Os 00V a L IK7 I NI A Aisl Alk A A r% I I 91uP r IA L S i Iw% the to provide a filed It K i aIs mi9g 1etelr 6% Interchanage conInl lmatlon prosof In varlovs dliital SNEWSL EJTLUL W ý- OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCH • MATHEMA41CAtL contractors avid cont rIbutors SCIENCES OfVlSION July 1968 Gordon D Goldstein Editor Laura A -Repass Editorial -Assistant Barbara J Walker Editorial Assistant Vol 20 No 3 comp uter I Iio01str button projects AgllCes Ited to goverrpinint CONTENTS S E Page No EDITORIAL POLICY NOTICES 1 Editorial 2 Contributions 3 Circulation 1 1 1 COMPUTERS AND DATA PROCESSORS NORTH AMERICA 1 Litton Industries L-304F Microelectronic Computer Beverly Hills California 90213 2 COMPUTING CENTERS 1 Dartmouth College Kiewit Computation Center GE-625 System Performance Hanover N H 3 COMPUTERS AND CENTERS OVERSEAS 1 University of London Control Data 6600 London England 2 The Marconi Company Limited Southampton University On-Line Computer Chelmsford Essex England 3 Queen's University I C T 1907 Belfast Ireland 4 Southampton University I C T 1907 Southampton England 4 4 5 5 MISCELLANEOUS 1 Battelle Memorial Institute Remote Computing Usage Columbus Ohio 43201 2 Bell Telephone Laboritories Computerized Library Loan System Murray Hill New Jersey 07971 3 Beverly Bank New Computerized Bank Accounting Chicago Illinois 60643 4 Childrens Hospital Medical Center Computerized Clinic Scheduling Boston Mass 02115 5 Florida State University Accredited Computer Aided Course Tallahassee Florida 6 General Electric GE Time Sharing for France New York N Y 10022 7 National Bureau of Standards The Generation and Use of Reference Data Washington D C 20234 8 New York City Police Department Computer Dispatching of Police Cars New York N Y 9 New York University Hidden Line Problem in Computer Graphics New York N Y 10003 10 University of Southern California On-Line Electrocardiograms R'ipraducod by the Los Angeles Calif 90007 Federal Sciontific Technical for CLEARINGHOUSE 7 8 9 10 13 14 15 - 17 18 19 Information Springfield Va 22151 - Approved OCT 77 9 4 6 by The Under Secretary of the Navy 25 September 1961 0 NAVSO P-645 '• Editorial Policy NoticesI EDITORIAL Althugh igitl he Cmputr Nwsleter is aDeprtmnt f te Nay pbliatin t not restricted to the publication of Navy originated material It is regretted that because of limited time and personnel it is often impossible for the edltar to acknowledge individually all material received It Is hoped however that the readers will continue to submit technical material and sugsin otl-dtrfrftr aus Material for specific issues must be received by the editor at least three months in ade ina i c of the month of issue ply Navy approval of those products nor does it mean that the Navy vouches for the accuracy of the statements made by the various contribuCIRCULATION torse The tnformation contained herein Is to be considered only as being representative of the The Newsletter is published quarterly state-of-the-art and not as the sole product or January April July and October and is distechnique available tributed without charge to interested military and government agencies to contractors for the Federal Government and to contributors of matertal for publication CONTRIB UTIONS The pulcto fifrainprann The Office of Naval Research welcomes contributions to the Newsletter from any source It is through these contributions that the value of the Newsletter is enhanced as a smedium of exchange between government laboratories academic institutions and industry A limitation on size prevents the publishing of all material received Contributed items stwhich are not published are kept on file and are made available to interested personnel within the government Requests to receive the Newsletter regularly should be submitted to the editor Contractors of the Federal Government should reference applicable contracts in their requests All communications pertaining to the Newsletter should be addressed to GORDON D GOLDSTEIN Editor Digital Computer Newsletter Informations Systems Program Office of Naval Research Washington D C 20360 Fedeal t 1TIUTOSt ia o - ovenmen ad t cotribtor ofrea ubiain the Newsletter-regu- Computers and Data Processors North America L -304F Microelectronic Computer iltion Indusit l• l 'n 'l Ilh C hs viri oJO211 change the Navy can readily adapt its computer programs to meet the requirements In addition the L-304F computer will be able to ac- commodate an expansion of total operating programs of at least 50 percent over the existing equipment Litton Industries' new L-304F microelectronic general-purpose computer will greatly increase the effectiveness of the Navy in meeting rapidly changing tactical situations throughout the world The new computer which will perform more combat-related functions than the specialpurpose unit it replaces was chosen by Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp for its AX modification program of the E-2A Hawkeye aircraft The L-304F has a command and control capability of up to 64 program levels with each level having its own separate program operating on a time-shared basis C Gordon Murphy vice president of Litton and president of Data Systems Division said in describing the cornputer design In addition should the power fail the computer's memory retains all stored data The multi-processor arrangement assures continued operation should a processor memory module or periph#'ral unit fail The present special-purpose unit contains a 23 000-word drum memory and the L-304F programmable computer contains 56 000-word core memories that can be expanded to 80 000 words by adding modules Data Systems Division of Litton is building an undiscLosed number of L-304F computers and will modify the systems display units and power assemblies for Grumman under a $46 million production contract according to Fred W O'Green Litton executive vice president and head of the Defense and Space Systems Group The first production L-304F is scheduled for delivery to Grumman in November 1968 The L-304F is the first microelectronic general-purpose computer of its type to be incorporated into an aircraft by the Navy Mr O'Green noted It offers much higher reliabillty through extensive use of integrated circuits with the concomitant advantage of simplifled maintenance Both are of vital importance in a combat situation Additionally the L-304F will permit interchange of communications and fast data computations with the Marine Corps Tactical Data System MTDS effectively providing the commander with a unified control system to meet tactical situations The MTDS is a highly automated system for controlling air weapons and managing air space To be Installed in the carrier-based Hawkeye now operating in Southeast Asia the new Litton computer will function in the Airborne Tactical Data System ATDS command and control system Specific ATDS operations possible with the microelectronic L-304F are target detection and acquisition tracking and identification threat evaluation weapon assignment and interceptor control It also directs air search and rescue operations The system consists of search radar computer memory and data link which are coordinated with the overall shipboard-based Naval Tactical Data System NTDS The E-2A the airborne electronic eyes and ears of the NTDS provides an advanced early warning detection network for task forces relaying information for rapid fleet 'actical decisions The L-304F computer may be reprogrammed quickly under combat condition to achieve different mission objectives while the special-purpose unit requires actual changes in hardware Operational programs can be completely altered simply by loading prepared tapes into the computer memory As tactical situations 2 IiI Computing Centers Gl 625 System Performance Kau t ' w pit P llpu 1iat lt ' N 11 A significant milestone was reached in January at the Kiewit Computation Center on the Dartmouth College campus More than 100 persons successfully use a General Electric 625 computer simultaneously At the peak time the computer system was serving 47 Dartmouth faculty members and students 20 students from secondary schools in the northern New England region and 46 customers of the General Electric Information Service Department located in the Boston New York and Washington D C areas This is believed to be a world's record for time-sharing computers Dartmouth College and GE the number of simultaneous users exceeded 100 for a period of nearly an hour Most requests receives responses within 10 seconds and the peak load of 113 was reached at 2 30 p m on Thursday Jan 18 h GEach SJohn G Kemeny Dartmouth mathematics professor and a pioneer In time-sharing development described the event as a major breakthrough which opens up an exciting future for the educational use of computers The computer is connected by ordinary phone lines with GE computer terminals in the various remote locations user was able to type a set of Instructions known as a program into his individual terminal a teletypewriter and have his request for data processing serviced almost instantly by the GE-625 computer on the Dartmouth campus He said that this accomplishment gave dramatic testimony to the mutually beneficial results which can be achieved through cooperation between a major industry and an educational institution Beause of the giant computer's high speed each remote user in effect has his own personal desk-side computer at his command day and night 3 LI Computers and Centers Overse•s Control Data 6600 IA UjdlJ lEpagflim The University of London in London England hag ordered a Control Data 6600 Computer System Scheduled for delivery late in 1968 the multi-million dollar computer was ordered with the approval of the University's Computer Board It will provide the University of London with the largest and most powerful data processing system in England The new 6600 will furnish a central cornputer service to all areas of the University for use in research and teaching It will be housed in a new building now under construction in the Central London Area The computer's 131 000- word 60-bit core memory will be supplemented by CDC magnetic disk files and tape transports High-speed line printers and punched card and paper tape equipment will also be included in the system initially two Satellite computers smallscale Control Data 1700's will communicate with the 6600 over special data links One 1700 will be installed at Imperial College The other will serve Kings College and the London School of Economics Four data links between the 6600 and computers at other colleges are p1 'nned Southampton University On-Line Computer 'hTh' In an application believed to be unique In Europe Southampton University has installed a Marconi computer to accept and process experimental results as they occur The machine a Marconi MyrLd IU has slashed to a hundredth the time taker analyse sound and vibration measurements It will speed research and development work in many fields involving for example motor vehicles and aircraft including parts of the Concorde supersonic airliner The Institute of Sound and Vibration Research at the University has set up a Data Analysis Centre based on this cdmputer and laboratories have been connected to the system through coaxial cables Electrical signals exactly like those produced by a record player pick-up but taken from microphones and other types of vibration transducer can be fed to the computer for rapid analysis with results plotted in graphical forin Before they can be digested by the computer these signals are sampled 40 000 times per second and converted into 'iinary code using new analogue to digital converters This equipment and the Marconi computer which is one of the fastest in the world ensures precise statistical accuracy Facilities have been arranged at the Centre for feeding the system with signals from tape recordings if on-line use is not required 4 Co r C npasv hui I mi 'd Dr Colin Mercer Lecturer in Structural Vibrations is in overall control of the scheme and he is in the process of making some of the computer time available to outside organisations particularly car and aircraft manufacturers He says A large number of people firms and research organisations have a major problem on their hands ini -•ialysing sound and vibration information It is easy enough taking the measurements using microphones and tranzuducers-and you can tape record the electrical signals quite easily From there however analysing the results takes a long time and requires painstaking concentration T ' a firm this is money and scientists' time being drained away I have known of some organisations with cupboards full of tape recordings waiting for analysis Roger Pacifico Centre Manager and Dr Mercer now believe they have found a complete solution for this problem The computer is currently being programmed to allow it to be operated by research personnel who are completely inexperienced in programming techniques The computer will ask a set of queations via a teletypewriter and these can be replied to with ordinary written answers The type of analysis isasry ten answer with the sampling period and other necessary tnfor - matlon After this at thp n h of uttes t analogue signals-are fed directly into the machine i ogue to digital conversion systems Many other analysis techniques can also be carried out in the near future sovpral more analogue inputs will be available i Cross-correlation of two separate signals is a typical requirement For example by placing two sensing devices at different points in a ventilation systcm much can be learnt about the way in which certain sound components are absorbed or generated Accurate information on common features of each waveform can be produced in graphical form or on papcr ta•iu by the computer lih at eepts simultaneously two inputs through separate ana- Dr Mercer is very satisfied that he has found the right computer for this purpose and says having studied all practical alternatives we found that the organisation of the Myriad I1 machine is ideal for dealing with the high data speed I believe that there are at least half a dozen other places in the country where a sitmilar set up is needed and where a capital outlay of some L50 000would bring substantial savings i c 'r 1907 The I C T 1907 computer which was installed in January 1968 at Queen's University at Belfast is being used to help implement a computer system of storing students records for those attending the university the Queen's University Data Processing Department Three universities have already implemented complete programs on their 1900 Series computers Queen's in Belfask and Southampton on their 1907's and Essex University on its 1909 Installation This 1907 installation which is the second one installed for a customer the first It is envisaged that in about 3 years the was Southampton University is being used to computer will be contributing to the selection store complete academic and personal records of university entrants based on the analysis of of each student at Queen's University ByGCE results and on the headmaster's reports products of this system are an archives system for ex-studentswherby and anaexamination sub-system computing facilities to enable re-Multi-access exminaionprogamm whereby an examination programme is is preto have the use of the comworkers research pared for each student giving the examination puter from their laboratories are being develdate time and seat number After the examioped Seven on-line typewriters are being innation papers have been checked in the usual stalled for this purpose around the University way the computer is used to produce a printout of the results which can be extended to inThe installation consists of an I C T 1907 form each student at his home address of his Central Processor with 64 K core store 6 saccess or failure magnetic tapes 2 exchangeable disc transports a 900-cpm card reader a 100-epm card punch Queen's University is 1 of about 10 universities throughout Britain all of which are repa 1000-cps paper tape reader a 110-cps paper resented by a Working Group that has been set tape punch a 1350-line per min line-printer up solely to provide a common system of storand a graph plotter Seven remote typewriter ing student records throughout the universities terminals will soon be in operation a two milThis common system has been based on the lion character drum is due in April 1968 and a I C T 1900 Series computers Wallace Ewart visual display unit is to be added in the near future Chairman of the Working Group is the Head of I C T 1907 4 I Imi Smt 11IP The first I C T 1907 computer system to be delivered to a customer Is now fully operational at Southampton University It is the second 1907 in operation the first one was put into operation at I C T offices in Putney In August 1967 ' 5 lY if Taking over from an interim I C T 1909 Installation at the University the £314 000 1907 Installation is already handling a wide variety of tasks involving both University studies and general University organisation i The I C T 1907 is being used for a variety of interesting research projects including the examination of natural languages for pattern punched card referring to that book's code When a student wishes to take out a library book both his identity badge and the book's the United Kingdom satellite whilst in orbit the classification of rock specimens using an x-ray spectrometer producing p'unched tnpe this will later be connected directly to a remote terminal and aircraft vibration analysis for sections of Concord lectadata reading device which produces punched tape containing all the necessary data identifying the book and the student who is hnrrowing It The same procedure is used to record the return of books Each day the punched tape is used to update the library records stored on the 1907 Thus up-to-date records are kept of issues returns reservations and renewals LIBRARY APPLICATIONS Among the general University organisation projects being run on the 1907 one of the more unusual applications is that of keeping a cornprohensive log of library issues From the store all library records and reader analyses can be obtained together with answers to requests about who is holding a particular book The Collectadata machine which is situated in the University library will Iater' be directly connected on-line to the 1907 Instead of adopting the normal practice of storing references to all library publications in the computer together with a student book allocation only records of those books out on loan need be held in store Southampton developed the special coding scheme that enabled this more economical procedure to be implemented The I C T 1907 comprises a central processor with a 32 K 2-microseconi core store a 300 c m card reader two 300 ch sec paper tape readers a 1350 line minute printer six 20-kc magnetic tape units on one control and three 4 million character exchangeable disk stores In addition there is a multiplexer with 15 remote terminals which are being located in various departments throughout the University Every student at the University is given an identity badge containing punched holes corresponding to his code number in the student records In the back of each library book Is a 6 S 1 Miscellaneous Remote Computing Usage -J Ulgaidis Mem rinl In tiute C olumbus Ohio 47201 The Colleg ý of Wooster Ohio and Battelle Memorial Institute will cooperate in a pilot program to determine to what extent a college can rely upon a remote computer to fill its research teaching and administrative needs of an agreemeni between Unds the two institutions Wooster will have leased telephone line access to a Control Data 6400 computer at Battelle 's Columbus Laboratories some 80 air miles southwest of the campus In addition there are provisions for an exchange of personnel between the campus and the research center for prcoramruing and instruction purposes Earlier this year Dr J Garber Drushal Acting President of the College of Wooster made an announcement of the plans then pending to the Wooster Board of Trustees He pointed to the urgent need to make available sophisticated and versatile computer services to students faculty researchers and administrators and he stressed that this should be done without the need of major capital investments for the small liberal arts colleges The College Trustees voted unanimous approval of the direction in which the college's administrators are moving Commenting on the agreement Wooster Vice-President Dr Hans H Jenny said that on a relatively modest cost-incurred basis the 1500-student college will have use of the largest and fastect computer in Ohio and one of the most advanced machines in the world In addl tion the college will be able to call upon the expertise of some 20 Battelle-Columbus computer specialists having an average of 7 years professional experience Michael Tlkson in charge of computation research at Battelle-Columbus praised Wooster for its pioneering initiative in computer education indicating the agreement with Wooster to needed the way could well point ton-campus computer education at awidespread reasonable cost This cooperative program he observed represents one attempt to answer the needs of colleges identified in a recent report prepared by a special White Huuse advisory panel convened to study computer education at the college level T e Panel report stated that In the field of scholarship and education there is hardly an area that is not now using digital computing Computing increases the quality and scope of education Panelists expressed the belief that the best and moat efficient computing is most likely to be obtained from large computing centers with the most modern equipment Further said the panelists it is highly desirable to provide service to colleges and secondary schools which may be tens or even hundreds of miles from the central computer Tikson indicated that Battelle-Columbus has held discussions with other colleges that are also exploring means for obtaining comnputer services This he said could lead to a large cooperative effort invulving Battelle and a group of colleges To implement the agreement between Wooster and Battelle the college is installing data transmission equipment and the research center is planning the addition of a multiplexer unit to channel incoming data into the computer The Battelle computer center represents an investment of over $2 000 000 and plans call for $1 000 000 worth of additional equipment to be installed over the next year The CDC 6400 system at Battelle-Columbus is capable of executing approximately 1 000 000 operations per second and can work simultaneously on several problems It has a 65 536 word memory each word made up of 60 bits The associated peripheral equipment includes a 75-million-character disk file for storing programs read from punched cards yo 1200card-per-minute readers six IBM compatible tape units two 1000 line-per-ni nut5 printers on-line printer aanpaper-tape one 500-line-per-minute point plotter for graphic outputs reader punch and two 250-card-per-minute punches 7_ Computerized I ibrury ILoun System ll'Pa I A A computer-aided library loan system that gives instart circulation information to librar- Nrh' I ubII utih the computer at Murray Hill about the availa- bility of book titles and made additions to the ians who are miles apart has been demonstrated at Bell Telephone Laboratories Called BELLREL _Bell Laboratories Library Real-time Loan the system permits more efficient pooling of book collections and provides borrowers with a faster more responsive loan service waiting lists In less than two seconds she received a response from the computer The answer was printed out at her typewriter terminal The system which will begin operation this month links via telephone lines the BTL Technical Information Libraries at Murray Hill Holmdel and Whippany New Jersey with a rpntral store of inforiiiiiaii Li a computer at Murray Hill The system facilitates the loan of library materials to any person from any library in the New Jersey network through the use of a card reading unit at the input terminal the system can handle all classes of library publications with or without the use of pre-punched book cards This flexibility also is available for recording borrower identification since two-thirds of the BTL library transactions are the remote kind in response to telephone or mailed requests For librarians the BELLREL System offers real-time immediate renponse handling of Information for loans returne renewals reservations and queries For example the circulation librarian can quickly determine the books already on loan to individuals or the place of a person on a waiting list In all 18 types of real-time questions or transactions can be handled Bell Telephone Laboratories has one of the largest technical library systems in private Industry with more than 100 000 bound volumes and subscriptions to thousands of periodicals Overnight processing on a batch basis is used for ready-to-mail overdue notices printed with all information including the borrower's address This eliminates hand processing of some 60 000 notices per year Batch processing also provides a number of records to aid library workers in determining the current status of books journals and other publications reading unit for reading punched book cards Each terminal also includes a keyboard similar to that of a typewriter in appearance for initiating questions recording transactions and automatically printing out answers from the computer Book and borrower data requiredfor Immediate Information retrieval is maintained in direct-access disk files Also a complete history of all transactions is recorded on magnetic tapes These provide library supervisors with statistics and other information necessary for analyzing the flow of library materials and the patterns of borrower demand The frequency of requests for a book help determine whether it shoilld be discarded or whether additional copies should be purchased Another feature of the system is the automatic chargeout of any returned item to the next borrower on the waiting lis When a book is returned the computer sends a message to the librarian instructing her where next to mall the book In a demonstration a loan clerk at the keyboard of an input terminal at Holmdel queried Because information can be recordedeither directly through the typewriter console or In the BELLREL System each library inltially will have two input terminals IBM 1050 Data Communlcations Systems Each input terminal includes a control unit and a card Messages from each input terminal are converted by a Western Electric 103A Data Set to pulses that can be transmitted over a telephone line At the other end of the line at the Murray Hill computer center a companion Data Set receives the message which is then converted to computer-compatible language through a IBM 2702 Transmission Control Unit An IBM 360-40 then processes and records the transaction Almost simultaneously the computer's response is transmitted back to the original input terminal The system was devised jointly by the library and the Comptroller's Division of Bell Laboratories The programs written by members of the Comptroller's Division are 32 real-time and 23 'batch programs consistingof approximately 10 000 computer statements The BELLREL System utilizes computermanaging software called Operating System 360 supplied by the manufacturer The program languages used are Common Business Oriented Language COBOL level F and Basis Assembly Language BAL New a mnplitcrized Bink Accounting M c t11Jla' The profile is possible through integrated computer fles which record each customer's diverse banking transactions under one major account number regardless of how many accounts are involved Two-digit suffixes added to the major number identify specific accounts With a small plastic card a Touch-Tone telephone and a computer with a voice a fant-growing bank u Chicagc 's south side has unlocked a new era in electronic banking for Illinois The 45-year-old Beverly Bank at 1357 West 103rd Street has now implemented the largest Touch-Tone card dialer computer syatern in the banking industry and the first such system installed by Illinois Pell Telephone in any bank according to Thomas V Markle the bank's president We believe we are the first to provide this total service approach On a customer's monthly staternent we not only will show the staLuu of all bank business but also itemize his checks by consecutive number to simplify balarcing his statement The system directly links son'e 140 TouchTone card dialer telephones in the Beverly Bank and its three client banks with an IBM 7770 audio response unit and an IBM 360 Model 40 We're alsc the first to have all customer records stored 'on-line ' or dirc'tly available to authorized bank tellers and officials via thl 'ard dialer telephone network This means that mustquestions on any aspect of a customer's business with the bank can be answered in less than a minute by calling the computer The systemn is purely custume r- oriented Mr Markle said To put Its advantages iii a nut shell It reduces delay It gives our staff more complete Wnuormnatlon about our customers' checking savings and loan accounts and does so twice as fast as was formerly possible nubr i rate countless pounds of reports that the comtht th t The Toch-Tone card dialer telephone sets used in the system are basically the same as those used by many businessmen who used the punched cards to dial frequently called phone numbers In Beverly's system however there Also since we're telephoning directly into the computer to get our information we elindnatecoutles ponds f rport 4 erl' ytihwvtee are eight Illinois Bell Data-Phone sets connect- con- ng the phones amid the IBM computer They puter used to print aeh day--a tiny step toward reducing the b ttions of documents hampering today's businessmen I guess you might say we're bringing the 'paperleus society' a bit closer translate the musical Touch-Tone signals into signals which the computer can accept Mr Markle said a customer cawhing a large check or making a specific inquiry about his account need no longer wait while the teller manually checks his records ized bank official has an assigned code number punched on a small plastic card which is his key to the computer-stored information Mr Cooper said the system in practicc works like this Each teller or other author- By Inserting this card In a slot In the Touch-Tone card dialer phone the caller Identifies himself as an authorized inquirer and gaini access to the computer system Rather he continued with the use of pre-punched plastic cards-one for the teller and one for the customer- the teller calls the computer on the card dialer telephone taps out the amount of the check on the Touch-Tone keyboard and gets a verbal answer to his inquiry In a matter of seconds Similarly each bank customer will have a card encoded with his account number If a customer comes In for instance to cash a personal check the teller inserts his own card to gain access and then inserts the customer card to identify the account about which he is inquiring Markle said that the acronym for this new electronic program is BASIS for Bank Automated Service Information System Will Cooper vice president and controller of the 104-million-dollar bank added that an equally significant part of BASIS is the development of the finanrcil profile statement which recaps a customer's total business with the bank Finally the teller taps out a code on the Touch-Tune push-buttons to indicate the specific Information he is seeking The computer working from the coded instrr' ilons looks up the required informa' ion in 9 ---- i the customer's files and then directs the audio response unit throuah the riaka-Phnn- Secondly each teller or other authorized Ly There is naturally some information that a bank officer can obtain which a teller has no need for If an employee mna cs an inquiry foi lidurtiaLin outside of his given field the computer will simply respond to his call wiLh the words 'invalid in- tint- - er and over the telephone to the teller The entire transaction is recorded by the computer rTe protess is similar for savings transactions and loan and mortgage payments The 7770 audio response unit has a recorded vo abulary of 04 words and numbers with capacity for nearly twice that amount The system is geared to handle up to 300 calls an hour quiry And third a customer's identification card also will have a security code which will allow access to his records only If he loses it he can notify the bank which will change his security code and render the lost card invalid Mr Cooper emphasized that elaborate safeguards have been designed to protect customer records from unauthorized access First of all he said the telephone network is purely internal within the Beverly Bank and the client banks No one from outside the banks can get into the network The three outlying banks presently sharing the telephone computer system are the GaryWheaton Bank Wheaton the Mount Greenwood Bank 3052 West 111th Street and the Riverdale Bank in Riverdale Plans call for a fourth bank the Alsip Bank in Alsip-presently under construction-to be added to the system later this year Cooper said And secondly unauthorized access by bank employees and the various banks Is prevented by the system Besides the customer's signature which wehave always used as our primary security chack we have three security levels which the computer is programmed to check The records of the various banks are stored in separate parts of an IBM 2314 direct access storage unit which is capable of storing up to 200 million characters of information Cooper points out that this is like storing all the information in seven-and-a-half big Chicago telephone books First each bank on the system is identifled by code Bank 'A' cannot have access to customer information of bank 'B' Computerized Clinic Scheduling 31 ihhl'n• Ilo'p1tr 11AIdi if Pt I j Ba lon lu x achuweltt 02115$ The Children's Hospital Medical Center announced in March that it has ins led a cornputer to handle scheduling for its 54 outpatient clinics and to help return the person-to-person touch to patient care The computer system was installed with a $668 621 grant from the U S Public Health Service scheduling can substantially improve patient care and the clinics' service to the community Our computer program may be the vehicle by which patients can be given the personal care they want and need Dr Leonard W Cronkhite Jr General Director at Children's said We believe it will let us give more comprehensive care in less time and at lowcr cost but most important perhaps it will help us reverse the trend of providing care in a cold impersonal manner The Children's Hospital Medical Center maintains the 54 outpatient clinics in its newly completed $4-million Fegan Memorial Outpatient Center Approximately 40 000 children make a total of 150 000 visits to these clinics each year That is 3 000 visits a week better than 500 a day We want to give each child visiting any of our clinics the same sort of individual care and direction he would receive from his private pediatrician Dr Cronkhite atressed When the Fegan Center was completed Children's used the grant to install a Honeywell Model 1200 computer system for a pilot study of computerized clinic scheduling Previously this had been done manually The federal grant covers a 3-year period Children's plans several experimems to determine if computer Traditionally outpatient clinics have operated on a first-come first-served basis with patients seeing whatever doctor happened to be free when their turns came up In addition because of the tremendous volume of patients us10 L II h 5 ing Children's clinics a child needing to be seen in more than one clinic because of his combination of ailments usually had to make repeated return visits Children's clinic appointment system has been ineffectual Dr Cronkhite said becaure there were so many patients and so many clinics 'We became mired in a paper swamp of and ineffectiveness and ended up wastfutility ing both patient and staff time The inefficiency has been -costly in terms of money to both the hospital and the patients' parents and in terms of medical care because there has not been sufficient continuity hospital hopes to solve these problems The ms p withe itsHoneywell Model 10 ompeutheser with its Honeywell Model 1200 computar system Connected to It are 12 cathode ray television - like terminals installed in the reception area of the outpatient building and on each clinic floor With the computer clinic personnal can almost instantly determine what appointment times are available in any of the 54 clinics and can offer the patient or parent a choice of available times for appointments Once a choice has been made the appointment is put into the computer and held along with other patients' appointments for the same clinic or clinics on the same date Several days before the appointment is due the computer types out a complete listing of patients and their appointment times This listing Dr Cronkhite explained goes to the medical records department which accumulates the patients' records and dispatches them to the proper clinic on the proper day Because the computer can store such a great amount of Information clinic personnel are now able to consolidate appointments for children who need to be seen in more than one clinic Prior to this time it was not unusual for a child and his parent to come to the hospital on one day for a visit to one clinic return the following week for a session in another clinic and then come back at least twice more for follow-up visits in the two clinics Through computer scheduling appointmF nts can be made in the two clinics for the same morning or afternoon cutting in half the number of visits required to the hospital The time and money saved for parent and child are considerable I- In the months ahead as additional programs are written for the computer clinic clerks will be able to schedule appointments with specific doctors for patients Presently a patient may be handled by a different doctor at ach visit This not only extends the time needed for treatment since the doctor must thoroughly familiarize himself with the patient's record but the patient feels there is no personal contact As much as possible in the future Dr Cronkhite said the patient will see the same doctor every time he comes to the clinic This places the responsibility of care upon one physician's shoulders The patient feels he belongs to this doctor not to the institution He gets a medical traffic cop to guide his care from one speciality clinic to another and to maintain a personal management of the patient Children's will use the computer for studies in several areas of hospital management One has to do with the high number of unkept clinic appointments This runs from 20 to 40 percent at Children's clinics compared to 3 to 5 percent in a private physician's office We feel Dr Cronkhite explained that an analysis of data may explain why this happens Perhaps there's something wrong in the clinic The computer alsi will have the ability to print out reminder cards to be mailed to par ents a week or so before the scheduled visit In of chiladdition it will be able to provide lists such as dren needing routine preventive care vaccinations at specific times enabling the hospital to contact the parents with reminders We have great expectations for this sysmtem Dr Cronkhite said We believe it will reduce costs both to the patient and to the hospital will provide better staff utilization perthe nmperpitalnwilliprovidebette mit continuity of care reduce the number of cut down episode medical visits required per patient waiting time and help us have fewer no-shows at clinics But of greatest importance perhaps as a result of all these advantages we will be able to treat all patients with the privacy and dignity they deserve We want to be able to say to every patient rich or poor 'Your child is getting the best medical treatment obtainable You cannot buy better at any price ' The system consists of a central processor with a memory capacity of 65 536 characters 12 cathode ray tube CRT terminals with input 11 - - - keyboards three teletype printers one highspeed 650- line-per-minute printer three online disk pack drives with memory capacities u 2 ziiiiun characters each four magnetic tape drives an 800-card-per-minute card reader and a card punch At the end of each clinic day the computer is put to work on several housekeeping chores using the high-seed nrintar and maet tapes First it makes a printout of an alphabetical master log listing all patients who have appointments on the next day Thin Is for the clerk at the main reception desk un the street floor Second the computer makes a printout especially for each clinic operating the next day This contains the child's name in his proper appointment slot and any specific instructions for the doctor or nurse Third a list is prepared showing appointments two days in advance of the clinic This list is used by the medical records library for pulling records The records are shipped by conveyor belt to the proper floor The CRT devices are in various reception areas and administrative offices in the 11-story Fegan building One of the teletype printers will be in the medical records library when it is completed currently this printer is in the computer room The other teletypes run parallel In case one should breakdown are in the main reception room These are used to prepare bard copy material such as changes in patient identification The Fegan Building was designed with the child in mind It has a main reception area on the street floor that guides the patient flow and out of the building In addition each of in the 11 floors has its reception area These areas are as cheery airy and child-oriented as cushpossible There are comfortable chairs with TYPICAL OPERATION appointed day the clerk at the main reception desk checks off his name against the master log desecks the floor After mAsterthe log and sends himhim to thensproper examination subsequent appointments are ncheduled on the clinic floor in the method described earlier ions not long wooden benches Colors are bright and there are such things as blackboards for the children to scribble on A principal function of the computer as a scheduling tool is In maintaining an index file on patients who are actively using the clinic This is a 200-character locator file containing the patient's medical record number name birth date sex religion and such information as his financial category and appointment record The child's contact with the computer is limited for the most part to the CRT units The CRT looks like his television set at home except that it displays green writing instead of pictures On one of the clinic floors a clerk made the CRT even more familiar for the children by fashioning a paper flower and sticking it on top of the unit A child's name gets into the computer in any one of several ways One would be referral to the clinic by his doctor The basic information is sent to the clinic from the doctor's office on a form A clerk uses this data and the keyboard of the CRT unit to create the index record DATA KEPT UP TO DATE The computer with its great speed keeps all the data a clerk needs for scheduling up to date minute to minute The CRT units make this information immediately available throughout the clinic building Now a clerk in the orthopedic clinic on the second floor does not need to waste time on a telephone contacting the surgical clinic on the third floo to see if an appointment can be made for a child She merely presses a command button on the console of the CRT units for the next scheduled dates of the surgical clinic The CRT within seconds displays the next 40 dates The clerk selects the day convenient for the patient and the CRT displays all the unbooked time slots available in the surgical clinic that day The clerk keys the patient's medical record number and the des red time slot and transmits this to the computer And the appointment is made The CRT has an input keyboard with numeral and letter keys and a row of command function buttons To begin an index record the clerk presses a button marked admit and then types in all the data she has on the patient This appears on the CRT as she types it Next she presses the transmit button The computer accepts the data and displays it back on the CRT supplying a record number which now becomes a permanent part of the patient's i le When the child and parent appear on clinic day and are able to be interviewed the clerk presses the inquiry button and the proper record number The child's file is displayed on the CRT with blanks where Information may 12 • Si z a kihg The cierk presses the Update -o - its index records on disk pack figuring roughly command button and fills In the blanks Once the file Is complete and the clerk has visually chucked it for accuracy she again presses the transmit button 30 000 records per pack Additional data on patients primarily for accounting and billing will be kept off-line on magnetic tape The Input-output terminals are connected to the computer by cable When the 'transmit button of the CRT unit it activated the data goes into the central processor If the computer already Is doing a Job it goes Into an interrupt accepts the new data stores It In the buffer zone and then completes its current job Then It takes the new Job out of the buffer and does it Normally there is a wait of several seconds between pressing the transmit button on the CRT keyboard and getting the completed job displayed back on the tube NINE ON-LINE FUNCTIONS APPLICATIONS JUST BEGUN Children's will have nine on-line functions programmed for the CRT units These are admit update make an appointment cancel an apnointment cancel a clinic session inquiry mi dical record request attendance and schedule change The computer is newly installed and the applications have just begun The principal obJective is to make the mechanics of scheduling so quick and simple that a clinic can run on the same orderly appointment system an the office of a private physician Each of the CRT units has direct access online to the computer Children's controls what goes into the computer In several ways For example the function of the various CRT units is limited An index record can be created only at the main reception desk A change in medical records number can be made in the medical records library Also any change to the basic information on the index record number name age sex is automatically listed on the teletype printers In the future Children's plans to link its currently Installed computer to another Honeywell Model 1200 computer system to be installed later this year Together the computers will be designed to develop a total information system integrating all the hospital's medical statistical and financial data Children's plans to have one computer handling on-line clinic scheduling and hospital bed control Children's has 350 beds The second machine in addition tv providing backup to the first will process batch accounting administrative and statistical data If there has been an error in entering the date the computer will not accept the error line and will note at the bottom of the CRT error in line 2 sO that a correction may be made So far Children's has written 38 batch programs for such things as reports and file maintenance and several subprograms for the nine command functions All are In the Easycoder assembly language Children's plans to keep The Model 1200 to be installed later this year will replace an existing IBM 360 30 Accredited Computer Aided Course TIqa ld 'r Fri -i sized however that the CAI experiment was carefully controlled and that the effects on student performance are still being analyzed Twenty-three Florida State University freshmen learned physics from a computer see DCN April 1968 during the fall quarter and made better grades than other students taking the same course In lecture classes Dr Hansen in a report to the American Educational Research Association said the CAI physics course has shown the power to produce effects in terms of conceptual understanding Dr Duncan Hansen Director of Florida State's Computer-Assisted Instruction Center said students in the experimental course conducted under a U S Office of Education grant had an abnormally high scoring average in relation to lecture-room classes He empha- The physics project believed to be the first accredited undergraduate college course fully taught by computer was designed by Florida 13 State to examine student reaction and to measure the effectiveness of the computer against the lecture method of tanchlna' puter allowed them to come and go as they pleased He said one of the students in the course played football He didn't come to the center regu'arLy during the football season Dr Hansen said But unlike missing a lecture class which cannot be made up he worked overtime after the season ended and passed the course The Florida State computer an IBM 1500 instructional system is programmed to teach a group of students individually and at the pace each person desires to proceed AlU students in the experimental physics class were required to complete 29 1-hour lessons the same number given In classroom lectures Dr Hansen said teaching by computer ap- The computer presented about 50 percent of the course material and students obtained the rest from reference material and audiovisual aids assigned by the compu±ter along with homework parently met an easy reception among freshmen All the students were very positive to the course he said Students felt they had greater freedom a greater opportunity to learn and they felt they were learning more Eleven of the 23 in the computer course received a grade of A for the quarter virtually reversing the typical grading curve for a college course Of the remaining 12 six had B's and six received C's And they made better grades which was surprising to us We didn't expect them to score better They are no brighter than other students With some revisions the physics course will be offered again in the spring quarter with a greater number of students participating 'We shouldn't have any trouble getting volunteers Dr Dick said The word apparently has gotten out about the grades We're getting calls every day from students asking about the course Dr Walter Dick associate director of the CAI Center said the normal grading curve for 23 students in a lecture class would be three A's seven B's and 13 C's Dr Hansen said the experimental class students were volunteers and represented a cross-section of freshmen at Florida State Thirty students enrolled for the course but seven dropped out because of scheduling conflicts Dr Hansen said the experiment also has stirred the interest of colleges and universities throughout the country We're getting all kinds of requests for the CAI program he said But it's not ready yet to put in a package and mail The students used and appreciated the flexibility of the course he said The corn- GE Time Sharing for France General Electric New York New York 10022 General Electric extended its growing world-wide computer time-sharing service to the continent of Europe by announcing the first time-sharing center of its kind In Paris France already In wide use throughout the United States Cost of the service varies with use but can run under 1900 francs $400 a month including terminal and telephone line charges Bull-General Electric GE's French cormputer affiliate will put the advanced computer center into operation early in 1968 said J Stanford Smith Vice President and General Manager of GE 's Information Systems Division Service will be provided to Paris-area users initially although Bull-General Electric is studying ways to expand the service to other areas in France in the future Mr Smith said Anyone in Paris with a telephone can have instant access to a computer's problem-solving powers by next January Mr Smith stated De La Rue Bull Machines Ltd GE's cornputer marketing affiliate in England introduced the first time-sharing computer service in Europe last August when it inaugurated its center in London to serve customers throughout the United Kingdom The new French service wIll be built around the very successful GE time-sharing computer 14 I7 t A- Our eipr'ioneai n W ulano hem A4 c--- strated the great unsatisfied demand for this unique toolthrotighotit among businessmen engineers and scientists Europe M r Smith amid for a solution The Paris time-sharing center is a second step toward meeting this European demand he emphasized access to a computer whenever he needs it without leaving his office home or laboratory Although many others may also be using the same computer the system's response in so fast that each person has the feel of an entire machine to himself Now €c- h p-cr-on has direct ard Immediate Users of the Paris center will have the pick of a library of 250 computer application programs developed out of General Electric's experience in the United States Mr Smith pointed out Language will not be a problem he said since GE has developed a machine translator for turning its library programs into French By conversing with the computer in a simple language learned within a few hours computer laymen gain the answers they need without standing in line Because of this rapid and direct dialog with the computer new and different problems can be tackled by the machine thus enlarging its usefulness beyond traditional applications General Electric time-sharing centers now serve every major metropolitan area in the United States and one center in Canada making it the leading supplier of the service in the Western Hemisphere As a result the time-sharing computer has become a powerful tool in boosting the professional productivity of thousands of businessmen engineers scientists students and economists in their own fields of work Until the advent of time-sharing a man with a problem had to take it to a computer in a The Generation and Use of Reference Data 1t'a hdigl I C 21121LI To solve technical problems scientists engineers and technologists require a great tiflc literature In compiling scientific data for references the initial selection process is a deal of technical information or data Some data are specific to a problem as the amount of water needed to supply a plant Other data are not for example the density of water or the strengths of materials used in the supply tank Data of the latter type refer either to intrinsic properties of matter or to uniformly controlled properties of commercial materials As these data do not change from problem to problem they can be used and re-used Thus it is desirable to collect them for ready reference task of considerable magnitude Usually the publications of one of the various abstracting services are employed in the selection process For an area of any scope at all such compilation requires the selection of a few hundred individual reports for in-depth scanning from a field of several thousand For major areas both the number of papers selected and the number available may be 10 times as large Additional scanning will probably show that only about half of the selected reports contain pertinent data Because these data result from different experiments and different methods of approach they contain variations caused by random fluctuation during the experiments and systematic differences caused by the different methods To decide what value or average of values represents the closest approach to the inherent property desired requires a high level of knowledge of experimental methods and of the background of theory underlying the meas urements as well as sound judgment It must be emphasized that critical evaluation of the data in an area is a task of sizable and rapidly increasing proportions which requires a high level of competence Measurement of an intrinsic property of a pure material Is usually thought of as a scientific measurement while measurement of a technologically important property of a material or manufactured item is usually thought of as an engineering measurement Although there is much overlap and no clearcut separation is possible a qualitative distinction between scientific and engineering data is valuable because the two types of data are usually generated in different ways and appear in different places Scientific data are the results of experimental measurements and appear in the scien- • 5 - The number of scientists engineers and technicians in the world is at an all-time high rapidiy Ai ihe same time - la • the variety of types of problems being treated in a technical manner is also increasing so that there Is a cuuthiued demand for technical personnel Engineering data are found in company and Government reports technical sales literature # - il and anacif teu inn as• wall nals The methods of measurement tend to be highly specified and standardized The standardization usually results from the deliberations of groups of experts acting under the sponsorship of some engineering society Larger variations in structure and composition from sample to sample make intercomparison of data between samples less meaningful Thus more emphasis must be placed on the design of the measurement method so that it will reflect a technically meaningful set of properties Science and technology are advancing rapidly not only by expansion of their existing borders but also by intensive investigation within these borders which results in a proliferation of fields This increased technical activity produces an exponential growth of the technical and scientific literature and hence of the data contained in it Approximate figures for the years 1900 and 1950 and extrapolated figures for the year 2000 show this growth in terms of scientific journals and papers The need for technical competence in the compilation of both categories of data is recognized by the scientists and engineers and a good job of critical evaluation is accepted as a technical contribution Basically compilation and evaluation are technical functions of a high order and therefore are usually dose as projects by workers carrying on a full spectrum of technical activities There are few full-time data evaluators and they must keep in close contact with other types of scientific and technical work to maintain the competence which was a prerequisite far good critical evaluation in the first place Thus the evaluation of data is embedded in the matrix of technical activity and generally be separated from it except on cannot a project basis Papers Journals Date 1900 1 000 100 000 1950 2000 3 000 10 000 300 000 1 900 000 The rising need for critical evaluation cannot be attributed solely to increases in the number of technical personnel and volume of data As more complex and sophisticated problems are attacked and as theoretical insight pene- The utilization of reference data is at least of techseparate from the matrix as difficult to as surveys t nical activity their generationl generation Suapaveytes actvit thei have shown that chemists and physicists spend time onorscienof one-third of theirwriting an t ifcaverage communication-reading talk- trates deeper the standards of quality for acof unandIncreases the tolerance data increaseThis ceptable the demands certainty decreases thortsa onal on the theoretical and statistical capabilities of evaluators In addition as data from widely dlvergent fields are used together they must be tommuniiaornn-basisnginwtermsgofodetalconertbl convertible to a uniform basis in terms of definition These data must also be consistent in the sense that no cumulative chains of error can occur during use which would lead to large errors in derived quantities The increasing need Involves quality as well as variety ing about scientific matters No other category of professional activity occupied as much of their time Scientific communication did not include business communication which was a separate category in the surveys It Is probable that technical people in general spend more time on scientific communication than on any other single activity From the nature of scientists' activities the search for data evideptly occupies an Important if unspeQfied portion of this time The value of standard reference data is very difficult to determine in terms of the actual investment of time in using such data in search for it or in evaluatir 3 data in the absence of standard reference data although the dataindications is neces- of reference and use ofSome need indirect extensive sarilyfor An operation research study of the dissernination and use of recorded scientific information indicatin salyextenave Someiect of value are available however and certain direct by Operations Research Group Case Institute of Technology Report to Office of Scientific Information National Science Foundation Grant No G-8434 Dec 1960 benefits resulting from the use of stauldard reference data can be identified and in some cases evaluated quantitatively tAn operations research study of the scientific activity of chemists by Operations Research Group Case Institute of Technology Nov 1958 SD J de Solla Price A Calculus of Science Internatl Sci Technol No 15 37 Mar 1963 16 h k II Five categories of direct benefits which -- t rwiii tav amilvw iuuiy vi aiandard reierence data are I Saving of otherwise necessary search and evaluation costs 2 Avoiding the cost of unknowingly duplicating previously completed experiments 3 Minimizing overdesign 4 Avoiding incorrect decisions based on incomplete knowledge of the existing data 5 More accurate assessment of needs in allocating funds as a result of more accurate understanding of the range and quality of existing data The costs of experimental measurements are such that except for rare cases when the sample material is already available and the apparatus set up it is preferable to try to find data In the literature rather than to measure them again As a result the worker needing data is faced with roughly the same task as the compiler and must make a literature search Since the costs of doing this can be estimated the first category is susceptible to quantitative evaluation An Incomplete negative search can lead to an unknowing unnecessary duplication of effort It might also be noted that there is no clearcut measure of completeness That such duilications occur is well known but difficult to docu ment since there is no natural source for publishing such experiences In any design safety factors are introduced to allow for lack of adequate knowledge By their nature these safety factor@ add to the cost of the item being designed so that the cost can be reduced as more reliance can be put on the data used in the designs Again examples of overdesign resulting from inadequate knowledge of the data are not publicized Incorrect decisons based on incomplete data are not generally publicized either Although the fifth category is difficult to evaluate quantitatively its importance in an era of increasing competition for funds is obvious It should be noted that the evaluation process which involves a complete evaluation of all possible experimental sources of variability provides a set of standards for measurements of the highest reliability This set of standards can then be used by experimental workers to ensure that their measurements are properly controlled and properly reported - Thus the process of critical evaluation acts not only to indicate gaps in the literature but also to set standards for future measurements Computer Dispatching of Police Cars NewU ork 0INi Pofirr I•'r'•m 'rnirn V'eU'F'wh New V h New York City has awarded a $4 7-million contract to International Business Machines Corporation for the development of a computerbased system that will dispatch police cars to scenes of emergencies seconds after they are reported Named SPRINT-Special Police Radio Inquiry NeTwork-by the Police Department the new system will cut response time to calls for police assistance to a minimum A call for police assistance will be handled like this The officer receiving the call presses keys on his terminal to Identify the borough location and type of incident After checking a display of this data on his screen he transmits it to the computer by touching another key The computer checks the data and informs the officer of errors such as a non-existent address by flashing a message on the terminal screen It then searches an electronic location file and determines the block number precinct nearest intersection and nearest hospital This information along with the numbers of three available patrol cars is flashed to the appropriate one of several additional terminals manned by radio dispatchers each of whom covers a specific area of the city The dispatcher then orders a car to the scene inform- When the new net'work is fully installed in 1969 all emergency calls will be handled through a central police communications bureau Now calls are routed to bureaus in each of the five boroughs At the central bureau police officers will man special display terminals equipped with TV-like screens and keyboards and connected by communications lines to an IBM System 360 Model 40 17 U therd board ' i -- •u1 puie wiu aieer oureau personnel by flashing messages on terminal screens The computer wiUl maintain a continuous electronic inventory of the availability of cars on the streets In critical situations such as those involving many calls or if the number of available cars falls below a certain point the With SPRINT police officers throughout the city will also be able to radio in vehicle license numbers for immediate checking against the computer's file of stolen vehicles Hidden Line Problem in Computer Graphics New Y'ot Viiniz rty 'NewFork Ne' Vwk 1000 The knotty hidden line problem in cornputer graphics has been solved with elegance several minutes of computer calculation making them expensive and of little use with fast on- by a graduate student in electrical engineering at the New York University Schuol of Engineering and Science line cathode ray tube display equipment Mr Loutrel cut the calculation time from minutes to seconds by devising techniques that classify and immediately eliminate most of the totally invisible edges and then minimize the testing necessary to identify the remaining hidden edges The technique may be fast enough to make possible the elimination of hidden lines in drawings of -D objects displayed In continuous or near-continuous motion on cathode ray tubes The problem is that of programming a computer to generate perspective drawings of three-dimensional objects and then identify and if desired eliminate any edges not visible from a specified vantage point The solution is an efficient prio dure that enables a computer in just seconds to generate line drawings of any polyhedron any solid object with straight-line edges and flat faces with the hidden lines either deleted or shown by dashes Mr Loutrel also extended his technique to handle complex illumination problems With information on the location of the light source and observation point in relation to a 3-D object It enables computers to calculate what lighted faces of the object would be visible to the observer Phillipe Loutrel a Ph D candidate from Paris achieved what his faculty adviser describes as an elegant efficient solution in work for his doctoral dissertation The adviser Frof Herbert Freeman said it is a major improvement over earlier procedures that relied more on brute forze The technique gives designers and architects the ability to produce in seconds realistic line drawings of objects such as buildings without the confusion of unwanted lines By means of simple computer instructions operators can alter the drawings look at them from any angle and study them under the effect of lighting from any angle I don't expect much improvement on Mr Loutrel's technique for some time to come he said Architects engineers and designers of all types make extenelve use of computer graphics to visualize alter and manipulate perspectives of real or proposed 3-D objects A drawback until Loutrel's development however has been that the drawings are cluttered and confused by lines representing hidden back edges that should not be seen Mr Loutrel who has returned to France received his Ph D in electrical engineering in February He received a masters degree in the same field from NYU in 1964 and was graduated from the Ecole Supdrieure d'Electicit6 in Paris in 1963 His research sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is described in the NYU School of Engineering and Science Technical Report 400-167 The mathematics involved in developing efficient procedures for directing a computer to calculate and eliminate hidden lines has been a formidable obstacle Earlier solutions r luired 18 On-Line Electrocardiograms lflZ'flsub i ouliwr Cutijfm'ni4 - ngdeu di otnual 91 NiO7 p SIbus FoV thIe fIIst Unhe he University of Call- currence of change and to begin Immediately to fornia's School of Medicine is using an on-line Scomputer to perform continuous monitoring of record and study the new signal If the signal exceeds established maximum or minimum values the computer will sound an alarm The the electrocardiograms of patients In a coro- nary care unit system can relieve the nurse from continuous observation of the oscilloscopes so that she is free to carry out her other duties Dr Haywood noted According to Dr L Julia Haywood assoelate professor of medicine and director of the unit located at Los Angeles County General Hospital the high-speed computer is prograwmed to monitor ECG recordings of patients in the four-bed coronary care center for 'ossible disturbances in heart rhythms whh would require prompt action by medical personnel The obvious value of a computer evaluation is the rapidity with which Information can be made available he said The computer can describe any distinctive change In any of the components of an individual cycle and it scans the ECG on all four patients simultaneously Improved patient care is implicit in this monitoring system since the greatest single determinant of survival following an acute heart attack is the detection of potentially dangerous rhythm variances which require prompt active or preventive therapy the USC cardiologist added The computer is not responsible for making decisions about patient care Dr Haywood said It does however serve as a reliable method for rapid detection of arrhythmias The USC cardiologist said use of the computer will supplement the present system of surveillance provided by oscilloscopes mounted at each bedside Sensing devices taped to the patient's body record the electrical impulses of the heart on these bedside units as well as on four oscilloscopes at the nurses' station centrally located in the unit and on a four-patient iuontrol unit in an adjacent doctor's room The computer's accuracy can be checked by calling for simultaneous print-outs of the numbers it has established for all cojnponents and for the ECG tracing and then comparing the two The Control Data Corporation Model 1700 digital computer which has a 16 000 word core memory can also provide a table of numbers describing each ECG a curve plot of the distribution of the numbers and a record of the original cycle A single electrocardiogram lead from each patient is fed to the computer Initially the computer scans the ECG for a repetitive sequence of electrical activity preceding the active beating of the heart From this wave form reference points are found which the computer times measures and converts to numerical values Thereafter each component wave in the cycle is similarly measured and recorded and parameters determined for continuous comparison The County Hospital-USC coronary care unit was established a year ago under grants from the U S Public Health Service and the Los Angeles County Heart Association It has beconic a center for training nurses and physiclans in the use of specialized equipment and in routine and emergency procedures authorized for the care of patients with heart diseases Over 60 nurses from approximately 25 hospitals have completed the course and a total of 212 patients with heart disorders have been treated in the four-bed unit during the pault year Monitoring consists of comparing each consecutive sequence to previous cycle averages If the signal from the ECG changes the computer is programmed to recognize the oc- 19 I