Multiscale
Dictionary Definition
adj. - Of, pertaining to, or operating across multiple scales
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License via Wordnik
also see Definition of Scale
Committee Definition
Characterized by functional interactions that occur across different size ranges (in space) or duration ranges (in time). Typically these cross-scale interactions result in emergent properties at the higher (bigger/longer) scale that could not be predicted from the elemental properties at the lower scale. An example of this are the set of properties described by thermodynamics as explained by multiscale statistical mechanics -- the emergent interactions of multiple individual H20 molecules creates the phenomenology at the higher scale.
also see Definition of Emergent
Current IMAG Definition
Multiscale, biomedical modeling uses mathematics and computation to represent and simulate a physiological system at more than one biological scale. Biological scales include atomic, molecular, molecular complexes, sub-cellular, cellular, multi-cell systems, tissue, organ, multi-organ systems, organism, population, and behavior. These multiscale biomedical models may also include dynamical processes which span multiple time and length scales.
Note: See Comments on the above page for an example of ongoing discussion about use
Notes
This definition remains an ongoing topic of discussion.