This study aims to extract and explain the territorially varied relation between socioeconomic factors and absence rate from work due to own illness or disability in European countries in the years 2006–2020. For this purpose, several causes were identified, depending on men and women. To explain the absenteeism and emphasize gender as well as intercountry differences, geographically weighted regression was applied. For men, there were five main variables that influenced sickness absence: body mass index, the average rating of satisfaction by job situation, employment in the manufacturing sector, social benefits by sickness/health care, and performing health-enhancing physical activity. For women, there were five main variables that increased the absence rate: the risk of poverty or social exclusion, long-standing illness or health problems, employment in the manufacturing sector, social protection benefits, and deaths due to pneumonia. Based on the conducted research, it was proven that the sickness absence observed in the analyzed countries was highly gender and spatially diverged. Understanding the multifactorial factors playing an important role in the occurrence of regional and gender-divergent sickness absence may be a good predictor of subsequent morbidity and mortality as well as be very useful to better prevent this outcome.

The present study investigated the effects of changes in landscape configuration on river water quality, which is calculated by chemical export coefficients, using spatial data onto 31 catchments in the southwestern part of the Caspian Sea basin by applying stepwise multivariate regression models. The water quality modeling has been carried out applying the chemical export coefficients of sulfate, bicarbonate, chlorine, calcium, magnesium, and sodium, and eight landscape metrics (including interspersion juxtaposition index, percentage of like adjacencies, aggregation index, clumpiness index, normalized landscape shape index, patch cohesion index, landscape division index, and splitting index), by which landscape configuration is analyzed. The results indicated that the sulfate (0.25 ± 0.33 gr ha⁻¹yr⁻¹), bicarbonate (0.61 ± 0.87 gr ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹), chlorine (0.17 ± 0.23 gr ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹), calcium (0.16 ± 0.21 gr ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹), magnesium (0.05 ± 0.07 gr ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹), and sodium (0.16 ± 0.21 gr ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) are annually exported from the study catchments into the rivers. The change in landscape configuration has significantly explained the chemical export coefficients of sulfate, bicarbonate, chlorine, calcium, magnesium, and sodium. The findings showed the cohesion and coherence of the permanently irrigated land patches resulting in the discontinuity of the broad-leaved forest and grassland ecosystems degraded river water quality.

The aim of this study was to identify determinants of the population ageing process in 270 European cities. We analyzed the proportion of older people: men and women separately (aged 65 or above) in city populations in the years 1990–2018. To understand territorially-varied relationships and to increase the explained variability of phenomena, an explanatory spatial data analysis (ESDA) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) were applied. We used ArcGIS and GeoDa software in this study. In our research, we also took into account the spatial interactions as well as the structure of cities by size and level of economic development. Results of the analysis helped to explain why some urban areas are ageing faster than others. An initial data analysis indicated that the proportion of the elderly in the population was spatially diversified and dependent on gender, as well as the size and economic development of a unit. In general, elderly individuals were more willing to live in larger and highly developed cities; however, women tended to live in large areas and men in medium-sized to large urban areas. Then, we conducted the urban ageing modelling for men and women separately. The application of GWR models enabled not only the specification of the city population ageing determinants, but also the analysis of the variability in the strength and direction of dependencies occurring between the examined variables in individual cities. Significant differences were noted in the analysis results for specific cities, which were often grouped due to similar parameter values, forming clusters that divided Europe into the eastern and western parts. Moreover, substantial differences in results were obtained for women and men.

Organic farming is one of the most widely known sustainable models of agricultural production. Success in eco-agriculture also depends greatly on agri-environmental, territorial, economic, social, institutional and spatial conditions. Polish eco-farming is very regionally dispersed and diversified. Regarding the important contribution of organic farming, a better understanding of how this phenomenon develops and which factors affect its spatial distribution can be influential for policymakers in planning strategies that pursue sustainable development objectives in rural areas. This paper assesses the development and analyses the spatial distribution of organic farming in Polish LAU-2. The country’s eco-agriculture was mapped and defined using a synthetic measure, described by 27 sub-measurements of ecological crop cultivation, animal maintenance and eco-production. The local spatial patterns (direction, scale, and range) of organic farming were detected by spatial autocorrelation measurements. The analysis was conducted for the period 2014–2020. Possible external and internal determinants of this spatial dispersion were also defined. The results indicate that the distribution and spread of organic farming in Poland are related to public support, institutional regulations, social considerations, environmental concerns, the local job market and spatial dependencies.

This paper aims to extend the understanding of residential satisfaction determinants of students living in off-campus private accommodation and thus contribute to the studentification debate. Our study is based on an original dataset derived from a survey conducted among students in Lodz, Poland and Turin, Italy. Using the ordered logit model, we tested the impact of neighbourhood and accommodation attributes, as well as personal and household characteristics, on students’ residential satisfaction. Our findings show that owning the property has the most significant effect on students’ residential satisfaction. Moreover, this satisfaction increases when student accommodation is affordable, located in a building of pleasant appearance, and in a neighbourhood well connected by public transportation and with a student atmosphere. In light of these findings, we claim that students’ residential satisfaction is not determined by most neighbourhood attributes; therefore, a wide range of neighbourhoods are potentially ‘studentifiable’.

This article provides a quantification of the territorially varied relation between socio-economic factors and the amount of municipal waste in Polish districts. For this purpose, eight causes were identified: revenue budgets, the number and area of uncontrolled dumping sites, population density, the share of working-age population, average gross monthly wages, registrations for permanent residence, and the number of tourists accommodated. The preliminary data analysis indicated that to understand waste generation in Poland at the local level it is necessary to consider regional specificity and spatial interactions. To increase the explained variability of phenomena, and emphasise local differences in the amount of waste, geographically weighted regression was applied.