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

Externalisation des systèmes d’information : perspective de la théorie des couts de transactions Cas des entreprises algériennes

Résumé    L’externalisation des SI est une question fondamentale notamment dans ces dernières décennies qui revient à changer les frontières organisationnelles de l’entreprise et à recourir à la coopération. Sous l’angle de la recherche de réduire les couts d’une fonction de SI, la théorie des couts de transactions considère que le prestataire devient capable de fournir des services à moindre couts pour certains fonctions de SI. Ce papier vise tout d’abord à aborder l’analyse de la TCT envers  l’externalisation des SI, en faisant une démonstration empirique en dernier sur le cas de quelques entreprises.   Mots clé : Externalisation, Externalisation des SI, TCT, Enquête par questionnaire.Abstract   IS outsourcing is a fundamental question especially in these last decades which returns to change the organizational frontiers of the firm and to resort to cooperation. Under the angle of searching to reduce the costs of an IS function, the transactions costs theory regards that the provider becomes able to provide services cheaply for some IS functions. This paper aims firstly to board the transaction costs analysis toward to outsourcing of IS functions, by doing an empirical demonstration lastly on the case of some firms.Key word: Outsourcing, Outsourcing of IS, TCT, Survey

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

Ameliorative or corrective effects of Fig “Ficus carica” extract on nickel-induced hepatotoxicity in Wistar rats

peer reviewedMany heavy metals and metalloids (e.g., Pb, Cd, and Ni) can contaminate the environment and cause severe health problems. Through this study, investigated the possible corrective effects of Ficus carica extract (FCE) against nickel (Ni) induced stress response and damage on the liver of rats. Male Wistar rats were divided into four groups (8 rats per group) and co-treated with FCE (350 mg/kg) and exposed to Nickel chloride (10 mg/kg) for 4 weeks. The volatile compounds of FCE were characterized by solid phase micro-extraction (SPME) coupled with GC–MS, and the biochemical parameters of stress were determined. The SPME–GC/MS analysis of FCE indicated the presence of thirty (30) phyto-bioactive compounds including alcohols, aldehydes, organic acids, ketones, furans, terpenes, ester and others. The best capacity for scavenging DPPH free radicals and metal chelating were found with the IC50 values of 0.49 and 2.91 mg/mL, respectively. Ni induced damage to various macromolecules. Malondialdehyde, protein carbonyls, alanine aminotransferase and gamma glutamyl transferarse levels were significantly increased in Ni exposed group compared to control group and co-treatment with FCE reduced the levels of these parameters. In conclusion, current findings showed that Ni-induced oxidative damage and the administration of FCE can improve correct and restore the alteration in the rat liver

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

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

Cadmium-induced oxidative damages in the human BJAB cells correlate with changes in intracellular trace elements levels and zinc transporters expression

International audienceCadmium (Cd), a potent toxic heavy metal, is a widespread environmental contaminant. Its cellular traffic via pathways dedicated to transition metals contributes to the toxicity mechanisms. Zinc (Zn) homeostasis is complex , involving both zinc importers (Zip) and zinc exporters (ZnT). Cellular signal transduction pathways are influenced by Zn and redox status of the cell. The aim of the present study is to examine if the accumulation of Cd in the human lymphocyte B cell line BJAB and its capacity to promote oxidative stress and adverse effects could result from changes in the mRNA expression pattern of Zn transporters and metallothioneins. Cells were exposed to 5, 10, 20 and 40 μMofCdCl 2 equivalent to 0.91, 1.83, 3.66 and 7.33 μg/ml respectively, for 24 h. Cd significantly reduced the viability of BJAB cells and induced a dose-dependent increase in DNA damage. Cd also induced the formation of 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine adducts and augmented MTF1 expression in BJAB cells. We observed interesting responses in relative gene expression to Cd exposure among the seven transporters we analyzed. Cd exposure increased the expression of DMT1 and caused an up-regulation of ZnT1. However, the T calcium channel alpha1G subunit could not be detected. A change in expression of ZnTs and Zips in response to Cd exposure emphasizes the involvement of Zn transporters in Cd cellular metabolism and induced oxidative stress

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

Stress oxydant et mécanismes de défense induits par l'explosion au plomb et au cadmium (études chez le rat Wistar et sur modèles cellulaires)

. Le plomb (Pb) et le cadmium (Cd) sont deux métaux lourds toxiques qui s'accumulent principalement, après absorption, dans le foie et les reins. Les principales sources d'exposition à ces métaux sont les aliments et le tabac.Ce travail de thèse a été entrepris dans le but d'essayer de progresser dans la compréhension des mécanismes i) par lesquels le Pb et le Cd induisent des effets délétères et ii) de ceux qui peuvent préserver les cellules animales de cette toxicité.Les résultats obtenus montrent que ces métaux agissent via un stress oxydant chez le rat Wistar et les cellules des lignées lymphocytaires humaines, ce qui réduit le système de défense antioxydant des cellules par l'intermédiaire de déplétion du glutathion,inhibition de sulthydryl-dépendante des enzymes, interférer avec certains métaux essentiels nécessaires pour l'activité des enzymes antioxydants et d'accroître la sensibilité de cellules à l'attaque oxydatif par l'altération de l'intégrité de la membrane. L'administration d'a-tocopherol peut réduire ce stress oxydant de façon significative en rétablissant le niveau du GSH et d'autres paramètres biochimiques à des valeurs normales. La variation du glutathion semble agir sur les mécanismes de l'expression de l'HSP32. Cette dernière est principalement activée par les voies ERK (extracellular signal-regulated kinase), JNK (c-Jun N-terminal Kinase) et PKC (Protein Kinase C). Les mécanismes étroits inter- relationnels entre les métallothionéines, l'hème oxygénase et l'environnement redox restent à établir.Lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) are two toxic heavy metals that accumulate mainly after absorption in the liver and kidneys. The main sources of exposure to these metals are food and tobacco. This thesis work has been undertaken to try to make progress in understanding the mechanisms i) by which Pb and Cd induce deleterious effects and ii) those who can preserve the animal cells that toxicity.We have shown that these metals causes oxidative stress in animal cells of the Wistar rats and human lymphocyte cell lines, which reduces the antioxidant defense system cells through depletion of glutathione, inhibition of sulthydryl-dependent enzymes, Interfere with certain metals essential for the activity of antioxidant enzymes and increase the sensitivity of cells to oxidative attack by the alteration of membrane integrity. The administration of a-tocopherol may reduce oxidative stress significantly in restoring the level of GSH and other biochemical parameters to normal. The change in glutathione seems to act on the mechanisms of expression of HSP32. This is mainly activated through ERK (extracellular signal-regulated kinase), JNK (c-Jon N-terminal Kinase) and PKC (Protein Kinase C). Mechanisms close inter-relationship between metallothionein, heme oxygenase and the environment redox remain to be established.GRENOBLE1-BU Sciences (384212103) / SudocSudocFranceF