Socio-economic voter profile and motives for Islamist support in Morocco

Based on an original dataset of merged electoral and census data, this article is a study of electoral support for the Islamist Party in Morocco in the 2002 and 2007 elections. It differentiates between the clientelistic, grievance and horizontal network type of supporters. We disentangle these profiles empirically on the basis of the role of education, wealth and exclusion for Islamist votes. We find no evidence of the clientelistic profile, but a shift from grievance in 2002 to a horizontal network profile in 2007. World Values Survey individual level data are used as a robustness check, yielding similar results. Qualitative evidence on a changing mobilization pattern of the party between 2002 and 2007 supports our conclusions

An autosomal recessive leucoencephalopathy with ischemic stroke, dysmorphic syndrome and retinitis pigmentosa maps to chromosome 17q24.2-25.3

Background Single-gene disorders related to ischemic stroke seem to be an important cause of stroke in young patients without known risk factors. To identify new genes responsible of such diseases, we studied a consanguineous Moroccan family with three affected individuals displaying hereditary leucoencephalopathy with ischemic stroke, dysmorphic syndrome and retinitis pigmentosa that appears to segregate in autosomal recessive pattern. Methods All family members underwent neurological and radiological examinations. A genome wide search was conducted in this family using the ABI PRISM linkage mapping set version 2.5 from Applied Biosystems. Six candidate genes within the region linked to the disease were screened for mutations by direct sequencing. Results Evidence of linkage was obtained on chromosome 17q24.2-25.3. Analysis of recombination events and LOD score calculation suggests linkage of the responsible gene in a genetic interval of 11 Mb located between D17S789 and D17S1806 with a maximal multipoint LOD score of 2.90. Sequencing of seven candidate genes in this locus, ATP5H, FDXR, SLC25A19, MCT8, CYGB, KCNJ16 and GRIN2C, identified three missense mutations in the FDXR gene which were also found in a homozygous state in three healthy controls, suggesting that these variants are not disease-causing mutations in the family. Conclusion A novel locus for leucoencephalopathy with ischemic stroke, dysmorphic syndrome and retinitis pigmentosa has been mapped to chromosome 17q24.2-25.3 in a consanguineous Moroccan family

Non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of polyamide 66/glass fibers/carbon black composites

cited By 7International audienceThe non-isothermal crystallization of the polyamide 66 (PA66) reinforced with 15 mass% glass fibers and/or 0.4 mass% carbon black has been the object of a thermal analysis by differential scanning calorimetry with various cooling rates ranging from 2 to 25 °C min−1. The modified Avrami’s equation, Ozawa’s theory and Mo’s method were applied to study the non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of neat PA66 and the PA66 composites. The activation energies of non-isothermal crystallization were calculated by Kissinger method. The results showed that the Mo’s method can successfully account for the overall non-isothermal crystallization kinetics for neat PA66 and PA66 composites. The modified Avrami’s method and Ozawa’s approach as well did not apply satisfactorily. It was also revealed that GF and CB could accelerate the crystallization rates of PA66. The combined effect of GF and CB was shown to be stronger than that of GF only in spite of rather low CB content. © 2016, Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary

Non-isothermal crystallization kinetics and nucleation behavior of isotactic polypropylene composites with micro-talc

cited By 1The non-isothermal crystallization (NIC) of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) and its composites with submicronic talc particles (μ-talc) was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry. The modeling of the NIC kinetics of the iPP matrix was performed using Jeziorny-modified Avrami’s model, Ozawa’s and Mo’s theoretical approaches. The Jeziorny’s and Ozawa’s theories allowed us to confirm that the μ-talc filler particles significantly promote the NIC kinetics of the iPP matrix which noticeably manifests itself via a change in the nucleation mechanism. However, Mo’s model proved to be the more relevant model to account for the NIC of the present materials. In parallel, the activation energy and nucleation activity of NIC were calculated by Kissinger’s and Dobreva’s methods, respectively. Both approaches reveal that a maximum nucleation activity of μ-talc takes place for 20% filler content. This finding is discussed in relation to the μ-talc content thresholds of mechanical percolation and crystallinity saturation that were reported in previous studies for these composites, about 10 and 30% μ-talc, respectively. An endeavor of physical explanation for these phenomena is put forward. © 2019, Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary

Conception d’un SIG pour l’évaluation de l’impact des activités anthropiques sur la qualité des eaux superficielles de la ville de Meknès (Maroc)

L’utilisation des sols liée aux activités urbaines, agricoles et industrielles a contribué, au cours des dernières décennies, à augmenter le potentiel de contamination des eaux de surface et, dans certains cas, à une détérioration réelle de la qualité de cette ressource. De ce fait, une gestion rationnelle de la ressource est nécessaire en vue de la protéger. Dès lors, l’exploitation des capacités de SIG en termes d’analyse et de cartographie s’est révélée pertinente en vue d’en faire un outil d’aide à la décision pour une gestion de la qualité des ressources en eau. Une approche basée sur le couplage d’un SIG avec un système d’évaluation de la qualité des eaux (SEQ-eau) a été développée et testée au niveau des eaux superficielles de la ville de Meknès. La démarche adoptée repose sur le traitement des résultats d’analyses microbiologiques et physicochimiques effectuées au niveau de l’oued Boufekrane par le SEQ-Eau. Une représentation cartographique de la zone d’étude a été réalisée avec élaboration des cartes de qualité pour chaque altération (ensemble de paramètres ayant un même effet sur le milieu aquatique) : microorganismes; phosphore total; PH; matières organiques et oxydables; matières en suspension. Les résultats obtenus ont permis d’élaborer une carte de qualité globale et d’évaluer la pollution organique tout le long de l’oued Boufekrane avec des indicateurs de pollution comme l’oxydabilité et la demande chimique en oxygène. Ces résultats préliminaires montrent que le couplage SIG-système d’évaluation de la qualité des eaux développé avec l’ambition de servir d’outil d’aide à la décision pour une gestion intégrée de la qualité des eaux a un apport potentiel considérable pour l’étude des ressources en eau