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This article discusses PC reliability, one of the most pressing issues regarding computers. Nearly a quarter century after the introduction of the first IBM PC and the outset of the personal computer revolution, PCs have largely become commodities, with little differentiating one brand from another in terms of capability and performance. Most of today's software is similarly mature, having gone through many upgrades, with less opportunity for the introduction of groundbreaking capabilities. These days, what most differentiates one computer product from another is reliability--the hassle factor. The PC industry may be maturing, but computer products are still very much prone to glitches, bugs, security vulnerabilities, incompatibilities, premature failure and other problems.

This article investigates how computing discourses, including user guides, news articles, and advertisements, urged personal computer users in the 1970s and 1980s to preventively care for their devices. Through hygiene recommendations related to eating, drinking, and dusting, these discourses warned that computers' "health" depended upon humans. Importantly, they interpreted care as individual responsibility by putting the onus on users to behave properly. Within this frame, such texts described repairs as unfortunate medical interventions resulting from neglect. The piece argues that computing discourses have historically defined "care" and "repair" in opposition, as acts of doting prevention and undesirable intervention, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several crucial system design and deployment decisions, including workload management, sizing, capacity planning, and dynamic rule generation in dynamic systems such as computers, depend on predictive analysis of resource consumption. An analysis of the computer components' utilizations and their workloads is the best way to assess the performance of the computer's state. Especially, analyzing the particular or whole influence of components on another component gives more reliable information about the state of computer systems. There are many evaluation techniques proposed by researchers. The bulk of them have complicated metrics and parameters such as utilization, time, throughput, latency, delay, speed, frequency, and the percentage which are difficult to understand and use in the assessing process. According to these, we proposed a simplified evaluation method using components' utilization in percentage scale and its linguistic values. The use of the adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) model and fuzzy set theory offers fantastic prospects to realize use impact analyses. The purpose of the study is to examine the usage impact of memory, cache, storage, and bus on CPU performance using the Sugeno type and Mamdani type ANFIS models to determine the state of the computer system. The suggested method is founded on keeping an eye on how computer parts behave. The developed method can be applied for all kinds of computing system, such as personal computers, mainframes, and supercomputers by considering that the inference engine of the proposed ANFIS model requires only its own behavior data of computers' components and the number of inputs can be enriched according to the type of computer, for instance, in cloud computers' case the added number of clients and network quality can be used as the input parameters. The models present linguistic and quantity results which are convenient to understand performance issues regarding specific bottlenecks and determining the relationship of components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose the adaptation of vibration-based condition monitoring systems and techniques, popularly used in industrial condition-based maintenance, for identifying the possibility of compromising the privacy of personal computing systems. This work exploits the automated fan-based heat dissipation features and read/write operations of disk-based storage, commonly present in personal computers, to read computing task-specific vibration signatures on the computer’s cabinet/case. These vibration signatures are then used to identify the broad classes of tasks being executed on a separate computer without ever needing to log into the monitored machine. This work builds upon the premise that heterogeneous tasks have distinct computing requirements, which translates to variations in the amount of heat generated by the computer’s processor, eventually leading to variations in the computer’s heat control fan speed. The variations in the fan’s speed and the frequency of read/write operations to disk-based storage create unique vibration signatures, which maps uniquely to the computer’s processing operations, leading to a breach of privacy of the computer. Our work’s preliminary results suggest that computer-based tasks can be mapped from their vibration signatures with an accuracy of at least $70\%$ 70 % . We additionally study the task identification granularity of such an approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A reservoir computer is a type of dynamical system arranged to do computation. Typically, a reservoir computer is constructed by connecting a large number of nonlinear nodes in a network that includes recurrent connections. In order to achieve accurate results, the reservoir usually contains hundreds to thousands of nodes. This high dimensionality makes it difficult to analyze the reservoir computer using tools from the dynamical systems theory. Additionally, the need to create and connect large numbers of nonlinear nodes makes it difficult to design and build analog reservoir computers that can be faster and consume less power than digital reservoir computers. We demonstrate here that a reservoir computer may be divided into two parts: a small set of nonlinear nodes (the reservoir) and a separate set of time-shifted reservoir output signals. The time-shifted output signals serve to increase the rank and memory of the reservoir computer, and the set of nonlinear nodes may create an embedding of the input dynamical system. We use this time-shifting technique to obtain excellent performance from an opto-electronic delay-based reservoir computer with only a small number of virtual nodes. Because only a few nonlinear nodes are required, construction of a reservoir computer becomes much easier, and delay-based reservoir computers can operate at much higher speeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: With the rapid development of computer software and hardware technology and network technology, aiming at the limitations of the traditional image compression standards and the deficiencies of the existing computer desktop image compression methods. By analyzing the characteristics of computer desktop image, according to the characteristics of desktop compression, a compression scheme based on high efficiency video coding (HEVC) and color clustering is proposed, which divides blocks into text/graphics blocks, natural image blocks and mixed blocks based on the features of histogram information and texture information of blocks. In block division and classification, an adaptive dynamic block classification algorithm is proposed which is different from the traditional block partitioning. Compared with the traditional method, the new block classification algorithm can save the code stream and improve the classification accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Software is intangible, invisible, and at the same time pervasive in everyday devices, activities, and services accompanying our life. Therefore, citizens hardly realize its complexity, power, and impact in many aspects of their daily life. In this study, we report on one experiment that aims at letting citizens make sense of software presence and activity in their everyday lives, through sound: the invisible complexity of the processes involved in the shutdown of a personal computer. We used sonification to map information embedded in software events into the sound domain. The software events involved in a shutdown have names related to the physical world and its actions: write events (information is saved into digital memories), kill events (running processes are terminated), and exit events (running programs are exited). The research study presented in this article has a "double character." It is an artistic realization that develops specific aesthetic choices, and it has also pedagogical purposes informing the causal listener about the complexity of software behavior. Two different sound design strategies have been applied: one strategy is influenced by the sonic characteristics of the Glitch music scene, which makes deliberate use of glitch-based sound materials, distortions, aliasing, quantization noise, and all the "failures" of digital technologies; and a second strategy based on the sound samples of a subcontrabass Paetzold recorder, an unusual and special acoustic instrument which unique sound has been investigated in the contemporary art music scene. Analysis of quantitative ratings and qualitative comments of 37 participants revealed that the sound design strategies succeeded in communicating the nature of the computer processes. Participants also showed in general an appreciation of the aesthetics of the peculiar sound models used in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the history of the DISCOP-1, a computer prototype designed by a Colombian company. Amidst debates surrounding Colombia's future in computing, DISCOP-1 captured local media and industry attention. Focused on the growing practice of microcomputer assembly, the prototype connected local small businesses with the transnational trading networks boosted by free-market policies in the 1980s. Despite never truly taking off, DISCOP-1 helped expand Colombia's installed base of computer machinery. In tracing this history, this article explores the notion of unexpected technologies as a moment of disruption in "developmental computing" frameworks. This article argues for the inclusion of offshoring in computing history in terms of how it developed specific industries while destroying others and harnessing existing transnational trade networks that expanded computing technology consumption worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The Internet and access to electronic devices seem to be the necessities of the modern daily life. The aim of this study was to assess the amount of time spent daily in front of a mobile phone and computer/laptop, the body posture while using these devices, and the occurrence of pain during usage. Materials and methods: The study group consisted of first-year students of engineering and IT at 2 universities in Kielce. The research was carried out using the self-constructed questionnaire technique. The questionnaire was divided into 3 parts: I. personal data; II. mobile phone use; III. desktop computer/ laptop use. The survey concerned mainly the amount of time spent in front of electronic devices, posture, as well as the scale of pain while using the above-mentioned devices. Results: The study involved 135 people (96 men - 71% and 39 women - 29%)) aged 19-30 years (±21 years). The use of electronic devices up to about 3 h a day was the most frequent response -56% of all responses for a mobile phone uses and 62% for a computer/laptop use. The percentage of people who devoted more than 5 h a day to mobile phones as well as using computers over 6 h a day was 4%. The analysis showed that when using the electronic devices, pain was reported for almost every area of the body. Body position while standing and sitting was described in various variants of answers indicated by respondents when using electronic devices. Conclusions: The implementation of correct health-related habits regarding the adoption of the correct body position from an early age results in avoiding pain in the future. Spending too much time on the computer or mobile phone contributes to the occurrence of pain in the study group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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• We study the impact of one-to-one computer programs on learning in primary school. • Using a stacked event study estimator, we examine Swedish students' performance. • On average, we observe no significant effects on test scores in language and math. The shift to remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the use of digital technology in education. Many schools today provide personal computers not only to older students, but also in primary school. There is little credible evidence of the effects of one-to-one (1:1) computer programs among younger students. We investigate how 1:1 technology impacts student performance in primary school in Sweden. Using an event study design, and data from an expansion that took place before the pandemic, we examine effects of 1:1 technology on national standardized test results in math, Swedish, and English in grade 6. We find no important effects on student performance on average. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern experimental research often relies on the synchronization of different events prior to data analysis. One way of achieving synchronization involves marking distinct events with electrical pulses (event markers or "TTL pulses"), which are continuously recorded with research hardware, and can later be temporally aligned. Traditionally, this event marking was often performed using the parallel port in standard personal computers. However, the parallel port is disappearing from the landscape of computer hardware, being replaced by a serial (COM) port, namely the USB port. To find an adequate replacement for the parallel port, we evaluated four microcontroller units (MCUs) and the LabJack U3, an often-used USB data acquisition device, in terms of their latency and jitter for sending event markers in a simulated experiment on both Windows and Linux. Our results show that all four MCUs were comparable to the parallel port in terms of both latency and jitter, and consistently achieved latencies under 1 ms. With some caveats, the LabJack U3 can also achieve comparable latencies. In addition to the collected data, we share extensive documentation on how to build and use MCUs for event marking, including code examples. MCUs are a cost-effective, flexible, and performant replacement for the disappearing parallel port, enabling event marking and synchronization of data streams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study of the application of a graphene-based cooling system for a personal electronic computer (PC) is presented. The features of using monocrystalline and polycrystalline graphene in practice are analyzed. A comparison is made with the materials currently used in the cooling systems of a PC. The heat flux densities are calculated as a function of the temperature between the copper plate and the water adsorbate and between the two layers of polycrystalline graphene and water adsorbate. The prospects for the use of graphene in cooling systems of PCs are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most applications in engineering use a data acquisition device hooked up to a personal computer for data processing. Finding less costly, easily accessible and reliable devices will make personal computer (PC) based data acquisition systems less difficult. A soundcard may be used as such a device for it is standard in almost every PC. It can also process any voltage signal within its limits. This paper proposes a way to enable the PC to be used as an oscilloscope. A voltage signal is acquired via the soundcard LINE IN port. The maximum and minimum input signal amplitude requirements for the soundcard are established to be +1 V and –1 V respectively. Based on these findings, hardware circuitry is designed to clip any high amplitude input signals to the range of ±1 V while allowing low amplitude signals to go through to the soundcard unclipped. MATLAB is then employed to acquire, process and display the signal. The final output from MATLAB is compared with the original signal to determine accuracy of the designed oscilloscope. Analysis of the results obtained shows that the final oscilloscope designed enables the soundcard to process input signals with a high level of accuracy. The final design yields a hardware cost at a fraction of an iPod while providing an elegant user interface. This makes it suitable for college students, basement hackers and even professional engineers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern technology has brought about a revolution in the communication process. The revolution started with the emergence of desktop computers in the 1980's. Today, the Internet and social media have brought about a 360-degree change in the communication process. The purpose of this study is to examine the perception of secondary school teachers in Kaduna State, Northern Nigeria on the impact of ICT deployment for communication efficiency in the teaching and learning process. The population for the study was teachers in five secondary schools in the state. Simple random sampling was used, and 120 teachers were chosen for the sample. Three-way cross tabulation (crosstabs) and means were used to show association between variables and analysis of the research questions. The results from this study show that ICT media such as the computer and the Internet, have a significant impact on communication efficiency in the teaching and learning process by facilitating clarity, ease, speed, security and prompt feedback in the communication process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the pricing of reused personal computers that are discarded and sold on the secondary market. We first extract the main components affecting the performance of a reused computer. We then use quality function deployment to compare the weights of the main components against what reusable computer customers require. Third, we use TOPSIS to rank the selected reused computers. Finally, we price every reused computer according to relative monopoly power and perform an accumulated depreciation analysis on each one at various sale periods. The results show that each reused computer can be easily evaluated and priced on the secondary market. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Computer use is a cognitively complex instrumental activity of daily living (IADL) that has been linked to cognitive functioning in older adulthood, yet little work has explored its capacity to detect incident mild cognitive impairment (MCI).Objective: To examine whether routine home computer use (general computer use as well as use of specific applications) could effectively discriminate between older adults with and without MCI, as well as explore associations between use of common computer applications and cognitive domains known to be important for IADL performance.Methods: A total of 60 community-dwelling older adults (39 cognitively healthy, 21 with MCI) completed a neuropsychological evaluation at study baseline and subsequently had their routine home computer use behaviors passively recorded for three months.Results: Compared to those with MCI, cognitively healthy participants spent more time using the computer, had a greater number of computer sessions, and had an earlier mean time of first daily computer session. They also spent more time using email and word processing applications, and used email, search, and word processing applications on a greater number of days. Better performance in several cognitive domains, but in particular memory and language, was associated with greater frequency of browser, word processing, search, and game application use.Conclusion: Computer and application use are useful in identifying older adults with MCI. Longitudinal studies are needed to determine whether decreases in overall computer use and specific computer application use are predictors of incident cognitive decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tablets and smartphones might be cool but one class of computer has reshaped the working world more than any other: the personal computer. Martin Cooper MBCS charts the PC's birth, life and ongoing success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with an approach for program description of procedures for information processing at a micro level in computer spice. The goal is to develop an example workspace with program modules for describing basic micro-operations which will allow conducting a program investigation of procedures for processor data processing. The TryAPL-2 operating program environment was used for this purpose. Developed models of basic nodes are presented, as well as the realizations of exemplary micro-operations [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detecting the presence, the position and the extension of architectural coverings separations, both on horizontal and vertical layers – such as mosaics, plasters, slabs or other functional and decorative layers – is at the base of the analysis of the state of conservation of ancient structures. Non-destructive investigations used to find detachments, like Laser Doppler Vibrometry (LDV), are hardly executable in situ. They are also influenced by the boundary conditions and often need the intervention of onerous technical consultations. For this reason, traditionally, conservators rely on the technique of auscultation, which entails gently knocking with the hand, listening to the sound produced by the surface and perceiving the vibration of it. Together with the thermographic analysis, the results of these examinations are translated into the graphic documentation of the discontinuities of the structural elements, detachments and cracks between layers, in order to achieve the conservative diagnosis and outline a project of intervention. Analysis carried out with such method is accurate, but introduces a strong subjective conservator's connotation, which makes it not repeatable. In this contribution, after having briefly examined the state of the art of in situ technologies, an innovative acoustic-vibrational technique for the detection of detachment phenomena between layers and discontinuity is introduced. The proposed technique also allows tracing an accurate map, using an image correlation method between an acoustic "snap" of the point of interest and a "reference snap". The analysis of the entire surface produces a graphics map of the detachments. This graphic documentation represents the "acoustic signature" of the structure, i.e. the "status quo" of the surface during the analysis. This representation can be used to monitor the state of conservation of the structure over time. In this paper, the method is developed and tested in laboratory using a personal computer and a hardware device specifically designed and fabricated, with the aim of providing a qualitative yet repeatable assessment of the state of conservation of a covering. The proposed method could be implemented in an easy-to-use and inexpensive portable version of the system using a smartphone, to which the developed hardware device would be connected through the audio jack to acquire the acoustic information, making the new system suitable for "in situ" operation. It can be also used for monitoring the evolution of the conservative scenario. The first results achieved on a test object are showed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Voluminous usage of computers is a necessity of academic area. The use of Personal Computer has grown tremendously to the extent that today millions of people around the world are using computers and extensive use of the computer creates drastic health hazards on the users. The paper is based on a study conducted to assess the knowledge regarding computer related health problems among college students" was based on the objectives, to assess the knowledge regarding computer related Health Problems among college students, to seek an association between the knowledge and some selected demographic variables. A quantitative (Non-Experimental) approach was applied and convenient sampling technique was used to select the sampling. The tool used for the study was validated and the reliability was also established. A total of 100 students were involved in the study of whom 62 % were male and 38% female aged between 22-25 years. Majority of the students 89% were from the middle class and 53% of the respondents belong to nuclear family whereas 66% of student's parents were educated. In regard to the level of education of maximum students involved in the study were from final and second year of course. The study has indicated that 29% of the respondents are having inadequate knowledge, 61% of them were found to be having moderate knowledge on the subject whereas rest of the sample were having adequate knowledge. So it was concluded that the majority of the respondent had moderate knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]