This book presents the outcomes of recent endeavors that will contribute to significant advances in the areas of communication design, fashion design, interior design and product design, music and musicology, as well as overlapping areas. Gathering the proceedings of the 7th EIMAD conference, held on May 14–15, 2020, and organized by the School of Applied Arts, Campus da Talagueira, in Castelo Branco, Portugal, it proposes new theoretical perspectives and practical research directions in design and music, while also discussing teaching practices and some areas of intersection. It addresses strategies for communication and culture in a global, digital world, that take into account key individual and societal needs.

This book presents cutting-edge methods and findings that are expected to contribute to significant advances in the areas of communication design, fashion design, interior design and product design, as well as musicology and other related areas. It especially focuses on the role of digital technologies, and on strategies fostering creativity, collaboration, education, as well as sustainability and accessibility in the broadly-intended field of design. Gathering the proceedings of the 8th EIMAD conference, held on July 7–9, 2022, and organized by the School of Applied Arts of the Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco, in Portugal, this book offers a timely guide and a source of inspiration for designers of all kinds, advertisers, artists, and entrepreneurs, as well as educators and communication managers.

Introduction to Art: Design, Context, and Meaning offers a deep insight and comprehension of the world of Art. Contents: What is Art? The Structure of Art Significance of Materials Used in Art Describing Art - Formal Analysis, Types, and Styles of Art Meaning in Art - Socio-Cultural Contexts, Symbolism, and Iconography Connecting Art to Our Lives Form in Architecture Art and Identity Art and Power Art and Ritual Life - Symbolism of Space and Ritual Objects, Mortality, and Immortality Art and Ethics

This book reports on interdisciplinary research and practices in communication, interior, fashion and product design, highlighting strategies for systematizing the design approach in a global, digital world. It gathers a selection of chapters written by the authors of the best articles presented at the 7th EIMAD conference, held online on May 14–15, 2020, from Portugal. The works were chosen for their particular link to contemporary concerns in terms of identity, health and well-being, social inclusion, sustainability, education and environment and, among others. They cover and bridges between important aspects of design education, research and practice, as well as creativity and emerging technology, offering a timely perspective and a source of inspiration to researchers, professionals and educators in design, product development and related fields.

This book covers a variety of topics in the field of mechatronics engineering, with a special focus on innovative control and automation concepts for applications in a wide range of field, including industrial production, medicine and rehabilitation, education and transport. Based on a set of papers presented at the 1st International Conference “Innovation in Engineering”, ICIE, held in Guimarães, Portugal, on June 28-30, 2021, the chapters report on cutting-edge control algorithms for mobile robots and robot manipulators, innovative industrial monitoring strategies for industrial process, improved production systems for smart manufacturing, and discusses important issues related to user experience, training and education, as well as national developments in the field of mechatronics . This volume, which belongs to a three-volume set, provides engineering researchers and professionals with a timely overview and extensive information on trends and technologies behind the future developments of mechatronics systems in the era of Industry 4.0.

The book aims to introduce a research concept called "Numanities", as one possible attempt to overcome the current scientific, social and institutional crisis of the humanities. Such crisis involves their impact on, and role within, society; their popularity among students and scholars; and their identity as producers and promoters of knowledge. The modern western world and its economic policies have been identified as the strongest cause of such a crisis. Creating the conditions for, but in fact encouraging it. However, a self-critical assessment of the situation is called for. Our primary fault as humanists was that of stubbornly thinking that the world’s changes could never really affect us, as – we felt – our identity was sacred. In the light of these approaches, the main strengths of humanities have been identified in the ability to: promote critical thinking and analytical reasoning; provide knowledge and understanding of democracy and social justice; develop leadership, cultural and ethical values. The main problems of humanities are the lack economic relevance; the socio-institutional perception of them as “impractical” and unemployable; the fact that they do not match with technological development. Finally, the resulting crisis consists mainly in the absence (or radical reduction) of funding from institutions; a decrease in student numbers a decrease in interest; a loss of centrality in society. A Numanities (New Humanities) project should consider all these aspects, with self-critical assessment on the first line. The goal is to unify the various fields, approaches and also potentials of the humanities in the context, dynamics and problems of current societies, and in an attempt to overcome the above-described crisis. Numanities are introduced not as a theoretical paradigm, but in terms of an “umbrella-concept” that has no specific scientific content in it: that particularly means that the many existing new fields and research trends that are addressing the same problems (post-humanism, transhumanism, transformational humanities, etc.) are not competitors of Numanities, but rather possible ways to them. Therefore, more than a theoretical program, Numanities intend to pursue a mission, and that is summarized in a seven-point manifesto. In the light of these premises and reflections, the book then proceeds to identify the areas of inquiry that Numanities, in their functions and comprehensive approach, seek to cover. The following list should also be understood as a statement of purposes for this entire book series. These, in other words, will be the topics/areas we intend to represent. Once elaborated on the foundations of Numanities, the book features a second part that presents two case studies based on two relatively recent (and now updated) investigations that the author has performed in the fields of musical and animal studies respectively. The two cases (and relative areas of inquiry) were selected because they were considered particularly relevant within the discussion of Numanities, and in two different ways. In the first case-study the author discussed the most typical result (or perhaps cause?) of the technophobic attitude that was addressed in the first part of the book: the issue of “authenticity”, as applied, in the author's particular study, to popular music. In the second case-study, he analyzes two different forms of comparative analysis between human and non-human cognition: like in the former case, this study, too, is aimed at a critical commentary on (what the author considers) redundant biases in current humanistic research – anthropocentrism and speciesism.

This book gathers a set of works highlighting significant advances in the areas of music and sound. They report on innovative music technologies, acoustics, findings in musicology, new perspectives and techniques for composition, sound design and sound synthesis, and methods for music education and therapy. Further, they cover interesting topics at the intersection between music and computing, design and social sciences. Chapters are based on extended and revised versions of the best papers presented during the 6th and 7th editions of EIMAD–Meeting of Research in Music, Arts and Design, held in 2020 and 2021, respectively, at the School of Applied Arts in Castelo Branco, Portugal. All in all, this book provides music researchers, educators and professionals with authoritative information about new trends and techniques, and a source of inspiration for future research, practical developments, and for establishing collaboration between experts from different fields.

This book presents the outcomes of recent endeavors that will contribute to significant advances in the areas of communication design, fashion design, interior design and product design, music and musicology, as well as overlapping areas. Gathering the proceedings of the 7th EIMAD conference, held on May 14-15, 2020, and organized by the School of Applied Arts, Campus da Talagueira, in Castelo Branco, Portugal, it proposes new theoretical perspectives and practical research directions in design and music, while also discussing teaching practices and some areas of intersection. It addresses strategies for communication and culture in a global, digital world, that take into account key individual and societal needs. .

A multidisciplinary introduction to the field of computational creativity, analyzing the impact of advanced generative technologies on art and music. As algorithms get smarter, what role will computers play in the creation of music, art, and other cultural artifacts? Will they be able to create such things from the ground up, and will such creations be meaningful? In Beyond the Creative Species, Oliver Bown offers a multidisciplinary examination of computational creativity, analyzing the impact of advanced generative technologies on art and music. Drawing on a wide range of disciplines, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, design, social theory, the psychology of creativity, and creative practice research, Bown argues that to understand computational creativity, we must not only consider what computationally creative algorithms actually do, but also examine creative artistic activity itself.