Presented here in lively text and over 650 color photographs are the toys that have been played with and collected by ardent fans of George Lucas's Star Wars Trilogy for twenty years. The action figures, playsets, and spacecraft of the Rebellion and the Empire are displayed in a colorful and easily referenced format. The gaming equipment, model kits, playthings, promotional items, puzzles, and weapons produced from 1977 though 1997 are examined as well. Not stopping there, this sweeping survey includes an overview of the most popular items from the rest of the ever-expanding Star Wars collectibles universe. Prices are included in the captions; listings for toys both loose and mint in the package are provided whenever appropriate. Rounding out this practical guide are a short history of science fiction films, an examination of action figures, and a bibliography.

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.

Applies Lean concepts to a high-variety, low-volume service business, which are more prevalent than high volume manufacturing companies. Illustrates all the Lean concepts in a real-world example that approached Lean management in the intended way-to support and develop people to continually improve processes in a respectful environment. Illustrates an effective organic change management process that grows the new culture rather than trying to force tools mechanistically on employees and assiociates. The vibrant graphic novel format visually brings the story to life. Co-Written by best-selling author Jeffrey Liker -- the world's expert on the Toyota Way.

There is an increasing interest and revival in the art of blacksmithing as a hobby and art, and both men and women are becoming blacksmiths. This is a simple, rewarding craft that men and women can do in their backyard or home workshop - even beginners can produce something useful and beautiful on their first try. This book shows you how - with some patience and a working knowledge of metals, basic tools, and techniques - blacksmithing can be easy to learn and a rewarding hobby. The author instructs readers in basic blacksmithing tools and how to set up shop as well as techniques that can be used to create your own original pieces. Through instructions and illustrations, readers will learn to make simple tools and useful items, such as nails, hinges, chains, tools, and handles as well as an interesting mix of artful projects, such as trellises, gates, wall ornaments, furniture, and sculptures.

* Addresses the four fields of focus for error prevention / reduction - namely, (1) hazards and barriers, (2) error traps and counteraction behaviors, (3) erroneous and correct thought process in decision-making and (4) prevention of the recurrence of error. The scope of this book is unique. * Provides my unique model of performance - using the daisy chain of knowledge, cognition, beliefs, values, attitudes, behavior, results, performance. * Addresses in detail Dr. Peter Drucker's teaching, as follows: "The task of leadership is to create an alignment of strengths in a way that makes a system's weaknesses irrelevant." My book makes it clear that the "alignment of strengths" are the error prevention, detection and mitigation barriers and the "weaknesses" are the hazards in processes that are or should be made irrelevant by the barriers. My book provides the specifics of how to identify and assess the hazards and how to create effective barriers. * Provides the most complete list and most comprehensive a discussion of management responsibilities to establish and maintain the quality-conscious work environment. * Provides my 30+ principles of human error prevention, none of which duplicate Dr. James Reason's 12 principles of error management and a few of which contradict Dr. Reason's principles. * Provides a unique seven 7 human error causal factors which, when fully understood, enable one to better design processes and better perform root cause analysis. * Addresses risk management at three levels - (1) risk management of processes, (2) risk management of components and (3) and risk management of hardware systems and the facility as a whole. The techniques for each are significantly different. Neither ISO 9001 not ISO 31000 do this. * Provides the most complete list of techniques for improving the effectiveness of process barriers and the most comprehensive discussion of these techniques. * Describes the full scope of the quality function in terms of hazards and barriers. * Provides a unique nine types of corrective action with examples of each. * Describes 36 biases that adversely impact decision-making. * Describes the 10 questions that should be asked and answered before making any significant decision. * Provides unique templates for root cause analysis - templates that assure the discipline, rigor and logic of the analysis. * Provides the most complete and comprehensive coverage of the widely known Piper Alpha accident, especially the causal factors of the accident, and introduces a non-fail-safe character of the work permit process as the major cause. * provides universally applicable criteria for 37 different areas types of processes that may be included in the enterprise business management system - criteria that are designed to prevent human error in the design of the processes. Examples are: o 12 cross-references to facilitate document change management; o 100+ different types of records; o Methods by which to improve inspection and test effectiveness. Regarding specific incidents, the book: * Introduces violation of The Precautionary Principle in addition to GroupThink as causes of the Challenger accident. * Demonstrates that even if Alaska Flight 161 had not crashed due to the change in the lubrication schedule for the jackscrew assembly, sooner or later it would have crashed due to the lack of specificity in the maintenance procedure for the jackscrew assembly. * Demonstrates that even with all of the error-inducing conditions aboard the Greenville submarine, its sinking of the Ehime Maru could not have occurred without the failure of a barrier. Error-inducing conditions cannot be root causes. * My book Note: Bold typed items represent my unique additions to the body of knowledge. Non-bold typed items represent my special treatment of items that already exist in the body of knowledge.

Dolls not only capture little girls' hearts, they've also managed to corner markets for mega-companies like W.K. Kellogg Company, Jolly Green Giant, and Campbell's. The author has scoured flea markets and auction houses and consumed cereals, candies, and innumerable hamburgers in order to compile one of the most complete collections of advertising dolls known to exist. This comprehensive book traces the emergence of dolls like Aunt Jemima and Betty Crocker, who leant their stamp of domestic credibility, and chronicles the extraordinary rise of figures like Ronald McDonald and the California Raisins, tiny figures which invaded homes and helped define American culture. Here is the nostalgic revisit of hundreds of advertising creations, like Uneeda Kid, Buddy Lee, Cracker Jack, Charlie Tuna, Burger King, and Trix the Rabbit. Each is shown with front and back details, and current values are listed providing the perfect reference tool for the collector.

Piano Makers in Russia in the Nineteenth Century is a richly detailed thematic study of the history of the piano in Russian society from its beginnings with the European artisans who settled in St. Petersburg in the early decades of the century through the transition to Russian-owned family firms. The piano played a defining role in the shaping of Russia's musical culture in the nineteenth century, as artisans and entrepreneurs provided the foundation for the great tradition of the Russian virtuoso in the performance and the composition of piano music. It also helped bring about a transformative change in the material culture, as the piano expanded its reach from the court and the nobility to include music enthusiasts from all social classes and Russian families in their homes. This historical study brings to light the impact of neglected piano artisans in nineteenth-century Russia, and presents a fresh view of the social and economic ties between the state and the piano-manufacturing artisans in an era largely defined by handcrafting and entrepreneurship.It contributes significantly to current issues surrounding the role of the piano and the entrepreneur-artisans in the urban centers of imperial Russia and represents an expansion of what is currently known about the piano builders who established workshops in Russia beginning in the late 1830s and 1840s, well before the heyday of the virtuoso in that country. Rare documents, including letters, memoirs, gazettes, exhibition catalogues, music journals, and administrative reports, form the nucleus of this book and provide fascinating insights about state and private patronage and the class/economic issues related to the affordability and prestige of the piano in Russia. Issues surrounding the transformation of the music industry in Russia, the role of women as patrons and performers, the exportation of instruments to the Russian Far East, and the complex system of tariffs and trade protection that benefited domestic piano manufacturers provide this book's thematic links.Conclusions indicate that while favorable tariff laws and state-imposed economic policies benefited the family-owned firms in the nineiteenth century, they remained in effect in the decades after the nationalization of the piano industry in 1917.

Mechanics Over Micro and Nano Scales covers the recent developments in the fields of mechanics in all forms over micro, meso and nano scales. Special emphasis is given to related novel applications and includes fundamental aspects of fluid and solid mechanics, soft matters, scaling laws, and synthetic biology. At the micro and nano scales, realization of many technologically viable ideas relies on the skillful integration of mechanics at macroscopic and molecular levels, both for solids as well as fluids. Research in the related areas is no longer confined to the understanding of the governing the physics of the system, but is also responsible for triggering a technological revolution at small scales. This book also: discusses the fundamentals of mechanics over micro and nano scales in a level accessible to multi-disciplinary researchers, with a balance of mathematical details and physical principles, covers life sciences and chemistry for use in emerging applications related to mechanics over small scales and demonstrates the explicit interconnection between various scale issues and the mechanics of miniaturized systems. Mechanics Over Micro and Nano Scales is an ideal book for researchers and engineers working in mechanics of both solids and fluids.

Global competition is forcing reliability and other professionals to work closely during the product design and manufacturing phase. Because of this collaboration, reliability, usability, and quality principles are being applied across many diverse sectors of the economy. This book offers the principles, methods, and procedures for these areas in one resource. This book brings together the areas of reliability, usability, and quality for those working in diverse areas to allow them to be exposed to activities that can help them perform their tasks more effectively. This is the only book that covers these areas together in this manner and written in such a way that no previous knowledge is required to understand it. The sources of the material presented are included in the reference section at the end of each chapter along with examples and solutions to test reader comprehension. Applied Reliability, Usability, and Quality for Engineers is useful to design, manufacturing, and systems engineers, as well as manufacturing managers, reliability, usability and, quality specialists. It can also be helpful to graduate, senior undergraduate students, and instructors.

This book is long overdue documentation on automatic wristwatches from countries other than Switzerland. These watches were always considered superior micro-mechanical products and posed a challenge to technicians. It was only a question of time, before the collectors' interest in these watches expanded from Swiss watches to those of other origins. A total of 123 watches are illustrated in three different views and are described in detail.

New Directions in Print Culture Studies features new methods and approaches to cultural and literary history that draw on periodicals, print culture, and material culture, thus revising and rewriting what we think we know about the aesthetic, cultural, and social history of transnational America. The unifying questions posed and answered in this book are methodological: How can we make material, archival objects meaningful? How can we engage and contest dominant conceptions of aesthetic, historical, and literary periods? How can we present archival material in ways that make it accessible to other scholars and students? What theoretical commitments does a focus on material objects entail? New Directions in Print Culture Studies brings together leading scholars to address the methodological, historical, and theoretical commitments that emerge from studying how periodicals, books, images, and ideas circulated from the 19th century to the present. Reaching beyond national boundaries, the essays in this book focus on the different materials and archives we can use to rewrite literary history in ways that highlight not a canon of “major” literary works, but instead the networks, dialogues, and tensions that define print cultures in various moments and movements.

Garfield memorabilia is highly sought by collectors because of its humor and fine craftsmanship. Garfield*t cat was created by artist Jim Davis in 1978. The Garfield comic strip has been translated into at least 12 different languages and is estimated to be read by over a million people each day. Garfield will be celebrating his 20th birthday on June 19, 1998. He has certainly gained a lot of popularity (and a hearty appetite) throughout the years as a comic strip and as a licensed toy. Garfield's success can be compared to an all-you-can-eat buffet; he will keep coming back for more!

Welcome to the world of McDonald's*r Pre-Happy Meal*r Toy collecting-Americana at its best! This book chronicles the colorful and nostalgic toys distributed by the McDonald's Corporation from 1955 through the creation of the Happy Meal concept in 1979. Here are detailed descriptions and over 850 color photographs of all early promotional items and premiums distributed by McDonald's, colorful stories surrounding the McDonaldland cast of characters, and a complete, chronological listing of the jingles, slogans, signs, and themes used by this prolific organization through the years. Check-off boxes and a comprehensive index are provided to help in organizing your collection, plus the authors' established numbering system is used to identify all items. You'll want to complete your McDonald's library with the Losonsky's companion volumes: McDonald's*r Happy Meal*r Toys from the Eighties, McDonald's*r Happy Meal*r Toys from the Nineties, and McDonald's*r Happy Meal*r Toys Around the World. Now join Ronald McDonald and all the McDonaldland characters on an irresistible tour of McDonald's Pre-Happy Meal toys!

To effectively adapt and thrive in today's business world, organizations need to implement effective organizational development (OD) interventions to improve performance and effectiveness at the individual, group, and organizational levels. OD interventions involve people, trust, support, shared power, conflict resolution, and stakeholders' participation, just to name a few. OD interventions usually have broader scope and can affect the whole organization. OD practitioners or change agents must have a solid understanding of different OD interventions to select the most appropriate one to fulfill the client's needs. There is limited precise information or research about how to design OD interventions or how they can be expected to interact with organizational conditions to achieve specific results. This book offers OD practitioners and change agents a step-by-step approach to implementing OD interventions and includes example cases, practical tools, and guidelines for different OD interventions. It is noteworthy that roughly 65% of organizational change projects fail. One reason for the failure is that the changes are not effectively implemented, and this book focuses on how to successfully implement organizational changes. Designed for use by OD practitioners, management, and human resources professionals, this book provides readers with OD basic principles, practices, and skills by featuring illustrative case studies and useful tools. This book shows how OD professionals can actually get work done and what the step-by-step OD effort should be. This book looks at how to choose and implement a range of interventions at different levels. Unlike other books currently available on the market, this book goes beyond individual, group, and organizational levels of OD interventions, and addresses broader OD intervention efforts at industry and community levels, too. Essentially, this book provides a practical guide for OD interventions. Each chapter provides practical information about general OD interventions, supplies best practice examples and case studies, summarizes the results of best practices, provides at least one case scenario, and offers at least one relevant tool for practitioners.

While there are those who say manufacturing is dying, it is not and will not. Without a universal vow of poverty, growing economies will only increase demand. Manufacturing in the 21st century is not a question of if -- Rather, it is a function of why, what, who, where, and how. The nature and pace of change in those factors are overwhelming many. Fear, futile resistance, and uncertainty are common. While manufacturing will not die, individual manufacturing companies will if they do not learn to thrive in this new world. This book is a dynamic guide for manufacturing leaders who want to reduce the ambiguity and overwhelming changes and develop a realistic, progressive, and responsive thinking process that enables success. It provides a business operating system framework that is the foundation for connecting the many pieces of a manufacturing business into an effective, profitable operation. The author walks through the elements, relationships, capabilities, and mutability 21st-century manufacturing requires. Executives of manufacturing companies will be better able to think about and execute viable strategies leveraging the changing economy. Essentially, manufacturing is becoming increasingly complex, as are business and socioeconomic and political realities. Rapidly evolving technology adds to the confusing environment that precludes "more of the same, better, faster and cheaper" as a workable business strategy. The tsunami of information hitting owners and leaders is overwhelming many, and it is easy to become frozen in place. Economic growth and improving standards of living require that all of this change be broken into bite-size understandable pieces that thaw the minds of executives, allowing them to assess what is best right now, and move forward. This book does not overwhelm with details and models; rather it provides thinking and examples in small chunks that enable manufacturers to develop and master skills for high-level strategic leadership in ambiguity.

The thesis tackles one of the most difficult problems of modern nanoscale science and technology - exploring what governs thermal phenomena at the nanoscale, how to measure the temperatures in devices just a few atoms across, and how to manage heat transport on these length scales. Nanoscale heat generated in microprocessor components of only a few tens of nanometres across cannot be effectively fed away, thus stalling the famous Moore's law of increasing computer speed, valid now for more than a decade. In this thesis, Jean Spiece develops a novel comprehensive experimental and analytical framework for high precision measurement of heat flows at the nanoscale using advanced scanning thermal microscopy (SThM) operating in ambient and vacuum environment, and reports the world's first operation of cryogenic SThM. He applies the methodology described in the thesis to novel carbon-nanotube-based effective heat conductors, uncovers new phenomena of thermal transport in two- dimensional (2D) materials such as graphene and boron nitride, thereby discovering an entirely new paradigm of thermoelectric cooling and energy production using geometrical modification of 2D materials.

Achieve the Best Camera Design: Up-to-Date Information on MCMs Miniature camera modules (MCMs), such as webcams, have rapidly become ubiquitous in our day-to-day devices, from mobile phones to interactive TV systems. MCMs-or "smart" cameras-can zoom, adjust their frame rate automatically with illumination change, focus at different distances, compensate for hand shake, and transform captured images. With contributions from academics and field engineers, Smart Mini-Cameras discusses the structure, operation principles, applications, and future trends of miniature mobile cameras. It compares this technology with traditional digital still cameras and explains the specific requirements of MCM components (imposed by the size or type of application) in terms of optical design, image sensor, and functionalities. The book describes the implementation of several active functionalities, including liquid crystal auto focus (AF) and optical image stabilization (OIS). It also explores how new technologies, such as the curved detector and transforming optics, are stimulating novel trends, including a miniature panoramic lens on mobile phones. By providing you with an understanding of the components and performance tradeoffs of MCMs, this book will help you achieve the best camera design. It also answers frequently asked questions, such as the importance of the number of megapixels in a mobile phone camera and the value of AF and OIS features.

One of the hottest fields in collecting, Tarzan memorabilia ranges from comic books at a dollar or two to first editions valued in the thousands! Part of our cultural heritage for nearly a century, the chest-beating ape man (what other fictional character can be described by a gesture?) has been a hero for generations of boys and girls. Appearing in books, movies, radio, comics, toys, television, cartoons, and even on luggage and vitamins, the image of Tarzan is sure to spark childhood memories of Saturday movie matinees or evenings spent reading the latest issue of the Tarzan comic book. Tarzan collectibles can be found at the priciest auction house or your neighbor's yard sale. Recently a movie poster from the 1928 production Tarzan The Mighty went under the gavel for over $30,000. Many of the Tarzan cereal premiums from the '30s and '40s are today worth several hundred dollars. Tarzan comics and books (both hard cover and paperback) offer the collector a chance to obtain samples of artwork by some of the greatest illustrators, past and present. Just as the worth of vintage items grows, today's toys, comic books, movie, and other Tarzan memorabilia have the potential to increase in value.

Monsters of all shapes and sizes stalk the pages of this entertaining and informative "creature-feature." Over 600 color photos capture the incarnations of all the ghouls, mutants, and vampires that ever sent chills up your spine at the theater or in the den, from Alien r to Z-Ton r. Monstrous banks, board games, costumes, fiendish figures, model kits, and wind-ups are included! The collectibles covered in this book range from the early 1960s, when monster toys were first introduced, through the decade of the 1980s and touch upon the recent fare of the 1990s. Whether you prefer monsters from Hollywood or Japan, the silver screen or the small screen, there is something in this book for you. Prices for every item displayed are found in the captions, often with loose and mint-in-package prices.

Cosmetics and tobacco are two of the 20th century's most fascinating fashion influences, for they inspired new accessories for the well-dressed woman. This book highlights the evolution of popular vanity cases by investigating materials from compact, cigarette case and lighter manufacturers. The book begins with a history of cosmetics, and their impact on society, and goes on to show how compacts evolved to hold cosmetics and who fashioned them. The tobacco-related containers are also traced from their beginnings to the establishment of a new line of accessories for both men and women. Through her newly revised text and hundreds of color photographs and advertising pieces of examples arranged chronologically, the author provides a wealth of information in this growing collector's field.

This range of clocks used to be considered the common, household clock which many people recognized but for which little documentation was available. Rick Ortenburger now presents the book that will fill this void. Vienna regulator clocks were first produced in Vienna, Austria about 1780 and then became a familiar style made also elsewhere in the German-speaking world. Included are early, transitional, serpentine, altdeutsch, Baroque, and factory-made types from 1780 until about 1930, of one, two, and three-weight movements. The author has done his own research in Europe and America in both German and English so he is able to present much original information in a pleasing format for the average reader. His brief, factual text, supported by good photographs, useful in identifying the period of manufacture, may be the book's most useful feature to the serious collector. Her fully explains the production of Gustav Becker, Junghaus, HAC, Lenzkirch and competitive factories whose products are still on the market and well within the financial means of the vast majority of clock enthusiasts. He also covers many rare and exotic regulators such as long-duration clocks and variations from the norm.

The safety, maintainability, and maintenance of systems have become more important than ever before. Global competition and other factors are forcing manufacturers to produce highly safe and easily maintainable engineering systems. This means that there is a definite need for safety, maintainability, and maintenance professionals to work closely during the system design and other phases of a project, and this book with help with that. System Safety, Maintainability, and Maintenance for Engineers, presents, in a single volume, what engineers will need when designing systems from the fields of safety, maintainability, and maintenance of systems when they have to all work together on one project and it provides information where the reader will require no previous knowledge to understand it. Also offered are sources in the reference section at the end of each chapter so the reader is able to find further information if needed. For reader comprehension, examples along with their solutions are included at the end of each chapter. This book will be useful to many people including design engineers, system engineers, safety specialists, maintainability engineers, maintenance engineers, engineering managers, graduate and senior undergraduate students of engineering, researchers and instructors of safety, maintainability, and maintenance, and engineers-at-large.

Due to their speed, data density, and versatility, optical metrology tools play important roles in today s high-speed industrial manufacturing applications. Handbook of Optical Dimensional Metrology provides useful background information and practical examples to help readers understand and effectively use state-of-the-art optical metrology methods.

The book first builds a foundation for evaluating optical measurement methods. It explores the many terms of optical metrology and compares it to other forms of metrology, such as mechanical gaging, highlighting the limitations and errors associated with each mode of measurement at a general level. This comparison is particularly helpful to current industry users who operate the most widely applied mechanical tools.

The book then focuses on each application area of measurement, working down from large area to medium-sized to submicron measurements. It describes the measurement of large objects on the scale of buildings, the measurement of durable manufactured goods such as aircraft engines and appliances, and the measurement of fine features on the micron and nanometer scales. In each area, the book covers fast, coarse measures as well as the finest measurements possible. Best practices and practical examples for each technology aid readers in effectively using the methods.

Requiring no prior expertise in optical dimensional metrology, this handbook helps engineers and quality specialists understand the capabilities and limitations of optical metrology methods. It also shows them how to successfully apply optical metrology to a vast array of current engineering and scientific problems.

Many science, engineering, technology, and math (STEM) faculty wish to make an academic change at the course, department, college, or university level, but they lack the specific tools and training that can help them achieve the changes they desire. Making Changes in STEM Education: The Change Maker’s Toolkit is a practical guide based on academic change research and designed to equip STEM faculty and administrators with the skills necessary to accomplish their academic change goals. Each tool is categorized by a dominant theme in change work, such as opportunities for change, strategic vision, communication, teamwork, stakeholders, and partnerships, and is presented in context by the author, herself a change leader in STEM. In addition, the author provides interviews with STEM faculty and leaders who are engaged in their own change projects, offering additional insight into how the tools can be applied to a variety of educational contexts. The book is ideal for STEM faculty who are working to change their courses, curricula, departments, and campuses and STEM administrators who lead such change work to support their faculties, as well as graduate students in STEM who plan to enter an academic position upon graduation and expect to work on academic change projects.