Safety considerations are important in the design of automobiles. The article "An Optimum Design Methodology Development Using a Statistical Technique for Vehicle Occupant Safety" (J. Hong, M. Mun, and S. Song, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 2001:795-801) presents results from an occupant simulation study. The outcome variable is chest acceleration (in g) 3 ms after impact. Four factors were considered. They were A: the airbag vent characteristic, B: the airbag inflator trigger time, C: the airbag inflator mass flow rate, and D: the stress-strain relationship of knee foam. The results (part of a larger study) are presented in the following table. There is one replicate per treatment.

a. Compute estimates of the main effects and the interactions.
b. If you were to design a follow-up study, which factor or factors would you focus on? Explain.

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Treatment OutcomeTreatment Outcome Treatment Outcome Treatment Outcome 85.2 79.2 84.3 89.0 66.0 69.0 68.5 76.4 85.0 82.0 84.7 l bed 82.2 abcd 62.6 65.4 66.3 69.0 acd ac bc abc ci bd abd 1