scholarly journals Development and Assessment of a New Framework for Agricultural Nonpoint Source Pollution Control

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 3156
Author(s):  
Lili Zhou ◽  
Runzhe Geng

The transport of agricultural nonpoint source (NPS) pollutants in water pathways is affected by various factors such as precipitation, terrain, soil erosion, surface and subsurface flows, soil texture, land management, and vegetation coverage. In this study, based on the transmission mechanism of NPS pollutants, we constructed a five-factor model for predicting the path-through rate of NPS pollutants. The five indices of the hydrological processes, namely the precipitation index (α), terrain index (β), runoff index (TI), subsurface runoff index (LI), and buffer strip retention index (RI), are integrated with the pollution source data, including the rural living, livestock and farmland data, obtained from the national pollution source census. The proposed model was applied to the headwater of the Miyun Reservoir watershed for identifying the areas with high path-through rates of agricultural NPS pollutants. The results demonstrated the following. (1) The simulation accuracy of the model is acceptable in mesoscale watersheds. The total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) agriculture loads were determined as 705.11 t and 3.16 t in 2014, with the relative errors of the simulations being 19.62% and 24.45%, respectively. (2) From the spatial distribution of the agricultural NPS, the TN and TP resource loads were mainly distributed among the upstream of Dage and downstream of Taishitun, as well as the towns of Bakshiying and Gaoling. The major source of TN was found to be farmland, accounting for 47.6%, followed by livestock, accounting for 37.4%. However, the path-through rates of TP were different from those of TN; rural living was the main TP source (65%). (3) The path-through rates of agricultural NPS were the highest for the towns of Wudaoying, Dage, Tuchengzi, Anchungoumen, and Huodoushan, where the path-through rate of TN ranged from 0.17 to 0.26. As for TP, it was highest in Wudaoying, Kulongshan, Dage, and Tuchengzi, with values ranging from 0.012 to 0.019. (4) A comprehensive analysis of the distribution of the NPS pollution load and the path-through rate revealed the towns of Dage, Wudaoying, and Tuchengzi as the critical source areas of agricultural NPS pollutants. Therefore, these towns should be seriously considered for effective watershed management. In addition, compared with field monitoring, the export coefficient model, and the physical-based model, the proposed five-factor model, which is based on the path-through rate and the mechanism of agricultural NPS pollutant transfer, cannot only obtain the spatial distribution characteristics of the path-through rate on a field scale but also be applicable to large-scale watersheds for estimating the path-through rates of NPS pollutants.

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Toschi ◽  
Roberta Riccelli ◽  
Iole Indovina ◽  
Antonio Terracciano ◽  
Luca Passamonti

Abstract A key objective of the emerging field of personality neuroscience is to link the great variety of the enduring dispositions of human behaviour with reliable markers of brain function. This can be achieved by analysing big data-sets with methods that model whole-brain connectivity patterns. To meet these expectations, we exploited a large repository of personality and neuroimaging measures made publicly available via the Human Connectome Project. Using connectomic analyses based on graph theory, we computed global and local indices of functional connectivity (e.g., nodal strength, efficiency, clustering, betweenness centrality) and related these metrics to the five-factor model (FFM) personality traits (i.e., neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness). The maximal information coefficient was used to assess for linear and nonlinear statistical dependencies across the graph “nodes”, which were defined as distinct large-scale brain circuits identified via independent component analysis. Multivariate regression models and “train/test” approaches were used to examine the associations between FFM traits and connectomic indices as well as to assess the generalizability of the main findings, while accounting for age and sex variability. Conscientiousness was the sole FFM trait linked to measures of higher functional connectivity in the fronto-parietal and default mode networks. This offers a mechanistic explanation of the behavioural observation that conscientious people are reliable and efficient in goal-setting or planning. Our study provides new inputs to understanding the neurological basis of personality and contributes to the development of more realistic models of the brain dynamics that mediate personality differences.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beáta Bőthe ◽  
Marc N. Potenza ◽  
Mark D. Griffiths ◽  
Shane W. Kraus ◽  
Verena Klein ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundCompulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder (CSBD) is included in the eleventh edition of The International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) as an impulse-control disorder.AimsThe aim of the present work was to develop a scale (Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder Scale–CSBD-19) that can reliably and validly assess CSBD based on ICD-11 diagnostic guidelines.MethodFour independent samples of 9,325 individuals completed self-reported measures from three countries (the United States, Hungary, and Germany). The psychometric properties of the CSBD-19 were examined in terms of factor structure, reliability, measurement invariance, and theoretically relevant correlates. A potential threshold was determined to identify individuals with an elevated risk of CSBD.ResultsThe five-factor model of the CSBD-19 (i.e., control, salience, relapse, dissatisfaction, and negative consequences) had an excellent fit to the data and demonstrated appropriate associations with the correlates. Measurement invariance suggested that the CSBD-19 functions similarly across languages. Men had higher means than women. A score of 50 points was found as an optimal threshold to identify individuals at high-risk of CSBD.ConclusionsThe CSBD-19 is a short, valid, and reliable measure of potential CSBD based on ICD-11 diagnostic guidelines. Its use in large-scale, cross-cultural studies may promote the identification and understanding of individuals with a high risk of CSBD.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Passamonti ◽  
R. Riccelli ◽  
I. Indovina ◽  
A. Duggento ◽  
A. Terracciano ◽  
...  

Abstract The human brain is characterized by highly dynamic patterns of functional connectivity. However, it is unknown whether this time-variant ‘connectome’ is related to the individual differences in the behavioural and cognitive traits described in the five-factor model of personality. To answer this question, inter-network time-variant connectivity was computed in n = 818 healthy people via a dynamical conditional correlation model. Next, network dynamicity was quantified throughout an ad-hoc measure (T-index) and the generalizability of the multi-variate associations between personality traits and network dynamicity was assessed using a train/test split approach. Conscientiousness, reflecting enhanced cognitive and emotional control, was the sole trait linked to stationary connectivity across several circuits such as the default mode and prefronto-parietal network. The stationarity in the ‘communication’ across large-scale networks offers a mechanistic description of the capacity of conscientious people to ‘protect’ non-immediate goals against interference over-time. This study informs future research aiming at developing more realistic models of the brain dynamics mediating personality differences.


2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenn Konstabel ◽  
Jan–Erik Lönnqvist ◽  
Gari Walkowitz ◽  
Kätlin Konstabel ◽  
Markku Verkasalo

A new approach to the construction of short questionnaires is introduced: ‘comprehensive single items’ (CSI) are developed with the intention to match expert descriptions of a construct as closely as possible. Based on this idea, a 60–item questionnaire, the ‘Short Five’ (S5) is constructed for measuring 30 facets of the Five–Factor Model. Studies in Estonian, Finnish, English, and German showed that the S5 domain scales had correlations over 0.8 with their counterparts in longer questionnaires, and that the factor structure was similar to that of the normative US NEO–PI–R sample. The S5 can be recommended for large–scale studies where participants’ time is limited. The CSI approach can be successfully used in short scale development, in addition to more traditional methods. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


2021 ◽  
pp. 089020702110267
Author(s):  
Isabel Thielmann ◽  
Morten Moshagen ◽  
BenjaminE. Hilbig ◽  
Ingo Zettler

Models of basic personality structure are among the most widely used frameworks in psychology and beyond, and they have considerably advanced the understanding of individual differences in a plethora of consequential outcomes. Over the past decades, two such models have become most widely used: the Five Factor Model (FFM) or Big Five, respectively, and the HEXACO Model of Personality. However, there is no large-scale empirical evidence on the general comparability of these models. Here, we provide the first comprehensive meta-analysis on (a) the correspondence of the FFM/Big Five and HEXACO dimensions, (b) the scope of trait content the models cover, and (c) the orthogonality (i.e., degree of independence) of dimensions within the models. Results based on 152 (published and unpublished) samples and 6,828 unique effects showed that the HEXACO dimensions incorporate notable conceptual differences compared to the FFM/Big Five dimensions, resulting in a broader coverage of the personality space and less redundancy between dimensions. Moreover, moderator analyses revealed substantial differences between operationalizations of the FFM/Big Five. Taken together, these findings have important theoretical and practical implications for the understanding of basic personality dimensions and their assessment.


2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 144-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Bäckström ◽  
Fredrik Björklund

The difference between evaluatively loaded and evaluatively neutralized five-factor inventory items was used to create new variables, one for each factor in the five-factor model. Study 1 showed that these variables can be represented in terms of a general evaluative factor which is related to social desirability measures and indicated that the factor may equally well be represented as separate from the Big Five as superordinate to them. Study 2 revealed an evaluative factor in self-ratings and peer ratings of the Big Five, but the evaluative factor in self-reports did not correlate with such a factor in ratings by peers. In Study 3 the evaluative factor contributed above the Big Five in predicting work performance, indicating a substance component. The results are discussed in relation to measurement issues and self-serving biases.


1996 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Perugini ◽  
Luigi Leone

The aim of this contribution is to present a new short adjective-based measure of the Five Factor Model (FFM) of personality, the Short Adjectives Checklist of BIg Five (SACBIF). We present the various steps of the construction and the validation of this instrument. First, 50 adjectives were selected with a selection procedure, the “Lining Up Technique” (LUT), specifically used to identify the best factorial markers of the FFM. Then, the factorial structure and the psychometric properties of the SACBIF were investigated. Finally, the SACBIF factorial structure was correlated with some main measures of the FFM to establish its construct validity and with some other personality dimensions to investigate how well these dimensions could be represented in the SACBIF factorial space.


2010 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 194-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel A. Newman ◽  
Christine A. Limbers ◽  
James W. Varni

The measurement of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in children has witnessed significant international growth over the past decade in an effort to improve pediatric health and well-being, and to determine the value of health-care services. In order to compare international HRQOL research findings across language groups, it is important to demonstrate factorial invariance, i.e., that the items have an equivalent meaning across the language groups studied. This study examined the factorial invariance of child self-reported HRQOL across English- and Spanish-language groups in a Hispanic population of 2,899 children ages 8–18 utilizing the 23-item PedsQL™ 4.0 Generic Core Scales. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed specifying a five-factor model across language groups. The findings support an equivalent 5-factor structure across English- and Spanish-language groups. Based on these data, it can be concluded that children across the two languages studied interpreted the instrument in a similar manner. The multigroup CFA statistical methods utilized in the present study have important implications for cross-cultural assessment research in children in which different language groups are compared.


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