In recent years the concepts of ‘nudge’ and ‘libertarian paternalism’ have become popular theoretical as well as practical concepts inside as well as outside academia. But in spite of the widespread interest, confusion reigns as to what exactly is to be regarded as a nudge and how the underlying approach to behaviour change relates to libertarian paternalism. This article sets out to improve the clarity and value of the definition of nudge by reconciling it with its theoretical foundations in behavioural economics. In doing so it not only explicates the relationship between nudges and libertarian paternalism, but also clarifies how nudges relate to incentives and information, and may even be consistent with the removal of certain types of choices.

This research investigates how virtual reality technology influences consumer behavior and repurchase intentions through user experience and emotional responses. Analyzing data from 466 users of the Digital Dunhuang project in China using structural equation modeling, the study demonstrates that virtual reality enhances user experience across pragmatic, aesthetic, and hedonic product qualities. These qualities subsequently increase perceived usefulness, ease of use, and enjoyment, which collectively drive user satisfaction and repurchase intentions. The findings offer valuable insights for product design and promotion strategies while highlighting virtual reality's potential in cultural heritage preservation, enabling organizations to merge traditional content with cutting-edge technology to create immersive and engaging user experiences.

This GitHub repository curates the latest advances in agentic artificial intelligence and AI agents specifically designed for healthcare applications. The collection serves as a comprehensive resource for professionals seeking to understand cutting-edge developments in autonomous AI systems tailored to medical environments. By aggregating current research, tools, and implementations, the repository facilitates knowledge sharing within the healthcare AI community. It provides valuable insights into how intelligent agents are transforming clinical workflows, patient care delivery, and medical decision-making processes, making it an essential reference for healthcare technologists and AI practitioners.

Immersive technologies like Augmented Reality (AR), virtual reality, Artificial Intelligence are also entering the cosmetic industry and changing the retail shopping experience. Skincare and Cosmetic brands are increasingly adopting AR-based virtual try-on applications, AI-powered beauty filters, and interactive 3D visualization tools to improve customer engagement and influence consumer decision-making. This study attempts to explore the influence of the use of immersive technology especially AR on the purchase intention of the consumers in the cosmetic industry through qualitative analysis of the focus groups discussion held in Delhi. The study investigates consumer awareness, experience, motivation, emotional responses, and behavioral intentions in AR-based cosmetic shopping.

Sensor-Wide Association Studies (SWAS) represent a novel methodological framework that extends proven genomic association study principles to digital health data. As wearable devices and connected technologies generate increasingly high-dimensional, longitudinal sensor data, SWAS provides structured guidelines for systematically screening sensor-derived features against clinical phenotypes. This approach establishes minimal standards for reproducibility, addresses common analytical pitfalls, and incorporates ethical safeguards essential for digital epidemiology. By adapting successful paradigms from genetic association studies and exposure-wide analyses, SWAS enables data-driven discovery of relationships between continuous multimodal sensor signals and health outcomes, positioning it as a foundational framework for advancing personalized medicine through rigorous digital health research.

Mental health science education struggles to prepare students adequately for clinical practice complexity when authentic clinical settings are inaccessible due to privacy and logistical constraints. Traditional teaching methods like lectures and peer role-play inadequately convey the lived realities of mental healthcare. This perspective chapter examines the implementation of immersive technologies, specifically 360-degree video and virtual reality, as complementary educational tools within higher education mental health programs. Drawing on contemporary educational theory and empirical research, the chapter explores how immersive technologies support experiential and affective learning. It addresses pedagogical design principles, practical implementation strategies, ethical considerations, and current challenges relevant to universities and applied sciences institutions. The analysis positions immersive technologies as enhancements to existing curricula rather than replacements for traditional instruction or clinical training, providing guidance for educators and researchers integrating these innovative learning tools into mental health science education.

Gamified patient reward systems leverage game-based elements such as points, badges, and challenges to enhance healthcare engagement and outcomes. These innovative platforms address the limitations of traditional patient engagement methods by fostering sustained participation through real-time feedback, transparent goals, and meaningful rewards. By transforming routine health management into interactive experiences, gamification significantly improves medication adherence, treatment adoption rates, and physical activity levels, particularly for chronic disease management. Leading platforms demonstrate measurable improvements in patient retention and clinical outcomes by combining gamification mechanics with personalized mentorship. As healthcare organizations seek to optimize patient engagement and compliance, gamified reward systems represent an increasingly critical tool for delivering improved health outcomes and measurable return on investment.

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate whether an AI-powered digital brain health coaching intervention can improve modifiable brain health risk factors in community-dwelling adults aged 40 and above in Singapore. The main question it aims to answer is: does the use of BLAZE, an AI-powered digital brain health coaching intervention, lead to a greater improvement in Brain Care Score (BCS) compared to usual care at 6 months? Researchers will compare participants receiving BLAZE to those receiving usual care (waitlist control) to see if BLAZE leads to greater improvements in brain health risk factors, behavioural outcomes, quality of life, and cost-effectiveness.

Brands are transitioning from building audiences and communities to creating entire digital economies, with tokens emerging as central to this transformation. Beyond cryptocurrencies and speculative assets, programmable tokens enable loyalty, ownership, engagement, governance, and ecosystem development. These blockchain-based digital assets offer significant advantages over traditional loyalty programs, allowing portability across platforms, market valuation, and integration into broader digital economies. Industry experts predict tokens will become as ubiquitous as websites and social media within a decade. Early adopters positioned to understand and leverage tokenization could establish powerful network effects and competitive advantages in their respective markets.

Cryptocurrency has experimented with multiple economic philosophies over the past decade, each attempting to create fairer financial systems but ultimately producing extraction-based outcomes. Libertarian permissionlessness removed intermediaries but enabled high-speed wealth extraction through sandwich attacks and frontrunning. Regulated clearinghouses introduced gatekeeping that excluded billions of unbanked individuals. Commons-based peer production resulted in mining and validator concentration. The article proposes that cooperative capitalism represents the only remaining coherent path forward, as all extractive philosophies have demonstrably failed. This approach emphasizes shared ownership, equitable participation, and collective decision-making to address systemic flaws inherent in previous models, offering a potentially sustainable framework for cryptocurrency's continued evolution and legitimacy.

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of hand hygiene was thrust into the spotlight like never before. While basic hand cleansing has long been advocated as a means of illness prevention, achieving compliance, particularly in healthcare settings, remains a challenge. With baseline hand hygiene compliance often around 3% to 10% in healthcare settings, healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs) continue to pose a significant threat to patient safety, making the need for effective hand hygiene practices all the more critical.

Nowadays, hand disinfection has become a must to limit the spread of germs and infections. However, the latest reports from 2021 still show that compliance levels with this type of hygiene practice are barely above 70%, which means extensive interventions are needed to address this problem (WHO, 2021). One of these is based on the nudge strategy.

The digital health industry is experiencing unprecedented growth, with the global market projected to reach $660 billion by 2025, driven by increased smartphone adoption, improved internet accessibility, and rising demand for remote healthcare solutions. Wearable technology represents a significant segment of this expansion, expected to achieve a market value of $265 billion by 2030. Digital health applications and wearable devices, including smartwatches and fitness trackers, are revolutionizing healthcare delivery by enabling real-time health monitoring and enhancing accessibility. This transformation presents substantial opportunities for startups developing innovative health management applications and established companies integrating artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities. For consumers, these advancements facilitate remote healthcare access and personalized health tracking without requiring in-office visits, while industry stakeholders must invest in digital tools to maintain competitive advantage in an increasingly technology-driven healthcare landscape.

An exploration of the ethical boundaries of behavioral science, examining how nudges can transition from helpful guidance into tools for psychological coercion and control.

This comprehensive symposium addresses the critical intersection of nutrition, health, and environmental sustainability in healthcare practice. Scheduled for April 2026, the six-hour accredited event is designed for health professionals, tutors, and students seeking to integrate sustainability principles into their work. Participants will gain evidence-based knowledge on food systems, dietary patterns, and Net Zero targets while exploring practical strategies for implementation across clinical settings, community practice, and hospital operations. The programme covers policy developments, real-world case studies, and nutritional considerations for plant-rich diets across all life stages. By bridging science and practice, this symposium equips dietitians and nutrition professionals to simultaneously advance population health and environmental sustainability goals.

This scoping review examines the application of digital nudges and recommender systems in obesity prevention strategies. Conducted by an international team of researchers across multiple institutions, the study maps existing digital health interventions designed to influence dietary and lifestyle behaviors. The research explores how behavioral economics principles, combined with personalized digital technologies, can effectively promote healthier choices among populations. By synthesizing current evidence on web-based and mobile health interventions, the review provides insights into the effectiveness and implementation of these digital tools in clinical and public health settings. This work contributes to understanding how innovative digital approaches can address obesity as a significant public health challenge, offering valuable guidance for developing evidence-based obesity prevention programs.

A recent UK study demonstrates that displaying images of animals alongside meat options on menus significantly influences dietary choices. Researchers found that university students, staff, and visitors were 22% more likely to select vegetarian dishes when menus featured pictures of the corresponding animals. This subtle intervention, known as a "nudge," leverages psychological principles to encourage behavior change without restricting consumer freedom. As global meat consumption continues to rise despite environmental concerns, such low-cost strategies offer promising solutions to address the "meat paradox"—the disconnect between consumers' stated concerns for animal welfare and their actual eating habits. The findings suggest that simple presentation changes can effectively promote more sustainable dietary decisions.

This research investigates the sustained effectiveness of digital nudges in promoting healthier food choices during online meal ordering. A three-day experimental study with 154 participants compared the impact of just-in-time feedback, assortment modifications, combined interventions, and control conditions on daily meal selections. Results demonstrated that while initial healthy ordering increased from Day 1 to Day 2, choices declined by Day 3 in feedback-only and control groups. The combined intervention, integrating both structural and moment-of-choice approaches, successfully maintained healthier selections, achieving a 24% higher composite health score compared to control. Component analysis revealed that main dish choices converged across conditions, while combined nudges sustained effectiveness primarily through improved side dish and drink selections. These findings underscore the importance of multifaceted digital interventions in sustaining long-term healthy behavioral change in online food ordering platforms.

Avec cette opération autour de Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, le studio mise sur une idée simple mais efficace : faire ressentir physiquement ce que les spectateurs voient à l’écran. Une stratégie qui s’inscrit dans une tendance plus large où le divertissement devient de plus en plus immersif.Au-delà de l’effet spectaculaire, cette activation fonctionne aussi comme un puissant levier de visibilité. Filmée et relayée sur les réseaux sociaux, l’expérience prolonge la promotion du film bien après la séance. Et prouve qu’aujourd’hui, pour marquer les esprits, il ne suffit plus de montrer une histoire… il faut la faire vivre.

L’idée ne cherche pas à supprimer la peur du noir, mais à la détourner. En rendant l’obscurité indispensable à la lecture, le dispositif inverse complètement le réflexe habituel qui consiste à allumer la lumière pour se rassurer. C’est précisément cette contrainte qui fait la force du concept.Le livre devient une expérience sensorielle et émotionnelle. Il ne raconte pas seulement une histoire, il crée une situation où l’enfant doit accepter le noir pour accéder au récit. Un insight simple, celui de la peur du noir, est ainsi transformé en levier pédagogique et comportemental, sans discours moralisateur.