Acknowledgements

Even though Universal Mapping is essentially my own brainchild (everybody warned me against writing too much software), nobody is alone on this world and I'd like to thank the following people for their support during my research at the Krannert Institute of Cardiology:

David Adams and David Wagner, the electrical engineers of the Krannert Institute: Dave Adams showed me how to build all the electrical and electronic hardware for my lab while David Wagner is an incredible resource concerning all fields of computing.

Claude Arnett, Jr.: Our lab technician at the Krannert Institute is not only a handy guy, but infects everybody with his invariably good mood and enthusiasm.

Gerda and Rudolf Biermann: My parents boosted my morale whenever necessary during the course of this rather complex research project, which not only involved some rather ambitious programming but setting up my entire lab, too.

Ed Berbari, Ph. D.: Chairman of the Dept. of Electrical Engineering at IUPUI, was always helpful with useful and well-meant advice whenever I consulted him during this project.

René Bokai: Electrical engineer and friend of old is always the right person to ask for any kind of technical or software problem.

Univ.-Prof. Dr. med Günter Breithardt: My thesis supervisor and boss at the University of Münster was responsible for sending me to the U. S. on the research grant of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft in Bonn/Germany and has given me vital support ever since I first stepped into his office in 1989.

Rudy Earlson: The wizard in Indiana University's machine shop machined all the fancy parts for my lab: If tolerances aren't down to 2/1000" he says: "We could as well write 'Made in ****** ' on it!"

Igor R. Efimov, Ph.D.: My main collaborator on the field of optical mapping at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland/Ohio. Basically, the hardware of my entire optical mapping system is based on the design of his lab. Without Igor's support I wouldn't have known what to do.

Prof. Dr. med. André Kléber and Vladimir Fast, Ph. D.: Both among the world's leading optical mappers at the University of Bern/Switzerland, kindly let me use their amplifier circuits for my optical mapping system.

Alonso P. Moreno, Ph. D., Associate Professor of Medicine: Gave me lots of valuable input since he joined the Krannert Institute in summer 1996.

Dr. med. Michael Rubart: My biological brain-half at the Krannert Institute: He is a brilliant mind and helps me ask the right questions.

Guy Salama, Ph. D., and Bum-Rak Choi of Pittsburgh University: The father of cardiac optical mapping and his Ph. D. student selected my software for their 3rd generation optical mapping system and have since provided me with a lot of encouragement and useful feedback.

Research Systems, Inc.: Makers of IDL, provided me with an incredibly versatile rapid application development tool for developing my software. Their support is one of the best in the industry, too.

Douglas P. Zipes, M. D., Distinguished Professor of Medicine: My supervisor at the Krannert Institute of Cardiology. I'd like to thank him for his continuous and unrelenting support during all phases of this rather complex research project, which included building and developing my own optical mapping laboratory.