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Judicial independence versus judicial impartiality: A comparative approach
Get PDFThis thesis focuses on the relationship between the principles of judicial independence and judicial impartiality and how these concepts have been channelled and applied in the Egyptian judiciary. It approaches the subject, using a comparative methodology, by discussing how the essence, elements, institutional mechanisms, threats, and aspects of independence and impartiality have been channelled and interpreted in some designated international, regional, and national judicial courts and tribunals, as well as in the literature and textbooks.
While judicial independence and judicial impartiality are familiar concepts as cornerstones of ‘good’ judicial administration, the precise range, distinguishing features, and inter-relationship between the two principles are not entirely clear. It is worthy of exploration whether an independent yet partial bench can be sufficient to secure a fair trial and public confidence in the judicial system and also whether an impartial bench without independence can do the same.
Therefore, this thesis aims to answer the question of how different these two principles are from each other. A second question subsequently arises of whether independence is an indispensable condition for impartiality. The present study seeks to find a clear distinction between judicial independence and judicial impartiality and, if such a distinction exists, to determine, as a third question, what is truly needed – independence, impartiality, or both – and which principle should be prioritised over the other.
With Egypt as a case study, one of the first ancient civilisations to incorporate both principles into its judicial system, this study draws attention to the historical roots of the application of independence and impartiality in the ancient Egyptian judiciary. This historical background enriches the study with a solid basis to examine and compare how the principles have been channelled, applied, and interpreted in the modern Egyptian judicial system and the stumbling blocks that they face and also what possible solutions and recommendations could be to have an efficient independent and impartial judiciary in Egypt that secures a fair trial and public confidence in the judicial system
The UK pay transparency regulations: apparent transparency without accountability?
Get PDFThe UK enacted its first legal measure to address gender pay inequity, the Equal Pay Act 1970, more than 50 years ago. Yet, in 2021, the Gender Pay Gap (GPG) still stood at 15.4%. Departing from the remedial and individual approach that characterises equal pay legislation, the 2017 Gender Pay Gap Information Regulations (‘the Regulations’) require private and voluntary sector organisations with 250+ employees to annually publish pay data broken down by gender. The long-term aspiration of the Regulations is to contribute to closing the GPG within a generation but it is also hoped that they will encourage employers to change workplace policies to reduce organisational GPG (immediate aims) and improve employers' accountability (underlying aim). This article considers if the Regulations have what it takes to meet those immediate and underlying aims. Our assessment framework is built on the premise that for public disclosure to be useful and for employers to tackle the causes of the GPG, the information reported must be of sufficient quality, meaningful and relevant. The article draws on both doctrinal analysis and empirical data reported by FTSE 100 Index companies to assess the Regulations and determine if they hold the potential to meet those aims
Identification of a new class of proteasome inhibitors based on a naphthyl-azotricyclic-urea-phenyl scaffold
Get PDFProteasomes play an important role in protein degradation and regulation of many cellular pathways by maintaining protein balance. Inhibitors of the proteasome disrupt this balance affecting proteins that are key in malignancies and as such have found applications in the treatment of multiple myeloma and mantle cell lymphoma. However, resistance mechanisms have been reported for these proteasome inhibitors including mutations at the β5 site which necessitates the constant development of new inhibitors. In this work, we report the identification of a new class of proteasome inhibitors, polycyclic molecules bearing a naphtyl-azotricyclic-urea phenyl scaffold, from screening of the ZINC library of natural products. The most potent of these compounds showed evidence of dose dependency though proteasome assays with IC50 values in the low micromolar range and kinetic analysis revealed competitive binding at the β5c site with an estimated inhibition constant, Ki 1.15μΜ. Inhibition was also shown for the β5i site of the immunoproteasome at levels similar to the constitutive proteasome. Structure activity relationship studies identified the naphthyl substituent to be crucial for activity and modelling studies attributed this to enhanced hydrophobic interactions within β5c. Further to this, halogen substitution within the naphthyl ring enhanced activity and allowed for π-π interactions with Y169 in β5c and Y130 and F124 in β5i. Combined these data highlight the importance of hydrophobic and halogen interactions in β5 binding and assist in the design of next generation inhibitors of the proteasome
Adapt or Die? The Council of Europe seeks new ideas to address ‘seismic change’
No full textThe year 2022 will be remembered as one of ‘terrible violence and seismic change in Europe’, in the words of the High Level Reflection Group (HLRG) established by the Council of Europe to consider the organisation’s future and how best to protect its ‘common heritage’ of respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Will 2023 be the year that the Council of Europe reinvents itself to meet the challenges posed not only by Russia’s barbarous invasion of Ukraine but also systemic threats such as creeping authoritarianism and the climate emergency?
This is the organisation’s ambition in calling a summit of heads of state and government on 16-17 May in Reykjavik. Unlike previous reform initiatives, the agenda for the summit focuses not on the European Court of Human Rights alone, but on the entire Council of Europe, and conveys a level of urgency and openness to change not seen for the past 25 years.
The Council of Europe has issued a public call for ideas, inviting input from international organisations, national human rights institutions, civil society organisations, academics, human rights defenders and others. Below, we outline how the Council of Europe reached this point and the likely agenda for the summit. The deadline for submissions is imminent – 20 February – and the need for radical thinking has never been greater
Natural flood management: Opportunities to implement nature‐based solutions on privately owned land
Get PDFThe implementation of Natural Flood Management (NFM), as an example of a nature‐based solution (NbS), is promoted as a risk reduction strategy to support sustainable flood risk management and climate change adaptation more widely. Additionally, as an NbS, NFM aims to provide further multiple benefits, such as increased biodiversity and improved water quality as well as improved mental health. The implementation of NbS often needs private‐owned or managed land, yet can create conflicts between the different stakeholders which can undermine the social consensus required for successful implementation. Consequently, a main question is how the multiple benefits and requirements of NFM can be delivered to meet the different goals of the wide variety of stakeholders who must be involved. This article discusses the challenges and potential of implementing NFM as an alternative to the traditional technical mitigation measures in flood risk management. We outline four opportunities in the implementation of NFM: physical conditions of the catchment, social interaction, financial resources, and institutional setting. Their importance is then demonstrated and compared to different examples across the globe. Nevertheless, the core drivers reflect the social interaction and institutional setting and the role of stakeholders in the successful implementation of NFM
BRICS countries' annual intergovernmental declaration: why does it matter for world politics?
Get PDFAt their yearly summit, the bloc of the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) countries issues an annual intergovernmental declaration. While these declarations are scrutinised for challenges they allegedly represent for global affairs, how they self-construct a positive representation about their global purpose is little studied. Notably, there is insufficient examination of the political deliberations behind the statements among the five different countries. By conducting a thematic content analysis based on coding content of the first ten intergovernmental declarations from 2009 to 2018, it is found that BRICS countries speak positively of their cooperative role to solve world problems without mentioning any internal disagreement. In parallel, they present Western institutions negatively in their communication strategy. An absence of deliberations does not imply an apolitical discourse. On the contrary, it can be a deliberate political communication strategy especially among the five different countries aiming to showcase alignment about their purpose in world politics
Ratio data: understanding pitfalls and knowing when to standardise
Get PDFRatios represent a single-value metric but consist of two component parts: a numerator variable and a denominator variable. Strictly speaking, a ratio is defined as: “the quantitative relation between two amounts showing the number of times one value contains or is contained by another”. When we discuss symmetry in sport science, we are generally comparing values of some metric between left and right sides or between agonist and antagonist muscles. The typical practice is to express the comparison as a ratio (differences are also a way of standardizing under different assumptions), such as the injured limb having only 60% of the strength of the uninjured limb. Conceptually though, we are using the ratio as one way to standardize the value of one variable with respect to another. Despite their common use, the interpretation of ratio standardisation, whether for symmetry or other reasons, often provides challenges, some of which are not always obvious to practitioners. Typically, when monitoring a change in ratios, if an intervention affects both the numerator and denominator, there will likely be challenges in interpreting the ratio appropriately. Therefore, the aim of this editorial is to use some examples to highlight when using this form of standardisation may be helpful, and when using it can lead to misinterpretations
Carbon deficit checks in high resolution and compensation under regional inequity
Get PDFCarbon compensation is an effective way of reducing carbon emissions. However, previous studies in this field have been limited and have not examined high-precision scientific carbon compensation under regional inequity. The present study examined initial carbon compensation in the grid and developed a new equitable carbon compensation model. Additionally, it modified the carbon compensation value for each province and analysed how land-use change affected carbon compensation. The results show that, after the modification, the entire carbon deficit reached 17.34 × 10 t C in 2015, representing a decrease of 14% compared with the initial carbon deficit. The area with negative carbon deficit values accounted for 36% of the whole area, concentrated mainly in the south, southwest and northwest. Without modification, the initial carbon compensation reached 537 × 10 USD, and only Yunnan, Sichuan and Hainan provinces being eligible to receive compensation. The final modified carbon compensation was approximately 20% of the initial values, and 11 provinces were eligible to obtain compensation. The other provinces responsible for paying the carbon compensation costs were typically concentrated in Central and Eastern China. Land-use changes in 2015 led to increases in the initial carbon compensation and modified carbon compensation of 3.74 × 10 and 0.13 × 10 USD, respectively. The per-unit land-use change caused greater increases in carbon emissions in China's big cities and the provinces in Central and East China. Some policies, such as macro-control by the central government, diversified forms and patterns of compensation, and auxiliary measures should be formulated/proposed.
[Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Interlimb asymmetries in swimming and their impact on performance: evidence from a scoping review
Get PDFThe objectives of the present review were to: (a) map the studies analyzing bilateral asymmetries in specific (in-water tests) and non-specific (dry-land tests) swimming contexts and (b) investigate the effects of inter-limb asymmetries on swimming performance. Searches were systematically conducted on four databases. Out of 768 studies examined, 60 were eligible for the final selection (https://osf.io/46gya). Twenty-eight studies analyzed asymmetries during in-water tests, with asymmetry values ranging from 2.7 to 60.0%, and most studies (n = 18) reported significant between-limb
differences (p 0.05). Eight studies measured asymmetries in both contexts and reported asymmetry values from -24.1 to 17.4%, with four studies finding significant differences between body sides (p < 0.05). Seven of the 60 studies selected investigated the relationship between asymmetries and swimming performance, with five reporting no meaningful associations with swimming performance. In conclusion, significant asymmetries in swimming are more evident during in-water than during dry-land tests. In addition, the few studies investigating asymmetries' influence on swimming performance reported that
asymmetries rarely impact swimming performance
Effective practice in resettlement
Get PDFHM Inspectorate of Probation is committed to reviewing, developing and promoting the evidence base for high-quality probation and youth offending services. Academic Insights are aimed at all those with an interest in the evidence base. We commission leading academics to present their views on specific topics, assisting with informed debate and aiding understanding of what helps and what hinders probation and youth offending services.
This report was kindly produced by Dr Matt Cracknell, reviewing the evidence base on how best to support people as they leave prison and transition back into the community. Six key principles for effective resettlement practice are set out, highlighting the importance of working co-productively as early as possible, maintaining relationships and providing continuity of support, recognising intersectionality, accessing a wide network of community resources, and balancing monitoring and risk management with genuine rehabilitative and reintegrative support. For the principles to be realised, practitioners need to be given the time and resources to adopt an individualised and collaborative approach, and any exclusions that individuals face as they leave custody need to be minimised to enable them to fully integrate into the community