Structural equation modeling (SEM) software commonly report information criteria, like the AIC, for the model under investigation and for the unconstrained/saturated model. With these criteria, ...(non-)nested models can be compared. This comes down to evaluating equalities (e.g., setting some paths equal or to 0). These criteria cannot evaluate inequality restrictions on the parameters, while the AIC-type criterion called GORICA can. For example, GORICA can evaluate the hypothesis stating that one predictor has more (standardized) strength than some other predictors. This paper illustrates inequality-constrained hypothesis-evaluation in SEM models using the GORICA (in R). Examples will be presented for confirmatory factor analysis, latent regression, and multigroup latent regression.
The article deals with the concept of future-making and its European (i.e., EU) dimension in the context of European Capital of Culture projects. The analysis is based on two case studies – Rijeka ...2020 and Nova Gorica 2025. The authors focus on ECoC bid books and other strategic documents that give insight into the desired legacy of the event and the (re) positioning of each city on the cultural and political map of Europe through the transposition of relevant European topics into local contexts. They examine the visions of the anticipated urban development that is hoped to occur as a direct consequence of the project’s implementation.
Članak se bavi konceptom stvaranja budućnosti i njezinom europskom, odnosno EU dimenzijom u kontekstu inicijative Europske prijestolnice kulture. Istraživanje se temelji na dvije studije slučaja – Rijeka 2020. i Nova Gorica 2025. Autori se fokusiraju na knjige prijave EPK projekata i druge relevantne strateške dokumente koji daju uvid u željeno nasljeđe događaja i u (re)pozicioniranje gradova na kulturnoj i političkoj karti Europe prevođenjem aktualnih europskih tema u lokalne kontekste. Pritom analiziraju vizije urbanog razvoja za koji se očekuje da će se dogoditi kao izravna posljedica provedbe projekta.
In the social and behavioral sciences, it is often not interesting to evaluate the null hypothesis by means of a p-value. Researchers are often more interested in quantifying the evidence in the data ...(as opposed to using p-values) with respect to their own expectations represented by equality and/or inequality constrained hypotheses (as opposed to the null hypothesis). This article proposes an Akaike-type information criterion (AIC; Akaike, 1973, 1974) called the generalized order-restricted information criterion approximation (GORICA) that evaluates (in)equality constrained hypotheses under a very broad range of statistical models. The results of five simulation studies provide empirical evidence showing that the performance of the GORICA on selecting the best hypothesis out of a set of (in)equality constrained hypotheses is convincing. To illustrate the use of the GORICA, the expectations of researchers are investigated in a logistic regression, multilevel regression, and structural equation model.
Translational AbstractEvaluation of Inequality Constrained Hypotheses Using a Generalization of the AIC: Researchers are interested in evaluating equality and/or inequality constrained hypotheses in the context not only of normal linear models, but also of the families outside of normal linear models using a suitable information criterion. However, the available information criteria in the literature are not capable of evaluating (in)equality constrained hypotheses under such a broad range of statistical models. The main aim of this paper is to close this research gap by proposing a new information criterion named the GORICA which can be utilized to evaluate these hypotheses for generalized linear (mixed) models and structural equation models. The GORICA enables researchers to quantify the evidence in the data for two or more (in)equality constrained hypotheses. Like all the other information criteria, the GORICA has the log likelihood and penalty parts. The superiority of the GORICA over the other information criteria lies behind the use of a simple formula when calculating its log likelihood. We investigated the performance of the GORICA on choosing the true hypothesis out of a set of competing hypotheses using simulation studies for logistic regression, multilevel regression, and structural equation model. The findings in these simulation studies suggest that the GORICA has a convincing performance on choosing the true hypothesis. The use of the GORICA is illustrated for (real) data sets in line with these simulation studies.
•Advantages of integral planning of recreational areas for urban population on both sides of the Italian-Slovenian border.•Landscape ecology findings support the preservation of the spatial ...distribution of key urban green areas.•Urban forests, parks and green corridors form an indispensable pattern of a green urban network connecting both cities.•Old maps and satellite images are suitable tools in defining the primal structure of forests.
The provision of health and well-being is one of the fundamental tasks of urban green infrastructure. This requires a new estimation of the strategic distribution and accessibility of green areas. Gorizia and Nova Gorica are two cities lying next to each other on either side of the border between Italy and Slovenia. Due to political circumstances, they developed independently, which applies to their green areas as well. Urban city areas and other land cover classes were extracted from the CORINE Land Cover map; the digital data were processed using ArcGIS. At the landscape hierarchical level, the importance of natural vegetation remnants was assessed based on current land use maps. Forest patches, hedgerows, remnants of natural vegetation, and spontaneous afforestation on abandoned agricultural lands were detected and delineated using CNES digital images and digital orthophoto images. The green areas positioned in the two interior city areas were delineated separately according to data on the two cities’ green areas. We estimated the forest continuum separately, based on the oldest cartographic sources from the end of the 18th century, the Franziscean cadastre from the early 19th century, and the Italian cadastre from 1940. We estimated the interior or core area of the forest patches based on studies of habitat fragmentation and the depth of the forest edge. Our research theory is based on the proven sustainability of indispensable spatial patterns emerging from landscape ecology that are especially necessary in altered (rural, urban) landscapes. Our results show that the most important pattern of green areas supporting the well-being of both cities’ inhabitants can be achieved by the mutual development of the two major urban forests, each situated in one of the cities, in addition to riparian corridors and bits of nature represented by public parks. Collaborative planning between the two cities would enhance common benefits, including future economic and social influences and innovations.
The article addresses the position and the structure of the cultural and creative industries in the two town municipalities in Slovenia – Nova Gorica and Maribor. It focuses on an in-depth overview ...of the role of the sector’s contribution to the innovative ecosystems of each of the municipalities. By deploying qualitative research methods (via focus groups), we provisionally conclude that CCIs can play an essential role in enhancing the innovation potential of the urban areas of Nova Gorica and Maribor. Higher education’s solid and active presence in the city seems to be one of the predominant aspects that helps mobilize awareness and contributes to the sector’s overall functioning. The need for more entrepreneurial knowledge in the Cultural and Creative sector was also emphasized.
We present a paleoenvironmental reconstruction for the mountain fringe between the South-Eastern Alps and the Northern Dinarides (NE-Italy/W-Slovenia) during the Last Glacial Maximum. We focused on a ...new sedimentary and paleoecological archive spanning the LGM acme, located in an aggrading, permanently flooded and ponded plain, dammed by an active fluvioglacial megafan. The ecosystem reconstruction, based on two high resolution pollen records, is supported by a rich plant macrofossil flora and constrained by a robust radiocarbon chronology between 26 and 22calka BP. We show evidence for persistence of boreal trees and of different open boreal forest types throughout the LGM at the south-eastern mountain fringe of the Alps and the Northern Dinarides. Fire frequency is responsible for high, oscillating forest openness. The paleobotanical record is discussed in the light of the ecogeographic diversity of the region. A belt formed by Swiss stone pine, larch and dwarf mountain pine on limestone bedrock, and accompanied by Spruce in the floodplain, extended uphill, while proximal outwash plain supported Scots pine and dwarf mountain pine. These differences arise from groundwater regimes rather than from local climate variability. A steep moisture gradient from the semiarid pedoclimatic regime prevailing in the Adriatic alluvial plain to the forested mountain fringe is related to the orographic rainout triggered by southern air circulation. Mesophytic broad-leaved forest trees did not withstand the LGM temperature extremes in zonal ecosystems at the Alpine–Dinaric fringe; however, the fossil evidence suggests a number of microrefugia in karstic and thermal spring habitats of the northern Adriatic.
•Paleoenvironmental reconstruction at Alps–Dinarides fringe during the Last Glacial Maximum•Relationships between regional geological frame, sedimentary environments, and forest history•Persistence of trees and of different types of open boreal forest throughout the LGM
Fare Well, Illyria Binder, David
2013, 20131110, 2013-11-01, 2013-01-11
eBook
As a reporter for the prestigious New York Times the author interviewed many of the leading political figures of the Balkans (Illyria). He also sought out the area's intellectuals, many of them ...critical of their leaders, and everyday people who provide a sense of daily life. He devotes a chapter to each ethnic group from Vlachs to Serbs, talks about their differences and similarities, and does so without giving offense. He also provides a short historical account of the various places he visits, which deepens our understanding of the local cultures.
The Gorica Hills (Slovene Goriška brda and also Brda) represent a part of the hilly cultural landscapes in the northern Mediterranean. Because of the historical development of the states, the Gorica ...Hills are situated on the Slovenian western border. The Gorica Hills have been a synonym for a cultivated landscape since the Middle Ages. New studies have changed the pre-existing belief that the cultivation method and crop types have not changed through the centuries, except for the introduction of corn and potatoes. However, detailed descriptions of the cultivation methods and the types of predominant crops in the cadastre show that during the nineteenth century, and especially in the period after World War I, the cultivation method of the vine and the types of crops, in fact, changed significantly. At this point, the nineteenth century can be seen as the period of the final introduction of corn and potatoes. Thus, the cultural landscape of the Gorica Hills is the result of the responses to inside and outside economic and cultural pulses. The paper will point out the advantages of the land cadastre reports that were used in the reconstruction of the cultural landscape. It will also present the questions that have remained unanswered and are left open for further research.
Područje donjosutlanskog pojasa naselja uz granicu Slovenije i Hrvatske oduvijek je bilo podložno migratornim kretanjima. Autor u tekstu kroz analizu arhivskog gradiva, odnosno matičnih knjiga umrlih ...i vjenčanih u periodu izmeðu sredine 19. i sredine 20. stoljeća pokušava ustanoviti broj osoba koje su preminule u župama Marija Gorica, Dubravica i Brdovec, a bile su podrijetlom iz Slovenije, odnosno broj osoba koje su se oženile/ udale u Hrvatskoj, a bile su podrijetlom iz Slovenije. U drugom dijelu teksta na temelju polustrukturiranih dubinskih intervjua s pripadnicima slovenske nacionalne manjine i pripadnicima većinskoga hrvatskog naroda u navedene tri župe autor pokušava ustanoviti koliko su veze izmeðu Hrvata i Slovenaca u donjosutlanskom pojasu još uvijek jake i koliko su se one promijenile nakon uspostava dviju neovisnih država.
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