Work/rest cycles in railroad operations: effects of shorter than 24-h shift work schedules and on-call schedules on sleep

The current study examined the frequency with which shorter than 24-h work/rest cycles occur in locomotive engineer work schedules, and what effects these work/rest cycles had on sleep quantity and sleep quality. The results indicated that shorter than 24-h work/rest cycles occurred in 33.6% of the work days reported by 198 locomotive engineers. In addition, the shorter than 24-h work/rest cycles occurred more frequently in work schedules that created an on-call work system, such as road pool turn and extra board assignments, than in work schedules that used more predictable or regular work times, such as regular road assignments and yard/local work. As would be expected, when engineers worked shorter than 24-h work/rest cycles, they reported less sleep and poorer sleep than under the longer than 24-h work/rest cycles. Similarly, on-call work assignments resulted in less sleep and poorer sleep than regular work assignments. These results indicate that specific aspects of the work schedules used in railroad operations, particularly on-call operations that result in shorter than 24-h work/rest cycles, can lead to increased sleep-related problems. Although the North American railroad industry is making significant changes in on-call operations to minimize sleep-related problems from on-call schedules, better fatigue-related models validated within the railroad industry are needed.     

Advancing versus delaying shift systems

Two hundred and sixty-one shiftworkers from a range of UK industrial and service organizations, took part in a study to determine the impact of the direction of shift rotation on the health and well-being of the individuals concerned. All the systems were continuous, rotating over three shifts. Systems were classified according to whether they delayed (i.e., rotated in a forward direction) or advanced (i.e., rotated in a backward direction). In addition, advancing systems were divided into those which incorporated a quick return (i.e., a break of only 8 h when changing from one shift to another) and those which did not. The results add some support for the use of delaying as opposed to advancing systems, and highlight the detrimental effects of incorporating a quick return into an advancing system.     

Using a circadian rhythms model to evaluate shift schedules

As long as the need for shiftwork exists, so will the demand for an optimal scheduling strategy that balances the needs of both industry and the shiftworker. One aim is for schedules that require workers to be on duty during the times that they are most naturally alert and awake. Czeisler et al. (1982) developed a set of circadian rhythm based guidelines intended to aid in designing such shiftwork schedules. This paper takes research one step further by testing such empirical criteria in a mathematical setting. The two-oscillator model of free-run human circadian rhythms developed by Kronauer et al. (1982) was modified to represent the circadian rhythms of a shiftworker on a pre-selected shiftwork schedule. Numerical simulations were used to compare the circadian rhythms produced from a variety of shiftwork schedules to the free-run rhythms. Shift schedules that resulted in circadian rhythms closest to the free-run rhythms were identified as preferred schedules. The numerical results supported Czeisler's findings (1982), indicating the best shift schedules adopt a slow, forward-shifting rotation pattern, rotate shifts after 2-week periods and allow an average of 2 days o^ff per week.     

Reply to Folkard

Abstract

The duty and rest periods of aircrew operating the polar route from London via Anchorage were recorded during five schedules which involved 1-, 2- or 3-day sojourns in Japan. Sleep throughout each schedule was fragmented, with naps before duty and short sleeps after arrival at a new location. Sleep disturbance rather than cumulative sleep loss appeared to be the overriding problem, and the shorter schedules had the most marked disturbances in sleep during the trip and during the immediate recovery period. Electroencephalographic studies are necessary to confirm these observations, and information on circadian rhythmicity is needed to define the circumstances which lead to persistence of sleep disturbance on return to Europe.     

Optimization of Improvable Flows by combining BAT Analysis and process simulation

This paper proposes a methodology to improve the sustainability of industrial processes combining two tools: BAT Analysis and process simulation. Both tools are jointly applied to identify the IF of the analyzed process, so that the most appropriate candidate techniques from an inventory can be selected. The selected alternatives are tested in different scenarios that are evaluated using simulation, which would determine the configuration that best improves the sustainability of the process. The combination of both tools in an integrated methodology will help decision makers to select the most sustainable configuration for a given process. The methodology is validated in a case study: a hydrogen production plant. After analysing several scenarios where different candidate techniques are implemented, results show that the IF identified can be highly improved when the appropriate combination of BAT is applied.     

TD-LTE高铁覆盖方案研究与测试

本文针对TD-LTE网络在高铁覆盖场景下的组网,分析了其对TD-LTE系统产生的影响及网络覆盖要求。针对高铁覆盖场景下的多普勒频移、小区频繁切换、高穿透损耗三大难题分别提出解决方案： 频偏补偿克服多普勒频移、合理站址布局克服车体高穿透损耗、多CP组网方式克服小区间频繁切换。文章最后介绍了高铁专网测试中开启9:3:2特殊时隙配比提升业务下载速率。     

建筑教育的影响与缺失 从中国建筑师代际变化角度进行的观察

文章以1977年至今的中国建筑教育作为分析对象,以专业教育对建筑师在代际变化中的影响为切入点,重点考察了20世纪60年代末到70年代中出生的建筑师在校所受教育与从业表现之间的关系,借助关键词,分析了中国当代建筑教育的发展历程,探讨了其中的缺失与对策。     

基于动力传动系一体化控制的AMT车辆换挡策略的研究

分析了AMT的工作原理;基于AMT系统工作过程存在动力中断的问题,提出了车辆换挡过程中动力传动系一体化控制的策略.即在换档过程中,TCU通过计算向发动机发送转速转矩,请求并控制离合器接合量及接合分离速度,以提升AMT车辆的换档品质.利用MATLAB/Simulink建立了全电AMT车辆动力传动系一体化控制仿真系统模型,在国内某样车上进行了试验研究.仿真和试验结果都表明:基于动力传动系的协调控制能够有效地改善AMT车辆的换挡品质.     

一种应用于WLAN相位可调的本振缓冲器

该文提出了一种应用于WLAN相位可调的本振缓冲器,用于校准直接下变频收发机的I/Q两路不平衡。该电路通过开关输入MOS管源极的电容阵列,延迟本振信号,从而调节信号的相位。该文采用SMIC 0.18m工艺实现了4.8~6GHz的I/Q两路本振缓冲器的设计,其版图面积为650550m2。仿真结果表明,在5位控制字作用下,I或者Q路本振缓冲器的相移在0~8的范围内呈现近乎线性的变化,而本振缓冲器的输出功率的变化范围只有0.2dB。     

Erased-Chase decoding for RS-coded MPSK signaling over a Rayleigh fading channel

In this paper, a novel dual-metric, the maximum and minimum Squared Euclidean Distance Increment （SEDI） Brought by changing the hard decision symbol, is introduced to measure the reliability of the received M-ary Phase Shift Keying （MPSK） symbols over a Rayleigh fading channel. Based on the dual-metric, a Chase-type soft decoding algorithm, which is called erased-Chase algorithm, is developed for Reed-Solomon （RS） coded MPSK schemes. The proposed algorithm treats the unreliable symbols with small maximum SEDI as erasures, and tests the non-erased unreliable symbols with small minimum SEDI as the Chase-2 algorithm does. By introducing optimality test into the decoding procedure, much more reduction in the decoding complexity can be achieved. Simulation results of the RS（63, 42, 22）-coded 8-PSK scheme over a Rayleigh fading channel show that the proposed algorithm provides a very efficient tradeoff between the decoding complexity and the error performance. Finally, an adaptive scheme for the number of erasures is introduced into the decoding algorithm.