HARARE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENTS:
Pharmacy/Biotec/FPT

BTec Pharmacy Part II

BTec Food Processing Technology: Part II
BTec Biotechnology: Part II

Biostatistics: SST216

Date: November 2016 Time: 3 hours

INTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES

(a) This examination question paper consists of five (5) printed pages (including the cover
page) and has two sections (A and B).

(b) Answer ALL questions in Section A and any THREE questions from Section B.

(c) Section A carries 40 marks while Section B carries 60 marks.

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SECTION A (40 marks)

Candidates may attempt ALL questions being careful to number them A1 to A5. Answer
ALL questions in this section.

A1. Define the following terms giving examples where possible:

(a) Biostatistics. [2]

(b) Sample space. [2]
(c) Experiment. [2]

A2. The weights of biostatistics students is under consideration. A random sample of 15

students was selected from a Zimbabwean institution and their weights were recorded
in kilograms.
42 39 55 62.5 47.2 56.5 72.3 85.1
105 103.4 61.8 74.9 66.5 49.6 58.8

(a) Calculate the median, the first quartile and the third quartile. [1,2,2]
(b) Construct a box plot and comment on the presence of outliers. [4]
(c) Calculate the sample variance and comment on the spread of the weights. [2]
(d) Find the median absolute deviation of the data. [5]

A3. (a) The American Diabetes association estimates that 5.9% of Americans have di-
abetes. Suppose that a medical lab has developed a simple diagnostic test for
diabetes that is 98% accurate for people who have the disease and 95% accurate
for people who do not have it. If the medical lab gives a test to a randomly
selected person, what is the probability that the diagnosis is correct. [4]
(b) Consider a routine screening test for a disease. Suppose the frequency of the
disease in the population is 0.5%. The test is highly accurate with a 5% false
positive rate and a 10% false negative rate. You take the test and it comes back
positive. What is the probability that you have the disease? [6]

A4. From many years of observation, a biologist knows that the probability is only 0.65
that any given Arctic tern will survive the migration from its summer nesting area to
its winter feeding grounds. A random sample of 500 Arctic terns were banded at their
summer nesting area. What is the approximate probability that between 310 and 340
of the banded Arctic terns will survive this migration? [4]

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A5. The following data shows the prevalence of anemia in developing countries.

African women Women from Americas

Sample size 2100 1900
Number with anemia 840 323

Find a 95% confidence interval for the difference in proportions of all African women
with anemia and all women from the Americas with anemia. [6]

SECTION B (60 marks)

Candidates may attempt THREE questions being careful to number them B6 to B10.

B6. Suppose in a clinical trial that systolic blood pressures are measured at 4, 8 and 12
weeks post-randomisation in a subgroup of patients receiving a test drug.

systolic blood pressure

subject 4 weeks 8 weeks 12 weeks
1 120 125 130
2 110 115 118
3 105 110 100
4 140 130 140
5 150 145 140

(a) Test if there is a significant difference in mean systolic blood pressures over time.
Use α = 0.05. [12]
(b) Describe the Turkey procedure used in multiple comparisons of treatment means. [8]

B7. The following data pertains to the purity (y) of oxygen produced in a chemical process,
and (x) is the percentage of hydrocarbons that are present in the main condenser of
distillation unit. Assume a regression model of the form yi = β0 + β1 xi + i

Hydrocarbon levelx(%) P urity(y)(%)

0.99 90.1
1.02 89.05
1.15 91.43
1.29 93.74
1.46 96.73
1.36 94.45
0.87 87.59
1.23 91.77
1.55 99.42
1.40 93.65
1.19 93.54
1.15 92.52

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(a) Fit the simple linear regression model. [4]

(b) Construct an ANOVA table and test for the significance of regression. [10]
(c) Construct a 95% confidence interval for the slope. [4]
(d) Calculate R2 and comment on the fitness of the model. [2]

B8. (a) A plant breeder wants to know if the sterility of rice is a genetic problem. Samples
were taken from a large field of 400 plots and the sterility of each plot was rated
as follows:
Genotypes
sterility A B C D
No problem 20 15 12 10
Moderate 70 60 80 50
Severe 10 25 8 40
Test the hypothesis that the severity of sterility is independent of genetic make
up or genotype. [12]
(b) In an experiment involving the crossing of two hybrids of a species of a flower,
the results shown below are observed.
magenta flower magenta flower Red flower Red Flower
Green stigma Red Stigma Green stigma Red stigma
120 49 36 12

Are these results consistent with the expected population 9:3:3:1? [8]

B9. (a) Blood type is inherited. If both parents carry genes for the O and A blood types,
each child has probability 0.25 of getting two O genes and so of having blood type
O. Different children inherit independently of each other. Find the probability
that the first child these parents have with type O blood is their third child. [3]
(b) One of the larger species of tarantulas is the Grammostola molicoma, whose com-
mon name is the Brazilian giant tawny red. A tarantula has two body parts. The
anterior part of the body is covered above by a shell, or carapace. From a recent
article by F.Costa and F.Perez-Miles titled Reproductive biology of Uruguayan
Theraphosids (The Journal of Arachnology, Vol. 30, No. 3, pp 571-587), we find
that the carapace length of the adult male G. Mollicoma is normally distributed
with mean 18.14mm and standard deviation 1.76mm.
(i) Find the percentage of adult male G, Mollicoma that have carapace length
between 16mm and 17mm. [3]
(ii) Find the percentage of adult male G.Mollicoma that have length exceeding
19mm. [3]
(c) Suppose that births in a hospital occur randomly at an average rate of 1.8 births
per hour.

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(i) What is the probability of observing at most 3 births per hour? [4]
(ii) What is the probability of observing five births in a given two hour period. [3]
(iii) What is the probability that at least two hours will elapse between births? [4]

B10. (a) Thrombocytopenia is a condition characterised by a chronically lowered blood

platelet count. Among its most effective treatments is splenectomy - the surgical
removal of a patient’s spleen. The success of such an operation, however, may be
influenced by the patient’s spleen weight. Listed below are the spleen weights (in
grams) of 14 persons for whom a splenectomy was ultimately successful and of 5
persons for whom the operation was unsuccessful.

Splenectomy Was Successful Splenectomy was unsuccessful

150 136 70
142 122 110
160 200 85
110 160 90
120 102 210
240 152
152 280

Let µX and µY denote the true average spleen weights of persons for whom the
operation would be successful and unsuccessful respectively. At the α = 0.05 level
of significance, test H0 : µX = µY versus H1 : µX 6= µY [12]
(b) A nutrition expert is examining a weight loss program to evaluate its effectiveness
(i.e if participants lose weight on the program). Ten subjects are randomly se-
lected for the investigation. The subjects initial weights are recorded, they follow
the program for six weeks and they are weighed again. Test at the 5% level of
significance if the program was successful.

Initial weight Final weight

180 165
143 138
120 125
148 140
175 170
205 197
120 110
145 122
160 142
142 130

[8]

END OF QUESTION PAPER

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