Encyclopedia

Real-time digitalisation refers to the continuous collection, integration, and analysis of operational building data, enabled by the integration of digital technologies into building management platforms. It is an advanced extension of building post-occupancy evaluation (POE) that transforms it from a static, retrospective evaluation process into a dynamic, data-driven methodology. In this entry, real-time digitalisation is discussed in relation to its role within the POE framework. The discussion includes a review of its evolution from early automation systems to contemporary cyber-physical infrastructures, supported by advanced analytics and machine learning. In addition, its dual benefits are highlighted as both a measurement tool and a decision-support system. Prevalent implementation complexities that limit its practicality in the building industry are also discussed. Real-time digitalisation is unlikely to replace conventional POE; instead, it broadens its capabilities, reconfiguring the process into a continuous, evidence-based building performance management process. The future relevance of real-time digitalisation to POE depends on its ability to become less technology-focused and more human-centric. Its infrastructure needs to align with occupant-subjective metrics, become more affordable, and increase its capacity to translate data into practical building management actions. As buildings become increasingly socio-technical systems, real-time digitalisation is emerging as a core methodological component of mainstream POE, with its importance spanning the entire lifecycle of buildings. Full article

Cognitive load theory-informed curriculum design in health sciences education refers to the purposeful organisation of teaching strategies and learning materials based on the principles of Cognitive Load Theory (CLT), a framework developed by John Sweller in the late 1980s. CLT is grounded in cognitive psychology and recognises that the working memory has a limited capacity for processing new information. It identifies three types of cognitive load: intrinsic load, which refers to the inherent complexity of the material being learned; extraneous load, which results from ineffective instructional design or irrelevant information; and germane load, which reflects the mental effort directed toward understanding, integrating, and organising information into long-term memory. In health sciences education, students frequently engage with tasks that require the simultaneous processing of multiple interacting elements, placing high demands on working memory at specific points in time. This includes foundational biomedical sciences such as anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology extending to applied clinical skills, diagnostic reasoning under uncertainty, health service management within complex systems, and ethically grounded decision-making. Without thoughtful instructional design, learners may be overwhelmed by excessive information and cognitive demands, which can hinder understanding, retention, and performance. Applying CLT-informed strategies, educators can reduce unnecessary cognitive burden, sequence learning activities to align with learners’ cognitive capacity, and promote deeper learning. This approach supports more effective knowledge acquisition and transfer and is particularly valuable in content dense academic environments such as medicine, nursing, allied health education, public health and health service management education. Therefore, integrating CLT-informed principles into curriculum design can help optimise learning experiences and support the development of competent health professionals. Full article

Techno-mathematical fluency (TmF) is the ability to coordinate mathematical knowledge with technological means—digital and non-digital—to solve mathematical problems and express solutions, by recognising affordances, selecting appropriate tools and data, and integrating them with mathematical ideas in iterative cycles of exploration and integration. It goes beyond instrumental tool use to encompass reasoning, modelling, representation, and communication mediated by technologies, and functions as a form of expertise important for both students’ learning and teachers’ professional practice. Full article

Transgenerationality refers to the psychological and behavioral elements transmitted across generations. It is intrinsically linked to unelaborated content—such as trauma, grief, secrets, conflicts, and shame—operating through implicit and partially unconscious pathways that manifest in individual behavior. In the context of nursing, transgenerationality explores how nursing care is influenced by these dynamics and how the concept can be utilized to achieve superior health-related outcomes, such as facilitating more effective healthcare transitions. Specifically, it examines how experiences, vulnerabilities, resilience factors, and health-related patterns transmitted across generations affect overall health. As a humanistic profession rooted in person-centered care, nursing must remain cognizant of the impact of this concept on healthcare. This is particularly relevant in clinical settings where nurses are pivotal practitioners, such as mental health, health literacy, chronic disease management, and healthcare transitions. Healthcare transitions represent critical periods in a person’s life, and nurses are present across all contexts to facilitate these shifts. A primary example is the transition from hospital to home, which illustrates the importance of understanding transgenerationality within the roles of both patients and caregivers. Understanding how this concept impacts healthcare allows for the perception of transition as a holistic process. Awareness of these transgenerational operations leads to more personalized care, fostering healthier and more seamless healthcare transitions. The general purpose of this paper is to define and operationalize the concept of transgenerationality within nursing care, emphasizing its critical role in achieving better health outcomes, particularly during hospital-to-home transitions. Full article

The rapid institutional and technological transformations of the 2020–2025 period have had a significant impact on teacher professional identity. Drawing on Rosa’s social acceleration thesis and Harvey’s concept of time–space compression, this scoping review examined the dimensions of professional identity emerging in the literature published between 2020 and 2025 among in-service pre-kindergarten through 12th grade (PK-12) teachers, the educational contexts in which these dimensions were addressed, and how they interrelate. Following the PRISMA-ScR guidelines, 45 peer-reviewed articles retrieved from the Scopus and Web of Science databases were analyzed through inductive thematic coding and a dimension–context interaction matrix. Six analytically distinct yet interrelated identity dimensions were identified: Biographical and Personal, Professional and Pedagogical, Emotional and Psychological, Social and Relational, Political and Agentic, and Prospective and Imagined. These dimensions were organized within a dialogical space model distinguishing internal/individual and external/structural domains. The Emotional and Psychological dimension achieved near-universal representation, while the Prospective and Imagined dimension remained the least studied. Six convergence, five divergence, and six gap patterns were identified across seven educational contexts. The findings reveal that, in this period, teacher professional identity is not a fixed attribute carried by the individual but rather a dynamic process continuously negotiated under structural pressures. Full article

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are increasingly integrated into mathematics education, yet most reviews emphasize achievement rather than how AI shapes mathematical thinking. This scoping review mapped literature published between 2020 and 2026 on AI-supported mathematics learning through three cognition frameworks: APOS (Action–Process–Object–Schema), Sfard’s process–object duality and reification, and Conceptual Image theory. Searches were conducted in Scopus, Web of Science, ERIC, PsycINFO, Education Source, and IEEE Xplore, followed by duplicate removal and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR)-aligned screening. Twenty-one peer-reviewed studies met inclusion criteria (18 empirical studies plus three theoretically oriented studies). Evidence growth accelerated after 2022, with most studies situated in secondary and higher education. Large language models (LLMs) and Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) were the most frequently investigated modalities. Across studies, AI commonly supported theoretically inferred action-level execution and procedural management (APOS) via adaptive feedback, hinting, and stepwise scaffolding, and it often broadened learners’ conceptual images through multiple representations and generated explanations. However, these interpretations were necessarily cautious, because very few studies directly operationalized theory-linked conceptual mechanisms such as process internalization, object encapsulation, reification, or alignment between conceptual images and formal definitions. In LLM-supported contexts, gains in explanation quality coexisted with risks of procedural outsourcing when students relied on generated solutions without prior reasoning. By contrast, ITS-based environments more often supported tightly structured procedural engagement, suggesting that different AI modalities afford different forms of cognitive support and risk. Overall, AI’s conceptual impact appears to depend less on tool availability and more on instructional orchestration (task design, prompting, and teacher mediation). The findings also suggest that sustainability-related dimensions—particularly learner agency, transparency of AI support, and equitable participation—are closely connected to whether AI use promotes durable conceptual learning rather than superficial performance gains. Future research should operationalize cognitive transitions, assess structural understanding, and report AI-use conditions transparently to support cumulative, theory-driven synthesis. Full article

Raphiel Eristavi’s [Kakheti, 1824–Telavi, 1901] archival legacy constitutes a unique, underexplored corpus for examining the sociopolitical and cultural processes shaping 19th-century Georgia’s national identity. These archival documents contain his writings as a publicist, his ethnographic and geographical notes, literary texts, and private correspondence, shedding light on the intellectual and cultural dynamics of the period, particularly about reintegrating Muslim Georgian communities into the national space. Eristavi’s contributions to periodicals reflect his publicist activities, illustrating the press’s formative role in shaping public opinion, consolidating cultural identity, and fostering national awareness. His writings articulate his conviction that language, culture, tradition, and shared historical memory function as the primary instruments for reconnecting estranged territories with Georgia’s historical continuum. This entry analyzes Eristavi’s role as an intellectual and cultural mediator in integrating Muslim Georgian populations (i.e., Tao-Klarjeti and Samtskhe) into broader national frameworks, particularly in his writings on the Crimean War and Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, as well as how he engaged with questions about ethnic identity, territorial cohesion, and cultural memory. By situating Eristavi’s archive within the wider efforts of the Georgian intelligentsia, this study seeks to highlight his contribution to preserving language, promoting education, and reaffirming historical unity as essential components of national and state consciousness. Full article

What is the influence of different multilevel governance architectures on the provision of infrastructural powers? Multilevel governance corresponds [i] to the vertical distribution of decisions and responsibilities between territorial spheres of government, or [ii] polycentric relationships among different agents. In this work, the focus is on vertical [Type I], and polycentric models [Type II] are outside the scope of this study. Only the vertical subnational perspective will be considered, which can be associated with federalism, decentralization in administrative, fiscal and political dimensions or the scale of authority exercised by subnational governments. The result is the construction of a scale and typology of multilevel governance in the region, considering the influence on government “infrastructural powers” and, subsequently, indicators of and effective territorial penetration. Full article

This article presents a systematic survey of six prominent quantum computing applications in finance, unified under the paradigm of optimization as the foundational use case from which derivative applications are constructed. We formalize the transition from the classical Markowitz portfolio optimization framework to a quantum implementation via the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA), including explicit mathematical derivations, theoretical performance bounds, and convergence guarantees. Beyond algorithmic formalism, we critically assess prevailing hardware limitations, focusing on noise thresholds and coherence constraints that currently preclude a demonstrable quantum advantage over classical counterparts. Furthermore, we address the underexplored institutional prerequisites for financial deployment, including regulatory compliance, model validation protocols, and structural barriers to adoption. We conclude that despite ongoing hardware maturation, proactive engagement with quantum algorithm development is imperative for financial institutions to preempt technological obsolescence upon the achievement of hardware parity. Full article

A growing number of studies have highlighted the various sensory interactions involved in the musical experience, as relationships between music and dimensions of taste, olfaction, sound, and visual qualities, such as associations between pitch and the size of images or objects, spatial location and frequency, and instrumental timbres and visual shapes. These studies share the premise that the way we relate to the musical phenomenon, whether in the processes of production, perception, or understanding, emerges from an integrated and intrinsically multisensory perceptual event. Nevertheless, because music is present daily in everyday life and because this experience is inherently subjective, such interactions tend to occur so naturally and seem so obvious that they have been relegated to common sense. On the other hand, evidence indicates that sensory interactions constitute a fundamental ancestral mechanism for cognitive and neuronal development governed by non-arbitrary tendencies, multiple variables, and patterns of predictability. The novel contribution of this review is to advance a dynamic theoretical model of multisensory musical experience that takes crossmodal correspondences as its central organising axis, articulated through three structuring principles (universality, congruence effect, hierarchical tendency) and their interaction with musical organisation, cognitive structure, and the sensory systems mobilised by music. A future research agenda is also proposed to broaden and deepen investigations in the field of music psychology and human development. Full article

Perinatal mood disorders (PMDs) affect approximately 15% of birthing persons during the pregnancy or postpartum (up to one year after birth) time period. People who recently gave birth and are of diverse backgrounds and identities, especially those who are oppressed, are disproportionately affected by PMDs and may experience these conditions differently. One such group is low-income birthing persons living in urban areas. This article will summarize PMDs, including their prevalence rates and how they are disproportionately experienced among low-income birthing persons living in urban areas. The factors to be reviewed include racism, cultural stigma, community stressors, issues with access to services, lack of resources, socioeconomic concerns, and healthcare system problems. Additionally, how PMDs among low-income birthing persons living in urban areas can be prevented, identified, and treated will be discussed. Strategies include practicing cultural humility and promoting anti-oppressive practice, building positive relationships with birthing persons, utilizing formal and informal social supports, promoting community engagement, sharing resources and tangible supports, following universal screening recommendations, addressing barriers to care, and advocating for effective policies. Full article

Social washing refers to the strategic exaggeration or misrepresentation of an organisation’s commitment to social responsibility, ethical governance, or social impact without corresponding substantive action. It typically operates through selective disclosure, symbolic initiatives, or performative communication that aligns the organisation with socially desirable values—such as equity, human rights, community development, or inclusion—while underlying practices remain unchanged, weakly evidenced, or contradictory. The concept belongs to the wider family of “washing” phenomena associated with corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) frameworks, especially the difficult-to-measure social (“S”) pillar. By contrast, authentic accountability refers to governance and reporting practices that connect institutional commitments to verifiable social outcomes and discernible improvements in human well-being. The institutionalisation of ESG frameworks has raised expectations of corporate responsibility while also enlarging the scope for reputational manipulation. Within this setting, social washing has become relevant not only to social policy and sustainable development debates, but also to corporate governance, ESG evaluation, and cross-sector partnership practice. This entry examines how organisations construct narratives of social responsibility that do not necessarily correspond to substantive social outcomes. It also argues that such distortions matter both for welfare systems and civil-society actors and for ESG assessment, reputational signalling, and the interpretation of social performance in market settings. Full article

Aging is a complex physiological process influenced by various factors, including individuals’ mental attitude. This interaction between biological vulnerability and psychological resources characterizes the entire life course; however, in older age, it becomes particularly salient due to the higher prevalence of multimorbidity, frailty, functional decline, and existential transitions (e.g., retirement, bereavement, loss of social roles), which intensify the impact of mental outlook on adaptation and quality of survival. Optimism has gained growing attention in clinical practice as a psychological asset associated with better health. This has also encouraged the incorporation of optimism-enhancing strategies into geriatric care. However, encouraging optimism in older patients, although well intentioned, can create ethical tensions in clinical communication, decision-making, and care planning. Sensitivity should be paid to aspects such as education, cultural background and religion within interactions with older adult patients. Uncritical promotion of optimism can undermine autonomy, foster unrealistic expectations, or place emotional burdens on patients who may already feel vulnerable. The appeal of optimism should therefore be balanced with careful ethical consideration. Full article

Sociotechnical imaginaries are collectively held and institutionally stabilised visions of desirable futures that link scientific and technological development with social and political order. Developed within Science and Technology Studies, the concept highlights the co-production of knowledge, technology, and governance, showing how ideas of progress are embedded in cultural values, moral assumptions, and political priorities. These imaginaries function as normative horizons that orient innovation, legitimise policy, shape regulation, and guide clinical practice. In health and biomedicine, sociotechnical imaginaries are particularly salient, as medical innovations directly affect life, death, and embodiment. Within medical sociology, the concept has been used to analyse how technologies such as assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), genomics, regenerative medicine, and digital health are framed through narratives of hope, responsibility, risk, and transformation. These imaginaries shape what counts as legitimate knowledge, who accesses treatment, and how ethical debates are structured, from autonomy in ARTs to individualised care in precision medicine. Imaginaries are also shaped by national and institutional contexts. Comparative research shows that the United States, Europe, and East Asia produce distinct biomedical futures, reflecting different political traditions and governance models. As an analytical lens, sociotechnical imaginaries reveal health and biomedicine as domains where futures are imagined, contested, and enacted. Full article

The Grover algorithm is a fundamental quantum algorithm that achieves a quadratic speedup for unstructured search problems, requiring O(√N) queries instead of O(N) classically. It works by repeatedly applying an oracle and a diffusion operator to amplify the probability of marked states. This advantage makes it relevant to cryptography, optimization, and constraint satisfaction and as a general primitive via amplitude amplification in areas like quantum machine learning and simulation. However, practical implementations are severely constrained by current noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) machines with limited coherence, deep oracle circuits, and lack of scalable Quantum RAM, restricting demonstrations to small-scale experiments with reproducibility challenges. Full article

The Basel Accords refer to a series of international banking regulatory frameworks developed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision to strengthen the stability and resilience of the global banking system. Introduced as Basel I, Basel II, and Basel III, these accords establish minimum capital requirements, risk management standards, and supervisory principles for internationally active banks. Their primary purpose is to reduce the risk of bank failure, promote financial stability, and enhance consistency in banking regulation across jurisdictions. The Basel III framework and its 2017 Final Reforms represent the most advanced stage of this regulatory evolution, addressing weaknesses revealed by the global financial crisis and subsequent regulatory experience. Banking institutions play a central role in economic development, making their stability essential. The global financial crisis that began in 2007 exposed significant weaknesses in existing regulatory frameworks and led to the failure of several major banks, despite the earlier establishment of Basel I and Basel II by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. These shortcomings prompted the development of the Basel III framework as a direct response to the crisis. However, early criticisms of the initial Basel III Accord, particularly regarding variability in risk-weighted assets, reliance on internal models, and opportunities for regulatory arbitrage, led the Basel Committee to issue the Basel III Final Reforms in 2017, which represented a substantial upgrade to the post-crisis regulatory architecture. This study reviews the evolution of the Basel Accords; examines the key components of Basel I, Basel II, and Basel III; and analyses the enhancements introduced through the Basel III Final Reforms. It also considers the major arguments and criticisms surrounding these accords, highlighting the persistent challenges of achieving global regulatory consistency. Given the inability of earlier Basel frameworks to prevent bank failures and the fact that many jurisdictions have yet to fully implement the 2017 reforms, the paper underscores the need for ongoing evaluation of international banking regulation as national authorities adapt and refine their supervisory approaches to strengthen financial stability. Full article

The concept of “human-centric, sustainable and resilient smart cities” in Industry 5.0 (I5.0) refers to urban socio-technical ecosystems in which digital infrastructures and services are explicitly oriented toward human well-being, ecological stewardship, and systemic resilience rather than purely technological optimization or automation. Grounded in the I5.0 framework, which promotes human-centricity, sustainability, and resilience as equally important pillars, this paradigm repositions smart cities as value-driven environments that integrate enabling technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), Extended Reality (XR), and related digital infrastructures within participatory, transparent, ethical, and accountable governance structures. From this perspective, technologies function as means through which cities develop higher-order capabilities for sensing, decision support, coordination, interaction, and adaptive service delivery. At the same time, they address digital divides and include measures that promote and protect inclusion, trust, and long-term socio-environmental viability. This entry synthesizes the conceptual foundations, technological enablers, capability-oriented architecture, governance implications, and emerging challenges that influence the transformation of smart cities into human-centric, sustainable, and resilient innovation systems in the I5.0 era. Full article

Prosignification is defined as the process through which the subject generates new meanings by engaging in aesthetic experience, critical reflection, and creative action. Unlike general theories of meaning-making, which primarily describe the cognitive organization of experience, prosignification foregrounds the symbolic–expressive dimension as the central site of meaning production. It refers to the individual and collective capacity to construct meaning from expressive and symbolic experiences, integrating cognitive, emotional, social, and cultural dimensions of learning through intentional creative mediation. Prosignification operates between knowledge construction and subjective experience, enabling learners to connect conceptual understanding with personal interpretation and emotional involvement. Whereas knowledge construction emphasizes epistemic development and transformative learning focuses on perspective transformation through critical reflection, prosignification centers on the aesthetic reconfiguration of experience through symbolic creation and interpretation. Rooted in constructivist and experiential approaches, it unfolds through active, student-centred methodologies, particularly in Project-Based Learning contexts. However, its distinctive contribution may lie in integrating reflection, expression, and creation as interdependent mechanisms of meaning generation. Art education constitutes a particularly relevant context for this process, as its symbolic nature fosters the embodied and shared construction of meaning. Thus, prosignification cannot be reduced to cognitive restructuring or attitudinal change but involves the expressive re-symbolization of lived experience. Full article

Singing-Oriented Language and Music Education (SOLME) is an accessible, low-resource pedagogical and cognitive framework in which singing serves as the primary interface through which musical activities support both first and foreign language acquisition processes. Early vocalizations in infancy make the overlap between singing and speech highly perceptible, forming a continuum rather than clearly separable domains. Child-directed speech similarly shares key features with singing—such as repetition, emotional engagement, exaggerated pitch variation and rhythm—and both input forms inherently combine musical and linguistic elements. Research has shown that the overlap between singing and language abilities persists throughout the lifespan, positioning singing as a valuable facilitator of language learning processes. Singing, integrated as a musical tool, has proven effective in enhancing key abilities for (foreign) language learning—including phonological awareness, pronunciation, and verbal memory, among others—and in supporting language functioning across diverse communication disorders, from developmental fluency challenges to acquired impairments. This entry outlines the benefits of singing as an integrated means to support musical development as well as first and second language acquisition processes. It outlines functional and structural similarities between singing and language development, from early caregiver–infant interaction to formal foreign-language instruction, and then discusses the many advantages of embedding singing as a musical tool in the (foreign) language learning process. Full article