Task 4. Answer the following questions

(Ответьте на следующие вопросы)

1. What is the difference between wired and wireless medical devices?

2. What opportunities does this technology provide for the patients?

3. What are patient’s vital signs?

4. How have innovations changed at-home patient monitoring?

5. What can implantable devices monitor?

6. Where are the resulting data transmitted?

7. What are the advantages of using wireless medical devices?

Task 5. Translate into English

(Переведите на английский язык)

Американский программист, болеющий сахарным диабетом, Джей Рэдклифф решил проверить безопасность медицинского оборудования, которым сам пользуется - это датчик, который определяет уровень глюкозы в крови (глюкометр), а также инсулиновая помпа, которая при необходимости вводит инсулин, когда уровень сахара в крови не соответствует норме. Эти устройства обмениваются данными между собой по беспроводному каналу связи, то есть по всем известному Wi-Fi, конечно отличающемуся по частотам от компьютерных коммуникаций.

Джей Рэдклифф изучил, как работают эти устройства и выяснил, что глюкометр работает только на приём или передачу данных и не определяет, какое устройство получает от него информацию. Отсюда можно сделать вывод, что при желании можно получить сигнал от глюкометра и передать инсулиновой помпе уже недостоверную информацию, а это значит, что возможно нанести вред человеку больному сахарным диабетом и использующим такой прибор. Этот же американский программист написал очень простую программу, которая смогла выключить помпу при помощи обычного USB-устройства, предназначенного для работы с компьютерными сетями при беспроводной передаче данных.

Результаты своих исследований Джей Рэдклифф обнародовал на конференции посвящённой компьютерной безопасности. Он так же отметил, что необходимо уделять больше внимания безопасности различных медицинских устройств и особенно тех, от которых зависит жизнь человека.

Task 6. Summarize the text

(Составьте краткое содержание текста)

Task 7. Open the brackets using the verb in the Passive Voice

(Раскройте скобки, употребляя глагол в страдательном залоге)

1. Many new branches of industry (to develop) in our country since World War II.

2. New nanotechnologies (to implement) into all fields of science and technology.

3. This complicated problem (to solve) using newly-developed software next week.

4. Blood glucose monitors (to use) to measure the amount of glucose in blood.

5. All the necessary material (to find) by the end of last month.

6. The dictation (to write) by the students now.

7. Semiconductors (to use) to generate heat and cold from electricity.

Part II

Task 1. Discuss the following questions

(Обсудите следующие вопросы)

Have you ever come across the term “exoskeleton”?

What does it mean? Where it can be used?

Task 2. Give Russian equivalents to the following words and word combinations (Дайте русские эквиваленты следующим словам и словосочетаниям)

· State of the art – the most recent stage in the development of a product

· To augment – to strengthen, to enhance

· Exoskeleton – a device designed to increase muscular strength of a man                                                   

· Muscle wasting disease – a disease, when your muscles become gradually thinner and weaker

· Fully-abled people – healthy people

· Warrior – a fighter or a soldier in former time

· Germ warfare – the use of disease-spreading microorganisms as a military weapon                                                                                                        Cutting-edge technology – the most advanced technology            

· Joint – a place where two things are fastened or fixed together

· Tendon - a strong cord in a person’s body which joins a muscle to a bone

· Spinal injury – backbone injury

Task 3. Scan the text and divide it into three parts in accordance with the headings given below (Просмотрите текст и разделите его на три части в соответствии с заголовками данными ниже)

1. A technology designed to augment the human body.

2. The history of human augmentation.

3. The current state of art in powered exoskeletons

How Exoskeletons Will Work

If you're a fan of the "Iron Man" comic books and movies, you're probably fascinated with the powered, flight-capable suit of armor that fictional industrialist Tony Stark puts on when he goes out to battle evildoers. Wouldn't it be great to have one of those around?

You might be surprised to learn that, someday soon, an only slightly less incredible version of Iron Man's suit may enable U.S. soldiers to run faster, carry heavier weapons and leap over obstacles on the battlefield. And at the same time, it'll shield them from the effects of bullets and bombs. The military has been working on the concept of the powered exoskeleton, a technology designed to augment the human body and its capabilities, since the 1960s. But recent advances in electronics and material science are finally making this idea seem practical.

In 2010, defense contractor Raytheon demonstrated the experimental XOS 2 - essentially, a wearable robot guided by the human brain -- that can lift two to three times as much weight as an unassisted human, with no effort required by the user. Another company, Trek Aerospace, is developing the Exoskeleton Flying Vehicle, an exoskeleton frame with a jetpack built in, which could be capable of flying up to 70 miles per hour and hovering motionlessly thousands of feet above the ground, as well.

But others besides the military may benefit from the advent. It's possible that someday people with spinal injuries or muscle-wasting diseases may get around as easily as fully-abled people do, thanks to full-body devices -- essentially, wearable robots -- that enable them to do what their own muscles and nerves can't. Early versions of such powered exoskeletons, like Argo Medical Technologies' $150,000 ReWalk device, are already on the market.

Warriors have been wearing armor on their bodies since ancient times, but the idea of a body with mechanical muscles appeared in science fiction back in 1868, when Edward Sylvester Ellis published a dime novel, "The Steam Man of the Prairies." The book depicted a giant humanoid-shaped steam engine that towed its inventor, the ingenious Johnny Brainerd, behind it in a cart at speeds of 60 miles an hour, while it chased buffaloes and terrorized Indians.

By 1961, two years before the fictional Iron Man was created by Marvel Comics, the Pentagon had actually invited proposals for real-life wearable robots. An Associated Press article reported on the quest to develop the "servo soldier," which it described as "a human tank equipped with power steering and power brakes" that would be able to run faster and lift heavy objects, and which would be immune to germ warfare, poison gas and even heat and radiation from nuclear blasts.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Pentagon's incubator for exotic, cutting-edge technology, came up with the funding for a $75 million program, Exoskeletons for Human Performance Augmentation, to speed things along. DARPA's wish list for a powered armored suit was pretty ambitious: It wanted a machine that would allow a soldier to carry hundreds of pounds of gear for days tirelessly, handle big heavy weapons and be able to carry other wounded soldiers off the field on its back. It also wanted the machine to be invulnerable to gunfire. A company called Sarcos -- led by robot-maker Steve Jacobsen, whose previous projects included a mechanized dinosaur -- came up with an innovative system in which sensors detect contractions of a human user's muscles and use them to operate a series of valves, which in turn regulate the flow of high-pressure hydraulic fluid to the joints. Those mechanical joints then move cylinders with cables attached to them to simulate the tendons that attach human muscle. The result was an experimental prototype called the XOS, which looked something like a human-insect hybrid out of a sci-fi movie.

Near the end of the decade, a Japanese company called Cyberdyne developed the Robot Suit HAL, an even more ingenious concept. Instead of relying on a human operator's muscle contractions to move the limbs, HAL incorporated sensors that picked up the electrical messages sent by the operator's brain.

By 2010, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) exoskeleton project had produced some promising technology. Network World reports that current systems, which weigh about 55 pounds, can enable human operators to carry 200 pounds of weight with little or no effort and dramatically less fatigue. Additionally, the latest exoskeletons are quieter than the typical office printer, and can run at speeds of 10 miles per hour and perform squats and crawls.

 These exoskeletal machines would also be equipped with sensors and Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers. Soldiers could use this technology to obtain information about the terrain they're crossing and how to navigate their way to specific locations. DARPA is also developing computerized fabrics that could be used with the exoskeletons to monitor heart and breathing rates.

If the U.S. military has its way, it will have a lot of  super soldiers that can jump higher, run faster and lift enormous weight by strapping these exoskeletons to them. Even so, it may be a few years at least before real-life Iron Man makes his way onto a battlefield.

Meanwhile, powered exoskeletons may also provide a huge benefit in peacetime as well, since eventually the technology may enable people with spinal injuries or disabling neuromuscular diseases to lead fuller lives. Berkeley Bionics, for example, is testing eLegs, an exoskeleton powered by a rechargeable battery, which is designed to enable a disabled person to walk, to get up from a sitting position without assistance, and to stand for an extended period of time.

Task 4. Read the text again and select the most important information. Make up the summary of the text in writing (Прочтите текст снова и выберите самую важную информацию. Напишите краткое содержание текста).