Epizootic Emergence of Usutu Virus in Wild and Captive Birds in Germany

This study aimed to identify the causative agent of mass mortality in wild and captive birds in southwest Germany and to gather insights into the phylogenetic relationship and spatial distribution of the pathogen. Since June 2011, 223 dead birds were collected and tested for the presence of viral pathogens. Usutu virus (USUV) RNA was detected by real-time RT-PCR in 86 birds representing 6 species. The virus was isolated in cell culture from the heart of 18 Blackbirds (Turdus merula). USUV-specific antigen was demonstrated by immunohistochemistry in brain, heart, liver, and lung of infected Blackbirds. The complete polyprotein coding sequence was obtained by deep sequencing of liver and spleen samples of a dead Blackbird from Mannheim (BH65/11-02-03). Phylogenetic analysis of the German USUV strain BH65/11-02-03 revealed a close relationship with strain Vienna that caused mass mortality among birds in Austria in 2001. Wild birds from lowland river valleys in southwest Germany were mainly affected by USUV, but also birds kept in aviaries. Our data suggest that after the initial detection of USUV in German mosquitoes in 2010, the virus spread in 2011 and caused epizootics among wild and captive birds in southwest Germany. The data also indicate an increased risk of USUV infections in humans in Germany

Ordnance and gunnery : a text-book prepared for the cadets of the United States Military Academy, West Point /

Mode of access: Internet

Littoral à risque: méthodes d'évaluation des risques multiples

International audienceIn recent years the interest for coastal hazards has increased significantly due to extreme events, sometimes related to climate change, that frequently occur in different parts of the world, often inducing high risk situations. This paper outlines the objectives, perspectives and preliminary results of a research project entitled “Coastline at risk: Methods for multi-hazard assessment” which aims at providing useful knowledge for the mitigation of coastal instability. The project is managed by the European Centre on Geomorphological Hazards (Centre Européen sur les Risques Geomorphologiques, CERG) and funded by the EUR-OPA Major Hazards Agreement. Investigations are focused on coastal landslides in three different morpho-climatic European environments: Malta (Mediterranean coastline), Lower Normandy (Channel coastline) and Central Portugal (Atlantic coastline). The research outputs are expected to provide a significant opportunity for scientific discussion based on the comparison of data regarding instability situations in the context of multi-hazards assessment. The latter has until now dealt slightly with the coasts of Malta, Normandy and Portugal on which the investigations will be focused, despite significant risk issues present there, as evidenced from a series of accidents and damages recorded after landslide events. The aims of the project will be pursued through multidisciplinary investigations which foresee geomorphological and engineering-geological approaches. Integrated avant-garde research techniques, both traditional and innovative, will be applied with special reference to mapping, monitoring and modelling of coastal instability phenomena. The final objective is to propose a method for coastal multi-hazard assessment that can be used to face and manage coastal hazards.Au cours des dernières années, l'intérêt pour les risques côtiers a augmenté de manière significative en raison d'événements extrêmes, parfois liés au changement climatique, qui se produisent fréquemment dans différentes parties du monde, induisant souvent des situations à haut risque. Le présent document décrit les objectifs, les perspectives et les résultats préliminaires d'un projet de recherche intitulé "Littoral en danger: Méthodes d'évaluation multi-dangers" qui vise à fournir des connaissances utiles à l'atténuation de l'instabilité côtière. Le projet est géré par le Centre européen sur les risques géomorphologiques (Centre Européen sur les Risques Geomorphologiques, CERG) et financé par l'Accord sur les risques majeurs EUR-OPA. Les enquêtes sont axées sur les glissements de terrain côtiers en trois morpho-climatiques environnements européens différents: Malte (côte méditerranéenne), Basse-Normandie (côte de la Manche) et le Portugal (Central côte atlantique). Les résultats de la recherche sont censés fournir une occasion importante de discussion scientifique basée sur la comparaison des données concernant les situations d'instabilité dans le contexte de l'évaluation multi-risques. Ce dernier a jusqu'à présent traité légèrement avec les côtes de Malte, de la Normandie et au Portugal où les enquêtes seront axés, en dépit des problèmes importants de risque présents là-bas, comme en témoigne une série d'accidents et de dommages enregistrées après des glissements de terrain. Les objectifs du projet seront poursuivis à travers des enquêtes multidisciplinaires qui prévoient des approches géomorphologiques et géotechniques. Techniques de recherche d'avant-garde intégrés, à la fois traditionnels et innovants, seront appliquées avec une référence particulière à la cartographie, la surveillance et la modélisation des phénomènes d'instabilité côtières. L'objectif final est de proposer une méthode d'évaluation multi-risques côtiers qui peut être utilisé pour faire face et gérer les risques côtiers

Characterization of elements at risk in the multirisk coastal context and at different spatial scales: Multi-database integration (Normandy, France).

(IF 3.07 [2018]; Q1)International audienceIn risk analyses, two components are taken into account: (1) hazard analysis, including susceptibility and temporal occurrence, and (2) consequence analysis, including characterization of elements at risk (EaRs) and their vulnerability. This study focused on characterization of EaRs, in which items are spatially displayed and impacted by natural events. Several methods can assess these EaRs through expert or engineering approaches. Among the expert approaches, the multicriteria method is more flexible and allows integration of a wide range of information in order to characterize and discretize different EaRs. Traditionally, the mapping and criteria accuracy of EaRs is the same at all spatial analysis scales, while the hazard accuracy changes according to the spatial scales. Therefore, we propose an approach based on the selection of different information/criteria among several private or open access multiple geographical databases to adapt the mapping and criteria accuracy of each EaR according to the hazard analysis spatial scale. After harmonizing the different databases and merging them under GIS, a single database per work scale is created through a specific procedure with interoperability of results between scales. Thus, the number of criteria used to describe these EaRs will depend on the scale of work and the spatial scale of the analysis. To develop and test the transposability of this method, three experimental coastal study sites subject to several hazards (multirisk) have been selected in Normandy (France) with error estimations ranging between 10% and 20%. Subsequently, these data can be integrated into risk and multirisk analyses

Condemned to rootlessness: the loyalist origins of Canada's identity crisis

Few observers have sought to explain why French Canadians, Metis and even Anglo‐Americans developed a sense of indigenous ethnicity while English‐Canadians failed to do the same. Fewer still have sought to connect this to the national ‘identity crisis’ often mentioned in the discourse of English‐speaking Canada. This article asserts that English Canada's perception of a ‘Canadian’ identity crisis is really an English‐Canadian one which has its roots in English Canada's Loyalist ethnic core. In contrast to most nations, English Canada never developed an indigenous ethnic core. Instead, its ‘non‐ethnic’ identity, from its Loyalist beginnings, remained split. On one side was a repressed American folk culture, which outsiders used to recognize the English‐Canadians. On the other was an exalted set of British myths, symbols and narratives, to which English‐Canadians attached themselves. The pattern of English‐Canadian cultural history is therefore unsurprising: it involves a tension between American and British influence, with seemingly no exit. Thus the ‘Canadians’, deprived of a distinct founding people, were, from the beginning, ‘condemned to rootlessness’