El Oued Research Articles

Performance of Medium-power Fresnel Concentrator Solar Plant in Algerian Sites

The aim of this work is to characterize a 5MWe Fresnel solar power plant at different areas of Algeria Sahara. These areas have been chosen for comparison by shifting the plant in different locations; namely HassiR’mel, Tamanrasset, Beni-Abbes, and El Oued. Theoretical modeling has allowed the determination of mirror optimum number to avoid shadowing effects, blocking and cosine effect. Mirror optimum number was estimated at 40 mirrors. Furthermore, a simulation was carried out on a time scale, regarding insolation, “field” and “receiver” systems. The simulation results are depicted on annual basis. Efficiency, annual energy generation and the cost per kWh are evaluated. Indeed, the calculation of efficiency differs from a site to another with values of 15.7%, 11.8%, 11.6% and 10.4%, respectively for Tamanrasset, El Oued, Beni-Abbes, HassiR’mel. Thermal performances, technical and economic results have been also evaluated for the said sites.

Traditional Techniques of Underground Water Catchment in the Algerian Sahara

In desert regions, the water constitutes an indispensable supply to every human, animal or vegetable life. In the Algerian Sahara, where underground waters are the main exploitable hydric resources, saharian agriculturists make use of several traditional catchment processes. The first process corresponds to the Ghout technique. It is spread in the sandy dune region (erg) of El Oued. Agriculturists create their palm groves at the center of large concentric basins, dug so that the artificial topographic elevation is brought to one meter or less above the water table. The most usual means to get the water up is still the traditional well (hassi), dug by hand. Its construction and its exploitation do not lead to particular problems, nevertheless, these ordinary wells are badly adapted to reach confined aquifers, especially artesian aquifers. However, well-diggers of Oued Righ took up the challenge, by digging real artesian wells with rudimentary tools. Another original process of underground water catchments that has been well developed in the Sahara is the digging of foggaras. This method takes advantage of natural topographic declivity of the ground and the piezometric surface in order to bring the aquifer waters to the surface. The water flows by simple gravity through sub-horizontal draining galleries that lower upper part crests of underground water tables. The water exploitation Mini-review Article Mebrouk et al.; JSRR, Article no. JSRR.2014.005 1068 by these different techniques is a good example of mastery and rational use of natural resources. Today, in strong competition with modern drillings within great pumping discharges, these techniques are fast disappearing. Nevertheless, through new know-how contribution and by adapting modern techniques, these patterns of catchments can make an important contribution to ensure the durable use of water in these arid regions.

From Weft and Warp of Weaving to Churning of Grinder: A Diasporic Trajectory in Amitav Ghosh’s The Circle of Reason

Amitav Ghosh’s first novel The Circle of Reason (1986) demonstrates the relationship between different discourses of knowledge (Science, History, Anthropology) and its colonial application to specific localities that authenticates key strategic policy to determine world trade and economy. In particular, the novel reflects how the emergence of science and textile mills shifts the paradigm of ‘weaving world’ into the ‘rubric of construction’ business. This paper focuses on how this manipulative change in world trade and economy predetermines the influx of people from one area to another with their existing skill (weaving) and profession. This paper examines three multicultural cities of three different localities that represent diasporic lives with all their struggle, potentiality, hybridity, mimicry and ambivalence. It will also highlight on how border-business, like trafficking, smuggling, is another important issue that creates newer trajectories for more profitable business (oil, bomb, gold, hashish) that encourages displacement of people. The character of Balaram, one of the major characters of part one of the novel, will be explained as a mimic character as he represents the colonial application of science in this subcontinent. Balaram has been presented according to Homi K. Bhabha’s ‘Of Mimicry and Man: The ambivalence of colonial discourse’ (121). And the diasporic cities like Lalpukur, al-Ghazira and El Oued can be 187 explained from Homi K. Bhabha’s, ‘Cultural Diversities and Cultural Differences.’ Stamford Journal of English; Volume 6; Page 186-202 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/sje.v6i0.13913

The first molecular detection of Rickettsia aeschlimannii in the ticks of camels from southern Algeria

We collected ticks from camels in 4 regions of southern Algeria (El Oued, Bechar, Ghardia, and Adrar) from February to October in 2008 and in April of 2011. A total of 307 ticks representing multiple species (including Hyalomma dromedarii, H. marginatum rufipes, H. impeltatum, and H. impressum), was tested for the presence of spotted fever group rickettsia DNA using gltA real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR). The presence of Rickettsia aeschlimannii was confirmed with a new qPCR using species-specific primers and Taqman probes based on the sca2 genes. The R. aeschlimannii sequence was further confirmed by detecting the gltA and outer membrane protein (ompA) genes in H. m. rufipes, H. impeltatum, and H. dromedarii ticks. These findings represent the first report of the detection of R. aeschlimannii in ticks collected from camels from southern Algeria.

Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy for hematemesis in a patient aged 117 years

Gastrointestinal bleeding is the most important emergency in gastroenterology [1]. The number of people surviving to advanced age is increasing and more than 1% of the population aged 80 years or older are hospitalized each year for gastrointestinal bleeding [2]. We report a case of an Algerian man born in 1893 (● Fig.1) who was admitted to our hospital with hematemesis. On admission the patient’s skin and mucosae were pale; his blood pressure was 90/60mmHg with a heart rate of 105 beats per minute and a regular rhythm. Abdominal examination revealed slight tenderness in the epigastrium and digital rectal examination found hard stools with no fresh blood or melena. His complete blood count showed normocytic anemia with hemoglobin at 6.8g/dL and a red cell count of 1.87×1012/L. Therapy with intravenous fluids, proton pump inhibitors, and blood transfusion was initiated. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy was performed without general anesthesia using a 9.8-mm fiber gastroscope (Olympus, Tokyo, Japan). The procedure, which lasted approximately 8 minutes, found pale stomach mucosa with traces of blood in the stomach and erosions. Pathological examination of mucosal specimens demonstrated mild Helicobacter pylori-related gastroduodenitis. H. pylori eradication therapy was initiated. Centenarians are people who live to or beyond 100 years. Supercentenarians are people who have lived to the age of 110 or more and represent about one-thousandth of centenarians [3]. In 2009 the United Nations estimated that there were 455000 centenarians worldwide [4]. Our patient was born in 1893 in El Oued, Algeria. The patient was contacted by our department 1 year after the procedure, in February 2012.Hewas found to be in good shape and is now 119 years old. Endoscopy_UCTN_Code_CCL_1AB_2AZ_3AZ

HOUSING AS AN EXPRESSION OF SELF-IDENTITY IN CONTEMPORARY ALGERIA: THE WORK OF EL-MINIAWY BROTHERS

<p class="Keywords">This paper tries to shed light on post-traditional environment in Algeria in a post global civilisation era. Some chosen projects implemented in some parts of the country are dealt with in relation to the expression of self identity through housing architecture. The focus of the work is on methods, achievements and implications of the projects. As from the seventies of the last century Algeria witnessed dramatic changes in its physical environment. The cities became the focus of international construction activities and many internationally renowned architects competed for large scale projects (Oscar Niemeyer, Ricardo Boffil, Kenzo Tang, etc). The projects chosen in this paper all deal with housing and include a housing scheme in Maadher near Msila, the second example in El Oued, the third is a housing project in Ouled Djellal<strong>.</strong> All of these projects by El Miniawy brothers disciples of the late Hassan Fathy, address critical aspects of the built environment. Yet one can consider these projects as representative of architectural thinking and activity in the country. This working paper reveals general aspects to gain comprehensive understanding, rather than statistical knowledge of Algerian built environment.</p>

Physico-Chemical Water Quality in Some Regions of Southern Algeria and Pretreatment Prediction

The aim of this study was to determine the physico-chemical and microbiological quality of drinking water regions of southern Algeria For this purpose, 16 samples 15 water samples from the cities of El Oued, Ouargla, Ghardaia and Adrar were taken either at the consumer's tap, or from well water. Our results show that the physical and chemical quality of the waters of Southern Algeria is poor and rich in mineral salts: the conductivity is between a minimum of 1374μs/cm and and a maximum of 4070μs/cm while the European standards recommend values between 180 and 1000μs/cm. The hardness is very high. It ranges between 42° F and 134° F. According to international and national standards, all waters have excessive fluoride levels. Moreover, Analyzed waters present an organic pollution represented by the concentration of the organic matter which is lower than the Algerian and European standards (5mg / l O2 dissolved). Finally, analysis of physical parameters and indicators of mineralization, alkalinity, salinity and hardness, groundwater sampled showed a great diversity in nature that is a function of the water which they belong, that due to rock or agricultural and industrial activities in the region.

Removal of excess fluoride ions from Saharan brackish water by adsorption on natural materials

Water supply for people in the Sahara region is mainly assured by poor quality ground water which has excessive minerals, hardness and high concentration of fluoride. This leads to many teeth and bones diseases such as fluorosis. The purpose of this study is to eliminate the excess of fluorides from the El Oued Souf City water supply located in the South East of the Algerian Sahara by retention process onto montmorillonite clay using potentiometric method. Two types of natural clays were tested. The first one contains a higher percentage of calcium (AC) and the second one without calcium (ANC). These adsorbents were activated chemically and thermally with temperatures ranging between 200 and 500°C. Experimental results showed that chemical activation proved effective adsorption reaching up to 88% whereas the thermal activation is ineffective and reached only around 5%. Moreover, the acidity of the medium and the alkalinity affect the adsorption considerably. The retention predicted from the adsorption isotherms is in agreement with Langmuir's model. The kinetic analysis of the reactions indicates that reaction is slow with diffusional control. The low values obtained for the heat of adsorption mean that the adsorption is exothermic with no specific type. An ionic mechanism exchange for fluoride removal is proposed in this study.

Comparative simulation of wind park design and siting in Algeria

In this paper, five typical regions of Algeria where wind is strong enough are selected. These regions usually intended for traditional agriculture are, centred around the towns of Guelma, El Oued, Tindouf, Touggourt and Tamanrasset. To make wind energy conversion available as an alternative energy source for the populations living in such countries, nine types of small and medium wind turbines constructed by American and European manufacturers are studied for their suitability. To account for the wind variations with height, four possible heights of the pylon holding the turbines are considered: 10, 20, 40 and 60 m. In each of the five locations and at each pylon height, wind energy converted by the turbines, is cumulated over the year and computed. Depending on the site and their size, most of these turbines are found to produce about 1000–10,000 MWh of electricity per year at 60 m of altitude and can easily satisfy the electricity need in irrigation and its household applications in rustic and arid regions. A quick glance of the results of the above computation shows that the choice of pylons of 20 m height yields a trade-off between the production of electrical energy and the requirements of economy. Owing to the sporadic wind variations, wind energy conversion systems can only be used as an auxiliary source. In particular, these systems can advantageously be coupled to stand-alone photovoltaic conversion systems in remote locations or connected to the electric mains in urban zones.

Examples of geomorphologic and geological hazards in Algeria

We present three geomorphologic and geological phenomena that have occurred in Algeria in recent years: (i) the Bab El Oued mudflow on 11 November 2001, which claimed several hundred lives, (ii) a soil collapse induced by sand liquefaction triggered by the Boumerdes earthquake (Mw = 6.8) on 21 May 2003, and (iii) landslides that are threatening Constantine city, for which a hazard map is presented using a qualitative approach. We briefly describe and analyze these natural disasters, and in the first two cases propose the application of geophysical techniques such as ambient noise recordings and electrical imagery to help evaluate their extent and potential threat. Finally a landslide hazard map of Constantine is proposed.

Algerian Women in the Liberation Struggle and the Civil War: From Active Participants to Passive Victims?

We had visited the site and noted several possible targets. We had been told to place two bombs, but we were three, and at the last moment, since it was possible, we decided to plant three bombs. Samia and I carried three bombs from the Casbah to Bab el Oued, where they were primed. . . . Each of us placed a bomb, and at the appointed time there were two explosions; one of the bombs was defective and didn’t go off. Djamila B., Zohra D., and Samia, Algiers, September 1956 (quoted in Amrane Minne, 1993: 97) In the terrorists’ camp, I lived in hell. I awoke at dawn to start cleaning, washing, cooking, fetching firewood and water. I nursed the sick and served the wives of the terrorists, the legal ones they called “free women.” Every night the terrorists visited me, taking their turns. They forced me to have sex several times a night. During my [six months’] captivity I was raped by about 50 dirty, stinking, brutal, violent men. . . . The rest of the night, to keep me from running away, they bound my wrists and ankles with wire and took away my clothes. Chréa Mériem, March 1998 (as told to Belloula, 2000: 115) FORTY-TWO years separate these quotations, yet the experiences described seem to be centuries apart—and in reverse order.* During the Algerian war for independence from France (1954-1962), thousands of women were active participants, taking initiative even on deadly missions. During the civil war of the 1990s, tens of SOCIAL RESEARCH, Vol. 69, No. 3 (Fall 2002) Algerian Women in the Liberation Struggle and the Civil War: From Active Participants to Passive Victims? BY MEREDETH TURSHEN thousands of women and girls were the victims of terrorists who denied not just their womanhood but their humanity. I went to Algeria in April 2001 to ask how this apparent shift from active participant to passive victim could have happened. How is it that Algerian women—whose struggles became, through the pen of Frantz Fanon (1924-1961), the hallmark of a national revolution’s potential to liberate women—found themselves the target of a civil war in the 1990s? How did Algerian women, whose analysis and praxis of women’s liberation were so advanced, respond to increasing restrictions on their lives and the lives of their daughters in the aftermath of war? What options do Algerian women think they have now, and which are they pursuing as the civil war winds down but economic difficulties increase? The Algerian War The war for independence (usually referred to as the Algerian war in the francophone literature) was not the first in which women participated actively as combatants, spies, fundraisers, and couriers, as well as nurses, launderers, and cooks. But the Algerian war set a precedent for African women in liberation movements, in part because Fanon immortalized it. Fanon (1965 [1959]) dramatized the changes wrought in women and in the family by the revolution and by women’s participation in the revolution , which he saw as necessary, even inevitable, given its nature. The ministry for veterans’ affairs reported in 1974 that 11,000 Algerian women had fought for the liberation of their country (about 3 percent of all fighters); Amrane Minne (1993: 219) thinks this a serious underestimation of women’s participation. Of this number, 22 percent were urbanites and 78 percent came from rural areas; these percentages mirror exactly the rate of urbanization in Algeria at the time (Amrane Minne, 1993: 231). The militants took up arms to fight for independence from 890 SOCIAL RESEARCH France but also political weapons to free women from ignorance and servitude. Urban educated women joined the maquis (the rebel forces operating in the mountains) when arrest in the city was imminent; living in villages they taught illiterate peasant women about their social role and explained colonialism, the revolution, and the reasons for the independence struggle. Sometimes, in regions loyal to the National Liberation Front (FLN), bold educators tried to transform social relations between men and women, which they found shocking (Amrane Minne, 1993: 83). The French military and police did not spare women participants who were captured; about 2,200 mujahidat (women combatants...

Polio outbreak in Algeria: epidemiological, virological and vaccinational aspects

During a poliomyelitis outbreak (October 1983) m El Oued territory (Algeria) 28 cases were diagnosed. All the patients were under 4 years old. The ratio of females to males was 0·33. No deaths occurred during this epidemic. 25 of the 28 polio cases were diagnosed by cell culture and 81% were polio type 1. The epidemiological survey established that the epidemic was due to the insufficiency of vaccination coverage, since the consumption of antipolio vaccine in the epidemic area had dropped by 25% from 1982 to 1983. 7 of the 28 polio cases had been given at least 3 injections of vaccine at the correct intervals. 5 of 8 vaccine samples from the epidemic area had an insufficient titre of polio type 1. These observations showed that the nature of the vaccine, whether killed or live virus, was less important for controlling poliomyelitis than providing medical and sanitary facilities to ensure good vaccination coverage.

Notes on mid-Cretaceous biostratigraphy of Algeria

A preliminary account of Albian and Cenomanian ostracods from Tocqueville (Rass el Oued), North Algeria, agrees well with the known faunal homogeneity between North Africa and the Middle East and, consequently, with the distinct heterogeneity between the latter two regions compared with southern Europe, especially southern France and Spain. The Albian and Cenomanian ammonite essemblages comprise species of wide geographical distribution, with a certain concentration to the central reaches of the Tethys.