Les Acinetobacter sont des bactéries opportunistes impliquées dans les infections nosocomiales.Le but de ce travail était d’étudier leur épidémiologie et écologie au Liban.Tout d’abord, nous avons analysé 119 souches d’A.baumannii isolées de plusieurs hôpitaux. 76.5 % étaient résistantes aux carbapénèmes et le gène OXA-23 était le plus fréquemment trouvé. Le typage par Multilocus sequence typing a montré que le clone international II était majoritairement détecté. L’électrophorèse en champ pulsé a révélé que 72.6% des souches appartenant au ST2 ont été classées dans un même cluster qui semble être prédominant à Beirut et Tripoli. Ensuite, les réservoirs extrahospitaliers ont été investigués sur 2361 prélèvements collectés au Liban. Au total, 171 souches ont été isolées dans l’environnement, les produits alimentaires ainsi que chez l’homme et les animaux. La majorité de ces souches, globalement sensibles aux antibiotiques, était des Acinetobacter non baumannii, Seuls 15 A.baumannii, de 14 STs différents dont 10 nouveaux ont été isolés. Enfin, nous avons conduit une étude taxonomique approfondie sur plusieurs souches d’Acinetobacter non identifiées au rang d’espèce et retrouvées dans notre étude. Nous avons ainsi caractérisé une nouvelle espèce, nommée « Acinetobacter lebanonensis ».Ce travail a montré que le Liban était un pays à forte endémie d’A.baumannii résistants aux carbapénèmes. Nous n’avons toutefois pas mis en évidence de lien entre les souches cliniques et extrahospitalières, les clones correspondants étant globalement différents. D’autres études sont nécessaires pour élucider l’origine des souches multi-résistantes émergeant dans les hôpitaux. / Acinetobacter spp are opportunistic bacteria widely involved in nosocomial infections. The aim of this work was to study the epidemiology and the ecology of these bacteria in Lebanon. First, we have analyzed 119 clinical strains of A.baumannii. 76.5% of them were resistant to carbapenems and the production of OXA-23 was the main mechanism. Multi-locus sequence typing revealed the predominance of international clone II. Pulsed field gel electrophoresis showed that 72.6% of strains belonging to ST2 were classified in the same cluster which appeared to be predominant in Beirut and Tripoli. On the other hands, Acinetobacter reservoirs were investigated on 2361 samples collected in Lebanon. A total number of 171 strains have been isolated in the environment, food, humans and animals. The majority of these strains was identified as non baumannii Acinetobacter and was susceptible to antibiotics. Besides, typing of A.baumannii revealed the presence of 14 STs including 10 new ones. Finally, we have described a novel species called “Acinetobacter lebanonensis” by conducting a taxonomic study on several strains isolated in Lebanon and other countries. Although the data may be limited, this work has shown the endemic situation of carbapenem resistant A.baumannii circulating in the Lebanese hospitals while the extra hospital ones were different. However, further studies are needed to elucidate the origin of these emerging multidrug resistant strains.

Dans un Beyrouth en pleine mutation, les habitats délaissés sont des lieux en suspens, condamnés à terme par la spéculation foncière. Notre recherche se propose d’examiner les transformations subies par ces architectures hors d’usage. Basé sur le terrain (près de 750 édifices répertoriés), les archives, témoignages et histoires orales, le travail réévalue également les pratiques artistiques et les regards qu’elles ont posé sur la ville. Cette imprégnation est d’autant plus importante que son déclencheur est un projet photographique entamé par l’auteur sur ce sujet. Trois chapitres sont consacrés aux interventions guerrières. Le premier, la bataille des hôtels aborde un espace disputé, le second explore la ligne de démarcation et le troisième s’intéresse aux baraquements, prisons et lieux de torture. Le quatrième chapitre réunit habitats informels, squats et autres réappropriations. Ces fonctionnalités qui s’enchevêtrent découlent de flux migratoires consécutifs à des violences. La guerre, plutôt les guerres, restent en toile de fond. / In a rapidly changing Beirut, neglected dwellings are places in abeyance, condemned to disappear as a result of land speculation. Our research aims at examining the transformations that these obsolete architectures undergo. The study, carried on site (nearly 750 buildings have been identified), based on archives, testimonies and oral history, also re-examines artistic endeavours and the way artists have viewed the city, which is particularly important considering that its trigger has been a photographic project undertaken by the author. Three chapters are devoted to belligerent activities. The first, on the “Battle of the hotels”, addresses contested space; the second explores the demarcation line and the third examines the military barracks, prisons, and torture centres. The fourth covers informal dwellings, squatted buildings and other reappropriations. It observes the background of entangled features stemming from migration flows that were triggered by the violence of war, or rather wars.

This thesis addresses the influences on family size for Palestinian refugees in Beirut. It is based on ethnographic research done in a camp in Beirut over a three month period in which 24 women were interviewed to discern why they choose to have the number of children that they do. This thesis argues that changing nationalist ideals, declining economic status, and evolving women’s roles in the family contributed to the average decrease in family size.

No description available.

I juli 2006 utbröt krig mellan Israel och Hizbollah i södra Libanon. Erfarenheterna från historien visade på att Israel borde kunna gå segrande ur kriget, men utgången blev en annan. Hizbollah nådde framgång och Israel misslyckades med sin militära kampanj trots övertag i luften och i militära resurser. För att förstå hur Hizbollah nådde framgång i kriget utifrån militärteoretiskt perspektiv så har denna uppsats till syfte att analysera det faktiska agerandet genom tre av krigföringens grundprinciper kraftsamling, överraskning, handlingsfrihet och doktrinen ”Hizbollahs 13 punkter för krigföring” genom krigföringens samtliga sju grundprinciper. Analysens resultat visar på att genom sitt agerande så uppnådde Hizbollah krigföringens grundprinciper kraftsamling, överraskning¸ handlingsfrihet och i sin doktrin finns samtliga sju av krigföringens grundprinciper representerade. Dessa visar att Hizbollahs framgång i kriget kan vara ett resultat av att de planerat och agerat efter krigföringens grundprinciper. / In July 2006, war broke out between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. The experience showed that Israel should be able to emerge victorious from the war, but the outcome was different. Hezbollah achieved success and Israel failed in their military campaign despite superiority in the air and military resources. To understand how Hezbollah achieved success in the war on the basis of military theory perspective, this essay aims to analyze the actual conduct of warfare by three basic principles; concentration, surprise, flexibility. Hezbollah’s doctrine "Hezbollah's 13  principles of war" will be analyzed through all of the seven basic principles of war. Analysis results show that through their actions, Hezbollah used three of the principles of warfare and their doctrine contains all of the seven basic principles of warfare. These results suggest that Hezbollah's success in the war may be a result of the basic principles of warfare.

The signing of the Ta'if Agreement on October 22, 1989 marked the beginning of the end of the divisive and destructive Lebanese Civil War that had raged since 1975. The war was finally ended in March 1991, when the new Lebanese Parliament enacted the General Amnesty Law, which stated that there were to be no victors and no victims in the war ( la ghalib le maghlub). Unfortunately, this law allowed the Lebanese people to turn a blind eye to the ugly truths of the war, and it ushered in an era of uneasy silence in Lebanon. Today, as Lebanon's political battle for independence and a unified national identity continues, there is still no government supported public attempt to break this silence. I believe that this legislated lack of collective/public self-expression has rendered both the local and the Diaspora populations incapable of reconciliation with their recent traumatic past, let alone allowing them to forge a brighter future. This thesis investigates the unrelenting silence permeating every layer of Lebanese society today and proposes architectural solutions that may help to break the silence and thus reconcile Lebanese to their past. The core of this study consists of three architectural interventions aimed at breaching this silence. These are put into context through historical analysis, family interviews, and personal narratives from field research to Beirut conducted by the author in the fall of 2005, as well as photographs, maps, illustrations, and other documents drawn from first person experience. As such, this thesis probes not just the public, but also a personal experience in overcoming Lebanon's silence. Certainly, there can be no reconciliation based on silence.

The signing of the Ta'if Agreement on October 22, 1989 marked the beginning of the end of the divisive and destructive Lebanese Civil War that had raged since 1975. The war was finally ended in March 1991, when the new Lebanese Parliament enacted the General Amnesty Law, which stated that there were to be no victors and no victims in the war ( la ghalib le maghlub). Unfortunately, this law allowed the Lebanese people to turn a blind eye to the ugly truths of the war, and it ushered in an era of uneasy silence in Lebanon. Today, as Lebanon's political battle for independence and a unified national identity continues, there is still no government supported public attempt to break this silence. I believe that this legislated lack of collective/public self-expression has rendered both the local and the Diaspora populations incapable of reconciliation with their recent traumatic past, let alone allowing them to forge a brighter future. This thesis investigates the unrelenting silence permeating every layer of Lebanese society today and proposes architectural solutions that may help to break the silence and thus reconcile Lebanese to their past. The core of this study consists of three architectural interventions aimed at breaching this silence. These are put into context through historical analysis, family interviews, and personal narratives from field research to Beirut conducted by the author in the fall of 2005, as well as photographs, maps, illustrations, and other documents drawn from first person experience. As such, this thesis probes not just the public, but also a personal experience in overcoming Lebanon's silence. Certainly, there can be no reconciliation based on silence.

TRANSFORMING RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES INTO ETHNIES: THE PROCESS OF LEBANESE NATION-BUILDING 1920-1958 G&uuml / rcan, AySe Ezgi MSc., Graduate Program of Middle East Studies Supervisor: Dr. Erdogan Yildirim August 2007, 100 pages This thesis analyzes the process of nation-building in Lebanon in an historical context, covering the period staring from the declaration of the French Mandate in 1920 until the first civil war of 1958. The thesis defines nation-building as a process of transformation of the pre-modern form of religious identity into the modern ethnic and/or ethno-national identity, which develops along with state-making. In contrast to the claims in the literature that label all non-Western nation-building and state-making as deficient processes emerged as a result of the direct effects of Western colonialism, this study aims to establish an alternative approach in understanding the process of Lebanese nation-building. In this context the thesis evaluates the validity of the premises of the modern nationalism approaches in the literature on questions such as how far colonialism can be labeled as the primary source of Third World nationalism(s), and to what extent the nation-building processes were successful. The thesis claims that the Lebanese case presents a complex case, since nation-building was emerged not only emerged as a result of Western colonialism and power struggles but also did materialize because of the power struggles between and within domestic (Lebanon), regional (Arab states) and international (Europe and Ottoman Empire) actors.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, May, 2009. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

This project takes popular organizations in mid-twentieth century Lebanon as its focus. These socio-political groupings were organized at the grassroots, made up of young men, and included scout organizations, social justice movements, student clubs and workers' associations. Employing a cultural history approach, the dissertation examines the cultural productions of these types of groups, ranging from group anthems to uniforms, letters of the rank and file to speeches of leaders. With these primary sources, it captures the cultures that took shape around five main actors in the field of street politics: the Lebanese Communist Party, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, the Kata'ib Party, the Najjadeh Party and the Progressive Socialist Party. And as these groups condoned and committed acts of sectarian violence in the 1958 War and the Lebanese Civil War of 1975-1990, this dissertation also investigates the distinct cultures that formed around these groups during wartime. In the end, I argue that both inside and outside of moments of conflict, popular organizations cultivate and mobilize multiple, interactive identities to make sense of their actions, sectarian or otherwise. Moreover, I find that a critical site to explore these complex processes is their routine practices grounded in duty, strength and honor. Part I of the dissertation examines identity formation within these five groups, and the physical and symbolic spaces they produced in Beirut during the 1920s-1950s. Informed by Pierre Bourdieu's theories on social life, this historical background shows how organizational attempts to project uniqueness, win over recruits, and make partisan, often sectarian, claims over the whole Lebanese nation created boundaries between these groups. Also, the lives of individuals within these groups, regardless of the group's distinct vision for Lebanon, were colored by cultures of discipline and defense, working to normalize practices linked to violence. In Part II the dissertation takes up the two historical events of social mobilization and conflict in which these groups participated: the 1958 War (where the Kata'ib, once a nationalist scout group, serves as the focus for the investment in sectarianism) and the Two-Year War of 1975-1976 (where the Lebanese National Movement - specifically the Lebanese Communist Party, once a workers' association, and the Progressive Socialist Party, once a social justice movement - serve as the focus for the investment in anti-sectarian frames). First, through investigating the changing positions of these popular organizations throughout these two wars, the dissertation argues that these groups are active agents in producing sectarian violence, adding nuance to past characterizations of conflict in Lebanon. Second, by capturing the quite seamless shift towards practices of violence, it finds that the quotidian and routine also lay at the center of violence. Finally, by analyzing the textual and visual productions of these groups leading up to and during war, the dissertation finds that multiple and interacting identities, such as national, populist (i.e., fulfilling the needs of people and winning their support in a particular locality) and sect are mobilized to perform violence. Accordingly, sectarian violence, as it emerged in the mid-twentieth century, is sectarian because these groups defined it in sectarian (and antisectarian) terms, not because the violence was rooted in immutable sectarian differences. Collectively, “Winning Lebanon: Popular Organizations, Street Politics and the Emergence of Sectarian Violence in the Mid-Twentieth Century” seeks to bring the local level and the cultural into the study of conflict, and add nuance to the understanding of sectarianism and sectarian violence in Lebanon and the broader Middle East.