Web-based internet searches for digital health products in the United Kingdom before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a time-series analysis using app libraries from the Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Applications (ORCHA)

Objectives To explore if consumer interest in digital health products (DHPs), changed following the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown measures that ensued. Design Retrospective time-series analysis of web-based internet searches for DHPs in the UK, split over two periods, pre-COVID- 19 lockdown (January 2019–23 March 2020) and post-COVID- 19 lockdown (24 March 2020–31 December 2020). Setting The UK. Participants Members of the UK general population using health-app libraries provided by the Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Applications. Primary and secondary outcome measures The primary outcome was volume of searches for DHPs. Secondary outcomes considered search volumes for 25 different therapeutic areas. Outcomes were assessed for significance using a two-stage Poisson test. Results There were 126 640 searches for DHPs over the study period. Searches for DHPs increased by 343% from 2446 per month prior to COVID-19 lockdown measures being introduced to 8996 per month in the period following the first COVID-19 lockdown in the UK. In total, 23/25 (92%) of condition areas experienced a significant increase in searches for DHPs, with the greatest increases occurring in the first 2 months following lockdown. Musculoskeletal conditions (2,036%), allergy (1,253%) and healthy living DHPs (1,051%) experienced the greatest increases in searches compared with pre-lockdown. Increased search volumes for DHPs were sustained in the 9 months following the introduction of lockdown measures, with 21/25 (84%) of condition areas experiencing monthly search volumes at least 50% greater than pre-lockdown levels. Conclusions The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly disrupted the routine delivery of healthcare, making face-to- face interaction difficult, and contributing to unmet clinical needs. This study has demonstrated significant increases in internet searches for DHPs by members of the UK population since COVID-19, signifying an increased interest in this potential therapeutic medium. Future research should clarify whether this increased interest has resulted in increased acceptance and utilisation of these technologies also

Seismic hazard assessment and site-dependent response spectra parameters of the current seismic design code in Albania

A probabilistically based hazard map of Albania expressed in terms of PGA for 475 years of return period following the spatially smoothed seismicity approach proposed by Frankel (1995) and developed by Slovenian researchers (Lapajne et al. 1997), is presented.  Taking advantage of this development, an effort has been made to analyze the parameters of site-dependent acceleration response spectra parameters of the current seismic design code KTP-N.2-89 in Albania

Seismic hazard assessment for Adria

The Adriatic region was chosen as one of the test areas in the GSHAP program and, consequently, its seismic hazard was computed. The standard hazard map chosen by GSHAP represents PGA with a 475-year return period. Some other parameters, as the spectral acceleration and the uniform hazard response spectra for the main Adriatic towns, have been computed for a better representation of the regional hazard. The most hazardous area remains identified in the Cephalonia zone, where strong earthquakes frequently occur. The Southern Apennines are characterised by a slightly lower hazard, while the Adriatic Sea itself, the Poplain and the Apulian peninsula are almost aseismic

Seismic hazard assessment for Adria

The Adriatic region was chosen as one of the test areas in the GSHAP program and, consequently, its seismic hazard was computed. The standard hazard map chosen by GSHAP represents PGA with a 475-year return period. Some other parameters, as the spectral acceleration and the uniform hazard response spectra for the main Adriatic towns, have been computed for a better representation of the regional hazard. The most hazardous area remains identified in the Cephalonia zone, where strong earthquakes frequently occur. The Southern Apennines are characterised by a slightly lower hazard, while the Adriatic Sea itself, the Poplain and the Apulian peninsula are almost aseismic

PLAYER – a European Project and a Game to Foster Entrepreneurship Education for Young People

Abstract: Entrepreneurship is widely recognized as one of the basic skills to be acquired through a life-long learning. The European Union, under the guidance of the Oslo Agenda, promotes several initiatives to develop entrepreneurship culture in Europe. Education can make a significant contribution to entrepreneurship, encouraging the development of entrepreneurial attitudes and skills in young people. Serious Games are presently recognised as having an important role and potential in education and social networks emerged in the last years as th

BSHAP seismic source characterization models for the Western Balkan region

This manuscript presents the seismic source characterization models that were developed and used for the Western Balkan region in the framework of Harmonization of Seismic Hazard Maps in the Western Balkan Countries Project (BSHAP II) funded by NATO-Science for Peace and Security Program. Relevant knowledge about the geological and seismotectonic structure of Western Balkans and surrounding region was collected and utilized along with the BSHAP focal mechanism database and the BSHAP earthquake catalogue (Markusic et al. in Bull Earthq Eng 14(2): 321-343, 2016. doi: 10.1007/s10518015- 9833-z) to delineate seismic source models for different purposes. The super zone model of large zones bounds the regions with similar seismotectonic characteristics and catalogue completeness levels and was used for calculating the regional b-value of the magnitude recurrence relationship. Additionally, two models of smaller zones that represent the epistemic uncertainty in source geometry, maximum magnitude and style-of-faulting, were developed to be employed in the two-stage (circular and elliptical) smoothing procedure. Sets of sensitivity analyses are performed to support final estimates of some models' parameters affecting the smoothed seismicity rate. The seismic source models and the logic-tree presented here are to be implemented in the probabilistic seismic hazard assessment for the seismic hazard maps of the Western Balkan region