Call for Papers: Special Issue of Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Sciences on Medical Applications of Nonlinear Dynamics

NDPLS is actively searching for manuscripts for a special issue to be entitled, “Medical Applications of Nonlinear Dynamics.” Potential papers could range from the level of individual patients to that of the health care system, and could include such topics as:

• Nonlinear patterns in illness
• Treatment effects and nonlinearity
• Practice change via nonlinear intervention
• Neural networks in clinical decision-making
• Catastrophes in health care utilization
• Nonlinear advice for health care reform
• Modeling ambulatory practice
• Dynamical effects of illness upon the family
• Nonlinear dynamics within the doctor-patient relationship

Contributions may be theoretical or empirical. Theoretical papers should be firmly grounded in the extant literature and culminate in new principles involving nonlinear dynamics that can be tested; manuscripts heavy on conjecture with little reference to evidence are not encouraged. Reviews of the relevant literature on applications of nonlinear dynamics are also welcome, if they synthesize and interpret this material in novel ways. Empirical papers may include experimental observations, simulations, or analyses of real-world data. Articles will be reviewed by two or more experts in the relevant field.

The purview of the journal is critical to the inclusion of articles: Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Sciences publishes papers that augment the fundamental ways we understand, describe, model, and predict nonlinear phenomena in psychology and the life and social sciences. One or more of the following nonlinear concepts must be an explicit part of the exposition: attractors, bifurcations, chaos, fractals, solitons, catastrophes, self-organizing processes, cellular automata, genetic algorithms and related evolutionary processes, neural networks, agent-based models.

The broad mixture of the disciplines represented here indicates that many bodies of knowledge share common principles. By juxtaposing developments in different fields within the life and social sciences, the scientific communities may obtain fresh perspectives on those common principles and their implications. Because the journal is multidisciplinary in scope, each article should make an original contribution to at least one substantive area and, to the extent possible, illuminate issues beyond that area's boundaries.

NDPLS is a refereed journal and is published quarterly by the Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology & Life Sciences. Additional information for the preparation of articles for submission can be found on the journal’s web site: www.societyforchaostheory.org/ndpls/ .

The project is planned on the following schedule (please see link above for full details):

• Abstracts are requested prior to submission in order to assist with the organization of the issue contents, and they are welcome any time before the paper submissions deadline.
  
• Full-text papers need to arrive by December 31, 2009.
• Manuscripts should be prepared in APA style. Key style points and small variations that are specific to the journal can be found in the Instructions for Authors on the journal web site.
  Reviews completed by February 28, or sooner to the extent possible. Revisions and final edits should be received by April 1, 2010.
• Publication in October, 2010.

We look forward to receiving your abstracts and papers. If you have any questions about the project, please do not hesitate to ask one of the editors below.

Sincerely,
Stephen J. Guastello, Ph.D.
Stephen.guastello at marquette.edu
Editor in Chief

David Katerndahl, M.D.
katerndahl at uthscsa.edu
Special Issue Editor

My source:
COMPLEXITY-PRIMARY-CARE at JISCMAIL.AC.UK