How and Where to Publish Your Short Stories

How and Where to Publish Your Short Stories How and Where to Publish Your Short Stories How and Where to Publish Your Short Stories By Ali Hale One reader asks: â€Å"What advice would you give to someone who has bags of passion and loves life and just happens to have lots of stories and would like to know how to publish or where to publish?† I’m really glad this reader writes from the heart. A short story which is meaningful to you, which celebrates life and which is written with real spirit is much more likely to meet with success than a technically good story without meaning for the author. If you’ve got a stack of short pieces that you’ve written for your own enjoyment and that of friends, consider sharing them with a wider audience. There are dozens of ways to do this, from entering writing competitions to submitting work to magazines to self-publishing, and I’ll discuss a few below. Questions to ask before trying to publishing your story Is your work a complete piece? Even when you’re writing from real life experience (as the reader who asked the question above was), your story needs to be well-shaped, with a beginning, middle and end. There also needs to be some conflict – whether between two characters, or just in a character’s own mind – at the start of the story which is then resolved by the time the story concludes. Without this, your work will read as an anecdote – interesting, perhaps, but not suitable for publication as a story. What genre does the story fit into? Whether you’re aiming for publication in a magazine or journal, or whether you’re planning to self-publish your work, you need to have a clear idea what genre the story is. If you’ve written a science fiction piece, you’ll have little luck submitting it to a magazine of Westerns. And your sweet story about your cat is unlikely to please the readers of â€Å"Tales of the Undead†, however well-written it is. Where to Publish Your Work Either you need to find someone else – probably a magazine editor – who likes your story and wants to publish it, or you need to self-publish. You will probably reach a wider audience with the former method, and you may receive some welcome remuneration, but the latter option gives you total control over when and where your work appears. Publications which accept short stories There are hundreds of magazines, e-zines and websites where short stories are published, and some pay professional rates. One good place to start is the magazine shelves of your local newsagents. Are there any publications devoted to fiction? For example, the UK has many magazines aimed at women such as â€Å"Take a Break†, â€Å"Woman’s Weekly† and â€Å"My Weekly† which publish a couple of short stories each week – and bring out a monthly collection of twenty or so stories. If your writing fits into this genre – commercial in style, with a sympathetic main character (usually a woman) and a positive ending – then they are definitely worth considering. Ive found the blog Womens stories: read, write, enjoy! invaluable for advice on this genre. If you write science fiction, fantasy, horror or literary fiction, you’re unlikely to find magazines devoted to these on the shelves. Try searching online for small magazines which people subscribe to by mail-order: you may be able to order a back issue cheaply or free. Or look for e-zines which you can submit work to online. Self-publishing your stories You can publish your work for free on a website. One easy way is to set up a blog (try www.blogger.com) and post a new short story every week. There are lots of easy ways to create a full website too – try Google Page Creator (Link no longer active). You don’t need to be very â€Å"technical† and you certainly don’t need to be able to programme or understand terms like â€Å"HTML† and â€Å"FTP†. If you are fairly web-savvy, though, you might choose to pay for a domain name and professional web hosting. I’d recommend this if you’re serious about your writing as it means you can use your site as a professional-looking showcase for your work. The other option is to publish printed versions of your stories, to circulate around friends and family – and perhaps more widely. Traditional self-publishing in this way involved paying thousands of pounds for several hundred or thousand copies of your book: new â€Å"print-on-demand† technology, though, means that it’s cost-effective to print just a few copies of your book. A volume of your best short stories could make a lovely present – far more interesting and memorable than a box of chocolates. I recommend Lulu, which I used to print a single copy of my first novel manuscript. It cost me  £7 (about $14) for the whole book, including the postage: I’d have spent just as much on paper and ink if I’d printed it at home, and the result was a high-quality glossy-covered paperback. Lulu’s site is simple to use, and takes you step-by-step through the process of uploading your work and choosing the format of your book. Need to know more? I’ve only touched on some of the issues about publishing short stories, so if there’s something you’d like to know more about, or anything I’ve not covered, please leave a comment here – or use the feedback form on the Contact page – and I will happily address it in a future article. And look out for upcoming articles covering revising your writing, formatting your manuscript correctly, markets for your work, entering short story competitions and more†¦ Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:How to Punctuate References to Dates and TimesAmong vs. AmongstWriting Styles (with Examples)

Effects of sexual media essays

Effects of sexual media essays In order to analyze the effects the sexual media has on an individual, one must understand social cognitive theory, cultivation theory, and priming theory. These theories provide those who attempt to study the sexual media, the tools needed to uncover the ways in which the sexual media affects our behavior, beliefs, attitudes and emotions. In looking at these theories, one must consider the type of effect the theory is concerned with, the process that leads to these effects, and the features of the sexual media that enhances these effects. The social cognitive theory, which stems from the observational learning theory, is concerned with explaining behavior. More specifically, in terms of the sexual media, this theory outlines the steps by which an individual models their own behavior after the sexual media they are exposed to. For example, the number of sexual partners and individual chooses to have, the age at which they decide to have sex, or whether or not one chooses to practice safe sex are all behaviors that could possibly be learned or altered through sexual media exposure. There are four steps in the observational learning-attention, retention, production, and motivation. If one is able to carry out all four steps this will lead to matching the behavior exhibited in the sexual media. The social cognitive view on observational learning, "is more concerned with the process involved in the representational guidance of action than with the particular medium by which response information is conveyed. The theory seeks to explain how or why the cognitive processes in our mind take representations of behavior in the sexual media and convert them into behavior. Learning occurs when an individual is exposed to modeled events before any responses have been preformed and does not necessarily require intrinsic reward. Not all behavior that an individual is exposed to is necessarily modeled. The specific behavior m...

The Microsoft Case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

The Microsoft Case - Essay Example Additionally, it will be convincingly argued that Microsoft was indeed not a monopoly at the time of the investigation. Some key points that characterize a pure monopoly are the following: 1) only one firm in the market 2) significant barriers to entry exist 3) lack of substitute goods 4) firm is a price-maker. When one examines Microsoft of the late 1990’s, it becomes clear that although the company had a large share of the operating systems market captured, they were still far from being what could be literally considered a monopoly (Khan, 2004). Based on the previous metrics listed, Microsoft falls short on every single determinant. Additionally, although Microsoft offered a host of products that could tangentially be seen as working to squeeze out competition, they still did not maintain any measurable means of creating barriers to entry for firms wishing to take market share from their products. In fact, the major concern among many regulators was the fact that Microsoft improperly bundled many services that were also offered by competitors. As such, these suggestions were not against anti-trust laws but merely an aggressive form of business outreach and marketing to get consumers accosted to the products of the firm before they would become accustomed to the products of anothe r firm. Furthermore, the market demand for operating systems would have been marked by a downward sloping demand curve if indeed Microsoft had a monopoly power in the market. However, the opposite of this has indeed been proven to be the case. Doubtless, Microsoft as a firm was making massive amounts of profit during these and proceeding years. However, Microsoft could be viewed as enriching itself primarily from the correct application of economies of scale as opposed to having a death’s clasp on the market in a monopolistic way. Furthermore, operating systems are an exceedingly

Americans Delay Retirement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Americans Delay Retirement - Essay Example Most of the senior employees were of the opinion that they will sell their houses so that they can get the decent amount in order to manage their life style after retirement. However because of the economic crises the prices of real estate went down which badly affect the projected savings of aging American workforce. Youth of America is going to face serious crash in the job market since there will be very few jobs for thousands of graduates. The economic bubble seems to burst now. Research conducted by the investment company also suggests that senior employees are working longer so that they can recover some of their wealth which was lost at the hands stock market speculations. Besides the economic reason behind the delay of retirement there are some social problems as well. Most of the people think that the benefits which they are getting during the service will no longer be available after retirement. Therefore senior employees are trying their level best in order to get maximum benefits possible. Scarce health benefits are also one of the major concerns behind the delay of retirement by the senior employees of the workforce (Levtez). The dot –com crash also suggested that employees should delay the retirement plans so that they earn and save the lost wealth. Most of the financial experts are of the opinion that lax lending and legislations for dragging down the prices of real estate is also responsible for improper economic scenario. Bush administration is also considered as a responsible government behind the deteriorating picture of the economy. The situation is enforcing the workforce to search for other part time jobs as well. For example some nurses sell flowers to earn a decent part time income (Hogler, and Hunt). In order to improve the situation economists should try to bring forward such programs in which workforce should be rewarded for their competency. Public private

Comic Strip Lesson Plan Essay Example for Free

Comic Strip Lesson Plan Essay In this lesson the students will discuss memories in front of the class that they enjoy remembering; along with their speech they will present their interpretation of the memory through art. It will also help with their public speaking skills. Objectives: * I want the students to learn how to give a short presentation in front of the classroom. Materials and Technologies (Teacher and student): Teacher notes for lessons. Students will need comic strip sheets, color pencils, crayons, and markers. Preparation of the room: I will put the needed comic strip paper on each students desk. If the students have any of their own crayon, color pencils, or markers they will have them on their desk. All of the classroom crayon, color pencils, or markers on a small table in front center of the classroom, along with extra comic strip paper. Artist (s): Roy Lichtenstein; comic strip type art Maya Lin; demonstration of longstanding memories in art work. Artmaking medium: color pencils, crayons, and markers. (Not all must be used on project if not desired by student.) Instruction (Activities and Procedures): Be very specific!!! Opening: â€Å" Today we will be discussing memories that are special to each of us. We will also be presenting our memories to the class through a short speech, and a comic strip drawing.† Attention Grabber (Anticipatory set): For an attention grabber I as the teacher would present my own comic strip, and present a fond memory of my own. This memory would be one that is possibly embarrassing or funny so I could loosen the class up about presenting their own memories. Tap into prior knowledge: I can ask if any of them have ever had to speak in front of a crowd. How did they feel? Did they enjoy? Or if they didn’t, why? Introduction of artist: For Roy Lichtenstein I will tell about his part in Pop Art. I will show them â€Å"Masterpiece† It shows how the comic strips were drawn, and they should resemble there own. I will also show Maya Lin, and her Vietnam Memorial. This shows how the memory of someone or an event is not forgotten if there is art to remember it with. Art making activity: The student will have a 4-6 panels strips of paper. On the strip they will draw there recollection of a particular memory. They will do this with color pencils, crayons, and markers. If less or more panels are needed the adductions will be made. Closure: We will end the lesson with each student presenting their comic with a short presentation. Interdisciplinary connections: This lesson will connect with writing/spelling, because the student will have to have some dialogue/description on the comic. It will also connect with reading, because they will have to read the comic in front of the class as part of their presentation. Accommodating individual differences: To meet the needs of all students, I will make sure that all needed materials are readily available and easily assessable. Feedback: How and what manner will you provide feedback to students. I will give feedback on a comment sheet. On this sheet I will give marks for the students spelling on comic strip, the presentation, and on the drawing themselves.

Creationism Essay -- essays research papers fc

In a typical American high school, Mr. Doe, the science teacher begins his discussion on the theory of evolution. John, a student opposes the idea the humans came from apes and evolved. John believes that men came from God and that man was created in 6 days. Jane hears this and argues against John, â€Å"How could anything possibly be created in 6 days? This sort of project would take millions of years!† By using up all 45 minutes of class time discussing creationism and evolution, this is a metaphor to the eternal debate as to the origin of the human species. The question of how man came into existence is one of the great debates of this century. There is not enough evidence to support creationism, yet there is even less to support evolution.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The controversy on the origins of life is still hotly debated to this day. The origins of life can be conceived from the theory of evolution or the theory of creationism. The argument is old earth [evolution] versus young earth [creationism] (Seely 2). An astounding 95% of Americans believe in God or a universal spirit, as compared to the 9% who conclude not to have a religion at all (Sheler 2). People have geared towards a more eclectic background on their â€Å"spiritual journey to meet our own personal need† (Sheler 2). Throughout history, humans have been through a gradual accretion rather than one â€Å"sporadic event† after another (Tattersal 58). It is only in the United States that this debate is such a conflict. Humans have an impulse to look unto a higher being rather than a human leader who has faults similar to their own. The higher being [God] should be one of pure perfection. It is the development or creation of man which is what is so intriguing, it is the mystery of man. As individuals and as a whole, people tend to get uneasy between their â€Å"religious compulses and our [their] unwavering commitment to a secular society† (Sheler 1). As a contradiction within itself, â€Å"we [humans] profess fidelity to traditional morality yet champion individual freedom and resist religious authoritarianism† (Sheler 1). Our own manifestations of how we originated and where we came from, the debate of â€Å"the chicken or the egg† is just blurred by the ambiguities between creationism and evolution. Was it the egg? If so, where did the egg come from? Eggs come from chickens, but then where did the chicken come ... ...act that we come from something and somewhere, it’s just the fact that we are searching for answers. Works Cited â€Å"Creationism.† World Book Encyclopedia. Vol. 4, 1994:1123. â€Å"Evolution.† World Book Encyclopedia. Vol. 6, 1994:436-443. Graham, Charlotte. â€Å"The Eternal Debate.† SIRS. http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst- ar†¦&type=ART&sound=no&key=CREATIONISM. 22 Oct. 1994:1-3. Gould, Stephan Jay. â€Å"Nonoverlapping Magistera.† SIRS. http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst- ar†¦&type=ART&sound=no&key=CREATIONISM. March 1997:1-8. Marlantes, Liz. â€Å"The evolution of a controversy.† ProQuest. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?TS=†¦&sid=1&1dx=25&Deli=1&RQT=309&Dtp=1 23 Dec. 1999:1-2. Onken, Michael. â€Å"Physics.† Microsoft Explorer. http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/dec96/835000890.Phr.html. 18 June 1996:1. Sagan, Carl. The Dragons of Eden : Ballantine Books, 1997. Sheler, Jeffrey L. â€Å"Spiritual America.† SIRS. http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst- ar†¦&type=ART&sound=no&key=CREATIONISM. 4 April 1994:1-10. Sullivan, Robert. â€Å"2000 Years of Christianity.† Life. December 1999:50-68. Tattersal, Ian. â€Å"Once We Were Not Alone.† Scientific American. Jan. 2000:56-62.

“Meditation 17” by John Donne Essay

In â€Å"Meditation 17† by John Donne, Donne uses many different methods of trying to get his message out. By using metaphors, images, and paradoxes Donne gets his message out but in a perplexing way. In order to understand what Donne is saying, this passage must read over and analyzed sentence by sentence to really see the true meaning of the excerpt. Donne uses a book as a metaphor, with man as a chapter for every part of the book and God is the author. Donne believes God controls everything and everything happens for a reason. Donne then states, â€Å"God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God’s hand is in every translation.† The translations of age, sickness, war, and justice are all things that can cause death. In that case, these elements can translate human beings into spirits of heaven or to anywhere else God chooses to send them. One of the most popular metaphors Donne uses is â€Å"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.† Here Donne is trying to say that one person cannot stand-alone. Human beings need each other for survival and support. Donne then starts to talk about the death bell. He says whenever the bell tolls it is tolling for more than the one person who has died but it also is tolling for those who have been left behind to grieve over the death. Also in order to get the message across Donne uses a paradox by saying, â€Å"For affliction is a treasure.† This is a paradox because generally when you think of a treasure you don’t think of it hurting you but you think of it making you wealthy or better off but instead he uses treasure as a source of suffering. But suffering is a treasure because it can teach you things, since you suffer from mistakes; you learn from them and don’t make the same mistake twice. By saying this Donne makes suffering sometimes seem like a  good thing to have in your life. Imagery is another device used to get Donne’s message across. â€Å"One chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated† This is an image for the reason that he is presenting mankind and the death of mankind like a book. He is saying when a man dies he is not ripped away from society and forgotten but just thought of differently and every man dies (translated) in a different way although some may seem to be the same such as too people may have cancer yet it is still different because God has a unique death (translation) made out for each and every person. By using many different methods John Donne gets his message across in a complicated way that seems to draw the readers into his writing. By breaking down the passage it can be smoothly translated into an easy to read text. Not only does this make it enjoyable to read but also it has given people something to read for years and most defiantly will in the years to come.

Fiction and Post-modernism

Post-Modernism is similar to Modernism because in many respects the two movements are similar. Post-Modernism simply means that a new generation concluded, as its elders had done, that there are no certainties and that life has no meaning beyond what we can impose upon it. It is in technique that Post-Modernism distinguishes itself from Modernism and it started in Europe and Latin American in 1945 and in North America in 1960. In Post-Modernism, there was a notion that it was absurd that literature could see life steadily and see it whole. Instead, fragments, individual perceptions, incoherence and even drug-induced hallucinations seemed more real and in touch with the times than any claim of stability or unity. The stories I will be looking further in to, to see how they represent Post-Modernism, are: â€Å"The Babysitter,† by Robert Coover, â€Å"The Balloon,† by Donald Barthelme, and â€Å"Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot,† by Robert Olen Butler, Jr. â€Å"The Babysitter† is a fragmented story about a babysitter taking care of two children while their parents attend a cocktail party. The story has many elements of sexuality in it and the same storyline included different endings, such as the babysitting being raped by her boyfriend and his friend, the children’s father seducing the babysitter, and even the possibility of the young child drowning in the bathtub. The babysitter is watching television shows and switches back between a drama and a mystery, and this mirrors the fragmented situation that is given to the reader. This story represents Post-Modernism because Post-Modernism does not look for a unified sense of self in the individual; like the world the individual is a random collection or collage of miscellaneous pieces of the external culture. In this story, the reader can be very confused as to what is truly happening. Did she actually get raped by her boyfriend and his friend? Or did she get seduced by the children’s father? At the end of the story, we don’t know what happened and it is hinted that there was a murder, but there is no way to confirm this. This story has over 100 paragraphs, and they do not connect with each other. Going back to try to piece them together to make different plots is impossible because some paragraphs don’t even indicate which plot they are a part of. Along the same lines, this work of fiction embraces all aspects of the present culture and puts them in a fantastic combination as a way of conveying the fragmentation of contemporary life. Events in life aren’t always neat and in order; we can live scattered lives and this story represents how we see things in our everyday life. There is no chronological narrative, but instead scattered fragmentations that do not always make sense, just like how a person’s true life is. Lastly, this story represents Post-Modernism because it is metafiction; the â€Å"point† of the story is about the process of making fiction. I felt this story had a mixture of different fiction stories in it, and as a reader we are not sure which one is the truth, or if any of them even happened for that matter. A device of metafiction is the story addressing specific conventions with the story itself, and â€Å"The Babysitter† accomplished this by using the conventions of paragraph and plot, and portraying them in an unconventional way. There were many elements of Post-Modernism used in â€Å"The Balloon† as well. This story is about a seemingly purposeless balloon that suddenly appeared in NYC. It seems the narrator inflated the balloon one night while people were sleeping and covers almost the entire southern half of Manhattan. Everybody is mesmerized by this balloon and are so fascinated as to where it came from and what it means. By the end of the story, it is unsure as to whether there really was a balloon there or whether it was just part of the imagination of the narrator. In Post-Modern thought, any sense of a unifying idea or philosophy or even the notion of scientific progress is rejected. In this story, there was no logical reasoning as to what the balloon represented. It appeared there and people were amazed by it, but there was no real explanation as to how it appeared and what the purpose of it was for. Imagination seemed to be used more than logic and reason. Also, a characteristic of Post-Modernism is that art cannot provide any explanation or unity for experience; it cannot explain or unify experience. To me, the balloon was an artistic representation. People were trying to figure out what it was meant for, but it seemed to provide no purpose for them. The only person it might’ve provided purpose for was the narrator, but I find it odd how he would inflate this big balloon and put it in a place where half of NYC can see, only to use it for his own purpose. Just like with â€Å"The Babysitter,† the point of the story is more about the process of metafiction rather than telling a story. I feel the narrator was using the balloon as a symbol in his own story. The balloon represented a time of unhappiness for him because his love was away; and when she came back the balloon was removed and reserved for another time of unhappiness. Lastly, there are elements of Post-Modernism in â€Å"Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot. † This story is about a parrot that supposedly used to be a man, but had died and was now a parrot. The parrot was bought by his widow, and now he could look around and see how her life is now and to reflect on his previous life and the way he is now. Post-Modernism does not look for a unified sense of self in the individual; like the world the individual is a random collection or collage of miscellaneous pieces of the external culture. This story really did not have much unity and it wasn’t certain whether the parrot was supposed be like a reincarnation of the man, or just a symbol of what he had become. Most people in life don’t believe that a man could die and then become a parrot, and when the parrot is exploring the world around him, it is a random collection. All of the miscellaneous things he sees around him now, he sees in a different light. Similarly, art itself is a collage, a collection of fragments that create no unity. It isn’t certain whether the parrot was only alive after the man had died, or if the man’s soul was transformed in the parrot. The pieces of the story do not always fit together so the reader can be confused as to what truly happened and at the end the fate of the bird is unknown. Also, a characteristic of Post-Modernism is that satire, parody, jokes, and black humor often dominate the tone of a work of fiction. This story had some funny elements in it. There is a scene where the man, in the form of the parrot, is mocking the man that his widow is with. He struggled to say words, and is able to call the man a â€Å"cracker† and also makes a comment when the man is nude and says â€Å"peanut,† and this goes without saying that he is mocking the man’s manhood size. He figured there is no way he can get his widow back, so he resorts to name calling in order to make the man who is loving his wife feel less superior. Post-Modernism was very similar to Modernism, but there is no unified sense of self in the individual. In most of these stories, the individual, like the world, is a random collection or collage of miscellaneous pieces of the external culture. I enjoyed reading these stories because they make you think a lot about what the point of the story is, if there even is one; or the author could be using the metafiction for the story. Either way, these short stories challenge the reader to figure out why the author portrayed the characters and plot the way they are, and what we as readers can take away from the story.

Recognition of Bangla Sign Language Alphabets by Image Processing

Recognition of Bangla Sign Language Alphabets by Image Processing Free Online Research Papers Abstract: This paper presents an image processing technique for mapping Bangla Sign Language alphabets to text. It attempts to process static images of the subject considered, and then matches them to a statistical database of pre-processed images to ultimately recognize the specific set of signed letters. Hand gesture recognition is a challenging problem in its general form. We consider a fixed set of manual commands and a reasonably structured Environment, and develop a simple, yet effective, procedure for gesture recognition. Our approach contains steps for converting the RGB image to Binary image, removing noise from this image, segmenting the hand region, finding out its area, circumference, and edges then extract some features from this preprocessed image. Then we create a database based on this features and classify the gesture based on the database. We also use exclusive-Or template matching and PSNR (Peak signal to noise ratio) comparison to detect the signs of Bangla Sign Language. F inally we combine the result of these three methods to detect the resultant gesture and convert them to text. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the technique on real imagery. Index Terms- Bangla Sign Language, Communication, Image processing, Finger-spelling, Linguistics Sign language. 1. INTRODUCTION A sign language [1] is a language which uses different kinds of sign pattern to express the thoughts of a signer. Sign language is commonly used by the physically impaired people who can not speak and hear. As a nation we have the historical background of language movement, which reminds us that everyone has the right to communicate using their own language. Since the beginning, Sign language has been promoted side-by-side with oral language as a medium of interaction and exchanging of ideas. Most widely spoken languages around the world have established Sign language; however Bangladesh did not have any standardized Bangla Sign language. Bangla sign language is a modified form of British, American and Australian sign language and some local indigenous signs are also used in there. According to Centre for Disability in Development (CDD) [2] there are as many as 80 million people with disabilities in Bangladesh. So it is very important to disseminate the sign language throughout the community. Here we follow the Bangla sign language letters and numeric signs developed by CDD. Recognizing the hand gesture of Bangla sign language using Computer vision [3, 4] is a new idea. Previously these types of works are done on American Sign Language (ASL) and British Sign Language (BSL) but in case Bangla Sign Language it is in its beginning phase. Two approaches are commonly used to recognize gestures one of them is gloved-base approach [5] and the other is vision-based approach. In gloved-base approach, gloves, sensors etc are used as a measuring device to analyze the hand movements. But the glove based system suffers from the limitation of using a device which is intrusive both for signer and the audience and they are also very expensive. Vision-based gesture recognition systems can be divided into three main components: Image processing or extracting important clues (hand shape and position, face or head Position, etc.) [6, 7, 8] tracking the gesture features (related position or motion of hand Poses), and gesture interpretation (based on collected information that support predefined Meaningful gesture). The first phase of gesture recognition task is to select a model of the gesture. The modeling of gesture depends on the intent-dent applications by the gesture. There are two different approaches for vision-based modeling of gesture: Model based approach and Appearance based approach. The Model based techniques are tried to create a 3D model of the user hand (parameters: Joint angles and palm position) or contour model of the hand and use these for gesture recognition. Appearance based approaches use template images or features from the training images (images, image geometry parameters, image motion parameters, fingertip position, etc.) [10] which is used for gesture recognition. The gestures are modeled by relating the appearance of any gesture to the appearance of the set of predefined template gestures. Gesture recognition methods are divided into two categories: static gesture or hand poster and dynamic gesture or motion gesture. Dynamic gestures are considered as temporally consecutive sequences of hand or head or body postures in sequence of time frames. Dynamic gestures recognition is accomplished using Hidden Markov Models (HMMs), Dynamic Time Warping, Bayesian networks or other patterns recognition methods that can recognize sequences over time steps. Static gesture (or pose gesture) recognition can be accomplished by using template matching, eigenspaces or PCA (Principal Component Analysis), Elastic Graph Matching, neural network [11,12] or other standard pattern recognition techniques. Template matching techniques are actually the pattern matching approaches. It is possible to find out the most likely hand postures from an image by computing the correlation coefficient or minimum distance metrics with template images. In this paper we worked on recognizing static gesture of Bangla Sign Language using pattern matching approaches. When tested for real imagery, satisfactory results have been obtained for signs of numerals, vowels and consonants. 2. IMPLEMENTATION The goal of this research work is to interpret the signs of Bangla Sign Language. Here we use image processing as a tool [13] to interpret this signs. Hand gesture recognition by image processing is a challenging task. Because till now this types of work are very much under construction and as far we know it is in its starting phase in case of Bangla Sign Language. Bangla Sing Language has two-hand dominant signs for letters and one-hand dominant signs for numbers. Here we focused on both the one-hand dominant and two-hand dominant signs of Bangla Sign Language and develop a system that can recognize the numeric, vowel, consonant signs of Bangla Sign language using image processing. The block diagram of the proposed system is shown in Fig. 1 and the steps involved in this work are outlined below: 1. Convert a RGB image to Binary Image based on some threshold values (Binary conversion). 2. Remove noise from the image (Morphological filtering). 3. Segment the hand gesture from the image. 4. Extract features of the segmented region and store this data in a database (Blob analysis). 5. Train the system for each sign and create statistical database. 6. Recognize the correct sign from the input image by calculating cumulative errors with the data stored in database. Fig. 1: System block diagram 3. IMAGE PROCESSING The following image processing procedures have been implemented in this work. 3.1 IMAGE AQUISITION We capture the images in a constraint environment. Pixel-based skin color segmentation [14, 15, 16] is very sensitive to the environmental effect such as noise and illumination. We use a black cloth as background and our signer has to wear white gloves in his both hand. We capture the image from a constant distance and try to maintain a constant light. 3.2 BINARY CONVERSION After analyzing lots of images we decide a threshold limit. Then using this threshold limit we convert this RGB image to Binary image as seen in Fig. 2. We read the image pixel by pixel and whenever we read a pixel that has the RGB within our threshold limit, we store 1 for this pixel position in an array and for other pixel position we store 0. In this way we obtain a binary image that has 1 for our desired region and 0 for background. RGB image Binary Image Fig. 2: RGB to Binary Conversion We use flood fill algorithm to fill the internal holes of our desired hand posture region. It is important for us to remove noise from the image. Noise means unwanted white pixel outside the desired region. For removing noise we apply Depth First Search algorithm. Then we segment [17] the desired hand region from the image and resize the image by 180 by 50 pixels. 4. FEATURE EXTRACTIONS We calculate the area and the perimeter of the upper right, upper left, lower left, lower right of the segmented region as shown in Fig. 3. Then by summing these areas we calculate the total area and total perimeter of the image. We store the average upper right area, upper left area, lower left area, lower right, total of the segmented region of four images for each sign in our database. Perimeter information is calculated in the same way as given in Fig. 4. Area: A_Total=(A_NW+ A_NE+ A_SW+ A_SE) A _Up=(A_NW+ A_NE) A _Down=(A _SW+ A _SE) A _Right=(A _NW+ A_SW) A _Left=(A _NE+ A_SE) Perimeter: P _Total= (P_NW+ P_NE+ P_SW+ P_SE) P _Up= (P _NW+ P _NE) P _Down= (P _SW+ P _SE) P _Right= (P _NW+ P _SW) Fig. 3: Area and Perimeter of the segmented region 5. SIGN DETECTION METHODS We follow three methods to detect the signs. Among them first one is area comparison, second one is Exclusive -OR template matching and third one is PSNR (Peak Signal to Noise Ratio) comparison. 5.1. DETECTION OF SIGNS BASED ON AREA AND PERIMETER At first we create an area and perimeter database [18] for each sign as mentioned above. Then for the input image, we also calculate its area and perimeter and calculate the cumulative error with those stored in the database. The set of image in the database that corresponds to a given letter and has the lowest cumulative error, revels the highest priority of the correct letter being returned. In Table 1 we show the cumulative error result for five images of sign ?. For each time we calculate the area of the Fig. 4: Area and Perimeter Database input image and then calculate the cumulative error with average area values of each image that is stored in our database. Our system returns the sign id which gives us minimum cumulative error. Here for five input images of sign ?, each time from our database the system returns minimum cumulative error for sign ?. TABLE 1: CUMULATIVE AREA ERROR COMPARISON RESULT FOR FIVE IMAGE OF SIGN ? WITH IMAGES OF OTHER SIGNS Image No: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 1 137.2 340.3 393.1 534.9 518.5 512.8 488.3 341.4 416.0 399.3 360.1 429.9 389.0 330.2 383.3 2 136.0 339.6 386.3 529.8 516.0 515.4 484.7 335.9 412.9 395.8 357.4 429.9 387.4 327.6 384.2 3 138.1 340.4 382.7 529.3 515.7 516.7 483.6 335.4 410.5 393.0 353.3 431.8 385.4 323.9 386.4 4 152.3 334.8 400.1 530.6 517.8 493.5 484.9 357.4 431.7 408.0 361.6 421.4 380.8 338.3 376.6 5 149.8 328.8 388.7 527.3 521.9 499.69 481.8 349.3 424.2 400.6 353.6 426.4 383.3 329.6 380.5 It is seen that for five images of Sign ? each time ? has the minimum cumulative error. 5.2. DETECTION OF SIGNS BASED ON EXCLUSIVE-OR We create an Exclusive OR template image as shown in Fig. 5 for each sign based on the binary images stored in our database and compare it with the input images. For our input image we calculate error with the Exclusive-OR template images stored in our database and detect our desired sign based on the minimum error. The result of Table 2 shows that for five input images of sign ? each time our system return minimum error for sign ? . TABLE 2: ERROR COMPARISON OF EXCLUSIVE OR TEMPLATE MATCHING RESULT FOR FIVE IMAGES OF SIGN ? WITH IMAGES OF OTHER SIGNS Image No: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 1 477 5778 8097 9128 7006 8495 8575 8562 9058 9166 8522 8555 7773 7313 5798 2 230 5773 8104 9119 6989 8630 8612 8671 9033 9229 8479 8460 7592 7450 5807 3 407 5802 8173 9112 6942 8729 8543 8676 8960 9242 8446 8335 7459 7505 5802 4 1271 5808 7949 9078 7060 8661 8449 8570 9108 9142 8314 8327 7415 7415 5902 5 1555 5712 8043 9096 7034 8669 8377 8452 9126 9120 8268 8411 7581 7291 5940 Fig. 5: Exclusive OR template image for sign 4 5.3. DETECTION OF SIGNS BASED ON PSNR COMPARISON The preprocessed input image is compared with all the Exclusive-Or template image of each sign stored in our system based on the definition of Mean Square Error (MSE) and Peak signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) [19 , 20]. The Mean Square Error is given by The Peak Signal to Noise Ratio is given by Our system detect the sign based on the maximum value of PSNR comparison between Exclusive-Or template image for each sign stored in our system and our preprocessed input image. Table3 show the PSNR comparison result for five image of sign ? and each time PSNR comparison result for sign ? is maximum. TABLE 3: PSNR COMPARISON RESULT FOR FIVE IMAGE OF SIGN ? WITH IMAGES OF OTHER SIGNS Image No: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 1 15.76 4.93 3.46 2.94 4.09 3.26 3.22 3.26 2.98 2.93 3.24 3.23 3.64 3.91 4.91 2 16.45 4.91 3.42 2.95 4.13 3.14 3.23 3.21 3.02 2.89 3.28 3.34 3.82 3.79 4.91 3 18.93 4.93 3.46 2.95 4.10 3.19 3.20 3.21 2.99 2.90 3.26 3.27 3.74 3.83 4.91 4 11.51 4.91 3.59 2.97 4.06 3.17 3.28 3.21 2.95 2.94 3.35 3.34 3.85 3.86 4.84 5 10.63 4.98 3.49 2.96 4.08 3.17 3.32 3.25 2.94 2.95 3.37 3.30 3.75 3.92 4.81 We detect the sign based on the combined result of these three detection methods which make our system more accurate. The graphical interface of the proposed system is depicted in Fig. 6. Fig. 6: Graphical Interface of our Software 6. PERFORMANCE ANALYSES Here we work with 10 numeric signs and 5 vowel and 5 consonant signs of bangla sign language. 1. We use 80 images (4 images for every sign) to train our system, including one hand dominant numeric signs and two hand dominant vowel and consonants signs. 2. We taste our system with 255 images, and get almost every sign detected correctly, except for 1 image (shown in Fig. 7). Fig. 7: Sign for 0 3. There are some cases where the detection rate is not satisfactory. This types of signs are shown in Fig. 8. Fig. 8: Images that have almost same shape 7. CONCLUSIONS The Primary focus of this study was to examine image processing as a tool for the conversion of signs of Bangla Sign Language to text. This study is further promising to be used in real-time application to fully recognize all the letter of Bangla Sign language. This can be further developed into a system which can be integrated in to the upcoming telecommunication devices with cameras to bridge the communication gap between the hearing and deaf/hard of hearing communities. System can be enhanced in terms of increase in the data processing speed and data storage by using the compression techniques and feature extraction techniques. REFERENCES [1]Klima, E. Bellugi, U. (1979) The Signs of Language, Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA. [2] Centre for Disability in Development. cdd.org.bd [3] L. Bretzner, I. Laptev, T. Lindeberg, S. Lenman, Y. Sundblad, A Prototype System for Computer vision based Human Computer Interaction, Technical report, Stockholm, Sweden, 2001. [4] C. M. Glenn, M. Eastman, and G. Paliwal, â€Å"A new digital image compression algorithm base on nonlinear dynamical system,† IADAT International Conference on Multimedia, Image Processing and Computer Vision, Conference Proceedings, March 2005. [5]. Mohammed Waleed Kadous. GRASP: Recognition of Australian sign language using instrumented gloves. Honours Thesis, 1995. [6] Gonzalez, R. C., Woods, R. E. Digital Image Processing, 2nd Edition. [7] T. Agrawal, S. Chaudhuri, â€Å"Gesture Recognition Using Position and Appearance Features,† International Conference on Image Processing, pp. 109-112, 2003. [8] J. Davis, M. Shah, â€Å"Visual Gesture Recognition†, Vision, Image and Signal Precessing. IEE Proceedings -Volume 141, Issue 2, Page(s):101 106 , Apr 1994 [9] R. Cutler, M. Turk. â€Å"View based Interpretation of Real ­time Optical Flow for Gesture Recognition,† 3rd IEEE Conf. on Face and Gesture Recognition, Nara, Japan, April 1998. [10] Ming-Hsuan Yang, Ahuja, N., Tabb, M, â€Å"Extraction of 2D motion trajectories and its application to hand gesture recognition†, Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, IEEE Transactions on, Volume: 24 Issue: 8, , pp. 1061 -1074, Aug 2002. [11] D. Yarowsky, â€Å"Gesture recognition using recurrent neural networks,† Journal of the ACM, pp. 237–242, January 1991. [12] Becky Sue Parton, â€Å"Sign Language Recognition and Translation: A Multidiscipline Approach From the Field of Artificial Intelligence†, Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education Advance Access published September 28, 2005. [13] mathworks.com/ matlabcentral [14] D. Chai and A. Bouzerdoum. A Bayesian Approach to Skin Color Classi?cation in YCbCr Color Space. In Proc. 10th IEEE Conf. on Region, pages 421–424, 2000. [15] Mayank Bomb, IT-BHU, â€Å"Color Based Image Segmentation using Mahalnobis Distance in the YCbCr Color Space for Gesture Recognition†, IEEE India Council ,MV Chauhan Student Paper Contest 2002. [16] D. Chai and A. Bouzerdoum. A Bayesian Approach to Skin Color Classi?cation in YCbCr Color Space. In Proc. 10th IEEE Conf. on Region, pages 421–424, 2000. [17] Mark Tabb and Narendra Ahuja, â€Å"Multiscale Image Segmentation by Integrated Edge and Region Detection†, IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, vol. 6, no. 5, May 1997. [18] Furst, J., et.al, Database Design for American Sign Language. Proceedings of the ISCA 15th International Conference on Computers and Their Applications, 427-430, 2000. [19] Divya Mandloi, â€Å"Implementation of Image Processing Approach to Translation of ASL Finger-Spelling to Digital Text,† Rochester Institute of Technology: The Laboratory for Advanced Communications Technology, 2006. [20] Kanthi Sarella and Chance M. Glenn, â€Å"Formulation of an Image Processing Technique for Improving Sign2 Performance,† International Telecommunications Education and Research Association (ITERA) Fourth Annual Conference on Telecommunications Information Technology, Las Vegas, March 19-20, 2006. Research Papers on Recognition of Bangla Sign Language Alphabets by Image ProcessingAnalysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropeMind TravelComparison: Letter from Birmingham and Crito19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraOpen Architechture a white paperQuebec and CanadaBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductPETSTEL analysis of India

5 Ways to Jumpstart Your Career in the New Year

5 Ways to Jumpstart Your Career in the New Year It’s a new year. This is the time when everybody takes stock of where they are in their life and career, which means a shockingly high percentage of American workers will decide to look for a new job this month. But†¦maybe we don’t need to be so hasty. It could be that your job is not the problem, there are just a few more things you could be doing to further your progress in your career. Try these five things before making any drastic changes. Who knows, you might realize you’re happier than you thought right where you are.1. Have coffee with your bossRather than wait for an annual appraisal, find time to grab a quick and casual cup of coffee with your manager or supervisor, or even the big boss- if appropriate- from time to time. You’ll express your keenness to develop and succeed, and get a better sense of what you could be doing to improve and grow. Plus you’ll be on the radar as someone sharp and hungry to move up the ladder, which no doub t will be remembered come review time.2. Stay in the familyMost companies prefer to promote from within. So why not keep an eye on positions up the ladder, or even in different departments, that might be suitable for you? If you’re not feeling challenged or rewarded enough, you can always approach your manager or HR rep about possibilities for moving within the company to a more mutually beneficial position.3. Ask about  trainingMost companies have programs for training their employees in new skills and software. If your current job isn’t giving you enough room to develop, why not ask your manager or supervisor if there are any training opportunities they could consider you for? It’s a win-win situation for you both. They get a better trained, more qualified employee; you get free education that will serve you throughout your whole career.4. Get mentoredDon’t just suck up to your boss. Find someone in the company whom you admire and ask if they might me ntor you. They’ll probably be flattered, and you’ll learn valuable things that can help you grow professionally, or even give you a boost up to the next rung of the ladder.5. Remain positiveSuccess begets success. If you want more recognition for the good work you are doing, consider noticing the good work of your co-workers and congratulating them on a job well done. At very least, you’ll build a positive, success-inducing work environment. At best, they will return the favor. Everybody wins.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS LAW PRESENTATION PowerPoint

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS LAW - PowerPoint Presentation Example It was a major set back to our organization. Luckily, there was no human loss but the material loss was huge. Another major development was the collapse of Indonesian Rupiah which sent the economy into a tailspin. So for our organization, there were major setbacks like only two more studios were in the working condition, employees were scared to come for work, Rupiah had no value, Transportation system had collapsed. The share holders wanted to shift to a new place. But we held to the ground that our employees who had been trained were here. We had to develop even further relationships within the community to harmonize the relationships. Rather following a punishing approach, we took up a more active societal role which was very effective. A long run plan was developed to improve the living condition of the people. With the new government in place, everybody was optimistic. The new government also setup a proglobalisation climate which was very useful for companies like us. Export regulations were eased and restrictions were removed. In this scenario, the effect of Globalution was that there The dependability and the trustworthiness was lost. These effects of Globulation was overcome over a period of time by being committed to our mission. So we continued doing that with more commitment building trust and harmonious relationships with the community. 3. AVERAGE/MOST LIKELY SCENARIO For my company, we have both benefited from globalization and globalution. Because of globalization we are able to market our batiks across the world. Europe being our major market. we have now 7 batik workshops to cater to the tastes of the western customers. The batik cloth is designed for making various garments according to the western fashion trends. We are in the process of achieving our Lexus type desire by having the modern management techniques and cost control and the olive tree need is satisfied by holding to our traditional intricate designs. The creative team travels to remote areas of various islands across the archipelago to collect native designs. also there is an increased desire among the Indonesians to dress up in batiks even for work, the olive tree symbolization. So the local demand and the international demand for our products have increased. 4. ENTREPRENEURSHIP/BEST-CASE SCENARIO In 2004 our company designs won the best Design award in Milan. Our designs were motivated by ethnic creativity. After the announcement of the award, we got recognition and attention from various institutions within the country and across the world. We got German funding of USD 2 million to set up new batik garment factory. The batik cloth produced in our studios will be made into garments in our garment division. For that we had to have international fashion designers who could use batik materials to make trendy dresses instead of just the traditional sarongs and shirts. In a country with the average family income less than USD 200 p.m, it is a great advantage to the community and the country at large. Because of globalization many doors have been opened to us. Also because of globalution, there is an increased realization among the Indonesians and the government to focus on our strengths and to

Be Your Own Boss Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Be Your Own Boss - Essay Example In addition, there has been scarcity of clean water especially in the developing countries leading to an increase of water borne diseases and deaths. For example, in the developing countries young children at the age of less than five years experience an average of 10 attacks of water borne diseases. Ice Cool Water Company (ICWC) is focused at providing safe and clean Ice Cool water within Birmingham City where the firm will be located. In order to ensure Ice Cool remain competitive in the bottled water industry, it will in future emulate extensive marketing strategies and adequate research to ensure that it meets the high demand for clean water in regions like Bangladesh, Nepal, and developing countries within the Africa continent. Feasibility of the business idea Birmingham City has the population of more than 1.4 million people making it to be the second most populous city after London (Hodder, 2004). In this regard, Ice Cool Water has a high possibility of acquiring a large marke t segment. To expand its supply to match with the consumers demand, ICWC will need to employ large number of skilled manpower that will also ensure quality products are provided in the market. Birmingham City University, one of the biggest universities in United Kingdom is a key institution that will provide experts who will be hired by the company. The skills possessed by the graduates from Birmingham City University and other institutions of higher learning within Birmingham's metropolitan area, provides effective and productive employees. In its production process, ICWC will greatly emphasize environmental conservation. In this way, the company will enjoy the support of the Birmingham Friends of the Earth, a volunteer group that advocates for development of industries that cater for conservation of the environment (Gordon, 1994).With a GDP of more than $90bn, the purchasing power of the of Birmingham residents is high. In this way, the company will not take a long time to break e ven thus making it to be at par with its competitors who are already established in the UK market (Kurtz, 2010). Being a renowned engineering and manufacturing centre, the city has high number of personnel who will be highly demanded in the production facility systems. This implies that ICWC will not incur high costs of hiring foreign engineers thus resulting to low costs of establishing the company. This feasibility study therefore shows that the establishment of ICWC is a viable idea and the company has the opportunity of excelling in the UK and international market. Market research and competitor analysis As mentioned earlier the city of Birmingham and Birmingham's metropolitan area in general, have high population resulting to establishment of large number of bottled water companies as they seek to expand their sales by meeting the high demand for their products in the market. Key competitors that ICWC will face include A Fine Choise Ltd, Aqua Amore Ltd, Refresh Water Ltd, Rent a Water Cooler, and Aqua Victis Ltd among others. Based on their early market entry, the competitors have the strength of large market segment and increased revenue. However, ICWC will provide quality and cheap bottled water that will ensure it attracts new customers even those who are loyal towards our competitors. It is worthy to note that even though the competitors have wide market segment, they have not effectively penetrated foreign market including Peru and Bangladesh where