Hillary Katz

Effects of Undernutrition at Different Ages Early in Life and Later Environmental Complexity on Parameters of the Cerebrum and Hippocampus in Rats

Journal of Nutrition, Jul 1, 1982

Nutritional deprivation at different stages of development in rats was shown to cause reductions ... more Nutritional deprivation at different stages of development in rats was shown to cause reductions in some parameters of the cerebrum that could not be reversed by an extended period of adequate feeding. The deficits varied in magnitude, depending on whether undernutrition occurred during the suckling period alone or was combined with additional deprivation either before birth or after weaning. Whereas the weight, length, and width of the cerebrum were affected significantly by undernutrition at every age, effects on the thickness of the cortex and hippocampus were associated only with the combined pre- and postnatal deprivation. The deficits in weight, length, and cortical thickness could be modified later by housing in enriched and impoverished environments for 30 days. The previously undernourished rats responded similarly to environmental complexity regardless of the age at which they had been deprived, and their responses did not differ significantly from those of well fed controls. The degree to which enrichment can be said to have reduced deficits arising from undernutrition depends on the relative size of the nutritional and environmental effects on the particular parameters in question and on the choice of a &quot;normal&#39; baseline against which to assess recovery.

Optimal approaches to the quality control checking of product labels

International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, Nov 1, 2018

Quality control checkers at fresh produce packaging facilities occasionally fail to detect incorr... more Quality control checkers at fresh produce packaging facilities occasionally fail to detect incorrect information presented on labels. Despite being infrequent, such errors have significant financial and environmental repercussions. To understand why label-checking errors occur, observations and interviews were undertaken at a large packaging facility and followed up with a laboratorybased label-checking task. The observations highlighted the dynamic, complex environment in which label-checking took place, whilst the interviews revealed that operatives had not received formal training in label-checking. On the laboratory-based task, overall error detection accuracy was high but considerable individual differences were found between professional labelcheckers. Response times were shorter when participants failed to detect label errors, suggesting incomplete checking or ineffective checking strategies. Furthermore, eye movement recordings indicated that checkers who adopted a systematic approach to checking were more successful in detecting errors. The extent to which a label checker adopted a systematic approach was not found to correlate with the number of years of experience that they had accrued in labelchecking. To minimize the chances of label errors going undetected, explicit instruction and training, personnel selection and/or the use of software to guide performance towards a more systematic approach is recommended.

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