Thomas W. Roberts

The SSR System 7: A general encoding system with computerized transcription

This report provides an overview of the wide variety of research problems to which the SSR System is being applied and outlines some of the changes in the system that these new challenges have brought about.

Sweet taste in the calf: III. Behavioral responses to sweeteners

The hedonic response to the sweeteners acesulfame-K, aspartame, fructose, galactose, glucose, glycine, lactose, maltose, Na-saccharine, sucrose, and xylitol was recorded in five groups of 4-16-week-old calves. The compounds were presented to the calves for 12 or 24 h in two-bottle preference tests with tap water as one choice. Glycine (10 mM and higher), sucrose (20 mM and higher), and fructose concentrations were most preferred. Sodium-saccharine was highly preferred at and above 4 mM concentration, fructose and lactose were preferred above 40 mM, galactose was preferred moderately, acesulfame-K and maltose were preferred inconsistently, and aspartame and xylitol were not preferred at any concentration. The change of preference during the tests was also studied. Three types of consumption changes were observed. 1) Increased preference of the tastant during consumption, seen during sucrose and, to lesser a extent, fructose consumption. 2) Initial high preference for the tastants, diminishing during the test period, observed with fructose, galactose, glucose, glycine, lactose, and maltose. 3) Initial large fluctuations in consumption from the two bottles, but no change in overall preference. This pattern was seen with xylitol and aspartame. This technique seems to offer a method to assess the long-term preference for a compound within one relatively short two-bottle preference session.

Effect of Guided Practice on Overhand-Throw Ball Velocities of Kindergarten Children

Abstract Forty-five children from two intact kindergartens in one school were randomly assigned by sex to (a) an experimental group which received a movement program that included 120 min of guided practice in the overhand throw; or (b) a control group which received the same movement program but no exposure to the throw. A third group (N = 24), randomly selected by sex from a comparable school, received no movement program. Before and after the eight-week instructional period, ten trials of each childs overhand throw for force were filmed. Horizontal ball velocities were simultaneously recorded. ANOVAs on pre- and posttest ball velocities for each sex within each treatment group revealed no significant practice effect over ten trials (p > .05); thus, the trial mean was used as each subjects score. Two-way ANOVAs (treatment X sex) on the pre- and posttest data indicated no significant velocity differences (p > .05) between groups either before or after instruction. Boys had significantly greater velocit...

Incident Light Velocimetry

A velocimeter employing secondary emission photomultipliers has been described. A softball or other light colored object is detected against a black background under room ambient light conditions. The throwing field is triangular with a useable area of approximately 30 ft2.

A VERSATILE BIOLOGICAL AMPLIFIER

A biological amplifier using N-channel and complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices has been described. Its high input impedance and excellent common mode rejection ratio suit it well to surface and wire EMG research. Its low cost and ease of assembly make it a desirable choice for student use.