On the southwestern Tethyan Margin of Tunisia, the well-known anoxic black shale facies of the Cenomanian-Turonian transition contrasts with oxic fossiliferous carbonates, first characterized here as lateral equivalents. In terms of sequence stratigraphy, the analysis of four wisely sampled sections in Central and Southern Tunisia led to interpret these deposits as a transgressive interval (TST). This interval spans the Whiteinella archaeocretacea Zone of foraminifera and is capped with a glauconite-rich highly bioturbated maximum flooding surface (MFS). In the reference section of Oued Bahloul and the Kalaat Senan area of North-Central Tunisia, these deposits overlay a Shelf Margin Wedge made of conglomeratic and bioclastic limestones. In South-Central and Southern Tunisia, the TST is characterized by the onset of oxic facies relaying laminated carbonates with local emergence surfaces. The analysis of both oxic and anoxic facies from the Cenomanian-Turonian transition allows identifying five successive bioevent markers, known elsewhere within the Tethyan domain: the extinction of the foraminifera genus Rotalipora (or Thomasinella), the Heterohelix shift, the Whiteinella proliferation, the filament event, and the appearance of Helvetotruncana helvetica. Among these bioevents, the Heterohelix shift coincides with the transgressive surface, while the filament event announces the maximal flooding surface. These Cenomanian-Turonian transition bioevents are of a particular relevance for regional and long-distance high-resolution correlations.

The Bouteldja coastal aquifer is one of the most important groundwater resources in North eastern of Algeria. The region is under a sub-humid climate with an average rainfall of 600-880 mm/y. The unconfined aquifer is constituted of Quaternary sands formations. The hydrogeological characteristics were determined based on previous reports. A very important inflow recharges the sandy aquifer in the Southeastern boundary, in relation to a fault network system linking the aquifer and the Obeira Lake area. Another inflow is observed at the Southern boundary in relation to the exchanges with the alluvial aquifer of Bouteldja. The purpose of the present study is to provide an initial assessment of the groundwater flow and water budget of this aquifer. To achieve this goal, a one-layer groundwater flow numerical model was developed using the MODFLOW-2005 code and the FREEWAT software, using the available data. The model was run in steady state conditions. Calibration was achieved using the piezometric measurements of May 2018 as calibration target. After several trials of manual calibrations, the model successfully simulated the groundwater flows directions and heads. Calibration efforts lead to an acceptable concordance (for the purpose of this study) between the estimated and calculated hydraulic conductivity and piezometric heads, except at the Eastern border. The analyses of the simulated inflow budget shows that aside the rainfall infiltration, exchanges with surface water bodies, the adjoining alluvial aquifer and the fault system provide a relevant amount of water. This significant recharge needs additional investigations. This numerical modeling exercise using MODFLOW, the FREEWAT software and GIS reached the objective of a preliminary description of the groundwater flow and it represents an acceptable starting point for more thorough hydrodynamic characterization of the Bouteldja coastal aquifer.

Stratigraphic, sedimentological and magnetic study was performed on alluvial terraces, rich in archaeological tools, the region of OUM ALI, in north-eastern Algeria. The sedimentological points of view, the sediments are dominated by the sand fraction followed by the silt fraction; moderate concentrations of CaCO3 are the result of the dissolution of the surrounding limestone reliefs (Maastrichtian limestone). The morphoscopic observation of quartz grains with a dissecting microscope allows us to offer more or less significant changes, since they are often dull or sub-blunted. The results of the magnetic survey are consistent with those of the sedimentological study. The values of magnetic susceptibility are strong in the middle part of the stratigraphic section (just above the archaeological level) and decrease slightly at the top. Lower values are stored in the lower part. The dependence of frequency values of magnetic susceptibility (fd) are strong throughout the stratigraphic section and show the presence of a mixture of single-domain grain size (R), pseudo-single domain (PMD) and superparamagnetic (SP) (with a predominance of SP grains). The high concentration of SP grain size reveals the presence of significant soil formation during the implementation of the sediment

Considering three sites under different climate conditions (arid, semi-arid, and subhumid), this study aims to use the vadose-zone water stable isotope profiles to estimate the groundwater recharge rate. High-resolution vertical subsurface soil sampling along the vadose zone of the investigated sites was conducted. The collected samples were analysed to determine their stable isotope ratios (δ2H and δ18O) that were used along with the piston displacement method to estimate recharge. Annual recharge rates of 0.2% (± 0.1%), 2.5%, and 18% of the total annual precipitation were obtained for the arid, semi-arid, and subhumid sites, respectively. Recharge rates at the semi-arid and subhumid sites are comparable to those previously estimated using water balance-based methods. The recharge rate at the arid site is lower than that previously estimated for that site using the water budget-based method, revealing difficulties in applying the piston displacement method under an arid regime.

The authorities of Constantine city have been working on the redevelopment and calibration of the Rhumel and Boumerzoug wadis since 2015. The latter calebrage works caused great damage to the banks, thus affecting the Quaternary geological formations in place (alluvial terraces, flood plains). A multidisciplinary research project based on a geomorphological and sedimentological approach was quickly set up to create a scientific data base before their total destruction and loss of physical traces all along the wadis. The present study focuses on the sedimentological and geochemical analysis of the alluvial deposits of Boumerzoug wadi in order to describe the sediments, to reconstitute their nature, and to interpret both the climatic evolution and the paleo-environments of the region. Sedimentological and geochemical results confirm the succession of deposition cycles linked to progressive climate change.

In this paper, we introduce and study the weighted variable Hardy space ondomains. We prove the atomic decompositions of this space, and as application, wefigure out its dual space.

Introduction. This article deals with the optimization of the energy conversion of a grid-connected photovoltaic system. The novelty is to develop an intelligent maximum power point tracking technique using artificial neural network algorithms. Purpose. Intelligent maximum power point tracking technique is developed in order to improve the photovoltaic system performances under the variations of the temperature and irradiation. Methods. This work is to calculate and follow the maximum power point for a photovoltaic system operating according to the artificial intelligence mechanism is and the latter is used an adaptive modified perturbation and observation maximum power point tracking algorithm based on function sign to generate an specify duty cycle applied to DC-DC converter, where we use the feed forward artificial neural network type trained by Levenberg-Marquardt backpropagation. Results. The photovoltaic system that we chose to simulate and apply this intelligent technique on it is a stand-alone photovoltaic system. According to the results obtained from simulation of the photovoltaic system using adaptive modified perturbation and observation artificial neural network the efficiency and the quality of the production of energy from photovoltaic is increased. Practical value. The proposed algorithm is validated by a dSPACE DS1104 for different operating conditions. All practice results confirm the effectiveness of our proposed algorithm.

Feed for word neural networks (FFNN) have attracted a great attention, in digital communication area. Especially they are investigated as nonlinear equalizers at the receiver, to mitigate channel distortions and additive noise. The major drawback of the FFNN is their extensive training. We present a new approach to enhance their training efficiency by adapting the activation function. Adapting procedure for activation function extensively increases the flexibility and the nonlinear approximation capability of FFNN. Consequently, the learning process presents better performances, offers more flexibility and enhances nonlinear capability of NN structure thus the final state kept away from undesired saturation regions. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through different challenging channel models, it performs quite well for nonlinear channels which are severe and hard to equalize. The performance is measured throughout, convergence properties, minimum bit error achieved. The proposed algorithm was found to converge rapidly, and accomplish the minimum steady state value. All simulation shows that the proposed method improves significantly the training efficiency of FFNN based equalizer compared to the standard training one.

In this digital age embracing robotics across various areas of life, especially intellectual ones, have reaped great benefits owing to this modern technology. Therefore, the learning field has not remained unchanged given current evolutions as the schooling conditions have been improved through these smart devices. However, teachers still face some difficulties when choosing pedagogical methods and means for effective language learning for children. Thus, this paper aims to measure the effectiveness of social robots in facilitating children’s learning of a second language (L2). For this purpose, the term L2 learning and its subordinate concepts have been distinguished, and then the different methods of language learning were discussed. The latest research regarding social robots in the educational context was also discussed when reviewing the literature. An experimental study conducted on a sample of children illustrated that the use of the social robot significantly helped them in the L2 learning regarding the assimilation fast, retention, and correct pronunciation of its vocabulary. Finally, this study concludes that the social robot would be a good solution and recommends their widespread use in education given its role in improving the schooling conditions of children.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate age related changes in testicular histomorphometry and spermatogenic activity of bulls during their sexual development. A total of 36 bulls were selected and divided into four groups (n=9 in each) according to their age. Bulls included in Groups I, II, III and IV were 10, 12, 14 and 16 months old respectively. Left testes of bulls were subjected to histomorphometry after slaughter. Statistical analysis revealed that the secondary spermatocytes, round and elongated spermatids increased significantly (P˂0.05) with the age of bulls. Likewise, both sertoli and leydig cell numbers increased significantly (P˂0.05) with the age of bulls. However, the number of spermatogonia and primary spermatocytes did not change (P>0.05) due to age. The mean tubular diameter increased from 200.70±5.45 μm (10 months of age) to 227.30±9.16 μm (16 months of age) and the total volume of seminiferous tubule per testis from 69.63±1.50 % (10 months of age) to 84.64±2.53 % (16 months of age). A positive linear relationship (P<0.05) was found between meiotic index (Y) and the age (X, in month), which was characterized by the equation 0.048X+3.135 and a coefficient of correlation (R) of 0.396. The correlation between age and sertoli cell efficiency was 0.482 with a regression equation Y= 0.141X+7.696. It is concluded that histomorphometric parameters of the bulls’ testes and spermatogenic activity are correlated with the age, so these parameters provide a reliable tool for the assessment of the reproductive state and sperm production capacity of a bull in a breeding program.

This work is a study of the elastic fields’ effect (stresses and displacements) caused by dislocations networks at a heterostructure interface of a InAs / GaAs semiconductors thin system in the cases of isotropic and anisotropic elasticity. The numerical study of this type of heterostructure aims to predict the behavior of the interface with respect to these elastic fields satisfying the boundary conditions. The method used is based on a development in Fourier series. The deformation near the dislocation is greater than the other locations far from the dislocation.     

Mastitis in cows is a major problem in dairy farms leading to a decrease in the quantity and quality of milk. The aim of the present study was to examine the association between the presence of Escherichia coli (E. coli) in milk and the subclinical mastitis, and to characterize the antibiotic resistance profiles of the isolated E. coli. In the current study, a total of 360 cow raw milk samples from three dairy farms of the region of Algiers were analyzed. The analysis period lasted from Spring 2017 to Winter 2019. The California Mastitis Test (CMT) was applied to detect subclinical mastitis. The E. coli strains were isolated from milk using conventional bacteriological methods. The antibiotic resistance profile of the isolated E. coli strains to 12 different antibiotics was tested using the disk diffusion method. On β-lactamase-producing strains, a double diffusion test was applied to identify the Extendedspectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) phenotype. Finally, the ctXx-M genes were amplified by PCR. Two-thirds (66.4%) of the milk samples were positive for the CMT test. A total of 97 E. coli strains were isolated from the milk samples, their resistance to antibiotics was tested, and 3.1% of the strains were resistant to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, 6.2% to chloramphenicol, 12.3% to gentamicin, 13.4% to colistin, 23.3% to amoxicillin/clavulanate, 31.9% to kanamycin, 39.2% to enrofloxacin, 51.5% to cefotaxime, 52% to tetracycline, 57.7% to ampicillin, 74.3% to nalidixic acid, and 75.3% to amoxicillin. Furthermore, most of the E. coli strains (92.8%) were resistant to more than one antibiotic with a Multiple Antibiotic Resistance index ranging from 0 to 0.8. The 50 strains resistant to cefotaxime were analyzed for an ESBL phenotype. 39 of them (78%) were positive to the double-disk synergy test. Among the 39 ESBL positive strains, 27 (69.2%) were confirmed for the presence of a CTX-M gene by PCR. The present study showed that multiple drug-resistant E. coli, including ESBL-carriers, were frequently isolated from the milk of dairy cows in Algeria. The results underlined that the use of antibiotics on farms must be reasoned to avoid the spread of resistant strains in animals and human populations.

The work presented here was aimed to investigate the in vivo anti-inflammatory and in vitro hemostatic activities of Linaria reflexa extract and to establish the relationship between its bioactivity and chemical composition. Twenty-three secondary metabolites were identified, most of them are good anti-inflammatory agents, in line with data by carrageenin-induced rat paw edema assays of the n-butanol extract showing high anti-inflammatory inhibition (63.90%) of edema swelling in the rat paw at the dose 200 mg/kg after 4 h. Furthermore, both extent of inflammatory response and tissue injury were prevented keeping the levels of rate myeloperoxidase (60.16%) and of malondialdehyde, which is the final product of lipid peroxidation generated by free radicals (58.58%). The same extract showed also a remarkable hemostatic effect established by measuring the coagulation time of decalcified plasma (45 s), related to its flavonoid glycosides content.

The objective of the present study was to determine the pharmacological properties of the methanolic (MeOH) extract of Marrubium deserti leaves. For this purpose, antioxidant activity was carried out by DPPH and Ferric reducing power (FRAP) assays respectivelywhile In vivoanti-inflammatory activity was tested by carrageenan-induced paw edema model. The Phytochemical investigation revealed the presence of several biocompounds, and total phenolic and flavonoidcontents were also determined to support our results and revealed a high proportions of polyphenols (184 ± 0.78 mg GAE/g extract) and flavonoids (28.48 ± 0.40 mg QE/g extract). The MeOH extract demonstrated great pharmacological properties with a dose-effect relationship. Thus, a great antioxidant effect was recorded in both DPPH and FRAP assayswith a respective IC50 of (15.1 μg/ml) and (80.01 ± 1 μg EAA/g of extract) and were considered significant (P<0.05) when compared to respective standards. On the other hand, anti-inflammatory results suggested that the plant extract could effectively oppose the inflammation caused by carrageenan at the dose of 200 mg/kg with significant decrease (84.1 %) of inflammation. These encouraging results suggest that our plant could be a good candidate to treat more effectively pathologies related to oxidative stress and inflammation.

This experimental study aims to investigate the effects of the strengthening arrangement on the behavior and the performance of strengthened beams, according to the Near-Surface Mounted (NSM) and the Externally Bonded Reinforcement (EBR) techniques. In total five rectangular beams including a Control Beam (CB) and four Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) strengthened beams with NSM and EBR techniques. The beams were tested to failure in Four-Point Bending (FPB) test. The experimental program comprises two beams strengthened by one and two strips according to the NSM technique. Two other beams were strengthened by the same configuration with the EBR, whereas the last beam was un-strengthened and considered as the CB. The responses of control and strengthened beams were compared. The efficiency and the effectiveness of different CFRP configurations were evaluated. The test results showed that the flexural load capacity, the deflection, the ductility and the stiffness of strengthened beams increased with increasing of plates distribution. This increase was more significant for the EBR technique than the NSM. This paper also highlights the beams failure modes due to the different configurations of strengthening. The obtained results revealed that the crack patterns were affected by the arrangement of the strips.

Seismic fragility curves are considered an effective tool for the evaluation of the behavior of interaction of the soil-pile-structure (ISPS) subjected to earthquake loading. In this research, in order to better understand the ISPS effect, a nonlinear static analysis is applied with a variation of the vertical load, the diameter of pile, and finally the longitudinal steel ratio of the pile in different types of sand (loose, medium, dense) to obtain the capacity curves of each parameter for elaborating the curves of fragility. After a comparison of fragility curves of these parameters, it appears that the effect of the ISPS system is advantageous with respect to the vertical axial load and the diameter of pile, while the longitudinal ratio of the pile depending on the ductility and the lateral resistance of the ISPS system. The proposed equation is intended to help engineers in the design and performance of the soil-pile-structure interaction. The results of this equation provided a convergence with the results of the fragility curves.

History shows that the infectious disease (COVID-19) can stun the world quickly, causing massive losses to health, resulting in a profound impact on the lives of billions of people, from both a safety and an economic perspective, for controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. The best strategy is to provide early intervention to stop the spread of the disease. In general, Computer Tomography (CT) is used to detect tumors in pneumonia, lungs, tuberculosis, emphysema, or other pleura (the membrane covering the lungs) diseases. Disadvantages of CT imaging system are: inferior soft tissue contrast compared to MRI as it is X-ray-based Radiation exposure. Lung CT image segmentation is a necessary initial step for lung image analysis. The main challenges of segmentation algorithms exaggerated due to intensity in-homogeneity, presence of artifacts, and closeness in the gray level of different soft tissue. The goal of this paper is to design and evaluate an automatic tool for automatic COVID-19 Lung Infection segmentation and measurement using chest CT images. The extensive computer simulations show better efficiency and flexibility of this end-to-end learning approach on CT image segmentation with image enhancement comparing to the state of the art segmentation approaches, namely GraphCut, Medical Image Segmentation (MIS), and Watershed. Experiments performed on COVID-CT-Dataset containing (275) CT scans that are positive for COVID-19 and new data acquired from the EL-BAYANE center for Radiology and Medical Imaging. The means of statistical measures obtained using the accuracy, sensitivity, F-measure, precision, MCC, Dice, Jacquard, and specificity are 0.98, 0.73, 0.71, 0.73, 0.71, 0.71, 0.57, 0.99 respectively; which is better than methods mentioned above. The achieved results prove that the proposed approach is more robust, accurate, and straightforward.