Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) What are They and Why Do We Need Them - The Writers For Hire

STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES (SOPS): WHAT ARE THEY AND WHY DO WE NEED THEM? Just about any business that relies on procedures being done the same way, by different employees, can benefit from having well written SOPs. Companies or organizations that must ensure customer safety are fairly obvious examples of the need for standard operating procedures. Health care organizations, automobile manufacturers, and government entities like the FDA and FAA could not safely function without precise procedures in place. But, what about a company whose mission is a little less life-or-death than the examples above? Those companies can benefit, too. Have you ever been in line at a retail store when the cashier does not know how to process a return and issue a refund? Think about the inefficiency and potential for chaos that might exist without a consistent method for product returns. This is where an SOP can save the day. The employees were likely trained on how to process returns, but without standard operating procedures to remove ambiguity, you are at the mercy of the cashier’s memory of that particular training session. What Are Standard Operating Procedures? Basically, SOPs are step-by-step directions that guide employees through a specific process. By adhering to the procedure, employees’ work products are reliably consistent. The IBM Knowledge Center identifies an SOP this way: â€Å"A standard operating procedure is a set of instructions that describes all the relevant steps and activities of a process or procedure. Standard operating procedures are essential to an organization to deliver consistent, measured, high-quality responses to complex and unpredictable events.† The National Institutes of Health’s US National Library of Medicine references the â€Å"Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle† for effective SOPs. This flowchart demonstrates the steps you can take when creating your own procedures. Leave Nothing to Chance SOPs spell it out without ambiguity, and take out the guesswork to reduce the risk of human error. And, if they are written with input from people who actually perform that particular task, they become a practical guide for everyone to follow. The Penn State Extension, part of the College of Agricultural Sciences, gives this example of SOPs for a dairy farm. The step-by-step instructions, shown in a graphical format, clearly explain how to correctly feed the cows. This is the level of detail you need to be effective. Types of SOPs Different industries need different types of procedures. What works for the retail store is probably irrelevant to what a pharmacy needs to keep things running safely and efficiently. Here are some of the various types of SOPs that may benefit your company: How Your Company Can Benefit from SOPs 1. Save time and money It’s simple: SOPs create efficiency because employees don’t have to re-do mistakes. Established procedures take the questions out of the situation, and spell it out, plainly and clearly. The result is a much higher likelihood of employees doing it right the first time. 2. Create Consistency/Quality Control In any sort of mass-production operation, consistency and quality control can mean the difference in producing products that work, and producing products that don’t work. Products can’t be a little different each time; they each need to be the same, every time. 3. Create a safer workplace Employees need to know that their daily work will not put their health or life in danger. Safety SOPs should include a discussion of the risks of a particular task, what measures employees should take to minimize those risks, and what to do if an injury occurs. A scientific laboratory is a great example of a workplace where safety is paramount.   The Stanford University Office of Environmental Health and Safety offers guidance for protecting workers in a lab environment. Check out their General Use SOP for Carcinogens to see an actual document that works. 4. Simplify training for employees New-employee training will run much more smoothly if each manager refers to the same source. Rather than managers simply telling new hires how to do something, they can refer to the written SOP for that task. Not only will that ensure managers teach the task the same way, each time, but it gives the employee confidence in their job by having something to refer back to, after training is complete. 5. Protect company standards into the future Every office has an employee who is known as the expert on how things work. Certain people just know the way things are done, and have the experience to help others who may be learning the task for the first time. Resist the temptation to rely on that employee to keep everyone on the same page. That reliance may keep things running efficiently for a while, but what happens if that employee leaves the company? Without written SOPs, all of that knowledge exits the building with them. 6. Help with employee performance assessment When it’s time for performance reviews, a clearly defined SOP can be a valuable assessment tool. Written standards give employees something to work toward, and give managers a way to fairly conduct evaluations. Without something concrete, evaluations become less quantifiable and rely more on the manager’s opinion, which is likely biased. In the Houston Chronicle’s article â€Å"Standardization for Increased Productivity Efficiency,† journalist Morgan Rush discusses how SOPs can assist with this process: â€Å"Once standards have been set for low, average and high performance, employees can be evaluated for their adherence to these standards. Identifying a consistent low performer may not necessarily be cause for penalties, but you may direct additional training and resources the employee to help boost productivity.† 7. Provide a basis for company expansion If your company is looking to expand to an additional location, open a new branch, etc., SOPs are critical to making sure that each location does things the same way. Whatever your operational procedures are, each employee should have a written standard that is the same across the entire company. Creating procedures also allows you to compare productivity between locations. Let’s Debunk a Common Myth: SOPs will NOT eliminate creativity in the workplace Consultant Brad Power, in an article for Harvard Business Review , says â€Å"Most people think standard operating procedures are a strait jacket that limits their flexibility. Yet in our increasingly complex world of work, with so many possible decisions and steps, clever use of standards can liberate.† He gives an example from the Cleveland Clinic marketing department. Because the hospital has a single marketing communications team that works across all medical service lines, they needed to create an overarching brand identity. Employees within the various departments feared that would restrict their ability to creatively market their individual service. What they found was that it actually gave them more freedom. Chief Marketing Officer for the Cleveland Clinic, Paul Matsen, said â€Å"it actually creates freedom within a structure. For example, we are building a development platform for the iPad, and defining how it will interact with our electronic medical record system. When we resolve that for this first application, then our people will be able to create content for other applications using the same standard platform. Once you set up the standards and platforms, you can do more, and you can do it well.† By creating a procedure to ensure operational consistency, Cleveland Clinic knew that everyone would start from the same platform, and that it was one that worked. From there, employees were given freedom to come up with creative solutions that met their particular customer needs. Management had the assurance that the iPad platform would stay consistent across applications, and employees had some autonomy and creative license. It was a win for all involved. Get Started†¦But Do it Right When you determine your company can benefit from uniform procedures, how do you write them? It’s critically important to understand that if the SOPs are not well written, they may be more harmful than not having them at all. Just like making any sort of corporate change, using new SOPs will take time to learn and to put into practice. If done correctly, it will be well worth it down the road. There Will Be Growing Pains While the benefits will ultimately outweigh the costs, companies will likely experience some initial setbacks when implementing new SOPs. The expenses of dedicating employee time to create the procedures, and the potential for a decline in productivity as employees re-learn how to do things are common challenges. Don’t let them deter you. And, remember that even the best procedures need to evolve and grow with the company. Don’t be afraid of re-visiting the documents periodically to determine if they are still working. If you identify problems, it’s time to revise your SOPs.

Eusmilus - Facts and Figures

Eusmilus - Facts and Figures Name: Eusmilus (Greek for early saber); pronounced you-SMILE-us Habitat: Plains of North America and western Europe Historical Epoch: Early Oligocene (30 million years ago) Size and Weight: About six feet long and 200-300 pounds Diet: Meat Distinguishing Characteristics: Six-inch-long canines; weak jaw muscles About Eusmilus Even though its technically classified as a false saber-toothed cat, Eusmilus had truly gigantic canines for its size, which at six inches or so were almost as long as its entire skull (when they werent in use, this cat kept its big teeth cozy and warm in specially adapted pouches on its lower jaw, a trait it shared with the distantly related Thylacosmilus). However, Eusmilus also had comparatively weak jaw muscleswith its huge canines, it didnt need to inflict a powerful biteand it was strangely lacking in supplementary teeth, sporting a relatively paltry two dozen or so. What this indicates is that Eusmilus hunted in traditional saber-tooth style, lying in wait in the low branches of trees, jumping and digging its lethal canines into unsuspecting prey, and then idling its time as its dinner bled to death. Technically, Eusmilus is classified as a nimravid cat, meaning it was closely related to the contemporary Nimravuswith which it competed for prey in early Oligocene Europe and North America, along with yet a third nimravid, Hoplophoneus. In case youre wondering how all of these big-toothed cats could have hunted for megafauna mammals without getting in each others way, the fact is that they didnt: one Nimravus skull bears tooth marks that exactly match the size and shape of Eusmilus canines (however, this particular individual healed from its wounds and lived to hunt another day). We even have evidence for cannibalism, or at least intra-species combat, among saber-toothed cats: another identified Nimravus skull is embedded with the canines of a fellow pack member!

Spanish Verbs Oír and Escuchar

Spanish Verbs Oà ­r and Escuchar The differences between oà ­r and escuchar are essentially the same as the differences between to hear and to listen to. While there is some overlap in how the verbs are used, oà ­r generally refers to the simple act of hearing, and escuchar involves the listeners response to what is heard. Using Or Some typical uses of oà ­r as referring to the sensory act of hearing: No puedo oà ­r a nadie con mi nuevo telà ©fono. (I cant hear anybody with my brand-new telephone.)Cuando era pequeà ±a oà ­ la expresià ³n muchas veces. (When I was little I heard the expression often.) ¿Dà ³nde has estado encerrado si no has oà ­do estas canciones? (Where have you been penned up if you havent heard these songs?)Finalmente, oiremos el Concierto para piano no. 21 en do mayor. (Finally, we will hear the Concerto for Piano No. 21 in C Major.) It is common to use oà ­r when referring to activities such as listening to the radio or attending a concert, although escuchar can also be used: Yo oà ­a la radio antes de irme a la cama. (I was listening to the radio before going to bed.)Compramos boletos y fuimos a oà ­r un concierto de jazz. (We bought tickets and went to a jazz concert.) The imperative forms oye, oiga, oà ­d (rare in Latin America), and oigan are sometimes used to call attention to what youre saying. Translations vary with the context. Pues oye  ¿que quieres que te diga? (Well then, what do you want me to tell you?)Oiga, creo no es una buena idea. (Hey, I dont think its a good idea.) Using Escuchar Like listen, escuchar carries the idea of paying attention or of heeding advice. Note that escuchar is not typically followed by a preposition in the way that listen is nearly always followed by to. The exception is that when listening to a person the personal a is used. Escucharon el ruido de un avià ³n. (They heard the noise of an airplane.)Mis padres escuchaban mucho a Gipsy Kings. (My parents listened a lot to the Gipsy Kings.)Debes escuchar a tus clientes con ms atencià ³n. (You should listen more attentively to your customers.)Todos escuchamos el consejo que le da a Miguel. (We all listened to the advice that he gave to Miguel.)Te recomiendo que te escuches la entrevista completa. (I recommend that you listen to the complete interview.)Escuchà © a mi profesora de yoga y entendà ­ lo que me querà ­a decir. (I listened to my yoga professor and understood what she wanted to tell me.) The reflexive form, escuchar, is often used to indicate that something was or is heard. La voz del hombre se escuchaba ms fuerte y clara. (The voice of the man was heard loud and clear.)Ahora Spotify te dir quà © mà ºsica se escucha en otros paà ­ses. (Now Spotify will tell you what music is heard in other countries.) There are a few situations in which either oà ­r or escuchar can be used with little difference in meaning. Primarily, either can be used when hearing or listening to requests: Oyà ³/escuchà ³ las sà ºplicas de su amigo. (She heard/listened to the pleas of her friend.) Related Words Nouns related to oà ­r include el oà ­do, the sense of hearing, and la oà ­da, the act of hearing. Oà ­ble is an adjective meaning audible. In some regions, un escucho is a secret conveyed by a whisper, while escuchà ³n is an adjective referring to someone who is overly curious about what other people are saying. Conjugation The conjugation of oà ­r is highly irregular in spelling and pronunciation. Escuchar is conjugated regularly, following the pattern of hablar and other regular -ar verbs. Etymology Oà ­r comes from the Latin audire and is related to words such as oyez (a word used in courts to gain attention), audio and audience. It may be distantly related to hear, possibly coming from same Indo-European root. Escuchar comes from the Latin verb auscultare. It is related to the English verb to auscultate, a medical term for using a stethoscope to listen to the internal sounds of the body.

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals - Essay Example 34). To the extent that drugs are used to treat individuals to get better, it would contradict the health practitioners’ code of ethics to prepare the individual for death. Further, this case is strengthened by the reality a case for execution cannot be substantiated after realization of insanity while in prison. The initial crime committed by Singleton is supposed to take charge in this case and he should be given the antipsychotic drugs ready for execution. The essential claim premise would dictate that the claims of such an argument be supported by a plausible claim within the rubric of written laws. The claim made on the execution of Singleton is strictly supported by the written laws in the constitution (LaFave, & LaFave, 2006, p. 91). Given the fact that he committed the crime insane conditions, he is presumed to have had full knowledge of the implications of his actions at the time. In this perspective, a case for insanity that happened thereafter cannot be used to reverse a stipulated law to relinquish the previous charges. Singleton should be restored to his sane sense to realize the events of the proceedings to his execution. From the fact that the law recognizes equity to all citizens, pardoning Singleton overruns the rights of the innocent individual whose life was cut short by S ingleton’s action. Actually, Singleton did not consider his actions even when he was sane, and a medical antipsychotic would only restore his senses to understand the charges as he faces the consequences of his actions. An objection to the above argument would be based on the health practitioner’s duty to protect life. Given that the intentions of any actions dictate whether the deed is good or bad, it would be plausible to assume that treating Singleton with the intention of execution after recovery is bad. Medicine should be administered with the sole intentions of getting individuals better and relieving them of pain to realize better lives. Further, it is

The Metamorphosis Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Metamorphosis Paper - Essay Example Right at the beginning of the story, prior to his physical metamorphosis, Gregor already appears to be alienated in some way. This initial suggestion of alienation surrounds his external environment; his work, social life and to some extent, his family. He reflects over the monotony of his life in terms of his job, a monotony he endures due to the pressure of having to support his family financially. He appears to have no friends or social life to speak of, and his family seem to take his support for granted. Even the duty of caring for his family seems to be something strange to him, as he hardly realizes it when he loses this duty by the end. After establishing Gregors alienation from his societal environment and duties, we begin to see the process of deeper alienation from his family, his immediate environment, his emotions and his body. When he wakes to find his body changed, he is so disconnected from it he hides away from those closest to him. As his family become aware of the situation, they cease speaking to him altogether, eventually determining that the animal they see before them is not Gregor, â€Å"You must just try to get rid of the idea that this is Gregor. The fact that we’ve believed it for so long is the root of all our trouble†, (Kafka part 3). After the metamorphosis Gregor undergoes total alienation from his house and environment. Symbolic of this, Gregor cannot even view his street through the window and hence he slowly becomes a foreigner in his own family and home, without a productive role to play, as his family treat him with neglect and revulsion, as suggested by Kafka (1). The metamorphosis Gregor undergoes, changes him from an active social being to a useless and non active person within his family and society. More importantly, it represents a physical manifestation of the alienation process he has

Cracks Detection using Digital Image Processing

Cracks Detection using Digital Image Processing Cracks detection using digital image processing   in MATLAB Usually visual investigation methods have been used for inspection and monitoring of concrete infrastructures. Huge and tall structure such as cables bridges, high rising towers, dams and industrial power plant are known to have an inaccessible area and limitations in inspection field due to its geometry structure which is often dangerous , labor -intensive and involves lot of risks. So, with rapid development in technology and its uses, researcher   are trying to overcome these problem. Every now and then some research is going regarding these problem and trying to overcome it. So, I also have come with the idea of using digital Image processing   in mat lab to detect the cracks in such structure. Literature   Review:- As   of todays world, digital Image processing is getting better and better   and used in all areas of science. With   the help of digital image processing tools, various image processing can be applied to detects the cracks in structure. Not only in structures but also for   bridges, towers, power plant and also in structure   like steel ,roads, fatigues and sewer pipes. A number of research studies have been conducted regarding   detection of cracks by using Digital   image processing .(1)The author of Korea Institute   combines UAV technology in the process of recent breakthroughs and digital image analysis techniques   to detect cracks in structure. In this study, the crack detection program with digital image analysis techniques was developed in order to the crack and width of the structure automatically. The developed program attempted to perform the image analysis for crack detection with Morphology method based morphological hydraulics and specially designed Morphological link for crack(Morph link-C)algorithm for S/W development was applied to the program. The digital image was acquired in order to evaluate UAV applicability and performance and field application of the crack detecting program after targeting the bridges in common use. Comparing with the measured values in order to verify reliability of the new structural inspecting system for application in this study, it is verified that the accuracy above a certain level is secured. Also, The below three core technologies shall be considered to develop the technology possible to detect cracks and calculate crack width of large structure through the digital image analysis and to put this technology to practical use. Optimal digital image acquisition and filming equipment configuration Crack analysis technique of a number of mass digital images Combining technique of multiple images that different positions are captured And also the author from china(2)  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   proposed   inspection system for measuring cracks in concrete structure and providing objective crack data to be used in safety assessment. The system consists of the mobile robot system and crack detecting system. The mobile robot system is controlled to keep a constant distance from the wall to acquire image data with a CCD camera on scanning along the wall. The crack detecting system extracts crack information from the acquired image using image processing. To improve accuracy of crack recognition, the geometric properties and patterns of cracks in a structure were applied to image processing. Also,   an inspection system using an image process, which can be a solution to the problems of crack detection in concrete structure, slow rate, subjectivity, and the inefficiency in managing data. Also, the system ensures the validity and possibility based on the experiment in the indoor structure, road tunnel, and subway tunnel. However, an erroneous recognition of a crack as non-crack and vice versa prevails. Therefore, the system is semi automated to get rid of wrong recognition of non crack as crack, and to identify crack by a graph search method using the user-based input of the start point and end-point of crack. In order for a crack inspection system to develop into an expert system, there needs to be further study of the characteristics of cracks and the algorithm must move towards complete automation. Similarly,(3) The Komatsu Engineering Company has developed and commercialized an image acquisition system that can acquire the images of road and tunnel lining by using a laser-scanning device .(4) The Railway Technical Research Institute in Japan developed an image acquisition system of railway tunnel lining by using line CCD cameras. (5)Road ware Group Inc., Canada commercialized a system that acquires an image of the road with a CCD camera, an ultrasonic sensor, and a gyro-sensor with a speed of80km/h and a resolution of 3~4cm [7]. Those systems are useful to collect data of cracks, leakage, scale, and spall but only by using the image acquisition, and not through automatic defect detection. The algorithm for crack detection and measurement is required for fully automatic inspection system. It is necessary, therefore, to develop the automatic crack detection and measurement algorithm to obtain both fast inspection and objective crack data. From the author of University of central Florida , paper describes the mechanism of non-destructive bridge inspection methods using HRDI and HDV digital crack detection and IR thermograph   technology and the benefits of the combination thereof. The feasibility of applying these technologies for in-service bridge inspections are demonstrated and evaluated in the State of Florida under  the university-government-industry collaboration research program. The purpose of the joint research effort is to utilize the innovative technology for more efficient bridge inspection programs and bridge management in Florida by developing a new quantitative performance measure for long term bridge monitoring, such as crack ratio and delaminated area, and the use of objective data resulting in more efficient and scientific bridge inspection database and management system. With the quantity of roadway structure assets increasing annually, coupled with concurrent increasing rates of deteriorati on being experienced by many of the existing structures, bridge owners need to find new and creative ways to ensure the structural safety of their bridges while they all too often face problems of reduced budgets and dedicated bridge inspection resources. Currently, the determination of bridge condition ratings in  many countries is generally subjective depending on individual inspectors knowledge and experience, as well as varying field conditions. For the evaluation and documentation of concrete deterioration (cracks, efflorescence, delaminating, spalls, etc.) and changes overtime, the current practice of visual inspections can be lacking in accuracy and completeness, as well as time consuming and costly if road closures and access equipment  are required for the inspection. Using the proposed new non-destructive technologies, bridge engineers can quickly and efficiently obtain objective current bridge condition information that has traditionally been obtained by more time con suming and more subjective close-up visual inspections and sounding tests. The digital output of these NDE inspection techniques improves on-site inspection safety and objectivity and contributes to improved inspector efficiency by significantly reducing the amount of inspection time in the field. However, it must be noted that while most of the NDE or sensor technologies do offer new efficiencies and/or additional objective assessment results to the bridge inspection process, they are not a substitute for inspectors conducting on-site specific follow-up and detailed structure investigations. While improved efficiencies in bridge inspection methods resulting from the application of the above NDE technologies bring significant benefits to the overall bridge inspection process, they are not a substitute for the continued need for sound and experienced engineering judgment. The authors believe that by offering new and improved inspection technologies to experienced bridge engineers and inspectors, bridge inspection programs will be strengthened through enhanced inspection data and will be more objective, consistent, scientific, and efficient. Based on the nature of calculation   and development of technology approach to process image, Image Processing Technique for crack detection can be divided into several categories. Each image consists of pixel which are represented by its integer values from 0 to 255. Based on these pixel values Operation technique conducted is accomplished in the spatial domain. However , desirable outcome cannot be obtained in spatial domain. So in this case ,usually Fourier or wavelet transformation is performed on the image. Again, the outcome image is processed in frequency domain. After wise, to reconstruct the image in spatial domain   an inverse transformation is applied. Another procedure to detect cracks using image is based on the training algorithm to solve a problem. In this process ,some technique directly deal with image without any training while other first construct   a database which is divided into two subsets, the subset with crack image and subset with un-cracked images. For each subset ,a decision line is defined to represent the characteristics index, such as shape factor. With the help of these image , a program is used which is capable of comparing new images with decision line and assign it to the subset where it belongs. Especially Neural network and clustering   method are widely used among the popular training techniques to learn the decision line. Basically, two approaches have been applied to detect cracks from the images.   Using dye solution and the other is without using dye solution to the surface material. Usually ,In this dye based detection process, a particular dye solution such as fluorescent is injected on the surface of concrete or other material. Depending on the solution type   and color special or ordinary cameras are used to scan the surface of the material. These dye based method were used in past for detection of mini or micro cracks in different types of material like concrete ,ceramics tiles etc and also any kind of structure. The other approach for finding crack   is based on the color image without using dye solution. Since these method is less costly and less time consuming it is currently more popular. A number of research studies have been conducted regarding the surface   crack detection technique in different material. One of these attempts can be seen in work of Kittler at al. They proposed an idea of training based algorithm to get samples of the region, which are void of defects in the spatial domain. In this process, the new pictures were analyzed for the presence of any defects and also to find the location of the defects. In this method, clustering technique and morphological operation were performed to analyze the images. The experimental output of this method is shown in the figure below.   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Figure . Crack detection on ceramic tiles (Kittler, Marik, et al. 1994) Image processing technique has been used for inspection of cement based materials for micro cracks and other micro defects (Ammouchea at al 2000). In this process, a red dye solution is used with the surface. So the dye solution can penetrate the porous region of the surface while the excessive solution are   removed by polishing the sample surface. Once the dye solution is injected, a color image of 256 x 265 was taken from camera of the surface. The following operation is carried out on the taken image. O(x,y) = max { R(x,y)0 G(x,y) } Where, O(x,y) à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Intensity of the output gray level image at (x,y) co-ordinates R(x,y) à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Intensity of the original image at (x,y) co-ordinate in red region. G(x,y) à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Intensity of the original image at (x,y) co-ordinate in gray region. Afterward, using a thresholding value, the gray level   image is converted to the binary image. Then, using entropy maximization method value of the thresholding is evaluated. This method is based on maximization of the entropy function à ¡Ã‚ ´Ã¢â‚¬Å" of gray level pixel. à ¡Ã‚ ´Ã¢â‚¬Å"(k)=   [  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   ] where, Pà ¡Ã‚ µÃ‚ ¢ is the probability of a given pixel to have an intensity of i (Pà ¡Ã‚ µÃ‚ ¢=Nà ¡Ã‚ µÃ‚ ¢/N)   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Ni Number of pixel having i intensity   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   N Total no of pixel   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Wà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ W1 Lower and upper bound of the probability to find pixel intensity And also computed as:-   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   k Based on the threshold to obtain binary image, a lower bound thresholding operation is performed. Then , using two morphological operations of eroding and rebuilding the binary image is post processed. This operation is conducted to eliminate noisy and small objects (i.e. Less than 10 pixel) from the image. However, second series of operation are needed to obtain the shape factors which are used to decide whether the pixels in a binary image are associated with cracks or other defects. To do so, a dimensionless packing density index Fc is defined. Fc = (2-4) Where, Aab=Object area Aac= Area of its circumscribed circle The value of Fc is equal to 1 for a circle and tends towards 0 for a very elongated object.Fig below shows results obtained in this method Fig. Also, Abdel-Ghader (_Abdel,Osama and kelly 2003) proposed an idea to find cracks on concrete surface using image processing technique .In this work, they implemented   and compared 4 cracks detection method   which include Fast   Haar Transform( FHT), Fast Fourier Transform( FFT),Sobel edge detector   and canny edge detection. They used 50   concrete image from a bridge deck of which 25 pictures with cracks and 25 pictures without cracks for   their research .From their research ,they concluded that FHT was more efficient and effective method rather than other 3 method. Basically, FHT, a simplified   Wavelet transformation decomposes the image into low and high frequency components, the mother Wavelet à ¡Ã‚ ´Ã‚ ª(t) of Haar function and scaling à ¡Ã‚ ´Ã¢â‚¬Å"(t) are defined as: à ¡Ã‚ ´Ã‚ ª(t) =   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Relationship between Haar wavelet and scaling function and scaling function with itself is shown below   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   à ¡Ã‚ ´Ã‚ ª(t)=)   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   (t)=) In this process, to detect crack the three quadrants of the first level transformation i.e. 2,34 are passed through a high pass filter to reduce nose and   combined together to get magnitude of images. To decide whether crack exists or not, an empirical thresholding value is used. Fast   Fourier transfer motion (FFT) are used to derive the frequency component of the image intensity. The transformation and   the inverse transformation were carried out using: F(u, v)= F(x, y)= The canny edge detection is a convolution filter to detect filter noise from the image while processing. In addition, thresholding value is defined to see if a pixel belongs to an edge region or not. The   Sobel edge detection is also a convolution filter defined for vertical and horizontal edges in images. This edge detection technique helps to detect the change in the image intensity in neighboring pixels. Filtering was done using convolution operation for each filter separated. Then, two filtered images is combined together at each location and result is a gray level image with enhanced edges. G x =   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   G y= Default value of thresholding is defined as  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   where Another attempt to detect cracks in concrete specimen using optical fluorescent microscopy can be found in   this research( Litorowicz   2006). To continue these processes, a fluorescent dye solution   was used. The specimens were then light using Nikon optical microscope at a magnification of 10 times. The images were captured using a Sony DXC 350 P video camera. Then, image pro Plus analysis software was introduced to perform the image processing operation. Then, using segmentation method, the RGB images is connected into a binary image. The threshold level was calculated based on the effect of the dye solution to the surface. To distinguish cracks pattern, several parameters were introduced: Angle between the vertical axis and the major axis of the ellipse covering   the connected component Area of each connected component Dendritic   length, which is the total length of all the one-pixel thick branches.   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   4. Area ratio (i.e. of the area of the counted object and the entire area of the active image.)   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   5.Radius ratio (i.e. The ratio of maximum radius and minimum radius for each connected component)   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   6. Roundness using perimeter 2/4à Ã¢â€š ¬2 x Area. Intelligent crack detection on the concrete crack image using neural network was proposed in Moon and Kim paper (2011). This research was conducted to develop an automatic detection system that analyze the concrete surface and visualize the crack more effectively and efficiently. Basically this research consists of two parts: Image processing and image classification. First stage include image processing tools like filtering, subtraction and morphological operation in order to extract cracks from the background image (i.e. data such as the number of pixel and the ratio of major axis to minor axis for pixel area. While in second step, existences of cracks are identified using neural network to automate the image classification. In this process, 105 images (cracked and non-cracked) of concrete were used as a trained image including every kind of cracks. Following steps were carried out for image processing : Fig. Image processing steps   to detect cracks First step in image processing is to convert RGB image into gray level intensity image followed by a subtraction transformation as follows: à °Ã‚ Ã‚ Ã‚ ¼Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚  (à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¥Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ- ) = à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ… ¡Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ… ½Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¥ {à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ… ¡Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬ËœÃƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ-à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ… ½Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬ ºÃƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¥Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ-à °Ã‚ Ã…“-à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬ ¦Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ- [à °Ã‚ Ã‚ Ã‚ ¼(à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¥Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ- ) à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ à °Ã‚ Ã‚ Ã‚ ¼(à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¥Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ- )], 0} Where ,I(xi)   and I(xj) are   the intensity pixel of xi and X j respectively.   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Ri Neighborhood of that pixel xà ¡Ã‚ µÃ‚ ¢ . When the subtraction is negative number, it is represented as zero. Once improved subtraction method is used, threshold value is defined to detect cracks more effectively. The thresholding operation is given as: à °Ã‚ Ã‚ Ã‚ ¼Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã‚ Ã‚ ¼Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚  (à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¥, à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¦) = {2 ÃÆ'- à °Ã‚ Ã‚ Ã‚ ¼Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚  (à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¥, à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¦) à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ-à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬Å" à °Ã‚ Ã‚ Ã‚ ¼Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚   > à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬ ¡   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   à °Ã‚ Ã‚ Ã‚ ¼Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚  (à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¥, à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¦)  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ-à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬Å" à °Ã‚ Ã‚ Ã‚ ¼Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚   à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬ ¡ To further smooth the image, a Gaussian law pass filter was applied. Then, an input gray level image is converted to a binary image where the values are represented as 0 or 1. Using Otsus   method or valley emphasis method, the threshold value was selected. Morphological image processing including closing and   labeling were applied to the image to extract image component such as shape of crack. The optimal parameters and their level associated with above operation are   mentioned below:   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Fig. Parameters and their levels Using Artificial Neural Network (ANN) crack images were distinguished from non-cracked images. Also images were automatically identified as the crack or non-cracked images using ANN. The output value was represented either cracked (value 1) or non-cracked (value 2). Another example of tracing based image processing technique can be found on Nishikawa research paper (2012). A robust automated image processing method was applied to crack detection on concrete surface. This method consists of two parts: First part consists of automatic construction of a filter for crack detection while the other part consists of noise removal and determination of indistinct cracks using iterative process. Using generic algorithm the part is conducted, where genetic individuals was represented as a tree structure. Using a trained   program, a large number of images were combined and several images filtered were converted into a tree structure. An illustration of tree structure concept is shown below.   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Fig. Construction of Tree structure   with multiple filters(Aoki and Nagao 1999) A combination of generic program was computed to train the program and results were compared to the target image (i.e. image generated by visual inspection. The comparison was between the distinct distributions of brightness between the images. To measure the filter performance the following formula was used. E= Where,    N- No of training images in database K-th target image -Output image -weighted image . -   Brightness of the weighted image in crack region )- brightness of k-th target image at position (i,j) To reduce the false negative result, a superimposition operation using low resolution image was implemented. Figure below shows the algorithm used in above algorithm. { algorithm}

Government Essay

Should wealthy nations be required to share their wealth among poorer nations by providing such things as food and education? Or is it the responsibility of the governments of poorer nations to look after their citizens themselves? What should a government do for a country to become successful? Should money be spent on space exploration? Should rich countries forgive all debts for poor countries? Does foreign aid help donor countries more than the recipients? Should rich countries pay more for environmental damage? Most high level jobs are done by men. Should the government encourage a certain percentage of these jobs to be reserved for women? Should developing countries concentrate on improving industrial skills or should they promote education first? Safety standards are important when building people’s homes. Who should be responsible for enforcing strict building codes – the government or the people who build the homes? Discuss the advantage and disadvantage of giving international aid to poor countries. Should criminals be punished with lengthy jail terms or re-educated and rehabilitated using community service programs for instance, before being reintroduced to society? In most countries disabled people are not catered for adequately, e.g. buildings are often inappropriately designed. Governments rely too heavily on charities and voluntary organizations to provide assistance and funding. What further measures could be taken to assist disabled people? In your opinion should government intervene in the rights of the individual with regard to family planning? The best way to reduce the number of traffic accidents is to make all young drivers complete a safe driving education course before being licensed to drive. Nowadays doctors can become very rich. Maybe they should not focus on profitable activities such as plastic surgery or looking after rich patients and concentrate more on patients health, no matter how rich they are? Does travel help to promote understanding and communication between countries? In your opinion what factors contribute to a good movie? Are famous people treated unfairly by the media ? Should they be given more privacy, or is the price of their fame an invasion into their private lives? Is animal testing necessary? Some businesses now say that no one can smoke cigarettes in any of their offices. Some governments have banned smoking in all public places. Do you agree or disagree? Give reasons. To what extent is the use of animals in scientific research acceptable? Human beings do not need to eat meat in order to maintain good health because they can get all their food needs from meatless products and meatless substances. A vegetarian diet is as healthy as a diet containing meat. Argue for or against the opinion above. Forests are the lungs of the earth. Destruction of the world’s forests amounts to death of the world we currently know. To what extent do you agree or disagree? Are our zoos cruel to wild animals? Discuss. Zoos are sometimes seen as necessary but not poor alternatives to a natural environment. Discuss some of the arguments for and/or against keeping animals in zoos. To what extent will migration from the developing world to the developed world become a social and political issue in the 21st century? In Britain, when someone gets old, they often go to live in a home with other old people where there are nurses to look after them. Sometimes the government has to pay for this care. Who should be responsible for our old people? Give reasons. The first car appeared on British roads in 1888. By the year 2000 there may be as many as 29 million vehicles on British roads. Alternative forms of transport should be encouraged and international laws introduced to control car ownership and use. What do you think? The best way to reduce the number of traffic accidents is to make all young drivers complete a safe driving education course before being licensed to drive. News editors decide what to broadcast on TV and what to print in newspapers. What factors do you think influence their decisions? Have we become used to bad news? Would it be better if more good news was reported? TV: could you be without it? Discuss. To what extent will migration from the developing world to the developed world become a social and political issue in the 21st century? The mass media, including TV, radio and newspapers, have great influence in shaping people’s ideas. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement? Give reasons for your answer. Tourism is becoming increasingly important as a source of revenue to many countries but its disadvantages should not be overlooked. What are some of the problems of tourism? The mass media, including TV, radio and newspapers, have great influence in shaping people’s ideas. To what extent do you agree or disagree this statement? Give reasons for your answer Does modern technology make life more convenient, or was life better when technology was simpler? Will modern technology, such as the internet ever replace the book or the written word as the main source of information? We are becoming increasingly dependent on computers. They are used in businesses, hospitals, crime detection and even to fly planes. What things will they be used for in future?.Is this dependence on computers a good thing or should we be more suspicious of their benefits?Use specific details and examples in your answer. In what ways has information technology changed work and working practices in the past 10 years? Technology is making communication easier in today’s world, but at the expense of personal contact as many people choose to work at home in front of a computer screen. What dangers are there for a society which depends on computer screens rather than face-to-face contact for its main means of communication? Will the Internet bring people of the world closer together? The first car appeared on British roads in 1888. By the year 2000 there may be as many as 29 million vehicles on British roads. Alternative forms of transport should be encouraged and international laws introduced to control car ownership and use. What do you think? The mass media, including TV, radio and newspapers, have great influence in shaping people’s ideas. To what extent do you agree or disagree this statement? Give reasons for your answer. Should retirement be compulsory at 65 years of age? Telecommuting’ refers to workers doing their jobs from home for part of each week and communicating with their office using computer technology. Telecommuting is growing in many countries and is expected to be common for most office workers in the coming decades. How do you think society will be affected by the growth of telecommuting? In some countries the average worker is obliged to retire at the age of 50, while in others people can work until they are 65 or 70. Until what age do you think people should be encouraged to remain in paid employment? Give reasons for your answer. To what extent should economic planning be influenced by the need of environmental conservation? Damage of the environment is an inevitable consequence of worldwide improvements in the standard of living. Discuss. The rising levels of congestion and air pollution found in most of the world cities can be attributed directly to the rapidly increasing number of private cars in use. In order to reverse this decline in the quality of life in cities, attempts must be made to encourage people to use their cars less and public transport more. Discuss possible ways to encourage the use of public transport. The threat of nuclear weapons maintains world peace. Nuclear power provides cheap and clean energy. The benefits of nuclear technology far outweigh the disadvantages. Do you agree or disagree? Give reasons for your answer. Education is the single most important factor in the development of a country. Do you agree? What are factors which are related to academic success in high-school students? Do the benefits of study abroad justify the difficulties? What advice would you offer to a prospective student? The idea of going overseas for university study is an exciting prospect for many people. But while it may offer some advantages, it is probably better to stay home because of the difficulties a student inevitably encounters living and studying in a different culture. To what extent do you agree or disagree this statement? Give reasons for your answer. Education is recognized as vital to the future of any society in today’s world. Governments throughout the world should make education compulsory for all children between the ages of 5 and 15. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement? Foreign language instruction should begin in kindergarten. Discuss. Should sports classes be sacrificed in High School so students can concentrate on academic subjects?