Domain

Explanation

Discrepancy?

• The generic First Law of Research is comprehensive & applicable in whatever domain,
• Yet,
• It is incomplete in itself
• It needs the necessary compliment of self-observation, self-reflection & self-correction
• Hence …

The analogy

• Open-loop control: internal dynamics are exactly, unambiguously known or measurable without delay ... then active control can be applied directly using these known dynamics ... then only open-loop or feedforward control is done ... if the system is only & truly governed by these known dynamics ... then there is perfect regulation ... i.e. error is zero ... all responses for all time is zero ... perfect controls
• Closed-loop control: when the internal dynamics (like variations in M,C,K) or external disturbances (like unknown EQ, noises, fluctuations, imperfections in understanding, modelling or construction) ... then open-loop control would be diastrous ... it would cause instability & collapse of structure ... hence, we need some form of self-correction & self-tuning within the controlled system ... here, we base the active controls only on the responses of the structure ... then apply a corrective control actions back into the structure ... to maintain equilibrium, achieve stability & reach desired responses ... this is the feedback or closed-loop control ... we feedback the controls into the structure to reach minimisation of responses
• Open-Closed-loop control: in the real-world engineering, dynamics of a structure is generally known (M,C,K) in some aspects & uncertain (dynamic variations in M,C,K & non-structural components) in others & totally unknown (EQ hazard analysis, catenary actions, collapse modes & mechanisms) in the rest ... hence, for known or measurable portions, use feedforward (FF) or open-loop controls ... for uncertain or unknown or unmeasurable portions, use feedback (FB) or closed-loop controls ... then, u(t) = FF(t) + FB(t) ... this is the most general form of active controls

Read Control Applications

The realisation

• Taking this as analogy for research ... the 3 papers, 5 tricks & 2 approaches are generic FF open-loop researches ... these together make up the First Law of Research ... they are always expected to be encountered in any complex domain ... just like Newton's Laws of Motion ... thus can be used for anything in the present & future ... however, there are imperfections & uncertainties along the way ... although i always refuse to acknowledge this ... but i have to come to realise that ... the completeness of research needs both open-loop & closed-loop research ... through self-reflections & self-observations ... i see that the most essence of my research come from self-corrections ... in that i take a second look at previous:
• Knowledge: thought i know & have solved, but is based loosely on poor fundamentals
• Methodologies: thought i'm certain of the process & procedure, but is based loosely on some other techniques that in turn based loosely on others + some assumptions that tend to escape scrutiny ... this is similar to legal contracts ... clauses that are presumed & escape scrutiny that are important in some situations ... but not in others

Zeroth Law of ReSearch

• With this ... comes the understanding that a FB path to research needs to be conducted ... a closed-loop self-corrective research required ... hence, the following:

• Zeroth Law of ReSearch states that with regards to general situations with inherently known & unknown knowledge & methodologies, the fundamentals of complex problems exist on both known & unknown domains, where the known aspects can be uncovered by the First Law of Research and the unknown aspects can be reiteratively uncovered by repetitve, relentless & retrospectively research the known aspects with renewed perspectives, hence ReSearch

• ReSearch means repetitively & relentlessly Searching with Renewed perspectives ... the Zeroth Law of ReSearch forms the closed-loop FB path ... taken together, the most general research is thus revealed in the Open-Closed-loop research formed by the First & Zeroth laws of ReSearch

• When we look at the health of a tree, we look at its roots

• When we look at the wealth of research, we look at its fundamentals