Encyclopedia

This entry addresses the ongoing challenge of defining innovation within the social sciences, particularly in organizational theory. It conceptualizes innovation as a dynamic and embedded organizational phenomenon. Innovation is central to contemporary discourse, yet it remains fluid, contested, and context-dependent. Rather than viewing innovation as a fixed technical process, the entry examines how it emerges through shifting configurations of meaning, organizational structures and institutional environment. It draws on institutional, processual, and configurational perspectives. These perspectives emphasize the role of ambiguity and clarity as co-existing forces that shape innovation across multiple levels. The entry aims to clarify this ambiguity through a synthesis of typologies, theoretical frameworks, and empirical insights. In doing so, it offers a configurational lens on how innovation is shaped and interpreted across diverse organizational and institutional contexts. Full article

Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are transforming the entrepreneurial landscape by reshaping how start-ups and established firms ideate, operate, and compete. This entry explores the intersection of these technologies with entrepreneurship, highlighting how they enhance decision-making, customer insights, and operational efficiency. While the benefits are substantial, integrating these technologies presents challenges related to data ethics, privacy, algorithmic bias, sustainability, accessibility, and implementation complexity. Through analysis of current literature, critical perspectives, and illustrative case studies, this entry emphasises the need for strategic alignment, ethical considerations, and adaptive organisational cultures. The entry contributes to existing research by synthesising trends, critiquing over-optimistic narratives, and suggesting a conceptual framework for future empirical inquiry. Full article

One Health Observatories operationalize the One Health approach. The One Health Joint Plan of Action drafted by the Quadripartite (WHO, FAO, WOAH, and UNEP) insists on the need to strengthen scientific evidence-based knowledge and its translation into data for evidence, technical tools, protocols, guidelines, and information and surveillance systems for the effective implementation of One Health at all levels. One Health Observatories are crucial for this task. Drawing from the experience of the existing One Health Observatory in Thailand—a unique, on-the-ground initiative—we outline the key features of this model for potential replication in other regions or countries. Such observatories play a critical role in advancing ecosystem-based innovations and locally adapted solutions, which are necessary to improve the prevention of disease transmission at the interface between human, animal, and ecosystem health. Full article

This entry provides a brief introduction to some of the main aspects of the work of C.G. Jung, followed by a description of how his work was developed by others during his lifetime and afterward. This entry provides an overview of the Jungian tradition in Depth Psychology. It begins with a discussion of how Jung’s ideas differed from those of Freud and opened a distinct tradition of analytic (Jungian) psychology. By identifying the other influential people who contributed to the amplification of Jung’s work, this article then details how these ideas expanded beyond the work of training analysts to become a more influential, impactful, and widespread phenomenon. Full article

Scientific misinformation refers to false, misleading, or inaccurate information that contradicts, ignores, or misrepresents established scientific evidence or consensus. It can stem from accidental misunderstanding or ignorance of facts, as well as from their deliberate distortion (generally referred to as “disinformation”). Unlike rigorous scientific evidence, misinformation typically lacks a credible evidential basis and does not rely on the scientific method. Often spread through mass media, social networking platforms, or informal communication, scientific misinformation can undermine public trust in science, influence health and policy decisions, and contribute to confusion or harmful behaviours at both personal and societal levels. Full article

Wigner functions are a distribution function on phase space that allow to represent the state of a quantum-mechanical system. They are in many ways similar to classical phase space probability distributions, but can, in contrast to these, be negative. A description of a quantum system in terms of Wigner functions is equivalent to the more widely used one in terms of density operators or wave functions, but has advantages in visualizing properties of a quantum state and in studying the quantum–classical transition. Full article

Faces are the most important social signal in our society. Nevertheless, there is a problem with faces: they are all made up of the same features in the same general order (the eyes are above the nose, which is above the mouth). To process faces one uses a special kind of processing, which is holistic, considering the integration of the face’s features and their relative distances. One may distinguish the recognition of known faces and the processing of unfamiliar faces. Face processing abilities may be lost due to either a lesion or developmental reasons, i.e., prosopagnosia. To further explore these reasons, one could consider pictorial representations of faces—such as faces in paintings. These are particularly interesting because different art styles differ in how realistic/distorted they are relative to real faces, which allows for exploring people’s sensitivity to face-likeness. In a way, individuals are not sensitive to face-likeness. In face matching part–whole tasks, performance does not differ across art styles. Still, individuals are not fully impervious to distortion: early markers of face processing (N170 component) are sensitive to face-likeness, with more realistic (vs. distorted) art styles eliciting responses more in line with those of real faces. Full article

Narrative methods are increasingly recognized in science teaching for their potential to deepen conceptual understanding and foster meaningful connections to scientific content. This review explores their educational significance by examining three main formats—historical narratives, realistic fiction, and science fiction or fantasy—highlighting how each can render complex scientific principles more accessible and memorable. Special attention is given to chemistry education, a field where abstract, multilevel concepts often pose significant challenges for students. Furthermore, the review explores the integration of narratives into gamified environments, examining how storytelling functions as both a motivational engine and a cognitive scaffold to support deeper learning in science. Finally, the review proposes directions for future research, underscoring the need for empirically grounded narrative resources that balance imaginative appeal with scientific accuracy across diverse educational settings. Full article

Geographical Indication labels are an increasingly popular alternative among producers and governments seeking to protect the products and producers of their countries. This trend has grown due to the opening of markets and consumers’ increasing desire to know the origin of the products they purchase. A bibliographic review was conducted, including studies on the feasibility of applying quality labels, the associated challenges, and examples. This review identifies the processes involved in obtaining Designation of Origin and presents a positive perspective on their application. It was concluded that obtaining a differentiated quality label can improve production and quality of life, provided that it is the result of an evaluation of the area’s context and the main actors in production chains. Full article

Background: Current food systems contribute significantly to poor public health and environmental degradation. With increasing rates of chronic disease and undernutrition globally and in the United States of America (U.S.), transforming food systems toward sustainability is a critical public health priority. Objectives: This narrative review aimed to summarize U.S. policies from the past decade relevant to sustainable food systems, focusing on four domains—availability, accessibility, affordability, and desirability—proposed by the 22nd Annual Harvard Nutrition Obesity Symposium. Methods: Systematic searches were conducted using MEDLINE (PubMed), Scopus, U.S. Congress websites, and Google searches. Studies and policies published between 2013 and 2023 that addressed at least one of the four domains were included. Policies were reviewed according to their alignment with the policy lifecycle framework, encompassing formulation through implementation. Results: A review of the final 632 articles explained that, despite growing interest in sustainable food systems, there is a lack of comprehensive U.S. policies that address the four domains in an integrated manner. Most initiatives were limited in scope, often school-based, and not explicitly sustainability-focused. Food availability and accessibility policies exist but remain fragmented, while affordability and desirability domains are severely underrepresented. Few laws or bills have been enacted or evaluated for population-level or environmental outcomes. Conclusions: Transforming U.S. food systems requires more robust evidence-based policy development and evaluation. There is an urgent need for integrated multisectoral policy frameworks to ensure health, equity, and sustainability across all food system domains. Full article

In comparative analyses, specific features of the Spanish welfare and housing systems have often been emphasized. The case of Barcelona illustrates the extent to which these features are the result of a long-standing historical trajectory and the decisive impact of the challenges and policy responses adopted during Franco’s lengthy, dark, and gloomy regime. This period marked a significant shift, not only due to the persistent shortage of social rental housing, but also because of the early consolidation of a homeownership culture and its dominance in working-class suburban areas—a legacy that is completely different from that of the welfare states of Western Europe. Through a review of the literature and the analysis of primary sources, ongoing research on Barcelona seeks to clarify the factors and processes that led to this transformation, as well as its evolution during the democratic period, within an international context of economic liberalization and the dismantling of the welfare state. Full article

This paper presents a comprehensive review of the environmentally friendly management and reutilization of electronic waste (e-waste) plastics in flexible pavement construction. The discussion begins with an overview of e-waste management challenges and outlines key recycling approaches for converting plastic waste into asphalt-compatible materials. This review then discusses the types of e-waste plastics used for asphalt modification, their incorporation methods, and compatibility challenges. Physical and chemical treatment techniques, including the use of free radical initiators, are then explored for improving dispersion and performance. Additionally, in situations where advanced pretreatment methods are not applicable due to cost, safety, or technical constraints, the application of alternative approaches, such as the use of low-cost complementary additives, is discussed as a practical solution to enhance compatibility and performance. Finally, the influence of e-waste plastics on the conventional and rheological properties of asphalt binders, as well as the performance of asphalt mixtures, is also evaluated. Findings indicate that e-waste plastics, when combined with appropriate pretreatment methods and complementary additives, can enhance workability, cold-weather cracking resistance, high-temperature anti-rutting performance, and resistance against moisture-induced damage while also offering environmental and economic benefits. This review highlights the potential of e-waste plastics as sustainable asphalt modifiers and provides insights across the full utilization pathway, from recovery to in-field performance. Full article

This entry explores the multifaceted intersections of gender and digital technologies, offering a comprehensive analysis of how structural inequalities are reproduced, contested, and transformed in digital contexts. It is structured into six interrelated sections that collectively address key dimensions of gendered digital contexts. It begins by addressing the gender digital divide, particularly in the Global South, emphasizing disparities in access, literacy, and sociocultural constraints. The second section examines gendered labor in the tech industry, highlighting persistent inequalities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education, employment, and platform-based work. The third part focuses on gender representation in digital spaces, revealing how algorithmic and platform design perpetuate biases. The fourth section discusses gender bias in AI and disinformation, underscoring the systemic nature of digital inequalities. This is followed by an analysis of online gender-based violence, particularly its impact on marginalized communities and participation in digital life. The final section considers the potentials and limitations of digital activism in advancing gender justice. These sections collectively argue for an intersectional, inclusive, and justice-oriented approach to technology policy and design, calling for coordinated global efforts to create equitable digital futures. Full article

Patient blood management (PBM) is a multidisciplinary approach aimed at improving patient outcomes through targeted anemia treatment that minimizes allogeneic blood transfusions, employs blood conservation techniques, and avoids inappropriate use of blood product transfusions. Viscoelastic testing (VET) techniques, such as thromboelastography (TEG) and rotational thromboelastometry (ROTEM), have led to significant advancements in PBM. These techniques offer real-time whole-blood assessment of hemostatic function. This provides the clinician with a more complete hemostasis perspective compared to that provided by conventional coagulation tests (CCTs), such as the prothrombin time (PT) and the activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), which only assess plasma-based coagulation. VET does this by mapping the complex processes of clot formation, stability, and breakdown (i.e., fibrinolysis). As a result of real-time whole-blood coagulation assessment during hemorrhage, hemostasis can be achieved through targeted transfusion therapy. This approach helps fulfill an objective of PBM by helping to reduce unnecessary transfusions. However, challenges remain that limit broader adoption of VET, particularly in hospital settings. Of these, standardization and the high cost of the devices are those that are faced the most. This discussion highlights the potential of VET application in PBM to guide blood-clotting therapies and improve outcomes in patients with coagulopathies from various causes that result in hemorrhage. Another aim of this discussion is to highlight the limitations of implementing these technologies so that appropriate measures can be taken toward their wider integration into clinical use. Full article

Over the past two decades, rising concerns about teacher stress and professional sustainability have fueled the development of instruments assessing teacher resilience. This review aims to map the existing resilience assessment tools specifically designed for educators, evaluating their theoretical frameworks, psychometric soundness, and contextual relevance. Twelve instruments were analyzed through an extensive literature review of peer-reviewed studies published over the past twenty years, including general, preservice, EFL, and teacher-specific scales for special education. Findings reveal a progression from early instruments emphasizing intrapersonal traits to current tools incorporating ecological and contextual dimensions. While several scales demonstrate satisfactory reliability and cross-cultural applicability, many still suffer from conceptual limitations, insufficient cultural adaptation, or marginal psychometric robustness. This review concludes that despite significant advances, future research must prioritize culturally grounded frameworks, broader subgroup validation, and advanced psychometric methodologies to ensure accurate, inclusive, and practical assessments of teacher resilience across diverse educational settings. Full article

More than 50 years ago, children were viewed as naturally resilient and often labeled invulnerable or invincible. Resilience is now understood to be the result of dynamic interactions between individual, familial, social, and environmental systems, decentralizing the focus from the individual to the global society. Experiences with adversity may emanate from the youth’s family environment, their community, the school system, and larger structural challenges related to poverty, discrimination, health disparities, and educational inequities. Youth experiences with adversity, trauma, and tragedy have the potential to negatively impact youth well-being, with consequences manifesting across the lifespan. Children and adolescents generally hold limited power to change their circumstances and are often ill-equipped to resolve the adverse or traumatic experiences occurring within their ecosystem. The value of social supports in the young person’s ability to be resilient has been affirmed. This understanding is particularly important for children growing up in poverty or in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) where significant challenges occur as a result of economic and social disadvantage. Resilience at the individual level is unlikely to eliminate macrolevel issues. Developing and deploying strategies to enhance the ability of youth to rebound from adversity represents a positive step at the micro level, but the larger issues of economic and social disadvantage are unlikely to change without macro-level interventions. Glancing toward the future, traumatized youth may grow into traumatized adults without appropriate interventions and changes in social policies, programs, and protections. Full article

Spiritual intelligence (SI) is defined as a unique form of hermeneutic–relational intelligence that enables individuals to integrate cognitive, emotional, and symbolic dimensions to guide their thoughts and actions with reflection, aiming for existential coherence rooted in a transcendent system of meaning. It functions as a metacognitive framework that unites affective, cognitive, and symbolic levels in dialog with a sense of meaning that is considered sacred or transcendent, where “sacred,” in this context, refers inclusively to any symbolic reference or value that a person or culture perceives as inviolable, fundamental, or orienting. It can derive from religious traditions but also from ethical, philosophical, or civil visions. It functions as a horizon of meaning from which to draw coherence and guidance and which orients the understanding of oneself, the world, and action. SI appears as the ability to interpret one’s experiences through the lens of values and principles, maintaining a sense of continuity in meaning even during times of ambiguity, conflict, or discontinuity. It therefore functions as a metacognitive ability that brings together various mental functions into a cohesive view of reality, rooted in a dynamic dialog between the self and a value system seen as sacred. Full article

China’s internal control framework follows the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO) framework, emphasizing enterprise risk management and encompassing financial reporting, operations, compliance, and strategies. The authors review research that uses the COSO-based Internal Control Index to assess internal control quality among all publicly listed firms in China. Unlike the binary classification of internal control weaknesses under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act Section 404, this continuous index captures more nuanced variations in internal control effectiveness and provides two key advantages over traditional assessment of internal control over financial reporting (ICFR). First, while financial reporting can enhance a firm’s monitoring and decision-support systems, the underlying information is determined by operations. Thus, internal control over operations has a greater impact on a firm’s performance than ICFR. While U.S.-based research argues that the effects of ICFR extend to operations, the COSO-based index includes operational controls, allowing for a more direct study of internal control effects. Second, many U.S. corporations fail to report internal control weaknesses, particularly during misstatement years. In contrast, the COSO-based index, compiled by independent scholars, avoids managerial incentives to withhold negative internal control information. Covering institutional background and research evidence from China, the authors survey a wide range of internal control studies related to various aspects of enterprise risk management, such as earnings quality, crash risk, stock liquidity, resource extraction, cash holdings, mergers and acquisitions, corporate innovation, receivable management, operational efficiency, tax avoidance, and diversification strategy. Full article

For the majority of human history, humans lived in sustenance hunter–gatherer tribes. Due to rapid cultural evolution in the past few thousand years, our biological evolution has not kept up, and many of the adaptations are, as a result, better suited to ancestral conditions than they are to modern conditions. This is known as evolutionary mismatch. While evolutionary mismatches can be seen across many facets of contemporary human life (e.g., diet, exercise, online communication), evolutionary mismatches are particularly pervasive in our elementary schools. Due to the critical nature of social learning and cultural transmission, there is a long history of learning that has shaped the evolved learning mechanisms of children. Rather than learning from hands-on, collaborative experiences as was typical for our ancestors, children today often learn in age-segregated classrooms through passive instruction and standardized curricula. In this entry, eight common school-related issues are identified and the associated evolutionary mismatch is outlined. The goal is to provide educators with a model of how an evolutionary lens can be used to better understand, and potentially improve, modern schooling systems. Full article