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This paper analyses the potential impacts of a hypothetical implementation of the Income Stabilisation Tool (IST) in France for the field crops sector. The IST is a risk management tool available within the 2014–2020 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to support farmers facing a severe drop in their incomes. This analysis was conducted using a farm‐level model relying on expected utility theory and based on positive mathematical programming with risk. The model was applied to a sample of 1375 field crop farms in France derived from Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data. Simulation results show that the uptake rate of the tool is relatively low, less than 37% in all scenarios. It is strongly dependent on CAP public support and on how much premium farmers have to pay. Highest uptake rates are observed in farms specialising in Other Field Crops, such as potatoes, pulses and sugar beet, and farms located in regions highly exposed to climatic risks. Previous experience with insurance favours the acceptance of the IST. Model results also show that the IST improves adopters' income and reduces income inequality. However, its impacts on crop diversity, measured by the Shannon index, are negative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The authors present an account of the current state of sectorization in France and its development over the last decade. Method: The paper is based on statistics collected by the French Health Ministry and on relevant laws and regulations. Comments by patients, families and professionals are presented. Results: The supply of mental health care is usually satisfactory, and there is a tendency for in-patient units to be converted into day hospitals. There is a large disparity between regions, especially in child and adolescent psychiatry. The 1838 law governing compulsory admissions was revised in 1990, and this revision was the object of a commission of inquiry in 1995. Psychiatric units work on the borders between health and social services and are forging new links between the two. Conclusion: Psychiatric care requires an integrated health and social perspective. In the field of mental health legislation European recommendations are called for. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines empirically the economic relationship between local labour market size and firm returns to training. Anchoring in the literature of micro‐foundation of agglomeration economies, we suspect that this relation is driven by two mechanisms: (i) labour pooling which should positively influence the returns to training through matching and learning effects and (ii) the risk of labour poaching, which tends to reduce the returns to training in larger labour markets. Our estimates, based on a large sample of French industrial firms, reveal that returns to training are increasing with the labour market size, suggesting that labour pooling dominates labour poaching effects. On average, returns to training lie between 6.7 and 7.7%, more in line with the microeconomic literature on education than previous studies focusing on training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2012, SCOR, one of the world's largest reinsurers, sued the French state, challenging a public–private natural disaster insurance scheme, called the "cat nat" regime. It campaigned in favour of a "real" natural disaster insurance market. The purpose of this paper is to grasp the logic of this litigation. It reveals growing tensions regarding the insurance of natural disasters, against the backdrop of climate change. To make sense of this, we will build on Christian Parenti's theory of the "environment making state". This approach aims at understanding the interaction between capitalism, states, and nature. The question we will pose is: what happens to "environment making" institutions in times of crisis? Crisis leads to the "politicisation" of "environment making": decisions concerning the management of natural hazards are increasingly taken by the executive branch. This "politicisation" may represent an important evolution in the relationship between capitalism, states, and nature in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy cover crops for biogas production through anaerobic digestion (AD) are inserted between two primary crops. They replace either bare soil or nonharvested cover crops, and their management is usually intensified to produce more biomass. They allow the production of renewable energy as well as digestate, used as an organic fertilizer, without directly competing with food production. Because of the increased biomass production and export and of the return of a digested biomass to the soil, the impact of energy cover crops on soil organic carbon (SOC) is questioned. The objective of this paper was to study the difference in SOC stocks induced by the introduction of energy cover crops for AD coupled with the application of the resulting amount of digestate. We used the AD model Sys‐Metha combined with the soil C model AMG to simulate SOC stocks for 13 case studies in France, with scenarios comparing different intercrop management practices, with or without cover crops, harvested or not. Our results indicated that the higher biomass production of energy cover crops (from 6.7 to 11.1 t DM ha−1) in comparison with nonharvested cover crops (2 t DM ha−1) or bare soil led to higher humified C input (belowground input and digestate), despite the high C fraction exported in AD. This resulted in an increase in SOC stocks in comparison with nonharvested cover crops or bare soil (from 0.01 to 0.12 t C ha−1 year−1 over 30 years). The uncertainties in the model parameters did not modify these results. However, in the case of equal biomass production between energy cover crops and nonharvested cover crops, SOC stocks would be lower with energy cover crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To problematize the idea of peasant autonomy in old capitalist societies, this paper will explore the evolution of two phenomena in present‐day France: peasantry, commonly understood as relatively autonomous small family farms that rely on subsistence farming, and the neorural movement, that is, urban‐to‐rural migration that has a counter‐cultural connotation. While peasantry is believed to be disappearing, the neorural movement is charged with "deradicalization" because it distances itself from subsistence farming. The juxtaposition of both phenomena shows that capitalism has transformed the countryside, making it difficult to live from agriculture. In old capitalist countries, peasant autonomy is no longer about subsistence farming but about achieving an economic equilibrium that increases autonomy from market pressures created by high input prices and low output values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By using an empirical method to investigate the occupied site of a renowned airport mega‐project near Nantes (so‐called Notre‐Dame‐des‐Landes, France), the paper examines the socio‐spatial effects of territorial mobilisation. We consider how the territorial embeddedness of a struggle helps reshape the relationship to space for the occupants of the contested zone. Starting from an analysis of the forms of "inhabiting" and "cohabitation" of the heterogeneous "occupying‐inhabitants" in the disputed zone, we stress how the relationship with others and to space operates over the long term. More attention is paid to describing the plural representations of the territory, which clash, converge and are unified alternately, ultimately creating a "territory of struggle(s)", which has become iconic in France. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the process of decolonising geographical knowledge on Indigenous people. More specifically, it seeks to critically engage with knowledge production on the Indigenous Other in early French colonial geography in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This particular moment coincided with the institutionalisation of French geography and the subsequent ambition to convert this discipline into a "science." As a result, early colonial geographers began objectifying Indigenous people. Rather than discuss how early French colonial geographers defined the Indigenous Other as a new "object of science," this paper examines how this desire to objectify other humanities resulted in the dehumanisation of Indigenous peoples. After clarifying the meaning of "colonial geography" in France, this paper focuses on early French colonial geographers' invention of the Indigenous Other based on different modalities whose common principle appears to be the concept of "race." This paper concludes that racialised determinants were key to othering, distancing, and even animalising Indigenous Others. Disparaging non‐European people through the use of biased "science" enabled early colonial geographers to inferiorise and dispossess them under the guise of "progress." This paper contributes to the process of decolonising geographical knowledge on Indigenous people. More specifically, it seeks to critically engage with knowledge production on the Indigenous Other in early French colonial geography in the late 19th and the early 20th centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy PointsPrivate health insurance (PHI) in France has been facing critical changes over the past 30 years. A complementary and voluntary scheme, it has been historically dominated by nonprofit entities. However, the share of for‐profit insurance companies in the sector has significantly increased. Nonprofit firms also changed their strategies and mimicked some for‐profit behaviors.The present paper argues that this process is a result of the conflict‐provoking coevolution of the insurance and health care sectors. Trying to improve the regulation of the insurance industry as whole, two European directives first jeopardized the business model of nonprofit entities. Then, two national reforms designed to improve health coverage significantly increased competition among insurers, notably in the area of corporate‐level contracts.Decoupling the insurance and health care sectors has become a major source of policy feedback and unexpected outcomes of reforms affecting the very organization of PHI. Context: In France, private health insurance (PHI) has an exceptionally high level of coverage and accounts for 13.7% of health expenditures. A complementary and voluntary scheme, it has been historically dominated by nonprofit, mutual benefit societies. Over the past 20 years, however, the market share of for‐profit insurance companies has increased by 47%. Financialization of the field developed, and competition based on new risk management strategies also increased. The broad aim of this paper is to characterize and to elucidate the causes of this trend. More specifically, we are interested in how and to what extent a series of supranational and national policies contributed to this situation. Method: Our data come from three sources. We first reviewed documents published by health insurers, government reports, and newspaper articles. We then conducted two semistructured interview campaigns between September 2017 and May 2018. The first mostly covered private and public actors and their involvement in European Union (EU) policymaking (n = 21). The second series of interviews was conducted with another group of actors directly involved at the French level (n = 16). Findings: Our findings support preliminary observations. PHI in France, we argue, is indeed facing a development of competition and marketlike instruments. Four major policies (two EU directives and two national reforms) played a significant role in this outcome. Surprisingly, however, it has never been the purpose of legislators and policymakers: while EU directives created a regulatory framework for insurance activities within the Single Market, policies adopted at the national level initially aimed at improving health coverage. We show that it is the interactions and the noncoordination among all of these policies that explain their unexpected outcome. Conclusions: The trend described in this paper is twofold. The first is Europeanization, as PHI in France is increasingly affected by EU legislation. Since this framework tends to favor larger firms and for‐profit companies, a reduction in statutory coverage can no longer be considered a quasi‐neutral transfer from (publicly owned) social security to nonprofit providers. At the same time, PHI is shifting toward collectivization: as competition increases, complementary health coverage is becoming gradually standardized and based at the corporate level. Together, these changes are likely to reduce freedom of choice and individual welfare, an assumption supported by studies published on the most recent period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This paper describes the characteristics of the new advanced practice nursing roles in France, as well as their challenges and perspectives, and compares the French model with the recommendations of the International Council of Nurses. Background: Advanced practice nursing is particularly well established in English‐speaking countries. Since 2018, France has become the second French‐speaking region to legalize and regulate advanced practice nurses. Source of evidence: The International Council of Nurses and French government websites, and scientific databases (PubMed, CINALH, Cochrane Library) were explored. Feedback from French nursing academics was also requested. Discussion: The advanced practice nursing model in France is described according to the scope and conditions of professional practice. The educational program leads to a State diploma with master's degree, which it is mandatory to be a registered nurse. Remuneration depends on the sector of practice in the public hospital, primary care or private sector. Although there is no national strategy for the implementation of advanced practice nursing roles, research projects are being initiated to guide and evaluate the practice. Based on concordance analysis with the recommendations of the International Council of Nurses, the French advanced practice nursing model appears to be similar to the nurse practitioner model. Conclusion: Adjustments in the scope of practice and education can be expected as the implementation of these roles is evaluated. Implications for nursing practice: This is a historical evolution of the nursing profession in France, for which communication with patients and healthcare professionals is essential. Implications for nursing policy: The implementation of advanced practice nursing roles in clinical settings requires the development of national strategies to support initiatives and ensure the sustainability of these roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper advances a research agenda on how asset‐based welfare policies, residential market volatility, stratified accumulation and vulnerability impinge upon the geography of inequality in property markets. Since the mid‐1990s, housing prices have increased faster than the income of buyers, becoming a driver of social polarisation and household vulnerability. Few studies have however explicitly linked socio‐spatial inequality to asset capitalisation, instability and vulnerability in residential housing markets. We employ an empirically‐grounded investigation of the factors driving and reinforcing these dynamics, what we conceptualise as a feedback loop mediating particular housing finance regimes. Drawing on three French cities (Paris, Lyon, and Avignon) our study develops a comparative framework to interpret the relational effects of price, equity and homeowner vulnerability on the production of inequality across different geographical scales. Our approach puts into conversation debates concerning housing markets, social inequality, and ordinary financialisation in the period since the Global Financial Crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context Until the last decade of the 20th century, France had no equivalent to the US Food and Drug Administration. In this paper we describe and interpret the complex series of events that led to the passage by the French Parliament in December 1992 of a law incorporating such an agency, the Agence du Médicament (literally, 'medicines agency'). The broad aim of this project was to learn how public health policy change comes about by detailed analysis of a specific instance. More specifically, we aimed to better understand the circumstances under which public health crisis leads to significant public health policy reform. Methods This paper is based on detailed analysis of primary documents (eg, archived French health ministry papers, recorded parliamentary debates, government reports, newspaper articles) and oral history interviews covering a period from 1988 to 1993. Thematic analysis of these materials was initially grounded in theories of organizational change, moving to constructs that emerged from the data themselves. Findings Policy entrepreneurs positioned to frame adverse events and seize opportunities are key to public health policy reform. However, whether these entrepreneurs will have the requisite institutional power is contingent both on political structure and on the power of competing institutional actors. Health crises may catalyze institutional reform, but our analysis suggests that whether reform occurs, or even whether adverse episodes are labeled as crises, is highly contingent on circumstances of history, political structure, and political ideology and is extremely difficult to predict or control. Conclusions Actors positioned to shape public health policy need to have a detailed understanding of the circumstances that facilitate or impede policy reform. Health crises are now more often global than not. Comparative, theoretically grounded, cross-national research that looks in detail at how different countries respond to similar health crises would be extremely valuable in informing both policymakers and researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This paper describes the situation regarding COVID‐19 emergency in France as of early May 2020, the main policies to fight this virus, and the roles and responsibilities of nurses regarding their work at this time, as well as the challenges facing the profession. Background: Europe continues to be affected by the COVID‐19 pandemic. At the time of writing France was the fourth country with the highest number of detected cases and cumulative deaths. Sources of evidence: Websites of the World Health Organization, French Government, French Agency of Public Health, French National Council of Nurses and ClinicalTrials.gov database, as well as the experiences of the authors. Discussion: The history of the development of the pandemic in France helps explain the establishment of the state of health emergency and containment of the population. Many decisions made had undesirable repercussions, particularly in terms of intra‐family violence, mental health disorders and the renunciation of care. Hospitals and primary care services, with significant investment by nurses, played a key role in the care of persons with and without COVID‐19. Conclusion: France has suffered a very high toll in terms of COVID‐19 morbidity and mortality, and effects on its people, health systems and health professionals, including nurses. Implications for nursing practice: Nurses are recognized for their social usefulness in France. However, it is important to consider the collateral effects of this crisis on nurses and nursing and to integrate the health emergency nursing skills established during the pandemic into the standard field of nursing competence. Implications for nursing policy: The nursing profession has expectations of a reflection on and revision of nursing skills as well as of its valorization in the French healthcare system, notably carried out by the French National Council Order of Nurses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In March 2020, the French President called to war against the COVID‐19 which was followed by the launch of a military operation called Operation Resilience. This use of martial rhetoric initiated an effective mobilisation consisting in logistical assistance to the health sector. While armies are increasingly used to deal with environmental disasters, aside from their traditional role, this paper postulates that the geography of the French and international military engagement can be used to analyse both the institutional strategy of crisis management and the message governments send to their population. Military involvement differs in terms of missions given and of the amount of troops mobilised. It first questions the use of the military in the name of national resilience in the political discourse and the way it displays a symbolic message to the population, before analysing the role of armies in the crisis through the spatiality of their interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upper Barremian – Lower Aptian inner platform "Urgonian" limestones in the Mont de Vaucluse region, SE France, consist of alternating metre‐scale microporous and tight intervals. This paper focuses on the influence of structural deformation on the reservoir properties of the Urgonian limestone succession in a study area near the town of Rustrel. Petrographic, petrophysical and structural data were recovered from five fully‐cored boreholes, from the walls of a 100 m long underground tunnel, and from a 50 m long transect at a nearby outcrop. The data allowed reservoir property variations in the Urgonian limestones to be studied from core to reservoir scale. Eleven Reservoir Rock Types (RRTs) were identified based on petrographic features (texture, grain size), reservoir properties (porosity, permeability), and the frequency of structural discontinuities such as fractures, faults and stylolites. Tight and microporous reservoir rock types were distinguished. Tight reservoir rock types were characterised by early cementation of intergranular pore spaces and by the presence of frequent structural discontinuities. By contrast microporous reservoir rock types contained preserved intragranular microporosity and matrix permeability, but had very few structural discontinuities. Observed vertical alternations of microporous and tight rock types are interpreted to have been controlled by the early diagenesis of the Urgonian carbonates. Deformation associated with regional‐scale tectonic phases, including Albian – Cenomanian "Durancian" uplift (∼105 to 96 Ma) and Pyrenean compression (∼55 to 25 Ma), resulted in the modification of the initial petrophysical properties of the Urgonian limestones. An early diagenetic imprint conditioned both the intensity of structural deformations and the associated circulations of diagenetic and meteoric fluids. Evolution of the Reservoir Rock Types is therefore linked both to the depositional conditions and to subsequent phases of structural deformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tumour genetics is currently turning into a massive clinical approach. This paper is an enquiry into its practices as they expand beyond expert and experimental contexts and become routinised in clinical hospital settings. Studying a French university hospital, we unpack the content and everyday organization of diagnostic labour in this context. Exploring the sociotechnical frictions that arise in the process, we describe the ways in which they are collectively controlled, and stabilized through organizational fictions, that are instrumental in making tumour genetics doable in the hospital, at a large scale. We further show that the new role of external regulations in the production of clinical values for mutations has a strong impact on diagnostic work, making it possible to be performed locally without resorting to expert bioclinical collectives, and outside the professional jurisdiction of clinical geneticists. This division of labour appears as a necessary condition for the rise in clinical productivity required by a new function assigned to genetics: to guide the prescription of drugs for common diseases. This turn in the way genetics is embedded in the clinic calls for a thorough reassessment of its impacts on clinical discourses, practices and decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we provide a spatial analysis of agriculture in three mid-sized French cities, with a particular focus on professional farms. The existence of important agricultural spaces inside the cities is confirmed. We reveal the persistence of a field-based, market-oriented agriculture in French mid-sized cities, often ignored in studies on urban agriculture, and usually made invisible. Our results highlight the farms' diversity, as well as a diversity of farmers' viewpoints on the relations between urban and agricultural places. We emphasise the importance of three main determinants in the observed dynamics: the cities' geographies; the impact on farmers of land speculation and urbanisation; and the implementation of resistance and adaptation processes by some farmers. These results are discussed in relation to the literature on urban and peri-urban agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction and Aims: Field studies have indicated a recent increase in heroin availability and use in France, and yet very little is known about the mechanisms underlying heroin retail prices. This paper offers a first attempt at identifying the determinants of heroin pricing, to measure quantity discounts and assess the influence of purity on street prices, while controlling for a geographical effect.Design and Methods: Data on heroin samples were collected during 2011 in seven urban areas of metropolitan France. Ordinary least squares regression was used to model the associations between price, quantity, purity and other independent variables.Results: Quantity remains the most influential variable on heroin pricing. We estimate that a 10% increase in the size of a transaction leads to a 2.3% decrease in the unit price. Assessed purity proved to be significant, although in modest proportion. Sociodemographic characteristics, such as gender, users' experience and relationships with dealers, proved to be insignificant. Heroin retail prices vary according to a geographical gradient related to the routes of entry and distribution.Discussion and Conclusions: As a credence good, heroin retail prices in France are affected by more than simply the traditional supply and demand relationship. The results of this study also underline the limitations of a quantitative framework and should be complemented by further ethnographic research to obtain an in-depth understanding of local markets. Policies should be designed to better take local disparities into account.[Lahaie E, Janssen E, Cadet-Taïrou A. Determinants of heroin retail prices in metropolitan France:Discounts, purity and local markets. Drug Alcohol Rev 2016;35:597-604]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European household structures and their geography have been transformed in recent decades as a response to the interplay of demographic events and changing lifestyles. The formation of new households generally outstrips the rate of population increase, as more numerous and smaller households result from changing patterns of marriage, child-bearing, divorce and longevity. This paper tests some of the underlying hypotheses of the ‘second demographic transition’ using data from the most recent (1999) French population census. It provides an analysis of changing national household structures over the last quarter of the twentieth century and highlights the importance of smaller households, with particular emphasis on the rise of living alone. Trends identified in earlier work have intensified during the 1990s. In discussing the geography of new household forms, the paper focuses particularly on the evolution of major central cities and argues for more explicit links between their distinctive population and household structures and wider socio-economic change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electricity supply in the European member states has been a closed national public sector service without competition for a long time. Currently, the European electricity industry is subject to radical change resulting from the European directive establishing common rules for the internal market in electricity, which came into force in 1997. This paper attempts to explain the varying forms of implementation of the internal electricity market in France and Germany. First, it clarifies the special characteristics of electricity supply and European electricity policy. Secondly, the paper shows the divergent sectoral arrangements of the French and German electricity industries. Thirdly it points out that the different degrees of linkage between the public players and the electricity companies in France and Germany produce different political strategies which are followed by the companies at the European level, especially those strategies which seek direct influence on the European Commission. Finally, the paper reveals the significance of these strategies in Brussels in terms of the implementation of the single electricity market in both member states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shift‐share analysis (SSA) of regional employment growth disparities aims at disentangling the effects of regional differences in industry mix and industrial competitiveness. Yet, the spatial concentration of industry is a blindspot of this approach. We generalize the SSA to encompass this salient feature of the economic geography. Besides, industry emergence and catastrophic growth events—booming or collapsing industries—are integrated in our framework. This novel method is applied to study regional disparities in manufacturing employment growth in France in a dynamic way over a 22‐year period at a fine geographical level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides the first detailed analysis of the spatial dimensions of precarious employment across the French territory. We find that different forms of precarious employment exhibit different spatial patterns. The most striking locational pattern is shown by fixed-term contracts and part-time work where we observe clusters of high levels of precarious employment primarily in southern regions. Northern regions, in contrast, are characterised by clusters of low levels of precarious employment. We also find that precarious employment is predominantly a rural phenomenon with the exception of temporary (interim) work which displays higher average levels in urban communes. Finally, modelling results suggest that the geographical distribution of precarious forms of employment is linked to factors such as the unemployment rate, the industrial composition of a region, gender and the structure of family households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the issues related to the double-sided dimension of wellbeing: subjective and objective. In the theoretical framework developed by Fleuret and Atkinson (2007, The New Zealand Geographer 63 106-29), spaces of wellbeing are shaped by four dimensions (spaces of security, spaces of capability, therapeutic spaces and integrative spaces). In the case of the student population in Angers, we observe a major imbalance: the component that really stands out is capability, which is quite logical because students are a population in a transition between youth and adulthood. The results reveal that the student population has a specific relation to space due to a transitory presence in the university town, with, as a consequence, a simultaneous embedding in different places. This could explain why the students do not perceive the characteristics of place to be a major influence on their wellbeing; instead it is the perception they have of their wellbeing that influences their perception of place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on street-side vending of fresh mint and herbs in the French city of Montpellier, this paper considers the difference between illegal and informal vending, and the regulatory mechanisms deployed by municipal and police actors in the push to eradicate illegality. Drawing on municipal archives from the late 1990s, and interviews and city documents from the 2000s, I examine the relationship between regularised market stall holders and those selling goods outside assigned vending spaces, with a particular interest in how these two groups interact, and the instances in which police and market officials are called. Through a rapidly escalating campaign to fight illegality, green fresh mint is coded as an illicit product and the individuals who sell it are targeted as dangerous criminal elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims This paper aimed to assess whether the increase of social differentiation of smoking is observed in France. Design and setting Five cross-sectional telephone surveys conducted in France between 2000 and 2007. Participants The surveys were conducted among national representative samples of French subjects aged 18–75 years ( n = 12 256, n = 2906, n = 27 499, n = 2887, n = 6007 in 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007, respectively). We focused on three groups: executives, manual workers and the unemployed. Measurements Time trends of smoking prevalence were assessed, and socio-economic factors (especially occupation and job status) associated with smoking were identified and compared in 2000 and 2005. We also computed respondents' equivalized household consumption (EHI) and their cigarette budget to assess the financial burden of smoking. Findings Between 2000 and 2007, smoking prevalence decreased by 22% among executive managers and professionals and by 11% among manual workers, and did not decrease among the unemployed. Indicators of an underprivileged social situation were associated more markedly with smoking in 2005 than in 2000. In addition, the falling-off of smoking initiation occurred later and was less marked among manual workers than it was among executive managers and professionals. Finally, in 2005 15% of French smokers devoted at least 20% of their EHI to the purchase of cigarettes, versus only 5% in 2000, and smoking weighted increasingly heavily on the poorest smokers' budgets. Conclusions While these results point out an increased social differentiation in tobacco use, they underline the need to design and implement other forms of action to encourage people to quit, in particular targeting individuals belonging to underprivileged groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines trends in obesity rates and education-related absolute and relative inequalities in obesity over the last 40 years in France. Data are drawn from the French Decennial Health Surveys of 1970, 1980, 1991 and 2003. The difference in obesity rates between the least- and most-educated, the Slope Index of Inequality, is used to estimate absolute inequalities in obesity. The ratio of the corresponding rates, the Relative Index of Inequality, reveals the relative inequalities in obesity. Obesity rates were similar in men and women, but educational inequalities were greater in women. Obesity rates were similar over the first three surveys but increased for all in the 2003 survey. This increase was accompanied by increases in absolute inequalities in men ( P = 0.04) from a Slope Index of Inequality of 4.80% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.27, 7.32) to 8.64% (95% CI = 5.97, 11.32) and women ( P = 0.004) from 8.90% (95% CI = 6.18, 11.63) to 14.57% (95% CI = 11.83, 17.32). Relative inequalities in obesity remained stable over the 40 years. Recent increase in obesity rates in France is accompanied by increases in absolute education-related inequalities, while relative inequalities have remained stable; this suggests that obesity rates have increased at a much faster rate in the low-education groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The three main estuaries in the French Atlantic coast – the Seine, Loire and Gironde, all with high tidal regimes – are interfaces between the continental and the coastal ecosystems. The Seine and Gironde are highly contaminated, whereas the Loire remains in a more natural state. Both the Seine and Gironde have suffered from harbour construction, and as a result, their biological units are extremely compartmentalized. Benthic species and communities have adapted to tolerate temporal physical and chemical changes ( e.g. salinity, substrata, depth, and levels of fine particles and oxygen) and human activities ( e.g. dredging, shipping traffic, and habitat reduction). Although numerous bio-indicators and indices are used to define the ecological quality status (EcoQS) of coastal waters, very few of them were developed specifically for environments with a mosaic of conditions and salinity levels, including freshwater. The main problem appears to be that all the indices for determining anthropogenic stress examine the abundances of stress-tolerant species, which may also be able to tolerate natural stressors such as those occurring in estuaries. This paper takes a look at the development status of the benthic indicators and index approaches used in the three main estuaries along the French Atlantic coast. In addition, it examines the adaptation of the different benthic indicators to the taxonomic sufficiency principle, and the adaptation of the Benthic Opportunistic Polychaetes Amphipods index (BOPA) and the Benthic Opportunistic Annelida Amphipod index (BO2A) for use in the freshwater zones of transitional waters ( i.e. up to the upper limit of the tidal range). Several perspectives are discussed in light of the diverse disturbances and the heterogeneity of such stressed zones, such as the use of multimetric and scoring approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context The last 10 years have represented a period of significant reform within both the health care and education systems in France. In terms of its workforce, France faces a shortage of doctors, particularly in primary care. Methods This paper examines the French medical curriculum, student selection, licensure and continuing medical education and discusses the challenges currently facing French medical faculties. Results The French medical curriculum is defined nationally, with methods adapted at medical school level. There has been some uptake of innovative methods such as problem-based learning, skills-based teaching and performance-based assessment. However, traditional didactic teaching of scientific medicine and the apprenticeship model remain dominant. France uses a unique method of selection, which is the subject of much debate. Following a general year, medical students are subject to a selection examination that permits only a small number to continue studies. Similarly, at the end of medical school, a written test is used to rank students for the purpose of matching to specialty training. France has no national colleges or licensing authorities and thus authorisation to practise rests on the diploma delivered by each faculty of medicine. From 2005, continuing medical education became compulsory for all doctors. It includes the evaluation of medical practice. Conclusions French faculties of medicine face several challenges, including: rising numbers of students without a commensurate growth in the number of faculty members; an increasing emphasis on multidisciplinary health care; a drive towards mandatory continuing education and performance-based outcomes, and the development of national selection examinations that are knowledge-based. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: On the basis of 2402 phytoecological relevés, with complete species lists, and real pH measurements resulting from chemical analyses of the top layer of forest soils, this paper compares quantitatively the ecological response of 46 herbaceous forest species along a pH gradient in two regions of northern France. Location: The two regions investigated are oceanic north-western France (NW) and semicontinental north-eastern France (NE). Methods: For each of the 46 species with more than 50 occurrences in both NW and NE regions, an ecological response curve was computed with simple logistic regression models, and two synthetic numerical values were derived: ecological optimum (OPT) and ecological amplitude (AMP). A comparison of the ecological behaviour of species present in both regions was performed in terms of shift in optimum and/or amplitude. Results: All 46 species did reveal a reaction to pH. Our main observation was the relative stability of the behaviour of most species with reference to pH conditions, which is consistent with results from some previous studies. Slight differences regarding the two synthetic parameters (OPT and AMP) were however observed between the NW and NE regions, probably due to a form of competitive release in neutral environments in the NW. Main conclusions: Among the main possibilities that could explain a geographical shift in the ecological behaviour of herbaceous species, competitive effects are, we suggest, the most plausible explanation. In the light of former studies, it seems that further analyses of geographical shifts in the ecological behaviour of forest plant species over large areas are needed, such as for example over the European continent. Nomenclature: Tutin et al . (2001). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Islands have exercised a fascination on the human imagination. Yet today it is possible to identify a positive need for island experience – an island imperative – in whole sectors of society in developed countries. This condition invites the geographer to investigate the nature and fundamental causes of this ‘lure of the island’. In this paper, it is argued that the enhanced impact of islands on the human imagination is not a passing fad: there is rather an essential contribution of, and by, small islands and their inhabitants to the urban and globalised civilisation of our time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

France and the UK are markedly different welfare states, both in terms of regime type and in terms of the varying degree of state responsibility for reconciling work and family life. One recent theoretical strand suggests that welfare states will tend to grow more similar since they face broadly similar pressures. This paper discusses the policy responses in France and the UK to labour market pressures resulting from enhanced international competition, technological development and family change during the past decade. These responses are set in the context of European debates about the desirability of greater flexibility, up-skilling and the activation of unemployed people, about the childcare needs of women workers and about the importance of paid work in reducing poverty and inequality. The analysis shows that trends to convergence are limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the strained relationship between French police agencies and ethnic minorities and discusses evidence of ethnic discrimination by the police and the criminal justice system. Until recently, the idea that ethnic composition of a police force ought to reflect, to some degree, the community it polices, seemed odd in France. We argue that there are two main reasons for this viewpoint: first, a conception of the role of the police in the State as accountable to the government rather than to the citizens; secondly, a conception of Republic and citizenship denying any political significance to the personal identities of citizens. We conclude that ethnic diversification of police forces is but one aspect of a more encompassing struggle against discrimination that requires a degree of accommodation with the present legal and statistical invisibility of racial/ethnic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The authors present an account of the current state of sectorization in France and its development over the last decade. Method: The paper is based on statistics collected by the French Health Ministry and on relevant laws and regulations. Comments by patients, families and professionals are presented. Results: The supply of mental health care is usually satisfactory, and there is a tendency for in-patient units to be converted into day hospitals. There is a large disparity between regions, especially in child and adolescent psychiatry. The 1838 law governing compulsory admissions was revised in 1990, and this revision was the object of a commission of inquiry in 1995. Psychiatric units work on the borders between health and social services and are forging new links between the two. Conclusion: Psychiatric care requires an integrated health and social perspective. In the field of mental health legislation European recommendations are called for. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper draws on research into child welfare services in France, Germany and England which compares the subjective experience of mothers who have been in contact with family support and child protection agencies in the three countries. The mothers' stories suggest that successful help-achieving strategies differ according to the nature of the child welfare regime, and that behaviour which is effective in getting a good response in one country may work less well elsewhere. The stories of two mothers in each of the countries have been chosen to demonstrate how the structures of different social welfare regimes affect the efforts of welfare users to get the help they need. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]