Measuring violence to end violence: mainstreaming gender

Mainstreaming gender into the measurement of violence, in order to assist the development of the theory of change needed to support actions to end violence, is the aim of this paper. It addresses the division between gender-neutral and women-only strategies of data collection that is failing to deliver the quality evidence needed to address the extent and distribution of violence. It develops a better operationalisation of the concepts of gender and violence for purposes of statistical analysis. It produces a check list of criteria to assess the quality of statistics on gendered violence. It assesses the strengths and weakness of surveys linked to two contrasting theoretical perspectives: the Fundamental Rights Agency Survey of Violence against Women; and the Crime Survey for England and Wales. It shows how FRA fails. It shows how the ONS has limited the potential of the CSEW. It offers a solution in: a short questionnaire that is fit for purpose; and ways of analysing data that escape the current polarisation

Untangling the concept of coercive control: Theorizing domestic violent crime

The paper assesses three approaches to domestic violence: two that use the concept of ‘coercive control’ and one that uses ‘domestic violent crime’. These are: Stark’s concept of coercive control; Johnson’s distinction between situational couple violence and intimate terrorism, in which coercive control is confined to the latter; and that of domestic violent crime, in which all physical violence is conceptualised as coercive and controlling. The paper assesses these three approaches on seven issues. It offers original analysis of data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales concerning variations in repetition and seriousness in domestic violent crime. It links escalation in domestic violent crime to variations in the economic resources of the victim. It concludes that the concept of domestic violent crime is preferable to that of coercive control when seeking to explain variations in domestic violence

Is violence increasing or decreasing?: a new methodology to measure repeat attacks making visible the significance of gender and domestic relations

The fall in the rate of violent crime has stopped. This is a finding of an investigation using the Crime Survey for England and Wales, 1994–2014, and an improved methodology to include the experiences of high-frequency victims. The cap on the number of crimes included has been removed. We prevent overall volatility from rising by using three-year moving averages and regression techniques that take account of all the data points rather than point to point analysis. The difference between our findings and official statistics is driven by violent crime committed against women and by domestic perpetrators. The timing of the turning point in the trajectory of violent crime corresponds with the economic crisis in 2008/09

Consultation on high frequency repeat victims in the Crime Survey - our response

The current methodology for handling repeat victimisation in the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) is capping. Repeat victimisations for any series of crimes are capped at maximum of 5 crimes before the data is used to produce crime rate estimates for England and Wales. The new proposals merely shift the level of this cap. Capping produces inaccurate estimates of crime which are systematically biased in specific ways, no matter what level the cap is set at. It is possible to increase the accuracy of crime estimates from the CSEW by deriving them from all reported crimes, and without increasing volatility by utilising three-year rolling averages. A move away from capping to deriving crime estimates based on all reported crimes would increase: relevance, accuracy, clarity, coherence and comparability of crime statistics and would better conform to ONS quality principles. A capping methodology does not conform to these ONS quality principles

The decline in the rate of domestic violence has stopped: removing the cap on repeat victimisation reveals more violence

• The decline in the rate of domestic violence since the mid-1990s has stopped, although violent crime by other perpetrators is still falling • The most reliable data on domestic violence is from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), rather than police recorded crime since there is no statutory category of domestic violence • Official published CSEW data ‘caps’ the maximum number of incidents in a series at 5, so further recorded incidents are not included in official estimates• Analysis of CSEW finds that when the cap is removed there are 60% more violent crimes. • The increase due to removing the cap is concentrated on violent crime against women (70% increase) rather than men (50% increase) and on violent crime by domestic relations (70% increase) and acquaintances (100% increase) rather than by strangers (20% increase)

Diffuse retro-reflective imaging for improved mosquito tracking around human baited bednets

Robust imaging techniques for tracking insects have been essential tools in numerous laboratory and field studies on pests, beneficial insects and model systems. Recent innovations in optical imaging systems and associated signal processing have enabled detailed characterisation of nocturnal mosquito behaviour around bednets and improvements in bednet design, a global essential for protecting populations against malaria. Nonetheless, there remain challenges around ease of use for large scale in situ recordings and extracting data reliably in the critical areas of the bednet where the optical signal is attenuated. Here we introduce a retro-reflective screen at the back of the measurement volume, which can simultaneously provide diffuse illumination, and remove optical alignment issues whilst requiring only one-sided access to the measurement space. The illumination becomes significantly more uniform, although, noise removal algorithms are needed to reduce the effects of shot noise particularly across low intensity bednet regions. By systematically introducing mosquitoes in front and behind the bednet in lab experiments we are able to demonstrate robust tracking in these challenging areas. Overall, the retro-reflective imaging setup delivers mosquito segmentation rates in excess of 90% compared to less than 70% with back-lit systems

The control of viral infection by tripartite motif proteins and cyclophilin A

The control of retroviral infection by antiviral factors referred to as restriction factors has become an exciting area in infectious disease research. TRIM5α has emerged as an important restriction factor impacting on retroviral replication including HIV-1 replication in primates. TRIM5α has a tripartite motif comprising RING, B-Box and coiled coil domains. The antiviral α splice variant additionally encodes a B30.2 domain which is recruited to incoming viral cores and determines antiviral specificity. TRIM5 is ubiquitinylated and rapidly turned over by the proteasome in a RING dependent way. Protecting restricted virus from degradation, by inhibiting the proteasome, rescues DNA synthesis, but not infectivity, indicating that restriction of infectivity by TRIM5α does not depend on the proteasome but the early block to DNA synthesis is likely to be mediated by rapid degradation of the restricted cores. The peptidyl prolyl isomerase enzyme cyclophilin A isomerises a peptide bond on the surface of the HIV-1 capsid and impacts on sensitivity to restriction by TRIM5α from Old World monkeys. This suggests that TRIM5α from Old World monkeys might have a preference for a particular capsid isomer and suggests a role for cyclophilin A in innate immunity in general. Whether there are more human antiviral TRIMs remains uncertain although the evidence for TRIM19's (PML) antiviral properties continues to grow. A TRIM5-like molecule with broad antiviral activity in cattle suggests that TRIM mediated innate immunity might be common in mammals. Certainly the continued study of restriction of viral infectivity by antiviral host factors will remain of interest to a broad audience and impact on a variety of areas including development of animal models for infection, development of viral vectors for gene therapy and the search for novel antiviral drug targets

Inhibition of Shh signalling in the chick wing gives insights into digit patterning and evolution.

In an influential model of pattern formation, a gradient of Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signalling in the chick wing bud specifies cells with three antero-posterior positional values, which give rise to three morphologically different digits by a self-organizing mechanism with Turing-like properties. However, as four of the five digits of the mouse limb are morphologically similar in terms of phalangeal pattern, it has been suggested that self-organization alone could be sufficient. Here, we show that inhibition of Shh signalling at a specific stage of chick wing development results in a pattern of four digits, three of which can have the same number of phalanges. These patterning changes are dependent on a posterior extension of the apical ectodermal ridge, and this also allows the additional digit to arise from the Shh-producing cells of the polarizing region - an ability lost in ancestral theropod dinosaurs. Our analyses reveal that, if the specification of antero-posterior positional values is curtailed, self-organization can then produce several digits with the same number of phalanges. We present a model that may give important insights into how the number of digits and phalanges has diverged during the evolution of avian and mammalian limbs