Electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings were made while 16 participants performed versions of a personal-computer-based flight simulation task of low, moderate, or high difficulty. As task difficulty increased, frontal midline theta EEG activity increased and alpha band activity decreased. A participant-specific function that combined multiple EEG features to create a single load index was derived from a sample of each participant's data and then applied to new test data from that participant. Index values were computed for every 4 s of task data. Across participants, mean task load index values increased systematically with increasing task difficulty and differed significantly between the different task versions. Actual or potential applications of this research include the use of multivariate EEG-based methods to monitor task loading during naturalistic computer-based work.

In an urban population, overweight and obesity are very common as is food insecurity. We found an association between food insecurity and obesity only among women not receiving food assistance suggesting a possible protective role for food assistance. Providers should consider food insecurity in similar populations when trying to address obesity.

SummaryA procedure is described for the analysis of I × J × K cross-classifications. This includes 1. selecting the appropriate model by iterative proportional fitting of the data to relevant configurations of log-linear models; 2. assumptions underlying reduction of three-way tables to two dimensions; 3. the Mantel-Haenszel statistic with reference to its relation to log-linear models.The methods are applied to a data set based on a study recently conducted at the Cancer Control Centre, Kuwait to investigate the relation between allergy and cancer. It was concluded that the allergy rate is significantly lower in the cancer group which suggests that allergy could be a protective factor against cancer.