  Within the relativistic PWIA, spin observables have been recalculated for
quasielastic ($\vec p,\vec p '$) and ($\vec p,\vec n$) reactions on a $^{40}$Ca
target. The incident proton energy ranges from 135 to 300 MeV while the
transferred momentum is kept fixed at 1.97 fm^{-1}. In the present
calculations, new Horowitz-Love--Franey relativistic NN amplitudes have been
generated in order to yield improved and more quantitative spin observable
values than before. The sensitivities of the various spin observables to the NN
interaction parameters, such as (1) the presence of the surrounding nuclear
medium, (2) a pseudoscalar versus a pseudovector interaction term, and (3)
exchange effects, point to spin observables which should preferably be measured
at certain laboratory proton energies, in order to test current nuclear models.
This study also shows that nuclear medium effects become more important at
lower proton energies ($\leq$ 200 MeV). A comparison to the limited available
data indicates that the relativistic parametrization of the NN scattering
amplitudes in terms of only the five Fermi invariants (the SVPAT form) is
questionable.
