Concept maps and canonical models in neuropsychiatry.

Most bioscientists engage in informal modelling in their research and explicitly document this activity's results in diagrams or "concept maps". While canonical modelling approaches such as Biochemical Systems Theory (BST) immediately allow the construction of a corresponding system of equations, the problem of determining appropriate parameter values remains. Goel et al. introduced Concept Map Modelling (CMM) as a framework to address this problem through an interactive dialogue between experimenters and modellers. The CMM dialogue extracts the experimenters' implicit knowledge about dynamical behaviour of the parts of the system being modelled in form of rough sketches and verbal statements, e.g. value ranges. These are then used as inputs for parameter and initial value estimates for the symbolic canonical model based on the diagram. Canonical models have the big advantage that a great variety of parameter estimation methods have been developed for them in recent years. The paper discusses the suitability of this approach for neuropsychiatry using recent work of Qi et al. on a canonical model of presynaptic dopamine metabolism. Due to the complexity of systems encountered in neuropsychiatry, hybrid models are often used to complement the canonical models discussed here.

Hybrid modeling in computational neuropsychiatry.

The aim of building mathematical models is to provide a formal structure to explain the behaviour of a whole in terms of its parts. In the particular case of neuropsychiatry, the available information upon which models are to be built is distributed over several fields of expertise. Molecular and cellular biologists, physiologists and clinicians all hold valuable information about the system which has to be distilled into a unified view. Furthermore, modelling is not a sequential process in which the roles of field and modelling experts are separated. Model building is done through iterations in which all the parts have to keep an active role. This work presents some modelling techniques and guidelines on how they can be combined in order to simplify modelling efforts in neuropsychiatry. The proposed approach involves two well known modelling techniques, Petri nets and Biochemical System Theory that provide a general well proven structured definition for biological models.

EUCLIS--an information system for circadian systems biology.

A major barrier to progress in systems biology is the absence of suitable infrastructure for data and software integration, which would enable working biologists to use and manipulate the techniques directly. We describe the incremental development of key components of such an infrastructure for a research community focused on a specific (but important) biological system. EUCLOCK combines the expertise of 34 chronobiology laboratories from 29 institutions in 11 European countries in a 5-year effort to understand how circadian clocks are synchronised to their specific cyclic environment (entrainment). We envision that the EUCLOCK Information System (EUCLIS) will subsequently evolve to support the worldwide chronobiology community. The architecture of EUCLIS integrates a database for circadian systems biology, containing modules for experimental data (Clock Experiments) and models (Clock Models) with a digital library (Clock KnowledgeBase) for the research community. The digital library paradigm is superior to the simple 'access' or 'mining' as well as the 'data warehouse' approaches currently used in other systems as it provides a flexible framework for community information needs and the potential to use emerging reference models and standards, which will enable easier integration with other systems in the future. The main Clock KnowledgeBase components for EUCLIS V1.0, Clock Genes and Clock Library, are described in detail. An important aspect this work will need to address in the future is the integration of the database and digital library management functions.

Un enfoque del estudio de la cultura organizacional

Información sobre cultura nacional, perspectiva cultural, los científicos sociales y la cultura, estructura, procesos y cultura organizacional, y una propuesta para el estudio de la cultura organizacional.