The Cutting Edge: Computing / Technology / Innovation : Sensor May Be the Sushi Solution

Sushi sensor: Concern over complaints about illnesses related to eating raw seafood have spurred University of Alaska, Fairbanks, scientists to developing a way to detect parasites that occur naturally in fish. The parasites are not usually harmful in well-cooked fish, but they cause problems when fish is eaten raw or underdone.

The parasites are small and extremely difficult to see. Typically, they are found by shining a bright light on a fillet. They show up as dark spots against the bright background and are removed by hand. This labor-intensive process can account for half the cost of producing a fillet. The University’s patented technology uses an electronic sensor that takes advantage of the natural ability of fish flesh to conduct electricity. Since a typical cod fillet, for example, is many times better at conducting electricity than parasites are, the parasites show up as voids in the magnetic field. The sensor has been tested only on cod and pollock, but it may prove helpful with salmon, whose opaque meat makes the parasites difficult to distinguish.

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Bring up the chart: Anyone who has been shuttled from medical specialist to medical specialist will appreciate the problem of making sure the records make the trip as well. First Data Corp., which already processes information for the credit card, consumer funds transfer, mutual funds, receivables management and cable television industries, thinks it has the answer with its First Empower database for patient information.

First Data’s Health System Group, based in Charlotte, N.C., designed First Empower to handle not only text, but voices and images as well. This multimedia capability allows the database to contain not only text, but radiology, ultrasound and arteriogram images; patient photographs, and on-line voice annotation. The display system resembles a typical medical chart. All the doctor has to do is click on one of the “tabs” to bring up lab test and radiology results, past orders and the like.

First Data, aware of fears that privacy could be compromised, says it is taking elaborate measures to make sure medical records go only to those authorized to receive them, and it is taking extra steps on issues such as HIV status and pregnancy. First Empower is being tested at several hospitals in the East.

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High-tech diapers: If you thought supercomputers were only used for modeling complex phenomena such as weather patterns or molecular structures, think again. Dow Chemical used a Cray-2 supercomputer at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a high-performance Silicon Graphics workstation to test a design for an improved disposable diaper. The design in question uses Dow’s Drytech super-absorbent polymer particles distributed in a fluff pad.

Much as computers can visualize storms, the numerical results of the diaper tests over time were converted into images and animated to show researchers just what happens inside a baby diaper. The Dow visualizations showed the concentration of liquid and its motion over a period of time (12 seconds) using color codes ranging from violet (wet) to brown (dry). The polymer particles were represented as spheres. As the liquid hit the particles, the violet turned brown, so researchers knew that a diaper design for drier bottoms was achieved. No word yet from any babies.

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Virtual access: If virtual reality technology can train airplane pilots, can it also help firms determine whether their facilities are accessible by wheelchair?

While VR equipment is still expensive and often unwieldy, such applications are beginning to emerge. Chicago-based Prairie Virtual Systems Corp. has already developed a program to help architects design wheelchair-friendly buildings. The program lets the user experience a virtual environment from the perspective of a person in a wheelchair. Do doors open correctly? Are sinks at the right height? The program was used last summer to test plans for a hospital in Aurora, Ill., where architects found the sinks protruded too far.

These questions will be discussed at the annual “Virtual Reality and Disabilities” conference, sponsored by the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers and Cal State Northridge’s Center on Disabilities. It is set for June 8-10 at the San Francisco Airport Marriott Hotel.