Suchergebnisse

The world is suffering from aggravating, waste-generated consequences, and the contribution of microplastics to this problem is only increasing. A contributing factor to increased microplastic usage is the change in the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) from specific use in limited locations (e.g., hospitals) to general use in widespread locations to protect against the current COVID-19 pandemic. This has resulted in an overflow of microfiber waste from homes, schools, streets, and elsewhere, in every country. While various institutes have issued warnings regarding increasing PPE waste, there is no positive indication of an end to the pandemic in the near future. In this review, we examine the impact of the pandemic on microplastic production, consumption, and disposal, and suggest strategies for lessening environmental pollution. In preparation for the worst-case scenario in which PPE becomes a new normal (in the COVID-19 era), it is recommended that governments and other responsible organisations set up a structured monitoring system for the distribution and disposal of PPE to ensure the most effective waste management possible for continuous sustainable development.

Digital twins are gaining attention in healthcare, especially in fields like hospital management, simulating surgeries, or providing personalized health. As digital replicas based on users' data, digital twins can inform citizens in-depth about their lifestyle, medical data, and biomedical data. Hence, there is the assumption that digital twins could facilitate preventative healthcare at home, bringing healthcare closer to citizens, yet there are underexamined ethical concerns. In this paper, we explore the ethics of digital twins based on citizens' perspectives on digital twins in healthcare via recent literature and research. Although digital twins have great potential, citizens have concerns about surveillance, data ownership, data accuracy, and personal and collective agency.

In a 1.5-hour workshop, we used drawing and self-reflection prompts to facilitate a value-driven discussion of personal and institutional data practices. Activities included mark-making in time with one's heartbeat, creating an inventory of one's personal data, and creating a qualitative personal health visualization. This article details the workshop structure and exercises and includes a summary of the discussion, which constructively encompassed both the empowering and the uncomfortable aspects of digital health data collection in a constructive manner. The workshop's design used the format of hands-on, expressive drawing activities to enable participants to achieve depth and breadth in a relatively short discussion about personal health, data autonomy, institutional trust, and consent. Critical discourse about data, especially health data, is a valuable experience for every person whose health data has been or is being collected; and approaches that take personal data as a starting point can support the practice of digital/data sovereignty more broadly.