John Lewis Partnership lessons in logical incrementalism and organic growth: a case study and interview with the Chairman, Mr Charlie Mayfield

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how strategy is developed and implemented in an organisation with an unusual ownership model. Partnerships are not a prevalent form of ownership but as this case demonstrates they can be extremely effective. Furthermore this case demonstrates how logical incrementalism can be used to implement major strategic decisions. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on company documentary evidence and a semi-structured interview with Mr Charlie Mayfield, Chairman of John Lewis Partnership. A chairman has a helicopter view of business whose perspectives are rarely captured by strategy researchers. This case study offers an insight into strategic thinking of a chairman and chief executive of a successful company. Research limitations/implications – The case study and interview offer a unique insight into the rationale behind strategic decisions within a successful partnership that has grown organically in a highly competitive retail market without high gearing. Originality/value – This case study sheds light on strategic moves within partnership. Furthermore, very few case studies offer insight into the thinking of a chief executive who has successfully managed a business in a turbulent environment.

A technique for the capture of free-ranging marsh deer (blastocerus dichotomus)

The marsh deer (Blastocerus dichotomus) is an endangered species froth the marshlands of central South America. Its population has declined in several regions due to the loss of available habitat caused by human activities, especially the construction of hydroelectric darns. The capture of individual deer is critical for research programs and population management. This report describes a novel live-capture technique, which uses a helicopter to drive the animals into a terrain that restricts their movement such as thick vegetation or deep water (60-120 cm in depth). Following confinement, animals are manually restrained. The short pursuit time (median = 2 thin), low mortality rate (0.82-3.28%), and the absence of injury to both the capture team and animals suggest that this method is appropriate for the safe capture of this species. Body temperature correlated with the pursuit time (R-2 = 0.15) but was not significantly altered with pursuit times <3 min.

Sistema de supervisão aérea baseado em navegação visual para detecção de anomalias em instalações de petróleo e gás

This work deals with the development of a prototype of a helicopter quadrotor for monitoring applications in oil facilities. Anomaly detection problems can be resolved through monitoringmissions performed by a suitably instrumented quadrotor, i.e. infrared thermosensors should be embedded. The proposed monitoring system aims to reduce accidents as well as to make possible the use of non-destructive techniques for detection and location of leaks caused by corrosion. To this end, the implementation of a prototype, its stabilization and a navigation strategy have been proposed. The control strategy is based on dividing the problem into two control hierarchical levels: the lower level stabilizes the angles and the altitude of the vehicle at the desired values, while the higher one provide appropriate references signals to the lower level in order the quadrotor performs the desired movements. The navigation strategy for helicopter quadrotor is made using information provided by a acquisition image system (monocular camera) embedded onto the helicopter. Considering that the low-level control has been solved, the proposed vision-based navigation technique treats the problem as high level control strategies, such as, relative position control, trajectory generation and trajectory tracking. For the position control we use a control technique for visual servoing based on image features. The trajectory generation is done in a offline step, which is a visual trajectory composed of a sequence of images. For the trajectory tracking problem is proposed a control strategy by continuous servovision, thus enabling a navigation strategy without metric maps. Simulation and experimental results are presented to validate the proposal

Simulação numérica da interação entre uma nuvem incidente de vórtices e uma aerofólio através do método dos vórtices

The study of aerodynamic loading variations has many engineering applications, including helicopter rotor blades, wind turbines and turbo machinery. This work uses a Vortex Method to make a lagrangian description of the a twodimensional airfoil/ incident wake vortex interaction. The flow is incompressible, newtonian, homogeneus and the Reynolds Number is 5x105 .The airfoil is a NACA 0018 placed a angle of attack of the 0° and 5°simulates with the Painel Method with a constant density vorticity panels and a generation poit is near the painel. The protector layer is created does not permit vortex inside the body. The vortex Lamb convection is realized with the Euler Method (first order) and Adans-Bashforth (second order). The Random Walk Method is used to simulate the diffusion. The circular wake has 366 vortex all over positive or negative vorticity located at different heights with respect to the airfoil chord. The Lift was calculated based in the algorithm created by Ricci (2002). This simulation uses a ready algorithm vatidated with single body does not have a incident wake. The results are compared with a experimental work The comparasion concludes that the experimental results has a good agrement with this papper

Construção de mosaicos georreferenciados usando imagens aéreas de pequeno formato

In this work we propose a technique that uses uncontrolled small format aerial images, or SFAI, and stereohotogrammetry techniques to construct georeferenced mosaics. Images are obtained using a simple digital camera coupled with a radio controlled (RC) helicopter. Techniques for removing common distortions are applied and the relative orientation of the models are recovered using projective geometry. Ground truth points are used to get absolute orientation, plus a definition of scale and a coordinate system which relates image measures to the ground. The mosaic is read into a GIS system, providing useful information to different types of users, such as researchers, governmental agencies, employees, fishermen and tourism enterprises. Results are reported, illustrating the applicability of the system. The main contribution is the generation of georeferenced mosaics using SFAIs, which have not yet broadly explored in cartography projects. The proposed architecture presents a viable and much less expensive solution, when compared to systems using controlled pictures

Large segmental radius and ulna defect treated by bone transportation with the Ilizarov technique

An 8-year-old male Boxer with a severely contaminated open fracture of the left radius and ulna fracture, produced by a helicopter propeller, was treated using bone transport by the Ilizarov method. Extensive diaphyseal bone loss and soft-tissue vascular damage were present. The radius and ulna were stabilised with an Ilizarov ring external fixator. The bone defect was partially shortened and restored by gradual transport of a bone segment created from proximal segments of the radius and ulna. The external fixator was removed 4fi months after the beginning of the latency period, due to instability caused by osteolysis around the wires. A cast was placed for 3 weeks. Although the bone transport had resulted in formation of approximately 4 cm of bone, the antebrachium showed approximately 50% shortening when compared to the contralateral limb. The infection was eradicated, and the dog was able to bear weight on the operated limb when walking.

LMI-based digital redesign of linear time-invariant systems with state-derivative feedback

A simple method for designing a digital state-derivative feedback gain and a feedforward gain such that the control law is equivalent to a known and adequate state feedback and feedforward control law of a digital redesigned system is presented. It is assumed that the plant is a linear controllable, time-invariant, Single-Input (SI) or Multiple-Input (MI) system. This procedure allows the use of well-known continuous-time state feedback design methods to directly design discrete-time state-derivative feedback control systems. The state-derivative feedback can be useful, for instance, in the vibration control of mechanical systems, where the main sensors are accelerometers. One example considering the digital redesign with state-derivative feedback of a helicopter illustrates the proposed method. © 2009 IEEE.

Projeto de controladores robustos para sistemas sujeitos a falhas estruturais usando realimentação estática de saída

Pós-graduação em Engenharia Elétrica - FEIS

Detecção robusta de falhas através de filtros H ‘infinito': implementação prática em um helicóptero 3-DOF de bancada e em um servosistema

Pós-graduação em Engenharia Elétrica - FEIS

Controle robusto h-infinito chaveado para sistemas lineares

Pós-graduação em Engenharia Elétrica - FEIS

Projeto de controle robusto para acomodação de falhas no módulo do helicóptero 3-DOF

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Multicontroladores para melhoria da robustez e acomodação de falhas em sistemas

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Detecção de falhas em sistemas incertos com atraso no sinal de controle

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Detecção e acomodação de falhas em sistemas incertos com atraso no sinal de controle utilizando modo deslizante

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Estudo da vibração de corpo inteiro em pilotos de helicoptera esquilo AS-350 L1

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)