This book contains fundamental concepts on discrete mathematical structures in an easy to understand style so that the reader can grasp the contents and explanation easily. The concepts of discrete mathematical structures have application to computer science, engineering and information technology including in coding techniques, switching circuits, pointers and linked allocation, error corrections, as well as in data networking, Chemistry, Biology and many other scientific areas. The book is for undergraduate and graduate levels learners and educators associated with various courses and progammes in Mathematics, Computer Science, Engineering and Information Technology. The book should serve as a text and reference guide to many undergraduate and graduate programmes offered by many institutions including colleges and universities. Readers will find solved examples and end of chapter exercises to enhance reader comprehension. Features Offers comprehensive coverage of basic ideas of Logic, Mathematical Induction, Graph Theory, Algebraic Structures and Lattices and Boolean Algebra Provides end of chapter solved examples and practice problems Delivers materials on valid arguments and rules of inference with illustrations Focuses on algebraic structures to enable the reader to work with discrete structures

This book applies systems thinking to treat project management in a systemic and systematic manner from a problem-solving perspective. Considering the project as a system, the book discusses traditional project planning and organizing, as well as some neglected aspects of the project, namely how to prevent cost and schedule escalation, how to deal with change, recognize problems in time to prevent project failure and what to do when things go wrong during the implementation states of a project. This book provides you with a better understanding of the systems approach to problem-solving and project management that will enable you to be more successful at managing projects. Features Treats projects as systems Presents project management as a problem-solving paradigm Discusses how to incorporate prevention into planning and how to show the value Describes what to do and how to cope with unanticipated problems that arise during the project implementation state Introduces new tools and techniques

This multi-contributed handbook focuses on the latest workings of IoT (internet of Things) and Big Data. As the resources are limited, it's the endeavor of the authors to support and bring the information into one resource. The book is divided into 4 sections that covers IoT and technologies, the future of Big Data, algorithms, and case studies showing IoT and Big Data in various fields such as health care, manufacturing and automation. Features Focuses on the latest workings of IoT and Big Data Discusses the emerging role of technologies and the fast-growing market of Big Data Covers the movement toward automation with hardware, software, and sensors, and trying to save on energy resources Offers the latest technology on IoT Presents the future horizons on Big Data

Healthcare Affordability: Motivate People, Improve Processes, and Increase Performance applies the Theory of Affordability across the Healthcare Enterprise. Affordability is realized when the Value delivered exceeds the Patient's requirements, while the expense for the quality resources required to deliver that Value is at a Cost less than the revenue received from the competitive pricing applied to the care. The aim of healthcare affordability is to attain performance excellence in all areas across the entire Healthcare Enterprise. The Healthcare Enterprise involves 5 types of providers: Healthcare Providers, Medicine and Pharmaceutical Providers, Machine and Device Providers, Service and Supplier Providers, and Insurance and Payment Providers. Obviously, one key focal point of healthcare affordability is affordable healthcare, a condition that has been chased for decades, but has yet to be achieved. This book provides a useful framework and foundation for any organization to pursue and achieve Affordability. Although there are many methods used to accomplish performance improvement, this approach has been proven successful with many organizations. It integrates strategic vision and direction, with operational goals and objectives and tactical targets and tasks. This book also provides a leadership strategy and structure for change and transformation, and a designed plan to execute an 18-month implementation program. Features: Affords patients and providers a better, faster, safer, and more affordable and profitable experience and approach Offers solutions for current state dilemmas, and provides a framework for future state success Increases the speed of delivery, improves the quality, and decreases the cost of care Provides methods and tools for linking and integrating strategic, operational and tactical goals Healthcare Affordability: Motivate People, Improve Processes, and Increase Performance provides readers with methods and means for solving the complex problem of affordable healthcare.

People with minimal math skills, and even those with advanced math skills, have difficulty grasping the intuitive concepts behind Statistical Process Control (SPC). Many practitioners do not understand the concepts behind Control Charts, the differences of out of control and out of specification, and the process variation on Control Charts. This book will explain these concepts by using a simple methodology that will bring a much greater level of understanding to those that use it by providing a detailed description of the method, using common language, real-world examples to illustrate the concept, and instructions on easy implementation.

Designing new products and improving existing ones is a continual process. Industrial design engineering is an industrial engineering process applied to product designs that are to be manufactured through techniques of production operations. Excellent industrial design engineering programs are essential for the nation's industry to succeed in selling useful and ecologically justifiable and usable products on a market flooded with goods and services. This unique text on industrial design engineering integrates basic knowledge, insight, and working methods from industrial engineering and product design subjects. Industrial Design Engineering: Inventive Problem Solving provides a combination of engineering thinking and design skills that give the researchers, practitioners, and students an excellent foundation for participation in product development projects and techniques for establishing and managing such projects. The design principles are presented around examples related to the designing of products, goods, and services. Case studies are developed around real problems and are based on the customer's needs.

Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) is an innovative continuous improvement methodology for designing new products, processes, and services by integrating Lean and Six Sigma principles. This book will explain how the DFSS methodology is used to design robust products, processes, or services right the first time by using the voice of the customer to meet Six Sigma performance. Robust designs are insensitive to variation and provide consistent performance in the hands of the customer. DFSS is used to meet customer needs by understanding their requirements, considering current process capability, identifying and reducing gaps, and verifying predictions to develop a robust design. This book offers: Methodology on how to implement DFSS in various industries Practical examples of the use of DFSS Sustainability utilizing Lean Six Sigma techniques and Lean product development Innovative designs using DFSS with concept generation Case studies for implementing the DFSS methodology Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) enables organizations to develop innovative designs. In order to redesign an existing process or design a new process, the success is dependent on a rigorous process and methodology. DFSS ensures that there are minimal defects in the introduction of new products, processes, or services. The authors have compiled all of the tools necessary for implementation of a practical approach though innovation.

Sustainability is one of the most embraced topics nowadays. Everybody is affected by issues of sustainability. Every organization needs to pay attention to these issues. As long as more people and more organizations are engaging in business and industry activities, there will always be a need for sustainability. This book presents tools such as lean six sigma to help sustain results by using process focused decisions. This book covers tools and techniques of industrial engineering to promote sustainability. It discusses a systems approach, the evolution of new products, development of sustainability alliances, and highlights the role of sustainability in advancing organizational goals. The book also addresses sustainability as a coordinated project using a project management approach. It includes the interface of humans and technology and presents an integration of analytics. The book is ideal for all engineering, business, and management fields.

Wood Pellet Heating Systems is a comprehensive handbook covering all aspects of wood pellet heating technology. The use of wood pellets as an alternative heating fuel is already well established in several countries and is becoming widespread as fossil fuel prices continue to rise and awareness of climate change grows. Wood pellets are a carbon-neutral technology, convenient to use, and can easily be integrated into existing central heating systems or used in independent space heaters. This fully-illustrated and easy-to-follow guide shows how wood-pellet heating works, the different types of systems - from small living room stove systems to larger central heating systems for institutions - how they are installed, and even how wood pellets are manufactured. Featuring examples from around the world, it has been written for heating engineers and plumbers who are interested in installing systems, home owners and building managers who are considering purchasing a system, advanced DIYers, building engineers and architects, but will be of interest to anyone who requires a clear guide to wood pellet technology.

Ignition is a book of dispatches from the frontlines of communication strategy. Matthew L. Moseley draws on his eclectic life experiences to investigate the link between success and effective communication. Whether he's choreographing a fine dining experience at the top restaurant in America, using rock stars to register voters, helping a national chain save its reputation after a gaffe goes viral, or serving as media liaison at the epic ash-blast send-off for author Hunter S. Thompson, Moseley identifies the principles that guide communication strategies toward their goals. In extensive interviews with a wide variety of experts, including authors, fighter pilots, business leaders, politicians, and astrophysicists, Moseley tests these principles, teases out new, provocative ideas, and anticipates how forming stronger connections will help us address today's greatest challenges. Though it tackles serious subjects, offers an illuminating perspective on the evolution of human discourse, and shares important insights on interpersonal relations, Ignition is also a good, fun read. A broad range of colorful anecdotes gives this book of philosophical wisdom and practical advice the zest of a juicy memoir.

Aunt Jemima's familiar beaming, warm smile and laughing eyes have been associated with breakfast pancakes for generations of Americans. "Invented" in 1888 to help market a new type of pancake flour, Aunt Jemima has been represented by a good number of real women and a tremendous number of collectible products. This book displays hundred of the item available from Aunt Jemima's long history, and provides fascinating or funny glimpses into over a century of our nation's cultural history. Collectors interested in kitchen memorabilia and/or African-American history will find this book wonderfully eye-opening! Promotional items and advertisements are presented, including doll families, recipe books, kitchen utensils, menus, coloring books, and cooking set for children. The complete story of Aunt Jemima's Pancake Mix, the myth of Aunt Jemima herself, and the stories of the real women who portrayed her are all told in this delightful book. A price guide is included.

This book explores the different aspects of energy in human life especially expressing the advanced technologies in renewable energy resources. Due to the environmental pollution caused by fossil fuels and the non-permanent nature of these resources, the move towards the use of renewable energy has accelerated. In recent years, many attempts have been made to improve energy systems' performance by using multi-generation units, and these set-ups have been analyzed from the perspective of energy, exergy, economics, and environmental indicators. The book's primary goal is the effort to introduce new methods for assessing and upgrading the synergy. Therefore it examines sustainable practices such as water-energy-food nexus in poly-generation units, novel desalination systems, and smart greenhouses. One of the significant issues in these energy systems is the storage methods; for instance, carbon capture to reduce environmental pollution and the hydrogen store for the utilization in supplementary fuel. Also, robust optimization, uncertainty and risk-aware probabilistic analysis, energy management, and power supply of sensitive places such as oil rig platforms by renewables are examined.

This book presents both the importance of energy transition and its associated difficulties. Energy Transition, Second Edition, provides an explanation of the physical concepts of energy and power and also reviews global energy consumption and our dependence on energy. The book discusses the links between the economy and energy. It explains the drawbacks and dangers of different energy sources and tries to compare them. By reviewing future energy resources, it evaluates several transition scenarios. The book shows that the laws of physics prevent the emergence of simple, pleasant solutions, but it proposes potential solutions and encourages readers to develop better processes from energy sources to production to consumption. This book will be of interest to engineers and undergraduate and graduate students studying and working in various fields of energy; producers of fossil, gas, oil, coal, electric, renewable, and nuclear energy; and anyone interested in better understanding these fundamental problems for our future. FEATURES Discusses the current issues with energy transition Covers several energy transition scenarios and their associated difficulties Presents the links between economy and energy Highlights the importance of a global discussion of energy Encourages the development of better, improved processes in energy sources from production to consumption

This book presents a big-picture overview of the entire Shingo improvement process. It fully discusses the needs and benefits of the Shingo process, and what is required if you seek to execute the Shingo Model in your enterprise and focuses on creating an enduring organization-wide continuous improvement process. It gives the reader a discussion of the entire Shingo experience while the most existing books on the model are course specific. There are numerous discussions, conference talks, and webinars of why the Shingo process is beneficial, and what types of improvements can be achieved, but the crucial material has not been assembled in one concise book, giving the executive, manger, or supervisor an overview and understanding of what the Shingo experience entails. The main purpose of this book. It is for the executives who want to understand their role in supporting and leading middle management with its implementation. Many executives from developing countries all over the world are seeking a concise definition of what the Shingo model is, and this book functions as the perfect primer. Even those who have attended and implemented the lessons from the Shingo Institute's courses would find this book a benefit as it serves perfectly as backup and reference material. In addition, this book helps anyone who has started their journey with the Shingo model and may be confused about what to do and expect -- It gives them a vision of what the continuing journey will look like. The Shingo process is being taught at numerous universities and this book could indeed serve as the appropriate textbook or supplemental reading. Essentially, this book teaches an innovative and extremely successful approach to continuous improvement, referred to as the Shingo process. It is based on a set of universally accepted principles that are endorsed by improvement leaders such as Covey and companies such as Toyota. This book is not a detailed review or a replacement of the Shingo workshops. It is an overview of the entire Shingo process, starting with a discussion of the challenges that many of todays enterprises are experiencing. The author, in his role as a PhD in economics, has studied industries and has worked closely with many of them attempting to understand their weaknesses. Next, this book builds upon an understanding of these weaknesses. The book discusses how the over-all Shingo methodology fits into these organizations and highlights the benefits. The next step is then to discuss what requirements are necessary for an organization to get ready for a Shingo transformation. What are the steps that the organization needs to go through, and when will it know that it is ready to begin? The book briefly reviews the Shingo Insights and Principles and explains how the Shingo courses should be best utilized to facilitate the desired transformation. It suggests some alternative plans for over-all implementation based on the current state of the enterprise. It explains why there is no "one way" for successful implementation and how the implementation sequence needs to be customized. It also discusses the length of time needed for success and how this differs depending on the current enterprise environment. Lastly the book explains how the implementation and Shingo training is never finished. It is an on-going process and success is defined by internal improvements, not by some arbitrary external benchmark. The book is intended to be educational, thought provoking, entertaining in its stories and examples, and a guideline towards the development of a plan for continuous improvement. This book is filled with stories and examples, showing successful and not so successful implementations. The stories are used to highlight many of the pitfalls that have arisen and may arise for you and which can be avoided if the reader is aware of them and knows how to watch for them.

All over the world, vast research is in progress on the domain of Industry 4.0 and related techniques. Industry 4.0 is expected to have a very high impact on labor markets, global value chains, education, health, environment, and many social economic aspects. Industry 4.0 Interoperability, Analytics, Security, and Case Studies provides a deeper understanding of the drivers and enablers of Industry 4.0. It includes real case studies of various applications related to different fields, such as cyber physical systems (CPS), Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, machine learning, virtualization, decentralization, blockchain, fog computing, and many other related areas. Also discussed are interoperability, design, and implementation challenges. Researchers, academicians, and those working in industry around the globe will find this book of interest. FEATURES Provides an understanding of the drivers and enablers of Industry 4.0 Includes real case studies of various applications for different fields Discusses technologies such as cyber physical systems (CPS), Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, machine learning, virtualization, decentralization, blockchain, fog computing, and many other related areas Covers design, implementation challenges, and interoperability Offers detailed knowledge on Industry 4.0 and its underlying technologies, research challenges, solutions, and case studies

This treasury contains all you ever wanted to know about amusing bear love, those charming toy bears, and some of the most famous bear makers over the years. Today, toy bears continue to enchant people of all ages as they have since the beginning of this century. The book celebrates over 400 of the most appealing toy bears and their makers the world over (including manufacturers Steiff, Bing, Schuco, Hermann, Gabrielle, Ideal, Knickerbocker, Farnell, Chad Valley...and talented individual makers found everywhere). Author Dee Hockenberry points you to the leading public collections in England, Europe, and the United States and guides you to find other enthusiasts at bear shows, conventions, and private shops. She defines and explains their components and terminology and comments on their values, including price ranges (some quite hefty!) as part of her detailed captions.

Our world has changed, probably for good. Until now, the shift from brick-and-mortar to the smartphone has been about service, cost, and convenience. Now, it's also a matter of public health. How do we win this uncertain new game? How do we prosper in a digital world? In a cool, readable style Harnessing Digital Disruption: How Companies Win with Design Thinking, Agile, and Lean Startup tells the story of a major multi-national organization facing digital disruption and looming irrelevance. In a compelling novel format, the book demonstrates how to harness the power of digital technology, methods and thinking on the path to revival and prosperity. It illustrates the situations, characters, and blockers you'll likely face as you progress through your journey. The setting is Singapore and the heady world of international banking, but the prescription, methods and lessons apply equally to manufacturers, utilities, hospitals, insurers, and government agencies. You will learn how to: * Develop your Digital Transformation strategy and Innovation Portfolio * Reform customer journeys, launch new digital offerings, and validate new beta businesses * Develop senior leader digital literacy, and understanding of growth leadership * De-risk your journey using a proven overall approach based on proven principles * Cultivate a network of pragmatic entrepreneurs practicing a structured scalable innovation process

Distributed Artificial Intelligence (DAI) came to existence as an approach for solving complex learning, planning, and decision-making problems. When we talk about decision making, there may be some meta-heuristic methods where the problem solving may resemble like operation research. But exactly, it is not related completely to management research. The text examines representing and using organizational knowledge in DAI systems, dynamics of computational ecosystems, and communication-free interactions among rational agents. This publication takes a look at conflict-resolution strategies for nonhierarchical distributed agents, constraint-directed negotiation of resource allocations, and plans for multiple agents. Topics included plan verification, generation, and execution, negotiation operators, representation, network management problem, and conflict-resolution paradigms. The manuscript elaborates on negotiating task decomposition and allocation using partial global planning and mechanisms for assessing nonlocal impact of local decisions in distributed planning. The book will attract researchers and practitioners who are working in management and computer science, and industry persons in need of a beginner to advanced understanding of the basic and advanced concepts.

This book outlines the process of sustainable product design and development. It presents design guidelines that help prolong the life of a product and minimize its environmental impact. These guidelines specifically enable product design for end-of-life (EoL) objectives such as reuse, recycling and remanufacturing. Sustainable Product Design and Development also presents mathematical models that will help the designer determine the cost of designing sustainable products. This cost can be computed early during the design stage of a product. Sustainable Product Design and Development presents different ways and means by which a product can address all three pillars of sustainability-environmental conservation, social sustainability, and economic sustainability. Various case studies are incorporated in different chapters. Case studies on designing products for assembly, disassembly and remanufacturing have been presented in their respective chapters. The book also provides an overview of global environmental legislation to help the reader grasp the importance of waste management and sustainable product design. This book is aimed at professionals, engineering students, environmental scientists, and those in the business environment.

This book offers a survey of successful attributes of the systems engineer. It focuses on the key positive attributes of what today’s systems engineer should be and puts a model in place for achievement and behavior for future systems engineers. The book, in survey form, provides a description of how and why systems engineers can be, and have been, successful. It offers successful attributes, focuses on the key positive qualities, and drills down to the success features to aim for and the failure characteristics to avoid. The ending result is that it sets a model for achievement and behavior for future systems engineers to follow a successful path. This book will be helpful to systems engineers, industrial engineers, mechanical engineers, general engineers, and those in technical management.

This book is for the people who lead our companies. Our world suffered a staggering blow. We will recover. Many of our companies are still suffering. Some of them will not recover. We're in a time of disruption. A company's culture will play a big part in managing through this disruption. Senior leaders must establish a clear purpose, a strong set of core values, and a plan to translate strategy into action. Companies will be seeking to transform, to become more efficient and resilient. Most attempts to do so fail. They fail because we try to solve the wrong problem with the wrong system. We attempt to change the way people act. But to achieve sustained improvement, we must focus on changing the way they think. Over the last thirty years, we've experimented with Lean, Six Sigma, and other improvement initiatives. Each failed to move beyond average performance and sustain transformational improvement. Average then became a learned behavior. To move forward, we must unlearn some things. We must change our problem definition and our defined systems. And we can do this by framing the problem through the lens of Operational Excellence.

This comprehensive reference work gives an overview of the industrial development and current state of industrialization and deindustrialization in Asia, specifically Southeast Asia and China. It introduces typologies of industrial policies and discusses the manufacturing sector and its evolving role in the region. Designing Integrated Industrial Policies examines the integration of SMEs in global value chains and provides macro-econometric and firm-based micro-econometric analyses of (de)industrialization. This book will be a very useful reference particularly as a how-to guide on industrial promotion and designing integrated industrial policies not only for economic growth and job creation but also for "inclusive" development. It presents country cases and illustrates useful tools for industrial policy simulation and for evidence-based policy making through these concrete examples.

Operational Excellence is achieved when all employees in your organization can see the flow of value to your customers and can make adjustments to that flow before it breaks down. Operational Excellence in Your Office: A Guide to Achieving Autonomous Value Stream Flow with Lean Techniques presents nine time-tested guidelines for designing business process flow that enable Operational Excellence in the office. Each chapter describes one guideline by using text, illustrations, and practical examples to provide a comprehensive understanding of why creating flow in the office is essential and how to achieve it.Accounting for the reality that most office employees are required to work on many different projects throughout the day, this book details a step-by-step methodology for leveraging traditional value stream flow to establish Operational Excellence in an office environment. In addition, it describes a more advanced form of flow called "self-healing" flow in which employees are capable of identifying and fixing problems with the flow without requiring management intervention.Explaining how to achieve Operational Excellence and self-healing flow with the nine guidelines, the book also introduces new concepts such as part-time continuous flow processing cells, workflow cycles, takt capability, integration events, pitch in the office, and ways to tell whether your office is on time.With this book, you will be able to take the knowledge provided and immediately apply it by following the step-by-step checklists included at the end of each chapter. In addition to the lists of action items for implementing each guideline, the book includes "acid tests" you can use to determine if you have implemented each guideline correctly.When finished, you will have designed an end-to-end flow for the services in your office as well as visual systems to help employees distinguish normal flow from abnormal flow s

Profitable production planning is and will remain an eternal challenge to ensuring the prosperity and dignity of companies in a global market. Even though there are different approaches to achieving the target profitability through productivity in the production planning stage, these approaches do not guarantee consistent planning, creation, and sustenance of synchronous profitable operations for multiannual and annual target profit. In feedback to this predicament, Alin Posteuca develops a new system called speed-based target profit (SBTP). SBTP is the profitable production management and manufacturing improvement system that approaches production planning to achieve unit speed of target profit for target products through manufacturing cost improvement and bottleneck profitability control for maximum takt time. Managers and practitioners within manufacturing companies will discover a practical approach for cost down and cash up by applying a powerful operational profitable production planning formula to meet profitability expectations through productivity based on strong leadership with the help of a specific system for feedforward, concurrent, and feedback control. Therefore, the SBTP system in this book presents a holistic approach to profitability for target products and the development of its own mechanism since the acceptance of each order from customers to achieve continuous synchronization of all manufacturing processes to market requirements, profitability management, and profitable production planning. The uniqueness of the book is reinforced by a detailed presentation of the successful application of the SBTP system in two case studies, as a way of life and a unit speed of target profit improvement ethos at all hierarchical levels, in two multinational manufacturing companies operating in highly competitive markets in order to address the synchronous profitable operations for both the sales increase scenario and the sales decrease scenario. By adopting the SBTP system, your company will be able to consistently achieve unit speed of target profit in the bottleneck process for fulfilling annual and multiannual target profit as a unique and effective way through a new profitable production planning paradigm that operates according to its own production system.

This book highlights the various types of nanomaterials currently available and their applications in three major sectors: energy, health, and the environment. It addresses a range of aspects based on the fact that these materials' structure can be tailored at extremely small scales to achieve specific properties, thus greatly expanding the materials science toolkit. Further, the book pursues a holistic approach to nanomaterial applications by taking into consideration the various stakeholders who use them. It explores several applications that could potentially be used to improve the environment and to more efficiently and cost-effectively produce energy, e.g. by reducing pollutant production during the manufacture of materials, producing solar cells that generate electricity at a competitive cost, cleaning up organic chemicals that pollute groundwater, removing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the air, and so on. Given its scope, the book offers a valuable asset for a broad readership, including professionals, students, and researchers from materials science/engineering, polymer science, composite technology, nanotechnology, and biotechnology whose work involves nanomaterials and nanocomposites.