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Information, Volume 1, Issue 2 (December 2010) – 4 articles , Pages 60-168

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Research

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282 KiB  
Article
Information: A Conceptual Investigation
by Wolfgang Lenski
Information 2010, 1(2), 74-118; https://doi.org/10.3390/info1020074 - 22 Oct 2010
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 8285
Abstract
This paper is devoted to a study of the concept of information. We first situate the concept of information within the context of other philosophical concepts. However, an analysis of the concept of knowledge turns out to be the key when clarifying the [...] Read more.
This paper is devoted to a study of the concept of information. We first situate the concept of information within the context of other philosophical concepts. However, an analysis of the concept of knowledge turns out to be the key when clarifying the concept of information. Our investigations produce the ‘missing link’ for the “severely neglected connection between theories of information and theories of knowledge” (Capurro/Hjørland). The results presented here clarify what information is and have the potential to provide answers to several of Floridi’s “open problems in the philosophy of information”. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue What Is Information?)
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223 KiB  
Article
Information Operators in Categorical Information Spaces
by Mark Burgin
Information 2010, 1(2), 119-152; https://doi.org/10.3390/info1020119 - 18 Nov 2010
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 6316
Abstract
The general theory of information (GTI) is a synthetic approach, which reveals the essence of information, organizing and encompassing all main directions in information theory. On the methodological level, it is formulated as system of principles explaining what information is and how to [...] Read more.
The general theory of information (GTI) is a synthetic approach, which reveals the essence of information, organizing and encompassing all main directions in information theory. On the methodological level, it is formulated as system of principles explaining what information is and how to measure information. The goal of this paper is the further development of a mathematical stratum of the general theory of information based on category theory. Abstract categories allow us to construct flexible models for information and its flow. Now category theory is also used as unifying framework for physics, biology, topology, and logic, as well as for the whole mathematics, providing a base for analyzing physical and information systems and processes by means of categorical structures and methods. There are two types of representation of information dynamics, i.e., regularities of information processes, in categories: the categorical representation and functorial representation. Here we study the categorical representations of information dynamics, which preserve internal structures of information spaces associated with infological systems as their state/phase spaces. Various relations between information operators are introduced and studied in this paper. These relations describe intrinsic features of information, such as decomposition and complementarity of information, reflecting regularities of information processes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue What Is Information?)
242 KiB  
Article
Information Models of Acupuncture Analgesia and Meridian Channels
by Kang Cheng and Chang Hua Zou
Information 2010, 1(2), 153-168; https://doi.org/10.3390/info1020153 - 15 Dec 2010
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 8185
Abstract
Acupuncture and meridian channels have been major components of Chinese and Eastern Asian medicine—especially for analgesia—for over 2000 years. In recent decades, electroacupuncture (EA) analgesia has been applied clinically and experimentally. However, there were controversial results between different treatment frequencies, or between the [...] Read more.
Acupuncture and meridian channels have been major components of Chinese and Eastern Asian medicine—especially for analgesia—for over 2000 years. In recent decades, electroacupuncture (EA) analgesia has been applied clinically and experimentally. However, there were controversial results between different treatment frequencies, or between the active and the placebo treatments; and the mechanisms of the treatments and the related meridian channels are still unknown. In this study, we propose a new term of infophysics therapy and develop information models of acupuncture (or EA) analgesia and meridian channels, to understand the mechanisms and to explain the controversial results, based on Western theories of information, trigonometry and Fourier series, and physics, as well as published biomedical data. We are trying to build a bridge between Chinese medicine and Western medicine by investigating the Eastern acupuncture analgesia and meridian channels with Western sciences; we model the meridians as a physiological system that is mostly constructed with interstices in or between other physiological systems; we consider frequencies, amplitudes and wave numbers of electric field intensity (EFI) as information data. Our modeling results demonstrate that information regulated with acupuncture (or EA) is different from pain information, we provide answers to explain the controversial published results, and suggest that mechanisms of acupuncture (or EA) analgesia could be mostly involved in information regulation of frequencies and amplitudes of EFI as well as neuronal transmitters such as endorphins. Full article
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Review

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335 KiB  
Review
Application of Information—Theoretic Concepts in Chemoinformatics
by Martin Vogt, Anne Mai Wassermann and Jürgen Bajorath
Information 2010, 1(2), 60-73; https://doi.org/10.3390/info1020060 - 20 Oct 2010
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 7790
Abstract
The use of computational methodologies for chemical database mining and molecular similarity searching or structure-activity relationship analysis has become an integral part of modern chemical and pharmaceutical research. These types of computational studies fall into the chemoinformatics spectrum and usually have large-scale character. [...] Read more.
The use of computational methodologies for chemical database mining and molecular similarity searching or structure-activity relationship analysis has become an integral part of modern chemical and pharmaceutical research. These types of computational studies fall into the chemoinformatics spectrum and usually have large-scale character. Concepts from information theory such as Shannon entropy and Kullback-Leibler divergence have also been adopted for chemoinformatics applications. In this review, we introduce these concepts, describe their adaptations, and discuss exemplary applications of information theory to a variety of relevant problems. These include, among others, chemical feature (or descriptor) selection, database profiling, and compound recall rate predictions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue What Is Information?)
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