Modern medicine generates, almost daily, huge amounts of heterogeneous data. For example, medical data may contain SPECT images, signals like ECG, clinical information like temperature, cholesterol levels, etc., as well as the physician's interpretation. Those who deal with such data understand that there is a widening gap between data collection and data comprehension. Computerized techniques are needed to help humans address this problem. This volume is devoted to the relatively young and growing field of medical data mining and knowledge discovery. As more and more medical procedures employ imaging as a preferred diagnostic tool, there is a need to develop methods for efficient mining in databases of images. Other significant features are security and confidentiality concerns. Moreover, the physician's interpretation of images, signals, or other technical data, is written in unstructured English which is very difficult to mine. This book addresses all these specific features.

Data Mining Methods for Knowledge Discovery provides an introduction to the data mining methods that are frequently used in the process of knowledge discovery. This book first elaborates on the fundamentals of each of the data mining methods: rough sets, Bayesian analysis, fuzzy sets, genetic algorithms, machine learning, neural networks, and preprocessing techniques. The book then goes on to thoroughly discuss these methods in the setting of the overall process of knowledge discovery. Numerous illustrative examples and experimental findings are also included. Each chapter comes with an extensive bibliography. Data Mining Methods for Knowledge Discovery is intended for senior undergraduate and graduate students, as well as a broad audience of professionals in computer and information sciences, medical informatics, and business information systems.

This comprehensive textbook on data mining details the unique steps of the knowledge discovery process that prescribes the sequence in which data mining projects should be performed, from problem and data understanding through data preprocessing to deployment of the results. This knowledge discovery approach is what distinguishes Data Mining from other texts in this area.

The book provides a suite of exercises and includes links to instructional presentations. Furthermore, it contains appendices of relevant mathematical material.

This comprehensive textbook on data mining details the unique steps of the knowledge discovery process that prescribes the sequence in which data mining projects should be performed, from problem and data understanding through data preprocessing to deployment of the results. This knowledge discovery approach is what distinguishes Data Mining from other texts in this area. The book provides a suite of exercises and includes links to instructional presentations. Furthermore, it contains appendices of relevant mathematical material.

Modern medicine generates, almost daily, huge amounts of heterogeneous data. For example, medical data may contain SPECT images, signals lik e ECG, clinical information like temperature, cholesterol levels, etc., as well as the physician's interpretation. Those who deal with such data understand that there is a widening gap between data collection a nd data comprehension. Computerized techniques are needed to help huma ns address this problem. This volume is devoted to the relatively youn g and growing field of medical data mining and knowledge discovery. As more and more medical procedures employ imaging as a preferred diagno stic tool, there is a need to develop methods for efficient mining in databases of images. Other significant features are security and confi dentiality concerns. Moreover, the physician's interpretation of image s, signals, or other technical data, is written in unstructured Englis h which is very difficult to mine. This book addresses all these speci fic features.

Data Mining Methods for Knowledge Discovery provides an introduction to the data mining methods that are frequently used in the process of knowledge discovery. This book first elaborates on the fundamentals of each of the data mining methods: rough sets, Bayesian analysis, fuzzy sets, genetic algorithms, machine learning, neural networks, and preprocessing techniques. The book then goes on to thoroughly discuss these methods in the setting of the overall process of knowledge discovery. Numerous illustrative examples and experimental findings are also included. Each chapter comes with an extensive bibliography. Data Mining Methods for Knowledge Discovery is intended for senior undergraduate and graduate students, as well as a broad audience of professionals in computer and information sciences, medical informatics, and business information systems.