This book focuses on approaches to computer-assisted medical decision-making. A unique feature of the book is that a specific problem in medical decision-making has been selected from the literature, with each contributed chapter presenting a different approach to the solution of the same problem. Theoretical foundations for each approach are provided, followed by practical application. Techniques include knowledge-based reasoning, neural network models, hybrid systems, reasoning with uncertainty, and fuzzy logic, among others. The goal is to supply the reader with a variety of theoretical techniques whose practical implementation can be clearly understood through the example. Using a single, concrete example to illustrate different theoretical approaches allows various techniques to be easily contrasted and permits the reader to determine which aspects are pertinent to specific types of applications. Although the methods are illustrated in a medical problem, they have wide applicability in numerous areas of decision-making.

Intelligent Control techniques are becoming important tools in both academia and industry. Methodologies developed in the field of soft-computing, such as neural networks, fuzzy systems and evolutionary computation, can lead to accommodation of more complex processes, improved performance and considerable time savings and cost reductions. Intelligent Control Systems using Computational Intellingence Techniques details the application of these tools to the field of control systems. Each chapter gives and overview of current approaches in the topic covered, with a set of the most important references in the field, and then details the author's approach, examining both the theory and practical applications.

Essays in honour of John Bell on the art of comparative law, focussing on the manner of 'legal development'.

Ever since fuzzy logic was introduced by Lotfi Zadeh in the mid-sixties and genetic algorithms by John Holland in the early seventies, these two fields widely been subjects of academic research the world over. During the last few years, they have been experiencing extremely rapid growth in the industrial world, where they have been shown to be very effective in solving real-world problems. These two substantial fields, together with neurocomputing techniques, are recognized as major parts of soft computing: a set of computing technologies already riding the waves of the next century to produce the human-centered intelligent systems of tomorrow; the collection of papers presented in this book shows the way. The book also contains an extensive bibliography on fuzzy logic and genetic algorithms.

Soft computing is a new, emerging discipline rooted in a group of technologies that aim to exploit the tolerance for imprecision and uncertainty in achieving solutions to complex problems. The principal components of soft computing are fuzzy logic, neurocomputing, genetic algorithms and probabilistic reasoning.This volume is a collection of up-to-date articles giving a snapshot of the current state of the field. It covers the whole expanse, from theoretical foundations to applications. The contributors are among the world leaders in the field.

This unique volume is the first publication on software engineering and computational intelligence (CI) viewed as a synergistic interplay of neurocomputing, granular computation (including fuzzy sets and rough sets), and evolutionary methods. It presents a unified view of CI in the context of software engineering.The book addresses a number of crucial issues: what is CI, what role does it play in software development, how are CI elements built into successive phases of the software life cycle, and what is the role played by CI in quantifying fundamental features of software artifacts?With contributions from leading researchers and practitioners, the book provides the reader with a wealth of new concepts and approaches, complete algorithms, in-depth case studies, and thought-provoking exercises. The topics coverage include neurocomputing, granular as well as evolutionary computing, object-oriented analysis and design in software engineering. There is also an extensive bibliography.

Professional Reasoning in Healthcare A guide to decision-making and critical thinking in diverse healthcare practice contexts. Professional reasoning is an essential component of health practice. To thrive in a world that demands constant change where there is not necessarily a right or wrong answer, strong frameworks are needed to support effective decision making. Critical to safe, ethical and culturally responsive practice decisions is the ability to integrate information from research evidence, the client, and the context/environment. Practitioners draw from these elements, along with the expertise of others, and through integration of the information with who they are, what they know, and how they operate. This creates a way forward that is right for the client, applicable to the context, and a good fit with themselves. This book provides such a framework. Professional Reasoning in Healthcare: Navigating Uncertainty Using the Five Finger Framework aims to drive a revolution in professional decision-making and critical analysis among healthcare professionals. Built around an innovative framework for fostering thinking, this book illustrates the situated nature of learning and the uniqueness of practice decisions to individual practitioners and clients. The simplicity of the Five Finger framework belies the complexity of reasoning it stimulates. Written using narratives, the reader is able to imagine the situation as the thinking is made visible. It provides simple yet effective tools and techniques for promoting reflective and reflexive thinking and for integrating the evidence into effective decisions. It promises to help readers develop habits of critical thinking that lead to healthier, more effective decision-making processes. Readers will find: Scenarios that bring the professional reasoning to life Tools and techniques to help translate theory into immediate practice Strategies to enhance reflective thinking skills, transformative learning, and sense-making Detailed discussion of topics including team culture, person-centred practice, social learning theory, cultural influences on reasoning, emotional intelligence, and more An overview of transdisciplinary thinking and a complexity-based view on ethics and values Professional Reasoning in Healthcare is ideal for healthcare professionals, managers, students, and educators who are charged with developing skills in making critical decisions in diverse practice contexts.

This book describes the application of evolutionary computation in the automatic generation of a neural network architecture. The architecture has a significant influence on the performance of the neural network. It is the usual practice to use trial and error to find a suitable neural network architecture for a given problem. The process of trial and error is not only time-consuming but may not generate an optimal network. The use of evolutionary computation is a step towards automation in neural network architecture generation.An overview of the field of evolutionary computation is presented, together with the biological background from which the field was inspired. The most commonly used approaches to a mathematical foundation of the field of genetic algorithms are given, as well as an overview of the hybridization between evolutionary computation and neural networks. Experiments on the implementation of automatic neural network generation using genetic programming and one using genetic algorithms are described, and the efficacy of genetic algorithms as a learning algorithm for a feedforward neural network is also investigated.

The 1980s saw a whole wave of practical applications of fuzzy theory, mainly in the field of process control, with Japan as pioneer. In the '90s there has been a flood of applications to household electrical appliances, and“fuzzy” has become a high-tech buzz-word in Japan. Since then many countries have followed suit and developed their own fuzzy applications.This book reviews the burgeoning industrial applications of fuzzy theory. The contributors are mostly industrial engineers or research experts in the field. The areas covered include automobiles, home appliances, voice recognition, medical techniques, fuzzy design, process control, space operations and mobile autonomous robots.Very recently the development of fuzzy theory has become intertwined with fields such as neural networks and chaos. This volume also summarizes such trends in an industrial context.The book will be of use to senior undergraduates or graduate students, industrial research scientists, and anyone interested in the wide-ranging applicational aspects of fuzzy theory today.

The digitization of healthcare has become almost ubiquitous in recent years, spreading from healthcare organizations into the homes and personal appliances of practically every citizen. Thanks to the collective efforts of health professionals, patients and care providers as well as systems developers and researchers, the entire population of Europe is able to participate in and enjoy the benefits of digitized health information. This book presents the proceedings of the 26th Medical Informatics in Europe Conference (MIE2015), held in Madrid, Spain, in May 2015. The conference brings together participants who share their latest achievements in biomedical and health Informatics, including the role of the user in digital healthcare, and provides a forum for discussion of the inherent challenges to design and adequately deploy ICT tools, the assessment of health IT interventions, the training of users and the exploitation of available information and knowledge to further the continuous and ubiquitous availability and interoperability of medical information systems. Contributions address methodologies and applications, success stories and lessons learned as well as an overview of on-going projects and directions for the future. The book will be of interest to all those involved in the development, delivery and consumption of health and care information.