W3MAMCAT: A world wide web based tool for mammillary and catenary compartmental modeling and expert system distinguishability

W3MAMCAT is a new web-based and interactive system for building and quantifying the parameters or parameter ranges of n-compartment mammillary and catenary model structures, with input and output in the first compartment, from unstructured multiexponential (sum-of-n-exponentials) models. It handles unidentifiable as well as identifiable models and, as such, provides finite parameter interval solutions for unidentifiable models, whereas direct parameter search programs typically do not. It also tutorially develops the theory of model distinguishability for same order mammillary versus catenary models, as did its desktop application predecessor MAMCAT+. This includes expert system analysis for distinguishing mammillary from catenary structures, given input and output in similarly numbered compartments. W3MAMCAT provides for universal deployment via the internet and enhanced application error checking. It uses supported Microsoft technologies to form an extensible application framework for maintaining a stable and easily updatable application. Most important, anybody, anywhere, is welcome to access it using Internet Explorer 6.0 over the internet for their teaching or research needs. It is available on the Biocybernetics Laboratory website at UCLA: www.biocyb.cs.ucla.edu.