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.
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.
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.
•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.
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.
In the current situation the district heating system supplies the 32% of the total thermal consumption in the City of Velika Gorica. The main issue in the district heating system is the utilization ...of 14 small and distributed heat plants, each providing heat to a separate and individually disconnected heating grid. Reduction of costs and CO2 emissions can be reached with a high penetration of renewable sources. The aim of this paper is to evaluate and design the integration of a Central Solar Heating Plant with Seasonal Storage into the district heating system of the City. An economic assessment was made with a pessimistic and an optimistic prediction of the solar heat cost for ground mounted collectors and roof mounted collectors. The seasonal storage was chosen to be pit thermal energy storage; the system was modeled as a low-temperature district heating system with the real thermal demands of a district heating plant.
Bentonites are an important industrial resource and are also interesting from the mineralogical point of view. The main component of bentonites is a mineral from the smectite group in which chemical ...and structural variations, influencing bentonite properties, provide a great deal of interesting research topics. The aim of this study was to better describe bentonites from 11 known deposits from Croatia and neighbouring countries: Bednja, Bunarić, Draga, Divoselo, Sjeničak, Paripovac, Lončarski vis and Poljanska Luka (Croatia), Zaloška Gorica (Slovenia), Šipovo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Vranjska Banja (Serbia). Thirteen samples were analysed using several available techniques in order to obtain the data necessary for currently accepted bentonite classification. The mineralogical composition was analysed using XRD and FTIR, and crystallochemical properties were investigated by thermal analysis, CEC determination with ammonium index cations, chemical analyses (ICP-AES and ICP-MS) and Mössbauer spectroscopy. The results showed that the main mineral constituent of most local bentonite deposits is a Fe-poor smectite, with a predominantly medium layer charge mostly as a result of octahedral substitutions, with calcium or sodium cations occupying the interlayer. Nevertheless, the variations between samples are prominent enough to provide a good overview of the range of crystallo-chemical properties which exist in different smectites resulting in varying bentonite properties.
The Praeorbitolina/Palorbitolinoides Association characterizes a Lower Cretaceous biostratigraphic interval, which is marked by the common occurrence of these two foraminiferal genera. The base of ...this interval is defined by the inception of Palorbitolinoides cf. orbiculata, whereas the top is marked by the disappearance of the genus Praeorbitolina. The Praeorbitolina/Palorbitolinoides Association is evident in the uppermost part of the Lower Aptian of the Apulian and Adriatic Carbonate Platforms, as well as of the eastern Arabian Plate, all located at the southern margin of the Neo-Tethys.
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► Aptian biostratigraphic key – interval. ► Early Cretaceous Orbitolinids of the Apulian Carbonate Platform. ► Early Cretaceous Orbitolinids of the Adriatic Carbonate Platform. ► Early Cretaceous Orbitolinids of the eastern Arabian Plate.
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