This book is formed by various chapters studying the manner in which conflicts, changes and ideologies appear in contemporary Hispanic discourses. The contributions analyze a wide variety of topics related to the manner in which ideological and epistemological changes of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries are reflected in, and shape, Spanish language, literature, and other cultural expressions in both Spain and Latin America. The 19th century was conducive to various movements of independence, while, in Europe, radical changes of different types and in all contexts of life and knowledge occurred. Language was certainly affected by these changes resulting in new terminology and discourse strategies. Likewise, new schools of thought such as idealism, dialectic materialism, nihilism, and nationalism, among others, were established, in addition to new literary movements such as romanticism, evocative of (r)evolution, individualism and realism, inspired by the social effects of capitalism. Scientific and technological advances continued throughout the 20th century, when the women’s liberation movement consolidated. The notion of globalization also appears, simultaneously to various crises, despotism, wars, genocide, social exclusion and unemployment. Together, these trends give rise to a vindicating discourse that reaches large audiences via television. The classic rhetoric undergoes some changes given the explicit suasion and the absence of delusion provided by other means of communication. The 21st century is defined by the flood of information and the overpowering presence of mass communication; so much so, that the technological impact is clear in all realms of life. From the linguistic viewpoint, the appearance of anglicisms and technicalities mirrors the impact of post-modernity. There is now a need to give coherence to a national discourse that both grasps the past and adapts itself to the new available resources with the purpose of conveying an effective and attractive message to a very large audience. Discourse is swift, since society does not seem to have time to think, but instead seeks to maintain interest in a world filled with stimuli that, in turn, change constantly. Emphasis has been switched to a search for historical images and moments that presumably explain present and future events. It is also significant that all this restlessness is discussed and explained via new means such as the world-wide-web. The change in communication habits (e-mail, chats, forums, SMS) and tools (computers, mobile phones) that was initiated in the 20th century has had a net effect on the directness and swiftness of language.

There has recently been a societal push to better achieve equity for all, with many bringing to light the bias, racism, and discrimination that many factions face on a daily basis. Naturally, integrating diversity and social inclusion thoughts into the classroom is one of the best ways to start changing the mindset of society and promoting more inclusive practices in the next generations. Therefore, diversity and social inclusion have become common approaches in the planning and management of primary, secondary, and higher education schools in many international contexts. However, there are certainly challenges that must be overcome in developing these new practices and their implementation within teacher curriculum. Instilling Diversity and Social Inclusion Practices in Teacher Education and Curriculum Development provides an analysis of educational inclusion practices and identifies university students’ voices on diversity and social inclusion. It further assesses teacher performance in an international online training context and promotes a model of curriculum development on diversity and social inclusion. Covering topics such as culturally competent teachers, student academic achievement, and attitudes towards diversity, this premier reference source is an excellent resource for teacher educators, pre-service teachers, administrators and educators of both K-12 and higher education, social workers, researchers, and academicians.

Pensar la docencia desde la complejidad educativa. Esta obra reúne una serie de capítulos en los que se abordan temáticas relacionadas con la educación superior desde una mirada académica, destacándose como premisas el pensamiento complejo, las TIC, así como el trabajo estratégico que desempeña el docente como facilitador de procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje a nivel universitario. Para ello, se toma como contexto la llamada «sociedad de la información y el conocimiento», en donde se ha definido una nueva ordenanza global que deviene en marco de referencia para entender los procesos de transformación que se les requieren a las universidades, en términos de políticas educativas, para la innovación de su currículo, los modelos educativos, como la transformación de las prácticas pedagógicas de sus académicos. Lo obra integra una serie de textos en donde se analiza el fenómeno educativo, con énfasis en el papel que jueganlos docentes en la configuración de ambientes educativos que contribuyan al aprendizaje de sus estudiantes, para lo cual se proponen tres capítulos: «Perspectivas en la educación y el pensamiento complejo», «Comunicación, diversidad y mediación educativa» y «Sujetos de la educación y ámbitos emergentes para la enseñanza». Cada uno de los cuales se compone de textos que, en lo particular, abordan temáticas que permiten ampliar el horizonte desde el cual pueden se comprendidas problemáticas que caracterizan a la educación contemporánea en el nivel superior.

Within the last few years, devices that are increasingly capable of offering an immersive experience close to reality have emerged. As devices decrease in size, the interest and application possibilities for them increase. In the healthcare sector, there is an enormous potential for virtual reality development, as this technology allows, on the one hand, the execution of operations or processes at a distance, decoupling realities; and on the other hand, it offers the possibility of simulation for training purposes, whenever there are contexts of risk to the patient or to the health professional. However, virtual reality devices and immersion in virtual environments still requires some improvement as complaints such as headaches and nausea are still common among users, and so continuous research and development is critical to progress the technology. Emerging Advancements for Virtual and Augmented Reality in Healthcare synthesizes the trends, best practices, methodologies, languages, and tools used to implement virtual reality and create a positive user experience while also discussing how to implement virtual reality into day-to-day work with a focus on healthcare professionals and related areas. The application possibilities and their impact are transversal to all areas of health and fields such as education, training, surgery, pain management, physical rehabilitation, stroke rehabilitation, phobia therapy, and telemedicine. Covering topics such as mental health treatment and virtual simulations, it is ideal for medical professionals, engineers, computer scientists, researchers, practitioners, managers, academicians, teachers, and students.

This book constitutes refereed proceedings of the 8th Conference on Information and Communication Technologies of Ecuador, TICEC 2020, held in November 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the conference was held online. The 36 full and 7 short papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 117 qualified submissions. The papers are organized according to the following topical sections: biomedical sensors and wearables systems; data science; ICT ́s applications; industry 4.0; smart cities; software development; technology and environment.

The decisions a corporation makes affect more than just its stakeholders and can have wide social, environmental, and economic consequences. This facilitates a business environment built around the practical regulations and transparency necessary to ensure ethical and responsible business practice. Corporate Social Responsibility: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications is a vital reference source on the ways in which corporate entities can implement responsible strategies and create synergistic value for both businesses and society. Highlighting a range of topics such as company culture, organizational diversity, and human resource management, this multi-volume book is ideally designed for business executives, managers, business professionals, human resources managers, academicians, and researchers interested in the latest advances in organizational development.

The near-ubiquitous spread of ICT offers unprecedented opportunities for social and economic agents, reshapes social and economic structures and drives the emergence of socioeconomic networks. This book contributes to the growing body of literature and present state of knowledge, offering the reader broad evidence on how new information and communication technologies impact women’s economic and social empowerment and hence have an impact on overall welfare creation. More specifically, it concentrates on demonstrating how ICT may become "empowering technologies" through their implementation. The book is designed to provide deep insight into the theoretical and empirical evidence on ICT as a significant driver of women`s social and economic development. Special focus is given to examining the following broad topics: channels of ICT impact on women's development; the role of ICT in enhancing women's active participation in formal labor markets; examples of how ICT encourages education, skills development, institutions development et alia, and thus contributes to women’s social and economic empowerment, as well as case-based evidence on ICT's role in fostering women’s equality. The primary audience for the book will be scholars and academic professionals from a wide variety of disciplines but mainly those who are concerned with addressing the issues of economic development and growth, social development, the role of technology progress in the context of broadly defined socioeconomic progress. Chapters 1 and 3 of this book are freely available as downloadable Open Access PDFs at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.