Download The Challenge Ahead, A. Lymberis, Wearable eHealth

BULLETIN 2004/3
Medical Informatics, Telematics ............................................................................... 1
MedInfo 2004 ..................................................................................................... 3
NATO: Life and Behavioural Sciences ....................................................................... 5
Biochemistry, Molecular, Cell .................................................................................. 7
Cancer ................................................................................................................. 8
Artificial Intelligence .............................................................................................. 9
Computer Science, Applications ..............................................................................11
Physics ................................................................................................................13
Medical Informatics, Telematics
Contribution of Medical Informatics to Health
Integrated Clinical Data and Knowledge to Support Primary, Secondary, Tertiary
and Home Care
Edited by: B. Blobel, G. Gell, C. Hildebrand and R. Engelbrecht
2004, approx. 150 pp., softcover
ISBN: 1 58603 435 9
Price: US$42 / €34 / £23
In this publication leading experts present achievements and actual experiences in
Medical Informatics by demonstrating experiences from various countries, using
different technologies and approaches. The aim is to enhance contacts between
physicians, hospital management and administrators, as well as IT and IS
managers and consultants. Besides, colleagues from the “new” countries present
examples on how they tackle the challenge of achieving modern health care,
introducing the electronic patient record and interoperable hospital information
systems. Many of the papers are dealing with solutions for secondary and tertiary
care, and how far the different levels of care have to be and can be interlinked.
Therefore, EPR and communication are major topics.
E-Health
Current Situation and Examples of Implemented and Beneficial E-Health
Applications
Volume 100 Studies in Health Technology and Informatics
Edited by: I. Iakovidis, P. Wilson and J.C. Healy
2004, approx. 220 pp., hardcover
ISBN: 1 58603 448 0
Price: US$111 / €90 / £61
This publications aims at providing health ministers and the health public sector in
general with validated information on which key implementation decisions
concerning e-Health may be made. An import issue discussed here is the
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reinforcement of the implementation and deployment of e-Health systems by
European health service providers. Here, e-Health systems and services are looked
at from a user perspective; the citizen, the patient, the healthcare professional, the
hospital manager and the pubic health authority. This volume consists of the
following sections: National and Regional Health Information Networks, e-Health
systems and services for Health professionals, Empowering Patients and Citizens in
management for the Public Health, and Industrial and standardization Issues.
e-Health: Current Status and Future Trends
Volume 106 Studies in Health Technology and Informatics
Edited by: G. Demiris
2004, approx. 156 pp., hardcover
ISBN: 1 58603 442 1
Price: US$111 / €90 /£61
In this publication, e-health is defined as the use of advanced
telecommunications such as the Internet, portable and other sophisticated
devices, advanced networks and new design approaches aiming to support
healthcare delivery and education. Thus, e-health refers to a fundamental
redesign of healthcare processes based on the use and integration of electronic
communication at all levels. It aims to lead to patient empowerment which
describes the transition from a passive role where the patient is the recipient of
care services to an active role where the patient is informed, has choices and is
involved in the decision making process. e-Health has the potential to improve
efficiency on a global level when patients cross national boundaries to seek
treatment in other countries and to enable medical facilities and services across
countries to be linked and accessible to citizens. Discussion topics focus on the
use of mobile technologies in health care, “smart home” technologies,
telemedicine applications that cross national borders, transatlantic collaborations
in bioinformatics and the use of the Internet in health care. Furthermore,
legislative efforts and ethical concerns associated with the diffusion of e-health
are discussed and policies in the EU and the US reviewed and compared.
Establishing Telemedicine in Developing Countries: From Inception to
Implementation
Volume 104 Studies in Health Technology and Informatics
Edited by: R. Latifi
2004, approx. 240 pp., hardcover
ISBN: 1 58603 423 5
Price: US$135 / €110 / £74
Telemedicine and telehealth development has brought hope to developing
countries and their most remote areas, yet leaves very significant questions and
anxiety among those hoping to maintain status quo of current medical practices.
When it comes to telemedicine and its applications, most countries are actually in
the same boat. Even in the most developed countries’ hospitals, telemedicine is
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still not practiced. Advanced technology such as computers, diagnostic imaging,
robotics, voice activated machines, and remote controls have changed the
hospital and operating room theaters around the western world. Essentially,
geography and distance have become abstract nouns and are meaningless in
modern times. At the same time, the world equilibrium has not followed the
punctuation of an industrial world directed by the broad bandwidth. Nonetheless,
the patient has become an educated and informed consumer who questions the
decisions of the practitioner and demands explanations and evidence-based
medical approaches. The physician’s expertise is validated through the Internet
and other forms and the patient insists on care that is up to current world
standards. This multiple author book, represents a serious attempt to analyze
the most important issues in the field of telemedicine and telehealth. It presents
concrete assistance to those who would like to explore the possibilities of
establishing telemedicine and telehealth in their countries as well as those
individuals who would like to establish these programs in developing areas or in
countries that simply do not have existing telemedicine networks.
Medical and Care Compunetics 1
Volume 103 Studies in Health Technology and Informatics
Edited by: L. Bos, S. Laxminarayan and A. Marsh
2004, 488 pp., hardcover
ISBN: 1 58603 431 6
Price: US$154 / €129 / £86
Information technology in medicine and healthcare has grown far beyond any
expectations. Yet, the impact and effect it has will go even further, especially
when you look at the digital divide, security issues and the ‘online information
overload’ we are currently experiencing. The 21st century model will need to
develop following a paradigm that takes us from the information stage through
the knowledge and intelligence stage to the stage of ‘wisdom’. Knowledge and
intelligence systems are the key to realizing a health care system focusing on the
individual within a secure environment. The world we enter is a complex
‘genomic’ world, which will not only increase our research efforts by achieving
personalized medicine, but also open up a new gateway for accelerated drug
discovery and disease treatments. The uniqueness of this book lies in its contents
that bring forth a wide spectrum of areas that deserve global awareness. Some
of the subjects covered come from EU projects. The issues discussed in the book
are looked at from an overall point of view, paying attention to the past, present
and future stages of technology and health care.
MedInfo 2004
Volume 107 Studies in Health Technology and Informatics
Edited By: M. Fieschi et al.
2004, approx. 1600 pp, hardcover (2 volumes)
ISBN: 1 58603 444 8
Price: US$350 / €290 / £195
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A fundamental challenge for medical informatics is to develop and apply better
ways of understanding how information technologies and methods can help
support the best care for every patient every day given available medical
knowledge and resources. In order to provide the most effective healthcare
possible, the activities of teams of health professionals have to be coordinated
through well-designed processes centered on the needs of patients. For
information systems to be accepted and used in such an environment, they must
balance standardization based on shared medical knowledge with the flexibility
required for customization to the individual patient. Developing innovative
approaches to design and build evidence-based careflow management systems is
essential for providing the knowledge management infrastructure of health care
organizations that seeks to increase performance in delivering high quality care
services by efficiently exploiting available resources. Parallel challenges arise in
the organization of research at the biological and clinical levels, where the focus
on systematically organizing and supporting processes of scientific inquiry by
novel informatics methods and databases are in their very early stages. These
Proceedings of Medinfo 2004 demonstrate the base of knowledge medical
informatics professionals will collectively draw upon in the years ahead to meet
these challenges and realize opportunities.
Transformation of Healthcare with Information Technologies
Volume 105 Studies in Health Technology and Informatics
Edited by: M. Duplaga, K. Zieliński and D. Ingram
2004, approx. 360 pp., hardcover
ISBN: 1 58603 438 3
Price: US$154 / €129 / £86
The accession of new EU member states demands considerable effort on the part
of new member states, aimed at developing common policies and strategies.
Over the last two years we have tried to encourage the community of medical
informatics professionals and researchers from Central and Eastern European
countries to undertake these challenges and join European activities in the field
of e-health. We are aware of the fact that only common standards and
procedures will enable full integration of this region with the main stream of
Information Society developments, currently accelerating all over Europe. This
book also reports on the results of cooperation between researchers and centres
representing both new EU entrants and those countries, that have been part of
the Community for a long time. The European Commission has consistently
fostered the strategy of e-health development over the past decades. Yet, the
economic transformation underway in Central and Eastern European countries
does not favour rapid development in this domain. Healthcare systems all over
the region are being transformed in search of more effective mechanisms of
financing. One of the main motivations for publishing this book is to exchange
ideas and share experience which can speed up e-health services development
in Central and Eastern countries. Transfer of knowledge and technology is surely
one of the key mechanisms through which these new EU member states can
integrate themselves with the Community.
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Wearable eHealth Systems for Personalised Health Management
State of the Art and Future Challenges
Volume 108 Studies in Health Technology and Informatics
2004, approx. 360 pp., hardcover
Edited by: A. Lymberis and D. de Rossi
ISBN: 1 58603 449 9
Price: US$154 / €129 / £86
The new generation of wearable personal eHealth systems has to be affordable,
user-friendly, “invisible”, autonomous in terms of power consumption and able to
assist individuals in their own health management. Major challenges are ahead
such as further research and development, user acceptance and trust, costeffectiveness and business models. Intelligent Biomedical Clothing and
biomedical sensors are becoming major driving forces for cutting-edge
developments. The synergy and close collaboration of all involved disciplines and
sectors is of paramount importance. This book consists of papers describing
developments and trends all over the world in the areas of smart wearable
monitoring and diagnostic systems, smart treatment systems, biomedical
clothing and smart fibres and fabrics. It covers also non-research aspects such as
citizens and patients needs, interoperability, risk management and market
perspectives. The chapters are preceded by a short executive summary which
highlights the main issues, findings and conclusions for the convenience of the
reader. The participation of the major actors involved in research, development,
decision making and business should make this book unique and pioneer in the
field.
NATO: Life and Behavioural Sciences
Frontiers in Neurodegenerative Disorders and Aging: Fundamental
Aspects, Clinical Perspectives and New Insights
Volume 358 NATO Science Series: Life and Behavioural Sciences
Edited by: T. Özben and M. Chevion
2004, approx. 290 pp., hardcover
ISBN: 1 58603 428 6
Price: US$116 / €105 / £74
This book brings together some of the best researchers in the field of aging and
neurodegenerative diseases and presents up-to-date information concerning new
developments in this exciting area of research in quite separate fields of
biomedical science. It includes a wide range of issues such as basic and applied
concepts, methods, and techniques used in this area. The chapters examine and
evaluate our understanding of the pathogenetic mechanisms involved in these
fields such as increased protein oxidation and macromolecular modifications
associated with aging. This is a novel strategy for the visualization of ROSinduced protein oxidation and protection by antioxidants in living cells using
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fluorescent probes, thermochemiluminescence (TCL) methodology for
determination of the oxidative status of biological systems in experimental and
clinical setups, protein degradation, proteasome inactivation observed in the
aging process or caused by oxidative stress. Other topics addressed are the
oxidative stress theory of aging, oxidation and removal of protein aggregates in
neurodegeneration, causes and consequences of oxidative stress in Alzheimer’s
disease, assessment of antioxidants as a therapeutic for neurodegenerative
diseases, rafts and prions, the many forms of the prion protein and its subcellular
pathways, signaling pathways in protection of neural tissues by ischemic and
drug-induced preconditioning, folding of proteins associated with
neurodegenerative disorders and aging and neuroprotection in immuno-mediated
neurodegeneration from infection to autoimmunity.
Genomics for Biosafety in Plant Biotechnology
Volume 359 NATO Science Series: Life and Behavioural Sciences
Edited by: J.P.H. Nap, A. Atanassov and W.J. Stiekema
2004, approx. 256 pp., hardcover
ISBN: 1 58603 432 4
Price: US$116 / €105 / £74
Currently, there is a clear gap between the issues of biosafety and its regulation
on the one hand and the technological developments in genomics on the other.
In plant biotechnology, research attention is rapidly shifting towards genomics
and its 'omics' offspring. The various 'omics' approaches (transcriptomics,
proteomics, etc.) will generate knowledge and technology applicable for the
overall assessment of safety of the products made by breeding and
biotechnology. Notably, the safety assessment of genetically modified (GM) crops
is an issue. The purpose of this book is bridging the conceptual gap between
biosafety and genomics. It discusses the use and need of plant genomics in
biosafety and offers a wide variety of viewpoints, developments and issues to
consider. Plant genomics could and should learn from all previous discussions on
GM crops. A major issue still is to establish the limits of genomics in biosafety
assessments. Does the technological feasibility that "everything" can be
measured automatically imply that "everything" must be measured? Who will
pay? This book will be of major interest to all researchers in academia, industry
or agriculture with an interest in life sciences or social sciences, genomics and
biosafety, as well as to graduate and (advanced) undergraduate students in
topics as broad as plant biotechnology, genetics, food science, bioinformatics,
philosophy, regulatory science and law. Moreover, the book should appeal to
policy makers in governments, non-governmental organisations and other
interest groups that are, or want to be, involved in shaping agriculture and food
science for the future.
Preparedness against Bioterrorism and Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases
Volume 357 NATO Science Series: Life and Behavioural Sciences
Edited by: J. Kocik, M.K. Janiak and M. Negut
2004, 278 pp., hardcover
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ISBN: 1 58603 417 0
Price: US$116 / €105 / £74
The objective of this book is to provide countries in which a biodefence system is
currently under development with experience of those which are more advanced
in this area and/or have already been exposed to bio-terrorist attacks. On the
other hand this publication shows current status of preparedness against
bioterorism and infectious diseases in the region and trends in strengthening of
response to natural or deliberate outbreaks of infectious diseases through
coordination of national public health capabilities as well as cooperation between
the NATO member states and Partnership-for-Peace nations in this area. This
publication has been made possible by the Military Institute of Hygiene and
Epidemiology in Warsaw, Poland, in cooperation with Cantacuzzino Institute of
Bucarest, Romania and co-sponsored by NATO Scientific and Environmental
Affairs Division, U.S. Army Research Office and the U.S. Army Soldier and
Biological Command as well as U.S. Navy Office of Naval Research International
Field Office and The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Risk Infections and Possibilities for Biomedical Terrorism
Volume 361 NATO Science Series: Life and Behavioural Sciences
Edited by: P.H. Elzer and K.T. Metodiev
2004, approx. 160 pp., hardcover
ISBN: 1 58603 441 3
Price: US$116 / €105 / £74
This publications covers the NATO Advanced Research workshop, focusing on
bio-terrorism, agro-terrorism, diagnostics, epidemiology, vaccines, and
prevention. The publication provides a full examination of the problems and
focuses on plans for future collaboration between national and international
organizations under the supervision of the Scientific Affairs Division of NATO in
order to find a way for a positive solution against the threats of bio- and agroterrorism. The top-level specialists contributing to this publication came from
health-care administrations, medical universities, military/naval hospitals and
laboratories, medical and pharmaceutical companies, infectious wards and
clinical departments of intensive care units, epidemiology centers, municipality
authorities, defense institutions, and military, police and civil anti-terrorist
organizations.
Biochemistry, Molecular, Cell
Mechanobiology: Cartilage and Chondrocyte – Volume 3
Book Edition of Biorheology
Volume 61 Biomedical and Health Research
Edited by: J.-F. Stoltz
2004, approx. 400 pp., hardcover
ISBN: 1 58603 436 7
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Price: US$159 / €130 / £87
Mechanobiology is now a vigorous branch of biomechanics and biorheology which
is mainly concerned with the study of the influence of mechanical forces on cells
and tissues and their clinical or therapeutical applications. As we are now at the
age of proteomics and genomics and of cell micromechanical approaches, using
methods like laser tweezers or confocal microscopy, mechanobiology brings new
challenges. With these new researches, mechanobiology is the promise of new
diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. The most recent work shows that the
incidence of mechanical forces is specific to the system under scrutiny and that
stresses are implicated in tissue physiology (for example by the production of the
extracellular matrix), secretions (i.e. production of NO and prostaglandins by
endothelial cells), or for the induction of specific functions via intercellular
communication; hence the interest from pharmacology in studies on new
molecules. Moreover, these new findings have led to the development of tissue
engineering, which is the concept of substitute tissue developed in vitro, from
bioresorbable or non-bioresorbable scaffolds and from cells harvested in a
physiologic mechanical environment such as from cartilage, bone and vessels. At
the same time, the problem of cell grafting in tissue repair and especially the use
of stem cells have led to new therapeutic fields.
Cancer
Proteomics in Diagnostics
Volume 19 Disease Markers
Edited by: T.D. Veenstra
2004, 83 pp., softcover
ISBN: 1 58603 434 0
Price: US$135 / €110 / £73
For many diseases, such as heart disease and cancer, early detection plays a
pivotal role in the survival rate of the patient. When detected early, many such
lethal diseases can be effectively treated with existing remedies. The difficulty
remains, however, how to effectively detect such conditions at the earliest
possible stage with a high enough positive predictive value so that they can be
treated effectively without overwhelming the medical system with false positive
diagnoses. What is required is the identification of more effective or additional
biomarkers, as well as other types of technologies, that can aid in the diagnosis
of early stage diseases. The challenge is how to identify more effective
biomarkers or technologies that can provide an earlier indication of a disease
with a higher positive predictive value than presently utilized methods.
Proteomics, along with genomics and transcriptomics, has benefited greatly from
the development of high-throughput methods to study thousands of proteins
almost simultaneously. Based on the rate of interesting leads already being
discovered using proteomics, it is likely that not only will biomarkers with better
sensitivity and specificity be identified but individuals will be treated using
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customized therapies based on their specific protein profile. Since many of the
proteomic technologies and data management tools are still in their infancy, the
future of proteomics in disease diagnostics looks extremely promising.
Signal Transduction
Volume 18 Breast Disease
Edited by: C.V. Clevenger
2004, 84 pp., softcover
ISBN: 1 58603 447 2
Price: US$135 / €110 / £73
This publication focuses on the subject of signal transduction and its role in the
pathogenesis and progression of human breast cancer. Within the past 10 years,
the explosion in our knowledge of these processes has significantly altered our
understanding of breast cancer, and resulted in the first receptor-based
therapies. This volume examines a variety of relevant signalling pathways in
mammary epithelium and explores their mechanisms and functional contribution
to the evolution of this disease. The articles herein explore receptor-based
signalling that occurs both at the cell surface and within the nucleus that controls
the gene expression required for the breast cancer phenotype. Of course, any
good series of reviews should open up more questions than they answer, and the
current collection of review provides no exception. It is our desire that the
discussions engendered by the reviews herein stimulate additional research on
these topics. Clearly, further mechanistic understanding of these underpinnings
of breast neoplasia has been and will be the wellspring for novel therapies of this
disease.
Artificial Intelligence
Knowledge-Based Software Engineering
Proceedings of the Sixth Joint Conference on Knowledge-Based Software
Engineering
Volume 108 Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications
Edited by: V. Stefanuk and K. Kaijiri
2004, approx. 328 pp., hardcover
ISBN: 1 58603 443 X
Price: US$110 / €89 / £60
JCKBSE aims to provide a forum for researchers and practitioners to discuss the
latest developments in the areas of knowledge engineering and software
engineering. Particular emphasis is placed upon applying knowledge-based
methods to software engineering problems. This volume is a collection of
contributions of authors from 8 different countries. The book covers a wide range
of topics related to knowledge-based or automated software engineering. The
papers address the major open research issues of the field, such as architecture
of knowledge; software and information systems; requirement engineering;
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domain analysis and modelling; formal and semiformal specifications; knowledge
engineering for domain modelling; data mining and knowledge discovery;
automating software design and synthesis; object-oriented and other
programming paradigms; knowledge-based methods and tools for software
engineering, including testing, verification and validation; process management,
maintenance and evolution, applied semiotics for knowledge-based software
engineering; knowledge systems methodology; development tools and
environments; practical applications and experience of software and knowledge
engineering; information technology in control, design, production, logistics and
management; enterprise modelling and workflow.
Knowledge Engineering and Agent Technology
Volume 52 Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications
Edited by: J. Cuena, Y. Demazeau, A. García Serrano and J. Treur
2004, approx. 248 pp., hardcover
ISBN: 0 9673355 8 2
Price: US$89 / €109 / £60
During the last decade, knowledge engineering methodologies and tools have
contributed to eliciting expertise, organizing it into a computational structure in
order to support the development of computer applications in different fields. In
the network-based information society, the multi-agent scenario emerges
naturally and new requirements for applications development are imposed. In
these early 2000s the agent-based technologies are growing up to be a new
software engineering paradigm that assists the design of real-domain
applications and they have started to migrate from research laboratories to the
software industry. This volume focuses on the development of distributed
knowledge-based applications. The main aim is to provide a detailed account of
the role of Knowledge Engineering and Agent Technology (KEAT) with respect to
state-of-the-art, various applications, and future perspectives, attractive enough
both for software professionals and researchers in this dynamic field of Artificial
Intelligence and Computer Science.
The Logic of Artificial Life
Abstracting and Synthesizing the Principles of Living Systems
Proceedings of the 6th German Workshop on Artificial Life
Edited by: H. Schaub, F. Detje and U. Brüggemann
2004, 160 pp., softcover
ISBN:1 58603 429 4
Price: US$42 / €34 / £23
Artificial Life is a still growing interdisciplinary research field integrating a variety
of different theoretical foundations, methodological positions, applications and
disciplines. Main focus of this science is to abstract and to synthesize the
essential features and dynamics of living systems in order to create artificial, lifelike systems. On a regular basis and from 1995 on the German Workshop on
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Artificial Life is organized. Like previous workshops the 6th German Workshop on
Artificial Life in 2004 provided the opportunity for scientists from a broad
spectrum of research areas to get in touch with their colleagues from different
disciplines, to learn from one another about questions of mutual interest and to
have a forum for scientists who would like to get into contact with the Artificial
Life community. Contributions to the GWAL 2004 result from research efforts
from (and may be of interest to) biology, physics, information and computer
science, chemistry, mathematics, psychology, sociology, philosophy, robotics,
socionics and much more.
Theoretical and Practical Aspects of Ant Colony Optimization
Volume 282 Dissertations in Artificial Intelligence - Infix
Author: C. Blum
2004, approx. 280 pp., softcover
ISBN: 1 58603 433 2
Price: US$57 / €46 / £31
Combinatorial optimization problems are of high academical and practical
importance. Unfortunately, many of them belong to the class of NP-hard
problems and are therefore intractable. In other words, as their dimension
increases, the time needed by exact methods to find an optimal solution grows
exponentially. Metaheuristics are approximate methods for attacking these
problems. An approximate method is a technique that is applied in order to find a
good enough solution in a reasonable amount of time. Examples of
metaheuristics are simulated annealing, tabu search, evolutionary computation,
and ant colony optimization (ACO), the subject of this book. The contributions of
this book to ACO research are twofold. First, some new theoretical results are
proven that improve our understanding of how ACO works. Second, a new
framework for ACO algorithms is proposed that is shown to perform at the stateof-the-art level on some important combinatorial optimization problems such as
the k-cardinality tree problem and the group shop scheduling problem, which is a
general shop scheduling problem that includes among others the well-known job
shop scheduling and the open shop scheduling problems.
Computer Science, Applications
Computational Econometrics: Its Impact on the Development of
Quantitative Economics
Edited by: C. Renfro
2004, 402 pp., hardcover
ISBN: 1 58603 426 X
Price: US$160 /€130 /£88
This publication contains a substantial amount of detail about the broad history
of the development of econometric software based on the personal recollections
of many people. For economists, the computer has increasingly become the
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primary applied research tool, and it is software that makes the computer work.
It matters that this software should be the best that it can be, for not only does
it permit necessary calculations to be performed but it also determines, for better
or worse over time, how easy or how difficult the applied research process will be
for each succeeding generation of economists. This assertion assumes of course
the availability of the necessary data, and that observations can be obtained
relatively easily—but in the day of the Internet, data distribution is also a matter
of software. And, in addition, there is the consideration that both the quality and
the amount of possible research, as a matter of time spent, may be crucially
dependent on just how good that software is, both in its computational
properties and as a time saver. This publication includes revealing descriptions of
computer-based research that illustrate the role of the computer in the progress
of econometric theory and economic research and aspects of the development of
econometric software, starting from the hand calculation era and continuing to
relatively modern times.
Network Empowerment
Volume 192 NATO Science Series: Computer & Systems Sciences
Edited by: O.B. Popov
2004, approx. 150 pp., hardcover
ISBN: 1 58603 427 8
Price: US$116 / €105 / £74
This is the age of information and the Internet. It is based on the blend of two
powerful technologies such as telecommunications and computing, which
emerged in the second half of the twentieth century. Science and education are
one of the main pillars of every contemporary society. Therefore, the importance
of networking in research and higher education has been recognized by many
countries with the establishment of National Research and Education Networks
(NRENs). This publication covers a range of topics such as Quality of Service
(QoS), TCP performance related to congestion management, security issues in
open systems, schemes for tariffing and micro-payments so much needed in the
realm of e-business, cashing mechanisms and content delivery, the ubiquity of
the Internet, the experience from a unique multi-country distance education
project, and finally a comparative analysis of a few well-known e-learning
environments. This publication is the effort of CEENet (The Central and Eastern
European Networking Association). Today, they are in the forefront of
Information and Communication Technology in their respective countries,
bringing closer the information horizons of the Internet and the highperformance networking, firstly to academic communities and later to other
segments of the society.
Security and Privacy in Advanced Networking Technologies
Volume 193 NATO Science Series: Computer & Systems Sciences
Edited by: B. Jerman-Blažič, W. Schneider and T. Klobučar
2004, approx. 250 pp., hardcover
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ISBN: 1 58603 430 8
Price: US$116 / €105 / £74
Security and privacy in telecommunications and networking, especially when
electronic commerce is involved, are two of the most crucial services offered in
the global networks. In general, users of the computer network services are
largely unaware of the potential threats to their information, or they choose to
ignore such threats. However, the increasing usage of Internet services has
brought the importance of the protection of data, resources and identities to the
forefront. Recently, the Internet has started to spread “over the air” to merge
with mobile communication network, thus making a new broad range of services
available to the new economy. Since these new services take place in a public
and therefore in untrusted networks, there are many security issues involved
that are of concern to different communities. This book provides a broad
overview of the basic aspects of technology, services and applications that
enable safety, security and privacy in untrusted networks. The book can be
viewed as a sequel of the book Advanced Security Technologies in Networking,
published by IOS Press in 2001 and edited by the same editors. While the first
book focused mostly on basic security services and mechanisms, network layer
security, public key infrastructures and related applications, and secure electronic
commerce, this book gives an overview of the most recent security technologies,
such as biometrics, mobile networks, intrusion detection systems, and privacyenhancing technologies.
Physics
The Physics of Complex Systems
New advances and perspectives
Volume 155 International School of Physics “Enrico Fermi”
Edited by: F. Mallamace and H.E. Stanley
2004, approx. 610 pp., hardcover
ISBN: 1 58603 445 6
Price: US$220 / €180 / £120
It is widely known that complex systems and complex materials comprise a
major interdisciplinary scientific field that draws on mathematics, physics,
chemistry, biology, and medicine as well as such social sciences as economics.
The role of statistical physics in this new field has been expanding. Statistical
physics has shown how phenomena and processes in different research areas
that have long been assumed to be unrelated can have a common description.
Through the application of statistical physics, methods developed for studying
order phenomena in simple systems and processes have been generalized to
more complex systems. The two conceptual pillars in this approach are scaling
and universality. This volume focuses on recent advances and perspectives in the
physics of complex systems and provides both an overview of the field and a
more detailed examination of the new ideas and unsolved problems that are
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currently attracting the attention of researchers. This book should be a useful
reference work for anyone interested in this area, whether beginning graduate
student or advanced research professional. It provides up-to-date reviews on
cutting-edge topics compiled by leading authorities and is designed to both
broaden the reader’s competence within their own field and encourage the
exploration of new problems in related fields.
The Electron Liquid Model in Condensed Matter Physics
Volume 157 International School of Physics “Enrico Fermi”
Edited by: G.F. Giuliani and G. Vignale
2004, approx. 530 pp., hardcover
ISBN:1 58603 446 4
Price: US$208 / €170 / £113
The electron liquid paradigm is at the basis of most of our current understanding
of the physical properties of electronic systems. Quite remarkably, the latter are
nowadays at the intersection of the most exciting areas of science: materials
science, quantum chemistry, nano-electronics, biology, and quantum
computation. Accordingly, its importance can hardly be overestimated. During
the past 20 years the field has witnessed momentous developments, which are
partly covered in this new volume. Advances in semiconductor technology have
allowed the realizations of ultra-pure electron liquids whose density, unlike that
of the ones spontaneously occurring in nature, can be tuned by electrical means,
allowing a systematic exploration of both strongly and weakly correlated
regimes. Most of these system are two- or even one-dimensional, and can be
coupled together in the form of multi-layers or multi-wires, opening vast
observational possibilities. On the theoretical side, quantum Monte Carlo
methods have allowed an essentially exact determination of the ground-state
energy of the electron liquid, and have provided partial answers to the still open
question of the structure of its phase diagram. Starting from the 1980s some
truly revolutionary concepts have emerged, which are well represented in this
volume.
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