PREFACE Big Data is the expression of this gigantic mass of information that we are constantly generating at the global level. Now the buzzword "big data" refers to the new data-driven paradigm of business, science and technology, where the huge data size and scope enables better and new services, products, and platforms. It is estimated that the total accumulated data stored on computers worldwide is about 300 exabytes.The annual transmission of data is estimated at about 1.9 zettabytes i.e.1900 billion gigabytes. It is believed that Big Data is one of those mega trends that will impact everyone in one way or another. Due to the tremendous amount of data generated daily from fields such as business, research, and sciences, big data is everywhere and represents huge opportunities to those who can use it effectively. In the past, this information was simply ignored and opportunities were missed. Realizing the great importance of big data, organizations scramble to find hidden information buried in big data and try to make the best use of it. Presently "big data" is a hot topic and getting a lot of media and business attention. Collecting, analyzing and understanding Big Data is becoming a differentiated strategy today but it will become a fact of life tomorrow. Running analyses at the finest granularities while you still have enough data for the results to be meaningful and accurate leads to more precise action and in turn more profits and savings for the company and customers. Over recent times, the concepts of "big data" and "big data analytics" have become ubiquitous. It is hard to visit a web site, open a newspaper, or read a magazine that does not refer to one or both of those phrases. Yet the technologies that are incorporated into big data are massive parallelism, huge data volumes, data distribution, high-speed networks, high-performance computing and data mining and analytics. Big Data is the result of practically everything in the world being monitored and measured; creating data faster than the available technologies can store, process or manage it. Presently there has been a surge of unstructured data, making up as much as 80% of new data that requires attention for management. Big Data results in three basic challenges: storing, processing and managing it efficiently. To tackle the challenges of Big Data, novel approaches and tools have emerged. The technology required for big-data computing is developing at a satisfactory rate due to market forces and technological evolution. This book entitled 'Applied Big Data Analytics' presents a mix of theory and real world cases that discuss the technical and practical issues related to Big Data application aiming intelligent information management. This book covers rich topics of sources of big data generation, analytical tools, and utilization for extracting valuable insight out of scientific study. The edited book reveals how to fully apply the tools and techniques in various fields. The book will certainly be invaluable to wide audiences of professionals, decision-makers, and consultants involved in analytics particularly the new comers in the areas. It will also be exceptionally useful to students of analytics in any graduate, undergraduate, or certificate program. The project could not have been successful without the whole hearted support of the valued contributors of the book. Simply, I am grateful to all of them. AJIT KUMAR ROY
About the Author: About the Author Born in 1946, Professor Ajit Kumar Roy obtained his M.Sc. degree in Statistics and joined Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) as a Scientist in 1976. In recent past was engaged as National Consultant (Impact Assessment), for East & North Eastern States if India at National Agricultural Innovation Project (World Bank funded) of ICAR. Prior to that he was Consultant (Statistics) at Central Agricultural University, Agartala. Served at CIFA, ICAR, as Principal Scientist was involved in R & D activities in ICT, Bioinformatics, Statistics and Economics for the last 45 years. At International level he was deputed by Govt. of India as a Computer Specialist at SAARC Agricultural Information Centre (SAIC), Dhaka, Bangladesh for over 3 years. He has edited eighteen books and several conference proceedings covering the areas of statistics, bioinformatics, economics, and ICT applications besides published over 100 articles in refereed journals, conference proceedings. Professor Roy is an acclaimed and award-winning keynote speaker, researcher and consultant. His recent best-sellers are 'Self Learning of Bioinformatics Online'; 'Applied Bioinformatics, Statistics and Economics in Fisheries Research' and 'Applied Computational Biology and Statistics in Biotechnology and Bioinformatics'. Presently visiting Professor, question setter and examiner of College of Fisheries, Agartala & College of Post graduate Studies, Barapani under Central Agricultural University, Imphal; Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Mumbai; Orissa University Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Indira Gandhi Agricultural University, Raipur and Institute of Genetic Engineering, Kolkata. He has vast experience in Statistical consulting, guidance and Analytics and has helped design academic curricula .for teaching at graduate and postgraduate level having spent most of his career in the application of Statistics/Bioinformatics/computational Biology in Fisheries and Agriculture and allied fields. Fully engaged as a freelance author, writing extensively in his areas of expertise: Statistics, Bioinformatics, ICT & Knowledge management, Computational Biology, and Evaluation &Impact Assessment. He is widely recognized as an expert research scientist, teacher, author, hands-on leader in advanced analytics in a wide variety of Research and Development Activities.