Behavior Characteristics of a Booted Sleeper Track System According to Substructure Deformation

In booted sleeper floating track systems wherein the concrete bed, rail, and sleeper are structurally separated, mismatches can occur between the substructure and track owing to deformations. Nevertheless, the mutual behavior between substructures and track systems has not been studied extensively. To address this limitation, the effect of substructure uplift and subsidence on the deformation of a boosted sleeper floating track system installed in a subway box tunnel was analyzed using finite element analysis. A detailed three-dimensional model consisting of all track system components was constructed to determine the interaction between the rail and concrete bed. The sleepers were observed to rotate in response to substructure deformation, and their resulting contact conditions on the concrete bed were analyzed to determine the track status accordingly. The zones of likely tension and shear cracking in the concrete bed were then determined to provide focus areas for track design and maintenance efforts. The results of this study can be used to improve the design and inspection of floating track systems to ensure the safety and functionality of railway tunnels in areas likely to experience uplift or subsidence.

Theoretical Studies on the Longitudinal Inhomogeneity of Track Stiffness and a Track Status Estimation Method

Due to material multiplicity, rigid-flexible hybrid and environmental variations, and so forth, the properties of the tracks will be inevitably changed due to the cyclic loads temporally and spatially. In this paper, a theoretical study is conducted to clarify the influence of the longitudinal inhomogeneity of track stiffness on system responses and then a general state estimation method is proposed to inversely predict the parametric distribution of the tracks. To achieve these purposes, a 3D nonlinear vehicle-track coupled model is firstly constructed, where track systems are established by the finite element method with random parameters. Based on this dynamic model, the distribution characteristics of system responses due to random parametric excitations are properly revealed. The numerical studies show that the longitudinal inhomogeneity of track supporting stiffness has significant effects on system responses; besides, the response distributions are varied against different parametric distributions. Finally, a representative example is demonstrated to show the effectiveness of the proposed track state estimation method.

Advanced Android Crime Tracker

We have proposed an advanced android crime tracker mobile application which will track the status of the investigation as well as it also tracks complaints reported by the public. The main purpose of the application is to help higher authorities like CBI and police to speed up their investigation process and track status of multiple cases at a time. In this application, public will help them to get the crime details quickly and then they can take action immediately. It will help the police to know the crime ratio in the society. This application will show all the updated crime post and once case is solved then admin can delete the post and can also update the status of investigation. Public can upload photos of crime spot and location of crime spot and photos of items found on scene. User can also post their missing person details by doing same procedure. User can also check the status updated by the admin and incase of any query or emergency; the user can chat with the police with the help of chat box. For women safety, we have provided a SOS button which will call police by clicking on that button. This application is designed in such a way that all the post which is uploaded by peoples can be seen by police also. After that they can take action immediately on it and they can write the status of the crime. This system will speed up the crime investigation process.

Ballasted Track Status Evaluation Based on Apparent Track Stiffness Index

Currently, maintenance work for ballasted track is performed based on the Track Quality Index (TQI) without a fundamental cause investigation for track irregularity. In this study, a new evaluation standard for ballasted track status is proposed to overcome the limitations of current maintenance work. The new evaluation standard is based on the stiffness index. The stiffness index is defined as the difference between the average and standard deviation of the apparent track stiffness determined by a light falling weight deflectometer (LFWD). After some field tests and analysis, it is shown that the stiffness index has a strong correlation not only with TQI but also with maintenance history. In verification results, the new evaluation standard estimated the ballasted track status quite well.

Assessing and Extending Track Quality Index for Novel Measurement Techniques in Railway Systems

A systematic maintenance process is essential to keeping railway systems safe and reliable. However, performing such maintenance is costly and often results in system disruption. There is a tradeoff between system safety and budgetary constraints; understanding the condition of the track infrastructure is essential to find the balance between needs and costs for decisions about when to perform maintenance. In this study, the track quality index (TQI), which is commonly used to evaluate the status of tracks and to decide maintenance interventions, is reviewed, including 12 TQIs for superstructure and six for substructure. A literature review indicates that TQIs for sleepers and subgrade have not yet been developed. The differences between TQIs are compared using a set of hypothetical raw data. Their capabilities for identifying track irregularities are also investigated based on the EN 13848 regulations. To classify TQI characteristics in a systematic way, this study proposes four concepts: accuracy, sensitivity, data required, and specificity. Accuracy indicates a TQI’s capability of detecting defects; sensitivity indicates how TQIs change according to variations in the defects; specificity relates to the amount of parameters considered, and the ability to pinpoint root causes or global consequences of defects. The results suggest a tradeoff between the four concepts, where high sensitivity can increase the ability to detect the smallest defects but may be affected by bias; more parameters considered may indicate low accuracy when detecting a single type of defect. Therefore, this study suggests railway regulators use multiple TQIs with complementary characteristics for classifying track status.

2017 Program Director Survey

ObjectiveTo survey adult neurology program directors (PDs) and inform the future development of neurology training programs.MethodsAll US adult neurology PDs were invited to complete the survey. The goals were to determine the demographic makeup of residency programs, characterize curricula, understand PD and program needs, and compare results to those of a similar survey in 2007.ResultsThe response rate was 70.6%. PD demographics for age, faculty track status, and academic rank remain unchanged over the last decade. The proportion of female PDs and assistant PDs has increased significantly. The mean number of residents per training program has also increased significantly. Female PDs are more likely to have a junior academic rank than their male colleagues. Disparities remain between the PDs' time spent on teaching/program administration and salary support. Most PDs support moving fellowship applications later in the training cycle. The majority of PDs find the Clinical Competency Committee process useful in assessing resident competence. A minority of PDs feel that the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Milestones meet their intended purpose. Half of programs include a curriculum to supplement the clinical experience on child neurology rotations. A third of programs include a supplemental curriculum for psychiatry rotations. The majority of programs offer a general fund for residents to use to support their education.ConclusionDeficiencies exist in compensation for PDs' teaching and administrative time and for academic promotion for female PDs. These results serve as a benchmark for comparison across programs and the basis to advocate for further improvements and support for neurology residency training.

Eleven Years of the Knowledge Management Track at HICSS

This paper presents an overview and history of the knowledge management (KM) research community at the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS). This community began as a mini-track in HICSS-27 and has since evolved into full track status with the name Knowledge, Innovation, and Entrepreneurial Systems for HICSS-50. The purpose of this paper is to acquaint KM researchers with a rich history of high quality KM research that has evolved through a series of name changes.

INSIDE INDUSTRY

Brighton Biotech, Inc. acquires exclusive global license for development, commercialization of vaccines for MERS, SARS New Anti-PD-L1 Antibody enables deeper insights into Cancer Immunology Research King’s College London and RCT establish new anticancer drug discovery company ResMed completes acquisition of Curative Medical, a leader in sleep-disordered breathing and respiratory care medical devices Bionomics announces extension of strategic collaboration with Merck & Co., Inc. for the discovery and development of novel pain medications Asian American Medical Group returns to the black with S$0.6M net profit for FY2015; revenue up 65% on strong demand for liver treatment services Cystic Fibrosis treatment receives FDA orphan drug designation and fast track status Humacyte- Developer of lab-grown blood vessels receives $150M funding boost Horizon Pharma plc announces favourable Markman ruling in RAVICTI® (glycerol phenylbutyrate) oral liquid patent infringement lawsuit