The major end-points arising from cancer clinical trials are reviewed. These are: tumour response, treatment morbidity, survival with related data, and quality of life. A survey of tumour response data from 81 published clinical trials found the most common statistical test in use to be a Chi squared test of the total response rate, but a total of 21 different statistical methods were used. The various statistical tests available are reviewed, including the Mann-Whitney test and the Chi squared test for trend which make use of all the categories of response and their intrinsic order. The assumptions underlying the tests are described. Theoretical considerations support the Mann-Whitney test as the optimum choice for the analysis of tumour response data. Methods for comparing alternative statistical tests are summarised, and a new method is described which uses a number of typical sets of data to estimate the relative efficiency of two statistical tests by the median value of the square of the ratio of the z-values. Using this technique, and data from the 81 trials, the Mann-Whitney test is found to be around 40% more efficient than the Chi squared test of the total response rate (this increased efficiency is equivalent to increasing the recruitment to the trial by 40%).This practical result is confirmed by mathematical modelling of tumour response using the power relation of the Mann-Whitney test for ordered categorical data, which is derived. Clinical data is found to fit best a shift model which assumes homogeneity of treatment effect across the different grades of response. On the basis of this model, the Mann-Whitney test is found to be 30% to 110% more efficient than a Chi squared test of the total response rate. The similarities of acute morbidity data to tumour response data lead to similar general conclusions on the optimum method of statistical analysis. In a survey of 36 published clinical trials, the most common method of statistical analysis was again a Chi squared test of a dichotomy (such as no morbidity versus morbidity of any grade). Analysis of data from these trials shows the Mann-Whitney test to be more efficient by around 30%.A survey of 81 papers reporting tumour response in clinical trials found that few of them used methods of estimation of the difference between the treatments, or derived confidence intervals of the size of such a difference. Methods of estimation and calculation of confidence intervals were found even less often in a survey of methods of presentation of morbidity results. The possible reasons for this are discussed. It is concluded that the current methods of analysis of tumour response data and many sets of acute treatment morbidity data are not optimum, and a change should be made from the Chi squared test to the Mann-Whitney test. Such a change could be equivalent to an increase in recruitment into many cancer clinical trials of around 40%.

Microarray technology enables simultaneous gene expression level monitoring for thousands of genes. While this technology has now been recognized as a powerful and cost-effective tool for large-scale analysis, the many systematic sources of experimental variations introduce inherent errors in the extracted data. Data is gathered by processing scanned images of microarray slides. Therefore robust image processing is particularly important and has a large impact on downstream analysis. The processing of the scanned images can be subdivided in three phases: gridding, segmentation and data extraction. To measure the gene expression levels, the processing of cDNA microarray images must overcome a large set of issues in these three phases that motivates this study. This study presents automatic gridding methods and compares their performances. Two segmentation techniques already used, the Seeded Region Growing Algorithm and the Mann-Whitney Test, are examined. We present limitations of these techniques. Finally, we studied the data extraction method used in MicroArray Suite (MS), a microarray analysis software, via synthetic images and explain its intricacies. / Master of Science

Tittle: Biomechanics of pedaling as a determinant for the performance in the cycling part in the triathlon Objective: Prove that mastering pedaling technique, means higher performance in triathlon. Method: For the analysis of measured data use software SPSS, in which we use the test for two independent (paired) files. Due to the characteristics of the file, we used the Mann- Whitney test, we set the significance level at 0.05. Then we set standards for the selected test using T-points. Results: On the basis of the hypotheses, we conclude that there satisticky significant difference between groups (selection, other) the test results in the men's category (sig. 0.019). The opposite results were observed in the women's category (sig. 0.683). Performance comparison groups of men and women were different and statistically highly significant (sig. 0.000). Another result of this work is to establish standards by T - points for members of the youth sports center (YSC) in the triathlon for the assessment test at maximum cadence bicycle ergometer test in Cyclus 2. Keywords: pedaling cadence, YSC, diagnostics, maximum pedaling cadence test, Mann- Whitney test

This thesis examines the perceived importance by two-tiered management of Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs) for managing a range of intellectual property issues. Fifty survey items are presented to the executive directors and commercialization managers of 62 CRCs. The survey items are categorized under four themes: relationships with collaborators, project management; design and implementation of agreements; and specific licensing issues. An analysis of the data, using a series of independent samples t-tests, repeated measures t-tests, chi-square tests for independence or relatedness and goodness of fit, shows a range of results. There are significant differences between executive directors and commercialization managers on a number of issues. There are particular emphases or trends about certain issues for the whole sample of managers. These findings are compared with text analyses of 23 CRC strategic planning documents. This is done in order to explore any similarity, difference or nuance between what the managers say in response to the survey items, compared with what is stated in the codified policies of the CRCs. While there is a high degree of consistency among certain themes between the two sets of findings, the overall analysis points to the need for the CRCs to have a better understanding and practice of commercialization opportunities, especially through the involvement of third party commercial interests. It is argued that accommodating third party commercialization interests involves the application of an important knowledge economy principle that has an important bearing on the future economic viability and competitiveness of the CRCs.