Dear Crystallographers, this is a sort of abstract question, but I think this listserve might have some good answers.
In crystallography, we have a lot of nonlinearities or thresholds in dealing with data. For example, the "atomic resolution" threshold, wherever it be, defines whether we can use direct methods. There's a sort of mathematical edge or non-linearity there. Or, data sets with completeness below some threshold become useless. I think back to a number of James Holton's movies which vary certain parameters in data quality, and there are often certain non-linearities, like holes in rings, which unpredictably leap out of nowhere. And, most if not all programs appear to have non-linear edges between working and not working, say with MR and sequence similarity, etc. For a totally non-crystallographic example which I think is actually parallel: if one were to make a movie of a hummingbird with slow temporal resolution, but then improve the temporal resolution incrementally, at some point there would be a eureka moment in which the blurry things which mysteriously keep the bird afloat are discovered to be actual wings, which would be highly "non-linear." So, the question: does anyone know what these sorts of thresholds are called, or how to think of them philosophically or mathematically? Or even better, but much harder: can these thresholds be predicted, and if so, how? I think it's just a general science question, but with some clarity, would be really helpful for deciding which techniques to emphasize or advocate for, i.e., which ones are at the "bleeding edge" of discovery. All the best, Jacob +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Jacob Pearson Keller Assistant Professor Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Therapeutics Uniformed Services University 4301 Jones Bridge Road Bethesda MD 20814 [email protected]; [email protected] Cell: (301)592-7004 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ######################################################################## To unsubscribe from the CCP4BB list, click the following link: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/WA-JISC.exe?SUBED1=CCP4BB&A=1 This message was issued to members of www.jiscmail.ac.uk/CCP4BB, a mailing list hosted by www.jiscmail.ac.uk, terms & conditions are available at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/
