UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE
		 COMPUTER SCIENCE RESEARCH COLLOQUIUM

			      presents

	       "From Petri Nets to Finite State Automata -
		   When a Routine Step Goes Wild"

			  Dr. Attila Egri-Nagy
	   (Royal Society Wolfson BioComputation Research Lab,
		      University of Hertfordshire)


			  7 March 2007 (Wednesday)

			  Lecture Theatre E350
		       Hatfield, College Lane Campus
			       3 - 4 pm

	       Coffee/tea and biscuits will be available.
			  [Catering Permitting]

		    Everyone is Welcome to Attend
			  [Space Permitting]



Abstract:

Algebraic hierarchical decomposition of finite automata (Krohn-Rhodes
theory) can coordinatize the inner structure of any phenomenon/
process/network amenable to a finite automaton (FA) description.  Thus,
biochemical processes and genetic regulatory networks can be understood
as well by hierarchical descriptions. We demonstrated the feasibilty of
this approach by two prominent examples (lac-operon mechanism in E.coli
and  Krebs-cycle). In these examples we created the FA descriptions (in
the first case from a boolean network, and in the second case directly
from the reaction network), but we would like to automate this step.
For representing high-level biological data Petri nets (PNs) are gaining
popularity among researchers, therefore we concentrated on the problem
of converting PNs to FA. Though it is a seemingly routine step, but we
found that the actual method chosen for the conversion influences the
final decomposition significantly, it can render complicated structures
very simple (in an algebraic sense).  In this talk we briefly review the
basic notions of Krohn-Rhodes theory and PNs (with examples), then show
what decisions can be made during the conversion from PNs to FA and what
is their effect.

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Hertfordshire Computer Science Research Colloquium
http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~nehaniv/colloq