The latest advancements in computer games offer a domain of human and artificial agent behaviour well suited for analysis and development based on normative multi agent systems research. One of the most influential gaming trends today, Massively Multi Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG), poses new questions about the interaction between the players in the game. If we model the players and groups...

Lateral resistance of railway track is one of the most important parameters in lateral stability. This parameter depends!on the conditions of different components of ballasted railway track (such as density of ballast layer, sleeper spacing, type of sleeper, etc.). From this perspective, type of sleeper has an important effect on lateral resistance. However in some conditions, in technical and ...

A naturally short sleeper phenotype with a sleep need of less than 6 hours without negative impact on health or performance is rare. We present a case of an acquired short sleeper phenotype after third ventriculostomy. A 59-year-old patient suffering from chronic hydrocephalus reported an average of 7-8 h of nocturnal sleep. After surgical intervention, the patient noted a strikingly reduced sl...

the main design criteria of ballasted railway tracks include rail deflections, rail bending stresses, rail wheel contact stresses, sleeper bending moments and ballast sleeper contact pressures. numerous criteria have been defined for the design of ballasted railway tracks owing to the various mechanical properties of track components and their complex interaction. therefore, railway track desig...

Twenty microsatellite markers were isolated and characterized from the Chinese black sleeper, Bostrychus sinensis. Loci were screened in 30 individuals from Taiwan. For each locus, the number of alleles varied from 4 to 22 with mean expected and observed heterozygosity of 0.79 and 0.66, respectively. One locus significantly deviated from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium after Bonferroni correction an...

Pipes (2003) has proposed a checklist for law enforcement to use in identifying possible members of sleeper cells. The purpose of this research was to evaluate Pipes’ checklist through the judgment of Muslim “insiders.” Thirty-three Muslim insiders responded to Pipes’ checklist by indicating the degree of concern that they believed each item should trigger about a possible sleeper. The sample o...

In this study, a wheel-rail transient rolling contact model capable of accounting for the nonlinear displacement-force properties hanging sleepers is proposed. The sleeper status affected by rail irregularities an input analysis behavior and related degradation in terms plastic deformation fatigue. results indicate that severity significantly geometric characteristics relative position with res...

In North America, most rail corridors are constructed using ballasted track. Monitoring the ballast support condition and improving upon current sub-structure/ballast maintenance strategies will ensure safe railroad operations. However, it is inherently difficult to evaluate the pressure distribution at the sleeperballast interface. Researchers at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIU...