Wide Angle Vision

Praise for Wide Angle Vision "In this book, Wayne Burkan shows us that the vantage points from which we view and act can earn us critical advantages if we are willing to stretch our thoughts and practices beyond the edge of conventional thinking." - Robert W. Galvin Chairman of the Executive Committee and former CEO of Motorola "Wayne Burkan's Wide-Angle Vision is a very pragmatic and useful guide to dealing with and implementing change. His concept of 'edge' as it relates to customers, employees, and competitors should help many organizations struggling with the rapidly changing marketplace and the endless panaceas being promoted." - David R. Stamper Vice President and General Manager, Hitachi Data Systems, Latin American Division "At Southwest Airlines, we redefined air transportation by utilizing 'edge thinking.' Wayne Burkan is offering a 'flight plan' that if studied, understood, and followed, will improve your bottom line for the long term. If you really want to be on the 'leading edge' for your product or service, this is the place to begin." - Howard Putnam Speaker, author, and former CEO of Southwest Airlines "Wayne Burkan has brought our attention to a great source of potential opportunities for profitable growth if we take his advice and really listen to those challenging customers, potential customers, small competitors, and unhappy employees whom we often want to dismiss as difficult." - D. H. Davis President and Chief Operating Officer, Rockwell International Corporation "Strategically thought-provoking! It's just what busy leaders need to ensure they are focused on gaining a competitive edge. An easy-to-read wake up call for organizations and managers. Wayne Burkan challenges us to confront the perils of tunnel vision and the promise of a wider perspective. So simple, so clear, so right!" - Donald Himelfarb President, Thrifty Rent-A-Car System, Inc. Conventional business wisdom says to get close to your best customers, watch your biggest competitors, and reward your model employees. This controversial book offers a contrarian viewpoint and introduces a dynamic new way to compete-by broadening your focus beyond mainstream thinking to spot the critical opportunities at the edge of your core business. Wide-Angle Vision opens your eyes to the "edge," from "little guy" competitors preparing to take over the market to disgruntled customers and maverick employees whose complaints can lead to great ideas for change. Listening to complaining employees pays off. That's where the idea for Java(r) , Sun Microsystems' successful Internet programming system, came from. With Wide-Angle Vision, now you can learn how to use "edge" groups to sharpen your competitiveness by reducing surprise, increasing innovation, and satisfying customers. Filled with compelling examples from a range of industries and drawing on Wayne Burkan's extensive consulting experience with IBM, Ford, and others, Wide-Angle Vision equips you with specific action techniques that can enable you to: * Anticipate crises before they occur by using "splatter vision," scenarios, and benchmarking * Find breakthrough solutions to difficult problems by looking outside your field * Create powerful, flexible teams that work-from "edge" teams to ideal teams * Reduce resistance to organizational change through skillful timing, finding perfect change agents, and more * Reengineer with lower risk and greater efficiency, using an effective seven-step plan for change * Avoid tunnel vision by broadening your perspective-to the edges of what's happening in the mainstream In today's rapidly changing marketplace, opportunities are all around you. Wide-Angle Vision gives you the power to look them in the eye and develop the daring skills you need to be a leading-and lasting-"edge" competitor.

People of all ages will love this hands-on guide to the natural world: animals, insects, plants, and the environment.

Using real-life examples, Michael Jaco explains how he tapped into his intuitive capabilities to predict attacks and protect his fellow soldiers. The Intuitive Warrior will teach you how employing the methods perfected by a genuine military hero can act as a catalyst toward developing a richer, more fulfilled life.

The very thing that makes wide-angle photography so compelling also makes it a challenge: While you’re sure to capture a vast scene using a wide-angle lens, it can be difficult to direct the viewer’s attention when so many elements are included in an image. For many photographers, the results of their wide-angle attempts are a disappointment and they just can’t seem to achieve that “Wow” they are hoping for in their images.

Whether you’re new to wide-angle lenses or you’ve been frustrated by them for a long time, expert photographer, teacher, and author Chris Marquardt is here to help. Wide-Angle Photography is packed with information—as well as beautiful and inspiring photography—that will help you take your wide-angle image making to the next level.

In a friendly, accessible manner Chris walks you through in-depth discussions of both the advantages and the pitfalls of wide-angle photography, the fundamentals you need to know, composition and design principles, and the specific genres in which wide-angle lenses can be used to create outstanding images—not only for landscape photography, but for portrait, street, architectural, and interior photography, as well. Throughout the book, Chris offers hands-on exercises that drive home the concepts being taught so you can learn by doing. Chris also dedicates two full chapters to tilt-shift lenses for those who are interested in exploring and maximizing the fascinating capabilities these kinds of lenses offer.

Topics include:

Types of lenses and filters

Understanding depth of field

Angles of view, crop factors, and focal lengths

Handling distortion and aberrations

Composition, design, and context

Point of view and perspective

Wide-angle for various genres

Panoramas and stitching images

Tilt-shift lenses

Hands-on exercises

And much more…

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From the author of the New York Times bestseller that defined nature-deficit disorder and launched the international children-and-nature movement, Vitamin N (for “nature”) is a complete prescription for connecting with the power and joy of the natural world right now, with 500 activities for children and adults Dozens of inspiring and thought-provoking essays Scores of informational websites Down-to-earth advice In his landmark work Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv was the first to bring widespread attention to the alienation of children from the natural world, coining the term nature-deficit disorder and outlining the benefits of a strong nature connection--from boosting mental acuity and creativity to reducing obesity and depression, from promoting health and wellness to simply having fun. That book “rivaled Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring” (the Cincinnati Enquirer), was “an absolute must-read for parents” (the Boston Globe), and “an inch-thick caution against raising the fully automated child” (the New York Times). His follow-up book, The Nature Principle, addressed the needs of adults and outlined a “new nature movement and its potential to improve the lives of all people no matter where they live” (McClatchy Newspapers).Vitamin N is a one-of-a-kind, comprehensive, and practical guidebook for the whole family and the wider community, including tips not only for parents eager to share nature with their kids but also for those seeking nature-smart schools, medical professionals, and even careers. It is a dose of pure inspiration, reminding us that looking up at the stars or taking a walk in the woods is as exhilarating as it is essential, at any age.

This book introduces readers to the latest findings on disaster robotics. It is based on the ImPACT Tough Robotics Challenge, a national project spearheaded by the Japan Cabinet Office that focuses on developing robotics technologies to aid in disaster response, recovery and preparedness. It presents six subprojects that involve robot platforms and several component technologies used in conjunction with robots: cyber rescue canines, which are digitally empowered rescue dogs; serpent-like robots for searching debris; serpent-like robots for plant/infrastructure inspection; UAVs for gathering information on large areas struck by disaster; legged robots for plant/infrastructure inspection in risky places; and construction robots for recovery tasks that require both power and precision. The book offers a valuable source of information for researchers, engineers and practitioners in safety, security and rescue robotics, disaster robotics, and plant and infrastructure maintenance. It will also appeal to a wider demographic, including students and academics, as it highlights application scenarios and the total concept for each robot in various scientific and technical contexts. In addition to a wealth of figures and photos that explain these robots and systems, as well as experimental data, the book includes a comprehensive list of published papers from this project for readers to refer to. Lastly, an external website offers video footage and updated information from the International Rescue System Institute.

The book includes 61 selected papers from 106 presented at the second International Conference on Machine Automation (ICMA2000). The conference focused, for the first time, on human friendly mechantronics which covers machine systems interacting with human beings, psychological, physiological, and physical behaviors of the human being itself, robotics, human-mimetic mechanical systems, commercial application examples and so on. Machine automation has owed a lot to mechatronics technology in the last decades, however, a paradigm shift is desired and emphasized in the 21st century in every aspect of our society, and mechantronics is not an exception. The paradigm shift in mechatronics is a pursuit of productivity and efficiency to the preference of humans, and it is time that a new concept of a human friendly robot must be proposed that is welcome by human users. The book aims to offer the most up-to-date and valuable information on: •Human Interface & Communication •Human Support Technology •Actuator & Control •Vision & Sensing •Robotics and Design •Manufacturing System We believe this book will bring advanced knowledge and valuable information to the industries as well as to academics and will contribute to the further development in mechatronics and its related fields.