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Numerous small mammal localities assigned to the beginning of the Late Middle Pleistocene (Holstein, Likhvin, Hoxne Interglacial) were discovered in Europe during the last years. The stratigraphical position of a number of these faunas and the regional differences are discussed in the paper. The new Likhvin small mammal locality Rybnaya Sloboda (Lower Kama basin, Volga basin, Russia) is the easternmost site of this age in Europe. The rich fauna was discovered in fluvial deposits of the 3rd terrace (III) of the Kama River; sediments that are covered by loess deposits with a series of paleosols. The Rybnaya Sloboda fauna includes 16 species of insectivores, lagomorphs and rodents. Remains of the archaic water vole Arvicola cantianus and the Middle Pleistocene steppe lemming Lagurus transiens dominate the fossils assemblage. The evolutional level of the Arvicolinae remains permits the assignment to the Gun'kovian small mammal assemblage and a correlation with the Likhvin Interglacial (MIS 11) (∼424–374 ka BP). The ecological features of the small mammal assemblage indicate a forest-steppe landscape in the lower Kama basin during MIS 11. The comparison with, and the analysis of numerous European Likhvin (= Holsteinian, = Hoxnian) small mammal faunas indicate a geographical biozonation that shows similarities with the biozonation reconstructed for the Eemian (= Mikulino, MIS 5e) Interglacial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the relationship between logistics, intermodality and airport efficiency. To this end, using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), the efficiency of the 21 largest European airports has been estimated over the 2009–2014 period. In a second stage, this research analyses the effect of Logistics and Modal Integration on airport efficiency. The airport's ability to compete globally depends, greatly, on the passengers and cargo' access to efficient networks. The results show evidence of the positive impact of the quality of the national logistics system on Airport efficiency. The effect of Logistics on overall airport efficiency is estimated at 0.15% for every 1% increase in the Logistic Performance (LPI), ceteris paribus. Furthermore, airports that have a direct link to a High-Speed Rail (HSR) network are expected to perform, on average, 27 per cent above the rest of the airports. Finally, airports that offer more facilities to optimise the interface between airport and aircraft are expected to achieve higher efficiency levels. • Airport's ability to compete globally depends on the access to efficient networks. • This paper find evidence of the positive impact of the quality of the national logistics system on Airport efficiency. • The effect of Logistics on airport efficiency is estimated at 0.15% for every 1% increase in the Logistic Performance. • Having Direct link to a High-Speed Rail (HSR) is crucial for hub airports efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Family Support as an approach to supporting and protection children, young people and parents. • Pan-European issues involved in family support. • A social justice perspective on supporting and protection children, young people and parents. • Implications for policy, practice, research, evaluation and academia. • Based on a wider range of academic, policy and practice contributions. Family support as an approach to working with children, youth, parents, and families is widely practiced across Europe albeit with a range of diverse meanings and interpretations. This paper responds to this ambiguity and provides a conceptual understanding of the delivery of family support in Europe. In doing so it applies a social justice approach critically examining the extent to which Family Support reflects the right of families, children, youth, and parents to be supported. It identifies and critically examines similarities and differences in the meaning and application of family support as a key concept in the European context. It is based on a comprehensive review of literature, mapping multi-disciplinary approaches to the provision of support, based on academic material from 2015 to 2020 and adopting a broad and inclusive definition of family. The paper considers the complexities in developing a universally accepted understanding of family support that: has value for practitioners and managers; is selected as a focus by policy makers; is open to evaluation and research; is compatible with academic research; and most importantly provides responsive and effective support to children, youth, parents and families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Value system of a society is often shaped by its constitution, affecting how society perceives family. • Modern constitutional provisions on family implicitly lean towards traditional family forms. • The notion of Family Support is rarely expressly mentioned in constitutions of European countries. • Family Support is seen as a part of supervision authority or general duty of states to assist families. • More inclusive constitutional provisions with a constructive, rights-based approach are needed. This paper aims to explore the extent in which contemporary constitutional concepts of the family influence the recognition of the importance and the implementation of family support in European context. The authors start from the premise that constitutions lay the foundation for national legislation and policy, at the same time indicating a state's recognition of internationally agreed standards in a given field. Considering family support as a human right, the authors reflect on the meaning of constitutional protection vis a vis policies and practices of providing support to children and families and look into family related constitutional provisions of various European countries. Building upon the work of the European Family Support Network – COST Action 18123, the key elements of constitutional protection of families are identified, having a direct effect on the conceptualization and delivery of family support. In conclusion, considering the place and significance afforded to family support in national constitutions, the paper offers a classification of constitutions in that respect and evaluates the implications of constitutional regulation on family support policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individual preferences for 'ageing in place' (AIP) in old age are not well understood. One way to test the strength of AIP preference is to investigate the effect of health shocks on residential mobility to smaller size or value dwellings, which we refer to as 'housing downsizing'. This paper exploits more than a decade worth of longitudinal data to study older people's housing decisions across a wide range of European countries. We estimate the effect of health shocks on different proxies for physical and financial housing downsizing (residential mobility, differences in home value, home value to wealth ratio), to examine the persistence of AIP preferences. Our findings suggest that consistently with the AIP hypothesis, after every decade of life, the likelihood of downsizing decreases by two percentage points (pp). However, the experience of a health shock partially reverts such culturally embedded preference for AIP by a non-negligible magnitude. We estimate a 9pp increase in the probability of residential mobility after the onset of a degenerative illness), and an average 0.6 fewer rooms after the onset of a degenerative illness. Such estimates are larger in Northern and Central European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Longevity expectations (LE) are subjective assessments of future health status that can influence a number of individual health protective decisions. This is especially true during a pandemic such as COVID-19, as the risk of ill health depends more than ever on such protective decisions. This paper examines the causal effect of LE on some protective health behaviors and a number of decisions regarding forgoing health care. We use data from the Survey of Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe, and we draw on an instrumental variable strategy exploiting individual level information on parental age at death. Consistent with the too healthy to be sick hypothesis, we find that individuals, exhibiting higher expected longevity, are more likely to engage in protective behaviours, and are less likely to forgo medical treatment. We estimate that a one standard deviation increase in LE increases the probability to comply always with social distancing by 0.6%, to meet people less often by 0.4% and decreases the probability to forgo any medical treatment by 0.6%. Our estimates vary depending on supply side restrictions influencing the availability of health care, as well as individual characteristics such as gender and the presence of pre-existing health conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being an environmentally friendly fuel obtained from rapeseed oil, biodiesel is used extensively in Europe. However, the dependence structure between global crude oil prices and the European prices of biodiesel and rapeseed oil is understudied and unclear. In this paper, we address this gap by utilizing asymmetric copulas and cross-quantilogram approaches on daily data. The results of the DCC-Student-t copula indicate that during bearish periods the conditional connectedness between crude oil prices and biodiesel (rapeseed oil) prices are stronger than during bullish periods, indicating increased co-movement with a decline in crude oil prices. The application of cross-quantilogram indicates that an increase in crude oil price positively influences biodiesel prices reflecting an asymmetric dependence structure among the assets. There is evidence of shifts in the dynamics of quantile dependency during periods of financial and economic turmoil. Overall, the results show a significant dependence between the global crude oil market and the European markets of biodiesel and rapeseed oil in specific periods and under specific market conditions, which have important implications for policymakers and investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Venosa-Notarchirico is a musealized Lower Paleolithic site in southern Italy (Basilicata), where a human femoral shaft was discovered in 1985. The fossil specimen can be evaluated in the new light of excavations started in 2016, which provide a more updated and extensive picture of the site, including the crucial Ar/Ar date of 661-614 ka for the human specimen. This makes the fossil diaphysis from Venosa-Notarchirico (Vn-H1) the oldest fossil hominin found so far in the Italian peninsula, associated with the earliest evidence of genuine Acheulean in Europe. In this paper, we report a comparative morphometric analysis of this femur, as well as a paleopathological reappraisal of the periosteal alteration that affects the specimen, supported by an unpublished histological analysis. Vn-H1 represents the proximal two-thirds of a right femur lacking the epiphyseal region. We argue it belonged to an immature individual, possibly a juvenile (late adolescent). Its features suggest that the specimen may refer to an archaic (i.e. , non-modern) human species, also showing morphological differences compared to fossil samples of the Neanderthal lineage. We also support the identification of a pathological condition affecting Vn-H1, particularly evident in some preserved portions of the mid-shaft as described here. Its etiology is discussed after differential diagnosis, which led us to suggest an alteration of inflammatory origin, viewed as a nonspecific periosteal response. This pathology may have been roughly concomitant with the death of the individual. • Vn-H1 represents the oldest human fossil specimen ever found in Italy within one of the earliest Acheulean sites in Europe. • The age of Vn-H1, dated Ar/Ar at 661-614 ka, takes advantage of the recent new excavations at the Venosa-Notarchirico site. • Both morphology and morphometry of the human specimen suggest an age at death of the individual to the late adolescence. • Palaeopathological observations, supported by unpublished histological data, suggest the nature of the periosteal alteration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Diverse types of organizations involved in family support provision across Europe are systematically mapped. • Low representation of front-line practitioners in national family support networks. • Inter-country differences in networking building progress. • Development of the family support field by nurturing family support infrastructures both locally and globally, building hybrid evidence intermediary networks. Research has proven that family is the context for the development and well-being of the new generation, and parents need support in order to fulfill children and young people's physical, cognitive, emotional, and social needs. Most EU policy relating to children and young people is mediated through family even if this is not explicitly named. At a national level, European countries have been encouraged to offer family support initiatives through local authorities that promote positive parenting and guarantee children's rights. The current challenge in the family support landscape consists of engaging the European level with the local and national structures, in order to support the delivery of quality family support systems and services across Europe. This article reports on the progress in this area by the European Family Support Network (EurofamNet). EurofamNet was created with the purpose of establishing a pan-European family support network to inform family support policies and practices in order to contribute with global actions to face current challenges in family support agenda at European level. This paper introduces the mapping exercise performed by the network to identify key family support actors for research, policy, and practice at the European, local and national level. For this purpose, an expert-targeted approach was followed. Two experts identified 83 key family support actors at the European level, and a panel of 22 experts jointly identified 326 key actors and organizations in 17 European countries. The analysis of this mapping exercise offers an interesting mosaic of family support provision in different European countries that reflect both intra- and inter-network diversity in nature, scope, and sectors of family support actors and organizations. At the same time, this mapping exercise contributes to creating social fabric with the potential to facilitate knowledge mobilization of quality standards to be implemented for the guarantee of quality provision in family support in Europe. Practical implications for the development of the family support and wider services fields of this novel initiative of connecting the efforts of key actors in family support throughout Europe are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer is one of Europe's key research missions, with gender equity a major policy pillar. To benchmark how well European countries perform for gender balance in cancer research, high quality intelligence is required. For cancer research papers in Europe (EUR31; the 28 EU Member States plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) from two specific years (2009 and 2019), we evaluated the numbers of female authors overall and then the female last-author presence, as a proxy of female cancer research leadership. Overall, female authorship increased from 42% to 49%. In 2009, females represented 50% or more of cancer research authors in only five EUR31 countries. By 2019, that number had risen to 17. In Eastern European (EE) countries, females were more likely to be in the majority. The presence of female cancer research authors in the last (senior) author position increased from 24% to 34%. Five of the top six countries for female authorship in 2019 were from EE, whereas disappointingly four central European countries (Austria (AT), Czechia (CZ), Germany (DE) and Switzerland (CH)) were below the 25th percentile. A number of European powerhouses of cancer research (UK, DE, CH) underperformed in terms of female cancer research leadership. However, when cancer researchers from these countries worked abroad (e.g. Scandinavia, USA) the percentage of females was similar to that of their host countries. A factor potentially influencing female cancer research participation was availability and relative cost of child-care, which is more favourable in Scandinavia and EE than in central/western Europe. Our data show that Horizon Europe's Cancer Mission must ensure gender equity in its future research programmes and support the enhancement of female cancer research leadership opportunities. • First paper of its kind to evaluate gender inequity in cancer research in Europe. • Highlights significant gender bias in female cancer research leadership in Europe. • Gender inequity more pronounced in some of Europe's powerhouses of cancer research. • Female cancer research leadership more favoured in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. • Cancer research leadership may be influenced by availability and cost of childcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Market relevance of aboveground hydrogen storage is investigated. • Aboveground storage will likely play a much smaller role than underground storage. • Storage costs are the most decisive factor for market relevance. • Efficiency and systemic suitability can improve aboveground storage competitiveness. • Based on current projections, aboveground storage will only gain small market shares. Hydrogen storage is expected to play a crucial role in the comprehensive defossilization of energy systems. In this context, the focus is typically on underground hydrogen storage (e.g., in salt caverns). However, aboveground storage, which is independent of geological conditions and might offer other technical advantages, could provide systemic benefits and, thereby, gain shares in the hydrogen storage market. Against this background, this paper examines the market relevance of aboveground compared to underground hydrogen storage. Using the open-source energy system model and optimization framework of Europe, PyPSA-Eur, the influence of geological independence, storage cost relations, and technical storage characteristics (i.e., efficiencies) on mentioned market relevance of aboveground hydrogen storage are investigated. Further, the expectable market relevance based on current cost projections for the future is assessed. The studies show that in terms of hydrogen capacities, aboveground hydrogen storage plays a considerably smaller role compared to underground hydrogen storage. Even when assuming comparatively low aboveground storage cost, it will not exceed 1.7% (1.9 TWh H2,LHV) of total hydrogen storage capacities in a cost-optimal European energy system. Regarding the amounts of annually stored hydrogen, aboveground storage could play a larger role, reaching a maximum share of 32.5% (168 TWh H2,LHV a-1) of total stored hydrogen throughout Europe. However, these shares are only achievable for low cost storage in particularly suited energy system supply configurations. For higher aboveground storage costs or lower efficiencies, shares drop below 10% sharply. The analysis identifies some especially influential factors for achieving higher market relevance. Besides storage costs, the demand-orientation of a particular aboveground storage system (e.g., hydrogen storage at demand pressure levels) plays an essential role in market relevance. Further, overall efficiency can be a beneficial factor. Still, current projections of future techno-economic characteristics show that aboveground hydrogen storage is too expensive or too inefficient compared to underground storage. Therefore, to achieve notable market relevance, rather drastic cost reductions beyond current expectations would be needed for all assessed aboveground hydrogen storage technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Investigation of GHG pollutants persistence in Europe and major economic areas. • Mean reversion properties and the integration factor is examined for CO2, CH4, and NO2 (2000-2021) • Empirical evidence of mean reversion in CO2 emissions across all countries. • CH4 and NO2 show reduced persistence and not all countries exhibit mean reversion properties. • These empirical findings highlight policy progress, but underscore the need for further efforts. This paper investigates the persistence of GHG in Europe, evaluating the effectiveness of government policies, including the Kyoto Protocol and the EU Council commitment. Mean reversion properties, and the structure of the integration factor were examined to determine the degree of persistence across markets and assess policy effectiveness. The analysis focuses on CO 2 , CH 4 , and NO 2 pollutants, with monthly data starting in January 2000 and ending in December 2021 from major European countries, and the US, Japan, Brazil, China, and India for comparison purposes. Empirical results show clear evidence of mean reversion in CO 2 emissions observed across all countries, indicating certain degrees of stabilization. Similar patterns are seen for CH 4 , and NO 2 , observing reduced persistence of these pollutants; however not all countries exhibit mean reversion properties. Thus, these findings highlight policy progress in stabilizing GHG emissions, particularly for CO 2 , but underscore the need for further efforts to achieve a substantial emissions reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We provide a "bottom-up" perspective on Europeans' evaluations of what belongs and what does not belong to culture, innovating the typically theoretical approach to such scholarly debates. • Based on new survey data from nine European countries, using latent class analysis we identify five distinct ways to evaluate the contents and boundaries of expressive culture. • Differences in Europeans' ways to evaluate culture align with cross-national differences in cultural policy models and levels of inequality. • We add to the cultural stratification literature by showing how the ways to evaluate culture are socially stratified and associate with Europeans' wider politico-cultural attitudes. • Contrary to traditional assumptions, the narrow evaluations are associated with lower-status groups, while the upper-status groups embrace broad notions of expressive culture. Despite the long history of debating its meaning and its current unprecedented ubiquity both in scholarly and popular discourses, little is systematically known about how "culture" is conceived by ordinary people. This paper examines how evaluations of the contents and boundaries of expressive culture are patterned among people in and across present-day European societies, and to what degree these evaluations associate with sociodemographic and politico-cultural divisions. Using survey data collected in 2021 in nine European countries and applying latent class and multinomial regression methods, the analysis reconstructs Europeans' boundaries of the concept of culture – which objects, places and practices they see as belonging or not belonging to culture, and with which objects they remain ambivalent. The results show that the classical distinction between narrow (exclusive) and broad (inclusive) notions still structures Europeans' evaluations of expressive culture, but it operates in several modes and with national and sociodemographic variations. In contrast to traditional assumptions, the narrow evaluations are associated with lower-status groups, while the upper-status groups embrace broad notions of culture. Moreover, the broad evaluations are associated with factors such as cultural cosmopolitanism and liberal-progressive political attitudes, highlighting the potential of extending cultural stratification research by the "bottom-up" study of patterned evaluations and understandings of the concept of culture itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Covid-19 outbreak has mostly affected people in the second half of their lives, at risk of isolation and loneliness; in fact, the impact of the pandemic was even more severe for the well-being of the elderly. Such a recent event has to be framed within the challenge of the demographic increase of people aged 65 years or older, which is particularly relevant in the European context. This paper explores which gaps have to be filled up in order to make cities a suitable place for the elderly to live in, particularly after any emergence of dysfunction and fragility in health, employment, transportation and welfare systems due to the pandemic. We assess the relative contribution of each regressor to the explained variance, that may advise policy makers about which urban features are perceived to be the most relevant for the elderly, even before the pandemic, and must be implemented. Our results have several policy implications. The assessment should provide a contribution to European decision-making processes headed to improve the perception of age-friendliness in urban environments, implementing a paradigm for reference, given the great heterogeneity of features characterizing European cities. • It is important to understand suitability of urban environments for the elderly. • The analysis covers 83 cities in Europe and the perceptions of their citizens. • The age-friendly city environment was associated with an elder-friendly city. • The R-squared decomposition identifies the most relevant features of cities. • Our results contribute to improve policies for cities after Covid-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excess heat could meet approximately 25% of the heat demand in the European building sector. However, the recovery of excess heat is low, which has been attributed to financial, technical and organisational barriers. There is limited information on the perceived risk exposure of excess heat recovery at different points in time, before undertaking the investment or after having undertaken the investment, and at locations with existing district heating networks or not (greenfield). This is unfortunate because experience can enable new collaborations. In this paper, we compare the perceived risk exposure of four greenfield and two ongoing industrial excess heat recovery collaborations. In doing so, we confirm previously identified barriers, such as difficulty to agree on the value of excess heat, the risk of a single heat source and lack of regulation. We also find that, with experience, changes to the excess heat-generating processes are increasingly important, whereas, greenfield sites find the lack of 'know-how' to be risky. However, the main conclusion from this paper is that the risks of industrial excess heat recovery collaborations appear to be over-emphasised. In fact, risk exposure of industrial activity can be reduced through industrial waste heat recovery as excess heat is characterized by limited price fluctuations and new environmental requirements from customers and authorities can be met proactively. Combining experience with a standardised excess heat recovery policy should significantly reduce the risk exposure of new collaborations. • Risks of industrial excess heat recovery collaborations are over-emphasised. • Excess heat exploitation is imperative to Europe's energy transition. • Experience and policy making can make excess heat recovery a standard solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing share of intermittent Renewable Energy Sources (iRES) in the energy mix leads to a growing need for their accurate representation in energy system models. In this paper, we analyze how the results of generation planning models are impacted by the spatial representation used to model intermittent renewable technologies. It is shown that the spatial resolution, and to a lesser extent the spatial aggregation method used in a planning model, have a significant influence on the obtained system cost. The effect is quantified in a case study of European geographical scale, by varying the spatial resolution from highly resolved (hundreds of sites) to highly aggregated (1 site). A resolution-dependency of the system cost is observed under multiple renewable generation targets, and different renewable capacity restrictions. In doing so, we highlight the importance of implementing an appropriate capacity limit, especially when a high spatial resolution is used. Additionally, basic spatial aggregation methods -to process high resolution input data- are compared. • Isolation of renewable representation effects in a stylized GEP model. • iRES resolution has a strong impact on GEP model results for Europe. • Capacity limits play an important role in this effect, especially in high resolution. • Spatial aggregation method only impacts models with low resolutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the abundant availability of resources, the market potential, and their cost competitiveness, onshore wind farms and photovoltaic units are expected to drive the overall growth of renewable energy sources in the next decade. However, Europe is a small and densely populated continent, which results in many countries experiencing a severe shortage of suitable land sites for installing new wind and photovoltaic facilities. This, combined with the fact that many existing wind turbines and photovoltaic units reach the end of their operational lifetime, has laid the groundwork for 'repowering'. Repowering includes upgrading or retrofitting renewable energy sources' components and exploits existing land sites, in which renewables are operating for years. This paper intends to emphasise the multiple dimensions of repowering, also delving in its surrounding socio-economic context in various European countries, to identify its barriers and allies as well as gather best practices and lessons learnt from its implementation. Considering data availability, extent of spatial use and bulk equipment, and consequent attention in literature and practice, the analysis mainly orbits around repowering of wind projects, rather than solar photovoltaics. Finally, the paper presents key directions toward wider future exploitation of repowering. • Land scarcity problem with high renewable energy potential addressed by repowering. • In-depth socio-economic extensions of repowering are discussed. • Semi-quantified evaluation highlighting main implementation pillars of repowering. • Best practices and lessons learnt from the implementation of repowering. • Legislative barriers against the wider implementation of repowering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • P recovery has the potential to lessen the pressure on P imports dependency of the EU. • European countries have enacted legislation for promoting P recovery. • Waste streams and eutrophic environments can be promising P recycling resources. • Literature review on engineering approaches for P release and recovery is presented. • Commercial engineering applications for P recovery in the EU are assessed. Phosphorus (P), one of the essential and indispensable elements for the growth of living organisms, is finite and nonrenewable for a multitude of applications. Economic P recycling can contribute to sustainable P management and lessen the pressure on P imports of the EU. Several European countries now have paved the way for establishing P recovery legislation and successively implemented compulsory recycling from P-rich wastes. This paper provided a comprehensive review for analyzing the potential of existing P recycling resources and engineering technologies in terms of their feasibility and applicability in Europe. Potential P-rich flows from the waste streams and eutrophic environments were deeply investigated. Regarding their technical principles, application, and availability, different engineering approaches for P release enhancement and P recovery were also reviewed in a critical manner. Moreover, assessments on engineering applications for P recycling considering economic feasibility and environmental benefits were also presented. Wastewater treatment plants show promising recovery efficiency, whereas industrial processes with sludge ashes as input allow up to 95% recovery of P. Collectively, in Europe, efficient and sustainable management of P has been recognized as a necessary strategy to meet the growing demand for mineral P. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Fatal train accidents per train-kilometre in Europe fell at the rate of 6% per year from 1990 until 2019. • There were 0.85 fatal accidents per billion train-kilometres in 2019. • There was a mean of 4.2 fatalities per fatal accident in 1990–2019. • the proportion of accidents caused by signals passed at danger fell from 40 % in the 1990s to 21 % in the 2010s. This may be due to the increasing deployment of train protection systems. This paper presents an analysis of fatal train accident rates and trends on Europe's main line railways from 1990–2019. It is a sequel to the paper Fatal train accidents on Europe's railways: 1980–2009 (Evans (2011), which covers the three decades 1980–2009. The present paper discards the data for the 1980s, but adds the data for 2010−2019. The data cover the 28 countries of the European Union as in 2019, together with Norway and Switzerland. The source of the recent data is largely the European Union Agency for Railways. The estimated overall trend in the number of fatal train collisions and derailments per train-kilometre was –5.6 % per year from 1990–2019, with a 95 % confidence interval of –7.1 % to -4.2 %. The estimated accident rate in 2019 was 0.85 fatal collisions or derailments per billion train-kilometres, which represents a fall of 78 % since 1990. This gives an estimated mean number of fatal accidents in Europe in 2019 of 3.89. The data and results for 2010−2019 closely match the extrapolation of the results for 1990−2009, so that in 2009 extrapolation would have given a good forward projection for 2019. By the same argument this paper gives a forward projection of the mean number of accidents in 2029 of 2.12, assuming no change in train-kilometres, or pro-rata changes with changes in train-kilometres. The paper investigates the causes of accidents. A notable finding is that the proportion of accidents caused by signals passed at danger (SPADs) fell from 40 % in 1990−1999 to 21 % in 2010−2019. This is probably due to the increasing deployment of train protection systems. The number of fatalities in individual accidents has a skew distribution: most accidents have a small number of fatalities, but a few have a large number. The overall observed number of fatalities per accident is 4.23, and there is no indication that this mean changes with time. This implies that the mean number of fatalities per year has the same downward trend of 5.6 % per year as the mean number of accidents per year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prevailing attitudes toward migration describe citizens' preferences towards non-native inhabitants and fulfill a key role in socio-economics as antecedents of citizens' behaviors. According to literature, the fear (or lack of fear) of labor-market competition between natives and migrants may shape attitudes, especially those of low-skilled workers. In this comprehensive framework, we contribute to the literature by looking into a new aspect that shapes attitudes toward migration: urbanization. Employing data from round 1 to round 9 of the European Social Survey covering the time span 2002–2018, this paper analyzes the trend of attitudes toward migration, focusing on the effects of urbanization as a direct determinant of attitudes toward migration as a moderator of education. Urbanization typically affects attitudes toward migrants both directly and indirectly, interacting with individuals' education, which is used to distinguish high-skilled and low-skilled workers. Results support the hypothesis that people living in the rural areas display more negative attitudes toward migration, and this effect is more substantial for low-skilled workers. • According to literature, the fear of labor-market competition between natives and migrants shapes workers' attitudes, especially low-skilled workers'. • We analyzed data from round 1 to round 9 of the European Social Survey from 2002 to 2018. • Urbanization affects attitudes toward migrants directly and indirectly, typically interacting with individuals' education. • People in rural areas have more unfavorable attitudes toward migration that are tougher for low-skilled workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Information on accidents in facilities for processing and storage of selected agricultural products are contained in the work. • A unique accident database was created containing 195 items. • The causes, consequences and possible measures are researched and discussed in the work. • The information contained in the work can be used to increase the level of safety in the agricultural sector. Process safety in the storage and processing of agricultural products is an important aspect related not only to reducing the risk of damage to the human health or property, but is also strategical to national food safety. A special emphasis must therefore be placed on risk assessment of the operation of these facilities. One of the cornerstones of the risk assessment process is the use of knowledge of past accidents. As the agricultural industry is rather marginal in the field of safety engineering compared to other sectors of the economy, available publications dealing with this topic are rather an exception. The aim of this paper is to conduct research on the available information on accidents that have occurred in agricultural processing and storage facilities in the past. The purpose is to provide professionals and operators with a comprehensive source of information useful for activities related to the prevention of these accidents. The output of the work is then a previously unrealised representative database of systematically sorted information on accidents that have occurred in the process of treatment or storage of agricultural products. This information was subsequently analysed and evaluated. The created database consists of 195 records of accidents that occurred between 1989 and 2018. To create a unique representative database, mainly publicly available databases of industrial accidents or professional publications were used. The author's database contains information on accident locations, accident causes and accident prevention measures. A total of 21 persons died and 32 persons were injured during the accidents. The analysis shows that fires are the most frequent manifestation of accidents (86%) and accidents in material handling facilities are the most frequent (33%). According to the information available in the database, organisational factors were identified as the most frequent causative factors of accidents (47%). For a better understanding of the accident process, a description of selected accident scenarios was also provided in the work. A linear model was used for this purpose. Due to the strategic importance of the evaluated facilities for processing and storage of agricultural products, efforts are made to prevent accidents from recurring or to reduce their impact on the surrounding area. Therefore, an integral part of the work is the description of possible measures against the recurrence of similar accidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• I study the causal effect of education on traditional gender-role attitudes. • Traditional gender-role attitudes are correlated with several socio-economic outcomes. • I use compulsory schooling laws in Europe as an instrument for education. • Individuals with highly educated parents are not affected by these reforms. • Education reduces the probability of agreeing with the traditional role of women. Many studies report a strong correlation between gender role attitudes and the economy. Determining which factors are affecting them is crucial to avoid negative consequences. This paper identifies the causal relationship between education and traditional gender role attitudes. I use data from the European Social Survey for 14 European countries, along with a quasi-experimental approach that exploits exogenous variation in compulsory schooling across countries and year of birth. I find that for women from a poor family background, education reduces the probability of agreeing with traditional gender norms in more than 11 percentage points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European health reforms during the last decades have strengthened patient rights and introduced choice, competition and financial incentives in a sector that has typically been state-directed and centrally controlled. The marketisation of health care has also drawn out profit and introduced private provision. The main argument behind this trend is that market competition will improve service quality and deliver health services more efficiently. Such reforms often fall under the umbrella of New Public Management (NPM), and there is a lack of empirical research on their effects. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between healthcare marketisation and health system outcomes across European nations. In order to measure a country's degree of healthcare marketisation we employed indicators of healthcare decommodification. The concept refers to the extent to which an individual's access to healthcare is dependent upon their market position and the extent to which a country's provision of health is independent from the market. These indicators are three measures that assess the financing, provision and coverage of the private sector, and thus reflects the varied role of the market in a health care system: private health care expenditure as amount of GDP, private hospital beds as amount of total hospital bed stock, and public healthcare coverage. As indicator of health system outcome, we employed a measure that has not previously been investigated in the context of healthcare marketisation: satisfaction with health care system. We used multilevel analyses on five waves (2009–2017) of the biannual European Social Survey (ESS), with our final models including more than 120,000 individuals from 21 countries. Our methodological approach allowed us to study both cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships. The strongest substantial associations were between coverage and satisfaction, with high public healthcare coverage being associated with higher satisfaction. • We employ novel measures of healthcare recommodification in multilevel analyses of health system satisfaction. • Privatised provision (the share of hospital beds) was positively associated with satisfaction. • Privatised financing of services was associated with lower satisfaction. • High public healthcare coverage was associated with higher satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a detailed analysis of selected regulatory parameters used as instruments to promote efficiency with fairness for all stakeholders (in the legal sense of equity) in 5G spectrum auctions. Data were collected from sixteen auctions for the C-band that took place in the Member States of the European Union (EU) and in the United Kingdom (UK) between 2017 and 2020 for the introduction of the fifth generation (5G) of mobile communication technology. The selected instruments of intervention are: spectrum packaging, spectrum caps, set-asides, geographical scope of the license, license duration, various forms of license obligations, reserve prices and auction format. Significant differences were observed in national approaches to spectrum packaging, license obligations and reserve prices for efficiency purposes. Our analysis also shows that European national regulators are paying increasing attention to concerns over fairness of decisions on spectrum, or equity, especially by creating opportunities for local private networks to access the spectrum and by imposing requirements on network operators to guarantee more uniform population coverage of newly created 5G networks. • European C-band auctions for 5G are examined in terms of their contribution to spectrum efficiency and equity. • Significant differences were observed with respect to spectrum packaging, license obligations and reserve prices. • High reserve prices and inflexible spectrum packaging constitute essential new entry barriers. • To promote equity, auctions were designed to facilitate access to spectrum for vertical players. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]