License Plate Recognition System Essay Example

License Plate Recognition System Essay Project Report On LICENSE PLATE RECOGNITION SYSTEM PROJECT GROUP MEMBERS A. NISHANTH J. VISHWESH NACHIKET VASANT VAIDYA NAVEEN SUKUMAR TAPPETA R. ANAND UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF PROF. S. R. SATHE DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE VISVESVARAYA NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY NAGPUR 2008-2009 DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE VISVESVARAYA NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY NAGPUR 2008-09 CERTIFICATE This Is To Certify That A. Nishanth J. Vishwesh Nachiket Vasant Vaidya Naveen Sukumar Tappeta R. Anand Have Successfully Completed The Project Titled LICENSE PLATE RECOGNITION SYSTEM during the academic year 2008-2009. This dissertation is towards the partial fulfillment in the requirement for the degree of BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY (COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING), V. N. I. T, Nagpur. DR. S. R. SATHE DR. O. G. KAKDE (PROJECT GUIDE) (HEAD OF THE DEPT) ACKNOWLEGEMENT This project would not have taken its shape, nor would it have been successfully completed without the support and encouragement of our project guide Prof. S. R. Sathe, who presented us with an invaluable opportunity to work on this project. We take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to him. We are extremely indebted to him for the same. We wish to express our heartfelt gratitude to the Department of Computer Science, and the Head of Department, Dr. O. G. Kakde for granting us full freedom towards the utilization of all the facilities in the department. This project has been a very good experience for all of us, which helped us to work together as a good team. We are sure that the knowledge and experience gathered by this will stand us in good stead in our future. We will write a custom essay sample on License Plate Recognition System specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on License Plate Recognition System specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on License Plate Recognition System specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In this thesis a Number Plate Recognition System for Indian License Plates has been explicated. The System comprises of 4 modules for each of the following: The extraction of a region of interest (ROI) containing a car, the extraction of the license plate candidates from these ROIs, the segmentation of the characters from the best candidate and finally using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) on the segmented characters. The results are fed to a grammar checking module after which the license plate number is obtained. The algorithm used to generate the ROIs is a weighted histogram method, the license plate extraction uses vertical edge detection and image morphology, the character segmentation is done using a simple connected component analysis along with heuristics and finally the OCR is implemented using the novel Hierarchical Temporal Memory (HTM) Framework. This thesis proposes a solution to: the problem of License Plate Localization in images with a complicated background, the problem of increasing the effectiveness of morphology and edge based approaches as they are very sensitive to noisy edges and the problem of recognition of characters that have varied size, rotation and have a lot of noise. The system has two components viz. a component that runs on Matlab 7. 6 that performs the image processing and a component on python2. 5. 2 that runs the Numenta Platform for Intelligent Computing(Nupic) for the OCR. The combination of algorithms that we have used proves very effective and has been applied successfully over a test database. ABSTRACT | INTRODUCTION| | | | | INTRODUCTION License plate recognition is a mass surveillance method that uses optical character recognition on images to read the license plates on vehicles. There are three key components to any NPR system: License Plate extraction, Character Segmentation, Optical Character Segmentation. Analyses on the performance of a number of techniques which are used in Number Plate Recognition are discussed below (Refer [1]). LICENSE PLATE LOCALIZATION TECHNIQUES Binary Image Processing Techniques Using Edge and Morphology Based Approaches These techniques are sensitive to noisy edges, however hybrid techniques in this area coupled with prior system information such as distance constraints from the car boost system accuracies to as high as 99. 6% in [2]. In this thesis, a method is proposed to boost the accuracies of these Image processing techniques when applied to images with complicated backgrounds by selecting region of interests. Image Transformations A gabor filter based method is used for texture analysis and license plate detection. These methods are computationally expensive and slow for images with large analysis. In the method that uses Hough transform (HT), edges in the input image are detected first. Then, HT is applied to detect the LP regions. The execution time of the HT requires too much computation when applied to a binary image with great number of pixels. Methods Based On Color and Templates The solutions based on color currently available do not provide a high degree of accuracy in natural scenery, since color is not stable when the lighting conditions change. In addition, as these methods are color based, they are country specific. Methods based on Templates have little effect on Indian License Plates due to rampant non-standardization. The hierarchy introduced in the License Plate Recognition system that has been developed in this thesis viz. Image Candidates containing Car Candidates containing License Plates Enhances the Edge and Morphology based techniques by drastically reducing the number of false Number Plate candidates and increases the accuracy of Plate Localization. OPTICAL CHARACTER RECOGNITION TECHNIQUES Pattern Matching It is suitable for single font, not-rotated, fixed size characters only. It is reported that 90% of central processing unit time was consumed for the computation of the cross-correlation measures between the various templates and the relative sub-image. Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) The disadvantage was the complex procedure of preprocessing and parameterization. It gives a result of 95. 7%. It has a restriction on effective distance of plate recognition system. Hybrid Approach This uses statistical and structural recognition method. It achieves robustness and a high recognition performance. Its success rate is 95. 41%. Neural Networks Multilayered Feed Forward Neural Networks Approach The network has to be trained for many training cycles to attain the good performance. The number of hidden layers as well as number of respective neurons has to be defined by trial and error approach only. This approach cannot handle the noisy part. Self-Organized Neural Networks Based On Kohonen’s The feature maps are implemented to handle noisy, deformed, broken, or incomplete characters acquired from License Plates that were bent and/or tilted with respect to the camera. The method focuses on accuracy at the cost of increased complexity and execution speed. Thus it may be concluded that on analyzing some earlier used techniques for Optical Character Recognition (OCR), many methods involving HMMs , self-organized neural networks based on Kohonen’s, though very robust, have high computational costs involved. We propose a new technique for OCR on Numentas HTM framework. It achieves a high level of rotation and scale invariance in recognition and the hierarchical structure has an added advantage of memory efficiency while making invariant representations of characters. ORGANIZATION The thesis is organized as follows: The First chapter gives an introduction to the architecture of a general License Plate Recognition System and lists the components of the software system that has been developed for this thesis. It also lists the assumptions and the system parameters. The second chapter provides an explanation to the Image Processing and Segmentation techniques that have been used. The third chapter illustrates the process involved in extracting the Regions of Interest (ROI) containing the car, Localization of the number plate from the ROI and describes the segmentation techniques to get the individual characters. The third chapter illustrates the concepts of Hierarchical Temporal Memory (HTM). The fourth chapter describes the HTM Learning Algorithms. The fifth chapter deals with the HTM based Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Grammar Check Modules implemented for the system. The last chapter lists the results that were obtained by applying the system on various images, conclusion and the future work. | CHAPTER-I| SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE| | | | | CHAPTER-I 1. SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE A Number Plate Recognition system comprises of software (Image Processing and Character Recognition) and hardware components (Custom License Plate Capture Cameras) as shown in the figure. Images from the acquisition device are processed by the Software components and the results are logged or the results could be used to trigger actions such as: opening a gate to a restricted area. Figure 1. 1 The system proposed in the following thesis has been designed specifically for deployment at sites such as: Site Access Control, Car Parks, Freight Logistics Companies, Toll Booths, Airports, Hotels, Industrial Estates, Contract Car Parking, Banks and Stadiums. In this thesis we have focused on the implementation of the software component of a License plate Recognition System and the algorithms proposed allow the system to be used with a variety of low and high quality acquisition devices subject to the set constraints. . 1 SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE The system has two components namely, the Matlab component and the Python Component. The Matlab Component retrieves images from the Image Database. First, the ROI containing the car are extracted by the Car Candidate Generation Module. Second, the License Plate Localization and Segmentation Module localize the License Plate from the ROI, segment the characters and pass them to Python Component through the Inter Process Communicat ion Module. The Python Component applies the HTM framework based OCR on the characters segmented earlier and passes the results onto a Grammar Check Module. The Grammar Check Module returns a single result to the Matlab Component via Inter Process Communication Module. The results are finally displayed and can be further processed. The following pipeline illustrates the Software Architecture of the system: License Plate Recognition System Image Database Python Component HTM based OCR Grammar Checking Module Inter Process Communication Matlab Component Car Candidate Generation License Plate Localization and Character Segmentation Inter process Communication Display Results Figure 1. 2 1. 1. 1 Assumptions made by the System * The System is designed to provide best results when applied to number plates corresponding to the rules stated below: â€Å"On June 1, 2005, the Government of India introduced High Security Registration (HSR) number plates which are tamper proof. All new motorized road vehicles that came into the market after that need to adhere to the new plates, while existing vehicles have been given two years to comply. Features incorporated include the number plate having a patented chromium hologram; a laser numbering containing the alpha-numeric identification of both the testing agency and manufacturers and a retro-reflective film bearing a verification inscription India at a 45-degree inclination. The characters are embossed on the plate for better visibility. The letters IND are printed in a light shade of blue on the observers left side under the hologram. † Figure 1. 3 * Even though the system works for multiple cars, we focus on retrieving the number plate of the prominent car. The grammar used is based on only Indian license plates and can be extended to other countries also. 1. 1. 2 Parameters taken by the System * Image resolution used: 1200 x 1600 * The images are acquired from a distance between 3 to 6 meters and a height of 2 meters * The input to the system is an RGB image * The output is a string containing the registration number | CHAPTER-II| IMAGE PROCESSING AND SEGMENTATIO N TECHNIQUES| | | | CHAPTER-II 2. IMAGE PROCESSING AND SEGMENTATION TECHNIQUES 2. 1 IMAGE ENHANCEMENT Image Enhancement involves the processing of an image that is better in quality in comparison to the raw image. The following sections explain the various spatial filters that are used in the system. Spatial Filtering involves convolution of an image with a mask. The filter masks are called convolution masks or kernels. The response R of an m x n mask at any point (x,y) in an image is given by R= i=1mnwizi where the w’s are the mask coefficients, the z’s are the values of the image gray levels corresponding to those coefficients and mn is the total number of coefficients in the mask. 2. 1. 1 Average Filter R= 1121i=1121zi Figure 2. 2 Figure 2. 1 The equation above shows an 11 x 11 smoothing filter which is the average of the gray levels of the pixels in the 11 x 11 neighborhood defined by the mask. 2. 1. 2 Median Filter It is necessary to perform a high degree of noise reduction in an image before performing higher-level processing steps, such as edge detection. The median filter is a non-linear digital filtering technique, used to remove noise from images or other signals. It examines a sample of the input and decides if it is representative of the signal. This is performed using a window consisting of an odd number of samples. The values in the window are sorted into numerical order; the median value, the sample in the center of the window, is selected as the output. The oldest sample is discarded, a new sample acquired, and the calculation repeats. Figure 2. 3 For example, suppose that a 3 x 3 neighborhood has values (10, 20, 20, 20, 15, 20, 20, 25, 100). These values are sorted as (10, 15, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 25, 100), which results in a median of 20. Thus, the principal function of median filters is to force points with distinct gray levels to be more like their neighbors. In fact, isolated clusters of pixels that are light or dark with respect to their neighbors, and whose area is less than n2/2 (one-half the filter area), are eliminated by an n x n median filter. In this case eliminated means forced to the median intensity of the neighbors. Larger clusters are affected considerably less. Figure 2. 4 2. 2 IMAGE SEGMENTATION In computer vision, segmentation refers to the process of partitioning a digital image into multiple segments (sets of pixels) (Also known as super pixels). The goal of segmentation is to simplify and/or change the representation of an image into something that is more meaningful and easier to analyze. Image segmentation is typically used to locate objects and boundaries (lines, curves, etc. ) in images. More precisely, image segmentation is the process of assigning a label to every pixel in an image such that pixels with the same label share certain visual characteristics. 2. 2. 1 IMAGE MORPHOLOGY AND DILATION Mathematical morphology (MM) is a theory and technique for the analysis and processing of geometrical structures, based on set theory, lattice theory, topology, and random functions. MM is most commonly applied to digital images, but it can be employed as well on graphs, surface meshes, solids, and many other spatial structures. Dilation operation is fundamental to morphological processing. With A and B as sets in Z, the dilation of A by B, denoted A? B is defined as A? B= zBz? A ? ? This equation is based on obtaining the reflection of B about its origin and shifting this reflection by z. The dilation of A by B then is the set of all displacements, Z, such that B and A overlap by at least one element. Set B is commonly referred to as the structuring element in dilation. Figure 2. 5 2. 2. EDGE DETECTION The sobel operator calculates the gradient of the image intensity at each point, giving the direction of the largest possible increase from light to dark and the rate of change in that direction. The result shows how abruptly or smoothly the image changes at that point, and therefore how likely it is that that part of the image represents an edge, as well as how t hat edge is likely to be oriented The gradient of a two-variable function (the image intensity function) is at each image point a 2D vector with the components given by the derivatives in the horizontal and vertical directions. At each image point, the gradient vector points in the direction of largest possible intensity increase, and the length of the gradient vector corresponds to the rate of change in that direction. The result of the Sobel operator at an image point which is in a region of constant image intensity is a zero vector and at a point on an edge is a vector which points across the edge, from darker to brighter values Mathematical Representation: Mathematically, the operator uses two 3? 3 kernels which are convolved with the original image to calculate approximations of the derivatives one for horizontal changes, and one for vertical. If we define A as the source image, and Gx and Gy are two images which at each point contain the horizontal and vertical derivative approximations, the computations are as follows: Gy=+1+2+1000-1-2-1*A and Gx=+10-1+20-2+10-1*A where * here denotes the 2-dimensional convolution operation. The x-coordinate is here defined as increasing in the right-direction, and the y-coordinate is defined as increasing in the down-direction. At each point in the image, the resulting gradient approximations can be combined to give the gradient magnitude, using: G=Gx2+Gy2 Using this information, we can also calculate the gradients direction: ? =arctanGxGy where, for example, ? is 0 for a vertical edge which is darker on the left side. Figure 2. 6 Figure 2. 7 2. 2. 3 EXTRACTION OF BLOB PROPERTIES USING MOMENTS Image moments are certain particular weighted averages (moments) of the image pixels intensities, or functions of those moments, usually chosen to have some attractive property or interpretation. For a 2-D continuous function f(x,y) the moment (sometimes called raw moment) of order (p + q) is defined as Mpq=- - xpyqfx,ydx dy or p, q = 0,1,2, Adapting this to scalar (greytone) image with pixel intensities I(x,y), raw image moments Mij are calculated by Mij=xyxiyjIx,y Area: Area (for binary images) or sum of grey level (for greytone images): M00 Centroid: Centroid: x,y=M10M00,M01M00 Orientation and Length of Major and Minor Axis: Information about image orientation can be derived by first using the second order central moments to construct a covari ance matrix. ?20=? 20? 00=M20M00-x2 ?02=? 02? 00=M02M00-y2 ?11=? 11? 00=M11M00-xy2 The covariance matrix of the image I(x,y) is now covIx,y=? 20? 11? 11? 02 The eigenvectors of this matrix correspond to the major and minor axes of the image intensity, so the orientation can thus be extracted from the angle of the eigenvector associated with the largest eigenvalue. It can be shown that this angle ? is given by the following formula: ? =12arctan2? 11? 20-? 02 The eigenvalues of the covariance matrix can easily be shown to be ? i=? 20+? 022 ±4? 112+? 20-? 0222 and are proportional to the squared length of the eigenvector axes. The relative difference in magnitude of the eigenvalues are thus an indication of the eccentricity of the image, or how elongated it is. The eccentricity is 1-? 2? Bounding Box: The extreme (min and max) x and y values in the blob are recorded and a set of bounding box co-ordinates namely (xmin , ymin) and (xmax , ymax) are generated. The bounding box is the smallest box that completely encloses the image. | CHAPTER-III| LOCALIZATION AND SEGMENTATION| | | | CHAPTER-III 3. LOCALIZATION AND SEGMENTATION 3. 1 INTRODUCT ION To localize the license plate three classes of techniques are made use of, viz. Morphology-based techniques, Edge-based techniques and Histogram-based techniques. Later, the Character- Segmentation is achieved using Connected Component Analysis and by applying Heuristics. The functioning of this part of the system can be further divided into 3 sub-sections. The first deals with Car Candidate Generation, the second deals with License Plate Localization and the third with Character Segmentation. 3. 2 EXTRACTING THE CAR-CANDIDATE REGION The Car-Candidate-Generation is done to focus on the car area in the given image to remove false candidates like name-boards, and noisy edges etc. The following steps were used to extract the car candidates: 1. Figure 3. 1 Figure 3. 2 The RGB Image is converted to a Grayscale image using: I = 0. 2989 * R + 0. 870 * G + 0. 1140 * B. 2. Figure 3. 3 An averaging filter is applied on the Grayscale image by convolving it with a 1111 mask. 3. Figure 3. 4 The Grayscale Image is subtracted from the Averaged image to yield an edge image. The effect induced by Averaged Image Grayscale Image is as follows: Values in the grayscale image higher than the average value (in the 11 x 11 neighborhood) are eliminated while calculating the difference as negative values are converted to 0. Values close to the average value are eliminated while thresholding to convert this image to a black and white image. Thus only pixels with values significantly lower than the average in the 11 x 11 neighborhood are retained. All low intensity parts of the edge in a grayscale image have a high value in the averaged image and hence in the differenced image they retain a good magnitude. 4. Figure 3. 5 The Otsu’s Threshold is used to convert the edge image into a black and white image. 5. Figure 3. 6 The Black and White Image is labeled resulting in each connected component to have a number/label associated with it. The area of these blobs is computed. 6. Figure 3. 7 A Weighted Vertical Histogram is computed for the labeled image. For every column in the Labeled Image, we extract the unique labels. The sum of the areas corresponding to these unique labels is the value of the Histogram for that column. 7. Figure 3. 8 Figure 3. 9 The peaks having magnitude above a threshold (V) and having a distance of VThresh between them are clustered to form vertical strips containing potential car candidates. Depending on the threshold value, eliminate the false car candidates. 8. Figure 3. 10 A weighted horizontal histogram is computed on the vertical strips thus obtained after eliminating the false candidates. 9. Figure 3. 12 Figure 3. 11 The peaks having magnitude above a threshold (H) and having a distance of HThresh between them are clustered to form rectangular strips assuming a threshold of one-third of the average in a strip, and obtain the car candidates. 3. 3 LICENSE PLATE LOCALIZATION The following pipeline explains the steps involved in the localization Once the car candidate is obtained; we localize the number plate in the following manner: 1. Grayscale image corresponding to the potential car candidate region is extracted. 2. To remove Salt and Pepper noise, median filter with a 33 mask is applied. It is useful to reduce speckle noise and salt and pepper noise. Its edge-preserving nature makes it useful in cases where edge blurring is undesirable. 3. Vertical edge detection is done on the image using sobel operator. This yields a grayscale image which is then subjected to a threshold based on RMS estimate of noise. 4. The image is dilated using a rectangular structuring element of size [2 15]. Figure 3. 13 5. Figure 3. 14 The area and bounding box of the connected components are then computed by first labeling the image and then extracting the blob properties. 6. Figure 3. 15 Area and Aspect Ratio heuristics are applied on connected components in the Dilated Image, to get Candidate License Plate (CLP) regions, and the corresponding regions are extracted from the edge image. 3. 4 CHARACTER SEGMENTATION Now the number plate candidates thus obtained are subjected to Character Segmentation by the following steps: The Connected Component Analysis is performed to obtain bounding box of each character. The connected component analysis algorithm is applied to the processed images. So we get the bounding rectangle of the object and the number of the object pixels in these rectangles. The following heuristics are applied to eliminate fake License Plate Candidates: * First the height heuristic is applied such that if the height of the bounding box of each object in the candidate license plate region is at least 0. 4 times the height of the Minor Axis Length of the CLP it was a part of, only then can it be a character. * Second the width heuristic is applied such that if the width of the bounding box of each object in the candidate license plate region is less than 0. 125 times the length of the Major Axis length of the CLP it was a part of, only then can it be a character. Any CLP retrieved from the dilated image should have at least four such objects stated in the above two points to qualify to be final candidate. * Lastly, an equation of a line passing through center of the plate is calculated using the Centroid and the Orientation of the plate candidate. All centroids of the Connected Components in the plate should be less than minimum perpendicular distance (Mi nDist) from the line. This heuristic further eliminates fake candidates. The other segmented regions eliminated, as they don’t qualify to be a character and may just be noise. Figure 3. 16 Thus the segmented characters are obtained. | CHAPTER-IV| HIERARCHICAL TEMPORAL MEMORY (HTM)| | | | CHAPTER-IV 4. HIERARCHICAL TEMPORAL MEMORY (HTM) 4. 1 WHAT IS HTM? Hierarchical Temporal Memory (HTM) is a technology that replicates the structural and algorithmic properties of human brain such as visual pattern recognition, understanding spoken language, recognizing and manipulating objects by touch. HTMs are not programmed and do not execute different algorithms for different problems. Instead, HTMs â€Å"learn† how to solve problems. HTMs are trained by exposing them to sensory data and the capability of the HTM is determined largely by what it has learnt. HTMs are organized as a tree-shaped hierarchy of nodes, where each node implements a common learning and memory function. HTM memory is hierarchical in both space and time to capture and model the structure of the world. HTMs perform the following four basic functions regardless of the particular problem they are applied to: * Discover causes in the world * Infer causes of novel input * Make predictions * Direct behavior . 1. 1 Discover causes in the world Figure 4. 1 Left box in the figure 4. 1 represents a world the HTM is to learn about. The world consists of objects and their relationships. The objects in the world are physical such as cars, people, and buildings. The right box in Figure 4. 1 represents an HTM. It interfaces to its world through one or more senses shown in the middle of the figure. The senses sample some attribute of the world such as light or touch, though the senses used by an HTM do not need to be the same senses humans have. Typically the senses don’t directly detect the objects in the world. Senses typically present an array of data to the HTM, where each element in the array is a measurement of some small attribute of the world. From an HTM’s perspective, there are two essential characteristics of sensory data. First, the sensory data must measure something that is directly or indirectly impacted by the causes in the world. Second, the sensory data must change and flow continuously through time, while the causes underlying the sensory data remain relatively stable. The temporal aspect of sensory data can come from movements or changes of the objects in the world or it can come from movement of the sensory system itself through the world. The HTM’s output is manifest as a set of probabilities for each of the learned causes. This moment-to-moment distribution of possible causes is called a â€Å"belief†. If an HTM knows about ten causes in the world, it will have ten variables representing those causes. The value of these variables – its belief – is what the HTM believes is happening in its world at that instant. Typical HTMs will know about many causes, and as you will see, HTMs actually learn a hierarchy of causes. 4. 1. 2 Infer causes of novel input After an HTM network was trained with the set of training data, the network would be ready for the inference and it gives the output as the probability vector with the highest probability as the category to which the object belongs to. 4. 1. 3 Make predictions HTMs consist of a hierarchy of memory nodes where each node learns causes and forms beliefs. Part of the learning algorithm performed by each node is to store likely sequences of patterns. By combining memory of likely sequences with current input, each node has the ability to make predictions of what is likely to happen next. An entire HTM, being a collection of nodes, also makes predictions. Just as an HTM can infer the causes of novel input, it also can make predictions about novel events. Predicting the future of novel events is the essence of creativity and planning. Leaving the details of how this works for later, we can state now what prediction can be used for. There are several uses for prediction in an HTM, including priming, imagination and planning, and generating behavior. Priming When an HTM predicts what is likely to happen next, the prediction can act as what is called a â€Å"prior probability†, meaning it biases the system to infer the predicted causes. For example, if an HTM were processing text or spoken language, it would automatically predict what sounds, words, and ideas are likely to occur next. This prediction helps the system understand noisy or missing data. Imagination and Planning HTMs automatically predict and anticipate what is likely to happen next. Instead of using these predictions for priming, an HTM’s predictions can be fed back into the HTM as a substitute for sensory data. This process is what humans do when they think. Thinking, imagining, planning the future, and silently rehearsing in our heads are all the same, and achieved by following a series of predictions. HTMs can do this as well. Imagining the future can be valuable in many applications. For example, a car may be equipped with an HTM to monitor nearby traffic, to drive accordingly. 4. 1. 4 Direct behavior An HTM that has learned the causes in its world, and how those causes behave over time, has in essence created a model of its world. Now suppose an HTM is attached to a system which physically interacts with the world. What is important is that the system can move its sensors through its world and/or manipulate objects in its world. In such a system, the HTM can learn to generate complex goal-oriented behavior. As the HTM discovers the causes in its world, it learns to represent its built-in behaviors just as it learns to represent the behaviors of objects in the outside world. From the HTM’s perspective, the system it is connected to is just another object in the world. Through an associative memory mechanism, the HTM-based representations of the built-in behaviors are paired with the mechanisms creating the built-in behaviors themselves. . 2 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CONCEPT OF HIERARCHY The following reasons explain the concepts to introduce a hierarchical structure: Shared representations lead to generalizat

Aim of Life 4 Essay Example

Aim of Life 4 Essay Example Aim of Life 4 Essay Aim of Life 4 Essay Mr. President Respected teachers and dear fellows The given proposition of the day is â€Å"my aim in life† Sir , aim is very important in life,it brings all our energies to one point. Robert Browning says : â€Å"The aim, if reached or not makes great the life† It provides direction for our attempts. Our aim is like a guiding star. What makes life gloomy is the want of motive. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for,no wint is the right wint . Aim that suits the nature of a man is the best for him. Mr. President Sir, I desire to be a teacher. No doubt , teacher all over the world are low-paid people . ecause the world cannot pay for their services. There are several reasons for my choice. It is a nobel profession . The best people in the world are those who teach others. To me this is the only profession in which a man can serve his nation in the best possible manner. Engineers may build grand buildings,metalled roads , massive dams . doctors may treat th e patient and may put life into the dead; civil and military officers may boast of their services to the nation. But,are they not what their teacher have made them ? Mr. President Sir, A teacher is like a ladder which remains at its place,but helps others to go higher and higher. Instead of being an engineers a doctor , or an officer, it is better to be an engineer. maker,a doctor maker . It is only the men are made in the teaching institutions. Mr. President Sir, Whatever others think of my aim, I am satisfied that by being a teacher I can do much for my country in an other way. This aim is according to my taste and nature . Goving against it would result in nothing but harm and confusion of mint. Words worth has said: A noble aim, faithfully kept, is as a noble deed; In whose pure sight all virtue succeed. THANKS.

Reasons to Write Properly

Reasons to Write Properly Reasons to Write Properly Reasons to Write Properly By Michael Why is it important to write correctly, to use standard grammar, spelling, and punctuation? Because you want people to understand you, thats all. Why are the picky details important? If my headline had said Write Good, wouldnt you understand that I meant Write Well? Maybe so, but its less distracting and easier to understand if I say it correctly. For a split second or longer, part of your mind would be confused, wondering if I was encouraging you to write about good things or something. Certainly part of your mind would wonder why you were seeing bad grammar in Daily Writing Tips. When my colleague Mark tried it as a joke, people noticed. Are you seeing my point? Scholars talk about prescriptive grammar and descriptive grammar. Prescriptive grammar means the way people are supposed to write. That has sometimes been misguided. As recently as the 19th century, some scholars taught that English should follow the rules of Latin because I cant think of a good reason now. On the other hand, descriptive grammar means the way people actually write, and thats hard to argue with. But isnt there a connection? Youre supposed to write the way people actually write, because its easier to understand that way. And because grammar changes over the centuries, grammar books do change as the language changes. Where students and teachers get into disagreements is when the young people insist that the way they write is now correct. Older teachers can recall saying the same thing when they were young, but in retrospect, being wrong. The slang of their youth didnt become a permanent part of the English language. Some students might say, I dont have to follow no made-up rules! If they say that, they are using a double negative, which was correct in Old English, before 1000 AD. After that, it was no longer correct. My advice: if English speakers have been following a rule for a thousand years, you might want to follow it too. People are probably used to it. Recognizing a pattern makes reading easier, and that includes patterns of grammar and spelling. Of course, we recognize letters from their shape. Its possible to read a line of text thats missing the bottom half of each letter, but difficult to read it without the top half. But research also suggests that the shape of a word helps us to recognize it. Even without my glasses, I can see that loop begins with an ascending letter and ends with a descending letter it slopes down while pool slopes up. When you type in ALL CAPS, every letter is the same height, so it not only looks like youre shouting, it also makes it much harder to read. Certain parts of contracts are legally required to be conspicuous, so they are often capitalized. But why? After all, putting them in bold or larger type is also conspicuous. Attorney Matthew Butterick, the author of Typography for Lawyers, says, All-caps para ­graphs are an example of self-defeat ­ing typog ­ra ­phy. Readers inevitably skip over the most important parts because they’re so hard to read. I hope lawyers dont write Terms of Service in all-caps to keep us from reading them. My point: our brains understand things more easily because they fit our expectations. The reason I try to use proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation is not to impress my fourth grade teacher Mrs. Cascales. Alas, her jazz piano has been silent for many years, and she is no longer checking my writing for mistakes. No, I try to write correctly because its easier to read, because youve seen it written that way (AKA written correctly) before. Sometimes even minor grammatical choices can make reading slower or faster. I gave one example in my article Is That a Noun or a Verb? I’m Confused. When you dont have to struggle with understanding my spelling or punctuation, you can focus on understanding my meaning. People judge you by your language. In an article in the Harvard Business Review, Good Grammar Should Be Everyone’s Business, Brad Hoover of Grammarly studied 100 LinkedIn profiles, all native English-speakers, all working in the consumer packaged goods industry, with three employers or less in the first 10 years of their careers. He discovered the ones with fewer grammar errors in their profile were promoted to director level or above within those 10 years, while the other half were not. In the musical My Fair Lady, Professor Higgins points out a lower-class flower girl and tells Colonel Pickering, If you spoke as she does, sir, instead of the way you do, why, you might be selling flowers too. When you leave out features in your writing that children learn in grade school, such as punctuation and capitalization, your readers will assume that you didnt complete grade school. Im not arguing for exalted language, but for clear communication. Big words can be as imprecise as little words. Some academic writing styles dont communicate more clearly, but only prove that you are an academic. Teachers and professors have to fight against spreading it. The improper use of passive voice is the best known symptom: It has been been demonstrated by Jenkins that instead of Jenkins proves that Weve written several articles to help you manage your use of passive voice, such as Passive Writing and 7 Examples of Valid Passive Construction. When I was working for a phone company, an older physician called about an unexpected bill he received. He said, This will not be disbursed. I couldnt resist saying, Oh, you mean you wont pay the bill? Apparently and unfortunately, he had been taught to use language as a barrier, to keep his patients in their place so they wouldnt question the bills he sends. Theres nothing wrong with short words. Some long words are used specifically to keep from stating the truth directly. Comedian George Carlin pointed out that what was called shell shock in the First World War became battle fatigue in the Second. Four syllables now, says Carlin. Takes a little longer to say. Doesn’t seem to hurt as much. Fatigue is a nicer word than shock. A corporation does not fire an employee; it arranges a negotiated departure or makes a workforce imbalance correction. Little things can have large consequences including punctuation. Lynne Truss, English author and broadcaster, notes that the 1905 October revolution in Russia began when Bolshevik printers demanded to be paid the same rate for punctuation marks as for letters. Truss hosted a BBC Radio broadcast about punctuation, Cutting a Dash, which led to a best-selling book in 2003. The title of the book, Eats, Shoots Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, comes from a joke: A panda walks into a bar. He orders a sandwich, eats it, pulls out a gun, and fires two shots. The shocked bartender asks him why. The panda throws him a poorly-punctuated wildlife manual. Im a panda, he says, Look it up, and walks out the door. Sure enough, the entry for Panda reads, Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves. Here you see that an extra comma can lead to increased gun violence. Truss also wrote childrens books: Twenty-Odd Ducks: Why, Every Punctuation Mark Counts (2008) The Girls Like Spaghetti: Why, You Cant Manage Without Apostrophes! (2007). Notice that in each title, removing two punctuation marks completely changes the meaning. Only after Eats, Shoots Leaves went to press (naturally), Truss found details on another story she wished she could have included in her book. It concerned New England merchant Timothy Dexter (Newburyport, Massachusetts, 1748-1806), who wrote a pamphlet called A Pickle for the Knowing Ones, using his own unique spelling and no punctuation. At the back of his second edition, he included this note: Nowing ones complane of my book the fust edition had no stops I put in a Nuf here and thay may peper and solt it as they plese I cant be certain, but think he meant, Knowing Ones complain of my book. The first edition had no stops [periods]. I put in enough here, and they may pepper and salt it as they please. It was followed by a page of punctuation marks for their use. The problem is that proper punctuation, spelling, and grammar are not condiments that can be added or left out on a whim. Not bothering to get them right may be easier on the writer, but harder on the reader. I think Dexters note proves my point, though I cant be certain, because Im not completely sure what he was trying to say. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Writing a Reference Letter (With Examples)Rules for Capitalization in Titles13 Theatrical Terms in Popular Usage

Staff recruitment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Staff recruitment - Essay Example (2) The employer will give an employee a minimum of two weeks'notice of the date of commencement of duty. one month ofcommencing employment. Junior Employees Liberty is reserved to both parties to apply to make provisions for junior employees. Part-Time Employees 9. - PART TIME EMPLOYEES (1) Part-time employees may be employed on a regular basis for less total hours or weeks in a year than full-time employees but for not less than 3 hours on each day and shall be paid for each hour worked in proportion to the rate of wage prescribed in Clause 5. Hours 10. - HOURS (1) The ordinary hours of duty shall be: (a) Thirty eight hours per week or; (b) An average of 38 hours per week with hours actually worked being 40 hours per week or 80 hours per fortnight; (2) The ordinary hours of duty shall be worked in five days of not more than 8 hours (excluding a meal break) between the hours of 6.00am and 6.00pm. Provided that the ordinary hours of work performed on any day of late night trading may be worked between 6.00am and 9.00pm. Provided further that the aforementioned spread of hours may be varied by mutual agreement between the employer and employee. 24. - HOURS (1) The ordinary working hours of work shall not exceed 40 in any one week, or eight in any one day, Monday to Friday inclusive. Such hours to be consecutive except for the meal break. (2) In any week in which a public holiday or the day in lieu is observed falls between Monday to Friday inclusive, the ordinary hours of work for that week shall be 32 hours, and in any week in which two public holidays or the days in lieu are observed fall between Monday to Friday inclusive,... (1) Part-time employees may be employed on a regular basis for less total hours or weeks in a year than full-time employees but for not less than 3 hours on each day and shall be paid for each hour worked in proportion to the rate of wage prescribed in Clause 5. (2) The ordinary hours of duty shall be worked in five days of not more than 8 hours (excluding a meal break) between the hours of 6.00am and 6.00pm. Provided that the ordinary hours of work performed on any day of late night trading may be worked between 6.00am and 9.00pm. Provided further that the aforementioned spread of hours may be varied by mutual agreement between the employer and employee. (2) In any week in which a public holiday or the day in lieu is observed falls between Monday to Friday inclusive, the ordinary hours of work for that week shall be 32 hours, and in any week in which two public holidays or the days in lieu are observed fall between Monday to Friday inclusive, the ordinary hours of work for that week shall be 24 hours. (3) The ordinary starting time shall not be earlier than 5.30 a.m. and the ordinary finishing time shall not be later than 4.30 p.m. Monday to Friday inclusive, or as otherwise agreed between the parties hereto. (2) All time worked in excess of ordinary hours on a Saturday before 12.00 noon shall be paid for at the rate of time and one half f

Since ethics and profit are actually not related, what reasons are Essay - 1

Since ethics and profit are actually not related, what reasons are there to apply ethical standards to business at all Is it si - Essay Example For instance, gaining profit out of illicit or prohibited drugs is possible but this does not mean that the entire activity is accepted as a good act within the society. In fact, the term that something is prohibited justifies further that there is no good about it at all. Ethics and profit may not be related because businesses may come up with different strategic moves that at some point may compromise what is considered morally good within the society. Thus, specifically there is a defined concept within the society for the preservation of life and that everyone is expected to do what is good and right. In line with this, there is a need to understand what ethics is all about. What is ethics? Ethics is concerned about the study of what is to be done (Kerridge, Lowe and McPhee 1). In other words it deals with identifying what is right and wrong (Pojman and Fieser 1). The principles or idea of right and wrong are integrated with the world. From the very beginning, humans have already understood what is right for them and everything that will contribute to their survival is good and that what should be done among them. The trial and error process led them to learn and even until today because humans learned a lot from their experiences. Based on these experiences, the idea of what is good and right has remarkably uncovered. ... These rules simply try to protect the lives, rights and privileges of everyone. For example, a government may set a minimum wage program among private organizations or institutions. This is to be applied in order to set equal privileges among business men and their workers. In this way, workers are also ensured to receive what they deserve and exploitation will be out of the line. Some companies may come up with idea to generate more profit and one way of doing so is to cut the budget for those privileges that has been allocated for workers. The main issue in here is the generation of profit of business outside the bound of the social contract. Eventually, under the social contract an employee has the right to receive what is due to him. Thus, ethics may necessary be applicable in this case but there is really a need to apply it in order to emphasize the scope and coverage of the social contract and push every business towards its obligations in its employees and vice versa. . Busine ss is associated with the law Under the social contract, business is associated with the law. There are corresponding laws that business should adhere to. For example, every business should adapt a financial reporting standard. One purpose of it is to declare the right figure a company is making in its business in order to pay the right amount due to the government. It cannot be denied that various companies are trying to come up with different financial reports depending on their usage for the sole purpose of gaining considerable amount of profit, which is actually the bottom line of all. In some other countries, tax avoidance and evasion are prevalent it is because profit maximization has become a must. Tax evasion is a serious offense and it has

The Columbian Exchange And The Colonization Of America Essay Example for Free

The Columbian Exchange And The Colonization Of America Essay The Columbian Exchange refers to the exchange of diseases, ideas, food crops, and populations between the New World and the Old World following the voyage to the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492. While some had cataclysmic results for the indigenous populations, other interactions led to exchanges of ideas and resources. These exchanges altered life on both sides of the Atlantic. In North America many native cultures had lived and thrived across the continent. Meanwhile, in Europe, the thirst for knowledge and discovery had led to a competition among. European nations to establish and dominate trade routes to acquire the exotic resources of Asia. Each country began to finance voyages of exploration to see who could find a quick and profitable trade route. Spain, England, the Netherlands and France began to travel west, across the Atlantic, to places that were unknown, at that time, to Europeans. Unaware of how large the world actually was and equipped with basic and inaccurate maps, many decades passed before any of these early travelers realized that they were not traveling to Asia, but actually had stumbled upon a land previously unknown to them. However, these lands were well known to their native inhabitants. By the time Africans and Europeans came to the Western Hemisphere, most peoples of the Caribbean and the coastal mainland lived in sedentary villages or semi- permanent encampments. They had organized themselves into clusters of families and hierarchical communities that were recognizable to Europeans, and they identified among themselves leaders, servants, and specialists of many kinds, American Indian society had not been static before it came into contact and conflict with Europeans. The native people hunted, gathered, and grew an array of foods that nourished millions of people. In short the Americas were not an empty land when the Europeans arrived. (HBG 1) Indigenous North Americans exhibited a remarkable range of language, economies, political systems, beliefs and material cultures. (HBG 25) The Old and New World gained from the Columbian Exchange in a number of ways. The Spanish introduced a wide variety of domesticated livestock to the Americas, including cattle, goats, swine, and horses. Of all the animals introduced by the Europeans, the horse held particular attraction. Native Americans first encountered it as a fearsome beast ridden by Spanish conquistadors. However, they soon learned to ride and raise horses themselves. In the North American great plains, the arrival of the horse revolutionized Native American life, permitting tribes to hunt the buffalo far more effectively. Several Native American groups left farming to become buffalo-hunting nomads and, the most formidable enemies of European expansion in the Americas. The Native Americans, in turn, introduced the Europeans to a variety of beans and squashes, as well as the potato and tobacco. Tobacco, was so universally adopted that it came to be used as a substitute for currency in many parts of the world. The exchange also drastically increased the availability of many Old World crops, such as sugar and coffee, which were particularly well-suited for the soils of the New World, Agricultural discoveries ultimately proved more important to the future of Europe than the gold and silver the conquistadores valued so highly. (Brinkley 20) The transfer of foods between the Old and New Worlds during the Columbian Exchange had important consequences for world history. There are two channels through which the Columbian Exchange expanded the global supply of agricultural goods. First, it introduced previously unknown species to the Old World. Such American foods as squash, pumpkins, beans, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and potatoes, also found their way back to Europe and in the process revolutionized European agriculture. (Brinkley 20) Second, the discovery of the Americas provided the Old World with vast quantities of relatively unpopulated land well-suited for the cultivation of certain crops that were in high demand in Old World markets. Crops such as sugar, coffee, soybeans, oranges, and bananas were all introduced to the New World, and the Americas quickly became the main suppliers of these crops globally. The primary benefit of the New World staples was that they could be grown in Old World climates that were unsuitable for the cultivation of Old World staples. This benefit of New World crops has resulted in their adoption in all parts of the world. The exchange not only brought gains, but also losses. European contact enabled the transmission of diseases to previously isolated communities, which caused devastation far exceeding that of even the Black Death in fourteenth-century Europe. Most areas of the New World experienced a demographic catastrophe, as least as grave as, and in many places far worse than the Black Death. (Brinkley 20) Europeans brought deadly viruses and bacteria, such as smallpox, measles, typhus, and cholera, for which Native Americans had no immunity, Native groups inhabiting some of the large islands and some areas of Mexico were virtually extinct within fifty years of their first contact with whites. (Brinkley 19) On their return home, European sailors brought syphilis to Europe. Although less deadly, the disease was known to have caused great social disruption throughout the Old World. The effects of the Columbian Exchange were not isolated to the parts of the world most directly participating in the exchange: Europe and the Americas. It also had large impacts on Africa and Asia. Europeans used the new lands as sources of precious metals and plantation agriculture. Both were complex operations that required labor in large, closely supervised groups. Attempts to enslave native peoples failed, and attempts to force them into other forms of bound labor were slightly more successful but also failed because workers died of disease. Europeans turned to the African slave trade as a source of labor for the Americas. The native populations could not meet all the labor needs of the colonists because of disease and war therefore, European settlers began importing slaves from Africa. (Brinkley 21) During the colonial periods of North and South America and the Caribbean, far more Africans than Europeans came to the New World. The slave trade brought wealth to some Europeans and some Africans, but the growth of the slave trade disrupted African political systems, and robbed many African societies of their young men. Millions of Africans were shipped to the Americas during the transatlantic slave trade, the largest involuntary migration in human history. The trade was fueled by the high demand for labor in the Americas, which was driven, at least in part, by two aspects of the Columbian Exchange: The first was the spread of Old World diseases to Native Americans, which resulted in extremely low population densities in the New World. The second was the cultivation of highly prized Old World crops, such as sugar and coffee, which were particularly well suited to New World soils and climates. The result was the forced movement of slaves from Africa to the Americas which had devastating consequences for the African continent. In addition to economic motives for colonization there were also religious ones. It became required that Catholicism be the only religion of the colonies. Missionaries were sent out to convert Native Americans to Catholicism, Priests or friars accompanied almost all colonizing ventures. Through their zealous work, the gospel of the Catholic Church ultimately extended throughout South and Central America, Mexico and into the South and Southwest of present United States (Brinkley 16) The Columbian Exchange brought about the greatest interchange of different people, ideas, plants, and animals that has ever been known in the history of the world. Some positive effects, like the agricultural growth and use of the potato and other staple crops in the Old World enhanced people’s lives. The trading of livestock also greatly enhanced the opportunities for the settlers and Native Americans. Still, some results were negative, such as the exploitation of the Native Americans by European colonists, and their depopulation due to the communicable diseases of the Old World that came from across the ocean. The Columbian Exchange had a significantly negative impact on the African slaves. The European success story in the Americas was achieved at horrendous expense for the millions of Native Americans who died and for the millions of Africans who were enslaved. The most perplexing fact about the Columbian Exchange is that it cannot be truly described as completely positive or negative, but just that it happened.

The Transformation of the “Indian Problem” :: Essays Papers

The Transformation of the â€Å"Indian Problem† In this paper, I plan to examine the marked transformation and the history of the so-called â€Å"Indian Problem.† The idea of an â€Å"Indian Problem† began with the arrival of white settlers in North America, and for them, it was a problem of safety, security, and land acquisition. Around 1890, the â€Å"Indian Problem† became an issue of how to help the Indians go extinct humanely, or to assimilate into white culture. The current conception of the â€Å"Indian Problem† started after World War II, and the pursuing civil rights movement. People saw that the Indians weren’t going extinct and that they were keeping their cultures alive, and the â€Å"Indian Problem† shifted to undoing the damage that the policies of the federal government had caused. I will be discussing the fact that the profound problems which characterize the â€Å"Indian Problem† now are a direct result of the actions taken in response to previous conception s of the â€Å"Indian Problem.† The â€Å"Indian Problem† emerged as an issue for white settlers who perceived Indians as savages, as a sub-human race. Because white settlers viewed Indians this way, they thought it was okay to use excessive military force. Through 19th century, this military force was used to conquer Indians and move them from their native lands and resettle them. Sicknesses that the white settlers had brought with them devastated the Indian population because Indians had not encountered these illnesses before, and they had no natural immunity to them. Additionally, white-Indian relations seem as though they were fragile from the start, perhaps with both sides over-reacting at times. Leaders of the new English colonies often used aggression and murder to try to intimidate the Indians into submission, and into giving food to the English. Angered at this treatment, Indians began fighting back, and killing, too. In some instances, the white settlers raided and stole food from the India ns. This worsened the already fractured relations between the two groups. Unprovoked attacks and kidnaping alternated with friendship and trade. From their experiences, Indians realized that these early Europeans were powerful and dangerous people who could not be trusted. However, the Indians had the advantage of sheer numbers and an understanding of the land. For the English, their experiences strengthened their idea that they were superior to these â€Å"savages† in many ways, including culture, technology, societal organization and religion.

Pure High Note

Ryan DeVuyst Composition II David Cantwell 15 March 2013 â€Å"A Pure, High Note of Anguish† by: Barbara Kingsolver Barbara Kingsolver’s â€Å"A Pure, High Note of Anguish,† expresses her painful grief in seeing innocent people die without having done anything to deserve it. To Americans, Kingsolver says â€Å"There are no worse days, it seems,† referring that 9/11 is the worst thing that’s ever happened in the world. Kingsolver symbolizes the children dancing in the street as the hatred that other countries have against the United States. Kingsolver believes asking, â€Å"Will this happen to me? is the wrong question because almost always people die without having done anything to deserve it. To Kingsolver, people almost always die without having done anything to deserve it. To this I agree. Over 3,000 people were killed during the attacks in New York City and Washington, D. C. , including more than 400 police officers and firefighters (History). As of June 2006, 1577 Louisiana residents had been confirmed as deceased as a result of Katina (Sharkey). Motor vehicle crashes in the United States result in more than 40,000 deaths per year (Hitti). Each year globally, 12. million people learn they have cancer, and 7. 6 million people die from the disease (CDC). As most people would think, every one of these victims are innocent people who do not deserve to die. As seen above, these causes of deaths can be from attacks, natural disasters, accidents, and diseases. Death is something that occurs in nature and it is both inevitable and final (Cole). No one knows when, where or how they will die. The only thing that is certain is no one deserves to die. Kingsolver states â€Å"There are no worst days, it seems,† meaning that this is the worst thing that has ever happened in the world.Maybe it was the worst thing to happen in the world at that time, but for all of history no. On December 26th, 2004, in Southeast Asia an earthqua ke occurred out at sea in the Indian Ocean, which immediately caused a deadly tsunami to happen. An estimated 230,000 people died (Wikramanayake). Do we Americans believe that is the worst thing to ever happen in the world? Of course not because we think 9/11 is the worst thing to ever happen to us. â€Å"September 11, 2001, stands as the defining event of the 21st century. It was the worst day of my life and the best day.It was the worst day because of the incomprehensible death, destruction and evil. September 11 was also the best day because it put on display the very finest human instincts — compassion, courage, kindness, selflessness† (Giuliani). These are the words of former New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani, who was the mayor during 9/11. Kingsolver’s child was wondering why there were children dancing in the streets after the news of 9/11. I actually thought the same and remember vividly watching when this occurred on the news.Kingsolver symbolizes these chil dren dancing in the streets as people showing their hatred towards the United States. Everybody knows there has been much anti-Americanism in the Middle East (Tooley). Yet it is undeniable that many Middle Easterners have good reason, from their perspective, to hate the USA (Tooley). In Iraq, for example, it would be amazing indeed if the ferocious death rate among civilians — especially children — since the embargo and the steady number of civilian casualties from our continued bombing had not created feelings of hatred which would give cause for celebration now (Tooley).Kingsolver and others believe that our country needed to learn how to hurt from these attacks. I believe that is true and that we have also overcome the hurt. Al Qaeda’s intentions of these attacks were to break the United States down. But I believe that it only made the United States stronger as a nation and more aware of threats against us. Psychologically, the nation joined together in a uni ty that had not been seen since the end of World War II (Jensen). When it comes to our national security and our awareness of the threat from Islamic extremists, we are better prepared than we were but not as prepared as we should be. Our intelligence base is better and our airport security is better, for all its frustrations,† (Giuliani). â€Å"Will this happen to me? is the wrong question, I’m sad to say. † The question should really be, when will this happen to me? That question is unknown to everyone. No one can predict the moment of death (Scott). People wake up each day and have no clue what will happen to them.

Social Work and Empowerment Assignment

The purpose of this essay is to explore social work theory and practice. The essay is based on a scenario of a father (Mathew), who after many years of caring for his disabled son (David), and having suffered a stroke attack an year ago, finds he is struggling to care for himself or the son. In relation to working with the elderly, the essay will discuss the roles of a social worker, the practice of empowerment, possible ethical dilemmas and an anti-oppressive practice. The type of agency chosen for this essay is Learning Disability Partnership (LPD) in Cambridgeshire. LPD is an organisation, which includes multi-disciplinary teams of Social Care Services and Health professionals. LPD dedicates services which help learning disabled people lead normal lives and life in abundance. Fully aware of the strain and stress brought on by caring, LPD tries to provide services which help people with learning disabilities, and their carers, to cope with these pressures. The diversity of social work roles in this organisation includes advocacy, direct change agent and executive. These roles can be used singly, or as a combination of two roles. The role of advocacy is about people speaking up for themselves directly or indirectly (Beckett, 2006: 9). Despite having communication problems, and assumning a positive mental capacity rationale on David, a social worker may advocate for David by providing specialist communication equipment that enable him to directly communicate without undue influence by his father. Similarly, in the best interests of David and Matthew advocacy is met through negotiations for services and resources within the agency or through multi-disiplinary teams, this is a mixed role of a negotiator and a co-ordinator. The social worker is obliged to assess the needs of Matthew and David for community care services and implement services accordingly, role of a care manager. Simultaneously, eligibility criteria are checked (role of a researcher) after which costs and services availability are checked before commissioning resources. For effectiveness, a social worker must have sufficient knowledge, skills and values to conduct good professional practice. Empowerment means â€Å"working in a way aimed at increasing people's sense of power and control over their lives† (Beckett, 2006:126). The British Association of Social Workers (BASW) includes in their definition of social work the promotion of â€Å"†¦ social change†¦ and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being. † (Thompson 2001) cites empowerment as an ongoing â€Å"process† and a â€Å"goal† that takes a long time. Cooper (2000:15) cites the four major principles of empowerment as â€Å"entitlement which include legislation, rights and policies; social model which looks at social, economic and culture; needs-led assessment which looks at wants in life; and promotion of choice and control which moves institutionalisation to independent living†¦ In view of this topic's diversity I shall address each principle briefly. In terms of entitlement law, rights and policies offer guidance and support, good example been the 1990 Community Care Act and the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 which places a duty and requirement on local authority to provide services, resources and funding for services and resources for the needy people in the community (Brammer, 2003:304). To empower David and Matthew rights to live in own home entitlement services like home carer provide personal care and help with shopping. David may also be entitled to practical home assistance to improve on safety and mobility. However, despite been eligible for service, due to limited resources services may not be easily implemented by local authority. The main objective of need's led assessment is to concentrate more on individual needs and preferences rather than the services available. Needs determine the level of assessment required based mainly on empowerment and choice (Parker, Bradley, 2007). Contrary, defining the meaning of ‘need' inevitably leads to procedural bias and restriction of services due to financial constraints. If the service user satisfies the local authorities eligibility criteria then they have a legal duty to provide the necessary assistance. For example needs for both Matthew and David vary and might change over time. Matthew's perspective might be need of rehabilitation and home help to enhance his physical well being whilst David's needs might be gradual introduction to socialisation and communication needs. Choices for independence targets services for persons at risk for institutionalisation. The Kantanian approach of individualisation (rights and respect for David and Matthew to be treated with personal differences) and user-self-determination (liberty to make informed choices or decisions) promote choice and independence (Banks, 2003:31). Direct Payments, supports self-directed care. This enables David and Matthew to recruit, organise and pay for their own services, enabling them to exercise choice and control over their lives. The campaign for real choice by guardian newspaper quotes that â€Å"the growth of direct payments is causing for celebration, alongside pilot schemes for individual budgets which give disabled people more independence† (www. guardian. co. uk). Social model is concerned with experiences of vulnerable people at a risk of oppression and social devaluation, seeking to reserve vulnerability. Medical terms have been used to normalise people, for examples labelling David as severe learning disabled and Matthew as suffering from stroke is disabling in itself, and leads to total loss of rights. However these terms are used to check threshold criteria for assessment of their needs enabling empowerment. Consequently, on meeting the criteria, local authority must facilities for services, which at this point must be pointed out that they may not necessarily be needs led as intended, but resource led due to limited resources. Simultaneously, this leads to David and Matthew depending on the state welfare instead of encouraging independence and active participation (Oliver, 1996:25). Similarly, choices encourage empowerment. David expressing his wish to stay at home proves that his mental capacity is able to receive, retain and make decisions. (Adams, Dominelli and Payne 2002:196) states capacity and ability to act on decisions brings about equality, however, this supports choice making more than services that best suits David. Possible ethical dilemmas encountered include: Choice and capacity: Because of communication problems with Matthew his dad may have to translate his thoughts expressed. Dilemma occurs as dad's interpretations may not be accurate with the Matthew's needs; this may lead to a social worker implementing wrong services. Similarly wrong services may also be offered if in the past Matthew has had little or no experience of choosing. Care and control imposed due to limited resources, social workers are obligated to evaluate David and Matthew against other service users who are in need. Following the utilitarian approach, the dilemma here is whose needs outweigh the other? On what orders would these needs be prioritised? If David and Matthew's priority are of low, then resources will be allocated to those in most significant risk. Consequently lead to two immoral issues: (a) Societal distrust in social work profession as most people fear being selected for sacrifice despite their needs, (b) David's and Matthew's health might get worse as they have to wait a long time for care packages to be implemented. Empowerment process shifts power away from social workers and given to service users. This reliance to create the conditions for empowerment and identify eligible for empowerment would appear to contradict this intended shift of power. Conflict of interest arises on who the primary client is. Once a referral has been made, a social worker will purposely be going in to assess whoever is in need. However it soon comes to light that both the service user and the carer are in need, torn between two people in need a social worker therefore has to work with the whole family creating conflict of interest. The Mental Capacity Act 2005 states that: â€Å"a person must be assumed to have capacity unless it is established that he lacks capacity†. In line with this, dilemma occurs on how to assess capacity and to what extend would capacity be measurable? A social worker is obliged to make a value judgmental call, and if the wrong move is made then the consequences lie with the social worker. To overcome these dilemmas awareness training and anti discriminatory practice would give a balance. From learnt theories it is evident that some social workers might have limited resources and lack of awareness. If a social worker is not aware or informed of these factors, then they will not be able to achieve empowering practice and that they will find their practice may revolve more around issues of empowerment and control are evidently forgetting service users and carers self-determination. Conclusively, Social workers are employed in varied social settings necessitating diversity of social work roles. Empowerment enriches and enhances human suffering, therefore should always be linked with anti-discrimination. The topic of empowerment is very broad, it not only requires technical competence but also qualities of integrity, genuiness and self-awareness.

Using the Perl String Length Function

Using the Perl String Length Function Perl is a programming language used primarily to develop web applications. Perl is an interpreted, not compiled, language. This means its programs take up more CPU time than a compiled language - a problem that becomes less important as the speed of processors increases.  Writing code in Perl is faster than writing in a compiled language, so the time you save is yours. When you learn Perl, you learn how to work with the languages functions. One of the most basic is the string length function. How to Find Length of a String in Perl Perls length function returns the length of a Perl string in characters. Here is an example showing its basic usage: #!/usr/bin/perl $orig_string This is a Test and ALL CAPS;$string_len   length( $orig_string );print Length of the String is : $string_len\n; When this code is executed, it displays the following:  Length of the String is: 27. The number 27 is the total of the characters, including spaces, in the phrase This is a Test and ALL CAPS. Note that this function does not count the size of the string in bytes - just the length in characters. What About the Length of Arrays? The length function works only on strings, not on arrays. An array stores an ordered list and is preceded by an sign and populated using parentheses. To find out the length of an array, use the scalar function. For example: my many_strings (one, two, three, four, hi, hello world);say scalar many_strings; The response is 6, the number of items in the array. A scalar is a single unit of data. It might be a group of characters, as in the example above, or a single character, string, floating point, or integer number.

Business Unit

This means it could include information about current employees and includes their address, bank details and date of birth. This can only be stored with the consent from the person or if it is necessary for the performance of the person’s job. This Act seeks to provide balance between the interests of an organisation that hold data and the personnel. This person has rights under the Act to access the information, stop information being held about them, prevent the information being passed on for marketing purposes and to have compensation made and to ask the data controller to rectify errors. This Act covers all people. Colleges have had to comply with this Act in several ways and here I have listed three of them. Obtaining permission to use data, Set up data protection policies before starting the business up and training all members of staff. Members have to process data confidentially and accurately to ensure it was seen by nobody outside the business. If someone on the outside of the business found some very personal information about a employee or student this could then deeply upset them and the business could get into a lot of trouble. What is the Freedom of Information Act 2000? The Freedom of Information Act 2000 is an act which defines the ways in which the public may acquire access to government-held information. The objective is to allow individuals and corporations reasonable access to information while minimising the danger of damage to anybody. The idea for this act was first put forward in 1997 and was passed in 2000 and came into full effect in 2005. In order for Colleges to comply with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 they have to regularly publish information whenever possible to a deep enough level. Another way in how Public and government run businesses comply with this information is by allowing the customers of the business to request information from the business which gives them access to their own individual personal information. When a business receives a request, they have a legal responsibility to identify a request which has been made and to handle it accordingly. Staffs who receive customer messages should be particularly aware to identifying potential requests. What is the Computer Misuse Act 1990? The Computer Misuse Act 1990 was designed to enclose legislation and controls over computer crime and Internet fraud. The legislation was created to: -Criminalise unauthorised access to computer systems. -Discourage serious criminals from using a computer in the commission of a criminal offence or seek to get in the way or impair access to data stored within a computer. The Computer Misuse Act 1990 has raised concerns among privacy supporters and those who believe in limiting government authority on daily life and behaviour. However, the Computer Misuse Act has served as a model for computer crime legislation in other Commonwealth countries. How businesses comply with this Act In order for College to comply with this Act they must not: -Display any information which enables others to gain unauthorised access to computer material including instructions for gaining access, computer codes or other devices which assist hacking. -Display any information that may lead to any unauthorised modification of computer materials. -Display any material which may provoke or encourage others to carry out unauthorised access to or modification of computer materials. Ethical issues What are the ethical issues? Codes of practice exist in organisations to maintain business ethics on: -Use of email -Internet -Whistle-blowing -Organisational policies -Information ownership What are Codes of practice? Code of practice is a set of rules which are written which are used to explain how people working in a particular profession should behave. Use of email Most organisations have a code of practice for the correct use of email. Although it is not illegal to perform these, they business tend not to allow this. Tesco tend to state in their code of practice to not use emailing for: -Material which violates copyright restrictions -Personal data about a third party in contravention of the Data Protection Act -Messages likely to cause offence -Material which could be used to breach computer security or facilitate unauthorised access The correct use of emailing in a business such as Tesco is: -To give standard information to a large group of employees -To distribute urgent information quickly -As a memo, but only when the text is short and to the point -To gather views quickly Internet A lot of businesses also have codes of practice on the use of internet and what their employees are able to use their internet for. Things employees aren’t allowed to use the internet for at Tesco are: -Do not access the Internet unless for authorised / supervised activities. -Do not use the Internet to obtain, download, send, print, display or otherwise transmit or gain access to materials which are unlawful, obscene or abusive. -Respect the work and ownership rights of people, as well as other employees or staff. This includes abiding by copyright laws. Do not engage in ‘chat’ activities over the Internet. This takes up valuable resources which could be used by others to benefit their studies. -No pornography Whistle-blowing A whistle-blower is an employee or member of staff who raises a concern about a business practice either to management or to the press. The concerns raised could be: -Fraud -Crime -Danger Whistle-blowers may receive legal protection through the Public Interest Disclosure Act, but the offence being reported must make up an intentional attempt to break the law. Organisational policies Organisations could have many policies to make sure that their business practices with regards to information can be done more ethically. Tesco have to manage their information and also make sure their marketing is fair in order to stay within these policies. Information ownership If a business creates information in the day to day work, then they should be responsible for it. If a business such as Tesco owns information, they then have to protect it to an appropriate degree and this includes the information’s confidentiality and no changed have been done to the information.

Genetics, environment, general biology, evolution, plants, etc. and Article

Genetics, environment, general biology, evolution, plants, etc. and provide a one-page Review, Critique, Relate summary using general writing style and format for each source - Article Example In fact, these long non-coding genes â€Å"might play a major role in regulating the activity of other genes† (â€Å"Human genome†). The information above is taken from the article entitled â€Å"Human genome far more active than thought,† which is published by BiologyNews.net under an anonymous writer. However, despite the absence of the writer’s name, the article cites Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute as the source of the information. The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is a charitable institution registered in England and performs research into genetics and disease, as well as the study of the human genome for the purpose of improving understanding of the principles that govern how the human body reacts to diseases. The reliability of the information in the article â€Å"Human genome far more active than thought† is therefore reliable and verifiable. The news on the discovery of 9,277 long non-coding genes using new, sophisticated technology, as well as the potential discovery of 10,000 more of these, has a profound significance on the medical field. As stated in the article itself, these newly-discovered genes and those about to be discovered may serve as the key to the cure of several incurable or hardly curable diseases that beset humans. Certain genes may, for example, be found to produce chemicals that help cause a disease or prevent it. Those genes known to trigger a disease should then be silenced, and those that prevent disease must be studied. The protozoa that causes malaria – Plasmodium vivax – has undergone the same genetic variations regardless where it is found and despite the distance among continents. This so-called â€Å"microbial globe trotter† protozoa which is harbored by mosquitoes is believed to have spread worldwide because of the tendency of people to travel despite the dormant protozoa in their liver (â€Å"Genome of