[seek-kr] ontology figure from abq

Wed Sep 3 09:31:26 PDT 2003

>>>>> "MJ" == Matt Jones <jones at nceas.ucsb.edu> writes:
MJ> 
MJ> Bertram,
MJ> Yes, dimensional analysis is the correct term for the manipulation of 
MJ> unit types from STMML.  Its all simple algebra, and is generally taught 
MJ> early on (I think I first learned it in high school in chemistry). I 
MJ> don't understand how you plan on 'extending' what Shawn did because what 
MJ> he did is already dimensional analysis.  What am I missing here?

A lot ;-)

There is the dimensional analysis you learnt (and so did I) in high
school (btw: I learnt it in Physics as a means to "double check" and
sometimes "second guess" equations). 

However, you didn't check out carefully the references I sent, in
particular to the Buckingham theorem. Actually, it's my fault: I
should have sent you all refs I found. 

So did you do THIS in high school? ;-)
	http://www.math.ntnu.no/~hanche/notes/buckingham/buckingham-a4.pdf
Here is where this is from:
	http://www.math.ntnu.no/~hanche/notes/buckingham/

This theorem is used in the *real men's* dimensional analysis ;-)

Check out these references:

	http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=384101.384129

    DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS IN COMPUTER ALGEBRA
    The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the introduction of
    dimensional variables as well as the applications of dimensional
    analysis in Computer Algebra system (Mathematica). The package
    Dimensional Analysis developed by author uses nondimensionalization
    based on Pi-theorem to simplify equations and to reduce the number of
    parameters when the governing equations are not known. The package
    contains symbols, dimensional formulae and units for principal
    physical quantities, as well as a number of named dimensionless
    parameters. Another important feature of the package is its ability to
    check the dimensional homogeneity of the expressions. This package is
    aimed at helping researchers with the preliminary analysis of models
    and simplification of large-scale problems by using dimensionless
    parameters. The package can also be used in teaching.

And finally here is a toolbox for Matlab:
	http://www.sbrs.net/

None of this is high school material but maybe some of this could be
used to really add to the power of AMS/SMS.

But I'd like to have this double checked by you guys before we jump
into this. 

Also let me know what you think about the book I sent a pointer to
(Numerical Ecology).

OK, I'll check out your refs later (in a meeting right now)

cheers

Bertram

MJ> One important area that we have only superficialy considered is the area 
MJ> of 'dimensionless' numbers.  I think this exposes a lot of the 
MJ> distinction between 'UnitType' and 'SemanticType', but its pretty muddy 
MJ> for me.  The problem boils down to this:  dimensionless numbers are 
MJ> often ratios of two quantities that are measured in the same units.  For 
MJ> example, grams of Carbon per grams of Nitrogen (the C/N ratio) is 
MJ> dimensionless because the unit grams cancel.  However, there is 
MJ> important information that still needs to be captured (e.g., that we are 
MJ> measuring Carbon and Nitrogen, not Carbon and Oxygen).  This part, the 
MJ> 'what' that is being measured, is somehow part of the semantic type -- I 
MJ> think it fits nicely into the diagram I posted to CVS yesterday.  The 
MJ> problem really crops up when considering 'counts' of things, which is 
MJ> incredibly common in ecology.  I wrote a bit of a treatise on this topic 
MJ> with respect to its impact on EML [1], and several people followed up 
MJ> with some excellent commentary [2] [3] [4].  In [4] Tim Bergsma presents 
MJ> some interesting ideas about just what a "dimension" is and how it 
MJ> relates to counts.  In [3] Peter McCartney follows up with ideas about 
MJ> what might be in a semantic type in EML.  You might find those to be 
MJ> interesting reading, as I stated that SEEK would be dealing with these 
MJ> issues head on in that email ;-)
MJ> 
MJ> Matt
MJ> 
MJ> [1]http://www.ecoinformatics.org/pipermail/eml-dev/2003-March/000738.html
MJ> [2]http://www.ecoinformatics.org/pipermail/eml-dev/2003-March/000744.html
MJ> [3]http://www.ecoinformatics.org/pipermail/eml-dev/2003-March/000745.html
MJ> [4]http://www.ecoinformatics.org/pipermail/eml-dev/2003-March/000747.html
MJ> 
MJ> Bertram Ludaescher wrote:
>> 
>> Hi Matt:
>> 
>> Thanks! 
>> 
>> Shawn and I had discussed units, unit types, quantities, dimensions
>> and the likes today.
>> 
>> I found some interesting papers on "dimensional analysis" and was
>> wondering whether that could be a natural extension to the simple
>> "reasoning with units" that Shawn has implemented in Prolog.
>> 
>> I found this simple intro quite readable:
>> http://www.physics.uoguelph.ca/tutorials/dimanaly/index.html
>> 
>> The next level seems this:
>> http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimensional_analysis
>> 
>> which also has a pointer to Buckingham's \pi-theorem
>> 
>> This guy seems to be really ino dim.-analysis:
>> http://www.isd.uni-stuttgart.de/~rudolph/
>> 
>> Also: this book includes a chapter on applying dimensional analysis to 
>> ecology:
>> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0444892508/104-2454972-2037526?v=glance
>> 
>> What do the Eco-folks say? Is this worth investigating further for
>> adding not only unit conversion but more general reasoning and in
>> particular dimensional analysis to SMS?
>> 
>> Bertram
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>>>>>> "MJ" == Matt Jones <jones at nceas.ucsb.edu> writes:
>> 
MJ> 
MJ> Mark, Bertram, Shawn, and Rich,
MJ> I checked in the diagram that we made in ABQ regarding the carbon flow 
MJ> ontology.  It is in CVS:
MJ> seek/docs/figures/seek-cf-measure-ontology.ai
MJ> and in case you don't have Adobe Illustrator:
MJ> seek/docs/figures/seek-cf-measure-ontology.png
MJ> 
MJ> 
MJ> The major change is the addition of "UnitType" to the properties of 
MJ> MeasurementType.  I was thinking where "unit" went (as opposed to 
MJ> UnitType) and decided it was a property of a particular attribute rather 
MJ> than a MeasurementType.
MJ> 
MJ> This whole thing doesn't really consider nominal and ordinal scale 
MJ> things, so we need to determine how MeasurementScale fits in to the 
MJ> picture.  But I thought my updated version would be of use to you.
MJ> 
MJ> 
MJ> Matt
MJ> 
MJ> -- 
MJ> -------------------------------------------------------------------
MJ> Matt Jones                                     jones at nceas.ucsb.edu
MJ> http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/    Fax: 425-920-2439    Ph: 907-789-0496
MJ> National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS)
MJ> University of California Santa Barbara
MJ> Interested in ecological informatics? http://www.ecoinformatics.org
MJ> -------------------------------------------------------------------
MJ> 
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MJ> 
MJ> -- 
MJ> -------------------------------------------------------------------
MJ> Matt Jones                                     jones at nceas.ucsb.edu
MJ> http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/    Fax: 425-920-2439    Ph: 907-789-0496
MJ> National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS)
MJ> University of California Santa Barbara
MJ> Interested in ecological informatics? http://www.ecoinformatics.org
MJ> -------------------------------------------------------------------