Friday, January 31, 2020

Facial Recognition Biometrics Essay Example for Free

Facial Recognition Biometrics Essay Traditional personal identification and authentication methods always have the danger of being stolen, duplicated or forgotten. Hence, biometrics was introduced as an identification and authentication technology, where physical features would be used for recognizing a person. This technology uses many features for unique identification like fingerprints, face, irises and voice. Fingerprints are by far the most popular techniques used for i8dentification, because of their traditional use in forensics. However, face recognition is considered to be the more direct, friendly and convenient method for identification as compared to fingerprint identification. This has made face recognition system as the second most widely used biometric technology after fingerprinting with a projected revenue of $429 million in 2007, according to Raicu Strandburg (2005). This growth in the use of this technology is attributed to the sharp rise in the number of digital cameras and camcorders and inconsequence surveillance cameras. The purpose of this paper is to analyze this technology, explain its basic principle, look into the limitations of the technology and the research work being done in this field. Face Recognition Face recognition consists of two steps: face detection and location; features extraction and face recognition. Figure below shows a flowchart of the face recognition system: Fig -1 Flow chart of a basic face recognition system (Zhang, 2000) Face Detection and Location – This step checks if the given image or image sequence includes faces. It yes, then it locates the position of the faces and segments each face from the background Features extraction and face recognition – This step checks the various features that distinguish different individuals. It figures whether the people in the image are the given person or if he / she are in the database. Needless to say, the face recognition system depends upon the input of the system. The importance of the input and picture background is explained by Zhang (2000) by giving the following example. The picture taken during log in on a system and passing custom are controlled. That is to say the background is uniform for the images or image sequences. The pose, orientation etc is also known and well controlled. This makes the process of face recognition is accurate and faster. However, in case of an input environment which is universal for all situations, there might be number of faces and also a complex background. The location of the face and its size is not known, the illumination on the different faces in a picture is different and their expressions might be different too. In such cases, the face detection and location is difficult. Face recognition can be made difficult due to different expressions, orientations and age, making the process of feature extraction and face recognition all the more difficult (Zhang, 2000) One important parameter in the evaluation of a face-processing system is the performance evaluation. The basic measurement parameters are the same as that for pattern recognition system FA i. e. false acceptance or false positive and FR i. e. false rejection or false negative. As in case of a pattern recognition system, an ideal face-recognition system should have very low scores of FA and FR, but a practical system usually makes trade-offs between these two factors. History of Face Processing Systems Development According to Zhao Chellappa (2006), the earliest work on face recognition can be traced to the early 1950s in psychology and 1960s in engineering literature. However, the research on automatic machine recognition of faces started in 1970s after the work of Kanade and Kelly. For over 30 years extensive research has been conducted on various aspects of face recognition by humans and machines. During early and mid 1970s typical pattern-classification techniques using measured attribute of features for instance the distances between important points in faces or profiles were used. In 1980s, the work in this field remained largely dormant. The interest in this field was renewed in 1990s due to an increase in commercial opportunities, availability of real-time hardware and emergence of surveillance related applications. During this time the research was focused on how to make the face-recognition systems fully automatic by tackling various underlying problems like localization of a face in a given image or a video clip and extraction of features such as eyes, mouth etc (Zhao Chellappa, 2006) Applications of Face processing The applications of face processing vary, leading to different features extraction and face recognition. For instance, one application is the face verification, which means that the person is who he claims to be. This is used in places like banks for identity confirmation. Another application is to check if the person exists in the database and if yes than which one. This is known as face recognition and used in surveillance systems in offices. A variation of this is when we wish to have a list of candidates with a specific set of specified features. This is used in the police department (Zhang, 2000) The table below gives some applications of face processing including detection and tracking, recognition of identity and expressions, and also personalized realistic rendering (Zhao Chellappa, 2006).

Thursday, January 23, 2020

Canadian Standard of Living :: social issues

Canadian Standard of Living Since the day Canada was created the standards of living have been constantly changing. There have been ups and downs in Canadian Standard of Living, but in my opinion, the system we have today is nearly perfect. Although I believe that no one will ever create a perfect system, mainly because of the differences in opinions. Not a single country in the world has the standard of living that in my opinions is ideal. We can look at other countries such as: Russia, Holland, or China. Although these countries have better standards of living then Canadians in some areas like: education, clothing, health system, etc. Each of them has disadvantages like: Russia has poor economy, Holland has high taxes, and China is overpopulated. I believe that current Canadian Standard of living creates a line higher then medium in the World Standard of Living. To create an ideal, and maybe perfect, Canadian Standard of Living, I wish to compose an outline that I believe will take Canadian Standard of Living to the next level. The Standard of Living basically consists of six basic areas: Education, health, housing, food and nutrition, clothing, and rights. I would like to discuss all of these issues separately because that all of them are very ingredients of the creation of the great Canadian Standard of Living. First on my list is education. This factor, in my opinion, is one of the most important ones. I believe that the access to education should be unlimited. I think that you should be able to study as long as you want, and the issues such as money, equipment and facilities shouldn’t stand in your way, but that raises other issues. If we have all geniuses, that will ruin the balance of the whole system. So I think that the best way is to limit and set High school diploma as a standard. Today’s Canadian Health System is not prefect. I believe that Health care is an issue that should be taken care of as soon as possible, because today’s constant budget cuts won’t do any good to anyone. I believe that we all should pay the same fee that will cover any time of injury or operation. It’s don’t think that it all should be about the money; after all we are saving people’s lives. I mean if you have a liver cancer and you simply don’t have money to pay for the surgery, I don’t think that money should that as an issue between life and death.

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Marraige Life vs Singal Life

The difference between the marriage life and the single life is there are advantages, and disadvantages. Although married life sounds stable, there are more benefits to being single, in the short and long term picture. (Marriage Vs Single Life. ) In today society a lot of people are being married and still being single. This particular way of thing has changed their lives. In this compare and contrast the difference between single and married people lives. Single life mainly has no responsibility at all. Being single you don’t have to come home to anyone. If you like being alone this is the perfect lifestyle for you. You don’t have to share your money, everything is about you. There are a lot of people that would like to be stress free no one nagging them. Single people can spend their time with anyone they choose. They can come in at anytime they like, and they don’t have to worry about cleaning up behind others. They just have to clean up behind the selves. Single people also have very big trust issue. Marriage people have the companionship of each other and their children. Compared to the single people married people schedule are too busy. Married people have to conduct their partners and children lives as well. Married people can’t live a free life if they want to go with their friends they have to let their partner know there are rules to having a happy successful life. Never both partners be mad at once, never yell all ways talk problems out in a normal voice. Never discuss your problem around a crowd of people, always agree with your partner around crowds , but if you disagree let them know later. Being married emotional support is expected or given with every thought or action. I would choose the married life over the single life. I love the sharing part and the company. I’ve always love being around people so I personally think that I would be a good candidate for the marriage life. I wouldn’t choose the single life because being single and coming to your own empty house not having anyone waiting for me to share my day or thoughts. In this conclusion being single takes a toll on you, while being married has its toll too. But you have someone too,but you will have someone deeply share them with a true friend for life like the marriage says. â€Å"Till death do us part. â€Å"

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Virgin Organizational Culture - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1400 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Management Essay Type Narrative essay Did you like this example? Virgin Groups (History) Virgin was started in 1970 by Sir Richard Branson. Today, it is one of the worlds biggest brands in many sectors like financial services, travel, music, transportation, mobile telephony, music and fitness. With 300 companies worldwide, virgin employs about 50,000 people in 30 countries, its global branded revenues in 2009 Â £11.5 billion (About Virgin, 2010). Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Virgin Organizational Culture" essay for you Create order In 1968, Richard Branson issued his magazine student. To the surprise of his family he sold 50,000 copies of his magazine. In 1970, he dropped out of school and started Virgin, it began as a mail-order record company, at that time a new has been introduced that enabled people to sell records at prices that were discounted and Branson took advantage of this law. Branson new company was an instant success, sales boosted. Then, a postal strike negatively affected the mail order business. Branson changed his strategy. He opened a small record store and it was successful, many other stores followed. Many setbacks followed the strike such as tax rates and labor strikes. However, Bransons character helped him overcome these obstacles because he enjoyed overcoming new challenges. He chose to name his company virgin because it means his lack of knowledge of the type of business he entered into. In the late 1970s Virgin sponsored many bands that became very popular in the UK. During the ear ly 1980s Branson started the airline industry by flying people between America and London. He offered entertainment and unique features for passengers. During the early 1990s Virgin Atlantic opened routes to Tokyo, Greece, Hongkong and several U.S. cities Branson continued to sign records with big stars and make millions of dollars and expand his stores to new areas. Bransons extraordinary management methods was one of the key reasons of virgins success during the 1970s and 1980s, Branson favored slacks and sweaters and abandoned the traditional formal workplace suits and ties, furthermore another technique that Branson used was that he operated his holding company from his private barge relying on his personal assistant to keep him in contact with his administrative staff, Bransons barge was located in the industrial regents canal (Virgin Groups Company History) Introduction to Organizational Culture Cultural Functions It is hard to define a culture in a single way; culture is a broad word that can be adjusted on each and every nation differently. Not limited to nations, societies, and individuals, culture can be seen everywhere even in companies and organizations. Culture contains several values, principles, beliefs and behavioral style, artifacts, language and ceremonies, inside and outside an organization, where the employees can contribute to the organization within its rules and boarders. In the industry each and every union customs their own traditions, an organization will set its own culture based on its needs and requirement to represent itself (Components of Culture, 2005). The organizational culture is important to indentify the companys identity which will be successful by introducing three important functions (Principles of Management, 2008): Control system: this function basically states what the organization managers and staff are allowed and not allowed to do, it stays withi n certain rules that the work force of the company should follow, and it states their behavior. Social glue: it is driving the employees to feel more belonging and integrated to the organization as it fitful their needs and social networking, and to be an important role in this company. Sense making: this important area helps the employees to understand how the company functions, what are their goals, vision, values and how do they practice in their daily life to move forward with it. These important functions also apply on Virgin, since the 1980s Branson had his own unique style of management. He gave managers the authority and full control over the projects that he established. He heavily relied on a group of executives that he selected, he trusted them and allowed them to work in their Divisions with minimum interference, based on their performance Branson offered his executives high-value incentives. An example of Bransons innovative techniques to break up his large- less personal organizations into smaller units he disbanded his record enterprise into five companies by the late 1980s, each of which focused on different artists and bands. In addition, he empowered his employees to take risks without fear of failure. He is also well known to be an adventurer and a risk-taker (Virgin Groups Company History) Adaptive Culture Ethical Culture A culture of an organization is not only affected internally, it could also get affected externally, where it is very important for any organizations culture to be adaptive to change as the employees focus on changing the culture aligned with the environment surrounding it based on its needs and to keep track with the changes (Principles of Management, 2008). To create adaptive culture, there must be a strong communication between the staff and departments; therefore Virgins way of communication is well-built, where Branson is accessible easily for all staff to listen, understand what the employee needs to take this company to the higher level. Branson is a good example of a manager, where he gets to fly in the economy class and help in serving food, that makes him live the moment and observe what needs to be changed in his company (Brown, 2010). An organization should not only have an adaptive culture, but also it should encourage having an ethical culture where their employees can practice their values ethically and competing with honor (Principles of Management, 2008), for instance Virgin airlines; they look for people who are optimistic, enthusiastic and humble. The airline uses behavioral event interviewing, in which applicants are asked questions to Indicate particular behaviors and motivations that align with a Virgin Blue personality template (Breaking in a new culture: the Virgin Blue story, 2010). Strengthen the Organization Cultural Strategies Changing and strengthen the organization culture could be done in so many ways, one of the factors is the actions of the leaders and founders where they got the opportunity to set the standard for the company (Principles of Management, 2008), just like what Virgins high profiled leaders did, the reason behind the success, it is because it has 12 members who were there from the start and they established the culture of virgin (Breaking in a new culture: the Virgin Blue story, 2010). Another way of strengthen the culture is by consistent rewards for the employees to encourage them to behave in a certain way, not limited to rewards but in addition selecting and socializing employees that could blend in with the organization culture. Moreover, aligning artifacts where sharing the stories and the support of the culture and celebrating their goals (Principles of Management, 2008). Virgin did not neglect their employees, Branson is a generous man, where he opens his house for staff partie s, send them Christmas gifts, give them responsibilities to make them have the sense of ownership as they are well treated with autonomy (Brown, 2010) Nothing comes without planning and strategizing, so does the culture where there are some strategies to merge different organizational cultures (Principles of Management, 2008): Assimilation: it is when an employee gains the cultural values from a company, and it works best when a company has a weak culture. Deculturation: it is basically stripping a company from its own culture and enforce new rules and values on it, and this happens when a certain culture doesnt work for a company that needs to change. Integration: it is based on combining two cultures into one advanced culture and put it into the best picture; this case can work in an existing culture to improve it. Separation: this case happens while merging companies, however, they agree on remaining different as their business pattern requires different cultures. Conclusion Virgin have their own values such as value for money simple, but not cheap, quality values, values for challenges, brilliant customer service, enjoyment and having fun Humor, but not offensive, and last but not least value for innovation Thinking outside the box (Brown, 2010). To conclude, culture is an important broad topic, and it shapes the identity of an individual or a company, it is recommended for every new entry in the industry to clarify their values, beliefs and rules to have a strong presence in the market, any organizations culture should always be fit within the environment, moderately strong and adaptive, managers should always be aware of presenting their brand in the best way possible, and culture is one of the elements that will help creating the companys brand.