Digital Democracy and the Growing Threat of Illiberalism. Opportunities and Limitations as Reflected by the Estonian Case

Currently, the fourth and fifth waves of the industrial revolution are shaping the global political, economic, and social landscape. The development of robotics, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality (VR), doubled by the emerging importance of renewable energy sources, is redefining the relationship between the state and the citizen. In this context, the frequency of arguments that plead for an adaptation of the liberal democratic model to the digital environment is increasing. However, the latest developments in this field are also facilitating the spreading of populist and radical messages. Digital innovation is therefore, in many countries, contemporaneous with a process of democratic backsliding. Our paper represents a preliminary attempt to estimate the potential impact of digitalizing the political and social spheres on the stability of liberal democratic regimes. Answers to the questions put forward are provided by analyzing the digital evolution of politics and society in Estonia. We highlight data linked not only to topics such as online voting, participatory budgeting, or digital skills but also data regarding political participation and democratic resilience. Our conclusions suggest that, although building a genuine digital democracy can have positive effects on the level of political and civic involvement of citizens, in order to annihilate the danger of illiberalism, an improvement in the levels of trust in public institutions is also needed. Trust is a vital factor for blocking disinformation and ensuring that digital tools are not hijacked by populist groups with authoritarian tendencies

The Potential of Introducing Heat Pumps (HP) and Thermal Eenergy Storage for the Tulcea Municipality, Romania Systems in Order to Enable the Decarbonization in Romania

This case study aims to analyze the market potential of heat pumps and thermal energy storage in Romania. It was done at the level of a medium-sized city, the Tulcea Municipality. It was carried out on the basis of interviews with the main stakeholders of the city, such as the deputy mayor, the employees of the urban planning department, the director and the employees of Energoterm, the heating company. Documents were analyzed regarding the thermal energy and electricity consumption of the main public buildings, their existing energy certificates and their RLVs were also studied together with field visits. The study presents the structure of thermal energy consumption of public buildings in the municipality, analyze the possibilities of reducing heating and cooling costs and greenhouse gas emissions of public buildings and proposes some technical solutions based on integrated systems with customized heat pumps for each analyzed public building

Digital Democracy and the Growing Threat of Illiberalism. Opportunities and Limitations as Reflected by the Estonian Case

Currently, the fourth and fifth waves of the industrial revolution are shaping the global political, economic, and social landscape. The development of robotics, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality (VR), doubled by the emerging importance of renewable energy sources, is redefining the relationship between the state and the citizen. In this context, the frequency of arguments that plead for an adaptation of the liberal democratic model to the digital environment is increasing. However, the latest developments in this field are also facilitating the spreading of populist and radical messages. Digital innovation is there-fore, in many countries, contemporaneous with a process of democratic backsliding. Our paper rep-resents a preliminary attempt to estimate the potential impact of digitalizing the political and social spheres on the stability of liberal democratic regimes. Answers to the questions put forward are provided by analyzing the digital evolution of politics and society in Estonia. We highlight data linked not only to topics such as online voting, participatory budgeting, or digital skills but also data regarding political participation and democratic resilience. Our conclusions suggest that, although building a genuine digital democracy can have positive effects on the level of political and civic involvement of citizens, in order to annihilate the danger of illiberalism, an improvement in the levels of trust in public institutions is also needed. Trust is a vital factor for blocking disinformation and ensuring that digital tools are not hijacked by populist groups with authoritarian tendencies

The Potential of Introducing Heat Pumps (HP) and Thermal Energy Storage for the Crucea Commune, Constanta, Romania Systems in Order to Enable the Decarbonization in Romania

This case study aims to analyse the market potential of heat pumps and thermal energy storage in Romania at the level of a small commune, Crucea from Constanța. It was carried out on the basis of interviews with the main decision-makers of the commune. During the study, documents regarding the thermal energy and electricity consumption of the main public buildings in Crucea have been analysed and field visits have also taken place. Documents such as the existing energy certificates of the buildings and their RLVs were also studied. It presents the structure of the thermal energy consumption of public buildings and analyses the data on the consumption and costs of thermal energy in order to reduce electricity consumption and the carbon footprint. The study proposes technical solutions based on integrated systems with heat pumps and thermal energy storage, customized for each public building analysed

The effects of 6-weeks program of physical therapeutic exergames on cognitive flexibility focused by reaction times in relation to manual and podal motor abilities

The main purpose of the study was to identify the level of improvement in cognitive flexi-bility manifested by choice and cognition reaction times in relation to manual and podal skills as a result of the implementation of a program of therapeutic exergame exercises, for a time interval of 6 weeks at the level of students. 511 students participated in the cross-sectional study, of which 279 male (54.6%) and 232 female (45.4%), divided into two groups: the experimental group 266 (521%) subjects and the control group 245 (48%) sub-jects. The implementation of the experimental program comprising of 8 physical thera-peutic exergames took place for 6 weeks, in one session per week, within the physical edu-cation lessons, only for the male and female experimental groups. In the initial and final testing session, 2 standardized tests were applied: TMT part A, B and 2 tests adapted for this study: Square Test and 25 Squares Test. The progress registered by the male and fe-male experimental groups was statistically significant. In all tests, the experimental groups showed higher progress compared to the control groups. Depending on the gender differences, it was found that the male experimental and control groups made better pro-gress compared to the female groups in the following tests: TMT part A, Square Test, 25 Squares Tests. The implementation of a physical therapeutic exergame program deter-mined the improvement of cognitive flexibility man-ifested by choice and cognitive reac-tion times in conditions of manual and podal motor skills, demonstrating the effective-ness of exergame technologies adapted and implemented for prophy-lactic purpose

Global, regional, and national burden of disorders affecting the nervous system, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BackgroundDisorders affecting the nervous system are diverse and include neurodevelopmental disorders, late-life neurodegeneration, and newly emergent conditions, such as cognitive impairment following COVID-19. Previous publications from the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor Study estimated the burden of 15 neurological conditions in 2015 and 2016, but these analyses did not include neurodevelopmental disorders, as defined by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-11, or a subset of cases of congenital, neonatal, and infectious conditions that cause neurological damage. Here, we estimate nervous system health loss caused by 37 unique conditions and their associated risk factors globally, regionally, and nationally from 1990 to 2021.MethodsWe estimated mortality, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs), by age and sex in 204 countries and territories, from 1990 to 2021. We included morbidity and deaths due to neurological conditions, for which health loss is directly due to damage to the CNS or peripheral nervous system. We also isolated neurological health loss from conditions for which nervous system morbidity is a consequence, but not the primary feature, including a subset of congenital conditions (ie, chromosomal anomalies and congenital birth defects), neonatal conditions (ie, jaundice, preterm birth, and sepsis), infectious diseases (ie, COVID-19, cystic echinococcosis, malaria, syphilis, and Zika virus disease), and diabetic neuropathy. By conducting a sequela-level analysis of the health outcomes for these conditions, only cases where nervous system damage occurred were included, and YLDs were recalculated to isolate the non-fatal burden directly attributable to nervous system health loss. A comorbidity correction was used to calculate total prevalence of all conditions that affect the nervous system combined.FindingsGlobally, the 37 conditions affecting the nervous system were collectively ranked as the leading group cause of DALYs in 2021 (443 million, 95% UI 378–521), affecting 3·40 billion (3·20–3·62) individuals (43·1%, 40·5–45·9 of the global population); global DALY counts attributed to these conditions increased by 18·2% (8·7–26·7) between 1990 and 2021. Age-standardised rates of deaths per 100 000 people attributed to these conditions decreased from 1990 to 2021 by 33·6% (27·6–38·8), and age-standardised rates of DALYs attributed to these conditions decreased by 27·0% (21·5–32·4). Age-standardised prevalence was almost stable, with a change of 1·5% (0·7–2·4). The ten conditions with the highest age-standardised DALYs in 2021 were stroke, neonatal encephalopathy, migraine, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, diabetic neuropathy, meningitis, epilepsy, neurological complications due to preterm birth, autism spectrum disorder, and nervous system cancer.InterpretationAs the leading cause of overall disease burden in the world, with increasing global DALY counts, effective prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation strategies for disorders affecting the nervous system are needed

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Impact of Direct Taxation on Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence Based on Panel Data Regression Analysis at the Level of Eu Countries

Through fiscal policy, the government can influence businesses and individuals in order to regulate their behaviour. The research used panel data from all 27 EU countries covering the period 2008–2020 to investigate the impact of direct taxation on economic growth at the level of two main clusters of countries concerning fiscal efficiency. Therefore, the analysis employed cluster methods to classify the main EU countries in both groups of countries with a high level of fiscal efficiency and those with a rather limited level of fiscal efficiency. The study employs fixed effect models and dynamic GMM methods to investigate the effect of direct taxation components (personal and corporate income taxes) on economic growth. The analysis also considers the informal economy’s role in relation to the official economy. The empirical results revealed that corporate income taxes significantly negatively impact economic growth for both clusters of high- and limited fiscal efficiency countries. Additionally, personal income tax was associated with lower economic growth for countries in the limited fiscal efficiency group. Thus, from the perspective of policymakers, lowering direct taxation can increase disposable income, stimulate consumption and economic growth, encourage investment leading to job creation, increase competitiveness, and reduce tax evasion and avoidance, thereby leading to a more efficient tax system

Improving Effectiveness of Basketball Free Throws through the Implementation of Technologies in the Technical Training Process

The aim of the study was to implement a specific training program to improve basketball free throws by using an innovative system called “system and technical device designed for motor learning process in the field of sports science and physical education with direct applicability in basketball specific training-free throw improvement”, as well as to evaluate the level of free throw effectiveness. We also aimed to highlight the differences in progress between the experimental and control groups for three age categories U14, U16, and U18 male juniors. The system and the device for detecting the ideal trajectory of the ball were provided by a high-speed video camera which captured the images and projected them in real-time onto a projection surface that was placed in front of, or to the side of the athlete, depending on the subject’s preference, provided that this projection surface is in the performer’s field of vision. The research took place from 5 April to 10 July 2021 and phased as follows: initial testing, implementation of the experimental 12-week free-throw training program (one individualized training session per week lasting 120 min), and final testing. The study included 360 subjects aged 13–14 years, who were grouped according to gender and team sport played. The evaluation was done by three tests: the FRB test (standardized test), the Shoot-Run test, and the 10 experimental throws test. The results of the study in all three motor tests showed that by implementing the innovative system that was designed for motor learning, the effectiveness of free throw shooting improved significantly in the players of the experimental groups in all age groups (U14, U16, U18), thus evidencing a positive, upward dynamic in relation to the increasing age category. In all three motor tests, the progress of the experimental groups was superior to the control groups as a result of the implementation of the experimental exercise program using the innovative system and device that was designed to improve free throws. The results of the study highlighted the effectiveness and opportunity of the implementation of innovative technologies in the process of training and evaluation of basketball specific free throws

Opportunity and Utility in Applying Scenarios Method in the Critical Infrastructures Protection Field

Critical infrastructures protection research field is booming today because of the practical aspects and sometimes by taking in consideration its imminence character which should be addressed to it. The complexity of this domain originates from critical infrastructures architectures, dominated by the local or regional interdependencies and by the necessity feature of ensuring proper functionality, all in a framework of analysis characterized by unprecedented diversification of physical and / or virtual threats. In this context, this article analyzes (theoretical and based on a practical study) the possibility of using scenarios as a high form of contextual representation method