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Entropy, Volume 15, Issue 4 (April 2013) – 18 articles , Pages 1152-1485

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639 KiB  
Article
Information Theory for Correlation Analysis and Estimation of Uncertainty Reduction in Maps and Models
by J. Florian Wellmann
Entropy 2013, 15(4), 1464-1485; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15041464 - 22 Apr 2013
Cited by 33 | Viewed by 13530
Abstract
The quantification and analysis of uncertainties is important in all cases where maps and models of uncertain properties are the basis for further decisions. Once these uncertainties are identified, the logical next step is to determine how they can be reduced. Information theory [...] Read more.
The quantification and analysis of uncertainties is important in all cases where maps and models of uncertain properties are the basis for further decisions. Once these uncertainties are identified, the logical next step is to determine how they can be reduced. Information theory provides a framework for the analysis of spatial uncertainties when different subregions are considered as random variables. In the work presented here, joint entropy, conditional entropy, and mutual information are applied for a detailed analysis of spatial uncertainty correlations. The aim is to determine (i) which areas in a spatial analysis share information, and (ii) where, and by how much, additional information would reduce uncertainties. As an illustration, a typical geological example is evaluated: the case of a subsurface layer with uncertain depth, shape and thickness. Mutual information and multivariate conditional entropies are determined based on multiple simulated model realisations. Even for this simple case, the measures not only provide a clear picture of uncertainties and their correlations but also give detailed insights into the potential reduction of uncertainties at each position, given additional information at a different location. The methods are directly applicable to other types of spatial uncertainty evaluations, especially where multiple realisations of a model simulation are analysed. In summary, the application of information theoretic measures opens up the path to a better understanding of spatial uncertainties, and their relationship to information and prior knowledge, for cases where uncertain property distributions are spatially analysed and visualised in maps and models. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applications of Information Theory in the Geosciences)
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518 KiB  
Review
Glyphosate’s Suppression of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome: Pathways to Modern Diseases
by Anthony Samsel and Stephanie Seneff
Entropy 2013, 15(4), 1416-1463; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15041416 - 18 Apr 2013
Cited by 218 | Viewed by 466394
Abstract
Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup®, is the most popular herbicide used worldwide. The industry asserts it is minimally toxic to humans, but here we argue otherwise. Residues are found in the main foods of the Western diet, comprised primarily of [...] Read more.
Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup®, is the most popular herbicide used worldwide. The industry asserts it is minimally toxic to humans, but here we argue otherwise. Residues are found in the main foods of the Western diet, comprised primarily of sugar, corn, soy and wheat. Glyphosate's inhibition of cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes is an overlooked component of its toxicity to mammals. CYP enzymes play crucial roles in biology, one of which is to detoxify xenobiotics. Thus, glyphosate enhances the damaging effects of other food borne chemical residues and environmental toxins. Negative impact on the body is insidious and manifests slowly over time as inflammation damages cellular systems throughout the body. Here, we show how interference with CYP enzymes acts synergistically with disruption of the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids by gut bacteria, as well as impairment in serum sulfate transport. Consequences are most of the diseases and conditions associated with a Western diet, which include gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, autism, infertility, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. We explain the documented effects of glyphosate and its ability to induce disease, and we show that glyphosate is the “textbook example” of exogenous semiotic entropy: the disruption of homeostasis by environmental toxins. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biosemiotic Entropy: Disorder, Disease, and Mortality)
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179 KiB  
Article
General Formula for the Efficiency of Quantum-Mechanical Analog of the Carnot Engine
by Sumiyoshi Abe
Entropy 2013, 15(4), 1408-1415; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15041408 - 17 Apr 2013
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 8677
Abstract
An analog of the Carnot engine reversibly operating within the framework of pure-state quantum mechanics is discussed. A general formula is derived for the efficiency of such an engine with an arbitrary confining potential. Its expression is given in terms of an energy [...] Read more.
An analog of the Carnot engine reversibly operating within the framework of pure-state quantum mechanics is discussed. A general formula is derived for the efficiency of such an engine with an arbitrary confining potential. Its expression is given in terms of an energy spectrum and shows how the efficiency depends on a potential as the analog of a working material in thermodynamics, in general. This non-universal nature results from the fact that there exists no analog of the second law of thermodynamics in pure-state quantum mechanics where the von Neumann entropy identically vanishes. A special class of spectra, which leads to a common form of the efficiency, is identified. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics)
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717 KiB  
Review
Capacitive Mixing for Harvesting the Free Energy of Solutions at Different Concentrations
by Raúl A. Rica, Roberto Ziano, Domenico Salerno, Francesco Mantegazza, Renéa Van Roij and Doriano Brogioli
Entropy 2013, 15(4), 1388-1407; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15041388 - 17 Apr 2013
Cited by 118 | Viewed by 12806
Abstract
An enormous dissipation of the order of 2 kJ/L takes place during the natural mixing process of fresh river water entering the salty sea. “Capacitive mixing” is a promising technique to efficiently harvest this energy in an environmentally clean and sustainable fashion. This [...] Read more.
An enormous dissipation of the order of 2 kJ/L takes place during the natural mixing process of fresh river water entering the salty sea. “Capacitive mixing” is a promising technique to efficiently harvest this energy in an environmentally clean and sustainable fashion. This method has its roots in the ability to store a very large amount of electric charge inside supercapacitor or battery electrodes dipped in a saline solution. Three different schemes have been studied so far, namely, Capacitive Double Layer Expansion (CDLE), Capacitive Donnan Potential (CDP) and Mixing Entropy Battery (MEB), respectively based on the variation upon salinity change of the electric double layer capacity, on the Donnan membrane potential, and on the electrochemical energy of intercalated ions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entropy and Energy Extraction)
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193 KiB  
Article
Classification of Knee Joint Vibration Signals Using Bivariate Feature Distribution Estimation and Maximal Posterior Probability Decision Criterion
by Yunfeng Wu, Suxian Cai, Shanshan Yang, Fang Zheng and Ning Xiang
Entropy 2013, 15(4), 1375-1387; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15041375 - 17 Apr 2013
Cited by 37 | Viewed by 7658
Abstract
Analysis of knee joint vibration or vibroarthrographic (VAG) signals using signal processing and machine learning algorithms possesses high potential for the noninvasive detection of articular cartilage degeneration, which may reduce unnecessary exploratory surgery. Feature representation of knee joint VAG signals helps characterize the [...] Read more.
Analysis of knee joint vibration or vibroarthrographic (VAG) signals using signal processing and machine learning algorithms possesses high potential for the noninvasive detection of articular cartilage degeneration, which may reduce unnecessary exploratory surgery. Feature representation of knee joint VAG signals helps characterize the pathological condition of degenerative articular cartilages in the knee. This paper used the kernel-based probability density estimation method to model the distributions of the VAG signals recorded from healthy subjects and patients with knee joint disorders. The estimated densities of the VAG signals showed explicit distributions of the normal and abnormal signal groups, along with the corresponding contours in the bivariate feature space. The signal classifications were performed by using the Fisher’s linear discriminant analysis, support vector machine with polynomial kernels, and the maximal posterior probability decision criterion. The maximal posterior probability decision criterion was able to provide the total classification accuracy of 86.67% and the area (Az) of 0.9096 under the receiver operating characteristics curve, which were superior to the results obtained by either the Fisher’s linear discriminant analysis (accuracy: 81.33%, Az: 0.8564) or the support vector machine with polynomial kernels (accuracy: 81.33%, Az: 0.8533). Such results demonstrated the merits of the bivariate feature distribution estimation and the superiority of the maximal posterior probability decision criterion for analysis of knee joint VAG signals. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Maximum Entropy and Bayes Theorem)
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625 KiB  
Article
Outer Synchronization between Fractional-Order Complex Networks: A Non-Fragile Observer-based Control Scheme
by Meichun Zhao and Junwei Wang
Entropy 2013, 15(4), 1357-1374; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15041357 - 15 Apr 2013
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 6331
Abstract
This paper addresses the global outer synchronization problem between two fractional-order complex networks coupled in a drive-response configuration. In particular, for a given fractional-order complex network composed of Lur’e systems, an observer-type response network with non-fragile output feedback controllers is constructed. Both additive [...] Read more.
This paper addresses the global outer synchronization problem between two fractional-order complex networks coupled in a drive-response configuration. In particular, for a given fractional-order complex network composed of Lur’e systems, an observer-type response network with non-fragile output feedback controllers is constructed. Both additive and multiplicative uncertainties that perturb the control gain matrices are considered. Then, using the stability theory of fractional-order systems and eigenvalue distribution of the Kronecker sum of matrices, we establish some sufficient conditions for global outer synchronization. Interestingly, the developed results are cast in the format of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), which can be efficiently solved via the MATLAB LMI Control Toolbox. Finally, numerical simulations on fractional-order networks with nearest-neighbor and small-world topologies are given to support the theoretical analysis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dynamical Systems)
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280 KiB  
Article
Symmetry Properties of Bi-Normal and Bi-Gamma Receiver Operating Characteristic Curves are Described by Kullback-Leibler Divergences
by Gareth Hughes and Bhaskar Bhattacharya
Entropy 2013, 15(4), 1342-1356; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15041342 - 10 Apr 2013
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 6710
Abstract
Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves have application in analysis of the performance of diagnostic indicators used in the assessment of disease risk in clinical and veterinary medicine and in crop protection. For a binary indicator, an ROC curve summarizes the two distributions of [...] Read more.
Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves have application in analysis of the performance of diagnostic indicators used in the assessment of disease risk in clinical and veterinary medicine and in crop protection. For a binary indicator, an ROC curve summarizes the two distributions of risk scores obtained by retrospectively categorizing subjects as cases or controls using a gold standard. An ROC curve may be symmetric about the negative diagonal of the graphical plot, or skewed towards the left-hand axis or the upper axis of the plot. ROC curves with different symmetry properties may have the same area under the curve. Here, we characterize the symmetry properties of bi-Normal and bi-gamma ROC curves in terms of the Kullback-Leibler divergences (KLDs) between the case and control distributions of risk scores. The KLDs describe the known symmetry properties of bi-Normal ROC curves, and newly characterize the symmetry properties of constant-shape and constant-scale bi-gamma ROC curves. It is also of interest to note an application of KLDs where their asymmetry—often an inconvenience—has a useful interpretation. Full article
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1163 KiB  
Article
Multiscale Interactions betweenWater and Carbon Fluxes and Environmental Variables in A Central U.S. Grassland
by Nathaniel A. Brunsell and Cassandra J. Wilson
Entropy 2013, 15(4), 1324-1341; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15041324 - 10 Apr 2013
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 6164
Abstract
The temporal interactions between water and carbon cycling and the controlling environmental variables are investigated using wavelets and information theory. We used 3.5 years of eddy covariance station observations from an abandoned agricultural field in the central U.S. Time-series of the entropy of [...] Read more.
The temporal interactions between water and carbon cycling and the controlling environmental variables are investigated using wavelets and information theory. We used 3.5 years of eddy covariance station observations from an abandoned agricultural field in the central U.S. Time-series of the entropy of water and carbon fluxes exhibit pronounced annual cycles, primarily explained by the modulation of the diurnal flux amplitude by other variables, such as the net radiation. Entropies of soil moisture and precipitation show almost no annual cycle, but the data were collected during above average precipitation years, which limits the role of moisture stress on the resultant fluxes. We also investigated the information contribution to resultant fluxes from selected environmental variables as a function of time-scale using relative entropy. The relative entropy of latent heat flux and ecosystem respiration show that the radiation terms contribute the most information to these fluxes at scales up to the diurnal scale. Vapor pressure deficit and air temperature contribute to the most information for the gross primary productivity and net ecosystem exchange at the daily time-scale. The relative entropy between the fluxes and soil moisture illustrates that soil moisture contributes information at approximately weekly time-scales, while the relative entropy with precipitation contributes information predominantly at the monthly time-scale. The use of information theory metrics is a relatively new technique for assessing biosphere-atmosphere interactions, and this study illustrates the utility of the approach for assessing the dominant time-scales of these interactions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applications of Information Theory in the Geosciences)
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313 KiB  
Article
Resilient Minimum Entropy Filter Design for Non-Gaussian Stochastic Systems
by Yan Wang, Hong Wang and Lei Guo
Entropy 2013, 15(4), 1311-1323; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15041311 - 10 Apr 2013
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 5301
Abstract
In this paper, the resilient minimum entropy filter problem is investigated for the stochastic systems with non-Gaussian disturbances. The goal of designing the filter is to guarantee that the entropy of the estimation error is monotonically decreasing, moreover, the error system is exponentially [...] Read more.
In this paper, the resilient minimum entropy filter problem is investigated for the stochastic systems with non-Gaussian disturbances. The goal of designing the filter is to guarantee that the entropy of the estimation error is monotonically decreasing, moreover, the error system is exponentially ultimately bounded in the mean square. Based on the entropy performance function, a filter gain updating algorithm is presented to make the entropy decrease at every sampling instant k. Then the boundedness of the gain updating law is analyzed using the kernel density estimation technique. Furthermore, a suboptimal resilient filter gain is designed in terms of LMI. Finally, a simulation example is given to show the effectiveness of the proposed results. Full article
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1208 KiB  
Article
HydroZIP: How Hydrological Knowledge can Be Used to Improve Compression of Hydrological Data
by Steven V. Weijs, Nick Van de Giesen and Marc B. Parlange
Entropy 2013, 15(4), 1289-1310; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15041289 - 10 Apr 2013
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 8504
Abstract
From algorithmic information theory, which connects the information content of a data set to the shortest computer program that can produce it, it is known that there are strong analogies between compression, knowledge, inference and prediction. The more we know about a data [...] Read more.
From algorithmic information theory, which connects the information content of a data set to the shortest computer program that can produce it, it is known that there are strong analogies between compression, knowledge, inference and prediction. The more we know about a data generating process, the better we can predict and compress the data. A model that is inferred from data should ideally be a compact description of those data. In theory, this means that hydrological knowledge could be incorporated into compression algorithms to more efficiently compress hydrological data and to outperform general purpose compression algorithms. In this study, we develop such a hydrological data compressor, named HydroZIP, and test in practice whether it can outperform general purpose compression algorithms on hydrological data from 431 river basins from the Model Parameter Estimation Experiment (MOPEX) data set. HydroZIP compresses using temporal dependencies and parametric distributions. Resulting file sizes are interpreted as measures of information content, complexity and model adequacy. These results are discussed to illustrate points related to learning from data, overfitting and model complexity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applications of Information Theory in the Geosciences)
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306 KiB  
Article
On a Self-Consistency Thermodynamical Criterion for Equations of the State of Gases in Relativistic Frames
by Gonzalo Ares De Parga, Adriana Ávalos Vargas and Benjamín López-Carrera
Entropy 2013, 15(4), 1271-1288; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15041271 - 9 Apr 2013
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4781
Abstract
More than three decades ago, Tykodi and Hummel proposed a procedure to investigate the self-consistency thermodynamical criterion for equations of the state of gases. The main criterion used by these authors consists of requiring that an equation of state must not be inconsistent [...] Read more.
More than three decades ago, Tykodi and Hummel proposed a procedure to investigate the self-consistency thermodynamical criterion for equations of the state of gases. The main criterion used by these authors consists of requiring that an equation of state must not be inconsistent with certain thermodynamical identities from the first and second laws of thermodynamics. This paper explores the possibility of another self-consistency method based on relativistic transformations of the thermodynamical variables. It is shown that the virial coefficients have to be corrected by a relativistic factor if the equation of state is considered in a moving relativistic reference frame. Some relativistic and non-relativistic equations of state are analyzed. Full article
276 KiB  
Article
A Hybrid Chaos-Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm for the Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Window
by Wenbin Hu, Huanle Liang, Chao Peng, Bo Du and Qi Hu
Entropy 2013, 15(4), 1247-1270; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15041247 - 9 Apr 2013
Cited by 47 | Viewed by 10091
Abstract
State-of-the-art heuristic algorithms to solve the vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW) usually present slow speeds during the early iterations and easily fall into local optimal solutions. Focusing on solving the above problems, this paper analyzes the particle encoding and decoding strategy [...] Read more.
State-of-the-art heuristic algorithms to solve the vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW) usually present slow speeds during the early iterations and easily fall into local optimal solutions. Focusing on solving the above problems, this paper analyzes the particle encoding and decoding strategy of the particle swarm optimization algorithm, the construction of the vehicle route and the judgment of the local optimal solution. Based on these, a hybrid chaos-particle swarm optimization algorithm (HPSO) is proposed to solve VRPTW. The chaos algorithm is employed to re-initialize the particle swarm. An efficient insertion heuristic algorithm is also proposed to build the valid vehicle route in the particle decoding process. A particle swarm premature convergence judgment mechanism is formulated and combined with the chaos algorithm and Gaussian mutation into HPSO when the particle swarm falls into the local convergence. Extensive experiments are carried out to test the parameter settings in the insertion heuristic algorithm and to evaluate that they are corresponding to the data’s real-distribution in the concrete problem. It is also revealed that the HPSO achieves a better performance than the other state-of-the-art algorithms on solving VRPTW. Full article
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1122 KiB  
Article
Molecular Dynamics Simulations on Evaporation of Droplets with Dissolved Salts
by Bing-Bing Wang, Xiao-Dong Wang, Min Chen and Jin-Liang Xu
Entropy 2013, 15(4), 1232-1246; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15041232 - 8 Apr 2013
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 12629
Abstract
Molecular dynamics simulations are used to study the evaporation of water droplets containing either dissolved LiCl, NaCl or KCl salt in a gaseous surrounding (nitrogen) with a constant high temperature of 600 K. The initial droplet has 298 K temperature and contains 1,120 [...] Read more.
Molecular dynamics simulations are used to study the evaporation of water droplets containing either dissolved LiCl, NaCl or KCl salt in a gaseous surrounding (nitrogen) with a constant high temperature of 600 K. The initial droplet has 298 K temperature and contains 1,120 water molecules, 0, 40, 80 or 120 salt molecules. The effects of the salt type and concentration on the evaporation rate are examined. Three stages with different evaporation rates are observed for all cases. In the initial stage of evaporation, the droplet evaporates slowly due to low droplet temperature and high evaporation latent heat for water, and pure water and aqueous solution have almost the same evaporation rates. In the second stage, evaporation rate is increased significantly, and evaporation is somewhat slower for the aqueous salt-containing droplet than the pure water droplet due to the attracted ion-water interaction and hydration effect. The Li+-water has the strongest interaction and hydration effect, so LiCl aqueous droplets evaporate the slowest, then NaCl and KCl. Higher salt concentration also enhances the ion-water interaction and hydration effect, and hence corresponds to a slower evaporation. In the last stage of evaporation, only a small amount of water molecules are left in the droplet, leading to a significant increase in ion-water interactions, so that the evaporation becomes slower compared to that in the second stage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Dynamics Simulation)
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462 KiB  
Article
Derivation of 2D Power-Law Velocity Distribution Using Entropy Theory
by Vijay P. Singh, Gustavo Marini and Nicola Fontana
Entropy 2013, 15(4), 1221-1231; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15041221 - 8 Apr 2013
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 8131
Abstract
The one-dimensional (1D) power law velocity distribution, commonly used for computing velocities in open channel flow, has been derived empirically. However, a multitude of problems, such as scour around bridge piers, cutoffs and diversions, pollutant dispersion, and so on, require the velocity distribution [...] Read more.
The one-dimensional (1D) power law velocity distribution, commonly used for computing velocities in open channel flow, has been derived empirically. However, a multitude of problems, such as scour around bridge piers, cutoffs and diversions, pollutant dispersion, and so on, require the velocity distribution in two dimensions. This paper employs the Shannon entropy theory for deriving the power law velocity distribution in two-dimensions (2D). The development encompasses the rectangular domain, but can be extended to any arbitrary domain, including a trapezoidal domain. The derived methodology requires only a few parameters and the good agreement is confirmed by comparing the velocity values calculated using the proposed methodology with values derived from both the 1D power law model and a logarithmic velocity distribution available in the literature. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applications of Information Theory in the Geosciences)
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188 KiB  
Article
Pushing for the Extreme: Estimation of Poisson Distribution from Low Count Unreplicated Data—How Close Can We Get?
by Peter Tiňo
Entropy 2013, 15(4), 1202-1220; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15041202 - 8 Apr 2013
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 6003
Abstract
Studies of learning algorithms typically concentrate on situations where potentially ever growing training sample is available. Yet, there can be situations (e.g., detection of differentially expressed genes on unreplicated data or estimation of time delay in non-stationary gravitationally lensed photon streams) where only [...] Read more.
Studies of learning algorithms typically concentrate on situations where potentially ever growing training sample is available. Yet, there can be situations (e.g., detection of differentially expressed genes on unreplicated data or estimation of time delay in non-stationary gravitationally lensed photon streams) where only extremely small samples can be used in order to perform an inference. On unreplicated data, the inference has to be performed on the smallest sample possible—sample of size 1. We study whether anything useful can be learnt in such extreme situations by concentrating on a Bayesian approach that can account for possible prior information on expected counts. We perform a detailed information theoretic study of such Bayesian estimation and quantify the effect of Bayesian averaging on its first two moments. Finally, to analyze potential benefits of the Bayesian approach, we also consider Maximum Likelihood (ML) estimation as a baseline approach. We show both theoretically and empirically that the Bayesian model averaging can be potentially beneficial. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Distance in Information and Statistical Physics Volume 2)
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550 KiB  
Article
Analysis of an Air Powered Engine System Using a Multi-Stage Radial Turbine
by Xuehui Zhang, Haisheng Chen, Xiaohui Yan, Xinjing Zhang and Chunqing Tan
Entropy 2013, 15(4), 1186-1201; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15041186 - 28 Mar 2013
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 6868
Abstract
The performance and design criteria of air powered multistage turbines are studied thermodynamically in this paper. In-house code is developed in the C++ environment and the characteristics of four-stage turbines with inter-heating are analyzed in terms of maximum thermal efficiency, maximum exergy efficiency [...] Read more.
The performance and design criteria of air powered multistage turbines are studied thermodynamically in this paper. In-house code is developed in the C++ environment and the characteristics of four-stage turbines with inter-heating are analyzed in terms of maximum thermal efficiency, maximum exergy efficiency and maximum work output over the inlet temperature range of 293 K–793 K with inlet pressure of 70 bar. It is found that the maximum thermal efficiency, maximum exergy efficiency and maximum work output are 62.6%, 91.9%, 763.2 kJ/s, respectively. However, the thermal efficiency, exergy efficiency and work output are not equivalent for the four-stage radial turbine. It is suggested that at low working temperatures both maximum exergy efficiency and maximum work output can be used as the design objective, however, only maximum work output can be used as the design objective for the four-stage radial turbine over the working temperature range in this work. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entropy and Energy Extraction)
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646 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of a Low-Carbon City: Method and Application
by Meirong Su, Ronghua Li, Weiwei Lu, Chen Chen, Bin Chen and Zhifeng Yang
Entropy 2013, 15(4), 1171-1185; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15041171 - 27 Mar 2013
Cited by 48 | Viewed by 8882
Abstract
Many cities around the World have established the development objective of becoming a low-carbon city. Evaluation of such a city is important for its progress. A new evaluation framework of urban low-carbon development level is proposed in this paper, which integrates synthetic evaluation [...] Read more.
Many cities around the World have established the development objective of becoming a low-carbon city. Evaluation of such a city is important for its progress. A new evaluation framework of urban low-carbon development level is proposed in this paper, which integrates synthetic evaluation based on a bottom-up idea and analytical diagnosis based on a top-down idea. Further, set pair analysis is combined for synthetic evaluation and analytical diagnosis by comparing urban low-carbon development levels of different cities, through which the comprehensive state of urban low-carbon development level can be obtained and limiting factors identified. Based on the proposed framework and set pair analysis, low-carbon development levels of 12 Chinese cities are compared. Some suggestions are provided, based on results of overall situations of urban low-carbon development level and concrete performances of various factors and specific indicators. We conclude that both synthetic evaluation and analytical diagnosis are important for evaluation of urban low-carbon development level. The proposed framework and method can be widely applied in the evaluation of different cities over a long-term period. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entropy and Urban Sprawl)
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325 KiB  
Review
Entropy and Entropy Production: Old Misconceptions and New Breakthroughs
by Leonid M. Martyushev
Entropy 2013, 15(4), 1152-1170; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15041152 - 26 Mar 2013
Cited by 135 | Viewed by 12167
Abstract
Persistent misconceptions existing for dozens of years and influencing progress in various fields of science are sometimes encountered in the scientific and especially, the popular-science literature. The present brief review deals with two such interrelated misconceptions (misunderstandings). The first misunderstanding: entropy is a [...] Read more.
Persistent misconceptions existing for dozens of years and influencing progress in various fields of science are sometimes encountered in the scientific and especially, the popular-science literature. The present brief review deals with two such interrelated misconceptions (misunderstandings). The first misunderstanding: entropy is a measure of disorder. This is an old and very common opinion. The second misconception is that the entropy production minimizes in the evolution of nonequilibrium systems. However, as it has recently become clear, evolution (progress) in Nature demonstrates the opposite, i.e., maximization of the entropy production. The principal questions connected with this maximization are considered herein. The two misconceptions mentioned above can lead to the apparent contradiction between the conclusions of modern thermodynamics and the basic conceptions of evolution existing in biology. In this regard, the analysis of these issues seems extremely important and timely as it contributes to the deeper understanding of the laws of development of the surrounding World and the place of humans in it. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Maximum Entropy Production)
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