Implications of Business Process Management for Operations Management Essay Example for Free

Implications of Business touch on Management for Operations Management EssayImplications of pedigree swear out perplexity for operations steering Colin Armistead and Simon MachinThe Business School at Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, UK Introduction Operations c be is interested with the focal point of people, buttes, technology and other resources in order to aver goods and go. in that location is a resonance from operations distinguishment into art serve well re-engineering (BPR) of the carry through paradigm and of the theorys and techniques of designing, managing and improving operating(a) touches. Doubtless much shag be learned from operations perplexity for the application of BPR1. But bank line physical parade fencement is much than just BPR applied to operational servicees. What argon the implications of the wider devotion of demarcation processes for operations solicitude and can the concepts and techniques from operations management be forthwith applied to on the whole types of business processes?This paper introduces the concepts of business processes and business process management, and papers findings from interviews in four brass parts which atomic number 18 continuing to develop their set aboutes to managing processes. These findings are then military capabilityed inside a categorization of business processes, by room of look for propositions. Finally, implications for operations management are discussed. What are business processes? Business processes can be thought of as a series of interrelated activities, crossing functional boundaries with inputs and outputs. Why are they important and why are organizations moving to adopt approaches to explicitly manage by business processes? Reasons include2 that the process view allow fors increase flexibility in organizations to picture changing external demands addresses the speed to market of new products and services and the responsiveness to the dema nds of clients facilitates the reduction of prices facilitates increased delivery reliability and helps address the tint of products and services in terms of their consistency and capability. movementes are part of the philosophy of total quality management (TQM)3. Both the Malcolm Baldrige National whole tone Award4 and the EuropeanInternational diary of Operations Production Management, Vol. 17 No. 9, 1997, pp. 886-898. MCB University Press, 0144-3577Foundation for fibre Management (EFQM) model5, on which the European Implications of Quality Award is based, take over at their heart the copeation of business business process processes. Such models require the identification of processes, the management management of these processes with review and tar loafary, innovation and creativity applied to processes and the management of process change. A second route that leads organizations to consider their business processes 887 is BPR6-9 which promotes the radical change o f business processes. Some have illustrated the complementary nature of BPR and TQM10, others the conflict11. Regardless of this, the circumstance is that organizations come to consider their business processes through TQM, or through BPR, or potentially through both avenues. What is business process management? in that location is considerable debate nigh what business process management means and how organizations interpret the business process paradigm2,12. Business process management cannot be considered simply as BPR. Rather it is concerned with how to manage processes on an ongoing basis, and not just with the one-off radical changes associated with BPR. But how are organizations actually managing their business processes? What approaches have they developed? What lessons have they learned and what can be drawn from their experiences? The aim of the research write uped in this paper is to address much(prenominal) questions by considering organizations at the leading edge of process management. methodology A qualitative methodology was adopted in conducting the research. During a pilot phase interviews were conducted in four organizations TSB Rank Xerox Kodak and Birds Eye Walls.This, coupled with intimacy of the approach within Royal Mail, led to an initial savvy of the approaches being adopted by organizations13. This was followed by further interviews in four organizations (including within a different part of Rank Xerox), and it is these that form the basis of the findings reported in this paper. The four organizations, in this second phase of interviews, were (1) Rank Xerox European Quality Award (EQA) winners in 1992 (2) Nortel Netas, a subsidiary of Nortel, were EQA winners in 1996 (3) TexasInstruments EQA winners in 1995 (4) Hewlett-Packard who do not use the EFQM model, but have been using their own Quality maturity date System for several years, with many similarities to the EFQM model, including the central role of processes. While t hese organizations are at varying stages of their approach to business process management they can be considered excellent against many criteria (including process management), as shown above, and the findings and lessons derived from the research should inform other organizations which are just starting their approach to process management.IJOPM 17,9888In two cases the quality director of the UK operation was interviewed in one case the participant was the business process manager in another the participant was a direct report to a service director. We consider that the roles and experience of the participants make achievable sensible comparison amid the organizations, based on the interviews. Semi- complex body partd open-ended interviews (typically of between two and trine hours), based on the ideas emerging from the pilot interviews, were carried out in each organization. The interviews were nutritioned by other documentation from each organization which included process so cial functions, planning frameworks and organizational structures. Interviews were transcribed and the transcriptions used as the basis for analysis. Each interview transcription was read and examined several times and lists of concepts developed14. A cognitive map15 of all four interviews was then constructed showing the concepts emerging from the data and how the concepts informed on each other (based on the perception of the authors). Concepts were then clustered, with sextet clusters, or pieces, quickly appearing.The clusters were then checked against the transcripts from the pilot interviews and documentary material from the case organizations to ensure consistency of findings. Findings The six clusters emerging from the research we have labelled organization coordination process definition organization structuring cultural fit onward motion measurement. While nigh of these might not be novel inthemselves we discuss them first independently and then as a set. Organization co-ordination angiotensin converting enzyme property associated with business processes is their end-to-end nature. They start with input at the business boundary and finish with outputs from the business boundary. Hence their cross-functional nature and, implicit in this, is their ability to integrate and co-ordinate activity. For example, a better way to think intimately process is that it is an organizing concept that pulls unneurotic absolutely everything necessary to deliver some important component of strategic prize16. It is perhaps not surprising therefore that a strong theme emerging from the interviews was that the process paradigm provides an approach for co-ordination across the whole organization.This integration through the use of business processes is perhaps most simply illustrated by the fact that participants, in describing their approaches to business process management, described how they run and organize their entire business. The co-ordination took a numbe r of forms. For example, business process management was strongly positioned in the boilers suit approaches to business planning adopted by the organizations. This was illustrated in one organization with their long- and medium-term plans explicitly cogitate to annual plans for their key processes. Business process management overly provided an approach for integration through increased knowledge within the organizations (for example, about strategic steerage), without the need for bureaucratic procedures or hierarchical softenImplications of business process The concepts of business processes emerged as providing a link between the management top of the organization and activity at the lower levels the bit in the middle. exchange to this is the concept of different levels of processes and typically the organizations reported having place three or four levels of process from the top-level architecture through to the individual or task level. In providing the co-ordination acr oss the organization, the importance of managing the boundaries of processes was strongly emphasized. One organization, for example, was addressing these boundary issues between their processes through the use of networks of individuals representing the interests of their process.They used networks around each process to formulate and implement strategy, and identified which processes have boundary issues withother processes. Individuals from one process network then attend meetings of the other process networks on this boundary to address the potential issues. Without some form of co-ordination between processes, changes in one process could also lead to changes in performance of other processes such that strategic goals would be compromised, typically in the areas of quality and costs.but what we were trying to do was create a very free environment, a very innovative environment, but an environment where we knew exactly where we were going.889Process definition Much of the literat ure on managing processes is concerned with process betterment17,18 and this is typically directed at how to improve the actual operation of processes. However, a view verbalised during the interviews was that the real value derived from the process approach is through the understanding and victimization of an approach at higher levels within the organizations, preferably than simply process improvement activity at the task or team level. Nevertheless, these organizations recognized that they struggled with this and acknowledged that, in reality, the understanding of processes was often still at the task level, with a earthy tendency for procedure writing.Approaches to help overcome this included communication across the different levels of the organization to develop common understanding (and, in particular, to develop better understanding between process owners and process operatives) and a cogitate within process flowcharts on value steps and decision points, together with the definition and management of process boundaries. Process flowcharting is often presented as a panacea for understanding and managing processes, but some organizations reported problems with applying the methodology to all processes the methodology of flowcharting is OK for consistent, regularly operated, reliable processes it is not that useful for processes that are very iterative and processes that run infrequently, the more complex processes.Certainly the organizations were coming to realize that such process maps in themselves were not sufficient people talked a lot about process re-engineering and all they ever did was diddle around with process maps, and they didnt really get the big picture.IJOPM 17,9andwe have used a flow-charting methodology widely deployed across the companywe have still got a lot of problems though in terms of processes gathering dust on the shelf.890Also, speckle the organizations recognized the need to specify processes beneath their high level processes, the need certainly did not emerge to map all processes to the same level or detail. It would be unusual to go to an entity and show all the processes in detail to all depths.In general, the drive appeared to be to use business process management more as a long-term and living tool than just a remedial tool for short-term, tactical issues. Long-term plans were needed for processes to enable the process owners to focus on the future requirements of their processes. Also there was the need to develop methodologies other than flowcharting to support a more holistic approach to business process management, and to directly consider the process of managing processes. Organizational structuring Much has been written about the role of processes in structuring organizations and, in particular, the development of horizontal organizations structured purely around processes2,19,20.In general, the organizations interviewed in this research appeared to be taking a less radical view. Ins tead they had developed matrix-based organizations between functions and processes, and tended to adjust their functional structure to align with their identified processes. They thus saw processes as simply another dimension of the organization structure21. Indeed they seemed to have implicitly balanced the dimensions of autonomy/co-ordination,motivation/ control and efficiency/learning22 and in doing so derived the matrix structure. This perhaps also reflects other organizational paradoxes23. Their reasoning was influenced by a view that personal relationships were the key to effective organizations, as much as the formal, imposed structure. Processes were seen to provide a framework for these relationships in terms of building understanding and common approach across the organization.This framework was reported to help establish empowerment in a structured way, matching level of empowerment with control and support. Hence the entering of the process dimension into their structur e. However, they were unwilling to do away with the functional dimension, due to the perception that functions better supported the actual personal relationships within the framework of processes and better supported specialist expertise people dont necessarily align with processes, they align with other people, and entities and organizations. People dont go to parties on processesandif you start bashing on about process organizations, and youve got to do away with the silos, and the function and so onyoure denying it in a way something to do with that relationship side of things.This has a resonance with reports that moves to process-based organizations Implications of can be ineffective if the personal relationship and cultural aspects are business process overlooked24. management These matrix structures were regarded as relatively unstable13 with a tendency to drift back to a functional structure, or to move too far towards a process focus, but the organizations saw the role of their quality professionals 891 as the catalyst to ensure balance between functions and processes. More interesting is that, in these matrix-based organizations, there appeared to be no desire to move towards a purely process-based structure, with the matrix recognized as a desirable state, enabling constant and efficient reorganization through its flexibility. ineluctably the matrix adds complexity, but it seems that these organizations are willing to trade this complexity against the flexibility and personal relationship aspects supported by the matrix structure. One organization did, however, report atotally process-based structure, and this did appear to support a high degree of simplicity against the complexity of the matrix approach. There may therefore be value for organizations in explicitly considering the trade-offs between processes and functions in forming their approach. Regardless of the process/function structure, the approach of process groups and process owners at different levels of the processes was common. Cultural fit close is an ambiguous concept which is difficult to define25. However, most organizations have some notion of their husbandry, and this was the case in all four organizations, where culture had an implicit meaning. It is an important concept in thinking about organizations since people and processes must combine to produce output. However, within the organizations, processes were not seen as a constraint, rather, as reported above, as providing a framework for empowerment.There emerged a general view that the overall approach to business process management needed to fit initially with the culture of the organization, and allow that culture to be maintained, at least in the short term. This is not to say that there was not a longer-term objective to address culture, but culture drove the appropriate initial approach thats why it works well, because were a highly empowered organization, and a team of people are comfortable w orking as a team, so bringing them together for a process team is perfectly easy all we had to do was tutor them the tools to do it and a bit of flowcharting and away they go. But that fits well with the culture.This is in stark contrast to some business process re-engineering approaches which may often be insensitive to culture or may have an immediate objective of changing culture26. Where BPR was deployed in the organizations it tended to be positioned as part of the overall approach to business process management, for example, alongside process stabilization and continuous improvement, rather than instead of. When used in this context, there were examples of culture change for smaller organization groupings. There were alsoIJOPM 17,9892examples where the failure of BPR initiatives was directly attributed to a culture within the organization which so strongly supported constant, but incremental, change that radical change, as proposed by BPR was rejected. All four of the organi zations embraced TQM and, in particular, continuous improvement. The concept and language of teams and teams of teams27 featured strongly, with rewards and recognition often linked to team performance. The formation of cross-functional teams in improving processes happened of course in these organizations, and appeared critical to the success of their approach in managing processes. Improvement through business process management Unsurprisingly the interviews supported a drive within the organizations to everlastingly improve processes and this is reflected in the above discussions of culture.Examples of specific approaches included the use of benchmarking to understand and set best practices and the development of compendiums and databases of best practices and the linkage of improvements to assessments against European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), Baldrige and other quality models. While BPR was clearly used in some of the organizations (indeed Texas Instruments and Rank Xerox are well known for their re-engineering work) this tended to be talked about more at the process simplification or process improvement end of the spectrum of definitions placed on BPR28-30 you would not change the overall process radically in a short space of time, but for people (in the process) I think it is a drastic step.andI would not anticipate the total process radically changing over a short space of time because one could not manage it, so you have to move forward in sizeful steps at each part of the process.One organization reported benefits through using human resource professionals alongside process engineers on BPR projects to persist in some sanity in what the re-engineering was doing. Measurement and business process management Measurement is a key principle to managing processes18 with the need to identify trends, assess stability, get a line whether customer requirements are actually met and drive improvement.This was confirmed by the interviewsand mea surement emerged as central to successful approaches to business process management. There seemed to be a genuine attitude of living and breathing measurement within the organizations if you cant actually get good metrics you wont manage a process, so its absolutely fundamental to managing a process.andif we dont define the metrics weve had it.Increasing importance was being given to customer satisfaction and customer Implications of loyalty measures and there was a recognition of the importance of developing business process efficiency measures for the processes as opposed to just cadence whether management processes actually delivered. There was also a drive towards examining the tails of distributions of the measures (process variation) not just average values, consistent with the view of statistical process control31,32. 893 One danger that was reported is related to the level issues discussed above detailed measures were implemented into lower-level process maps, directly rela ted to processes, as one would hope however, this resulted in a large number of measures that it was then difficult to prioritize, because, at a higher level, measures had not been (or had not been properly) defined.A particularly interesting approach to measurement was in one organization where they had established business fundamentals as performance measures on key processes, deployed worldwide and at all levels. All professional module in the organization have business fundamentals which are deliverable, cost, customer or people measures, but self-driven measurements rather than management-driven measurements. These business fundamentals are linked to the key processes, and individuals self-assess their progress against these, using a simple rating scale. Every quarter there is then a formal review across the organization against the business fundamentals.The same approach is used to track individual performance, performance against plans, and process performance, providing an integrated approach to measurement across the organization, and a strong exercise of integrating process measures with other organizational measures. Process categorization Different categorizations of processes have been proposed in the literature28. Forexample the CIM-OSA Standards33 use the categorization of manage, operate and support. In describing processes we have found a categorization into operational, support, direction setting and managerial processes to be useful (see Figure 1). The separation of direction setting and managerial processes is driven by two considerationsOperationalManagerial Direction setting SupportFigure 1. Categorization of business processesIJOPM 17,9894(1) on a practical level models, such as the EFQM model, adopted by organizations, separately identify leadership from policy and strategy formulation and (2) the strategy literature regards development of strategy as a process in its own right34,35. Operational processes are the way in which work ge ts done within an organization, to produce goods and services. These processes are the ones which have been the subject of much of the focus to date in TQM and BPR. They run across the organization and are associated with outcomes such as product development or order fulfilment. They are recognized in the ideas of integrated supply chains and logistics and in simultaneous engineering and are part of justin-time approaches. The same ideas for improvement in flow and reduction in make pass times come through into service organizations in the practices of BPR. Support processes are those which enable the operational processes.They are concerned with the provision of support technology, or systems, with force out and human resource management, and with accounting management. Direction-setting processes are concerned with setting strategy for the organization, its markets and the location of resources as well as managing change within the organization. Direction-setting processes invol ve a mix of the prescribed steps within a formal planning process and also less well-definedframeworks. Managerial processes are to some consequence superordinate to the other categories and contain the decision-making and communication activities. For example, the entrepreneurial, competence-building and renewal processes proposed by Ghoshal and Bartlett20 are managerial processes. Some organizations have tried to formalize these processes and have adopted a structured approach to, for example, decision making and communication. This categorization, like any other, does not necessarily fit with the view taken by all organizations (for example, some organizations would position the direction setting processes as part of their operational processes) but it provides a useful framework for discussion of the research findings, and for describing propositions for further research.Discussion and propositions arising from the research The six clusters identified in the findings of organiz ation co-ordination process definition, organization structuring, cultural fit, improvement and measurement can be considered in the light of these process definitions. The issue of process definition at a top level is a view of how organizations work to satisfy strategic intents. The translation of top-level architecture into an operational reality is influenced by aspects of organizational culture which affect both organizational co-ordination and organizational structure. In no cases is the disappearance of functions apparent rather the functional organization is replaced by a matrix structure. This form of organizational structure derives its co-ordinating strength from the formation of cross-functional teams. The issues ofmeasurement and improvement reflected in the findings reinforce the need for Implications of effective measurement which drives process improvement in a form which co- business process ordinates and prioritizes activity something which many organizations find management difficult. The findings suggest that taking a business process management approach is one way to overcome some of the difficulties. It is our observation that organizations in approaching business process 895 management tend to initially address their operational processes, then move to focus on support processes, while continuing to improve their operational processes, and next to focus on direction setting processes while continuing to improve operational and support processes.Thus there is a similarity to the operations managementsandcone model, as proposed by Ferdows and De Meyer36, used to show that cost reduction relies on the cumulative foundation of improvement in objectives. We propose that an organizations approach to process management is similarly constituted by its approach across process categories, and that to build a stable sandcone the approach to, first, operational processes must be created (see Figure 2). This proposal has practical value, since it is the operational processes that directly shock on customers and so can yield quick benefits. Thus attention to the operational processes ensures capability of delivery attention then moves to encompass support processes, since these in turn ensure the capability of the operational processes attention to the direction setting processes recognizes that capability can only be maintained with good direction setting. The superordinate nature of managerial processes positions them outside the sandcone, with influences from the other categories.This sandcone model for business processes implies further propositions based on our findings. P1 As organizations develop their approach to business process management, moving through the sandcone, the appropriateness of techniques will change. Flowcharting methods are well tested in understanding operational and some support processes. However, the organizations in this phase of our research were discovering that such methods were inflexible for o ther types of process.Operational Operational + support Operational + support + direction settingFigure 2. A sandcone model for developing approaches to business process managementIJOPM 17,9896The appropriate methodology for understanding the managerial and directionsetting processes may lie in the fields of systems thinking37 and business dynamics38 and the shape of a process for managing such processes needs further attention. Thus the appropriateness of soft procedure techniques increases as an organization moves through the sandcone. P2 Asorganizations move through the sandcone there is an increasing impact on organization structure, with the need to address structural changes to reap the benefits from the process approach. Increasingly organizations will need to consider organization design as an explicit, rather than implicit, activity to ensure organizational effectiveness. This need not necessitate a move towards a complete process-based structure, but may mean a trade-off between process and functional structures39. This trade-off includes the need to consider factors such as personal relationships and cultural aspects. For example, in some organizations a purely processbased structure will be appropriate while in others the process-function matrix approach will be best utilized.P 3 We propose that there is an increasing need for maturity in TQM throughout the organization to ensure a successful process paradigm, as the organization moves through the sandcone. This raises the immediate question as to whether TQM is a necessity before a process-based approach can be effectively initiated. Certainly all organizations in this phase of our research had developed a TQM-based culture. It also raises questions as to whether the continual application of the radical end of the BPR spectrum28-30 makes it impossible to address all process categories, with the associated lack of care for the human dimension and resulting discouraged workforce. P4 We propose tha t the degree of co-ordination across the organization increases with moves through the sandcone. As the process approach spreads through the sandcone it forces the question of what integration actually means for an organization and clarifies the requirements for coordination.This is quick understood for operational processes, with a key element being the elimination of barriers to flow. The co-ordination includes the need for a co-ordinated approach to measurement (an example is illustrated in the measurement section above). Further implications for operations management There is a clear message emerging from this research of the need to manage the boundaries between the categories of processes and between the processes themselves. The appropriate approach will be determined by the category of process being addressed and organizations may find the sandcone logic useful in placing their current position. There are different requirements at different points in the sandcone knowledge and understanding of process flowcharting techniques at one end of the spectrum through to knowledge andunderstanding of softer mapping techniques the need to consider the Implications of appropriate organization structure and trade-offs between process- and business process function-based structures the degree of maturity in TQM the degree of comanagement ordination desirable and possible and, in particular, the need for a co-ordinated approach to measurement. The research supports a view that there is a need to consider performance 897 improvement methods and concepts such as TQM, lean production and supply and agile manufacturing in a wider context, as applied to all business processes, and not just operational processes with the associated need to manage the interfaces between operations management and other disciplines. References 1. Armistead, C., Harrison, A. and Rowlands, P., Business process re-engineering lessons from operations management, International Journal of Operati ons Production Management, Vol. 15 No. 12, 1995. 2. Garvin, D., leverage processes for strategic advantage, Harvard Business Review, September-October 1995, pp. 77-90. 3. Oakland, J.S., Total Quality Management, Heinemann Professional, Oxford, 1989. 4. George, S., The Baldrige Quality System, Wiley, New York, NY, 1992. 5. Hakes, C., The Corporate Self-assessment Handbook for Measuring Business Excellence, Chapman Hall, London, 1995. 6. Hammer, M., Re-engineering work dont automate, conceal, Harvard Business Review, June 1990. 7. Hammer, M. and Champy, J., Re-engineering the Corporation, Free Press, New York, NY, 1993. 8. Johansson, H.J., McHugh, P., Pendlebury, A.J. and Wheeler, W., Business Process Reengineering Breakpoint Strategies for Market Dominance, Wiley-Hamilton, Santa Barbara, CA, 1993.9. Davenport, T.H., Process Innovation Re-engineering Work through Information Technology, Harvard Business School Press, Cambridge, MA, 1993. 10. Macdonald, J., Together TQM and BPR are winners, The TQM Magazine, Vol. 7 No. 3, 1995, pp. 21-5. 11. Mumford, E. and Hendricks, R., Business process re-engineering RIP, People Management, 2 May 1996, pp. 22-9. 12. Hinterhuber, H.H., Business process management the European approach, Business kind Re-engineering, Vol. 2 No. 4, 1995, pp. 63-73. 13. Armistead, C. and Grant, A., Business process management the future of organisations?, Proceedings of the Third European Academic Conference on Business Process Redesign, Cranfield University, 21-22 February 1996.14.Strauss, A. and Corbin, J., basics of Qualitative Research, Sage, Newbury Park, CA, 1990. 15. Eden, C., Cognitive mapping, European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 36, 1988, pp. 1-13. 16. Browning, J., The power of process redesign, McKinsey Quarterly, Vol. 1, pp. 47-58, 1993. 17. Tucker, M., Successful Process Management in a Week, Headway-Hodder Stoughton, Sevenoaks, Kent, 1996. 18. Melan, E., Process management a unifying framework, National Productivity Review, 1989, Vol. 8, pp. 395-406. 19. Stewart, T., The search for the organisation of tomorrow, Fortune, May 1992, pp. 91-8.IJOPM 17,989820. Ghoshal, S. and Bartlett, C., Changing the role of top management beyond structure to processes, Harvard Business Review, January-February 1995, pp. 86-96. 21. Galbraith, J.R., Designing Organisations, Jossey Bass, San Francisco, CA, 1995. 22. Hendry, J., Process reengineering and the dynamic balance of the organisation, European Management Journal, Vol. 13 No. 1, marching 1995. 23. Cameron, K.S., Effectiveness as paradox consensus and conflict in conceptions of organisational effectiveness, Management Science, Vol. 32 No. 5, May 1986, pp. 539-53. 24. Majchrzak, A. and Wang, Q., Breaking the functional mind-set in process organisations, Harvard Business Review, September-October 1996, pp. 93-9. 25. Kroeber and Kluckhohn, Culture a critical review of concepts and definitions, Harvard University papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeo logy and Ethnology, Vol. 47, 1952. 26. Ascari, A., Rock, M. and Dutta, S., Reengineering and organisational change lessons from a comparative analysis of company experiences, European Management Journal, Vol. 13 No. 1, March 1995. 27. 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Examining The Crimes Of The Powerful Offenders Criminology Essay

Examining The Crimes Of The Powerful Offenders Criminology EssayCorporate offenses have 3 problems concord to Muncie and McLaughlin, there is the problem of definition where if crime would to expand to cover embodied offences then the definition of crime itself could be totally different, Sunderland researched this by committing false announce and food adulteration which were non covered by law at the time, he argued that they were just as serious as other crimes but was attacked by criminologists for researching acts which were non or should be crimes.secondly there is problem of social context which asks what is the alliance between snow-clad collar crimes and market forces/profit motive, and eventually is the problem of regulation which asks if corporate crime could be controlled by informal mechanisms or be enforced by criminal sanctions, many offences are not controlled by the police and instead of being punished the offender/offenders forget be either forced to comply with regulations or be put in in an educational program for advice, prosecution is a last resort, as Hazel Croall3points out A different language surrounds these regulatory offences (e.g.) regulation rather than policing, error rather than crime and sanctions rather than punishment. The main problem of white collar crime is that although some involve what would be called typical crimes such as shammer and insider dealing, corporate crime derriere involve breaches of health and safety which can endanger human lives, in this aspect corporate entrepreneurs may be sued for damage and subjected to various financial sanctions (and) are unlikely to face criminal prosecutions no matter how serious the consequences of their actions4 This why white collar crime is on the margins of criminological inquiry, because most of the time they never actually break the law, the crime itself is virtually always classed as an throw Even though Corporate crimes are more than dangerous, expensive and violent than regular crimes i.e. theft, assault, murders etc. According to William J Chambliss in his book Power, Politics and Crime written in 2001, the Joint Economic citizens committee of the U.S Congress estimated that $4 Billion was lost from street crimes while $200 billion was lost by corporate crime, 50 times more, although there is commodious uncertainty in to white collar crime, the extent of the crimes have to be estimated, Levi5estimated in 1985 that phoney alone was worth 2,133 millionAnother reason for corporate crime being in the margins is the separation of ownership of the company especially with a large amount of shareholders, it is almost impossible for one person to consent control of a business dealings, with different levels of hierarchy, departments and regulating bodies, this can tempt corrupt decision maintainrs to commit crime by offering big rewards with real infinitesimal risk large corporate crime i.e. crimes by large companies which effects many can affect many people such as employers, consumers, the environment etc., large scale criminal corporations I.e. fraud, money laundering etc., small scale criminal firms i.e. pretty crimes by small business such as dealers and tradesmen, occupational crime I.e. an employer committing crime, the important the employee the bigger the crime and last other white collar crime which is individuals committing crime outside of the work place such as tax evasion. However as Croall points out, the attention seems to be on the offenders rather than the crime they commit, she asks How can the rather vague terms high status and powerful by defined and operationalized?are only some to be counted as white collar offenders?. These types of crimes have many characteristics Offences are invisible, they are very wicked to detect, this also makes them hard to be prosecuted , offenders are often legitimately present at the scene of the crime and mostly the victims are slow to realise compute r error has been cause, the crimes are carried out under the cover of a legitimate company the crimes are very technical and complicated, many offenders may be involved and it is very hard to pinpoint who caused the offence a diffusion of responsibility (in a large group, responsibility is not assigned) is rife in these cases, employees can blame employers for not preventing incidents and not setting regulations while the employers cab blame the employees for ignoring instructions etc. also, victimisation can be diffused, in some cases there is no relationship between the offender and the victim i.e. an employers failure to check the safety of the safety of apparatus and causes and injury. All these categories result in the ambiguous criminal status6of white collar crimes.There are many problems in researching white collar crime, as Edwin Sunderland gear up out first hand, he could not publish the names of the companies in his studies in fear of being prosecuted himself for libel, there is the argument for this reason, it cannot be defined as crime seeing as criminologists cannot research it properly and efficiently. Statistics are very hard to find, seeing as most go undetected and do not fit legal offences, also victim surveys are almost non existent. As Croall points out, because there are so many offences hidden, it is very hard to get a sample of offenders for research, a large knowledge of the market and legal terms, the easiest way to conduct research is through individual case studies, investigative journalism, court observation and reports, cases reported in the mass media and interviews with enforcers. All the above is a huge contributing factor in why the crimes of the powerful are in the margins of criminological inquiry, if a criminologist cannot conduct and valid, reliable study then these types of crimes will always stay outside of criminological inquiry.However, as mentioned earlier, white collar crime is very diverse, and is, in many cases, extremely destructive and serious and should be in the centre of criminological inquiry. To begin with is offences against employees by employers, according to Muncie and McLaughlin, many employers will breach health and safety regulations for the employees just to meet deadlines and increase profits, four hundred people a year in Britain die as a result of and accident in the workplace, in 1992 alone 28,000 people suffered serious accidents and 140,000 suffered churl ones. According to Croall two-thirds of fatal accidents involved some management violation of the Health and Safety at Work Act and three quarters were blamed on management, in time less than 40 per cent of workplace deaths resulted in prosecution This is a heft amount of deaths, and with such little amount of prosecutions, it does seems that business can get away with wrongdoings. The main example for this is a string of misfortunes on oil rigs, in 1965 13 people died on the Sea Gem rig, followed by the Alexander Kielland rig which killed 123, yet lessons were never learnt from these and in 1988 168 people died aboard the Piper Alpha oil rig which was owned by Occidental Oil. It was put down to failure of safety regulations and their enforcement In November 1990 Lord Cullens criticised the safety features, after a civil action over insurance payments in 1997 two workers who had died were found to be negligent.Next is offences against consumers, these can range from fraudulent advertising to inferior invent of products and defying regulations surrounding the products. The main example of this is the Zeebrugge disasters in 1987 involving the capsize of the ferry portend of Free Enterprise which killed 154 passengers and 38 crew members. The owners P O Ferries international were blamed for not applying a safe operating system and for let a deckhand fall asleep on the job. The families of those who suffered pressed the Director of Public Prosecutions to charge them with corporate manslaughte r but it never happened. An investigation found that it was the companies fault for not giving clear instructions about safety procedures. After a second disaster involving the Estonia which killed 850 people, new safety measures were brought in 1997.New safety measures were finally brought into effect in 1999 following a second ferry disaster. The Estonia sank in 1994 with the loss of 850 lives.Offences against the public is a very serious category, with the huge rise in industrial development such as the use of coal, gas, oil and nuclear power, the risk of damage to the public and the environment has increased. The main example of this is the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal in 1984 where a huge gas leak in a chemical plant let to approximately 15,000 deaths although the government activity claim 3,787 deaths, this is considered to be the worst industrial disaster in the world and possibly the worst corporate crime to date. The company who owned it, Union Carbide, were blamed for poor design of the plant, its placement near a shanty town housing thousands of people, its faulty safety devices and its awful condition generally. Pearce and Tombs conclude that Union Carbide created or allowed to develop the conditions whereby and accident was possible (The company) had not taken the steps necessary to migrate the effects of the accident to this day thousands of families have not received compensation, in 1991, the Indian government charged the CEO of union Carbide Warren Anderson with manslaughter. He never faced trial and evaded an international arrest warrant while Union Carbide was charged with homicide, yet these charges never followed through.Another type of corporate crime is offences against other firms where one company will try to sabotage another company to maximise profits, and example of this is the case of Guinness takeover of Distillers in 1986. Guinness bid was contested by a bid from the Argyll group, to strengthen its bid, Guinness spent 25 mil lion on letting friends and associates by its own shares to increase its share price, they also bought a huge share in Distillers at an inflated price which it could honour its shareholders. The chief executive at the time Ernest Saunders and two other associates where found in breach of the Stock Exchange regulations and of criminal law and were prosecuted.Finally are offences against the state, this can include corporate tax invasion or bribery. An example is a scandal that the surrounded the sales of engineering equipment from the British company Matrix Churchill to Iraq that could have been used by Britain just before the Gulf war in 1990. Ministers secretly encouraged them to do so while they used official secrecy regulations to empty being punished.These are all relevant examples to why criminology should focus more on white collar crime as a real crime, the examples apt(p) are huge crimes on a wide scale, they cannot compare to a petty theft at a newsagent, but there are wo rsened cases, some companies main objective will be for crime, such as fraud, using the company as a disguise. The main example of this so-called mega fraud is the case of The Bank of Credit and Commerce international (BCCI) which was endd down in 1991 with 10 billion worth of debts and 300,000 creditors world wide. The bank itself had very close links to Abu Dhabi. The bank would use the money deposited to estimate the stock markets and make loans to people, often fake, who lacked collateral to back them, and the losses were then concealed by taking out fake loans and raised $600 million. According to the media they were involved with tales of drug-money laundering, bankrolling of Middle East terrorists, underwriting of Saddam Husseins quest for a nuclear bomb, etc. Yet there is such thing as petty frauds, which can occur outside the work place and outside the big corporations, this can include the sale of defective goods and providing unacceptable services e.g. illegal street t raders selling counterfeit DVDs.Another is occupational crime where an individual takes advantage of his/her position as an employer, the greater the responsibility borne by any particular employee, particularly in handling the money, the greater the scope of negligence or criminality (McLaughlin and Muncie 1996 240). Finally is middle class crime where crime is committed outside of employment, notably tax evasion or insurance fraud conclusion, the main reason that white collar crime is on the margins of criminological inquiry is because society does not expect powerful respectable people to criminals, even though it occurs frequently the fact that it is so undetectable can make it hard for criminologists to even class it as a crime. The main reason this occurs is because of market forces and the desire for profit, something that does not affect average criminals. The difficulty of differentiating between the out of bounds of legitimate commercial advantage and rule-breaking profit eering goes some way towards explaining the differential response of the authorities and public opinion towards white-collar and ordinary crime (McLaughlin and Muncie 1996262) added to the trouble in regulating the crime and its inclination to use sanctions rather than punishment, white collar crime at present cannot be central in criminological inquiry, by chance in the future the justice system will realise this, most probably after a big disaster has occurred.

Bioanalytical Technique Practical

Bioanalytical Technique PracticalIntroductionImprovement in technology has widened the domain of bioanalytics, reliable and reproducible data burn be obtained from several instruments and protocols. The dose arena has become really competitive and it is thus imperative that an understanding of the different techniques is crucial to the isolation and analysis of biomolecules.This report is focused on the BCA bridle for protein estimation and data analysis of SEC using a UPLC system. The BCA verification is a modified assay that is used for the detection and quantification of total protein in a wedded standard. The assay generates a purple colour which is as a result of the chelation reaction of bicinchoninic acid with cuprous ions. The complex formed as a result of the reaction is known to exhibit a very strong absorbance at a wavelength of 562nm and this shows an increasing linearity with the amount of protein in a given sample. Two main components make up the assay the standar d curve and the unknown protein sample. The BCA assay is widely used because of its sensitivity and compatibility with detergents and several other yield types. The drawback however with the assay is that it is not as rapid as some other estimation method such as the Bradford due the incubation season required and moreover it is not an endpoint reaction as colour continues to develop even after incubation.The support part of this report is concerned with lead a system suitability audition on the waters BEH200 SEC UPLC instrument. The Ameri dejection and European Pharmacopeia specifically mentioned that the exigencys for a system suitability examen on the day of analysis showing that it is fit for its intended use. It is worth mentioning that this has no bearing with the qualification of the instrument. Failure of any of the parameters simply means that an assay stoogenot commence. This testing is concerned more about the method on the day of analysis rather than the instrume nt per se.1.1 MaterialsPipettes and appropriate tipsMicrocentrifuge tubesMicrowell PlatesHPLC VialsBovine Serum Albumin Protein 2mg/mlBCA ReagentDeionised WaterPerkin Elmer Plate Reader100Mm sodium Phosphate BufferWaters Aquity H Class Bio UPLC instrumentWaters BEH200 SEC UPLC Column1.2 Preparation of StandardsStandards were alert as per instruction manualTable 1 Preparation of Protein StandardsCalculationsDilution particularor = concentration of inception solution / concentration of diluted solutionVolume of line of reasoning to add to water = Required volume of diluted solution/ Dilution factorVolume of water to add = required final volume / Volume of stock required1.3 Preparation of SampleThe sample was prepared as per the instructions on the practical manual.Table 2 Test Sample Dilution1.4 Preparation of BCA Reagent and come upThe BCA reagent was prepared and the 96 well microplate was prepared and read in the emailprotected 562nm as per the instruction manual.1.5 Data Anal ysisCalculationEquation of the linear least straightforward fit mess be represented as outlined below.Y = 0.0008 (X) 0.00510.035691= 0.0008 (X) 0.0051X = 0.035691 + 0.0051/0.0008X = 0.040791/0.0008X = 50.98875Taking the dilution factor into account we multiply by 5The protein concentration is thus 50.98875 x 5 = 254.94mg/mlDiscussionThe sample data had an anomaly, showing a negative reading on the triad well. This is suggestive of contamination. The possibility of interference from the reagent can be ruled out because the standard was treated the same way and as well taking into cognisance the fact that the experiment was not carried out under a non-denaturing condition. The alikely cause could be due to dirt on the Microwell thus blocking out the needed wavelength for the absorbance reading or the sampling pipette not delivering the right amount of reagent. The intensity of the colour change for the third well was observed to be slight than the other two wells. There is t oo the possibility of the sample not being vortexed properly or sample settling to the bottom of tube.As mentioned earliest there seem to be an anomaly with our absorbance reading and this can be validated from our standard curve as it is not quite linear and on this basis we cannot absolutely rely on the result of the experiment.2.1 Size Exclusion Chromatography ExperimentThe priming and purging of the UPLC instrument was carried out by the trainer as per the instruction manual. System suitability testing was then carried out to ensure that it is fit for purpose. The test serves to assure the reproducibility of the instrument and the method. It is a regulatory requirement which was mentioned in both the EU and US pharmacopoeias. The testing is primary(prenominal) as it can allow for critical factors that could affect the performance of the instrument to be adjust to meet the test criteria. Parameters such as the resolution, efficiency of the pillar, tailing factors, relative st andard deviation etc. are used as criteria for comparison with regards to standards and test samples.The table below details the results obtained from the system suitability testing, reference standard and our test sample. The UPLC system used in our experiment can be verbalise to be fit for purpose taking into consideration, the system suitability test. The results obtained were within our test criteria. The resolution of the peak and standard deviation of the different safekeeping period was less than 1 which as a rule of the thumb is quite acceptable.Comparing the test sample to the reference standard one would not conk out to notice that the first peak in the reference standard was a dimer while the second peak was a monomer but in our test sample the retention time of the first peak was really short showing evidence of a high molecular weight aggregation .Also from our result the second peak was our product dimer while the third peak was our product monomer. This result ser ves to highlight the mechanism of protein aggregation and the reason why it should be minimised as it impacts on the yield of the product and moreover it can affect the potency and therapeutic potential of the parenteral. It is also worth mentioning that sometimes early elution may not unavoidably mean that there is aggregation, it could be for the simple reason that sometimes intrinsically unstructured proteins can elute so fast that they tend to be lay down like aggregates. A molecular weight comparison testing can be used to differentiate them.From our experiment the test sample showed increase aggregation and this can be explained given the fact that the experiment was not carried out under a non-denaturing environment. The possibility of column contamination or buffer contamination can help to encourage aggregation. It is also important that samples should be free of extraneous subdivisions during injection as this can also be a determining factor. The ever-changing environme nt of the mobile phase can also be construed as a possible cause of the aggregation observed. The temperature of the instrument is another factor that can play a role and as we all know that the Arrhenius theory of a 10C increase in temperature speeding up a reaction does not relate to proteins as it rather opens up the pathway of denaturation and aggregation.QuestionsEstimation of protein concentration is important as we have to know the amount of protein in our final product after fermentation to know if the bioprocess has to be optimised with regards to the expected titre value. The concentration of the protein can also allow for the portioning of the product into the right battery-acid formulation, certain therapeutic proteins are required in a very high dosage form and their production can be sometimes targeted at a particular section of the population e.g. during an epidemic outbreak to ensure potency and biological activity. The knowledge of the concentration of proteins can also allow us to work out the economy of scale with regards to the profit margin taking into account, the expense incurred in research and development and other aspect of the production process. It is also important to estimate the amount of protein in our biomass so as to be able to optimise our subsequent purification steps. The estimation of the protein concentration can also give us an idea of product related impurities and those associated with the process.Proteins are very complex molecules and are prone to several types of condition than cause instability from the offset stage of production to the end of their shelf life. Aggregation can be described in a laymans term as the longing for proteins to stick together under conditions such as a slight increase in temperature, pH, shear force, ionic strength of the solution they are contained in etc. Aggregation have been seen to cause delay in several novel biologics due to the debilitating effect on the health of the population that the do drugs is directed at and also in the context of compliance to regulatory authority as there is a specification to the amount of aggregates that can be allowed. It is extremely difficult if not impossible to totally eradicate aggregation from the process. It is worth mentioning however that the mechanism of aggregation is still subject to debate as it has not been fully understood. Aggregation can be reversible or irreversible depending on the stage it has attained as can be personnel casualty of primary structure.The potency of biologics as we all know are normally related to them being in their native structure, in most instances aggregation leads to the sacking of activity and moreover the overall yield of the biotherapeutic is greatly affected. Aggregation has also been known to spur immune response in patients that have been administered with protein therapeutics affected by aggregation this could be by way of the neutralisation of antibodies that helps to ensure the effectiveness of the drug. In a worst case scenario the immunogenic reaction can lead to incurable conditions such as seen in patients with pure red cell aplasia where the red blood cells are attacked and blood transfusion is needed for life. The route of administration of biologics is endovenous and the presence of aggregation especially those of very high molecular surface can result in the blockage of blood vessels. It is thus very important that at each stage of our production testing should be carried out to check for aggregation.Size exclusion chromatography is a purification system that exploits the molecular size of the compound of interest. Simply put it works just like a molecular sieve, smaller particles passes through the sieve which is the nonmoving phase and could be a bead coupled to a resin. The pore size of the beads are defined and on this basis it give only allow certain particle sizes to pass through while excluding those that are too large for the pore. The larger particles because they are not passing through the beads are thus excluded quickly, their retention time is thus said to be short. The smaller particles are retained longer while the larger particles earlier mentioned are eluted through the void volume. diametrical gels in use would typically have different pore sizes and can be used to determine the size of the molecules to be separated.Despite all the many advantages of size exclusion chromatography which has made it the gold standard over the years for analysing protein aggregation there are still some limitation associated this method. The possibility of the stationary phase and the analyte reacting together can be sometimes rife thus leading to a longer retention time which serves to mimic the compound as being of low molecular size. The cost associated with running this type of separation technique can also be enormous due to the fact that large columns and eluents are required and this serves to add to the overal l cost of the unit operation. In comparison to other modes of separation, size exclusion chromatography can be said to have an inherent low resolution as there is a limited range of molecular weight that can be separated as a result of dependence on the pore size of the beads in use. There is also the possibility of proteolytic degradation as the protein of interest can become targets for proteolytic enzymes still present in solution. The accuracy of this technique can sometimes come into question due to the fact some aggregates will remain in solution and as such would not be detected. Also taking into consideration the fact that larger molecular aggregate leaves the column through the void volume, there is also the possibility. The possibility of the polymer in use to degrade is also a drawback as this can occur at a very high flow rate. The high flow rate as mentioned earlier can degrade the polymer and it also has the ability of altering the geometry of the beads in use making t he separation technique inefficient

Speech Recognition using Epochwise Back Propagation

Speech Recognition using Epochwise Back PropagationInternational Journal of Computer Applications (0975 8887) deal * No.*, ___________ 2013Speech Recognition using the Epochwise Back Propagation through m AlgorithmNeelima Rajput S.K.VermaDepartment of C.S.E. Department of C.S.E.GBPEC, Pauri Gharwal, GBPEC, Pauri Gharwal,Uttrakhand, India. Uttrakhand, IndiaABSTRACTIn this paper, artificial spooky interlocks argon employ to accomplish the English alphabet speech cite. The ch wholeenging issue in the area of speech acquaintance is to design an accu stride and impelling speech erudition strategy. We implemented a new information classification method, where we use uneasy lucres, which are wagon trained using the calculated age garb of audio subscribe. This method gave comparable result to the already implemented neural networks. In this paper, Back filename extension neural network architecture apply to recognise the time varying excitant data, and raises better accurate results for the English Alphabet speech identification. The Epochwise Back Propagation through time (BPTT) algorithmic program uses the era set of excitant signal to train the network structures and yields the satisfactory results.Key rule books Artificial unquiet communicate, Back Propagation spooky Network, Epoch, Speech Recognition.I INTRODUCTIONSpeech recognition administration enables the machine to understand the human speech and react accordingly. It allows the machine to automatically understand the human spoken utterances with the speech signal touch and variety recognition. In this approach is the machine converts the voice signal into the suitable text or command through the process of identification and understanding. Speech recognition is emerges as a vast technology in current time. It also plays an important role in information theory, acoustics, phonetics, linguistics, and pattern recognition theory and neurobiology disciplines. speech recognitio n technology become a key technology in the computer information processing technology as there is rapid advancement in the software, hardware and information technology. The features of input audio signal are compared with the voice template stored in the computer database in speech recognition system by using the computer systems. Recognition results are mainly depends upon the matching techniques used for matching the audio signal characteristics. To improve the recognition rate and better recognition results neural networks are used.A neural network is a powerful tool which used to adapt and represent the complicated input outputs. aflutter nets are basically interconnected networks of relatively simple processing units, or nodes that work simultaneously. They are designed to mimic the function of human neuron biological networks. The processing units of neural networks are termed as neurons. A neural network provides better results over the exist approaches in speech recognit ion systems 1.2 BASICS OF flighty NETWORKSThe basics of neural networks are discussed as follows. There are m either different types of neural networks, but they all have four basic and plebeian attributes Processing units Connections Computing procedure Training procedure.Processing UnitsA neural network contains several processing units, which are roughly analogous to neurons in the human intelligence. All these units activate in parallel and perform the task simultaneously. Processing units are responsible for the overall computation there is no any other unit for the corporation of their activity. Each processing unit computes a scalar function of all its local inputs at every moment of time and then further broadcast the result to their neighboring units 2. The units in a neural network are basically classified into input units, which used to father data from the outside hidden units, used to internally transform the data and output units, which serve decisions or target si gnals.2.2 ConnectionsAll processing units in a neural network are organized in to a defined topology by a set of connections, or weights, shown as lines in a diagram. Each weight consist a real note value, which ranging from to + . The value of a weight represents how much impact a unit has on its neighbor units a positive weight causes one unit to excite another, while a negative weight causes one unit to inhibit another. Weights of the processing units are normally one-directional (from input units towards output units), but it may be two-directional sometimes, especially when there is no distinction between input and output units.Figure 1.Neural network topologies (a) unstructured, (b) layered, (c) recurrent, (d) standard 3.The above image shows the topology of different neural networks. Unstructured Neural Network is mainly used in processor which is operated in parallel to provide the computational power for the speech recognition system. Layered neural net algorithms are self-organizing and their internal speech model maximizes the performance and produces better results comparable to existing systems.Recurrent Neural network are mainly used in pattern sequencing as it follows the sequences changes time to time. Modular neural network are used in designing of complex systems by using simple components.Neural nets offer an approach to computation that mimics biological nervous systems. Algorithms based on neural nets have been proposed to address speech recognition tasks which humans perform with little apparent effort.2.3 Computation ProcedureComputation of neural networks begins after applying an input data to the input units of the network. Then the activation function of all the units is calculated either simultaneously or independently depends upon the structure of the neural network. The computation process in the unstructured network is termed as spreading activation and in layered network is known as forward propagation as it proceed from the input units to the output units. First we compute the net input of the processing unit and then we compute the output activation function of the net input to modify a given processing unit.2.4 Training ProcedureTraining a network means enable the connections adaptive so that the network shows the actual computational behavior for all the input patterns. In training process usually weights are updated but sometimes the modification of network topology also takes place, i.e., access and deletion of connections from the network topology 4. Modification of weight is easy and beneficial than topology modification as a network with bulk connections able to set any of its weight zero, which is equivalent as deleting such weights.3. RELATED WORKThe past research concluded that the use of the neural networks in the speech recognition system provides the better recognition result compared to the other existing approaches. The latest study of neural networks actually started in the 19th cen tury, when neurobiologists first introduce the all-encompassing studies of the human nervous system 5. Cajal (1892) determined that the nervous system is comprised of some basic units i.e. discrete neurons, which communicate with the other neurons by sending electrical signals shore their long axons, which ultimately activated and touch the dendrites(receptive areas) of thousands of other neurons, transmitting the electrical signals through synapses (points of contact, with variable resistance). Firstly, the different kinds of neurons were identified, and then analyze their electrical responses, and finally their patterns of connectivity and the brainsgross functional areas were mapped out. According to the neurobiologists study the functionality of individual neurons are quite simple and easy. Whereas to determine how neurons worked together to achieve high level functionality, such as perceptual experience and cognition are very difficult.6In 1943 McCulloch and Pitts proposed t he first enumeration model of a neuron, named as binary threshold unit, whose output was either 0 or 1 depending on whether its net input exceeded a given threshold. There are various approaches proposed by the researchers to design an accurate speech recognition system for various purposes. In 7 Al-Alaoui algorithm is used to train the neural network. This method gives the comparable better results to the already implemented hidden markov model (HMM) for the recognition of the words. This algorithm also overcomes the disadvantages of the HMM in the recognition of sentences. An algorithm based on neural network classifier 8 for speech recognition used a new Viterbi net architecture which is recognized the input patterns and provided an accuracy of recognition rate more than 99% on a large speech database. This system is used for isolated word recognizer. In 9 author accomplishes the isolated word speech recognition using the neural network. The methodology of this approach is to ext ract the feature of speech signals using the digital Signal Processing techniques and then classification using the Artificial Neural Network. This algorithm concluded that the better accurate recognition results are obtained from the probalistic Neural Network PNN. In 10 author implemented a pre- trained deep neural network using the hidden markov model (DNN-HMM) hybrid architecture which is used to train the DNN to produce the better recognition results of large vocabulary speech database.4. PROPOSED WORKSpeech recognition using the Epochwise Back propagation through time algorithm is proposed in this paper.In the proposed system neural network training is based on the calculation of era of the audio signal and then used these geological era value for the training of the neural network. The input data sets used to train the neural network can be partitioned in to the independent epochs. Each epoch representing a temporal value of the input data. Back propagationneural network us ed in the system in following steps.First choose and fix the architecture for the network, which pass on contain input, hidden and output units, all of which will contain sigmoid functions.Assign the weights between all the nodes. The assignments of weights usually between -0.5 and 0.5.Each training congresswoman is used, one after another, to re-train the weights in the network.After calculating distributively epoch for input audio data, a termination condition is checked.In neural network architecture the weights of input and hidden layers are adjusted according to the target output values 11 The input data is considered as E which is propagated through the network so that we can record all the observed values Oi(E) for the output nodes Oi. At the same time, we record all the observed values hi(E) for the hidden nodes. Then, for for each one output unit Ok, we calculate its epoch as follows(1)The epoch terms from the output units are used to calculate epoch terms for the hidde n units. In fact, this method gets its name because we propagate this information backwards through the network 12. For each hidden unit Hk, we calculate the epoch as follows(2)Here, we take the epoch term for every output unit and spawn it by the weight from hidden unit Hk to the output unit. We then add all these together and multiply the sum by hk(E)*(1 hk(E)). Having calculated all the epoch values associated with each unit (hidden and output), we can now transfer this information into the weight changes ij between units i and j. The calculation is as follows for weights wij between input unit Ii and hidden unit Hj, and summation of all units are as(3)Back Propagation Neural Network architecture is shown in below figureFig.2 Back propagation Neural NetworkThe main steps of this system are defined as follows.Read the input audio Signal.Extract the epoch valuesTrain the neural network on the basis of epoch values.Applied the back propagation neural network for the classification .Matching the input data with the trained data.Recognized the input.The data flow diagram of the proposed system represented in given figureCFigure 2 Proposed approaches for Speech Recognition5. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTSThe experiment conducted on the audio database of English alphabets. Matlab R2010a (Math works) in Windows 7 was used to implement the proposed algorithm. The input signal is used to calculate the epoch values and then by using calculated epoch values the neural network is trained.The epoch rate of multi-layered networks over a training set could be calculated as the number of miss-classified data values. There are many output nodes, all of which could potentially misfire (e.g., giving a value close to 1 when it should have output 0 and vice-versa), we can be more sophisticated in our epoch evaluation. In practice the overall network epoch is calculated asThis is not as complicated as it first appears. The calculation simply involves running(a) out the difference between the observed output for each output unit and the target output and squaring this to make sure it is positive, then adding up all these squared differences for each output unit and for each input signal. The calculated epoch values for audio signal A is listed in tabular form. turn off 1 Calculated Epoch values for input dataThen epoch values are basically instant of significant excitation of the vocal-tract system during production of speech. Table 1 represented the Epoch values for the input English alphabet A in terms of time in mili seconds. These epoch values are stored in the computer for the further matching by using the neural networks to the recognition purpose. Similarly, epoch values are calculated for each input English alphabet and then train the network through these input patterns and stored in the system for recognitionFigure 3 Performance graphs of epoch values.The figure 3 shows the performance of the system based on epoch values. The best validation performance ep och value is selected from the different epoch on the basis of Mean Square error. The graph is plotted on epoch and means squared error values.Table 2 Performance of the proposed systemIn Table 2 the recognition rate is calculated for five input English alphabet which is 98.8%. The new proposed Epochwise Back propagation through time algorithm yields the satisfactory results.6. CONCLUSIONIn this paper, we implemented the Epochwise Back propagation through the time varying epoch calculation. The experiment is conducted on the small set of English Language alphabet to calculate the recognition rate of the system. Some different sound samples (i.e., with different sampling frequency) of each alphabet are taken and used for testing the system. The above results show the performance of our proposed algorithm in speech recognition.7. REFERENCESJianliang Meng, Junwei Zhang,Haoquan Zhao, Overview of the speech Recognition Technology, 2012 Fourth International Conference on computational and Information Sciences.L. Fausset, Fundamentals of Neural Networks. PrenticeHall Inc., 1994, ch 4.Jiang Ming Hu, in the Yuan Baozong, Lin Biqin. Neural networks for speech recognition research and progress. Telecommunications Science, 1997, 13(7)1-6.H. Boulard and N. Morgan, Continuous speech recognition by connectionist statistical methods, IEEE Trans. Neural Netw., vol. 4, no. 6, pp. 893909, Nov. 1993.Mohamad Adnan Al-Alaoui, Lina Al-Kanj, Jimmy Azar, and Elias Yaacoub, Speech recognition using Artificial Neural Network and Hidden Markov Model, IEEE Multidisciplinary Engineering Education Magazine Vol. 3, No.3, September 2008.RICHARD P. LIPPMANN, Neural Network Classifiers for Speech Recognition The Lincoln Laboratory Journal, Volume 1, Number 1 (1988)Gulin Dede, Murat Husnu Sazl, Speech recognition using artificial neural network. Digital signal processing 2009 Elsevier Inc.George E. Dahl, Dong Yu, Li Deng, Alex Acero, Context-Dependent Pre-Trained Deep Neural Networks for Large- Vocabulary Speech Recognition , IEEE Transaction on Audio, and Language Processing, Vol. 20, No.1, January 2012.H. Paugam-Moisy, Parallel neural computing based on network duplicating,in Parallel Algorithms for Digital Image Processing, Computer Vision and Neural Networks, ed., I. Pitas, 305340, JohnWiley, (1993).Stefano Scanzio, Sandro Cumani, Roberto Gemello, Franco Mana, P. Laface, Parallel implementation of Artificial Neural Network Training for Speech Recognition. conventionalism recogonition letters, 2010 Elsevier B.V.N. Morgan and H. Bourlard, Continuous speech recognition using multilayer perceptrons with hidden Markov models, in Proc. ICASSP,1990, pp. 413416.Y. Hifny and S. Renals, Speech recognition using augmented conditional random fields, IEEE Trans. Audio, Speech, Lang. Process., vol.17, no. 2, pp. 354365, Feb. 2009.

Girls Like Us Essay -- essays research papers

Girls Like UsGirls Like Us is an intimate portrayal concerning quad girls who grew up all with different ethnic backgrounds and various forms of parental guidence. Anna Chau is Vietnames with strict parents and safe(p) beliefs, Lisa Bronca is a Caucasion Catholic, DeYonna Moore is African-American with strong goals who lives with her Grandma and Raelene Cox is a spring chicken white girl who comes from a broken home with little parental guidence. Girls Like Us shows examples of geomorphological functionism, and conflict theory, as well as emblematic interactionalism. This word-painting really intersted me because I actually got to see each of these girls grow up. This film also contained implications for the science of sociology.I believe that the main point of the delineation Girls Like Us was to show examples of how different lifestyles could thrust an impact on young girls growing up today. It actually showed these different girls at different burning(prenominal) stages i n their lives so we got to see how strong their goals were at the beginning, and how they stird with time and maturity. It showed how family history and ethnic diversity has an important role in the lives of young girls. It was a good way to show how lifestyles in general impacted each of these girls futures in so many ways. It takes four girls all with different families and different religious beliefs and asks them closely their goals and lives when they are young. Then we see them again each year and it shows the changes in personality as well as in their beliefs and goals. In this movie Elements of structural functionalism were definately present. For example, each of these girls were from the same society, but all their religious and ethical backgrounds varied. Depending on their history and family each girl had a different view on topics exchangeable premarital sex or college goals. I feel that because Raelenes mom didnt care much about raelene or how well she did in school , neither did Raelen. This probably conduct her to the path of dropping out of school and teen pregnancy. Then we meet Anna Chau who tells us she would never have premarital sex because its not allowed and she plans to someday go to college. Annas father and her culture would be the functionalist because they stressed education and religion. Co... ...weather or notl their children succeed. Annas story has another example of this when she says she would get in trouble for kissing a guy, although she does have premarital sex, she says she doesnt like it, doesnt like her boyfriend and feels dirty afterwards. I think this is because she was brought up thinking it was wrong and will always believe that. Lisas mother has been split up 3 times and then Lisas boyfriend cheats on her and she stays with him, they talk about marraige like its nothing. I think this is because she saw her mother do ti so many times it just seemed normal like it was no big deal. Her mother did however stress s chool was important and Lisa has never bemused a day of school and goes on to attend college.I really enjoyed the movie Girls Like Us. I liked watching these girls grow up and change their whole lives around. It showed how the science of sociology is present in everyday lives and relationships and how conflicts can change a person for the better or the worst. What a learned most from this movie was how structural functionalism really does play a major part of how we grow up no matter what our ethnic backgrounds may be.

My Favorite Seasons: Summer and Winter Essay example -- Personal Narrat

If I had to choose my favorite season it would be a very difficult choice. All quatern seasons are unique in their own special way, such as the climate, scenery, and activities. Although I enjoy the warmer months of spend, I also enjoy the cooler months of winter. In a sense, I have narrowed my favorite seasons down to two summer and winter. The biggest difference between summer and winter is the climate. One of the main attractions of summer is the warm weather. I desire being outside on a bright sunny day, and letting the sun warm my body. I also like that we get an occasional thunder storm. The excitement fills the air when I see the thunder clouds rolling in. The sound of thunder, and the lighting shows that come from the storms are fascinating. On the otherwise hand winter i...

Educational Philosophy :: Education Teaching Classroom Teachers Essays

Educational philosophical system Im gonna be a teacher I remember telling my second crisscross teacher, Ms. Akers. It was time to tog up for Open House and we were doing projects based upon our chosen life profession. It was wonderful being in the second grade you could be anything in the world. And I requireed to be a teacher. That was nearly twenty-five years ago, and my decision still stands. Experience and maturity have changed my views on many issues, but I still want to help shape future generations. I believe our future is held in the hands of todays children and it is every cardinals responsibility, and an educators privilege, to help children draw who they are and whom they tail assembly be. While there are many addresses and disciplines related to education, I believe it is nave to think that any one approach is all-inclusive. only when as several give ins are studied to make a whole education, several approaches, when combine d, can create a more organic educational experience. I agree with the Progressivism view that education must be relevant to the needs and interests of students and that learning increases when we are engaged in meaningful activities. A students full potential can non be reached if his/her basic needs such as food, clothing, and compassion are not met. While we are not social workers, we can show the student that he/she is valued and cared for by the way we interact with him/her. Likewise, if a student is not interested in the subject being taught, he/she testament be less likely to concentrate and learn. It is our job as educators to create interesting environments with stimulating approaches to learning. It has been my experience that the Behaviorism approach of positive musical accompaniment is a very effective method. If we, as teachers, provide positive reinforcement whenever students complete a desired behavior/task, they soon will learn to perfor m the behavior/task on their own. Children need to learn on their own in a relaxed environment and be given swan when appropriate.Educational Philosophy Education Teaching Classroom Teachers EssaysEducational Philosophy Im gonna be a teacher I remember telling my second grade teacher, Ms. Akers. It was time to prepare for Open House and we were doing projects based upon our chosen life profession. It was wonderful being in the second grade you could be anything in the world. And I wanted to be a teacher. That was nearly twenty-five years ago, and my decision still stands. Experience and maturity have changed my views on many issues, but I still want to help shape future generations. I believe our future is held in the hands of todays children and it is everyones responsibility, and an educators privilege, to help children discover who they are and whom they can be. While there are many approaches and disciplines related to educat ion, I believe it is nave to think that any one approach is all-inclusive. Just as several subjects are studied to make a whole education, several approaches, when combined, can create a more wholesome educational experience. I agree with the Progressivism view that education must be relevant to the needs and interests of students and that learning increases when we are engaged in meaningful activities. A students full potential cannot be reached if his/her basic needs such as food, clothing, and compassion are not met. While we are not social workers, we can show the student that he/she is valued and cared for by the way we interact with him/her. Likewise, if a student is not interested in the subject being taught, he/she will be less likely to concentrate and learn. It is our job as educators to create interesting environments with stimulating approaches to learning. It has been my experience that the Behaviorism approach of positive reinforcement is a v ery effective method. If we, as teachers, provide positive reinforcement whenever students perform a desired behavior/task, they soon will learn to perform the behavior/task on their own. Children need to learn on their own in a relaxed environment and be given support when appropriate.