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Photometric and Electrical Characterizations of Large-Area OLEDs Aged Under Thermal and Electrical Stresses
No full textInternational audienc
Hirtellina lobelii DC. essential oil, its constituents, its combination with antimicrobial drugs and its mode of action
No full textInternational audienceWith the goal of unravelling antimicrobial agents and mixtures inspired by plant defences, we investigated the antibacterial and antifungal efficacy of Hirtellina lobelii DC. essential oil (EO), both alone and in combination with antimicrobial drugs. Hirtellina lobelii DC. EO was analysed by GC, GC–MS and partial fractionation/NMR. It was essentially composed of oxygenated sesquiterpenes (75.2%), with α-bisabolol (34.5%), fokienol (12.0%) and T-muurolol (6.8%) serving as the main components. Microbial susceptibility was determined by the broth microdilution method and was expressed as minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal or fungicidal concentration (MBC or MFC). This EO was found to possess remarkable bactericidal (MBC/MIC = 2) and fungicidal (MFC/MIC = 1–4) potential, particularly against the Gram (+) bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, including its methicillin-resistant forms, the yeast Cryptococcus neoformans and dermatophytes from the genus Trichophyton (MICs 8–128 μg/ml). The examination of the combined effects of the EO with antimicrobial drugs revealed synergisms of the EO with vancomycin against S. aureus and of the EO with fluconazole and griseofulvin against dermatophytic fungi (FICI 0.2–0.5). The effect of H. lobelii EO on the morphologies of fungal hyphae and bacteria, as determined by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), showed fungal hyphae swelling and bulging. These results suggest that H. lobelii EO and its major constituent, α-bisabolol, have remarkable antimicrobial potential. Combination therapies of this EO with antifungal drugs could offer a promising alternative for treatment of human mycoses caused by filamentous dermatophytic fungi
Democracy across Gender Diversity and Ethnicity of Middle Eastern SMEs: How Does Performance Differ?
No full textFinaliste du Prix Académique de la recherche en management 2018International audienceThis paper examines the relationship between boards of directors' demographic diversity and firms' financial performance. In particular, we highlight how women and ethnic minorities can affect Middle Eastern SMEs' financial performance. Using an unbalanced panel of 1,855 firm-year observations of 371 boards of directors from nine Middle Eastern countries, our results support the positive impact of women and ethnic minority group members on Middle Eastern firms' performance. However, our evidence implies that when Western ethnic minority members increase, firms' performances tend to decrease, because these board members are appointed for regional and international board reputation legitimacy, personal business agendas, and links to the external corporate environment
Retrait et fissuration des sols argileux par dessiccation
No full textInternational audienceDurant ces dernières années, les chercheurs sont de plus en plus intéressés par la construction en terre crue. Ceci est dû à plusieurs caractéristiques : une faible consommation en énergie grise, une disponibilité quasi-immédiate, et une bonne isolation phonique et thermique. En dépit de ces avantages, l'utilisation de cette technique de construction reste un peu limitée à cause du retrait par dessication préjudiciable, en particulier dans certaines zones de sécheresse. Un retrait conséquent est susceptible d'endommager l'ouvrage grâce aux fissurations. Ce travail traite, par corrélation d'images numériques, l'évolution de la déformation d'échantillons argileux, dès le début du retrait et jusqu'à l'amorce de la fissure. Afin de comprendre l'origine de la fissuration, la dessiccation est étudiée pour différentes conditions aux limites et en fonction des caractéristiques intrinsèques du matériau. Plus les grains du sol sont fins, plus la fissuration du sol est importante.ABSTRACT. In recent years, the researchers have become increasingly interested in raw earth construction. This is due to several characteristics : a low consumption of gray energy, an almost immediate availability, and a good soundproofing and thermal isolation. Despite these advantages, the use of this construction technique remains somewhat limited due to shrinkage by prejudicial desiccation, especially in some drought areas. A consequent shrinkage is likely to damage the structure by dint of cracks. This work deals, by digital image correlation, the evolution of the strain of clay samples, from the beginning of shrinkage until the initiation of crack. In order to understand the origin of cracking, desiccation is studied for different boundary conditions and depending on the intrinsic characteristics of the material. The finer the soil grains, the greater the soil cracking.</div
Evaluation of Bacterial Contamination of Hand Washing Tools in Restaurants in Lebanon
No full textInternational audienceAims: This study aims to determine the extent of bacterial contamination of various hand hygiene tools as well as to isolate and identify the diversity of bacteria, mold and yeast present in these commercial products. The possible contamination of these utensils due to the environment encountering them is also being investigated.Study Design: First a literature search was conducted with the aim of finding the hand hygiene tools that are frequently contaminated and the most frequent bacteria that contaminate it. Then restaurants were visited for an observational study and for the collection of samples for microbiological testing.Place and Duration of Study: Study enrollment was voluntary and limited to the restaurants located in the Maten region-Lebanon, between September 2012 and January 2013.Methodology: Seven different restaurants participated in this study, from which we collected the following samples if they were found: Water samples (from the kitchen and the toilet), soap samples (from bulk and dispenser), paper towel samples (from the kitchen and the toilet) and hand disinfectant samples. Collected samples were tested for total coliforms, total bacterial count, fecal coliforms, yeast, and mold.Results: None of the restaurants were able to meet all hygiene requirements and 7 over 7 restaurants were not able to meet more than 45% of the Food Code requirements for hand washing station. Almost all the restaurants had at least 2 contaminated samples and no restaurants had hand disinfectant. This study found that even if hand washing is carried out properly, hands could become contaminated at first by the pre-contaminated hand hygiene tools.Conclusion: The assessment of the hand hygiene tools’ safety may be considered as complementary to the Food Code’s recommendations given that the safety of these products is as important as the hand hygiene itself. A scheduled microbiological test for all hand hygiene tools should also be planned at least once a year
The structure of the textile and Clothing companies in Africa: The women entrepreneurship relevance
No full textInternational audienc
Phytoplankton diversity in the mediterranean sea from satellite data using self‐organizing maps
No full textInternational audienceWe present a new method to identify phytoplankton functional types (PFTs) in the Mediterranean Sea from ocean color data (GlobColour data in the present study) and AVHRR sea surface temperature. The principle of the method is constituted by two very fine clustering algorithms, one mapping the relationship between the satellite data and the pigments and the other between the pigments and the PFTs. The clustering algorithms are constituted of two efficient self‐organizing maps, which are neural network classifiers. We were able to identify and estimate the percentage of six PFTs: haptophytes, chlorophytes, cryptophytes, Synechococcus, Prochlorococcus, and diatoms. We found that these PFTs present a peculiar variability due to the complex physical and biogeochemical characteristics of the Mediterranean Sea: Haptophytes and chlorophytes dominate during winter and mainly in the western Mediterranean basin, while Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus dominate during summer. The dominance of diatoms was mainly observed in spring in the Balearic Sea in response to deep water convection phenomena and near the coastline and estuaries due to important continental inputs. Cryptophytes present a weak concentration in the Aegean Sea in autumn. The validation tests performed on in situ matchups showed satisfying results and proved the ability of the method to reconstruct efficiently the spatiotemporal patterns of phytoplankton groups in the Mediterranean Sea. The method can easily be applied to other oceanic regions
The therapeutic role of motor imagery during the chronic phase after total knee arthroplasty: a pilot randomized controlled trial
No full textInternational audienc
Multitemporal Remote Sensing Based on an FVC Reference Period Using Sentinel-2 for Monitoring Eichhornia crassipes on a Mediterranean River
No full textISI Document Delivery No.: IV6OL Times Cited: 0 Cited Reference Count: 67 Ghoussein, Youssra Nicolas, Herve Haury, Jacques Fadel, Ali Pichelin, Pascal Abou Hamdan, Hussein Faour, Ghaleb Faour, Ghaleb/0000-0002-0741-0518 Lebanese University; National Research Center (CNRS-L), Lebanon This research was funded by the Lebanese University and National Research Center (CNRS-L), Lebanon. 0 1 Mdpi Basel 2072-4292International audienceInvasive aquatic plants are a serious global ecological and socio-economic problem because they can cause local extinction of native species and alter navigation and fishing. Eichhornia crassipes (water hyacinth) is a dangerous invasive floating plant that is widely distributed throughout the world. In Lebanon, it has spread since 2006 in the Al Kabir River. Remote sensing techniques have been widely developed to detect and monitor dynamics and extents of invasive plants such as water hyacinth over large areas. However, they become challenging to use in narrow areas such as the Al Kabir River and we developed a new image-analysis method to extract water hyacinth areas on the river. The method is based on a time series of a biophysical variable obtained from Sentinel-2 images. After defining a reference period between two growing cycles, we used the fractional vegetation cover (FVC) to estimate the water hyacinth surface area in the river. This method makes it possible to monitor water hyacinth development and estimate the total area it colonizes in the river corridor. This method can help ecologists and other stakeholders to map invasive plants in rivers and improve their control