MRI

Scanning Using MRI Machine

 Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a relatively new technology first developed by the Dr. Raymond Damadian, a Physician and scientist at the University of Nottingham, England in 1973. In clinical practice MRI is used to distinguish pathologic tissue from normal tissue. It uses strong magnetic fields and non ionizing radiation in the radio frequency range unlike CT scan and traditional X-rays which use ionizing radiation so MRI is more harmless to the patient.

MRI Scan of Human Brain

        While forming the 3-D image of internal body structure the damaged tissue tends to develop edema which makes a T₂  weighted sequence sensitive for pathology, and generally able to distinguish pathologic tissue from normal tissue. A common MRI test consists of 5-20 sequences, each of which are chosen to provide a particular information about the subject tissue. This causes the nuclei to produce a rotating magnetic field detectable by the scanner and the information is recorded to construct an image of the scanned area of the body. 3-D spatial information is obtained by providing magnetic field gradients in each direction. MRI provides good contrast between the different soft tissues of the body, due to which MRI technology is more useful in imaging the brain, muscles, heart and cancers. When a person is inside the MRI scanner the body becomes aligned with the direction of field. At the same time a radio frequency transmitter is turned on which produces more varying electromagnetic field. After the field is turned off, those protons which absorbed energy revert back to the original lower energy spin down state. As hydrogen dipole has two spins they release the difference in energy as photon which is detected by the scanner electromagnetic signals and in this way nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is used for imaging.

        In just a few decades the use of MRI scanners has grown tremendously. Now the doctors may order MRi scan to help diagnose multiple sclerosis, brain tumors, torn ligaments, tendonitis and many other disorders. An MRI scan is the best way to see inside the human body without cutting it open.

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CT-Scan

Computerized axial tomography is more commonly known by its abbreviated names, CT scanner or CAT scan. It uses X-rays to make detailed cross sectional images of structures inside the body. This revolutionary scanner machine was discovered independently by a British engineer named Sir Godfrey Hounsfield and Dr. Alan Cormak in 1974. It has become a mainstay for diagnosing medical diseases. It was invented to overcome the limitations of X-ray machines. The CT scan show doctors small nodules or tumors, which they can't see on an X-ray.

          CT scans are frequently used to evaluate the brain, neck, spine, chest, abdomen, pelvis and sinuses. CT has revolutionized medicine because it allows doctor to see diseases that in the past could often only be found on surgery. It is safe, painless and well-tolerated. MRI and CT do quite similar job. MRI uses a magnetic field and radio waves to produce images while CT uses X-rays to produce images. A head or brain CT examines the various structures of the brain to look for a mass, stroke, area of bleeding or blood vessels abnormality. A CAT or CT scan machine forms a full three dimensional model of a patient's internal body. 

This machine takes the conventional X-ray imaging to a new level. The electromagnetic energy X-rays, produced by CT are the light waves with high energy. Here the X-ray beam moves all around the patient, scanning from hundred of different angles. The computer takes all these information and puts together a 3-D image of the body.

 Scanning Procedure:

          The CT scanner looks like a giant doughnut tipped on its side. Patient lies down a platform, which slowly moves through the hole in the machine. The CT scanner sends X-rays through the body area being studied. Each rotation of a scanner takes less than one second. All the pictures taken are saved as a group on a computer.

          Not only to detect the abnormality inside body but CT may also be used to guide a needle during a tissue biopsy or to guide the proper placement of a needle to drain an abscess. Nowadays CT scanners are available with more advanced technology and become a basic instrument in any hospitals or clinics.     

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Telecommunication

Telecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded drumbeats, lung-blown horns, or sent by loud whistles, for example. In the modern age of electricity and electronics, telecommunications now also includes the use of electrical devices such as telegraphs, telephones, and teletypes, the use of radio and microwave communications, as well as fiber optics and their associated electronics, plus the use of the orbiting satellites and the Internet.      Telecommunication system made the human life more worthful. It has too many advantages. Telecommunications play an important role in the world economy and the worldwide telecommunication industry's revenue was estimated to be $3.85 trillion in 2008.The service revenue of the global telecommunications industry was estimated to be $1.7 trillion in 2008, and is expected to touch $2.7 trillion by 2013.

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Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence, the intelligence of machine &the branch of computer science that aims to create it.  It is also the study and design of intelligent agents, where intelligent agent means a system that perceives its environment &takes action that maximizes its chance of success. John Mc Carthy who coined the term AI defines the AI as “The science & engineering of making intelligent machines.”
 

 Artificial intelligence is the combination of computer science, philosophy & physiology. Artificial intelligence has been subject of optimism, but has also suffers setbacks & today has become an essential part of technology industry, providing the heavy lifting for many most difficult problems in computer science. AI in the broadest sense indicates the ability of an artefact to perform the same kind of functions that characterize human thought.

 Game playing, speech recognition, understanding natural language, computer vision, automated planning and scheduling and robotics are the main applications of artificial intelligence.

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Video Conferencing

Video Conferencing

Video conferencing is a set of interactive telecommunication technologies which allow two or more locations to interact through two ways video and audio transmission simultaneously. It has also been called visual collaboration & is a type of group ware. Video conferencing differs from video phone calls in that it’s designed to serve a conference rather than individuals. It is an intermediate form of video telephony first developed by AT&T during early 1970 using the picture phone technology. The use of video conferencing facilitates for the conversation between two people in private offices or more than two people in larger room at different sites. Besides the audio & video transmission of meeting activities, video conferencing can be used to share documents, computer displayed information & white board.

 

Video conferencing has more impact in different discipline. Videoconferencing provides students with the opportunity to learn by participating in two-way communication forums. Furthermore, teachers and lecturers worldwide can be brought to remote or otherwise isolated educational facilities. In this way a student from remote area or any place of the world can get knowledge information from any place in the world.

 Videoconferencing is a highly useful technology for real-time telemedicine and telenursing applications, such as diagnosis, consulting, transmission of medical images, etc... With videoconferencing, patients may contact nurses and physicians in emergency or routine situations; physicians and other paramedical professionals can discuss cases across large distances. Rural areas can use this technology for diagnostic purposes, thus saving lives and making more efficient use of health care money.

Video conferencing can enable distant persons to participate in business meetings on short notice with time and money savings.  Videoconferencing is also currently being introduced on online networking websites, in order to help businesses form profitable relationships quickly and efficiently without leaving their place of work.

Press videoconferencing permits international press conferences via videoconferencing over the Internet. Journalists can participate on an international press conference from any location, without leaving their offices or countries. They need only be seated by a computer connected to the Internet in order to ask their questions to the speaker.

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Origination of International Space Station

     The International Space Station is the synthesis  of several space station projects that includes the American Freedom, the Soviet/Russian Mir-2, the European Columbus and the Japanese Kibō that originates during  Cold War. After the failure of the NASA’s freedom, soviet’s Mir-2 as replacement for Mir because of budjeting. At the same time similar budgetary difficulties were faced by other nations with space station projects, which prompted the American government to negotiate with European states, Russia, Japan, and Canada in the early 1990s to begin a collaborative project. As a result  American president George H. W. Bush and Russian president Boris Yeltsin agreed to cooperate on space exploration in 1992. In September 1993, American Vice-President Al Gore Jr, and Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin announced plans for a new space station, which eventually became the International Space Station.The International Space Station program combined the proposed space stations of all participant agencies: NASA's Freedom, the RSA's Mir-2 (with DOS-8 later becoming Zvezda), ESA's Columbus, and the Japanese Kibō laboratory. When the first module, Zarya, was launched in 1998, the station was expected to be completed by 2003. Delays have led to a revised estimated completion date of 2011.

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