The Digital Markets Act (DMA) is designed to ensure fair and contestable digital markets. With one of the key sources of market power of big tech being data, it is not surprising that it is the subject matter of a number of DMA provisions. Article 5(2) prohibits gatekeepers from engaging in forms of accumulation and cross-use of personal data, unless they receive users’ consent, defined by reference to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Consent as defined by the GDPR suffers from a number of shortcomings, among other things, relating to whether consent can be truly freely given. The DMA tries to address some of the shortcomings by formulating a version of consent that seemingly goes beyond the GDPR. While a new version of consent may ensure greater effectiveness, it raises questions concerning the interaction and compatibility with the GDPR.

To shed light on this issue, the paper discusses the role and meaning of consent in the DMA vis-à-vis the GDPR and explores how to interpret consent under both the DMA and GDPR in a manner that is consistent with each other and that accounts for the characteristics of digital markets.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is not only increasingly being used in business and administration contexts, but a race for its regulation is also underway, with the European Union (EU) spearheading the efforts. Contrary to existing literature, this article suggests that the most far-reaching and effective EU rules for AI applications in the digital economy will not be contained in the proposed AI Act, but in the Digital Markets Act (DMA). We analyse the impact of the DMA and related EU acts on AI models and underlying data across four key areas: disclosure requirements; the regulation of AI training data; access rules; and the regime for fair rankings. We demonstrate that fairness, under the DMA, goes beyond traditionally protected categories of non-discrimination law on which scholarship at the intersection of AI and law has focused on. Rather, we draw on competition law and the FRAND criteria known from intellectual property law to interpret and refine the DMA provisions on fair rankings. Moreover, we show how, based on Court of Justice of the European Union jurisprudence, a coherent interpretation of the concept of non-discrimination in both traditional non-discrimination and competition law may be found. The final section sketches out proposals for a comprehensive framework of transparency, access and fairness under the DMA and beyond.

Competition policy in the EU and UK is in the process of a significant reconfiguration. Its key postulates, methodologies, and normative goals are being subject to intense discussion and revision. The emergence of sui generis ‘new competition tools’ in the area of digital markets—EU Digital Markets Act and UK Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (bill)—epitomises this trend. The purpose of this Article is to attempt to provide legal theoretical foundations for the new subfield of competition law and policy by systematising and conceptualising these trends into the framework of socio-legal scholarship.

Adhesion between soft matter is a universal mechanical problem in bio-engineering and bio-integration. The Johnson–Kendall–Roberts (JKR) method is widely used to measure the work of adhesion and work of separation between soft materials. In this study, the JKR theory is recaptured and three complementary dimensionless parameters are summarized to help design adhesion measurement experiments compatible with the JKR theory. The work of adhesion/separation between two commonly used soft elastomers, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS, Sylgard® 184) and Ecoflex® 0300, is measured by the JKR method using a dynamical mechanical analyzer. Effects of base polymer to curing agent mixing ratio and solvent extraction are examined. A unified adhesion mechanism is proposed to explain the different adhesion behaviors. It is concluded that chain–matrix interaction is the most effective adhesion mechanism compared with chain–chain or matrix–matrix interactions. Chain–chain interaction obstructs chain–matrix interaction as it either blocks or entangles with surface chains which could have interacted with the matrix.

An investigation was carried out to characterize the tensile behavior of multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) modified epoxy nanocomposites in the glassy, viscoelastic, and rubbery regimes. 1 and 2 wt% MWCNT predispersed epoxy was used in this study. The cured samples were characterized using dynamic mechanical analysis for selection of different temperatures. The stress–strain behavior and toughness were determined in the temperature band of 25–140 °C. Addition of 1% CNT resulted in 16% improvement in the storage modulus at glassy state but 6% reduction in storage modulus was seen for 2% CNT-epoxy system. Tensile results showed that the strength and modulus have improved for 1% CNT-epoxy system. This study also revealed that for all the three systems, failure strain was maximum near the glass transition temperature (Tg) and significantly reduced above Tg. Also the CNT-modified epoxies showed improved toughness.

Dans la perspective d'une simulation numérique de type éléments-finis, les auteurs présentent la caractérisation thermomécanique d'alliages ternaires (92,5Pb-5Sn-2,5Ag et 95,5Pb-2,5Ag-2Sn) utilisés dans l'industrie électronique. Au travers d'essais de flexion trois points sur DMA, la présente étude fait ressortir une forte dépendance à la température et à la vitesse de sollicitation du module sécant, de la limite d'élasticité et de la résistance à la rupture. La plage de températures scrutée allant de +35 à +125 °C et concernant la vitesse de sollicitation, cette dernière fut choisie entre 0,1 à 10 N.min-1. Cette forte dépendance à la température des trois grandeurs précitées se caractérise pour le module sécant par une perte de 40 à 70 % par rapport à sa valeur initiale, de 40 à 60 % concernant la limite d'élasticité et de 40 à 45 % pour la résistance à la rupture lorque la température passe de +35 à +125 °C et pour une vitesse de sollicitation passant de 0,1 à 10 N.min-1. Concernant l'influence de la vitesse de sollicitation, on observe que le module sécant grimpe de 35 à 55 %, que la limite d'élasticité progresse de 20 à 50 % et que la résistance à la rupture augmente de 15 à 35 % lorsque la vitesse de sollicitation passe de 0,1 à 10 N.min-1 et pendant que la température passe de +35 à +125 °C.