Proceedings of an International Workshop held in Sheffield, UK, September 1-4, 1997

There is often a great deal of discussion these days about multi-disciplinary research and the value of exchanging ideas and methods across traditional discipline boundaries. Indeed, it could be justifiably argued that many of the advances in science and engineering take place because the ideas, methods and the tools of thought from one discipline become re-applied in others. Sadly, it is also the case that many subject areas develop specialised vocabularies and concepts and indeed may also approach more general problems in fairly narrow subject-specific ways. As a result barriers develop between disciplines that prevent the free flow of ideas and the collaborations that could often bring success. This workshop is intended to break down such barriers. This volume contains papers written by researchers in the many varied disciplines that are actively investigating visual representations and interpretations.

Signalling and Communication: An Introduction to Section 1; R. Paton. Some Aspects of Gap Junction Dynamics in Embryonic Systems; S. Baigent, et al. Real Time Processing of Nerve Signals for Controlling a Limb Prostheses; M. Bodgan, W. Rosentiel. Stimulus-Secretion Coupling in Pancreatic beta-Cells Explained by Chay's Store-Operated Model; T.R. Chay. Towards Computational Models of Chemotaxis in Escherichia Coli; L. Clarke, R.C. Paton. Three Modes of Calcium-Induced Calcium Release (CICR) in Neurons; D.D. Friel. Theta-Neuron, a One Dimensional Spiking Model that Reproduces in Vitro and in Vivo Spiking Characteristics of Cortical Neurons; B.S. Gutkin, G.B. Ermentrout. Computation and Information: An Introduction to Section 2; R. Paton. Morphomechanical Feedback in Embryonic Development; L.V. Beloussov. Information Processing in Computational Tissues;M.H. Butler, et al. Semiotics of Complex Systems: A Hierarchical Notation for the Mathematical Structure of a Single Cell; J.L.R. Chandler. Localization and Nonlocality in Computation; R. Cottam, et al. Mining the Gene Expression Matrix: Inferring Gene Relationships from Large Scale Gene Expression Data; P. D'haeseleer, et al. Epilogue-Concluding Discussions; M. Holcombe. 18 Additional Chapters. Index.

This volume will be a collection of chapters from authors with wide experience in their research field. The purpose is to produce a coherent book that reflects the common theme of theory in medical thinking and multidisciplinary research practice. In this context "theory" relates to frameworks of concepts, facts, models etc that help to inform practitioners (clinicians, scientists and engineers) both within their own fields and as they seek to share dialogue with colleagues from other fields.
The book will therefore be integrative across a broad spectrum of fields within medicine. To achieve this the chapters will be associated with others in a number of meaningful ways. Each chapter will share a number of points of contact that will include at least two of the following:

*similar biomedical area (e.g., immunity, neuroscience, endocrinology, pathology, oncology, haematology, ...)
*similar multidisciplinary theoretical contexts (e.g., modelling, analysis, description, visualization, complex systems, ...)
*similar multidisciplinary medical issues and questions (e.g., clinical practice, decision making, informatics, ...)
-Uniquely explores role of interdisciplinary exchange in the development and expansion of medical theory
-Timely and insightful essays on the growth and development of medical theories from some of the world's top clinicians and medical researchers, including Werner Arber, Frank Vertosick, and David Weatherall
-Assembles diverse perspectives on medicine and physiology from biology, statistics, ethics, computer science, philosophy, history
-Uniquely illuminates the social and historical processes through which theoretical research translates intoclinical practice
-Reveals the growing role of technology, especially computational modelling, in changing the nature of Western medicine