Financing health in sub-Saharan Africa 1990–2050: Donor dependence and expected domestic health spending

In 2021, global life expectancy at birth was 74 years whereas in sub-Saharan Africa it was 66 years. Yet in that same year, $92 per person was spent on health in sub- Saharan Africa, which is roughly one fifth of what the next lowest geographic region—North Africa and Middle East—spent ($379). The challenges to healthy lives in sub-Saharan Africa are many while health spending remains low. This study uses gross domestic product, government, and health spending data to give a more complete picture of the patterns of future health spending in sub-Saharan Africa. We analyzed trends in growth in gross domestic product, government health spending, development assistance for health and the prioritization of health in national spending to compare countries within sub-Saharan Africa and globally.We found that while gross domestic product was projected to increase through 2050 in sub-Saharan Africa, the share of gross domestic product that goes to health spending is only expected to increase moderately. Our exploration shows that this tepid growth is expected because the percent of overall government spending that is dedicated to health 7·2% (6·3–8·3) compared to average of 12·4% (11·7–13·2) in other regions) is expected to stay low. Even if the amount, of resources provided from donors climbs some, it is not expected to keep pace with growing economies in sub-Saharan Africa and may transition towards other global public health goods. Critically, development assistance for health provided to sub-Saharan Africa is expected to decrease in some countries, and the expected growth in government health spending might not be enough to cover this expected decline. Increases in spending with a concordant prioritization of health and the appropriate health system governance and structural reforms are critical to ensure that people who live in sub-Saharan Africa are not left behind

Recommendation of RILEM TC237-SIB on cohesion test of recycled asphalt

This recommendation describes how to evaluate the presence of potentially active bitumen in recycled asphalt (RA) materials through the cohesion test. The experimental protocol is designed according to the research performed by the RILEM Technical Committee 237-SIB ‘‘Testing and characterization of sustainable innovative bituminous materials and systems’’ with the purpose, to develop a new, simple and fast method for the characterization of RA while limiting the need for conventional rheological tests. The guidelines in this recommendation focus on the testing procedure including specimen preparation, data analysis and provide information on the preparation of a tests report

Application of Fickian and non-Fickian diffusion models to study moisture diffusion in asphalt mastics

The objective of this study was to investigate certain aspects of asphalt mastic moisture diffusion characteristics in order to better understand the moisture damage phenomenon in asphalt mixtures. Moisture sorption experiments were conducted on four asphalt mastics using an environmental chamber capable of automatically controlling both relative humidity (85 %) and temperature (23 °C). The four mastics tested were identical in terms of bitumen type (40/60 pen), bitumen amount (25 % by of wt% total mix), mineral filler amount (25 % by wt%) and fine aggregate amount (50 % by wt%). The materials differed in terms of mineral filler type (granite or limestone) and fine aggregate type (granite or limestone). Preliminary data obtained during the early part of the study showed certain anomalous behavior of the materials including geometry (thickness)-dependent diffusion coefficient. It was therefore decided to investigate some aspects related to moisture diffusion in mastics by applying the Fickian and two non-Fickian (anomalous) diffusion models to the moisture sorption data. The two non-Fickian models included a two-phase Langmuir-type model and a two-parameter time-variable model. All three models predicted moisture diffusion in mastics extremely well (R 2 > 0.95). The observed variation of diffusion coefficient with thickness was attributed in part to microstructural changes (settlement of the denser fine aggregates near the bottom of the material) during the rather long-duration diffusion testing. This assertion was supported by X-ray computed tomography imaging of the mastic that showed significant accumulation of aggregate particles near the bottom of the sample with time. The results from the Langmuir-type model support a two-phase (free and bound) model for moisture absorbed by asphalt mastic and suggests about 80 % of absorbed water in the free phase remain bound within the mastic. The results also suggest that moisture diffusion in asphalt mastic may be time-dependent with diffusion decreasing by about four times during a typical diffusion test lasting up to 500 h. The study concludes that both geometry and time-dependent physical characteristics of mastic are important factors to consider with respect to moisture diffusion in asphalt mastics

An Assessment of Contaminants in UK Road-Verge Biomass and the Implications for Use as Anaerobic Digestion Feedstock

Biomass from harvested road-verge herbage has potential value as a feedstock for anaerobic digestion (AD) energy plants. However, the proximity to road traffic related pollution sources introduces the possibility of contamination by potentially toxic elements and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Potential sources of pollution from road traffic emissions are identified and the consequent likelihood of certain contaminants being present at elevated levels is assessed. Samples of road verge biomass harvested from selected locations in Lincolnshire UK for use in AD plants were analysed to produce a set of measurements for the presence of the contaminants of interest. The measured levels of these contaminants are compared to reported background levels in UK herbage and soils to assess if there is significant increased concentration in road-verge biomass. Samples of digestate from an AD plant using the road-verge biomass as feedstock were also analysed to determine if there is notable risk of transfer and concentration of contaminants into agricultural land where the digestate may be used for fertilisation. While elevated levels of contaminants were detected, they were not found in concentrations on road verge biomass at high enough levels to cause adverse effects or concerns for its safe use as an AD feedstock

Fashion retailing – past, present and future

This issue of Textile Progress reviews the way that fashion retailing has developed as a result of the application of the World Wide Web and information and communications technology (ICT) by fashion-retail companies. The review therefore first considers how fashion retailing has evolved, analysing retail formats, global strategies, emerging and developing economies, and the factors that are threatening and driving growth in the fashion-retail market. The second part of the review considers the emergence of omni-channel retailing, analysing how retail has progressed and developed since the adoption of the Internet and how ICT initiatives such as mobile commerce (m-commerce), digital visualisation online, and in-store and self-service technologies have been proven to support the progression and expansion of fashion retailing. The paper concludes with recommendations on future research opportunities for gaining a better understanding of the impacts of ICT and omni-channel retailing, through which it may be possible to increase and develop knowledge and understanding of the way the sector is developing and provide fresh impetus to an already-innovative and competitive industr

Evaluation of deep learning models for classification of asphalt pavement distresses

Transfer learning (TL) offers a convenient methodology for exploiting the capability of deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) for many image classification tasks including the classification of pavement distresses. Seven state-of-the-art DCNNs were retrained to classify asphalt pavement distresses grouped into eight classes using TL techniques. The aim was to evaluate the predictive performances of the selected DCNNs in order to provide some guidelines on selection of DCNNs for pavement application. The results show some existing DCNN’s are better than others for developing pavement distress classification models using the specific TL approach adopted in the study. The predictive ability of each model varied depending on distress class as some models with very low overall accuracy showed excellent results for individual distress class(s). Based on a combination of various performance metrics including F1-score, area under ROC curve, optimal operating threshold, training time, and model size, the best performing network had a relative score that was found to be significantly higher than the next two top-performing models. The best-performing networks were characterised by lower proportions of false negative values, low ambiguity scores, and well-defined t-SNE clusters that showed clear separation between the eight different pavement distress classes considered