Valorization of agricultural residues into biochar for soil applications offers dual ben-efits of waste management and sustainable agriculture. However, the mechanisms governing sandy soil and lettuce response to biochar under deficit irrigation are not well understood. TheThis study evaluated the effects of biochar types on sandy soil physio-chemicalphysiochemical properties and lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) yield at different irrigation levels. A field experiment was performed using a randomized com-plete block design with four treatments (soil only, cotton stalk biochar, cashew nut-shells biochar, and a mix of cotton stalks+ cashew nutshells biochar) and three irriga-tion regimes (100%, 80, and 60% of crop water requirements ETc) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The results showed that biochar -amended soils had consistently higher water retention and macro nutrientsmacronutrients, resulti...

Most of African low-resource languages are primarily spoken rather than written and lack large, standardized textual resources. In many communities, low literacy rates and limited access to formal education mean that text-based translation technologies alone are insufficient for effective communication. As a result, speech-to-speech translation systems play a crucial role by enabling direct and natural interaction across languages without requiring reading or writing skills. Such systems are essential for improving access to information, public services, healthcare, and education. The goal of our work is to build powerful transcription and speech synthesis models for Mooré language. Then, these models have been used to build a cascaded voice translation system between French and Mooré, since we already got a French-Mooré machine translation model. We collected Mooré audio-text pairs, rea...

This work focuses on neural machine translation between French and Mooré, leveraging the capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs) in a low-resource language context. Mooré is a local language widely spoken in Burkina Faso but remains underrepresented in digital resources. Alongside Mooré, French, now a working language, remains widely used in administration, education, justice, etc. The coexistence of these two languages creates a growing demand for effective translation tools. However, Mooré, like many low-resource languages, poses significant challenges for machine translation due to the scarcity of parallel corpora and its complex morphology.The main objective of this work is to adapt LLMs for French–Mooré translation. Three pre-trained models were selected: No Language Left Behind (NLLB-200), mBART50, and AfroLM. A corpus of approximately 83,000 validated sentence pairs was compi...

Malaria, caused by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum, remains a major public health priority in tropical regions. The Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) for detecting anti-Plasmodium antibodies is an essential diagnostic tool. However, its sensitivity and specificity are closely dependent on the concentration of antigens used. This study aimed to determine the optimal antigen concentration for seven P. falciparum antigens (AMA1, MSP1, GLURP, CSP, EBA175, MSP3, and EXP1) in order to optimize the signal-to-background noise ratio of indirect ELISA tests. To achieve this, titration microplates were coated with serial dilutions of each antigen (from 2 μg/ml to 0.0625 μg/ml), incubated with patient sera, and then developed using conjugated secondary antibodies. Each antigen concentration was tested in duplicate wells (n=2), using Hyper-Immune Tanzanian (HIT) plasma at antigen-specific...

Cowpea is an essential crop in Burkina Faso’s agriculture, but its production must cope with the consequences of climate change, particularly drought, which significantly reduces yields. The mechanisms of adaptation to drought vary between species and varieties and need to be understood to develop more drought-tolerant varieties. Seven cowpea genotypes were subjected to a 21-day water deficit induced before flowering under a screen house, using plastic pots. A split-plot design with three replications was used. The water regimes included continuous watering and induction of a 21-day water deficit initiated from the 30th day after sowing (DAS). Physiological, morphological, and productivity parameters were measured before and during the water deficit application. The results demonstrated a significant depressive effect of stress conditions on the evaluated parameters. The water deficit re...

Ce travail de recherche a permis de caractériser pour la première fois les propriétés fonctionnelles, physico-chimiques et microbiologiques du Djir, une farine fermentée traditionnelle à base de mil perlé (Pennisetum glaucum) largement consommée au Tchad. Quatre-vingt-dix échantillons ont été collectés dans trois villes tchadiennes (Abéché, Guéréda et Oum-Hadjer), aussi bien sur des sites de production que sur des marchés. Les résultats ont montré que le Djir présente un pH acide (3,39 à 3,93) et une faible teneur en humidité (2,50 à 10,68 %), deux facteurs favorables à sa conservation. Les propriétés fonctionnelles varient considérablement d’un échantillon à l’autre, avec des capacités d’absorption d’eau comprises entre 68 et 128 %, des capacités d’absorption d’huile entre 60 et 109 %, et une stabilité de la mousse particulièrement élevée (88 à 99 %). L’analyse microbiologique a révélé...

Introduction: Forensic investigations involving the discovery of a corpse or human remains aim to identify the individual involved. Sometimes, the body is subjected to chemical solutions with the intention of disintegrating or completely altering it. This further complicates identification. Nevertheless, it is possible to recover sufficient DNA from dental tissues. The present study aims to determine the effects of chemical solutions on the physical structure of teeth and also on their DNA. Methods: Teeth from Sus scrofa pigs were subjected to acidic (NHO3, H2SO4, and HCl) and basic (NaOH) solutions for specific durations (up to 144 h). Observations were recorded at regular intervals to document the effects on the tissues. After sampling, DNA was extracted using the PrepFiler® BTA Forensic DNA extraction kit. The extracted DNA was quantified using a BioDrop spectrometer and then amplifie...

This paper introduces a novel reference model for intelligent longitudinal vehicle control, designed to enhance both safety and passenger comfort. The proposed model dynamically adjusts the follower vehicle’s acceleration based on its penetration distance relative to the lead vehicle, ensuring smooth speed transitions and adaptive deceleration. By preventing abrupt braking, the model maintains a safe inter-vehicle distance while reducing passenger discomfort. Key contributions include an analytical derivation of the follower vehicle’s dynamics and a novel formulation of the safety distance using the Lambert W function, enabling precise parameter optimization. A dedicated optimization framework ensures compliance with safety constraints while minimizing excessive acceleration and jerk. The model’s performance is validated through numerical simulations in various driving scenarios, includi...

Mosaic landscapes integrating protected areas and agroecosystems with variable exploitation intensities constitute critical ecosystems for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service provision. This study evaluated how anthropogenic pressure gradients influence plant community structure, diversity, and carbon sequestration in the Sudano-Sahelian zone of Burkina Faso. Using a stratified sampling design across four anthropization levels: (i) savannah woodland = level 1, (ii) forest-edge fields = level 2, (iii) bush fields = level 3, and (iv) homestead fields = level 4, we analyzed 80 forest plots distributed along transects from inhabited areas toward the Sissili classified forest. Within each plot, floristic composition, dendrometric parameters, and aboveground carbon stocks were measured. The results revealed a significant decline in woody species richness from savannah woodland (21 ...

This study aims to analyze the effect of water mass flow rate on a Si-solar cell temperature and electronic parameters through two models. From the thermal model, the thermal equation is determined and solved to obtain the cell temperature versus light concentration and for different mass flow rates. By the electrical model, the electronic parameters were determined and plotted also versus light concentration and water mass flow rate. Results show that temperature rises with light concentration and decreases with increasing mass flow rate. Mobility and diffusion coefficients of electrons and holes as well as the silicon gap energy, decrease with light concentration but all increase with rising mass flow rate. The electrons intrinsic density increases with concentration and fall down with mass flow rise. Near the...