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Earthquake in Mexico

Gas escaping from a broken pipe burns as water from a ruptured main floods a Los Angeles

street after an earthquake.

Forest fire in South Africa

Aftermath of the South East Asia tsunami disaster of Sunday 26 December 2004

Disasters kill at least one million people each decade and leave millions more homeless.

When disaster strikes, communication links are often disrupted; yet for disaster relief workers, these links are essential in order to answer critical questions as to how many people have been injured or died, where the injured are located and the extent of the medical help needed. To put it simply, in disaster and emergency situations, telecommunications can save lives.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has put the subjects of disaster prevention, preparedness and relief high on its agenda in an effort to promote and offer technical assistance to developing countries in the field of telecommunications, and also to promote the mobilization of the material, human and financial resources needed for its implementation, as well as access to information.

For nearly 140 years, ITU has been helping the world communicate, a guiding mission that becomes even more important when disaster strikes. As noted by the United Nations SecretaryGeneral, Kofi Annan:

"Humanitarian work is one of the most important, but also one of the most difficult tasks of the United Nations. Human suffering cannot be measured in figures, and its dimensions often surpass our imagination, even at a time when news about natural and other disasters reaches every corner of the globe in next to real time. An appropriate response depends upon the timely availability of accurate data from the often remote and inaccessible sites of crises. From the mobilization of assistance to the logistics chain, which will carry assistance to the intended beneficiaries, reliable telecommunication links are indispensable."

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UNIT 8 TELECOMMUNICATION: Infosphere

The concept of the "biosphere" was coined in the beginning of this century by Russian geochemist Vernadsky (1929) to describe the "envelope of life" as an interdependent planetary web. The new information environment needs a metaphor that implies the growing unity, interdependence and accessibility of information produced by humankind and to this end the author proposes the infosphere.

The infosphere summarizes advances in nearly all human endeavors. Sputnik, manned lunar landings, and the first photograph of the entire Earth, a fragile blue orb in space, encouraged all people to think globally. For educators, this revolutionary flow of information forces a rethinking of traditional learning paradigms. Is there anything useful besides sending e- mail and accessing databases that can help teachers teach and students learn?

There are five general educational functionalities of the infosphere .

1.Tele-access is the use of online resources in learning, including online libraries, databases, museums, satellite data and other classrooms. The latest space shuttle photos, paintings inspired by Shakespeare plays, pending congressional legislation, or foreign language resources for forty languages are available to students via the Internet. When students conduct online searches, they are tapping into information that is real-world oriented and nearly unlimited. Rather than digesting precanned answers, they are constructing their own knowledge and they can do so with equal facility at home and in class.

2.Virtual publishing can authenticate learning by setting students' scholarship in the real world. On the networks supported by International Education and Resource Network (I*EARN), students from different countries publish results of their collaborative projects, including news magazines, literary journals, environmental and human-rights newsletters.

Virtual publishing is hardly limited to text documents. Students can include graphics, video, sound and animation in their publications, as well as the hypertext links of digital books.

3.Tele-presence enables students to experience events at remote sites. Students near an ecological disaster or in the path of a hurricane can serve as eye-

witnesses for their peers by issuing firsthand accounts, or students can collect data from remote probes, whether the probes be on school grounds or on the moon. When used with video technologies, CMC allows students to actually see and hear events as they happen remotely. Classes can journey on real expeditions, participate in real experiments and, in effect "look over the shoulders" of working scientists. For example, in the "Live from Antarctica" project, students accessed scientists' diaries and field journals to learn how they "lived, worked, and played" at the South Pole.

4.Tele-mentoring becomes a rich and viable teaching option. Many sites on the Internet, such as professional groups and bulletin boards, are responsive to student inquiries. By serving as mentors, scientists and scholars can answer questions and provide classrooms with resources beyond textbooks and the individual teacher's expertise. By exposing students to experts, scholars and people of achievement, telementoring provides learners with positive role models, particularly for those students to whom positive role models are not readily available. Such relationships can reward not only students but the mentors themselves.

5.Tele-sharing often begins with simple e-mail chats between "keypals." It advances to "one-to-many" and "many-to-many" communications, and then blossoms into the sharing of resources, ideas, experiences, data and findings. This transition from simple communications to cooperative learning offers relevancy and the analytical challenge of comparative studies. Further, it calls upon students to engage in deeper social interactions. Such learning implies an equality among participants rather than the traditional vertically-structured, teacher-student relationship.

We can also name the following positive features of telecommunication: helping students perceive knowledge as constructed, not given; providing students with an effective model of lifelong learning; bolstering social, communication, and critical-thinking skills; increasing the authenticity of the learning environment; putting a human face on learning; finding role models for students; equity; and also for the first time, students can benefit from the newest technologies rather than be the last to use them.

The SDH (Shadow Dexterous Hand) is the closest robot Hand to the human hand available. It provides 24 movements, allowing a direct mapping from a human to the robot. The Shadow Hand has

integrated sensing and position control, allowing precise control from off-board computers, or integration into any existing robot platform. The Shadow Hand contains an integrated bank of 40 Air Muscles which make it move. The Shadow Hand can be fitted with touch sensing on the fingertips, offering sensitivity sufficient to detect a single small coin.

Applications

The Shadow Dexterous Hand is an advanced robot hand system that reproduces all the movements of the human hand and provides comparable force output and sensitivity. This means it can pick up or handle small to medium sized objects and perform precision tasks, so robots using it can have the versatility of humans. The sensitivity and compliance of the Hand makes it possible to manipulate delicate objects such as fruit and eggs. For the same reason, the Hand is safe around human beings, since it is less strong than a person. Being the same size as a human hand, the system is versatile and suitable for use for a variety of purposes:

Research. The University of Bielefeld is using the SDH in their research into situated learning. Carnegie Mellon University is using it in their research into grasping. NASA's Robonaut group bought a SDH "to inspire their engineers". Others are interested in using the Hand as a component in their neurological, rehabilitation projects and many more applications.

Telepresence operations. A remote system using the SDH technology will allow an operator to work in an inaccessible area (a harmful envi-

ronment where radiation, toxic chemicals or biological hazards are present). Also medical examination, education and training by experts could be done on long distance.

Ergonomic Research. When doing ergonomic research, one often needs a model of a human hand The Shadow Dexterous Hand is an almost perfect reproduction. It can be used to test all kinds of objects that are designed for human hands: gloves, tools, pens, handles, etc.

We also see uses for the Hand in the testing of all kinds of human manipulation, for example the accessibility of objects.

Actuation

The Hand is driven by 40 Air Muscles mounted on the forearm. These provide compliant movements. Following the biologically-inspired design principle, tendons couple the air muscles to the joints. Integrated electronics at the base of the hand system drive the pneumatic valves for each muscle and also manage corresponding muscle pressure sensors.

Busses. The hand system presents a Controller Area Network (CAN) bus interface to the outside world. The CAN interface has been tested with standard controller cards as well as the supplied interface cards. All sensor data, components, configuration and controllers can be accessed over this bus. A simple protocol is used for the communication. Example code for protocol interface is supplied as part of the GPL (General Public License) codebase only; alternate licensing is also available as an option. An embedded Ethernet interface option permits direct access to robot data and configuration by TCP/IP communication.

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UNIT 10 COMPUTER SECURITY: Phishing

The World Wide Web is home to many threats and the sneakiest of all Internet attacks is phishing. This nefarious online theft mechanism can rob your money, personal information and even your identity.

Phishing (password harvesting fishing) is getting passwords for online bank accounts or credit card numbers by using emails that look like they are from real organizations, but in fact they are fake. So you think you are logging into your online bank account but you are actually logging into a very craftily disguised site that stores your login info to access your account. The term "phishing" is a word play on "fishing", where a fisherman baits his hook, fools the fish into thinking it is food and reels it in. Such tactics are a serious threat to online safety and individual users’ security. Here are some tips to prevent phishing from stealing your information.

1)Read emails and messages carefully. Look for some tell-tale phishing signs such as:

•Spelling mistakes and grammatical errors in the email's text.

•Your name isn't present anywhere but instead a general name is given. ("Dear satellite subscriber", instead of your full name heading the email).

•Subtle threats to follow the email's instructions ("your account will be terminated if you fail to follow the procedure").

•Unknown senders or companies you have never heard of.

•Impossibly unrealistic deals ("a wealthy millionaire died and decided to leave you, Mr. Abc, all his money").

2)Verify the authenticity of the email sender. If an organization like a bank or company is trying to contact you, whether known or unknown, you should contact that organization personally and verify that they have sent you the mail. Phishing sites are like chameleons, they do their best to simulate or imitate legitimate sites, to look

authentic. Do not use any phone numbers provided in the email. Remember that most legitimate sites and financial services will never deal with sensitive issues in emails.

3)Do not click on links in your email at first. Hover the mouse icon over the link and see what address appears in your browser screen. The text of the link can say one thing but the actual address could be someone's private computer or fake website. Do not copy the URL or link and paste it in your browser's address bar. To truly test its authenticity, open a new window and type in the official site address of the organization or company. Phishing sites will use legitimate looking links to fool you into clicking and then take you somewhere else entirely. Do not clickon links in pop-up windows at all.

4)Avoid sending private information like your name, account details, passwords - any sensitive information that is unique to your online identity, through emails. Your email account or the recipient's account could get hacked and your information exposed.

5)Be vigilant with downloads and attachments. Only open or download email attachments from known senders but make sure you scan the attachment prior to download, using your antivirus software.

6)Check any of your online or financial accounts and transaction statements for any suspicious activity or operations. For example, if there has been a deduction from your bank account which you have no knowledge of or a "password successfully changed" alert appears on your phone, contact the respective department of the company involved and assert that you have not performed any changes. Such checking of accounts should be done at least once a month.

7)Your computer is your castle, so line its defenses with spam filters, anti-spyware programs and a decent firewall. Look for anti-virus programs, with phishing filtering. Download the latest

security updates and keep your computer up-to- date, so that it can handle the latest threats as they come.

8)If you are carrying out sensitive data transactions like online shopping or money transfers, make sure you are using a secure connection to a secure site. So look for "https://" in your address bar, before the site's address. Another sign is in the bottom right-hand side of the web browser. A small chain or yellow lock icon indicates a secure connection. Sometimes such icons can be "faked", so check the URL of the site as well. Clicking on the lock icon should display the site's security certificate. If the site name and the name of the site on the certificate do not match, leave the site immediately.

9)With phishing being such a silent yet deadly web menace, web browsers are also stepping up their security mechanisms. So install a tool-bar or phishing filter utility on your browser to warn you from navigating to phishing sites.

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Turn on your browser's security mechanisms and alert messages. Updating your browser will also keep such security features informed of the latest threats.

10) If you suspect a site of being "phishy" or you have been phished", then your silence will just allow the guilty party to scam someone else. Some web browsers allow you to report suspected sites or mark them as unsafe. You can even inform the legitimate site being impersonated of the phishing site. The Federal Trade Commission deals with phishing scams and sites dealing with such attacks, visit their site to complain of such sites and if you are a victim, then informing the FTC can help prevent the possible theft of your identity.

Don't fall for the "hook", be the smart fish that got away by following the right anti-phishing tips. It is web hooligans like phishers and hackers that give the Internet a bad name, so surf smart and access secure information smartly.

By Rave Uno http://www.buzzle.com/articles