When our smartphones distract us, much more is at stake than a momentary lapse of attention. Our use of smartphones can interfere with the building-blocks of meaningfulness and the actions that shape our self-identity. By analyzing social interactions and evolving experiences, Roholt reveals the mechanisms of smartphone-distraction that impact our meaningful projects and activities. Roholt's conception of meaning in life draws from a disparate group of philosophers - Susan Wolf, John Dewey, Hubert Dreyfus, Martin Heidegger, and Albert Borgmann. Central to Roholt's argument are what Borgmann calls focal practices: dinners with friends, running, a college seminar, attending sporting events. As a recurring example, Roholt develops the classification of musical instruments as focal things, contending that musical performance can be fruitfully understood as a focal practice. Through this exploration of what generates meaning in life, Roholt makes us rethink the place we allow smartphones to occupy in the everyday. But he remains cautiously optimistic. This thoughtful, needed interrogation of smartphones shows how we can establish a positive role for technologies within our lives.

Digital controllers are part of nearly all modern personal, industrial, and transportation systems. Every senior or graduate student of electrical, chemical, or mechanical engineering should therefore be familiar with the basic theory of digital controllers. This new text covers the fundamental principles and applications of digital control engineering, with emphasis on engineering design. Fadali and Visioli cover analysis and design of digitally controlled systems and describe applications of digital control in a wide range of fields. With worked examples and Matlab applications in every chapter and many end-of-chapter assignments, this text provides both theory and practice for those coming to digital control engineering for the first time, whether as a student or practicing engineer.