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2 p.; International audience

1 p.; International audience

6 photos demonstrate the use of hand and stick puppets in India to teach modern concepts of family planning by traditional means. UNESCO produced a film called "Popular Traditions" as part of a series of 3, available in French, English and Spanish.

The language and psychology of the contraception consultation are categorized and discussed. Patients have a range of dialects depending on their education, just as physicians gave several dialects depending on whether they are speaking academically with colleagues, in consultation with patients, or in private with their own sex partners. The 3 typical kinds of patients are the initiators who request contraception, the majority who are ambivalent, and those who refuse to use contraception. The 1st group would simply say "I want no more children"; the second might choose an efficient method but not buy the prescription and then say "I don't know how I became pregnant"; the 3rd group are often young people who equate contraception with bourgeois behavior. They refuse to put any limit or price on their pleasure. There are also patients who perceive contraception as a magic cure-all. The doctor should not speak too pedantically or naively but try to convey to his patient that medical consultation is a serious effort in which the equality of doctor and patient is confirmed.

The author reports on the practice and education of family planning in the Peoples' Republic of China, based on yearly visits since 1956. The chief institutions encouraging use of contraception are the Federation of Women, founded in 1950 to promote female emancipation and equality; the Council of Family Planning established after the Cultural Revolution to reach each individual; the "barefoot doctors" who dispense contraceptives; and the committees of mature mothers organized since 1972 to persuade other married women. The communes and factories followed through with concrete help for women such as nurseries and reminders to take contraceptive pills. Perhaps the most important influence is the heroic examples of couples who postpone marriage, childbearing and even have abortions to lower birth rates within their street organizations. The essence of the Chinese strategy, according to the authors, is respect for human factors, feeling, tradition, continuing educational process, and above all, absence of any feeling of crisis or Authoritarian methods.

Perception of landscapes. The geographer is trained for a scientific perception of landscapes. Is he always aware that most observers perceive a landscape very differently than he does ? Indeed, any perception implies a reference system. How can the geographer communicate to others his system of perception ? How do others react to a landscape ? However low the educational level, personal sensitiveness is not the only factor intervening in perception. Many cultural messages and group variables are also reflected in this perception., Le géographe est habitué à une perception scientifique, instruite, des paysages. A-t-il conscience toujours que la majeure partie de ceux qui regardent un paysage n'y voient pas du tout ce qu'il voit ? Toute perception implique, en effet, un système de références. Comment le géographe peut-il communiquer aux autres son système de perception ? Comment les autres réagissent-ils devant un paysage ? Si faible soit leur niveau d'instruction, ils ne sont pas laissés seulement à leur sensibilité propre. Bien des messages culturels, bien des variables catégorielles se projettent sur cette perception., Rochefort RenéeRochefort Renée. La perception des paysages. In: L'Espace géographique, tome 3, n°3, 1974. pp. 205-209.

In 1970 Ghana instituted a family planning program intended to provide information and services to all in need in order to foster economic development and social welfare. The population is small, but growing at 3% per year, with 4000 maternal deaths and 40,000 infant deaths per year due to high numbers of pregnancies per woman. Executive director A. A. Armar stated in his first annual report that 140 clinics have been started, and almost 70% of these are functioning regularly. Over 2000 merchants market contraceptive products. Almost 46,000 persons use contraception, increasing 2500-3000 per month. The program relies financially on all available sources, such as Planned Parenthood Association, the Christian Council of Ghana, and the Trades Union Congress. Public education is being launched by films, brochures, posters, cartoon, and theater to overcome fears of foreign influence, moral corruption, and loss of traditions.

2 p.; International audience

The distribution of the Falanouc Eupleres goudotii, an endemic species of Carnivore from Madagascar, is discussed. The two recognized subspecies are restricted to the forested areas of the Eastern (E.g. goudotii) and North Western (E. g. major) coasts. Both are mainly found in wet areas. Details of the behavioural repertoire are given for eight specimens kept in captivity. Falanoucs are terrestrial carnivores, nocturnal in habits, feeding mainly on earthworms. When they feel «insecure», they can stay motionless for more than one hour instead of fleeing. When directly threatened they first tend to use their claws rather than their small teeth to defend themselves ; yet, gaping is still used when they threaten a conspecific. Falanoucs have fixed defecation points, always located far from their resting places. In autumn (May) up to 800 g of fat can be stored in the tail of the male. Mating probably takes place in July or August, and the one birth observed was in November. The new-born is laid on bare ground, no nest being built. When one month old, the young can climb up to five feet on a tree stump to spend part of the night alone — a feat never performed by an adult. Weaning is rapid, but takes place at about 9 weeks of age. The first marking with peri-anal glands was observed when the young was 78 days old., Albignac Roland. Observations éco-éthologiques sur le genre Eupleres, Viverride de Madagascar. In: La Terre et La Vie, Revue d'Histoire naturelle, tome 28, n°3, 1974. pp. 321-351.

Previous experiments showed that, in a serial responding task, RTs to repeated signals are longer than RTs to new signals. The influence of S-R relationships on this phenomenon was examined. In Experiment I, 9 Ss gave 550 responses under each of 3 S-R conditions in a 2-choice task with a spatial display. RTs to both repeated and new signals were significantly (.01) affected by the conditions, but covariance analysis shows that the effect is significantly (.05) larger on RTs to new signals. These results are fully confirmed by Experiment II where 33 Ss, after prolonged practice on a 4-choice task with a numerical display, under a staightforward S-R pairing, did 4 short runs of 50 responses under the saime pairing and then under a less compatible one., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Family planning in People's Republic of China between 1956 to 1970 has been marked by rapid change and total interrelation with the political and social developments. Since 1949, the Communist government has taken several measures to protect the mother and child. The campaign for family planning was started in 1956 by public meetings, posters, lectures with films, and an extensive distribution of contraceptive means. However, in 1965 there were still 2 trends among women: 1, based on tradition, supported the idea that a large number of children was a source of honor, prosperity and security; the other taking hold among younger women was in favor of family planning. The rural population was the latest to start practicing family planning. In 1963 a movement of socialist education was launched together with the formation of mobile medical teams to inform and educate people all over the country and to make known the various forms available for family planning. The contraceptive methods used included: male and female sterilisation (vasectomy for men and tube ligation for women), IUD, and condom; abortion, legal for women who already had children or if it was necessary for the mother's health; and oral contraceptives, which were produced in China. Medical services were reorganized and teams of "bare-foot doctors" were sent all over China. They lectured on health measures and fertility regulation. Intellectuals were sent to live in villages and exchange their knowledge with that of the peasants and workers. The tendency has been to limit the number of children to 2 or 3. The young people are recommended to postpone their marriage, women till they are 25, men till later. Nationally produced contraceptive means are being experimented with such as herbs, or a new intrauterine plastic device called "flower". The regions with national minorities like Tibet, the Inner Mongolia and Sinkiang had been under underpopulated and therefore population growth has been encouraged mainly by trying to irradicate diseases.