Le marketing relationnel international des distributeurs : cas des hypermarchés français au Moyen-Orient

L'objectif de cette recherche est d'explorer comment les hypermarchés français orientent et développent leur stratégie marketing relationnelle dans le marché du Moyen-Orient. Il s'agit alors de comprendre si la standardisation personnalisée du marketing relationnel d'un point de vente favorise son intégration au marché local. Une étude qualitative a été menée auprès de vingt-deux directeurs d'hypermarchés français en Arabie Saoudite, aux Emirats Arabes Unis et en Egypte. Les résultats mettent en évidence que les enseignes françaises appliquent toutes le marketing relationnel domestique en y apportant de relatives adaptations au marché local. L'adoption d'une standardisation personnalisée s'avère être un compromis entre la volonté de maintenir la notoriété de l'enseigne et la nécessité de s'adapter à la demande locale

Double-blind randomized controlled trial of letrozole versus clomiphene citrate in subfertile women with polycystic ovarian syndrome

STUDY QUESTION: Would letrozole as a primary ovulation induction agent generate better pregnancy rates than clomiphene citrate (CC) in subfertile women with anovulatory polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)? SUMMARY ANSWER: Participants receiving letrozole as a primary treatment achieved a significantly (P = 0.022) higher clinical pregnancy rate per patient (61.2%) compared to CC (43.0%). WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: According to a recent Cochrane systematic review (2014), letrozole appears to improve live-birth (LB) and pregnancy rates in anovulatory women with PCOS, compared to CC. However, the review concluded that the quality of evidence was low due to poor reporting of study methods and possible publication bias. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION: This double-blind randomized controlled trial (RCT) included 159 participants between April 2007 and June 2014. Subjects were randomly allocated to either CC (n = 79) or letrozole (n = 80) in a 1:1 ratio. Both drugs were encapsulated to look identical. Randomization was performed in mixed blocks and stratified by patients’ BMI (<30 and 30–35 kg/m2). PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS: The trial included subfertile women diagnosed with PCOS. Treatment started with one tablet (CC 50 mg, letrozole 2.5 mg) increasing to two in non-responders and continuing until pregnancy or for up to six ovulatory cycles. Non-responders were crossed over to the other treatment after a 6-week break. Cycles were initially monitored with ultrasound follicle tracking then mid-luteal serum progesterone measurement in subsequent cycles. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE: Amongst the 159 participants included in the intention-to-treat analysis, four women conceived before treatment and six were lost-to-follow-up. The remaining 149 participants (74 on CC and 75 on letrozole) completed at least the first treatment. Women receiving letrozole achieved a significantly (P = 0.022; absolute difference [95% confidence interval] 18% [3–33%]) higher pregnancy rate (61.%) than those on CC (43%). The median number of treatment cycles received until pregnancy was significantly (log rank P = 0.038) smaller with letrozole (4[3–5] cycles) compared to CC (6[4–7] cycles). LB rates were not statistically (P = 0.089) different between the two groups, although there was a trend towards higher rates on letrozole (48.8%) compared to CC (35.4%). After the crossover, pregnancy and LB rates on letrozole (n = 45; 28.9 and 24.4%, respectively) were not statistically (P = 0.539 and P = 0.601) different from CC (n = 31; 22.6 and 19.4%). LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION: One possible limitation of this trial may be the exclusion of PCOS women with BMI > 35 kg/m2, which would limit the applicability of the results in this subgroup of PCOS. However, this group of women are generally excluded from treatment in the majority of fertility centres, especially in Europe, due to the associated challenges and risks. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS: The results of this trial are consistent with the recent Cochrane systematic review. However, with its robust design, the current RCT provides more valid and compelling evidence for the superiority of letrozole over CC as a primary ovulation induction agent in PCOS women with 40% increase in pregnancy rates and with a shorter time-to-pregnancy. Furthermore, the participants in this RCT are a good representation of subfertile PCOS population receiving fertility treatment in Europe and worldwide. The results are therefore globally generalizable for clinical practice. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S): This RCT was mainly funded by the R&D Funding Scheme of Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The study also received funds from School of Medicine, University of Nottingham. The Trust R&D department was involved in the development of the protocol and the running of the trial. The trial was sponsored and monitored by the University of Nottingham. The authors have no conflicts of interest. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: www.Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT00478504. TRIAL REGISTRATION DATE: Registration was verified on 23/05/2007. DATE OF FIRST PATIENT’S ENROLMENT: 25/04/2007

Reverse osmosis powered by concentrating solar power (CSP): a case study for Trapani, Sicily

The objective of this paper is to analyse the physical performance of two technologies in a water and electricity co-generation scheme: Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant coupled to a Reverse Osmosis (RO) unit for a location in the city of Trapani, in southern Italy. The modelled system is compared with the results of another study [2], in which a Multi-Effect Desalination (MED) is powered by a CSP plant for the same location in Italy, using as reference an existing stand-alone gas powered MED plant located at Trapani [3] (which has operated until very recently). The overall aim is to assess and compare these two cogeneration schemes, using as reference the existing MED plant. This work was conducted using as the main simulation tool: the System Advisor Model (SAM) developed by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL); a recent upgrade to SAM made available to this work through Laboratório Nacional de Energia e Geologia I.P. (LNEG); and the Reverse Osmosis System Analysis (ROSA) developed by the Dow Chemical Company. A technical visit to a real commercial RO plant in the south of Portugal (Alvor) was conducted, and the data gathered was used in the validation of the ROSA model. The results for the Trapani case study show that the CSP-RO arrangement has the capability to produce ~50% of the total production of the full scale plant at Trapani, if operated at nominal capacity, year round. Also, the CSP-RO system provides ~20% more electricity and water than the CSP-MED system throughout the studied period of one year. The two co-generation schemes provide promising potential to fight the issues related to fresh water shortages and dependency on fossil fuelled desalination. Thus, they can aid in decreasing the effects associated with CO2 emissions and climate change

A Novel Nanoparticle Associated Polymer for Enhanced Oil Recovery in Harsh Conditions

Despite the high efficiency of polymer flooding as a chemical enhanced oil recovery (CEOR) technique, the low thermal stability and poor salt resistance of widely applied partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) limited the application of this technique in oil reservoirs at harsh reservoir conditions of high–temperature and high–salinity (HTHS). These inadequacies of HPAM, result in the urge for environmentally friendly polymer with good viscosifying properties and a substantial effect on mobility ratio at HTHS reservoir condition. This research has introduced an assessment for the valorisation of a high acid value waste vegetable oil (WVO) into novel environmentally benign, thermo-responsive amphoteric nanocomposite for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) application at HTHS reservoir conditions. Two green reaction routes have been proposed to synthesize a novel oleic phenoxypropyl acrylate (OPA) thermosensitive monomer from high acid value WVO using different catalytic processes involve homogenous and heterogenous catalysts. A novel green copper-silica oxide/reduced graphene oxide (CuO-SiO2/RGO) multifunctional heterogeneous nanocatalyst derived from pomegranate peel extract has been synthesized and assessed for the direct conversion of high acid value WVO into OPA thermosensitive monomer via a single-step reaction. The prepared catalyst has been characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX). Response surface methodology (RSM) via Box-Behnken Design (BBD) has been utilized to derive the optimum OPA monomer yield at minimum reaction conditions for each reaction route, where the influence of the process variables and their interactions on the OPA yield has been evaluated. The reactive acryloyl double bond in the synthesized OPA monomer has been copolymerized with acrylamide (AM), acrylacyloxyethyltrimethyl ammonium chloride (DAC) and 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid (AMPS) in presence of dimethylphenylvinylsilane via free radical emulsion polymerization for the synthesis of a novel thermo-responsive amphoteric green polymer functionalized silica nanocomposite (AGPC) for EOR application at HTHS conditions. RSM based on central composite design (CCD) has been utilized to tailor-make the feed composition of the synthesized AGPC nanocomposite. Further, the synthesized AGPC has been extensively characterized by different techniques. The results indicated that the optimal conditions of OPA monomer synthesis using 4- (dimethylamino)pyridine (DMAP) homogenous catalyst have been developed at 2- hydroxy-3-phenoxypropyl acrylate to methyl ester (HPA:FAME) molar ratio of 7.8:1, reaction temperature of 45 ºC, catalyst loading of 1.72 % (w/w) in 5.8 hours reaction time for 92.6 % OPA yield. However, for OPA monomer synthesis using CuO-SiO2/RGO nanocatalyst the optimal conditions have been developed at hydroxy-3-phenoxypropyl acrylate to WVO (HPA:WVO) molar ratio of 7.8:1, catalyst loading of 2.5 % (w/w) and reaction temperature of 94 ºC in 9.5 hours for 95.6 % OPA yield. The synthesized nanocomposite solution exhibited a pouncing thermo-thickening behaviour and superior viscosifying properties even at ultra-low polymer concentration of 400 ppm as the temperature increased from 25 to 100 ºC, with increasing salinity from 10,000 to 230,000 mg.L-1TDS as well as salt-free solutions. The nanocomposite solutions exhibit high resistance factor (Rf) and residual resistance factor (Rrf) values of 11.61 and 7.88, respectively at a low polymer concentration of 1000 ppm which proves its ability to improve the sweeping efficiency. Flooding experiments demonstrated that oil recovery factor reached 15.4 %, 22.6 % and 25 % using low nanocomposite concentrations of 400 ppm, 600 ppm and 1000 ppm, respectively evaluated under hostile conditions of 100 ºC and a salinity about 230,000 mg.L-1TDS. Therefore, this research offers a new direction for the synthesis of a novel green, high molecular weight thermo-responsive nanocomposite for EOR application at extreme harsh reservoir conditions via WVO valorisation

Numerical simulation of particulateflow in spiral separators (15 % solids)

Spiral separator is a gravity concentration device. It wasinvented by Humphreys in 1941.It is firstly designed anddeveloped based on experience and through many testingof prototypes and modifications. The main objective of thepresent study is simulation of the particulate-flow of morerealistic solids concentration (15% solids by weight) in spiralseparator. The study is based on Eulerian approach and RING K-E turbulence modelin. The results focus on particulate-flow characteristics such as velocity, and distribution and concentration of particulates on the spiral trough.The predicted results are compared with the experimentalin case LD9 coal spiral. Comparisons between numericaland measured data show good agreement

The influence of circulating anti-Müllerian hormone on ovarian responsiveness to ovulation induction with gonadotrophins in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome: a pilot study

Background Women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) are known to have elevated circulating Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), which has been found to desensitize ovarian follicles to follicle stimulating hormone (FSH). The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of high circulating AMH on ovarian responsiveness to ovulation induction with gonadotrophins in PCOS women. Methods This prospective observational pilot study was conducted in two collaborating Fertility Centres in the UK and Egypt. The study included 20 consecutive anovulatory women with PCOS who underwent 34 cycles of human menopausal gonadotrophin (hMG) ovarian stimulation using chronic low-dose step up protocol. Blood samples were collected for the measurement of serum AMH concentrations in the early follicular (day 2-3) phase in all cycles of hMG treatment. The serum levels of AMH were compared between cycles with good vs. poor response. The good response rates and the total dose and duration of hMG treatment were compared between cycles with high vs. low serum AMH concentrations. Results Cycles with poor response (no or delayed ovulation requiring >20 days of hMG treatment) had significantly (p = .007) higher median{range} serum AMH concentration (6.5{3.2-13.4}ng/ml) compared to that (4.0{2.2-10.2}ng/ml) of cycles with good response (ovulation within 20 days of hMG treatment). ROC curve showed AMH to be a useful predictor of poor response to hMG stimulation (AUC, 0.772; P = 0.007). Using a cut-off level of 4.7 ng/ml, AMH had a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 58% in predicting poor response. The good response rate was significantly (p  = 4.7 ng/ml (100% vs. 35%, respectively). All cycles with markedly raised serum AMH levels (> 10.2 ng/ml) were associated with poor response. Cycles with high AMH (> = 4.7 ng/ml) required significantly (p < .001) greater amounts (median {range}, 1087{450-1650}IU) and longer duration (20 {12-30}days) of hMG stimulation than cycles with lower AMH (525 {225-900}IU and 8{6-14}days). Conclusions PCOS women with markedly raised circulating AMH seem to be resistant to hMG ovulation induction and may require a higher starting dose

Phase Transitions in Chemisorbed Systems

Contains reports on six research projects.Joint Services Electronics Program (Contract DAAG29-83-K-0003

Pelvic support osteotomy by Ilizarov’s concept: Is it a valuable option in managing neglected hip problems in adolescents and young adults?

For evaluating pelvic support osteotomy as a salvage procedure in managing neglected hip problems in adolescents and young adults, PSO was performed for 20 hips in 20 patients (5 men and 15 women). The mean age was 21.5 years. The etiology was neglected developmental dysplasia of the hip in 9 patients, post-septic hip sequelae in 9 patients, and paralytic dislocation due to poliomyelitis in 2 patients. All patients were treated by two osteotomies: a proximal femoral osteotomy to support the pelvis and correct the flexion and rotational deformities of the hip and a distal varization and lengthening osteotomy. Final clinical evaluation was done 6 months after frame removal. The mean external fixation time was 6.4. Lengthening and mechanical axis parallelism was achieved in all patients. At the final follow-up and according to a predesigned scoring system, there were 7(35%) excellent results, 6(30%) good results, 7(35%) fair results, and no poor results. Hip reconstruction by Ilizarov’s concept can be technically demanding and involving lengthy period wearing the frame but found to be a valuable salvage procedure for numerous neglected hip problems particularly in young patients