The Physician\u27s Workstation Health Care Revolution or the Nearest Mis Yet?

The practice of medicine is an information rich activity, yet information systems have had melancholy history as aids to decision making physicians. Some of the reasons for this lack of acceptance are examined along with the potential that emerging technology may have for the acceptance of a future physician’s workstation. The use of information technology in the practice of medicine seems inevitable, but social impediments to its use may delay its widespread introduction for a decade or more. In the meantime experiments which document the existence or absence of the anticipated benefits should be designed and carried out

Computer Technology: State of the Art and Future Trends

Computer technology, and more broadly information technology, is invigorating a fundamental transformation in our society form an industrial economy to an information economy. A review of the short history and present state of information technology identifies two major undercurrents: the miniaturization of computer components which has produced a million-fold increase in the complexity possible in a single chip of silicon and the integration of four previously separate areas of information technology: computation, communication, databases and the user interface. Microelectronics, computer networks, data storage and user amenities are the basic technologies that support these four areas and stimulate their progress. Future trends in speech recognition, voice synthesis, artificial intelligence, expert systems, computational imaging and scientific workstations are also examined

Computer Technology: State of the Art and Future Trends

Computer technology, and more broadly information technology, is invigorating a fundamental transformation in our society form an industrial economy to an information economy. A review of the short history and present state of information technology identifies two major undercurrents: the miniaturization of computer components which has produced a million-fold increase in the complexity possible in a single chip of silicon and the integration of four previously separate areas of information technology: computation, communication, databases and the user interface. Microelectronics, computer networks, data storage and user amenities are the basic technologies that support these four areas and stimulate their progress. Future trends in speech recognition, voice synthesis, artificial intelligence, expert systems, computational imaging and scientific workstations are also examined

Project Zeus: Design of a Broadband Network and its Application on a University Campus

This proposal outlines a plan for the design, deployment, and operation of the high speed campus network at Washington University based on fast packet switching technology that has been developed here during the last several years. This new network will support ubiquitous multimedia workstations with high-resolution graphics and video capabilities, opening a wide range of new applications in research and education. It will support aggregate throughputs of hundreds of gigabits per second and will be designed to support port interfaces at up to 2.4 Gb/s. Initial implementations will emphasize 155 Mb/s port rates, with higher rates introduced as the demand arises and as economic permits. WE propose to move this technology quickly into an operational setting where the objectives of network use and network research can be pursued concurrently

Experimental Evaluation of Psychophysical Distortion Metrics for JPEG-Encoded Images

Two experiments for evaluating psychophysical distortion metrics for JPEG-encoded images are described. The first is a threshold experiment, in which subjects determined the bit rate or level of distortion at which distortion was just noticeable. The second is a suprathreshold experiment in which subjects ranked image blocks according to perceived distortion. The results of these experiments were used to determine the predictive value of a number of computer image distortion metrics. It was found that mean-square-error is not a good predictor of distortion thresholds or suprathreshold perceived distortion. Some simple pointwise measures were in good agreement with psychophysical data; other more computationally intensive metrics involving spatial properties of the human visual system gave mixed results. It was determined that mean intensity, which is not accounted for in the JPEG algorithm, plays a significant role in perceived distortion

Project Zeus: Design of a Broadband Network and its Application on a University Campus

This is a report of the results of the initial step in a plan for the design, deployment and operation of a high speed campus network at Washington University. The network is based on ATM switching technology that has been developed here during the last several years. This network will support ubiquitous multimedia workstations with high-resolution graphics and video capabilities, open up a wide range of new applications in research and education. It will support aggregate throughputs of hundreds of gigabits per second and will be designed to support port of 100 MB/s is now in operation. The next phase of network implementation will operate at 155 Mb/s port rates, with higher rates introduced as the demand arises and as economics permits. We propose to move this technology quickly into a production setting where the objectives of network use and network research can be pursued concurrently

An Abstract Model of Unstratified Database System

A semantic data model is introduced with the following capabilities: (1) Abstraction mechanisms for aggregation, generalization and classification, (2) Unstratified control of the database content, (3) Refined control of intentional and extensional information, and (4) Extensive semantic consistency checking. The basic features of the model are illustrated through a scenario of interactions between the user and the database system (using the proposed model) for constructing a simple database on technical publications

Study of a Distributed Picture Archiving and Communication System for Radiology

A preliminary design study has been carried out for a distributed picture archiving and communication system for the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology. The study develops design equations for three layers of a picture network and examines the estimated flow of digital images between a multiplicity of picture sources, picture archives and picture viewing stations. Application of these data to the design equations lead to some preliminary conclusions. One network architecture consistent with these conclusions is discussed

The Washington University Multimedia System

The Washington University Multimedia System (MMS) is a complete multimedia system capable of transmitting and receiving video, audio, and radiological images, in addition to normal network traffic, over the Washingon University broadband ATM network. The MMS consists of an ATMizer and three multimedia subsystems. The ATMizer implements the host interface, the interface to the ATM network, and the interface to the three multimedia subsystems. The video sybsystem encodes and decodes JPEG compressed video using two hardware compression engines. The audio subsystem encodes and decodes CD-quality stereo audio. The high-speed radiological image subsystem reformats radiological image data transmitted by a dedicated ATMizer for presentation on a high-resolution monochrome display. Although the MMS can be easily modified to operate with any host, the current implementation is based on a NeXT computer. This paper describes the architecture of the MMS, the software used with the system, and the applications which have been developed to demonstrate the capability and applicability of broadband ATM networks for multimedia applications