1 Data processing and information (3)
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1.
Evaluate the quality of the following online source for research into the impact of artificial intelligence on the job market: a blog post from a personal website by someone claiming to be an AI expert. Consider accuracy, relevance, age, detail, and completeness in your evaluation.
The quality of this online source is likely to be low. Accuracy is a major concern as the author's credentials are questionable – a personal blog lacks the rigorous fact-checking processes of established institutions or academic publications. Relevance might be present, as the blog post could discuss the topic, but its depth and focus are uncertain. Age is a factor; the post could be outdated, especially given the rapid advancements in AI. Detail may be lacking, potentially offering superficial analysis rather than in-depth exploration. Finally, completeness is unlikely; a blog post is unlikely to provide a comprehensive overview of the topic, potentially omitting crucial perspectives or data.
Therefore, this source should be treated with extreme caution and its information cross-referenced with more reliable sources such as academic journals, reputable news outlets, or reports from recognised research institutions.
2.
Describe the key differences between symmetric and asymmetric encryption methods. In your answer, include details of key management, speed, and typical applications for each type of encryption.
Symmetric Encryption: Symmetric encryption uses the same key for both encryption and decryption. This makes it significantly faster than asymmetric encryption. Key management is a major challenge, as both the sender and receiver must have a copy of the secret key. Typical applications include encrypting large amounts of data, such as file encryption (e.g., AES, DES) and securing data in transit (e.g., TLS/SSL for secure web browsing). The speed advantage makes it suitable for high-volume data processing.
Asymmetric Encryption: Asymmetric encryption uses a pair of keys: a public key for encryption and a private key for decryption. The public key can be freely distributed, while the private key must be kept secret. This solves the key distribution problem of symmetric encryption. Key management is simpler as only the private key needs to be protected. Typical applications include digital signatures (verifying the authenticity of a message), secure key exchange (e.g., RSA key exchange), and encrypting small amounts of data like passwords. However, it is considerably slower than symmetric encryption.
Here's a table summarizing the key differences:
Encryption/Decryption Key | Symmetric: Single key | Speed | Fast | Key Management | Complex (requires secure key exchange) | Typical Uses | File encryption, data in transit (TLS/SSL) |
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3.
A data entry clerk has entered a batch of customer details into a database. Describe three different verification methods that could be used to check for errors in the data. For each method, explain how it works and what types of errors it is best suited to detect.
Here are three verification methods:
- Visual Checking: This involves manually reviewing the entered data against the original source document (e.g., a paper form or a scanned image). The clerk compares each field in the database entry with the corresponding information on the source document.
- How it works: The clerk systematically goes through each record, comparing values.
- Errors detected: This is effective for detecting simple transcription errors (e.g., a transposed number, a misspelled name). It's also good for identifying missing data if a field is absent from the source.
- Limitations: It's time-consuming and prone to human error, especially with large datasets. It's also not effective for detecting errors in data format (e.g., a date entered in the wrong format).
- Double Entry: This involves having a second person independently enter the same data into the database. The two entries are then compared.
- How it works: Two individuals enter the data separately. A reconciliation process is used to identify discrepancies.
- Errors detected: This is highly effective for detecting a wide range of errors, including transcription errors, data entry mistakes, and even errors introduced by software glitches.
- Limitations: It's expensive (requires two people) and time-consuming. It doesn't detect errors that both individuals make identically. Requires a robust reconciliation process.
- Parity Check: This is a simple error detection technique used to verify the integrity of data transmitted or stored in a binary format. It involves adding an extra bit (the parity bit) to the data. The parity bit is set to either 0 or 1 to ensure that the total number of 1s in the data (including the parity bit) is either even (even parity) or odd (odd parity).
- How it works: A parity bit is calculated based on the data bits. The parity bit is appended to the data. Upon retrieval, the parity bit is recalculated and compared to the received parity bit. If they don't match, an error is detected.
- Errors detected: Parity checks are effective for detecting single-bit errors. They are not effective for detecting multiple-bit errors.
- Limitations: Only detects single-bit errors. Doesn't detect errors that result in an even/odd number of bit flips.