Some performance effects of age and low blood alcohol levels on a computerized neuropsychological test.

Federal Aviation Administration, Office of Aviation Medicine, Washington, D.C.

Development and field test of psychophysical tests for DWI arrest. Final report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C.

Reading and interpreting the HIV-1 Western Blot test /

Accompanying material in pockets, front and back covers.

The FTC cigarette test method for determining tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide yields of U.S. cigarettes : report of the NCI expert committee.

"T667"--P. [4] of cover.

Performance evaluation of test dummies with flesh parts produced with substitute foaming compounds. Final report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C.

Pediatric environmental neurobehavioral test battery /

"Parts of chapter 3 are excerpted from Neurotoxicology and teratology,... 1996..."--p. ii.

A cost-effectiveness methodology for community mental health centers : development and pilot test /

Mode of access: Internet.

The earnings tests and work patterns in four nations : an analysis of why work activity among older men does not increase when the earnings test is removed or liberalized /

Prepared for Social Security Administration, Comparative Studies Staff, Office of International Policy; prepared under grant no. 98083, Department of Health and Human Services, Social Security Administration.

Evaluative learning in human Pavlovian conditioning: Extinct, but still there?

Previous studies of human affective learning, the acquisition of likes and dislikes, provided evidence that extinction training does not affect changes in conditional stimulus (CS) valence as indexed by paper/pencil ratings. Experiment 1 (N = 32) investigated whether this is an artifact of the CS valence assessment, which is taken in test sessions before and after training. Pleasantness ratings were collected in pre/post training tests and, for half of the participants, on-line during training. Rated unpleasantness of the CS that preceded the aversive US (CS+) increased during acquisition and decreased during extinction back to neutral. However, as in previous studies, post extinction paper/pencil ratings revealed the maintenance of rated CS+ unpleasantness. Experiment 2 (N = 34) replicated this finding for two measures of CS valence, paper/pencil and the continuous measure used during training. The present results indicate that previous reports of failures to find extinction of affective learning may reflect renewal rather than maintenance of acquired CS valence across extinction training. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.

Ex ante evaluations of alternate data structures for end user queries: Theory and experimental test

The data structure of an information system can significantly impact the ability of end users to efficiently and effectively retrieve the information they need. This research develops a methodology for evaluating, ex ante, the relative desirability of alternative data structures for end user queries. This research theorizes that the data structure that yields the lowest weighted average complexity for a representative sample of information requests is the most desirable data structure for end user queries. The theory was tested in an experiment that compared queries from two different relational database schemas. As theorized, end users querying the data structure associated with the less complex queries performed better Complexity was measured using three different Halstead metrics. Each of the three metrics provided excellent predictions of end user performance. This research supplies strong evidence that organizations can use complexity metrics to evaluate, ex ante, the desirability of alternate data structures. Organizations can use these evaluations to enhance the efficient and effective retrieval of information by creating data structures that minimize end user query complexity.

Initiation of evasive manoeuvres during self-motion: a test of three hypotheses

To understand performance of evasive and interceptive actions it is important to know how people decide when to initiate a movement - initiating at the 'right' moment is often essential for successful performance. It has been proposed that initiation is triggered when a perceptually derived quantity reaches an invariant criterion value. Candidate quantities include time-to-collision (TTC), distance, and rate of image expansion ( ROE), all of which have received empirical support. We studied initiation of an evasive manoeuvre in a computer-simulated steering task in which the observer was required to steer through a stationary visual environment and avoid colliding with an obstacle in their path. The results could not be explained by hypotheses which propose that evasive manoeuvre initiation is based on a fixed criterion value of TTC or distance. The overall pattern was, however, consistent with the use of a criterion ROE value. This was further tested by analyses designed to directly evaluate whether the ROE value used to initiate the response was the same across experimental conditions. Only two of the six participants showed evidence for using the ROE strategy.

Nitric oxide donors inhibit 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) uptake by the human 5-HT transporter (SERT)

1 The aim was to test the hypothesis that nitric oxide ( NO) donor drugs can inhibit the 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) transporter, SERT. 2 The NO donors, MAHMA/NO ( a NONOate; (Z)-1-[N-methyl-N-[6-(N-methylammoniohexyl)amino]]diazen- 1-ium-1,2-diolate), SIN-1 ( a sydnonimine; 5-amino-3-(4-morpholinyl)-1,2,3-oxadiazolium chloride), FK409 ( an oxime; (+/-)-(4-ethyl-2E-(hydroxyimino)-5-nitro-3E-hexenamide)) and peroxynitrite, but not Angeli's salt ( source of nitroxyl anion) or sodium nitrite, caused concentration-dependent inhibition of the specific uptake of [H-3]- 5-HT in COS-7 cells expressing human SERT. 3 Superoxide dismutase (150 U ml(-1)) plus catalase ( 1200 U ml(-1)), used to remove superoxide and hence prevent peroxynitrite formation, prevented the inhibitory effect of SIN-1 ( which generates superoxide) but not of MAHMA/NO or FK409. 4 The inhibitory effects of the NO donors were not affected by the free radical scavenger, hydroxocobalamin (1 mM) or the guanylate cyclase inhibitor, ODQ (1H-[ 1,2,4] oxadiazolo[4,3-a] quinoxalin-1-one; 3 muM). 5 L-Cysteine ( 1 mM; source of excess thiol residues) abolished or markedly reduced the inhibitory effects of MAHMA/NO, SIN-1, FK409 and peroxynitrite. 6 It is concluded that inhibition of SERT by the NO donors cannot be attributed exclusively to NO free radical nor to nitroxyl anion. It does not involve guanosine-3',5'-cyclic monophosphate, but may involve nitrosation of cysteine residues on the SERT protein. Peroxynitrite mediates the effect of SIN-1, but not the other drugs. 7 Data in mice with hypoxic pulmonary hypertension suggest that SERT inhibitors may attenuate pulmonary vascular remodelling. Thus, NO donors may be useful in pulmonary hypertension, not only as vasodilators, but also because they inhibit SERT, provided they display this effect in vivo at appropriate doses.

Australian norms for a quantitative olfactory function test

Quantitative olfactory assessment is often neglected in clinical practice, although olfactory loss can assist diagnosis and leads to significant morbidity. The aim of this study was to develop normative data for the Australian population for the 'Sniffin' Sticks', an internationally established olfactory function test. As in other populations, Australian females performed better than males and both lost olfactory function with age. From the normative data, criterion test scores for males and females were established for clinical classifications ('normosmic', 'hyposmic', and 'anosmic'). These clinical classifications were assessed in Parkinson's patients: 81.1 % were anosmic or severely hyposmic and only 7.7% were normosmic. A new term ('prebyosmia') is introduced to describe age-related loss of olfactory capacity of unknown aetiology. With these norms, the Sniffin' Sticks can be used in the Australian population to compare an individual's olfactory function against the population of others of similar age and sex and to identify olfactory dysfunction. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Drug-Based Intervention Study on the Importance of Buffaloes for Human Schistosoma Japonicum Infection around Poyang Lake, People’s Republic of China

Schistosomiasis japonica is a zoonosis of major public health importance in southern China. We undertook a drug intervention to test the hypothesis that buffalo are major reservoirs for human infection in the marshlands/lake areas, where one million people are infected. We compared human and buffalo infection rates and intensity in an intervention village (Jishan), where humans and buffalo were treated with praziquantel, and a control village (Hexi), where only humans were treated, in the Poyang Lake region. Over the four-year study, human incidence in Jishan decreased but increased in Hexi. Adjustment of incidence by age, sex, water exposure, year, and village further confirmed the decreased human infection in Jishan. Chemotherapy for buffaloes resulted in a decrease in buffalo infection rates in Jishan, which coincided with the reduction in human infection rates there in the last two years of the study. Mathematical modeling predicted that buffalo are responsible for 75% of human transmission in Jishan. Copyright © 2006 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Integrated power scheme simulator for human-system integration studies

We present a simulator of a hydropower company’s view of its scheme, and its broader market and network context, which has been developed to evaluate advanced displays for control room operations. Although simplified, the simulator captures all the main aspects of scheme operations. The simulator allows controlled studies to be performed that test the effectiveness of current vs advanced display concepts under normal vs unexpected operating conditions that can be scripted into the simulator.