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Abstract: Adequate ventilation is essential for the health and comfort of building occupants. This review examines, first of all, why residential ventilation is an issue of concern in Europe and how is related to the human health. A review of the current status of residential ventilation standards and regulations in Europe is also provided, as a reference. Finally, a review of measurements of ventilation rates in European dwellings is provided, where the compatibility with the European standards/regulations is examined. The review shows that ventilation is increasingly becoming recognised as an important component of a healthy dwelling. Ventilation requirements receive major attention in building regulations, across Europe. However, ventilation measurements across Europe show that ventilation is in practice often poor, resulting in reduced ventilation rates (lower than 0.5 h−1, which is currently a standard in many European countries), increased concentrations of indoor pollutants and hence exposure to health risk. Surveys showed that although occupants generally think that ventilation is important, their understanding of the ventilation systems in their own houses is low, resulting to under-ventilated homes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Civil commitment rates to psychiatric hospitals in Norway are among the highest in Europe. However, published rates are based on registry data of uncertain quality. Civil commitment at four psychiatric hospitals were examined and the quality of registry data assessed. We examined 2043 admissions, recorded the duration of deprivation of liberty and calculated incidence rates for civil commitment. The overall study generated incidence rate for civil commitment based on “involuntary referrals”, “treatment periods” and persons involved were 259, 209 and 186 per 100,000 adults/year, respectively. For patients admitted for involuntary observation only, the mean duration of deprivation of liberty was 8.5 days, compared with 34.3 days for those admitted for long-term detention, representing 37.8% and 86.6% of the total inpatient period, respectively. The submitted records to the Norwegian Patient Registry (NPR) were incomplete and had missing information at two of the four hospitals. Moreover, when official civil commitment rates based on the NPR data were computed, almost 30% of all admissions were routinely excluded. Civil commitment in this study was higher than corresponding figures based on registry data. In general, civil commitment rates as reported by the NPR seem to be an underestimate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the relative importance of sector and country factors in explaining the variation of leasing penetration rates across industries in Europe. According to our results, country effects represent the dominant driving factor for leasing when compared to sector effects. An explanation might be that the country factors overshadow the corresponding sector ones for they capture the depth and development of the leasing sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disappointing growth rates and high unemployment in Europe have given rise to a debate on whether the European socio-economic model—or which of its variations—has a future in the face of increasing international competition. The following two articles discuss the current challenges facing Europe in this field and the options for meeting these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Europe is experiencing a long-term demographic decline in which its population as a share of the global total has already been reduced by half over the last 60 years. But in the years ahead, countries in the south and east of Europe – with much lower rates of fertility and higher rates of emigration – are expected to perform far worse than those in the north, further widening European economic inequality and few tractable policy solutions in sight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photovoltaic (PV) systems are the cheapest source of electricity in sunny locations and nearly all European countries. However, the fast deployment of PV systems around the world is bringing uncertainty to the PV community in terms of the reliability and long-term performance of PV modules under different climatic stresses, such as irradiation, temperature changes, and humidity. Methodologies and models to estimate the annual degradation rates of PV modules have been studied in the past, yet, an evaluation of the issue at global scale has not been addressed so far. Hereby, we process the ERA5 climate re-analysis dataset to extract and model the climatic stresses necessary for the calculation of degradation rates. These stresses are then applied to evaluate three degradation mechanisms (hydrolysis-degradation, thermomechanical-degradation, and photo- degradation) and the total degradation rate of PV modules due to the combination of temperature, humidity, and ultraviolet irradiation. Further on, spatial distribution of the degradation rates worldwide is computed and discussed proving direct correlation with the Köppen-Geiger-Photovoltaic climate zones, showing that the typical value considered for the degradation rate on PV design and manufacturer warranties (i.e., 0.5%/a) can vary ± 0.3%/a in the temperate zones of Europe and rise up to 1.5%/a globally. The mapping of degradation mechanisms and total degradation rates is provided for a monocrystalline silicon PV module. Additionally, we analyze the temporal evolution of degradation rates, where a global degradation rate is introduced and its dependence on global ambient temperature demonstrated. Finally, the categorization of degradation rates is made for Europe and worldwide to facilitate the understanding of the climatic stresses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses whether the volatility of the euro should give cause for concern and whether the monetary authorities should intervene on the foreign exchange market. Macroeconomic implications of the exchange rate as a link between price levels in Europe and abroad; Euro's level variation as influencing the attractiveness of a country as an investment location.