Optimum tolerance design using component-amount and mixture-amount experiments

The tolerance design problem involves optimizing component and assembly tolerances to minimize the total cost (sum of manufacturing cost and quality loss). Previous literature recommended using traditional response surface methodology (RSM) designs, models, and optimization techniques to solve the tolerance design problem for the worst-case scenario in which the assembly characteristic is the sum of the component characteristics. In this article, component-amount (CA) and mixture-amount (MA) experiment approaches are proposed as more appropriate for solving this class of tolerance design problems. The CA and MA approaches are typically used for product formulation problems, but can also be applied to this type of tolerance design problem. The advantages of the CA and MA approaches over the RSM approach and over the standard, worst-case tolerance-design method are explained. Reasons for choosing between the CA and MA approaches are also discussed. The CA and MA approaches (experimental design, response modeling, and optimization) are illustrated using real examples

Sex Modulates the Associations Between the COMT Gene and Personality Traits

Previous research has shown inconsistent findings regarding the relations between the functional Val158Met polymorphisms of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene and individual differences in personality traits. This study attempts to overcome some of the weaknesses of previous research, namely, small sample sizes, clinical samples, ethnic stratification, wide age ranges, neglecting sex differences, and single measures of personality traits. A large sample (n=556, 250 male, 306 female) of healthy Chinese college students (mean age=20.5±1 years) was given a battery of personality scales, including the temperament and character inventory-revised, the behavioral inhibition system and behavioral approach system scale, the Beck depression inventory, and the Beck anxiety inventory. Factor analysis of the affect-related personality traits revealed two factors that corresponded to positive (PEM) and negative emotionality (NEM). We found a consistent COMT-by-sex interaction effect on affect-related personality traits. Compared with males with Met/Met alleles, males with Val/Val alleles showed significantly higher scores on NEM, but lower scores on PEM. Females, however, showed an opposite but nonsignificant pattern. Our results supported the role of the COMT gene in personality traits for males and contributed to the growing literature on sex differences in gene–behavior connections