Prediction the Effect of Maintenance Alternative on Pavement Performance Indicators

A road pavement continues to deteriorate under the combined actions of traffic loading and the environment. The ability of the road to satisfy the demands of traffic and the environment over its design life is known as performance. The most common indicators of pavement performance are: pavement condition index (PCI), riding quality or (IRI) and skid resistance or (IFI). Understanding the maintenance effects can benefit pavement maintenance decision-making. Accordingly, this research presents the effect of maintenance alternative on pavment performance indicators.Using the right maintenance treatment at the right time will help to get the maximum benefit and keeping the pavement performance indicator's values in a good level. Keywords: pavement performance, pavement performance indicators, maintenance alternative, multi-objective optimization

Prediction of Optimal Maintenance Alternative for Iraqi Pavement Management Based on Multi-Objective Optimization Technique and Constraint Genetic Algorithm

Pavement management systems (PMS) are widely used to assist the transportation agencies to support the decision makers to select the best maintenance alternatives. To maintain a pavement network under a performance-based efficiently and cost-effectively in a long-term horizon, the local related agencies such as SCRB, mayoralty of Baghdad and Ministry of Municipalities need to provide balance multiple objectives (e.g., cost minimum, performance maximum) which are often different from the requirements of the traditional asset preservation practices. Accordingly, the main objective of this research is to develop a multi-objective optimization model to support the multi-year decision making process of the Iraqi pavement maintenance management system. Two optimization objectives are considered; maintenance cost minimization and pavement condition maximization. This study selects the flexible pavement section (R4/B-Expressway No.1) as the study area. Different field measurements are carried out to estimate the pavement performance indicators (PPI) which included; Pavement Condition Index (PCI), International Friction Index (IFI), and International Roughness Index (IRI) to formulate multi-objective optimization models to select optimal maintenance alternative for the selected case study. Keywords: pavement management system, pavement maintenance, multi-objective optimization, genetic algorithm

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients with paediatric cancer in low-income, middle-income and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, observational cohort study

OBJECTIVES: Paediatric cancer is a leading cause of death for children. Children in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) were four times more likely to die than children in high-income countries (HICs). This study aimed to test the hypothesis that the COVID-19 pandemic had affected the delivery of healthcare services worldwide, and exacerbated the disparity in paediatric cancer outcomes between LMICs and HICs. DESIGN: A multicentre, international, collaborative cohort study. SETTING: 91 hospitals and cancer centres in 39 countries providing cancer treatment to paediatric patients between March and December 2020. PARTICIPANTS: Patients were included if they were under the age of 18 years, and newly diagnosed with or undergoing active cancer treatment for Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, Wilms' tumour, sarcoma, retinoblastoma, gliomas, medulloblastomas or neuroblastomas, in keeping with the WHO Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: All-cause mortality at 30 days and 90 days. RESULTS: 1660 patients were recruited. 219 children had changes to their treatment due to the pandemic. Patients in LMICs were primarily affected (n=182/219, 83.1%). Relative to patients with paediatric cancer in HICs, patients with paediatric cancer in LMICs had 12.1 (95% CI 2.93 to 50.3) and 7.9 (95% CI 3.2 to 19.7) times the odds of death at 30 days and 90 days, respectively, after presentation during the COVID-19 pandemic (p<0.001). After adjusting for confounders, patients with paediatric cancer in LMICs had 15.6 (95% CI 3.7 to 65.8) times the odds of death at 30 days (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected paediatric oncology service provision. It has disproportionately affected patients in LMICs, highlighting and compounding existing disparities in healthcare systems globally that need addressing urgently. However, many patients with paediatric cancer continued to receive their normal standard of care. This speaks to the adaptability and resilience of healthcare systems and healthcare workers globally

Twelve-month observational study of children with cancer in 41 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic

Childhood cancer is a leading cause of death. It is unclear whether the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted childhood cancer mortality. In this study, we aimed to establish all-cause mortality rates for childhood cancers during the COVID-19 pandemic and determine the factors associated with mortality