We welcome you to the First International Conference on Arts and Technology (ArtsIT 2009), hosted by CSIE of the National Ilan University and co-organized by the National Science Council, ICST, College of EECS at National Ilan University, Software Simulation Society in Taiwan, ISAC, TCA, NCHC, CREATE-NET, and Institute for Information Industry. ArtsIT2009 was held in Yilan, Taiwan, during September 24–25, 2009. The conference comprised the following themes: • New Media Technologies (Evolutionary systems that create arts or display art works, such as tracking sensors, wearable computers, mixed reality, etc. ) • Software Art (Image processing or computer graphics techniques that create arts, including algorithmic art, mathematic art, advanced modeling and rend- ing, etc. ) • Animation Techniques (2D or 3D computer animations, AI-based animations, etc. ) • Multimedia (Integration of different media, such as virtual reality systems, audio, performing arts, etc. ) • Interactive Methods (Vision-based tracking and recognition, interactive art, etc. ) The conference program started with an opening ceremony, followed by three keynote speeches and four technical sessions distributed over a period of two days. Two poster sessions, one hour each, were scheduled before the afternoon oral sessions. An Int- active Arts Exhibition was held in conjunction with ArtsIT 2009. Twelve well-known digital arts teams from Taiwan exhibited 15 artworks in this event, including 10 int- active installation arts, 4 video arts, and 1 digital print. The conference received around 50 submissions from 15 different countries.

Now thoroughly revised and updated, the book discusses recent breakthroughs in media technology, including such exciting advances as video discs and cassettes, two-way television, satellites, cable and much more.

A dazzling look at the artists working on the frontiers of science. In recent decades, an exciting new art movement has emerged in which artists utilize and illuminate the latest advances in science. Some of their provocative creations—a live rabbit implanted with the fluorescent gene of a jellyfish, a gigantic glass-and-chrome sculpture of the Big Bang (pictured on the cover)—can be seen in traditional art museums and magazines, while others are being made by leading designers at Pixar, Google’s Creative Lab, and the MIT Media Lab. In Colliding Worlds, Arthur I. Miller takes readers on a wild journey to explore this new frontier. Miller, the author of Einstein, Picasso and other celebrated books on science and creativity, traces the movement from its seeds a century ago—when Einstein’s theory of relativity helped shape the thinking of the Cubists—to its flowering today. Through interviews with innovative thinkers and artists across disciplines, Miller shows with verve and clarity how discoveries in biotechnology, cosmology, quantum physics, and beyond are animating the work of designers like Neri Oxman, musicians like David Toop, and the artists-in-residence at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. From NanoArt to Big Data, Miller reveals the extraordinary possibilities when art and science collide.

Only recently has the phenomenon of technology become an object of in terest for philosophers. The first attempts at a philosophy of technology date back scarcely a hundred years - a span of time extremely short when com pared with the antiquity of philosophical reflections on nature, science, and society. Over that hundred-year span, speculative, critical, and empiricist approaches of various sorts have been put forward. Nevertheless, even now there remains a broad gap between the importance of technology in the real world and the sparse number of philosophical works dedicated to the under standing of modern technology. As a result of the complex structure of modern technology, it can be dealt with in very different ways. These range from metaphysical exposition to efforts aimed at political consensus. Quite naturally, within such a broad range, certain national accents can be discovered-; they are shaped by a com mon language, accepted philosophical traditions, and concrete problems requiring consideration. Even so, the worldwide impact of technology, its penetration into all spheres of individual, social, and cultural life, together with the urgency of the problems raised in this context - all these demand a joint philosophical discussion that transcends the barriers of language and cultural differences. The papers printed here are intended to exemplify such an effort at culture-transcending philosophical discussion.

The world we make reflects the way reality is perceived, and today the world is perceived primarily in technological terms. So argues Gil Germain in Thinking About Technology: How the Technological Mind Misreads Reality. Given the connection between perception and action, or thinking and doing, Germain first highlights the central features of technological worldview to better understand the contemporary drive to master the conditions of human existence. He then boldly proposes that the technological worldview seriously misreads the nature of the world it seeks mastery over, and shows how this misinterpretation invariably leads to the technologically-related challenges currently vexing the contemporary social order, from the drift toward a posthuman future to the anti-globalization backlash. Germain closes Thinking About Technology by articulating an alternative worldview to the technological perspective and illustrating how this re-reading of reality might help us inhabit the technological landscape in ways better attuned to the human condition.

The book on Modern B@nking Technology is a systematic and comprehensive insight into technology-led banking. It is an encyclopaedia of Banking Technology. The book covers the rich experience of the author in the field of banking and finance. The book will be found useful by banks, researchers, Executives / Directors, IT professionals, pursuers of courses on IT by IIBF, viz., JAIIB / CAIIB / Diploma in Banking Technology / MBA / Certificate Examinations as also by IGNOU / ICAI / ICFAI / ICSI / ICWA / Management Institutions/Universities for practical exposure and professional orientation. The book contains in detail the following ¿Impact on and explosion of Banking Technology in new millennium ¿Innovations in 'Paperless¿ banking¿Payment and Settlement Systems (RTGS) & Cheque Truncations, etc¿Role of IDRBT in development of Protocols and Standards¿Role of IBA and Report on Banking Industry VISON-2010

Conservation of Easel Paintings is the first comprehensive text on the history, philosophy, and methods of treatment of easel paintings that combines both theory with practice. With contributions from an international group of experts and interviews with important artists, this volume provides an all-encompassing guide to necessary background knowledge in technical art history, artists' materials, scientific methods of examination and documentation, with sections that present varying approaches and methods for treatment, including consolidation, lining, cleaning, retouching, and varnishing. The book concludes with a section featuring issues of preventive conservation, storage, shipping, exhibition, lighting, safety issues, and public outreach. Conservation of Easel Paintings is a crucial resource in the training of conservation students and will provide generations of practicing paintings conservators and interested art historians, curators, directors, collectors, dealers, artists, and students of art and art history with invaluable information and guidance.

In this critical new work, Slaughter investigates how university involvement in high technology influences higher education policy. By conducting a case study of the Business-Higher Education Forum, a liaison organization consisting of Fortune 500 Chief Executive Officers and presidents of well-known research universities, the author explores the policy agenda of the Forum, the historical and structural antecedents of that agenda, and its organizational implications for various post-secondary sectors and their faculty.

In the first book of its kind, art information expert Lois Swan Jones discusses how to locate visual and textual information on the Internet and how to evaluate and supplement that information with material from other formats--print sources, CD-ROMS, documentary videos, and microfiche sets--to produce excellent research results. The book is divided into three sections: Basic Information Formats; Types of Websites and How to Find Them; and How to Use Web Information. Jones discusses the strengths and limitations of Websites; scholarly and basic information resources are noted; and search strategies for finding pertinent Websites are included. Art Information and the Internet also discusses research methodology for studying art-historical styles, artists working in various media, individual works of art, and non-Western cultures--as well as art education, writing about art, problems of copyright, and issues concerning the buying and selling of art. This title will be periodically updated.

Indoor Wireless Communications: From Theory to Implementation provides an in-depth reference for design engineers, system planners and post graduate students interested in the vastly popular field of indoor wireless communications. It contains wireless applications and services for in-building scenarios and knowledge of key elements in the design and implementation of these systems. Technologies such as Wireless Local Area Networks, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Indoor Optical Communications, WiMAX, UMTS and GSM for indoor environments are fully explained and illustrated with examples. Antennas and propagation issues for in-building scenarios are also discussed, emphasizing models and antenna types specifically developed for indoor communications. An exhaustive survey on indoor wireless communication equipment is also presented, covering all available technologies including antennas, distribution systems, transceivers and base stations.