Overview

"""Sustainability"" is often used in a qualitative sense. However, there is at present a great need to quantitatively measure (and monitor) its many qualitative aspects in real systems. Real systems are regarded as sustainable if they can maintain their current, desirable productivity and character without creating unfavorable condi­ tions elsewhere or in the future [1-4]. Sustainability therefore incorporates both concern for the future of the current system (temporal sustainability) and concern about the degree to which some areas and cultures of the planet are improved at the expense of other areas and cultures (spatial sustainability). That is, sustainability is to hold over both space and time. Sustainability encompasses many disciplines. For example, economic systems are not sustainable if they degrade their natural resource base and impoverish some sectors of the human population [5, 6]. Indices are needed that will measure sustainability through time, and over space, at several scales. These indices must also have the ability to aggregate the many disciplinary facets of sustainability, often incorporatedthrough a large number of environmental, social, and economic variables. Such a multidisciplinary dynamic system can be regarded as sustainable if it maintains a desirable steady state or regime', including fluctuations that are desirable (such as those that respond to natural disturbances [8])."

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9781849966153

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Reviews

From the reviews: Roy Frieden has been exploring the consequences of studying physical phenomena on the basis of Fisher information and extreme physical information ... . therefore wish to emphasize that the truly original feature of this book ... is precisely its broad coverage; its demonstration that such a simple principle, easily grasped, is capable of yielding valuable results in such a wide range of fields of enquiry. I found Frieden's earlier books immensely original and intellectually thrilling and this one adds yet more weight to that opinion. (P. W. Hawkes, www.amazon.com, October, 2007) I personally have used and exploited the Fisher information theme in numerous papers related to quantum mechanics and relativity, in particular via relations of FI to the quantum potential. I would even say that this theme seems to have `cosmic significance' and in the present arena of information technology, processing, retrieval, and distortion the book should be considered as must reading. (Robert Carroll, www.amazon.com, October, 2007) The book begins with an introduction by Frieden, which covers Fisher information and its uses when employing the EPI approach. ... This fascinating book is well organized, written in a careful and systematic way, and contains much new material. It will be useful to those interested in information technology (IT), processing, retrieval, and distortion. It is an excellent source of information for the study and research of exploratory data analysis. (P. R. Parthasarathy, ACM Computing Reviews, Vol. 49 (8), August, 2008)

From the reviews: Roy Frieden has been exploring the consequences of studying physical phenomena on the basis of Fisher information and extreme physical information ! . therefore wish to emphasize that the truly original feature of this book ! is precisely its broad coverage; its demonstration that such a simple principle, easily grasped, is capable of yielding valuable results in such a wide range of fields of enquiry. I found Frieden's earlier books immensely original and intellectually thrilling and this one adds yet more weight to that opinion. (P. W. Hawkes, www.amazon.com, October, 2007) I personally have used and exploited the Fisher information theme in numerous papers related to quantum mechanics and relativity, in particular via relations of FI to the quantum potential. I would even say that this theme seems to have 'cosmic significance' and in the present arena of information technology, processing, retrieval, and distortion the book should be considered as must reading. (Robert Carroll, www.amazon.com, October, 2007) The book begins with an introduction by Frieden, which covers Fisher information and its uses when employing the EPI approach. ! This fascinating book is well organized, written in a careful and systematic way, and contains much new material. It will be useful to those interested in information technology (IT), processing, retrieval, and distortion. It is an excellent source of information for the study and research of exploratory data analysis. (P. R. Parthasarathy, ACM Computing Reviews, Vol. 49 (8), August, 2008)

Author Information

"Professor Emeritus - B. Roy Frieden: B.S., M.S., Ph.D., Professor of Optical Sciences, Univ. of Arizona 1966-2002; books ""Probability, Statistical Optics and Data Testing"" (Springer-Verlag, 3rd ed., 2001), ""Physics from Fisher Information"" (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1998), ""Science from Fisher Information"" (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2004); inventor of principle of Extreme physical information (EPI) Dr. Robert A. Gatenby: BSE, Princeton Univ. MD, University of Pennsylvania."

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