Life in the village of Blackwood, Michigan, is one defined by natural beauty, regionalism, and a strong sense of what it means to be Welsh. In this collection of intertwined short stories and novellas, the fictional residents of this beautiful region come to life. Travel from the 1920s to the near future as these stories explore themes of survival and community pride.

In 1922, the Dee family struggles to rise out of poverty and see the dream of a house built of stone come to life in the opening story, "A House of Stone Is Forever, Part One." To them, a stone house is more than simple shelter; it is a promise of continued survival in a house that is built to endure all the storms they may face over the years. When the house is completed, the family buries a treasure--an archive to ensure that their story is known by future generations.

As the years pass, the Blackwood community members struggle to adjust to the social and cultural changes that inevitably find their way into their idyllic community. And as the villagers attempt to exert increasing control over the environment, they may not be ready to pay the price they'll be forced to pay.

Presenting a series of coming-of-age stories with environmental implications, "A House of Stone Is Forever" follows one family's hopes and dreams for immortality.

The first edition of this highly acclaimed publication received a Shingo Research and Professional Publication Prize in 2009. Explaining how to create and sustain a Lean business, it followed Cogent Power's first two Lean Roadmaps along their journey. Since then, much has changed. Several members of Cogent Power's senior management have moved on, steel prices have declined, and the credit crisis has sparked an unstable global economy. Set against these developments, Staying Lean: Thriving, Not Just Surviving, Second Edition reports on Cogent Power's response to these issues detailing how they worked through their third Lean Roadmap. It also: Guides readers with readily reproducible advice and an easy-to-follow model for sustaining Lean improvements Presents a case study of a successful multinational Lean implementation Covers a six-year Lean transformation from start to finish, illustrating the application of three distinct roadmaps Focusing on how to sustain change, the new edition of this bestselling reference, illustrates the experience of a multi-national company that successfully implemented Lean in its manufacturing and commercial operations. Based on a model of sustainable change, the text defines by example the elements of successful Lean management that are often difficult to emulate as well as the more visible features of process management.

The first edition of this highly acclaimed publication received a Shingo Research and Professional Publication Prize in 2009. Explaining how to create and sustain a Lean business, it followed Cogent Power's first two Lean Roadmaps along their journey. Since then, much has changed. Several members of Cogent Power's senior management have moved on, steel prices have declined, and the credit crisis has sparked an unstable global economy. Set against these developments, Staying Lean: Thriving, Not Just Surviving, Second Edition reports on Cogent Power's response to these issues -- detailing how they worked through their third Lean Roadmap. It also: * Guides readers with readily reproducible advice and an easy-to-follow model for sustaining Lean improvements * Presents a case study of a successful multinational Lean implementation * Covers a six-year Lean transformation from start to finish, illustrating the application of three distinct roadmaps Focusing on how to sustain change, the new edition of this bestselling reference, illustrates the experience of a multi-national company that successfully implemented Lean in its manufacturing and commercial operations. Based on a model of sustainable change, the text defines by example the elements of successful Lean management that are often difficult to emulate as well as the more visible features of process management.

Significantly expanded and updated with extensive revisions, new material, and a new chapter on emerging applications of switching converters, Power-Switching Converters, Third Edition offers the same trusted, accessible, and comprehensive information as its bestselling predecessors. Similar to the two previous editions, this book can be used for an introductory as well as a more advanced course. Chapters begin with an introduction to switching converters and basic switching converter topologies. Entry level chapters continue with a discussion of resonant converters, isolated switching converters, and the control schemes of switching converters. Skipping to chapters 10 and 11, the subject matter involves an examination of interleaved converters and switched capacitor converters to round out and complete the overview of switching converter topologies. More detailed chapters include the continuous time-modeling and discrete-time modeling of switching converters as well as analog control and digital control. Advanced material covers tools for the simulation of switching converters (including both PSpice and Matlab simulations) and the basic concepts necessary to understand various actual and emerging applications for switching converters, such as power factor correction, LED drivers, low-noise converters, and switching converters topologies for solar and fuel cells. The final chapter contains several complete design examples, including experimental designs that may be used as technical references or for class laboratory projects. Supplementary information is available at crcpress.com including slides, PSpice examples (designed to run on the OrCAD 9.2 student version and PSIM software) and MATLAB scripts. Continuing the august tradition of its predecessors, Power-Switching Converters, Third Edition provides introductory and advanced information on all aspects of power switching converters to give students the solid foundation and applicable knowledge required to advance in this growing field.

Dr Peter Milton, Director of Programme Review, Quality Assurance Agency I am grateful to the authors for giving me the opportunity to write this foreword, mainly because it represents the first occasion that the Fund for the Development of Teaching and Learning (FDTL) has led directly to a pUblication such as this. In my former capacity as Director of Quality Assessment at the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), I chaired the FDTL Committee during 1996/7 and am delighted to see the projects which were selected so painstakingly leading to successful outcomes. Assessment of the quality of higher education (HE) was introduced in 1993 and was intended to improve public information about what was on offer in British universities and colleges, as well as to assist in the enhancement of educational opportunities for students. This was part of a larger agenda in which educational quality and the standards achieved by students have come under increasing scrutiny, with a long-term objective of linking funding allocations to the quality of the provision. It was in this context that the FDTL Initiative was launched in 1995 to support projects aimed at stimulating developments in teaching and learning and to encourage the dissemination of good practice across the HE sector. Good practice is identified through the process of quality assessment and bids for funding can only be made by those institutions which have demonstrated high quality provision. To date, the programme includes 63 projects drawn from 23 subject areas.

Life in the village of Blackwood, Michigan, is one defined by natural beauty, regionalism, and a strong sense of what it means to be Welsh. In this collection of intertwined short stories and novellas, the fictional residents of this beautiful region come to life. Travel from the 1920s to the near future as these stories explore themes of survival and community pride.

In 1922, the Dee family struggles to rise out of poverty and see the dream of a house built of stone come to life in the opening story, "A House of Stone Is Forever, Part One." To them, a stone house is more than simple shelter; it is a promise of continued survival in a house that is built to endure all the storms they may face over the years. When the house is completed, the family buries a treasure--an archive to ensure that their story is known by future generations.

As the years pass, the Blackwood community members struggle to adjust to the social and cultural changes that inevitably find their way into their idyllic community. And as the villagers attempt to exert increasing control over the environment, they may not be ready to pay the price they'll be forced to pay.

Presenting a series of coming-of-age stories with environmental implications, "A House of Stone Is Forever" follows one family's hopes and dreams for immortality.