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The COVID-19 pandemic has changed life in Europe and globally. The pandemic affects both individuals and the broader society across many domains, including physical and psychological health, the economy and general welfare. The measures taken to counteract the pandemic have significantly altered daily life and, along with the threat of contracting the coronavirus and uncertainties surrounding future developments, created a complex system of stressors with a negative impact on public mental health. This paper aims to outline the ESTSS strategy to address mental health issues related to COVID-19 and focuses on (1) trauma-informed policies, (2) capacity building, (3) collaborative research and (4) knowledge-exchange. To facilitate implementation of a trauma-informed approach and appropriate measures, ESTSS has developed a toolkit of recommendations on mental health and psychosocial assistance to be provided during the different phases of crisis and its aftermath. To promote capacity building, ESTSS offers a certification programme based on a curriculum in psychotraumatology and corresponding on-line training to the European community of mental health professionals. To assure evidence-based approaches and methods tailored to current circumstances, ESTSS has initiated a pan-European research project with international cooperation aimed at studying the mental health consequences of the pandemic, with a focus on psychological trauma and other stress-related reactions. To foster knowledge-exchange, the European Journal of Psychotraumatology (EJPT), the official journal of ESTSS, is publishing a special issue on COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the variability of life expectancy at birth in Europe after 1950. It aims to assess the development of the East-West mortality gap and to identify the sub-regions or countries that most influenced mortality divergent and convergent trends in Europe. To achieve the goals, European countries are divided into Western and Eastern according to their political history, and the squared coefficient of variation is used for analysis of variability. This measure is further decomposed into between- and within-group components. The results of the study show that there were 4 divergent periods during the study period associated with the delayed cardiovascular revolution and mortality crisis in Eastern Europe and the COVID-19 pandemic. Variability of mortality in Europe during the pandemic was the highest in comparison to all previous divergent periods. Throughout the studied period, the between-group variability was influenced by both the continual progress of Western Europe and the lagging of Eastern Europe, with both regions contributing more or less similarly. However, since the 1990s, in case of within-group variability, a strong dominance of Eastern Europe can be observed, and therefore post-socialist countries deserve special attention. The results also suggest that some longer-term trends in behavior and attitudes towards health may persist in society, and that in the case of an unexpected crisis, there is a greater risk of mortality divergence reappearing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the volatility transmission between European Global Systemically Important Banks (GSIBs) and implied stock market volatility. A Dynamic Conditional Correlation Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity model is applied to determine the dynamic correlation between returns of Europe's GSIBs and the world's most prominent measure of market "fear", the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX). The results identify a higher negative co-relationship between the VIX and GSIB returns during the COVID-19 period compared with the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), with one-day lagged changes in the VIX negatively Granger-causing bank returns. The asymmetric impact of changes in implied volatility is examined by quantile regressions, with the findings showing that in the lower quartile–where extreme negative bank returns are present–jumps in the VIX are highly significant. This effect is more pronounced during COVID-19 than during the GFC. Additional robustness analysis shows that these findings are consistent during the periods of the Swine Flu and Zika virus epidemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air transport has been identified as one of the primary means whereby COVID-19 spread throughout Europe during the early stages of the pandemic. In this paper we analyse two categories of methods – dynamic network markers (DNMs) and network analysis-based methods – as potential early warning signals for detecting and anticipating COVID-19 outbreaks in Europe on the basis of accuracy regarding the daily confirmed cases. The analysis was carried out from 15 February 2020, around two weeks before the first COVID-19 cases appeared in Europe, and 1 May 2020, approximately two weeks after all the air traffic in Europe had been shut down. Daily European COVID-19 information sourced from the World Health Organization was used, whereas air traffic data from Flightradar24 has been incorporated into the analyses by means of four alternative adjacency matrices. Some DNMs have been discarded since they output multiple time series, which makes it very difficult to interpret their results. The only DNM outputting a single time series does not emulate the COVID-19 trend: it does not detect all the main peaks, which means that peak heights do not match up with the increase in the number of infected people. However, many combinations of network analysis based methods and adjacency matrices output good results (with high accuracy and 20-day advance forecasts), with only minor differences from one to another. The number of edges and the network density methods are slightly better when dynamic flight frequency information is used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several recent studies suggest that the home advantage, that is, the benefit competitors accrue from performing in familiar surroundings, was—at least temporarily—reduced in games played without spectators due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. These games played without fans during the Pandemic have been dubbed 'ghost games'. However, the majority of the research to date focus on soccer and no contributions have been provided for indoor sports, where the effect of the support of the fans might have a stronger impact than in outdoor arenas. In this paper, we try to fill this gap by investigating the effect of ghost games in basketball with a special focus on the possible reduction of the home advantage due to the absence of spectators inside the arena. In particular, we test (i) for the reduction of the home advantage in basketball, (ii) whether such reduction tends to disappear over time, (iii) if the bookmakers promptly adapt to such structural change or whether mispricing was created on the betting market. The results from a large data set covering all seasons since 2004 for the ten most popular and followed basketball leagues in Europe show, on the one hand, an overall significant reduction of the home advantage of around 5% and no evidence that suggests that this effect has been reduced at as teams became more accustomed to playing without fans; on the other hand, bookmakers appear to have anticipated such effect and priced home win in basketball matches accordingly, thus avoiding creating mispricing on betting markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Early reports on the pandemic nature of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) directed the nephrology community to develop infection prevention and control (IPC) guidance. We aimed to make an inventory of strategies that dialysis centres followed to prevent infection with COVID-19 in the first pandemic wave. Methods We analyzed IPC measures taken by hemodialysis centres treating patients presenting with COVID-19 between 1 March 2020 and 31 July 2020 and that completed the European Renal Association COVID-19 Database centre questionnaire. Additionally, we made an inventory of guidelines published in European countries to prevent spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in dialysis centres. Results Data from 73 dialysis units located in and bordering Europe were analyzed. All participating centres implemented IPC measures to mitigate the impact of SARS-CoV-2 during the first pandemic wave. Measures mentioned most often included triage with questions before entering the dialysis ward, measuring body temperature, hand disinfection, masking for all patients and staff, and personal protective equipment for staff members. These measures were also recommended in most of the 14 guidelines that were identified in the inventory of national guidelines and were also scored as being among the most important measures by the authors of this paper. Heterogeneity existed between centres and national guidelines regarding the minimal distance between dialysis chairs and recommendations regarding isolation and cohorting. Conclusions Although variation existed, measures to prevent transmission of SARS-CoV-2 were relatively similar across centres and national guidelines. Further research is needed to assess causal relationships between measures taken and spread of SARS-CoV-2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of this research is guest experience in hotels. We started this research with the initial hypothesis that individual aspects of hotel products and services influence overall guest experience. The aim was to show which aspects of hotel products and services have the strongest impact on guest satisfaction. Another aim was to find out whether there is a difference between the periods before and during the Covid-19 pandemic where factors influencing guest satisfaction are concerned. Guest satisfaction is one of the main goals of a hotel and its business philosophy. Numerous papers investigating the attributes determining guest satisfaction are referred to in the literature review. Data for this research was collected by analysing the 590 surveys sent to guests following their stay in hotels during 2019 and 2021. Via these surveys, guests rated their overall experience during their stay, as well as different individual categories related to the stay. According to the results of the study, guestroom experience has the most significant impact on overall guest experience. Therefore, hotel management should pay attention to room attributes that could be a competitive advantage in differentiation strategy. Cleanliness should be considered one of the most important room attributes, as it now has a stronger impact on overall guest satisfaction than was the case before the outbreak of Covid-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 represents the greatest health crisis in recent human history. To date, it is still difficult to estimate its impact on mortality. This paper investigates the excess crude mortality in 27 European countries. The differences between the values observed in 2020 and 2021 with those predicted by a joinpoint regression model were evaluated. A multi-regression analysis was implemented to assess the relationship between health variables and excess mortality. Europe experienced a marked and surprising (S-value > 52) increase in crude mortality during 2020 (Δ% = +10.0%, 95% CI: [2.5; 18.7]) and 2021 (Δ% = +12.1%, 95% CI: [4.3; 21.2]). The difference between average excesses of Eastern and Western countries was not surprising (S < 2) and had little relevance (ΔE-W = −2.4, 95% CI: [−2; 7]) during 2020 but was more pronounced (S = 15, ΔE-W = +17.2, 95% CI: [11.0; 23.5]) during 2021. Excess crude mortality increased in 2021 (Δ% = +65%, 95% CI: [12.6; 118], S = 5.9). Evidence has been found for a surprising and marked negative linear relationship between COVID-19 vaccinations and excess mortality ("2021 excess mortality = A + BX4", with "A = 58 ± 7, S = 28" and "B = −0.65 ± 0.10, S = 22, Radj2 = 0.65, 95% CI: [0.38; 0.82]). In light of the current literature, these findings provide solid evidence of the substantial role of COVID-19 in the unexpected and marked excess mortality recorded in Europe. COVID-19 vaccinations have appeared to be one of the main determinants for reducing mortality. Future research should explore these aspects in more detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a five-year data set including the crowd-less games in the 2020 English, Spanish, Italian, and German first division football leagues and multivariate regression analysis, this paper estimated how fans influence home field advantage. Consistent with previous studies, the estimates showed that in games with crowds, referees gave fewer fouls, yellow cards, and red cards but more penalty kicks to the home team than to the away team. Removing the fans from the stadium eliminated these home advantages coming through referee decisions. Removing fans reduced yellow and red cards given to away teams but did not change cards given to home teams. There was not a similar asymmetry for fouls and penalty kicks. These results suggest that crowds influenced referee judgments about how severe an infraction was more than they influenced decisions about whether a foul occurred. The addition of VAR had little impact on referee decisions and no effect on the home advantage in goal differential. Despite the home bias in referee decisions when crowds were in the stadium, fouls, cards, and penalty kicks played a relatively small role in determining home advantage in game outcomes and most of the home advantage remained after fans were removed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Real estate represents one of the most profitable and of interest areas of investment. In 2019, the year before the pandemic, real estate represented 3.1% of Europe's GDP, and investment in new constructions or in the renovation of old ones accounted for more than 10% of all investment products in the European economy. This paper analyses the evolution of the real estate industry in the post-pandemic period, the trend being a favourable one, of growth. Real estate constitutes the basis for the proper functioning and development of the other sectors of the economy, therefore it is important to analyse the reaction of the industry in relation to an economic crisis, such as the one caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The crisis has been the subject of debate for the past two years, as it has caused unprecedented changes in Europe's economy and, of course, in residential markets. Currently, the geopolitical situation in Europe, represented by the conflict in Ukraine and the refugee crisis, has the effect of increasing energy costs, the price of building materials and labour costs. In the given context, we reflected how the real estate market in Europe evolved in the pre- and post-pandemic period, following a series of essential indicators in the field: the evolution of constructions, real property prices, mortgage rates, rents and purchasing power of investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outbreak of the COVID-19 global pandemic has strongly affected different issues of everyday life. The pandemic has changed consumer attitudes and behavior. Consequently, during COVID-19, businesses had to decide how to organize the advertising campaigns and what content should be addressed to consumers. Considering the limited number of articles concerning these issues, it seems important to evaluate the impact of the global health crisis on advertising messages in different countries. The main objective of this paper is to assess TV commercial campaigns implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the specific epidemic situation in the selected countries. The research methodology was based on the observation, a qualitative method of collecting data obtained through monitoring the content of TV commercials aired during the afternoon, before or after the main news service. The research was conducted in May 2020 and in May 2021 in five selected European countries affected to varying degrees by the coronavirus pandemic. The research results allowed evaluation of the advertising messages in terms of their content and values exposed. The findings indicate that the number of COVID-related TV commercials is not correlated with the number of patients and deaths from COVID-19. The themes appearing the most often in the TV commercials in the studied period were the #StayAtHome idea, family and friends, the aspect of safety during the crisis, and brands' special offers. The tone of the advertisements was usually uplifting and hopeful, trying to cheer the stressed societies. From a theoretical perspective, the research results show the advertising strategy issues in specific conditions in different European countries. These findings concerning TV commercial strategy during a pandemic crisis could provide references for other countries, especially in Europe. The research results could be useful for marketing managers in developing strategies concerning the successful planning of TV commercials in crisis periods in European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper provides insights into the mental health consequences of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic from the Central, Eastern, Nordic, Southern, and Western subregions of Europe, represented by five member countries of the European Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ESTSS). On the basis of the existing national research and experiences in these countries, we propose five lessons learned. (1) There is no evidence of a mental health pandemic so far in the countries in focus. No increase in severe mental disorders but some increase in the symptoms of common mental health disorders are observable. More high-quality longitudinal studies are needed to understand the mental health burden of the pandemic. (2) The pandemic affects countries (including the mental health situation) differently, depending on the level of the exposure, management policies, pre-pandemic structural characteristics, and healthcare resources. (3) The pandemic affects people differently: the exposure severity to pandemic-related stressors differs between individuals, as well as individual resources to cope with these stressors. There are winners and losers as well as identifiable at-risk groups that need particular attention. (4) Besides the negative consequences, the pandemic has had a positive impact. The rapidly applied innovations within the system of healthcare responses provide a window of opportunity for positive changes in mental healthcare policies, strategies, and practices. The increased focus on mental health during the pandemic may contribute to the prioritization of mental health issues at policy-making and organizational levels and may reduce stigma. (5) A stress- and trauma-informed response to COVID-19 is required. The European community of psychotraumatologists under the leadership of ESTSS plays an important role in promoting stress- and trauma-informed healthcare and policies of pandemic management. Based on the lessons learned, we propose a stepped-care public mental health model for the prevention of adverse mental health outcomes during pandemics. Population mental health is affected differently in the COVID-19 pandemic: there are winners and losers, as well as identifiable at-risk groups that need particular attention. A stress- and trauma-informed public mental health stepped-care model can address pandemic-related mental health burden in a systematic way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the role of large outbreaks on the persistence of Covid-19 over time. Using data from 650 European regions in 14 countries, I first show that winter school holidays in late February/early March 2020 (weeks 8, 9 and 10) led to large regional outbreaks of Covid-19 in the spring with the spread being 60% and up-to over 90% higher compared to regions with earlier school holidays. While the impact of these initial large outbreaks fades away over the summer months, it systematically reappears from the fall as regions with school holidays in weeks 8, 9 and 10 had 30–70% higher spread. This suggests that following a large outbreak, there is a strong element of underlying (latent) regional persistence of Covid-19. The strong degree of persistence highlights the long-term benefits of effective (initial) containment policies, as once a large outbreak has occurred, Covid-19 persists. This result emphasizes the need for vaccinations against Covid-19 in regions that have recently experienced large outbreaks but are well below herd-immunity, to avoid a new surge of cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acromegaly embraces typical complications of a pituitary tumor as well as GH (growth hormone) and IGF1 (insulin-like growth factor) excess-related cardio-metabolic and oncologic conditions; and associated medical, surgical treatment or even radiotherapy issues. We point out a few particular aspects concerning acromegaly issues amid COVID-19 pandemic. The review includes only full length, English published papers. One of the most important complications of long standing, untreated or un-responsive to therapy acromegaly is related to respiratory and otorhinolaryngology issues like sleep apnea; this becomes an important aspect causing pulmonary complications in patients with active coronavirus infection. In subjects who are not going through a COVID-19 infection, but they had a prior diagnostic of acromegaly, two main aspects of medical and surgical practice were noted: a massive reduction of surgical volume during the first year of pandemic, mostly during peak months of high infection rate in general population and the introduction of tele (digital) health care systems, of different protocols and various platforms mostly depending of medical center, rather than country or even continent related protocols. Associated central adrenal insufficiency requires a particular attention if COVID-19 positive. The data directly targeting the endocrinologists amid pandemic are very limited. ACROCOVID is a 2021 study that was internationally conducted based on a questionnaire that was applied to 84 endocrinologists (67% of them in Europe); 33% of acromegalic individuals had a delay on procedure because of insufficient COVID-19 assays and 54% of them due to inefficient provision for neurosurgery. Secondary diabetes mellitus (with a potential worsening in some patients due to pasireotide LAR) is at high risk for COVID-19 infection; the level of glycated hemoglobin A1c seems a good predictor at onset of infectious disease. Acromegaly might associate osteoporosis; coronavirus infection aggravates bone loss due to oxidative stress, inflammatory status, cytokine release, immobilization, glucocorticoid use. Acromegaly field concerning pandemic changes represents a complex, still ongoing matter involving both patients and multidisciplinary practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought great financial problems to the whole world. The football industry also felt the negative effects. A two-month break from not playing football matches affected all football factors. The clubs lost income from various sources, among which they were most financially affected by the lack of fees for TV rights and the loss of earnings from the game itself. The Covid-19 pandemic caused problems even after the return of football competitions, among other things due to the ban on spectators coming to the stadiums. There was no income from nonfootball sources, such as concerts and other events held at football stadiums. Due to the firm connection between the media, the economy and football, the aim of this paper is to present, from an economic and media point of view, the situation in which the football industry in Europe finds itself under the influence of the Covid-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the 1990s until the pre-COVID-19 outbreak, commercial nightlife has become central to the urban branding, and tourism marketing strategies of many European cities. However, the night-time leisure industry has stalled in Europe as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the unprecedented lock-down and physical distancing measures imposed by several national governments. This short paper aims to picture the uncertain scenario that the nightlife industry of Europe, and Portugal, might have to face in post-pandemic times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID‐19 pandemic led to a 72% reduction of air traffic over Europe in March–August 2020 compared to 2019. Modeled contrail cover declined similarly, and computed mean instantaneous radiative contrail forcing dropped regionally by up to 0.7 W m−2. Here, model predictions of cirrus optical thickness and the top‐of‐atmosphere outgoing longwave and reflected shortwave irradiances are tested by comparison to Meteosat‐SEVIRI‐derived data. The agreement between observations and modeled data is slightly better when modeled contrail cirrus contributions are included. The spatial distributions and diurnal cycles of the differences in these data between 2019 and 2020 are partially caused by differences in atmospheric and surface conditions, particularly for solar radiation in the spring of 2020. Aviation signals become discernible in the observed differences of these data between 2019 and 2020 when subtracting numerical weather prediction model results that approximate the atmosphere and surface conditions without contrails. Plain Language Summary: Aircraft flying in cold and humid air masses induce contrails which warm the Earth‐atmosphere system by reducing the terrestrial radiation out into space and cool by increasing the Earth's albedo. Previous studies found that the warming effects dominate and that contrails may contribute most of the present radiative forcing of climate change induced by aviation. The COVID‐19 pandemic led to a worldwide and long‐duration reduction of air traffic. This paper compares model predictions and satellite‐observed cirrus properties and irradiances over Europe for 6 months in 2019 and 2020. The models account for changes in the atmosphere and at the Earth's surface in the two half‐years. Model and observation results show about 90% correlation and 20% mean normalized deviations. The agreement between observed and modeled optical cirrus thickness and terrestrial irradiances improves slightly when the modeled contrail cirrus contributions are included. Solar radiation changes show a larger variability because of large changes in the lower atmosphere and at the Earth surface. Since worldwide traffic activity has stayed at low levels after August 2020, the comparisons may be extended. Further model studies, including the effects of other emissions, are needed for a more comprehensive understanding of the observed changes. Key Points: Air traffic reduction during the COVID‐19 pandemic is used for testing aviation contrail cirrus and related radiative forcing modelingCirrus optical depth and top‐of‐atmosphere irradiances from satellite observations and model results show reasonable correlationsAviation contrail signatures are identifiable in spite of strongly different atmosphere and surface conditions in 2019 and 2020 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sweden has been considered both pioneer and pariah in regard to its approach to the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and its pandemic disease, COVID-19. While much of Europe went into economic hibernation and rigid lockdown in the first wave of novel coronavirus infections in the spring of 2020, Sweden kept its borders, bars, restaurants, schools, gyms etc. open. Organised children’s sporting arrangements were also encouraged, on the basis that socialising and physical activity outweighed the risks posed by COVID-19 to children. Public transportation could still be freely used. Masks were not worn. This paper examines the often controversial tenets of the Swedish public health response to COVID-19, and how widely it has appealed to public health experts and officials in Europe and beyond. Debates within the country are also discussed. What it shows is that, despite rising levels of infection in a second wave in Europe and concessions that it might have even failed, the Swedish model is being adopted by stealth and admired from afar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The recent pandemic caused by COVID‐19 has globally affected air transport mobility as well as the airline industry in general. Numerous restrictions have been implemented in airline transport, which is potentially leading toward severe long‐term impacts on the global airline industry. In this paper, air transport mobility was analyzed regarding Europe (EU) based on the available data from the relevant sources associated with the airline industry. Data were analyzed in specific periods from January to April of 2020, which corresponded with the initialization of the pandemic in the EU and later in its full development. Specifically, two airports were selected in Croatia as case studies to analyze the impact of COVID‐19 more thoroughly on mobility together with the estimation of carbon footprint during the pandemic and the year before the pandemic state. The results revealed that COVID‐19 gradually affected air transport mobility in the EU where a peak was reached in April with a reduction in the number of flights in the EU region reaching more than 89%. Cargo traffic was not significantly affected by the pandemic, and was even increased in some cases due to the supply of medical equipment in the fight against the disease. The analyzed case study revealed the reduction in air transport mobility for selected airports to be more than 96%, which directly affected the reduction of CO2 emissions to factor 1.81 for the commercial airport of Zagreb and 3.49 for the seasonal airport of Split. A normalization of air transport mobility is expected to be reached through a 1‐year period with a continued reduction in the number of flights ranging from 15% to 25%, based on the projections and expectations from relevant EU associations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the risk transmissions across the green economy indices of three major regions which include US, Europe and Asia. The econometric analyses are conducted using DCC-GARCH and TVP-VAR connectedness approach to evaluate potential spillover effects within the context of oil and gold. Results indicate that green economy indices of US-Europe exhibit the greatest time-varying correlations among the three pairs during much of 2010–2022 consistent with that of the general equity market. However, co-movements during the COVID-19 pandemic period seem to display a change in pattern for green economy indices. The strength of the co-movements between the US and Europe displayed a declining trend, while that between US and Asia was strengthened, suggesting greater interdependence between these two markets. TVP-VAR connectedness analysis revealed that US and Europe dominate the transmission of the shocks across the years in the green economy, similar to that of the equity markets. However, during the pandemic a pronounced shift occurred in green economies when considering the risk transmissions within the context of commodities: oil and gold. While Asian green economy index was persistently a receiver of risk transmission from oil unlike the other two regions, since pandemic, oil displayed an asymmetric effect and has become the net transmitter of risk in negative returns of the green economies of US and Europe. This may reflect the diversion in environmental policies of the two regions in the recent past, and point to the dominance of energy sector in the green economy. These findings have substantial implications for the development of green economy policies and from an investment perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the risk transmissions across the green economy indices of three major regions which include US, Europe and Asia. The econometric analyses are conducted using DCC-GARCH and TVP-VAR connectedness approach to evaluate potential spillover effects within the context of oil and gold. Results indicate that green economy indices of US-Europe exhibit the greatest time-varying correlations among the three pairs during much of 2010–2022 consistent with that of the general equity market. However, co-movements during the COVID-19 pandemic period seem to display a change in pattern for green economy indices. The strength of the co-movements between the US and Europe displayed a declining trend, while that between US and Asia was strengthened, suggesting greater interdependence between these two markets. TVP-VAR connectedness analysis revealed that US and Europe dominate the transmission of the shocks across the years in the green economy, similar to that of the equity markets. However, during the pandemic a pronounced shift occurred in green economies when considering the risk transmissions within the context of commodities: oil and gold. While Asian green economy index was persistently a receiver of risk transmission from oil unlike the other two regions, since pandemic, oil displayed an asymmetric effect and has become the net transmitter of risk in negative returns of the green economies of US and Europe. This may reflect the diversion in environmental policies of the two regions in the recent past, and point to the dominance of energy sector in the green economy. These findings have substantial implications for the development of green economy policies and from an investment perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent COVID-19 pandemic affected various aspects of life. Several studies established the consequences of pandemic lockdown on air quality using satellite remote sensing. However, such studies have limitations, including low spatial resolution or incomplete spatial coverage. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a machine learning-based scheme to solve the pre-mentioned limitations by training an optimized space-time extra trees model for each year of the study period. The results have shown that our trained models reach a prediction accuracy up to 95% when predicting the missing values in the MODIS MCD19A2 Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) product. The outcome of the mentioned scheme was a geo-harmonized atmospheric dataset for aerosol optical depth at 550 nm with 1 km spatial resolution and full coverage over Europe. As an application, we used the proposed machine learning based prediction approach in AOD levels analysis. We compared the mean AOD levels between the lockdown period from March to June in 2020 and the mean AOD values of the same period for the past 5 years. We found that AOD levels dropped over most European countries in 2020 but increased in several eastern and western countries. The Netherlands had the most significant average decrease in AOD levels (19%), while Spain had the highest average increase (10%). Moreover, we analyzed the relationship between the relative percentage difference of AOD and four meteorological variables. We found a positive correlation between AOD and relative humidity and a negative correlation between AOD and wind speed. The value of the proposed prediction scheme is further emphasized by taking into consideration that the reconstructed dataset can be used for future air quality studies concerning Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aging of human populations, including those in Europe, is an indisputable fact. The challenge for the future is not simply prolonging human life at any cost or by any means but rather extending self-sufficiency and quality of life. Even in the most advanced societies, the eternal questions remain. Who will take care of the older generations? Will adult children's own circumstances be sufficient to support family members as they age? For a range of complex reasons, including socioeconomic conditions, adult children are often unable or unwilling to assume responsibility for the care of older family members. For this reason, it is imperative that aging adults maintain their independence and self-care for as long as possible. Movement is an important part of self-sufficiency. Moreover, movement has been shown to improve patients' clinical status. At a time when the coronavirus pandemic is disrupting the world, older people are among the most vulnerable. Our paper explores current knowledge and offers insights into the significant benefits of movement for the elderly, including improved immunity. We discuss the biochemical processes of aging and the counteractive effects of exercise and endogenous substances, such as vitamin D. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic is having a strong influence in all areas of society, like wealth, economy, travel, lifestyle habits, and, amongst many others, financial and energy markets. The influence in standard energies, like crude oil, and renewable energies markets has been twofold: from one side, the predictability of volatility has strongly decreased; secondly, the linkages of the price time series have been modified. In this paper, by using DCC-GARCH and Price Leadership Share methodology, we can investigate the changes in the influences between standard energies and renewable energies markets by analyzing one-minute time series of West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures contract (WTI), the Brent crude oil futures contract (BRENT), the STOXX Europe 600 oil & gas index (SXEV), and the European renewable energy index (ERIX). Our results confirm volatility spillover between the time series. However, when assessing the accuracy of the predictability of the DCC-GARCH model, the results show that the model fails its prediction in the period of higher instability. Besides, we found that price leadership has been strongly influenced by the virus spreading stages. These results have been obtained by dividing the period between September 2019 and January 2021 into 6 subperiods according to the pandemic stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When COVID-19 pandemic spread in Europe, governments imposed unprecedented confinement measures with mostly unknown repercussions on contemporary societies. In some cases, a considerable drop in energy consumption was observed, anticipating a scenario of sizable low-cost energy generation, from renewable sources, expected only for years later. In this paper, the impact of governmental restrictions on electrical load, generation and transmission was investigated in 16 European countries. Using the indices provided by the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker, precise restriction types were found to correlate with the load drop. Then the European grid was analysed to assess how the load drop was balanced by the change in generation and transmission patterns. The same restriction period from 2020 was compared to previous years, accounting for yearly variability with ad hoc statistical technique. As a result, generation was found to be heavily impacted in most countries with significant load drop. Overall, generation from nuclear, and fossil coal and gas sources was reduced, in favour of renewables and, in some countries, fossil gas. Moreover, intermittent renewables generation increased in most countries without indicating an exceptional amount of curtailments. Finally, the European grid helped balance those changes with an increase in both energy exports and imports, with some net exporting countries becoming net importers, notably Germany, and vice versa. Together, these findings show the far reaching implications of the COVID-19 crisis, and contribute to the understanding and planning of higher renewables share scenarios, which will become more prevalent in the battle against climate change. • During COVID-19 spread, energy load dropped significantly in most European countries. • Only some restrictions strongly correlate with load drop. • Generation mix and exchange changed in most countries. • The biggest decrease in generation was from nuclear, fossil coal and oil. • Intermittent renewable generation continued to increase also in 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]