Biological and Mechanical Syst essays

Biological and Mechanical Syst essays Biological and Mechanical Systems of Thought The basic concepts of neural networking have existed since the beginnings of computer science. The driving force behind neural networks is the desire to have intelligent machines and systems. Over the past century, scientists and academics from many fields have collaborated to work on neural networks. Neural networks are designed to mimic the processes of the human brain and to learn complex actions by recognizing patterns and rules within a given data set. The physical structure, terminology, and theory of artificial neural networks are strongly tied to neurophysiology and psychology. Organic neurons function by firing a charge, essentially similar to an electrical charge being released by a switch. Understanding the physical structure of the organic neuron is important, as it is the basis of artificial neural networking. Axon terminals, the output sections of neurons, are connecters to other neurons dendrites, the inputs sections, by synapses. When a neuron fires an electrical signal is transmitted along the axon, which triggers a release of specific proteins into the synapse. These proteins diffuse through the synapse and bind to receptors on another neurons dendrites. As more and more protein molecules bind to a neurons receptor, a charge is built up in the receiving neuron. Once the charge builds up to a certain level, its threshold, a chain reaction occurs. Sodium-Potassium pumps are used to trigger a series of reactions along the axon, transferring the charge from one end of a neuron cell to another. Once the threshold has been reached, the excess charge that has built up is discarded, essentially returning the neuron to its ground state. A neuron can thus be interpreted in two ways, either on when the threshold has been reached, or off when the threshold has not been released. Artificial neurons...