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HAIT Journal of Science and Engineering B Volume 2, Issues 1-2, pp. 54-94 © 2005 Holon Academic Institute of Technology | ||||
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Factor analysis in environmental studies
Alexander S. Kaplunovsky
Research Center for Quantum Communication Engineering
| Holon Academic Institute of Technology, 52 Golomb Str., Holon 58102, Israel e-mail: alex_ka@netvision.net.il Received 10 August 2004, revised 14 October 2004, accepted 5 November 2004
| In our days, factor analysis has become an important statistical instrument of investigation in modern science, being an adequate tool to investigate the principles of interaction of components and their integration into a system. The paper, not pretending to a complete and detailed review, is intended mainly for a wide community of ecologists, which are interesting in principles of using factor analysis in environmental studies. Properties of factor analysis as a robust method of investigation in environmental studies, are considered and discussed on the examples of using methods of factor analysis in air, water and land ecological systems.
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