Micros in the emergency department

is 3½-I() times faster than a similar algorithm on an 8-bit machine with the same accuracy. Turner, D A 'Prospects for non-procedural and data-flow languages' Mini-Micro Softw. Vol 7 No 3 (1982) pp 8-15 The likely impact on programming languages of the arrival of large-scale parallelism in hardware is discussed. The limitations of Yon Neumenn architecture are outlined and the different styles of parallel architecture that have been proposed are surveyed. Two main approaches are identified. The first is to take a relatively conventional sequential language and add to it features for the explicit introduction and control of parallelism (e.g. the tasking facilities of ADA). The second approach is to abandon programmer control of sequencing and to move to some kind of nonprocedural language. The paper asserts that, in the long run, the second alternative is the only viable one.

Applications Athanasiou, R 'Micros in the emergency department' Interface Age Vol 7 No 9 (September 1982) pp 84-85 and 168-171 The application of microcomputers to the emergency treatment of trauma, heart disease, infection and most diseases of particular organs is mentioned. A metabolic analysis program written for the Tandy TRS--80 Model III is described. A hypothetical case history of its use is given and the paper concludes with a full software listing of the program in BASIC (TRSDOS 1.3). Barker, P G 'Computer control of a random access slide projector' Microproc. Microprog. Vol 10 No 4 (November 1982) pp 261-271 Following a summary of the importance of slide projection, a technique for the microcomputer control of random access slide projectors is outlined. The design and implementation of a general purpose interface for this purpose is described. The

vol 7 no I january~february 1983

limitations of the interface are indicated and suggestions for improvements are discussed. Some examples of the use of the system are given. Becker, R 'Micrograsp' Pract. Electron. Vol 18 No 21 (December 1982) pp 30-35 The first part of a description of an under-£200 robot arm, the Micrograsp, run by a £50 computer, the Sinclair ZX81. Each of the arm's five axes of rotation is controlled by a servo independently of the computer. An interfacing board is designed to operate as a memory mapped peripheral of the host computer. The printed circuit is shown as well as the interface components. POKE commands activating servo circuits are given. Part two, January 1983, covers assembly, testing and calibration. Creitz, W W 'Voice input/output in medical care' Interface Age Vol 7 No 9 (September 1982) pp 80-81 and 154-160 Potential uses of voice 1/O in medicine such as for the blind are identified. A range of products commercially available including talking terminals and OCR devices with speech synthesis (to read books etc) are described. Also described are a keypad which converts letters to spoken words for those with speech defects, and a talking 'exit' sign for the vision-impaired to cope with emergencies. Systems to aid medical staff as well as patients are noted. There is a video/voice synthesis 'quiet paging' systems for hospital doctors and voice synthesized speech on the telephone to general practice patients the night before an appointment to remind them. First calls are sometimes interpreted as 'obscene' by patients, however, says Creitz. The paper concludes with an assessment of the potential of voice recognition for paraplegics to control appliances, and surgeons in delicate operations for hand-free direction of microscopes, lighting, etc.

Sargent, J P 'Morse decoding by microcomputer' Wireless World Vol 88 No 1563 (December 1982) pp 71-72

Using a 567 tone decoder and a 7-bit clock to time incoming signals, Morse code is interfaced to a Sinclair ZX81 microcomputer via a Z80A peripheral I/O chip. Machine code routines use this data to provide up to nine lines of decoded text. The ZX81 uses its own Z80A for both the display and computing, hence the hardware clock implementation. A block diagram of the hardware and a software listing are given.

Serdahl, E C 'Digital monitoring of combustible gases' Comput. Des. Vol 21 No 8 (August 1982) pp 79-86 Detection of combustible gases is vital in refineries, petrochemical plants, gas pipeline pumping stations and other installations. There are over 1300 substances officially listed as fire hazards. Because of the nature of potentially explosive environment for sensors, analogue installation costs may exceed £¼M for wiring and conduits alone (typical 30 sensor system). This article examines a digital detection system for which only wiring between sensors and remote satellites need be explosion proof. The system is the Delphian Sage System 512 (based on a National Series 80/20-4 SBC). Each Intersil REM24-VIO0 satellite is based on an 8048 microcomputer and has dual IH 6108 8-channel multiplexers. Description included are of the serial communications protocol, alarm conditions and automatic remote calibration.

Tsai, T H and Lane, J W 'Computer control for an existing plant' Chem. Eng. Prog. Vol 78 No 9 (September 1982) pp 39-45 A study of a batch chemical plant shows that the plant performance could be greatly improved with a small computer. The basic conceptual design of such a system is given and a temperature control algorithm outlined. The authors conclude that it is not a good idea to use digital control to mimic analogue control instrumentation. They recommend considering each control function so as to take maximum advantage of digital techniques.

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