Pupillometric measurement of operator workload

Pupillometry as a method of measuring workload is described. Pupillometric measures provide an indication of momentary fluctuations in central nervous system excitability that occur as cognitive operations are performed; the magnitude of these changes may serve as a sensitive indicator of the workload imposed by cognitive tasks

Musings in Returning Home

Postcard from Moniqa Beatty, during the Linfield College Semester Abroad Program at Kanto Gakuin University in Yokohama, Japa

How Does Information in Fuel Economy Labels Affect Consumer Choice?

This paper examines the effect of different pieces of information in fuel economy labels on consumer choice using data from a discrete choice experiment. In the experiment, participants are randomly assigned to treatment groups and asked to make choices between vehicle alternatives. Fuel economy labels vary over treatment group. Individual-specific discount rates are elicited in the survey, allowing this analysis to disentangle the effects of information and discount rate on choice. The analysis estimates each individual\u27s willingness to pay for a one dollar reduction in present value of operating costs, then examines how information affects the willingness to pay coefficient. I find that certain pieces of information, especially estimated cost information, increase willingness to pay. The degree of valuation is highly sensitive to discount rate. I find substantial overvaluation of fuel economy using individual discount rates and full valuation using a uniform 5% rate

United States Records of Williamsonia Fletcheri (Odonata: Corduliidae)

Excerpt: Foley (1966) reported specimens of Williamsonia fletcheri Williamson from rand Traverse County, Michigan as the first record of the species from the lower peninsula and the second for the United States. However. two other records for the United States were overlooked and this was actually the fourt

Fish and freshwater crayfish communities of the Brunswick and Preston Rivers

The Leschenault Inlet, located on the Swan Coastal Plain near Bunbury, is the estuary of the Brunswick, Collie, Preston and Ferguson Rivers. There is a considerable amount of information detailing the fish fauna of the Leschenault Inlet with Potter et al. (1997, 2000) recording 42 species of fish from 26 families. The estuary is dominated by gobies, atherinids and clupeids which comprised almost 90% of the fishes. Potter et al. (2000) also reported 13 species from gill net captures in the lower (tidal) Collie River. Neither of these studies reported on the fishes found within the freshwaters of the Leschenault Inlet catchment and although Pen & Potter (1990, 1991a, b, c, d, 1992) conducted biological studies on a number of native and introduced freshwater fishes in the upper Collie River by, there is no published information regarding the prevailing fishes (or freshwater crayfishes) of the Brunswick or Preston Rivers. Hale et al. (2000) reported on the fish fauna of one site in the upper Brunswick River, near the confluence with the Augustus River, one site in the Augustus River and two sites in the Ernest River. While they recorded only two species of freshwater fish from the Ernest River (i.e. Western Pygmy Perch (Edelia vittata) and Nightfish (Bostockia porosa)), they captured a further two endemic freshwater fishes from the Augustus and upper Brunswick Rivers (i.e. Western Minnow (Galaxias occidentalis) and Freshwater Cobbler (Tandanus bostocki)) as well as larval (ammocoetes) Pouched Lampreys (Geotria australis) and three introduced fishes (i.e. Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), Brown Trout (Salmo trutta) and Eastern Mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki)). The presence of the larger introduced fishes, the lamprey and the Freshwater Cobbler in the Augustus River compared to the Ernest River was attributed to the provision of environmental water releases from Freshwater Lake. These species are more often associated with permanent waters over ephemeral systems. The distributions of fishes inhabiting the inland waters of the south-western corner of Western Australia were documented in Morgan et al. (1998) and include the systems from Capel to Two People’s Bay east of Albany and thus does not encompass the more northerly Leschenault catchments, but does include some sites on the Collie River South Branch. The aims of the present study were to ameliorate the paucity of knowledge of the fishes and freshwater crayfishes inhabiting two of the major systems flowing into the Leschenault Inlet and thereby provide the Leschenault Catchment Council with an overview of the fishes of the Brunswick and Preston Rivers

The Scope of the Unit Value Problem

This paper investigates the scope of the unit value problem in household level expenditure data. Specifically, to what extent do unit values and prices coincide. I test whether self-reported prices vary with covariates thought to be important in household demand behavior. In addition, I measure the expenditure elasticity of quality for 196 distinct food aggregates. Approximately half of the expenditure elasticities estimated are significantly different from zero, suggesting that unit values and prices do not coincide in most cases. Finally, a generalization of the standard quality demand regression is proposed, in which the expenditure elasticity of quality is allowed to vary over the range of total food expenditure. Some food aggregates display significant nonlinearities, providing further evidence of the difference between prices and unit values.Consumer/Household Economics,

Unit Values

This paper investigates the scope of the unit value problem in household level expenditure survey data. I test whether self-reported prices vary with covariates thought to be important in household demand behavior. The paper then measures expenditure elasticity of quality for 196 different food aggregates. Approximately half of the expenditure elasticities estimated are significantly different from zero. Finally, a generalization of the standard quality demand regression is proposed, in which the expenditure elasticity of quality is allowed to vary over the range of total food expenditure. Some food aggregates display significant nonlinearities.Consumer/Household Economics,

Industrial Property Institutions, Patenting, and Technology Investment in Spain and Mexico, c. 1820-1914.

This paper explores the nature and implications of nineteenth century patent law in two late-industrializing countries: Spain and Mexico. Both inherited earlier ancien regime monopoly practices, both adopted aspects of modern, codified patent systems in the early nineteenth century, and both sought primarily to encourage innovation and especially the introduction of foreign techniques. Mexico, however, abandoned this orientation in 1890 in favor of an emphasis on supporting inventive activity while Spain retained this orientation until recently. After presenting an overview of the conceptual and historical issues regarding comparative patent systems in section one; section two compares the nature of the Spanish and Mexican systems in the nineteenth century; while sections three and four examine the implications of patent law: its impact on trends in patenting behavior and —more tentatively— its probable consequences for investment in technological change.Spain and Mexico Economic History; Patents; Technological Change; Technology Transfer.