INFORMATION AND PUBLICATION DEPARTMENT They make use of computer in carrying out their function effectively and efficiently IMPORTANCE OF COMPUTER APPLICATION IN SCHOOL The following are the importance of the application of computer in our schools Students can study and learn at their own pace. 1 Learning can be done at the student's own convenience 2. Learning can be make interesting and challenging 3. Computer enhances efficient and effective administration 4 It has been able to solve most of our educational problems with its teaching learning packages. USES OF COMPUTER IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PROCESS 1 Objective testing on students’ performance 2 Printing of students , result 3. Storing of Information 4 Preparation of timetable for teaching and learning process. 5. Record keeping in classroom ELECTRONIC BANKING For many consumers, electronic banking means 24-hour access to cash through an automated teller machine (ATM) or Direct Deposit of pay checks into checking or savings accounts. But electronic banking now involves many different types of transactions. Electronic banking, also known as electronic fund transfer (EFI), uses computer and electronic technology as a substitute for checks and other Paper transactions. EFTs are initiated through devices like cards or codes that let you, or those you authorize, access your account. Many financial institutions use ATM or debit cards and Personal identification Numbers (PINs) for this purpose. Some use other forms of debit cards such as those that require, at the most, your signature or a scan. The federal Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFT Act) covers some electronic consumer transactions. ELECTRONIC FUND TRANSFERS EFT offers several services that consumers may find practical Automated Teller Machines or 24-hour Tellers are electronic terminals that let you bank almost any time. To withdraw cash, make deposits, or transfer funds between accounts, you generally insert an ATM card and enter your PIN. Some financial institutions and ATM owners charge a fee Particularly to consumers who don't have accounts with them or on transactions at remote locations, Generally, ATMS must tell you they charge a fee and its amount on or at the terminal screen before you complete thetransaction. Check the rules of your institution and ATMs you use to find out when or whether a fee is charged. Direct Deposit lets you authorize specific deposits, such as paychecks and social Security checks, to your account on a regular basis. You also may pre-authorize direct withdrawals so that recurring bills, such as insurance premiums, mortgages, and utility bills, are paid automatically. Pay-by-Phone Systems let you call your financial institution with instructions to pay certain bills or to transfer funds between accounts. You must have an agreement with the institution to make such transfers. Personal Computer Banking lets you handle many banking transactions via your personal computer. For instance, you may use your computer to view your account balance request transfers between accounts and pay bills electronically. Point-of-Sale Transfers let you pay for purchases with a debit Card, which also may be your ATM card. The process is similar to using ‘a credit card, with some important exceptions. While the process is fast and easy, a debit card purchase transfers money - fairly quickly-from your bank account to the store's account, So it's account. So it's important that you have funds in your account to cover your purchase. This means you need to keep accurate records of the dates and amounts of your debit card purchases and ATM withdrawals in addition to any checks you write. Your liability for unauthorized use, and your rights for error resolution, may differ with a debit card. Electronic Check Conversion converts a paper check into an electronic payment at the point of sale or elsewhere, such as when a company receives your check in the mail. In a store, when you give your check to a store cashier, the check is processed through an electronic system that captures your banking information and the amount of the check. Once the check is processed, you're asked to sign a receipt authorizing the merchant to present the check to your bank electronically and deposit the funds into the merchant's account. You get a receipt of the electronic transaction for your records. When your check has been processed and returned to You by the merchant, it should be voided or marked by the merchant so that it can't be used again. In the mail-in situation, you should still receive advance notice from a company that expects to process your check electronically. Be especially careful in telephone transactions, which also could involve e-checks. A legitimate merchant should explain the process and answer any questions you may have. The merchant also should ask for your permission to debit your account for the item you're purchasing or paying on. However, because telephone e-checks don't occur face-to- face, you should be cautious with whom you reveal your bank or checking account information. Don't give this information to sellers with whom you have no prior experience ‘or with whom you have not initiated the call, or to sellers who seem reluctant to discuss the process with you. Not all electronic fund transfers are covered by the EFT Act.For example, some financial institutions and merchants issue cards wdit cash value stored electronically on the card itself. Examples include prepaid telephone cards, mass transit passes, and some gift cards. These “stored-value' cards, as well as transactions using them, may not be covered by the EFT Act. This means you may not be covered for the loss or misuse of the card. Ask your financial institution or merchant about any protections offered for these cards. Internet and Education There are numerous advantages of the Internet in the field of education like gaining information, news, historical data, The Internet is the largest set of computer networks that use the Internet Protocol. The invention and development of the Internet was the biggest discovery by mankind in the 20th century that lead to a revolution. Today, the Internet is used by more than 50% of the world population as its applications are found in nearly every fields of life, be it communication, knowledge, news, shopping, marketing, entertainment, education, etc. So, how exactly does the Internet technology benefit students for education? Let us take a look at it in detail Use of the Internet in Education The fast and relatively low-cost access is one of the major benefits of Internet to people and students all over the world as getting an Internet connection is easy. Communication and information are the two most important uses of the Internet. Secondly, information can be updated or modified at any time and for any number of times, which helps in learning and better understanding. v Easy Contact As mentioned above, communication is one of the biggest advantages of the Internet in education. Students can contact other students or their teachers via the E-mail if they have queries about any information. Sharing of information, discussions on a particular subject, etc., can be easily carried out using the Internet. At the same time, teachers can also contact parents and guardians easily using Internet. V School/College Projects The Internet can be most useful for completing projects in schools and colleges. As the Internet is an ocean of information, covering nearly all subjects known to man, one can find information, research work, etc., required for one's projects. Going through the information on the Internet is definitely faster than reading an entire book on the subject. Homework is also made easier with the help of the Internet which is also one of the important uses of computers in educationEncyclopedia Sometimes, an encyclopedia may not always be available to students and they may have difficulty in gaining access to the books in the library. In that case, the encyclopedia of various subjects available on the Internet can be helpful. This is more useful for students who belong to communities not having English as their mother tongue. Kids and younger children can also be benefited by the Internet by using the pictures, videos, etc., which is one of the major advantages, when comparing textbooks versus computer teaching. News All the latest news are constantly updated on the Internet on news sites. Students learning politics, can have an access to all the current affairs through the Internet in the school campus, at home, or at any other place. Historical accounts like speeches, biographies, etc., are also easily available on the Internet in detailed and accurate versions. Online Learning Another positive effect of Internet in education is the onset of distance education or online learning. With this facility, you can take up short-term courses with the course material available online, learn, and give exams. One of the benefits of online learning is that people from any part of the world can gain knowledge on different subjects, complete courses, etc. Using Multimedia Arguably, it is believed that visual data has a greater impact on learning and memorizing than plain text. Therefore, images, graphics, animation, pictures, slides, documentaries, etc., have a greater appeal than a plain textbook. Using multimedia and Internet provides an opportunity for children to gain knowledge about a particular subject in depth. Students can now see the actual photographs of rare bird species, or see animated graphics of a volcanic eruption to understand it in detail Affordable Knowledge Investing in research material may be tedious and unaffordable for some. But, now, thanks to the Internet, we have content websites, web encyclopedias, and dictionaries whenever we want them. Today, able as well as less-able students can be benefited to the sea of knowledge through the Internet. University courses and learning is now easy for people belonging to all strata of the society with the help of online courses. Easy Education System Not only gaining knowledge, but, every part of the education system is simplified because of the Internet. You can now view your prospective educational institute, look up for courses, enroll to online courses, take classes, research, see your results, and even look for job prospects on theInternet. Therefore, the scope of Internet in education is very wide and equal to all No Age Bracket for Education Online courses provide an opportunity for people of all age groups to take up education of their choice, according to their liking and wish. Be it a student, a housewife, or a professional, they can just start up their computers, connect to the Internet, and take virtual classes. Therefore, people can now gain knowledge according to their need and time available. You are, now, never too old or too busy to learn something new. Finally, although the Internet cannot replace books or classroom education, it is one of the best substitute for those who wish to gain deeper knowledge on literally every subject under the sun. computer is an electronic device that executes certain actions through user- based commands. It is made up of two parts - hardware and software. The computer processes input through input devices like the mouse and keyboard. The computer displays output through output devices like a monitor and printer. The size of a computer varies considerably from small personal computers (like laptops, minicomputers, and notebook laptops), to gigantic supercomputers which require an entire building to host them. The speed also has a very large range. Computers have become indispensable in today's world; let's take a look at why we're so dependable on them. Word Processing A Word Processing software automatically corrects spelling and grammatical mistakes. If content needs to be replicated, there are options known as ‘copy’ and ‘paste’ that allow you to do this without re-typing the content. You can print documents and make several copies too. It is easier to read a word- processed document than a handwritten one, making it effectual for paperwork. You can add images to your document as well, provided by certain features on word processors. Internet It is a network that connects computers worldwide, to an information source that is free to all, at a minimal fee per month from one's service provider. You can browse through much more information than you could do in a library. That is because computers can store enormous amounts of information. You also have very fast and convenient access to information Through ‘email’, you can communicate with a person sitting thousands of miles away, within a few seconds. Chat software applications enable one to speak to another person in real time. Video conferencing tools are becoming readily availableto the common man, making it a convenient feature for one-on-one meetings. RESEARCH The most basic function of a computer is to compute or calculates and that is its greatest asset as it can do it fast and accurately (Ayeni 1992). In the development of theory or hypothesis, a researcher is often confronted with masses of data he wants to work on. If he has access to computer, he can store the data somewhere in the computer and make use of the high-speed computation offered by the computer to examine as many hypotheses as possible on the data in his pursuance of a possible theory relating to the data Statistical analysis of data derived from experiments can be very tedious and cumbersome especially when the quantity of data involved in very large and many variable are involved in the analysis. Through the procedures for analyzing these data (standard in most cases), a manual analysis would involve hours and possibly days of computational efforts due to care that needs to be taken for accurate results to be obtained and margin of errors that must be achieved. And the accuracy can be relied upon. Computers are also very useful in simulation studies. Also programmed instruction set on the computer can be used a learning tool for studies. Such a programmed instruction set is called computer aided instruction (CAL). The computer program would display a lecture on the screen of a visual display unit for student to study and would thereafter pose questions for students to answer. PROFESSIONS Computers are being used extensively in accounting, architecture, engineering, law and medicine among others. Ayeni (1992) emphasized on it as follows In architecture and engineering, computers are used to aid in design of bridges, buildings, machines and so on, by combining various basic elements and evaluating their capabilities in terms of measurement, physical properties, stresses and so on, some numerical calculations that can be refined in estimating parameters used for evaluating some of the designs involve large-sized differential equations, which are too difficult to solve manually. In law, computers are used mostly for information retrieval. Abstracts of cases are stored and indexed in the computers when a new case comes up, similar cases are retrieved from the data bank and listed. The lawyer can then study the new case along with some or all retrieval which may serve as references. Also some lawyers use computers to keep diary of cases that are listed for hearing in the immediate future.In medicine, a popular use of computers in medical records for storing the history of patients. These records are updated from time to time. The history of patient and his degree of response to past treatment enable the doctor determine whether the present mode of treatment should be discontinued or not. Also computers can be used to aid diagnosis. In this case, current data such as temperature reading, blood pressure, symptoms and so on, of patient are entered into the computer. The data is analyzed by the computer and the computer suggests what type of ailment the patient suffers from. Finally, in large hospital environments, computers are used for scheduling nurses on duty. OFFICE AUTOMATION Ayeni (1992) in his work stated that computers are now being used in the office to assist in the office work. The greatest attention has been paid to computer assisting in typing documents and letters involving addresses in form of labels to be affixed to envelopes. Word processors and micro computer are used to store documents. Many pages of documents could be stored. The processor in particular has facilities to format the document in a desirable manner. An office secretary who has to use the word processor should have a minimum exposure to the use of computer. The word processor has the advantages of being able to print several copies of the same document and also being able to make minor changes in the text of the document very easily before printing the entire document. Hartley (1990), stated in their work that the catalyst for the use computers as automation aids in offices came when microprocessor technology enabled manufacturers to produce word processing machine at prices low enough to become practical altemative to typewriters. Word processors allow the typist to create a document using an image in a VDU screen. The earlier word processors were specialized machines However, the current trend is to use a conventional personal computer with a word processing package. In this way the personal computer can be used for a variety of functions The second major office automation (unction introduced on PC’ is the spread sheet. A spread sheet program such as Lotus 1-2-3 or Microsoft Excel allows the screen to image a large sheet of paper, broken into rows and columns. Data can be typed into cells in the matrix but the others can be filled in by calculation. By using a shared microcomputer or by networking Pc's, users can share resources such as high quality laser printers, main frame communication links and databases. Given a share able systems, new office automation functions becomes possible examples are electronic mail and messaging EMM whereby a user can create a note or document using wordee processing facilities and then either send it direct to another user or place it into an e-mail box. Users are then responsible for checking their mail box. BUSINESS Computers in Business Nowadays, the use of computers in industries is quite commonplace, owing to the fast processing of information and timely deliverables. In this article, let us explore the significant role that computers play in the business world. Almost everyone is aware that Information Technology (IT) has played a very significant role in taking businesses to new heights. Before the advent of computers and relevant technology, business were totally done using manual resources. As a result, the time taken to complete a task was more, quality of work was not up to the mark, and the procedures also tended to be more complicated. However, as computers started to be used in businesses establishments, the processing of work got more stabilized. What is Corporate Computing? Corporate computing is a concept that is concentrated on the involvement of information technology in business concerns. If you are a working professional, you surely might have easily known how much computer technologies are used in businesses. These technologies are used in almost all sectors such as accounts and payroll management, inventory management and control, shipping functions, data and database management, financial analysis, software development, security control and many other essential fields. The end result of corporate computing is increased productivity and quality. Use of Computers in the Business World Following are only a few major fields in business where computing is used largely. - Inventory Control and Management: Inventory control and management is a crucial process, especially in establishments related to retail and production. Computers are used for recording all aspects of the goods coming in, details of goods and services, distribution of stock, and storage details. Note, that in small retail and production firms, simple computer software are generally used. Whereas in large corporations, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERPs) are employed. - Accounts and Payroll Management: Accounting and payroll management is also believed to be an important part of the overall system in a company. Be it any kind of industry; computers are largely used for the purpose of managing accounts of administration, sales, purchases, invoices, and also payroll management, which includes recording financial details of employees. These are just some components of the accounts and payroll management system where computing is used.: Database Management: Database management is associated with filing and recording, managing, and retrieval of data whenever required. For smooth running of businesses, it is very important that they have all procedures and details stored. This storage of data is done with the help of large databases and servers which have to be maintained on a regular basis. These information databases and servers are controlled by computers by appropriate authorities in a company. . Software Development: __ It can be said that for every computing need, a software has to be used. Software can only be made using computers for the purpose of helping businesses to combine processes and carry out their work properly. Nowadays, ERPs are largely used in business to blend all their processes together and execute the output as expected. There are many other software and application packages that a business may need to use according to the nature of work. There are many other fields such as security control, communication, research, budgeting and forecasting, web management, where computers are essential. The impact of information technology on business has certainly changed the way businesses operate and have coordinated different practices of the firm to function collectively. Computer use is not only present in businesses, but computers are even used in other sectors. Ayeni (1992) noted that business houses such as banks, insurance companies accounting firms, manufacturing firms and so on generally have one major objective. This objective is to make money (profit). Consequently, most applications of computers in these companies are in the area of financial management and management information system (MIS) MIS is a system that provides data or information for a manager at any level to enable him carry out his duty properly. The computer programs for financial and management information systems are usually provided as packages, which are adapted for the company's use after purchase. Functions’ performed by these packages include management and financial accounting, final accounts personnel record keeping payroll service, sales ledger and general ledger. The use of computer in stock control enables store manager show quickly and as possible when a particular stock is use up so that fresh order could be placed for the stock. The stock records are updated on the computer as stocks are issued out or received. Benefits of Computers in Business The use of computers in business has grown by leaps and bound since the last few decades. Here are some of the benefits of computers in business eensfield Using Internet technologies, computer networking and several types of software, businesses are able to communicate all across the globe crossing geographical boundaries. Communication has taken a new role among partners, suppliers, consumers and they're able to keep a track of each other that facilitates the business process, Development of software like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software solutions and Management Information Systems (MIS) have made it possible to centralize administrative features of a firm. Project management and other planning activities are easily designed by integrating latest software with computers. This decreases time on planning and figuring out certain complex issues. Seminars, conferences and meetings can be scheduled with bosses and big corporate giants through web conferencing that can be heard by all the employees simultaneously. While the debate on advantages and disadvantages of Internet or computers will always exist, it's certainly a truth that computers have made our life totally different, progressive and better. GOVERNMENT Ayeni (| 992) in his work was of the opinion that computers are generally used in providing public services in the government, although a great number of departments use computers for conventional business applications such as payroll, personnel records and economic planning. Economic models are used in planning and forecasting. The economic model of a large state or country can be very complex, as it would involve very many parameters such as various products or groups of products, their load of productions and consumption. Computers can also be used for compiling census and survey data. The amount of data that is required to be recorded and processed in the conduct of census is very enormous in large populations but is much less in surveys. In Government, computers are also used for licensing operations; various licenses are issued, reversed or revoked by government from time to time. Manual processing of relevant data is sufficiently localized to avoid long queues or delays at the local offices. The use of computers in the military is more prominent in research and development and in solving problems on games and operations. It is noted that at the arrival of computers in the forties, one of the first successful areas where computers were used was in the military during the second world war1939-1945, Computers were used in solving problems on allocation of resources to competing units during the war. COMMUNICATIONS Hartlely (1990), stated that communication systems carry mixtures of voice, data and image signals, occasionally they are simple point-to point system such as the cable joining a VDU to a computer port, More often, however, systems need a switching facility to make and break connections and to share a single physical system among a number or separate logical services. These computers can be used effectively as intelligent nodes in communications system acting as switches. multiplexes demultiplexers and protocol converters. In the latter case. messages Can be received in one format and transmitted in another. thus acting as a bridge between different systems. As an example of computer controlled communication switch, consider the private automatic branch exchange PAAX) which provides telephone services within a building and access to external public service lines, the earlier PABX used analogue circuits with relays to create connections A computer sensed the dialling pulses or multi-tone frequency signals decoded this as address information and activated signals to close the required relays. Nowadays, the PABX is totally digital. The voice signals as well as the dialling arc converted to digital form and addressing packets of data within the computers performs the routing. Because of the computerized control of the circuits. many extended functions became available such as abbreviated dialling conferencing automatic redial. dial-back e.t.c. Specialized data communication equipment for joining computers networks for connecting terminals to computers, for protocol conversion multiplexing all use specialized digital computing techniques. According to Dennis P. Curting et. al, you can use your computer to call another computer anywhere in the world by using a modem and the telephone line. This process is called telecommunication. He further stated that exchange of electronic mail with other users, transfer of public domain software from another computer onto one of your own disks so that you can run those programs on your computer, holding of conferences with a number of other users as major application of computer in communications. HEALTH According to Richard (1986), Ethical dilemmas have always been present in 'the care. Critical decisions affecting human life and welfare are integral to the medical profession. When computers are introduced, however, many of these decisions became more complicated methods and devices for prolonging life, using artificial or severely damaged limbs and diagnosing and treating disease have been greatly enhanced by computing technologies. Millions of people have greater hope for leaving more normal lives, Someareas of computer aided biomedical engineering are pacemakers, artificial hearts, and prosthetic and monitoring devices. Pacemakers are microprocessor controlled programmable devices, which help persons suffering from hear disease by maintaining a regular heartbeat and keeping steady flow of blood throughout the body. In 1992, the first programmable pacemaker was implanted. It costs 14250 dollars, was considerably smaller than earlier ones and could be reprogrammed to alter pulse rate and output current without being removed form the patient, with them physicians can alter 40 different parameters, obtain and display heart performance data gathered by the implanted pacemaker and check to see that the-device is functioning properly. Another area of application is the artificial heart. Considering the advances and successes with pacemakers, it does not seem far-fetched to imagine an artificial heart run by a microprocessor entirely contained in a person's body and enabling that person to function as though the original heart were in place. Later in 1982, the first artificial heart was successfully implanted into a patient. ‘Another area is the use of prosthetic and monitoring devices. Design and implementation of artificial limbs have shown marked advances, as medical professionals understand better how the brain, neural networks, muscles and other part of the body work together to cause movement. Richard (1986) also stated further that, research in combination with medical prosthetic designers are now integrating microprocessor technology to simulate circuitry within the human body. Successful experiments have been conducted to replace or support damaged neural networks and restore movement previously paralyzed knee. In 1982 a young female paraplegic was able to make a few paces after being equipped with a rather elaborate device consisting or approximately 30 sensors and electrodes in contact with the leg's major muscle groups and triggered by electrical bursts controlled by a micro computer. A teed back system provided input so that connections could be made as movement took lace. l Diagnostic devices could signal an impending stroke, indicate which body parts that need more exercise, warn of possible malfunctioning of organs and generally contribute to a person's health Automobiles already utilize diagnostic devices for a variety of functions including easily warning of potential dangers such as excessive brake wear. Other devices can monitor the location o fan individual at all time. A system termed "home incarceration" has been in New Mexico. The device used is cigarette. Pack-sized transmitter worn on a probationer ankle. It sends signals to a computer. Probation officers can tell where the probationer is by monitoring the computer output. MANUFACTURINGRichard (1986), noted that since the beginning of the industrial revolution, the factory has been a source of employment for thousand of men and women. The need to have many workers in a particular factory has led to the development of dense population centres. The output of the factory has strengthened the national economy and brought a high standard of living to the majority of the citizens of the developed nation. Direct intervention of the computer into the manufacturing process is most noticeable in the form of computerized controls and more recently robots. In process designing, computer plays an important role in the design stage of production. Computer aided design and drafting (CADD) system are used to automate the production of design drawings and design changes. Such system allows one person to produce the drawings that would have required from two to eight persons without the aid of automation. In process control, specially designed computers have been used to read temperature and pressures in manufacturing process and to adjust valves and other equipment according to the needs of the process. Large oil refiner, plants require very little human labour to produce gasoline and heating oil: from the candle oil they reuse. Telephone exchange offices put through calls automatically under control of special computers, process control computers automatically under control of special computers. Process control computers automatically adjust the level of electricity to meet the demands of electric power consumers on a continuous, real-time basis In robotics, Richard (1986), stated that devices called robots art’ being designed and purchased to do the work for which there is an insufficient supply of human workers. In particular the use of robots in the operation of unmanned night shifts in the machine tool industry has been tried as a way of overcoming the shortage of machinists. Sick leave vacation and strikes arc not issues with a robot, It works any number of hours without tiring or complaining or requiring breaks. Long hours do not lead to reduce quality of work. One reason for the advance use of robots is that they are becoming capable of performing useful tasks. In the past a major limitation to their usefulness was its inability to feel and see. Artificial intelligence has led to advances in the way a robot is now able to process image and respond as if it could see. The use of computers to aid the manufacturing process that includes integration of data, process control and robots is referred to as computer- aided manufacturing. LAW-ENFORCEMENT Military, Navy, and the Air Force (Security) In the military, these systems are used to store confidential information. They are used to develop, test, and debug important programs. They are used as a surveillance equipment to check the enemy territory. In the navy, they are used for logistics, personnel, and pay records. They are used in theapplications of SONAR and RADAR, for example, in tracing lost airline debris or sunken ships. For the air force, they are used to develop standardized tools and interfaces in accordance with the Air Force Network Operations (AFNETOPS) guidance to transform raw data into actionable C2 information. They are used to develop, test, and analyze crucial programs with regards to the working mechanism of different kinds of airplanes. They are used for information processing, storage, and rescue operations. il Computer can be used in law-enforcement to keep criminal record and confidential record. 2 This particular computer can also be used to enhance image to police security organization. 3. Compute is used for crime mapping, the area of High and low crime rate is known. 4. Computer is also used in national crime information center (NCIC) it is used in recording information about wanted person stolen property etc. Computer can also be used in the emergency calls for local police. THE USEFULNESS OF COMPUTER IN KEEPING CRIMINAL RECORDS Because the computer ability to store large amount of information in potable computer is now being used to keep record on criminal activities. Electronic data banks of crime related information are readily available to state and local law enforcement. The federal Bureau of investigation (FBT) operate a nation wide police information data bank known as the national crime information center. The names and record or known criminal (record can be age, sex, colors Information about wanted or missing persons. Information about cars (including license plate number) guns and even boats. Crime can be detected by computer and the criminal can be known for example in one case police officer stopped a driver for making an illegal turn. When the car's license plate numbers was checked by computer, the police discovered that the vehicle had been stolen in another state. It turned out that the driver was wanted for a bank robbery. He was immediately arrested. CRIME To an economist, a banker or an accountant, the act of deceiving somebody to acquire money, goods e.t.c. illegally is known as fraud. According to Mr. Odoh, an information technologist, "fraud is an act of changing figures for personal gains". From the foregoing, one can begin to have an idea of what computer crime is. Computer fraud, which is any dishonest or criminal act perpetrated or aided by the use of a computer system. This crime in question includes fax piracy, illegal use of credit cards/facilities, cellular cloning, signature forgery fake entries into customeraccounts in blanks and finance houses, illegal transfer of money from one account to the other and so on. CASES Although cases of Computer Crime are not rampant in Nigeria and Africa at large, the reason is not that computer Criminal are not on the continent of Africa but the crippling technological growth. Computer Crime is no longer news in places like America and the United Kingdom. The Guardian of 21st April, 1998, reported a case of one Smart Alec who paid the sum of ten million dollars into an account in New York and requested the sum to be transferred to an account in London, where the money must have transited into a whopping sum of one hundred million dollars, just in a mater of seconds! What he expected was no magic but a mere addition of a zero to the existing ten (two digits) to make a hundred (three digit) by an official of the hank who was in connivance with him. The fraudsters were unlucky: the attempt failed! Also in the U.S.A. imagine another fraudster who defrauded more than ten super markets in ten cities through the use of credit facilities. This fraudster succeeded in wreaking tins havoc in less than five hours. With the rise in computer dependency these days, one will definitely expect computer crime to be on the increase in the next millennium. particularly with the advent of the Internet. ARMED ROBBERY Vs. COMPUTER CRIME Whereas an armed robber may sometimes involve himself in armed struggle with his victims, it might sound funny that billions of dollars might go down the drain in a faction of a second by ordinarily pressing the ENTER key on the keyboard of a computer or by a click of the mouse button right under the nose of the victim, In the same vein, changing "greater than" sign (>) ina program to an equality sign (=) may affect the logic of a program to the extent that it can earn fraudsters quite a huge amount of money just in a twinkling of an eye. *t goes without saying that the fastest and easiest modern way of perpetrating fraud it through the computer! STAGES 5 According to Dr. Paul Otunbusin. Computer Crime can occur in five different stages in the operation of a computer. These stages are: 1 The input stage: When data are entered into the computer, crime mayor perpetrated by supplying false data or altered information to the computer. 2 The programming stage: This involves alteration and for manipulation of the program intended to control the operations of the computer. 3 The processing stage: This involves alteration or manipulation to the computer input processor through improper instructions4 The output stage: This involves stealing or selling to competitor. Confidential print-outs by criminal minded insiders of computer based firms and companies 5. The data communication stage: At this stage, un unauthorized person could break into telephone circuits, thereby having access to-confidential information. EFFECTS The effects of computer crime include: (a) Loss of huge amount of money, which might force some, films or companies into liquidation; (b) Severe and irreparable destruction ofvita documents in a bid to cover up crime by computer criminals; (c) Exposure of sensitive and! or confidential information of firms, companies and government parastatals, thereby making them prone to criminal attacks. SOLUTION To curb computer crime the following solutions are proffered: 1 In cases of data transfer, data encryptioning should be adopted so as to protect stored data and forestall any forgery. alteration or removal by an unauthorized person or device. NOTE Data encryptioning means transformation of plain text to cipher text which is secret writing, usually in codes, with an associated key or code books(s): such code book(s) is/are normally kept secret. The act of encyptioning is cryptography. 2. When a computer crime is detected, such a case must be reported and given immediate attention to avert its prolonged effect. 3. In all computer dependant firms, companies and government parastatals should be clearly defined, thereby enhancing easy and effective tracing of criminals if and when there are cases of computer crime. 4. Severe punishment should be imposed on crime perpetrators so as to deter intending criminals. 5. For each firm, company e.t.c., external auditors should be appointed, whose visits will not be. announced to the workers of such a firm or company. 6. Imposition of standard measures of checks at various points such that before u transaction is completed, it must have gone through two or more hands. 7. _ Staff of firms and companies must be transferred from one unit to the other, within a short time, say 1% to 2 years and without them knowing their next department prior to the transfer. 8. Passwords and other security measures in computers should be changed at intervals.9 Restriction of computer users to their particular operations, thereby disallowing unnecessary accesses to computer systems Crucial Role of Computers in Medicine The health care field has gone through a revolution after computers have been introduced in our society. Uses of computer in the medical field has been immense. Computers have been integrated with almost all medical technologies to improve accuracy in results. Big hospitals require computer systems to maintain database of patient records. This has lessened the burden of paper management. Some uses of computers in hospitals include maintaining staff attendance records, medical records recording of incoming and outgoing timings of staff, computerized accounting and managing records of patient and associated doctors The use of computers in medicine has gained more significance as heartbeat rate, pulse rates all can be checked on special graphs on monitor screen Internet technology has made it easier to exchange information, news and reports about latest medical development all across the globe. Medical imaging has grown to become an extremely important aspect of medical diagnosis. By using techniques to create body images of even the most complex structures in the body, scientists have made it easier to treat ailments. Web conferencing has made it easier for expert doctors sitting in some distant country to guide and instruct junior surgeons. More so, even while operation, many senior doctors can guide junior doctors. These are some of the amazing uses of computers in hospital set ups. All surgical procedures are recorded in small cameras (some even installed in the medical equipment) so that the process of surgery can be learned better and improved. Nowadays, even computer counseling is possible owing to extensive use of computers. CHAPTER FIVE INTERNET Brief History of InternetEES A collection of interconnected networks is called an Internet. In the mid 1960's, at the height of the cold war, the Department Of Defense (DoD) in the United States wanted a command and control network that could survive a nuclear war. Traditional circuit-switched telephone networks were considered too vulnerable, since the loss of one line or switch would certainly terminate all conversations using them and might even partition the network. 10 solve this problem, DoD turned to its research arm, ARPA(Advanced Research Projects Agency). The Internet was then started as a wide area; packet switching network called ARPANET. The idea behind the goal was to allow a large community of users to share the resources that were available on the computers. The ARPANET provided this service by connecting hosts and terminal servers into a network. The network started with four hosts located at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of California at Santo Barbara (UCSB), Stanford Research Institute (SRI) and the University of Utah; Internet is the biggest computer network in the world. It connects users all over the world, and reduces the whole world to a village that is what brought about the term global village. Internet uses the TCP/IP protocol to link government institutions, universities, secondary schools, commercial firms, military institutions and research laboratories. This computer network is without doubt one of the most important achievement of the last century. Many users access Internet via commercial service providers such as American on-line, CompuServe, and many others that become active every month all over the world. In order for us to get the most out of the available resources of the Internet, we must get familiar with some basic concepts. Every host connect to the Internet has a unique numerical address, much like a telephone number. But these are hard to remember and it is easier to give each host a name that has some structure and let a machine do the conversion from the meaningful name to the numeric address. This service is performed by the DNS-Domain Name System. Many networks exist in the world, often with different hardware and software. People connected to one network often want to communicate with people attached to a different one. This desire requires connecting together different and frequently incompatible networks, sometimes by using machines called Gateways to make the connection and provide the necessary translation, both in terms of hardware and software. Services that the Internet offers This section presents the services rendered by the Internet. (1) TelnetThe terminal emulation protocol allows users to connect to a remote host and run programs on it. You must have authority to access a file before you can use Telnet It provides the users with the ability to connect to a computer in the Internet and act as local user in the remote server, but a lot of public services (Archie, gopher, e.t.c) are accessible via telnet without the need of being registered in the remote machine. The format for the telnet protocol is: Telnet host (Telnet IBM 306A- Name of machine) Where host is either the name of the machine one wishes to use or its ‘numerical address, also known as IP address (2) FTP File Transfer Protocol File transfer protocols is used to transfer files between any pair of machine connected to the internet. These protocols can also be used to transfer the file that contains the directory listing of the remote machine. The type of the file can be BIINARY, as is the case for programs, or ASCII or EBCIDC for unformatted text. The local machine must provide the remote server with an identification of the account that is being used as well as a password, some machines allow the user to use an account called anonymous or tip using it as a password or their e-mail address. The FTP protocol also belongs to the group of TCP/IP protocols. The FTP protocol is used to transfer files without the need of having an account on that server (anonymous service only). Since there are a lot of FTP servers around, finding the tile that we are looking for is not an easy task. This problem has been solved by a group led by peter Deutsch then at McGill University, now at Bunyip, who devised a program, called ARCHIE server around the world and they periodically exchange information about the locations; of the files. (3.) Mail Electronic Mail: it allows the exchange of text messages between users throughout the world. It uses the SMTP protocol (Simple Mail Transference Protocol) from the TCP/IP protocols suite. It tries to establish a direct connection in order to send the e-mail message, if the connection cannot be established it saves the message in a file and at a later time tries again This method makes for a highly reliable service SMTP does not acknowledge the reception of e-mail messages. The e- mail service is a fast and efficient way to exchange information amongst more than 40 million users in the world. Internet delivers email to all these users using Domain Name System (DNS) which is a hierarchical method that combines geographic and organizational data to identify a host. (4.) TalkIt is an interactive communication service that allows two users to engage in an on-line "conversation" screen to screen from different computers. While in a talk session the computer screen splits in half forming two windows, one of the windows displays the characters being sent, while the other shows the one being received. Here before you use this, you must have informed the other party that he should log on at a particular time. (5.) News There are two ways to participate in discussion groups over the internet: one is by means of Usenet Newsgroups, and the other is using mailing lists (also called mail reflectors). Both of them have the capability to create large communities of users that share a special interest in a particular subject. Usenet (User Network) is a public network made up of thousands of newsgroup and organized by topics. Although its origin is outside the internet, nowadays is one of the milestones. The News, as are informally called, use the NNTP protocol (Network New Transport Protocol) which is part of the TCP/IP stack of pro to cols and described how the messages from the different news groups are exchanged between collaborating servers. In order to be able to read message from a newsgroup an NNTP reader is needed as well as access to an NNTP server. The newsgroups are organized by categorized such as: misc (miscellaneous), soc (social activities), talk (political discussion)sci (science and technology), rec (recreational), comp (computers) and flews (general information about Usenet news) The users can browse through the different news groups available, reading messages, replying to them or posting new ones if they wish. E-mail lists or mail reflectors offer the same opportunities to the user; the main difference is that users must subscribe to this service. After subscribing to a list of interest every message sent to it will be automatically sent to each of the subscribers. (6) Web: The World Wide Web is a network of severs that use hypertext to establish a link and to access files, often with lavish graphics. It is currently the most popular service information exchange in the internet. When we have a web server that means other servers can access it. A lot of web sites are even capable of supporting video and audio. The WWW was born at CERN (European Laboratory of Particle Physics) and it uses hypertext to link pieces of information that can be in any part of the network. To access the information available on the Web it is necessary to have a Web browser. The most popular browsers available at the moment are Netscape, Internet Explorer and Mosaic. Any of these browsers will allow access to services like Gopher and FTP, and even e-mail.Mosaic was created at the National Centre for Super Computing applications at Illinois University and lets users navigate through the internet using a very comfortable graphical windows interface. The other browsers are refinements of mosaic. What makes the WWW pages so amazing is that the hyperlinks that are in them can take us to another document that can be in a server anywhere in the world. A lot of businesses have WWW pages in the internet, providing an excellent way to meet the interests of vendors and buyers alike. (7) Gopher It is a service offered in the internet that allows the user to search and retrieve information in a user - friendly way. Gopher is a search tool developed at the University of Minnesota that shows the information in a series of hierarchical menus, kind of like the table of contents in a book. The Gopher servers are limited to text display whereas the WWW pages can publish text, graphics, and video. But in order to be able, to access the web one need to have a full Internet connection with least 14400 bps of bandwidth and a powerful machine with graphic capabilities. While using Gopher, we do not need the mouse and a slow speed connection to Internet makes do. When we selects a specific topic - using Gopher we jump from one link to another. The Gopher servers have a lot of useful information. In order to obtain more information about the 3,000 plus Gopher servers available at this time the users should visit the Gopher Server University of Minnesota. The way to access this service is through client software installed on the local machine. Several sites offer public Gopher clients that are accessible through telnet. (8) Archie It is used to locate files that are stored in FTP servers. It is a database with information and servers that offer anonymous FTP services. Archie servers can be accessed through telnet using as a login the name "Archie". Two of the most popular Archie servers around are the Taiwan Archie. telnet archie. ncu. edu. tw, and the SuraNet Archie: tenet archie suranet. The different Archie servers communicate with each other and therefore share essentially the same information (9) Veronica (Very Easy Rodent-Oriented Netwide Index to Computerized Archives) - a search tool similar to Archie with the difference that VERONICA looks for text found in Gopher menus. This may sound as a small domain, but since there are Gopher servers that include e-mail listings, newsgroups, and more, the results of a search using VERONICA can be amazingly ample. The usual way to access VERONICA is by selecting the service from one of the menus is a Gopher server, by doing this. a small. dialogue box will appea,r asking forgeese eeeeereeeeeeaeeas the keyword we are looking for. Afterwards we-will see another menu that displays related articles as the result of the search, from this list we select a site that has-the information we are looking for. (10) WAIS: (Wide Area Information Server) This software is used to index long text files found on servers. On the client wais searches and retrieves files in databases. Just like in Gopher, it allows the users to access all kind of information without worrying about where it is. One way to access this service is to log on through telnet to nnsc. nsf net using “wais" as a login. Wais offer the capability to refine our search using as a model one of the retrieved documents but this means that the documents have to be processed before being included in a wais server. It should be noted that, while the World Wide Web is by far the most popular and useful means of accessing information on the net, superseding every other service, it is also a bandwidth hogger, For users with limited bandwidth, gopher and ftp are very valuable, but they still need interactive access. Most of the services provided by Gopher, Archie, and ftp can also be accessed Rye-mail. This is of paramount Importance for people who do not enjoy a direct connection to the Internet (11) Internet Telephone Internet telephone means the transport of telephone calls over the internet instead of public switched telephone networks. Currently, telephony offers cheaper call prices with less quality of service than public switched networks. The possibility of voice communications travelling over the Internet rather than the PSTN first became a reality early in 1995: At the moment, it seems that Internet Telephony will revolutionize voice calls business and technology used to transport voice calls. The current development on Telecommunications industry is changing the use of telecommunications networks remarkably. People use telephone lines more and more for data transfer instead of ordinary voice calls. The primary technical difference between the Internet and the PSTN is their switching architectures. The Internet dynamic routing based on non- geographic addressing versus the PSTN that uses static switching based on geographic telephone numbering which bond uses static switching based on geographic telephone numbering. Furthermore, the Internet's “intelligence” is very much decentralized, or distributed, versus the PSTN which bundles transport and applications resulting in the mediums intelligence residing at central points in the network. PSTN is a circuit switched network. It dedicates a fixed amount of bandwidth for each conversation and thus quality is guaranteed. When the caller places a typical voice call, he picks up the phone and hears the dial tone. The central office will establish the connection, and then the caller and callee can discuss with each other| FC lr CMT. When the caller places Internet telephony call. he picks up the phone and hears dial tone from the private branch exchange (PBX) if one is available. Then he dials a number, which is forwarded to the nearest Intemet telephony’ gateway located between the PBX and a TCP/IP network. The Internet telephony gateway finds a route through the internet that reaches the called number. Then the call is established. The Internet telephony gateway modulates voice into IP packets and sends them on their way over the TCP/IP network as if they were typical data packets. Upon receiving the IP encoded voice packets, the remote IP telephony gateway reassembles them into analogue signal to the callee through the PBX (12) E-Commerce Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is already a reality. It is attractive because it reduces cost of ding business Sending a few bytes of data over the network is cheaper, faster and more convenient than sending a messenger or even making a phone call. Unfortunately. e-commerce has suffered from the fact that there are no readily available secure means of payment for the goods and services ordered for. Payment has been made by credit card whereby customer would have to provide credit card details using e-mail. However, given the open structure of the Internet. there is a general unwillingness to make personal credit card details available in this form because both buyer and the seller are exposed to fraud or nefarious third parties. Also the emergence of the many businesses on the Intemet offering services to customers has caused the need for a secure online payment system. Furthermore, there is a lot of trust involved in buying goods or services in the virtual world of e-commerce. You do not just trust that the quality of the goods or services will be satisfactory; you may also have to trust that the quality of the goods or services will be satisfactory; you may also have to trust that you will even receive them. The question of trust is very important in the virtual world than in the real world. This is because the two parties are not in the same place, and hence one can not depend on things like physical proximity, hand-shakes and body signals. In addition, the other party may be in another country or even in cyberspace, hence transaction might not be subject to the laws of the country or state at all CHAPTER SIX COMMUNICATIONCommunication major dimensions scheme Interactional Model of Communication Berlo's Sender-Message-Channel-Receiver Model of Communication Transactional Model of Communication Communication code schemeLinear Communication Model The first major model for communication was introduced by Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver for Bell Laboratories in 1949. The original model was designed to mirror the functioning of radio and telephone technologies. Their initial model consisted of three primary parts: sender, channel, and receiver. The sender was the part of a telephone a person spoke into, the channel was the telephone itself, and the receiver was the part of the phone where one could hear the other person. Shannon and Weaver also recognized that often there is static that interferes with one listening to a telephone conversation, which they deemed noise In a simple model, often referred to as the transmission model or standard view of communication, information or content (e.g. a message in natural language) is sent in some form (as spoken language) from an emisor/ sender/ encoder to a destination/ receiver/ decoder. This common conception of communication simply views communication as a means of sending and receiving information. The strengths of this model are simplicity, generality, and quantifiability. Social scientists Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver structured this model based on the following elements: 1 An information source, which produces a message. 2. A transmitter, which encodes the message into signals 3. A channel, to which signals are adapted for transmission 4. Areceiver, which 'decodes' (reconstructs) the message from the signal. 5. A destination, where the message arrives. Shannon and Weaver argued that there were three levels of problems for communication within this theory. The technical problem: how accurately can the message be transmitted? The semantic problem: how precisely is the meaning ‘conveyed’? The effectiveness problem: how effectively does the received meaning affect behavior? Daniel Chandler critiques the transmission model by stating: It assumes communicators are isolated individuals. No allowance for differing purposes. No allowance for differing interpretations. No allowance for unequal power relations. No allowance for situational contexts. In 1960, David Berlo expanded on Shannon and Weaver's (1949) linear model of communication and created the SMCR Model of Communication. The Sender-Message-Channel-Receiver Model of communication separated the model into clear parts and has been expanded upon by other scholars.Communication is usually described along a few major dimensions: Message (what type of things are communicated), source / emisor / sender / encoder (by whom), form (in which form), channel (through which medium), destination / receiver / target / decoder (to whom), and Receiver. Wilbur Schram (1954) also indicated that we should also examine the impact that a message has (both desired and undesired) on the target of the message. Between parties, communication includes acts that confer knowledge and experiences, give advice and commands, and ask questions. These acts may take many forms, in one of the various manners of communication. The form depends on the abilities of the group communicating. Together, communication content and form make messages that are sent towards a destination. The target can be oneself, another person or being, another entity (such as a corporation or group of beings). Communication can be seen as processes of information transmission governed by three levels of semiotic rules: 1 Pragmatic (concerned with the relations between signs/expressions and their users) 2. Semantic (study of relationships between signs and symbols and what they represent) and 3. Syntactic (formal properties of signs and symbols) Therefore, communication is social interaction where at least two interacting agents share a common set of signs and a common set of semiotic rules. This commonly held rule in some sense ignores autocommunication, including intrapersonal communication via diaries or self-talk, both secondary phenomena that followed the primary acquisition of communicative competences within social interactions In light of these weaknesses, Barnlund (2008) proposed a transactional model of communication. The basic premise of the transactional model of communication is that individuals are simultaneously engaging in the sending and receiving of messages. In a slightly more complex form a sender and a receiver are linked reciprocally. This second attitude of communication, referred to as the constitutive model or constructionist view, focuses on how an individual communicates as the determining factor of the way the message will be interpreted. Communication is viewed as a conduit; a passage in which information travels from one individual to another and this information becomes separate from the communication itself. A particular instance of communication is called a speech act. The sender's personal filters and the receiver's personal filters may vary depending upon different regional traditions, cultures, or gender; which may alter the intended meaning of message contents. In the presence of “communication noise" on the transmission channel (air, in this case), reception and decoding of content may be faulty, and thus the speech act may not achieve the desired effect. One problem with this encode-transmit-receive-decode model is that theprocesses of encoding and decoding imply that the sender and receiver each possess something that functions as a codebook, and that these two code books are, at the very least, similar if not identical. Although something like code books is implied by the model, they are nowhere represented in the model, which creates many conceptual difficulties. Theories of coregulation describe communication as a creative and dynamic continuous process, rather than a discrete exchange of information. Canadian media scholar Harold Innis had the theory that people use different types of media to communicate and which one they choose to use will offer different possibilities for the shape and durability of society (Wark, McKenzie 1997). His famous example of this is using ancient Egypt and looking at the ways they built themselves out of media with very different properties stone and papyrus. Papyrus is what he called "Space Binding’. it made possible the transmission of written orders across space, empires and enables the waging of distant military campaigns and colonial administration. The other is stone and 'Time Binding’, through the construction of temples and the pyramids can sustain their authority generation to generation, through this media they can change and shape communication in their society (Wark, McKenzie 1997).