This book discusses the emerging phenomenon of digital social entrepreneurship, which relies on the use and embracement of new technologies, and investigates the social implications and value for people, profit, and planet.The authors examine the use of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, metaverse, and augmented reality to understand the evolution of social entrepreneurialism, considering three layers: micro, meso, and macro. The micro layer analyses digital social e...

Religions are reemerging in the social, political, and economic spheres previously occupied and dominated by secular institutions and ideologies. In the wake of crises exposing the limits of secular modernity, religions have again become significant players in domestic and international politics. At the same time, the Catholic Church has sought a "holy alliance" among the world's faiths to recentralize devout influence, an important, albeit little-noticed, evolution in international relati...

Thanks to the pioneering works of Ashkin and coworkers, optical tweezers (OTs) have become an invaluable tool for myriad studies throughout the natural sciences. Their success relies on the fact that they can be considered as exceptionally sensitive transducers that are able to resolve pN forces and nm displacements, with high temporal resolution, down to μs. Hence their application to study a wide range of biological phenomena such as measuring the compliance of bacterial tails, the force...

On the heels of an extremely lively U.S. presidential election campaign, this book examines the unusually serene relationship between the chief global superpower and the world's most ancient and renowned institution. The "Catholicization" of the United States is a recent phenomenon: some believe it began during the Reagan administration; others feel it emerged under George W. Bush's presidency. What is certain is that the Catholic presence in the American political ruling class was particu...

This book analyzes the impact of the digital economy on customer satisfaction, shopping experience, resistance to change, script theory, and loyalty. The model introduced assumes that online markets have led to a redefinition of the concepts of loyalty and shopping scripts as a way to reduce customers’ cognitive effort, by optimizing purchase time and increasing the speed and satisfaction of the shopping experience. It describes the utility function of the script by retaining customer loya...

Family businesses—the predominant form of business organization around the world—can make numerous, critical contributions to the economy and family well-being in both financial and qualitative terms. But dysfunctional family businesses can be difficult to manage, painful experiences at best, and they can destroy family wealth and personal relationships. This book explores the dynamics of family business management, in the context of constantly changing market conditions and the role that ...

Society 5.0 points toward a human-centred approach by the use of modern, advanced technologies and artificial intelligence. This book explores and offers an overview of knowledge management embraced in the current scenario of Society 5.0, shedding light on its importance in a society that is increasingly digital and interconnected.The book enhances current managerial and economic research by offering the “human” side of knowledge management (KM) intertwined with the use of artifici...

Solving nonsmooth optimization (NSO) problems is critical in many practical applications and real-world modeling systems. The aim of this book is to survey various numerical methods for solving NSO problems and to provide an overview of the latest developments in the field. Experts from around the world share their perspectives on specific aspects of numerical NSO.The book is divided into four parts, the first of which considers general methods including subgradient, bundle and gra...

This book presents expert descriptions of the successful application of operations research in both the private and the public sector, including in logistics, transportation, product design, production planning and scheduling, and areas of social interest. Each chapter is based on fruitful collaboration between researchers and companies, and company representatives are among the co-authors. The book derives from a 2017 call by the Italian Operations Research Society (AIRO) for information ...

This edited collection goes beyond the limited definition of borders as simply dividing lines across states, to uncover another, yet related, type of division: one that separates policies and institutions from public debate and contestation.Bringing together expertise from established and emerging academics, it examines the fluid and varied borderscape across policy and the public domains. The chapters encompass a wide range of analyses that covers local, national and transnational...

A tightly written, dispassionate and unsentimental account of American Catholic political history, one backed by substantial research." —Jason K. Duncan, The Review of PoliticsIn Rome We Trust examines the unusually serene relationship between the chief global superpower and the world's most ancient and renowned institution. The "Catholicization" of the United States is a recent phenomenon: some believe it began during the Reagan administration; ot...

This book explores the political integration of Muslims and Islam across contemporary democracies. The author focuses on France, a country in which the integration of Muslims is usually seen as being problematic and controversial, and which is struggling with both Islamic radicalisation on the one hand, and the new wave of extreme-right populism on the other. Whereas conventional approaches to the topic of the integration of Muslims in France have tended to focus on single methods and sour...