Coastal Aquifer Salinization in Semi-Arid Regions: The Case of Grombalia (Tunisia)

Groundwater resources are facing increasing pressure especially in semi-arid regions where they often represent the main freshwater resource to sustain human needs. Several aquifers in the Mediterranean basin suffer from salinization and quality degradation. This study provides an assessment of Grombalia coastal aquifer (Tunisia) based on multidisciplinary approach that combines chemical and isotopic (δ2H, δ18O, 3H, 14C and δ13C) methods to characterize the relation between groundwater quality variation and aquifer recharge. The results indicate that total dissolved solids exceed 1000 mg/L in the most of samples excepting the recharge area. In addition to water–rock interaction, evaporation and nitrate pollution contributing to groundwater mineralization, the reverse cation exchange process constitute an important mechanism controlling groundwater mineralization with enhancing risk of saltwater intrusion. Environmental isotope tracers reveal that groundwater is evolving within an open system to close system. A significant component of recent water that is recharging Grombalia aquifer system is confirmed by applying correction models based on the δ13C values and 14C activities and tritium contents. However, this recharge, which is mainly associated to the return flow of irrigation water, contributes to the groundwater salinization, especially for the shallow aquifer

Radial neck fracture in children: anatomic and functional results of Metaizeau technique

Fractures of the radial neck accounts for 1% of all childhood fractures and 5% to 10% of childhood traumatic lesions involving the elbow. Intramedullary percutaneous nail reduction (Metaizeau technique) is considered the most effective surgical technique. The purpose of this study was to identify the main clinical features of radial neck fracture in children and to evaluate the anatomical and functional results of the Metaizeau technique. In this retrospective study, we evaluated 22 patients under the age of 16 who were treated for radial neck fracture at the orthopedic and trauma surgery department of Sahloul University Hospital in Sousse over a period of 16 years from January 2001 to April 2017. Authors used Metaizeau classification. Functional results were evaluated by Mayo elbow performance score (MEPS) and the radiological evaluation was based on standard images with measurement of the residual rocker. The average age was 8.6 years (5-13 years). Seven fracture were grade III injuries and three grade IV. In the immediate postoperative period, radiological measurements showed a residual rocker less than 20° in 86.3% and more than 20° in 13.7% of cases. At an average follow-up of 13 months and a half, the MEPS score was excellent and good for 17 patients. Four types of complications were found: necrosis of the radial head in 1 case, pseudarthrosis in 1 case, periarticular calcification in 2 cases and stiff-ness of the elbow in 3 cases. Despite the small number of patients in our series, we believe that the elastic stable intramedullary pinning according to the Metaizeau technique is the treatment of choice for displaced radial neck fractures in children

A Robust Voice Pathology Detection System Based on the Combined BiLSTM–CNN Architecture

Voice recognition systems have become increasingly important in recent years due to the growing need for more efficient and intuitive human-machine interfaces. The use of Hybrid LSTM networks and deep learning has been very successful in improving speech detection systems. The aim of this paper is to develop a novel approach for the detection of voice pathologies using a hybrid deep learning model that combines the Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (BiLSTM) and the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) architectures. The proposed model uses a combination of temporal and spectral features extracted from speech signals to detect the different types of voice pathologies. The performance of the proposed detection model is evaluated on a publicly available dataset of speech signals from individuals with various voice pathologies(MEEI database). The experimental results showed that the hybrid BiLSTM-CNN model outperforms several classifiers by achieving an accuracy of 98.86\%. The proposed model has the potential to assist health care professionals in the accurate diagnosis and treatment of voice pathologies, and improving the quality of life for affected individuals

Approche itérative d'homogénéisation pour le comportement des composites polydisperses (applications à l'endommagement des mousses syntactiques immergées)

PARIS-BIUSJ-Thèses (751052125) / SudocSudocFranceF

Development in Vision-Based On-Road Behaviors Understanding

On-road behavior analysis is a crucial and challenging problem in the autonomous driving vision-based area. Several endeavors have been proposed to deal with different related tasks and it has gained wide attention recently. Much of the excitement about on-road behavior understanding has been the labor of advancement witnessed in the fields of computer vision, machine, and deep learning. Remarkable achievements have been made in the Road Behavior Understanding area over the last years

Maritime object detection using attention mechanism

International audienc

Suivi thérapeutique de l’acide valproïque chez l’enfant : étude prospective de l’effet de l’observance et du niveau économique sur les concentrations plasmatiques résiduelles et les crises épileptiques

Introduction. L’acide valproïque (VPA) est un antiépileptique à large spectre. Face à sa variabilité pharmacocinétique et à l’influence de facteurs intrinsèques et extrinsèques tels que l’observance thérapeutique, le suivi thérapeutique pharmacologique (STP) du VPA est indiqué chez l’enfant. Le but de ce travail est d’identifier l’effet de l’observance et du niveau économique (NE) sur les concentrations plasmatiques résiduelles (C0) de VPA en milieu pédiatrique et sur le rythme des crises épileptiques. Matériel et méthodes. Étude prospective sur un an (août 2008-août 2009) ayant concerné des enfants (âge ≤ 15 ans), régulièrement traités par du VPA, qui ont eu un STP du VPA. Ainsi, 276 prélèvements provenant de 238 enfants sous VPA ont été collectés. Les enfants ont été répartis en 2 groupes comme suit : le groupe 1 (G1) présentant une bonne observance et un questionnaire fiable et le groupe 2 (G2) ayant une mauvaise observance et/ou un questionnaire non fiable. Pour l’évaluation de la variabilité interindividuelle, nous avons corrélé la C0 à la dose pondérale. Ces groupes 1 et 2 ont été répartis chacun en fonction de la C0 de VPA. De plus, les patients ont été répartis en fonction du niveau économique bas, moyen ou élevé. Résultats. Le sex ratio garçons/filles était de 1,3. La médiane d’âge était de 5 ans +/- 3,9. La moyenne des C0 de VPA était de 62 µg/mL [0,12-131 µg/mL]. Les C0 étaient dans l’intervalle thérapeutique (IT) dans 62 %. Les effets indésirables ont été notés chez 4,2 % des enfants. G1 représentait 70 % des enfants et G2, 30 %. Les C0 étaient dans l’IT dans 67 % du G1 et 51 % du G2 avec une différence significative (p = 0,02). Il n’y avait pas de différence significative dans la répartition des C0 en fonction du NE. Il n’y avait pas de corrélation entre la C0 et la dose pondérale. Les crises épileptiques étaient plus espacées chez les enfants ayant des C0 dans l’IT que ceux ayant des C0 en dehors de l’IT (p = 0,002) et dans G1 que dans G2 (p = 0,03). Conclusions. L’observance au VPA doit se faire de façon appropriée afin d’optimiser le rôle du STP. Une bonne observance et une C0 thérapeutique permettent de mieux contrôler les crises épileptiques

Groundwater quality assessment in semi-arid regions using integrated approaches: the case of Grombalia aquifer (NE Tunisia)

As many arid and semi-arid regions in the Mediterranean Basin, the Grombalia coastal aquifer (NE Tunisia) is affected by severe groundwater exploitation and contamination. Therefore, quality assessments are becoming increasingly important as the long-term protection of water resources is at stake. Multidisciplinary investigations, like the one presented in this paper, are particularly effective in identifying the different origins of mineralization within an aquifer and investigating the impact of anthropogenic activities on groundwater quality. An integrated assessment, focused on the combined use of geostatistical, geochemical and isotopic (δ18O, δ2H and 3H) tools, was performed in the Grombalia aquifer between February and March 2014. The overall goal was to study the main processes controlling aquifer salinization, with special focus to nitrate contamination. Results indicate a persisting deterioration of water quality over the whole basin except the south-eastern zone juxtaposing the recharge area of the aquifer. Nitrate contents exceed the drinking water standard (50 mg/l) in 70% of groundwater samples, mainly due to the excessive use of fertilizers and urban activities. Stable isotope measurements showed the contribution of modern rainwater to aquifer recharge and proved the presence of evaporation contributing to the salinity increase. Tritium values of groundwater samples suggested two hypotheses: the existence of mixture between old and recent water or/and the existence of two recharge periods of the aquifer, pre- and post-nuclear weapons test. Principal component analysis confirmed the geochemical interpretation, highlighting that water-rock interaction evaporation effect and intensive anthropogenic activities constitute the main processes controlling the regional groundwater mineralization

Toward Comprehensive Road Agents BehaviorUnderstanding

International audienc