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Authenticity of honey presents significant challenges to food quality control, necessitating continuous modernization and enhancement of analytical methodologies. This study aimed to characterize 24 honey samples collected from eight regions in northeastern Algeria by analysing their physico-chemical parameters and pollen profiles. The results revealed significant pollen diversity across all samples, predominantly monofloral honeys, particularly eucalyptus honey, along with Hedysarum coronarium L., Arbutus unedo L., Lavandula stoechas L., Ziziphus lotus (L.) Lam. and Citrus sp. Multifloral honeys contained pollen from diverse taxa including Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh., Hedysarum coronarium L., Echium plantagineum L., Lavandula stoechas L., Raphanus raphanistrum L. and Malva sylvestris L., common to northeastern Algeria's ecosystems. Most honey samples met international physico-chemical standards, indicating high quality. However, honey quality is predominantly influenced by its botanical origin, as demonstrated by principal component analysis, cluster analysis and co-inertia analysis, which grouped the samples into seven distinct physico-chemical units. Precise characterization is essential for enhancing local honey production by elucidating the complex relationships between pollen composition, botanical origin and physico-chemical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

5G opens the door not only for new network services but also for a new business model involving new business actors. Particularly, the introduction of Network Slicing encourages the appearance of new stakeholders, namely Verticals or network slice tenants, Network Slice Providers, and Resource Providers. The Network Slice Provider sells end‐to‐end network slices (virtual end‐to‐end mobile network) to the Vertical, while leasing virtual and physical resources from Resource Providers to deploy and instantiate these end‐to‐end network slices. Consequently, a trusted relationship among these actors should be established and maintained. To fill this gap, in this paper, we propose a Blockchain‐based trust architecture that aims to: (1) create and negotiate the deployment of an end‐to‐end slice network; (2) manage automatically the service level agreements (SLA) established between the involved actors; while guaranteeing security and anonymous transactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are expected to introduce disruptive innovations in our society, it is foreseen that the used communication technology is the key factor that can unlock their potential. To this end, the upcoming generation of mobile networks, 5G-and-beyond, are envisioned to be the communication standards to support diverse UAV applications. This will also enable UAVs to benefit from the limitless progress achieved in mobile systems. To facilitate the support of UAV services in 5G-and-beyond networks, this article introduces a framework that links the mobile telecommunication domain to the UAV domain. The proposed framework reflects an operational view enabling UAV operators to prepare and deploy their applications over different 5G mobile telecommunication networks. Moreover, the framework allows UAV operators to customize mobile systems in accordance with the specifications of their target services and to constantly receive analytical and statistical data on their running applications. Furthermore, in order to ensure network services (dedicated to UAV applications) over heterogeneous mobile systems, this article also discusses the federation of 5G networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collision detection and avoidance between vehicles is one of the key services envisioned in the Internet of Vehicles. Such services are usually deployed at the multi-access edge computing (MEC) to ensure low-latency communication and thus guarantee real-time reactions to avoid collisions between vehicles. In order to maximize the coverage of the road and ensure that all vehicles are connected to an optimal MEC host (in terms of geographical location), the collision avoidance application needs to be instantiated on all the MEC hosts. This may add a burden on the computing resources available at the latter. In this article, we propose an AI-empowered framework that aims to optimize the computing resources at the MEC hosts. Our framework uses deep learning to predict the vehicle density to be served by a MEC host and derive the exact computing resources required by the collision detection application to run optimally. We evaluate the proposed framework using a real dataset representing vehicle mobility in a big city. Obtained results show the accuracy of our prediction model, and hence the efficiency of our resources assignment framework to exactly deduce the optimal computing resources needed by each instance of the application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Smart applications are increasingly emerged in our daily professional and personal lives, ranging from augmented reality and gaming applications to E‐health and telesurgery services. In fact, the growing development of Internet of Things (IoT) and its integration with cloud and fog paradigms have encouraged infrastructures and services providers to perform intelligence in advanced technologies. However, the deployment of IoT/cloud‐enabled smart services still suffers from several quality of services (QoSs) management issues such as latency sensitivity for interactive applications and real‐time big data analytics. In this paper, we propose to present a novel approach for the management of smart services QoS. Accordingly, we introduce an overview of QoS requirements in fog computing environment for several IoT/cloud‐enabled use cases, to identify QoS metrics. The synthesis of the requirements review allows us to present a solution for QoS enhancements on the basis of a priority classification (PC) technique. Simulated with iFogSim, PC shows a significant enhancement of the system performance, notably for latency, energy consumption, and network usage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research paper, our central focus is upon investigating structural and electrical properties of polycrystalline Ba0.9Ag0.1TiO3 powder which was fabricated through standard solid-state reaction technique. X-ray diffraction analysis at room temperature confirmed that the component crystallizes in both tetragonal and orthorhombic structures. The electrical response was explored by complex impedance spectroscopy in the temperature range of 540 K–620 K and frequency from 67. 5 Hz to 1 MHz. The findings demonstrated that the variation of the imaginary part of impedance (Z'') as a function of the real one (Z') at various temperatures presented semicircle arcs. An electrical similar circuit was set forward to interpret the impedance data. The results obtained from the temperature dependence of the exponent s suggest that the transport process of the charge carriers in the compound Ba0.9Ag0.1TiO3 follows the correlated barrier hopping (CBH) model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cork oak (Quercus suber L.) is a tree which forms important forests that play a vital socioeconomic and environmental value in the Mediterranean basin. The multiple factors of overgrazing, biological invasion by introducing acacia trees, and repeated fires weaken the cork oak ecosystem and affect its natural regeneration. The purpose of this study is to increase the production of cork oak. With this aim, a test of controlled mycorrhization was carried out on the nursery where two commercial inocula--the arbuscular mycorrhizal (Symbivit) (S) and ectomycorrhizal (Ectovit) (E)--were brought separately and combined on cork oak seedlings cultivated on sterilized or non-sterilized soil. Statistical models revealed that the controlled inoculation improved the growth of the plants inoculated by IE, which had significantly increased mycorrhizal root colonization levels and cork oak growth compared to the treatments of the Symbivit (IS) and the non-inoculated plants (NI); these rates were lower in both substrates: sterile and non-sterile. It is known that the best mycorrhizal partners of cork oak are ectomycorrhizae, however, in the presence of arbuscular mycorrhizae, the mycorrhizal root colonization levels and the growth parameters were considerably enhanced compared to previous treatments IE, IS and NI. The dual colonization had shown positive effects on the improvement of the mycorrhizal potential of the soil. Indeed, EM % colonization was the most strongly correlated with growth parameters compared to other mycorrhizal parameters. This research underlines that the use of controlled inoculation based on commercial inoculum can be an effective alternative in the case where the local inoculum is not available, and thus time saving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) and Network Slicing are two key enablers for 5G, particularly to empower low-latency services, known as Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC). However, MEC and Network Slicing are evolving in parallel, and are being defined by two different standardization bodies, ETSI and 3GPP, which limits their integration and their benefits as complementary solutions. In this paper, we fill this gap by providing a novel scheme, compliant with both ETSI and 3GPP, that integrates these two key technologies and brings enhanced slicing capabilities to the edge of the 5G network. In particular, we devise a novel management and orchestration architecture, based on the latest 3GPP specifications, which integrates MEC as a 5G sub-slice. Furthermore, we highlight several issues that emerge when extending Network Slicing to the edge, security and isolation included, providing a solution for each issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioprospection for potential microbial biocontrol agents associated with three major insect pests of economic relevance for olive cultivation in the Mediterranean area, namely the olive fly, Bactrocera oleae, the olive moth, Prays oleae, and the olive psyllid, Euphyllura olivina, led to the isolation of several strains of readily cultivable Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacteria from Tunisian olive orchards. Determination of 16S ribosomal RNA encoding sequences identified the bacteria as members of the taxonomic genus Providencia (Enterobacterales; Morganellaceae). A more detailed molecular taxonomic analysis based on a previously established set of protein-encoding marker genes together with DNA-DNA hybridization and metabolic profiling studies led to the conclusion that the new isolates should be organized in a new species within this genus. With reference to their original insect association, the designation "Providencia entomophila" is proposed here for this hypothetical new taxon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electroflotation column is preferred in many chemicals, electrochemical and biochemical wastewater process treatment due to their simplicity in design, operation and maintenance. Indeed, it is very important to have a tool to determine and optimize the size distribution of the bubbles produced inside columns. In this context and in order to improve the performance of wastewater treatment by electroflotation process, the main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of current density and liquid phase electric conductivity on the bubble size distribution and on the bubble flow regime. For this a rectangular electroflotation column was used. The method of recording and the video image analyzing was used to determine the diameter and the rise velocity of the bubbles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the current study is to optimize the treatment of wastewater rich in starch glue issued from the card board industry by coupling coagulation and electroflotation processes. The treatment consists of maximizing the removal rate of suspended solids contained in wastewater. This study includes both batch and continuous modes. In batch mode, a model water solution was used in order to evaluate the influence of pH, current density, and coagulant concentration, which were selected as operating parameters to be optimized. The methodology of experimental research, with an orthogonal central composite plan, was approved. In order to approach the process to the industrial scale and to improve the suspended solids removal rate, a continuous mode was also studied. The purification efficiency consisting in the elimination of suspended solids exceeded 95%. Physicochemical characterization of the effluent was performed before and after the treatment in batch and continuous modes to improve the efficiency of this process. This characterization included pH, conductivity, salinity, chemical oxygen demand, biochemical oxygen demand, and suspended solids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This study investigated the bacterial diversity of dead insects collected from olive tree orchards widely cultivated in Tunisia. We aimed to explore metabolic diversity, screen enzymatic activities for biotechnological applications and carry out preliminary bioassays for bio‐insecticide development. Methods and results: A total of 50 bacteria strains were randomly isolated from four different biotopes situated in Sfax (Tunisia). 16S rRNA gene sequencing was used to identify 24 species, and isolates were evaluated for enzymatic activity and antimicrobial potential. Nineteen of the total number of Bacillus strains have enzymatic activity compared to strains from the other genera (14/50). Our bacterial collection was evaluated for antimicrobial potential against bacterial and fungal isolates. Isolates B8‐2 (Bacillus subtilis) showed strong antibacterial activities and isolates B2‐3 (Bacillus licheniformis) and B10‐1 (Serratia marcescens) showed the highest antifungal activity. Seventeen of the total number of isolates caused greater than 50% mortality rate of second and fourth instar larvae of Ephestia kuehniella. Conclusion: The selected species from olive orchards represent a broad spectrum of antimicrobial and insecticidal activities and can be considered promising resources in biological control. Significance and Impact of the Study: Bacteria isolated from olive pests in olive orchards were investigated for detecting their potential biotechnological applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pistachio cultivations are damaged by many pests such as beetles including several species that had a wide expansion due to climate change. We investigated the biodiversity of pistachio beetles and their parasitoids based on a barcoding approach. The trapping and rearing of insects present in pistachio branches showed the presence of seven species. These insects were identified using two molecular markers, the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and the region (D2–D3) of the 28S gene of the nuclear ribosomal RNA operon. The obtained sequences allowed the identification of five species with an identity ≥ 97%. However, for the other two species, sequence identity did not exceed 93% and consequently their identification was limited to the genus level. Our results showed that pistachio trees are attacked by four species of beetles, namely Chaetoptelius vestitus (Mulsant & Rey, 1861) (Coleoptera, Curculionidae), Carphoborus perrisi (Chapuis, 1869) (Coleoptera, Curculionidae), Phoracantha semipunctata (Fabricius, 1775) (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae) and Sinoxylon sp. (Coleoptera, Bostrichidae). These beetles are parasitized by three identified species: Doryctes leucogaster (Nees, 1834) (Hymenoptera, Braconidae), Cheiropachus quadrum (Fabricius, 1787) (Hymenoptera, Pteromalidae) and Ecphylus sp. (Hymenoptera, Braconidae). This study is the first to record the species C. perrisi and D. leucogaster in Tunisia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

5G comes with the promise of sub-millisecond latency, which is critical for realizing an array of emerging URLLC services, including industrial, entertainment, telemedicine, automotive, and tactile Internet applications. At the same time, slicing-ready 5G networks face the challenge of accommodating other heterogeneous coexisting services with different and potentially conflicting requirements. Providing latency and reliability guarantees to URLLC service slices is thus not trivial. We identify transmission scheduling at the RAN level as a significant contributor to end-toend latency when considering network slicing. In this direction, we propose a two-level MAC scheduling framework that can effectively handle uplink and downlink transmissions of network slices of different characteristics over a shared RAN, applying different per-slice scheduling policies, and focusing on reducing latency for URLLC services. Our scheme offers the necessary flexibility to dynamically manage radio resources to meet the stringent latency and reliability requirements of URLLC, as demonstrated by our simulation results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

5G is expected to provide network connectivity to not only classical devices (i.e., tablets, smartphones, etc.) but also to the IoT, which will drastically increase the traffic load carried over the network. 5G will mainly rely on NFV and SDN to build flexible and on-demand instances of functional networking entities via VNFs. Indeed, 3GPP is devising a new architecture for the core network, which replaces point-to-point interfaces used in 3G and 4G by producer/consumer-based communication among 5G core network functions, facilitating deployment over a virtual infrastructure. One big advantage of using VNFs is the possibility of dynamic scaling, depending on traffic load (i.e., instantiate new resources to VNFs when the traffic load increases and reduce the number of resources when the traffic load decreases). In this article, we propose a novel mechanism to scale 5G core network resources by anticipating traffic load changes through forecasting via ML techniques. The traffic load forecast is achieved by using and training a neural network on a real dataset of traffic arrival in a mobile network. Two techniques were used and compared: RNN, more specifically LSTM; and DNN. Simulation results show that the forecast-based scalability mechanism outperforms the threshold-based solutions, in terms of latency to react to traffic change, and delay to have new resources ready to be used by the VNF to react to traffic increase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Very High Throughput (VHT) supplied by the IEEE 802.11ac standard is the outcome of several amendments incorporated at its both Medium Access Control (MAC) and PHYsical (PHY) layers. In particular, the Aggregate-MAC Protocol Data Unit (A-MPDU) frame aggregation allows, at the MAC level, increasing the amount of data to be transmitted and the spatial multiplexing technique serves at the PHY level to accelerate the rate at which such data are forwarded. Therefore, the goals we are seeking to achieve in this paper are, on one hand, to demonstrate that A-MPDU aggregation and spatial multiplexing may, respectively, lead to a decrease in throughput and an increase in overhead, and on the other hand, to highlight that A-MPDU aggregation and spatial multiplexing have mutual needs that could mutually satisfy operational challenges. For this purpose, we model the 802.11ac station enabling A-MPDU aggregation and spatial multiplexing, and we compute the throughput and the overhead of the 802.11ac network. After that, we run Monte Carlo simulations for validating the accuracy of the mathematical model, and we calculate 95% confidence intervals to establish credibility to the simulation results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interview with Director Adlen Ksentini of EMEA Region is presented. It talks about the EMEA Region aiming at organizing workshops, conferences and events for the professionals in the electronics industry. It tells about the events organized for training and developing skills of the employees and to acquire membership. It speaks about the EMEA helping students in the industry become skilled workers.

One of the key targets of the upcoming 5G system is to build a mobile network architecture that supports not only classical mobile broadband applications (i.e., Internet and IMS), but also vertical industry services, such as those of automotive systems, e-health, public safety, and smart grid. Vertical industry is known to have specific needs that cannot be sustained by the current cellular networks. More notably, automotive systems require strict quality of service in terms of ultrashort latency for vehicle-to-infrastructure/network (V2I/N) communications. In this paper, we introduce the Follow Me edge-Cloud (FMeC) concept, leveraging the mobile edge computing (MEC) architecture to sustain requirements of the 5G automotive systems. Assuming that automotive services are deployed on MEC entities, FMeC ensures low-latency access to these services by guaranteeing that vehicles (i.e., as well as user equipment on board vehicles) always connect to nearest automotive service. Besides the FMeC architecture, our contribution in this paper consists in presenting a projection of the FMeC solution on an automated driving use case that integrates automotive and Telco infrastructures, to realize the vision of future 5G automotive systems. We introduce the envisioned software defined networking/OpenFlow-based architecture and our mobility-aware framework based on a set of building blocks that permit achieving the automated driving requirements within 5G network. The evaluation results, obtained conjointly through theoretical analysis and computer simulation, show that our proposed solution outperforms baseline approaches in meeting the automated driving latency requirement and minimizing the incurred global cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

5G network architecture and its functions are yet to be defined. However, it is generally agreed that cloud computing, network function virtualization (NFV), and software defined networking (SDN) will be key enabling technologies for 5G. Indeed, putting all these technologies together ensures several advantages in terms of network configuration flexibility, scalability, and elasticity, which are highly needed to fulfill the numerous requirements of 5G. Furthermore, 5G network management procedures should be as simple as possible, allowing network operators to orchestrate and manage the lifecycle of their virtual network infrastructures (VNIs) and the corresponding virtual network functions (VNFs), in a cognitive and programmable fashion. To this end, we introduce the concept of ?Anything as a Service? (ANYaaS), which allows a network operator to create and orchestrate 5G services on demand and in a dynamic way. ANYaaS relies on the reference ETSI NFV architecture to orchestrate and manage important services such as mobile Content Delivery Network as a Service (CDNaaS), Traffic Offload as a Service (TOFaaS), and Machine Type Communications as a Service (MTCaaS). Ultimately, ANYaaS aims for enabling dynamic creation and management of mobile services through agile approaches that handle 5G network resources and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-loosening of bolts is a problem encountered in many industrial fields, and especially in aviation. The purpose of this paper is to study the self-loosening phenomenon numerically through an assembly consisting of two plates assembled by a bolt and subjected to a transversal dynamic load. First, a 3D finite element model is developed, with contact elements and all geometrical details, including the real thread geometry with its helix angle. This leads to many degrees of freedom and long calculation time. Then a 1D simulation is made, based on a simplified model with only 4 degrees of freedom and few contact conditions. Calculation is nearly instantaneous. Both models describe the succession of sticking and slipping on contact surfaces and predict loosening of the assembly. They provide close results. The next step will be to compare their behaviour with an experimental approach, in order to validate and fit the models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the adoption of health information technology for clinical health, e-health is becoming usual practice today. Users of this technology find it difficult to seek information relevant to their needs due to the increasing amount of the clinical and medical data on the web, and the lack of knowledge of medical jargon. In this regards, a method is described to improve user's needs by automatically adding new related terms to their queries which appear in the same context of the original query in order to improve final search results. This method is based on the assessment of semantic relationships defined by a proposed statistical method between a set of terms or keywords. Experiments were performed on CLEF-eHealth-2015 database and the obtained results show the effectiveness of our proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to their worldwide deployment, 3GPP mobile networks, particularly Long-Term Evolution (LTE), are gaining a lot of momentum, as are LTE-connected vehicles. While one may envision an LTE-connected vehicle as a nicely designed vehicle with sophisticated equipment, a conventional vehicle with a person using an LTE-enabled smartphone or tablet on board can be logically qualified for an LTE-connected vehicle. Maintaining an acceptable quality of service (QoS)/quality of experience (QoE) of LTE services for a user on board a moving vehicle is a challenging problem. One approach for that is to anticipate QoS/QoE degradation and to exploit the different radio access technologies, such as WiFi, that may be available at an LTE-connected vehicle or, in general, at an LTE-enabled user equipment (UE) on board the vehicle. For this purpose, this paper introduces a complete framework that proactively defines QoS/QoE-aware policies for LTE-connected vehicles (UE devices) to select the most adequate radio access out of the available access technologies (e.g., WiFi and LTE) that maximizes QoE throughout the mobility path. The policies are communicated to the users following 3GPP standards and are enforced by the UE devices. They take into account the service type, the mobility feature, and the traffic dynamics over the backhauls of the different available accesses. Two different models were proposed to model the network selection process. The first model is based on multiple-attribute decision making (MADM) techniques, whereas the second model is based on the Markov decision process (MDP). Moreover, the network selection process is modeled using a time-continuous Markov chain, and the performance of the proposed framework (VECOS) is extensively evaluated through NS2-based simulations considering the case of two wireless access technologies, namely, WiFi and cellular networks. The obtained results illustrate that in comparison with conventional vertical handoff mechanisms whereby WiFi is always selected whenever it becomes available, the proposed framework ensures better QoS and achieves better QoE throughout the time of the received service and the mobility path of the user, even in the case of errors in the prediction of the user's mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of friction phenomenon generated by a disc brake on the dynamic behaviour of a one-stage spur gear. Design/methodology/approach – A theoretical model is proposed and is based on both theories of Coulomb and Dahl in order to analyse the influence of disc brake friction phenomenon on the dynamic behaviour of one-stage spur gear transmission. Findings – The influence of brake friction on the dynamic behaviour of the transmission is investigated using the proposed model and leads to observe higher vibration levels when the braking is occurring as well as the emergence of significant efforts at the gear teeth. Originality/value – A new numerical model based on the implicit numerical integration technique of Newmark coupled with Newton-Raphson method is proposed to study the influence of friction phenomenon of a disc brake on the dynamic behaviour of one-stage spur gear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern earthquake loss models make use of earthquake catalogs relevant to the seismic hazard assessment upon seismicity and seismotectonic analysis. The main objective of this paper is to investigate a recently compiled catalog (National Institute of Meteorology or INM catalog: 412-2011) and to generate seismic hazard maps through classical probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA) and smoothed-gridded seismicity models for Tunisia. It is now established with the local earthquake bulletin that the recent seismicity of Tunisia is sparse and moderate. Therefore, efforts must be undertaken to elaborate a robust hazard analysis for risk assessment and seismic design purposes. These recommendations follow the recently published reports by the World Bank that describe the seismic risk in Tunis City as being beyond a tolerable level with an MSK intensity level of VII. Some attempts were made during the past two decades to assess the seismic hazard for Tunisia and they have mostly failed to properly investigate the historical and instrumental seismicity catalog. This limitation also exists for the key aspect of epistemic and random uncertainties impact on the final seismic hazard assessment. This study also investigates new ground motion prediction equations suitable for use in Tunisia. The methodology applied herein uses, for the first time in PSHA of Tunisia, seismicity parameters integrated in logic tree framework to capture epistemic uncertainties through three different seismic source models. It also makes use of the recently released version of OpenQuake engine; an open-source tool for seismic hazard and risk assessment developed in the framework of the Global Earthquake Model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four Trichogramma species were recovered in the field from eggs of carob moth, Ectomyelois ceratoniae (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). The oviposition rates of Trichogramma oleae, Trichogramma cacoeciae, Trichogramma evanescens and Trichogramma bourarachae were compared when presented either E. ceratoniae or Ephestia kuehniella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). T. oleae and T. bourarachae did not parasitise either species of Lepidoptera. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most important problems posed by cellular-based machine type communications is congestion. Congestion concerns all the parts of the network, both the radio and the core network impacting both the user data plane and the control plane. In this article, we address the problem of congestion in machine type communications. We propose a congestion-aware admission control solution that selectively rejects signaling messages from MTC devices at the radio access network following a probability that is set based on a proportional integrative derivative controller reflecting the congestion level of a relevant core network node. We evaluate the performance of our proposed solution using computer simulations. The obtained results are encouraging. In fact, we succeed in reducing the amount of signaling while maintaining a target utilization ratio of resources in the core network. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Virachola livia Klug 1834 (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) was detected for the first time in a cultivated pomegranate orchard in Tunisia in 2006 although it may have been causing damage for several years prior to this. During 2006, 5.2% of the total pomegranate fruit produced in Tunisia was infested by this pest. This invasive species was responsible for 52% of fruit rot at Zerkine locality (Gabès Governorate). Levels of V. livia infection were shown to vary among nine pomegranate varieties; the Klaii, Mezzi and Garoussi varieties were the most susceptible, whereas Gabsi, Jbeli, Andolsi, Tounsi, Zaghweni and Zehri were more tolerant to this lycaenidae. The authors consider that this is due to female preference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four Trichogramma species were found in a pomegranate orchard in Gabès, an arid region of Tunisia, from parasitized eggs of Ectomyelois ceratoniae Zeller (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), an economically important insect pest. Identification based on assessment of male genitalia and internal transcribed spacer 2 ( ITS2) sequences showed that they were T. bourarachae Pintureau and Babault, 1988, T. oleae Voegelé and Pointel, 1979, T. cacoeciae Marchal, 1927 and T. evanescens Westwood, 1833. Trichogramma evanescens is reported for the first time in Tunisia. Trichogramma cacoeciae was the largely dominant species in the analyzed samples, whereas T. bourarachae was present in a minor portion of 1.38%. The implications of these results for attempts at controlling E. ceratoniae are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of quality of service (QoS)-capable IEEE 802.11 MAC protocols fall short to deliver sustained QoS guarantees while maintaining high network utilization, particularly under congested network conditions. The problem often resides in the fact that flows belonging to the same service class are assigned the same MAC parameters, regardless their respective bit rate, which leads to throughput fairness rather than perceived QoS fairness. Harmonizing the MAC parameters of traffic classes' flows may further lead to suboptimal situations, since certain network configurations (in terms of per-class traffic load) cannot be accommodated without readjusting the basic MAC parameters. In this paper, we propose a new cross-layer MAC design featuring a delay-sensitive backoff range adaptation, along with a distributed flow admission control. By monitoring both the MAC queue dynamics of each traffic class and the overall network contention level, our MAC adaption scheme reacts based on the degree to which application QoS metrics (delay) are satisfied. Aside from that, we use a distributed admission control mechanism to accept new flows while protecting the active one. Simulation results show that compared to the Enhanced Distributed Coordination Function (802.11e Enhanced Distributed Control Access (EDCA)) and AEDCF (Adaptive EDCF), our protocol consistently excels in terms of network utilization, bounded delays, and service-level fairness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Treatment of paper effluent samples by coagulation–electroflotation was studied. The study aims to determine the best conditions of treatment which maximize the purification efficiency. For that, the methodology of experimental research with an orthogonal central composite design was adopted. Batch and continuous modes of treatment were studied. The batch mode aims to optimize coagulant concentration, pH and current density at fixed treatment duration. The current density is the most significant factor in the suspended solids elimination followed in decreasing order of importance by coagulant concentration and pH. Good agreement between theoretical analysis and experimental results was obtained. Continuous mode aims to optimize the residence time. Purification efficiency consisting in the elimination of suspended solids exceeded 95%. Physicochemical characterization of the effluent was done before and after the treatment in batch and continuous mode to improve the efficiency of this process. This characterization included pH, conductivity, salinity, BOD5, COD, suspended solids and chlorides. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The recently developed H.264 video standard achieves efficient encoding over a bandwidth ranging from a few kilobits per second to several megabits per second. Hence, transporting H.264 video is expected to be an important component of many wireless multimedia services, such as video conferencing, real-time network gaming, and TV broadcasting. However, due to wireless channel characteristics and lack of QoS support, the basic 802.11-based channel access procedure is merely sufficient to deliver non-real-time traffic. The delivery should be augmented by appropriate mechanisms to better consider different QoS requirements and ultimately adjust the medium access parameters to the video data content characteristics. In this article we address H.264 wireless video transmission over IEEE 802.11 WLAN by proposing a robust cross-layer architecture that leverages the inherent H.264 error resilience tools (i.e., data partitioning); and the existing QoS-based IEEE 802.11e MAC protocol possibilities. The performances of the proposed architecture are extensively investigated by simulations. Results obtained indicate that compared to 802.11 and 802.11e, our cross-layer architecture allows graceful video degradation while minimizing the mean packet loss and end-to-end delays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information on Sliding Contention Window (SCW). The protocols estimate network conditions based on the aggregated network behavior of all traffic classes, reducing the effectiveness of differentiation techniques. Some works have proposed adaptive contention window (CW) schemes designed to coordinate MAC parameters between different stations. Separate CW ranges are maintained for each TC. Therefore, the range from which the backoff counter is selected is dependent on the type of traffic being transmitted. By sliding the CWs, SCW dynamically adjusts to changing conditions, but confines oscillations in throughput and delay. This allows the scheme to provide strict service differentiation and good flow fairness, while still maintaining a high level of channel utilization. In order to maintain a level of quality acceptable to both the application and the user, packets must be delivered at a sufficiently high rate, in a timely manner. Flows may require different amounts of bandwidth, and may vary in their susceptibility to packet loss.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of combined exposure to noise (85 dB(A)) and inhaled Toluene (300 ± 10 ppm) on rat lung health. It also aimed to assess the potential therapeutic effects of Olea europaea L. leaves extract (OLE) (40 mg/kg/day) using biochemical, histopathological, and immunohistochemical (IHC) analyses, as well as determination of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α and IL-1β), and in silico Docking studies. The experiment involved forty-two male Wistar rats divided into seven groups, each exposed to a 6-week/6-hour/day regimen of noise and Toluene. The groups included a control group, rats co-exposed to noise and Toluene, and rats co-exposed to noise and Toluene treated with OLE for different durations. The results indicated that noise and Toluene exposure led to structural damage in lung tissue, oxidative harm, and increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α and IL-1β). However, the administration of OLE extract demonstrated positive effects in mitigating these adverse outcomes. OLE treatment reduced lipid peroxidation and enhanced the activities of catalase and superoxide dismutase, indicating its anti-oxidant properties. Furthermore, OLE significantly decreased the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines compared to the groups exposed to noise and Toluene without OLE treatment. Moreover, the in silico investigation substantiated a robust affinity between COX-2 and OLE components, affirming the anti-inflammatory activity. Overall, our findings suggest that OLE possesses anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative properties that mitigate the adverse effects of concurrent exposure to noise and Toluene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Olive production is the main agricultural activity in Tunisia. The diversity of fungi was explored in two different olive groves located in two distant geographical zones in Sfax (Tunisia) with different management practices. Results: Fungal isolation was made from soil and the major olive tree pests, namely the Olive fly, Bactrocera oleae Gmelin (Diptera: Tephritidae), and the Olive psyllid, Euphyllura olivina Costa (Homoptera: Psyllidae). A total of 34 fungal isolates were identified according to their phenotypic, genotypic, biochemical and biological activities. Twenty fungal species were identified belonging to six different genera (Alternaria, Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Fusarium, Lecanicillium and Penicillium) by the analysis of their ITS1–5.8S–ITS2 ribosomal DNA region. Different bioassays performed in this work revealed that 25/34 (73.5%) of the identified fungal isolates showed an entomopathogenic and/or antagonistic activity, 9/34 (26.5%) of them displayed phytopathogenic features. Conclusions: Fungal species that showed entomopathogenic and/or antagonistic potentialities and that are non-phytopathogenic, (17/34; 50%) of our fungal isolates, could be explored for olive protection against fungal diseases and pests, and might have a future application as biocontrol agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The full‐duplex radio transmission technique is a prominent feature in the physical layer of the new IEEE 802.11ax standard for promoting the use of WiFi 6, also called HEW (High‐Efficiency Wireless local area network). Based on this unprecedented technique, a WiFi transmitter has the ability to transmit and receive data simultaneously using the same radio channel, thereby doubling the network capacity and spectral efficiency. However, many challenges related to the MAC (medium access control) layer (including full‐duplex configurations, hidden relationship, unbalance between data streams, and overhead) should be addressed to fully benefit from this technique. The aim of this paper is to design, implement, and assess a new Full‐Duplex MAC protocol by meeting the inherent challenges in controlling full‐duplex radio communications. Accordingly, an efficient and coordinated control protocol is proposed, whose basic principle is to exchange all relevant control information and transmit data without loss or unnecessary delay. The performance evaluation of the proposed protocol demonstrates that the results obtained are the best, especially when the network is dense or the traffic from the access point is heavy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The climate in Algeria can be considered semiarid in most areas. The water demand is expected to increase because of population growth in the coming years. Water supply is always a great concern for the populations in the landlocked regions. Pumping water using the solar photovoltaic energy is a well‐suited solution where the traditional electricity grid is absent. Indeed, the majority of these regions are very sunny, and water is available in underground aquifers. Our system consists on a photovoltaic generator (PVG), a direct current (DC)‐DC converters, a multilevel inverter with five levels, and an asynchronous motor coupled to a centrifugal pump. The objective of this process is to ensure the operation at maximum power of the PVG system under various conditions by the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method based on fuzzy logic control (FLC). The modeling and simulation of this system were carried out and based on our experimental work in the site meteorological database of city Adrar in Algeria. This system avoids the use of a motor pump (diesel) and eliminates costs and operating constraints in an environment friendly manner according to the COP21 recommendation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Achieving a fair usage of network resources is of vital importance in Slice‐ready 5G network. The dilemma of which network slice to accept or to reject is very challenging for the Infrastructure Provider (InfProv). On one hand, InfProv aims to maximize the network resources usage by accepting as many network slices as possible; on the other hand, the network resources are limited, and the network slice requirements regarding Quality of Service (QoS) need to be fulfilled. In this paper, we devise three admission control mechanisms based on Reinforcement Learning, namely, Q‐Learning, Deep Q‐Learning, and Regret Matching, which allow deriving admission control decisions (policy) to be applied by InfProv to admit or reject network slice requests. We evaluated the three algorithms using computer simulation, showing results on each mechanism's performance in terms of maximizing the InfProv revenue and their ability to learn offline or online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: In this study, we aimed to explore the enzymatic diversity, the entomopathogenic and the antimicrobial potentialities of fungi associated with the pistachio bark beetle, Chaetoptelius vestitus. Methods and Results: A total of 40 isolates were screened for enzymatic diversity. Most of them, 92·5%, were able to produce at least two of the screened enzymes. Pathogenic assays performed on C. vestitus showed a high entomopathogenic activity of the isolates Ata_io_1 (A. tamarii), Fve_io_1 (F. verticillioides), Tpi_io_1 (T. pinophilus), Pal_io_1 (P. album), Pbi_io_2 (Penicillium bilaiae) and Pch_io_1 (P. chrysogenum), as based on mean mortality of C. vestitus. A screening of antimicrobial activity using well diffusion method showed that the isolates Tro_io_1 (T. pinophilus), Tat_io_1 (T. atroroseus) and Pch_io_1 (P. chrysogenum) presented the highest antibacterial activity. Furthermore, Mgu_io_1 (M. guilliermondii), Asc_io_1 (A. sclerotiorum), Ata_io_1 (A. tamarii), G. lavendula (Gla_io_1), Pva_io_1 (P. variotii), Pul_io_1 (P. ulaiense), Tat_io_1 (T. atroroseus) and Tro_io_1 (T. roseum) were active against at least two of the three tested fungal phytopathogens. Conclusions: Fungal isolates representing entomopathogenic activity and a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activities can be considered as promising resources for biological pistachio trees protection. Significance and Impact of the Study: Fungi associated with C. vestitus were investigated for detecting their potential biotechnological applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This study investigated the biodiversity of fungi associated with the pistachio bark beetle, Chaetoptelius vestitus, in Tunisia. We evaluated the phytopathogenic activities and tested antagonistic potentialities with respect to phytopathogens. Methods and Results: A total of 41 fungal isolates were randomly isolated from C. vestitus adults and galleries. We identified 28 species belonging to 13 genera using ITS sequences of the ribosomal RNA operons. Pathogenicity assays performed using the excised shoot method revealed that isolates Aal_io_1 (Alternaria alternata), Feq_io_1 (Fusarium equiseti), Fgra_io_1 (Fusarium graminearum), Fve_io_1 (Fusarium verticilloides), Tro_io_1 (Trichothecium roseum) and Nqu_io_1 (Nothophoma quercina) displayed a high pathogenic activity on pistachio stems. Estimation of the antagonistic potentialities of isolated fungi against several phytopathogenic isolates as tested using a dual‐culture method showed that isolates Tpi_io_1 (Talaromyces pinophilus), Pbi_io_2 (Penicillium bilaiae), Asc_io_1 (Aspergillus sclerotiorum) and Gla_io_1 (Geosmithia lavendula) displayed a broad range of antagonistic activities. Conclusion: Fungi associated with C. vestitus had a variable range of pathogenic activity on pistachio stem. Phytopathogenic fungi were antagonized by different fungal isolates which could be promising in pistachio protection against phytopathogenic fungi. Significance and Impact of the Study: This study is the first that investigated the diversity of fungi associated with C. vestitus and evaluated both their phytopathogenic activity and antagonistic potential against fungal phytopathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective The aim of the study was to investigate the relations between isokinetic muscle strength of the knee, postural profile and physical function in knee osteoarthritis patients. Material/Patients and methods We included patients with advanced unilateral osteoarthritis (grades III or IV graded radiographically by Lawrence classification). We assessed functional impairment by the WOMAC score in its Arabic version, the strength of the knee muscles by isokinetic dynamometry and postural profile via the Satel ® platform in bipodal and monopodal conditions in open and closed eyes. The parameters were monitored: mediolateral (Long X) and anterior-posterior deviations (Long Y) of plantar center of pressure. Results Twenty patients with the mean age of 55.9 ± 13.0 years were evaluated. We objectified the decrease rating of isokinetic strength parameters of symptomatically knee compared to the healthy side. The mean of peak torque of the knee flexor was 46.3 ± 29.3 Nm on the symptomatic side, against 49.1 ± 34.9 on the healthy side ( P = 0.2). The mean of peak torque of the knee extensor was 61.8 ± 33.8 Nm on the symptomatic side, against 76.4 ± 47.0 Nm on the healthy side ( P = 0.04). We objectified increased postural parameters in monopodal stance on the symptomatic side compared to the healthy side in two conditions open and closed eyes. The average of the Long X in monopodal were respectively 917.1 ± 192.9 and 1472.4 ± 485.2 mm in open and closed eyes conditions of the symptomatic side and 886.8 ± 195.6 and 1303.9 ± 423.0 mm on the healthy side ( P = 0.2). The mean of The WOMAC score was 11.2 ± 3.9. A moderate correlation ( r = −0.54, P = 0.03) between the peak torque of the extensor at 60°/s and long X in monopodal stance in the symptomatic side was objectified. The correlations found between isokinetic strength and functional parameters were low. Discussion/Conclusion A deficit of the symptomatic knee muscles was objectified in our patients. The relations between the muscular and postural parameters were found. The one with the functional capacity was low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to compare some commercial traps baited with ammonium carbonate for their efficacy in monitoring Bactrocera oleae (Rossi) and their selectivity toward beneficial insects, under the conditions of olive groves located in five Mediterranean countries (Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Spain, Tunisia). The selectivity of the devices was evaluated toward several groups of non-target insects, namely lacewings (Chrysopidae), hoverflies (Syrphidae), ladybirds (Coccinellidae), bees (Apoidea) and hymenopteran parasitoids. The following devices were compared: yellow sticky panel, green sticky panel, Jackson trap with different combinations of yellow and white colours of the device and/or the panel, and McPhail trap. In most cases, the McPhail trap and the yellow panel showed the highest efficacy in monitoring male and female B. oleae flies; however, the yellow panel was most attractive for some groups of non-target insects, particularly the hymenopteran parasitoids, whereas the comparative non-target effects were sitespecific for the other arthropod groups. In the case of Chrysopidae, McPhail caught more individuals than the other traps in Italy and Spain, whereas in Lebanon and Greece, the highest number of individuals was captured in the two sticky panels. Coccinellidae were found in very low numbers only in Lebanon on yellow panels. Syrphidae were captured mainly on sticky panels in Greece and Tunisia. Apoidea were found only on yellow panels in Lebanon. The choice between the McPhail trap and the yellow panel should be made on the basis of various evaluations carried out at the site, including operational ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and Trichoderma harzianum are effective bioagents against Fusarium oxysporum and Verticillium dahliae in tomato plants. The objective of the research was to evaluate the in vivo antagonistic activity of AMF and T. harzianum against Verticillium and Fusarium wilt by enhancing the growth and resistance of tomato plants. A completely randomized experimental design was used, consisting of twelve treatments with nine replicates for each treatment. The treatments included combinations of AMF and T. harzianum inoculation, infection or non-infection by F. oxysporum and V. dahliae, while also considering individual and combined treatments. Mycorrhization rates, growth parameters, disease severity, disease progression, and the impact on disease mitigation were evaluated. Results: The study revealed the superiority of AMF over T. harzianum, resulting in a significant enhancement in the overall extent of mycorrhizal colonization in tomato plants co-inoculated with T. harzianum. Moreover, AMF treatments and the AMF + T. harzianum consortium contributed to the improvement in growth among all plants infected with V. dahliae and F. oxysporum. Both AMF and T. harzianum significantly reduced the progression of Fusarium wilt, resulting in reductions of 45.14 and 44.91%, respectively, than the untreated plants infected with F. oxysporum (initial disease severity of 75.54%). T. harzianum demonstrated greater efficacy in reducing V. dahliae infection, with a reduction of 34.45% compared to 28.26% for AMF, starting from an initial disease severity of 69.85%. Thus, T. harzianum demonstrated greater effectiveness in controlling disease, particularly Verticillium wilt. Conclusion: The target application of disease control methods in tomato plants revealed the effectiveness of both AMF and T. harzianum in mitigating Fusarium wilt. Furthermore, T. harzianum demonstrated a higher level of effectiveness against Verticillium wilt. These findings emphasize the potential of AMF and T. harzianum as sustainable alternatives in agriculture, providing a viable option to decrease dependence on fungicides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes an approach to enhance users' experience of video streaming in the context of smart cities. The proposed approach relies on the concept of MEC as a key factor in enhancing QoS. It sustains QoS by ensuring that applications/services follow the mobility of users, realizing the "Follow Me Edge" concept. The proposed scheme enforces an autonomic creation of MEC services to allow anywhere anytime data access with optimum QoE and reduced latency. Considering its application in smart city scenarios, the proposed scheme represents an important solution for reducing core network traffic and ensuring ultra-short latency through a smart MEC architecture capable of achieving the 1 ms latency dream for the upcoming 5G mobile systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Key Clinical Message: To date, the pathogenic mechanisms of the association between Crohn's disease and MALT lymphoma are ambiguous and yet remain to be elucidated. The publication of other cases illustrating this rare association would be interesting to properly plan therapeutic strategies and to better understand the pathogenesis and the prognosis of this association. Crohn's disease is a progressive disease, with increasing incidence, that leads to bowel damage and disability. Primary colonic MALT lymphoma is a low‐grade B lymphoma, representing only 2.5% of all MALT lymphomas. The pathogenesis of these two cancers is still not clearly elucidated and their association is rare. To our knowledge, only two cases have illustrated synchronous Crohn's disease and MALT lymphoma. The possible role of Crohn's disease as a precursor of MALT lymphoma is still debated; some studies proposed that immunosuppressive drugs used in Crohn's disease are involved in the lymphomagenesis of MALT lymphoma. Other studies supposed no relation between these two neoplasms. We present a rare case of association between Crohn's disease and primary colonic MALT lymphoma in an elderly female patient who had not received any immunosuppressive therapy. The patient presented with chronic diarrhea, epigastric pain, and weight loss. A colonoscopy with biopsies was performed. The histopathologic examination concluded with the diagnosis of not only Crohn's disease but also MALT lymphoma. This discovery of MALT lymphoma was incidental. We highlight the clinical and histopathological features, and we discuss the association between Crohn's disease and MALT lymphoma, which may provide additional information about pathogenic mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by the observation that a healthcare system usually involves various intelligent technologies from different disciplines, especially metaheuristics and data mining, this paper provides a brief survey of metaheuristics for healthcare system and a roadmap for researchers working on metaheuristics and healthcare to develop a more efficient and effective healthcare system. This paper begins with a discussion of changes for healthcare, followed by a brief review of the features of “up-to-date technologies for healthcare.”. Then, a learnable big data analytics framework for healthcare system is presented which provides a high performance solution to the forthcoming challenges of big data. Finally, changes, potentials, open issues, and future trends of metaheuristics for healthcare are addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the tremendous increase in mobile data traffic, there is a general trend toward the decentralization of mobile operator networks, at least to a certain extent. This shall be further facilitated with the virtualization of mobile network functions and the enabling of mobile cloud networking, whereby mobile networks are created on demand and in a flexible manner. Mobile network decentralization will not be efficient without rethinking mobility management schemes, particularly for users moving for a long distance and/or at a high speed (e.g., vehicles and bullet trains). To support such highly mobile users, this paper introduces: 1) a data anchor gateway (GW) relocation method based on user mobility, history information, and user activity patterns, and 2) a handover management policy that selects a target base station or evolved Node B (eNB) in a way to minimize mobility anchor GW relocation. The performance of the proposed schemes is evaluated via Markov model-based analysis and through simulations. Encouraging results are obtained, validating the design objectives of the scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The objective of this work is to study the transfer of oxygen from gas to liquid phase in an electroflotation cell. The measurements were performed in a laboratory scale cell using insoluble electrodes, titanium coated with ruthenium oxide as anode and stainless steel as cathode. The volumetric mass transfer coefficient K L a, was characterized for clean tap water as liquid phase for different values of current density (J). The global coefficient of mass transfer based on the liquid film, K L , and the specific interfacial area, a, were characterized. A model which relates K L a to current density was established. Different evaluation criteria of oxygen transfer in electroflotation process were determined and compared with other aeration process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sixth-generation (6G) systems are expected to inaugurate the era of massive and extremely heterogeneous network slicing, where tenancy would be extended to the final consumer with the proliferation of advanced and diverse digital services. This introduces significant challenges to network management and orchestration in terms of scalability and sustainability. This article starts by elaborating on the architectural and artificial-in-telligence-based algorithmic designs to achieve energy efficiency (EE) in 6G, as well as analyzing their trade-offs. The article then introduces a novel statistical federated learning (StFL)-based analytic engine for zero-touch 6G massive network slicing, which performs slice-level resource prediction by learning in an offline fashion while respecting some preset long-term service level agreement (SLA) constraints defined in terms of the empirical cumulative distribution function and the percentile statistics, and hence uses a new proxy-Lagrangian two-player strategy to solve the local non-convex federated learning task without settling for surro-gates only. This guarantees 20 × lower service-lev-el agreement (SLA) violation rate with respect to the federated averaging (FedAvg) scheme, while achieving more than 10 × EE gain compared to an SLA-constrained centralized deep learning algorithm, which paves the way to sustainable mas-sive network slicing. Finally, the key open research directions in this emerging area are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Tuberculous Spondylodiscitis is the most common form of musculoskeletal tuberculosis. Molecular techniques on fresh tissues are proved to improve the diagnosis of tuberculous spondylodiscitis and to allow a rapid diagnosis to initiate the treatment and prevent neurological complications. Objectives: The objective of the present study was to assess the diagnostic performances of single tube nested PCR and GeneXpert ultra in the diagnosis of tuberculous spondylodiscitis on formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissues. Methods: This study included 63 tuberculous spondylodiscitis cases collected from June 2014 to January 2020 and corresponding to 27 definite tuberculous spondylodiscitis with positive microbiology, and 36 probable tuberculous spondylodiscitis, with histopathological, clinical and radiological findings consistent with tuberculous spondylodiscitis but with negative microbiology. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of nested PCR and GeneXpert ultra were determined with reference to microbiology. Results: Nested PCR was positive in 47 (75%) cases: 26/27 definite tuberculous spondylodiscitis and 21/36 probable tuberculous spondylodiscitis. GeneXpert ultra was positive in only 6 (10%) cases corresponding to definite tuberculous spondylodiscitis. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of nested PCR on formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissues were 96%, 100%, 100%, 83% respectively. For GeneXpert ultra, these rates were 22%, 100%, 100% and 25% respectively. Conclusion: Nested PCR and GeneXpert ultra on formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissues are useful tools for the diagnosis of tuberculous spondylodiscitis, especially for cases where microbiological investigations were not carried out. Both techniques have excellent specificity but single tube nested PCR is more sensitive. Key Points • Molecular techniques are routinely performed on fresh tissues • GeneXpert and nested PCR on formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissues are reliable for the diagnosis of tuberculous spondylodiscitis • Nested PCR is more sensitive than Genexpert for diagnosing tuberculous spondylodiscitis [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intramyocardial cartilage has never been reported in the human heart before. In the literature, the only reported localizations of cartilage in the heart were in the central fibrous body and the valves. We report a case of an unusual presence of cartilage tissue within the myocardial wall of the left ventricle in a 10-year-old boy who died unexpectedly. This case presents an interesting, unusual and apparently asymptomatic sudden cardiac death related to a cartilaginous myocardial tumor. Conducting system disturbance secondary to the myocardial tumor is the probable cause of death. This case is relevant not only for its singularity and originality, but also for the diverse and controversial hypotheses related to the onset of cartilaginous tissue in the myocardial wall. Early detection of this tumor by modern thoracic imaging may have prevented a fatal unexpected outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]