Search results for ""Emerald Publishing Limited""

The Agri-Food industry currently faces a range of challenges, from food safety and security, demand, and supply gaps to the maintenance of product quality and issues in product traceability. Smart digital technologies have opened a complete paradigm shift, providing solutions to these challenges, and helping move towards safe, resilient, responsive, and eventually profit-driven supply chains. The use of these digital technologies by Agri-Food supply chains can bring significant changes in food supply chain management by reducing food wastage, real-time product monitoring, and reducing scalability issues. Agri-Food 4.0: Innovations, Challenges and Strategies addresses new research on digital technologies in the industry, including smart packaging, smart warehousing, effective inventory control, blockchain technology, artificial intelligence, and other Industry 4.0 concepts. Agri-Food 4.0 explores the challenges and complexities in implementing such technologies, helping policymakers in the agri-food sector with impact assessment and digital transformation towards creating a sustainable industry.

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Multifactorial perspectives, whether sociological, cultural, anthropological, historical, biological or psychological, serve as the basis for a considerable amount of research, including how youth and adolescents are influenced by the sociocultural aspects that guide the way they are seen and see the society around them. For researchers and scholars who focus on this subject, it is worth asking: what characterizes adolescence as a social construction in different regions of the planet? The Social Construction of Adolescence in Contemporaneity considers the social field of adolescence in different societies. Recognizing external cultural or societal factors that can influence individual development, contributors discuss a variety of regional traits that can characterize this group, reflecting on the concept of adolescence as a phenomenon of its own in the field of sociology. Expanding this area of youth studies across specific contexts, The Social Construction of Adolescence in Contemporaneity offers new interpretive possibilities to deepen the understanding of issues that concern young people.

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At a time of significant local, national and international change, in which children are already actively involved, it seems not only right but necessary that we should be seeking to further our knowledge and understanding of what informs and shapes meaningful and effective practice for and with children. Such research has implications across the spaces that children and adults share whether that is at school, at home, in the law courts, in health care through to local, national and international platforms for social action. Establishing Child Centred Practice in a Changing World, Part A draws on contributions from around the world, as it highlights the possibilities for a more focused series of studies in this area, deepening the understanding of what informs effective practice with children, through demanding a greater applied awareness of terms such as voice, collaboration and change. It reflects on the realities of the dynamic global context and the way in which this is affecting children’s experiences at a national and local level. It demands a consideration of the way in which children are represented in society and the extent to which that impacts on the design of practices for children. However, as well as reflecting on the constraints that traditional images of the child hold, this work also highlights the opportunities that are created when practices are designed with children.

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Selling Our Youth explores how the class origins of recent graduates continue to shape their labour market careers and thus reproduce class privilege and class disadvantage. It shows how class and gender combine to influence these young adults’ opportunities and choices, in an era when this generation has been characterized as the first likely to end up worse off economically than their parents. The authors draw upon the landmark Paired Peers research project – an empirical longitudinal study of recent graduates in England – to explore their experiences of the contemporary globalized labour market. It demonstrates how many of these young, well qualified adults struggle to achieve stable and rewarding employment in the context of the overstocked graduate supply, precarious work and exploitative working conditions. Government policies of austerity, which were in place when these young people graduated in 2013, meant this generation faced the challenges of a lower wage economy and a housing crisis. The subsequent arrival of Covid-19 and its disastrous impacts on the local and global economy are making these challenges even tougher. The authors further explore the way differences of class and gender impact upon graduate trajectories.

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Financial measurement can be difficult, especially in the public sector where accurate and reliable reporting is imperative for public trust, legality, accountability, and long-term sustainability of activities. Measurement in Public Sector Financial Reporting brings together theoretical arguments and empirical evidence to fuel the debate on measurement approaches in public sector financial reporting. Understanding that various dimensions of value need to be explored in order to reveal methods for providing a more comprehensive public sector view, Measurement in Public Sector Financial Reporting presents a constructive and thoughtful analysis of possible valuation methodologies for the public sector context and related peculiarities and critical issues. The chapters consider both theory and practice, providing a holistic showcase for both practitioner and academic viewpoints. The authors develop discussions and consolidate knowledge, providing a substantial contribution to an international debate. This second volume of Emerald Studies in Public Service Accounting and Accountability recognises the unique characteristics of public sector assets, liabilities, and the other elements of financial statements. The views presented in the chapters make the contents useful for those who are involved, interested in, or responsible for the preparation of public sector financial reporting and related standards.

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Do you want to see your wealth grow? If so, then this easy-to-read guide that focuses on alternative investments - hedge funds, private equity, real estate, commodities, and infrastructure - is just for you. The fourth book in The H. Kent Baker Investments Series attempts to remove some of the mystery surrounding these investments so that you can determine whether any of these are right for you. If you're willing to gain the necessary knowledge, you may be able to build long-term wealth by taking advantage of the benefits that each investment has to offer. The Savvy Investor's Guide to Building Wealth Through Alternative Investments is written for investors familiar with traditional investments but with limited knowledge of alternative assets and strategies.

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This volume contains an Open Access chapter. We have witnessed an avalanche of quantitative public measures over the past decades. Research in the social sciences has shown that rankings in particular are now a driving force of social change - both, desired and undesired - in many areas of modern life. This volume explores the distinct allure of rankings in diverse empirical settings such as healthcare, the IT sector, the arts, professional sports, anti-slavery advocacy, the pharma industry, and educational governance. Drawing from a rich variety of social theories and methodologies, the contributions to this volume advance our understanding of the production, institutionalization, and effects of rankings significantly, sparking new debates and suggesting promising pathways forward.

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Success is envisioned as beating the competition to generate a financially strong and profitable organization while building stakeholder satisfaction. “C” Leadership style is a new management theory derived from the research and science leading to the unification of conflicting traditional leadership models. Presenting a unique approach to address the needs of all stakeholders as they contribute to the success of the organization, “C” Leadership unifies task-centered styles with people-centered styles for managing talent. Authors Jim and Lori Spina bring a track record of success and achievement in the fields of Education, Consulting and Business. Their “C” Leadership: A New Way to Beat the Competition and Manage Organization Stakeholders introduces this revolutionary and unique leadership style management system, offering a strategy geared to beat the competition by addressing the needs of all stakeholders who contribute to the success of the organization.

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What are some of the most distinctive features of the crisis characterising the social sciences learning today? Can a crisis of this deep-rooted and extremely wide-ranging nature be delimitated to a few specific areas? Can the social sciences diverse dilemmas be reduced to the feature of crisis alone? This book argues that the social sciences are in a deep state of crisis. Kléber Ghimire analyzes how some of the basic problems began from the very inception: uncritical use of empiricism and experimentation methods emulating the natural sciences, internal fragmentation of knowledge along narrow disciplinary lines, and near-exclusive emphasis on the experience of industrial societies. As these difficulties persist, more recent evolutions have brought additional troubles. With a focus on Europe, North America and Asia, Kléber Ghimire examines the effects of university reforms that give prominence to expertise-oriented research, economic rationality and occupational skill development, leading to a widespread marginalisation of the social and human studies. The book ends with a call to reflect upon opening a new horizon for these fields of learning, especially by inventing a new era of social sciences pedagogy, leaving natural sciences for humanities and recognizing the value of culture as a crucial reservoir of social knowledge.

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Asia is at a geopolitical crossroads. After China launched its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, Japan and the United States responded with the November 2017 promulgation of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) Strategy. Perhaps not surprisingly, these two initiatives share some common features, and two of these - their ambiguity and their competitiveness - seem to be crucial in the foreign policy evaluation process. Competition leads to ambiguity, which makes reactions, and responses in foreign policy more and more difficult. Middle-Power Responses to China’s BRI and America’s Indo-Pacific Strategy addresses that gap. Starting from the insight that neither the BRI nor the FOIP exists in isolation, and drawing on the knowledge that when either China or the United States sneezes, it is often the less powerful geopolitical players that catch the worst colds, the chapters gathered herein examine how the US-China geopolitical competition affects nations as diverse as Taiwan, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and the member states of ASEAN. These insights are provided by an international, multidisciplinary group of leading experts that include military flag officers, academic researchers, current and former government officials, and retired diplomats, all of whom contribute to a well-rounded, multifaceted view of the transformation that is currently taking place in the geopolitics of the Asia-Pacific.

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We know higher education is more than effective teaching and learning.This series examine the issues impacting HE providers, students, reputations and longevity of institutions across the world. Great Debates are just that - discussions designed to assess and evaluate the state of higher education systems, policies as well as social and economicimpacts looking at inclusivity, accessibility, safety and leadership. These topics resonate with students, researchers and HE administrators alike.Titles included in this set:Teaching Excellence in Higher Education:Challenges, Changes and the Teaching Excellence Framework; British Universities in the Brexit Moment:Political, Economic and Cultural Implications; Higher Education Funding and Access in International Perspective; Sexual Violence on Campus:Power-Conscious Approaches to Awareness, Prevention, and Response; Evaluating Scholarship and Research Impact

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The use of digital tracking technologies is a widespread phenomenon. Millions of people around the world now track, document, and analyse their physical activities, vital functions, and daily habits through wearable devices, apps, and platforms. The aim is to assess and improve health, productivity, and wellbeing. The current Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the uptake of tracking technologies. At the heart of this trend lies the quantification of the body, deemed as a key element in medical practice and personal self-care. While often couched in positive promotional terms that highlight its value to users' mental, emotional, and physical health, it is also raising a host of issues and concerns that are at once ontological, ethical, political, social, legal, economic, and aesthetic. The Quantification of Bodies in Health aims to deepen understanding of this growing phenomenon and of the role of self-tracking practices in everyday life. It brings together established and emerging authors working at the intersection of philosophy, sociology, history, psychology, and digital culture, while bridging between philosophical and empirical approaches. A timely topic of extreme relevance and significance, The Quantification of Bodies in Health constitutes a useful and unique companion for anyone interested in the study of body quantification and self-tracking practices.

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Advances in Global Leadership collects insights from leading scholars and practitioners and fresh ideas from promising newcomers to the field. As in Volume 13, we begin by focusing on global leadership in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic. Volume 14 is introduced with a tour-de-force analysis by twenty authors on the cross-cultural differences reflected in nineteen national responses to the global crisis. The resulting overarching lessons offer useful guidance to leaders grappling with the pandemic and beyond. This volume is organized as follows: • Part 1 presents research papers, many of which advance the conceptualization and practice of global leadership effectiveness, the topic promoted in our Call for Papers. Other chapters report on novel research that opens up pathways for other global leadership scholars. • The Practitioner's Corner in Part 2 features interviews with practitioners and scholar-practitioners whose work illustrates global leadership effectiveness, by modeling its practice, development, and teaching. • Finally, the editors reflect upon the contributions made toward advancing our understanding of global leadership effectiveness and suggest future research directions. Given its focus on important and timely global leadership topics, this book is a must-read for both scholars from wide-ranging disciplines and practitioners with a diverse set of global leadership roles. The Advances in Global Leadership series, with its finger firmly on the pulse of this exciting field, is an essential collection of global leadership knowledge and novel research approaches.

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Understanding Decision-Making in Educational Contexts presents 'problem cases' confronting school leaders in real settings, and illustrates the multiple approaches that school leaders draw upon to navigate complex and challenging decision-making contexts. Although school leaders draw upon knowledge and instruments that are available to them, the approach used for this volume is decidedly Popperian in nature. In this collection, each chapter presents a case study problem, a discussion of the salient concepts and principles of the case, an exploration of problem formulation, and concludes with a decision analysis using a Popperian approach to problem solving. Each chapter concludes with lessons learned and the expected decision-making skills acquired from the critical analysis of each educational challenge using the Objective Knowledge Growth Framework, a Popperian decision-making approach. This book is essential reading for anyone who aspires to take on a leadership role in a school setting, or is curious to develop their understanding of leadership problems.

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Research Methodology in Strategy and Management advances understanding of the methods used to study organizations – including managers, strategies, and how firms succeed. Just like the impact felt across many other aspects of life and work, COVID-19 significantly changed the way we approach and conduct research. Many researchers will need to tread unfamiliar methodological ground to address these challenges and seize these opportunities to hone their craft, conducting interesting research in a novel environment. That is precisely why we are making ‘crisis’ the central focus of this volume. Research in Times of Crisis is an informative book for all academics and researchers working in the fields of management, strategy, international business, entrepreneurship and organization theory.

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There is a growing class of entrepreneurs who, for a range of reasons, are working to create viable alternatives to mainstream production and consumption models. Existing literature that cuts across multiple fields illustrates the unique features, challenges, and value propositions of alternative forms of entrepreneurship. Yet, the complexities associated with how alternative marketscapes form and function remain “fuzzy.” Volume 29 of Advances in the Study of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Economic Growth asks, “How alternative are alternative marketscapes?” In doing so, greater clarity is gained on the underlying economic, organizational, and social conditions and environments within which alternative marketscapes develop. The volume includes theoretical arguments and case studies that view alternative entrepreneurship not as co-existing with, but rather transforming mainstream entrepreneurship, and challenge the understanding of alternative entrepreneurship as being inherently altruistic. The exploration of ingenuity and innovation, in conjunction with cases that illustrate the diversity of alternative market contexts, generates organizational and system-level applications. The volume authors provide entrepreneurs and companies a concise understanding of alternative marketscapes that paves the way for development and success.

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Advances in Mergers and Acquisitions stands out from the competition due to its focus on three key characteristics: studies from scholars in different countries, with different research questions, relying on different theoretical perspective. Such a broad and inclusive approach to mergers and acquisitions is not easily replicated in academic journals, with much narrower mandates and metrics. Volume 21 of this annual series explores a range of issues relevant to a post-Covid world and the ensuing recession – from the perks and pitfalls of cross-legacy boundary-spanning and the role of inimical resources in managerial decisions, to the synergy between industry 4.0 and the circular economy and the role of M&A advisors in cross-border acquisitions, the chapters published in this volume provide cutting edge ideas by leading scholars and help to inform mergers and acquisitions research around the world. This collection of research is of interest to scholars in strategic management, organization theory, and organizational behaviour who are studying questions around mergers and acquisitions. Doctoral students in particular will benefit from access to the diversity of research that can trigger new research questions and expanded research agendas.

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In volume 29 of Advances in Taxation, editor John Hasseldine includes studies from expert contributors exploring topics such as: implicit taxes in imperfect markets; repatriation of indefinitely reinvested earnings; tax compliance in multiple countries; innocent spouse tax relief decisions; and the pedagogical benefits of position paper assignments in tax education. Reporting peer-reviewed research contributions from North America, Africa, and Asia, Advances in Taxation is essential reading for those looking to keep abreast of the most recent research, including empirical studies using a variety of research methods from different institutional settings and contexts.

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Declining global male fertility rates has generated increased attention on male fertility in recent years. Simultaneously, individualised responsibility for health has been growing. Fertility and lifestyle have therefore become seemingly intertwined. Esmée Sinéad Hanna and Brendan Gough examine men’s experiences of fertility and lifestyle practices, exploring personal experiences of the role of lifestyle in the quest for conception as well as the broader promotion of ‘lifestyle’ within both clinical and online material as a key aspect for ‘improving’ male fertility. Through the exploration of male fertility and lifestyle factors and their modification we examine the growth of healthism around infertility, the role of neoliberalism within this and how this intersects with masculinity. Using a new notion of liquid masculinity, we explore the fluid nature of societal and personal perspectives on the male infertility experience. In doing so we offer new insights into the now accepted idea that ‘sperm’ is malleable and that fertility controllable through personal choices, despite their being limited scientific evidence for such claims.

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The arena of International Schooling is growing rapidly and changing in nature. The number of schools delivering a curriculum wholly or partly in English outside an English-speaking nation reached 12,000 in 2020. China and the Middle East is the emerging centre of activity, and local parents are the main customers. This is an increasingly important, yet still overlooked, area of schooling. Although it continuously attracts teachers, mainly from Britain and North America, the reality is precarious and insecure. Precarity and Insecurity in International Schooling addresses this paradox, and starts a new discussion, arguing that a more positive lens of inquiry is required to understand the situation. In so doing, the book introduces new sociological evidence, concepts and visions linked to the accumulation of 'resilience' and 'transition capital'. This book will be of interest to students and researchers wishing to gain a new and contemporary insight into the rapidly changing world of International Schooling.

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Policy makers tend to deal with future risks by increasing the standardisation of national educational systems, a process supported by global educational policy ideas, quality assurance mechanisms and governing instruments and practices. This book presents the reader with tools to challenge accepted ideas about the standardising forces transforming educational reality, by discussing standards and standardisation from a range of different theoretical perspectives and contexts and posing questions such as: Why do we think about education through the lenses of standards? What are the assumed conditions underpinning the idea of standards? Organised into three sections, the historical, theoretical, and philosophical discussions in the first and third sections of the book underscore how educational standards as a phenomenon can be understood in a variety of ways, giving readers insight in to the ambiguous and situated aspects of the phenomenon. Six case studies in the middle section provide an international approach to the study of standards, illuminating how standards simultaneously represent a global and a context specific phenomenon. Across the diversity of theoretical and empirical writings, the book not only provide readers with insight but also broadens the scope of future empirical analyses of the historical, political, and social embeddedness of standards in education.

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This book adopts a highly critical approach to the ways in which organisations have been analysed by orthodox theories and offers instead a perspective on elements of organisational behaviour including leadership and its failures, structures, cultures, bullying and the denial of individual voice, firmly rooted in the critical understanding of power and control. Professor Fenwick draws from international examples of practice and finds grounds for optimism in the distinctive positive values of the public sector organisation. This book is an invaluable source for those with an interest in organisational behaviour in the public sector, designed for many audiences including students embarking upon study of how such organisations work, researchers who wish to assess aspects of the topic in greater depth, or readers with a practical interest or involvement with the organisations in question.

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Flapjacks and Feudalism: Social Mobility and Class in The Archers is an excavation into the family and class politics found in the clans of the residents of Ambridge, in BBC Radio 4's The Archers. A whole section of the book is devoted to 'The Fall of the House of Aldridge', with Brian's ethical misdemeanours and fall from grace, looking at how Brian could have hidden his scandals and changed the impressions surrounding him as a 'feckless farmer'. Another section sees the parenting skills, or complete lack of them, of the Ambridge clans put on trial, and used to predict the future leaders of Ambridge. Chapters in the book discuss the power of family and community networks, the oppression of the Grundys by the lords of the manor, and Emma Grundy's housing woes and the importance of housing in the success and security of those in the village. This book explores how far housing, intergenerational wealth, skills and access to employment shape life chances of characters and shows that, perhaps more than anywhere else, its not what you know but who you know.

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Global Tariff War: Economic, Political and Social Implications traces the range of impacts that global tariff wars in international trade can have on the growth and expansion of national economies. The Global economic and political status quo has faced turmoil after the US President's 2018 announcement on the imposition of import tariff steel and aluminium products. Taking as its core focus the trade war between the USA and China, this book focuses impact on the rest of the world's economies, and explores key areas including neo-protectionism, globalization and restricted trade, inflation volatility, FDI and tariff rates, and the environmental footprint of global trade tariffs. Having previously played the role of campaigner in favour of free trade since the World War II, today's United States has projected itself towards greater protectionism and patriotism. Conclusions arise that tariff wars, as well as trade wars, are damaging for national and transnational economies, as well as other sectors, such as society and environment. Evidence presented in the work illustrates that developed countries are impacted more adversely in comparison to developing zones due to this type of tariff war. Offering a range of illuminating perspectives from under explored developing economies being directly affected by these policies, this collection presents a unique critical insight into this complex and evolving area of geo-political and economic practice.

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Volume 39C of Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, features a symposium marking the 100th anniversary of the publication of Frank H. Knight’s Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit. The symposium features contributions from Per Bylund, Richard E. Wagner, our own Carlos Eduardo Suprinyak and his co-author, Thiago Oliveira, as well as an essay from guest editor Ross B. Emmett. The Volume also includes general-research essays from David C. Coker, J. Patrick Higgins, and Charles R. McCann, Jr.

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Volume 39A of Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology features a selection of essays presented at the 2019 Conference of the Latin American Society for the History of Economic Thought (ALAHPE), edited by Felipe Almeida and Carlos Eduardo Suprinyak, as well as a new general-research essay by Daniel Kuehn, an archival discovery by Katia Caldari and Luca Fiorito, and a book review by John Hall.

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A place-led perspective of entrepreneurial development is becoming increasingly important, given narratives around entrepreneurial ecosystems, contexts, and the design of entrepreneurial institutions. In a world where we recognise entrepreneurial means, ends and values in terms of locations with meaning, this latest volume in Contemporary Issues in Entrepreneurship Research explores the phenomenon of Entrepreneurial Place Leadership. Defining Entrepreneurial Place Leadership in terms of how locations with entrepreneurial meaning are created, maintained, exploited, and amplified to generate future value, this edited collection considers how entrepreneurs lead in a complex entrepreneurial landscape. Leading international scholars act as guides through a heterogeneous landscape of individual dwellings, communities, and planned settlements. Topics include: an exploration of entrepreneurial responsibility to place in rural Nova Scotia; an analysis of culture in Entrepreneurial Support Organisations in Spain; a discussion of entrepreneurial implementation of policy in Italy; and the introduction of a tool for managing a complex solution ecosystem in Australia. Each chapter reflects upon the contribution of the author’s research to academic theory and makes policy and practice recommendations – as such this book is a useful resource for academics, students, and entrepreneurial place leaders. Contemporary Issues in Entrepreneurship Research is an official book series of the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE). Each volume is designed around a specific theme of importance to the entrepreneurship and small business community with articles collectively exploring and developing theory and practice in the field.

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Our current economic systems have become addicted to growth at all costs, as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP). They assume that GDP growth is synonymous with increased wellbeing and prosperity. However, this approach has led to growing inequality, an escalating climate crisis, and the depletion of natural and social capital. Our approach to economics and development needs to be fundamentally transformed. New Challenges for Future Sustainability and Wellbeing is a collection of 25 studies about sustainability and the related challenges, such as income, wealth, social aspects, the environment, education and regional equality that influence the pace of economic development and deteriorates well-being of people and organisations all over the world. This book provides a platform for scholars, researchers and professionals from different disciplinary backgrounds to discuss, highlight and exchange ideas on these challenges and prospects for both economic and business development.

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Literature on academic entitlement is almost always associated with students with little examination of entitlement with reference to educators. Feelings of entitlement among educators make them hold onto rigid 'inherited scripts' and constrain the development of flexibility required in this global and technologically disruptive era. It is imperative that we understand how entitled behaviours are triggered in the discursive context of teachers' practice. Understanding Excessive Teacher and Faculty Entitlement develops a significant body of professional knowledge by providing a deeper and sympathetic understanding of what manifests itself as 'excessive entitlement'. The volume presents a theoretical framework within which one can investigate and articulate issues and helps those concerned with education and teacher education internationally to get a sense of the complexities surrounding teachers' work. Bringing together researchers from diverse geographical contexts, this timely book primarily addresses educators and researchers with a spin-off to human resource management in diverse organizational settings.

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This interdisciplinary collection of essays explores the impact of media, emerging technologies, and education on the resilience of the so-called post-truth society. This book explores if a return to civic participation, enhanced critical media literacy, journalism for the public good, techno-interventions and lifelong learning systems can collectively foster a more engaged global citizenry. The post-truth society is associated with a raft of terms that challenge the very notion of what should constitute a democratic and inclusive society: the decline and fall of reason; the disruption of the public sphere; the spread of misleading information; fake news; culture wars; the rise of subjectivity; the co-opting of language; filters, silos and tribes; attention deficits; trolls, polarisation and hyper-partisanship; the conversion of popularity into legitimacy; manipulation by "populist"; leaders, governments, and fringe actors; algorithmic control, targeted messaging and native advertising; surveillance and platform capitalism. The contributions from scholars, technologists, policy-makers and activists raise critical questions about the nature and power of knowledge in the 21st century. Readers are challenged to question their own role in perpetuating certain narratives and to also understand the lived context of people on all sides of a given debate. The diverse perspectives by geography, sector, gender and world-views will widen the appeal of this work to an international audience trying to understand the resilience of the post-truth society.

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A company's ability to evolve more efficiently than its competitors in a complex, dynamic and unpredictable environment gives it an undeniable advantage. In this context, and with the increasing automation of manufacturing and decision-making processes, the value of IT use is reinforced and becomes an asset for the company, provided that it achieves IT agility and can maintain it. However, practice and research remain unsatisfactory in providing useful answers on how to achieve agility in this environment. Strategic Information System Agility: From Theory to Practices is an invaluable resource to discover the strategic information technology agility in organizations. The purpose of this book is to improve the awareness of strategic information system agility. This book focuses on the impact of IT systems' strategic agility on organizations' business performance in response to highly uncertain and unexpected events that are potentially significant. The book also includes frameworks, practical solutions and technological advances related to IT agility, and draw from the real world of business through case studies in large organizations. The book offers comprehensive coverage of essential topics, including: Agility Concept, Enterprise Information System Agility, Conceptual IT Agility, Strategic IT Service Management Agility, Cloud computing as a driver of IT Agility. The authors deliver comprehensive coverage of the elements necessary for the development and the implementation of effective Information systems strategic agility. Providing the concept, theory, modeling, and architecture of an agile information system, covering the state of the art, concepts, and methodologies for developing information.

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Those who study China’s domestic economics tend to focus on its businesses, industries, supply chains, and energy market disruption through anecdotal case studies, which often point to impending collapse. This hardly squares with the dominant views of international relations scholarship, much of which focuses on system-level analyses and tends to predict that China will inevitably achieve ever-greater global power. It is no wonder that so many long-held assumptions about China have an air of paradox to them. Here Chi Lo presents the first full-length study to bring systemic analyses into dialog with domestic analyses, and in so doing, to show how each can challenge or refine the assumptions of the other. Taking on key presuppositions about the resilience (or otherwise) of China’s economic fundamentals, and explaining why much of the global “common sense” about China is misinformed, this book applies evidence-based research to provide a novel picture of China’s development and its place within the global economic system. China’s Global Disruption: Myths and Reality is a must-read for students and researchers in both international studies and economics, and it is of keen interest to policymakers and practitioners concerned with China’s ever-evolving place within the international political economy.

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This collection of essays is designed to shed light on the issues of imperialism and the transitions to socialism. Written by eighteen contributors, from twelve countries and three continents, it is organized into two main parts. The first section delves into the theoretical aspects, the analysis of which is key for understanding the subject under consideration. The second part of the volume is focused on the examination of practical experiences of socialist transition, more or less advanced and with varying degrees of success, in China, Vietnam, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Brazil. Imperialism and Transitions to Socialism argues that countries wanting to embark on a socialist transition is not only a response to a spirit of justice, but also an answer to the call of reason: it is a question of survival for humanity, and for life. Socialism is not just a word, it is a struggle. It is not an end, but a transition process, long and difficult, that can take many paths towards the liberation of labour from the domination of capital. It is socialism, a society of solidarity, which walks with history.

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Complexities and dilemmas are evident in journalism in the digital and data age. Scarcity of audiences’ attention jeopardises the survival of information media in the market, technological penetration increasingly renders journalism a complex information system, and the rise of partisan journalism accompanies the crisis of objective reporting. Analysing the evolving industry as it turns to the help of digital technologies such as algorithms and cloud computing to reach and engage local and global audiences, Journalism, Economic Uncertainty and Political Irregularity in the Digital and Data Era explores the challenges journalism faces in great depth and detail. Tong discusses the transformation of quality journalism that has become high-tech, interdisciplinary, saturated with human interest, and sometimes even fiercely partisan under the influence of multiple disruptions brought about by digital technology, economic uncertainty, and political irregularity. A timely and important contribution to the research of journalism, Journalism, Economic Uncertainty and Political Irregularity in the Digital and Data Era bridges media with the fields of sociology, politics, technology, and culture studies – central for academics, writers and researchers.

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While the physical and emotional trials of waiting on transplant lists are featured in popular media, the struggles recipients face years after surgery are not. Voices of Teenage Transplant Survivors introduces illness narratives from an unrecognized patient population: recipients of heart, liver, and kidney transplants. Offering unique narratives by adolescents who use poetry to explore issues surrounding the changing body, independence, identity, and mortality, the book showcases a message of healing and voices of hope amid uncertainty. Illuminating the physical, psychological, and existential challenges confronted by adolescents for which organ rejection and side effects loom in their future, Sample details the poetry workshops where these adolescents articulated experiences silenced by family, friends, and the culture of medicine. She includes close readings and analyses of their writings, along with writing prompts and references to narrative medicine theory. This powerful book offers something new for medical and health professionals, medical humanities researchers, students, and the public.

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Winner of the Ernest Bormann Research Award from the National Communication Association The Emerald Handbook of Group and Team Communication Research considers the current research of group communication scholars, provides an overview of major foci in the discipline, and points toward possible trajectories for future scholarship. It establishes group communication’s central role within research on human behaviour and fosters an identity for group communication researchers. This book establishes communication scholarship as essential to group research by exploring the various dimensions of communicating in groups and teams. Communication is fundamental to group research, and the deeper, more nuanced treatment of the subject in this handbook consolidates and expands theory and research in the area.

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How do we navigate uncertain times? What competencies and motivational factors accelerate us to grow and develop and what hinders our success? What are strategies that researchers, educators and policymakers can engage in to more fully realize the potential of all students, combatting institutional and interpersonal inequities? To answer these questions, we need to develop a deeper understanding of what motivates youth and adults, inclusive of the contextual and institutional variables that influence individuals, to develop and apply their social and emotional competencies. Motivating the SEL Field Forward Through Equity looks for a deeper critical understanding of the role of social and emotional learning (SEL) as a lever for equitable access to the competencies and skills individuals will ultimately need to be successful in school, work, and life. To do this, we need to explore the motivational factors of individuals and how that connects to SEL for all students, programs and practices that promote a more equitable SEL experience for all students, and practices to engage researchers and practitioners to deepen implementation of SEL with all students. This handbook will benefit the broader SEL market including researchers, practitioners, school and district leaders, and teacher preparation programs in the SEL and motivation fields who are actively engaged in working to create equitable outcomes for adults and youth.

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Luminous Literacies shares examples of teachers and educators using local knowledge to illustrate literacy engagement and curriculum-making through scholarly accounts of experiences in teacher preparation courses, classrooms, and other community spaces in New Mexico. This edited collection includes chapters focusing on the teaching of Native American literature to indigenous students in what used to be an assimilation school; learning to code while making connections to the bomb-building that was part of New Mexican history; using graphic novels and text sets that reflect local identities and concerns; and examining the duality of querencia/herencia with teachers from across the United States in a National Endowment of the Humanities-funded project. Teachers present counter narratives to literacy knowing and learning in places with extensive colonial histories. These chapters provide vivid demonstrations of what literacy is, how literacies are positioned in communities and contexts, and how literacies come alive as they are taught. This is essential reading for practicing teachers, teacher education researchers, cultural studies scholars, and educational leaders.

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Across an ever-changing political landscape, and in the midst of Brexit developments, this edited collection draws our attention to women's participation in transformative democratic processes, and captures how UK women were made 'other' in the political environment created by Brexit. Chronicling the work of diverse feminist activists connected to women’s equality organisations, grassroots networks and migrant communities who between them strove to further intersectional equality, and ensure women’s voices were heard across the UK during the Brexit campaign, the first section of this book highlights the impact of populist discourses on subjective identities and their place in public and political life. Through reflective conversation, autobiographical writing and poetic pieces, the authors transform their experiences of being 'othered', showcasing instead a new found community and collective agency across intersections of identity. In the second section, researchers and activists analyse how the socio-economic, political and legal changes unleashed by Brexit are undermining women's equality in the UK. Considering how to defend feminist concerns when facing populist political leadership, the authors make the case for constitutional reform which will enable direct female participation in the democratic process. Looking ahead to the post Brexit landscape, and the unknowable future let loose by Covid-19, the contributors offer us a glimpse of the world they are striving to create.

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The concepts of practice and institution are of longstanding importance across the social sciences. This double-volume builds directly on the scholarship of Theodore Schatzki and Roger Friedland, to map out new theoretical and empirical directions at the interface between the practice and institutional “logics” literatures in organizational sociology, bridging the two perspectives. Volume 71 of Research in the Sociology of Organizations highlights a multitude of empirical directions suggesting particularly intriguing focal points for the emergent research agenda. The enclosed chapters grapple with issues related to the relationship of the symbolic and material aspects of culture and draw on a variety of empirical contexts (e.g. Islamic banking, Chinese manufacturing, and social innovation) to suggest different ways in which we might study social change at the interface of practice and institution.

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Carers and caring are contemporary global issues of growing political and societal significance. Changing demographics in the UK and beyond, as well as policy drivers promoting community-based living, mean that the family is increasingly the site of care for relatives with long term support needs. Whilst there is a plethora of literature on carers it tends to be situated in separate subject areas. For the first time Family Carers and Caring brings together a range of material and evidence about carers from different sources presented in an accessible and yet academically informed way. Milne and Larkin help to make sense of the complexities of family carers and caring, carving a coherent path through the academic, policy, socio-political, and practice terrain. Family Carers and Caring is explicitly underpinned by principles of social justice and rights, focusing on how inequalities intersect with caring.

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Collecting data about our lives, our bodies and our behaviours has become a part of everyday practice that promises greater self-awareness, healthier living and increased productivity. This book focuses on the dialectical relationship between users and designers of self-tracking technology to examine how logics of datafication redefine the body. It explores what these emerging relations mean for imagining, designing and analysing sociotechnical systems that bring about self-tracking. Jethani provides a genealogy of self-tracking to situate the notions of quantified and quantifiable selves as problematic data regimes within contemporary digital culture. It charts the origins of self-tracking from within the blueprint of the "Californian Ideology" to a global social movement which now reaches beyond self-experimentation to encompass the wider trajectories of using wearable sensor technology in the neoliberal management of health, wellbeing and productivity. The book reframes and theorises the quantified self by re-examining and developing arguments of how bodies "disappear" (Jewson), are made "docile" (Foucault) and get caught up in "rhythms" (Lefebvre) by datafication. The concept of a "quantised" self is introduced as a means of reading into and exposing the inherent political interests being served when self-tracking technology is introduced into clinical, home and workplace settings. Drawing from case studies of self-tracking in practice, the final chapter sketches the outline of a mutual praxis of critique and design that allows us to reimagine the politics embedded in sociotechnical systems of self-tracking and to consider possibilities of intervention.

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Building Business Value through Talent uniquely describes how a CEO and CHRO can accelerate business growth by working together to design and operationalize value-driven talent strategies. CEOs focus on decisions that will drive the business strategy forward while HR leaders routinely try to satisfy the needs of the largest number of employees. Often, the two align superficially or in administrative ways – and to put out the occasional flash fire. This book changes that dynamic by unlocking the investment potential of HR and empowering an unprecedented, tangible and measurable partnership between CEOs and CHROs. Framed as a product guide, the "product" is visualized as the HR Operating Model necessary to succeed in our modern economy: a business-based talent planning and investment strategy to sustain talent solutions and intellectual capital growth. This product guide provides the tools and insights that business leaders are seeking in order to win the ever more challenging battles in their war for talent. Learning and adopting these winning practices will provide a visible testament to the effective leadership of any CEO and CHRO team.

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Research Methodology in Strategy and Management advances understanding of the methods used to study organizations – including managers, strategies, and how firms succeed. This volume explores cutting-edge methodological approaches to the study of organizations, managers, and strategy, and offers ‘how to’ guides for applying these approaches. It also includes retrospective accounts by Joe Hair and John van Maanen, of the key methodological contributions they have made throughout their careers. This is an informative book for all academics and researchers working in the fields of management, strategy, international business, entrepreneurship and organization theory.

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Circular Economy in Developed and Developing Countries: Perspective, Methods And Examples discusses practical examples of formation of circular economy in the developed and developing world. Special attention is paid to the experiences of modern Russia in formation of circular economy, as Russia holds a unique position in the system of international classification of countries of the world, possessing the features of developed and developing economies. The authors seek the goal of helping develop a new approach to research, founded on the idea that ecological crisis is proof of the necessity for formation of circular economy. Methods of formation are offered based on the determined peculiarities and common regularities, where imbalance of developed and developing countries is overcome and the threat to ecological crises is reduced. Aimed at academics of world economics, circular economy and macro-economics, Circular Economy in Developed and Developing Countries provides development of the theory and methodology, as well as the practice for understanding circular economy formation.

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The Institutional Research profession is currently experimenting with many strategies to assess institutional effectiveness in a manner that reflects the letter and spirit of their unique mission, vision, and values. While a "best-practices" approach to the measurement and assessment of institutional functions is prevalent in the literature, a machine learning approach that synthesizes these parts into a coherent and synergistic approach has not emerged. A Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence Approach to Institutional Effectiveness in Higher Education presents a practical, effective, and systematic approach to the measurement, assessment, and sensemaking of institutional performance. Included are instruments and strategies to measure and assess the performance of Curriculum, Learning, Instruction, Support Services, and Program Feasibility as well as a meaningful Environmental Scanning method. The data collected in this system are organized into assessments of institutional effectiveness through the application of machine learning data processes that create an artificial intelligence model of actual institutional performance from the raw performance data. This artificial intelligence is visualized through five organizational sensemaking approaches to monitor, demonstrate, and improve institutional performance. Thus, this book provides a set of tools that can be adopted or adapted to the specific intentions of any institution, making it an invaluable resource for Higher Education administrators, leaders and practitioners.

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A country's economic productivity is directly related to the health of its workforce. Thus, how a nation allocates resources to the physical health of its population is of vital importance in establishing the economic well-being of its citizens. This volume contains nine original and innovative articles that investigate the relationship between a nation's health policies, employee health and resulting labor market outcomes. Topics include the direct link between employees' health and wages, the employment impact of an unfavorable health shock, the relationship between job insecurity and a worker's mental health, the effect of career disruptions on already chronically ill workers, the consequences of arbitrary health insurance disenrollments, the impact of reducing publically available sick day benefits, the repercussions of increasing employers' sick pay benefits on absenteeism, the relationship between economic conditions and opioid abuse, and the consequences of parental migration on children's health. For researchers and students of labor economics, or anyone interested in understanding how a country's health policies affect its economic productivity, this volume is a fundamental text.

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