Les flavivirus ayant un impact en médecine vétérinaire sont largement distribués dans le monde (à l’exemple de la fièvre West Nile (WNF) présente sur les cinq continents ou de l’Encéphalite japonaise (EJ) en Asie du Sud-Est) et sont responsables de maladies à dominante neurologique chez l’homme et/ou le cheval.La virémie étant généralement brève lors de ces infections virales, les méthodes de diagnostic utilisées sont essentiellement sérologiques. Or le chevauchement fréquent des aires de répartition des flavivirus complique le diagnostic sérologique. En effet, des réactions sérologiques croisées entre flavivirus sont observées lors de l’utilisation de méthodes de diagnostic usuelles telles que l’ELISA et l’immunofluorescence (IF). Les résultats sérologiques doivent donc être confirmés par la méthode fastidieuse de séroneutralisation (SNT) virale avec les différents flavivirus existants dans la région. De plus, le risque d’émergence sur un territoire donné de nouveaux flavivirus comme le virus Zika au Brésil ou en Amérique du Nord ne peut être exclu.Nous avons donc développé dans la première partie de ce travail une nouvelle stratégie de diagnostic sérologique multiplexe à l’aide de la méthode d’immuno-essai (MIA) sur billes. Sachant que la glycoprotéine d’enveloppe soluble (sE) des flavivirus est divisée en 3 domaines (D) structuraux, DI, DII et DIII et que les épitopes du DIII sont spécifiques de chaque flavivirus, des protéines EDIII recombinantes de différents flavivirus d’intérêt ont été synthétisées en système d’expression Drosophila S2 et leur antigénicité a été testée sur sérums équins et ovins. Nous avons obtenu des résultats très encourageants en démontrant que l’utilisation des EDIII associée avec la capacité de multiplexage de la méthode MIA apparaît comme une réponse adaptée au défi du diagnostic sérologique des infections à flavivirus.Nous avons en outre utilisé la même méthode de multiplexage mais avec des antigènes NS1 du WNV pour mettre en place un test DIVA (Differentiating Infected from Vaccinated Animals) permettant de différencier les chevaux infectés par le WNV des chevaux vaccinés avec un vaccin recombinant WNV.Un autre écueil en médecine vétérinaire est le traitement des affections à flavivirus. En effet l’arsenal thérapeutique est limité et le traitement est avant tout symptomatique. Nous avons dans la seconde partie de ce travail testé in vitro une molécule antivirale à large spectre, le sr1057 sur nos virus d’intérêt (WNV et JEV). Cette molécule qui provient d’une stratégie de criblage développée par l’Institut Pasteur a probablement pour cible la cellule de l’hôte car elle est capable d’inhiber des virus très différents, à génome à ARN de polarité positive ou négative et ADN.Les résultats que nous avons obtenus avec ce composé sont en demi-teinte pour les flavivirus testés avec une efficacité démontrée pour le JEV mais plus modeste pour le WNV. Ils n’excluent cependant pas une possible utilisation de cet antiviral en médecine vétérinaire équine car une activité inhibitrice in vitro sur les virus de l’Herpes équin de type I et de l’artérite virale a été confirmée par d’autres collaborateurs. / Flaviviruses with a major impact in veterinary medicine are widely distributed (e.g. West Nile fever (WNF) has spread across the five continents and Japanese Encephalitis (JE) is reported in South-East Asia) and are mainly responsible for neurological diseases in humans and/or horses.After flavivirus infection, viremia in mammal hosts is generally short and consequently indirect methods are mostly used to diagnose flavivirus infections. However, frequent spatial overlapping in their circulation areas renders the interpretation of serological assays difficult. Indeed, cross-reactions between flaviviruses are observed in rapid serological tests such as in ELISA and immunofluorescence assays (IFA). Serological assay results should thus be confirmed by the tedious comparative virus neutralization test (VNT) using a panel of viruses known to circulate in the area. Moreover, the risk of emergence of new flaviviruses such as reported recently with the Zika virus in Brazil or in North America should be considered when studying flavivirus epidemiology.In the first section, a new strategy aiming at improving the serological diagnosis of flavivirus infections was developed using the multiplexing capacity of microsphere immunoassays (MIA). The flavivirus soluble envelope (sE) glycoprotein ectodomain is composed of three domains (D), e.g. DI, DII and DIII, with EDIII containing virus-specific epitopes. Recombinant EDIIIs of different flaviviruses were synthesized in the Drosophila S2 expression system. The microspheres coupled with rEDIIIs were assayed with equine and ovine sera from natural and experimental flavivirus infections or non-immune samples. Very encouraging results have been obtained and this innovative multiplex immunoassay based on flavivirus rEDIIIs appears to be a powerful alternative to ELISAs and VNTs for veterinary diagnosis of flavivirus-related diseases.MIA with WNV nonstructural 1 protein were also implemented to differentiate Infected from Vaccinated Animals (DIVA). Such a DIVA approach was only successful when horses had been immunized with a recombinant canarypox vaccine, while horses receiving inactivated WNV vaccine developed immune responses close to the ones induced after natural infection.Another pitfall in veterinary medicine is the lack of therapeutics for viral diseases and specifically for flaviviruses. The therapeutic arsenal is indeed rather limited and animals are generally administered supportive treatments only. In the second part, the results of the in vitro testing of a broad spectrum antiviral named sr1057 on WNV and JEV replication are presented. This chemical, identified from a unique screening strategy developed by Pasteur Institute, is probably targeting the host cell and was found to inhibit the replication of varied RNA and DNA viruses belonging to different virus families. The sr1057 compound was not as efficient at inhibiting the replication of flaviviruses as for other RNA+ viruses, with a modest antiviral effect demonstrated for WNV and a higher efficacy on JEV. This antiviral presents however potentials for applications in equine veterinary medicine because it efficiently inhibited equine herpes virus-1 and equine arteritis virus in vitro, as clearly shown by other collaborators.

The diploma thesis is focused on the optimalitzation of an operation on SWTP and improvement of figures of drainge from sewage water treatment plants. Possible options of the optimalization are also included. The second part of the thesis deals with the optimalization of operation of the concrete sewage water treatment plant using the WEST programme.

Water supply forecasting in the western United States is the prediction of the volume of water passing a given point on a stream during the primary snowmelt runoff season. Most water supply forecasts are produced from multiple linear regression models using snowpack, precipitation, and streamflow measurements as independent variables. In recent years, conceptual watershed simulation models, typically using a time step of one day, have also been used to produce these forecasts. This study examines model usage for: water supply forecasting in the West and has three specific purposes. The first is to examine the traditional usage of multiple linear regression and develop improved regression techniques to overcome several recognized weaknesses in traditional practice. Four techniques have been used in this study to improve water supply forecasts based on regression. They are: (1) basing the regression model only on data: known at forecast time (no future data); (2) principal components regression; (3) cross-validation; and (4) systematic searching for optimal or near-optimal combinations of variables. The second purpose of the study is to develop a monthly streamflow simulation model suitable for use in water supply forecasting. Such a model has not previously been used in this application, and it provides a forecasting tool midway in complexity between regression procedures and conceptual watershed simulation models. The third purpose of the study is to compare the accuracy of forecasts from regression, the monthly model developed here, and two conceptual watershed simulation models. It has generally been assumed, but not tested, that complex simulation models will give more accurate forecasts than simpler models. This study attempts to begin determining if this is true. Conceptual modeling results from previous studies on three basins in Idaho and Montana were obtained to represent current practice in the usage of this type of model. The results of the study led to the following conclusions: (1) significant improvements in forecast accuracy over past practice with regression can be obtained by the use of the four techniques developed here; (2) the monthly model performed better than the conceptual watershed models most of the time, for both seasonal volumes and monthly flows; (3) for the three test watersheds, regression provided the best forecast accuracy among the three modeling techniques most of the time, for both seasonal volumes and monthly flows; (4) optimal use of conceptual watershed models requires automated calibration schemes; and (5) in basins of complex orography, denser data networks will be required to calculate meaningful values of mean areal precipitation. This study has contributed to the practice of water supply forecasting by providing improvements to regression techniques, providing a new monthly model, developing a mean areal precipitation and temperature procedure based on kriging, and giving some initial direction for further investigations in the use of conceptual watershed models. The inability of the two simulation approaches to surpass regression in forecast accuracy brings up several issues with respect to modeling. These issues are in the areas of model calibration, model conceptualization, spatial and temporal aggregation, and areal averaging of input data. Further investigation is required to elucidate these issues before clear conclusions can be made about the relative forecasting abilities of simple and complex models. Further investigation is also required to study water management decision making and the kinds and accuracies of forecast information required to optimize these decisions.

The dismemberment and reparations policy France followed at the end of World War II as an occupying power in Germany was a traditional approach of the victor to the vanquished. The Saar, the Ruhr, and the Rhineland were the borderlands long in dispute. One new element was the idea that while demanding these territories, an attempt at national rapprochement could be carried on through educational measures. For many Germans the University at Mainz did not balance the dismantled factories. This postwar period was characterized by European economic ills. The 1947 Marshall Plan, an American approach to restore Europe to economic health through cooperative effort, was inaugurated. It stimulated the European integration movement which flourished during the 1950’s. The 1948 Council of Europe had not lived up to expectations, in the eyes of European federalists, but the next try, the European Coal and Steel Community, (1952) proved a lusty child of the functionalist movement. When the European Defense Community died, (1954) it embittered Franco-German relations for a while. The European Atomic Energy Community and the European Economic Community completed the European Community in 1958. Through the organizations for economic integration, France and Germany have, in spite of disputes and crises, been able to compromise many divergent drives in the interest of restoring Europe to full economic capacity. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, (1949) which originated as a joint military defense and symbolized Western unity in the face of Soviet aggression, became a seedbed of discord between France and German. When General de Gaulle became president in 1958, he pursued an active policy of rapprochement with Adenauer’s Federal German Republic seeking to establish a Paris-Bonn axis on which to base French leadership in the European Community. As leader of a West European bloc independent of the United States, France would hold that place in the first rank of nations that de Gaulle believed she must have. Chancellor Adenauer cooperated with the French president because he believed a tightly knit European group would benefit German interests. The high point in Franco-German rapprochement occurred in 1962 during the summer exchange of state visits, but by the time the Treaty was signed and ratified, (1963) the tone of Franco-German relations and changed. Disagreements on military policies in NATO, on political developments in the European Community, and on agricultural policies in EEC, all reached serious proportions at the time that Chancellor Erhard took office in 1963. The Erhard government’s shift of emphasis from a Europe focused on France to the Atlantic alliance focused on the United States led President de Gaulle to consider a new policy to replace Franco-German rapprochement which had been his primary strategy until 1963. Franco-Russian relations became noticeably warmer after the extension of long term credits by France to the Soviet Union. Germany protested this new turn in French policy. A closer French-Russian relationship may add to the discord which cooled the Franco-German accord of 1962.

The Economic Community of West African StatQs (ECOWAS) was established by treaty in 1975 to promote the economic and political well-being of its 16 regional members. As a coordinated effort of geographically associated states ECOWAS joins an expanding group of regional integration schemes created by developing countries. As an international organization with some claim to supranational authority the success of the ECOWAS scheme is of practical and theoretical importance. Success in this sense implies an increasing level of interaction among the ECOWAS members and the development of a regional economic and political position toward non-member states. This coordination of member states' national policy within a regionally constituted political body offers an interesting laboratory for the examination of regional integration efforts. This paper seeks to establish the degree of integration achieved by the ECOWAS members to date and to chart the progress of that integration over time.

No description available.

The purposes of this study were to discover the current status of church administration of the Evangelical Churches of West Africa (ECWA) and to offer recommendations. In order to achieve these purposes, an extensive review of the professional literature dealing with church administration and management was conducted, and a questionnaire was constructed and categorized into the following broad areas of church administration: (1) church government, (2) educational leadership (3) evangelism and missions, (4) financial management, and (5) general administration. The following conclusions were drawn: 1. Management of church affaris under the four administrative church councils appears to be less than effective. 2. Professional local church leadership appears to be weak. 3. Strategies regarding recruitment of missionaries and mission finances appear weak. 4. The ECWA appears to lack both an acceptable criteria and specified groups for evaluation of theological programs. 5. Better financial management is one of ECWA's major areas of need. 6. Written personel guidelines and job descriptions are a critical need in ECWA church administration. 7. The need for effective communication may be one of the major problems facing ECWA.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--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. / To describe the structural strains and cultural conflicts that take place when two social systems confront each other, the concept of Transitional Role was used to analyze the sociological adaptation in the social system, and the concept of Perceptual Distortion of Transitional Roles by different groups was usee to analyze the strain and conflict that continued. In order to locate, describe and analyze Transitional Roles in Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, the social science reserach in five categories of Husbands and Wives, Buyers and Sellers, Priests and Pastors, Administrators and Agitators and Servants and Masters was examined. In order to evaluate the Perceptual Distortion of the Transitional Roles described, the available social science reserach was compared with two samples of novels (those by West Africans and those by Europeans) about West Africa. The following were the findings: (1) Social strain and culture conflict affect both groups, West African and European. (2) Social strains exist in all the above aspects of colonial life. (3) Despite severe dual systemic strain, the colonial social system operated as one viable social system. (4) Not all social strains are resolved immediately by the creation of Transitional Roles and therefore, the historical development of Transitional Roles indicates that they continue to change. (5) Social circles formed around transitional roles and as these social circles proliferated, the basis of a new society was established. Thus a positive resolution of social strain has been located and described in the development of Transitional Roles. The findings of this study resulting from the application of Levels of Transition to culture conflict indicate that: (1) the European novelists see culture conflict as maladjustment existing with the individual African either in the form of reversion to an earlier evolutionary stage or in the form of poor imitation of British culture; and they do not see their own involvement in culture conflict; (2) the African novelists, in contrast, locate culture conflict between the various Levels of Transition or within social relationships between the numerous West African social circles, and secondarily between British and West African Transitional Roles. The findings of this study resulting from the evaluation of Perceptual Distortion suggest that (1) Transitional Role incumbents are more accurate observers than are stabilized role incumbents. (2) Perceivers observe members of their own social system of origin more accurately than they perceive a foreign social system. (3) Segregation, "Time Lag" and ideology distort perception. This analysis substantiates the proposition that novels are of limited value as sources of sociological insights unless they are compared with social science research and unless the orientation in terms of social membership of the novelist is known. The reading public in the est, to the extent that it has depended upon European novels as its source of information about West Africa, is inadequately informed. Americans who rely on this fictional material have looked at West Africa primarily through European eyes. / 2031-01-01

It is widely accepted that the home environment may act as a socio-geographic focus of both disease transmission and of learned health behaviour. Households also appear to be units of convergence for factors identified in the literature as relating to the utilization of health services. This thesis is devoted to an examination of the role of the home environment, as well as of personal characteristics and accessibility, in the utilization of health services in Grenada, West Indies. The theoretical framework that informs this work is a holistic systems-orientated Socio-Ecological Model of Utilization. The empirical analysis draws upon the results of a detailed household survey conducted in five communities on the western portion of the island. Visits to homes containing children less than eight years of age isolated socio-demographic characteristics and information pertaining to residential mobility, household physical and behavioural environment, accessibility, self-reported morbidity and self-reported utilization. Records of patient visits over the previous two years for non-trauma events were abstracted from the medical records of area clinics, hospitals and physicians attending to the sample communities. Bivariate analyses between components of variables were conducted at both household and individual service use levels. These indicated that 1) service utilization was highly clustered around "high user" households and individuals; 2) considerable discrepancies emerged between self-reported and actual utilization; 3) the complexity of relationships between elements of the home environment was highlighted; and 4) there was a consistency with which certain elements of the home environment were statistically associated with health service use across a wide spectrum of illnesses. These observations were further confirmed in multivariate analyses, in which a small number of variables were able to retrospectively predict the presence or absence of service use by both adults and children with a high degree of model specificity and sensitivity. The implications of this work for development and health care planning in Grenada is discussed. The meaningful application of this work in Grenada is seen to hinge upon the extent to which relevant variables are amenable to change or act as proxy variables whose underlying nature of association with utilization remains to be adequately explored. A number of suggestions are advanced concerning the manner in which the study of health service utilization might be approached in the future. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

No description available.