Size Of Catchment Area Research Articles

Local Partnership for Economic Development: Business Links and the Restructuring of SME Support Networks in the United Kingdom

A key feature of British enterprise development policies is the launch in 1992 of a network of business link partnerships to rationalize the local provision of business support services for small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across England. This article examines the ways in which business links are expected to add value to the existing infrastructure and evaluates the effectiveness of the initiative 3 years after its announcement. Despite very significant differences in operations, size of catchment area, and legal structures between business link partnerships, similar problems have emerged. The common set of potentially damaging issues identified can be tackled locally by establishing collaborative-competitive partnerships and by increasing the role of local authorities. Nationally, central government consistently and continuously should use its leverage, resulting from its control over resources, to support the objectives it has set for business links.

Palaeoecology of pleniglacial sediments from the Venezuelan Andes. Palynological record of El Caballo stadial, sedimentation rates and glacier retreat

Palynological analyses of fluvio-glacial sediments from Mesa del Caballo (3500 m a.s.l.), in the Venezuelan Andes, allowed reconstruction of palaeoenvironments of high altitudes close to the Last Glacial Maximum. A stadial, called El Caballo, is reported at 16.5 ka B.P. The estimated average temperature was around 7°C lower than today, and coincides with the Colombian Fúquene stadial and the global oxygen-isotopic Stage 2. The rate of sedimentation of the whole Mesa del Caballo sequence has been up to 50 times higher than others in the Venezuelan Andes. This rate declines exponentially with altitude for a range of sites, and is probably related to the amount of erosion and the size of catchment area. Also, a direct relationship exists between sedimentation rates and the age of sediments. To explain this it is necessary to take into account the decreasing age of sediments with increasing altitude, because of the removing of older sediments by glaciers during the LGM, combined with the sequential filling of rock cavities upwards during the deglaciation. The average velocity of altitudinal glacier retreat since El Caballo stadial until the present day has been 7.3 cm/yr. It has not been constant through time. The maximum occurred in the last centuries, after the Little Ice Age (Piedras Blancas cold phase), and the minimum after the Miranda warm phase, around 2.5 ka B.P. Negative retreat values or readvance coincide with the La Culata cold phase. Taxonomic and autoecological studies of unidentified palynomorphs, as well as palaeolimnological analyses (diatoms and sediment chemistry) will be reported elsewhere.

Factors influencing organochlorine uptake in age-0 brown trout (Salmo trutta) in lotic environments

In 1994 and 1995, we investigated the relationship between stream morphology and water chemistry and levels of organochlorines (HCB, PCB, and DDT) in young-of-the-year brown trout (Salmo trutta) from 25 streams in southern Sweden. Contrary to earlier findings for lakes, we found a positive relationship between trophic status (total phosphorus) and uptake of persistent pollutants in stream biota (trout). This difference between benthic, stream environments and pelagic, lake environments may be related to processes affecting pollutant uptake, i.e., pollutant ``spiralling'' or the shift from heterotrophy to autotrophy in streams. Land use in the catchment area of the streams also affected pollutant levels in trout, with higher levels in agricultural landscapes and lower levels in forested areas. Size of catchment area, however, did not influence uptake of pollutants in trout. The results indicate that eutrophication of streams by agricultural activities and excessive nutrient loading may increase uptake of persistent pollutants in stream biota.

Catchment areas in general practice and their relation to size and quality of practice and deprivation: a descriptive study in one London borough.

To relate the sizes of general practice catchment areas in one London borough to list size, deprivation payments, medical staffing, and locally and nationally recognised measures of quality. Study of general practice catchment area maps. London borough of Lambeth. 60 out of the 71 general practices in Lambeth. Practice catchment area size with corrections for numbers of doctors and patients. Catchment area size varied greatly between practices, showing an almost 150-fold difference between the largest and smallest practices. This size differential was even more marked when the size of the catchment area was corrected for the number of general practitioners in the practice, where a 300-fold difference was found. Substantial differences existed between practices in each of the four locally assigned quality bands. The weakest practices had catchment areas three times as large as those of the strongest practices. When corrected for medical staffing, the difference was eight times as great. A calculated measure of patient dispersion showed that the practice population of the strongest practices was four times as densely clustered as that of the weakest practices, whose patients were more widely geographically dispersed. Large variations exist in the size of catchment areas of inner city practices even when corrected for numbers of doctors and patients. These differences are associated with variations in quality of care.

Privatization and Cutbacks: Social Work and Client Impressions of Service Delivery in Massachusetts

Ronald Reagan's presidency in the 1980s saw a philosophical shift on the federal level from the public commitment of the Great Society programs toward privatization of public services and individual solutions to problems (Abramovitz, 1986; Arches, 1991; Binner, 1988; Kamerman & Kahn, 1989; Palmer & Sawhill, 1984). In Massachusetts, budget cutbacks and privatization of social services have accelerated under Republican Governor William Weld (Beacon Hill Institute, 1992). In January 1992, Health Pro, a private company, took over assessing all claims for the Emergency Relief for the Elderly, Disabled and Children Program (formerly known as relief). The fiscal year 1992 budget for the program was cut 23 percent, denying services to 10,000 former recipients (Much Pain, 1992). At the same time, a managed care system took over Medicaid services, and the Medicaid budget was reduced by $395 million, disqualifying 9,000 clients (Much Pain, 1992). Many definitions and forms of privatization exist. Privatization generally means the transfer of government services from the public sector to private resources. This process includes divesting state-owned enterprises, raising user fees, allowing the private sector to provide services either in place of or in competition with government, and contracting out service delivery to private firms through a competitive bidding process (Beacon Hill Institute, 1992; Berg, cited in Goodrich, 1988; Bill Restricts, 1993; Schlesinger, Dorwart, & Pulice, 1986). Privatization of social services has meant a greater role for private enterprise in a scaled-down welfare state (Abramovitz, 1986). The Massachusetts experience is relevant for people in other states, because privatization and reductions in funds for social services continue to be trends throughout the United States. The authors conducted a qualitative study to examine social worker and client impressions of changes in agency policy and service delivery in Massachusetts from September 1991 to May 1992. The results presented here contribute to an in-depth understanding of cutbacks and privatization from the perspective of professional social workers, a perspective that has not been well documented in the literature. Such data are important to ensure the validity of the accumulated knowledge base of social services delivery during these politically conservative times. A future large-scale, quantitative study requires the richness and fullness of understanding presented here. Literature Review The 1980s saw an increase in the centralization of departments and in the size of catchment areas for emergency services (Scherl & Schmetzer, 1989). Case management, day treatment, and residential services were substituted for more costly clinical services (Jerrell & Larsen, 1986) such as prevention and outreach (Jerrell & Larsen, 1985; Larsen, 1987; Wineburg, Sparks, & Finn, 1983), consultation and evaluation (Larsen, 1987), and direct services (Terrell, 1981). Hospitalizations of mentally ill people increased (Jerrell & Larsen, 1986; Larsen, 1987; Runck, 1984; Searight, Handal, & McCauliffe, 1989; Scherl & Schmetzer, 1989; Suber, Shumway, Shadoan, & Harbreaves, 1986; Wineburg et al., 1983), and the number of inpatient beds decreased (Searight et al., 1989). An accompanying trend is the reduction of professional social work services in favor of managed care provisions. Utilization review procedures, both for Medicaid (Suber et al., 1986) and private insurers, particularly health maintenance organizations, have resulted in treatment time limits replacing clinical judgment (Borenstein, 1990). Also, by the mid-1980s there was a significant shift away from education and prevention services (Jerrell & Larsen, 1985). Social workers have reported a higher level of burnout and lowered morale in general (Arches, 1991; Baldwin, 1990; Ebben, Bliss, & Perlman, 1991; Jerrell & Larsen, 1985; McNeely, 1988; Wineburg et al. …

Grocery Store Saturation:

Saturation of retail stores, at national and local levels, is a cause for concern in Britain. Attempts to define saturation in grocery retailing and to investigate its relationships with market penetration and catchment area size. Discusses the differing views of commentators and retailers, and considers saturation in the light of the intensifying competition between a small number of major grocery retailers. Explores the implications of this process of competition through a theoretical analysis and case studies of apparent saturation within local markets. Concludes that grocery store development can and will continue even when local markets appear to be saturated and looks briefly at the implications for retail planning.

The impact of climate change, tectonism and hydrology on the formation of Carboniferous tropical intermontane mires: the Springhill coalfield, Cumberland Basin, Nova Scotia

Both climate and tectonism are influential in determining basin and mire hydrology. In the rapidly subsiding intermontane basins of Euramerica which formed in response to the Variscan-Hercynian-Alleghenian orogeny, however, the record of climate change has been muted and may therefore go unrecognized. The complex interplay of climate and tectonism in a tropical continental setting is recorded in the > 4 km thick Westphalian A-B fill of the Cumberland Basin. Thick peat accumulation was favoured at the southern basin margin where rheotrophic forested mires 4–9 km wide flourished between basin-axis rivers and coalesced alluvial fans derived from the Cobequid highlands. As a result of their geomorphic setting the thicker coals (⩽ 4.3 m) exhibit distinct areal zones: piedmont, inner mire and riverine. Evidence that the forest swamps were nourished both by rainfall and by groundwater discharge from alluvial fans includes the stratigraphic affinity of thick coals and basin-margin conglomerates, interfingering of distal fan sheetflood and mire deposits, petrographic evidence of elevated pH (partial gelification of tissues), and predominance of the arboreous lycopsids Lepidodendron and Paralycopodites. Whereas such groundwater supply is crucial to maintenance of modern wetlands in drier periods, a subhumid climate is implied. Coals at Joggins, further removed from groundwater discharge at the basin margin, are less well developed. A 600-m thick “coal window” within the fining and reddening upward basin-fill sequence at Springhill is inferred to represent a coincidence of optimal groundwater supply and net subsidence. The ultimate decline of peat accumulation in the basin may reflect decrease in catchment area and fan size and loss of rainshadow as the Cobequid Massif was denuded and the basin filled. The coal window [ca. (6−9) × 10 5 yr] is punctuated by non-marine cyclothems of coal, grey sideritic mudrock and multistorey sandstone that share similar time frames with astronomic cycles of axial precession [ca. (1−4) × 10 4 yr]. The stress of related climate change is inferred to have caused peat accumulation to fall into disequilibrium with sediment flux and basin subsidence. The Late Quaternary history of certain African mires illustrates the dramatic impact of climate change (especially temperature and seasonality) and orographic effects on tropical continental peat accumulation. Aspects of the groundwater-recharge model may be applicable to the Westphalian-Stephanian intermontane mires of Spain and Mesozoic coal basins of northern China.

Mire Development in the Daisetsuzan Mountains, Central Hokkaido, Northern Japan

A lot of mires are distributed in the Daisetsuzan Mountains, especially above the forest line where Pinus pumila community is dominant. According to some pollen analyses and radio carbon datings, the initiation of a mire formation dates back to about 7, 500y. B. P., but most of mires have developed after about 5, 000y. B. P. when the climatic condition began to get cooler. The climatic condition seemed to delay snow melting above the forest line. This caused a decrease of Pinus pumila community whose existence is often controlled by snow depth, and caused an increase of water supply from snow patch through summer, which provided a favorable condition for mire development in the Daisetsuzan Mountains.The distribution of mires under the climatic condition mentioned above was controlled by a surface condition of land such as topography and vegetation. Below the forest line located around 1, 500m a. s. l. in the Daisetsuzan Mountains, volcanic activities and landslides caused the destruction of forest vegetation and the formation of depressions leading to mire development. Above the forest line the favorable condition for mire development was provided by periglacial processes which formed microtopography such as solifluction lobes and terraces. These features make water easier to stagnate on a gentle slope. In addition to these conditions, a size of catchment area, a distribution of snow patches and an existence of permafrost which controlled water supply decided the distribution of mires in the Daisetsuzan Mountains.

Some factors that influence fish abundance in South African estuaries

Fish abundance was determined by means of gill-nets for 14 estuaries along the south and south-east coasts of South Africa. There was a positive correlation between fish abundance (mass and numbers) and catchment area size and a negative correlation between fish abundance and water transparency and salinity. A multiple linear regression to determine either number or mass offish caught per gill-net from values of size of catchment area, transparency and salinity was calculated. Dendrograms revealed a grouping of estuaries with fresh or brackish middle and upper reaches and a regional grouping of those with clear, calm water.

Rainfall-runoff relationship of some catchments with karstic geomorphology under arid to semi-arid conditions

Abstract The relationship between rainfall and runoff of fourteen catchments with a total area of 5983 km 2 in the northeastern zone of Libya was reviewed in an attempt to determine the effect of karstic geomorphology on the runoff coefficient. Available data since 1965 were collated and eight wadis with at least eleven flood events were used for linear regression analysis. The selected catchments are under arid to semi-arid conditions with mean annual rainfall of 50–500 mm and with surface geology consisting mostly of marly limestone which is favourable to karstification phenomena. The ratio of runoff to rainfall is extremely variable with a range of 0.0001–0.830, and therefore it is not a reliable criterion for runoff estimation, especially with the limited data subjected to statistical analysis. The regression analysis shows correlation coefficients from 0.219 to 0.89 with no apparent effect of size of catchment area. As indicated by the coefficient of determination, 4.8–80.3% of the variation in runoff has been accounted for by the regression. The extent and degree of karstification, if properly quantified, can be a significant factor for runoff prediction, in addition to rainfall intensity and duration, antecedent soil moisture, effective catchment area and other geomorphological features.

Methodology in Comparative Education

argument over the field and methods of comparative education the analogy with the subject of geography has not been pursued as far as it might have been. Comparative education deals with the comparison of systems of education on an area basis. Most often it deals with nation-states but it also pays attention to other geographical groupings. Examples are easy to cite. An important essay on Swiss education by Robert Morant dealt in detail with the canton of Berne.(' To give weight to part of his theme he used a geographer's tool-an admirable map showing the locations of primary, district and higher secondary schools. Morant related size of school, age-range and catchment area in a simple qualitative way. Catchment area problems are essentially geographical and remain very important. James Kay, in 1839,(2) considered a division of Europe according to the effects of the Reformation dividing the Protestant from the Catholic states and demonstrating the way in which this division was reflected in their system of elementary instruction. Nearer to the present the same areal basis is everywhere manifest. In the Society, Schools and Progress series issuing from the Pergamon Press, Dixon has grouped the Scandinavian countries together, not only because of their proximity but also because he finds the internal feeling of co-operation they exhibit gives a common strand to their educational efforts.( ) On an even broader scale Halls in an article entitled The Education of the Academically Gifted in Europe 0( distinguishes between continental practices which he opposes to what pertains in Britain. All writing in comparative education has an areal basis: the areal size varies greatly. It is, of course, quite possible to compare systems of education at different periods of time. The provision of secondary education at the middle of the eighteenth century and in the twentieth century in Britain could well be compared as could education in Russia before and after 1917. In a broad sense such studies are comparative studies in education but the term comparative education is used in a more restricted sense and limited to a comparison of areas. Viewed in this perspective, comparative education does over space what historical study does over time. Put in this way the analogy with geography and history becomes an obvious one to make. To some extent history suggests development while geography suggests a static picture. It is quite legitimate to speak of the geography of a