Berkeley Madonna is a mathematical modelling software package, developed at the
University of California at Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...
by
Robert Macey
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, ho ...
and
George Oster
George Frederick Oster (April 20, 1940 – April 15, 2018) was an American mathematical biologist, and Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at University of California, Berkeley. He made seminal contributions to several varied fields includ ...
. It numerically solves
ordinary differential equations
In mathematics, an ordinary differential equation (ODE) is a differential equation whose unknown(s) consists of one (or more) function(s) of one variable and involves the derivatives of those functions. The term ''ordinary'' is used in contrast ...
and
difference equations
In mathematics, a recurrence relation is an equation according to which the nth term of a sequence of numbers is equal to some combination of the previous terms. Often, only k previous terms of the sequence appear in the equation, for a parameter ...
, originally developed to execute
STELLA programs.
Its strength lies in a relatively simple syntax to define differential equations coupled with a simple yet powerful user interface. In particular, Berkeley Madonna provides the facility of putting parameters onto a slider that can in turn be moved by a user to change the value. Such visualizations enable quick assessments of whether or not a particular model class is suitable to describe the data to be analyzed and modeled, and, later, communicating models easily to other disciplines such as medical decision makers.
Uses
It has become a standard in the development and communication of pharmacometric models describing drug concentration and its effects in drug development
, modeling of physiological processes.
A user community exists in the form of a LinkedIn user group
with currently more than 500 members.
The use of
system dynamics
System dynamics (SD) is an approach to understanding the nonlinear behaviour of complex systems over time using stocks, flows, internal feedback loops, table functions and time delays.
Overview
System dynamics is a methodology and mathematica ...
modeling has expanded into other areas such as system physics, epidemiology, environmental health, and population ecology.
Versions
There are two versions of Berkeley Madonna: a free version with slightly limited functionality and a licensed version that is registered to individuals.
References
Further reading
"Berkeley-Madonna Implementation of Ikeda's Model" pp. 582–585.
External links
* {{official website, http://www.berkeleymadonna.com
Mathematical software