Synanthropic trends in urban andextraurban taxocenoses of Sarcophaginae (Diptera) in three central european cities

An attempt has been made to characterize the synanthropic trends in Sarcophaginae of three Central European cities, viz. Brno, Bratislava and Budapest. The polar ordination of both sarcophagine taxa and of their taxocenoses revealed clear-cut trends towards culturophily and synanthropy in the male preconnubial aggregations of Sarchophaginae evidencing that this group of high Diptera represent an excellent model for the study of this phenomenon.

Jeunes filles scoliotiques et orthopédie a la Belle Epoque: l'essor urbain de la mécanothérapie a Lausanne et Genève [Scoliotic young girls and orthopaedics in Belle Epoque: the urban surge of mecanotherapy in Lausanne and Geneva].

In Belle Epoque towns marked by the industrial and medical surge, a new technical therapy, called mechanotherapy, emerged, stemming from Swedish medical gymnastics and auxiliary to orthopaedics. Aiming mostly at treating scoliosis, this therapy by movement attracted a sizeable female clientele to these towns, because of the hygienic and social conceptions feeding collective imagination linked to the bodies of scoliotic young girls. Taking the French-speaking Swiss towns of Lausanne and Geneva as examples, the article first seeks to describe the emergence of mechanotherapy as a medical and urban phenomenon. It then addresses the role played by scoliosis in this orthopaedic practice, and examines the clientele attracted to the towns, among which well-born young girls seem to be predominant.

The Accessibility City. When Transport Infrastructure Matters in Urban Spatial Structure

Suburbanization is changing the urban spatial structure and less monocentric metropolitan regions are becoming the new urban reality. Focused only on centers, most works have studied these spatial changes neglecting the role of transport infrastructure and its related location model, the “accessibility city”, in which employment and population concentrate in low-density settlements and close to transport infrastructure. For the case of Barcelona, we consider this location model and study the population spatial structure between 1991 and 2006. The results reveal a mix between polycentricity and the accessibility city, with movements away from the main centers, but close to the transport infrastructure.

Genetic analysis of the breeding system of an invasive subterranean termite, Reticulitermes santonensis, in urban and natural habitats.

Reticulitermes santonensis is a subterranean termite that invades urban areas in France and elsewhere where it causes damage to human-built structures. We investigated the breeding system, colony and population genetic structure, and mode of dispersal of two French populations of R. santonensis. Termite workers were sampled from 43 and 31 collection points, respectively, from a natural population in west-central France (in and around the island of Oleron) and an urban population (Paris). Ten to 20 workers per collection point were genotyped at nine variable microsatellite loci to determine colony identity and to infer colony breeding structure. There was a total of 26 colonies, some of which were spatially expansive, extending up to 320 linear metres. Altogether, the analysis of genotype distribution, F-statistics and relatedness coefficients suggested that all colonies were extended families headed by numerous neotenics (nonwinged precocious reproductives) probably descended from pairs of primary (winged) reproductives. Isolation by distance among collection points within two large colonies from both populations suggested spatially separated reproductive centres with restricted movement of workers and neotenics. There was a moderate level of genetic differentiation (F(ST) = 0.10) between the Oleron and Paris populations, and the number of alleles was significantly higher in Oleron than in Paris, as expected if the Paris population went through bottlenecks when it was introduced from western France. We hypothesize that the diverse and flexible breeding systems found in subterranean termites pre-adapt them to invade new or marginal habitats. Considering that R. santonensis may be an introduced population of the North American species R. flavipes, a breeding system consisting primarily of extended family colonies containing many neotenic reproductives may facilitate human-mediated spread and establishment of R. santonensis in urban areas with harsh climates.

El marketing de valores

El present treball pretén aportar una definició del “màrqueting de valors” distingint-lo d'altres tipus de màrqueting que es podrien prestar a confusió: el màrqueting comercial, el màrqueting social, el màrqueting amb causa, i el màrqueting no lucratiu. Posteriorment ens endinsem en la filosofia postmoderna amb els corrents relativistas i nihilistas sobre la pèrdua dels valors tradicionals per a demostrar que, encara remanent en la nostra societat les visió del relativisme moral, no significa que hagi un relativisme ètic, legitimant així la nomenclatura de “màrqueting de valors”. En un segon capítol, s'analitzen vuit casos de projectes reals en països en vies de desenvolupament com exemples de màrqueting de valors. Acarem la viabilitat de la nostra proposta de definició de màrqueting de valors amb cadascun dels exemples, arribant a la conclusió que la definició és viable i defineix un tipus de màrqueting particular.