We would like to cordially invite you to consider contributing a paper
to the Special Session on New Methods and Tools for Big Data,
Software Services and Cloud Computing (MT4BD-2018) - held as a
part of the 2018 IEEE International Conference on INnovations in
Intelligent SysTems and Applications (INISTA 2018) http://inista.org/.

The provision of large amount of data from various sources (Internet,
Social Media, Application Logs, Data Warehouses, Sensors, Mobiles,
Open Data, etc.) is now emerging into the collection and processing
of “Big Data”. While Big Data notion is adopted by both academic
and enterprise communities, there is currently a wide gap between
its potential and its realization. Variety, velocity, scale,
complexity, interpretation and security problems with Big Data
raise challenges at all phases of the pipeline that can extract
information and knowledge from it. Thus, there is a natural interest
in using these data assets to improve a variety of applications.
It is very interesting to explore how researchers utilize intelligent
data-driven strategies and discover what disciplines will change because
of the advent of data. With the vast amount of data now available,
modern businesses are facing the challenges of storage, management,
analysis, privacy, visualization, security and data integration.

The focus of this special season is on current technological advances and
challenges about the development of intelligent methods and tools in the areas
of Big Data, Software Services and Cloud Computing.

TOPICS
=====================================================

The 4th special season on “New Methods and Tools for Big Data,
Software Services and Cloud Computing (MT4BD-2018)” will welcome paper
submissions introducing and implementing methods and tools to address
various algorithms and methods for processing, modeling and mining of
big data and applications. This workshop will provide a forum for the
exchange of ideas between theoreticians and practitioners. Topics of
interest include, but are not limited to, the following new techniques
and applications relevant to the big data topic:

- Big Data Analytics;
Business intelligence and analytics;
Interactive Visualization Technologies and Visual Analytics;
Knowledge representation and reasoning, Semantics;
Data mining;
- Big Data Architectures and Frameworks
- Cloud computing and software services;
DevOps: Methodologies, techniques, tools and case studies;
Microservices: Architectures and applications;
Container Technologies;
Requirements Specification of Services;
Services Synthesis and Integration;
Automation of Testing, Reconfiguration, Deployment, Resource Management;
Cloud Resource Management;
Continuous Delivery and Process Improvement;
- Tools and Applications:
E-commerce;
E-learning;
Smart Health and Wellbeing;
Smart Cities;
Ontologies for Big Data;
Sensors Networks;
Industrial Automation;
Systems Biology and Bioinformatics;
Network-based and Personalized Medicine;
Geoinformatics;
Financial Forecasting and Trading;
Security and privacy;

KEYNOTE SPEECH
=====================================================
From Smart Data Systems To Smart Industrial-Purpose Applications
by Prof. Michael P. Papazoglou
Tilburg School of Economics and Management
Department of Management
Tilburg University, Netherlands

SUBMISSION
=====================================================
All contributions should be original and not published elsewhere or
intended to be published during the review period. Authors are invited
to submit their papers electronically in pdf format, through EasyAcademia.
All the special sessions are centralized as tracks in the same conference
management system as the regular papers. Therefore, to submit a paper please
activate the following link https://www.easyacademia.org/inista2018 and
select the track MT4BD 2018.

Paper format: Papers must be prepared using IEEE templates for conference
proceedings (http://www.ieee.org/conferences_events/conferences/publishing/templates.html).

Page limit: The maximum page limit is 6 inclusive of figures and tables.
INISTA will offer the option to buy limited number of extra pages for submission.

More information at https://mt4bd.ceid.upatras.gr/

PUBLICATION
=====================================================
Accepted papers of MT4BD will be required to meet the same standards
as IEEE INISTA 2018 main track papers and will be published in the
conference proceedings, available on IEEEXplore.

CHAIRS
=====================================================
Prof. Spiros Likothanassis, Director of Pattern Recognition Laboratory,
Department of Department of Computer Engineering & Informatics
University of Patras, Greece, email: likothan@ceid.upatras.gr

Prof. Andreas Andreou, Director of Software Engineering and Intelligent
Information Systems Laboratory,
Department of Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering & Informatics
Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus
E-mail: andreas.andreou@cut.ac.cy

PROGRAM COMMITEE (confirmed so far)
=====================================================
Christos Alexakos, ATHENA/ISI, Greece
Efstratios Georgopoulos, Technological Institute of Kalamata, Greece
Vassilis Plagianakos, University of Thessaly, Greece
Votis Konstantinos, CERTH/ITI, Greece
Athanasios Kalogeras, ATHENA/ISI, Greece
Dimitrios Koutsomitropoulos, University of Patras, Greece
Dimitrios Tsolis, University of Patras, Greece
Klitos Cristodoulou, Neapolis University of Paphos, Cyprus
Savvas Chatzichristofis, Neapolis University of Paphos, Cyprus