British Monetary Policy vis--vis Euro-Zone Essay

British Monetary Policy vis--vis Euro-Zone - Essay Example In the 19th century peak British currency was actually defined in terms of gold. Giving up the precious metal link after 1945 relaxed the constraint on monetary policy and the floating sterling exchange rate that followed provided even less discipline. With the discarding of any precious metal support, dependence in sterling and monetary policy after the Second World War was reflected in the foreign exchange value, which fell from $4.03 to $1.70 by 1976, while inflation climaxed at an annual rate of 26.9%. Different tactics to create monetary stability have been tried since 1945, including shadow the Deutschmark and monetary targeting. Paradoxically one of the greater political dishonours for sterling, being forced out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992, marked the beginning of the present union of the British economy to a stable non-inflationary growth path. The turn around in post war British economic policy began with Margaret Thatcher's government, elected in 1979. In addition to a series of monetary policy experiments, a variety of structural reforms in the economy were begun, including privatisation and steps to increase labour market flexibility. Inflation receded along with unemployment and economic development resumed. Election of the 'New Labour' government of 1997 saw no break in the principles of national economic management. It created an independent Monetary Policy Committee instructed to follow a uniform inflation rule and to report their deliberations. These arrangements eventually are usually judged to provide best practice monetary policy. For example synchronization between independent monetary and fiscal policies is far easier for Britain under the present arrangements than for Euro-zone with its many national taxing and spending policies. Not only is the monetary policy strategy and inflation target of the European Central Bank (ECB) censured for being poor and possibly damaging to the ECB's credibility. For the better management of the nation's finances the Chancellor of the Exchequer introduced the long belated distinction between capital and current account spending. Borrowing to improve the nation's useful capital was acceptable, as was temporary borrowing to stabilise the economy in the face of shocks. To ensure government debt increases were restricted to these two purposes, he accepted two obligations on government policy; that existing account spending should balance tax receipts over the cycle and that the government debt to national income ratio should not exceed 40 %. These improvements in the British macroeconomic management structure are important and definitely superior to the present equivalent institutions of the euro-zone, the European Central Bank and the Growth and Stability Pact. The government now needs to make comparable progress in the fields of the health service, education and transport, about which there is general displeasure among the electorate. In these services there is much to be learned from other European countries nevertheless joining the euro and possible resulting closer political integration with Europe do not guarantee to deal with British concerns. European Integration What Britain has in fact wanted from the rest of Europe is simply free trade, not imported institutions intended to manage continental problems.

My Laptop, the Culprit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

My Laptop, the Culprit - Essay Example Admitting lack of funds, one discovers, is not a great conversational piece, nor does it leave one with many friends. However, upon acquiring some wealth of my own, hard earned I should add, I decided to replace my comatose computer with a new laptop. This necessitated a trip to the nearest retail store to buy the best laptop I could afford, which in turn resulted in my triumphant return with a brand new shiny, black laptop. The laptop is efficient, silent (a much-appreciated quality after having to endure the noise of the previous computer) and very much in line with current technology. Of course, I dare not mention the model and make of the laptop for fear that one man’s treasure is another’s garbage. Suffice it to say that I hold it very dear to me and it is one of my most prized possessions. I have noticed, however, that this acquisition has resulted in a few changes in my character. Firstly, whereas before I had time for all of my friends and family, now I want to be glued to the screen of my laptop, either playing some online game, or reading some article, or just mindlessly surfing on the internet – working on assignments are kept to a minimum. My old computer barely functioned, so I had limited myself to only working on my assignments on it – how it managed to run Microsoft Office is beyond me, but thank God it did, because otherwise I would have had to resort to going to the public library for even the smallest of assignments and for even the shortest of emails (yes, surprisingly, I could check my email on it too). Now, however, I can run just about any application on my laptop. So, I can be spotted sitting in my room alone, either trying to master some obscure technique to finish some obscure level of some obscure game, or watching a movie, or just surfing around looking for anything I might find interesting.

The Historical Influences in the Architectural Design of the Essay

The Historical Influences in the Architectural Design of the Westminster Abbey - Essay Example The exterior is as much remarkable as its interior. The dominant gothic architectural design - its towering pillars, towers and stained glass, takes its patrons and visitors back to the English medieval times. The prestige of Westminster Abbey’s architectural design cannot be separated from the historical events that moulded it to its present reputation. From the its foundation as an abbey by King Edward the Confessor in 1052 to its glory days as a gothic church under the initiative of King Henry III in 1245, Westminster Abbey owes its existence to the religious passion of its patrons. Given the context, this paper focuses on the historical events that led to the key developments of what is the Westminster Abbey today. By expounding on the topic, a historical methodology could not only give light to the origins of the church, but it could also relate historical context with architectural design and style. This paper is thus intended to explain Westminster Abbey’s rich a rchitectural history. The utilization of secondary sources such as books and journal articles, together with ample photo documentation, are used in order to accomplish this paper’s purpose. ... It then tackles the entrance of the 12th century and the important contributions of King Henry III to the creation of a magnificent gothic church at England’s capital. The second portion deals with the church’s architecture. An analysis of the exterior and interior aspects of Westminster Abbey is conducted by streamlining the various designs and styles, which produced the outcome. Such analysis is then related to the historical context of the church’s formative years in order to produce a conclusive account of architectural history. The Abbey in its Formative Years in the 11th and 12th Century The 11th century was included in the 3-century span of the Central Middle Ages, from 1000-1300, where the disintegration of the strong Roman Empire was realized in the Early Middle Ages. During that century, a direct by-product of the previous years caused the apparent struggle between the Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy in Rome, not to mention the autonomy instituted by t he Eastern Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire (Bennett and Hollister, xv & 266). On a political standpoint, it was clear that religious strife that would establish dominance over Europe was as important as the clash of kingdoms and empires. As religious monarchy flourished in the name of the propagation of a certain religious denomination, independent nation states began to emerge as well. England was well underway in line with a monarchical leadership. The sacred monarchy carried by religious kingdoms in the Early Middle Ages evolved into a bureaucratic monarchy in the Central Middle Ages. Royal administration with a systematic distribution of powers was the one that England had adopted in the 11th century (Bennett and Hollister, 266). Though a secular state, the influence of the church

Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Questions - Essay Example Policies of the Company were framed from the head office which did not allow for the tailoring of policies to suit the needs of the local regional markets. The framing of decisions from the head office also made the operations of the Company more bureaucratic and customers were less efficiently served. Hence, this decision making framework was not appropriate to serve the complexities of the international environment. The Company has recently recognized this and has reorganized its structure by establishing a regional structure to bring decision making closer to its clients. The decision making structure has been reorganized to give greater decision making power to regional heads. This allows greater client focus and to achieve global product excellence. It allows managers to be receptive to the needs of the regional economies and helps to make the organization leaner and more efficient. The Company has taken steps to reduce the complexity of its business operations and reorganized its internal structure to adapt to its external environment. 2. Hickson et al (1971) have proposed the strategic contingencies theory of intra organizational power. This theory suggests that the extent of power of sub units will be determined by the extent of power they have over contingencies. Every organization is riddled with uncertainties about future events due to the lack of available information. The ability of the subunits to cope effectively with these uncertainties and reduce their impact for other sub units will determine the extent of intra organizational power that they have. When a subunit’s work is linked more pervasively to others in the organization, and when the sub unit is able to respond immediately and affect the activities of others in the organization, it is likely to enjoy a greater power than the other sub-units. In my organization which is a banking conglomerate,

Why Do Market Economies Need Government United Kingdoms Economic Essay

Why Do Market Economies Need Government United Kingdoms Economic growth, Inflation and Unemployment - Essay Example Such situations create disadvantages of buyers and reduce buyer surplus for those particular markets. For this reason, free market economy can potentially impinge on the rights of a certain segment in the economy (Acemoglu, Golosov and Tsyvinski, 2008). A fair exchange implies a relationship of equality between the persons concerned, which is absent in these scenarios. Sometimes, in a market economy the employer and the employee are not in a relationship of equality. The employer can attempt to dictate terms to the employees, therefore, a safeguarding body is required to ensure payment of minimum wages and to enforce health & safety measures (Agarwal, 2007). Government presence in needed in such situation to ensure rights of certain groups is not compromised. ii) Governments are needed to provide provision of pubic goods whose benefits are distributed over a very large population. For instance, creation of roads and national defense cannot be provided by a private enterprise. Government interventions are needed in the market economic system for these provisions (Halm, 2003). iii) Governments are also needed in market economic systems to provide social security to the citizens of the country. A market economic system cannot find mechanism to transfer funds from rich to poor. Governments serve the purpose of reducing income differences between rich and poor in an economy (Sharma, 2009). Government invention is, therefore, essential for redistribution of wealth and income for a healthy society. United Kingdom’s Economic Performance During Last Ten Years Growth Performance data of United Kingdom’s economy is graphed below. The data exhibits that the economic performance and growth rate of United Kingdom’s economy was at peak in the year 2000. The growth rate of the economy was highest which implies that the standard of living of UK citizens was increasing at a very rapid pace. GROWTH PERFORMANCE Year GDP Change 2000 3.90% 2001 2.50% 2002 2.10% 2003 2.80% 2004 3.00% 2005 2.20% 2006 2.90% 2007 2.60% 2008 0.60% 2009 ?4.9% 2010 2.10% 2011 0 .70% Growth of UK’s economy hit the bottom in the year 2009. It appeared that the economy is on the path of improvement in the year 2010; however, growth figures were low again for the year 2011. Growth Performance the annual inflation figures of UK economy shows that inflation is rising even though growth rate of the economy is slow. Such figures are considered alarming because standard of living of people is compromised in two manners – through low income growth, at the same time, a considerably high level of inflation (Baumol and Blinder, 2011). Annual Inflation Year Inflation Rate 2000 2.1% 2001 2.7% 2002 1.3% 2003 2.9% 2004 2.6% 2005 3.2% 2006 2.4% 2007 4.2% 2008 4.1% 2009 0.1% 2010 3.7% 2011 5.1% Unemployment Rate of UK’s economy is exhibiting a trend of rising with the inflation rate of the economy. This is considered one of the most challenging macroeconomic situations in macroeconomic text books. This is because a high inflation is generally associated with lower levels of unemployment since all factors of productions are considered to be highly utilized. Rising unemployment with inflation indicates major issues with the economy which need to be resolved (Henderson, 2003). Unemployment Rate Year Rate 2001 5.1% 2002 5.2% 2003 5.0% 2004 4.8% 2005 4.8% 2006 5.4% 2007 5.4% 2008 5.6% 2009 7.5% 2010 7.9% Deflationary Gaps and Appropriate Policy Responses Deflationary gap in an economy is

Emi Group Plc In The Music Publishing And Recording Industry Essay Example for Free

Emi Group Plc In The Music Publishing And Recording Industry Essay Music and recording industry present interesting development due to the introduction of new artists and the development of new music genre, to name a few. In addition, the industry also experiences significant challenge due to the advancement in digital technology that drives the industry to find appropriate ways in winning the competition. The challenge occurs since there is a difference circumstances in the competition of media industry where previously the existence of new media does not eliminate the old media. The existence of commercial radio, for example, does not kill the print media like magazines and newspaper. Similarly, the existence of television broadcasting also does not eliminate the existence of radio and newspaper. In many cases, the television broadcaster also owns radio and newspapers companies to complement their media business. However, the situation may be completely different in the digital age where the existence of internet and the development of digital technology like file compression (MP3, mpeg, and file-sharing technologies etc) could completely kill the old model of music distribution such as compact disc. The so-called MP3, often refers to MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, is an audio encoding format that reduce the file size from tens of megabyte (when using WAV or compact disc format) into less than 5 Megabyte (MB) in MP3 format for one same song. Audio Galaxy and Napster are two companies that employ file-sharing technology that enables their members/customers to exchange their music or video with others members/customers (Karp, 2007). Immediately, the invention of new audio encoding format increases the sales of portable digital music players like iPod. Coupled with the increased international internet bandwidth, the exchange of MP3 files rises significantly. A number of websites that enable users or music lovers to download the desired songs in MP3 format also rises. Despite the attractiveness of MP3 technology for audio, MP4, and MPEG for video, the technologies causes severe violation of copyright as downloading music and video without paying royalties to the owners/singers of the music is considered as piracy in digital world/domains. Concerning the challenges in the music and recording industry, this paper will discuss about Emi Group plc, a giant in music and recording industry. In particular, there are several issues including the identification of strategic choices that EMI performs, EMI and its critical success factors in competing in the industry within the last five years, and the use of appropriate management concepts in evaluating the suitability of EMI’s current strategies to deal with future competition. 2. Aim and Objectives The objectives of this paper are to analyze current and future positions of EMI Group plc in the music publishing and recording industry. Systematically, we can derive the objectives into four points. First is to analyze the strategy of EMI Groups plc that positions the company in the music and recording industry. Second is to use the appropriate research methodology, this paper is to assess EMI Group plc and its critical success factor in the last five years. Third is to use the relationship of research approach, deductive, quantitative to explore key resources and capabilities of EMI in the next five years and assess whether they can create sustainable competitive advantage. And fourth is to use the non-participant observation method, collecting data and analyzing qualitative information from journal, books, magazine and online materials, this paper is to adopt the management concepts to evaluate the appropriateness of EMI’s current strategies for the future. 3. Porter’s Five Forces This section will discuss Porter’s five forces on EMI Group the recording industry which details the threat of new entrants, power of buyers, power of suppliers, rivalry among existing competitors, and the threat of substitute products for market place organizer or transaction service provider industry satisfy following diagram: Figure 1 Diagram of Porter’s Five Forces Source: Porter, 1998 3. 1 Rivalry In music publishing and recording industry, competitive advantage plays a significant role in winning a competition. This is because it represents not only the greater benefits in terms of products but also in other Ps of marketing mix (place, promotion, and price). The possession of specific competitive advantages increasingly important since nowadays, customers use emotional side than rational side when decide which products or services they want to use (Manjoo, 2003). The rivalry in recording industry is quite intense since EMI Group does not only compete with similar company like Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, and Warner Music Group but also illegal distribution both in traditional and web-based distributors through several kinds of file-sharing program like Napster. Napster becomes the catalysts of online music service (Rupley, 2003). In order to prevent the distribution of illegal copy of music, Hodges Shaw and Brian B Shaw (2003) says that government has persuaded users regarding importance of not using file sharing for copyrighted materials over the Internet by considering it as illegal actions. 3. 2 Barriers to Entry One of common barriers to enter a new market is brand loyalty or in terms of multinational business, the main barrier could be the nationalism. In music industry, one significant challenge that continues gains popularity is iTunes, a legal web-based music distribution from Apple Company. In music industry, especially regarding the competition between EMI Music and p2p companies and iTunes, the brand loyalty is obvious since the fever for iPod products has driven the use of iTunes to download legal music (Manjoo, 2003). The entry to some markets like educations gets fiercer as Jason E. Lane and Margaret A Healy (2005) revealed in their article File Sharing, Napster, and Institutional Responses: Educative, Developmental, or Responsive Policy that file sharing (including music, video, and file sharing) has been parts of students activities. They usually use the internet to share their favorite music and movies illegally. In addition, Scott (2001) and Dong et. al (2002) reveals that file sharing remains a popular services due to their offering free downloading music and video. 3. 3 Products Substitution Impact of product substitution is possibly the most overlooked factor although its impact is damaging. Therefore, it is imperative that business must not only look at what the company’s direct competitors are doing, but what other types of products people could buy instead. The products substitution for EMI Group is the introduction of various digital formats like MP3 and MP4 that easily downloadable that enables customers to convert the CD format to MP3 and distribute it by e-mail. This is because EMI Group mostly still relies on the distribution of music in CD format that they believe is still better than others do. Figure 2 Music Format Source: RIAA, 2006 3. 4 Buyer Power In music distribution and recording industry, there are some factors that influence buyer power including size of buyer (larger buyers will have more power over suppliers), number of buyers (when there are a small number of buyers, they will tend to have more power over suppliers), and purchase quantity. 3. 5 Supplier Power Concerning the supplier power in recording industry, we find that digital format developer that invent MP3 and p2p technology continue gain popularity that further drive the customers to increasingly avoid the use of products distributed by recording companies (Manjoo, 2003). 4. EMI Groups plc Strategic Position in Music Publishing and Recording Industry Realizing the fierce competition that occurs in the music and recording industry, EMI Group develops several strategies such as the selection of new talents that will hit the market and develop sustainable distribution strategy to speed up the existence in new market. Among the distributions system, EMI Group appropriately conduct joint venture with foreign companies in order to smooth their distribution. One of them is with EMI Televisa joint venture that helps EMI Group to distribute Celestial and other English language album (EMI Group, 2006). The decision to conduct joint venture is a good strategy to be implemented for EMI Group since it is a model in business that composes of two or more enterprises that join hand-in-hand to increase their competitive advantages. In this scheme, joint venture is somewhat similar to partnership but joint venture is derived from one business transaction. Joint venture is preferred because it can help companies to divide potencies, reduce threats, and raise competitive advantages in the market. Joint ventures can be formed as separate business units or cooperation between businesses (â€Å"Corporate Venture Strategies†, 2001). Developing a joint venture properly can obtain many benefits and advantages, such as dividing expenses and risks, enhancing right of entry to monetary resources, admission to innovative knowledge and consumers, and admission to new decision-making performs. Moreover, companies are able to have some bearing on structural development of the business. Conduction of knowledge and skills are also accomplished easily (â€Å"Corporate Venture Strategies†, 2001). 5. EMI Strategic Choice EMI Group plc is a well-known company in music and recording industry. The company is currently perceived as the fourth largest recording company in the world behind Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, and Warner Music Group. The company main business is the distribution of compact discs, videos, and other formats under the auspices of their subsidiaries and partners including EMI Records, Capitol, and Virgin (Yahoo Inc, 2008). The label company is behind the success of many famous artists such as Norah Jones, Lenny Kravitz, and The Beastie Boys. Currently, the company also handles more than one million songs. The strategic position of the company has attracted many larger companies such as Warner Music Group (WMG) to takeover EMI Group plc. Although many acquisition attempts, the company finally bought by Terra Firma, a private equity firm, for $4. 9 billion in 2007 (Yahoo Inc, 2008). 6. EMI and Its Critical Success Factor The winning strategy of EMI Group exists since the company is suitably conducting several strategies that benefit the company in the long term. One of popular strategy is the decision to outsource their CD manufacturing in Australia. This decision occurred in 2004 where EMI Music and Warner Music conduct agreement with Summit Technology Australia Pty Ltd to own CD Manufacturing business together (EMI Group, 2006). This strategy provides great benefits for EMI Group since the company significantly obtains costs reduction and helps the company to insulate the business from the effects of changing volumes. Figure 3 Reasons of Outsourcing Source: Outsourcing World Summit This is in line with the general benefits of outsourcing where costs reduction becomes the main issues that companies perceive. When discussing the outsourcing business model, the images refer to advantages that organizations obtain, especially refers to costs reduction. However, the benefits of outsourcing do not merely the cost reduction. Figure 3 shows six main reasons of carrying out outsourcing in an organization like EMI Group according to Outsourcing World Summit. Similarly, to costs reduction, outsourcing also provides benefits of helping the company to focus on core competencies. In theory, outsourcing is only used for delegation of non-core activities concerning the mission statement of the company. Nevertheless, many corporations outsource some of their core functions to gain more value in competitive advantage. Furthermore, many if an organization is able to develop a good relationship with its outsourcing partner, the long-term effect would be a sustainable competitive advantage. Another critical success factor is the decision of EMI Group to take benefits of digital technology. Previously, the company relies on tradition supply chain as shown in the Figure 4 below. In traditional supply chain (figure 4), we witness that recording companies make huge revenue and thus the profits from the two elements (in blue boxes). However, this model soon changes considering technology advancement in music like MP3 that immediately spawned illegal peer-to-peer music download over the Internet. Concerning the issue, coupled with wide coverage of high-speed Internet access, recording labels realize that they should change their supply chain to adopt the advancement in information technology as described in the following section. However due to the benefit that digital distribution provides, the company also offers the digital option for the supply chain (Figure 5). By developing the digital distribution, the company starts receiving significant growth on digital revenues. In 2006, digital revenue contributed about 8. 5% of total Group revenues. In addition, digital revenues also experienced significant growth by 78. 2% in 2006, providing more opportunity to receive more revenue from this technology (EMI Group, 2006). In this web-based supply chain model, we witness that recording labels are massively legalize licensing strategy that significantly fire up a legal digital music subscription (in contrast to Napster that was illegal). 7. Key resources and capabilities of EMI in the last Five Years and Suitability, Feasibility, and Acceptability Concepts There are several key advantages and resources the company possessed within the past five years. First is EMI Music keep finding new talents that bear success in UK and North America, in particular, and in the world, in general including Letoya, 30 Seconds to Mars. This strategy represents the feasibility of strategy taken by EMI Group since competitions between recording industries is mainly regarding the artists that the company manages their music creation. Second is the success of current managed artists including popular artist such as All Saints, Keith Urban, Norah Jones, Robbie Williams, and Depeche Mode. This artist management represents the suitability to manage the popular artists and release the unpopular one. Meanwhile, EMI Music Publishing successfully finds songwriting talent that result in the attractive performance revenues that represents the acceptability (EMI Group, 2006) 8. Conclusion In the basic marketing management study, four factors characterize the successful marketing; they are product, place, promotion, and price. In the recording industry while product represented by the artists, distribution or place factor also provides significant contribution to the company. This is in line with O’Brien and Springman (2004) suggestion that say companies should balance supply and demand since focusing entirely on the supply side may result in unnecessary capital expenditures, inventory investments or suboptimal solutions. Concerning the challenges in the music and recording industry, this paper has discussed about Emi Group plc, a giant in music and recording industry. In particular, there are several issues including the identification of strategic choices that EMI performs, EMI and its critical success factors in competing in the industry within the last five years, and the use of appropriate management concepts in evaluating the suitability of EMI’s current strategies to deal with future competition. Reference: Carlson, Scott. (2001). Napter Was Just the Start of the Bandwidth Invasion. Chronicle of Higher Education, v47 Corporate Venture Strategies’, [Online] Available at: http://www. 1000ventures. com/business_guide/venture%20strategies. html Daugherty, Tyson. 2002, ‘Creating a Digital Music Marketplace’, [Online] Available at: elab. insead. edu/publications/mbareports/ Creating%20a%20digital%20music%20marketplace. pdf Elizabeth Scott, M. S. 2008, ‘Music and Your Body: How Music Affects Us and Why Music Therapy Promotes Health’, [Online] Available at: http://stress. about. com/od/tensiontamers/a/music_therapy. htm EMI Group Limited. 2005, ‘EMI Group Overview’, [Online] Available at: http://www. emigroup. com/About/Overview/Default. htm EMI Group. 2004, ‘EMI continues manufacturing outsourcing strategy with agreement to sell Australian CD plant’, [Online] Available at: http://www. emigroup. com/Press/2004/press18. htm . 2006, ‘EMI Group plc results for the six months ended 30 September 2006’, [Online] Available at: http://www. emigroup. com/Press/2006/press70. htm Forness, Megan J, ‘Copyright and Fair Use’, [Online] Available at: http://lrs. ed. uiuc. edu/students/forness/copyright. html Freeman, Jillian S. 2005, ‘The Pros and Cons of Sharing Music on the Internet’, [Online] Available at: http://www. angelfire. com/de3/jfreeman/termpaper. htm Harcourt, Robert H. and Robert W. Hutchinson. 2004, ‘Sup

Theories of Satellite Imagery and Fractal Concepts

Theories of Satellite Imagery and Fractal Concepts Introduction Many applications based on using satellite imagery in a quantitative fashion require classification of image regions into a number of relevant categories or distinguishable classes. Classification is a means of complementing retrieval. Satellite image classification is a clustering method based on image features, the classification results are represented by visualization techniques [Ant05]. Fractal geometry provides a suitable textural image classification framework by studying the nature irregularity shapes in the image, since it allows to easily describing such fractal images. The fractal geometry can recognize small image segment that characterized by its spectral uniformity, this necessitate first to segment the image before the classification. The main characteristics of fractal images are that they are continuous but not differentiable that allows showing the fine details at any arbitrarily small scale [Iod95]. This chapter presents an introduction to the fundamentals of satellite imagery and fractal concepts: Satellite imagery includes a brief description to the satellite imagery technology that useful to understand the main characteristics of satellite images. Whereas, the fractal concepts are mentioned to explain some regards when considering the fractal geometry techniques in digital image processing. Fractal characterizations are discussed to show the fractal features may found in satellite images. Also, some interested fractal measurements are mentioned to be applied on satellite images for purpose of classification. Later, the interested techniques of image segmentation and classification are given. Satellite Imagery Satellites are greatly used in remote sensing imagery, they have several unique characteristics enable to remote sense the Earths surface [Pan96]. The satellite senses electromagnetic energy at different wavelengths reflected by objects to produce the satellite images as shown in Figure (2.1). Visible satellite images are made of satellite signals received by visible channels that senses reflected solar radiation. Visible imagery is available only during daylight since it produced by reflected sunlight. The major advantage of using the visible imagery is due to it can gives higher resolution images than other imagery bands, so smaller features can be distinguished with visible imagery. The problem faces visible imagery is that clouds are shown white, while land and water surfaces are shaded. Clouds are Earths atmosphere, which absorb and reflect incoming solar radiation and leads to hide the fine details of the Earth surface under consideration [San04]. The two primary sensor types in the satellite are the optical and radar. Optical sensors are concerned with the imaging by visible and infrared radiation. While the radar sensors use microwaves to create an image, which enable the sensor to see through clouds and in night. In addition, multi-spectral, hyper-spectral and multi-polarization sensors are operated at different bands to improve the detection of objects under the sea or ground. Table (2.1) presents characteristics of the most popular optical satellites [ERD13]. Table (1.1) The most Popular optical satellites [ERD13] Satellite Mission life Spatial resolution (m) Panchromatic Multispectral Hyperspectral IRS 1988 / 03 0.80 73.00 Landsat 7 1999 / 07 15.00 30.00 60.00 IKONOS 1999 / 09 1.00 4.00 RapidEye 1999 / 12 5.00 ASTER 1999 / 12 15.00 30.00 – 90.00 MODIS 1999 / 12 250.00 500 1000 EROS 2000 / 12 0.50 – 0.90 QuickBird 2001 / 10 0.61 2.40 SPOT 5 2002 / 02 2.50 – 5.00 10.00 OrbView-3 2003 / 09 1.00 4.00 ALOS 2006 / 06 10.00 WorldView-1 2007 / 09 0.40 GeoEye-1 2008 / 09 0.41 1.65 WorldView-2 2009 / 06 0.41 1.80 Pleiades 2011 / 07 0.50 1.00 Many satellite imagery platforms are designed to follow an orbit determined by the direction from north to the south of the Earth, which is conjunct to the Earths rotation (from the west to east of the Earth). This setting of satellites allows them to cover most of the Earths surface (The coverage is called swath) over a certain period of time. More details about the satellite orbit and swath are given in the following subsections [Asr89]: Satellite Orbit Orbit is the path followed by a satellite. Satellite orbits are determined according to the capability and objective of carried sensors. The selection of orbit is depending on altitude, orientation, and rotation of the satellite relative to the Earth. Geostationary satellites revolve at speeds are matching the rotation of the Earth at altitudes of approximately 36000 km as Figure (2.2-a) shows. This makes the satellites to observe and collect information continuously over the considered areas. The common types of such orbits are found in weather and communications satellites. Whereas, most of satellite imagery are set to be used the near polar orbits, which indicates that the satellite moves northward along one side of Earth and then toward the southern pole on the second half of its orbit as Figure (2.2-b) shows. This trajectory is called ascending and descending passes, which are clearly shown in Figure (2.2-c). Moreover, there are sun-synchronous satellite orbits that cover each a rea on the Earths surface at a constant local time of day called local sun time. The ascending pass of sun-synchronous satellite is almost covers the shadowed side of the Earth while the descending pass is covering the sunlit side. This motion credits same illumination conditions when imaging specific area in periodic seasons over successive years [Pan96]. Swath Swath is imaged area on the surface of the Earth when the satellite around revolves, as Figure (2.3) shows. Swath covers an area is varying between tens and hundreds of kilometers wide. When the satellite rotates about the Earth from pole to pole, it seems to be shifted westward due to the rotation of the Earth (from west to east). This motion enables the satellite swath to cover a new area at each successive pass. The satellites orbit and Earths rotation work together to make complete coverage of the Earths surface when completing one orbital cycle. In near polar orbits, areas at high latitudes will be imaged more frequently than that ling at equatorial zone, this is due to the overlapping occurred in adjacent swaths when the orbit paths come closer together near the poles [Cam02]. If the satellites orbit start with any randomly selected pass, then the orbit cycle will be completed at the time when the satellite retraces its path, this is happen when the same point on the Earths surface become directly below the satellite (such point is called the nadir point) for a second time. The exact time period of the orbital cycle will vary at each satellite. Such that, the time interval required for the satellite to complete its orbital cycle is not the same as the revisit period [Sab97]. Satellite Image Scanning The satellite scanning produces digital images using detectors to measure the brightness of reflected electromagnetic energy. The scanner employs a detector with a narrow field of view which sweeps across the terrain, the parallel scan lines are combined together to produce an image as Figure (2.4) shows [Add10]. The most widely type used scanners is across-track (such as a Whiskbroom used in Quick Bird satellite), which uses rotating mirrors to scan the Earths surface from side to side perpendicular to the direction of the sensor platform. The function of rotating mirrors is redirecting the reflected light to be focused at the sensor detector(s). In such case, the moving mirrors create spatial distortions that can be corrected by processing the received data before delivering the image data into the user. The most significant advantage of whiskbroom scanner is the fewer sensor detectors that keeping data calibration. Another type of scanner is the along-track scanner (such as the pu sh broom scanner used in Spot satellite) that does not use rotating mirrors, it uses a sensor detectors are arranged in a rows called a linear array. Instead of scanning from side to side as the sensor system moves forward, the one dimensional sensor array captures the scanned line at once. Furthermore, some recent scanners are step stare based scanners, they contain two-dimensional arrays in rows and columns for each band. It is important to mention that the push broom scanner is smaller, lighter, and less complex due to fewer moving parts than whiskbroom scanner. Also push broom scanner gives better radiometric and spatial resolution. A major disadvantage of push broom scanner is the calibration that required due to a large number of detectors found in the sensor system [Bui93]. A multi-spectral scanner is a space borne remote sensing system that simultaneously acquires images of the same scene at different wavelengths. The sensors of a multi-spectral scanner are normally working in specific parts of the spectral range from 0.35ÃŽ ¼m up to 14ÃŽ ¼m. These specific parts of the spectrum in which remote sensing observation are made, are called bands or channels. The number of bands or channels varies largely from system to another [Add10]. Two important advantages of multi-spectral scanning are [Lil04]: Objects at the surface of the earth have varying reflection behavior through the optical spectrum; they can be recognized and/or identified more easily using several spectral bands than using just one band. A large number of objects do not reflect radiation very well in the visible part of the spectrum. Remote sensing observations outside the visible wavelengths or in combination with observations in the visible spectrum produce a much more contrasting image, which is helpful to identify objects or to determine their condition. Satellite Image Resolution Image resolution is the capability of sensor to observe the smallest object clearly with distinct boundaries. Resolution is often referred to count pixels in digital image. Usually, the pixel resolution is described by set of two positive integer numbers, where the first number is the width of the image (i.e. number of pixel columns) and the second is the height of the image (i.e. number of pixel rows). Whereas, the cite resolution is the total count of pixels in the image, which typically given in megapixels, and can be calculated by multiplying width by height of the image and then dividing by one million as Figure (2.5) shows [Zho10]. In satellite imagery, ground resolution indicates the Ground Sample Distance (GSD) that refers to the size of ground area covered by one pixel. For an image of 0.6m ground resolution, each pixel records an average reflected color of area 0.6m by 0.6m. The fewer meter per pixel, the higher the resolution of the image. The particular ground resolution is an important parameter when taking vertical aerial images. Satellites of various ground resolutions are listed in Table (2.2) [ERD13]. In addition to GSD, there are four types of resolution when discussing satellite imagery, they are: spatial, spectral, radiometric, and temporal. More details about each one are given in the following subsections [Ren99]: Table (2.2) Most interest satellite features [ERD13] Feature QuickBird Landsat -7 GeoEye -1 IKONOS WorldView -2 Pleiades GSD 0.61m 15m 0.41m 1m 0.5m 0.5m Swath width 16.5 km 185km 15km 13km 16.4km 20km Multispectral Yes yes yes yes yes yes Revisit time 3-4 days 16 days 2-3 days 1-3 days 2-3 days 2-3 days Spatial Resolution The discrimination of image details is depending on the spatial resolution of the sensor, which refers to the ability of detecting the smallest possible feature in the image. Spatial resolution of sensors depends primarily on their Instantaneous Field of View (IFOV).The IFOV is related to the angular cone of visibility of the sensor that determines the ground are seen from a given altitude at one particular moment in time. The size of the viewed area is determined by multiplying the IFOV by the distance from the sensor to ground. This ground area is called the cell resolution and determines the maximum spatial resolution of the sensor [Sab97]. Spectral Resolution Many remote sensing systems use several separate wavelength ranges at various spectral resolutions when imaging the ground areas. These are referred to as multi-spectral sensors. Advanced multi-spectral sensors called hyperspectral sensors, which detect hundreds of very narrow spectral bands in the visible, near-infrared and mid-infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The use of spectral resolution improve the informatic store of specific ground area since there are very high spectral resolution facilitates leads to fine discrimination between different targets based on their spectral response when using each narrow bands [Lil04]. Radiometric Resolution The radiometric characteristics describe the actual information of image contents. Radiometric resolution is the sensitivity of the sensor to the magnitude of the electromagnetic energy that describes its ability to discriminate little differences in the energy. The finer radiometric resolution of sensors the more sensitive for detecting small differences in reflected or emitted energy [Bui93]. Digitally, radiometric resolution is the number of bits comprising each pixel in the image, which indicates the brightness level of current pixel. Brightness levels are digitally represented by a positive numbers varies from 0 to a selected power of 2. The available maximum brightness level depends on the number of bits used to represent the recorded energy. Thus, if the sensor uses 8bits for data recording, then there are 28=256 digital values are available within the range from 0 to 255 [San04]. Temporal Resolution Temporal resolution is related to the revisit period of a satellite sensor. The temporal resolution is the period of a remote sensing system that images the same area appeared at the same viewing angle for second time. The actual temporal resolution is typically measured by days, it depends on three factors: satellite capabilities, swath overlapping, and latitude. The ability of image collection in same area at different periods is an important element for applying remote sensing data. Spectral characteristics of given areas may change over the time and these changes can be detected by collecting and comparing multi-temporal images. When imaging on a continuing basis at different times, change on the Earth surface whether they are naturally occurring or induced by humans can be monitored [Lev99]. Fractal Theory In the 1970s, Benoit B. Mandelbrot introduced his discovery as a new field of mathematics named as fractal geometry (from Latin fractus, i.e. irregular fragmented). He claimed that the fractal geometry would provide a useful tool to explain a variety of naturally occurring phenomena [Man83]. A fundamental characteristic of fractal objects is that their measured metric properties such as length or area are a function of the scale of measurement [Sun06]. Mandelbrots fractal geometry is the best approximation and the most widely used successful mathematical model [Man88]. Fractal objects can be found everywhere in nature such as coastlines, fern trees, snowflakes, clouds and mountains. Self-similarity is one of the most important properties of fractals, invariant scale, and non-integer dimension [Man83]. Fractal geometry is not concerned with the explicit shape of objects. Instead, fractal geometry identifies the value that quantifies the shape of the objects surface by the fractal dimension DF. For example, a line is commonly thought of as 1D object, a plane as a 2D object, and a prism as a 3D object. All these dimensions have integer values. However, the surfaces of many natural objects cannot be described with an integer value, such objects are said to have a fractional dimension. According to Mandelbrot, the fractal can be defined as â€Å"A rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be subdivided in parts, each is (at least approximately) a reduced size copy of the whole†. In term of Mathematics, fractal can be defined as â€Å"A set of points whose fractal dimension exceeds its topological dimension† [Man83]. Fractal geometry uses the fractal features to describe the irregular or fragmented shapes of natural features as well as other complex objects that the tra ditional Euclidean geometry fails to analyze [Ana11].