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What is called « urban sprawl » agrees with the growth of a suburb which, instead of pushing in front of itself the discontinuity separating the urban and rural areas, crosses through that qualitative discontinuity. The process finds expression by the implantation, into rural positions, of forms previously conceived in order to convert urban positional values. In the outskirts of Québec City, where it is used to go faster for more than the last 20 years, the sprawl is concerned with an internal dynamics of mimesis which has led the local councils, staying in rural positions, to appropriate the prototype of the urban modernity such as it was implemented by the town of Sainte-Foy since the sixties. By producing urban look like forms on rural positions, the recent "urban sprawl" represents, more precisely, an endeavour oriented towards erasing the political intrinsic character of the discontinuity separating geographical positions. This "manoeuvre" entails economical bull operations in the rural area and, by the way, gets the society as a whole into debt. Nowadays, such a consequence means that it is not possible to confine the political order into the matter of the economical necessity.

Keywords: Etalement urbain, espace géographique hétérogène, valeurs positionnelles urbaines et rurales, région de Québec, mimesis d'appropriation, réductionnisme économique, Urban sprawl, heterogeneous geographical space, urban and rural positional values, region of Quebec City, mimesis, economical reductionism

The history of Catholic intellectuals during the XXth century needs to be apprehended from an Atlantic perspective. Crucial issues like modernism, democracy, religious freedom, pluralism, and liturgical reform are defined and refined through a constant dialogue between European and American Catholic intellectuals and cultural practices. The vectors of this Atlantic history include religious communities, whose members cross the ocean for studies or teaching as well as intellectuals, Catholic university networks like Pax Romana or pontifical universities and youth networks like JEC and Scouts.

The musical history of Quebec cannot be summarized with a simple chronological listing of names and works. Several musicians have constructed local, national and international networks, often interdisciplinary, which have shaped the musical world. These relationships developed particularly during the first half of the twentieth century. This article examines a particular case: the power relationships between clerical, political, and intellectual networks in the awarding of government grants to composers between 1919 and 1929. In the absence of clearly stated objectives justifying these grants, certain intellectuals brought pressure to bear in support of the musical creation of Rodolphe Mathieu, while the clergy favored Eugène Lapierre for the directorship of a conservatory under its control, and Claude Champagne's political supporters ushered him into the directorship of a State Conservatory.

Historically, natural resources have supported the economy and the development of many regions in Quebec. However, the conditions of their exploitation have evolved with changes in historical, social, and geographical contexts, as new resources appear while others disappear. A major challenge is to ensure that diverse projects, whether related to new or more traditional resources, can coexist in a common territory. The wind power industry is a good illustration of such a challenge. The efforts made to promote this “new” resource often face strong social critics in local communities likely to host wind farms. Following a brief summary of the main strategies adopted by the Government of Quebec to support this green industry, our attention will be turned to one of the central argument brought by the opponents, also expressed in other industrial countries : the argument of landscape. By analysing the briefs submitted to a public hearing held by the provincial Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement (BAPE), we will distinguish four main social discourses based on different landscape definitions, each raising different issues related to the exploitation of wind power. We will attempt to demonstrate that, through the landscape argument, people can address decisions that have been made regarding environmental and regional planning, as well as their underlying conceptions of development. Our analysis will also reveal that positions are not simply divided between those in favour and those opposed to wind turbines, but rather that they rest upon different representations of the concerned territory. From our point of view, a deeper understanding of such rationalities and their grounds could throw light on current social dynamics and governance practices related to this energy industry and the emerging resource of landscape.

In Morocco, diffuse ground water pollution by nitrates in irrigated areas has caused an increase in the risk of water quality deterioration. This has generated a health risk in rural areas, since most of the rural population get their drinking water supply from the aquifer. The present study was carried out in the Tadla region. The plain of Tadla is situated in the centre of Morocco, in the Oum Erbia river basin. It covers a surface area of 3600 km2. The Oum Erbia river (160 km long) divides this plain into two large irrigated areas (Beni Amir in the east (3300 ha) and Beni Moussa in the south (6900 ha)), with different hydrological characteristics. The irrigation water comes from the Oum Erbia river, the Bin El Ouidane dam and from two important waters tables: Beni Amir (190 Mm3) and Beni Moussa (250 Mm3). The objectives of this study were to quantify the degree of ground water contamination by nitrates and to identify the potential causes of this pollution.The monitoring of nitrate concentrations in ground water was carried out during the period of August 1996 to April 1998, in 100 wells in the region of study. The physical environment and agricultural practices were determined either by field measurements, laboratory analyses or by investigations with farmers at 40 selected sites. The results are presented by thematic maps using a geographical information system.The level of ground water nitrate pollution is becoming a serious problem. The point pollution is localized around or downstream of urban built up areas such as Fquih Ben Saleh, Beni Mellal, Souk Sebt and Oulad Ayad. This pollution, caused by household wastes, is likely aggravated by waste dumping from the sugar refineries (SUBM, SUTA and SUNAT) as well as by waste water reuse in agriculture. Other zones with nitrate concentrations more than 50 mg NO3 -/L were observed in wells situated downstream from Beni Amir and east of Beni Moussa. West Beni Moussa was generally not as polluted as east Beni Moussa, but an increase in ground water nitrate levels was observed in some downstream wells in west Beni Moussa. The diffuse nitrate pollution has been attributed to land use, irrigation and fertilization practices. These practices may be responsible for nitrate leaching beyond the root zone during the cropping season and may generate large quantities of residual inorganic nitrogen at harvest time. This represents a potential risk of nitrate ground water pollution in the next draining period. The physical characteristics of soil texture (clay, clay-silt and silty clay), percentage clay (29 % - 55 %) and their correlated parameters (especially the useful storage capacity) act to reduce the risk of nitrate leaching and ensures a control on ground water nitrate pollution. However, other observations including: a low water level table compared to the soil surface, particularly in the middle of the irrigated area and around the edge of the Oum Erbia river (<4 - 12m); a high soil infiltration rate in unsaturated soil, which varied from 20 -100 mm/h (permeable soils) to 200 - 450 mm/h (extremely permeable soils); a high level of organic matter in the soil (1.5% - 3.5%) and; total nitrogen contents (0.10% - 0.15%) would increase the aquifer vulnerability to ground water nitrate pollution. Similarly, the high soil mineralization capacity in the 0-60 cm soil layer (100 - 600 kg N /ha), combined with the ecological conditions, favoured an intense mineralization of the native organic matter of soil. This high mineralization capacity, which is characteristic of irrigated Mediterranean areas, could be partly responsible for this pollution. However, no correlation was found between ground water nitrate contents and linear combinations of physical environmental variables. This could be due to the homogeneity of the physical environment and to the movement of water in the saturated soil, in the direction of ground water flow, inducing the accumulation of nitrate pollution in the hydraulic downstream area of the water table.Considering the degree of agriculture in this area, the situation could worsen rapidly, thus inducing significant ground water deterioration. In attempts to avoid this situation, many important measures at the regional scale are necessary, in order to rationalize agricultural practices and to increase the farmers' awareness of ground water nitrate pollution. These urgent preventative actions should be adopted in order to combine agricultural productivity and durability with water economy and water quality preservation. Some programs are in progress within this region. The objectives are essentially to reduce nitrate excess and to introduce more efficient irrigation techniques such as the pivot (frontal ramp) recommended for cereals and sugar beet, and localized irrigation system proposed for vegetable crops and arboriculture. Also, since the Oum Erbia river basin has also been subjected to a clean-up of urban and industrial pollution, it would be interesting to carry out a more precise study of nitrogen dynamics and nitrate leaching at the plot scale, especially for the most common practiced crops in the region (wheat, sugar beet and vegetable crops). This would advance the understanding and management of nitrogen cycles in the crop-water-soil system.Finally, the database included as part of this study may be integrated in a water and nitrate movement simulation model. This will allow the prediction of nitrate leaching losses and identify, through scenario analysis, the links that should be acted on, in order to reduce the risk of ground water nitrate pollution in this region.

Keywords: Pollution, eaux souterraines, nitrates, caractéristiques physico-chimiques du sol, rejets urbains, pratiques agricoles, Maroc, Pollution, ground water, nitrate, soil physical and chemical characteristics, agricultural practices, urban pollution

This paper presents a review of the literature devoted to the employer brand. The concept and its measurement are first presented and discussed. A definition is suggested and the antecedents of the employer brand are then exposed. The effects of employer brand on current and potential employees are also discussed. Finally, we develop an integrative model of the internal and external consequences of the employer brand. Following this model, a research program designed to tackle areas with little or no exploration to date is proposed.

Keywords: Marque employeur, capital marque, marketing des ressources humaines, gestion des ressources humaines, Employer brand, brand equity, human resources marketing, human resource management, Marca empleador, capital marca, marketing de recursos humanos, gestión de recursos humanos

This article shows that expatriate managers do accumulate various forms of capital during expatriation in hardship locations. However, the development of such capital depends in particular on expatriates' country of origin and social status before expatriation. In proportion to their capital endowment before expatriation, expatriates from emerging countries and middle-class managers from developed countries increase their capital more than other expatriates do but they are faced with a “glass ceiling” that limits their upward mobility within the firm and the community of “global managers”.

Keywords: expatriation, mobilité géographique et sociale, classes, pays émergents, expatriation, spatial and social mobility, classes, emerging countries, expatriación, movilidad geográfica y social, clases, países en desarrollo