The 12^th Arab conference on Information Technology, (ACIT 2011)

Sunday-Tuesday, 11-13/12/2011

In the presence of his Excellency the president of Naif Arab University of Security Sciences (NAUSS), Professor Abdul-Aziz Bin Saqar Al-Ghmidi, the opening session for the 12^th Arab Conference on Information Technology (ACIT) was inaugurated at 10.00 am, on Sunday the 11^th of Dec., 2011. The attendance included Dr. Mohammad Salim Asa’ad Alem, the dean of the center of information at Naif Arab University of Security Sciences (NAUSS). Dr. Hamed Jasem Al-Fawareh, the secretary general of the colleges of computing and information society, Professor Ali Hood Ba-Abbad, the secretary general assistant of the association of Arab Universities (AARU), the attendance also included the general secretary of NAUSS, the deans of colleges, and the head of departments of NAUSS, besides the presence of a large number of guests, specialists, researchers, and participants.

The opening ceremony started with recitation of the Holy Quran, which was then followed by the following speeches:

-          Dr. Mohammad Asa’ad Alem, the dean of the information center of NAUSS, and the general chair of the scientific committee of ACIT’2011 delivered the first opening speech. This speech involved the welcoming of guests, and the delegates coming from several countries, the steering committee members of ACIT and the participated researchers. Also, in the speech, Dr. Alem stressed the importance of the conference in associating the Arab scientific thoughts with those going on globally, while pointing out the fields of information technologies which have reinforced the education of the technological information utilized for the development of academic techniques and its scientific relationships with other different disciplines. He pointed out that numerous numbers of papers submitted to the conference but a limited number of those papers were only accepted and thanked all participants in giving their efforts for the successful holding of this conference. Special expressing of thanks was given to the Steering committee members of ACIT, and all other committees involved in the preparation for the holding of this conference.

-          Prof. Ali Hood Ba-Abbad, the secretary general assistant of AARU gave a speech in which he stressed the role of the Association of Arab Universities (AARU) in supporting the Colleges of Computing and Information Society (CCIS), and pointed out the importance of this scientific phenomenon in its participation for the establishing of a scientifically developed society. He also stated that the gathering efforts made in science, technology, and research with age of sciences, Knowledge, and information technologies, as these are the requirements for achieving the desired up-rise in the fields of sciences, technologies, and knowledge.

-          The following speech was then given by Dr. Hamed Jasem Al-Fawareh, ACIT secretary general in which he clarified the idea and history of the conference and referred to its previous holdings. He pointed out that the conference stemmed from the colleges of computing and information society, which stemmed from the Association of Arab Universities. Also, he pointed out that this conference has a permanent steering committee representing a wide range of both types of universities, the Arab and the other International ones. It also has General Secretary hosted by Zarqa University and a refereeing committee consisting of 270 scholars and specialists from different parts of the world. He concluded his speech thanking the secretarial council of the conference, the members of organizing committee, all members involved of committees in NAUSS, and all participating researchers and referees.

-          After that, Prof. Abdul-Aziz Bin Sagar Al-Ghamdi, the president of NAUSS gave a speech in which he expressed the appreciations for the efforts made in arranging for the holding of this conference in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He pointed out the important role of holding such conference for facilitating the Arab scientists to cope up with international development. He finalized his speech by welcoming all participants in this conference, and wished them a comfortable stay in NAUSS. Also, he emphasized the appreciations for the efforts made by the CCIS, and the center of information in NAUSS. He wished the success for all of them.

Following the opening ceremony, asset of armours were then distributed and were exchanged, as awards. In this respect, NAUSS was awarded an armour by the AARU, and this was presented by Prof. Ali Hood Ba-Abbad, the secretary general assistant of AARU, to his Excellency Professor Abdul-Aziz Bin Saqar Al-Ghamidi, the president of NAUSS. Also, NAUSS was awarded an armour by the (CCIS), and this was presented by its secretary general Dr. Hamed Jasem Al-Fawareh to his Excellency the president of NAUSS. Dr. Al-Fawareh presented another armour to the dean of the information center of NAUSS.

The conference activities were distributed for three days, from Sunday 11/12/2011 to Tuesday 13/12/2011, as follows:

First day: Sunday 11/12/2011

8:00 – 10:00                        Registration

10:00 – 11:00                      Opening Ceremony

11:00 – 12:30                      Opening of the conference IT exhibition

12:30 – 13:30                      First lecture delivered by Dr. Mohammed Ghaith Odeh

13:30 – 15:30                      Lunch

16:00 – 17:30                      The first evening session was divided into 3-parallel sessions:

1. First Session: E-Commerce and E-learning
2. Second session: Software Engineering.
3. Third session: Algorithm, Applications and Arabic language processing

Second day: Monday 12/12/2011

9:00 – 11:30                        The first morning session was divided into 3-parallel sessions:

1. First session: E-learning, IT, Society, Remote sensing, Neutral Networks, Parallel and Distributed Systems.
2. Second session: Software Engineering.
3. Third session: Arabic language processing. 

11:00 – 12:00                      Refreshments and Prayers

12:00 – 13:30                      Second evening session was divided into 3-parallel sessions:

1. First session: AI, Expert Systems and Information Security.
2. Second session: Information Security.
3. Third session: Internet, Bioinformatics and Computer Ethics.       

13:30 – 15:30                      Lunch

16:00 – 17:30                      Third evening session was divided into 3-parallel sessions:

1. First Session: AI, Expert System and software Engineering.
2. Second session: Information Security, Mobile Applications.
3. Third session: Image Processing and Multimedia.

Third day: Tuesday 13/12/2011

9:00 – 11:30                        The second morning session was divided into 3-parallel sessions:

1. First session: Computer in Education, Internet and The Web.
2. Second session: Geographical Information Systems.
3. Third session: Computer Architecture and Computer Networks.

11:00 – 12:00                      Refreshments and Prayers

12:00 – 13:30                      Fourth evening session was divided into 3-parallel sessions:

1. First session: Multimedia.
2. Second session: Information Systems.
3. Third session: Computer Networks and Machine Learning.  

13:30 – 15:30                      Lunch

15:30 – 17:00                      Closing ceremony

Other meetings took place during the conference:

1. The general committee of the colleges of computing and information society, stemmed from AARU, held a meeting on Saturday 10/12/2011 attended by 42 faculty deans of colleges in which the financial and administrative report was discussed. The secretary general of the CCIS displayed the five years plan of the ccis for (2009 – 2013). Also, he presented the CCIS previous activities and future of the CCIS.
2. His Excellency Professor Abdul-Aziz Bin Saqar Al-Ghamidi, the president of NAUSS, met the deans of information technology colleges who are members of the general committee of the CCIS at 1:30 PM, on Saturday 10/12/2011. This meeting continued about half an hour in the presence of the assistant secretary general of the AARU, Professor Ali Hood Ba-Abbad and Dr. Hamed Al-Fawareh, the secretary general of the conference, and Dr. Mohammed Asa’ad Alem, the dean of the center of information of NAUSS. His Excellency the president of NAUSS welcomed the attendants, and clarified the history of NAUSS and its role in the development of the Arab security, its efforts in developing the scientific research in Arab security field, and the role of information technology in supporting security aspects. At the end of the meeting, he wished to all the participants of the conference a good stay, and wished them the success.    
3. The executive committee of the colleges of computing and information society, held a meeting 4.00 PM on Sunday 11/12/2011 at the center of information at NAUSS, where discussion of the plan of the CCIS, and its activities were carried out. The meeting finished at 9:00 PM.
4. ACIT steering committee held a meeting chaired by Dr. Hamed Al-Fawareh, the secretary general of the conference, at 3:30 PM on Monday, 12/12/2011 for the discussion of its agenda. The main recommendations of the meeting were as follows:

A.      To follow the procedural arrangements made by the University of Belmond in Lebanon, which hosts the thirteen holding of the International Arab Conference on Information Technology (ACIT’2012).

B.      Forming the final recommendation committee for ACIT’2011 from: Professor Osama Mohammad Badawi/Arabian Academic of science and technology/Egypt, Dr. Mohammed Asa’ad Alem/NAUSS/SA, and Dr. Ammar Al-Zahary/The Academic of Science and Banking Finance/Yemen.

Participating Countries:

There were 106 participants chosen from a total of 273 papers from 22 Arab, and foreign countries, namely: Jordan, UAE, Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Iraq, Palestine, Qatar, Lebanon, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, USA, UK, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Nigeria, India, and Bosnia.

Submitted papers: 273

Accepted papers: 120

Published papers: 106

The percentage of the published papers: 38.8%

Conference conclusions and recommendations:

1. The numerous numbers of papers submitted to the conference represented a positive indication for the success of this conference in the Arab world.
2. The scientists who attended the conference praised the quality of the scientific research papers presented in the conference and this is related back to the quality of the scientific referee of the research papers submitted to the conference. This has resulted, in turns, on the percentage of the chosen papers which reduced to be 38.8%.
3. Inducing the Arab organizations and establishments to establish a database to be concerned with written scientific materials in the Arabic language.
4. Inducing the general secretarial of ACIT for indexing the conference at the international databases to enable the reviewing of the scientific production of the Arab and foreign participants in the conference.
5. Working for developing quality standards to evaluate the Arabic electronic websites, and to increase the quality of the contents and the electronic Arabic information on the internet.

The Conference participants expressed their thanks for his Excellency the president of NAUSS, the president of the scientific committee, and the members of the university organizing committee who participated in the success of the distinguished conference.

The conference was finalized by sending thanks and appreciations to his Excellency the president of NAUSS, with recommendation to send thanks and appreciation to his royal highness prince Naif Bin Abdul-Aziz Al-Suad, the crown prince, the deputy prime minister, the interior minister, and the president of the supreme council of NAUSS.

The committee of preparing the final conference statement

Professor Osam Mohammad Badawi

Dr. Mohammad Asa’ad Alem

Dr. Ammar Thabt Al-Zahari