scholarly journals A systematic approach to the scale separation problem in the development of multiscale models

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. e0251297
Author(s):  
Pinaki Bhattacharya ◽  
Qiao Li ◽  
Damien Lacroix ◽  
Visakan Kadirkamanathan ◽  
Marco Viceconti

Throughout engineering there are problems where it is required to predict a quantity based on the measurement of another, but where the two quantities possess characteristic variations over vastly different ranges of time and space. Among the many challenges posed by such ‘multiscale’ problems, that of defining a ‘scale’ remains poorly addressed. This fundamental problem has led to much confusion in the field of biomedical engineering in particular. The present study proposes a definition of scale based on measurement limitations of existing instruments, available computational power, and on the ranges of time and space over which quantities of interest vary characteristically. The definition is used to construct a multiscale modelling methodology from start to finish, beginning with a description of the system (portion of reality of interest) and ending with an algorithmic orchestration of mathematical models at different scales within the system. The methodology is illustrated for a specific but well-researched problem. The concept of scale and the multiscale modelling approach introduced are shown to be easily adaptable to other closely related problems. Although out of the scope of this paper, we believe that the proposed methodology can be applied widely throughout engineering.

2013 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 3-9
Author(s):  
Armin Geertz

This introduction to the special issue on narrative discusses various ways of approaching religious narrative. It looks at various evolutionary hypotheses and distinguishes between three fundamental aspects of narrative: 1. the neurobiological, psychological, social and cultural mechanisms and processes, 2. the many media and methods used in human communication, and 3. the variety of expressive genres. The introduction ends with a definition of narrative.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 135-150

The springboard for this essay is the author’s encounter with the feeling of horror and her attempts to understand what place horror has in philosophy. The inquiry relies upon Leonid Lipavsky’s “Investigation of Horror” and on various textual plunges into the fanged and clawed (and possibly noumenal) abyss of Nick Land’s work. Various experiences of horror are examined in order to build something of a typology, while also distilling the elements characteristic of the experience of horror in general. The essay’s overall hypothesis is that horror arises from a disruption of the usual ways of determining the boundaries between external things and the self, and this leads to a distinction between three subtypes of horror. In the first subtype, horror begins with the indeterminacy at the boundaries of things, a confrontation with something that defeats attempts to define it and thereby calls into question the definition of the self. In the second subtype, horror springs from the inability to determine one’s own boundaries, a process opposed by the crushing determinacy of the world. In the third subtype, horror unfolds by means of a substitution of one determinacy by another which is unexpected and ungrounded. In all three subtypes of horror, the disturbance of determinacy deprives the subject, the thinking entity, of its customary foundation for thought, and even of an explanation of how that foundation was lost; at times this can lead to impairment of the perception of time and space. Understood this way, horror comes within a hair’s breadth of madness - and may well cross over into it.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 237802312110244
Author(s):  
Katrin Auspurg ◽  
Josef Brüderl

In 2018, Silberzahn, Uhlmann, Nosek, and colleagues published an article in which 29 teams analyzed the same research question with the same data: Are soccer referees more likely to give red cards to players with dark skin tone than light skin tone? The results obtained by the teams differed extensively. Many concluded from this widely noted exercise that the social sciences are not rigorous enough to provide definitive answers. In this article, we investigate why results diverged so much. We argue that the main reason was an unclear research question: Teams differed in their interpretation of the research question and therefore used diverse research designs and model specifications. We show by reanalyzing the data that with a clear research question, a precise definition of the parameter of interest, and theory-guided causal reasoning, results vary only within a narrow range. The broad conclusion of our reanalysis is that social science research needs to be more precise in its “estimands” to become credible.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
María Jiménez-Buedo

AbstractReactivity, or the phenomenon by which subjects tend to modify their behavior in virtue of their being studied upon, is often cited as one of the most important difficulties involved in social scientific experiments, and yet, there is to date a persistent conceptual muddle when dealing with the many dimensions of reactivity. This paper offers a conceptual framework for reactivity that draws on an interventionist approach to causality. The framework allows us to offer an unambiguous definition of reactivity and distinguishes it from placebo effects. Further, it allows us to distinguish between benign and malignant forms of the phenomenon, depending on whether reactivity constitutes a danger to the validity of the causal inferences drawn from experimental data.


1956 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 156-159
Author(s):  
O. G. S. Crawford

The prudent contributor to a Festschrift will select some subject about which he thinks he knows as much as the professor who is to receive it. That is peculiarly difficult here because of the vast range of Professor Childe's knowledge, both in time and space, far exceeding the present contributor's. This Note is offered as a grateful tribute from one of the many who have been intellectually enriched by his writings and encouraged by his devotion to scholarship. It is little more than an amplification and criticism of the Abbé Breuil's classic Presidential Address to the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia, delivered in 1934; but on the strength of observations made in August and September, 1955, I have come to different conclusions.The Abbé Breuil detected five successive techniques, all of them found on the stones of the Boyne Tombs:(1) Incised thin lines (pl. XIX, B).(2) Picked grooves left rough (pl. XVIII).(3, a) Picked grooves afterwards rubbed smooth; in this and the preceding group ‘it is invariably the line (groove) itself on which the pattern depends, which gives and is the design’.(3, b) Picked areas which ‘only define the limits of the pattern, the surface, left in relief by the cutting down of the background, constituting the actual design’ (pl. xx, B).(4) Rectilinear patterns where also the pattern is residual, consisting of raised ribs, forming triangles or lozenges, left standing by picking away the surrounding surface (pl. xx, A).


2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (08) ◽  
pp. 1850075
Author(s):  
Tingyuan Nie ◽  
Xinling Guo ◽  
Mengda Lin ◽  
Kun Zhao

The quantification for the invulnerability of complex network is a fundamental problem in which identifying influential nodes is of theoretical and practical significance. In this paper, we propose a novel definition of centrality named total information (TC) which derives from a local sub-graph being constructed by a node and its neighbors. The centrality is then defined as the sum of the self-information of the node and the mutual information of its neighbor nodes. We use the proposed centrality to identify the importance of nodes through the evaluation of the invulnerability of scale-free networks. It shows both the efficiency and the effectiveness of the proposed centrality are improved, compared with traditional centralities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-64
Author(s):  
Jonathan Fighel

Security is multidimensional in nature and diverse in practice. This diversity leads to difficulty in providing a single all-encompassing definition for the many applied domains of security. Security cannot be considered singular in concept definition, as definition is dependent on applied context. Security incorporates diverse and multi-disciplined actors, originating and practicing across many disciplines. This multidimensional nature of security results unclear understanding of a definition for the concept of security. Bridging the gap between the traditional definitions of science and the undefined definition of what is Security can be achieved through Scientific Security Research methodologies that will be engaged and implemented in the exploration, analysis and conclusions of the systematic and organized body of knowledge.


2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (8) ◽  
pp. 1112-1114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Lippi ◽  
Gianfranco Cervellin ◽  
Mario Plebani

AbstractThe management of laboratory data in unsuitable (hemolyzed) samples remains an almost unresolved dilemma. Whether or not laboratory test results obtained by measuring unsuitable specimens should be made available to the clinicians has been the matter of fierce debates over the past decades. Recently, an intriguing alternative to suppressing test results and recollecting the specimen has been put forward, entailing the definition and implementation of specific algorithms that would finally allow reporting a preanalytically altered laboratory value within a specific comment about its uncertainty of measurement. This approach carries some advantages, namely the timely communication of potentially life-threatening laboratory values, but also some drawbacks. These especially include the challenging definition of validated performance specifications for hemolyzed samples, the need to producing reliable data with the lowest possible uncertainty, the short turnaround time for repeating most laboratory tests, the risk that the comments may be overlooked in short-stay and frequently overcrowded units (e.g. the emergency department), as well as the many clinical advantages of a direct communication with the physician in charge of the patient. Despite the debate remains open, we continue supporting the suggestion that suppressing data in unsuitable (hemolyzed) samples and promptly notifying the clinicians about the need to recollect the samples remains the most (clinically and analytically) safe practice.


Author(s):  
Anna Gabriel Copeland

This article examines participatory rights as human rights and considers their importance to the lives of children and young people. It argues that a broad definition of participation needs to be used which takes us from 'round tables' to understanding that young people participate in many different ways. It points out that failure to recognise and respect the many varied ways that children and young people choose to participate results in a breach of their human rights. It shows how our socio-legal system operates to permit and support these breaches of the rights of children and young people, resulting in their alienation from civic society.


2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 228-252
Author(s):  
José Guilherme Cantor Magnani

By analyzing some cases this article exposes the contribution of Anthropology, and specially, Urban Anthropology to the characterization of what may or may not be a cultural good and its value as Heritage in the context of the urban landscape. As a matter of fact, here it is shown the application of the ethnographic method, with its "inside and close-by" regard and with the categories of turf, patch, route and circuit, developed along researches performed at the Núcleo de Antropologia Urbana (NAU/USP) [Urban Anthropology Nucleus]. Thus, our aim is to argument that this work brings forth new elements for a better definition of the many heritage modalities - be it Architectonic, Archeological, Historical, and mainly the so-called Immaterial or Intangible. Thereby a fecund dialogue is opened between Anthropology and the disciplines traditionally engaged with the fields of Heritage and Museology.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document