What is Uncertainty

The word uncertainty means vagueness. It occurs only when the boundary of a piece of information is not clear-cut. The concept of uncertainty was first introduced by L.A. Zadeh in his research paper in 1965 as an extension of classical notion of set. Learn more in: Minimal Spanning Tree in Cylindrical Single-Valued Neutrosophic Arena

An operational definition of the gap in knowledge that is the start state for information search. There is a cognitive and an affective component to uncertainty. Learn more in: Information Need and the Beginning of Information Search

Describes any situation without certainty, whether or not described by a probability distribution. Uncertainty is caused by natural variation and/or incomplete knowledge (lack of understanding or insufficient data). Learn more in: Orientism Management Strategy for Training Policy-Makers in Emergency Decision-Making

Describes the condition in which reasonable knowledge regarding risks, benefits, or the future is not available. Learn more in: A TOE Perspective of E-Business Deployment in Financial Firms

The situation where less-than-perfect knowledge exists about a particular problem or decision requirement. There exists a wide variation in terms of degrees of uncertainty from extreme uncertainty (i.e., very limited knowledge of outcomes or likelihood of their occurrence) to near certainty (i.e., almost complete knowledge of the outcomes and the likelihood of occurrence). Generally, an uncertain decision situation refers to one containing ambiguity about part or all of the decision parameters. Learn more in: Risk Management in the Digital Economy

A form of deficiency/imperfection in the information where the truth of information is not established definitely. Learn more in: Semantic Web Uncertainty Management

It is “the absence of perfectly detailed knowledge. Uncertainty includes incertitude (the exact value is not known) and variability (the value is changing). Uncertainty may also include other forms such as vagueness, ambiguity and fuzziness (in the sense of border-line cases)” (Ferson et al., 2004, p. 130). Learn more in: Probabilistic Methods for Uncertainty Quantification

A situation that is not known or the feeling of not being sure what will happen in the future. Learn more in: The Old-Generation School Managers and the New-Generation School Managers From the Aspect of Career Adaptability

The variability introduced into business decision making by fluctuations in factors external to, and beyond the control of, the organisation. Generally caused by aspects of customer behaviour, market dynamics, and competitive forces. Learn more in: The Impact on Decision Making of Centralisation in a Multinational Manufacturing Company: The Materials Purchasing Function

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An agent in an uncertain environment does not know of all the parameters within that environment. Learn more in: Bayesian Agent Adaptation in Complex Dynamic Systems

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Difficulty experienced in evaluating the properties and the future of a job. Learn more in: An Exploration of Career Adaptation of Teachers: A Comparison Between Public and Private School Teachers

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Here uncertainty refers to a person's doubt about the meaning of information. This type of uncertainty means that the person is aware of not knowing how to make sense of the information provided to him. Learn more in: Common-Sense Epidemiology in the Age of Electronic Patient Records (EPR)

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When the outcome of an event is uncertain and one doesn’t know all possible outcomes and/or their probabilities, then outcome is said to be uncertain. Learn more in: Social Media Analytics for Maintaining Financial Stability

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Uncertainty means not-certainty; throughout the submergence into the nature of time; namely by folded time and lived time awareness, was discovered that all the “not-words of time”—such as uncertainty, impermanence, indeterminate, incompleteness—are more than negative words. They are a condensation of both the “root” word meaning (positive) and the “no” prefixed word meaning that transform them into the ‘becoming ‘words for the paradoxical nature of time – one that “is” and one that “is not” simultaneously. As Heraclitus states, “We are and we are not.”. Learn more in: Time Operations

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A feeling, typically a cognitive one, when an individual experiences a sense of wondering, doubting, or being unsure. Learn more in: Using “Plain Vanilla” Online Discussions to Foster Students' Learning: From Research to Practice

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With PROMETHEE, the certainty in the rank position of alternatives, considered through the minimum changes in criteria values to effect an alternatives rank position. Learn more in: PROMETHEE

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is commonly considered as any departure from the unachievable ideal of complete determinism. Learn more in: Uncertainties in Safety and Security: Uncertainties in Critical Infrastructure Protection and Human Factors

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Any deviation from the “unachievable ideal of completely deterministic knowledge of the relevant system” ( Walker et al., 2003 ). In order to help policymakers to identify, assess and report uncertainty, it has been defined through a typology, which includes three dimensions of uncertainty, namely, location, nature and level of the uncertainty. Learn more in: Predictive Genetic Testing,Uncertainty, and Informed Consent

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When a feature is not quite deterministic in its occurrence or absence, there could be an associated uncertain reason. The lack of certainty, a state of having limited knowledge where it is impossible to exactly describe the existing state, a future outcome, or more than one possible outcome. Learn more in: Data Guided Public Healthcare Decision Making

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When the outcomes of investments cannot be estimated in the initial stages, there is uncertainty in the economic environment. Two forms of uncertainty exist, namely, market uncertainty and technical uncertainty. Market uncertainty is exogenous to the investor (e.g., firm) and correlated with economic fundamentals. Technical uncertainty is endogenous and depends on the level of initial investment made. Uncertainty is dynamically evolving and thus affects the evolution of the value of the option through time. Learn more in: Real Options Reasoning as a Tool for Managerial Decision Making

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The dubiety that can be put on the system, the application or the information in a pervasive grid. Information cannot be accepted without doubt and double checking, redundancy, is often the rule. Learn more in: Pervasive Grids: Challenges and Opportunities

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The state of being uncertain, doubt or hesitancy. It refers also to unpredictability, indeterminacy, indefiniteness, etc. Learn more in: Decision Making Under Uncertainty and Risks in the Face of Rapidly Advancing Technologies

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The name for a lack of knowledge that can be addressed by obtaining more information, such as by researching an answer, looking it up in reference materials, or collecting data. Learn more in: Patchwork Prototyping with Open Source Software

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