postal questionnaires from nurses and nurse leaders working in healthcare organizations in Finland. A follow-up study was performed 1 year later. The sample consisted of 601 nurses and nurse leaders, and the follow-up study had 78 respondents. Theory was tested through structural equation modelling, standard regression analysis and two-way anova. Rewarding transformational leadership seems to promote and passive laissez-faire leadership to reduce willingness to exert extra effort, perceptions of leader effectiveness and satisfaction with the leader. Active management-by-exception seems to reduce willingness to exert extra effort and perception of leader effectiveness. Rewarding transformational leadership remained as a strong explanatory factor of all outcome variables measured 1 year later. The data supported the main structure of the full-range leadership theory, lending support to the universal nature of the theory.

  20. Multi-reader ROC studies with split-plot designs: a comparison of statistical methods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Obuchowski, Nancy A; Gallas, Brandon D; Hillis, Stephen L

    2012-12-01

    Multireader imaging trials often use a factorial design, in which study patients undergo testing with all imaging modalities and readers interpret the results of all tests for all patients. A drawback of this design is the large number of interpretations required of each reader. Split-plot designs have been proposed as an alternative, in which one or a subset of readers interprets all images of a sample of patients, while other readers interpret the images of other samples of patients. In this paper, the authors compare three methods of analysis for the split-plot design. Three statistical methods are presented: the Obuchowski-Rockette method modified for the split-plot design, a newly proposed marginal-mean analysis-of-variance approach, and an extension of the three-sample U-statistic method. A simulation study using the Roe-Metz model was performed to compare the type I error rate, power, and confidence interval coverage of the three test statistics. The type I error rates for all three methods are close to the nominal level but tend to be slightly conservative. The statistical power is nearly identical for the three methods. The coverage of 95% confidence intervals falls close to the nominal coverage for small and large sample sizes. The split-plot multireader, multicase study design can be statistically efficient compared to the factorial design, reducing the number of interpretations required per reader. Three methods of analysis, shown to have nominal type I error rates, similar power, and nominal confidence interval coverage, are available for this study design. Copyright © 2012 AUR. All rights reserved.

  1. Data-driven efficient score tests for deconvolution hypotheses

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Langovoy, M.

    2008-01-01

    We consider testing statistical hypotheses about densities of signals in deconvolution models. A new approach to this problem is proposed. We constructed score tests for the deconvolution density testing with the known noise density and efficient score tests for the case of unknown density. The

  2. No-Reference Video Quality Assessment Based on Statistical Analysis in 3D-DCT Domain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xuelong; Guo, Qun; Lu, Xiaoqiang

    2016-05-13

    It is an important task to design models for universal no-reference video quality assessment (NR-VQA) in multiple video processing and computer vision applications. However, most existing NR-VQA metrics are designed for specific distortion types which are not often aware in practical applications. A further deficiency is that the spatial and temporal information of videos is hardly considered simultaneously. In this paper, we propose a new NR-VQA metric based on the spatiotemporal natural video statistics (NVS) in 3D discrete cosine transform (3D-DCT) domain. In the proposed method, a set of features are firstly extracted based on the statistical analysis of 3D-DCT coefficients to characterize the spatiotemporal statistics of videos in different views. These features are used to predict the perceived video quality via the efficient linear support vector regression (SVR) model afterwards. The contributions of this paper are: 1) we explore the spatiotemporal statistics of videos in 3DDCT domain which has the inherent spatiotemporal encoding advantage over other widely used 2D transformations; 2) we extract a small set of simple but effective statistical features for video visual quality prediction; 3) the proposed method is universal for multiple types of distortions and robust to different databases. The proposed method is tested on four widely used video databases. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method is competitive with the state-of-art NR-VQA metrics and the top-performing FR-VQA and RR-VQA metrics.

  3. Quality evaluation of no-reference MR images using multidirectional filters and image statistics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jang, Jinseong; Bang, Kihun; Jang, Hanbyol; Hwang, Dosik

    2018-09-01

    This study aimed to develop a fully automatic, no-reference image-quality assessment (IQA) method for MR images. New quality-aware features were obtained by applying multidirectional filters to MR images and examining the feature statistics. A histogram of these features was then fitted to a generalized Gaussian distribution function for which the shape parameters yielded different values depending on the type of distortion in the MR image. Standard feature statistics were established through a training process based on high-quality MR images without distortion. Subsequently, the feature statistics of a test MR image were calculated and compared with the standards. The quality score was calculated as the difference between the shape parameters of the test image and the undistorted standard images. The proposed IQA method showed a >0.99 correlation with the conventional full-reference assessment methods; accordingly, this proposed method yielded the best performance among no-reference IQA methods for images containing six types of synthetic, MR-specific distortions. In addition, for authentically distorted images, the proposed method yielded the highest correlation with subjective assessments by human observers, thus demonstrating its superior performance over other no-reference IQAs. Our proposed IQA was designed to consider MR-specific features and outperformed other no-reference IQAs designed mainly for photographic images. Magn Reson Med 80:914-924, 2018. © 2018 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. © 2018 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

  4. A practical model-based statistical approach for generating functional test cases: application in the automotive industry

    OpenAIRE

    Awédikian , Roy; Yannou , Bernard

    2012-01-01

    International audience; With the growing complexity of industrial software applications, industrials are looking for efficient and practical methods to validate the software. This paper develops a model-based statistical testing approach that automatically generates online and offline test cases for embedded software. It discusses an integrated framework that combines solutions for three major software testing research questions: (i) how to select test inputs; (ii) how to predict the expected...

  5. A study on the advanced statistical core thermal design methodology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Seung Hyuk

    1992-02-01

    A statistical core thermal design methodology for generating the limit DNBR and the nominal DNBR is proposed and used in assessing the best-estimate thermal margin in a reactor core. Firstly, the Latin Hypercube Sampling Method instead of the conventional Experimental Design Technique is utilized as an input sampling method for a regression analysis to evaluate its sampling efficiency. Secondly and as a main topic, the Modified Latin Hypercube Sampling and the Hypothesis Test Statistics method is proposed as a substitute for the current statistical core thermal design method. This new methodology adopts 'a Modified Latin Hypercube Sampling Method' which uses the mean values of each interval of input variables instead of random values to avoid the extreme cases that arise in the tail areas of some parameters. Next, the independence between the input variables is verified through 'Correlation Coefficient Test' for statistical treatment of their uncertainties. And the distribution type of DNBR response is determined though 'Goodness of Fit Test'. Finally, the limit DNBR with one-sided 95% probability and 95% confidence level, DNBR 95/95 ' is estimated. The advantage of this methodology over the conventional statistical method using Response Surface and Monte Carlo simulation technique lies in its simplicity of the analysis procedure, while maintaining the same level of confidence in the limit DNBR result. This methodology is applied to the two cases of DNBR margin calculation. The first case is the application to the determination of the limit DNBR where the DNBR margin is determined by the difference between the nominal DNBR and the limit DNBR. The second case is the application to the determination of the nominal DNBR where the DNBR margin is determined by the difference between the lower limit value of the nominal DNBR and the CHF correlation limit being used. From this study, it is deduced that the proposed methodology gives a good agreement in the DNBR results

  6. Reliability Verification of DBE Environment Simulation Test Facility by using Statistics Method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jang, Kyung Nam; Kim, Jong Soeg; Jeong, Sun Chul; Kyung Heum

    2011-01-01

    In the nuclear power plant, all the safety-related equipment including cables under the harsh environment should perform the equipment qualification (EQ) according to the IEEE std 323. There are three types of qualification methods including type testing, operating experience and analysis. In order to environmentally qualify the safety-related equipment using type testing method, not analysis or operation experience method, the representative sample of equipment, including interfaces, should be subjected to a series of tests. Among these tests, Design Basis Events (DBE) environment simulating test is the most important test. DBE simulation test is performed in DBE simulation test chamber according to the postulated DBE conditions including specified high-energy line break (HELB), loss of coolant accident (LOCA), main steam line break (MSLB) and etc, after thermal and radiation aging. Because most DBE conditions have 100% humidity condition, in order to trace temperature and pressure of DBE condition, high temperature steam should be used. During DBE simulation test, if high temperature steam under high pressure inject to the DBE test chamber, the temperature and pressure in test chamber rapidly increase over the target temperature. Therefore, the temperature and pressure in test chamber continue fluctuating during the DBE simulation test to meet target temperature and pressure. We should ensure fairness and accuracy of test result by confirming the performance of DBE environment simulation test facility. In this paper, in order to verify reliability of DBE environment simulation test facility, statistics method is used

  7. Which factors predict proposal and uptake of psychological counselling after BRCA1/2 test result disclosure?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maheu, Christine; Bouhnik, Anne-Deborah; Nogues, Catherine; Mouret-Fourme, Emmanuelle; Stoppa-Lyonnet, Dominique; Lasset, Christine; Berthet, Pascaline; Fricker, Jean-Pierre; Caron, Olivier; Luporsi, Elizabeth; Gladieff, Laurence; Julian-Reynier, Claire

    2014-04-01

    The aim of this study is to prospectively determine the factors contributing to whether unaffected women from BRCA1/2 families reported that clinicians proposed psychological consultations and that they had attended these consultations during the genetic testing process. A prospective study was performed on a national cohort, using self-administered questionnaires to determine the rates of proposal and use of psychological services at the time of BRCA1/2 test result disclosure (N = 533) and during the first year after disclosure (N = 478) among unaffected French women from BRCA1/2 families who had undergone genetic testing for BRCA1/2. Multivariate adjustment was carried out using logistic regression models fitted using generalized estimation equations, with the genetic testing centre as the clustering variable. At the time of BRCA1/2 test result disclosure, a psychological consultation was proposed by cancer geneticists to 72% and 32% of the carriers (N = 232) and noncarriers (N = 301), respectively (p disclosure, 21% of the carriers had consulted a psychologist, versus 9% of the noncarriers (p distress they experienced about their genetic test results (proposal AOR: 1.02; 95% CI 1.01-1.03; uptake AOR: 1.04; 95% CI 1.02-1.06) CONCLUSIONS: Determinants of the proposal/uptake of psychological consultations in the BRCA1/2 testing process highlight the need for inventive strategies to reach the different types of women's profiles. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  8. A statistical approach to the prediction of pressure tube fracture toughness

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pandey, M.D.; Radford, D.D.

    2008-01-01

    The fracture toughness of the zirconium alloy (Zr-2.5Nb) is an important parameter in determining the flaw tolerance for operation of pressure tubes in a nuclear reactor. Fracture toughness data have been generated by performing rising pressure burst tests on sections of pressure tubes removed from operating reactors. The test data were used to generate a lower-bound fracture toughness curve, which is used in defining the operational limits of pressure tubes. The paper presents a comprehensive statistical analysis of burst test data and develops a multivariate statistical model to relate toughness with material chemistry, mechanical properties, and operational history. The proposed model can be useful in predicting fracture toughness of specific in-service pressure tubes, thereby minimizing conservatism associated with a generic lower-bound approach

  9. Filtering a statistically exactly solvable test model for turbulent tracers from partial observations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gershgorin, B.; Majda, A.J.

    2011-01-01

    A statistically exactly solvable model for passive tracers is introduced as a test model for the authors' Nonlinear Extended Kalman Filter (NEKF) as well as other filtering algorithms. The model involves a Gaussian velocity field and a passive tracer governed by the advection-diffusion equation with an imposed mean gradient. The model has direct relevance to engineering problems such as the spread of pollutants in the air or contaminants in the water as well as climate change problems concerning the transport of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide with strongly intermittent probability distributions consistent with the actual observations of the atmosphere. One of the attractive properties of the model is the existence of the exact statistical solution. In particular, this unique feature of the model provides an opportunity to design and test fast and efficient algorithms for real-time data assimilation based on rigorous mathematical theory for a turbulence model problem with many active spatiotemporal scales. Here, we extensively study the performance of the NEKF which uses the exact first and second order nonlinear statistics without any approximations due to linearization. The role of partial and sparse observations, the frequency of observations and the observation noise strength in recovering the true signal, its spectrum, and fat tail probability distribution are the central issues discussed here. The results of our study provide useful guidelines for filtering realistic turbulent systems with passive tracers through partial observations.

  10. A statistical procedure for testing financial contagion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Attilio Gardini

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the paper is to provide an analysis of contagion through the measurement of the risk premia disequilibria dynamics. In order to discriminate among several disequilibrium situations we propose to test contagion on the basis of a two-step procedure: in the first step we estimate the preference parameters of the consumption-based asset pricing model (CCAPM to control for fundamentals and to measure the equilibrium risk premia in different countries; in the second step we measure the differences among empirical risk premia and equilibrium risk premia in order to test cross-country disequilibrium situations due to contagion. Disequilibrium risk premium measures are modelled by the multivariate DCC-GARCH model including a deterministic crisis variable. The model describes simultaneously the risk premia dynamics due to endogenous amplifications of volatility and to exogenous idiosyncratic shocks (contagion, having controlled for fundamentals effects in the first step. Our approach allows us to achieve two goals: (i to identify the disequilibria generated by irrational behaviours of the agents, which cause increasing in volatility that is not explained by the economic fundamentals but is endogenous to financial markets, and (ii to assess the existence of contagion effect defined by exogenous shift in cross-country return correlations during crisis periods. Our results show evidence of contagion from the United States to United Kingdom, Japan, France, and Italy during the financial crisis which started in 2007-08.

  11. Statistical trend analysis methodology for rare failures in changing technical systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ott, K.O.; Hoffmann, H.J.

    1983-07-01

    A methodology for a statistical trend analysis (STA) in failure rates is presented. It applies primarily to relatively rare events in changing technologies or components. The formulation is more general and the assumptions are less restrictive than in a previously published version. Relations of the statistical analysis and probabilistic assessment (PRA) are discussed in terms of categorization of decisions for action following particular failure events. The significance of tentatively identified trends is explored. In addition to statistical tests for trend significance, a combination of STA and PRA results quantifying the trend complement is proposed. The STA approach is compared with other concepts for trend characterization. (orig.)

  12. Statistical inference, the bootstrap, and neural-network modeling with application to foreign exchange rates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    White, H; Racine, J

    2001-01-01

    We propose tests for individual and joint irrelevance of network inputs. Such tests can be used to determine whether an input or group of inputs "belong" in a particular model, thus permitting valid statistical inference based on estimated feedforward neural-network models. The approaches employ well-known statistical resampling techniques. We conduct a small Monte Carlo experiment showing that our tests have reasonable level and power behavior, and we apply our methods to examine whether there are predictable regularities in foreign exchange rates. We find that exchange rates do appear to contain information that is exploitable for enhanced point prediction, but the nature of the predictive relations evolves through time.

  13. Statistical energy as a tool for binning-free, multivariate goodness-of-fit tests, two-sample comparison and unfolding

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aslan, B.; Zech, G.

    2005-01-01

    We introduce the novel concept of statistical energy as a statistical tool. We define statistical energy of statistical distributions in a similar way as for electric charge distributions. Charges of opposite sign are in a state of minimum energy if they are equally distributed. This property is used to check whether two samples belong to the same parent distribution, to define goodness-of-fit tests and to unfold distributions distorted by measurement. The approach is binning-free and especially powerful in multidimensional applications

  14. Evolutionary Statistical Procedures

    CERN Document Server

    Baragona, Roberto; Poli, Irene

    2011-01-01

    This proposed text appears to be a good introduction to evolutionary computation for use in applied statistics research. The authors draw from a vast base of knowledge about the current literature in both the design of evolutionary algorithms and statistical techniques. Modern statistical research is on the threshold of solving increasingly complex problems in high dimensions, and the generalization of its methodology to parameters whose estimators do not follow mathematically simple distributions is underway. Many of these challenges involve optimizing functions for which analytic solutions a

  15. Proposed optical test of Bell's inequalities not resting upon the fair sampling assumption

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Santos, Emilio

    2004-01-01

    Arguments are given against the fair sampling assumption, used to claim an empirical disproof of local realism. New tests are proposed, able to discriminate between quantum mechanics and a restricted, but appealing, family of local hidden-variables models. Such tests require detectors with efficiencies just above 20%

  16. A proposal on evaluation method of neutron absorption performance to substitute conventional neutron attenuation test

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Je Hyun; Shim, Chang Ho; Kim, Sung Hyun; Choe, Jung Hun; Cho, In Hak; Park, Hwan Seo; Park, Hyun Seo; Kim, Jung Ho; Kim, Yoon Ho

    2016-01-01

    For a verification of newly-developed neutron absorbers, one of guidelines on the qualification and acceptance of neutron absorbers is the neutron attenuation test. However, this approach can cause a problem for the qualifications that it cannot distinguish how the neutron attenuates from materials. In this study, an estimation method of neutron absorption performances for materials is proposed to detect both direct penetration and back-scattering neutrons. For the verification of the proposed method, MCNP simulations with the experimental system designed in this study were pursued using the polyethylene, iron, normal glass and the vitrified form. The results show that it can easily test neutron absorption ability using single absorber model. Also, from simulation results of single absorber and double absorbers model, it is verified that the proposed method can evaluate not only the direct thermal neutrons passing through materials, but also the scattered neutrons reflected to the materials. Therefore, the neutron absorption performances can be accurately estimated using the proposed method comparing with the conventional neutron attenuation test. It is expected that the proposed method can contribute to increase the reliability of the performance of neutron absorbers

  17. A proposal on evaluation method of neutron absorption performance to substitute conventional neutron attenuation test

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Je Hyun; Shim, Chang Ho [Dept. of Nuclear Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Sung Hyun [Nuclear Fuel Cycle Waste Treatment Research Division, Research Reactor Institute, Kyoto University, Osaka (Japan); Choe, Jung Hun; Cho, In Hak; Park, Hwan Seo [Ionizing Radiation Center, Nuclear Fuel Cycle Waste Treatment Research Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Park, Hyun Seo; Kim, Jung Ho; Kim, Yoon Ho [Ionizing Radiation Center, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-12-15

    For a verification of newly-developed neutron absorbers, one of guidelines on the qualification and acceptance of neutron absorbers is the neutron attenuation test. However, this approach can cause a problem for the qualifications that it cannot distinguish how the neutron attenuates from materials. In this study, an estimation method of neutron absorption performances for materials is proposed to detect both direct penetration and back-scattering neutrons. For the verification of the proposed method, MCNP simulations with the experimental system designed in this study were pursued using the polyethylene, iron, normal glass and the vitrified form. The results show that it can easily test neutron absorption ability using single absorber model. Also, from simulation results of single absorber and double absorbers model, it is verified that the proposed method can evaluate not only the direct thermal neutrons passing through materials, but also the scattered neutrons reflected to the materials. Therefore, the neutron absorption performances can be accurately estimated using the proposed method comparing with the conventional neutron attenuation test. It is expected that the proposed method can contribute to increase the reliability of the performance of neutron absorbers.

  18. Empirical Statistical Power for Testing Multilocus Genotypic Effects under Unbalanced Designs Using a Gibbs Sampler

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chaeyoung Lee

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Epistasis that may explain a large portion of the phenotypic variation for complex economic traits of animals has been ignored in many genetic association studies. A Baysian method was introduced to draw inferences about multilocus genotypic effects based on their marginal posterior distributions by a Gibbs sampler. A simulation study was conducted to provide statistical powers under various unbalanced designs by using this method. Data were simulated by combined designs of number of loci, within genotype variance, and sample size in unbalanced designs with or without null combined genotype cells. Mean empirical statistical power was estimated for testing posterior mean estimate of combined genotype effect. A practical example for obtaining empirical statistical power estimates with a given sample size was provided under unbalanced designs. The empirical statistical powers would be useful for determining an optimal design when interactive associations of multiple loci with complex phenotypes were examined.

  19. The extended statistical analysis of toxicity tests using standardised effect sizes (SESs): a comparison of nine published papers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Festing, Michael F W

    2014-01-01

    The safety of chemicals, drugs, novel foods and genetically modified crops is often tested using repeat-dose sub-acute toxicity tests in rats or mice. It is important to avoid misinterpretations of the results as these tests are used to help determine safe exposure levels in humans. Treated and control groups are compared for a range of haematological, biochemical and other biomarkers which may indicate tissue damage or other adverse effects. However, the statistical analysis and presentation of such data poses problems due to the large number of statistical tests which are involved. Often, it is not clear whether a "statistically significant" effect is real or a false positive (type I error) due to sampling variation. The author's conclusions appear to be reached somewhat subjectively by the pattern of statistical significances, discounting those which they judge to be type I errors and ignoring any biomarker where the p-value is greater than p = 0.05. However, by using standardised effect sizes (SESs) a range of graphical methods and an over-all assessment of the mean absolute response can be made. The approach is an extension, not a replacement of existing methods. It is intended to assist toxicologists and regulators in the interpretation of the results. Here, the SES analysis has been applied to data from nine published sub-acute toxicity tests in order to compare the findings with those of the author's. Line plots, box plots and bar plots show the pattern of response. Dose-response relationships are easily seen. A "bootstrap" test compares the mean absolute differences across dose groups. In four out of seven papers where the no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) was estimated by the authors, it was set too high according to the bootstrap test, suggesting that possible toxicity is under-estimated.

  20. The extended statistical analysis of toxicity tests using standardised effect sizes (SESs: a comparison of nine published papers.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael F W Festing

    Full Text Available The safety of chemicals, drugs, novel foods and genetically modified crops is often tested using repeat-dose sub-acute toxicity tests in rats or mice. It is important to avoid misinterpretations of the results as these tests are used to help determine safe exposure levels in humans. Treated and control groups are compared for a range of haematological, biochemical and other biomarkers which may indicate tissue damage or other adverse effects. However, the statistical analysis and presentation of such data poses problems due to the large number of statistical tests which are involved. Often, it is not clear whether a "statistically significant" effect is real or a false positive (type I error due to sampling variation. The author's conclusions appear to be reached somewhat subjectively by the pattern of statistical significances, discounting those which they judge to be type I errors and ignoring any biomarker where the p-value is greater than p = 0.05. However, by using standardised effect sizes (SESs a range of graphical methods and an over-all assessment of the mean absolute response can be made. The approach is an extension, not a replacement of existing methods. It is intended to assist toxicologists and regulators in the interpretation of the results. Here, the SES analysis has been applied to data from nine published sub-acute toxicity tests in order to compare the findings with those of the author's. Line plots, box plots and bar plots show the pattern of response. Dose-response relationships are easily seen. A "bootstrap" test compares the mean absolute differences across dose groups. In four out of seven papers where the no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL was estimated by the authors, it was set too high according to the bootstrap test, suggesting that possible toxicity is under-estimated.

  1. Design of a testing strategy using non-animal based test methods: lessons learnt from the ACuteTox project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kopp-Schneider, Annette; Prieto, Pilar; Kinsner-Ovaskainen, Agnieszka; Stanzel, Sven

    2013-06-01

    In the framework of toxicology, a testing strategy can be viewed as a series of steps which are taken to come to a final prediction about a characteristic of a compound under study. The testing strategy is performed as a single-step procedure, usually called a test battery, using simultaneously all information collected on different endpoints, or as tiered approach in which a decision tree is followed. Design of a testing strategy involves statistical considerations, such as the development of a statistical prediction model. During the EU FP6 ACuteTox project, several prediction models were proposed on the basis of statistical classification algorithms which we illustrate here. The final choice of testing strategies was not based on statistical considerations alone. However, without thorough statistical evaluations a testing strategy cannot be identified. We present here a number of observations made from the statistical viewpoint which relate to the development of testing strategies. The points we make were derived from problems we had to deal with during the evaluation of this large research project. A central issue during the development of a prediction model is the danger of overfitting. Procedures are presented to deal with this challenge. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. A statistical assessment of differences and equivalences between genetically modified and reference plant varieties

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amzal Billy

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Safety assessment of genetically modified organisms is currently often performed by comparative evaluation. However, natural variation of plant characteristics between commercial varieties is usually not considered explicitly in the statistical computations underlying the assessment. Results Statistical methods are described for the assessment of the difference between a genetically modified (GM plant variety and a conventional non-GM counterpart, and for the assessment of the equivalence between the GM variety and a group of reference plant varieties which have a history of safe use. It is proposed to present the results of both difference and equivalence testing for all relevant plant characteristics simultaneously in one or a few graphs, as an aid for further interpretation in safety assessment. A procedure is suggested to derive equivalence limits from the observed results for the reference plant varieties using a specific implementation of the linear mixed model. Three different equivalence tests are defined to classify any result in one of four equivalence classes. The performance of the proposed methods is investigated by a simulation study, and the methods are illustrated on compositional data from a field study on maize grain. Conclusions A clear distinction of practical relevance is shown between difference and equivalence testing. The proposed tests are shown to have appropriate performance characteristics by simulation, and the proposed simultaneous graphical representation of results was found to be helpful for the interpretation of results from a practical field trial data set.

  3. Testing Homogeneity in a Semiparametric Two-Sample Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yukun Liu

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available We study a two-sample homogeneity testing problem, in which one sample comes from a population with density f(x and the other is from a mixture population with mixture density (1−λf(x+λg(x. This problem arises naturally from many statistical applications such as test for partial differential gene expression in microarray study or genetic studies for gene mutation. Under the semiparametric assumption g(x=f(xeα+βx, a penalized empirical likelihood ratio test could be constructed, but its implementation is hindered by the fact that there is neither feasible algorithm for computing the test statistic nor available research results on its theoretical properties. To circumvent these difficulties, we propose an EM test based on the penalized empirical likelihood. We prove that the EM test has a simple chi-square limiting distribution, and we also demonstrate its competitive testing performances by simulations. A real-data example is used to illustrate the proposed methodology.

  4. Automated collimation testing by determining the statistical correlation coefficient of Talbot self-images.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rana, Santosh; Dhanotia, Jitendra; Bhatia, Vimal; Prakash, Shashi

    2018-04-01

    In this paper, we propose a simple, fast, and accurate technique for detection of collimation position of an optical beam using the self-imaging phenomenon and correlation analysis. Herrera-Fernandez et al. [J. Opt.18, 075608 (2016)JOOPDB0150-536X10.1088/2040-8978/18/7/075608] proposed an experimental arrangement for collimation testing by comparing the period of two different self-images produced by a single diffraction grating. Following their approach, we propose a testing procedure based on correlation coefficient (CC) for efficient detection of variation in the size and fringe width of the Talbot self-images and thereby the collimation position. When the beam is collimated, the physical properties of the self-images of the grating, such as its size and fringe width, do not vary from one Talbot plane to the other and are identical; the CC is maximum in such a situation. For the de-collimated position, the size and fringe width of the self-images vary, and correspondingly the CC decreases. Hence, the magnitude of CC is a measure of degree of collimation. Using the method, we could set the collimation position to a resolution of 1 μm, which relates to ±0.25   μ    radians in terms of collimation angle (for testing a collimating lens of diameter 46 mm and focal length 300 mm). In contrast to most collimation techniques reported to date, the proposed technique does not require a translation/rotation of the grating, use of complicated phase evaluation algorithms, or an intricate method for determination of period of the grating or its self-images. The technique is fully automated and provides high resolution and precision.

  5. An ANOVA approach for statistical comparisons of brain networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fraiman, Daniel; Fraiman, Ricardo

    2018-03-16

    The study of brain networks has developed extensively over the last couple of decades. By contrast, techniques for the statistical analysis of these networks are less developed. In this paper, we focus on the statistical comparison of brain networks in a nonparametric framework and discuss the associated detection and identification problems. We tested network differences between groups with an analysis of variance (ANOVA) test we developed specifically for networks. We also propose and analyse the behaviour of a new statistical procedure designed to identify different subnetworks. As an example, we show the application of this tool in resting-state fMRI data obtained from the Human Connectome Project. We identify, among other variables, that the amount of sleep the days before the scan is a relevant variable that must be controlled. Finally, we discuss the potential bias in neuroimaging findings that is generated by some behavioural and brain structure variables. Our method can also be applied to other kind of networks such as protein interaction networks, gene networks or social networks.

  6. Precision Statistical Analysis of Images Based on Brightness Distribution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muzhir Shaban Al-Ani

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Study the content of images is considered an important topic in which reasonable and accurate analysis of images are generated. Recently image analysis becomes a vital field because of huge number of images transferred via transmission media in our daily life. These crowded media with images lead to highlight in research area of image analysis. In this paper, the implemented system is passed into many steps to perform the statistical measures of standard deviation and mean values of both color and grey images. Whereas the last step of the proposed method concerns to compare the obtained results in different cases of the test phase. In this paper, the statistical parameters are implemented to characterize the content of an image and its texture. Standard deviation, mean and correlation values are used to study the intensity distribution of the tested images. Reasonable results are obtained for both standard deviation and mean value via the implementation of the system. The major issue addressed in the work is concentrated on brightness distribution via statistical measures applying different types of lighting.

  7. Image Statistics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wendelberger, Laura Jean [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

    2017-08-08

    In large datasets, it is time consuming or even impossible to pick out interesting images. Our proposed solution is to find statistics to quantify the information in each image and use those to identify and pick out images of interest.

  8. A Critique of One-Tailed Hypothesis Test Procedures in Business and Economics Statistics Textbooks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Tung; Stone, Courtenay C.

    1999-01-01

    Surveys introductory business and economics statistics textbooks and finds that they differ over the best way to explain one-tailed hypothesis tests: the simple null-hypothesis approach or the composite null-hypothesis approach. Argues that the composite null-hypothesis approach contains methodological shortcomings that make it more difficult for…

  9. A comment on a proposed ''crucial experiment'' to test Einstein's special theory of relativity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rodrigues Jr, W.A.; Buonamano, V.

    1976-01-01

    A proposed ''crucial experiment'' to test Einstein's special theory of relativity is analysed and it is shown that it falls into the set of unsatisfactory proposals that attempt to make an experimental distinction between Einstein's special theory of relativity and a ''Lorentzian type'' special theory of relativity

  10. Theoretical remarks on the statistics of three discriminants in Piety's automated signature analysis of PSD [Power Spectral Density] data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Behringer, K.; Spiekerman, G.

    1984-01-01

    Piety (1977) proposed an automated signature analysis of power spectral density data. Eight statistical decision discriminants are introduced. For nearly all the discriminants, improved confidence statements can be made. The statistical characteristics of the last three discriminants, which are applications of non-parametric tests, are considered. (author)

  11. Robust functional statistics applied to Probability Density Function shape screening of sEMG data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boudaoud, S; Rix, H; Al Harrach, M; Marin, F

    2014-01-01

    Recent studies pointed out possible shape modifications of the Probability Density Function (PDF) of surface electromyographical (sEMG) data according to several contexts like fatigue and muscle force increase. Following this idea, criteria have been proposed to monitor these shape modifications mainly using High Order Statistics (HOS) parameters like skewness and kurtosis. In experimental conditions, these parameters are confronted with small sample size in the estimation process. This small sample size induces errors in the estimated HOS parameters restraining real-time and precise sEMG PDF shape monitoring. Recently, a functional formalism, the Core Shape Model (CSM), has been used to analyse shape modifications of PDF curves. In this work, taking inspiration from CSM method, robust functional statistics are proposed to emulate both skewness and kurtosis behaviors. These functional statistics combine both kernel density estimation and PDF shape distances to evaluate shape modifications even in presence of small sample size. Then, the proposed statistics are tested, using Monte Carlo simulations, on both normal and Log-normal PDFs that mimic observed sEMG PDF shape behavior during muscle contraction. According to the obtained results, the functional statistics seem to be more robust than HOS parameters to small sample size effect and more accurate in sEMG PDF shape screening applications.

  12. Geometric Positioning Accuracy Improvement of ZY-3 Satellite Imagery Based on Statistical Learning Theory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Niangang Jiao

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available With the increasing demand for high-resolution remote sensing images for mapping and monitoring the Earth’s environment, geometric positioning accuracy improvement plays a significant role in the image preprocessing step. Based on the statistical learning theory, we propose a new method to improve the geometric positioning accuracy without ground control points (GCPs. Multi-temporal images from the ZY-3 satellite are tested and the bias-compensated rational function model (RFM is applied as the block adjustment model in our experiment. An easy and stable weight strategy and the fast iterative shrinkage-thresholding (FIST algorithm which is widely used in the field of compressive sensing are improved and utilized to define the normal equation matrix and solve it. Then, the residual errors after traditional block adjustment are acquired and tested with the newly proposed inherent error compensation model based on statistical learning theory. The final results indicate that the geometric positioning accuracy of ZY-3 satellite imagery can be improved greatly with our proposed method.

  13. CORSSA: Community Online Resource for Statistical Seismicity Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zechar, J. D.; Hardebeck, J. L.; Michael, A. J.; Naylor, M.; Steacy, S.; Wiemer, S.; Zhuang, J.

    2011-12-01

    Statistical seismology is critical to the understanding of seismicity, the evaluation of proposed earthquake prediction and forecasting methods, and the assessment of seismic hazard. Unfortunately, despite its importance to seismology-especially to those aspects with great impact on public policy-statistical seismology is mostly ignored in the education of seismologists, and there is no central repository for the existing open-source software tools. To remedy these deficiencies, and with the broader goal to enhance the quality of statistical seismology research, we have begun building the Community Online Resource for Statistical Seismicity Analysis (CORSSA, www.corssa.org). We anticipate that the users of CORSSA will range from beginning graduate students to experienced researchers. More than 20 scientists from around the world met for a week in Zurich in May 2010 to kick-start the creation of CORSSA: the format and initial table of contents were defined; a governing structure was organized; and workshop participants began drafting articles. CORSSA materials are organized with respect to six themes, each will contain between four and eight articles. CORSSA now includes seven articles with an additional six in draft form along with forums for discussion, a glossary, and news about upcoming meetings, special issues, and recent papers. Each article is peer-reviewed and presents a balanced discussion, including illustrative examples and code snippets. Topics in the initial set of articles include: introductions to both CORSSA and statistical seismology, basic statistical tests and their role in seismology; understanding seismicity catalogs and their problems; basic techniques for modeling seismicity; and methods for testing earthquake predictability hypotheses. We have also begun curating a collection of statistical seismology software packages.

  14. Statistical Analysis of the Polarimetric Cloud Analysis and Seeding Test (POLCAST) Field Projects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ekness, Jamie Lynn

    The North Dakota farming industry brings in more than $4.1 billion annually in cash receipts. Unfortunately, agriculture sales vary significantly from year to year, which is due in large part to weather events such as hail storms and droughts. One method to mitigate drought is to use hygroscopic seeding to increase the precipitation efficiency of clouds. The North Dakota Atmospheric Research Board (NDARB) sponsored the Polarimetric Cloud Analysis and Seeding Test (POLCAST) research project to determine the effectiveness of hygroscopic seeding in North Dakota. The POLCAST field projects obtained airborne and radar observations, while conducting randomized cloud seeding. The Thunderstorm Identification Tracking and Nowcasting (TITAN) program is used to analyze radar data (33 usable cases) in determining differences in the duration of the storm, rain rate and total rain amount between seeded and non-seeded clouds. The single ratio of seeded to non-seeded cases is 1.56 (0.28 mm/0.18 mm) or 56% increase for the average hourly rainfall during the first 60 minutes after target selection. A seeding effect is indicated with the lifetime of the storms increasing by 41 % between seeded and non-seeded clouds for the first 60 minutes past seeding decision. A double ratio statistic, a comparison of radar derived rain amount of the last 40 minutes of a case (seed/non-seed), compared to the first 20 minutes (seed/non-seed), is used to account for the natural variability of the cloud system and gives a double ratio of 1.85. The Mann-Whitney test on the double ratio of seeded to non-seeded cases (33 cases) gives a significance (p-value) of 0.063. Bootstrapping analysis of the POLCAST set indicates that 50 cases would provide statistically significant results based on the Mann-Whitney test of the double ratio. All the statistical analysis conducted on the POLCAST data set show that hygroscopic seeding in North Dakota does increase precipitation. While an additional POLCAST field

  15. A critical discussion of null hypothesis significance testing and statistical power analysis within psychological research

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jones, Allan; Sommerlund, Bo

    2007-01-01

    The uses of null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) and statistical power analysis within psychological research are critically discussed. The article looks at the problems of relying solely on NHST when dealing with small and large sample sizes. The use of power-analysis in estimating...... the potential error introduced by small and large samples is advocated. Power analysis is not recommended as a replacement to NHST but as an additional source of information about the phenomena under investigation. Moreover, the importance of conceptual analysis in relation to statistical analysis of hypothesis...

  16. A CLASS OF DISTRIBUTION-FREE TESTS FOR INDEPENDENCE AGAINST POSITIVE QUADRANT DEPENDENCE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Parameshwar V Pandit

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available A class of distribution-free tests based on convex combination of two U-statistics is considered for testing independence against positive quadrant dependence. The class of tests proposed by Kochar and Gupta (1987 and Kendall’s test are members of the proposed class. The performance of the proposed class is evaluated in terms of Pitman asymptotic relative efficiency for Block- Basu (1974 model and Woodworth family of distributions. It has been observed that some members of the class perform better than the existing tests in the literature.  Unbiasedness and consistency of the proposed class of tests have been established.

  17. Using Cochran's Z Statistic to Test the Kernel-Smoothed Item Response Function Differences between Focal and Reference Groups

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Yinggan; Gierl, Mark J.; Cui, Ying

    2010-01-01

    This study combined the kernel smoothing procedure and a nonparametric differential item functioning statistic--Cochran's Z--to statistically test the difference between the kernel-smoothed item response functions for reference and focal groups. Simulation studies were conducted to investigate the Type I error and power of the proposed…

  18. R for statistics

    CERN Document Server

    Cornillon, Pierre-Andre; Husson, Francois; Jegou, Nicolas; Josse, Julie; Kloareg, Maela; Matzner-Lober, Eric; Rouviere, Laurent

    2012-01-01

    An Overview of RMain ConceptsInstalling RWork SessionHelpR ObjectsFunctionsPackagesExercisesPreparing DataReading Data from FileExporting ResultsManipulating VariablesManipulating IndividualsConcatenating Data TablesCross-TabulationExercisesR GraphicsConventional Graphical FunctionsGraphical Functions with latticeExercisesMaking Programs with RControl FlowsPredefined FunctionsCreating a FunctionExercisesStatistical MethodsIntroduction to the Statistical MethodsA Quick Start with RInstalling ROpening and Closing RThe Command PromptAttribution, Objects, and FunctionSelectionOther Rcmdr PackageImporting (or Inputting) DataGraphsStatistical AnalysisHypothesis TestConfidence Intervals for a MeanChi-Square Test of IndependenceComparison of Two MeansTesting Conformity of a ProportionComparing Several ProportionsThe Power of a TestRegressionSimple Linear RegressionMultiple Linear RegressionPartial Least Squares (PLS) RegressionAnalysis of Variance and CovarianceOne-Way Analysis of VarianceMulti-Way Analysis of Varian...

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    ... communication strategies, messages, and labels. These communications will aim to improve public understanding of... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2010-N-0420] Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Testing Communications on...

  1. Statistical classification techniques in high energy physics (SDDT algorithm)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bouř, Petr; Kůs, Václav; Franc, Jiří

    2016-01-01

    We present our proposal of the supervised binary divergence decision tree with nested separation method based on the generalized linear models. A key insight we provide is the clustering driven only by a few selected physical variables. The proper selection consists of the variables achieving the maximal divergence measure between two different classes. Further, we apply our method to Monte Carlo simulations of physics processes corresponding to a data sample of top quark-antiquark pair candidate events in the lepton+jets decay channel. The data sample is produced in pp̅ collisions at √S = 1.96 TeV. It corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 9.7 fb"-"1 recorded with the D0 detector during Run II of the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. The efficiency of our algorithm achieves 90% AUC in separating signal from background. We also briefly deal with the modification of statistical tests applicable to weighted data sets in order to test homogeneity of the Monte Carlo simulations and measured data. The justification of these modified tests is proposed through the divergence tests. (paper)

  2. Statistical inference based on divergence measures

    CERN Document Server

    Pardo, Leandro

    2005-01-01

    The idea of using functionals of Information Theory, such as entropies or divergences, in statistical inference is not new. However, in spite of the fact that divergence statistics have become a very good alternative to the classical likelihood ratio test and the Pearson-type statistic in discrete models, many statisticians remain unaware of this powerful approach.Statistical Inference Based on Divergence Measures explores classical problems of statistical inference, such as estimation and hypothesis testing, on the basis of measures of entropy and divergence. The first two chapters form an overview, from a statistical perspective, of the most important measures of entropy and divergence and study their properties. The author then examines the statistical analysis of discrete multivariate data with emphasis is on problems in contingency tables and loglinear models using phi-divergence test statistics as well as minimum phi-divergence estimators. The final chapter looks at testing in general populations, prese...

  3. The relationship between procrastination, learning strategies and statistics anxiety among Iranian college students: a canonical correlation analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vahedi, Shahrum; Farrokhi, Farahman; Gahramani, Farahnaz; Issazadegan, Ali

    2012-01-01

    Approximately 66-80%of graduate students experience statistics anxiety and some researchers propose that many students identify statistics courses as the most anxiety-inducing courses in their academic curriculums. As such, it is likely that statistics anxiety is, in part, responsible for many students delaying enrollment in these courses for as long as possible. This paper proposes a canonical model by treating academic procrastination (AP), learning strategies (LS) as predictor variables and statistics anxiety (SA) as explained variables. A questionnaire survey was used for data collection and 246-college female student participated in this study. To examine the mutually independent relations between procrastination, learning strategies and statistics anxiety variables, a canonical correlation analysis was computed. Findings show that two canonical functions were statistically significant. The set of variables (metacognitive self-regulation, source management, preparing homework, preparing for test and preparing term papers) helped predict changes of statistics anxiety with respect to fearful behavior, Attitude towards math and class, Performance, but not Anxiety. These findings could be used in educational and psychological interventions in the context of statistics anxiety reduction.

  4. ITSA: Internet Traffic Statistics Archive

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hoogesteger, Martijn; de Oliveira Schmidt, R.; Pras, Aiko

    Motivated by the fact that comprehensive and long term Internet traffic measurements can be hard to obtain, we have proposed and developed the Internet Traffic Statistics Archive (ITSA). Since 2013, ITSA concentrates reports on high-level statistics of Internet traffic worldwide. Examples of

  5. Kappa statistic for clustered matched-pair data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Zhao; Zhou, Ming

    2014-07-10

    Kappa statistic is widely used to assess the agreement between two procedures in the independent matched-pair data. For matched-pair data collected in clusters, on the basis of the delta method and sampling techniques, we propose a nonparametric variance estimator for the kappa statistic without within-cluster correlation structure or distributional assumptions. The results of an extensive Monte Carlo simulation study demonstrate that the proposed kappa statistic provides consistent estimation and the proposed variance estimator behaves reasonably well for at least a moderately large number of clusters (e.g., K ≥50). Compared with the variance estimator ignoring dependence within a cluster, the proposed variance estimator performs better in maintaining the nominal coverage probability when the intra-cluster correlation is fair (ρ ≥0.3), with more pronounced improvement when ρ is further increased. To illustrate the practical application of the proposed estimator, we analyze two real data examples of clustered matched-pair data. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  6. Statistics For Dummies

    CERN Document Server

    Rumsey, Deborah

    2011-01-01

    The fun and easy way to get down to business with statistics Stymied by statistics? No fear ? this friendly guide offers clear, practical explanations of statistical ideas, techniques, formulas, and calculations, with lots of examples that show you how these concepts apply to your everyday life. Statistics For Dummies shows you how to interpret and critique graphs and charts, determine the odds with probability, guesstimate with confidence using confidence intervals, set up and carry out a hypothesis test, compute statistical formulas, and more.Tracks to a typical first semester statistics cou

  7. Nuclear multifragmentation, its relation to general physics. A rich test ground of the fundamentals of statistical mechanics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gross, D.H.E.

    2006-01-01

    Heat can flow from cold to hot at any phase separation even in macroscopic systems. Therefore also Lynden-Bell's famous gravo-thermal catastrophe must be reconsidered. In contrast to traditional canonical Boltzmann-Gibbs statistics this is correctly described only by microcanonical statistics. Systems studied in chemical thermodynamics (ChTh) by using canonical statistics consist of several homogeneous macroscopic phases. Evidently, macroscopic statistics as in chemistry cannot and should not be applied to non-extensive or inhomogeneous systems like nuclei or galaxies. Nuclei are small and inhomogeneous. Multifragmented nuclei are even more inhomogeneous and the fragments even smaller. Phase transitions of first order and especially phase separations therefore cannot be described by a (homogeneous) canonical ensemble. Taking this serious, fascinating perspectives open for statistical nuclear fragmentation as test ground for the basic principles of statistical mechanics, especially of phase transitions, without the use of the thermodynamic limit. Moreover, there is also a lot of similarity between the accessible phase space of fragmenting nuclei and inhomogeneous multistellar systems. This underlines the fundamental significance for statistical physics in general. (orig.)

  8. A Powerful Test for Comparing Multiple Regression Functions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maity, Arnab

    2012-09-01

    In this article, we address the important problem of comparison of two or more population regression functions. Recently, Pardo-Fernández, Van Keilegom and González-Manteiga (2007) developed test statistics for simple nonparametric regression models: Y(ij) = θ(j)(Z(ij)) + σ(j)(Z(ij))∊(ij), based on empirical distributions of the errors in each population j = 1, … , J. In this paper, we propose a test for equality of the θ(j)(·) based on the concept of generalized likelihood ratio type statistics. We also generalize our test for other nonparametric regression setups, e.g, nonparametric logistic regression, where the loglikelihood for population j is any general smooth function [Formula: see text]. We describe a resampling procedure to obtain the critical values of the test. In addition, we present a simulation study to evaluate the performance of the proposed test and compare our results to those in Pardo-Fernández et al. (2007).

  9. Study of relationship between MUF correlation and detection sensitivity of statistical analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tamura, Toshiaki; Ihara, Hitoshi; Yamamoto, Yoichi; Ikawa, Koji

    1989-11-01

    Various kinds of statistical analysis are proposed to NRTA (Near Real Time Materials Accountancy) which was devised to satisfy the timeliness goal of one of the detection goals of IAEA. It will be presumed that different statistical analysis results will occur between the case of considered rigorous error propagation (with MUF correlation) and the case of simplified error propagation (without MUF correlation). Therefore, measurement simulation and decision analysis were done using flow simulation of 800 MTHM/Y model reprocessing plant, and relationship between MUF correlation and detection sensitivity and false alarm of statistical analysis was studied. Specific character of material accountancy for 800 MTHM/Y model reprocessing plant was grasped by this simulation. It also became clear that MUF correlation decreases not only false alarm but also detection probability for protracted loss in case of CUMUF test and Page's test applied to NRTA. (author)

  10. Proposed particle-beam characterizations for the APS undulator test line

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lumpkin, A.H.; Borland, M.; Milton, S.

    1993-09-01

    A research and development effort is underway at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) to use an rf gun as a low-emittance electron source for injection into the 100- to 650-MeV linac subsystem and subsequently to an undulator test area. This configuration would combine the acceleration capability of the 200-MeV S-band electron linac and the in-line 450-MeV positron linac that normally provide positrons to the positron accumulator ring (PAR). A transport line that bypasses the PAR will bring the electrons to the undulator test area. Characterization techniques will be discussed for the electron beam with a normalized, rms emittance of <10 {pi} mm mrad (1{sigma}) at micropulse charges of up to 350 pC and micropulse durations of {approximately}5 ps (FWHM). Tests proposed include measurement of particle beam transport effects (at one-tenth the storage ring beam rigidity) caused by small undulator field errors as well as operations intended to produce coherent, short wavelength radiation (<200 nm).

  11. Power of tests for comparing trend curves with application to national immunization survey (NIS).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Zhen

    2011-02-28

    To develop statistical tests for comparing trend curves of study outcomes between two socio-demographic strata across consecutive time points, and compare statistical power of the proposed tests under different trend curves data, three statistical tests were proposed. For large sample size with independent normal assumption among strata and across consecutive time points, the Z and Chi-square test statistics were developed, which are functions of outcome estimates and the standard errors at each of the study time points for the two strata. For small sample size with independent normal assumption, the F-test statistic was generated, which is a function of sample size of the two strata and estimated parameters across study period. If two trend curves are approximately parallel, the power of Z-test is consistently higher than that of both Chi-square and F-test. If two trend curves cross at low interaction, the power of Z-test is higher than or equal to the power of both Chi-square and F-test; however, at high interaction, the powers of Chi-square and F-test are higher than that of Z-test. The measurement of interaction of two trend curves was defined. These tests were applied to the comparison of trend curves of vaccination coverage estimates of standard vaccine series with National Immunization Survey (NIS) 2000-2007 data. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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    2010-07-13

    ... communications will aim to improve public understanding of the risks and benefits of using medical devices and... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2010-N-0344] Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Testing Communications on...

  13. Statistical Methods in Psychology Journals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willkinson, Leland

    1999-01-01

    Proposes guidelines for revising the American Psychological Association (APA) publication manual or other APA materials to clarify the application of statistics in research reports. The guidelines are intended to induce authors and editors to recognize the thoughtless application of statistical methods. Contains 54 references. (SLD)

  14. Conformity and statistical tolerancing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leblond, Laurent; Pillet, Maurice

    2018-02-01

    Statistical tolerancing was first proposed by Shewhart (Economic Control of Quality of Manufactured Product, (1931) reprinted 1980 by ASQC), in spite of this long history, its use remains moderate. One of the probable reasons for this low utilization is undoubtedly the difficulty for designers to anticipate the risks of this approach. The arithmetic tolerance (worst case) allows a simple interpretation: conformity is defined by the presence of the characteristic in an interval. Statistical tolerancing is more complex in its definition. An interval is not sufficient to define the conformance. To justify the statistical tolerancing formula used by designers, a tolerance interval should be interpreted as the interval where most of the parts produced should probably be located. This tolerance is justified by considering a conformity criterion of the parts guaranteeing low offsets on the latter characteristics. Unlike traditional arithmetic tolerancing, statistical tolerancing requires a sustained exchange of information between design and manufacture to be used safely. This paper proposes a formal definition of the conformity, which we apply successively to the quadratic and arithmetic tolerancing. We introduce a concept of concavity, which helps us to demonstrate the link between tolerancing approach and conformity. We use this concept to demonstrate the various acceptable propositions of statistical tolerancing (in the space decentring, dispersion).

  15. Selection of hidden layer nodes in neural networks by statistical tests

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ciftcioglu, Ozer

    1992-05-01

    A statistical methodology for selection of the number of hidden layer nodes in feedforward neural networks is described. The method considers the network as an empirical model for the experimental data set subject to pattern classification so that the selection process becomes a model estimation through parameter identification. The solution is performed for an overdetermined estimation problem for identification using nonlinear least squares minimization technique. The number of the hidden layer nodes is determined as result of hypothesis testing. Accordingly the redundant network structure with respect to the number of parameters is avoided and the classification error being kept to a minimum. (author). 11 refs.; 4 figs.; 1 tab

  16. Variability analysis of AGN: a review of results using new statistical criteria

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zibecchi, L.; Andruchow, I.; Cellone, S. A.; Romero, G. E.; Combi, J. A.

    We present here a re-analysis of the variability results of a sample of active galactic nuclei (AGN), which have been observed on several sessions with the 2.15 m "Jorge Sahade" telescope (CASLEO), San Juan, Argentina, and whose results are published (Romero et al. 1999, 2000, 2002; Cellone et al. 2000). The motivation for this new analysis is the implementation, dur- ing the last years, of improvements in the statistical criteria applied, taking quantitatively into account the incidence of the photometric errors (Cellone et al. 2007). This work is framed as a first step in an integral study on the statistical estimators of AGN variability. This study is motivated by the great diversity of statistical tests that have been proposed to analyze the variability of these objects. Since we note that, in some cases, the results of the object variability depend on the test used, we attempt to make a com- parative study of the various tests and analyze, under the given conditions, which of them is the most efficient and reliable.

  17. Evaluation of PDA Technical Report No 33. Statistical Testing Recommendations for a Rapid Microbiological Method Case Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murphy, Thomas; Schwedock, Julie; Nguyen, Kham; Mills, Anna; Jones, David

    2015-01-01

    New recommendations for the validation of rapid microbiological methods have been included in the revised Technical Report 33 release from the PDA. The changes include a more comprehensive review of the statistical methods to be used to analyze data obtained during validation. This case study applies those statistical methods to accuracy, precision, ruggedness, and equivalence data obtained using a rapid microbiological methods system being evaluated for water bioburden testing. Results presented demonstrate that the statistical methods described in the PDA Technical Report 33 chapter can all be successfully applied to the rapid microbiological method data sets and gave the same interpretation for equivalence to the standard method. The rapid microbiological method was in general able to pass the requirements of PDA Technical Report 33, though the study shows that there can be occasional outlying results and that caution should be used when applying statistical methods to low average colony-forming unit values. Prior to use in a quality-controlled environment, any new method or technology has to be shown to work as designed by the manufacturer for the purpose required. For new rapid microbiological methods that detect and enumerate contaminating microorganisms, additional recommendations have been provided in the revised PDA Technical Report No. 33. The changes include a more comprehensive review of the statistical methods to be used to analyze data obtained during validation. This paper applies those statistical methods to analyze accuracy, precision, ruggedness, and equivalence data obtained using a rapid microbiological method system being validated for water bioburden testing. The case study demonstrates that the statistical methods described in the PDA Technical Report No. 33 chapter can be successfully applied to rapid microbiological method data sets and give the same comparability results for similarity or difference as the standard method. © PDA, Inc

  18. A statistical test for the habitable zone concept

    Science.gov (United States)

    Checlair, J.; Abbot, D. S.

    2017-12-01

    Traditional habitable zone theory assumes that the silicate-weathering feedback regulates the atmospheric CO2 of planets within the habitable zone to maintain surface temperatures that allow for liquid water. There is some non-definitive evidence that this feedback has worked in Earth history, but it is untested in an exoplanet context. A critical prediction of the silicate-weathering feedback is that, on average, within the habitable zone planets that receive a higher stellar flux should have a lower CO2 in order to maintain liquid water at their surface. We can test this prediction directly by using a statistical approach involving low-precision CO2 measurements on many planets with future instruments such as JWST, LUVOIR, or HabEx. The purpose of this work is to carefully outline the requirements for such a test. First, we use a radiative-transfer model to compute the amount of CO2 necessary to maintain surface liquid water on planets for different values of insolation and planetary parameters. We run a large ensemble of Earth-like planets with different masses, atmospheric masses, inert atmospheric composition, cloud composition and level, and other greenhouse gases. Second, we post-process this data to determine the precision with which future instruments such as JWST, LUVOIR, and HabEx could measure the CO2. We then combine the variation due to planetary parameters and observational error to determine the number of planet measurements that would be needed to effectively marginalize over uncertainties and resolve the predicted trend in CO2 vs. stellar flux. The results of this work may influence the usage of JWST and will enhance mission planning for LUVOIR and HabEx.

  19. Multiparametric statistics

    CERN Document Server

    Serdobolskii, Vadim Ivanovich

    2007-01-01

    This monograph presents mathematical theory of statistical models described by the essentially large number of unknown parameters, comparable with sample size but can also be much larger. In this meaning, the proposed theory can be called "essentially multiparametric". It is developed on the basis of the Kolmogorov asymptotic approach in which sample size increases along with the number of unknown parameters.This theory opens a way for solution of central problems of multivariate statistics, which up until now have not been solved. Traditional statistical methods based on the idea of an infinite sampling often break down in the solution of real problems, and, dependent on data, can be inefficient, unstable and even not applicable. In this situation, practical statisticians are forced to use various heuristic methods in the hope the will find a satisfactory solution.Mathematical theory developed in this book presents a regular technique for implementing new, more efficient versions of statistical procedures. ...

  20. Building the Community Online Resource for Statistical Seismicity Analysis (CORSSA)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michael, A. J.; Wiemer, S.; Zechar, J. D.; Hardebeck, J. L.; Naylor, M.; Zhuang, J.; Steacy, S.; Corssa Executive Committee

    2010-12-01

    Statistical seismology is critical to the understanding of seismicity, the testing of proposed earthquake prediction and forecasting methods, and the assessment of seismic hazard. Unfortunately, despite its importance to seismology - especially to those aspects with great impact on public policy - statistical seismology is mostly ignored in the education of seismologists, and there is no central repository for the existing open-source software tools. To remedy these deficiencies, and with the broader goal to enhance the quality of statistical seismology research, we have begun building the Community Online Resource for Statistical Seismicity Analysis (CORSSA). CORSSA is a web-based educational platform that is authoritative, up-to-date, prominent, and user-friendly. We anticipate that the users of CORSSA will range from beginning graduate students to experienced researchers. More than 20 scientists from around the world met for a week in Zurich in May 2010 to kick-start the creation of CORSSA: the format and initial table of contents were defined; a governing structure was organized; and workshop participants began drafting articles. CORSSA materials are organized with respect to six themes, each containing between four and eight articles. The CORSSA web page, www.corssa.org, officially unveiled on September 6, 2010, debuts with an initial set of approximately 10 to 15 articles available online for viewing and commenting with additional articles to be added over the coming months. Each article will be peer-reviewed and will present a balanced discussion, including illustrative examples and code snippets. Topics in the initial set of articles will include: introductions to both CORSSA and statistical seismology, basic statistical tests and their role in seismology; understanding seismicity catalogs and their problems; basic techniques for modeling seismicity; and methods for testing earthquake predictability hypotheses. A special article will compare and review

  1. Finding the Root Causes of Statistical Inconsistency in Community Earth System Model Output

    Science.gov (United States)

    Milroy, D.; Hammerling, D.; Baker, A. H.

    2017-12-01

    Baker et al (2015) developed the Community Earth System Model Ensemble Consistency Test (CESM-ECT) to provide a metric for software quality assurance by determining statistical consistency between an ensemble of CESM outputs and new test runs. The test has proved useful for detecting statistical difference caused by compiler bugs and errors in physical modules. However, detection is only the necessary first step in finding the causes of statistical difference. The CESM is a vastly complex model comprised of millions of lines of code which is developed and maintained by a large community of software engineers and scientists. Any root cause analysis is correspondingly challenging. We propose a new capability for CESM-ECT: identifying the sections of code that cause statistical distinguishability. The first step is to discover CESM variables that cause CESM-ECT to classify new runs as statistically distinct, which we achieve via Randomized Logistic Regression. Next we use a tool developed to identify CESM components that define or compute the variables found in the first step. Finally, we employ the application Kernel GENerator (KGEN) created in Kim et al (2016) to detect fine-grained floating point differences. We demonstrate an example of the procedure and advance a plan to automate this process in our future work.

  2. In vitro vaccine potency testing: a proposal for reducing animal use for requalification testing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, K; Stokes, W

    2012-01-01

    This paper proposes a program under which the use of animals for requalification of in vitro potency tests could be eliminated. Standard References (USDA/CVB nomenclature) would be developed, characterized, stored and monitored by selected reference laboratories worldwide. These laboratories would employ scientists skilled in protein and glycoprotein chemistry and equipped with state-of-the-art instruments for required analyses. After Standard References are established, the reference laboratories would provide them to the animal health industry as "gold standards". Companies would then establish and validate a correlation between the Standard Reference and the company Master Reference (USDA/CVB nomenclature) using an internal in vitro assay. After this correlation is established, the company could use the Standard References for qualifying, monitoring and requalifying company Master References without the use of animals. Such a program would eliminate the need for animals for requalification of Master References and the need for each company to develop and validate a battery of Master Reference Monitoring assays. It would also provide advantages in terms of reduced costs and reduced time for requalification testing. As such it would provide a strong incentive for companies to develop and use in vitro assays for potency testing.

  3. A Statistical Approach for Selecting Buildings for Experimental Measurement of HVAC Needs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Malinowski Paweł

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available This article presents a statistical methodology for selecting representative buildings for experimentally evaluating the performance of HVAC systems, especially in terms of energy consumption. The proposed approach is based on the k-means method. The algorithm for this method is conceptually simple, allowing it to be easily implemented. The method can be applied to large quantities of data with unknown distributions. The method was tested using numerical experiments to determine the hourly, daily, and yearly heat values and the domestic hot water demands of residential buildings in Poland. Due to its simplicity, the proposed approach is very promising for use in engineering applications and is applicable to testing the performance of many HVAC systems.

  4. On tests of randomness for spatial point patterns

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Doguwa, S.I.

    1990-11-01

    New tests of randomness for spatial point patterns are introduced. These test statistics are then compared in a power study with the existing alternatives. These results of the power study suggest that one of the tests proposed is extremely powerful against both aggregated and regular alternatives. (author). 9 refs, 7 figs, 3 tabs

  5. Statistical Model-Based Face Pose Estimation

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    GE Xinliang; YANG Jie; LI Feng; WANG Huahua

    2007-01-01

    A robust face pose estimation approach is proposed by using face shape statistical model approach and pose parameters are represented by trigonometric functions. The face shape statistical model is firstly built by analyzing the face shapes from different people under varying poses. The shape alignment is vital in the process of building the statistical model. Then, six trigonometric functions are employed to represent the face pose parameters. Lastly, the mapping function is constructed between face image and face pose by linearly relating different parameters. The proposed approach is able to estimate different face poses using a few face training samples. Experimental results are provided to demonstrate its efficiency and accuracy.

  6. Proposing and testing SOA governance process: A case study approach

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Koumaditis, Konstantinos; Themistocleous, Marinos

    2015-01-01

    Longstanding Healthcare Information Systems (HIS) integration challenges drove healthcare organisations to invest in new paradigms like Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Yet, SOA holds challenges of its own, with SOA Governance surfacing on the top. This research depicts the development......, grounded in the normative literature and further developed to include healthcare aspects. The proposition is tested in a large Greek hospital utilising qualitative methods and the findings presented herein. This proposal aims to pinpoint attributes and guidelines for SOA Governance Process, required...

  7. A permutation-based multiple testing method for time-course microarray experiments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    George Stephen L

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Time-course microarray experiments are widely used to study the temporal profiles of gene expression. Storey et al. (2005 developed a method for analyzing time-course microarray studies that can be applied to discovering genes whose expression trajectories change over time within a single biological group, or those that follow different time trajectories among multiple groups. They estimated the expression trajectories of each gene using natural cubic splines under the null (no time-course and alternative (time-course hypotheses, and used a goodness of fit test statistic to quantify the discrepancy. The null distribution of the statistic was approximated through a bootstrap method. Gene expression levels in microarray data are often complicatedly correlated. An accurate type I error control adjusting for multiple testing requires the joint null distribution of test statistics for a large number of genes. For this purpose, permutation methods have been widely used because of computational ease and their intuitive interpretation. Results In this paper, we propose a permutation-based multiple testing procedure based on the test statistic used by Storey et al. (2005. We also propose an efficient computation algorithm. Extensive simulations are conducted to investigate the performance of the permutation-based multiple testing procedure. The application of the proposed method is illustrated using the Caenorhabditis elegans dauer developmental data. Conclusion Our method is computationally efficient and applicable for identifying genes whose expression levels are time-dependent in a single biological group and for identifying the genes for which the time-profile depends on the group in a multi-group setting.

  8. A statistical model for porous structure of rocks

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    JU Yang; YANG YongMing; SONG ZhenDuo; XU WenJing

    2008-01-01

    The geometric features and the distribution properties of pores in rocks were In-vestigated by means of CT scanning tests of sandstones. The centroidal coordl-nares of pores, the statistic characterristics of pore distance, quantity, size and their probability density functions were formulated in this paper. The Monte Carlo method and the random number generating algorithm were employed to generate two series of random numbers with the desired statistic characteristics and prob-ability density functions upon which the random distribution of pore position, dis-tance and quantity were determined. A three-dimensional porous structural model of sandstone was constructed based on the FLAC3D program and the information of the pore position and distribution that the series of random numbers defined. On the basis of modelling, the Brazil split tests of rock discs were carried out to ex-amine the stress distribution, the pattern of element failure and the inoaculation of failed elements. The simulation indicated that the proposed model was consistent with the realistic porous structure of rock in terms of their statistic properties of pores and geometric similarity. The built-up model disclosed the influence of pores on the stress distribution, failure mode of material elements and the inosculation of failed elements.

  9. A statistical model for porous structure of rocks

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2008-01-01

    The geometric features and the distribution properties of pores in rocks were in- vestigated by means of CT scanning tests of sandstones. The centroidal coordi- nates of pores, the statistic characterristics of pore distance, quantity, size and their probability density functions were formulated in this paper. The Monte Carlo method and the random number generating algorithm were employed to generate two series of random numbers with the desired statistic characteristics and prob- ability density functions upon which the random distribution of pore position, dis- tance and quantity were determined. A three-dimensional porous structural model of sandstone was constructed based on the FLAC3D program and the information of the pore position and distribution that the series of random numbers defined. On the basis of modelling, the Brazil split tests of rock discs were carried out to ex- amine the stress distribution, the pattern of element failure and the inosculation of failed elements. The simulation indicated that the proposed model was consistent with the realistic porous structure of rock in terms of their statistic properties of pores and geometric similarity. The built-up model disclosed the influence of pores on the stress distribution, failure mode of material elements and the inosculation of failed elements.

  10. A statistic sensitive to deviations from the zero-loss condition in a sequence of material balances

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sellinschegg, D.

    1982-01-01

    The CUMUFR (cumulative sum of standardized MUFresiduals) statistic is proposed to examine materials balance data for deviations from the zero-loss condition. The time series of MUF-residuals is shown to be a linear transformation of the MUF-time series. The MUF-residuals can directly be obtained by applying the transformation or they can be obtained, approximately, by the application of a Kalman filter to estimate the true state of MUF. A modified sequential test with power one is formulated for testing the CUMUFR statistic. The detection capability of the proposed examination procedure is demonstrated by an example, based on Monte Carlo simulations, where the materials balance of the chemical separation process in a reference reprocessing facility is considered. It is shown that abrupt as well as protracted loss patterns are detected with rather high probability when they occur after a zeroloss period

  11. The choice of statistical methods for comparisons of dosimetric data in radiotherapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chaikh, Abdulhamid; Giraud, Jean-Yves; Perrin, Emmanuel; Bresciani, Jean-Pierre; Balosso, Jacques

    2014-09-18

    Novel irradiation techniques are continuously introduced in radiotherapy to optimize the accuracy, the security and the clinical outcome of treatments. These changes could raise the question of discontinuity in dosimetric presentation and the subsequent need for practice adjustments in case of significant modifications. This study proposes a comprehensive approach to compare different techniques and tests whether their respective dose calculation algorithms give rise to statistically significant differences in the treatment doses for the patient. Statistical investigation principles are presented in the framework of a clinical example based on 62 fields of radiotherapy for lung cancer. The delivered doses in monitor units were calculated using three different dose calculation methods: the reference method accounts the dose without tissues density corrections using Pencil Beam Convolution (PBC) algorithm, whereas new methods calculate the dose with tissues density correction for 1D and 3D using Modified Batho (MB) method and Equivalent Tissue air ratio (ETAR) method, respectively. The normality of the data and the homogeneity of variance between groups were tested using Shapiro-Wilks and Levene test, respectively, then non-parametric statistical tests were performed. Specifically, the dose means estimated by the different calculation methods were compared using Friedman's test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test. In addition, the correlation between the doses calculated by the three methods was assessed using Spearman's rank and Kendall's rank tests. The Friedman's test showed a significant effect on the calculation method for the delivered dose of lung cancer patients (p Wilcoxon signed-rank test of paired comparisons indicated that the delivered dose was significantly reduced using density-corrected methods as compared to the reference method. Spearman's and Kendall's rank tests indicated a positive correlation between the doses calculated with the different methods

  12. MSD Recombination Method in Statistical Machine Translation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gros, Jerneja Žganec

    2008-11-01

    Freely available tools and language resources were used to build the VoiceTRAN statistical machine translation (SMT) system. Various configuration variations of the system are presented and evaluated. The VoiceTRAN SMT system outperformed the baseline conventional rule-based MT system in all English-Slovenian in-domain test setups. To further increase the generalization capability of the translation model for lower-coverage out-of-domain test sentences, an "MSD-recombination" approach was proposed. This approach not only allows a better exploitation of conventional translation models, but also performs well in the more demanding translation direction; that is, into a highly inflectional language. Using this approach in the out-of-domain setup of the English-Slovenian JRC-ACQUIS task, we have achieved significant improvements in translation quality.

  13. Transfer of drug dissolution testing by statistical approaches: Case study

    Science.gov (United States)

    AL-Kamarany, Mohammed Amood; EL Karbane, Miloud; Ridouan, Khadija; Alanazi, Fars K.; Hubert, Philippe; Cherrah, Yahia; Bouklouze, Abdelaziz

    2011-01-01

    The analytical transfer is a complete process that consists in transferring an analytical procedure from a sending laboratory to a receiving laboratory. After having experimentally demonstrated that also masters the procedure in order to avoid problems in the future. Method of transfers is now commonplace during the life cycle of analytical method in the pharmaceutical industry. No official guideline exists for a transfer methodology in pharmaceutical analysis and the regulatory word of transfer is more ambiguous than for validation. Therefore, in this study, Gauge repeatability and reproducibility (R&R) studies associated with other multivariate statistics appropriates were successfully applied for the transfer of the dissolution test of diclofenac sodium as a case study from a sending laboratory A (accredited laboratory) to a receiving laboratory B. The HPLC method for the determination of the percent release of diclofenac sodium in solid pharmaceutical forms (one is the discovered product and another generic) was validated using accuracy profile (total error) in the sender laboratory A. The results showed that the receiver laboratory B masters the test dissolution process, using the same HPLC analytical procedure developed in laboratory A. In conclusion, if the sender used the total error to validate its analytical method, dissolution test can be successfully transferred without mastering the analytical method validation by receiving laboratory B and the pharmaceutical analysis method state should be maintained to ensure the same reliable results in the receiving laboratory. PMID:24109204

  14. The relationship between continuum homogeneity and statistical homogeneity in cosmology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stoeger, W.R.; Ellis, G.F.R.; Hellaby, C.

    1987-01-01

    Although the standard Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) Universe models are based on the concept that the Universe is spatially homogeneous, up to the present time no definition of this concept has been proposed that could in principle be tested by observation. Such a definition is here proposed, based on a simple spatial averaging procedure, which relates observable properties of the Universe to the continuum homogeneity idea that underlies the FLRW models. It turns out that the statistical homogeneity often used to describe the distribution of matter on a large scale does not imply spatial homogeneity according to this definition, and so cannot be simply related to a FLRW Universe model. Values are proposed for the homogeneity parameter and length scale of homogeneity of the Universe. (author)

  15. Statistical power analyses using G*Power 3.1: tests for correlation and regression analyses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Faul, Franz; Erdfelder, Edgar; Buchner, Axel; Lang, Albert-Georg

    2009-11-01

    G*Power is a free power analysis program for a variety of statistical tests. We present extensions and improvements of the version introduced by Faul, Erdfelder, Lang, and Buchner (2007) in the domain of correlation and regression analyses. In the new version, we have added procedures to analyze the power of tests based on (1) single-sample tetrachoric correlations, (2) comparisons of dependent correlations, (3) bivariate linear regression, (4) multiple linear regression based on the random predictor model, (5) logistic regression, and (6) Poisson regression. We describe these new features and provide a brief introduction to their scope and handling.

  16. A PLSPM-Based Test Statistic for Detecting Gene-Gene Co-Association in Genome-Wide Association Study with Case-Control Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xiaoshuai; Yang, Xiaowei; Yuan, Zhongshang; Liu, Yanxun; Li, Fangyu; Peng, Bin; Zhu, Dianwen; Zhao, Jinghua; Xue, Fuzhong

    2013-01-01

    For genome-wide association data analysis, two genes in any pathway, two SNPs in the two linked gene regions respectively or in the two linked exons respectively within one gene are often correlated with each other. We therefore proposed the concept of gene-gene co-association, which refers to the effects not only due to the traditional interaction under nearly independent condition but the correlation between two genes. Furthermore, we constructed a novel statistic for detecting gene-gene co-association based on Partial Least Squares Path Modeling (PLSPM). Through simulation, the relationship between traditional interaction and co-association was highlighted under three different types of co-association. Both simulation and real data analysis demonstrated that the proposed PLSPM-based statistic has better performance than single SNP-based logistic model, PCA-based logistic model, and other gene-based methods. PMID:23620809

  17. Testing of a "smart-pebble" for measuring particle transport statistics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kitsikoudis, Vasileios; Avgeris, Loukas; Valyrakis, Manousos

    2017-04-01

    This paper presents preliminary results from novel experiments aiming to assess coarse sediment transport statistics for a range of transport conditions, via the use of an innovative "smart-pebble" device. This device is a waterproof sphere, which has 7 cm diameter and is equipped with a number of sensors that provide information about the velocity, acceleration and positioning of the "smart-pebble" within the flow field. A series of specifically designed experiments are carried out to monitor the entrainment of a "smart-pebble" for fully developed, uniform, turbulent flow conditions over a hydraulically rough bed. Specifically, the bed surface is configured to three sections, each of them consisting of well packed glass beads of slightly increasing size at the downstream direction. The first section has a streamwise length of L1=150 cm and beads size of D1=15 mm, the second section has a length of L2=85 cm and beads size of D2=22 mm, and the third bed section has a length of L3=55 cm and beads size of D3=25.4 mm. Two cameras monitor the area of interest to provide additional information regarding the "smart-pebble" movement. Three-dimensional flow measurements are obtained with the aid of an acoustic Doppler velocimeter along a measurement grid to assess the flow forcing field. A wide range of flow rates near and above the threshold of entrainment is tested, while using four distinct densities for the "smart-pebble", which can affect its transport speed and total momentum. The acquired data are analyzed to derive Lagrangian transport statistics and the implications of such an important experiment for the transport of particles by rolling are discussed. The flow conditions for the initiation of motion, particle accelerations and equilibrium particle velocities (translating into transport rates), statistics of particle impact and its motion, can be extracted from the acquired data, which can be further compared to develop meaningful insights for sediment transport

  18. Statistical Decision Theory Estimation, Testing, and Selection

    CERN Document Server

    Liese, Friedrich

    2008-01-01

    Suitable for advanced graduate students and researchers in mathematical statistics and decision theory, this title presents an account of the concepts and a treatment of the major results of classical finite sample size decision theory and modern asymptotic decision theory

  19. Statistical homogeneity tests applied to large data sets from high energy physics experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trusina, J.; Franc, J.; Kůs, V.

    2017-12-01

    Homogeneity tests are used in high energy physics for the verification of simulated Monte Carlo samples, it means if they have the same distribution as a measured data from particle detector. Kolmogorov-Smirnov, χ 2, and Anderson-Darling tests are the most used techniques to assess the samples’ homogeneity. Since MC generators produce plenty of entries from different models, each entry has to be re-weighted to obtain the same sample size as the measured data has. One way of the homogeneity testing is through the binning. If we do not want to lose any information, we can apply generalized tests based on weighted empirical distribution functions. In this paper, we propose such generalized weighted homogeneity tests and introduce some of their asymptotic properties. We present the results based on numerical analysis which focuses on estimations of the type-I error and power of the test. Finally, we present application of our homogeneity tests to data from the experiment DØ in Fermilab.

  20. A fast algorithm for determining bounds and accurate approximate p-values of the rank product statistic for replicate experiments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heskes, Tom; Eisinga, Rob; Breitling, Rainer

    2014-11-21

    The rank product method is a powerful statistical technique for identifying differentially expressed molecules in replicated experiments. A critical issue in molecule selection is accurate calculation of the p-value of the rank product statistic to adequately address multiple testing. Both exact calculation and permutation and gamma approximations have been proposed to determine molecule-level significance. These current approaches have serious drawbacks as they are either computationally burdensome or provide inaccurate estimates in the tail of the p-value distribution. We derive strict lower and upper bounds to the exact p-value along with an accurate approximation that can be used to assess the significance of the rank product statistic in a computationally fast manner. The bounds and the proposed approximation are shown to provide far better accuracy over existing approximate methods in determining tail probabilities, with the slightly conservative upper bound protecting against false positives. We illustrate the proposed method in the context of a recently published analysis on transcriptomic profiling performed in blood. We provide a method to determine upper bounds and accurate approximate p-values of the rank product statistic. The proposed algorithm provides an order of magnitude increase in throughput as compared with current approaches and offers the opportunity to explore new application domains with even larger multiple testing issue. The R code is published in one of the Additional files and is available at http://www.ru.nl/publish/pages/726696/rankprodbounds.zip .

  1. Test-retest reliability of the proposed DSM-5 eating disorder diagnostic criteria

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sysko, Robyn; Roberto, Christina A.; Barnes, Rachel D.; Grilo, Carlos M.; Attia, Evelyn; Walsh, B. Timothy

    2012-01-01

    The proposed DSM-5 classification scheme for eating disorders includes both major and minor changes to the existing DSM-IV diagnostic criteria. It is not known what effect these modifications will have on the ability to make reliable diagnoses. Two studies were conducted to evaluate the short-term test-retest reliability of the proposed DSM-5 eating disorder diagnoses: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and feeding and eating conditions not elsewhere classified. Participants completed two independent telephone interviews with research assessors (n=70 Study 1; n=55 Study 2). Fair to substantial agreements (κ= 0.80 and 0.54) were observed across eating disorder diagnoses in Study 1 and Study 2, respectively. Acceptable rates of agreement were identified for the individual eating disorder diagnoses, including DSM-5 anorexia nervosa (κ’s of 0.81 to 0.97), bulimia nervosa (κ=0.84), binge eating disorder (κ’s of 0.75 and 0.61), and feeding and eating disorders not elsewhere classified (κ’s of 0.70 and 0.46). Further, improved short-term test-retest reliability was noted when using the DSM-5, in comparison to DSM-IV, criteria for binge eating disorder. Thus, these studies found that trained interviewers can reliably diagnose eating disorders using the proposed DSM-5 criteria; however, additional data from general practice settings and community samples are needed. PMID:22401974

  2. Decision Support Systems: Applications in Statistics and Hypothesis Testing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olsen, Christopher R.; Bozeman, William C.

    1988-01-01

    Discussion of the selection of appropriate statistical procedures by educators highlights a study conducted to investigate the effectiveness of decision aids in facilitating the use of appropriate statistics. Experimental groups and a control group using a printed flow chart, a computer-based decision aid, and a standard text are described. (11…

  3. The Relationship Between Procrastination, Learning Strategies and Statistics Anxiety Among Iranian College Students: A Canonical Correlation Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vahedi, Shahrum; Farrokhi, Farahman; Gahramani, Farahnaz; Issazadegan, Ali

    2012-01-01

    Objective: Approximately 66-80%of graduate students experience statistics anxiety and some researchers propose that many students identify statistics courses as the most anxiety-inducing courses in their academic curriculums. As such, it is likely that statistics anxiety is, in part, responsible for many students delaying enrollment in these courses for as long as possible. This paper proposes a canonical model by treating academic procrastination (AP), learning strategies (LS) as predictor variables and statistics anxiety (SA) as explained variables. Methods: A questionnaire survey was used for data collection and 246-college female student participated in this study. To examine the mutually independent relations between procrastination, learning strategies and statistics anxiety variables, a canonical correlation analysis was computed. Results: Findings show that two canonical functions were statistically significant. The set of variables (metacognitive self-regulation, source management, preparing homework, preparing for test and preparing term papers) helped predict changes of statistics anxiety with respect to fearful behavior, Attitude towards math and class, Performance, but not Anxiety. Conclusion: These findings could be used in educational and psychological interventions in the context of statistics anxiety reduction. PMID:24644468

  4. Bayesian Sensitivity Analysis of Statistical Models with Missing Data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Hongtu; Ibrahim, Joseph G; Tang, Niansheng

    2014-04-01

    Methods for handling missing data depend strongly on the mechanism that generated the missing values, such as missing completely at random (MCAR) or missing at random (MAR), as well as other distributional and modeling assumptions at various stages. It is well known that the resulting estimates and tests may be sensitive to these assumptions as well as to outlying observations. In this paper, we introduce various perturbations to modeling assumptions and individual observations, and then develop a formal sensitivity analysis to assess these perturbations in the Bayesian analysis of statistical models with missing data. We develop a geometric framework, called the Bayesian perturbation manifold, to characterize the intrinsic structure of these perturbations. We propose several intrinsic influence measures to perform sensitivity analysis and quantify the effect of various perturbations to statistical models. We use the proposed sensitivity analysis procedure to systematically investigate the tenability of the non-ignorable missing at random (NMAR) assumption. Simulation studies are conducted to evaluate our methods, and a dataset is analyzed to illustrate the use of our diagnostic measures.

  5. Statistical approach for selection of biologically informative genes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Das, Samarendra; Rai, Anil; Mishra, D C; Rai, Shesh N

    2018-05-20

    Selection of informative genes from high dimensional gene expression data has emerged as an important research area in genomics. Many gene selection techniques have been proposed so far are either based on relevancy or redundancy measure. Further, the performance of these techniques has been adjudged through post selection classification accuracy computed through a classifier using the selected genes. This performance metric may be statistically sound but may not be biologically relevant. A statistical approach, i.e. Boot-MRMR, was proposed based on a composite measure of maximum relevance and minimum redundancy, which is both statistically sound and biologically relevant for informative gene selection. For comparative evaluation of the proposed approach, we developed two biological sufficient criteria, i.e. Gene Set Enrichment with QTL (GSEQ) and biological similarity score based on Gene Ontology (GO). Further, a systematic and rigorous evaluation of the proposed technique with 12 existing gene selection techniques was carried out using five gene expression datasets. This evaluation was based on a broad spectrum of statistically sound (e.g. subject classification) and biological relevant (based on QTL and GO) criteria under a multiple criteria decision-making framework. The performance analysis showed that the proposed technique selects informative genes which are more biologically relevant. The proposed technique is also found to be quite competitive with the existing techniques with respect to subject classification and computational time. Our results also showed that under the multiple criteria decision-making setup, the proposed technique is best for informative gene selection over the available alternatives. Based on the proposed approach, an R Package, i.e. BootMRMR has been developed and available at https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/BootMRMR. This study will provide a practical guide to select statistical techniques for selecting informative genes

  6. A conceptual guide to statistics using SPSS

    CERN Document Server

    Berkman, Elliot T

    2011-01-01

    Bridging an understanding of Statistics and SPSS. This unique text helps students develop a conceptual understanding of a variety of statistical tests by linking the ideas learned in a statistics class from a traditional statistics textbook with the computational steps and output from SPSS. Each chapter begins with a student-friendly explanation of the concept behind each statistical test and how the test relates to that concept. The authors then walk through the steps to compute the test in SPSS and the output, clearly linking how the SPSS procedure and output connect back to the conceptual u

  7. Debate on GMOs health risks after statistical findings in regulatory tests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Vendômois, Joël Spiroux; Cellier, Dominique; Vélot, Christian; Clair, Emilie; Mesnage, Robin; Séralini, Gilles-Eric

    2010-10-05

    We summarize the major points of international debate on health risk studies for the main commercialized edible GMOs. These GMOs are soy, maize and oilseed rape designed to contain new pesticide residues since they have been modified to be herbicide-tolerant (mostly to Roundup) or to produce mutated Bt toxins. The debated alimentary chronic risks may come from unpredictable insertional mutagenesis effects, metabolic effects, or from the new pesticide residues. The most detailed regulatory tests on the GMOs are three-month long feeding trials of laboratory rats, which are biochemically assessed. The tests are not compulsory, and are not independently conducted. The test data and the corresponding results are kept in secret by the companies. Our previous analyses of regulatory raw data at these levels, taking the representative examples of three GM maize NK 603, MON 810, and MON 863 led us to conclude that hepatorenal toxicities were possible, and that longer testing was necessary. Our study was criticized by the company developing the GMOs in question and the regulatory bodies, mainly on the divergent biological interpretations of statistically significant biochemical and physiological effects. We present the scientific reasons for the crucially different biological interpretations and also highlight the shortcomings in the experimental protocols designed by the company. The debate implies an enormous responsibility towards public health and is essential due to nonexistent traceability or epidemiological studies in the GMO-producing countries.

  8. Calibrating the Difficulty of an Assessment Tool: The Blooming of a Statistics Examination

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunham, Bruce; Yapa, Gaitri; Yu, Eugenia

    2015-01-01

    Bloom's taxonomy is proposed as a tool by which to assess the level of complexity of assessment tasks in statistics. Guidelines are provided for how to locate tasks at each level of the taxonomy, along with descriptions and examples of suggested test questions. Through the "Blooming" of an examination--that is, locating its constituent…

  9. Validation of statistical models for creep rupture by parametric analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bolton, J., E-mail: john.bolton@uwclub.net [65, Fisher Ave., Rugby, Warks CV22 5HW (United Kingdom)

    2012-01-15

    Statistical analysis is an efficient method for the optimisation of any candidate mathematical model of creep rupture data, and for the comparative ranking of competing models. However, when a series of candidate models has been examined and the best of the series has been identified, there is no statistical criterion to determine whether a yet more accurate model might be devised. Hence there remains some uncertainty that the best of any series examined is sufficiently accurate to be considered reliable as a basis for extrapolation. This paper proposes that models should be validated primarily by parametric graphical comparison to rupture data and rupture gradient data. It proposes that no mathematical model should be considered reliable for extrapolation unless the visible divergence between model and data is so small as to leave no apparent scope for further reduction. This study is based on the data for a 12% Cr alloy steel used in BS PD6605:1998 to exemplify its recommended statistical analysis procedure. The models considered in this paper include a) a relatively simple model, b) the PD6605 recommended model and c) a more accurate model of somewhat greater complexity. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The paper discusses the validation of creep rupture models derived from statistical analysis. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer It demonstrates that models can be satisfactorily validated by a visual-graphic comparison of models to data. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The method proposed utilises test data both as conventional rupture stress and as rupture stress gradient. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The approach is shown to be more reliable than a well-established and widely used method (BS PD6605).

  10. A statistical design for testing apomictic diversification through linkage analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeng, Yanru; Hou, Wei; Song, Shuang; Feng, Sisi; Shen, Lin; Xia, Guohua; Wu, Rongling

    2014-03-01

    The capacity of apomixis to generate maternal clones through seed reproduction has made it a useful characteristic for the fixation of heterosis in plant breeding. It has been observed that apomixis displays pronounced intra- and interspecific diversification, but the genetic mechanisms underlying this diversification remains elusive, obstructing the exploitation of this phenomenon in practical breeding programs. By capitalizing on molecular information in mapping populations, we describe and assess a statistical design that deploys linkage analysis to estimate and test the pattern and extent of apomictic differences at various levels from genotypes to species. The design is based on two reciprocal crosses between two individuals each chosen from a hermaphrodite or monoecious species. A multinomial distribution likelihood is constructed by combining marker information from two crosses. The EM algorithm is implemented to estimate the rate of apomixis and test its difference between two plant populations or species as the parents. The design is validated by computer simulation. A real data analysis of two reciprocal crosses between hickory (Carya cathayensis) and pecan (C. illinoensis) demonstrates the utilization and usefulness of the design in practice. The design provides a tool to address fundamental and applied questions related to the evolution and breeding of apomixis.

  11. A review of statistical methods for testing genetic anticipation: looking for an answer in Lynch syndrome

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Boonstra, Philip S; Gruber, Stephen B; Raymond, Victoria M

    2010-01-01

    Anticipation, manifested through decreasing age of onset or increased severity in successive generations, has been noted in several genetic diseases. Statistical methods for genetic anticipation range from a simple use of the paired t-test for age of onset restricted to affected parent-child pairs......, and this right truncation effect is more pronounced in children than in parents. In this study, we first review different statistical methods for testing genetic anticipation in affected parent-child pairs that address the issue of bias due to right truncation. Using affected parent-child pair data, we compare...... the issue of multiplex ascertainment and its effect on the different methods. We then focus on exploring genetic anticipation in Lynch syndrome and analyze new data on the age of onset in affected parent-child pairs from families seen at the University of Michigan Cancer Genetics clinic with a mutation...

  12. Statistical methods for assessment of blend homogeneity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Camilla

    2002-01-01

    In this thesis the use of various statistical methods to address some of the problems related to assessment of the homogeneity of powder blends in tablet production is discussed. It is not straight forward to assess the homogeneity of a powder blend. The reason is partly that in bulk materials......, it is shown how to set up parametric acceptance criteria for the batch that gives a high confidence that future samples with a probability larger than a specified value will pass the USP threeclass criteria. Properties and robustness of proposed changes to the USP test for content uniformity are investigated...

  13. A novel genome-information content-based statistic for genome-wide association analysis designed for next-generation sequencing data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luo, Li; Zhu, Yun; Xiong, Momiao

    2012-06-01

    The genome-wide association studies (GWAS) designed for next-generation sequencing data involve testing association of genomic variants, including common, low frequency, and rare variants. The current strategies for association studies are well developed for identifying association of common variants with the common diseases, but may be ill-suited when large amounts of allelic heterogeneity are present in sequence data. Recently, group tests that analyze their collective frequency differences between cases and controls shift the current variant-by-variant analysis paradigm for GWAS of common variants to the collective test of multiple variants in the association analysis of rare variants. However, group tests ignore differences in genetic effects among SNPs at different genomic locations. As an alternative to group tests, we developed a novel genome-information content-based statistics for testing association of the entire allele frequency spectrum of genomic variation with the diseases. To evaluate the performance of the proposed statistics, we use large-scale simulations based on whole genome low coverage pilot data in the 1000 Genomes Project to calculate the type 1 error rates and power of seven alternative statistics: a genome-information content-based statistic, the generalized T(2), collapsing method, multivariate and collapsing (CMC) method, individual χ(2) test, weighted-sum statistic, and variable threshold statistic. Finally, we apply the seven statistics to published resequencing dataset from ANGPTL3, ANGPTL4, ANGPTL5, and ANGPTL6 genes in the Dallas Heart Study. We report that the genome-information content-based statistic has significantly improved type 1 error rates and higher power than the other six statistics in both simulated and empirical datasets.

  14. Which statistics should tropical biologists learn?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loaiza Velásquez, Natalia; González Lutz, María Isabel; Monge-Nájera, Julián

    2011-09-01

    Tropical biologists study the richest and most endangered biodiversity in the planet, and in these times of climate change and mega-extinctions, the need for efficient, good quality research is more pressing than in the past. However, the statistical component in research published by tropical authors sometimes suffers from poor quality in data collection; mediocre or bad experimental design and a rigid and outdated view of data analysis. To suggest improvements in their statistical education, we listed all the statistical tests and other quantitative analyses used in two leading tropical journals, the Revista de Biología Tropical and Biotropica, during a year. The 12 most frequent tests in the articles were: Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Chi-Square Test, Student's T Test, Linear Regression, Pearson's Correlation Coefficient, Mann-Whitney U Test, Kruskal-Wallis Test, Shannon's Diversity Index, Tukey's Test, Cluster Analysis, Spearman's Rank Correlation Test and Principal Component Analysis. We conclude that statistical education for tropical biologists must abandon the old syllabus based on the mathematical side of statistics and concentrate on the correct selection of these and other procedures and tests, on their biological interpretation and on the use of reliable and friendly freeware. We think that their time will be better spent understanding and protecting tropical ecosystems than trying to learn the mathematical foundations of statistics: in most cases, a well designed one-semester course should be enough for their basic requirements.

  15. Powerful Statistical Inference for Nested Data Using Sufficient Summary Statistics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dowding, Irene; Haufe, Stefan

    2018-01-01

    Hierarchically-organized data arise naturally in many psychology and neuroscience studies. As the standard assumption of independent and identically distributed samples does not hold for such data, two important problems are to accurately estimate group-level effect sizes, and to obtain powerful statistical tests against group-level null hypotheses. A common approach is to summarize subject-level data by a single quantity per subject, which is often the mean or the difference between class means, and treat these as samples in a group-level t-test. This “naive” approach is, however, suboptimal in terms of statistical power, as it ignores information about the intra-subject variance. To address this issue, we review several approaches to deal with nested data, with a focus on methods that are easy to implement. With what we call the sufficient-summary-statistic approach, we highlight a computationally efficient technique that can improve statistical power by taking into account within-subject variances, and we provide step-by-step instructions on how to apply this approach to a number of frequently-used measures of effect size. The properties of the reviewed approaches and the potential benefits over a group-level t-test are quantitatively assessed on simulated data and demonstrated on EEG data from a simulated-driving experiment. PMID:29615885

  16. Forward selection two sample binomial test

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wong, Kam-Fai; Wong, Weng-Kee; Lin, Miao-Shan

    2016-01-01

    Fisher’s exact test (FET) is a conditional method that is frequently used to analyze data in a 2 × 2 table for small samples. This test is conservative and attempts have been made to modify the test to make it less conservative. For example, Crans and Shuster (2008) proposed adding more points in the rejection region to make the test more powerful. We provide another way to modify the test to make it less conservative by using two independent binomial distributions as the reference distribution for the test statistic. We compare our new test with several methods and show that our test has advantages over existing methods in terms of control of the type 1 and type 2 errors. We reanalyze results from an oncology trial using our proposed method and our software which is freely available to the reader. PMID:27335577

  17. Co-integration Rank Testing under Conditional Heteroskedasticity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cavaliere, Guiseppe; Rahbæk, Anders; Taylor, A.M. Robert

    null distributions of the rank statistics coincide with those derived by previous authors who assume either i.i.d. or (strict and covariance) stationary martingale difference innovations. We then propose wild bootstrap implementations of the co-integrating rank tests and demonstrate that the associated...... bootstrap rank statistics replicate the first-order asymptotic null distributions of the rank statistics. We show the same is also true of the corresponding rank tests based on the i.i.d. bootstrap of Swensen (2006). The wild bootstrap, however, has the important property that, unlike the i.i.d. bootstrap......, it preserves in the re-sampled data the pattern of heteroskedasticity present in the original shocks. Consistent with this, numerical evidence sug- gests that, relative to tests based on the asymptotic critical values or the i.i.d. bootstrap, the wild bootstrap rank tests perform very well in small samples un...

  18. Proposal of concentration limits for determining the hazard property HP 14 for waste using ecotoxicological tests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hennebert, Pierre

    2018-04-01

    Different ecotoxicological test batteries and concentration limits have been proposed to assess the hazard property (HP) HP 14 'Ecotoxic' for waste in the European Union and its member states. In test batteries, if the concentration of waste in the culture/dilution medium producing 50% of inhibitory biological effect in one or more test(s) is below the concentration limit of the test, the waste is classified as hazardous. A summarized review of the test batteries proposed since 1998 is presented. The last proposed test battery uses seven aquatic and terrestrial species with standardized methods, but with options and uniform concentration limits of 10% of waste eluate or solid waste in the culture/dilution medium. No attempt was made to match this hazard assessment with the classification made in the European List of Waste (LoW). The aim of this paper is to propose for the same test battery (reduced to 6 tests without options) concentration limits that match with the European List of Waste. This list was taken as reference (despite the fact that waste can be hazardous for other properties than the most frequent HP 14, and its partly political nature for some opinions). The concentration limits (CLs) for tests are the concentrations producing the highest ecotoxicological effects for each test observed in a non-hazardous waste set. Data from Germany, France and Belgium (from in total 5 different sources from 2009 to 2016) with the above-mentioned test battery (without options) were gathered for 81 samples, being the largest set ever published. In total, ten non-hazardous (NH) waste samples (as defined by the LoW and for most of them checked by chemical composition) were used to establish CLs. These CLs were then applied to 13 hazardous (H) waste by the LoW, and all were classified as hazardous. The matching of the resulting classification with the LoW is convincing. For the 58 'mirror entries' in the LoW (hazardous or not depending of the presence of hazardous

  19. Nonequilibrium statistical averages and thermo field dynamics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marinaro, A.; Scarpetta, Q.

    1984-01-01

    An extension of thermo field dynamics is proposed, which permits the computation of nonequilibrium statistical averages. The Brownian motion of a quantum oscillator is treated as an example. In conclusion it is pointed out that the procedure proposed to computation of time-dependent statistical average gives the correct two-point Green function for the damped oscillator. A simple extension can be used to compute two-point Green functions of free particles

  20. Combined approach to reduced duration integrated leakage rate testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Galanti, P.J.

    1987-01-01

    Even though primary reactor containment allowable leakage rates are expressed in weight percent per day of contained air, engineers have been attempting to define acceptable methods to test in < 24 h as long as these tests have been performed. The reasons to reduce testing duration are obvious, because time not generating electricity is time not generating revenue for the utilities. The latest proposed revision to 10CFR50 Appendix J, concerning integrated leakage rate testing (ILRTs), was supplemented with a draft regulatory guide proposing yet another method. This paper proposes a method that includes elements of currently accepted concepts for short duration testing with a standard statistical check for criteria acceptance. Following presentation of the method, several cases are presented showing the results of these combined criteria

  1. An integrated user-friendly ArcMAP tool for bivariate statistical modeling in geoscience applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jebur, M. N.; Pradhan, B.; Shafri, H. Z. M.; Yusof, Z.; Tehrany, M. S.

    2014-10-01

    Modeling and classification difficulties are fundamental issues in natural hazard assessment. A geographic information system (GIS) is a domain that requires users to use various tools to perform different types of spatial modeling. Bivariate statistical analysis (BSA) assists in hazard modeling. To perform this analysis, several calculations are required and the user has to transfer data from one format to another. Most researchers perform these calculations manually by using Microsoft Excel or other programs. This process is time consuming and carries a degree of uncertainty. The lack of proper tools to implement BSA in a GIS environment prompted this study. In this paper, a user-friendly tool, BSM (bivariate statistical modeler), for BSA technique is proposed. Three popular BSA techniques such as frequency ratio, weights-of-evidence, and evidential belief function models are applied in the newly proposed ArcMAP tool. This tool is programmed in Python and is created by a simple graphical user interface, which facilitates the improvement of model performance. The proposed tool implements BSA automatically, thus allowing numerous variables to be examined. To validate the capability and accuracy of this program, a pilot test area in Malaysia is selected and all three models are tested by using the proposed program. Area under curve is used to measure the success rate and prediction rate. Results demonstrate that the proposed program executes BSA with reasonable accuracy. The proposed BSA tool can be used in numerous applications, such as natural hazard, mineral potential, hydrological, and other engineering and environmental applications.

  2. An integrated user-friendly ArcMAP tool for bivariate statistical modelling in geoscience applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jebur, M. N.; Pradhan, B.; Shafri, H. Z. M.; Yusoff, Z. M.; Tehrany, M. S.

    2015-03-01

    Modelling and classification difficulties are fundamental issues in natural hazard assessment. A geographic information system (GIS) is a domain that requires users to use various tools to perform different types of spatial modelling. Bivariate statistical analysis (BSA) assists in hazard modelling. To perform this analysis, several calculations are required and the user has to transfer data from one format to another. Most researchers perform these calculations manually by using Microsoft Excel or other programs. This process is time-consuming and carries a degree of uncertainty. The lack of proper tools to implement BSA in a GIS environment prompted this study. In this paper, a user-friendly tool, bivariate statistical modeler (BSM), for BSA technique is proposed. Three popular BSA techniques, such as frequency ratio, weight-of-evidence (WoE), and evidential belief function (EBF) models, are applied in the newly proposed ArcMAP tool. This tool is programmed in Python and created by a simple graphical user interface (GUI), which facilitates the improvement of model performance. The proposed tool implements BSA automatically, thus allowing numerous variables to be examined. To validate the capability and accuracy of this program, a pilot test area in Malaysia is selected and all three models are tested by using the proposed program. Area under curve (AUC) is used to measure the success rate and prediction rate. Results demonstrate that the proposed program executes BSA with reasonable accuracy. The proposed BSA tool can be used in numerous applications, such as natural hazard, mineral potential, hydrological, and other engineering and environmental applications.

  3. Testing homogeneity in Weibull-regression models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bolfarine, Heleno; Valença, Dione M

    2005-10-01

    In survival studies with families or geographical units it may be of interest testing whether such groups are homogeneous for given explanatory variables. In this paper we consider score type tests for group homogeneity based on a mixing model in which the group effect is modelled as a random variable. As opposed to hazard-based frailty models, this model presents survival times that conditioned on the random effect, has an accelerated failure time representation. The test statistics requires only estimation of the conventional regression model without the random effect and does not require specifying the distribution of the random effect. The tests are derived for a Weibull regression model and in the uncensored situation, a closed form is obtained for the test statistic. A simulation study is used for comparing the power of the tests. The proposed tests are applied to real data sets with censored data.

  4. Proposal for a Universal Test Mirror for Characterization of Slope Measuring Instruments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yashchuk, Valeriy V.; McKinney, Wayne R.; Warwick, Tony; Noll, Tino; Siewert, Frank; Zeschke, Thomas; Geckeler, Ralf D.

    2007-01-01

    The development of third generation light sources like the Advanced Light Source (ALS) or BESSY II brought to a focus the need for high performance synchrotron optics with unprecedented tolerances for slope error and micro roughness. Proposed beam lines at Free Electron Lasers (FEL) require optical elements up to a length of one meter, characterized by a residual slope error in the range of 0.1mu rad (rms),and rms values of 0.1 nm for micro roughness. These optical elements must be inspected by highly accurate measuring instruments, providing a measurement uncertainty lower than the specified accuracy of the surface under test. It is essential that metrology devices in use at synchrotron laboratories be precisely characterized and calibrated to achieve this target. In this paper we discuss a proposal for a Universal Test Mirror (UTM) as a realization of a high performance calibration instrument. The instrument would provide an ideal calibration surface to replicate a redundant surface under test of redundant figure. The application of a sophisticated calibration instrument will allow the elimination of the majority of the systematic error from the error budget of an individual measurement of a particular optical element. We present the limitations of existing methods, initial UTM design considerations, possible calibration algorithms, and an estimation of the expected accuracy

  5. [''R"--project for statistical computing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dessau, R.B.; Pipper, Christian Bressen

    2008-01-01

    An introduction to the R project for statistical computing (www.R-project.org) is presented. The main topics are: 1. To make the professional community aware of "R" as a potent and free software for graphical and statistical analysis of medical data; 2. Simple well-known statistical tests are fai...... are fairly easy to perform in R, but more complex modelling requires programming skills; 3. R is seen as a tool for teaching statistics and implementing complex modelling of medical data among medical professionals Udgivelsesdato: 2008/1/28......An introduction to the R project for statistical computing (www.R-project.org) is presented. The main topics are: 1. To make the professional community aware of "R" as a potent and free software for graphical and statistical analysis of medical data; 2. Simple well-known statistical tests...

  6. State analysis of BOP using statistical and heuristic methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heo, Gyun Young; Chang, Soon Heung

    2003-01-01

    Under the deregulation environment, the performance enhancement of BOP in nuclear power plants is being highlighted. To analyze performance level of BOP, we use the performance test procedures provided from an authorized institution such as ASME. However, through plant investigation, it was proved that the requirements of the performance test procedures about the reliability and quantity of sensors was difficult to be satisfied. As a solution of this, state analysis method that are the expanded concept of signal validation, was proposed on the basis of the statistical and heuristic approaches. Authors recommended the statistical linear regression model by analyzing correlation among BOP parameters as a reference state analysis method. Its advantage is that its derivation is not heuristic, it is possible to calculate model uncertainty, and it is easy to apply to an actual plant. The error of the statistical linear regression model is below 3% under normal as well as abnormal system states. Additionally a neural network model was recommended since the statistical model is impossible to apply to the validation of all of the sensors and is sensitive to the outlier that is the signal located out of a statistical distribution. Because there are a lot of sensors need to be validated in BOP, wavelet analysis (WA) were applied as a pre-processor for the reduction of input dimension and for the enhancement of training accuracy. The outlier localization capability of WA enhanced the robustness of the neural network. The trained neural network restored the degraded signals to the values within ±3% of the true signals

  7. Multisample adjusted U-statistics that account for confounding covariates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Satten, Glen A; Kong, Maiying; Datta, Somnath

    2018-06-19

    Multisample U-statistics encompass a wide class of test statistics that allow the comparison of 2 or more distributions. U-statistics are especially powerful because they can be applied to both numeric and nonnumeric data, eg, ordinal and categorical data where a pairwise similarity or distance-like measure between categories is available. However, when comparing the distribution of a variable across 2 or more groups, observed differences may be due to confounding covariates. For example, in a case-control study, the distribution of exposure in cases may differ from that in controls entirely because of variables that are related to both exposure and case status and are distributed differently among case and control participants. We propose to use individually reweighted data (ie, using the stratification score for retrospective data or the propensity score for prospective data) to construct adjusted U-statistics that can test the equality of distributions across 2 (or more) groups in the presence of confounding covariates. Asymptotic normality of our adjusted U-statistics is established and a closed form expression of their asymptotic variance is presented. The utility of our approach is demonstrated through simulation studies, as well as in an analysis of data from a case-control study conducted among African-Americans, comparing whether the similarity in haplotypes (ie, sets of adjacent genetic loci inherited from the same parent) occurring in a case and a control participant differs from the similarity in haplotypes occurring in 2 control participants. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  8. An investigation of the statistical power of neutrality tests based on comparative and population genetic data

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhai, Weiwei; Nielsen, Rasmus; Slatkin, Montgomery

    2009-01-01

    In this report, we investigate the statistical power of several tests of selective neutrality based on patterns of genetic diversity within and between species. The goal is to compare tests based solely on population genetic data with tests using comparative data or a combination of comparative...... and population genetic data. We show that in the presence of repeated selective sweeps on relatively neutral background, tests based on the d(N)/d(S) ratios in comparative data almost always have more power to detect selection than tests based on population genetic data, even if the overall level of divergence...... selection. The Hudson-Kreitman-Aguadé test is the most powerful test for detecting positive selection among the population genetic tests investigated, whereas McDonald-Kreitman test typically has more power to detect negative selection. We discuss our findings in the light of the discordant results obtained...

  9. Designing experiments for maximum information from cyclic oxidation tests and their statistical analysis using half Normal plots

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Coleman, S.Y.; Nicholls, J.R.

    2006-01-01

    Cyclic oxidation testing at elevated temperatures requires careful experimental design and the adoption of standard procedures to ensure reliable data. This is a major aim of the 'COTEST' research programme. Further, as such tests are both time consuming and costly, in terms of human effort, to take measurements over a large number of cycles, it is important to gain maximum information from a minimum number of tests (trials). This search for standardisation of cyclic oxidation conditions leads to a series of tests to determine the relative effects of cyclic parameters on the oxidation process. Following a review of the available literature, databases and the experience of partners to the COTEST project, the most influential parameters, upper dwell temperature (oxidation temperature) and time (hot time), lower dwell time (cold time) and environment, were investigated in partners' laboratories. It was decided to test upper dwell temperature at 3 levels, at and equidistant from a reference temperature; to test upper dwell time at a reference, a higher and a lower time; to test lower dwell time at a reference and a higher time and wet and dry environments. Thus an experiment, consisting of nine trials, was designed according to statistical criteria. The results of the trial were analysed statistically, to test the main linear and quadratic effects of upper dwell temperature and hot time and the main effects of lower dwell time (cold time) and environment. The nine trials are a quarter fraction of the 36 possible combinations of parameter levels that could have been studied. The results have been analysed by half Normal plots as there are only 2 degrees of freedom for the experimental error variance, which is rather low for a standard analysis of variance. Half Normal plots give a visual indication of which factors are statistically significant. In this experiment each trial has 3 replications, and the data are analysed in terms of mean mass change, oxidation kinetics

  10. Online incidental statistical learning of audiovisual word sequences in adults: a registered report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuppuraj, Sengottuvel; Duta, Mihaela; Thompson, Paul; Bishop, Dorothy

    2018-02-01

    Statistical learning has been proposed as a key mechanism in language learning. Our main goal was to examine whether adults are capable of simultaneously extracting statistical dependencies in a task where stimuli include a range of structures amenable to statistical learning within a single paradigm. We devised an online statistical learning task using real word auditory-picture sequences that vary in two dimensions: (i) predictability and (ii) adjacency of dependent elements. This task was followed by an offline recall task to probe learning of each sequence type. We registered three hypotheses with specific predictions. First, adults would extract regular patterns from continuous stream (effect of grammaticality). Second, within grammatical conditions, they would show differential speeding up for each condition as a factor of statistical complexity of the condition and exposure. Third, our novel approach to measure online statistical learning would be reliable in showing individual differences in statistical learning ability. Further, we explored the relation between statistical learning and a measure of verbal short-term memory (STM). Forty-two participants were tested and retested after an interval of at least 3 days on our novel statistical learning task. We analysed the reaction time data using a novel regression discontinuity approach. Consistent with prediction, participants showed a grammaticality effect, agreeing with the predicted order of difficulty for learning different statistical structures. Furthermore, a learning index from the task showed acceptable test-retest reliability ( r  = 0.67). However, STM did not correlate with statistical learning. We discuss the findings noting the benefits of online measures in tracking the learning process.

  11. Significance tests for functional data with complex dependence structure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Staicu, Ana-Maria; Lahiri, Soumen N; Carroll, Raymond J

    2015-01-01

    We propose an L 2 -norm based global testing procedure for the null hypothesis that multiple group mean functions are equal, for functional data with complex dependence structure. Specifically, we consider the setting of functional data with a multilevel structure of the form groups-clusters or subjects-units, where the unit-level profiles are spatially correlated within the cluster, and the cluster-level data are independent. Orthogonal series expansions are used to approximate the group mean functions and the test statistic is estimated using the basis coefficients. The asymptotic null distribution of the test statistic is developed, under mild regularity conditions. To our knowledge this is the first work that studies hypothesis testing, when data have such complex multilevel functional and spatial structure. Two small-sample alternatives, including a novel block bootstrap for functional data, are proposed, and their performance is examined in simulation studies. The paper concludes with an illustration of a motivating experiment.

  12. Significance tests for functional data with complex dependence structure

    KAUST Repository

    Staicu, Ana-Maria

    2015-01-01

    We propose an L (2)-norm based global testing procedure for the null hypothesis that multiple group mean functions are equal, for functional data with complex dependence structure. Specifically, we consider the setting of functional data with a multilevel structure of the form groups-clusters or subjects-units, where the unit-level profiles are spatially correlated within the cluster, and the cluster-level data are independent. Orthogonal series expansions are used to approximate the group mean functions and the test statistic is estimated using the basis coefficients. The asymptotic null distribution of the test statistic is developed, under mild regularity conditions. To our knowledge this is the first work that studies hypothesis testing, when data have such complex multilevel functional and spatial structure. Two small-sample alternatives, including a novel block bootstrap for functional data, are proposed, and their performance is examined in simulation studies. The paper concludes with an illustration of a motivating experiment.

  13. Two-Dimensional Model Test Study of New Western Breakwater Proposal for Port of Hanstholm

    OpenAIRE

    Eldrup, Mads Røge; Andersen, Thomas Lykke

    2016-01-01

    The present report presents results from a two-dimensional model test study carried out at Aalborg University in December 2016 with the proposed trunk section for the new western breakwater in Port of Hanstholm. The objectives of the model tests were to study the stability of the armour layer, toe erosion, overtopping and transmission. The scale used for the model tests was 1:61.5. Unless otherwise specified all values given in this report are prototype values converted from the model to prot...

  14. AP statistics crash course

    CERN Document Server

    D'Alessio, Michael

    2012-01-01

    AP Statistics Crash Course - Gets You a Higher Advanced Placement Score in Less Time Crash Course is perfect for the time-crunched student, the last-minute studier, or anyone who wants a refresher on the subject. AP Statistics Crash Course gives you: Targeted, Focused Review - Study Only What You Need to Know Crash Course is based on an in-depth analysis of the AP Statistics course description outline and actual Advanced Placement test questions. It covers only the information tested on the exam, so you can make the most of your valuable study time. Our easy-to-read format covers: exploring da

  15. Statistical tests applied as quality control measures to leaching of nuclear waste glasses and in the evaluation of the leach vessel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bokelund, H.; Deelstra, K.

    1988-01-01

    Simple statistical tests, such as regression analysis and analysis of variance, have been applied to data obtained from leaching experiments carried out under various conditions of time and temperature. The precision and the accuracy of the overall leaching procedure were evaluated considering the short term within laboratory effects. The data originated from determinations of the mass losses of leached glass specimens and from measurements of the electrical conductivity and the pH of the leachants. The solution conductivity correlates highly with the normalized mass loss; hence it provides a consistency check on the measurements of the latter parameter. The overall relative precision of the leaching test method was found to be 5-12%, including the effects caused by inhomogeneity of the glass specimens. The conditions for the application of the teflon inserts often used in leaching devices have been investigated; a modified cleaning procedure is proposed to ascertain the absence of systematic errors by their repeated utilization (quality control). The operational limit of 190 0 C, as specified by the Materials Characterization Center, Richland, USA was confirmed experimentally. 8 refs.; 1 figure; 8 tabs

  16. Extreme events in the Mediterranean area: A mixed deterministic-statistical approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Speranza, A.; Tartaglione, N.

    2006-01-01

    Statistical inference suffers for severe limitations when applied to extreme meteo-climatic events. A fundamental theorem proposes a constructive theory for a universal distribution law (the Generalized Extreme Value distribution) of extremes. Use of this theorem and of its derivations is nowadays quite common. However, when applying it, the selected events should be real extremes. In practical applications a major source of errors is the fact that there is no strict criterion for selecting extremes and, in order to fatten the statistical sample very mild selection criteria are often used. The theorem in question applies to stationary processes. When a trend is introduced, inference becomes even more problematic. Experience shows that any available a priori knowledge concerning the system can play a fundamental role in the analysis, in particular if it lowers the dimensionality of the parameter space to be explored. The inference procedures serve, then, the purpose of testing the reliability of inductive hypothesis, rather than proving them. Within the above general context, analysis of the hypothesis that the frequency and/or intensity of extreme weather events in the Mediterranean area may be changing is proposed. The analysis is based on a combined deterministic-statistical approach: dynamical analysis of intense perturbations is combined with statistical techniques in order to try to formulate the problem in such a way that meaningful conclusion may be achieved

  17. Statistical assessment of numerous Monte Carlo tallies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kiedrowski, Brian C.; Solomon, Clell J.

    2011-01-01

    Four tests are developed to assess the statistical reliability of collections of tallies that number in thousands or greater. To this end, the relative-variance density function is developed and its moments are studied using simplified, non-transport models. The statistical tests are performed upon the results of MCNP calculations of three different transport test problems and appear to show that the tests are appropriate indicators of global statistical quality. (author)

  18. Proposed experimental test of the theory of hole superconductivity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hirsch, J.E., E-mail: jhirsch@ucsd.edu

    2016-06-15

    Highlights: • The conventional theory of superconductivity predicts no charge flow when the normal-superconductor phase boundary moves. • The theory of hole superconductivity predicts flow and counterflow of charge. • An experiment to measure a voltage is proposed. • No voltage will be measured if the conventional theory is correct. • A voltage will be measured if the theory of hole superconductivity is correct. - Abstract: The theory of hole superconductivity predicts that in the reversible transition between normal and superconducting phases in the presence of a magnetic field there is charge flow in direction perpendicular to the normal-superconductor phase boundary. In contrast, the conventional BCS-London theory of superconductivity predicts no such charge flow. Here we discuss an experiment to test these predictions.

  19. A powerful parent-of-origin effects test for qualitative traits on X chromosome in general pedigrees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zou, Qi-Lei; You, Xiao-Ping; Li, Jian-Long; Fung, Wing Kam; Zhou, Ji-Yuan

    2018-01-05

    Genomic imprinting is one of the well-known epigenetic factors causing the association between traits and genes, and has generally been examined by detecting parent-of-origin effects of alleles. A lot of methods have been proposed to test for parent-of-origin effects on autosomes based on nuclear families and general pedigrees. Although these parent-of-origin effects tests on autosomes have been available for more than 15 years, there has been no statistical test developed to test for parent-of-origin effects on X chromosome, until the parental-asymmetry test on X chromosome (XPAT) and its extensions were recently proposed. However, these methods on X chromosome are only applicable to nuclear families and thus are not suitable for general pedigrees. In this article, we propose the pedigree parental-asymmetry test on X chromosome (XPPAT) statistic to test for parent-of-origin effects in the presence of association, which can accommodate general pedigrees. When there are missing genotypes in some pedigrees, we further develop the Monte Carlo pedigree parental-asymmetry test on X chromosome (XMCPPAT) to test for parent-of-origin effects, by inferring the missing genotypes given the observed genotypes based on a Monte Carlo estimation. An extensive simulation study has been carried out to investigate the type I error rates and the powers of the proposed tests. Our simulation results show that the proposed methods control the size well under the null hypothesis of no parent-of-origin effects. Moreover, XMCPPAT substantially outperforms the existing tests and has a much higher power than XPPAT which only uses complete nuclear families (with both parents) from pedigrees. We also apply the proposed methods to analyze rheumatoid arthritis data for their practical use. The proposed XPPAT and XMCPPAT test statistics are valid and powerful in detecting parent-of-origin effects on X chromosome for qualitative traits based on general pedigrees and thus are recommended.

  20. Probability of identification: a statistical model for the validation of qualitative botanical identification methods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    LaBudde, Robert A; Harnly, James M

    2012-01-01

    A qualitative botanical identification method (BIM) is an analytical procedure that returns a binary result (1 = Identified, 0 = Not Identified). A BIM may be used by a buyer, manufacturer, or regulator to determine whether a botanical material being tested is the same as the target (desired) material, or whether it contains excessive nontarget (undesirable) material. The report describes the development and validation of studies for a BIM based on the proportion of replicates identified, or probability of identification (POI), as the basic observed statistic. The statistical procedures proposed for data analysis follow closely those of the probability of detection, and harmonize the statistical concepts and parameters between quantitative and qualitative method validation. Use of POI statistics also harmonizes statistical concepts for botanical, microbiological, toxin, and other analyte identification methods that produce binary results. The POI statistical model provides a tool for graphical representation of response curves for qualitative methods, reporting of descriptive statistics, and application of performance requirements. Single collaborator and multicollaborative study examples are given.

  1. Pearson's chi-square test and rank correlation inferences for clustered data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shih, Joanna H; Fay, Michael P

    2017-09-01

    Pearson's chi-square test has been widely used in testing for association between two categorical responses. Spearman rank correlation and Kendall's tau are often used for measuring and testing association between two continuous or ordered categorical responses. However, the established statistical properties of these tests are only valid when each pair of responses are independent, where each sampling unit has only one pair of responses. When each sampling unit consists of a cluster of paired responses, the assumption of independent pairs is violated. In this article, we apply the within-cluster resampling technique to U-statistics to form new tests and rank-based correlation estimators for possibly tied clustered data. We develop large sample properties of the new proposed tests and estimators and evaluate their performance by simulations. The proposed methods are applied to a data set collected from a PET/CT imaging study for illustration. Published 2017. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

  2. Proposed methodology and infrastructure for standards development and implementation within a national statistical agency

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Cooper, Antony K

    2005-09-01

    Full Text Available The principal objective of the Data Management and Information Delivery (DMID) project in Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) is to develop an infrastructure that supports the business of a statistical organisation, which includes data stores...

  3. The choice of statistical methods for comparisons of dosimetric data in radiotherapy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chaikh, Abdulhamid; Giraud, Jean-Yves; Perrin, Emmanuel; Bresciani, Jean-Pierre; Balosso, Jacques

    2014-01-01

    Novel irradiation techniques are continuously introduced in radiotherapy to optimize the accuracy, the security and the clinical outcome of treatments. These changes could raise the question of discontinuity in dosimetric presentation and the subsequent need for practice adjustments in case of significant modifications. This study proposes a comprehensive approach to compare different techniques and tests whether their respective dose calculation algorithms give rise to statistically significant differences in the treatment doses for the patient. Statistical investigation principles are presented in the framework of a clinical example based on 62 fields of radiotherapy for lung cancer. The delivered doses in monitor units were calculated using three different dose calculation methods: the reference method accounts the dose without tissues density corrections using Pencil Beam Convolution (PBC) algorithm, whereas new methods calculate the dose with tissues density correction for 1D and 3D using Modified Batho (MB) method and Equivalent Tissue air ratio (ETAR) method, respectively. The normality of the data and the homogeneity of variance between groups were tested using Shapiro-Wilks and Levene test, respectively, then non-parametric statistical tests were performed. Specifically, the dose means estimated by the different calculation methods were compared using Friedman’s test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test. In addition, the correlation between the doses calculated by the three methods was assessed using Spearman’s rank and Kendall’s rank tests. The Friedman’s test showed a significant effect on the calculation method for the delivered dose of lung cancer patients (p <0.001). The density correction methods yielded to lower doses as compared to PBC by on average (−5 ± 4.4 SD) for MB and (−4.7 ± 5 SD) for ETAR. Post-hoc Wilcoxon signed-rank test of paired comparisons indicated that the delivered dose was significantly reduced using density

  4. Instruction of Statistics via Computer-Based Tools: Effects on Statistics' Anxiety, Attitude, and Achievement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ciftci, S. Koza; Karadag, Engin; Akdal, Pinar

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of statistics instruction using computer-based tools, on statistics anxiety, attitude, and achievement. This study was designed as quasi-experimental research and the pattern used was a matched pre-test/post-test with control group design. Data was collected using three scales: a Statistics…

  5. A statistical strategy to assess cleaning level of surfaces using fluorescence spectroscopy and Wilks’ ratio

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stoica, Iuliana-Madalina; Babamoradi, Hamid; van den Berg, Frans

    2017-01-01

    •A statistical strategy combining fluorescence spectroscopy, multivariate analysis and Wilks’ ratio is proposed.•The method was tested both off-line and on-line having riboflavin as a (controlled) contaminant.•Wilks’ ratio signals unusual recordings based on shifts in variance and covariance...... structure described in in-control data....

  6. Proposed quality control guidelines for National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards Susceptibility Tests using the veterinary antimicrobial agent tiamulin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pfaller, M A; Jones, R N; Walter, D H

    2001-01-01

    Quality control guidelines for standardized antimicrobial susceptibility test methods are critical for the continuing accuracy of these clinical tests. In this report, quality control limits were proposed for the veterinary antimicrobial agent tiamulin with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) ranges of three or four log(2) dilution steps in two different medium formulations. Disk diffusion zone diameter ranges were proposed for tiamulin tested against Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae ATCC 27090 (12-18 mm) and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 (25-32 mm). The data from eight participating laboratories produced 100% of results within proposed MIC limits (8-32 microg/mL), and 95.8-97.0% of zones were found within suggested zone diameter QC guidelines. These proposed QC ranges should be validated by in-use results from veterinary clinical laboratories.

  7. Histoplasmosis Statistics

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Testing Treatment & Outcomes Health Professionals Statistics More Resources Candidiasis Candida infections of the mouth, throat, and esophagus Vaginal candidiasis Invasive candidiasis Definition Symptoms Risk & Prevention Sources Diagnosis ...

  8. Radiation transport in statistically inhomogeneous rocks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lukhminskij, B.E.

    1975-01-01

    A study has been made of radiation transfer in statistically inhomogeneous rocks. Account has been taken of the statistical character of rock composition through randomization of density. Formulas are summarized for sigma-distribution, homogeneous density, the Simpson and Cauchy distributions. Consideration is given to the statistics of mean square ranges in a medium, simulated by the jump Markov random function. A quantitative criterion of rock heterogeneity is proposed

  9. Simulation of statistical systems with not necessarily real and positive probabilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kalkreuter, T.

    1991-01-01

    A new method to determine expectation values of observables in statistical systems with not necessarily real and positive probabilities is proposed. It is tested in a numerical study of the two-dimensional O(3)-symmetric nonlinear σ-model with Symanzik's one-loop improved lattice action. This model is simulated as polymer system with field dependent activities which can be made positive definite or indefinite by adjusting additive constants of the action. For a system with indefinite activities the new proposal is found to work. It is also verified that local observables are not affected by far-away ploymers with indefinite activities when the system has no long-range order. (orig.)

  10. Introductory statistics and analytics a resampling perspective

    CERN Document Server

    Bruce, Peter C

    2014-01-01

    Concise, thoroughly class-tested primer that features basic statistical concepts in the concepts in the context of analytics, resampling, and the bootstrapA uniquely developed presentation of key statistical topics, Introductory Statistics and Analytics: A Resampling Perspective provides an accessible approach to statistical analytics, resampling, and the bootstrap for readers with various levels of exposure to basic probability and statistics. Originally class-tested at one of the first online learning companies in the discipline, www.statistics.com, the book primarily focuses on application

  11. Simulation-based hypothesis testing of high dimensional means under covariance heterogeneity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Jinyuan; Zheng, Chao; Zhou, Wen-Xin; Zhou, Wen

    2017-12-01

    In this article, we study the problem of testing the mean vectors of high dimensional data in both one-sample and two-sample cases. The proposed testing procedures employ maximum-type statistics and the parametric bootstrap techniques to compute the critical values. Different from the existing tests that heavily rely on the structural conditions on the unknown covariance matrices, the proposed tests allow general covariance structures of the data and therefore enjoy wide scope of applicability in practice. To enhance powers of the tests against sparse alternatives, we further propose two-step procedures with a preliminary feature screening step. Theoretical properties of the proposed tests are investigated. Through extensive numerical experiments on synthetic data sets and an human acute lymphoblastic leukemia gene expression data set, we illustrate the performance of the new tests and how they may provide assistance on detecting disease-associated gene-sets. The proposed methods have been implemented in an R-package HDtest and are available on CRAN. © 2017, The International Biometric Society.

  12. Variability aware compact model characterization for statistical circuit design optimization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qiao, Ying; Qian, Kun; Spanos, Costas J.

    2012-03-01

    Variability modeling at the compact transistor model level can enable statistically optimized designs in view of limitations imposed by the fabrication technology. In this work we propose an efficient variabilityaware compact model characterization methodology based on the linear propagation of variance. Hierarchical spatial variability patterns of selected compact model parameters are directly calculated from transistor array test structures. This methodology has been implemented and tested using transistor I-V measurements and the EKV-EPFL compact model. Calculation results compare well to full-wafer direct model parameter extractions. Further studies are done on the proper selection of both compact model parameters and electrical measurement metrics used in the method.

  13. Statistical damage constitutive model for rocks subjected to cyclic stress and cyclic temperature

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Shu-Wei; Xia, Cai-Chu; Zhao, Hai-Bin; Mei, Song-Hua; Zhou, Yu

    2017-10-01

    A constitutive model of rocks subjected to cyclic stress-temperature was proposed. Based on statistical damage theory, the damage constitutive model with Weibull distribution was extended. Influence of model parameters on the stress-strain curve for rock reloading after stress-temperature cycling was then discussed. The proposed model was initially validated by rock tests for cyclic stress-temperature and only cyclic stress. Finally, the total damage evolution induced by stress-temperature cycling and reloading after cycling was explored and discussed. The proposed constitutive model is reasonable and applicable, describing well the stress-strain relationship during stress-temperature cycles and providing a good fit to the test results. Elastic modulus in the reference state and the damage induced by cycling affect the shape of reloading stress-strain curve. Total damage induced by cycling and reloading after cycling exhibits three stages: initial slow increase, mid-term accelerated increase, and final slow increase.

  14. submitter Methodologies for the Statistical Analysis of Memory Response to Radiation

    CERN Document Server

    Bosser, Alexandre L; Tsiligiannis, Georgios; Frost, Christopher D; Zadeh, Ali; Jaatinen, Jukka; Javanainen, Arto; Puchner, Helmut; Saigne, Frederic; Virtanen, Ari; Wrobel, Frederic; Dilillo, Luigi

    2016-01-01

    Methodologies are proposed for in-depth statistical analysis of Single Event Upset data. The motivation for using these methodologies is to obtain precise information on the intrinsic defects and weaknesses of the tested devices, and to gain insight on their failure mechanisms, at no additional cost. The case study is a 65 nm SRAM irradiated with neutrons, protons and heavy ions. This publication is an extended version of a previous study [1].

  15. Equivalence Testing of Complex Particle Size Distribution Profiles Based on Earth Mover's Distance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Meng; Jiang, Xiaohui; Absar, Mohammad; Choi, Stephanie; Kozak, Darby; Shen, Meiyu; Weng, Yu-Ting; Zhao, Liang; Lionberger, Robert

    2018-04-12

    Particle size distribution (PSD) is an important property of particulates in drug products. In the evaluation of generic drug products formulated as suspensions, emulsions, and liposomes, the PSD comparisons between a test product and the branded product can provide useful information regarding in vitro and in vivo performance. Historically, the FDA has recommended the population bioequivalence (PBE) statistical approach to compare the PSD descriptors D50 and SPAN from test and reference products to support product equivalence. In this study, the earth mover's distance (EMD) is proposed as a new metric for comparing PSD particularly when the PSD profile exhibits complex distribution (e.g., multiple peaks) that is not accurately described by the D50 and SPAN descriptor. EMD is a statistical metric that measures the discrepancy (distance) between size distribution profiles without a prior assumption of the distribution. PBE is then adopted to perform statistical test to establish equivalence based on the calculated EMD distances. Simulations show that proposed EMD-based approach is effective in comparing test and reference profiles for equivalence testing and is superior compared to commonly used distance measures, e.g., Euclidean and Kolmogorov-Smirnov distances. The proposed approach was demonstrated by evaluating equivalence of cyclosporine ophthalmic emulsion PSDs that were manufactured under different conditions. Our results show that proposed approach can effectively pass an equivalent product (e.g., reference product against itself) and reject an inequivalent product (e.g., reference product against negative control), thus suggesting its usefulness in supporting bioequivalence determination of a test product to the reference product which both possess multimodal PSDs.

  16. Statistical operation of nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gauzit, Maurice; Wilmart, Yves

    1976-01-01

    A comparison of the statistical operating results of nuclear power stations as issued in the literature shows that the values given for availability and the load factor often differ considerably from each other. This may be due to different definitions given to these terms or even to a poor translation from one language into another. A critical analysis of these terms as well as the choice of a parameter from which it is possible to have a quantitative idea of the actual quality of the operation obtained is proposed. The second section gives, on an homogenous basis and from the results supplied by 83 nuclear power stations now in operation, a statistical analysis of their operating results: in particular, the two light water lines, during 1975, as well as the evolution in terms of age, of the units or the starting conditions of the units during their first two operating years. Test values thus obtained are compared also to those taken 'a priori' as hypothesis in some economic studies [fr

  17. Experimental testing on free vibration behaviour for silicone rubbers proposed within lumbar disc prosthesis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rotaru, Iuliana, E-mail: rotaruiuliana2000@gmail.com [“Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics and Robotics, 61-63 Bd. Dimitrie Mangeron, 700050 Iasi (Romania); “Gr. T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Iasi, Faculty of Medical Bioengineering, Department of Biomedical Sciences, 9-13 M. Kogalniceanu Street, 700454 Iasi (Romania); Bujoreanu, Carmen [“Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics and Robotics, 61-63 Bd. Dimitrie Mangeron, 700050 Iasi (Romania); Bele, Adrian; Cazacu, Maria [“Petru Poni” Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Aleea Gr. Ghica Voda 41 A, 700487 Iasi (Romania); Olaru, Dumitru [“Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics and Robotics, 61-63 Bd. Dimitrie Mangeron, 700050 Iasi (Romania)

    2014-09-01

    This research was focused on the damping capacity study of two types of silicone rubbers proposed as layers within total lumbar disc prostheses of ball-and-socket model. In order to investigate the damping capacity, the two silicone rubber types mainly differing by the molecular mass of polymeric matrix and the filler content, as was emphasized by scanning electron microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry, were subjected to free vibration testing. Using an adapted experimental installation, three kinds of damping testing were realised: tests without samples and tests with three samples of each type of silicone rubber (69 ShA and 99 ShA). The free vibration tests were performed at a frequency of about 6 Hz using a weight of 11.8 kg. The relative damping coefficient was determined by measuring of two successive amplitudes on the vibrogram and calculating of the logarithmic decrement. The test results with silicone rubber samples showed a relative damping coefficient of 0.058 and respectively 0.077, whilst test results without samples showed a relative damping coefficient of 0.042. These silicone rubbers were found to have acceptable damping properties to be used as layers placed inside the prosthetic components. - Highlights: • Two types of silicone rubber were proposed within the total lumbar disc prostheses. • The filler content of elastomers was highlighted by microscopy investigation. • Damping capacity of the two elastomers was evaluated using free vibration analysis. • The logarithmic decrement and the relative damping coefficient were determined. • The silicone rubbers prepared in our work showed acceptable damping properties.

  18. Experimental testing on free vibration behaviour for silicone rubbers proposed within lumbar disc prosthesis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rotaru, Iuliana; Bujoreanu, Carmen; Bele, Adrian; Cazacu, Maria; Olaru, Dumitru

    2014-01-01

    This research was focused on the damping capacity study of two types of silicone rubbers proposed as layers within total lumbar disc prostheses of ball-and-socket model. In order to investigate the damping capacity, the two silicone rubber types mainly differing by the molecular mass of polymeric matrix and the filler content, as was emphasized by scanning electron microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry, were subjected to free vibration testing. Using an adapted experimental installation, three kinds of damping testing were realised: tests without samples and tests with three samples of each type of silicone rubber (69 ShA and 99 ShA). The free vibration tests were performed at a frequency of about 6 Hz using a weight of 11.8 kg. The relative damping coefficient was determined by measuring of two successive amplitudes on the vibrogram and calculating of the logarithmic decrement. The test results with silicone rubber samples showed a relative damping coefficient of 0.058 and respectively 0.077, whilst test results without samples showed a relative damping coefficient of 0.042. These silicone rubbers were found to have acceptable damping properties to be used as layers placed inside the prosthetic components. - Highlights: • Two types of silicone rubber were proposed within the total lumbar disc prostheses. • The filler content of elastomers was highlighted by microscopy investigation. • Damping capacity of the two elastomers was evaluated using free vibration analysis. • The logarithmic decrement and the relative damping coefficient were determined. • The silicone rubbers prepared in our work showed acceptable damping properties

  19. Nondestructive test for estimating strength of concrete in structure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nozaki, Yoshitsugu; Soshiroda, Tomozo

    1997-01-01

    Evaluation of the quality of concrete in structures, especially strength estimation is said to be one of the most important problem and needed to establish test method especial tv for non-destructive method in situ. The paper describes the nondestructive test to estimate strength of concrete. From experimental study using full scale model wall, strength estimating equations are proposed by ultra-sonic pulse velocity, rebound hardness of Schmidt hammer and combined with two methods. From statistical study of the results of experiments, errors of estimated strength by the proposed equations are suggested. The validity of the equations are verified by investigation for existing reinforced concrete buildings aged 20 - 50 years. And it was found from the statistical study that the strength estimating equations need to be corrected in applying to tons aged concrete, and correction factor to those squat ions were suggested. Furthermore the corrected proposed equations were verified by applying to buildings investigated the other case.

  20. A statistical method (cross-validation) for bone loss region detection after spaceflight

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Qian; Li, Wenjun; Li, Caixia; Chu, Philip W.; Kornak, John; Lang, Thomas F.

    2010-01-01

    Astronauts experience bone loss after the long spaceflight missions. Identifying specific regions that undergo the greatest losses (e.g. the proximal femur) could reveal information about the processes of bone loss in disuse and disease. Methods for detecting such regions, however, remains an open problem. This paper focuses on statistical methods to detect such regions. We perform statistical parametric mapping to get t-maps of changes in images, and propose a new cross-validation method to select an optimum suprathreshold for forming clusters of pixels. Once these candidate clusters are formed, we use permutation testing of longitudinal labels to derive significant changes. PMID:20632144

  1. Assessment of the GPC Control Quality Using Non–Gaussian Statistical Measures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Domański Paweł D.

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an alternative approach to the task of control performance assessment. Various statistical measures based on Gaussian and non-Gaussian distribution functions are evaluated. The analysis starts with the review of control error histograms followed by their statistical analysis using probability distribution functions. Simulation results obtained for a control system with the generalized predictive controller algorithm are considered. The proposed approach using Cauchy and Lévy α-stable distributions shows robustness against disturbances and enables effective control loop quality evaluation. Tests of the predictive algorithm prove its ability to detect the impact of the main controller parameters, such as the model gain, the dynamics or the prediction horizon.

  2. Two-Dimensional Model Test Study of New Western Breakwater Proposal for Port of Hanstholm

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eldrup, Mads Røge; Andersen, Thomas Lykke

    The present report presents results from a two-dimensional model test study carried out at Aalborg University in December 2016 with the proposed trunk section for the new western breakwater in Port of Hanstholm. The objectives of the model tests were to study the stability of the armour layer, toe...... erosion, overtopping and transmission. The scale used for the model tests was 1:61.5. Unless otherwise specified all values given in this report are prototype values converted from the model to prototype according to the Froude model law....

  3. 用于统计测试概率分布生成的自动搜索方法%Automated Search Method for Statistical Test Probability Distribution Generation

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    周晓莹; 高建华

    2013-01-01

    A strategy based on automated search for probability distribution construction is proposed, which comprises the design of representation format and evaluation function for the probability distribution. Combining with simulated annealing algorithm, an indicator is defined to formalize the automated search process based on the Markov model. Experimental results show that the method effectively improves the accuracy of the automated search, which can reduce the expense of statistical test by providing the statistical test with fairly efficient test data since it successfully finds the neat-optimal probability distribution within a certain time.%提出一种基于自动搜索的概率分布生成方法,设计对概率分布的表示形式与评估函数,同时结合模拟退火算法设计基于马尔可夫模型的自动搜索过程.实验结果表明,该方法能够有效地提高自动搜索的准确性,在一定时间内成功找到接近最优的概率分布,生成高效的测试数据,同时达到降低统计测试成本的目的.

  4. Review of Statistical Analyses Resulting from Performance of HLDWD-DWPF-005

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Beck, R.S.

    1997-01-01

    The Engineering Department at the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) has reviewed two reports from the Statistical Consulting Section (SCS) involving the statistical analysis of test results for analysis of small sample inserts (references 1 ampersand 2). The test results cover two proposed analytical methods, a room temperature hydrofluoric acid preparation (Cold Chem) and a sodium peroxide/sodium hydroxide fusion modified for insert samples (Modified Fusion). The reports support implementation of the proposed small sample containers and analytical methods at DWPF. Hydragard sampler valve performance was typical of previous results (reference 3). Using an element from each major feed stream. lithium from the frit and iron from the sludge, the sampler was determined to deliver a uniform mixture in either sample container.The lithium to iron ratios were equivalent for the standard 15 ml vial and the 3 ml insert.The proposed method provide equivalent analyses as compared to the current methods. The biases associated with the proposed methods on a vitrified basis are less than 5% for major elements. The sum of oxides for the proposed method compares favorably with the sum of oxides for the conventional methods. However, the average sum of oxides for the Cold Chem method was 94.3% which is below the minimum required recovery of 95%. Both proposed methods, cold Chem and Modified Fusion, will be required at first to provide an accurate analysis which will routinely meet the 95% and 105% average sum of oxides limit for Product Composition Control System (PCCS).Issued to be resolved during phased implementation are as follows: (1) Determine calcine/vitrification factor for radioactive feed; (2) Evaluate covariance matrix change against process operating ranges to determine optimum sample size; (3) Evaluate sources for low sum of oxides; and (4) Improve remote operability of production versions of equipment and instruments for installation in 221-S.The specifics of

  5. Statistics Clinic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feiveson, Alan H.; Foy, Millennia; Ploutz-Snyder, Robert; Fiedler, James

    2014-01-01

    Do you have elevated p-values? Is the data analysis process getting you down? Do you experience anxiety when you need to respond to criticism of statistical methods in your manuscript? You may be suffering from Insufficient Statistical Support Syndrome (ISSS). For symptomatic relief of ISSS, come for a free consultation with JSC biostatisticians at our help desk during the poster sessions at the HRP Investigators Workshop. Get answers to common questions about sample size, missing data, multiple testing, when to trust the results of your analyses and more. Side effects may include sudden loss of statistics anxiety, improved interpretation of your data, and increased confidence in your results.

  6. Statistics & probaility for dummies

    CERN Document Server

    Rumsey, Deborah J

    2013-01-01

    Two complete eBooks for one low price! Created and compiled by the publisher, this Statistics I and Statistics II bundle brings together two math titles in one, e-only bundle. With this special bundle, you'll get the complete text of the following two titles: Statistics For Dummies, 2nd Edition  Statistics For Dummies shows you how to interpret and critique graphs and charts, determine the odds with probability, guesstimate with confidence using confidence intervals, set up and carry out a hypothesis test, compute statistical formulas, and more. Tra

  7. Conjunction analysis and propositional logic in fMRI data analysis using Bayesian statistics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rudert, Thomas; Lohmann, Gabriele

    2008-12-01

    To evaluate logical expressions over different effects in data analyses using the general linear model (GLM) and to evaluate logical expressions over different posterior probability maps (PPMs). In functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data analysis, the GLM was applied to estimate unknown regression parameters. Based on the GLM, Bayesian statistics can be used to determine the probability of conjunction, disjunction, implication, or any other arbitrary logical expression over different effects or contrast. For second-level inferences, PPMs from individual sessions or subjects are utilized. These PPMs can be combined to a logical expression and its probability can be computed. The methods proposed in this article are applied to data from a STROOP experiment and the methods are compared to conjunction analysis approaches for test-statistics. The combination of Bayesian statistics with propositional logic provides a new approach for data analyses in fMRI. Two different methods are introduced for propositional logic: the first for analyses using the GLM and the second for common inferences about different probability maps. The methods introduced extend the idea of conjunction analysis to a full propositional logic and adapt it from test-statistics to Bayesian statistics. The new approaches allow inferences that are not possible with known standard methods in fMRI. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  8. Environmental assessment of proposed geothermal well testing in the Tigre Lagoon Oil Field, Vermilion Parish, Louisiana

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1976-03-01

    An environmental assessment is made of the proposed testing of two geopressured, geothermal aquifers in central coastal Louisiana. On the basis of an analysis of the environmental setting, subsurface characteristics, and the proposed action, potential environmental impacts are determined and evaluated together with potential conflicts with federal, state, and local programs. (LBS )

  9. Proposed experimental test of Bell's inequality in nuclear beta decay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Skalsey, M.

    1986-01-01

    A β decay experiment is proposed for testing Bell's inequality, related to hidden-variables alternatives to quantum mechanics. The experiment uses Mott scattering for spin polarization analysis of internal conversion electrons. Beta-decay electrons, in cascade with the conversion electrons, are longitudinally polarized due to parity violation in the weak interaction. So simply detecting the β electron direction effectively measures the spin. A two-particle spin-spin correlation can thus be investigated and related, within certain assumptions, to Bell's inequality. The example of 203 Hg decay is used for a calculation of expected results. Specific problems related to nuclear structure and experimental inconsistencies are also discussed

  10. Low-wave-number statistics of randomly advected passive scalars

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kerstein, A.R.; McMurtry, P.A.

    1994-01-01

    A heuristic analysis of the decay of a passive scalar field subject to statistically steady random advection, predicts two low-wave-number spectral scaling regimes analogous to the similarity states previously identified by Chasnov [Phys. Fluids 6, 1036 (1994)]. Consequences of their predicted coexistence in a single flow are examined. The analysis is limited to the idealized case of narrow band advection. To complement the analysis, and to extend the predictions to physically more realistic advection processes, advection diffusion is simulated using a one-dimensional stochastic model. An experimental test of the predictions is proposed

  11. Error calculations statistics in radioactive measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Verdera, Silvia

    1994-01-01

    Basic approach and procedures frequently used in the practice of radioactive measurements.Statistical principles applied are part of Good radiopharmaceutical Practices and quality assurance.Concept of error, classification as systematic and random errors.Statistic fundamentals,probability theories, populations distributions, Bernoulli, Poisson,Gauss, t-test distribution,Ξ2 test, error propagation based on analysis of variance.Bibliography.z table,t-test table, Poisson index ,Ξ2 test

  12. Nonparametric Statistics Test Software Package.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1983-09-01

    25 I1l,lCELL WRITE (NCF,12 ) IvE (I ,RCCT(I) 122 FORMAT(IlXt 3(H5 9 1) IF( IeLT *NCELL) WRITE (NOF1123 J PARTV(I1J 123 FORMAT( Xll----’,FIo.3J 25 CONT...the user’s entries. Its purpose is to write two types of files needed by the program Crunch: the data file, and the option file. 211 Iuill rateLchiavar...data file and communicate the choice of test and test parameters to Crunch. After a data file is written, Lochinvar prompts the writing of the

  13. 77 FR 12089 - Proposed Generic Communication; Regulatory Issue Summary 2012-XX: Developing Inservice Testing...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-28

    ... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [NRC-2012-0048] Proposed Generic Communication; Regulatory Issue... CFR) Part 52, ``Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants,'' to satisfy the... inservice testing programs during the initial 120-month program interval following nuclear power plant...

  14. Measurement and statistics for teachers

    CERN Document Server

    Van Blerkom, Malcolm

    2008-01-01

    Written in a student-friendly style, Measurement and Statistics for Teachers shows teachers how to use measurement and statistics wisely in their classes. Although there is some discussion of theory, emphasis is given to the practical, everyday uses of measurement and statistics. The second part of the text provides more complete coverage of basic descriptive statistics and their use in the classroom than in any text now available.Comprehensive and accessible, Measurement and Statistics for Teachers includes:Short vignettes showing concepts in action Numerous classroom examples Highlighted vocabulary Boxes summarizing related concepts End-of-chapter exercises and problems Six full chapters devoted to the essential topic of Classroom Tests Instruction on how to carry out informal assessments, performance assessments, and portfolio assessments, and how to use and interpret standardized tests A five-chapter section on Descriptive Statistics, giving instructors the option of more thoroughly teaching basic measur...

  15. Pilot-plant testing of materials proposed for use as NWCF feed and fuel nozzle caps

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Birrer, S.A.

    1980-12-01

    Results of a series of tests performed on materials proposed for use at New Waste Calcining Facility (NWCF) fuel and feed nozzle caps are described. Results show that Haynes Alloys 25 and 188 and Inconel Alloys 617, 625, and 690 have acceptable corrosion and erosion rates based upon the high-temperature oxidation, erosion, and corrosion tests conducted

  16. Teste de figuras para discriminação fonêmica: uma proposta Phoneme Discrimination Picture Test: a proposal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Beatriz dos Santos-Carvalho

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available OBJETIVOS: Propor um teste que avaliasse a discriminação fonêmica por meio de pares mínimos, abrangendo todos os fonemas do Português Brasileiro e utilizando-os em palavras que possam ser facilmente representadas por figuras. Buscou-se que este teste contribua para o diagnóstico de alterações fonoaudiológicas e para a pesquisa científica. Procurou-se fazer um teste que fosse de fácil aplicação, podendo ser utilizado em qualquer local de trabalho dos fonoaudiólogos. MÉTODOS: Selecionou-se pares mínimos que opusessem fonemas em relação ao valor binário de cada traço distintivo e às combinações possíveis entre os traços de lugar ([labial], [coronal], [dorsal] bem como pelas oposições de estruturas silábicas. Criou-se figuras que representam as palavras dos pares. RESULTADOS: Elaborou-se o Teste de Figuras para Discriminação Fonêmica, que avalia a habilidade de discriminação fonêmica em crianças de quatro a oito anos. Este teste contém 40 apresentações, das quais 30 são pares mínimos e dez pares de palavras iguais. Nestas 30 apresentações, opôs-se os traços distintivos [+/- soante], [+/- aproximante], [+/- contínuo], [+/- voz], [coronal+/-ant], [labial] x [coronal], [dorsal] x [coronal] e [labial] x [dorsal]. Igualmente foram opostas as seguintes estruturas silábicas: V x CV, CV x CCV, CV x CVC. CONCLUSÃO: Conclui-se que os objetivos deste trabalho foram alcançados com êxito, pois o Teste de Figura para Discriminação Fonêmica contempla tudo a que se propôs. Acredita-se que o teste deva ser aplicado em um estudo piloto para averiguar se as palavras e as figuras estão adequadas para a faixa etária. Posteriormente, deve ser aplicado em diversas regiões do país para ser devidamente padronizado.PURPOSE: To propose a test to evaluate phonemic discrimination using minimum pairs, comprising all Brazilian Portuguese phonemes and using them in words which can be easily represented by pictures. The

  17. Post electrical or lightning injury syndrome: a proposal for an American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual formulation with implications for treatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrews, Christopher J; Reisner, Andrew D; Cooper, Mary Ann

    2017-09-01

    In the past, victims of electrical and lightning injuries have been assessed in a manner lacking a systematic formulation, and against ad hoc criteria, particularly in the area of neuropsychological disability. In this manner patients have, for example, only been partially treated, been poorly or incorrectly diagnosed, and have been denied the full benefit of compensation for their injuries. This paper contains a proposal for diagnostic criteria particularly for the neuropsychological aspects of the post injury syndrome. It pays attention to widely published consistent descriptions of the syndrome, and a new cluster analysis of post electrical injury patients. It formulates a proposal which could be incorporated into future editions of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). The major neuropsychological consequences include neurocognitive dysfunction, and memory subgroup dysfunction, with ongoing consequences, and sometimes including progressive or delayed psychiatric, cognitive, and/or neurological symptoms. The proposed diagnostic criteria insist on a demonstrated context for the injury, both specifying the shock circumstance, and also physical consequences. It allows for a certain delay in onset of symptoms. It recognizes exclusory conditions. The outcome is a proposal for a DSM classification for the post electrical or lightning injury syndrome. This proposal is considered important for grounding patient treatment, and for further treatment trials. Options for treatment in electrical or lightning injury are summarised, and future trials are foreshadowed.

  18. Failure-censored accelerated life test sampling plans for Weibull distribution under expected test time constraint

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bai, D.S.; Chun, Y.R.; Kim, J.G.

    1995-01-01

    This paper considers the design of life-test sampling plans based on failure-censored accelerated life tests. The lifetime distribution of products is assumed to be Weibull with a scale parameter that is a log linear function of a (possibly transformed) stress. Two levels of stress higher than the use condition stress, high and low, are used. Sampling plans with equal expected test times at high and low test stresses which satisfy the producer's and consumer's risk requirements and minimize the asymptotic variance of the test statistic used to decide lot acceptability are obtained. The properties of the proposed life-test sampling plans are investigated

  19. Partial sums of lagged cross-products of AR residuals and a test for white noise

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Gooijer, J.G.

    2008-01-01

    Partial sums of lagged cross-products of AR residuals are defined. By studying the sample paths of these statistics, changes in residual dependence can be detected that might be missed by statistics using only the total sum of cross-products. Also, a test statistic for white noise is proposed. It is

  20. DWPF Sample Vial Insert Study-Statistical Analysis of DWPF Mock-Up Test Data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Harris, S.P.

    1997-01-01

    This report is prepared as part of Technical/QA Task Plan WSRC-RP-97-351 which was issued in response to Technical Task Request HLW/DWPF/TTR-970132 submitted by DWPF. Presented in this report is a statistical analysis of DWPF Mock-up test data for evaluation of two new analytical methods which use insert samples from the existing HydragardTM sampler. The first is a new hydrofluoric acid based method called the Cold Chemical Method (Cold Chem) and the second is a modified fusion method.Both new methods use the existing HydragardTM sampler to collect a smaller insert sample from the process sampling system. The insert testing methodology applies to the DWPF Slurry Mix Evaporator (SME) and the Melter Feed Tank (MFT) samples. Samples in small 3 ml containers (Inserts) are analyzed by either the cold chemical method or a modified fusion method. The current analytical method uses a HydragardTM sample station to obtain nearly full 15 ml peanut vials. The samples are prepared by a multi-step process for Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) analysis by drying, vitrification, grinding and finally dissolution by either mixed acid or fusion. In contrast, the insert sample is placed directly in the dissolution vessel, thus eliminating the drying, vitrification and grinding operations for the Cold chem method. Although the modified fusion still requires drying and calcine conversion, the process is rapid due to the decreased sample size and that no vitrification step is required.A slurry feed simulant material was acquired from the TNX pilot facility from the test run designated as PX-7.The Mock-up test data were gathered on the basis of a statistical design presented in SRT-SCS-97004 (Rev. 0). Simulant PX-7 samples were taken in the DWPF Analytical Cell Mock-up Facility using 3 ml inserts and 15 ml peanut vials. A number of the insert samples were analyzed by Cold Chem and compared with full peanut vial samples analyzed by the current methods. The remaining inserts were analyzed by

  1. Can the Immune System Perform a t-Test?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Faria, Bruno Filipe; Mostardinha, Patricia

    2017-01-01

    The self-nonself discrimination hypothesis remains a landmark concept in immunology. It proposes that tolerance breaks down in the presence of nonself antigens. In strike contrast, in statistics, occurrence of nonself elements in a sample (i.e., outliers) is not obligatory to violate the null hypothesis. Very often, what is crucial is the combination of (self) elements in a sample. The two views on how to detect a change seem challengingly different and it could seem difficult to conceive how immunological cellular interactions could trigger responses with a precision comparable to some statistical tests. Here it is shown that frustrated cellular interactions reconcile the two views within a plausible immunological setting. It is proposed that the adaptive immune system can be promptly activated either when nonself ligands are detected or self-ligands occur in abnormal combinations. In particular we show that cellular populations behaving in this way could perform location statistical tests, with performances comparable to t or KS tests, or even more general data mining tests such as support vector machines or random forests. In more general terms, this work claims that plausible immunological models should provide accurate detection mechanisms for host protection and, furthermore, that investigation on mechanisms leading to improved detection in “in silico” models can help unveil how the real immune system works. PMID:28046042

  2. Non-identical anyons and new statistics for spinons and holons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mor, T.

    1993-01-01

    We discuss the various existing proposals for the statistics of holons and spinons (the proposed fundamental excitations of the tJ model for HTSC), and we present new anyonic alternatives. We generalize Wilczek's realization of anyons to include non-identical anyons with mutual statistics and concentrate on particular cases which preserve time-reversal symmetry. Under the restriction of time-reversal symmetry, we find two additional possibilities for the statistics of holons and spinons - either both holons and spinons are bosons or both are fermions. In addition they obey an antisymmetric mutual statistics. We discuss the pairing mechanism of holons in this model, and the microscopic origins for this statistical behavior. (orig.)

  3. Why Students Need to Be Prepared to Cooperate: A Cooperative Nudge in Statistics Learning at University

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buchs, Céline; Gilles, Ingrid; Antonietti, Jean-Philippe; Butera, Fabrizio

    2016-01-01

    Despite the potential benefits of cooperative learning at university, its implementation is challenging. Here, we propose a theory-based 90-min intervention with 185 first-year psychology students in the challenging domain of statistics, consisting of an exercise phase and an individual learning post-test. We compared three conditions that…

  4. Statistical secrecy and multibit commitments

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Damgård, Ivan Bjerre; Pedersen, Torben P.; Pfitzmann, Birgit

    1998-01-01

    nothing about it. One definition is based on the L1-norm distance between probability distributions, the other on information theory. We prove that the two definitions are essentially equivalent. We also show that statistical counterparts of definitions of computational secrecy are essentially equivalent......We present and compare definitions of "statistically hiding" protocols, and we propose a novel statistically hiding commitment scheme. Informally, a protocol statistically hides a secret if a computationally unlimited adversary who conducts the protocol with the owner of the secret learns almost...... to our main definitions. Commitment schemes are an important cryptologic primitive. Their purpose is to commit one party to a certain value, while hiding this value from the other party until some later time. We present a statistically hiding commitment scheme allowing commitment to many bits...

  5. Testing the Construct Validity of Proposed Criteria for "DSM-5" Autism Spectrum Disorder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mandy, William P. L.; Charman, Tony; Skuse, David H.

    2012-01-01

    Objective: To use confirmatory factor analysis to test the construct validity of the proposed "DSM-5" symptom model of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), in comparison to alternative models, including that described in "DSM-IV-TR." Method: Participants were 708 verbal children and young persons (mean age, 9.5 years) with mild to severe autistic…

  6. Proposed new ultrasonic test bed

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maxfield, B.W.

    1978-01-01

    Within the last four or five years, a great deal of progress has been made both here and in a number of other laboratories in developing techniques that will enable considerably more information to be obtained from the ultrasonic examination of an object. Some of these recent developments relate to information contained within the diffracted beam which does not return along the incident path. An ultrasonic examination based upon an evaluation of diffracted energy must use at least two transducers, one for transmission and the other for reception. Current indications are that even more reliable test results will be achieved using a receiving transducer that can scan a significant portion of the diffracted field including that portion which is back-reflected. In general, this scan can be interpreted most accurately if it follows a path related to the surface shape. If more than one region within the object is to be interrogated, then the transmitting transducer must also be scanned, again along a path related to the surface shape. The large quantity of information obtained as the result of such an examination must be subjected to sophisticated computer analysis in order to be displayed in a meaningful and intelligible manner. Although one motivation for building such an instrument is to explore new ultrasonic test procedures that are evolving from current laboratory research, this is neither the sole motivation nor the only use for this instrument. Such a mechanical and electronic device would permit conventional ultrasonic tests to be performed on parts of complex geometry without the expensive and time-consuming special fixturing that is currently required. May possible test geometries could be explored in practice prior to the construction of a specialized test apparatus. Hence, it would be necessary to design much, if any, flexibility into the special test apparatus

  7. Terminal-Dependent Statistical Inference for the FBSDEs Models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yunquan Song

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The original stochastic differential equations (OSDEs and forward-backward stochastic differential equations (FBSDEs are often used to model complex dynamic process that arise in financial, ecological, and many other areas. The main difference between OSDEs and FBSDEs is that the latter is designed to depend on a terminal condition, which is a key factor in some financial and ecological circumstances. It is interesting but challenging to estimate FBSDE parameters from noisy data and the terminal condition. However, to the best of our knowledge, the terminal-dependent statistical inference for such a model has not been explored in the existing literature. We proposed a nonparametric terminal control variables estimation method to address this problem. The reason why we use the terminal control variables is that the newly proposed inference procedures inherit the terminal-dependent characteristic. Through this new proposed method, the estimators of the functional coefficients of the FBSDEs model are obtained. The asymptotic properties of the estimators are also discussed. Simulation studies show that the proposed method gives satisfying estimates for the FBSDE parameters from noisy data and the terminal condition. A simulation is performed to test the feasibility of our method.

  8. Statistical theory of signal detection

    CERN Document Server

    Helstrom, Carl Wilhelm; Costrell, L; Kandiah, K

    1968-01-01

    Statistical Theory of Signal Detection, Second Edition provides an elementary introduction to the theory of statistical testing of hypotheses that is related to the detection of signals in radar and communications technology. This book presents a comprehensive survey of digital communication systems. Organized into 11 chapters, this edition begins with an overview of the theory of signal detection and the typical detection problem. This text then examines the goals of the detection system, which are defined through an analogy with the testing of statistical hypotheses. Other chapters consider

  9. A standard for test reliability in group research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ellis, Jules L

    2013-03-01

    Many authors adhere to the rule that test reliabilities should be at least .70 or .80 in group research. This article introduces a new standard according to which reliabilities can be evaluated. This standard is based on the costs or time of the experiment and of administering the test. For example, if test administration costs are 7 % of the total experimental costs, the efficient value of the reliability is .93. If the actual reliability of a test is equal to this efficient reliability, the test size maximizes the statistical power of the experiment, given the costs. As a standard in experimental research, it is proposed that the reliability of the dependent variable be close to the efficient reliability. Adhering to this standard will enhance the statistical power and reduce the costs of experiments.

  10. Chi-square tests for comparing weighted histograms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gagunashvili, N.D.

    2010-01-01

    Weighted histograms in Monte Carlo simulations are often used for the estimation of probability density functions. They are obtained as a result of random experiments with random events that have weights. In this paper, the bin contents of a weighted histogram are considered as a sum of random variables with a random number of terms. Generalizations of the classical chi-square test for comparing weighted histograms are proposed. Numerical examples illustrate an application of the tests for the histograms with different statistics of events and different weighted functions. The proposed tests can be used for the comparison of experimental data histograms with simulated data histograms as well as for the two simulated data histograms.

  11. Statistical theory of breakup reactions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bertulani, Carlos A.; Descouvemont, Pierre; Hussein, Mahir S.

    2014-01-01

    We propose an alternative for Coupled-Channels calculations with loosely bound exotic nuclei (CDCC), based on the the Random Matrix Model of the statistical theory of nuclear reactions. The coupled channels equations are divided into two sets. The first set, described by the CDCC, and the other set treated with RMT. The resulting theory is a Statistical CDCC (CDCC s ), able in principle to take into account many pseudo channels. (author)

  12. Proposed hybrid-classifier ensemble algorithm to map snow cover area

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nijhawan, Rahul; Raman, Balasubramanian; Das, Josodhir

    2018-01-01

    Metaclassification ensemble approach is known to improve the prediction performance of snow-covered area. The methodology adopted in this case is based on neural network along with four state-of-art machine learning algorithms: support vector machine, artificial neural networks, spectral angle mapper, K-mean clustering, and a snow index: normalized difference snow index. An AdaBoost ensemble algorithm related to decision tree for snow-cover mapping is also proposed. According to available literature, these methods have been rarely used for snow-cover mapping. Employing the above techniques, a study was conducted for Raktavarn and Chaturangi Bamak glaciers, Uttarakhand, Himalaya using multispectral Landsat 7 ETM+ (enhanced thematic mapper) image. The study also compares the results with those obtained from statistical combination methods (majority rule and belief functions) and accuracies of individual classifiers. Accuracy assessment is performed by computing the quantity and allocation disagreement, analyzing statistic measures (accuracy, precision, specificity, AUC, and sensitivity) and receiver operating characteristic curves. A total of 225 combinations of parameters for individual classifiers were trained and tested on the dataset and results were compared with the proposed approach. It was observed that the proposed methodology produced the highest classification accuracy (95.21%), close to (94.01%) that was produced by the proposed AdaBoost ensemble algorithm. From the sets of observations, it was concluded that the ensemble of classifiers produced better results compared to individual classifiers.

  13. A Statistical Approach to Optimizing Concrete Mixture Design

    OpenAIRE

    Ahmad, Shamsad; Alghamdi, Saeid A.

    2014-01-01

    A step-by-step statistical approach is proposed to obtain optimum proportioning of concrete mixtures using the data obtained through a statistically planned experimental program. The utility of the proposed approach for optimizing the design of concrete mixture is illustrated considering a typical case in which trial mixtures were considered according to a full factorial experiment design involving three factors and their three levels (33). A total of 27 concrete mixtures with three replicate...

  14. Ice Water Classification Using Statistical Distribution Based Conditional Random Fields in RADARSAT-2 Dual Polarization Imagery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Y.; Li, F.; Zhang, S.; Hao, W.; Zhu, T.; Yuan, L.; Xiao, F.

    2017-09-01

    In this paper, Statistical Distribution based Conditional Random Fields (STA-CRF) algorithm is exploited for improving marginal ice-water classification. Pixel level ice concentration is presented as the comparison of methods based on CRF. Furthermore, in order to explore the effective statistical distribution model to be integrated into STA-CRF, five statistical distribution models are investigated. The STA-CRF methods are tested on 2 scenes around Prydz Bay and Adélie Depression, where contain a variety of ice types during melt season. Experimental results indicate that the proposed method can resolve sea ice edge well in Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ) and show a robust distinction of ice and water.

  15. The semi-empirical low-level background statistics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tran Manh Toan; Nguyen Trieu Tu

    1992-01-01

    A semi-empirical low-level background statistics was proposed. The one can be applied to evaluated the sensitivity of low background systems, and to analyse the statistical error, the 'Rejection' and 'Accordance' criteria for processing of low-level experimental data. (author). 5 refs, 1 figs

  16. Statistics for experimentalists

    CERN Document Server

    Cooper, B E

    2014-01-01

    Statistics for Experimentalists aims to provide experimental scientists with a working knowledge of statistical methods and search approaches to the analysis of data. The book first elaborates on probability and continuous probability distributions. Discussions focus on properties of continuous random variables and normal variables, independence of two random variables, central moments of a continuous distribution, prediction from a normal distribution, binomial probabilities, and multiplication of probabilities and independence. The text then examines estimation and tests of significance. Topics include estimators and estimates, expected values, minimum variance linear unbiased estimators, sufficient estimators, methods of maximum likelihood and least squares, and the test of significance method. The manuscript ponders on distribution-free tests, Poisson process and counting problems, correlation and function fitting, balanced incomplete randomized block designs and the analysis of covariance, and experiment...

  17. Public health information and statistics dissemination efforts for Indonesia on the Internet.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanani, Febiana; Kobayashi, Takashi; Jo, Eitetsu; Nakajima, Sawako; Oyama, Hiroshi

    2011-01-01

    To elucidate current issues related to health statistics dissemination efforts on the Internet in Indonesia and to propose a new dissemination website as a solution. A cross-sectional survey was conducted. Sources of statistics were identified using link relationship and Google™ search. Menu used to locate statistics, mode of presentation and means of access to statistics, and available statistics were assessed for each site. Assessment results were used to derive design specification; a prototype system was developed and evaluated with usability test. 49 sources were identified on 18 governmental, 8 international and 5 non-government websites. Of 49 menus identified, 33% used non-intuitive titles and lead to inefficient search. 69% of them were on government websites. Of 31 websites, only 39% and 23% used graph/chart and map for presentation. Further, only 32%, 39% and 19% provided query, export and print feature. While >50% sources reported morbidity, risk factor and service provision statistics, disseminate statistics in Indonesia are supported by non-governmental and international organizations and existing their information may not be very useful because it is: a) not widely distributed, b) difficult to locate, and c) not effectively communicated. Actions are needed to ensure information usability, and one of such actions is the development of statistics portal website.

  18. 77 FR 4277 - Proposed Data Sharing Activity

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-27

    ... proposes to share business data for statistical purposes. More specifically, the Census Bureau will share selected business data of multi-location businesses with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the....S.C. 402 allow the Census Bureau to share business data for statistical purposes with the BLS...

  19. Quality of reporting statistics in two Indian pharmacology journals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jaykaran; Yadav, Preeti

    2011-04-01

    To evaluate the reporting of the statistical methods in articles published in two Indian pharmacology journals. All original articles published since 2002 were downloaded from the journals' (Indian Journal of Pharmacology (IJP) and Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology (IJPP)) website. These articles were evaluated on the basis of appropriateness of descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics was evaluated on the basis of reporting of method of description and central tendencies. Inferential statistics was evaluated on the basis of fulfilling of assumption of statistical methods and appropriateness of statistical tests. Values are described as frequencies, percentage, and 95% confidence interval (CI) around the percentages. Inappropriate descriptive statistics was observed in 150 (78.1%, 95% CI 71.7-83.3%) articles. Most common reason for this inappropriate descriptive statistics was use of mean ± SEM at the place of "mean (SD)" or "mean ± SD." Most common statistical method used was one-way ANOVA (58.4%). Information regarding checking of assumption of statistical test was mentioned in only two articles. Inappropriate statistical test was observed in 61 (31.7%, 95% CI 25.6-38.6%) articles. Most common reason for inappropriate statistical test was the use of two group test for three or more groups. Articles published in two Indian pharmacology journals are not devoid of statistical errors.

  20. Semi-Nonparametric Estimation and Misspecification Testing of Diffusion Models

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kristensen, Dennis

    of the estimators and tests under the null are derived, and the power properties are analyzed by considering contiguous alternatives. Test directly comparing the drift and diffusion estimators under the relevant null and alternative are also analyzed. Markov Bootstrap versions of the test statistics are proposed...... to improve on the finite-sample approximations. The finite sample properties of the estimators are examined in a simulation study....

  1. Morphological representation of order-statistics filters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Charif-Chefchaouni, M; Schonfeld, D

    1995-01-01

    We propose a comprehensive theory for the morphological bounds on order-statistics filters (and their repeated iterations). Conditions are derived for morphological openings and closings to serve as bounds (lower and upper, respectively) on order-statistics filters (and their repeated iterations). Under various assumptions, morphological open-closings and close-openings are also shown to serve as (tighter) bounds (lower and upper, respectively) on iterations of order-statistics filters. Simulations of the application of the results presented to image restoration are finally provided.

  2. Proposed Testing to Assess the Accuracy of Glass-To-Metal Seal Stress Analyses.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chambers, Robert S.; Emery, John M; Tandon, Rajan; Antoun, Bonnie R.; Stavig, Mark E.; Newton, Clay S.; Gibson, Cory S; Bencoe, Denise N.

    2014-09-01

    The material characterization tests conducted on 304L VAR stainless steel and Schott 8061 glass have provided higher fidelity data for calibration of material models used in Glass - T o - Metal (GTM) seal analyses. Specifically, a Thermo - Multi - Linear Elastic Plastic ( thermo - MLEP) material model has be en defined for S S304L and the Simplified Potential Energy Clock nonlinear visc oelastic model has been calibrated for the S8061 glass. To assess the accuracy of finite element stress analyses of GTM seals, a suite of tests are proposed to provide data for comparison to mo del predictions.

  3. Statistical Tests for Mixed Linear Models

    CERN Document Server

    Khuri, André I; Sinha, Bimal K

    2011-01-01

    An advanced discussion of linear models with mixed or random effects. In recent years a breakthrough has occurred in our ability to draw inferences from exact and optimum tests of variance component models, generating much research activity that relies on linear models with mixed and random effects. This volume covers the most important research of the past decade as well as the latest developments in hypothesis testing. It compiles all currently available results in the area of exact and optimum tests for variance component models and offers the only comprehensive treatment for these models a

  4. A Kolmogorov-Smirnov Based Test for Comparing the Predictive Accuracy of Two Sets of Forecasts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hossein Hassani

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available This paper introduces a complement statistical test for distinguishing between the predictive accuracy of two sets of forecasts. We propose a non-parametric test founded upon the principles of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS test, referred to as the KS Predictive Accuracy (KSPA test. The KSPA test is able to serve two distinct purposes. Initially, the test seeks to determine whether there exists a statistically significant difference between the distribution of forecast errors, and secondly it exploits the principles of stochastic dominance to determine whether the forecasts with the lower error also reports a stochastically smaller error than forecasts from a competing model, and thereby enables distinguishing between the predictive accuracy of forecasts. We perform a simulation study for the size and power of the proposed test and report the results for different noise distributions, sample sizes and forecasting horizons. The simulation results indicate that the KSPA test is correctly sized, and robust in the face of varying forecasting horizons and sample sizes along with significant accuracy gains reported especially in the case of small sample sizes. Real world applications are also considered to illustrate the applicability of the proposed KSPA test in practice.

  5. An R2 statistic for fixed effects in the linear mixed model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edwards, Lloyd J; Muller, Keith E; Wolfinger, Russell D; Qaqish, Bahjat F; Schabenberger, Oliver

    2008-12-20

    Statisticians most often use the linear mixed model to analyze Gaussian longitudinal data. The value and familiarity of the R(2) statistic in the linear univariate model naturally creates great interest in extending it to the linear mixed model. We define and describe how to compute a model R(2) statistic for the linear mixed model by using only a single model. The proposed R(2) statistic measures multivariate association between the repeated outcomes and the fixed effects in the linear mixed model. The R(2) statistic arises as a 1-1 function of an appropriate F statistic for testing all fixed effects (except typically the intercept) in a full model. The statistic compares the full model with a null model with all fixed effects deleted (except typically the intercept) while retaining exactly the same covariance structure. Furthermore, the R(2) statistic leads immediately to a natural definition of a partial R(2) statistic. A mixed model in which ethnicity gives a very small p-value as a longitudinal predictor of blood pressure (BP) compellingly illustrates the value of the statistic. In sharp contrast to the extreme p-value, a very small R(2) , a measure of statistical and scientific importance, indicates that ethnicity has an almost negligible association with the repeated BP outcomes for the study.

  6. A robust TDT-type association test under informative parental missingness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, J H; Cheng, K F

    2011-02-10

    Many family-based association tests rely on the random transmission of alleles from parents to offspring. Among them, the transmission/disequilibrium test (TDT) may be considered to be the most popular statistical test. The TDT statistic and its variations were proposed to evaluate nonrandom transmission of alleles from parents to the diseased children. However, in family studies, parental genotypes may be missing due to parental death, loss, divorce, or other reasons. Under some missingness conditions, nonrandom transmission of alleles may still occur even when the gene and disease are not associated. As a consequence, the usual TDT-type tests would produce excessive false positive conclusions in association studies. In this paper, we propose a novel TDT-type association test which is not only simple in computation but also robust to the joint effect of population stratification and informative parental missingness. Our test is model-free and allows for different mechanisms of parental missingness across subpopulations. We use a simulation study to compare the performance of the new test with TDT and point out the advantage of the new method. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  7. Do infants retain the statistics of a statistical learning experience? Insights from a developmental cognitive neuroscience perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gómez, Rebecca L

    2017-01-05

    Statistical structure abounds in language. Human infants show a striking capacity for using statistical learning (SL) to extract regularities in their linguistic environments, a process thought to bootstrap their knowledge of language. Critically, studies of SL test infants in the minutes immediately following familiarization, but long-term retention unfolds over hours and days, with almost no work investigating retention of SL. This creates a critical gap in the literature given that we know little about how single or multiple SL experiences translate into permanent knowledge. Furthermore, different memory systems with vastly different encoding and retention profiles emerge at different points in development, with the underlying memory system dictating the fidelity of the memory trace hours later. I describe the scant literature on retention of SL, the learning and retention properties of memory systems as they apply to SL, and the development of these memory systems. I propose that different memory systems support retention of SL in infant and adult learners, suggesting an explanation for the slow pace of natural language acquisition in infancy. I discuss the implications of developing memory systems for SL and suggest that we exercise caution in extrapolating from adult to infant properties of SL.This article is part of the themed issue 'New frontiers for statistical learning in the cognitive sciences'. © 2016 The Author(s).

  8. Statistical method for resolving the photon-photoelectron-counting inversion problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu Jinlong; Li Tiejun; Peng, Xiang; Guo Hong

    2011-01-01

    A statistical inversion method is proposed for the photon-photoelectron-counting statistics in quantum key distribution experiment. With the statistical viewpoint, this problem is equivalent to the parameter estimation for an infinite binomial mixture model. The coarse-graining idea and Bayesian methods are applied to deal with this ill-posed problem, which is a good simple example to show the successful application of the statistical methods to the inverse problem. Numerical results show the applicability of the proposed strategy. The coarse-graining idea for the infinite mixture models should be general to be used in the future.

  9. A Systematic Review of Statistical Methods Used to Test for Reliability of Medical Instruments Measuring Continuous Variables

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rafdzah Zaki

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available   Objective(s: Reliability measures precision or the extent to which test results can be replicated. This is the first ever systematic review to identify statistical methods used to measure reliability of equipment measuring continuous variables. This studyalso aims to highlight the inappropriate statistical method used in the reliability analysis and its implication in the medical practice.   Materials and Methods: In 2010, five electronic databases were searched between 2007 and 2009 to look for reliability studies. A total of 5,795 titles were initially identified. Only 282 titles were potentially related, and finally 42 fitted the inclusion criteria. Results: The Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC is the most popular method with 25 (60% studies having used this method followed by the comparing means (8 or 19%. Out of 25 studies using the ICC, only 7 (28% reported the confidence intervals and types of ICC used. Most studies (71% also tested the agreement of instruments. Conclusion: This study finds that the Intra-class Correlation Coefficient is the most popular method used to assess the reliability of medical instruments measuring continuous outcomes. There are also inappropriate applications and interpretations of statistical methods in some studies. It is important for medical researchers to be aware of this issue, and be able to correctly perform analysis in reliability studies.

  10. [Statistical approach to evaluate the occurrence of out-of acceptable ranges and accuracy for antimicrobial susceptibility tests in inter-laboratory quality control program].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ueno, Tamio; Matuda, Junichi; Yamane, Nobuhisa

    2013-03-01

    To evaluate the occurrence of out-of acceptable ranges and accuracy of antimicrobial susceptibility tests, we applied a new statistical tool to the Inter-Laboratory Quality Control Program established by the Kyushu Quality Control Research Group. First, we defined acceptable ranges of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for broth microdilution tests and inhibitory zone diameter for disk diffusion tests on the basis of Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) M100-S21. In the analysis, more than two out-of acceptable range results in the 20 tests were considered as not allowable according to the CLSI document. Of the 90 participating laboratories, 46 (51%) experienced one or more occurrences of out-of acceptable range results. Then, a binomial test was applied to each participating laboratory. The results indicated that the occurrences of out-of acceptable range results in the 11 laboratories were significantly higher when compared to the CLSI recommendation (allowable rate laboratory was statistically compared with zero using a Student's t-test. The results revealed that 5 of the 11 above laboratories reported erroneous test results that systematically drifted to the side of resistance. In conclusion, our statistical approach has enabled us to detect significantly higher occurrences and source of interpretive errors in antimicrobial susceptibility tests; therefore, this approach can provide us with additional information that can improve the accuracy of the test results in clinical microbiology laboratories.

  11. A knowledge-based T2-statistic to perform pathway analysis for quantitative proteomic data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lai, En-Yu; Chen, Yi-Hau; Wu, Kun-Pin

    2017-06-01

    Approaches to identify significant pathways from high-throughput quantitative data have been developed in recent years. Still, the analysis of proteomic data stays difficult because of limited sample size. This limitation also leads to the practice of using a competitive null as common approach; which fundamentally implies genes or proteins as independent units. The independent assumption ignores the associations among biomolecules with similar functions or cellular localization, as well as the interactions among them manifested as changes in expression ratios. Consequently, these methods often underestimate the associations among biomolecules and cause false positives in practice. Some studies incorporate the sample covariance matrix into the calculation to address this issue. However, sample covariance may not be a precise estimation if the sample size is very limited, which is usually the case for the data produced by mass spectrometry. In this study, we introduce a multivariate test under a self-contained null to perform pathway analysis for quantitative proteomic data. The covariance matrix used in the test statistic is constructed by the confidence scores retrieved from the STRING database or the HitPredict database. We also design an integrating procedure to retain pathways of sufficient evidence as a pathway group. The performance of the proposed T2-statistic is demonstrated using five published experimental datasets: the T-cell activation, the cAMP/PKA signaling, the myoblast differentiation, and the effect of dasatinib on the BCR-ABL pathway are proteomic datasets produced by mass spectrometry; and the protective effect of myocilin via the MAPK signaling pathway is a gene expression dataset of limited sample size. Compared with other popular statistics, the proposed T2-statistic yields more accurate descriptions in agreement with the discussion of the original publication. We implemented the T2-statistic into an R package T2GA, which is available at https

  12. Statistical theory of breakup reactions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bertulani, Carlos A., E-mail: carlos.bertulani@tamuc.edu [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A and M University-Commerce, Commerce, TX (United States); Descouvemont, Pierre, E-mail: pdesc@ulb.ac.be [Physique Nucleaire Theorique et Physique Mathematique, Universite Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels (Belgium); Hussein, Mahir S., E-mail: hussein@if.usp.br [Universidade de Sao Paulo (USP), Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil). Instituto de Estudos Avancados

    2014-07-01

    We propose an alternative for Coupled-Channels calculations with loosely bound exotic nuclei (CDCC), based on the the Random Matrix Model of the statistical theory of nuclear reactions. The coupled channels equations are divided into two sets. The first set, described by the CDCC, and the other set treated with RMT. The resulting theory is a Statistical CDCC (CDCC{sub s}), able in principle to take into account many pseudo channels. (author)

  13. Highly adaptive tests for group differences in brain functional connectivity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Junghi Kim

    2015-01-01

    The proposed tests combine statistical evidence against a null hypothesis from multiple sources across a range of plausible tuning parameter values reflecting uncertainty with the unknown truth. These highly adaptive tests are not only easy to use, but also high-powered robustly across various scenarios. The usage and advantages of these novel tests are demonstrated on an Alzheimer's disease dataset and simulated data.

  14. New methods of testing nonlinear hypothesis using iterative NLLS estimator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahaboob, B.; Venkateswarlu, B.; Mokeshrayalu, G.; Balasiddamuni, P.

    2017-11-01

    This research paper discusses the method of testing nonlinear hypothesis using iterative Nonlinear Least Squares (NLLS) estimator. Takeshi Amemiya [1] explained this method. However in the present research paper, a modified Wald test statistic due to Engle, Robert [6] is proposed to test the nonlinear hypothesis using iterative NLLS estimator. An alternative method for testing nonlinear hypothesis using iterative NLLS estimator based on nonlinear hypothesis using iterative NLLS estimator based on nonlinear studentized residuals has been proposed. In this research article an innovative method of testing nonlinear hypothesis using iterative restricted NLLS estimator is derived. Pesaran and Deaton [10] explained the methods of testing nonlinear hypothesis. This paper uses asymptotic properties of nonlinear least squares estimator proposed by Jenrich [8]. The main purpose of this paper is to provide very innovative methods of testing nonlinear hypothesis using iterative NLLS estimator, iterative NLLS estimator based on nonlinear studentized residuals and iterative restricted NLLS estimator. Eakambaram et al. [12] discussed least absolute deviation estimations versus nonlinear regression model with heteroscedastic errors and also they studied the problem of heteroscedasticity with reference to nonlinear regression models with suitable illustration. William Grene [13] examined the interaction effect in nonlinear models disused by Ai and Norton [14] and suggested ways to examine the effects that do not involve statistical testing. Peter [15] provided guidelines for identifying composite hypothesis and addressing the probability of false rejection for multiple hypotheses.

  15. The joint space-time statistics of macroweather precipitation, space-time statistical factorization and macroweather models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lovejoy, S.; Lima, M. I. P. de

    2015-01-01

    Over the range of time scales from about 10 days to 30–100 years, in addition to the familiar weather and climate regimes, there is an intermediate “macroweather” regime characterized by negative temporal fluctuation exponents: implying that fluctuations tend to cancel each other out so that averages tend to converge. We show theoretically and numerically that macroweather precipitation can be modeled by a stochastic weather-climate model (the Climate Extended Fractionally Integrated Flux, model, CEFIF) first proposed for macroweather temperatures and we show numerically that a four parameter space-time CEFIF model can approximately reproduce eight or so empirical space-time exponents. In spite of this success, CEFIF is theoretically and numerically difficult to manage. We therefore propose a simplified stochastic model in which the temporal behavior is modeled as a fractional Gaussian noise but the spatial behaviour as a multifractal (climate) cascade: a spatial extension of the recently introduced ScaLIng Macroweather Model, SLIMM. Both the CEFIF and this spatial SLIMM model have a property often implicitly assumed by climatologists that climate statistics can be “homogenized” by normalizing them with the standard deviation of the anomalies. Physically, it means that the spatial macroweather variability corresponds to different climate zones that multiplicatively modulate the local, temporal statistics. This simplified macroweather model provides a framework for macroweather forecasting that exploits the system's long range memory and spatial correlations; for it, the forecasting problem has been solved. We test this factorization property and the model with the help of three centennial, global scale precipitation products that we analyze jointly in space and in time

  16. IEEE Std 101-1972: IEEE guide for the statistical analysis of thermal life test data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1992-01-01

    Procedures for estimating the thermal life of electrical insulation systems and materials call for life tests at several temperatures, usually well above the expected normal operating temperature. By the selection of high temperatures for the tests, life of the insulation samples will be terminated, according to some selected failure criterion or criteria, within relatively short times -- typically one week to one year. The result of these thermally accelerated life tests will be a set of data of life values for a corresponding set of temperatures. Usually the data consist of a set of life values for each of two to four (occasionally more) test temperatures, 10 C to 25 C apart. The objective then is to establish from these data the mean life vales at each temperature and the functional dependence of life on temperature, as well as the statistical consistency and the confidence to be attributed to the mean life values and the functional life temperature dependence. The purpose of this guide is to assist in this objective and to give guidance for comparing the results of tests on different materials and of different tests on the same materials

  17. A Generalized Kruskal-Wallis Test Incorporating Group Uncertainty with Application to Genetic Association Studies

    OpenAIRE

    Acar, Elif F.; Sun, Lei

    2012-01-01

    Motivated by genetic association studies of SNPs with genotype uncertainty, we propose a generalization of the Kruskal-Wallis test that incorporates group uncertainty when comparing k samples. The extended test statistic is based on probability-weighted rank-sums and follows an asymptotic chi-square distribution with k-1 degrees of freedom under the null hypothesis. Simulation studies confirm the validity and robustness of the proposed test in finite samples. Application to a genome-wide asso...

  18. Analyzing Statistical Mediation with Multiple Informants: A New Approach with an Application in Clinical Psychology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Papa, Lesther A; Litson, Kaylee; Lockhart, Ginger; Chassin, Laurie; Geiser, Christian

    2015-01-01

    Testing mediation models is critical for identifying potential variables that need to be targeted to effectively change one or more outcome variables. In addition, it is now common practice for clinicians to use multiple informant (MI) data in studies of statistical mediation. By coupling the use of MI data with statistical mediation analysis, clinical researchers can combine the benefits of both techniques. Integrating the information from MIs into a statistical mediation model creates various methodological and practical challenges. The authors review prior methodological approaches to MI mediation analysis in clinical research and propose a new latent variable approach that overcomes some limitations of prior approaches. An application of the new approach to mother, father, and child reports of impulsivity, frustration tolerance, and externalizing problems (N = 454) is presented. The results showed that frustration tolerance mediated the relationship between impulsivity and externalizing problems. The new approach allows for a more comprehensive and effective use of MI data when testing mediation models.

  19. FADTTSter: accelerating hypothesis testing with functional analysis of diffusion tensor tract statistics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noel, Jean; Prieto, Juan C.; Styner, Martin

    2017-03-01

    Functional Analysis of Diffusion Tensor Tract Statistics (FADTTS) is a toolbox for analysis of white matter (WM) fiber tracts. It allows associating diffusion properties along major WM bundles with a set of covariates of interest, such as age, diagnostic status and gender, and the structure of the variability of these WM tract properties. However, to use this toolbox, a user must have an intermediate knowledge in scripting languages (MATLAB). FADTTSter was created to overcome this issue and make the statistical analysis accessible to any non-technical researcher. FADTTSter is actively being used by researchers at the University of North Carolina. FADTTSter guides non-technical users through a series of steps including quality control of subjects and fibers in order to setup the necessary parameters to run FADTTS. Additionally, FADTTSter implements interactive charts for FADTTS' outputs. This interactive chart enhances the researcher experience and facilitates the analysis of the results. FADTTSter's motivation is to improve usability and provide a new analysis tool to the community that complements FADTTS. Ultimately, by enabling FADTTS to a broader audience, FADTTSter seeks to accelerate hypothesis testing in neuroimaging studies involving heterogeneous clinical data and diffusion tensor imaging. This work is submitted to the Biomedical Applications in Molecular, Structural, and Functional Imaging conference. The source code of this application is available in NITRC.

  20. A more powerful test based on ratio distribution for retention noninferiority hypothesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deng, Ling; Chen, Gang

    2013-03-11

    Rothmann et al. ( 2003 ) proposed a method for the statistical inference of fraction retention noninferiority (NI) hypothesis. A fraction retention hypothesis is defined as a ratio of the new treatment effect verse the control effect in the context of a time to event endpoint. One of the major concerns using this method in the design of an NI trial is that with a limited sample size, the power of the study is usually very low. This makes an NI trial not applicable particularly when using time to event endpoint. To improve power, Wang et al. ( 2006 ) proposed a ratio test based on asymptotic normality theory. Under a strong assumption (equal variance of the NI test statistic under null and alternative hypotheses), the sample size using Wang's test was much smaller than that using Rothmann's test. However, in practice, the assumption of equal variance is generally questionable for an NI trial design. This assumption is removed in the ratio test proposed in this article, which is derived directly from a Cauchy-like ratio distribution. In addition, using this method, the fundamental assumption used in Rothmann's test, that the observed control effect is always positive, that is, the observed hazard ratio for placebo over the control is greater than 1, is no longer necessary. Without assuming equal variance under null and alternative hypotheses, the sample size required for an NI trial can be significantly reduced if using the proposed ratio test for a fraction retention NI hypothesis.