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The review of agglomeration delimitations, agglomerating areas and settlement groups, all playing a decisive role in the settlement structure is a fundamental demand on the part of regional development actors. To this end, the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (HCSO) deemed important to carry out the review using 2022 Population Census data, in order to follow the processes taking place in the domestic settlement structure and to begin the publication of the most significant data based on the new delimitation. Present study briefly summarizes the results after presenting the survey. Points out the ever-increasing importance of commuting, draws attention to the catchment area size defined by commuting. The author highlights the economic importance of delimited settlement structures through the calculation of the economic strength of a settlement and other indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study repeats the analysis published more than 10 years ago by the authors, showing the changes of the last 20 years in terms of the situation and processes of the large cities of Hungary and their catchment areas. It has been determined that the strengthening of catchment area relations can increase the income per inhabitant. We have shown that in terms of development state and progress, large cities and their catchment areas are in fundamentally different situations, the same being true in terms of competitiveness. Finally, the authors grouped the urban areas on basis of territorial differences and the situation and changes in spatial dependence, seeking to quantify the chance of horizontal connections in relation to the centre and catchment area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been previously shown that atmospheric and oceanic heat and moisture transfers play an important role in the development of Arctic warming, and ocean surface temperature anomalies at low latitudes have a significant effect on the formation of transfers. Atmospheric circulation, which transports heat, moisture and precipitation, also affects climatic conditions in the catchment areas of the three main Siberian rivers—the Ob, Yenisei, and Lena—the flow of which is approximately half of the annual average inflow of river water into the Arctic Ocean. According to reanalyses and archival data for 1979–2019, air temperature and precipitation in the Ob, Lena, and Yenisei catchment areas are increasing. The greatest increase in precipitation is recorded in the spring months. There is also a maximum positive trend in air temperature in the spring months (March and April). To assess the impact of low latitudes on changes in climatic conditions in the catchment areas, data from ERA5, HadISST reanalyses, and the GPCC project precipitation gridded gauge-analysis data are used. Based on the average monthly surface air temperature at the nodes of the geographic grid in the Northern Hemisphere, the indices of zonal, meridional, and general circulation are calculated. To determine the relationships between indices and climatic parameters, the methods of multivariate cross-correlation analysis are used. It has been found that zonal atmospheric transfers have a significant impact on climatic conditions most of all in the cold part of the year, especially in November and March. In summer, the increase in zonal circulation is accompanied by a decrease in air temperature in the catchment areas, and meridional transfers increase the temperature. The greatest influence of the meridional transport is noted in spring and summer. Climate changes at low latitudes have the greatest effect in autumn on meridional transport in the spring season and on zonal transport in the cold part of the year, especially in March, with a delay of 2 years. The influence of low latitudes on climatic conditions in water catchments is presented in the form of graphs of correlations of climatic parameters and circulation indices on a generalized scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing global debates surrounding parental school choice underscore the relevance of school place allocation. While there is much research on school choice, the enactment of such allocation policy is rarely analysed. Responding to this research gap, this article investigates how local politicians in Berlin put public primary school place allocation into practice. Building on approaches of policy enactment and policy field analysis, this article examines the 'doing' of Berlin primary school place allocation with the concurrency of catchment areas and parental school choice. Methodologically, this article draws on semi-structured interviews with three inner-city district school department heads in Berlin. Using qualitative content analysis, their political objectives, scope and strategies are analysed. The findings demonstrate that local politicians can interpret the allocation process in line with their political objectives. Consequently, there is surprising variation between the districts' enactment of primary school place allocation policy. Policymakers' political preferences for either school choice or social diversity are influential, as is the local context (e.g. school place shortages). The study highlights the importance of local actors and identifies three political strategies used to influence school place allocation, which might inform local politicians' strategies elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background This study aims to determine the factors associated with health facility deliveries among women of reproductive age in the catchment areas of Kalisizo Hospital, kyotera Methodology This study was conducted in Kyotera, southwest of Masaka, around Kalisizo Hospital. The study population included all mothers (15-49 years) who had attended antenatal care. This study used cross-sectional, mixed methods. Results Women in older age groups 25-29years (APR = 2.339 95% CI:0.120 - 8.56) and 30-34years (APR = 2.676 95% CI:0.600 - 12.38) had a higher likelihood of health facility deliveries compared to adolescents aged 15-19years (APR = 0.499 95% CI:0.050 - .999). Mothers who delayed setting off for delivery after experiencing increased labor pains were likelier to have health facility deliveries (APR = 8.455 95% CI:3.024 - 23.636) than those who immediately set off when they felt labor pains. Most of the participants who had no MCH visits by community health workers in their households were less likely to have health facility deliveries compared to those with such visits (APR= 48.462 95% CI:6.511 - 360.714). Factors include delays in mothers deciding to have a health facility delivery or reaching the health facility in time, skills gaps among birth attendants in the provision of emergency obstetric and newborn care services (EMONC), and more community behavioral practices related to decisions on health facility deliveries. Conclusion Mother’s attendance of ANC during pregnancy, marital status, and mother’s gravidity/parity, availability of skilled birth attendants, MCH visits by community health workers, the experience of complications during and after labor, and set off time during labor to the delivery place were significant determinants of health facility deliveries. Recommendation Programs promoting health facility births in similar settings should prioritize boosting ANC attendance, MCH visits by community health workers, and improving the experiences of mothers at maternal and antenatal wards.

Understanding urban mobility patterns within public transportation (PT) systems is key for cities to improve services and promote sustainable mobility. Exploring daily PT riders’ traffic flows using anonymized big data is a first step to analyze when and to where people travel. Nevertheless, assessing the degree to which PT usage patterns correlate with the spatial distribution of points of interest (POI) and subsequently affect the city structure is less attempted. Classic approaches use questionnaires and survey data that are costly and often yielding limited statistical significance. The purpose of this research is to understand associations between travel patterns of urban commuters and the functional organization of a city. To this end, we propose a network-constrained temporal distance measure for modeling PT rider travel patterns from smart card data; and further introduce a fully autonomous approach to describe the span of services available at catchment areas around metro stations. The end result is a detailed analytical prescription of spatiotemporal commuting patterns in the city of Lisbon as well as an analytical contextual information that enables us to understand the functional modular structure of urban facilities. Using the city of Lisbon as the guiding case study, the gathered results confirm the hypothesis that PT rider’s daily flows along the PT network of metro stations reveal a city modular structure.

Gullies are primary sediment sources that restrict sustainable agricultural development by reducing the quality of soil and destroying farmlands. In the black soil regions of Northeast China, the intensive exploitation and unreasonable cultivation result in severe soil erosion and malignant expansion of gully erosion. However, few gully erosion susceptibility (GES) assessments have been performed in this area, despite being an effective tool to explain the potential of gully occurrence. In this study, four adjacent catchments were selected in Keshan County, the black soil region of Northeast China. The locations of gullies were identified through extensive field surveys and interpreting remote sensing images. We used the random forest machine learning method to establish the spatial relationship between the gully occurrence and ten topographic factors (slope aspect, catchment area, channel network distance, elevation, LS-Factor, plan curvature, profile curvature, stream power index, surface roughness index, and topographic wetness index) and mapped the spatial distribution of GES. The mean decrease accuracy was calculated to identify the importance of the selected variables. The efficiency of the results was tested using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (area under the curve, AUC), accuracy, and kappa coefficient. The results indicate that 35%–42% of the total area in the study region presents high or elevated levels of GES. Although the importance of the topographic factors differed for the four catchments, the LS-Factor and channel network distance were the most important factors that affected gully spatial distribution. The AUC (0.805–0.846), accuracy (0.705–0.754), and kappa coefficient (0.715–0.788) indicated that the random forest model provided a reliable spatial distribution of GES in the study area. Our study demonstrates the potential risk of gully erosion in the black soil region of Northeast China.

This article presents a grid of districts of Russia based on catchment areas of certain transport hubs that provide long-distance passenger rail transport services. It is shown that the existing methods of identifying catchment areas of a particular hub are not suitable for analyzing rail transport. To solve the problem of transport regionalization, an original methodology for identifying catchment areas of passenger railway hubs and points is proposed and then used to identify the catchment areas of 2065 long-distance railway hubs and points on 2016 data. The study uses second-level territorial-administrative units (municipal districts and urban okrugs) as the elementary territorial unit. A total of 488 passenger railway districts that include transport facilities located in the catchment area of the district's central hub are delineated on the territory of Russia. Key parameters of these districts and their passenger traffic structures are studied. The districts are divided into four types based on an analysis of passenger traffic patterns within them: simple (168 districts), complex monocentric (240 districts), complex linear (59 districts), and complex polycentric (21 districts). The possibilities of using the constructed grid of districts for analyzing the spatial structure of the long-distance passenger railway complex are considered. The main disadvantages of the methodology, associated with defects in the source statistical data as well as assumptions made within the study, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The climatic changes of the last 20 years generated a high rainfall intensity that lead a common flash flood risks in the wades of arid regions such as Mecca province. However, both the rapid urban expansion in that province and its small catchments trigger the flash flood risk. Therefore, a spatial plan that orient the urban expansion toward less potential flash flood risk has great importance. Such a plan is carried out by a spatial analysis for the topography, rainfall pattern, drainage network density and sub-catchment areas. Geographic Information Systems is a powerful tool in order for achieving that analysis by the overlaying method. Our research guide urban planner to where has urbanization extended. It is a preliminary study for an analytical and numerical runoff modelling that have to be done for the study area in order to clarify the flooding hazard. Our research indicates that catchment area size and drainage network density are the major two factors that control the spatial distribution of flash flooding and need to be consider for any urban spatial plan. We found that the four major cities in Mecca province are threaten by flash flooding differently in terms of direction and intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socio-spatial inequality and school inequality are strongly related. Where people live affects the opportunities individuals have in life, such as the opportunity to send your children to a good school. The level of urbanisation is related to the number of options people have to choose good schools, so more urbanised areas likely offer more options for good schools. However, the families that can choose good schools are likely families with high income or education levels. Data for this study come from two waves of the Taiwan Youth Project (N = 2,893), which consists of two cohorts of students from 162 classrooms in 40 junior high schools in northern Taiwan. When school quality is proxied by socioeconomic status (SES), the results show that, in general, students from the most urbanised areas, wealthier parents, and higher-educated parents, are more likely to go to higher SES schools. However, the strongest effects are for higher income and higher-educated parents in the most urbanised areas. This suggests that in the most urbanised areas, families have the most options regarding school choice, and richer and more educated families are better able to circumvent school catchment areas, either because they can afford an address in a better catchment area or because they understand the importance of school choice.

This research analyses the socioeconomic and cultural segregation of students across school catchment areas using census data for the students in their second year of secondary education in Andalusia (the most populated region in Spain). The main methodology used is the Mutual Information Index, which satisfies all the desirable properties for measuring segregation. Concretely, we draw upon the additive decomposability property, which decomposes the segregation of students across schools into the different levels in which schools can be grouped, that is, catchment areas and, within catchment areas, by source of funding (public and semiprivate schools). We found that school segregation is greater than catchment areas' segregation. Additionally, statistically significant correlations are found between the level of segregation within the catchment areas and factors such as size of the catchment area, parental level of education and size of the municipality where the school is located. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To estimate impacts, support cost–benefit analyses, and enable project prioritization, it is necessary to identify the area of influence of a transportation infrastructure project. For freight related projects, like ports, state-of-the-practice methods to estimate such areas ignore complex interactions among multimodal supply chains and can be improved by examining the multimodal trips made to and from the facility. While travel demand models estimate multimodal trips, they may not contain robust depictions of water and rail, and do not provide direct observation. Project-specific data including local traffic counts and surveys can be expensive and subjective. This work develops a systematic, objective methodology to identify multimodal "freight-shed" (or "catchment" areas) for a facility from vehicle tracking data and demonstrates application with a case study involving diverse freight port terminals. Observed truck Global Positioning System and maritime Automatic Identification System data are subjected to robust pre-processing algorithms to handle noise, cluster stops, assign data points to the network (map-matching), and address spatial and temporal conflation. The method is applied to 43 port terminals on the Arkansas River to estimate vehicle miles and hours travelled, origin, destination, and pass-through zones, and areas of modal overlap within the catchment areas. Case studies show that the state-of-the-practice 100-mile diameter influence areas include between 15 and 34% of the multimodal freight-shed areas mined from vehicle tracking data, demonstrating that adoption of an arbitrary radial area for different ports would lead to inaccurate estimates of project benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interactions between the Transport and the Land-Use Systems are complex and not widely analysed, causing uncertainties in decision-making processes. New governance tools are needed to support territorial transformations oriented to more sustainable use of soil resources, the transition towards more environmentally friendly transport modes and to greater accessibility equity to transport services. Moreover, these tools have to consider the interactions of external phenomena on the urban system, such as economic crisis and political issues. In this perspective, the research aims at developing a GIS-based methodology able to assess the impacts of interventions on the railway network and nodes on the urban environments, in terms of real estate values, as a proxy of urban requalification. The methodology consists of an ex-post spatial analysis procedure, applied to the city of Naples (Italy), where local and regional planning strategies, during the last decades, have been oriented towards an integrated approach between Transport and Land-Use Systems. The results show that in some catchment areas and concerning some types of properties, the effects of the world economic crisis on the real estate had less effect in terms of fall in prices. Moreover, the results show that the methodology is useful to quantitatively assess ex-post the main impacts of actions aimed at the integration between the Transport and Land-Use Systems, but its application could be extended to support the implementation of these strategies in different territorial context, on the basis of well-known best practices and their economic impacts on urban environment.

Copyright of Migraciones is the property of Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Instituto Universitario de Estudios sobre Migraciones and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Featured Application: The LUPLES method, explained in this paper, allows for the estimation of the level of pressures to which lentic waterbodies are exposed from land uses in the catchment area and direct alterations in their basin. The method can be used to approach the intensity of pressures and the possible effects of land uses in the catchment (and its changes) on the ecological status of lentic waterbodies, as having being validated by the correlation of the LUPLES estimated pressure levels with the metrics measuring impacts according to the Water Framework Directive. The features of lentic waterbodies largely depend on the surrounding environment. Mediterranean coastal lagoons have been historically altered, with their catchment being highly modified for agricultural, livestock, or urban uses. Changes in land uses induce pressures that impact the waterbodies and alter their ecological status. The objectives of this paper were: to develop a methodological approach (LUPLES: Land Uses for estimating Pressure Levels to approach the Ecological Status), to quantify the main pressures on the waterbodies and to forecast the possible impacts of these pressures on their ecological status. Corine-Land Cover maps and Geographic Information System technics were used to delineate and identify land uses in the catchments. Specific algorithms were created to quantify the main pressures from land uses in the catchment and hydro-morphological alterations in the immediate basin. The values of the estimated pressure levels were correlated with ecological status indicators using metrics developed for the European Water Framework Directive. Data were obtained from European and River Basin Authorities databases. Results showed statistically significant correlations between the pressure levels quantified by the LUPLES method and the impact level detected by biological, physical and chemical metrics. This method provides a useful approach to estimate the pressure levels affecting lentic waterbodies and could be applied to approach how they could affect their ecological status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2008, primary school catchment areas were abolished in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW)/Germany. Written several years later, this article's main aim is to provide insights into the impact of the policy reform on parent choice practices and subsequently on educational segregation. Based on a mixed-methods approach, it seeks to understand how being raised in and accustomed to a catchment area system affects parents' understanding of the policy reform and impacts their choice strategies. We demonstrate that the (socially selective) choice of a school outside the former catchment area increased significantly after 2008, leading to a higher level of school segregation, though affecting schools to very different extents. The study clearly reveals that the differences in choice strategies are shaped by the dissimilar conclusions parents from different educational backgrounds draw from the policy reform. While less-educated parents attribute less significance to this early stage of schooling, many well-educated ones interpret the introduction of free choice as an instigation to choose – a perception triggered and intensified by the policy reform. For them, choice is no longer only perceived as an opportunity; through its formalisation it rather seems to become a duty. Thus, by one-sidedly favouring well-educated parents' interests and benefiting their abilities to play the game, the reform seems to perpetuate existing inequalities in choice rather than to alleviate them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The features of lentic waterbodies largely depend on the surrounding environment. Mediterranean coastal lagoons have been historically altered, with their catchment being highly modified for agricultural, livestock, or urban uses. Changes in land uses induce pressures that impact the waterbodies and alter their ecological status. The objectives of this paper were: to develop a methodological approach (LUPLES: Land Uses for estimating Pressure Levels to approach the Ecological Status), to quantify the main pressures on the waterbodies and to forecast the possible impacts of these pressures on their ecological status. Corine-Land Cover maps and Geographic Information System technics were used to delineate and identify land uses in the catchments. Specific algorithms were created to quantify the main pressures from land uses in the catchment and hydro-morphological alterations in the immediate basin. The values of the estimated pressure levels were correlated with ecological status indicators using metrics developed for the European Water Framework Directive. Data were obtained from European and River Basin Authorities databases. Results showed statistically significant correlations between the pressure levels quantified by the LUPLES method and the impact level detected by biological, physical and chemical metrics. This method provides a useful approach to estimate the pressure levels affecting lentic waterbodies and could be applied to approach how they could affect their ecological status.

Highlights • Buyers pay more for houses in over-subscribed boys' grammar schools catchment areas. • Houses in multiple catchments command higher premiums suggesting risk spreading. • Buyers pay more in all ability catchments where pupils are more likely admitted. • Prices of family sized homes have the largest premiums in relation to school choice. Abstract There has been a growing academic and policy debate in the UK on the relationship between school choice, educational performance and house prices. School choice and the chances of attending a good school are important as it relates strongly to educational attainment and qualifications, University entry and access to the labour market. This debate was reinvigorated recently when the Conservative Party announced that state schools which select using academic ability (grammar schools) may be able to expand in England for the first time in decades. Some commentators argued that this may exacerbate and re-enforce existing inequalities in the education system by allowing wealthy parents to 'buy' into a particular grammar school via the housing market, leading to "selection by mortgage" as well as by academic ability. This research investigates the extent to which state schools are capitalised into house prices using Buckinghamshire in England as a case study. It differentiates between grammar schools and all ability state schools, using a novel multi-level specification of the repeat sales model. It concludes that single sex boys' grammar schools attract a higher premium than single sex girls' grammar schools and that in general, grammar schools attract a higher premium than all ability state schools. These premiums are a function of educational attainment and demand for places and tend to vanish once these have been taken into account, although for a small number of schools notable premiums remain, perhaps reflecting school characteristics such as reputation not captured in the models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transformations in the spatial organization of elementary education in the Czech Republic over the last 50 years are examined in this article, via case studies of two rural regions (Turnov district and Zábřeh district). The aim of the study is to investigate the impact of general development trends in elementary schools in territorial detail. Changes in the spatial distribution of schools, the size of school catchment areas, and the main education-related commuter flows are analyzed and visualized in cartographic form, in the context of educational policy and management.

The increasing incidence of floods and droughts from year to year, indicating the destruction of water catchment areas. Opening of the forest to the wake region will be lead to increase floods and droughts in the downstream region, so the level of water availability has declined. Evaluation characteristics of the catchment area as a manufacturers producing surface water and groundwater needs to be done, to assess changes in the characteristics of the catchment area, towards the conservation of water resources can be focused and on target. Because it is associatednwith water results, then evaluation characteristics of the catchment area is done with the approach flow parameters in rainfall models. One of the popular models used rain flow, especially in the Java is FJ.Mock models, this model was developed from research in several watersheds in Java. From the research to changes in catchment characteristics with Mock model approach to Rawapening Reservoir catchment, from year to year decreased infiltration parameter values, whereas the direct flow increased. Refers to changes in the characteristics of the DTA, conservation activities to be done is to increase the infiltration capacity and reduce flow area directly. While the analysis of land use change, forest area declined from year to year and the areas of increased impermeable.

Negative effects of land use change on water resources are among the most important environmental problems widely found in rapidly developing urban areas. Preserving green open spaces, including peri-urban agriculture, has been emphasized in urban planning to maintain or enhance the water catchment capacity of a landscape. However, the effect of agriculture on water-related landscape functions varies depending on the type, distribution, and management of farmland. This paper analyzes the dynamics of agricultural land and its effect on runoff and soil erosion, in order to support agricultural land management in Jabodetabek Metropolitan Area (JMA) with Indonesia’s capital Jakarta at its core. In 2012, agricultural land in JMA covered 53% of the total area, mostly located in the peri-urban zone. Peak Flow and Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) models were used to quantify the increase of runoff and soil erosion in the three most important water catchment areas in JMA caused by an expansion of dryland agriculture and mixed gardens from 1983 to 2012. Critical zones, which generate most of the runoff and soil erosion, were identified in each of the catchment areas. While reforestation of farmland in these zones will be only an option on steep slopes given the great food demands and rural livelihood, adoption of soil and water conservation practices can make a substantial contribution to reduce flood risks and conserve the productivity of agricultural land. A specific set of policy incentives is recommended considering agricultural land use types distribution and their impact on runoff and soil erosion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research into radiotherapy patient flows in England and Italy investigated the degree of self-sufficiency in related service areas across each country. The respective results showed very different patterns, with there apparently being greater patient flow and less self-sufficiency for services in Italy, compared to England. However, close inspection suggested the results were not strictly comparable, despite the data, methodology and analyses being similar and entirely fitting in both cases. The respective studies were consequently compared for a range of criteria: how radiotherapy services are commissioned and provided; cultural expectations; base area definitions; data used; analyses undertaken; and research results. It was found that direct comparisons could not necessarily be drawn because cultural, conceptual, organisational and systemic factors in the delivery of services within each country influenced the results. Therefore, such factors should be taken into account when comparing health services in different countries, particularly in respect of patient flows and service self-sufficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The investigation of catchment areas and the understanding of the behavioral decision process of students is helpful both to the preparation of policy recommendations and to the planning of institutional marketing. In the case of the permanently changing Hungarian higher education system, this is particularly important. In this study we shed new light on the characteristics of catchment areas and the role of geographical distance. Budapest has a key role in the Hungarian higher education system, as half of the nation's students study in the capital and most students admitted to this university city come from significant parts of the country. Nevertheless, the absolute scope of Budapest is much smaller,and in many settlements university choice is strongly divided between the capital, the regional center, and smaller higher education centers. We examine the road accessibility of universities, the travel time to the nearest institute, and the average travel time between the residence of the admitted students and their higher education institutes. Moreover, we explore the role of the high school as an important factor to participation in higher education and in the choice of university. This can be shown clearly in larger settlements that are not tied strongly to any university city, and have their own higher education institutes. These aspects provide us with a ntianced overview of the function of local institutes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural use of pesticides and nitrogen has negatively impacted drinking water quality. In France, 1000 water catchments now face a legal obligation to develop and implement action plans to reduce such pollution. Unfortunately, the action plans suffer from delays, are developed mechanically to strictly comply with a preset list of measures resulting in minimal changes in practices. Their impact is generally insufficient to preserve or restore water quality. In this context, the Co-click’eau method was proposed to elicit the development of locally-relevant catchment action plans by drawing on stakeholder participation and modeling for the design and assessment of scenarios on land-use changes at the whole-catchment scale. The method was tested in 2011–2012 in three different catchments. Our results show that it has a significant role to play in facilitating the development of catchment-specific action plans for which local stakeholders can feel a sense of ownership and commitment. Co-click’eau is also valuable in enhancing collective action by eliciting a process where local stakeholders share their knowledge and explore possible futures. Participation of a wide diversity of local stakeholders, along with a flexible modeling approach makes it possible to take into account local constraints and helps to break down local lock-ins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the spatial influence of High-Speed Rail stations, based on the notion of catchment area. Given the features of High-Speed Rail, its operations can and must serve a role beyond the station and the city in which it is located. Using a spatial systemic approach, this paper proposes a method to analyse the factors that may affect the size and shape of the catchment areas according to the relationship between distance and ridership. This study employs data from surveys of six stations of the Spanish high-speed rail system to apply the model and demonstrates that the context is crucial for regional use. The outcome also proves that other relevant factors should be considered in addition to the network to extend the use of highspeed services and increase its profits, which is a potential approach for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Gully erosion susceptibility (GES) of black soil region in China was assessed. • Ten topographic factors were used to predict gully erosion using random forest model. • Results revealed considerable potential for gully erosion (35.36–42.69 %) • Landforms close to channel network systems were more prone to gully erosion. Gullies are primary sediment sources that restrict sustainable agricultural development by reducing the quality of soil and destroying farmlands. In the black soil regions of Northeast China, the intensive exploitation and unreasonable cultivation result in severe soil erosion and malignant expansion of gully erosion. However, few gully erosion susceptibility (GES) assessments have been performed in this area, despite being an effective tool to explain the potential of gully occurrence. In this study, four adjacent catchments were selected in Keshan County, the black soil region of Northeast China. The locations of gullies were identified through extensive field surveys and interpreting remote sensing images. We used the random forest machine learning method to establish the spatial relationship between the gully occurrence and ten topographic factors (slope aspect, catchment area, channel network distance, elevation, LS-Factor, plan curvature, profile curvature, stream power index, surface roughness index, and topographic wetness index) and mapped the spatial distribution of GES. The mean decrease accuracy was calculated to identify the importance of the selected variables. The efficiency of the results was tested using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (area under the curve, AUC), accuracy, and kappa coefficient. The results indicate that 35%–42% of the total area in the study region presents high or elevated levels of GES. Although the importance of the topographic factors differed for the four catchments, the LS-Factor and channel network distance were the most important factors that affected gully spatial distribution. The AUC (0.805–0.846), accuracy (0.705–0.754), and kappa coefficient (0.715–0.788) indicated that the random forest model provided a reliable spatial distribution of GES in the study area. Our study demonstrates the potential risk of gully erosion in the black soil region of Northeast China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Avian Conservation & Ecology is the property of Resilience Alliance and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Transformations in the spatial organization of elementary education in the Czech Republic over the last 50 years are examined in this article, via case studies of two rural regions (Turnov district and Zábřeh district). The aim of the study is to investigate the impact of general development trends in elementary schools in territorial detail. Changes in the spatial distribution of schools, the size of school catchment areas, and the main education-related commuter flows are analyzed and visualized in cartographic form, in the context of educational policy and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]