A flexible modular master programme in technology developped whithin a Tempus Project

In today’s competitive industry and in view of recent economic turbulences new frontiers of challenges emerge that require new educational paradigms accompanied by new tools and methodologies applicable to all aspects of engineering areas including the functional and organizational aspects. In accordance with the objectives stipulated by the Council of European Union work programme on the future of education and training, a Tempus project (2010-2013) has been mounted to develop a novel model for modular programmes to be used in education of technology specialities at master level. The model is implemented in manufacturing technology and management area and has general applicability for technology education in several fields. The main feature of this project consists in flexibility, adaptability, dynamic interactivity while consolidating theoretical and practical skills. MasTech is the name of a flexible modular master two-year programme in technology being developed according to the Bologna process that is to be adapted to the particular conditions of the universities in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. Three European Universities (Sweden, Germany, France) are involved in the project. This paper introduces MasTech and describes the different steps that have been followed to develop the master programme taking into account both academic and industrial needs and priorities. Results are expressed in terms of a professional master programme that has been submitted for accreditation.TEMPUS - MASTECH -2010 - 3369 / 001 - 00

Molecular characterization of mutations associated with resistance to second line drugs in Mycobacterium tuberculosis patients from Casablanca, Morocco

The emergence and spread of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) is a serious threat to global health. Therefore, its rapid diagnosis is crucial. The present study aimed to characterize mutations conferring resistance to second line drugs (SLDs) within multidrug Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MDR-MTB) isolates and to estimate the occurrence of XDR-TB in Casablanca, Morocco. A panel of 200 MDR-TB isolates was collected at the Pasteur Institute between 2015-2018. Samples were subjected to drug susceptibility testing to Ofloxacin (OFX), Kanamycin (KAN) and Amikacin (AMK). The mutational status of gyrA, gyrB, rrs, tlyA and eis was assessed by sequencing these target genes. Drug susceptibility testing for SLDs showed that among the 200 MDR strains, 20% were resistant to OFX, 2.5% to KAN and 1.5% to AMK. Overall, 14.5% of MDR strains harbored mutations in gyrA, gyrB, rrs and tlyA genes. From the 40 OFXR isolates, 67.5% had mutations in QRDR of gyrA and gyrB genes, the most frequent one being Ala90Val in gyrA gene. Of note, none of the isolates harbored simultaneously mutations in gyrA and gyrB genes. In eight out of the 200 MDR-TB isolates resistant either to KAN or AMK, only 25% had A1401G or Lys89Glu change in rrs and tlyA genes respectively. This study is very informative and provides data on the alarming rate of fluoroquinolone resistance which warrants the need to implement appropriate drug regimens to prevent the emergence and spread of more severe forms of Mycobacterium tuberculosis drug resistance

Evaluation of an intraoperative iodine-125 brachytherapy implant technique

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of an intra-operative planning method in brachytherapy prostate seed placement by comparing pre-planning and intra-operative planning techniques. This comparison was achieved by a virtual-planning technique in which the pre-planned seed and needle positions are superimposed on the intra-operatively obtained volume study. Dosimetric evaluation of each implant was based on the dose volume histogram (DVH) generated from CT studies and analysis of image and seed numbers, target volume and inferior extent of posterior planes. These parameters showed that greater dosimetric values are noted in the intra-operative technique. The study demonstrated a benefit from an intra-operative approach to seed placement as opposed to a pre-planned approach. Defining the sagittal contours of the prostate, immediately prior to implant, reduced the inferior extent of seeds placed in the most posterior aspect of the prostate, thereby decreasing the probability for rectal complication and morbidity. Additionally, more correctly delineating the tranverse prostate contours at the time of seed placement resulted in fewer seeds placed in the periprostatic region, outside the PTV, thus reducing potential seed migration and increasing prostate dose coverage

La ville médiévale et ses marges, regards croisés de l'historien à l'archéologue.

National audienceLa perception des faubourgs de la ville médiévale par les historiens et les archéologues

Finding Relationships Between Multiple-Choice Math Tests and Their Stem-Equivalent Constructed Responses

The study takes a close look at relationships between scores on a Mathematics standardized test in two different testing formats - Multiple-Choice (MC) and Constructed Response (CR). Many studies have been dedicated to finding correlations between item format characteristics with regards to race and gender. Few studies, however, have attempted to explore differences in the performance of English Learners in a low performing, predominantly Latino high school. The study also determined relationships between math scores and gender and math scores and language proficiency, as well as relationships between CAHSEE and CST scores. Statistical analyses were performed using correlations, descriptive statistics, and t-tests. Empirical data were also disaggregated and analyzed by gender, and language proficiency. Results revealed significant positive correlations between MC and CR formats. T-tests displayed statistically significant differences between the means of the formats, with boys and English Only students having better scores than their counterparts. Frequency tables examining proficiency levels of students by gender and language proficiency revealed differences between MC and CR tests, with boys and English Only students earning better levels of proficiency. Significant positive correlations were shown between CST scores and multiple-choice items, but none were found for CST scores and constructed response items

Automatic Bridge between BPMN Models and UML Activity Diagrams based on Graph Transformation

Model Driven Engineering (MDE) provides available tools, concepts and languages to create and transform models. One of the most important successes of MDE is model transformation; it permits transforming models used by one community to equivalent models used by another one. Moreover, each community of developers has its own tools for verification, testing and test case generation. Hence, a developer of one community who moves to work with another community needs a transformation process from the second community to (his/her) own community and vice versa. Therefore, the target community can benefit from the expertise of the source one and the developers do not begin from zero.In this context, we propose in this paper an automatic transformation to create a bridge between the BPMN and UML communities. We propose an approach and a visual tool for the automatic transformation of BPMN models to UML Activity Diagrams (UML-AD). The proposed approach is based on Meta-Modeling and Graph Transformation, and uses the AToM3 tool. Indeed, we were inspired by the OMG meta-models of BPMN and UML-AD and implemented versions of both meta-models using AToM3. This last allows generating automatically a visual modeling tool for each proposed meta-model. Based on these two meta-models, we propose a graph grammar composed of sixty rules that perform the transformation process. The proposed approach is illustrated through three case studies

Programme Flexible de Master en Technologies de Production

Un projet Tempus (2010-2013) entre 9 universités (trois Européennes et six Maghrébines) a conduit au montage d’un programme d’enseignement de Master en technologie de production mécanique (MASTECH), modulaire et enseigné en langue anglaise est présenté. Les objectifs de ce nouveau programme, le retour d’expérience ainsi que les contenus des matières sont présentés avec la spécificité de la mise au point d’un outil pédagogique d’enseignement (Package Education) qui facilitera le déroulement des enseignements, limitera les variances entre les partenaires maghrébins et devra permettre la mobilité des étudiants et des enseignants. Dans la même expérience, les points-clés de réussite de ce programme commun sont exposés. Il s’agit notamment de l’acquisition de matériels pédagogiques, de déroulement d’écoles d’été, de validations des contenus des modules pédagogiques, de transfert auprès des enseignants, des conventions avec des industriels locaux, de la convention entre partenaires maghrébins, du support pédagogique des universités européennes et des prévisions de mobilité. Les difficultés relatives à la coordination des différentes facettes du projet et à la langue d’enseignement sont aussi discutées. Le démarrage des enseignements élaborés par ce programme dans les cursus de formation est prévu pour septembre 2013 sous forme d’un master professionnalisant.programme européen TEMPUS 2010 - 3369 / 001 - 00

A High-level Petri Net Based Approach for Modeling and Composition of Web Services

AbstractWeb services are modular, self-describing, self-contained and loosely coupled applications, which intercommuni-cate via messages exchanging. The evolution of the internet and the emergence of new technologies like e-business have influenced the use of these last ones, which have become popular. The composition of web services is a topic that attracts the interest of researchers. It offers complex problems process ability even with simple existing web services while cooperating with each other. However, modeling tools and formal techniques for the completion of this task are required.In this paper, we show how simple existing web services can be composed, in order to create a composite service, which offers new features. In this context, we propose an expressive object-oriented Petri net based algebra that succeeds in the complex composition of Web services

A Graph Transformation Approach for Modeling and Verification of UML 2.0 Sequence Diagrams

Unified Modeling Language (UML) 2.0 Sequence Diagrams (UML 2.0 SD) are used to describe interactions in software systems. These diagrams must be verified in the early stages of software development process to guarantee the production of a reliable system. However, UML 2.0 SD lack formal semantics as all UML specifications, which makes their verification difficult, especially if we are modeling a critical system where the automation of verification is necessary. Communicating Sequential Processes (CSP) is a formal specification language that is suited for analysis and has many automatic verification tools. Thus, UML and CSP have complementary aspects, which are modeling and analysis. Recently, a formalization of UML 2.0 SD using CSP has been proposed in the literature; however, no automation of that formalization exists. In this paper, we propose an approach on the basis of the above formalization and a visual modeling tool to model and automatically transform UML 2.0 SD to CSP ones; thus, the existing CSP model checker can verify them. This approach aims to use UML 2.0 SD for modeling and CSP and its tools for verification. This approach is based on graph transformation, which uses AToM3 tool and proposes a metamodel of UML 2.0 SD and a graph grammar to perform the mapping of the latter into CSP. Failures-Divergence Refinement (FDR) is the model checking tool used to verify the behavioral properties of the source model transformation such as deadlock, livelock and determinism. The proposed approach and tool are illustrated through a case study