ICT ASSIGNMENT

Name Yenew Fentie

ID No SPGICT/22/08

INTRODUCTIO TO ICT
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) refers to technology that
provides access to information
through telecommunications (the transmission of signals over long distances). It
focuses primarily
on communication technologies. This includes the Internet, wireless networks,
cell phones, and other
communication media.
The immediate potential benefits of ICTs in Ethiopia
include:
1. Efficient communications for manufacturing, service and tourism sector.
2. Fast response to natural disasters and effective rural health and family
planning services.
3. Effective governance and administrative effectiveness.
4. Efficient education, research and communication of research results.
5. Access to global market and research information.
6. Employment opportunities for small and medium enterprises.
7. Effective and enhanced data and information gathering and distribution for
better planning.
8. Enhanced

Components of ICT
ICT refers to technologies that provide access to information through
telecommunications. It is similar to Information Technology (IT), but focuses
primarily on communication technologies. This includes the Internet, wireless
networks, cell phones, and other communication media.

What is an ICT System?

An ICT system is a set-up consisting of hardware, software, data and the people
who use them. It commonly includes communications technology, such as the
Internet.
ICT and computers are not the same thing. Computers are the hardware that is
often part of an ICT
system.

Input, Output and System Diagrams

What comes out of an ICT system is largely dependent on what you put into the
system to begin with. ICT systems work by taking inputs (instructions and data),
processing them and producing outputs that are stored or communicated in
some way. The better the quality of inputs, the more useful the outputs.
Garbage In, Garbage Out (GIGO)
ICT systems cannot function properly if the inputs are inaccurate or faulty; they
will either not be able to process the data at all, or will output data which is
erroneous or useless.
GIGO is a useful term to remember in the examinationit can help explain many
issues such as
why validation is needed and why accurate data is valuable.
GIGO stands for Garbage In, Garbage Out.

An ICT System Diagram

A system is an assembly of parts that together make a whole. ICT systems are
made-up of some or all of the parts shown in Fig. 1.2. Various devices are used
for input, processing, output, and communication.

Data vs Information
The frequency of the use of the words data and information are very high in our
daily lives. Depending on the context, the meanings and use of these words
differ. Both data and information are types of knowledge or something used to
attain knowledge. Data is a collection of raw facts and figures or a raw input
which when processed or arranged makes meaningful
information.
The whole purpose of a computer (and communications) system is to produce (and
transmit) usable information.
Data processing includes the following steps:
(i) Data Coding (ii) Data Input,
(iii) Data Editing, and (iv) Data Manipulation.
Table 1.1 gives the differences between data and information.
Table 1.1: Differences between Data and Information

Data
It is a collection of facts and figures
It is in an unorganized (raw) form.
It is not in directly useful form.
It needs processing.
processing.
It is also termed as input.
It requires observations and recordings.

Information
It is a collection of final results.
It is in an organized form.
It is in directly useful form.
It does not need any
It is also termed as output.
It requires analysis.

Table 1.1: Characteristics of Valuable Information

In order for information to be valuable, it must have the following
characteristics:
1. Accurate. Accurate information is free from error.
2. Complete. Complete information contains all of the important facts.
3. Economical. Information should be relatively inexpensive to produce.
4. Flexible. Flexible information can be used for a variety of purposes, not just
one.
5. Reliable. Reliable information is dependable information.
6. Relevant. Relevant information is important to the decision-maker.
7. Simple. Information should be simple to find and understand.
8. Timely. Timely information is readily available when needed.
9. Verifiable. Verifiable information can be checked to make sure it is
accurate.1.2
Generation of Computers
A computer is an electronic device that accepts, processes, stores and outputs
data under the control of sets of
instructions.
Computers have come across a long way to acquire the current form and
capability. It took around 50
years of continuous developments to bring the computer in its present form. The
evolution of computers
is mainly divided into five main generations. The computers of each of these
generations have different properties. Each new generation resulted in the
following changes:
Increase in speed,storage,capacity and reliability.
Decrease in size and cost

First Generation Computers (19401956)

The U.S. census Bureau developed the first business computer in the year 1951.
This computer was called Universal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC)..
The main features of the first generation computers were as follows:
1. They used vacuum tubes.
2. They had a very big size.
3. They consumed huge electricity.
4. They were prone to failures.
5. They generated a lot of heat.
6. They only supported machine language.

Second Generation Computers (19561964)

Bell Labs of U.S.A. invented transistors (see Fig. 1.9) that were used instead of
vacuum tubes. Transistors are electronic circuits that are small in size..
The main features of the second generation computers were as follows:
1. They were smaller in size as compared to the first generation computers.
2 They generated lesser heat.
3. They were more reliable and faster than the first generation computers.
5. They used core memories, magnetic tapes and disks.
6. They used lesser electricity.
7. They could be programmed by using machine as well as assembly language.

Third Generation Computers (19641971)

The Third Generation Computers used Large Scale Integrated (LSI) circuits for
processing. The main features of the third generation computers were as
follows:
1. They used integrated circuits
2. They had a small size as compared to the second generationcomputers.
3. They consumed less electricity.
4. They were faster and reliable than the second generation computers.
5. They supported high level language.

Fourth Generation Computers (1971Present)

Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) chips were invented in the year 1969. The
computers that used VLSI chips were called the Fourth Generation Computers.
The main features of the fourth generation computers are:
1. They contain high-speed microprocessors.
2. They contain huge storage volumes in the form of magnetic and optical
storage.
3. They contain main memories up to GBs (Gigabytes).
4. They are companied by great developments in the fields of networks.

Fifth Generation Computers (Future)

Recent research has focused on developing thinking computers. These
computers are called the Fifth Generation Computers.
Fifth generation computers will have the power to learn and apply knowledge to
solve a problem. They would be able to work like humans do. You can watch a
movie named AI by Steven Spielberg to have an idea of such computers.

Application of Information System Types

The main purpose of a computer-based information system is to provide
managers (and various categories of employees) with the appropriate kind of
information to help them make decisions. The six types of computer-based
information systems which serve different levels of management are:
Transaction Processing Systems (TPSs) For lower managers.
Management Information Systems (MISs) and Decision Support Systems (DSSs)
For middle managers.
Executive Support Systems (ESSs) For top managers.
Office Automation Systems (OASs) and Expert Systems (ESs) For all levels,
including non-management.
Let us describe some of these information systems:

1. Transaction Processing Systems (TPSs)

In most organizations, particularly business organizations, most of what goes on
consists largely of
transactions. A transaction is a recorded event having to do with routine
business activities. This includes everything concerning the product or service in
which the organization is involved: production, distribution, sales, orders. It also
includes materials purchased, employees hired, taxes paid etc. These days in
most organizations, the bulk of such transactions are recorded in a computerbased information system. These systems tend to have clearly defined inputs
and outputs, and there is an emphasis on efficiency and accuracy. Transaction
processing systems record data but do little in the way of converting data into
information.
A Transaction Processing System (TPS) is a computer-based information
system that keeps track of the transactions needed to conduct business (see
Fig. 1.16).
Some features of a TPS are given below:
(i) Input and output. The inputs to the system are transaction data: bills, orders,
inventory levels etc.
The output consists of processed transactions: bills, paychecks etc.
(ii) For lower managers. Because the TPS deals with day-to-day matters, it is
principally of use to
supervisory managers. That is, the TPS helps in making tactical decisions. Such
systems are not
usually helpful to middle or top managers in an organization.
(iii) Produces detail reports. A manager at this level typically will receive
information in the form of
detailed reports. A detail report contains specific information about routine
activities. For example,
the information needed to decide whether to restock inventory.
(iv) One TPS for each department. Each department or functional area of an
organizationresearch
and development, production, marketing, accounting and finance, and human
resourcesusually
has its own TPS. For example, the accounting and finance TPS handles order
processing, accounts
receivable, inventory and purchasing, accounts payable, order processing, and
payroll.
(v) Basis for MIS and DSS. The database of transactions stored in a TPS provides
the basis for Management Information Systems and Decision Support Systems,
as described next.

2. Management Information Systems (MISs)

A Management Information System (MIS) is a computer-based information

system that uses data recorded by Some feature of the MIS are given below:
(i) Input and output. Inputs consist of processed transaction data, such as bills,
orders, and paychecks,
plus other internal data. Outputs consist of summarized, structured reports:
budget summaries,
production schedules etc.
(ii) For middle managers. The MIS is intended principally to assist middle
managersspecifically to
help them with tactical decisions. It helps them to spot trends and get an
overview of current
business activities.
(iii) Draws from all departments. The MIS draws from all five departments or
functional areas, not just one.

(iv) Produces several kinds of reports. Managers at this level usually receive
information in the form of several kinds of reports: summary, exception,
periodic, demand.
Summary reports show totals and trends. For example, a report showing total
sales by office, by product, and by salesperson, as well as total overall sales.
Exception reports show out-of-the-ordinary data. For example, an inventory
report listing only those
items of which fewer than 20 are in stock.
Periodic reports are produced on a regular schedule. Such daily, weekly,
monthly, quarterly, or annual reports may have sales figures, income
statements, or balance sheets. They are usually produced on paper, such as
computer printouts.
Demand reports produce information in response to an unscheduled demand. A
director of finance
might order a demand credit-background report on an unknown customer who
wants to place a
large order. Demand reports are often produced on a terminal or microcomputer
screen, rather than
on paper.

3. Decision Support Systems (DSSs)

A Decision Support System (DSS) is a computer-based information system

that provides a flexible tool for analysis and helps managers focus on the future
(see Fig. 1.18). Whereas a TPS records data and a MIS summarizes data, a DSS
analyzes data. To reach the DSS level of sophistication in information
technology, an organization must have established TPS and MIS systems first.

Some features of a DSS are given below:

(i) Inputs and outputs. Inputs include internal datasuch as summarized reports
and processed
transaction dataand also data that is external to the organization. External
data may be produced
by trade associations, marketing research firms, Central Statistical Authority
(CSA), Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia and other government agencies.
The outputs are demand reports on which a top manager can make decisions
about unstructured
problems.
(ii) Mainly for middle managers. A DSS is intended principally to assist middle
managers in making
tactical decisions. Questions addressed by the DSS might be, for example,
whether interest rates will
rise or whether there will be a strike in an important materials-supplying
industry.
(iii) Produces analytic models. The key attribute of a DSS is that it uses models.
A model is a mathematical representation of a real system. The models use a
DSS database, which draws on the TPS and MIS files, as well as external data
such as stock reports, government reports, and national and international news.
The system is accessed using the DSS software.
The model allows the manager to do a simulationplay a what-if gameto
reach decisions. Thus,
the manager can simulate an aspect of the organizations environment in order
to decide how to react to a change in conditions affecting it. By changing the
hypothetical inputs to the model, the manager can see how the models outputs
are affected by doing so.
Many DSSs are developed to support the types of decisions faced by managers
in specific industries,

such as airlines or real estate. Curious how airlines decide how many seats to
sell on a flight when so
many passengers are in waiting! Wonder how owners of those big apartment
complexes set rents and
lease terms? Investors in commercial real estate use a DSS called RealPlan to
forecast property values up to 40 years into the future, based on income,
expense, and cash-flow projections. Ever speculate about how insurance carriers
set different rates. Many companies use DSSs called Geographic Information
Systems (GISs), such as MapInfo and Atlas GIS, which integrate geographic
databases with other business data and display maps.

4. Executive Support Systems (ESSs)

An Executive Support System (ESS) is an easy-to-use DSS made especially

for top managers; it specifically supports strategic decision making (see Fig.
1.19). An ESS is also known as Executive Information System (EIS). It draws on
data not only from systems internal to the organization but also from those
outside, such as news services or market-research databases.
An ESS might allow senior executives to call up predefined reports from their
personal computers,
whether desktops or laptops. They might, for instance, call up sales figures in
many formsby region, by week, by anticipated year, by projected increases.
An ESS includes capabilities for analyzing data and doing what-if scenarios.
ESSs also have the
capability to browse through summarized information on all aspects of the
organization and then zero in on (drill down to) detailed areas the manager
believes require attention.

5. Office Automation Systems (OASs)

The information systems discussed so farare designed for managers of various

levels. There exist two types of information systems that are intended for
workers of all levels, including those who are not managers: office automation
systems and expert systems. Let us discuss the office automation systems.
Office Automation Systems (OASs) combine various technologies to reduce the
manual labour required in operating and efficient office environment. Used
throughout all levels of an organization, OAS technologies include fax, voice
mail, e-mail, scheduling software, word processing, and desktop publishing,
among others
The backbone of an OAS is a networkLAN, intranet, extranet that connects
everything. All office Functions dictation, typing, filing, copying, fax, microfilm
and records management, telephone calls and switchboard operationsare
candidates for integration into the network.

Basic Computer Organization and Design

This chapter presents the design of a basic but complete CPU with a much simpler
design than any real-world processors available. The basic computer design
represents all of the major concepts in CPU design without overwhelming students
with the complexity of a modern commercial CPU. Some highlights of popular
commercial CPU designs will be covered later in the semester.
5.1. Instruction Codes
5.1.1. Computer Instructions

Computer instructions are the basic components of a machine language program. They are also
known as macrooperations, since each one is comprised of a sequences of microoperations. Each
instruction initiates a sequence of microoperations that fetch operands from registers or memory,
possibly perform arithmetic, logic, or shift operations, and store results in registers or memory.
Instructions are encoded as binary instruction codes. Each instruction code contains of a
operation code, or opcode, which designates the overall purpose of the instruction (e.g. add,

subtract, move, input, etc.). The number of bits allocated for the opcode determined how many
different instructions the architecture supports.
In addition to the opcode, many instructions also contain one or more operands, which indicate
where in registers or memory the data required for the operation is located. For example, and add
instruction requires two operands, and a not instruction requires one.
15
12 11
6 5
0
+-----------------------------------+
| Opcode | Operand
| Operand
|
+-----------------------------------+

The opcode and operands are most often encoded as unsigned binary numbers in order to
minimize the number of bits used to store them. For example, a 4-bit opcode encoded as a binary
number could represent up to 16 different operations.
The control unit is responsible for decoding the opcode and operand bits in the instruction
register, and then generating the control signals necessary to drive all other hardware in the CPU
to perform the sequence of microoperations that comprise the instruction.
Figure 5.1. CPU Block Diagram

5.1.2. Stored Program Organization

5.1.2.1. Von Neumann and Harvard Architectures

In the Von Neumann architecture, machine instructions and data are stored in the same RAM
during program execution.
Book figure 5-1:

A Harvard architecture CPU, in contrast, stored the program and the data in separate memory
units. For example, many microcontrollers store the program in Flash memory and the data in
traditional, volatile RAM.

5.1.2.2. Operand-based Architecture Classification

Architectures are also classified according to how instructions access memory and process data:

Memory-to-memory: Most instructions can access memory for any operand.

The VAX architecture from Digital Equipment Corporation is an example.
addl3

x, y, sum

# x, y, and sum are memory addresses

Register-memory: Instructions allow only one operand to be a memory

address, while the other(s) must be CPU registers. The x86 architecture is an
example.
movl
addl
movl

eax, x
eax, y
sum, eax

Load-store: Only load and store instructions can access memory. All others
must use CPU registers for all operands. The MIPS processor, originally from
Digital Equipment Corporation is an example.
lw
lw
add
sw

$t0,
$t1,
$t0,
$t0,

x
y
$t0, $t1
sum

Accumulator-based: One special register, called the accumulator (AC), is an

implied operand for most operations. The Zylog Z80 is an example.
load
add
store

x
# AC x
y
# AC AC + y
sum # sum - AC

5.1.2.3. Designing an Instruction Code

Machine instruction codes may all be the same length (e.g. MIPS processor), or codes for
different instructions may be different lengths (e.g. x86, VAX processors).
Suppose all instruction codes of a hypothetical accumulator-based CPU are exactly 16 bits. A
simple instruction code format could consist of a 4-bit operation code (opcode) and a 12-bit
memory address.
15
12 11
0
+-----------------------+
| Opcode | Address
|
+-----------------------+

This would allow for how many different instructions? How much memory?
Suppose a program contains two variables, x and y. The variable x represents address 0x010 and
y represents address 0x012. A segment of the list file, which shows machine code and assembly
code side-by-side, might appear as follows:
0 010
1 012

add
sub

x
y

We see that the opcode for add is 000 (0x0) and the opcode for sub is 001 (0x1).
The format above represents memory-reference instructions, which act on an operand from
memory and the accumulator. Not all operations require a second operand, so some instructions
could act on the accumulator alone. In this case, address bits can be used for other purposes. For
example:
clr
neg
not
inc

#
#
#
#

AC
AC
AC
AC

=
=
=
=

0
-AC
AC'
AC + 1

One or more patterns in the 4-bit opcode can be used to signify that the other 12 bits specify an
operation instead of an address. This reduces the number of memory-reference instructions
possible, but increases the overall instruction count.
0XXX
1XXX
...
F000
F001
F002
F003

add XXX
sub XXX
clr
neg
not
inc

How many memory-reference instructions can this CPU have?

How many non-memory-reference instructions can this CPU have?
As a second example, suppose a load-store architecture computer has 2-operand instructions, 32
registers, 1 megabyte of byte-addressable memory, 4 addressing modes, 50 register-reference
instructions, and 6 load-store instructions. What would the instruction code look like for registerreference instructions? What would the instruction code look like for memory-reference
instructions?
Solution: Since there are 50 register-reference instructions, we will need 6 bits for the opcode. (6
bits allows for up to 26 unique opcodes.) With 32 registers, we will need 5 bits to specify each
register, so the instruction code format will be 16 bits:
+--------------------------+
| opcode | reg1 | reg2 |
+--------------------------+
6
5
5

For 6 load-store opcodes, we need 3 bits. 4 addressing modes requires 2 bits to go with the
address. A possible instruction code format is as follows:
+-------------------------------+
| opcode | reg | mode | address |
+-------------------------------+
3
5
4
20

As a third example, suppose a register-memory architecture has 8 registers, a 64k memory

capacity, 100 instructions, and 6 addressing modes. Design an instruction code format for
memory-reference instructions.

Solution: To represent 100 instructions, we will need 7 bits for the opcode. We'll need 16 bits for
a memory address for 64k memory, 3 bits to represent one of 8 registers, and 3 bits to cover all 6
addressing modes for the memory operand. One possible instruction format is shown below.
Since this adds up to 19 bits, we would likely use 24 bits for the instruction code to make it fit
well into byte-addressable memory. The additional bits could be used to support more opcodes
and/or addressing modes.
+-------------------------------+
| opcode | reg | mode | address |
+-------------------------------+
7
3
3
16

Suppose a direct address in assembly language is represented by a label, as in x below, and an

indirect address by a label in parentheses, as in (ptr) below.
mov
add

x, r3
(ptr), r3

If the opcode for mov is 00000001, add is 0000010, the mode bits for direct addressing are 100,
and the bits for indirect addressing are 101, the address x is 0x00F0, and ptr is 0x00F2, the
instruction codes for the two instructions above would be:
0000001 011 100 0000000011110000
0000010 011 101 0000000011110010

Design an instruction code format for a memory-to-memory architecture with 16 registers, a 4

gigabyte memory capacity, 250 instructions, and 16 addressing modes. Assume that there are
anywhere from 0 to 3 operands per instruction, and each operand may be in a register or in
memory.
5.1.2.4. Some Common Addressing Modes

Direct: Instruction code contains address of operand

0 005

AC = AC + contents of address 5

* 1 memory-reference beyond fetching instruction

Immediate: Instruction code contains operand

1 005

AC = AC + 5

* No memory-reference after fetching instruction

Indirect: Instruction code contains address of address of operand

2 005

AC = AC + contents of address stored at address 5

* 2 memory-references after fetching instruction

Effective address = actual address of the data in memory.

Table 5.1. Effective Address by Addressing Mode

Mode

Effective Address

Immediate

Address of the instruction itself

Direct

Address contained in the instruction code

Indirect

Address at the address in the instruction code

5.1.2.5. Basic Computer Instruction Format

The Basic Computer has a 16-bit instruction code similar to the examples described above. It
supports direct and indirect addressing modes.
How many bits are required to specify the addressing mode?
15 14 12 11
0
+------------------+
| I | OP | ADDRESS |
+------------------+
I = 0: direct
I = 1: indirect

Hardware
The physical components of the computer that can be seen and touched are
called as hardware. The
term hardware is used to refer to all the components inside or outside the
computer. In addition to
this, components used to interconnect two or more components, for example,
wires are also regarded as hardware. We have several hardware devices that are
used at various phases of data processing cycle.
The hardware that are used to supply input to computer are called as input
devices. The hardware that are used to process the data, are called as
processing devices and the devices that are used to present output of computer
are called as output devices. Each of these categories has a broad variety of
devices of various brands and qualities.

Software

The sets of instructions that instruct the computer to do different tasks are
called as software. For example,
word processing, games, painting, e-mail, spreadsheets etc.
Software is the driving force behind the working of computer. Without the
presence of software, the
computer is as good as a piece of plastic and metal. Hardware can be
considered as organs and the software is life that moves inside these organs.
Both of them cannot perform their function without the presence of each other.

Hardware Components
Hardware consists of all the machinery and equipment in a computer system.
The hardware includes, the keyboard, the monitor, the printer, and the box
the computer or processing device itself.

Input Devices

Input devices allow people to put data into the computer in a form that the
computer can use, for example, keyboard and mouse.

Output Devices
Output devices translate information processed by the computer into a form that
humans can understand print, sound, graphics, or video. For example, monitor,
printer and sound speakers.

System Unit

The system unit is also known as case. It is the box that houses the processor
chip
(CPU) i.e., the brain of computer, the memory chips, and the motherboard with
power
supply, as well as some secondary storage devicesfloppy-disk drive, hard-disk
drive,
and CD or DVD drive. The case comes in desktop or tower models. It includes a
power
supply unit and a fan to keep the circuitry from overheating.

Secondary Storage Devices

Within the motherboard in the system cabinet, the secondary storage devices
are connected to it. Secondary storage or permanent storage stores your data
as long as you want.
Let us discuss the commonly used secondary storage devicesCompact Disk
(CD) and Digital Versatile Disk (DVD):
Compact Disk (CD)
The compact disk or CD is an optical storage medium. It is relatively cheap and
has a storage capacity of up to 700 Megabytes of data. There are three main
types of CDs:
(i) CD-ROM (Compact DiskRead Only Memory): It is an optical-disk format that
is used to hold prerecorded text, graphics and sound, for example,
encyclopedias, software, games, e-books etc. It is a read-only disk. Read-only
means that the disks content is recorded at the time of manufacture and
cannot be written on or erased by the user.
(ii) CD-R (Compact Disk-Recordable): It is an optical-disk format on which data
can be recorded only once but can be read many times. It allows users to make
their own CD disks, though it is a slow process.
Once recorded the contents cannot be erased. CD-R is often used by companies
for archiving, that
is, to store vast amounts of information.
(iii) CD-RW (Compact Disk-Rewritable): It is an erasable disk that allows users to
record and erase data,
so the disk can be used over and over again. CD-RW disks are used for archiving
and backing up
large amounts of data or work in multimedia production or desktop publishing,
however, they are
relatively slow.
Digital Versatile Disk (DVD)
The digital versatile disk or digital video disk or DVD is an optical storage
medium. It is a CD-style disk but is able to hold about 15 times as much
information and transfer it to the computer about 20 times as fast as a CD-ROM.
There are three main types of DVDs:
(i) DVD-ROM (Digital Versatile DiskRead Only Memory): It is a high capacity
optical disk capable of storing 4.7 Gigabytes to 17 Gigabytes. It is a powerful
and versatile secondary storage medium which was originally developed for the
movie industry.
(ii) DVD-R (DVD-Recordable): It is similar to CD-R that
allows users to write on the disk only once but read it
many times. Recordable DVDs offer the user yet another
option for storing large amount of data.
(iii) DVD-RW (DVD-Rewritable): Most writable DVD drives

are DVD-RW. The DVD-RW disks can be recorded on

and erased more than once.
DVD technology is bringing down prices these days.

Types of Software
Software is generally divided into two main categories: System Software and
Application Software. The system software are generally concerned with the
various operations of a computer system and the application software are
concerned with providing various services to the users. Figure 1.30 shows the
two types of software.

System Software

System software is a set of master programs that keep the computer system
working.
The basic components of system software are given below:
Operating System Software
Operating system is a bridge between the computer hardware and the user.
Various types of operating systems are Windows, Mac OS, Unix, Linux etc.
Operating systems perform basic tasks, such as:
1. Recognizing input from the keyboard
2. Sending output to the display screen
3. Keeping track of files and directories on the disk
4. Controlling peripheral devices such as disk devices and printers.

Language Software

A language acceptable to a computer system is called computer language or

programming language. All
computer languages can be classified broadly into the following three
categories:
1. Machine Language
2. Assembly Language
3. High-level Language.
Low Level Language
Machine Language
Every computer understands only one language without using a translation
program which is called
machine language of the computer.
Assembly Language
A language that allows instructions and storage locations to be represented by
letters and symbols instead of numbers is called assembly language or symbolic
language.
Machine and assembly languages are often referred to as low-level
programming languages.
High Level Language
High-level programming languages overcome the limitations of low-level
programming languages. The main feature of high-level languages is machine
independence, i.e., portable (can be used on different computers with or without
minor changes).Today many different high-level languages are in use because
each one was designed for a different purpose. For example, logo , Fortran ,
Cobol , Basic , Pascal, C, C++, C#, Java, RPG, LISP and Snobol .
Source Program and Object Program
Let us define source and object program:
Source Program: A computer program written in high level language by a
programmer that can be
converted (or translated) into machine language.
Object Program: A computer program translated from an equivalent source
program into machine
language by a compiler or assembler.

Compilers and Interpreters

Computers work in machine language. These need translators for converting
different computer languages into machine language. Compilers and
interpreters are translators which are also known as language processors.
Compiler
Compiler software translates a source program that is usually written in a high
level language by a
programmer into machine language. The compiler is capable of replacing single
source program statement with a series of machine language instructions. For
each language the machine requires a separate compiler.
Interpreter
Interpreter software translates each source program statement into a sequence
of machine instructions and then executes these machine instructions before
translating the next source language statement. Interpreter is also unique for
each high level language like compiler. Figure 1.32 shows the working of an
interpreter.

Others
Program Utilities

Utilities are the programs that carry out general tasks such as formatting disks,
storing files, virus checking. Some examples of utilities are text editors, backup
utility, compression utility, disk defragmenter and antivirus software.
You can buy the utility programs at computer stores. Some utility programs are
also available free of
cost on the Internet.
Device Drivers
Device drivers are programs which allow hardware devices such as the
keyboard, printers to interface with the computer.
Modern operating systems have inbuilt support for a variety of input and output
devices. For example,
Windows XP contains drivers of hundreds of printers, scanners and other
devices.

Application Software
Application software allows the user to perform specific tasks. An application
software, designed to satisfy one purpose may not be able to solve other
purpose of the same user. For example, software for financial management
cannot be used for designing two-dimensional graphics. Similarly, we have word
processors for letter writing and presentation software for presentations. We
cannot interchange the use of two application software with each other.
There are two main categories of application software: Pre-Written and
Customised Application
Software.
Pre-Written Application Software: These are designed for common needs of
various businesses. For example, Word Processing Software, Electronic
Spreadsheets, Presentation Software, Database Management Systems,
Communication Software, Desktop Publishing Software.
Customized Application Software: These are created for a specific
application of a specific environment. For example, software required by a
publishing house. This type of software may not be useful for a computer
assembling house who deals in the items having warranty period. Software
engineers are hired to create such software. Different computer languages are
used to create these software.

5.1 The internet

The Internet is the network of networks around the world (see Fig. 5.1). It is
made up of thousands of smaller, national, regional, governmental, academic
and commercial networks. It is a global network. You have studied the basic

concepts of using Internet in Grade 9. Let us extend our knowledge about the
Internet further.

Development of the Internet

The first step towards the construction of Internet was taken by U.S. Department
of Defense in 1969, when they approved a project named ARPANET (acronym
for Advanced Research Projects Agency NETwork).
This project was started to connect computers of different universities and US
Defense in such a manner that the network could even survive after a nuclear
attack. This was possible by having multiple communication paths between any
two computers in the network. In case one or two paths got damaged,
communication could proceed through the other paths. The users of this
network were able to share data and communicate by using short text
messages. Soon developments started in this project and several rules of
communication were developed and adopted by all users of ARPANET.
To use ARPANET, a university was required to have a research contract with the
Department of Defense.
Due to this problem, in 1970s the NSF (U.S. National Science Foundation)
created a common network called CSNET which allowed dial-up connections to
ARPANET. The idea of CSNET was simple but it was a grand success. By 1980s
around 200 computers were connected to this network. Research and
development in the field of network resulted into the formation of a new, highcapacity and more speedy network called NSFNET. This network got an
instantaneous success and forced NSF to think for a better and fast version of it.
The research led to the creation of a new network called ANSNET (Advanced
Network Services) in 1992. In 1995, a more advanced version of the network
called VBNS (Very high speed Backbone Network System) was developed and it
replaced ANSNET from the market. In 1995, a new name was given to the
collection of these networks and is now called THE INTERNET. The number of
computers being connected to the Internet doubles in less than a year.

Advantages and Disadvantages

In the history of mankind, the Internet is the greatest development in the field of
ICT. Like other inventions, the Internet has a number of advantages and
disadvantages. The advantages of the Internet are so huge in number that they
outperform the disadvantages quite easily.

Advantages of the Internet

The Internet provides many facilities to the people. Some advantages of the
Internet are given below:
1. Sharing and collecting information: You can share and collect information
on every topic of the
world on the Internet 24 hours a day. The students, writers, engineers, scientists
and many other
people can interact with one another to get guidance and to share knowledge,
etc. Sharing and
collecting information through Internet is a very easy, cheap (in some cases free
of cost) and fast
method.
2. E-commerce: E-commerce means conducting business activities online. It is
not only widening
consumers, choice of products and services but is also creating new businesses
and compelling
established businesses to develop Internet strategies. E-commerce has become
a fantastic option
through which you can shop anything.
3. News: People get latest news of the world on the Internet. Most of the
newspapers of the world

are also available on the Internet via their websites. These websites are
periodically or immediately
updated with latest news when any event happens around the world.
4. Advertisement: Today, most of the commercial and non-commercial
organizations advertise through Internet. It is a very cheap and efficient way of
advertising. The organizations present their products with attractive and
beautiful ways to the people all over the world.
5. Communication: Using Internet you can communicate with others all over
the world. You can
talk by watching to one another; just as you are talking with your friends at your
home. Different
services provided on the Internet for this purpose are:
(i) E-mail (ii) Chatting
(iii) Video conferencing (iv) Internet telephony, etc.
6. Formation of communities: Internet helps in formation of communities or
forums. Here, a number of people can participate in different types of debates
and discussions to express their views and gather valuable knowledge.
7. Entertainment: Internet also provides different types of entertainments to
the people. You can play games with other people in any part of the world.
Similarly, you can see movies, listen music, etc. You can also make new friends
on the Internet for enjoyment.
8. Online learning: Internet provides the facility for online learning. Many
websites have lectures and tutorials on different subjects or topics for learning.
You can download these lectures or tutorials
and go through these repeatedly to get a lot of knowledge. It is a very cheap
and easy way to get
education.
9. Services: A variety of services are offered via Internet, for example job
searching, online banking,
online results, buying movie tickets, airlines and railways schedules, hotel
reservations and
consultation services (e.g., medical help), etc. When you avail these services
offline, they become
more expensive.

Disadvantages of the Internet

Although Internet has many advantages but it also has some disadvantages.
The main disadvantages of Internet are given below: 1. Virus threat: Virus is a
program that interrupts the usual operation of the PCs. Computers linked to the
Internet have high probability of virus attacks and as a result of this their hard
disks can crash, giving the users a lot of trouble.
2. Spamming: Spamming denotes distribution of unsolicited e-mails in large
numbers. They are
meaningless and they unnecessarily block the whole system. These activities
are treated as illegal.
3. Security problems: The valuable websites can be damaged by hackers and
your valuable data may be deleted. Similarly, confidential data (like name,
address and credit card number) may be accessed by unauthorized persons.
4. Pornography: Pornography is definitely harmful for the children. There are
numerous pornographic sites available over the Internet and watching any of
those can have very bad influence on the mental health of the children. These
websites damage the character of new generation.
5. Filtration of information: When a keyword is given to a search engine for
searching information of a specific topic, a large number of related links are
displayed. In this case, it becomes difficult for
the users to filter out the required information.

6. Accuracy of information: A lot of information about a particular topic is

stored on the websites.
Some information may be incorrect or not authentic. So, it becomes difficult for
the Internet users
to select the correct information. Sometimes they may be confused.
7. Wastage of time: A lot of time is wasted by Internet users to collect the
information on the Internet. Some people waste a lot of time in chatting or to
play games. At home, school and offices, most of the users use Internet without
any positive purpose.
8. English language problems: Most of the information on the Internet is
available in English language. So, those people who do not know English may
find it difficult to avail the facility of Internet.

computer security
Security of information and related computer systems is a big concern for the
computer users. So,
the effective methods of protection are required. In this unit, you will learn about
information and
computer security.

Responsible Behaviour in the Computer Lab

A computer laboratory is a special place which contains delicate and expensive
equipment .In order for the computer lab to maintain the equipment and an
excellent learning environment you
must behave in a calm manner and not damage any machines or furniture; you
must not touch any
electrical connection for any reason.
You need to follow some guidelines for responsible behaviour in the Computer
Lab. These are:
1.Students are not allowed in the computer lab unless directly supervised by a
computer teacher or any other staff member

2. Never share your password, even with your best friend .

Unit

3. No gum, eat or drinks in the computer lab, electronic equipment does not like
to get wet or
sticky.
4. Listen to directions given by your computer teacher.
5. Review your notes, on-line materials and of course the HELP option in all
programs.
6. Only use the Internet as instructed. Do not click on links that seem suspicious
or are offers of free anything.
7. Do not use the mouse or keyboard as a toy, that is, do not randomly click on
the mouse or hit the
keys on the keyboard without a purpose.
8. Do not change computer preference settings or endeavour to hack into
unauthorized areas.
9. Always use print preview before you print.
10. Take permission from your computer teacher before printing.
11. Before leaving from the computer lab you should follow these procedures:
(i) Exit any programs you are using. The login screen should be showing on the
desktop. Return
supplies (if any).
(ii) Straighten your work area and retrieve your books from the book shelf.
(iii) Log Off/Turn Off your computer and push in your chair.

Sanctions

It is always expected that students will follow these rules and codes of
behaviour; there may be occasions when sanctions will need to be invoked
(called upon), including:
1. Temporary removal from the lesson (time out).
2. A temporary or permanent ban on Internet use or even using the computers
in general. (Parents
would usually be informed at this stage.)
3. When necessary, police or local authorities may have to be involved.
4. Additional disciplinary action may be added in line with existing practice on
inappropriate language or behaviour.

School ICT Policy

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) prepares pupils to participate
in a rapidly changing world in which work and other activities are increasingly
transformed by access to varied and developing technology. Pupils use ICT tools
to find, explore, analyze, exchange and present information responsibly,
creatively and with discrimination. They learn how to employ ICT to enable rapid
access to ideas and experiences from a wide range of people, communities and
cultures. Increased capability in the use of ICT promotes initiative and
independent learning; with pupils being able to make informed judgements
about when and where to use ICT to best effect, and consider its implications for
home and work both now and in the future.
1. How does the school ensure that all students have opportunities to use ICT
according to their
needs?
2. How does ICT help to give students with special educational needs access to
the whole
curriculum?
3. How does ICT support gifted students?
4. How is the gender issue handled?
5. What account is taken of pupils use of ICT at home?

Developing a school ICT policy

The school ICT policy means the rules prepared by the school to use ICT. The
ideas given here should
be adapted to ensure that the policy is appropriate and relevant for your school.
When deciding on the
schools aims for ICT, internal, local and national factors should be considered.
The schools overall aim for ICT is to enrich learning for all students. The school
management must ensure that ICT Coordinat or and computer teachers develop
confidence and competence to use ICT as a tool aiding effective teaching across
the curriculum (see Fig. 3.2).
The school ICT policy must identify the important issues
and guide the students to live with it. Some of these include:
1. A statement defining ICT capability.
2. The aims for ICT in the school.
3. Guidance on record-keeping, assessment.
4. Guidance on health and safety.
5. Specific rules for the use of Internet and E-mail.
6. Statement of the schools position on copyright, data protection.
7. Information regarding maintenance/repair/viruses.
8. Date for review.
Students Acceptance of the Schools ICT Policy

Please complete and return this form to the ICT Co-ordinator or

Computer Teacher.
Students agreement:

I have read and understood the school rules for ICT policy. I will
use the computer systems
and Internet in a responsible way and obey these rules at all
times.
I understand that if I break these rules then I may not be allowed
to use the Computer
Nature of Computer Viruses
Computer viruses are software programs like other applications. But they get
attached with the general
applications and use their setup or .exe file to get installed on the computer
system. Computer viruses are
proving to be main cause of crashing computer system. To solve or remove
viruses from computer, install
any updated Anti-Virus software on your PC and perform a system scan.
Let us focus on the nature, recovery and prevention of computer viruses.

Computer Viruses

A computer virus is a malicious program that is designed to corrupt or

delete the information stored in the computer. You will know if you have a
computer virus very quickly, because nothing will function as it should. If
other computers are connected to this computer by network or e-mail, the
virus can be spread very quickly because the virus replicates itself to enter and
infect these computers (see Fig. 3.3).
These viruses do basically three types of damage to the computer it affects:
1. First is Trojans or worms which are designed to steal important personal
information such as your
IDs, passwords, account numbers, and other personal information found on
your computer.
2. Second type is designed to gain access to your machine and then hijack it.
Once it has control of
the affected computer a hacker can use it for malicious purposes or as a spam
machine to send
thousands of unwanted e-mails.
3. Third type is sometimes referred to as macro viruses. This type of virus is
designed so they can delete or overwrite the system or data files on the affected
computer. This causes the computer to crash and become unbootable or nonoperable. Many of the computers that get this type of virus have a crashed hard
drive which is not repairable and all your data is lost permanently.
Computer Viruses are spread through transportable secondary storage devices and
networks.
Measures Protect
The best way to protect computer viruses is installing antivirus software.
Antivirus software consists of computer programs that attempt to identify,
thwart and eliminate computer viruses and other malicious software (malware).
Good antivirus software comes with features like a built-in firewall and usually
offers an access to
online data backup. This antivirus software has the option to deactivate the
malicious viruses.
Firewalls are systems which help protect computers and computer networks
from attack and subsequent intrusion The antivirus software protects your
computer from virus attacks in three main ways:
1. The first way is prevention which involves detecting and eliminating new
viruses from your
computer. They get the latest virus definitions from their server so they know
what to look for and
protect against.

2. The second way is cleaning infected computers. This involves detection and
extermination of the
virus, along with repairing the damaged files.
3. The third way is protecting your computer by monitoring e-mails, downloads
and protection while
Internet surfing i.e., on-line. The antivirus regularly scans the computer or a
preset scheduler to keep
your computer virus free. As mentioned earlier antivirus software is very
effective in finding and deleting harmful computer
viruses. The computer users should follow these safety rules to protect against
viruses:
1. Do not open unsolicited e-mails.
2. Never download an attachment to an e-mail without scanning it for viruses
first.
3. Make sure you also use a firewall.
4. Do not download free software or music.
5. Do not use free antivirus software.
6. Search on Internet for antivirus reviews and research yourself for best
antivirus software.

Computer Hazard
1. For computers, a hazard is anything that poses a threat to a computer's
security, performance, or functionality. Examples of computer hazards
are malware, viruses,computer hackers, corrupted system files, and
defective hardware.
You can reduce the risk of computer hazards by
installing antivirus and antimalwaresoftware, enabling a firewall, regularly
installing updates, and replacing defective hardware.

2. When referring to the person using the computer a hazard is anything

that could be harmful to the user as they use a computer. For example,
using the keyboard and mouse improperly or too much can
cause carpal tunnel and not having the proper posture can cause all
types of pain and issues over time. While working inside the computer,
there are also ESD hazards to the electrical equipment and even the
risk of serious shock from components contained in the power supply
and CRT monitors.

Security Mechanisms
We use several layers of proven security technologies and processes to provide you with
secure online access to your accounts and information. These are continuously
evaluated and updated by our experts to ensure that we protect you and your
information. These include:

Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Encryption

When you successfully login to Online Banking or another secure RBC website using an
authentic user ID and password, our web servers will establish a secure socket layer (SSL)
connection with your computer. This allows you to communicate with us privately and
prevents other computers from seeing anything that you are transacting so you can
conduct online business with us safely. SSL provides 128-bit encrypted security so that
sensitive information sent over the Internet during online transactions remains confidential.

Authentication
To protect our users, we provide secure private websites for any business that users conduct
with us. Users login to these sites using a valid client number or username and a password.
Users are required to create their own passwords, which should be kept strictly confidential
so that no one else can login to their accounts

Firewalls
We use a multi-layered infrastructure of firewalls to block unauthorized access by individuals
or networks to our information servers.

Computer Anti-Virus Protection

We are continuously updating our anti-virus protection. This ensures we maintain the latest
in anti-virus software to detect and prevent viruses from entering our computer network
systems.

Data Integrity
The information you send to one of our secure private websites is automatically verified to
ensure it is not altered during information transfers. Our systems detect if data was added or
deleted after you send information. If any tampering has occurred, the connection is
dropped and the invalid information transfer is not processed.Ensuring Your Online

Safety
Find out how these security mechanisms safeguard our communications with you and
learn how RBC helps to protect you against fraud.

3.1 BASICS OF PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE

You have already studied about computers and their applications in Grades 9
and 10. Computers play an important role in our lives. Generally computers are
built to be professional, reliable machines. A computer may hang; send error
messages, or worse, no longer work at all. For computer users, troubleshooting
problems can stop their work. If you know how to troubleshoot problems related
to a computer, you can save hundreds or even thousands of Birrs.

Environment and Location of a Computer

Computer is a very sensitive device and needs to be placed very carefully. Its
physical environment and location requires some special arrangements,
protections and precautions (see Fig. 3.1). These precautions
and protections are not only necessary for computers but are equally important
for computer users.
A Desktop Computer A Laptop

In order to ensure trouble free, prolonged life and smooth working of any
computer, you must take into consideration that dust-free environment and
proper location are maintained for it. You must take care of the following:
(i) Always place your computer in an open area that allows adequate airflow.
(ii) Keep the computer in a cool, dry and dust-free environment.
(iii) Keep level, stable floors and tables.
(iv) Arrange ergonomic furniture.
(v) Keep precautionary fire prevention equipment.
(vi) Must have static electricity.
(vii) Keep the computer safe from vibrations.
Useful Tip

Keep it Cool

Do not restrict the airflow around your computer. Always avoid putting your
computer in an area with a lot of dust and do not stack papers, books or other items
on or around your computer.

Electric Power
Computers need electric power to work, but it can harm a PC or its data if it
does not flow properly.
The electricity available from a standard wall outlet is Alternating Current (AC),
but a PC runs on Direct Current (DC). The power supply is a device that converts
AC to DC to run the computer. The on/off switch in your computer turns on or
shuts off the electricity to the power supply.
Your computer needs good power to run properly, but various factors can take
what should be a steady stream of electricity from the wall socket and turn it

into a trickle or a fire hose. It is important that you know how to protect your
computing environment from electrical power sags and power losses, power
spikes, lightning strikes, and electromagnetic interference.
Let us understand some of the causes of power problems.
A brownout occurs when the supply of electricity drops dramatically but does
not go out completely.
During a brownout, you will notice lights flickering or growing dim. When the
power rises back up to its original level, your computer might not be able to
handle the drastic change and damage may occur. Blackouts occur when power
goes out completely. The danger of a blackout is twofold. First, you may have
data loss or corruption when the power goes out. Second, your PC may receive
electrical damage from the power surge when the electricity comes back on.
Power spikes or power surges occur when the voltage on your power line rises
suddenly to above-normal levels, Power spikes are extremely dangerous and can
destroy PCs, monitors, and any other component plugged into the affected
power line. Lightning storms are an underrated hazard. Using a computer or
even leaving it plugged in during a lightning storm is asking for trouble. Keep in
mind that no accessory can completely protect your PC from the damage caused
by a lightning strike.
All electrical equipment puts out a certain amount of electrical noise caused by
the signal running through wires, cables, and circuits. Electromagnetic
interference (EMI) occurs when two signals get too close
together and the noise of one is picked up by the other. In computers and
networking, this can cause
problems, such as wavy screens or slow or corrupted data transfers. Long cable
runs tend to pick up EMI,
especially if a power cable is running alongside a data cable.
Instead of plugging your computer directly into the wall electrical outlet, it is a
good idea to plug it
into a power protection device such as surge protector, voltage regulator, UPS
(Uninterruptible Power Supply).

Backup Methods
Every computer user must backup the files stored in the computer. If you backup
your files, you can
restore files in the event of a hard disk crash. Backing up files represents a
significant investment of time and effort. At the same time, all computer files
are potentially easy to change or erase, either intentionally or by accident.
There are different methods for backing up data stored in files. Some of the best
and most secure
methods are:
(i) External hard drives: External hard drives are the most reliable, simplest,
and most affordable
method of backup for computer users. They are gradually increasing in size and
reliability, and
many now come with software that can be used to backup your data regularly
and perfectly.
(ii) Flash drives/USB thumb drives: If you do not have a massive amount of
data to backup, a portable
flash drive is a great backup method. Flash media is extremely hard to break,
very reliable, and
modern thumb drives can hold upwards of three or four GB of information.
(iii) Remote data storage via the Internet: Some companies offer services
with small monthly fees for online data storage. The advantages to these
services are of great importance; your data is encrypted, so it is kept very safe.
Since it is not in your physical location, if there is any natural disaster, your files

are still fine. If your data is extremely important and you want to keep it safe,
remote data storage might be your preferred method of backup.
(iv) CD/DVD-ROMs: These days, nearly every computer has a DVD-ROM drive
that can write large amounts of information relatively quickly to either a DVD-R
or CD-R disk. The disks themselves are relatively inexpensive, and they are a
great form of data backup, as long as they are kept properly labeled and
checked for consistency.
So, good backup habits are a very important part of computer repair and can
leave you with some
much-deserved peace of mind.
1. Data backup is an important part of computer maintenance.
2. When choosing a backup method, look at cost and reliability.
3. Be sure to develop data backup habits in order to avoid costly recovery.

Manual
Personal computers are expensive appliances, and risk being damaged from
several sources: viruses, electric
power disturbances, and human error. As such, it makes sense to take routine
precautionary measures.
(i) Update anti-virus program: A computer virus can potentially wipe out all
of the information stored
on your computer. New viruses are constantly being created, and your
protection is only as good
as your last anti-virus update.
(ii) Back-up hard drive: Creating a back-up of the important files on your hard
drive helps and assures
you that you will have a safe copy available of your important information
incase anything happens
to damage or compromise your hard drive.
(iii) Test electrical surge protector: A properly maintained surge detector can
prevent major damage to
your personal computer.

Using Utility Programs

Utility programs, also called service programs, perform tasks related to the
control and allocation of
computer resources. They enhance existing functions or provide services not
supplied by other system
software programs. The utility programs can perform the following tasks:
(i) Backup: There is always a possibility that the hard-disk drive fails and you
have no more programs
or files to use. A backup utility is used to make a backup, or duplicate copy, of
the information on
the hard disk. For example, Norton Backup and Colorado Schedular.
(ii) Data-recovery: A data-recovery utility is used to restore data that has been
physically damaged or
corrupted. Data can be damaged by viruses, bad software, hardware failure, and
power fluctuations
that occur while data is being written/recorded.
(iii) Virus protection: A virus consists of hidden programming instructions that
are buried within an
application or system program. Viruses are spread when people exchange floppy
disks, download
(make copies of) information from the Internet and other computer networks, or
open the files
attached to e-mail.
To protect viruses, you must install antivirus software. Antivirus software is a
utility program that

scans hard disks, floppy disks, and memory to detect viruses. Some utilities
destroy the virus on
the spot. Others notify you of possible viral behaviour. As new viruses are
constantly being created,
you need the type of antivirus software for detecting the unknown viruses. For
example, Norton
Antivirus, McAfees Virus Scan, etc.
(iv) Data compression: As you keep on storing files on the hard disk, it will
eventually fill up. You can
either delete old files to make room for the new or you can use a data
compression utility, such as
PK Zip or StuffIt.
Data compression utilities remove redundant elements, gaps, and unnecessary
data from a computers
storage space so that less space (fewer bits) is required to store or transmit
data.
l Improving Hard Disk Performance
With the passage of time the hard disk of a computer
normally gets cluttered with lot of data. This makes it
slower to read data off the hard disk. This is because the
files are sometimes scattered across different parts of the
hard disk, and it takes more time to access all the parts.
Figure 3.2 shows a hard disk.
The following steps will help you in cleaning your hard
disk from all the junk that it might have accumulated, and
to improve hard disk performance:
(i) Remove duplicate files from hard disk.
(ii) Remove temporary files.
(iii) Hive off the non-essential files.
(a) Find large files occupying your disk space.
(b) Store all these files online.
(iv) Defragment hard disk.
(v) Detect and repair disk errors.
These steps will free up lot of space from the hard disk, and will improve hard
disk performance.
Useful Tip

Data Recovery

Is your hard disk crashed? Try these

(i) www.driversavers.com (ii) www.drivelabs.com (iii) www.harddriverecovery.org
l Disk Defragmenter
When you delete old files from your hard disk and add new ones,
something happens: The files become fragmented. Fragmentation is
the scattering of portions of files about the disk in nonadjacent areas, thus
greatly slowing access to the files.
When a hard disk is new, the operating system puts files on the
disk contiguously (next to one another). However, as you update a
file over time, new data for that file is distributed to unused spaces.
These spaces may not be contiguous to the older data in that file.
It takes the operating system longer to read these fragmented files.
A defragmenter utility program, commonly called a defragger, will find
all the scattered files on your hard disk and reorganize them as contiguous
files. Deframenting the files will speed up the drives operation.
Figure 3.3 shows disk defragmentation.
l Disk Cleanup
The disk cleanup utilities can search for and remove unnecessary files, such as
temporary files, or temp

files. Both Windows and the applications you run create

temp files needed only for short tasks and system restore
(return to normal operating conditions) after certain types of
system problems.

Computer health & safety issues

Computer health & safety issues
1. 1. RECAP SOME COMPUTER SAFETY GUIDELINES AT HOME AND IN
COMPUTER LAB Do not eat and drink near computers. Do not run and play
near computers. Do not operate computers during heavy rainfall and
thunder storm. Do not open system or monitor casing. Do not insert any
metal objects
2. 2. SYLLABUS AND LEARNING OBJECTIVES Learning Objectives: Explain what
health problem is. Identify the different health problems. How these
problems can be minimised.
3. 3. HEALTH PROBLEMS RELATED TO THE USE OF COMPUTERS If computers are
not used properly, a lot of health problems may arise and these problems
may be avoided if people use computers appropriately.
4. 4. Do you use computer regularly.
working with a computer.

What health problems did you get

5. 5. HEALTH PROBLEMS EYE STRAIN BACK ACHE WRIST PAIN

while

6. 6. EYE STRAIN CAUSES Insufficient breaks Prolonged or excessive use

Glare (brightness) from the screen Reflection on the screen (sunlight)
PRECAUTIONS: Take frequent breaks Use antiglare screen Use curtains
on windows Blink the eyes regularly Eyes must be in line with monitor
7. 7. BACK ACHE & WRIST PAIN CAUSES: Wrong posture Excessive use
PRECAUTIONS: Take regular breaks. Adopt the right posture and use back
rest. Use footrests and adjustable chairs
8. 8. WHAT IS RSI? Repetitive strain injuries (RSIs) are "injuries may be caused
by repetitive tasks, forceful exertions, or awkward positions". It is a collective
name for a variety of disorders affecting the neck, the shoulders and upper
limbs.
9. 9. THE POSTURE TO ADOPT WHILE USING A PC
10.10. SUMMARY 10
11.11. TRUE AND FALSE 1. One cause of RSI is typing for long periods of time
without rest. _______ 2. Using a monitor that faces the window without curtain
will cause eye strain._______ 3. It is not important to take regular break while
using a PC. _______ 4. RSI stands for Repetitive Stress Illness. ______5.
Adopting the right posture while using the computer will reduce back pain. _
12.12. QUESTION 2 a. State two health problems associated to the use of
computers. b. For each above mentioned health problems, state two
precautions that can be taken to reduce these health problems.
Computer Installation and Repair

Job opportunities for computer repair technicians may be limited, but this entry-level position
can lead to other fast-growing careers in the field of computers. Keep reading to explore your
options in computer installation or repair and decide if this is the field for you.
Inside Computer Installation and Repair

People working in computer installation and repair set up and fix computer systems. Jobs may
require that a repair technician be friendly and personable if they work directly with the
customer. Some technicians might also have the opportunity to work on other electronic
machines and components in addition to computers, such as printers, monitors or scanners.
Installing and repairing computers gives you the chance to work in a wide range of
environments. Education and certification can provide you with the necessary tools to specialize
in the specific area of computers that interests you. Study.com has resources to help you learn
about careers and training in computer installation and repair.
Education Information

Computer repairers need to be familiar with computers and electronic devices. According to the
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), having an associate degree in electronics is
recommended, but not necessary, for most computer installation and repair jobs (www.bls.gov).
Some community colleges and vocational schools offer training in computer repair, giving
students hands-on experience installing and repairing computer systems. Professional

certification, such as CompTIA's A+ credential, can be beneficial to a computer installation and

repair technician, and some employers require it.
While associate degrees provide a solid foundation to begin a career in computer installation, a
bachelor's degree in a computer-related field can make eventual management positions more
accessible. Specialized courses through a certificate or diploma program can also offer you
sufficient knowledge to begin your career in information technology (IT). Take a look at the
following articles to learn more about degree options in this field.
Distance Learning Options

Quite a few courses and degree programs in computer repair are available online. If you just
want to take a specialized course to increase your knowledge of computer repair or if you want
to obtain a degree through distance learning, explore the links below to see if an online education
is right for you.
Career Options

A job in computer installation and repair begins with obtaining knowledge of computer systems
and components. Career progression is aided by earning a degree in a computer-related field,
which can lead to advanced IT positions in such areas as computer programming and network
administration. Find out more about possible career paths by visiting these links.
Certification Options

Professional certification can enhance your job prospects and salary. Earning one or more IT
credentials shows employers you possess sufficient knowledge of specific technologies. You can
find certification in a number of specialized areas, such as hardware, networking and application
troubleshooting. Visit the links below for more information about certification.
How to Uninstall Applications on a Mac: Everything You Need to Know

Mac OS X offers no Uninstall a program interface like the one available in Windows. You
have to uninstall applications by dragging their icons around but what about applications that
dont have shortcuts, built-in system apps, and other corner cases?
Uninstalling most Mac applications is a simple process. But, for some applications, uninstalling
them is much harder than it is on Windows. Thankfully, there arent as many ways to uninstall
them as there are ways to install applications on a Mac.
The Problem With Uninstalling on OS X: Lots of Junk Gets Left Behind

The problem with OS X is that even when you uninstall applications, a lot of stuff gets left
behind, and theres no built-in way to find all the supporting files and get rid of them. This is a
problem that people associate with Windows, but its actually a big OS X issue.
Luckily CleanMyMac 3 has a great clean uninstaller feature that will search for all the leftovers
and clean them up for you automatically. You can remove applications cleanly with a single
click.

Even if you arent worried about drive space, this can help solve other issues for instance, we
solved a recurring Skype crash issue by doing a clean uninstall with CleanMyMac 3 and then
reinstalling the application. Its not the only way to do it, of course, and you can manually hunt
down the files, but its a lot easier to use, and its something we actually use here at How-To
Geek.
Download CleanMyMac 3 to Easily Uninstall Applications Today
How to Uninstall Most Mac Applications
RELATED ARTICLE

How to Install Applications On a Mac: Everything You Need to Know

Most Mac applications are self-contained items that dont mess with the rest of your system.
Uninstalling an application is as simple as opening a Finder window, clicking Applications in
the sidebar, Control-clicking or right-clicking the applications icon, and selecting Move to
Trash.
You can also drag-and-drop an applications icon to the trash can icon on your dock. Or, open the
Launchpad interface and drag-and-drop an applications icon to the trash can from there.

Most applications will go straight to your trash, and you can then Control-click or right-click the
trash can icon on your dock and select Empty Trash to get rid of that application and all the
other files youve deleted.
However, some applications will prompt you for a password when you try to move them to the
trash. These applications were installed using the Mac package installer. Uninstalling them will
remove whatever system-wide changes

Note that you cant remove built-in applications by doing this. For example, try to move
the Chess app to the trash and youll see a message saying, Chess cant be modified or deleted
because its required by OS X.
Applications That Dont Appear Here

But what about applications that dont appear here? For example, install the Flash plug-in for
Mac OS X, or the Java runtime and browser plug-in for Mac, and neither will appear in your
Applications folder.
On Windows, thats no problem the Control Panel shows a list of all your installed programs,
even ones without shortcuts. On a Mac, theres no interface that lists all your installed software
so its tough to even notice if you have this stuff installed.
Some applications must be removed in other ways, and youll generally find instructions by
simply performing a web search for uninstall [program name] mac. For example, Adobe offers
a separate uninstaller app you need to download and run to uninstall Flash on a Mac.

RELATED ARTICLE

How to Uninstall Java on Mac OS X

Oracle is even worse and doesnt provide an easy app that will uninstall Java from Mac OS X for
you. Instead, Oracle instructs you to run several terminal commands to uninstall Java after
installing it. Heres how to uninstall the Java runtime and development kit.
Come on, Oracle at least provide a downloadable uninstaller like Adobe does.

Other software applications may provide their own downloadable uninstallers or uninstallation
instructions, so perform a web search if youre not sure how to uninstall something and youll
find instructions.
Uninstall Adware and Other Crapware
RELATED ARTICLE
How to Remove Malware and Adware From Your Mac

Macs are now falling prey to the same epidemic of crapware Windows PCs have to deal with.
The same free application download websites that serve this junk up to Windows users are
serving similar junk to Mac users.
On a Windows PC, most reputable adware provides an uninstaller that sits in the Programs and
Features list, allowing users to easily uninstall it for legal reasons. On a Mac, adware programs
dont have a similar place to list themselves in. They may want you to download and run an
uninstaller app to remove them, if you can even figure out which ones you have installed.
We recommend the completely free Malwarebytes for Mac if you need to purge your Mac of
crapware and even Mac malware. Itll scan your Mac for junk applications and remove them for
you.

Remove Built-in System Apps

Macs also have no way to uninstall or install operating system features, so theres no way to
easily remove the many applications Apple included with your Mac.
On OS X 10.10 Yosemite and earlier, it was possible to open a terminal window and issue
commands to delete these system apps, which are located in the /Applications folder. For
example, running the following command in a terminal window would delete the built-in Chess
app. Be very careful when typing the following command:
sudo rm -rf /Applications/Chess.app
As of Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan, System Integrity Protection protects these applications and
other system files from being modified. This prevents you from deleting them, and it also ensures
malware cant modify these applications and infect them.
RELATED ARTICLE

How to Disable System Integrity Protection on a Mac (and Why You

Shouldnt)

If you actually did want to remove any of these built-in apps from your Mac, youd have to
disable System Integrity Protection first. We dont recommend that. However, you can re-enable
SIP after and your Mac wont mind that youve deleted Chess.app and other built-in system apps.
Really, we recommend you dont do this. Mac OS X may automatically reinstall these
applications in the future when you update the system, anyway. They dont take up much space,
and Apple provides no way to get them back beyond reinstalling OS X on your Mac.

This doesnt actually erase an applications preferences. Erase an application and it will leave
preference files left over in your Library folders. Most of the time, these files will use very little
space and wont cause a problem. The preferences will still be available on your Mac, too this
is convenient if youre uninstalling an app only to replace it with a newer version of the same
app.

Ingenuity Labs technology could

transform agriculture and save the
planet

Using drones in agriculture is just one way that technology could solve food
shortage problems

Agriculture makes the world go round but at its current rate of expansion, it is becoming
increasingly inefficient, costly and harmful to the environment. Is technology the answer?
Given the importance of the agricultural industry and its relevance to local economies, improving
outdated systems and processes is more crucial now than ever before. With such a huge task at
hand, the best research institutions in the world are being charged with resolving the problems
facing agribusiness today. One such firm taking the challenge head-on is Alberta-based
nanotechnology specialist Ingenuity Lab, which is working on reducing the negative impact of
agriculture not only in its own backyard, but for the entire planet.

The agricultural sector plays a vital role in Canadas federal and provincial economies, with a
contribution to the countrys GDP that exceeds $100bn each year. In fact, Canada is the fifthlargest agricultural exporter in the world, and with over 2.2 million individuals working in the
sector, it represents 12 percent of Canadas total employment. Being the countrys second largest
agricultural producer, Alberta has earned an international reputation as a source of advanced
agricultural technology, which accounts for 22 percent of the countrys farm cash receipts.
Industrial agriculture practices, severe ploughing and monocrop systems have caused nutrient
depletion and large-scale soil erosion
Since it is one of Canadas core industries, Ingenuity Lab has chosen agriculture as one of its
key areas of focus. Our research team in this area is focused on developing innovative
technologies for sustainable agriculture, while maintaining environmental quality. The strategies
that we use are cost-effective, fast and accurate in order to help farmers to improve their crop
yield with fewer resources, said Charles Van Neste, Group Leader for Instrumentation
Development at Ingenuity Lab. Ultimately, our technology goals are aligned with local
priorities to support the agriculture sector to be sustainable in the national market, as well as
within global markets.
Water, water everywhere
The agriculture sector is facing a growing number of challenges, which include resource
depletion, water pollution, land management and livestock management, yet all these issues
centre around one basic constant: soil.
A healthy soil provides sufficient nutrients and water to support plant growth, which can then
feed humans and livestock. However, industrial agriculture practices, severe ploughing and
monocrop systems have caused nutrient depletion and large-scale soil erosion. On the other hand,
the over-application of fertilisers and pesticides continues to contaminate both soil and ground
water, said Prashanthi Kovur, Ingenuity Labs Group Leader for Fabrication and Devices. The
soil nutrient cycle is greatly affected by the frequent harvesting of crops, as well as grazing
livestock. Unfortunately, there is no stable supply of decomposing plant material to restore
nutrient levels within the soil. Added to this is the mounting problem of food waste. One third
of the worlds food is lost during production, handling and consumption. For example, in North
America, a large percentage of this loss comes from consumers wasting food. Landfills filled
with organic waste are the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.
Although contaminated water is most commonly associated with heavy industries, the expansion
of farming to meet with population growth and soaring demand has turned it into a far broader
issue, making a deep environmental impact that is often overlooked. In order to tackle this
growing problem, Ingenuity Lab has been developing a state-of-the-art water purification
system, using nanotechnology that will enable the reversion of soil and water back to their
natural states. As research into nanotechnology continues, Ingenuity Lab expects to find a way to
reclaim nitrogen from soil runoff, which could have a huge impact on agricultural yield.
Due to the industrial revolution, water pollution has become a global issue. One of our solutions
to this issue is presenting a way in which we can purify contaminated water and then reuse it for
agricultural purposes, said Van Neste. Ingenuity Lab is developing a bio-inspired hybrid
membrane system to address the environmental impact of contaminants to our water supply;

these bio-inspired reverse osmosis membrane systems are suitable for industrial scale
applications and exceed the performance of existing membrane technologies.
Another strand of Ingenuity Labs research is the development of desalination technology. The
desalination technologies that we are developing will support coastal regions with drinking water
and help them to grow their own crops, said Van Neste.
While agribusiness is becoming increasingly damaging to the environment, heavy industries still
remain a culprit in this story as well. The potential harmful effect of industrial pollution on
agriculture from organic waste and mining activities has been raised by many environmental
agencies. Mining activity is associated with high levels of pollution and the loss of agricultural
livelihoods, which results in stressed vegetation and downcast production, said Kovur. As a
team at Ingenuity Lab, we are always thinking about ways that we could clean industrial waste
water and use it to grow crops and transform industrial-scale pollution into an agricultural
solution. At present, we are working on developing state-of-the-art membrane technologies to
filter away waste and enhance water flux across the membrane with high levels of salt rejection,
so that the resulting clean water can be used for agricultural purposes.
More for less
Agriculture is the dominant use of land in Canada, and the leading source of pollution. One
ongoing challenge is the contamination of soil and water caused by excess pesticides, in addition
to the ammonia compounds that enter our marine systems from runoff water. These toxins
remain in the environment for generations many are even suspected of disturbing our
ecosystem. However, by minimising toxin transport mechanisms, monitoring plant health and
ensuring early detection of diseases, we can reduce excess levels of pesticides, said Kovur.
We always hope for a better quality of life for future generations. But what about the excess
pesticides that are already present? The analytical methods that we are developing can facilitate
the collection of data concerning particular target pesticides that may impact human health and
the environment. Our advanced miniaturised micro/nanofabrication technologies have led to the
development of sensitive and selective sensor devices for field-based environmental monitoring
and the early detection of plant diseases, said Kovur. We hope to develop next generation
technologies where the earth could filter away excess pesticides and recycle fertilisers at the
molecular level.
When it comes to increasing yield potential, soil holds the key once again. This would make an
incredible difference to agricultural industries all around the world. Precise measurements of
soil nutrients are desirable for efficient agricultural production, including site-specific crop
management, where fertiliser nutrient application rates are adjusted spatially, based on local soil
requirements, Kovur said. In order to increase crop yield, while simultaneously improving
performance and reliability, cost-effective sensor technologies can interface directly with entire
growing and herding fields.
Ingenuity Lab has access to world class talent, as well as the hi-tech facilities required to
undertake advanced research. The combination of these two assets helps us in developing
innovative solutions for complex problems. Our state-of-the-art sensing techniques can detect
trace amounts of various chemicals and fertilisers present in the soil. Additional research and the

development of nanotechnologies with the power to reclaim nitrogen from soil runoff have
further potential to help our agriculture industry increase its yield, said Van Neste.
All around the world, land that could be used for large-scale agricultural production goes
unworked due to its unsuitability for agricultural activities. Solving this problem would result in
a huge boost in production for communities, not to mention the health and environmental
benefits of local food. Ingenuity Lab believes the age-old problem of arid land can be solved by
technology.
The quality of soil, landscape, climate and temperature are the limiting factors of how the
Earths surface can be used for agriculture. In areas where land is less productive, agriculture
requires more advanced techniques and inputs in order to address poor soil quality. Those zones
that have received few modern inputs can greatly increase productivity and raise the value of
agricultural land, said Van Neste.
Excess deposits of salt in the soil, especially near coastal areas, prevent plants from absorbing
water, thereby making it unsuitable for farming. However, with recent advancements in
technology, we can convert the unsuitable land into usable land, where agriculture can be
practiced far more successfully. Our research team at Ingenuity Lab is developing biodegradable
cellulose-based hydrogel technologies that are used as water reservoirs and nutrient carriers in
agriculture. Such advanced technologies will have a huge impact on the reduction of water
consumption, together with water resource optimisation, in both agriculture and horticulture,
said Van Neste. The technologies that we are developing have great potential in converting
biomass in Alberta into value-added products. These hydrogel-based technologies make
cultivation possible in infertile areas of the world, thus supporting large-scale agriculture.
Visions of the future
Agriculture the oldest industry on earth is as vital today as it was at the beginning of
civilisation. Finding new ways to improve, through cutting-edge innovation and technology, is
the only hope for dealing with humanitys continued expansion.
The global population is expected to reach over nine billion by 2050. With growing demands on
the worlds food supply chain, we rely on farmers to enable a sustainable food supply, said
Kovur. However, farmers are facing various challenges in food production that make it hard to
produce more crops with a lower environmental impact. One way to address these issues is
through precision agriculture, although current precision techniques require a robust IT
infrastructure and substantial resources, which can only be achieved by bigger companies. The
inability to obtain soil characteristics rapidly and inexpensively remains one of the biggest
limitations of precision agriculture.
In light of this, Ingenuity Lab has charged itself with an important task. We are developing costeffective, innovative sensor technologies to enable precision soil nutrient management by
monitoring soil and plant health in real time. These smart sensors can rapidly respond to target
ions, making them suitable for in-field rapid detection. A swarm of robots integrated with our
sensors have the ability to monitor nutrients and plant health foot by foot. Our SWEEP robotic
technologies allow the robots to be powered and controlled wirelessly, said Kovur.

Ingenuity Lab envisions a day when farmers in remote areas can use mobile devices to manage
their own agriculture. We call it networked agriculture. Integrated sensors will continuously
monitor soil health and transmit the information wirelessly to a handheld device. This userfriendly technology would help farmers to make proactive decisions, save money, and maximise
crop yields and food production, while also minimising the environmental impact they have.

Technology in Education: An Overview

In this 2015 photo, third grader Iyana Simmons works on a coding exercise at
Michael Anderson School in Avondale, Ariz. Nick Cote for Education Week
Technology is everywhere in education: Public schools in the United States now
provide at least one computer for every five students. They spend more than $3
billion per year on digital content. Led by the federal government, the country is in
the midst of a massive effort to make affordable high-speed Internet and free online
teaching resources available to even the most rural and remote schools. And in
2015-16, for the first time, more state standardized tests for the elementary and
middle grades will be administered via technology than by paper and pencil.
Theres the booming ed-tech industry, with corporate titans and small startups alike
vying for a slice of an $8 billion-plus yearly market for hardware and software. Much
attention is also paid to the early adoptersthose districts, schools, and teachers
who are making the most ingenious and effective uses of the new tools at their
disposal.

But a significant body of research has also made clear that most teachers have been slow to
transform the ways they teach, despite the influx of new technology into their classrooms. There
remains limited evidence to show that technology and online learning are improving learning
outcomes for most students. And academics and parents alike have expressed concerns about
digital distractions, ways in which unequal access to and use of technology might widen
achievement gaps, and more.
State and federal lawmakers, meanwhile, have wrestled in recent years with the reality that new
technologies also present new challenges. The rise of big data, for example, has led to new
concerns about how schools can keep sensitive student information private and secure.
What follows is an overview of the big trends, opportunities, and concerns associated with
classroom technology. Links to additional resources are included in each section for those who
would like to dig deeper.
What Is Personalized Learning?
Many in the ed-tech field see new technologies as powerful tools to help schools meet the needs
of ever-more-diverse student populations. The idea is that digital devices, software, and learning
platforms offer a once-unimaginable array of options for tailoring education to each individual
students academic strengths and weaknesses, interests and motivations, personal preferences,
and optimal pace of learning.
In recent years, a group of organizations including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the
Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, and EDUCAUSE have crafted a definition of personalized
learning that rests on four pillars:

 Each student should have a learner

profile that documents his or her
strengths, weaknesses, preferences, and
goals;
Each student should pursue an
individualized learning path that
encourages him or her to set and manage
personal academic goals;
Students should follow a competencybased progression that focuses on their
ability to demonstrate mastery of a topic,
rather than seat time; and,
Students learning environments should be
flexible and structured in ways that support
their individual goals.
How does technology support that vision?
In many schools, students are given district-owned computing devices or allowed to bring their
own devices from home. The idea is that this allows for 24-7 learning at the time and location
of the students choosing.
Learning management systems, student information systems, and other software are also used to
distribute assignments, manage schedules and communications, and track student progress.
And educational software and applications have grown more adaptive, relying on technology
and algorithms to determine not only what a student knows, but what his or her learning process
is, and even his or her emotional state.
For all the technological progress, though, implementation remains a major challenge. Schools
and educators across the country continue to wrestle with the changing role of teachers, how to
balance flexible and personalized models with the state and federal accountability
requirements they still must meet, and the deeper cultural challenge of changing educators longstanding habits and routines.
Despite the massive investments that many school systems are making, the evidence that digital
personalized learning can improve student outcomes or narrow achievement gaps at scale
remains scattered, at best.
What Is 1-to-1 Computing?
Increasingly, schools are moving to provide students with their own laptop computer, netbook, or
digital tablet. Schools purchased more than 23 million devices for classroom use in 2013 and

2014 alone. In recent years, iPads and then Chromebooks (inexpensive Web-based laptops) have
emerged as the devices of choice for many schools.
Todd Wirt, principal at Mooresville High School in Mooresville, N.C., Discusses the
schools 1-to-1 program and how technology has affected the schools culture.

The two biggest factors spurring the rise in 1-to-1 student computing have been new mandates
that state standardized tests be delivered online and the widespread adoption of the Common
Core State Standards.
Generally, the hope is that putting devices in the hands of students will help with some or all of
the following goals:

Allowing teachers and software to deliver

more personalized content and lessons to
students, while allowing students to learn
at their own pace and ability level;
Helping students to become technologically
skilled and literate and thus better
prepared for modern workplaces;
Empowering students to do more complex
and creative work by allowing them to use
digital and online applications and tools;
Improving the administration and
management of schools and classrooms by
making it easier to gather information on
what students know and have done;
Improving communications among
students, teachers, and parents.
Despite the potential benefits, however, many districts have run into trouble when attempting to
implement 1-to-1 computing initiatives. Paying for the devices can be a challenge, especially as
the strategy of issuing long-term bonds for short-term technology purchases has come into
question. Many districts have also run into problems with infrastructure (not enough bandwidth
to support all students accessing the Internet at the same time) and deployment (poor planning in
distributing and managing thousands of devices.)
The most significant problem for schools trying to go 1-to-1, though, has been a lack of
educational vision. Without a clear picture of how teaching and learning is expected to change,
experts say, going 1-to-1 often amounts to a spray and pray approach of distributing many
devices and hoping for the best.

Some critics of educational technology also point to a recent study by the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development, which found that countries where 15-year old students
use computers most in the classroom scored the worst on international reading and math tests.
What Is Blended Learning?

In its simplest terms, blended learning combines traditional, teacher-to-student lessons with
technology-based instruction.
Many schools and districts use a rotation model, which is often viewed as an effective means
of providing students with more personalized instruction and smaller group experiences. In some
cases, saving money (through larger overall class sizes, for example) is also a goal. The basic
premise involves students rotating between online and in-person stations for different parts of the
day. There are many versions of this approach, however: Do students stay in the classroom or go
to a computer lab?
Does online instruction cover core content, or is it primarily for remediation? Are all students
doing the same thing online, or do different students have different software and learning
experiences?
Step inside the San Francisco Flex Academy, which opened during the 2010-11
school year, and hear from students and educators whove embraced the schools
blended-learning model.

One big trend for schools involves trying to make sure that what happens online is connected
with what happens during face-to-face interactions with teachers. That could involve giving
teachers a say in selecting the software that students use, for example, or making a concerted
effort to ensure online programs provide teachers with data that is useful in making timely
instructional decisions.
Another trend involves boosting students access to the Internet outside of school. Robust
blended learning programs involve anytime, anywhere access to learning content for studentsa major challenge in many communities.
Perhaps the biggest hurdle confronting educators interested in blended learning, though, is the
lack of a solid research base. As of now, there is still no definitive evidence that blended learning
works (or doesnt.) While some studies have found encouraging results with specific programs or
under certain circumstances, the question of whether blended learning positively impacts student
learning still has a mostly unsatisfactory answer: It depends.
What Is the Status of Tech Infrastructure and the E-Rate?
The promise of technology in the classroom is almost entirely dependent on reliable
infrastructure. But in many parts of the country, schools still struggle to get affordable access to
high-speed Internet and/or robust wireless connectivity.
A typical school district network involves multiple components. In 2014, the Federal
Communications Commission established connectivity targets for some of the pieces:

 A connection to the broader Internet

provided by an outside service provider to
the district office (or another central district
hub).
Target: 100 megabits per second per 1,000
students in the short-term, and 1 Gigabit
per second per 1,000 students in the longterm.
A Wide Area Network that provides
network connections between the districts
central hub and all of its campuses, office
buildings, and other facilities.
Target: Connections capable of delivering
10 Gigabits per second per 1,000 students.
Local Area Networks that provide
connections within a school, including the
equipment necessary to provide Wi-Fi
service inside classrooms.
Target: The FCC recommended a survey to
determine a suitable measure. Many
school-technology advocates call for
internal connections that support 1-to-1
computing.
To support schools (and libraries) in building and paying for these networks, the FCC in 1996
established a program known as the E-rate. Fees on consumers phone bills fund the program,
which has paid out more than $30 billion since its inception.
In 2014, the commission overhauled the E-rate, raising the programs annual spending cap from
$2.4 billion to $3.9 billion and prioritizing support for broadband service and wireless networks.
The changes were already being felt as of Fall 2015; after steadily declining for years, the
number of schools and libraries applying for E-rate funds for wireless network equipment
skyrocketed, with nearly all of the applicants expected to receive a portion of the $1.6 billion in
overall wireless-related requests.

High school students in Coral Gables, Fla., work together on a tablet during a history
class.
Josh Richie for Education Week

As part of the E-rate overhaul, the FCC also approved a series of regulatory changes aimed at
leveling the playing field for rural and remote schools, which often face two big struggles:
accessing the fiber-optic cables that experts say are essential to meeting the FCCs long-term
goals, and finding affordable rates.
Infrastructure in some contexts can also be taken to include learning devices, digital content, and
the policies and guidelines that govern how they are expected to be used in schools (such as
responsible use policies and digital citizenship programs aimed to ensure that students and
staff are using technology appropriately and in support of learning goals.)
Another bigand often overlookedaspect of infrastructure is whats known as interoperability.
Essentially, the term refers to common standards and protocols for formatting and handling data
so that information can be shared between software programs. A number of frameworks outline
data interoperability standards for different purposes. Many hope to see the field settle on
common standards in the coming years.
How Is Online Testing Evolving?
The biggest development on this front has been states adoption of online exams aligned with the
Common Core State Standards. During the 2014-15 school year, 10 states (plus the District of
Columbia) used exams from the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and
Careers (PARCC), and 18 states used exams from the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium,
all of which were delivered primarily online. Many of the other states also used online
assessments.
The 2015-16 school year will be the first in which more state-required summative assessments in
U.S. middle and elementary schools will be delivered via technology rather than paper and
pencil, according to a recent analysis by EdTech Strategies, an educational technology consulting
firm.

Beyond meeting legislative mandates, perceived benefits include cost savings, ease of
administration and analysis, and the potential to employ complex performance tasks.
But some statesincluding Florida, Minnesota, Montana, and Wisconsinhave experienced big
problems with online tests, ranging from cyber attacks to log-in problems to technical errors.
And there is growing evidence that students who take the paper-and-pencil version of some
important tests perform better than peers who take the same exams online, at least in the short
term.
Nevertheless, it appears likely that online testing will continue to growand not just for state
summative assessments. The U.S. Department of Education, for example, is among those
pushing for a greater use of technologically enhanced formative assessments that can be used to
diagnose students abilities in close to real time. In the departments 2016 National Education
Technology Plan, for example, it calls for states and districts to design, develop, and implement
learning dashboards, response systems, and communication pathways that give students,
educators, families, and other stakeholders timely and actionable feedback about student learning
to improve achievement and instructional practices.
Are Digital Materials Used in Classrooms?
Digital instructional content is the largest slice of the (non-hardware) K-12 educational
technology market, with annual sales of more then $3 billion. That includes digital lessons in
math, English/language arts, and science, as well as specialty subjects such as business and
fine arts. The market is still dominated by giant publishers such as Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
and Pearson, who have been scrambling to transition from their print-centric legacy products to
more digital offerings.
But newcomers with one-off products or specific areas of expertise have made inroads, and some
apps and online services have also gained huge traction inside of schools.
As a result, many schools use a mix of digital resources, touting potential benefits such as greater
ability to personalize, higher engagement among students, enhanced ability to keep content
updated and current, and greater interactivity and adaptivity (or responsiveness to individual
learners).
Still, though, the transition to digital instructional materials is happening slowly, for reasons that
range from the financial (for districts that havent been able to purchase devices for all students,
for example) to the technical (districts that lack the infrastructure to support every student being
online together.) Print still accounts for about 70 percent of pre-K-12 instructional materials sales
in the United States.
What Are Open Educational Resources?
Rather than buying digital instructional content, some states and districts prefer using open
digital education resources that are licensed in such a way that they can be freely used, revised,
and shared. The trend appears likely to accelerate: The U.S. Department of Education, for
example, is now formally encouraging districts to move away from textbooks and towards
greater adoption of OER.

Seventh grader Mateo Smith, center, uses a laptop at Hughes STEM High School in
Cincinnati.
Pat McDonogh for Education Week

New York and Utah have led the way in developing open educational resources and encouraging
their use by schools. The K-12 OER Collaborative, which includes 12 states and several
nonprofit organizations, is working to develop OER materials as well.
Proponents argue that OER offer greater bang for the buck, while also giving students better
access to a wider array of digital materials and teachers more flexibility to customize
instructional content for individual classrooms and students. Some also believe OER use
encourages collaboration among teachers. Concerns from industry and others generally focus on
the quality of open materials, as well as the challenges that educators face in sifting through
voluminous one-off resources to find the right material for every lesson.
How Are Virtual Education and Distance Learning Doing?
One technology trend that has come under increasing scrutiny involves full-time online schools,
particularly cyber charters. About 200,000 students are enrolled in about 200 publicly funded,
independently managed online charter schools across 26 states.
But such schools were found to have an overwhelming negative impact on student learning in
a comprehensive set of studies released in 2015 by a group of research organizations, including
Stanford Universitys Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University.
That research did not cover the more than two dozen full-time online schools that are state-run,
however, nor did it cover the dozens more that are run by individual school districts. Thousands
upon thousands of students who are enrolled in traditional brick-and-mortar schools also take
individual courses online. Five statesAlabama, Arkansas, Florida, Michigan, and Virginia
now require students to have some online learning to graduate. Other states, such as Utah, have
passed laws encouraging such options for students.
For many students, especially those in rural and remote areas, online and distance learning can
offer access to courses, subjects, and teachers they might otherwise never be able to find. Such
opportunities can also benefit advanced and highly motivated students and those with unusual

schedules and travel requirements, and be a useful tool to keep schools running during snow
days.
But so far, achieving positive academic outcomes at scale via online learning has proven
difficult, and many observers have expressed concerns about the lack of accountability in the
sector, especially as relates to for-profit managers of online options.

The Role of ICT in the Tourism Industry

Ifran, Morocco Responsible for 10% of the global gross domestic product (GDP) and for
8.7% of the worlds jobs, tourism is today considered an important economic booster and the
worlds largest economic activity.
Moreover, a strong tourism industry can be viewed as a sign of a countrys social development,
evolution, and progression. Furthermore, because of the impact of globalization, more people are
nowadays encouraged to buy touristic products in different countries.
Since tourism is a major sector/industry in todays world, many countries are competing to
attract tourists through all means of communication, and such communication has become a
major driver of touristic sectors all over the world. The role of communication is to inform
prospective tourists and influence their choices vis--vis touristic destinations and the type of
touristic products they purchase.

In order to attract prospective tourists, well-crafted communication strategies are needed, and
since we are living in a digitalized world, it is necessary for the tourism industry to rely on ICTs
(information and communication technology) and especially the Internet as tools of international
communication.
Many countries have succeeded in using ICTs and more precisely the Internet to develop their
tourism industries. For example, Malaysia and Australia, two cases I will discuss below, have
been very successful in attracting many tourists through these means. On the other hand,
countries such as Iran have not been able to increase their number of international visitors,
largely due to a lack of ICTs and Internet development. The last point that will be discussed is
the case of Morocco as an emerging world tourism destination.
Touristic promotional activities through ICTs and especially the Internet are today managed by
governments and particular businesses. Governments take necessary measures to encourage
private sector organizations to play the role of promoters of their country as a touristic
destination. Because ICTs have transformed the touristic sector globally and offered a variety of
new opportunities for its development during the last ten years, governments also rely on
particular businesses in enhancing their tourism sectors through the employment of innovative
technological tools in order to persist in the global competitive arena.
Numerous countries seek strategic and operational hardware, software, and networking
technological benefit tools for the development of their touristic sectors. For example,
understanding the economic gains that could result from their touristic sector through ICTs, the
Chinese government increased the portion of its budget dedicated to private touristic businesses
that develop and promote China as a touristic destination.
My emphasis on the Internet as the most important ICT is due to the fact that the Internet is the
fastest growing communication medium of all eras. As an illustration, currently, there are 1.8
billion Internet users all over the world. Internet use in the tourism sector chiefly concerns the
promoting of touristic destinations by providing prospective tourists with information about
products, such as comparisons of products prices and recommendations of institutions and
businesses.
The Internet allows the processing and comparison of information related to the following
industries that are part of the tourism industry: (1) the hospitality industry, (2) the transportation
industry, and (3) the mobile systems industry, which principally concerns distinctive mobile
applications that are found in the following areas: hotels, restaurants, airlines, weather and traffic
conditions, transportation, city guides/monuments guides, currency conversion, and translation.
Next, I will discuss the most essential web strategies that are used in the tourism sector and the
following value strategies. First, the value extraction strategy allows the process of client
outsourcing and automation, such as in the case of self-check-in of tourists in hotels or airports.
Moreover, this strategy reduces the costs of products and increases the efficiency of processes.
Second, the value capture strategy is a strategy about data mining for information prediction and
production management.
To be more explicit, through this strategy, clients contribute to marketing goals through
providing feedback and ratings. Third, the value addition strategy encompasses a direct

combination of services and products in order to create richer and more diverse product
packages/bundles. Fourth and last, the value creation strategy mainly allows tourists to
participate in destination planning and package/service definition.
The wide range of tourism and travel websites that have been created in developing countries
illustrate the significance of ICTs in the tourism industry. This demonstrates the development of
e-tourism in all parts of the world, since developed countries are not the only ones using ICTs in
order to expand their tourism industries. It is true that tourism and ICTs have been linked for
more than 30 years, but its during the last decade that the Internet has emerged as the fastest
growing media and communication medium and has played a boosting role in the tourism
industry.
Malaysia, a developing country, makes billions of dollars from tourism. Malaysia ranked 10 th in a
list of worldwide touristic destinations in 2011 with 24.7 million international tourist arrivals and
an increase of 0.6 % from 2010 to 2011. Malaysia then received 25 million international tourist
arrivals in 2012 with an increase of 1.3% from 2011 to 2012. This trend demonstrates a great
achievement in the growth of a tourism industry, particularly for a developing country.
So whats the secret of the Malaysian tourism industrys success, and why havent other
developing countries achieved similar success? It is worth conceding that it is not only due to
Malaysian natural attractions and the PETRONAS Twin Towers that Malaysia has achieved this
success. Instead, it is because of their increasing use of ICTs and improvement/development of etourism and e-commerce that Malaysia was able to expand its tourism industry, through the
creation of a precise and complete information system that responds to and fits to the needs and
desires of prospective tourists.
The Malaysian information system facilitates the procurement of visas and the acquisition of
travel tickets, transportation, hotel bookings, and information about climate conditions. In
addition, the vast majority of international tourists who visited Malaysia affirm that they were
satisfied with the Malaysian system of information since it helped them to stay in close
connection with the Malaysian facilities as well as with tourist attractions.
Another interesting case of a country with a growing tourism industry is that of Australia.
Tourism plays a very important role in Australia; tourism-related jobs account for nearly 85,000
jobs, 7% of the employment in the country. Moreover, the Internet has played a major role in key
markets related to tourism. Using an effective information and management system, Australia
developed high-level, sophisticated features such as online flight booking, secured credit card
payments, and booking housings for travel reservations. For instance, Australian websites offered
real time camera services and facilities, live shopping centers, free downloads of virtual
presentations of touristic sites and monuments, live advertisement of products and touristic
businesses and activities, and live weather predictions.
Since tourism is a very important economic driver of the Australian economy, the government
and also independent businesses developed websites that present very important touristic
destinations such as the Outback and its main attraction Uluru. These websites provide
comprehensive and consistent marketing efforts that allow prospective visitors to look for
destinations before their arrival to certain tourist locations.

Australian websites also allow visitors to rate and leave comments about the places they have
visited. Used as a source of information by many prospective tourists who are looking up
information such as ratings and comments before making reservations and bookings, these
websites allow real-time interaction for the websites visitors, and this feature contributes to
increased transparency and the overall satisfaction of tourists.
In addition, web and social media help websites become more interactive, and Australia was one
of the first countries to move from exclusively providing information on websites to enabling
websites visitors and social media visitors to participate and interact with the information
provided, and this has played an important role in encouraging tourists to return to Australia
following their first visits. Australian websites also provide navigational assistance through the
Internet through a wide range of communication tools such as maps, photographs, and videos.
Australian websites and social media pages are continuously updated in different languages in
order to attract the maximum number of visitors from different countries, cultural backgrounds,
and educational backgrounds. There are also Australian tourism websites for the deaf, with a
number of illustrations and videos showing people using sign language to describe monuments,
natural sites, and other tourist attractions.
In line with the World Tourism Organization, the Islamic Republic of Iran is amongst the top five
nations with natural and historical properties and resources dedicated to tourism industry
purposes. However, Iran hasnt done very well in promoting and presenting its touristic resources
and monuments through the use of ICTs and especially Internet tools. As a result, the Islamic
Republic receives 2 million foreign tourists each year while approximately 900 million
international tourists travel each year. Iran is a country far from advancing e-tourism because its
governmental and non-governmental profit-based organizations dont give much attention to the
power of ICTs. The Internet specifically, which allows the growth of tourism industries, hasnt
been developed in Iran, and this has resulted in the unsatisfactory number of visitors to the
country.
Moreover, if Iran had developed its Internet based information system(s) which could have been
applicable and beneficial for the facilitation of communication amongst suppliers of touristic
products, intermediaries, and visitors (consumers), the country would have brought in a great
number of tourists since the beginning of the last decade. According to the WTO, in the near
future, nations that havent developed their ICT systems and infrastructure wont be allowed or
able to continue developing their touristic sectors and therefore wont be able to keep up with the
speed of growth of the touristic sectors in other countries: ones that are equipped with very
developed ICT infrastructures.
As an emerging country in different industries in the MENA region, Morocco is expanding its
web based commerce and e-tourism for the purpose of facilitating the movement and flow of
services among sellers of products (either non-touristic or touristic). There is a project entitled
A Generic Marketplace Platform: Application to e-tourism that would allow Morocco to reach
its growth and development goals. This ambitious project is essentially about developing a webbased platform that would allow the gathering of shared touristic information.
However, according to Lahrach Zakaria, a journalist for a Moroccan online newspaper website
called La Vie Eco, only 30% of hotels in Morocco are ranked on the Internet and have their own

websites. Moreover, Lahrach clearly states that e-tourism only represents a small part of the 12%
of shared electronic transactions in Morocco with a direct online sale penetration rate of 75% in
the flight transportation sector. It is clear that e-tourism in Morocco is only developed when it
comes to the flight transportation sector, but even in this sector, 25% of bookings are still done
with the use of physical travel agencies.
Nevertheless, Morocco promises a strategy mostly based on e-tourism for its 2020 vision of
tourism, one that primarily relies on signing more partnerships with European countries and IT
corporations, which will provide Morocco with information system platforms such as the ones
used in developed countries. There will also be an organization established that will be
responsible for e-tourism in Morocco, and especially its implementation in growing areas of
touristic development.
Importance of Information Technology in Finance

Information technology focuses on the development of electronic networks that exchange

information. Because all financial transactions involve the exchange of information, the
increasing popularity of online finance coincided with advances in information technology.
According to Professor Jane K. Winn of the University of Washington School of Law, "Financial
institutions were at the forefront in creating the global information economy as it exists today."
Finance today relies on information technology.
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History

In the 1960s, the New York Stock Exchange shortened its trading days because the volume of
trades was too high to process manually. The development of information technologies such as
computers and local networks in the 1970s brought fast and affordable information access to the

finance industry. Increasingly affordable computers encouraged the development of numerous

small financial firms that handled electronic data processing. At the same time, the speed and
reliability of information technology supported the creation of nationwide financial services,
including electronic check and credit card processing.
The Internet

The open, public nature of the Internet threatens the closed information
networks developed by the financial industry in the late 20th century. As a
result of this conflict, banks are at the forefront of both information sharing
and information security technology. Online commercial transactions began
in 1995, and by 1998 the Internet was processing more than $50 billion
worth of transactions. In the 21st century, the annual worth of Internet
transactions is higher and requires more networks, more computers and
more security programs. Financial institutions cannot compete without a
broad but secure information network, so information technology is essential
to their success.
Global Financing

Information technology allows finance to function on a global level. "Financial markets can be
thought of as the first organized, global information markets operating through networked
computers," Winn says. Without information technology, financial markets couldn't react to
global developments and finance companies couldn't consistently acquire information at the
same time as their competitors. For example, the Internet allows continuous access to credit
scores and credit ratings to all lenders, insurance companies and businesses that need financially
responsible customers.
Social Media

The information technology that runs social media on the Internet provides financial institutions
with valuable information on their customers. By encouraging online communities associated
with their products, finance companies not only acquire information but also encourage brand
loyalty. For example, websites such as TradeKing allow online stock traders to discuss their
picks and advise newcomers. Socially driven information technology allows finance companies
to contact the younger demographics that will be their future customers.

ICT for Health

Information and communications technologies (ICTs) can play a critical role in improving health
care for individuals and communities. By providing new and more efficient ways of accessing,
communicating, and storing information, ICTs can help bridge the information divides that have
emerged in the health sector in developing countriesbetween health professionals and the
communities they serve and between the producers of health research and the practitioners who
need it. Through the development of databases and other applications, ICTs also provide the
capacity to improve health system efficiencies and prevent medical errors.
A physician in a remote rural hospital is initially unable to diagnose a patient with a
complex array of symptoms. However, using his MEDLINE search training and the

hospitals Internet connection, he is able to diagnose and successfully treat the patient
for a tropical disease the patient picked up while traveling abroad.
Another physician looks at her hospitals prescription trends using the newly created
electronic health record system and finds that other physicians are not using the postsurgical antibiotic that is shown to be most effective according to the current
international guidelines. She speaks to the administration about advocating a switch in
antibiotics that will improve patient recovery outcomes and thereby save the hospital
money.
A neonatologist, who transmits CT-scans and other medical images by e-mail to his
network of personal contacts around the world to help in diagnosing and treating
premature newborns, estimates that teleconsultations have helped him to save
numerous lives during the past year.
A young woman, too embarrassed to ask her physician about reproductive health issues
and the risks of sexually transmitted infections, anonymously contacts physicians at a
womans health clinic, where theyve set up e-mail accounts for staff in order to
support these types of physician-patient interactions
Each of these examples demonstrates how information and communications technologies (ICTs)
can play a critical role in improving health care for individuals and communities. By providing
new and more efficient ways of accessing, communicating, and storing information, ICTs can
help bridge the information divides that have emerged in the health sector in developing
countriesbetween health professionals and the communities they serve and between the
producers of health research and the practitioners who need it. Through the development of
databases and other applications, ICTs also provide the capacity to improve health system
efficiencies and prevent medical errors.
ICT for health (or e-health) programs are often considered to be expensive, time-consuming,
risky, and otherwise distracting from the primary focus and intent of health sector programs.
In some cases these criticisms may be valid. There are, however, a wide range of low-cost and
sustainable ICT for health program components that can augment capacity and improve the
overall effectiveness of health development programs. These are the types of programs that
Health Connect International is specialized to help deliver.