Prestressed concrete sleeper is a safety-critical track component widely used in ballasted railway tracks. The performance, endurance and quality of prestressed sleepers can detrimentally affect the serviceability durability track. An optimal production method an important criterion underpinning over entire service life sleepers. At present, research work mainly focuses on dynamic load, bearing...

For nearly 200 years wooden railway sleepers are impregnated with creosote. After initially using vacuum pressure processes for impregnation, empty-cell have been developed quickly and used until today. Because of political developments its alarming properties against human health environment the use creosote is already restricted to certain industrial commercially products will probably be ban...

Study objectives We conceptualized sleep quality judgment as a decision-making process and examined the relative importance of 17 parameters of sleep quality using a choice-based conjoint analysis. Methods One hundred participants (50 good sleepers; 50 poor sleepers) were asked to choose between 2 written scenarios to answer 1 of 2 questions: "Which describes a better (or worse) night of slee...

Despite the prevalence of sleep complaints among psychiatric patients, few questionnaires have been specifically designed to measure sleep quality in clinical populations. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) is a self-rated questionnaire which assesses sleep quality and disturbances over a 1-month time interval. Nineteen individual items generate seven "component" scores: subjective sleep...

Insomnia has become a major public health issue in recent times. Although quality of sleep is affected by environmental, psychophysiological, and pharmacological factors, diet and nutrient intake also contribute to sleep problems. This study investigated the association between nutrient intake and co-morbid symptoms associated with sleep status among selected adults. Subjects in this study incl...

STUDY OBJECTIVES This study aimed to determine the associations between the self-reported sleep duration and self-rated health in young adults. METHODS In this cross-sectional study, participants were 689 young adults (mean age 20 ± 1.35 years, 49.8% female). Sleep duration and self-rated health, as the main outcome of interest, were measured as self-reported. As potential covariates, we incl...

BACKGROUND Sleep disorder is a common problem in adults and affects physical and mental health. We investigated factors associated with poor sleep quality in Korean primary care. METHODS A total of 129 couples (129 husbands and 129 wives) aged 30 to 79 years were included in this study from March, 2009 to February, 2010. The subjects were surveyed using a specific questionnaire. Sleep disorde...

This paper proposes a three-dimensional fully-coupled numerical model intended for the simulation of dynamic behavior ballasted railway tracks under real excitation. It is employed to reproduce response French site located at high-speed line connecting two regions Bretagne and Pays de la Loire. The equation motion solved in time domain by means finite difference method which rails sleepers are ...

The objective of this study was to describe sleep patterns in patients with heart failure (HF) and analyze associations between sleep and the following variables: gender, age, fatigue, fatigue on exertion, physical activity, functional class, drug therapy, dyspnea, and body mass index. The nonprobability sample consisted of 400 patients (mean age 57.8 years; 64.8% were men, average schooling of...

Objectives. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) values correlate with depression, but studies investigating the relationship between PSQI values and polysomnographic (PSG) data showed inconsistent findings. Methods. Sixty-five consecutive patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) were retrospectively classified as "good sleepers" (GS) (PSQI ≤ 5) and "poor sleepers" (PS) (PSQI > 5). The PSG data a...