Applied Big Data Analytics

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.

大數據是我們在全球不斷產生的龐大資訊的表達。現在，「大數據」這個流行詞指的是商業、科學和技術的新數據驅動範式，其中巨大的數據規模和範圍使得提供更好和新的服務、產品和平台成為可能。據估計，全球計算機存儲的累計數據約為300艾克資料。每年的數據傳輸量估計約為1.9澤塔字節，即1900億吉字節。人們相信，大數據是那些將以某種方式影響每個人的巨大趨勢之一。由於商業、研究和科學等領域每天產生的大量數據，大數據無處不在，對於能夠有效利用它的人來說，這代表著巨大的機遇。過去，這些信息被簡單地忽視了，機會被錯過了。意識到大數據的重要性，組織搶先尋找埋藏在大數據中的隱藏信息，並試圖充分利用它。目前，「大數據」是一個熱門話題，受到媒體和商業的廣泛關注。在你仍然有足夠的數據使結果有意義和準確的情況下，以最細微的粒度進行分析，可以帶來更精確的行動，進而為公司和客戶帶來更多利潤和節省。近年來，「大數據」和「大數據分析」的概念已經無所不在。很難找到一個網站、打開一份報紙或閱讀一本雜誌，不提到這兩個詞語中的一個或兩個。然而，大數據所涉及的技術包括大規模並行處理、巨大的數據量、數據分佈、高速網絡、高性能計算和數據挖掘和分析。大數據是世界上幾乎所有事物都在被監測和測量，創造出比現有技術能夠存儲、處理或管理的數據更快的現象。目前，非結構化數據激增，佔新數據的80%，需要注意管理。大數據帶來了三個基本挑戰：高效存儲、處理和管理。為了應對大數據的挑戰，新的方法和工具應運而生。由於市場力量和技術演進，大數據計算所需的技術正在以令人滿意的速度發展。這本名為「應用大數據分析」的書結合了理論和實際案例，討論了與大數據應用和智能信息管理相關的技術和實際問題。本書涵蓋了大數據生成來源、分析工具和利用科學研究中寶貴洞察的豐富主題。這本編輯書揭示了如何在各個領域充分應用工具和技術。本書對於廣大的專業人士、決策者和顧問尤其是新手來說，無疑是寶貴的資源。對於任何研究生、本科生或證書課程中的分析學生來說，它也非常有用。沒有這本書的寶貴貢獻者的全力支持，這個項目不可能取得成功。簡單地說，我對他們所有人都心存感激。