Burkina Faso's agriculture sector faces major challenges, with annual crop losses reaching 40% due to plant diseases, affecting 2.7 million people in a situation of food insecurity. This research presents an innovative automatic plant disease detection system using computer vision, specifically developed for West African constraints. The system is based on the YOLOv11 (You Only Look Once) unified detection architecture, recognised for its optimal balance between speed and accuracy in real time, essential for mobile deployment to detect diseases in maize, tomatoes and chillies with an overall accuracy of ~99%. The image dataset from Kaggle has been validated by local agronomic expertise from INERA, ensuring the relevance of disease classes specific to the Sahelian context. The proposed architecture demonstrates superior performance to existing approaches while being optimised for mobile d...

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...

This paper addresses the persistent disparities in maternal and child health in developing countries, particularly in rural Burkina Faso, where linguistic and infrastructural barriers hinder access to preventive healthcare information. The study aims to design and implement an automated voice awareness system in local languages to enhance maternal health literacy. Using a mixed technological approach combining Progressive Web Applications, Interactive Voice Response, and Short Message System notifications, the system delivers personalized health messages accessible even under low-connectivity conditions. A pilot deployment at Banfora integrates community health workers to ensure local adoption. Preliminary literature review results show a 25–45% increase in prenatal consultations and vaccination adherence. The proposed framework aligns technology with health equity, contributing to Susta...

Detecting tuberculosis on X-rays remains complex and challenging for clinicians. In Burkina Faso, the scarcity of radiologists and their heavy workload increase the risk of misinterpretation, particularly in areas with high demand. To address this constraint, we have designed a comprehensive solution based on artificial intelligence, ranging from data analysis to the training of advanced deep learning models, enabling the automatic identification of tuberculosis abnormalities from chest X-rays. In this article, we present our three-step approach for tuberculosis detection, directly inspired by the clinical reasoning of the radiologist. First, we classify the images into those that are normal and those that are not. Next, we segment the images to keep only the pulmonary area. Finally, in this area, we perform a detection of tuberculosis-related anomalies.

Shrimp is a crustacean found in marine and freshwater environments and is widely distributed throughout the world due to its nutritional and socioeconomic values. However, its chemical composition, rich in proteins and lipids, and its water content, make it an easily perishable food commodity and particularly susceptible to microbiological and physicochemical alterations. As part of the study, ten samples of fried shrimps were collected from different sales sites in Loumbila. Physicochemical characteristics and microbiological quality were assessed using standard analytical methods. TMAF loadings ranged from 0.29±0.12x106 CFU/g to 1.83±1.29x106 CFU/g. Dry matter and water content ranged from 87.23±1.25 % to 95.92±0.67 % and 4.08±0.67 % to 12.77±1.25 %, respectively. Also, acidity and pH ranged from 0.04 % to 0.12±0.01 % and 8.48±0.06 and 8.99±0.11, respectively. As for the loads of therm...

The adulteration of traditional aphrodisiac formulations with phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE5i), particularly sildenafil, represents a significant public health concern due to the toxicological risks associated with their uncontrolled and prolonged use. This study investigated the subchronic hepatotoxic effects of two commercially available aphrodisiac preparations, called Attoté (AT) and Congnons-moussos (CM), both containing sildenafil (1 mg/gdry matter), in male Wistar rats. Animals were allocated into eight groups and received distilled water (control), pure sildenafil (5 mg/kg b.w.), and increasing doses (50, 100, and 200 mg/kg b.w.) of AT and CM by oral gavage for 90 consecutive days. Hepatic function was evaluated through serum biochemical markers such as Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT), Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST), total bilirubin, albumin, total proteins, glucose,...

Introduction: Low yield is often claimed as one of the most important challenges for Bambara groundnut production in West Africa. To address the lack of high-yielding genotypes of Bambara groundnut in Burkina Faso, participatory evaluation and selection through multilocation trials is an important step to be taken. The present study aims at the participatory evaluation and selection of high-yielding and stable Bambara groundnut landraces in Burkina Faso. Methods: A BGN collection was evaluated involving 274 growers through multilocation trials, including on-station and on-farm trials. Through semi-structured interviews, the most important trait for BGN selection and the growers’ most preferred genotypes were identified. The collection was subjected to genetic stability and adaptability analysis based on the most important trait identified by growers. Results: The study hig...

Kilichi, a dried meat product originating in Niger, is increasingly consumed in Burkina Faso. However, the hygienic quality of this product raises many questions among consumers. The objective of this study was to determine the production technology and hygienic quality of kilichi produced in five locations in Burkina Faso. Information on production technology was collected using a questionnaire. Hygienic quality was assessed by testing for indicator bacteria of contamination. Total mesophilic aerobic flora, total coliforms, thermotolerant coliforms, yeasts and molds, spore-forming flora, staphylococci, Salmonella, and Shigella were tested using standard microbiological analysis methods. A total of 13 kilichi producers were interviewed. Thirty-two kilichi samples were collected for microbiological analysis. The survey revealed three types of kilichi produced. All producers are male. The...

Objective The objective of our study was to assess and compare the performance of five LLMs on multiple-choice questions (MCQs) in cardiology. Materials and methods This was a comparative study conducted in the cardiology department of the Bogodogo University Hospital, Ouagadougou, involving 83 MCQs derived from the 2020 French national cardiology curriculum. The questions were submitted to ChatGPT-4, Claude, Gemini, Mistral, and Perplexity. Performance was evaluated based on overall and thematic accuracy, as well as the number of discordances. Agreement between the LLMs was assessed using the Kruskal–Wallis test. Results Claude achieved the highest overall accuracy (78.31%), followed by ChatGPT-4 and Gemini (75.90%), then Mistral (72.29%) and Perplexity (68.67%). Each LLM demonstrated a distinct performance profile by topic, with Claude excelling in heart failure (100%) and arr...

L’écriture poétique est parfois complexe et hermétique du fait des langages imagés et suggestifs dont la subtilité et la profondeur de sens devraient se scruter dans l’intériorité même de son auteur. La guerre des sables du poète Jacques Guégané se caractérise par ce style suggestif et lyrique à travers une poétisation métonymique qui contribue à la création d’une métaphore du Sahel à partir des souvenirs d’un amour perdu. Comment se manifeste, sous les angles stylistiques et grammatical, le langage poétique guéganéen pour peindre une image du sahel, symbole de souffrance mais aussi de renaissance ? La réflexion vise à analyser la poétisation des textes du corpus tiré du recueil, pour montrer ensuite qu’au-delà du simple lyrisme amoureux, le narrateur rend compte d’une tension entre l’appel sensuel du corps et la conscience douloureuse de l’existence dans la sécheresse sahélienne. Quatre...