Facebook Versus Friendster and Myspace

Stealing Success & Leaving the Unsuccessful Behind: Facebook Facebook, one of the most successful social networking sites up to date, has 500,000,000-users. Facebook found phenomenal success through the mistakes and downfall of fellow competitors, Friendster and MySpace. However, was Facebook’s success due to the downfall of its predecessors? In this paper, we will discuss what makes a social networking website successful, and reveal what Facebook did and what other social networking websites such as Friendster and MySpace, did not do.There are certain properties that will be highlighted later on in the paper that will distinguish the successful social networking websites such as Facebook from the unsuccessful, such as Friendster and MySpace. Social networking websites have five main characteristics. First, social networking websites are user-based where they are built and directed by users themselves. Second, social networking websites are interactive, meaning that they are n ot just a collection of chat rooms and forums anymore. Such websites are filled with network-based gaming applications, allowing individuals to play with one another online.Third, social networking websites are community-driven allowing members to join a group where they all hold common beliefs or hobbies. People are able to find sub-communities of people who share commonalities, such as alumni of a particular high school, or part of a charity organization, or who are just interested in the same things. Fourth, unlike other websites, social networks thrive on relationships. It allows people to build connections, links to one another and allows people to establish themselves toward the center of a network.These websites are also another way for individuals to discover new friends, but it also allows them to reconnect with old friends lost along the way, allowing them access to possible friendships out there. The last characteristic of social networks is the emotional factor. While we bsites are usually designed with the primary function of providing information to the visitor, social networks â€Å"provide users with emotional security and a sense that no matter what happens, their friends are within reach. †To start off, let’s beg the question of what exactly went wrong with Friendster? There isn’t a single reason that explains why Friendster failed, but merely actions Friendster did not take to secure their position as the number one social networking website. First, the more popular Friendster became, the longer it took to load the webpage, sometimes taking as long as 40 seconds. Such technical problems were not issues that could not be solved; however, they felt that such â€Å"technical difficulties proved too pedestrian† for them.Instead of spending hours fixing such problems, the team of Friendster devoted most of its time talking about future investors, potential competitors and new features that would give Friendster a distin ct look. They focused more on the future or rather than the problems of the present; they wanted to run before they could even walk. Secondly, Friendster was a closed system that allowed users to only view the profiles of those on a relatively short chain of acquaintances.As a dating website, it was imperative to be able to find people whom may be suitable for you, but if the viewing of their profile was limited, then the possibility of finding a possible date would be much lower than if Friendster took on a open system approach. As mentioned, most of the problems Friendster faced were technical, but it was their decision to only focus on the next big thing, rather than the simple mechanics that made Friendster possible in the first place.If the team had solved these minor problems, Friendster today could still be a leading social networking website, and possibly have prevented MySpace and/or Facebook from emerging. On these accounts, Friendster is an example of an unsuccessful soci al networking website. Next, MySpace saw phenomenal traffics growth starting in early 2004 and it continued all the way to 2007 even as Facebook entered the scene, but what happened along the way? Similar to Friendster, MySpace faced several technical problems.Firstly, MySpace pages are designed mostly by individuals with little HTML experience causing HTML code to be rarely met leading to accessibility problems for users and freezing up web browsers. Secondly, security is another major problems. There are advertisements that provide links to fake login screens tricking users into entering their information, allowing people access to their page. Another security issue would be of our personal information. There is no privacy setting; therefore f anyone wants to know more about an individual, there are no restrictions on the amount of information they could attain on the individual via MySpace. Lastly, MySpace lost to Facebook simply because there is no sense of privacy with MySpace. MySpace took an opposite approach from Friendster, allowing everyone and anyone to see their profile. Any individual keen on viewing a certain page would be given access whether or not the owner approved or not, rendering owners of MySpace account vulnerable to outside criticism and viewing.The open system caused a lot of security and personal issues creating stalking incidents, violent fights, and gate crashing of parties. These problems were due to the fact that anyone had access to people’s MySpace page, and nothing could be done to prevent limited viewership. Unlike Friendster, MySpace was able to see more success, however, that success was short-lived. And similarly to Friendster, MySpace did not respond to requests to fix their problems, causing them to fall into the category of an unsuccessful social networking website.First Friendster, second MySpace, and lastly Facebook? What makes Facebook a fad, and why has it survived longer than its predecessors? A normal routin e for a majority of the population would be, wake up, check facebook, go to school/work, check facebook again, do work/listen to lecture while checking facebook, and then go home and check facebook once again. On average, it’s been found that people check their Facebook an average of 4 to 5 times a day. There are many reasons why Facebook is so successful, and why Friendster and MySpace failed to see the kind of success Facebook is seeing today.In the next part of the paper, we will see how Facebook overcame the problems Friendster and MySpace encountered, turning what could have been unsuccessful into something immensely successful. As mentioned previously, Friendster and Myspace encountered issues such as technical problems such as the webpage taking up to 40 seconds to load or where it would sometime just fail to load altogether, and additionally, that Friendster was a closed system. Facebook knew these reasons and made sure these were not to be problems.Mark Zuckerberg st ates, â€Å"if the website is even down for a few minutes, people will leave. † As such, till this day, users around the world have not seen Facebook down. Admittedly, there still are a few small technical problems, but users never had to wait more than 10 seconds for a page to load, and if there were problems, they were fixed shortly after. Having downtime would mean that the rate of infection for social networking sites would decrease causing less people to firstly know about the website, and secondly, to be able to spread the ‘infection’ even further.This was a problem that caused the rapid reduction usage rate for Friendster because not only did the rate of infection die down, but also people just simply got annoyed causing the susceptibility of new individuals rather low. Therefore, Facebook made sure there was no downtime and in doing so not only made the rate of infection high, but satisfied million users worldwide causing many to be susceptible to the ide a of being part of the new fad, Facebook. Next, Facebook did not enforce a closed or open system policy.Instead, they allowed users to choose whether they wanted their page visible to people, and allowed users to adjust their security settings. It gave people an option to reveal as much or as little information about themselves, and allowed people to choose who to allow access to their information. This system not only solved Friendster’s closed system, but at the same time, MySpace’s open system and privacy problems. Security was never a real issue for Facebook until they started allowing more applications to be a part of the system.Inevitably, people created software that stole users’ sensitive information. However, shortly after, Facebook reacted by introducing new technology to limit the security breach. Facebook developer Mike Vernal stated, â€Å"We take user privacy seriously. We are dedicated to protecting private user data. † Shortly after the in cident, Facebook rendered all applications that broke such security inactive. Lastly, as with all companies, talent is a major issue.We can talk about how user friendly, or how the technical bits are better in Facebook when compared to Friendster or MySpace, but the truth is that it all boils down to who is in charge. Facebook brought in better viral experts, more efficient programmers, stronger usability coders, more influential public relations teams and faster HR Personal. For instance, Facebook recruited Sheryl Sandberg, the head of sales at Google, Jonathan Helliger, the former engineering head at Walmart, for former CFO and VP of Genetech and Elliot Schrage, the former PR head at Google.After talking about the properties that made Facebook successful, I’d like to talk about the receptivity of Facebook and how it responded to the population because a population can only go crazy for a fad if people are receptive of it. First, we will look at Friendster and how the popula tion responded to it and what made Friendster successful at times. In 2002, Friendster was originally created as a dating website, four years later, Friendster was changed to cater to young teenagers. In 2006, Friendster became very popular in the Philippines because of their games and fun applications that were marketed.Along with that, Friendster started incorporating advertisements on their websites, but more importantly, advertisements that had to do with games. Second, MySpace became popular because it was a means to hear about what was happening to others, keep track of the whereabouts of friends and celebrities and to create and attend parties, all on one page. MySpace was not just a blog, but it was an area for friends to congregate and communicate with one another. Next we will see how Facebook made use of Friendster and MySpace’s strengths, turning it into their success.Facebook made use of the successes of both Friendster and MySpace, and combined everything that w as successful into one platform. Friendster and MySpace were both marketed differently to different kinds of people, and because of this, Facebook knew how to make people more receptive to this new social networking site. Facebook did not just want to target people who wanted to find new friends or dates, or people who wanted to communicate with friends and keep in contact, or simply play games- Facebook wanted it all.And that was exactly what Facebook did, ensuring that people who joined would get the benefits from both Friendster and MySpace altogether. In doing this, Facebook made their website more appealing to a larger population, allowing two things to happen. First, by increasing the number of things an individual can do on the website would make more people susceptible to wanting to be a part of it. Second, a larger population being susceptible would eventually mean a faster rate of infection causing more people to join and be a part of the increasing fad. Facebook was the n ew generation social etworking website that incorporated all the successful elements of its predecessors, and neglected all the unsuccessful elements. In conclusion, we have established that Facebook has attained a successful status due to its 500,000,000 users worldwide. Facebook is successful because of two main reasons. First, the failures of Friendster and MySpace gave Facebook an opening into the market and the opportunity to fix those mistakes caused by the two. Second, Facebook fed off the successes of both Friendster and MySpace, incorporating all the ideas into one website.Therefore, to be successful one must remember to firstly attend to the problems at hand, secondly, find out what makes things work, and lastly, make sure the population is receptive. With this, Facebook not only overtook its predecessors, but conquered their failures, and fed off their successes, becoming the number one social networking website of all time. Citations: Chung, J. (2010) How Facebook won th e battle of the social networks. Innoblog. Retrieved from http://www. innosight. com/blog/564-how-facebook-won-the-battle-of-the-social-networks. tml Dykes, B. (2010) Another day, another instance of Facebook breaching user privacy. Yahoo News. Retrieved from http://news. yahoo. com/s/yblog_upshot/20101018/tc_yblog_upshot/another-day-another-instance-of-facebook-breaching-user-privacy Gary, R. (2006). Wall Flower at the Web Party. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www. nytimes. com/2006/10/15/business/yourmoney/15friend. html? pagewanted=all Rdube. (2010). Characteristics of Social Networks. Retrieved from http://socialnetworking. lovetoknow. com/Characteristics_of_Social_Networks

Opportunity Network Application Essay

The best-selling author and motivational speaker Roger Crawford once said, â€Å"Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional.† I have encountered numerous obstacles in my life, but none were as difficult as learning my second language, English. When I moved to the United States in 2009, I knew no English. Thus, my dad enrolled me into a bilingual school, hoping that I would learn English quickly with the help of Chinese-speaking teachers. Instead, all of my classmates spoke in Chinese and so I learned English much more slowly. By the time I entered high school, my relatively poorer English skills prevented me from doing homework efficiently and making friends. After half a year, my teachers noticed how depressed I was. They helped boost my self-esteem by complimenting my academic achievement. That was when I realized I had strengths, too. I began striving for excellence, because I realized that my dedication and hard work would ultimately be recognized and rewarded. Gradually, more classmates talked to me and I began to feel like I belonged in my community. I am grateful for this challenge as it opened my heart and taught me to be determined. Not only do I like making new friends, I also like challenges. Even though some challenges seem beyond my reach, I demand myself to do the best I can. I don’t always succeed, but I see each challenge as a learning experience. I know that, as a Chinese proverb says, an intense storm is always followed by a beautiful rainbow.

Rotational Dynamics

Rotational Dynamics Abstract Rotational dynamics is the study of the many angular equivalents that exist for vector dynamics, and how they relate to one another. Rotational dynamics lets us view and consider a completely new set of physical applications including those that involve rotational motion. The purpose of this experiment is to investigate the rotational concepts of vector dynamics, and study the relationship between the two quantities by using an Atwood machine, that contains two different masses attached. We used the height (0. Mom) of the Atwood machine, and the average time (2. 5 s) the heavier eight took to hit the bottom, to calculate the acceleration (0. 36 m/SAA) of the Atwood machine. Once the acceleration was obtained, we used it to find the angular acceleration or alpha (2. 12 radar/SAA) and moment of force(torque) of the Atwood machine, in which then we were finally able to calculate the moment of inertia for the Atwood machine. In comparing rotational dynamics a nd linear dynamics to vector dynamics, it varied in the fact that linear dynamics happens only in one direction, while rotational dynamics happens in many different directions, while they are both examples of vector dynamics.Laboratory Partners Divine Kraal James Mulligan Robert Goalless Victoria Parr Introduction The experiment deals with the Rotational Dynamics of an object or the circular motion (rotation) of an object around its axis. Vector dynamics, includes both Rotational and Linear dynamics, which studies how the forces and torques of an object, affect the motion of it. Dynamics is related to Newton's second law of motion, which states that the acceleration of an object produced by a net force is directly proportional to the magnitude of the net force, in the same direction as the net force, and inversely proportional to the mass of the object.This is where the famous law of F=ma, force equals mass times acceleration, which directly deals with Newton's second law of motion. The important part of Newton's second law and how it relates to rotational dynamics and circular motion, is that Newton's second law of rotation is applied directly towards the Atwood machine, which is Just a different form of Newton's second law. This equation for circular motion is: torque=FRR=l(alpha), which is important for helping us understand what forces are acting upon the Atwood machine. It is important to test the formulas because it either refutes or provesNewton's second law of rotation and more importantly helps us discover the moment of inertia and what it really means. Although both rotational and linear dynamics fall under the category of vector dynamics, there is a big difference between the two quantities. Linear dynamics pertains to an object moving in a straight line and contains quantities such as force, mass, displacement, velocity, acceleration and momentum. Rotational dynamics deals with objects that are rotating or moving in a curved path and involves the q uantities such as torque, moment of inertia, angular velocity, angular acceleration, and angular momentum.In this lab we will be incorporating both of these ideas, but mainly focusing on the rotational dynamics in the Atwood Machine. Every value that we discover in the experiment is important for finding the moment of inertia for the Atwood machine, which describes the mass property of an object that describes the torque needed for a specific angular acceleration about an axis of rotation. This value will be discovered by getting the two masses used on the Atwood machine and calculating the weight, then getting the average time it takes for the smaller weight to hit the ground, the height of theAtwood machine, the radius, the circumference, and the mass of the wheel. From these values, you can calculate the velocity, acceleration, angular acceleration, angular velocity, and torque. Lastly, the law of conservation of energy equation is used to find the formulas used to finally obtain the moment of inertia. Once these values are obtained, it is important to understand the rotational dynamics and how it relates to vector dynamics. It is not only important to understand how and why they relate to each other, but to prove or disprove Newton's second law of motion and understand what it means.Purpose The purpose of this experiment is to study the rotational concepts of vector dynamics, and to understand the relationship between them. We will assume the relationships between the two quantities hold to be true, by using an Atwood machine with two different masses attached to discover the moment of inertia for the circular motion. Equipment The equipment used in this experiment is as follows: 1 Atwood machine 1 0. 20 kilogram weight 1 0. 25 kilogram weight 1 scale 1 piece of string 1 stopwatch with 0. 01 accuracy Procedure 1 . Gather all of the equipment for the experiment. 2.Measure the weight of the two masses by using the scale, making sure to measure as accurately as possible. 3. Measure the length of the radius of the wheel on the Atwood machine. Then after obtaining this number, double it to obtain the circumference. 4. After measuring what is need, proceed to set up the Atwood machine properly. Ask the TA for assistance if needed. 5. First start by tying the end of the string to both weights, double knotting to make sure that it is tight. 6. Set the string with the weights attached to the groove of the Atwood machine wheel, making sure that it is properly in place. 7.Then set the lighter mass on the appropriate end of the machine, and hold in place, so that the starting point is at O degrees. 8. Make sure that the stopwatch is ready to start recording time. 9. When both the timer and the weight dropper are ready to start, release the weight and start the time in sync with one another. 10. At the exact time the mass makes contact with the floor, stop the time as accurately and precise as possible. 1 1 . Repeat this process three times, so t hat an average can be obtained of the three run times, making the data a much more accurate representation of the time it takes he weight to hit the ground. 2. Now that the radius, masses, and time are recorded, it is time to perform the calculations of the data. 13. Calculate the velocity, acceleration, angular acceleration, moment of force or torque, and finally moment of inertia. 14. Finally, compare the relationships of the rotational concepts inquired and draw conclusions. Notes and Observations The Atwood machine contained four outer cylinders that stuck out of the wheel, which cause air resistance in rotation, and contribute to the moment of inertia. The timer, was hard to stop at the exact right time when the weight made contact with he floor.Lastly, there was friction of the string on the wheel, when the weight was released and it rubbed on the wheel. Data Mass of the first weight: 250 g=O. Keg Mass of the second weight: egg=O. Keg Weight 1=MGM= 2. 45 N Weight 2=MGM= 1. 96 N Time 1: 2. 20 seconds Time 2: 2. 19 seconds Time 3: 2. 06 seconds Height: 82. 4 CM= 0. 824 m Radius: 17 CM= 0. 17 m Circumference (distance)= 0. 34 m Mass of the wheel= 221. G x 4= egg= 0. Keg 2 x (change in a= (change in 0. 36 urn,'92 a=r x (alpha) alpha= alarm = 2. 12 radar/92 Velocity'=d/t -?0. 58 m/s E(final) E(final) + Work of friction (l)g(change in height)= h + m(2)g(change in height) + h + h law v/r Moment of Inertia= 0. 026 keg x m/SAA summation of . 876 Error Analysis There was error to account for in this lab, which first started with the four cylinders that stuck out of the Atwood machine in a circular pattern. This caused air resistance in which we could not account for. We only measured the weight of the four cylinders for the total weight of the Atwood machine, because the wheel itself was massages in comparison.Even though it accounted for very little error in our experiment, it effected the other numbers that we calculated in our data, making them a little less ac curate. When finding the amount of time it took the heavier weight to make contact with the rubber pad, there was human error in the reaction time of the timer in which we accounted for, making our data more accurate and precise. This is why we averaged all of the values in order to make the times more precise. Lastly, there was error for the friction of the string making contact with the wheel, which we did not account for, because there was no way of accounting for it.The reason why the force f the tension and the weight were not equal to each other was because of this friction force that existed, which we were not able to find. Conclusion Throughout this experiment we examined the circular dynamics of a pendulum when outside act upon it, making the pendulum move in a circular motion. We measured many values, including the period, in order to determine the theoretical and experimental forces acting on the pendulum. From this we were able to draw conclusions about how the experimen tal and theoretical forces relate to each other.We also were able to test Newton's second law of motion determining whether or not t holds to be true. The values that we obtained to get our experimental and theoretical forces started with setting up the cross bar set-up, and attaching the string with the pendulum to the force gauge and obtaining the tension in the string which was 3 Newton's, by reading the off of the gauge, while the pendulum was swinging in a circle. We then measured the mass of the pendulum with a balance scale to be 0. 267 kilograms, which were then able to find the weight to be 2. 63 Newton's.Next we were able to find the length of the string and force gauge attached to the pendulum. Instead of measuring Just the string attached to the pendulum, we also measured the force gauge, because without it our readings would be inaccurate. After placing the wall grid under the pendulum, we received the numeric value of 0. 5 meters of the radius by reading it off of the chart, by measuring from the origin, to the end of the where the pendulum hovered the graph. Then we found the period by using the stopwatch, which was 1. 71 seconds. We started the time at the beginning of the first crossbar and ended it at the same place.With these numbers that we measured we were able o calculate the angle of the string to the crossbars when it was in motion to be 35. 5 degrees. Then we found the constant velocity by using V = nor/t, in which we obtained the value of 1. 84 meters/second. From this we used the formula a = ‘ГËÅ"2/r to calculate the constant acceleration which was 6. 67 m/SAA, which we came to the understanding that the pendulum was moving very quickly, and that it took a while to slow down. From this we used Newton's famous second law, which was F=ma, to solve for the Force that was subjected on the pendulum.We knew that if this value was airily close to our experimental value that his theory would be proven correct. Me modified the equa tion to fit for the situation that was involved, in which we used F = m x ‘ГËÅ"2/r to receive the value of 1. 81 Newton's. Lastly, by using all of the data that we obtained from the experiment, we used the formula Force Experimental= Ft(sin B) to get an experimental force value of 1. 74 Newton's, which lead us to believe we solved for the correct formulas, and followed the procedure for the experiment correctly. Some of the discrepancy in our data comes from the instability of the crossbar set- up.This is because our crossbar holders were not in place correctly, which we couldn't correct, so we obtained our data as accurately as we could. Another error in our data came from the force gauge, in that it didn't stand still when we set the pendulum in motion. We couldn't read exactly what was on the force gauge and it also kept changing numbers, so we had to estimate based on what we saw. Lastly, the error in reaction time of the stopwatch changed our data. Without these erro rs existing, I believe our experimental values would be closer to our theoretical values. Even though this may be true, our values were only different by 0. Newton's, meaning we performed the experiment correctly for the most part. From the results that we obtained from the experiment, we now understand what we would have to do to improve our results in collecting data and obtaining the Experimental Force acting on the pendulum. Our error could have been improved by using a different table with more stability, improving our reaction time, and obtaining multiple values for the force gauge then averaging the results. We figured out that even though there was error in our experimentation, that our values were still pretty accurate Judging by the theoretical value.Theoretical values are based on what is discovered by physicists performing the experiment over and over again. So to use these values and get a number only fractions off, shows that the way we performed our experiment was not very far off. We proved Newton's second law to be true, because by doing the experiment and getting similar values shows that his concept holds to be true. The forces that we used to move the pendulum showed the dynamics of the pendulum, and how this can be used to understand concepts of the planets rotating around the sun in the universe, Just at a much smaller scale.

Profile for Talent Director and Job Description for As Human Resource Essay - 1

Profile for Talent Director and Job Description for As Human Resource Coordinator - Essay Example As a result of the various layers in a bureaucratic organization, the decision making authority actually passes through several layers. Indeed, the characterization of bureaucracy as a â€Å"substitute for leadership† has been on the rise and is seen as the best way of managing organizational communication. Within the bureaucratic organizational structure, information flows from the top management. A good leader in a bureaucratic organization should enhance clear communication channels between them and their employees (Jasper 2). Thus, they the needs of the employees should be well communicated to the leaders. In this regard, effective actions are taken due to the clear information about the employees’ needs. Therefore, staffs’ needs and problems are effectively and efficiently attended to by the director. A democratic leadership style should be enhanced by the director if the needs of the staff are to be addressed properly. In this case, the leaders who exhibit this leadership style involve the staff in the decision making process. Hence the staff is able to participate in giving opinions of how activities should be handled in the organization. In this way, the staffs’ needs are catered for as they are clearly established in the participatory leadership. The director ensures the safety of the staff and consequently their safety of the work place. If the working conditions are not conducive, staff appears to lower their output. Therefore, when the need for safety is facilitated, the staff becomes enthusiastic as they feel that their needs are part of the company’s best interest. Collaborates with the director and other staff in promoting consistency with division that include organizational workflow through the guidance of institutional and departmental practice policies and guidelines The coordinator is expected ton be a team player but often became authoritative

Concealed carry Laws in Illinois vs other states like texas Term Paper

Concealed carry Laws in Illinois vs other states like texas - Term Paper Example Later, as the crime rate in public increased by the assailants, many states passed law for concealed carry to prevent individuals from such criminals. Many States in America have recognized the need of concealed carry and subsequent legislations were made. However, in the state of Illinois the bill of concealed carry was not passed in the Assembly even though there are strong demands from people to legalize concealed carry in the state of Illinois. In Illinois the state had taken ample measures for the control of gun. Jens Ludwig and Philip J. Cook in their work Evaluating gun Policy deal elaborately with Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card which the gun owners need to gain. It prevents the spread of gun among the civilians of the state. The owners can resell their guns to only those with valid FOID card holders. Moreover, they have implemented gun control in the state through radical measures. Thus, it can be seen that the Illinois system â€Å"provides gun owners with an inc entive to verify a buyer’s eligibility status and to resist requests to serve as straw purchaser for friends and family who are ineligible† (Ludwig & Cook, 2003, p. 10). This paper explores a study on the laws prevailing in the state of Illinois regarding the concealed carry, and further, an attempt is made to make a comparative study with other states in America as well. The laws connected with the carrying of firearms in public turned to be a matter of dispute among the states in America. Some states argue for concealed carry and they have made laws in favor of it, whereas the states like Illinois and Wisconsin have objected the notion. To many in Illinois concealed carry seem to a mere dream whereas people in most of the other states are privileged with this freedom. The state laws do not support concealed carry. Among the states 48 support concealed carry. The states that do not allow the citizens to carry a concealed hand gun are Illinois, Wisconsin and the Distric t of Columbia. Even though some relaxations are made in Wisconsin and in the District of Columbia, Illinois stands stubborn in the decision of not permitting the concealed carry. To quote governor of Illinois Pat Quinn’s words: â€Å"If you're going to the grocery store, you bump into somebody accidentally they take offense and they could pull out a loaded handgun to assuage their anger† (Governor to Veto Concealed Weapons? 2011). The growing demand to establish concealed carry from all walks of the people have made the government to think of the issue and grant permission for concealed carry. Some negotiations are on the move with regard to concealed carrying of guns in Illinois. Difference between Illinois and other states: In Illinois the carry of a fire weapon to a public place is prohibited, whereas many other states like Alaska, Arizona, Vermont, etc allow carry the fire arms concealed in public places. The state Arizona has even been exempted from the Federal Gu n Free School Zone Act of 1995.The act was made to prevent the use of gun at the premises of schools in America. As Hanks observes, â€Å"the Gun-Free School Zones Act makes it a federal offense to knowingly possess a firearm in a school zone† (Hanks , 2004, p. 16). Some States like Georgia allow those persons who have the license to carry guns to schools. In Illinois it is considered as a serious crime. The case of Joan E. Bruner versus The People of the state of Illinois gets the conclusion that even if a person has been found in

Education changes life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Education changes life - Essay Example nd uninterested, but through his own liaison with books, Alexie was given an opportunity that many of these people deprived themselves of by grasping the various facets of the world around him, which he discovered in books. By learning to read, Alexie was able to view his world in a new, vibrant light, one that he would have never gotten a chance to see if he had succumbed to the shallow beliefs of others. When Frederick Douglass decided to act on his impulse to learn to read and write, he was living as a slave. The opportunity at receiving an education was not available to him, and even after his mistress promised to teach him to read, she quickly withdrew this promise at the request of her husband. Instead of being deterred, Douglass was even more eager to learn the symbols that were being hidden from him, that had piqued his curiosity. Over the years, Douglass enlisted sympathetic neighborhood boys as his teachers, and with â€Å"their kindly aid . . . I finally succeeded in lear ning to read† (Douglass 101). These newly acquired skills were amazing enough to this boy who had been denied a proper education, but he was able to use them to understand that, despite the color of his skin, he was still human. Among the books that he read, Douglass favored stories and histories about the past and present fate of his people. He detested what he read, and â€Å"often found myself regretting my own existence . . . but for the hope of being free, I have no doubt but that I should have killed myself† (103). Douglass did not like what he was learning, but what he discovered was life-changing: he was entitled to freedom. Malcolm X coaxed himself to learn to read and write while he was in prison, desperate to convey in writing his appreciation to Elijah Muhammad. Furthermore, â€Å"the... This essay demonstrates how important the education is in the life of each person on the examples of Alexie, Douglass, and Malcolm X. Through their unique experiences with learning to control language, write effectively, and read with strong comprehension, Alexie, Douglass, and Malcolm X not only gained a firm understanding of the world around them but also of themselves. However, these had not been their goals when they began the journey of learning the written word. When these men taught themselves to read, they did so for the sake of their upbringing, curiosity, and for freedom. I do not think that these three men expected to discover what they did upon learning to read, which were completely new worlds beyond the ones that had become familiar to them. As their comprehension of the written word strengthened, these men were soon finding truths and answers to the pressing questions of life within the pages of books. By looking at what Alexie, Douglass, and Malcolm X gained from lear ning to read, it can be said that the effect of these skills is discovery, both of the world and of the self. Through their personal experiences, reveal how life-changing education can be. These men, happy as most of them were with life, longed for something more, something that allowed them to explore themselves and their world in a way that offered virtually no boundaries. This ability was discovered in the skills of reading and writing, which let these men learn from others and have the skills required to share their own knowledge and discoveries.

Potato Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Potato - Essay Example I decided to form a yellow Humpty Dumpty, since that was what the peeled potato reminded me of the most. I then proceeded to shape up the potato more like an egg, using a pen knife. After this was done, I took out some colored inks and markers and began marking out the eyes, nose, mouth, stomach area and then colored them with suitable colors. The outline had to be darker than the other colors used in order to be clearly visible. My finished character Humpty Dumpty ended up with an orange shirt, black trousers, a red tie and a white shirt. I also had to pay attention to the back of the character so that nothing was left out. After it was finished, I set it down on a wooden block near my bookshelf and then set about painting the wooden block as well so it looked like a wall. The final step after I finished this was to find a couple of plastic soldiers and a King and Queen as well, to create the well known scene from the popular nursery rhyme (Author Unknown, 2004). Now all that remain ed was for my young nephews to visit, and I would enact the rhyme complete with characterization using the potato as Humpty

Psychology - Self Esteem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Psychology - Self Esteem - Essay Example Materialistic people believe that possessing physical things or property will lead to their satisfaction, content, and happiness. Apparently, studies have found this to be the opposite, such that, with the increase in material wealth, people tend to be unhappier. Caprariello and Reis in their study identified that people who spend more on life-experience events were happier than those acquiring material possessions. Having been identified as two important factors in defining human character, research has also been carried out to identify the correlation between self-esteem and materialism. Some of the findings have identified that there is an inversely proportional relationship between self-esteem and materialism; people with low self-esteem tend to use material possessions to satisfy their self-consciousness and insecurities (Park and Roedder 73–87). People’s self-esteem and need for materialistic possession are the main causes of societal problems. One of the problems associated with individual’s self-esteem and materialistic needs is poor health. As we have identified in earlier statements, individual’s character is mostly defined by their desire to achieve attain happiness, and this can be achieved through high self-esteem or use of material possessions. However, since nothing is perfect in this world, those unable to cope with the realities of life will likely fall victim to various health problems such as anxiety and depression. In a study carried out by Sowislo and Orth, they identified that low self-esteem was strongly related to depression. The results showed that, low self-esteem contributed to depression and depression was found to erode an individual’s self-esteem. The study further identified that low self-esteem was also a determinant for anxiety (Sowislo and Orth 214). People experiencing low self-esteem are known to seek material possessions in order to fulfill their desire for content and

Gender and Consumption Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Gender and Consumption - Essay Example 346). This is what drove gender consumption in the modern era- men were men, and women were women. A mans identity used to be dependent upon his role as a provider and his place of employment this has been the traditional way that has defined the essence of the male identity in the modern society. This is known as the Ã¥ ¡â€"egemonic gender identity(Vigorito & Curry, 1998, p. 137). Moreover, male consumption patterns were not just influenced by the hegemonic gender identity, but, in the post-Civil War era, were influenced by the Puritans (Bocock, 2000, p. 6). The Puritans had an ethic of asceticism, with not too much money spent upon men and boys, and the housing was sparse and not elaborate. The Puritan ethic dictated that British men during this period not spend money on jewelry, fine clothing and eating and drinking well, and these patterns were not economically driven (Bocock, 2000, p. 8). This morphed into contemporary society, in which, it is argued, Henry Ford is responsible for the increase in consumption, for he pioneered the idea that workers should be paid well, which led to more disposable income and, thus, more consumption (Gabriel & Yang, 1995, p. 9). In advanced capitalist societies, Ford made consumption more egalitarian, and less the province of the rich (Gabriel & Yang, 1995, p. 10). Moreover, modern consumption is also driven by the choices that were being offered in modern society, choices that were not offered in earlier societies, before mass production of goods became the norm (Gabriel & Yang, 1995, p. 11). This is illustrated by the British consumption of food as a percentage of their expenditures in the early 20th century, British families spent between one half and two thirds of their income on food; by the middle of the twentieth century, this number was only one third (Gabriel & Yang, 1995, p. 12). This mass production had a side effect as well, one that would influence the post-modern

The Crusades Essay Example for Free

The Crusades Essay The Crusades were a series of wars that were fought by Christians for religious cause, to obtain the Holy Land, and mainly attack upon infidels. â€Å"The Crusades began in 1095 after Seljuk Turks took control of Jerusalem and began restricting access to Christian pilgrims. Pope Urban II called for a Christian army to retake the city from its Muslim rulers† (BBC News). The crusades brought both positive and negative influence to the people, it also brought culture diffusion. People were considered barbaric in countries, people used brutal war-tactics, churches played an important role before, during, and after the Crusades, and it was considers a failure for the Europe. The crusades brought many major changes that affected in the way different cultures spread, mingle, grew, and change through the interaction of ideas. On the history of the civilization the Crusades influenced the wealth and power of the Catholic Church, political matters, and intellectual development. The crusades also prompted the famous voyages of discovery. â€Å"It received stimulus from the voyages of exploration undertaken by England, Spain, and other nations to Africa, Asia, and the New World.† (www.britannica.com) Western Europe benefited from the economic as it got better. The trade increased as European ports were opened in the Middle East. A lot of the shipbuilding and navigational skills increased as people traveled out to seas. New age of exploration was setup due to travel expands. When crusaders returned from the crusades they brought back things that include architecture, herb and spices, and foods such as: sugar cane, lemons, apricots, plums, dates, rhubarb, almonds, shallots, and watermelons. The trade brought clothing materials like silk, cotton, linen, and velvet they also brought goods like pearls and ivory including rouge, henna, and glass mirrors. Town merchants benefited from the increase of trade and loaned money. During this time many schools and universities were built around the monasteries. People had the opportunity to study liberal arts; they could earn special degrees in law, medicine, and theology. The down side of this was that women were not to attend or teach. For them it was important to take care of their house and their children. During the medieval era people in Europe and Muslim countries lived very different life. In Western Europe people primarily focus on the wealth, power, classes, and land. For them education didn’t really matter at the time, and they were satisfied with the current level of knowledge they had. Religious tolerance was another issue in Western Europe. People did not tolerate non-Christians. European had banned the non-Christians from Jerusalem. Western Europe had many reasons for wars. They protected lands from Muslim Turks, because Turks were overtaking Byzantine Empire and threatened its existence. Due to this Pope sent crusaders to â€Å"rescue† the Byzantines and make behold to the Romans for getting them out of trouble. This was more like a religious piety, because the real purpose was to real the Great Schism and put the Eastern Church under the control of the Pope. They had many wars related to trade, and Holy Land. They protected trade routes and flow of the goods and they fought the Muslims for the Holy Land. Western Europe had a lot of church conflicts that were generally between the Roman Catholics and Byzantines. In 1064 the church split when Eastern Church refused to accept papal supremacy called the Great Schism. This cause many problems for both churches and the people. As for the Muslim countries, they were primarily focused on religion unlike Western Europe. Education was quite important in Muslim countries. They spent majority of their time learning and praying. They built universities and vast libraries in major cities. Religious tolerances played an important role in Muslim countries. People were very tolerant of the Jews and Christians. They even allowed Jews to live in Jerusalem in relative peace. Muslims progressed in science, because they translated great works of ancient Greek done by great people like Aristotle. They used this great works to advance in math, physics, medicine, and other science. They developed great amount of medical literature, based on ancient scientists. Just like Western Europe, the Muslim countries had many reasons for wars. Their wars were mainly between the Shiite and Sunni. â€Å"Shiite believed that the true successors to the Prophet are the descendants, called Imams† (Ellis, Esler 311). The compromise group, which forms almost all of the Muslims in the world, is the Sunnis. â€Å"The Sunni believed that inspiration comes from the example of Muhammad as recorded by his early followers† (Ellis, Esler 311). The same reasons between Sunnis and Shiites lead to church conflicts. Muslims developed a lot of traveling methods. Their maps were detailed; they reintroduced three merchant ships to Mediterranean. For them traveling far out to east introduced them to paper instead of parchment. They also allowed people to keep records and made copies of the Quran. During the Medieval Era Europe faced many problems. Corrupted churches were concern with the money, so they appointed church officials based on their ability to pay for the positions. In Muslim countries they were not concerned about thing being corrupted because it didn’t exist in the Islam culture. In Western Europe the feudal system was way far outdated. They had too much individual ruling, and they didn’t adapt to new commerce and trade opportunity. Europe was more concern about protecting their little world. On the other hand Muslims were making constant improvements in commerce and trade. In Europe as towns grew, towns’ people had to pay more taxes to the feudal lords and vassals. As for the Muslim countries they didn’t have anything like that to worry about. As a result Europeans were more barbaric than the Muslims. Crusaders used many brutal war-tactics in attempted to justify those deeds. â€Å"Wherever their ideas came from, it was clear, that to the Franks, any engagement was to subdivide the army into a number of smaller units and to marshal them in the field in a prearranged order.† (www.umich.edu).This war tactic started a regimented order that was necessary when a battle began; this was to help the commander facilitate the control over the army. The crusader’s main military weapon was the mounted knight; this was a serious threat in any confrontation. During the crusades the Church played a big role before, during, and after. The church was a big reason that started many crusades to gain the Holy Land. The church was very important during the middle Ages, because people believed that their souls were the most important things and being a Christian was the only way to save them. The church guided the people with baptism, confession, and absolution. The crusades represented a great power of the church. They took over the Holy Land and held it briefly. The churches was a counter to kings who wanted absolute power.

Detecting Complex Image Data Using Data Mining Techniques

Detecting Complex Image Data Using Data Mining Techniques Detecting complex image data using data mining techniques IMRAN KHAN ABSTRACT The Internet, computer networks and information are vital resources of current information trend and their protection has increased in importance in current existence. The intrusion detection system (IDS) plays a vital role to monitors vulnerabilities in network and generates alerts when found attacks. Today the educational network services increasing day today so that IDS becomes essential for security on internet. The Intrusion data classification and detection process is very complex process in network security. In current network security scenario various types of Intrusion attack are available some are known attack and some are unknown attack. The attack of know Intrusion detection used some well know technique such as signature based technique and rule based technique. In case of unknown Intrusion attack of attack detection is various challenging task. In current trend of Intrusion detection used some data mining technique such as classification and clustering. The process of c lassification improves the process of detection of Intrusion. In this dissertation used graph based technique for Intrusion classification and detection. This dissertation proposes efficient intrusion detection architecture which named IDS using improved ensemble techniques (IDSIET). The IDSIET contains a new improved algorithm of attribute reduction which combines rough set theory and a method of establishing multiple rough classifications and a process of identifying intrusion data. The experimental results illustrate the effectiveness of proposed architecture. Our proposed work is implemented in MATLAB .for implementation purpose write various function and script file for implementation of our proposed architecture. For the test of our hybrid method, we used DARPA KDDCUP99 dataset. This data set is basically set of network intrusion and host intrusion data. This data provided by UCI machine learning website. Proposed method compare with exiting ensemble techniques and generate the improved ensemble technique to getting better result such as detection rate, precision and recall value. Keywords- Intrusion Detection System (IDS), IDSIET, Neural Network, rough set theory, Network Security, MATALAB, KDDCUP99 Dataset. PROPOSED METHODOLOGY AND ARCHITECTURE Comparison with linear scale-space representation While not being used explicitly in SURF, we take interest here in the approximation of Gaussian kernels by box filters to understand the advantages and the limitations of the SURF approach. 3.1 Scale-space representation linear scale space The linear scale-space representation of a real valued image u : R2 7→ R defined on a continuous domain is obtained by a convolution with the Gaussian kernel uÏÆ' := GÏÆ' âˆâ€"u (1) where GÏÆ' is the centered, isotropic and separable 2-D Gaussian kernel with variance ÏÆ'2 ∀(x,y) ∈R2, GÏÆ'(x,y) := 1 2Ï€ÏÆ'2 e−x2+y2 2ÏÆ'2 = gÏÆ'(x)gÏÆ'(y) and gÏÆ'(x) = 1 √2π ·ÃÆ'e− x2 2ÏÆ'2 . (2) The variable ÏÆ' is usually referred to as the scale parameter. Discrete scale space In practice, for the processing of a numerical image u, this continuous filter is approximated using regular sampling, truncation and normalization: ∀i,j ∈J−K,KK GÏÆ'(i,j) = 1 CK GÏÆ'(i,j) , where CK = K Xi,j =−K GÏÆ'(i,j). (3) The scale variable ÏÆ' is also sampled, generally using a power law, as discussed later in  § 3.2. Discrete box space Making use of the aforementioned box filter technique, such a multi-scale representation can be (very roughly) approximated using a box filter with square domain Γ = J−Î ³,ÃŽ ³KÃâ€"J−Î ³,ÃŽ ³K uÃŽ ³ := 1 (2ÃŽ ³ + 1)2 BΓ âˆâ€"u. (4) The question now is how to set the parameter ÃŽ ³ ∈ N to get the best approximation of Gaussian zoom-out. Second moment comparison One may for instance choose to match the second order moment ÏÆ'2 of the 1D Gaussian gÏÆ' and the variance of the corresponding box filter, as suggested by [7]. This leads to the relation ÏÆ'2 ÃŽ ³ = ÃŽ ³ Xi =−Î ³ i2 2ÃŽ ³ + 1 = (2ÃŽ ³ + 1)2 −1 12 = ÃŽ ³(ÃŽ ³ + 1) 3 , (5) where ÏÆ'2 ÃŽ ³ is the variance of the centered 1D box filter with width 2ÃŽ ³ + 1. Thus, for large values of filter size (ÃŽ ³ 1), we get approximately ÏÆ'ÃŽ ³ ≈ ÃŽ ³ √3 ≈ 0.58ÃŽ ³. Since ÃŽ ³ ∈ N takes integer values, ÏÆ'ÃŽ ³and ÏÆ' cannot match exactly in general. Moreover, due to the anisotropy of the box filter in 2D, it is impossible to match the covariance matrices. SURF scale parameter analogy Note that box filters are only used to approximate first and second order of Gaussian derivatives in SURF algorithm, and not to approximate Gaussian filtering like in [7]. However, when considering the approximation of second order Gaussian derivative Dxx GÏÆ'(x,y) = Dxx gÏÆ'(x)Ãâ€"gÏÆ'(y) = 1 ÏÆ'22 ÏÆ'2 −1gÏÆ'(x)Ãâ€"gÏÆ'(y) By these condition order box filter operator DLxx, we can see that the1D Gaussian filter gÏÆ'(y) is approximated by 1D box filter with parameter ÃŽ ³ = L−1 2. The authors of SURF claim that the corresponding Gaussian scale is ÏÆ' = 1.2 3 L ≈ 0.8ÃŽ ³for ÃŽ ³ 1, which is close but dià ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â€š ¬erent to the value given by Formula (5): ÏÆ'ÃŽ ³ ≈ 0.58ÃŽ ³. Other analogies could have been made for scale variables, for instance by considering zero crossing of second order derivative of Gaussians, second moment of Gaussian derivatives, mean-square error minimization, but each one provides dià ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â€š ¬erent relations. In conclusion, defining a relation between the box parameters (L and `(L)) and the Gaussian scale variable ÏÆ' seems quite arbitrary. Visual comparison Figure 8 illustrates the dià ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â€š ¬erence between the linear scale-space representation obtained by Gaussian filtering and the box-space, that is its approximation by box-filters when using relation (5). While being roughly similar, the approximated scale-space exhibits some strong vertical and horizontal artifacts due to the anisotropy and the high frequencies of the box kernels. Again, while it is not being used explicitly in SURF, these artifacts may explain some of the spurious detections of the SURF approach that will be exhibited later on. 3.2 Box-space sampling Because of the dentition of first and second order box filters, the size parameter L cannot be chosen arbitrarily. The sampling values and the corresponding variables used to mimic the linear scale space analysis. The following paragraphs give more detailed explanations. Octave decomposition Alike most multi-scale decomposition approaches (see e.g. [13, 15]), the box-space discretization in SURF relies on dyadic sampling of the scale parameter L. The box length representation is therefore divided into octaves (similarly to SIFT [14, 13]), which are indexed by parameter o ∈{1,2,3,4}, where a new octave is created for every doubling of the kernel size. Note that, in order to save computation time, the filtered image is generally sub-sampled of factor two at every octave, as done for instance by SIFT [14]. As pointed out by the author of SURF [2], sub-sampling is not necessary with the use of box filters, since the computation time complexity does not depends on scale. However, while not being explicitly stated in the original paper [2], but as done in most implementations we have reviewed (for instance, this approximation is used in [3] but not in [5]), we choose to use sub-sampling to speed up the algorithm. More precisely, instead of evaluating the multi-scale operators at each pixel, we use a sampling†step† which depends on the octave level (this sampling is detailed in the next sections). Note that this strategy is consistent with the fact that the number of features is decreasing with respect to scale. Level sampling Each octave is also divided in several levels (indexed here by the parameter i ∈ {1,2,3,4}). In the usual discrete scale space analysis, these levels correspond directly to the desired sampling of the scale variable ÏÆ', which parametrizes the discretized Gaussian kernels GÏÆ' (see definition in Eq. (16)). In SURF, the relation between scale L, octave o and level i variables is L := 2o i + 1 . (6) These values are summarized in Table 2. Note that because of the non-maxima suppression involved in the feature selection, only intermediate levels are actually used to define interest points and local descriptors (i ∈{2,3}). On comparison of the box space and the linear scale space. (Top) Convolution with squared and centered box filters with radii ÃŽ ³ = 5 and ÃŽ ³ = 20 (respectively from left to right). (Middle) Corresponding Gaussian filters with respective scales ÏÆ'5 ≈ 3.16 and ÏÆ'20 ≈ 11.83, according to formula (5). Dià ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â€š ¬erence between Gaussian and Box filters (using a linear transform for visualization). We can see here that the box space is a rough approximation of the Gaussian scale space, that exhibits some artifacts due to the anisotropy and the high frequencies of the box kernels. Scale analogy with linear scale space As discussed before in Section 3.1, we can define a scale analysis variable by analogy with the linear scale space decomposition. In [2], the scale parameter ÏÆ'(L) associated with octave o and level i is obtained by the following relation ÏÆ'(L) := 1.2 3(2o Ãâ€"i + 1) = 0.4L. (7) Since the relation between the scale ÏÆ'(L) of an interest point is linear in the size parameter L of box filters operators, we shall speak indià ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â€š ¬erently of the former or the latter to indicate the scale. Remark A finer scale-space representation could be obtained (i.e. with sub-pixel values of L) using a bilinear interpolation of the image, as suggested in [2]. This is not performed in the proposed implementation. 3.3 Comparison with Gaussian derivative operators 3.3.1 First order operators The first order box filters DL x and DL y defined at scale L are approximations of the first derivatives of Gaussian kernel at the corresponding scale ÏÆ'(L) (see Eq. (7)), respectively corresponding to Dx GÏÆ'(x,y) = − x ÏÆ'2(L) GÏÆ'(x,y) and Dy GÏÆ'(x,y). These operators are used for local feature description, in detailed we compares the first order box filter impulse response with the discretized Gaussian derivative kernel. DL x ÃŽ ´ (Eq. (6)) Dx GÏÆ'(L) Illustration of the discrete derivative operator DL x (defined in Section 2.3.1) and discretization of the Gaussian derivative kernel Dx GÏÆ'(L) when using scale relation ÏÆ'(L) from Eq. (7). 3.3.2 The second order operators Second order dià ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â€š ¬erential operators are computed in the scale-space for the detection of interest points [9, 10]. In the linear scale-space representation, this boils down to the convolution with second derivatives of Gaussian kernels Dxx GÏÆ'(x,y) = 1 ÏÆ'22 ÏÆ'2 −1GÏÆ'(x,y), Dyy GÏÆ', and Dxy GÏÆ'(x,y) = xy ÏÆ'4 GÏÆ'(x,y). (8) In the SURF approach, the convolution with theses kernels are approximated by second order box filters, previously introduced respectively as DL xx, DL yy , and DL xy . A visual comparison between second order derivatives of Gaussian and their analogous with box filters. These operators are required for local feature selection step in section 4. 3.3.3 Scale Normalization According to [12], dià ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â€š ¬erential operators have to be normalized when applied in linear scale space in order to achieve scale invariance detection of local features. More precisely, as it can be seen from Equation (21), the amplitude of the continuous second order Gaussian derivative filters decreases with scale variable ÏÆ' by a factor 1 ÏÆ'2. To balance this eà ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ect, second order operators are usually normalized by ÏÆ'2, so that we get for instance (a) (b) (c) (d) On comparison of second order box filters and second order derivative of Gaussian kernels. (a) operator DL yy; (b) discretizedsecondorderGaussianderivative D2 y GÏÆ'; (c) operator DL xy; (d) discretized second order Gaussian derivative Dxy GÏÆ'; For comparison purpose, we used again the scale relation ÏÆ'(L) from Eq. (7). †¢ the scale-normalized determinant of Hessian operator: DoHÏÆ' (u) :=uÏÆ' −(Dxy uÏÆ')2; (9) †¢ the scale-normalized Laplacian operator: à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  ÃÆ' u := ÏÆ'2à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬   uÏÆ' = ÏÆ'2à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬   GÏÆ' âˆâ€"u = ÏÆ'2(Dxx + Dyy)GÏÆ' âˆâ€"u = ÏÆ'2(Dxx uÏÆ' + Dyy uÏÆ'), (10) where à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  ÃÆ' GÏÆ'(x,y) = ÏÆ'2(Dxx +Dyy)à ¢- ¦GÏÆ'(x,y) =x2+y2 ÏÆ'2 −1GÏÆ'(x,y) is the multi-scale Laplacian of Gaussian. Observe that this operator can be obtained from the Trace of the scalenormalized Hessian matrix. These two operators are widely used in computer vision for feature detection. They are also approximatedinSURF,asdetailedinthenextsections. Asaconsequence, suchascale-normalization is also required with box filters to achieve similar invariance in SURF. To do so, the authors proposed that amplitude of operators DL xx , DL yy , and DL xy should be reweighted so that the l2 norms of normalized operators become constant over scales. The quadratic l2 norm of operators are estimated from the squared Frobenius norm of impulse responses kDL xxk2 2 := kDL xx ÃŽ ´k2 F = kDL yy ÃŽ ´k2 F =1 + 1 + (−1)2L(2L−1) = 6L(2L−1), so that kDL xxk2 2 ≈ 12L2 when L=1, and kDL xyk2 2 := kDL xy ÃŽ ´k2 F =1 + 1 + (−1)2 + (−1)2LÃâ€"L = 4L2. This means that box filters responses should be simply divided by the scale parameter L to achieve scale invariance detection. Interest point detection: In the previous sections, second order operators based on box filters have been introduced. These operators are multi-scale and may be normalized to yield scale invariant response. We will now take interest in their use for multi-scale local feature detection. Once the integral image has been computed, three consecutive steps are performed which are detailed in the following sections: 1. Feature filtering based on a combination of second order box filters; 2. Feature selection is combining non-maxima suppression and thresholding; 3. Scale-space location refinement ( § 4.3) using second order interpolation. This interest point detection task is summarized in Algorithm 1. Step-1 Filtering Image by Integration: Integral image and box filters Let u be the processed digital image defined over the pixel grid à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¦ = [0,N-1]Ãâ€"[0.M-1], where M and N are positive integers. In the following, we only consider quantized gray valued images (taking values in the range [0; 255]), which is the simplest way to achieve robustness to color modifications, such as a white balance correction. The integral image of I for(x,y) à Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¦ is Flow Diagram: Figure3.1: showing the flow chart of the process for object detection Step 2: Point Detection: During the detection step, the local maxima in the box-space of the determinant of Hessian† operator are used to select interest point candidates. These candidates are then validated if the response is above a given threshold. Both the scale and location of these candidates are then refined using quadratic fitting. Typically, a few hundred interest points are detected in a megapixel image. input: image u, integral image U, octave o, level i output: DoHL(u) function Determinant_of_Hessian (U; o; i) L 2oi + 1 (Scale variable, Eq. (19)) for x := 0 to M à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ 1, step 2oà ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬1 do (Loop on columns) for y := 0 to N à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ 1, step 2oà ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬1 do (Loop on rows) DoHL(u)(x; y) Formula (24) (with (4), (10) and (11)) end for end for return DoHL(u) end function Algo input: image u output: listKeyPoints (Initialization) U IntegralImage(u) (Eq. (1)) (Step 1: filtering of features) for L 2 f3; 5; 7; 9; 13; 17; 25; 33; 49; 65g do (scale sampling) DoHL(u) Determinant_of_Hessian (U; L) end for (Step 2: selection and refinement of keypoints) for o := 1 to 4 do (octave sampling) for i := 2 to 3 do (levels sampling for maxima location) L -> 2o i + 1 listKeyPoints -> listKeyPoints + KeyPoints(o; i;DoHL(u)) end for end for return listKeyPoints So that the scale normalization factor C(L) for second order box filters should be proportional to 1 L2 However, the previous normalization is only true when L1. Indeed, while we have kDxxGÏÆ'k2 2 kDxyGÏÆ'k2 2 = 3 at any scale ÏÆ', this is not exactly true with box filters, where: kDL xxk2 2 kDL xyk2 2 = 3(2L−1) 2L ≈ 3 when L1. To account for this dià ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â€š ¬erence in normalization for small scales, while keeping the same (fast) un-normalized box filters, the author of SURF introduced in Formula (24) a weight factor: w(L) = kDL xxk2 kDL xyk2  ·kDxyGÏÆ'k2 kDxxGÏÆ'k2 =r2L−1 2L . (26) The numerical values of this parameter are listed in the last column of Table 2. As noticed by the authors of SURF, the variable w(L) does not vary so much across scales. This is the resaon why the weighting parameter w in Eq. (10) is fixed to w(3) = 0.9129. Feature selection: In our methodology, interest points are defined as local maxima of the aforementioned DoHL operator applied to the image u. These maxima are detected by considering a 3 Ãâ€" 3 Ãâ€" 3 neighborhood, andperforminganexhaustivecomparisonofeveryvoxelofthediscretebox-spacewith its 26 nearest-neighbors. The corresponding feature selection procedure is described in Algorithm 3. Algorithm 3 Selection of features input: o,i,DoHL(u) (Determinant of Hessian response at octave o and level i) output: listKeyPoints (List of keypoints in box space with sub-pixel coordinates (x,y,L)) function KeyPoints (o,i,DoHL(u)) L ↠ 2oi + 1 for x := 0 to M −1, step 2o−1 do (Loop on columns) for y = 0 to N −1, step 2o−1 do (Loop on rows) if DoHL(u)(x,y) > tH then (Thresholding) if isMaximum (DoHL(u),x,y) then (Non-maximum suppression) if isRefined (DoHL(u),x,y,L) then addListKeyPoints (x,y,L) end if end if end if end for end for return listKeyPoints end function Remark A faster method has been proposed in [21] to find the local maxima without exhaustive search, which has been not implemented for the demo. Thresholding: Using four octaves and two levels for analysis, eight dià ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â€š ¬erent scales are therefore analyzed (see Table 2 in Section 3.2). In order to obtain a compact representation of the image -and also to cope with noise perturbation- the algorithm selects the most salient features from this set of local maxima. This is achieved by using a threshold tH on the response of the DoHL operator DoHL(u)(x,y) > tH . (27) Note that, since the operator is scale-normalized, the threshold is constant. In the demo, this threshold has been set to 10 assuming that the input image u takes values in the intervalJ0,255K. This setting enables us to have a performance similar to the original SURF algorithm [2, 1] (see Section 6 for more details). Figure 13 shows the set of interest points detected as local box-space maxima of the DoHL operator, and selected after thresholding. For visualization purpose, the radii of the circles is set as 2.5 times the box scale L of the corresponding interest points.