Bulletin No. 2, 2014

22   Chinese University Bulletin No. 2, 2014 Big Data Decision Analytics Research Centre Director : Prof. Helen Meng Many companies and government offices are now expanding their traditional data sets with social media data and browser logs as well as text analytics and sensor data. Big data is applied heavily in security and law enforcement, for example, to foil terrorist plots, spy on individuals, and prevent cyber attacks. Police forces use big data tools to catch criminals and predict criminal activity, while credit card companies use them to detect fraudulent transactions. Big data allows supermarket chains to predict what products will sell, and online dating sites to find appropriate matches for their users. It also enables governments to monitor and predict the development of epidemics, and cities to optimize traffic flow based on real-time traffic information, as well as social media and weather data. The Big Data Decision Analytics Research Centre has six areas of focus. They are: Healthcare and Genomics, Earth System Sciences, Social Networks, Economics and Finances, Logistics and Supply Chain Management, and Digital Learning. Its ongoing projects include ‘Air Pollution and Health’, which is undertaken by an interdisciplinary research team from the Faculty of Engineering, the Faculty of Social Science and the School of Public Health and Primary Care. A project completed by the centre scrutinizes cardiovascular mortality in hypertensive patients who were newly prescribed perindopril versus those prescribed Lisinopril. It was a five-year cohort study involving 15,622 subjects. ‘ The insights can support optimal decision making that incorporates the human dimension, with rapid adaptability to changing environments.’