Earliest human occupation of North Africa: New evidence from ain boucherit Early Pleistocene deposits, Algeria

Presentación en: 3rd Annual Meeting of the European Society for the study of Human Evolution, 19-21 September 2013, Vienna/AustriaPeer reviewe

The probiotic potential of lactobacilli isolated from Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)’s intestine

The potential probiotic acid lactic bacteria isolated from Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)fs intestine was tested for fish farming. In our collection, 10 Lactobacillus strains were targeted to confront a series of antibiotics in order to draw their resistance profile, and to test their degree of inhibitory to four pathogenic bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus sp. and Pseudomonas sp. The power of acidification and tolerance was tested. Overall, our results show that strains BLT31 and BLT21 are fully susceptible and resistance to the tested antibiotics. Strains BLT3, BLT20, BLT21 and BLT23 have a good antagonistic effect against pathogenic bacteria that cause the highest damage in aquaculture. For acid lactic production, strains BLT3, BLT26, BLT27, BLT28, and BLT31 are considered fast since Ģ pH . 4U in less than three hours. As for the resistance to pH and bile salts, two strains BLT3 and BLT31 showed significant power which gives them acceptable probiotic potential.Key words: Probiotics, antibiotics, aquaculture, the Nile Tilapia, inhibitory activities, lactobacilli

Telework: What is impact on the Algerian employee?

In a knowledge-based global economy, where technological progress has become the crucial link for achieving economic development, many Algerian institutions inevitability faced of the developing of their managing methods of work based on the integration of information and communication technologies (ICT). The telework is one of the growing patterns in this context it has been widely used in recent years as a new conception of work and jobs, especially during the pandemic that afflicted many countries, including Algeria. However, adopting this method of organizing work raises many problems related to its effects, especially on the individual level, namely on the employee’s quality of life, which is what the current study tries to answer. In order to do so, the writings and the basics related to telework were reviewed and discussed in the first part. While the second part was devoted to presenting the methodological framework used at field level. Based on a quantitative approach that included 142 employees from various sectors of activity, the results of the research included in the third part revealed that telework gives employees flexibility and independence in organizing their work schedule. It also contributes to reducing expenses related to the budget for transportation, meals, and childcare. In addition, telework enables employees to reorganize their social time (work time, family time) and thus, better match work and private activities, as well as reduce exhaustion resulting from various movements. It constitutes an opportunity to rest and reorganize, which in turn helps to raise productivity, according to most of the employees questioned. However, this does not negate the fact that this working method produces some undesirable effects, which are often perceived as negative consequences, as the results revealed the telework may be a source of social isolation and extension of working hours. Furthermore, the flexibility that telework gives to employees in organizing and managing working hours may lead to irregular schedules, which would blur the boundaries between family and professional lifestyle

Evidence of stone tools and cutmarked bones dated to 2.44 and 1.92 millions years ago from Aïn Boucherit (Sétif, Algeria) and their implications on the first human occupation in North Africa

Recueil de notes séléctionnées au Workshop sur la Géologie du Quaternaire de l’Algérie SÉTIF Les 4 et 5 décembre 2019. Publicado en AlgeriaLes sites pléistocènes inférieurs d'Afrique de l'Est et ceux de Gona (Éthiopie) datés de 2,6 millions d'années en particulier, ont livré les plus anciens outils oldowayens et ossements portant des traces de découpe induites par l'utilisation de ces outils taillés par les hominidés indubitablement reconnus à ce jour. Par comparaison, les artefacts lithiques oldowayens datés d'environs 1,8 million d¿années et recueillis à Aïn Hanech (Algérie) ont été pendant longtemps considérés comme les plus anciens restes archéologiques d'Afrique du Nord. Dans cet article, nous rapportons la découverte récente de traces d'activité humaine plus anciennes. Il s'agit d'outils taillés associés directement à des traces de découpe qui ont été recueillis dans deux niveaux archéologiques distincts (inférieur : AB-Lw, et supérieur : AB-Up) du site de Aïn Boucherit, situé dans la zone d'étude de Aïn Hanech. À l'aide d'une approche multi-méthode combinant le paléomagnétisme, la datation par Résonance Paramagnétique Électronique (RPE ou ESR) et la biochronologie des grands mammifères, l'âge des niveaux archéologiques de Aïn Boucherit est estimé à ~2,44 Ma pour AB-Lw et à ~1,92 Ma pour AB-Up. Ces résultats démontrent que Aïn Boucherit préserve les plus anciennes traces archéologiques connues à ce jour en dehors du Rift Est Africain, révélant ainsi que les premiers hominidés habitaient la frange méditerranéenne en Afrique du Nord beaucoup plus tôt qu'on ne le pensait. Ces preuves plaident fortement en faveur d'une dispersion ancienne et rapide de la manufacture et de l'utilisation d'outils lithiques de type oldowayen depuis l'Afrique de l'Est, ou même d'un scénario d'une possible origine de cette technologie lithique en Afrique de l'Est et en Afrique du Nord

On the age of Ain Hanech Oldowan locality (Algeria): First numerical dating results

Our current understanding of early human settlements in North Africa relies on a few well-contextualized Oldowan and Acheulean sites (e.g., Ain Hanech, El Kherba, Ain Boucherit Lw and Up, Tighennif in Algeria; Thomas Quarry in Morocco). In particular, the site of Ain Hanech has documented for many decades the earliest evidence of human presence in North Africa (e.g., Sahnouni and de Heinzelin, 1998), until older stone tools were recently reported at the nearby Ain Boucherit locality (Sahnouni et al., 2018). While the Early Pleistocene antiquity of this Oldowan assemblage has never really been questioned, its exact age has, however, been discussed. In the early 2000s, a series of articles were published in this journal arguing either for an age of ~1.8 Ma (Sahnouni et al., 2002, 2004) or much younger, around 1.2 Ma (Geraads et al., 2004). Although subsequent chronostratigraphic studies have provided additional evidence for the older age (Pares et al., 2014 ; Sahnouni et al., 2018; Duval et al., 2021), Ain Hanech site had never been numerically dated until now. Moreover, beyond the archeological relevance of the site, Ain Hanech faunal association has also long been used as a reference for biochronological inferences and comparative studies with other paleontological localities of the region (e.g., Geraads, 2002; Sahnouni et al., 2002; Van der Made and Sahnouni, 2013; Van der Made et al., 2021). In other words, the accuracy of North African biochronology over the Early Pleistocene timescale partly relies on the age of Ain Hanech. In this context, we present here the dating results from electron spin resonance (ESR) and uranium-series (U-series) methods tentatively applied to optically bleached quartz grains and fossil teeth from Ain Hanech and the nearby stratigraphically equivalent site of El Kherba (Sahnouni and de Heinzelin, 1998).Spanish Ramon y Cajal Fellowship RYC2018-025221-I granted to M.D. is funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by ‘ESF Investing in your future’. This work is part of Grant PID2021-123092NB-C22 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/‘ERDF A way of making Europe’. Fieldwork and related research at Ain Hanech were funded with grants awarded to M.S. by CNRPAH (Algeria), MCIN and MINECO (PGC2018-095489-BI00 and HAR2013-41351-P, respectively; Spain), the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation (USA), the European Research Council (FP7-PeopleCIG2993581; Belgium), and the Stone Age Institute (USA), and to S.A. by UMR7194 (CNRS, MNHN; France).Peer reviewe

Old stones' song: Use-wear experiments and analysis of the Oldowan quartz and quartzite assemblage from Kanjera South (Kenya)

Evidence of Oldowan tools by w2.6 million years ago (Ma) may signal a major adaptive shift in hominin evolution. While tool-dependent butchery of large mammals was important by at least 2.0 Ma, the use of artifacts for tasks other than faunal processing has been difficult to diagnose. Here we report on use-wear analysis ofw2.0 Ma quartz and quartzite artifacts from Kanjera South, Kenya. A use-wear framework that links processing of specific materials and tool motions to their resultant use-wear patterns was developed. A blind test was then carried out to assess and improve the efficacy of this experimental use-wear framework, which was then applied to the analysis of 62 Oldowan artifacts from Kanjera South. Usewear on a total of 23 artifact edges was attributed to the processing of specific materials. Use-wear on seven edges (30%) was attributed to animal tissue processing,corroborating zooarchaeological evidence for butchery at the site. Use-wear on 16 edges (70%)was attributed to the processing of plant tissues, including wood, grit-covered plant tissues that we interpret asunderground storage organs (USOs), and stems of grass or sedges. These results expand our knowledge of the suite of behaviours carried out in the vicinity of Kanjera South to include the processing of materials that would be ‘invisible’ using standard archaeological methods. Wood cutting and scraping may represent the production and/or maintenance of wooden tools. Use-wear related to USO processing extends the archaeological evidence for hominin acquisition and consumption of this resource by over 1.5 Ma. Cutting of grasses, sedges or reeds may be related to a subsistence task (e.g., grass seed harvesting, cutting out papyrus culm for consumption) and/or a non-subsistence related task (e.g., production of ‘twine,’ simple carrying devices, or bedding). These results highlight the adaptive significance of lithic technology for hominins at Kanjera

L'industrie sur galets du gisement villafranchien superieur de Ain Hanech (Setif, Algerie orientale) : Approche morphotechnologique

SIGLECNRS T 57084 / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueFRFranc