Counter-mobilization against child marriage reform in Africa

Legislating a minimum age of marriage at 18 has stirred counter-mobilization in some, but not all, countries where religious or traditional institutions enjoy constitutional authority. To explore differences between states regarding likelihood of counter-mobilization, we investigate two cases in Africa. In Sudan, a government-led child marriage reform initiative has sparked counter-mobilization by conservative religious actors, while a similar initiative in Zambia has not caused visible counter-mobilization among traditional groups and has gained the support of many chiefs. With the literature on doctrinal gender status issues as theoretical background, we argue that the nature of law-codified versus living-is a factor in these distinct trajectories. We further identify variations in two mechanisms, legal power structure (centralized vs decentralized) and type of political battle (interpretation vs administration), that link nature of law to variation in the likelihood of counter-mobilization

Detecting flu outbreaks based on spatiotemporal information from urban systems - designing a novel study

This paper explores the application of real-time spatial information from urban transport systems to understand the outbreak, severity and spread of seasonal flu epidemics from a spatial perspective. We believe that combining travel data with epidemiological data will be the first step to develop a tool to predict future epidemics and to better understand the effects that these outbreaks have on societal functions over time. Real-time data-streams provide a powerful, yet underutilised tool when it comes to monitoring and detecting changes to the daily behaviour of inhabitants. In this paper, we describe and discuss the design of the geospatial project, in which we will draw upon data sources available from the Norwegian cities of Oslo and Bergen. Historical datasets from public transport and road traffic will serve as an initial indication of whether changes in daily transport patterns corresponds to seasonal flu data. It is expected that changes in daily transportation habits corresponds to swings in daily and weekly flu activity and that these differences can be measured through geostatistical analysis. Conceptually one could be able to monitor changes in human behaviour and activity in nearly true time by using indicators derived from outside the clinical health services. This type of more up-to-date and geographically precise information could contribute to earlier detection of flu outbreaks and serve as background for implementing tailor-made emergency response measures over the course of the outbreaks.publishedVersio

Host Restrictions of Avian Influenza Viruses: <i>In Silico</i> Analysis of H13 and H16 Specific Signatures in the Internal Proteins

<div><p>Gulls are the primary hosts of H13 and H16 avian influenza viruses (AIVs). The molecular basis for this host restriction is only partially understood. In this study, amino acid sequences from Eurasian gull H13 and H16 AIVs and Eurasian AIVs (non H13 and H16) were compared to determine if specific signatures are present only in the internal proteins of H13 and H16 AIVs, using a bioinformatics approach. Amino acids identified in an initial analysis performed on 15 selected sequences were checked against a comprehensive set of AIV sequences retrieved from Genbank to verify them as H13 and H16 specific signatures. Analysis of protein similarities and prediction of subcellular localization signals were performed to search for possible functions associated with the confirmed signatures. H13 and H16 AIV specific signatures were found in all the internal proteins examined, but most were found in the non-structural protein 1 (NS1) and in the nucleoprotein. A putative functional signature was predicted to be present in the nuclear export protein. Moreover, it was predicted that the NS1 of H13 and H16 AIVs lack one of the nuclear localization signals present in NS1 of other AIV subtypes. These findings suggest that the signatures found in the internal proteins of H13 and H16 viruses are possibly related to host restriction.</p></div