Recommender System for Government Service in Smart Cities

significant recommender systems (RS) development has occurred along with the Internet of Things (IoT) development in recent years. Recommender systems have been widely spread across diverse fields, including environmental preservation, e-commerce, healthcare, social and governance systems. There has been a growing focus on e-government as part of smart city initiatives in today's world of connected devices and infrastructure, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. With the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs), the government can enhance the delivery of public services, increase transparency, accountability, and credibility, as well as engage citizens in the decision-making process. To facilitate 'smart' governance, one of a smart city initiative's objectives is integrating e-government into the city's governance framework. The lack of personalized services for particular stakeholders is one of the most significant limitations of e-governance. There are a number of open challenges coupled with interesting opportunities, making this a very promising and exciting area for research to shape recommendation systems for urban environments. Considering the overwhelming amount of information, services, and tasks available through smart government applications, it is a greater chance of providing personalized recommendations for different stakeholders and tasks within multi-faceted and multi-dimension. There is still a lot of research to be done on recommendation systems in the context of smart cities or smart government. This paper survey the existing studies on recommendation systems for smart governance. The study aims to address smart city challenges to considered when designing and implementing recommendations for e-governance and the target stakeholder's interests. © 2022 IEEE.

Profit-Sharing Contract of the Fresh Agricultural Products Supply Chain under Community Group Purchase Mode Considering Freshness Preservation Efforts

This article constructed a four-level fresh agricultural product (FAP) supply chain with a two-stage pricing strategy under a "community group purchase (CGP) platform + direct procurement from the FAP supplier” sales model. We investigate the influence of the CGP agency's participation in the control strategy of FAP freshness preservation efforts on the profits of supply chain stakeholders. This article discusses the effects of the FAP supplier profit-sharing ratio, the CGP agency profit-sharing ratio, and consumers' sensitivity to FAP freshness on the supply chain stakeholders' freshness preservation efforts. Moreover, based on the fairness preference theory, this article designed a profit-sharing contract that involves the Nash bargaining game between the FAP supplier and the CGP agency as the supply chain coordination mechanism. Modeling results revealed that: (1) The CGP agency's freshness preservation efforts increased total supply chain profits. (2) The FAP supplier profit-sharing ratio, CGP agency profit-sharing ratio, and consumers' sensitivity to FAP freshness have a positive correlation to the profits of the FAP supply chain and promote the coordination of the supply chain. (3) Considering fairness preferences, with the increase in FAP suppliers' business negotiating ability, their freshness preservation efforts and fairness utility both increased gradually, while the fairness utility of the CGP agency gradually decreased.

Mobility Dynamics amid COVID-19 with a Case Study in Tennessee.

The year 2020 has marked the spread of a global pandemic, COVID-19, challenging many aspects of our daily lives. Different organizations have been involved in controlling this outbreak. The social distancing intervention is deemed to be the most effective policy in reducing face-to-face contact and slowing down the rate of infections. Stay-at-home and shelter-in-place orders have been implemented in different states and cities, affecting daily traffic patterns. Social distancing interventions and fear of the disease resulted in a traffic decline in cities and counties. However, after stay-at-home orders ended and some public places reopened, traffic gradually started to revert to pre-pandemic levels. It can be shown that counties have diverse patterns in the decline and recovery phases. This study analyzes county-level mobility change after the pandemic, explores the contributing factors, and identifies possible spatial heterogeneity. To this end, 95 counties in Tennessee have been selected as the study area to perform geographically weighted regressions (GWR) models. The results show that density on non-freeway roads, median household income, percent of unemployment, population density, percent of people over age 65, percent of people under age 18, percent of work from home, and mean time to work are significantly correlated with vehicle miles traveled change magnitude in both decline and recovery phases. Also, the GWR estimation captures the spatial heterogeneity and local variation in coefficients among counties. Finally, the results imply that the recovery phase could be estimated depending on the identified spatial attributes. The proposed model can help agencies and researchers estimate and manage decline and recovery based on spatial factors in similar events in the future.

A safe haven in times of crisis: The appeal of family companies as employers amid the COVID-19 pandemic

Family firms often struggle to recruit skilled non-family employees. Applying a mixed-method strategy, this article investigates the changing perception of family firms as attractive employers in the context of the COVID19 pandemic. Experimental results indicate that family firms benefit from a greater popularity amid crises owing to perceptions that they offer greater job security and compensation. Qualitative findings expand on these results by identifying new attractiveness-relevant factors that only come into play amid crises-specifically, multifaceted conceptions of family firms' crisis responses and their importance for local communities and economies contribute to their situational appeal.

Comparative assessment of three storage methods for preserving maize grain to enhance food security post COVID-19. (Special Issue: Technology and innovation for a post COVID recovery and growth: the contribution of industry and academia.)

Cold storage is expensive for smallholder farmers and seed processors in developing countries. Smallholder farmers continue to resort to traditional storage methods such as polypropylene (PP) bags for maize grain storage. They often dose the grains with chemicals to preserve them. However, hermetic bags have proven to provide superior protection to grains during storage without chemical treatment. With the advent of the COVID-19 virus which distorted many food systems across continents, stakeholders in the grain industry need to adopt better systems to reduce post-harvest food loss and improve food security. In this study, maize grain quality, nutritional content and viability were compared under three storage methods (PP bags with Phostoxin treatment, cold storage, and hermetic bag) over a storage period of four months. The results showed that the hermetic bag maintained the moisture content (MC) of the stored grains with 0.40% variations from the initial MC of 13% at the end of the storage period compared to 0.70% and 1.10% for grains stored under cold storage and in PP bags, respectively. Grain damage after the 4th month of storage in the hermetic bag had only increased by 0.40% from an initial 13.3% before storage compared to an increase of 6% for cold storage, which was attributed to unstable power during the storage period, and 4.30% for grains stored in the PP bag. Carbon dioxide concentration in the hermetic bag was maintained at about 11% throughout the storage period indicating low microbial activity. The hermetic bag technology was identified as the best option for quality preservation during storage of maize grain over the other methods, and its adoption by smallholder farmers in Ghana should be considered.

Resilience Assessment in Times of Covid-19 in Ecuador

Since the 2019 outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Ecuador was challenged by a combination of high health risk and serious economic and social impact. A need emerged to evaluate the resilience of the population in a social situation at the level of health and public safety unprecedented since the term resilience appeared in the scientific literature. The aim of this study is to create an instrument to assess resilience during the period when traumatic events are occurring due to the pandemic. Furthermore, it will consider the fact that the researchers conducting this study are themselves immersed in the same traumatic events provoked by Covid-19. For the development of the instrument, Ungar's Ecological Model has been taken as a reference, which encompasses several theories from the behavioural, cognitive, systemic, and functionalist currents. The instrument consists of 29 items that provide information on 4 dimensions associated with resilience: (1). interpersonal resources, (2). formal support networks, (3). informal support networks and 4. facing the risk situation. The instrument was validated by the "Judges Method” using the Aiken coefficient, in which 10 professionals from various universities in Ecuador participated. As for the reliability of the instrument, internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Trust disruption and preservation in the Covid-19 work from home context

PurposeThe paper posits that the enforced work from home (WFH) arrangement due to Covid-19 provides a unique setting for the study of trust in changing contexts. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to examine to what extent Covid-19 WFH changed trust relationships among remote employees, their managers and organisations and how this has taken place.Design/methodology/approachThe study used semi-structured interviews with employees and managers from different organisations across different sectors. Interviews were supported with image prompts as suggested by the storyboarding method, and took place between November 2020 and February 2021. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.FindingsThe findings identified factors that contribute to trust disruption and factors that led to trust preservation within the changing workspace landscape enforced by WFH environment. Employees reported trust in their organisations, feeling as though their organisations proven resilient at the time of the crisis caused by the pandemic. Interestingly, managers reported trust in employees to remain productive but also anxieties due to the possible presence of others in the household.Originality/valueThe study identified factors that affect intra-organisational trust that have not been previously recognised, exposing tensions and challenges that may disrupt trust relations between managers and employees whilst also identifying evidence of trust preservation in the Covid-19 WFH context. The study has implications for workplace learning within the remote, WFH context, which are discussed.

Effects of Visitor Influx on the Indoor Climate of the Milan Cathedral

The indoor climate of non-climatized churches is usually subject to cyclical fluctuations of temperature and relative humidity induced by external climate conditions which might be dampened by the high thermal capacity of their envelope. However, several phenomena affect their indoor climate (e.g., internal gains due to people and artificial lighting, air infiltration, etc.), which lead to environmental variations that might jeopardize the artworks contained within. In particular, one of the most influential parameters that may affect non-climatized churches is the massive and intermittent presence of people who constantly visit their spaces. In such regard, long-term monitoring allows the collection of environmental data with different building operation conditions and visitor fluxes. This paper analyses the indoor climate of the Milan Cathedral (Duomo di Milano) in Italy for three continuous years (including the lockdown period that occurred in 2020 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic), with a focus on visitors' effects on the indoor environment and the conservation of the main artworks contained within. The results of the analysis have shown that spaces with huge volume are most influenced by the opening of the doors rather than the hygrothermal contribution of the intermittent presence of massive crowds. Moreover, the absence of visitors for a prolonged period correlates with an improvement in the indoor conservation conditions for artworks, especially those made of hygroscopic materials, due to the reduction in short, rapid climate fluctuations.

Urban Rehabilitation and Tourism: Lessons from Porto (2010–2020)

Cities experience rapid growth and transformation. Over the past decades, change has been particularly intense and complex, associated to globalization, spatial compression and temporal acceleration. Within this context, the EU funds introduced new urban rehabilitation dynamics that made a city center more and more attractive. This, alongside the growth of international tourism, has increased the number of city users, which has furthered the discussion on the relation between the physical, economic, social and environmental intervention of the city, as well as the debates on the positive and negative impacts of tourism in cities. With that in mind, we look at the intense change that occurred in the city of Porto, Portugal, in the period from an intense economic crisis to the COVID-19 confinement. We consider changes in buildings, retail and policies to conclude that a neoliberal attitude favoured a tourism-led and sustainability blind gentrification. Based on a survey and analysis of 50 urban rehabilitation initiatives in downtown Porto and on the analysis of recent public policies, we discuss the relation between urban rehabilitation and tourism in Porto, and therefore the effectiveness of public policies and its contribution to sustainable urban development.

An integrated IoT architecture to monitor food quality along the supply chain

Drop in nutrition value during food logistics impacts the health of consumers. Vegetables, fruits, fish, milk lose nutrients during logistics if it is not properly monitored. Real-time tracking and monitoring, large data handling and secure business transactions are key to the effective operation of supply chains. The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us the need for handling unforeseen situations in various sectors. Limitations to logistic operations, inaccessible warehouses, shutdown of consumer outlets for an unexpected duration, have affected the supply chain drastically. This has laid emphasis on the need for technology-based solutions that can monitor, control and make quick decisions, that can reduce losses. With this scenario as a background, a system architecture has been proposed to detect the nutrient value of food by periodically monitoring temperature and humidity in real-time and alerting the cold chain entities in cold chain environments. This architecture is proposed as an integration of Internet of Things (IoT) with cloud-based storage, to provide real-time data collection at the end-user, seamless storage and computation in the cloud and secure transactions at the business layer. An experimental setup of the system architecture has been configured and the implementation has been tested at a preliminary level. The performance of the application is analyzed and the proposed web application is efficient for large scale supply chain applications, provided scaling of hardware resources.

Organ preservation strategy: new therapeutic alternative in rectal cancer.

BACKGROUND: The therapeutic modalities for nonmetastatic rectal cancer are presently undergoing major changes. The standard treatment is multidisciplinary, combining radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgery. The aim of this minireview is to provide an update on the place of organ preservation in the treatment of nonmetastatic rectal cancer in 2022. MAIN TEXT: The multimodal strategy based on initial radiochemotherapy followed by radical surgery with excision of the mesorectum has improved oncological results but at the expense of morbidity and sequelae altering life quality. The strategy of rectal preservation has been proposed since the 2000s after the publication of the results of the Brazilian study that proposed a simple surveillance after radiochemotherapy without surgery in good responders. In fact, preoperative radiochemotherapy was able to obtain a complete histological response in 10 to 30% of case. In view of this non-negligible percentage of tumor sterilization, which may well increase with the standardization of total neoadjuvant treatment, a strategy of organ preservation can be proposed in these patients to avoid morbidity and postoperative sequelae. SHORT CONCLUSION: This nonoperative approach is currently widely studied in certain patients who have a complete response (clinical, endoscopic, and radiological). However, the selection of these patients is not simple and still complex.

"Last night a DJ saved my life" @dnice #ClubQuarantine: Digitally mediating ritualistic leisure spaces during isolation

Drawing on the DJ's divination as hope purveyor and healer, this commentary examines the trendiest club scene during the COVID-19 and worldwide social distancing-#ClubQuarantine. It explores how DJ and producer Derrick "D-Nice" Jones uses Instagram Live to reproduce and perform hope through dual components of his musical sets: 1) participatory/performative healing and 2) cultural preservation. Situating this DJ within the Black Aesthetic, these two elements are explored in conversation with Kelly's (2013) performance of hope theory. This commentary provides understanding for leisure scholars about the flow of Black visual and aesthetic culture and how the house party or the club can be a space of healing and cultural preservation -even in the face of a global health and economic crisis. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Humor styles predict emotional and behavioral responses to COVID-19

A correlational study (n = 180 adults) in the United States tested the hypothesis that self-directed humor styles predict emotional responses to COVID-19, specifically stress and hopelessness, and in turn predict engagement in protective behaviors. Results from a sequential mediation analysis supported our hypotheses. First, to the extent that people have a self-enhancing humor style they perceived less stress and hopelessness associated with COVID-19 and as a result reported engaging in more protective behaviors. Second, people higher in self-defeating humor style showed the opposite pattern;they perceived more stress and hopelessness due to COVID-19 and thus reported engaging in less protective behaviors. Implications for theory and application are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

A robust tracking system for COVID-19 like pandemic using advanced hybrid technologies

In order to track patients in coronavirus (COVID-19) like pandemic, this paper proposes a novel model based on hybrid advance technologies, which is capable to trace and track COVID-19 affectees with high accuracy. The hybrid technologies include, cellular, cyber and low range wireless technologies. This technique is capable to trace patients through call data record using cellular technology, voice over Internet protocol calls using cyber technology and physical contact without having a call history using low range wireless technologies. The proposed model is also capable to trace COVID-19 suspects. In addition to tracking, the proposed model is capable to provide surveillance capability as well by geo tagging the patients. In case of any violation by the patients an alert is sent to the concerned department. The proposed model is cost effective and privacy preserved as the entire process is carried out under the umbrella of a concerned government department. The potential outcomes of the proposed model are tracking of COVID-19 patients, monitoring of isolated patients, tracking of suspected ones and inform the mass about the safest path to use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Computing is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Privacy-Preserving Federated Learning in Healthcare

Federated learning (FL) has received great attention in healthcare primarily due to its decentralized, collaborative nature of building a machine learning (ML) model. Over the years, the FL approach has been successfully applied for enhancing privacy preservation in medical ML applications. This study aims to review prevailing applications in healthcare for the future landing FL application. We identified the emerging applications of FL in key healthcare domains, including COVID-19, brain tumor segmentation, mammogram, sleep quality prediction, and smart healthcare system. Finally, we discuss privacy concerns in federated setting and provide current methods to increase the data privacy capabilities of FL. © 2023 IEEE.

Adnexal masses surgery in prepubertal and adolescent girls during COVID-19 pandemic

Study Objective: Global burden on healthcare system by COVID-19 patients had a significant impact on non-COVID diseases treatment.1-3 This study compares the characteristics of adnexal masses surgery in girls and adolescents during the 2020 and 2021 COVID-19 pandemic with the homologous non-COVID-19 period in 2018 and 2019. Design(s): A retrospective observational study using medical records of girls under 19 years of age with surgery of adnexal masses. Patients with neonatal cysts and patients with differences of sex development were excluded from the study. Setting(s): Mother and Child Health Care Institute of Serbia 'Dr Vukan Cupic' (Belgrade, Serbia). The study was approved by the Clinical Research Committee of the Institution. Participant(s): Patients (N=130) who had surgery for adnexal masses, of whom 49 with ovarian torsion. Interventions and Main Outcome Measure(s): Patients were diagnosed in the Institute, but also in other health institutions that referred them for final treatment to the Institute. Surgery was usually performed by gynecologists, and sometimes by pediatric surgeons as urgent abdominal operations. Open or minimally invasive approaches were used, depending on the medical indications, surgeon's experience, and the circumstances related to the organization of work in the COVID-19 period. Results and Discussion: All data of the main outcome measures are shown in Table 1. In the COVID-19 period, the time from the onset of symptoms to diagnosis is statistically significantly longer than in the non-COVID-19 period (t=2,151;p=0,034). In the COVID-19 period, there were statistically significantly fewer adnexal masses surgery than in non-COVID-19 period (chi2=8,892;p=0,003). There was also decrease in number of surgically treated patients with twisted adnexal masses, but without statistical significance. Ovarian preservations in benign adnexal processes were statistically more frequent in the non-COVID-19 period (chi2=6,575;p=0,01). There was increase in percentage of adnexectomies in the COVID-19 period. During the COVID-19 period, the number of laparoscopic procedures decreased significantly, which could be associated with the technical issues and deficit in medical staff during that period (chi2=50,915;p < 0,001). Conclusion(s): Advice on reducing non-necessary visits to the doctor given to patients during the COVID-19 pandemic led to a decrease in number of surgical procedures for adnexal masses in girls and adolescents. This also caused prolonged time to diagnosis, but did not affect the interval from the symptoms onset to operation. Reduction of number of laparoscopic procedures and ovarian preservation in benign adnexal diseases indicates a decline in the quality of health care during COVID-19 pandemic. [Formula presented]Copyright © 2023

Achieving zero hunger goal through minimizing waste in food supply chain: evidence from Asian emerging region

Agricultural products have taken center stage due to the COVID-19 pandemic as countries strive to become self-sufficient and independent. Despite this, Agri-products supply chain management has largely been ignored. Farmers are typically in charge of getting these products to market. The local market suffers because of the significant quantity of agricultural products wasted along the Agri-Food supply chain (AFSC), and export revenue is at risk. To address the issue of food waste in AFSC, this study identified the sources of food waste and proposed corrective measures for the local farming industry. Stakeholders from the farming community, transportation companies, and retailers were conducting semi-structured interviews and coding them using open-source coding. Lack of cold storage and improper handling and packaging of products have been found to have a negative impact on the distribution process in developing countries. In this regard, a well-designed supply chain strategy, network design, and information system can alleviate these issues. Farmers and transporters must be taught how to minimize damage during transport. Recycled packaging material can also be used, saving money while reducing the likelihood of product damage. This is among the pioneer studies that focus on the causes of food waste in AFSC in Pakistan.

OČUVANJE ZDRAVLJA PRI RADU S RAČUNALOM PREMA KURIKULUMU INFORMATIKE ZA OSNOVNE ŠKOLE U REPUBLICI HRVATSKOJ

SAŽETAK: Polazište u ovom radu je odredenje iz Odluke o donošenju kurikuiuma za nastavni predmet informatike za osnovne škole i gimnazije u Republici Hrvatskoj1 da je zdravlje jedna od temeljnih vrijednosti odgoja i obrazovanja. U širem smislu briga o zdravlju, a time i zdravstveno obrazovanje uključuje razumijevanje uloge okolišnih čimbenika te razumijevanje zdravija kao preduvjeta, ishodišta i pokazatelja održivog razvoja društva u cjelini, odnosno razumijevanje i usvajanje zdravih životnih navika, a izbjegavanje navika štetnih za zdravlje. Svrha je i cilj motiviranje te pružanje znanja i potpore za usvajanje zdravih životnih stilova i odgovornog ponašanja. Težište je na važnosti brige o zdravlju tijekom cijeloga života, na očuvanju i unapredivanju zdravlja, sprječavanju bolesti i posljedica bolesti, invaliditeta i prijevremene smrti. Osobito je važno uključiti sadržaje o sigurnosti i zaštiti zdravlja (na radu) u kurikuiume nastavnih predmeta. Prema Odluci o donošenju kurikuiuma za nastavni predmet informatike za osnovne škole i gimnazije u Republici Hrvatskoj iz 2018. godine, navedeno je da će učenici od 1. do 4. razreda osnovne škole moči odabrati nastavni predmet informatika kao izborni predmet od školske godine 2020./2021. U prvom dijelu radu prikazan je izvadak iz dijela Odluke o donošenju kurikuluma za nastavni predmet informatike za osnovne škole i gimnazije u Republici Hrvatskoj2 kao i izvadak iz Kurikuiuma nastavnog predmeta Informatike za osnovne škole i gimnazije3, s aspekta očuvanja (zaštite) zdravlja pri radu s računalom kroz usvajanje osnovnih pojmova, prava i obveza te kineziološka pravila kretanja, sjedenja, odnosno držanja. Dok je u drugom dijelu rada prikazana analiza sadržaja udžbenika za nastavni predmet informatika u nižim razredima osnovne škole, koji učenicima omogućuju razumjeti i odgovorno primjenjivati sigurnosne preporuke s ciljem očuvanja (zaštite) zdravlja pri radu s računalom. informatika u nižim razredima osnovne škole, koji učenicima omogućuju razumjeti i odgovorno primjenjivati sigurnosne preporuke s ciljem očuvanja (zaštite) zdravlja pri radu s računalom.Alternate :The basis of this paper is the Decision on the adoption of the informatics curriculum for primary schools and gymnasia in the Republic of Croatia and, in particular, its stipulation that health is one of the fundamental values in the educational process, in a broad sense, healthcare and health education involves the understanding of the role of environmental factors, the understanding of health as a prerequisite, a foundation, and an indicator of sustainable development of society as a whole, as well as the understanding and adopting healthy habits, while avoiding the harmful ones. The purpose and the goal is to motivate the adoption of healthy lifestyle and responsible behavior and to provide the necessary knowledge and support. The emphasis is put on the importance of proper lifelong healthcare, on the preservation and improvement of health, on prevention of disease and their consequences, disability, and premature death. It is particularly important to include the content on occupational health and safety into the school course curricula. According to the aforementioned Decision taken in 2018, the pupils in primary schools in grades 1 to 4 will have the possibility to choose informatics as an optional course from the school year 2020/21 onwards. The first part of the paper presents an excerpt from the Decision, as well as the excerpt from the informatics curriculum for primary schools and gymnasia as the subject of the said Decision. Both excerpts cover the aspect of preservation and protection of health during work on a computer through adoption of basic terminology, rights and obligations, and the rules of kinesiology that refer to movement, sitting and posture. The second part of the paper presents the analysis of the content of textbooks used for the course informatics in grades 1 to 4 in elementary schools, in particular the parts that help the pu ils understand and apply the safety recommendations that were given to preserve and protect health during work on a computer.

Análisis de las Apps Covid en la Unión Europea: entre la excepcionalidad y la protección de los derechos fundamentales

Los retos a los que se enfrenta la Unión Europea crean en ocasiones situaciones de tensión, en las que la organización debe responder al mismo tiempo a la protección y garantía de los derechos fundamentales de su ciudadanía, y a necesidades de índole global que excepcionalmente requieren la suspensión de esos mismos derechos por un bien mayor. Este fue el caso durante la pandemia de 2020, en el que la Unión Europea y los Estados miembros decretaron cuarentenas en contra de la libertad de movimiento, para restringir los contactos e intentar contener los contagios. En este contexto se produjo también una implementación de políticas digitales para afrontar la gestión de la crisis, en concreto nos referimos a las aplicaciones covid de rastreo y vigilancia de los contactos entre individuos. Estas aplicaciones estaban sujetas a los requisitos y garantías del marco legislativo comunitario, que hemos visto evolucionar en los últimos dos años, para hacer frente a la creciente digitalización de los servicios públicos. El caso de las aplicaciones covid es paradigmático para observar cómo se ha producido esa adaptación. La injerencia de los estados de forma excepcional durante la crisis, pero regulada hoy en instrumentos de coordinación comunitarios, ha creado nuevos marcos de navegación en internet. Los usuarios cuentan ahora con un nuevo nivel de protección de sus datos personales y su derecho a la privacidad, que si bien venía garantizada por el Reglamento de Protección de Datos (679/2016), ha dado un importante paso adelante con la aceleración de la digitalización de la administración durante la pandemia. Además, a través de una crítica desde la teoría contractual, podemos ver cómo la Unión Europea ha respondido a las dinámicas globales a nivel de normativa digital, priorizando hoy un sistema de contrapesos y límites tanto a las empresas como a las administraciones públicas, en su intercambio con los usuarios en internet. Las aplicaciones covid materializan esas limitaciones y garantías de protección de los usuarios (esencialmente de su privacidad y derechos fundamentales), que nos llevan a plantear la creación de un nuevo contrato social digital, igual que se ha transformado en otras ocasiones para responder a cuestiones como la clase, el género, la raza y la ecología.Alternate :The challenges facing the European Union (EU) can sometimes create tensions, in which the organization must answer both to the protection and guarantee of the fundamental rights of its citizens, and to global needs that exceptionally require the suspension of those same rights for the greater good. In its liberal political tradition that believes in the existence of a public and a private sphere, it has established systems of checks and balances, rule of law and stable institutions to protect the rights and freedoms of its citizens.Yet sometimes these must be suspended in cases of exceptionality for their own preservation. This was the case during the 2020 pandemic, when the European Union and its member States decreed quarantines against the consolidated and fundamental freedom of movement of persons, to restrict contacts and try to contain contagions. In this context, digital policies were also implemented to deal with crisis management, like Covid applications for tracing and monitoring contacts between individuals. This invasion of the private sphere of citizens had to be accompanied by a set of limitations and guarantees, to protect this inherent and private individual's right. These applications were subject to the requirements of the European legislative framework (the commonly known acquis communautaire), which included several legal instruments laid out by the EU to create a framework to guide the performance of its member-state Governments on this matter. Apart from the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive, we underline the importance of Recommendation (EU) 2020/518 that connects health rights, health management and data protection;and also, the importance of Communication 2020/C 124 I/01 th t set a series of ideal elements to guide apps functions, and established the importance that it is Government agencies that manage digital apps, so there is a guarantee of the protection of citizens' rights. Through the comparative study of how apps were managed when they first appeared in 2020 throughout most of 2021, and how apps evolved (both in management and use) in 2021 and throughout 2022, we can address the evolution of EU policy on digital matters, which have meant to create new frameworks for internet navigation. At first, there were 24 different apps for the 24 out of 27 Member States who decided to create and promote the use of these instruments among their citizens. Most of them were managed by national authorities (except for Austria and Romania who were managed by Red Cross and a local NGO respectively), and were developed by a public-private collaboration, or only public agencies.At the end of the crisis, at least politically since societal weariness and the economic crisis rendered it difficult to keep up the restrictions introduced in the spring of 2020, in June 2021 the EU created its GreenPass or vaccination passport.This policy was implemented in most countries and even though 24 different national health services were still in place, they all used the EU passport, available to citizens via their national health websites or apps. Even though the exceptionality of the pandemic has ended, one of the outcomes has been the establishment of a system of data gathering, storage and management for public means, managed by National Authorities, which has technically created a digital contract where the State guarantees citizens' digital rights. This is even more important as we attend to an increase in the digitalization of public services, especially since 2020.The changes were thus promoted in a state of exception during the crisis to regulate Government interference in the citizen's private sphere but have laid a roadmap for the development of the digital framework, which may lead to the conclusion of a digital social contract. The social contract appears in the EU's liberal tradition as a metaphor of the relation between the State and the individual, it defines the notion of sovereignty as the set of rights possessed by the citizen that may be subject to special protection. Hence, the social contract serves as the basis for creating modern societies, yet it is not permanent and can (and will) change when societies change accordingly. Several critiques have been made to the original social contract, creating new and developed contracts, including the class critique (from worker's movements and Marxism during the 19th Century to Piketty's present denouncing of social inequalities), the gender critique (as Carole Pateman's Sexual Contract puts it, the social contract institutionalized patriarchy), the racial critique (where Charles W. Mills develops the gender critique from a racial point of view where the social contract created a system of domination by the Western world) and finally the environmental critique (where its advocates claim for an eco-social contract or a nature social contract that shifts the approach to a bio-centric system). Therefore, the contract serves as a theoretical framework that can be changed, and in this case, it challenges the evolution towards a digital social contract. The evolution of internet and tech structures that support the web and its processes has been marked by three stages: its birth in the 80s by the hand of the State and linked to military research;its deregulation during the 90s and the privatization of the main telecommunications enterprises (in the case of the EU, the digital policy followed this trend);and the consolidation of a digital sphere in the 21st century, where the EU has taken a step back and created a set of instruments to guarantee the protection and freedom of its citizens when they navigate the internet. We can see how the EU has responded to global dynamics at the level of digital regulation, prioritizing today a multistakeholder system with s veral actors, and counterweights and limits for both companies and public administrations in their exchange with users on the internet. With the emergence of new spaces for social relations such as in the digital sphere, new types of sovereignty must be considered in order to guarantee the rights and privacy of users (we must not forget the importance of the separation between spheres, as fear liberalism reminds us, and of limiting exceptionality to those circumstances that really appear as such). Once the foundations on which the model of digital guarantees can be developed have been laid, the next step can be the creation of a real digital contract between users and the state on the internet. However, the contract is but an idea of reason for understanding politics and institutions, which begs the question of what digital politics we aspire to as societies.

Renal transplantation

Individuals with kidney failure face a future requiring long-term treatment with either dialysis or renal transplantation. Renal transplantation is the preferred form of renal replacement therapy, and is associated with a better quality of life, and usually increased longevity. Unfortunately, owing to excessive co-morbidities, only 30% of patients who develop end-stage renal failure are fit enough for transplantation. Over 90% of kidney transplants still function after 1 year, and most function for >15 years. Improvements in transplant outcomes are attributable to advances in histocompatibility testing, organ procurement, organ preservation, surgical techniques and perioperative care. Long-term outcomes have shown only minor improvements over the last two decades, although this should be considered in the context of deteriorating organ quality as older deceased donors with increasing co-morbidity are used more often to satisfy the need for donor organs. An overall increase in deceased donor numbers has boosted transplant activity in the UK, and it is hoped this will continue with the adoption of the 'opt-out' consent system. Living donor activity remains stable, but the use of non-directed altruistic donation and the living donor exchange scheme have reduced the need for higher immunological risk incompatible transplantation. The COVID-19 pandemic has reduced transplant rates globally, although national transplant systems are now recovering.Copyright © 2022