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In August 2014,1 arrived in Ferguson, Missouri, to cover the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson. As a young photojournalist, I found myself at the epicenter [...]

An unpublished squeeze from the collection of the École biblique, recording a dedication to the ‘Olympian Gods’ for Hadrian's sōtēria, is here presented in conversation with two closely related inscriptions, recently identified as fakes. The authenticity and provenance of the new object are carefully analysed and discussed and a conclusion cautiously in favour of its genuine antiquity is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines the relationship between war and European Qur'anic studies from the mediaeval period to the nineteenth century. It surveys manuscript sources that bear traces of wartime looting and the work of Muslim captives and converts. It argues that war played a recurring role in European oriental studies, helping to shape its practices, aims, and geography. In their early stages, war contributed to a broader shift in academic oriental studies toward the study of the Qur'an in its multilingual Islamic intellectual contexts. Later, as colonial expansion facilitated access to new sources, illicitly acquired manuscripts, especially early Qur'an fragments, were instrumental for historical scholarship on the Qur'an. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the emergence of new forms of law violations in Latin America during the coronavirus pandemic. Based on data from online news articles, we construct a typology of "new" crimes: (1) hate or fear crimes against health workers and hospitals; (2) illegal denials of public mobility out of fear of infection; (3) looting and other traditional crimes justified by the pandemic; and (4) violations of pandemic regulations. Studies of crime during the pandemic have focused on traditional crime and have been based on rational choice theory and a routine activities approach. We argue that in order to understand the recent crime trends in Latin America, these must be accompanied by other theories of crime, together with a better understanding of the role of the State. Our typology can be a starting point for discussions and further research on the complex relationship between criminal behavior and policy responses in pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the significance of the so-called “lootings” (rabovačky) in Upper Hungary in the autumn of 1918, when receding soldiers and broad sections of the population attacked the representatives of state power and Jewish innkeepers stereotyped as “usurers.” In addition to their anti-Jewish character, their symbolic content, in which revolt against the old order was accompanied by carnivalesque violent mockery of it, is elaborated upon. The greatest attention, however, is paid to the political instrumentalization of the “lootings” on the part of the representatives of the new Czechoslovak state. This instrumentalization ranged from appropriation (albeit hesitant, given their violent nature) to condemnation: the former for the “Czechoslovak revolution” in the post-war years, the latter as a prelude to Bolshevization at the height of the economic crisis in the early 1930s.

The looting of cultural heritage sites has been a growing problem and threatens national economies, social identity, destroys research potential, and traumatizes communities. For many countries, the challenge in protecting heritage is that there are often too few resources, particularly paid site guards, while sites can also be in remote locations. Here, we develop a new approach that applies deep learning methods to detect the presence of looting at heritage sites using optical imagery from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). We present results that demonstrate the accuracy, precision, and recall of our approach. Results show that optical UAV data can be an easy way for authorities to monitor heritage sites, demonstrating the utility of deep learning in aiding the protection of heritage sites by automating the detection of any new damage to sites. We discuss the impact and potential for deep learning to be used as a tool for the protection of heritage sites. How the approach could be improved with new data is also discussed. Additionally, the code and data used are provided as part of the outputs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maladaptive behaviors during a disaster refer to actions that do not benefit the individual or society. Quarantelli highlights several maladaptive behaviors myths associated with disasters: widespread antisocial behavior, passivity, role conflict or abandonment, and sudden widespread mental health breakdowns (1). Despite early work reporting these myths, the common perception is that maladaptive behaviors such as rioting, looting, panic, and criminal conduct are prevalent in the wake of disasters. This is despite research by de Ville de Goyet and Arnold which has called on public officials and the media to stop propagating false disaster myths (2, 3). The classic academic response has been that this is a misconception and that, in fact, such behaviors are a very small part of the overall disaster and are mostly non-existent. Misconceptions about the prevalence of maladaptive behaviors can lead to inappropriate resource allocation, such as allocating extra police officers to prevent looting when the overall crime rate for the most part, decreases during disasters (4). Furthermore, while there are several persistent maladaptive behaviors myths, this is confounded by the presence of actual negative behaviors post disaster: false damage claims, insurance fraud, illegally obtaining relief supplies, failure to provide contracted repair services, hoarding of essential items, psychological trauma (which can lead to intergenerational transmission of the disaster memory) and medications and price gouging (5).When reading lay-press articles about recent disasters, it appears that these behaviors are on the rise. This raises the question: Has there been a change in the basic human reaction to disasters and are maladaptive behaviors on the rise? This review article focuses on case studies from three natural disasters: Hurricanes Hugo and Katrina, and the Haiti Earthquake. The goal of this review article is to evaluate these three natural disasters for evidence of maladaptive behaviors.

The longstanding illicit trafficking of archaeological artefacts has persistently presented a global issue, posing a substantial threat to cultural heritage. This paper introduces an innovative automated system that utilises Natural Language Processing (NLP), Machine Learning (ML), and Social Network Analysis (SNA) to construct a Knowledge Graph for antiquities. The objective is to offer insights into the provenance of artefacts and identify potential instances of illicit trafficking. The paper delineates a comprehensive methodology, from the ontology to the Knowledge Graph. The methodology comprises four distinct phases: the initial phase involves tailoring existing ontologies to match project-specific needs; the second phase centres on selecting appropriate technologies, and scraping and text-mining tools are designed to extract pertinent data from textual sources; the third phase centres in the creation of a robust and accurate Knowledge Graph that captures artefact provenance. The paper suggests employing NLP models, specifically utilising Named Entity Recognition (NER) techniques. These models automatically extract relevant information from the unstructured provenance texts, organising them as events to which both objects and actors participated with their locations and dates. The final phase is concerned with defining and building the Knowledge Graph. The authors explore a property graph model that distinctively represents nodes and relationships, each augmented by associated properties. Employing an SNA approach, the model is projected in multiple network levels of ownership histories (actor-object network) or actor relationships (actor-actor network). This approach reveals patterns within the antiquities market. When integrated with the authors’ recommended strategies such as crowdsourced ontology definition, collaboration with reputable organisations for quality sources, and the application of transfer learning techniques, the suggested approach holds promising implications for the protection of cultural heritage.

This article is an overview of some of the foreign policies implemented regarding cultural heritage protection during wartimes, with specific focus on the Gulf Wars in Iraq and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. This article follows historical examples prior and post-World War II, noting pertinent international laws such as the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. The author also highlights current technological advances that are being implemented to help survey and better understand the destruction of cultural sites. This article argues for an increased focus on cultural heritage protection and preemptive measures that should be put in place by cultural institutions to protect their heritage. Information professionals are stewards of cultural heritage and part of their mission should be disaster-preparedness to best preserve artifacts and heritage sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the significance of the so-called "lootings" (rabovačky) in Upper Hungary in the autumn of 1918, when receding soldiers and broad sections of the population attacked the representatives of state power and Jewish innkeepers stereotyped as "usurers." In addition to their anti-Jewish character, their symbolic content, in which revolt against the old order was accompanied by carnivalesque violent mockery of it, is elaborated upon. The greatest attention, however, is paid to the political instrumentalization of the "lootings" on the part of the representatives of the new Czechoslovak state. This instrumentalization ranged from appropriation (albeit hesitant, given their violent nature) to condemnation: the former for the "Czechoslovak revolution" in the post-war years, the latter as a prelude to Bolshevization at the height of the economic crisis in the early 1930s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The postwar months and years in Central and Eastern Europe were marked by mass migrations caused by border changes, the return of many refugees and former prisoners to their homes, and many peoples' search for new places to settle down in the wake of war. Population movements were often marked by a kind of social vacuum that was frequently characterized by lawlessness, plunder, and violence to which civilians were exposed. This article explores the historical and social processes at play in one case of postwar resettlement through an analysis of over one thousand memoirs written during the first three postwar decades in Poland. The memoirs were collected as part of three competitions held between 1956 and 1970. The analysis focuses on the experiences of migrants settling in western Poland in order to examine the phenomenon of mass robbery in its various forms. From both from an individual and institutional perspective, an exploration of the dynamics of looting reveals the complexity of settlement against the chaotic backdrop of the postwar period. As such, this analysis contributes to the postwar history of Poland and the scholarship on looting that accompanies armed conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, it was aimed to examine geographically the prisoners who were imprisoned for theft, looting and fraud in Turkey between 1990-2020. A multiple linear regression analysis was also conducted in the study, which used quantitative and qualitative research methods. During the specified period, 708,982 people were imprisoned in Turkey for the aforementioned crimes. Accordingly, 20.1% of those imprisoned in Turkey during the 31-year period are those convicted of the crimes stated. Especially after 2011, an increase is observed in the rate of those imprisoned for the crimes stated. As a matter of fact, the annual average of those who were imprisoned for the crimes mentioned in the 9-year period after 2011 (46,972) is almost as much as the population of the Faroe Islands in 2021. In the specified period, 95.38% of the convicts imprisoned for the aforementioned crimes were men and 4.62% were women. In addition, a regression analysis questioning the relationship between the rate of those who were imprisoned for the crimes stated in the study and three independent variables (unemployment rates by province, the ratio of the population of the province to the population of the country, the proportion of people registered in another province's population) was also included. According to the multiple regression analysis, a highly statistically significant relationship was found between the proportion of those registered in the population of another province and those who were imprisoned for the specified crimes. Accordingly, it is possible to say that the more the rate of those who are registered to the population of other provinces increases, the more the rate of those who are imprisoned for the crimes stated increases. This shows that theft, plunder and fraud crimes are most easily committed in cosmopolitan provinces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on identifying the legal implications of archaeological heritage in relation to the practices of looting, locally known as "huaquería", and collecting in the Sigsig canton, Ecuador; with emphasis on tenure, education, and the intention of constituting spaces for the exhibition of objects. The inhabitants of this Andean region assign to the past and its materiality a series of links and imaginaries that are manifested in the discourse, which in turn is replicated in the localities as "official history." The problem is based on the contradictory relationship between the legal norm and the socio-cultural context of the people living in archaeological areas, which generates the destruction of sites and, therefore, makes it impossible to generate stories framed in disciplinary knowledge. The methodology used was based on social cartography, talking maps, and interviews with some local actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]