Summary -This paper describes a multivariate analysis applied on maritime pine lumber properties, leading to a statistical modeling of the bending strength of this material using indirect nondestructive information. Correlation models are used in this study to estimate the distributional characteristics of concomitent properties that must be specified in European strength classes of lumber (prEN338), mainly density, modulus of elasticity (MOE) and modulus of rupture (MOR). The

Revue belge de géographie 1 | 2019 Miscellaneous La Grande Niaye de Pikine, un espace humide à haute valeur agronomique au coeur de l'agglomération urbaine de Dakar : analyse des enjeux socioéconomiques The Great Niaye of Pikine, a wetland of high agronomic value in the heart of the urban agglomeration of Dakar: analysis of socioeconomic issues

Humanity has experienced outbreaks for millennia, from epidemics limited to pandemics that have claimed many victims and changed the course of civilizations. The advent of vaccines has eradicated some of the serious pathogens and reduced many others. However, pandemics are still part of our modern world, as we continue to have pandemics as devastating as HIV and as alarming as severe acute respiratory syndrome, Ebola and the Middle East respiratory syndrome. The Covid-19 epidemic with 0-exponential contamination curves reaching 3 million confirmed cases should not have come as a surprise, nor should it have been the last pandemic in the world. In this article, we try to summarize the lost opportunities as well as the lessons learned, hoping that we can do better in the future. The objective of this study is to relate the situation of Covid-19 in African countries with those of the countries most affected by the pandemic. It also allows us to verify how, according to the observed situation, the African ecosystem seems to be much more resilient compared to that of other continents where the number of deaths is in the thousands. To verify this, the diagnosed morbidity and mortality reported for different states of the world are compared to the ages of life and the average annual temperature of these states. The results show that the less dramatic balance of the African continent compared to other continents is partly linked to the relatively high temperatures on the continent but also to the relatively young character of its population.

In the Gandiolais, the groundwater of the quaternary sands, heavily salted over most of the area, is used to irrigate crops and poses real difficulties for the sustainability of the market gardening system. Secondary salinization of the irrigated soil and the reaction of the absorbing complex depend mainly on the intrinsic parameters, particularly the texture of the soil. The purpose of this article is to analyze the spatial distribution of salinity taking into account the particle size characteristics of the absorbent complex.The hydrogeochemical approach based on the relations of concentration makes it possible to appreciate the process of conservation in situ between the irrigation water and the exploited soil. The results obtained confirmed that the coarse texture of medium-to-fine sand type allows rapid leaching of soluble salts over the entire profile. Soils remain globally calcimagnesian although the irrigation water is globally sodium chloride and potassium or sodium sulphated. However, this high permeability of the complex constitutes a risk of ionic overconcentration in the aquifer. Irrigation returns associated with fertilizers accentuate the mineralization of the groundwater of the quaternary sands.