Chemical Composition and Inhibitory Effect of the Essential Oil from Mentha Spicata Irrigated by Wastewater on the Alkaline Corrosion of Aluminum

Mentha Spicata irrigated by wastewater from the city of Settat (Morocco) was tested as corrosion inhibitor of aluminum in 0.1 M Na2CO3 using polarization method and weight loss measurements. The inhibition efficiency of mentha spicata oil was calculated and compared. We note good agreement between these methods. The results obtained showed that the tested inhibitor reduces the kinetic process of corrosion of aluminum.  Its efficiency increases with the concentration and attained 82 % at 1600 ppm. The effect of temperature on the corrosion behaviour of aluminum in 0.1 M Na2CO3 was also studied in the range 283 K and 313 K. The thermodynamic data of activation were determined. The analysis of mentha spicata oil obtained by hydro-distillation using gas chromatography (GC) showed that the major components are carvone 57.11 % and limonene 27.77%

Enhancement of photoelectrochemical and optical characteristics using a TiO2 nanoparticles interlayer in MEH-PPV heterojunction devices

International audienc

Activités antifongiques in vitro des huiles essentielles de Mentha pulegium, Eugenia aromatica et Cedrus atlantica sur Fusarium culmorum et Bipolaris sorokiniana.

L’activité antifongique des huiles essentielles (HE) extraites de trois plantes aromatiques et médicinales: Mentha pulegium L., Eugenia aromatica L. et Cedrus atlantica (Manetti ex Endl.).a été testée in vitro sur deux champignons pathogènes des céréales : Fusarium culmorum ((Wm.G.Sm.) Sacc. 1892) et Bipolaris sorokiniana ((Sacc.) Shoemaker, 1959). Les milieux de culture utilisés pour ces deux pathogènes sont respectivement : le milieu PDA et le milieu V8. Partant des concentrations mères de 1,25 ml d’huile essentielle par litre du milieu de culture, pour chaque champignon, les concentrations minimales inhibitrices (CMI) de ces huiles essentielles ont été déterminées par dilutions successives des solutions mères, et les effets fongicide et/ou fongistatique de ces dilutions ont été mis en évidence. Ainsi pour Fusarium culmorum, l’HE d’Eugenia aromatica s’est avérée la meilleure avec la concentration minimale fongicide de 0,624 ml/L, vient ensuite celle de Mentha pulegium dont la concentration mère est de 1,25 ml/L a été minimale fongicide, mais cette même concentration de Cedrus atlantica a seulement ralenti le développement de ce champignon. Pour Bipolaris sorokiniana, la concentration de 0,156 ml/L de HE d’Eugenia aromatica est la CMI, et elle est fongistatique. Les concentrations utilisées pour les HE de Mentha pulegium et Cedrus atlantica ont toutes ralenti le développement du champignon sans pour autant l’arrêter complètement

Programming Integrated Surgical Operations and Preventive Maintenance Activities

Part 2: Knowledge-Based ServicesInternational audienceThe operating theatre (OT) represents a significant component of the technical means centre. This facility is the largest cost and revenue centre. To be efficient, it needs an optimal operational pro- gramme, which takes into account maintenance activi- ties and not only surgical operations. To build such a programme, various methods have been used: mixed integer programming (MIP), three classic heuristics for Bin-Packing and a coupling of the first alterna- tive with a stochastic descent (SD). Then we compare the obtained results from generated data

Jacobi Polynomials as su(2, 2) Unitary Irreducible Representation

Ver abstrac

Etude des dégâts qualitatifs et quantitatifs dus aux Bruches sur les légumineuses au Maroc

Les pertes qualitatives et quantitatives des légumineuses en post-récoltes demeurent un important souci des agriculteurs au Maroc. Les ravageurs de stockage sont l’un des facteurs les plus destructifs des stocks de légumineuses. Pour ce fait, le présent travail porte sur l’identification des différentes espèces d’insectes attaquant les légumineuses stockées au Maroc, et l’évaluation de leurs effets nuisibles sur les pertes en qualité, quantité et faculté germinative des grains. Les résultats mettent en évidence la dominance des coléoptères de la famille Bruchidae, qui attaquent plus de la moitié des quantités stockées surtout pour les cultures de fève et féverole. Les pertes pondérales et le pouvoir germinatif ont aussi été  étudiés. Les résultats ont montré une perte en poids des grains bruchés pouvant aller jusqu’à 34%. Le pouvoir germinatif a été négativement affecté; il a oscillé entre 75 et 85% selon le nombre d’opercule par grain.    

Multi-agent Path Planning in Known Dynamic Environments

We consider the problem of planning paths of multiple agents in a dynamic but predictable environment. Typical scenarios are evacuation, reconfiguration, and containment. We present a novel representation of abstract path-planning problems in which the stationary environment is explicitly coded as a graph (called the arena) while the dynamic environment is treated as just another agent. The complexity of planning using this representation is pspace-complete. The arena complexity (i.e., the complexity of the planning problem in which the graph is the only input, in particular, the number of agents is fixed) is np-hard. Thus, we provide structural restrictions that put the arena complexity of the planning problem into ptime(for any fixed number of agents). The importance of our work is that these structural conditions (and hence the complexity results) do not depend on graph-theoretic properties of the arena (such as clique- or tree-width), but rather on the abilities of the agents

Suitability and managerial implications of a Master Surgical Scheduling approach

Abstract: Operating room (OR) planning and scheduling is a popular and challenging subject within the operational research applied to health services research (ORAHS). However, the impact in practice is very limited. The organization and culture of a hospital and the inherent characteristics of its processes impose specific implementation issues that affect the success of planning approaches. Current tactical OR planning approaches often fail to account for these issues.Master surgical scheduling (MSS) is a promising approach for hospitals to optimize resource utilization and patient flows. We discuss the pros and cons of MSS and compare MSS with centralized and decentralized planning approaches. Finally, we address various implementation issues of MSS and discuss its suitability for hospitals with different organizational foci and culture