Territorial Characteristics Research Articles

How have Europe’s outermost regions dealt with the economic and social consequences of the COVID‐19 crisis? Effects, policies and recommendations

AbstractThis paper contributes to the literature by documenting how regions have experienced and managed the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) crisis, particularly for regions that are largely understudied and whose territorial characteristics (related to hyper‐remoteness and poverty) deserve greater attention. To this end, the study investigated regional strategy and planning documents and conducted 32 semi‐structured interviews with public authority representatives, sectoral actors and civil society groups. The findings show the socio‐economic consequences of the crisis and local policy responses. The study proposes a reflection in terms of public policies on what could be the ‘world after’ in the outermost regions, and highlights how the COVID‐19 crisis presented an opportunity to design and implement future territorial development policies that are more adapted to the context and territorial characteristics of these regions. Building a resilience policy in the outermost regions requires strengthening the territories’ capacities, which involves their structural equipment.

Will recent world events shift policy-makers’ focus from sustainable agriculture to intensive and competitive agriculture?

The events of recent years (pandemic and conflict in the European area) have led to a rethink of traditional policies on trade and support for domestic production. The concept of national “self-sufficiency” is being consolidated to the detriment of globalization and the possibility of buying raw materials on the world market at the lowest price. European agriculture, affected by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) review for the 2023/2027 programming period, is not exempt from this process. Therefore, the construction of National Strategic Plans may partly dampen the drive towards sustainability undertaken with the Green Deal and related strategies (from Farm to Fork, Biodiversity 2030, and Circular Economic) up to the 2030 Agenda Goals because producers are demanding greater freedom in production intensification. The research, conducted in a traditionally agricultural area in Italy, shows that competitive and sustainable agriculture can coexist thanks to entrepreneurial choices based on values and interest in the territory. Despite the difficulties arising from the changing conditions of the international scenario, which have led to an increase in production costs and a contraction of market opportunities, agriculture has become resilient thanks to sound agronomic practices and the sustainability of the process. Therefore, a model of agriculture more closely linked to the territory's characteristics is proposed.

APPLICATION OF THE LATEST INFORMATION AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES IN THE MANAGEMENT OF LAND RESOURCES OF AGRICULTURAL ENTERPRISES

Introduction. Land resources as an object of management are traditionally considered in connection with land relations that determine the content of systems of interactions of economic agents that arise in the process of ownership, management and use of land – an important factor of production and the spatial basis of human life. The structural and functional complexity of the management system is due to its multi-level nature, a wide range of general and specific management functions that are implemented, the heterogeneity of subjects of land relations, and the diversity of their economic interests. Methods. General scientific and special methods were used in the work in order to achieve the goal: the dialectical method of scientific knowledge – to consider the essence of the latest information and digital technologies in the management of land resources; synthesis – to clarify the interrelationships between subjects of land relations in the conditions of digitalization; graphic – for visual display of the obtained results; abstract and logical method – for forming research conclusions and proposals. Results. The meaning and role of land resources is revealed, various approaches to determining their economic essence in the conditions of the use of information and digital technologies in land resource management are considered. The main directions of digitalization of land resource management of agricultural enterprises are highlighted. Discussion. The obtained results of the research can be used for the implementation of the latest information and digital technologies in the practice of land resource management. This will enable agricultural commodity producers to analyse large volumes of data, control the state of land resources and the rationality of their use at different levels of management, which will contribute to the transparency of the functioning of the agricultural land market. In the future, the use of digital land management systems will make it possible to: create an informational computer system for assessing the quality and location of agricultural land plots based on their inventory, assessment of productive and territorial features; to complete the formation of the introduction of free circulation of agricultural land and the improvement of land legal relations, which will contribute to attracting additional credit resources to agribusiness against the pledge of land and improving the efficiency of the industry. Keywords: digitization, information technologies, land resources, land market, precision agriculture, geoinformation system.

Арктический фонд: возможности повышения эффективности формирования доходной базы

This study was conducted in order to develop methodological approaches to the generation of financial resources for the Arctic Zone Development Fund of the Russian Federation (Arctic Fund). The object of the study is the Arctic Fund, established by the Government of the Russian Federation in December 2022. The sources of funding are the subject of the study. The relevance of this research stems from the unique characteristics of the Arctic territories, where the financial base for development relies on the social and environmental responsibility of major taxpayers. The study builds upon data from the Federal Tax Service, the Federal Treasury, the Federal Agency for Mineral Resources, and the Torgi federal information system covering the period from 2011 to 2021. The article presents an analysis of the fund's existing sources, as identified by the Government, and proposes additional sources. Based on an analysis of tax revenue data, the study reveals insufficient financing from taxes paid by Arctic residents. Additionally, by employing comparison and grouping methods for data on Arctic deposits, it was found that the final one-time payments for these deposits consistently exceed the planned and initial payments. However, these payments were incorporated into the federal budget without specific allocation. The study formulates recommendations that suggest utilizing funds obtained from the sale of resource use rights as additional sources, ensuring targeted allocation of one-time payments associated with Arctic deposits. The study also proposes the creation of compensation funds for the accumulation of deductions from mining businesses to address losses incurred by indigenous peoples of the North. These funds could complement the Arctic Fund in accumulating budgetary resources. The practical significance of this study lies in its potential to inform the search for reasonable and appropriate sources of financing for the activities of the Arctic Fund.

SPATIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF EU-FUNDED TOURISM INVESTMENTS IN THE NORTHERN GREAT PLAIN REGION (HUNGARY) IN THE 2014-2020 BUDGET PERIOD

The aim of this paper is to present the territorial characteristics of explanation of European Union funding for tourism-related developments in the Northern Great Plain region (Hungary) in the 2014-2020 programming period of the European Union. We relied fundamentally on the website “palyazat.gov.hu” as our source, which provides information on the number of grant applications submitted and those that were successful. There are very significant differences between counties and settlements in terms of the application activity and the focus of the applications. Firstly, the specificities of the counties that make up the Northern Great Plain region had a significant impact on the region’s performance in case of national-level projects. Secondly, hand the influencing factors include the commitment of the leaders of the individual counties and settlements to tourism, the impact of the conditions set out in the calls for applications, as well as the role of political lobbying.

The prioruty directions of child and adolescent health care in the Russian Federation

The article defines the priority areas for the protection of the health of children and adolescents, carried out a content analysis of the legal framework, revealed a negative trend in the prevalence of pathology in this population group. Particular attention has to be paid to the consistency and interdepartmental systemic approach that takes into account territorial features in the formation of strategic priorities for regional health care, especially within the framework of previously approved regional programs for the development of children's health care, and the results obtained can become the basis for making effective and competent management decisions by territorial health authorities.

THE IMAGE OF THE VILLAGE AND NATIONAL KNOWLEDGE

This interaction is also observed in literary criticism. The peculiarity of the literature of each era is reflected in the thema and the problem that it raises. The sanctity of the country land the transfer of national identity is an integral part of a work of art. This is reflected in the social nature, themes and ideological content of a work of art. The emergence of any topik stems from the characteristics of the literature of that period, fnd this is a deeriy moving question. The division of works of art into certain thematic classifications can be called conditional to a certain extent. In the seventies of the 20 th century, the opinion was established that the grouping of literary works by topic is carried out on the basis of the classification of critics. In any case, when describing and evaluating the originality of the literature of that period, it became necessary to define them from the thematic and ideologicalpoints of view. And in the description of the phenomena of a particular village and region, there is undoubtedly the presence of territorial features, toponymic names, signs characteristic of the local region.

Variable Selection for Meaningful Clustering of Multitopic Territorial Data

This paper proposes a new methodology to improve territorial cohesion in clustering processes where many variables from different topics are considered. Clustering techniques provide added value to identify typologies, but there are still unsolved challenges when data contain an unbalanced number of variables from different topics. The territorial feature selection method (TFSM) is presented as a method to select the representative variable of each topic such that the interpretability of resulting clusters is preserved and the geographical cohesion is improved with respect to classical approaches. This paper also introduces the thermometer as a new knowledge acquisition tool that allows experts to transfer semantics to the data mining process. TFSM proposes the index of potential explainability (Ek) as the criteria to select the most promising variables for clustering. Ek is based on the combination of inferential testing and metrics such as support. The proposal is applied with the INSESS-COVID19 database, where territorial groups of vulnerable populations were found. A set of 195 variables with 21 unbalanced thematic blocks is used to compare the results with a traditional multiview clustering analysis with promising results from both the geographical and the thematic point of view and the capacity to support further decision making.

Assessment of the ecosystem services given by rural and urban green areas to preserve high quality territories from land take: the case of the Province of Monza Brianza (Italy)

Rural and urban green areas are essential territories that support life and ecosystems. The significant reduction of these areas, due to the urbanization is a pressing issue. The process of land take not only consumes land resources but also the connected ecosystems and the benefits generated for the human society.
 Reducing the quantity of land taken is imperative but preserving high quality territories is essential to achieving sustainable development. Evaluating the quality of non-urbanized areas can be performed by assessing the Ecosystem Services (ESs) provided by these areas.
 In this paper, the authors present a further step, an evolution and deepening, of the previous methodology (published in 2020) for evaluating the quality of rural and urban green areas through the assessment of Ecosystem Services provided.
 The methodology first allows the identification of the ESs provided by different typologies of rural and urban green areas according to the CICES - Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (provisioning, regulation and maintenance, and cultural). Then, it allows the calculation of several singular indexes and a final Composite Quality Index (CQI) through the use of GIS (Geographical Information Systems). An Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was performed with the creation of different scenarios to consider the different importance of the singular indexes assigned by planners and communities involved.
 The methodology was applied to the Province of Monza Brianza (Italy) for testing and validation purposes. The application to the Municipality of Sovico, which is presented in this report, allowed for the identification of areas with higher quality in the different scenarios that were created to consider the relative importance of the territorial characteristics.

Diet composition of White-tailed Eagles inhabiting two adjacent inland lakes in Northern Greece

Abstract In territorial raptors, breeding performance and foraging behaviour are affected by territory characteristics as the abundance and availability of different prey species varies between habitats. In this study, we examined the diet of two White-tailed Eagle pairs, occupying neighbouring territories in two adjacent inland lakes in Northern Greece. We assess the diet composition of the species in the southernmost part of its European range and evaluate any intraspecific differences in the diet that may reflect resource and/or niche partitioning between territories. We found that birds and specifically waterbirds comprise the largest and quantitatively most important part of the White-tailed Eagle´s diet, with fish being the second most important prey group that was only found in the nest remains from one territory. There was high diet overlap between the two territories and when considering only avian prey our results suggest that the species predates on heavier (and the most common) waterbird species. A main factor that could be driving differences in the abundance and availability of different prey species between territories could be lake physiography, as our results point to a segregation and a subsequent resource partitioning between territories, with each pair utilizing an adjacent lake and its associated habitats. Competition and territoriality therefore seem to be important intraspecific interactions that along with prey availability could promote changes in territory size and ultimately affect individual fitness.

Winter food selection and exploratory behavior vary with natal territory characteristics in wild great tits

Differences in habitat characteristics experienced during rearing associate with variation in a range of behavioral phenotypes such as exploratory behavior, foraging behavior and food selection. The habitat-dependent selection hypothesis predicts that animals develop behavioral characteristics fitted to their rearing environment. Yet, little is known about how habitat characteristics during rearing shape how animals face winter conditions and adjust their winter foraging behavior. The aim of this study was to explore how fine-scale rearing habitat characteristics associate with exploratory behavior, food selection, and foraging performance during winter. For this, we measured habitat characteristics during the breeding season in territories of wild great tits (Parus major) and tested first-year juvenile birds that fledged from these territories for exploratory and foraging behavior at feeders during winter. We found evidence that faster explorers were raised in territories with lower quality habitat characteristics. In addition, fast exploring fledglings visited the feeders significantly more (total visits). Moreover, the rearing environment, via caterpillar availability and tree species composition, determined diet selection during winter in first-year birds. These results show support for the habitat-dependent selection hypothesis, since exploratory behavior as well as food selection during winter associate with habitat features of the rearing territories during development. This pattern can be caused either by the kinds of natural foods prevalent during rearing at these sites or because of intrinsic individual differences. Further experiments are needed to disentangle these two.Significance statementIndividuals vary in how they behaviorally adapt foraging and food selection strategies to the environmental conditions. A number of studies have shown that animals develop behavioral characteristics fitted to their rearing environment. However, how habitat characteristics during rearing shape the foraging strategy that animals use to face winter conditions is still unknown. We studied these links in yearling great tits using automated feeders that recorded their visits during winter. Fledglings with a higher exploratory score were born in territories with lower quality habitat characteristics and visited the feeders more. Furthermore, we found an association between caterpillar availability and tree species composition in the rearing territory of juveniles and their subsequent food selection in winter. Our study indicates that certain environmental conditions might favor the development of particular behaviors in birds and that early nutrition could shape food choice later in life.

The Role and Territorial Characteristics of Adult Training on the Integration of Registered Jobseekers into the Labour Market in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County (Hungary), 2010–2020

Abstract The primary aim of adult training for job seekers is to help participants reintegrate into the labour market as soon as possible. The high unemployment rate and the low employment rate in the examined area (Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county) led the Hungarian Government to retrain job seekers. The aim of the study is to examine the spatial pattern of training for registered job seekers and its effectiveness in helping them to find a job in the primary (or secondary) labour market. The research was carried out using secondary data, provided by the Ministry of Innovation and Technology and the National Employment Service in Hungary. Our research has highlighted the territorial links between human resources, adult learning and job opportunities. Adult training and public employment opportunities had a strong impact on the development of the labour market.

Humanistic geography in an indigenous community of Mexico: Santa Catarina Lachatao

IntroductionThe present study aim was to rethink the geographical reasoning of everyday life toward a new understanding of knowing how to think about space through an interdisciplinary approach, architecture-psychology. This allowed establishing logical relations in spatial and socio-spatial distributions and uses of social phenomena, typical of Santa Catarina Lachatao, an indigenous Mexican community in Sierra Norte Zapoteca.MethodsBased on ethnographic qualitative interdisciplinary research methods along with a total of three visits lasting 15 weeks, the daily experience of people and their community in different times and spaces, experiences, perspectives, and prejudices, were studied. The geographical approach (cartographies) reflects the social construction of the spatial components as the basic understanding of the territory from everyday life. In this study we worked on indigenous citizenship and its territory, analyzing, and contrasting social phenomena such as power-subjection, wealth-poverty, and exclusion-inclusion that transversally allow us to reflect and understand some of the characteristics of diversity and territoriality of the indigenous communities in Mexico.ResultsCharacteristics that predominating in indigenous communities was recognized and featured. This was observed in the social production of their public space which evidence intergenerational pride and sense of community and belonging and their commitment to preserve their life project sustaining their space, community, and traditions. The natural rural context emerges from the interplay between the natural landscape and the built environment (in constant expansion). The bodies of water are respected and protected by the community and the original crossings are still preserved as precious resources, just as any other natural element. Landscape takes precedence over the irregular built environment, reflected in the urban trace.DiscussionDeveloping interdisciplinary research -architecture and psychology–allowed studying the community development of a Mexican indigenous community, respectfully approaching diversity and territoriality of Santa Catarina Lachatao, Oaxaca. Societies must be understood in and by means of space. Public policy is crucial to strengthen the autonomy and configuration of indigenous communities, warranting their active participation in the design and evaluation of government programs that favor the sustainable use of their lands and natural resources, as well as the preservation of their values and traditions. The principles of justice are chosen behind a veil of ignorance. John Rawls

Cultura y territorialidad: nuevos enfoques para entender el fenómeno de las fake news en América Latina

The main objective of this article is to analyze the relationship between the production and dissemination of fake news in the pandemic and its relationship with the territorial features of Latin America. "Fake news" is information that is deliberately fabricated, distorted or misleading with the intention of being presented as true or questioning facts on some topic, and can appear in different forms, including news articles, videos, images, posts on social networks and other media. With regard to Latin American countries, the phenomenon of the international reach of these fakenews can be observed. Territoriality plays a role in shaping the identity of the specificities of the ways of life of the individuals or groups that live there, with factors being directly impacted, as was the case with the Covid-19 pandemic. It is therefore hoped that this study will contribute to the debate involving both the disease caused by the Sars-Cov-2 virus and, above all, the direct relationship between the production and dissemination of fake news during the pandemic period in Latin America.

Ensemble Machine Learning greatly improves ERA5 skills for wind energy applications

The skill of ERA5 has been assessed in relation to the prediction of the wind energy associated with 28 SYNOP stations located in Italy for a time span of 20 years (2001–2020). For comparison, a WRF-based high-resolution downscaling (3 km horizontally) was also produced for the same period. We found that simple predictions based on materialized past wind measures outperform the wind energy predictions from ERA5. This result can be ascribed to the particularly complex characteristics of the Italian territory. Motivated by this expected behavior, we have implemented a Quantile Random Forest (QRF) calibration which greatly alleviates the problems encountered in the ERA5 reanalysis dataset. This technique provides a calibrated ensemble prediction system for the wind speed at the station. Surprisingly, the calibrated ERA5 outperforms wind energy estimations from the high-resolution 3-km downscaling. Once properly calibrated, the high-resolution downscaling provides predictions very similar to the calibrated ERA5. Limiting our conclusions to the estimation of wind energy over a long time span (here 20 years), having at disposal a high-resolution wind-field dataset does not necessarily mean greater accuracy. A careful calibration of the original coarser wind-field dataset produces better results than the raw high-resolution dataset.

Stopover territoriality in songbirds crossing the Sahara: aggression and energetics during migration

Stopover territoriality, i.e., the defense and broadcast of an ephemeral home range during avian migration, is rare or perhaps overlooked. However, settling on a territory may allow for easier access to resources and therefore promote faster refueling despite the added costs of territory defense. We examined the occurrence of stopover territoriality and its relationship to body condition and refueling rates. We color-ringed Western Subalpine Warblers (Curruca iberiae) mapped their home ranges and measured associated habitat characteristics during a spring stopover in the Sahara. We simulated territory intrusions via song playback to quantify territorial behavior. Males aggressively defended and broadcasted their stopover territories in response to intruders. Initial body condition in males was negatively related to home range vegetation density, suggesting that males in higher condition are selective for certain territory features. Low vegetation density does not support habitat selection for foraging, but perhaps does support social monitoring or predator vigilance as its functions. Fuel deposition rates in recaptured males were unrelated to home range habitat characteristics. Female Subalpine Warblers did not use repeated home ranges yet had similar refueling rates, body conditions, and stopover durations as territorial males. Therefore, while stopover territories were selected based on body condition, territory characteristics did not influence refueling rates. Subalpine Warblers expressed reduced migratory characteristics, making prolonged stopovers of up to 27 days with low refueling rates but maintaining body condition while defending territories. These results suggest that some individuals are staging for non-energetic reasons, such as pre-breeding preparations, or transitioning between a migratory and a breeding life history stage.Significance statementTerritoriality in birds is commonly associated with breeding activities, less so with the wintering period and rarely with migratory periods. However, territoriality during migration may be energetically beneficial. During a trans-Saharan stopover, male warblers establish and defend temporary territories by singing and engaging in physical defense of home ranges, and those in better condition occupied territories with sparser vegetation. Females were not territorial but refueled at similar rates as males. Stopover territoriality did not increase access to food-rich patches, but perhaps aided in efficient social monitoring and preparations for the approaching breeding season. This is the first detailed documentation of birds defending ephemeral territories during migration, and its potential functions, costs and benefits may inform studies of full-annual cycles and life histories of many migratory species.

Theoretical aspects of labor safety of greenhouse workers and modern ways of its solution

The article provides information about the need for further development of greenhouse facilities in the agro-industrial complex for year-round provision of the population with fruit products, which cannot be solved by using only the production of products in the open field due to the climatic features of the country's territory. It is noted that greenhouse production, for various reasons of an objective and subjective nature, is accompanied by industrial injuries, poisoning of workers and industrial diseases, since production conditions are focused on the needs of plants. In this regard, the components of the “man-object-plants-technologies-mechanisms” system were studied and functional theoretical dependencies were proposed, which are a guideline for substantiating innovative methods and means of preventive solutions that counteract the possibility of injury, poisoning and occupational diseases. The article lists the author's modern solutions aimed at achieving the possibilities of some work without injuries, which ensures the appropriate working conditions for these objects by the requirements of the country's regulatory framework.

Connected and disrupted hydrosocial territories: the making of modern socionatures through inter-basin water transfers

Actual and projected water scarcity has accelerated the scale of hydrological infrastructure and the number of Inter-Basin Water Transfers (IBWTs), which move freshwater from one geographically distinct river catchment or basin to another. IBWTs are supply-side programs that pose distinct water governance challenges. If all projected IBWTs are completed by 2050, the volume of water transferred would be 48% of global water withdrawals. This article examines IBWTs from a socionatural perspective. Building on the political ecology scholarship of hydrosocial territories, I probe how IWBTs co-constitute and reconfigure socionatural relations, and how these are experienced by communities and ecologies in unequal ways. I discuss how IBWTs bring about changes, what features of hydrosocial territories they influence, and what conflicts emerge. For 29 IBWTs I define their multiple socionatural dimensions – biophysical, socioeconomic and governance – and the interrelations between them. IBWTs generally degrade biophysical and socioeconomic conditions for communities in water-sending "donor" basins, and condition future territorial reconfigurations. Water governance institutions are ill-equipped to take on the challenge that IBWTs bring in governing across multiple basins, indicated by the conflicts they generate. These concern defense of territory and ways of life, as well as allocation disputes. Political conflicts emerge because worlds shift irrevocably when IBWTs become fixtures of hydrosocial territories.

The Comprehensive Analysis of the Network of Superstructure Based on Territorial Characteristics of Accommodation and Food and Beverage Service Providers Considering the Financial Crisis and COVID-19: The Case of Bihor County, Romania

This study presents the territorial differences in structure of functioning accommodation and food-and-beverage service providers by their distribution based on registered field of economic activity and financial data on the level of local governments within Bihor County that were classified into four potential destination types. Furthermore, the aim of the research is to identify the concentration of business activities based on their turnover in proportion to the population on the level of local governments using the Hoover-index method for the period of 2005–2020. Lastly, another aim is to examine the efficiency of these hospitality service providers using the Hoover index on their sales revenue in proportion to their labor force between 2005 and 2020. The time frame enabled the examination of the effects of two critical incidents: the financial crisis of 2008 and COVID-19, which impacted the activity of the examined firms in hospitality. As a result, both group of service providers showed a significant increase in number of entities, turnover, and average annual number of employees after 2014. That trend was intensively interrupted by COVID-19, which was not the case for the period of financial crisis. The significance of Oradea and Sânmartin were present as central areas regarding business activities of the examined fields, thus crucially influencing the trends of the county. In the case of territorial inequalities, the two categories showed differing trends, as in the case of efficiency, although lodging services proved to show higher territorial inequalities but better performance.

Islands without Iron. Strategies for Manufacturing Prehistoric Rotary Querns without Metal Tools in the Canary Islands: Working Hypotheses and Experimentation

The introduction of the rotary quern into the Iberian Peninsula during the Iron Age represents a great technological innovation with regard to processing cereals. These mechanisms arrived several centuries later in the Canarian archipelago with the first North African colonists. Contacts with the African continent appear to have either been cut off or minimised a short time later, obliging the colonists to subsist autonomously and adapt to the features of the new territory. Moreover, the archipelago's volcanic character does not offer minerals that could be transformed into metals obliging the new populations to resort to stone tools, an adaptation evidenced by the manufacture of rotary querns. Currently few technological studies of these querns have combined experimental work with hypotheses stemming from archaeological evidence. This article presents two experimental programs that have attempted to reconstruct the operational sequence (chaîne opératoire) of the two main types of rocks exploited for querns in the Canary Islands: volcanic tuff and vesicular basalt.