Recent Trends in Computer Applications: Best Studies from the 2017 International Conference on Computer and Applications, Dubai, UAE

This edited volume presents the best chapters presented during the international conference on computer and applications ICCA’17 which was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in September 2017. Selected chapters present new advances in digital information, communications and multimedia. Authors from different countries show and discuss their findings, propose new approaches, compare them with the existing ones and include recommendations. They address all applications of computing including (but not limited to) connected health, information security, assistive technology, edutainment and serious games, education, grid computing, transportation, social computing, natural language processing, knowledge extraction and reasoning, Arabic apps, image and pattern processing, virtual reality, cloud computing, haptics, information security, robotics, networks algorithms, web engineering, big data analytics, ontology, constraints satisfaction, cryptography and steganography, Fuzzy logic, soft computing, neural networks, artificial intelligence, biometry and bio-informatics, embedded systems, computer graphics, algorithms and optimization, Internet of things and smart cities. The book can be used by researchers and practitioners to discover the recent trends in computer applications. It opens a new horizon for research discovery works locally and internationally.

Jihad Mohamad Alja’am received the Ph.D. degree, MS. degree and BSc degree in computing from Southern University (The National Council for Scientific Research, CNRS), France. He worked on the connection machine CM5 with 65000 microprocessors in the USA. He was with IBM-Paris as Project Manager and with RTS-France as IT Consultant for several years. He is currently with the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Qatar University as full professor. He organized many workshops and conferences in France, USA and the GCC countries. His current research interests include multimedia, assistive technology, learning systems, human–computer interaction, stochastic algorithms, artificial intelligence, information retrieval, and natural language processing. Dr. Alja’am is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Soft Computing, American Journal of Applied Sciences, Journal of Computing and Information Sciences, Journal of Computing and Information Technology, and Journal of Emerging Technologies in Web Intelligence. He acted as a scientific committee member of different international conferences (ACIT, SETIT, ICTTA, ACTEA, ICLAN, ICCCE, MESM, ICENCO, GMAG, CGIV, ICICS, and ICOST). He is a regular reviewer for the ACM computing review and the journal of supercomputing, IEEE ACCESS (Associate Editor). He has collaborated with different researchers in Canada, France, Malaysia, GCC and USA. He published so far 159 papers, 8 books chapters in computing and information technology which are published in conference proceedings, scientific books, and international journals. Prof. ALJA’AM is the main organizer and general chair of the international conference on computer and applications. He is leading a research team in multimedia and assistive technology and collaborating in the Financial Watch and Intelligent Document Management System for Automatic Writer Identification and MOALEM projects. Prof. ALJA’AM received the 2015 ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing, Communications and Applications (TOMM) Nicolas D. Georganas Best Paper Award. And the best research paper of the 10th annual international conference on computer games multimedia & allied technologies (Singapore, 2016).

Abdulmotaleb El Saddik, FIEEE, FEIC, FCAE, ACM DS
Distinguished Professor and University Research Chair
University of Ottawa, Canada

Abdulmotaleb El Saddik is Distinguished University Professor and University Research Chair in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Ottawa. His research focus is on the establishment of Digital Twins using AI, AR/VR and Tactile Internet that allow people to interact in real-time with one another as well as with their digital representation. He has authored and co-authored four books and more than 550 publications and chaired more than 50 conferences and workshop. He has received research grants and contracts totaling more than $18 M. He has supervised more than 120 researchers and received several international awards, among others, are ACM Distinguished Scientist, Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada, Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineers and Fellow of IEEE, IEEE I&M Technical Achievement Award. IEEE Canada C.C. Gotlieb (Computer) Medal and A.G.L. McNaughton Gold Medal for important contributions to the field of computer engineering and science.

Abdul Hamid Sadka (FIET, FHEA, CEng)
Director of Centre for Media Communications Research (CMCR)
Brunel University London, England, UK

Professor Sadka has nearly 25 years' worth of academic leadership and research excellence in the area of Signal Processing and Visual Communications Systems. He is the Director of “Brunel Digital Science & Technology” Research Hub that encompasses 7 research clusters with circa £15M worth of research grants & contracts focusing on a wide range of areas in Digital Science & Technologies. He is also the Founding Director of the Centre for Media Communications Research (CMCR). He is the former Head of the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering (ECE) at Brunel University (Oct 06 - Jul 12). He has a very research and management-focused academic career underlined by a commitment to industry engagement and high profile academic output. He has 200+ publications in refereed journals and conferences, 3 patents and a flagship textbook entitled "Compressed Video Communications" published by J. Wiley. He has thus far managed to attract circa £13M worth of research income and has supervised nearly 50 Research Assistants and PhD students to full completion. He frequently serves on influential advisory boards and international evaluation panels, and provides expert consultancy services to the Telecom/ICT industry as well as corporate Law firms in the area of 2D/3D video compression and visual media processing. He served as an elected member (2011-14) on the Steering Board of the NEM European technology platform. He is a chartered engineer (CEng), Fellow of HEA and Fellow of IET.