Analytical report on the sustainability of the London 2012 Olympic games The WritePass Journal

Analytical report on the sustainability of the London 2012 Olympic games Executive summary Analytical report on the sustainability of the London 2012 Olympic games Olympics Detailed review of ‘active travel’ A short opinion survey of ‘active travel’ Conclusion ReferencesRelated Executive summary This report presents a discussion of the sustainability plan developed for, and implemented during, the 2012 Olympic Games held in London. The sustainability plan was governed by five main themes: climate change; waste; biodiversity; inclusion; and healthy living (London 2012, 2012). The aim with regards to climate change was to deliver a low carbon Games in order to be able to showcase the ability of London 2012 to respond to the need to minimise our impact on the environment. The aim with regards to waste was to deliver a zero-waste Games. The aim for biodiversity was to conserve biodiversity and to create new green spaces across London, which would enable people to be brought closer together through both sport and Nature. With regards to inclusion, the aim of London 2012 was to be the most inclusive Olympic Games to date, with the Games being used as an opportunity to develop the region of London in which the Games was held. With regards to healthy living, the aim of the Games was to inspire people in the UK to become more motivated to exercise and to take up sport, through this developing more active and healthy lifestyles (Girginov and Hills, 2008). In order to provide a framework for the achievement of these five themes, the sustainability plan was divided in to five main aspects, each of which will be discussed in detail in the next section of the report: Local community work; Our responsibility; Food vision; Active travel; and Recycling. Overview of the sustainability plan put forward by the organisers of the London 2012 Olympics As London 2012 (London 2012, 2012) state, â€Å"When we bid to host the 2012 Games, we made a radical proposal to the International Organising Committee†¦we were going to hold the world’s first truly sustainable Olympic and Paralympic Games†. The Olympic 2012 organising committee sat down with BioRegional and the WWF to develop a plan called Towards a One Planet 2012 which outlined how the Olympic Games 2012 could be made as sustainable as possible, guided by the idea that the â€Å"†¦world should live within it’s means† (London 2012, 2012). The sustainability plan that was developed has five main areas of consideration entitled climate change; waste; biodiversity; inclusion; and healthy living. These were implemented via five main approaches: local community work (inclusion and biodiversity); our responsibility (inclusion); food vision (climate change and waste); active travel (healthy living); and recycling (waste). These five areas were develo ped through consultation across four main areas, all of which related directly to those attending the Games or watching the Games on the television, namely the venues, travel, food and waste (London 2012, 2012). As London 2012 (2012) state, â€Å"All our venues were designed to ensure that all the athletes perform to the best of their ability whilst pushing the boundaries of sustainability knowledge and design†, with all the venues being designed – or remodelled – on the basis of the venues leaving a sustainable legacy for future generations. With regards to travel, London 2012 (2012) note that the most important consideration was to enable the millions of spectators – and the thousands of participants – to be able to reach the venues on time and for the Games to be used as an opportunity to educate the population about sustainable travel, including the benefits of using public transport, walking and cycling. With regards to food, the organisers of the Games worked very closely with the food industry in order to be able to bring ethical and sustainable food to the Games. Waste was another major consideration of the organising committee, with the organising committee aiming to send none of the extra waste generated during the Games to landfill (London 2012, 2012). The five areas will now be discussed in detail. ‘Local community work’, as London 2012 (2012) detail, was based around a specially created outreach program called Changing Places, with the specific aims of encouraging inclusion and preserving and increasing biodiversity (London 2012, 2007). This program aimed to encourage people to get out in to their local community to effect positive changes in their community, changes that would make the communities more attractive to residents and to visitors. The main aims of the ‘Local community work’ area of the London 2012 sustainability plan were to inspire communities to improve their public spaces; to enable people from communities to become more united and to develop new skills and interests; and to improve the quality of the neighbourhoods around London 2012 venues, with a view to not only improving the visitor experience but providing an opportunity for long-term positive changes in the aesthetics of these comm unities. The program was begun in 2009 and, since that date, as London 2012 (2012) note, there have been more than 6000 volunteers who have signed up to help, with over 15,000 hours of volunteer time having been given to the program. More than 15 tonnes of waste have been removed from communities near the Olympic venues and over 7000m of community gardens have been created across 250 sites, with 2000 square metres of graffiti having been removed from walls in these communities. As London 2012 (2012) discuss, this represents a massive commitment from local communities who have felt the impact on the environment of their local communities, making these local communities more attractive and increasing the sense of pride that local residents take in their communities. With regards to the ‘Our responsibility’ area of the sustainability plan, London 2012 (2012) notes that â€Å"Sustainability has been a part of every bold and challenging decision we have made in the development of the Olympic Park and the staging of the Games†. This area fits within the main ‘Inclusion’ theme of the London 2012 sustainability plan. The Games were not only a success but the preparation for the Games has meant that London has, â€Å"†¦changed†, with the sustainability plan, â€Å"†¦.changing the way we impact people, industry and the planet† (London 2012, 2012). As London 2012 (2012) note, within the framework of ‘Our responsibility’, there are six main achievements that have arisen from the Games: The Olympic Park; Carbon management; Sustainable transport; Food vision; Waste; and Standards. The Olympic Park features the most sustainable sports venue ever built, with 60% of construction materials for the Park having been brought to the site by rail or river, thus minimising the pollution that the transport of these materials caused. As Collins et al. (2009) note, however, it can be difficult to accurately measure the impact of mega sporting events on the local area, both in the short- and long-term. It is difficult, therefore, to know how London 2012 managed to assess, in quantitative terms, the reduction in pollution generated as a result of moving materials in this way and whether this reduction was maintained during the actual hosting of the Games. In terms of carbon management, London 2012 was the first Olympic Games to measure it’s carbon footprint across the whole Games, with the analysis of this footprint enabling decisions to be made about how to avoid, reduce and substitute carbon emissions in London in future (London 2012, 2012). Sustainable transport wa s a major concern of the organising committee, with the committee committing to achieving 100% sustainable transport across the duration of the Games. This was achieved through the ‘Supporting Active Travel’ plan, which will be discussed later in the report. Regarding ‘Food vision’, which fits within the ‘Healthy living’, ‘Waste’ and ‘Biodiversity’ themes of the sustainability plan, London 2012 represented the â€Å"†¦largest peacetime catering operation in the world† with the delivery of food using ethical and sustainable principles meaning that the Games delivered 14 million sustainably sourced meals to visitors and participants. ‘Waste’ was treated as a fundamental issue that needed to be tackled if the Games were to be delivered sustainably, with the overall aim of London 2012 to achieve ‘zero-waste-to-landfill’ and the Games actually achieving an overall 98.5% reuse and 99% recycling of all materials from the Games (London 2012, 2012). In terms of ‘Standards’, London 2012 were the first Olympic organising committee to be certified to the British Standard 8901: Specification for a Sustainability Management Systems for Events (London 2012, 2012). Under the area of ‘Food vision’, the London 2012 organising committee made certain commitments, including a commitment to deliver choice, diversity and affordable prices to visitors in terms of the food that would be available for them to buy at the Games (London 2012, 2012). It was also noted that the food that was sold was healthy, this being a key consideration of the organising committee in view of their commitment to the Games being used as a showcase to encourage people in the UK to become more active and, through this, healthier. To achieve these broad aims, five aspects of food vision were considered: food safety and hygiene; choice and balance; food sourcing and supply chains (with local food being given precedence); environmental management, resource efficiency and waste (with food providers being encouraged to use recyclable packaging); and skills and education (London 2012, 2012). One major aspect of the food vision was the decision to use only fish caught or farmed sustainably, this inspiring the naming of London as the Sustainable Fish City in 2011 (London 2012, 2012). With regards to active travel area of the sustainability plan, which fits in the ‘Healthy living’ theme of the sustainability plan (London 2012, 2007), this will be discussed in more detail in the next section of the report. The ‘recycling’ area of the sustainability plan was an important aspect of the plan, constituting the main concern of the ‘Waste’ theme of the plan (London 2012, 2007), the organising committee encouraging the food providers at the Games to use compostable packaging and for all visitors to recycle wherever possible. In terms of the non-recyclable rubbish generated during the Games, the organising committee placed designated black bins around the venues, the material going in to these bins was then used to produce electricity, which was then pumped back in to the Games. Overall, then, the five areas of the sustainability plan were well thought out and delineated in such a way that each area supported each other area, providin g an overall plan for sustainability that was not only comprehensive but also, and importantly, highly practical (Girginov et al., 2009; Davies, 2012). It can be argued that it was the practical nature of the sustainability plan that led to its aims being achieved across all five areas of the plan (Nichols, 2012; Horne, 2012). Detailed review of ‘active travel’   As London 2012 (2012) discusses, one of the main aims of the sustainability plan was to encourage UK society, in general, to become more active, to undertake more exercise and, through this, to become healthier as a whole. As Devine (2012) discusses, the Government, as part of the planning for the Olympic Games, organised this aim in to four areas of focus, aiming, through this, to, â€Å"†¦harness the UK’s passion for sport to increase grass-roots participation, particularly by young people and encourage the whole population to be more physically active†. With this in mind, the sustainability plan included, as one of the five main areas, the idea of ‘Active travel’, which aimed to encourage visitors to the Games to walk and cycle more often and, as a result of this, and education surrounding this idea, to encourage people in the UK to walk and cycle more often. The Active travel program was developed to encourage people to adopt healthier lifestyl es, with this not only offering a way to improve the overall health of the population – and therefore having a public health perspective – but also easing the burden on public transport and on the road network during the London 2012 event (London 2012, 2012). As part of this framework, the London 2012 Inspire Programme was set up which aimed to encourage more walking and cycling. In the run up to the Games, 60 Inspire programmes were set up, with the lessons learned from these pilot projects being consolidated and turned in to plans to effect real changes in the choice of transportation across the UK as a whole (Horne, 2012). As London 2012 (2012) noted, â€Å"By creating a positive experience for people walking and cycling to the Games, London 2012 and Transport for London hope people will continue to choose to walk and cycle in the future, both for every day trips and to future sporting and cultural events†. It is clear, then, that the London 2012 organising committee has a serious commitment to using the lessons learned during London 2012 to improve the health of the general populace beyond the 2012 Games. As London 2012 (2007; 47) states, â€Å"Living healthy lifestyles within the resources of the planet, is an essential element of working towards a one planet 2012†, with healthy living being tightly linked to other aspects of the sustainability plan, including access to green spaces, healthy food and active travel. If more green spaces are available, for example, as a result of the quest for community involvement and the commitment to restore and create more biodiversity spots across London, then people will be more inclined to get outside and be healthy. Once people start to feel healthier, their bodies ask for healthier food. As Shipway (2007) notes, it can be difficult, however, to determine what the sustainable legacies of an event such as London 2012 might be, in terms of health. Whilst the Games had a unique opportunity to deliver sustainable sporting and health legacies, there are many key challenges that need to be overcome before these legacies can have any short- or long-term impacts. What is needed, argues Shipway (2007), is a â€Å"†¦positive step change in the attitudes towards sport and physical activity in British society†. Until this is achieved, it is difficult to see how the ‘active travel’ legacy of the London 2012 sustainability plan can be achieved. As Dickson and Benson (2011) note, what is needed, in reality, is some form of metric that could enable the measurement of the degree of implementation of these desired legacies and the impact of the desired legacies on the local area and beyond. Without this, as Dickson and Benson (2011) note, the sustainability pla n put forwards by London 2012 is simply talk with no substance (Leopky and Parent, 2012). Closer links to local and regional planning activities could, for example, have ensured a greater likelihood of achieving, and sustaining, the aims of ‘active travel’ (Gratton and Preuss, 2008). A short opinion survey of ‘active travel’   A short survey was undertaken of GSM London students, in order to find out their opinions on the active travel ideas in the London 2012 sustainability plan. As shown in Table 1, of the twenty students interviewed, none of them had realised that the London 2012 Games had been accompanied by a sustainability plan. Number of students who knew the London 2012 Olympics had a sustainability plan Number of students who did not know that the London 2012 Olympics had a sustainability plan 0 20 Table 1: Showing the number of students who were aware of the London 2012 sustainability plan When the respondents were asked if they could imagine what this plan might have included, eighteen of the students said they were not sure, with one mentioning that they thought the plan might include ‘minimising impacts on climate change’ and another mentioning ‘encouraging less waste’. Of the twenty students that were interviewed, all twenty of them had been in London at the time of the Games but only three of them had visited an event during the London 2012 Games. Asked for their opinion of the London 2012 Games, twelve of them responded that tickets for the events were too expensive and that the transport had been ‘a nightmare’ around the time of the Games, with the seven students who travel by public transport saying that they had become tired, during the Games, of having to help tourists find their routes and of having to stand because the bus/Tube they usually used was very full during the duration of the Games. Two of the students interviewed said that they had taken to using a bike, during the Games, because of the crowding on public transport, and that, as they had enjoyed the experience so much, and felt so much healthier when they used their bike to get to their place of study, they had continued to use their bike since the Games. When asked if they would recommend using a bike to their peers, both of these students stated that, yes, they had recommended using a bike to friends and that, between them, six other students had now started cycling to their place of study, rather than using public transport. When asked whether they felt the London 2012 planning committee had been successful in their mission to encourage the use of active transport to move around the Games, the twenty students replied that they had not realised this was an aspect of the sustainability plan of the London 2012 Games. When told that it was, and that the main aim of this was to encourage people in the UK, in general, to be healthier, the twenty students seemed perplexed by this idea, stating that they were unsure if this would work, as they had not even heard of the sustainability plan and certainly had not seen any adverts encouraging people to use active transport during the Games. It was clear from the short opinion survey undertaken that the twenty students interviewed were not very well informed of the sustainability plan of London 2012 nor of the specific parts of this plan, nor of the fact that Londoners, and people in the UK in general, were being asked to use active transport, following the model of this piloted during the London 2012 Games. It seems, therefore, that from this small sample of people, the London 2012 organising committee were not very successful in transmitting their grand ideas to the general populace. Conclusion   This report has provided an analysis of the sustainability plan of the London 2012 Games, looking at the main themes in the plan and how these themes were implemented. The results of a short survey were presented which suggest that, despite the fact that London 2012 were very successful in implementing some of their plans (such as those covering waste and food), they were not so successful in educating the public about the benefits of engaging in active transport. References Collins, A., Jones, C., and Munday, M. (2009). Assessing the environmental impacts of mega sporting events: two options? Tourism Management 30(6), 828-837. Davies, L.E. (2012). Beyond the Games: regeneration legacies and London 2012. Leisure Studies 31(3), 309-337. Devine, C. (2012). London 2012 Olympic legacy: a big sporting society? International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics DOI: 10.1080/19406940.2012.656674. Dickson, T.J. and Benson, A. (2011). Developing a framework for evaluating Olymic and Paralympic legacies. Journal of Sport and Tourism 4, 285-302. Girginov, V. and Hills, L. (2008). A sustainable sports legacy: creating a link between the London Olympics and sports participation. International Journal of the History of Sports 25(14), 2091-2116. Girginov, V. et al. (2009). The political process of constructing a sustainable London Olympics sports development legacy. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics 1(2), 161-181. Girginov, V. (2012). Governance of the London 2012 Olympic Games legacy. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 47, 543-558. Gratton, C. and Pruess, H. (2008). Maximising Olympic impacts by building up legacies. The International Journal of the History of Sport 25(14), 1922-1938. Horne, J. (2012). Leisure, culture and the Olympic Games. Leisure Studies 31(3), 261-263. Leopky, B. and Parent, M.M. (2012). Olympic Games legacy: from general benefits to long-term legacy. The International Journal of the History of Sport 29(6), 924-943. Leopky, B. (2013). The Governance of Olympic Games legacy. PhD thesis, Universite de Ottowa. Available from https://ruor.uottawa.ca/fr/handle/10393/23640 [Accessed 21st March 2013]. London 2012 (2007). Towards a one planet 2012. Available from sel.org.uk/uploads/London-2012-Sustainability-Plan.pdf [Accessed 22nd March 2013]. London 2012 (2012). Sustainability. Available from london2012.com/about-us/sustainability/ [Accessed 22nd March 2013]. Nichols, G. (2012). Olympic cities: 2012 and the remaking of London. Leisure Studies 31(3), 378-380. Shipway, R. (2007). Sustainable legacies for the 2012 Olympic Games. Perspectives in Public Health 127, 119-124.

SAT Latin Subject Test Information

SAT Latin Subject Test Information Lingua Latina optimum in universo, et utinam possem student singula die. If you know what this Latin phrase means, then perhaps you better showcase that Latin talent and sign up for the SAT Latin Subject Test before you apply to the school of your choice. Want to know more? See below. Note: This test is not part of the SAT Reasoning Test, the popular college admissions exam. Nope. This is one of the many SAT Subject Tests, exams designed to showcase your particular talents in all sorts of fields.​ SAT Latin Subject Tests Basics Before you register for this test, (which only pops up twice a year) here are the basics about your testing conditions: 60 minutes70 - 75 multiple-choice questions200-800 points possibleMacrons appear on the testVariations of Latin words appear in parentheses on the test. For example: iudicium (judicium).Questions following a poetry passage will always include one question requiring you to scan the first four feet of a line of dactylic hexameter verse or determine the number of elisions in a line (just to keep it interesting). SAT Latin Subject Test Skills So, whats on this thing? What kinds of skills are required? Here are the skills youll need in order to master this test.: Choose appropriate grammatical forms of Latin wordsChoose Latin words from which English words are derivedTranslate from Latin to EnglishComplete Latin sentencesChoose alternative ways of expressing the same thought in LatinAnswer a variety of questions based on short passages of prose or poetry SAT Latin Subject Test Question Breakdown As you can see, the majority of the test is based on those reading comprehension questions, but other Latin knowledge is tested, too: Grammar and Syntax: Approximately 21 - 23 questions Derivatives: Approximately 4 - 5 questions Reading Comprehension: Approximately 46 – 49 questions These questions include three to five reading passages and one or two poetry passages. Why Take the SAT Latin Subject Test? Since many people believe Latin to be a dead language – no one really speaks it in everyday life – why should you showcase your knowledge of it? In some cases, youll need to, especially if youre considering choosing Latin as a major in college. In other cases, its a great idea to take the Latin Subject Test so you can showcase a different skill other than sports or drama club. It shows the college admissions officers that you have more up your sleeve than your GPA. Taking the test, and scoring high on it, demonstrates qualities of a well-rounded applicant. Plus, it can get you out of those entry-level language courses. How to Prepare for the SAT Latin Subject Test To ace this thing, youll need at least two years in Latin during high school, and youll want to take the test as close to the end of or during your most advanced Latin class you plan to take. Getting your high school Latin teacher to offer you some supplementary materials is always a good idea, too. In addition, you should practice with legitimate practice questions like youll see on the test. The College Board offers free practice questions for the SAT Latin Test along with a pdf of the answers, too. Sample SAT Latin Subject Test Question This question comes from the College Boards free practice questions. The writers have ranked the questions from 1 to 5 where 1 is the least difficult. The question below is ranked as a 4. Agricola dÄ «xit sÄ“ puellam vÄ «sÃ… «rum esse. (A) that he would see the girl(B) that he had seen the girl(C) that the girl would see him(D) that they will see the girl Choice (A) is correct. The sentence presents an indirect statement introduced by Agricola dÄ «xit (The farmer said). The underlined indirect statement has the reflexive pronoun sÄ“ (referring to Agricola) as its accusative subject, the noun puellam (girl) as its accusative direct object and the future infinitive vÄ «sÃ… «rum esse (to be about to see) as its verb. The use of the masculine future active participle vÄ «sÃ… «rum indicates that sÄ“, not the feminine puellam, is the subject of the infinitive. The underlined portion of the sentence may therefore be translated as â€Å"that he would see the girl.† Choice (B) mistranslates the future infinitive vÄ «sÃ… «rum esse as pluperfect (had seen); choice (C) mistranslates puellam as subject rather than object (the girl would see); and choice (D) mistranslates sÄ“ (referring to the singular Agricola) as plural (they). The entire sentence may be translated as The farmer said that he would see the girl.† Good Luck!

Jeffrey Eugenindes's Middlesex Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Jeffrey Eugenindes's Middlesex - Essay Example This novel showcases Eugenides mastery of imagination as he weaves together the different aspects of this family's history presenting them in an eye opening coming of age tale perfectly fitting for today's modern age. The story does a great job of melding self-conscious artifice and real-world history. Perhaps what is most surprising about Eugenides novel is how he effortlessly establishes the credibility in his narrator in the opening statement, " I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey Michigan, in August of 1974" (Eugenides 3). Here the narrator introduces himself and his sordid history, explaining his grandparent's incestuous marriage and how they vowed to keep it a secret. The center of the story surrounds Cal and his struggles with his sexuality. He says, "I've got a male brain. But I was raised as a girl" (Eugenides). While Cal struggles with this dilemma his entire life, Eugenides fights to prove through these struggles that Cal is really no different than any other American teenager. The novel covers all of Cal's childhood and adolescent obstacles in the hope of normalizing Cal's very un-normal condition. What makes these descriptions interesting is that Cal does not provide any emotion, leaving it up to the reader to judge how Cal must have felt as a result. For instance, when Cal tells of his close encounter in the San Francisco park and how he is nearly raped, the descriptions are virtually devoid of any emotion. Cal says the men in the park tell him "Crawl back into the hole you came out of freak" (Eugenides), but the reader is left on their own to decide how Cal must have felt. The closest description to anything emotional is when Cal says, "I had seventy-five cents to my name. I wished more anything that I could call home" (Eugenides). It seems that Eugenides chose to make Cal's descriptions devoid of any true emotion because he hoped the reader would feel for Cal and understand the emotions he must have been feeling through their own. These emotionless descriptions can be seen again in Cal's pursuit of love where his limited manhood most manifests itself, because Cal is afraid of revealing his body. He says very matte r of factly without expressing how this makes him feel, "And so, without permanence, I have fallen into the routine of my incomplete seductions," (Eugenides). It is evident that the overall goal of this story is paint a picture of American life and the decisions of one particular family in history. Eugenides takes the reader through the minds of each family member, allowing them a peek inside the windows into their souls. He begins with the grandmother, Desdemona, and her escape from her Greek island home and how she first fell in love with her brother lefty. Through the eyes of Desdemona the reader can begin to understand the reasoning behind her incestuous relationship with her brother Lefty. He makes it easy for the reader to understand why the family members decide to do the things that they do, and why they have made specific

Is Media Globalization a Form of Cultural Imperialism Essay

Is Media Globalization a Form of Cultural Imperialism - Essay Example This wide spread of its globalization has come up because of innovation and development of advanced information communication technology. Furthermore, globalization of media has facilitated all other forms of globalization in the world owing to the fact that multi-national media is very fundamental in global industries. Many individuals especially in the western countries believe in enjoying the positive impacts of media globalization without fearing or avoiding the media negative results which may include violation of freedom to speech. International communication has been made cheap through Media globalization and availability of advanced communication. This enable people have video conversation with their own who might be miles away. It helps business people be informed on the current status on the stock market via cell phones. This helps in good use of funds, time and power. Internet as another development in media has positively encouraged development in the world health sector. In the event of critical illness, a doctor can transmit an X-ray or MRI through another one at a far country thus offering better solution. A client is thus able to get it effectively and efficiently saving many lives. More advances are being made in media technology such as compression technology to enable easier and good transfers of CAT scans via the Internet for patients to access efficient assistant from all skilled professionals globally. Additionally via the worldwide web, a lot of information has been made readily available to all hence need to be informed in the right way. Homogenization and hybridization are two major types concerning that unify global culture. Homogenization equates globalization with depletion of... This essay approves that media is currently available and to the reach by people which is contrary totally different from previous status. An example is given of increased competition in the open market which has lowered content diversity. This is observed to standardize a profit as the organizations compete for more audience. Similarly, news stations have taken followed the profit formula hence lower quality of journalistic content bringing a very confusing situation hence global poor understanding of news resulting from personalized media content. Owing to the fact that advertising is great source of finance in media it is right to argue that media never choose the important products to advertise as their motive is profit maximization. This global media ignorance of the public interest does not result from changes of one’s standards in professional journalism. Also it never results from more public need for less irrelevant and evil information. The media is thus to lower public demand and esteem as they broadcast according to their satisfaction. This report makes a conclusion that since media has great societal influence it is good to regulate it more for nothing can stop media globalization. It will keep non influencing impact people behavior. Therefore, it is advisable for governments to ensure media freedom but set rules that will favor protection of people culture and good character as well. Therefore, it is right to argue the fact that medial globalization is source of cultural imperialism.

Bag of Visual Words Model

Bag of Visual Words Model Abstract Automatic interpretation of Remote sensing images is a very important task in several practical fields. There are several approaches to accomplish this task, one of the most powerful and effective approach is the use of local features and machine learning techniques to detect objects and classify it. In such an approach, first, the image is scanned for local features and coded in a mathematically manipulatable form, then these local features are injected to a classifier to get the class of the object which contains these local features. In this thesis, bag of visual words model for detecting and recognizing of objects in high resolution satellite images is constructed and tested using blob local features. Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) and Speedup Robust Features (SURF) algorithms are used as blob local feature detector and descriptor. The extracted features are coded mathematically with Bag of Visual Words algorithm in order to represent an image by the histograms of visua l words. Dimension reduction technique is used to eliminate non-relevant and non-distinctive data using Principle Component Analysis (PCA). Finally, a single class Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier is used to classify the object image as a positive or negative match. We extend the typical use of BOVW by using an object proposals technique to extract regions that will be classified by the SVM depends on keypoints location clustering instead of sliding window approach. Besides enhance the resolution independency by using geospatial info extracted from the remote sensing images meta-data to extract real dimensions of objects during training and detection. The whole approach will be tested practically in the experiment work to prove that this approach is capable to detecting a number of geo-spatial objects, such as airplane, airports and cars. Introduction The remote sensing, images has been developed in quantity and quality and its applications. The image itself is not useful without analysis. The analysis is to generate information from the image.ÂÂ   One of the image analysis tasks is the detection of objects from the images, either man-made objects or natural objects. The automation of this task is very useful in real world applications, but it is very challenging. This can be one of the computer vision field problems. The methods that, use local features in object, recognition from visual data is very successful in recent researches. The benefits of using local features is immunity, to occlusion, and clutter, and with greatest significantly, no pre-step of segmentation, is required before local feature extraction. The accessibility of diverse feature extraction and descriptors algorithms lets local feature methods efficient. Furthermore, the large number of features, generated from images of objects is crucial advantage, of l ocal features. While the benefits of local features are useful, a feature has to cover some factors; like invariance to scaling, rotation, illumination, viewing direction slight change, noise and cluttering. Motivation The revolutionary technology used in new generation satellite systems is driving the development of new large scale data handling approaches in remote sensing related applications. Furthermore, the large image archives captured over the previous missions are now being used to produce innovative global products. In particular, the development of large-scale analytics tools to efficiently extract information and apply the achieved results towards answering scientific questions represents a big challenge for the research community working in the Remote Sensing field. One of the most useful analytic tools in remote sensing images is the object detection and recognition, either the man-made objects or natural ones as shown in Figure ‎1‑1 Figure ‎1‑1 Object detection as a Remote sensing image interpretation analysis There are a lot of challenges faced by the researchers like, but not limited to, enhancing the efficiency to process large data, developing the suitable techniques to detect and recognize various object types and develop tools and platforms needed to store, analyze, interpret and represent data and results. These challenges united experts of data science, algorithm development and computer science, as well as environmental experts and geoscientists, to present state-of-the-art algorithms, tools, and applications for processing and exploitation of a huge amount of remotely sensed data. The scope of these researches can be generalized as following: Studies describing advanced approaches to process large volume of multi-temporal optical, SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) and radiometric data. Studies discussing innovative techniques, and associated data processing methods for very large-scale data exploitation. Critical analyses of existing and innovative tools, methods and techniques for large-scale analytics to extract and represent information Results of case studies executed at different large spatial and temporal scales, also by using GRID and/or Cloud Computing platforms. Results of on-going national/international initiatives and solutions for managing, processing, and disseminating huge archives of Remote Sensing data and relevant results. Problem Statement This thesis addresses the problem of geospatial object detection and recognition from high resolution satellite images. The problem we are trying to solve is to decide if a given aerial, or satellite image, contains one or more objects, belonging to the class of interest, and locate the position, of each predicted object, in the image. The expression object stated in this thesis is any type of object may appear in the remote sensing images, including man-made objects which have sharp edges and are distinct from the background, for example a building, a ship, a vehicle. Our solution must be consider the challenges and difficulties of object detection in optical remote sensing images like visual appearance variations which caused by occlusion, viewpoint variation, clutter, illumination variation, shadow variation, etc. A general statement of the problem can be formulated as follows: Given a remote sensing image contains different objects, it is required to decide if one or more occurrences of a specific object class is existing in this image, and if so, detect locations of these objects, this needs to be successful in case of variation of viewpoint, occlusion, background clutter Objectives Model a methodology to solve the problem stated above that can features the following: Acquire training data of unlimited object classes. Read high resolution remote sensing images and able to analyze its data. Detect occurrences of trained object classes in the remote sensing images Demonstrate results as a geo-referenced data type. In this thesis, we will demonstrate a model to achieve these objectives, and assess its results compared to other state-of-the-art models presented in the recent researches. Thesis Layout The thesis is composed of five chapters, the first chapter presenting an introduction stating the motivation, problem definition and objectives, second chapter is discussing the literature survey about the problem and researches in the field, third chapter presenting a detailed explanation of the methodology proposed to solve the problem. Fourth chapter contains the experimental results of the model. Fifth chapter discusses and concludes the methodology represented in this thesis, then a few points is suggested as a future work.

Case Study Analysis Essay

The case study I chose to evaluate was Oak Brook Medical Systems, Inc. The manager, Jackie, is known as a â€Å"no nonsense† kind of manager who is credited with large increases in business accounts resulting in a $40 million dollar addition to the corporate bottom line. She is a valuable corporate asset but has considerable communication issues with staff members. This is a so called â€Å"armchair† case study that is based on the fictional documentation produced by O’Rourke in case 10-1 (2010) Business Problem Part of the problem faced by Oak Brook Medical Systems is Jackie. She is difficult to communicate with and on occasion, makes other staff members feel their contribution to the welfare of the company is less important than her own. Workers feel unappreciated and Jackie is sometimes short tempered and condescending toward her coworkers and subordinates. Jackie believes the issue to be no more than a hurdle that has been faced by many who went before her. She believes that the issues with her subordinates are no different than those faced by every manager or superior, not suspecting that the issue may actually lie with her. From Jackie’s perspective, the staff problems are due in part to her race. Jackie is of African American descent and, as such, is perhaps a little more observant of people’s attitude toward her than other employees would be. She is beginning to believe that the company may prefer to have a non-black in the position she currently holds; and would rather she not advance any further with the company. Jackie has known nothing but success in her life and is having difficulty recognizing hurdles to advancement because she has not faced failure in her past. She cannot understand the reason she is not progressing more within the company and does not consider her communication issues with fellow staff members as anything more than a nuisance to her advancement. The business problem for Oak Brooke Medical Systems is how to improve communication between staff members and prevent Jackie from demeaning her subordinates by her very direct approach to management. Critical Issues The issues faced by Oak Brooke Medical Systems, Inc., are related to communication and human resources. If staff feels they have no support in dealing with an overly aggressive manager, the company will lose vital talent and the creativity of the remaining members may be inadvertently subdued by fear or perceived bullying. The loss of current staff members could pose a long-term problem for the company as attracting and cultivating talented team members is costly and time consuming. If Jackie can eliminate one or more of the other members of the team by her aggressive managerial stance, she may ultimately cost the company more than she generates in revenue. Jackie is also a talented team member; but tends to want to play alone and seldom seeks the approval of other staff members. She has a direct approach to management and can steam-roller over others to reach her goal. She is African American and this will ultimately become an issue should the company decide to discipline her for unacceptable behavior. In the short term, Jackie believes her color is hindering her advancement within the company. Possible Solutions Jackie is exceptional at producing profits for the company. If Oak Brooke was willing to invest further in Jackie and provide some cultural training and sensitivity classes she may benefit. If Jackie can make other team members feel their contribution is important and indeed welcome, she may be able to generate a wave of support rather than create an unpalatable hostility in the workplace (Vlachoutsicos, 2011). Staff members may also benefit from cultural training and perhaps they would be more accepting of Jackie’s stance with regard to upward mobility in the corporation. IF team members understood the perceived hurdles Jackie faced in her work, they may be able to accommodate slightly more than they are currently able to. Meetings to openly discuss issues that staff have with Jackie and vice versa, may be all that it takes to settle the workplace down to something more easily managed. According to O’Rourke (2010), we all judge people by a standard to which we are accustomed and that standard is set by our experiences, values, education, and beliefs. Being able to recognize differences in the experiences of others is a big step toward building the bridges to successful communication. Racial bias is a two-way street and it should be made clear to all involved in the resolution that they must each understand the issue from the perspective of the other party or negotiations will be futile. References O’Rourke, J. S. (2010). Management communication: A case-analysis approach (4 ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. Vlachoutsicos, C. A. (2011). How to Cultivate Engaged Employees. Harvard Business Review, 89(9), 123-126.

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