UNIT 2: Virtually Human

Either human level intelligence is a product of the natural

world or it is the result of “supernatural” interference.

If intelligence is, as many believe,  the result of a

natural process then

it will develop in other mediums.

WARM-UP

1. Think of as many words as possible related to a Virtual Human?

2. Discuss the following questions:

1. How do you understand the word "virtual"?

2. How can you imagine a Virtual Human?

3. Is it a good idea to create a Virtual Human? Why (not)?

3. Suggest some adjectives that can be used for describing a Virtual Human?

4. How is the statement of C. Easterly ("The time is right for physics and biology to get married.") connected with a Virtual Human? Explain.

5. Look at the picture above and say if it is happy? What is it thinking about now?

READING

6. Underline the stressed sound in each word as in the example. Practise reading.

carcinogenic, muse, computational, virtual, cascade, physiological, immune, pharmaceutical guinea pig, immersion, diversity, impinge, revolutionary

7. When you have read the text, answer the questions.

1. Why did the author give such a title to this article?

2. Don't you think that Glenn Allgood is a cruel man? And it is no coincidence between the meaning of his surname Allgood and his future actions. What do think?

3. What kind of job can a Virtual Human do?

4. According to the text, do the notions "cyber-human" and "virtual human" mean the same?

5. Can a Virtual Human be explorable inside? How?

6. Who suggested the idea of creating a Virtual Human and under what circumstances?

7. What kind of difficulties do the scientists have with creating a Virtual Human?

8. According to the text, are these statements true or false?

1. A Virtual Human is the same as a human being in all aspects.

2. Researchers can see inside the Virtual Human’s organs.

3. A rudimentary version of the Virtual Human was created in 1996.

4. Different models of the Virtual Human's were developed only in the academic laboratory.

1	2	3	4

9. What do the underlined words in the text refer to?

1. it (paragraph 1)

2. its (paragraph 2)

3. They (paragraph 3)

4. them (paragraph 4)

5. they (paragraph 5)

Virtually human

1. Glenn Allgood, a computational engineer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee is involved in creating the most complex computer model ever attempted: a virtual human being. It could take decades and billions of dollars to build it, but the dream of a Virtual Human is now becoming reality."I’d like to subject it to carcinogenic materials," he muses. "I think you should be able to give it a suntan or a blister. I’m serious. I mean, you should be able to cut it."

2. The Virtual Human will have a living, breathing body whose cells will replicate and die. True, the Virtual Human will be alive only inside a computer but the simulated gash will provoke the same cascade of physiological reactions a real person experiences. Immune cells and clotting factors will rush to the wound, and biochemical stress reactions will reverberate throughout the body. The Virtual Human’s accurate simulation of human biochemistry will also mean it could test new drugs for us, and its realistic physical responses will allow the military to test the effects of the latest weaponry. In short, it will be given the worst job in the world: pharmaceutical guinea pig, crash test dummy and biologists’ action toy, all combined in one unlucky cyber-human.

3. Not only will the model work like a human, it will also be fully explorable inside and out. Virtual reality software being developed will allow researchers to see inside the Virtual Human’s organs, or watch its blood vessels dilate in response to drugs. They will even be able to set out on a journey inside the body using interactive “total immersion” software that will let them stand in the air-flow entering the lungs or listen to the flapping of faulty heart valves.

4. The idea of building, using and abusing this virtual re-creation of humanity was born in 1996 when Clay Easterly, a health physicist at Oak Ridge, was approached by representatives of the US Marine Corps. They were looking for a way to test experimental non-lethal weapons without having to shoot them at real people. Could the weapons’ effects be simulated in a computer, they wondered. No chance, said Easterly. “We don’t have that much knowledge about the overall human,” he told them. “We have knowledge in bits and pieces, but we don’t have integrated knowledge.”

5. The enquiry got Easterly thinking about the diversity of modern biological research. Many of the tens of thousands of journal articles published each year must impinge on each other, he realized, but they are often considered in isolation. There’s no sure way for the implications of one study to be applied to another. Computer models of human cells, organs and systems – ranging from the most basic representations to relatively sophisticated simulations of real biochemistry and function – were also out there, scattered among various academic and commercial laboratories.

6. However, the scientists hope to establish standard data formats and programming languages and create a more complete and realistic model. In future the Virtual Human promises to be a revolutionary tool.

10. Look through the list of words and phrases and check if you know their Ukrainian equivalents. Use the Mini-Dictionary (UNIT 2) if necessary.

    to muse	to replicate
    to subject smth. to carcinogenic materials	to provoke the cascade of reactions
    the simulated gash	diversity
    to reverberate throughout the body	clotting factors
    physical responses	guinea pig
    blood vessels	to dilate
    to set out	total immersion
    the flapping faulty heart valves	to abuse
    to have knowledge in bits and pieces	to impinge on each other
    to scatter	implications
    crash test dummy	to establish standard data formats

11. Explain the meaning of the words and phrases.

to muse, integrated knowledge, isolation, simulations, diversity, to provoke, to reverberate, explorable, to abuse

12. Match the words in the left-hand column with the words in the right-hand column to make phrases from the text. Use each word only once. Translate the collocations into Ukrainian.

	the simulated		to drugs
	іmmune		bits and pieces
	the latest		data formats
	in response		gash
	interactive “total immersion”		each other
	to have knowledge in		cells
	to impinge on		software
	to establish standard		pig
	guinea		weaponry

13. Cross the odd word out.

1. model, theory, representation, copy;

2. replicate, reproduce, double, replanish;

3. flood, cascade, succession, series;

4. dilate, expand, enlarge, dilute;

5. faulty, fawn, broken, defective.

14. Match the words and phrases with their definitions.

    	virtual		the act of imitating the behavior of some situation or some process by means of something suitably analogous (especially for the purpose of study or personnel training)
    	clotting		to have a prolonged or continuing effect
    	simulation		simulated, or carried on by means of a computer or computer network
    	guinea pig		to stir to an action
    	provoke		to consider or say thoughtfully
    	abuse		any of the factors in the blood whose actions are essential for blood coagulation
    	reverberate		to bring about; generate
    	establish		the state or quality of being different or varied
    	to muse		a stout-bodied nearly tailless domesticated cavy; often kept as a pet and widely used in research
    	diversity		to use wrongly or improperly

15. Now, use the words above to complete the sentences. Use the remaining words to make up sentences of your own.

1. Seventy-five undergraduates viewed _______ humans that varied in sex, race, age, and pain expression. 

2. With a complete model of the human body, doctors would have a good idea of what a drug was going to do without the need for expensive large-scale trials on _______.

3. The necessity to model interactions between an object and a virtual human agent appears in most applications of computer animation and _______.

4. The dream is that one day, thanks to this effort, a computer model will be able to bleed like we do and see the same cascade of _______ factors go into action.

5. Virtual objects are also ushering in changes that _______ in the physical world. 

6. The stochastic generation of virtual humans becomes even more challenging if

visual _______ is a prerequisite.

16. Fill in the gaps with appropriate words from the list below.

virtual, prototype, organ, set up, interactive, 3D, software, computer, sends

The students first 1) _____ a pipeline to three different 2) _____ tools which, taken together, enabled them to create true 3) _____images. One software program creates 4) _____ trips through the body at the microscopic level, for example, while another 5) _____ images through polarized filters to a dual project system to create the 3D effect. The 6) _____ system requires a pair of 3D red-and-blue glasses to view the images, but eventually the team hopes to create a fully 7) _____ version that can be used with any 8) _____ monitor. A user would be able to zoom in or out and observe a given 9) _____ at all angles.

17. Fill in the word derived from the word in bold.

Computer 1) ______ (model) is used to simulate the structure and appearance both of static objects, such as 2) ______ (build) architecture, and of dynamic situations, such as a football game. Computer models can enable the user to 3) ______ (testing) the consequences of choices and decisions. They can provide cutaway views that let you see aspects of an object that would be invisible in the 4) ______ (reality) artifact, as well as 5) ______ (visual) tools that can provide many different perspectives. 6) ______ (Physics) models that reproduce behavior are limited by the physics of the world, while computer models have much looser bounds. Physical models of 7) ______ (live) things can reproduce very few behaviors, compared to 8) ______ (simulate) models, and physical models simply cannot capture the sorts of species-level and conceptual-level phenomena that artificial life and artificial intelligence 9) ______ (modeling) do. Computer models enable you to run companies and civilizations, fight battles, play football games and 10) ______ (evolved) new species.

18. Fill the cells in the table with the words derived from the given ones.

    Verb	Noun	Adjective
    ________	virtuality	...........
    to subject	...........	...........
    ...........	provoker	...........
    to explore	..........., exploring, ...........	..........., ..........., ..........., explored
    ...........	dilator	..........., dilatory
    ...........	...........	immersed
    ...........	..........., ...........	..........., simulated
    ...........	..........., scattering	...........
    ...........	..........., ..........., revolutionism	...........

19. Rearrange the letters in bold to make words that fit into the gaps.

The term 1) ___ "(iuarvlt) reality" is often used to describe 2) ___ (rnctteaieiv) software programs in which the user 3) ___ (ndrpoess) to visual and hearing cues as he or she 4) ___ (aiatgvens) a 3D environment on a graphics monitor. But originally, it referred to total virtual environments, in which the user would be 5) ___ (ieersmmd) in an artificial, three-dimensional computer-generated world, involving not just 6) ___ (stghi) and sound, but touch as well. Devices that 7) ___ (smateiul) the touch experience are called 8) ___ (tiapch) devices. The user has a variety of 9) ___ (utinp) devices to navigate that world and interact with virtual objects, all of which must be linked together with the rest of the system to produce a fully immersive 10) ___ (xieepnceer).

20. Work in small groups. Match 1-6 with a-f to make sentences.

    	Two companies are teaming up to develop	a	will enable the collaborative investigation of the human body as a single complex system.
    	The move towards conducting research on a computer − or in silico − will	b	inside the body, taking a tour of a specific organ.
    	The Virtual Physiological Human is a methodological and technological framework that, once established,	c	reduce the development time of new medicines because at the moment new products have to undergo various trials before a government will approve them.
    	With the help of a team of students,	d	better understand human development, as well as improve the diagnosis and treatment of numerous diseases.
    	Viewers feel as if they are actually	e	two scientists at the Rochester Institute of Technology, in New York state, created never-before-seen 3D virtual images of the pancreas, detailed images of the human skull, and DNA-level images of protein molecules.
    	The images will help them	f	a virtual human body that will be used in the development of new drugs.

21. Fill in the correct preposition or adverb.

set about	to begin	починати, приступати до чого-небудь
set out	to begin a task /job with a specific intention/ to start a journey, to develop a plan, to state reasons, ideas	починати будь-яку діяльність, починати працювати, відправлятися у подорож, розробляти план, викладати (причини, ідеї)
set aside	to separate and reserve for a special purpose.	відкласти та залишити для спеціального призначення
set up	to assemble and erect	зібрати і спорудити

1. The scientists can ______ on a journey inside the body of the Virtual Human.

2. I wanted to write an article about a virtual reality but I didn't know how to ______ it.

3. Her uncle helped her ______ as a professional computer engineer.

4. It's ten years since the scientist ______ on his life's work of inventing a virtual heart.

5. It's time to ______ our differences ______ and work together for a common purpose.

6. If you ______ your answers ______ neatly, the examiners will be influenced in your favour.

7. Yesterday he ______ solving the mathematical problem.

8. Be sure to ______ the points of your argument carefully.

9. The scientists are going to ______ a realistic model of a Virtual Human.

10. The student's plans are ______ in the report.

22. Fill in the blanks with to wherever necessary.

1. Anatomists, along with bio-chemists and medical illustration students, have built the new detailed images ....... create a never-before-seen virtual view of the body.

2. Going with something like a 3D approach allows the student, allows the user, ....... see the structures from all different angles.

3. Easterly believes that ORNL can ....... use its historic expertise to pull an international effort into an integrated human model. 

4. Let's ....... continue creating a computerized, Web-based model.

5. She made him ....... believe in her experiments.

6. He was seen ....... finish his scientific project.

7. We saw the scientist ....... create a virtual heart.

8. The Human Genome project wants ....... sequence information. 

9. He had better ....... integrate our knowledge.

23. Transform the sentences. Use the Subjective Infinitive Construction. Translate these sentences.

1. It is said that the Virtual Human will be a computational model of a human being. 

2. It was expected that modeling the liver would be very difficult.

3. It is reported that the transfer of oxygen from the air to the bloodstream through the lungs, propelled by the beating heart, is “not super hard” to describe in terms of physics and chemistry.

4. It is known that the liver is a big, motionless chemical plant.

5. It is reported that a virtual human will be given the worst job in the world: pharmaceutical guinea pig, crash test dummy and biologists’ action toy, all combined in one unlucky cyber-human.

24. Translate the sentences into English. Use the following constructions: "Objective Infinitive Construction", "For-to-Infinitive Construction" and "Subjective Infinitive Construction".

1. Він хоче, щоб ви підготували доповідь про віртуальну людину.

2. Вам необхідно розказати про використання віртуальної людини.

3. Науковці хочуть, щоб ви повторили цей експеримент.

4. Відомо, що Клей Істерлі фізіолог.

5. Віртуальна людина, ймовірно, не буде віртуальним мультиплікаційним героєм.

6. Вам легко створити таку модель.

7. Його напевно спитають про це.

8. Він виявився не дуже досвідченим інженером.

9. Він напевно не закінчить цей проект.

10. Ймовірно, в плані, пов'язаному з віртуальною людиною, буде багато змін.

25. Choose the correct answer.

1. People Putty is the/an innovative software program for creating virtual characters with a variety of features. 

2. It is important to clarify/clarifying the brief of the virtual physiological human (i.e. the nature of the scientific problems and principles to which it relates) and how such issues might be addressed.

3. Physiome-related activities contributed/have contributed significantly to understanding in many areas of the health care sector and there is every expectation that future contributions will be even more significant.

4. The expected impacts of the virtual physiological human on society will have been/will be manifold and in general related to interdependent influences.

5. A successful virtual physiological human will have an impact on/in healthcare, industry and society in general.

6. An international perspective is used to give/giving this context, supported by a series of case studies. 

7. Virtual reality usually flies/is flying us through imaginary worlds. 

26. Correct the mistakes.

1. Called the Virtual Lung, the model can use to help evaluate a patient’s condition and select the best drug and delivery method, the researchers say.

2. The Virtual Lung is now testing in clinical trials in Canada and the United Kingdom, where it’s being used to customize the delivery of drugs in patients with respiratory-tract diseases, such as asthma and emphysema.

3. “I wanted to use computers do what they do best, which is to run thousands of possible [treatment options] to customize drug-delivery protocols in real time,” Martonen says.

4. “I’d like see the day when a doctor has a stethoscope in one pocket and a floppy disk with our program on it in the other.”

5. As the processing speed of computers increase, programmers can broaden the potential applications of their models by refining existing capabilities and adding new ones.

6. Nothing illustrates these phenomenon better than Jack, a program that helps engineers assess workplaces according to issues such as ergonomics and potential for causing injury.

27. Translate into Ukrainian.

Biomedical science and its allied disciplines are entering a new era in which computational methods and technologies are poised to play a prevalent role in supporting collaborative investigation of the human body. Within Europe, this has its focus in the virtual physiological human (VPH), which is an evolving entity that has emerged from the EuroPhysiome initiative and the strategy for the EuroPhysiome (STEP) consortium. The VPH is intended to be a solution to common infrastructure needs for physiome projects across the globe, providing a unifying architecture that facilitates integration and prediction, ultimately creating a framework capable of describing Homo sapiens in silico. The routine reliance of the biomedical industry, biomedical research and clinical practice on information technology (IT) highlights the importance of a tailor-made and robust IT infrastructure, but numerous challenges need to be addressed if the VPH is to become a mature technological reality. Appropriate investment will reap considerable rewards, since it is anticipated that the VPH will influence all sectors of society, with implications predominantly for improved healthcare, improved competitiveness in industry and greater understanding of (patho)physiological processes.

28. Edit the Ukrainian translation (B).

1. Anatomists and biochemists have created a detailed virtual view of vital organs in the human body, down to the level of tissues and cells. The software recreates the visualization from a combination of illustrations, knowledge of molecular cell structures, and an understanding of the body. So far researchers have modeled the liver, kidneys and heart and plan on continuing building images of the entire body and then build images of diseases in a virtual environment.

2. Анатомів і біохіміки створили детальний віртуальний погляд життєво важливих органів в організмі людини, аж до рівня тканин і клітин. Програма відтворює візуалізації з комбінації ілюстрацій, знання молекулярних клітинних структур, і розуміння тіла. До цих пір дослідники змоделювали на печінку, нирки і серце, і план по продовженню будівлі зображення всього тіла, а потім побудувати зображення хвороб у віртуальному середовищі.

SPEAKING

29. You work in the laboratory together with Clay Easterly. What do you think about the idea to create a Virtual Human?

30. You are asked to prepare a report on the topic: "Virtual Human". Make a plan to your report and tell about the Virtual Human.

31. Role play a conversation. You are a scientist and now you are being intervied by a journalist. The journalist ask you about the creation of the Virtual Human. Tell him/her about the achievements and the perspectives of your project.

32. Do you agree with the statements:

1. "Eventual uses of the Virtual Human are as undefined now as the Internet's impact was in the early "90s.".

2. "The Virtual Human will be a massive, but immensely valuable, undertaking"

33. What do you know about "virtual reality"?