This book focuses on the development of smart education in China and some countries of Central and Eastern Europe. A brief discussion on the idea of smart education was given in the introduction chapter, followed by a series of national smart education profiles of eleven countries. In detail, the profile starts with an overview of ICT in Education or smart education in the country and policies of ICT in Education or smart education. Some key features of smart education in each country were discussed with examples of best practices. The profile ends with a description of trends of smart education in the country. Based on the information above, the final chapter presents an analysis among the eleven countries with six major features they presented and concluded the book with suggestions on advancing smart education by three points.

This book presents the status quo of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Education, with a focus on China and the 17 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs), including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia (the “17+1” cooperation mechanism, as an incubator for pragmatic trans-regions cooperation platform, created by China and the 17 CEECs). With recent advances in ICT in China and the CEECs, it has assumed increasingly important roles in education, including the improvement of the quality of teaching and learning, as well as the promotion of equity in education. The significant contribution of ICT in education is an enabler to achieving the goals of the “17+1 cooperation” mechanism between China and the CEECs, which has attracted considerable attention worldwide, given fresh impetus to cooperation between the two parties, and opened a new chapter in China-CEEC cooperation. The contributors, all of whom hail from these 18 countries, describe the state-of-the-art of ICT in education in their respective country, and focus on three major aspects, namely: the country profile, general status of education development, and ICT in education. In turn, leading experts in educational informatization research compare the situations in different countries. Taken together, the papers offer valuable insights for policymakers and educators on how to integrate ICT into educational processes, and on inter-regional cooperation with regard to ICT in education.

This volume constitutes selected papers presented during the Second International Conference on New Media Pedagogy: Research Trends, Methodological Challenges, and Successful Implementations, NMP 2023, held in Cracow, Poland, in November 2023. The 29 papers presented were reviewed and selected from 90 submissions. They focus on recent research and emerging concerns in the field of media pedagogy, such as determinants of teachers' functioning in computerised schools, digitally assisted didactics, ICT-based solutions for teaching support, e-learning during crisis, digital inclusion and exclusion, Artificial intelligence in education and more.

In the dynamic landscape of higher education, institutions face a myriad of challenges that threaten to inhibit their ability to nurture the leaders of tomorrow effectively. Academia is navigating new challenges, including the pressures of globalization, the complexities of digital transformation and the imperative of fostering diversity and inclusion. The need for innovative solutions and strategic approaches to these challenges has never been more pressing. Building Resiliency in Higher Education: Globalization, Digital Skills, and Student Wellness offers a comprehensive exploration of these critical issues, providing educators, administrators, policymakers, and researchers with a roadmap for navigating the complexities of the modern educational landscape. The book equips readers with the knowledge and insights needed to address these challenges head-on by delving into topics such as internationalization, innovation, and sustainability. This valuable resource aids understanding and responsiveness to the trends shaping higher education today through in-depth analysis and an interdisciplinary approach.

The book provides a comprehensive overview of cyber security in Industry 5.0, data security in emerging technologies, block chain technology, cloud computing security, evolving IoT and OT threats, and considerable data integrity in healthcare. The impact of security risks on various sectors is explored including artificial intelligence in national security, quantum com-puting for security, and AI-driven cyber security techniques. It explores how cyber security is applied across different areas of human life through computational modeling. The book concludes by presenting a roadmap for securing computing environments, addressing the complex interplay between advanced technologies and emerging security challenges, and offering insights into future trends and innovations for sustainable development. This book: • Analyzes the use of AI, support vector machines, and deep learning for dataclassification, vulnerability prediction, and defense. • Provides insights into data protection for Industry 4.0/5.0, cloud computing, and IoT/OT, focusing on risk mitigation. • Explores block chain’s role in smart nations, financial risk management, and the potential of quantum computing for security. • Examines AI’s applications in national security, including India’s AI strategy and securing smart cities. • Evaluate strategies for data integrity in healthcare, secure IoT platforms, and supply chain cyber security. The text is primarily written for senior undergraduate, graduate students, and academic researchers in the fields of electrical engineering, electronics and communication engineering, computer engineering, and information technology.

In this new edition, the authors examine: Ireland’s hard landing and the prospects for a recovery in terms of economic growth; The changing role of the state in policy-making and the increasing importance of global and EU governance and institutions; The importance of competitiveness as a major policy objective and the effect that asset prices and the banking system have on this; The role of regulation, in particular the regulation of the banking sector Energy and the environment, in particular issues of security of supply, the importance of energy to the politics of the EU and the world, and the challenge of addressing climate change and biodiversity loss; Employment and migration challenges facing Ireland; Distribution issues relating to income and wealth, including the role of social insurance and the politics of equity and redistribution, particularly with scarce resources; The increasing importance of outward direct investment and the challenges facing the Irish manufacturing sector; The significance of education, both as a contributing factor to economic growth in Ireland’s ‘smart economy’ and in terms of considerations of efficiency and equity in the delivery of services; The importance of the health sector and the factors to be considered in its reorganisation with regard to delivering a more efficient and equitable service; The importance of the health sector and the factors to be considered in its reorganisation with regard to delivering a more efficient and equitable service.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is establishing significant connectivity networks, including a complex network of aviation e-services and trade network systems. It has promoted economic and financial development in regions covered by the BRI in terms of infrastructure construction and interconnection and attracted large foreign direct investment flows. At the bottom of the escalation of the China-US trade dispute is a more fundamental shift where China has become the US’s strategic competitor, and political-economic tensions have continued to climb. Opportunities and Challenges for Multinational Enterprises and Foreign Direct Investment in the Belt and Road Initiative analyzes the opportunities and challenges of multinational enterprises (MNEs) and cross-border foreign investments transactions. This valuable reference adopts an economic and international business perspective to address these issues and presents novel and state-of-the-art research insights into the role of MNEs and their influence on the Silk Road Economic Belt. Covering topics such as economic determinants, foreign direct investment promotion policies, and trade gravity model, this premier reference source is an excellent resource for business leaders and CEOs, policymakers, geopolitical experts, politicians, government officials, sociologists, libraries, students and educators of higher education, researchers, and academicians.

How can new ways of thinking about education improve the lives of poor students? In Rethinking Education and Poverty, William G. Tierney brings together scholars from around the world to examine the complex relationship between poverty and education in the twenty-first century. International in scope, this book assembles the best contemporary thinking about how education can mediate class and improve the lives of marginalized individuals. In remarkably nuanced ways, this volume examines education's role as both a possible factor in perpetuating—and a tool for alleviating—entrenched poverty. Education has long been seen as a way out of poverty. Some critics, however, argue that educational systems mask inequality and perpetuate cycles of poverty and wealth; others believe that the innate resilience or intellectual ability of impoverished students is what allows those individuals to succeed. Rethinking Education and Poverty grapples in turn with the ramifications of each possibility. Throughout these compelling, far-reaching, and provocative essays, the contributors seek to better understand how local efforts to reduce poverty through education interact—or fail to interact—with international assessment efforts. They take a broad historical view, examining social, economic, and educational polices from the postWorld War II period to the end of the Cold War and beyond. Although there is no simple solution to inequality, this book makes clear that education offers numerous exciting possibilities for progress.

Is the Europe 2020 strategy leading us, as it promises, towards smart, sustainable and inclusive growth? This is the main question addressed by this publication on the eve of this year’s Spring European Summit. The ETUC and ETUI offer a critical assessment of the strategy and its various components: will it be able to provide a framework for the creation of more and better-quality jobs? Are the policies and indicators set to promote an increase in social cohesion? How can workers better participate in the achievement of these various aims? Benchmarking Working Europe 2011 is structured in eight topical chapters illustrated by a significant number of graphs, and has a completely new layout. The various chapters on the different facets of Europe 2020 contain a carefully argued and critical analysis of the design and contents of the European mid-term strategy and of the state of the European economic, employment and social indicators. They question the underlying foundation which firmly places the emphasis on fiscal consolidation while neglecting the need for economic growth and quality jobs. The major problem is that, if the (macro) economics are wrong, all the other laudable targets and procedures in the Europe 2020 strategy – raising education standards and R&D spending, reducing poverty – will prove entirely illusory, further undermining the credibility of Europe. Several of the contributions to this volume show that it is rather by raising social and environmental standards and wellbeing that we might succeed in achieving a sustainable growth pattern and a healthier and more cohesive society for the future.