Hassiba Benbouali University of Chlef

Burnout among Algerian public healthcare workers remains understudied despite staffing shortages, limited resources, and heavy workloads. The present study examined the prevalence and predictors of burnout, focusing on self-compassion and communication skills. A cross-sectional survey of 387 practitioners from public hospitals used validated Arabic measures: Burnout Assessment Tool-Short Version, Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form, and Health Professionals Communication Skills Scale-Short Form. Practitioners aged 31-40 reported the highest burnout and exhaustion (p<0.05). Females showed greater exhaustion than males (p<0.05). Emergency/ICU/surgery staff reported lower burnout (p<0.05). Burnout correlated positively with self-judgment, isolation, and over-identification, and negatively with empathy, respect, and social skills (p<0.05). In regressions, self-judgment (β=0.21) and over-identification (β=0.12) predicted burnout, while empathy (β=-0.14) and social skills (β=-0.10) were protective. Self-judgment was the strongest risk factor, while empathy and social skills were protective. Interventions fostering self-compassion and communication skills may help reduce burnout.

Meteorological drought is a major natural hazard in semi-arid regions, where high climate variability and strong dependence on precipitation intensify pressure on water resources and socio-economic systems. This study examined the spatiotemporal characteristics of meteorological drought in the Wadi Sly basin (northwestern Algeria) over the period 1967–2022, using long-term monthly precipitation records from seven meteorological stations. The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) was calculated at multiple time scales (1-, 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-month) to characterize drought onset, severity, persistence, and temporal variability. In addition, drought severity probability and frequency analyses were conducted to evaluate the likelihood and recurrence of different drought classes. The results indicate pronounced inter-annual and decadal variability in drought conditions, with severe and prolonged drought episodes occurring during the mid-1980s, early-to-mid-1990s, and late 2010s. During these periods, SPI values frequently fell below −2.0, signifying extreme drought conditions. Spatial analysis reveals strong basin-wide synchronicity of drought events, suggesting the influence of large-scale atmospheric drivers, although localized variations in drought intensity remain evident. Overall, near-normal conditions dominate the record (accounting for approximately 60–70% of observations), while moderately dry conditions occur more frequently than moderately wet conditions at several stations. Drought characteristics exhibit strong scale dependence, with short-term droughts prevailing at shorter SPI time scales, while longer time scales emphasize drought persistence and accumulation. Overall, the findings indicate an increasing prominence of long-duration drought conditions in recent decades, as evidenced by recurrent low SPI values at longer aggregation scales. Such conditions may pose heightened risks to groundwater recharge processes and long-term water resource availability. Despite the limitations inherent in precipitation-based indices, this study provides a robust statistical framework for drought characterization and contributes valuable insights for improved drought monitoring, early warning systems, and climate-resilient water resource management in semi-arid basins.

Pharmaceutical contamination of aquatic systems poses an increasing environmental concern due to the persistence, bioactivity, and incomplete removal of these compounds by conventional wastewater treatment processes. This study investigates the adsorptive removal of three structurally distinct pharmaceuticals: ketotifen fumarate (KF), doxycycline hyclate (DXC), and nystatin (Nyst), using raw bentonite (RB). By combining batch experiments with an interpretable machine learning (ML) framework, adsorption kinetics, equilibrium, and thermodynamics were evaluated. Additionally, four Ant Lion Optimizer (ALO)-optimized models: Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Support Vector Regression (SVR), Random Forest (RF), and eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), were employed to predict adsorption capacity under diverse conditions. RB exhibited high adsorption capacities: 178.86 ± 1.26 mg/g for KF, 222.91 ± 2.02 mg/g for DXC, and 190.25 ± 2.86 mg/g for Nyst. Adsorption equilibrium was best described by the Freundlich isotherm, indicating multilayer adsorption on a heterogeneous surface. Thermodynamic and spectroscopic analyses revealed a dual mechanism involving electrostatic attraction, hydrogen bonding, cation exchange, and van der Waals interactions, with DXC and Nyst adsorption being endothermic and KF adsorption exothermic. SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations) analysis identified adsorbent dosage, initial concentration, and pH as dominant operational factors, while the molecular descriptor nC (number of carbon atoms) emerged as key to differentiating pharmaceuticals, linking larger molecular size to stronger adsorption. The XGBoost model achieved the highest accuracy (R2 = 0.972, RMSE = 0.1225), demonstrating robust generalizability. These findings highlight RB as a low-cost, scalable adsorbent and establish an interpretable ML approach capable of linking molecular structure to adsorption behavior.

Limited research has explored how fines content impacts static liquefaction at critical state in soils with different stress histories using the equivalent void ratio concept, especially when considering fabric techniques. This study bridges this gap through undrained triaxial tests analyzing the effects of fines content and stress history on critical state behavior in clean and silty sand specimens. Specimens were reconstituted with systematically varied fines content, packing densities, and fabric techniques. Results showed that for a given stress history and initial density, dry pluviated specimens displayed a consistent decline in critical state shear strength as fines content increased. In contrast, moist-tamped specimens exhibited an opposite trend, with increasing low-plastic fines significantly enhancing shear strength across all parameters. Stress history was found to increase critical shear strength in all cases. Furthermore, the equivalent granular void ratio concept unified steady-state/critical state data into a single relationship in the e* - log (p’) space, termed the equivalent steady-state line, particularly for dry pluviated specimens. These findings advance understanding of sand-fines mixture behavior, including flow potential and mechanisms influenced by stress history.

This research investigates the effect of a Streptomyces-derived extract (SE) on microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) induced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms on API 5L X52 steel. Various amounts of SE were evaluated in P. aeruginosa cultures by 7-day immersion assays. SE was extracted from Actinobacteria strains found in a soil sample from the Béchar-Kenadsa region of the Sahara. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was utilized to analyze the chemical composition of the extract. This facilitated the identification of specific components that inhibit corrosion. The anticorrosion efficacy of SE against biofilm-induced corrosion under microbiological influence (CMI) of API 5L X52 steel caused by P. aeruginosa was assessed by potentiodynamic polarization (PDP) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was employed to examine the surface morphology. The findings indicate that the incorporation of SE significantly inhibits the development of P. aeruginosa biofilms on the coupons. This inhibitory activity leads to a significant reduction in the rate of microbiologically induced corrosion, commonly attributed to bacterial colonization.. In silico investigations validated that the discovered compounds exhibit a strong affinity for the corrosive bacterium P. aeruginosa, elucidating their inhibitory function.

ABSTRACT The green citrus aphid ( Aphis spiraecola ) poses a serious threat to citrus production worldwide, primarily through the transmission of phytoviruses and the resulting yield losses in untreated orchards. Overreliance on synthetic insecticides such as Acetamiprid has led to increased resistance and environmental contamination (DT 50 &gt;120 days in soil). In this study, we present a novel nanoformulation of Lavandula dentata essential oils, chemically characterized by GC‐MS, which is composed mainly of eucalyptol (12.8%), β‐pinene (5.7%), linalool (4.7%), camphene (4.4%), and α‐pinene (4.0%). Nanoparticles were synthesized via optimized ionotropic gelation (0.4% chitosan in 1% acetic acid, 0.3% TPP crosslinking, 1500 rpm, 60 min), yielding a high production rate (83.6% ± 1.2%), encapsulation efficiency (99.2% ± 0.5%), and loading capacity (21.3% ± 0.8%). Dynamic light scattering (DLS) revealed uniform particle sizes (41.8 ± 3.1 nm) with excellent colloidal stability (+39.4 ± 1.8 mV zeta potential, PDI 0.57 ± 0.03). SEM imaging confirmed spherical morphology, smooth surfaces of nanoparticles, while unloaded controls appeared irregular and significantly larger (90.2 ± 5.6 nm). EDX analysis further validated successful encapsulation, with oil‐loaded particles showing a 6.7% increase in carbon content attributable to essential oil hydrocarbons, alongside preserved phosphorus signals from chitosan–TPP crosslinking. FTIR spectra exhibited characteristic peak shifts, including a 15 cm −1 displacement of the carbonyl stretch (1740 cm −1 ) and the emergence of new P–O–C vibrations (930–950 cm −1 ), confirming the presence of molecular interactions. In controlled bioassays (25°C ± 1°C, 65% ± 5% RH), the nanoformulation demonstrated enhanced insecticidal activity, with LC 50 decreasing from 0.43 mg/mL (48 h) to 0.25 mg/mL (72 h), representing a 42% increase in efficacy. Complete mortality (100%) was achieved at 0.5 mg/mL within 90 h, whereas unencapsulated oil lost 82% of its activity within 24 h due to volatility. The formulation also demonstrated excellent photostability (&lt; 8% degradation after 72 h UV exposure) and low mammalian toxicity (OECD 208 LD 50 &gt; 2000 mg/kg), offering a sustainable solution with 3.8 times longer residual activity than conventional sprays. These findings establish chitosan nanoencapsulation as a promising strategy for enhancing the stability and effectiveness of botanical insecticides in integrated pest management.