Q+A CENTER

The MathWorks, Inc. (Natick, Mass.) now bundles add-on products—previously available separately—into its venerable MATLAB and Simulink software. Those additional utilities broaden capabilities in system optimization and control; image and signal processing, analysis and algorithm development; for applying statistical and probability models; and, in symbolic mathematics and variable-precision arithmetic. With MATLAB and Simulink Student Version, scholars can become proficient with the same tools that engineers and scientists use to solve their challenging technical problems.

The company claims that more than one million engineers and scientists worldwide, many of them researchers, instructors and academicians at more than 3,500 universities, use MathWorks' products for technical computation, visualization, programming, modeling and simulation. Marketing Manager, Bruce Tannenbaum adds that release R2007b (which includes Simulink 7) introduces C-code generation from embedded MATLAB functions directly at the command line, via the Real-Time Workshop coding backbone. Of particular interest is the ability to input MPEG, WMV (Windows Media Video) and other formats, a video viewer with region-of-interest operators for polygon, ellipse and freehand selections plus interactive graphics using AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript with XML) for pan, rotate and zoom.

Visage Imaging (Fuerth, Germany & Carlsbad, Calif.), a wholly owned subsidiary of Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. (Chelmsford, Mass), showcases Visage PACS/CS, a unique, scalable picture archiving and communication system based on web- and thin client-technologies. PACS/CS embodies advanced tools for 2-, 3- and 4‑D image distribution, review and interpretation, post-processing and data management. Image data, alongside the underlying application within Visage PACS/CS, are platform-independent and instantly accessible anywhere, anytime across the enterprise on existing workstations, PCs and laptops.

The latest iteration of Visage PACS/CS extends performance via Wide Area Networks and over slower-speed digital subscriber lines, enabling efficient remote operation among distributed imaging centers. By combining immediate and efficient access to all images and attendant report files, Visage PACS/CS improves workflow throughout the entire healthcare environment.

Contributing editor and industry analyst, Lee J. Nelson, is at the forefront of emerging as well as evolving technologies for compute-intensive electronic imaging applications. Contact him at: 1-703-893-0744, lnelson@rcn.com or http://www.garlic.com/biz.