This book focuses on the implementation of Hoshin Kanri. It is a response to most books on strategic planning that tend to downplay the implementation and only describe the fully implemented planning process. The power of this book originates from a project in which a team of five professionals over a period of three years implemented Hoshin Kanri in 14 companies; results were drawn from 130 workshops with leadership teams. The project team subsequently ran several accelerators inside large and small companies as well as public institutions. All these experiences together form the implementation focus of the book. Moreover, the organization of the book mirrors the message of its scientific thinking, which is also the basic principle of Hoshin Kanri: Chapter 1 focuses on the basic analysis-Is Hoshin Kanri something for your organization? Chapter 2 addresses the ambition-What is the vision for strategy work in your organization? Chapter 3 presents the conditions needed for effective strategic work. Chapter 4 discusses the choice of implementation strategy and your role as the change agent. Chapter 5 describes how Hoshin Kanri works when implemented. Chapter 6 addresses coaching/mentoring and the Kata philosophy. Chapter 7 presents important analytical tools. Appendix 1 describes the journey made by a medium-sized construction company. Essentially, this book describes in a concrete and structured way how you-the change agent-can use Hoshin Kanri in your organization to tackle large and complex challenges.

Focuses on leader standard work and standard work Demonstrates the use of Lean tools including visual controls, Gemba walks, kanban, 5S and more Discusses why a Lean philosophy is so important in conjunction with using Lean tools Outlines the need for whiteboards vs. computers Includes real-life implementaitons and results

Includes case studies illustrating the business processes that underlines the use of big data and health analytics to improve healthcare delivery Discusses AI based smart paradigms for reliable predictions of infectious disease dynamics which can help or prevent disease transmission Highlights the different aspects of using extended reality for diverse healthcare applications and aggregates the current state of research Offers intelligent models of the smart recommender system for personal well-being services and computer-aided drug discovery and design methods Presents novel innovative techniques for extracting user social behavior known as sentiment analysis for healthcare related purposes

- First book to focus on deep learning-based approaches in the field of cancer diagnostics. - Covers the state of the art across a wide-range of topics. - Topics include preprocessing data, prediction of cancer susceptibility and reoccurence, detection of different cancers, complexity and challenges.

Water transmission and distribution systems are pressurized hydraulic networks, consisting of pipes and other appurtenant components such as reservoirs, pumps, valves and surge devices. Analysis, design and flow control problems in such systems can best be dealt with using network synthesis. This approach aims to directly determine design variables in order to achieve a specified behaviour of the system under steady state or transient flow conditions. There are enormous advantages to be achieved in applying such a model to a wide variety of problems in engineering practice. The innovative theoretical framework described in this thesis, incorporates necessary and sufficient conditions for solvability, as well as methods/algorithms for the efficient solution of network problems.

Despite the apparently desperate situation of sub-Saharan Africa, rainwater harvesting and management is a viable intervention for upgrading rain-fed agriculture, improving water supply and sustainable livelihoods in water-scarce river basins. If strategies are developed to ensure equity allocation of basin water, a win-win situation for diverse water users can be achieved. This thesis assesses the hydrological impacts of land use changes on water resources management and socio-economic development of the upper Ewaso Ng'iro river basin in Kenya. It considers the impact of irrigation on dry season river flows and highlights the challenge of flood storage strategies. While flood storage can reduce dry season irrigation water abstractions by more than a half, without affecting hydro-ecological functions downstream, unplanned flood harvesting may impact negatively on flood flow, being detrimental to natural ecosystems and groundwater downstream.

Historically, economic crises have triggered the global policy of transferring the management of irrigation systems to water users associations. The impact of these transfers has been very complex and recent studies have shown that the outcomes vary from region to region, and are diverse even within a single country. The present study looks at 16 irrigation ditches in Colombia, where management was transferred from the Colombian government to water users associations. Some examples show an improvement in organizational stability, following the transfer of management, while others demonstrate a deterioration. A conceptual framework is presented, for the establishment of a sustainable management policy, based on an inter-relationship between the community, the environment and science and technology. For an effective implementation of the framework, the role of government, water users associations and farmers are considered to be the key elements, and it is believed that an effective integration of these players contributes to successful and sustainable management. The water users organization needs to follow an integral and participatory management approach, enlarging its span of action beyond mere operation activities, into the area of improvement of the standard of living of farmers. Encouraging the adoption of irrigated agriculture under criteria of sustainability, profitability, competitiveness, equity and multi-functionality is the way forward. The RUT Irrigation District is one of the most progressive irrigation districts in Colombia, and it is here that the conceptual framework has been intensively analyzed and evaluated.

Anthropogenic climate change may lead to intensification of the global hydrological cysle and to increased flooding risk of rivers across Europe. A series of extreme floods in European rivers in the last decades have stimulated discussions about the possible effects of climate variability/change and human interventions in river basins. A synoptic-climatological analysis was carried out to elucidate the observed precipitation change in the Meuse basin, in northwestern Europe. The findings of this research will be valuable to those developing improved flood protection strategies, as well as those engaged in water resource management in river basins similar to the Meuse.

The authors joined forces professionally when Kathy hired Shannon to be a member of her leadership team. This book describes the transformation they led to convert operations from traditional manufacturing to a lean enterprise. Kathy (executive leader responsible for profitability) and Shannon (transformation leader) share the finer points of a comprehensive change process, the challenges and triumphs, and the real emotion involved during their quest for success. Each describes the professional journey from their unique perspective and the highlights of an endearing friendship that was formed along the way. This story will inspire female leaders in any organization, showcasing an example of high-performing women thriving in an intense and fast-paced world. Kathy and Shannon are role models for those juggling intense, fulfilling careers, alongside life's complexities such as dual-career marriages and raising children. Their story provides a powerful case study of women supporting each other in the workplace to drive positive culture and significantly improved business results by leading with authenticity and inclusivity.

This book explores how and why the idea of the African environmental crisis developed and persisted through colonial and post-colonial periods, and why it has been so influential in development discourse. From the beginnings of imperial administration, the idea of the desiccation of African environments grew in popularity, but this crisis discourse was dominated by the imposition of imperial scientific knowledge, neglecting indigenous knowledge and experience. African Environmental Crisis provides a synthesis of more than one-and-a-half century's research on peasant agriculture and pastoral rangeland development in terms of soil erosion control, animal husbandry, grazing schemes, large-scale agricultural schemes, social and administrative science research, and vector-disease and pest controls. Drawing on comparative socio-ecological perspectives of African peoples across the East African colonies and post-independent states, this book refutes the hypothesis that African peoples were responsible for environmental degradation. Instead, Gufu Oba argues that flawed imperial assumptions and short-term research projects generated an inaccurate view of the environment in Africa. This book's discussion of the history of science for development provides researchers across environmental studies, agronomy, African history and development studies with a lens through which to understand the underlying assumptions behind development projects in Africa.

This book documents how COVID-19 impacts gender, agriculture, and food systems across the globe with on-the-ground accounts and personal reflections from scholars, practitioners, and community members. During the coronavirus pandemic with many people under lockdown, continual agricultural production and access to food remain essential. Women provide much of the formal and informal work in agriculture and food production, distribution, and preparation often under precarious conditions. A cadre of scholars and practitioners from across the globe provide their timely observations on these issues as well as more personal reflections on its impact on their lives and work. Four major themes emerge from these accounts and are interwoven throughout: the pervasiveness of food insecurity, the ubiquity of women's care work, food justice, and policies and research that can that can result in a resilience that reimagines the future for greater gender and intersectional equality. We identify what lessons we can learn from this global pandemic about research and practices related to gender, food, and agricultural systems to strive for more equitable arrangements. This book will be of great interest to students, scholars and practitioners working on gender and food and agriculture during this global pandemic and beyond. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Environmental engineering protects the conditions of a safe environment, its role being crucial in eliminating ecological threats. It has an interdisciplinary character, utilising principles from biology, chemistry, biochemistry and physics to neutralize pollutants in all facets of the environment. Environmental engineering deals with a wide range of technical and technological problems, including the design and maintenance of water supply, sewage disposal, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning in buildings. This proceedings aims to assess the state of scientific research in various areas of environmental engineering; to evaluate organizational, technical and technological progress in contributing to ecological security; and to determine the place of environmental engineering in sustainable development, taking into account current political and economic conditions. Environmental Engineering is an invaluable source of information and ideas for the international environment engineering scientific community.

Pattern recognition and other chemometrical techniques are important tools in interpreting environmental data. This volume presents authoritatively state-of-the-art applications of measuring and handling environmental data. The chapters are written by leading experts.

Humans have long neglected to fully consider the impact of their behaviour on the environment. From excessive consumption of fossil fuels and natural resources to pollution, waste disposal, and, in more recent years, climate change, most people and institutions lack a clear understanding of the environmental consequences of their actions. The new field of behavioural environmental economics seeks to address this by applying the framework of behavioural economics to environmental issues, thereby rationalizing unexplained puzzles and providing a more realistic account of individual behaviour. This book provides a complete and rigorous overview of environmental topics that may be addressed and, in many instances, better understood by integrating a behavioural approach. This volume features state-of-the-art research on this topic by influential scholars in behavioural and environmental economics, focussing on the effects of psychological, social and cognitive factors on the decision-making process. It presents research performed using different methods and data collection mechanisms (e.g. laboratory experiments, field experiments, natural experiments, online surveys) on a variety of environmental topics (e.g. sustainability, natural resources). This book is a comprehensive and innovative tool for researchers and students interested in the behavioural economics of the environment and in the design of policy interventions aimed at reducing the human impact on the environment.

By proposing and forming a mobile manipulator for modern multi-floor buildings, A Robotic Framework for the Mobile Manipulator: Theory and Application helps readers visualize an end-to-end workflow for making a robot system work in a targeted environment. From a product-oriented viewpoint, this book is considered as a bridge from theories to real products, in which robotic software modules and the robotic system integration are mainly concerned. In the end, readers will have an overview of how to build and integrate various single robotic modules to execute a list of designed tasks in the real world, as well as how to make a robot system work independently, without human interventions. With references and execution guidelines provided at the end of each chapter, the book will be a useful tool for developers and researchers looking to expand their knowledge about the robotics and the robotic software.

Discover the latest available knowledge on ways to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere! The problem of quickly mounting CO2 emissions in the fast-developing Latin American region was addressed in a symposium held in Piracicaba, Brazil, in June 2004. Carbon Sequestration in Soils of Latin America presents the latest available knowledge in soil C sequestration and improved land and soil management which can also lead to other positive effects, such as greater fertility of soil and higher crop yields. This text, in easy-to-understand language, comprehensively reviews ways to best transform various soils from being a source of carbon released into the atmosphere to become a sink for carbon absorption. Carbon Sequestration in Soils of Latin America presents a full-rounded explanation of this information in four sections. The first section gives detailed background information about the region, its climate, and the differing soils, along with basic concepts behind the science. The second section describes recommended management practices and rates of soil C sequestration. The third section thoroughly deals with methods of assessment of soil C. The last section provides a summary of recommendations for further research and development. The book is extensively referenced and contains numerous figures, tables, and photographs. Topics in Carbon Sequestration in Soils of Latin America include: soil eco-regions and principal biomes of Latin America soil carbon stock in principal ecosystems of Latin America rates of carbon sequestration in different eco-regions for predominant land use and management the role of the Amazon region in mitigating climate change the importance of tropical savannas of Latin America in mitigating global warming innovative methods of assessment of soil carbon pool trading carbon credits designing pilot soil carbon sequestration projects potential of soil carbon sequestration in Latin America priorities and recommendations for future research Carbon Sequestration in Soils of Latin America is a comprehensive, essential resource for land managers, policymakers, educators, students, and researchers.

This book presents a comprehensive overview of the key topics, best practices, future opportunities and challenges in the Digital Marketing discourse. With contributions from world-renowned experts, the book covers: * Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Analytics in Digital Marketing * Emerging technologies and how they can enhance User Experience * How 'digital' is changing servicescapes * Issues surrounding ethics and privacy * Current and future issues surrounding Social Media * Key considerations for the future of Digital Marketing * Case studies and examples from real-life organisations Unique in its rigorous, research-driven and accessible approach to the subject of Digital Marketing, this text is valuable supplementary reading for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students studying Digital and Social Media Marketing, Customer Experience Management, Digital Analytics and Digital Transformation.

The book is the only technical volume that explains how equivalency analysis methods mentioned in Annex II of the European Environmental Liability Directive should be implemented. It uses case studies to illustrate real-world application of the methods, which are based on the experience in the USA and in the European Union and have been tested in three years of training programs funded by the European Commission. Academically rigorous and technically comprehensive, the book is intended for technical experts wanting to assess damage and remediation options as well as for decision-makers wishing to commission such assessments and judge their quality. These include competent authorities, operators, financial security providers, academics, consultants and NGOs.

This book explores the role of law and policy in circular economy transitions and their impacts on justice, including on distributional equity and recognition and procedural rights, especially for people already marginalised under the current dominant economic system. Amid increasing demand for virgin raw materials, and unsustainable consumption and waste disposal that are driving the global ecological and climate crisis, there are growing calls to urgently transition to circular economies. Despite an increasing number of circular approaches being adopted, implemented, and integrated in national and local laws and policies, the number of commercially successful business stories remains isolated. Moreover, questions about whether circular economy laws and policies are delivering fair and just global outcomes need to be addressed. This book examines this significant knowledge gap to understand legal experiences, including justice and equity issues in the global context, so that these can inform wider design and implementation. The book begins by explaining the concept of a circular economy and its context within wider issues of sustainable development and justice. The first part of the book then examines the legal context of the circular economy by analysing legal forms in practice and those recommended in wider scholarship before considering how these could impact on existing inequity and injustices globally. The second part delivers an empirical understanding of the implications of the law on circular economy approaches and the global equity and justice dimensions through two case studies on solid waste management and forestry. The final part addresses legal opportunities and challenges for wider implementation of circular economy approaches that incorporate justice into its framing. This book will be of great interest to students, scholars, and practitioners of environmental and natural resource law and policy, circular economy, industrial ecology, natural resource management, and sustainable development more broadly.

The book examines contemporary food systems in Italy, paying particular attention to the landscape, innovative local practices and local cultural history. It illustrates the utility of the value chain concept in navigating the complexities of comparative advantage in an advanced market setting. It establishes the connection between the landscape and individual food practices, and how they have responded to the commodification of the agri-food system, maintaining a distinctive local character while ensuring development and a healthy diet. It explores how community gardens are now a consolidated part of Italian urban experience, as well as the multiple policy frameworks which govern these activities. The book then explores a wider range of food procurement channels, from food cooperatives to buying groups and institutional partnerships, including the strategies employed by large retail groups to respond to the growing environmental sensitivity of their customers. Multifunctional implications of antimafia activities involving social agriculture are also explored. Finally the book ends with a survey of European and domestic Italian policies aiming to protect and promote healthy food practices while preserving the integrity of the landscape. This is fascinating reading for anyone interested in quality food and the territory, as well as academic readers from such disparate disciplines as sociology, urban studies, anthropology, and Italian studies.

Is reader friendly, particularly for a beginner who has no prior knowledge in this subject, because it is more organised and better structured Treats the important step of formulating the overall stiffness matrix of a structure in a systematic and straightforward manner, which is quite often not very clearly explained in most textbooks on the market Has the level of detail and clear presentation of the subject matter as one of its main features, which is an important factor that helps the reader to easily follow and understand the topic presented Gradually build up on the subject matter, with the chapters arranged in a sequence to serve the purpose Use simple mathematical approaches wherever possible so that even a reader with knowledge of a first course in mathematics can easily understand the operations performed

Thermal Radiation: An Introduction is a complete textbook for a one-semester introductory graduate course on radiative energy transfer. It bridges the gap between a basic introduction and comprehensive coverage of thermal radiation, focusing on insight into radiative transfer as practiced by engineers. Covering radiative transfer among surfaces, with an introduction to the effects of participating media between surfaces, the book includes surface and medium property characteristics and solutions to the radiative transfer equation in simple geometries. * Tailored and organized specifically to suit a one-semester graduate course in radiative heat transfer. * Emphasis is placed on insight into radiative transfer as practiced by engineers. * Discusses how radiation is incorporated into finite element analysis (FEA) codes. The textbook is intended for instructors and graduate students in a first-year course on radiative heat transfer or advanced heat transfer. Supplementary resources for students and instructors are available online.

Coaching is a necessary skill for managers. It is important as a fundamental part of an organization's talent efforts-including talent acquisition, development and retention strategies. For a coaching program to succeed in an organization, it should be recognized as a useful approach throughout the organization and become part of the fabric of the corporate culture. Performance Coaching for Managers provides an important tool for organizations to use to train their managers on coaching. This book differs significantly from other books in the coaching market. Many books on coaching cast coaches as facilitators who question their clients (the coachees), helping them to articulate their own problems, formulate their own solutions, develop their own action plans to solve problems, and measure the success of efforts to implement those plans. That is called a nondirective approach. But this book adopts a directive approach by casting the coach as a manager who diagnoses the problems with worker job performance and offers specific advice on how to solve those problems. While there is nothing wrong with a nondirective approach, it does not always work well in job performance reviews in which the manager must inform the worker about gaps between what is needed (the desired) and what is performed (the actual). The significant difference between what is currently available in the market and what is offered in this book is the authors' collective experience of over 70 combined years of hands-on research and delivery experiences in the Human Resources Development field. According to the Harvard Business Review (2015), workers generally expect their immediate supervisors to give them honest feedback on how well they do their jobs-and specific advice on what to do if they are not performing in alignment with organizational expectations. When workers do not receive advice-but instead are questioned about their own views-they regard their managers as either incompetent or disingenuous. Effective managers should be able to offer direction to their employees. After all, managers are responsible for ensuring that their organizational units deliver the results needed by the organization. If they fail to do that, the organization does not achieve its strategic goals. This book gives managers direction in how to offer directive coaching to their workers.

Provides an introduction to renewable energy for scientists and engineers, addressing the science and technology of all types of renewable energy in detail, as well as nonrenewables. Includes new chapters covering population dynamics and statistics. Self-study problems have been added for each chapter. Incorporates more worked examples. Completely up-to-date, covering such areas as hydraulic fracturing, integration of renewable energy to power grid, and cost.

This book offers multidisciplinary perspectives on renewable economies in the Arctic and how these are being supported scientifically, economically, socially, and politically by Arctic states. The economic development of the Arctic region is witnessing new, innovative trends which hold promise for the sustainable development of the region. This book discusses the emerging forms of renewable economies to understand where intellectual and technological innovations are being made. It draws on the expertise of scholars from across the Arctic and provides the reader with a foundation of knowledge to identify the unique challenges of the region and explore opportunities to unlock the immense potential of renewable resources to boost the region's economy. This book offers a holistic Arctic perspective against the backdrop of prevailing social, economic, and climatic challenges. With critical insights on the economic state of play and the role of renewable resources in the development of the Arctic region, this book will be a vital point of reference for Arctic scholars, communities, and policy makers.