Non-linear statistical technique applied to data from baboon articular cartilage

Abstract Pattern recognition software was developed and applied together with statistical techniques to articular cartilage data from the knee joint of the baboon. The standard statistical method used for comparison was ANOVA which indicates linear discrimination. In addition a Karhunen-Loeve expansion was performed to reduce the dimensionality of the data and provide independent uncorrelated variables. Nearest neighbour analysis, a non-linear method, when combined with binomial probabilities gave discrimination that was not obtained by ANOVA. Use of pattern recognition and related techniques can improve and extend the analysis of biological data to include non-linear discrimination and classification.