Before revision: Boolean networks are frequently used to model biological systems, such as gene regulatory networks. Canalizing functions have been suggested as suitable update rules for genetic networks and have been studied rigorously. Mathematically, the biology-inspired concept of canalization means that a single input can determine the output of a function , irrespective of all the other inputs.
After revision: This paper studies the mathematical properties of collectively canalizing Boolean functions, a class of functions that has arisen from applications in systems biology. Boolean networks are an increasingly popular modeling framework for regulatory networks , irrespective of all the other inputs.