On attracting sets in artificial networks: cross activation

Abstract

Mathematical models of artificial networks can be formulated in terms of dynamical systems describing the behaviour of a network over time. The interrelation between nodes (elements) of a network is encoded in the regulatory matrix. We consider a system of ordinary differential equations that describes in particular also genomic regulatory networks (GRN) and contains a sigmoidal function. The results are presented on attractors of such systems for a particular case of cross activation. The regulatory matrix is then of particular form consisting of unit entries everywhere except the main diagonal. We show that such a system can have not more than three critical points. At least n–1 eigenvalues corresponding to any of the critical points are negative. An example for a particular choice of sigmoidal function is considered.