As we move into the 21st century it is becoming increasingly difficult to offer appropriate introductory clinical experiences for medical students. Many schools offer clinical experiences in the first year of medical school, when the learner has little background in the traditions and origins of the doctor-patient interaction. Others begin this process in the second year, after a professional language base has been established, but concise educational materials are scarce that integrate the meaning of the privileged clinical encounter with the process and content of interviewing and examining...

Information theory is an exceptional field in many ways. Technically, it is one of the rare fields in which mathematical results and insights have led directly to significant engineering payoffs. Professionally, it is a field that has sustained a remarkable degree of community, collegiality and high standards. James L. Massey, whose work in the field is honored here, embodies the highest standards of the profession in his own career.
The book covers the latest work on: block coding, convolutional coding, cryptography, and information theory. The 44 contributions represent a...