null null

Manual
on
COMPUTER APPLICATIONS IN ANIMAL
SCIENCES
M.THIRUNAVUKKARASU
G.KATHIRAVAN
DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL HUSBANDRY STATISTICS AND COMPUTER APPLICATIONS
MADRAS VETERINARY COLLEGE
TAMIL NADU VETERINARY AND ANIMAL SCIENCES UNIVERSITY
CHENNAI - 600 007
2002
CONTENTS
TITLE
PAGE NO.
Introduction to Computers
1-15
Computer Software and MS-Disk Operating System
16-22
Windows Operating System
23-33
Applications in Windows
34-36
Windows Explorer
37 -40
Word Processing using MS-Word
41-55
Spreadsheet Operations using MS-Excel
56-68
Developing a PowerPoint Presentation
69-80
Use of Statistical Software for Data Analysis in Animal
Experiments
81-87
Internet and E-Mail Applications
88-96
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
97 -100
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS
A computer is a general purpose electronic machine designed to help people
to get a job done. Computers do not come up with original ideas but they are
helpful to human beings in calculating, record keeping, trial and error
experimenting, communicating, information gathering and other managerial tasks
involved in translating an idea into reality. The reason the computer can do these
things quickly is simply that it is an electronic device.
It should be emphasised that computers do not know anything, do not
think, do not just do things on their own unless we tell it to do and there is no
'wrong keys' in a computer. Computer is much more than a calculator that it can
perform some complicated activities such as choosing, copying, moving,
comparing and performing non-arithmetic operations also. What is more
significant is the computer's speed. The time required for computers to execute
such basic operations as adding and subtracting varies from a few microseconds
(millionth of a second) to a few nano seconds (billionth of a second) or less.
In addition to being very fast, computers are very accurate. As the circuits
in a computer have no mechanical parts the computers generally do not
malfunction. If the input is correct and the program is reliable then we can expect
that the computer will produce accurate results. In other words computer errors
can usually be traced to incorrect input data or unreliable programs both caused by
human beings not by computers. Computers can perform complex and repetitive
calculations rapidly and accurately; store large amounts of data and hold
programmes of a model, which can be explored in many different ways etc.
HISTORY OF COMPUTERS
Computer history starts with the development of a device called the
'abacus' by the Chinese around 3000 B.C. Although there were a number of
improvements made in calculating devices, no conceptual changes were made
until the end of the 18th century. During the first decade of the 19th century,
Jacquard invented an automated loom operated by a mechanism controlled by
punched cards. During the same period, Charles Babbage developed the first
mechanical computer called differential and analytical engine. This device had
provisions for inputting data, storing information, performing arithmetic
operations and printing out results. This provided the base for the development of
modern computers.
At the end of the 19th century, Herman Hollerith and James Powers
designed a data processing machine for processing census information. A
sibrnificant machine built in the early 1940s was 'Mark I' which utilised
electromagnetic relays. In 1946, the first electronic machine known as ENIAC
(Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator) was introduced by a team led by
Compw ApplicatfM/l',1fJ Animal Sciences
Professors Eckert and Mauchly of USA. During the period 1947-52, Jolm Von
Neumann and his team developed a high-speed digital computer using vacuum
tubes and the concept of a stored programme.
EVOLUTION OF COMPUTERS
Period
Event
3000 B.C.
The first mathematical device - Abacus
17th Century
The first four-function calculator - Machine arithmetic
1830-50
The first computer-Analytical engine by Charles Babbage
1930
Card reader and sorter
1946
Stored program concept by Von Neumann
1947
ENIAC - The first electronic digital computer using vacuum
tubes, first generation computers
1949
EDSAC - The first stored program electronic computer
1949
Transistors (Bell Laboratories)
1950
Volumnious storage and sequential Magnetic access devices
(compound possible tapes rapid transfer of data)
1958
Computer using transistors in the name UNIV AC, Second
generation computer
1959
IBM 1401 Model- Computerised commercial data processing
1959
Random access devices Discs
1964
Integrated circuits (IC), Vast internal storage and fast speed
1965
Computers using ICs, Third generation computers
1969
Large Scale Integrated (LSI circuits)
1971
Computers using LSI circuits, Fourth generation computers .
1972
Microprocessors, enormous processing speed
1976
First microcomputer - The Apple, user friendliness,
inexpensive computers, low maintenance cost, portable
1980's & 1990's
Expert system, logic operation, Fifth generation computer and
deduction rearing
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Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
COMPUTER GENERATIONS
One of the early stored program electronic computers was UNIVAC I
(UNIversal Automatic Computer I) built by Remington Rand in 1951 and was used
by US Census Bureau. From the early 1950s, computers started appearing in quick
succession each claiming an improvement over the other in terms of speed
memory capacity input-output devices and programming techniques with a
continuous reduction in size and cost. Computers developed after ENIAC have
been classified into the following four generations.
First generation
1946-1955
Second generation -
1956-1965
Third generation
1966-1975
Fourth generation -
1976-1985
From 1946, each decade had contributed a generation of computers. First
generation computers are those in which vacuum tubes were used. Magnetic tape
drives and magnetic core memories were developed during this period. First
generation computers had the characteristics of large size and slow operating
speed.
The second-generation computers (for e.g., IBM 1401) were marked by the
use of a solid-state device called the transistor invented by Bell labs in USA in the
place of vacuum tubes. These computers occupied less space, required less power
and produced much less heat.
The research in the field of electronics led to the innovation of the integrated
circuits now popularly knows as IC chips. The use of IC chips in the place of
transistors gave birth to the third generation computers. These computers were
still more compact, faster and less expensive.
Continued effort towards miniaturization led to the development of largescale integration (LSI) technology. Intel Corporation introduced LSI chips called
microprocessors for building computers. The latest child of the computer family
that uses LSI chips has been named the. fourth generation computer. Invention of
microprocess,or in 1972 has changed the computing scene dramatically. A
microprocessor when interfaced with memory and input/output units becomes a
microcomputer. The first business microcomputer called APPLE II was released in
USA in 1977.
Japan and many other countries are now working on systems what are
known as expert systems, which would considerably improve the man-machine
interaction. This generation of computers is termed as fifth generation computers
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Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
(thinking computers). However it is not very clear what direction
generation takes.
;tiJe fift&
CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS
Based on the operating principles, computers can be classified into
following types:
a. Digital computers
b. Analog computers
c. Hybrid computers
Digital computers operate essentially by counting. All quantities are
expressed as discrete digits or numbers. Digital computers are useful for
calculating arithmetic expressions and manipulation of data such as preparation of
bills ledgers etc.
Analog computers operate by measuring rather than by counting. The
name, which was derived from a Greek word, analog, denotes that the computer
functions by establishing similarities between two quantities that are usually
expressed as voltages.
Computers, which combine features of both digital and analog types, are
called hybrid computers. A majority of the computers used in the world today are
only digital.
Modern computers are classified depending upon their applications as
special purpose computers and general-purpose computers. Special purpose
computers are tailor made solely to cater to the requirements of a particular task or
application. On the other hand, general-purpose computers are designed to meet
the needs of many different applications.
COMPUTER SYSTEMS
A 'system' is a group of integrated parts that have a common purpose of
achieving a certain objective. There are many computer systems categorised on the
basis of size and performance. The most popular form of the computer in use
today is probably the PC or the personal computer. It is a microcomputer having
its CPU on a single microprocessor. The PC is small in size but capable enough to
handle large sized applications. The PC is a single user computer. It can perform a
diverse range of functions from keeping track of household accounts to keeping
records of the stores of a large manufacturing company.
One type of PC that is rapidly growing in popularity is the portable
computer, which can be easily carried around. The portable PCs are also called as
4
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
laptops or notebook PCs. A Workstation is a powerful, single user computer.
Though it is like a PC, it has a more powerful microprocessor and a high quality
monitor. A Network Computer is the computer with minimal memory, disk
storage and processor power, designed to connect to a network. The network
computers do not need an the computer power that a typical PC and instead they
rely on the power of network servers.
Another popular computer system is the mini computer, which is a small,
general-purpose and multi user computer. It can vary in size from a small desktop
model to the size of a small filing cabinet. A mini system is more expensive than a
PC and surpasses it in storage capacity and speed. While most PCs are oriented
towards single users, mini systems are usually designed to simultaneously handle
the needs of multiple users, i.e. more than one person (10 to hundreds) can work at
a time on a mini.
Mainframe is another form of a computer system that is generally more
powerful than a mini. They are mostly used in large organisations for large-scale
jobs. Many hundreds of users can handle this computer simultaneously. However,
there is on overlap between the expensive minis and small mainframe models in
terms of cost and capability. Similarly, there can be an overlap between the more
powerful PC system and the mini computer.
Super computer systems are the largest, fastest and most expensive
computers in the world. They are mostly used for complex scientific applications
like space research, defence mechanisms, weather forecast etc.
BENEFITS AND LIMITATIONS OF COMPUTERS
A computer provides four basic benefits:
a.Speed
b. Vast storage
c. Accuracy
d. Diligence
e.
Ver~atility
Unlike human beings, computers simply do not get bored or tired. The
monotony of repetitive work does not affect computers. However, computers
cannot take over all activities of human beings simply because they are less flexible
than human beings. They have to be told what to do and they cannot perform
anything outside its defined scope. If an unanticipated situation arises, computers
will either produce erroneous results or give up the task altogether, because they
do not have the potential to work out an alternative solution.
5
Computer Applications in Animal Sciendllil
FUNCTIONS OF A COMPUTER
A computer does mainly four functions:
Receives input - accepts data from outside through input devices like
keyboard, mouse etc.
Processes data - performs arithmetic or logical operations on the data
Produces output - communicates information to the outside world through
output devices like monitor, printer, etc.
Stores data and information - stress the data and information in storage
devises like hard disk, floppy disks, etc.
MAJOR APPLICATIONS OF COMPUTER SYSTEMS
Essentially there are five major areas where the computer is now used:
1. Word processing
Word processing was the first major application of microcomputers. Word
processing is concerned with creation and manipulation of text (letters, documents
etc.), replacing all operations normally associated with a typewriter. Word
processing allows storage of documents and retrieval of them later for revision,
edition or printing. Insertion, deletion, moving of words or even paragraphs from
one place to another, changing the margins and line spacing etc., can also be
performed through this package. Specialised commands like highlighting a part
of the document, underlining, changing to italics etc., are all possible. Spelling and
grammar checking facilities are also available.
2. Spread sheets
Business executives mostly use this application. It is called as the electronic
equivalent of the accountant's ledger. Spreadsheets are suitable for any problem
that can be expressed in row and column format. Necessary calculations can be
made instantly, accurately and automatically.
3. Graphics
Graphics is an effective way of communicating statistical information. This
application enables the user to quickly convert tabular data to graph form without
having to rely on a draftsman or artist. Three dimensional pie charts, bar charts, XY.
graphs and other forms of sophisticated graphs can be made available in stunning
colours and within a few minutes with just a few simple key strokes.
6
computer App'ications in Animal Sciences
4. Database management
Database management is a system that allows for creation, storage, retrieval
and manipulation of files or databases. This allows us to maintain records
electronically. The records may be student records in a university, customer
records in a business concern, etc. There is provision for addition of new records
as well as modification or deletion of existing information. We can retrieve the data
in any order in which we like. For example, items can be listed alphabetically or
chronologically or in any other order. This software can display all of the
information or only a selected portion of it.
5. Communication
This application connects the computer to the outside world. This enables
us to talk to our friend in the next room, to access information services such as
share market data, flight and hotel information or just about anything else you can
think of. We can shop or bank by computer, send and receive electronic mail etc.
DATA PROCESSING
Data means facts. Information is the data arranged in an order and form
that is useful to the people who receive it. Data are the new material of
information. All information consists of data, but not all data necessarily produce
specific and meaningful information. Data processing converts raw data into
information.
Data processing consists of three basic activities.
1. Capturing the input data
2. Manipulating the data
a. Classifying
b. Calculating
c. Sorting
d. Summarising
3. Managing the output results
a. Storing and retrieving
b. Communicating and reproducing
7
\'. . . . . .,lAIft(i;1,..~nimal ScienCf/l
.
ecJIIPUTER PROCESSING OPERATIONS
Computers by performing the following {U,"".;operations enable the data
activities described above.
~~sing
1. Input-Output Operations - A computer can accept data (input)
and supply-processed data (output).
2. Text manipulation and calculation operations - Computers are
able to manipulate the non-numeric letters and other symbols,
besides being able to perform calculations on numbers.
3. Logicj comparison operations - Computer has the ability to
perform logic operations.
4. Storage and retrieval operations - Both data and program
instructions are stored internally in a computer and retrieved for
use.
PHYSICAL COMPONENTS (ANATOMY) OF A PC SYSTEM (THE HARDWARE)
>,
The major physical (HARDWARE) components of a computer system are
input devices, processing devices and output devices. The main hardware
components of a computer system are the following:
1. Main memory
2. Central Processing Unit (CPU)
a. Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)
b. Control unit
3. Secondary memory
4. Input devices
5. Output devices
Main memory
Every computer come with a certain amount of physical memory, usually
referred to as the main memory or the RAM (Random Access Memory). The
primary storage (also called as main memory) is used for the following four
purposes:
1. To have input storage area for storing data until processing.
8
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
2. To provide working storage space for storing data being processed and
intermediate results.
3. To provide output storage area for holding finished results.
4. To have program storage area for holding processing instructions.
Von Neumann introduced the concept of computer storage in 1947 and the
first electronic computer using stored programme called EDSAC (Electronic Delay
Storage Automatic Calculator) was announced in 1949. Nowadays, an essential
component of every computer is its memory. The main memory is used to store a
variety of critical information required for processing by the CPU, which include
input data, application programmes, systems programmes, intermediate results
and final results of computations.
A digital computer represents information internally in a digitised nature.
Hence the choice of an appropriate number system is important in the design of a
digital computer, decimal system with digits 0 to 9, or binary system with digits 0
and 1 and so on. When the computers are designed to use decimal numbers, the
computer should be able to distinguish between 10 levels of voltage. However, it
will be more effective and reliable to design a computer using only 2 signals, the
presence and absence of an electrical pulse. This can be achieved by designing
computers to hold information based on binary digits, (bits), 0 and 1. The number
1 could be used to signify the presence of an electrical pulse and the number 0 the
absence of it.
Information in a computer consists of a large number of symbols or
characters, namely alphabets A to Z, mathematical signs such as +, -, =, <, % etc.
and special characters like ", *, $, £, @, and so on. With 2 binary digits, we can
represent 4 (22) different characters namely 00, 10, 01 and 11. With 3 digits, we can
represent 23 = 8 different characters, namely, 000, 001, 010, 100, 011, 101, 110 and
111. With 6 digits, we can represent upto 64 different characters, which would be
enough to represent all characters noted above. However, an extra digit is needed
if we want to include the lower case alphabets such as a to z also. Keeping in mind
the need to include more characters in future, 8 binary digits (Bits) are used to
represent a character inside a modern computer system. This collection of 8 binary
digits is called a byte. There are two widely used 8-bit codes in use today. These
are 1. EBCDIC - Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code and 2. ASCII American Sta.ndard Code for Information Interchange Code.
.
The amount of information a computer can store is measured in bytes. One
byte is roughly equivalent to a single character. For ego It takes three bytes to store
the word 'boy' and four bytes to store the word 'girl'. A kilobyte often
abbreviated, as K or KB is about 1000 bytes. (1 kilobyte=21o bytes = 1024 bytes). A
mega byte abbreviated as MB is about one million bytes. A giga byte is about one
9
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
billion bytes. In general one byte can store one character, one KB can store one
third of a page, one MB can store 333 pages and one GB 3,33,333 pages. Computers
are available with storage capacities of 2 GB to 20 GB.
Characteristics of main memory
The memory unit is made up of a number of memory locations or cells. Each
memory location is designed to hold information of a fixed size, for e.g. 8 bits. This
is referred to as the word length (word size) of the memory. Each location is
sequentially numbered to provide a unique reference to locate the information
stored in it. This reference is known as location address. Any information stored in
the main memory is accessed by referring to its location address.
The main memory of computer system is measured in terms of two other
characteristics namely, capacity and speed. The capacity is measured in terms of
kilo bytes (KB) or mega bytes (MB) and is computed by multiplying number of
.; addressable memory locations by the word length (in bytes) of each location. The
, speed of the main memory refers to the time required to access information stored
in any memory location and it is known as memory access time.
The technologies known as magnetic core technology and semi-conductor
technology have been used to make the main memory of a computer system.
However, only semiconductor technology is used today for main memory and
magnetic core technology is out of use today. The advantages of semi conductor
memory are that it is very fast, cheaper and smaller in size. The only drawback of
semi conductor memory is that it is volatile, that it loses its contents in the event of
power failure. However, it is not a serious drawback and can be easily overcome
by having back up power units.
Semi conductor memory is known as Random Access lV1emory (RAM). A
memory is said to be RAM, if any part of the memory can be accessed directly
(randomly) for reading/writing information. There is another type of memory
called Read Only Memory (ROM) which allows information in it to be only read
and it would not permit any writing or modification. ROM can be classified into
1. PROM - Programmable ROM. This is used to store programs. Once
programmed, PROM is essentially ROM.
2. EPROM - Erasable PROM. This is used to store programmes, erase them
subsequently and reprogram.
Memory controllers
Memory units are interfaced with CPU through memory controllers which
are two high-speed storage areas called Memory Address Register (MAR) and
Memory Buffer Register (MBR). These controllers establish communication
10
Computer Applications in Animal &iences
between CPU and main memory. To store a word in the main memory, the CPU
puts the word into the MBR and its location address in the MAR and sends a write
signal to the memory. This leads to the process of writing the word available in
MBR in the specified memory location erasing its previous contents, if any.
Similarly, to fetch a word from the main memory, the CPU puts the location
address of the word in the MAR and sends a read signaL Then the requested word
is made available to the CPU in the MBR.
Central Processing Unit
The CPU is the most important hardware of a computer system which has 2
major components viz. ALU and control unit. ALU is responsible for all the
arithmetical and logical operations like manipulations of numerical data,
comparison of relative magnitudes of numericals. The control section maintains
order and directs the operation of the entire system by selecting, interpreting and
seeing to the executions of program instructions. Although the control section
does not process data, it acts as a central nervous system for the data manipulating
components of the computer like selecting and executing the program instructions
one after another until the processing in completed.
A CPU's processing power is measured in million instructions per second
(MIPS). The speed of the CPU was measured in milli seconds (One 1000th of a
second) on first generation computers, in micro seconds (one millionth of a second)
on second generation computers, in nano seconds (one billionth of a second) on
third and fourth generation computers and is expected to be measured in pico
seconds (one lOOOth of a nano second) in the fifth generation computers.
All arithmetical and logical operations are performed in special storage
areas in the CPU called registers. A register is characterised by its size, i.e. the
number of bits it can hold. Since processing is done in the registers, the size of the
registers plays a very important role in the speed of processing and broadly defines
the internal architecture of a CPU. Following are a few important registers:
i)
Instruction register - This register holds the instruction being executed
currently.
ii)
Programme counter - This points to the next instruction to be executed.
iii)
Accumulator - This holds the accumulated results of computation.
iv)
Working register - This holds the intermediate results of computation.
The computing power of a CPU is largely depend on the power of its ALU.
The speed of a CPU is usually measured in cycle time, i.e. the time required to
execute one basic instruction, which is measured in MIPS. Another important
characteristic that determines the processing speed is the data path width, which
11
provides the communication link between a memory location and the CPU. A 16bit data path brings twice the amount of information at a time into the CPU as
compared to an 8 bit data path. The word size of a processor is a measure of the
amount of information that can be processed simultaneously by the CPU, which is
the same as the size of a register. Cycle time, data path width and word size jointly
determine the processing power of CPU expressed in MIPS (million instructions
per second).
Secondary (auxiliary) storage devices
Since the internal storage capacity of computers is limited, it presents a
limitation to storage of voluminous data. Further, once the power goes off, data
stored in the internal storage would be lost. This means that every time you want
to work on the PC, you have to input the data required. For permanent storage of
data, external storage media can be used with a PC. Secondary memory provides
economical storage of large volumes of data on magnetic media, thereby offering
permanent (non-volatile storage). There are 2 types of secondary memory viz 1.
serial access memory which allows only a serial access of data and 2. Random
access memory which allows random access of data. E.g. for serial access memory
is magnetic tape. Example for RAM are magnetic disk, floppy disks etc. There are
3 kinds of external storage media commonly used. 1. Floppy disk, 2. Hard disk
and 3. Compact disc. Another important medium used for external storage is the
cartridge tape, suitable for large volumes of data.
MagnetiC tape
Magnetic tape is a magnetically coated strip of plastic on which data can be
encoded. Tapes are sequential access media and hence are slow.
D AT cartridge
DAT (Digital Audio Tape) cartridge is a type of magnetic tape that can hold
2 to 24 GB of data. It is a also a sequential access medium.
Winchester disk
This is one of the earliest type of disk developed by IBM that could store 30
MB data. Although modern disks are faster and hold more data, the basic
technology is same and so Winchester has become synonymous with hard disk.
Hard disk
Hard disk is a magnetic disk on which we can store data. The term hard is
used to distinguish it from a soft, or floppy disk. Hard disks hold more data and
are faster than floppy disks. A single hard disk usually consists of several platters.
Each platter requires two read/ write heads, one for each side. All the read/ write
12
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
heads are attached to a single access arm so that they cannot move independently.
Each platter has same no. of tracks and a track location that cuts across all platters
is called a cylinder.
Floppy disk
Floppy disk is a soft magnetic disk. It is called floppy because it flops if you
wave it. Floppy disks are portable. 3.5" floppy disks store 1.44 MB data.
Zip disk
These are high capacity floppy disks and slightly larger ~ the
conventional floppy disks. They can hold 100 MB of data.
Optical disk
Optical disks are a storage medium from which data are read and to which
they are written by lasers. CD-ROM is one type of optical disk capable of storing
large amounts of data (usually about 700 MB).
Disk drives
A device specially designed to perform the functions of writing on or
reading from external storage media is called the disk drive. Data is fed into the
PC and written on the hard disk or the floppy disk by the disk drive. The disk
drive also performs this function of reading the data from the disk. A simple
analogy of how a disk drive works is the cassette tape recorder. A disk drive
works in the same way as cassette player like reading and writing whenever
required. The disk drive is contained within the system unit. The drive for a
floppy disk is called a floppy disk drive, while the drive for a hard disk is called
the hard disk drive and the one for CD ROM is CD drive. It is important to
differentiate between the storage media and storage devices. While the floppy disk
and the hard disk on which data is stored are the storage media, the disk drives are
the storage devices which do the storage on the media.
Input devices
Input devices are the machines designed for data entry purposes and for
human-machine communication. Examples for input devices are keyboard, mouse,
input pen, microphone etc.
Keyboard
Computer keyboard is essentially the same as a typewriter keyboard
Additional keys however provide access to functions that are available on a
computer.
13
Mouse
A mouse is a palm-sized device. On top of the mouse there are buttons for
communicating with the computer. Using mouse is a very quick way to move
around on a screen. The mouse is designed to slide around on the desktop. Its
motion sends a signal to the computer that moves the mouse cursor. Mouse is so
widely used in graphics applications.
Track ball
TraCK baIl is the improvement over the mouse. ft Iooks Like a mouse, but it
lies on its back. Track balls are really popular with users of portable computers.
Track balls will be very useful where there may not be any flat surface available
while travelling in a car or in a plane.
Joystick
A joystick is lever that moves in all directions and controls the movement of
a pointer or some other display symbols. Joysticks are used mostly for computer
games.
Scanner
Scanner is an input d~vice that can read text or illustrations printed on
paper and translate the data into a form that the computer can use. It works by
digitizing an image.
,'.\
Light pen
It is a pen like device With a light on one end and a wire connected to the
computer on the other end. One can touch the screen with the pen and the system
recognises the light pen's location. Thus the pen can be used for drawing on the
screen. There are other devices called tablet, digital camera, bar code reader, touvh
screen, voice recognition software etc.
Output devices
Output devices are those that take machine coded output results from the
processor and convert them into a form that can be used by people concerned (e.g.
printed or displayed reports).
Monitors
Monitor is another term for visual display unit or screen. Monochrome
monitors display only two colours. Colour monitors can display 16 - 1 million
ca}ours. Colour monitors are sometimes called as RCB (Red, Green and Blue)
monitors. A typical size for small monitors is 14". The resolution of a monitor
14
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
indicates how densely the pixels are packed. Pixel is short picture element and is a
single point in a graphic image.
Kinds of printers
Printers are available in a wide rage of capabilities and prices. Some printers
work by printing a lot of little dots on paper to form words and images, others
work by striking a formed character against an inked ribbon Gust as typewriters
do). Some print only text, while others print almost any image. Some make very
good pictures, others very fuzzy ones. The main types of computer printers are
as below:
a. Dot matrix printers
As the name indicates, these printers work by placing dots of ink on a page.
Dot matrix printers come in two widths, 82 columns and 132 columns.
b. Ink jl~t printers
Ink jet printers spray tiny beads of ink at the paper. These printers cost less
than the laser printer and the quality of output is better than that of dot matrix
printer. They can produce text in many fonts and graphics.
c. Laser printers
Laser printers have all the good features and operate at twice as fast as ink
jet printers. They provide text of most typefaces and sizes and they print the
sharpest of all graphic images.
d. Colour printers
There are a few colour dot matrix printers which can produce upto eight
colours by reprinting a line over and over with different coloured ribbons. Colour
ink jet and colour laser printers are also available.
e. High speed printers (Line printers)
There are also high-speed printers available which can print multiple lines
at a time.
f. Plotters
A plotter uses pens to draw very detailed designs on paper. They are useful
for blue prints and engineering drawings.
Input devices, output devices and secondary storage devices are
sometimes collectively called as peripheral devices or simply peripherals.
15
~p/~ in Animal SciencfI
COMPUTER SOFTWARE AND MS-DISK OPERATING SYSTEM
A computer needs both hardware and software for its proper functioning.
Computer software consists of sets of programmed instructions which enable the
hardware to perform functions. Computer software can be broadly classified into
two categories: application software and system software. Applications software
is a set of programming instructions for specific applications such as pay roll
accounting. System software comprises of those programmes designed to coordinate the operations of a computer system. It is a set of instructions to interpret
and execute application software. These include operating systems, language
processors (language translators), interpreters and assemblers (which convert
instructions to machine language) and utility software. The following figure gives
an overview of the software classification and different types:
SOFIWARE TYPES
'"
File
management
tools
Operating
systems
I Debuggers
Ie
~L...
SOFTWARE
I
---
Systems Software
Assemblers
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Applications Software
Image
processors
,:,
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Databases
Games
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Word
processing
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Communication
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OPERATING SYSTEMS
Operating Systems are the most important programs that run on a
computer. Hardware cannot function without the operating system. The operating
system provides an interface between the hardware and the user.· The operating
system integrates the various hardware components like the monitor, CPU, floppy
disk drives, keyboard etc. into one system and makes it available to the user. A
more popular way of referring to the operating system is DOS or Disk Operating
System way. The most popular disk operating system used is the MS DOS or Micro
Soft Disk Operating System which is a product of Microsoft Corporation of USA.
16
~J
.
J,~ONCEPT OF DIRECTORIES
There could be many files on a disk and this may pose a problem when a
particular file has to be identified. Therefore files must be organised in an orderly
manner. Just like the books are arranged in a library, files in a computer can be
arranged on the storage medium. Let us assume that we have three files. One
contains details like names, ages, and addresses of all the employees in a firm,
another file contains details of salaries of these employees and a third file contains
the amount of loan given to these employees. All these files relate to the
employees of the firm. Therefore, it would be desirable to club together all these
files under one unit.
To enable the user to arrange files within units, DOS provides structures
called directories on a disk. Directories can also be named by the user. Let us take
an example. We have 5 kinds of files on a disk - Establishment files, education
files, finance files, extension files and research files. Within the establishment files,
we may have technical staff files and non-technical staff files. Within the
education files, we may have veterinary and fisheries files etc. Technical staff files
can be called as the sub directory of the root directory or the parent directory.
22
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
WINDOWS OPERATING SYSTEM
WHAT IS WINDOWS?
There are different kinds of software, but probably the most important and
the most widely used software is the Operating System. An Operating System is
the software that forms a bridge between the user and the hardware. It performs
several routine tasks, thereby making it easier for us to work on the computer.
There are many operating systems available. MS-DOS, Unix, Linux, OS2, MacOS
are some examples. Windows 98, a product of Microsoft Corporation, is also an
operating system, which is most popular among PC users.
EVOLUTION OF THE WINDOWS OPERATING SYSTEM
Windows 98 is one of the popular versions in the series of Windows
products. The first version to become reasonably popular was Windows 3.0, which
came with file management utilities. Soon, several applications that were meant to
be used with Windows appeared in the market. Within a few years, Windows
started being used in offices, homes and business establishments. Windows 3.0 was
followed by Windows 3.1, which offered better features. The next major
development came with th.e introduction of Windows 95. Unlike earlier versions of
Windows, Windows 95 was a complete operating system. Windows was no longer
restricted by the conventions of MS-DOS. The Program Manager of Windows 3.1
was hidden from the user. This was replaced by new ways of starting applications
and opening documents. After Windows 95 came Windows 98. Windows 98 offers
many new utilities, improved performance and support for the latest hardware
and technologies. It also provides several features and utilities that allow easy
access to and use of the Internet. Although there are now Windows 2000, Windows
me and Windows xp available, understanding Windows 98 will suffice at this level
to make use of any of these.
ADVANTAGES OF USING WINDOWS
Windows 98 is a user friendly operating system designed with the following
advantages:
The biggest advantage of using Windows 98 is its Graphical User Interface
(GUI). Many other operating systems (including MS-DOS) use Command Line
Interface. In this kind of interface, we have to remember cryptic commands and
type them without mistakes. Some operating systems are also case - sensitive (Is is
not the same as LS or Ls or IS). A simple spelling mistake or missed space will
result in an error. But, Windows 98, with its GUI, displays all the information on
the screen and all we have to do is point and select using the mouse.
Windows 98 allows us to use several utility programs like
23
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
cr
Calculator - a program that allows us to perform calculations~
cr
Paint - a program that allows us to draw and color pictures,
cr
WordPad - a simple word processor that allows us to enter and save:'
text,
(1
0'
Internet Explorer - a program that allows us to browse the Internet,
Oipart - a gallery of pictures that we can use in our documents and
many more.
There are also a wide variety of other software applications that can be used
on Windows 98. The most popular of these is Microsoft Office, which includes
Word (a word processor), Excel (a spreadsheet program), Access (a database
management system), PowerPoint (a presentation software) and many more. Other
applications like Foxpro, Netscape Navigator, Adobe PageMaker are some others
that can be used on Windows 98.
Windows 98 allows us to run multiple applications at the same time. It also
allows us to easily switch between them and transfer data between them. For
example, we can write a report using MS Word, move to MS Excel, draw a graph in
Excel, return to Word and paste the graph in our report, stop our work to playa
game of cards with Solitaire, return to MS Word and continue our report.
The easy-to-use online Help facility of Windows 98 is always available to
guide us. Using Help, we can find information on a topic based on category, index
and search using keywords or phrases. Windows 98 Help also includes an online
version of the manual "Getting Started". Windows 98 has an excellent Internet
interface. With Windows 98, we can easily access and browse through web pages
from anywhere on the computer. Internet Explorer and Outlook Express, which
had to be purchased and installed separately, are now a part of Windows 98. They
are always available on the screen.
MOUSE
Windows 98 uses GUr. That is, all information are displayed on the screen.
One can use it by simply pointing to it and seiecting. To do this we use the mouse.
The mouse is an input device that we move on a flat surface (usually a moue pad).
When we move the mouse, a pointer moves on the screen. This pointer, called the
Mouse Pointer, is used to point to things on the screen. The mouse has either two
or three buttons on the top. The left button is most often used. Described below are
four mouse actions that we need to know to use Windows 98 effectively.
24
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
1.
Move : Moving the mouse is simply dragging the mouse on the mouse pad
so that the mouse pointer moves in the direction we want, without touching
the buttons. This action allows us to point to things on the screen.
n.
Click: Clicking is used to select objects on the Windows screen. To click,
ensure that the mouse is pointing to what we want and press the left button
of the mouse once and release the button immediately.
llI.
Double Click: Double - click is most often used to start applications. To
double - click, point to what we want and press the left button of the mouse
twice in quick succession.
IV.
Click and drag: This mouse action is used to move an object from one place
to another, when we click and drag an object, the object moves along with
the mouse pointer. To click and drag, hold the left button of the mouse
down and move the mouse.
WORKING WITH WINDOWS 98
When we switch on our computer, Windows 98 automatically starts loading
from the hard disk. While loading, it performs a series of diagnostic tests to check
the memory and hardware components. Once the diagnostic tests are over,
Windows 98 starts loading files and graphics necessary for the GUI interface. This
takes a few minutes, after which it displays the opening screen of Windows 98, the
Desktop. The appearance of the desktop can also be changed using Windows 98
according to the wish of the user.
DESKTOP
In Windows 98, the basic working platform is the Desktop. Let us
understand tl:te desktop with an example. When we study, we use a table. Usually,
we keep all the books and note books that we may need on the table in front of us.
We may also keep our pencil box, colors, a dictionary and a few other things on the
table. When we want a particular book, we simply reach out to that book and pick
it up. \Vindow's desktop is very similar to the tabletop. All the programs in the
computer are available on the desktop. Here, instead of our hand, we use the
mouse pointer to point to things and select them.
The desktop has several Icons. Icons are small pictures/images representing
applications. Each icon has a label telling the name of the application it represents.
My computer, Recycle Bin and Internet Explorer are some of the standard icons
that we can see on the Windows desktop. Each of these icons represents an
application that is frequently used. For example, My computer allows we to see the
contents of our computer, install and use new software and hardware. Apart from
the standard icons provided by Windows, we can also create icons for the
applications that we use frequently and place them on the desktop.
25
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
The desktop also contains the Taskbar. The taskbar is usually a narrow strip
present at the bottom of the screen. On the left, it has Start button. When we click
on the start button, we can start any application that we want. Next to the Start
button is the Quick Launch Toolbar. One advantage of using Windows 98 is the
easy access it provides to the Internet. The quick launch toolbar contains icons that
allow us to select some commonly used Internet-related applications. On the
extreme right is the Systems Tray that contains the Clock and icons for the utilities
like Volume and the task scheduler. The empty space between the Quick Launch
Toolbar and the Systems Tray is used to display buttons for the applications
currently being used.
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NAVIGATION
You can navigate around your computer in several different ways. For
example, you can view your computer's contents by using either My Computer or
Windows Explorer. Both navigational tools are easy to find - My Computer opens
from the desktop and Windows Explorer from the start menu. use the taskbar and
start
26
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
START MENU
The start menu acts as a launch pad for most of the things we want to do
with Windows 98. Using this menu, we can start applications, change the settings
of our computer, find files, get help and do much, much more. The Start menu
appears when we click on the start button on the taskbar. We can select an option
from this menu by using the mouse. As we move the mouse pointer over the
options, they get highlighted. Simply click the mouse when the option we want is
highlighted. Some options on the menu have a small arrow on the right. This arrow
indicates the presence of one or more levels of submenu. To select an option on the
submenu, slide the mouse pointer sideways. One option on the submenu will get
highlighted. Now, move the mouse pOUlter up and down till the option that we
want is highlighted and click. Note that some of the options in the submenu also
have an arrow. Selecting these options Will display another submenu.
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STARTING AN APPLICATION
Windows 98 allows US to start an application either by using icons on the
desktop or by using the Start menu. The easiest way to start an application is to use
its icon on the desktop. When we want to start an application, look for its icon on
the desktop. If we find the icon, double,-click on it to start the application. Though
Windows 98 gives us a few icons on th~ desktop and allows us to create our own
icons for other frequently used applications, it is not possible to have icons for all
applications on the desktop. To start applications, for which icons are not available
on the desktop, we can use the Start menu. Click on the Start button on the taskbar
27
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
and select the option that we want from anyone of the menus or submenus that
appear.
WINDOWS
When we are using a table to study, we keep all the books we need on the
table. Each book occupies some space on the table. Smaller books occupy less space
and bigger books take up more space. The books may even overlap each other
partially or completely. We can use these books by moving them around, closing
some, opening others and so on. By doing this, we can ensure that the book we
want is easily available to us. Windows 98 allows us to work with applications .in
the same way. When we start an application, it occupies a rectangular area on the
desktop. This rectangular area on the desktop that is used by an application is
called a Window. We can have several windows on our desktop at the same time.
These windows may be big (as big as the desktop) or small (as small as a button on
the taskbar), overlapping others or one beside the other.
PARTS OF WINDOW
For us to work efficiently with windows, it is important to learn to manage
them well. Windows 98 allows us to move them around, change their size, and
hide them from our view and so on. Let us use the application WordPad, a simple
word processor to understand how to manage windows well. WordPad is one of
the applications that come as part of Windows 98. It is a word processor - we can
enter and store text using it. To start WordPad, click on Start, Programs,
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28
ot tilt
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
Accessories and WordPad. Windows 98 is designed in such a way that all windows
are similar. The methods used for sizing, moving and closing these windows are
also the same. At the top of each window is the Title Bar. As the name indicates,
the title bar tells us the name of the application. It also contains three of the
following four Sizing buttons.
Minimize Button: The minimize button is used to reduce the size of the
window to a button on the taskbar. Remember that minimizing a window does
not close a window. It simply hides it from us. The contents of the window
remain in memory and we can get them back (restore) whenever we want. To
restore a minimized window, click on its button on the taskbar.
Maximize Button: Clicking on this button enlarges the window to fill the
entire desktop.
Restore Button: This button is used to restore the window to its original size
(that is, to the size before we maximized it).
Close Button: This button is used to close a window. Remember that closing
a window will remove its contents from memory and screen.
Below the title bar is the Menu Bar. This displays the different menus
available to us. When we click on a menu option, say Edit, all the sub-options
appear as a drop-down menu. We can select any of them by pointing to it with the
mouse pointer and clicking.
One or more toolbars appear below the menu bar. Toolbars consist of icons
representing shortcuts for the most frequently used commands. For example, to
save a file, we can click on the File menu and select Save from the drop-down list.
An easier method would be to click on the Save icon on the toolbar.
MOVING A WINDOW
Often, While working with multiple windows, we need to move a window
to a different area of the desktop to see one of the underlying windows. We can do
so by clicking and dragging the title bar of the window.
CHANGING THE SIZE OF A WINDOW
Every window has a border that can be used to change its size. Point to the
window border with the mouse. The mouse pointer changes into a double-headed
arrow. Click and drag this arrow to increase or decrease the size of the window.
WINDOWS DIALOG BOXES
Windows 98 is an inter-active operating system. Its GUI attempts to display
as much information on the screen as possible. It uses dialog boxes to display the
29
c3ompute~ Applic&JfI~~1 Scieriil2r')
.
.
~
information and allows us to either type in our response or select from a list 01,,choices. listed below are some of the controls used in dialog boxes.
,Hi
Text Boxes: Text boxes are used to allow the user to enter some text/ data. Every
text box is accompanied by a prompt or label that tells us what should be entered
in that box.
List Boxes: These boxes display a list of choices. We can select the one we want by
simply clicking on it.
Drop-down List Boxes: These are list boxes which have a small black inverted
triangle at one end. When we click on this triangle, a list of options drops down in
front of us. We can select an item from this list by clicking on it.
Radio Buttons: These buttons are used to display multiple options. We can select
one by clicking on the small white circle to the left of the option. A black dot
appears at the center of the circle to indicate a selected option.
Check Boxes: These boxes are used to enable or disable options. The options in
these boxes have small white squares to their left. Clicking on a square enables the
option and clicking on it again disables. A tick mark in this square indicates that
the option is enabled and a blank square indicates that the option is disabled.
Buttons: The OK and Cancel buttons are the most frequently used buttons in
Windows 98. When w~ click on the OK button in a dialog box, Windows will
accept our choice and close the dialog box. Clicking on cancel will make Windows
ignore the changes and close the dialog box. Some buttons are also used to display
another dialog box.
Tabs: Tabs are used to display different sets of options in dialog boxes. Clicking on
each box displays an entirely different set of options.
Sliders: Sliders are used to enter a value by physically moving a marker over a
slide.
USING HELP
Windows 98 has extensive on-line help. To use this help, click on the start
button and choose help from the menu that appears. The window is divided into
two panes. On the left the topics are listed, based on their contents. Click on the
Index tab to see a list of index entries or on the search tab to search for a keyword
or key phrase. Point to the topic of your choice. Note that the mouse pointer
changes to a pointing finger. Click and the corresponding topic will be displayed in
the right pane of the window. The back and forward buttons on the toolbar allow
us to move to the previous and next topic.
30
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
CUSTOMIZING WINDOWS 98
One of the most attractive features of Windows 98 is that it allows us to
customize the desktop. We can change the appearance of the desktop by changing
the background, adding icons, moving icons, moving and resizing the taskbar and
so on. We can also add screen savers that prevent damage to our monitor during
periods of inactivity.
CUSTOMIZING THE T ASKBAR
The taskbar is usually at the bottom of the desktop. But we can move it
easily to any of the four sides of the desktop. Point the mouse pointer to any empty
area on the taskbar. Click and drag the taskbar to wherever we want it to be. We
can also change the size of the taskbar. Point to the edge of the taskbar. The mouse
pointer will change into a double-headed arrow. Click and drag the mouse to
increase or decrease the size of the taskbar.
CHANGING THE WALLPAPER
Wallpaper is the background display that appears on our desktop. We can
choose from several standard wallpapers that are available as part of Windows 98.
We can also use a picture that we have drawn, scanned or copied from somewhere.
Browse through the list of wallpapers and click on the one you want. A preview in
the top half of the window shows us how the wallpaper will look. Click on apply
and then on OK.
USING SCREEN SAVERS
In older monitors, if we left the images on the screen unchanged for long,
the characters would burn-in, leaving a permanent impression on the screens.
Screen savers, which displayed constantly moving pictures or characters, prevent
this from happening. Today, monitor technology has improved 50 much that
screen savers are no longer necessary. But, they are still popular mainly because
they are fun. To use a screen saver, click on Screen Saver button in the Display
Properties dialog box. Click on the drop-down list box just below the Screen Saver
prompt. A list of available screen savers appears. Select one. A preview appears in
the top half of the window. We can specify in the Wait text box, the number of
minutes the computer should wait before displaying the screen saver. Windows
will wait for 1 minute before displaying the screen saver. Click on Password
Protected and then on Change to password protect our screen. Enter a password of
your choice in the dialog box which appears. Click on Apply and OK. Now,
whenever our computer is idle for some time, Windows will automatically activate
our screen saver. To remove the screen saver, just move the mouse or press any key
on the keyboard. If you have password-protected our screen saver, a dialog box
appears prompting us to enter the password.
31
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
CONTROL PANEL
The Control Panel allows us to install and manage the different hardware
components attached to OUI computer. We can open the Control Panel window by
clicking on the Start button, selecting Settings and then Control Panel. We can also
access Control Panel from My computer window. Double - click on the My
computer icon on the desktop and select control panel from the icons displayed in
the My computer window.
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The Control Panel window opens in front of us. Control Panel window
displays several icons. Using these icons, we can modify the system and hardware
settings of our computer. Listed below are some of the functions we can perform
here:
Adding new hardware to our computer.
AlIowing us to install new programs and create shortcuts for them.
Allowing us to change the date, time and the time zone settings.
Allowing us to personalize our computer with attractive wallpapers, sound /
Allowing us to cha.nge display properties like Background, Screen Saver
32
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
Allowing us to view, add and remove fonts on our computer.
Allowing us to change the mouse settings. Using this icon we can
interchange the functions of the mouse buttons. This is useful if you are a
left handed person.
Allowing us to assign and change passwords and set up security options.
Allowing add, remove or change the setting of print
Allowing change the display of numbers, currency and date and time.
Allowing us to set up and manage multiple user for our computer.
SHUTTING DOWN WINDOWS 98
It is very important to shut down Windows 98 properly before switching off
the computer. To do so, click on the Start button and select Shut Down from the
Start menu. The Shut Down dialog box appears on the screen. This dialog box has
four options. We can select an option by clicking on the small white circle to the left
of the option. Click on the first option. Stand by, when we want the computer to
idle for a short time without switching it off. In the Stand by state, the computer
consumes considerably less electric power. But, remember, while the computer is
in this state, the contents of the computer's memory are not saved on the disk and
we will loose them if the power fails or is switched off. The second option, Shut
Down, is used when we have finished working and want to switch off computer.
in this case, Windows saves any setting that we have changed and the contents of
the memory. Wait till we get the message "It is now safe to turn off your
computer" before switching off the computer. The third option, Restart, shuts
down the computer as in the Shut down option but automatically restarts it after a
few seconds. The last option, Restart in the MS-DOS mode, shuts down the
computer but restarts it in the DOS mode instead of the Windows mode.
33
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
APPLICATIONS IN WINDOWS
All information in Windows are stored as files. These files are broadly
classified into two categories: Application Files and Document Files. Application
files (also called Program files) are files that allow you to draw and paint, enter and
save text, calculate and play game are application files. Document files are files that
are created by the user using an application.
We can start an application by clicking on its icon on the desktop or by
using the Start menu. When we do that, the application appears on the screen in a
window. At the same time, a button representing the application also appears on
the taskbar. This button stays on the taskbar as long as the application is active and
disappears only when we close the application. We will now learn how to start
multiple applications, how to switch between them and how to transfer data
between them.
Using Applications in Windows
Several useful applications come as part of Windows. Using them, you can
perform a wide variety of tasks. Discussed below are some of the commonly used
ones:
MS-DOS
Till recently, MS-DOS was a very popular operating system among PC
users. Hundreds of DOS-based applications were available in the market. To start
such programs or to use any DOS command, the MS-DOS option of Windows can
be used. Click on S~t, Programs, and select MS-DOS from the list. The MS-DOS
window is like any other window; you can move, minimize, maximize or close it
like any other window. Notice that after the copyright message, the window
displays the familiar C:\> prompt. You can use any DOS command here.
CLOCK AND CALENDAR
Windows has an in-built clock, which is usually
... ;~::~~~:.-: ~--" - " --:;;r
displayed on the taskbar. To change the date or the time, . [~ - - .j , : ' ; .
double-dick on the clock on the taskbar. The Date / < ' ,- - ' . ' .\ ,/ .
'"
Time properties dialog box appears on the screen. On
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the left half of the dialog box, the current month's
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calendar is displayed. To view the calendar for some
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other month, click on the month and year drop-down , ,,,:","-~
r.
list boxes and select the month and year you want. To
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change the time, click on the digital dock seen on the right. Highlight the hour,
minute or second by dragging the pointer over it. Increase or decrease the
highlighted value by clicking on the up and down arrows in the box. Note that the
t . . '-"-[.t. '.
34
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
time in the analog clock also changes correspondingly. Click on the OK after you
finish.
CALCULATOR
The calculator is a useful application that comes
with Windows. It can be used to perform mathematical
and scientific calculations. To start the Calculator, click on
Start, Programs, Accessories and Calculator. We can use
the keyboard and the mouse to enter number and
operators. To use the Calculator in the Scientific mode,
click on the View menu and select Scientific.
PAINT
Paint is an application that lets us draw and color pictures. To start Paint,
click on Start, Programs, Accessories and Paint. The Paint window appears on the
screen. It has a Toolbar and a Color Box. The Toolbar has various tools that we can
use to draw and color. To use any of the tools in the toolbar, first click on the tool to
select it. Then, move the mouse to the drawing area and click and drag to draw the
figure you want. The Color Box contains the colors that you can use. Click on the
color of your choice and use the fill with color tool. You can close Paint by clicking
on the Close button on the title bar or clicking on the File menu and selecting Exit.
WORD PAD
WordPad is a simple word processor that comes along with Windows. A
Word Processor is a program that allows you to type and store text. To start
WordPad, click on Start, Programs, Accessories and WordPad. The WordPad
window appears on the screen. The WordPad window has a title bar, menu bar,
toolbar, work area and a status bar. Use the keyboard to type the text. Note that as
you type the text, the cursor moves. When you reach the end of a line, W ordPad
automatically moves the cursor to the beginning of the next line. This feature is
called Word wrap. The Enter key on the keyboard is used to start a new paragraph.
After you have finished typing the text, you an correct it, add or delete text. To
close WordPad, click on the Close button on the title bar or select Exit from the File
menu.
WORKING WITH MULTIPLE APPLICATIONS
When you are using multiple applications, it can be very time consuming if
you have to close one application before starting the next one. Moreover,
transferring information from another application is very difficult if not
impossible. For example, in MS-DOS, a file created using a word processor cannot
contain a graph created using a spreadsheet program. Windows overcomes this
problem by allowing the user to work on multiple applications at the same time. In
35
Com~JJ;plications in Animal Sciences
Windows, a WordPad file can contain data or a graph crea~AJsing ~ a
picture created using Paint and so on.
.
Starting multiple applications is very simple. Start one application. The
application appears on the screen in a window. At the same time, a button with the
name of the application appears on the taskbar. Now, start the second application.
The window of the second application appears on the screen overlapping the first
window, the button of the second application appears on the taskbar and the title
bar of the first application and its button on the taskbar become dim.
The buttons on the taskbar are used to switch between the different
applications. The button of the application you are currently using is highlighted
and its window is called the Active Window. To switch to another application,
click on any part of that application's window that is visible. If no part of the
window is visible, click the button of the application on the taskbar. Then the
application window concerned is moved in front of all the other windows and its
button is highlighted.
TRANSFERRING INFORMATION BETWEEN DIFFERENT APPLICATIONS
Windows allows you to transfer data between the different applications you
are running simultaneously. To do this, Windows uses a temporary storage
location called the Clipboard. You can use the clipboard to store any kind of data.
The information being transferred is first copied from the source application to the
Clipboard and from there to the destination application. Windows also gives the
option of either copying or moving a file. The difference between copying and
moving files is that moving removes the files or folders from the source location
and places them in the destination location. Copying leaves the source files or
folders untouched and makes a new copy in the destination location.
36
Computer Applications in Animal &iences
WINDOWS EXPLORER
DATA ORGANIZATION.
In a computer having a large hard disk space for ego 4 or 8 GB, you can store
several thousand files. But in these cases, finding one file can be very difficult.
Windows 98 (and DOS) overcome this problem by using Folders (DOS calls them
Subdirectories). A folder is nothing but a collection of related files or subfolders.
Windows 98 allows us to organise the files on our disk by grouping them into
folders.
WINDOWS EXPLORER
Windows Explorer is a program that helps you to manage your files and
folders. To start Windows Explorer, click on Start, Programs and Windows
Explorer. Like any other window, the Explorer window also contains a title bar, a
menu bar and a tool bar. Below the tool bar is the display area. As we can see, this
area is divided into two panes. The left pane displays a list of folders and the right
pane displays the contents of the currently selected folder. At the bottom of the
window is the status bar.
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Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
WORKING WITH FOLDERS
A small yellow icon represents each folder. Note that the disk drives on
your computer are also treated as folders. A plus sign to the left of the folder icon
indicates the presence of s\lbfolders within this folder. You can click on the plus
sign to display a list of the subfolders. When you do this, the plus sign changes to a
minus sign. Clicking on the minus sign will hide the details. Scroll bars in this part
of the window allow you to browse through the list of folders. To see the contents
of a folder you have to select the folder. To do so, just click on the folder. The
re&rn file A..'tm next ro the folder changes to look like em open folder. The selected
folder is highlighted and its contents are displayed in the right pane of the Explorer
window.
y
CHANGING THE VIEW
Windows Explorer a,llows you to change the way in which information is
displayed in the right pane. You can change the view by clicking the Views icon on
- the toolbar. You can display the list of files and folders using any of the following
four views:
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Large icons -It displctys the contents with large icons.
Small icons - This displays the files / folders with small icons.
_ I
List - This view retains the small icons but displays the files and folders one
below the other in columns.
i
Details - This view displays details like file size, type, last modified date and
time along with file names and small icons.
CREATING A NEW FOLD~R
Often, you may want to create a new folder to store some of your files.
Creating new folders using Windows Explorer is very easy. First, select the drive
or folder under which you want to create the new folder. Then, right click
anywhere in the empty space in the right pane of the Explorer window. Click on
New from the menu that appears. Select Folder from the submenu that appears. A
38
Computer Applications in Animal &iences
new folder with the temporary name "New Folder" is created. Simply type the
name you want to give this new folder and press Enter.
SELECTING FILES AND FOLDERS
Windows Explorer allows you to Copy, Move, Delete and Rename files and
folders. But, before you can do any of these, you have to select the files or folders
that you want to copy, move, delete or rename. Selecting one file or folder is very
simple. Just click on the file or folder and it gets highlighted. If you want to select
more than one file or folder, you can do so in one of the following ways:
i.
If the files or folders to be selected appear consecutively on the screen, then,
click on the first file or folder. Using the scroll bars (if necessary), point the
mouse pointer to the last file or folder in the list, hold the Shift key down
and click.
Ii
If the files or folders to be selected are not displayed consecutively, then,
click on the first file, move the mouse pointer to the second file to be selected
and click while holding the Ctrl key down. Repeat the procedure for each of
the other files to be selected.
COPYING AND MOVING FILES AND FOLDERS
Once the files are selected, you can copy or move them using Cut, Copy and
Paste icons either on the tool bar or on the Edit menu or on the menu which pops
up when you right click on the selected files or folders. The difference between
copying and moving files is that moving removes the files or folders from the
source location and places them in the destination location.
RENAMING FILES AND FOLDERS
To rename a file or folder, right click on the file or folder. Select Rename
from the shortcut list which pops up on the screen. Now, type the new name and
press Enter
DELETING FILES AND FOLDERS
Windows Explorer uses a special folder called the Recycle Bin to hold
deleted files. The recycle bin is like the garbage can in your house that you empty
once it is full. In the same way, you can empty the recycle bin when you want.
Using the recycle bin gives you a chance to get back files that you have deleted by
mistake. To delete files, first select them. Then right click on the files and the
shortcut menu appears. Select Delete from the shortcut menu and the files will get
deleted. The Recycle Bin folder is aVailable on the Desktop and can be used like
any other folder. Double-click on the icon to open it and check if the deleted files
are present. To empty the Recycle Bin, click on the File menu and choose Empty
39
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
Recycle Bin. Remember that once the Recycle Bin has been emptie.t, ....u cannot get
back the deleted files.
CREATING SHORTCUTS
Among the many applications available on your computer, there will be a
few that you use frequently. For example, suppose you enjoy painting and
frequently use Paint. To start Paint, you should click on Start, programs,
Accessories and, then, Paint. It would be more convenient if you could start Paint
directly from the desktop. Windows 98 allows you to create such shortcuts for
frequently used applications. When you create a shortcut, Windows 98 creates a
link which points to the physical location of the program.
FINDING FILES OR FOLDERS
The hard disk of your computer can contain several folders. Each folder, in
tum, can contain several other folders, often, at multiple levels. In such cases,
locating a file can be a little difficult. The File Find or Folders feature of Windows
98 makes your job easier. The File Find option is available both on the Start menu
and on Windows Explorer's menu bar. To start, click on the Start menu. Select Find
from the menu and click on Files or Folders from the list which appears. You can
also right click on the start button and select Find from the menu which pops up.
The Find window appears on the screen. Find allows you to search for files or
folders based on three criteria:
Name & Location: Using this option, you can find files whose partial or
complete file name you know. To do so, enter the partial or complete file name in
the Named box. For example, to find all files starting with Win, type Win in the
Name box. Click on the Find Now button to start the search. The Containing text
box allows you to enter some text that appears in the file if it is known to you. The
Look in box allows you to specify the drives or folders where Windows should
search.
Date : The Date option can be used to find files which were created or
modified between two known dates or within the last few days or month.
Advanced : This option allows you to find files based on file type. Click on
the inverted triangle in the type box. A list of file types appears. Select the type you
want and click on Find Now.
RUN COMMAND
The Run command on the Start menu offers an alternate method to start
applications or open data files. The Run command is most often used to install new
software or games from a CD or a floppy disk. TIle Browse button lets you search
for a file or folder.
, ·40
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
';' WORD PROCESSING USING MS-WORD
A word processor is a program that enables us to perform word processing
functions. Word processing functions are creating, editing and printing documents.
The greatest advantage of word processing over using a typewriter is that you can
make changes without retyping the entire document.
Microsoft® Word is a Windows based word processing program. It can be
used to produce documents ranging from a short letter to a big report. These
documents can be produced and printed out in any style that is required. It is also
possible to add graphics, tables, and diagrams to the document. These can either
be generated by Word itself or else imported from another Windows program such
as Excel. One of the great advantages of a computer based word processor over a
simple typewriter is that the documents produced by a word processor can be
stored in a file format. These documents can be retrieved and edited whenever
necessary. The word processor also provides many additional sophisticated effects
such as various text types that cannot be produced on a typewriter. This course
will take you through the main features available in Word. We will now learn how
to type, format and print out documents.
STARTING WORD
The first step is to start the Word program. To start Word, locate the Word
icon on the Desktop and double click on the Word icon with the mouse.
FEATURES OF THE WORD SCREEN
The picture below shows some of the main features of the Word window.
Notice that the Word window consist of a program parent window enclosing a
maximized document or child window. It is therefore possible to see parent and
child control boxes. In the picture you can also see the parent maximize and
minimize buttons and the child close button. The title bar indicates the name of the
program and the active document window. The menu bar contains 9 different
headings which are selected using the mouse or by typing Alt + the underlined
letter.
The toolbar consists a row of buttons with picture icons on them. Clicking
any of these buttons will activate that particular tool. For example clicking on the
printer icon document on the toolbar will print the current document. The status
bar along the bottom of the window provides information about the current page
and the location of the cursor.
41
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
CREATING A DOCUMENT
Starting a new document is very simple. In the text window you will
initially see a simple black flashing cursor bar at the insertion point in the top left
hand corner. Any text you type on the keyboard will appear at this point. As you
enter text the cursor will move to the right acro~s the page. At the end of the line it
will automatically move down to the beginning of the next line - this is called
word wrap. Text is typed using the keys and space bar. Capital letters are
produced by holding down the shift (11) button while typing the letters to be
capitalized. Alternatively the Caps Lock key can be used when a number of capital
letters need to be typed. The Tab button inserts an additional space between text. It
is useful for indented text which needs to be insert by a fixed amount. The enter or
return (.J) key marks the end of a line and is used to move the cursor down to the
next line.
EDITING THE TEXT
Now you have created a simple document. However, it is still possible to
make changes to the text by deleting existing text or adding additional text. This
process is termed as editing. There are a number of ways in which the text can be
deleted. One of the easiest ways is to use the backspace (+-) key which deletes the
letter to the left of the cursor - i. e. the last character typed. This key can also be
pressed a number of times to delete the whole word.
42
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
The Del (delete) key, in contrast to the backspace key, erases the text in front
of the cursor. It is possible to locate the cursor in a section of text in order to delete
some text. It is possible to use the arrow keys to move the cursor through the
typed text However with a long section of text this can take some time. It is much
quicker to use the mouse to move the insertion point bar (I) to the correct place in
the text and then click once with the left mouse button - the cursor will then jump
straight to this point. Then either the Del key or the backspace key can be used to
delete the text.
SAVING YOUR DOCUMENT
One great advantage of using a computer is that it can store your documents
- but you have to instruct it to do so first. Everybody who has used a computer
can tell you stories of how they have lost valuable documents - and it will happen
to you ~oo unless you are very careful. The solution is to save your documents at
regular intervals and not just at the end of the day's work. In this way if some
disaster strikes such as a power cut, then you will only lose the material typed
since the last save. The first time a document is saved it needs to be given a file
name. This is done by choosing the Save As ... Option on the File menu (Do you
know what the three dots represent? It means that clicking this will display a box).
This will display the Save As dialog box in which you can allocate a file name to
the document and decide which drive and directory the file is to be saved in.
Word documents are automatically given a .doc extension unless you choose
otherwise.
43
Co+ter Applications in Animal Sciences
After the document has been saved once, it is no longer necessary to allocate
a new name, so the Save command on the File menu is sufficient - this will save the
document without even opening a dialog box. Instead you will see a string of blue
boxes in the status bar indicating that saving is taking place. There are two quick
cuts available when you want to save a document - you can use the shortcut keys
Ctrl + S or simply click on the Save tool on the toolbar.
PRINTING DOCUMENT
Now you have written edited and saved your document the time has come
to print it out. Printing a document is as simple as clicking on the print button on
the toolbar. Within a short space of time the printer would start printing and your
print out will appear. Check it for any errors and if need be make necessary
corrections to your document and reprint. Occasionally you may find that the
printer fails to print your document. If so, check the following:
*
The printer is turned on and the green on line button is illuminated.
*
The printer has not run out of paper
*
The print cable connecting your computer to the printer has not become
detached.
EXITING WORD
You have now successfully produced a document, edited it, printed it and
saved it. It only remains to exit the Word program. There is more than one way of
doing this. One method is to open the file menu and select the Exit option at the
bottom of the drop down list. If you have not saved your document since you
have made changes to it, Word will prompt you with the display. Now is your last
chance to save your latest version by clicking Yes. Remember that once you have
exited there is no way of retrieving any unsaved material. The other method of
exiting word is by clicking the close button in the title bar.
MOVING BETWEEN AND WITHIN DOCUMENTS
We will look at opening a number of different documents at the same time
and learn how to switch from one document to another. We will also discover how
to move around in the document quickly and precisely.
OPENING A DOCUMENT
It is possible to retrieve a saved document by clicking on the File Open
button on the toolbar. This will display a dialog box. Then the directory where the
files are stored is selected and the file itself is selected.
44
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
Other way of opening a file
Word keeps track of the last four documents worked on. Therefore, you
will find the file names listed near the bottom of the File menu. Clicking on any of
these file names will open that file directly without displaying the Open dialog
box.
Opening more than one Document
It is possible to have a number of Word documents open at the same time,
which makes it convenient to refer to other documents at the same time. You can
switch from one document to another by opening the Window menu to reveal a list
of open documents. Then click on the document you want to switch to.
Opening a New Document
If you want to open a new document, you can do so by opening the File
menu and choosing the New ... option. Here you can choose which type of
template you' want to use. For most simple documents we choose the Normal
template. Oicking on OK confirms the choice. Other templates are designed to
create certain types of documents such as a Fax, a Curriculum vitae or a Calendar.
It is also possible to open a new document by clicking the New File tool on the
molbar.
45
"I. Computer Applications
in Aninrdt_~
MOVING THE CURSOR
The simplest way to scroll down or acrosS the screen is to use the arrow
keys. These are useful when you want to move the cursor (and hence the text) a
little. However it is a rather slow and tedious technique if you have to move
, through a lot of text. The mouse can also be used to relocate the cursor anywhere
I in the document using the scroll bar.
l
I SHORTCUT KEYS
j
i
There are a number of shortcut keys which can help you to move quickly
. from one place on the screen to another without having to move in stages using the
. arrow keys or the mouse. The following key combinations are worth remembering
because they will speed up your work and prevent you getting wrist strain from
over use of the mouse or key board:
Key Combination
Effect
PgUp
Moves the cursor up one screen full of text
PgDn
Moves the cursor down one screen full
End
Cursor jumps to end of current line
Home
Cursor jumps to start of current line
etrl + Home
Jump to beginning of document
etrl + End
Jump to end of document
etrl + G
Jumps to a specific page
Ctrl + +-
Jumps one word left
Ctrl + -+
Jumps one word right
STATUS BAR
When moving through the document the values on the status bar changes.
These values provide a useful indication of where you are in the document at any
one time. It is also possible to get an indication of where you are in the document
by looking at the position of the scroll box on the scroll bar.
FORMATTING YOUR DOCUMENT
With Word it is simple to format documents in an eye catching way. We
will discover how to reposition text, make a word stand out from the text and how
to adjust the layout of the document.
46
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
Selecting text to fonnat
For formatting text, one needs to select the text that is to be formatted and
then perform the formatting function such as underlining or centering. In word the
mouse can be used to select text. This involves moving the mouse to the beginning
of the text to be selected, holding down the left mouse button and then dragging
the I bar to the end of the text before releasing the mouse button. The selected text
will appear highlighted in black colour.
There are a few shortcuts that will be useful:
*
To select a single word double click on it with the mouse
*
To select a whole sentence hold down the Ctrl Key whilst clicking on
a word in the sentence.
*
A paragraph is selected by double clicking in the left hand margin of
the paragraph.
*
The whole document is selected by holding down the Ctrl button
whilst double clicking in the margin!
Creating Bold, Underlined and Italic text
Now after knowing how to select text, formatting it is a simple task. Any
selected text can be turned into bold style by clicking once on the Bold button on
the toolbar. When it is pressed, the button appears in sunken profile" to indicate
that the feature is turned on. Click on the button again to turn it off. To turn
standard text into italic style, simply select the text and then press the italics
button on the toolbar. To underline text, select the text and then press the underline
button on the toolbar.
/I
Fonnatting New Text
<
,\,
All the format buttons also work on text that you type in after they have
been pressed. For example, if you press the Bold button then any text you type in
after this will be in bold format. If you then press the underline button new text
will be in bold and underlined style because you have both buttons selected. You
have to click these buttons again to turn off these styles.
It is also possible to convert formatted text to its original style. Select the
text to be changed and then click the relevant button to tum off that feature. Using
these simple format tools can increase the impact of any document.
47
Chllnging the text font
It is possible to change the font of the text. Word has a large array of ,/
different font types available. These notes are written in Arial Narrow font. Below I
are a few examples to show you the differences between fonts.
This is an Arial font
This font is called Times New Roman
This one is called Albertus Medium
This one is Book Antiqua
This is a Comic Sans MS font
You can select and change the font of any text in the document. To select a
different format you have to click on the Font drop down arrow which is found on
the formatting toolbar. The font drop down list will then be displayed. Using the
scroll bar you can move through the list of fonts until you find the one you want.
Click on the name and this font will be selected as the new default font. Different
fonts can make different impacts. However, as a general rule, stick to just one font
for each document. Arial is a good one for writing official documents and thesis.
Changing the Font Size
>,
Most fonts come in a number of different sizes or point sizes. For example',
this document is written in 11 point text. Look at some of the examples below:
>
This is 8 point Arial Narrow Text
This is 14 point Arial Narrow Text
This is 18 point Arial Narrow Text
Font Dialog Box
Apart from using the toolbar, it is also possible to change the text format in
Font dialog box. It offers a larger number of alternative format styles. However, it
is better to use the buttons on the tool bar, as using Font dialog box takes time. To
open Font dialog box, click on Format menu and select Font ... option.
Other Font Settings
It is also possible to change the colour of text using the Color drop down
box in the Font dialog box. Though this option can be effective in enhancing the
impact of a document, this would be useful only when there is a colour printer.
48
~
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
Special text effects can also be created using the Effects section of the Font dialog
box. The following are examples of each effect::
Strikethrough
SUperscript
SubScript
SMALL CAPS
ALL CAPS
There is a Preview box which indicates how the text will look with the
current font settings.
Positioning Text on the Page
All the text that we type in would line up along the left hand margin with an
uneven right margin. This is called left justified or ragged right. To align the text
on both left and right margins, we need to do a full alignment. This is done by
selecting the text and then clicking the full alignment tool on the formatting. Right
alignment is also possible. There is an option to center align the text also, which is
used to center titles and headings. Obviously these four buttons have mutually
exclusive roles and so no more than one of the four can be on or depressed at any
one time - and one button is always turned on.
Indenting Text
It is often effective to indent a section of text or a paragraph in order to
separate it from the main body of text. Word provides two simple tools on the
Formatting Toolbar to enable indenting. The indent button moves the paragraph to
the right by a set amount called a tab space on each press of the button. Therefore
three presses of the button will move the text 3 tab spaces.
Bullets and Numbers
Bullets are an effective way of drawing attention to a paragraph. It is also
possible to number points when they appear together in sequence. Below are two
examples of how these features are used:
•
Turn up for work on time
*
Never leave early
•
Phone in when sick
49
Co.""."er Applications in Animal Sciences
1
Turn on the computer
2
Type in your name
3
Insert the floppy disk
Text to be bulleted or numbered can either be selected and then the bullet
button or the number on the formatting toolbar selected. Alternatively, the buttons
can be pressed to turn them on and pressed again to turn them off whilst text is
being typed in.
CHANGING THE PAGE LAYOUT
vVe will go on to see how we can make changes to the page layout of the
document to ensure a smart and well put together document. We will learn how to
insert page numbers, include headers and footers etc. We will also discover how to
view our document before printing and to print it out in a number of different
ways.
Inserting Page Numbers
We know how to tell which page of a document we are now on from the
Status bar. However, this does not mean that the document when printed would
have page numbers. These have to be added to the document. To add page
numbers, simply select the Insert menu heading and then choose Page Numbers ...
dialog box. From the Position drop down box, we can choose where the page
number should appear - at the top as a header or at the bottom as a footer.
The Alignment drop down box gives five options of where the page
number will be placed. The current selection will be shown in the preview
diagram. Finally, we can choose whether the first page is to be numbered or not.
The Format button enables to change the style of the page numbering.
·1
Page Layout View
Normal Screen view does not display f~atures such as page numbering. To
be able to view these numbers we have to switch to a Page Layout view which
shows exactly how the page will be printed out. To change to a Page Layout view,
select Page Layout on the View menu. Notice that the current setting (Normal) is
indicated by a small bullet. To return to a Normal view is simply a matter of
opening the View menu and selecting Normal again.
There is a quicker way to switch between views in the bottom left hand
corner of the document window you will see three buttons. Clicking on each of
them selects that particular view of the document.
so
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
Zooming
It is possible to change the scale or magnification of the text to see more or
less of the document. This can be done using the Zoom command which is found
on the bottom of the View menu. Selecting this command will display a dialog
box. We can then check the scale that we want. Alternatively it is possible to
change the zoom setting using the zoom button on the standard toolbar.
DOUBLE SPACING TEXT
Double spacing makes it easier to read and correct the document. However,
typing the original document with double spacing could be inconvenient as we
would only see half the amount of text on the page. Therefore, the solution is to
type the document with single line space and then format it to double spacing
before printing. To change the line spacing, the Format menu is opened and the
Paragraph command is selected. This reveals the dialog box. Then the Line
Spacing: drop down box is opened and the Double option selected. The choice is
confirmed by clicking the OK button. This same box can be used to set the spacing
between paragraphs and the paragraph indent. The Preview box gives you an
example of how the current settings will affect the text.
HEADERS AND FOOTERS
Sometimes we may want to include some information such as the date or
the document title as footer or header. In this case we need to select the Header
and Footer command from the View menu. This will automatically switch the
document to Page Layout view and display a small toolbar like the one on the left
next to the Header box in the document.
MARGINS
Word starts off with a standard 2.5 ems. margin at the top and bottom of the
page and 3.17 cms. margins on the left and right sides. These settings are generally
acceptable for letters and other documents. However, for something like a thesis
which wiU be bound you need to create wider inner margin to allow for the
binding.
To change page settings you need to open the Page Setup dialog box. This is
opened by selecting the Page Setup ... command on the File menu. You will notice
that this box has 4 tabs along the top. The Paper Size, Paper Source and Layout
tabs each open a different box. However, we need to use the Margins box which is
currently active. The Preview provides an example of how the settings will affect
the text on the page.
51
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
PRINT PREVIEW
Before printing it is a good idea to make one last check that everything is
correctly laid out. To do this we can use the Print Preview command on the File
menu - or even quicker just click on the Print Preview button on the Standard
toolbar. The Print Preview screen displays the document as it will be printed.
PRINTING
Word has a number of ways that a document can be printed out. Selecting
the Print ... command on the File menu opens a dialog box. In this box you can set
what is to be printed. Number of copies to be printed and the specific pages to be
printed can be set. It is even possible just to print odd or even pages - for example
when you want to print on both sides of the paper. The Options ... button allows
you to set other print options. The Printer ... button enables you select different
printers.
EDITING DOCUMENT
I
The next and last step in creating a document is to perform a final edit of the ,'"
document to check for errors and make last corrections. We will now learn how to !
make changes to the text, how to use the spell checker and thesaurus and how to ,
cut, copy and paste text and find and replace words in the document, in addition to ;'
creating tables and using borders.
Using the Spell Checker
One very useful feature of Word is the spell checker which can detect
spelling mistakes and suggest corrections. The Spell Checker can be activated by
clicking on Tools and Spelling... or by clicking on the spelling button on the
standard toolbar. This will reveal a dialog box. The checker will go through the
text and detect any word it does not recognize and suggest suitable alternatives.
We then have the option of pressing Ignore to overrule the correction or Change to
accept the correction. The Ignore All and Change All repeat the selected action
for all future occurrences of the word. Add will add the selected word to the
dictionary selected in the Add Words To: Box. The AutoCorrect button will
memorise the correction and automatically correct whenever we make the same
mistake again.
Using the thesaurus
The other useful tool available in Word is a comprehensive Thesaurus. The
Thesaurus suggests a number of possible alternative words. To use Thesaurus,
select the word you want to change and then open the Tools menu and select
Thesaurus... The meaning of the selected word is displayed and a number of
52
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
synonyms are presented. Selecting a synonym and pressing Replace will replace
the selected word.
Cutting and pasting
If you want to move text from the beginning to the end of a long document
or from one file to another you would need to use the technique called Cutting and
Pasting. The text to be cut is selected in the usual way. Then a special short cut
menu is opened by clicking the right mouse button (one of the rare uses for this
button) whilst the cursor is on the highlighted area. Then click on the Cut option
to cut the text. Even though the text disappears a copy of it is saved in the
Clipboard application. Then the cursor is moved to the new position for the cut
text and the right button clicked once. The same shortcut menu is opened and the
Paste option is selected to paste" the text from the Clipboard to its new position.
II
The Cut command can also be selected by clicking the Cut button on the
standard toolbar, choosing Cut from the Edit menu or using the shortcut keys Ctrl
+ X. The Paste command can also be selected by clicking the Paste button,
choosing Paste from the Edit menu or using the shortcut keys CtrI + V.
Copying and pasting
When we need to copy text to a new location in the document or to a new
file without deleting the original text, Copy and Paste functions could be used in a
similar way to Cut and Paste. Text to be copied is selected in the usual way. The
short cut menu is then opened and the Copy option selected. Alternatively, the
copy command can also be selected by clicking the Copy button on the standard
toolbar, choosing Copy from the Edit menu or shortcut keys Ctrl + C. This
command makes a copy of the text which is put in the Clipboard. The original text
is left untouched. The cursor is then moved to the location where the text is to be
copied to and the copy can then be retrieved from the clipboard using the same
Paste procedure that is used with the Cut function.
The undo feature
There is always the danger when working with a word processor that some
mistake will lead to losing a lot of your work. You can prevent this to some extent
by saving your work at regular intervals. Word also has a special Undo feature
which enables you to cancel your last actions. Therefore if by accident you deleted
a paragraph instead of formatting it you can get it back by undoing this last action.
Word actually keeps a record of all these actions and so you can undo any
command that you have used since the program was started.
To undo the last action you can click on the Undo button on the Standard
toolbar. Clicking on the down pointing arrow next to the Undo button will reveal
53
"
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
a scrollable list of all the past actions. Any of the~'_j'-' ~QU\cene<lt~
selecting it from this list.
t: sift
It is also possible to undo Undone commands - this is called Redo! For
example, if you Undo a delete command but then realize that the deletion was
correct in the first place then you can Redo the command by clicking the Redo
button. The Redo button also has a drop down list for previous commands which
is also opened by clicking the down pointing a arrow.
Find and replace words
With word it is possible to search through document to find any word or
group of words. If necessary these can be replaced by any other text that we want
to use. For example, we might have used the initials MVC for Madras Veterinary
College. We can the instruct Word to find all cases of MVC and replace them with
Madras Veterinary College - this might save us a lot of typing! To Find a word
you can select the Find command on the Edit menu. This displays a dialog box in
which you can type in the woni you are looking for - this dialog box works in a
similar way to the Replace box which we will cover next.
The Replace dialog box is displayed by selecting the Edit menu and the
Replace command. The text to be found is typed in the top text box and the
replacement text is entered in the lower text box. Click the Find Next button to I
search for the text and then click Replace to replace it with the new text.
Inserting tables
Word has a Table menu d.edicated to creating tables. This will create a table
frame in the document which you can then fill with data or text. This can either be
typed in directly or cut and pasted into the table cells. The contents of these cells
can be formatted. For example the contents could be centered within each cell by
selecting the cells and then preSSing the center button.
Editing tables
If is possible to change the format and style of a table quite easily. The
width of a column can be modified by dragging its borders using the mouse. In
this way we can adjust each column so that it is just wide enough to take all the
contents. To change the format of a number of cells you first select them by
dragging the mouse across the range of cells to be formatted. Then you can use
any of the standard format tools on the format toolbar. Selecting the Table
AutoFormat ... option will display a dialog box from which you can choose a
number of preset format types. This menu will also allow you to modify the table
size by inserting rows or deleting cells.
S4
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
,
Adding borders
It is also possible to choose your own styles of border for a table or even for
a paragraph. This is often useful when you want to emphasise a certain paragraph
of text. To add Borders, you can select the Borders and Shading ... command on the
Format menu or click on the Borders button on the formatting toolbar. The button
reveals a simple Borders floating toolbar (the menu option displays a slightly more
complex). This toolbar has three levels. The top one is a drop down box which
allows you to set the border style or thickness. The second level has a number of
possible options controlling which sides of the selected area will be given borders.
The lowest level drop down box allows you to set the amount of shading within
the box.
To place a border around a paragraph, the paragraph is selected with the
mouse and then the full border button on the Borders toolbar is selected. To place
internal borders between cells in a table the whole table is selected and then the
internal borders button is selected.
OTHER FEATURES
You have now almost reached the end of the Word module. You have
learnt most of the principal features of Word. However, there are many other
additional commands available which you can also investigate if you have time.
You should be able to use the Help system and trial and error to experiment with
these other features. One useful trick is to use the Help button to find out about
different tools. You may also want to run through some of the other Examples and
Demos that have not been covered. For example you could go through the
Working with Tables examples. Try an example and then have a go at doing the
same thing yourself on your own document.
55
SPREADSHEET OPERATIONS USING MS EXCEL
~ A spreadsheet is a table of values arranged in rows and columns. The power
of spreadsheets is quite amazing and the variety of task that one can accomplish
with it runs into hundreds. An electronic spreadsheet is a table with rows and
columns into which data are entered. Although developed primarily for book
keeping, spreadsheets are also useful for scientific calculations, data manipulation
and for producing graphs. A spreadsheet program allows you to type in numbers
and formulae to represent any system which can be described numerically.
Spreadsheets are of use to perform the following tasks:
1
To make repeated calculations on numbers and automatically recalculate
when values change.
2
To analyze a situation and discover any significant patterns in the results.
3
To make a projection into the future. To find out "what would happen if I
give these animals a little more concentrate feed each day" and see the
effects.
4
To present numerical results in a graphical form, to make them easier to
understand.
Spreadsheets also include some statistical functions. Spreadsheets can also
sort data. There are several spreadsheet packages available. The most popular one
is Microsoft Excel.
STARTING EXCEL
Click the Start menu on the desktop, go to programmes Microsoft Excel
simply double click on the Microsoft Excel icon on the desktop.
o~.
THE EXCEL SCREEN
You will then be presented with an empty spreadsheet, as depicted below,
ready to enter your data:
56
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
In the top line of the screen is the name of the application, Microsoft Excel.
Excel has given your work a name, Bookl, which can comprise a set of related data
sheets and charts. This will change later when you come to save your work in a
file, at which time you will be asked to supply a real name. The second line
contains the command menus. The next two or three lines form the toolbar with its
buttons (pictures). These offer a convenient way of issuing commonly used
commands. The top toolbar is known as the Standard Toolbar, the second as the
Formatting Toolbar. When you point to a button a help balloon appears, telling
what that button does. Below the toolbar is the command line. This is where
_
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M
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---- --l......·----i----.--.------ -. - -___ ....4
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you enter information to store in the main worksheet below. Currently the space is
empty apart from the letters AI, which denote the active cell.
WORKSHEET
The main body of the screen contains the worksheet. You are currently
using Sheet 1 of Book 1, as denoted at the foot of the screen. The worksheet has
numbers down the side, representing rows, and letters across the top representing
columns. Each intersection of a row and column is known as a cell and has a
unique name. The cell in the top left comer is Al (the intersection of Column A
and row 1) and is the active cell. This is denoted by a darker border surrounding
the cell. Any information you type is stored in the active cell.
57
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
Moving to the far right of the screen, you will see a vertical strip with
arrows in a box at each end. This is called the Scroll bar. It is used for moving up
and down. Currently, you are positioned at the top of the worksheet, which is
indicated by the small square at the very top of the bar. As you move down the
worksheet you find that this square gradually moves down the bar. Click below
the small square and you move down the worksheet, one screen at a time; click
above it and you move up. To scroll continuously, point to one of the arrows at the
top or bottom of the scroll bar and hold down the mouse button. There is also a
horizontal scroll bar at the foot of the screen which allows you to move left and .
right across the worksheet.
At the foot of the screen is the status bar with the word Ready. This line is
used by Excel to display messages from the system. For example, whenever you
point to a toolbar button or highlight a command in a menu, this line tells you
what the command does.
MOUSE CURSOR
The mouse cursor appears as an outlined cross within the cells. Using the
mouse, point to any cell, click the mouse button and that cell will be made as the
active cell. Note that the name of the cell on the command line has changed
accordingly. You can also move around using the arrow key of the keyboard.
LABELS, NUMBERS AND FORMULAE
Cells can hold a label: a number or a formula.
Type the word Income and press the < Return> (or alternatively the < right
arrow» key. The word Income is a label. Pressing < Return> (or < right arrow»
denotes that you have finished typing information into the cell. When pressing an
arrow key, the active cell moves in the direction of the arrow. To correct a typing
error, simply move back to the cell in question and retype the information.
Next, make Bl as the active cell and enter 25000. This is taken a number on
which the spreadsheet can perform calculations. Move down to A2 and type
Costs, then in B2, type 15000. Next move down to A3, type Profit and then move to
B3. In this cell you are going to store a formula to subtract costs from income.
Type in "=BI-B2". When you press < Return>, you are presented with a number
rather than the formula itself, namely 3000. Note that though Excel displays the
answer, it is the formula which is stored in the cell.
Spreadsheets are designed to recalculate as they go along, so see what
happens when you change one of the original numbers. Move to Bl and type
22000. Watch as you press < Return> and note that the Profit is recalculated as
7000. The formula =BI-B2 knows that Bl has changed and the display in B3 gets
adjusted accordingly.
S8
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
Next extend the example and bring tax into the model. The profit was
calculated before tax so you need to subtract the tax to get the after- tax profit.
First, change the label in A3 - move to the cell and enter Pre-Tax Profit instead. On
pressing < Retwn> you will find the label is truncated. Don't worry about this, the
column will be widened later. Move to cell A4 and type the label Tax, then press <
right arrow> to move to B4. Assuming that tax is levied at 30% of Pre-Tax Profit,
the formula for this cell is = B3*.30. Press < Return> and the tax figure will be
worked out for you.
Now see if you can work out a label and a formula to put in cells AS and B5
to show the After-Tax Profit, assuming that this is Pre-Tax Profit minus Tax. If you
have got the formula right, the screen should look like below:
Try altering the Income or Costs figure and notice how the results of the PreTax Profit, Tax and After-Tax Profit formulae are updated automatically.
CHANGING COLUMN WIDTH
To do change the width of column A, move the mouse pointer to the line
between the columns A and B, you should find that the cursor becomes a doubleheaded arrow. Hold down the mouse button and drag the column divider to the
right. When you release the button, the column is resized. To fit the data to the
column exactly, move the mouse pointer to the dividing line between the column
headings and then double click the mouse button.
COMMANDS
In Excel, the commands are found in the menus along the top of the screen.
These are opened using the mouse. You can also hold down the < Alt> key and
type appropriate underlined letter; once a menu is opened, you can issue a
command simply by pressing the underlined letter. The most commonly-used
59
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
commands are also available frDm the toDlbars and yoU could use these whenevet
pDssible.
CHANGING THE FORMAT
Change the IncDme figure in BI to' 24444. YDU will see that the resulting Tax
and After-Tax PrDfit figures are now displayed with a single decimal place. This
looks a bit untidy as the other figures have nO' decimal places. It wDuld be neater if
all the numbers were ShDwn as a currency, either with twO' decimal places Dr as
whDle numbers. To dO' this, YDU first need to' select the entire cDlumn by clicking
Dnce Dn the letter B at the tDP Df the cDlumn. The column shDuld gO' dark (except
for Cell Bl).
Several fDrmats are available frDm the FDrmatting TDDlbar. TO' increase the
decimal point, simply click Dn the increase decimal button. NDte that you have
Dnly changed the display fDrmat. A fDrmat dDes not affect the data or accuracy to'
which calculations are carried DUt. A wider range Df cell fDrmats is available via
Cells ... in the FDrmat menu. CDlumns C,D,E and F alsO' need to' be fDrmatted
similarly. The simplest way to' dO' this is to' CDPY the fDrmat frDm cDlumn B to the
other cDlumns.
INSERTING BLANK ROWS AND COLUMNS
Next add a title to' YDur wDrk. UnfDrtunately, there is nO' row available at
the tDP Df the sheet fDr this, SO' YDU will first have to insert Dne blank row. Keep the
curSDr on the first row. NDW click Dn the Insert menu and then rDWS. If YDU repeat
the process, a secDnd blank row will appear. CDrrespondingly, the delete
cDmmand can also be fDund in the Edit menu to' delete rDWS Dr cDlumns.
All the fDrmulae will be adjusted by Excel to' take accDunt of their new
pDsitiDns. When you insert Dr delete rDWS Dr columns, Dr dO' anything else which
causes fDrmulae to' be moved intO' a new place, Excel autDmatically changes them
to reflect their new pDsitions.
CHANGING THE STYLE OF TEXT
The make the title mDre impressive (bigger and bDlder), mDve to' the
cDrrespDnding cell and then click on the [BDld], [Italic] and Dr [Underline] buttO'ns.
NDte that these (and Dther) styles are alsO' available via Cells .. in the FDrmat menu.
The letters cDuld alsO' be made bigger by selecting apprDpriate fDnt size. The
current fDnt is defined in [FDnt1 box Dn the FDrmatting Toolbar. TO' change this, use
the [list arrDw] to the right Df the fDnt box and chDDse frDm the list which appears.
60
,I
Computer Applications ill Animal Sciences
STORING NUMBERS AS TEXT
Use single quote (') at the beginning of the cell content, and this would tell
Excel that the content is a label, althoush it may be a number. This will prevent the
number (for ego 1995) being displayed (is number.
COPYING AND PASTING
To have the same formula in one or more than one cells, you do not have to
~type the formula again and again, hl.:lt just copy it and paste it wherever needed.
To do this" first move the mouse pointer to the cell where the formula is available,
click on the Copy button on the Toolbar or use Copy from the File menu. The
selected cell should now be surrounded by a moving border. The Computer holds
a copy of the cell in memory ready to paste somewhere else. Move to the
destination cell and click on the Paste button on the toolbar and this will copy the
contents of the previous cell to this. You can also use Paste from the Edit menu.
Excel takes the formulae, modifies it for the new location, pastes it and perform the
calculations. The copied formula is still in the computer's memory and it could be
moved to any other cell.
Sometimes you might want to copy the values
themselves rather than the formulae. This you can do with the Paste Values
button.
When you want to copy the fotmula from a cell, point to the handle (very
small dark square in the bottom right corner of the cell) - the mouse cursor changes
shape to a + and hold down the mouse button and drag across to destination cells.
When you release the mouse button, the formula will be copied.
REALIGNING TITLES
To line up the titles properly or to center the titles in bold, select the row (by
clicking on the row number on the left hand side) then click on the Bold and Center
buttons.
FUNCTIONS
Various useful facilities in spreadsheets are provided by functions. Imagine
you want to work out four-year totals, so that your model looks like the following
picture:
61
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
Begin by typing the heading Totals into F2. Next you need to add up the
figures across each row-move down to F3 ready to insert the Income total. One
way of calculating this would be to use the formula =B3+C3+D3+E3. This worksbut imagine if you had twenty items to add up, or a thousand! Instead, you can
use a function to work out the value. To specify a function you type its name then,
in brackets, the cell or range of cells to which it is to be applied.
Here, instead of using =B3+C3+D3+E3 you can use = Sum (B3:E3). This
means calculate the sum of all the values from cell B3 to cell E3. Try this now in F3
- - . . . - . - . . . . .- . - - - -
-.
+ .- - - - . . . .
-·--"--~~····"---·t
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-----+ -- ---- _;- -·-----i .. ' - ----:i- ---.. - .......-_...- , .
----. - .. -.-. -- -- _!- .. _._-. ,-,,---.·4-.~ ___ ._.l .. ---.-.~
,
I
_._ .....
_ ... j
(don't miss out the colon in B3:E3) then press < Return> to carry out the
calculation. The SUMO function is also available from the Standard Toolbar.
What would happen if, in 1998, there was an exceptional costs bill of £35,000
(for example, to purchase new equipment or expand the premises). Income for
1998 is only £34,650 so the company would make a loss. Type the new figure
of 35000 into cell E4 and press < Return>. Note that the Pre-Tax Profit is correctly
shown as negative. However, the Tax figure is also negative - as if the tax collector
was giving the company money for making a loss. This doesn't usually happen!
To make the model behave correctly you need to type the following function into
the 1998 Tax cell E6:
=IF (ES>O, ES*taxrate,O) and press < Return>
This means that if the content of ES (the Pre-Tax Profit) is more than zero,
the tax paid is equal to 30% of Pre-Tax Profit, otherwise, the tax is zero. This
produces a zero tax figure when the Pre-Tax Profit is in fact a loss, but a positive
62
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
tax when there is a real profit. This example should teach you that spreadsheet
models, even if they behave correctly in most circumstances, may break down
under special conditions.
SAVING YOUR WORK
It is important to save your work often. To save your worksheet, click on
Save button on the Standard Toolbar or use Save As from the File menu. Up until
now your work has been known as bookl; you are now asked to give it a proper
name. Type a name into the File Name: box and set the needed drive and
directory. Note that once the file has been saved, the new name appears at the top
of the spreadsheet. If you want to save your work periodically while you are still
working on it, press < Ctrl S>, which automatically overwrites the working copy of
the file.
ADDING AN OUTER BORDER
To put a border around a set of cells you must first block them. Select cells
B3 to G8 (so that they go black) then use the [list arrow] attached to the [Borders]
button (third button from the right on the Formatting Toolbar). Choose the bottom
right Border button in the window that appears. Release the selected cells by
clicking on another cell and the screen should now look like above
63
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
ADD'NG S'NGLE LINES
Next try putting a solid line below the top line of headings. Select cells B3 to
G3 and again use [list arrow] attached to the [Borders] button. This time choose
the second border in the top row, which gives a thinner line. Next, select cells G3
to G8 and give them a left border by choosing the third border type on the top line.
Finally, select cells B3 to B8 and add a right border (the last type on the type line).
The screen should now look like this:
PRINTING YOUR WORK
Print Preview
Before printing, it is always worth checking how your work will look. Click
on the Print Preview button or use Print Preview from the File menu. A screen
showing how the printed document will appear is depicted. You can move up and
down through the pages with the scrollbar.
Page Setup
Open Page Setup... from the File menu. You will view various options
grouped under four tab headings:
[page] includes the paper orientation which can be portrait or landscape
(sideways).
[Margins1 controls the left, right, top and bottom margins. You can also use
Center on Page to center your work [Horizontally] and / or [Vertically] on
the page - click on both these to set them.
[Header/Footer] is where you can change Excel's default header and footer.
64
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
[Sheet] lets you define the area to be printed, allowing you to split up your
worksheet into appropriate blocks and omit cells you do not want.
Print
Click on Print button - or use Print option from the File menu. The options
here include the number of copies required and the range of pages.
GRAPHS AND CHARTS
In this section, we try to present the data graphically. To plot a graph in
Excel, select the data to be plotted and then ask for the graph.
Selecting the Data
When selecting data for a graph, it is important to select the column and
row headings (if there are any) as these are used for the category (x) and value (y)
names. Let's see how this works on the profit and loss data. To plot the changes in
the values over time, select from B3 to F8.
Plotting the Graph
Now that the data is selected, you can plot it on a graph. This is done via the
Chart Wizard. Click on the Chart Wizard button. Note that if you choose Chart
from the Insert menu, you have the option of putting the graph either on the data
worksheet or on a new (chart) sheet.
The Chart Wizard takes you through different steps before it draws the
graph. The stages are:
1. Checking the data area to be plotted. Note how the cells are defined using a
$ notation (=$B$3 : $F$8). This is used as a prefix to fix the column and / or
row and can be used as an alternative to naming cells.
2. Selecting the graph type (there are 15 different types to choose from).
3. The Wizard draws a Sample Chart - here you can select whether the data is
to be graphed.
4. To add titles, click inside the Chart Title box then type Financial Statistics
1995/98. Next press the <Tab> key (or use the mouse) to move to the Axis
Titles. In the Category (X): box type in year, then again press <Tab> to move
to the Value (Y): box and type in Pounds. Finally press <Return> or click on
[Finish1·
If you were to alter any of the original data, the graph would immediately
be updated. There are over a hundred different styles of graph which Excel can
produce. Using the mouse, select some of these to see what is available.
65
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
Customising your Graphs
Before you can customise your graph, you must first double click on it to
change the top menus. Excel now offers various facilities, including adding or
changing text (titles, axis labels etc.) or the legend; modifying the axes (their range,
the tick marks etc.); and changing line and shading patterns. You can also select
different font, foreground, backgroWld and fill colors.
Changing text
Begin by modifying the main title. To do this, double click on the words
Financial statistics 1995/98 on the graph. A Format Chart Title window will appear
in which you can change:
cr
[Patterns] allows you to box the title or have a different coloured
background
[Font] lets you change the lettering. Select a different Font:, change
the Size: and also reset the Colour:
[Alignment] allows you to change the text orientation and position
within the text box.
66
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
CJ1rnging the Legend
To change the legend double click anywhere inside the box. The Format
Legend window appears - here you can again change [Patterns] and [Font], but
also the position of the legend on the page.
"C.
•
Modifying the Axes
To change the settings on an axis you simply double click on it A Format
Axis window will open, allowing you to modify:
[Patterns] allows you to change the axis,width, style and colour and
tick mark settings
[Scale] lets you set the range (max/min values) and tick mark
intervals.
[Font] and [Alignment] give you the same options as before
[Number] lets you set the number of decimal places shown in the
labels
SORTING THE DATA
3
There are two sort buttons on the Toolbar (shown as [A-Z] and [Z-Al, using
which you can sort the data.
FURTHER FUNCTIONS
Finding average (= AVERAGE (C2:C51)), MAX, MIN, SQRT, LOG/LN
(logarithms), SIN, COS and TAN (the trigonometric functions); and RAND (a
random number).
TREND LINES
Excel gives you the opportunity of fitting best-fit lines through your data.
To do this, click one of the points to select a data set. Next, open up the Insert
menu and choose Trendline ... You now have a variety of Trend/Regression Types
to choose from, while [Options] tab allows you to [Display Equation on Chart] and
[Display R-Squared Value on Chart) amongst other things. Set some of these if you
like, then press <Return> for [OK].
ANALYSIS TOOLS
Although Excel is not a comprehensive statistical package, it does provide
some analytical tools - including Anova, simple Regression and T-tests. To carry
out a regression analysis, set up the Input Y Range: as Cl:C51 then press <Tab> to
move to the Input X Range: and type Bl:B51. Click on [Labels], as the input
67
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
ranges include the column headings. To get a graph of the results, click on [Line
Fit PlotsJ under Residuals. Now press <Return> for [OK1 and watch what
happens. The regression results are displayed on a new worksheet (Sheet 1), with a
graph plotted at the side.
PASTING CHARTS AND WORKSHEETS INTO OTHER DOCUMENTS
If you want to incorporate information from Excel, into a word processor,
such as Microsoft Word, the procedure is as follows:
a)
Charts can be copied to another documents by using Copy. The picture is
then held on the Clipboard and can be pasted directly into a Word
document. Note, however, that if this chart is subsequently opened from
Word (double click on it and Excel automatically loads) then problems may
arise. When you copy a chart from a Chart Sheet, these problems do not
occur.
b)
Worksheets can be copied across to Word with Copy. The data is displayed
as a table with any formatting preserved. Such tables can be edited as
normal text.
CLOSING A FILE
After completing the work, close the current work. This you do by opening
the File menu and choosing Close.
LEAVING EXCEL
To get out of Excel, choose Exit from the File menu. Excel now asks you if
you want to save the changes you have made to your worksheet. This is a built-in
safety feature to ensure you don't lose any new work.
68
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
DEVELOPING A POWER POINT PRESENTATION
In today's competitive world, the expectations that we have the necessary
communication skills continue to grow. Making a presentation to a client,
colleague, superiors, etc., requires presentation skills and knowledge of
presentation software. The era of making presentations using OHPs and
transparencies are almost over. Today people expect us to make visually stunning
and dazzling presentations. PowerPoint enables us to make a point in a powerful
way. Basically one should learn the following:
.:. Selecting the approach and basic layout for the presentation
.:. Building the text backbone of presentation
.:. Structuring text and numeric data with tables
\
.:. Visually expressing the hierarchy of the facts
.:. Converting numeric data to eye-catching column and pie charts
STARTING A PRESENTATION
After starting the PowerPoint application (from the Start menu or a desktop
shortcut), you are presented with a dialog box that asks how you want to begin
building your presentation. Your three choices for creating a new presentation are
as follows:
• new pr~ ~ - c - - - - - ' ' - - - - - - ,
..Im·:·~. ~W2.d
_
rDesVl .T~ '.
le3·· ~·~~
•
AutoContent Wizard - This Wizard asks you a series of questions about
your presentation. The wizard then compiles this information into a
69
Computer Applications in Animal &iences
presentation for you, with a number of slides that matches the presentation
length you indicated.
•
Design Template - Like hiring a decorator to tell you what colors to use in
your house, PowerPoint's Design Templates mak~ it to get started with the
content of your presentation. If you start with a Design Template, you don't
have to worry about designing a slide background or which fonts and colors
to use.
•
Blank Presentation - Some users prefer to work with a truly blank slate - no
background, no colors, and the default font (Times New Roman) for all their
slides. If you used this approach, you'll have to apply a slide Design
Template later, unless you want simple slides with no background content.
CHOOSING A DESIGN
After selecting Design Template from the opening PowerPoint dialog box,
the New Presentation dialog box opens. The Design Template tab is automatically
in front, and a series of templates is displayed. You can choose any template you
want.
SELECTING A SLIDE LAYOUT
After you choose the Design Template for your presentation, your next task
is to select the layout for your first slide in the New Slide dialog box.
-=- ~ _
m'~ Fd~~:.V·~
l
[iJ[i1~~ ~~
~. [ilLlD)
You can choose any layout for your first slide, although PowerPoint's
default (Title Slide) is your best choice. The first slide in a presentation typically
shows the presentation name and a subtitle. Your first slide appears in Normal
View, awaiting the entry of your title and subtitle.
70
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
PLANNING YOUR CONTENT
You start the presentation building process with a plan, normally in the
form of an outline. You can build that outline in Word or by simply writing your
list of topics on paper. After you've created the outline, you can start typing in MS
PowerPoint.
CREATING PRESENTATION CONTENT
Your presentation's content needs to be informative, accurate, and
interesting to look at. It should not be detailed or complex and also not crowded
with too many charts, graphics, or other distractions. To ensure this, keep bullet
points to a minimum, avoid complete sentences, express numeric data with charts
and keep everything simple.
'
ENTERING BULLETED TEXT
Nearly every slide in your presentation will have text on it, and it will
usually be in the form of bulle ted text. Bulleted text lists the major points that are
discussed while a slide is onscreen. These points can be numbered, or til'leY can
appear as separate paragraphs with no bullets or numbers preceding them. To
change from bullets to numbers, select the list and click the Numbering button. To
eliminate bullets or numbers from a list, click the button again (either Bullet or
Numbering) to turn them off. It shows a combination of bulleted, numbered and
paragraph text on a slide. As you type your bulleted list, you get a new bullet each
time you press enter at the end of a line.
After you start to build your presentation, be sure to save.
FORMATTING SLIDE TEXT '
Although the Design Template you chose for the presentation dictates the
size, font and color of your text, you might want to change it. PowerPoint offers a
Formatting toolbar for making quick and easy changes to the appearance of your
text. You'll recognize most of the buttons from Word's Formatting toolbar.
1. On the slide in Normal view, select the text you want to reformat.
2. Click the Formatting button you want to use. Only Font and Size require a
selection from a drop-down list - all the other buttons have an immediate
effect.
3. Click away from the formatted text object to view your results.
To quickly increase or decrease the size of your text (rather than choosing a
specific point size), use the Increase Font Size and Decrease Font Size buttons. The
text is resized in four-point increments.
71
ADDING AND DELETING SLIDES
Assume that your presentation requires more slides than you created, and
that it requires specific slide layouts for these additional slides. You'll often
discover the need for additional slides in the process of building a presentation, or
you'll want to change the layout of your existing slides to accommodate content
you hadn't planned on when you started the process.
To add a slide and select a special layout for it, follow these steps:
1 Click the New Slide button or choose Insert, New Slide. The New Sli4t,
dialog box opens.
r
~;,:.
2 Click the needed layout. The new slide is added.
8HANGING SLIDE LAYOUr
n
If one of your slides is currently set to a layout that doesn't include an object
that you need (such as a chart or table object), you can change the layout.
To change the slide layout of an existing slide, follow these steps:
1. Click anywhere on the slide in Normal or Slide view.
2. Choose Format, Slide Layout. The Slide Layout dialog box opens.
3. Click the desired layout once and click Apply. The displayed slide changes
to reflect the new layout.
WORKING WITH TABLES
Tables give structure to slide content by providing a grid of cells into which
short text strings (words, phrases), paragraphs, and numeric data can be typed. To
put a table in a slide,
1. Add a new slide.
2. Select the table layout. Table dialog box opens, into which you can
enter the dimension of the table (columns and rows).
3. To enter text into the table's cells, click in the first cell and type. To move
to the next cell, press Tab or click in the cell in which you want to type.
4. To reposition the table, click on its border and, when the mouse turns to
a four-headed arrow, click and drag to move the table.
72
Compu.U!r
Applications
,
. in Animal Sciences
"EATING AN ORGANIZATION CHART
An organization chart is a series of boxes that are connected by lines to show
the hierarchy of the organization. You can create organization charts that show
departmental hierarchies, with department names instead of people listed in the
boxes, or that show the actual structure of your company's staff, with people's
names and titles in each box.
ADDING CHARTS TO ILLUSTRATE NUMERIC DATA
It's not advisable to fill your slides with numbers for the same reason that
it's not a good idea to generate slides that are filled with text. When a slide
appears onscreen, an abundance of text or numbers can quickly put audience to
sleep. The problem of too much text is easily solved by breaking text topics into
multiple slides, and placing clip art or photographs on the slides to create visual
interest. When it comes to numbers, however, the best way to share them with
your audience is by converting them to charts - a picture that goes a long way in
maintaining audience attention and giving your presentation an overall
professional and visually polished appearance.
For e.g., instead of a list of numbers, you will create a column chart. After
that chart, you will also take a portion of the same data and create a pie chart.
To build the column chart, follow these steps:
1 Go to Slide view, and select the chart layout. A Datasheet appears, and the
toolbar changes to offer charting tools.
2 Note that the Datasheet contains sample data, which is also represented on a
chart on the slide. This sample data must be removed and replaced with
your data.
3 As you make your entries, the chart is built on the slide. When your entries
are complete, click on the slide, outside of the chart - this brings back the
normal PowerPoint toolbars, and the Datasheet disappears. It shows the
finished chart.
After it is created, your chart can be formatted (to change the appearance of
the chart's elements), and moved or resized (to accommodate other objects on the
slide).
FORMATTING CHART APPEARANCE
The colour of your columns and the fonts used in your chart's axis labels
and legend are dictated by the template you choose for your presentation. There
might be times that you want to adjust these settings. Perhaps you don't like a
73
Compuler Applications in Animal sc~
particular color, or may be two of the contiguous columns (or bars or pie:M\lll8.,
too similar and you want to choose a different color for one of them.
You can adjust the appearance of virtually any chart element, for whatever
reason. In the following procedure, you will change the color of the columns in
one of the data series and move the legend to a different location on the chart.
First, to change the color of a data series, follow these steps:
1
Click once on any bar in the series you want to recolor. Handles appear on
all the columns in the series.
2
Choose Format, Selected Data Series. The Format Data Series dialog box
opens.
3
Choose a different colour. Click OK to apply the color to your chart and
close the dialog box.
To chtmge the location of your legend, follow these steps:
1
Click once on the legend. Handles appear on its perimeter.
2
Choose Format, Select Legend. The Format Legend dialog box opens.
3
Click the Placement Tab, and select location.
4
Click OK to apply the change and close the dialog box. It shows the legend
in its new location on the chart.
Adding Chart Titles
Adding chart titles can help the audience to better understand the content .
and intended message of your chart. To add chart titles, choose Chart, Chart
Option while the chart is active; on the Titles tab, type a title for the entire chart
and add titles for the category and value axes as needed.
CREATING A MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATION
We use graphic images, drawing tools, and the application of sound and
animation to create a dynamic slideshow. This effort covers adding graphic
images (dip art and photographs) to your slides, using PowerPoint's drawing tools
to create your own shapes and lines, chOOSing effective animation and sound
effects for your slideshow and automating your slideshow with preset timings and
recorded narration.
74
/
Computer A.pp/ications in A.nimal Sciences
INSERTING AND WORKING WITH GRAPHICS
Just as a chart can turn potentially boring numeric data into an interesting
graphic image, the use of graphics - that is, clip art, photographs and scanned
drawings - can enhance your presentation by replacing an excess of text. Even if
you can't find a graphic image that conveys your message to the extent that you
can eliminate some of your text, you'll find that clip art, cartoons, photographs,
and other graphic items can help maintain audience attention. Just having pictures
on your slides can keep people interested.
ADDING CLIP ART IMAGES
Office 2000 comes with an extensive collection of clip art. Furthermore, you
can find thousands of free images available at various Web sites on the Internet.
Why so much clip art? Because it's effective, it can be fun, and it breaks up the
monotony of text documents.
After you have decided where to use a piece of clip art, you have to add it to
your slide. To insert dip art into your presentation, follow these steps:
a. Move to the slide that will contain the clip art image.
b. Choose Insert, Picture, Clip Art. The Insert ClipArt dialog box
opens.
c. On the Pictures tab, choose an image Category. The images in
that category are then displayed.
d. When you've selected your image, right-click it and choose Insert
from the short-cut menu.
MOVING AND RESIZING CLIP ART
The inserted clip art appears in the middle of your slide, where it is
probably obscuring text or some other slide content. The Picture toolbar also
appears, but typically, you won't need it for clip art images. To move the clip art
to a more appropriate location on the slide, point anywhere in the image itself and
drag it to a new spot. Your clip art might also require resizing. In this case, you
want to make it a little bigger. To change the size of your clip art image, use the
handles to change the width or height of the image.
INSERTING A GRAPHIC FILE
Similar to the process of insertion of clip art, graphic files could also be
inserted. The image appears in the middle of the active slide. In most cases, this
requires that you move the image to somewhere else on the slide, and perhaps that
you resize the image as well. The same techniques that are employed for moving
75
and resizing clip art also apply to pitlures - drag the image to m~jt, d• • I.
handles to resize it.
If there are any parts of a photograph that you don't want, use the Crop
tool. With the Crop tool activated, drag from the handle closest to the spot you
want to cut away. Drag toward the center of the image until the dashed line
appears where you want the new edge of the image to be. You might have to crop
from more than one side or from a carner to cut away everything you want to get
ride of.
USfNG POWERPOrNrS ORAWfNG TOOLS
PowerPoint's drawing tools are not for creating elaborate or complex
drawings. Their simplicity works to your advantage, however, because they don't
require you to be an artist. Before you begin using the Drawing toolbar tools, it's a
good idea to identify each one and learn more about their use. Table lists the
drawing tools.
Button Name
Button Function
Draw
Click this button to display a menu of commands that enable
you to manipulate the placement of and relationship between
your drawn objects.
Select Objects
Use this arrow tool to click on drawn objects. Using this tool
tells that you're dealing with your drawn objects and not the
work sheet's cell content.
Free Rotate
Click this tool and then the object you want to rotate and drag
the object's handles in the direction in which you want to spin
the object.
AutoShapes
Click this button to display a list of AutoShape categories, such
as Basic Shapes and Flowchart. From these categories, choose
shapes from a palette of drawing tools.
Line
Use this tool to draw straight lines of any length. You can later
format the lines to varying lengths and styles, as well as add
arrowheads to mak~ the line point to something.
If you know your line will be an arrow, draw one using this
Arrow
tool. You can later select arrowheads for one or both ends of
the line.
Rectangle
This tool enables you to draw simple rectangles and squares.
76
c·omputer Applications in Animal Sciences
Button Function
Button Name
Oval
Draw elliptical shapes and true circles with this tool.
Text Box
When you need a text object that can be placed on top of your
cells and placed anywhere on the worksheet, use this tool to
create the box and type the text.
Insert
Word Art
Create artistic text headlines and banners with this tool. The
WordArt program, with its own toolbars and menus, opens to
give you the capability to create text objects with a wide
variety of color, shape, and fill options.
Insert Clip Art
Click this button to view and insert objects from a categorized
list of clip art images that were installed with Office 2000.
Fill Color
Choose from a palette of solid colors to fill our drawn shape.
Line Color
Click this button to display a palette of colors that you can use
to colour your line, arrow, or the outline of a shape.
Font Color
Apply a color to text box text or to text within your work sheet
cells.
Line Style
Choose from various line weights and styles for double and
triple lines.
Dash Style
If you want your line to be dashed, dotted, or a combination
thereof, click this button and select a style from the palette.
Arrow Style
Turn a simple line into an arrow, or change the arrowheads on
your existing arrow line. Choose from ten different styles.
Shadow
Choose from 20 different shadow settings, each with a
different light source and angle. Apply a shadow gives your
object depth, and it can be applied to shapes or lines.
3D
Apply up to 20 different 3D effects to your shapes. Unlike a
shadow, which merely repeats the object in a flat 2D state
behind the original. 3 settings add sides and depth to your
object and shade the sides for a true 3D effect.
"._..../J
DRAWING SHAPES AND LINES
Drawing closed geometric shapes (AutoShapes) is very simple. Select the
shape you want to draw by clicking the Rectangle or Oval button or by choosing
the shape from AutoShapes palette, and then click and drag on the slide to draw
77
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
the shape. It shows the AutoShapes menu and the Stars and Banners palette.
When drawing your shape, drag away from your starting point in a diagonal
direction. The distance from your starting point and the angle at which you drag
determine the dimension of your shape.
Drawing lines is equally simple. Select the Line or Arrow tool from the
Drawing toolbar, and then click and drag away from your starting point. The lines
(for Lines or Arrows) remain straight even though they might appear jagged
onscreen if the line isn't drawn at an exact 9O-degree angle. You can adjust the
thickness of your selected line by clicking the Line Style button and choosing a
thickness from the palette.
Manipulating Drawn Objects
In most cases, however, the placement and size of the shape need to be
adjusted. Resizing shapes and lines employs the same techniques that are used to
resize clip art or other graphics - drag the item to move it, and use its handles to
resize it. Resizing a line is very simple - drag the handles at either end of the line
to lengthen or shorten the line. You can also drag the handles (one at a time) to
change the direction in which a line or arrow points.
ADDING TEXT TO AUTOSHAPES
Your AutoShapes can perform two tasks: add graphical interest to your
slides and provide information. To make your AutoShapes informative, add text.
By typing when an AutoShape is selected, you insert text into the shape, thus
turning it into a text box. By default, the text is centered both horizontally and
vertically within the shape, and the font is dictated by the Design Template you're
using for the presentation.
PREPARING A SLiDESHOW
The purpose of creating PowerPoint slides is to create a slideshow. If a
projection panel can be attached to your computer, you can run an animated
slideshow. Furthermore, if you have a sound card and speakers on your computer,
you can integrate sounds into your presentation, set to play at specific times during
the show. PowerPoint was designed for this type of multimedia slideshow,
combining the visual (charts, graphics, animation, video) effects with sound. A
multimedia presentation is much more effective than a static show (transparencies,
slides) because it involves more of the viewer's senses and enables you to do more
things to keep their attention.
APPLYING SLIDE TRANSITIONS
The first and easiest way to add movement and sound to your presentation
is to apply slide transitions. A slide transition is the animated effect that occurs as
78
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
the slide appears onscreen. Slide transitions are applied to your slides in Slide
Sorter view. You can apply a transition to all your slides at once by pressing Ctrl +
A to select all your slides. By pressing Shift key and clicking on the slide you want
to select, different transition can be applied to each slide.
After making your choices in the Slide Transition dialog box, you can click
Apply to apply the selection to the selected slides, or you can choose Apply to All
to apply the selection to every slide in your presentation, regardless of which slides
are selected at the time.
CUSTOMIZING ANIMATION AND SOUNDS
You can adjust the settings using the Custom Animation dialog box, which
is accessed through the Animation Effects toolbar. To access this toolbar and the
controls for customizing each slide's animations and sound, follow these steps:
1 Switch to Normal or Slide view for the first slide vou want to customize.
"
2 Click the Custom Animation on the Slide Show toolbar to display the
Animation Effects toolbar.
3 Click the element on the slide that you want to animate.
4 Choose an animation effect and an appropriate sound effect.
RUNNING YOUR SLiDESHOW
1 Choose Slide Show, View Show. The shortcut key is F5.
2 The first slide appears onscreen, including transitions, and animation effects
you applied. If you choose to have your animations occur automatically,
you need to set the timings. If you leave the default setting (on mouse click)
in place, you'll have to click the mouse for each animated element to appear
in the order you specified.
3 At the end of the first slide (when all its elements have appeared), click your
mouse to move to the next slide.
4 Continue clicking through your slides. After the last slide, Power Point
returns automatically to Slide Sorter view.
AUTOMATTING YOUR SLiDESHOW
Throughout the animation customization process, you have the opportunity
to automate your slideshow - you can choose how many seconds are to elapse
between animated elements, or you can opt to have the elements appear only when
you click your mouse. You can achieve a greater degree of automation through:
79
Computer .Applications in .Animal Sciences
•
Rehearse Slide timings - In slide Sorter view, click the Rehearse Timings
button. PowerPoint records the amount of time each slide is onscreen, as
well as the amount of time between animated elements. Go through your
entire show, running it at the pace at which you want it to go when it runs
on its own. At the timings you've rehearsed. It shows a slide onscreen with
the Rehearse Timings timer running.
RECORDING A NARRATION
If your presentation will be self-running - with timings set for each slide you might want to completely remove the human element by recording a narration
to accompany the slideshow. This is especially helpful for people who have stage
fright; or, if you don't like the sound of your
voice, you can have someone
with a great voice record your narration for you!
own
To record a narration for your slideshow, you'll need notes if you'll be doing
the narration, or a complete script if you're asking someone who is unfamiliar with
the content to provide their voice for the narration. Also, make sure that your
microphone and speakers are functioning properly before you begin recording.
After you've prepared these tools, you can begin:
1
In Slide Sorter view, click on the first slide in the show.
2
Choose Slide Show, Record Narration. The Record Narration dialog box
opens.
3
Click OK to begin recording. The slideshow begins onstreen, and you can
begin speaking.
4
Click your mouse to move through the slides' elements, moving at a pace
that matches your narration - as long a s you're discussing a certain element
that element needs to be onscreen.
5
When your show and narration are complet~, press Esc; or, if you're ending
with the actual last slide, allow the show to end naturally. After the last
slide, a prompt appears. Click Yes to save the slide timings, along with your
narration.
Now that your narration has been recorded and saved, it plays as soon as
you start your show. Notice that a small speaker icon appears in the lower right
corner of each slide (switch to Normal or Slide view to see it). This indicates that
narration has been recorded.
80
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
USE OF STATISTICAL SOFTWARE FOR DATA ANALYSIS IN
ANIMAL EXPERIMENTS
The following table presents an overview of the purpose of analysis, method
of analysis and type of data to be gathered for respective analysis:
I
I
Description of frequency
of characteristic among
members of population
Description of usual"
value of one variable in a
group of individuals
IJ
Counts of individuals in
group with or without
attribute
Mean
Median
Mode
Observation of single
numerical variable for a
group of individuals
Description of the
Confidence limits derived from
interval in which the
sample values and Student's t popule.tion mean is likely test
to lie
Value of single numerical
variable in a random
sample of individuals from
a normally distributed
population
Description of interval in
which the population
median is likely to lie
Confidence limits derived from
sample median
Values of single numerical
variable in a random
sample of individuals.
Population distribution is
immaterial
Description of scatter of
values of a single
variable
Range of data
Variance and standard deviation
Mean deviation
Values of a single variable
J - - - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - l in a group of individuals
Description of scatter of
single, distinctly nonnormal, variable
Percentiles
Visual presentation of a
single variable
Bar charts
Histograms
Frequency Polygons
Value of single numerical
variable such as:
Class frequencies and
counts of certain
individuals with certain
attributes
Examination of
distribution of single
variable for normality
Chi-square test for goodness of
fit
81
Values of single numerical
variable, such as class
frequency; counts of
individuals with certain
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
attributes
Student's t - test of null
hypothesis of equal means
(Lord's modification for small
samples)
Values of single, normally
distributed variable for
random, independent
samples of individuals
Wilcoxon's test of means MannWhitney Test
Values of single variable for
random, independent,
samples of individuals;
distribution of variable
immaterial
Comparison with zero or
standard value of
differences between
pairs of values of one
variable in one group of
individuals, test of
significance
Student's t - test for paired
values
Pairs of values for one,
normally distributed,
variable in a random
sample of individuals
Wilcoxon's signed rank test
Pairs of values for one
variable in a random
sample of individuals;
distribution of variable
immaterial
Comparison of
frequencies of
individuals with or
without attribute ina
single group
McNemar's modification of the
chi-square test
Frequency of attribute in
paired arrangement (e.g.,
before and after trial)
Comparison of
frequencies of two
attributes in a single
group with model (e.g.,
independence); test of
significance
Chi-square test for goodness of
fit
Counts of individual with
attribute or in numerical
group in independent
random sample
Description, comparison
and prediction of effect
of frequency of one
attribute on frequency of
a second in single group
of individuals; test of
significance for sample
Relative Risk
Odds ratio
Test of significance of Odds ratio Frequency data for
presence or absence of two
attributes in a random
sample
Visual presentation of
association between
Contingency table
Comparison of values of
single variable in two
populations or with set
value; test of significance
82
Value of two numerical
variables in an independent
Computer Applications in Animal &iences
values of two variables
in a single group of
individuals
Scattergram
group of individuals
Examination for
presence of association
between two variables in
a population
Chi-square test
Observations of two
quantitative variables in
each of a random sample of
individuals
Description of degree
and type of correlation
between numerical
variables in a population
of individuals; test of
significance
Pearson product - moment
correlation coefficient
Observations of two
bivariate normal variables
in a single, random, sample
of individuals
Kendall's coefficient of rank
correlation
Observations of two
variables in a single
random sample of
individuals; distribution of
values immaterial
Description of
relationship between
frequency of attribute
and continuous variable,
e.g. time
Dynamic rates, proportions and
ratios standardised for
comparison
Frequencies of individuals
with and without attribute
in population or sample;
details of time, etc.,
Description, Comparison
and prediction of
systematic changes in
rates or proportions with
time etc.; test of
significance
Trends in lines, derivation of
regression coefficients and test
for significance
Numbers and proportions
of individuals with
attribute in a natural series
of groups
Description, analysis and
prediction from
systematic changes in
two correlated variables;
test of significance
Linear regression analysis
Series of values of two
bivariate, normal variables
for single sample of
individuals not necessarily
random
Description, analysis and Analysis and decomposition of
time series
prediction of behaviour
of single continuous
variable correlated with
time; adjustment for long
and short term changes
83
Value of single numerical
variable for a series of
points in time
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
Visual presentation of
behaviour of a single,
continuous variable in
time, assessment of
current position;
provision of decision
rule
Statistical control chart
Current values of a single
variable and time point;
previous data to establish
decision rule; variable's
distribution international
Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS)
SPSS is the most advanced and widely used comprehensive system for
analyzing data. 5PSS can take data from almost any type of file and use them to
generate tabulated reports, charts, and plots of distributions and trends,
descriptive statistics, and complex statistical analyses.
SPSS for Windows provides a powerful statistical analysis and data
management system in a graphical environment, using descriptive menus and
simple dialog boxes to do most of the work for you. Most tasks can be
accomplished simply by pointing and clicking the mouse.
!
\
'1
-I
In addition to the simple point-and-click interface for statistical analysis, \
SPSS for Windows provides:
l
Data Editor
A versatile spreadsheet-like system for defining, entering, editing and
displaying data.
Viewer
The Viewer makes it easy to browse you results, selectively show and hide
output, change the display order results, and move presentation-quality tables and
charts between SPS5 and other applications.
Multidimensional pivot tables
Your results corne alive with multidimensional pivot tables. Explore your
tables by rearranging rows, columns, and layers. Uncover important findings that
can get lost in standard reports. Compare groups easily by splitting your table so
that only one group is displayed at a time.
High-resolution graphics
High-resolution, full-color pie charts, bar charts, histograms, scatter plots, 3D graphics, and more are included as standard features in 5PSS.
84
I
I
I
Computer Applications in Animal &iences
Database access
Retrieve information from databases by using the Database Capture Wizard
instead of complicated SQL queries.
.. t
;'
Data transformations
Transformation features help get your data ready for analysis. You can
easily subset data, combine categories, add, aggregate, merge, split and transpose
files, and more.
Electronic distribution
E-mail reports to others with the click of a button, or export tables and
charts in HTML format for Internet and Intranet distribution.
Statistical features of SPSS include:
•
Reliability analysis, multidimensional scaling (ALSCAL), and the Matrix
language are now available in the Base System.
•
New ROC Curve procedure for evaluating the performance of classification
schemes where there is one variable with two categories by which subjects
are classified.
•
Crosstabs procedure enhanced
statistic.
•
New Nominal RegreSSion procedure for analyzing the relationship between
categorical variables with two or more categories and multiple independent
variables (available in the Regression models option).
to include Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel
Basic steps in data analysis
Analyzing data with SPSS is easy. All you have to do is:
Get your data into SPSS
You can open a previously saved SPSS data file; read a spreadsheet,
database, or text data file; or enter your data directly in the Data Editor.
Select a procedure
Select a procedure from the menus to calculate statistics or to create a chart. .
Select the variables for the analysis
The variables in the data file are displayed in a dialog box for the procedure.
85
Computer'9Plicatio"'" Animal Stiences \
Run the procedure and look at the results
Results are displayed in the viewer.
Data Files
Data files come in a wide variety of formats, and this software is designed to
handle many of them, including:
•
Spreadsheets created with Lotus 1-2-3 and Excel
•
Database files created with dBASE and various SQL formats.
•
Tab-delimited and other types of ASCII text files.
•
Data files in SPSS format created on other operating systems.
•
SYSTAT data files.
Opening file options
Read variable names
For spreadsheet and tab-delimited files, you can read variable names for the
first row of the file or the first row of the define range. If the names are longer than
eight characters, they are truncated. If the first eight characters do not create a
unique variable name, the name is modified to create a unique variable name. !
Range
For spreadsheet data files, you can also read a range of cells. Use the same
method for specifying cell ranges as you would with the spreadsheet application.
Working with command syntax
Most commands are accessible from the menus and dialog boxes. However,
some commands and options are available only by using the command language.
The command language also allows you to save your jobs in a syntax file so that
you can repeat your analysis at a later date or run it in an automated job with the
production facility.
A syntax file is simply a text file that contains commands. While it is
possible to open a syntax window and type in commands, it is easier if you let the
software help you build your syntax file using one of the following methods:
•
Pasting command syntax from dialog boxes
•
Copying syntax from the output log
86
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
•
Copy syntax from the journal file.
Command syntax rules
Keep in mind the following simple rules when editing and writing command
syntax:
•
Each command must begin on a new line and end with a period (.).
•
Most subcommands are separated by slashes (/). The slash before the first
subcommand on a command is usually optional.
•
Variable names must be spelled out fully.
•
Text included within apostrophes or quotation marks must be contained on
a single line.
•
Each line of command syntax cannot exceed 80 characters.
•
A period (.) must be used to indicate decimals, regardless of your Windows
regional settings.
•
Variable names ending in a period can cause errors in commands created by
the dialog boxes. You cannot create such variable names in the dialog
boxes, and you should generally avoid them.
87
INTERNET MlU'l!iMAll!l ~11O'Ne11'(
WHAT IS INTERNET?
Perhaps, not a single day passes in the life of an average individual without
coming across a reference to the word 'Internet'. 'Internet' is a huge reservoir of
technologically advanced tools and services that serve as an electronic
compendium to the world. It is a vast international network of networks that
enables computers of all kinds to share services and resources and communicate
directly with each other as if they were part of one giant seamless global
computing machine.
Internet:
Is the Worlds' largest network
Is a working prototype of the Information Superhighway
Is not controlled or run by any central authority
Has no nationality though born and bred in the United states of
America
Collects no fee or pay no charges
Is the extreme form of democracy and decentralization verging on
delightful anarchy
The Internet is so vast in its scope and application that it is rather difficult to
find a definition that does justice to its many dimensions. However, basically three
dimensions of the Internet may be recognised:
}il>
A network of networks based on the TCPlIP protocol
}il>
A vast collection of resources that can be reached via these networks
}il>
A growing community of people who use and develop these
networks
The Internet is the network that facilitates the transfer and communication
of information stored in files or documents between the computers. The Internet
itself does not contain information; it would be more appropriate to say that
information was found on one of the computers through the Internet.
88
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE INTERNET
Interestingly enough, Internet is the outcome of a strategic defense policy
during the height of cold war. The computer communication networks of the early
sixties were primitive, connected to each other in the form of a chain, thus
vulnerable to risk of attacks.
~
Paul Baran of Rand Corporation - America's well-known Military
Think Tank, hit upon the idea of a network built rather like a 'fish
net' than a 'chain'.
~
Baran's idea led to the creation of the first net ' 'ARPANET'
~
The U.S. Dept. of Defense's Advanced Research project Agency
(ARPA) funded the creation of ARPAnet in 1969 as a wide area
communication network for military use to allow the scientists and
engineers across the US to share computers and computer resources.
A technique for exchanging messages via the network was developed
in 1972. This facility, now known as the E-mail, transformed the
ARPAnet into anew communication tool.
Remote hosts were connected via satellite for the first time using a
primitive protocol NCP (Network Control Protocol) in 1973.
Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf (the fathers of Internet) developed what
eventually
became
the
TCP/IP
(transmission
Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol) in 1974.
~
TCP/IP was declared as the preferred format in 1978.
~
ARPANET switched to running only on TCP/IP and ARPAnet split
into ARPAnet and MILNET in 1983. ARPAnet merged with Usenet
News (an academic network) and later became known as the
Internet. Since then the Internet has been growing exponentially.
•
1983 - 500 hosts
•
1987 - 30000 host
'~
•
1995 - 5 million hosts
2000 -15 million hosts
Scientists in CERN, the European High Energy Physics Laboratory,
Geneva developed software for publishing, searching and accessing
the information on Internet in 1990. This came to be known as the
89
ComJllller ApplicationS in Animal Sciences
World Wide Web (WWW). Web has ~,• •iymallit~
Internet because of its wide popularity.
..
INTERNET MANAGEMENT
The internet is merely based on an agreement between different networks ..
As such there is no central authority tllat governs the Internet. However the ISOC
(The Internet Society) and NSFnet playa significant role in managing the Internet. .
The ISOC evolves standards related to technical and operational issues through
discussion, collaboration and consensus. Internet protocols and activities are
dedded by consensus tmough RFCs (Request for Comments}. The lSOC h.as
several subgroups and each subgroup deals with certain aspects.
Internet Architecture Board - oversees the production of standards
through a number of task forces such as Internet Engineering Task
Force, Internet Research Task Force, etc.
hOG i:
~
INTERNIC - provides information about Internet as a whole.
INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS (ISP) IN INDIA
In India Internet has been there for over a decade now. For a long time the
service providers were primarily government agencies. In recent years many
private operators have also become major players in extending Internet services in
the country. The following are some of the major Internet service providers in
India:
):~
The Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd.
TheERNET
~
National Informatics Centre
~
Satyam Online
~
Dishnet
~
Mantra Online
~
Net Connect
HOW DOES THE INTERNET WORK?
There are two aspects to the Internet - the hardware and the applications.
The hardware aspect of it is that it is a huge computer network made up of
thousands of computers/computer networks worldwide. No one knows exactly
how many computers are connected to the Internet. It is certain, however, that
90
Comnuter
AP'P1,'Cat'IOns In
. A .
.
r
mmal &Iences
there are millions of them and this number is increasing at a rapid rate. The othe
aspect of Internet is its application - the different services and faCilities it offers. r
All the computers and computer networks that make up the Internet work
because they all follow a very simple rule - TCP/IP - for communicating. TCP/IP
simply says that all data transmitted through Internet should be broken up into
small packets, and that the first part of each packet should have the address where
the packet is meant to go. For transmission of data, Internet depends on the
existing telecommunication infrastructure. ISPs (Internet Service providers) lease
data circuits from telecommunication companies and have dedicated computers at
end points. It is based on client - server model. Computers called "Servers" hold
the content of Internet, which are maintained by organisations, having information
to distribute. When a request comes from a client to a server, it bundles the
information in small packets (usually of a fixed size), each packet carrying the
address of its destination, and sends them via the network. A computer can be a
client or server depending on whether it is seeking information or providing
information.
The Domain Name System (DNS)
The use of TCPlIP for transfer of data from one computer to another also
requires an effective addressing mechanism capable of unique and unambiguous
identification of each one of the millions of serves that are connected. The DNS was
developed for this purpose. The major characteristic of the DNS is its hierarchical
nature. As Internet was conceived and developed in the USA the top level,
domains were defined by the US. These include:
•
•
com
For commercial organisations (Le. businesses)
edu
For
educational
Institutions
Colleges, R&D Institutions, etc.
(Universities,
•
•
gOY
For governmental organisations
mil
Military
•
net
Network resources (e.g. Internet Service provider)
•
org
Other organisations (e.g. Professional bodies)
With the spread of Internet world wide, the top-level domain names
, indicating the individual countries became necessary. The national domain names
. follow the existing ISO standard of two letter country codes (e.g. au - Australia; caCanada in-India; sg - Singapore).
91
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
For e.g., the Internet address of the server at the National Centre for Science
Information (NCSI) will be ncsi.iisc.ernet.in. This is known as the canonical address
of the host. Internet also recognises another unique addressing system known as
Numerical Internet Protocol Address commonly known as IP address. IP address is
also known as Dotted Quad made up of four numbers separated by three dots. The
IP address of the host at NCSI is 144.16.72.129. IP address uniquely identifies an
Internet host. This number is assigned by local network authorities as per InterNIC
guidelines. The domain name system referred to above primarily evolved, as IP
addresses are difficult to remember.
WHAT IS NEEDED TO GET CONNECTED?
• Computer
• Appropriate application software
• Telecom connectivity
• Modem
• Account with an ISP
WHAT IS THE WORLD WIDE WEB AND WHAT MAKES IT WORK?
Often the Internet is considered synonymous with the World Wide Web.
Though they are closely related they are not one and the same. While the Internet
is a decentralized global network of computers and computer networks, the Web is
a huge collection of Web documents that can be accessed via the Internet. Research
and educational institutions; governmental and military entities, businesses,
private organizations, and individuals largely contribute to the content on the
Internet. The content on the Internet includes resources outside the Web also.
When one logs onto the Internet using Netscape or another browser, one is
normally viewing documents on the World Wide Web.
WHAT DOES THE INTERNET OFFER?
Seamless access to a variety of Information Sources
• Education and Research (electronic journals, e-prints, reports, databases,
digital libraries, dictionaries and encyclopedias)
• Business and Commerce (company profiles, yellow pages, Shopping,
Stocks and shares)
• Entertainment (sports, magazines, music, films)
• Government Information (e.g. Budget)
92
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
• Facts and figures (e.g. Census Data)
• Software Libraries
• General Information (news, newspapers, weather)
Powerful Communication Medium
It-- E-mail
It-- Chat
~ Electronic Discussion Forums
Electronic Publishing
~ Newspapers/Journals/Magazines (information on anything)
~ Online Education (distance learning,
e-commerce)
E·MAll
The essence of networking is to communicate. Electronic Mail (E-mail) has
been the most used function of the Internet. E-mail allows people to write back and
forth without having to worry about how the message gets delivered. Basically
there are two main types of programs which make E-mail work: a user-agent
program and a mail delivery agent program.
Just as the conventional postal system, E-mail revolves around an addressthe e-mail address. The E-mail address of a person contains enough information to
get an E-mail message sent form anywhere to him/her. The E-mail address of a
person is usually in the form: [email protected] The domain can have several
components - usually names of each node on the domain tree. A couple of
examples illustrate this.
To reach Shalini, one would address the E-mail [email protected]
This means that Shalini uses the id 'shalini' and has an account on (@) on the
system 'hotmail.com' which is the domain. Similarly, to reach Raja, one would
address the mail [email protected] where 'raja' is the user name and the rest of
the e-mail address following '@' is the domain name.
There are several e-mail programs such as Eudora, Netscape Messenger,
and Microsoft Outlook Express. In fact E-mail has become one of the most common
and routinely provided add-on service by many Internet-related service providers
such as Microsoft, Yahoo, Rediff.com, mailme_today.com, etc. Almost all of these
E-mail services are free and often offer a range of e-mail-related facilities like
composing and sending e-mails, storing of messages sent, receiving and
93
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
forwarding, free storage facility for storing received mails, facility for .ving -.nd
storing e-mail addresses, attaching and sending files.
How to open an account?
r.r Invoke the home page of e-mail service provider
r.r Click on New User
r.r Sign up - give your login ID, choose a password and supply personal
information sought
r.r Submit
If your login id and password are accepted, the sign up process will be
completed. Having opened an account with an E-mail service provider, you are
now all set to send and receive E-mails and also make use of the related facilities.
How to work with your E-mail account?
;;;.~, ,,:.<";
Go to the concerned Web site. Log in using your login id and password; The
screen will display the mails in the inbox. Unopened new mails will be shown
highlighted. Open the mail you would like to view by clicking on that.
The components of an E-mail Message
The line beginning with the 'From' header contains the name and the E-mail
address of the sender. You can save the address to your address book. 'To' lists the
E-mail addressofthereceiver(s).The.CC. header lists the additional recipients of
the message. The 'Subject' header carries a brief subject of the message supplied by
the sender of the message. 'The date' contains the day, date and time the message
was sent. The message section of the screen contains the text of the message. The
received mail can be forwarded to others by clicking on the forward option.
Options are there to delete a message, to go to the previous or next message, or
close the message.
Sending an E-mail
There are two possible situations under which you may be sending a mail.
Either you are replying to a received mail or composing a new mail to be sent. In
the case of the former, click on the reply option and this takes you to the message
compose screen, with e-mail address and subject automatically loaded. In case you
are composing a new message, click on the compose option which will take you to
the compose screen. Type the E-mail address to which the message is to be sent. If
the message has to be sent to more than one recipient, type all the E-mail addresses
separated by a comma. Copies of the message can be sent to other recipients by
Computer Applications in Animal &iences
using the CC and Bee facilities (The use of Bee option will result in the r . .
not knowing the other recipients of the message).
eclplents
Type the message to be sent in the message box. Once the messa e h b
· k ~n the sen d option
.
g asto een
d c1lC
compose,
an d thoIS wIl. 1 deliver the message
the
addressee almost mstantaneously. The sent message can be saved by clicking the
Save Outgoing Message option which will be stored in the sent message folder.
There is a facility to Add Signature' also. Another important facility offered is to
attach files to your E-mail. You can attach any file to your e-mail. To do this, click
on the 'Attachments' option, which will take you to the appropriate screen. This
screen provides options to attach one or more files to your E-mail.
I
When the address in an E-mail message is incorrect, the message will
bounce back to the sender and the bounced message will generally carry the reason
for the bounce.
CHAT
IRC is the Internet Relay Chat service (developed in 1998) in which
participants around the world can talk" to each other by typing in real time on
hundreds of channels. These channels are usually based on a particular topic.
While many topics are frivolous, substantive conversations are also taking place.
To have access to IRC, you must use an IRC software program. This program
connects you to an IRC server and allows you to visit IRe channels. Chat
programms are now common on the Web, They are sometimes included as a
feature of a Web site, where users can log into the "chat room" to exchange
comments and information about the topics addressed on the site. Chat may take
other, more wide-ranging forms.
II
For e.g., the Times of India (http://www.thetimesofindia.com) sponsors an
online chat session on a topical issue with a well known personality. Internet Relay
Chat (IRC), a service available on the Internet lets one chat easily and fast. Two of
the most popular and free chat services are the Yahoo and ICQ (I Seek you). To use
the Yahoo chat facility: Go to Yahoos Web site (URL:http:L/www.yahoo.com).
Click on the Chat option; If you already have a Yahoo ID you can begin chatting
right away; else click on sign me up and sign up. Enter the yahoo ID and password
and begin the chat session by clicking Go to Yaboo Chat.
SEARCHING THE WEB
Web is a huge reservoir of information on any conceivable topic. The Web is
a very vast collection of web documents, which are interconnected through hyper
links-also known as Hypertext documents. The Web browsers make navigating
through these links easy. The beauty of the Web is that it enables users to
naVigate/jump from one web site to another seamlessly. Browsers act as an
9S
interface between the users and the web browsers, enable reading of the web
documents and support navigating between documents. Browsers such as the
'Internet Explorer' or 'Netscape Navigator' provide a friendly interface and allow
movement from one web site to another.
Search Process
Basically there can be two types of searches:
Known Web site search: The User is trying to locate a web page that is
known to him. All that one has to do is to instruct the browser to got the web site
by specifying its URL.
Search for web sites on a topic: On the other hand if the purpose is to
identify sources of information on the Web on a topic, it will be helpful to approach
the problem in a logical and structured manner.
Search engines
Search engines support searching of very large indexes of Internet resources.
Search engines allow the user to enter keywords that are run against a database
(most often created automatically, by "spiders" or "robots"). Based on a
combination of criteria (established by the user and/ or the search engine), the
search engine retrieves WWW documents from its database that match the
keywords entered by the searcher. It is important to note that when using a search
engine, it is not a live search of the Internet as it exists at that very moment. Rather,
it is a search of a fixed database that has been compiled some time back. While all
search engines are intended to perform the same task, each goes about this task in a
different way, which often leads to different results. Factors that influence results
include the size of the database, the frequency of updating, and the search
capabilities. Search engines also differ in their search speed, the design of the
search interface, the way in which they display results and the amount of help they
offer.
Some of the Search Engines are:
AltaVista (http:( (www.altavista.com)
Excite (http://www.excite.com)
Alltheweb (http://www.alltheweb.com)
Dogpile (http://www.dogpile.com)
Britannica (http://www.britannica.com)
Google (http://www.google.com)
96
Computer Applications in .Animal Sciences
COMPUTER APPLICATIONS IN ANIMAL SCIENCES
.
. In fact,
fi computer can have application
. in. every area one can m en ti' on In
ve termary
.
eld.
Apart
from
veterinary
saentists
who
would
find
.
.
computers
useful m research activities, field veteri~ar~ans would also be able to use computers
~r farm. management, least cost rationmg, feed analysis, disease prevention,
dIsease dIagnosis, accounting etc.
Computer-aided diagnosis is an important aspect of veterinary decision
support, because diagnosis is usually the first and critical step in patient
management, but it is not an end in itself. Complete computer-based veterinary
support systems should aid the veterinarian in all areas of medical decisionmaking, including test selection and interpretation, treatment, management and
prevention.
For instance, computers could be used as diagnostic tools in veterinary field,
by linking the diagnostic test equipment to the computers for an automatic transfer
of results. Once the data are received, the computers could be made to compare
the test measurements with the standards established in the program. If the
estimated values fall outside the prescribed limits, the program would suggest
procedures that should be repeated and additional tests to be conducted. The
computer may also run an expert system program to suggest tentative diagnosis
based on the abnormal test results.
Computers could also be a boon for hospital administration, case sheet
record maintenance, retrieval for follow up action, diagnosis, dispensing
medicines, problem solving etc. Computerized clinical records would make it
possible to store voluminous data with minute details, and to keep tract of
performance of patients. Nowadays, almost all the sophisticated equipment are
provided with computer facilities. For eg., ECG, EEG, CAT, MRI etc. have all
computer support. The use of computers in veterinary science can never be
compromised and in future, entire gamut of veterinary science is likely to hinge on
computer support. In fact, there is no limit for computer uses especially in the field
of veterinary medicine.
Specific areas of Application
_g
Data Base Management System (DBMS
_g
Registration of case
_g
Classification of case
~
Case history
~
Symptom
~
Test result
~
Diagnosis
97
Computer Applications i" Animal Sciences
~
Treatment and Follow up
In a nutshell, the computer may be considered as an essential tool for day
today activities and for solving complex problems in the field of veterinary
medicine. By efficient use of the system it would be possible to save precious time,
cost and energy.
Some Software for use In Veterinary Field
CARDIO
CARDIO (Stevens, 1986) is a program designed to provide diagnostic
assistance in interpreting electrocardiographic (BCG) examination of canine and
feline patients. It analyses the ECG strip only, not the entire patient, so it does not
offer treatment suggestions or prognoses.
COS REEL
COSREEL (Computer System for Recording Events affecting Economically
important Livestock) is an animal health recording system which has been
designed for the management of cartle, sheep and pigs (Russel and Rowlands,
1983). It can record diagnosis of disease, symptoms, treatment, vaccination, tests
and their results. It can also be used for recording management data, veterinary
data and production data.
CRITTER
CRITTER is a computer database program for managing research animals.
It is designed especially for institutions that operate health surveillance plants,
such as specific pathogen free schemes (SPF). Because CRITTER can be used to
record any type of test results in any species of animal, it can be customized to suit
any institution. In addition to maintaining a current inventory of each individual
animal and its location, the program retains historical information on those that
have been removed from the colony. Although CRITTER has been designed for
individual research establishments, it could be modified for use in area health
surveillance programs (i.e. epidemiology).
EPISCOPE
EPISCOPE (Frankena et a1., 1990) is the computer software used to cover
epidemiological principles and calculations. It can assist both the teaching of
epidemiology and the analysis of field data. EPISCOPE is based on the
spreadsheet program and consists of four modules for evaluation of diagnostic
tests, sample size calculations, analysis of cohort and case-control studies and
models.
98
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
HEMO
HEMO (Stevens, 1986) is a program designed to process a patient's database
of laboratory test results and produce a report that provides a diagnostic analysis
of these tests for the veterinarian's review and the patient's record.
HEMO allows a computer to make calculations and comparisons, report and
characterize values outside normal ranges, and match patterns of test results.
Further assistance is offered in the form of lists of possible or potential disease
conditions that may account for given abnormal test results and lists of additional
dinico-pathologic tests that may help to interpret present abnormalities and I or
support or rule out potential diagnosis.
VIRUS
VIRUS (Veterinary Investigation Recording User System) is capable of
storing, monitoring and analyzing previous and current records (Martin et aI.,
1982). The results produced by the program are
c:::>
stock identification details such as herd book no., sire and dam details, date
of birth, breed etc.
reproduction details such as calvings, abortions, lactation no., sire and dam
details, date of birth, breed etc.
¢
production data such as milk yield data
c:::>
disease events such as type of disease, organisms isolated, type of lesions
etc.
fertility events such as non-service oestrous, service per insemination,
identity of bull, results of pregnancy diagnosis, dry off dates etc.
c:::>
death and cull events with reasons.
Diagnostic Search Programmes
COWCAD
It contains a database of cattle diseases with all recorded clinical features of
each disease.
Consultant
It is similar to COW CAD and in this clinical signs can be entered and the
program responds with a list of possible diagnoses.
Provides
It is the acronym for Problem Oriented Veterinary Information and Decision
Support. When clinical signs are entered, the program generates a list of
99
Computer Applications in Animal Sciences
differential diagnoses in order of probability, lists of relevant diagn~,
treatment options and prognostic probabilities.
Computers in Farm Management
The first use of computer as a management tool in dairy farming was in
milk recording services started in 1950's in the United States. The organizations
using computers for herd management came to be collectively known as the Dairy
Herd Improvement Association (DHIA). Most DHI programs now offer, in
addition to individual cow production records, somatic cell count (SCC) data,
reproductive performance parameters, nutritional information, and management
work list, which all could be summarized and reported at the herd level with the
use of computers.
Through a co-operative effort with the University of Melbourne, the
MELBREAD herd health and fertility reporting scheme was developed by the
Veterinary Epidemiology and Economic Research Unit (VEERU), University of
Reading in 1971. Over a several years, its use resulted in extensive research and
development into a more integrated system known as DAISY (Dairy information
System).
The FAHRMX (Food Animal Health and Resource Management System)
computer system was created at the University of Michigan.
Present day programs
A commercial software, Dairy Herd Management program (DHMP) was
found to be useful tool when implemented as part of a dairy herd health program.
Later the program known as Dairy Compo 305 was developed.
Nowadays, with the help of INTERNET, one can browse and
download a large number of herd management programs and experience the
demonstration of the software. For ego INTERHerd, the herd management program
developed by INTERAgri and VEERU, UK could be downloaded from the
INTEAgri website.
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