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This collection presents policy and research that addresses digital inequalities, access, and skills, from multiple international perspectives. With a special focus on the impact of the COVID-19, the collection is based on the 2021 Digital Inclusion, Policy and Research Conference, with chapters from both academia and civic organizations. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed citizens' relationship with digital technologies for the foreseeable future. Many people's main channels of communication were transferred to digital services, platforms, and apps. Everything 'went online': our families, friends, partners, health, work, news, politics, culture, arts and protesting. Yet access to digital technologies remained highly unequal. This brought digital inclusion policy and research to the fore, highlighting to policymakers and the public the 'hidden' challenges and impacts of digital exclusion and inequalities. The cutting-edge volume offers research findings and policycase studies that explore digital inclusion from the provision of basic access to digital, via education and digital literacy, and on to issues of gender and technology. Case studies are drawn from varied sources including the UK, Australia, South America, and Eastern Europe, providing a valuable resource in the pursuit of social equity and justice. ​ This is an open access book.

The development and growth of industrial robots started in 1947. The velocity of this process has increased as a result of development technology. Now, industrial robots have broad applications. They can be substituted for human force in different industries. The ever increasing growth and development of robotic technology in the field of industry was always challenging. One of these important challenges emphasizes on the negative effect of robotics on employment rate. As a result of cost reduction and production improvement, industrial countries have been motivated to employ robots and substitute them for workers in production lines. However, the broad use of robotic systems in the field of industry can have negative consequences in different societies. One of the common and negative effects of these systems is the reduction of employment opportunities which increases unemployment for those who look for jobs and for employed individuals. It can lead to employment insecurity and threat the health and safety of workers. These matters violate the human rights regarding the security and health of individuals, equality of opportunity, and particularly the employment rate. It also violates the employment standards supported by the international human rights instruments.

Abstract
We use balance theoretic ideas to study the dynamics of the international system of nations in a network of signed relations from 1946 through 1999. Using the Correlates of War data for this period, we apply pre-specified signed blockmodeling to characterize the fundamental structure of this network. Even though the system expanded greatly with many ties being created and/or destroyed, the basic structure remained the same but with new positions being added over time. The blockmodels generated temporal measures of imbalance, as did the counts of imbalanced triples. Regardless of using the line index of imbalance or the number of imbalanced 3-cycles, the results provided decisive evidence contradicting the balance theoretic hypothesis of signed networks moving towards balanced states. Structural balance theory remains very useful by pointing to the more important study of how and why signed networks move towards and away from balance at different points over time. Some major methodological problems for studying signed networks, regardless of whether they involve nations or human actors, were raised and addressed. Proposals for future research are suggested for modeling and understanding the dynamics of signed networks.

We build a two‐country model of monopolistic competition with communications networks. A communications network is characterized by (1) the existence of large fixed costs of network provision, and (2) the presence of congestion. It is demonstrated that both the size of a country and the relative magnitude of the congestion effect determine its comparative advantage: if the congestion effect (resp., the cost‐sharing effect) prevails universally, a comparative advantage in the goods that require communications is held by the smaller (resp., larger) of the two countries. JEL Classification: D43, F12 Réseaux de communication, congestion et commerce international. Ce mémoire présente un modèle de concurrence monopolistique à deux pays avec des réseaux de communication. Un réseau de communication est caractérisé par (1) l'existence de coûts fixes importants pour la mise en place du réseau et (2) la présence de congestion. On montre que la taille du pays et la magnitude relative de la congestion déterminent l'avantage comparatif : si l'effet de congestion (ou respectivement l'effet de partage des coûts) prévaut, un avantage comparatif dans les biens qui demandent plus de communication est détenu par le plus grand (respectivement le plus petit) des deux pays.

La guerre de la Russie contre l'Ukraine pose un défi à l'ordre international et remet en cause à la fois institutions et pratiques. Il convient de s'y pencher à nouveau pour réfléchir à une future architecture de sécurité pour l'Europe, même s'il est aujourd'hui impossible de savoir quel sera l'état du rapport de force.

This book examines US recourse to military force in the post-9/11 era. In particular, it evaluates the extent to which the Bush and Obama administrations viewed legitimizing the greater use-of-force as a necessary solution to thwart the security threat presented by global terrorist networks and WMD proliferation. The Bush administration's use-of-force policy centered on advocating preemptive self-defence options, which were really preventive in nature. For example, it is argued that they responded to potential long-term threats based on ambiguous evidence. Central to this cloaking of preventive options in the more legitimate language of preemptive self-defence was an expanded notion of what counts as an imminent threat. Despite the Obama administration's avowal to multilateralism and professed US adherence to global norms, it did not expressly reject his predecessor's reasoning on the preemptive/preventive use-of-force. Indeed, the Administration's counter-terrorist campaign against Al Qaeda and in particular its drone program made the use-of-force in self-defence a widespread, regular, even commonplace occurrence during Obama's tenure. Despite being positioned at different points on the political spectrum, the book therefore concludes that Bush and Obama have chosen a remarkably similar approach towards expanding the use-of-force in self-defence.

Abstract Background International social networking is eminent in medical practice, mainly in sharing knowledge and mutual inspiring and in social and professional bonding. Since 2006, the International Medical Course is taking place in Commander Branch at the Military Medicine Academy of the Medical Corps, Israeli Defense Forces; in which medical officers from other military forces are participating along with Israeli officers. One of the course's objectives is international networking. The purpose of this study was to assess the level of networking in the International Medical Course compared to others means of networking, and to examine which components in the course are the most important in networking formation. Methods Questionnaires were e-mailed to the course participants. Demographic data and data regarding the networking possibilities in the international medical course was collected. Results The answers of 35 participants (17 Majors, 12 Lieutenant-Colonels, and 6 Colonels; mean age of 44.1 years) were included in this study. Response rate was 42%. Of the participants, 24 were Israelis and 11 from other military forces. Most of the responders (88.6%) reported the course is a major networking tool, with no influence of age, sex, rank, education profession or origin. Networking potential among participants from the same origin country was significantly higher in Israeli officers in comparison to officers from other countries ( p = 0.001). Clinical practice and research purposes were the reason for communication in one fifth of the participants. Conclusions The International Medical Course fulfils its purpose in forming international military medical networking.