This invention describes computer based virtual models of complex systems,
together with integrated systems and methods providing a development and
execution framework for visual modeling and dynamic simulation of said
models. The virtual models can be used for analysis, monitoring, or
control of the operation of the complex systems modeled, as well as for
information retrieval. More particularly, the virtual models in the
present implementation relate to biological complex systems. In the
current implementation the virtual models comprise building blocks
representing physical, chemical, or biological processes, the pools of
entities that participate in those processes, a hierarchy of compartments
representing time-intervals or the spatial and/or functional structure of
the complex system in which said entities are located and said processes
take place, and the description of the composition of those entities. The
building blocks encapsulate in different layers the information, data,
and mathematical models that characterize and define each virtual model,
and a plurality of methods is associated with their components. The
models are built by linking instances of the building blocks in a
predefined way, which, when integrated by the methods provided in this
invention, result in multidimensional networks of pathways. A number of
functions and graphical interfaces can be selected for said instances of
building blocks, to extract in various forms the information contained in
said models. Those functions include: a) on-the-fly creation of displays
of interactive multidimensional networks of pathways, according to user
selections; b) dynamic quantitative simulations of selected networks; and
c) complex predefined queries based on the relative position of pools of
entities in the pathways, the role that the pools play in different
processes, the location in selected compartments, and/or the structural
components of the entities of those pools. The system integrates
inferential control with quantitative and scaled simulation methods, and
provides a variety of alternatives to deal with complex dynamic systems
and with incomplete and constantly evolving information and data.
