Publications by Type: Journal Article

2022
Benaggoune K, Al-Masry Z, Ma J, Devalland C, Mouss L-H, Zerhouni N. A deep learning pipeline for breast cancer ki-67 proliferation index scoring. Image and Video Processing (eess.IV) [Internet]. 2022. Publisher's VersionAbstract
The Ki-67 proliferation index is an essential biomarker that helps pathologists to diagnose and select appropriate treatments. However, automatic evaluation of Ki-67 is difficult due to nuclei overlapping and complex variations in their properties. This paper proposes an integrated pipeline for accurate automatic counting of Ki-67, where the impact of nuclei separation techniques is highlighted. First, semantic segmentation is performed by combining the Squeez and Excitation Resnet and Unet algorithms to extract nuclei from the background. The extracted nuclei are then divided into overlapped and non-overlapped regions based on eight geometric and statistical features. A marker-based Watershed algorithm is subsequently proposed and applied only to the overlapped regions to separate nuclei. Finally, deep features are extracted from each nucleus patch using Resnet18 and classified into positive or negative by a random forest classifier. The proposed pipeline’s performance is validated on a dataset from the Department of Pathology at Hôpital Nord Franche-Comté hospital.
Zermane H, Drardja A. Development of an efficient cement production monitoring system based on the improved random forest algorithm. The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology [Internet]. 2022;120 :1853. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Strengthening production plants and process control functions contribute to a global improvement of manufacturing systems because of their cross-functional characteristics in the industry. Companies established various innovative and operational strategies; there is increasing competitiveness among them and increasing companies’ value. Machine learning (ML) techniques become an intelligent enticing option to address industrial issues in the current manufacturing sector since the emergence of Industry 4.0 and the extensive integration of paradigms such as big data and high computational power. Implementing a system able to identify faults early to avoid critical situations in the production line and its environment is crucial. Therefore, powerful machine learning algorithms are performed for fault diagnosis, real-time data classification, and predicting the state of functioning of the production line. Random forests proved to be a better classifier with an accuracy of 97%, compared to the SVM model’s accuracy which is 94.18%. However, the K-NN model’s accuracy is about 93.83%. An accuracy of 80.25% is achieved by the logistic regression model. About 83.73% is obtained by the decision tree’s model. The excellent experimental results reached on the random forest model demonstrated the merits of this implementation in the production performance, ensuring predictive maintenance and avoiding wasting energy.
Haouassi H, Mahdaoui R, Chouhal O, Bekhouche A. An efficient classification rule generation for coronary artery disease diagnosis using a novel discrete equilibrium optimizer algorithm. Journal of Intelligent & Fuzzy Systems [Internet]. 2022;43 (3) :2315-2331. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Many machine learning-based methods have been widely applied to Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) and are achieving high accuracy. However, they are black-box methods that are unable to explain the reasons behind the diagnosis. The trade-off between accuracy and interpretability of diagnosis models is important, especially for human disease. This work aims to propose an approach for generating rule-based models for CAD diagnosis. The classification rule generation is modeled as combinatorial optimization problem and it can be solved by means of metaheuristic algorithms. Swarm intelligence algorithms like Equilibrium Optimizer Algorithm (EOA) have demonstrated great performance in solving different optimization problems. Our present study comes up with a Novel Discrete Equilibrium Optimizer Algorithm (NDEOA) for the classification rule generation from training CAD dataset. The proposed NDEOA is a discrete version of EOA, which use a discrete encoding of a particle for representing a classification rule; new discrete operators are also defined for the particle’s position update equation to adapt real operators to discrete space. To evaluate the proposed approach, the real world Z-Alizadeh Sani dataset has been employed. The proposed approach generate a diagnosis model composed of 17 rules, among them, five rules for the class “Normal” and 12 rules for the class “CAD”. In comparison to nine black-box and eight white-box state-of-the-art approaches, the results show that the generated diagnosis model by the proposed approach is more accurate and more interpretable than all white-box models and are competitive to the black-box models. It achieved an overall accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of 93.54%, 80% and 100% respectively; which show that, the proposed approach can be successfully utilized to generate efficient rule-based CAD diagnosis models.
Berghout T, Benbouzid M. EL-NAHL: Exploring labels autoencoding in augmented hidden layers of feedforward neural networks for cybersecurity in smart grids. Reliability Engineering & System Safety [Internet]. 2022;226. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Reliability and security of power distribution and data traffic in smart grid (SG) are very important for industrial control systems (ICS). Indeed, SG cyber-physical connectivity is subject to several vulnerabilities that can damage or disrupt its process immunity via cyberthreats. Today’s ICSs are experiencing highly complex data change and dynamism, increasing the complexity of detecting and mitigating cyberattacks. Subsequently, and since Machine Learning (ML) is widely studied in cybersecurity, the objectives of this paper are twofold. First, for algorithmic simplicity, a small-scale ML algorithm that attempts to reduce computational costs is proposed. The algorithm adopts a neural network with an augmented hidden layer (NAHL) to easily and efficiently accomplish the learning procedures. Second, to solve the data complexity problem regarding rapid change and dynamism, a label autoencoding approach is introduced for Embedding Labels in the NAHL (EL-NAHL) architecture to take advantage of labels propagation when separating data scatters. Furthermore, to provide a more realistic analysis by addressing real-world threat scenarios, a dataset of an electric traction substation used in the high-speed rail industry is adopted in this work. Compared to some existing algorithms and other previous works, the achieved results show that the proposed EL-NAHL architecture is effective even under massive dynamically changed and imbalanced data.
Berghout T, Benbouzid M, Bentrcia T, Amirat Y, Mouss L{\"ıla-H. Exposing Deep Representations to a Recurrent Expansion with Multiple Repeats for Fuel Cells Time Series Prognosis. Le{\"ıla-Hayet [Internet]. 2022;24 (7). Publisher's VersionAbstract
The green conversion of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) has received particular attention in both stationary and transportation applications. However, the poor durability of PEMFC represents a major problem that hampers its commercial application since dynamic operating conditions, including physical deterioration, have a serious impact on the cell performance. Under these circumstances, prognosis and health management (PHM) plays an important role in prolonging durability and preventing damage propagation via the accurate planning of a condition-based maintenance (CBM) schedule. In this specific topic, health deterioration modeling with deep learning (DL) is the widely studied representation learning tool due to its adaptation ability to rapid changes in data complexity and drift. In this context, the present paper proposes an investigation of further deeper representations by exposing DL models themselves to recurrent expansion with multiple repeats. Such a recurrent expansion of DL (REDL) allows new, more meaningful representations to be explored by repeatedly using generated feature maps and responses to create new robust models. The proposed REDL, which is designed to be an adaptive learning algorithm, is tested on a PEMFC deterioration dataset and compared to its deep learning baseline version under time series analysis. Using multiple numeric and visual metrics, the results support the REDL learning scheme by showing promising performances.
Berghout T, Bentrcia T, Ferrag M-A, Benbouzid M. A Heterogeneous Federated Transfer Learning Approach with Extreme Aggregation and Speed. Mathematics [Internet]. 2022;10 (19). Publisher's VersionAbstract
Federated learning (FL) is a data-privacy-preserving, decentralized process that allows local edge devices of smart infrastructures to train a collaborative model independently while keeping data localized. FL algorithms, encompassing a well-structured average of the training parameters (e.g., the weights and biases resulting from training-based stochastic gradient descent variants), are subject to many challenges, namely expensive communication, systems heterogeneity, statistical heterogeneity, and privacy concerns. In this context, our paper targets the four aforementioned challenges while focusing on reducing communication and computational costs by involving recursive least squares (RLS) training rules. Accordingly, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the RLS algorithm is modified to completely accommodate non-independent and identically distributed data (non-IID) for federated transfer learning (FTL). Furthermore, this paper also introduces a newly generated dataset capable of emulating such real conditions and of making data investigation available on ordinary commercial computers with quad-core microprocessors and less need for higher computing hardware. Applications of FTL-RLS on the generated data under different levels of complexity closely related to different levels of cardinality lead to a variety of conclusions supporting its performance for future uses.
Berghout T, Benbouzid M, Muyeen S-M. Machine learning for cybersecurity in smart grids: A comprehensive review-based study on methods, solutions, and prospects. International Journal of Critical Infrastructure Protection [Internet]. 2022;38. Publisher's VersionAbstract
In modern Smart Grids (SGs) ruled by advanced computing and networking technologies, condition monitoring relies on secure cyberphysical connectivity. Due to this connection, a portion of transported data, containing confidential information, must be protected as it is vulnerable and subject to several cyber threats. SG cyberspace adversaries attempt to gain access through networking platforms to commit several criminal activities such as disrupting or malicious manipulation of whole electricity delivery process including generation, distribution, and even customer services such as billing, leading to serious damage, including financial losses and loss of reputation. Therefore, human awareness training and software technologies are necessary precautions to ensure the reliability of data traffic and power transmission. By exploring the available literature, it is undeniable that Machine Learning (ML) has become the latest in the timeline and one of the leading artificial intelligence technologies capable of detecting, identifying, and responding by mitigating adversary attacks in SGs. In this context, the main objective of this paper is to review different ML tools used in recent years for cyberattacks analysis in SGs. It also provides important guidelines on ML model selection as a global solution when building an attack predictive model. A detailed classification is therefore developed with respect to data security triad, i.e., Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability (CIA) within different types of cyber threats, systems, and datasets. Furthermore, this review highlights the various encountered challenges, drawbacks, and possible solutions as future prospects for ML cybersecurity applications in SGs.
Soltani M, Aouag H, Mouss M-D. A multiple criteria decision-making improvement strategy in complex manufacturing processes. International Journal of Operational Research [Internet]. 2022;45 (2). Publisher's VersionAbstract
The purpose of this paper is to propose an improvement strategy based on multi-criteria decision making approaches, including fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP), preference ranking organisation method for enrichment evaluation II (PROMETHEE) and vi\v sekriterijumsko kompromisno rangiranje (VIKOR) for the objective of simplifying and organising the improvement process in complex manufacturing processes. Firstly, the proposed strategy started with the selection of decision makers’, such as company leaders, to determine performance indicators. Then fuzzy AHP is used to quantify the weight of each defined indicators. Finally, the weights carried out from fuzzy AHP approach are used as input in VIKOR and PROMETHE II to rank the operations according to their improvement priority. The results obtained from each outranking method are compared and the best method is determined.
Mebarki N, Benmoussa S, Djeziri M, Mouss L{\"ıla-H. New Approach for Failure Prognosis Using a Bond Graph, Gaussian Mixture Model and Similarity Techniques. Processes [Internet]. 2022;10 (3). Publisher's VersionAbstract
This paper proposes a new approach for remaining useful life prediction that combines a bond graph, the Gaussian Mixture Model and similarity techniques to allow the use of both physical knowledge and the data available. The proposed method is based on the identification of relevant variables that carry information on degradation. To this end, the causal properties of the bond graph (BG) are first used to identify the relevant sensors through the fault observability. Then, a second stage of analysis based on statistical metrics is performed to reduce the number of sensors to only the ones carrying useful information for failure prognosis, thus, optimizing the data to be used in the prognosis phase. To generate data in the different system state, a simulator based on the developed BG is used. A Gaussian Mixture Model is then applied on the generated data for fault diagnosis and clustering. The Remaining Useful Life is estimated using a similarity technique. An application on a mechatronic system is considered for highlighting the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Haouassi H, Haouassi H, Mehdaoui R, Maarouk TM, Chouhal O. A new binary grasshopper optimization algorithm for feature selection problem. Journal of King Saud University - Computer and Information Sciences [Internet]. 2022;34 (2). Publisher's VersionAbstract
The grasshopper optimization algorithm is one of the recently population-based optimization techniques inspired by the behaviours of grasshoppers in nature. It is an efficient optimization algorithm and since demonstrates excellent performance in solving continuous problems, but cannot resolve directly binary optimization problems. Many optimization problems have been modelled as binary problems since their decision variables varied in binary space such as feature selection in data classification. The main goal of feature selection is to find a small size subset of feature from a sizeable original set of features that optimize the classification accuracy. In this paper, a new binary variant of the grasshopper optimization algorithm is proposed and used for the feature subset selection problem. This proposed new binary grasshopper optimization algorithm is tested and compared to five well-known swarm-based algorithms used in feature selection problem. All these algorithms are implemented and experimented assessed on twenty data sets with various sizes. The results demonstrated that the proposed approach could outperform the other tested methods.
Bouzenita M, Mouss L-H, Melgani F, Bentrcia T. New fusion frameworks including explicit weighting functions for the remaining useful life prognostics. Expert Systems with Applications [Internet]. 2022;189 (1). Publisher's VersionAbstract

In the last recent years, a large community of researchers and industrial practitioners has been attracted by combining different prognostics models as such strategy results in boosted accuracy and robust performance compared to the exploitation of single models. The present work is devoted to the investigation of three new fusion schemes for the remaining useful life forecast. These integrated frameworks are based on aggregating a set of Gaussian process regression models thanks to the Induced Ordered Weighted Averaging Operators. The combination procedure is built upon three proposed analytical weighting schemes including exponential, logarithmic and inverse functions. In addition, the uncertainty aspect is supported in this work, where the proposed functions are used to weighted average the variances released from competitive Gaussian process regression models. The training data are transformed into gradient values, which are adopted as new training data instead of the original observations. A lithium-ion battery data set is used as a benchmark to prove the efficiency of the proposed weighting schemes. The obtained results are promising and may provide some guidelines for future advances in performing robust fusion options to accurately estimate the remaining useful life.

Lahmar H, Dahane M, Mouss N-K, Haoues M. Production planning optimisation in a sustainable hybrid manufacturing remanufacturing production system. Procedia Computer Science [Internet]. 2022;200 :1244-1253. Publisher's VersionAbstract
In this study, we investigate a production planning problem in hybrid manufacturing remanufacturing production system. The objective is the determine the best mix between the manufacturing of new products, and the remanufacturing of recovered products, based on economic and environmental considerations. It consists to determine the best manufacturing and remanufacturing plans to minimising the total economic cost (start-up and production costs of new and remanufactured products, storage costs of new and returned products and disposal costs) and the carbon emissions (new products, remanufactured products and disposed products). The hybrid system consists of a set of machines used to produce new products and remanufactured products of different grades (qualities). We assume that remanufacturing is more environmentally efficient, because it allows to reduce the disposal of used products. A multi-objective mathematical model is developed, and a non dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) based approach is proposed. Numerical experience is presented to study the impact of carbon emissions generated by new, remanufactured and disposed products, over a production horizon of several periods.
Berghout T, Mouss L-H, Bentrcia T, Benbouzid M. A Semi-Supervised Deep Transfer Learning Approach for Rolling-Element Bearing Remaining Useful Life Prediction. IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion [Internet]. 2022;37 (2). Publisher's VersionAbstract
Deep learning techniques have recently brought many improvements in the field of neural network training, especially for prognosis and health management. The success of such an intelligent health assessment model depends not only on the availability of labeled historical data but also on the careful samples selection. However, in real operating systems such as induction machines, which generally have a long reliable life, storing the entire operation history, including deterioration (i.e., bearings), will be very expensive and difficult to feed accurately into the training model. Other alternatives sequentially store samples that hold degradation patterns similar to real ones in damage behavior by imposing an accelerated deterioration. Labels lack and differences in distributions caused by the imposed deterioration will ultimately discriminate the training model and limit its knowledge capacity. In an attempt to overcome these drawbacks, a novel sequence-by-sequence deep learning algorithm able to expand the generalization capacity by transferring obtained knowledge from life cycles of similar systems is proposed. The new algorithm aims to determine health status by involving long short-term memory neural network as a primary component of adaptive learning to extract both health stage and health index inferences. Experimental validation performed using the PRONOSTIA induction machine bearing degradation datasets clearly proves the capacity and higher performance of the proposed deep learning knowledge transfer-based prognosis approach.
AKSA K, Harrag M. Surveillance Des Zones Critiques Et Des Accès Non Autorisés En Utilisant La Technologie Rfid. khazzartech الاقتصاد الصناعي [Internet]. 2022;12 (1) :702-717. Publisher's VersionAbstract
La surveillance est la fonction d’observer toutes activités humaine ou environnementales dans le but de superviser, contrôler ou même réagir sur un cas particulier; ce qu’on appelle la supervision ou le monitoring. La technologie de la radio-identification, connue sous l’abréviation RFID (de l’anglais Radio Frequency IDentification), est l’une des technologies utilisées pour récupérer des données à distance de les mémoriser et même de les traiter. C’est une technologie d’actualité et l’une des technologies de l’industrie 4.0 qui s’intègre dans de nombreux domaines de la vie quotidienne notamment la surveillance et le contrôle d’accès. L’objectif de cet article est de montrer comment protéger et surveiller en temps réel des zones industrielles critiques et de tous types d’accès non autorisés de toute personne (employés, visiteurs…) en utilisant la technologie RFID et cela à travers des exemples de simulation à l’aide d’un simulateur dédié aux réseaux de capteurs.
Berghout T, Benbouzid M. A Systematic Guide for Predicting Remaining Useful Life with Machine Learning. Electronics [Internet]. 2022;11 (7). Publisher's VersionAbstract
Prognosis and health management (PHM) are mandatory tasks for real-time monitoring of damage propagation and aging of operating systems during working conditions. More definitely, PHM simplifies conditional maintenance planning by assessing the actual state of health (SoH) through the level of aging indicators. In fact, an accurate estimate of SoH helps determine remaining useful life (RUL), which is the period between the present and the end of a system’s useful life. Traditional residue-based modeling approaches that rely on the interpretation of appropriate physical laws to simulate operating behaviors fail as the complexity of systems increases. Therefore, machine learning (ML) becomes an unquestionable alternative that employs the behavior of historical data to mimic a large number of SoHs under varying working conditions. In this context, the objective of this paper is twofold. First, to provide an overview of recent developments of RUL prediction while reviewing recent ML tools used for RUL prediction in different critical systems. Second, and more importantly, to ensure that the RUL prediction process from data acquisition to model building and evaluation is straightforward. This paper also provides step-by-step guidelines to help determine the appropriate solution for any specific type of driven data. This guide is followed by a classification of different types of ML tools to cover all the discussed cases. Ultimately, this review-based study uses these guidelines to determine learning model limitations, reconstruction challenges, and future prospects.
KADRI O, Benyahia A, Abdelhadi A. Tifinagh Handwriting Character Recognition Using a CNN Provided as a Web Service. International Journal of Cloud Applications and Computing (IJCAC) [Internet]. 2022;12 (1). Publisher's VersionAbstract
Many cloud providers offer very high precision services to exploit Optical Character Recognition (OCR). However, there is no provider offers Tifinagh Optical Character Recognition (OCR) as Web Services. Several works have been proposed to build powerful Tifinagh OCR. Unfortunately, there is no one developed as a Web Service. In this paper, we present a new architecture of Tifinagh Handwriting Recognition as a web service based on a deep learning model via Google Colab. For the implementation of our proposal, we used the new version of the TensorFlow library and a very large database of Tifinagh characters composed of 60,000 images from the Mohammed Vth University in Rabat. Experimental results show that the TensorFlow library based on a Tensor processing unit constitutes a very promising framework for developing fast and very precise Tifinagh OCR web services. The results show that our method based on convolutional neural network outperforms existing methods based on support vector machines and extreme learning machine.
Yahiaoui D, SAADI M, Bouzid T. Compressive Behavior of Concrete Containing Glass Fibers and Confined with Glass FRP Composites. International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials [Internet]. 2022. Publisher's VersionAbstract
In this paper, numerous experimental tests were carried out to study the behavior of concrete containing glass fibers and confined with glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP). Concrete specimens containing different fiber percentages ( 0.3 wt.%, 0.6 wt.%, 0.9 wt.% or 1.2 wt.%) and with different strengths of concrete (8.5 MPa, 16 MPa and 25 MPa) and different confinement levels (two, four and six layers of GFRP) were used as research parameters. The samples were tested to failure under pure axial compression. The results imply that the confinement effect with GFRP is relatively higher for concrete samples containing glass fiber (GFCC) with a percentage equal to 0.6 wt.%. The theoretical of stress ratios (fcc/fco) estimated by using existing ultimate strength models are found to be close to the experimental results for high strength of GFCC, but not close to the experimental results for low strength of GFCC.
SAADI M, Yahiaoui D. The Effectiveness of Retrofitting RC Frames with a Combination of Different Techniques. Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research [Internet]. 2022;12 (3) :8723-8727. Publisher's VersionAbstract
During the last two decades, the attention of researchers has been focused on repairing and retrofitting concrete frames to make them more earthquake-resistant. Two methods have been developed to increase the seismic resistance of previously undamaged structures before they are subjected to an earthquake. The first is through the addition of new structural members, such as steel braces and the second is by selectively strengthening structural elements, for instance through steel caging. Seismic response analysis results have been utilized in multi-story RC frames that were designed without seismic design criteria. This study aims to determine whether the retrofitting technique is effective based on comparisons between steel braces, steel cages, and their combinations. The seismic performance is defined by the seismic code for Algeria RPA 2003 according to the latest recommendations. Static nonlinear analysis was used to compare seismic responses of existing non-ductile reinforced concrete RC frames under a variety of retrofit schemes. The results show that retrofitting with steel caging gives excellent performance in terms of ductility and low shear capacity. The retrofitting with steel bracing increased the shear capacity but led to a severe ductility deficiency. The retrofitting structure combined with steel bracing and steel caging shows good performance in shear capacity and ductility. Using the Zipper system (steel bracing) and V system in combination with steel caging gives similar results to the RPA model.
Hafhouf I, Bahloul O, Abbeche K. Effects of drying-wetting cycles on the salinity and the mechanical behavior of sebkha soils. A case study from Ain M'Lila, Algeria. CATENA [Internet]. 2022;2012. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Sebkha soils are defined as problem soils located in arid, semi-arid, and coastal areas. Generally, they are fine soil, composed of silt, sand, and clay, which are cemented by different salts (e.g., halite, gypsum, and calcite). In nature, sebkha saline soils are exposed to different drying and wetting (D-W) cycles. However, these cycles have a significant effect on the mechanical behavior of these soils. This study aims to characterize the chemical, mineralogical, and geotechnical properties of sebkha soil using an experimental approach. We focus on the effects of D-W cycles on the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and salinity of sebkha soils from Ain M’Lila, Algeria. In addition, these D-W cycles were applied to the samples dried in the open air to achieve the targeted water content (water content values of 7%, 11.4%, and 13%). The results obtained show that the UCS increases with decrease in water content and decreases with an increase in the number of D-W cycles. In addition, these cycles affect the salinity of the sebkha soil. Indeed, a significant decrease in soil salinity was recorded with an increase in the number of D-W cycles. Finally, a relationship was found between the salinity of the soil and UCS. The latter decreases with a decrease in soil salinity; this relationship becomes very significant for low water content values of 7% or less.
Yahiaoui D, Mamen B, SAADI M, Bouzid T. EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION OF THE NEW MODELS APPLIED TO GLASS FIBRE REINFORCED CONCRETE (GFRC) CONFINED WITH GLASS FIBRE REINFORCED POLYMER (GFRP) COMPOSITES. Ceramics-Silikáty [Internet]. 2022;66 (3) :384-395. Publisher's VersionAbstract
External confinement by the GFRP composites offers an actual process for retrofitting glass fibre reinforced concrete columns (GFRC) subject to static or seismic loads. This paper presents an experimental investigation and analytical modelling of the axial compression of confined circular concrete columns of different strengths (8.5, 16, and 25 MPa). Furthermore, the columns contain different percentages of glass fibres (0.3 to 1.2 %), and their confinement is given by GFRP composites of various thicknesses (0.8 to 2.4 mm). The uniaxial compression test on these specimens reveals that the glass fibre percentage and the thickness of the GFRP play a vital role in improving the load-deformation behaviour and crack propagation. Whatever the concrete strength, the ultimate axial strain and stress predicted using the suggested confinement model almost agrees with the available experimental results.

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