Cost Effective Designs for Practitioners

描述（由申请人提供）：几乎所有在实践中使用的设计都是在研究中只有一个目标的情况下构建的。不断上升的实验成本促使研究人员使用更有效的设计，以更充分地满足他们的实际目标和关注点。特别是，设计应该能够捕捉大多数研究中嵌入的多个目标，这些目标可能不平等的重要性和其他约束，如模型不确定性，有限的设计空间和潜在的缺失试验。我们将构建包含这些和其他实际约束的多目标优化设计。我们还与环境健康科学家合作，运用最佳设计思想设计一项研究，利用来自单个制剂和联合化合物的剂量反应曲线中的信息，估计致畸学研究中联合化合物的阈值。此外，我们开发了节省成本的Michaelks-Menten模型设计，用于研究不溶性颗粒的肺部清除，并找到了由微分方程解定义的生物反应估计的最佳设计。将发展创新理论来构建这些设计并理解它们的特性，包括它们对模型假设的敏感性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Almost all designs used in practice are constructed as if there is only one objective in the study. Rising experimental costs have led researchers to use efficient designs that can more adequately meet their practical goals and concerns. In particular, designs should be able to capture the multiple goals embedded in most studies, the possibly unequal importance of these goals and other constraints, such as model uncertainty, a restricted design space and potentially missing trials. We will construct multiple-objective optimal designs that incorporate these and other practical constraints. We also work with environmental health scientists and apply optimal design ideas to design a study for estimating the threshold of a joint compound in a teratology study using information in the dose response curves from the individual agents and the joint compound. Additionally, we develop cost-saving designs for Michaelks-Menten like mod sis used for studying pulmonary clearance of insoluble particles and find optimal designs for estimating biological responses defined by solutions of a differential equation. Innovative theory will be developed to construct these designs and understand their properties, including their sensitivities to model assumptions. To facilitate the use of optimal design ideas in practice, we create a user-friendly website with an array of algorithms for generating all types of designs for linear and nonlinear models, including designs to be developed in this research. The website will require input from the user before a tailored made design can be generated. Practitioners will be able to use the website to evaluate the efficiency of a design under a range of user-selected criteria and search for links to other websites where specialized design software is available. Such a website does not exist now. Our website will educate, inform and encourage practitioners to incorporate more optimal design ideas in their work, thereby saving substantial cost in their studies.