Lebanese Association for Energy Saving & for Environment

The residential sector in Uzbekistan accounts for nearly half of national energy use, dominated by outdated, poorly insulated housing stockh. This paper assesses the potential for energy efficiency (EE) renovation in the sector using building simulations, household surveys, and financial modeling. We find that targeted renovation packages could reduce energy use by 35–70% per dwelling. This paper provides a scientifically grounded and policy-relevant contribution to the growing field of residential energy efficiency (EE), particularly in emerging economies like Uzbekistan. By combining empirical modeling, survey-based insights, and financial and policy scenario analyses, it offers a replicable methodology for assessing EE renovation potential at scale.

Although the outbreak of COVID-19 necessitated greater emphasis on digital education systems in Lebanon, public schools encountered barriers to implementing such improvements, chief among which involved English language teachers’ lesser level of technology implementation (LoTI) capability in addition to their lower level of technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK). Sixty students and four teachers were involved in this study. The teachers were asked to complete a survey and the data collected were analyzed quantitatively to investigate the relationship between the teacher respondents’ level of understanding of information communication technology (ICT) implementation and the TPACK construct. To obtain additional information on the teachers’ ICT competency, each was interviewed at the onset of the academic year using Newhouse’s model (2002). To examine the relationship between students’ performance and teachers’ LoTI, IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 25) was used to analyze the interview data in addition to the results obtained from the experimental and control groups of the pre-and post-tests. These results revealed a constructive association between instructors’ ability to combine their content knowledge with their best pedagogical practices and technology knowledge to leverage students’ writing competency. This research explored this relationship in a novel approach that may be utilized by AlRafid school to provide a basis for further studies in various academic contexts at other public schools in Lebanon regarding teachers’ technology use and understanding and its impact on student achievement.

Abstract A new innovative cannon puffing technology, called Vac‐Can‐Puff (VCP), consisting of a puffing gun connected to a vacuum pump, was conceived for the production of half‐popped purple corn snacks. This newly designed system was used to achieve a homogenized expansion of corn kernels in bulk. After selecting the soaking, puffing, and roasting methods, response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the response variables: expansion ratio (ER) and general appreciation (GA) of kernels. It aimed at investigating the effects of puffing parameters: pressure of the steam injected (P), treatment time (T), and initial water content of the kernels (W). The central composite design resulted in an empirical model suggesting the following optima: P = 7.7 × 105 Pa, T = 14 s, and W = 32.8%, which are required to maximize desirability of the half‐popped kernels. The response parameters obtained under optimal conditions were 2.18 and 4.2 for ER and GA, respectively.Practical ApplicationsEstablishing an initial vacuum prior to steam injection in a puffing cannon, allowed to bring a solution to a long‐term issue related to the nonhomogeneous treatment in bulk. Whenever a thick layer of product is loaded in the cannon, a heterogeneous distribution of injected steam within the mass occurs, resulting in a dissimilarly expanded end product. Upon coupling the vacuum to the puffing cannon, the product then obtained is uniformly processed, with a well monitored expansion ratio. Half‐popped corn kernels resulting from treatment with Vac‐Can‐Puff (VCP) exhibited high organoleptic qualities in terms of taste, expansion ratio and desirability, without the use of any additives. Moreover, such products have the potential to be shaped as cakes, bars, or even associated with other products or flavors. Vac‐Can‐Puff is a manageable process since it does not require high technicality, and easy to implement in developing countries due to its low‐cost investment, operating and maintenance.

L’implantation de la psychanalyse au Liban remonte aux années 1970. Bien que ne constituant pas un modèle distinctif, elle aura des spécificités, comme celle d’être née de parents du Vieux Continent et d’avoir été élevée sur un sol moyen-oriental, saturé de cultures bigarrées et fertile en secousses sécuritaires. Alliage de psychanalyse traditionnelle, avancées post-freudiennes et variations techniques quand les repères sont ébranlés par le réel. L’auteur retrace dans cet article les moments d’histoire les plus significatifs, avec une partie substantielle donnée aux tenants et aboutissants de l’affiliation d’un groupe libanais à l’IPA : conflits structurels et dégagements. La surdétermination multi-théorique libanaise trouve un écho favorable dans une Internationale ouverte à des courants de pensée divers et à une clinique toujours réinventée. Une dernière et brève partie est consacrée aux études faites sur la psychanalyse en temps de guerre et sur le multilinguisme dans la cure.

La montagne libanaise est souvent présentée comme le bastion des communautés religieuses et des chefs politiques. Cet espace subit depuis plus de quatre décennies de profondes transformations suite à différents processus tels la villégiature, les déplacements de populations durant la guerre, ainsi que la périurbanisation et les investissements des ressortissants du Golfe et des émigrés. À la veille de la guerre de 1975, les localités situées à moyenne altitude étaient séparées des villes du littoral par des zones de forêt. L’évolution de cette partie de la montagne située autour de Beyrouth a pris différentes formes selon des temporalités différentes. Cet article vise à analyser l’évolution de la moyenne montagne autour de Beyrouth en faisant ressortir les contrastes entre les logiques de cloisonnement confessionnel et clanique apparent de cet espace et l’économie libérale adoptée par le Liban, surtout par Beyrouth et la partie du Mont-Liban qui lui est adjacente. L’évolution de l’urbanisation dans la partie centrale du Liban montre que cet espace ne renvoie pas à un ou à plusieurs territoire(s) de « montagne(s) refuge(s) » aux frontières évidentes – ou du moins reconnues. Les « territoires » restent imbriqués du fait qu’ils sont liés à des critères complexes. Ils sont remodelés de manière périodique, voire continuellement, selon les conjonctures politiques, économiques et sécuritaires.

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) studies are increasingly needed to prevent and improve the medical care of persons with haemophilia (PWH). We assessed the impact of haemophilia on HRQoL and social status of adult Lebanese PWH compared to a reference population. In this case-control study, 60 severe and moderate PWH were compared to 112 healthy controls. Detailed socio-demographic data and disease characteristics were collected, and HRQoL was assessed using the SF-36 questionnaire. Age, body mass index and the percentage of married people were similar in PWH and controls. A greater proportion of controls attained a higher educational level than cases (88.4% vs 59.3%, respectively, P<0.001). PWH were more likely to have a job requiring physical activity than controls (55.9% vs 31.4%) and more likely to be unemployed (10.2% vs 1.0%), whereas more controls had higher socio-economic jobs (10.5% vs 1.7%). PWH had significantly (P<0.001) worse scores in all SF-36 domains except for energy/fatigue. Affected targeted joints (2.7±1.5) and monthly bleeding frequency (2.9±2.4) were inversely correlated with almost all SF-36 domains. Only 26.7% of PWH walk normally, and walking abnormalities were inversely correlated with all SF-36 domains except role-emotional and emotional well-being. As compared with controls, the majority of Lebanese PWH has difficulties in social integration, has severe physical limitations and psychological impairments.

By means of the photopyroelectric method, we indirectly investigate the electrocaloric effect in polar materials by measuring the pyroelectric coefficient and the volumic heat capacity, as function of temperature. The influence of the heat capacity as function of the temperature on electrocaloric measurements is discussed. Measurements were performed on TriGlycine Sulfate single crystal. The compound showed a value of about 0.3 K upon a field change of 0.3 MV m−1 near it’s Curie temperature at 49 °C. Compared with repolarization current method where usually heat capacity is assumed as a constant value, the proposed technique provides an accurate way of calculating adiabatic temperature change of a ferroelectric material.