Model selection and qualification
Model selection was dependent on several criteria, including the
χ2 (likelihood ratio) test, goodness of fit (GOF)
plots. Visual predictive check (VPC) plots (1000 simulations) stratified
for significant covariates was used for model qualification.
Non-parametric bootstrap with 1000 simulated bootstrap datasets were
used to assess the model stability and precision of the final parameter
estimates using PsN. Model development, diagnostics, and graphing were
using Pirana44 and R software (version
4.1.0)45.