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Call for Chapters: Cloud Computing Applications for Quality Health Care Delivery

Editors

Dr. Anastasius Moumtzoglou (“P. & A. Kyriakou” Children’s Hospital, President of the Hellenic Society for Quality & Safety in Healthcare, Greece);

Dr. Anastasia Kastania (Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece)

Proposals Submission Deadline: May 30, 2013

Full Chapters Due: August 30, 2013

Submission Date: November 30, 2013

For release in the Advances in Medical Technologies and Clinical Practice (AMTCP) Book Series

The Internet, having its roots in telephony applications in the early 1990s, is often referred to as “The Cloud.” By the turn of the millennium, the Internet was referred to as broadband, and the term “in the cloud” was highly desired. Telephone utilities were investing in “The Cloud” for switching and routing the appropriate connections for phone calls, faxes, live feeds, and signals. Then, around the middle of the decade, Computational Cloud Services, called “Cloud Computing,” was firmly in the vocabulary as a way to describe what the user was doing: accessing computing services in the cloud.

At the beginning of the decade, companies began building their websites in such a way that users could utilize their services exclusively through the use of a browser. Shortly, through the use of more powerful technologies, “in the cloud” applications became commonplace. By the middle of the decade, most leading corporations with a strong Web presence had reasonable and reliable operation of their services exclusively “in the cloud.”

The “Cloud” represents a fundamental change in the use of IT services, which involves a shift from owning and managing the IT system to accessing IT systems as a service. The term Cloud Services, a distinct terminology from outsourced IT hosting, comes from the fact that the Internet has often been depicted as a “Cloud.” Cloud Services have been defined as the services that meet the following criteria:

Consumers neither own the hardware on which data processing and storage happens, nor the software that performs the data processing.
Consumers have the ability to access and use the service at any time over the Internet.
As a result, the definition of Cloud Services is twofold. The first part pertains to the ownership of the actual hardware and software that is used to perform data storage and data processing, while the second part refers to the client’s ability to access the service remotely when it needs to use it.

On the other hand, as definitions evolved, Cloud Computing denoted the influence of cloud, and implied the user experience moving away from personal computers to a “cloud” of computers. In this context, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) defined Cloud Computing as “a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction”. This cloud model is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models. Essential characteristics, according to NIST, include on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and measured service. Service Models include Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), while deployment models include the Private cloud, the Community cloud, the Public cloud, and the Hybrid cloud.

Moreover, the research firm IDC described Cloud Computing as “an emerging IT development, deployment and distribution model, enabling real-time delivery of products, services and solutions over the Internet.” It also defined Cloud Services as “Consumer and Business products, services and solutions that are delivered and consumed in real-time over the Internet.” Finally, analyst firm Gartner defined Cloud Computing as “a model of computing in which scalable and flexible IT-enabled capabilities are delivered as a service to external customers using Internet technologies.”

As far as healthcare is concerned, the trend appears to be irreversible. Software applications and information once in the realm of a local computer or a local server are now in the sphere of the public Internet. Private health information once confined to local networks is migrating onto the Internet. Patients voluntarily grant access to their health records, while the collection and management of this data is entirely legal. Microsoft and Google are two notable examples of companies following the accelerating likelihood of placing, once restricted and private health records, “in the cloud.” Their initiatives hold the attention timing and force convergence of events if we consider the “Transforming Healthcare Through IT” and “Enabling Healthcare Reform Using Information Technology” initiatives.

Objective of the Book

The book will provide an overview of cloud technologies that might affect quality in healthcare. The proposed book intends to provide a compendium of terms, definitions, and explanations of concepts, processes, and acronyms. Additionally, it will present chapters (each chapter consisting of 7,000-10,000 words) authored by leading experts, offering an in-depth description of key terms and concepts related to the demystification of healthcare quality in the Cloud.

Target Audience

The prospective audience includes undergraduate and extended degree programs students, graduate students of health care quality and health services management, executive education and continuing education, health care managers and health professionals.

Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

Healthcare Cloud computing and Web Services

Definition, features and types of cloud services in healthcare

Adoption of cloud services and quality in healthcare

Benefits and drawbacks of cloud services in healthcare

Cloud technologies and quality in healthcare

Cloud-based systems for healthcare information technology and quality in healthcare

Cloud Perspective for HIPAA and HITECH

Interoperability

Privacy in Healthcare Cloud Computing

High Performance Computing in the Healthcare Cloud

Information Assurance and Security in Cloud Computing

Characteristics of Cloud-based Healthcare Organisations Cloud-based EMRs and quality in healthcare

Cloud-based medical practice management applications and quality in healthcare

Cloud-based patient portals and quality in healthcare

Cloud-based ePrescription systems and quality in healthcare

Cloud-based Laboratory solutions and quality in healthcare

Mobile Cloud Computing and quality in healthcare

Mobile Multimedia-Cloud Computing

Cloud healthcare simulation

Autonomic Clouds in Healthcare

Submission Procedure

Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before May 30, 2013, a 2-3 page chapter proposal clearly explaining the mission and concerns of his or her proposed chapter. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by June 15, 2013 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by August 30, 2013. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this project.

Publisher

This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.), publisher of the “Information Science Reference” (formerly Idea Group Reference), “Medical Information Science Reference” and “IGI Publishing” imprints. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit www.igi-global.com. This publication is anticipated to be released in 2014.

Important Dates:

May 30, 2013: Proposal Submission Deadline

June 15, 2013: Notification of Acceptance

August 30, 2013: Full Chapter Submission

October 30, 2013: Review Results Returned

November 30, 2013: Final Chapter Submission

February 15, 2014: Final deadline

Editorial Advisory Board

Vahe A. Kazandjian, Johns Hopkins University, USA

Dimitris Koutsouris, National Technical University of Athens, Greece

Athina Lazakidou, University of Peloponnese, Greece

Ales Bourek, Masaryk University, Czech Republic

Kathleen Abrahamson, Purdue University, USA

George Bohoris, University of Piraeus, Greece

Inquiries and submissions can be forwarded electronically (Word document):

Dr. Anastasius Moumtzoglou
“P. & A. Kyriakou” Children’s Hospital
Thivon & Levadias, 11527 Athens, Greece
Tel.: +302132009822 • GSM: +306974558870
E-mail: anas1@hol.gr

Dr. Anastasia Kastania
Athens University of Economis and Business
Patission 76 Str, 10434 Athens, Greece
Tel: +30-210-8203158, Fax: +30-210-8203157, GSM: +306944546208
E-mail: ank@aueb.gr

Call for Chapters: High Performance and Cloud Computing in Scientific Research and Education

Editors

Dr. Marijana Despotovic-Zrakic (University of Belgrade, Serbia)

Dr. Veljko Milutinovic (University of Belgrade, Serbia)

Dr. Aleksandar Belic (University of Belgrade, Serbia)

Proposals Submission Deadline: June 15, 2013

Full Chapters Due: July 15, 2013

Submission Date: September 30, 2013

Nowadays, requirements for design and implementation of information systems that are used for educational and research purposes at universities become more complex. These information systems include a plethora of services, applications, resources, and interactions. The resulting conglomerate of services and solutions is getting increasingly difficult to deal with and further improve. In addition to that, new and extremely important concepts, such as mobility, pervasiveness, and services on demand, have further fuelled the need for changing and improving existing approaches. As a result, efforts to design a new computing architecture--the so called cloud computing--have been initiated over the last couple of years and are ongoing across the world. New paradigms such as high performance computing and cloud computing will provide reliable and cost effective IT infrastructure that enhance realization of research and educational processes at universities.

The main subject of the book is high performance computing and cloud computing applications in the area of scientific work and education. Supercomputers are used for compute-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, oil and gas exploration, molecular modeling (computing the structures and properties of chemical compounds, biological macromolecules, polymers, and crystals), and physical simulations (such as simulation of airplanes in wind tunnels, simulation of the detonation of nuclear weapons, and research in nuclear fusion). In the scope of this publication, the following areas of high computing application were discussed and presented through case studies and exercises: industry, research and academic community works, simulation, and hydroinformatics. Cloud computing is an emerging area that includes a set of disciplines, technologies, and business models used to deliver IT capabilities (software, platforms, hardware) as an on-demand, scalable, elastic service. This book presents the applications of cloud computing in scientific research, education, e-learning, ubiquitous learning, CRM and social computing.

Objective of the Book

The primary goal of the proposed publication is to provide a variety of research and survey articles in the field of modern computer technologies and their application in science and education. Findings and discussion provided within publication should foster the potentials and capabilities of research, the academic community, and also industry. The publication is oriented towards making an impact in practice. A loy research presented in the publication will leverage dissemination of knowledge and awareness of the potential benefits of cloud computing.

Target Audience

The publication research provides numerous examples, practical solutions, and applications of high performance computing and cloud computing that can improve capacity and capability as well as the quality of research, teaching, and learning processes. This publication can contribute to the seamless adoption of modern technologies in the areas of science, research, and business; it can also foster new IT infrastructures and services, enable efficient and cost-effective usage of software and hardware resources, and determine what is of significant importance for each business entity, particularly in developing countries. In addition, the presented works are expected to contribute to introducing cloud computing and high performance application and services in other areas (business, industry). Guidelines and case studies provided in the book can help developing cost effective solutions in business and industry. This manuscript is also beneficial to computer and system infrastructure designers, developers, business managers, entrepreneurs, and investors within the cloud computing related industry. The target audience of this book will be composed of professionals and researchers working in the field of information and communication technologies, and their applications in science and education. Researchers and scholars will gain insight on how modern technologies can be used as a support for scientific research. The book will also provide resources on how cloud technologies can be used to build effective infrastructure of educational institutions.

Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. High performance computing:

High performance computer architectures and technologies

Grid computing

Parallel and distributed algorithms

Scalable servers and systems

Energy efficient high-performance computing

Software support and advanced micro-architecture techniques

Operating systems for scalable high-performance computing

High performance computing in science

Emerging applications such as biotechnology and nanotechnology

2. Cloud computing concepts and architecture:

Cloud architecture

Virtualization

Transition from traditional high performance architecture to cloud architecture

IaaS, PaaS, SaaS

Middlewares for implementing clouds

Development and applications of cloud concepts

Autonomic cloud management

Security issues and risk management in cloud environments

3. Cloud computing in science:

Synergy between grid computing and cloud computing in science

Synergy between ubiquitous computing and cloud computing in science

Synergy between pervasive computing and cloud computing in science

Cloud computing in specific scientific domains

Cloud services as support to scientific research

GIS and cloud technologies

4. Cloud computing in education:

Cloud architecture for e-education

Allocation and resource management

Federation of university clouds

Digital identity management in the cloud

Cloud services as support to education

Knowledge management in the cloud

5. Applications and projects

Submission Procedure

Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before June 15, 2013, a 2-3 page chapter proposal clearly explaining the mission and concerns of his or her proposed chapter. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by June 30, 2013 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by July 15, 2013. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this project. For additional information regarding the manuscript, please visit www.elab.rs/cc-book/.

Publisher

This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.), publisher of the “Information Science Reference” (formerly Idea Group Reference), “Medical Information Science Reference,” “Business Science Reference,” and “Engineering Science Reference” imprints. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit www.igi-global.com. This book is anticipated to be released in 2013.

Important Dates

June 15, 2013: Proposal Submission Deadline

June 30, 2013: Notification of Acceptance

July 15, 2013: Full Chapter Submission

August 15, 2013: Review Results Returned

September 30, 2013: Final Chapter Submission

November 30, 2013: Final Deadline

Editorial Advisory Board Members:

Borko Furth, Florida Atlantic University, USA

Ivan Stojmenovic, University of Ottawa, Canada

Vladimir Brusic, Boston University, USA

Milorad Stanojevic, University of Belgrade, Serbia

Srdan Krco, Ericsson Ireland Research Centre, Ireland

Inquiries and submissions can be forwarded electronically (Word document):

Dr. Marijana Despotović-Zrakić
Faculty of Organizational Science
University of Belgrade, Jove Illića 154
Tel.: +381698893144

Call for Submissions for a Special Issue of Methods of Information in Medicine Journal: Managing Interoperability and compleXity in Health Systems

We are inviting submissions for an issue of the Methods of Information in Medicine devoted to the latest advances in bio-medical and e-health knowledge and information management research. The recent large-scale deployment of Electronic Health Records (EHR) across medical institutions provides new opportunities of secondary use of EHR. Issues of data-mining in large heterogeneous clinical data-sets, information retrieval and extraction in multiple medical repositories, the management of complexity and the coherent update of knowledge in medicine, clinical standards interoperability in distributed health systems and the patient Electronic Health Record (EHR) are now becoming critical to implementing enterprise and nationwide health systems.

Topic of interest will include but not limited to:

1. Data Mining, Information Extraction, and Semantic Annotation of EHR Data;

2. Medical Knowledge Representation and Reasoning

3. Expert and Clinical Decision Support Systems Using Semantic Web Technologies

4. Interoperability in Distributed healthcare Systems

5.Clinical Information Standards (e.g. HL7) Clinical Terminologies, Classifications (e.g. ICD 10) and biomedical ontologies (e.g. SNOMED - CT)

6. Patient Cohort Identification

7. Personalized Medicine via high throughput data integration

Important Dates

June 1, 2013 Letter of Intent Due (optional)

June 15, 2013 Submission Deadline

Peer-review Process

All submitted papers will go through a rigorous peer-review process with at least three reviewers. All submissions should follow the guidelines for authors available at the Methods of Information in Medicine web site (http://www.schattauer.de/fileadmin/assets/zeitschriften/methods/Instruction_to_Authors.pdf). The journal's editorial policy is also outlined on that page and will be strictly followed by special issue reviewers.

Submission Process

Optional letters of intent should be sent to guest editors by June 1, 2013. This will assist in assessing the number of likely submissions and in planning for the review process when papers are submitted. Authors must submit their papers via

http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/methods. Please select “Original Article for a Focus Theme” as manuscript type and mention MIXHS as the Focus Theme in the cover letter.

Page limit is 5 pages in print per article (i.e., about 22,000 characters including space bars, please deduct 1,500 characters including space bars for each figure or table)."

Guest Editors
Matt-Mouley Bouamrane (University of Glasgow, UK)

Cui Tao (Mayo Clinic, USA)

Call for Papers on Collaboration for the Jefferson Journal of Science and Culture

Deadline: November 4th 2013

Email jeffersonjournaluva@gmail.com with inquiries.

Collaborative work has resulted in some of the most famous and infamous advances of the last hundred years, from Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon, to the atom bomb, or the United Nations. This issue of the Jefferson Journal of Science and Culture seeks to investigate the nature of collaboration by examining its origins, practice, and iresults. How can collaborative work solve problems and further knowledge? What are the limits or failures of collaborative work? We welcome submissions from all academic fields, and invite authors to define, analyze and critique collaboration in innovative ways.

Natural Sciences submissions may explore the interplay between observation, experiment, and theory in projects requiring expert knowledge from several distinct fields. Authors may also examine how researchers interact with those developing new technologies or methodologies to collect data and to analyze and visualize results, or the importance, difficulties, and rewards of organizing large projects across several institutions.  

Submissions from the Arts and Humanities may include examinations of the creative process and products of collaborating artists in areas such as music, television, film-making, theater or dance. Authors may also investigate the collaborative process of community art in projects led by an individual artist, such as Frank Warren’s Post-Secret or Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir.

Submissions from the Social Sciences may ask how and when researchers should collaborate, or whether we can collaborate with our research subjects. Authors may also investigate the social value and ethics of collaboration, as well as the collaborative nature of topics including education; trade; social groups; nations; or international organizations.

Additional topics may include, but are not limited to:

Market places as collaboration

Failures of collaboration

The creation of political policy as a collaborative process

Collaborations between scientists and artists

International treaties as collaborations

Teaching and learning as collaboration

Open source technologies as collaborations

Healthcare as a collaborative process

Athletic training as collaboration

Crowd-sourcing as collaboration

Please contact jeffersonjournaluva@gmail.com if you have a concept you’d like to discuss.

The Jefferson Journal of Science and Culture is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Jefferson Scholars Foundation of the University of Virginia.

Call for Papers for a Special Issue on Applied Health Information Technology of Health Care: The Journal of Delivery Science and Innovation

Submission deadline: August 1, 2013

The 2009 Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act stimulated discussion, innovation and substantially increased adoption of health IT amongst health care professionals.  The potential for Health IT to improve health outcomes, engagement of patients and families in care, the quality of care delivered, and transitions of care across health care settings remains great.

We invite submissions to the third issue of Health Care that highlight innovative applications of information technology that significantly impact patient care and improve outcomes on population levels.  Potential topics in this issue include, but are not limited to:

Measuring the costs and benefits of health information technology

Understanding the relationship between health information technology and health system organization.

Evaluating the meaningful use of health IT

Participation in and consequences of health information exchanges

Using information technology to improve the quality, efficiency, or cost-effectiveness of care

Population health IT

Developing consumer-based health IT (e.g. mobile applications, internet-based tools, personal health records, etc.)

Evaluation of novel health IT tools across a variety of domains and clinical settings

Insights from medical informatics

Advanced use of analytics for improved care delivery

We are also interested in other topics in health IT that have a direct impact on health systems and their providers.

We welcome submissions of original research, perspectives, case studies, and review articles.

Papers should be submitted for publication through our online submission system. http://ees.elsevier.com/hjdsi/

Papers will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the submission deadline of August 1. We encourage authors to contact our editorial team directly with any questions: kkaung@college.harvard.edu

Call for Abstracts for a Supplement in the Journal of General Internal Medicine: Research Methods for Evaluating Patient Health Outcomes in Rare Diseases

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), through its Effective Health Care Program, is sponsoring a journal supplement intended to advance research methods for evaluating patient health outcomes in rare diseases.  Rare diseases, defined in the US Orphan Drug Act as those with a prevalence of fewer than 200,000 patients each year in the US, affect about 6-8% of the world’s population.  Despite the rise in approval of orphan drugs and biological products directed at certain rare diseases, as well as devices intended for small populations, most still lack therapies that can effectively improve patients’ symptoms, modify the disease course, or cure their conditions.

Recent advances in health outcomes research methods include analysis of patient registry data, aggregation of data in electronic health records and federated data networks, and development of novel clinical trial designs.  AHRQ is sponsoring a peer-reviewed medical journal supplement dedicated to the applicability of such research tools to orphan products and how they can be adapted to optimally suit rare disease patient health outcomes.  Previous AHRQ-sponsored journal supplements on comparative effectiveness and patient-centered outcomes research (see examples from 2007, 2010, and 2012) have garnered high-impact contributions from internationally recognized experts in epidemiology, biostatistics, meta-analysis, clinical trial design, evidence-based medicine, and patient-centered outcomes research.

The proposed supplement, which will be published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, will be focused on innovative patient-centered health outcomes research methodology and its application to rare diseases or drugs/devices used to treat such patients.  Preference will be given to original investigations with new methodological approaches or with methods derived from other disciplines or based on advances from existing methods.  We are also keenly interested in broader policy considerations related to rare disease outcomes research methods, such as the ethical ramifications of innovative clinical trial designs; legal structures to incentivize investment in these areas; use of practice-based research networks and e-support groups to connect patients, primary care physicians, and specialists; and balancing data transparency with the need for patient confidentiality.

We invite you to participate in this journal supplement by submitting a brief abstract on a relevant topic by June 14, 2013, to RareDiseaseOutcomes@partners.org.  Authors of selected abstracts will be required to submit complete manuscripts by November 15, 2013.

For questions, please contact:

Aaron S. Kesselheim, M.D., J.D. (AKesselheim@partners.org)

Joshua J. Gagne, Pharm.D., Sc.D. (JGagne1@partners.org)

Lauren Thompson (LThompson7@partners.org) or

Scott R. Smith, Ph.D. (Scott.Smith@ahrq.hhs.gov)

Call for Papers for a Special Issue of JAMA Pediatrics: Media, Technology, and Pediatric Health

The May 2014 theme issue for JAMA Pediatrics will be on media with special emphasis on newer media both in terms of how they affect children but also how they can be used to promote health. Manuscripts submitted before November 1, 2013, will be given preference

Call for Papers for a Special Issue of Behavioral Sciences and Law: Disability, Law and Public Policy, and the World Wide Web

Behavioral Sciences and Law invites submissions for a forthcoming special issue on Disability, Law and Public Policy, and the World Wide Web. The Web has fundamentally changed the way we participate politically, socially and culturally within a complex network of dispersed communities. Although there is a substantial literature on the web and related law and public policy, fewer articles have examined the implications of the web for persons with disabilities and over the life course. Moreover, there is an ongoing debate in academic, legal, and policy circles about the reach and breadth of web accessibility technical standards and performance criteria, and their application under national laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, and international conventions such as the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In addition, there are evolving privacy and security considerations, copyright and ownership issues, and issues of free speech and censorship. To address these and other topics, this special issue aims to provide a resource for academics and researchers, legal and social advocates, online service providers, educators and employers, and policymakers interested in emerging legal and policy issues associated with the full and equal enjoyment of the web by persons with disabilities.

We invite conceptual, legal, and empirical papers on disability, law and policy and the web. Papers from multiple perspectives and novel as well as established disciplines are welcome, such as psychology, sociology, political science, education, business and management, healthcare, vocational rehabilitation, engineering, disability studies, cognitive science, computer science and design, human-computer interaction, and public policy and law.

Papers should be no longer than 30 pages, inclusive of all tables, figures and references. Shorter research notes and focused commentary (no longer than 15 pages in total) are welcome. References should be in American Psychological Association style, although a legally-oriented paper may use the Bluebook Uniform System of Citation. The deadline for submissions is September 1, 2013. Please send two electronic copies of the submission, one blinded for peer review, to John Petrila, J.D., LL.M., University of South Florida (jpetril1@health.usf.edu) or Peter Blanck, Ph.D., J.D., Burton Blatt Institute, Syracuse University (pblanck@syr.edu), the guest editor for this special issue.

Behavioral Sciences & the Law is a peer reviewed journal that provides current and comprehensive information from throughout the world on topics at the interaction of the law and the behavioral sciences. Appealing to academics, researchers, practitioners, policymakers, the journal balances theoretical, legal, and research writings to provide a broad perspective on pertinent topics.