Short Story - 1743 Words

No, she wouldn’t. That only leaves one more option and I’m standing across from it. A demon institution. A few of my former coworkers already stand in line, heads down, completely defeated. It’s what their lives have come to, where it will end or begin. It’s easy; you go in human and you walk out a demon†¦Or dead. Most die. The demon serum is like a flipping a coin and praying both sides are heads. A ninety-seven percent chance of death and a three percent chance of becoming a demon. It’s a hell of a chance and a last resort. But if it worked, if you became a demon, your life goes from rags to riches. From begging and working at the bottom, to a life of play and happiness. Or at least that’s what I’m told. And it also depends on where†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"Did you find something on the tour of the metal shop today?† I ask, brushing a bush of dark hair behind her ear. She shakes her head, trying not to burst with excitement. â€Å"Nope. Even better.† She grabs my hand and pulls me over to the table, forcing me to sit down. I lean over, untying my boots as she rustles through the bag. â€Å"It better not be another rat. As I’ve said time and time before, the rats on the streets are not pets†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I cut short as a bright green thing is waved in my face. My jaw goes slack as my gray eyes are glued to the thing. â€Å"Is that†¦um, is that a†¦an†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"An apple? No, it’s two.† She pulls out another one. This one is big and red. I snatch the red one, my finger carefully running across its smooth surface. It’s gold in my hands. That’s how valuable this apple is to me. I can’t remember the last time I actually saw fresh fruit, let alone held it. Fresh food isn’t a luxury for humans. Canned goods are all we get. â€Å"Where did you get these?† â€Å"On my way home from school. I was picking some charcoal from the burn bins, when†¦when um, they fell out of a truck. It had the†¦uh, um Demon label on it, so I figured it was still good,† she boasts after taking a bite. â€Å"Don’t worry. I was the only person around and no one saw me.† I place the apple down, exhaling deeply. These apples could be her death. â€Å"Kallau,† I whisper. â€Å"This food is the property of the Order. You do remember the punishment for stealing, right?† I don’tShow MoreRelatedshort story1018 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿Short Stories:  Ã‚  Characteristics †¢Short  - Can usually be read in one sitting. †¢Concise:  Ã‚  Information offered in the story is relevant to the tale being told.  Ã‚  This is unlike a novel, where the story can diverge from the main plot †¢Usually tries to leave behind a  single impression  or effect.  Ã‚  Usually, though not always built around one character, place, idea, or act. †¢Because they are concise, writers depend on the reader bringing  personal experiences  and  prior knowledge  to the story. Four MajorRead MoreThe Short Stories Ideas For Writing A Short Story Essay1097 Words   |  5 Pageswriting a short story. Many a time, writers run out of these short story ideas upon exhausting their sources of short story ideas. If you are one of these writers, who have run out of short story ideas, and the deadline you have for coming up with a short story is running out, the short story writing prompts below will surely help you. Additionally, if you are being tormented by the blank Microsoft Word document staring at you because you are not able to come up with the best short story idea, youRead MoreShort Story1804 Words   |  8 PagesShort story: Definition and History. A  short story  like any other term does not have only one definition, it has many definitions, but all of them are similar in a general idea. According to The World Book Encyclopedia (1994, Vol. 12, L-354), â€Å"the short story is a short work of fiction that usually centers around a single incident. Because of its shorter length, the characters and situations are fewer and less complicated than those of a novel.† In the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s DictionaryRead MoreShort Stories648 Words   |  3 Pageswhat the title to the short story is. The short story theme I am going conduct on is â€Å"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ by James Thurber (1973). In this short story the literary elements being used is plot and symbols and the theme being full of distractions and disruption. The narrator is giving a third person point of view in sharing the thoughts of the characters. Walter Mitty the daydreamer is very humorous in the different plots of his dr ifting off. In the start of the story the plot, symbols,Read MoreShort Stories1125 Words   |  5 PagesThe themes of short stories are often relevant to real life? To what extent do you agree with this view? In the short stories â€Å"Miss Brill† and â€Å"Frau Brechenmacher attends a wedding† written by Katherine Mansfield, the themes which are relevant to real life in Miss Brill are isolation and appearance versus reality. Likewise Frau Brechenmacher suffers through isolation throughout the story and also male dominance is one of the major themes that are highlighted in the story. These themes areRead MoreShort Story and People1473 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿Title: Story Of An Hour Author: Kate Chopin I. On The Elements / Literary Concepts The short story Story Of An Hour is all about the series of emotions that the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard showed to the readers. With the kind of plot of this short story, it actually refers to the moments that Mrs. Mallard knew that all this time, her husband was alive. For the symbol, I like the title of this short story because it actually symbolizes the time where Mrs. Mallard died with joy. And with thatRead MoreShort Story Essay1294 Words   |  6 PagesA short story concentrates on creating a single dynamic effect and is limited in character and situation. It is a language of maximum yet economical effect. Every word must do a job, sometimes several jobs. Short stories are filled with numerous language and sound devices. These language and sound devices create a stronger image of the scenario or the characters within the text, which contribute to the overall pre-designed effect.As it is shown in the metaphor lipstick bleeding gently in CinnamonRead MoreRacism in the Short Stor ies1837 Words   |  7 PagesOften we read stories that tell stories of mixing the grouping may not always be what is legal or what people consider moral at the time. The things that you can learn from someone who is not like you is amazing if people took the time to consider this before judging someone the world as we know it would be a completely different place. The notion to overlook someone because they are not the same race, gender, creed, religion seems to be the way of the world for a long time. Racism is so prevalentRead MoreThe Idol Short Story1728 Words   |  7 PagesThe short stories â€Å"The Idol† by Adolfo Bioy Casares and â€Å"Axolotl† by Julio Cortà ¡zar address the notion of obsession, and the resulting harm that can come from it. Like all addictions, obsession makes one feel overwhelmed, as a single thought comes to continuously intruding our mind, causing the individual to not be able to ignore these thoughts. In â€Å"Axolotl†, the narr ator is drawn upon the axolotls at the Jardin des Plantes aquarium and his fascination towards the axolotls becomes an obsession. InRead MoreGothic Short Story1447 Words   |  6 Pages The End. In the short story, â€Å"Emma Barrett,† the reader follows a search party group searching for a missing girl named Emma deep in a forest in Oregon. The story follows through first person narration by a group member named Holden. This story would be considered a gothic short story because of its use of setting, theme, symbolism, and literary devices used to portray the horror of a missing six-year-old girl. Plot is the literal chronological development of the story, the sequence of events

Violence in media Free Essays

Poor relationships), education (Insignificant schooling), socioeconomic status and community (egg. Neighborhood violence) M; West, M; Marrow, D; Hamburger, M; Boxer, P, 2008, p. 929). We will write a custom essay sample on Violence in media or any similar topic only for you Order Now Although exposure to media violence is not the primary motive for aggressive behavior, it is however, the single most curable contributing reason. Violence is noticeably becoming a key factor within today’s society; medias interpretation and representation of violence on all forms of interaction must play a role on our behavior to date. Theorists have established from recent research that violent media for instance, video games and movies, â€Å"temporarily Increase aggressive thoughts. Aggressive affect and physiological arousal† (Carnage, Anderson, Bartholomew, 2007, p. 179), thus creating violent behaviors. In addition, Anderson cited that, â€Å"the industry markets violent video games to underage kids† (Anderson, 2004, p. 1 1 which evokes violent thoughts, imitation and aggressive actions. Through this proposed study a major issue raised within the area of media violence would be addressed. This Issue that needs to be noninsured Is the long-term effects that may occur to the youth. In this context, â€Å"physiological desensitizing displays reduced or no emotional feelings or empathy for others, due to media influencing thoughts, feelings and motives; primarily this has become a concern as media increased the likelihood of violent behavior† (Houseman, L Taylor, L, 2006; Carnage, N, Anderson, C Bartholomew, B, 2007). The aim of this study is to investigate the potential gaps to help understand the relationship between violence in the media, and aggressive behavior between he youth of today. Firstly, notwithstanding the substantial Information already gathered on the short-term effects of media violence, little study has been able to link media and young adults to seriously violent behavioral tendencies (Hobart, M; West, M; Marrow, D; Hamburger, M; Boxer, P, 2008, p. 930). Secondly, the studies undertaken to date on the effects of media violence influencing hostile behavior, seem to be more noticeable for the earlier years with once again only touching the boundaries In regards to adolescents. This study will analyses behavior and affects as not been fully investigated recorded in the past due to concentration of research on media violence on adolescents. I wish to undertake this research to see if a link can be established between media violence and the seemingly known aggression for this age group. If proven this would assist our legislators draft comprehensive legislation, based on sound research, to address issues provide protection for our youth going forward. Analyses of this study will focus particularly on the pervasiveness and the characteristics of young adults exposed to violence through movies and video games. Aims and Objectives The specific aim of this study is to critically assess the association between violence in the media and the expression of seriously violent behavior among the youth, ages 18-24, in a quota sample. The objectives of this project are to: 1 . Critically examine existing knowledge and gaps on this particular topic. 2. Classify and examine the different effects for different media. 3. Develop further theory to examine if media violence is considered a problem. 4. Evaluate people’s perceptions of the impact media violence has on themselves and other young individual’s in the youth. . Make recommendations to address issues and provide protection for the youth going forward. Literature review A significant and growing body of researchers state that the â€Å"youth exposure to media violence leads to increased aggressiveness† (Slater. M, Henry, K, Swami, R Anderson, L, 2003, p. 713). This can be seen as a serious problem within the society; due to th e fact media violence primes the viewers for aggressive behavior by stimulating violent-related thoughts, evokes imitation and increases arousal (Meyer, 1010, P. 243). Nonetheless, many individuals believe that media violence will not affect hem negatively or directly. However, the outcomes for media violence present instant effects or long-term effects within individuals, especially throughout the numerous types of media. From a social-neuroscience viewpoint, video games are portrayed as a different type of media than television and movies, mainly because â€Å"video games are more interactive and immerse, engaging neural systems which activate and effect aggressive behaviors† (Carnage, Anderson, Bartholomew, 2007, p. 79); in this context, video games primarily engage the players, allowing these players o identify themselves as the attacker, to receive direct awards and promote In addition, physiological desensitizing needs to be considered for the youth as this theory leads to reduced or no emotions towards others as suggested by Carnage, Anderson Bartholomew, where they state Moline in movies and on television has changed many individua ls reactions so much that they laugh at human suffering, thus suggesting that this immediate effect is linked to an increase in aggression and reduced sympathy’ (2007, p 180). Therefore this may demonstrate Eng term and repeated exposure to violence in all aspects of the media can influence and increase aggression throughout their lifespan. Various studies previously undertaken regarding video game violence and its possible promotion of antisocial behavior, shows the individual identifying and role-playing the violent characters. This is evident in a study conducted by Douglas Gentile (2004) about young individuals who frequently played violent video games, and were more likely to have increased aggression and fights then those who participated in non-hostile media games. Similarly, Potter suggests that â€Å"when violence permeates the media year after year in all kinds of programming and when the message of that violence is antisocial, the mean of society is likely to move gradually in an antisocial direction† (Potter, 2003, p. 50), therefore, creating the key idea that individuals will try harder to gain social acceptance through aggressive actions due to the cause of violent media. SECTION B: Methodology and Research design Methodology The proposed research conducted would be best lead through an interpretative paradigm as the theoretical framework for this study. Interpretative seeks to comprehend and describe human social reality, an understanding that is diverse for every individual person (Walter, 2010). This research will endeavourer to understand the impact media violence has on the youth within society and how behavior can be influenced and imitated through observational viewing. To comprehend the aim of this study, a mixed methodology of quantitative and qualitative research will be used for the investigation. As part of the quantitative research, quota sampling will be utilized to segregate the population as the research focuses only on the youth populace, ages 18-24. Additionally, a convenience random sample survey on survey monkey will be utilized to gain the data of a small sample group consisting of 20 individuals. The questions asked will help gain personal perspectives of individuals and assist in understanding, if, why and how types of media cause aggression and behavioral changes in the youth. Furthermore, other factors such as socioeconomic status, environmental, and education aspects are considered within the sample survey as they can determine whether individual’s behaviors can be Just affected by these factors or also linked in with media violence. Research portrayed suggested that lower socioeconomic status societies on average watch more television, thus presents higher dosage of media violence (Cantor, J, 2000). This project will gather information from key individuals based on their own The qualitative approach will be applied to analyses numerous types of literature and data to support the research proposal. This project will conduct a detailed investigation into the study conducted by Anderson, C Dill, K (2000) on their examination of violent video games affecting aggressive behaviors in the laboratory and in life. Anderson, C Dill, K (2000) study the ways in which media shapes individual behaviors based on aggression-related variables and personal characteristics. The myriad types of literature will be thoroughly examined and compared with the quantitative study to finalist an outcome. Research design The research aims to understand whether young individuals within today’s society are influenced and dominated by the violence portrayed within the media, which can lead to changed behaviors. The first task is to select the participants for this convenient random sample survey. This research will target the youth populace; ages 18-24, with 20 participants both male and female conveniently selected to participate. All participant’s will remain anonymous and will take place through survey monkey in order for subjects to easily access the sample survey. The second task is to provide the link to the youth, ages 18-24, for the sample survey to be completed. The link will be conveniently published on the University of Western Sydney Backbone page to gain anonymous participants. The surveys will consist of liker- type and open-ended questions to make the survey in-depth, yet ass to complete. A third task to be undertaken whilst the surveys are being completed is to conduct the qualitative approach within this study. This methodology will be utilized to examine myriad types of literature to gather and compare data to gain an outcome. The data gathered will be analyses through statistical and text analysis of the methodology developed. Through survey monkey, the data is manually analyses from the participant surveys completed, in which, an excel sheet will be created and the results conveyed within the survey will be investigated further to help validate the proposal. Ethical procedures Ethical considerations are essential when undertaking research methodology. Issues such as confidentially, anonymity and the right to withdrawal from the study are significant principles that are put in place for this study, for the respect of the participants. Informed consent is the cornerstone for research and an important aspect provided to potential subjects. This study will provide the participants with an information sheet detailing all the information about the study being conducted in a clear and brief manner. Along with the information sheet, a consent form will be sent voluntarily and to be free from coercion. For ethical reasons, subjects will only be allowed to complete this study if they are 18 years of age; this will be clearly stated in the consent form to avoid any issues further down the track. The process of the consent form will also imply that subjects have to right to withdrawal from the study at any point. The right to confidentiality is essential in research (Polite Beck, 2010) but may be conflicting in this proposed study. This is due to the facts that the surveys will be asking for their own perspectives, opinions and experiences, which ay lead to break confidentiality. However, participant’s identities will remain protected from the public. Through the research methodology for this study, there is a myriad of benefits and risks that may be presented. With the online surveys being the primary form of data collection for this study, this has allowed for a cost-effective and efficient way of collecting information from a population. However, concerns arise with this form of surveying, as it is not secure in preventing under age individuals from completing it. In addition, a risk that may influence this study is the act that not all youths are the same and what may disturb one individual may have no effect on another. Likewise, development concerns, emotional maturity and relationships with others seem to be a much more significant role in determining if an individual is at risk for violent behavior (Media smart, 2012). How to cite Violence in media, Papers

Autumn by John Keats Essay Example For Students

Autumn by John Keats Essay Upon first glance, John Keatss To Autumn may seem like a deeply descriptive poem about changing of seasons. However, a closer look will reveal that through his apostrophe, he speaks of autumn as a person to convey his perception of change and death and rebirth. Stanza 1 has a regular pattern of 10 syllables on each line and the rhyme goes; A, B, A, B, C, D, E, D, C, C, E. The tone is relaxed and definitely has a positive effect by describing and fill all fruit with ripeness to the core Keats tends to describe everything fresh and ripe Keatss begins to describe the cycle of progression. Mention of the maturing sun of the assumed morning as maturing would be associated with the sun rising reflects through to the early stages of life. This continues to line 6 where to fill all fruit with ripeness to the core most nearly represents an individual after adolescent stages, ready to tackle the world, or, in a fruits sense, ready to be consumed. Until they think warm days will never cease deems the consummation of the unripe youth for summer has oer-brimmed their clammy cells line eleven. Keats personifies the maturing sun as a close bosomed friend of seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness In the second stanza there is a regular rhythm with ten syllables on each line with a couple of exceptions of 9s the rhyme goes as follows A, B, A,B, C, D, E, C, D, D, E. and again the tone is very relaxed and soft Keats introduces visual imagery combined with the personification of autumn. The season now takes on an identity as a human but more likely to be a woman autumnsitting careless on a granary floor/thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind The hands of lifes clock continue to move with the comparison of the harvests half reaped furrow with the downward spiral of aging. This is further apparent in line twenty-one or by a cider press with patient look contrasts the busy nature of the first stanza such as an older person is at peace and more sedate than in his younger years. It is now when thou watchest the last oozing hours by hours as death is approaching. The senses of hearing are tapped into the third and final stanza of To Autumn beginning with Where are the songs of spring? Ay, where are they?. The proposal of this question parallels the unfolding of death when one questions where his youth went, regretting wasted moments. However, Keats states, think not of them, thou hast thy music too line twenty four almost commanding to reflect, but not regret, as death is just as beautiful as life itself. Even as in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn line twenty seven, seconds later, full grown lambs loud bleat throughout hilly bourn line thirty one therefore offering that although death is the end, it only

Legal Bases free essay sample

The Philippine Constitutions 1. 1935 CONST. Article XIV Section 5 2. 1973 CONST. Article XV Section 8 (1-8) 3. 1987 CONST. Article XIV Sections 1-5(5) THE 1987 CONSTITUTIONS Article XIV Sections 1-5(5) Section 1. The state shall protect and promote the right of all the citizens to quality education at all levels and shall take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all. Section 2. The state shall: 1. Establish, maintain and support a complete, adequate and integrated system of education relevant to theneeds of the people and society; Establish and maintain s system of free public education in the elementary and high school levels. Without Limiting the natural rights of parents to rear their children, elementary education is compulsory for all children of school age; 3. Establish and maintain a system of scholarship grants, student loan programs, subsidies and other incentives which shall be available to deserving students in both public and private schools, especially to the underprivileged; 4. Encourage non- formal, informal and indigenous learning system, as well as self- learning independent andout-of-school study programs particularly those that respond to community needs; and 5. We will write a custom essay sample on Legal Bases or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Provide adult citizens, the disabled and out-of-school youth with training in civics, vocational efficiency and other skills. Section 3. 1. All educational institutions shall include the study of the Constitution as part of the curricula. 2. They shall inculcate patriotism and nationalism, foster love of humanity, respect for human rights, appreciation of the role of national heroes in the historical development of the country, teach the rights and Subject to conditions prescribed by law, all grants endowments, donations or contributions used actually, directly and exclusively for educational purposes shall be exempt from tax. Section 5. 1. The State shall take into account regional and sectoral needs and conditions and shall encourage local planning in the development of educational policies and programs. 2. Academic freedom shall be enjoyed in all institutions of higher learning. 3. Every citizen has a right to select a profession or course of study, subject to fair, reasonable and equitable admission and academic requirements. The State shall enhance the right of teachers to professional advancement. Non- teaching academic and non- academic personnel shall enjoy the protection of the State. 5. The State shall assign the highest budgetary priority to education and ensure that teaching will attract and retain its rightful share of the best available talents through adequate remuneration and other means of job satisfaction and fulfillment. BATAS PAMBANSA BLG. 232(THE EDUCATION ACT OF 1982) This was an act providing for the establishment and maintenance of an integrated system of education. In accordance with Section 2, this act shall apply to and govern both formal and non- formal system in public and private schools in all levels of the entire educational system. As provided by this Act, the national development goals are as follows: 1. To achieve and maintain an accelerating rate of economic development and social progress. 2. To assure the maximum participation of all the people in the attainment and enjoyment of the benefits of such growth; and 3. To achieve and strengthen national unity and consciousness and preserve, develop and promote desirable  cultural, moral and spiritual values in changing world. It is also stated in Section3 that: The State shall promote the right of every individual to relevant quality education, regardless of sex, age, creed socio- economic status, physical and mental conditions, racial or ethnic origin, political or other affiliation. The State shall therefore promote and maintain equality of access to education as well as the benefit s of education by all its citizens. RIGHTS OF STUDENTS IN SCHOOL (Section 9) 1. The right to receive competent instruction, relevant quality education. The right to freely choose their field of study subject to the existing curricula and continue their course up to graduation, except in cases of academic deficiency or violations of disciplinary regulations. 3. The right to school guidance and counseling services. 4. The right to access to his owns school records and the confidentiality of it. 5. The right to issuance of official certificates, diplomas, transcript of records, grades, transfer credentials and other similar document within thirty days from request. 6. The right to publish a student newspaper and invite resource persons during symposia, assemblies and other  activities. The right to free expression of opinions and suggestions and to effective channels of communication with appropriate academic and administrative bodies of the school or institutions. 8. The right to form or establish, join and participate in organizations and societies recognized by the school†¦, or to form, join and maintain organizations and societies for purposes not contrary to law. 9. The right to be free from involuntary contributions except those approved by their organizations and societies. the appropriate government office in case of public school personnel and the school authorities concerned in case of private school personnel, when charged in administrative, civil and/or criminal proceedings, by parties other than the school authorities concerned, for actions committed directly in the lawful discharged of professional duties and/or in defense of school policies. 3. Establish join, maintain labor organization of their choice to promote their welfare and defend their interest.

Child Labor and the British Industrial Revolution essays

Child Labor and the British Industrial Revolution essays The British Industrial Revolution (1770-1850) changed the social and economic life of Britain by establishing a completely new way of living and working. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, Britain was poor, though not without some economic surplus; relatively stagnant, though not completely static; and based on agriculture as its main economic activity (Deane 18). Because of the use of new food crops, such as the potato, and a decline in epidemic diseases, many of the major countries, including Britain, experienced tremendous population growth during this time. The population growth demanded the production of more goods, which soon brought about the development of factories. The technological advancements led to a new model of production and social relationships. The cottage workers were rapidly induced to long work hours in the large brick factories which resembled the stone poorhouses. Eventually, the cottage workers became unwilling to work in the factories which caused factory a nd mill owners to focus on abandoned and pauper children as their labor supply. These children were infants to 16 years old, averaging 4 feet 11 inches or less, and working 13 or 14 hours a day, six days a week (Spartacus). Child labor during this time became a significant topic for reformers, supporters, parents, children and the government. During the Industrial Revolution, there were many factory reformers who were against using child labor. John Fielden was born in Todmorden to Joshua Fielden, owner of a small textile business. From an early age, he had been taught to be concerned about the wellbeing and safety of employees of the company. In 1816, he and his brothers petitioned Parliament for factory legislation that protected child workers. Fielden founded a religious social reform group called the Todmorden Unitarian Society in 1822. He also advocated the introduction of a minimum wage and believed long work hours had a severe effect on worker...

A Survey on Fingerprint Mathing Algorithms

A Survey on Fingerprint Mathing Algorithms In this networked world, users store their significant and less significant data over internet (cloud). Once data is ported to public Internet, security issues pop-up. To address the security issues, the present day technologies include traditional user-id and password mechanism and a onetime password (two-factor authentication). In addition to that, using the inexpensive scanners built into smartphones, fingerprint authentication is incorporated for improved security for data communication between the cloud user and the cloud provider. The age old image processing technique is revisited for processing the fingerprint of the user and matching against the stored images with the central cloud server during the initial registration process. In this paper, various fingerprint matching algorithms are studied and analyzed. Two important areas are addressed in fingerprint matching process: fingerprint verification fingerprint identification. The former compares two fingerprint and says they are similar or not; while the latter searches a database to identify the fingerprint image which is fed in by the user. Based on the survey on different matching algorithms, a novel method is proposed. Keywords: image processing, biometrics, fingerprint matching, cloud, security Introduction Automated fingerprint recognition systems have been deployed in a wide variety of application domains ranging from forensics to mobile phones. Designing algorithms for extracting salient features from fingerprints and matching them is still a challenging and important pattern recognition problem. This is due to the large intra-class variability and large inter-class similarity in fingerprint patterns. The factors responsible for intra-class variations are a) displacement or rotation between different acquisitions; b) partial overlap, especially in sensors of small area; c) non linear distortion, due to skin plasticity and differences in pressure against the sensor; d) pressure and skin condition, due to permanent or temporary factors (cuts, dirt, humidity, etc.); e) noise in the sensor (for example, residues from previous acquisitions); f) feature extraction errors. Fingerprint identification system may be either a verification system or an identification system depending on the context of the application. A verification system authenticates a person’s identity by comparing the captured fingerprint with her/his previously enrolled fingerprint reference template. An identification system recognizes an individual by searching the entire enrolment template database for a match. The fingerprint feature extraction and matching algorithms are usually quite similar for both fingerprint verification and identification problems. Fingerprint – Identification and Verification using Minutiae Based Matching Algorithms Fingerprints are commonly used to identify an individual. Research also suggests that fingerprints may provide information about future diseases an individual may be at risk for developing. Fingerprints are graphical flow-like ridges in palm of a human. Fingerprint is captured digitally using a fingerprint scanner. Fingerprints are commonly used to identify an individual. Research also suggests that fingerprints may provide information about future diseases an individual may be at risk for developing. Fingerprints are graphical flow-like ridges in palm of a human, that are unique amongst human beings. The hardware, fingerprint scanners are becoming low cost devices. The two most important ridge characteristics are ridge ending and ridge bifurcation. Automatic fingerprint identification systems (AFIS) have been widely used. An AFIS consists of two phases: offline and online. In the off-line phase, a fingerprint is acquired, enhanced using different algorithms, where features of the fingerprint are extracted and stored in a database as a template. In the on-line phase, a fingerprint is acquired, enhanced and features of the fingerprint are extracted, fed to a matching model and matched against template models in the database as depicted in the figure 1. Among all the biometric techniques, fingerprint-based identification is the most common used method which has been successfully used in numerous applications. Comparing to other biometric techniques, the advantages of fingerprint-based identification are as detailed below: The minutiae details of individual ridges and furrows are permanent and unchanging. The fingerprint is easily captured using low cost fingerprint scanner. Fingerprint is unique for every person. So it can be used to form multiple passwords to improve the security of the systems. Flow of Diagram representing the Fingerprint Identification The above figure clearly explains the simple methodology of fingerprint verification. In off-line process, the fingerprint of all users are captured and stored in a database. Before storing the raw or original image, the image is enhanced. The fingerprint image when captured for the first time may contain unwanted data ie noise. Because our hands being the most used part of our body may contain wetness, dry, oily or grease; and these images may be treated as noise while capturing the original fingerprint. And hence, to remove the noise, image enhancement techniques like adaptive filtering and adaptive thresholding. Original Fingerprint Image. The standard form factor for the image size is 0.5 to 1.25 inches square and 500 dots per inch. In the above original image, the process of adaptive filtering and thresholding are carried out. The redundancy of parallel ridges is a useful characteristic in image enhancement process. Though there may be discontinuities in a particular ridge, we can determine the flow by applying adaptive, matched filter. This filter is applied to every pixel in the image and the incorrect ridges are removed by applying matched filter. Thereby, the noise is removed and the enhanced image is shown in figure 3. Enhanced Fingerprint Image The enhanced image undergoes feature extraction process wherein: binarization and thinning take place. All fingerprint images do not share same contrast properties as the force applied while pressing may vary for each instance. Hence, the contrast variation is removed by this binarization process using local adaptive thresholding. Thinning is a feature extraction process where the width of the ridges is reduced down to a single pixel. The resultant feature extraction is shown below figure 4. Feature Extraction After Binarization and Thinning The process of minutiae extraction is done as the last step in feature extraction and then the final image is stored in database. Operating upon the thinned image, the minutiae are straightforward to detect and the endings are found at the termination points of thin lines. Bifurcations are found at the junctions of three lines. Feature attributes are determined for each valid minutia found. These consist of: ridge ending, the (x,y) location, and the direction of the ending bifurcation. Although minutia type is usually determined and stored, many fingerprint matching systems do not use this information because discrimination of one from the other is often difficult. The result of the feature extraction stage is what is called a minutia template, as shown in figure 5. This is a list of minutiae with accompanying attribute values. An approximate range on the number of minutiae found at this stage is from 10 to 100. If each minutia is stored with type (1 bit), location (9 bits each for x and y), and direction (8 bits), then each will require 27 bits say 4 bytes and the template will require up to 400 bytes. It is not uncommon to see template lengths of 1024 bytes. Minutiae Template Now, the online process starts. At the verification stage, the template from the claimant fingerprint is compared against that of the enrollee fingerprint. This is done usually by comparing neighborhoods of nearby minutiae for similarity. A single neighborhood may consist of three or more nearby minutiae. Each of these is located at a certain distance and relative orientation from each other. Furthermore, each minutia has its own attributes of type (if it is used) and minutia direction, which are also compared. If comparison indicates only small differences between the neighborhood in the enrollee fingerprint and that in the claimant fingerprint, then these neighborhoods are said to match. This is done exhaustively for all combinations of neighborhoods and if enough similarities are found, then the fingerprints are said to match. Template matching can be visualized as graph matching that is comparing the shapes of graphs joining fingerprint minutiae. A 1:1 matching cannot be carried out and we use a threshold value – termed as match score, usually a number ranging between 0 and 1. Higher the value, higher is the match. Figure 6: Few- Matching in online process Minutiae are extracted from the two fingerprints and stored as sets of points in the two dimensional plane. Minutia-based matching consists of finding the alignment between the template and the input minutiae feature sets, that results in the maximum number of minutiae pairs. 1) Weiguo Sheng et.al In their paper, the authors proposed a memetic fingerprint matching algorithm that aimed to identify optimal global matching between two sets of minutiae. The minutiae local feature representation called the minutiae descriptor that had information about the orientation field sampled in a circular pattern around the minutiae was used by them in the first stage. In the second stage, a genetic algorithm(GA) with a local improvement operator was used to effectively design an efficient algorithm for the minutiae point pattern matching problem. The local improvement operator utilized the nearest neighbor relationship to assign a binary correspondence at each step. Matching function based on the product rule was used for fitness computation. Experimental results over four fingerprint databases confirmed that the memetic fingerprint matching algorithm(MFMA) was reliable. 2) Kai Cao et al A penalized quadratic model to deal with the non-linear distortion in fingerprint matching was presented by the above authors. A fingerprint was represented using minutiae and points sampled at a constant interval on each valid ridge. Similarity between minutiae was estimated by the minutia orientation descriptor based on its neighboring ridge sampling points. Greedy matching algorithm was adopted to establish initial correspondences between minutiae pairs. The proposed algorithm used these correspondences to select landmarks or points to calculate the quadratic model parameters. The input fingerprint is warped according to the quadratic model, and compared with the template to obtain the final similarity score. The algorithm was evaluated on a fingerprint database consisting of 800 fingerprint images. 3) Peng Shi et.al In their paper, the authors proposed a novel fingerprint matching algorithm based on minutiae sets combined with the global statistical features. The two global statistical features of fingerprint image used in their algorithm were mean ridge width and the normalized quality estimation of the whole image. The fingerprint image was enhanced based on the orientation field map. The mean ridge width and the quality estimation of the whole image were got during the enhancement process. Minutiae were extracted on the thinned ridge map to form the minutiae set of the input fingerprint. The algorithm used to estimate the mean ridge width of fingerprint, was based on the block-level on non-overlap windows in fingerprint image. Four databases were used to compute the matching performance of the algorithm. 4) Sharat Chikkerur et.al The local neighborhood of each minutiae was defined by a representation called K-plet that is invariant under translation and rotation. The local structural relationship of the K-plet was encoded in the form of a graph wherein each minutiae was represented by a vertex and each neighboring minutiae by a directed graph. Dynamic programming algorithm was used to match the local neighborhood. A Coupled Breadth First Search algorithm was proposed to consolidate all the local matches between the two fingerprints. The performance of the matching algorithm was evaluated on a database consisting of 800 images. 5) Jin Qi and Yang Sheng Wang They proposed a minutiae-based fingerprint matching method. They defined a novel minutiae feature vector that integrated the minutiae details of the fingerprint with the orientation field information that was invariant to rotation and translation. It captured information on ridge-flow pattern. A triangular match method that was robust to non-linear deformation was used. The orientation field and minutiae were combined to determine the matching score. They evaluated the performance of their algorithm on a public domain collection of 800 fingerprint images. 6) Atanu Chatterjee et.al Another method for fingerprint identification and verification by minutiae feature extraction was proposed by the above authors. Minutiae were extracted from the thinned ridges from the fingerprint images and these feature matrices were applied as input data set to the Artificial Neural Network. Post processing was done to remove false minutia. Back propagation algorithm was used to train the network. Extracted features of the input fingerprint were verified with stored trained weights and threshold values. Experiments were conducted on 160 fingerprint images and the proposed system exhibited an accuracy of 95%. 7) Tsai Yang Jea et.al A flow network-based fingerprint matching technique for partial fingerprints was introduced by. For each minutiae along with its two nearest neighbors, a feature vector was generated which was used for the matching process. Minimum cost flow (MCF) problem algorithm was used to find the one-to-one correspondence between the feature vectors and the list of possibly matched features was obtained. A two hidden layer fully connected Neural Network was proposed to calculate the similarity score. Their experiments on two fingerprint databases showed that using neural networks for generating similarity scores improved accuracy. 8) Marius Tico et.al They have proposed a method of fingerprint matching based on a novel representation for the minutiae. The proposed minutiae representation incorporated ridge orientation information in a circular region, describing the appearance of the fingerprint pattern around the minutiae. Average Fingerprint Ridge period was evaluated to select the sampling points around the minutiae. Matching algorithm was based on point pattern matching. To recover the geometric transformation between the two fingerprint impressions, a registration stage was included. The Greedy algorithm was used to construct a set of corresponding minutiae. Experiments were conducted on two public domain collections of fingerprint images and were found to achieve good performance. 9) Asker M.Bazen et. al A minutiae matching method using a local and global matching stage was presented by Asker M. Bazen et. Al. Their elastic matching algorithm estimated the non-linear transformation model in two stages. The local matching algorithm compared each minutia neighborhood in the test fingerprint to each minutia neighborhood in the template fingerprints. Least square algorithm was used to align the two structures to obtain a list of corresponding minutia pairs. Global transformation was done to optimally register the two fingerprints that represented the elastic deformations by a thin-plate spline (TPS) model. The TPS model describes the transformed coordinates independently as a function of the original coordinates. Local and global alignments were used to determine the matching score. Conclusion This paper, we presented Fingerprint identification and verification based on minutiae based matching. The original fingerprint captures is pre-processed and the pattern is stored in the database for verification and identification. The pre-processing of the original fingerprint involves image binarization, ridge thinning, and noise removal. Fingerprint Recognition using Minutiae Score Matching method is used for matching the minutiae points. Usually a technique called minutiae matching is used to be able to handle automatic fingerprint recognition with a computer system. In this literature review, nine papers are explored and an insight is obtained regarding different methods. References: [1] Weiguo Sheng, Gareth Howells, Michael Fairhurst, and Farzin Deravi,(2007), â€Å"A Memetic Fingerprint Matching Algorithm†, IEEE Transactions On Information Forensics And Security. [2] Aparecido Nilceu Marana and Anil K. Jain, (2005), â€Å"Ridge-Based Fingerprint Matching Using Hough Transform†, IEEE Computer Graphics and Image Processing, 18th Brazilian Symposium pp. 112-119. [3] Koichi Ito, Ayumi Morita, Takafumi Aoki, Tatsuo Higuchi, Hiroshi Nakajima, and Koji Kobayashi, (2005), â€Å"A Fingerprint Recognition Algorithm using Phase-Based Image Matching for low quality fingerprints†, IEEE International Conference on Image Processing, Vol. 2, pp. 33-36. [4] Kai Cao, Yang, X., Tao, X., Zhang, Y., Tian, J. ,(2009), â€Å"A novel matching algorithm for distorted fingerprints based on penalized quadratic model†, IEEE 3rd International Conference on Biometrics: Theory, Applications, and Systems, pp. 1-5. [5] Anil K. Jain and Jianjiang Feng, (2011), â€Å"Latent Fingerprint Matching†, IEEE Transactions On Pattern Analysis And Machine Intelligence, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 88-100. [6] Unsang Park, Sharath Pankanti, A. K. Jain, (2008), â€Å"Fingerprint Verification Using SIFT Features†, SPIE Defense and Security Symposium, Orlando, Florida, pp. 69440K-69440K. [7] Anil Jain, Yi Chen, and Meltem Demirkus, (2007), â€Å"Pores and Ridges: High-Resolution Fingerprint Matching Using Level 3 Features†, IEEE Transactions On Pattern Analysis And Machine Intelligence, Vol. 29, No.1, pp. 15-27. [8] Mayank Vatsa, Richa Singh, Afzel Noore, Max M. Houck, (2008), â€Å"Quality-augmented fusion of level-2 and level-3 fingerprint information using DSm theory†, Sciencedirect International Journal of Approximate Reasoning 50, no. 1, pp. 51–61. [9] Haiyun Xu, Raymond N. J. Veldhuis, Asker M. Bazen, Tom A. M. Kevenaar, Ton A. H. M. Akkermans and Berk Gokberk ,(2009), â€Å"Fingerprint Verification Using Spectral Minutiae Representations†,IEEE Transactions On Information Forensics And Security, Vol. 4, No. 3,pp. 397-409. [10] Mayank Vatsa, Richa Singh, Afzel Noore and Sanjay K. Singh ,(2009),â€Å"Combining Pores and Ridges with Minutiae for Improved Fingerprint Verification†, Elsevier, Signal Processing 89, pp.2676–2685. [11] Jiang Li, Sergey Tulyakov and Venu Govindaraju, (2007), â€Å"Verifying Fingerprint Match by Local Correlation Methods†, First IEEE International Conference on Biometrics: Theory, Applications,and Systems, pp.1-5. [12] Xinjian Chen, Jie Tian, Xin Yang, and Yangyang Zhang, (2006), â€Å"An Algorithm for Distorted Fingerprint Matching Based on Local Triangle Feature Set†, IEEE Transactions On Information Forensics And Security, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 169-177. [13] Peng Shi, Jie Tian, Qi Su, and Xin Yang, (2007), â€Å"A Novel Fingerprint Matching Algorithm Based on Minutiae and Global Statistical Features†, First IEEE International Conference on Biometrics: Theory, Applications, and Systems, pp. 1-6. [14] Qijun Zhao, David Zhang, Lei Zhang and Nan Luo, (2010), â€Å"High resolution partial fingerprint alignment using pore–valley descriptors†, Pattern Recognition, Volume 43 Issue 3, pp. 1050- 1061. [15] Liu Wei-Chao and Guo Hong-tao ,(2014), † Occluded Fingerprint Recognition Algorithm Based on Multi Association Features Match â€Å", Journal Of Multimedia, Vol. 9, No. 7, pp. 910—917 [16] Asker M. Bazen, Gerben T.B. Verwaaijen, Sabih H. Gerez, Leo P.J. Veelenturf and Berend Jan van der Zwaag, (2000), A correlation-based fingerprint verification system , ProRISC 2000 Workshop

The necessary analysis to decide whether to invest in Target Case Study

The necessary analysis to decide whether to invest in Target - Case Study Example Target Plc is not a new name in the retail, food and ingredients industry and is considered analogous to quality and premium branding. The company is a diversified conglomerate having five major strategic segments which are sugar, agriculture, retail, grocery and ingredients. As per the latest financial statements of the company for the annual year 2012, the company is operating in almost all of the major cities of the United States. The vision and mission statement of the company is to achieve strong leadership in the course of business which is sustainable and long lasting. The company always strives to provide quality products to the individuals and other consumers and to become a necessary brand in the people’s day to day active life. Financial Highlight [Annual report Target, 2012 , Pg2] As apparent form the above financial highlight, the company presents a strong financial outlook and appears to be a lucrative company for the investors to invest in. The company has vario us revenue centers through which the company generates most of its revenues. During the financial year 2012, the highest earning revenue center for the company was heath, beauty and households which constituted about 25% of the total revenue of the company. Evaluation of American Retail Market The growth in the American retail market for the financial year 2012 saw an escalation as compared to the previous financial years. During every quarter of the financial year, the retail industry in USA experienced a growth of 1%. The analysts are of the view that this particular growth in the industry is a definite positive sign if it is compared to the last two financial years. The retailing conditions in the past two years remained quite adverse for the companies but now the situation appears fruitful and lucrative for the companies. A Comparison of financial year 2012 with the financial year of 2011 presents that fact that the volume of sales in the retail industry in USA increased by 2.7 percent. Changes in reported retail sales between August 2011 and August 2012 standard reporting periods (by size of business)       Pre-dominantly food Non-specialized pre-dominantly non-food Textile, clothing and footwear House-hold goods Other non-food Non-store retailing Pre-dominantly automotive fuel Total All Retailing including automotive fuel                               increase 107 32 138 72 375 64 23 811 All decrease 97 33 104 77 306 46 50 713    Total 204 65 242 149 681 110 73 1524                               Large increase 66 32 110 42 158 30 n.a. 438 decrease 56 33 73 47 107 19 n.a. 335    Total 122 65 183 89 265 49 n.a. 773 Small increase 41 n.a. 28 30 217 34 23 373 and decrease 41 n.a. 31 30 199 27 50 378 medium Total 82 n.a. 59 60 416 61 73 751 [Ons.gov (1999) Retail Sales: August, 2012] With respect to the sports merchandise business, there were certain hardships that were faced by the retailer. During the year 201 2, costs of both cotton and fuel increased, particularly of fuel which resulted in an escalation in the manufacturing cost of the merchandise. Target has in place an import team which constantly monitors the fluctuation in prices of cotton. For the purpose of reducing the cost of fuel, the retailers are now acquiring the help from the