Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

This book reveals how communities protect themselves when external support is absent.

Drawing on participatory research from Cameroon's conflict zones, the authors document the remarkable agency and creativity of conflict-affected civilians employing non-violent methods to protect one another from violence. With international and national NGOs under strict government controls in the Anglophone regions, local communities have developed their own innovative self-protection strategies that offer sustainable pathways through conflict.

This important study shifts unarmed civilian protection discourse away from externally-led interventions towards genuinely civilian-centred approaches, offering crucial insights for practitioners, policy makers and scholars working in conflict-affected contexts worldwide.

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

What does it mean to become a father at a young age today?

This volume brings together research about the lived experiences of fathers aged 25 and under. Drawing on diverse contexts across the Global North and South, it explores how young fathers form identities and relationships within diverse social, welfare and policy environments.

Moving beyond deficit-based perspectives, the book highlights their social engagement, responsibilities and commitments to family life.

By combining insights from leading scholars within a shared conceptual framework, it provides a comprehensive international comparison of young fatherhood and offers valuable implications for policy, practice and future research.

Care work is essential. And yet, Western capitalist societies are organised in a way as to neglect care work and make it invisible.

Building on feminist critiques of labour law, this book analyses how private care work has been socially constituted as the Other in relation to work on labour markets. By bringing labour law, with its collective structures, into conversation with individual anti-discrimination law, it develops a solidaristic form of labour law that includes unpaid care work.

It shows how the law can be used to challenge collective organisations' understandings of work in order to integrate and accommodate the Other of labour law.

An integrative framework unifying family therapy theory, research, and practice

Divergent theoretical schools and expanding research make family and couple therapy difficult to learn coherently. Now in its Fourth Edition, Family Therapy: Concepts Process and Practice critically evaluates major schools and synthesizes their contributions into a distinctive integrative practice model. This single-authored volume draws together theory, technique, and empirical findings on therapeutic effectiveness into one structured approach.

Family Therapy organizes theoretical approaches by their focus on behaviour patterns, belief systems, and contextual factors, enabling structured comparative analysis. The integrative model is applied to common child-focused and adult-focused problems with detailed clinical guidance. Research on systemic therapy effectiveness is reviewed throughout, with implications for evidence-based practice clearly outlined for each problem area.

Readers will also find:

• Training exercises designed to develop the specific clinical skills required for applying the integrative model in therapy sessions
• Critical evaluation of systemic, structural, strategic, narrative, and other major theoretical schools informing contemporary couple and family practice
• Coverage aligned with postgraduate professional training programme curricula across multiple mental health disciplines and therapeutic orientations
• Guidance on incorporating culture, gender, and socioeconomic context into family and couple assessment and intervention planning decisions
• Outcome research reviews examining systemic interventions for psychological problems commonly encountered across the lifespan in clinical settings

Written for psychologists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, social workers, and nurse therapists training in family and couple therapy, this volume also serves qualified practitioners and training programme directors. Its integrative framework reconciles competing theoretical models into a unified, evidence-informed approach to systemic clinical practice.

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

Technologies are not created hostile, but they can become so. Through neglect, austerity or repurposing, the systems that shape our lives can cause profound harm to people, animals, and physical and social environments in ways their creators neither anticipated nor acknowledged.

Drawing on examples spanning border control, welfare systems, urban design and AI, this provocative collection introduces the concept of technological innocence: the obliviousness that allows bias and hostility to flourish unchallenged.

Moving beyond naive design ethics, it offers scholars, designers and policy makers a powerful new vocabulary for confronting the darker consequences of technological choice.

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

Academic freedom is widely recognized as a cornerstone of higher education, yet its counterpart, academic responsibility, has received remarkably little attention.

This timely book addresses that gap by presenting academic responsibility as a voluntary commitment to apply academic expertise to society's most pressing challenges. Tracing the evolution of higher education's mission through ideas such as engagement, impact, social responsibility and decolonization, Brink develops a compelling conceptual framework that places academic responsibility alongside academic freedom.

Essential reading for academics, university leaders and policymakers, this book offers a fresh perspective on what universities owe society and why that question matters more than ever.

This book presents original research on innovation development and construction management, emphasizing objective findings across cross industry domains that influence the sustainable growth of the construction sector. It integrates current trends with theoretical and practical approaches to managing construction organizations. It addresses investment, production, innovation, personnel, and both strategic and anti-crisis management under conditions of economic instability. It also examines measures supporting the global environmental agenda and its implications for the construction industry and quality of life. Additional focus is placed on lean construction tools, the digitalization and intellectualization of business processes that enhance the industry’s digital maturity, and the prerequisites for improving management efficiency throughout the property life cycle. The book analyzes key areas of innovation and the role of advanced technologies in the strategic development of construction enterprises. It also considers factors that support technological sovereignty, import substitution, and competitive advantage in the investment and construction sector, along with measures aligned with the global environmental agenda and its impact on industry management.

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A unified integrative model for counselling children and young people

Practitioners working with children and young people often draw from multiple therapeutic modalities without a coherent framework for integration. Ecosystemic Counselling with Children and Young People presents a single model that synthesises systemic, person-centred, cognitive-behavioural, and psychodynamic theories into one unified approach. Each chapter applies ecosystemic theory to practice through case vignettes and practical examples.

The book addresses specific presenting issues including anxiety, depression, trauma, self-harm, suicidality, anger, and behaviour difficulties. It examines how family dynamics, school environments, and social identity shape mental health outcomes, offering strategies for working with these factors. Coverage extends to neurodiversity, collaboration with partner agencies, and counsellor self-awareness within the ecosystemic framework.

Readers will also find:

• A unified theory of change that combines humanistic, cognitive, phenomenological, and psychodynamic principles into one integrative clinical framework
• Practical strategies for working with the interconnectedness of a child's psychological health and their wider social and environmental context
• Guidance on adapting ecosystemic interventions for neurodiverse clients, accounting for individual developmental profiles and cognitive processing differences
• Approaches for multi-agency collaboration that support holistic wellbeing across therapeutic, educational, and community settings for young clients
• Content grounded in three master's-level modules in children and young people's counselling, connecting academic rigour directly to clinical application

Designed for qualified therapists, mental health professionals, and trainee counsellors and psychotherapists, this book provides a structured integrative model applicable directly in clinical settings. By unifying established counselling modalities into a single ecosystemic framework, it equips practitioners to deliver holistic, theoretically grounded support to children and young people.

Build communication confidence through authentic connection and presence

In Amplify You: How to Connect More Powerfully in an AI World, Emmy-winning former CNN anchor and executive communication advisor Gina London shares her signature Say It, Look It, Be It framework. This practical guide helps professionals who feel overlooked or uncertain reclaim confidence and communicate with clarity in every situation, from boardroom presentations to difficult conversations.

Drawing from decades of coaching Fortune 500 leaders, London reframes effective communication as amplifying who you already are rather than becoming someone else. The book delivers practical exercises, real-world stories from executive coaching sessions, and innovative QR-coded video lessons that demonstrate techniques in action and reinforce each chapter's key concepts.

Readers will also find:

• Strategies for developing presence, empathy, and purpose that distinguish human connection in an AI-driven workplace environment
• Techniques for pitching ideas, selling yourself, and leading teams with greater clarity, confidence, and authentic impact
• Frameworks for navigating difficult conversations and high-stakes situations without second-guessing yourself or your message
• Actionable tools for connecting with any audience, whether presenting to boards, clients, or cross-functional teams
• Video lessons accessible via QR codes that bring communication concepts to life with demonstrations and practical examples

Ideal for executives, managers, entrepreneurs, and aspiring leaders seeking to elevate their communication skills, Amplify You provides the frameworks and tools you need to connect authentically and communicate with confidence in any professional setting.

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

This book provides a critical reflection on the relationship between education, conflict, war and peace and the global actors and practitioners that have devised strategies to engage and support education systems in conflict-affected contexts.

Exploring a wide range of issues from development assistance to education, peacebuilding, de-radicalisation programmes and global governance, it evidences the challenges and the promises of education's complex relationship to war and peace. The book highlights the field's entanglements with geopolitics and imperial interventions, which have shaped its actions and undermined and limited its potential to support social transformation towards peace with social justice.

The most comprehensive text on testing racial and ethnic minorities in the United States and internationally

Handbook of Multicultural Assessment covers the most current assessment information in a variety of psychological and educational domains, focusing specifically on multicultural and diverse populations, including recent immigrants and refugees. This Fourth Edition represents a major update, addressing current versions of popular assessments, remote testing, and issues of fairness, intersectionality, and cultural equivalence. The focus has been expanded to more domains of application, and this edition adopts a more international perspective. The handbook highlights new and innovative testing practices and ways to overcome barriers in the assessment process. Forensic assessment is also covered.

• Develop an awareness of contemporary, state-of-the-art testing practices
• Learn about issues that arise when assessing multicultural populations, and take intersectional identities into account
• Gain the skill to perform common assessments in a way that is appropriate to the identity of each individual
• Perform assessments to discover sociocultural characteristics of individuals who have migrated from other cultures

This important resource offers an instructional text for conducting culturally competent psychological assessment for clinicians, educators, and researchers.

Mathematical finance and computing are parts of nearly all aspects of everyday life. The discipline has underpinned beneficial modern capabilities, financial modelling, predictive analysis and optimization including search algorithms, financial data visualisation, financial computing, numerical analysis for predictions, and quantitative risk management. Mathematics and computer science are constantly evolving and contributing to most areas of science, engineering and finance; therefore, future generations of mathematical scientists should reassess the increasingly cross-disciplinary nature of the mathematical sciences. Mathematical Finance and Financial Computing with Real-World Applications presents current scientific and technological innovations from leading academics, researchers, and experts across the globe in mathematical sciences and computing.?

The volume will discuss new technical ideas and features that can be incorporated into day-to-day life for the benefit of society. A diversified spectrum of scientific advancements is discussed, including applications of stochastics differential equation, numerical analysis, financial computation, computation dynamics, nonlinear optimization, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Readers will explore diverse ideas and innovations in the field of financial computation and its growing connections to various fields of mathematics and statistics.?

This book will benefit young and middle level researchers in quantitative finance, financial computing and quantitative risk management. Professors, students, and researchers working in research areas such as mathematical finance, financial modelling, asset pricing, volatility modelling, risk analysis, predictive modelling, portfolio optimization, statistical finance, financial computing, financial engineering, financial data analysis and data science can use this book to improve their results.

UNDERSTANDING ENERGY THROUGH SOCIAL, TECHNICAL, AND ENVIRONMENTAL LENSES

Energy, Society, and Environment: A Critical Introduction explores the complex relationships between energy systems and the societies and environments they shape. Dustin Mulvaney provides a concise yet wide-ranging overview of energy production, distribution, and consumption, examining not only the physical and technical aspects but also the political, cultural, and ethical forces that underpin them. By situating energy within its broader social contexts, Mulvaney provides the tools to analyze the challenges of building more sustainable and just energy futures.

This accessible and engaging textbook guides students from the physical principles and sources of energy through to the infrastructures, policies, and social implications that define today’s global energy challenges. Case studies spanning fossil fuels, renewable technologies, and electricity grids are enriched by interdisciplinary perspectives from geography, sociology, science and technology studies, and environmental ethics. Contemporary issues?including the Strait of Hormuz closure, supply chain disruptions, and geopolitical conflicts?are woven throughout to illustrate how energy is at the heart of global change.

Energy, Society, and Environment: A Critical Introduction is ideal for undergraduate and graduate students in geography, environmental studies, sociology, and energy studies programs. It is also an essential reference for researchers, policymakers, and professionals engaged in sustainability, environmental justice, and energy planning.

Close comprehension gaps by centering students?and the books they read

When students don't understand a text, what should teachers do? Team Up With the Text: A Practical Guide to Analyzing?and Improving?Students' Comprehension offers a field-tested framework for supporting reading comprehension?one that unites the science of reading, data-driven instruction, and the heart of English class itself: the rich, complex works students read.

The book explores the idea that the problem isn’t that students can’t “find the main idea,” but that we’ve been analyzing reading the wrong way. It offers a model for supporting reading comprehension, charting a course away from reteaching isolated reading standards and toward practice that is both research-aligned and practically sound. Reading student work can tell us how students struggled, but analyzing their texts can tell us why.

Readers will find:

• A systematic alternative to repeatedly reteaching isolated reading skills like inference without measurable student gains
• Step-by-step guidance for diagnosing the root causes of comprehension breakdowns through close analysis of student work
• Methods for making student thinking visible so educators can respond to it with precision
• Strategies for designing targeted response lessons that address specific gaps
• Real classroom examples demonstrating how teachers across grade levels have applied the framework to raise achievement

Written for English teachers, literacy coaches, and instructional leaders who embrace the science of reading and are looking for what comes next, this book delivers a new, research-based approach to diagnosing comprehension problems and responding with precision.

Contemporary clinical approaches for AAPI youth mental health across diverse populations

For the Next Generation: Mental Health in Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Youth addresses the urgent need for updated clinical resources focused on the fastest-growing racial and ethnic group in the United States. Nancy H. Liu, PhD, a Fulbright Scholar and former WHO consultant specializing in cultural adaptations of evidence-based treatment, contextualizes current research within contemporary societal discourse while providing practical solutions for clinicians working with AANHPI adolescents and emerging adults.

This resource examines contemporary issues previously unaddressed in clinical literature, including anti-Asian hate, intersectionality within AANHPI communities, religion and spirituality, bullying, and neurodiversity. Each chapter concludes with case studies, practical illustrations, and take-home points designed for immediate clinical application. The text reviews advances in acculturation, racial and ethnic identity development, and mental health stigma.

Readers will also find:

• Clinical frameworks for addressing mental health stigma specific to diverse AANHPI subpopulations and their unique cultural contexts
• Practical strategies for working with minoritized groups within AAPI communities
• Evidence-based approaches adapted for cultural relevance with Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander populations
• Case conceptualizations demonstrating application of contemporary research to clinical practice with AANHPI youth
• Assessment and intervention considerations reflecting the changing demographics of the broader U.S. society

For the Next Generation serves mental health professionals, clinical trainees across bachelor's through doctoral programs, educators, community leaders, and peer support providers seeking culturally informed approaches for AANHPI adolescents and emerging adults. Its interdisciplinary scope makes it relevant for courses in public health, education, anthropology, and ethnic studies.

This edited volume explores the circulation of ideas and practices around workplace democracy throughout Europe, and beyond its borders, from the Second World War to the present day. Its chapters examine the role of different actors in disseminating ideas about workplace democracy, focusing on trade unions, academics, political and governmental actors, and international organisations. In doing so, the authors explore how the circulation of knowledge across countries shaped different actors’ positions. For instance, how did trade unions and other actors’ discourses take academic production into account, and vice versa? How and through which channels did ideas of workplace democracy circulate, including exchanges, study trips, conferences, symposiums, and publications? Which individuals and institutions played the most important role in the circulation of ideas? How did co-determination, self-management, or other ‘models’ influence discussions, proposals, and concrete measures of workplace democracy on both a European and international level? With fifteen chapters addressing these questions, this collection combines insights from historians, political scientists, legal scholars, and philosophers based in Europe, South America, and North America, therefore contributing to a new comparative, transnational, and global history of workplace democracy.

This book offers an accessible guide to the economics of digital transformation in Europe. With a particular focus on artificial intelligence, it brings together policy analysis, legal insights, technical innovations, and practical case studies to highlight the economic opportunities and social challenges associated with the digital agenda. The impact of artificial intelligence and the digital transition is assessed across a number of different contexts, including governance, regulation, governmental decision-making, industry, and education. The potential for artificial intelligence and technological innovation to drive sustainable industrial development, enable the circular economy, improve education, and enhance global cooperation are also outlined.

This book shows how the digital transition can transform economies and societies. It will be relevant to students, researchers, and policymakers interested in the digital transition, the political economy, and economic policy.

Volume 4 of The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, covering the later Middle Ages and highlighting the religious and cultural shifts of Jewish life at that time

At the start of the late medieval period, the center of Jewish intellectual productivity had shifted from Muslim lands to Christian Europe. By its end, Jews had been expelled from most of western Europe. In the intervening three hundred years, Jews in western and central Europe, the Middle East, and beyond produced a wealth of literary, legal, philosophical, and scientific writings, primarily but not exclusively written in Hebrew. Adding to this rich abundance, Jewish migration fostered increased contact and intellectual exchange among far-flung Jewish communities, each of which possessed a distinct regional culture.

This volume gathers over a thousand primary sources?texts, translated from more than a dozen languages, as well as a stunning array of visual images?that represent the breadth and diversity of late medieval Jewish cultures. The birth of kabbalah, a major development in the field of Jewish mysticism, represents a highlight of these years. Alongside religious, literary, and scholarly writings, the volume presents personal letters, chronicles, communal records, account ledgers, tombstone inscriptions, legal contracts, court testimonies, and much more, giving expression to the full sweep of Jewish civilization. The texts and artifacts in this volume offer an exciting window into the social, political, economic, and religious life of Jews in the late Middle Ages.

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

How do we position ourselves in relation to our digital cultural heritage when every software update threatens its very survival?

This book confronts the fragility of computer- and network-based art in an age of relentless technological obsolescence. Focusing on a seminal work by the pioneering artist duo JODI, this interdisciplinary study explores graphical user interfaces, executable files, hard-coded structures and the creative use of randomness. Through a model-assisted storytelling approach, it rethinks how programmed artworks can be remembered, analysed and reactivated once they cease to function.

A bold experiment in science communication, this volume is a must- read for scholars, practitioners and all who care about safeguarding our digital memory.

Available Open Access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence

Across many jurisdictions in the Global North, lack of credibility is the primary basis for rejecting sexual orientation, gender identity/expression and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) asylum applications. This edited collection examines how disbelief poses one of the most complex challenges for queer asylum seekers worldwide.

The contributions in this book highlight how assessments in various asylum systems in the Global North are based on stereotypical, feeling-centric and western-centric models, that fail to reflect the complexities of sexual and gender diversity, often perpetuating unlawful bias and leading to unjust decisions. Bringing together theory and practice, the collection explores these issues across diverse geographical contexts, employing a multidisciplinary approach.

Crucially, the collection offers a variety of critical and empirical interventions, advocating for a fairer and more inclusive asylum system and adherence to human rights and refugee law.