Cell decision making

The basic processing unit of an ANN (or its building block) is called perceptron [53]. This is a crude approximation to the biological neuron, the cell in the nervous system. It is a decision-making unit with several input connections and a single output, as sketched in Fig. 30.2. A signal xj which is delivered from input j is multiplied on arrival by a connection... 

The similarities between the cytoplasmic processes of bones cells and the stereocilia of hair cells are that they both (1) measure mechanical deformations (vibrations of a fluid domain), (2) communicate their measurement to a network, (3) do this with dendritic structures, (4) the dendrites of both cells are constructed of similar materials (e.g., actin and fimbrin) and (5) the initial signaling in both cases consists of opening ion channels. While the hair cells communicate their information to a network that feeds to the brain, the bones cells connect to a lower level network (CCN) with (potentially) local decision-making software. 

The cell line from which the product is derived will also play a part in the decision-making process, because bioseparation techniques are likely to be needed depending on whether the fermentation is based on mammalian, microbial, fungal, or yeast cells. Different fermentation broths demonstrate varying characteristics of viscosity, density, particle size, and charge which may enable exploitation of a difference in that characteristic between the phases to be separated. 

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