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The European response to COVID-19 has revealed an inconvenient truth. Despite having integrated public health concerns across all its policies – be it agriculture, consumer protection, or security –, the Union cannot directly act to save people’s lives. Only member states can do so. Yet when they adopted unilateral measures to counter the spread of the virus, those proved not only ineffective but also disruptive on vital supply chains, by ultimately preventing the flow of essential goods and people across the Union. These fragmented efforts in tackling cross-border health threats have almost immediately prompted political calls for the urgent creation of a European Health Union. Yet this call raises more questions than answers. With the aim to offer a rigorous and timely blueprint to decision-makers and the public at large, this Special Issue of the European Journal of Risk Regulation contextualizes such a new political project within the broader constitutional and institutional framework of EU public health law and policy. By introducing the Special, this paper argues that unless the envisaged Health Union will tackle the root causes of what prevented the Union from effectively responding to COVID-19 – the divergent health capacity across the Union –, it might fall short of its declared objective of strengthening the EU’resilience for cross-border health threats.

International audience; The Robots for Learning workshop series aims at advancing the research topics related to the use of social robots in educational contexts. This year's half-day workshop follows on previous events in Human-Robot Interaction conferences focusing on efforts to discuss potential benchmarks in design, methodology and evaluation of new robotics systems that help learners. In this 6th edition of the workshop, we will be investigating in particular methods from technologies for education and online learning. Since the past few months, online and remote learning has been put in place in several countries to cope with the health and safety measures due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In this workshop, we aim to discuss strategies to design robotics system able to provide embodied assistance to the remote learners and to demonstrate long-term learning effects.

ObjectivesThe aims of this research were (1) to compare the levels of physical activity of eHealth users and non-users, (2) to determine the effects of these technologies on motivations, and (3) to establish the relationship that could exist between psychological constructs and physical activity behaviors.MethodsThis cross-sectional study involved 569 adults who responded to an online questionnaire during confinement in France. The questions assessed demographics, usage of eHealth for exercise and physical activity, and behavioral levels. The questionnaire also measured the constructs of Social Cognitive Theory, the Theory of Planned Behavior, and automaticity facets toward eHealth for exercise and physical activity.ResultsParticipants who were users of eHealth for exercise and physical activity presented significantly higher levels of vigorous physical activity and total physical activity per week than non-users (p < 0.001). The chi-square test showed significant interactions between psychological constructs toward eHealth (i.e., self-efficacy, behavioral attitudes, intentions, and automaticity) and physical activity levels (all interactions were p < 0.05). Self-efficacy was significantly and negatively correlated with walking time per week. Concerning the automaticity facets, efficiency was positive and significantly correlated with vigorous physical activity levels per week (p < 0.05). Then, regressions analyses showed that self-efficacy and automaticity efficiency explained 5% of the variance of walking minutes per week (ß = −0.27, p < 0.01) and vigorous physical activity per week (ß = 0.20, p < 0.05), respectively.ConclusionThis study has shown that people during confinement looked for ways to stay active through eHealth. However, we must put any technological solution into perspective. The eHealth offers possibilities to stay active, however its benefits and the psychological mechanisms affected by it remains to be demonstrated: eHealth could be adapted to each person and context.

International audience; Global warming, in the light of the market economy of capitalism, appears to be a long-term issue, whereas decisions concerning biodiversity and the quality of life of humans on Earth must be taken today. The rise of the third industrial revolution based on the Internet, renewable energies and careful management of the Earth's resources is becoming urgent. ICTs, vehicles, energy sources, real estate and agriculture are directly concerned. States must make it possible for this revolution to take place quickly, despite the major obstacles they have to overcome, such as the shortcomings of renewable energy, blocked assets, the interests of the dominant major groups resulting from the second industrial revolution, the short-term policies of pension funds, and the reluctance of fossil fuel producers. Technological innovation cannot solve all societal and social issues. The rules of the game of economic globalisation must therefore be changed, through public and private commitment to the green revolution, a search for greater social justice or the application of the rules of "enlightened catastrophism". Without a strong action by humans, the evolution of the planet will become humanly uncontrollable and will even raise the question of the survival of humanity.; Le réchauffement climatique, à l’aune de l’économie de marché du capitalisme, apparaît comme une question de long terme, alors que les décisions concernant la biodiversité et la qualité de la vie des hommes sur Terre doivent être prises aujourd’hui. L’essor de la troisième révolution industrielle fondée sur Internet, les énergies renouvelables et la gestion précautionneuse des ressources de la Terre devient urgent. Les TIC, les véhicules, l’immobilier et l’agriculture sont directement concernés. Les États doivent rendre possible la mise en place rapide de cette révolution, malgré les obstacles importants qu’ils ont à surmonter, comme les failles de l’énergie renouvelable, les actifs bloqués, les intérêts des grands groupes dominants issus de la deuxième révolution industrielle, les politiques à court terme des fonds de pension, et les réticences des producteurs d’énergies fossiles. L’innovation technologique ne peut pas résoudre toutes les questions sociétales et sociales. Il convient donc de modifier les règles du jeu de la globalisation mondialiste, par une volonté d’engagement public et privé en faveur de la révolution verte, une recherche de plus grande justice sociale ou l’application des règles du « catastrophisme éclairé ». Sans une action volontariste des hommes, l’évolution de la planète deviendra humainement incontrôlable et posera même la question de la survie de l’humanité.

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has clearly shown how agricultural foods and e-commerce initiatives are critical for many organizations, regions, and countries worldwide. Despite this vital importance, prior IS research on the business value of IT has not paid enough attention to the potential specificities of the agribusinesses. This study examines the impact of e-commerce capability on business agility in agribusinesses. Using a sample of Chinese agriculture firms, we find that: 1) The e-commerce capability of agribusinesses enables two types of business agility: market capitalizing agility and operational adjustment agility, and 2) while environmental complexity positively moderates the effects of e-commerce capability on the market capitalizing agility and operational adjustment agility, environmental dynamism does not. This study contributes to the IS research on the business value of IT by providing an eloquent theoretical explanation and empirical evidence on how e-commerce capability help agricultural firms to thrive through complexity by enabling market capitalizing agility (strategic focus) and operational adjustment agility (operational focus). Highlights • Agricultural foods and e-commerce initiatives are critical worldwide. • Specificities of the agribusiness context worldwide and in China. • E-commerce capability enables agribusinesses to thrive through complexity. • Rationale: E-commerce capability facilitates business agility to agribusinesses. • This paper contributes to IS research on business value of e-commerce initiatives.

International audience; Many documents have been published and webinars held on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on food security at international levels, which tend to blur our understanding of actual dynamics on the ground. Based on a network of researchers from Cirad and its partners in a wide diversity of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, this paper attempts to take stock of what is happening in the food and agriculture sector. The information provided allow for a more nuanced analysis when compared to international organizations' reports. While lockdown and social distancing measures have only mildly affected world trade and production of staple food, some perishable products have been wasted, unable to reach markets. The crisis emphasizes the disconnection between food production and trade and the dire situation of many poor consumers, in cities, holding informal jobs, who have been hit very hard. The crisis should help imagining short- and long-term measures to support food systems resilience along an integrated approach and adaptation strategies already developed.; La crise liée au SARS-CoV2 (syndrome respiratoire aigu sévère–coronavirus 2) a donné lieu à une profusion de documents et webinaires sur la sécurité alimentaire au niveau international, ce qui tend à brouiller la compréhension des dynamiques à l’œuvre sur le terrain. Cet article se propose de faire le point sur la situation des secteurs agricole et agroalimentaire, à partir des informations relayées par un réseau d’experts du Cirad et de leurs partenaires dans une diversité de pays en Afrique subsaharienne. Mises en perspective avec les rapports des organisations internationales, ces informations permettent de dresser un constat nuancé. Si le commerce mondial des produits de base et la production agricole dans les pays du Sud ont été relativement peu affectés par les mesures de restriction prises pour limiter la propagation du virus,certaines filières de produits périssables ont rencontré des difficultés pour écouler leurs produits. Mais surtout, la crise a mis en exergue la déconnexion entre le monde de la production agricole, du commerce alimentaire et la situation des consommateurs précaires, qui dans les villes et dans le secteur informel ont pris de plein fouet l’arrêt des activités économiques. Cette crise sanitaire invite à repenser les mesures de gestion de la crise, tant à court terme qu’à plus long terme, avec une approche intégrée des systèmes alimentaires pour renforcer leur résilience et soutenir les stratégies d’adaptation des acteurs.

International audience

International audience; Faced with an unprecedented and exceptional health crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, society had to adapt to these new configuration and organizational modalities. Academic work has not escaped this phenomenon. Faced with this invisible enemy, which forced us to isolate ourselves from each other, including teachers from their students, we had to invent educational resources to maintain the social bond and the transmission of knowledge.; Face à une crise sanitaire inédite et exceptionnelle causée par la pandémie de la Covid 19, la société a dû s’adapter à ces nouvelles configurations et à ces modalités organisationnelles du monde du travail. Le travail universitaire n’a pas échappé à la règle. Face à cet ennemi invisible, nous obligeant à nous isoler les uns des autres, les enseignants de leurs élèves, nous avons dû inventer des ressources pédagogiques pour maintenir le lien social et la transmission de nos savoirs.