scholarly journals LIVING BEINGS AS INFORMED SYSTEMS: TOWARDS A PHYSICAL THEORY OF INFORMATION

1996 ◽  
Vol 04 (04) ◽  
pp. 565-584
Author(s):  
ANTONIO LEÓN
Keyword(s):  
Physical Theory ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Physical Point ◽  
Absolute Measure ◽  
Functional Measure ◽  
Physical Information ◽  
Physical Effects ◽  
Theory Of Information ◽  
Concept Of Information ◽  
Physical Laws

I propose here a new concept of information based on two relevant aspects of its expression. The first refers to the undeniable fact that the expression of information modifies the physical state of its receiver. The second, to that the said changes are arbitrary, not deducible from physical laws but from a code established arbitrarily. Thus, physical information is proposed here as the capacity of producing arbitrary changes. Once defined information from this physical point of view, I deduce some basic physical properties of informed systems. These properties (renewal, self-reproducing, evolution, diversification) are immediately recognisable as the attributes most characteristic of living beings, the only natural informed systems we know. Although no new attribute of living beings has been discovered here, the formal way used to obtain them is a significant novelty. I also propose here a double evaluation of information. The former is an absolute measure of the physical effects of its expression based on Einstein’s probability. The latter is a functional measure based on the probability that an informed system attain a given objective as consequence of the expression of its information.

GROUNDWATER TIME SERIES

1970 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 181-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
ERIK ERIKSSON
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Hydrologic Models ◽  
Physical Point ◽  
Run Off ◽  
Fort Collins ◽  
Statistical Sense ◽  
Full Benefit ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Prediction Problems

The term “stochastic hydrology” implies a statistical approach to hydrologic problems as opposed to classic hydrology which can be considered deterministic in its approach. During the International Hydrology Symposium, held 6-8 September 1967 at Fort Collins, a number of hydrology papers were presented consisting to a large extent of studies on long records of hydrological elements such as river run-off, these being treated as time series in the statistical sense. This approach is, no doubt, of importance for future work especially in relation to prediction problems, and there seems to be no fundamental difficulty for introducing the stochastic concepts into various hydrologic models. There is, however, some developmental work required – not to speak of educational in respect to hydrologists – before the full benefit of the technique is obtained. The present paper is to some extent an exercise in the statistical study of hydrological time series – far from complete – and to some extent an effort to interpret certain features of such time series from a physical point of view. The material used is 30 years of groundwater level observations in an esker south of Uppsala, the observations being discussed recently by Hallgren & Sands-borg (1968).

On the displacements of the contours of the optic-electronic space images. Mathematical modeling of displacement

2017 ◽  
Vol 992 (4) ◽  
pp. 32-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.G. Voronin
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Modeling ◽  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Mathematical Model ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Design Features ◽  
Space Images ◽  
Electronic Imaging ◽  
Measuring Accuracy ◽  
Physical Laws

The article opens a cycle of three consecutive publications dedicated to the phenomenon of the displacement of the same points in overlapping scans obtained adjacent CCD matrices with opto-electronic imagery. This phenomenon was noticed by other authors, but the proposed explanation for the origin of displacements and the resulting estimates are insufficient, and developed their solutions seem controversial from the point of view of recovery of the measuring accuracy of opticalelectronic space images, determined by the physical laws of their formation. In the first article the mathematical modeling of the expected displacements based on the design features of a scanning opto-electronic imaging equipment. It is shown that actual bias cannot be forecast, because they include additional terms, which may be gross, systematic and random values. The proposed algorithm for computing the most probable values of the additional displacement and ways to address some of the systematic components of these displacements in a mathematical model of optical-electronic remote sensing.

scholarly journals Percolation and tortuosity in heart-like cells

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Rabinovitch ◽  
Y. Biton ◽  
D. Braunstein ◽  
I. Aviram ◽  
R. Thieberger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Action Potential ◽  
Forest Fire ◽  
Sinus Node ◽  
Heart Tissue ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Physical Point ◽  
Electrical Currents ◽  
Single Wave ◽  
Heart Arrhythmia ◽  
The One

AbstractIn the last several years, quite a few papers on the joint question of transport, tortuosity and percolation have appeared in the literature, dealing with passage of miscellaneous liquids or electrical currents in different media. However, these methods have not been applied to the passage of action potential in heart fibrosis (HF), which is crucial for problems of heart arrhythmia, especially of atrial tachycardia and fibrillation. In this work we address the HF problem from these aspects. A cellular automaton model is used to analyze percolation and transport of a distributed-fibrosis inflicted heart-like tissue. Although based on a rather simple mathematical model, it leads to several important outcomes: (1) It is shown that, for a single wave front (as the one emanated by the heart's sinus node), the percolation of heart-like matrices is exactly similar to the forest fire case. (2) It is shown that, on the average, the shape of the transport (a question not dealt with in relation to forest fire, and deals with the delay of action potential when passing a fibrotic tissue) behaves like a Gaussian. (3) Moreover, it is shown that close to the percolation threshold the parameters of this Gaussian behave in a critical way. From the physical point of view, these three results are an important contribution to the general percolation investigation. The relevance of our results to cardiological issues, specifically to the question of reentry initiation, are discussed and it is shown that: (A) Without an ectopic source and under a mere sinus node operation, no arrhythmia is generated, and (B) A sufficiently high refractory period could prevent some reentry mechanisms, even in partially fibrotic heart tissue.

scholarly journals Focal transformation, an imaging concept for signal restoration and noise removal

Geophysics ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 71 (6) ◽  
pp. A55-A59 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Berkhout ◽  
D. J. Verschuur
Keyword(s):  
Input Data ◽  
Noise Removal ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Data Interpolation ◽  
Signal Restoration ◽  
Physical Point ◽  
Seismic Processing ◽  
Promising Tool ◽  
Focal Area ◽  
Forward Operator

Interpolation of data beyond aliasing limits and removal of noise that occurs within the seismic bandwidth are still important problems in seismic processing. The focal transform is introduced as a promising tool in data interpolation and noise removal, allowing the incorporation of macroinformation about the involved wavefields. From a physical point of view, the principal action of the forward focal operator is removing the spatial phase of the signal content from the input data, and the inverse focal operator restores what the forward operator has removed. The strength of the method is that in the transformed domain, the focused signals at the focal area can be separated from the dispersed noise away from the focal area. Applications of particular interest in preprocessing are interpolation of missing offsets and reconstruction of signal beyond aliasing. The latter can be seen as the removal of aliasing noise.

Еnactivist Criticism of the Neurobiological Theory of Consciousness

2021 ◽  
pp. 76-80
Author(s):  
Anastasia O. Shabalina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Mind ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Science Methods ◽  
Neural Processes ◽  
Neural Substrate ◽  
Critical Revision ◽  
Concept Of Information ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Person Experience

The article considers the main arguments against the neurobiological theory of consciousness from the point of view of the enactivist approach within the philosophy of mind. The neurobiological theory of consciousness, which reduces consciousness to neural activity, is currently the dominant approach to the mind-body problem. The neurobiological theory emerged as a result of advances in research on the phenomena of consciousness and through the development of technologies for visualizing the internal processes of mind. However, at the very heart of this theory, there is a number of logical contradictions. The non-reductive enactivist approach to consciousness, introduced in this article, contributes to the existing argumentation against the reduction of consciousness to neural processes with remonstrations that take into account the modern neuroscientific data. The article analyzes the argumentation of the sensorimotor enactivism developed by A. Noe and offers the account of the teleosemantic approach to the concept of information provided by R. Cao. The key problems of the neurobiological theory of consciousness are highlighted, and the objections emerging within the framework of the enactivist approach are analyzed. Since the main concepts on which the neural theory is based are the concepts of neural substrate, cognition as representation, and information as a unit of cognition, the author of the article presents three key enactivist ideas that oppose them. First, the enactivist concept of cognition as action allows us to consider the first-person experience as a mode of action, and not as a state of the brain substrate. Second, the article deals with the “explanatory externalism” argument proposed by Noe, who refutes the image of cognition as a representation in the brain. Finally, in order to critically revise the concept of information as a unit of cognition, the author analyzes Cao’s idea, which represents a teleosemantic approach, but is in line with the general enactivist argumentation. Cao shows that the application of the concept “information” to neural processes is problematic: no naturalized information is found in the brain as a physical substrate. A critical revision of beliefs associated with the neural theory of consciousness leads us to recognize that there are not enough grounds for reducing consciousness to processes that take place in the brain. That is why Noe calls expectations that the visualization of processes taking place in the brain with the help of the modern equipment will be able to depict the experience of consciousness the “new phrenology”, thus indicating the naive character of neural reduction. The article concludes that natural science methods are insufficient for the study of consciousness.

scholarly journals Comparison of Different Approaches to Predict the Performance of Pumps As Turbines (PATs)

Energies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauro Venturini ◽  
Stefano Alvisi ◽  
Silvio Simani ◽  
Lucrezia Manservigi
Keyword(s):  
Simulation Model ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Polynomial Regression ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Box Model ◽  
Physical Point ◽  
Evolutionary Polynomial Regression ◽  
Box Models ◽  
Performance Curves ◽  
Physics Based Simulation

This paper deals with the comparison of different methods which can be used for the prediction of the performance curves of pumps as turbines (PATs). The considered approaches are four, i.e., one physics-based simulation model (“white box” model), two “gray box” models, which integrate theory on turbomachines with specific data correlations, and one “black box” model. More in detail, the modeling approaches are: (1) a physics-based simulation model developed by the same authors, which includes the equations for estimating head, power, and efficiency and uses loss coefficients and specific parameters; (2) a model developed by Derakhshan and Nourbakhsh, which first predicts the best efficiency point of a PAT and then reconstructs their complete characteristic curves by means of two ad hoc equations; (3) the prediction model developed by Singh and Nestmann, which predicts the complete turbine characteristics based on pump shape and size; (4) an Evolutionary Polynomial Regression model, which represents a data-driven hybrid scheme which can be used for identifying the explicit mathematical relationship between PAT and pump curves. All approaches are applied to literature data, relying on both pump and PAT performance curves of head, power, and efficiency over the entire range of operation. The experimental data were provided by Derakhshan and Nourbakhsh for four different turbomachines, working in both pump and PAT mode with specific speed values in the range 1.53–5.82. This paper provides a quantitative assessment of the predictions made by means of the considered approaches and also analyzes consistency from a physical point of view. Advantages and drawbacks of each method are also analyzed and discussed.

Information Capabilities of Integrated Bridge Systems

2004 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blagovest Chanev Belev
Keyword(s):  
Navigation System ◽  
Information Model ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Theory Of Information ◽  
Bridge System ◽  
Critical Situations

Clod Shannon's fundamental works in the field of Theory of Information are well known and used in many different fields of science and practice. The Theory provides good criteria to evaluate equipment, systems, different effects and situations from the point of view of the necessary information. This article uses the Theory to attempt to create an information model for a “Ship-Danger to Navigation” system, which can evaluate an Integrated Bridge System in critical situations.

Reasons, Causes, and Intentional Explanation

1986 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick Stoutland
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Social ◽  
Intentional Explanation ◽  
Covering Law ◽  
Causal Laws ◽  
Physical Laws ◽  
And Behavior

AbstractThe reasons-causes debate concerns whether explanations of human behavior in terms of an agent's reasons presuppose causal laws. This paper considers three approaches to this debate: the covering law model which holds that there are causal laws covering both reasons and behavior, the intentionalist approach which denies any role to causal laws, and Donald Davidson’s point of view which denies that causal laws connect reasons and behavior, but holds that reasons and behavior must be covered by physical laws if reasons explanations are to be valid. I defend the intentionalist approach against the two causalist approaches and conclude with reflections on the significance of the debate for the social sciences.

PROBABILITY DENSITY EVOLUTION EQUATIONS — A HISTORICAL INVESTIGATION

2009 ◽  
Vol 03 (03) ◽  
pp. 209-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
LI JIE ◽  
CHEN JIANBING
Keyword(s):  
Evolution Equation ◽  
Probability Density ◽  
Evolution Equations ◽  
Planck Equation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Lagrangian Description ◽  
Density Evolution ◽  
Physical Point ◽  
Probability Density Evolution ◽  
Generalized Probability

The paper aims at clarifying the essential relationship between traditional probability density evolution equations and the generalized probability density evolution equation which is developed by the authors in recent years. Using the principle of preservation of probability as a uniform fundamental, the probability density evolution equations, including the Liouville equation, Fokker–Planck equation and the Dostupov–Pugachev equation, are derived from the physical point of view. It is pointed out that combining with Eulerian or Lagrangian description of the associated dynamical system will lead to different probability density evolution equations. Particularly, when both the principle and dynamical systems are viewed from Lagrangian description, we are led to the generalized probability density evolution equation.

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