3 discussion posts + 2 response posts.

Discussion-based Project – 1IT Professional Skills, Discussion Activity: Current Issue in the IT Field – Brain ImplantsPurposeThe purpose of this assignment is to give you the opportunity to develop and practice the transferable skills that are important for IT professionals in the workplace. These skills include critical thinking, problem solving, communication, teamwork, autonomous learning, leadership, social and ethical responsibilitiesThe assignment requires you to work in a team of 2-3 members, in an online environment, for 12 days examining and analyzing an issue so as to produce plausible steps forward. This activity requires use of the skills mentioned above.These skills are important for all areas of IT. ABET, the world leader in technical education accreditation, state that students graduating from computing should possess such skills. The programs in CTI are accredited by ABET, and the CTI learning outcomes are aligned with ABET’s professional skills outcomes which are: • An ability to analyze a problem, and identify and define the computing requirements appropriate to its solution.• An ability to function effectively on teams to accomplish a common goal. • An understanding of professional, ethical, legal, security and social issues and responsibilities• An ability to communicate effectively• An ability to analyze the local and global impact of computing on individuals, organizations, and society • Recognition of the need for and an ability to engage in continuing professional developmentThese skills are the generic workplace skills that all successful computing professionals must possess. TaskAssume that you have been appointed by the UAE government to a task force of 2 or 3 computing professionals. You have been asked to examine the current issue outlined in the article below. Your team has not been asked to make specific recommendations on a solution. Rather, you have been asked to make recommendations that will help the Government decide what next steps they should take in developing potential solution/s. This task is discussion-based, meaning you will participate through a collaborative exchange and critique of each other’s ideas and work. Your team needs to think carefully about the issue and discuss it amongst yourselves by making posts to the online discussion board. You need to access and read other sources of information to help your team understand the issue better. You need to look at the issue from various perspectives. The goal is to challenge and support one another as a team to tap your collective resources and experiences to dig more deeply into the issue/s raised in the article. As each team member will refine his/her ideas through the dialogue that develops, and, as you are working together, it is very important to submit your posts in a timely manner.To guide your discussion, five questions are provided for you to consider. These guiding questions are in line with the steps and main considerations when examining and solving complex issues. Each team member should make between 4 (minimum) and 6 (maximum) posts. The posts should take into consideration what others have said in previous posts. As part of a team you need to keep in mind that ultimately the team should reach a consensus on your recommendations. So, as a team member you need to be checking carefully what others have said and ensuring that it is correct. You need to be sure that your team is working from facts and giving opinions based on facts, so you need to scrutinize the information to ensure it is accurate. Submission and GradingGrades are awarded based on Timeliness and consider the following aspects of your work: Quality, Teamwork, and English. You will be graded individually i.e. not a team score. Screenshot your answers and copy them to a word document. Submit this document to blackboard before the deadline. Late submissions will have penalty.This is a time-based activity meaning that you must participate continually over the 12 days and that your posts must be equally divided over the time. As time passes so too do the available marks. For example, after 6 days there are only 50% of the marks remaining. In other words, if you start after six days you have already lost 50% of the assignment marks.• Each student must write a minimum of 5 posts (ONLY TO MEMBERS WITHIN YOUR GROUP) posts at equal intervals over the period. • These three should be a mix of 3 answers to questions and two responses. • You cannot answer if two students have already answered a particular question • You must start on the first or second day and finish on the last or the day before last day. The posts should be around 10 lines or so (200 words minimum). • Your group can decide on the 12 day plan.• TeamworkIt is important that your group discussion be facilitated by the guiding questions provided below. You must acknowledge the posts of others and/or encourage others to participate. You must be critical of the posts of others. You must avoid repeating what others have said. You must try to keep the team on track. You must make sure the team is moving forward towards potential solutions based on facts and well-reasoned opinions. You need to be diplomatic in your communication with your team members. • Quality of DiscussionYour posts should show critical thinking and clear reasoning. While much of the content of your posts should be based on facts you should also give your opinion when appropriate. You must state (reference) where you located your information so that the other team members can depend on its credibility (and access for checking if they wish). It must be clear to others when you are giving opinion that it is an opinion. Your posts must make a meaningful contribution towards the issue. Your posts must move the issue forward towards possible solution/s. • EnglishYou should communicate your ideas clearly with vocabulary, spelling, grammar and punctuality at a good standard. Reading:Brain ImplantsAre brain implants a real possibility for the future? Imagine a chip that allows you to see in the dark or an implant that gives you super-human hearing. Or an implant giving you the ability to remember everything you read. Or one allowing access to information from the Internet directly from your brain. These may seem like ideas from a science fiction movie, but brain implants are being used already. Neural implants are currently used in medicine in different ways and work by either stimulating a part of the brain or by reading brain signals. They are used in the ears of deaf people, for example the Al Jalila Foundation in Dubai which provides implants for deaf children, and the first implant for eyes has been approved. The device has 60 electrodes that act as a retina, and transmit data wirelessly. These implants work by capturing sound or images and processing the results to stimulate the relevant nerves. Tens of thousands of people have deep brain implants for motor control, commonly used with patients with Parkinson’s disease. An electrode is inserted into the brain, with a battery pack under the skin, and this helps with the symptoms of the disease. Another use is interpreting signals from someone who is paralyzed by inserting an implant into the brain to pick up signals. Trials are also under way to explore deep brain stimulation for other conditions, but there is no doubt that neural implants can transform the lives of patients. Brain implants are developing from being used only for medical purposes, and have the ability to improve the speed of learning, memory processing, language translation, night vision and change mood. However, there are a few challenges to overcome first. One challenge is that putting probes through the skull into the brain can cause infection and bleeding inside the brain. Scientists, doctors and engineers need to work together to find safe and reliable ways of inserting probes into the brain. The brain moves inside the skull and so this poses a mechanical problem to create a probe that can move with the brain. A further biological problem is that the immune system in the body can fight a probe, as a foreign body. The probe also has to be small enough to be inside the brain, and has to be recharged and upgraded. There are external devices such as the brain-reading skull cap but these are far less effective at this time than probes inserted into the brain. The problems may look overwhelming, but the developers of mobile phones faced similarly difficult challenges twenty years ago. If we overcome the problem of putting a probe in the brain, how do we interpret the signals? Reading brain signals is still a developing area and neuroscience still has no idea how the brain does some of the most basic features. Research into this area is active, and the Human Machine Interface market is expected to value more than $5.5 million by 2019. The BRAIN Initiative is researching neural coding to better understand how information is received and processed by the brain. Another laboratory is developing a brain implant to help people remember information and learn a skill faster than normal. A process called Deep Brain Stimulation is used to implant a tiny chip into the brain. If the chip picks up that there is a problem in the brain, small electrical pulses are sent to that area of the brain to make it healthy again. Another initiative inserts a small chip into the brain to allow paralyzed people to control devices with their thoughts. The signals go into a computer that decodes them and communicates with robots that act on the signals. Progress is also being made in wireless brain interfaces by neuro-engineers, and with neuroprosthetics, which are electronics inserted into the nervous system. At the moment science is not able to focus on individual neurons, and so neuroscientists are trying to discover the brain in more detail. When implants have developed enough, they could be used on healthy people to enhance their abilities, for example for memory, concentration, perception and mood. We could become part machine. Parents would have the chance to make a ‘superchild’ with enhanced memory and concentration. The military could create ‘supersoldiers’ with exceptional focus, memory and stamina. Knowledge and skills could be downloaded directly into the brain, sidestepping the need for education or training. There are implications surrounding these possible uses of brain implants. There could be legal implications if implants are used for identification purposes, with effects on personal liberty and privacy. Another challenge is securing people’s personal and private memories if these are accessed and downloaded onto a server. One of the moral implications is equality, to make sure the technology is available to everyone. If some people have a brain implant to enhance their brain functions, and other people cannot get or afford one, there is an unfair advantage. If rich countries can afford ‘superchildren’ and ‘supersoldiers’ and a population with enhanced memory and concentration, poorer countries will be more disadvantaged. This is not going to happen overnight or even in the next decade but consider the speed with which technology is advancing. What kind of world will our grandchildren live in?Guiding QuestionsConsider the following guiding questions as you work on this.1. What is/are the problem/problems here? Is there an underlying fundamental problem?2. Who are the major stakeholders and what are their perspectives? 3. What are the major ethical, legal, and security aspects associated with the problem.4. What are (1) the global and (2) the local impacts of potential solutions on individuals, organizations and society?5. What recommendations would you propose that will lead to potential solutions.Sources Human Machine Interface Market Is Expected to Exceed USD 5,579.0 Million by 2019: Transparency Market ResearchHuman Machine Interface Market Is Expected to Exceed USD 5,579.0 Million by 2019: Transparency Market Research. (2014, 09 23). Retrieved 03 20, 2016, from Globe Newswire: http://globenewswire.com/news-release/2014/09/23/667730/10099657/en/Human-Machine-Interface-Market-Is-Expected-to-Exceed-USD-5-579-0-Million-by-2019-Transparency-Market-Research.htmlKoch, C., & Marcus, G. (2014, 03 14). The Future of Brain Implants. Retrieved 03 20, 2016, from The Wall Street Journal : http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304914904579435592981780528Loria, K. (2014, 04 23). Brain Implants Could Give People Perfect Memories And Night Vision. Retrieved 03 22, 2016, from Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/brain-implants-will-give-us-superpowers-2014-4Naam, R. (2013, 04 25). Are bionic superhumans on the horizon? Retrieved 03 23, 2016, from CNN: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/24/opinion/bionic-superhumans-ramez-naam/Tamblyn, T. (2015, 09 29). DARPA Is Testing A Brain Implant That Could Help Us Learn Skills Faster. Retrieved 03 22, 2016, from Huffington Post : http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/09/29/darpa-is-testing-a-brain-implant-that-could-help-us-learn-skills-faster_n_8212676.html