The life at Tumaini University

This is Tumaini University, here we ware having a hot discussion outside the class. Actually I have satisfied with this life though it is somehow it is so tough comparing with what I am used to be in the past two years.
Here at Tumaini have many thing to proud of concerning our academic, we have a library with enough facilities, we have internet access most of the time so it is very easy to get materias of any king even if not available in the library.

-REAL TIME GRAPHICS AND RENDERING:

Introduction
Computer graphics goes to the very early ages of the 1960s the time when computer technology gaining force t stand onto its feet. Actually this topic deals with graphics, the first program which ever utilized a complete graphical user interface. For the computer animation festival features a section focused entirely on real time computer graphics.

Definitions of some basic terms in the field:
In this field of real time rendering, there are some terms which we have to be familiar with.
ü Raster images: Raster images also known as Bitmap is a way of representing digital images. These are the images which can change/loose its quality when zoomed.
ü Vector images: these are the images that are created using the mathematical algorithms and geometric function to draw a picture. This image defines points and the paths that connect them to form a digital representation of image.
ü Computer Graphics: Computer graphics refers to any picture or series of pictures that is generated with the aid of computer.
ü Modeling: The process of creating any image alike as the actual thing. Model is the image created which look like the actual thing.
ü Texturing: The process of building a surface detail and indicating how that surface will to light. All surfaces can be described by their color, shining ness etc.
ü Animation: Is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork.
However, there are some steps to follow in order to make computer graphics designing like pre-designing, modeling, texturing, animation and rendering.

What is real time graphics?
Real time graphics refers to computer graphics that signifies reality and rendering is the final process of creating the actual 2-D image or animation from the prepared scene. This can be compared to taking a photo or filming the scene after the setup is finished in real life.

Important concepts and technologies applied in the field.
This technology is used in several areas; ray tracing the algorithm of tracing every ray of light starting from the viewer’s perspective back into the 3-D scene to the object. Also used in radiosity; taking of x-rays, in open graphics library and in Microsoft (Direct).

With whom and where is this field applied?
This technology is mainly applied in creating movies where CG characters are designed and included in the movies. Also this technology is applied in simulation where Computer graphics are used and tested. Also applied in game industries such as playstation, dreamcast Xbox, etc.

Advantages and Disadvantages
It helps in entertainment industries film designing, games etc. Also used in engineering, medical industries, architectural etc.
However there are some advantages including cost, taking long time to prepare and also requires computers which are powerful in terms of RAM, and Processor Speed.

PROGRAM/SOFT WARE VISUALIZATION

PROGRAM/SOFT WARE VISUALIZATION
Introduction:
The program/software visualization, I will start defining each term independently and then defining them as a whole. By starting with program is a set of execution instructions that solves a problem or a difficult. Visualization is the making visible or to make things observable to the mind or imagination. By combining the two terms now we have the term program/software engineering which consists of producing animated views of program to be executed.

Concept of program/software visualization
There are basically two types of program/software visualization; visualization of a single component which involves the source code and quality defects which is normally occurs during the software development and maintenance activities. Another thing is visualization of the whole system, this is very important so as to investigate the architecture or to apply or visual analytics techniques for defect discovery.

This program/software visualization was aiming to achieve the goals of systematic creation of visual representations. Also it binds data to representations that can be recognized e.g. visual, auditory and tactile and specification of user explanations.

Importance of program/software visualization
The program/software visualization helps in improving performance, support visible more comprehensible. It helps in converting data into graphic or graphic presentation and moreover it helps the programmers to understand program behavior and code better good example is jeliot, you can view the codes you have prepared how they work

Problems
The program/software visualization is accompanied by some sort of problems including limited screen space where it very difficult to observe how the codes are executed. Also the problem of unfavorable condition or circumstances which does not favor the codes to run in that particular computer is still a problem. One more thing is the aspect of behavior to be visualized must be identified.

Conclusion
Although program/software visualization have got some problems but still we need it in our especially the programmers which will help in improving performance of programs created. It helps in calculating and reducing resource utilization as well as evaluating algorithms in complete programs and real data. Also it tells that in order to perform a good program, some principles should be followed so that the codes can easily mapped into visible language.

FINGERPRINT RECOGNITION

Introduction:
Fingerprint is the physical identification which based on the appearance. This is the one way of recognizing human beings based on the physical features of the fingers. This fingerprint is one of the most convenient and trustfully than any other human identification.

Concept of fingerprint recognition
Fingerprints are the result of minute ridges and valleys found on the hand of every person/human being left over on any surface with which the finger comes on contact with under a slightly pressure. This pressure should be at a certain amount which is measurable in such a way that it does not loose the sign which actually what is needed. Fingerprint recognition refers to the automated method of verifying two or more human fingerprints. Each human being have his/her own fingerprint so, it is very easy to identify one among many people

Classification of fingerprints
Classification of human fingerprints has been classified into three basic patterns; loop, whorls and arches. In the loop it starts side and goes around to the end on the same side. Here there are two focal points: the core and the delta. During recording fingerprint, these two parts are very important and should be completely

The whorls starts in the middle and deeps getting bigger and at this whorl patterns are having two or more deltas. During recognizing/recording all deltas and the areas between them must be recorded as well.

The arch is a shape that starts on one side and ends on the other side, like a hill and here there is no delta or core. Also this part must be fully recorded so that the individual characteristics can be distinguished.

Acquisition of fingerprint Images
Acquisition of fingerprint images is performed by two techniques; off line sensing and live scan sensing. In the off sensing fingerprint images is performed by sing the black ink and then the subject finger is pressed against a paper card. The card is scanned by using and producing the final digital image.

Live scan sensing is the collection of digital image by direct sensing the finger surface with an electronic fingerprint scanner. Here no ink used, the finger is only pressed against the flat surface of the scanner and the sensor capture the digital image of the fingerprint pattern. This method is simple and requires little user training.

Why using fingerprint?
Since there is no individual with the same fingerprint, it reduces the chance of fraud. Also the fingerprint can’t be lost and it is something unique to every person so it can be applied to modern computers, cars, automatic doors etc. However the recognition based on fingerprint is relatively cheap comparing to other biometric systems.
Conclusion
Though everything has got some failures, but still fingerprint is very important because it uniquely identify person accurately than any other technique. By using the fingerprint, no two individuals will have identical fingerprints even if they are the identical twins.

African Path Village - Connecting African Culture

African Path Village - Connecting African Culture

Database Management System (DBMS) ProjectSQL SELECT Statement

Project on Database Management System(DBMS)
This week the task which is facing me and my group in general is to prepare a University website where by the students who want to apply to the University can apply online. Here the students are required to put their personal information, academic background/information, employment information incase there is and also the program/course the applicant applying for.

The students in our class have prepared different topic in this project for example the University library where the student can read (only registered) have the access to read the books anywhere. Here the students will be required to put his/her user name which already given and the admission number and all these should be accompanied with the password for security purposes. Other group discuss on Tanzanian Education Network and other group their project is based in Registration Process in Secondary School.

USABILITY ENGINEERING AND HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION:

Introduction:
This Topic was presented by Mr. Innocent Kihaka and Mr. Side S. Side. Actually to my opinions I can say it was the best presentation among the best presentations which have already presented.
Before going deeper to this topic let us have a look on some important terminologies which used in this topic which might confuse sometimes if not used well.
Usability; This usability means that something can be very easy to use but not necessary to be usefully. It is normally user friendly.
Usefulness; Usefulness means that something is very useful but it is very difficult to use i.e. not user friendly.

Why this UE and HCI?
Many years ago people were struggling on how to improve the efficient of the machine. The research made at that time showed that in order the efficient of the machine the computer users were diverse and there was a need of human interactive system. Over some years the ICT has developed into discipline/field in its own right.

By so doing they were intending to increase the productivity as its work force is more productive. Also decreases training and supportive costs as well as increasing the customer satisfaction and decreases technophobia. However they succeed to some extent since they reduces disastrous and fatal errors in the system which are dangerous to human life.

In fact they advanced a lot in designing products. They were having to approaches of designing products; the Product Centered Design and the User Centered Design. The product centered design is the means of producing products without caring the need of the user and the user centered design is the design by which the designing process usually considering the needs of the user. This style of designing proved to be efficient than the product centered. Here the user used to command the machine to do what the user needs and not the user do what the machine needs.

The user centered approach proved to have the following advantages based on the user; It is easy to learn and to use as well (Learn ability), it is supportive to products in carrying out a certain task (efficiency), also it is easy to memorize how the system is used once it has been learned. In addition to that, the user centered approach is safe and protecting the user from dangerous undesirable situations, it is entertaining and the most important thing is that it motivates by encouraging the user to continue working with it.

Difficulties of the User Centered Approach;
Since the user centered approach requires the suggestions from users, it is difficult to get the clear information especially from unskilled people. Also it needs large amount of in of fund in developing new products, very difficult to build a system which is suitable for all types of users and their needs.

UE and HCI are very important to human life especially in the world of today whereby computers are the great tool for facilitating the human work. In order to decrease the digital divide to our societies, computer products should be decreased the cost but still meet the intended quality. Also they should be made in such a way that they can be used in different groups of people no matter their level of professional i.e. layman can use them effectively.

EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY

EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY
Well, it very nice presentation given by Mr. Bahati Sanga on Friday April 25, 2009 concerning education technology. This task were to be done by Mr Sanga and Austin, unfortunately Mr. Austin was having some excuse so he was not around.

Introduction:
Education technology is the way of identifying, solving and facilitating learning process by using the available resources/tools. The education technology should not be mixed with technological education. In the education, the main goal is to teach the knowledge and techniques on developing technologically. These two things are quite different; technological education is the situation where by education is used to build up tools for education like machines etc.

Education technology has got so many objectives but here I am going to site to only some of them which are the most important in the human life and in the learning process. The first important thing which should be noted down first is to analyze the characteristics of the learner. That is some learners need to be given the overview of the content and then start finding the good things within and others want to follow the sequence of the topic from the beginning up to the end.

The second thing is to evaluate the learner's performance in terms of achieving educational objectives. The teacher as the facilitator should evaluate the performance so that he/she can know where the point was not clear to the learners and also to know if they can utilize the knowledge given in their daily life.

There are about three aspects which should be considered in the education technology;
There should be an input which involves the provision skills of teaching and awareness of teaching and training methods.

Another thing is a process whereby it generates situation for presenting the subject matter systematically. Here it is the ability of using the available tools for acquiring the knowledge for example projectors, computers etc.

The last thing which is obviously is the output; here it includes mainly the terminal behaviour of the activities which have been done and how the learner has been changed. It clarifies on how the objectives have been reached through the content. The learners should show the changes after learning certain content.

Conclusion:
Education technology is very important in our life especially in the developing countries. For example by considering the computers in the learning process it helps the learners to gain different skills from around the world rather than sticking to what the teacher teaches.

Moreover this should be kept seriously since in case used wrongly can totally spoil the learners and increase the number of failures/unskilled people in the society.

IMAGE COMPRESSION:

Introduction:
The image taken by the normal digital camera is 100megabites. This size is very big in case if you want to use these images in the website or even attaching through the email. By introducing the knowledge of image compression these things is very possible and easy.

By considering the knowledge given by Mr. Justine Ngimba and Zuwena Mgova on Monday 20th/April/2009 through their class presentation, at least most of us now know we have knowledge of image compression. Their presentation was very good and attractive since they were showing on how to compress the larger images to smaller images of different sizes.

The image compression is the process of reducing the size of the data files from large files to smaller files without losing the information. This image compression is very important in since it makes quick transferring of images through the network, also serves the space in the storage devices e.g. hard disk and movable storage devices and also it serves time in the process of image downloading and uploading.

There are different types of image formats depends on the intended use of the image. These image formats includes;

TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) GIF (Graphical Interchange Format) PNG (Portable network graphics) BMP (Bitmap). As IT professionals we have to be familiar with all these types of images so that we can work with any kind of images without facing any difficulties. Something we have to bear in mind is that image compression can only be done in the original image and not the compressed one and also do not save to the new format if you think you need to go on compressing image.

Image compression is very important but still there are some disturbances caused by this image compression. For example reducing the reliability of the image records as a result of losing some useful data, reduction of the information i.e. one can’t understand some of the contents. Also image compression result in destruction of image properties and during processing it takes a long time (time consuming).


Conclusion:By using image compression we can easily upload and download image files. Also it is possible to attach many images in the emails without facing any difficulties during uploading and downloading.

DATA MINING

AIntroduction: very interesting topic was introduced as the presentation work by Mr. Remmy Kaaro together with Mr. Joshua Shendu. The topic was all about knowledge discovery. They explained a lot about how to extract hidden information from different resources. They actually gave a good presentation which was understandable to us.

By definition, data mining is the process of extracting and analyzing large amounts of information in order to find important data from different hidden sources as well as summarizing them into simple information that can be identified easily.

They explained several forms of data mining; Relation data mining, text mining, Audio mining, image data mining, web data mining and video data mining. All these were showing on how to extract the data from many different sources.

There are specifically three stages of data mining which are;Exploration:This stage usually starts with data preparation which involves cleaning data and data transformation.Model building and validation:This stage involves considering various models and choosing the best one based on their predictive performance.Deployment:This is the last stage which organizes and presents the knowledge gained in a way that the customer can use it, usually involves the use of the model selected as best in the previous stage and applying it to new data in order to generate predictions or estimates of the expected outcomes.

There are several advantages of this data mining; here are some of themIn banking: The bank analyzes the information and it can advertise certain products to one group while advertising different products to another group.Marking, researchers and reinforcement.

Regarding of the advantages of data mining still there are some disadvantages which is very bad incase the technology used wrongly. We have:Security issues; It needs the high quality security any leakage of information can cause problems.Misuse of information; if happens the information to leak, then it can be used sometimes in criminal matters and also use the information to harm other people because of their wealth records. Privacy issues; there are some issues which people do not want them to be known as public issues so the information should be kept hidden always.

Conclusion:Data mining is just a better solution and sometimes can act as a cure for certain types of problems in the daily life of human being.

SPEAKER RECOGNITION

SPEAKER RECOGNITIO is the human identity system based on the voice analysis. Human being is able to identify someone simply by his/her voice. Within few seconds of speech it can be quite enough to identify the voice which is familiar with.

Speaker Recognition can be simply defined as automatic recognizing who is speaking based on his/her voice. Here the machine is treated in such a way that it can understand the voice of one people or a certain group of people and being able to identify them from any other people.

There are mainly two classes of speaker recognition which are very often used.
The first one is “Speaker Verification”. This speaker verification is the process of accepting or rejecting the voice of the user/speaker, this is the simpler one since the machine/computer is just verifies the single user if he/she is the correct user.

The second is the “Speaker Identification”. This speaker identification is the process of identifying a single people among a group of “n” people. This process is somehow complicated since the machine is required to identify which registered user provides given information at that time. It means that there are multiple users who have been registered to that machine so each should be identified and being accepted and use the machine.

There are several advantages of having this knowledge of speaker recognition, but here I am going to site on the most three important.
Speaker recognition for security purposes; for keeping our machine safe we have to put some restriction in such a way that only permitted users will have the access to the machine and not otherwise. This is much better comparing with the use of password and PIN which can easily get lost and sometimes people can still and get access to the machine easily something which is very hard for the case of voice recognition.

The speaker recognition also helps much in control of the restricted services such as banking by telephone, information services and also in voice dialing together with security control of confidential information whereby the required identification is voice. Another thing which is very important in the speaker recognition is in the military services where the machine can be commanded only by the voice of the commander by only talking into the microphone for example “shoot” then the machine start shooting. So this technique of speaker recognition can make people to do multiple works at a time.

The mechanisms on how this system works is somehow complicated since it involves the complex mathematics. But anyway I am going to give just a brief on how the system works. Actually the speaker speaks to the microphone and then the voice is converted to analogy speech signals which is then converted to digital signals and stored as binary words. So the machine can simply identify voice of a speaker by comparing the stored voice and the current voice already in the machine.

Though the speaker recognition system seems to be a better solution for the case of security purposes but still there are some failures which normally people are facing. Most people are facing many problem in this technology, but the three of them are the most common, first is failing to determine the correct unit of recognition i.e. exactly words/phrase, the second is the boundaries of these units for example the voice pitch-high/low and pronunciation of words. The third one is variation in units of speech whereby many people are failing to produce the same voice as the one used in the registration process.

Otherwise the speaker recognition technique is so good and it can improve the security of our properties.

AUTOMATIC ESSAY ASSESSMENT.

Automatic essay assessment;
Automatic essay assessment is the process of evaluating the essay work by using the electronic machine like computers. A computer itself have no ability to do all these instead there is a special software which is purposely for marking and evaluating essay work.
After some years of study, the researchers made a research on how they can improve and simplify the essay work so that the essay work can be marked accurately and being graded according to the nature of the work. So the researchers made a project which was able to measure the total number of words as well as the length of the essay.
The intentions of these researchers were lying on mainly four things; to avoid plagiarism, to improve marking consistency, to analyze learning outcome/evaluation and to determine the grade.
The first one was to avoid plagiarisms among the learners. Marking the essay work manually is quite difficult for the markers to identify if the work has been copied from somebody else or not. So the automatic essay assessment is the better solution in fighting with plagiarism.
The second importance of this automatic essay assessment is to improve the marking consistency. This helps both teachers and learners to be in the safe position i.e. for the case of teachers/markers no biers can be made to students for example giving different grades to the essays of the same quality. Also students should be very creative so as to avoid cheating which will lead them to the low grade. So this is the challenge to both students and teachers since the process looks the qualities of the student’s work and not comparison of the essay with others.
The third thing which is important is to make the evaluation, this automatic essay assessment automatically check the essay work, mark it and the fourth one is to provide the grades according to the nature of the essay given.
Although the automatic essay assessment has got many advantages, but still there are some failures which accompanied by this system. Well in some cases the system can lead into misunderstanding among the learners since if the teacher/marker of the essay work fails to analyze things to be checked during marking process the machine/ computer will produce grades which are irrelevant.
Lastly, the system can only be applicable to the connected people, which mean it can only be used in very few institutions simply because the system won’t work in stand alone computer, the computer should be connected to the internet.

CRYPTOGRAPHY.

Cryptography;This is the system of hiding texts. A science of encrypting and decrypting information in the form of text is the one so called cryptography. This topic is very important since it can be used in the security purposes for example in the provision of data confidentiality, integrity and electronic signatures.

The very interesting thing in this topic is about “Enigma”; this enigma is a type of cryptographic machine developed and used by Germany during the war especially in the World War II. The Germany military force used this machine to encrypt whatever the conversations they made with their troops so that no one else can understand whatever they were planning to do. By this technique they advanced a lot until the British scientist man Alan Touring came out with the machine which decrypted the codes made by this enigma machine.

In fact the discussion on this topic was good and it was very understandable to me. Since then I was able to know the common types of cryptography and the importance of them. There are several ways of classifying cryptography but in our discussion we sited on the two common types of cryptography based on number of keys employed for encrypting and decrypting namely “Secret key Cryptography” and the “Public Key Cryptography”.The secret key Cryptograph is the one which is common to us since the key used for encrypting is the same as the one used for decrypting for example in our daily life we use the same key for closing and opening things the same applied for this matter of locking and unlocking.

The interesting one is this is the public key cryptography were different keys are used for locking and unlocking the data. It is somehow difficult to make the imagination on how one key can be used for locking and another key used for unlocking data. In normal situation is difficult but for the case of computer it is quite easy. What is done here is that the data can be unlocked by a dedicated person only and no reply can be done since the key for unlocking can not be used for locking.

Although the cryptograph is very important to our life especially in the security purposes but there are some challenges which face the situation of hiding the data and information. Crackers are the worriers of the cryptograph, they tend to break the codes and read whatever is written. Also in other side to perform this thing it needs a skilled person whereby the connected people take the advantage.

Research Field in Computer Science.

Today I have started my Diary (Learning Review) on the Research Field of computer Science and I wish to finish it at the end of this semester i.e from today 16Th March 2009 up to around June 2009. I know that it is going to be a tough activity but I have to commit myself and consider this diary as my closest friend to which everything I do should be shared with my diary.

I promise to share with you all the points of view I got from different books and different authors which will lead me to improve my education level especially in this field of Computer Science. You! who viewing this blog I wish you will never laugh at me when I do foolish things, instead you will put a comment which will help me in correcting the mistakes I have made.

I will make sure that whatever I do is profitable to me and the majority who visit this blog. In this research I will base much in the part called "Speaker Recognition". From this speaker recognition you are expecting to have answered questions like "What is Speaker Recognition? Why this speaker recognition? Where to apply this thing? How to use this thing ? and other questions which will be answered as we proceed.

Computing with Society

Computing with Society
I decided to talk about Africa especially Tanzania because I know much about the culture of these people. I am real African, I was born in Africa and grown up in Africa in the very local village so I can explain much the difficulties the African societies are facing the this field of computing.We face these difficulties simply because of the low capital or fund which can help use to wake from the deep sleep we are now. In fact we are poor not only in capital but also in knowledge, I can say it is better to be poor in fund or capital rather than being poor in knowledge. You know in this African continent we have so many resources like minerals etc, but the problem is the proper utilization of the resources we have. Why this? I still asking myself.But may be to some extent you can have the answer, poor knowledge we have is the concrete reason and others then follows. Can you imagine that most of the African families study up to the university level without use a computer or even sometimes to see it? This is real wonderful! we are expecting these student to compete with those from Europe for example who starts using computers from the primary school. Automatically, we will be behind.

Why your married is so stubborn?

There is only one thing which can make your married to be staborn, can you guess what is it? I hope you are now discussing with your mind even together with your friends, but let me help you. Ohhh!....... I have forgoten, just wait till next time.....

Aaah, the thing which you are thinking of is a "TONGUE".

This tongue is a very small part of the human body but it can lead things to be in a difficult situation . From the tongue people are blessed or cursed. The tongue can bring success or failure.
Therefore the tongue is a single matchstick that can destroy a hundred tress in the forest. It is also like the small helm which controls the direction of a very huge ship.

For that reason, it is important for one to make a careful choice of one's words to avoid failure of toruble.

The marrital life is one area where a carful choice of words is important. This is the topic which I prefer today because many people are having some problems in their families without knowing the source of those problems. Now watch out.

As a life plant which needs much attention for its growth, marriage needs watering not by water but with sweet words.

Married people should remember the language they used during courtship and use sweet words which is what is pleasant to the ears. Many people forget this soon after marriege. Words like
"Darling! Sweet heart! You are my everything! Without you life is nothing. I love you from the bottom of my heart!"This might be a difficult exercise which could only be maintained at the time of courtship. Sometimes you had to be dramatic or poetic but it did not matter to you as long as it brought you succcess. But after your marriage your "sweet heart" has become a good for nothing woman. What is the reason?

It is advisable to be cautious before you blame men for changing titles of their wives and calling them nasty names because this treatment is determined by the love the spouses have for each other. The wives shouldn't relax and sit back after marriage, complacent that now, having discarded their maiden names, they are wearing nice wedding rings and have assumed new names reflective of their present respectable status.

Thank you for visiting my blog. Here is not the end it is to be continues.

NEW YEAR

Today I have something to share with you.

Well, I have been asking myself; why people do enjoy and selebrate very much during the end of the year (31 of December) and the begining of the new year (01 of January)?

Hear are some reasons;

• It is proudable to be among the very few people who selected to complete the year and at the same time to start a new year.
• In the new year normally every one asvance in one way or another i.e. those in schools they step foward, those workers they they get high grades and hence increase in salary.