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[expediteiot]

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[tektronixtechnology]

The Future of Access Control Systems with Integrated AI

access control systems have undergone a remarkable transformation. With the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI), these systems have become smarter, more efficient, and more

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[furiousstarfishphilosopher]

Credentials: Users need some form of identification to gain access. This could be in the form of access cards, key fobs, PIN codes, biometric data (such as fingerprints or retina scans), or a combination of these.

Reader Devices: These devices read the credentials provided by users. There are different types of readers, such as card readers, biometric scanners, and keypad entry systems.

Control Panel/Controller: The control panel is the central processing unit of the access control system. It receives information from the reader devices and makes decisions based on the access control policies configured in the system.

Locking Mechanisms: Physical barriers like doors, gates, or turnstiles are equipped with locking mechanisms controlled by the access control system. These can include electronic locks, electromagnetic locks, or other locking devices.

Database: A database stores information about authorized users, their credentials, and access permissions. This information is used by the control panel to make decisions regarding access.

Software: Access control systems are managed through software, which allows administrators to set up and customize access levels, view logs of access events, and make changes to the system's configuration.

Monitoring and Logging: Access control systems often include features for monitoring and logging access events. This information can be useful for security audits, investigations, and tracking user activity.

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[visitormanagementsoftware]

Visitor Management System Dubai UAE: Enhancing Security and Efficiency

Security is a top priority in both public and private companies in the modern world. The security of a facility, its occupants, and its visitors is a responsibility shared by businesses, governments, and educational institutions. Organizations in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, are investing in cutting-edge visitor management systems to do this in order to increase security and productivity.

Visitor management systems help organizations in Dubai, UAE to maintain a secure environment by identifying potential threats before they occur. The systems use a range of security measures such as ID verification, facial recognition, and biometric scanning to ensure that only authorized personnel can access restricted areas. Visitor management systems also enable security personnel to screen visitors against watchlists, alerting them to potential security threats.

Additionally, visitor management systems provide organizations with real-time information on the location of visitors, enabling security personnel to respond quickly to emergencies or security breaches. In the event of an emergency, security personnel can use the system to quickly identify visitors in the building and direct them to safety.

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[swissforextrading]

A collaboration to push the boundaries of cosmos mapping

02.07.24 - EPFL officially joined the Multi Spectroscopic Telescope (MUST) project, led by China’s Tsinghua University, as a founding member. This flagship project will enable scientists to better understand the young universe, dark energy and dark matter. Approximatively 13.8 billion years ago the Universe began with what we call the Big Bang. It expanded explosively, faster than the speed of light. Even though gravity immediately slowed this process down, physicists discovered more than 100 years ago that the Universe continues to expand. More recently, they found out that a mysterious form of energy – called dark energy – began speeding up its expansion again about 6 billion years ago. It’s a phenomenon still going on today and that holds a lot of unanswered questions. The MUlti Spectroscopic Telescope (MUST) project, led by Tsinghua University’s Department of Astronomy, is set to become a landmark in cosmological research and give insights of the young universe with unprecedented detail. For the first time, scientists will be able to trace the filamentary structure of the Universe in its first 3-billion years, using a detailed map made of tens of millions of measurements. Today, Martin Vetterli, President of EPFL, and Li Luming, President of Tsinghua University, signed a research collaboration agreement in Beijing, officially establishing EPFL as a member of the project. “With a 10 to 20-fold increase in survey capacity over current spectroscopic surveys, MUST will map the universe more comprehensively and at greater distances than ever before, deepening our knowledge of dark energy and dark matter,” explained Professor Jean-Paul Kneib, head of the Laboratory of Astrophysics (LASTRO) and the EPFL lead in this project. “This is very important because dark energy and dark matter account respectively for 70% and 26% of the content of the Universe and are critical elements influencing its expansion and structure,” he continued. A touch of EPFL’s expertise in the MUST telescope EPFL will contribute significantly to the 6.5-meter telescope with state-of-the-art high precision technology. Scientists in the Astrobots group will design modular fibre positioner robotic system, involving novel mechanical assembly, electronics, control, calibration, and testing. Zoomed view of the optical fibers location (illuminated fiber on top) – where skylight enters the optical fibers to be guided to the spectrographs for analysis. Photo: 2024 Alain Herzog / EPFL - CC-BY-SA 4.0 With the initial research undertaken in the past years, supported by Innosuisse and in partnership with the companies MPS Micro Precisions Systems from Switzerland and Orbray from Japan, EPFL has developed a strong expertise in fiber positioned robots for massive spectroscopic surveys and their miniaturization. The robots that will be developed for MUST will allow the project to conduct the extremely high-density galaxy mapping of the Universe. Analysis and outlook Through MUST, EPFL will also have access to a next generation spectroscopic survey with the ability to uncover hundreds of millions of distant galaxies and is committed to developing theoretical models that will play a pivotal role in the analysis of the vast amount of data expected. The project’s open-source philosophy ensures broad access to both software and hardware innovations. “The EPFL-Tsinghua collaboration will develop global scientific partnerships, promising transformative discoveries in our understanding of the universe and fundamental science, also taking advantage of the numerous data-science expertise at EPFL” said Martin Vetterli. “Joining MUST further increases EPFL’s participation in large international astrophysics projects, including DESI, Euclid and the Square Kilometer Array Observatory (SKAO), positioning us at the forefront of many exciting discoveries to come,” said Carolyn Crichton, EPFL MUST project manager and program director of SKACH. 4 modules… http://actu.epfl.ch/news/a-collaboration-to-push-the-boundaries-of-cosmos-m (Source of the original content)

[emirtechabudhabi]

Gate Barrier Systems in Abu Dhabi, UAE

Gate Barriers are generally used in local and parking premises for protected and verified admittance. Gate Barriers control the vehicle access at entry, leave gates. They comprise a fixed metal square that conveys of a post which works electronically and blocks the unidentified vehicles at section, leave gates, and permits them after appropriate authentication. We can supply a huge scope of various gates and barriers for any application. Barrier ranges incorporate raise arm barriers, swing vehicle parking barriers and gates.

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In Abu Dhabi, we are the top Gate Barrier Supplier having all Security and Automatic Parking Gate Barriers in UAE. In spite of the fact that we Supply Automatic Barriers, yet additionally we Install Parking Barrier systems with Repair and Maintenance in UAE. Initially, Our Team will Visit Your Site or Office for Free, at that point we will give best Quote dependent on the Requirement. Since, there are different Automatic barrier gates utilized for Several Applications which can be Arm Barrier, Sliding or Swing Gates. In some cases, We want to give Long Range Gate Barrier System, Opening and Closing of Gate Works by the method of Showing a Card at Long Range UHF Reader which supports up to 8 to 12 meters. Gate barrier will be opened for authorized persons or vehicles only. We supply wireless remote control for all gate barrier in UAE region with Loop Detector Installation whenever needed.

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We Always Focus on Supplying Quality Barrier System to our Customers without hardly lifting a finger of Solutions like, Barrier Gates, Access Card Readers, No-Parking Barriers, Road Blocks, etc. Emirtech Technology offers an excellent Gate Barrier System for every Commercial Building and Private or Public Premises in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Al Ain. In Terms of Service and Repair of Parking Barriers, Our Engineers will be consistently accessible to contact you effectively on the Site. We also cover Villas, Hospitals, Hotels, Parks by providing complete security solutions of Gate Barrier, Access Control System, CCTV and Other Cabling System.

[chrisengel]

Object a, as the object cause of desire, represents what is internally exclude from a symbolic system, what marks its limit as an extimate remainder.  Object a is thus, at once, what is the most intimate, since it is what causes desire, and what is the most external, since it is what can neither have an adequate representation, nor be entirely satisfied—except, of course, when we clumsily try to access it through the Imaginary frame of our fantasy, via the endless chasing of a virtually infinite chain of substitutable objects. In other word, object a, inasmuch as it represents what can neither be fully represented nor satisfied, is what can also potentially enslave us in a desperate search for satisfaction. And it is this very weak spot that capitalism exploits, trapping us in what Lauren Berlant calls a form of cruel optimism. Through object a, the capitalist discourse is plugged directly onto our fantasy. And it is through its attempts to fulfill them with gadgets that the capitalist discourse is actually turning each one of us as consumers into enslaved workers. To put it in a formula, the harder we are trying to gain satisfaction through the acquisition of new gadgets, the more we are enslaving ourselves to the very fantasmatic structure that creates and sustain in the first place our insatiable appetite for satisfaction. To problematize this apparent paradox, Lacan suggested, in a conference called Speaking to the Brick Wall, that what characterizes the capitalist discourse in proper is its rejection of any forms of castration, which means its rejection of any symbolic limits when it comes to the satisfaction of the drives. Lacan, commenting on this kernel of the capitalist discourse, said “What distinguishes the discourse of capitalism is this — verwerfung, rejection from all field of the symbolic, with all the consequences that I have already mentioned, and rejection of what? Of castration. Every order, every discourse that relates to capitalism leaves aside what we will simply call matters of love. (96) If Lacan associates the notion of love with the one of castration, it is simply because love is the only experience in which the tyranny of the drives encounters a limit. The thirst for private satisfaction encounters the demand of an other that suddenly has a power over us. The dictatorship of surplus-enjoyment is temporarily suspended, castrated, in the name of love. This is why Lacan argues in his Seminar VIII on Plato’s Banquet, that love is what elevates object a at the status of an object agalma, which is to say, at the status of the perfect metaphor of one’s lack. And this is why, also, love is generally not considered valuable by the capitalist discourse, since the capitalist discourse needs, in order to keep its business a-flow, to maintain object a on the side of wha Lacan called, in his Seminar X on Anxiety, the object paela, which is to say on the side of the replaceable object, always calling anxiously for a new one. More problematically, one could add that it is precisely to counter the anxiety generated by this endless search that the capitalist discourse has also invented, through the help of science, a system of mental health adjusted to its anxious movement. With the help of neuroscience and medications, or the development of short term cognitive-behavior therapy, exclusively designed to treat isolated symptom (most of the time related to addictive or phobic behaviors), the capitalist discourse has invented all sorts of mental treatments for its own disease—the disease of what Jacques-Alain Miller has called, the One-all-alone, the posthuman. Miller writes, “The relation between the two sexes is going to become more and more impossible, so that, to put it this way, the One-all-alone will be the posthuman standard, the One-all-alone, all alone to fill out questionnaires in order to receive one’s evaluation, and the one-all-alone commanded by a surplus-jouissance that is presented under its most anxiety generating aspect. (A Fantasy)” Such is the paradox that lies at the core of the capitalist discourse. While, one the one hand, it forces its consumers to maintain an anxious relationship to object a, in order for them to keep consuming new objects of the object palea kind (the object that is replaceable), on the other it monitors the subject to make sure that, although deprived innerly of any form of castration, its relationship to pleasure remains nonetheless contained within certain measurable boundaries. In other words, the capitalist discourse is a discourse that takes object a as its cause, and assign to the subject a form of “push to jouissance.” And it is also a discourse that controls and limits the modes of enjoyment of each subject through multiplied medical control procedures. To say it otherwise, the more the contemporary subject is invited to “enjoy” alone, the more its mode of enjoyment is being monitored and controlled, and the more the contemporary subject end up being isolated and segregated. But how can psychoanalysis oppose this movement of scientific evaluation of the subject’, while not opposing this scientific discourse in the name of Religious, but in the name of the very impossibility that the discourse of science has discovered when it refused to abide the social fantasy of inscribing, in one form or another, the sexual link, upon which rests the social bond. By Fred Baitinger| November 9th, 2019|LRO 190

https://www.thelacanianreviews.com/the-one-all-alone-and-the-posthuman/

[sablelab]

Covert Operations - Chapter 57

DISCLAIMER: This is a modern AU crossover story with Outlander and La Femme Nikita. LFN and its characters do not belong to me nor do those from Outlander.

SYNOPSIS:  Crime in Hong Kong had declined over the past few months but this worried Superintendent Zheng as he mulled over the crime statistics.  Whilst chewing over his files he is surprised by the voice of a person he would like back on his team.  

Previous chapters can be found at …https://sablelab.tumblr.com/covertoperations

 CHAPTER 57 Despite the hour getting late in the day, Senior Superintendent Xiao Zheng still sat in his office going over the numerous files on crime statistics in Hong Kong that passed by his desk on any given day. Over the last couple of months, the kidnappings, murders and extortion that had taken palace in Hong Kong had shown signs of decline. The Water Police were still understaffed and overworked but at least they had been able to solve those crimes that had been piling up before the junk murders had necessitated using Claire Beauchamp undercover. One thing that he did notice as well was that the triad association with criminal activity seemed to be on the wane too. Nevertheless, this was quite worrisome.  Perhaps something was brewing amongst the other triads ... it was a feasible scenario given that the Rising Dragons were laying low. The triad’s leader Sun Yee Lok had also been conspicuous by his absence ... not that he’d been sighted much in or around Hong Kong for he hadn’t. The triad had been very quiet lately since Claire Beauchamp was on assignment some months ago and he had really noticed the difference. He leaned back in his chair, rubbing his chin and thinking ...could there be a connection? If so, she had done a bloody good job. Claire and that private investigator ... what was his name? .... James something ... had obviously been able to piece together the missing puzzle to solve the Annalise de Marillac’s murder on the junk. Since they had been gone such a lot had happened in Hong Kong. For one thing the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau had been on his back several times for information about the Rising Dragons. When they had asked for all the data the Water Police had on the death of Tony Wong, he had given them whatever he thought was necessary, however ... not everything. He had kept the identity of Claire Beauchamp and her mission from them. If TPTB at the OCTB wanted to know of her involvement, then he would do so only through official channels ... after all it was a confidential assignment sanctioned by the Chief Commissioner. He never did like those “suit and tie” boys from the Bureau. They rubbed him up the wrong way and then they took the recognition and kudos that his officers had earned for the Bureau. There was little love lost between them particularly their leader Chief Inspector Jiang Ng, but he wouldn’t compromise their investigations because of it. Zheng took a sip of his coffee and stared at his computer monitor; he sighed heavily, then took another sip of coffee that had started to cool.

Yes, there had been tremendous changes in Hong Kong. The death of the Canadian ambassador Alain de Marillac, from a heart attack had been a shock. That must have been hard on his wife ... particularly coming so soon after finding out about her daughter’s death too. How much more could the poor woman endure? They had instated a new ambassador and things seemed to be back on track ... not that he was that much interested in the political side of things. He had enough to do with his police work. However, the most significant thing he had noticed had been the death of Tony Wong from the Rising Dragons. The Aberdeen fishing community had been ecstatic when his headquarters had been blown to smithereens. Because of his connection to the Rising Dragons, the OCTB had investigated his death. Their findings had put it down to foul play by disgruntled junk owners who had rallied together. He’d heard from his contact that they were never able to find enough evidence to charge anyone with the bombing so the case still went unsolved. The OCTB had also investigated other theories of rival triad gangs hell-bent on fragmenting the Rising Dragons. Zheng doubted though that too much police time would be spent on a known extortionist and murderer as Tony Wong was for the triad. He was responsible for the murders on the junk and that was all that mattered to him. The case was closed as far as the Water Police were concerned. What the OCTB boys decided to do was another matter entirely. But things were quiet ... too quiet for his liking. Perhaps it was the calm before the storm. When the crime statistics were down, he got nervous and when the triads were quiet ... he was even more nervous ... They were up to something. Not only were the Rising Dragons quiet but so too were the Black Panthers and the Red Lanterns triad groups. There must be some sort of transition going on, they were recruiting overseas or there was a triad war looming. However, that was a job for the boys at the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau. A transition period always happened when there were deaths amongst their own triad members. He certainly hoped there wasn’t a triad war pending for control of new turf ... Aberdeen in particular. In the past things tended to get nasty when this scenario reared its ugly head. The Water Police would be working round the clock with the increase in crime should that take place. If indeed the Rising Dragons were in a period of transition and recruitment overseas then the OCTB would have their work cut out for them. There would be a pressing need to reel the triad in post haste before foreign governments came knocking with the question ... why? Oh well, that was their problem. He would take the calmness for the time being and hope that it would remain so for some time. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Breaking from his reverie he began to rustle through the files on his desk. As he did so, the mug shot of a previous suspect fell out from one of the files. Zheng picked it up and looked at it. He felt a queasiness in his stomach as alarm bells began to ring in his head also. Superintendent Xiao Zheng shook his head in frustration. How did this face keep popping up in his files? He keyed in the name and the image appeared on his computer screen. Zheng then typed in an access code and information about the man appeared. He quickly skimmed the Intel but couldn’t believe what he was reading. Reaching over his desk he grabbed his phone and dialled a well-used private number. “Hello.  How may I connect you?” A woman’s voice answered. “8 – 0 – 1 – 8. Priority Tango, Mumma San.” “Hold while I connect your call,” came the reply to the secret code given. There was a slight pause before a voice answered. “This is John.” “Johnny? It’s Xiao Zheng from the Water Police.” “Hi. What’s up buddy?” “Listen. I’m shooting you off a print as we speak. Can you work it up for me?” “Doesn’t it pull on your system?” “Yeah, it does, but I don’t trust what I’m seeing.” “Why not?” “It’s giving me “Mr. Sunshine.” This guy’s anything but.” “I’ll do what I can and get back to you.” “Thanks.” ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* The man on his screen was Jonathon Randall. He was well known around Hong Kong as a playboy ... rich, well connected, debonair and out for a good time.  The picture of the man seemed to peer back at him in defiance and a cockiness as if to say … I am untouchable.  Do your best because you won’t find any material on me that could be incriminating. Superintendent Zheng had long thought he was a member of the Rising Dragons triad but had been unable to pin anything on him or raise a connection to the triad. However, Jonathon Randall’s arrogant, smug attitude might very well prove to be his downfall and perhaps his friend John So would be able to shed more light on him and his criminal dealings that he was unable to discover. He’d contacted him rather than the head of the Bureau because he trusted him. John had worked for a time with him at the Water Police but he’d been seconded, like all his good people to different divisions within the police force and Johnny now worked for the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau. Superintendent Zheng took the print from the fax machine and studied it as he held it out in front of him. The boyish good looks of a cocky, brash, young man glared back at him. He stared at Jonathon Randall’s image for a few seconds before throwing it on top of a pile of files on his desk, then he sat back in his chair deep in thought. His gut was giving him grief and he felt the first signs of a headache forming and rubbed his brow.  This feeling was a dead giveaway in his job … always trust your gut.  

Desperately needing another strong coffee before he studied the police files on this Jonathon Randall, Zheng bellowed out for his junior constable.

 “Mei Ling!”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Arriving at his desk in next to no time she stood waiting for instructions. “Yes sir?” “Ah, good you’re here ... Could you bring me the file on the attempted kidnapping of that wealthy Caucasian actress recently?” “You mean the Laoghaire MacKimmie file?” “Yes that’s the one.” “Straight away sir. Is there anything else you wanted?” “Another coffee. Strong, black and very hot. Oh, and Claire Beauchamp’s return might be good,” he added in an attempt at humour. “Yes, I agree sir. We all miss her. Will that be all?” “For the moment ... You may go.” As they were talking, they were suddenly interrupted by knocking on the Superintendent’s door. Xiao Zheng and Mei Ling turned when the sound of a familiar voice came from the office doorway. “Hello … Did I hear my name mentioned?” The two occupants of the room stared towards the door in disbelief at the woman who had unexpectedly materialised completely out of the blue.  She was someone they least expected to see.  ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Both of them stopped speaking and gazed at Claire Beauchamp with their mouths agape. While Mei stood there shell shocked at her reappearance back at the Water Police, Superintendent Zheng though, composed himself and spoke.

 “Claire! ... Welcome back!” 

“Thank you, sir,” she replied as she came further into the office. Nevertheless, before he could get in another word edgewise Mei came out of her stupor, then in her excitement, rattled off questions to Claire in rapid fire succession. “How did things go? ... Did you see members of the Rising Dragons? ... Did you see Tony Wong? ... What happened to that Jamie fellow? ... Did you scratch the car?” Laughing Claire responded, “You know I can’t reveal any information Mei ...or else I’d have to kill you! However, we did find out who committed the murders on the junk so that was good. The car is intact ... no scratches and Mr Fraser has gone to Scotland on business I believe.” “Oh ... Angus will be happy to hear about the car.  It’s so good to see you back Claire ... and in one piece too. You’ve been gone for ages. Oh! Wait until I tell Angus that you are back. He’ll be so pleased. We’ll take you out for dinner tonight.” “Slow down Mei ... one thing at a time.” Claire chuckled. “I’d like to get my bearings again before I debrief with Superintendent Zheng.” “Oh ... I’m sorry ... It’s just that I’m so excited to see you again.” “I’m glad to see you too Mei ... perhaps we can catch up once I have spoken to the Superintendent? OK?” “Yes, of course.” Watching the excited exchange between his junior officer and Claire Beauchamp, Superintendent Zheng managed to finally get a word in. “Mei, don’t worry about those files at the moment ... I’ll get them later. You better get back to work. Just bring us two coffees.” “Yes sir.” Mei replied then with one last beaming smile at Claire she closed the door after her as she left his office. Senior Superintendent Xiao Zheng rose from behind his desk and came closer to Claire. Stretching out his hand he shook hands and clasped his other hand firmly over hers.

 “It’s good to have you back Claire. I’m glad you’re still alive.”

“Yes ... me too.” “Come sit down ... and tell me everything that happened ...” ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Having left police headquarters after her debrief with Superintendent Zheng Claire wearily made her way back to her apartment. She had given him all the Intel that Madeline and Operations had allowed and he was more than satisfied with her debrief. He in turn had updated her on what had been happening since her departure including amongst other things that her apartment had been maintained during her absence. Collecting her luggage from the car, Claire made her way to the elevators in her apartment complex and ascended to her floor. Much to her delight, she was thankful that she was back in familiar surroundings and looked forward to a good night’s rest in peace and quiet to relax and just enjoy the fantastic view from her balcony. However, as she approached her door a neighbour came out of her apartment and spoke to her. “Oh, hi there ... I'm Karen ... Karen Yee.” The woman said as she smiled neighbourly at Claire. “I live across the hall from you." “Hi ... I'm Claire.” “I moved in a couple of months ago but even though I’ve seen you come and go in the past; this is the first time we’ve actually met,” her neighbour stated making friendly conversation. “I’ve been away.” “Welcome back ... Where did you go? I thought something horrible had happened to you as I haven’t seen you around for a while.” “No. I had to go home to Australia. A family emergency.” “Oh, I’m sorry.  Is everything okay now?” “Yes ... thanks.” “I'm happy to see you back. I noticed that your friends have been looking after your apartment while you were away.” “Yeah ... they’ve been great.” “So ... What have you been doing since you've been back?” “What have I been doing? Umm ... Not a lot ... And you?” “I’ve been busy here and there. I’m an interior designer.” “Do you like what you do?” Claire asked with interest. “Yeah I do. I love it … In fact, I’ve had quite a few new projects on the go lately that have kept me busy.”

“That’s great… perhaps you can give me a few ideas for my apartment.”

“Sure thing, but I can’t do it now ... I’m just off to the new nightclub they’ve open down the street ... Look, I know it’s short notice but would you like to come with me?” “Thanks for the invite Karen, but I’m rather tired.” “That’s fine ...  So, when did you get back?” “Today actually.” “Oh gosh! I’m so sorry Claire. You probably think I’m a total idiot rattling on like that.” “No, not at all.” “You must be tired after your flight?” “Yeah, I am a bit.” “Perhaps another time then?” “Maybe .... Goodnight Karen ... Nice to meet you. Have a great night.” “Thanks ... I intend to. See ya,” Karen replied as she said goodbye and made her way to the elevator leaving Claire fumbling in her bag for the keys to her apartment. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ What Claire had said to her neighbour Karen was true. She was tired and looked forward to a long leisurely soak in the bathtub and a good night’s sleep. Opening her door, she pushed it shut with the heel of her shoe, then kicking them off in the entry Claire dropped her keys on the entrance table and wandered into the apartment carefully checking each room. The feel of the cool tiles against her warm toes was heaven but a luxurious bath would be so much better she thought. Entering the bathroom Claire set about filling her tub. Placing some lavender essence into the water she inhaled the scent as it permeated the air before returning to the kitchen. She took some water out of her fridge and poured it into a glass then took a sip. Walking towards the balcony, Claire then opened the sliding doors. The evening air drifted into the room while the lights of high rise buildings surrounding Victoria Harbour illuminated the night sky. She leaned on the railing taking in the panoramic view wishing Jamie were here to share it with her. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too long until he was here. Until then she had her orders and would wait until given further instructions when he arrived. Claire stood taking in the ambience of her panoramic view.  It was still beautiful and the lights reflecting on the water were so mesmerizing. She could stare at the view and forget for just a while everything that had happened to her and Jamie over the past months on their last missions. However, now that she was back in Hong Kong, she was in a holding pattern just waiting for instructions as to what her new mission would involve.  Would she be on her own or would Jamie be involved somehow in this mission as well?  Was it a test to see if she was competent enough to carry it through or was, she being placed in jeopardy for some warped reasons by her superiors?    

 So, before she would let her mind run too many scenarios through her head about Madeline and Operations’ intentions and before she could have that long soak in the tub, Claire contacted Section One.

 “Fergus?”

“Yes Claire.” “I’m in position.” “Good ... Wait. We will proceed when the time is right. Until then you are on your own.” “Okay,” she replied thankful that she had some reprieve before her mission instructions were in play, then headed straight back to the bathroom stripping off her clothes as she went while leaving a trail of clothing on the floor. The bath was just the thing Claire needed and she felt relaxed and invigorated. Wrapping her hair in a towel, she put her favourite robe on over her pj’s then made her way into the living room. Draping her long body gracefully across the couch Claire rolled over on to her stomach and picked up the magazine she’d bought at the news stand on her way home. Totally relaxed she flicked through the pages but her eyes became drowsy, she closed them just for a moment but soon fell asleep. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ She was woken with a start with the sound of a continuous persistent knocking at her front door. Sitting up, Claire tossed the magazine aside, grabbed her nearby glass of water, and went to answer the door. As she passed the counter, she set the glass down on a newspaper, then yelling out, “Who is it?” she made her way to the entry. Claire peered through the security peephole. Hesitating for a moment, a knowing smile crossed her mouth and only widened when she heard the sound of a familiar voice. “Hey! Claire! ... Open up! ... It’s us ... Come on ... We know you’re in there ... Open the door! ... We’ve got pizza!” She laughed, then turning to glance back at her apartment to check that everything was in order, Claire loosened the security chain and opened the door. Angus Mhor and Mei Ling were standing on the threshold holding two pizza boxes and a bottle of wine in their hands. “Hey! I didn’t order any pizza.” “No ... but we did. We’re starving. How about you? Care to join us?” “You better come in then.” The two friends entered with their booty to share. “Nice to see you, stranger!” “Angus!” Claire said, pulling him into a long hug in the entrance foyer. Then she did the same to Mei Ling. Eventually noticing the way that Claire was dressed an apologetic Angus stated, “Hey I’m sorry ... Were you going to bed? We’ll come back another time.” “No, No ... Come on in ... I’ll get dressed. Make yourselves at home and I’ll be back in a minute.” ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Claire and Mei were in the kitchen getting the plates and glasses while Angus searched through her CD collection choosing a disc that he liked. On finding one he placed it in the disc drive then called out, “Hey! What’s taking you girls so long? A man could die of hunger out here!” Inside the kitchen the two women just looked at each other and smiled, but his impassioned plea did make them hurry up somewhat. “Hmm ... I’d say he was a little bit hungry ... wouldn’t you? “He’s always hungry... ” Mei replied coyly. “... but he can wait.” “So ... things are looking good for you two I see.” ‘Yeah ... Angus and I are together,” she blushed happily. “Sounds very serious.” “Yeah, it feels serious.” “Good for you Mei. He’s a lucky guy.” Claire replied sincerely joyful for her friend.  The two women chatted while carrying the plates and salad into the living room and placed them on the table. “Hope you're hungry Angus. There's plenty of food.” “Great! I don't know about you two, but I'm starving,” he said placing some pizza and salad onto a plate ignoring the conspiratorial look the friends exchanged at his behaviour. Oblivious to their nonverbal conversation, Angus opened the bottle of wine then he looked up at them.

 “Would you like some wine girls?”

“Sure.” They answered in unison. “Well then ... let me get that,” he winked at them pouring some wine into their glasses, then raising his glass ... Angus proposed a toast. “Welcome back stranger ... Now let’s eat ... I’m famished!” Claire and Mei Ling looked at one another. “Yes, let’s … we’re starving too.” Then they both burst out laughing while Angus sat there with a perplexed look on his face staring at the two girls with a piece of pizza in his mouth.

 *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ to be continued

[obscurehistoricalinterests]

Repossessing the Body: Transgressive Desire in “Carmilla” and “Dracula” (IV)

By Elizabeth Signorotti (1996)

Part I - Part II - Part III

Thesis: Carmilla is a story of female empowerment, and Dracula is a patriarchal response to it.

Repossessing the Body: Transgressive Desire in “Carmilla” and “Dracula” (part IV)

Stoker’s familiarity with Le Fanu’s vampire tale is certain. Farson claims that Stoker was “absorbed in the vampirism in ‘Carmilla,’ published two years after he left Trinity” but more convincing evidence is found in the original first chapter of Dracula, which Stoker deleted when his publisher requested that he shorten the book to reduce printing costs. In this section, he alludes to “Carmilla.” At the opening of this chapter, Jonathan Harker loses his way as he sets out for Castle Dracula on Walpurgis Nacht, a night “when the graves were opened and the dead came forth and walked, when all evil things of earth and air and water held revel.” A shaft of moonlight reveals he is in an overgrown graveyard with a great, snowy-white marble tomb before him.

Impelled by some sort of fascination, I approached the sepulchre to see what it was, and why such a thing stood alone in such a place. I walked around it, and read, over the Doric door, in German:

Countess Dolingen of Gratz

In Styria

Sought and Found Death 

1801

On the top of the tomb, seemingly driven through the solid marble - for the structure was composed of a few vast blocks of stone - was a great iron spike or stake. On going to the back, I saw, graven in great Russian letters: ‘The dead travel fast.’

The reference to Styria recalls the Austrian setting of “Carmilla” and invites comparison between the two vampire tales. Whereas “Carmilla” abolishes male rights over women, Dracula reasserts those rights. This is indeed the key distinction between Dracula and “Carmilla,” one that Stoker apparently had in mind from the opening -albeit deleted- chapter of this book.

Stoker’s overriding concern in Dracula is the threat of rampant female sexual desire. Senf rightly points out that this ancient, aristocratic vampire who prays on the wives and fiancees of England’s working class reveals, among other things, the “power that negative social values from the past often have over the present.” As Troy Boone further concludes, the novel suggests that “a new understanding of sexuality and decay is necessary for any attempt to attain social order and growth” and that “for all its apparent ‘reification’ of dominant political beliefs, [Stoker’s text] exposes the dangers of failing to challenge their authority.” Both Senf and Boone present valid arguments, but, like other readings in Dracula’s critical legacy, theirs fail to emphasize the degree to which Stoker responds to the threat of female sexuality in Dracula. In Stoker’s text Dracula - and Dracula’s sense of sexuality- actually dominates very few of the scenes, whereas the sexually-charged female vampires - those at Castle Dracula, Lucy and Mina- receive most of Stoker’s attention. 

For his first “experiment” in Dracula, Stoker presents the problem of Lucy’s sexual aggressiveness, a problem to which he ultimately provides a violent solution. Although Lucy’s sexuality does not become rabid until her vampiric possession, Stoker presents her from the beginning as exhibiting personality traits potentially dangerous in women. In a letter to Mina, Lucy asks, “why can’t they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her?” Her wishing for the right to have more than one sexual partner -a reality for males such as Stoker himself- makes her a threat to established gender roles. Stoker feels obliged to inform the reader that her wishes were unseemly when, in the same passage, she again asks Mina, “why are men so noble when we women are so little worthy of them?” Lucy serves as Stoker’s paradigm of woman-gone-wrong and predictably suffers from it.

In his attempt to redress Carmilla’s defiant behavior, Stoker imbues Lucy with Carmillaesque qualities. Her sleepwalking, which indicates a propensity towards vampirism in Dracula, first occurs in her childhood, just as Carmilla first visits and “infects: Laura during her childhood. In both works, the tendency towards socially aberrant behavior arises in early childhood, but while Carmilla’s and Laura’s behavior remains unrestrained, Lucy’s is eventually checked. Stoker also suggests that Lucy has lesbian tendencies. In a letter to Mina she says, “I wish I were with you, dear, sitting by the fire undressing, as we used to sit; and I would try to tell you what I feel. I do not know how I am writing this even to you. I am afraid to stop, or I should tear up the letter, and I don’t want to stop, for I do so want to tell you all.” Lucy’s wish to share her secrets while undressing suggests her desire to reveal “what is more properly concealed,” something she knows is “wrong.” The men in the text can control Lucy and Mina’s homosocial relationship as long as they both remain accessible; they cannot, however, control what Lucy presumably has in mind.

As if to temper her questionable behavior, Stoker denies Lucy her inheritance rights and places her firmly within the male-governed kinship system. Lucy’s mother, who controls the Westenra estate after her husband’s death, dies shortly before Lucy’s marriage to Arthur Holmwood. Mrs. Westenra, Dr. Seward tells us, “had for some time expected sudden death from her heart, and had put her affairs in absolute order... with the exception of a certain entailed property of Lucy’s father which now, in default of direct issue, went back to a distant branch of the family, the whole estate, real and personal, was left absolutely to Arthur Holmwood.” Separating Lucy from her inheritance fictionally and historically positions her in a “long tradition in which women do not inherit.” Even before Lucy’s wedding, Mrs. Westenra (whose role is the “corrected” equivalent of Carmilla’s subversive mother) ensures Lucy’s total dependence on her future husband. If her daughter had any wild ideas about being financially independent in marriage, she has permanently disabled her.  

Once Dracula kisses Lucy into sudden sexuality, she grows “voluptuous,” “savage,” “wanton,” and “diabolically sweet.” Dracula’s “authorizing kiss... triggers the release of the latent power and excites in [Lucy] a sexuality so mobile, so aggressive, that it thoroughly disrupts... [compartmentalized conceptions] of gender” (Craft 228). Dracula’s kiss enables women to become sexual penetrators. Using their sharp teeth to penetrate men, they reverse traditional gender roles and place men in the passive position customarily reserved for women. In “Carmilla” the penetration of female vampires - in effect, the female appropriation of the phallus - is seen as an act of empowerment; in Dracula, however, Lucy’s unmanageable sexual penetration is presented as inherently evil because it threatens fixed gender distinctions. In an attempt to cure Lucy of her reckless sexuality, Van Helsing and his crew of “brave men” perform massive blood transfusions on her. By having her drained blood replaced with a “brave man”s blood,” Lucy might survive. The act of transfusing blood, of penetrating Lucy’s body with the phallic needle and enabling the men to deposit their own fluids in her, conjures up images of gang rape. As Rubin stresses, “women [in some societies] are frequently kept in their place by gang rape when the ordinary mechanisms of masculine intimidation prove insufficient.” Ironically, Lucy’s wish to marry “as many [men] as want her��� violently comes true. Each transfusion symbolizes a kind of ghastly marriage and prompts Van Helsing to fret that “this so sweet maid is a polyandrist.” Stoker gives Lucy what she wants and teaches her a lesson at the same time.

But the gang transfusions fail to cure Lucy’s sexual recalcitrance, prompting Van Helsing’s crew to attempt to mask her sexuality by surrounding her with pungent garlic flowers. While garlic plays a symbolic role in traditional vampire folklore, in Dracula its role is dual. More than just a traditional means of discouraging Dracula’s visits, the ability of garlic to disguise odors, especially body odors, suggests, as Alain Corbin argues in The Foul and the Fragrant, “a way of denying the sexual role of the sense of smell, or at least of shifting the field of olfactory stimulation and allusion.” Van Helsing and Dr. Seward saturate Lucy’s body and environs with garlic flowers not only to keep Dracula at bay but possibly to disguise the sexual odors her newly excited body exudes.

Lucy’s unresponsiveness to ordinary mechanisms of masculine intimidation while alive permits Van Helsing and company, after her death and resurrection as an Undead, to resort to the most violent means of correction available to them. Cora Kaplan argues that traditional fictional “punishment for female sexual transgressions... [is] the immediate loss of social status.” For Stoker, though, the traditional punishment is not severe enough to rectify Lucy’s transgressions. Instead, he employs vampire lore’s extreme phallic corrective: staking and beheading Lucy. In this scene, Stoker’s gang of brave, noble men carry candles dripping “sperm” (D 197) into Lucy’s tomb. Even more sexually alive in the coffin, Lucy’s “body shook and quivered and twisted in violent contortions.” But before she can perform any other sexually suggestive gyrations, Arthur, shining with “high duty” drove “deeper and deeper the mercy bearing stake” into her chest (D 216). This act of transfixation “cures: Lucy and returns her to the accepted role of sexually passive female. Arthur and his companions have repossessed the body, permanently fixing her in the “stabili[zed] distinctions of gender” (Craft 224) and the male system of alliance. Lucy’s sexuality is “corrected.”

Part V will be posted soon...

[slowlyteenagestarlight]

Paris (AFP) Jan 25, 2022

The EU launched Tuesday a billion-euro fund to support startups in the space sector with the hope it will be a "game changer" and attract private investors into the key sector.

https://www.spacedaily.com/m/reports/EU_launches_game_changer_space_startup_fund_999.html

Named the Cassini fund after the 17th century Italian astronomer, it was launched as part of the European Investment Fund (EIF) which provides risk financing to small and medium-sized businesses across Europe.

"Many of our startups cannot get sizeable equity investment in the EU once they need to scale up," said Thierry Breton, the EU's internal market commissioner, at a gathering for the European space industry in Brussels.

He said the firms are thus forced to turn to non-EU investors.

"This is a major loss for Europe. The Cassini Fund will be a game changer," he added.

The head of the EIF, Alain Godard, said that each euro the fund invests typically attracts three or four euros of private investment from firms that otherwise would have found the project too risky.

A complementary mechanism will provide access to lending to space startups.

The European space sector is estimated to account for about 10 percent of the overall economy, and is expected to see its revenues double over the coming decade.

The competitiveness of the sector is considered important as many of the technologies it develops find applications in other industries.

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[orbemnews]

As Auctioneers and Artists Rush Into NFTs, Many Collectors Stay Away A handful of auctions this month testing the appetite for a type of investment known as NFTs seemed likely to prolong the nascent fad for ownership of works that exist only in the digital world. Missing from those transactions, however, were the blue-chip collectors who typically drive the art market’s sales. Industry experts have observed a growing wedge between a new generation of digital speculators and an older school of art collectors who say their concerns about the quality, ownership and authenticity of NFTs have gone unresolved, even as their fears of legal challenges grow. More than a dozen collectors interviewed for this article said that NFTs raise copyright and other issues that sellers and buyers have not fully thought through. “Absolutely none of my clients are buying NFTs,” said Lisa Schiff, an art adviser in New York. “I have people curious, but we are waiting to let the dust settle first.” NFTs, or nonfungible tokens, have taken off in music, art and sports, created and sold in marketplaces for crypto goods with names like Rarible and OpenSea, or in collaboration with auction houses. Sotheby’s made its initial push into the market earlier this month with a three-day auction of NFTs by the anonymous artist known as Pak. A flurry of blockchain bidding pushed the total price to around $17 million — paid through the digital platform Nifty Gateway with Ethereum cryptocurrency and credit cards — for 6,150 minted NFTs. One work, a single gray pixel, sold for more than $1.35 million after a prolonged bidding war. Phillips also recently sold its first NFT, by the artist Michah Dowbak, who goes by the name Mad Dog Jones, for $4.1 million, including premiums, to an anonymous bidder new to the auction house. Those sales amounted to drops in the bucket compared with Christie’s March sale of an NFT by the artist Beeple for nearly $70 million. But Max Moore, the Sotheby’s specialist who led the Pak sale, argued that the mission was “about establishing connections with this new audience around NFTs.” “They are primarily younger and more digitally native than other collectors,” he explained. “We wanted to establish an understanding of what is defining their taste and collecting style.” With more than 3,000 participating buyers, Moore declared his experiment a success. But the hordes of traditional collectors who have defined the contemporary art market’s ups and downs have held back. Some collectors questioned the idea of owning art without exclusivity. “Why pay $69 million for something anyone can see online?” said Peter Kraus, chairman and chief executive of Aperture Investors, a New York advisory firm, who collects with his wife, Jill, a trustee at the Museum of Modern Art. Their acquisitions include one of six existing versions of “The Clock,” Christian Marclay’s 24-hour-long video collage showing thousands of clips from movies throughout history. “Scarcity is worth something; it’s about owning something that you think is beautiful and can’t be seen in anybody else’s house,” Kraus added. “There has to be some clarity around what it is that you are owning as a collector.” The Belgian investment banker Alain Servais has acquired works by digital artists, including Rafaël Rozendaal, that are typically shown on websites that the buyer owns. With NFTs, on the other hand, control of the work is usually decentralized on the blockchain, with a purchaser receiving a digital receipt, called a token — but the rest of the world can still look on. Servais criticized NFTs for their “enormous unsolved copyright issues and security challenges” in the marketplace and pointed to two recent setbacks that highlight the uncertainties of NFTs for collectors. The first occurred earlier this month when the popular artist Takashi Murakami — who had rushed to embrace NFTs after the Beeple sale by releasing a set of pixel works based on his signature smiley flowers — announced on Instagram that he was withdrawing his NFTs from OpenSea for the time being to “further explore the optimal format” and ensure his collectors’ “satisfaction and sense of security in owning the works.” Analysts said that Murakami may have been smart to take a moment to reconsider how NFT artworks might affect previous collectors of his paintings and sculptures. William Goetzmann, a professor of finance and management studies at Yale University, said established artists should balance exposure and exclusivity. “I can see a risk for established artists who expose themselves to this new market where the rules aren’t clear,” Goetzmann said. “If the prices of NFTs stumble along at fairly low values, that would scare people away from collecting your other works.” Around the same time, the NFT market’s vulnerabilities were being tested by a hacker operating under the pseudonym Monsieur Personne, who produced a “second edition” of Beeple’s record-selling work. The hacker registered the forgery with the blockchain as though Beeple himself had minted it. The NFT was listed on Rarible and OpenSea, both of which eventually deactivated the posts. Legal experts are quick to point out that questions of copyright and fraud in the NFT market have not been tested in the courts, creating an element of unknown risk for collectors. “It’s the Wild West,” said Nelson M. Rosario, an intellectual property lawyer in Chicago who specializes in the cryptocurrency exchange. He added that NFT purchasers often receive different rights over an image than they might expect with a traditional painting or sculpture. The international nature of blockchains, which often have nodes — the machines validating information — located across the globe, also raised questions of whether countries would recognize the copyright rights provided in the terms of an NFT sale. “If you want a high degree of confidence, then you will have to pay way too many lawyers,” Rosario said. “Many NFTs are stored on the Ethereum blockchain, which has nodes in almost every jurisdiction on the planet.” With the scope of risk unclear and the market’s future uncertain, Servais worries that the digital artists he has collected for years could “end up looking like last year’s bad fashion trends,” and devalue their previous work if they embrace NFTs. He and other collectors also worry about the NFT’s reliance on digital platforms that are still considered start-ups. If those companies ever disappear, the links to NFTs they host might also vanish. “If you introduce an intermediary between you and the blockchain, and the intermediary goes down, you are in trouble,” Servais said. Curiously, the artists don’t share these concerns. Rozendaal, who started his career in the early 2000s by turning websites into art objects and selling their domain names, now sees NFTs as the next logical step. With NFTs, “the big appeal is digital permanence,” he said in an email. He and others pointed to the vanishing of art created in the 1990s as earlier internet hosting systems have become obsolete. By parking his works in nonfungible tokens on the blockchain, Rozendaal said, he no longer spends his days worrying about server maintenance and domain access. It also helps that minting NFTs is incredibly quick, taking only about 10 minutes. He has released four works over the last month, receiving nearly $360,000 in cryptocurrency for the highest-selling piece, “Deep Blue” — a far cry from the $10,000 he typically makes per work. “The inter is evolving and blockchain is the next step,” the artist said. “I cannot predict the future, but as I see it now, I will be making NFTs for decades.” Rozendaal has not collected any NFTs himself. Nor have many other artists who are minting digital tokens but are cautious about investing themselves in what they admit could be a passing fad. And in such a new market, some collectors see the art offered through NFTs as too low-quality to acquire. “There is no challenge whatsoever in NFT art,” said Pedro Barbosa, a Brazilian collector who is used to buying conceptual artworks that sometimes have no physical form. “The ideas being explored by Pak, for example, have been around for more than 100 years,” Barbosa added. “The geometric abstraction he is selling has already been explored by artists like Josef Albers, László Moholy-Nagy, and Marcel Duchamp.” But some industry watchers argue that the Beeples of today could be the Warhols of tomorrow. “I remember my parents being fascinated when popular lowbrow images were suddenly being treated as art or collectibles with the advent of Pop Art,” said Goetzmann, the professor. “Maybe we are seeing a similar phenomenon with NFTs — but it could be a bridge too far for people with collections in other media.” In the meantime, artists and their dealers are marching ahead with their plans to conquer the new digital market. Earlier this month, Urs Fischer sold his first NFT for $97,700; Pace will facilitate the artist’s future drops on the blockchain in May after his dealers at Gagosian Gallery declined to participate. Marc Glimcher, Pace’s chief executive, said through a representative that he believed NFTs are here to stay. The gallery plans on accepting cryptocurrency for physical artworks in the fall and is working with more artists on future NFT collaborations. Volta Art Fairs also has plans for NFTs in its programming. Kamiar Maleki, who directs the company, said he anticipates being one of the first art fairs to exhibit nonfungible tokens in a gallery setting coinciding with Art Basel in September. “There is a sense that a parallel art market is emerging that comprises a new set of artists and a new set of collectors,” said Tina Rivers Ryan, a curator at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo with expertise in digital art. “But the $69 million question is whether this is going to become another hype cycle like virtual reality was in 2016 or like Net art was before the dot-com bubble burst in 2001.” Schiff, the art adviser, said that the widening gap between the traditional art collector and new speculators of nonfungible tokens could be a good thing: NFTs might attract speculators away from the contemporary art market, where they are often criticized for quickly reselling their work for an easy return on investment. “It’s better for everyone if you can get speculators off physical art and onto NFTs,” she said. “They don’t have to lie. They don’t have to store the art. They won’t get screamed at for putting it up for auction a few years later. It could be a good way for the market to settle itself.” Source link Orbem News #Artists #Auctioneers #Collectors #NFTs #Rush #Stay

[phgq]

Comelec advisory council reestablished for 2022 polls

#PHnews: Comelec advisory council reestablished for 2022 polls

MANILA – The nine-member Commission on Elections (Comelec) Advisory Council has been reconstituted for the May 2022 national and local elections.

In a statement on Tuesday, the poll body said the members of the advisory body should be registered voters and who are of known independence, competence, and probity, which are required under the law.

The de facto chairman of the council is Secretary Gregorio Honasan II of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

The members are from the academe, non-government electoral reform organizations, ICT professional organizations, and select government agencies.

It is composed of Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Undersecretary Brenda L. Nazareth-Manzano and Department of Education (DepEd) Undersecretary Alain del Pascua as representatives from the government.

Dr. Jan Michael Yap from University of the Philippines, is the representative from the academe; Isabelita Ojeda from the Information System Audit and Control Association (ISACA) Manila Chapter, lawyer Samuel Matunogas from the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines (NICP), and Jonathan D. de Luzuriaga from the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA), are the representatives of ICT organizations.

Dr. William Emmanuel S. Yu from the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), and Angel S. Averia, Jr. from National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), are the representatives from non-government electoral reform organizations.

The functions of the body, pursuant to Republic Act 9369 or the Automated Election Law, is to recommend the most appropriate, secure, applicable, and cost-effective technology to be applied in the automated election system (AES).

Likewise, it is tasked to provide advice and assistance on matters affecting the implementation of the automated election system. (PNA)

***

References:

* Philippine News Agency. "Comelec advisory council reestablished for 2022 polls." Philippine News Agency. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1124855 (accessed December 16, 2020 at 02:34AM UTC+14).

* Philippine News Agency. "Comelec advisory council reestablished for 2022 polls." Archive Today. https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1124855 (archived).