Awareness intervention: who needs it?

It is widely accepted that awareness deficits present challenges to recovery and should be addressed as part of rehabilitation programming. Response to awareness intervention is commonly inferred from measurements that rely on reports by subjects and significant others. This article describes the findings from a pilot study that examined the relationship among a variety of awareness indicators in three individuals with brain damage over a 9-month period. Results suggest a dissociation between behavioral and perceptual indices of awareness. Changes in behavioral indicators of awareness selected by caregivers were not related to changes in self- or caregiver ratings. The clinical and research implications of the findings are discussed.     

Pulse trimming of thin-film resistors

Resistivity decreases can be induced in Cr-SiO films by current pulses of short duration. Precision resistance measurements between pulses permit trimming of film resistors to 0.1 percent in less than one second, provided pulse power, duration, and frequency are adjusted properly. A trimmer system that contacts several resistors through multiple probes and controls the process through a paper-tape reader is described. Pulse trimming has been applied to film resistors ranging from pure Cr up to Cr-40 mole % SiO. After annealing at 400°C, additional resistance decreases of at least 20 percent are possible with all compositions containing SiO. The interval between 15 and 30 mole % SiO is most suitable because substantial resistance changes are obtained at pulse powers well below the limits at which resistors burn out.     

Defect size distribution in VLSI chips

Very large scale integration (VLSI) patterns consisting of parallel lines of polycrystalline Si have been fabricated and electrically tested for shorts. The number of observed shorts was related to the line spacings by using an analytical model for defect-sensitive pattern areas. It was found that the simple defect size distribution function h(x)=k×x ^-n used previously with values of n around three, projects that total number of shorts arising from a given defect density with reasonable accuracy. However, actual defect size distributions observed microscopically are bimodal or multimodal. This complication has only a minor influence on the results projected by the model because the smaller defects are more numerous than the larger ones that make up the secondary distributions     

Improvement during baseline: three case studies encouraging collaborative research when evaluating caregiver training

The trend in cognitive rehabilitation toward reduced services, which provide more functionally relevant outcomes and the recognition of limited maintenance and generalization with many existing interventions, challenges current research models. There is a need to develop and evaluate interventions that can be implemented by persons other than rehabilitation professionals and that are well suited to naturalistic settings. The researchers responded to these challenges by designing a series of single subject experiments evaluating the effectiveness of training caregivers to provide appropriate cognitive support to persons with brain injury within their own natural living environments. The goal of the original research project included evaluating a collaborative mode of interaction with the subjects and their support persons (as opposed to traditional directive treatment models) where the caregivers and subjects were instrumental in designing the intervention and collective performance data. This paper presents the data from the initial three subject/caregiver groups all of whom demonstrated improvement in the target behaviours during the baseline period. It appeared that the act of measuring client performance changed the behaviours of the support persons and resulted in positive changes in baseline levels. The research and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Keeping baby safe: A randomized trial of a parent training program for infant and toddler motor vehicle injury prevention

Motor vehicle crashes are responsible for much death and disability among infants and toddlers. This study evaluated Keeping Baby Safe In and Around the Car, a multimedia DVD designed to improve knowledge about car seat installation among parents of infants and toddlers. The randomized controlled trial was conducted with 195 parents of children aged 0–24 months. Effective car seat use was evaluated via a written knowledge quiz and car seat simulation. Results from analyses of covariance models show that posttest scores for the intervention condition were significantly higher than those of the control condition on both knowledge and car seat simulation measures. The results, consistent across outcome measures and regardless of child age, suggest that viewing the Keeping Baby Safe In and Around the Car DVD resulted in significant gains in parents’ car seat knowledge and their ability to discriminate the critical elements of correct car seat installation. Dissemination of engaging multimedia DVDs such as this program might reduce motor vehicle crash-related injuries to infants and toddlers.