How Does a Cookie Work - Assignment Example

CMIS 351 Mid-term Examination MCQs Question No Answer 1 d 2 b 3 a 4 a 5 c 6 b 7 a 8 b 9 c 10 c 11 d 12 a 13 b 14 a 15 c 16 c 17 a 18 d 19 a 20 b 21 b 22 d 23 a 24 d 25 d 26 d 27 b 28 c 29 a 30 c 31 c 32 d 33 c 34 d 35 b 36 a 37 c 38 c 39 a 40 b 41 a 42 d 43 c 44 b 45 b 46 c 47 d 48 b 49 c 50 b Q 53 How does a cookie work? What moral dimension is raised by this use of information technology? Explain Ans Most of the online sites use cookies to track the online behavior of surfer. Cookies are primarily text files which are very small in size and which are stored in the computer of the user when she or he visits a website. These text files are utilized by online site to track the online behavior of the user by tracking its visit. These text files first identify the web browser of the software and then track its subsequent visit to the site through the unique identification. Upon return to the site, the site software searches the computer for its cookie and if found, it generates a history of user’s online behavior. Sometimes, the websites also updates the cookies in order to customize the site according to the preference of the users. For example, a user visiting eBay might be shown with a range of fitness equipments if he has searched for such equipment in the past. The sight might also welcome the user by name while recommending fitness equipments. Another example of website which tracks through cookies is DoubleClick. This site develops a repertory of the user by tracking online behavior and purchases. However, the user’s names and addresses cannot be directly obtained from cookies. These can be obtained only if the user has registered himself on the website by giving personal information. Data from cookies and other analysis tools can be used by the online sites to track a visitor. Moreover, this data can be combined with other data collection methods such as offline surveys to build a user’s profile. The cookie text files are embedded on the hard disk of the visitor. When the user returns, tracking ID of the visitor is requested from the cookie and the data stored on the websites’ servers is accessed. In this way, the customized data can be shown to the visitor. All these technology advancements come with some moral implications. The cookies in particular are used by the websites to formulate electronic dossier of the visitors with complete information regarding their purchasing habits and online surfing behavior. This is called profiling. For example, DoubleClick offers its partners detailed information or profile of its visitors so that other websites can target customers with appropriate ad contents. Similarly, credit card purchases by the customers can make it possible for the companies to gain access to private or personal information of the visitors raising privacy concerns. Q 54 Define “Green IT”. Identify three solutions that support Green IT. Ans IT related companies all over the world are giving highest priority to green computing by cutting the power consumption and hardware increase. Green IT which is also known by the name of Green Computing is primarily the practice of manufacturing, designing and disposing of servers, monitors, computers, storage devices, networking devices, printer and related communication equipment in order to reduce the harmful effects on the environment. All these practices and measures are aimed at virtualizing green IT. Millions of dollars are spent by IT industries on procurement of IT related hardware and almost equal to that sum is the cost spent by these firms on procuring cooling equipment for these machines. According to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the IT firms would be using almost 2% of the total power of the country and the same amount of green house gases worldwide. This huge power consumption has placed huge environmental challenge of cutting power in front of IT companies and manufacturers of IT products. One of the ways to contain the power requirements is to use more efficient, low-power consuming state of the art processors. Previously, the processors consumed a lot of power and each processor was usually installed on a single chip. That means that whenever a user required increased power, the solution was to increase the number of processors and thus the number of chips on the motherboard. This meant consumption of more power. However, present day microprocessors are designed to with multiple cores of processors on a single chip. These are called multicore processors which is basically a single IC on which multiple processor cores are embedded to reduce power requirement enhance processing power. Through the use of this technology, multiple processors operate on low power and reduced heat dissipation but increased processing power. Today’s servers have 8-16 core processors with increased processing speed and low power consumption. Another way to enhance Green IT is to use processors for devices which we use on our daily basis e.g smartphones and notebooks. Mobile phone companies and other IT giants have developed such power efficient processor which only use minimal of power to operate the device’s processors. For example A4 processor of iPhone only consumes about one-fiftieth part of power consumed by a laptop processor. A third way to support Green IT is to use Autonomic computing. Due to advancements in technology and demand of IT infrastructure in every field, networking and computer systems have become very complex and hard to manage. This problem can be addressed by Autonomic computing which is basically a system which can configure itself, tune and optimize itself and even heal itself upon confronting a problem. These systems are also able to protect themselves from self destruction or attack from intruders. Q 55. Explain benefits and challenges of using databases in the cloud? Ans. Managing data in a cloud is an issue for the developers. However, Cloud computing services providers have found a way to manage data in the cloud through database management services. Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS) is a cloud database which can be accessed through the cloud via internet by the end recipients. However, these cloud database management services are limited by their functionality as compared to on-premises service providers. Presently, cloud based services are mostly availed by small businesses or startup companies which prefer a much cheaper solution than the contemporary relational DBMS. There are many benefits of cloud databases as compared to traditional ones. These include automatic scaling on the go, quick automated failure recovery, automatic failover, minimal investment, increased accessibility and better performance. Amazon Web Services provides both traditional relational DBMS and non relational and cloud database services to its users called SimpleDB based on the implementation of MySQL online. Similarly, Microsoft SQL Azure Database is also a scalable, highly available and low cost cloud based relational database service which is hosted by Microsoft. On the other hand, cloud based database also comes with a few challenges. These challenges include privacy issues, security issues and inability to access the data by the companies at the time of requirement. In 2011, the customers of Amazon were unable to access data for a period ranging from 5 hours to 11 days. Companies need to figure out how and where the backup of such a data should be stored and the mechanism involved in accessing that data. Q 56. Identify the layers of the reference model of TC/IP and describe how this model works. Ans. Before the introduction of TCP/IP protocol, businesses were often compelled to buy incompatible and proprietary protocols from a particular vendor. However, with the introduction of Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), businesses across the globe a using a standard, common and global protocol. Developed in 1970s by U.S. Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to assists scientists transport data over long distance, this protocol has become a household name among the businesses across the world. Many different types of protocols are used by TCP/IP for transportation of data however the two main protocols are TCP and IP. Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is responsible for the transportation of data between different computers. There are three main functions of TCP; establishing of data connection between the computers, sequencing the transfer of data packages from one computer to another and acknowledging the sending of data packets. Internet Protocol (IP) on the other hand is responsible for delivering the data packets sent by one computer to the other computer. During this delivery, the data packets are disassembled and then reassembled before they are actually transported to the far end computer. TCP/IP uses a four layered reference model which is described below. The Application layer primarily define the application protocols of TCP/IP and the manner in which the host programs would interface with the services of transport layer in order to use the network. Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is just one of the protocols defined by the application layer for the purpose of transferring Web pages. The Transport layer provides session management between the host computers in addition to providing connection status and level of service during data transportation. TCP and different other protocols are used at this layer. The Internet layer packages the data provided by the transport layer into packets called IP datagrams. The datagrams are written with destination and source addresses which are used for transportation of data across the network. This layer is also responsible for routing of IP datagrams across the network. Among others, Internet Protocol (IP) is used at this layer. Network Interface layer lies at the bottom of the reference model and carries out the physical placement and retrieval of data packets from the network. It defines the protocols of how the data will be physically transmitted on various network devices such as optical fiber and coaxial cables. This reference model is used by the computers using TCP/IP protocol to communicate with each other over the network. The data travels through all four layers of the model starting from the application layer till the network interface layer where the data is placed on the network and the recipient’s network interface layer captures it and sends the data all the way to the application layer of the recipient. If the data is received in damaged form by the recipient, the sender’s computer is asked to resend the data. Q57. Define a fault tolerant computer system and high availability computer system. How do they differ? When would each be used? Ans Fault-tolerant computer systems are the ones which contain standby power supply components, hardware and software which it uses to provide uninterrupted operations. These computer systems come with a built in software routines or self check mechanism which is able to accurately detect and diagnose hardware, software or power failures. In case of any such failure, these machines automatically switch to backup sources without disruption of its services. Some of the faulty parts of these computers can be changed or repaired without disruption of services. High availability computer systems on the other hand are such computing devices which have the ability to recover quickly from a system crash. Both the fault tolerance systems and high availability computing systems are used by the firms to reduce downtime of the operations. Downtime is basically the period of time in which the computers are unable to provide operations due to malfunction of software, hardware of power supply components. However, in case of fault tolerant computer systems, the downtime is nearly zero as it has many backup components which takeover the operations in case of failure. But use of high reliability computer systems entails a downtime during which the self diagnostic routine tries to find the problem and heals itself. Firms which utilize heavy e-commerce applications usually go for High-availability computing systems. Moreover, such firms which bank on digital networks for their operaions also rely on high availability computing systems. In fact, such systems have become the minimum requirement of such businesses. However, high availability computing systems require distributed servers for processing, backup and data storage devices of high capacity, business continuity plans and perfect disaster recovery. Additionally, the processing power of the firm must also be scalable along with scalability of bandwidth and storage. CMIS 351 Final Examination MCQs Question No Answer 1 a 2 c 3 b 4 c 5 a 6 c 7 a 8 d 9 d 10 d 11 a 12 d 13 d 14 b 15 d 16 a 17 b 18 d 19 a 20 d 21 d 22 a 23 c 24 a 25 d 26 a 27 a 28 b 29 d 30 c 31 a 32 d 33 c 34 b 35 a 36 e 37 c 38 c 39 a 40 a 41 b 42 d 43 b 44 e 45 b 46 c 47 b 48 a 49 d 50 c Q 52 Identify and briefly describe five foundational e-commerce revenue models. Ans A revenue model of a firm is basically a concept which defines the manner in which the business will generate revenues and earn profit on its investment. Although different types of revenue models have been developed throughout history, mainly companies use one or a combination of different popular models namely; advertising, sales, subscription, free/freemium, transaction fee, and affiliate revenue model. Through advertising revenue model, visitors are shown different types of advertisements while they visit a particular website. Probably, this is the most commonly used revenue model by the businesses today and is a way to generate huge amount of revenues through advertising. All the advertising content e.g. news and videos can be accessed free of charge by the visitors. All the production and distribution charges are borne by the advertisers. In 2010 alone, businesses spent a whopping $230 billion on advertising out of which $23 billion was spent on online advertising. This model has been such a success that most of the businesses have cut the spending on newspaper and radio advertising and shifted this revenue to online advertising. Through sales revenue model, firms earn profit through online sales of various goods, services and information to the visitors. Amamzon is one such example which is using sales revenue model in order to sell music, books and other items of interest to the customers online. Profit is earned by such firms through charging the customers for downloads of e-books, music and popular tunes. Similarly, some companies like Apple have introduced Micropayments methods which charge customers very low fees for large downloads. Through subscription revenue model, businesses charge a subscription fee to its customers who want to access part or all of the data available on the website. The subscriptions can be on daily basis, monthly basis or annual basis. These websites offer such data access to its customers which are either not available elsewhere or is not available in the required format. For example, Netflix is one of the websites which uses sales revenue model. The website has recorded an estimated 500000 subscribers in the first four months of launch in Canada. Similarly, Consumers Reports, Match.com and Ancestry.com are other popular websites who use this model and charge its customers for the information they need through subscriptions. Through free/freemium revenue model, the websites offer free basic services to its customers however, the premium services are charged on one time cost basis. For instance, Google charges for premium services it offers however, it offers its basic services for free. Similarly, Flickr offers free basic photo sharing service for its customers however, its premium package with unlimited storage and video playback services come with a price tag. The theme of this revenue model is to attract customers through basic free services with an effort to convert them into paid subscribers. One drawback of this model is that customers sometimes leave the service when charged for better services. Through transaction fee revenue model, websites charge a nominal fee from their customers for any transaction made. For instance, eBay charges a fee from the sellers for any successful transaction made through the website while selling the item. Similarly, many stock brokerage sites charge transaction fees from their customers on stock transactions. Q 53 What is the difference between neural networks, fuzzy logic and genetic algorithms? Which would be most useful for an organization of astronomers analyzing gamma ray emissions reaching earth? Ans Neural networks are primarily utilized by experts to resolve complicated or inadequately understood problems for which a large amount of data has already been gathered through various research and studies. These networks tend to look for underlying patterns in the large amount of data which is nearly impossible for human beings to analyze. Such hardware and software is used by these networks which imitate the human brain. Neural networks work the smart way. They sift through the data and acquire knowledge about the hidden patterns, through relationship building, model development and correcting their own mistakes in the process. Neural networks are used to diagnose epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease. Moreover, Visa card frauds are detected by use of this technology by detecting sudden change in buying patterns. On the other hand, Fuzzy logic is a technology which defines rules for various complex situations. It primarily describes a phenomenon or a scenario and then formulates simple rules through which that phenomenon occurred. Implied knowledge can be used by businesses or other organizations to develop various software which incorporate fuzzy logic. Usually human beings do not categorize situations or phenomenon in a definitive term. They speak of large or small animal, strong and weak men and hot and cold weather. All of these terms have different values for different people. Fuzzy logic is based on defining rule for such type of situations. Japanese subways accelerate so smoothly that passengers do not feel a jerk while accelerating. These subways use fuzzy logic. Another system which is particularly important is finding best possible solution for a given problem is Genetic algorithms. This system analyzes a huge number of possible solutions of the problem and derives a most favourable one. The fundamental technique behind Genetic Algorithms derived from biological concepts e.g. mutation, crossover and inheritance. These systems reach to an optimal solution of the problem through a iterative process, always refining the solution until the most favourable solution is reached. The possible solutions to a problem are represented as binary numbers which are searched by genetic networks until the best possible solution is reached. In my opinion, Genetic Algorithms would be most suited for organization of astronomers analyzing gamma ray emissions reaching earth. This is because of the fact that many possible solutions can be inferred from such a study and the best possible solution can be inferred through the iterative process of genetic algorithms. Q 54. Identify five of the analytical functionalities that BI systems deliver. Ans. BI or Business intelligence is referred to reporting, warehousing and data analysis of corporate environment. BI is basically used by IT consultants and hardware or software vendors to describe such a situation. The BI network system gathers the required data and filters the unwanted data for the management for analysis. Simply put, BI is gathering of all the relevant data from all the corporate streams and utilizing it to make the managers more informed and knowledgeable about the performance of the firm and the achievement of its objectives. Various data analysis tools e.g. data mining, correlation, chi-square analysis and cluster analysis is used by the managers to analyze and model the data in required format. Through the use of BI systems and analytic methods, the experts provide almost real time data about various facets of business enterprise. These BI systems deliver five analytic functionalities in order to achieve analyzed data for the management. The analytic functionalities are :-Production reports. These reports are information provided by BI systems according to the specific requirements of industry. Parameterized reports. These reports are generated by adding different parameters into a pivotal table in order to analyze the impact of various factors on business environment. For example users may enter time of year and chocolate sales in the pivotal table to find out that chocolate sales increase manifolds during the Christmas season and other occasions like Valentine’s Day etc. Dashboards/scorecards. The performance of a company can be judged by using this tool which represents the data in visual form. Ad hoc query/search/report creation. This report creation mechanism allows the users to formulate their own reports as per searches and queries. Drill down. This technique provides a tool for the users to query data in a more detailed manner rather than by simply viewing the data in a summarized form. Q 55. You work for IT department of a startup company with SaaS offering, and it is your job to setup the testing process for a new enterprise system the company will be hosting. Describe the processes you will recommend. What unique considerations will you have? Ans. In order to get desired level of response from new enterprise system, its thorough testing is essential. Meticulous effort is necessary for defining test process, accumulating test data and refining the system by eliminating errors found during testing. Sometimes, a part of the system is required to be redesigned in order to correct errors. Testing an enterprise system is a three step process. The first step is known as Unit Testing in which each of the module or unit of the system is independently tested in order to ascertain that it functions properly in standalone mode. Errors if any, can be corrected in individual systems at this stage. The second step is System Testing in which the whole system is tested together so as to ascertain whether the complete system is in synch with each other and no coherence problems exist. The final stage in testing is Acceptance Testing which allows the developers to present the developed system to company management for trial use and acceptance. At this stage, any anomalies or additional requirements observed by the management are removed or incorporated in the system for final implementation. All of this testing process is done through a test plan formulated by the system developers. The test plan is implemented via number of strategies for conversion for old system into a new system. There are four basic conversion strategies. The first one is Parallel Strategy which is used when a company runs both the new and old system together until it is ascertained that the new system is working properly, is free of bugs and fulfils all the management requirements. However, this strategy requires additional staff and is quite expensive to undertake. Second strategy is referred to as Direct Cutover Strategy in which the old system is completely replaced with new one. However, this approach is quite risky and may have more financial implications than parallel strategy with no back system. The third approach is the Pilot Study Strategy through which the system is implemented to a single department at first and then throughout the organization upon its smooth functioning. Lastly, Phased Approach Strategy is used to implement the system in phases on an organizational unit or the system itself is implemented in phases. For example SCM system may be implemented first followed by other ERP modules. Having gone through various strategies for implementing a test plan, I would recommend Pilot Study Strategy of Phased Approach Strategy for this new company. Firstly, the new company does not already have an enterprise system therefore first two strategies are ruled out at the onset. And secondly, the remaining two are the safest and easiest to implement. Q57. How does internet benefit the development of global information system? Should all global systems be based on internet? Ans Many businesses in the world operate from dispersed locations in order to show their global presence. In this scenario, they tend to develop a global information system which is operable from anywhere in the world to give them flexibility of operations. However, these global information systems require dependable connectivity in order to link the systems and the people across the globe into one integrated network. This connectivity enables the firms to share data and voice packets from one office of the company to another without hassle. Internet is one such medium on which many companies depend on for connectivity purposes. However, many dire issues are faced by businesses while using internet as medium of communication. Firstly, the internet does not provide the quality of service required by many companies. Secondly, security of data on internet is a big issue. Companies normally utilize private networks of VPNs for secure communications. Thirdly, internet is not easily available in many under developed countries and the tariffs may also be very high in such regions. Moreover, many regulatory issues also arise while using internet in such areas. These major challenges force the companies to use internet for their basic requirements whereas for quality of service, companies are still using private networks. Until all these challenges are addressed to the core, internet cannot be used completely for global networks. However, what can be done is that companies utilize VPNs, which would be able to give them a feel of private network over internet except for the times when there is congestion over network. Moreover, internet can also be used whenever the businesses can afford lower service quality or less secure communication. Read More