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Imagine being able to leave a meal in the refrigerator during the day, then sending a command over the Internet to cook it so that it is ready-to-eat when you arrive home. The "Tonight's Menu® Intelligent Ovens" do just that. They combine refrigeration and cooking in the same oven cavity. Dinners placed in the refrigerated appliance before going to work are done at the time you arrive home. Plans change? Not a problem. Use your cellular phone, or log-on to the Internet with your computer, and tell your oven! The real-time feedback lets you delay cook time, change cook temperature, refrigerate after cooking, set a warming mode or cancel the cook cycle altogether.

The oven is manufactured and distributed right here in Chattanooga by TMIO, Inc. The President & CEO of the company, David Mansbery, will describe to us how the ovens work and explain some its unique features. Mr. Mansbery first developed the concept in 1994. He says that the idea was born from the desire to keep food fresh INSIDE the oven during the day, as well as having the convenience of being able to operate the oven from anywhere outside the home.

Invocation: Jim Stites

Menu: A salad and buffet lunch of pot roast with potatoes and carrots, broccoli casserole, pineapple casserole and cake will be available for $10 per person beginning at 11:30 am. If you plan to eat with us, please reply to jgdriggans@tva.gov or call Judy Driggans at 423-751-7616 to help us estimate how many meals we should order each week.

OUR PREVIOUS MEETING ____________________________________________________

April 25: "PillCam: A Medical Diagnostic Camera So Small It's Swallowable" - Bill Garner, Given Imaging, Inc., Norcross, GA

Mr. Garner introduced the PillCam beginning with the ten-year timeline for bringing the product to market (a brief time for medical technology). GIVEN stands for GastroIntestinal Video ENdoscopy. The company headquarters and manufacturing facility are in Isreal and there are sales offices in Atlanta, GA, (largest), Japan, Germany, France, Spain, and Australia. Currently, the U.S. constitutes about 70% of the PillCam market.

The PillCam is a capsule that is swallowed by the patient that can collect imaging data as it proceeds through the digestive system. It wirelessly transmits real-time data to a recorder in a belt worn by the patient usually for about eight hours. The patient visits the doctor's office in the morning, gets outfitted with the recorder belt and swallows the PillCam, goes home for the next several hours and then returns to the doctor's office at the end of the day. The PillCam isn't returned or reused. The data is downloaded and processed from the recorder to a computer and the doctor normally would review it within 24 to 48 hours. Many doctors often out-source the PillCam administration and analysis to others who specialize in it.

The two types of PillCam are the PillCam SB for small bowel imaging (camera on one end of the capsule) and the PillCam ESO used for analyzing the esophageal mucosa (camera on each end of the capsule). The device is not used for analysis of the colon. The camera has six LEDs, a 140-degree image angle, 2-cm aperture and uses a CMOS imager (Complimentary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor). Each PillCam has a battery life of about eight hours. The PillCam SM produces two images per second and can be reviewed by a physician in 30-60 minutes, while the PillCam ESO has a slightly different software processor, produces 14 images per second (seven from each end camera) and can be reviewed in five to ten minutes. The PillCam itself costs about $450 while the reusable belt/recorder kit costs about $10,000. The patient procedure generally costs about $1500-$2000 and is usually paid for by insurance. The physician or specialist can extract (with or without patient information) and send single images or short video clips from the full-length data to others that can help with analysis or diagnosis.

Our thanks to Tiffany Gibby for this summary. There was also a summary of Mr. Garner's presentation was on the front page of the Chattanooga Times Free Press on Tuesday, April 26, 2005. Our thanks to staff writer, Dorie Turner, for the summary at (http://class.timesfreepress.com/ShowStoryTemplate.asp?path=ChatTFPress/2005/04/26&id=Ar00102&section=Front%20Page).

FUTURE MONDAY MEETINGS (noon in the Tallan Cellar Restaurant unless another location is indicated) __________

May 9, 12 noon, no lunch: "Aerodynamic Drag Reduction of Heavy Vehicles" - Dr. David Whitfield, UTC SimCenter
(Location: UTC SimCenter Auditorium, 701 M.L. King Blvd., Chattanooga, TN 37403)

May 16: "Ozone and Fine Particulates in Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia" Errol Reksten, Chattanooga Air Pollution Control Bureau

May 23: "Fire Protection Integrated Systems for Mass Notification" Vic Humm, Safety Technology International, Inc.

May 30: No Meeting - Memorial Day

June 4 (Saturday): CEC Summer Social -- Pizza in the Park, 10 am to 2 pm
(Location: Chester Frost State Park, Pavilion #3)

June 6: “Advances in Refining Coal for Power Production" - Dale Bradshaw, Advanced Coal Technology (ACT)

WHERE WE MEET _________________________________________________________

We will usually meet at Tallan Cellar Restaurant in the basement of the Tallan Building at the corner of M. L. King Blvd. and Carter Street. Lunch at the Cellar Restaurant is a hot buffet for $10 and the meal is available at 11:30 a.m. Parking is available free at the Days Inn across Carter Street, but you will need a note in your windshield that you’re attending the Chattanooga Engineers Club meeting. You may also park one hour free in the garage behind the Tallan building if you have your ticket stamped in the Cellar Restaurant.

QUESTIONS, SUGGESTIONS? ______________________________________________

If you have any questions or suggestions about program items please contact Judy Driggans at 423-751-7616 or by email at jdriggans@comcast.net. You can find references to other Chattanooga Engineers Club members at our web site: www.ChattanoogaEngineersClub.org.