• Title/Summary/Keyword: Information devices

Search Result 8,962, Processing Time 0.046 seconds

A Study on the Development of High Sensitivity Collision Simulation with Digital Twin (디지털 트윈을 적용한 고감도 충돌 시뮬레이션 개발을 위한 연구)

  • Ki, Jae-Sug;Hwang, Kyo-Chan;Choi, Ju-Ho
    • Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
    • /
    • v.16 no.4
    • /
    • pp.813-823
    • /
    • 2020
  • Purpose: In order to maximize the stability and productivity of the work through simulation prior to high-risk facilities and high-cost work such as dismantling the facilities inside the reactor, we intend to use digital twin technology that can be closely controlled by simulating the specifications of the actual control equipment. Motion control errors, which can be caused by the time gap between precision control equipment and simulation in applying digital twin technology, can cause hazards such as collisions between hazardous facilities and control equipment. In order to eliminate and control these situations, prior research is needed. Method: Unity 3D is currently the most popular engine used to develop simulations. However, there are control errors that can be caused by time correction within Unity 3D engines. The error is expected in many environments and may vary depending on the development environment, such as system specifications. To demonstrate this, we develop crash simulations using Unity 3D engines, which conduct collision experiments under various conditions, organize and analyze the resulting results, and derive tolerances for precision control equipment based on them. Result: In experiments with collision experiment simulation, the time correction in 1/1000 seconds of an engine internal function call results in a unit-hour distance error in the movement control of the collision objects and the distance error is proportional to the velocity of the collision. Conclusion: Remote decomposition simulators using digital twin technology are considered to require limitations of the speed of movement according to the required precision of the precision control devices in the hardware and software environment and manual control. In addition, the size of modeling data such as system development environment, hardware specifications and simulations imitated control equipment and facilities must also be taken into account, available and acceptable errors of operational control equipment and the speed required of work.

Study on Basic Elements for Smart Content through the Market Status-quo (스마트콘텐츠 현황분석을 통한 기본요소 추출)

  • Kim, Gyoung Sun;Park, Joo Young;Kim, Yi Yeon
    • Korea Science and Art Forum
    • /
    • v.21
    • /
    • pp.31-43
    • /
    • 2015
  • Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is one of the technologies which represent the core value of the creative economy. It has served as a vehicle connecting the existing industry and corporate infrastructure, developing existing products and services and creating new products and services. In addition to the ICT, new devices including big data, mobile gadgets and wearable products are gaining a great attention sending an expectation for a new market-pioneering. Further, Internet of Things (IoT) is helping solidify the ICT-based social development connecting human-to-human, human-to-things and things-to-things. This means that the manufacturing-based hardware development needs to be achieved simultaneously with software development through convergence. The essential element the convergence between hardware and software is OS, for which world's leading companies such as Google and Apple have launched an intense development recognizing the importance of software. Against this backdrop, the status-quo of the software market has been examined for the study of the present report (Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology: Professional Design Technology Development Project). As a result, the software platform-based Google's android and Apple's iOS are dominant in the global market and late comers are trying to enter the market through various pathways by releasing web-based OS and similar OS to provide a new paradigm to the market. The present study is aimed at finding the way to utilize a smart content by which anyone can be a developer based on OS responding to such as social change, newly defining a smart content to be universally utilized and analyzing the market to deal with a rapid market change. The study method, scope and details are as follows: Literature investigation, Analysis on the app market according to a smart classification system, Trend analysis on the current content market, Identification of five common trends through comparison among the universal definition of smart content, the status-quo of application represented in the app market and content market situation. In conclusion, the smart content market is independent but is expected to develop in the form of a single organic body being connected each other. Therefore, the further classification system and development focus should be made in a way to see the area from multiple perspectives including a social point of view in terms of the existing technology, culture, business and consumers.

A Study on the Decision Factors for AI-based SaMD Adoption Using Delphi Surveys and AHP Analysis (델파이 조사와 AHP 분석을 활용한 인공지능 기반 SaMD 도입 의사결정 요인에 관한 연구)

  • Byung-Oh Woo;Jay In Oh
    • The Journal of Bigdata
    • /
    • v.8 no.1
    • /
    • pp.111-129
    • /
    • 2023
  • With the diffusion of digital innovation, the adoption of innovative medical technologies based on artificial intelligence is increasing in the medical field. This is driving the launch and adoption of AI-based SaMD(Software as a Medical Device), but there is a lack of research on the factors that influence the adoption of SaMD by medical institutions. The purpose of this study is to identify key factors that influence medical institutions' decisions to adopt AI-based SaMDs, and to analyze the weights and priorities of these factors. For this purpose, we conducted Delphi surveys based on the results of literature studies on technology acceptance models in healthcare industry, medical AI and SaMD, and developed a research model by combining HOTE(Human, Organization, Technology and Environment) framework and HABIO(Holistic Approach {Business, Information, Organizational}) framework. Based on the research model with 5 main criteria and 22 sub-criteria, we conducted an AHP(Analytical Hierarchy Process) analysis among the experts from domestic medical institutions and SaMD providers to empirically analyze SaMD adoption factors. The results of this study showed that the priority of the main criteria for determining the adoption of AI-based SaMD was in the order of technical factors, economic factors, human factors, organizational factors, and environmental factors. The priority of sub-criteria was in the order of reliability, cost reduction, medical staff's acceptance, safety, top management's support, security, and licensing & regulatory levels. Specifically, technical factors such as reliability, safety, and security were found to be the most important factors for SaMD adoption. In addition, the comparisons and analyses of the weights and priorities of each group showed that the weights and priorities of SaMD adoption factors varied by type of institution, type of medical institution, and type of job in the medical institution.

Mobile Camera-Based Positioning Method by Applying Landmark Corner Extraction (랜드마크 코너 추출을 적용한 모바일 카메라 기반 위치결정 기법)

  • Yoo Jin Lee;Wansang Yoon;Sooahm Rhee
    • Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
    • /
    • v.39 no.6_1
    • /
    • pp.1309-1320
    • /
    • 2023
  • The technological development and popularization of mobile devices have developed so that users can check their location anywhere and use the Internet. However, in the case of indoors, the Internet can be used smoothly, but the global positioning system (GPS) function is difficult to use. There is an increasing need to provide real-time location information in shaded areas where GPS is not received, such as department stores, museums, conference halls, schools, and tunnels, which are indoor public places. Accordingly, research on the recent indoor positioning technology based on light detection and ranging (LiDAR) equipment is increasing to build a landmark database. Focusing on the accessibility of building a landmark database, this study attempted to develop a technique for estimating the user's location by using a single image taken of a landmark based on a mobile device and the landmark database information constructed in advance. First, a landmark database was constructed. In order to estimate the user's location only with the mobile image photographing the landmark, it is essential to detect the landmark from the mobile image, and to acquire the ground coordinates of the points with fixed characteristics from the detected landmark. In the second step, by applying the bag of words (BoW) image search technology, the landmark photographed by the mobile image among the landmark database was searched up to a similar 4th place. In the third step, one of the four candidate landmarks searched through the scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) feature point extraction technique and Homography random sample consensus(RANSAC) was selected, and at this time, filtering was performed once more based on the number of matching points through threshold setting. In the fourth step, the landmark image was projected onto the mobile image through the Homography matrix between the corresponding landmark and the mobile image to detect the area of the landmark and the corner. Finally, the user's location was estimated through the location estimation technique. As a result of analyzing the performance of the technology, the landmark search performance was measured to be about 86%. As a result of comparing the location estimation result with the user's actual ground coordinate, it was confirmed that it had a horizontal location accuracy of about 0.56 m, and it was confirmed that the user's location could be estimated with a mobile image by constructing a landmark database without separate expensive equipment.

A Study on the Critical Success Factors of Social Commerce through the Analysis of the Perception Gap between the Service Providers and the Users: Focused on Ticket Monster in Korea (서비스제공자와 사용자의 인식차이 분석을 통한 소셜커머스 핵심성공요인에 대한 연구: 한국의 티켓몬스터 중심으로)

  • Kim, Il Jung;Lee, Dae Chul;Lim, Gyoo Gun
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
    • /
    • v.24 no.2
    • /
    • pp.211-232
    • /
    • 2014
  • Recently, there is a growing interest toward social commerce using SNS(Social Networking Service), and the size of its market is also expanding due to popularization of smart phones, tablet PCs and other smart devices. Accordingly, various studies have been attempted but it is shown that most of the previous studies have been conducted from perspectives of the users. The purpose of this study is to derive user-centered CSF(Critical Success Factor) of social commerce from the previous studies and analyze the CSF perception gap between social commerce service providers and users. The CSF perception gap between two groups shows that there is a difference between ideal images the service providers hope for and the actual image the service users have on social commerce companies. This study provides effective improvement directions for social commerce companies by presenting current business problems and its solution plans. For this, This study selected Korea's representative social commerce business Ticket Monster, which is dominant in sales and staff size together with its excellent funding power through M&A by stock exchange with the US social commerce business Living Social with Amazon.com as a shareholder in August, 2011, as a target group of social commerce service provider. we have gathered questionnaires from both service providers and the users from October 22, 2012 until October 31, 2012 to conduct an empirical analysis. We surveyed 160 service providers of Ticket Monster We also surveyed 160 social commerce users who have experienced in using Ticket Monster service. Out of 320 surveys, 20 questionaries which were unfit or undependable were discarded. Consequently the remaining 300(service provider 150, user 150)were used for this empirical study. The statistics were analyzed using SPSS 12.0. Implications of the empirical analysis result of this study are as follows: First of all, There are order differences in the importance of social commerce CSF between two groups. While service providers regard Price Economic as the most important CSF influencing purchasing intention, the users regard 'Trust' as the most important CSF influencing purchasing intention. This means that the service providers have to utilize the unique strong point of social commerce which make the customers be trusted rathe than just focusing on selling product at a discounted price. It means that service Providers need to enhance effective communication skills by using SNS and play a vital role as a trusted adviser who provides curation services and explains the value of products through information filtering. Also, they need to pay attention to preventing consumer damages from deceptive and false advertising. service providers have to create the detailed reward system in case of a consumer damages caused by above problems. It can make strong ties with customers. Second, both service providers and users tend to consider that social commerce CSF influencing purchasing intention are Price Economic, Utility, Trust, and Word of Mouth Effect. Accordingly, it can be learned that users are expecting the benefit from the aspect of prices and economy when using social commerce, and service providers should be able to suggest the individualized discount benefit through diverse methods using social network service. Looking into it from the aspect of usefulness, service providers are required to get users to be cognizant of time-saving, efficiency, and convenience when they are using social commerce. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the usefulness of social commerce through the introduction of a new management strategy, such as intensification of search engine of the Website, facilitation in payment through shopping basket, and package distribution. Trust, as mentioned before, is the most important variable in consumers' mind, so it should definitely be managed for sustainable management. If the trust in social commerce should fall due to consumers' damage case due to false and puffery advertising forgeries, it could have a negative influence on the image of the social commerce industry in general. Instead of advertising with famous celebrities and using a bombastic amount of money on marketing expenses, the social commerce industry should be able to use the word of mouth effect between users by making use of the social network service, the major marketing method of initial social commerce. The word of mouth effect occurring from consumers' spontaneous self-marketer's duty performance can bring not only reduction effect in advertising cost to a service provider but it can also prepare the basis of discounted price suggestion to consumers; in this context, the word of mouth effect should be managed as the CSF of social commerce. Third, Trade safety was not derived as one of the CSF. Recently, with e-commerce like social commerce and Internet shopping increasing in a variety of methods, the importance of trade safety on the Internet also increases, but in this study result, trade safety wasn't evaluated as CSF of social commerce by both groups. This study judges that it's because both service provider groups and user group are perceiving that there is a reliable PG(Payment Gateway) which acts for e-payment of Internet transaction. Accordingly, it is understood that both two groups feel that social commerce can have a corporate identity by website and differentiation in products and services in sales, but don't feel a big difference by business in case of e-payment system. In other words, trade safety should be perceived as natural, basic universal service. Fourth, it's necessary that service providers should intensify the communication with users by making use of social network service which is the major marketing method of social commerce and should be able to use the word of mouth effect between users. The word of mouth effect occurring from consumers' spontaneous self- marketer's duty performance can bring not only reduction effect in advertising cost to a service provider but it can also prepare the basis of discounted price suggestion to consumers. in this context, it is judged that the word of mouth effect should be managed as CSF of social commerce. In this paper, the characteristics of social commerce are limited as five independent variables, however, if an additional study is proceeded with more various independent variables, more in-depth study results will be derived. In addition, this research targets social commerce service providers and the users, however, in the consideration of the fact that social commerce is a two-sided market, drawing CSF through an analysis of perception gap between social commerce service providers and its advertisement clients would be worth to be dealt with in a follow-up study.

An Analysis of the Comparative Importance of Systematic Attributes for Developing an Intelligent Online News Recommendation System: Focusing on the PWYW Payment Model (지능형 온라인 뉴스 추천시스템 개발을 위한 체계적 속성간 상대적 중요성 분석: PWYW 지불모델을 중심으로)

  • Lee, Hyoung-Joo;Chung, Nuree;Yang, Sung-Byung
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
    • /
    • v.24 no.1
    • /
    • pp.75-100
    • /
    • 2018
  • Mobile devices have become an important channel for news content usage in our daily life. However, online news content readers' resistance to online news monetization is more serious than other digital content businesses, such as webtoons, music sources, videos, and games. Since major portal sites distribute online news content free of charge to increase their traffics, customers have been accustomed to free news content; hence this makes online news providers more difficult to switch their policies on business models (i.e., monetization policy). As a result, most online news providers are highly dependent on the advertising business model, which can lead to increasing number of false, exaggerated, or sensational advertisements inside the news website to maximize their advertising revenue. To reduce this advertising dependencies, many online news providers had attempted to switch their 'free' readers to 'paid' users, but most of them failed. However, recently, some online news media have been successfully applying the Pay-What-You-Want (PWYW) payment model, which allows readers to voluntarily pay fees for their favorite news content. These successful cases shed some lights to the managers of online news content provider regarding that the PWYW model can serve as an alternative business model. In this study, therefore, we collected 379 online news articles from Ohmynews.com that has been successfully employing the PWYW model, and analyzed the comparative importance of systematic attributes of online news content on readers' voluntary payment. More specifically, we derived the six systematic attributes (i.e., Type of Article Title, Image Stimulation, Article Readability, Article Type, Dominant Emotion, and Article-Image Similarity) and three or four levels within each attribute based on previous studies. Then, we conducted content analysis to measure five attributes except Article Readability attribute, measured by Flesch readability score. Before conducting main content analysis, the face reliabilities of chosen attributes were measured by three doctoral level researchers with 37 sample articles, and inter-coder reliabilities of the three coders were verified. Then, the main content analysis was conducted for two months from March 2017 with 379 online news articles. All 379 articles were reviewed by the same three coders, and 65 articles that showed inconsistency among coders were excluded before employing conjoint analysis. Finally, we examined the comparative importance of those six systematic attributes (Study 1), and levels within each of the six attributes (Study 2) through conjoint analysis with 314 online news articles. From the results of conjoint analysis, we found that Article Readability, Article-Image Similarity, and Type of Article Title are the most significant factors affecting online news readers' voluntary payment. First, it can be interpreted that if the level of readability of an online news article is in line with the readers' level of readership, the readers will voluntarily pay more. Second, the similarity between the content of the article and the image within it enables the readers to increase the information acceptance and to transmit the message of the article more effectively. Third, readers expect that the article title would reveal the content of the article, and the expectation influences the understanding and satisfaction of the article. Therefore, it is necessary to write an article with an appropriate readability level, and use images and title well matched with the content to make readers voluntarily pay more. We also examined the comparative importance of levels within each attribute in more details. Based on findings of two studies, two major and nine minor propositions are suggested for future empirical research. This study has academic implications in that it is one of the first studies applying both content analysis and conjoint analysis together to examine readers' voluntary payment behavior, rather than their intention to pay. In addition, online news content creators, providers, and managers could find some practical insights from this research in terms of how they should produce news content to make readers voluntarily pay more for their online news content.

Study on behavioral change of estrus in Hanwoo (Korean native cattle) (한우 발정기 행동변화에 대한 연구)

  • Cheon, Si Nae;Yoo, Geum Zoo;Kim, Chan Ho;Jung, Ji Yeon;Kim, Dong Hun;Jeon, Jung Hwan
    • Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
    • /
    • v.21 no.11
    • /
    • pp.825-832
    • /
    • 2020
  • The detection of estrus is very important for the successful reproductive efficiency of cattle. This has prompted the development of electronic estrus detection techniques by using the characterization of estrus behavior. The objective of this study was to investigate the changes in physical activity, mounting behavior and vocalization during estrus in Hanwoo (Korean native cattle). Bio-telemetry devices were attached to 4 multiparous Hanwoo and physical activity was compared, namely mounting behavior and vocalization for 6 days (from 2 days before the day of estrus to 3 days after the day of estrus). Physical activity rapidly increased on the day of estrus (p<0.001) and was frequently observed at night time. Mounting behavior gradually increased, starting from 2 days before the day of estrus and reached its highest level on the day of estrus (p<0.01). The circadian rhythm showed irregularities during this entire period (p>0.05). There was no significant difference in vocalization during the experiment period (p>0.05). In conclusion, we assumed that mounting behavior is an early indicator to detect estrus in Hanwoo and if both mounting behavior and physical activity are considered together it would be possible to detect estrus with a higher probability. Further studies with more information from different sources regarding the measuring of estrus in Hanwoo are needed.

Performance Analysis of Slave-Side Arbitration Schemes for the Multi-Layer AHB BusMatrix (ML-AHB 버스 매트릭스를 위한 슬레이브 중심 중재 방식의 성능 분석)

  • Hwang, Soo-Yun;Park, Hyeong-Jun;Jhang, Kyoung-Son
    • Journal of KIISE:Computer Systems and Theory
    • /
    • v.34 no.5_6
    • /
    • pp.257-266
    • /
    • 2007
  • In On-Chip bus, the arbitration scheme is one of the critical factors that decide the overall system performance. The arbitration scheme used in traditional shared bus is the master-side arbitration based on the request and grant signals between multiple masters and single arbiter. In the case of the master-side arbitration, only one master and one slave can transfer the data at a time. Therefore the throughput of total bus system and the utilization of resources are decreased in the master-side arbitration. However in the slave-side arbitration, there is an arbiter at each slave port and the master just starts a transaction and waits for the slave response to proceed to the next transfer. Thus, the unit of arbitration can be a transaction or a transfer. Besides the throughput of total bus system and the utilization of resources are increased since the multiple masters can simultaneously perform transfers with independent slaves. In this paper, we implement and analyze the arbitration schemes for the Multi-Layer AHB BusMatrix based on the slave-side arbitration. We implement the slave-side arbitration schemes based on fixed priority, round robin and dynamic priority and accomplish the performance simulation to compare and analyze the performance of each arbitration scheme according to the characteristics of the master and slave. With the performance simulation, we observed that when there are few masters on critical path in a bus system, the arbitration scheme based on dynamic priority shows the maximum performance and in other cases, the arbitration scheme based on round robin shows the highest performance. In addition, the arbitration scheme with transaction based multiplexing shows higher performance than the same arbitration scheme with single transfer based switching in an application with frequent accesses to the long latency devices or memories such as SDRAM. The improvements of the arbitration scheme with transaction based multiplexing are 26%, 42% and 51%, respectively when the latency times of SDRAM are 1, 2 and 3 clock cycles.

A study on a flow of the technological convergence in webtoon - Focused on the interactiontoon of webtoon (기술 융합형 웹툰의 몰입도 연구 -인터랙션 툰 <마주쳤다>를 중심으로)

  • Baek, Eun-Ji;Son, Ki-Hwan
    • Cartoon and Animation Studies
    • /
    • s.50
    • /
    • pp.101-130
    • /
    • 2018
  • Since the advent of the Smart Devices, the smartphone has become a popular tool to view Webtoon. This phenomenon has caused the convergence of cutting-edge technologies and Webtoons in diverse forms, creating unique versions of Webtoons including, but not limited to Smart-toon, Effect-toon, Cut-toon, Dubbing-toon, Moving-toon, AR-toon, VR-toon, and Interaction-toon. By comparison to these rich diversities of Webtoons in the online industry, there is a lack of academic research on this topic. There are some papers which talk about the different types of multimedia technology conversion and its case presentation or the effectiveness and problems of visual effect, but the effects of these convergence technologies on comic readers' concentration and reading effectiveness have never been investigated so far. Therefore, this paper will discuss the unique method of immersive storytelling that is often used in comics and analyze each aspects of immersive method in technology-converged Webtoons along with its problems. Furthermore, this paper will analyze different aspects of "immersion" and interaction elements that can be found in the popular Interaction-toon, (Encountered). Through this, this paper discusses the positive influence of the interaction elements on comic readers' immersion level and its limitation. To classify the technology-converged Webtoons in terms of the immersion level, the Effect-toon sometimes interferes viewer's flow by using excessive use of multimedia effect, creating information overload. The Smart-toon which applied motions to each frame under horizontal mode of smartphones was a good try, but it hindered the readers' activeness and made it hard for the readers to be fully absorbed in the story. The VR-toon, which utilizes virtual reality gadgets to allow viewers to explore the world of Webtoon was also a nice try to overcome the limitation of vertical screens. However, it often caused dispersion of user's attention and reduced the users' immersion level. The Moving-toon which only emphasized the reading convenience also invaded readers' activeness and disturb users' concentration. On the other hand, the cartoonist Il-Kwon Ha applied high technologies such as face recognition technology, augmented reality techniques, 360-degree panorama technology, and haptic technology to his cartoon (Encountered). This allowed the readers to form a sense of closeness towards the cartoon characters which let the readers to identify themselves with the characters and interact with them. By this way, the readers can be fully immersed in the story. However, technology abuse, impractical production and hackneyed storylining often showed later in the story remains as its limitations.

THE CURRENT STATUS OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING IN THE USA

  • Webster, John G.
    • Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
    • /
    • v.1992 no.05
    • /
    • pp.27-47
    • /
    • 1992
  • Engineers have developed new instruments that aid in diagnosis and therapy Ultrasonic imaging has provided a nondamaging method of imaging internal organs. A complex transducer emits ultrasonic waves at many angles and reconstructs a map of internal anatomy and also velocities of blood in vessels. Fast computed tomography permits reconstruction of the 3-dimensional anatomy and perfusion of the heart at 20-Hz rates. Positron emission tomography uses certain isotopes that produce positrons that react with electrons to simultaneously emit two gamma rays in opposite directions. It locates the region of origin by using a ring of discrete scintillation detectors, each in electronic coincidence with an opposing detector. In magnetic resonance imaging, the patient is placed in a very strong magnetic field. The precessing of the hydrogen atoms is perturbed by an interrogating field to yield two-dimensional images of soft tissue having exceptional clarity. As an alternative to radiology image processing, film archiving, and retrieval, picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) are being implemented. Images from computed radiography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nuclear medicine, and ultrasound are digitized, transmitted, and stored in computers for retrieval at distributed work stations. In electrical impedance tomography, electrodes are placed around the thorax. 50-kHz current is injected between two electrodes and voltages are measured on all other electrodes. A computer processes the data to yield an image of the resistivity of a 2-dimensional slice of the thorax. During fetal monitoring, a corkscrew electrode is screwed into the fetal scalp to measure the fetal electrocardiogram. Correlations with uterine contractions yield information on the status of the fetus during delivery To measure cardiac output by thermodilution, cold saline is injected into the right atrium. A thermistor in the right pulmonary artery yields temperature measurements, from which we can calculate cardiac output. In impedance cardiography, we measure the changes in electrical impedance as the heart ejects blood into the arteries. Motion artifacts are large, so signal averaging is useful during monitoring. An intraarterial blood gas monitoring system permits monitoring in real time. Light is sent down optical fibers inserted into the radial artery, where it is absorbed by dyes, which reemit the light at a different wavelength. The emitted light travels up optical fibers where an external instrument determines O2, CO2, and pH. Therapeutic devices include the electrosurgical unit. A high-frequency electric arc is drawn between the knife and the tissue. The arc cuts and the heat coagulates, thus preventing blood loss. Hyperthermia has demonstrated antitumor effects in patients in whom all conventional modes of therapy have failed. Methods of raising tumor temperature include focused ultrasound, radio-frequency power through needles, or microwaves. When the heart stops pumping, we use the defibrillator to restore normal pumping. A brief, high-current pulse through the heart synchronizes all cardiac fibers to restore normal rhythm. When the cardiac rhythm is too slow, we implant the cardiac pacemaker. An electrode within the heart stimulates the cardiac muscle to contract at the normal rate. When the cardiac valves are narrowed or leak, we implant an artificial valve. Silicone rubber and Teflon are used for biocompatibility. Artificial hearts powered by pneumatic hoses have been implanted in humans. However, the quality of life gradually degrades, and death ensues. When kidney stones develop, lithotripsy is used. A spark creates a pressure wave, which is focused on the stone and fragments it. The pieces pass out normally. When kidneys fail, the blood is cleansed during hemodialysis. Urea passes through a porous membrane to a dialysate bath to lower its concentration in the blood. The blind are able to read by scanning the Optacon with their fingertips. A camera scans letters and converts them to an array of vibrating pins. The deaf are able to hear using a cochlear implant. A microphone detects sound and divides it into frequency bands. 22 electrodes within the cochlea stimulate the acoustic the acoustic nerve to provide sound patterns. For those who have lost muscle function in the limbs, researchers are implanting electrodes to stimulate the muscle. Sensors in the legs and arms feed back signals to a computer that coordinates the stimulators to provide limb motion. For those with high spinal cord injury, a puff and sip switch can control a computer and permit the disabled person operate the computer and communicate with the outside world.

  • PDF