English level 6: Research essay

This forward-looking Research Handbook makes an insightful contribution to the emerging field of studies on communication of, by and with AI. Bringing together state-of-the-art research from over 50 leading international scholars across various fields, it provides a comprehensive overview of the complex intersections between AI and communication. The team of expert contributors explore key conceptual, theoretical and methodological approaches and examine a variety of ethical considerations, legal issues and policy implications of AI across diverse contexts. The Handbook spans a wide range of topics related to AI-empowered, immersed, mediated and integrated communications. These range from the role of news media and digital communication platforms in constructing, representing and framing AI across different countries and cultures, to the public understanding of, attitude towards and interaction with AI and its related technologies. Offering foundational guidance on AI and communication, the Research Handbook will stimulate further intellectual inquiry for future scholarship in this rapidly evolving area. Cross-disciplinary in scope, this dynamic Research Handbook will prove an essential reference for students and scholars in multiple fields, including communication, computer science, data and information science, sociology, business, and education. Policymakers and practitioners will also find it a valuable resource to help inform AI-related regulations and policies.

This book presents Urbal, an approach that applies impact pathway mapping to understand how food system innovations in cities, and their territories, change and impact food system sustainability. Around the world, people are finding innovative ways to make their food systems more sustainable. However, documenting and understanding how these innovations impact the sustainability of food system can be a challenge. The Urban Driven Innovations for Sustainable Food Systems (Urbal) methodology responds to these constraints by providing innovations with a simple, open-source, resource-efficient tool that is easily appropriated and adaptable to different contexts. Urbal is designed to respond to the demands of field stakeholders, whether public or private, to accompany and guide them in their actions and decision-making with regard to sustainability objectives. This book presents this qualitative and participatory impact assessment method of food innovations and applies it to several cases of food innovation around the world, including the impact of agricultural districts in Milan, chefs and gastronomy in Brasilia, e-commerce in Vietnam, eco-friendly farm systems in Berlin and the Nourish to Flourish governance process in Cape Town. The book demonstrates how food innovations can impact different dimensions of sustainability, positively and negatively, and identify the elements that facilitate or hinder these impacts. The volume reflects on how to strengthen the capacity of these stakeholders to disseminate their innovations on other scales to contribute to the transition towards more sustainable food systems. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars working on sustainable food systems, urban food, food innovation and impact assessment, as well as policymakers, practitioners and funders interested in these areas.

With the introduction of policies to combat COVID-19, far greater numbers of employees across the globe--including those with limited job autonomy--have moved to undertake their entire job at home. Although challenging in the current climate, embracing these flexible modes of work such as working at home, including relevant investment in technology to enable this, will not only deliver potential organizational benefits but also increase the adaptability of the labor market in the short and longer terms. Although perhaps not the central concern of many in the current climate, "good" home-based work is achievable and perhaps even a solution to the current work-based dilemma created by COVID-19 and should be a common goal for individuals, organizations, and society. Research also has shifted to focus on the routines of workers, organizational performance, and well-being of companies and their employees along with reflections on the ways in which these developments may influence and alter the nature of paid work into the post-COVID-19 era. The Handbook of Research on Remote Work and Worker Well-Being in the Post-COVID-19 Era focuses on the rapid expansion of remote working in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic and the impacts it has had on both employees and businesses. The content of the book progresses understanding and raises awareness of the benefits and challenges faced by large-scale movements to remote working, considering the wide array of different ways in which the large-scale movement to remote working is impacting working lives and the economy. This book covers how different fields of work are responding and implementing remote work along with providing a presentation of how work occurs in digital spaces and the impacts on different topics such as gender dynamics and virtual togetherness. It is an ideal reference book for HR professionals, business managers, executives, entrepreneurs, policymakers, researchers, students, practitioners, academicians, and business professionals interested in the latest research on remote working and its impacts.