The 21st Annual Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Virology Association

Nestled within the Rocky Mountain National Forest, 114 scientists and students gathered at Colorado State University’s Mountain Campus for this year’s 21st annual Rocky Mountain National Virology Association meeting. This 3-day retreat consisted of 31 talks and 30 poster presentations discussing advances in research pertaining to viral and prion diseases. The keynote address provided a timely discussion on zoonotic coronaviruses, lessons learned, and the path forward towards predicting, preparing, and preventing future viral disease outbreaks. Other invited speakers discussed advances in SARS-CoV-2 surveillance, molecular interactions involved in flavivirus genome assembly, evaluation of ethnomedicines for their efficacy against infectious diseases, multi-omic analyses to define risk factors associated with long COVID, the role that interferon lambda plays in control of viral pathogenesis, cell-fusion-dependent pathogenesis of varicella zoster virus, and advances in the development of a vaccine platform against prion diseases. On behalf of the Rocky Mountain Virology Association, this report summarizes select presentations.

The Contestability of Resolutions of an Inter-Municipal Association Meeting

The objective of local government administration, and therefore the objective of each local government unit is to perform public tasks of local importance, the implementation of which is each time connected with meeting the current, continuous needs of local communities. Most of the tasks connected with satisfying public needs are to be performed by the commune as the basic local government unit. The legislator expressed it in the content of Art. 6 of the Act of 8 March 1990 on Local Government, stating that the scope of a municipality’s activity includes all public matters of local importance, not reserved by the Acts for the benefit of other entities, additionally, unless the Acts provide otherwise, it is up to the municipality to resolve these matters. As a rule, the tasks are performed by the municipality’s own “means and forces”. However, the legislator has provided for the possibility of cooperation and collaboration between the municipalities, which is facilitated by the establishment of inter-municipal associations, as stipulated in Art. 64 of the Act on Local Government. A form of externalisation of the activity of an inter-municipal association is the adoption of resolutions by the assembly of an inter-municipal association. The study also analyzes the modes of appealing against the association’s assembly’s resolutions.

Still Asking ‘What Works’: A Punishment Question for the Ages or an Aging Punishment Question?

The expectation that punishment be effective at controlling crime is a longstanding convention in the U.S., and no doubt elsewhere. While the history of American punishment has not been shaped entirely by the question of efficacy, it has played a predominant role in justifying penal policy for over 200 years. The question has become even more salient in policy decision-making of late, as research has begun to certify and consolidate findings on what is effective at reducing recidivism. What is lacking in this ongoing conversation, however, is a critique of this penal policy question and the answers it generates in the form of recidivism rates. The current paper fills this void by interrogating the claims of the evaluation literature, namely that better proof of what is effective is available and that more research is still needed. The questions and findings of 19th, 20th, and 21st Century seekers of what is effective in the American adult penal system are recounted and analyzed using several data sources. They include government reports, professional association meeting minutes, legislative documents, scholarly reports, individual studies, research reviews, and statistical analysis of systematic reviews. Ultimately, an overarching narrative is provided that deepens and challenges our understanding of what is known about what is effective.

Canadian Rheumatology Association Meeting, Virtual Congress, February 24 – 26, 2021

The 75th Annual Meeting of The Canadian Rheumatology Association was held virtually on February 24-26, 2021. The program consisted of presentations covering original research, symposia, awards, and lectures.

Dying in Dimapur

This chapter examines living and dying in Dimapur as a place-making practice. The ambiguities of belonging emerge in death, as relatives want the bodies sent back to ancestral villages. In this sense, Dimapur remains a migrant city where a sense of impermanence always dwells among the numerous tribal residents settled here. Increasing numbers of Nagas living in Dimapur are not associated with their ancestral villages in their everyday lives. Yet, conversation about dying in the city presents a compelling portrait of tribal alienation, exclusion, and disenchantments of modern living. The chapter explores death in different locations and sites within the city, from a tribal women’s association meeting, to reflections on an NSCN-IM leader’s funeral, to the memorial schools and parks (dedicated to the deceased) that have been built across the city, to the philosophy and life-story of one of the city’s coffin-makers.