Abstract: This paper investigates the relative influences of climatic and anthropogenic factors in explaining environmental and societal changes in the southern Alps, Italy. We investigate a deep sediment core (LL081) from Lake Ledro (652 m a.s.l.). Environmental changes are reconstructed through multiproxy analysis, that is, pollen-based vegetation and climate reconstruction, magnetic susceptibility (MS), lake level, and flood frequency, and the paper focuses on the climate and land-use changes which occurred during the late Holocene. For this time interval, Lake Ledro records high mean water table, increasing amount of pollen-based precipitation, and more erosive conditions. Therefore, while a more humid late Holocene in the southern Alps has the potential to reinforce the forest presence, pollen evidence suggests that anthropogenic activities changed the impact of this regional scenario. Land-use activity (forest clearance for pastoralism, farming, and arboriculture) opened up the large vegetated slopes in the catchment of Lake Ledro, which in turn magnified the erosion related to the change in the precipitation pattern. The record of an almost continuous human occupation for the last 4100 cal. BP is divided into several land-use phases. On the one hand, forest redevelopments on abandoned or less cultivated areas appear to be climatically induced as they occurred in relation with well-known events such as the 2.8-kyr cold event and the ‘Little Ice Age’. On the other hand, climatically independent changes in land use or habitat modes are observed, such as the late-Bronze-Age lake-dwellings abandonment, the human population migration at c. 1600 cal. BP, and the period of the Black Death and famines at 600 cal. BP.

Abstract: An interdisciplinary team of archaeologists, surveyors, environmentalists and archaeometrists has jointly carried out the study of the Bronze Age "Les Fraux" (Saint-Martin-de-Fressengeas, Dordogne, France) since 2007. This archaeological decorated cave, registered as a French Historical Monument, forms a wide network of galleries, characterized by the exceptional richness of its archaeological remains such as ceramic and metal deposits, parietal representation and domestic fireplaces. This cave is the only protohistorical site in Europe wherein testimonies of domestic, spiritual and artistic activities are gathered. This project has been labelled by the Institute of Ecology and Environment of the French Research Council (CNRS), who wants to promote new methodologies and experimental studies in Global Ecology. Accurate 3D models of the cave constitute the common framework for the different partners. We present in this paper an overview of methods of data recording based on contact-free measurement techniqu...

Abstract: In Guadeloupe and Martinique, two French Overseas Departments, colorectal cancer (CRC) has become an essential public health issue. However, little is known about CRC characteristics and the p53 status in these populations, particularly in Guadeloupe, whereas certification of a cancer registry has been recently validated. This was a descriptive retrospective study of 201 patients who, between 1995 and 2000, underwent surgery for CRC in the Guadeloupe Teaching Hospital (GlpeTH; 83 patients) and in the Martinique Teaching Hospital (MqueTH; 118 patients). The clinicopathological features and the p53 expression, evaluated with immunohistochemistry, were compared at the time of diagnosis. A relationship between these parameters and the p53 expression was also studied. Data were analysed, using the SPSS computer software version 17.0. No statistical difference was found between the two groups of patients regarding age (p = 0.60), percentage of young patients (≤50 years; p = 0.94)), sex (p = 0.47), histological type (p = 0.073) and tumour sites (p = 0.65), although the GlpeTH patients were diagnosed with more distal colon cancers (54.2%) than the Mque TH patients (47.4%). By contrast, a significant difference was found regarding the tumour grade (p < 0.0001), the pTNM stage (p = 0.045) and the pT stage (p < 0.0001). Regarding p53 expression, solely for the MqueTH patients, nuclear expression was associated with pTNM, the percentage of p53 negative tumours increasing with the progression of the pTNM stages (p = 0.029). For the first time, this study reveals discrepancies in clinicopathological features and in the p53 status between the two groups of patients. The GlpeTH patients were diagnosed with more moderated CRCs but with few CRCs at pTNM IV stage. By contrast, the MqueTH patients were diagnosed with more differentiated tumours, but with many more CRCs at pTNM IV stage. This paradox may be due to differences in tumour location (distal vs proximal), multiplicity of the genetic profiles of patients, or patients getting treatment elsewhere. Although our study is limited due to its small size, it emphasizes the originality of our results.

Abstract: Les bilans de masse des glaciers de montagne constituent des indicateurs climatiques regionaux reconnus. Moyennant une hypothese sur la densite de la surface glaciaire, on peut etablir le bilan de masse d'un glacier par difference entre deux modeles numeriques d'elevation (MNE) successifs. L'obtention de MNEs precis a haute resolution est donc un enjeu important en glaciologie. Un couple d'images stereoscopiques Pleiades acquis en septembre 2013 a ete traite afin de generer un MNE du glacier d'Ossoue (Hautes Pyrenees) a 2m de resolution en planimetrie et 1m en altimetrie. Un leve DGPS sur le glacier et sa peripherie a une date proche a permis d'estimer l'erreur altitudinale du MNE Pleiades a ±1,8m. Ce resultat permet d'envisager une utilisation operationnelle des images stereoscopiques Pleiades pour determiner des bilans de masses precis de glaciers de montagne, y compris dans les zones impraticables pour les mesures de terrain.

Abstract: La these s’inscrit dans une perspective generale d’analyse des dynamiques d’action publique territorialisee du developpement rural dans une zone de front pionnier amazonien : le territoire « Portal da Amazonia », au Nord de l’Etat du Mato Grosso, au Bresil. L’etude comparative concerne deux experiences en cours : l’initiative du Ministere du Developpement Agraire (MDA) via le Programme National de Developpement Durable des Territoires Ruraux et les Consortium Inter-municipaux de Developpement Economique et Socio-Environnemental mis en place par le gouvernement de l’Etat du Mato Grosso (Programme MT Regional). En quoi ces deux dispositifs d’action publique territorialisee contribuent-ils a la construction d’une dynamique de developpement rural durable et de nature territoriale pour l’agriculture de cette zone ? Nous verrons, plus particulierement, comment se construisent les nouvelles modalites de gouvernance locale mises en place dans le cadre de ces politiques publiques territorialisees de developpement rural. A travers une approche combinant les apports de la geographie sociale et de la sociologie du developpement, nous nous interesserons notamment aux processus de gouvernance locale et de territorialisation mis en œuvre par ces deux dispositifs. Pour ce faire, au cours du travail de terrain, nous nous sommes attaches a observer les espaces de concertation et de negociations dans lesquels s’elaborent les projets mis en place dans le cadre de ces programmes.

Abstract: This article presents the conception and the conceptual results of a modelling representation of the farming systems of the Linearbandkeramik Culture (LBK). Assuming that there were permanent fields (PF) then, we suggest four ways that support the sustainability of such a farming system over time: a generalized pollarding and coppicing of trees to increase the productivity of woodland areas for foddering more livestock, which itself can then provide more manure for the fields, a generalized use of pulses grown together with cereals during the same cropping season, thereby reducing the needs for manure. Along with assumptions limiting bias on village and family organizations, the conceptual model which we propose for human environment in the LBK aims to be sustainable for long periods and can thereby overcome doubts about the PFs hypothesis for the LBK farming system. Thanks to a reconstruction of the climate of western Europe and the consequent vegetation pattern and productivity arising from it, we propose a protocol of experiments and validation procedures for both testing the PFs hypothesis and defining its eco-geographical area.

Abstract: Metropolitan regions have become one of the most appropriate scales to define efficient governance networks for economic and territorial development. The state still is the key actor of these partnerships. Yet the question remains whether cross-border metropolitan regions represent a new point of reference that puts state power in question or whether they only reorganize it. The centrality of state power will be examined by looking at two networks of actors (public transport and territorial marketing) working at the Eurometropolis Lille–Kortrijk–Tournai. The results reveal that a triple-faceted state power has emerged to define and organize cross-border metropolitan management.