about one trillion pages of paper are exchanged between US businesses and
government agencies each year, the capability to transmit text can enhance efficiency.
People using such electronic mail can be in remote locations and need not be using the
system at the same time to send and receive messages. The message is placed in a
special storage area from which it can be retrieved and printed on the other end at
anytime. Bulletin boards are an increasingly popular way of corresponding by computer
with people in other cities who share the same interests. This trend will continue and
will find many new applications.
electronic mail: the transmission of messages at high speeds between
workstations, either by communications network facilities or local area networks.
4-12. COMPUTER MAINTENANCE
Computer maintenance will be monitored by the machines themselves. Already,
some repairs are being made by simply replacing a computer chip.
4-13. TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS
Computers will not only monitor, but actually control transportation systems. This
is being done to some extent already. For example, the Southern Railway Company,
located in Sheffield, Alabama, is linked to a large computer in Atlanta, Georgia with a
five-kilobit memory. The Atlanta computer, which in turn is linked to minicomputers in
outlying local areas, monitors train sequence, hours, destination, weight, and so forth. If
a problem occurs on a track, the train is diverted by the computer without human
intervention.
4-14. HEALTH CARE
a. Diagnosis of Disease. Computers will play a greater role in helping to
diagnose disease, monitoring and controlling bodily functions, and providing some kinds
of treatment. A doctor will be able to enter a list of symptoms into the computer, and
obtain a list of possible diseases and recommended tests. Automated injection systems
will be activated at certain times to push the drug into the bloodstream at specified
times. Computer chips are currently used in pacemakers to regulate the rate of heart
contraction.
b. Computerized Signal Analyzers and Vibration Sensors. Computerized
signal analyzers and vibration sensors, called accelerometers, will make it possible to
diagnose hurt knees by their snapping, cracking, and popping sounds. Doctors have
used creaky knee sounds as diagnostic indicators for over a century, but background
noises and other problems have interfered. With the new accelerometer technology,
knee sounds can be registered without picking up extraneous noises. Thus, doctors will
be able to tell, for example, if a basketball player with a twisted knee needs surgery to
mend torn cartilage. Preliminary tests have shown accelerometer technology accurately
diagnosed knee problems that later were confirmed by surgery. More testing is
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