kinetikit: a GENESIS-XODUS based utility and interface for modeling chemical kinetics and signaling pathways. Copyright (C) 1995-2001 Upinder S. Bhalla Statement on Models and Experiments. Animal experimentation is fundamental to research in biology. Certain groups claim that computer models can replace animal experiments. This is absurd. Computer models would be meaningless if it were not for the enormous amount of careful research that the scientific community has carried out on animal subjects over the years. All aspects of realistic models, from the theory to the parameters to the design of the interface, are based on experiments. While computer models can help with understanding and relating existing data, they can at best provide hints towards discovering hitherto unknown biological facts. I am fully in support of the idea of using models as a supplement to understanding biological function when combined with laboratory work or a study course. I will be delighted if such a supplement can lead to more effective and humane use of animal subjects. However, I flatly disagree with the philosophy that this, or similar modeling tools, can replace animal experimentation as a means for extending our knowledge of biological systems. My objectives in writing this software are to promote scientific research in biology for the welfare of humanity, and such research involves living subjects. Please consider this program (kinetikit) as a product of animal experimentation. Upinder S. Bhalla. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. This copyright notice in its entirety, including the Statement on Models and Experiments, must be present in every copy of the software, and must be displayed on startup. Upinder S. Bhalla may be contacted at bhalla@ncbs.res.in GENESIS, the GEneral Neural SImulation System is copyrighted as follows: Copyright 1988 - 2001, California Institute of Technology Some components are copyright by the originating institution and are used with the permission of the authors.