Sixteen riders from 8 Countries aimed to finish the meeting in the top 7 The event was dominated by Polish Krzysztof Kasprzak who scored 13 points.Second position for Danish Leon Madsen | Copyright 2025 FIM Europe | Terms of use - Privacy statement | In our coverage of automation applications we typically focus on industrial applications of various automation technologies But uses for automation extend beyond the practical we are seeing industrial automation technologies employed to make our lives fun and exciting through their use in entertainment productions A recent example of an artistic application of industrial automation can be found in Terminal One of Singapore’s Changi Airport the Kinetic Rain sculpture consists of 1,216 copper-plated aluminum droplets suspended from the ceiling on thin steel wires The sculpture is composed of two contiguous fields of 608 droplets each extending over a total area of more than 800 square feet A small servomotor controls the movement of each droplet in the sculpture’s 15-minute show the droplets form into different dynamic shapes connected by the theme of flying Berlin agency Art+Com developed the concept; technical implementation and programming were handled by MKT AG from Olching, Germany. Beckhoff Automation supported MKT AG during the programming and implementation of the sculpture’s control system built using Beckhoff Automation’s products High requirements were set for the kinetic sculpture where dynamics precision and speed of the motion sequences were concerned: The droplets move with a speed of 1.5 m/s and an acceleration of 1.4 m/s²; their movements had to be dynamic Moving the 1,216 servo axes synchronously to designers’ specifications is handled using Beckhoff’s EtherCAT industrial Ethernet technology TwinCAT automation software and compact EL7201 EtherCAT Terminals that function as servo drives A C6525 industrial PC is responsible for control of the sculpture It communicates via TwinCAT ADS (Automation Device Specification) with a specially designed GUI computer from MKT The PC centrally controls the 1,216 axes via TwinCAT NC PTP and acts as the master the master PC coordinates the distribution of the position data to six slave PCs which each are assigned 192 or 208 axes and ensures the synchronicity of all axes according to a master axis as reference The GUI computer from MKT is used for visualization but also contains the show in the form of a table ensuring the position data for each droplet at time intervals of 200 ms A flowing movement perceptible by the human eye without jerks is made possible through interpolation in TwinCAT NC PTP 100 intermediate positions are calculated for each droplet using a spline algorithm in a 2 ms NC task These calculations take place on each slave PC for the local axes assigned to it While the master keeps all the axes synchronous to one other the slave PCs calculate the positions of the axes assigned to them every 2 ms and communicates over EtherCAT in real-time to the servo drives the movement of the individual axes is extremely precise and lies in the range of 1 mm for an overall length of around 25 ft The maximum offset between two droplets is 0.25 mm Each droplet is controlled via an EL7201 EtherCAT servomotor terminal and AM3121servomotor from Beckhoff we found an extremely compact solution that fit the structural conditions with limited installation space in the ceiling of the building,” he says “Also important for us was the modular implementation of the control solution and the fact that an individual axis can be exchanged without addressing That made partial commissioning possible [in that] we were able to work in parallel on software allowing us to keep within the narrow timeframe that we had for this project,” Haschkamp says Using the TwinCAT NC PTP it was possible to “jog” Kinetic Rain’s show (i.e. fast forward and/or rewind it) to simplify commissioning If an individual path of the sequence was not satisfactory the engineers from MKT could repeat it continuously until it was correct “With other solutions this was not possible and we would have been forced to continually start the show from the beginning each time until we reached the desired position which would have been very time consuming,” says Haschkamp Watch a video of the Kinetic Rain sculpture in action at the Changi Airport below Foreign Affairs has been the leading forum for serious discussion of American foreign policy and global affairs The magazine has featured contributions from many leading international affairs experts MIGUEL OTERO-IGLESIAS is a Senior Analyst at the Elcano Royal Institute, a Senior Research Fellow at ESSCA School of Management, an Adjunct Professor at IE University, and the author of The Euro, the Dollar, and the Global Financial Crisis. Follow him on Twitter @miotei Miguel Otero-Iglesias what explains the overwhelming public support for it The standard answer is that people do not want to abandon the euro because they fear the costs and uncertainties of reverting to the currencies used before its introduction but it also overlooks the positive reasons for the euro’s popularity: the single currency has brought its users material benefits and helped to create a common European identity Europeans do not back the euro simply because they fear the alternatives but because the status quo offers them real rewards who similarly believe that the euro has divided the continent and brought economic stagnation and high unemployment to the southern eurozone support for the euro declined over the same period from 56 percent to 37 percent—a clear sign that people within and outside the currency union perceive the euro differently To be sure, some of the eurozone’s support for the single currency comes from fear of the consequences of abandoning it. One of the first scholars to delve into that subject was the American economist Barry Eichengreen who outlined the problems that countries exiting the eurozone would face in a 2007 working paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research Debtor states such as Italy would have their credit ratings downgraded if they left the currency union raising the interest they would have to pay on new debt to prohibitive levels and making default nearly unavoidable the devaluation brought about by reverting to the old currency would fail to meaningfully stimulate domestic demand or boost exports as creeping inflation triggered by higher import costs and wages would probably offset any gains in competitiveness These economic problems would be compounded by political ones as other EU governments would lash out at the state attempting to leave the eurozone perhaps even forcing it out of the EU entirely Quitting the euro would also require expensive legal and technical maneuvers—from introducing a completely new currency and redenominating contracts in it to imposing controls to limit capital flight The result could be a massive financial crisis in the country abandoning the euro No wonder so many people in the Eurozone don’t want to leave it the euro’s requirements serve as a straitjacket on predatory domestic elites when the risk of the euro’s redenomination was at its peak as Spain and Italy came under stress Yet the euro has remained mostly stable despite the crisis generally lifting the pressure on Europeans to hold foreign currencies The euro’s stability has helped guarantee the savings of retirees It has obviated businesses owners' concerns about devaluations And it has enabled members of the middle class to have a strong currency in their pockets when travelling abroad just like their American and British peers These are all reasons to support membership in the monetary union citizens prize the stability that the single currency offers Exporters there no longer need to fear that their Italian and French competitors might benefit from the devaluation of the lira or the franc Middle-class tourists from countries such as Germany do not have to fret about currency conversion when travelling to Italy or Greece People who use the euro are thus citizens of the EU in a way that differs from that of their peers outside the currency bloc This might help explain why the eurozone's outsiders often struggle to understand its insiders The euro has been a kind of social glue even though many Europeans disagree about the EU's management of the common currency German political scientist Thomas Risse has found that parliamentary debates and media organizations covered similar agendas across Eurozone countries during the euro crisis—a sign that people throughout the currency bloc experienced economic traumas together Confrontation is inherent to any political community and even disagreements over euro policy can help construct bonds since they help to Europeanize public debate The single currency has created tensions between Europe’s south and north and its political left and right either—and there are plenty of positive reasons why that is so Subscribe to Foreign Affairs to get unlimited access Already a subscriber? Sign In Bálint Madlovics and Bálint Magyar Natasha Hall and Joost Hiltermann Piotr H. Kosicki Halil Karaveli Soner Cagaptay Sheri Berman Ivo H. Daalder and James M. Lindsay Tong Zhao Zongyuan Zoe Liu Anne Neuberger Liana Fix and Michael Kimmage * Note that when you provide your email address, the Foreign Affairs Privacy Policy and Terms of Use will apply to your newsletter subscription Published by The Council on Foreign Relations Privacy Policy Terms of Use From the publishers of  Foreign Affairs This website uses cookies to improve your experience You can opt-out of certain cookies using the cookie management page * Note that when you provide your email address, the Foreign Affairs Privacy Policy and Terms of Use will apply to your newsletter subscription With the collaboration of the design and digital technology agency ART+COM Singapore's Changi Airport has implemented a kinetic art installation in the Terminal 1 It is located on the exit stairs of the terminal and is made up of two segments that use 1.216 Bronze-coated aluminum beads The installation occupies 75 square meters of surface and 7,3 meters high and is composed of two sections containing 608 drops each Each drop is attached by a steel cable to the motors hidden in the ceiling following patterns controlled by special software The drops follow a choreography of 15 minutes as a complement and sometimes responding to each other to represent the beauty and harmony with which they move in the air The airport has installed lights at the bottom to make a play of shadows on the ceiling with their movements as they illuminate the drops The technical implementation has been carried out by MKT [YouTube]HTTP://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4-AUVBuZ-4[/YouTube] Subscribe to our Feed And you won't miss a thing © 2024 Digital AV Magazine - Underwood Comunicación SL A total of six detainees are now known to have died in U.S including four known cases of alleged murder or manslaughter The United States has announced only a handful of criminal investigations into abuses and deaths in Afghanistan and has publicly charged only two persons with any crime.The newly uncovered cases include that of Sher Mohammad Khan who was arrested on September 24 this year during a raid on his family�s home near Khost A new case from 2003 involves the death of Jamal Naseer a soldier in the U.S.-backed official Afghan Army after he and seven other soldiers were mistakenly arrested by U.S forces and then taken to a base in Gardez and tortured Human Rights Watch cites evidence of an alleged murder of a detainee by four U.S military personnel in or before September 2002 This death is believed to be the earliest known death of a detainee in U.S custody in Afghanistan.In a December 13 letter to U.S Human Rights Watch Director Brad Adams said in most cases the Department of Defence launched criminal investigations only after particular abuses received media attention �These investigations have proceeded extremely slowly and in excessive secrecy,� he said an internal Pentagon investigation of detention operations in Afghanistan unlike similar reports on abuses in Iraq.Mr Adams said the failure to investigate and prosecute abuses had created a �culture of impunity� among some interrogators Several military guards and interrogators implicated in earlier abuses in Afghanistan were later sent to work at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison located on the outskirts of Baghdad and the scene of horrific violations of prisoners� rights by their U.S Some of these personnel have been implicated in the abuses at Abu Ghraib The breakdown in respect for the prohibition of torture is �almost complete when senior administration officials authorize stripping using stress positions and sensory deprivation and no one is publicly held accountable for the deaths of prisoners subjected to this ill-treatment,� said Dr William F Executive Director of Amnesty International USA.�The administration must not only extinguish the green light they gave to torture and other cruel but make clear that no-one who authorized or inflicted such treatment will escape criminal liability,� he added.Through 2004 the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) has received numerous complaints about mistaken arrests and mistreatment and beatings of detainees by U.S #29293a);margin:auto;margin-top:32px;max-width:calc(640px + (2 * 12px));padding:0 12px;}@media screen and (min-width: 768px){.css-9uetne{margin-top:72px;}}.css-1lgqo8v{color:var(--sz-basic-text-color-primary 18:28 Uhr.css-rhp0z0{color:var(--sz-basic-border-color-secondary #c0c1c6);display:inline-block;margin:0 12px;}|.css-13l0r79{display:inline-block;}Lesezeit: 2 Min .css-y4bre2{display:block;height:auto;width:100%;}.js .css-y4bre2{cursor:pointer;}.css-1hdpxq{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;background-color:rgb(255 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ease-in-out;transition:border-bottom 150ms ease-in-out;}.css-1vyk908 a:focus,.css-1vyk908 a:hover{border-bottom-color:transparent;}Um nicht erkannt zu werden waren die Zollfahnder bei der Verbrennung vermummt #29293a);content:'';height:10px;left:0;position:absolute;top:10px;width:5px;}@media print{.css-1p5uxsp::before{content:none;}}Die Drogen stammen aus Albanien ihr genauer Ursprung ist nicht nachvollziehbar.Deshalb kann man sie nicht mehr zu medizinischen Zwecken einsetzen..css-1xo7oe1{font:italic 500 1.1875rem/1.5 'SZ Text','Georgia','Times',serif;letter-spacing:0.015em;margin-top:32px;}@media screen and (min-width: 768px){.css-1xo7oe1{font:italic 500 1.3125rem/1.5 'SZ Text','Georgia','Times',serif;letter-spacing:0.015em;}}.css-1xo7oe1 a{border-bottom:1px solid var(--sz-basic-text-color-primary #29293a);-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;-webkit-transition:border-bottom 150ms ease-in-out;transition:border-bottom 150ms ease-in-out;}.css-1xo7oe1 a:hover{border-bottom-color:transparent;}@media screen and (min-width: 768px){.css-1xo7oe1{margin-top:48px;}}Von Tobias Mayr Weißer Rauch steigt aus dem Schornstein der Müllverbrennungsanlage in Olching - ganz so wie immer. Doch das Brennmaterial an diesem Vormittag ist nicht wie sonst Hausmüll: Das Zollfahndungsamt München hat am Dienstag rund 550 Kilogramm Marihuana in dem Abfallheizkraftwerk verbrannt Der Stoff stammt aus einem serbisch zugelassenen Lastwagen den Zollbeamte im Dezember 2016 südlich von Nürnberg aus dem Verkehr fischten Langsam schiebt sich der grüne Lastwagen des Zolls durch das Tor der Anlage Jeder Schritt bis zur Vernichtung ist genau durchgeplant Mehrere vermummte und bewaffnete Zollfahnder bewachen die Einlieferung weil sie ihre Gesichter nicht von den Kameras der Journalisten filmen lassen möchten: Im Dienst dürfen sie nicht erkannt werden 20 Kilo Silber und 5,3 Tonnen Cannabis: Das ist das Ergebnis internationaler Zusammenarbeit unter bayerischer Ägide es handle sich um ein geheimes Lager in der Region für die Beamten ist es eine der bedeutendsten Vernichtungsaktionen der vergangenen Jahre Denn nicht nur die Menge an Drogen ist beeindruckend Die halbe Tonne Marihuana hat einen Wirkstoffgehalt von bis zu 16 Prozent Normal beschlagnahmt der Zoll Marihuana mit zwölf Prozent Der Preis läge bei mehreren Millionen Euro Dieser "Müll" hat bereits einen langen Weg hinter sich Nach der Sicherstellung wurde das in Sporttaschen und Plastiktüten verstaute Marihuana in das Münchner Zolllabor gebracht Dort wurden die Verpackung gemeinsam mit dem Bayerischen Landeskriminalamt auf DNA-Spuren untersucht und der Wirkstoffgehalt ermittelt Außerdem musste das Marihuana zuerst getrocknet werden um das tatsächliche Gewicht ermitteln zu können "Diese Menge hat kaum in unserem Labor Platz gehabt" eine Anlage für Großvernichtungen wie diese zu finden Die Verbrennungsanlage müsse möglichst nah am Lagerort sein und genügend Kapazitäten frei haben Jetzt vor Weihnachten brauche man in Olching sowieso etwas mehr Material da über die Feiertage kein Müll angeliefert wird Da habe die Anfrage des Zolls ganz gut gepasst Aber könnte man das Rauschgift nicht medizinisch nutzen "Damit mit Marihuana behandelt werden kann muss quasi jeder Stängel registriert sein" Von wo genau und von welcher Hanfart das Rauschgift stammt Also liegt der Stoff nun verpackt in 499 Plastiktüten und 60 Umzugskartons auf der Schüttrampe in Olching Händisch werfen die Beamten die Kartons in den Müllspeicher zum regulären Hausmüll Von dort nimmt ein Greifarm die Mischung und hievt sie in den Trichter des Verbrennungsofens dass die Pakete dabei möglichst nicht auseinander fallen Das Rauschgift dürfe sich nicht in der Anlage verteilen oder gar austreten Bei 900 bis 1000 Grad werden die Drogen schließlich zerstört "Aus dem Material wird Fernwärme und Strom für die Menschen in der Region gewonnen" sagt König: "So ist es gewissermaßen ein Nutzen für die Allgemeinheit" Woraus ihre Heizungswärme am Dienstag erzeugt wurde wird den Nachbarn in Olching aber wohl kaum aufgefallen sein Denn gerochen hat man das wertvolle Heizmaterial nicht mehr "Bei diesen Temperaturen wird jede organische Verbindung zerstört" In anspruchsvollen Berufsfeldern im Stellenmarkt der SZ. .css-5x0u19{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Gutscheine.css-pcxqtt{border:0;clip:rect(0 0 0 0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;white-space:nowrap;width:1px;}: