A modified region approach for multivariate measurement system capability analysis

Measurement system capability analysis is to determine whether the measurement system is capable for use in quality control. The existing research has been extended from univariate to multivariate cases. Two approaches, the multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and the weighted principal components (WPC), were advocated in literature. The MANOVA method is constructed based on the volume ratio that treats the volume of constant-density contours as the variability estimations. However, it ignores the fact that the relative position change of multivariate measurement errors could affect the measurement system capability. The WPC method uses dimension reduction to reduce the complexity but is unable to build the precision-to-tolerance ratio because it does not include tolerance. In this paper, we propose a modified-region-based method to compute the precision-to-tolerance ratio, the percent of repeatability and reproducibility, and the signal-to-noise ratio. This method also incorporates the variance-covariance structure of the measurement errors when dealing with the constant-density contours of tolerances, total variation, and process variation. The performance of the modified-region-based method is evaluated based on a dataset from the literature and a set of relevant simulation. The proposed method proves to be effective compared with other methods. ? 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Dietary shifts drive the slowdown of declining methylmercury related health risk in China

Chinese population suffers severe health risk from dietary methylmercury (MeHg) exposure. However, the temporal change of such risk and socioeconomic driving factors remain unknown. This study investigates this issue by compiling time-series inventory of China's MeHg-related health risk at the provincial scale and revealing critical socioeconomic influencing factors through structural decomposition analysis. Results show that the per-fetus IQ decrements from dietary MeHg exposure have declined by 60% nationally during 2004–2019. Such decline results from the joint effects of dietary shifts (contributing 44%) and the decrease of MeHg concentrations in foods consumed (contributing 56%). However, the declining trend has slowed down since 2014 and even leveled off after 2016, which is mainly affected by dietary pattern changes. Especially, the increased intake level and proportion of fishes in underdeveloped provinces of China have dominated the slowdown of declining trend after 2016. Moreover, the affluence and education levels have significantly negative associations with per-fetus IQ decrements. Rich and well-educated people have higher ability of risk perception, which indicates the importance of rational consumption patterns. Our findings can help develop socioeconomic regulatory policies on reducing per-fetus IQ decrements from dietary MeHg exposure in China