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Abstract. This paper presents a novel handheld device for steerable needle insertions for minimally invasive percutaneous procedures. Controlled lateral deflection of over 30mm during a 100mm axial insertion is demonstrated with a 20 gauge needle. A handheld, motorized device has been built to control the direction and rate of steering according to a two-axis miniature joystick input. To facilitate interventions with this steerable needle, two methods of locating the needle and its tip using ultrasound imaging are presented. One uses needle tip vibration for colour/power Doppler-based localization, the other is based on realtime segmentation of B-mode images.

The management of military human resources (HR) is a complex problem. Discrete event models of military HR systems are used by the Canadian Department of National Defence to provide military decision makers with greater knowledge of the outcome of possible courses of action. However, models of military HR systems have unique characteristics that most discrete event simulation software products do not cater to. Specifically, military HR models tend to be complex rule-based models, they process large amounts of data, and the ability to interconnect models is very desirable. This paper presents a novel discrete event simulation environment being developed by Defence Research and Development Canada called "Right Person, Right Qualification, Right Place, Right Time Human Resources" which is tailored to the particular needs of military HR modeling and simulation.