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Academic freedom is a complicated issue for military service academies. As accredited institutions of higher learning, academic freedom is valued. At the same time, the academies are subject to regulations that guide speech and publishing by the Department of Defense. This chapter explores the balance between maintaining academic freedom while upholding the discipline contained in regulations concerning free speech. The chapter concludes with a view to the future and opportunities for further research.

Academic freedom has been the topic of debate and discussion since the concept evolved in academia. It has been a controversial topic that has different dimensions and explores the significance of this concept with relation to knowledge development and enhancement of student’s progress. Academic freedom expects faculty members to submit their ideas and research results to rigorous peer review and to experts who excel in the subject matter. The current debate surrounding the topic lacks clarity and has taken a different shape in different countries. In some countries, it has assumed the role of individual freedom, in some the collegial and institutional freedom, and in others it respects the freedom of students. Apart from teaching–learning, it is the freedom to conduct research and explore new avenues of knowledge. In this book, the concept of academic freedom is examined in the lights of globalization and challenges it poses to the development of higher education. We have seen that in recent years the concept of academic freedom has been threatened and some academics expressing their right of academic freedom were fired from their academic position, and in some cases, were imprisoned. Such case studies where academic freedom was silenced have been highlighted in this book. Authors have tried to explore how the concept has been balanced with transparency and accountability and what role did racial and gender biases played in pairing with rights and responsibilities. Case studies from Turkey, Iraq, Pakistan and Hungary have been presented along with other interventions and programs meant to support and uphold academic freedom.

The purpose of this study is to develop a conceptual model to examine the effect of word-of-mouth in the retailing of Chinese consumer electronics in the US. This study aims to show that word-of-mouth affects directly or indirectly consumer trust-loyalty link for Chinese consumer electronics.

A research framework was designed to test the direct and indirect relationships with structural equation modelling regarding how word-of-mouth affects consumer trust and loyalty for Chinese consumer electronics in the US consumers.

The results indicate that word-of-mouth increases consumer trust directly whereas decreases consumer trust through two types of consciousness (i.e. health and price consciousness), resulting in loyalty. The results also show that ethnocentrism moderates the effect of word-of-mouth. For those with low ethnocentrism, the effect of word-of-mouth on trust exists only in the direct route.

The result suggests that retail managers need to carefully consider the positive and negative influences of word-of-mouth to build consumer trust and loyalty when promoting Chinese consumer electronics. Further cross-cultural research should be explored to generalize the moderating influence of ethnocentrism on the relationship between word-of-mouth and trust-loyalty link.

This study contributes to a better and wider understanding of consumer loyalty regarding Chinese consumer electronics by investigating the effect of word-of-mouth and the differential mediating role of multidimensional consumer consciousness with ethnocentrism.

Public administration as an aspect of governmental activity has existed as long as political systems have been functioning and trying to achieve program objectives set by the political decision-makers. Public administration as a field of systematic study is much more recent. Advisers to rulers and commentators on the workings of government have recorded their observations from time to time in sources as varied as Kautilya's Arthasastra in ancient India, the Bible, Aristotle's Politics, and Machiavelli's The Prince, but it was not until the eighteenth century that cameralism, concerned with the systematic management of governmental affairs, became a specialty of German scholars in Western Europe. In the United States, such a development did not take place until the latter part of the nineteenth century, with the publication in 1887 of Woodrow Wilson's famous essay, “The Study of Administration,” generally considered the starting point. Since that time, public administration has become a well-recognized area of specialized interest, either as a subfield of political science or as an academic discipline in its own right.

The purpose of this paper is to present evaluation findings from a proof-of-concept virtual reality adaptive skills intervention called Virtuoso, designed for adults with autism spectrum disorders.

A user-centric usage test was conducted to investigate the acceptability, feasibility, ease-of-use and relevance of Virtuoso to the unique needs of participants, as well as the nature of participants’ user experiences. Findings are presented from the perspectives of expert testers and participant testers with autism.

This paper offers findings that suggest Virtuoso is feasible and relevant to the unique needs of the target population, and that user experience was largely positive. Anecdotal evidence of skills transfer is also discussed.

The research was conducted in limited settings and with a small number of participants. Multiple VR hardware systems were used, and some experienced instability. This could be accounted for in future research by deploying across multiple settings and with a larger number of participants. Some evidence of cybersickness was observed. Future research must carefully consider the trade-offs between VR-based training and cybersickness for this vulnerable population.

This paper reports on cutting-edge design and development in areas that are under-represented and poorly understood in the literature on virtual reality for individuals with autism.