The company that became GKN was forged in the first fires of the Industrial Revolution. And through the two-and-a-half centuries of its remarkable life, GKN has proved a master of Industrial Evolution. From a single blast furnace fuelling a tiny iron works on a remote Welsh hillside, GKN was built by a group of men – and one woman – into a world leader. Not just once or twice, but many times, it has changed shape and direction to hold its place at the forefront of the engineering industry. When iron gave birth to the worldwide railway boom in the early 1800s, GKN was there. It was among the first to seize the opportunities created when steel superseded iron in the 1860s. After the First World War, GKN moved into the 20th century’s greatest new industry – automotive. Late in the century, when aerospace began to be transformed by the use of new materials, GKN was at the leading edge. Geographically too, the company has evolved. As the balance of economic growth has shifted, from Britain in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries to America, continental Western Europe and Japan in the 20th and on to the emerging powers of Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe in the 21st century, the group has moved with it and frequently ahead of it. Today, the businesses that comprise GKN reach from the US to the eastern shores of Japan, from northern China and India to South Africa, Latin America and Australia. GKN is a truly global corporate citizen. This is its remarkable story.
For more than 20 years, Professor Kumar Bhattacharyya has been the most influential but least well-known manufacturing industry expert in Britain. He has advised two Prime Ministers - Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair - and a succession of senior government officials on matters ranging from the privatisation of British Steel to the future of the car industry. Bhattacharyya is also a unique academic entrepreneur: today, Warwick Manufacturing Group, the unit inside Warwick University that he founded in 1979, is Britain's answer to MIT (the Massachusetts Institute of Technology). WMG has annual revenues of -80m, educates more than 5,000 post-graduates and managers a year through its worldwide network of operations, and has won international renown with its philosophy of breaking down the barriers between academia and industry. Bhattacharyya's is a remarkable story, but one that has never been told- until now.
This is a concise, broad overview of the engineering, science and history of planetary landers and atmospheric entry probes designed to explore the atmospheres and surfaces of other planets. This will form an important reference for professionals, researchers and graduate students in planetary science, aerospace engineering and space mission development.
If, like us, you like a darn good read about business events, with real managers struggling with real issues, this is the book to curl up with (at times your guts will curl too)." Management Today "Thorough and well-grounded." The Economist "It comprehensively demolishes the business logic behind BMW's flawed acquisition of Rover." Financial Times BMW promised a bright new future for Rover. In turn, Rover was to keep BMW as the independent car dynasty it wanted to remain. But it all went wrong. Badly wrong. End of the Road is the full story of the eight-year saga of BMW's ownership of Rover - from acquisition to sale and subsequent aftermath. Witness the clash of cultures, battle of executive egos, disastrous decisions and boardroom bloodshed. Based on unparalleled and officially sanctioned access to all the major players, Brady and Lorenz reveal the full story. Find out how BMW and MG Rover have fared since the sale, and share the authors' predictions for the future of both companies. The BMW purchase of Rover was seen as the end of a great British industry. It was also the start of a great British drama...
The full story behind Rover's long struggle to crawl out from under the auspices of British Leyland and transform itself into a company promising enough to be taken over by BMW. Retold in detail are the negotiations that led up to the deal and the final announcement that took the automotive world by total surprise. Based on the author's interviews with the principal players, this account is a dramatic tale of a motoring legend's rebirth, and a vivid demonstration of the art of the deal.
This book provides a concise but broad overview of the engineering, science and flight history of planetary landers and atmospheric entry probes designed to explore the atmospheres and surfaces of other planets. It covers engineering aspects specific to such vehicles which are not usually treated in traditional spacecraft engineering texts. Examples are drawn from over thirty different lander and entry probe designs that have been used for lunar and planetary missions since the early 1960s. The authors provide detailed illustrations of many vehicle designs from different international space programs, and give basic information on their missions and payloads, irrespective of the mission's success or failure. Several missions are discussed in more detail to demonstrate the broad range of the challenges involved and the solutions implemented. This will form an important reference for professionals, academic researchers and graduate students involved in planetary science, aerospace engineering and space mission development.
Challenging Child Protection offers a ground-breaking new perspective which will illuminate and improve the professional understanding and practice of social workers and child protection workers. Taking a fresh look at the principles underlying child protection, this book provides a thought-provoking analysis of the evidence base which underpins professional understanding and intervention. It outlines the ways in which agencies have worked to prevent child abuse and neglect and traces key changes in UK policy, as well as situating these amid wider trends in Europe. With contributions from a wide variety of disciplines, including philosophy and anthropology, this is a uniquely diverse collection of academic perspectives. This book challenges our conceptions of child protection and encourages readers to think critically about why children are harmed by adults, how society views child abuse and how this informs practice.
This invaluable book is a unique collection of tributes to outstanding discoveries pioneered by Leon Chua in nonlinear circuits, cellular neural networks, and chaos. It is comprised of three parts. The first OCo cellular nonlinear networks, nonlinear circuits and cellular automata OCo deals with Chua''s Lagrangian circuits, cellular wave computers, bio-inspired robotics and neuro-morphic architectures, toroidal chaos, synaptic cellular automata, history of Chua''s circuits, cardiac arrhythmias, local activity principle, symmetry breaking and complexity, bifurcation trees, and Chua''s views on nonlinear dynamics of cellular automata. Dynamical systems and chaos is the scope of the second part of the book, where we find genius accounts on theory and application of Julia set, stability of dynamical networks, chaotic neural networks and neocortical dynamics, dynamics of piecewise linear systems, chaotic mathematical circuitry, synchronization of oscillators, models of catastrophic events, control of chaotic systems, symbolic dynamics, and solitons. First hand accounts on the discovery of memristors in HP Labs, historical excursions into OCyancient memristorsOCO, analytical analysis of memristors, and hardware memristor emulators are presented in the third and final part of the book.The book is quintessence of ideas on future and emergent hardware, analytic theories of complex dynamical systems and interdisciplinary physics. It is a true Renaissance volume where bright ideas of electronics, mathematics and physics enlighten facets of modern science.The unique DVD covers the artistic aspects of chaos, such as several stunningly melodious musical compositions using chaotic atttractors, a virtual gallery of hundreds of colorful attractors, and even a cartoon-like play on the genesis of Chua''s circuit that was based on a widely acclaimed performance in Rome and other venues in Italy. In short, it is a veritable kaleiscope of never-before-published historical, pedagogical, and futuristic technical visions on three timely topics of intense interest for both lay readers and experts alike.
In the bestselling tradition of Inside of a Dog and Marley & Me, a smart, illuminating, and entertaining read on why the dog-human relationship is unique--and possibly even "spiritual." Dr. Andrew Root's search for the canine soul began the day his eight-year-old son led the family in a moving Christian ritual at the burial service for Kirby, their beloved black lab. In the coming weeks, Root found himself wondering: What was this thing we'd experienced with this animal? Why did the loss hurt so poignantly? Why did his son's act seem so right in its sacramental feel? In The Grace of Dogs, Root draws on biology, history, theology, cognitive ethology (the study of animal minds), and paleontology to trace how in our mutual evolution, humans and dogs have so often helped each other to become more fully ourselves. Root explores questions like: Do dogs have souls? Is it accurate to say that dogs "love" us? What do psychology and physiology say about why we react to dogs in the way that we do? The Grace of Dogs paints a vivid picture of how, beyond sentimentality, the dog-human connection can legitimately be described as "spiritual"--as existing not for the sake of gain, but for the unselfish desire to be with and for the other, and to remind us that we are persons worthy of love and able to share love. In this book for any parent whose kids have asked if they'll see Fido in Heaven, or who has looked their beloved dog in the face and wondered what's going on in there, Dr. Root delivers an illuminating and heartfelt read that will change how we understand man's best friend.
52 readings, each with a scripture passage and prayer, from one of our most loved and respected Christian leaders and speakers. Each reading contains a story, often startling and arresting, from Andrew’s astonishingly eventful ministry, blended with his reflections on life and faith.
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