Database Questions – PG 150

1. What are the main components of a database?

The main components of database are:

• Tables
• Columns
• Rows
• Keys
• Fields
• Records

2. What is the difference between a record and a field?

Record: contains all the data about that item

Field: describes a single aspect of member of a table. All records have exactly the same structure and then they contain the same fields.

3. What are primary keys? What are they used for?

A Primary key is a field that uniquely identifies a record in a table. They are used to not confuse certain information about certain subjects

4. Draw up a table which could be used for data about students who borrow books from a library. Identify and label a record, a field and the primary key.

 

5. Why would we not put the students’ data in the same file as the books?

If the student’s data was put in the same file as the books the data would be conflicting and it would be confusing for both the database, the library and the borrowers.

6. If data is repeated unnecessarily in a table, it is called a redundant. Why do you think that databases should be designed to minimise data redundancy?

Databases should be designed to minimise data redundancy to avoid confusion and unimportant data usage

Database Questions – PG 148

1. What is a Database?

A database is a collection of data which has been collected, arranged and stored. There are databases on the computer.

2. What is the most important function of a database?

The most important function of a database is that it organises the data that is in the database into the appropriate areas.

3. What are the advantages of using a database?

The advantages of a database are:

• All the information can be put together
• Easy to input data and display it
• Easy to retrieve information
• Data security
• Less space is taken up compared to hard-copy information
• Faster and efficient compared to hard-copy information

4. The table below contains data about some books in a library. What other data might be included in a library’s database about its books?

BookID	Author	Title	Publisher
222334	Grisham	The Brethren	Arrow
232145	Rowling	Harry Potter	Bloomsbury
218934	Moon	Discover Australia	Random House

The other data that might be included in the library database is the date the book was published, the date the book was printed.

5. What items of data would be relevant for a database in a supermarket?

In a Supermarket database the data that would be relevant include:

• The product name
• The company that produced the product
• Product number (Barcode number)
• Date the product was produced
• Date the product expires
• Aisle it is in
• Type of product it is (food, object, drink)

6. You would expect a video hire shop to have a computerized database. What is the advantage of this from the owner’s viewpoint? How would it benefit the customer?

Having a computerized database the owner can benefit in many ways. These include:

• Quicker storage of the data
• Quicker output of data
• Data is efficiently stored and easier accessed
• Information about hiring of movies is easily input and output

For the consumer the benefits include:

• Faster hire of videos due to the quickness of the database
• Information about you is secure and safe
• Information about the video you gired is safe and secure

7. How would you find out about available flights to Europe for the next school holidays?

I would go to the Internet and enter a holiday website to get information about taking a holiday form their database

Task #5 Virtual Reality

First off, Virtual Reality or VR is a technology in which the user can interact with a computer simulated environment. Many people confuse Virtual Reality with Simulators for they are not that different in many ways. Virtual Reality often relies on Simulators for it to function.

This is VR Lab: http://vrlab.epfl.ch/

VR Lab was founded in 1988 by Professor Daniel Thalmann. It is usually involved in the modelling and animating of 3D models and worlds. At VR Lab they:

• model body and face surfaces
• implement AI laws and physics into their motion
• augment reality
• create virtual crowds
• establish Virtual Reality

Task #4 Simulations

1) Why is Simulation used/necessary?

Simulation is the imitation of something real, a process or an event. Simulation are usually used to determine the future outcomes of a certain event if something occurs. Simulations just mimic events that could occur in real life without the obvious catastrophes and bad events that may occur. For example a Flight Simulator simulates airplane flights and it avoids having to waste time and money on flying a real airplane. The obvious crashes and malfunctions are avoided in flight simulators.

2) What hardware is needed for the Simulation?

Depending on the quality of the flight simulator and the technology it can harness impacts on the hardware needed for the Simulator. The usual hardware includes: (information based on flight simulator X for Microsoft)

• 1.0 GHz
• 256 MB RAM (for Windows XP SP2) or 512 (for Windows Vista)
• 14 GB Hard-drive space or 15 GB (for Deluxe version)
• DVD Drive
• 32 MD DirectX 9.0c compatible video card

3) What software is needed for the Simulation?

Again various simulators need different software for it to function. Some of the software needed for Flight simulators include:

• Controls (joysticks and instruments)
• Buttons
• If possible, Simpits (simulator cockpits)

4) Where do you think this type of simulation might fo in the future?

Personally, I believe with the evergrowing advancements and inhancements with the world of technology people young and old and use simulations to their own advantage. Whether it be leisure or education simulation has been helping and will continue to add knowledge to the people who use simulation. Simulation will go a long way in the future helping the world greatly both knowledge wise and money wise

Definitions

http://www.scribd.com/doc/5706361/Definition-Sheet?autodown=doc

Task #3 Forward and Backward Chaining

Forward Chaining

One of the two main methods of reasoning with AI. It starts with the available data and uses inference rules to extract more data until a goal is reached. Here is an example of forward chaining to try and find the colour of an animal:

1. If X has feathers and flies – Then X is a bird
2. If X furry and lives in artic - Then X is a polar bear
3. If X is a bird – Then X is brown
4. If X is a polar bear - Then X is white

Backward Chaining

One of the two main methods of reasoning with AI. Starts with a list of goals (hypothesis) and works backwards from to find the solution and if the hypothesis is supported. For example:

x+5=7

x=2

=D

Task #2 The Turing Test

1) What is the Turing Test?

Created by Alan Turing, the Turing test is the proposal of a test of a machine ability to show intelligence. The machine is given questions and these questions determine whether the machine is capable of intelligence and being deemed as AI. The human and machine must make communication and is the human is not satisfied that he is talking to a machine or not, the machine has passed the Turing Test.

2) Is the Turing Test a valid test of Intelligence?

For a machine to pass the Turing test it must use natural language, have reason, show knowledge, to learn and of course have common sense. Sure this test shows if the machine has intelligence but it only imitates a human being. A machine may be very intelligent but it will never act like a human.

Yes, I do think the test can show the amount of Intelligence a machine may have but I am more concerned on how the machine implements it.

3) Find a ChatBot on the Internet and have a conversation, screen dump the conversation and add it to your blog.

1. How old are you?

2. Where are you from?

3. What gender are you?

4. Are you smarter than me?

5. Are you selfish?

4. Evaulate the ChatBot based on it’s responses to your questions. Does it pass the Turing Test?

From what I’ve seen I think the Chatbot just added answers to my question. It was a lot like question and answer and the Chatbot showed little intelligence. I think the ChatBot barely passed the Turing Test.