To the Chinese people, jade is a precious stone endowed with magical properties which encapsulated all that mankind aspires to in terms of character, elegance, tranquility, purity and virtue. The Chinese love jade not merely because of its rarity or its luster but because of a deeper aesthetic value. Chinese Jade: The Spiritual and Cultural Significance of Jade in China presents a comprehensive view of jade and its history in China from Neolithic times to the Qing dynasty. It illustrates pieces of jade that are on display not only in the Palace Museum in Beijing but in the many provincial and other museums across China. It will help the reader to understand what jade means to the Chinese in China; how it is classified and described and where it is found and worked and displayed. It has a value beyond that of a simple catalogue and places jade in its natural, and central, cultural context.

Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE 2023), July 20–24, 2023, San Francisco, USA

These past few years have taught me a lot about me. After finally hitting my stride, my old friend karma kicked me in the ass; hard enough to leave a lasting mark. I don’t know if it’s the poetry or the art of storytelling I love most, but I’m glad to have finally reached the climax of the trilogy, and who doesn’t like a good climax? I’ve worn many hats but being called a poet never crossed my mind. With that being said, I’m glad I dove in headfirst into something challenging because it turned out I enjoy it. They say never judge a book by its cover and you shouldn’t, but if you did, this cover is amazing, ain’t it. These poems are like Pringles, I bet you can’t read just one. Go ahead, try me, and take a walk on the wild side. You just might like it! After three renditions, it’s time to move on to a new challenge. Like everything else in life, it’s about moderation and I’ve spent an enormous amount of time writing. For as much as I love it, I love living more and being able enjoying the things I’ve I been blessed with. That and I got other stuff I wanna do.

This 5-volume HCII-DUXU 2023 book set constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Design, User Experience, and Usability, DUXU 2023, held as part of the 24th International Conference, HCI International 2023, which took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, in July 2023. A total of 1578 papers and 396 posters have been accepted for publication in the HCII 2023 proceedings from a total of 7472 submissions. The papers included in this volume set were organized in topical sections as follows: Part I: Design methods, tools and practices; emotional and persuasive design; Part II: Design case studies; and creativity and design education; Part III: Evaluation methods and techniques; and usability, user experience and technology acceptance studies; Part IV: Designing learning experiences; and chatbots, conversational agents and robots: design and user experience; Part V: DUXU for cultural heritage; and DUXU for health and wellbeing.

Cinema, the primary vehicle for storytelling in the twentieth century, is being reconfigured by new media in the twenty-first. Terms such as "worldbuilding," "virtual reality," and "transmedia" introduce new methods for constructing a screenplay and experiencing and sharing a story. Similarly, 3D cinematography, hypercinema, and visual effects require different modes for composing an image, and virtual technology, motion capture, and previsualization completely rearrange the traditional flow of cinematic production. What does this mean for telling stories? Fast Forward answers this question by investigating a full range of contemporary creative practices dedicated to the future of mediated storytelling and by connecting with a new generation of filmmakers, screenwriters, technologists, media artists, and designers to discover how they work now, and toward what end. From Chris Milk and Aaron Koblin's exploration of VR spherical filmmaking to Rebeca Méndez's projection and installation work exploring climate change to the richly mediated interactive live performances of the collective Cloud Eye Control, this volume captures a moment of creative evolution and sets the stage for imagining the future of the cinematic arts.