Design Principles for the Immune System and Other Distributed Autonomous Systems is the first book to examine the inner workings of such a variety of distributed autonomous systems--from insect colonies to high level computer programs to the immune system. It offers insight into the fascinating world of these systems that emerge from the interactions of seemingly autonomous components and brings us up-to-date on the state of research in these areas. Using the immune system and certain aspects of its functions as a primary model, this book examines many of the most interesting and troubling questions posed by complex systems. How do systems choose the right set of agents to perform appropriate actions with appropriate intensities at appropriate times? How in the immune system, ant colonies and metabolic networks does the diffusion and binding of a large variety of chemicals to their receptors permit coordination of system action? What advantages drive the various systems to complexity, and by what mechanisms do the systems cope with the tendency toward unwieldiness and randomness of large complex systems?
Author(s): Lee A. Segel, Irun R. Cohen
Edition: 1
Year: 2001
Language: English
Pages: 428
Contents......Page 10
Preface......Page 12
PART I: AN OVERVIEW OF IMMUNOLOGY......Page 20
1 Introduction to the Immune System......Page 22
PART II: CASE STUDIES IN IMMUNE COMPLEXITY: EXPERIMENTS......Page 46
2 Cytokines: A Common Signaling System for Cell Growth, Inflammation, Immunity, and Differentiation......Page 48
3 Th1/Th2 Effector Choice in the Immune System: A Developmental Program Influenced by Cytokine Signals......Page 98
4 Oral Tolerance......Page 114
PART III: DESIGN PRINCIPLES FOR THE IMMUNE SYSTEM......Page 142
5 An Introduction to Immuno-ecology and Immuno-informatics......Page 144
6 The Creation of Immune Specificity......Page 170
7 Diversity in the Immune System......Page 180
8 T Cells Obey the Tenets of Signal Detection Theory......Page 204
9 Diffuse Feedback from a Diffuse Informational Network: In the Immune System and Other Distributed Autonomous Systems......Page 222
10 Multistep Navigtation and the Combinatorial Control of Cell Positioning: A General Model for Generation of Living Structure Based on Studies of Immune Cell Trafficking......Page 246
11 Distributed, Anarchic Immune Organization: Semi-autonomous Golems at Work......Page 260
PART IV: BIOCHEMICAL SYSTEMS......Page 278
12 New Approaches to Complex Chemical Reaction Mechanisms......Page 280
PART V: SOCIAL INSECTS......Page 298
13 Control Mechanisms for Distributed Autonomous Systems: Insights from the Social Insects......Page 300
14 Task Allocation in Ant Colonies......Page 312
PART VI: APPLICATIONS TO COMPUTER SCIENCE......Page 322
15 Biologically Motivated Distributed Designs for Adaptive Knowledge Management......Page 324
16 Analogy Making as a Complex Adaptive System......Page 354
17 Immunology as Information Processing......Page 380
A......Page 408
C......Page 410
D......Page 413
F......Page 415
H......Page 416
I......Page 417
L......Page 419
N......Page 420
O......Page 421
R......Page 422
S......Page 424
T......Page 425
U......Page 426
X......Page 427
