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ABSTRACT: Aim: Increasing aridity has driven widespread synchronous fire occurrence in recent decades across North America. The lack of historical (pre‐1880) fire records limits our ability to understand long‐term continental fire‐climate dynamics. The goal of this study is to use tree‐ring reconstructions to determine the relationships between spatiotemporal patterns in historical climate and widespread fire occurrence in North American forests, and whether they are stable through time. This information will address a major knowledge gap required to inform projections of future fire. Location: North American Forests. Time Period: 1750–1880 CE. Major Taxa Studied: Trees. Methods: We applied regionalisation methods to tree‐ring reconstructions of historical summer soil moisture and annual fire occurrence to independently identify broad‐ and fine‐scale climate and fire regions based on common inter‐annual variability. We then tested whether the regions were stable through time and for spatial correspondence between the climate and fire regions. Last, we used correlation analysis to quantify the strength of the fire‐climate associations through time. Results: We found that broad‐scale historical patterns in climate and fire have strong spatial coherence. Although climate and fire regions vary over time, large core areas of the regions were stable. The association between climate and fire varied through time and was strongest in western North America, likely due to a combination of factors, such as the magnitude of drought frequency and severity, as well as varying use of fire by human communities. Main Conclusions: The historical perspective gained through tree‐ring reconstructions of climate and fire patterns and their association suggests that climate‐driven synchrony of fire across large areas of the continent in recent decades is not unprecedented, will likely continue into the future, and may exhibit similar spatial patterns.

Copyright of Dados - Revista de Ciências Sociais is the property of DADOS 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.)

Abstract Skeletal muscle formation involves tight interactions between muscle cells and associated connective tissue fibroblasts. Every muscle displays the same type of organisation, they are innervated in the middle and attached at both extremities to tendons. Myonuclei are heterogeneous along myotubes and regionalised according to these middle and tip domains. During development, as soon as myotubes are formed, myonuclei at muscle tips facing developing tendons display their own molecular program. In addition to molecular heterogeneity, a subset of tip myonuclei has a fibroblastic origin different to the classical somitic origin, highlighting a cellular heterogeneity of myonuclei in foetal myotubes. To gain insights on the functional relevance of myonucleus heterogeneity during limb development, we used 2D culture and co-culture systems to dissociate autonomous processes (occurring in 2D-cultures) from 3D-environment of tissue development. We also assessed the role of muscle contraction in myonucleus heterogeneity in paralysed limb muscles. The regionalisation of cellular heterogeneity was not observed in 2D cell culture systems and paralyzed muscles. The molecular signature of MTJ myonuclei was lost in a dish and paralysed muscles indicating a requirement of 3D-enviroment and muscle contraction for MTJ formation. Tip genes that maintain a regionalized expression at myotube tips in cultures are linked to sarcomeres. The behaviour of regionalized markers in cultured myotubes and paralyzed muscles allows us to speculate whether the genes intervene in myogenesis, myotube attachment or MTJ formation.

Skeletal muscle formation involves tight interactions between muscle cells and associated connective tissue fibroblasts. Every muscle displays the same type of organisation, they are innervated in the middle and attached at both extremities to tendons. Myonuclei are heterogeneous along myotubes and regionalised according to these middle and tip domains. During development, as soon as myotubes are formed, myonuclei at muscle tips facing developing tendons display their own molecular program. In addition to molecular heterogeneity, a subset of tip myonuclei has a fibroblastic origin different to the classical somitic origin, highlighting a cellular heterogeneity of myonuclei in foetal myotubes. To gain insights on the functional relevance of myonucleus heterogeneity during limb development, we used 2D culture and co-culture systems to dissociate autonomous processes (occurring in 2D-cultures) from 3D-environment of tissue development. We also assessed the role of muscle contraction in myonucleus heterogeneity in paralysed limb muscles. The regionalisation of cellular heterogeneity was not observed in 2D cell culture systems and paralyzed muscles. The molecular signature of MTJ myonuclei was lost in a dish and paralysed muscles indicating a requirement of 3D-enviroment and muscle contraction for MTJ formation. Tip genes that maintain a regionalized expression at myotube tips in cultures are linked to sarcomeres. The behaviour of regionalized markers in cultured myotubes and paralyzed muscles allows us to speculate whether the genes intervene in myogenesis, myotube attachment or MTJ formation. Highlights: • The molecular signature of MTJ myonuclei is lost in cultured myotubes and paralysed muscles • Genes expressed in muscle tips that maintain their regionalised expression in cultured myotubes are linked to sarcomeric proteins • Cellular heterogeneity of myonuclei is observed in cultured myotubes but with no regionalisation • BMP signalling regulates fibroblast nucleus incorporation into cultured myotubes [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canadian immigration programs are increasingly emphasizing regionalization in order to contribute to the population base of smaller Canadian communities and to address local labour market needs. Despite frequent Canadian national surveys of public attitudes toward immigrants and immigration, however, little is known about the warmth of the welcome presented to immigrants in regions outside of the large metropolises. The current study involved a representative survey of attitudes toward immigrants and immigration in eleven smaller communities across Canada, including Kamloops (BC), Wood Buffalo (AB), Prince Albert (SK), Brandon (MB), Thunder Bay (ON), Greater Sudbury (ON), Saint-Hyacinthe (QC), Bathurst (NB), Charlottetown (PEI), Cape Breton (NS), and St. John’s (NL). The study also examined the extent to which individual demographic characteristics and two community variables – the size of the community and the immigrant share of the community population – predicted these attitudes. While there were differences between the surveyed communities, overall, residents of these communities were relatively satisfied with Canada’s immigration levels, were quite willing to believe that refugee claimants are “real” refugees and that the Federal Government has control over who can immigrate, and supported bringing in immigrants who have the work skills that the country needs. They were less sure of the integration of immigrants into Canadian society in terms of adopting Canadian values. Younger, female, White and highly educated residents of these communities were more likely to hold positive immigration attitudes. Furthermore, immigrant respondents were more likely to hold positive attitudes toward immigration and less likely to believe that immigrants are not adopting Canadian values and that the government has lost control over who can immigrate. At the community level, residents in communities in which immigrants constitute a higher share of the population were more likely to express negative attitudes toward immigrants and immigration. Overall, the findings provide some optimism for the positive reception that immigrants are likely to receive in smaller Canadian communities. They also demonstrate, however, that attitudes in these communities are not uniform and provide information for community leaders and policy-makers about who is most likely to benefit from interventions to promote more positive attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Investigaciones Regionales is the property of Asociacion Espanola de Ciencia Regional 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.)

Purpose: Anthropogenic activities are a major driver of soil and land degradation. Due to the spatial heterogeneity of soil properties and the global nature of most value chains, the modelling of the impacts of land use on soil quality for application in life cycle assessment (LCA) requires a regionalised assessment with global coverage. This paper proposes an approach to quantify the impacts of land use on soil quality, using changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks as a proxy, following the latest recommendation of the Life Cycle Initiative. Methods: An operational set of SOC-based characterisation factors for land occupation and land transformation were derived using spatial datasets (1 km resolution) and aggregated at the national and global levels. The developed characterisation factors were tested by means of a case study analysis, investigating the impact on soil quality caused by land use activities necessary to provide three alternative energy supply systems for passenger car transport (biomethane, ethanol, and solar electricity). Results obtained by applying characterisation factors at local, regional, and national levels were compared, to investigate the role of the level of regionalisation on the resulting impacts. Results and discussion: Global maps of characterisation factors are presented for the 56 land use types commonly used in LCA databases, together with national and global values. Urban and industrial land uses present the highest impacts on SOC stocks, followed by severely degraded pastures and intensively managed arable lands. Instead, values obtained for extensive pastures, flooded crops, and urban green areas often report an increase in SOC stocks. Results show that the ranking of impacts of the three energy systems considered in the case study analysis is not affected by the level of regionalisation of the analysis. In the case of biomethane energy supply, impacts assessed using national characterisation factors are more than double those obtained with local characterisation factors, with less significant differences in the other two cases. Conclusions: The integration of soil quality aspects in life cycle impact assessment methods is a crucial challenge due to the key role of soil conservation in ensuring food security and environmental protection. This approach allows the quantification of land use impacts on SOC stocks, taken as a proxy of soil quality. Further research needs to improve the assessment of land use impacts in LCA are identified, such as the ability to reflect the effects of agricultural and forestry management practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geo‐political tensions and disruptions to global value chains have led policymakers to re‐evaluate their approach to globalisation. Many countries are considering friendshoring – trading primarily with countries sharing similar values – as a way of minimising exposure to weaponisation of trade and securing access to critical inputs. If followed through, this process has the potential to reverse global economic integration of recent decades. This article estimates the economic costs of friendshoring using a quantitative model incorporating inter‐country inter‐industry linkages. The results suggest that friendshoring may lead to real GDP losses of up to 4.7% of GDP in some economies. Thus, although friendshoring may provide insurance against extreme disruptions and increase the security of supply of vital inputs, it would come at a substantial cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Planetary Boundaries (PBs) pioneering approach defines environmental sustainability in terms of a Safe Operating Space (SOS) for human’s society to develop and thrive. The approach has found fertile ground in combination with Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) - a standardised method for assessing the environmental impacts of product systems. In this article, we conduct a detailed review of existing approaches to embed PBs in LCA. We start by exploring the links between PBs control variables and LCA impact categories and then focus on reviewing three approaches (i) absolute environmental sustainability assessment (AESA), (ii) PBs-based normalisation and (iii) PBs-based weighting. We examine four key methodological aspects covering harmonisation of units (between PBs control variables and LCA indicators), definition and allocation of the SOS, regionalisation of boundaries and temporal aspects. We conclude the review with a discussion on applicability, limitations, policy implications and conclusions.

The paper explores the application of the gravity model, namely the delineation of the urban predominant influence areas via the generation of the multiplicatively weighted Voronoi diagram, to the socio-economic regionalisation and administrative territorial division of Ukraine, including the existing state of affairs and several proposals on their improvement. The research uses quantitative statistical data on interregional migration and rail passenger traffic within the country, processed via the Statistica analytics software, and a subsequent spatial analysis conducted by GIS. The findings suggest that the gravity model can serve as a tool for optimisation the administrative territorial division, as well as for the delineation of the planning regions and urban hinterlands. At the same time, it has certain limitations and should not be treated as a panacea for regional planning and development.

Student mobility constitutes a core pillar of higher education internationalisation. Reflecting wider global trends, Canada and the EU have increasingly prioritised equity and inclusion in their student mobility programmes. Canada’s Global Skills Opportunity programme, launched in 2021, provides federal funding specifically to low-income students, students with disabilities, and Indigenous students. The EU’s Erasmus Programme has a long-standing tradition of community-building through inclusive student mobility. This article traces the principle of inclusion as a mobility rationale and analyses the role of the federal government in Canada and the European Commission in the EU supporting it. Using a policy framing lens, this study compares problem definitions, policy rationales, and solutions for federal/supranational involvement in student mobility. Findings show that inclusiveness has been an underlying silent value, yet it has mostly supported larger political and economic goals in both contexts.

Design flood estimation is an essential step in many water engineering design tasks such as the planning and design of infrastructure to reduce flood damage. Flood frequency analysis (FFA) is widely used in estimating design floods when the at-site flood data length is adequate. One of the problems in FFA with an annual maxima (AM) modeling approach is deciding how to handle smaller discharge values (outliers) in the selected AM flood series at a given station. The objective of this paper is to explore how the practice of censoring (which involves adjusting for smaller discharge values in FFA) affects flood quantile estimates in FFA. In this regard, two commonly used probability distributions, log-Pearson type 3 (LP3) and generalized extreme value distribution (GEV), are used. The multiple Grubbs and Beck (MGB) test is used to identify low-flow outliers in the selected AM flood series at 582 Australian stream gauging stations. It is found that censoring is required for 71% of the selected stations in using the MGB test with the LP3 distribution. The differences in flood quantile estimates between LP3 (with MGB test and censoring) and GEV distribution (without censoring) increase as the return period reduces. A modest correlation is found (for South Australian catchments) between censoring and the selected catchment characteristics (correlation coefficient: 0.43), with statistically significant associations for the mean annual rainfall and catchment shape factor. The findings of this study will be useful to practicing hydrologists in Australia and other countries to estimate design floods using AM flood data by FFA. Moreover, it may assist in updating Australian Rainfall and Runoff (national guide). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Streamflow prediction in ungauged basins (PUB) is necessary for effective water resource management, flood assessment, and hydraulic engineering design. Spain is one of the countries in Europe expected to suffer the most from the consequences of climate change, notably an increase in flooding. The authors selected the Miño River basin in the northwest of Spain, which covers an area of 2,168 km2, to develop a novel approach for predicting streamflow in ungauged basins. This study presents a regionalisation of the soil and water assessment tool (SWAT), a semi-distributed, physically based hydrological model. The regionalisation approach transfers SWAT model parameters based on hydrological similarities between gauged and ungauged subbasins. The authors used k-means and expectation−maximisation (EM) machine learning clustering techniques to group 30 subbasins (9 gauged subbasins) into homogeneous, physical, similarity-based clusters. Furthermore, the regionalisation featured physiographic attributes (basin area, elevation, and channel length and slope) and climatic information (precipitation and temperature) for each subbasin. For each homogeneous group, the SWAT model was calibrated and validated for the gauged basins (donor basins), and the calibrated parameters were transferred to the pseudo-ungauged basins (receptor basins) for streamflow prediction. The results of the streamflow prediction in the pseudo-ungauged basins demonstrate satisfactory performance in most of the cases, with average NSE, R2, RSR, and RMSE values of 0.78, 0.91, 0.42, and 5.10 m3/s, respectively. The results contribute to water planning and management and flood estimation in the studied region and similar areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional integration theory can explain past and present processes of cross-strait integration and disintegration. Historical institutionalism can analyse how the path dependence of the 'One China policy' shapes cross-strait relations until today and how fundamental changes can occur through critical junctures. Neofunctionalism can well explain the dynamics of economic integration through spillovers and spillbacks driven by transnational actors since the 1980s. Liberal intergovernmentalism can shed light on the bargaining processes and their outcomes during the negotiation of various cross-strait agreements under the Ma Ying-jeou administration. Postfunctionalism offers the best explanation for the central role that identity has played in cross-strait relations, in particular since 2014. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In all countries, cities and their suburbs are the most densely populated areas. They are also the places visited by the largest number of tourists and one-day visitors, who inevitably run the risk of becoming victims of crime. It is, therefore, important, not only at national but also at the international level, to know the structure of urban crime and identify urban areas that differ in terms of their criminogenic situation. This requires a geographical approach and regionalisation based on the quantitative data that can offer it. This paper presents the results of a study using big data regarding violent crime, property crime and infringements against public order registered by the police in 2020 in the territories of three major Lithuanian cities and their suburbs (n = 149,239). Events in open spaces were separately addressed. A series of experiments were carried out using several spatial clustering methods. The automatic zoning procedure method that gave the best statistical results was then tested with different combinations of parameters. In each city, seven types of areas of urban crime were identified. Maps of crime areas (regions) were created for each city. The results of the regionalisation have been interpreted from a socio-geographical point of view and conform with previous sociological urban studies. Seven types of areas of crime have been identified, which are present in all the cities studied and, according to a preliminary assessment, roughly correspond to the socio-demographic and urban zones of each city. The maps of crime areas can be applied for crime prevention planning and communication, real estate valuation, strategic urban development planning and other purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks (VSIP) as a main case, we investigate whether and how Singapore's regionalisation strategies and its unique mode of exporting urban expertise have played a role in development and investment outcomes in Vietnam. We focus on Singapore's unique positioning in Southeast Asia, the involvement of the government-linked company (GLC) with the entrepreneurial spirit and tight curation to export the 'Singapore model', as well as the urban model itself, characterised by compact development, hierarchical system and city branding. Our analyses suggest that these features helped the VSIP not only enjoy political acceptance and administrative assistance from the Vietnamese government during the development process, but also differentiate the physical plans of its projects from those of other industrial parks. We also demonstrate that the Singapore GLC's leadership to imitate the Singapore model of industrial parks has a significant, positive association with actual investment in VSIPs. We find that this leadership, with tight curation, has contributed to keeping the Singapore model more or less intact in Vietnam. Our research adds the evidence-based understanding to the scholarship on regionalisation and circulation of urban expertise, especially within Southeast Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydromorphological assessment of watercourses provides much valuable information about the riverbed and its immediate surroundings, including the influence of geographical environmental factors along with anthropogenic pressures in the catchment area. This paper presents diversity of hydromorphological conditions of 77 sections located on 39 watercourses in southern Poland in three European ecoregions: Eastern Plains, Central Plains and the Carpathians. The study was based on the Hydromorphological Index for Rivers (HIR) method and two sub-indices: Hydromorphological Diversity Score (HDS) and Hydromorphological Modification Score (HMS). Basic and multi-dimensional statistical analyses were performed to identify the main gradients of the geographical environment and the variables that contribute most to the total variability of HIR. The highest mean HIR values were recorded in the Carpathians ecoregion, then in the Central Plains and the lowest in the Eastern Plains, 0.70, 0.67 and 0.58, respectively. Significant differences were found between the Carpathians and Eastern Plains ecoregions in HIR values obtained. Hydromorphological differentiation is most influenced by altitude and geological type. The cluster analysis enabled two main groups of watercourses to be distinguished - the first one was dominated by variables showing HMS > HDS relationship, while the second one was dominated by HDS > HMS relationship. Multi-dimensional analysis provided additional information on the relationships between the variables and the sections studied. The greatest positive impact on the formation of the final HIR value had the variation of the riverbed slope and natural morphological elements of the bed bottom, while the greatest negative impact on HIR had the transformations observed in spot-check.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context and Background: Changes in the way powers are structured in Morocco have had an impact on the dynamics linking territorial stakeholders and on territorial development. Indeed, following the innovations of the 2011 Constitution and the process of advanced regionalization, territorial stakeholders have been given new prerogatives and responsibilities, with the aim of reframing the scope of public policy, which is now intended to be more territorialized and therefore more democratic. Goal and Objectives: Analyze developments in territorial public action in the light of interactions between territorial stakeholders with a view of identifying the dynamics and challenges of the territorial construction process. Methodology: This is an attempt to qualitative analysis of political-institutional developments based on a cross-study combining analysis of doctrinal foundations and appreciation of official documents. Results: Many stakeholders are involved in this regional reconstruction, which is bound to change the way public policies are conceived. Whether it's a simple change of scale or a shift in an entire political paradigm, this adjustment could have effects on both the design of public policy and the functions of the stakeholder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the application of the gravity model, namely the delineation of the urban predominant influence areas via the generation of the multiplicatively weighted Voronoi diagram, to the socio-economic regionalisation and administrative territorial division of Ukraine, including the existing state of affairs and several proposals on their improvement. The research uses quantitative statistical data on interregional migration and rail passenger traffic within the country, processed via the Statistica analytics software, and a subsequent spatial analysis conducted by GIS. The findings suggest that the gravity model can serve as a tool for optimisation the administrative territorial division, as well as for the delineation of the planning regions and urban hinterlands. At the same time, it has certain limitations and should not be treated as a panacea for regional planning and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student mobility constitutes a core pillar of higher education internationalisation. Reflecting wider global trends, Canada and the EU have increasingly prioritised equity and inclusion in their student mobility programmes. Canada’s Global Skills Opportunity programme, launched in 2021, provides federal funding specifically to low‐income students, students with disabilities, and Indigenous students. The EU’s Erasmus Programme has a long‐standing tradition of community‐building through inclusive student mobility. This article traces the principle of inclusion as a mobility rationale and analyses the role of the federal government in Canada and the European Commission in the EU supporting it. Using a policy framing lens, this study compares problem definitions, policy rationales, and solutions for federal/supranational involvement in student mobility. Findings show that inclusiveness has been an underlying silent value, yet it has mostly supported larger political and economic goals in both contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge-intensive services are regarded as drivers of innovation and globalisation processes, and are mainly concentrated in large cities and metropolitan areas in the urban system. However, regionalisation processes of knowledge activities are increasing in the city-regional environment, which leads to a relief of the core cities and to an upgrading of the surrounding regions. The aim of this work was to present these regionalisation processes in the areas surrounding Germany's 50 large city regions in terms of knowledge bases (analytical, synthetic, symbolic) for the period 2012–2019. The focus was on a differentiation of the large city regions into core areas and wider surrounding areas. Employment data from the Federal Employment Agency were used for the analysis. Firstly, we examined the change in importance of the core and wider surrounding areas in comparison to all large city regions in the German urban system in order to identify particular focal points of knowledge-economy development. Secondly, we looked at changes in the core and wider surrounding areas within the individual city regions in terms of different forms of knowledge. Finally, we argue for possible further theoretical developments regarding the importance of city-regional contexts in the field of knowledge-intensive services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Commission recently incentivized universities to establish alliances in order to institutionalise regional collaboration through the European Universities Initiative (EUI). Alliances are envisioned to maintain Europe's global position and enhance regional integration. Their mission statements are ways of signalling identity and legitimacy and are used for strategic planning and performance frameworks. This study explores how 31 EUI alliances communicate their identity using insights from institutional theory and strategic balance. Findings reveal that EUI alliances anchor their identity within low risk and easily accepted areas of value to stakeholders and project homogenisation in regionally institutionalised areas. However, alliance missions also articulate in varying levels of detail a range of ambitions in claims, which demonstrate areas alliances chose to distinguish themselves. The findings provide insight into how alliances exert bounded agency within a regional initiative and highlight potentially competing tensions within the initiative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparisons of recent global forest products at higher resolutions that are only available annually have shown major disagreements among forested areas in highly fragmented landscapes. A holistic reductionist framework and colourimetry were applied to create a chorologic typology of environmental indicators to map forest extent with an emphasis on large-scale performance, interpretability/communication, and spatial–temporal scalability. Interpretation keys were created to identify forest and non-forest features, and a set of candidate tree cover indices were developed and compared with a decision matrix of prescribed criteria. The candidate indices were intentionally limited to those applying only the visible and NIR bands to obtain the highest possible resolution and be compatible with commonly available multispectral satellites and higher resolution sensors, including aerial and potentially UAV/drone sensors. A new High-Resolution Tree Cover Index (HRTCI) in combination with the Green band was selected as the best index based on scores from the decision matrix. To further improve the performance of the indices, the chorologic typology included two insolation indices, a water index and a NIR surface saturation index, to exclude any remaining spectrally similar but unrelated land cover features such as agriculture, water, and built-up features using a process of elimination. The approach was applied to the four seasons across a wide range of ecosystems in south-eastern Australia, with and without regionalisation, to identify which season produces the most accurate results for each ecoregion and to assess the potential for mitigating the spatial–temporal scaling effects of the Modifiable Spatio-Temporal Unit Problem. Autumn was found to be the most effective season, yielding overall accuracies of 94.19% for the full extent, 95.79% for the temperate zone, and 95.71% for the arid zone. It produced the greatest spatial agreement between two recognised global products, the GEDI forest heights extent and the ESA WorldCover Tree cover class. The performance, transparency, and scalability of the approach should provide the basis for a framework for globally relatable forest monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the tourism sector, sustainability has become a principal goal in destination management to strengthen the competitiveness and attractiveness of destinations. However, when it comes to sustainability, there is no absolute scale to conduct spatial analysis. In this article, we propose regions as a unit of analysis for sustainability assessments. Our empirical approach aims to assign regional variability to national indicators, which would make it possible to achieve a good compromise between data availability and comparability and the value of scaling down to consider local details. This approach would enable combining rich information sets based on existing indicators with the wide availability of quantitative regional indicators freely obtainable from official statistics sources, such as Eurostat. Using the Tourism & Travel Competitiveness Index framework as a starting point, we develop regional sustainability indicators for the 281 NUTS-2 European regions. Therefore, this article contributes to the regionalisation of national indicators, which enables monitoring not only the individual level of destination sustainability but also its standing among all other European regions. Moreover, we develop a practical tool for continuously monitoring and benchmarking EU regions' sustainable development, which can assist stakeholders in their decision-making processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Central Europe is usually defined as a ‘cleavage’ between the East and the West, or as a conflict zone that was affected by two tendencies in its historical past; the idea of unity that implies a homogeneous region and resistance to these efforts, and the struggle for autonomy of the people living in Central Europe. Thus, this dual perception appears in its in-between position that allows adopting Western values while keeping Eastern traditions at the same time. The purpose of the paper is to examine whether the postmodern perception of borders, the problem of a “borderless Europe”, and the perception of Orientalism as a critical framework originally aimed at understanding Western (imperialist) mechanisms, can be adapted to grasp identity-building issues in our region. This paper aims to examine how the perception of “East”, and “Central” appears in the post-totalitarian world, the legacy of post-colonialism, and the growing geopolitical importance of orientation.

Study Region: The present study was conducted in 24 watersheds located in the region of Galicia, in the northwest of Spain, covering an extension of approximately 13,000 km2.Study focus: This study is focused on the application and evaluation of different schemes for streamflow Prediction in Ungauged Basins (PUB). The MHIA model (Spanish acronym for Modelo HIdrológico Agregado), is first used to reproduce the observed time series of discharge in several gauged basins. Then, six different regionalisation schemes are applied to transfer the hydrological model parameters to ungauged catchments. For that purpose, we explore and compare two physical similarity, two spatial proximity and two regression-based regionalisation schemes. Output averaging (also known as ensemble modelling) as well as parameter averaging implementations of the physical similarity and spatial proximity methods are analysed.New hydrological insights: The most efficient methods are those based on output averaging, with acceptable success rates (SR) in 88% of the cases. On the other hand, the parameter averaging-based methods have the lowest SR. The methods based on spatial proximity output averaging provide the best performance when the receptor basin has a sufficient number of nearby donor basins. On the other hand, the methods based on physical similarity output averaging show a better performance in areas where there is a low density of donor catchments. The regression-based methods showed the lowest performance in all cases. The existence of correlations between the performance of the regionalisation schemes and the area of the receptor catchments was observed, with higher performances in large basins than in small basins.

This systematic literature review and meta-synthesis aimed to explore the impact of regionalisation of hospital services on healthcare costs. The authors searched PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, EBSCO, Google Scholar, Web of Science and Cochrane Library databases to identify relevant studies, with no limits based on year of publication or country. Search terms included the key words 'regionalisation', 'hospital' and 'cost', along with related terms. Of the 310 identified studies, 37 were included in the final review. A meta-synthesis was carried out to assess the primary outcome measure of costs in regional hospitals, as well as the secondary outcome measures of patient mortality rates, length of stay and accessibility. A total of 28 studies suggested that regional hospitals had lower long-term costs than non-regional hospitals, largely because of the skills and experience of the clinical teams, as well as investment in specialist medical equipment. Other identified benefits were reduced length of stay and lower patient mortality rates. However, some studies indicated that regionalisation did not entirely eliminate problems relating to patient access, with implications for further study and policy considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Language Problems & Language Planning is the property of John Benjamins Publishing Co. 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.)

By examining the structural-political and discursive origins of rural-serving regional public library systems in British Columbia and Saskatchewan, this paper investigates a key phenomenon in the development of the modern welfare state in Canada, the phenomenon of intra-provincial regionalisation. From the perspective of rural communities, regionalisation currently appears as part of neo-liberal strategy on the part of senior levels of government, involving a reduced commitment to social welfare and the simultaneous offloading of responsibilities onto local governments and undermining of local authority. Rural public library service in Canada, however, was often instituted through the regionalisation of that service. This paper, then, describes two moments of regionalisation in rural Canada in the twentieth century, the first, happening from the 1930s to the early 1950s with the creation of regional public library systems, contrasting sharply with the second, the experience of regionalisation in rural places since the 1980s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digital image correlation method is a high precision and non-contact ground deformation monitoring method, which is widely used in surface deformation monitoring. However, according to its principle, different surface characteristics have great influence on the monitoring results. In this paper, a regional digital image slope monitoring method is established to meet the monitoring requirements of different areas of the same slope. Firstly, the features of different regions in the image are identified according to the optical region detection, and then the deformation calculation method is matched according to the features of different regions. Finally, according to the binocular vision principle, the three-dimensional displacement of the slope is obtained. Taking a highway slope in Qinhuangdao as an example, we realised all-weather and full-field deformation monitoring of slope, and verified the applicability and feasibility of regional digital image slope monitoring method. The applicability of digital image correlation method in slope monitoring is improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revija za Sociologiju is the property of Revija za Sociologiju 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.)