This timely book critically examines the European Social Model as a contested concept and concrete set of European welfare and governance arrangements. It offers a theoretical and empirical analysis of new economic models and existing European investment strategies to address key issues within post-Covid-19 Europe. The authors explore the structural inequalities that have been shaped by strong imbalances in the relationship between public health, work, formal and informal care, inequality, poverty and the labour market across Europe. They then assess the potential of new economic models and measures, when combined with existing European governance and collaborative welfare arrangements, to repair the European Social Model. With a particular focus on policy measures that affect young and older people in Europe, chapters also provide a critical insight into the fragmented, multi-actor and multidimensional process of building a European social space that has led to the hybridization of welfare systems. Offering a firm theoretical foundation to the understanding of European welfare arrangements and the social open method of coordination, this book will be a valuable resource for academics and students of European social policy, comparative social policy and European governance. Its analysis of empirical evidence relating to the implementation of policy measures will also be beneficial for policymakers and practitioners working in health, social care and welfare fields.

Exploring how changes in advanced technology deeply affect international politics, this book theoretically engages with the overriding relevance of investments in technological research, and the ways in which they directly foster a country's economic and military standing. Scholars and practitioners present important insights on the technical and social issues at the core of technology competition. Technology and International Relations emphasizes the importance of leadership styles, domestic political agendas and the relative weight of technologically driven countries in global affairs. It highlights the now widely shared belief among both developed and developing countries that technology will be the defining factor in international politics. The book also unpacks the complexity of real-life cases of key technological advances, including artificial intelligence, UAVs, satellites and the responses of governments and the private sector to rising technological challenges. This will be an important read for scholars of political science, international relations and international political economy, particularly those looking at the impact of technology and innovation.

Effective online teaching is a well-documented topic, however, this book is different because it specifically addresses the effective and affective pedagogy and learning. It provides methods for building a strong and meaningful online environment that builds community, relationships, and establishes the social presence of each individual learner. This book provides a different perspective as it is written by experienced faculty members in higher education, all of whom have been teaching online for a decade or more. It also addresses the how and why establishing social presence as a necessity for effective online learning. This book addresses the "Why?" in the need for understanding contemporary approaches for exemplar online teaching with the establishment of social presence. With an increase in online learning, there is a shift in how current teaching practices are impacted and what is important to student learning in this change. This book describes the importance of strong andragogical practices in online teaching: rigor, teacher and learner mindset, and the importance of constructing social presence.

Microfinance is a renowned albeit controversial solution for giving financial access to the unbanked, even if micro-transactions increase costs, limiting outreach potential. The economic and financial sustainability of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) is a prerequisite for widening a potentially unlimited client base. Automation decreases costs, expanding the outreach potential, and improving transparency and efficiency. Technological solutions range from branchless mobile banking to geo-localization of customers, digital/social networking for group lending, blockchain validation, big data, and artificial intelligence, up to "MicroFinTech" - FinTech applications adapted to microfinance. Of interest to both scholars, students, and professors of financial technology and microfinance, this book examines these trendy solutions comprehensively, going beyond the existing literature and showing potential applications to the traditional sustainability versus outreach trade-off.

This book highlights cutting-edge research in the field of network science, offering scientists, researchers, students, and practitioners a unique update on the latest advances in theory and a multitude of applications. It presents the peer-reviewed proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Complex Networks and their Applications (COMPLEX NETWORKS 2019), which took place in Lisbon, Portugal, on December 10-12, 2019. The carefully selected papers cover a wide range of theoretical topics such as network models and measures; community structure, and network dynamics; diffusion, epidemics, and spreading processes; resilience and control as well as all the main network applications, including social and political networks; networks in finance and economics; biological and neuroscience networks; and technological networks.

This book highlights cutting-edge research in the field of network science, offering scientists, researchers, students, and practitioners a unique update on the latest advances in theory and a multitude of applications. It presents the peer-reviewed proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Complex Networks and their Applications (COMPLEX NETWORKS 2019), which took place in Lisbon, Portugal, on December 10-12, 2019. The carefully selected papers cover a wide range of theoretical topics such as network models and measures; community structure, and network dynamics; diffusion, epidemics, and spreading processes; resilience and control as well as all the main network applications, including social and political networks; networks in finance and economics; biological and neuroscience networks; and technological networks.

When I decided to write my third manuscript, "Double Life," it was a very tough decision to go actually ahead with it. My writing style incorporates a lot of my personal experiences into the building of a story. "Double Life" is a story about the Memoirs of a young man and how he went from a relatively innocent teenager to transforming into a feared, violent wise guy and deep cover agent. The story is about his double life. A calm life with his family and the separate life of a vicious hunter/assassin and body guard. It's a story of his life in organized crime and of being recruited to work indirectly for the government. It's an emotional roller coaster ride for the main character from his mid teens to his mid thirties. His love for the Ladies and how his Double Life eventually brought him into forced retirement, after it burned him out and had him seeking peace and solitude. In the end he had to find the one special woman he could finish his life out with that he felt completely comfortable with and to raise a family of their own. "Double Life" is a raw and powerful story that will grip the reader tightly. It will pull you into its world as you feel yourself becoming a part of the main character, or at least as close as a close friend can be. When the end comes, you will feel the anguish of a story that needs to be told. If you can put the book down you will be in deep thought, wondering what it would be like to be the main character and having your world evolve into a very dangerous, adrenaline filled rush of life, death, conspiracy, trafficking, and living a "Double Life."

This book highlights cutting-edge research in the field of network science, offering scientists, researchers, students and practitioners a unique update on the latest advances in theory and a multitude of applications. It presents the peer-reviewed proceedings of the IX International Conference on Complex Networks and their Applications (COMPLEX NETWORKS 2020). The carefully selected papers cover a wide range of theoretical topics such as network models and measures; community structure, network dynamics; diffusion, epidemics and spreading processes; resilience and control as well as all the main network applications, including social and political networks; networks in finance and economics; biological and neuroscience networks and technological networks.