Future of the Technology of Human Resource

Human resource management refers to the manner in which an organization handles issues affecting its workforce. It involves the process of conducting selection, recruitment, training, rewarding, appraisal and separation. Currently, these processes utilize both technological and manual techniques. This is necessary because the employees are rational and have the ability to choose. As such, they have the ability to dictate what they want in an organization.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Future of the Technology of Human Resource specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More On that basis, it is difficult to enforce technology to a high degree since it is prone to diverse weaknesses. Some of the weakness could include inability to handle specific human tasks, technological failure or unpredictability of human behavior. It is essential to realize that multiple changes are being addressed to make technology suitable for the dyna mic field regardless of the presence of weaknesses (Fleetwood Hesketh, 2010). Currently, most organizations utilize technology to conduct selection and recruitment processes. This nature of technology is subjected to significant uncertainties. Most organizations incorporate the manual process of candidates meeting the human resource management personnel to prevent the weaknesses. Through this process, they can ascertain that the chosen employees are suitable for their organization. However, this process is still subject to human errors that arise from biasness and mental weakness of predicting the future. The process of conducting training and development in the course of employment is another critical element of the organization. Through this process, the organization can impart skills and knowledge to its workforce. Such an investment is vital for the organization to realize its goals and objectives. Most organizations employ apprenticeship and further education to realize their goals. When employees are equipped with the appropriate skills and knowledge for their tasks, it is also important to evaluate the rewarding criterion. In this case, organizations base their remuneration on the contributions and knowledge of the employees. This involves provision of monetary and non-monetary benefits to employees. As a result, such a system will provide morale for employees to achieve the organization’s objectives. In addition, it is essential to consider the working environment and living conditions of the employees. This enables them to work efficiently for the organization (Ulrich, 1997). In the course of the employment term, organizations conduct appraisal process to assess the performance of their employees. Through this process, they can establish the real contributions made by each employee. This will assist the organization realize optimum performance of their employees.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can hel p you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Moreover, it will assist them to make recommendations for employees that need to be promoted, sent for further training or retrenched. External parties conduct this process through the manual process. Therefore, it assists the organization to boost the morale of their employees while retaining resourceful employees (Heneman Greenberger, 2002). As employees progress in their career paths, it is vital to prepare them for separation. In this case, the employees are given skills and knowledge on how to survive once they move out of the organization. This process is critical for the organization, since employees will have to move out when they are old. As such, it requires the preparation of employees both psychologically and financially. Such a process will minimize the organization’s exposure to risk. In addition, the employees who leave the organization will always be good ambassadors. The development of technology d emands incorporation of effective human resource information systems that will boost its tasks. In this case, all elements of human resource management will be undertaken in an efficient manner that will increase its overall effectiveness. Initially, the technological facilities utilized to conduct selection and recruitment process must suit the needs of the organization. In this regard, the facilities for conducting the process will be customized to the needs of the organization. As such, organizations will be required to outline their needs from candidates intending to take part in the process. Under such a process, candidates will be subjected to tests that assess their mental capabilities and suitability to the opportunities available. This will eliminate any form of human weakness. In addition, the organization will select and recruit the candidates in an ideal process. Similarly, as time progresses, technology will facilitate organizations to identify their employees at a tend er age, which will enable them to groom and train them as per organization objectives (Losey, 2005). This organization’s activity will boost the performance of the employees selected and recruited. As a result, it will minimize the level of labor turnover leading to a high degree of labor retention. The process of training and developing employees will be another critical element of the human resource. In this case, various technologically enabled means will be adopted to impart knowledge and skills to the employees. This will lead to improvement of quality of the organization employees. In addition, employees will be able to deliver without any interruption. Working for an organization will not demand physical consolidation of the workforce in a specific location. This means that employees will work at their own convenience while getting experience and improving their skills. Consequently, employees will develop mastery of work in their areas of specialization without necess itating the organization to incur expenses in the process of further training and education.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Future of the Technology of Human Resource specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Remuneration process will also be positively influenced by technology. The remuneration system will be tailored towards the needs of the employees. This implies that both monetary and non-monetary benefits will be integrated to suit the needs of the employees. As such, employees will be rewarded based on their contributions and value to the organization. This will demand the improvement of delivery of services since most labor will be outsourced. Therefore, through utilization of the technologically enabled means of payment, employees will receive their remuneration. In addition, the environment in which employees operate in should be ideal. This will involve the provision of incentives and working conditions that promote retention of employees (Rothwell et al., 2008). Consequently, employees’ morale will be high, and their contributions to the organization will be significant. The process of appraisal will be effective with high-tech techniques. In this case, organizations will adopt technological facilities that will monitor and assess the performance of employees. This will eliminate human bias and weakness experienced previously. Since most labor will be outsourced, the employees’ contributions will determine their remuneration. In addition, a clear channel for employees to raise issues on their performance will be developed. This will reduce instances of conflicts and strikes. As a result, the activities of the organization will be re-engineered to customers’ satisfaction. In addition, the organization will identify the appropriate employees for their activities. Employees with impressive work will be promoted to improve their attitude towards the nature of their con tribution. Thus, employees will be appreciated for their efforts while gaining ideal remuneration. At the retirement stage, an ideal technological system will be used to conduct the separation process. This will involve identification of individuals that would have reached the retirement age, and preparing them for the retirement. In this regard, technological facilities will be utilized to offer them with the right skills and knowledge for their future lifetimes. This will involve preparation of individuals to live in the environments for senior people or nursing homes. Through this process, technology will be adopted to offer choices to employees. At the same time, employees will be offered ideal material benefits for working in the organization. This will consist of both monetary and non-monetary benefits (Tan, 2002). In the future, the technology adopted for conducting human resource activities will be very effective and dynamic. In this case, optimum output will be realized fro m the business operations.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More As such, there will be many technological facilities that will be incorporated in ensuring the success of transactions and partnerships. Considering this impact, the next few years will be influenced by technologies such as ASPs, voice recording, web portals, mobile web and e-signatures. Such technologies will evolve to create an overhaul of the human resource management system in the future. As a result, the standards of human resource activities in the organization will be complex and unique to their needs. For this reason, few resources will be invested in the organization’s activities while output will be high. Consequently, this will lead to high productivity of the employees caused by their satisfaction in their careers. Finally, this technological advancement will improve the standards of human resources. References Fleetwood, S., Hesketh, A. (2010). Explaining the performance of human resource management. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Heneman, R. L., Greenb erger, D. B. (2002). Human resource management in virtual organizations. Greenwich, Conn.: Information Age Pub.. Losey, M. R. (2005). The future of human resource management: 64 thought leaders explore the critical HR issues of today and tomorrow. Alexandria, Va.: Society for Human Resource Management ;. Rothwell, W. J., Prescott, R. K., Taylor, M. W. (2008). Human resource transformation: demonstrating strategic leadership in the face of future trends. Mountain View, Calif.: Davies-Black Pub.. Tan, F. B. (2002). Global perspective of information technology management. Hershey, PA: IRM Press. Ulrich, D. (1997). Human resource champions: the next agenda for adding value and delivering results. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. This essay on Future of the Technology of Human Resource was written and submitted by user Kaelynn Ball to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Moral Corruption at Its Finest Essay Example

Moral Corruption at Its Finest Essay Example Moral Corruption at Its Finest Essay Moral Corruption at Its Finest Essay Moral Corruption at Its Finest How human beings behave in society is dictated by moral standards of conduct that are generally accepted as right or proper. This sense of morality can become perverse such that the lines between right and wrong are blurred. The person becomes depraved and their behavior eschews what is generally considered to be right. In the novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald the characters are portrayed in an immoral manner. F. Scott Fitzgerald displays the destruction of morals in society during the era of the Jazz Age. The main characters: Nick Carraway, Daisy Buchanan, and Jay Gatsby are categorized as morally corrupt; they lose their values in attempt to find their place in the social world. These characters act this way naturally; their immoral actions are common nature to them and feel no guilt for their actions. The Great Gatsby displays moral corruption in the main characters lives, by showing their immoral decisions and actions. Jay Gatsby is one of the main characters that blatantly displays moral corruption. He obsessively pines and pursues a former lover even after she becomes another mans wife. At Gatsbys party, Gatsby talks to Jordan Baker in private and asks to rrange a meeting with Daisy. Jordan meets with Nick and says Daisys not to know about it. Gatsby doesnt want her to know. Youre supposed to invite her to tea (Fitzgerald 85). Nick calls up Daisy and invites her to tea, he tells her she cannot bring Tom and Daisy playfully agrees. Gatsby relies on Nick to arrange this meeting, he knows its wrong because shes married and hes involving her own cousin, but he doesnt care, his desire for Daisy is too powerful. Daisys husband, Tom learns who Gatsby is and attends one of Gatsbys extravagant parties, he says, l picked him for a ootlegger the first time I saw him and I wasnt far wrong (Fitzgerald 141). After Gatsbys young romance with Daisy, he falls in love with her and what she represents; he then dedicates his life to becoming wealthy and superior. He obtains this dream quickly by being in the bootlegging business, illegally transporting alcohol. In the beginning of Daisy and Gatsbys love as young adults, He might have despised himself, for he had certainly taken her under false pretenses (Fitzgerald 156). Loving Daisy made Gatsby the man he was, he became a man of wealth and he aspired to be this powerful for Daisy. In the beginning, he lies to Daisy because he doesnt want to lose her; rich girls dont marry poor boys. Gatsby uses his war uniform as a mask to hide his true identity causing her to believe he was of the same social class. Gatsby is immoral under these events in the novel; he alters whats right to get what he wants. Daisy Buchanan is a married woman who is completely morally corrupt; she finds it acceptable to cheat and lie to keep herself happy. In June she married Tom Buchanan of Chicago with more pomp and circumstance than Louisville ever knew before (Fitzgerald 80), she married Tom for the money, l never loved im, (Fitzgerald 39), said Daisy. Daisy marries Tom to earn her status as a socialite ana to ootaln tne power tnat nls wealtn orlngs. Dalsy truly only cares aoout nerselT and will stop at nothing to get what she wants. One evening, Gatsby is in the Buchanan home and, As Tom left the room, Daisy got up and went over to Gatsby, and pulled his face down kissing him on the mouth (Fitzgerald 122). Daisy is in her own home with her husband in the next room and guests around and thinks it is acceptable to kiss Gatsby nonchalantly. She enjoys spending time with Gatsby and he does not care who knows about their relationship because she only cares about her happiness. At the end of the novel, Tom says to Nick, The fellow had it coming to him. He threw dust into your eyes Just like he did in Daisys, but he was a tough one. He ran over Myrtle like youd run over a dog and never stopped his car (Fitzgerald 187). Daisy never owns up and admits that she was the driver that night and she was at fault for killing Myrtle. She is careless, she only cares about the material things in life and the messes she makes are left for others to clean up. Daisy is inconsiderate nd unconcerned with other people, she only cares for herself and will go to any length to get what she desires. Nick Carraway tries to be the neutral party that remains peaceful with everyone, but trying to do so causes him to be utterly unethical. Early in the novel, Tom says to Nick, l want you to meet my girl (Fitzgerald 28). Nick is Daisys cousin, but he meets Toms mistress anyway without much objection. Although Nick finds himself to be decent, he allows all the cheating and lying to occur. In order for Gatsby to rekindle the love with Daisy, he uses Nick to, call up Daisy from the office he next morning and invite her for tea (Fitzgerald 88). Gatsby goes to Nick for help to see Daisy. Nick knows she is married but arranges their secret meeting anyway; he allows the people around him to cheat on each other. At the end of the novel, Nick runs into Tom and thinks there was nothing I could say except the one unutterable fact that it wasnt true (Fitzgerald 187). Nick knows the truth about Daisy being the driver of the car that kills Myrtle, but he doesnt tell the truth in order to clear Gatsbys name. Nick allows everyone to do as they please and he does nothing o stop the moral corruption that occurs. Because of this, Nick is unquestionably morally corrupt, he allows the people he associates himself with to be immoral, but claims he is the most decent; you are the company you keep. F. Scott Fitzgeralds, The Great Gatsby is filled with morally corrupt characters. The characters are too interested in their selfish lifestyles in the East. Nick Carraway is a middleman of all immoral failures tthroughout The Great Gatsby; he tries to be a nonjudgmental person but instead he is the epitome of a depraved person who continuously blurs the lines between right and wrong. Gatsby is obsessive, he becomes consumed with his belief that he is driven by love but it is more of a reckless destruction that ruins his moral compass. Daisy is fanciful and impetuous, but savvy and cunning enough to maintain her place in society; she is motivated by impulsive desires and earthly pleasures. The characters in The Great Gatsby clearly illustrate that ones path to social acceptance can be a precarious step towards moral depravity. In the end, Nick, Daisy, and Gatsbys moral ambiguity leads to the destruction of one and the continuity of immoral lives without consequences for the others.

Food Safety - Chemical, Microbiology, etc Term Paper

Food Safety - Chemical, Microbiology, etc - Term Paper Example In the wake of the salmonella outbreak, many companies withdrew their peanut butter products from the market. Nearly seventy companies recalled 125 peanut butter products. A large number of adults and children had fallen ill, after consuming the King Nut brand peanut butter. Tests conducted by the CDC and other state health institutions have confirmed traces of salmonella in the peanut butter, manufactured by the King Nut company. This brand is supplied in large containers to organizations, such as nursing homes, schools, and hospitals. However, consumption of peanut butter products of other companies that were sold to customers in retail outlets or grocery stores did not contain salmonella. The contaminated peanut butter was not sold directly to the consumers. It was supplied to food service providers in the States of Ohio, Michigan, North Dakota, Minnesota, Arizona, Idaho, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Florida. It was then redistributed to retail sellers. According to the Minnesota Department of Health, traces of salmonella bacteria were found in a container of King Nut brand peanut butter. This came to light on account of preliminary laboratory tests conducted on samples of peanut butter. The E. coli outbreak of 1993 had claimed the lives of three children in Western Washington. In January and February of that year, these children had consumed meat contaminated with the E. coli bacteria. This outbreak also caused 450 people to fall ill; in addition, a few others were rendered ill after being exposed to people who had been infected with these bacteria. Finally, the cause of this infection was traced to the undercooked meat served in the Jack in the Box Restaurants. Acylamide is a carcinogen and neurotoxin that is formed in a number of food products.

Case Analysis of Starbucks Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Case Analysis of Starbucks - Research Paper Example The company’s management acted promptly, under the leaderships of the CEO Schultz, to resolve internal weaknesses and to adapt to the changing external market environment to ensure the survival of the organization in this industry. The survival of the company in tough market environment can be associated with the ability of the leader to work together with the company to satisfy all the shareholders of the organization. This essay presents an analysis of the Starbucks Corporation and the basic strategies that the company has deployed to win the coffee market. First, the paper will present the background of the company, covering its environment, the industry and the major players in the coffee industry. Next will be a critical analysis of the company’s strategies and the various emerging market conditions that underpins the organizational performance. This will provide a good ground to provide alternative approaches that Starbucks would have used to support its development strategy. Starbucks is a company that started back in 1987 in Seattle, Washington by Baldwin, Siegel and Bowker. The company started with nine stores in the domestic market, and the main products include whole beans and coffee products. Schultz became the CEO of Starbucks in 1987, after acquiring the company and receiving a majority vote from the company directors. During this stage company ventured in the domestic market and Schultz helped the company to focus on the customer value model. This left Starbucks as a dominant market stakeholder in the marketing strategy. The company opened more stores in US to take advantage of the growing demand of coffee in the domestic market (Buchanan and Simmons 517). The companys vision was to satisfy the customers through unique coffee products that they had not tasted before. The company focused on diversifying its products when after a long debate they introduced the non-fat

From the period of the Spanish American War through the end of World Essay

From the period of the Spanish American War through the end of World War two, why does the United States move from relative isol - Essay Example The initial consequence of this increased global involvement resulted in a psychological and cultural impact on the American society that established a sense of supremacy in the minds of the general population about their country’s standing in the world. Another consequence of America’s increased global involvement was the economic development that was observed as a result of its emergence and ultimate dominance on the international stage during the period between the Spanish American War and World War II. The reason why the United States went to war against Spain in 1898 was because from its early days, policymakers in the country believed that Cuba’s geographic location was of monumental significance to the United States. Moreover, Spain’s loss of the majority of its lands in Central and South America led some of the politicians to suppose that France or Great Britain may take sweeping action to take control of Cuba and cause a great measure of problems for the United States. As Cuba became an important producer of tobacco and sugar cane, North American investment in the island saw a tremendous increase; the great degree of these economic relations by 1895 between the two countries was becoming more and more significant, as the U.S became an importer of 90% of Cuba’s sugar produce1. 30 years before the Spanish American war broke out, the Cubans had begun fighting for independence2, and this quest for freedom reached its climax in the year of 1895 when General Maximo Gomez, with his inadequate militia rose against a powerful Spanish army. The persistence of the Cuban insurgents came as a surprise to the Spanish opponents, who vowed to answer with a much ruthless response, killing about one fourth of the island’s population by 1898. As the Spanish government carried out its bloody campaign to repress the Cuban uprising, secretary of state, Richard Olney faced rising public demands to intervene in the matter to which the U.S made it clear to Spain that with the onset of war between the two nations, the United States considered its interests in Cuba being in danger. The event which ultimately triggered the Spanish American War occurred on February 15th 1898 when USS Maine, a US navy battleship blew up Havana harbor, killing 266 people. The US media heavily speculated that this act had been performed on the part of the Spain and even though diplomatic intermediaries from both sides intervened to resolve the issue, Congress went on to declare Cuba independent upon President McKinley’s request, demanding Spain’s withdrawal from the island and empowering the US president to engage in a war with Spain if it refused to recognize Cuba’s independence. When Cuban nationalists had first cried for independence, their determination to seek their goal had been evident but the lack of personnel and resources on their part could never have compensated for the

Algorithm For Segmentation Of Urdu Script English Language Essay

Algorithm For Segmentation Of Urdu Script English Language Essay Segmentation of script plays a vital role in script recognition. It is vital to understand the script that is used in writing a document before developing or using a model to recognize it. Chain codes etc. In ligature model, word model is used at document, page and word level for segmentation. Our algorithm for segmentation of Urdu script used character model and Hidden Markov Model (HMM) to enhance work done previously. We have extracted features from images and calculated the maximum likelihood to match characters in inference algorithm with a feature extracted from a text sample. The main features used in the system will be pre-processing, connected component analysis, recognition and segmentation of text up to character level. The algorithm will provide a means to implement an Urdu OCR system on the basis of the character model. Keywords Preprocessing, Segmentation of characters, character model, Optical character recognition (OCR), max and argmax. Introduction We use an OCR system / scanner to get images of text [1]. Into preprocessing image will be converted to noiseless B/W image. 1.1 Segmentation Segmentation is dividing an image into smaller segments or pieces [2]. Segmentation occurs on two levels. At first level both text and graphics are separated for further processing. At second level, segmentation is performed on text to separate paragraphs, words, and characters etc. Segmentation of text can be performed on a document, page, paragraph and character levels [3]. They suggested various segmentation approaches namely [4]. Holistic Method Segmentation based approach Segmentation free approach In holistic method whole word is classified using a dictionary, the features of test input are matched against trained prototypes [5]. The limitation is that the method is not good for larger classes and it can only be used with the other two methods. Segmentation divides a word into smaller segments. The image of the word is broken up into several entities called graphemes [4]. Segmentation depends on human intuition. In segmentation free approach character model can be used to concatenate characters and form words. For instance segmentation free approach can be based on Hidden Markov Model (HMM) that is a stochastic model. 1.2. Urdu Language and Text Segmentation Urdu is a cursive (written with the characters joined) writing language. Urdu language characters are similar in shape and have curves that make it difficult to recognize by a machine. Moreover it has more than one symbol to represent a character. Due to its cursive nature characters / scripts in Urdu language are hard to recognize by a computer program. A very accurate technique is needed to recognize / understand Urdu characters. Urdu characters have four elementary shapes Basic Symbols (38 Symbols) Table 1 shows the basic symbols / shapes for Urdu Language. Beginning Symbols (26 Symbols) Table 2 shows the basic symbols / shapes for Urdu Language. Mid Symbols (40 Symbols) Table 3 shows the basic symbols / shapes for Urdu Language. Other Symbols This includes symbols for numbers, special symbols like zabar, zair, paish etc. The symbol tables, Table 1, Table 2, Table3 and Table 4, for Urdu language are given below as: Table1. Basic Symbols Table 2. Beginning Symbols Table 3. Mid Symbols Table 4. Other Symbols We used Urdu script Nastaliq for our work. We extracted images for Urdu character set like basic, beginning, mid and other symbols using available Nastaliq font. Literature Review In a structural approach to script identification, stroke geometry has been utilized for script characterization and identification [6]. Individual character images in a document are classified either by applying a prototype classification or by using support vector machine. Ligatures are used for segmentation / recognition of Urdu characters. The ligature is a sequence of characters in a word separated by non-joiner characters like space. Their approach in [1] used ligature model and it is divided into two stages: Line Segmentation Line segmentation deals with the detection of text lines in the image. The image is scanned horizontally from right to left direction, upwards to downwards, in search of a text pixel. Afterwards, it is determined whether this pixel belongs to a primary ligature or a secondary ligature as shown in Fig 1. The freeman chain codes (FCC) of the ligature are compared with already calculated FCC of the secondary ligatures. Character Segmentation The text is skeletonized and a label matrix is constructed which contains the identifiers of all ligatures in the image. The position of individual characters in a word is determined. Segmentation is done using primary ligatures only. Fig 1. (a) Urdu word (b) Seven ligatures (c) Three Primary ligatures (d) Four Secondary ligatures [7]. Limitations of the method are: firstly, they performed segmentation on the basis of primary ligatures only, therefore, it will not differentiate between seen and sheen because it will ignore secondary ligatures i.e. dots. Secondly, dictionary of images stored for training will be huge. Thirdly, there are problems of over segmentation and under segmentation. In [8], they have proposed a ligature and word model for Urdu word segmentation. It was done in three phases: In 1st phase, data is collected. They identified Ligatures and calculated word probabilities using probabilistic measure. From the input set of ligatures, all sequences of words are generated and ranked using the lexicon lookup. In the 2nd phase, top k sequences are selected using a selected beam value for further processing. It uses valid words heuristic for selection process. In the third phase, maximum probable sequence from these k word sequences is selected. Their method used dictionary of ligatures/words, chain codes, and to find best probable sequences they used HMM toolkit HTK to recognize a word / ligature. They have recommended that their work can be further improved by using the character model for Urdu text segmentation [9]. A poor segmentation will lead to poor recognition [10]. They divided image into smaller blocks, check for uniformity, group uniform block using color similarity and identify text in this block [11]. They used edge density based noise detection to segment out text areas in video/ images [12]. Segmentation of an image into text and non-text regions effect performance in OCR development [13]. They proposed line segmentation method using histogram equalization, indicated various problems and text line into ligature using chain codes [14]. They presented bounding box based approach for segmentation of table of contents in Urdu script [15]. They analyzed horizontal and vertical projection profiles for line and character segmentation. Misclassification occurs at character level [16]. They proposed text line extraction using vertical projection, marking all points where pixel values are not found and text line into ligatures using stroke geometry [17]. They proposed identification of partial words (i.e. connected components) in text line and using horizontal / vertical projections to identify words using relative distance matching [18]. They used dictionary for text line and ligature segmentation in online text [19]. Problem Statement Previous work has limitations that it cannot correctly perform segmentation in few cases and there will be misclassification problems. Moreover it can recognize a limited set of connected components or ligatures only. Proposed Segmentation Algorithm We will enhance previous work by proposing an improved algorithm for Urdu script segmentation that will use a character model. For this purpose we have created a set of characters. There are about 114 characters excluding some special characters like zabar, zair, paish etc. We have used characters of fixed size and style in this work. We are using all the variations of each character in a writing style e.g. bay has three shapes a basic, a beginning and mid shapes. Our algorithm uses a character model with Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) for segmentation of Urdu text. To the best of our knowledge, this work has not been done previously. We have offline text i.e., scanned pre-processed B/W Urdu characters and we are using Matlab ver. 7.12 as programming tool. 4.1 Our Method Our method is divided into three broad steps: Step#1 Data Acquisition / Feature Extraction: In the first step, algorithm transforms images of symbols into binary form as a matrix. Then extract features from the images using our feature extraction program and store it into a disk. These features are represented as hidden states: X(i) = { x(0), x(1), . . . , x (k)} where each X (i) represents a feature (in matrix form) for each shape in an Urdu character set; x (k) is a position vector in the matrix X (i). Step#2 Get Observed data: The observed data contain sequences of Urdu characters. In our study we have used a line of Urdu text. After acquiring this filtered image, we have transformed it into binary form. Then extracted features from an image using our feature extraction program. This feature contains several Urdu characters in it. The algorithm will scan it and perform segmentation by calculating maximum probabilities with hidden states and locating observations in feature using HMMs. These observations form observable states: O(i) = { o(0), o(1), . . . , o(k)} where each O(i) represents feature (in matrix form) for each shape in observed states; o(k) is a positional vector in matrix O(i). Step#3 Apply HMMs: We are given: Hidden states: X(i) = { x(1), x(2), . . . , x(k)} where i = 1,2, †¦ , m (for m characters). Observable states: O(i) = { o(1), o(2), . . . , o(k)} where i = 1,2, †¦ , n. Initial Distribution X(0). In a hidden Markov model the state variable x(i) is observable only through its measurements o(i). Now, suppose that a sequence O(i) of emission has been observed. Fig 2 shows transformation of a character and an observed sequence that are captured using MATLAB matrices. (a) (b) Fig 2: (a) A m x n matrix showing Urdu character Alif. (b) Sample observation showing a connected component of two characters bay and alif spelled out ba. Instead of using characters our algorithm extracted features from all the characters to reduce computation complexity. These features will be used as hidden states in HMM i.e. x(i) and are stored on disk for example, features showing character alif and bay, captured using MATLAB, are shown below in fig 3. (a) (b) (c) Fig 3. (a) Feature for character Alif, (b) Feature for character Bay and (c) Feature for sample S(i) taken from word ba i.e. bay-alif. The algorithm extracts feature from line of sample text S(i). In forward algorithm, the feature s(1), †¦ , s(k) is matched against each of the hidden states x(i) by matching rows of x(i) with rows of S(i). The process continues for all characters and stops after calculating probabilities for all the characters i.e. P(X(i)|Z(i)). Afterwards it finds the maximization of probability and in this way it finds observation O(1) from the S(1). The forward algorithm will continue from s(k+1), †¦, s(L) to find observations O(2), †¦ , O(n). If there is more than one probable character, then we can use a so called Viterbi algorithm that will find argmax and will give the optimal probable sequence if we are not near to actual results. The algorithm for the HMMs is as under: Algorithm Segsha (S, L) j=1 while ( j < L ) for i = 1 to n Sample s(j) ~ {w} wi = pr(s(j)|X(i)) end-for O(i) = O(i) U {max( wi )} s(j) = s(j) + 1 end-while Where S is a sample feature of vectors obtained from an observed sequence O(i) i.e., a line of Urdu text; L is the dimension of S (length of S); S(j) is a sample taken from S each time to match against character feature X(i) and probability of matching will give us weights, wi, for each character; max(wi) is maximization of probability that proceeds as follows: Here max(wi) can be calculated by comparing wi ~ w and calculated by using the eq.1 [20]. Result A total of 1200 words were used that include all the characters in our character set. Sample scanned text was taken from Nastaliq font with point size 36. We found that 1176 out of 1200 were completely recognized. Not the whole word but only one or two characters in a word were misclassified. The accuracy of 97% was very encouraging for us and we are looking forward to work further in this area. Conclusion We tested our approach on images of text taken from Nastaliq font scanned at 300 dpi and found that better results can be achieved by using HMM with the character model. These results were checked on a prototype using a set of characters. We have achieved 97% accuracy. Future Work and Enhancements In future we are planning on two things: 1. To eliminate restriction of fixed font size and style. 2. To work with handwritten Urdu text. We will use both of the options using the same method but that is another story.

Hamlet †What Makes Polonius Indispensable? :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

Hamlet – What Makes Polonius Indispensable?      Ã‚  Ã‚   Polonius, father to Laertes and Ophelia in the Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet, is vitally important to this play. Without his involvement there would be something seriously lacking. Let us dwell on the lord chamberlain in this essay.    In â€Å"Tragic Alphabet† Lawrence Danson explains Polonius’ use of â€Å"lie-detector† acting:    For the lie-detector use of acting is one we see much of in Hamlet, and though it shares certain characteristics with Hamlet’s use of acting, it is decisively not the same. Polonius is the great master of it – of using, that is, the indirection or downright falseness of acting to discover a truth. Polonius was in his time an amateur actor himself; appropriately, he played Caesar and was killed in the capitol. But we now see Polonius either as a theater critic (and it is a flat sort of criticism he practices, multiplying rigid categories while demanding that he be kept entertained), or as a director – of Laertes, Reynaldo, Ophelia, Gertrude. To each he recommends the use of seeming: in the case of Laertes it is to be nothing short of a life-style, but with the others it is specifically a means for getting at a hidden truth. (83)    In the Introduction to Twentieth Century Interpretations of Hamlet, David Bevington presents Polonius as similar to Hamlet in various ways:    Polonius, his [Hamlet’s] seeming opposite in so many ways, is, like Hamlet, an inveterate punster. To whom else but Polonius should Hamlet direct the taunt of â€Å"Words, words, words†? The aged counselor recalls that in his youth he â€Å"suffered much extremity for love, very near this,† and he has been an actor at the university. Polonius too has advice for the players: â€Å"Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor Plautus too light.† When Hamlet jibes at â€Å"so capital a calf† enacting Julius Caesar, killed in the Capitol, he reinforces the parallel to his own playacting and anticipates the slaying of Polonius behind the arras. (4)    Polonius’ entry into the play occurs at the social get-together of the royal court. Claudius has already been crowned; Queen Gertrude is there; Hamlet is present in the black clothes of mourning. When Laertes approaches Claudius to give his farewell before returning to school, the king asks Polonius: â€Å"Have you your father's leave? What says Polonius?† And the father dutifully answers: