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Obsessive encounters
No full textThis article is about travel as transgression, pilgrimage and fetish. It bases on empirical research conducted by the authors at now-closed sites of transgressive party tourism in El Arenal on the island of Mallorca. Constructions of transgression and lostness are seen as being complex: Getting lost while traveling is regarded as part of the scripted confusion in the tourist zone. We therefore investigate the noise in the beer halls as opportunities for the tourists to create meaning in situations when one does not know how to articulate oneself properly. Instead of leading to destruction, the lack of ordered language, we argue, serves the reification of order. Through the production of ambiguity and meaning, community could be created. Despite the abrupt halt of the tourism industry due to the pandemic in 2020, this need for ritual transgression and community making did not disappear. By its unavailability, the outcry for the rituals became even more channeled on digital platforms. Soon, products were sold online that should help to replace those which could usually be found in the shops in El Arenal. Implementing the consumerist part of the imaginary of adventure, the items further deliver the previously performed mockery of the marginalized to the holiday makers in their home apartments. The ritual transgression by tourists at the Spanish party site always involved giving a role to West African migrants. As ambulant vendors, by wearing carnivalesque costumes and selling items such as sunglasses, they were to offer moorings for order to be restored, making racism and segregation along the boundaries constructed by classism obvious parts of the consumption and excess in the area. The street vendors, who could before at least slightly benefit in a financial way from their inclusion in the party industry at the beach, were then completely bypassed by the online T-shirt sales, and the hostility of the images representing them increased. We argue that, with reference to Walter Benjamin, these transgressive objects at the cost of marginalized and precarious Others were necessary for the upholding of ritual confusion and the following reinstallation of order
The Body as a Toolbox in Ancient Egypt
No full textThis article is the revised version of a presentation at the International Workshop “The Body as a Toolbox” (Cologne, October 2018). It can discuss only some aspects of body conceptions in Ancient Egypt and will focus on few anthropological issues. An overview of the Ancient Egyptian idea of man will be given, including corporal as well as intellectual and social aspects. These aspects are not only to be considered separately, but intertwined.
First, the Ancient Egyptian idea of the origin of human beings and its basic condition (anthropogenesis) will be presented, because it represents the reflection on human nature (anthropology). This nature comprises different aspects (Corporeality/ Ka/ Ba/ Heart/ Name/ Shadow und Ach), which need a short introduction. Then the human body will be described with regard to its capabilities of perception and interaction. At this point we also talk about single body parts as symbol for special skills. Ancient Egyptien sources also combine body parts with material culture. Finally, the idea of human beings’ ambivalence or its complexity will be illustrated by a primary source (The Struggle between Horus and Seth).Der Artikel ist die Ausarbeitung eines Vortrages, den ich beim Internationalen Workshop “The Body as a Toolbox” (Köln, Oktober 2018) gehalten habe. Diese Abhandlung kann lediglich einige Aspekte altägyptischer Vorstellungen zum Körper behandeln und wird sich auf einige anthropologische Fragestellungen fokussieren. Es wird ein Überblick über das altägyptische Menschenbild gegeben, wobei sowohl körperliche als auch geistige und soziale Aspekte angesprochen werden. Diese Aspekte sind nicht nur getrennt voneinander zu betrachten, sondern interagieren miteinander.
Zunächst wird die altägyptische Vorstellung vom Ursprung des Menschen und dessen Rahmenbedingungen (Anthropogenese) vorgestellt, da diese als Ergebnis der Reflektion über die Beschaffenheit des Menschen (Anthropologie) zu sehen sind. Diese Beschaffenheit umfasst verschiedene Aspekte (Leib/ Ka/ Ba/ Herz/ Name/ Schatten und Ach), die kurz erläutert werden. Anschließend wird der menschliche Körper v.a. im Hinblick auf seine Wahrnehmungs- und Interaktionsfähigkeiten beschrieben. Hier werden auch einzelne Körperteile als Symbole für bestimmte Kompetenzen angesprochen. In altägyptischen Quellen werden diese auch mit der materiellen Kultur in Verbindung gebracht. Schließlich wird die altägyptische Vorstellung von der Ambivalenz beziehungsweise der Komplexität des Menschen anhand einer Primärquelle (Der Kampf zwischen Horus und Seth) exemplarisch veranschaulicht
Unscrewing the Future: The Right to Repair and the Circumvention of Software TPMs in the EU
No full textThis analysis examines the impact of software technological protection measures (“TPMs”) in the European Union which inhibit the repair and maintenance of products. Using John Deere tractors as a case study, this analysis addresses the growing number of products which incorporate computerisation and TPM-protected software into their design and function. In utilising software integration and TPMs, many product designs now allow manufacturers to retain considerable control over the manner of repair and choice of technician. In response, consumers and lawmakers are calling for legal reforms to make self-repair and servicing easier. Both the competition law and moral implications of this residual control held by manufacturers are examined in this analysis. The foregoing raises the question: what are the impediments to establishing a secondary market for repair of products which utilise software TPMs, and what are the implications of those impediments?
The structure of the EU’s software TPM framework acts a major impediment to establishing a secondary repair market for these products. The implications of this impediment are both legal and moral. This analysis surveys the development of anti-circumvention law in the international and European contexts before assessing the impact of the US approach to anti-circumvention on global manufacturing and design techniques. In assessing the EU legal framework, the analysis focuses on the inconsequential and distinct legal status given to TPMs which protect software from other types of works. The inability to circulate the means of circumvention acts as a key impediment to establishing a secondary market for repair. Further, the inapplicability of copyright exceptions and limitations to software TPMs, and the legal prohibition on circulation of the means of TPM circumvention, jointly leave little room for proactive policymaking. Through these legal protections, manufacturers can escape the perceived threat posed by TPM circumvention tools and, by extension, undermine independent technicians’ ability to carry out their businesses.
In assessing the John Deere case study, the analysis proposes that the refusal to allow circulation of the means of software TPM circumvention may constitute an abuse of a dominant position in the secondary market. In looking to jurisprudence in this area, the analysis explores the degree to which the refusal to provide the means of circumvention could amount to the denial of an essential facility which is indispensable for the secondary repair market. While some distinctions can be drawn between TPM circumvention and the types of intellectual property rights at issue in the EU competition law jurisprudence, the analysis proposes that the market effects are in many ways analogous. The analysis seeks to establish that consumers’ inability to conduct repairs to the products that they own is undesirable for a number of legal, moral and conceptual reasons. By prohibiting self-repair, software TPMs predetermine the relationship between technology, the law and society. This undermines the fostering of a morally responsible and technologically inclined citizenry which engages with and contributes to technological development. The analysis concludes with a call for a review of software TPM protections in the EU along with changes which could alleviate the foregoing market and moral implications while enabling consumers to assert their right to repair
Comment of the European Copyright Society Addressing Selected Aspects of the Implementation of Articles 18 to 22 of the Directive (EU) 2019/790 on Copyright in the Digital Single Market
No full textSafety and operating concept for collaborative material flow systems
No full textIn Anbetracht volatiler Märkte, Handelskonflikten und epidemiologischer Ereignisse werden Flexibilität, Wandelbarkeit und losgrpßenunabhängige Produkti-onssysteme zunehmend zu Schlüsselmerkmalen wetter-fester Unternehmensstrategien, auf die es die intralogistischen Prozesse auszurichten gilt. Vor dem Hintergrund der Produktion individualisierter, variantenreicher Serienprodukte bis hin zu Losgröße 1 und angesichts steigender Gestehungskosten, rücken automatisierte Systeme, die den Menschen physisch und kognitiv entlasten und dabei in Koexistenz mit ihm arbeiten zunehmend in den Fokus. Um dies zu bewerkstelligen, bedarf es innovativer Sicherheits- und Bedienkonzepte für die sichere und intuitive Mensch-Maschine-Interaktion. Ein am IFT entwickeltes Materialflusssystem namens "Mobiler Supermarkt" zielt darauf ab, den Mitarbeiter*innen in Montage und Logistik das benötigte Material in direkter Mensch-Maschine-Kollaboration nach dem Ware-zum-Mann-Prinzip an-zureichen.In view of volatile markets, trade wars and epidemio-logical events, flexibility, convertibility and lot size in-dependent production systems are becoming key ele-ments of weatherproof corporate strategies, on which the intralogistics have to be adjusted. From the back-drop of the production of more individualized and variable standard products up to batch size one and in view of rising production costs automated systems that relieve people physically and cognitively while work-ing in coexistence with them are increasingly coming into focus. This requires innovative safety and operat-ing concepts for the safe man-machine-interaction. One such material flow system called "Mobile Super-market" was developed at the IFT and is designed to provide the employees in assembly and logistics the needed parts in direct human-machine-collaboration according to the goods-to-man-principle
Design of a robotic system for emptying sea containers
No full textDie Entladung von Seecontainern erfolgt in der Regel manuell. Die körperlich anstrengende und monotone Arbeit führt hierbei zu einer hohen Mitarbeiterfluktu-ation. Autonome Entladesysteme konnten sich zur Re-duktion dieses Unsicherheitsfaktors bisher jedoch nicht etablieren. Der Beitrag geht auf die Rahmenbedingun-gen und den Prozess der Containerentladung ein. Dazu werden grundlegende Anforderungen beschrieben. Da-rauf basierend wird ein alternativer Ansatz für die au-tomatisierte Entladung von Seecontainern vorgestellt, wobei einige neu entwickelten Subsysteme detailliert beschrieben werden.Unloading of sea containers is usually done manually. The physically strenuous and monotonous work leads to a high employee turnover. Autonomous unloading systems have not yet been able to establish to reduce this uncertainty factor. This article deals with the gen-eral conditions and the process of container unloading. Therefore basic requirements are described and an al-ternative approach for the automated unloading of sea containers is presented, whereby some of the newly de-veloped subsystems are described in more detail
Applications of machine learning in a decentralized warehouse management based on intelligent bins
No full textIntelligente Behälter verfügen über verschiedene Sensoren, einen lokalen Speicher, eine eigene Recheneinheit sowie eine Energieversorgung und ermöglichen so eine dezentral organisierte Lagerverwaltung. Neben der reinen Lagerverwaltung ist für einen produktiven Einsatz in der Industrie und dem Handel eine intelligente Selbststeuerung und Koordination dieser Behälter notwendig. In diesem Beitrag werden zwei Konzepte vorgestellt, wie mittels maschineller Lernverfahren datenbasierte Verbesserungen sowohl für ein risikobasiertes Bestandsmanagement als auch für eine automatisierte Lagerplatzvergabe realisiert werden können.Intelligent bins are equipped with various sensors, local memory, an own computing unit and energy supply. These bins can form a self-controlled, decentrally organized warehouse management. Besides the basic functionalities of a warehouse management system, such a system needs an intelligent self-control in order to match the requirements of industry and retail. We present two concepts, using machine learning for a data driven improvement of risk-based inventory management and of automated storage location assignment
Copyright lessons on Machine Learning: what impact on algorithmic art?
No full textNowadays, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is described as “the new electricity”. Current algorithmic innovation allowed the development of software which enables machines to learn and to achieve autonomous decision making, with limited or no human involvement, in a vast number of applications, such as speech recognition, machine translation and algorithmic creation of works (computer generated art), on the basis of a process widely known as Machine Learning (ML). Within the ML context, machines are repeatedly trained by means of specifically designed learning algorithms that use a corpus of examples in the form of data sets as training material. Very often and, especially in the context of algorithmic creativity, the training material is mainly composed by copyrighted works, such as texts, images, paintings, musical compositions, and others. Machine Learning workflow typically involves the realization of (multiple) reproductions of any protected work used as training material. The present paper aims to assess the extent to which the use of copyrighted works for Machine Learning purposes in the field of algorithmic creativity is controlled by the monopolistic power of the copyright rightholder on that work. The answer to this question will be researched in the context of EU copyright law, by examining the content of reproduction right and exceptions possibly applicable in a typical ML workflow in the field of algorithmic art, before making an overall assessment of the current EU regulatory framework for artistic ML projects, as it is shaped after the DSM Directive 2019/790
The Liability system of Art. 17 DSMD and national implementation – contravening prohibition of general monitoring duties?
No full textThe article deals with the complex liability system of Art. 17 DSM Directive, the famous “upload filter provision” in copyright law concerning content sharing platforms. The conflict between the prohibition of general monitoring obligations for platform providers derived from European fundamental rights by the CJEU and the obligations of providers are scrutinized. Moreover, possible options for national legislators in order to safeguard fundamental rights of users concerning freedom of speech (and copyright limitations) are discussed
Material Configurations of Nursing and their Ethical Implications. The Prolonged Bath Treatment in Psychiatry
No full textWhen “prolonged” or “permanent” baths were introduced as a treatment in psychiatric institutions around 1900, special treatment rooms had to be created that utilised medical knowledge of the time (hydrotherapy) and technically progressive features (running water). The nurses, who were co-agents in the treatment regimens, had a high level of responsibility for the patients, as serious accidents repeatedly occurred in the prolonged baths. Technical apparatus was gradually installed and material adaptations were made to the rooms that served to lighten the nurses’ workload. This article examines the influence the material configuration of the bathroom had on nursing practice and also explores which insights can be drawn for current issues in nursing ethics