The days of the human may be numbered : theorizing cyberfeminist metaphors ; rereading Kleist’s "Gliedermann" as Cyborg ; as "Ghost in the Shell"

A lot has already been written on Heinrich von Kleist's "Über das Marionettentheater" ("On the Marionette Theater"). I will engage in a reading that is based on deconstructivist approaches as well as on queer- and cyberfeminist-thoughtboth of which reform concepts of the subject by taking into question bodily and gender coherence and gender identity. Queer Studies provoke a thinking of the multiplication of difference as well as a thinking of difference within ('entities') rather than of difference between ('entities'). Cyberfeminism explores the possibilities of manipulating and changing the physical body and provides metaphors for thinking 'posthuman' identities. Donna Harawayin allusion to the hybridization of gender relations and gender conceptionsposits the cyborg as a leading figure/figuration of feminist politics

Face Reenactment with Generative Landmark Guidance

Face reenactment is a task aiming for transferring the expression and head pose from one face image to another. Recent studies mainly focus on estimating optical flows to warp input images’ feature maps to reenact expressions and head poses in synthesized images. However, the identity preserving problem is one of the major obstacles in these methods. The problem occurs when the model fails to preserve the detailed information of the source identity, namely the identity of the face we wish to synthesize, and especially obvious when reenacting different identities. The underlying factors may include unseen the leaking of driving identity. The driving identity stands for the identity of the face that provides the desired expression and head pose. When the source and the driving hold different identities, the model tends to mix the driving’s facial features with those of the source, resulting in inaccurate optical flow estimation and subsequently causing the identity of the synthesized face to deviate from the source.In this paper, we propose a novel face reenactment approach via generative land-mark coordinates. Specifically, a conditional generative adversarial network is devel-oped to estimate reenacted landmark coordinates for the driving image, which success-fully excludes its identity information. We then use generated coordinates to guide the alignment of individually reenacted facial landmarks. These coordinates are also injected into the style transferal module to increase the realism of face images. We evaluated our method on the VoxCeleb1 dataset for self-reenactment and the CelebV dataset for reenacting different identities. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our method can produce realistic reenacted face images by lowering the error in head pose and enhancing our models’ identity preserving capability.In addition to the conventional centralized learning, we deployed our model and used the CelebV dataset for federated learning in an aim to mitigate potential privacy issues involved in research on face images. We show that the proposed method is capable of showing competitive performance in the setting of federated learning

Shakespeare, Authority and Hauntology: Postdramatic Performance in Walny Theatre’s Hamlet

The aim of this article is to explore the potential of hauntological theories to explain and problematise selected aspects of authority and performance in the context of Shakespeare’s drama. Referring primarily to Derrida’s and Abraham’s concepts of the ghost and the phantom and their connection to Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the article discusses hauntological perspectives on performance, both deconstructing and reaffirming authority. The paper comments on the relation between text and performance (Brook, Lehmann), memory and repetition (Carlson), disappearance and perpetual present (Phelan), as well as archive and repertoire (Taylor) in order to highlight the contradictory yet productive ways of understanding performance. The final part of the article, focusing on the significance of the ghost figure, examines experimental appropriations of Shakespeare’s play in Walny Theatre’s Hamlet (2015) in the light of postdramatic aesthetics

Capturing interpersonal coordination processes in association football : from dyads to collectives

Doutoramento em Motricidade Humana, na especialidade de Ciências do DesportoThe purpose of this thesis was to investigate how football performers coordinate their behaviours in different levels of social organisation. We began with a position paper proposing the re-conceptualisation of sport teams as functional integrated superorganisms to frame a deeper understanding of the interpersonal coordination processes emerging between team players. Time-motion analysis procedures and innovative tools were developed and presented in order to capture the superorganismic properties of sports teams and the interpersonal coordination tendencies developed by players. These tendencies were captured and analysed in representative 1vs1 and 3vs3 sub-phases, as well as in the 11-a-side game format. Data showed higher levels of variability at the individual level compared to the team level. This finding suggested that micro-variability may contribute to stabilise the behavioural dynamics at the collective level. Moreover, the specificities of the interpersonal coordination tendencies displayed within attacking-defending dyads demonstrated to have influenced the performance outcome. Attacking players tend to succeed when they were more synchronised in space and time with the defenders, and their interaction were more unpredictable/irregular. Besides, the time-evolving dynamics of the collective behaviours (i.e., at 11-a-side level) during competitive football performance indicated a tendency for an increase in the predictability (i.e., more regularity). These data were interpreted as evidencing co-adaptation processes between opponent players, which suggest that team players may shift from prevalent explorative and irregular behaviours to more predictable behaviours emerging due changes in their functional movement possibilities. However, some game events such as goals scored, halftime and stoppages in play seemed to break this continuum and acted as relevant performance constraints.FCT - Fundação para Ciência e a Tecnologi

Measurement of geophysical effects on the large-scale gravitational-wave interferometer

Geophysical application of large free-mass laser interferometers, which had been designed merely for the detection of gravitational radiation of an astrophysical nature, are considered. Despite the suspended mass-mirrors, these interferometers can be considered as two coordinate meters even at very low frequency ([Formula: see text][Formula: see text]Hz) are rather accurate two-coordinate distance meters. In this case, the measurement of geodynamic deformations looks like a parallel product of long-term observations dictated by the task of the blind search for gravitational waves (GW) of extraterrestrial origin. Compared to conventional laser strain meters, gravitational interferometers have the advantage of an increased absolute value of the deformation signal due to the 3–4[Formula: see text]km baseline. The magnitude of the tidal variations of the baseline is 150–200[Formula: see text]microns, leading to conceive the observation of the fine structure of geodynamic disturbances. This paper presents the results of processing geophysical measurements made on a Virgo interferometer during test (technical) series of observations in 2007–2009. The specific design of mass-mirrors suspensions in the Virgo gravitational interferometer also creates a unique possibility of separating gravitational and deformation perturbations through a recording mutual angular deviations of the suspensions of its central and end mirrors. It gives a measurement of the spatial derivative of the gravity acceleration along with the geoid of the Earth. In this mode, the physics of the interferometer is considered with estimates of the achievable sensitivity in the application to the classical problem of registration of oscillations of the inner Earth's core

The Art of Morals: A Study of the Influence of Musicopoetic Arts on Moral Development in Plato\u27s Laws

This dissertation\u27s primary goal is to give a detailed account of the employment of musicopoetic arts in the process of moral development in Plato\u27s Laws. Its secondary objective is to propose an explanation for the different evaluations of musicopoetic arts at the end of the Republic and in the Laws. To achieve the first goal I analyze the elements of the soul involved in the moral psychology of the Laws, as sketched in the famous image of the marionette; I maintain that the process of habit formation is the pivotal aspect of this moral psychology; I indicate that Plato restricts the musicopoetic arts to the representation of virtue; and I propose ways in which these arts can influence the process of habit formation. I conclude that the moral psychology of the Laws is highly dependent on non-rational and semi-rational motives for action. Additionally I maintain that these motives can promote the pursuit of virtue when they undergo habits of repression (i.e. habits that lead the agent to resist some non-rational or semi-rational motives) or habits of cultivation (i.e. habits that promote certain non-rational motives). And I propose ways in which the musicopoetic arts intercept the process of habit formation, thereby reinforcing in the agent those motives that promote virtue. With regards to the secondary goal, I make the case that Plato does not change his opinion with regards to the musicopoetic arts between Republic and Laws. But I claim that significant changes in the moral psychology lead to very different conclusions in the two dialogues about the ethical effectiveness of these arts

Puppet bodies: reflections and revisions of marionette movement theories in Philippe Gaulier’s Neutral Mask pedagogy

This article examines two aspects of Philippe Gaulier’s pedagogy in relation to the development of Neutral Mask pedagogies in twentieth-century French mime training, specifically those responding to nineteenth and early twentieth-century marionette theories of movement. The first is his strategic use of disorientation through lack of instruction (via negativa) in order to make visible inculturated embodied habits; the second is his emphasis on the performer embodying genuine ‘pleasure’ as she pretends to have a different emotion. The paper examines these techniques in the context of Neutral Mask training, and its development during the twentieth century in France, in order to consider the ways in which they both reflect and revise nineteenth- and early twentieth-century marionette theories of performer movement as espoused in particular by Heinrich von Kleist and Edward Gordon Craig. It considers the ways in which constructions of the ‘natural’ body as pursued by Jacques Copeau and later Étienne Decroux and Jacques Lecoq respond to these marionette theories which seek to do away entirely with interior states such as consciousness and emotion, and in placing these responses alongside Gaulier’s deployments of disorientation and ‘pleasure’. It suggests that Gaulier’s techniques of disorientation serve a similar function to donning the neutral mask in stripping away learned habits of movement, and that his emphasis on experiencing and demonstrating ‘pleasure’ in the pretence of performance both reflects marionette theories by replicating the puppeteer/puppet dynamic, and revises them by foregrounding emotionality

An examination of the management of Russian civil society

This thesis begins by examining the concepts of civil society and social capital. Specifically, it outlines the role of health and education third sector organisations (TSOs) in building civil society and generating social capital which is conducive to democratisation. Following this, the thesis presents literature on civil society development in the context of the Russian Federation, highlighting a void in our understanding of health and education TSOs in this context. The literature review examines cultural-historic antecedents and their impact on civil society development. These antecedents result in three constraints which limit TSOs ability to establish civil society as an autonomous space. In light of these constraints, the thesis explores the present day realities faced by Russian TSOs and proposes that the all-dominant nature of the Russian state leads to managed civil society arrangements. Consequently the thesis addresses the question of how a managed civil society manifests itself in the context of the Russian Federation. Using a qualitative research design, the thesis investigates the control mechanisms created by legislative framework, the ability of third sector organisations to substitute for the state, and the organisational characteristics of TSOs within a managed civil society space. Based on interview data from 82 TSOs across three geographical regions, the empirical chapters explore these three aspects in-depth. Firstly, the thesis demonstrates how a specific legislative framework is used as a legally mandated method to manage civil society. Secondly, the thesis explores more subtle attempts by the state to manage civil society. And thirdly, the thesis highlights ways in which the state controls TSOs and coerces them to mimic marionette organisations. Overall, the evidence presented throughout the thesis highlights the idiosyncratic nature of managed civil society arrangements in Russia in which the state is able to control and direct civil societ