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This paper describes the novel use of agent and cellular neural Hopfield network techniques in the design of a self‐contained, object detecting retina. The agents, which are used to detect features within an image, are trained using the Hebbian method which has been modified for the cellular architecture. The success of each agent is communicated with adjacent agents in order to verify the detection of an object. Initial work used the method to process bipolar images. This has now been extended to handle grey scale images. Simulations have demonstrated the success of the method and further work is planned in which the device is to be implemented in hardware.

The understandable recent trend in sensor design has been to exploit the rapid advance in digital electronics to reduce reliance on analogue circuits. In contrast to this general trend some researchers have been inspired by biological systems to design smart imaging sensors based upon collective analogue computation in networks of resistors. This has resulted in sensor designs which efficiently extract information from a large volume of data whilst reducing manufacturing costs by improving yield.

The purpose of this paper is to explain the sense of choice in our contemporary world.

Taking cue from the research of the Institute of Neuroinformatics of Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and University of Zürich, this paper is meant to highlight that the contemporary individual is gradually abandoning his own freedom of choice: the principle of moral responsibility, and – consequently – sign of humanity.

If today the smartphone is the most used tool, in the future we will soon benefit from a chip under skin which could delegate our choices. It is a piece of technology that is not only inspired by biology to create robots, but could also change our life.

From the massive use of the cell phone to the robots which apparently ‘‘feel’’ and show emotions like humans do. From the wearable exoskeleton to the prototype reproducing the artificial sense of touch, technological progress explodes to the extent of embodying itself in our nakedness.

We propose herein a motion detection artificial vision model which uses analog electronic circuits. The proposed model is comprised of four layers. The first layer is a differentiation circuit of the large capacitor and resistance (CR) coefficient, and the second layer is a differentiation circuit of the small CR coefficient. Thus, the speed of the movement object is detected. The third layer is a difference circuit for detecting the movement direction, and the fourth layer is a multiple circuit for detecting pure motion output. The model was shown to be capable of detecting a movement object in the image. Moreover, the proposed model can be used to detect two or more objects, which is advantageous for detection in an environment in which several objects are moving in multiple directions simultaneously. From a technological viewpoint, the proposed model facilitates clarification of the mechanism of the biomedical vision system, which should enable design and simulation by an analog electric circuit for detecting the movement and speed of objects.

This article attempts to match the future needs of older people with the possibilities arising from applications based on new technology.

This article examines the implications of novel applications for active ageing policy. These applications are forecast to arise from the convergence of two or more previously separated science disciplines and technologies, including information and communication technologies, nanotechnologies, biotechnology and cognitive sciences.

Research on converging applications (CA) is largely driven by health applications, and is likely to spill over into the older generation's specific needs. Today, older people's most urgent needs require little CA. In the future, however, the role of CA will become more important as technology develops and is more widely used.

Owing to demographic change and its expected social and economic implications, there is a need to investigate how upcoming applications could contribute to the future specific needs of the older population.

This paper aims to review current developments in the fields of systems, cybernetics and management sciences that are being harnessed to meet some of the needs of the present‐day society.

A general review and survey of selected research and development topics.

The paper illustrates the multi‐ and trans‐disciplinary nature of cybernetics, systems and management sciences.

The choice of reviews provides an awareness of the current trends in these areas of endeavour.

The reviews are selected from a global database and give a studied assessment of present‐day research and development initiatives.

The purpose of this paper is to review the dramatic entry of embedded medical sensors into the medical monitoring environment. It also examines the current range of applications that have been addressed, trends for additional applications and factors driving this movement.

This paper is a review of published information and papers on research as well as contact and discussions with researchers in this field at universities, manufacturers and research centers.

Microelectronics and electrochemical technologies have been a major factor in this development along with technology advancements to transmit energy and signals to and from miniature electronic devices, thus eliminating the need for stored energy and wires for transmitting information. Sensors are addressing medical issues in the heart, the brain, cancer treatment and prosthetic control. The move to implanted sensors follows development of other implanted medical devices as well as wearable sensors.

Readers may be very excited to learn of the many new tasks that embedded medical sensors can address and the many unique benefits that are provided to the patient and the medical staff caring for the patient.

In electrochemotherapy, flexible electrodes, composed by an array of needles, are applied to human tissues to treat large surface tumors. The positioning of the needles in the tissue depends on the surface curvature. The parallel needle case is preferred, as their relative inclinations strongly affect the actual distribution of electric field. Nevertheless, in some case, small inclinations are unavoidable. The purpose of this paper is to study the electric field distribution for non-parallel needles.

The effect of electrode position is evaluated systematically by means of numerical models and experiments on phantoms for two different angles (5° and 30°) and compared with the case of parallel needles. Potato model was used as phantom, as this tissue becomes dark after few hours from electroporation. The electroporation degree was gauged from the color changings on the potatoes.

The distribution of electric field in different needle configuration is found by means of finite element analysis (FEA) and experiments on potatoes. The electric field level of inclined needles was compared with parallel needle case. In particular, the electric field distribution in the case of inclined needles could be very different with respect to the one in the case of parallel needles. The degree of enhancement for different inclinations is visualized by potato color intensity. The FEA suggested that the needle parallelism has to be maintained as possible as if the tips are closer to each other, the electric field intensity could be different with respect to the one in the case of parallel needles.

This paper analyzes the effect of inclined electrodes considering also the non-linearity of tissues.