Current findings from anthropology, genetics, prehistory, cognitive and neuroscience indicate that human nature is grounded in a co-evolution of tool use, symbolic communication, social interaction and cultural transmission. Digital information technology has recently entered as a new tool in this co-evolution, and will probably have the strongest impact on shaping the human mind in the near future. A common effort from the humanities, the sciences, art and technology is necessary to understand this ongoing co- evolutionary process. Interactivity is a key for understanding the new relationships formed by humans with social robots as well as interactive environments and wearables underlying this process. Of special importance for understanding interactivity are human-computer and human-robot interaction, as well as media theory and New Media Art. »Paradoxes of Interactivity« brings together reflections on »interactivity« from different theoretical perspectives, the interplay of science and art, and recent technological developments for artistic applications, especially in the realm of sound.

Seismic Design of Industrial Facilities demands a deep knowledge on the seismic behaviour of the individual structural and non-structural components of the facility, possible interactions and last but not least the individual hazard potential of primary and secondary damages. From 26.-27. September 2013 the International Conference on Seismic Design of Industrial Facilities firstly addresses this broad field of work and research in one specialized conference. It brings together academics, researchers and professional engineers in order to discuss the challenges of seismic design for new and existing industrial facilities and to compile innovative current research. This volume contains 50 contributions to the SeDIF-Conference covering the following topics with respect to the specific conditions of plant design: · International building codes and guidelines on the seismic design of industrial facilities · Seismic design of non-structural components · Seismic design of silos and liquid-filled tanks - Soil-structure-interaction effects · Seismic safety evaluation, uncertainties and reliability analysis · Innovative seismic protection systems · Retrofitting The SeDIF-Conference is hosted by the Chair of Structural Statics and Dynamics of RWTH Aachen University, Germany, in cooperation with the Institute for Earthquake Engineering of the Dalian University of Technology, China.

Ergonomics teaches how to design technology in such a way that it is optimally adapted to the needs, wishes and characteristics of the user. In this context, the concept of the human-machine system has become established. In a systematic way and with a detailed view of the complicated technical and perceptual psychological and methodological connections, this book explains the basics of automotive ergonomics with numerous examples. The application is shown in examples such as package, design of displays and control elements, of environmental ergonomics such as lighting, sound, vibrations, climate and smell. The design of driver assistance systems from an ergonomic perspective is also a central topic. The book is rounded off by methods of ergonomic vehicle development, the use of mock-ups, driving simulators and tests in real vehicles and prototypes. For the first time, those responsible in the automotive industry and in the field of relevant research are provided with a specialized systematic work that provides the ergonomic findings in the design of today's automobiles. This provides planners and designers of today's automobiles with concrete information for ergonomic product development, enabling them to keep an eye on decisive requirements and subsequent customer acceptance. This book is a translation of the original German 1st edition Automobilergonomie by Heiner Bubb, Klaus Bengler, Rainer E. Grünen & Mark Vollrath, published by Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature in 2015. The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content, so that the book will read stylistically differently from a conventional translation. Springer Nature works continuously to further the development of tools for the production of books and on the related technologies to support the authors.