Diversification of signal processing research: a potential for more growth? [From the Editor]

The Editor considers whether diversification of signal processing research could be seen as a better means of growth. What about the high degree of specialization in signal processing research? The view among successful colleagues in this community is that a high degree of specialization as well as diversification are needed. He then wonders what role does IEEE Signal Processing Magazine (SPM) play in reaching more growth in signal processing research. Finally, this issue\´s special theme, "kernel-based learning for signal processing," is announced. As the guest editors write in their editorial, an overarching motivation for the fast development in kernelbased learning has primarily come from the applications. On one hand, the sciences, such as computational biology, have motivated the work and largely benefited from the new set of tools. On the other hand, kernel-based learning enabled the addressing of emerging industrial problems including social networks and text mining.