Word: mid-1970s
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...technique behind all these systems can be traced to MYCIN, a computer program written in the mid-1970s by a Stanford physician and computer scientist named Edward Shortliffe. Using tools developed for AI research, Shortliffe boiled down everything he knew about diagnosing infectious blood diseases and meningitis into about 500 "if-then"rules. Rule 27, for example, said that if an organism found in a patient's blood is rod shaped, gram- negative and able to survive in the absence of oxygen, then there is a strong likelihood that the organism is a type of bacteria called Bacteroides. In tests...
...screening of passengers and their baggage has been routine at all major terminals since the mid-1970s. Individuals must pass through a metal detector, and carry-on luggage is examined, usually by an X-ray machine. These devices can occasionally be fooled: lead-lined bags sold to protect film can shield weapons from detection, and metal foil can sometimes be used to distort the shape of an image. It is up to the operator of the X-ray machine to insist on opening a bag for closer inspection when a blank mass or an unusual image appears on the screen...
...network that is being acquired by Capital Cities Communications is hardly in dire straits. Since the mid-1970s, when it vaulted from last to first in the prime-time ratings, ABC has proved to be a skilled and tenacious competitor. "I think their problems have been overstated," says Fred Silverman, who ran the network's programming department during its boom years of the 1970s. "My guess is that ABC's performance at this point is a temporary blip. You'll see them bounce back...
...Drug Enforcement Administration believes it was in the mid-1970s that Suarez first realized the fabulous profits that could be made from coca. As an expert pilot with a fleet of planes, acquired to transport beef from his isolated ranches, he was able, so the story goes, to become a long- distance middleman between Bolivian coca growers and Colombian buyers, shipping the leaves to processing plants...
Black & Decker, founded in 1910, has long experience with battery-powered tools. Astronauts carried its portable drills to the moon. In the mid-1970s the company introduced a power handle with drill, flashlight, hedge-trimmer and vacuum attachments. The product failed, though, because consumers often forgot to recharge the batteries. But when the handle was joined permanently to the vacuum alone, a success was born...