Column-standardized biplot

In the corresponding column-standardized biplot of Fig. 31.7 we find all representations of the eight chromatographic methods more or less at the same distance from the origin of space. The circle is distorted because of the large difference between the contributions of the first and second latent variables (95 and 4%) and the choice of a = [3 = 0.5 which has been made at the outset. The combined effect is an apparent dilation of the vertical axis. 

The distances between compounds in Fig. 31.7 are not notably affected by the transformation in comparison with the previous Fig. 31.6. This biplot allows more easily to perceive the correlations between measurements. Three clusters are now put in evidence, namely (1) DMSO and DMF, (2) ethanol and propanol, (3) octanol, dioxane, THF and methylenedichloride. The line segments drawn from the origin have been added to emphasize these groupings. Unipolar axes could have been defined here in the same way as in Fig. 31.6. Bipolar axes on the column-standardized biplot, however, cannot be interpreted directly in terms of the original data in X. 

The biplot of Fig. 31.9 shows that both the centroids of the compounds and of the methods coincide with the origin (the small cross in the middle of the plot). The first two latent variables account for 83 and 14% of the inertia, respectively. Three percent of the inertia is carried by higher order latent variables. In this biplot we can only make interpretations of the bipolar axes directly in terms of the original data in X. Three prominent poles appear on this biplot DMSO, methylene-dichloride and ethylalcohol. They are called poles because they are at a large distance from the origin and from one another. They are also representative for the three clusters that have been identified already on the column-standardized biplot in Fig. 31.7. 

Fig. 31.7. Biplot of chromatographic retention times in Table 31.2, after column-standardization of the data. Unipolar semi-axes have been drawn through all points representing methods. The particular arrangement of the methods is indicative for the presence of a strong size component in the data.

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