The Term Information

The term information often comes up in discussions of biogenesis, so a brief survey of its meaning is called for. Just as with the problem of the definition of the term life , there seems to be no generally accepted definition of the term information . The state of the physical world can be described in terms of three basic quantities  

Expressed in a simplified manner, but to the point, we can say that mass and energy describe the state of a system, while information describes the distribution of this state in time and space. 

According to Shannon, the well-known relationship between the information content of an item of news and its expectation probability can be calculated using the formula  

The syntactic dimension, which encompasses the relationship between the symbols 

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Finally, in the list of things that autopoiesis does not include, the term information should be added. This is mostly due to Francisco Varela s deep concern -which I share - about the misuse of this term in most of the current bioscience literature. When this term is not essential, it may be omitted. 

In the following we use the terms information and knowledge as synonyms without maintaining that the meaning of both is the same. 

Alternative to DDA, the term information-dependent acquisition (IDA) is used. Both DDA and IDA describe an automatic mode where the MS/MS parameters are collected automatically by calculating the parameter set (e.g., collision energy) based on the mass and charge state of the selected precursor ion. 

Information content. Originally, the term information denoted only the data exchanged by people and was of purely qualitative character. During the last 30 years the quantitative theory was elaborated, whose basic aspects will be briefly discussed below. 

The term informed consent is often used although, strictly speaking, tautologous, it is not possible to have consent which is legally recognised, which is uninformed in the legal sense. 

We demonstrate that the forecast quality depends on the form of the mixture relation and on the choice of the set of mixtures considered in the experimentation It is independent of the results of the experiments. These mixtures cannot be chosen at random and among all the possible mixtures some yield more information than others, it will be our interest to choose these mixtures preferentially. They arc represented by the term informative mixtures. The choice of these mixtures is done by applying the methodology of experimental research (8)... 

Various approaches to define said terms are adopted, particularly when taking the perspective provided by the engmeeiing and economic sciences into account. Here, one should especially take note of the management sciences. That we often use the term information may also stem from the fact that we regard this term as a primitive notion - something not requiring any definition (Stefanowicz 2010, pp. 11-13). 

This Part sets out guidelines for developing a practical understanding of the scope of the terms information , confidential information and confidentiality . The Convention sets out no definitive account of how these terms are to be applied, and it is clear that they are to be determined in an operational context consistent with the implementation of the Organisation s and States Parties various responsibilities imder the Convention. 

The term information must be understood in a very broad sense. Information is recognised by its capacity or potential to provide, either directly or indirectly, data or any knowledge, regardless of its physical or intangible character or make-up. 

The term data appears in several contexts in the Convention. Generally, data carries the implication of information in a particular structure or format, such as the information embodied in a national declaration. However, in construing the text from the point of view of confidentiality, there is no substantial distinction between information and data. Hence, for the purposes of this policy, the term information will be considered to subsume any references to data. Information or data may include information which is incorrect, false or inaccurate. 

Traditional definitions of non-formal/informal learning. The field of informal science education (or out-of-school learning) has grown tremendously throughout the world in the past 20 years. Although the term informal learning is widely used, it is difficult to define what it means. In many cases, it is used simplistically to describe school events that take place outside school. 

There have been numerous efforts to inspect specimens by ultrasonic reflectivity (or pulse-echo) measurements. In these inspections ultrasonic reflectivity is often used to observe changes in the acoustical impedance, and from this observation to localize defects in the specimen. However, the term defect is related to any discontinuity within the specimen and, consequently, more information is needed than only ultrasonic reflectivity to define the discontinuity as a defect. This information may be provided by three-dimensional ultrasonic reflection tomography and a priori knowledge about the specimen (e.g., the specimen fabrication process, its design, the intended purpose and the material). A more comprehensive review of defect characterization and related nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods is provided elsewhere [1]. 

Before entering the detailed discussion of physical and chemical adsorption in the next two chapters, it is worthwhile to consider briefly and in relatively general terms what type of information can be obtained about the chemical and structural state of the solid-adsorbate complex. The term complex is used to avoid the common practice of discussing adsorption as though it occurred on an inert surface. Three types of effects are actually involved (1) the effect of the adsorbent on the molecular structure of the adsorbate, (2) the effect of the adsorbate on the structure of the adsorbent, and (3) the character of the direct bond or local interaction between an adsorption site and the adsorbate. 

Remark. The authors are well aware of the commonly shared belief within the physics MD community that the apparent chaos does not destroy all long term information, but only irrelevant information in particular, average quantities are supposed to be not sensitive to numerical perturbations. We do not aim at deciding about this fundamental question here. 

In the endeavor to deepen understanding of chemistry, many an experiment has been performed, and many data have been accumulated. Chapter 6, on databases, gives a vivid picture of the enormous amount of data that have been determined and made accessible. The task is then to derive knowledge from these data by inductive learning. In this context we have to define the terms, data, information, and knowledge, and we do so in a generally accepted manner. 

The initial step is to identify which database, from a few thousands worldwide (about 10 000 in 2002), provides the requested information. The next step is to determine which subsection of the topic is of interest, and to identify typical search terms or keywords (synonyms, homonyms, different languages, or abbreviations) (Table 5-1). During the search in a database, this strategy is then executed (money is charged for spending time on some chemical databases). The resulting hits may be further refined by combining keywords or database fields, respectively, with Boolean operators (Table 5-2). The final results should be saved in electronic or printed form. 

A variety of methods have been developed by mathematicians and computer scientists to address this task, which has become known as data mining (see Chapter 9, Section 9.8). Fayyad defined and described the term data mining as the nontrivial extraction of impHcit, previously unknown and potentially useful information from data, or the search for relationships and global patterns that exist in databases [16]. In order to extract information from huge quantities of data and to gain knowledge from this information, the analysis and exploration have to be performed by automatic or semi-automatic methods. Methods applicable for data analysis are presented in Chapter 9. 

A fourth hierarchical method that is quite popular is Ward s method [Ward 1963]. This method merges those two clusters whose fusion minimises the information toss due to the fusion. Information loss is defined in terms of a function rvhich fdr each cluster i corresponds to the total sum of squared deviations from the mean of the cluster ... 

The first important distinction we will make is among the terms analysis, determination, and measurement. An analysis provides chemical or physical information about a sample. The components of interest in the sample are called analytes, and the remainder of the sample is the matrix. In an analysis we determine the identity, concentration, or properties of the analytes. To make this determination we measure one or more of the analyte s chemical or physical properties. 

Existence of the end user was recognized in the 1980s it was not until the 1990s that vendors made concerted efforts to accommodate end user needs by providing faster, easier, and more powerhil ways to retrieve relevant information. In electronic information retrieval, the term accessibiUty implies that data exist in electronic form, that data retrieval is cost effective, intuitive, and easy, and that the electronic medium contributes to the quaUty and usabihty of the information (27). 

Mechanisms. Mechanism is a technical term, referring to a detailed, microscopic description of a chemical transformation. Although it falls far short of a complete dynamical description of a reaction at the atomic level, a mechanism has been the most information available. In particular, a mechanism for a reaction is sufficient to predict the macroscopic rate law of the reaction. This deductive process is vaUd only in one direction, ie, an unlimited number of mechanisms are consistent with any measured rate law. A successful kinetic study, therefore, postulates a mechanism, derives the rate law, and demonstrates that the rate law is sufficient to explain experimental data over some range of conditions. New data may be discovered later that prove inconsistent with the assumed rate law and require that a new mechanism be postulated. Mechanisms state, in particular, what molecules actually react in an elementary step and what products these produce. An overall chemical equation may involve a variety of intermediates, and the mechanism specifies those intermediates. For the overall equation... 

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