This study examines the territorial cohesion of Catalonia in terms of political affiliations to Catalan nationalist parties in regional elections between 1980 and 2015. The objective is to evaluate ...the explanatory power of the nationalization thesis, which assumes convergence, uniformity, and nation-wide source of political alignments. Although usually applied to the state-level, the nationalization thesis can do justice to the independence demands of regional nationalist movements as well. The thesis is measured using the two traditional conceptualizations, and a new one which scrutinizes the Catalan-wide distribution of socio-spatial cleavages. The study uses municipal resolution data to provide a detailed insight into Catalan electoral geography. The methods involved include local and global statistical indexes for measuring variation in and distribution of electoral support, and linear and geographically weighted regressions which aim to identify predictor variables and, above all, their spatial (non-)stationarity. The results indicate that spatial patterns of nationalist affiliations are clustered, place-specific, and of a non-stationary character which disproves the nationalization thesis in all its three conceptualizations. As a consequence, the concept of spatial modes within the Catalan territory is introduced.
•Examines spatial patterns of the nationalist political affiliations in Catalonia.•Proposes a new conceptualization to the nationalization thesis.•Employs spatial autocorrelation and GWR to advance research on the measurement methods of territorial nationalization.•Identifies the place-specific character of nationalist support base along with the areas of weak nationalist affiliations.•Rejects the nationalization thesis and introduces the concept of spatial modes.
Unsafe management of human faecal waste represents a major risk for public health, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Efforts to improve sanitation conditions are considerably ...sensitive to contextual specifics of natural and social environments. This review operationalises, analyses, and synthesises evidence of how contextual factors and motivations affect different sanitation outcomes with a specific focus on community approaches to rural sanitation.
We operationalised contextual factors and motivations as determinants that influence sanitation conditions independently of the examined intervention. We conducted a systematic search of both peer-reviewed and grey literature with no restriction on the methods After screening the titles and abstracts of 19,198 records obtained through initial searches, we scrutinised the full content of 621 studies for relevance. While 102 of these studies qualified to be assessed for risk of bias and information content, ultimately, just 40 studies met our eligibility criteria. Of these 40 studies from 16 countries, 26 analysed specific interventions and 14 were non-interventional. None of the experimental studies reported the effects of contextual factors or motivations as operationalised in this study and only observational evidence was thus used in our review. We found that sanitation interventions are typically seen as the principal vehicles of change, the main instruments to fix ‘deviant’ behaviour or ensure access to infrastructure. The programmatic focus of this study on sanitation determinants that act independently of specific interventions questions this narrow understanding of sanitation dynamics. We identified 613 unique observations of quantitatively or qualitatively established relationships between certain contextual factors or motivations and 12 different types of sanitation outcomes. The sanitation determinants were classified into 77 typologically similar groups clustered into 12 broader types and descriptively characterised. We developed a graphical synthesis of evidence in the form of a network model referred to as the sanitation nexus. The sanitation nexus depicts how different groups of determinants interlink different sanitation outcomes. It provides an empirically derived conceptual model of sanitation with an aggregate structure indicating similarities and dissimilarities between sanitation outcomes with respect to how their sets of underlying determinants overlap.
This study challenged the understanding of context as merely something that should be controlled for. Factors that affect targeted outcomes independently of the analysed interventions should be scrutinised and reported. This particularly applies to interventions involving complex human-environment interactions where generalisability is necessarily indirect. We presented a novel approach to comprehending the contextual factors and motivations which influence sanitation outcomes. Our approach can be analogously applied when mapping and organising underlying drivers in other areas of public and environmental health. The sanitation nexus derived in this study is designed to inform practitioners and researchers about sanitation determinants and the outcomes they influence.
During the last decades, North America as well as Europe have experienced a significant boom of craft breweries. While it has been understood mainly as a result of neolocalism, we argue that this ...view is overly unilateral and depending on spatial context. Other factors like glocalization may potentially also affect the emergence of craft breweries. This paper examined the factors influencing the expansion of craft breweries in seven regions of Czechia and Poland, two Central European countries that share similar history but differ in their brewing traditions. Based on semi-structured interviews with representatives of 59 breweries, we identified important similarities but also fundamental differences. Many breweries have indeed been significantly influenced by neolocalism, while some did not capitalize on it, and others even directly rejected it. The role of spatial context has also manifested, particularly through the increased importance of glocalization in several regions.
Práce obsahuje předpovědi počtu zaměstnaných osob na trhu práce v ČR v roce 2015 v členění do 23 ovětvových a 60-ti profesní skupin. Obsahuje také odhad přidané hodnoty v ČR v roce 2015 v členění do ...23 odvětvových skupin.
The subject of research of this presented diploma thesis is the evaluation of the factors that influence the genesis of nationalist aspirations and separatist tendencies on two scale levels: the ...level of Spanish Autonomous Communities, and between comarcas in the Basque Country and Catalonia. Emphasis is placed primarily on the differentiation between the influence of economic aspirations and ethno-national identity. On the theoretical level, the thesis discusses approaches to nationalism, its typology, resources and activation, as well as the development of social organization and the asymmetrical division of powers in Spain. For the purposes of analysis, two indicators of intensity of expressed nationalism are used - constitutional preference and voting behavior - and then each are tested in relation to socio-economic characteristics, ethno-cultural manifestations, or relevant demographic characteristics. The thesis also evaluates the system of set fiscal redistribution between regions and central government.
Regional nationalism and consequent separatist tendencies have a significant impact on the territorial (dis)integration of many countries across the globe, and Europe is no exception. These processes ...contributed to changes in the traditional academic understanding of states as uniform, cohesive, and continuous political entities. Nevertheless, research on territorial and societal cohesion and continuity within regional nationalist movements has so far been neglected, even though this aspect seems to be key to the successful mobilization and goal achievement of separatist movements in heterogeneous democratic societies. This thesis aims to examine the limits of uniformity and continuity, that is, a time-space differentiation in political affiliations to secessionist regional nationalism in Catalonia, including the explanation of a time-space nonstationarity in the effects of factors behind the affiliations. Catalonia is an example of region with intense cultural and inclusive-assimilationist nationalism which proliferates within an ethno-culturally heterogeneous and segregated society. In the last decade, the region has shifted from a phase of everyday, "banal" nationalism to an explicit and dynamic nationalist mobilization, which has been brought about by (and further intensified) the deterioration...
Demand for edible part yields, usually offered as headless carcass or fillets, is continuously increasing in all fish species. Therefore, slaughter yields are interesting traits for genetic ...improvement. However, phenotyping of slaughter yields cannot be done on live breeding candidates and the suitable alternative seems to be utilization of simple yield predictors in indirect selection recorded by ultrasound tomography. In this study, we evaluated the possibility of using ratio of abdominal fillet thickness (E8) either to the abdominal depth (E23) or as alternative to E23 – 2D_d abdominal depth (length between lateral line and abdominal part vertical to the dorsal fin) as predictors for genetic improvement of slaughter yields in common carp. The predictors were recorded on each fish at age of two years (E8/E23_2, E8/2D_d_2) and three years (market size) (E8/E23_3, E8/2D_d_3). An experimental stock was established from a partial factorial mating design of 27 dams and 29 sires. Phenotyping of simple yield predictors, headless carcass and fillet with skin yields (only market size), and other performance traits was done on 987 (second year) and 773 (market size) individuals, uniquely assigned to their parental pair. The predictors recorded on market sized fish showed slightly better heritability (0.41, 0.44), genetic correlations to the slaughter yields (0.78–0.86) and expected genetic gains (1.29–1.54%) of the slaughter yields. However, predictors recorded on two-year old fish showed a solid genetic potential for slaughter yields improvement (h2 = 0.27–0.40; rg = 0.64–0.72, expected genetic gain = 0.93–1.35%). These data suggest that the indirect selection for improved slaughter yields could be performed using simple and quickly-to-measure yield predictors, also applicable in two-year old fish that are much easier for handling and manipulation. These newest results could significantly simplify carp breeding program focused on genetic improvement of slaughter yields.
•Carp slaughter yields can be improved without slaughtering the fish.•Ratio of two ultrasound measurements on live fish may be used for carp slaughter yields improvement.•Selection for slaughter yields can be effectively performed on carps a year before they reach market size.•Abdominal depth measured by ultrasound has its alternative in a dimension recorded by a measuring scale.
Blood lead levels (BLLs) have been falling steadily worldwide due to restricted use of lead (Pb) and its compounds. although they remain above preindustrial Pb levels. Elevated BLL can still be found ...in children living near secondary Pb smelters that represent around 50% of Pb production. There have been no studies on Pb exposure in children living in Serbia ever since the 1980s. The aim of this study was to evaluate the BLLs in children living in two villages in Serbia (Zajača, the location of a secondary lead smelter, and Paskovac, 5 km away), identify the primary determinants of children’s BLLs, and investigate the impact of BLLs on children’s health symptoms and school achievement.
The study was conducted in 2011 on 127 children, aged 1–18 years, whose BLLs were measured using inductively coupled argon plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).
The median BLL in children was 12 μg/dl, with a significantly higher value of 17.5 μg/dl in Zajača, compared to 7.6 μg/dl in Paskovac. Only 1 out of 75 and 12 out of 52 children from Zajača and Paskovac, respectively, had BLLs below the CDC recommended 5 μg/dl level. Living near the smelter resulted in 19 times, and having a father who works in the plant 4 times higher odds of elevated BLLs. No significant effects of elevated BLLs health symptoms were seen in this study.
BLLs of children living near a battery recycling plant in Serbia, an upper-middle income European country, were in the range and even higher than those of children living in developing countries. For the first time, the contribution of environmental and take-home lead exposure was quantified using mixed-effect modeling, and our results indicate a contribution of 25–40% of the take-home lead exposure to the BLLs of children living in the vicinity of a secondary lead smelter.
•Children living near a battery recycling plant had elevated blood lead levels (BLLs).•Children 0–6 years old living closest to the plant had the highest BLLs.•Higher lead exposure was found in children whose fathers worked in the plant.•The contribution of take-home lead exposure was between 25% and 40%.
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