In This Issue

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Publisher’s Foreword

First, we would like to apologize to Dr. Selden B. Crary for leaving the byline off the excellent article that he wrote last month comparing the efficiencies of classical designs and I-optimal designs.  Those that enjoyed this article may also enjoy a letter that we got from Dr. Greg Piepel in response to Selden’s article. 

http://www.processbuilder.com/doe/Newsletters/BackIssues/October_1999.htm

http://www.processbuilder.com/doe/Newsletters/Letters/piepel2.htm

Next, we would like to thank Bill Kappele for his excellent article below.  Note that this has a lot of tables and special formatting.  If they do not show up in the version you receive, read the article on-line at our web site.  Note the announcement at the end of the article on the free teleclass on I-optimal designs .

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Using I-Optimal Designs for Narrower Confidence Limits

By William D. Kappele
President, Math Options Inc.

Introduction  

Industrial experiments demand high quality predictions of product performance from a small amount of data.  Scientists and engineers need experiment designs which provide narrow confidence limits on predictions to meet this demand.  The effect of a design on the quality of predictions is seldom considered when selecting a design.  This paper shows the advantages of I-optimal designs over conventional designs used in industry.  Confidence intervals for predictions will show that I-optimal designs are better.

What are I-Optimal Designs?

Trials in designed experiments are "well spread out" from each other.  Classic designs spread the points out in space.  I-optimal designs spread the points out to provide the minimum average variance of predictions over the region of interest.  The variance is the square of the standard deviation of the prediction from the fitted model. 

I-optimal designs can be difficult to make.  Dave Doehlert, Neil Sloane and Ron Hardin have developed a means of making I-optimal designs relatively quickly.  Their designs are called "spherical code designs" or "Hardin-Sloane designs."  Doehlert, Hardin and Sloane have made it feasible for industrial experimenters to use I-optimal designs in their work.

Design Comparison Criteria

In this paper I will compare I-optimal designs with three designs provided to us by experimenters in industry.  Industrial experiments demand high quality predictions of product performance, so the criteria for comparison should be the quality of the predictions. 

Predictions with narrower confidence limits are better quality.  The experiment design affects the width of the confidence limits on predictions.  A superior design will have a smaller average confidence limit width on its predictions. 

I will compare a conventional design with a corresponding I-optimal design for three different cases:  case 1 is a simple process factor design;  case 2 is a mixture design;  and case 3 is a process factor design with a constraint.  For each case I have selected a random point.  You will see the confidence limits for the prediction at this random point for each design.  You will also see the average confidence limits for predictions at 1000 different points in the region of interest.  To focus the comparisons only on the contribution of the design to the confidence limits, I have standardized t to 2.57 and s to 1.00.  These confidence limits will allow you to compare the quality of the designs for industrial applications.

Another measure of the quality of a design is the "integrated variance" (IV).  This is the average variance for the entire region of interest.  Smaller IV indicates a better experiment design.

Case 1:  A Simple Process Design with 4 Factors

The conventional design for case 1 is listed in table 1 below.  It is a 4 factor design for the quadratic model with 2-factor interactions included.  It has 25 runs:  20 trials, 5 of which have 2 replicates each.

Trial

X1

X2

X3

X4

20

-1

0

-1

1

3

1

-1

1

-1

4

-1

1

1

-1

8

-1

1

1

1

9

1

1

1

0

1

-1

-1

-1

-1

14

1

0

0

1

1

-1

-1

-1

-1

2

1

1

-1

-1

11

-1

1

-1

0

2

1

1

-1

-1

15

0

1

0

1

4

-1

1

1

-1

10

1

-1

-1

0

12

-1

-1

1

0

19

-1

0

1

-1

3

1

-1

1

-1

5

-1

-1

-1

1

7

1

-1

1

1

13

0

0

1

1

17

0

1

-1

-1

18

1

-1

0

-1

6

1

1

-1

1

16

0

-1

-1

1

5

-1

-1

-1

1

 Conventional Process Design
Table 1

The corresponding I-optimal design is listed in table 2 on the next page.  Table 3 summarizes the comparison of the two designs. 

Trial

X1

X2

X3

X4

1

-1.00

-0.39

1.00

-0.45

2

-1.00

-0.39

1.00

-0.45

3

-0.01

-1.00

0.01

-0.10

4

-0.01

-1.00

0.01

-0.10

5

1.00

0.30

0.04

0.88

6

1.00

0.30

0.04

0.88

7

1.00

-1.00

-1.00

0.37

8

1.00

-1.00

-1.00

0.37

9

-0.06

0.12

-0.08

0.00

10

-0.06

0.12

-0.08

0.00

11

0.04

-0.01

1.00

0.43

12

0.00

-0.01

-1.00

-1.00

13

1.00

1.00

1.00

-0.03

14

-1.00

-1.00

0.19

1.00

15

1.00

-0.15

-0.05

-1.00

16

-1.00

1.00

-1.00

0.00

17

-1.00

-1.00

-1.00

-1.00

18

1.00

-1.00

1.00

-1.00

19

1.00

-1.00

1.00

1.00

20

-1.00

-0.25

-1.00

1.00

21

-1.00

1.00

0.04

-1.00

22

-0.03

1.00

1.00

-1.00

23

-1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

24

1.00

1.00

1.00

-0.92

25

0.34

1.00

-1.00

1.00

 I-optimal Process Design
Table 2  

In table 3, notice that the confidence limits on the random point for the conventional design are 60% wider than for the I-optimal design.  Also notice that the average confidence limit width for the conventional design is 54% wider than for the I-optimal design.  The integrated variance for the I-optimal design is also better.  The I-optimal design provides better precision of prediction in the same number of runs.

 

Conventional

I-Optimal

95% CL for random point

+/- 2.96

+/- 1.86

Average 95% CL

+/- 2.23

+/- 1.45

Integrated Variance (IV)

0.77

0.32

Summary
Table 3  

Case 2:  A Mixture Design in 4 Factors

Table 4 has a listing of the conventional mixture design for 4 factors.  It has 15 runs:  13 trials, 2 of which have 2 replicates each.  The limits on the factors are,  

            X1 = 0.740 - 0.890
            X2 = 0.030 - 0.130
            X3 = 0.055 - 0.160
            X4 = 0.025 - 0.035.  

The implied constraint for a mixture is X1 + X2 + X3 + X4 = 1.000.  The model is a three factor (X2, X3, X4) quadratic model with all 2 factor interactions.  X1 is implied by the constraint.  The corresponding I-optimal design is listed in table 5.  Table 6 shows a comparison of the two designs.

Trial

X1

X2

X3

X4

9

0.835

0.030

0.100

0.035

1

0.740

0.075

0.160

0.025

6

0.740

0.065

0.160

0.035

11

0.780

0.130

0.055

0.035

12

0.830

0.080

0.055

0.035

10

0.780

0.030

0.160

0.030

5

0.740

0.130

0.095

0.035

8

0.790

0.080

0.100

0.030

2

0.790

0.130

0.055

0.025

4

0.785

0.030

0.160

0.025

2

0.790

0.130

0.055

0.025

3

0.890

0.030

0.055

0.025

7

0.880

0.030

0.055

0.035

1

0.740

0.075

0.160

0.025

13

0.740

0.130

0.100

0.030

Conventional Mixture Design
Table 4

Trial

X1

X2

X3

X4

1

0.802

0.074

0.095

0.030

2

0.802

0.074

0.095

0.030

3

0.780

0.030

0.160

0.030

4

0.780

0.030

0.160

0.030

5

0.740

0.084

0.141

0.035

6

0.790

0.130

0.055

0.025

7

0.834

0.081

0.055

0.030

8

0.825

0.030

0.120

0.025

9

0.818

0.034

0.113

0.035

10

0.890

0.030

0.055

0.025

11

0.880

0.030

0.055

0.035

12

0.740

0.130

0.100

0.030

13

0.780

0.130

0.055

0.035

14

0.740

0.085

0.150

0.025

15

0.802

0.074

0.095

0.030

I-optimal Mixture Design
Table 5

Please notice, in table 6, that the confidence limits on the random point are 41% wider for the conventional design than for the I-optimal design.  Also notice that the average confidence limits for the conventional design are 16% wider than for the I-optimal design.  The I-optimal design also has a lower IV.

 

Conventional

I-Optimal

95% CL for random point

+/- 2.58

+/- 1.83

Average 95% CL

+/- 2.08

+/- 1.79

Integrated Variance (IV)

0.69

0.55

 Summary
Table 6  

Case 3:  A Process Design with A Constraint and Restricted Levels

Case  three has 4 continuous process factors.  X4 is restricted to 2 levels.  The factor limits are,

                        X1 = 2 - 4
                        X2 = 0.0 - 3.0
                        X3 = 1.0 - 3.4
                        X4 = 4 or 6 (only 4 and 6 may be in the design, but the model must predict from 4 to 6).

The experimenter required the constraint, 10 < (2X1 + X4) <12.  The experimenter also required these two trials to be in the design:

            X1 = 2, X2 = 0, X3 = 3.4, X4 = 6, and X1 = 4, X2 = 0, X3 = 3.4, X4 = 4.

The model is,

Y = b0 + b1X1 + b2X2 + b3X3 +b4X4 + b12X1X2 + b13X1X3 + b23X2X3 + b11X12 + b22X22 + b33X32.

The conventional design is listed in table 7 and the corresponding I-optimal design is listed in table 8.  Table 9 summarizes the comparison of the two designs.

Trial

X1

X2

X3

X4

1

2.00

0.00

3.40

6.00

2

4.00

0.00

3.40

4.00

3

2.00

0.00

1.00

6.00

4

2.00

1.50

2.20

6.00

5

2.00

3.00

1.00

6.00

6

2.00

3.00

3.40

6.00

7

3.00

0.00

1.00

6.00

8

3.00

0.00

2.20

4.00

9

3.00

1.50

3.40

4.00

10

3.00

1.50

3.40

6.00

11

3.00

3.00

1.00

4.00

12

3.00

3.00

2.20

6.00

13

4.00

0.00

1.00

4.00

14

4.00

0.00

2.20

4.00

15

4.00

1.50

1.00

4.00

16

4.00

3.00

1.00

4.00

17

4.00

3.00

3.40

4.00

 Conventional Design with Constraint
Table 7  

Trial

X1

X2

X3

X4

1

2.00

0.00

3.40

6.00

2

4.00

0.00

3.40

4.00

3

3.00

1.55

2.27

6.00

4

4.00

3.00

3.40

4.00

5

3.00

1.43

3.40

6.00

6

3.00

1.32

3.40

4.00

7

2.00

3.00

3.40

6.00

8

4.00

0.00

2.08

4.00

9

2.00

0.00

2.07

6.00

10

4.00

1.81

1.00

4.00

11

3.00

1.55

2.27

6.00

12

3.00

0.00

1.00

4.00

13

3.00

0.00

1.00

6.00

14

3.00

3.00

2.04

4.00

15

3.00

3.00

1.00

6.00

16

3.00

1.55

2.23

4.00

17

2.00

1.82

1.00

6.00

 I-optimal Design with Constraint
Table 8  

Notice in table 9 that the confidence limits on the random point prediction for the conventional design are 81% wider than for the I-optimal design.  Also notice that the average confidence limits on the predictions for the region of interest are 13% wider than for the I-optimal design.  The IV for the I-optimal design is also smaller.

It is interesting to note that the conventional design here is D-optimal.  D-optimal designs provide narrow confidence limits on the b coefficients, rather than on predictions.  Narrow confidence limits on predictions are more important in industrial experiments.

 

Conventional

I-Optimal

95% CL for random point

+/- 1.23

+/- 0.68

Average 95% CL

+/- 1.83

+/- 1.62

Integrated Variance (IV)

0.41

0.32

Summary
Table 9  

Conclusion

This paper has shown I-optimal designs to be superior to conventional designs for industrial experiments using three real cases.  I-optimal designs are superior because they give narrower confidence limits on predictions, on average, producing higher quality predictions of product performance. 

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Math Options creates custom I-optimal designs for a fee, but better yet, sign up at http://www.mathoptions.com for the free teleclass to learn how to create your own. 

Computer Generated Experiment Designs

You will learn what computer generated experiment designs are, how they can benefit you, and how you can generate your own for free.

WHEN? - Tuesday, November 23, 1999, 10 AM PDT (West Coast). (1 PM East Coast).

COST? - FREE! (but space is limited, so please register early)

This class will be taped.

 .You may contact Bill in the following ways:

 4702 Camano Place, Anacortes, WA, 98221
1-888-764-3958
Bill@MathOptions.com

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A Common Data Interchange Format for Experiment Designers and Analyzers

The Internet has made it convenient for many industries to agree on a common data interchange structure for certain chores.  The development of XML (the eXtensible Markup Language) has greatly simplified the construction and maintenance of such a structure.  That has encouraged us to create a prototype of such a structure for experiment designs.

If you have opinions about the inputs and outputs of design engines, we would like to hear about them.

http://www.processbuilder.com/doe/Software/designDTD.htm

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Short Course Notes

 

The last public classes of the year are going on as this is written.  If you couldn’t get into those, make plans now to go to one of the first sessions of the new year. 

These classes are sponsored and run by Math Options (http://www.mathoptions.com).  Check the Math Options web site for full details.

 

 

Jan. 18-20, 2000

Performing Objective Experiments

San Francisco Bay Area, CA

Feb. 1-3, 2000

Performing Objective Experiments

San Diego, CA

May 17-19, 2000

Performing Objective Experiments

Anacortes, WA

May 22, 23, 2000

Objective Experiments for Mixtures and Discrete Factors

Anacortes, WA

 

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Conference Notes

XIV Compstat
Utrecht, The Netherlands
21-25 August 2000

http://neon.vb.cbs.nl/rsm/compstat

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Jobs

 Central Michigan University --- Tenure-Track Statistics Position

The Mathematics Department is seeking qualified applicants for a tenure-track position at the Assistant Professor level in Statistics starting in August 2000. Candidates should have a recent Ph. D. in Statistics, show evidence of having conducted research in Statistics, and have effective communication skills. The successful candidate will be expected to teach graduate and undergraduate statistics and mathematics courses, to conduct research in statistics, and to apply for external funding.  We are especially interested in individuals with research interests that overlap existing research of the faculty.

The usual teaching load is nine semester hours. Salary is competitive and benefits include university-paid retirement, medical, dental, disability, and group life insurance.

Please send a letter of application, curriculum vita, transcript, and three letters of reference to:

 Professor Sidney Graham, Chair
Department of Mathematics, Central Michigan University,
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859.
Phone: 517.774.3596, fax:  517.774.2414,
e-mail: math@cmich.edu, web site: www.cst.cmich.edu/units/mth/.

Screening will begin on October 15, 1999, but applications will be
accepted until the position is filled.