•The Mediterranean is a complex and heterogeneous macro-region.•This is reflected in a diverse mosaic of farming and land use systems.•Multiple social-ecological challenges are arising that require ...novel approaches.•This Special Issue identifies gaps in research and pathways forward.•Further integration across scales, methods and approaches is still required.
The Mediterranean (macro-)region is characterized by its unique bio-physical, socio-political, and cultural conditions when considered at the global scale. Nonetheless, at the same time this is an extremely heterogeneous and diverse region, as is reflected in the heterogeneous and dynamic mosaic of farm and land systems developed along a long history throughout which they have tightly adapted to the frequent scarcity and irregularity of natural resources. Such long-scale trajectory of adaptation has resulted in a wide range of traditional rural and peri-urban landscapes hosting a rich biodiversity and bearing multiple social and cultural values. Throughout recent history, and especially over the past two decades, Mediterranean farm and land use systems have been undergoing multiple transition processes, resulting in many current landscapes gradually becoming more homogeneous and intensified, whilst others are being abandoned. It has now become self-evident that both trajectories of change are evolving at unequal rates and scales across the region. This process too frequently leads to the degradation of the valuable cultural, social, territorial and natural capital of the region. This demands urgent and innovative initiatives, either private, public or mixed, that are effective to reverse current trends of degradation, and move towards higher degrees of sustainability and resilience.
The aim of this Special Issue is to synthesize and critically review key elements current research on farm and land system dynamics in the Mediterranean region, and to discuss land use management and governance frameworks in place at multiple spatial-temporal scales and institutional levels to foster increased sustainability and resilience. Papers in this SI address historic and envisaged future changes in the region, focusing on the complexity of interactions at the farm and landscape levels. Furthermore, papers in the SI also address the role and interactions with non-farming-related land uses (i.e. urban and/or conservation). The SI covers key contexts, conceptual frameworks, challenges, approaches, methods and alternatives in place to provide with a picture of the current situation and, more importantly, of likely potential pathways for the future improvements. The need for further integration across scales, methods and approaches is finally acknowledged.
Abstract An emphysema in a lower limb is usually a clinical sign of a severe and life-threatening infection. We report a rare case of subcutaneous emphysema of the left lower limb associated with a ...massive retro-pneumoperitoneum and pneumatosis intestinalis after cardiac transplantation in a 4-year-old girl. The child was nearly asymptomatic beside an abdominal distension. A benign pneumoperitoneum associated with an extensive pneumatosis intestinalis is a rare complication after organ transplantation and should be treated conservatively. The association with an emphysema in a lower limb in a child has not been previously reported to our knowledge in the literature.
OBJECTIVE
To define the evolution of the single-ventricle (SV) heart in adult patients in terms of morbidity, mortality and quality of life.
METHODS
Sixty-two patients with SV physiology and aged ...older than 16 years were retrospectively reviewed. Three patients (5%) were in natural history, one had received a Blalock-Taussig shunt, one a Waterstone anastomosis, one a pulmonary artery banding, three a bidirectional cavopulmonary anastomosis, eight a classic Fontan procedure and 46 a total cavopulmonary connection (TCPC). The morphology of the SV was left in 48 patients (77%), right in nine (14%) and indeterminable in five (8%). Thirty-three patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to assess ventricular mass (VM), ventricular systolic function, pulmonary artery branch diameter and potential thrombosis of the conduit. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPTE) was carried out to evaluate exercise tolerance. The quality of life was monitored with two different specific tests, the Short Form-36 (SF-36) and the congenital heart disease-TNO/AZL adult quality of life (CHD-TAAQOL). The mean follow-up time was 8.0 ± 9.1 years.
RESULTS
Two of the three patients in natural history underwent primary TCPC. Re-interventions were necessary in seven patients (11%). Three patients (5%) died during follow-up. Five patients (8%) underwent cardiac transplantation. Protein losing enteropathy appeared in six (10%), while the arrhythmic disorder was detected in 13 patients. On the MRI, the mean end-diastolic ventricular volume was 106 ± 448 ml/m2, the mean ejection fraction (EF) was 52.3 ± 10% and VM was 56 ± 22.1 g/m2. On CPTE, the peak of oxygen uptake (peak VO2) was moderately impaired in 92% of patients, while 4% presented a severely impaired and 4% a normal peak of VO2. No correlations were found among the peak of VO2 and the quality-of-life evaluation.
CONCLUSIONS
Adult patients with SV are at high risk of reoperations and need of transplant and complications. Nevertheless, in the presence of a moderately reduced peak of VO2 and a moderate reduction in the EF detected at the MRI, the results of the evaluation of daily quality of life are incredibly high.
Depuis plusieurs années, à titre expérimental, des troupeaux sont réintroduits en forêt méditerranéenne pour concourir à la prévention des incendies de forêt. Cet article aborde la question du choix ...d'une stratégie de développement de cette expérience : faut-il en centraliser la gestion ou inciter à une autonomisation des acteurs ? Il se base sur une enquête réalisée auprès de l'ensemble des acteurs concernés. Il préconise la mise en place d'une institution relais accompagnant les projets à moyen terme (conception d'un environnement adapté). Cette réflexion illustre l'intérêt d'une approche globale de la diffusion des actions de développement.
From experimentation about extension to extension of experimentations
Since several years, flocks are re-introduced in mediterranean forest, as an experiment, to prevent fire risks. This article is about the choice of a way to follow for the extension of this experiment : is it to search for an involvement in the management of the put up plan, or, on the opposite, to urge on for self-governing of the people involved ? It is based on an inquiry carried out to the whole group of concerned people. The proposal is creation of a relay-institution to support projects on middle terms. This is an illustration of the interest of an hol- listic approach of extension actions.
We outline the determinants of local public policies for farmland preservation and urban expansion. We first rely on the literature and on a purposely designed field study of municipalities in ...southern France to propose a theoretical framework better suited to the French situation. The model considers aspects of land consumption, includes two interest groups as well as the median voter, and is then econometrically tested. We confirm the expected effects of certain sociodemographic determinants and highlight the impact of municipal budgetary considerations and the role of the agricultural sector. We also find more counterintuitive determinants, like local political regime or unbalanced neighboring relationships.
Land use and land cover change (LULCC) dynamics have been particularly strong in the Mediterranean region, due to its historical development and to agro-pedoclimatic conditions favorable to human ...settlement. This area has undergone in the 1950s and the 1980s intense urbanization processes that has followed different trajectories. Urban expansion commonly occurs at the expense of agricultural land, leading to the fragmentation of natural areas and conflicts over access to land resources. These dynamics mainly concern the fringe between urban and agricultural land, e.g. the peri-urban areas usually included within functional urban regions. Here, to identify common features of LULCC in Western Mediterranean urban regions, we investigated two main features: direct changes due to urbanization and indirect changes affecting non-artificial land uses. We compared LULCC dynamics in 6 case studies from the north and south of the Western Mediterranean region: the urban regions of Montpellier and Avignon (France), Pisa (Italy), Madrid (Spain), Meknes (Morocco), and Constantine (Algeria), using a 30-year multitemporal spatial analysis (1980–2010). Two series of Landsat TM images were acquired for each case study and land cover data were analyzed both for dynamics and for land patterns, using landscape and class metrics. We found no significant north-south differences in LULCC dynamics between the investigated Western Mediterranean urban regions. Differences are more pronounced between small–medium cities and large metropolitan areas in type of urban diffusion, which is more sprawled in small–medium cities and more compact in large metropolitan areas. Rather, differences occur in LULCC not directly affected by urbanization, since in Northern Mediterranean urban regions afforestation and abandonment of agricultural areas are prevalent and closer to the urban areas, whereas transformation of natural areas into agricultural ones occurs mainly in Southern Mediterranean urban regions at a similar distance from urban areas than it happens for afforested or abandoned areas. In attempting for the first time to assess LULCC in these Mediterranean urban regions, we provide a preliminary comprehensive analysis that can contribute to the active LULCC research in the Mediterranean basin and that can be easily applied to other Mediterranean urban regions.
•LULCC of 6 Mediterranean urban regions were compared.•No significant north-south differences in urbanization were found.•Differences appeared for urban growths patterns in metropolitan and medium cities.•Agricultural abandonment occurs nearest to urban areas in the northern regions.
Les données statistiques existantes peinent à appréhender le phénomène touristique dans toute sa complexité. Par exemple, la notoriété touristique, très rarement appréhendée statistiquement, est un ...facteur susceptible d’informer le phénomène touristique et ses effets sur d’autres mécanismes territoriaux. Face à l’absence d’indicateurs statistiques décrivant la notoriété des lieux, nous proposons et mettons à l’épreuve une méthodologie permettant de mesurer la notoriété touristique, localisée à l’échelle communale et étendue sur une région. Cette méthode est basée sur le comptage des occurrences de noms de communes dans les guides touristiques par analyse textuelle. Nous justifierons cette proposition méthodologique par une revue de la littérature sur le rôle des guides touristiques dans la formation de l’image des lieux et la détermination des mobilités touristiques. Nous testerons cette méthodologie sur le territoire corse en montrant la nécessité de superviser la procédure de traitement des guides touristiques étant données les difficultés linguistiques et statistiques de l’opération. Nous mettrons en évidence une bonne convergence de la mesure de la notoriété entre les différents guides touristiques utilisés. Ceci nous permettra de proposer un indicateur de notoriété touristique spatialisé, que nous confronterons aux indicateurs touristiques les plus fréquemment utilisés, afin de mieux cerner l’apport de cette mesure dans la compréhension du phénomène touristique.
L' etalement spatial des villes dans les 20 dernieres annees en France influe sur les espaces periurbains, qui accueillent actuellement 25 de la Population urbaine. Ceci introduit dans ces zones ...riches d' espaces mnaturels et agricoles des perturbations et une forte concurrence sur l' acces a la ressource fonciere. Le document, apres un tour d' horizon des approches theoriques, apporte une analyse economique et econometrique des terres des Bouches du Rhone. Il examine ensuite les strategies des acteurs intervenant dans la question fonciere (agriculteurs et elus) au moyen d' une serie d' enquetes. La conclusion presente une analyse croisee entre discours et observations quantifiee, afin de fournir des materiaux utiles a une regulation des espaces periurbains.
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