XML for Model Specification in Neuroscience

One of the main roles of the Neural Open Markup Language, NeuroML, is to facilitate cooperation in building, simulating, testing and publishing models of channels, neurons and networks of neurons. MorphML, which was developed as a common format for exchange of neural morphology data, is distributed as part of NeuroML but can be used as a stand-alone application. In this collection of tutorials and workshop summary, we provide an overview of these XML schemas and provide examples of their use in down-stream applications. We also summarize plans for the further development of XML specifications for modeling channels, channel distributions, and network connectivity.

Book review of “Germany in Transit: Nation and Migration, 1955-2005”. 588 pages, University of California Press, 2007, by Deniz Göktürk, David Gramling and Anton Kaes (eds.)

Though migration is an age-old feature of human activity, driven by various circumstances, its current place in the midst of global dynamics and the phenomenon of globalization is becoming increasingly critical. International immigration and its regulation have been largely shaped by the policies in the receiving countries, often determining preferences for nationality cohorts and work skills to satisfy their labor and human capital requirements. When immigration has been necessitated by political strife, host countries have displayed immense magnanimity as well. However, the growing realization of resource limitations and the strange quirks of cultural pluralism are in turn creating waves of dissonance. Literature and the media are now replete with an in depth look into the immigration debate in various nations of the world in trying to seek new directions and satisfactory solutions.