Architecture, space and information in constructions built by humans and social insects: a conceptual review.

The similarities between the structures built by social insects and by humans have led to a convergence of interests between biologists and architects. This new, de facto interdisciplinary community of scholars needs a common terminology and theoretical framework in which to ground its work. In this conceptually oriented review paper, we review the terms 'information', 'space' and 'architecture' to provide definitions that span biology and architecture. A framework is proposed on which interdisciplinary exchange may be better served, with the view that this will aid better cross-fertilization between disciplines, working in the areas of collective behaviour and analysis of the structures and edifices constructed by non-humans; and to facilitate how this area of study may better contribute to the field of architecture. We then use these definitions to discuss the informational content of constructions built by organisms and the influence these have on behaviour, and vice versa. We review how spatial constraints inform and influence interaction between an organism and its environment, and examine the reciprocity of space and information on construction and the behaviour of humans and social insects.This article is part of the theme issue 'Interdisciplinary approaches for uncovering the impacts of architecture on collective behaviour'.

Implementing an HL7 version 3 modeling tool from an Ecore model.

One of the main challenges of achieving interoperability using the HL7 V3 healthcare standard is the lack of clear definition and supporting tools for modeling, testing, and conformance checking. Currently, the knowledge defining the modeling is scattered around in MIF schemas, tools and specifications or simply with the domain experts. Modeling core HL7 concepts, constraints, and semantic relationships in Ecore/EMF encapsulates the domain-specific knowledge in a transparent way while unifying Java, XML, and UML in an abstract, high-level representation. Moreover, persisting and versioning the core HL7 concepts as a single Ecore context allows modelers and implementers to create, edit and validate message models against a single modeling context. The solution discussed in this paper is implemented in the new HL7 Static Model Designer as an extensible toolset integrated as a standalone Eclipse RCP application.