Introduction: Multiscale Analysis - Modeling, Data, Networks, and Nonlinear Dynamics

This is the introductory chapter of Multiscale Analysis and Nonlinear Dynamics: From Genes to the Brain, which concentrates on the investigation of multiscale problems in Systems Biology and Systems Neuroscience, and on mathematical approaches to multiresolution analysis (MRA). One of the goals of the book is to attract the attention of scientists working in these supposedly distinct fields, by demonstrating that some of the seemingly unrelated problems in systems biology and systems neuroscience may be modeled using virtually identical powerful methods from the inclusive paradigms articulated in the book. There are three main paradigms, which are the unifying threads of the book multiscale analysis, networks, and nonlinear dynamics. The book emphasizes the importance of taking into account the interplay between multiscale structure and multiscale dynamics. It is network theory that provides a general framework for the integration of multiscaling and collective dynamics.