Analyse d’une zone grise d’emploi en France et au Brésil : les Travailleurs Indépendants Economiquement Dépendants (TIED) : Analysis of a grey zone in France and Brazil: the Economically Dependent SelfEmployed Workers (EDSW)

This article deals with a specific category of workers set in a grey zone between wage-labor and self-employment. Those we refer to as Economically Dependent Self-employed Workers (EDSW) are workers who are legally self-employed but are in fact depending on a single client for most of their income. Using the semi-structured interviews we did in France and Brazil with forty EDSW working in the Information Technology sector, we study the actual condition of these workers in order to locate them on a continuum between disguised wage-labor and real self-employment. After differentiating two EDSW profiles, we focus on the \u201cservice providers integrated into the client structure\u201d group, whose emergence answers different logic in France and Brazil. Then, we identify the risks to which these workers are exposed because of their self-employed status, and we analyze the way they try to cope with those risks by negotiating benefits with their client and/or mobilizing individual protection mechanisms.Cet article porte sur une cat\ue9gorie sp\ue9cifique de travailleurs qui se situe dans une zone grise entre salariat et travail ind\ue9pendant. Ceux que nous appelons les Travailleurs Ind\ue9pendants Economiquement D\ue9pendants (TIED) associent une ind\ue9pendance juridique \ue0 une d\ue9pendance \ue9conomique vis-\ue0-vis d\u2019un donneur d\u2019ordres dont provient l\u2019essentiel de leurs revenus. \uc0 partir d\u2019entretiens r\ue9alis\ue9s en France et au Br\ue9sil avec quarante TIED du secteur des Technologies de l\u2019Information, nous \ue9tudions la situation concr\ue8te de ces travailleurs pour pouvoir les situer sur un continuum entre salariat d\ue9guis\ue9 et v\ue9ritable ind\ue9pendance. Apr\ue8s avoir distingu\ue9 deux profils de TIED, nous nous centrons sur le groupe des \uab prestataires int\ue9gr\ue9s \ue0 la structure commanditaire \ubb, dont l\u2019\ue9mergence r\ue9pond \ue0 des logiques diff\ue9rentes en France et au Br\ue9sil. Nous identifions les risques auxquels ces travailleurs sont expos\ue9s du fait de leur ind\ue9pendance juridique et analysons comment ils tentent d\u2019y faire face en n\ue9gociant des avantages avec leur client et/ou en mobilisant des m\ue9canismes individuels de protection

Sub-continental transport mechanisms and pathways during two ozone episodes in northern Spain

International audienceTwo ozone episodes (occurring in June 2001 and June 2003) in the air quality monitoring network of the Basque Country (BC) are analyzed. The population information threshold was exceeded in many stations (urban, urban-background and rural). During this type of episodes, forced by a blocking anticyclone over the British Isles, ozone background concentrations over the area increase after the import of pollution from both, the continental Europe and the western Mediterranean areas (Gangoiti et al., 2002). For the present analysis, emphasis is made in the search for transport mechanisms, pathways and area sources contributing to the build-up of the episodes. Contributions from a selection of 17 urban and industrial conglomerates in the western European Atlantic (WEA) and the western Mediterranean (WM) are shown after the results of a coupled RAMS-HYPACT modelling system. Meteorological simulations are tested against both the high-resolution wind data recorded at the BC coastal area by a boundary layer wind-profiler radar (Alonso et al., 1998) and the wind soundings reported by the National Centres of Meteorology at a selection of European and north-African sites. Results show that during the accumulation phase of the episodes, background ozone concentrations increase in the whole territory as a consequence of transport from the Atlantic coast of France and the British Channel. For the peak phase, intrusions from new sources, located at the Western Mediterranean, Southern France, Ebro Valley, and, occasionally, the area of Madrid are added, resulting in a further increase in the ozone concentrations. Direct day and night transport within the north-easterly winds over the sea from the WEA source region, and night-time transport within the residual layer over continental areas (southern France, the Ebro Valley, and central Iberia) modulate the import sequence of pollutants and the local increase of ozone concentrations. The alternative direct use of low resolution meteorological data for the estimation of back-trajectories shows a more simple transport scheme with no contributions neither from the Western Mediterranean nor from the Madrid area

Hybrid areas of work between employment and self-employment : emerging challenges and future research directions

The growth of non-standard employment relations has created one of the major challenges in terms of workers\u2019 rights as well as collective representation in European societies. Among non-standard employment relations, so-called \u201csolo self-employed\u201d\u2014self-employed workers without employees\u2014are challenging the very foundations of our labor markets, that is to say the opposition between employers and employees, fostering the development of emerging \u201chybrid\u201d areas of work. The heterogeneity of the solo self-employed is difficult to capture from official statistics, which are still based on traditional classifications, and questions also the legal categories that qualify these workers. Moreover, the fact that solo self-employed workers do not form a homogenous group, and are diverse in terms of their activities, interests and needs, calls for changes in the way trade unions, employer organizations, and new freelancer associations develop collective actions, claims-making activities, and strategies of organizing. With the aim to achieve an in-depth understanding of the increasingly extensive and populated categories of the solo self-employed, this contribution aims at reconstructing the state of the art within different fields of study, such as employment relations, labor law, industrial relations and social movements, and at offering some possible future research directions

Low‐cost technologies in a rich ecological context: Hotel California open‐air site at Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain

OnlinePublHotel California is part of a network of open‐air Neanderthal sites located in the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain). In this study, we examine the technology of the lithic assemblages recovered from this site's archaeological levels 3 to 7, which are characterised by the use of local raw materials, non‐hierarchical centripetal exploitation systems, systematic production of flakes and few retouched items. This type of expedient technology is repeated throughout the entire sequence, which spans Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 3 to 4. Through a comparison with the technocomplexes and occupation histories of surrounding sites – including a re‐evaluation of the published chronology for the nearby site of Fuente Mudarra, which is now dated exclusively to MIS 5 – we examine whether the detected pattern is applicable to the rest of the Atapuerca Mousterian record and if this expedient behaviour has equivalents in other sites in the region. Our findings show that the lithic procurement, exploitation and configuration strategies employed at the Sierra de Atapuerca open‐air sites were constant over broad time periods spanning MIS 5 to 3, in contrast to the technological sequences observed at other nearby sites on the Northern Iberian Plateau. The recurrent settlement of these open‐air Neanderthal sites over tens of thousands of years and the consistent use of expedient technologies during different occupation periods is likely attributable to the rich ecological context of the Sierra de Atapuerca environs.Marta Santamaría, Marta Navazo, Lee J. Arnold, Alfonso Benito-Calvo, Martina Demuro, and Eudald Carbonel

Supply, demand, and in-stream retention of dissolved organic carbon and nitrate during storms in Mediterranean forested headwater streams

The capacity of headwater streams to transform and retain organic matter and nutrients during base flow conditions has been largely demonstrated in the literature. Yet, most solute exporting occurs during storms, and thus, it becomes essential to understand the role of in-stream processes in regulating solute concentrations and exports during storm flow conditions. In this study, we explored patterns of solute supply, solute demand, and resulting in-stream solute retention for a number of individual storms from two Mediterranean streams (intermittent and perennial) that together encompassed a wide range of hydrological conditions. Our results indicate that more than 70% of the individual storms were chemodynamic (i.e., solute concentrations either increased or decreased with increasing discharge) at the two sites, for both dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and nitrate (NO−3). At the perennial stream, DOC and NO−3 concentrations did not show any clear pattern of storm response during both dry and wet periods, though deviations from chemostasis were generally larger for those events showing higher concentrations during storm flow. At the intermittent stream, DOC and NO−3 showed positive divergences from chemostasis during the wet period. In this site, DOC showed no clear pattern of storm response during the dry period, while many storms showed low NO−3 concentrations compared to chemostasis, suggesting either limited NO−3 sources or in-stream retention. At the two streams, in-stream biogeochemical demand during individual storms was either similar or higher than during base flow conditions for both DOC and NO−3. In-stream NO−3 demand resulted in substantial whole-reach retention during storms (up to 40%), indicating that in-stream biogeochemical processes substantially reduced downstream flux of terrestrial NO−3 inputs during storm events. Conversely, whole-reach DOC retention was relatively low (<10%), suggesting little ability to regulate DOC export and an energy subsidy to downstream ecosystems during storms. This study indicates that in-stream biogeochemical demand during storms can counterbalance solute supply to some extent and stresses the importance of considering the potential role of in-stream processes in shaping stream solute export during storms

Entrevista: Bernard Lahire

Entre os dias 24 e 25 de Novembro de 2011, o sociólogo BernardLahire, professor da École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, ministrou o cursoProblemas e métodos de uma sociologia disposicional e contextualistapara docentes e discentes integrantes do Programa de Pós-Graduaçãoem Sociologia da UFRGS. Naquela ocasião, o mesmo concedeu uma entrevistaque oportunizou, de modo complementar ao curso, uma melhorcompreensão de algumas de suas contribuições teóricas e metodológicaspara as Ciências Sociais. As questões que lhe foram colocadas visaram,primeiramente, informações sobre a trajetória intelectual do autor assimcomo definições conceituais a respeito de sua proposta teórica no que tange a compreensão da sociedade em escala individual. Tópicos diversosforam abordados, tais como o objeto da reflexividade, o senso prático daação, a questão da identidade, bem como temas clássicos como a relaçãoentre o indivíduo, instituições e sociedade. Além disso, abordou-se a suaavaliação sobre algumas proposições teóricas em voga na sociologia contemporânea. A entrevista a seguir deixa escapar um sociólogo bem-humorado, que não poupa a crítica a outros consagrados teóricos no campo das Ciências Sociais e nos remete constantemente à dimensão histórica dos fenômenos sociais.

Genome sequence reveals that Pseudomonas fluorescens F113 possesses a large and diverse array of systems for rhizosphere function and host interaction

Background: Pseudomonas fluorescens F113 is a plant growth-promoting rhizobacterium (PGPR) isolated from the sugar-beet rhizosphere. This bacterium has been extensively studied as a model strain for genetic regulation of secondary metabolite production in P. fluorescens, as a candidate biocontrol agent against phytopathogens, and as a heterologous host for expression of genes with biotechnological application. The F113 genome sequence and annotation has been recently reported.Results: Comparative analysis of 50 genome sequences of strains belonging to the P. fluorescens group has revealed the existence of five distinct subgroups. F113 belongs to subgroup I, which is mostly composed of strains classified as P. brassicacearum. The core genome of these five strains is highly conserved and represents approximately 76% of the protein-coding genes in any given genome. Despite this strong conservation, F113 also contains a large number of unique protein-coding genes that encode traits potentially involved in the rhizocompetence of this strain. These features include protein coding genes required for denitrification,diterpenoids catabolism, motility and chemotaxis, protein secretion and production of antimicrobial compounds and insect toxins.Conclusions: The genome of P. fluorescens F113 is composed of numerous protein-coding genes, not usually found together in previously sequenced genomes, which are potentially decisive during the colonisation of the rhizosphere and/or interaction with other soil organisms. This includes genes encoding proteins involved in the production of a second flagellar apparatus, the use of abietic acid as a growth substrate, the complete denitrification pathway, the possible production of a macrolide antibiotic and the assembly of multiple proteinsecretion systems

Nutritional valuation of schoolchildren from three Ibero-American countries: A comparative analysis of the references proposed by International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) and World Health Organization (WHO)

Introducción: El índice de masa corporal (IMC) resulta un indicador útil para valorar la condición nutricional en la infancia y adolescencia. Si bien no existe consenso respecto a los valores o puntos de corte de IMC que deben utilizarse para la diagnosis del sobrepeso, la obesidad o la insuficiencia ponderal, las referencias propuestas por la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) y la International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) son las más aceptadas. No obstante, existen discrepancias importantes en los resultados obtenidos en función de una u otra referencia. Objetivo: Analizar y comparar la condición nutricional de una muestra internacional a partir del IMC, mediante la aplicación simultánea de las referencias recomendadas por la IOTF y la OMS. Métodos: Se calculó el IMC de 1289 escolares de 10 a 13 años de México, Venezuela y España. A cada niño le fue atribuida una categoría nutricional (bajo peso, normopeso, sobrepeso y obesidad) utilizando el criterio de la IOTF (puntos de corte equivalentes a 18,5; 25 y 30 en adultos) y OMS (-1 DE: bajo peso + 1 DE: sobrepeso y +2 DE: obesidad). Las prevalencias de estado nutricional obtenidas por cada criterio fueron comparadas mediante la prueba de Chi-Cuadrado. Resultados: El porcentaje de escolares en cada una de las categorías nutricionales varió significativamente en función de la referencia empleada. La prevalencia de malnutrición por exceso o por defecto fue, en ambos sexos y en los tres países, superior al emplear los parámetros OMS. La referencia OMS evidenció un 10,9% menos de niños normonutridos y un 13,1% más de malnutridos que la IOTF. Discusión: Los resultados de esta investigación permiten inferir que la referencia propuesta por la OMS resulta ser más “preventiva” al momento de identificar individuos malnutridos. Se subraya la importancia de especificar los criterios empleados para la determinación del estado nutricional en los estudios de carácter epidemiológico, así como de contrastar las referencias empleadas para el diagnóstico. Conclusiones: Las referencias OMS para IMC sobrestiman la prevalencia de bajo peso, sobrepeso y obesidad en relación a los puntos de corte propuestos por el IOTF para el diagnóstico de la malnutrición.Introduction: Body Mass Index (BMI) is a useful tool for assessing nutritional status in childhood and adolescence. Although there is no consensus on BMI values or cutoffs to be used for the diagnosis of overweight, obesity and underweight references proposed by World Health Organization (WHO) and International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) are the most accepted. However, there are significant discrepancies in the results obtained in terms of either reference. Objective: To analyze and compare the nutritional status of an international sample from IMC, by simultaneous application of IOTF and WHO recommended references. Methods: 1289 schoolchildren’s BMI between 10 and 13 years of Mexico, Venezuela and Spain was estimated. Each child was assigned a nutritional category (underweight, normal weight, overweight and obese) using the IOTF criteria (points cut equivalent to 18,5, 25 and 30 in adults) and WHO (-1 SD: low weight +1 DE: overweight and +2 SD: obesity). The prevalence of nutritional status of each criterion was compared using the Chi-square test. Results: The percentage of students in each of the nutritional categories mottled significantly depending on the reference used. The prevalence of excess or defect malnutrition, in both sexes and in all three countries, was exceeded using the WHO parameters. WHO reference showed 10,9% less than well-nourished children and 13,1 % more malnourished than the IOTF. Discussion: The results of this research allow inferring that the reference proposed by WHO appears to be more “protecting” when identifying malnourished individuals. The importance of specifying the criteria for determination of nutritional status in epidemiologic studies, as well as to contrast the references used for diagnosis, is emphasized. Conclusions: The WHO BMI references overestimate the prevalence of underweight, overweight and obesity in relation to the cutoff points proposed by the IOTF for diagnosing malnutrition.Fil: Bergel Sanchís, María Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET- La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria; ArgentinaFil: Cesani Rossi, María Florencia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET- La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria; ArgentinaFil: Cordero, Maria Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucuman. Instituto Superior de Estudios Sociales. Universidad Nacional de Tucuman. Instituto Superior de Estudios Sociales; ArgentinaFil: Navazo, Bárbara. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Cs.naturales y Museo. Departamento Científico de Antropología. Cátedra de Antropología Biológica Iv; ArgentinaFil: Olmedo, S.. Programa de Ecología Reproductiva del Gran Chaco Argentino. Formosa; ArgentinaFil: Quintero, F.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET- La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Cs.naturales y Museo. Departamento Científico de Antropología. Cátedra de Antropología Biológica Iv; ArgentinaFil: Sardi, Marina Laura. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Cs.naturales y Museo. Departamento de Antropología; ArgentinaFil: Torres, María Fernanda. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET- La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras; ArgentinaFil: Arechiga, J.. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Méndez de Pérez, B. Universidad Nacional de Venezuela; VenezuelaFil: Marrodán, M. D.. Universidad Complutense de Madrid; Españ

Climatic Feedbacks and Desertification: The Mediterranean Model

Abstract Mesometeorological information obtained in several research projects in southern Europe has been used to analyze perceived changes in the western Mediterranean summer storm regime. A procedure was developed to disaggregate daily precipitation data into three main components: frontal precipitation, summer storms, and Mediterranean cyclogenesis. Working hypotheses were derived on the likely processes involved. The results indicate that the precipitation regime in this Mediterranean region is very sensitive to variations in surface airmass temperature and moisture. Land-use perturbations that accumulated over historical time and greatly accelerated in the last 30 yr may have induced changes from an open, monsoon-type regime with frequent summer storms over the mountains inland to one dominated by closed vertical recirculations where feedback mechanisms favor the loss of storms over the coastal mountains and additional heating of the sea surface temperature during summer. This, in turn, favors Mediterranean cyclogenesis and torrential rains in autumn–winter. Because these intense rains and floods can occur anywhere in the basin, perturbations to the hydrological cycle in any part of the basin can propagate to the whole basin and adjacent regions. Furthermore, present levels of air pollutants can produce greenhouse heating, amplifying the perturbations and pushing the system over critical threshold levels. The questions raised are relevant for the new European Union (EU) water policies in southern Europe and for other regions dominated by monsoon-type weather systems