The avatars of housing in Latin American urban and regional research (1990-2012)

The review of the terms used as keywords in three journals (published in Mexico and Chile) and the Brazilian meetings of regional and urban research are used to analyze the trends in housing research. Their dynamics are interpreted in the light of the general changes identified for urban and regional  research, synthesized by other authors as the emergence of new research topics and agents of urban change (civil society, participation, environment, gender) and the process of globalization (in its facets  of productive restructuration, job flexibility, social exclusion) as a general framework of analysis. It is found that the central themes of research in housing relate primarily to government action in  housing. New concerns, such as citizen participation, the environment or gender are linked to these actions as normative elements to the evaluation of programs or policies, but not as autonomous fields of study of the housing.In addition to this central concern, a significant growth of academic  production and  ome indication of the internationalization of research are mentioned

L'expressió escrita i els continguts de l'humor a la literatura infantil i juvenil catalana de 1904 a 2004: educació en els valors

L'humor permet entendre i organitzar el món. És un aspecte en l'educació de la identitat cultural que comença tan aviat com la canalla pot seguir una narració oral, i que s'intensifica a mesura que la lectura esdevé un hàbit. L'humor escrit ofereix recursos expressius i camps semàntics determinats per la llengua, i continguts i referents culturals determinats pels valors socials; el seu codi inclou convencions amb el lector sobre la presentació i l'argument. Com a estratègia d'adaptació, l'humor es va modificant segons les circumstàncies socials al llarg del temps. El present treball es centra en la literatura per a infants i joves escrita en català com a idioma original i editada entre el 1904 i el 2004.

The only way is up: retail format saturation and the demise of the American five and dime store, 1914-1941

We examine a classic ‘wheel of retailing’ episode – the abandonment of the five and dime pricing formula by American variety chains. These switched from a conventional product lifecycle, focusing on cost reduction through standardisation, to a reverse path up the ‘service cost - unit value’ continuum. We show that, rather than reflecting deteriorating managerial acumen, this was a response to the continued imperative for growth following retail format saturation. Firm-specific (rather than format-specific) competitive advantages were too weak for any chain to be confident it could win a within-format price war, making inter-format competition through raising price points more attractive.