Task Completion For Modern Computing Architecture, Operating Systems, Networks, And Data Mining

The text discusses the elements of modern computing architecture however is largely silent on the individuals who played a role in its development.  Find and summarise a resource that describes ONE such individual.  The individual should have had a significant influence on the development of computers and/or components of modern computing architecture.

Ahmad, W.A.Z.W., Mukhtar, M. and Yahya, Y., 2017, April. Exploring Elements and Factors in Social Content Management for ICT Service Innovation. In International Conference of Reliable Information and Communication Technology (pp. 851-859). Springer, Cham

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-59427-9_88

Summary:
The resource emphasizes on the contributions of John von Neumann to the development of modern computing architecture concepts. The development of modern computing dimensions could be observed in the case of John von Neumann’s computing design was observed in the storage of instructions and data in a singular media. The resource provides an explanation of the impact that John von Neumann’s models have had on the development of modern computing architecture and underlying components. Neumann’s contributions can be apprehended from the implications of his model towards the inclusion of a control unit, input and output, memory, arithmetic logic unit and an interlink between the different parts involved in the model.

The model presented by Neumann also reflected on the sequential nature of operations of modern computer which is initiated with the fetching of instruction from memory at the address referred to in the program counter. The resource also emphasizes on the next step involving the addition of the length of the instruction to the program counter followed by processing in which the instruction is decoded through the control unit. The contribution of Neumann’s architecture to the development of modern computing architecture frameworks has been overshadowed due to the lack of a pure von Neumann architecture in present computing architectures. However, the limitations of the von Neumann architecture observed in the form of excessive time consumption due to the linear sequence of data processing could be addressed through performing parallel processing or introduction of distinct buses in the architecture for instructions and data independently. It is imperative to observe from the resource that all modern computers and PCs follow the Neumann architecture only with the variations in initial architecture.  

Week 2

The text discusses the components and activities of operating systems however is largely silent on the individuals who played a role in their development.  Find and summarise a resource that describes ONEsuch individual.  The individual should have had a significant influence on the writing or development of operating systems.

Bhattacharya, K., 2015. From Giant Robots to Mobile Money Platforms: The Rise of ICT Services in Developing Countries. IEEE Internet Computing, 19(5), pp.82-85

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/7230220/

Summary:
The resource describes references to Linus Torvalds, the individual responsible for design of Linux kernel that is accountable as a major component of the Linux operating system. The prominent inclination of Torvalds towards computer programming was noted in his initial days and the primary reason for which he engaged in development of a new operating system was his dissatisfaction with the operating system of his computer which used MS DOS. Therefore he was more inclined towards the use of UNIX operating system which led him to reach on the idea of creating a personal computer based version of UNIX since the operating system was utilized only on university computers. The efforts of Linus in months of programming led to the development of Linux operating system which he posted on the internet for free downloading alongside releasing the source code. The initiative of Linus was reflective of the opportunities that could be accessed by computer programmers for modifying the operating system according to specific purposes. The open access to source code was also responsible for assisting Linus in refining the software leading to the launch of the Linux kernel version 1.0 in 1994. The resource also emphasizes on the factor that Linux operating system was not easy thereby acquired less popularity which can be contradicted on the grounds of its capability to provide a failsafe environment. Subsequently, the operating system went on to compete with Microsoft with the promising support extended by companies such as Corel Corp., Intel Corp. and Oracle Corp.  

Week 3

The Internet didn’t just appear – it was an evolution from earlier networks. Find and summarise a resource that describes ONEof the networks that led to the development of the modern Internet.  

Byrne, D.M. and Corrado, C.A., 2017. ICT Prices and ICT Services: What do they tell us about Productivity and Technology?.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2920451

Summary:

The resource emphasizes on the history of TCP/IP protocols which could be assumed as one the networks preceding the development internet as we know it today. The effectiveness of the key protocols implemented in context of developing the internet network could be observed in their capability for defining the core operations associated with the suite. The definition of the internet protocol (IP) suggests the characteristic primary OSI network layer protocol which is utilized for functions such as datagram routing, addressing and the other significant tasks involved in an internetwork. The transmission control protocol (TCP) is characterized as a primary transport layer protocol that assists in the functions for establishing connection and managing the transport of data between devices and software processes. The resource also emphasizes on the comprehensive nature of TCP/IP networks that can be apprehended from the four layer architecture observed as a rough analogy to the OSI Reference Model. The development of modern internet framework has a formidable history of association with TCP/IP networks since they were utilized as sources for implementation mechanisms for internet. The development of these protocols could be largely attributed to the efforts of United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as a part of a research network. The resource also emphasizes the efforts invested in development of the basic network ARPAnet into a wider application with limitations observed in context of the aspects of capacity. The developers involved with the new network were able to apprehend the flaws that could lead to problems with the use of TCP/IP networks due to the scaling of the operations of ARPAnet to a larger size alongside encompassing the prospects for novel uses and application.   

Week 4

Ethernet is an example of a Layer Two (L2) data link protocol that is discussed in the text.  Find and summarise a resource that describes the features and uses of ONE other L2 protocol that is not discussed in the text (i.e. NOT Ethernet).

Colombo, M.G., Croce, A. and Grilli, L., 2013. ICT services and small businesses’ productivity gains: An analysis of the adoption of broadband Internet technology. Information Economics and Policy, 25(3), pp.171-189.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167624512000492

Summary:
The resource explains the example of a layer two data link protocol other than the Ethernet i.e. Frame Relay and the significant aspects related to it such as its operations, effectiveness and challenges encountered with its usage. The definition of a frame relay is identified as a data link layer protocol that facilitates digital packet switching. The primary functions of Frame Relay are observed in the connection of networks and transfer of data across networks such as Local Area Networks (LAN) and Wide Area Networks (WAN). The working of frame relay comprises of the use of special purpose hardware such as bridges, switches and frame routers that are helpful in packaging of information into individual frame relay communications. The applications of frame relays are also indicative of the feature of multiplexing traffic from multiple connections across a shared physical link. Another promising feature of frame relay identified in the resource is the 10 bit Data Link Connection Identifier (DLCI) which helps the system for unique channel addressing. The offloading of error correction to other components of the network reduces network latency and the support provided by frame relay for variable length packet sizes enables the productive utilization of network bandwidth. Some of the other significant features that could be observed in context of the performance of frame relay refer to the support for data rates complying with the standard T1 and T3 lines as well as supporting fiber connections of speeds up to 2.4 GBps. The challenges presented for frame relay are observed in the dramatic increase in adoption of internet protocol based solutions and competition from Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) that is used for enabling virtual private networks (VPN).

Week 5

The text mentions the role of hackers in attacks on networked infrastructure.  Find and summarise a resource that describes ONE famous or well-known hacker.

Giraldo, D., Herrera, A., Sánchez, M. and Villalobos, J., 2017. Analysis of ICT services by observing “fit for use” attributes.

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f60e/7dbf79dead5cb34fc62acb82abaeba4ab886.pdf

Summary:

The resource describes the case of Kevin David Mitnick, one of the renowned hackers in the world. The most renowned highlight that can be inferred from the resource is the conviction of Kevin in various communications and computer related crimes in the later part of the 20^th century. The resource provides legible insights into the initial life of Kevin Mitnick such as his upbringing in Los Angeles and educational progress through James Monroe High School, Los Angeles Pierce College and USC. Kevin was also employed as a receptionist for Stephen S. Wise Temple for a brief duration. Presently, Kevin operate a computer security consultancy firm known as Mitnick Security Consulting, LLC that provides testing services for an organization to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses in context of security. The arrest of Kevin was one of widely touted arrests of the decade with the declaration of Kevin as the most notorious hacker involved in federal offenses such as hacking activities for a prolonged period of two and half years. The admission of offense by Kevin depicted his involvement in two counts of computer fraud, four counts of wire fraud and a single instance of illegal interception of wire communication. Kevin was also convicted on the grounds of violating terms of supervised release through his move to hack the voicemail of PacBell and other systems as well as on the basis of association with other hackers.   

Week 6

Society is increasingly reliant on networks and network technologies but they are evolving at a rapid pace.  Find and summarise a resource that describes ONE example of a future networking technology or trend that will impact society.

Heeks, R., Subramanian, L. and Jones, C., 2015. Understanding e-waste management in developing countries: Strategies, determinants, and policy implications in the Indian ICT sector. Information Technology for Development, 21(4), pp.653-667.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02681102.2014.886547

Summary:

The resource illustrates the inefficiency of frameworks for management of Internet protocol networks. Therefore the necessity for resolving the issues through reforms in design can be addressed through emphasizing on the specific dimensions of network control and management in context of the three guiding principles. The guiding principles involve references to direct control, network level objectives and network wide views. The network level objective allow the operation of a robust data network that relies on the accomplishment of objectives such as describing reliability, performance and policy as goals for the entire network observed distinctly from the low level network elements. The aspects of direct control could be anticipated from the decision logic that could facilitate a direct interface for configuration of network elements. The network wide views rely on the assumption that network views of topology are considered as major precedents for operation of a formidable network. The 4D architecture is based on four distinct aspects such as decision, dissemination, data and discovery. The distinct planes involved in the architecture presented formidable references to decision plane which referred to network level objectives. The decision plane is accountable for creating a network configuration. The dissemination plane is accountable for collecting information regarding the network state in context of the decision plane. The dissemination plane also performs the function of distributing output to routers. The discovery plane in the 4D architecture is responsible for enabling the devices for recognition of the directly connected neighbours. The resource also emphasized on the final stage of the architecture i.e. the data plane which is responsible for forwarding network traffic.   

Week 7

The text mentions social business and the impact of the use of social networking platforms.  Find and summarise a resource that describes the history of the development of ONE such social media platform.

Kaczorowska, A., Motyka, S. and Zielinski, J., 2015. Management of projects realization process in enterprises of ICT sector. Applied Mechanics and Materials, 791, p.81

https://search.proquest.com/openview/afa5c2dfd51cdc47f3483027df77580a/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=2029177

Summary:

The resource emphasized on the history of Facebook which is one of the prominently accepted social media platforms across the world. The foundation of Facebook was realized by Mark Zuckerberg during his period of study at Harvard University where he was engaged in psychology studies. The resource described the inclinations of Mark Zuckerberg to develop various social networking websites for fellow students among which Coursematch was a promising example. The social media giant Facebook was initiated in February 2004 with the name of ‘the Facebook’ which profiled students and staff. It was observed that within 24 hours of its launch the website had almost 1200 users that had signed up and the success was further observed in the profiles of almost half of the undergraduate students in the university. The expansion of the network was made possible through reaching out to institutes such as Ivy league, Boston Universities and almost all US universities. The subsequent stages of development of the Facebook became profound in September 2006 by which the network was extended to users with authentic email addresses. The source of revenue of the website was primarily derived from advertising investments. The history of development of Facebook also suggested prominent references to the consistent development in website features. The resource also emphasizes on the specific legal implications that were observed in the history of Facebook’s development included the litigations raised by brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra regarding plagiarism of their website ConnectU.    

Week 8

With the advent of mass data collection and storage has come data mining. Find and summarise a resource that describes ONE example where data mining has been used successfully by a business.  You should not use any examples covered in the textbook.

Mihovska, A., Kyriazakos, S.A. and Prasad, R., 2014, October. eWALL for active long living: Assistive ICT services for chronically ill and elderly citizens. In Systems, Man and Cybernetics (SMC), 2014 IEEE International Conference on (pp. 2204-2209). IEEE

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/6974251/

Summary:

The resource describes the distinct opportunities for data and the process of data mining adoption along with prominent references to the case study of applying data mining in the ecommerce aspects of Wal-Mart. The improvement in business infrastructure has led to the improvement in system competences for data collection and the distinct aspects pertaining to consumer behaviour, performance of marketing campaigns, workflow procedures and supply chain management. The wide assortment of opportunities in context of data mining could be leveraged to accomplish strategic advantage by retail sector businesses. The development of computer algorithms have reformed the conventional approaches to evaluation of data by inducing facilities for effective connection of data sets that could promote a deeper and broader analysis. The definition of data mining refers to the extraction of business critical information from a colossal volume of information accessed from market research reports and other data collection methods. The applications of data mining in case of Wal-Mart are largely observed in the specific contexts of marketing and supply chain management. The use of data mining enables Wal-Mart to ensure the implementation of a comprehensive customer relationship management that allows the organization to review customer behaviour so that expected customer value can be maximized effectively. The resource also describes the feasible implementation of data mining in the case of Wal-Mart especially in terms of collection of almost 2.5 petabytes of information from almost 1 million customers every hour which is further supported by the implementation of data analytics to acquire the objectives of operational efficiency and marketing campaigns.   

Week 9

One of the greatest success stories in application development in recent times has been the popularity of mobile apps.  Find and summarise a resource that describes the story of ONE successful mobile app developer.

Mourshed, M., Robert, S., Ranalli, A., Messervey, T., Reforgiato, D., Contreau, R., Becue, A., Quinn, K., Rezgui, Y. and Lennard, Z., 2015. Smart grid futures: Perspectives on the integration of energy and ICT services. Energy Procedia, 75, pp.1132-1137.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876610215012990

Summary:

The development story of Instagram is accounted in the research with the references to its definitions and the story following its developers. The mobile app Instagram provides users with the opportunities to share uploaded content through imagery and video content. The applications of Instagram enable users to share real time experiences. The story of its developers Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger is accounted as one of the prominent highlights of the resource. The concept of developing Instagram was to combine the functionalities of telegram and instant camera. The initial version of the app was intended to be functional only in the iOS operating systems which could be accessed free of cost. The origins of the development of Instagram could be identified in the impromptu decision of the developers to direct a HTML5 check-in project towards mobile photography. The success of the app was noted in the one million monthly users at the initial stages which gradually progressed further towards 10 million users in September in the same year. The gradually growth of Instagram was observed in the user base which crossed almost 150 million monthly years as of 2013. The resource also emphasized clearly on the implications of new features included in the mobile app thereby making it a successful exemplary of mobile app development. The acquisition of Instagram by Facebook for $1 billion could also be accounted as a major highlight that validates the favourable prospects derived from story of Instagram developers, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger.  

Week 10

While information systems and technology deliver many benefits to society, they can also result in (sometimes inadvertent) negative effects and outcomes.  Find and summarise a resource that describes ONE example of where the use of an information system or technology has led to negative consequences for humans.

Prause, G. and Hunke, K., 2014. Secure and sustainable supply chain management: integrated ICT-systems for green transport corridors. Journal of Security and Sustainability Issues, 3(4), pp.5-16

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gunnar_Prause/publication/282180651_Secure_and_sustainable_supply_chain_management_Integrated_ICT-systems_for_green_transport_corridors/links/56a2ab1d08ae232fb201ca04/Secure-and-sustainable-supply-chain-management-Integrated-ICT-systems-for-green-transport-corridors.pdf

Summary:
The resource describes three distinct cases of negative consequences arising from the use of information systems. However, the specific case to be considered in context of this report is the information system failure of Hilton hotels. The organization implemented a system for customers and was characterized with provisions of confirming reservations in car rentals and hotel bookings. However, the project failed because of the inability of the organization to address the weaknesses of the system that can be summarized as follows. Operations management in a transaction processing system could be accounted as a major disadvantage leading to the failure of the information system. The negative consequences that could be observed in this context are identified in the form of concurrent bookings as well as failed transactions and issues with refunding for customers. The information system was not developed effectively to manage the colossal volumes of business and consumer data which lead to the implications for frequent security breaches. The impact of hardware malfunctions was also responsible for creating pitfalls in the security of information which can be accounted as a key reason for its failure. The requirement for Hilton Hotel to address the integration of information system in alignment with other departments such as accounting and inventory management was also not addressed effectively thereby leading to negative consequences for the users.