Road Condition Mapping by Integration of Laser Scanning, RGB Imaging and Spectrometry

Roads are important infrastructure and are primary means of transportation. Control and maintenance of roads are substantial as the pavement surface deforms and deteriorates due to heavy load and influences of weather. Acquiring detailed information about the pavement condition is a prerequisite for proper planning of road pavement maintenance and rehabilitation. Many companies detect and localize the road pavement distresses manually, either by on-site inspection or by digitizing laser data and imagery captured by mobile mapping. The automation of road condition mapping using laser data and colour images is a challenge. Beyond that, the mapping of material properties of the road pavement surface with spectrometers has not yet been investigated. This study aims at automatic mapping of road surface condition including distress and material properties by integrating laser scanning, RGB imaging and spectrometry. All recorded data are geo-referenced by means of GNSS/ INS. Methods are developed for pavement distress detection that cope with a variety of different weather and asphalt conditions. Further objective is to analyse and map the material properties of the pavement surface using spectrometry data. No standard test data sets are available for benchmarking developments on road condition mapping. Therefore, all data have been recorded with a mobile mapping van which is set up for the purpose of this research. The concept for detecting and localizing the four main pavement distresses, i.e. ruts, potholes, cracks and patches is the following: ruts and potholes are detected using laser scanning data, cracks and patches using RGB images. For each of these pavement distresses, two or more methods are developed, implemented, compared to each other and evaluated to identify the most successful method. With respect to the material characteristics, spectrometer data of road sections are classified to indicate pavement quality. As a spectrometer registers almost a reflectivity curve in VIS, NIR and SWIR wavelength, indication of aging can be derived. After detection and localization of the pavement distresses and pavement quality classes, the road condition map is generated by overlaying all distresses and quality classes. As a preparatory step for rut and pothole detection, the road surface is extracted from mobile laser scanning data based on a height jump criterion. For the investigation on rut detection, all scanlines are processed. With an approach based on iterative 1D polynomial fitting, ruts are successfully detected. For streets with the width of 6 m to 10 m, a 6th order polynomial is found to be most suitable. By 1D cross-correlation, the centre of the rut is localized. An alternative method using local curvature shows a high sensitivity to the shape and width of a rut and is less successful. For pothole detection, the approach based on polynomial fitting generalized to two dimensions. As an alternative, a procedure using geodesic morphological reconstruction is investigated. Bivariate polynomial fitting encounters problems with overshoot at the boundary of the regions. The detection is very successful using geodesic morphology. For the detection of pavement cracks, three methods using rotation invariant kernels are investigated. Line Filter, High-pass Filter and Modified Local Binary Pattern kernels are implemented. A conceptual aspect of the procedure is to achieve a high degree of completeness. The most successful variant is the Line Filter for which the highest degree of completeness of 81.2 % is achieved. Two texture measures, the gradient magnitude and the local standard deviation are employed to detect pavement patches. As patches may differ with respect to homogeneity and may not always have a dark border with the intact pavement surface, the method using the local standard deviation is more suitable for detecting the patches. Linear discriminant analysis is utilized for asphalt pavement quality analysis and classification. Road pavement sections of ca. 4 m length are classified into two classes, namely: “Good” and “Bad” with the overall accuracy of 77.6 %. The experimental investigations show that the developed methods for automatic distress detection are very successful. By 1D polynomial fitting on laser scanlines, ruts are detected. In addition to ruts also pavement depressions like shoving can be revealed. The extraction of potholes is less demanding. As potholes appear relatively rare in the road networks of a city, the road segments which are affected by potholes are selected interactively. While crack detection by Line Filter works very well, the patch detection is more challenging as patches sometimes look very similar to the intact surface. The spectral classification of pavement sections contributes to road condition mapping as it gives hints on aging of the road pavement.Straßen bilden die primären Transportwege für Personen und Güter und sind damit ein wichtiger Bestandteil der Infrastruktur. Der Aufwand für Instandhaltung und Wartung der Straßen ist erheblich, da sich die Fahrbahnoberfläche verformt und durch starke Belastung und Wettereinflüsse verschlechtert. Die Erfassung detaillierter Informationen über den Fahrbahnzustand ist Voraussetzung für eine sachgemäße Planung der Fahrbahnsanierung und -rehabilitation. Viele Unternehmen detektieren und lokalisieren die Fahrbahnschäden manuell entweder durch Vor-Ort-Inspektion oder durch Digitalisierung von Laserdaten und Bildern aus mobiler Datenerfassung. Eine Automatisierung der Straßenkartierung mit Laserdaten und Farbbildern steht noch in den Anfängen. Zudem werden bisher noch nicht die Alterungszustände der Asphaltdecke mit Hilfe der Spektrometrie bewertet. Diese Studie zielt auf den automatischen Prozess der Straßenzustandskartierung einschließlich der Straßenschäden und der Materialeigenschaften durch Integration von Laserscanning, RGB-Bilderfassung und Spektrometrie ab. Alle aufgezeichneten Daten werden mit GNSS / INS georeferenziert. Es werden Methoden für die Erkennung von Straßenschäden entwickelt, die sich an unterschiedliche Datenquellen bei unterschiedlichem Wetter- und Asphaltzustand anpassen können. Ein weiteres Ziel ist es, die Materialeigenschaften der Fahrbahnoberfläche mittels Spektrometrie-Daten zu analysieren und abzubilden. Derzeit gibt es keine standardisierten Testdatensätze für die Evaluierung von Verfahren zur Straßenzustandsbeschreibung. Deswegen wurden alle Daten, die in dieser Studie Verwendung finden, mit einem eigens für diesen Forschungszweck konfigurierten Messfahrzeug aufgezeichnet. Das Konzept für die Detektion und Lokalisierung der wichtigsten vier Arten von Straßenschäden, nämlich Spurrillen, Schlaglöcher, Risse und Flickstellen ist das folgende: Spurrillen und Schlaglöcher werden aus Laserdaten extrahiert, Risse und Flickstellen aus RGB- Bildern. Für jede dieser Straßenschäden werden mindestens zwei Methoden entwickelt, implementiert, miteinander verglichen und evaluiert um festzustellen, welche Methode die erfolgreichste ist. Im Hinblick auf die Materialeigenschaften werden Spektrometriedaten der Straßenabschnitte klassifiziert, um die Qualität des Straßenbelages zu bewerten. Da ein Spektrometer nahezu eine kontinuierliche Reflektivitätskurve im VIS-, NIR- und SWIR-Wellenlängenbereich aufzeichnet, können Merkmale der Asphaltalterung abgeleitet werden. Nach der Detektion und Lokalisierung der Straßenschäden und der Qualitätsklasse des Straßenbelages wird der übergreifende Straßenzustand mit Hilfe von Durchschlagsregeln als Kombination aller Zustandswerte und Qualitätsklassen ermittelt. In einem vorbereitenden Schritt für die Spurrillen- und Schlaglocherkennung wird die Straßenoberfläche aus mobilen Laserscanning-Daten basierend auf einem Höhensprung-Kriterium extrahiert. Für die Untersuchung zur Spurrillen-Erkennung werden alle Scanlinien verarbeitet. Mit einem Ansatz, der auf iterativer 1D-Polynomanpassung basiert, werden Spurrillen erfolgreich erkannt. Für eine Straßenbreite von 8-10m erweist sich ein Polynom sechsten Grades als am besten geeignet. Durch 1D-Kreuzkorrelation wird die Mitte der Spurrille erkannt. Eine alternative Methode, die die lokale Krümmung des Querprofils benutzt, erweist sich als empfindlich gegenüber Form und Breite einer Spurrille und ist weniger erfolgreich. Zur Schlaglocherkennung wird der Ansatz, der auf Polynomanpassung basiert, auf zwei Dimensionen verallgemeinert. Als Alternative wird eine Methode untersucht, die auf der Geodätischen Morphologischen Rekonstruktion beruht. Bivariate Polynomanpassung führt zu Überschwingen an den Rändern der Regionen. Die Detektion mit Hilfe der Geodätischen Morphologischen Rekonstruktion ist dagegen sehr erfolgreich. Zur Risserkennung werden drei Methoden untersucht, die rotationsinvariante Kerne verwenden. Linienfilter, Hochpassfilter und Lokale Binäre Muster werden implementiert. Ein Ziel des Konzeptes zur Risserkennung ist es, eine hohe Vollständigkeit zu erreichen. Die erfolgreichste Variante ist das Linienfilter, für das mit 81,2 % der höchste Grad an Vollständigkeit erzielt werden konnte. Zwei Texturmaße, nämlich der Betrag des Grauwert-Gradienten und die lokale Standardabweichung werden verwendet, um Flickstellen zu entdecken. Da Flickstellen hinsichtlich der Homogenität variieren können und nicht immer eine dunkle Grenze mit dem intakten Straßenbelag aufweisen, ist diejenige Methode, welche die lokale Standardabweichung benutzt, besser zur Erkennung von Flickstellen geeignet. Lineare Diskriminanzanalyse wird zur Analyse der Asphaltqualität und zur Klassifikation benutzt. Straßenabschnitte von ca. 4m Länge werden zwei Klassen („Gut“ und „Schlecht“) mit einer gesamten Accuracy von 77,6 % zugeordnet. Die experimentellen Untersuchungen zeigen, dass die entwickelten Methoden für die automatische Entdeckung von Straßenschäden sehr erfolgreich sind. Durch 1D Polynomanpassung an Laser-Scanlinien werden Spurrillen entdeckt. Zusätzlich zu Spurrillen werden auch Unebenheiten des Straßenbelages wie Aufschiebungen detektiert. Die Extraktion von Schlaglöchern ist weniger anspruchsvoll. Da Schlaglöcher relativ selten in den Straßennetzen von Städten auftreten, werden die Straßenabschnitte mit Schlaglöchern interaktiv ausgewählt. Während die Rissdetektion mit Linienfiltern sehr gut funktioniert, ist die Erkennung von Flickstellen eine größere Herausforderung, da Flickstellen manchmal der intakten Straßenoberfläche sehr ähnlich sehen. Die spektrale Klassifizierung der Straßenabschnitte trägt zur Straßenzustandsbewertung bei, indem sie Hinweise auf den Alterungszustand des Straßenbelages liefert

Contemporary outcomes of debridement, antibiotics and implant retention in knee arthroplasty

Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) is a major complication after knee arthroplasty, with approximately a quarter of knee arthroplasty revisions citing PJI as an indication. With the demand for knee arthroplasty predicted to increase, coupled with a lack of evidence for decreasing PJI risk, an appreciation of the burdens of PJI on both patients and health care systems is vital. Patients with PJI can experience a reduced quality of life as well as increased morbidity, whilst the management of PJI has significant economic implications. Surgical options include debridement, antibiotics and implant retention (DAIR), single-stage revision, two-stage revision and salvage procedures. DAIR involves the systematic debridement of all infected and unhealthy tissues coupled with directed antibiotic therapy, with definitive infection clearance the objective. In contrast to single- and two-stage revision procedures for PJI, DAIR does not involve the removal of fixed implants, with only modular components exchanged. Potential benefits of DAIR include reduced tissue destruction, reduced morbidity and reduced healthcare burdens, but with a higher reinfection risk compared to staged revision techniques, and utility largely restricted to acute bacterial PJI. A review of contemporary DAIR outcomes is of value given advances in the understanding of PJI biology; the development of consensus-based definitions for PJI diagnosis and treatment outcomes; and evolution of DAIR indications and technique. This review discusses outcomes of DAIR for knee PJI, published over the last two decades

Assessment of cost optimal solutions for high performance multi-family buildings in Iran

According to the international benchmarks proposed for the energy demand reduction, the Iranian government, for limiting domestic energy demand growth, has set some energy efficiency policies. In this regard, the present study proposes various solutions to investigate the feasibility of improving the performance of an existing typical multi-family building in Iranian context, to achieve a high performance one with proper cost-optimal levels of energy performance by using the global cost approach defined by EU legislation. Precisely 50 different packages of energy efficiency measures were analyzed in terms of economic and energy performance with consideration on the effects of different envelope thermal insulation, shading system, window types and highly efficient systems in addition to the solar renewable energy source. Then the impact of the selected measures on energy efficiency improvement and global cost were studied and revealed that obtaining high performance building simultaneously with the cost optimal levels can be fulfilled, just when the financial support from the government subsidies exist, otherwise there is still a long way from being economically feasible

Effect of Nettle Extract and Pumpkin Seed on Prostate Specific Antigen and Urinary Symptoms in Patients Taking Alfa-blocker for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

Introduction: We aimed to compare the effect of nettle extract and pumpkin seed on Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) and international prostate symptoms score (IPSS) in patients taking alfa-blocker for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Materials and Methods: For this purpose, 90 outpatients were studied in three groups, including men over 40 years of age with benign prostatic enlargement. The first group (Urtidin) contained consumers of nettle extract from Barijessence Company called Urtidin tablets with tamsulosin; the second group took tablets containing pumpkin seed extract called Prosta Barij and tamsulosin; the third group (Control) received only tamsulosin for three months. Patients were not randomly assigned to the groups PSA, IPSS, and related factors were evaluated and analyzed using SPSS software. Results: 89 patients completed the study (30/89 in Urtidin group with a mean age of 62.4±7.39 years, 29/89 in Prosta Barij group with a mean age of 65.9±7.32 years, and 30/89 in the control group with a mean age of 64.7±8.64 years). The results showed that nettle and pumpkin seed extracts affect PSA in patients taking tamsulosin for BPH. Also, after the intervention, IPSS had a significant decrease compared with baseline in both drug treatment groups. There was no significant difference in these three types of treatment. Conclusion: It seems that the desired herbal products did not have a synergistic effect with alpha blockers in the control and treatment of BPH but they can affect the serum PSA level

Enhanced recovery programmes in knee arthroplasty: current concepts

The concept of a multimodal approach to improve the care of surgical patients was first proposed by Kehlet in the 1990s. Measures to optimise the surgical patient, and minimise perioperative stresses, aimed to improve postoperative outcomes. Although originally introduced in colorectal surgery, these ‘enhanced recovery programmes’ have now seen widespread uptake in multiple surgical specialities, including orthopaedics. Patients undergoing knee arthroplasty are well suited to an enhanced recovery approach. These programmes optimise the patient at each stage of the surgical journey, including preoperative optimisation of fitness, perioperative anaesthetic and surgical techniques and finally postoperative rehabilitation and discharge plans. The available evidence supports a number of improvements after programme introduction, including shorter length of stay, morbidity and economics. However, the impact on other outcomes is less clear. One of the issues in the field is a lack of consensus on what interventions an enhanced recovery programme should contain and the specifics of these interventions. As a result, individual units develop their own programmes, making the interpretation and comparison of their impact difficult. This article discusses interventions that could be considered for inclusion in an enhanced recovery programme for knee arthroplasty

Supply Chain Network Analysis for Outboard Motors at Motor Boaters USA

Motor Boaters USA found themselves possibly spending too much on their current network distribution of small and large outboard motors and requested new distribution alternatives for the U.S. Through past network distribution data analysis, the team devised 3 scenarios it believed would provide one or more cost effective distribution networks applicable to the request. Through what-if analysis, the teams\u27 calculations produced solid results, which were then presented to Motor Boaters USA for reflection and possible implementation

Virtual Reality and Physical Models in Undergraduate Orthopaedic Education: A Modified Randomised Crossover Trial.

Background: Orthopaedic surgery is underrepresented in the United Kingdom medical school curriculum, with an average of less than 3 weeks of exposure over the five-year degree. This study evaluates the effectiveness of high-fidelity virtual reality (VR) and physical model simulation in teaching undergraduate orthopaedic concepts. Methods: A modified randomised crossover trial was used. Forty-nine students were randomly allocated to two groups, with thirty-three finishing the six-week follow-up assessment. All undergraduate medical students were eligible for inclusion. Both groups were given introductory lectures, before completing a pre-test with questions on the principles of fracture fixation and osteotomy. Each group then received a lecture on these topics with the same content, but one was delivered with VR and the other with physical models. Both groups completed the post-course assessments. Knowledge was assessed by way of questionnaire immediately before, immediately after, and six-weeks after. Results: In the VR group, participants improved their post-training score by 192.1% (U=32; p<0.00001). In the physical models group, participants improved their post-training scores by 163.1% (U=8.5; p<0.00001). Overall, there was no statistically significant difference in the total means of post-training test scores between the VR and the physical models study groups (U=260.5; p=0.4354). Conclusion: Both VR and physical models represent valuable educational adjuncts for the undergraduate medical curriculum. Both have demonstrated improvements in immediate and long-term knowledge retention of key orthopaedic concepts

Strategy Principles of Policy Making in the Confront with Corona as a Malignant Policy Problem

Understanding health is a biological, psychological - social problem and requires complex policy actions and present of a variety of stakeholders in health policy process. In Contrary to the traditional approach to understanding health which was reductionist and medical, new approach is multi-dimensional and the attitude toward health is seen a phenomenon that depends on political, social, economic, cultural, individual and biological variables. New epidemic diseases including Covid-19 are not limited to medicine and must be seen as multi-level issue in a complicated format policy action. The main question of the present article is: what are the strategy principal policy making of confronting with corona? According to descriptive-analytic method and based on malign problem, research findings indicate policy design of confronting with corona must be applied at collaborative approach framework and at health governance frame. Governments must change the way they look at complex and malignant problems. It must change from command and control to leadership. The strategic implications of Corona policy-making are based on a collaborative approach, attention to the socio-historical context, changing the behavior of stakeholders and actors, determining authority, using health diplomacy, inclusive support system, increasing socio-political capital and using technology

Indications and techniques for non-articulating spacers in massive bone loss following prosthetic knee joint infection: a scoping review

Introduction Prosthetic joint infection (PJI) is a destructive complication of knee replacement surgery (KR). In two-stage revision a spacer is required to maintain limb length and alignment and provide a stable limb on which to mobilise. Spacers may be articulating or static with the gold standard spacer yet to be defined. The aims of this scoping review were to summarise the types of static spacer used to treat PJI after KR, their indications for use and early complication rates. Methods We conducted a scoping review based on the Joanna Briggs Institute’s “JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis” Scoping review reported following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklist. MEDLINE, EMBASE and CINAHL were searched from 2005 to 2022 for studies on the use of static spacers for PJI after KR. Results 41 studies (1230 patients/knees) were identified describing 42 static spacer constructs. Twenty-three (23/42 [54.2%]) incorporated cement augmented with metalwork, while nineteen (19/42, [45.9%]) were made of cement alone. Spacers were most frequently anchored in the diaphysis (22/42, [53.3%]), particularly in the setting of extensive bone loss (mean AORI Type = F3/T3; 11/15 studies 78.3% diaphyseal anchoring). 7.1% (79 of 1117 knees) of static spacers had a complication requiring further surgery prior to planned second stage with the most common complication being infection (86.1%). Conclusions This study has summarised the large variety in static spacer constructs used for staged revision KR for PJI. Static spacers were associated with a high risk of complications and further work in this area is required to improve the quality of care in this vulnerable group