Eurostat

The start-up event for the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control took place in Stockholm on 27 September 2004. In terms of surveillance and control of communicable disease in the European Union, it marked the beginning of a new era.

BACKGROUND: World Health Organization (WHO) and International Labour Organization (ILO) systematic reviews reported sufficient evidence for higher risks of ischemic heart disease and stroke amongst people working long hours (≥55 hours/week), compared with people working standard hours (35-40 hours/week). This article presents WHO/ILO Joint Estimates of global, regional, and national exposure to long working hours, for 194 countries, and the attributable burdens of ischemic heart disease and stroke, for 183 countries, by sex and age, for 2000, 2010, and 2016. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We calculated population-attributable fractions from estimates of the population exposed to long working hours and relative risks of exposure on the diseases from the systematic reviews. The exposed population was modelled using data from 2324 cross-sectional surveys and 1742 quarterly survey datasets. Attributable disease burdens were estimated by applying the population-attributable fractions to WHO's Global Health Estimates of total disease burdens. RESULTS: In 2016, 488 million people (95% uncertainty range: 472-503 million), or 8.9% (8.6-9.1) of the global population, were exposed to working long hours (≥55 hours/week). An estimated 745,194 deaths (705,786-784,601) and 23.3 million disability-adjusted life years (22.2-24.4) from ischemic heart disease and stroke combined were attributable to this exposure. The population-attributable fractions for deaths were 3.7% (3.4-4.0) for ischemic heart disease and 6.9% for stroke (6.4-7.5); for disability-adjusted life years they were 5.3% (4.9-5.6) for ischemic heart disease and 9.3% (8.7-9.9) for stroke. CONCLUSIONS: WHO and ILO estimate exposure to long working hours (≥55 hours/week) is common and causes large attributable burdens of ischemic heart disease and stroke. Protecting and promoting occupational and workers' safety and health requires interventions to reduce hazardous long working hours.

A critical component of laboratory surveillance for measles is the genetic characterization of circulating wild-type viruses. The World Health Organization (WHO) Measles and Rubella Laboratory Network (LabNet), provides for standardized testing in 183 countries and supports genetic characterization of currently circulating strains of measles viruses. The goal of this report is to describe the lessons learned from nearly 20 years of virologic surveillance for measles, to describe the global databases for measles sequences, and to provide regional updates about measles genotypes detected by recent surveillance activities. Virologic surveillance for measles is now well established in all of the WHO regions, and most countries have conducted at least some baseline surveillance. The WHO Global Genotype Database contains >7000 genotype reports, and the Measles Nucleotide Surveillance (MeaNS) contains >4000 entries. This sequence information has proven to be extremely useful for tracking global transmission patterns and for documenting the interruption of transmission in some countries. The future challenges will be to develop quality control programs for molecular methods and to continue to expand virologic surveillance activities in all regions.

About one third of the food produced globally is wasted along the food chain, representing a burden for the environment and an inefficiency of the food system. Tackling food waste is a priority on the global political agenda to guarantee food security. Defining a methodology for food waste quantification is key to monitoring progress towards the achievement of reduction targets. This paper summarises the outcomes of a workshop on food waste accounting co-organised by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre and Directorate-General on Health and Food Safety with the aim of stimulating harmonisation of methodologies, identifying challenges, opportunities, and further advancement for food waste accounting. The paper presents methodological aspects, e.g. system boundaries, reliability of data, accounting of water flows, to ensure better support to food waste policy design and interventions. It addresses all the actors of the food supply chain, governments, and research institutions.

Digital elevation models (DEMs) provide fundamental depictions of the three-dimensional shape of the Earth’s surface and are useful to a wide range of disciplines. Ideally, DEMs record the interface between the atmosphere and the lithosphere using a discrete two-dimensional grid, with complexities introduced by the intervening hydrosphere, cryosphere, biosphere, and anthroposphere. The treatment of DEM surfaces, affected by these intervening spheres, depends on their intended use, and the characteristics of the sensors that were used to create them. DEM is a general term, and more specific terms such as digital surface model (DSM) or digital terrain model (DTM) record the treatment of the intermediate surfaces. Several global DEMs generated with optical (visible and near-infrared) sensors and synthetic aperture radar (SAR), as well as single/multi-beam sonars and products of satellite altimetry, share the common characteristic of a georectified, gridded storage structure. Nevertheless, not all DEMs share the same vertical datum, not all use the same convention for the area on the ground represented by each pixel in the DEM, and some of them have variable data spacings depending on the latitude. This paper highlights the importance of knowing, understanding and reflecting on the sensor and DEM characteristics and consolidates terminology and definitions of key concepts to facilitate a common understanding among the growing community of DEM users, who do not necessarily share the same background.

The aim of this paper is to present information about currently used standard and routine methods for radon analysis in drinking waters. An overview is given about the current situation and the performance of different measurement methods based on literature data. The following parameters are compared and discussed: initial sample volume and sample preparation, detection systems, minimum detectable activity, counting efficiency, interferences, measurement uncertainty, sample capacity and overall turnaround time. Moreover, the parametric levels for radon in drinking water from the different legislations and directives/guidelines on radon are presented.

Abstract Aim Spatial and temporal biases in species‐occurrence data can compromise broad‐scale biogeographical research and conservation planning. Although spatial biases have been frequently scrutinized, temporal biases and the overall quality of species‐occurrence data have received far less attention. This study aims to answer three questions: (1) How reliable are species‐occurrence data for flowering plants in Africa? (2) Where and when did botanical sampling occur in the past 300 years? (3) How complete are plant inventories for Africa? Location Africa. Methods By filtering a publicly available dataset containing 3.5 million records of flowering plants, we obtained 934,676 herbarium specimens with complete information regarding species name, date and location of collection. Based on these specimens, we estimated inventory completeness for sampling units (SUs) of 25 km × 25 km. We then tested whether the spatial distribution of well‐sampled SUs was correlated with temporal parameters of botanical sampling. Finally, we determined whether inventory completeness in individual countries was related to old or recently collected specimens. Results Thirty‐one per cent of SUs contained at least one specimen, whereas only 2.4% of SUs contained a sufficient number of specimens to reliably estimate inventory completeness. We found that the location of poorly sampled areas remained almost unchanged for half a century. Moreover, there was pronounced temporal bias towards old specimens in South Africa, the country that holds half of the available data for the continent. There, high inventory completeness stems from specimens collected several decades ago. Main conclusions Despite the increasing availability of species occurrence data for Africa, broad‐scale biogeographical research is still compromised by the uncertain quality and spatial and temporal biases of such data. To avoid erroneous inferences, the quality and biases in species‐occurrence data should be critically evaluated and quantified prior to use. To this end, we propose a quantification method based on inventory completeness using easily accessible species‐occurrence data.

Accurately characterizing land surface changes with Earth Observation requires geo-located ground truth. In the European Union (EU), a tri-annual surveyed sample of land cover and land use has been collected since 2006 under the Land Use/Cover Area frame Survey (LUCAS). A total of 1351293 observations at 651780 unique locations for 106 variables along with 5.4 million photos were collected during five LUCAS surveys. Until now, these data have never been harmonised into one database, limiting full exploitation of the information. This paper describes the LUCAS point sampling/surveying methodology, including collection of standard variables such as land cover, environmental parameters, and full resolution landscape and point photos, and then describes the harmonisation process. The resulting harmonised database is the most comprehensive in-situ dataset on land cover and use in the EU. The database is valuable for geo-spatial and statistical analysis of land use and land cover change. Furthermore, its potential to provide multi-temporal in-situ data will be enhanced by recent computational advances such as deep learning.

Despite the broad literature base on factor analysis best practices, research seeking to evaluate a measure's psychometric properties frequently fails to consider or follow these recommendations. This leads to incorrect factor structures, numerous and often overly complex competing factor models and, perhaps most harmful, biased model results. Our goal is to demonstrate a practical and actionable process for factor analysis through (a) an overview of six statistical and psychometric issues and approaches to be aware of, investigate, and report when engaging in factor structure validation, along with a flowchart for recommended procedures to understand latent factor structures; (b) demonstrating these issues to provide a summary of the updated Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL-5) factor models and a rationale for validation; and (c) conducting a comprehensive statistical and psychometric validation of the PCL-5 factor structure to demonstrate all the issues we described earlier. Considering previous research, the PCL-5 was evaluated using a sample of 1,403 U.S. Air Force remotely piloted aircraft operators with high levels of battlefield exposure. Previously proposed PCL-5 factor structures were not supported by the data, but instead a bifactor model is arguably more statistically appropriate.

The energy-dependent cross section of the ^{7}Be(n,α)^{4}He reaction, of interest for the so-called cosmological lithium problem in big bang nucleosynthesis, has been measured for the first time from 10 meV to 10 keV neutron energy. The challenges posed by the short half-life of ^{7}Be and by the low reaction cross section have been overcome at n_TOF thanks to an unprecedented combination of the extremely high luminosity and good resolution of the neutron beam in the new experimental area (EAR2) of the n_TOF facility at CERN, the availability of a sufficient amount of chemically pure ^{7}Be, and a specifically designed experimental setup. Coincidences between the two alpha particles have been recorded in two Si-^{7}Be-Si arrays placed directly in the neutron beam. The present results are consistent, at thermal neutron energy, with the only previous measurement performed in the 1960s at a nuclear reactor. The energy dependence reported here clearly indicates the inadequacy of the cross section estimates currently used in BBN calculations. Although new measurements at higher neutron energy may still be needed, the n_TOF results hint at a minor role of this reaction in BBN, leaving the long-standing cosmological lithium problem unsolved.

In this study we use a unique database covering 25 manufacturing and service sectors for 15 European countries over the period 1996–2005, for a total of 2,295 observations, and apply GMM‐SYS panel estimations of a demand‐for‐labour equation augmented with technology. We find that R&D expenditure – fostering product innovation – have a job‐creating effect, in accordance with the previous theoretical and empirical literature discussed in the paper. Interestingly enough, the labour‐friendly nature of R&D emerges in both the flow and the stock specifications. These findings provide further justification for the European Lisbon targets.

Human resources are recognised as being key to the creation, commercialisation and diffusion of innovation. Among them, doctorate holders are not only the most qualified in terms of educational attainment, but also those who are specifically trained to conduct research. In 2004, the OECD launched a collaborative project with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and Eurostat aimed at developing internationally comparable indicators on the labour market, career path and mobility of doctorate holders. This Working Paper presents the second edition of the technical guidelines used in the framework of the Careers of Doctorate Holders (CDH) project. The technical guidelines are composed of: i) the methodological guidelines; ii) a core model questionnaire and instruction manual; and iii) the output tables used for reporting data at the international level and related definitions. This second edition builds on the experience resulting from the first large scale data collection, which was based on the first edition of the technical guidelines released in 2007. In addition to a number of basic adjustments, it proposes new ways to measure post-doctoral positions and types of mobility, including international mobility. The current draft is the result of discussions among the members of the CDH expert group. Its aim is to provide guidance to countries that wish to implement the project at national level.

National definitions of part-time work are based either on hours thresholds or on an assessment by the respondent of the nature of the job, or on a combination of both methods.This report compares the results obtained from the application of an hours-based definition to job of wage and salary workers with those based on the respondent's self-assessment, and examines the international comparability of such estimates.a) In countries where part-time work (national definitions) is common, jobs of more than 30 usual hours per week that are classified as part-time are significant in number.These countries tend to use a definition based on a 35 usual hours threshold.b) In countries where part-time work (national definitions) is relatively less common, the incidence of jobs of less than 35 usual hours per week that are classified as full-time is high.Part-time jobs are generally identified on the basis of self-assessment in these countries.As a result of these findings a definition of part-time work based on a 30 usual hours threshold would appear to be more appropriate for the purposes of international comparison.

A scoping search and a systematic literature review were conducted to give an insight on entry and exit screening referring to travelers at points of entry, by analyzing published evidence on practices, guidelines, and experiences in the past 15 years worldwide. Grey literature, PubMed. and Scopus were searched using specific terms. Most of the available data identified through the systematic literature review concerned entry screening measures at airports. Little evidence is available about entry and exit screening measure implementation and effectiveness at ports and ground crossings. Exit screening was part of the World Health Organisation's (WHO) temporary recommendations for implementation in certain points of entry, for specific time periods. Exit screening measures for Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the three most affected West African countries did not identify any cases and showed zero sensitivity and very low specificity. The percentages of confirmed cases identified out of the total numbers of travelers that passed through entry screening measures in various countries worldwide for Influenza Pandemic (H1N1) and EVD in West Africa were zero or extremely low. Entry screening measures for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) did not detect any confirmed SARS cases in Australia, Canada, and Singapore. Despite the ineffectiveness of entry and exit screening measures, authors reported several important concomitant positive effects that their impact is difficult to assess, including discouraging travel of ill persons, raising awareness, and educating the traveling public and maintaining operation of flights from/to the affected areas. Exit screening measures in affected areas are important and should be applied jointly with other measures including information strategies, epidemiological investigation, contact tracing, vaccination, and quarantine to achieve a comprehensive outbreak management response. Based on review results, an algorithm about decision-making for entry/exit screening was developed.

Summary Continuous monitoring of the evolution of the economy is fundamental for the decisions of public and private decision makers. The paper proposes EUROMIND, which is a new monthly indicator of the euro area economic conditions, based on tracking real gross domestic product monthly, relying on information provided in the Eurostat Euro-IND database. EUROMIND has several original economic and statistical features. First, it considers both the output and the expenditure sides of the economy, as it provides a monthly estimate of the value added of the six branches of economic activity and of the main gross domestic product components by type of expenditure (final consumption, gross capital formation and net exports), and combines the estimates with optimal weights reflecting their relative precision. Second, the indicator is based on information at both the monthly and the quarterly level, modelled with a dynamic factor specification cast in state space form. Third, since estimation of the multivariate dynamic factor model with mixed frequency data can be numerically complex, computational efficiency is achieved by implementing univariate filtering and smoothing procedures. Finally, special attention is paid to chain linking and its implications, via a multistep procedure that exploits the additivity of the volume measures expressed at the prices of the previous year.

Honeycomb composite structures are used in airplanes, railway cars and vehicles. The sandwich panels consist of two stiff face sheets of aluminium, which are bonded to a very lightweight honeycomb core of aluminium. Compared to normal plates, sandwich panels have a very high stiffness and simultaneously a low weight. The core of these structures is mainly subjected to shear stresses. The shear stresses depend strongly on the angle of the load application. The distribution and the level of the shear stresses are investigated using analytical calculations. The load direction which induces highest stresses in the honeycomb core is derived. This direction is not the W-direction, which is the most compliant one. When doing finite element simulations of honeycomb cores, often the core is homogenized in order to reduce the calculation time. In this article, some equations are derived in order to calculate the real shear stresses from the shear stresses of the homogeneous core. The equations are validated by finite element simulations and partially by tests. Three-point bending tests and additionally some Food Cart Roller Tests were conducted in order to test the panels in different angles.

Abstract Mobile phone data are an interesting new data source for official statistics. However, multiple problems and uncertainties need to be solved before these data can inform, support or even become an integral part of statistical production processes. In this article, we focus on arguably the most important problem hindering the application of mobile phone data in official statistics: detecting home locations. We argue that current efforts to detect home locations suffer from a blind deployment of criteria to define a place of residence and from limited validation possibilities. We support our argument by analysing the performance of five home detection algorithms (HDAs) that have been applied to a large, French, Call Detailed Record (CDR) data set (~18 million users, five months). Our results show that criteria choice in HDAs influences the detection of home locations for up to about 40% of users, that HDAs perform poorly when compared with a validation data set (resulting in 358-gap), and that their performance is sensitive to the time period and the duration of observation. Based on our findings and experiences, we offer several recommendations for official statistics. If adopted, our recommendations would help ensure more reliable use of mobile phone data vis-à-vis official statistics.

Europe experienced excess mortality from February through June, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with more COVID-19-associated deaths in males compared to females. However, a difference in excess mortality among females compared to among males may be a more general phenomenon, and should be investigated in none-COVID-19 situations as well. Based on death counts from Eurostat, separate excess mortalities were estimated for each of the sexes using the EuroMOMO model. Sex-differential excess mortality were expressed as differences in excess mortality incidence rates between the sexes. A general relation between sex-differential and overall excess mortality both during the COVID-19 pandemic and in preceding seasons were investigated. Data from 27 European countries were included, covering the seasons 2016/17 to 2019/20. In periods with increased excess mortality, excess was consistently highest among males. From February through May 2020 male excess mortality was 52.7 (95% PI: 56.29; 49.05) deaths per 100,000 person years higher than for females. Increased male excess mortality compared to female was also observed in the seasons 2016/17 to 2018/19. We found a linear relation between sex-differences in excess mortality and overall excess mortality, i.e., 40 additional deaths among males per 100 excess deaths per 100,000 population. This corresponds to an overall female/male mortality incidence ratio of 0.7. In situations with overall excess mortality, excess mortality increases more for males than females. We suggest that the sex-differences observed during the COVID-19 pandemic reflects a general sex-disparity in excess mortality.

Assigning uncertainty to ocean-color satellite products is a requirement to allow informed use of these data. Here, uncertainty estimates are derived using the comparison on a 12th-degree grid of coincident daily records of the remote-sensing reflectance RRS obtained with the same processing chain from three satellite missions, MERIS, MODIS and SeaWiFS. The approach is spatially resolved and produces σ, the part of the RRS uncertainty budget associated with random effects. The global average of σ decreases with wavelength from approximately 0.7-0.9 10-3 sr-1 at 412 nm to 0.05-0.1 10-3 sr-1 at the red band, with uncertainties on σ evaluated as 20-30% between 412 and 555 nm, and 30-40% at 670 nm. The distribution of σ shows a restricted spatial variability and small variations with season, which makes the multi-annual global distribution of σ an estimate applicable to all retrievals of the considered missions. The comparison of σ with other uncertainty estimates derived from field data or with the support of algorithms provides a consistent picture. When translated in relative terms, and assuming a relatively low bias, the distribution of σ suggests that the objective of a 5% uncertainty is fulfilled between 412 and 490 nm for oligotrophic waters (chlorophyll-a concentration below 0.1 mg m-3). This study also provides comparison statistics. Spectrally, the mean absolute relative difference between RRS from different missions shows a characteristic U-shape with both ends at blue and red wavelengths inversely related to the amplitude of RRS. On average and for the considered data sets, SeaWiFS RRS tend to be slightly higher than MODIS RRS, which in turn appear higher than MERIS RRS. Biases between mission-specific RRS may exhibit a seasonal dependence, particularly in the subtropical belt.

We report on the measurement of the $^{7}\mathrm{Be}(n,p)^{7}\mathrm{Li}$ cross section from thermal to approximately 325 keV neutron energy, performed in the high-flux experimental area (EAR2) of the n_TOF facility at CERN. This reaction plays a key role in the lithium yield of the big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) for standard cosmology. The only two previous time-of-flight measurements performed on this reaction did not cover the energy window of interest for BBN, and they showed a large discrepancy between each other. The measurement was performed with a Si telescope and a high-purity sample produced by implantation of a $^{7}\mathrm{Be}$ ion beam at the ISOLDE facility at CERN. While a significantly higher cross section is found at low energy, relative to current evaluations, in the region of BBN interest, the present results are consistent with the values inferred from the time-reversal $^{7}\mathrm{Li}(p,n)^{7}\mathrm{Be}$ reaction, thus yielding only a relatively minor improvement on the so-called cosmological lithium problem. The relevance of these results on the near-threshold neutron production in the $p+^{7}\mathrm{Li}$ reaction is also discussed.