No abstract

Comprehensive programs in the health care setting can increase identification of victims of domestic abuse. This descriptive report provides a greater understanding of victims of domestic abuse, their presentation in the medical setting, their motivation for accepting referral, and issues which affect their recovery. Links between health care and community resources are necessary for effective intervention.

Differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) and noncontingent reinforcement were compared as control procedures during the modification of a 3-yr-old preschooler's compliance. The recorded reinforcer was teacher proximity (within 3 ft (0.9 m) of the subject for at least 5 sec) which was often accompanied by positive verbal comments that varied in content across experimental conditions. The verbal content during contingent reinforcement might have been: "Thank you for picking up the blocks"; during noncontingent reinforcement: "You're wearing a pretty dress"; and during DRO: "I don't blame you for not picking up because it isn't any fun". Contingent reinforcement increased compliance in all manipulation conditions. Noncontingent reinforcement decreased compliance during two reversal conditions. However, the behavior was variable and did not decrease to the low levels reached during the two DRO reversals.DESCRIPTORS: compliance, DRO, noncontingent reinforcement, operant, reversals, teacher behaviorIn addition to extinction, both noncontingent reinforcement and differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) have been used as control procedures for evaluating reinforcementbased behavior-modification techniques. For example, Azrin, Rubin, O'Brien, Ayllon, and Roll (1968), Buell, Stoddard, Harris, and Baer (1968), Miller and Miller (1970, Phillips (1968), Siegel, Lenske, andBroen (1969) of special-education students, implemented DRO to decrease further the behavior in the reversal.These applied studies did not compare the two procedures in terms of how rapidly the response decreased or how durable was its elimination. Although Peterson et al. (1971) used both noncontingent reinforcement and DRO for a reversal, they did not directly compare the two as control procedures. Instead, after a baseline and a treatment condition, they first used noncontingent reinforcement for a reversal and then immediately reduced the target behavior even further by implementing DRO. That sequence of two conditions prevents their direct comparison for efficiency, rapidity, or durability of response elimination. DRO may have seemed more effective in these ways because of its interaction with the weakening already produced by the preceding noncontingent reinforcement. That is, DRO was applied to a lower rate of behavior than was noncontingent reinforcement.In two animal studies, response elimination during DRO was compared with that during extinction. Uhl and Garcia (1969) (SPRING 1975)

This Monograph reports the results of teaching preschool teachers to be successful at increasing desired behaviors of their children, thus becoming successful teachers. Five teacher-training techniques were examined experimentally under single-subject designs: written assignments, feedback from viewing graphs, on-the-spot feedback from a wireless radio (Bug-in-the-Ear), feedback from an observer, and self-counting. Those teaching procedures that included prompt and frequent information to the teacher about the behavior under study were the most effective techniques. Self-counting, in which the teacher tallied the number of times she emitted the behavior of either priming or reinforcing social or verbal behavior of a child (or children), and observer feedback, in which the observer reported to the teacher periodically during the hour the frequency of her behavior, were the most reliable teaching techniques. The other procedures, while less reliable than self-counting and observer feedback, were effective with some teachers. Maintenance of teacher behavior across settings was examined with a group of Head Start teachers, and maintenance of teacher behaviors across different child behaviors and different children was examined with three student teachers. The results indicated that teaching was more likely to maintain if it occurred in the teacher's home setting rather than at another site. In all cases, when generalization occurred across settings, time, or children, the frequency of the teacher's behavior was not as high as when the relevant behavior had been trained directly. Results supported the proposal that it is possible to define effective teacher behavior, not just characterize it, as it occurs in the classroom, and that effectiveness can be measured by defining and observing the child behaviors to which teacher behaviors are directed.

The risk associated with the Chernobyl fallout is the product of radiation dose and risk factor per dose unit. The radiation doses originate from inhalation of radioactive particles, ground irradiation from deposited nuclides and internal irradiation caused by contaminated food. In Sweden the largest dose contribution is due to external radiation. The deposition has been mapped by aerial measurements and in situ high-resolution gamma measurements at ground level over the whole country. On the basis of these measurements, population-weighted doses for external radiation have been estimated. Whole-body measurements on randomly selected individuals have been performed in order to estimate the average dose from internal irradiation. The collective dose, i.e. the sum of all individual doses, has been estimated to be about 1500 man-Sievert for the first year after Chernobyl and 5000-7000 man-Sievert for a 50-year period. Using a risk factor of 0.02 fatal cancers per man-Sievert the Chernobyl fallout over Sweden might cause 100-200 fatal cancers.