Abstract: The present invention provides methods and systems for testing and confirming how well a network model represents a biological pathway in a biological system. The network model comprises a network of logical operators relating input cellular constituents (e.g., mRNA or protein abundances) to output classes of cellular constituents, which are affected by the pathway in the biological system. The methods of this invention provide, first, for choosing complete and efficient experiments for testing the network model which compare relative changes in the biological system in response to perturbations of the network.

Abstract: Multi-stage switching networks for connecting any one of N.sub.2 output ports to any one of N.sub.1 input ports that are strictly non-blocking or are rearrangeable to provide a wide-sense non-blocking connecting path between any one output port and any selected one of N.sub.1 input ports without restriction on the number of output ports which may selectively connect to a single input port.