"Uppsats för fil.lic.-examen"--T.p. verso. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 81-94).

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that the rapid decline of popular support for the Coalition between April and August 2003 emanated from Coalition policies and tactics that did not emphasize security for the population. In turn, these security policies created and enabled opportunities and space in which opposition to the Coalition could mobilize with relative impunity. / Major, United States Air Force

This thesis examines the Navy Limited Duty Officer and Chief Warrant Officer programs to determine the differences in characteristics. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis was developed for year groups 1990 through 2005 to analyze the differences in background characteristics and military characteristics of both programs. The study used a logistic regression analysis to examine the predictors of background and military characteristics of Limited Duty Officers and Chief Warrant Officers. The results of the study revealed the background characteristics age, education, race and ethnicity groups were significantly different between the Limited Duty Officer and Chief Warrant Officer Communities. The military characteristics rank, length of service and Armed Forces Qualification Test were significant among Limited Duty Officers and Chief Warrant Officers. This study explains the results and provides recommendations to the Bureau of Naval Personnel and future research.

This thesis investigates whether perceptions of the working environment are related to a Marine Corps member's intentions to remain on active duty. The study further examines whether perceptions about intra-organizational mobility, inequity in the workplace, and organizational support vary by racial/ethnic group. The analysis focuses on Hispanics, the largest growing ethnic minority in the United States and draws upon data from the 2002 Status of the Armed Forces: Gender and Working Relations (WGR) Survey. Logistic regression models are developed for junior officers and enlisted personnel to determine the relationship between perceptions of the working environment in the Marine Corps and a Marine's intention to stay on active duty or complete a 20-year military career. The results of the quantitative analysis show that negative views about professional development, current assignment, and equity in the workplace are significant in both officer and enlisted models. Results also indicate that, among racial/ethnic groups, Hispanics are most strongly influenced by the effects of negative perceptions in the working environment on their plans to remain in the Marine Corps. It is recommended that further research look at the Hispanic military population by focusing on the various sub-groups within the ethnic category itself.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

A better understanding of the role of antigen-presenting cells (APCs) in host resistance to malaria is essential to unravel the complex interactions between the host and the parasite. This would improve the design of malaria vaccines. Mycobacterium bovis Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) has been utilized as a vector to deliver vaccine candidate antigens. We assessed the immunogenicity of a recombinant BCG-expressing (BCG-CS) circumsporozoite protein (CSp) as a malaria vaccine candidate. Immunization of BALB/c mice with BCG-CS augmented the numbers of dendritic cells (DCs) in draining lymph nodes and in the spleen. The activation markers MHC-class-II, CD40, CD80, and CD86 on DCs were significantly upregulated by BCG-CS as compared to wild-type BCG (wt-BCG). In vitro stimulation of bone marrow-derived DCs and macrophages with BCG-CS induced IL-12 and TNF-α production. BCG-CS induced higher phagocytic activity in macrophages as compared to wt-BCG. Finally, BCG-CS induced CSp-specific antibodies and IFN-γ-producing memory cells. Taken together, we found that BCG-CS is highly efficient in activating innate immune responses and could effectively prime the adaptive immune system. Heterologous prime–boost approaches using vectors are optimal strategies to improve a broad and prolonged immunogenicity of malaria vaccines. We have demonstrated in BALB/c mice that priming with a replication-defective human adenovirus serotype 35 (Ad35) vector encoding CSp (Ad35-CS), followed by boosting with BCG-CS, maintained antibody responses and significantly increased levels of long-lived plasma cells (LLPC) and IFN-g-producing cells in response to CSp peptides. The increased number of IFN-g-producing cells induced by the combination of Ad35-CS/BCG-CS and the sustained type 1 antibody profile, together with high levels of LLPCs, may be essential for the development of long-term protective immunity against liver-stage parasites. Fulani and Dogon, two sympatric ethnic groups living in northeastern Mali, are characterized by a marked difference in the susceptibility to P. falciparum malaria. We investigated whether APCs obtained from Fulani and Dogon children exhibited differences in terms of activation status and toll-like receptor (TLR) responses during malaria infection. We observed decreased activation of APCs and markedly suppressed TLR responses in Dogon children as compared to Fulani. These findings suggest that APCs and TLR signaling may be of importance for the protective immunity against malaria observed in the Fulani. In conclusion, this thesis provides new insights that could facilitate a rational design of novel vaccines against malaria. Furthermore, the results elicit some immunological bases of the APC activation underlying the differences in host susceptibility to malaria infections. / At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: In Press. Paper 2: Manuscript.

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This thesis focuses on the activities of a group of young French people staying in a hostel in Noumea from 1991 to 1993. It draws on my fieldwork in Noumea and Mare in the Loyalty Islands of New Caledonia. The main part of the thesis looks at the interactions of this group of young people with other ethnic and social groups living in New Caledonia. These include the Kanaks, the "Caldoches" (native-born Caledonians of French origin), the "Metros" (immigrants from metropolitan France), Pacific islanders, Vietnamese and Indonesians. The thesis also includes a short section describing Mare itself and my fieldwork there. Particular attention is paid to the Kanaks and to the Caldoches, whose rural and urban lifestyles are compared and contrasted to those of the young people being studied. Relations between these young people, newly arrived in the French Pacific, and those of the colony's established inhabitants, allow themes of globalization, travel, knowledge, reflexivity and alterity to be explored vis-a-vis anthropological theory. Kanak behaviour, towards Kanaks and others, is shown to relate to ideas of knowledge, power, gender and hierarchy, prevalent in both Polynesia and Melanesia. The work is underpinned by explanations of, and references to, the international and local historical and geographical context of New Caledonian social and political behaviour. It attempts to show the bitter disputes and resentments arising between ethnic groups. It discusses civil unrest, the Kanaks' desire for independence, and some possible economic and social consequences.