Résumé Congo est un recueil poétique d’Alain Mabanckou qui oscille entre heurs et malheurs, entre espoir et désespoir, entre drame et renaissance du Congo. Ce recueil compte trois poèmes inégalement répartis : « Du lecteur congolais » (3 pages) ; « Du Voyage au Congo » (2 pages) et enfin « Curriculum Vitae » (65 pages). Ce dernier poème charrie autant de souvenirs douloureux sur l’histoire politique et sociale du Congo-Brazzaville natal de l’auteur. Au-delà de ces troubles politiques, « Curriculum Vitae » est un poème d’espérance. Les réalités du Congo sont dépeintes dans son poème par une double voix : un narrateur en nous (qui exprime un sujet collectif) et un narrateur en « je » (exprimant un sujet individuel). Cette réflexion a montré que le sujet collectif (nous) vit dans un drame, mais le sujet « je » individuel porte l’espoir du Congo.

Anaemia is a global public health problem that particularly affects pregnant women and children. Anaemia during pregnancy has harmful consequences for the health of both mother and foetus. However, little is known about the risk factors for targeted interventions. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and factors associated with anaemia in pregnant women in the central region of Burkina Faso at the time of the malaria peak and the period of food availability. An analytical cross-sectional study was carried out on 159 pregnant women attending for initial antenatal care between October and January 2022. Sociodemographic, obstetrical, nutritional and biological data were collected. Anaemia was defined as a haemoglobin concentration of less than 11 g/dl. The Chi-square test and bivariate analysis were used to identify factors associated with anaemia during pregnancy. The study revealed a prevalence of anaemia of around 60%. The majority of pregnant women suffered from moderate anaemia (51.06%) and mild anaemia (47.88%). The prevalence of malaria was 8.8%, with 71.43% of women being anaemic. With regard to nutritional status, 11.88% of women had a brachial circumference less than 230 mm and 52.2% had an acceptable dietary diversity score. The majority of women (91.67%) with inadequate nutritional status were anaemic. Anaemia was significantly associated with young age (OR = 3.337, 95% CI: 1.190 - 9.353, p = 0.017), low educational level (OR = 3.48, 95% CI: 1.512 - 8.025, p = 0.003). It was also associated with low consumption of vegetables/fruit rich in Vit A (OR = 2.433, 95% IC = 1.13 - 5.21, p = 0.02) and other fruits (OR = 2.362, 95% IC = 1.17 - 4.76, p = 0.015). The prevalence of anaemia during pregnancy was high in this study. It is timely to focus on effective antenatal care and to improve nutritional counselling. Better maternal education about anaemia during antenatal consultations could reduce the prevalence of anaemia and mitigate the harmful consequences for the mother and new born.

Taro leaf blight is considered the most destructive disease affecting taro worldwide. In the Sudanian climatic zone of Burkina Faso, the disease has led to a consistent decline in taro production over recent years. Aims: The current research study was aimed to determine the incidence and the severity of taro leaf blight in various taro fields in three provinces of the sudanian climate zone. Methodology: Plant growing conditions were assessed in 27 fields. Data on healthy and diseased plants, and leaves per plant, were collected within 64 m² quadrats. Disease incidence was the percentage of infected plants per field. Severity was rated on a 12-point scale (0–11) and converted to percentage of affected leaf area, averaged over 10 plants per field. Infestation intensity was calculated as the ratio of infected to total leaves per plant. Place and Duration of Study: Surveys were conducted in fields across the provinces of Houet, Kénédougou, and Comoé between June and July 2021. Results: Phytophthora colocasiae was morphologically identified from diseased taro samples based on the shape of sporangia, mycelial structure, colony characteristics, and the presence of chlamydospores, revealing morphological variability. The results showed that the disease was widespread across all three surveyed provinces, with notable differences in severity. The local variety Tabouchi, which is highly susceptible to leaf blight, was found in 88.88% of the surveyed fields. In contrast, the exotic variety BL/SM/120, known for its higher tolerance to the disease, was grown by only a minority of farmers. Disease incidence and intensity exceeded 50% in all provinces, with Kénédougou recording the highest severity (31.85%), followed by Houet (20.21%), and Comoé with the lowest (13.80%). Conclusion: These results indicate that leaf blight constrains taro cultivation in these provinces. They also lay the groundwork for developing effective control strategies to safeguard taro production in the Sudanian climate zone of Burkina Faso.

Due to a lack of resources, the diagnosis of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a challenge in Burkina Faso and West Africa, making MRSA surveillance difficult. In our study, we included 33 beta-lactam resistant S. aureus isolates from the Ouagadougou region which we further tested for susceptibility to cefoxitin using standard methods.Isolates resistant to cefoxitin were further investigated using Chrom MRSA ID® agar medium. In addition, genetic determinants including the mecA gene and SCCmec cassettes were searched using conventional PCR. Fourteen isolates (42.42%) were resistant to cefoxitin, out of which six (18.18%) tested positive when using the Chrom MRSA ID ® agar medium. Six S. aureus isolates (18.18%) tested positive for mecA, and seven (21.21%) tested positive for the SCCmec IVa cassette. This study described circulating MRSA in the city of Ouagadougou. These MRSA harbor mecA resistance genes and SCCmec IVa cassettes.

Uncontrolled urbanizations, combined with lack of management strategies in low-income countries, have raised big concern about the sustainability of urban centers, particularly in West Africa. The increasing human pressures, climate variability, and inconsistency of policies have exacerbated the urban crisis in West Africa. For this reason, we have updated the reviews of potential threats in urban environments, including water bodies, and addressed holistic approaches for successful integrated management of urban centers. To do so, the method used in the study is based on a detailed tracking of specific keywords in the literature using Google Scholar, ResearchGate, Academia.edu, ScienceDirect, and Scopus. Based on recent relevant literatures, we have conceptualized knowledge on pressures in urban areas and their interactions with their relationships to water quality. We found that urban centers in West Africa are under severe threats, including water contamination by faecal and heavy metals, physical environment degradation by waste dumps resulting in smelling waters and undesirable air, and soiled vegetables. The results also showed that microbiological contamination in vegetables and water columns largely exceeded the reference standards. Therefore, following the conceptual framework of building a new paradigm, including policy implementation, creating a new urban landscape design through well adapted urban engineering and integrated water management, good management of municipal waste, and educating citizens about environmental responsibility are crucial for long-terms sustainability of urban centers. This research outputs may help to increase awareness and state-of-the-art development of suitable cities for the well-being of the population in Burkina Faso.

Résumé La santé est considérée aujourd’hui comme un bien faisant l’objet de marchandage. Nonobstant cet état de fait, une controverse existe sur les méthodes et les techniques de sa vente. Une des formes la plus critiquée est la corruption et autres pratiques assimilées des actes de soins dans les services publics de santé. L’objectif de cette recherche est de faire un état des lieux du phénomène et de ses conséquences, sur la qualité du service public de santé et des relations soignants – soignés dans les structures sanitaires publiques dans la ville de Bobo-Dioulasso. La démarche de recherche est fondée sur les principes des devis mixtes simultanés avec triangulation. Elle a consisté à réaliser une enquête par questionnaire et des entretiens individuels semi-directifs auprès des soignants, des soignés, des autorités sanitaires et des responsables des organisations professionnelles des travailleurs de la santé. Des résultats, il ressort que 24,4% des bénéficiaires de soins au moment de l’enquête ont affirmé avoir été victimes d’actes de corruption et 76,8% des agents de santé interrogés perçoivent cette réalité qui du reste, impacte entre autres : les recettes des structures sanitaires et le niveau de satisfaction des soignés sur les soins médicaux qui leur sont offerts. En outre, la corruption et autres pratiques assimilées induisent des conflits dans les relations de soins en raison d’un traitement supposé inéquitable entre les malades.

Today, many countries around the world, particularly in Africa, are experiencing post-election difficulties due to unexpected election results. This sometimes provokes protests and revolt among the population. To overcome this major problem, several voting systems have been developed in the literature, but some of them are not lacking in shortcomings. It was with this in mind that the voting method based on the evaluation of the mean deviation was born. It's a voting system that seems to be appreciated because it respects a certain number of fundamental properties of a ranking method. On the other hand, we note in the literature that it is only applicable to small-scale data with an insignificant number of candidates and voters. For this reason, we set ourselves the goal of implementing this method in order to extend its use to large-scale problems. Thus, we proposed the computer program using python software, which takes as input the scores assigned to the candidates by each voter and displays as output the best candidate. To do this, we built sub-programs such as median, arithmetic mean and mean-spread functions, each of which plays an effective role in selecting the best candidate. We then studied the algorithmic time complexity theoretically, then graphically, and ended by applying our computer program to several voting examples containing a very large number of candidates and voters. Numerous applications enabled us to observe that, whatever the size of the data, we always obtained a conclusive and satisfactory result with polynomial-type time complexity.

The evolution of 5G New Radio (NR) technology offers unprecedented speeds, ultra-low latency, and the capability to connect billions of devices. However, these advancements come with significant challenges, particularly in managing interference during uplink communication. This study presents a comprehensive investigation into the optimization of 5G NR uplink performance by focusing on two critical channels: the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) and the Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH). The research explores the impact of intra-cell and inter-cell interference on these channels, highlighting how various User Equipment (UE) and cell configuration parameters influence performance. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as Block Error Rate (BLER) and Correct Detection Rate (CDR) are utilized to assess the effectiveness of proposed interference management strategies. Through rigorous simulations and empirical evaluations, the study provides valuable insights into optimizing 5G NR networks, aiming to enhance the robustness and reliability of uplink communication in diverse interference scenarios. The findings underscore the importance of adaptive resource allocation and interference mitigation techniques in achieving superior network performance and quality of service (QoS).

The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of orientation on the thermal comfort of bioclimatic buildings in general, and in particular those built with compressed earth blocks. A first experimental study confirmed that compressed earth blocks have good thermal inertia, and made it possible to determine the number of annual hours of thermal comfort in the room. The results showed a thermal phase shift of 6 hours with a temperature difference of 10°C between the outside and the inside of the room, for an annual total of 4788 hours of comfort (54.65%) compared to 2158 hours of discomfort (49.80%), with a hygrothermal index (HIT) of 1.6 and an annual cooling requirement of 753.55 kWh. Subsequently, dynamic thermal simulations (DTS) carried out on different orientations made it possible to optimize the thermal comfort and energy consumption of the premises studied. The NORTHEAST and SOUTH-EAST orientation of the facades, with the two windows of the premises, made it possible to achieve 78.1% thermal comfort, or 6833 hours, a HIT of 0.5 and an annual power requirement of cooling of 523.78 kWh. Finally, similar work was carried out to propose optimal orientations for bioclimatic buildings in the three climatic zones of Burkina Faso.

This study was designed to assess the antimicrobial properties of the paired combinations of the essential oils (EOs) of Cymbopogon citratus, Cymbopogon giganteus, and Lippia multiflora on Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli in roselle and tamarind drinks. The chemical composition of the EOs was characterized by GC-MC and GC-FID. The microdilution and checkerboard methods were used to assess antimicrobial activities and interactions of the EOs, respectively. The three EOs mainly consisted of oxygenated monoterpenes followed by monoterpene hydrocarbons. The three paired combinations of EOs exhibited synergetic effects against the three bacteria strains in the tamarind water extract and against E. coli in the roselle water extract. The combination of EOs decreased MIC values from 0.5 to 1333 folds. These results showed that paired combinations of the EOs of this study can be used as preservatives in roselle and tamarind water extracts.