Evaluating reduced-form modeling tools for simulating ozone and PM2.5 monetized health impacts.

Reduced-form modeling approaches are an increasingly popular way to rapidly estimate air quality and human health impacts related to changes in air pollutant emissions. These approaches reduce computation time by making simplifying assumptions about pollutant source characteristics, transport and chemistry. Two reduced form tools used by the Environmental Protection Agency in recent assessments are source apportionment-based benefit per ton (SA BPT) and source apportionment-based air quality surfaces (SABAQS). In this work, we apply these two reduced form tools to predict changes in ambient summer-season ozone, ambient annual PM2.5 component species and monetized health benefits for multiple sector-specific emission control scenarios: on-road mobile, electricity generating units (EGUs), cement kilns, petroleum refineries, and pulp and paper facilities. We then compare results against photochemical grid and standard health model-based estimates. We additionally compare monetized PM2.5 health benefits to values derived from three reduced form tools available in the literature: the Intervention Model for Air Pollution (InMAP), Air Pollution Emission Experiments and Policy Analysis (APEEP) version 2 (AP2) and Estimating Air pollution Social Impact Using Regression (EASIUR). Ozone and PM2.5 changes derived from SABAQS for EGU scenarios were well-correlated with values obtained from photochemical modeling simulations with spatial correlation coefficients between 0.64 and 0.89 for ozone and between 0.75 and 0.94 for PM2.5. SABAQS ambient ozone and PM2.5 bias when compared to photochemical modeling predictions varied by emissions scenario: SABAQS PM2.5 changes were overpredicted by up to 46% in one scenario and underpredicted by up to 19% in another scenario; SABAQS seasonal ozone changes were overpredicted by 34% to 83%. All tools predicted total PM2.5 benefits within a factor of 2 of the full-form predictions consistent with intercomparisons of reduced form tools available in the literature. As reduced form tools evolve, it is important to continue periodic comparison with comprehensive models to identify systematic biases in estimating air pollution impacts and resulting monetized health benefits.

The mismatch effect: when testosterone and status are at odds.

Why do some people strive for high status, whereas others actively avoid it? In the present studies, the authors examined the psychological and physiological consequences of a mismatch between baseline testosterone and a person's current level of status. The authors tested this mismatch effect by placing high and low testosterone individuals into high or low status positions using a rigged competition. In Study 1, low testosterone participants reported greater emotional arousal, focused more on their status, and showed worse cognitive functioning in a high status position. High testosterone participants showed this pattern in a low status position. In Study 2, the emotional arousal findings were replicated with heart rate, and the cognitive findings were replicated using a math test. In Study 3, the authors demonstrate that testosterone is a better predictor of behavior than self-report measures of the need for dominance. Discussion focuses on the value of measuring hormones in personality and social psychology.

Tempting today, troubling tomorrow: the roots of the precarious couple effect.

The precarious couple effect occurs when men pair with women who are both critical and more verbally disinhibited than them. Evidence that dissatisfaction runs high in such relationships makes one ask why people enter them in the first place. In Study 1, respondents recalled that past partners who were verbally disinhibited were relatively active in initiating the relationship. In Study 2, verbally inhibited men evidenced ambivalence in that they disliked disinhibited women more than inhibited ones but these feelings of disliking did not translate into expectations of feeling tense during the interaction. Study 3 revealed that initial interactions between inhibited men and disinhibited women go smoothly unless (a) the women are critical and (b) the pair discusses a stressful topic. The authors suggest that members of precarious couples are drawn to one another because, in initial encounters, their communication styles are relatively symbiotic. Alas, this initial chemistry does not always endure.

Testosterone, cognition, and social status.

What leads some people to perform better than others on certain cognitive tasks? One explanation involves individual differences in testosterone. Testosterone is associated with higher performance on spatial tests, and lower performance on verbal tests. However, a large literature suggests that testosterone only predicts behavior when status is in jeopardy. In the present study, we manipulated status before administering a spatial and verbal test. In a high-status position, high-testosterone individuals performed well on both tests, and blood pressure dropped. In a low-status position, high-testosterone individuals performed relatively poorly on both tests, and blood pressure did not change. These data suggest that differences in cognitive performance stem from an interaction between testosterone and the social situation.

Use of a short-term inpatient model to evaluate aberrant behavior: outcome data summaries from 1996 to 2001.

Previous outcome studies have provided descriptions of functional analyses conducted in outpatient clinics (Derby et al., 1992), long-term inpatient programs (Iwata, Pace, et al., 1994), and home environments (Wacker et al., 1998). This study provides a description of 138 children and adults with and without developmental disabilities who were evaluated and treated for aberrant behaviors on a short-term inpatient unit. The results indicated that the functional analyses conducted during a short-term inpatient evaluation were successful for 96% of the participants in identifying maintaining reinforcers of aberrant behavior and leading to an 80% or greater reduction in aberrant behavior for 76% of the participants in an average of 10 days.