Search

This study seeks to assess the extent to which die digital book market is structuring independently from the print edition market by comparing the pricing of 559 digital and print French and American bestsellers during 2011. Two pricing methods are distinguished: "homothetic pricing," where the digital pricing is a reflection of the print pricing, and "heterothetic pricing," where the digital price is set according to new rules. The French and American markets do not have the same propensity to overcome the pricing practices in the print book market: While the French market's e-book structure is mirroring that of the print book industry, die American market tends to be more independent. This can be explained by die significant structural, legal, and institutional differences between the publishing industries of both countries. In addition, some factors favor die "heterothetic" pricing method: the number of pages and the type of book influence the degree of differentiation between print and digital prices of the same title [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excessive axillary sweating is a frequent reason for seeking consultation in aesthetic medicine. Botulic toxin therapies have been used for years for this condition. A microwave-based treatment (MiraDry®) has been used in France since 2011. We present the case of a patient who developed complications following such a treatment for excessive axillary sweating, namely dermal detachment, subcutaneous collections, dermal thickening, retractile scars responsible for pain and limitation of axillary amplitudes. These complications mimic the natural evolution of deep axillary burns. In this paper, we propose a management method for patients with this type of complication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper hypothesizes that young people sociolects in sensitive urban cities in contemporary France require a global and multidisciplinary approach to be understood because of their complexity. Based on two linguistic corpora, the article first sets up a general multidisciplinary theoretical framework designed to understand the social environment of the young people in question and then, in a second part, more specifically focused on a sociolinguistic study of the nonstandard varieties of French those young people speak, it attempts to show that those sociolects are emblematic of the social interactions at work in these minority spaces. Both corpora presented are part of an identity construction and of a collective social memory, rooted in sensitive urban cities. They reflect life in segregated cities and in particular the presence of migrant communities. They contribute to the establishment of a process of patrimonialization characterized by otherness, based on a community solidarity and an original form of memory that express a collective experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological Solidarity: a new concept for integrated management of National Parks and territories. Our paper analyses the conceptual basis of the concept of ecological solidarity, a core feature of the 2006 law reforming National Park policy in France. Based on lessons learnt from the original 1960 policy, we show the multidimensional nature of ecological solidarity and how it is based on the recognition of the natural spatial interdependence among natural organisms and their physical environment. This sets the scene for a new vision of nature conservation. Ecological solidarity offers a pragmatic compromise between ecocentric and anthropocentric ethics. We designed a typology of ecological solidarities that integrates the diverse functional aspects of the organization and dynamics of biodiversity at different spatial and temporal scales. This typology departs from the previous model of central and buffer zones and sets protected areas within their wider social and ecological contexts. We outline how this gives sense to the elaboration of ecological networks and to the integrated management of cultural landscapes. Its efficient integration into land plarming and conservation management strategies will require, however, the collective exploration by local communities and stakeholders of the diverse facets of ecological solidarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From 2001 to 2005 some 1360 experts involved in the MA provided a report for policy makers based on their scientific assessment. Since the publication of MA in 2005, the rarely used concept of "ecosystem service" (ES) was thus promoted to a central position in the analysis and formulation of environmental issues. In France, however, this concept appeared later. Our paper contributes to understanding French indifference regarding the concept of ES before the publication of the MA. Whatever their academic or research status or discipline (ecology, biology, economics...), French scientists were not involved in the MA. Yet, some years before the MA they were highly mobilized in the Global Biodiversity Assessment (1993-1995), the previous international assessment of biodiversity. To explain this lack of interest for the MA and ES concept, our paper analyzes the role of the Ministry of Research and Ministry of Environment and shows a structural cleavage between the world of research on the one hand and the world of politics on the other. In addition, the survey showed that the professional culture of French scientists and their strategic interests do not encourage them to actively invest in international assessments such as MA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2007, the French government organized a series of meetings dealing with environment and sustainable development problematics under the title ⪡ Grenelle de l'Environnement ⪢. The conclusions of these meetings were introduced in a new law published in August 2009 (Law N° 2009-967) known as "Grenelle 1". Article 1 requires that the State designs a so-called Sustainable Development National Strategy (SDNS) structured around 9 targets. Target 1 consists in fighting against climate change. The SDNS is used as a basis for the involvement of public and private agencies in this perspective. The struggle against climate change and implementation of sustainable development principles within the agency framework raises a number of practical questions: how are adaptive methods and tools to be developed to help the agency reach a new balance given the environmental, economic and social risks induced by these broad targets? Are there any standards of reference and if not can an innovative approach be developed to support decision-making in situations of uncertainty? How can a management dashboard be developed for a proportional allocation of resources adapted to the various stakeholders and decision levels within the agency? How does one compare actions that can have different impacts in different sub-systems and with different time frameworks? Following a brief historical review of the origin of the challenges of sustainable development and climate change in the introduction part of the paper, we discuss the methodological approach selected and the investigator's intervention program in the first part of the paper. In the second part, we address practical issues for an agency facing the challenges of sustainable development and climate change. To this end we relate the experience of designing a sustainable development framework within a public agency using an organizational approach and a multiple criteria decision aid methodology. Finally, we discuss the decision-makers' choices and the lessons learned by implementing an innovative approach which we set up to face these new challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the case of a village named Lacroix, located in a commune mixte of French East Algeria--La Calle--where many European settlers abandoned their land a few years after obtaining it. In the early 1920s, most of the first settlers put their land up for rent or sale to native people, because they were attracted by Tunisia, the border of which was just next to the village. In the 1950s, only five French families were still living in Lacroix. This movement can be considered as a sort of decolonization, even if this concept must be handled with care. Those migrations were very usual throughout the country at that time, but the case of Lacroix is a good example of a colonization area being recovered by the natives. The analysis of this long and complex process shows how the French authorities tried to retain land, creating inventive strategies for over 20 years. The process was very difficult, however, and finally failed, especially because of the conflicts between the local administration and central authorities. Moreover, the General Government showed no interest in this rural part of the colony, located at the Tunisian border. This case also raises the issue of the influence of local politicians, who managed to be heard over the administrator of the village or the settlers themselves. Finally, this paper discusses the objections that colonization had to face to be efficient while French Algeria was nearing its centennial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, based on a Franco-British workshop, presents definitions, experiences, governance and public participation methods, referring to responsible innovation processes in which the issue of interdisciplinarity plays a central role. The paper describes the advances and limitations of the policy instruments used in different countries for the social management of situations where innovation moves faster than knowledge of its effects. The author's conclusion is that the question of responsible innovation relates in actual fact to that of the trajectory of innovation, which in fine is the concern of citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participation has become a consensual objective. It has been inscribed in different international and national regulatory texts — Rio Summit, Aarhus Convention, French 1995 Environmental Law — and generates a mass of academic work. Nonetheless, existing scientific literature deals little with the categories of "public" involved in the different modes of participation. This paper is based upon the assertion that improved participation requires greater in-depth definition of the targeted public. On the basis of empirical work dealing with social contestation about windfarms, the paper examines the different participating characters and their related spaces as perceived by public and private actors engaged in the development of wind energy production: the diversely defined neighbour — the neighbour as owner, the "oversensitive" neighbour; the (rarely mentioned) citizen; and the emerging local inhabitant. The promises and dangers of this emerging character are discussed: could there be a place in participation for the local inhabitant as a geographical human being — one whose experience of the environment matters, conceived as including both socio-political and sensitive dimensions —, in the current context where primacy is given to private spaces and where a new model of citizenship is created, based no longer on associative forms of interaction but on the right to be left alone and on the right to exclude (Mitchell, 2005)? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In 2007, a daily temperature series, which has been collected from 1885 to 1967 at the Marseilles tide recorder, was published here. Upon the available information provided by the data managing office, they were considered as sea-surface temperatures. Unfortunately they were not but air temperature inside the building. In the present paper, the authors correct this error by studying the true seawater temperature series which had been dug out after the publication of the precedent paper. The study of this slightly shorter series (1895–1956) leads to close conclusions. Along these 61 years, the warming trend of the surface seawater rises to +1.6°C, to +1.3°C if only January to May and December are selected and +2.2°C during the June to November period. In the first half part of the series (1895–1925), the average value of each month distributions (except January) and annual minimal (except 1956) are significantly lower than along the second (1925–1956). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Based on an interdisciplinary analysis associating sociology and biology, this paper studies the social discourses and practices concerning mosquitoes and mosquito pest management in France. The qualitative and quantitative sociological field studies involved two areas, the Rhone river delta and the French alpine valleys. Recalling the anthropocentric heritage of our western societies, our paper shows an evolution, linked to recent social changes, towards more biocentric references, a fact that is noticeable in discourses and attitudes toward mosquitoes. Rather than a radical switch, processes of cohabitation and hybridizing may be observed, combining popular and scientific knowledge, environmental, medical and social issues. The first part of this paper highlights the social and biological relationships between the insect and its habitat, i.e., wetlands. The second part focuses on the forms of articulation between anthropocentrism and biocentrism, especially through the dualism pest/useful insect. The third and last part analyses how the "taxonomic arrangements" between anthropocentrism and biocentrism have triggered an evolution of French public policies regarding mosquito pest management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The paper analyses a list of thirty-four Poles, listeners to the mineralogy lectures given by R.-J. Haüy at MNHN in Paris. These students played an important role in the history of Polish Earth Sciences (S. Staszic and F. Drzewiński), but also in other scientific fields (J. Markowski, I. Abłamowicz, F. Drzewiński, M.A. Pawłowicz, J.K. Skrodzki, E.K. Nowicki), and even in political and cultural life of Poland (A. Downarowicz, J. Weyssenhoff, S. Plater, J. Bieliński, F. Potocki). This paper presents later relations between R.-J. Haüy and his Polish students. A possibility of the Poles'' attendance to mineralogy lectures given at other Parisian scientific institutions, like the ‘École des mines’ and the ‘College de France’, is also discussed. To cite this article: R. Tarkowski, P. Daszkiewicz, C. R. Geoscience 338 (2006). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

From the 1974 "Berg letter" to the petitions « Défendons la recherche » and « Ouvrons la recherche » in 2003, biologists have often alerted -- and been challenged in -- the public arena regarding the risks and stakes of genetic engineering. The paper first compares the scientists' public commitment on GMOs in the 1970's and in recent years. Around 1975, a short-lasting GM controversy arose from the mobilization of young committed biologists. In sharp contrast to this proactive commitment, most of the seven petitions signed by scientists after 1996 were rather reactive and instigated by destructions of GM field trials. These results a re discussed in the wider context of change in the scientists' public commitment since 1968. Among the 3217 signatories of these petitions, a correlation is shown between disciplinary affiliation and public opinion expressed on GM crops. The paper finally shows how the trajectory of the French GM controversy in public arenas has co-evolved with the competition between three epistemic cultures (molecular biology, population biology and farming systems agronomy) in framing GMO risks and biosafety, [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One hundred years after its publication, Émile Durkheim's later sociology of religion continues to exert an enormous inluence on religious studies. Indeed, the impact of The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life has been so pervasive that sociology lost sight of most of the other work done by the L'Année sociologique team in the sociology of religion. The contributions of the collaborators have been really important. This holds true especially for Henri Hubert and Marcel Mauss who played a leading role within the Durkheim-school, particularly with respect to the study of religion. In our paper we would like to show that Hubert and Mauss preigured several of the crucial arguments of Durkheim's later sociology of religion (such as the equation of society and the sacred). In the conclusion, we present Mauss' own evaluation of their collective work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents my contribution to an interdisciplinary study of large landowners in the Camargue initiated by the Tour du Valat Research Centre for the conservation of Mediterranean wetlands. As repositories of a rich natural environment these landowners are the main target of conservation policies in this protected area. To find solutions to halt the loss and degradation of natural habitats, my study aimed initially to assess the gap between the representations and management of biodiversity by the landowners and the type of management advocated by the conservation actors in the Camargue Regional Park. This led to identifying a conflict between the private landowners and public actors of nature conservation regarding the control of the Park, with a resulting serious handicap for an efficient integrated management. In analyzing the conflict, there emerged three profiles of landowner relationship with their land: those who consider it as an economic investment, those who consider it as a farming inheritance, and those who view it essentially as a place for leisure. In conclusion the study showed that despite conflicting positions, a discussion is possible, however, between ecologists and conservation managers on the one hand and some land owners on the other, who for different reasons view their heritage as common heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the adoption of the EU Water Framework Directive in 2000, all European waters are to achieve good ecological status by 2015. The strengthening of water policies involves an increased number of river basin management plans and even of river restoration projects at the local scale. In France the Environment Ministry is promoting a dam removal policy aimed at restoring the ecological continuity of rivers. This policy concerns medium dams and small weirs which were associated with mills. A part of these, however, continue to be used to produce electricity. Simultaneously, river and valley landscapes are drawing new attention involving multiple expectations linked to the valorization of river amenities, which can be at variance with the environmental issue. At local scale, observed conflicts illustrate local water governance difficulties. From the example of river restoration projects which we studied in northwestern France this paper attempts to throw light on different ways and goals of water management. If the regulated river is obsolete, how are rivers to evolve between ecological issues - "wild rivers" - and social objectives - "living rivers" -? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population around the French nuclear power plant sites: a key-parameter for crisis management and safety economics. This paper undertakes an analysis of population around the French nuclear power plant sites, tackles the problem of evacuation planning and provides a glimpse into ongoing research at the Laboratory of Nuclear Safety Economics of the IRSN, about the cost assessment of a nuclear accident and long-term land contamination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Albert Rakoto Ratsimamanga arrived in France with the Malagasy delegation to the Colonial Exposition of 1931. The founder of the Association des Étudiants d'origine malgache (1934) and of the Mouvement démocratique pour la Rénovation de Madagascar (1946), he was a physician and a biologist, and he joined the Centre national de la Recherche Scientiique (CNRS) as a senior researcher, pursuing his scientific career and his nationalistic involvement in the postwar Paris of the 1950s. He was the first ambassador of the Malagasy Republic to France, for 13 years, before he returned to settle permanently in Madagascar in 1975. The transversality of his life course can be interpreted along several lines: chronologic straddling of this diasporic projection with political independence, loyalty to an aristocratic ethos with a progressive rallying to a republican conception of citizenship, and imperial circulation of knowledge attested to by the foundation of the Institut malgache de Recherches appliquées in 1957. Moreover, the paper points out the heuristic significance of the memorialization of his part as the nation's father, standing up for the hypothesis of a retrospective enlightening of the state's transmission continuum, within an ideological and institutional framework that was constantly being negotiated with the former colonial power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on some salient issues of urban sustainable development in France with a specific accent on six urban agglomerations: Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Montpellier, Nantes and Toulouse. The reticular nature of these issues and the circuits leading to their realization are analysed with reference to the ways a multiplicity of actors conceive, plan and bring about the construction of cities, rather than through sectoral viewpoints. Thus, urban sustainable development appears within a (locally variable) set of linkages that sets these issues firmly in areas of interrelations and intersections. Based on a large body of documentation and field work (observations and interviews) this approach helps trace the complex relations between discourse and the reality of on-going dynamics, including the implementation of sustainable development urban operations such as mutations in the domain of public action as exemplified by urbanisation. These relations converge in articulating the issues, with urban sustainable development — in the diversity of its usages — becoming a "portmanteau", much like "governance". In this context, technical experts and the "city professionals" can be seen as intermediary representatives: actors/go-betweens who contribute to the development of links and modes of combining practices between usually separate worlds. On this assumption, we consider that nowadays novel professions directly linked with urban areas and environmental issues are emerging at public local level (cities, metropolitan institutions, town-planning agencies, semi-public companies, associations acting as service providers, etc.), in proportion with the development of an urban sustainable development "repertoire" in urban politics. New specific competences and scopes of activities extend and define the field of sustainable development experts. Nevertheless, these competences remain broken up between several kinds of jobs and functions (civil servants and local government officers, project leaders, urban architects, consultants, employees of associations, etc.). Indeed, the limits of this professionalization process are significant of the success of urban sustainable development itself, which can be interpreted as a malleable concept, a property considered as a central condition of its cognitive and practical diffusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The papers proposes, in the first part, a dynamic representation of the present tense, which is no longer conceived as static point on a single axis, but as a rotating mechanism uniting the past situated at one level, and the future, situated at a different level altoghether. The duration of the present „instant" is as long as half of the circumference of this circle in its rotation in direction of the future. The second part ilustrates the different patterns used in French, Romanian, Portuguese and Italian to express the three phases of the past and the three phases of the future, as these are defined, in the dynamics model of verbal tense, by the generative functioning of the present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forecasting votes understood as citizens revealed preferences in collective choices allow to evaluate electoral success opportunities both for incumbents and opposition and to anticipate future public policies. In this paper, we provide forecasts for the 2007 French presidential election gathering contributions from Public Choice theory and Political science dealing with electoral behaviors. Forecasts generated at a sub-national level exhibit more accuracy at the second round than at the first one. We propose some explanation and improvements for 2012. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sociotecimical infrastructure required to implement environmental policies has a definite political content: it frames and influences public action, most often in an implicit way. In this paper we take a normative stance on democratic governance, which raises the need for making this infrastructure debatable. We focus on the specific case of drought management in France, which has developed an infrastructure that consists of zoning, measurement networks and threshold definition for critical flows in order to be able to assess a current hydrological situation in any place and to associate it to a specific crisis level. First we identify the various criticisms voiced by stakeholders in drought commit- tees such as challenging the infrastructure's technical validity setting out its inadequacy to a specific context, disqualifying its use due to the gap between science and the existing practice. We then suggest introducing a tool borrowed from the anthropology of techniques : the operational chain. We propose to use it to render explicit and debatable the infrastructure, its structure and content and on top of that the “regulatory science” which it stems from. This tool entails overcoming the various forms of criticism observed as well as dealing collectively with the tension between principles of justice and adaptation to local conditions. We argue that it may also provide a medium to associate lay people in the development or the revision of the infrastructure itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on an ethnographical approach set on Barthelasse, an island on the river Rhone across from Avignon, our paper analyses how the issue of flooding is at the root of tensions between local interests and general policies. The island is still an agricultural area despite the influence of Avignon urban growth. Barthelasse Island has always been maintained as a floodable area to protect the low-lying city of Avignon. Such a context highlights the complexity of the relations, consisting simultaneously of solidarity and conflict, between the island farmers and the urban inhabitants of Avignon. Moreover, the river Rhone was altered in the 1970's to produce hydroelectricity. Nowadays it is no longer natural but artificial. Some areas like Barthelasse are still liable to flooding whereas others have got a better deal. The study investigates the relations between inhabitants who demand the building of new dykes and stakeholders who try to maintain a general plan for the area. Finally, the survey focuses on the people living in these risk prone areas and analyses the way they live with the risk. Confrontation between technical rationalities and the practices of inhabitants, the local and general scale of the issue and the former natural and present artificial state of the river question the idea of a "risk culture". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sewer networks represent an important asset that requires good management according to a long-term integrated policy, which should take into account the state of sewer pipes, their environment, and budgeting constraints. In this scope, a good knowledge of the asset stock ensured by an inventory and data gathering is necessary. The asset considered in this article is the sewer pipes, with a diameter of less than 1200 mm. The state of the sewers is assessed according to closed circuit television (CCTV) inspections obtained by special cameras. The inspections allow us to describe the state of pipes according to observed defects, but do not give a tool for decision aiding for rehabilitation or renewal. In order to exploit available data for help in decision-making, we propose to use the methodology defined in the French project for rehabilitation of sewer networks RERAU (2000-2004) that suggests defining a set of dysfunction indicators according to observed defects following CCTV inspections. We use the defined dysfunctions as decision criteria with the help of the multicriteria approach Electre-tri for implementing the sorting procedure of sewers into specific categories according to their state of deterioration . Our study was achieved on a sample of sewer pipes in Alsace, France. The current paper details the approach for sorting the sewers and defining guidelines for the categorization of sewers according to their level of deterioration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: According to a paper by Souriau et al., published in 2002, the first bang heard by the population of Toulouse during the blast at the AZF plant, on 21st September 2001 should be the seismo-acoustic wave produced by the AZF explosion, i.e. an indirect wave generated as a transmission wave through the Earth''s crust (i.e., a seismic wave) and a refraction wave (i.e., an acoustic wave). We apply the criterion proposed by the authors in favour of a seismo-acoustic wave and show that the latter cannot be validated according to the data corresponding to the first bang. On the other hand, we show that the AZF seismo-acoustic wave has been perceived by only a few witnesses, but as rumblings and not as a bang. Consequently, AZF seismo-acoustic wave and first bang are two phenomena to be clearly discriminated. In particular, the source of the first bang is totally independent of that of the AZF explosion. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Our paper shows how the representations and knowledge French sheep farmers have of their rangelands are embedded in the relations they build with their animals and the natural environment. These sheep farmers, who work and live in the causse Méjan, a low mountain area in southern France, describe their grazinglands not only as pools of feeding resources, but also as a set of more or less adequate ecological conditions for their animals' wellbeing. The perception they have of the rangeland heterogeneity involves a systemic and dynamic perspective that takes into account both these dimensions, and insists upon the importance of the seasonal changes which occur along the year in the natural environment. They learn the "milieu" to a great extent from observing their animals' feeding behaviour. We show that the modernisation process has not obliterated the importance of the affective and relational dimensions in the construction of animal herding knowledge, particularly regarding ecological knowledge. Scientists and extension services should consequently better take account of informal knowledge acquisition processes when seeking to understand the farmers' rationale and accompanying the transformation of this activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cross-border cooperation in the BIHOR-HAJDU-BIHAR euro region, around the Hungary and Romania's frontier needs to be reinforced for the new 2007-2013 EU Program. This target can be achieved with the support from the specialists in the cross border cooperation development projects. Unfortunately, those specialists are not available yet. How to solve this problem? So this paper focuses to underline the importance to cover this gap by using the educational institutions already based in that euro region, for example, the Institute for Euro Regional Studies and by getting expertise from the other Euro region in the Western side of Europe as the MOT , Mission Opérationnelle Transfrontalière, in France. In this way, it will be possible to involve more people in the euro region initiatives in the coming years and to cover several fields of the cross -border cooperation issues: environment, infrastructure, SME, SMI, Tourism, etc…issues [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In the Middle Palaeolithic of western Europe, raw material circulations seemed limited to a hundred of kilometres. This paper focuses on the circulation of flints on more than 250km (minimal distances) in the Mousterian site of Champ Grand, France. Real distances are longer than 400km. Modalities of circulation are exposed. The analyses of these products demonstrate an important anticipation concerning the mobile raw materials’ management. These data demonstrate that this Mousterian site is a point in a complex and ramified settlement of the landscape. Diachronic relations with behavioural aspects of Upper Palaeolithic societies are exposed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper reports on small mountain glacier variations in the northern Belledonne region (French Alps). Between 1926 and 2006, the evolution is surveyed using remote-sensing techniques. Then, it is correlated with climate data for the same period. In the late 1920s and in 1980, there was a maximum extent of the glaciers. The 1980 surge is due to high precipitations during the late 1970s, a similar trend being punctually observed in 1993. Between 1980 and 2003, the Rocher Blanc glaciers have strongly receded, their total surface being divided by ten. From 1997 onward, the large retreat can be explained by the increase of the mean daily temperature, especially the minimum daily temperature. Moreover, unusually high temperatures have been registered during the summer 2003 heat wave. Small mountain glaciers appear to be more sensitive to climate change than larger ones. Their surfaces change within 6 to 12 months. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Our paper discusses interdisciplinary approaches as opposed to increased disciplinary specialization and underlines their value in dealing with the major issues currently faced by biology and with the challenges posed by the analysis and interpretation of high-throughput experimental data. Yet researchers opting for interdisciplinary collaboration in their daily work encounter numerous difficulties. To stimulate the development of fruitful and long-term interdisciplinary collaborations, we have organized since 2002 a yearly Spring School for researchers on the small island of Berder (south Brittany). The School is supported by CNRS and Inra continuing education departments. We describe its specific features and the ways in which it meets participant expectations as regards training and scientific exchanges. This is ensured by securing a wide range of speakers, a balance between the different disciplines, synthetic pedagogical presentations and by reserving ample time for questions, debates, interactions and activities during an intensive week away from daily concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper investigates the relative influence of waves, wind-induced current and tidal current on the sediment mobility of a macro-tidal environment belonging to the inner shelf seaward of the ‘pertuis Charentais’ (France). This study, mainly based on three-week hydrodynamic in-situ measurements, shows that, for a water depth of 23 m, the swell (rather than wind waves) orbital velocity is large enough to initiate the motion of medium sands that are then transported by currents. Estimations show that medium sand of 0.2 mm is transported during 92% of the measurements, whereas coarse sand and gravel move sporadically, during storm, synchronously with spring tides. Further more, bedload fluxes appear strongly larger when waves are taken into account (370 times larger for 0.2-mm sands). To cite this article: D. Idier et al., C. R. Geoscience 338 (2006). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The management of nuclear energy in France was restricted until the mid 1970's to a small circle of government experts. Within the scientific community criticism against nuclear power mostly targeted nuclear weapons while the sphere of civil nuclear energy remained unchallenged. The launch of the French nuclear programme in 1974 led to the first protest against civil nuclear power and its management within the scientific community. The mobilisation of thousands of researchers against the programme, initially through a petition, the so-called "Appeal of the 400", then through the creation of an association, the "Group of Scientists for Information on Nuclear Energy (GSIEN)", beside reflecting a rupture in the relations with science, progress and decision-making processes in the nuclear field, also expressed in the following decades the appropriation of critical knowledge on nuclear risks by the actors of non-governmental organisations. The criticism raised by scientists in 1975 therefore underlies two major shifts between the 1950s to 1990s in collective action vis-à-vis nuclear risk: from the mobilisation of "distinguished scientists" against the atom bomb in the 1950s and 1960s (Joliot, Russell, Einstein, Rostand) to the politicisation of nuclear power by "critical scientists" in the post-May 1968 period (CSIEN) and finally, after the Chernobyl accident, to the rise of associations of counter-expertise on nuclear energy (creation of expert NGOs such as the Commission for independent Research and Information on Radioactivity-CRIIRAD and the Association for the Control of Radioactivity in the West-ACRO). This paper examines the crucial role that the community of physicists has played in transforming the relations between scientists, science, expertise and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Original unpublished documents from Jean-Baptiste Noulet (1802–1890) related to the archaeological site of the Infernet (Commune de Clermont-le-Fort, Haute-Garonne, France). In 1851, J.-B. Noulet, a doctor, naturalist and philologist from Toulouse, discovered at Clermont-le-Fort (Haute-Garonne), in the named place l''Infernet, a quarry with both Pleistocene faunas and lithic artefacts. First presented in 1853, on the 3rd February meeting of the ‘Académie des sciences de Toulouse’, this discovery was only published in 1860, depriving Noulet of more reputation. As those who followed, this publication had no illustration locating the quarry. It was however rediscovered and exploited in 1955–1956. In Noulet''s personal papers, offered by Louis Mengaud to Toulouse University Geological Laboratory library, we discovered, drawn by Noulet himself, a map and a cross section of Infernet quarry. These documents are presented in this note, 150 years after Noulet''s discovery. To cite this article: M. Bilotte, F. Duranthon, C. R. Palevol 5 (2006) . [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Age at death and sex diagnosis of the Cro-Magnon fossils (Dordogne, France) based on the pelvic bone. This paper concerns the sex and age at death estimation of the Gravettian skeletons from Cro-Magnon site (Dordogne, France). Methods based on pelvic bone and probabilistic approach have been used. These methods have been tested elsewhere and provide a high accuracy level for sex and age determination. This analysis shows without ambiguity that two adults are male (hip bone 4315, 4315–4318), one is a female (pelvic bone 4316). The sex diagnosis of the last (pelvic bone 4317) is indeterminate. As the adult female is aged (more 50 years), she cannot be the mother of the newborn identified in the burial place. To cite this article: D. Gambier et al., C. R. Palevol 5 (2006) . [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The bocage landscape has long been an object of study albeit by only a few scientific disciplines (history, geography…). A bibliometric analysis shows a considerable increase in publication numbers on bocage landscapes, with a switch of emphasis over the past 10 years. Initially researchers focussed on the impact of hedges and bocage structures on field functioning and on overall agricultural production while at present hedgerow functioning is being analysed for itself correlatedly with the impact of fields on hedgerows. French agricultural research first displayed an interest in the bocage in 1964 with a conference held in Rennes on the impact of hedges on bioclimatic and agronomic factors. An analysis of the papers published in subsequent years highlights the drift from the initial reasons that justified research to present research concerns. Some aspects, such as the relations between livestock farming and the bocage were never explored. Current research on the bocage displays two trends: -- research that attributes the bocage objective environmental usefulness as a resilience factor for biophysical systems: this is supported by environmental scientists in landscape ecology, hydrology and soil science in particular; -- research that invests the bocage with a subjective function expressing a specific connection with nature from a landscape, historical, patrimonial or even fantasy perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses how farmers take water pollution by nitrates into account. The author proposes a geographical approach to farmer practices aimed at confronting the farmers' values and spatial practices with the spatial delimitations of other actors concerned by a local pollution issue. The research methodology involved surveys of twenty farmers in a French rural area (Yonne department) who were compelled to take a local problem of nitrogen pollution into account in their farming practice. Two spatial entities were combined in studying changes in their practices: the farm and the catchment area. The perception of space by the farmers relates to "the farm lands" and to "individual fields or groups of fields" on their farms. These spatial categories differ from the ones used by agricultural advisers and regulations to circumscribe vulnerable areas and land units. The study of field by field adjustment of nitrogen inputs on wheat shows a diversity of space delimitations among farmers. Mapping these results allows the identification of the spatial adjustments and change of practice imposed by the consideration of pollution risks. In conclusion, these results allow a reflection on the relationships between environmental values and environment-related practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge systems in agriculture need to devise new forms of collaboration between farmers, development agents and researchers in the current socio-economic context in which the social functions of agriculture are being questioned. So far very few research studies have addressed the issue of the knowledge content to be produced in such situations. Our paper rests on the hypothesis that the synergy between the empirical knowledge of producers and scientific knowledge is able to generate new agronomic knowledge. We explored this new form of knowledge production by examining two situations: saffron cultivation in southwestern France and French truffle production, for which the technical management is a major hindrance to their development. We show that neither scientific nor empirical knowledge on their own are sufficient to improve it. On the basis of an "engineering of agronomic knowledge" approach that makes explicit and combines knowledges from different sources, we then propose four modes of synergy: (1) translating the objectives and practices of producers into action-oriented scientific questions; (2) scientifically grounding heuristic knowledge by referring it to explicative scientific knowledge; (3) linking the indicators used by the producers to scientifically measurable parameters; (4) selecting on a scientific basis appropriate equivalent plants for transposing knowledge from one to the other. These four modes are then discussed; it is underlined that this cognitive approach to the synergy between empirical and scientific knowledge could effectively be completed by analysing the socio-organisational settings in which this knowledge finds its meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Stratigraphy and palaeontology (plants, vertebrates) of the paralic deposits from the Uppermost Albian–Lower Cenomanian of Tonnay-Charente (Charente-Maritime, France). The Tonnay-Charente area (Charente-Maritime, southwestern France) contains several sand and clay exploitations of Uppermost Albian and Lower Cenomanian ages. These sediments have been deposited in a coastal area where plant remains, amber, and aquatic or terrestrial vertebrates were trapped. The two last quarries that could be studied, Puy-Puy and Les Renardières, are true Lagerstätten, the first one for the abundance and the diversity of meso- and macroremains of plants (pollen, cuticles, lignite), especially angiosperms, the second one for the vertebrate microremains, consisting of about forty taxa, with selachians and actinopterygians, different reptiles (crocodilians, dinosaurs, ophidians, turtles) and one mammal. This paper describes the sedimentary and palaeoenvironmental settings of the Albian–Cenomanian series from Puy-Puy and Les Renardières and illustrates the most outstanding taxa of vertebrates and plants collected until today. To cite this article: D. Néraudeau et al., C. R. Palevol 4 (2005) . [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The success of revolution in Saint-Domingue and the emergence of the Republic of Haiti was watched carefully in France, with both horror and fascination that varied in their proportions as the new republic went through political crises. Through a content analysis of two popular bourgeois periodicals founded in the first half of the nineteenth century, La Revue des Deux Mondes and L'Illustration, it is possible to assess the ideological and cultural impact in France of events in Haiti through the middle and late nineteenth century. Articles published in these periodicals were examined for the topics they presented from 1830 to 1901. The paper presents an analysis of these findings, especially the relative importance of the question haïtienne during this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The heat wave that struck France in 2003 has been accompanied with an estimated 15 000 excess deaths. This paper stresses the difficulties of the epidemiology of such an event. The relevant clinical and biological information is incomplete or even inaccessible and many of the deaths are due to multiple factors. The data presently available indicate that the deaths occurred in persons already vulnerable, and that the heat wave caused a five- to eight-month loss of lifetime for the affected individuals. There is a noteworthy similarity between the profiles of this exceptional summer mortality surge, and those of many past winters when similar or larger excess mortalities have occurred without as yet eliciting much public attention. To cite this article: A.-J. Valleron, A. Boumendil, C. R. Biologies 327 (2004). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Pierre Clément de Laussat arrived in New Orleans in 1803 as Napoleon's colonial prefect, directed to receive Louisiana from Spain and govern it, unaware until Jour months later that it had been sold to the United States. In the process of working through the preliminaries to the retrocession, Laussat encountered problems endemic to the racist ideology, slave economy, and paternalist organization of the colony, only exacerbated by the disorder of the end of the Spanish regime. He addressed these issues through official acts carried out during the three weeks that the French flag finally flew over the city. This paper reviews the political and social background for some of Laussat's final acts on behalf of France, all aimed at securing the goodwill of powerful inhabitants: the restoration of the Code Noir, establishment of the city's first fire brigade, and reactivation of the institutions of French government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seigneuries in both France and New France were characterized by seigneurial absenteeism. This paper, by studying the seigneurs who resided on their fiefs in the Saint-Lawrence Valley from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries, seeks to make a contribution to the history of the Canadian seigneurial regime. Although French historiography concerning seigneurial presence throughout the Ancien Régime shows increased seigneurial absenteeism toward the end of the period, our work on the same question in the Saint-Lawrence Valley shows that seigneuries there became, once settlement was accomplished, more attractive places for seigneurs to live by the end of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, when population and seigneurial dues increased. Nevertheless, Canadian seigneurs who lived on their seigneuries always constituted a minority: around 25 percent of all seigneurs over the three centuries of the seigneurial regime. This article also provides a general analysis of those seigneurs who took up residence among their peasants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The technology of very high performance cooled infrared detectors made with HgCdTe has progressed continuously for ten years and reached today an industrial maturity that allows the production of large size arrays at a more and more reasonable cost. At the same time, new prototypes of more complex sensors have appeared (megapixel arrays, multicolour arrays, high definition long linear arrays, …) that show the strong potentialities of this very high performance technology. This paper presents the technology developed in France and gives the state of the art of products available in industry; it then focuses on some very recent realizations of advanced prototypes made at LETI (dualband arrays, megapixel arrays, …). To cite this article: G. Destefanis, C. R. Physique 4 (2003). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Application of the fuzzy set theory to the biometric evaluation of the species Nummulites millecaput in the western part of the Tethys. The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the ability of the fuzzy-set theory to contribute to the evaluation of paleontological problems. As an example, the species Nummulites millecaput, Boube´e has been chosen. One hundred specimens of this species, collected from four localities (Arrimblar, Adelholzen, Dudar, and Mount-Kotuc) have been prepared (equatorial sections) for the biometric measurement of the external and internal characteristics. First a traditional statistical evaluation was performed, followed by the construction of membership functions, the latter ones expressing in the best way the transitions from one locality to the other. The results of this evaluation confirmed that from Aquitaine (France) to Armenia, the same species – Nummulites millecaput – was distributed during the Eocene. To cite this article: G. Ba´rdossy et al., C. R. Palevol 2 (2003). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]