Cronbach's alpha reliability: Interval estimation,hypothesis testing,and sample size planning

Cronbach's alpha is one of the most widely used measures of reliability in the social and organizational sciences. Current practice is to report the sample value of Cronbach's alpha reliability, but a confidence interval for the population reliability value also should be reported. The traditional confidence interval for the population value of Cronbach's alpha makes an unnecessarily restrictive assumption that the multiple measurements have equal variances and equal covariances. We propose a confidence interval that does not require equal variances or equal covariances. The results of a simulation study demonstrated that the proposed method performed better than alternative methods. We also present some sample size formulas that approximate the sample size requirements for desired power or desired confidence interval precision. R functions are provided that can be used to implement the proposed confidence interval and sample size methods. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Unraveling the size distributions of surface properties for purple soil and yellow soil

Soils contain diverse colloidal particles whose properties are pertinent to ecological and human health, whereas few investigations systematically analyze the surface properties of these particles. The objective of this study was to elucidate the surface properties of particles within targeted size ranges(i.e. 10, 1–10, 0.5–1, 0.2–0.5 and 0.2 μm) for a purple soil(Entisol) and a yellow soil(Ultisol) using the combined determination method. The mineralogy of corresponding particle-size fractions was determined by X-ray diffraction.We found that up to 80% of the specific surface area and 85% of the surface charge of the entire soil came from colloidal-sized particles( 1 μm), and almost half of the specific surface area and surface charge came from the smallest particles( 0.2 μm). Vermiculite,illite, montmorillonite and mica dominated in the colloidal-sized particles, of which the smallest particles had the highest proportion of vermiculite and montmorillonite. For a given size fraction, the purple soil had a larger specific surface area, stronger electrostatic field, and higher surface charge than the yellow soil due to differences in mineralogy.Likewise, the differences in surface properties among the various particle-size fractions can also be ascribed to mineralogy. Our results indicated that soil surface properties were essentially determined by the colloidal-sized particles, and the 0.2 μm nanoparticles made the largest contribution to soil properties. The composition of clay minerals within the diverse particle-size fractions could fully explain the size distributions of surface properties.     

广州珠江表层沉积物中石油烃分布特征研究

对珠江广州段7个采样点的表层沉积物中的石油烃浓度进行了测定,结果表明广州珠江表层沉积物中的石油烃污浓度水平在288.62~725.13μg/g之间。市区南航道、后航道浓度相对较高,前航道黄埔涌口(Ⅶ号点)附近石油烃浓度已接近海洋第二类沉积物标准值;西航道至前航道和南航道、平洲水道至后航道沿程石油类浓度与有机质含量逐渐升高,说明广州市区是造成石油及有机污染的主要区域。与有机质含量及沉积物粒度的相关性分析发现,表层沉积物中石油烃浓度与有机质水平存在非常显著的正相关关系(相关系数r=0.987,P<0.01);与粘粒组分存在显著的正相关关系,相关系数(r=0.885,P<0.05),而与砂粒组分成非常显著的负相关关系(r=-0.919,P<0.01)。     

苏州城区雨水管道沉积物典型污染物分布特征

分别采集了苏州城区商业区、历史文化保护区、文教区和生活区等典型样点的雨水管道沉积物,分析沉积物粒径分布和各分级粒度下碳、氮和磷含量及污染负荷的分布特征.结果表明,各样点沉积物颗粒的中值粒径(D50)为16.55～327.50μm,从大到小为:商业区＞生活区＞历史文化保护区＞文教区,D50与沉积物中总有机碳(TOC)、总...     

南京市大气颗粒物中水溶性离子的粒径分布和来源解析

为探讨南京市PM10、PM2.1和PM1.1中水溶性离子的季节变化和其主要来源,分别在南京市区和北郊进行了为期1 a的观测,得到了南京市城郊气溶胶的质量浓度和水溶性离子浓度并进行了来源解析.结果表明:①南京市区和北郊PM10、PM2.1、PM1.1颗粒物浓度顺序均为冬季>春季>秋季>夏季,春夏秋季节3种颗粒物浓度北郊高于市区,冬季相反.②检测的10种离子SO2-4、NO-3、Ca2+、NH+4、Cl-、K+、Na+、F-、NO-2、Mg2+总质量浓度为市区46μg·m-3,北郊39.6μg·m-3,对市区和北郊PM1.1、PM1.1~2.1、PM2.1~10的贡献率分别为56%、49.5%、20.4%和42.5%、37.9%、18.3%.③主要离子SO2-4、NO-3、NH+4、Ca2+浓度季节变化明显,在市区冬季高,夏季低,在北郊春季高,夏季低,南京地区季节性的气候变化和市郊两地的复杂下垫面和人为因素是影响离子浓度季节变化的主要原因.④NH+4、SO2-4、NO-3的前体物NH3、SO2、NOx的转化夏季主要来自汽车尾气,冬季汽车尾气和燃煤排放二者比重相近.Cl-在冬季主要来自工业排放,夏秋季和Na+一起主要来自海盐输送,Ca2+、Mg2+多为地面扬尘和建筑扬尘等地壳源,K+、F-、NO-2主要来自生物质燃烧和工业排放.     

改性粉煤灰对废水色度的吸附研究

对粉煤灰进行水合碱改性和酸改性,合成改性粉煤灰。比较不同改性粉煤灰的氮BET比表面积和孔径大小;通过线性回归分析考察色度吸附容量与改性粉煤灰的比表面积、孔径的相关性;考察溶液pH值对色度的吸附性能的影响。实验结果表明,水合碱改性(熟石灰与粉煤灰质量比为1.5∶1)再硫酸(0.10 mol/L)改性粉煤灰对色度的吸附容量为lg[(c0-c)/c]=0.67;溶液pH值在3.5～6.5之间色度吸附效率最佳;回归分析出吸附剂的吸附容量和比表面积、孔径分布显著相关,比表面积越大,孔径越小,吸附性能越高。     

南京市下关电厂周围地区气溶胶粒径分布规律研究

利用车载PC-2型气溶胶粒度分析仪流动监测南京市下关电厂周围地区,得到了电厂上、下风向不同的气溶胶粘径分布.通过比较分析,阐述了该地区悬浮颗粒物粒度分布的变化规律及电厂的影响程度,该方法快速、方便、准确,获得了较为满意的结果.     

刚性隔热瓦对舱段结构动特性影响规律分析

目的 分析刚性隔热瓦尺寸、瓦间缝隙大小及热环境对典型舱段结构动特性的影响规律.方法 以刚性隔热瓦式热防护系统的高超声速飞行器舱段结构为研究对象,建立其动力学模型,分别研究自由-自由边界条件下刚性隔热瓦尺寸及瓦间缝隙大小对舱段结构动特性的影响规律.开展热环境下舱段结构的稳态热传导分析,获得热环境下舱段结构的温度场分布,然...     

Using design effects from previous cluster surveys to guide sample size calculation in emergency settings

A good estimate of the design effect is critical for calculating the most efficient sample size for cluster surveys. We reviewed the design effects for seven nutrition and health outcomes from nine population-based cluster surveys conducted in emergency settings. Most of the design effects for outcomes in children, and one-half of the design effects for crude mortality, were below two. A reassessment of mortality data from Kosovo and Badghis, Afghanistan revealed that, given the same number of clusters, changing sample size had a relatively small impact on the precision of the estimate of mortality. We concluded that, in most surveys, assuming a design effect of 1.5 for acute malnutrition in children and two or less for crude mortality would produce a more efficient sample size. In addition, enhancing the sample size in cluster surveys without increasing the number of clusters may not result in substantial improvements in precision.     

细水雾抑制熄灭书架火的模拟实验研究

细水雾灭火系统被建议用于保护对水敏感的环境,例如图书馆的珍稀图书收藏室。该文通过实验研究了细水雾控制与扑灭图书库火灾的可能性;论述了确定细水雾应用在图书库火灾防治中的局限性;得到了细水雾的灭火效率与书架火的点火位置以及火源的尺寸(功率)之间的关系,并作出了相应的解释。