Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) has long been used in the social sciences to depict the relationships between variables/items and latent traits. Researchers face many choices when using EFA, ...including the choice of rotation criterion, which can be difficult given that few research articles have discussed and/or demonstrated their differences. The goal of the current study is to help fill this gap by reviewing and demonstrating the utility of several rotation criteria. Furthermore, this article discusses and demonstrates the importance of using factor pattern loading standard errors for hypothesis testing. The choice of a rotation criterion and the use of standard errors in evaluating factor loadings are essential so researchers can make informed decisions concerning the factor structure. This study demonstrates that depending on the rotation criterion selected, and the complexity of the factor pattern matrix, the interfactor correlations and factor pattern loadings can vary substantially. It is also illustrated that the magnitude of the factor loading standard errors can result in different factor structures. Implications and future directions are discussed.
Abstract
Climate change impacts biodiversity and is driving range shifts of species and populations across the globe. To understand the effects of climate warming on biota, long-term observations of ...the occurrence of species and detailed knowledge on their ecology and life-history is crucial. Mountain species particularly suffer under climate warming and often respond to environmental changes by altitudinal range shifts. We assessed long-term distribution trends of mountain butterflies across the eastern Alps and calculated species’ specific annual range shifts based on field observations and species distribution models, counterbalancing the potential drawbacks of both approaches. We also compiled details on the ecology, behaviour and life-history, and the climate niche of each species assessed. We found that the highest altitudinal maxima were observed recently in the majority of cases, while the lowest altitudes of observations were recorded before 1980. Mobile and generalist species with a broad ecological amplitude tended to move uphill more than specialist and sedentary species. As main drivers we identified climatic conditions and topographic variables, such as insolation and solar irradiation. This study provides important evidence for responses of high mountain taxa to rapid climate change. Our study underlines the advantage of combining historical surveys and museum collection data with cutting-edge analyses.
Selenium is of great concern owing to its acutely toxic characteristic at elevated dosage and the long-term radiotoxicity of
Se. The contents of selenium in industrial wastewater, agricultural ...runoff, and drinking water have to be constrained to a value of 50 μg/L as the maximum concentration limit. We reported here the selenium uptake using a structurally well-defined cationic layered rare earth hydroxide, Y
(OH)
Cl·1.5H
O. The sorption kinetics, isotherms, selectivity, and desorption of selenite and selenate on Y
(OH)
Cl·1.5H
O at pH 7 and 8.5 were systematically investigated using a batch method. The maximum sorption capacities of selenite and selenate are 207 and 124 mg/g, respectively, both representing the new records among those of inorganic sorbents. In the low concentration region, Y
(OH)
Cl·1.5H
O is able to almost completely remove selenium from aqueous solution even in the presence of competitive anions such as NO
, Cl
, CO
, SO
, and HPO
. The resulting concentration of selenium is below 10 μg/L, well meeting the strictest criterion for the drinking water. The selenate on loaded samples could be desorbed by rinsing with concentrated noncomplexing NaCl solutions whereas complexing ligands have to be employed to elute selenite for the material regeneration. After desorption, Y
(OH)
Cl·1.5H
O could be reused to remove selenate and selenite. In addition, the sorption mechanism was unraveled by the combination of EDS, FT-IR, Raman, PXRD, and EXAFS techniques. Specifically, the selenate ions were exchanged with chloride ions in the interlayer space, forming outer-sphere complexes. In comparison, besides anion exchange mechanism, the selenite ions were directly bound to the Y
center in the positively charged layer of Y
(OH)
(H
O)
through strong bidentate binuclear inner-sphere complexation, consistent with the observation of the higher uptake of selenite over selenate. The results presented in this work confirm that the cationic layered rare earth hydroxide is an emerging and promising material for efficient removal of selenite and selenate as well as other anionic environmental pollutants.
Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is a commonly used statistical technique for examining the relationships between variables (e.g., items) and the factors (e.g., latent traits) they depict. There are ...several decisions that must be made when using EFA, with one of the more important being choice of the rotation criterion. This selection can be arduous given the numerous rotation criteria available and the lack of research/literature that compares their function and utility. Historically, researchers have chosen rotation criteria based on whether or not factors are correlated and have failed to consider other important aspects of their data. This study reviews several rotation criteria, demonstrates how they may perform with different factor pattern structures, and highlights for researchers subtle but important differences between each rotation criterion. The choice of rotation criterion is critical to ensure researchers make informed decisions as to when different rotation criteria may or may not be appropriate. The results suggest that depending on the rotation criterion selected and the complexity of the factor pattern matrix, the interpretation of the interfactor correlations and factor pattern loadings can vary substantially. Implications and future directions are discussed.
•Efficient implementation of a flow model to simulate both two-phase subcritical and supercritical regimes.•Finite element high-order formulation of 3and 4-equation multifluid methods.•Derivation of ...adapted characteristic boundary conditions.•Application to the simulation of flames in realistic high-pressure configurations.
In various industrial combustion devices, such as liquid rocket engines at ignition or Diesel engines during the compression stage, the operating point varies over a wide range of pressures. These pressure variations can lead to a change of thermodynamic regime when the critical pressure is exceeded, switching from two-phase injection to transcritical injection. Such change modifies the topology of the flow and the mixing, thereby impacting the flame dynamics. This motivates the development of a unified methodology able to address both subcritical and supercritical flows within the same solver. To achieve this, the present work provides an extension of the supercritical real gas Taylor-Galerkin solver AVBP-RG to subcritical two-phase flows, based on diffuse interface models. In particular, the required developments for the integration of a multifluid model into the finite-element framework of this solver are detailed. Then, the ability of the solver to address a subcritical configuration is tested by simulating two subcritical-pressure operating points (G1 at 4.7 MPa and A10 at 1 MPa) of the MASCOTTE test bench operated by ONERA. This allows to confront the model with experimental data, showing good agreement.
In 2009 the Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII) was founded by several, predominant German enterprises. The objective of DII was to organise the conditions for the realisation of the Desertec idea, ...which aimed to both (a) supply Europe, in a large-scale manner, with electricity produced in solar power plants in North Africa and the Arabic peninsula and (b) contribute to the self-supply of the Middle East North Africa region (MENA). Protagonists of the desert energy idea saw this megatechnic project as a starting point for a new trans-Mediterranean EU-MENA union, critics in contrast as a neo-colonial project. Disputes over the adequate interpretation and implementation of the Desertec idea broke out from the beginning. In 2014/2015, the media talked of the failure of DII and of the Desertec concept. The majority of the members left DII at the end of 2014. On the other hand, in some MENA countries renewables are playing a crucial role in securing the future of the energy sector. This paper analyses the development of DII and the Desertec idea by using concepts from Social Studies in Technology, and especially by the multi-level perspective approach in Transition Studies. It shows how the interplay of different factors, such as technological developments, entrepreneurial performances and political processes, lead to internal conflicts and the non-realisation - up to now - of related large-scale energy projects. As an important aspect of the paper, different understandings of the future of our energy supply and of North-South relations are presented in detail.
Pemphigus is a severe autoimmune disease impairing barrier functions of epidermis and mucosa. Autoantibodies primarily target the desmosomal adhesion molecules desmoglein (Dsg) 1 and Dsg 3 and induce ...loss of desmosomal adhesion. Strikingly, autoantibody profiles in pemphigus correlate with clinical phenotypes. Mucosal-dominant pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is characterised by autoantibodies (PV-IgG) against Dsg3 whereas epidermal blistering in PV and pemphigus foliaceus (PF) is associated with autoantibodies against Dsg1. Therapy in pemphigus is evolving towards specific suppression of autoantibody formation and autoantibody depletion. Nevertheless, during the acute phase and relapses of the disease additional treatment options to stabilise desmosomes and thereby rescue keratinocyte adhesion would be beneficial. Therefore, the mechanisms by which autoantibodies interfere with adhesion of desmosomes need to be characterised in detail. Besides direct inhibition of Dsg adhesion, autoantibodies engage signalling pathways interfering with different steps of desmosome turn-over. With this respect, recent data indicate that autoantibodies induce separate signalling responses in keratinocytes
via
specific signalling complexes organised by Dsg1 and Dsg3 which transfer the signal of autoantibody binding into the cell. This hypothesis may also explain the different clinical pemphigus phenotypes.
► Quality tourism produces higher water consumption levels per capita than mass tourism. ► Garden irrigation may account for more than 70% of water consumption in summer. ► Garden design is more ...important for irrigation amounts than total garden area. ► Swimming pools cause an average additional water consumption of 22.6
l/p/d. ► Land use patterns are explanatory factors for water consumption patterns.
The island of Mallorca is the main Balearic resort and sustainable water management is a key challenge for the economic and ecological sustainability of tourism as the main economic activity. The critical water supply situation on the island is being exacerbated by the extension of the tourist base to so-called “quality tourism”. Since the mid 1990s, low-density residential tourist land uses associated with second homes and more affluent urban dwellers have spread around existing mass tourist urban centres. Increasing water consumption for outdoor uses (gardens, swimming pools) is a direct consequence of this development. Available water consumption data mask the impact of residential tourism on water consumption levels. The objective of the present paper is to compare per capita water consumption in quality tourist, mass tourist and residential urban areas, and to provide quantitative information on the magnitude of water consumption by gardens and swimming pools as water-related leisure structures. The analysis combines water consumption data with a land use geodatabase at the sub-parcel scale, a detailed population inventory, and an estimate of pool water use. The results show that quality tourism produces higher water consumption levels per capita than mass tourism. Garden irrigation is the single main cause of the high water consumption in quality tourist areas and accounts for more than 70% of these areas’ total consumption in summer. But even in mass tourist and residential areas, garden irrigation accounts for up to 30% and 20%, respectively, of total water consumption in summer. Individually owned swimming pools cause an additional average water consumption of 22
litres/person/day. The proliferation of swimming pools and lavish ‘Atlantic’ gardens may turn out as one of the biggest threats to sustainable water management on the island of Mallorca and in other tourist destinations adapting the quality tourist model.
Cuticular hydrocarbons (CHC) are known to serve as discrimination cues and will trigger defence behaviour in a plethora of eusocial insects. However, little is known how about nestmate recognition ...ability selects for CHC diversification. In this study we investigate differences in CHC composition of four major honey bee species with respect to the differences in their nesting behavior. In contrast to A. mellifera, A. cerana and A. florea, the giant honey bee A. dorsata prefers to build their nests in aggregations with very small spatial distances between nests, which increases the probability of intrusions. Thus, A. dorsata exhibits a particularly challenging nesting behavior which we hypothesize should be accompanied with an improved nestmate recognition system. Comparative analyses of the worker CHC profiles indicate that A. dorsata workers exhibit a unique and more complex CHC profile than the other three honey bee species. This increased complexity is likely based on a developmental process that retains the capability to synthesize methyl-branched hydrocarbons as adults. Furthermore, two sets of behavioral experiments provide evidence that A. dorsata shows an improved nestmate discrimination ability compared to the phylogenetically ancestral A. florea, which is also open-nesting but does not form nest aggregations. The results of our study suggest that ecological traits like nesting in aggregation might be able to drive CHC profile diversification even in closely related insect species.
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