Externalisation Offshore du développement logiciel: le Low Cost illustré par le modèle indien

One of the most common economic concerns in the literature is the quest to reduce the total costs of a firm. In this work we will focus on one of the solutions that leads the firm to achieve this objective by focusing on a complex and costly function to manage, namely software development. By adopting an Offshore strategy to entrust this managerial and economic burden to a third party, the client firm generates an extreme reduction in costs. This reduction stems from the claimant's ability to minimize production costs made possible by the weakening of wages. The model studied is that of Indian service providers since India ranks first in the Offshoring market. The result suggests that the number and quality of Indian graduates are those who give this economic and technological privilege to this country.L’une des préoccupations économiques les plus posées dans la littérature est la recherche de réduire les couts totaux d’une firme. En ce travail on va mettre l’accent sur l’une des solutions qui conduit la firme à réaliser cet objectif en se concentrant sur une fonction complexe et couteuse à gérer à savoir le développement logiciels. En adoptant une stratégie d’Offshore pour confier ce fardeau managérial et économique à un tiers, la firme cliente génère une réduction extrême de couts. Cette réduction provient par l’aptitude du prestataire à minimiser les charges de production rendu possible par l’affaiblissement du salaire. Le modèle étudié est celui de prestataires indiens étant donné que l’Inde se classe en premier rang dans le marché d’Offshoring. Le résultat suggère que le nombre et la qualité de diplômés indiens sont ceux qui donnent ce privilège économique et technologique à ce pay

Proton conductivity versus acidic strength of one-pot synthesized acidic functionalized SBA-15 Mesoporous silica

International audienceThis paper reports the one-pot synthesis and characterization of functionalized mesoporous SBA-15 silica, containing two loadings of different acid groups (-CO2H, -PO(OH)2 and -SO3H). The thermodynamic features of the water confined in these porous silicas is investigated by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). The results show that the melting behaviour of the confined water is mainly governed by the pore diameter and, as a consequence, indicate that the chemical "decoration" of the porous surface does not play any key role on water thermodynamics in that case. On the contrary, the proton conductivity of the hydrated mesoporous materials, examined in a wide range of temperatures (-100 to 70°C), turns out to be strongly dependent on both the physical state of the confined water and the acidity of the functions located at the porous surface. The proton conductivity is shown to be directly related to the pKa and the density of the functional groups attached to the mesopore surface. The high conductivity values obtained at low temperature when the confined water is frozen, let us think that the -SO3H functionalized SBA-15 investigated here could be promising candidates for electrolyte solids applications in fuel cells

Firm growth vs. external growth: a behavioral approach

A firm is a market contradiction: as a firm grows, the market shrinks. The basis of this statement are theoretical approaches, which are called theories of the company. This work is aimed at determining the boundaries of the company in a dynamic perspective with the aim of finding effective solutions to the process of its growth. The study notes that opportunism as a behavioral factor, as Williamson noted, incurs significant operating costs that encourage the firm to change its boundaries

Cadmium chloride-induced oxidative stress and DNA damage in the human Jurkat T cell line is not linked to intracellular trace elements depletion

Toxicology in Vitro, ISSN : 0887-2333, DOI : 10.1016/j.tiv.2010.10.018, Issue : 1, Volume : 25, pp. 191-198, February 2011.Cadmium (Cd) is a widespread environmental contaminant. Cd affects the cellular homeostasis and generates damage via complex mechanisms involving interactions with other metals, induction of oxidative stress and apoptotic or necrotic cell death, depending on the cell type and the concentration. The goal of the present study was to investigate the effect of exposure to CdCl2 on the intracellular trace elements levels, the antioxidant enzyme activities and on DNA damage in the Jurkat T cell line. Cells were exposed to 5, 25 and 50 lM of CdCl2 for 24 h. Cd significantly reduced the viability of Jurkat T cells and induced a dose-dependent increase in DNA damage with statistically significant differences relative to controls (p < 0.001); the superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase activities were significantly decreased. Lipid peroxidation and protein carbonyl levels were significantly increased while glutathione and the total intracellular sulfhydryl groups were decreased showing clearly that an oxidative stress was generated by Cd. Surprisingly the treatment with Cd induced a significant increase in the intracellular levels of all the trace elements measured. The results indicate that cellular pro-oxidative stress induced by Cd is most likely mediated by disruption of redox homeostasis associated to a mishandling of redox-active transition metals and causes lipid and protein oxidation and oxidative DNA damage in Jurkat T cells

Traitement numérique du signal physiologique : Application au débruitage et à l’analyse de l’ECG par Ondelettes

Conférence Internationale sur les Systèmes de Télécommunication , d’Electronique Médicale et d’Automatique, CISTEMA’2003Ce travail s’inscrit dans le cadre global du traitement numérique du signal physiologique. Cet article est consacré à l’application des ondelettes en vue: a/ de détecter le bruit par le biais de l’ondelette chapeau mexicain. b/ de son débruitage par le biais des ondelettes Debauchies. Le débruitage concerne notamment l’élimination du bruit de réseau. Les résultats sont comparés avec ceux obtenus par le filtrage numérique. c/ d’éliminer les différentes dérives du signal électrocardiographique, en particulier les dérives dues à un mauvais contact électrodes-patient. d/ d’une mise en forme idéale du signal ECG en vu d’une exploitation optimale de celui-ci par le médecin

Analyse Spectro-Temporelle du Signal Electrocardiographique Dans le cas de deux Cardiopathies

Conférence Internationale sur les Systèmes de Télécommunication , d’Electronique Médicale et d’Automatique, CISTEMA’2003Nous avons mis en oeuvre une chaîne d'acquisition pour recueillir sur le corps humains jusqu'à 16 signaux physiologiques numérisés. Notre choix s'est orienté en premier vers l'électrocardiogramme. Ce signal bénéficie d’une analyse sepectro-temporel. L'analyse temporelle permet le tracé du signal, le découpage temporel, le calcul et le tracé de la fonction d'auto corrélation. L'analyse spectrale permet le calcul et le tracé du spectre. Nous nous intéressons dans le cadre de ce travail à la comparaison des représentations spectro-temporelles du signal électrocardiographique dans le cas de deux cardiopathies, en l'occurrence: une sténose mitrale et une valvulopathie aortique. Le but étant entre autre la mise en évidence de raies spécifiques représentatives de ces cardiopathies

Urinary metals and metal mixtures and oxidative stress biomarkers in an adult population from Spain: The Hortega Study

INTRODUCTION: Few studies have investigated the role of exposure to metals and metal mixtures on oxidative stress in the general population. OBJECTIVES: We evaluated the cross-sectional association of urinary metal and metal mixtures with urinary oxidative stress biomarkers, including oxidized to reduced glutathione ratio (GSSG/GSH), malondialdehyde (MDA), and 8‑oxo‑7,8‑dihydroguanine (8-oxo-dG), in a representative sample of a general population from Spain (Hortega Study). METHODS: Urine antimony (Sb), barium (Ba), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), molybdenum (Mo), vanadium (V) and zinc (Zn) were measured by ICPMS in 1440 Hortega Study participants. RESULTS: The geometric mean ratios (GMRs) of GSSG/GSH comparing the 80th to the 20th percentiles of metal distributions were 1.15 (95% confidence intervals [95% CI]: 1.03-1.27) for Mo, 1.17 (1.05-1.31) for Ba, 1.23 (1.04-1.46) for Cr and 1.18 (1.00-1.40) for V. For MDA, the corresponding GMRs (95% CI) were 1.13 (1.03-1.24) for Zn and 1.12 (1.02-1.23) for Cd. In 8-oxo-dG models, the corresponding GMR (95% CI) were 1.12 (1.01-1.23) for Zn and 1.09 (0.99-1.20) for Cd. Cr for GSSG/GSH and Zn for MDA and 8-oxo-dG drove most of the observed associations. Principal component (PC) 1 (largely reflecting non-essential metals) was positively associated with GSSG/GSH. The association of PC2 (largely reflecting essential metals) was positive for GSSG/GSH but inverse for MDA. CONCLUSIONS: Urine Ba, Cd, Cr, Mo, V and Zn were positively associated with oxidative stress measures at metal exposure levels relevant for the general population. The potential health consequences of environmental, including nutritional, exposure to these metals warrants further investigation

Chemical composition and antibacterial activitiy of the essential oils of Algerian Myrtus communis L.

Myrtus communis L. leaf essential oils from Algeria were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). A total of thirty-four components were identified accounting for 95% of the oil. The main compounds were limonene (23.4%), linalool (15.4%), geranyl acetate (10.9%), α-pinene (10.7%), linalyl acetate (8.2%) and 1,8-cineole (6.6%).The antimicrobial evaluation showed that myrtle oil exhibited good antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus mirabilis and Kleibsiella pneumonia, but differed according to the strains. Conversely, it was not active against Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Offshoring software development: india/china choice a transaction costs perspective

The purpose of this paper is to interpret the decision to choose a country to entrust its service providers with the software development activity. Based on transaction cost theory, the cost measurement waxes derived from this theory are used to compare two competing countries in the Offshore market: India and China. Salary, ICT, language, trust and economic and institutional stability are the points of differentiation on which this study is based. By using an exploratory and a comparative study based on secondary data from different statistical sources, the study confirms that according to the TCT, India remains a more appropriate choice than China for client firms seeking to outsource software development activity. This paper is completely original and proposes a new research component that links TCT predictions with the country chosen as a part of Offshore’s strategy.</jats:p