Markovian Dynamics on Complex Reaction Networks

Complex networks, comprised of individual elements that interact with each other through reaction channels, are ubiquitous across many scientific and engineering disciplines. Examples include biochemical, pharmacokinetic, epidemiological, ecological, social, neural, and multi-agent networks. A common approach to modeling such networks is by a master equation that governs the dynamic evolution of the joint probability mass function of the underling population process and naturally leads to Markovian dynamics for such process. Due however to the nonlinear nature of most reactions, the computation and analysis of the resulting stochastic population dynamics is a difficult task. This review article provides a coherent and comprehensive coverage of recently developed approaches and methods to tackle this problem. After reviewing a general framework for modeling Markovian reaction networks and giving specific examples, the authors present numerical and computational techniques capable of evaluating or approximating the solution of the master equation, discuss a recently developed approach for studying the stationary behavior of Markovian reaction networks using a potential energy landscape perspective, and provide an introduction to the emerging theory of thermodynamic analysis of such networks. Three representative problems of opinion formation, transcription regulation, and neural network dynamics are used as illustrative examples.Comment: 52 pages, 11 figures, for freely available MATLAB software, see http://www.cis.jhu.edu/~goutsias/CSS%20lab/software.htm

Structural elements associated with the provision of phamaceutical care in community phamacy practice in Canada

The concept of pharmaceutical care is a philosophy of practice and has been presented to be an effective process for monitoring drug therapy to meet the needs of patients and the health care system. A number of pharmaceutical care models and practice guidelines have been proposed, developed and implemented in community pharmacy settings. As the pharmacy profession becomes more patient-focused using pharmaceutical care standards, it is important that pharmacists be able to assess the quality of that care and recognize the barriers that impede the provision of that care. Farris and Kirking maintain that Donabedian's structure-processoutcome paradigm can be applied to pharmaceutical care as a framework of quality assessment. Structure represents a necessary measure of quality and its assessment is crucial when structure can be associated with process and/or outcomes. This current study addresses the structure and process components of pharmaceutical care and reviews the structural elements that support the provision of pharmaceutical care in community pharmacy practice in Canada. This study examines the structural changes that have been made in community pharmacies that have adopted a pharmaceutical care model/program. A data collection instrument was developed which included the Community Pharmacy Structural Elements Questionnaire (CPSEQ) and the Behavioral Pharmaceutical Care Scale (BPCS). The CPSEQ was used to gather information regarding structural changes made in community pharmacies and the BPCS was used to gather information regarding pharmacists' efforts towards the provision of pharmaceutical care. The data collection instruments were administered to 261 community pharmacists across Canada who had been identified to have been affiliated with a pharmaceutical care model/program and were likely to have implemented pharmaceutical care practices. The instrument was also administered to a reference group of 197 community pharmacists who were not affiliated to any pharmaceutical care model/program. The information gathered was used to determine the most frequent structural elements observed in community pharmacies that had implemented a pharmaceutical care model/program and in progressive community pharmacies that were actively providing pharmaceutical care. The exploratory analysis revealed the presence of progressive community pharmacy practices in Canada that were actively making structural changes and providing pharmaceutical care. Among the structural changes that were consistently reported in these community pharmacy practices were re-organization of pharmacists' duties, re-organization of pharmacy technicians' duties, formal training program for pharmacists, on-the-job training for pharmacy technicians, incorporation of a private or semi-private counselling room, and incorporation of audio-visual educational equipment.Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty ofGraduat