Using a fluorescence method called colocalization single-molecule spectroscopy (CoSMoS), Friedman and Gelles dissect the kinetics of transcription initiation at a bacterial promoter. Ultimately, CoSMoS could greatly aid the study of the effects of DNA sequence and transcription factors on both prokaryotic and eukaryotic promoters.

The basic CoSMoS process concerns the design, implementation, and use of a simulation built from scratch. However, the CoSMoS approach may be tailored and adapted for other styles of use. Here we describe how it has been applied to analyse and re-engineer an existing simulation, that of Schelling’s Bounded Neighbourhood Model. We find that using a principled approach to the analysis of an exist...

Computer simulation approaches are starting to be used more extensively throughout scientific investigations. Some scientists, however, are skeptical about the benefits of simulation. We present computer simulation as a scientific instrument in order to explore issues of their construction and use, which we believe might increase their acceptance within science. We highlight the need to underst...

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