In medicine, as in any other life sciences discipline, research should start by raising a question (hypothesis) to solve a problem. Then the scientist should select the most appropriated method(s) to answer the question and solve the dilemma. The obtained intermediate and final results may answer the question or may raise additional...

Bioinformatics is an emerging field in which statistical and computational techniques are used extensively to analyze and interpret biological data obtained from high-throughput genomic technologies. Genomic technologies allow us to monitor thousands of biological processes going on inside living organisms in one snapshot, and are...

Humans receive the great majority of information about their environment through sight, and at least 50% of the human brain is dedicated to vision. Vision is also a key component for building artificial systems that can perceive and understand their environment. Computer vision is likely to change society in many ways; for example, it...

The chapters in this volume were presented at the July–August 2006 NATO Advanced Study Institute on Imaging for Detection and Identification. The conference was held at the beautiful Il Ciocco resort near Lucca, in the glorious Tuscany region of northern Italy. For the eighth time we gathered at this idyllic spot to explore and...

It has been over twenty years since we published the first edition of this book. Over that period, our original contention that numerical methods and computers would figure more prominently in the engineering curriculum—particularly in the early parts—has been dramatically borne out. Many universities now offer freshman,...

Understanding Digital Signal Processing, Third Edition, is quite simply the best resource for engineers and other technical professionals who want to master and apply today’s latest DSP...

Microelectromenchanical systems (MEMS) is a revolutionary field that adapts for new uses a technology already optimized to accomplish a specific set of objectives. The silicon-based integrated circuits process is so highly refined it can produce millions of electrical elements on a single chip and define their critical dimensions to...

Leading the way in the integration of information technology with healthcare, Pharmacy Informatics reflects some of the rapid changes that have developed in...

An ontology is a set of vocabulary terms with explicitly stated meanings and relations with other terms. Presently, a growing number of ontologies are being built and used for annotating data in biomedical research. Thanks to the tremendous amount of data being generated, ontologies are now being used in numerous ways, including connecting...

The breakthrough of Raman, mid - infrared and near - infrared spectroscopy as practical imaging tools with rational measurement and evaluation times has only taken place in recent years, although Raman and infrared spectroscopy are well - established analytical techniques for research, quality assurance and process control since many decades....

Part I deals with the fundamental concepts of a typical smart system and its constituent components....

Progress in biology is dependent on the ability to observe, measure, and model the behavior of organisms at multiple levels of abstraction, from the microscopic to the macroscopic. There has been a tremendous growth recently in the techniques to probe the structure and workings of cellular and organ-level mechanisms. Significant advances have...