The protection of the weaker part in contractual relations : a comparison between French and Maghreb countries’ laws

L’étude de la protection de la partie faible fait partie des sujets à la fois historiquement récurrents et en même temps modernes. Ce faisant, dans son principe, la protection légale de cette dernière dans la relation contractuelle est une constante. Cependant, le sujet relatif à la protection de la partie faible est d’une actualité qui a un impact pratique et évident sur notre vie quotidienne. L’évolution de la protection de la partie faible se retrouveégalement dans la multiplication des entités chargées d’assurer sa mise en oeuvre. En effet, jusqu’ici, le juge avait le pouvoir et les compétences quasi-monopolistiques d’intervention pour le contrôle de l’application des législations et/ou de la protection des contractants en cause. Actuellement, leslégislateurs tentent de conférer aux organismes administratifs des rôles, des compétences et des pouvoirs qui s’approchent de plus en plus de celui du juge. D’ailleurs, les associations de consommateurs jouent un rôle accru dans la promotion voire la mise en place de l’objectif de la protection en la matière.Ainsi, l’étude comparative de l’efficacité des règles de droit français et de celles des pays maghrébins est-elle indispensable afin d’envisager quelles pourraient être les solutions face au développement des relations contractuelles contemporaines.The protection of the weaker part is one of the most studied subjects; historically and in modern times. In doing so, as a principle, the legal protection of the weaker party in a contractual relationship is a constant.However, the protection of the weaker part is a key issue that has a practical and obvious impact on our daily life. The evolution of protection of the weaker party is also reflected in the multiplication of the entities ensuring its implementation. Until now, the judge has had the quasi-monopolistic powerand competences to monitor the application of the legislations and / or the protection of the concerning contractors. Currently, legislators are attempting to give administrative bodies some roles, competences, and authority that increasingly come close to the judge's ones. In fact, consumer associations play a greater role in promoting and, even setting up, the objective of protection in this issue. Thus, a comparative study of the effectiveness of the rules of French laws and those of the Maghreb countries seems to be essential to contemplate what could be the solutions to the development of contemporary contractual relations

Pretreatment and fermentation of lignocellulosic biomass : Reaction mechanisms and process engineering

In the time of rapidly depleting petroleum resources, worldwide food shortages, and solid waste problems, it is imperative to promote dedicated research into using an appropriate pretreatment technique utilizing regeneratable raw materials such as lignocellulosic biomass. However, not all pretreatment techniques are viable alternatives for industrial practice. Pretreatment is an important step to upgrade different kinds of lignocellulosic biomass into more valuable products, including biofuels and bio-based industrial chemicals. Most of the pretreatment techniques have their limitations or weaknesses, including high operational costs and temperature, toxicity and corrosiveness to the instrument, etc., while, some other pretreatment methods such as biological and plasma pretreatment are green procedures that can also be used to alter the physical and chemical properties of lignocellulosic materials. Although our present understanding is still low and not much research has been done to guarantee which pretreatment method is the reliable alternative, the combination of different pretreatment methods could be a good strategy to overcome the limitations of each approach. This review presents an overview of different pretreatment methods of lignocellulosic biomass to increase the rate and the degree of cellulose hydrolysis and subsequent processing steps as well as future perspectives