[agents] Call for Participation - The 1st MENA Spring School on Big Data Analytics (MENA-BDA)

[Zakaria Maamar]

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The 1st MENA Spring School on Big Data Analytics (MENA-BDA)
Zayed University, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
April 17-21, 2016
http://tinyurl.com/menabda2016
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Description
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The 1st Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Spring School on Big Data Analytics (BDA) is an intensive hands-on introduction to the timely topic of big data along with its associated sub-topics such as statistics, data mining, text mining, sentiment analysis, and development technologies. The school targets primarily graduate students, faculty, and researchers who have a keen interest in the exciting and fast-growing field of big data. It also targets developers of big data solutions who would like to weave these applications in decision-making processes. The school will discuss, through lectures, case studies, hands-on assignments, and round-tables, the concepts and techniques that underpin data science in general and big data in particular.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, the MENA region has seen a phenomenal growth in all aspects of life including political, economic, societal, and educational, requiring new ways of thinking, managing, and operating. Indeed the Internet penetration-rate in the Middle East is among the highest in the world.. The MENA-BDA school will introduce participants to the necessary concepts and techniques for harnessing this growth’s challenges. The school will consist of lectures –to provide participants with a sound understanding of big-data foundations- and hands-on sessions –to apply those foundations using the latest technologies. Some topics to discuss during the school include advanced statistics, data mining, text mining, and technologies such as Hadoop and Spark.

No prior knowledge of the subject is required. However, participants should have some minimal programming skills in Java, for example, and/or basic knowledge of databases and SQL language. Recognized scientists from different parts of the world and industrial experts will deliver the lectures and conduct hands-on sessions. The venue of the school is the Dubai Campus of Zayed University in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (www.zu.ac.ae).

Topics of the school
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The following topics will be covered during the school. Others may be added to accommodate the audience:
1.      General foundations of data mining and Big Data
2.      Data Quality in Big Data;
3.      Neural networks and Depp Learning
4.      Evolving data structures and mining examples
5.      Sentiment analysis and Fraud detection
6.      Large scale news feeds ranking systems
7.      Large scale Ads systems
8.      Use cases

Students and young researchers will also have the opportunity to present their work in the area of data mining and big data analytics in conjunction with the different talks. They will receive feedback and guidance from our lecturers as well as from the attendees.


School’s Speakers/Lecturers
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The speakers of the school combine a very rich experience in both academia and industry. They will share some aspects related to the foundations, insights, trends, and current efforts in the big data world.
1.      Prof. Athena Vakali, Thessaloniki University, Greece
2.      Dr. Laure Berti-Equile, QCRI , Qatar
3.      Prof. Patrick Gallinari, University of Paris 6, France
4.      Dr. Shengbo Guo, Facebook, USA
5.      Dr. Hakim Hacid, Zayed University, UAE

Student/Young Researchers Submission
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As part of the spring school, students (e.g., PhD and Master) and young researchers (e.g., Postdocs) are invited to submit their current work for evaluation and presentation during the school. The submitted work will be evaluated by the lecturers, the organizing committee, and additional members from the research community of Big data analytics. Submitted articles should not exceed 4 pages (free format for the submission). Further instructions will be posted on the school website.

Organizing committee
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1.      Dr. Hakim Hacid, College of Technological Innovation, Zayed University, Dubai, UAE.
2.      Dr. Zakaria Maamar, College of Technological Innovation, Zayed University, Dubai, UAE.
3.      Dr. Omar Alfandi, College of Technological Innovation, Zayed University, Abu-Dhabi, UAE.

To learn more about the 1st Middle East and North Africa Spring School on Big Data Analytics, visit our website or do not hesitate to contact us at MENA-BDA-2016 at zu.ac.ae



Zakaria Maamar  زكريا معمر
Acting Dean     عميد بالإنابة
College of Technological Innovation     كلية الإبتكار التقني

P.O. Box 19282 Dubai, U.A.E | T:+971 4 402 1461 | M:
w w w . z u . a c . a e

Accredited by Middle States Commission on Higher Education

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