2006
DOI: 10.1016/j.jbi.2005.08.010
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Granularity, scale and collectivity: When size does and does not matter

Abstract: Bridging levels of "granularity" and "scale" are frequently cited as key problems for biomedical informatics. However, detailed accounts of what is meant by these terms are sparse in the literature. We argue for distinguishing two notions: "size range," which deals with physical size, and "collectivity," which deals with aggregations of individuals into collections, which have emergent properties and effects. We further distinguish these notions from "specialisation," "degree of detail," "density," and "connec… Show more

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Cited by 46 publications
(63 citation statements)
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“…Thus not every cow-collectives in the sense defined by us is a herd, and not any grain-collective is a heap. However, we go not as far as Rector et al, who allow even for collectives with no grains at all ([13], p. 338). Were we to allow such empty collectives, every empty collective would be an instance of any collective type.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 89%
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“…Thus not every cow-collectives in the sense defined by us is a herd, and not any grain-collective is a heap. However, we go not as far as Rector et al, who allow even for collectives with no grains at all ([13], p. 338). Were we to allow such empty collectives, every empty collective would be an instance of any collective type.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 89%
“…Inspired by the work of Rector et al [13], Schulz et al adduce various criteria to distinguish between grains and components [2]: Grains are the constituting elements of homogeneous collections, such as the sheep in a flock or the H 2 O molecules in a drop of water. Components are the constituting elements of a compound constituted by well identified parts, such as a bicycle being composed of frame, wheels, saddle, front set etc, or a skull composed of neatly distinguishable bones.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
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“…An important paper by Rector, Rogers, and Bittner [25] discusses collectivity, granularity and parthood in the context of biomedical applications, although their observations are wide-ranging and in many cases of more general applicability. The key distinction made in this paper is between what the authors call "granular" and "determinate" parthood, where the former is an irreflexive, asymmetric, and non-transitive relation between physical objects and "collectives", whereas the latter is a reflexive, antisymmetric, transitive relation between physical objects.…”
Section: Related Workmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…10, [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] In this section, we will show that many of the terms used for this purpose designate biological repeatables whose instances have a partially fiat spatial or spatiotemporal boundary; otherwise, to mention this opportunity again, the terms remain vague.…”
Section: Continua and Spatiotemporal Identificationmentioning
confidence: 99%