This book explores the complex interplay between test-takers' strategic competence, task complexity, and performance, focusing on Chinese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). It introduces and empirically validates the Strategic Competence Model of L2 Speaking (SCMLS), the first framework in second language research to clearly conceptualise strategic competence in speaking, designed primarily for Chinese EFL learners. It also provides a feasible solution to the long-standing challenge of designing and assessing task complexity and multimodality in L2 testing by using Robinson's (2015) Triadic Componential Framework. Methodologically, the employment of quantitative hierarchical linear modelling and qualitative, ChatGPT-assisted coding to investigate these relationships offers rigorous and efficient approaches to data analysis for future studies. The book provides pedagogical implications for metacognitive scaffolding and task development for EFL speaking instruction. This book serves as a useful reference for language assessment researchers, applied linguists, teacher educators, test developers, and graduate students interested in second language speaking performance and strategy use in assessment contexts.

This book details the temporal transformations in modernity as they have manifested in social structures and relationships. Globalization has created a new reality in the image of the new-age truth-the reality of pluralism which has transformed the way human relations have been organized. There has been a surge of new values and new ideas. All these have collectively formed a new consciousness. This book captures the said consciousness in its totality through its various manifestations in various domains on human socialization. The authors of the book provide broader generalizations on globalization, situating it through various standpoints, and particular analyses of how globalization has impacted particular domains. They have provided tales of resistance, adaptations, coexistences, and contestations. The major themes that will be addressed are: The rise and/or fall of social institutions; discovering global identities; global sensibilities: nihilism or hope?; cultural nostalgia and the yearning for the past; epistemological crisis in law: fragmentation, segmentation, and the loss of exclusivity. Additionally, the third section of the book is dedicated for author-meditations on SDGs. This type of a study is relevant, as time is ripe for a stocktaking-for globalization has set in as an endless evolution-of the human willing and acting in a globalizing word. It is its temporal lens, the way of looking at things, which makes this book contemporaneous.

The volume examines the lessons learned and challenges identified during the almost two years of application of the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) by the European Commission, legal practice and contracting authorities, and places them in the context of an assessment of the FSR's conceptualisation, international reactions and the proliferating criticism in the academic literature. The contributions to this volume present the various challenges of the FSR through different lenses, thus providing a complex view of the FSR.

Verschwoerungstheorien sind keine Eigenheit der Moderne. Vielmehr gab es sie bereits in der griechisch-roemischen Antike. In der spaeten roemischen Republik und dem fruehen Prinzipat waren Verschwoerungstheorien normal und weit verbreitet; im Gegensatz zur Gegenwart wurden sie nicht prinzipiell infrage gestellt und kritisiert.

Anhand sorgfaeltig kontextualisierender Fallstudien zum Bundesgenossenkrieg, zu ciceronischen Reden und zu Caesars Ermordung untersucht diese Arbeit, wie antike roemische Verschwoerungstheorien gestaltet und eingesetzt wurden und welche politischen Auswirkungen ihre Verwendung im Rahmen der politischen Kultur der spaeten roemischen Republik hatten. Die Analyse verschiedener Quellen aus der fruehen Kaiserzeit zeigt zudem, welche Veraenderungen sich durch den Uebergang zum Kaisertum ergaben. Insgesamt werden so Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede antiker und moderner Verschwoerungstheorien deutlich, woraus sich Schlussfolgerungen bezueglich der weiteren interdisziplinaeren Erforschung des Phaenomens ergeben.

This book contains a selection of papers carefully chosen from among those presented at the 6th International Conference on Production Management held in Taiwan in August 2025. The unified theme of the conference was "DX Thinking and Innovation in Production Management," and presentations were based on three areas of research: 1) operations and supply chain management, 2) business strategy and business management, and 3) information technology and its applications. Readers will see how these three fields deal with the creation of innovation that incorporates digital transformation (abbreviated as "DX") thinking in the management of business and production.

This valuable resource is relevant not only for researchers, university professors, and graduate and undergraduate students interested in production and business management in general, but also for businesspeople themselves. With its unified theme, the book provides a trove of facts and applications in both theory and practice.

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly embedded into the fabric of everyday individual, organizational, and societal life, the issue is not whether leaders should make a binary choice of whether to use it or not, or figuring out what policy to guide its use. The issue we face is the proper alignment between AI and human engagement. This alignment depends on the nature of the problem to be solved. Problems range from simple to complex and evolve over time so there are distinct phases of problems with different problem-solving needs. As problems become more complex, human critical and creative thinking dominate, and when they are simpler, AI dominates. Regardless of the technological advances in artificial intelligence over the next years and decades, there will always be a need for human involvement when faced with complex and human-based problems. This book provides leaders with the knowledge to assign the most effective resource alignment between the level of AI and human engagement to ensure successful outcomes.

This volume explores the transformative role of digital cultural heritage in shaping sustainable cultural tourism. It examines how innovations such as 3D reconstructions, immersive media, and memory twins-digital counterparts of monuments and artefacts-enhance visitor engagement and protect fragile sites. By linking physical heritage with digital narratives, the book demonstrates how technology fosters informed, meaningful tourism experiences while addressing challenges like overtourism and environmental stress. Featuring peer-reviewed contributions from the EuroMed2024 workshop under the UNESCO Chair on Digital Cultural Heritage, it bridges theory, policy, and practice. This resource offers scholars, policymakers, and practitioners actionable insights into managing cultural tourism in the digital era, aligning heritage preservation with the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Organizations increasingly rely on BYOD and remote work to attract talent, boost productivity, and stay resilient - yet many still struggle to prove what IT contributes beyond "it works" and "it costs." When performance is reduced to availability and budgets, strategic decisions become guesswork: security investments are hard to justify, governance turns into paperwork, and modern workplace programs drift between convenience and compliance.
This book introduces an information model that makes IT performance measurable and manageable by connecting strategy, governance, and day-to-day operations in one coherent logic. Building on the IT Balanced Scorecard and aligned with COBIT 2019, the model is grounded in a structured research foundation and validated through an empirical study. It offers a practical pathway to translate business goals into performance targets, select truly decision-relevant KPIs, and design governance-compatible controls-so that BYOD and remote work remain not only efficient, but also secure, auditable, and clearly tied to business value.
Rather than adding another framework, the approach helps organizations orchestrate what they already use: objectives, metrics, controls, and responsibilities. The result is a transparent performance narrative that supports management decisions, strengthens accountability, and turns the modern workplace from a "necessary risk" into a measurable strategic capability.

This technical book is designed to help you prepare patent or utility model applications on your own. It explains the required components of an application and provides suggested wording. Numerous practical examples offer additional guidance. The structure of the book follows the recommended process for drafting an application.

First, it describes how to present the state of the art in the application. The state of the art represents the starting point for the creation of the invention. By examining the state of the art, the inventor identifies shortcomings that lead to the invention. These shortcomings define the objective of the invention. This development process of the invention must be reflected in the application.

The next step in drafting the application is a description of the various embodiments of the invention. Finally, the claims are formulated. This sequence has the advantage that the most challenging step-drafting the claims-comes last. By this point, the inventor has a thorough understanding of the different aspects of the invention, which makes writing the claims significantly easier.

The contemporary geopolitical order is marked by profound instability: international law appears fractured and largely ineffective, might is often right as power prevails over principle. This book identifies one fundamental reason for the apparent gangsterish anarchy- lack of enforcement power for international institutions and the primary premise of international law being that of an effectively absolute national sovereignty. Drawing on the political philosophies of Hobbes and Kant this books advances a bold proposal: the creation of a supranational world authority endowed with genuine enforcement powers. Such an authority would require states to cede voluntarily limited aspects of sovereignty essential for sustaining global peace and addressing shared interdependent challenges. Far from being utopian, this vision finds precedent in and could be modelled upon the European Union, whose supranational institutions offer both lessons and cautionary tales for designing a global framework.

The book can be a starting point for a truly innovative and in our day much needed reflection on the future of geopolitical relations; and it sketches how a worldwide political cooperation, concretely inspired by values of solidarity and peace might be put in place. This book will be of interest to scholars of political theory, of international relations and of international law as well as political leaders and policy-makers the world over who are seeking truly lasting peace and prosperity.

This Brief provides a detailed exploration of a modified "escalation ladders" model as applied to state-sponsored targeted killings in the post-Cold War political landscape. Using a modified version of Herman Kahn's "ladders of escalation," the authors offer a systematic comparison of the components and features of multiple state-sponsored killing programs.

The Brief begins with a historical overview of the creation of escalations ladders in the 1950s and 1960s, their original applications in conflicts between nuclear superpowers, and their discontinuation in the wake of the end of the Cold War. The second part illustrates how the modified Ladders of Escalation model can be utilized in various national intelligence agencies, through international case studies: Russia, Israel, the United States, India, and France. In the third section, the authors draw parallels between the models, ending with further discussion on how Ladders of Escalation can support, or even improve, current intelligence practices.

Providing a new and valuable theoretical framework for analyzing political violence, this Brief will be of interest to scholars and students of international relations, critical security studies, intelligence studies, as well as intelligence professionals and human rights practitioners.

This book examines the prospects and challenges of administering elections in Nigeria during the Fourth Republic. It highlights persistent flaws in the electoral process-lack of transparency, fairness, accountability, and popular participation-rooted in historical and systemic issues. The authors explore these problems from multiple perspectives, addressing the historical antecedents of Nigeria's democratic journey and proposing reforms to strengthen credibility. Key discussions include election observation and monitoring, the role of media, and the introduction of technology in voting systems. The book also analyzes the influence of incumbency on electoral outcomes and the complexities of party politics, such as ethnic and religious sentiments and intra-party conflicts during primaries. Additionally, it reflects on how practices from the military era continue to shape electoral manipulation. By combining historical insight with contemporary analysis, the book offers a comprehensive understanding of Nigeria's electoral challenges and pathways toward reform.

This book examines how contemporary populist governments in Latin America dismantle public policies and erode bureaucratic capacity. Focusing on the administrations of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico, and Javier Milei in Argentina, it analyzes deliberate efforts to attack the public administration, redirect resources, and scale back programs in areas such as social protection, gender, childcare, science and innovation, and agroecology. Rather than isolated budget cuts or routine reforms, dismantling often reflects broader political projects that challenge the role of the state itself and the way the bureaucracy works. Through detailed case studies, the book shows how these shifts affect everyday governance, the delivery of public services, and the relationship between citizens and the state. Offering new theoretical and empirical insights, this volume will interest scholars of public policy, public administration, and Latin American politics.

This book formalizes a commons-oriented framework for the formation of cultural value as a way to oppose current neoliberal understandings of the value of culture. In doing so, it analyses the impact of two economic theories on culture: on the one hand, the book assesses how neoliberalism has changed our understanding of culture; on the other, it explains how the concept of the commons provides a way to resist this narrative, and how its emergence in the cultural sphere responds to the need of such an alternative.

This book provides an argument for a more imaginative, radical and fair approach to culture and cultural policy. Indeed, the book represents a first book-length examination of the concept of the commons in relation to cultural policy, especially for the purpose of creating a novel theoretical framework. Such an approach is based on a relational understanding of culture which finds its value as a collective process, rather than an individual product. This framework is not meant to reinforce the idea of culture as a universal panacea for the shortcomings of both the marketing and the state; quite the opposite, it looks to illuminate how culture can be the ideal site for prefigurative politics, to experiment with new political imaginations and to provide hope in neoliberal times. It appeals to practitioners and policymakers, while remaining a work of original and rigorous scholarship.

This book provides a historical and contemporary analysis of queer activism in Iceland, and its historical, political, and cultural context. Starting with the Samtoekin 78, the first gay and lesbian organization in Iceland, and progressing through the year 2000, the authors present the gay liberation movement as an assemblage of diverse and interconnected elements-a framework which transcends identity politics and teleological narratives. Ultimately, Queering Iceland shows how queer activism functions as both public pedagogy, focused on education, and as queer heterotopic space. Using the Icelandic context as a case study, this book gives a nuanced analysis of queer activism in Nordic culture that will be of interest in gender studies, cultural studies, sociology, and modern history.

This edited volume explores postdigital orientations to digital games and gaming, focusing on the technopolitical and commercial forces shaping game-based learning. It challenges assumptions about games as inherently critical learning environments and analyzes how design, economics, and pedagogy intersect in educational contexts. Contributors investigate identity formation, literacy practices, and the entanglement of digital and physical learning spaces. By interrogating the role of EdTech and postdigital literacies, the book offers fresh perspectives on how games influence education. This book is of particular use to researchers in education, digital media, literacy studies, and critical EdTech.

This book presents the proceedings of the 2025 5th Asia Education Technology Symposium (AETS). It provides a comprehensive analysis of three critical areas: technological challenges in education, computer-supported collaborative work, and educational software and serious games, with a special emphasis on how artificial intelligence (AI)-driven tools can foster sustainable education systems. It delves into key areas such as blended learning, social media integration, gamified learning experiences, and the practical incorporation of AI-driven tools, providing educators, researchers, and practitioners with actionable insights to harness the power of AI for improved teaching and learning outcomes worldwide. This book also equips readers with a deeper understanding of how AI-driven tools can revolutionize teaching and learning while promoting sustainable education systems. By covering a wide range of topics from e-learning platforms and virtual reality applications to AI-driven educational tools, it empowers educators with the knowledge and tools needed to effectively integrate AI into their teaching practices on a global scale. Furthermore, it offers valuable insights into the potential benefits and challenges of AI adoption, enabling educators to make informed decisions that prioritize ethical considerations, institutional policies, and sustainability principles.

This book provides an insightful and comprehensive analysis of India's National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. This transformative policy is set to revolutionize the education for young learners in India. The book stands out because of its meticulous examination of the NEP's key aspects, teaching methods, and strategies for practical implementation. This in-depth analysis helps readers to grasp the nuances of the policy and it also helps them to understand its potential impact on the nation's educational system.

? This book addresses the underexplored area of challenges in mental health research in the Indian context by presenting the unique experiences encountered by researchers. This discussion is expected to contribute towards broadening the global perspective on research mental health and illness. Despite being well versed in traditional research methodology topics, researchers often find themselves unprepared for unexpected situations faced in their journey. These include challenges ranging from acquiring ethical approval, developing research designs, and working with vulnerable participants such as those who have lived through loss, trauma, and other mental health challenges. This book offers the experiences and recommendations of researchers who have navigated these challenges successfully, for the benefit of an academic audience. It is expected that these research narratives will contribute towards preparing researchers for the challenges they may encounter in their field work. Overall, this book aims to bridge the gap between textbook information and experiences from fieldwork. We further hope to build awareness and solutions in this area through this attempt. This book also addresses culture specific issues in the research process, ultimately enriching the global discourse on mental health research and practices. This book appeals to a wide readership, including psychiatrists, psychologists, sociologists, health policymakers, social workers, health economists, anthropologists, and philosophers, fostering a multidisciplinary and comprehensive understanding of mental health research worldwide and inspiring future initiatives.

This book compiles papers originally presented at a conference held in Hong Kong in August 2025. The publication commemorates the centenary, in 2026, of the appointment of six Chinese bishops in Rome-a landmark event that ushered in a new era in the history of the Catholic Church in China. The 1926 consecration of these bishops marked a transformative shift toward indigenization, elevating Chinese clergy to positions of significant authority and influence for the first time since the consecration of Luo Wenzao in the seventeenth century. This milestone not only demonstrated the Church's commitment to fostering local leadership but also challenged the longstanding dominance of Western ecclesiastical structures.
In marking this centenary, the book invites reflection on broader themes of localization, cultural adaptation, and identity within global Catholicism. Contributors from diverse academic disciplines and perspectives examine the evolving roles, responsibilities, and challenges faced by Chinese cardinals and bishops over the past century. Their research delves into how these Church leaders have navigated the complex intersections of faith, culture, and national identity, particularly during periods of social and political upheaval. Collectively, these studies shed light on the dynamic evolution and enduring significance of the Catholic Church in modern Chinese society.

Does the mind consist only of conscious experiences, or do mental states extend beyond awareness to unconscious brain states with genuine representational content? This second volume in Jerome C. Wakefield's trilogy immerses readers in one of the most enduring debates in intellectual history-the multi-century dispute over unconscious mental states. Beginning with Descartes' consciousness criterion and Leibniz's divisibility argument, Wakefield reconstructs successive rounds of argument through Locke, Mill, and others, culminating in a dialectical confrontation between Freud and William James and a novel argument for the importance of dreams in the debate.

Building on Volume 1's analysis of Freud's conceptual and theoretical arguments, this book examines the empirical dimension: whether phenomena such as memory, unnoticed mental states, gaps in reasoning, post-hypnotic suggestion, and dreams demonstrate unconscious mentation. Wakefield situates Freud's position within the philosophy-of-mind tradition and shows how Freud's synthesis helped pivot psychology from Cartesianism to a representational view of mind that underpins modern cognitive science.

Combining historical depth with analytic rigor, this volume clarifies what was at stake, what was established, and what remains unresolved-namely, the missing criterion for unconscious representation. Essential reading for scholars and advanced students in philosophy of mind, psychoanalysis, and the history of psychology, it also sets the stage for Volume 3's engagement with post-Freudian analytic philosophy.

This book explores the central role of art and design in shaping risk perceptions and behaviours. Guidance, warnings, and protocols of risk management shape how possible futures are imagined and governed. How is this imperative to manage risk transforming contemporary visual language? Are its rhetorics of danger, reassurance, and rationality convincing us that we are prepared-and at what cost? Through the analysis of artworks, warnings, pre-enactments, and data visualisations, the book examines the aesthetic dimension of risk as a diagnostic framework for articulating, narrating, and living with uncertainty. Bringing visual culture into dialogue with risk studies, it reimagines fairer, engaging, and trustworthy ways of communicating and preparing for risk.

This book asks how democratic values and civic culture can take shape without equal rights, and even without a state. Focusing on the Kurdish experience across Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey, it draws on fieldwork, survey research, and historical analysis to explore how people respond to authoritarian rule and long-term statelessness. The first part offers a data-driven look at Kurdish attitudes toward democracy, autonomy, and authority. The second situates these patterns in a broader history of political resistance. Rather than turning to authoritarian or religious extremes, many Kurdish movements have embraced more egalitarian, inclusive models of resistance. The Kurdish Case for Democracy makes the case for bottom-up democratization in the Middle East and challenges the idea that universal values must follow Eurocentric templates. It contributes to wider debates on nationalism, resistance, and the political cultures shaping the region.

This book contains the latest cutting-edge research, compiling the most interesting contents of reports by researchers from 42 countries around the world at the International Studies Association Asia Pacific international conference held in Tokyo in 2023. Topics such as the Anthropocene, Covid-19, security, regional collaboration, democracy and autocracy, gender, and the Global South are included. Researchers from the United States, Europe, and Japan, along with emerging powers, China, India, and ASEAN nations, have conducted multifaceted analyses of topics involving climate change, Covid-19, the achievements and challenges of the growth of Asia, China and India, regional cooperation such as the Belt and Road Initiative, SAARC, BIMSTEC, ASEAN, RCEP, IPEF, and ASEAN, security issues, democracy and autocracy, and the conflicts between Russia and Ukraine and Israel and Gaza. The book also includes lectures by leading figures in international politics such as Joseph Nye, Amitav Acharya, and T.V. Paul; a panel of distinguished professors, with Mike Mochizuki, Mikel Swaine, Steven Rosefielde, Sang Chul Park, and Hundah Su among them; as well as papers by young, up-and-coming researchers, making it a collection of trailblazing research on the world order in the twenty-first century, conflict resolution, peacebuilding, and changing democracy. It is a must-read book on raising issues and solving problems from Asia, a world leader.

This book analyzes the transformation of development aid and international political thinking from the 1990s to the present. It highlights how aid became increasingly politicized as democracy promotion, governance reform, conflict prevention, and security concerns moved to the center of donor agendas. Focusing on France and the OECD, the book traces how post-Cold War transitions reshaped development policy while donor states continued to navigate the constraints of sovereignty. It examines France's shift from paternalistic postcolonial ties to formal diplomatic relations and its support for African-led peacekeeping initiatives. The book also explores globalization, fragile states, and post-9/11 debates on intervention, human rights, and the evolving meaning of sovereignty, including the emergence of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). Sovereignty remains crucial in balancing globalization, intervention, and national self-determination, while development aid continues to bridge disparities between developed and developing nations. A new preface addresses the end of the liberal international order, the rise of the Global South, and the 2025 dissolution of USAID, offering a timely assessment of development aid's role in a changing world.

This book provides a concise and easily-digested overview of the field of research ethics, highlighting the key issues and everyday ethical dilemmas that researchers are likely to face in different contexts.

Covering a range of methods, the book provides clear guidance for researchers on how to identify an approach that fits with their moral and intellectual framework. It explores ethical issues relating to 'traditional' research methods as well as to new and emerging methods and approaches - particularly visual and online methods.

Chenhall builds on the success of the first edition by providing an international focus, including examples, resources and regulations from around the world and updating current and relevant regulations, guides and ethics statements from countries including Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the US. In addition, the book includes updates to current issues in qualitative research ethics, covering key contemporary topics such as ethical issues raised by emerging approaches in qualitative research, qualitative research in online environments, Indigenous methodologies and data governance for Indigenous/First Nation populations, and institutional ethics requirements. The book also contains new sections on data sharing and big data, data sovereignty and artificial intelligence.