title: Modeling the vagus nerve system with the Unified Modeling Language.
abstract: Traditionally, the means of describing anatomical and physiological structures of the autonomic nervous system is natural language, drawings and images as represented in the scientific literature. In behavioral studies of this system, mathematical and electrical models and computer simulation tools are in use. In this article, we propose the use of the Unified Modeling Language to describe and specify the anatomical and physiological structures and indicate how these can be enriched to capture the behavioral view as well. Using the metamodel facilities of the language, we propose a domain specific language that captures the domain concepts, their relationships and constraints. Application of the language is demonstrated by modeling the vagus nerve in part.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands. beijnum@ewi.utwente.nl
authors.forename: Bert-Jan F
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: van Beijnum
authors.forename: Ing A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Widya
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Marani
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology; D017432:Unified Medical Language System; D014630:Vagus Nerve / Q000502:physiology*