Women and children during Aldermaston Peace march 1965

Women and children with placards and banners during Aldermaston Peace march 1965. The march covered the distance between Ipswich and Brisbane, Australia, walked in relays covering approximately two miles each. Most relay sections were sponsored by one or more individual organisations.

Reducing problem behavior during care-giving in families of preschool-aged children with developmental disabilities

This study evaluated two variants of a behavioral parent training program known as Stepping Stones Triple P (SSTP) using 74 preschool-aged children with developmental disabilities. Families were randomly allocated to an enhanced parent training intervention that combined parenting skills and care-giving coping skills (SSTP-E), standard parent training intervention alone (SSTP-S) or waitlist control (WL) condition. At post-intervention, both programs were associated with lower levels of observed negative child behavior, reductions in the number of care-giving settings where children displayed problem behavior, and improved parental competence and satisfaction in the parenting role as compared with the waitlist condition. Gains attained at post-intervention were maintained at 1-year follow-up. Both interventions produced significant reductions in child problem behavior, with 67% of children in the SSTP-E and 77% of children in the SSTPS showing clinically reliable change from pre-intervention to follow-up. Parents reported a high level of satisfaction with both interventions.

Young parents with children during Aldermaston Peace march in 1964

Young parents with children during Aldermaston Peace march, Sunday, April 5th 1964. The Aldermaston march covered the distance between Ipswich and Brisbane, Australia, walked in relays covering approximately two miles each. Most relay sections were sponsored by one or more individual organisations.

Economic, social and cultural influences on the status and wellbeing of Indian rural wives

Examines the status and well being of wives in rural India using results from interviews. Surveys were conducted in three villages in the southwest of West Bengal and in three villages in the west of Orissa. The survey in West Bengal contained a large proportion of Santal tribals and the Oriyan survey was dominated by Kondh tribals. The relationships between variables representing economic, social and cultural factors are compared with ‘dependent’ variables representing the status of wives within their family and their wellbeing. Wellbeing is indicated by whether the basic needs of wives for food and medical care are met. Status of wives is indicated by their ‘control’ over family resources, whether or not they are restricted in joining social groups and in working outside their home, and the extent of their involvement in family decision-making. Cultural factors are found to be the dominant influence on the status of wives. Family income and other economic factors are found to be associated cross sectionally with greater restrictions on wives within their family. Nevertheless, the higher in the economic status of the household, the more likely are the basic needs of wives to be met.

Evolutionary distinctiveness and status of the endangered Lake Eacham rainbowfish (Melanotaenia eachamensis)

The Lake Eacham rainbowfish (Melanotaenia eachamensis) was declared extinct in the wild in the late 1980s after it disappeared from its only known locality, an isolated crater lake in northeast Queensland. Doubts have been raised about whether this taxon is distinct from surrounding populations of the eastern rainbowfish (Melanotaenia splendida splendida). We examined the evolutionary distinctiveness of M. eachamensis, obtained from captive stocks, relative to M. s. splendida through analysis of variation in mtDNA sequences, nuclear microsatellites, and morphometric characters Captive M. eachamensis had mtDNAs that were highly divergent from those in most populations of M. s. splendida. A broader geographic survey using RFLPs revealed some populations initially identified as M. s. splendida, that carried eachamensis mtDNA, whereas some others had mixtures of eachamensis and splendida mtDNA. The presence of eachamensis-like mtDNA in these populations could in principle be due to (1) sorting of ancestral polymorphisms, (2) introgression of M. eachamensis mtDNA into M. s. splendida, or (3) incorrect species boundaries, such that some populations currently assigned to M. s. splendida are M. eachamensis or are mixtures of the two species. These alternatives hypotheses were evaluated through comparisons of four nuclear microsatellite loci and morphometrics and meristics. In analyses of both data sets, populations of M. s. splendida with eachamensis mtDNA were more similar to captive M. eachamensis than to M. s. splendida with splendida mtDNA, supporting hypothesis 3. These results are significant for the management of M. eachamensis in several respects. First the combined molecular and morphological evidence indicates that M. eachamensis is a distinct species and a discrete evolutionarily significant unit worthy of conservation effort. Second it appears that the species boundary between M. eachamensis and M. s. splendida has been misdiagnosed such that there are extant populations on the Atherton Tableland as well as areas where both forms coexist. Accordingly we suggest that M. eachamensis be listed as vulnerable, rather than critical (or extinct in the wild). Third, the discovery of extant but genetically divergent populations of M. eachamensis on the Atherton Tableland broadens the options for future reintroductions to Lake Eacham.