Keynote Speakers

Prof. Salah Al-Majeed
University of Gloucestershire, UK

Dr. Salah Al-Majeed, highly experienced academic manager with successful accomplishments records of brand technology, product innovations and corporate communication. A proficient academic Professor with extensive international profile and high quality of delivering academic teaching and research. Prof Al-Majeed is the Academic Subject Leader (Head) of Engineering and Technology at School of Business and Technology, University of Gloucestershire. Prior to his current position, Dr Salah was Head of Systems Engineering School at the Military Technological College -MTC Oman (partner with University of Portsmouth, UK).
In addition to his role as academic and manager, Salah has an extensive portfolio of Industrial, Academia and R&D works, leading the innovation of implementing technologies. Conduct research into issues and challenges in data exploration through Internet of Things (IoT) and Smart Environment (including Smart City and Biomedical and Health informatics) from a multitude of perspectives, which is driving breakthroughs and innovation in a range of areas, such as Sensor, E-Health, Telemedicine and Mobile Telemedicine, Wireless Networks (4G and 5G) for different layers and applications. Where that can be seen through his role as a lead consultant at North Caspian Operating Company - NCOC – Kazakhstan for Sensabot project and collaborating closely with Huawei, Shell and Carnegie Mellon University – CMU, USA. In addition, his research projects were supported and funded by UK, EU and International organizations and companies.
Prof Al-Majeed is an Editor-in-Chief of Computer Science Engineering: An International Journal, and Editorial Member, International Journal of Computer Science, Engineering and Applications. In addition to his recognition as a Senior Member of IEEE, he is a reviewer for many well-known journals including IEEE transections and an invited keynote speaker for many of international conferences and events. Recently, he was the Technical Activities Officer of IEEE Oman Section.

Speech Title: Three Dimensions Engineering view in Future Healthcare  

Abstract: The development of a neural network able to identify EEG markers indicating the proportion of available information an individual accepts as true, or rejects as false (their bias).  This is important as effective information processing underpins good situation awareness, and effective decision making. The ever-increasing availability of information, including false information, is making information selection increasingly difficult for key decision makers. Automating the detection of bias will reveal a previously hidden aspect of information processing. Despite all the differences existing between the fMRI and the EEG, their combination is useful in several cases. Indeed, this combination have been used in identifying ICU patients with severe traumatic brain injuries who have a level of consciousness not revealed by the standard bedside neurological examination. Combining Brain Signal (EEG/MRI) and AI with other Internet of Things (IoT) technologies like heart rate monitoring, facial emotion recognition, and data mining will not only enhance the picture describing the brain and its functions but also jump another step forward to predict what will be next step?

Assoc. Prof. Driss Benhaddou
University of Houston, Texas, USA

Dr. Benhaddou is a Fulbright scholar and an Associate Professor with the University of Houston (UH), where he is actively involved in optical networking, wireless sensor networks, and smart system development. In particular he is developing research in the application of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) in distributed solar energy in smart grid and smart cities. Prior to joining UH, he was a senior technical staff member at Lambda Optical Systems Inc., where he played a key role in protocol development and systems integration activities. In particular, he led system test/integration activities for the Advanced Technology Demonstration Network (ATDNet) testbed project and worked closely with the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and the Laboratory for Telecommunication Sciences (LTS). During his earlier tenure at Sprint, he also implemented an extensive broadband testbed for vendor equipment certification and research/development activities. He holds two doctoral (Ph.D.) degrees, one in optoelectronics from the University of Montpellier II, France, and the second one from the University of Missouri in computer networks and telecommunications. In addition, he is spearheading the development of new state-of-the-art wireless and optical networking research laboratories within at the University of Houston (http://uh.edu/tech/won/ and http://www.tech.uh.edu/attlab).

Speech Title: Living Buildings as Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) in Smart Cities: Algorithmic and Computing Challenges  

Abstract: Imagine a building capable of turning up the heat, activating the air-conditioning and even sending surplus solar energy it generates to the neighborhood as if it is a living organism. As the current power grid is evolving toward a “smart grid” concept with power generation and distribution will involve small scale renewable energy technologies, such as solar energy (i.e. photovoltaic (PV)), intelligent buildings will have the capabilities to autonomously decide and act what to do with its environment and with the extra energy it produces. A typical scenario to consider is a customer implementing a solar energy system that will be used to deliver electricity to its needs while interacting with the smart grid for optimum operation of the building. Even though automatic control of different component is currently a proven technology, developing building that can autonomously act in its own as if it is a living organism is still a research endeavor. On the other hand Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) concepts are being developed as a way to “Deeply integrate computation, communication, and control into physical systems”. The presentation will talk about how Cyber-Physical System (CPS) concepts can be used to drive the implementation of smart building (smart campus) in a smart grid and smart city environments and the research challenges that need to be addressed to develop the living building concept from algorithms and computing challenges.

Prof. Mounia Zaim
Mohammed V University, Morocco

Prof. Mounia Zaim was born in FES on july 19, 1973. She received the B.S. in Eng Science from University Mohammed V, Rabat, in 1996, and the M.S. in Telecommunications & Microwaves from University Chouaib Doukkali, El-Jadida, in 1997 and the Ph.D. degree in Computer Vision from University Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah, Fes, in 2002.
She is currently a Habilited professor in Superior School of Technology-SALE in Mohammed V University-Rabat in Morocco, since 2003 and a member of the Research Lab LASTIMI (Laboratory of System Analysis, Information Processing and industrial Management). Her fields of interest are in computer vision, artificial intelligence, Data analysis and E- learning.