Seminar

A seminar is a form of academic instruction, either at an academic institution or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some particular subject, in which everyone present is requested to actively participate. This is often accomplished through an ongoing Socratic dialogue with a seminar leader or instructor, or through a more formal presentation of research. It is essentially a place where assigned readings are discussed, questions can be raised and debates can be conducted. It is relatively informal, at least compared to the lecture system of academic instruction.

Etymology

The word seminar is derived from the Latin word seminarium, meaning "seed plot".

Overview

At North American universities, the term "seminar" refers to a course of intense study relating to the student's major. Seminars typically have significantly fewer students per professor than normal courses, and are generally more specific in topic of study. Seminars can revolve around term papers, exams, presentations, and several other assignments. Seminars are almost always required for university graduation. Normally, participants must not be beginners in the field under discussion at US and Canadian universities, seminar classes are generally reserved for upper-class students, although at UK and Australian universities seminars are often used for all years. The idea behind the seminar system is to familiarize students more extensively with the methodology of their chosen subject and also to allow them to interact with examples of the practical problems that always occur during research work.

Big

Big means large or of great size.

Big or BIG may also refer to:

Film and television

Music

Places

Organizations

Big Game

Big Game or The Big Game may refer to:

Sports

Animal related

Entertainment

Kevin Hays

Kevin Hays (born May 1, 1968) is a jazz pianist. He was raised in Greenwich, Connecticut. He is known for the Kevin Hays Trio and being in the Bill Stewart Trio.

Hays was born in New York City. Featured on dozens of recordings with a variety of leading jazz artists, ten CDs as leader, three on Blue Note Records, he has played with Sonny Rollins, Benny Golson, Ron Carter, Joe Henderson, Roy Haynes, John Scofield, Donald Harrison, Chris Potter, Al Foster, Buster Williams, Art Farmer, and others.

He began studying piano at the age of six and was playing professionally by 15, finding himself two years later, playing with baritone saxophonist Nick Brignola. After spending a year at the Manhattan School of Music to perfect his skills, he began travelling around the U.S., Japan, and Europe with various bands, including The Harper Brothers, Benny Golson, Joe Henderson and Eddie Gomez.

In 1994 he signed a contract with Blue Note, releasing three recordings which received favourable reviews. His Seventh Sense (1994), praised by The New York Times, was recognized as one of the "Top 40 Jazz Releases of the Year" by Musician Magazine; and Andalucia (1997), featuring Ron Carter and Jack DeJohnette, was voted four stars by DownBeat Magazine.

Big data

Big data is a broad term for data sets so large or complex that traditional data processing applications are inadequate. Challenges include analysis, capture, data curation, search, sharing, storage, transfer, visualization, querying and information privacy. The term often refers simply to the use of predictive analytics or certain other advanced methods to extract value from data, and seldom to a particular size of data set. Accuracy in big data may lead to more confident decision making, and better decisions can result in greater operational efficiency, cost reduction and reduced risk.

Analysis of data sets can find new correlations to "spot business trends, prevent diseases, combat crime and so on." Scientists, business executives, practitioners of medicine, advertising and governments alike regularly meet difficulties with large data sets in areas including Internet search, finance and business informatics. Scientists encounter limitations in e-Science work, including meteorology, genomics,connectomics, complex physics simulations, biology and environmental research.