editorial cloud computing based systems for...

EditorialCloud Computing Based Systems for Healthcare

Vladimir Stantchev,1 Ricardo Colomo-Palacios,2 and Michael Niedermayer3

1 SRH Hochschule Berlin, Ernst-Reuter-Platz 10, 10587 Berlın, Germany2Østfold University College, B R A Veien 4, 1783 Halden, Norway3 Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration, Gustav-Meyer-Allee 25, 13355 Berlin, Germany

Correspondence should be addressed to Vladimir Stantchev; [email protected]

Received 27 February 2014; Accepted 27 February 2014; Published 15 April 2014

Copyright © 2014 Vladimir Stantchev et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons AttributionLicense, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properlycited.

The emergence of cloud computing leads to new develop-ments for diverse application domains. This is particularlytrue for healthcare with its tremendous importance in today’ssociety, thus making it worth to investigate the relevant per-spectives and insights. In this special issue, readers will findthe foundations together with cutting-edge developments inthe state-of-the-art of cloud computing based systems forhealthcare.

Cloud computing is getting increasing attention andrepresents nowadays one of the most important researchtopics in computing science and information systems. Cloudcomputing refers to both the applications delivered as ser-vices over the Internet and the hardware and software systemswithin the data centers which provide those services. Cloudis now seen as a valid strategy and specific applications basedon these technologies have become widespread.

Healthcare, as with any other service operation, has beenimpacted by the cloud computing phenomenon with theliterature reporting both benefits and challenges of cloudcomputing in the area. However, the evolving nature ofscience and technology creates new scenarios that must bestudied using interdisciplinary and holistic means.

The aim of this special issue was to collect innovative andhigh-quality research contributions regarding the advancesin the healthcare domain that are enabled by the use ofcloud computing architectures and techniques. The focusis intended to be integral for cloud computing in health-care, but emphasizing not only the IT side of the phe-nomenon but also the managerial and the health practitionerside.

Editors received a considerable amount of submissionsthat were peer-reviewed by top experts in the field. Based onthe reviews and our reading of the papers, editors selectedseven high-quality ones to be published. Contributions ofthese papers are summarized as follows.

Two contributions deal with scenarios where cloudcomputing can serve as an enabler for improved decisionmaking and contribute to systemic improvements in health-care domain. In “Usalpharma: a cloud-based architecture tosupport Quality Assurance training processes in health areausingVirtualWorlds” by F. J. Garcıa-Penalvo et al., the authorsdiscuss ways cloud-based architectures can extend andenhance the functionality of training environments based onVirtual Worlds with focus on training processes in QualityAssurance for pharmaceutical laboratories. In “Cloud basedmeta-learning system for predictive modeling of biomedicaldata” by M. Vukicevic et al., the authors propose a cloud-based system that integrates a meta-learning framework forranking and selection of the best predictive algorithms fordata at hand and open-source big data technologies foranalysis of biomedical data.

Two contributions focus on the topics of risk and securityas management issues in cloud computing based systems forhealthcare. In “Proposal for a security management in cloudcomputing for health care” K. by Haufe et al., the authorspropose a framework that aims to cover the most importantsecurity processes related to cloud computing in the health-care sector.The approach considers both the standards of theISO 27000 family, as well as specific aspects of healthcareorganizations using cloud computing. In “Risks and crises for

Hindawi Publishing Corporatione Scientific World JournalVolume 2014, Article ID 692619, 2 pageshttp://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/692619

2 The Scientific World Journal

healthcare providers: the impact of cloud computing” by R.Glasberg et al., the multidisciplinary team of authors analyzerisks and crises for healthcare providers and discuss theimpact of cloud computing in such scenarios.

Three contributions deal with specific healthcare-relateduse cases of cloud computing in diverse application scenar-ios. In “SAMuS: service-oriented architecture for multisensorsurveillance in smart homes,” S. Van Hoecke et al. presentthe design of a service-oriented architecture (SOA) formultisensor surveillance in smart homes. The solution isevaluated by building a smart Kinect sensor that is ableto dynamically switch between IR and RGB and improvesperson detection by incorporating feedback from pressuresensors within the SOA. In “A cloud-based X73 ubiquitousmobile healthcare system: design and implementation” by Z.Ji et al., a ubiquitous mobile healthcare uHealth systemis presented. It is based on the ISO/IEEE11073 personalhealth data (PHD) standards (X73) and cloud computingtechniques. In “An expert fitness diagnosis system based onelastic cloud computing,” K. C. Tseng et al. describe an expertdiagnosis system based on cloud computing that is able toclassify a user’s fitness level based on supervised machinelearning techniques. This system uses parameters such asuser’s physiological data, age, gender, and body mass index(BMI) and utilizes an elastic algorithm based on Poissondistribution to allocate computation resources dynamically.

The special issue editors would like to take this opportu-nity to thank the authors for their papers and the reviewersfor their valuable comments and suggestions. Special thanksalso to the editorial team for its help and also for providing usan opportunity to edit this special issue.

Acknowledgments

The preparation of this special collection has been partiallysupported by the European Commission (programme Life-long Learning—action Leonardo daVinci—Transfer of Inno-vation) through project ECQA Certified Social Media Net-worker Skills (2011-1-ES1 LEO05-35930), by the SpanishMin-istry of Economy and Competitiveness through INNPACTOproject Post-Via 2.0 (IPT-2011-0973-410000), by the GermanFederal Ministry of Education and Research through projectOpSIT—Optimaler Einsatz von Smart-Items-Technologienin der Stationaren Pflege (16SV6048), and by the GermanFederal Ministry of Economics and Technology throughproject PrevenTAB (KF3144902DB3).

Vladimir StantchevRicardo Colomo-Palacios

Michael Niedermayer

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