User talk:Brogan.stewart/sandbox

Peer review of fractal analysis (by Étienne aka loftslag)
Overall, I think you have a lot of very relevant information but the flow is not always clear.

For example, in the Animal Behaviour paragraph, your first sentence is :

‘Patterns in animal behaviour exhibit fractal properties on spatial and temporal scales’

Then, after giving examples of applications in behavioural ecology you have another similar sentence :

‘Fractal analysis helps in understanding the behaviour of animals and how they interact with their environments on multiples scales in space and time.’

I feel like these two references should go together at the beginning of the paragraph.

From Brogan: Oh wow, good spot! I moved them together, that sounds way better now!

More minor comments

First paragraph:

I think you should not use ‘etc’ at the end of the sentence listing the applications of fractal analysis, because you start the enumeration with ‘including’ which already implies that it is not an exhaustive list. Instead, just use ‘and’ before the last word (networks).

From Brogan: The first paragraph was written by someone else and I didn't really touch it except for adding "ecological relationships", but you're right. I should make some minor edits! Done and done.

Ecology and evolution paragraph:

In the third sentence you mention:

‘the same statistical properties at different scales’

and in the fourth sentence you talk about only one ‘property’. I understand that by the ‘property’ you mean the ensemble of properties that do not change between two scales, but it’s a bit confusing since you’re using the same word. I suggest you use another word (I can’t think of one) but I understand the language is specific to mathematics.

From Brogan: Oh yes! I see how that confusing, I am glad you noticed that. I changed the second one to "characteristic", so it reads: "...showing the same statistical properties at different scales. This characteristic is termed scale...."

If I understand correctly, ‘self-similarity’ is when the zoom to get the same pattern is equal in all dimensions and “self-affinity” is when the zoom differs for each dimension. The explanation you give -‘depending on the direction of the rescaled copies’- does not highlight this difference clearly for me. It’s not clear what you mean (I assume zoom in or zoom out, but then it’s not clear how this is the criteria for the sub-categories of scale invariance).

From Brogan: Ah ok! I changed it to this... "and can be further categorized as self-similarity or self-affinity, the latter scaled anisotropically (depending on the direction)." I hope that makes it more clear! If you look up the word 'anisotropic' it really helps! It's hard not to use the jargon sometimes. I will also link the word anisotropic to it's wiki page to help!

‘’Thus, fractal analysis can help to quantify patterns in nature and to identify changes.’’

If I understand correctly, here by “changes” you mean deviations from the ‘natural’ patterns?

From Brogan: Yes! I changed it to this so it's more clear: "Thus, fractal analysis can help to quantify patterns in nature and to identify deviations from these natural sequences."

For the last sentence, I think you should link “criticism” to a new article or section that will be the criticisms of fractal analysis in ecology, so that someone might some day write this article/section.

From Brogan: Oh hmm... I will try to figure that out!

Animal behaviour paragraph:

You mention ‘animal diffusion’ - what do you mean? Probably not migration. Dispersal? If there is a wiki article on this (with a different term maybe?) you should link it. I understand this is very niche quantitative ethology (I have a degree in ecology and I’m not sure of what you’re talking about!) so it might simply not exist in Wikipedia.

From Brogan: It's a concept in ecology to describe the 'random' movement of animals, not just dispersal but also movement within their habitats (like the 'random walk'). It stems from Brownian motion I think, since it is a diffusion model. I think I'll just change it to "animal movement" though so it's more clear!

‘Spatial patterns and animal behaviour sequences in fractal time have an optimal complexity range; an increase or a loss in complexity, either becoming more stereotypical or conversely more random in their behaviour patterns, indicates that there has been an alteration in the functionality of the individual.’

This sentence is very long. I would suggest replacing the semicolon with a dot.

From Brogan: Yes, agreed. As we talked about via text, I think I will define "optimal complexity range" better. I changed the sentence and shortened it to: "Spatial patterns and animal behaviour sequences in fractal time have an optimal complexity range, which can be thought of as the homeostatic state on the spectrum where the complexity sequence should regularly fall. An increase or a loss in complexity, either becoming..."

‘The research is furthering the field of ecology by simplifying and quantifying very complex relationships.’

You have this sentence in the animal behavior section but you use ‘field of ecology’, which would make it more suitable for the Ecology and Evolution section. The name of the reference points to behavioral ecology rather than ecology though, so maybe simply add ‘behavioral’ before ‘ecology’?

From Brogan: Added it in! Very good point!

Also, when you have many citations after a sentence, you should order the numbers.

From Brogan: I didn't even think of that. I will change it now.

Otherwise, very interesting read and impressively exhaustive background research. Loftslag (talk) 16:14, 2 April 2019 (UTC)

Review by Nicolas Stampfli

Hi Brogan, I liked your article, and I think you can improve it a lot by making very minor changes. Here are some suggestions.

Regards,

Nicolas

In the lead section, I think it would be interesting to mention why fractal analysis is interesting and/or what it can help doing. I would also suggest removing the capital E in "Electroencephalography".

From Brogan: That's a really good idea! I added this: "Fractal analysis is valuable in expanding our knowledge of the structure and function of various systems, and as a potential tool to mathematically assess novel areas of study."

Similarly, I think it would be nice (if possible) to follow with a short section on the origins and objectives of fractal analysis, to explain where it comes from and why it is interesting.

From Brogan: I added: "Further information on the Origins: Fractal Geometry"

Section on "Types of fractal analysis"

- In the first sentence, I suggest replacing "are done" by "exist".

From Brogan: This was the part that the previous person wrote, but I decided to change it to this since it makes more sense: "There are various types of fractal analysis, including..."

- Can you add a link for "benchmark patterns" (together or separate)?

From Brogan: Again, this was the part that the other person wrote. But I'm going back and fixing it up now so I will definitely do that!

Section on "Ecology and evolution"

- Unless I am mistaken, the first five sentences are applicable to fractals and fractal analysis in general. Therefore, I would suggest moving them up into a separate section on "Underlying principles" (and maybe objectives).

From Brogan: I was debating doing this originally and I am glad you said it! I just moved it up and I added a few sentences at the end to tie it in better! The flow is WAY better now, thank you!

- There are two sentences where you have included many references. If there references say exactly the same thing, maybe you can keep only the most interesting ones. Otherwise, I would be interesting if you could add some details related to these studies.

From Brogan: I know what you mean. I used all the papers that I had that said those things and just added them in thinking that more citations were better, but I can see how it looks kind of strange. I will go through them now and only keep the important ones.

- Why does the use of fractal analyse generate criticism? I want to know! I am also not sure about the use of "render", but it may be a language issue on my side.

Sub-section on "Animal behaviour"

From Brogan: Oh yea! I thought that was how it was used but I guess not. I change it to: "Despite its extensive use, it still receives some criticism."

- I would suggest starting with the more general info. As such, I suggest moving the sentence starting with "fractal analysis helps..." to the beginning of the section. I would also suggest the first paragraph in two, the new second paragraph starting with "spatial patterns and animal behaviour". I think this is similar to Étienne's comment on this section.

From Brogan: Yes the flow is much better that way! Done and done.

Section on "Some applications of fractal analysis include"

- Since it is a main sub-section (with "Ecology and evolution"), I would suggest renaming this section "Other fields of applications" or "Other applications". I think this would make your article feel more balanced.

From Brogan: Good point! I changed it to, "Applications Include"