About the TASMAC

Purpose of the TASMAC

This macro was developed to facilitate the processing and interpretation of data from the Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring (SCRAM) bracelet, from Alcohol Monitoring Systems.  Our goal was to incorporate established criteria for detecting alcohol consumption using the SCRAM with other features into a tool that automates the complex functions and calculations needed for working with transdermal sensor data.  The TASMAC also incorporates the BrAC Estimator, developed at the University of Southern California by Dr. Gary Rosen and Dr. Susan Luczak, which estimates breath alcohol concentration from detected transdermal alcohol episodes.

How the TASMAC Works

The TASMAC is an Excel macro that once installed in Excel, reads data from a SCRAM bracelet data file and interprets it based on default criteria or criteria the user provides for detecting alcohol use episodes.  After identifying episodes, the TASMAC calculates values for the user, including episode and time-based (i.e., day, week, etc.) transdermal alcohol concentration (TAC) values, area under the curve (to reflect volume of alcohol consumed), episode length, and absorption and elimination rates.  The BrAC Estimator uses the TAC data provided by the user and population parameters to estimate breath alcohol concentration.  Graphs, reports, and data in various formats are available for export.

TASMAC Features

  1.  Identifies alcohol consumption episodes using established criteria or user-defined criteria.
  2. Calculates several episode and time-based (i.e., day, week, etc.) summary statistics, including  average and peak transdermal alcohol concentration (TAC), episode length, absorption and elimination rates, and area under the curve. 
  3. Provides estimates of breath alcohol concentration using the BrAC Estimator software.
  4. Incorporates information from Alcohol Monitoring Systems reports (confirmable alcohol episodes and tampers).
  5. Provides meaningful values for clinical research, including longest number of days with no alcohol detected.
  6. Provides default settings based on empirical research, warnings about data anomalies, status and error logs, and visual plots of data.  
  7. Provides considerable flexibility to allow for user exploration and review of data, and has interactive graphing features.
  8. Provides downloads of the TASMAC reports and data output in various formats for analysis.