SCIENCE AND EMPIRES: FROM THE INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM TO THE BOOK Patrick PETITJEAN, Catherine JAMI and Anne Marie MOULIN The International Colloquium "Science and Empires - Historical Studies about Scientific De velopment and European Expansion" is the product of an International Colloquium, "Sciences and Empires - A Comparative History of Scien tific Exchanges: European Expansion and Scientific Development in Asian, African, American and Oceanian Countries". Organized by the REHSEIS group (Research on Epistemology and History of Exact Sciences and Scientific Institutions) of CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research), the colloquium was held from 3 to 6 April 1990 in the UNESCO building in Paris. This colloquium was an idea of Professor Roshdi Rashed who initiated this field of studies in France some years ago, and proposed "Sciences and Empires" as one of the main research programmes for the The project to organize such a colloquium was a bit REHSEIS group. of a gamble. Its subject, reflected in the title "Sciences and Empires", is not a currently-accepted sub-discipline of the history of science; rather, it refers to a set of questions which found autonomy only recently. The terminology was strongly debated by the participants and, as is frequently suggested in this book, awaits fuller clarification.

This book addresses the diversity of tropical microorganisms and its applications in agriculture, renewable energy production and environmental protection. It covers several tropical habitats such as rain forests, mangroves, sea and river waters and describes how microorganisms isolated from these regions can be used to control insects and plant diseases, to improve sugar cane and biofuels production among other applications. The book also aims to bring researchers’ attention to the potential of tropical microorganisms for biotechnological purposes, an area that is still far from being well explored.

"The Natural Resources Book in Wetlands From Pantanal to Amazonia edited by the Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi / National Pantanal Research Institute is to promote the publication, dissemination and socialization in the national and international scope of the intellectual production on Biodiversity, Biotechnology and Innovation that deals exclusively with the Pantanal Biome and Amazon Biome through information on the biological diversity of populations and communities of animals, plants and microorganisms and their ecological patterns and processes, Development of technologies, patents and innovations, as well as biotechnological products and processes based on biodiversity. It contemplated researches carried out by teachers and Students of the Doctoral Program in Biodiversity and Biotechnology in Network Regional North Pará; Doctors and Students of the Doctoral Program in Network Regional Center West (MT, MS, GO and DF) and Researchers of the National Institute of Science and Technology in Wetlands (INAU)."--Page 5.

The advent of transnational economic production and market integration compels sociologists of work to look beyond traditional national boundaries and build an international sociology of work in order to effectively address the human, scientific, and practical challenges posed by global economic transnationalism. The purpose of this volume is to promote transnational dialogue about the sociology of work and help build a truly international discipline in this field.