CSE 4317 EXAMINATION SUMMER 1998
(Open book and notes)
1. Describe the potential rewards and dangers of "blowing the whistle." [4]
Rewards – "doing the right thing," potentially saving lives, money, and/or a company
Dangers – damage to career, financial loss, putting self and family in harms way
2. What does "swallowing the whistle," mean? [4]
Not following through on a whistle-blowing incidence due to a pressures and/or potentially negative consequences.
3. Describe the steps for obtaining a patent in the United States. [4]
4. What is the difference between a patent and a copyright in the United States? [4]
Patents can be used to cover intellectual property that can be described as "applied technology." Copyrights cover creative and artistic works. Patents are effective for twenty years from the date of application. Copyrights are effective for the life of the author plus 50 years for personal authorship. Works produced in a "work for hire" situation are protected fro 75 years from first publication or 100 years from creation, which ever expires first.
5. Explain two ways that an individual or a company can legally use intellectual property owned by someone else. [4]
Purchase the product for individual use of the purchaser. Obtain a license to incorporate the product in another product. Use a copyrighted piece for education purposes without financial gain, i.e., the fair use concept.
6. Describe two environmental or health related issues that are related to the computer industry. [4]
7. The United States Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not prohibit discrimination in hiring on which of the following. [2]
a. Race, [ b. age,] c. religion, d. sex, e. national origin
8. Is it important to improve diversity in the high-tech workforce? Why or why not? [4]
Yes. The reasons are numerous.
9. Does sexual harassment have to be intentional to be illegal? True or false? [2]
False
10. What are some things that you, as an individual, can do to "take charge" of your next promotion? [4]
Develop career goals, stay current, get advanced degrees, become a "local expert," improve communication skills, keep a positive attitude, be enthusiastic, understand the opportunities and requirements for promotion within your organization, etc.
11. Do you consider life-long learning to be important for computer engineers and computer scientists? Explain your answer. [4]
Yes. The computer field changes rapidly and one can become out of date quickly unless life-long learning is practiced.
12. List three purposes of technical societies. [4]
Share information, improve the profession, encourage and assist the staring engineer
13. Name the two technical societies most relevant to computer engineers and computer scientists. [4]
IEEE, ACM
14. What is the purpose of registration for engineers and other professionals? [4]
To insure that only competent engineers perform critical work – usually where public safety is involved.
15. In the United States, which of the following entities license professional engineers? [2]
(a) Technical societies
[(b) States]
(c) Private companies
(d) Universities
(e) None of the above.
16. List the steps for becoming a registered professional engineer in Texas. [4]
17. Do you consider professional registration to be needed for computer engineering? Explain your answer. [4]
Yes if you plan to work for a small or medium size company that does work for the public and/or want to have the title "engineer." Probably no otherwise.
18. Describe two important problems, either technical or other, that must be solved before digital libraries can become practical. [4]
Intellectual property laws need to be revised, network bandwidth needs to be increased, search and retrieval mechanisms must be improved.
19. Which of the following is Moore's law? [2]
(a) Engineers in private practice must be registered
(b) He/she who hesitates is lost
[(c) Integrated circuit density quadruples every three years]
(d) Software costs exceed hardware costs in computer systems
(e) None of the above.
20. What is meant by the term paradigm shift? Explain and give an example. [4]
A fundamental change in the way of doing business, performing a job, or in lifestyle usually caused by introduction of a new technology.
21. Which of the following is not a characteristic of an information appliance according to Birnbaum? [2]
(a) Characterized by what it does
(b) Consistent and predictable
(c) Hides its own complexity
[(d) Portable]
(e) All of the above.
22. According to Birnbaum, which of the following is true as a technology becomes pervasive? [2]
(a) Number of general purpose suppliers increases
[(b) Number of specialized suppliers increases]
(c) Number of partnerships decreases
(d) Differentiation among products becomes more pronounced
(e) None of the above
23. Is information technology currently pervasive? Explain your answer. [4]
Not yet because info technology is not yet ubiquitous, no standard interface between users and suppliers exists, and no true information appliance in use. However the situation is rapidly changing.
24. What is electronic commerce (E-commerce)? Identify two technical problems that must be solved before E-commerce is practical? [4]
The selling of goods and services via electronic media usually at distance.
Security, reliability, and bandwidth issues need to be addressed.
25. Which of the following error types can be detected by parity codes? [3]
[(a) Single errors]
(b) Double errors
[(c) Triple errors]
(d) All errors
(e) None of the above
26. Which of the following types of codes have error correction capability? [3]
(a) Parity codes
[(b) Hamming or parity-check codes]
(c) M-out-of-N codes
[(d) Cyclic redundancy check (CRC) codes]
(e) None of the above
27. Explain the characteristics of a single error correcting, double error detecting code. [4]
An error in any one bit can be detected and corrected while errors in any two bits can be detected but not corrected. Minimum distance of such codes is 4.
28. The reliability, R(t), of a system can be described as [2]
[(a) The probability that the system will not fail within time t given that the system was not failed at time 0.]
(b) The probability that the system will fail within time t given that the system was not failed at time 0.
(c) The probability that the system will fail during its useful life.
(d) The probability that the system will not fail during its useful life.
(e) None of the above.
29. A system with failure rate
l has a mean time to failure (MTTF) of [2](a)
(b) 0
[(c) 1/
l ](d)
¥(e) None of the above
30. The reliability of a system can be increased by [2]
(a) Decreasing the number of components
(b) Increasing the reliability of its components
(c) Adding redundancy
[(d) All of the above]
(e) None of the above