This groundbreaking book gives counselors, psychologists, social workers, clergy, and other helping professionals the tools they need to ethically and compassionately support clients who report paranormal or anomalous experiences. Without debating the reality of ghosts, visions, or unexplained encounters, Dr. Steve F. Bain and Dr. Kristopher K. Garza focus on what truly matters?the emotional and psychological impact such experiences can have on a person’s life. This book offers strategies for bracketing personal beliefs, fostering empathy, and guiding clients toward meaning and peace. For the first time, mental health professionals are provided with a concise, accessible resource that bridges the gap between clinical training and the lived realities of those who face the mysterious. This readable, practical book is the definitive resource for introducing compassionate skills that you as a professional can implement in your sessions.

Key features include:

Multicultural Approach: Understand how culture affects work with clients dealing with unexplained phenomena.

Theoretical Foundations: Learn from time-honored theoretical perspectives that provide a basis for assisting clients with perception, awareness, acceptance, and personal growth.

Ethical Considerations: Examine ethical obligations to practice and model non-maleficence, beneficence, and veracity when working with clients reporting unexplained phenomena.

G.H.O.S.T. Method: Explore and integrate basic counseling skills while applying the G.H.O.S.T. method when addressing paranormal experiences.

God and Ghosts: Discover how to reconcile paranormal experiences with the spirituality and beliefs of your clients?as well as your own.

Evidence-Based Strategies: Review proven treatment approaches designed to strengthen your therapeutic toolbox.

Case Studies, Examples, and Exercises: Field-based stories and exercises designed to help you read, reflect, analyze, and integrate key concepts.

Accepting the Paranormal as Normal: Develop a genuine, empathetic approach toward clients that does not compromise your own beliefs.

How do young children comprehend complex sentences when intervening elements disrupt understanding? This book explores a key puzzle: Children often struggle to link phrases across distance when similar phrases intervene ? an ‘intervention effect’ that sheds light on how the mind constructs grammatical structure.

Using Mandarin Chinese passive sentences as a uniquely clear test case, the author integrates naturalistic speech data with carefully designed comprehension experiments involving Mandarin-speaking preschoolers. The findings reveal that children's difficulties are not merely due to memory constraints or unfamiliarity with the construction. Instead, they stem from a stricter application of a grammatical principle that also governs adult language. Importantly, only mismatches in features that are actively involved in a language's grammar ? rather than any perceptible differences between phrases ? help children to overcome these challenges.

Drawing on evidence from languages such as Hebrew, Italian, Greek, English, and Mandarin, this study offers fresh perspectives on the universal architecture of grammar and its development in early childhood. It is an essential resource for scholars and students in linguistics, Chinese language studies, and developmental psychology.

This book focuses on the evolving landscape of teaching and learning. It brings together an array of pedagogical materials, case studies, and stories used in teaching from around the world.

By showcasing teaching-focused innovations, this book bridges gaps between institutions and across geographical boundaries, demonstrating that what may seem commonplace in one setting can be groundbreaking in another. The perpetual quest for improving student satisfaction and enhancing their learning experience underscores the need for fresh perspectives and approaches, which this book delivers with diversity.

Featuring contributions from faculty around the world, this compendium is a valuable reading for early and seasoned academics who are passionate about creativity in teaching and pedagogical innovation.

The Soul of Education is a deeply integrative exploration (both spiritual and secular) of what it means to reclaim the moral, spiritual and relational heart of schooling. Drawing together contemporary educational research, insights from Vedic philosophy and lived practice, the book invites readers to re-examine the purposes and possibilities of education in a rapidly changing world.

Through interconnected chapters, the authors present a soul-led vision of education, grounded in teachings from the Bhagavad G?t? and Vedic thought. They explore how beliefs, virtues and values shape character, agency and wellbeing in school life, while critiquing the performative pressures and utilitarian aims that have eroded the “soul” of modern schooling. Central to the book is the Tree of Life framework, which integrates Educational Excellence, Character Formation and Spiritual Insight to create a holistic ecology of learning beyond religious designations or traditions. Practical examples and classroom anecdotes illustrate how educators and parents can foster inner growth through listening, reflection, meditation and compassionate action.

This book is ideal for educators, parents, policymakers and anyone invested in the future of education. It speaks to those seeking alternatives to materialism and performativity, offering tools to address the challenges of growing up in a technologically advanced, socially fragmented world.

What does it mean for young children to participate? How do you listen and respond to children in your own practice and within your setting? This text provides a comprehensive and accessible guide to children’s participative rights in the context of education and care. It supports early years students and practitioners to understand the implications for practice of the participative rights embedded in the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). It also considers the tensions that exist when trying to realise these rights in practice. Exploring the key concepts, debates, and participation in practice with children at different ages and stages, the chapters cover:

• The policy context for participative rights
• Models of participation
• Voice and being heard
• Participation and the social construction of the child
• Spaces for participation
• Agency and participation
• Measuring participation
• International contexts for child participation

Supported by case studies and examples, this is an essential text for practitioners and students on early childhood studies and early years degree courses, as well as those working in early childhood settings or studying as post-graduates.

This book positions learning as the observable, verifiable demonstration of skills and competencies acquired through instruction, shifting the focus from grade-point averages and standardized tests to direct evidence of college student performance.

Beginning with an examination of how higher education has prioritized certification over demonstrable learning, this text offers practical frameworks for designing instruction, assessments, and outcomes that emphasize demonstrable competence over abstract metrics. Key topics include learning theories, AI challenges, ethical data practices, funding incentives, and performance-based accreditation. Vignettes showcase real-world application across diverse institutional settings, weaving together perspectives from faculty, administrators, and students for a rich, comprehensive view of these practices in action.

This book is written for faculty, assessment leaders, administrators, accreditors, and policymakers who want claims about learning to be clear, verifiable, and publicly defensible.

This book presents a concise yet comprehensive exploration of key object relations theories and their relevance in contemporary society. It traces the impact of early interactions with the ‘mothering person’ on the infant’s psychic development and examines psychogenic pathology as a manifestation of self-arrest shaped by anxiety-driven object attachments.

The text engages with Melanie Klein’s matriarchal formulation of object relations, Balint’s relational framework, Mahler’s concepts of symbiosis and separation?individuation, and Winnicott’s existential orientation. The text further provides critical insights into Fairbairn’s dynamic trinity, Bion’s movement towards psychospiritual understanding, and Bowlby’s ethological emphasis on attachment and dependency. Kohut’s self-psychological view of narcissistic energies is examined alongside Kernberg’s ego psychological object relations model and Chodorow’s feminist analysis of gender and culture. It concludes with a critical comparative appraisal of the selected theories.

Written in clear and accessible language, the book offers practical guidance to the praxis of object relational psychoanalysis through illustrative case vignettes from Indian mythology, fairy tales, popular movies, novels and case illustrations. It is intended as an enriching resource for psychoanalytic practitioners, theorists, faculty members, research scholars, and postgraduate students, and serves as a valuable reference for allied disciplines, including psychology, philosophy, psychiatry, social work, public health, medical education, and psychiatric nursing.

Financial Technology: A Comprehensive Introduction offers a comprehensive exploration of one of the most transformative forces in contemporary finance. This essential guide explains how FinTech is fundamentally reshaping financial transactions, institutional operations, and global financial engagement.

Blending theory with practical insights, the book traces FinTech's history and examines its influence across modern financial institutions, including banks, insurers, investment houses, and central banks. It introduces readers to the technologically driven evolution of financial markets, encompassing crypto-assets, algorithmic trading, and decentralised finance. The book further examines cutting-edge tools such as artificial intelligence, Regulatory Technology, advanced digital payment systems, and central bank digital currencies, all presented with clarity and analysis. Each chapter features learning objectives, practical case studies, and discussion questions to encourage deeper understanding and critical thinking.

Designed for students, financial professionals, policymakers, and investors, Financial Technology: A Comprehensive Introduction balances accessibility with depth. Serving as both an authoritative guide and strategic framework, this book equips readers to navigate the rapidly evolving financial technology landscape and understand the complexities ahead.

This book showcases the experiences and perspectives of instructors and researchers who are pioneering sustainable finance research and education.

Sustainable finance broadly defined refers to the integration of sustainability issues within financial practices. Given the urgency of funding sustainable development, meeting new regulatory agendas, and navigating the increasing politicization of sustainable finance, demands for immediate sustainable finance expertise and training have grown. Yet, the pedagogical implications of increasing scholarly and practitioner interest in sustainable finance have been largely neglected. Filling this gap, Pathways to Teaching Sustainable Finance examines how curriculums can be redesigned to accommodate sustainable finance education. It discusses the specific skills, tools, and theoretical insights that constitute an emerging sustainable finance "corpus" and provides critical perspectives on the field. Each chapter engages with the different strategies, theoretical frameworks, pedagogical tools, and learning objectives informed by the authors’ own teaching practice or by their research.

Chapters also include cases, suggestions for assignments, and other resources that can support the design of sustainable finance courses and syllabi. Collating insights from a broad range of experts in the field, this book therefore provides theoretical and critical reflections alongside practical insights for faculty and higher education institutions, as well as market, public, and non-profit actors who have been calling for better expertise in sustainable finance.

Social Work Practice and Artificial Intelligence for the Common Good is the first university-level textbook to address how artifical intelligence (AI) can be leveraged for the common good without reproducing systemic inequities, whilst also addressing how social workers can develop the digital literacy necessary to evaluate, design, and ethically use AI tools.

Drawing on global case studies, practice-based examples, and a range of pedagogical tools, this book:

• Introduces AI concepts in plain language for non-technical learners.
• Explores ethical dilemmas, bias, and the implications of automation in human services.
• Connects AI use cases to micro, mezzo, and macro practice levels.
• Provides tools for advocacy, policy engagement, and community-based technology design.
• Positions social workers as active shapers of emerging technologies rather than passive adopters.
• Embeds equity, human rights, and the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics into AI discussions.

Offering chapter-critical thinking questions, empowerment-focused activities, reflection prompts, interviews with experts, and support materials, this textbook will be relevant to all students of social work, public policy, and human services. This book will also be of interest to practitioners in nonprofit and public service sectors, and faculty members looking to advance their understanding and infuse AI literacy in their courses.

The Strategic Manager provides a comprehensive, clear, and applied insight in strategic management. Unlike more theory-heavy texts, this book focuses on how strategy works in everyday practice, taking readers’ expectations and understanding beyond that of strategy as a matter of planning only. It enables the reader to learn and reflect upon their practical skills and knowledge and critically evaluate the strategy process and their own strategic decision-making.

The book is based around six different strategy theories, individually presented and supplemented with useful lists of questions that encourage readers to become competent strategic thinkers. This fourth edition has been fully updated throughout, including fresh case studies and examples ranging across a broader range of regions, as well as additional illustrations and fresh material considering the strategic implications and applications of new technologies, particularly AI. Chapters on industrial organization and institutional theory have been significantly expanded upon, with the final chapter including an updated framework on institutional theory perspective.

Essential reading for postgraduate students of strategic management, MBA students, and those in executive education, this text will also be a useful tool for reflective managers trying to develop a better understanding. Online resources include PowerPoint slides.

This book centres on neurodivergent social workers and how managers and supervisors can ensure they offer neuroinclusive support and guidance in social work teams and organisations.

Explaining key theory, information, and practice regarding neurodiversity to develop understanding, it will also enable practitioners to connect with how neurodivergent social workers may experience social work practice and the impact on their practice and well-being. Using a strengths-based and neuro-affirming perspective, it shows how managers and supervisors can understand, value, and utilise the knowledge skills and values of neurodivergent social workers within teams and services. Offering frameworks, ideas, and advice on specific social work contexts such as supervision, organising, and planning work, enabling a sensory-affirming workplace, as well as developing trusted and empathic working relationships, it will help social work professionals to practice inclusively and anti-oppressively with their neurodivergent colleagues.

This book will be a useful resource for social work managers and supervisors, as well as practice educators and the wider organisation. Neurodivergent social workers will also find the information useful in terms of their own working strategies and approaches.

Featuring cutting-edge insights into the field, this textbook is an essential resource for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate courses in international human resource management and global talent management.

This third edition reflects the evolving global landscape of work (including generative artificial intelligence, shifting geopolitics, and a focus on sustainability), featuring all-new vignettes and discussion questions to guide learning. The textbook will also benefit instructors and courses in human resource management that seek to embed an international and contemporary perspective in their teaching.

Key Features

• Explores how globalization, digitalization, and new forms of work are reshaping international human resource management
• Presents updated and extensive coverage of key international human resource management topics and debates
• Includes case studies that highlight critical aspects of international human resource management and provide students with applied insights and practical advice
• Includes teaching materials and chapter slides to support effective classroom learning

This Research Agenda presents a comprehensive overview of halal tourism, including its definition, scope and current trends in the global travel industry. Outlining its key theoretical concepts, leading experts explore how halal tourism goes beyond religious compliance to provide rich, culturally immersive experiences for Muslim and non-Muslim travelers.

Highlighting the role of Islamic values in tourism, chapters identify challenges and opportunities and the need for experiences that appeal to all visitors. Contributors discuss how financial solutions, technology, and effective management can enhance tourist experiences of halal tourism, support sustainable practices and aid recovery post-pandemic. They conclude that halal tourism has significant potential to reshape global tourism by promoting understanding and respect for diverse cultural values, creating a more sustainable and inclusive travel landscape.

A Research Agenda for Halal Tourism is a key resource for scholars and students of tourism and hospitality seeking to enhance their knowledge of this emerging industry. Policymakers and hospitality professionals will also benefit from its guidance on boosting local economies and promoting inclusivity.

Leading experts investigate how contemporary forces such as digitalisation, sustainability and innovation are reshaping the dynamics between buyers and suppliers, leading to more strategic, resilient and value-driven partnerships. Chapters assess core concepts including collaboration, governance, performance measurement and risk management in differing global contexts. Through empirical insights, conceptual frameworks and practical recommendations, this book provides an understanding of cultural, regulatory and structural variations in buyer?supplier relationships.

The Research Handbook on Buyer?Supplier Relationships is a valuable resource for scholars and students of business and management, public administration and organisational behaviour. It is also prime reading for practitioners in business, organisation management and sales navigating the strategic challenges of modern purchasing and supply management.

The Handbook of Brand Management Scales is a concise, clear, and easy-to-use collection of scales in brand management. Scales are a critical tool for researchers measuring consumer insights, emotions, and responses.

This second edition has been comprehensively updated throughout to reflect the latest developments in the field. A variety of new scales have been introduced, representing a diverse set of new phenomena such as brand engagement, ambivalent and negative emotions towards brands, brand authenticity, brand ethics, and brand responsibility. Each scale is accompanied by a clear definition of the construct that it is designed to measure, a description of the scale and guidance on its use, an account of its development and psychometric properties, and a discussion of its managerial applications.

An updated, much-needed reference point, this unique and convenient volume will be a valuable resource for students, academics, and professionals conducting empirical research in brand management.

A practical guide to help unlock potential savings of over 30% in IT spend, this book presents a framework for IT executives to identify hidden cost reduction opportunities, improve business alignment, and redirect savings toward critical digital transformation and innovation initiatives while maintaining operational stability.

Unlike books that focus solely on financial optimization of public cloud services like AWS, Azure, and Google, this one expands the scope to address cost savings across all types of enterprise IT assets, whether hardware, software, or even services. Readers will gain concrete strategies to assess FinOps maturity, understand IT spend factors, and implement optimization levers across their entire technology landscape. Through real-world case studies and a flexible Enterprise FinOps framework, the book provides actionable methods to reduce technology debt, fuel innovation, and align IT investments with business objectives, potentially unlocking millions in savings that can be redirected to strategic priorities like innovation and transformation. It positions IT from a cost-center to becoming a driver of business growth.

This guide is primarily designed for IT practitioners with budget decision-making authority, particularly CIOs and their executive management teams responsible for enterprise IT services. It also serves middle and senior managers seeking departmental cost optimization, independent consultants specializing in IT financial management, and students interested in this emerging field.

The central theme that emerges from this collection is that privacy, confidentiality and data protection standards now exert stronger influence on media law than ever before. Analysing key topics such as physical and digital privacy, non-disclosure agreements and data protection claims against the media, the Research Handbook underscores the enduring importance of journalistic reporting and the foundational value of freedom of expression in democratic societies. At the same time, the contributors demonstrate that respect for confidentiality, privacy and data protection is also indispensable for human dignity, autonomy and the flourishing of modern information societies. This collection explores the continuing need for privacy law to adapt to emerging technologies and new social practices, such as the changing dynamics of media production and consumption.

The Research Handbook on Privacy and Confidentiality in Media Law is a crucial resource for scholars and students seeking to better understand the ever-shifting norms governing privacy, confidentiality and data protection in media contexts. Its rigorous analysis and perceptive insights will also be invaluable to media law practitioners, policymakers and regulators.

Contributors demonstrate how free movement law has expanded the constitutional ambition to create a transnational space for values that accommodates regulatory diversity among Member States. They argue that the narrative of the EU as ‘more than a market’ primarily translates into a guarantee of individual self-determination, rather than social emancipation, and that the scope of social protection under EU law continues to be shaped by an enduring market rationale. Critically analysing key areas of constitutional tension, the book examines conflict and balance to highlight how free movement law mediates market integration and social protection.

Dilemmas of EU Free Movement Law is an essential resource for scholars and students of EU law, employment law, human rights and welfare reform. Constitutional lawyers and EU policymakers will also benefit from its intricate analysis and broad coverage.

Cutting-Edge Agri-Technologies for Next-Generation Farming explores how emerging innovations such as nanotechnology, genome editing, artificial intelligence, precision agriculture, and smart sensing systems are reshaping modern food production. Bringing together insights from leading global experts, this volume presents interdisciplinary perspectives on improving crop productivity, enhancing resource-use efficiency, and strengthening resilience to climate change. It offers a holistic roadmap for developing sustainable, technology-driven farming systems that balance economic viability with environmental stewardship. Designed for researchers, policymakers, students, and industry professionals, this book serves as a comprehensive reference for advancing the future of agriculture through science-based innovation.

This book explores constructions of the "good mother" within diverse nations and nationalisms, focusing on three contexts grappling with distinct forms of "demographic anxiety." Inspired by Sara Farris' inquiry into femonationalism and utilizing "maternalism" and "politics of care" as critical theoretical instruments, the book analyses the evolving political and social expectations imposed upon mothers in Lithuania, migrant mothers, including postsocialist migrant mothers from Central Asia and Caucasus in Sweden, and women in the militarizing authoritarian Russian state's construction of maternity within its "traditional values" agenda. It also probes both how "good motherhood" is enacted and contested by individual mothers, as well as how it is mobilized in resisting conservative, ethnonationalist tendencies (in Sweden) and militarism (in the case of Russia). The book's chapters illuminate the roles of political and social actors engaged with renegotiating materialist politics-such as grassroots birth activist movements and maternalist social policy campaigns-as well as those defying militarism.

This collection examines the emerging interdisciplinary possibilities at the intersection of the history of education, teacher education and professional practice, responding to the urgent need to confront the influence of neoliberalism on teacher training across Europe and beyond. Building on collaborative work undertaken in Italy, Spain, Turkey and England, it argues that historical consciousness can challenge hegemonic narratives within contemporary teacher education policy and practice.

Demonstrating how faculty-based and school-centred training contexts can harness historical consciousness to foster critical, value-based professional agency, chapters present original qualitative research, including stakeholder narratives from academics, teacher educators and trainee teachers. The volume introduces new interdisciplinary methodologies, highlights the risks posed by the erasure of historical narratives in school-led training systems and showcases practical examples of course design, pedagogical innovation and collaborative inquiry that support socially just, inclusive and pluralistic teacher education practices.

Historical Consciousness within Teacher Education is written for scholars of education, history of education specialists, university and school-based teacher educators, policymakers and postgraduate or trainee teachers seeking to understand how historical consciousness can strengthen criticality and ethical professionalism in an increasingly neoliberal landscape.

As well as highlighting the most relevant topics and resources, supported by a clear glossary of terms, this guide empowers newcomers to successfully navigate thorny ethical and logistical challenges. It argues that community engaged learning serves as a powerful antidote to the panic caused by AI in education by prioritizing authentic human interactions, from awkward moments and humility to humor and trust-building. It helps instructors move beyond passive learning strategies and facilitate transformative learning experiences which are highly valued by students.

Whether you are a course instructor, administrator or a community partner, this book provides the know-how and skill to transform small yet powerful ideas into a successful reality.

Grounded in the belief that effective leadership inspires and motivates those responsible for an organization’s success, this book helps higher education administrators and academic leaders systematically enhance faculty productivity and well-being.

Ford introduces a comprehensive framework focused on motivation and optimal functioning, offering strategies to recruit and retain talented faculty, design supportive workload and evaluation systems, increase compensation and external funding, and prevent burnout. Through firsthand accounts and insights, faculty participants share how and why they were motivationally impacted by each innovation. Essential for current and aspiring leaders, this book provides practical guidance on creating work environments where faculty feel energized, supported, and ready to thrive.

Bringing together the work of experts from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, this book provides the evidence and guidance required to improve feedback practices for students on placements. The chapters tackle questions such as how feedback can be used in work contexts, what types of feedback can learners engage with and how using feedback in classrooms differs from navigating it in the workplace. It also addresses how learners can make feedback effective for them in work-based placement contexts.

On a practical level, the volume provides directions for educational design and stakeholder engagement, as well as a framework to support students in managing feedback processes for themselves in complex environments. The chapters also outline ways in which university and industry partners can work together to design tasks, conditions and systems to better support learners in navigating feedback in their dual roles as learners and participants "on the job". The approaches presented will improve feedback practices and generate more productive workplace learning experiences to help students to develop "feedback capabilities" that will hold them in good stead as they move into the workforce beyond graduation.

Led by experts Elizabeth Molloy and David Boud, this is an essential resource for educators, curriculum designers, educational leaders and students involved in workplace learning.