The foundation for any medical decision support is the medical knowledge base which contains the necessary rules and facts. This knowledge needs to be acquired from information and data in the fields of interest, such as medicine. Three general methodologies to acquire this knowledge can be distinguished: traditional expert systems, evidence-based methods, statistical and artificial intelligence methods. The medical decision support system consists of differential diagnosis, computer-assisted instruction, consultation components and their subsystems. The differential diagnosis component contains three subsystems: artificial neural network (ANN) model, time series analysis and medical image analysis. Time series analysis is based on the extraction of information from medical signal data. Medical image analysis can be used for medical decision making. Important tools in modern decision-making, in any field, include those that allow the decision-maker to assign an object to an appropriate group, or classification. Clinical decision-making is a challenging, multifaceted process. Its goals are precision in diagnosis and institution of efficacious treatment. Achieving these objectives involves access to pertinent data and application of previous knowledge to the analysis of new data in order to recognize patterns and relations. As the volume and complexity of data have increased, use of digital computers to support data analysis has become a necessity. In addition to computerization of standard statistical analysis, several other techniques for computer-aided data classification and reduction, generally referred to as ANN, have evolved. This special issue will focus on illustrative and detailed information about medical decision support systems and feature extraction/selection for automated diagnostic systems.
The focus of this special issue is on advances in medical decision support systems including determination of optimum classification schemes for the problem under study and also to infer clues about the extracted features. Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
- Neural Networks and Support Vector Machines in Biological Signal Processing
- Decision Support Systems and Computer Aided Diagnosis
- Biomedical Signal Processing
- Biomedical Imaging and Image Processing
- Modelling, Simulation, Systems, and Control
Paper submission: Submitted articles must not have been previously published or currently submitted for journal publication elsewhere. As an author, you are responsible for understanding and adhering to our submission guidelines. You can access them from http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/submit.asp?ref=0266-4720. Please thoroughly read these before submitting your manuscript. Each paper will go through a rigorous review process.
Please note the following important dates:
- Submission Deadline: January 1, 2008
- Completion of First-Round Reviews: April 1, 2008
- Revised Papers: May 15, 2008
- Publication Materials Due: June 15, 2008
- Publication: October 2008
Interested authors should submit digital copies (PDF preferred) of their papers, including all tables, diagrams, and illustrations, to Guest Editor, Dr. Elif Derya Übeyli, by e-mail:
Dr. Elif Derya Übeyli
Electrical & Electronics Engineering Department, TOBB Economics and Technology University
06530 Ankara, TURKEY
Phone: +90 312 2924080
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Contributors are also welcome to contact the Journal's Editor, Dr. Lucia Rapanotti, for further information:
Dr. Lucia Rapanotti
Computing Department, The Open University
Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, U.K.
Phone: +44 (0)1908 654125
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.