Volume 46, Number 1 – 2

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 Changes in the health situation in the Czech Republic, Estonia and Slovenia during the transition period

Tomasz Michalski

Received: June 10, 2015
Accepted: June 26, 2015

pp. 5–18

Abstract
The paper analyses the health situation in three of the most developed countries created on the ruins of Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, namely: the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Estonia. The scope of the analysis comprises the period 1990–2013. The analysis uses five variables: the crude death rate per 1,000 population; estimated infant deaths per 1,000 live births; the difference in life expectancy at birth between females and males (in years); the incidence of tuberculosis per 100,000 population; the incidence of syphilis and gonorrhoea infections per 100,000 population. Typical methods of analysis have been applied: the arithmetic mean, the relative standard deviation, the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, the autoregressive model (for the coefficient of determination above 0.80). Similarities in the level and changes in the health situation were found between the Czech Republic and Slovenia, and a partly different course and level in the case of Estonia (this applies in particular to the crude death rate, the incidence of tuberculosis, the incidence of syphilis and gonorrhoea infections). All three analysed countries were very successful in their systemic transition, but Estonia had the hardest situation, which was reflected in the fact that initially some parameters defining the inhabitants’ health situation had deteriorated.

Key words
Central Europe, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Slovenia, health situation, autoregressive model

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The impact of transport availability and transport service level on the economic development of municipalities in the Czech Republic

Filip Chvátal

Received: June 16, 2015
Accepted: July 10, 2015

pp. 19–36

Abstract
Transport or traffic services are very important factors that influence the socioeconomic status of a region and the spatial interactions of a society. This proposition can be applied to the changes in regional diversity and economic development of municipalities in the Czech Republic. Accessibility, as a geographical phenomenon, is manifest in many spheres of life; above all, in the socioeconomic sphere. Also, the boundary between good and bad accessibility is relative. This paper deals with the evaluation and comparison of indicators of
transport accessibility and transport service level with socioeconomic indicators in Czech municipalities. The goal is to find if there is a relationship between levels of transport accessibility and transport service and the socioeconomic level in Czech municipalities. The analysis will be quantitative. We will use correlation, regression and factor analysis, as well as geographical analysis based on maps.

Key words
the Czech Republic, transport availability, correlation analysis, regression analysis, level of socioeconomic development, municipalities.

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Identification of urbanization axes in the settlement system of the
Czech Republic

Jiří Nerad

Received: June 16, 2015
Accepted: July 10, 2015

pp. 19–36

Abstract
The paper submitted deals with the issue of urbanization axes in the settlement system of the Czech Republic. The empiric study of urbanization axes represents an unexplored topic in geography. In the context of this paper, urbanization axes consist of larger urban centres with intensive mutual relationships. Prior to specifying them, the theoretical part describes general development of spatial and relationship organisation in settlement systems. Further, it deals with bases of study of spatial interurban interactions emphasizing the interurban relations between commuting to work and the transport interaction. The methodological part introduces the methods of urbanization axes specifi cation. Every urbanization axis must fulfi l two basic criteria. First, it must only be created by centres with a certain minimum complex size (population plus labour market size), and the second criterion consists in their mutual intensive communication. The main analytical part of the work analyses these criteria. The result of the analysis was identification of nine comprehensively interconnected urbanization axes in the territory of the Czech Republic.

Key words
the Czech Republic, urbanization axis, synthetic graphic method, spatial interactions, interurban interactions.

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