FIGURE 4
Scatterplot of high blood pressure vs. obesity
Percentage of population with high blood pressure vs. percentage population with obesity (BMI of 30 or higher) in the U.S.
45
40
High blood pressure
35
30
25
20 25 30
Obesity
Source: From the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, appearing in America’s Health Rankings,
“2017 Annual Report,” United Health Foundation, www.americashealthrankings.org/explore/2017-annual-report.
shows that as weekly exercise count and vegetable consump-
tion decrease simultaneously, the rate of heart disease will
increase dramatically.
In this project, variables may correlate with each other.
For example, the variable diabetes is correlated with high BP.
The correlation between predictors, otherwise known as multi-
collinearity, can skew the test results.
Therefore, this project is planned to be extended to perform
multiple linear regression analysis. It will be used to eliminate
multicollinearity, which will provide clearer and more affirmative
results.
EDITOR’S NOTE
In this project, a Pearson correlation coefficient between 0 and 0.4 is
considered a weak positive correlation, between 0.4 and 0.6 is considered
a moderate positive correlation, and between 0.6 and 1.0 a strong positive
correlation. Negative correlations follow similar ranges between 0 and -1.
REFERENCES
1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Heart Disease Facts,”
Nov. 28, 2017, www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm.
2. U.S. News and World Report, “Find the Best Public High Schools,”
www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools.
35 40
3. America’s Health Rankings, “2017 Annual Report,” United
Health Foundation, www.americashealthrankings.org/
explore/2017-annual-report.
4. University of Stanford Department of Computer Science,
https://cs.stanford.edu/people/emmap1/visualizations/
melting_pot.html.
5. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Healthy Heart
Toolkit and Research: Results,” www.epa.gov/air-research/
healthy-heart-toolkit-and-research-results.
6. Readers interested in surface plots of other risk factors
versus heart disease may request them by contacting the
author at hersh.nanda@gmail.com or on LinkedIn.
Hersh Nanda is a freshman at BASIS
Chandler high school in Arizona. He has
been a National Junior Honor Society
member since 2016 and was a John
Hopkins University National Talent
Search Merit Scholar from 2014 to 2016.
This project was selected as the best
junior high medicine and health science
project from BASIS Chandler in the Arizona Science Fair in 2018.
The project was also presented at an ASQ Phoenix Section
meeting and ASQ Tennessee Section meeting in 2018.
qualityprogress.com ❘ April 2019 QP 45
 Human Error Reduction in Manufacturing
JOSÉ RODRÍGUEZ-PÉREZ ❚ QUALITY PRESS ❚ 2018 ❚ 249 PP. ❚ $45 MEMBER, $75 LIST (BOOK).
Rodríguez-Pérez is an excellent writer
and presents experience-based topics
clearly and concisely. The title, how-
ever, is slightly misleading because
most examples in the book are from
the U.S. Food and Drug Adminis-
tration (FDA)-regulated industry. Even though many of the
topics treated in the book can be generalized across industries
beyond pharmaceutical, manufacturing shouldn’t be inter-
preted in the wide sense.
The book chapters provide a comprehensive and integrated
view of the treatment of human errors in the pharmaceutical
manufacturing environment. Ample references to FDA and
other regulatory guidelines are provided, including a list
of useful links to relevant webpages. To be even more useful,
such a list should be made available on the book’s website.
The author states in the preface that, “Human errors continue
to be an epidemic for regulated companies.” Throughout the
book’s 10 chapters, he covers what might be labeled classical
approaches to human error monitoring and reduction, includ-
ing risk assessment, root cause analysis (RCA), human error
Additions to your quality library
Footnotes
Lead Self First Before Leading Others: A Life Planning Resource
STEPHEN K. HACKER AND MARVIN WASHINGTON ❚ BUSINESS EXPERT PRESS ❚ 2018 ❚ 114 PP. ❚ $34.95 (BOOK).
This is an excellent book for reflection on the reader’s
self-awareness of his or her leadership style and provides
a guide on how to form a life plan that applies to professionals
at any level.
The authors expand on IQ and emotional quotient, which
are routinely used to reference business and leadership abilities,
and introduce spiritual intelligence (SQ). They define SQ not
as pertaining to religion, but to a self-awareness of living with
a purpose and vision, and an alertness to larger patterns and
connections. The book explains why readers should be self-
aware and purposeful, and why having their visions and values
documented with their life plans is key to leading themselves.
Each chapter contains a section from a master coach who
gives his or her insights and guidance on the chapter’s topic.
70 QP April 2019 ❘ qualityprogress.com
classifications and investigation procedures, and approaches
to reduce the probability of human errors.
Given the pervasive condition of human errors, other direc-
tions beyond the classical approaches deserve consideration.
Specifically, two directions come to mind:
1. Data-driven approaches. This is barely mentioned in the
book. With today’s ubiquitous technology, such as wearable
sensors and image tracking systems, many improvements in
human error prevention should be achieved. Interested read-
ers should consult other books that cover such aspects.
2. Causality analysis. A more in-depth analysis of RCA related
to human errors should involve causality models, such as
causality networks and counterfactuals. This is not addressed
in the book, either.
However, these two directions could be considered more
advanced. With this perspective, the book can be considered
a foundation representing current practice.
Overall, this is a well-written practical book that I would
recommend as background to practitioners involved in human
error monitoring and reduction.
—Ron S. Kenett, Raanana, Israel
The end of each chapter also contains
a workout section with open-ended,
challenging self-reflection questions
indented to make readers look inward on
the chapter’s topic and guide themselves.
The second half of the book is a guide
to help readers develop their own life
plans. The guide starts with the reader’s personal self-
reflection on what his or her big picture is and drills down
to actionable plans that can keep the reader on track
to leading his or herself.
Overall, this is an excellent read for personal leadership
self-reflection.
—Conor Leahy, San Diego, CA