Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, pour une révolution bioéconomique

Sobriété, promotion de l'agriculture biologique, chasse au gaspillage... Ces principes bioéconomiques énoncés par Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen dans les années 1970 ont été à l'origine de l'association communément faite entre ses travaux et le mouvement de la décroissance. Cette affiliation s'avère pourtant réductrice. La participation de Georgescu-Roegen aux premiers débats écologiques et son appel à une réforme profonde de la théorie économique en font un acteur majeur des débats intellectuels de la seconde moitié du xxe siècle, bien au-delà des controverses de l'écologie radicale. La pensée de Georgescu-Roegen, à travers ses inspirations, sa clairvoyance, ses subtilités, mais aussi ses ambiguités et contradictions, offre un cadre de réflexion privilégié pour enraciner la réflexion économique dans la dynamique ­écologique. Cet ouvrage contient par ailleurs la réédition d'un texte méconnu de Georgescu-Roegen publié en 1978, « De la science économique à la bioéconomie », et riche en enseignements dans le contexte des préoccupations environnementales actuelles.

Prevalence of overweight and obesity among migrants in Switzerland: association with country of origin.

Migrants tend to present higher overweight and obesity levels, but whether this relationship applies to all nationalities has seldom been studied. The present study aimed to assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity according to nationality in adults. Cross-sectional population-based samples. Five-year nationwide interview surveys (Swiss Health Surveys - SHS) from 1992 to 2007 (n 63 766) and a local examination survey (CoLaus Study in Lausanne 2004-2006, n 6743). Participants were separated into Swiss, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish nationals, those from the former Republic of Yugoslavia and from other European and other countries. Compared with Swiss nationals, German and French nationals presented a lower prevalence of overweight and obesity, whereas nationals from Italy, Spain, Portugal and the former Republic of Yugoslavia presented higher levels. Adjusting the SHS data for age, gender, education, smoking, leisure-time physical activity and survey year, a lower risk for overweight and obesity was found for German (OR = 0·80, 95 % CI 0·70, 0·92) and French (OR = 0·74, 95 % CI 0·61, 0·89) nationals, whereas higher risks were found for participants from Italy (OR = 1·45, 95 % CI 1·33, 1·58), Spain (OR = 1·36, 95 % CI 1·15, 1·61), Portugal (OR = 1·25, 95 % CI 1·06, 1·47) and the former Republic of Yugoslavia (OR = 1·98, 95 % CI 1·69, 2·32). Similar findings were observed in the CoLaus Study for Italian (OR = 1·63, 95 % CI 1·29, 2·06), Spanish (OR = 1·54, 95 % CI 1·17, 2·04) and Portuguese (OR = 1·49, 95 % CI 1·16, 1·91) participants and for those from the former Republic of Yugoslavia (OR = 5·34, 95 % CI 3·00, 9·50). Overweight and obesity are unevenly distributed among migrants in Switzerland. Migrants from Southern Europe and from the former Republic of Yugoslavia present higher prevalence rates. This suggests that preventive messages should be tailored to these specific populations.

Göttingen 20/7 1929

Kirje 20.7.1929

Drosophilids (Diptera) from an Atlantic Forest Area in Santa Catarina, Southern Brazil

The present work aims at knowing the faunal composition of drosophilids in forest areas of southern Brazil. Besides, estimation of species richness for this fauna is briefly discussed. The sampling were carried out in three well-preserved areas of the Atlantic Rain Forest in the State of Santa Catarina. In this study, 136,931 specimens were captured and 96.6% of them were identified in the specific level. The observed species richness (153 species) is the largest that has been registered in faunal inventories conducted in Brazil. Sixty-three of the captured species did not fit to the available descriptions, and we believe that most of them are non-described species. The incidence-based estimators tended to give rise to the largest richness estimates while the abundance based give rise to the smallest ones. Such estimators suggest the presence from 172.28 to 220.65 species in the studied area. Based on these values, from 69.35 to 88.81% of the expected species richness were sampled. We suggest that the large richness recorded in this study is a consequence of the large sampling effort, the capture method, recent advances in the taxonomy of drosophilids, the high preservation level and the large extension of the sampled fragment and the high complexity of the Atlantic Rain forest. Finally, our data set suggest that the employment of estimators of richness for drosophilid assemblages is useful but it requires caution.

Un estudio del crecimiento, tamaño y reclutamiento de la anchoveta (Engraulis ringens J.) Basado en datos de frecuencia de longitud

Estudio que considera datos de edad, crecimiento, tamaño y comparaciones con algunos datos anteriores de la longitud de la anchoveta. El crecimiento se estudia por el análisis de tamaños modales; las curvas de longitud-captura y curvas de longitud abundancia son estimados por la combinación de observaciones de longitud con estadísticas de la pesquería; y el reclutamiento es estimado por la abundancia aparente de peces pequeños cada año.

Measuring surface potential changes on leaves.

We provide here a detailed protocol for studying the changes in electrical surface potential of leaves. This method has been developed over the years by plant physiologists and is currently used in different variants in many laboratories. The protocol records surface potential changes to measure long-distance electrical signals induced by diverse stimuli such as leaf wounding or current injection. This technique can be used to determine signaling speeds, to measure the connectivity between different plant organs and-by exploiting mutant plants-to identify transporters and ion channels involved in electrical signaling. The approach can be combined with the analysis of mRNA expression and of metabolite concentrations to correlate electrical signaling to specific physiological events. We describe how to use this protocol on Arabidopsis, looking at the effects of leaf wounding; however, it is broadly applicable to other plants and can be used to study other aspects of plant physiology. After wound infliction, surface potential recording takes ∼20 min per plant.

A new light on Minkowski's? $(x)$ function

The well--known Minkowski's? $(x)$ function is presented as the asymptotic distribution function of an enumeration of the rationals in (0,1] based on their continued fraction representation. Besides, the singularity of ?$(x)$ is clearly proved in two ways: by exhibiting a set of measure one in which ?ï$(x)$ = 0; and again by actually finding a set of measure one which is mapped onto a set of measure zero and viceversa. These sets are described by means of metrical properties of different systems for real number representation.

Juhlapuhe Kajaanin Kipinän 20-vuotisjuhlassa 14.12.1930

Puhe

Variaciones estacionales en la distribución y biomasa de anchoveta entre 1983 y 2000

Los resultados de 29 cruceros, realizados desde 1983 al 2000, muestran que la anchoveta ha presentado variaciones significativas en su biomasa y distribución, debido a los eventos El Niño 1982-83, 1987, 1992 y 1997-98, que la hicieron replegarse a la costa, migrar hacia el sur y profundizarse hasta lugares inusuales, disminuyendo los valores de las categorías de abundancia. Los mayores estimados de biomasa de anchoveta, se obtuvieron en los cruceros de evaluación hidroacústica de recursos pelágicos 9401-03 (8.700.590 t) y 0001-02 (9.439.027 t). La más alta biomasa estacional promedio por grados de latitud se determinó en primavera en los 8°5 (727.819 t), seguida del verano en los 11°s (701.724 t). Las altas biomasas promedio se encontraron entre los 7°S y 9° S. Los altos desembarques anuales promedio se registraron en verano (1.577.855 1). Los mayores desembarques se obtuvieron en 1994 (9.896.303 t) y en 1996 (7.136.856 t). Según el análisis de los parametros de biomasa y desembarques anuales entre los años de 1983 al 2000, se observa que existe una correlación significativa (r = 0,71) presentando un aceptable ajuste del modelo en R'•0,5 1.

Resúmenes de las investigaciones balleneras en el Pacífico Sureste y otros océanos

Comprende el resumen de varios trabajos de investigación de ballenas del Pacífico sureste, especialmente de la ballena cachalote Physeter catodon L., especie intensamente cazada e industrializada en las décadas de los años 1960 a 1980 en Chile y Perú. La investigación ballenera en esta zona empezó en 1958 con la preparación de biólogos en los dos países, quienes colectaron el material que luego fue analizado y dio las bases científicas para una caza conservacionista.