"Changes in the geographical mortality pattern for Norway between 1969 and 1989 are explored for total mortality, coronary heart disease, stomach cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, melanoma, infant mortality and suicide. The period has shown considerable flux. Coronary heart disease mortality used to be higher in urban than rural areas, but the situation has now reversed (for men) or equalized (for women). The excess infant mortality in the periphery has been eliminated. Suicide has increased faster in fishing and farming areas than in the cities. The changes are interpreted through some concepts and models: the epidemiological transition, geographical and social diffusion, regional restructuring, changes of the physical environment and geographical uniqueness." Data are from official sources.

"The paper discusses the distribution of population within 11 north-western and central European countries from the mid-1950s to the late 1980s. While concentration into major metropolitan regions was widespread in the 1950s and 1960s, and counter-urbanization in the 1970s, the 1980s show diverging developments. In some countries, the major metropolitan regions have resumed their former growth, and in other countries their growth remains below or around the national average. The underlying causes are discussed, and it is suggested that the new information technologies make different distributions of population possible, with specific local conditions for economic activities then becoming decisive."

Solifluction is a widespread periglacial phenomenon. Little is known about present solifluction rates in Austria. The author monitored five solifluction lobes during a four-year period. Annual rates of surface velocity, vertical velocity profiles, depths of movement, and volumetric velocities were quantified using near-surface markers and painted lines. Environmental conditions were assessed using air temperature, soil texture, and ground temperature-derived parameters. The latter were used to estimate the relevance of needle-ice creep, diurnal frost creep, annual frost creep, and gelifluction. The mean surface velocity rates were 3.5-6.1 cm yr (near-surface markers) and 6.2-8.9 cm yr (painted lines), respectively, indicating a high relevance of needle-ice creep. The mean depth of movement was 32.5-40 cm. The mean volumetric velocities were 71-102 cm cm yr. Solifluction rates at the five sites did not correlate with each other due to site-specific controls. No statistically significant correlations were quantified between solifluction rates and different environmental parameters due to data gaps and short time series, thus highlighting the importance of long-term monitoring. Nevertheless, the results suggest that longer zero curtain periods, longer seasonal ground thawing periods, later start of the seasonal snow cover, more freeze-thaw cycles, and cooler early summer temperatures promote solifluction.