title: Estimating the number of motor units using random sums with independently thinned terms.
abstract: The problem of estimating the numbers of motor units N in a muscle is embedded in a general stochastic model using the notion of thinning from point process theory. In the paper a new moment type estimator for the numbers of motor units in a muscle is denned, which is derived using random sums with independently thinned terms. Asymptotic normality of the estimator is shown and its practical value is demonstrated with bootstrap and approximative confidence intervals for a data set from a 31-year-old healthy right-handed, female volunteer. Moreover simulation results are presented and Monte-Carlo based quantiles, means, and variances are calculated for N in{300,600,1000}.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematical Statistics and Actuarial Science, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland. samuel.mueller@stat.unibe.ch
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: Adriana Bastos
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Conforto
authors.forename: Werner J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Z'graggen
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kaelin-Lang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008433:Mathematics; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000294:innervation; D013269:Stochastic Processes