Contribution to disambiguation of concepts of "technology" and "frequency" 

The flaws in nomenclature, such as homonymous or otherwise ambiguous definitions trigger a chain-reaction of misconceptions and reverberating prolixities. Missions of the academe include sustaining knowledge transparency and applicability. Authors, editors and educators could significantly contribute to promoting the consistent nomenclature. Table A presents several examples of homonymous concepts however, this survey is limited to collecting opinions related to the comcepts of 'technology' and 'frequency'.

Ambiguous usage of the term ‘technology’ is notorious in engineering and scientific publications. Numerous academic institutions and scientific journals use the term ‘technology’ to address wether a ‘technique’ or otherwise a discipline that is not classified as one of scientific disciplines. For example, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology promotes that their mission “is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship.” Therefore one can conclude that ‘technology’ is one of the scholarship areas that can be distinguished from sciences. The Delft University of Technology commits to offering education and research within the technical sciences along with developing technologies for future generations’. Here it appears that ‘technology’ is not a technical science, but rather denotes ‘technical assets and techniques’. Other examples of the use of this term can be found at the bottom of Table A.

The confusion caused by homonymous use of term "technology" is well illustrated in the case of so-called "information technology" [5]. This could be avoided by adopting the foreign words in English language, for example, instead "information technology" we can use the construction "information technologie". There is a significant difference in offering new chemophysical materialised resources (e.g. tools, computer hardware or other equipment) along with the instructions for usage, compared with only offering a specific knowledge e.g. definitions, intelligence, software and other instructions, however without supplying any materialised tools, energy or other chemophysical resources.


Please chose one of the options presented below or otherwise suggest another option by means of an e-mail to sead.spuzic@unisa.edu.au.

Option 1

‘Technology’ is the science of (a scientific discipline that studies) techniques, tools and the phenomena to which these techniques and tools are applied. (Hypernym: 'science')

Option 2

‘Technology’ is the practical use of scientific knowledge (or, rephrased: ‘Technology’ is the application of scientific knowledge to the practical aims of human life). (Hypernym: 'engineering')

Option 3

‘Technology’ denotes the means (tools, techniques, knowledge, systems, phenomena) or activity (processes, methods, organisation) by which man seeks to change or manipulate something. (Hypernym: 'endeavour')

Concept of ‘frequency’ is defined as:

(a) The number of occurrences per given duration, e.g. ‘the frequency of modulation is 40 cycles per second’ (also known as ‘frequence’ and 'temporal frequency') [1, 2].

(b) The rate of change of phase of a sinusoidal waveform [2]. In this case, ambiguity is increased due to the fact that the term ‘phase’ is a homonym as well [3].

(c) The number (count) of times the event occurred in the experiment or the study [2] . This is consistent with the more general definitions stating that “the frequency is ‘how often something occurs’” [4].

(d) The number of observations in a given statistical category (also ‘absolute frequency’) [1].

(e) The ratio of the number of observations in a statistical category to the total number of observations (also called ‘relative frequency’) [1].

Definitions under (a) and (b) refer specifically to time. In the case of periodic events, the unit for measuring frequency is hertz (Hz = 1/s). The use of a separate unit, becquerel (Bq) for measuring the frequency of aperiodic events also implies the relation between the terms 'frequency' and 'time' (Bq = 1/s).

In a cross-disciplinary communication, reference to the statistical frequency of observations in connection to the frequency of impacts in a dynamic test would be an ambiguous concept.

It is proposed herewith to adopt the generic definition of the concept of ‘frequency’ irrelevant of time, and to distinguish whether the frequency is a ‘count’ or a ‘rate’:

Frequency f is a ratio of the count x and the count y:
f = x/y,
where x = the count of actual specific occurrences and y = the total count of all possible events of relevance.

Hypernyms for ‘frequency’ are ‘measure’ and ‘norm’.

For example, let us count the appearance of a number “three” or “one” during 100 successive throws of a die. Here the total count (quantity) of all possible events of relevance is y = 100. Let us say that the number “three” occurred 21 times and the number “one” 11 times, so x = 32. Then the observed frequency of occurrence of the number 3 or number 1 is f = 32/100 = 0.32.

In many statistical textbooks 'frequency' is denoted as 'relative frequency', which is the case of prolixity (or circumlocution).

In statistical terms, 'frequency distribution' is the empirical equivalent (obtained exerimentally, by measurements) for the probablity density function.

As for the concepts under (a) and (b), it is recommended considering terms 'frequence' and 'temporal frequency'. Until a consensus is reached as to which term to adopt, we shall use a tentative term 'frequence'.

This concept, 'frequence', will be explained using the definitions from physics. Some events exibit periodic (oscillatory, cyclical) relations, e.g. a wheel rotates, pendulum oscillates and the waves fluctuate. The 'period' is defined as the duration it takes this relation to go through one full cycle. 'Frequence' is the inverse of the 'period'. 'Frequence' presents a count (how many) of oscillations occur per unit of duration. If the period is constant, then we call this event a 'periodic event' and correspondigly, we talk of periodic oscillations. A good illustration of the concept of 'frequence' (with the homonymic use of the term 'frequency') can be viewed at http://www.indiana.edu/~emusic/acoustics/frequency.htm. The unit of measurement for 'frequence' is hertz (Hz). 1 Hz = 1/s . Hypernyms for ‘frequence’ are ‘measure’, 'dimension' and ‘norm’.

Aperiodic oscillations are posible as well, and in such case both the period and the frequence change with the duration. For measuring aperiodic oscillations a separate unit - becquerel (Bq) - is used, as stated above.

References

[1]  "WordNet lexical database for the English language" developed by Cognitive Science Laboratory at Princeton University, under direction of G A Miller; http://wordnet.princeton.edu/ (accessed on 5th November 2007) .

[2]  Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, http://en.wikipedia.org (accessed on 5th November 2007).

[3]  Spuzic, S., Abhary, K., Stevens, C., Fabris, N., Rice, J., and Nouwens, F. “Contribution to Cross-disciplinary Lexicon” (Editors: D Radcliffe and J Humphries) Proceedings 4th ASEE/AaeE Global Colloquium on Engineering Education, Sydney, 26-29 September 2005.

[4] Oakland, J.S. “Statistical Process Control; a Really Practical Guide” 3rd ed. Butterworth-Heinemann, 1998.

[5] Abhary K, Adriansen H K, Begovac F, Djukic D, Qin B, Spuzic S, Wood D and Xing K (2009) "Some Basic Aspects of Knowledge" Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, Volume 1, Issue 1, 2009, Pages 1753-1758; 

Please chose one of three options presented below or otherwise you may wish to suggest another option by means of an e-mail to sead.spuzic@unisa.edu.au.