Huw Porter wrote:

> >particularly in light of recent
> >announcements of a computer that will measure bubble formation in the
blood
> >stream directly, in real time, during the dive.

> Unfortately, neat though this gizmo sounds, New Scientist have admitted
> that their announcement was premature, and has caused considerable
> embarassment at Herriot-Watt University, who may be 'developing' such a
> device, but it's release isn't imminent.  Sorry. :-(

Me too.  Frankly, I'm a bit surprised.  Initial reports suggested that units
were already in use on a test basis, would soon or already were in use by
some commercial divers and probably would soon be available to the
recreational market.  I was never particularly clear how real time micro
bubble formation would apply to diving, particularly since it seems to me to
be a bit late for prevention.  I tend to believe micro bubble theory can be
used to develop or tweak no deco and deco diving algorithms, but am not
convinced that they are as practical on a real time basis.

So, I guess the question has to be modified to exclude the real time
measurement issue, focusing instead on why one might consider adjustments
based on doppler testing of bubbles in the blood stream to be the same or
similar to the kinds of tweaks used in Cochran's problematic computers.

Lee