Multivariate Statistical Tests Research Articles

Prediction and classification of chemical composition of ancient glass objects based on generalized Shapley functions.

Ancient glass products have suffered from the baptism of time and experienced changes in the burial environment and weathering, resulting in a change in the proportions of their chemical composition and interfering with their accurate identification by later generations. In this paper, the chemical composition of ancient glass products is predicted and identified. First, the multivariate statistical ANOVA test is applied to explore the relationship between whether the cultural relics samples are weathered or not and the glass type, decoration, and color to derive a law of chemical composition of the cultural relics and to analyze the correlation and difference among the four factors. Second, compared with the relevant data of the existing glass products, the missing values are processed by using the method of filling in the plurality. The weathering condition of the sampling points of the samples whose surfaces are not weathered is judged by the "distance discrimination method." Combined with the characteristics of the lead-barium glass and the high-potassium glass, the law of the chemical composition content on the surface of the samples, weathered or not, is explored. The modeling of the gray prediction method was applied again to predict the chemical composition content before weathering. Finally, the generalized Shapley function of fuzzy measurement was used to analyze the correlation between indicators and the chemical compositions and their differences. The scheme proposed in this paper can solve the difficult problem of category judgment in archeology, which is of great significance in promoting the smooth progress of archaeological work.

Teaching strategies, cognitive factors and mathematics

Mathematics teaching strategies have a positive impact on learning. However, there is a lack of studies on non-traditional approaches to early mathematics education in the specialized scientific literature. In this theoretical framework, a study to connect teaching methodology with the various cognitive processes implicated in learning has been designed. A total of 114 primary school students aged 74 and 84 months who were taught mathematics either with the method called Open Algorithm Based on Numbers or with the more traditional Closed Algorithm Based on Ciphers, participated in the study. After conducting a thorough examination of cognitive processes and early math performance using well-established assessment instruments, a comparative analysis was undertaken to explore the relationship between cognitive predictors of mathematical performance, while considering the mathematics teaching strategies used. Students were distributed according to their level of mathematical competence and teaching methodology and the type of schools (Charter or Public). The results from the multivariate statistical test showed that the teaching strategy was inconclusive for most of the cognitive factors studied. Significant differences according to mathematical performance were found for fluid intelligence, verbal short-term memory, and visuospatial working memory. Finally, no significant differences were found in the cognitive variables studied when considering the interaction between the teaching approach, school characteristics, and mathematical achievement as a reference.

Is infertility more common among patients with multiple sclerosis? Implications to assisted reproductive techniques utilization

Research QuestionTo evaluate whether fertility is affected, and the usage of assisted reproductive treatment (ART), among women with multiple sclerosis (MS). DesignData regarding MS and ART usage among patients with multiple sclerosis was extracted from the Israeli HMO - Clalit Health Service database. Data regarding diagnosis and treatment of MS, cause of infertility and fertility treatments usage were collected for all female MS patients aged 18-45 between the years 2005-2020. Each MS patient was matched by age 1:10 with reference women from the general population. The prevalence of infertility was compared between the two groups. Univariate and multivariate statistical tests were used to analyze the association between MS and fertility treatments including in vitro fertilization (IVF) and controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH). ResultsDuring the study period, 1309 MS patients were compared to 13,090 controls from the general population matched for age. Mean age was 29 (±7.8 SD) years old. The overall prevalence of infertility was 15.4% (202/1309) among MS patients, similar to the general population 16.3% (2129/13090) p=0.939. The prevalence of both IVF and COH were similar among MS patients and matched controls from the general population (8.1% vs 7.2% p=0.427, 13.8% vs 14.3% p=0.624 accordingly). ConclusionsOur results show similar rate of infertility and fertility treatments among MS patients and the general population. The results of this study provide reassurance that fertility among women with MS do not differ from the general women population, and indicate no excessive assisted reproductive technology utilization.

Prevalence of bifidity of the seventh cervical vertebral spinous process in southwestern Nigeria: a computed tomography based study

Palpation of the seventh cervical vertebra (C7) is an important landmark for counting vertebrae for vertebral spine surgical instrumentation. However, studies have shown that the spinous process of C7 displays an anatomical deviation among individuals, which may mislead a surgeon who is not aware of this, and there have been no such studies among southwest Nigerians. The present study aimed to examine the incidence of bifidity in the C7 spinous process and their variation among 48 subjects with the aid of a three-dimensional (3D) computed tomography. The 48 subjects who had undergone cervical spine computed tomography studies comprised the pooled data of ages between 12 and 55 years of black race in southwest Nigeria from the radiology department of the Trauma and Surgical Centre, Ondo State, Nigeria. A series of multivariate and discriminant statistical tests were performed on the measurement data to determine the occurrence of bifid spinous processes at C7 in southwestern Nigeria. The results show about 10% bifidity in the C-7 vertebra and no bifidity in the first cervical vertebra and the highest rate in the C-6 vertebra in the study population. The incidence in this study is significantly higher than findings in previous works. Thus, there is a need for clinicians to pay more attention to this variation when using C7 as a landmark especially in the studied population.

Wounded Animals and Where to Find Them. The Symbolism of Hunting in Palaeolithic Art

Representations of wounded animals and humans in European Upper Palaeolithic art have traditionally been conceived as figures related to the hunting activities of hunter-gatherer societies. In this paper, we propose an analysis of Franco-Cantabrian figurative representations showing signs of violence between 35,000 and 13,000 cal. bp to qualify the interpretations of hunting and death in Palaeolithic art. To this end, both multivariate statistical analyses and hypothesis tests have been used to highlight the formal, thematic, chronological and regional similarities and differences in these types of artistic representations. The results show that wounded graphic units are mythograms coded by different variables that do not seem to reflect the actual hunting of the animal, but rather a more complex meaning. It was also discovered that, in early times, the artist preferred to wound secondary or less frequent animals, like deer. This changed in more recent times, when the main animals, such as bison, are wounded under greater normativity and homogeneity in the Pyrenees or the Cantabrian region.

How Socio-economic Inequalities Cluster People with Diabetes in Malaysia: Geographic Evaluation of Area Disparities Using a Non-parameterized Unsupervised Learning Method

Accurate assessments of epidemiological associations between health outcomes and routinely observed proximal and distal determinants of health are fundamental for the execution of effective public health interventions and policies. Methods to couple big public health data with modern statistical techniques offer greater granularity for describing and understanding data quality, disease distributions, and potential predictive connections between population-level indicators with areal-based health outcomes. This study applied clustering techniques to explore patterns of diabetes burden correlated with local socio-economic inequalities in Malaysia, with a goal of better understanding the factors influencing the collation of these clusters. Through multi-modal secondary data sources, district-wise diabetes crude rates from 271,553 individuals with diabetes sampled from 914 primary care clinics throughout Malaysia were computed. Unsupervised machine learning methods using hierarchical clustering to a set of 144 administrative districts was applied. Differences in characteristics of the areas were evaluated using multivariate non-parametric test statistics. Five statistically significant clusters were identified, each reflecting different levels of diabetes burden at the local level, each with contrasting patterns observed under the influence of population-level characteristics. The hierarchical clustering analysis that grouped local diabetes areas with varying socio-economic, demographic, and geographic characteristics offer opportunities to local public health to implement targeted interventions in an attempt to control the local diabetes burden.

The role of adverse childhood experiences in predicting child abuse perpetration among married mothers in Alexandria, Egypt: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundAdverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are receiving increased amounts of attention as a critical public health issue. ACEs have a massive impact on future violence victimization and perpetration. They are also associated with lifelong mental and physical health consequences as well as premature mortality. The present study aimed to investigate the role of different ACEs among married mothers in predicting the risk of child abuse perpetration in offspring.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted on 350 mothers of children aged 2–12 years attending family health centres in Alexandria. The mothers completed a predesigned interview questionnaire on sociodemographic data and data related to ACEs, spousal violence, and child abuse perpetration. Suitable bivariate and multivariate statistical tests were used to analyse the collected data using version 20.0 of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).ResultsTwo-thirds of mothers (66.3%) reported ever having been exposed to any ACE, and 18.6% of them had experienced 3 or more ACEs. Psychological abuse (46%) and witnessing domestic violence (17%) were the most common. Psychological aggression (95.4%), minor physical assault (79%), and neglect (52%) were the most common forms of child abuse perpetrated by the mothers. The number of ACEs experienced by mothers showed a moderate positive significant correlation with the 5 forms of child abuse examined. Different ACEs, mother’s age, socioeconomic status, and current exposure to spousal violence were found to be independent predictors of different forms of child abuse (psychological aggression, neglect, minor physical assault, and severe physical assault).ConclusionDifferent practices of family violence are strongly connected throughout different stages of an individual’s life and across generations. Further understanding of the interconnections among forms of violence and addressing them should be prioritized. Additionally, concerted national strategies across all levels and sectors are needed to address this complex problem.

Spatial normalization for voxel-based lesion symptom mapping: impact of registration approaches.

Voxel-based lesion symptom mapping (VLSM) assesses the relation of lesion location at a voxel level with a specific clinical or functional outcome measure at a population level. Spatial normalization, that is, mapping the patient images into an atlas coordinate system, is an essential pre-processing step of VLSM. However, no consensus exists on the optimal registration approach to compute the transformation nor are downstream effects on VLSM statistics explored. In this work, we evaluate four registration approaches commonly used in VLSM pipelines: affine (AR), nonlinear (NLR), nonlinear with cost function masking (CFM), and enantiomorphic registration (ENR). The evaluation is based on a standard VLSM scenario: the analysis of statistical relations of brain voxels and regions in imaging data acquired early after stroke onset with follow-up modified Rankin Scale (mRS) values. Fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) MRI data from 122 acute ischemic stroke patients acquired between 2 and 3 days after stroke onset and corresponding lesion segmentations, and 30 days mRS values from a European multicenter stroke imaging study (I-KNOW) were available and used in this study. The relation of the voxel location with follow-up mRS was assessed by uni- as well as multi-variate statistical testing based on the lesion segmentations registered using the four different methods (AR, NLR, CFM, ENR; implementation based on the ANTs toolkit). The brain areas evaluated as important for follow-up mRS were largely consistent across the registration approaches. However, NLR, CFM, and ENR led to distortions in the patient images after the corresponding nonlinear transformations were applied. In addition, local structures (for instance the lateral ventricles) and adjacent brain areas remained insufficiently aligned with corresponding atlas structures even after nonlinear registration. For VLSM study designs and imaging data similar to the present work, an additional benefit of nonlinear registration variants for spatial normalization seems questionable. Related distortions in the normalized images lead to uncertainties in the VLSM analyses and may offset the theoretical benefits of nonlinear registration.

Musculoskeletal disorders among dental assistants: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundThis study aims to investigate the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and associated sociodemographic and work-related factors among dental assistants (DAs) in the hail province, Saudi Arabia.MethodsParticipants were 119 DAs with an average age of 28.9 years (SD ± 4.8 years), of whom 86.6% were females. A self-administered questionnaire which included Nordic Musculoskeletal questionnaire and questions on socio-demographic and work-related factors was used. Descriptive statistics were used to calculate the prevalence of MSDs during the past 12 months and 7 days. Multivariate binary logistic regression statistical tests were used to calculate the association between MSDs and socio-demographic and work-related factors.ResultsThe overall prevalence of MSDs among DAs was significantly high, with 85.7% reporting symptoms during the past 12 months and 47.9% during the past 7 days. The shoulders, followed by the lower back, were the most common complaints among participants in the past 12 months and 7 days, followed by the upper back and neck. Multivariate binary logistic regression analysis results show significant associations between MSDs and age, Body-Mass-Index (BMI), physical demands during working hours, work environment and posture awareness, and years of experience.ConclusionsThe prevalence of MSDs among DAs is high, and sociodemographic and work-related factors play an important role in exacerbation of MSDs in DAs.

Analisis Risiko Low Back Pain Selama Pembelajaran Daring Di Stikes Dona Palembang

The Corona Virus Disease (Covid-19) pandemic, the problems faced by various countries, is the main cause of education problems. In breaking the chain of transmission/spread of this virus, the Indonesian government has made various policies, one of which is about learning boldly. UNESCO (2020) implemented a national shutdown, leaving more than half of the world's students unable to go to school. This study aims to determine the risk analysis of Low Back Pain (LBP) in students during courageous learning at STIK Dona Palembang in 2022. It was carried out in May - June 2022. This study was quantitative with a cross sectional design, the population of this study was STIK Dona students. Palembang returned 90 samples. Data collection and retrieval using a questionnaire. The results of statistical analysis using Chi-Square statistical tests and logistic regression showed that there was a significant relationship (p value < 0.05) for the variable stretching during college (0.000), length of time in college (0.038), physical activity (0.000), length of time virtual meeting (0.005), and body position during lecture (0.000). There is no relationship between sex variables (0.323). From the results of multivariate statistical tests, it was found that the dominant risk factor for LBP in students who survived studying was body position when studying (p = 0.001; OR = 8.328). It is recommended for the academic community to socialize to students during learning to maintain body posture when conducting virtual meeting lectures to teach how to sit in an ergonomic position.

Asymptotic Bayes’ optimality under sparsity for exchangeable dependent multivariate normal test statistics

Here, we suggest a family of easy-to-implement multiple hypotheses testing rules that is asymptotically optimal for sparsely present alternatives when the tests are based on a vector of exchangeable and dependent test statistics jointly following a multivariate normal distribution.

First data on morphometric parameters of the European conger eel (Conger conger, Linnaeus, 1758) in Béni-saf Bay (Western Algerian coasts)

A biometric study was conducted on a benthic fish of the family Congridae, the European conger eel (Conger conger Linnaeus, 1758), from the western coasts of Algeria, from Béni-Saf. This study was carried out due to the total absence of reliable and exploitable information concerning the morphometric characteristics of this fish along the Algerian coast. It was based on statistical processing of 18 morphometric variables measured on each sampled fish. the comparison between months using univariate ANOVA and multivariate MANOVA statistical tests showed significant differences in morphometric variables measured on the European conger eel (Conger conger). However, regarding the sex factor, no significant differences were observed between males and females.

The general public's attitude towards accepting payment for kidney donation.

Kidney transplantation has become the most cost-effective treatment for patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) and offers them the highest quality of life. Yet, kidney donation is often inaccessible due to cultural and traditional beliefs about organ donation. The goal of our study is to assess the value of kidney donation using the Willingness to Accept (WTA) technique. We also aim to understand the factors influencing an individual's willingness to donate an organ. A self-administered survey was completed by 985 participants from the general public. The quantitative method and survey design that were chosen used descriptive, correlational, nonparametric, and multivariate statistical tests. Most of the respondents, 895 (90.9%) are not willing to donate a kidney while alive. Four hundred and five (41.1%) of the respondents are not willing to donate a kidney after their death, while the rest are willing to donate their kidney after their death without financial compensation. The same attitude applies to the donation of a kidney from their relatives. Significant predictors from the results of the logistic regression model in predicting the lowest (minimal) amount that will encourage donation of one kidney after death were: Marital status; Nationality; Adi card holder; Knowing people who need a kidney donation; confidence in the medical staff; and consideration of the family's opinions regarding organ donation. Using cost benefit analysis (CBA), with the aim of evaluating the willingness of individuals to accept payment for innovative medical procedures, such as kidney donation, allows an assessment of the perceived value of the medical procedure and enables policymakers to decide whether to allocate funds or offer subsidies for kidney donation, given the limited healthcare resources available. During our research, we found that most participants did not support the commercialization of organs. Our recommendation for policymakers and health professionals is to continue providing adequate funding for kidney donations and to implement educational programs aimed at improving attitudes towards organ donation.

Analysis of Convergent Validity of Performance-Based Activities of Daily Living Assessed by PA-IADL Test in Relation to Traditional (Standard) Cognitive Assessment to Identify Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Difficulty in performing instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) is currently considered an important indicator of cognitive impairment in the elderly. A non-experimental case-control investigation was conducted to assess the convergent validity of the PA-IADL with traditional (standard) cognitive assessment tests in its ability to identify adults with mild cognitive impairment. The analysis of the data was carried out by means of various multivariate statistical tests, and the sequence in its execution led to the conclusion that 8 of the 12 Tasks that make up the PA-IADL allow for the identification of people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to the same extent as traditional cognitive assessment tests and regardless of age. Age was found to be a moderating variable in the performance of the eight tasks; however, the results allow us to hypothesize that people with MCI experience a significant decline when it happens but thereafter, the deterioration that occurs does so at the same rate as the deterioration experienced by healthy people. They also allow us to hypothesize that the difference in the cognitive skills required by the eight functional tasks, and therefore also in the cognitive skills required by the traditional (standard) tests of a person with MCI compared to a person of the same age without MCI (Healthy), is approximately 10 years. These hypotheses have remarkable relevance and should be tested via longitudinal research. In the meantime, the results highlight the importance of the IADL assessment for the diagnosis of MCI as a complement to the standard cognitive assessment.

Knowledge and Access to Adolescent Reproductive Health Information in Indonesia

Background: According to research, Indonesia faces challenges as a result of a low level of knowledge of adolescent reproductive health (ARH) due to limited exposure to information media. Access to information and knowledge among adolescents influences their risky behaviors towards ARH. This quantitative and cross-sectional study aims to examine the relationship between ARH behaviors and access to information and knowledge among unmarried Indonesian adolescents aged between 10 and 24, both male and female. This study collected secondary data from the 2019 Program Performance and Accountability Survey (PPAS). The independent variables were access to information and knowledge about ARH, whereas the dependent variables were ARH behaviors. In addition, the confounding variables were adolescent characteristics (i.e., age, gender, and level of education) and family characteristics (i.e., social economy and location of residence).Method: The data were analyzed using a multivariate logistic regression statistical test. Results: The findings revealed a significant relationship between ARH behaviors and access to information about ARH from various information media (p-value = 0.001) as well as between ARH behaviors and knowledge of ARH (p-value = 0.001). The findings suggested that health promotion for ARH should be enhanced by providing access to information from various social media commonly used by adolescents, which can increase knowledge about ARH and influence adolescent behaviors toward good reproductive health.

Investigating the Relationship between General Health and Emotional Labor among Nurses in Public and Private Hospitals

Introduction: Emotional labor is known as one of the important components of work environments in which employees must use various strategies to manage and control emotions in interaction with clients. One of the important components affecting emotional labor is the general health of employees. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between general health and emotional labor among nurses in public and private hospitals of the country.
 Methods: The study data were collected through a cross-sectional survey method. The research population was 480 nurses from private and public hospitals of the whole country, who were selected by non-random sampling method. The analysis of research findings was done using SPSS 22 software using bivariate and multivariate statistical tests.
 Results: The results showed that the independent research variables, including insomnia, being under pressure, feeling of discomfort and depression, happiness and optimism, had a significant effect on the dependent variable. The variable of feeling of discomfort and depression with beta 0/178 and significance level of 0/002 had the greatest effect on the emotional labor variable. The results of the regression analysis showed that the independent variables explained 17% of the variance of the dependent variable.
 Conclusion: Improving and promoting the general health of nurses increases their skills in emotional labor, which helps them in forming successful human relationships and creating effective therapeutic relationships with patients. In this regard, it is suggested to take the necessary measures to maintain and improve the general health of nurses, such as regular examinations and consultations and holding numerous meetings to increase morale and work motivation and strengthen intellectual and value beliefs, using fun sports, cultural, and religious programs along with granting special financial and non-financial privileges.

The Promising Ethics and Competitive Advantage on Higher Education As A Part of International Collaboration Programs

Promises ethics in service triangle context on higher education can be met if performance improves superior performance and be given the implications for competitive advantage. The purpose of this study was to analyze and determine promising ethics in service marketing triangle and competitive advantage of higher education. The research method used is survey method, namely descriptive and explanatory. The number of respondents in the study is 330 students of the polytechnic in West Java, which is determined by sampling technique, which is cluster proportional random sampling. The hypothesis testing was done using a multivariate statistical test of the Partial Least Square (PLS). The data processing was done with smartPLS 2.0 programs and Statistical Programs of Social Science (SPSS) for Windows. The results show that: The promising ethics in service triangle context and competitive advantage influence as well but not quite good. The goal of internationalization of higher education are: (1) improve the quality of education (2) improve the quality of research (3) improve the competence and capacity of academic staff and researchers (4) improve the competence and capacity of graduates (5) enhance the college's reputation in the eyes of the international and financial gain (6) respond to the demands of the labor market of qualified internationally. There are five (5) general principles of corporate governance known as good corporate governance (GCG). Those are: Transparency, Accountability, Responsibility, Fairness and Indepandency.

PENGARUH MODEL PROBLEM BASED LEARNING TERHADAP KEMAMPUAN BERPIKIR KREATIF DAN SELF- EFFICACY PADA MATERI TRIGONOMETRI SMA

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the problem-based learning (PBL) model on students' creative thinking abilities and self-efficacy. The type of research used is quasi-experimental. This research was conducted at senior high school Sukakarya Musi Rawas with a population of all class X students totaling 114 students. The sample was selected by simple random sampling technique with class X MIA 1 as the experimental class and class X MIA 3 as the control class with 30 students each. Data collection methods are observation, tests, interviews, and documentation. Data analysis used multivariate statistical tests analysis of variance. The results of the study show that: there is a significant effect of using the PBL model on students' creative thinking abilities. There is a significant influence of students' Self-Efficacy abilities using the PBL model on students' mathematical problem-solving abilities

Multivariate genetic analysis of personality and cognitive traits reveals abundant pleiotropy.

Personality and cognitive function are heritable mental traits whose genetic foundations may be distributed across interconnected brain functions. Previous studies have typically treated these complex mental traits as distinct constructs. We applied the 'pleiotropy-informed' multivariate omnibus statistical test to genome-wide association studies of 35 measures of neuroticism and cognitive function from the UK Biobank (n = 336,993). We identified 431 significantly associated genetic loci with evidence of abundant shared genetic associations, across personality and cognitive function domains. Functional characterization implicated genes with significant tissue-specific expression in all tested brain tissues and brain-specific gene sets. We conditioned independent genome-wide association studies of the Big 5 personality traits and cognitive function on our multivariate findings, boosting genetic discovery in other personality traits and improving polygenic prediction. These findings advance our understanding of the polygenic architecture of these complex mental traits, indicating a prominence of pleiotropic genetic effects across higher order domains of mental function such as personality and cognitive function.

The Impact of Flood Frequency on the Heterogeneity of Floodplain Surface Soil Properties

Floodplain soils are subject to quasi-periodic flood disturbances. This flooding serves to enrich floodplain soils, increasing their fertility and often making them ideal locations for agriculture. However, what is less well understood is how the frequency of flooding impacts on soil fertility and the diversity of soil character. This study investigates how flood frequency influences the heterogeneity (assessed using 26 physical and geochemical soil properties) of floodplain soils in a semi-arid floodplain wetland system in New South Wales, Australia. The study includes an investigation of soil properties across four flood frequency (or disturbance frequency) categories ranging from frequent through to infrequent flood disturbance. Thirty samples were collected from each zone and the physical and geochemical soil data were analyzed using a suite of univariate and multivariate statistical tests. The results show that sites subject to an intermediate level of flood disturbance have a greater level of diversity in soil properties than those sites subject to frequent flood disturbances. These results reflect those of the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis, an ecological theory that posits the highest biological diversity will also be found in intermediately disturbed environments and suggests that there might be physical habitat drivers of biological diversity in intermediately disturbed floodplains.