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Global energy consumption is growing rapidly, with the frequency and intensity of extreme events constantly increasing, posing a long-term threat to power supply and consumption. Therefore, analyzing the spatiotemporal characteristics of electricity consumption and quantitatively assessing the impact of extreme events on electricity consumption are of great significance. Based on fine-grained electricity consumption data from Europe for the years 2019–2022, this paper employs a data mining perspective and four methods including Z-score, Isolation Forest, Local Outlier Factor, and Autoencoder to detect abnormal electricity consumption during extreme events. Additionally, it combines indicators such as elastic loss, vulnerability, and duration to measure the impact of extreme events on electricity consumption. It is found that low temperatures could lead to abrupt changes in electricity consumption, with Northern Europe being more significantly affected by low temperatures. The COVID-19 pandemic had the most significant impact on electricity consumption in Europe, with the middle part of Europe being the hardest hit during the first wave of the pandemic. Electricity anomalies during the pandemic period were related to national pandemic control policies and exhibited some lag. High temperatures persisted for a longer duration in the middle part of Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All over the world, measures were taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Social distancing not only had a strong influence on mental health, but also on the organization of care systems. It changed existing practices, as we had to rapidly move from face-to-face contact to remote contact with patients. These changes have prompted research into the attitudes of mental healthcare professionals towards telepsychology. Several factors affect these attitudes: at the institutional and organizational level, but also the collective and personal experience of practitioners. This paper is based on an original European survey conducted by the EFPA (European Federation of Psychologists' Associations) Project Group on eHealth in 2020, which allowed to observe the variability in perceptions of telepsychology between countries and mental healthcare professionals. This study highlights different variables that contributed to the development of attitudes, such as motivations, acquired experience, or training. We found the "feeling of telepresence"—which consists of forgetting to some extent that we are at a distance, in feeling together—and social telepresence in particular as main determinants of the perception and the practice of telepsychology. [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]

Vaccination has been the most effective approach in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic. More than half of the world's population has been vaccinated and sufficient data is available to analyze the impact of COVID-19 vaccines around the globe. In this paper, we present a correlation analysis between administered vaccine doses and COVID-19 cases/deaths in Europe. The correlation analysis is performed considering different types of vaccinations, different age groups and different COVID-19 variants (including the prevalent Delta and Omicron variants). We present a detailed analysis for 30 European countries giving various insights such as efficacy of six different vaccines, effect of vaccinating different age groups and how the correlation evolves as different COVID-19 variants emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: In 2020, many countries around the world went into lockdown to limit the spread of COVID-19, and many people substantially reduced their outdoor activity and began socially distancing to avoid infection. Such rapid and widespread changes in the lives of people all over the world must have an impact on the environment and wildlife. Most of the current pandemic–wildlife papers focus on changes in the movement and behavior of wild animals. These changes, although interesting and worth documenting, may be ephemeral and may not have any significant effect on wildlife in the long run; they may only show how our daily presence may limit the presence and behavior of animals. In this paper, we suggest that scientific interest should be directed toward more permanent changes in the functioning of wildlife. One such topic is the lower road mortality rates of animals during the lockdown. In this study, hedgehog roadkill levels during the lockdown were over 50% lower than in the pre-pandemic years. Reduced road mortality in the case of hedgehogs may mean tens of thousands of survivors nationwide. We hypothesize that this may result in a change in the demographic and genetic characteristics of the population of hedgehogs, and also help to stop the long-term decline in the number of hedgehogs in Europe. Globally, wildlife is affected by unprecedented changes related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, the lockdown effect on the traffic-related mortality in hedgehogs in an urban area was studied. Comparing the pre-pandemic (2018 and 2019) and pandemic (2020) years, we showed that hedgehog roadkill levels during the lockdown period were over 50% lower (which means a decrease greater than the decrease in road traffic in the same period measured by the number of accidents or the average number of vehicles per day). Based on literature data, we showed that this may mean at least tens of thousands of hedgehogs have survived on a national scale. We report the need to start intensive research on the possible demographic and genetic effects of this unique phenomenon. We also ask how stable the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic will be on wildlife and whether the lockdown (which is an anthropause) may reverse the negative trends in the decline in the number of wild species, including hedgehogs. [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]

Recently there has been an ongoing discussion about energy security. This has been caused by tensions affecting international relations, and the emergence of new geopolitical threats. As one of the main sources of primary energy, natural gas is an obvious subject of interest in this discussion. In Europe, the natural gas market is rapidly evolving, which has resulted in a lack of clarity regarding who is responsible for the security of the gas supply. It is not clear now how to measure the security of the gas supply in economic estimates and by whom that security should be financed. In this paper, the authors present an approach which can be used for valuation of energy security concerning the security of natural gas storage using stochastic modelling based on the mathematical model of the "Newsvendor problem". The valuation is made from the point of view of countries and considers their individual attitudes to the risk of disruption of deliveries, which is a novel approach to the problem. The authors believe that the current level of storage capacities, as compared to the demand for natural gas, can show the attitude of each country to the risk and potential cost of stockout. In line with this belief, the target value in the model is not the optimal level of inventory, but the cost of stockout. The results show significant variations in the assessment of the risk. The future of natural gas as an important fuel and source of primary energy in Europe is not clear and unfavorable changes have been sped up by the COVID-19 pandemic. Gas (energy) companies in Europe are turning to decarbonization and green energy, and the pandemic has accelerated these changes. European energy companies used to see the use of natural gas as a transition fuel and a key component of their long-term decarbonization strategies, but now they are switching to multi-energy models through massive investments in renewables and hydrogen. Experts expect that gas will remain an important part of Europe's energy supply, but it may be gradually replaced by hydrogen and renewables. [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]