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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.

Les épidémies nécessitent un suivi d’indicateurs fiables et pertinents, afin d’éclairer les prises de décisions sanitaires. Durant la pandémie de SARS-CoV-2, le suivi de la dynamique virale au sein de la population par les approches individu-centrées s’est révélé complexe et fortement influencé par les porteurs asymptomatiques et les modifications de la politique de dépistage. Dans ce contexte, d’autres indicateurs de suivi épidémiologique global ont été très rapidement proposés. La quantification du virus dans les eaux usées, via des outils de biologie moléculaire, s’est très vite révélée comme un indicateur de suivi de l’épidémie de Covid-19 novateur et objectif. Cette « épidé miologie par les eaux usées » (WWBE pour wastewater-based epidemiology en anglais) dont la pertinence avait été démontrée quelques années auparavant, est à présent un outil complémentaire de suivi épidémiologique. Cet indicateur est recommandé par l’Union européenne depuis mars 2021. Le consortium Obépine, regroupant des équipes de recherche interdisciplinaires a, dès le début de l’épidémie, travaillé sur cette thématique afin d’approfondir et de maîtriser cet outil. Ce consortium de recherche est également à la base du réseau de surveillance national français de l’épidémie via les eaux usées. Les méthodes de mesures, encore en cours d’optimisation dans les labo - ratoires de recherche, nécessitent néanmoins de grandes précautions dans leur mise en oeuvre et leur interprétation pour un usage de routine. À travers l’exemple du programme de recherche et du réseau construit par Obépine, nous aborderons ici les différentes étapes nécessaires à la constitution de ce suivi épidémiologique via les eaux usées. Différentes étapes nécessaires à sa maîtrise sont présentées ici ainsi que les premiers enseignements à retenir.

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.

The Covid-19 pandemic crisis has made companies consider alternatives to the usual operating methods in order to ensure the continuity of their employees work and the offer of products and services to their customers. The current economic situation has therefore anchored the positioning of digital transformation as a lever for economic revival and evolution, and has reminded companies of the need to conduct this transformation in order to remain competitive. This paper is part of this debate and is in line with previous work on digital transformation frameworks. It develops the digital reflection from a strategic and above all multidimensional perspective. By adopting this vision, and starting from a global digital-oriented business strategy, it is proposed to decline it into business strategies through a digital roadmap. The article also proposes a framework of digital transformation based on these strategic guidelines and making all the dimensions that must be involved in a transformative process interact with each other.

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.

Abstract In the introductory paper of this special issue on new ways of working (NWW) the editors first reflect on the meaning of the ‘new’, finding inspiration in Hannes Meyer's essay “The New World” (1926). The ‘new’ is always relative, of course, closely associated with technological innovation, in our case digitalization, and integrates spatiotemporal, technological and socio-cultural dimensions of life and organizing. This SI seeks to offer a reflection on and contribution to deeper understanding of ongoing flexibilization, virtualization and mediation of work practices. The authors go on to contextualize and discuss the contributions of the papers included in this special issue, focussing on significant technological, spatiotemporal, organizational and individual developments associated with new ways of working. Finally, they reflect on the possible relevance of the recent Covid-19 pandemic for the future of work, arguing that this pandemic accelerated NWW in many ways and – given the many paradoxical NWW dynamics and developments – that there could very well be unexpected and adverse consequences, including a turn away from formal ways of working.

Background . Limited evidence on the effectiveness of various types of social distancing measures, from voluntary physical distancing to a community-wide quarantine, exists for the Western Pacific Region (WPR) which has large urban and rural populations. Methods . We estimated the time-varying reproduction number ( R t ) in a Bayesian framework using district-level mobility data provided by Facebook (i) to assess how various social distancing policies have contributed to the reduction in transmissibility of SARS-COV-2 and (ii) to examine within-country variations in behavioural responses, quantified by reductions in mobility, for urban and rural areas. Results . Social distancing measures were largely effective in reducing transmissibility, with R t estimates decreased to around the threshold of 1. Within-country analysis showed substantial variation in public compliance across regions. Reductions in mobility were significantly lower in rural and remote areas than in urban areas and metropolitan cities ( p < 0.001 ) which had the same scale of social distancing orders in place. Conclusions . Our findings provide empirical evidence that public compliance and consequent intervention effectiveness differ between urban and rural areas in the WPR. Further work is required to ascertain the factors affecting these differing behavioural responses, which can assist in policy-making efforts and increase public compliance in rural areas where populations are older and have poorer access to healthcare.