Industrial diagnostic systems play an important role in food manufacturing by ensuring rapid detection of defective components and precise identification of systemic dysfunction. This article proposes a diagnostic model for the pasteurization process to enhance dairy production systems. The authors found that, when a breakdown occurs, the acquisition system stops providing necessary data for diagnostics. To solve this problem, the authors used digital twin (DT) engineering to generate missing values and build a learning model based on reinforcement learning (RL). The effectiveness of this approach was validated through implementation at Aures Batna Dairy, a prominent player in Algeria's dairy industry. Experiments demonstrated the superior efficiency of this method; its precision surpassed that of traditional data imputation techniques by a significant margin.
The present study evaluated the potential of Salvia balansae from the Aures Mountains as a source of natural bioactive compounds. Leaves, flowers, and stems were extracted separately using methanol, ethanol, and acetone. Phenolic compounds were quantified colorimetrically and identified using liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Antioxidant capacity was assessed using six different in vitro assays, 2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt, 1,1-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl, cupric reducing antioxidant capacity, ferric reducing antioxidant power, ferrous ion chelating, and phenanthroline assay, while the photo-protective capacity was evaluated using the sun protective factor. The methanolic flower extracts revealed the highest O-diphenol and phenolic levels (287.9 ± 0.50 and 147.87 ± 0.21 µg GAE/mg, respectively), whereas the acetonic and ethanolic leaf extracts contained the highest flavonoid (72.17 ± 0.12 μg QE/mg) and flavonol (35.28 ± 0.05 μg QE/mg) levels, respectively. LC-MS was used to identify 18 phenolics, including quinic acid (5.051–69.69 ppm), luteolin-7-o-glucoside (7.802–44.917 ppm), apigenin-7-o-glucoside (3.751–68.507 ppm), and cirsiliol (2.081–15.608 ppm), distinguishing this Aures taxon. Principal component analysis and unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic mean revealed variability in phytochemicals, antioxidant properties, and photo-protective activity influenced by biological activities and the compound content. Overall, S. balansae demonstrated promising photo-protective capacity, the presence of key bioactive compounds, and wide-ranging antioxidant potential, presenting this endemic plant as a valuable source of natural antioxidants and photo-protective agents with pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications.
In August 2021, very intense fires swept through various forested areas in northern Algeria, particularly in Kabylia. The population dynamics of Cistus salviifolius and Cistus monspeliensis were studied along a post-fire successional gradient during the first nine months (September 2021 – May 2022), in two forest communities: the Cork oak (Quercus suber) and the Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis) forests in the coastal zone of Bejaia province. The Cistus spp. germinations were counted monthly in each forest on 10 plots of 1 m2, evenly distributed along 2 transects of 45 m each. The results showed that the majority of germinations occur in December with 207.5 ± 24.2 seedlings in the Cork oak forest and 171.3 ± 18.0 seedlings in the Aleppo pine forest. Student’s t-test does not reveal significant differences for December between the two communities. During the first months following the fire (September and October 2021), germinations were almost absent. The monthly rainfall in September 2021 was estimated at 16.25 mm, an insufficient amount for effective germination. Late germination results in an extension of its period, showed a high rate in January 2022 with 42.2 ± 2.1 and 11.5 ± 0.8 seedlings, respectively, in the Cork oak forest and the pine forest. Beyond January, germination was practically nonexistent in both communities. Therefore, the majority of the seed germination was concentrated in November, December, and January with a unimodal germination pattern.
Salt resistance studies have, unfortunately, mainly been focused on conventional crops, with very few studies being conducted on the potential of available halophytes as new crops in the future. Portulaca oleracea L. has been listed as one of the most used medicinal plants by the World Health Organization as an edible halophyte. It is a fast-growing herbaceous annual with high nutritional relevance. The present work was designed to determine the effect of six soluble salts (NaCl, Na2SO4, KCl, CaCl2, CaCO3, and MgCl2) on germination of P. oleracea seeds. The effect of salinity was tested on final germination percentage (FGP%), and germination tolerance index (GTI%) using five concentrations (0, 200, 300, 400, and 600 mM) of each salt. In addition, laboratory experiments were conducted to assess the effects of salinity on germination recovery from high saline conditions (600 mM). Salinity level and salt composition significantly influenced germination attributes. P. oleracea seeds were non-dormant, exhibited approximately 100% germination in distilled water. Both FGP and GTI gradually decreased with increasing salinity. This study showed that seeds of P. oleracea can germinate under 300 mM in all tested salts. The salts causing germination inhibition exhibited specificity, with an increasing trend observed in the following sequence: MgCl2 > Na2SO4 > NaCl > KCl > CaCl2 > CaCO3. Transferring ungerminated seeds from 600 mM to distilled water recovered their germination ability. Based on these results, we can conclude that P. oleracea is a high salt-tolerant species that can tolerate a variety of salts found in soil. Therefore, P. oleracea may be considered a promising species for improving ecological balance in saline soils.
This study aims to update the list of Nitidulidae species observed on date palms in Algeria (Ziban region), their spatial dynamics according to the development stages (larva, pupa, adult), and the effectiveness of the bagging operation. In 2020, we sampled and examined 1800 dates of the Deglet Nour variety from three palm groves managed with different protection modes: yellow bagging, white bagging, and no bagging. The results obtained mention the presence of nine species of Nitidulidae with five species reported for the first time on dates in Algeria. The highest relative abundance (RA) of Nitidulidae beetles was noted in the southern (28%) direction. However, the variation of infestation rate (IR) according to the direction was not very accentuated. The GLM analysis showed that, except for the adult stage, the direction presented a highly significant effect on the RA variation of the total Nitudilidae, the larva and pupa stages (p < 0.0001), but there was no significant effect of direction on the IR in all studied cases. The highest RA of total Nitidulidae was found on the white plastic-protected dates (RA = 42%), the IR of the total Nitidulidae was higher on dates protected by yellow plastic (IR = 38%). The unprotected dates recorded the lowest RA and IR for all studied cases and the effect of bagging type on the RA variation of Nitidulidae, in all studied cases, was statistically highly significant (p < 0.0001). This effect on the IR was very highly significant only for total Nitudilidae, larvae, and adults (p < 0.0001). So, the southern direction presents the best conditions for sheltering the largest numbers of Nitidulidae. The latter also has a marked preference for bunches covered by plastic bags rather than for those left uncovered. This implies the ineffectiveness of the operation of protecting dates with plastic bags, especially the yellow-coloured ones.
The first objective of this study is to estimate the potential of solar irradiance in Algeria using an artificial intelligence approach, namely, convolutional neural networks (CNNs). The second objective is to visualize the different solar components DNI, DHI, and GHI as spatial maps. Data from 267 locations for 2005–2022, obtained from the NREL database, subdivided into training and testing data are used to build the different forecasting models. Testing data are not used when training CNNs to provide an indication of the performance at unknown locations. CNN models with 9 input variables average temperature, relative humidity, sunshine duration, wind speed, precipitation, longitude, latitude, altitude, and month were used to estimate the monthly values of GHI, DNI, and DHI. Statistical error analysis is conducted using mean absolute error (MAE), Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE), Mean Bias Error (MBE) and coefficient of determination R2. This study shows that CNNs can be a better solution to estimate solar irradiance data. Seasonal solar mapping was developed in a GIS environment, representing locations and values of solar irradiance. These maps offer valuable insights into solar energy resources, aiding in the implementation of solar energy systems.
Xanthene derivatives of the 14-aryl-14H dibenzo[a.j] xanthene type were exploited in our study because of their interesting biological profile as well as their innumerable applications described in previous studies. They were synthesized by one-pot condensation of β�-naphthol with arylaldehydes and catalyzed by zinc trifluoromethanesulfate Zn(OTf)2 under conventional heating without solvent. Their characterization was carried out by Ultraviolet–Visible spectrophotometry (UV–Vis), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). First, spectral analysis in the UV–Vis range showed that all xanthene derivatives had similar absorption spectra at an absorption maximum (λmax)(�max) in the region of 310–340nm. Similarly, the infrared spectra suggested the presence of characteristic bands for each product in the range of 500–3500cm−1−1. In addition, the analysis of their crystalline structures was carried out by the XRD technique and reported in our study. Finally, their sizes and morphologies were highlighted by SEM. The obtained results revealed the presence of microcrystals in the form of micro-cubes having an average length of 10μ�m for the compound C2727H1818O and micro-shuttles of average size of 20μ�m for the compound C2727H1717BrO. It was therefore concluded that the xanthene derivatives synthesized have characteristic functional groups and structures which will provide them with various therapeutic properties and can therefore be exploited as bioactive molecules in several fields.
The use of X-ray micro-CT imaging (X-ray microtomography), which is an effective imaging technique that provides multiple advantages across different fields (non-destructive, high resolution, density contrast, versatility, in-situ analysis, and 3D modeling), for experimentally determining shrinkage during fruit drying has not been extensively researched. Therefore, the main goal of this paper is to examine the shrinkage phenomenon during convective drying of tomato slices, using three different temperatures (40, 50, and 60°C) at constant air velocity of 1 m.s-1 and very low humidity. Indeed, the shrinkage curves showing the evolution of the volume ratio (V*) versus the water content ratio (X*) are determined by X-ray microtomography. According to the findings, the tomato exhibits anisotropic shrinkage that is not affected by temperature, and a single shrinkage curve is proposed. On average, the volume decreases of 70% of its initial value. The water content affects both thickness and diameter shrinkage in a linear manner until X* is 0.2. However, when the values are below 0.2, the diameter and especially thickness decrease quickly, with a polynomial and logarithmic trend, respectively.
