Computer — Personal Review

This little story contains mainly my personal recollection about how the computational chemistry project in the Lilly Research Laboratories began. An advantage of living longer than one s contemporaries is that there is no one around among the early participants to contradict my reminiscences. A more comprehensive history of this discipline may be found in the Bolcer and Hermann chapter in Reviews of Computational Chemistry [11]. I shall confine this commentary to what I remember about my own involvement. 

The telemedicine-based evaluation of acute stroke is especially challenging. It requires a rapid neurological assessment, CT image acquisition and review, and a detailed history for rt-PA exclusion criteria. Low-cost teleradiology systems are now available for the transmission of compressed CT images viewable on a conventional personal computer (PC) monitor, in accordance with published standards. 

Scientists today are more aware than ever before of the existence of what has been called the Information Revolution . At no other time in recent history has so much information become available from so many different traditional resources— including books, reviews, journals, and meetings—as well as personal computer-based materials such as data bases, alerting services, optical-disk-based information, and news media. 

Research articles of interest to biochemists may appear in many types of research journals. Research libraries do not have the funds necessary to subscribe to every journal, nor do scientists have the time to survey every current journal copy for articles of interest. Two publications that help scientists to keep up with published articles are Chemical Titles (published every 2 weeks by the American Chemical Society) and the weekly Current Contents available in hard copy and computer disks (published by the Institute of Science Information). The Life Science edition of Current Contents is the most useful for biochemists. The computer revolution has reached into the chemical and biochemical literature, and most college and university libraries now subscribe to computer bibliographic search services. One such service is STN International, the scientific and technical information network. This on-line system allows direct access to some of the world s largest scientific databases. The STN databases of most value to life scientists include BIOSIS Pre-views/RN (produced by Bio Sciences Information Service covers original research reports, reviews, and U.S. patents in biology and biomedicine), CA (produced by Chemical Abstracts service covers research reports in all areas of chemistry), MEDLINE, and MEDLARS (produced by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and Index Medicus, respectively cover all areas of biomedicine). These networks provide on-line service and their databases can be accessed from personal computers in the office, laboratory, or library. Some... 

Responsible People. The first part should list the computer system and the person responsible for the validation process, for example, the department head of the user group the responsible user. The other people responsible for the review, implementation, and approval of the protocol should also be listed. 

Principles of Thermodynamics should be accessible to scientifically literate persons who are either learning the subject on their own or reviewing the material. At Emory University, this volume forms the basis of the first semester of a one-year sequence in physical chemistry. Problems and questions are included at the end of each chapter. Essentially, the questions test whether the students understand the material, and the problems test whether they can use the derived results. More difficult problems are indicated by an asterisk. Some problems, marked with an M, involve numerical calculations that are most easily performed with the use of a computer program such as Mathcad or Mathematica. A brief survey of some of these numerical methods is included in Appendix B, for cases in which the programs are unavailable or cumbersome to use. 

The field of chemical kinetics and reaction engineering has grown over the years. New experimental techniques have been developed to follow the progress of chemical reactions and these have aided study of the fundamentals and mechanisms of chemical reactions. The availability of personal computers has enhanced the simulation of complex chemical reactions and reactor stability analysis. These activities have resulted in improved designs of industrial reactors. An increased number of industrial patents now relate to new catalysts and catalytic processes, synthetic polymers, and novel reactor designs. Lin [1] has given a comprehensive review of chemical reactions involving kinetics and mechanisms. 

The first persons to point out the possibility of computer monitoring of indirectly measured parameters were Yamashito, Hisashi, and Inagaki in 1969 (2). The method was described in a U.S. Patent in 1975 (3). Examples of the application of computer-aided indirectly measured parameters to the control and optimization of batch-fed Baker s Yeast fermentation were described by Jefferis and Humphrey in 1973 (4) and by Wang, Cooney, and Wang in 1977 (5). Background and detailed history of this application can be found in the review by Humphrey (1). The work to be discussed in this report is another example of computer-aided indirectly measured cell biomass and growth rate and the use of this information in the feed back control of the carbon substrate, ethanol, in a process for the production of a yeast single cell protein (SCP). 

If the review is conducted overseas, two main issues may arise. Firstly, the local language may be inconsistent with available specific safety review software or a consultant, if used, may not be available in the host country language. A translator is sometimes used in these instances. Secondly, if a portable personal computer is used, its power requirements may be different both in voltages and plug connections. In these circumstances it is best to plan ahead and bring power converters, adapters and multiple outlet busbars. 

All review sessions should be recorded using a personal computer (PC). Word processing software should be used for the report narrative write-up. A computer software spreadsheet, prepared for process safety reviews, should be used for all HAZOP and What-If reviews. It facilitates speed, ease of use and maintains exact consistency in format. 

Before the advent of personal computers in the business office, pre-printed spreadsheet forms were used. Today almost all reviews are conducted with the aid of a computer as manual methods are highly inefficient and costly to perform when compared to computer means. This is especially important when the manhour rates of specialized consultants are utilized. Preliminary and final copies of the review reports may possibly be transmitted by electronic means to team members and pertinent company personnel where the infrastructure is available. 

A "PC projection panel" and overhead projection of the spreadsheet greatly eases viewing of the computer video output. The PC projection panel provides an overhead projection of the computer screen so that all review team members can easily and simultaneous observe and comment on the recorded information as it is being recorded. The PC projection panel consist of a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel that duplicates data, text or graphics, generated from the computer screen. When placed on an overhead projector the LCD image is projected onto a projector screen or a wall. Personal computer screens are viewable by only two or three personnel at a time. A typical review involves at least 5 personnel, so the PC projection pad enables all participants to view the software worksheet as it is prepared (note a "reflective" type of overhead projector will not operate with the PC projection panel, direct illumination from below the panel is required). Further details of a typical PC projection panel are provided in Appendix F. 

All costs are based on using a personal computer with standard HAZOP or What-If software support. Conducting a review without this similar support will lengthen its period. 

Failure to establish and implement adequate computer security to assure data integrity in that during this inspection it was observed that an employee was found to have utilized another person s computer access to enter data into the XXXX computerized record system. [21 CFR 211.68(b)] Review 21 CFR Part 11 for regulations pertaiiung to the... 

---