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This chapter presents an international review of the experiences of children and parents regarding care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic profoundly impacted children and families, magnifying the influence of governmental policies, socio-economic disparities and cultural contexts on children's experiences and exacerbating global inequalities. Vulnerable families faced increased challenges affecting children's rights and well-being, while the transition to digital learning highlighted the critical need for equitable access to technology. Despite extensive documentation of these challenges, research focusing on the pandemic's impact on young children's development, well-being, socialization and learning opportunities, as well as the experiences of parents/carers, remains limited. This scarcity stems from the pandemic's constraints on research activities, requiring reliance on online methods and the increased burdens on parents/carers, making participation in research more challenging.

Employing the PRISMA 2020 method for a literature review, this chapter aggregates international research findings on the subject, examining the impacts of COVID-19 on health and well-being, knowledge of the pandemic, effects on learning, educational strategies, online activity engagement and collaboration with Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services. It concludes with a synthesis of insights and recommendations drawn from the reviewed literature.

The chapter contributes to a comprehensive framework for understanding the pandemic's impact on young children and their families, emphasising the importance of targeted interventions, equitable resource distribution and ongoing support for the ECEC sector to address the challenges and opportunities presented by the COVID-19 pandemic and future crises.

As younger generations navigate a blended reality, their interaction with digital content and apps is marked by multitasking. Gender intersects with media and individual preferences, shaping how people navigate digital realms. This chapter investigates how young adults perceive personal digital experiences, analysing them based on various socio-demographic factors. Using a quantitative approach, a survey was conducted with 1,500 young adults in Portugal in October 2021. The sample was representative of the population distribution by sex, age and region. Statistical analysis revealed correlations between digital behaviours and socio-demographic factors such as gender, sexual orientation and parenthood status. Results indicated significant differences in agreement levels among different groups, highlighting areas such as online harassment, content creation, social interaction and digital intimacy. The findings challenge assumptions of homogeneity in generational technology usage and underscore the importance of considering diverse demographic perspectives in digital research. This chapter sheds light on the interplay between technology, identity and social connections, emphasising the relevance of gender in digital platform studies.

This paper aims to investigate the problem of adaptive bipartite tracking control in nonlinear networked multi-agent systems (MASs) under the influence of periodic disturbances. It considers both cooperative and competitive relationships among agents within the MASs.

In response to the inherent limitations of practical systems regarding transmission resources, this paper introduces a novel approach. It addresses both control signal transmission and triggering conditions, presenting a two-bit-triggered control method aimed at conserving system transmission resources. Additionally, a command filter is incorporated to address the problem of complexity explosion. Furthermore, to model the uncertain nonlinear dynamics affected by time-varying periodic disturbances, this paper combines Fourier series expansion and radial basis function neural networks. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed methodology is demonstrated through simulation results.

Based on neural networks and command filter control method, an adaptive two-bit-triggered bipartite control strategy for nonlinear networked MASs is proposed.

The proposed control strategy effectively addresses the challenges of limited transmission resources, nonlinear dynamics and periodic disturbances in networked MASs. It guarantees the boundedness of all signals within the closed-loop system while also ensuring effective bipartite tracking performance.

The purpose of this study is to apply the Meshless Local Petrov–Galerkin (MLPG) method to solve the bending problems of linear viscoelastic plates, considering Reissner’s theory.

The weak formulation for the set of equations that govern Reissner’s plate theory is implemented in conjunction with the integral formulation applied to viscoelastic constitutive expressions. A meshless method based on the Moving Least Squares (MLS) approximation is considered in the numerical implementation. The final equation system is assembled by adopting simple and efficient schemes for numerical integration, considering a simplified formulation through centralization of the local interpolation domains and Gaussian quadrature at the same field point. The results obtained are compared with available solutions to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed formulation.

The hereditary integral approach proved to be the most general way to analyze the viscoelastic problem, especially when applied together with the modified scheme for numerical integration. In addition, the variable changing technique is demonstrated to be an efficient formulation for solving shear-locking effects in thin plate problems.

The differential of the present study is related to the manner in which the properties of linear viscoelastic materials are considered in the formulation. Although most authors consider this point through the application of the correspondence principle, the present study works with a hereditary integral formulation. In addition, the variable changing technique is applied to solve the shear-locking effects, and an alternative approximation technique is considered to speed up the numerical integration process.

The influence of digital media and mobile technologies on the interpersonal dynamics of young individuals across various aspects of their daily lives underscores the significant role of digital media in shaping their experiences. Research exploring how individuals engage with mobile applications (m-apps) has revealed the constraining effects of platform norms and politics on users' expressive identities. This chapter examines the evolving landscape of media consumption, engagement and civic participation amidst the proliferation of new media modalities, focussing on m-apps. The authors highlight the pervasive adoption of mobile apps across diverse categories and the escalating temporal investment individuals allocate to these platforms for fostering interpersonal connections. Drawing from a feminist and intersectional perspective, the authors explore how young adults navigate the technicity and imaginaries of m-apps, incorporating them into their daily routines and (re)negotiating their gender and sexual identities. Through the MyGender project, the authors investigate the relationship between m-apps and power dynamics, examining the construction and reconstruction of gender and sexuality across platforms. The findings underscore the need for critical engagement with digital technologies as sociocultural products actively reshaping gender relations and sexual practices. The text ends with an overview of the book, briefly presenting the remaining nine chapters.

Digital technologies have impacted our culture by expanding into every interstice of everyday life. Mobile gadgets for communications, work and leisure, social media, apps and platforms – the diverse array of items that we usually refer to as digital media and that keep people permanently connected – are at the core of a wider change that goes beyond the use of technology. These technologies provide the material structure for the complex and constant fluxes of information that permeate people's lives, originating new dynamics that impact people's relations, beliefs, practices, representations and identities, bodies or creative and political expressions. Understanding technology as a producer of meanings, subjectivities and agency that are shaped by power relations is central to the MyGender project. Hence, technology is not seen as neutral but as a place of political power. This chapter places young adults at the centre of the changing environment as main cultural and media producers and traces their practices, discourses and representations. By integrating diverse theoretical and empirical contributions that focus on the most relevant aspects of this changing environment, analysing significances, practices and negotiations related to digital cultures and young adults, this chapter proposes a narrative critical literature review that aims to provide a solid framework for the remaining chapters, within the theoretical horizon of the MyGender project.

In family firms, growth is intricately linked not only to strategic business decisions but also to the dynamics of generational involvement and entrepreneurial orientation (EO). While previous research has explored the connection between family firm growth and EO, it often overlooks the moderating role that generational involvement could play in this relationship. To address this gap in the literature and investigate its potential impact, this study aims to examine how generational involvement shapes the effects of EO on growth. Based on a quantitative study involving 150 Tunisian family firms and employing a questionnaire-based approach along with structural equation modeling using SPSS 22 and AMOS software, the findings reveal that not all dimensions of EO equally contribute to growth. Specifically, proactiveness, competitive aggressiveness, and autonomy influence growth directly and in the presence of generational involvement as moderators. The effectiveness of these dimensions in driving growth is contingent upon the active and collaborative participation of diverse family generations in the entrepreneurial activities of the family firm. This research pinpoints the importance of family firms that wish to ensure long-term EO when multiple generations are involved. It also reaffirms the importance of these notions within family firms for sustaining long-term EO. Furthermore, this study advocates for additional empirical research on the potential role of generational involvement in establishing professionalization and family governance mechanisms. It seeks to explore their impact on the sustainability of entrepreneurial family firms.

Stemming from a critical approach towards technology (understood as a producer of meanings, subjectivity and agency, and, thus, shaped by power relations) and taking into account the role of broader societal norms and structures in technological uses and gratifications, this chapter explores the (re)negotiations of gender and sexual identities among Portuguese young adult app users. It focuses on if app usage allows these users to break heterocisnormativity and hegemonic notions of masculinity. For that purpose, the study conducted six focus groups involving 31 participants and 25 semi-structured interviews with young adults (18–30 years old). The scripts were designed to collect data about mobile app usage practices and what meanings interviewees attribute to used platforms, navigating through imaginaries, meanings, appropriations, incorporations and mostly negotiations. Analytically, this study contributes to an enhanced understanding of how apps might change young adult lives concerning gender and sexual identities and to challenging uses and gratifications theory, which, after almost 80 years since its first formulations, has gained new impetus with the ongoing digitisation process and the so-called interactive technologies that integrate it.

Digital media and mobile apps are constantly used concerning social interaction and maintaining social bonds. The most popular platform used for these practices is WhatsApp (Statista, 2022) a cross-platform instant messaging service for mobile devices. Like other instant messaging services, WhatsApp permits its users to create groups to have an interaction between (usually) a restricted number of people. This chapter will focus on young adults' everyday life and their mediated interactions using WhatsApp groups composed exclusively of people of the same gender. Considering these groups as communities of practices (Lave & Wenger, 1991) and gender as something that is doing with interaction (Butler, 2004; Connell, 2005; Mac an Ghaill, 1994), this chapter will concentrate on how young adults perform and (re)shape masculinities and femininities using mobile apps. Starting from the analysis of 46 online interviews with young adults living in Italy, this chapter will focus on homosocial practices in WhatsApp groups underling how gender identities are performed in these specific digital spaces, to what extent uses intertwine with WhatsApp's affordances and which kind of (the idea of) masculinities and femininities are reproduced by users practices. The interviews show how digital homosocial groups are usually carried out as a humourous act between friends, as a form of social consolidation, as an attempt to gain or maintain peer status or preserve hegemonic/dominant ideas of femininity or masculinity and as a safe space where performing what for some interviewees is the real essence of being men or women.