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Topic Review

Battle of Orgreave

The Battle of Orgreave was a violent confrontation on 18 June 1984 between pickets and officers of the South Yorkshire Police (SYP) and other police forces, including the Metropolitan Police, at a British Steel Corporation (BSC) coking plant at Orgreave, in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. It was a pivotal event in the 1984–1985 UK miners' strike, and one of the most violent clashes in British industrial history. Journalist Alastair Stewart has characterised it as "a defining and ghastly moment" that "changed, forever, the conduct of industrial relations and how this country functions as an economy and as a democracy". Most media reports at the time depicted it as "an act of self-defence by police who had come under attack". In 2015, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) reported that there was "evidence of excessive violence by police officers, a false narrative from police exaggerating violence by miners, perjury by officers giving evidence to prosecute the arrested men, and an apparent cover-up of that perjury by senior officers". Historian Tristram Hunt has described the confrontation as "almost medieval in its choreography ... at various stages a siege, a battle, a chase, a rout and, finally, a brutal example of legalised state violence". 71 picketers were charged with riot and 24 with violent disorder. At the time, riot was punishable by life imprisonment. The trials collapsed when the evidence given by the police was deemed "unreliable". Gareth Peirce, who acted as solicitor for some of the pickets, said that the charge of riot had been used "to make a public example of people, as a device to assist in breaking the strike", while Michael Mansfield called it "the worst example of a mass frame-up in this country this century". In June 1991, the SYP paid £425,000 in compensation to 39 miners for assault, wrongful arrest, unlawful detention and malicious prosecution. Following the 2016 inquest verdict into the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, previously censored documents suggesting links between the actions of senior SYP officers at both incidents were published. This led to renewed calls for a public inquiry to be held into the actions of the police at Orgreave. In October 2016, in an Oral Answer to a Question in the House of Commons, a written ministerial statement to the House of Commons and Lords, and in a letter to the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign (OTJC), Home Secretary Amber Rudd announced there would be no statutory inquiry or independent review. In 2016, Alan Billings, the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, admitted that the SYP had been "dangerously close to being used as an instrument of state". Despite the police evidence subsequently being deemed unreliable in court, there still exists a body of opinion that the police at Orgreave "were upholding the law in the face of intimidation from thousands of strikers".

2.4K
01 Nov 2022

Topic Review

Women of the Wall

Women of the Wall (Hebrew: נשות הכותל, Neshot HaKotel) is a multi-denominational feminist organization based in Israel whose goal is to secure the rights of women to pray at the Western Wall, also called the Kotel, in a fashion that includes singing, reading aloud from the Torah and wearing religious garments (tallit, tefillin and kippah). Pew Research Center has identified Israel as one of the countries that place "high" restrictions on religion, and there have been limits placed on non-Orthodox streams of Judaism. One of those restrictions is that the Rabbi of the Western Wall has enforced gender segregation and limitations on religious garb worn by women. When the "Women of the Wall" hold monthly prayer services for women on Rosh Hodesh, they observe gender segregation so that Orthodox members may fully participate. But their use of religious garb, singing and reading from a Torah have upset many members of the Orthodox Jewish community, sparking protests and arrests. In May 2013 a judge ruled that a 2003 Israeli Supreme Court ruling prohibiting women from carrying a Torah or wearing prayer shawls had been misinterpreted and that Women of the Wall prayer gatherings at the wall should not be deemed illegal. In January 2016, the Israeli Cabinet approved a plan to designate a new space at the Kotel that would be available for egalitarian prayer and which would not be controlled by the Rabbinate. Women of the Wall welcomed the decision, but the plan faced opposition from other factions, including some ultra-Orthodox members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition, who threatened to withdraw over the government's plan to create non-Orthodox prayer space at the Western Wall in deference to the Women of the Wall. In January 2017, the Israeli High Court ruled that if the government of Israel could not find "good cause" to prohibit women reading from the Torah in prayer services at the Kotel within 30 days, women could do so; they also ruled that the Israeli government could no longer argue that the Robinson's Arch area of the plaza is access to the Kotel. The petition for women to read from the Torah at the Kotel had been brought by a group that split off from the Women of the Wall, calling itself the "Original Women of the Wall". In June 2017, it was announced that the plan approved in January 2016 had been suspended. According to Ronit Kampf, the group's struggle has been "the most covered women's issue in the history of the Israeli media."

2.4K
14 Oct 2022

Topic Review

Hydrogen Energy in Russian

Solving production problems in the field of hydrogen energy, as well as ensuring the transportation of hydrogen raw materials with minimal losses, will allow in the foreseeable future to overcome the local scale of its capabilities and bring hydrogen energy to the international level, including replacing traditional gas or using it as a resource. In line with global trends, the development of hydrogen energy in the Russian Federation is taking place.

2.4K
06 Dec 2022

Topic Review

Forgiveness Scale

A forgiveness scale is a psychological test that attempts to measure a person's willingness to forgive. A true definition of forgiveness is debated by many researchers, yet Hargrave suggests that forgiveness refers to releasing resentment towards an offender. Forgiveness is a complex phenomenon which involves cognitive, affective, behavioural, motivational, decisional and interpersonal elements. Forgiveness is thought to be central to human functioning and important in restoring interpersonal relationships. It is an effective intervention to problems caused by anger, depression, drug abuse, guilt and moral development. Due to the different conceptualisations of forgiveness, different scales have been developed to measure the ability in different ways. Examples of forgiveness scales include the Forgiveness scale of the Interpersonal Relationship Resolution Scale; the Marital Offence-Specific Forgiveness Scale; the Workplace Forgiveness Scale; and the Tendency to Forgive scale. Forgiveness can also be measured via methods which are not empirical scales. These may come in the form of biological measures; such as chemical, central and peripheral physiological measures, as well as behavioural measures; and measures of self forgiveness. Studies have found that compared to participants without past suicide attempts, those with past suicide attempts scored on the Forgiveness Scale as being significantly less believing of forgiveness by others, were less likely to forgive themselves, and to a lesser degree, were less forgiving of others.

2.3K
14 Oct 2022

Topic Review

A hot-cold empathy gap is a cognitive bias in which people underestimate the influences of visceral drives on their own attitudes, preferences, and behaviors. The most important aspect of this idea is that human understanding is "state-dependent". For example, when one is angry, it is difficult to understand what it is like for one to be calm, and vice versa; when one is blindly in love with someone, it is difficult to understand what it is like for one not to be, (or to imagine the possibility of not being blindly in love in the future). Importantly, an inability to minimize one's gap in empathy can lead to negative outcomes in medical settings (e.g., when a doctor needs to accurately diagnose the physical pain of a patient), and in workplace settings (e.g., when an employer needs to assess the need for an employee's bereavement leave). Hot-cold empathy gaps can be analyzed according to their direction: They can also be classified in regards to their relation with time (past or future) and whether they occur intra- or inter-personally: The term hot-cold empathy gap was coined by Carnegie Mellon University psychologist George Loewenstein. Hot-cold empathy gaps are one of Loewenstein's major contributions to behavioral economics.

2.3K
04 Nov 2022

Topic Review

Risk Communication

Risk communication is critical to emergency management. Following the message-centered approach or risk communication, the whole communication process for public health emergency is suggested to integrate the accessibility and openness of risk information, the timing and frequency of communication, and the strategies dealing with uncertainties. Based on these principles a simplified Government–Expert–Public risk communication model can illustrate a collaborative network for effective risk communication.

2.3K
30 Oct 2020

Topic Review

Imaging of Cultural Heritage

The imaging of cultural heritage is a necessary part of long term preservation of cultural heritage. While the physical conditions of objects will change over time, imaging serves as a way to document and represent heritage in a moment in time of the life of the item. Different methods of imaging produce results that are applicable in various circumstances. Not every method is appropriate for every object, and not every object needs to be imaged by multiple methods. In addition to preservation and conservation related concerns, imaging can also serve to enhance research and study of cultural heritage.

2.3K
30 Nov 2022

Topic Review

LBRY (/ˈlaɪbrɛri/), is a blockchain-based file-sharing and payment network that powers decentralized platforms, primarily social networks and video platforms. LBRY's creators also created Odysee, an open-source video-sharing website that uses the network, and that was split into a separate company on October 1, 2021. Video platforms built on LBRY, such as Odysee, have been described as decentralized alternatives to YouTube. The company has described Odysee and other platforms it has built utilizing its LBRY protocol as platforms for free speech and lightly moderates content, including removing pornography or the promotion of violence and terrorism.

2.3K
07 Nov 2022

Topic Review

House of Jamalullail (Perak)

The House of Jamalullail of Perak is one of the oldest Syed (Saiyid) clans in Malaysia. It was established in early 16th century when Syed Husain Al Faradz Jamalullail from Hadramaut arrived in Perak to spread Islam. He flourished as an ulama in the state during the reign of Sultan Muzaffar Shah I (1528 - 1549), the first sultan of Perak. According to R.O. Winstedt in his article titled "The Hadramaut Saiyids of Perak and Siak", Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, No. 79 (September 1918), the Sayid family of Perak exercised great influence on the history of Perak from its founding in the 16th century. The Saiyid family acquired the highest state offices, those of Orang Kaya Besar and of Menteri. One of its members, Syed Abu Bakar bin Syed Jalaluddin was made a Bendahara during the reign of Sultan Muzzafar Shah III (1728-1744). The Jamalullails of Perak held the position of the Orang Kaya Menteri six times in the period from the founding of Perak in 1528 until 1862, reflecting the special position given to them. This hereditary tradition in Perak was interrupted upon the death of menteri Syed Usman in 1862, during the reign of Sultan Jaafar Muazzam Shah (Marhum Waliullah) (1857-1865). According to Buyong Adil, "Sejarah Perak", Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kuala Lumpur, (2020:156) this change in tradition was a part solution to ending the Larut Wars of 1861-1862.

2.3K
07 Nov 2022

Topic Review

Allocentrism is a collectivistic personality attribute whereby people center their attention and actions on other people rather than themselves. It is a psychological dimension which corresponds to the general cultural dimension of collectivism. In fact, allocentrics "believe, feel, and act very much like collectivists do around the world." Allocentric people tend to be interdependent, define themselves in terms of the group that they are part of, and behave according to that group’s cultural norms. They tend to have a sense of duty and share beliefs with other allocentrics among their in-group. Allocentric people appear to see themselves as an extension of their in-group and allow their own goals to be subsumed by the in-group’s goals. Additionally, allocentrism has been defined as giving priority to the collective self over the private self, particularly if these two selves happen to come into conflict.

2.3K
04 Nov 2022

Topic Review

The Gracchi brothers, Tiberius and Gaius, were Romans who both served as tribunes of the plebs between 133 and 121 BC. They attempted to redistribute the occupation of the ager publicus— the public land hitherto controlled principally by aristocrats—to the urban poor and veterans, in addition to other social and constitutional reforms. After achieving some early success, both were assassinated by the Optimates, the conservative faction in the senate that opposed these reforms.

2.3K
22 Nov 2022

Topic Review

Self-confrontation Psychology

Self-Confrontation psychology is a technique for examining people's behavior modification. This process can be called Self-Confrontation Method(SCM). It relies on people's inconsistent knowledge and dissatisfaction with their own values, motivation, behaviors, or with their personal systems and those of significant others to make a change that patient needs to change. Self-Confrontation Psychology is based on two theories which are Valuation Theory and Dialogical-Self Theory.

2.3K
03 Nov 2022

Topic Review

Social-Ecological Transformability

Transformability is increasingly promoted as a way of moving societies toward more sustainable futures in the era of the Anthropocene, mostly because the concept of resilience has fallen short in many instances where impacts on social-ecological systems are continuous, varied, and usually unknown. While such transformations can play a crucial role in improving the sustainability of social-ecological systems, they may lead to unexpected and undesirable outcomes.

2.3K
19 Nov 2020

Topic Review

In 18th- and 19th-century Italy, the cicisbeo (Italian pronunciation: [tʃitʃizˈbɛːo]; plural: cicisbei), or cavalier servente (chevalier servant in French), was the professed gallant and perhaps lover in a sexual sense of a married woman, who attended her at public entertainments, to church and other occasions and had privileged access to his mistress. The arrangement is comparable to the Spain cortejo or estrecho and, to a lesser degree, to the France petit-maître. The exact etymology of the word is unknown; some evidence suggests it originally meant "in a whisper" (perhaps an onomatopeic word). Other accounts suggest it is an inversion of bel cece, which means "beautiful chick (pea)". According to OED, the first recorded usage of the term in English was found in a letter by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu dated 1718. The term appears in Italian in Giovanni Maria Muti's "Quaresimale Del Padre Maestro Fra Giovanni Maria Muti De Predicatori" of 1708 (p. 734).

2.3K
22 Nov 2022

Topic Review

Variant Chinese Character

Variant Chinese characters (simplified Chinese: 异体字; traditional Chinese: 異體字; pinyin: yìtǐzì; Kanji: 異体字; Hepburn: itaiji; Korean: 이체자; Hanja: 異體字; Revised Romanization: icheja) are Chinese characters that are homophones and synonyms. Most variants are allographs in most circumstances, such as casual handwriting. Some contexts require the usage of certain variants, such as in textbook editing.

2.2K
29 Nov 2022

Topic Review

Criticisms of Electoral Politics

This article discusses criticisms of political systems, specifically representative democracy and direct democracy, that use elections as a tool for selecting representatives and/or deciding policy through a formal voting process as well as the act of voting itself. While representative democracy (and electoral systems in general) have become the modern civics global-standard, many of the below criticisms describe alternatives that existed before and/or independently of electoral systems. This includes but is not limited to the actions and political movements that stem from anti-electoralism, which describes activism around encouraging people not to vote for ethical or ideological reasons. It is also important to differentiate between criticisms of representative government and elections. Several of the following criticisms can be applied to both; however, the election of representatives and the consequences of the process on accountability of elected officials are the main focuses. This article does not address criticisms of neither "electoralism", the term coined by Terry Karl nor voter suppression, which is the act of discouraging or preventing people from voting in order to influence the outcome of an election in your favor. Criticisms of electoral politics range from cons of specific electoral mechanisms such as legislating by elected officials, initiative, referendum and recall to theoretical opposition to voting. These criticisms are relevant to discussions around electoral reform in both democratizing countries in the less developed world as well as most developed countries that espouse some form of electoral democracy.

2.2K
27 Oct 2022

Topic Review

The hacker culture is a subculture of individuals who enjoy - often in collective effort - the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming the limitations of software systems or electronic hardware (mostly digital electronics), to achieve novel and clever outcomes. The act of engaging in activities (such as programming or other media) in a spirit of playfulness and exploration is termed hacking. However, the defining characteristic of a hacker is not the activities performed themselves (e.g. programming), but how it is done and whether it is exciting and meaningful. Activities of playful cleverness can be said to have "hack value" and therefore the term "hacks" came about, with early examples including pranks at MIT done by students to demonstrate their technical aptitude and cleverness. The hacker culture originally emerged in academia in the 1960s around the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)'s Tech Model Railroad Club (TMRC) and MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Hacking originally involved entering restricted areas in a clever way without causing any major damage. Some famous hacks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were placing of a campus police cruiser on the roof of the Great Dome and converting the Great Dome into R2-D2. Richard Stallman explains about hackers who program: What they had in common was mainly love of excellence and programming. They wanted to make their programs that they used be as good as they could. They also wanted to make them do neat things. They wanted to be able to do something in a more exciting way than anyone believed possible and show "Look how wonderful this is. I bet you didn't believe this could be done." Hackers from this subculture tend to emphatically differentiate themselves from what they pejoratively call "crackers"; those who are generally referred to by media and members of the general public using the term "hacker", and whose primary focus‍—‌be it to malign or for malevolent purposes‍—‌lies in exploiting weaknesses in computer security.

2.2K
20 Oct 2022

Topic Review

Shtrafbats (Russian: штрафбат, штрафной батальон) were Union of Soviet Socialist Republics penal battalions that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. The shtrafbats were greatly increased in number by Joseph Stalin in July 1942 via Order No. 227 (Директива Ставки ВГК №227). Order No. 227 was a desperate effort to re-instill discipline after the panicked routs of the first year of combat with Germany. The order—popularized as the "Not one step back!" (Ни шагу назад!, Ni shagu nazad!) Order—introduced severe punishments, including summary execution, for unauthorized retreats. In his order, Stalin also mentioned Hitler's successful use of penal battalions (known as Strafbataillon) as a means to ensure obedience among regular Wehrmacht units.

2.2K
19 Oct 2022

Topic Review

Relevance (Law)

Relevance, in the common law of evidence, is the tendency of a given item of evidence to prove or disprove one of the legal elements of the case, or to have probative value to make one of the elements of the case likelier or not. Probative is a term used in law to signify "tending to prove." Probative evidence "seeks the truth". Generally in law, evidence that is not probative (doesn't tend to prove the proposition for which it is proffered) is inadmissible and the rules of evidence permit it to be excluded from a proceeding or stricken from the record "if objected to by opposing counsel." A balancing test may come into the picture if the value of the evidence needs to be weighed versus its prejudicial nature.

2.2K
15 Nov 2022

Topic Review

National Herald Scam

The National Herald scam is an ongoing case in a Delhi court filed by Indian economist and politician Subramanian Swamy against politicians Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, their companies and associated persons. As per the complaint filed in the court of the Metropolitan Magistrate, Associated Journals Limited (AJL) took an interest-free loan of ₹90.25 crore (US$13 million) from Indian National Congress. It is alleged that the loan was not repaid. A closely held company, Young Indian, was incorporated in November 2010 with a capital of ₹50 lakh (US$70,000) and it acquired almost all the shareholding of AJL and all its properties (alleged to be worth ₹5,000 crore (US$700 million)). Swamy alleged criminal misappropriation by both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. The courts have determined that a prima face case has been established in the matter.

2.2K
19 Oct 2022

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