Utility and Welfare Optimization in Electricity Market s lays out clear optimization strategies for understanding the economic foundations of regulatory supply measures, further cementing electricity's role as an asset class with fixed and variable costs.

In a world of almost permanent and rapidly increasing electronic data availability, techniques of filtering, compressing, and interpreting this data to transform it into valuable and easily comprehensible information is of utmost importance. One key topic in this area is the capability to deduce future system behavior from a given data input. This book brings together for the first time the complete theory of data-based neurofuzzy modelling and the linguistic attributes of fuzzy logic in a single cohesive mathematical framework. After introducing the basic theory of data-based modelling, new concepts including extended additive and multiplicative submodels are developed and their extensions to state estimation and data fusion are derived. All these algorithms are illustrated with benchmark and real-life examples to demonstrate their efficiency. Chris Harris and his group have carried out pioneering work which has tied together the fields of neural networks and linguistic rule-based algortihms. This book is aimed at researchers and scientists in time series modeling, empirical data modeling, knowledge discovery, data mining, and data fusion.

This book addresses the complexity of family change. It draws on evidence from two linked studies, one carried out in the 1960s and the other in the early years of the 21st century, to analyse the specific ways in which family lives have changed and how they have been affected by the major structural and cultural changes of the second half of the twentieth century.The book shows that while there has undeniably been change, these changes have neither undermined family life, nor have they led to a large-scale transformation of family relations in the direction of greater equality. The book: presents a unique opportunity to chart the nature of social change in a particular locality over the last 50 years; includes discussions of social and cultural variations in family life, focusing on younger as well as older generations; explores not only what happens within family-households but also what happens within networks of kin across different households; and, explores the way changing patterns of employment affect kinship networks and how geographical mobility co-exists with the maintenance of strong kinship ties. The findings will be of interest to students of sociology, social anthropology, social policy, women's studies, gender studies and human geography at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

This study examines the implications for evaluation and assessment when more responsibility for the learning process is given to the learner. The text includes sections on peer assessment, self-assessment, styles of evaluation, references, and the roles of teacher and learner.

Although there are many organizations that have implemented Lean production systems and become more profitable as a result, there can be a gap between what those organizations currently do and how they should plan for and profit from new business. Capitalizing on Lean Production Systems to Win New Business: Creating a Lean and Profitable New Product Portfolio explains how to create a Lean product portfolio to fill that gap so you can become more profitable from that new business. Providing a fundamental understanding of the Lean enterprise production system, this book can help an organization take its current Lean knowledge and translate that knowledge into a step-by-step methodology to win and launch new business. Lean topics covered include: Value Stream Mapping Plan for Every Part Process Design and Standard Work Scheduling and Material Flow Machine Changeover Quality and Continuous Improvement By developing the New Product Acquisition and Launch Portfolio presented in this book, you can dramatically improve your ability to produce the products customers desire and deliver them on time. Focusing on the concepts that are critical to the longevity of your Lean enterprise system, this book will help you understand how to deliver a product that meets the quality and delivery standards of your customer. It will also help you understand how this new product fits into your Lean enterprise system. Detailing how to achieve a successful new product launch through upfront planning, this book provides you with the tools to enhance efficiencies throughout your supply chain.

In the global marketplace, no business is a self-contained island. No matter how effective your internal material movement, to be a future-thinking business, you must go to the next step and develop long-term supplier partnerships built on a dedication to continuous improvement and the basic concepts of Lean implementation.

Lean Supplier Development: Establishing Partnerships and True Costs Throughout the Supply Chain provides step-by-step instruction on how to build partnerships of mutual improvement and success through supplier development. Offering the same advice that they have successfully applied to corporations across the globe, award-winning consultants Chris Harris, Rick Harris, and Chuck Streeter -

• Provide criteria on how to choose suppliers that will make good long-term partnerships
• Demonstrate proven methods for employing Plan for Every Part (PFEP) to link your facility to the supply base
• Present a true cost model that eliminates guesswork when choosing suppliers to develop
• Show how to develop and maintain efficient information flow all along your supply chain
• Use real-world examples to cover likely contingencies
• Provide a sample quarterly supplier review that you can adapt for your own use

Lean is a journey, not a destination. It requires flexible leaders at the helm who can readily adjust to ever-changing conditions and it requires like-minded partners all along the supply chain. Finding and developing these partners is not about good fortune, it is all about an uncompromising approach to continuous improvement and the application of systematic methods that will build working partnerships that broaden your definition of what is possible

Transform your HR Department into an "Agent of Change" during Lean Implementation.

Changing an organization from a mass manufacturing environment to a lean environment is significant and affects all levels of the company if the implementation is done correctly. Many times, however, lean implementers become so involved with the nuts and bolts of lean implementation that the "people" side of the business is neglected.

With an HR perspective, veteran consultants Chris Harris and Rick Harris walk readers through a simple, step-by-step proven method for transforming a mass production workforce into a lean thinking one that possesses the necessary skills, training, and attitude to march in a new direction. They explain the role of human resources in a lean-oriented facility, emphasizing systematic training that continues for all employees. They also discuss the value of promoting employees from within a facility to team leader and group leader positions, andthe importance of flexibility. This critically acclaimed book includes sample training sessions with explanations.

""Most of us are now far enough down the path in lean production to realize that the results lie in the details. This short volume presents all of the details you will need to create a frontline workforce and system of direct supervision that can effectively plan, do, reflect, and adjust, as you move your own operations steadily ahead.""

--From the Foreword by James Womack, Chairman, Lean Enterprise Institute

Changing an organization from a mass manufacturing environment to a lean environment is significant and affects all levels of the company if the implementation is done correctly. Many times, however, lean implementers become so involved with the nuts and bolts of lean implementation that the "people" side of the business is neglected. Transform your HR Department into an Agent of Change during Lean Implementation. With an HR perspective, veteran consultants Chris Harris and Rick Harris walk readers through a simple, step-by-step proven method for transforming a mass production workforce into a lean thinking one that possesses the necessary skills, training, and attitude to march in a new direction. They explain the role of human resources in a lean-oriented facility, emphasizing systematic training that continues for all employees. They also discuss the value of promoting employees from within a facility to team leader and group leader positions, and the importance of flexibility. This critically acclaimed book includes sample training sessions with explanations. Most of us are now far enough down the path in lean production to realize that the results lie in the details. This short volume presents all of the details you will need to create a frontline workforce and system of direct supervision that can effectively plan, do, reflect, and adjust, as you move your own operations steadily ahead.--James Womack, Chairman, Lean Enterprise Institute

This study examines the implications for evaluation and assessment when more responsibility for the learning process is given to the learner. Including a new section which explains how to match the evaluation system to the environment, this revised edition includes sections on peer assessment, self-assessment, styles of evaluation, references, and the roles of teacher and learner. The ideas are illustrated with numerous case studies and suggestions for group work and discussion.

Although there are many organizations that have implemented Lean production systems and become more profitable as a result, there can be a gap between what those organizations currently do and how they should plan for and profit from new business. Capitalizing on Lean Production Systems to Win New Business: Creating a Lean and Profitable New Product Portfolio explains how to create a Lean product portfolio to fill that gap so you can become more profitable from that new business.Providing a fundamental understanding of the Lean enterprise production system, this book can help an organization take its current Lean knowledge and translate that knowledge into a step-by-step methodology to win and launch new business. Lean topics covered include: Value Stream Mapping Plan for Every Part Process Design and Standard Work Scheduling and Material Flow Machine Changeover Quality and Continuous Improvement By developing the New Product Acquisition and Launch Portfolio presented in this book, you can dramatically improve your ability to produce the products customers desire and deliver them on time. Focusing on the concepts that are critical to the longevity of your Lean enterprise system, this book will help you understand how to deliver a product that meets the quality and delivery standards of your customer. It will also help you understand how this new product fits into your Lean enterprise system.Detailing how to achieve a successful new product launch through upfront planning, this book provides you with the tools to enhance efficiencies throughout your supply chain.

In the global marketplace, no business is a self-contained island. No matter how effective your internal material movement, to be a future-thinking business, you must go to the next step and develop long-term supplier partnerships built on a dedication to continuous improvement and the basic concepts of Lean implementation. Lean Supplier Development: Establishing Partnerships and True Costs Throughout the Supply Chain provides step-by-step instruction on how to build partnerships of mutual improvement and success through supplier development. Offering the same advice that they have successfully applied to corporations across the globe, award-winning consultants Chris Harris, Rick Harris, and Chuck Streeter Provide criteria on how to choose suppliers that will make good long-term partnerships Demonstrate proven methods for employing Plan for Every Part (PFEP) to link your facility to the supply base Present a true cost model that eliminates guesswork when choosing suppliers to develop Show how to develop and maintain efficient information flow all along your supply chain Use real-world examples to cover likely contingencies Provide a sample quarterly supplier review that you can adapt for your own use Lean is a journey, not a destination. It requires flexible leaders at the helm who can readily adjust to ever-changing conditions and it requires like-minded partners all along the supply chain. Finding and developing these partners is not about good fortune, it is all about an uncompromising approach to continuous improvement and the application of systematic methods that will build working partnerships that broaden your definition of what is possible

Dependable information flow is a necessary prerequisite to the successful implementation of lean production principles. But while most managers understand how to make materials and manpower flow, the flow of information tends to be much more underdeveloped. Even companies that excel at recognizing waste and are otherwise adept at implementing the principles of lean production are often challenged to provide satisfactory information flow. Lean Connections: Making Information Flow Efficiently and Effectively isdesigned to help you rethink the way your organization views information flow. It provides the building blocks of a comprehensive information-flow system, showing you calculations and methods that will allow you to get the necessary information to those individuals who need it, when they need it. Following a logical and detailed progression, this manual shows how to make information flow in lean production facility From the end customer through materials control to the production floor On the production floor at the operator, team, and value stream level And then from the production floor to the management of the facility Employing a workbook format, this manual follows RNA Manufacturing, a fictional company, through its implementation of a comprehensive lean production system. As the authors outline RNA's methods and thought processes, they employ exercises that ask questions about your own production system. Your challenge is to think deeply about the answers, as well as the changes that need to be made to effectively make information flow through your facility. Make certain that everyone gets the information that they need when they need it

Each contribution to this book discusses key issues arising from the portrayal of men and the formation of masculine identities in a range of representative and landmark texts, fictional and non-fictional, drawn from different historical periods and from various countries in the Hispanophone Americas. There is an emphasis on the ways in which writers from Argentina (Manuel Puig), Chile (the Spaniard Alonso de Ercilla y Zuniga and the Chilean Nicolas Palacios), Mexico (Gustavo Sainz and Angeles Mastretta) and the Hispanic USA (Jennifer Harbury and Francisco Goldman) have explored the themes of love, friendship and trust and their transformative power for gender relations in situations and contexts where deception, exploitation and oppression are often disturbingly present. There is also a discussion of the applications, insights and limitations of different theoretical frameworks and concepts relevant to the task of producing gendered readings, including Connell's 'world gender order' and 'hegemonic masculinity', as well as 'the cult of virility' as characterised by Still and Worton, Chela Sandoval's 'decolonial love' and 'methodology of the oppressed' and Beasley-Murray's 'posthegemony'. This book was originally published as a special issue of Iberian and Latin American Studies.

Each contribution to this book discusses key issues arising from the portrayal of men and the formation of masculine identities in a range of representative and landmark texts, fictional and non-fictional, drawn from different historical periods and from various countries in the Hispanophone Americas. There is an emphasis on the ways in which writers from Argentina (Manuel Puig), Chile (the Spaniard Alonso de Ercilla y Zuniga and the Chilean Nicolas Palacios), Mexico (Gustavo Sainz and Angeles Mastretta) and the Hispanic USA (Jennifer Harbury and Francisco Goldman) have explored the themes of love, friendship and trust and their transformative power for gender relations in situations and contexts where deception, exploitation and oppression are often disturbingly present. There is also a discussion of the applications, insights and limitations of different theoretical frameworks and concepts relevant to the task of producing gendered readings, including Connell's 'world gender order' and 'hegemonic masculinity', as well as 'the cult of virility' as characterised by Still and Worton, Chela Sandoval's 'decolonial love' and 'methodology of the oppressed' and Beasley-Murray's 'posthegemony'. This book was originally published as a special issue of Iberian and Latin American Studies.

For fans of P is for Pterodactyl comes this groundbreaking spin on the ABCs that invites readers to look at the alphabet in a whole new way. An A is an H that just won't stand up right... A B is a D with its belt on too tight... And a Z is an L in a tug-of-war fight! Twenty-six letters, unique from each other--and yet, every letter looks just like one another! Kind of like...one big family. From two bestselling masters of wordplay and visual high jinks comes a mind-bending riddle of delightful dopplegängers and surprising disguises that reveal we're more alike than we may think.

Guaranteed to be a major hit at storytime, this hilarious interactive picture book is perfect for fans of The Book With No Pictures, The Serious Goose and Press Here. Okay, kid... I have a BIG THING that I really want to tell you. But it's VERY SERIOUS. So please, NO LAUGHING while I read you this book. Because...IF YOU LAUGH, I'M STARTING THIS BOOK OVER! In this riotous read-aloud from the bestselling author of I'm Just No Good at Rhyming and The Alphabet's Alphabet, the reader insists that listeners MUST. NOT. LAUGH-but the demand NOT to laugh leads to the absolutely irresistible temptation to do just that! Chock full of silly narrative twists, giggle-worthy character names, and ridiculously goofy illustrations by Serge Bloch, this interactive romp is sure to become a new storytime essential, whether you make it to the end or not!