An Advanced Pavement Management System based on a Genetic Algorithm for a Motorway Network

Maintenance and improvement, through the rehabilitation, of the road infrastructure is a strategic and priority objective for road agencies, nevertheless the economic resources required are often inadequate. Within road management, the pavement management system (PMS) plays an essential role because of both the money needed and the performance that should be provided in terms of safety, ride quality and transport cost. The PMS is based on searching for a balanced solution between the lowest cost and the increased level of performance (i.e. pavement condition). In this paper a PMS multi-objective optimization method, was proposed, using a genetic algorithm (GA) to identify the best solution considering different rehabilitation strategies. The multi-objective optimization GA permits a set of optimal solutions (the Pareto solution set) that takes into account all the considered constraints. Finally on the basis of a specific criteria the best solution was selected in relation to the ranking of the priorities of the agency. A detailed numerical study was conducted on the Italian A18 motorway and the results showed that the proposed model PMS-GA is a suitable support to the decision making process

Optimisation of photoluminescent painting treatments on different surface layers

Improving drivers visibility in night time conditions is vital. Night-time visibility represents one of the most important features of road safety. Within such context, the use of photoluminescent road markings could represent an enhancement with regard to road safety. Consequently, the objective of the investigation here described was confined into the analysis of photoluminescent paints by referring to dense-graded and open-graded friction courses. Measurements, based on photometry technique, were carried out in the laboratory. Cores extracted from the surface layer of known pavements were used. Transitory effects (charge and discharge) and decay phenomena were investigated and modelled as a function of treatment and pavement characteristics (paint quantity, hot mix asphalt volumetrics, etc.). The results highlight that the photoluminescent performance depends on the volumetric characteristics of bituminous mixtures. Results can benefit both researchers and practitioners and can allow optimising painting treatments for different bituminous mixtures

Pavement Management System model using a LCCA- microsimulation integrated approach

The maintenance and the rehabilitation of the urban road pavements are not often based on systematic program and scheduling but rather on emergency or on other not identified reasons. Moreover the Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA), the only peculiar procedure for the management pavement, finds its own application for highway and motorway, even if it is possible to search the best investment for the urban interstate and arterials. By the light of the quantity of the involved resources, it seems necessary to define an operative methodology for programming the maintenance and rehabilitation activities for the urban pavement. The paper is oriented towards the development of a multidisciplinary approach to make decision on management of urban pavement using the basic concepts of the LCCA and micro-simulation model to define a scheme of work zone that minimizes the delay on the traffic flow. The best rehabilitation strategy should be characterized by the lowest users’ cost that depends on the time period of the work zone, which is conditioned by both own scheme and the provided treatment, and on “social cost” as increased travel time for queue generation . Different scenarios for different work zone plans were developed and a micro-simulation model was used to assess increased total travel time of a traffic flow within the maintenance area. In this work an analysis by means of the above mentioned approach was carried out on real scenario in the city of Palermo in order to point out the several frames of the adopted methodolog

AN INTEGRATED MODEL TO EVALUATE TECHNICAL ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY OF ROAD PAVEMENT

The unconditional exploitation of environmental resources, the emission of xenobiotic substances in nature and resulting pollution from the development of human activities have led, over time, to serious repercussions on the environment. Therefore these effects weigh on economic and social development. The need to deal with environmental issues and their relationship with economic development has led to the definition of sustainable development concept . The concept of sustainability combines three fundamental aspects which can not be separated, namely environmental, economic and social. The increasing sensitivity towards these socio-economic issues has driven research towards new fronts, using models that allow to evaluate the environmental sustainability and economic feasibility of any development process. In infrastructure engineering field the construction of a road infrastructure, be it road or rail, implies an articulated and complex series of actions and technical interventions which involve significant resources and entail an ever increasing environmental consumption. The construction or reconstruction of the entire flexible pavement structure or rail-track, or only on certain layers, is typical of the impoverishment of the environment because, depending on the extent of work, generally significant, large quantities of not-renewable resources such as stony aggregates, cement and binder are used. In addition to the impoverishment of the not-renewable resources, the environmental impact is closely related to the production technological processes that are strongly characterized by huge amounts of pollutant emissions. The integrated model consists of two approaches, namely the Life Cycle Assessment [LCA – UNI EN ISO 14040 – 14041 – 14042 – 14043; Green Book COM 2001/68/CE – 2003/302/CE; EMAS 1221/2009] and the Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA). These approaches, well established in the international field, allow to evaluate the environmental impacts linked to a product, process or activity, through the identification and quantification of mass balances concerning materials, energy and pollutant emissions released into the environment during production process since construction to operating phases such as maintenance and rehabilitation with regard to the LCA; whereas the LCCA allows to optimize the overall cost of a system and of its running considering its entire life cycle as suggested by DPR 207/2012 and by standard UNI CEI EN 16001 Energy Management Systems. The new model SPES – Sustainable Pavement Evaluation System resulting from the integration of LCA and LCCA would allow to conduct a complete analysis of the superstructure taking into account the steps of entire process, namely production, construction and maintenance and rehabilitation interventions; otherwise an application of single procedure could bring to incomplete or wrong conclusions and not properly founded. The management of maintenance interventions on road pavement should be base on economic and environmental criteria that entail the same objective: the reduction of resource’s consumption. Sometimes such management seems to prescind from both design and constructive aspects and bituminous mixtures and superstructure made of them and finally specific intervention techniques. The present thesis is determined to outline a description in which all above mentioned aspects are debated with the same analysis’ accuracy and summary’s completeness. In fact it considers as a fundamental principle the idea that the management process, in order to be really efficient, has to be ruled by a specialist who knows in depth not only management subject matters but also above all design, constructive and maintenance aspects of the treated theme. Definitively it considers the figure of Civil Engineer like an essential tool for road pavement management

A dynamic model of ballasted rail track with bituminous sub-ballast layer

The bituminous sub-ballast layer within the ballasted rail track allows some mechanical and environmental advantages. An analytical model of a ballasted rail track with sub-ballast layer has been proposed by considering the rail as viscous-elastic continuous beam discretely supported, at four levels of elasticity. The model was used to compare the mechanical performance of both ballasted track with and without bituminous sub-ballast layer. The results confirmed that the bituminous sub-ballast layer reduces the dynamic forces on the ground and achieves the technical objectives as reduction of ground borne vibrations and increase of the design life of the rail track

THE DIAGNOSIS OF ROAD SURFACE DISTRESSES THROUGH IMAGE-BASED MODELING TECHNIQUES. EXPERIMENTAL SURVEY ON LABORATORY-RUTTED SAMPLES

In the past few years, there has been a drastic increase in the use of image-based modeling (IBM) techniques to create high quality, reality-based 3D models. The low costs of these techniques, as well as their attractive visual quality, have led many researchers and professionals to invest their energy and resources in several tests. IBM is rarely used in the field of road surface distresses as diagnosis is usually performed using other techniques and devices. Road safety statistics reveal that about a half of the total number of accidents occur mainly due to the deterioration of the pavement. The goal of effective road network management is often incompatible with economic resources designated for maintenance and rehabilitation. For this reason, IBM diagnosis of distresses seems necessary in order to both increase the level of road safety and to avoid incorrect interventions and treatments of road pavement. One of the strengthens of multi-view stereo techniques is the possibility to capture millions of points in a very short time, and to produce a 3D, textured polygonal model that can easily be used for visualizing and communicating digital assets. Our goal was to implement the IBM techniques on a laboratory-rutted sample and to verify the metric accuracy of the model and its validity for the distress diagnosis in terms of severity (rut depth). In order to assess the IBM technique, we compared its 3D model to the blue LED 3D scan (Artec Spider) of the same rutted sample

Adolescent gender differences in the determinants of tobacco smoking: a cross sectional survey among high school students in São Paulo

Background: Diverse psychosocial factors have been associated with the use of cigarettes by adolescents. We investigated gender differences in tobacco smoking, and factors correlated with smoking among boys and girls. Methods: Data was collected on recent cigarette smoking (CS) and related factors, with a focus on religious beliefs, leisure activities, family structure, relationships and parental monitoring from 2,691 private school-attending youths from 28 schools in São Paulo, Brazil, selected via probability sampling. Estimates were derived via weighted hierarchical logistic regression models. Results: There was no difference in the prevalence of recent cigarette smoking between boys and girls (14.2%). Older age (a_OR_boys = 1.71[1.33-2.21]; a_OR_girls = 1.73[1.35-2.23]), second-hand smoke exposure at home (a_OR_boys = 1.52[1.00-2.29]; a_OR_girls = 1.74[1.13-2.68]) and not having a religion (a_OR_boys = 1.99[1.41-2.81]; a_OR_girls = 1.78[1.14-2.78]) were associated with CS in boys and girls. Adolescents who went out often at night were more likely to be tobacco smokers (a_OR_boys = 8.82[3.96-19.67]; a_OR_girls = 14.20[6.64-30.37]). For girls, data suggest that CS was also associated with a lack of parental attention and care (a_OR_girls = 4.37[1.19-16.04]) and no participation in youth religious activities (a_OR_girls = 2.76[1.49-5.12]). For boys, CS was additionally associated with the loss of one or both parents (a_OR_boys = 3.75[1.78-7.85]). Conclusions: Although older age, living with smokers at home and lack of religion were common contributing factors to cigarette smoking among all adolescents, girls were influenced to a greater degree by family relationships and religiosity than boys. The study results may be materially important to the development of prevention programs that influence determinants connected to gender and the implementation of single-core models of prevention; gender differences must be considered in order to reduce adolescent CS

Trogocytosis in innate immunity to cancer is an intimate relationship with unexpected outcomes

Trogocytosis is a cellular process whereby a cell acquires a membrane fragment from a donor cell in a contact-dependent manner allowing for the transfer of surface proteins with functional integrity. It is involved in various biological processes, including cell-cell communication, immune regulation, and response to pathogens and cancer cells, with poorly defined molecular mechanisms. With the exception of eosinophils, trogocytosis has been reported in most immune cells and plays diverse roles in the modulation of anti-tumor immune responses. Here, we report that eosinophils acquire membrane fragments from tumor cells early after contact through the CD11b/CD18 integrin complex. We discuss the impact of trogocytosis in innate immune cells on cancer progression in the context of the evidence that eosinophils can engage in trogocytosis with tumor cells. We also discuss shared and cell-specific mechanisms underlying this process based on in silico modeling and provide a hypothetical molecular model for the stabilization of the immunological synapse operating in granulocytes and possibly other innate immune cells that enables trogocytosis

Metabolomic analysis of plasma from breast tumour patients. A pilot study

Background: Patients at risk of breast cancer are submitted to mammography, resulting in a classification of the lesions following the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS®). Due to BI-RADS 3 classification problems and the great uncertainty of the possible evolution of this kind of tumours, the integration of mammographic imaging with other techniques and markers of pathology, as metabolic information, may be advisable.Design and Methods: Our study aims to evaluate the possibility to quantify by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) specific metabolites in the plasma of patients with mammograms classified from BI-RADS 3 to BI-RADS 5, to find similarities or differences in their metabolome. Samples from BI-RADS 3 to 5 patients were compared with samples from a healthy control group. This pilot project aimed at establishing the sensitivity of the metabolomic classification of blood samples of patients undergoing breast radiological analysis and to support a better classification of mammographic cases.Results: Metabolomic analysis revealed a panel of metabolites more abundant in healthy controls, as 3-aminoisobutyric acid, cholesterol, cysteine, stearic, linoleic and palmitic fatty acids. The comparison between samples from BI-RADS 3 and BI-RADS 5 patients, revealed the importance of 4-hydroxyproline, found in higher amount in BI-RADS 3 subjects.Conclusion: Although the low sample number did not allow the attainment of high validated statistical models, some interesting data were obtained, revealing the potential of metabolomics for an improvement in the classification of different mammographic lesions

Social factors associated to binge drinking: a cross-sectional survey among Brazilian students in private high schools

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Binge drinking (BD) seems to be related to health and social complications among adolescents. Considering that knowledge about BD in developing countries is limited and that in Brazil high socioeconomic status is a risk factor for alcohol abuse, this study sheds light about this phenomenon among adolescents from a different cultural background than prior North-American and European studies.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Brazilian students (n = 2691) selected through a representative, stratified and clustered sampling method were asked to answer a self-report questionnaire. The questionnaire contained questions about patterns of alcohol consumption, religious beliefs, leisure activities, family structure and relationships. Data were analyzed with basic contingency tables with Chi-square tests followed by a decision tree analysis and weighted logistic regression.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Almost thirty-five percent of the students reported recent binge drinking. BD in the past month was positively associated with older age (aOR = 1.5[1.2-1.7]), male gender (aOR = 1.5[1.2-2.0]) going out with friends almost every night (aOR = 33.9[14.2-80.7]), not living with mother (aOR = 2.4[1.3-4.7]), believing in God with little conviction (aOR = 1.6[1.2-2.0]) and rarely talking to parents about anything (aOR = 1.7[1.3-2.2]) or always about drugs (aOR = 1.8[1.3-2.5]). Factors inversely associated with BD were: paying lower monthly tuition fees (aOR = 0.5[0.4-0.9]), living with people who do not get drunk (aOR = 0.6[0.4-0.7]) and frequent engagement in worships (aOR = 0.7[0.5-0.9]).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The habit of BD in adolescents enrolled in private high schools in Brazil is strongly linked to the frequency with which they go out with friends at night. Factors such as religiosity, expressed by trust in God and participation in worship, and being enrolled in a school with cheaper tuition fees were associated with avoidance of BD in this population.</p