Region Of Casablanca Research Articles

Prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility profile of Salmonella isolated from food products in the region of Casablanca, Morocco.

Salmonellosis is a foodborne bacterial disease responsible for food epidemics around the world. The objective of this study is to determine the prevalence and diversity of Salmonella serotypes in several food products isolated at the Casablanca Regional Analysis and Research Laboratory and to test their resistance to different antimicrobials. The isolation and identification of Salmonella were performed according to Moroccan standard 08.0.116. All isolates were serotyped and were then tested for antibiotic resistance using the disk diffusion method. The Salmonella isolates were further analyzed by PCR to detect the presence of virulence genes invA. 20 different serotypes were identified from 80 strains isolated from 2015 to 2019, the most common of which are S. kentucky (26.3%) followed by S. muenster (10%), S. typhimurium (8.7%), S. menston (7.5%) and S. enteritidis (6.3%). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing revealed that 66.25% of isolates were resistant to at least one of the 14 antimicrobial agents tested. Bacterial resistance was most frequently observed for tetracycline with 46.25%, 45% to sulfonamide, 35% to nalidixic acid, 26, 25% to ampicillin, and 25% to ciprofloxacin. Salmonella serotypes S. montevideo, S. virchow, S. amsterdam, S. anatum, and S. bloomsbury were 100% susceptible to all antimicrobials tested. Examination of Salmonella for invA gene was positive for all the strains. The results of this study have shown that minced meat has a high level of Salmonella contamination, which can be considered one of the main potential sources of human salmonellosis in Morocco.

Grout Curtain Construction at Tiddas Dam, Morocco

Dam foundations are generally affected by water leakage and seepage, posing a significant threat to the structure's safety. Such an artificial water reservoir unconditionally assumes a watertight foundation, as perfect as possible, to ensure its stability. This brings us back to thinking about an adequate treatment of the foundation through the injections of the grout curtain, which ensures the watertightness of the ground and a good drainage system, which together improve the unacceptable mechanical and hydraulic properties of the foundation. Our study focuses on the Tiddas Dam, a dam in the region of Khemisset located on the Bouregreg oued, intended to supply drinking and industrial water to the region of Rabat and Casablanca. It has been the subject of several geological and geophysical studies to characterize its foundation and the lithological variety known to the site. Environmental constraints and the development of a network of fractures and faults have made it necessary to think of an innovative solution for the waterproofing of the dam, especially on the right bank, ensured by a grout curtain of well-defined dimensions considering all the factors affecting this bank. The paper presents the particularities of the site, the constraints of the design of the grout curtain of a dam in a fractured environment, the choices of this design and the sizing methods used, as well as the appropriate grouting formula, which together could optimize the consistency of the grouting works.

The Urban Development in Relation to the Occurrence of Diseases in the Casa-Settat Region of Morocco during the Emergence of SARS-CoV-2.

The Casa-Settat region is experiencing very worrying environmental and epidemiological problems and challenges, namely, population growth, the significant development of unsupervised industrial activities, road traffic, the significant weight of the spread of diseases with high epidemiological potential such as SARS-CoV-2, the increase in hospital activities, and the significant discharge of hospital effluents highly contaminated and untreated. To understand and analyze the factors influencing the high prevalence of deaths and the occurrence of diseases under surveillance, among others SARS-CoV-2, on the quantitative data recorded relating to ten regions of Morocco, and informing, on the one hand, on intrinsic data linked to the urban development, and on the other hand, on the evolution of diseases under epidemiological surveillance, a multidimensional analysis was made. The results reveal the typological framework highlighted by the factorial map F1 × F2 which showed the individualization of the region of Casablanca explained by a large number of variables and diseases that affect it. Finally, these results call for a diagnosis that will make it possible to model new approaches and implement new actions promoting the dynamics of environmental and epidemiological change in one of the most polluted and infected regions of Morocco.

MO939: Role of The General Practitioner in Promoting Organ Donation

Abstract BACKGROUND AND AIMS Organ transplants now play a significant role in the treatment of diseases that are nonetheless fatal. Organ and tissue transplantation in Morocco is severely delayed, and the number of transplants conducted in our country does not reach 10 per million inhabitants per year. Due to a scarcity of organs and tissues, the number of transplants and tissue grafts, which are primarily a Ministry of Health effort, is limited. The main link in the medical chain is the general practitioner. In addition to his solitary practice of medicine, he is already responsible for a number of public health missions, primarily in the fields of disease prevention and detection, as well as organ and tissue donation promotion. We conducted a quantitative cross-sectional study through a survey to measure the level of involvement and dedication of general practitioners in the promotion of organ donation. METHOD A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study, based on a questionnaire with 20 closed questions, self-administered, emailed, completed anonymously and voluntarily intended to the general practitioner of the region of Casablanca. Questionnaire data were collected, encoded and analyzed using SPSS-PC (Version 21.0). RESULTS Our study targeted 200 general practitioners in total, of which 165 responded to the questionnaire, giving an overall response rate of 82.5%. The average age of participants was 34.22. The duration of exercise varied between 1 and 40 years, with an estimated average of 11 years, 65% of the doctors practiced in the urban environment and ∼59.5% worked in the liberal sector. A total of 87% of the doctors questioned were in favor of organ donation, and 13% were against organ donation, for which the religious cause represented 78% and 16% refused for medical reasons, 54.5% of them had never discussed the subject with their relatives, and 80.5% of practitioners declared having a patient waiting or who had received an organ transplant. Only 38% of doctors had already discussed this subject with their patients, of whom >64% were following the sole initiative of the patient himself, and in none of the cases was awareness raising through posters in the waiting room. Only 1.5% of participants had brochures on organ donation in their waiting rooms, and >87% thought that TV shows in waiting rooms were a good means of information and awareness. CONCLUSION The involvement of general practitioners begins at the awareness stage, with the goal of disseminating information about organ donation.

The role of the general practitioner in promoting organ donation

Introduction: The effectiveness of a health system is based on primary care, the conductor of which is the general practitioner, who is also an integral part of the organ donation promotion chain. At present, as the indications for transplantation are more and more widespread, an immense shortage of organs is declared. This pushes more than ever to multiply creative tactics to reduce the gap between the number of high demand and stingy supply.
 The main objective of this work is to particularize the involvement of the general practitioner in this process of encouraging donation, as well as to highlight his attitudes and his motivation during the consultation, and to identify the possible obstacles to the donation. Information and patient education on organ and tissue donation.
 Material and method: A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study, based on a questionnaire with 20 closed questions, self-administered, sent by email address, completed anonymously and voluntarily intended for the general practitioner of the region of Casablanca. Questionnaire data were collected, coded, and analyzed using SPSS-PC (Version 21.0).
 Results: In total, 200 general practitioners were targeted by our study. 165 responded to the questionnaire, which gives an overall response rate of 82.5%. 35.5% of the participants were women, the duration of exercise varies between 1 and 40 years, 65% of the doctors practiced in the urban environment and approximately 59.5% worked in the liberal sector. 87% of the doctors questioned were in favor of organ donation. only 38% of doctors have already discussed this subject with their patients, of whom more than 64% were following the sole initiative of the patient himself and in none of the cases was awareness-raising through posters in the waiting room.
 Conclusion: The general practitioner is a cornerstone of the success of public health programs. Continuous training of this category of doctors ensures better promotion of organ and tissue donation in Morocco.
 Keywords: tissue donation, blood donation, donors and non-donors of the without, federating donors, Morocco

DEEP LEARNING APPROACH FOR URBAN MAPPING

Abstract. Researchers in computer vision and machine learning are becoming increasingly interested in image semantic segmentation. Many methods based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have been proposed and have made considerable progress in the building extraction mission. This other methods can result in suboptimal segmentation outcomes. Recently, to extract buildings with a great precision, we propose a model which can recognize all the buildings and present them in mask with white and the other classes in black. This developed network, which is based on U-Net, will boost the model's sensitivity. This paper provides a deep learning approach for building detection on satellite imagery applied in Casablanca city, Firstly, to begin we describe the terminology of this field. Next, the main datasets exposed in this project which’s 1000 satellite imagery. Then, we train the model UNET for 25 epochs on the training and validation datasets and testing the pretrained weight model with some unseen satellite images. Finally, the experimental results show that the proposed model offers good performance obtained as a binary mask that extract all the buildings in the region of Casablanca with a higher accuracy and entirety to achieve an average F1 score on test data of 0.91.

Factors Hampering the Participation of Nursing Staff in the Continuing Education Activities of Hospitals Centers in the Casablanca-Settat Region

Aim: This study aimed to identify the factors hampering the participation of nurses in the activities of CE sessions at the level of hospitals in the region of Casablanca. Background: Continuing education (CE) for nursing staff represents a strategic asset for hospitals, identifying the constraints of nursing staff participation in continuing training could help improve the quality of care for patients and the population in general. Objective: This study aimed to identify the factors hampering the participation of nurses in the activities of CE sessions at the level of hospitals in the region of Casablanca. Methods: The study used a two-phase mixed method design. First of all, a questionnaire was administered to 930 nurses belonging to 9 hospital centers in the Casablanca-Settat region in order to explore and estimate the frequencies of the factors hindering the participation of nurses in the activities of the FC sessions at the level of hospitals, and a semi-structured interview with 9 persons in charge of continuing education from these different hospitals to complete and explain the data collected by the questionnaire. Results: The data analysis confirmed that the work overload is the first individual difficulty hindering the participation of nurses in CE sessions, i.e., 85.4%. The most mentioned organizational difficulties are schedule recommended in the FC not encouraging and not suitable, i.e., 23%, non-targeted content (does not meet the needs of the nursing staff), i.e., 66.7%. Finally, the absence of support measures in terms of monitoring and evaluation to maintain the knowledge and skills acquired during FC sessions in real situations at the workstation occupied is the first institutional difficulty mentioned by the interviewed (88%). Conclusion: Those responsible for training should take into account the factors nurse’s face in participating in continuing education sessions when designing, developing, and implementing continuing education sessions.

Teachers’ Attitudes towards Online Writing Assessment during Covid-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed an abrupt change in our teaching practices. Particularly the online assessment of students’ writing has been an unprecedented, novel situation for many English foreign language teachers. What is novel about this issue is the constraint of adopting it in a critical situation in which it has been an alternative way to assess students in the absence of the physical presence of students. The shift from face to face assessment to online assessment has been a novel experience for many Moroccan English foreign language teachers who have never implemented it before nor have any background knowledge about its mechanisms and methods albeit there are some teachers who are familiar with online teaching and online assessment. The issue has generated important points for English language teaching practitioners and stakeholders about the strategies and challenges of this compulsory mode of assessment during COVID-19 lockdown. From this perspective, the purpose of this paper was to reflect on writing assessment in the era of COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of teachers. The paper aimed to explore the perceptions of Moroccan English foreign language teachers about online writing assessment and the challenges that encountered them. For this purpose, data were collected from 100 English language teachers in the region of Casablanca through the use of questionnaires. The findings of this study substantiated that most participants considered online assessment of students’ writing a real challenge and hence hold a negative attitude towards it. Based on the results of this study, it was recommended to teach digital writing skills to English foreign language learners and design teaching training programs about online writing assessment.

Hemodialysis-related headache: Still a challenge in 2020? Effect of conventional versus online hemodiafiltration from a study in Casablanca, Morocco.

Hemodialysis-related headache (HRH) is a well-known clinical event. It is considered as one of the most commonly reported neurological symptoms among hemodialysis patients. Its epidemiological, physiological, clinical, and therapeutic data remain scarce and are poorly studied. Our aim was to determine the frequency of HRH in the region of Casablanca, Morocco, to describe its clinical characteristics and to explore the hypothesis that renal replacement techniques, such as conventional versus online hemodiafiltration may have an association on clinical adverse effects like HRH. A descriptive, cross-sectional, and multicentric study was carried out among 100 chronic hemodialysis patients for at least 6months. HRH was defined according to criteria published by the International Classification of Headache Disorder third edition beta version (ICHD3β) [1]. Two different HD-modalities (standard HD and OL-HDF) have been investigated in order to explore their impact on HRH. Headache was reported by 60% of the patients including 41.6% of hemodialysis-related headache. HRH had on average a duration of 7.4hours, pulsatile among 38% of interviewed patients and of moderate intensity in 48% of cases. In total, 51.3% of patients undergoing conventional hemodialysis modality reported HRH compared to 12.5% undergoing online hemodiafiltration technique (OL-HDF) (P=.008). Hemodialysis-related headache remains a poorly studied clinical event despite its high prevalence. Its diagnosis, management, and especially its prevention remain a challenge for the neurologist and the nephrologist. Our results suggest that OL-HDF is a promising therapeutic and preventive tool to reduce the incidence of HRH.

Influence of the School Orientation of the High School Students on Their School Career

The orientation allows the individual to develop the capacity to become aware of his personal characteristics and to develop them in order to choose his studies, his training and his professional activities, in all the conjunctures of his existence, with the joint concern for the collective future of solidarity and the fulfillment of one's personality and responsibility». (Danvers, 1992,p. 190). This advice states that: orientation is a process closely associated with education and formation. It becomes effective if the steps include broad information on education and trades, and focuses on the social development and moral construction of the individual. The objective of this survey is to show the influence of the orientation of the pupils at the time of their passage from the midl school to the high school on their school course. It aims to find the causes of their misdirection to minimize its negative impact on their academic performance, on the choice of their higher education and subsequently on their future. Our research is based on an analysis of the results of a questionnaire intended for students of the common core (first year of high school) of the scientific, literary and technical, public institutions of the secondary school located in the region of Casablanca - Settat( Morocco), exactly in the regional direction of MoulayRachid-Sidi Othman, during the school year 2016/2017. It was preceded by a series of interviews with students, teachers, guidance counselors, and the director of the provincial center for information and help to orientation as well as with other stakeholders in the field of the education for the calibration of the vocabulary and Themes landed. Our survey allowed us to discover very important results on the influence of the orientation of the pupils on their school course that we are going to present and to discuss.

Technologies in The Teaching of The Physical Sciences at The Level of The Moroccan Educational System

Objectives: This study allows us to examine the constraints linked to the integration of the information and communication technologies in education of physics and chemistry in public middle and high school in Casablanca (Morocco). Methods/ Statistical Analysis: To carry out this research, we used the investigation method using a questionnaire in the region of Casablanca - Settat (Morocco), exactly in the provincial direction of Moulay Rachid-Sidi Othman during 2016/2017 school year. The target population of our survey is about 97 secondary school teachers: 31 in middle school and 66 in high school. To complete our study, we asked few questions to the directors of the targeted institutions, and some to the inspectors of physics and chemistry. Findings: It is clear that the different actors of education can have different opinions. The integration of ICTs in the education system in physical and chemical is a pedagogical priority; access and flexibility are two prerequisites for the successful integration of ICT in schools. This paper is limited to the presentation and analysis of data expressing the use of middle and high school teachers in integration of ICTs in the teaching of physical and chemical sciences in the region of Casablanca - Settat, collected as part of our research, by determining the obstacles and suggesting some solutions for a successful integration of ICTs. Application/Improvements: The Ministry of education must consider several obstacles before taking the next step towards a better integration of ICTs, and several levers that make this integration successful. Keywords: Challenge, Integration, ICT, Morocco, Sciences of Physics and Chemistry

Decision making under uncertainty using PEES–fuzzy AHP–fuzzy TOPSIS methodology for landfill location selection

The location selection for landfill municipal solid waste is an important issue in waste management. Selection of the optimal location requires consideration of multiple alternative solutions and evaluation factors because of system complexity. Further, ranking of the alternative locations and selection of the most optimal and efficient locations for landfill waste are an important multi-criteria decision-making problem. In this study, the candidate locations for landfill are determined based on Political, Economical, Environmental and Social factors are assessed through decision-makers’ opinion and by the methodology that incorporates fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (fuzzy AHP) and fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (fuzzy TOPSIS). Specifically, the fuzzy AHP technique is applied to determine the weights of selected criteria impacting the location selection process, and the fuzzy AHP is adapted to model the linguistic vagueness and ambiguity, which can also be expressed as triangular fuzzy numbers. Furthermore, fuzzy TOPSIS technique is employed to rank the alternative locations. The applicability of this methodology is demonstrated by a case study of landfill waste location selection in the region of Casablanca, Morocco, and the results are compared with other techniques. Finally, to complete the treatment, a sensitivity analysis is performed to examine the impact of the preferences given by decision-makers to choose the best location.

Comparison of fuzzy AHP and fuzzy TODIM methods for landfill location selection.

Landfill location selection is a multi-criteria decision problem and has a strategic importance for many regions. The conventional methods for landfill location selection are insufficient in dealing with the vague or imprecise nature of linguistic assessment. To resolve this problem, fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making methods are proposed. The aim of this paper is to use fuzzy TODIM (the acronym for Interactive and Multi-criteria Decision Making in Portuguese) and the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) methods for the selection of landfill location. The proposed methods have been applied to a landfill location selection problem in the region of Casablanca, Morocco. After determining the criteria affecting the landfill location decisions, fuzzy TODIM and fuzzy AHP methods are applied to the problem and results are presented. The comparisons of these two methods are also discussed.

Driving Women’s Breastfeeding and the Introduction of Complementary Feeding in the Region of Casablanca (Morocco)

Driving Women’s Breastfeeding and the Introduction of Complementary Feeding in the Region of Casablanca (Morocco)

Driving Women’s Breastfeeding and the Introduction of Complementary Feeding in the Region of Casablanca (Morocco)

Background: Dietary diversification is a sensitive period in the construction of the child’s autonomy. Broadening the child’s food repertoire is based on complex forms of learning. This research project aimed at exploring mothers’ perceptions with reference to the introduction of appropriate and timely complementary feeding. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with prospective data collection, based on semi-structured individual interviews, conducted from April 1 to December 30, 2015. The study included 574 mothers with children aged 0 - 24 months, who attended 12 health centers within the prefecture of Ain Chock in Casablanca, Morocco. Results: Of all the included mothers, 84.6% with children under 6 months of age reported receiving little or no explanation about managing complementary feeding and 93.0% did not receive breastfeeding counseling services from health professionals. For mothers whose children were aged 6 - 24 months, 74.6% of them reported not having been enlightened on the subject of dietary diversification. Conclusion: Counseling is an enabling process with a strong educational component built within it. The community-based interventions for improving breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices, through appropriate awareness-raising campaigns, training and education programmes responding to the information needs of parents and caregivers, need to be further reinforced. J Clin Gynecol Obstet. 2016;5(4):121-128 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jcgo420e

An improved hybrid multi-criteria/multidimensional model for strategic industrial location selection: Casablanca industrial zones as a case study.

In this paper, we examine the issue of strategic industrial location selection in uncertain decision making environments for implanting new industrial corporation. In fact, the industrial location issue is typically considered as a crucial factor in business research field which is related to many calculations about natural resources, distributors, suppliers, customers, and most other things. Based on the integration of environmental, economic and social decisive elements of sustainable development, this paper presents a hybrid decision making model combining fuzzy multi-criteria analysis with analytical capabilities that OLAP systems can provide for successful and optimal industrial location selection. The proposed model mainly consists in three stages. In the first stage, a decision-making committee has been established to identify the evaluation criteria impacting the location selection process. In the second stage, we develop fuzzy AHP software based on the extent analysis method to assign the importance weights to the selected criteria, which allows us to model the linguistic vagueness, ambiguity, and incomplete knowledge. In the last stage, OLAP analysis integrated with multi-criteria analysis employs these weighted criteria as inputs to evaluate, rank and select the strategic industrial location for implanting new business corporation in the region of Casablanca, Morocco. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is performed to evaluate the impact of criteria weights and the preferences given by decision makers on the final rankings of strategic industrial locations.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40064-015-1404-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Large mammals from the Upper Pleistocene at Tamaris I ‘Grotte des gazelles’ (Casablanca, Morocco): paleoecological and biochronological implications

Gazelle Cave at Tamaris I in the region of Casablanca was discovered as a result of construction work. The cave is a dissolution pocket in marine calcarenite and contains an Upper Pleistocene deposit. Paleontological examination of the large mammal remains of this deposit revealed the presence of 15 species dominated by herbivores. There are also some human remains along with lithic artefacts and a rich collection of non-mammalian vertebrates (amphibians, reptiles and birds), as well as micromammals (Chiroptera, insectivores, lagomorphes and rodents). As yet only the large mammal remains have been studied in detail. The mammalian fauna indicates a semi-arid savannah-type environment. Because the sediments were deposited by natural rather than anthropogenic processes, the taxa in the cave are representative of the faunal spectrum in the region during the time of deposition.

Use of 137Cs technique for soil erosion study in the agricultural region of Casablanca in Morocco

Accelerated erosion and soil degradation currently cause serious problems to the Oued El Maleh basin (Morocco). Furthermore, there is still only limited information on rates of soil loss for optimising strategies for soil conservation. In the present study we have used the 137Cs technique to assess the soil erosion rates on an agricultural land in Oued el Maleh basin near Casablanca (Morocco). A small representative agricultural field was selected to investigate the soil degradation required by soil managers in this region. The transect approach was applied for sampling to identify the spatial redistribution of 137Cs. The spatial variability of 137Cs inventory has provided evidence of the importance of tillage process and the human effects on the redistribution of 137Cs. The mean 137Cs inventory was found about 842 Bq m −2, this value corresponds to an erosion rate of 82 tha −1 yr −1 by applying simplified mass balance model in a preliminary estimation. When data on site characteristics were available, the refined mass balance model was applied to highlight the contribution of tillage effect in soil redistribution. The erosion rate was estimated about 50 tha −1 yr −1. The aspects related to the sampling procedures and the models for calculation of erosion rates are discussed.

HLA class I polymorphism in a Moroccan population from Casablanca

We have studied the distribution of HLA-A and -B alleles and haplotypes by sequence-specific primer amplification in a sample of 100 unrelated healthy individuals belonging to both Berber and Arabic-speaking groups from the region of Casablanca in Morocco. Among the 17 HLA-A and 23 HLA-B alleles observed, the most frequent were HLA-A2 (21%), -A1 (11%), -A3 (10%), -B44 (11.4%), -B50 (9.9%), -B5(8.5%) and -B35 (6.5%). Six two-locus haplotypes were observed with a frequency above 5%: A2-B50 (9.6%), A23-B44 (7.4%), A2-B15 (6.4%), A68-B39 (5.3%), A1-B51 (5.3%) and A68-B44 (4.3%). Our data confirm that, on the basis of genetic distances, the majority of present-day North Africans from Morocco are closely related to Berbers and also to Iberians. They cluster apart from Middle-Eastern Mediterranean populations, and show greater genetic distances to Eastern and other Mediterranean populations. This study will serve as a reference for further anthropological studies, as well as studies of HLA and disease associations.

The air quality management of the region of Great Casablanca (Morocco). Part 1: Atmospheric emission inventory for the year 1992

The air quality management of the region of Great Casablanca (Morocco). Part 1: Atmospheric emission inventory for the year 1992