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Creativity represents a young and promising academic field of research. Over the last 20 years, creativity publications have been steadily increasing in number. Of the 20 most all-time prolific creativity scholars in the European Union (EU), only one has retired. The present paper aims at mapping the EU creativity research. We analyzed over 12,000 Web of Science records dated back to 1968 until December 2020, using two bibliometric tools, SciMAT and VOSviewer. The descriptive analysis lists the most prolific authors and journals on the creativity area, the most cited articles, as well as the authors', institutions', countries', and research areas' bibliometric networks. Moreover, this study presents a thematic analysis and an evolution map of the themes based on keywords. The EU scholars were found to establish collaborations based on geographical, cultural, and, maybe, idiomatic proximity. Engineering, computer science, and education & educational research are the most interconnected areas of research. Innovation, performance, creative cities, the neuroscientific study of creativity, and emotions are relevant topics in the area. A broader concept of the creative and collaborative economy, the impact of technology on developing creativity, and the study of the brain with neuroscientific tools may become promising lines for future research.

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Natural disturbances play an important role in shaping the dynamics of mountain forests, yet their effects on essential ecosystem services, such as protection against natural hazards, can be significant. With the challenges posed by climate change and increasing disturbances, as well as the complexities of salvage logging, there is a growing interest in understanding post-disturbance development in unsalvaged mountain forests, alongside the advancement of decision support systems aimed at ensuring sustained provision of ecosystem services. In this study, we combined a space-for-time substitution approach with long-term monitoring data to evaluate regeneration processes and development of deadwood decay following three distinct windthrow events in Central European mountain forests that were locally unsalvaged (specifically Vaia in 2018, Kyrill in 2007, and Vivian in 1990). Our unique dataset additionally provided insights into the long-term effects of disturbance legacies and tree regeneration on protection against natural hazards. Deadwood cover gradually decreased with time since disturbance, from an average of 50% two years after Vaia to 25% twelve years after Kyrill and 15% thirty years after Vivian. Similarly, deadwood height above ground significantly decreased over time, with median values dropping from 1 to 2 m immediately after the disturbance to 25–30 cm three decades later. The decay stage and diameter of deadwood significantly influenced tree regeneration, with larger diameters of logs and deadwood in more advanced decay stage (especially less solid/soft to very loose stage), facilitating seedling establishment, thus a second wave of tree regeneration. About a quarter of saplings grew on deadwood thirty years after disturbance. The analysis of post-windthrow stand development showed an increase in tree cover and height with time since disturbance, with distinct patterns observed across different windthrow events and sites. Three decades post-disturbance, the number of trees had notably increased, with tree cover reaching 50%. Although Norway spruce remained the dominant species, the forest composition had shifted towards a predominance of broadleaves, particularly evident at lower elevations and areas with moderate browsing pressure. Our findings underscore the critical role of post-disturbance forest recovery and deadwood dynamics in promoting uneven-aged mixed forest structures, thereby enhancing forest regeneration, structural diversity, and protection against natural hazards. Emphasizing the vital importance of retaining deadwood, our study suggests that its role as a valuable substrate for enhancing resilience and ecosystem services is likely to grow in the future. • Deadwood cover and height above ground decreased with time since windthrow. • Decay stage and diameter of deadwood significantly influenced tree regeneration. • At lower elevations, windthrow led to higher shares of broadleaves. • Deadwood supports tree establishment and heterogeneity of forest structure. • Avoiding salvage logging enhanced forest recovery and avalanche protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyse the effects of flexibility in the labour market on workers' monetary poverty in 15 European countries in the time span 2005-2016. We estimate how the labour market regulation index (LMRI) affects workers' monetary poverty through two empirical exercises: in the first one, we use an autoregressive distributed lag model and, in the second one, the generalized method of moments model. The results suggest that greater flexibility of the labour market is positively correlated with greater monetary poverty among employed people. The result does not change significantly when introducing the effect of the economic crisis and the interaction effect between the economic crisis and the LMRI. Therefore, we conclude that the outcome should be considered to be noticeable whatever the macroeconomic conditions occurring in the labour market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beech forests are important for biodiversity conservation in Europe and studies to identify sustainable forest management practices are therefore required. The ground beetle Carabus olympiae Sella, 1855, is a large steno-endemic endangered alpine species with very restricted ranges. Its known range is only delimited in two beech forests in the western Italian Alps where beech wood is still harvested. Forty individuals were collected and radio-tracked in 2014–2015 in order to assess the effects of forest management on microclimatic conditions, microhabitat use and movements. Regarding microhabitat selection deadwood and tree bases were preferred, and were used as refuges during the daytime. Bare ground was not used. The length of the path travelled by individual insects was more variable and the tortuosity was lower in managed than in unmanaged stands, suggesting that management induced more constrained trajectories and variable distances. We concluded that logging may exert short-term negative effects on C. olympiae ground beetles. However, the preference for tree bases and deadwood suggests that forest management, concurrently, may also be beneficial, on the condition that: i) the coppice, which provides more suitable microhabitats, prevails over conversion to high forest, and ii) deadwood originating from cutting (branches and treetops) is properly accumulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mountain forests are among the most important ecosystems in Europe as they support numerous ecological, hydrological, climatic, social, and economic functions. They are unique relatively natural ecosystems consisting of long-lived species in an otherwise densely populated human landscape. Despite this, centuries of intensive forest management in many of these forests have eclipsed evidence of natural processes, especially the role of disturbances in long-term forest dynamics. Recent trends of land abandonment and establishment of protected forests have coincided with a growing interest in managing forests in more natural states. At the same time, the importance of past disturbances highlighted in an emerging body of literature, and recent increasing disturbances due to climate change are challenging long-held views of dynamics in these ecosystems. Here, we synthesize aspects of this Special Issue on the ecology of mountain forest ecosystems in Europe in the context of broader discussions in the field, to present a new perspective on these ecosystems and their natural disturbance regimes. Most mountain forests in Europe, for which long-term data are available, show a strong and long-term effect of not only human land use but also of natural disturbances that vary by orders of magnitude in size and frequency. Although these disturbances may kill many trees, the forests themselves have not been threatened. The relative importance of natural disturbances, land use, and climate change for ecosystem dynamics varies across space and time. Across the continent, changing climate and land use are altering forest cover, forest structure, tree demography, and natural disturbances, including fires, insect outbreaks, avalanches, and wind disturbances. Projected continued increases in forest area and biomass along with continued warming are likely to further promote forest disturbances. Episodic disturbances may foster ecosystem adaptation to the effects of ongoing and future climatic change. Increasing disturbances, along with trends of less intense land use, will promote further increases in coarse woody debris, with cascading positive effects on biodiversity, edaphic conditions, biogeochemical cycles, and increased heterogeneity across a range of spatial scales. Together, this may translate to disturbance-mediated resilience of forest landscapes and increased biodiversity, as long as climate and disturbance regimes remain within the tolerance of relevant species. Understanding ecological variability, even imperfectly, is integral to anticipating vulnerabilities and promoting ecological resilience, especially under growing uncertainty. Allowing some forests to be shaped by natural processes may be congruent with multiple goals of forest management, even in densely settled and developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Epidemiologic evidence on the association between short-term exposure to ultrafine particles and mortality is weak, due to the lack of routine measurements of these particles and standardized multicenter studies. We investigated the relationship between ultrafine particles and particulate matter (PM) and daily mortality in eight European urban areas.Methods: We collected daily data on nonaccidental and cardiorespiratory mortality, particle number concentrations (as proxy for ultrafine particle number concentration), fine and coarse PM, gases and meteorologic parameters in eight urban areas of Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Greece, between 1999 and 2013. We applied city-specific time-series Poisson regression models and pooled them with random-effects meta-analysis.Results: We estimated a weak, delayed association between particle number concentration and nonaccidental mortality, with mortality increasing by approximately 0.35% per 10,000 particles/cm increases in particle number concentration occurring 5 to 7 days before death. A similar pattern was found for cause-specific mortality. Estimates decreased after adjustment for fine particles (PM2.5) or nitrogen dioxide (NO2). The stronger association found between particle number concentration and mortality in the warmer season (1.14% increase) became null after adjustment for other pollutants.Conclusions: We found weak evidence of an association between daily ultrafine particles and mortality. Further studies are required with standardized protocols for ultrafine particle data collection in multiple European cities over extended study periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Objectives: We aimed to examine organizational, structural and routine infection control measures provided by European ICUs and staff practices in ventilator-associated pneumonia prevention in relation with current recommendations. Methods: European ICU staffs were invited to complete a web-based 20 closed-item questionnaire. Results: 675 nurses and 886 physicians from 13 countries answered the questionnaire. Median number of respondents per country was 118.0 (64.5–155.5). Availability and organizational aspects of infection control revealed wide variations between countries. Among them, single-patient rooms was the aspect with the lowest availability (median availability 38%), but the largest variation ranging from 15 to 84%. Self-reported median adherence rate to recommendations was 72% (34.5–83.0) with a strong correlation between nurses and physicians responses (r² = 0.96; p < 0.0001). Sub-glottic drainage (31%), and infrequent ventilatory-circuit change (24%) were the measures with the lowest adherence rate whereas preferential use of oral intubation (90%) and of NIV (84%) and use of HMEs (82%) were the three with the highest rate. Organization of infection control was consistently self-reported. Disparities among countries were more frequent for specific actions regarding airway management, and even moreso for controversial issues (subglottic drainage, closed-suction systems). Conclusion: This European survey shows a 72% overall adherence rate to VAP prevention measures; with strong agreements between physician and nurses but considerable differences among countries for availability and organization aspects of infection control, providing healthcare authorities with figures for future programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Accurate measurements of carbon pools and fluxes and of the related uncertainties are required to support the estimation of regional and continental carbon budgets. For this purpose a rigorous statistical method, known as Randomized Branching Sampling (RBS), has been applied for the direct assessment of carbon pools, fluxes (Net Primary Productivity) and plant surface areas in three forests. RBS is an unequal probability selection scheme that is design unbiased and efficient. Through its theory and design, RBS provides an unbiased estimate of uncertainties both at single tree and ecosystem scales. RBS designed samplings proved to be less time-consuming than traditional ones by lowering the number of sample branches needed to achieve the target precision levels and by getting rid of fresh weight measurements in the field. RBS estimates of C pools were compared and discussed to traditional estimates achieved by allometric functions fitted using the power equation revealing good agreement; differences between the RBS and allometric approaches were higher in older or more structured forests. Optimal scaling exponents for foliage, branch and stem components, for pool, flux and surface parameters in European beech, Scots pine and Norway spruce stands were estimated by analysis of the precision of target aggregate estimators. In all stands, the scaling exponent for the stand-scale estimates proved to be lower than the scaling exponent estimated from the allometric fitting and than analytically derived exponents. This discrepancy could lead, should the latter scaling exponents be used, to over-estimate C pools in forests. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article offers two significant information concerning print periodicals in Europe. The volume V of the journal "The Shandean" published an article titled "Laurence Sterne and the 18th-century Print Market," by David Alexander in the Netherlands. There were two letters written by the engraver Giovanni Volpato to his former employer Giovanni Battista Remondini which have been offered for sale at the "Print Quarterly" auction held at Christie's in London, England on June 29, 1995. The two letters dated March 29, 1766 and November 6, 1768 and both focused on printing plates.

In the author's opinion people must believe in the European culture as a wonderful source of co-operative and conflicting production of culture. The author believes that from its own incredible conflicts, from the civil, religious and national and social wars it has matured now, in its new miraculous condition of peace, a vocation to openness and tolerance that is an example to the world. This is why culture seems to be the terrain from which European unity can bloom with more flourish. The author equally firmly believes that if bases were correct, in a time when its structure is enlarged and uplifted, Europe needs to find in its cultural richness the necessary bonding agent in order to achieve its great project.