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"Forget-Me-Not"
Information and Search System

Slide show: how to use Forget-Me-Not ?

1. Main window

The main window (Fig. 1) has the program logo and the list of available archives (boxes). You can see three active areas (buttons) BOX (Choose box), BROWSE (Browse box), and SEARCH (Search request) on the logo. The logo with the BOX, BROWSE and SEARCH buttons is available at any time for the user. To come back to the main window from any place, press BOX button.

Internet Explorer
logo

Box storage: \Boxes\
Choose box

default.box
Complexity.box
Feynman Lectures on Computation.box
CRYPTOGRAPHY. Theory and Practice.box
How the Leopard Changed Its Spots.box
Analysis of Observed Chaotic Data.box
Cycles and Chaos in Economic Equilibrium.box
Fractals, Chaos, Power Laws.box
Complexity. Hierarchical structures and scaling in physics.box
Nonlinear Oscillations, Dynamical Systems, and Bifurcations of Vector Fields.box


Fig. 1

2. Browsing an Archive

Up
Click the archive name to choose the box you want to browse. This gives the window with the box contents. You can return to this window anytime you press 'BROWSE' button.

For example, choose the box (book) "How the leopard changed its spots". Clicking the book title gives the window with the box contents, as is shown in Fig. 2.

   How the Leopard Changed Its Spots.box
    Contents
    Acknowledgements
    A summary of the argument
    Chapter1 Whatever happened to organisms
    Chapter2 How the leopard got its spots
    Chapter3 Life, an excitable medium
    Chapter4 Living form in the making
    Chapter5 The evolution of generic forms
    Chapter6 New directions, new metaphors
    Chapter7 A science of qualities
    References and further reading
    Index


 

Fig. 2

Every chapter of the book is linked to the list of pages (documents) in the text form.

3. List of pages

Up
To get the list of pages of the chosen chapter, click the chapter title. (Fig. 3).

  How the Leopard Changed Its Spots.box
    Contents
    Acknowledgements
    A summary of the argument
    Chapter1 Whatever happened to organisms
    Chapter2 How the leopard got its spots
    Chapter3 Life, an excitable medium
      pb0040_ch03.txt
     pb0041.txt
     pb0042.txt
     pb0043.txt
    <   . . .   >

    pb0069.txt
     pb0070.txt
     pb0071.txt
     pb0072.txt
    Chapter4 Living form in the making
    Chapter5 The evolution of generic forms
    Chapter6 New directions, new metaphors
    Chapter7 A science of qualities
    References and further reading
    Index
Fig. 3

The list of chapter pages is a set of hypertext links to the text pages.

4. View text page

Up
To get any text page, just click on its title. You will see the document (page of the book) in the text form. You can use the text version of the document for reading it, referencing, printing certain fragments, etc. All these operations can be done with standard Internet browser tools.

Along with the text, two toolbars appear in the window above and bellow the document (Fig. 4). The toolbars contain information about the document, links to the Box and to the current Chapter contents, and three buttons: 'faxpage' (to view the facsimile picture of the page), 'prev' (to go to the previous page) and 'next' (to go to the next page).

Document:  /How the Leopard Changed Its Spots.box/Chapter3 Life, an excitable medium/pb0047.txt (2405 bytes) faxpage   prev   next  

Life, an excitable medium .                   47

result in spatial patterns. The two systems involve quite different
molecules; their similarities are in the relationships between them.

Essentially what produces the patterns is a set of reactions with
the following characteristics. First, there is a positive feedback
effect so that a substance stimulates its own production. In the
case of the BZ mixture, the reaction is the following:

HBrO, + BrO^ + 3^ + 2Ce^ -> 2HBrO, + 2Ce^ + H,0

Bromous acid (HBrOi), when mixed with bromate (Br03 ), acid
(H^) and cerium (Ce^) makes more bromous acid (2HBrOi),
oxidized cerium ions (Ce^) and water. Therefore what happens
in a dish of the reagent is that bromous acid starts to produce
more of itself and the concentration builds up, stimulating the
production of the acid in neighbouring regions of the dish so that
a wave of production spreads out. But then the second essential
process comes into play: HBrOi production is inhibited by another
product, 002. There are two possible results of such positive and
negative feedback. Either the rate of production is just balanced
by the rate of destruction so that the system reaches what is known
as a steady state and the net concentration remains constant; or
production and destruction see-saw out of balance and an oscil-
lation occurs. Most chemical reactions reach a balanced condition,
a steady state in which concentrations do not change even although
the substances involved are being constantly produced and con-
sumed. An example is the concentration of oxygen in the atmos-
phere, which is constant at 21% even though oxygen is constantly
being produced by plants and used up by most types of organism
in their metabolic activities. Rates of production and consumption
balance one another to give this constant value. The BZ reaction,
however, because of the positive feedback of bromous acid on its
own production and the complexity of the reactions involved, does
not reach a steady state, production and destruction remaining
out of balance so that the concentrations of the components
change periodically in time or oscillate. The result is that when
the reagents are in an essentially two-dimensional space such as a
thin layer of solution in a flat petri dish, propagating waves of
bromous acid production are initiated from regions where the
Document:  /How the Leopard Changed Its Spots.box/Chapter3 Life, an excitable medium/pb0047.txt (2405 bytes) faxpage   prev   next  
Fig. 4

5. View facsimile page

Up
Click 'faxpage' button to proceed from the text version of the page to its facsimile picture. Graphic image of the document is loaded into the browser window, which is a scanned image of the original paper document.

Document:  /How the Leopard Changed Its Spots.box/Chapter3 Life, an excitable medium/pb0054.txt [-] Fit to page [+]   prev   next  
Document:  /How the Leopard Changed Its Spots.box/Chapter3 Life, an excitable medium/pb0054.txt [-] Fit to page [+]   prev   next  
Fig. 5

In the facsimile view mode, user can look through the "book" backward or forward by clicking buttons 'prev' and 'next', and adjust the document scale (zoom) with the buttons 'Fit to page', '[+]' and '[-]'. That is, the facsimile electronic copy of the book can be treated as an ordinary book, with some additional services provided by computer.

Document:  /How the Leopard Changed Its Spots.box/Contents/pa_title.txt [-] Fit to page [+]   prev   next  
Document:  /How the Leopard Changed Its Spots.box/Contents/pa_title.txt [-] Fit to page [+]   prev   next  
Fig. 6

6. Search System

Up
The search tools used in the described information system are based on the representation of information as trajectories of a nonlinear dynamic system. Three search modes are available.

7. Unique Search

Up
To use the first or second search mode, click the 'SEARCH' button on the program logo. The query window appears in the browser, where the user can input a request by means of directly typing words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs concerning the theme of the search, or by means of feeding information from an external source through the system clipboard (Fig. 7.).



Fig. 7.

For example, a fragment of one of the pages (Fig. 8) close by content to the aim of the search is taken as that input information for the request in Fig. 7.

Document:  /How the Leopard Changed Its Spots.box/Chapter2 How the leopard got its spots//pb0037.txt (2006 bytes) faxpage   prev   next  

How the leopard got its spots



Figure 2.4 Diagram showing some of the components left out of
Weissman 's scheme and not accounted for by molecular biology, in
particular the organization of the generative field that produces the adult
form with influences coming from DNA and cytoplasmic hereditary
factors, and from the environment.


account of the picture as it now appears (Figure 2.4). Instead of
germ plasm (or its modern version, DNA) as the carrier of
the specific inherited factors from the parent that influence the
formation of particular structures in the offspring, we have what
I shall call 'inherited particulars'. These can be either particular
base sequences of DNA that define the genes, or particular
structures of the parent organism such as the melon-stripe Para-
mecium, that get transmitted. These act on the 'generative field',
the organization of the egg cell or the organism itself that grows
and develops to produce a new individual with characteristics
inherited from the parent(s). Separating these two aspects of an
organism is actually artificial, because in reality the two are part
of a single system: the inherited particulars are part of the organ-
ism, which is a field that is organized in space and in time.
The brilliant spotlight that plays upon the genes as the most distinctive spot on the Darwinian leopard begins to fade into the context of the whole organism, which now emerges more clearly as the real living being. For certain purposes it remains useful to distinguish those aspects of this single dynamic field that are involved in transmitting particular influences from those that are responsible for generating form. This convention is actually used ill the analysis of dynamic systems, as will become clearer in Chapter 4 where a distinction is made between genes as parameters and the generative field as the dynamical equations used to describe the process of producing the form of the developing organism.
Document:  /How the Leopard Changed Its Spots.box/Chapter2 How the leopard got its spots//pb0037.txt (2006 bytes) faxpage   prev   next  
Fig. 8.

Let us trace the further search steps on this example.

The highlighted document fragment is taken to the clippboard and then put into the request window for search. Then, after clicking the button of unique search ('Unique') the program finds a text page, where the document resides, and displays it. If necessary, the user can link to the facsimile image of the required document.

The necessary document can be found even if the text of the request is slightly different from or has some misprints compared with the related fragment in the archive.

The necessity in such a search mode may seem to occur very seldom. However, it allows a user to find, for example, a verse in an electronic edition by a fragment, imprinted in childhood, or to recall the cicumstances in which a known hero pronounced: "To be or not to be!"

8. Content-Sensitive Search

Up
To start the second search mode, i.e., the "content-sensitive search" or "search for links", click on 'Links' button. After that, the search system converts the request string into a number of fragments and displays them separated by vertical lines (Fig. 9). The request string is parsed using the internal system language, which in turn is determined by the information contained in the book. Each highlighted substring is linked to at least one entry into the box documents. To get the list of all substring entries (the list of pages containing this substring), click on the highlighted substring (Fig. 10). The status bar above the list shows the number of documents where the substring is found.

account |of the p|icture |as it |now |appear|s (|Figure 2.|4)|. In|stead |of |germ plasm |(|or its |modern |versi|on, |DNA) |as the |carri|er |of the |specific| inherited |factors |from the paren|t that |influence |the |format|ion of particular |structures |in the |offspring, |we have |what |I shall |call |'|inherited particular|s'|. These can be |either| particular |base |sequences of |DNA |that |define the |genes, |or| particular |structure|s of the |paren|t organism |such as the |melon-|stripe |Para- |meci|um, |that |get |transmitt|ed. These |act on the |'|generative field|'|, the |organization of the |egg cell |or the |organism itself| that grow|s and |develops |to produce a new |individual |with |characteristic|s |inherited |from the paren|t|(|s)|. S|e|par|ating these |two aspects of |an organism |is actu|ally a|r|tific|ial|, because |in reality |the |two| are| par|t |of a |single |system|: |the inheri|ted particular|s |are p|art of the |organ- ism|, which |is a |field |that is |organized in |space and in time|.|

Fig. 9.

The term "germ plasm" is used as an example of the link to the book (box) in Fig. 9. One can see that there are eight pages containing the substring (Fig. 10).

Total occurance found: 8
/How the Leopard Changed Its Spots.box/Chapter2 How the leopard got its spots/pb0037.txt/page0000
germ plasm (or its modern version, DNA) as the carrier of
/How the Leopard Changed Its Spots.box/Chapter2 How the leopard got its spots/pb0025.txt/page0000
germ plasm is shown schematically in Figure 2.2. The crucia
/How the Leopard Changed Its Spots.box/Chapter2 How the leopard got its spots/pb0028.txt/page0000
germ plasm and somatoplasm: DNA replicates itself and so c
/How the Leopard Changed Its Spots.box/Chapter2 How the leopard got its spots/pb0025.txt/page0000
germ plasm is the cytoplasm where the pole cells form. T
/How the Leopard Changed Its Spots.box/Chapter2 How the leopard got its spots/pb0031.txt/page0000
germ plasm as living in a distinct sphere from the somatop
/How the Leopard Changed Its Spots.box/Chapter2 How the leopard got its spots/pb0034.txt/page0000
germ plasm from somatoplasm. The capacity to reproduce is
/How the Leopard Changed Its Spots.box/Chapter2 How the leopard got its spots/pb0024.txt/page0000
germ plasm gets transmitted to the next generation, and fr
/How the Leopard Changed Its Spots.box/Chapter2 How the leopard got its spots/pb0024.txt/page0000
germ plasm to be involved in inheritance is the chromosome
Fig. 10

Clicking each element of the list gives the corresponding book page (in the text form) where the element is shown underlined (Fig. 11).

Document:  /How the Leopard Changed Its Spots.box/Chapter2 How the leopard got its spots/pb0037.txt/page0000 (2006 bytes) faxpage   prev   next  
How the leopard got its spots


Figure 2.4 Diagram showing some of the components left out of
Weissman 's scheme and not accounted for by molecular biology, in
particular the organization of the generative field that produces the adult
form with influences coming from DNA and cytoplasmic hereditary
factors, and from the environment.

account of the picture as it now appears (Figure 2.4). Instead of
germ plasm (or its modern version, DNA) as the carrier of
the specific inherited factors from the parent that influence the
formation of particular structures in the offspring, we have what
I shall call 'inherited particulars'. These can be either particular
base sequences of DNA that define the genes, or particular
structures of the parent organism such as the melon-stripe Para-
mecium, that get transmitted. These act on the 'generative field',
the organization of the egg cell or the organism itself that grows
and develops to produce a new individual with characteristics
inherited from the parent(s). Separating these two aspects of an
organism is actually artificial, because in reality the two are part
of a single system: the inherited particulars are part of the organ-
ism, which is a field that is organized in space and in time.

The brilliant spotlight that plays upon the genes as the most
distinctive spot on the Darwinian leopard begins to fade into the
context of the whole organism, which now emerges more clearly
as the real living being. For certain purposes it remains useful to
distinguish those aspects of this single dynamic field that are
involved in transmitting particular influences from those that are
responsible for generating form. This convention is actually used
ill the analysis of dynamic systems, as will become clearer in
Chapter 4 where a distinction is made between genes as parameters
and the generative field as the dynamical equations used to describe
the process of producing the form of the developing organism.

Document:  /How the Leopard Changed Its Spots.box/Chapter2 How the leopard got its spots/pb0037.txt/page0000 (2006 bytes) faxpage   prev   next  
Fig. 11.

Clicking the 'faxpage' button gives the facsimile image of the page (Fig. 12).

Document:  /How the Leopard Changed Its Spots.box/Chapter2 How the leopard got its spots/pb0028.txt [-] Fit to page [+]   prev   next  
Document:  /How the Leopard Changed Its Spots.box/Chapter2 How the leopard got its spots/pb0028.txt [-] Fit to page [+]   prev   next  
Fig. 12

Using the content-sensitive search the user need not to "invent" keywords. The search system according to its internal language separates the request into fragments (substrings) and offers them to the user. The user only has to choose those that, from his viewpoint, are the most close to the idea of the request. Hence, the parsing gives him hints.

Note, that the substrings parsed by the system as hypertext links to the documents can sometimes be unexpected, and hard to "invent". For example, note the above term "germ plasm" that is seldom used now in scientific literature.

9. Standard Search

Up
The third search mode is the standard keyword search. Logical operations such as "|" (or),"&" (and), etc. can be used to relate the request keywords.




"Forget-Me-Not" Information and Search System
InformChaos Lab., 1999 ã.

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