Big Chance Research Articles

Study on Crack Mechanism for Concrete Bedding Cushion on Rock

Bedding cushion cracking in concrete dam is widespread, and has not been completely prevented [1,2]. There are many cracking causes of bedding cushion, including construction difficulty and structure requirements for concrete dam. Based on the method of FEM simulative calculation of temperature and stress fields of mass concrete using water cooling pipes, this paper makes relatively in-depth study on crack mechanism for concrete bedding cushion on rock. It is revealed that all three factors of uneven thickness of bedding cushion, thickness of new dam concrete placed on cushion after off period and foundation gallery upon bedding cushion have great influence on the tensile stress of bedding cushion and should be paid special attention during construction. The calculation results show that the tensile stress of thinner concrete cushion layer is much greater than the thicker one, and the thinner upon new concrete will also make greater tensile stress in cushion. As a result, both the thinner cushion layer and the cushion with thinner new concrete on it would have a bigger chance to crack than others. The mechanism is used to explain reasonably a dam crack in construction. Then some cracking prevention measures, which should have reference value for the construction of bedding cushion, are put forward in this paper.

It's Raining Cupcakes (review)

Reviewed by: It's Raining Cupcakes Deborah Stevenson Schroeder, Lisa. It's Raining Cupcakes. Aladdin, 2010 [208p]. ISBN 978-1-4169-9084-0 $15.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 4-6 "It's Raining Cupcakes" is the name of Isabel's mother's new business, or it will be if twelve-year-old Isabel can, with her dad and grandmother's help, keep her hypersensitive and easily discouraged mother together long enough to open the shop. Though she also loves to bake, adventurous Isabel is otherwise her mother's opposite, and she particularly longs to travel (her mother's fear of flying has kept the family limited to local vacation options); when her friend Sophie discovers a baking contest for kids with finals held in New York City, Isabel sees this as her big chance—if her mother doesn't turn this into yet another thing that's all about her. Isabel has a perky, believable preteen voice, and Schroeder writes with understanding of a family that's shaped itself indulgently around one member's frailties at the expense of everything else. That problem is never really faced head-on, though, with Isabel's dad getting off scot-free for his poor choices and the ease of Isabel's mother's eventual willed improvement making her seem all the more selfish for never trying before; the story also begins to accumulate contrivances toward the end without ever really providing a climax. The easygoing accessibility will draw readers, however, and they'll find both the fictional cupcakes and the fidelity to Isabel's feelings sweet reward. Copyright © 2010 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Surrogate Outcomes: They Don’t Get It

In Response: We fully support the notion espoused by Fisher1 that “clinicians (should) make decisions based on meaningful outcomes.” Dr. Fisher suggests that nausea and vomiting are not meaningful outcomes because pancuronium and midazolam reduce nausea and vomiting to zero. True. However, his “reductio ad absurdum” argument could be made about many meaningful outcomes. Is pain the fifth vital sign or merely a surrogate? Like nausea and vomiting, pain scores could be reduced to zero from a combination of midazolam and pancuronium. Does that make pain not a meaningful outcome? We contend that nausea and vomiting are meaningful outcomes. “Throwing up” is universally considered unpleasant. We will not offer a reference, but invite anyone who enjoys vomiting to disprove us by counterexample. Additionally, Anesthesiologists consider postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) a relevant outcome2 and have dubbed it our “big little problem.”3 PONV matters to our patients.4,5 Patients are willing to pay US$56–US$100 out of their own pocket for a totally effective antiemetic.6 Similar to the occurrence of severe postoperative pain, inadequate management of PONV may imply medico-legal consequences because PONV is considered at least as troublesome as postoperative pain.4,7 The forceful expulsion of gastric contents in the course of severe vomiting or PONV may lead to life-threatening complications.8 There may be economic consequences of PONV, especially in an outpatient setting, because the occurrence of PONV is a leading factor for unplanned hospital admissions.9,10 Eliminating the “big little problem”3 may be our “big little chance.”11 Peter Kranke Department of Anaesthesia and Critical Care University Hospitals of Würzburg Würzburg, Germany [email protected] Andrew F. Smith Department of Anaesthesia and Lancaster Patient Safety Research Unit Lancaster, UK Swen N. Piper Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Hospital of Ludwigshafen/Rhine Germany Jan Wallenborn Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care University Hospitals of Leipzig Leipzig, Germany Norbert Roewer Department of Anaesthesia and Critical Care University Hospitals of Würzburg Würzburg, Germany Leopold H. J. Eberhart Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care University Hospitals of Marburg and Gießen Marburg, Germany

Adaptive particle swarm optimization algorithm based on intuitionistic fuzzy population entropy

For complex multi-peaks function with high dimensions,canonical Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm(PSOA) has big chance falling in premature convergence for the fast losing of population diversity.With the disadvantages,the intuitionistic fuzzy population entropy was presented as the estimate of the diversity of the population in this paper.By applying the intuitionistic fuzzy population entropy as parameter in velocity updated mechanism,the improved PSOA can prevent premature convergence,which can also provide the PSOA with adaptabily.The experiments show the Improved PSOA is significantly superior to canonical PSOA.

Some hydrodynamic problems for flood forecasting and flood control in the Red river system

My research & development activity in the field of environmental & natural fluid mechanics has been started after one year's working visit, proposed by Prof. Nguyen Van Dao, at the Laboratoire National d'Hydraulique de France in Chatou, France (1979-1980). Until now this activity is still a most important one.In the paper it is presented some selected scientific results in one of hydrodynamic problems for flood forecasting and flood control: developing of the 1D hydraulic model, 1D & quasi 2D model, 1D hydraulic model for dam break flow , 2D hydraulic model, coupling of 1D and 2D hydraulic models and some theirs applications for flood forecasting and flood control in the Red River System.This paper is dedicated to the memory of Prof. Nguyen Van Dao, with whom I had a big chance to work and to collaborate during about 30 years, to whom I would like to express my heartfelt thanks.

Dermatoglyphics, somatotypical profile and basic physical qualities results of modern dancers of Deborah Colker MovemenCenter

The objective of this study is to Identify dermathoglyphic, somatotypical profi le and basic physical qualities results of modern dancers of Deborah Colker movement center. This study used the sample of 13 modern dancers, 7 female and 6 male. The sample used an evaluation to identify the genetic profi le, through the fi ngerprints (ID), in agreement with the protocol of Cummins&Midllo, an evaluation of the somatotype), in agreement with the protocol of Heath-Carter, by the anthropometrics method of Heath&Carter and an evaluation of the physical qualities.The modern dance shows two strong characteristics: big resistance and high level of coordination. The somatotype of male group was Ecto-mesomorphic, and the female group was endomorphic. The modern dance is an activity, which requires large levels of coordination and fl exibility. A subject these qualities, has a big chance

Spellings Report Targets Higher Education

Spellings Report Targets Higher Education

The Council for the Administration of Criminal Justice and Protection of Juveniles

The Council for the Administration of Criminal Justice and Protection of Juveniles (Raad voor Strafrechtstoepassing en Jeugdbescherming) is an independent advisory, supervisory and judiciary board to the Netherlands Minister of Justice on matters relating to the prison system, the hospital order detention system, the probation system and the youth incarceration system. Members are recruited from a variety of backgrounds, such as magistracy, science, medicine, psychiatry and social work. As a rule, they have a full-time job in society. They are recruited by virtue of their expertise, competence and professional experience in relevant fields. Nowadays, there are about 60 members. The combination of the Council’s three tasks has been criticised. The argument is that the advisory and supervisory tasks of the Council could interfere with the independent and impartial nature of its judicial task. The supposed incompatibility of the three tasks has been one of the arguments of the Minister of Justice in defending his decision to set up an Inspectorate for the whole field of the administration of justice. This Inspectorate would overlap the Council’s supervisory task. So, legislation has been prepared in order to prevent overlap by taking away this task from the Council. The resistance to these plans was an important reason for the Dutch government to ask the Verwey-Jonker Institute to evaluate the performance of the Council. The Council performed very well in this evaluation. Its performance could not, therefore, really be used as an argument for curtailing its tasks. The independent nature of an Inspection Board is open to question, as it is functioning under the responsibility of the Minister of Justice. However, the Minister of Justice has not been convinced by this and other arguments, so there is a big chance that the Council will loose its supervisory task.

Changing Competitiveness of Japanese Firms and Role of Japan's FDI

The origin of Japanese firms’ international competitiveness is in the system of minimising ‘the sum of production costs and transaction costs’ in the procurements of ‘specialty’ parts. Japan’s location advantages are indispensable factors for Japanese firms to achieve the cost minimisation. Furthermore, existence of global demand for ‘specialty ’ products has strongly supported the ownership advantages of Japanese automobile industry. However, recent ‘ICT revolution’ has caused accelerated ‘commoditisation’ of ‘specialty’ products, especially, in ICT and electronics industries. This ‘commoditisation’ undermined Japanese firms’ competitiveness in ICT and electronics industries. Japanese firms in the industries have to concentrate more on development of new products, instead of effective production. The Japanese electronics and ICT firms are facing several dilemmas, which need to be resolved. I. The Background and the Issue After the low growth age of Japanese economy (so-called ‘Japan’s lost decade’ with about 1 per cent growth or less per year) in the 1990s and beginning of 21 century, it seems that finally Japanese economy has turned to an upward direction of 2.5 per cent growth or more per year in recent years. However, is it true that Japanese firms have actually strengthened and recovered their competitiveness in some major industries, especially in ICT (information communication technology) industries? In this article, I focus on the international competitiveness of some types of Japanese firms, which were considerably damaged by the ‘ICT revolution’ and that of other types of Japanese firms, which were maintained and strengthened even in that situation. Demand side as well as supply side will be examined in the analysis of Japanese firms’ competitiveness. In the Section II, I briefly describe the recent trend of Japan’s international trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) and changing competitiveness of Japanese firms. In the Section III, I try to clarify that the origin of Japanese firms’ international competitiveness is a system to minimise ‘the sum of production cost and transaction cost’. The Section IV is an argument on the severe influence of ‘ICT revolution’ on Japanese firms’ international competitiveness, which is based on the ‘minimisation of production cost and transaction cost’. The effects on demand side are also analysed in this section. The Section V is regarding a possible solution to recover the international competitiveness of Japanese firms through foreign direct investment (FDI). Overseas business activity is one good solution to recover the competitiveness of Japanese firms in damaged ARTICLES / 5 The author is Professor, Nishogakusha University, Tokyo, Japan. 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012 89 Changing Competitiveness of Japanese Firms and Role of Japan’s FDI • SHIGEKI TEJIMA industries. In fact, it is a big chance for Japanese firms. However, it is also a big challenge for Japanese firms because characteristics of markets of intermediate goods and labour in foreign countries were not necessarily advantageous for Japanese firms. How to solve this issue of location ‘disadvantages’ is another big task for Japanese firms. Finally, the Section VI is the conclusion. II. A Recent Trend of Japan’s International Trade and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) A Recent Trend of Japan’s International Trade When we see the recent trend of Japan’s international trade, it is noteworthy that Japan’s export has steadily grown and Japan preserved a high level of trade surplus while Japan’s import has also rapidly increased even in the period of so called ‘Japan’s lost decade (or low growth age)’ of the 1990s (Figure 1). Figure 1 Japan’s Export and Import Source: Compiled by the author from Japan’s MoF (Ministry of Finance) data. It seems that, generally speaking, Japanese companies have still maintained export competitiveness internationally although some of them were obliged to implement severe restructuring of their management, especially, in electronics and ICT industries. 70000000000

Introduction

When CORD asked me to put together a panel honoring Marcia B. Siegel for the 2005 conference in Montreal, I did not hesitate to accept. She had done the same for me in 2001. But this was no quid pro quo. Decades ago, when Siegel edited the long-defunct publication Dance Scope, she invited me to contribute a review of Edwin Denby's Dancers, Buildings and People in the Street to the Spring 1966 issue. She was taking a big chance. That was my first published writing. She had only heard me talk about dance on “The Critical People,” a radio show about the arts on WBAI-FM (a bunch of us got together weekly and more or less winged it).Over the years, she and I have thrashed out ideas about criticism, historical writing, and specific performances sitting side by side in theater seats, collapsing in hotel rooms after arduous days at conferences, conducting workshops together, and while weeding my vegetable garden. Our opinions may differ, but we have similar ideas about what we are trying to accomplish in our writing and what kind of writing we like to read.In putting together the panel, I consulted Marcia for ideas. Gay Morris, Selma Odom, and Peggy Phelan are her distinguished colleagues in dance history, theory, and criticism; she also counts them among her friends. Elizabeth Streb, whom she has reviewed over the years, created and delivered a stunning Powerpoint presentation. I regret that it couldn’t be included here. Juxtaposing Marcia's writings about her work to glimpses of the pieces reviewed and her own impressions of them, Streb offered a uniquely insightful and generous view of the critic-artist relationship.

Future direction of medical care system for patients with infectious disease and the new infectious diseases control law in Japan--centering around a category 1 hospital

As of April 1, 1999, the new Infectious Diseases Control Law became effective in Japan. Under the new law, there are three types of category for medical care systems such as "Specified Infectious Disease Medical Hospital", "Category 1 Infectious Disease (Ebola virus hemorrhagic fever, Marburg disease, Lassa fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever and plague) Designated Hospital" and "Category 2 Infectious Disease (Cholera, Sigellosis, Typhoid fever, Paratyphoid fever, Poliomyelitis and Diphtheria) Designated Hospital". In these categories, "Category 1 Infectious Disease Designated Hospital" should be designated by prefectural governments, one hospital per prefecture. Recently some papers indicated that (1) whether each government should arrange a category 1 hospital, (2) whether strict isolation with precautions against airborne spread including negative air pressure with anterior-room should be required, (3) plague is not a dangerous disease and the patient with plague is not required of Category 1 hospital but Category 2 hospital for medical care and infection control. The purpose of this article is, including a counterargument for these opinion, to summarize the point of view for the new medical care system under the new law and to search for the future medical care system in Japan. First of all, medical care for patients with infectious diseases should not be a special one but the extension of the general one. Second, we understand that one of the purposes for Category 1 hospital is the core hospital concerning the therapy, pre/post education and research for infectious diseases in each prefectures. Third, the constructive standard for Category 1 hospital should be a strict one including negative air pressure rooms with an anterior-room and an outside hall, and the air should not be recirculated. Under the big chance of enforcement of this new Infectious Diseases Control Law in Japan, we should try to restruct about medical care system for patients with infectious diseases in a long-range plan.

Why Repeated Criminal Opportunities Matter: A Dynamic Stochastic Analysis of Criminal Decision Making

Decision makers who confront a long sequence of criminal opportunities act differently from those who confront a single opportunity. If the sequence is long enough, people will take big chances in return for very small gains, even if the probability of detection is very great and the scale of punishment very large. Risk-neutral people will appear to love risk. Patient people will appear to discount the future heavily. For long enough sequences of future opportunities, raising the probability of detection increases the amount of crime committed rather than lowering it. Constitutional safeguards are an important deterrent to crime.

Aiming for the stars?

Now is the time for all midwives to come to the aid of midwifery. This could be midwifery's big chance to govern it's own educational, regulatory and statutory processes and now, more than at any other time, midwives must work together for the benefit, not only of the women we serve, but also of the profession. We cannot afford to be reactionary, or narrow of vision, about the ‘special nature’ of our own, particular areas of expertise. If midwife rails against midwife, we'll all lose.

Carving expands the skiing field

Carving is only the logical consequence of the past developments in alpine skiing. The modern ski-theories as well as the professional racing aim for a perfect control over the ski to master the variable conditions. New is not the technic but the equipment. Driving on the edge covers everything from drifting up to carving. Carving is a big chance for the alpine skiing to break up old standards and experience a new quality in skiing.

The influence potential of physical planning – a big chance for geotope protection and geosphere focused landscape management

The influence potential of physical planning – a big chance for geotope protection and geosphere focused landscape management

William Alfred's Hogan's Goat: Power and Poetry in Brooklyn

William alfred's verse play Hogan's Goat, recounting the four days in April and May, 1890, when Matt Stanton gets his big chance to become mayor of Brooklyn, was New York's surprise hit of 1965–66. Directed by Frederick Rolf and starring Faye Dunaway (before Bonnie and Clyde), Ralph Waite (before The Waltons), and Barnard Hughes (before Da), it opened in November, 1965, at the American Place Theatre and ran during the next eighteen months for 607 performances there and at the East 74th Street Theatre, winning the 1965–66 Theatre Club Gold Medal for best play and gaining Alfred the 1965 Drama Desk – Vernon Rice award. Selected for inclusion in Otis L. Guernsey's Best Plays yearbook (and chosen best play of 1965), it also appears in John Gassner and Clive Barnes's Best American Plays series, Harold Clurman's anthology Famous American Plays of the 1960s, and Francis Griffith and Joseph Mersand's Eight Ethnic American Plays. In 1971, the play was produced on PBS television.

So Much Success, So Little Joy

This biography was published in 1989 as a tribute to C harles Schultz's fortiet h anniversary of publishing Peanuts. The longevity of his ca r too n and th e fact th at he has drawn eac h strip by himself is unique. His characte rs a re known in eve ry contine nt and their trials and tribulations a re translated into ove r twe nty la nguages every day. So why would I recommend this book to th e ge neral pu blic, and to psychiatrist s and m ental health professionals in pa rt icul ar? Becau se in this authoriz ed biography, Rheta Grimsley J ohnson, a nation ally ren owned syndicated columnist , shows how a man do es not hav e to be crippled by his mental illness and how thi s man in particul ar could not have becom e what he is today without coming to terms with agorophobia a nd depression . The ea rly chapte rs describe how Schultz grew up in Minnea polis as an only child who was close to his mother and fa the r. Significa n t mil eston es from his life are ment ioned , in pa rticul ar th ose whi ch see m to be reflect ed in Peanuts. For example, th e whole family moved to Nee dles, California during the Grea t Depression whil e his fa t he r looked for work , eve ntually moving back to Minneapolis whe re he graduated from high school. In sch ool he was a C stude n t with very few friends, spe ndi ng most of his lun ch hours by himself a nd feeling intimidated by th e others. A whole chapter is devot ed to th e woman on whom The Little Red H aired Girl is based. We see th at his popular charac te r Charlie Brown re flec ts som e of Schultz's own ex periences and feelings. The crit ica l point in his life, according to Johnson , was his draft in to World Wa r II th e same week that his mother died fr om ca nce r . H e never had th e opportunity to say goo d-bye to his mother and according to J ohnson, thi s was a n issu e he never succes sfully re solved. H e returned from th e war a nd soug ht work as a n a rt illust ra tor and as a fr ee lan ce ca r toonist for newspapers whil e waiting for his big chance to be publish ed in a major newspap er. The middle chapte rs furn ish more detail on how Schultz was ab le to get Peanuts publish ed and eventually known in every corner of th e globe. The remaining chapte rs show what day to day ope ra tio ns a re curre n t ly like with Schultz working in his stud io in Sa nta Clara, Califo rn ia . J ohnson mak es clear referen ces through out thi s boo k to th e fact that Schult z

Digit sucking: It's time for an attitude adjustment - or - A rationale for the early elimination of digit-sucking habits through positive behavior modification

Final Thoughts: There is little doubt that digit-sucking can be a significant etiological factor in atypical dental growth and development, oral-facial muscle dysfunction and speech dysfunction. <br />Treatment to eliminate the sucking behavior is often neglected because of perpetuation of the time-worn and unsubstantiated Freudian theory of substitution behavior. <br /> The technique of positive behavior modifica­tion to terminate the digit-sucking behavior has been practiced successfully by hundreds of therapists for many years. <br />It's time to educate the world about this well­kept secret. Documentation of improved dental, speech, and emotional growth and development is germane. <br />The human mouth is the ultimate source of communication. Attractive, healthy dentition is essential to communication and the well-being of the whole person. Dental malocclusion is a pathology; it does not make sense to allow a pathology to develop to its full potential before initiating treatment. Little mouths deserve a big chance to grow straight.

European Space: ESRO's Big Chance, ELDO's Last

European Space: ESRO's Big Chance, ELDO's Last

TELAAH AGAMA, KONSEP BARU PENDIDIKAN ISLAM DAN SAINS

This paper is intended to examine the Islamic sciences that have big chance to be integrated with science through the practice of Islamic education. This is done so Islam will be able to re-concern about science vision such it happened in the early days of Islam. There are several models offered of contemporary Muslim scientific epistemology which have big influence among the Islamic world. Some existing offers is the need for shifting the paradigm in the field of Islamic scientific epistemology, namely from Islamic epistemology normative-textual-bayani to the contemporary Islamic scientific epistemology in intuitive-spiritual-Irfani pattern (in axiological) that have many relationship with ethical dimensions to the development of science. Moreover, it needs a redefinition or reconceptualization of the discourse of science in the Islamic world.