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The purpose of this paper is to provide a minimum time algorithm to intercept an object on a conveyor belt by a robotic manipulator. The goal is that the robot is able to intercept objects on a conveyor line moving at a given speed in minimum time.

In order to formulate the problem, the robot and object‐arrival time functions were introduced, and conclude that the optimal point occurs at the intersection of these two functions. The search algorithm for finding the intersection point between the robot and object arrival time functions are also presented to find the optimal point in real‐time.

Simulation results show that the presented algorithm is well established for various initial robot positions.

A trapezoidal velocity profile was employed which is used in many industrial robots currently in use. Thus, it is believed that robot travel time algorithm is readily implemented for any commercially available robots.

The paper considers exhaustive cases where robot travel time functions are dependent upon initial positions of robotic end‐effectors. Also presented is a fast converging search algorithm so that real time application is more feasible in many cases.

The essential investments in new product development (NPD) made by industrial companies entail effective management of NPD activities. In this context, performance measurement is one of the means that can be employed in the pursuit of effectiveness.

This chapter has been seminal work of Dr K.S.S. Iyer, which has taken time to develop, for over the last 56 years to be presented here. The method in advance predictive analytics has developed, from his several other applications, in predictive modeling by using the stochastic point process technique. In the chapter on advance predictive analytics, Dr Iyer is collecting his approaches and generalizing it in this chapter. In this chapter, two of the techniques of stochastic point process known as Product Density and Random point process used in modelling problems in High energy particles and cancer, are redefined to suit problems currently in demand in IoT and customer equity in marketing (Iyer, Patil, & Chetlapalli, 2014b). This formulation arises from these techniques being used in different fields like energy requirement in Internet of Things (IoT) devices, growth of cancer cells, cosmic rays’ study, to customer equity and many more approaches.

The goal is to assess performance prediction systems (PPS) that are used to assist at-risk learners.

The authors propose time-dependent metrics including earliness and stability. The authors investigate the relationships between the various temporal metrics and the precision metrics in order to identify the key earliness points in the prediction process. Authors propose an algorithm for computing earliness. Furthermore, the authors propose using an earliness-stability score (ESS) to investigate the relationship between the earliness of a classifier and its stability. The ESS is used to examine the trade-off between only time-dependent metrics. The aim is to compare its use to the earliness-accuracy score (EAS).

Stability and accuracy are proportional when the system's accuracy increases or decreases over time. However, when the accuracy stagnates or varies slightly, the system's stability is decreasing rather than stagnating. As a result, the use of ESS and EAS is complementary and allows for a better definition of the point of earliness in time by studying the relation-ship between earliness and accuracy on the one hand and earliness and stability on the other.

When evaluating the performance of PPS, the temporal dimension is an important factor that is overlooked by traditional measures current metrics are not well suited to assessing PPS’s ability to predict correctly at the earliest, as well as monitoring predictions stability and evolution over time. Thus, in this work, the authors propose time-dependent metrics, including earliness, stability and the trade-offs, with objective to assess PPS over time.

Using the backdrop of an (apparently) extended visit to the West Indies, analogies with key concerns of internal audit are drawn. An unusual and refreshing way of exploring the main themes ‐ a discussion between Bill and Jack on tour in the islands ‐ forms the debate. Explores the concepts of control, necessary procedures, fraud and corruption, supporting systems, creativity and chaos, and building a corporate control facility.

Allyn Young′s lectures, as recorded by the young Nicholas Kaldor, survey the historical roots of the subject from Aristotle through to the modern neo‐classical writers. The focus throughout is on the conditions making for economic progress, with stress on the institutional developments that extend and are extended by the size of the market. Organisational changes that promote the division of labour and specialisation within and between firms and industries, and which promote competition and mobility, are seen as the vital factors in growth. In the absence of new markets, inventions as such play only a minor role. The economic system is an inter‐related whole, or a living “organon”. It is from this perspective that micro‐economic relations are analysed, and this helps expose certain fallacies of composition associated with the marginal productivity theory of production and distribution. Factors are paid not because they are productive but because they are scarce. Likewise he shows why Marshallian supply and demand schedules, based on the “one thing at a time” approach, cannot adequately describe the dynamic growth properties of the system. Supply and demand cannot be simply integrated to arrive at a picture of the whole economy. These notes are complemented by eleven articles in the Encyclopaedia Britannica which were published shortly after Young′s sudden death in 1929.

This monograph summarises the key influences of leadership behaviour on the transformation process associated with creation of an effective and high performing team. It clarifies the key factors that are relevant to a team at each stage of the transformation process and the leadership roles that each team member can play. The role of an organisation's senior management is considered both in terms of the impact it has on the transformation process within specific teams and in terms of creating the necessary organisational environment to make effective teams the norm. Some reasons why senior management behaviour is often perceived as inconsistent and unhelpful are explored. Specific recommendations are made to help senior managers to adapt their behaviour, and in so doing become more context‐sensitive to the needs of the environment as it changes. Some tools and techniques are presented that have been found in practice to help senior managers adapt their behaviour to that most appropriate at a given time, and to create the organisational infrastructure needed to make effective teams the organisational norm rather than the exception. A case study is presented illustrating the networked nature of leadership and the culture change associated with making effective teams “the way we do things around here.”

The Howard Shuttering Contractors case throws considerable light on the importance which the tribunals attach to warnings before dismissing an employee. In this case the tribunal took great pains to interpret the intention of the parties to the different site agreements, and it came to the conclusion that the agreed procedure was not followed. One other matter, which must be particularly noted by employers, is that where a final warning is required, this final warning must be “a warning”, and not the actual dismissal. So that where, for example, three warnings are to be given, the third must be a “warning”. It is after the employee has misconducted himself thereafter that the employer may dismiss.

To achieve a full understanding of the role of marketing from plan to profit requires a knowledge of the basic building blocks. This textbook introduces the key concepts in the art or science of marketing to practising managers. Understanding your customers and consumers, the 4 Ps (Product, Place, Price and Promotion) provides the basic tools for effective marketing. Deploying your resources and informing your managerial decision making is dealt with in Unit VII introducing marketing intelligence, competition, budgeting and organisational issues. The logical conclusion of this effort is achieving sales and the particular techniques involved are explored in the final section.