Modern democratic federations in the digital age: the conditions and prerequisites of electronic government (de-)centralization

This thesis discusses the process of administrative (de-)centralization of electronic government in 11 democratic federations. The research is comparative in nature and process-tracing was used as a primary data analysis method in order to identify the factors that led to the centralization or decentralization of the three electronic government areas. The following factors were discussed in the study: economic resources, the quality of public services, the quality of electronic government and the political orientation of the majority party in the parliament. The work not only analyzes the prerequisites for the actions of the central government regarding the electronic government system aimed at redistributing intergovernmental power-relations but also categorizes these actions in the context of redistribution of administrative powers. Based on the results of the study, the factors of centralization or decentralization of each electronic government area are highlighted, and the main strategies are outlined. As the thesis argues, the desire of federal center to improve the quality of public services and quality of electronic government leads to the decentralization of electronic services area with the centralization of electronic administration, while increasing of economic resources leads to greater centralization of both electronic administration and electronic services.http://www.ester.ee/record=b5145136*es

Data-Driven Personalized E-Government Services: Literature Review and Case Study

Better targeted and more personalized service offering to citizens has the potential to make state-citizen interactions more seamless, reduce inefficiencies in service provision, and lower barriers to service access for the less informed and disadvantaged social groups. What constitutes personalization and how the service offering can be customized to meet individual user demand is, however, much less clear and underdeveloped partially due to the technical and legal dependencies involved. The paper gives an overview of how personalization and customization of digital service offering have been discussed in the literature and systematizes the main strand emerging from this. It follows up with a case study of the Estonian X-road log data as one potential way to detect latent user demand emerging from an experienced life-event that could form a basis for letting users define their service needs as holistically as possible. The results show the existence of distinct service usage clusters, with specific user profiles behind them, a clear indication of latent demand that leads to a simultaneous consumption of otherwise independent digital services

Automated impact assessment - How digitizing government enables rapid and tailor-made policy responses

As interest in the digital transformation of public administration grows, the main challenge remains to improve government governance systems and integrate a wider range of evidence into decisionmaking processes. The successful digitalization and application of such approaches improves the quality, responsiveness and flexibility of public administrations. The digialtization of processes has made it possible to use micro-level data to assess the impact of a policy or program and apply the feedback to improve the design and delivery of public services. Evidence-based policy-making evaluates programs based on their visible impacts. Large-scale data collected through digitized governance, coupled with econometric impact assessment, provides an ideal working toolkit for this. However, the current situation of European governments is one of slow adoption, as they are often slow to respond to new challenges. This is due to the static one-off impact assessment approaches used, the results of which quickly become outdated. With further digitalization, improvement of systems, and a rapidly changing situation, there is a need to speed up institutions’ ability to quickly draw working solutions to offset the effects of unexpected events in society and economy and react without delays if policy effects dissipate. This paper demonstrates how a high level of digitalization in government allows addressing such issues by automating causal impact assessment and making it a continuous part of the service delivery. The use case is an automated system for assessing active labour market policies in Estonia using individual-level data from government digital registers. Building on this, it shows how impact assessment automation depends on automatically generated data, only available due to the digitalization of other public services, and how versatile it is when it comes to proving casual evidence in a suddenly changing environment

An assessment of the moral value of neuronal cell models and brain organoids

Advances in stem cell technology enable neuroscientists to develop induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-based neuronal models of varying complexity, ranging from single human brain cells to two-dimensional neuronal cell models and three-dimensional brain organoids. While the discussion on the moral status of brain organoids is taking center stage in the bioethical literature and is invariably linked to the presumed capacity of future brain organoids to develop some form of consciousness, analyses of the moral status of other – less complex – iPSC-based neuronal models are lacking. In this paper we aim to clarify the moral value of various types of existing neuronal models, including brain organoids. We show how it is made up of several layers that may encompass various sorts of considerations, including moral values, the results of empirical research, and biological characteristics. We identify four such layers – instrumental, intrinsic, symbolic, and relational – that are relevant for the assessment of the moral value of neuronal models. We demonstrate that it lies not in a capacity to develop some form of consciousness (which is absent in current iPSC-based neuronal models, including brain organoids), but in other considerations, including the genetic links between models and donors, the ability of models to mimic brain (dys)function, and their symbolic value, all of which are often overlooked in the bioethical literature. Also, we demonstrate that the 'thickness' of the layers (i.e., their moral weight) increases when the neuronal model is more complex. Finally, we discuss the practical-ethical implications of our analysis for the use of neuronal models in research settings, for instance in relation to informed consent and biobank governance. Our four-layer framework can be applied also in moral assessments of other iPSC-based models, including emerging and future cell models

An assessment of the moral value of neuronal cell models and brain organoids

Advances in stem cell technology enable neuroscientists to develop induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-based neuronal models of varying complexity, ranging from single human brain cells to two-dimensional neuronal cell models and three-dimensional brain organoids. While the discussion on the moral status of brain organoids is taking center stage in the bioethical literature and is invariably linked to the presumed capacity of future brain organoids to develop some form of consciousness, analyses of the moral status of other – less complex – iPSC-based neuronal models are lacking. In this paper we aim to clarify the moral value of various types of existing neuronal models, including brain organoids. We show how it is made up of several layers that may encompass various sorts of considerations, including moral values, the results of empirical research, and biological characteristics. We identify four such layers – instrumental, intrinsic, symbolic, and relational – that are relevant for the assessment of the moral value of neuronal models. We demonstrate that it lies not in a capacity to develop some form of consciousness (which is absent in current iPSC-based neuronal models, including brain organoids), but in other considerations, including the genetic links between models and donors, the ability of models to mimic brain (dys)function, and their symbolic value, all of which are often overlooked in the bioethical literature. Also, we demonstrate that the 'thickness' of the layers (i.e., their moral weight) increases when the neuronal model is more complex. Finally, we discuss the practical-ethical implications of our analysis for the use of neuronal models in research settings, for instance in relation to informed consent and biobank governance. Our four-layer framework can be applied also in moral assessments of other iPSC-based models, including emerging and future cell models

Balancing ethical norms and duties for the introduction of new medicines through conditional marketing authorization: a research agenda

The European Medicines Agency’s conditional marketing authorization (CMA) aims to expedite patient access to medicines for unmet medical needs by shifting a part of the drug development process post-authorization. We highlight ethical issues surrounding CMA, comprising (i) the complexity of defining unmet medical need; (ii) poor understanding of CMA and its impact on informed consent; (iii) hope versus unrealistic optimism; (iv) implications of prolonged post-authorization studies and potential patient harm; (v) rights and duties of patients surrounding participation in post-authorization studies; (vi) access to previously authorized CMA medicines; and (vii) the “benefit slippage” phenomenon, defined as the gradual shift of strict criteria to less strict criteria. We propose a comprehensive research agenda to address these ethical issues, and stress the need for multi-stakeholder engagement to ensure patient-centered use of CMA

Civil society against stately cybercontrol: the case of Russia

This thesis investigates the Russian liberal civil society – a part of the Russian civil society that strives for a domestic socio-political change, democratization and liberalization of the current order – in cyberspace, where it must battle growing pressure from the state, seeking to control all dissent. I hypothesize that in its reaction to the stately cybercontrol, the liberal civil society develops cybersecurity practices that make it more potent and allow for a counteraction against the state. Hence, I use in-depth expert interviews and focus groups with representatives of the liberal civil society to collect the data for qualitative content analysis to analyze the research question. As a result, the thesis discovers a wide range of societal cybersecurity practices beyond defensive actions to include resistant components. Hence, I conclude that the Russian liberal civil society, although experiencing significant pressure that hinders its efficiency, can fight off the state’s attacks on it and continues to develop itself. The results of this study could be of value for viewing Russia not as a singular actor but as a context in which liberal powers are struggling against the authoritarian regime.https://www.ester.ee/record=b5508419*es

An assessment of the moral value of neuronal cell models and brain organoids

Advances in stem cell technology enable neuroscientists to develop induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-based neuronal models of varying complexity, ranging from single human brain cells to two-dimensional neuronal cell models and three-dimensional brain organoids. While the discussion on the moral status of brain organoids is taking center stage in the bioethical literature and is invariably linked to the presumed capacity of future brain organoids to develop some form of consciousness, analyses of the moral status of other – less complex – iPSC-based neuronal models are lacking. In this paper we aim to clarify the moral value of various types of existing neuronal models, including brain organoids. We show how it is made up of several layers that may encompass various sorts of considerations, including moral values, the results of empirical research, and biological characteristics. We identify four such layers – instrumental, intrinsic, symbolic, and relational – that are relevant for the assessment of the moral value of neuronal models. We demonstrate that it lies not in a capacity to develop some form of consciousness (which is absent in current iPSC-based neuronal models, including brain organoids), but in other considerations, including the genetic links between models and donors, the ability of models to mimic brain (dys)function, and their symbolic value, all of which are often overlooked in the bioethical literature. Also, we demonstrate that the 'thickness' of the layers (i.e., their moral weight) increases when the neuronal model is more complex. Finally, we discuss the practical-ethical implications of our analysis for the use of neuronal models in research settings, for instance in relation to informed consent and biobank governance. Our four-layer framework can be applied also in moral assessments of other iPSC-based models, including emerging and future cell models

Possible ways to attract private investment in a knowledge-based economy

The article substantiates the role of education, puts forward and confirms the hypothesis of the importance and necessity of social partnership for financing and developing education in a knowledge-based economy. To confirm the hypotheses put forward, the evolution of the concepts of social interaction and social responsibility is studied, the laws of social partnership in a knowledge-based economy are substantiated, which allows using the triple helix model to show the need for interaction between the state, universities and corporations to advance along the path of innovative development. The lack of budget funds for the development of education requires the search for other sources of financing of infrastructure facilities for education. The article discusses the use of concessions as a form of public-private partnership in preschool education, which has recently found application in Russia. Based on the study of international best practices, the authors propose using investment funds, in particular, the mechanism of the impact of investment in education as a promising technology.. One of the solutions to these problems is the mutual investment of funds in intellectual property. The formation of endowment funds for financing education and innovation in the knowledge-based economy is also widespread

Improvement of innovation systems in sustainable economic development

This topic of sustainable development and maintenance and development of innovations contributes to the improvement of the ecosystem as a whole. The development and application of global sustainable development goals in the economy of each country contributes to improving the quality of life of the population, conservation of nature, etc. Globalization of economic development contributes to new trends in the future. Within the framework of this direction, various problems related to the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) issues are investigated. Sustainable development in general contributes to the accelerated growth of new trends in economic and environmental aspects in many developed and developing countries. The main goal of sustainable development is to create a single basic framework for the unification, renewal and rational use of natural and energy resources, human capital and other energy sources. Innovative technologies contribute to the development of these areas at an accelerated pace, for example, the use of solar energy will help to reduce energy and fuel costs, which will have a significant impact on the health of people and all living organisms