1980 Preface * 1999 Preface * 1999 Acknowledgements * Introduction * 1 Circular Logic * 2 Phase Singularities (Screwy Results of Circular Logic) * 3 The Rules of the Ring * 4 Ring Populations * 5 Getting Off the Ring * 6 Attracting Cycles and Isochrons * 7 Measuring the Trajectories of a Circadian Clock * 8 Populations of Attractor Cycle Oscillators * 9 Excitable Kinetics and Excitable Media * 10 The Varieties of Phaseless Experience: In Which the Geometrical Orderliness of Rhythmic Organization Breaks Down in Diverse Ways * 11 The Firefly Machine 12 Energy Metabolism in Cells * 13 The Malonic Acid Reagent ('Sodium Geometrate') * 14 Electrical Rhythmicity and Excitability in Cell Membranes * 15 The Aggregation of Slime Mold Amoebae * 16 Numerical Organizing Centers * 17 Electrical Singular Filaments in the Heart Wall * 18 Pattern Formation in the Fungi * 19 Circadian Rhythms in General * 20 The Circadian Clocks of Insect Eclosion * 21 The Flower of Kalanchoe * 22 The Cell Mitotic Cycle * 23 The Female Cycle * References * Index of Names * Index of Subjects

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/596B270197FE27DE5FABB598B6210622/S0025557200150892a.pdf/div-class-title-span-class-italic-the-geometry-of-biological-time-span-by-a-t-winfree-pp-544-dm68-corrected-second-printing-1990-isbn-3-540-52528-9-springer-div.pdf

The geometry of biological time , by A. T. Winfree. Pp 544. DM68. Corrected Second Printing 1990. ISBN 3-540-52528-9 (Springer)

https://users.dimi.uniud.it/~antonio.dangelo/Robotica/2012/helper/leggedRobot/Ijspeert08NN.pdf

2008 Special Issue: Central pattern generators for locomotion control in animals and robots: A review

The goal of this paper is to review in brief the basic physics of single-election devices, as well as their-current and prospective applications. These devices based on the controllable transfer of single electrons between small conducting "islands", have already enabled several important scientific experiments. Several other applications of analog single-election devices in unique scientific instrumentation and metrology seem quite feasible. On the other hand, the prospect of silicon transistors being replaced by single-electron devices in integrated digital circuits faces tough challenges and remains uncertain. Nevertheless, even if this replacement does not happen, single electronics will continue to play an important role by shedding light on the fundamental size limitations of new electronic devices. Moreover, recent research in this field has generated some by-product ideas which may revolutionize random-access-memory and digital-data-storage technologies.

Single-electron devices and their applications

The electronic properties of inorganic devices such as memristors can be used to simulate neurological behaviour. In particular, ionic and electronic effects in a silver sulphide device are now shown to mimic short- and long-term synaptic functions. Memory is believed to occur in the human brain as a result of two types of synaptic plasticity: short-term plasticity (STP) and long-term potentiation (LTP; refs 1, 2, 3, 4). In neuromorphic engineering5,6, emulation of known neural behaviour has proven to be difficult to implement in software because of the highly complex interconnected nature of thought processes. Here we report the discovery of a Ag2S inorganic synapse, which emulates the synaptic functions of both STP and LTP characteristics through the use of input pulse repetition time. The structure known as an atomic switch7,8, operating at critical voltages, stores information as STP with a spontaneous decay of conductance level in response to intermittent input stimuli, whereas frequent stimulation results in a transition to LTP. The Ag2S inorganic synapse has interesting characteristics with analogies to an individual biological synapse, and achieves dynamic memorization in a single device without the need of external preprogramming. A psychological model related to the process of memorizing and forgetting is also demonstrated using the inorganic synapses. Our Ag2S element indicates a breakthrough in mimicking synaptic behaviour essential for the further creation of artificial neural systems that emulate characteristics of human memory.

/pdf/short-term-plasticity-and-long-term-potentiation-mimicked-in-3c6onjbc0r.pdf

Short-term plasticity and long-term potentiation mimicked in single inorganic synapses

Computational geometry

We designed subthreshold analog MOS circuits implementing an inhibitory network model that performs noise-shaping pulse-density modulation (PDM) with noisy neural elements, with the aim of developing a possible ultralow-power one-bit analog-to-digital converter. The static and dynamic noises given to the proposed circuits were obtained from device mismatches of current sources (transistors) and externally applied random spike currents, respectively. Through circuit simulations we confirmed that the circuit exhibited noise-shaping properties, and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the network was improved by 7.9 dB compared with that of the uncoupled network as a result of noise shaping.

/pdf/an-inhibitory-neural-network-circuit-exhibiting-noise-2n0xrp2zqn.pdf

An Inhibitory Neural-Network Circuit Exhibiting Noise Shaping with Subthreshold MOS Neuron Circuits

Relaxation processes for non-equilibrium electron distributions in two-dimensional ultrasmall tunnel junction arrays (2D-TJAs) have been studied using a Monte Carlo simulation. Many electrons initially placed in the central island diffuse outward due to single-electron tunneling. When we focus on the number of electrons in square shells dividing the 2D-TJA, the number of electrons strongly fluctuates in time to form electron bunching peaks, and the peaks are propagated to outer shells as a wave. This result indicates a self-organization of electrons in non-equilibrium TJAs, suggesting the possibility of applications based on a new algorithm.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1143/JJAP.36.4176/pdf

Simulations of Relaxation Processes for Non-Equilibrium Electron Distributions in Two-Dimensional Tunnel Junction Arrays

We propose an annealing method as an effective way of operating quantum-cellular-automaton (QCA) systems, which are devices for computation that utilize the minimum energy state of electrons in a quantum cell system. A QCA system has an energy function with many local minima and therefore cannot be operated as desired if placed under the conditions of a thermodynamically open system. Accordingly, for successful operation of a QCA system (i.e., making the QCA system converge successfully to its minimum-energy state), we propose a method of operation based on the concept of thermodynamic annealing. We simulate the dynamics of various QCA logic-gate systems operated by this annealing method, and show that data processing in QCA systems can be carried out accurately by means of this annealing method. The applicability of QCA systems to non-Neumann parallel-processing computation is also described.

/pdf/annealing-method-for-operating-quantum-cellular-automaton-4ui9ywfafk.pdf

Annealing method for operating quantum-cellular-automaton systems

We have studied visible light or near-infrared irradiation effects in voltage-biased tunnel junction arrays, where each node is connected not only to neighboring nodes but to a conducting substrate through a tunnel barrier. Major assumptions used in the simulation are: (i) that the photoexcitation of electrons occurs only in the substrate and (ii) the tunnel barrier is effectively lowered for the excited electrons, resulting in a reduced tunnel resistance. As a result, it was found that a U-shaped potential profile is formed by local irradiation and the potential of the irradiated area is clamped at the lowest value. Since the currents at both terminals reflect the left and the right potential slopes in the dark areas, respectively, the irradiated position is determined by measuring the currents. These results suggest that tunnel junction arrays can be applied to photonic devices such as position sensing detectors or image processing devices.

http://lalsie.ist.hokudai.ac.jp/publication/dlcenter.php?fn=paper/jjap_1999_tabe.pdf

Simulation of Visible Light Induced Effects in a Tunnel Junction Array for Photonic Device Applications

A low-voltage power supply circuit is developed for micro-power CMOS LSI applications, especially for microwatt smart-sensor LSIs. The circuit consists of a switched-capacitor voltage converter and a series regulator. The switched converter lowers battery voltage 1.5-3V to a low voltage of 0.5-0.7V to drive the series regulator, and the series regulator provides LSI logic gates with a power voltage of 0.4-0.6V such that the logic gates operate in the subthreshold region. In a sample circuit designed to produce a supply voltage of 0.6V, the switched converter lowered a 1.5-V battery voltage to 0.68V, and the series regulator lowered the 0.68V to 0.6V. The power conversion efficiency of the switched converter was 83%, and the total efficiency was 73%, with a 13-µA output current.

/pdf/power-supply-circuits-for-ultralow-power-subthreshold-mos-1yf20v5672.pdf

Yoshihito Amemiya

Papers

An Inhibitory Neural-Network Circuit Exhibiting Noise Shaping with Subthreshold MOS Neuron Circuits

Simulations of Relaxation Processes for Non-Equilibrium Electron Distributions in Two-Dimensional Tunnel Junction Arrays

Annealing method for operating quantum-cellular-automaton systems

Simulation of Visible Light Induced Effects in a Tunnel Junction Array for Photonic Device Applications

Power-supply circuits for ultralow-power subthreshold MOS-LSIs