The Basics of How Computers Work

The Basics of How Computers Work A Computer is an electronic device used for making simple and complex calculations, analyses, storing, sorting, processing and retrieving of data, plotting graphical designs and sketches as well as many other tasks that is always on the increase. Computers range from the very small to the very large. Some are capable of doing millions of calculations in a single second, while others may take long periods of time to do even the most simple calculations. But theoretically, anything one computer is capable of doing, another computer will also be able to do. Given the right instructions, and sufficient memory, a computer found in a wristwatch should be able to accomplish anything a supercomputer can although it might take thousands of years for the wristwatch to complete the operation. At one time, computers were extremely large, and required enormous amounts of power. This made them useful only for a small amount of tasks computing trajectories for astronomical or military applications, for example, or code breaking. Over time, with technological advances, the computer was scaled down and its energy requirements lowered immensely. This allowed the power of the computer to be harnessed for a staggering array of uses. As prevalent as personal computers are, they do not nearly begin to scratch the surface of computer use in our world. Interactive devices of all sorts contain their own computers. Cellular telephones, GPS units, portable organizers, ATM machines, gas pumps, and millions of other devices all make use of computers to streamline their operations, and to offer features which would be impossible without a computer. List the Four Parts of a Computer System Arithmetic and Logic Unit Central Processing Unit Assemblers Compilers Some however refer hardware components as the main parts of computer system, in that case, these are (a) Computer (CPU) (b) Monitor (VDU) (c) Keyboard (d) Mouse Identify four types of Computer Hardware CPU Monitor Keyboard Mouse 2. Name and describe three types of storage devices Hard Disk It is the Main Storage device in the Computer and holds the Operating System as well as other application software installed by the user. It also hold the user files. As such, it is an inevitable part of the computer system. Compact Disk (CD) It is a removable storage device on which data could be stored for use in the future or to transfer data from one computer to another. It is important for storing software, utilities and hardware drivers. Flash Memory It is a modern substitute to the old floppy disk and is of greater capacity than the floppy disk. List five units of message for computer memory and storage Computers use the following units of storage to store data in memory and storage devices:- Bit Byte Kilobyte Megabyte Gigabyte 3. Differentiate between Hardware and Software Hardware refers to the physically visible and tangible gadgets that make up the computer system. It is the parts that the human user touches and interacts with in order to achieve results. Software on the other hand refers to the set of commands stored in the computers memory and storage devises which propel the hardware to work. Software is the intellect that resides inside the computer system and is represented by the texts, icons and graphics we see on the computers display device (Screen VDU). (a) List four specific types of application software (i) Word processor E.g. Microsoft Word (ii) Spreadsheet e.g. Microsoft Excel (iii) Graphic Software e.g. CorelDraw (iv) Media Player e.g. Win-Amp 4. What is an input and output devices An input devise refers to the hardware components through which the human user of the computer feeds in data or commands into the computer for storage or processing while output devises are the hardware channels through which the computer gives back results to the user. For example, when you type text into MS Word, the keyboard is an input device. The user then uses MS Word to process the text entered through the keyboard and the result could be seen on the Monitor, which is an output device or could be printed out on paper through the printer. Here the monitor and printer are output devices. (a) Give examples of each device Input devices include mouse, Scanner, digital camera, finger print reader, OCR devices, microphone, and joystick. Output devices include Monitor, Speaker, Printer and plotters. 5. What is Internet? The internet is a phenomenal development in the computer world. It refers to a global connectivity of computers across the world that could share information interchangeably across the platform. Technically, the Internet is a system of Publicly accessible computer network connecting many smaller networks from around the world. It grew out of a U.S. Defense Department program called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), established in 1969 with connections between computers at the University of California at Los Angeles, Stanford Research Institute, the University of California-Santa Barbara, and the University of Utah. ARPANETs purpose was to conduct research into computer networking in order to provide a secure and survivable communications system in case of war. As the network quickly expanded, academics and researchers in other fields began to use it as well. In 1971 the first program for sending e-mail over a distributed network was developed; by 1973, the year international connections to ARPANET were made (from Britain and Norway), e-mail represented most of the traffic on ARPANET. The 1970s also saw the development of mailing lists, newsgroups and bulletin-board systems, and the TCP/IP communications protocols, which were adopted as standard protocols for ARPANET in 1982 83, leading to the widespread use of the term Internet. In 1984 the domain name addressing system was introduced. In 1986 the National Science Foundation established the NSFNET, a distributed network of networks capable of handling far greater traffic, and within a year more than 10,000 hosts were connected to the Internet. In 1988 real-time conversation over the network became possible with the development of Internet Relay Chat protocols (see chat). In 1990 ARPANET ceased to exist, leaving behind the NSFNET, and the first commercial dial-up access to the Internet became available. In 1991 the World Wide Web was released to the public (via FTP). The Mosaic browser was released in 1993, and its popularity led to the proliferation of World Wide Web sites and users. In 1995 the NSFNET reverted to the role of a research network, leaving Internet traffic to be routed through network providers rather than NSF supercomputers. That year the Web became the most popular part of the Internet, surpassing the FTP protocols in traffic volume. By 1997 there were more than 10 million hosts on the Internet and more than 1 million registered domain names. Internet access can now be gained via radio signals, cable-television lines, satellites, and fibre-optic connections, though most traffic still uses a part of the public telecommunications (telephone) network. The Internet is widely regarded as a development of vast significance that will affect nearly every aspect of human culture and commerce in ways still only dimly discernible. List five importance of Computer; Data Storage Sorting and analyses of data to get results Ease of information retrieval Accuracy Channel of Communication Write short note on importance of Information technology (IT) towards your field of study (Business Education) Computer can be of immense importance to business education because most of Information technology in real life situation is applied to business and commerce. Modern economic progress is largely attributable to availability and effective use of IT and as a student of Business, Information Technology is of immense significance. Students have to be conversant with both the theoretical and practical aspect of their studies. As a student of business education, being conversant with the practical aspect of my studies and this implies that Information technology should be an important aspect of what must be studied and closely related to. On a different perspective, Information technology is important in the actual dissemination of knowledge in the school system. Business education courses could be equally taught through the use of relevant software and network access to useful resources. This will serve the dual role of making the teaching-learning process efficient and effective on one hand and making students of business education learn a good aspect of real life business situations on the other hand.

Employment law Essay

Task A – Short answer questions Ai – Imagine you are a newly appointed supervisor/manager within your service. You need to update your staff handbook to reflect current employment law. Identify three different sources of information you could use to enable you to do this. 1) Internet 2) Staff 3) Old handbook Once you have identified a reliable source of information Aii a) List three aspects of employment covered by law 1) Work conditions for example saftey 2) Wages (National minimum wage) 3) Holiday entitlements b) List three main features of current employment legislation 1) Equality and Discrimination law 2) Employment Rights 3) Health and safety Aiii – Briefly outline why employment law exists Employment law is there in order to protect employees. To give everyone who works the oppurtunity to protect their rights. For example ensuring that employees are protected from discrimination in the workplace, ensuring that they receive the national minimum wage etc. These employee rights apply regardless of whether the employee or worker is temporary, fixed-term or permanent, or how long they have worked for the employer. Task B – Your work role Bi – Describe the terms and conditions of your employment as set out in your contract of employment or employment agreement. Bii – Describe the information which needs to be shown on your pay slip/statement -Tax Code -Employee’s Name -Nett income -Gross income – National Insurance number – Company Name – Date – Hours and hourly rate – Payment method – Earnings – Any deductions Biii – Identify two changes to personal information which you must report to your employer – Changes in Health for example long term illness, pregnancy etc – Change of personal details such as Address, Number etc – Change of next of kin, for emergencys Biv – Describe the procedure to follow if you wanted to raise a grievance at work. You may describe this in writing or produce a flow chart or diagram If the grievance couldnt be dealt with by a simple informal discussion, then the next person you should go to would be a supervisor or manager. They should then explain how the situation could be dealt with. If you feel that this isnt being dealt with orridingly or in fact the supervisor/manager is the person causing the grievance then the you should going higher up the hirachy, maybe the locality manager? If the grievance couldnt be dealt with by someone within the trust and you feel that it could be more serious then you can always take things higher for example to adult services, CQC or even the police. Once the grievance has happened you need to write a FACTUAL report. Bv – Explain the agreed ways of working with your employer in relation to the following areas. Data protection – Data protection needs to be dea lt with as a serious matter. A few examples of this could be simply having passwords on laptops/ computers, storing documents safely and securly. Conflict management – Conflict in the workplace needs to be dealt with seriously wether it be a petty argument between employees or a conflict of issues  regarding best interest of service users. Your employer should be avaliable at all times to talk to you regarding issues at work these can also be brought up at supervisions, team meetings or even apprasials. Staff are to follow best practice in the workplace, following policies and proceedures and managers are there to help resolve any issues and together they should work together to get the facts together and help resolve any issues or conflict and continue with effective performance. Anti – discriminatory practice – Descrimination is not only against the law but it is also a form of gross misconduct from your job. It is also taking action to prevent discrimination on the grounds of race, ethnic or cultural background. Health and Safety – Although Employers have the legal responsibilities to ensure a safe and healthy workplace. As an employee you also have the responsibilities for your own safety and the safety of your colleagues. If you saw something dangerous within the workplace it would be your responsibility to address the issue or make the employer aware of the issue for it to be addressed. A risk assessments will always need to be filled out despite the seriousness of the issue, to look back on and to help prevent then issue from reacurring in the future. Confidentiality – This is vitally important in this line of work. No information should be passed onto anyone without manager or next of kin consent. Information should only be passed on if its in an emergency involving health, hygiene etc to the relevant personal for example emergency services, dentists etc. Whistleblowing – Whistleblowing is raising concerns about malpractice in an organisation or workplace. It is importnat to work with your employer to raise any concerns which might affect the support your providing. It will then be your employers job to investigate into these concerns raised and speak to the person in question to reso lve the issues or depending on the seriousness contact the relevant people, this could be authorities. Bvi – Explain how your role contributes to the overall delivery of the service provided My role contributes to the delivery of the service provided because it enables service users a life of independancy and pro-actively with the right support. Giving people with life challenges a chance of fufilling a life as normal as possible. Bvii – Explain how you could influence the quality of the service provided by; a) Following best practice within your work role Following policies and proccedures, care plans and attending relevant training for your job will influence the quality of the service because it makes you more knowledgeble and compotant at your job. Giving patients/service users a better quality of care/support at home. b)Not carrying out the requirements of your role By not carrying out the requirements of my role would be dangerous not only for the service users but also for myself and other employees. It would also have a negative impact on the care industry with the lack of support you would be providing. Patients/ services users would not be getting the correct level of care, this is why policies and proceedure are put in place. Bviii – Describe how your own work must be influenced by National factors such as codes of practice, National Occupational standards, Legislation and government initiatives. Bix a) Identify two different representative bodies which influence your area of work Adult services Care Quality commission b) Describe the role of the two representative bodies you have identified. Care Quality commission  Inspectors of care Ensure legal requirements are followed Make sure staff are adquently trained and providing the correct level of care Adult services Ensure that clients/service users get suitable care There to provide financial support where needed They are also a link between the service users and day services Task C – Career Pathway Create a career pathway plan for youself, indicating oppurtunities are open to you as you progress in your chosen career. Indicate what you will need to learn or any qualifications you might need to gain in order to achieve your goals. Identify of information to help you achieve your goals. My career plan would be to continue work at TQ twentyone as a Support worker working full time. Hopefully pick up some more bank shifts in a variety of houses where I can learn more about different disabilities and gain more  exsperience in this field. This would be for maybe another year until I have completed my Level 3 in Health and social care, this will then help me aim to achieve the role of a support coordinator in the near future with TQ Twentyone. or; I have the option then to maybe attend university part time and study something around the similar and still remain in work as bank staff. The courses I would like the oppurtunity to do would be anything from primary teaching (special educational needs) or social work. However for me to achieve this I will need to retake a GCSE maths in night school to help me get onto the course in university. If i choose not to attend university or if I can’t I would like to continue my path as a support coordinator and work hard on making my way up the structure reaching a manager or move onto something I’ve gained from univesity.

Air traffic control Essay

Situation 1: Adapted from WAFBLA â€Å"Everyone Else Does It! † Ethics Project You have been struggling in your Engineering Models class. The content does not come easily, so you have put in countless hours to understand and do the assignments. There is another student who breezes through the assignments, getting high marks for the work he turns in. You know for a fact that he has used his college-aged cousin to do some of the assignments for him. You don’t know how many assignments were turned in this way, but you are certain that he, in fact, did not do all the work. Your frustration increases over the last assignment that you worked overtime on, but did poorly. Of course, this other student scored well on the same assignment. You drop the teacher an anonymous note about the implied cheating on the part of this other student. Questions: 1) What do you believe are the ethical issues related to this situation? Not being prepared to turn in the assignment. Trying to use someone elses work as your own. | 2) Write an argument supporting the actions taken. Be sure to tie your response to one of the ethical frameworks discussed. This is the rights approach as you are telling the teacher that another student is not turning in his actual work. This will make the challenge of the assignment fair for everyone. | 3) Write an argument against the actions taken. Be sure to tie your response to one of the ethical frameworks discussed. You should just let the other student do what he wants to and tell him that he won’t be able to get help when he does the exam. | 4) Were you in this situation, what would your response be? Why? I would also tell the teacher that he is cheating so that it would be fair for everyone who turns in their homework. | Situation 2: Occidental Engineering Author: Michael McFarland, S. J. Wayne Davidson is a software engineer in the aerospace division of Occidental Engineering, a large engineering firm. For the past two years he has been working as a test engineer for Operation Safe Skies, a project to build a prototype of the next generation air traffic control system. This project, which is funded by a contract from the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA), is a very important one for Occidental. With all the cutbacks in defense spending, the aerospace division has been losing business. The Safe Skies project has provided much needed business, and could lead to a much larger contract if successful. Mindful of its strategic importance, the company had bid very aggressively for the original contract. In fact they had â€Å"low-balled† it, bidding less than it would take to do the work properly. They felt that was the only way they could beat out their competitors, who were just as hungry for the work. Because of their somewhat shaky financial position, the company was not willing to take a loss on the project, so the project has been underfunded and understaffed. Nevertheless those working on the project have made a heroic effort, working eighteen hour days seven days a week to meet the deadline, because they know how much it means to the company, not to mention their own jobs. They are now very close to success. A version of the prototype has been completed and turned over to Wayne for testing. He has run extensive simulations on it and found that it works as it should except for one little problem: when there are too many aircraft in the system, it will sometimes lose track of one or more of them. The â€Å"forgotten† aircraft will simply disappear from the screen, there will be no trace of it anywhere, and it will be ignored by all of the collision avoidance and other safety tests. Wayne has been working with the software designers to identify the cause of the problem, and they have traced it to a subtle error in memory allocation and reuse. They are confident that they can fix it, but it will take a month or more to do the redesign, coding and testing. Wayne meets with his boss, Deborah Shepherd, the project manager, to discuss the implications. She tells him that what he is asking for is impossible. The contract requires that the company deliver a fully certified, working version of the software in three days for system integration and test. The government has developed a new, get-tough policy on missed deadlines and cost overruns, and Occidental is afraid that if they miss this deadline, the government will make an example of them. They would be subject to fines and the loss of the remainder of the prototype contract; and they might not be allowed to bid on the contract for the full system. This would have a devastating effect on the aerospace division, resulting in thousands of lost jobs. They consider whether they can do a quick patch to the software before turning it over, but Wayne adamantly refuses to release any code that has not been tested thoroughly. There is always a chance that the patch would interact with some other part of the program to create a new bug. â€Å"Then we’ll have to deliver the software as is,† Deborah says. â€Å"I can’t jeopardize this project or the jobs of my people by missing that deadline. † â€Å"We can’t do that! † exclaims Wayne. â€Å"That’s like delivering a car with defective brakes. † â€Å"Don’t worry,† Deborah reassures him. â€Å"We have contacts in the FAA, so we know their testing plans. They will do a lot of simulations to make sure the software works with the hardware and has all the functionality in the specs. Then they will do live tests, but only at a small airport, with a backup system active at all times. There is no way they will overload the system in any of this. After that they will have some change requests. Even if they don’t, we can give them an updated version of the program. We can slip the bug fix in there. They will never see the problem. Even if they do, we can claim it was a random occurrence that would not necessarily show up in our tests. The important thing is no one is in any danger. † â€Å"Maybe they won’t find the bug, but I know it’s there. I would be lying if I said the system passed all the necessary tests. I can’t do that. Anyway, it would be illegal and unprofessional. † â€Å"You can certify that it is safe, because it is, the way they are going to use it. † And so he does. In the end Wayne signs off on the software. It is delivered to the FAA and makes it through all the preliminary tests, including live tests at a small airport in the Midwest. As a result of these tests, the FAA requests some changes in the user interface, and when Occidental delivers the new software it includes a robust solution to the problem of the disappearing aircraft. No one outside of Deborah’s group ever learns of the problem. In fact Occidental’s success with the prototype leads to major contracts for air traffic control software, giving much-needed business to the aerospace division. This saves hundreds of jobs, and allows the company to add hundreds more. Wayne Davidson, however, takes early retirement once the prototype project is finished, in order to write a book on software testing. He feels that the book should have a chapter on ethics, but he can never bring himself to write it. Questions: 1) What do you believe are the ethical issues related to this situation? Lying about a completed project when it isn’t. | 2) Write an argument supporting the actions taken. Be sure to tie your response to one of the ethical frameworks discussed. There was no productive way to get all of the project done, so they had to give what they had. | 3) Write an argument against the actions taken. Be sure to tie your response to one of the ethical frameworks discussed. It wasn’t a good choice because they didn’t tell the company that the project wasn’t finished and handed them an incomplete project. | 4) Were you in this situation, what would your response be? Why? I would ask for more people to help so we could get the project done on the day its due and assign each person a different part to do. |

Organic Foods vs. Non-Organic Foods - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1070 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2019/10/30 Category Food Essay Level High school Tags: Organic Food Essay Did you like this example? Has there ever been a thought about the difference between organic food and nonorganic food. Of course there has, statements have been made saying organic food is better for the environment than non organic food. The controversy here is the environmental effects between these two types of food and which of the two are better for man to eat. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Organic Foods vs. Non-Organic Foods" essay for you Create order Organic foods are made by conventional farming using natural pesticides while non-organic foods are made by chemicals and human made pesticides. This report will argue why organic foods are better than non-organic foods for the health of mankind. When organic food travels long distances to market it creates pollution that may offset any positive environmental effects of organic farming. However, buying local food, which may or may not be grown organically helps reduce the environmental costs associated with food miles. Organic food is food that has been grown or processed without chemicals. Pesticides may be used on organic food as long as is not synthetic. Organic can change perceptions of tastes calories, and value regardless of whether the food is organic or not. Organic food producers have a special certification based on government defined standards to market food as organic. Organic products can be a greener and healthier option. Remember, no type of food or novelty is a magic solution to your health. Consider whether organic foods are right for the environment. To start off organic foods show a higher concentration of antioxidants and other nutrients than they do in non-organic foods. According to research these antioxidants help to reduce diseases such as Alzheimers and even cancer. It is also proven fact that organic food is grown without pesticides, hormones, and even antibiotics. A major fall back is that organic foods like the vegetables and fruits have a shorter shelf life due to the produce not being made with waxes and preservatives to help keep instock longer. This one down fall has been argued that this causes more of a food waste around the world. One additional fun fact is organic farming has been proven to be more profitable to the country. Organic foods have different nutritional values. Some are more nutritious than their non organic versions. Others have the same value. For example organic fruits and vegetables may have more minerals. This is due to the way in which organic products are grown. Organic snacks ,such as cookies or ice cream, do not contain extra nutrition. Organic foods do not have preservatives. Local producers buy them so it can tend to be fresher. Also do not have any chemicals and artificial flavors so it has more natural flavors. The organic label does not guarantee a better flavor or freshness, but some humans may discover that it taste much better. Taste organic products and dairy products to see if the flavor is better. Organic agriculture is destined to be good for the environment it helps reduce pollution, save water and resources and reduce soil erosion. Organic farmers do not use pesticides that can harm animals and plants. Also provide livestock with more humane living conditions organic foods are often sold at local stores. This reduces the contamination of the shipment through the country. Organic product usually do not last as long as non organic ones this is because it does not have preservatives. Food especially agriculture products can spoil faster. Some humans may have noticed that organic foods are more expensive than non organic foods. This is due to the higher costs of organic agriculture, as well as limit e supplies. As more people use more organic products, prices tend to decrease. This is already happening in the areas of the country where people buy organic products more frequently. Nonorganic food items are usually cheaper than non organic counterpart because farming and growing methods yield more food per acre. Most of the food available in supermarkets is not certified organic and consumers are familiar with these brands. Nonorganic foods are feed by more people and more easier in a productive manner because it can be harmful to our health leading diseases that we face today, obesity,cancer,heart diseases, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Among the advantages of organic foods, we emphasize that are completely natural type of product and free of any type of chemical or toxic product that once, digested, would pass to our organism in the way that were present in the body of the food. When dealing with foods that include artificial processes of any kind of more expensives foods, since it takes longer to produce and production is carried out on a smaller scale with ultimately results in a higher price when reaching the customer final. Organic agriculture has two main objectives. The first is to reduce the negative impact on the environment. The second is to increase sustainability. This means that agriculture practices take care of the land to make sure it is useful for a long time. Meat and organic animals products must come from animals raised in a natural habitat. Farmers must provide them with organic food, clean housing and access to the outdoors. Farmers can use growth hormones or antibiotics. These products are often given to non organic animals. Organic foods typically contain the same amount of the nutrients, vitamins , and minerals as non organic foods. Non organic foods are basically like water and minerals. Organic and conventional foods have the same quality and safety standards. The organic foods differs that conventionally food in a way it is grown ,handled and processed with no scientific evidence that suggest it has more nutrients or safer than conventional foods. Organic refers to the process of how certain foods are produced. Organic foods have been grown or farmed without the use of chemicals and hormones or genetically modified organisms. In order to be labeled organically. A food product must be free of artificial food additives. Some humans buy organic food for the environmental. Organic foods can be healthy. Organic foods are much better for the environment than non organic. Organic foods are just tastes better. For all things being said organic food is better for the environment conventional farming is controversy. Organic foods is the way to go for the environment. For all these reasons it is advisable to take a complete and and varied diet that includes both organic and nonorganic foods to improve the quality of life and prolong it as much as possible.