Edna Pasher Ph.D & Associates (Israel)

This review article explores the potential of blockchain technology (BCT) as a key enabler for fostering transparency, trust, and citizen engagement in smart governance within smart cities. By examining the benefits of BCT in various aspects of smart city systems, such as data security and privacy, the paper highlights the advantages of implementing consortium blockchain architecture and the Proof of Authority (PoA) consensus algorithm and discusses the challenges of scalability and security concerns. Based on the literature showed in this article, we believe that the use of BCT in smart governance could significantly enhance citizen participation and help manage and deliver public services, paving the way for more effective decision-making processes and improved quality of life for citizens.

For quite a while the issues of knowledge management, innovation and performance measurement have been on the agenda of researchers and practitioners alike throughout the world. Not too long ago it was recognised that there are direct cause and effect relations between knowledge reuse and invention. The present paper therefore discusses the constituent elements of innovation from a knowledge perspective which have been identified in the context of a European Union co‐sponsored research project. The six facts of the “innovation cube” are: reuse of existing knowledge; invention of new knowledge; exploitation (i.e. turning knowledge into value); stakeholders' contributions (to the innovation life cycle); the enabling ecology or operating context in which the innovation occurs; and the performance facet, i.e. the bottom line. A toolkit based on performance measurement thinking and implementation process for better management of the balance between reuse and invention in development environments is proposed and results from their deployment in three real‐life case studies are discussed.

In a survey carried out in 1991-1992 in the town of Yirka in Northern Israel, 49 dogs were examined for Echinococcus granulosus infection and abattoir data, based on organs condemned for the presence of parasites, was collected. The presence of E. granulosus by arecoline test was demonstrated in 7 (14.2%) of the dogs examined, but not parasites were found in the intestines of five stray dogs shot in the area. A survey of sheep slaughtered in the local abattoir during a one-month period revealed Echinococcus cysts in 10% of the 255 animals examined. No Echinococcus parasites were detected in 21 dogs examined 3 months after the initiation of praziquantel treatment. Echinococcosis seems to be a very serious public health problem in Israel and a control programme needs to be given a high priority.