Development of a Decision-Making Tool to Select Optimum Preventive Maintenance Treatments in a Hot and Humid Climate

2020 ◽  
Vol 2674 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-56
Author(s):  
Momen R. Mousa ◽  
Mostafa A. Elseifi ◽  
Zhongjie Zhang ◽  
Kevin Gaspard
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Preventive Maintenance ◽  
Maintenance Treatment ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Moisture Damage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Optimal Timing ◽  
Humid Climate ◽  
Is Implementation ◽  
Decision Making Tool

Preventive maintenance treatments are widely used throughout the United States to extend pavement service life (PSL), and therefore, defer costly rehabilitation activities. However, optimizing the use of these treatments faces several key challenges. First, the benefits resulting from these treatments are not well-defined. Second, there is considerable debate over the optimal timing of these treatments. Third, concerns exist that these treatments may be responsible for moisture damage if the surrounding moisture conditions are not adequately considered before installation. Although significant research has been conducted to address these challenges, few efforts have been directed toward technology transfer and implementation of the research findings. Therefore, the objective of this study was to combine the results of a comprehensive research study addressing these challenges into an enhanced decision-making tool that can be used to select the best maintenance treatment to be applied to an existing asphalt concrete (AC) overlay based on the project conditions. For a given project, this tool will predict the most cost-effective maintenance treatment (crack sealing, chip seal, microsurfacing, or do nothing) to address existing surface distresses without causing moisture damage. The tool will also provide the optimal timing of installation of the recommended treatment. To ensure that the developed tool is practical and simple to use, it was developed using macros in Microsoft Excel. The developed tool is implementation-ready and should be utilized by the relevant Department of Transportation to maximize the benefits from pavement maintenance activities.

scholarly journals Constraint Programming Approach for Optimizing Business Asset Maintenance Strategy

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilang Ramadhan ◽  
Shu Shun Liu
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Constraint Programming ◽  
Optimization Model ◽  
Maintenance Treatment ◽  
Treatment Options ◽  
Programming Approach ◽  
Building Maintenance ◽  
Maintenance Program ◽  
Building Condition ◽  
Decision Making Tool

There are many buildings with various conditions in Indonesia and some of them are not in finest conditions that need maintenance treatment urgently. The absence of building maintenance decision-making tool and limited budget are among main factors that cause unmanageable maintenance program. Therefore, this study has been conducted to propose an optimization model that is capable to determine the most appropriate building maintenance treatment. This study applied Constraint Programming (CP) approach to select the most economical maintenance treatment for a certain building and to allocate annual maintenance budget. CP-based model in this study subjects to constraint of budget and targeted level of building condition. In this study, maintenance treatment options, budget, time period, building deterioration rates, and the minimum standard of building condition were set. The model was run in IBM ILOG CPLEX Optimization Studio since the software is very efficient and effective in processing the optimization model. Furthermore, a case study was carried out to run the model involving 41 buildings in a 10-year period, and two different scenarios were conducted to examine the optimization model. The results successfully validated that the model can be a decision-making tool in selecting and prioritizing effective maintenance treatment.

scholarly journals The Opioid Analgesic Reduction Study (OARS): A Comparison of Opioid vs. Non-Opioid Combination Analgesics for Management of Post-Surgical Pain Study Protocol for a Double-Blind Randomized Multi-Center Clinical Trial

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecile A. Feldman ◽  
Janine Fredericks-Younger ◽  
Shou-En Lu ◽  
Paul J. Desjardins ◽  
Hans Malmstrom ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Trial ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Pain Management ◽  
Opioid Analgesic ◽  
Third Molar ◽  
The United States ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Post Operative Pain ◽  
Decision Making Tool ◽  
Molar Extraction

Abstract Background: Everyday people die unnecessarily from opioid overdose-related addiction. Dentists are among the leading prescribers of opioid analgesics. Opioid seeking behaviors have been linked to receipt of initial opioid prescriptions following the common dental procedure of third molar extraction. With each opioid prescription a patient’s risk for opioid misuse or abuse increases. With an estimated 56 million tablets of 5 mg hydrocodone annually prescribed after third molar extractions in the United States, 3.5 million young adults may be unnecessarily exposed to opioids by dentists who are inadvertently increasing their patient’s risk for addiction.Methods: A double blind, stratified randomized, multi-center clinical trial has been designed to evaluate whether a combination of over-the-counter non-opioid containing analgesics is not inferior to the most prescribed opioid analgesic. The impacted 3rd molar extraction model is being used due to the predictable severity of the post-operative pain and generalizability of results. Within each site/clinic and gender type (male/female), patients are randomized to receive either OPIOID (hydrocodone/acetaminophen 5/300 mg) or NON-OPIOID (ibuprofen/acetaminophen 400/500 mg). Outcome data include pain levels, adverse events, overall patient satisfaction, ability to sleep, and ability to perform daily functions. To develop clinical guidelines and a clinical decision making tool, pain management, extraction difficulty and number of tablets taken is being collected enabling an experimental decision making tool to be developed. Discussion: The proposed methods address the short comings of other analgesic studies. Although prior studies have tested short-term effects of single doses of pain medications, patients and their dentists are interested in managing pain for the entire post-operative period, not just the first 12 hours. After surgery, patients expect to be able to perform normal daily functions without feeling nauseous or dizzy and they desire a restful sleep at night. Parents of young people are concerned with the risks of opioid use and misuse, either related to treatments received or to subsequent use of leftover pills. Upon successful completion of this clinical trial, dentists, patients, and their families will be better able to make informed decisions regarding post-operative pain management.Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04452344. Registered on June 20, 2020

Guessing and Choosing: A Multicriterion Decision on Disposal Technology for Low-Level Radioactive Waste

1991 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Coates ◽  
Michael Munger
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Radioactive Waste ◽  
Delphi Technique ◽  
Decision Rules ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Full Knowledge ◽  
Low Level Radioactive Waste ◽  
Decision Making Tool

ABSTRACTPublic officials faced with difficult and technologically complex decisions often resort to decision rules that purport to aggregate disparate judgements. Such multicriterion decisions are only as good as the procedures used to perform such aggregation, however. We examine the use of one such decision-making tool, a variant of the Delphi technique, in the choice of a disposal technology for low-level radioactive waste for the Southeast Compact Commission in the United States. The case focuses on the danger when officials guess when they think they are choosing. Choosing occurs when all participants understand the implications, and sensitivities, of the technique used to aggregate judgement; guessing occurs when the participants choose randomly or without full knowledge of the properties of the process.

scholarly journals Optimizing the Performance of Microsurfacing Treatments in Flexible Pavements and Assessing Its Effects on Moisture Damage

2019 ◽  
Vol 2673 (1) ◽  
pp. 217-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Z. Bashar ◽  
Mostafa A. Elseifi ◽  
Momen R. Mousa ◽  
Zhongjie Zhang ◽  
Kevin Gaspard
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Shallow Groundwater ◽  
Field Performance ◽  
Moisture Damage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Optimal Timing ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
South Central ◽  
Central United States ◽  
Pre Treatment

Louisiana’s $6.3 million microsurfacing program is amongst the largest microsurfacing programs in the United States. As microsurfacing seals the road surface, the effectiveness of this treatment in such a setting has been a concern in recent years by linking it to moisture damage caused by the trapped moisture underneath the pavement especially in areas with shallow groundwater table. Furthermore, the cost-effectiveness and optimal timing of microsurfacing applications are also not well established for the south-central United States. The objective of this study was to assess the short-term and long-term effects of microsurfacing treatments and to evaluate whether microsurfacing is a major contributor to moisture damage. Field performance of 27 sections where microsurfacing treatments were applied between 2003 and 2008 was monitored for at least eight years. Results indicated that microsurfacing is most effective in addressing rutting damage as compared with the other performance indicators. Microsurfacing extended the service life of the pavements by 4.9–8.8 years. The effectiveness of microsurfacing was found to be optimum when applied to pavements with pre-treatment conditions ranging from 80 to 85. Results of this study also showed that microsurfacing-treated sections exhibited higher percentage of moisture damage as compared with the untreated sections in all the districts. Therefore, an in-depth assessment of the effects of microsurfacing on moisture damage in asphalt pavements is recommended.

Using Pressure Gradient Survey as a Cost-Effective Diagnostic and Decision-Making Tool

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
T.S. Al-Mousa ◽  
S.K. Mohammad ◽  
A.A. Dashash ◽  
A.J. Al-Mubairik
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Pressure Gradient ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Decision Making Tool

The United States and the Iranian Nuclear Programme

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Hurst
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
The United States ◽  
Nixon Administration ◽  
Comprehensive Plan ◽  
The Us ◽  
Nuclear Issue ◽  
The Relationship

The United States, Iran and the Bomb provides the first comprehensive analysis of the US-Iranian nuclear relationship from its origins through to the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015. Starting with the Nixon administration in the 1970s, it analyses the policies of successive US administrations toward the Iranian nuclear programme. Emphasizing the centrality of domestic politics to decision-making on both sides, it offers both an explanation of the evolution of the relationship and a critique of successive US administrations' efforts to halt the Iranian nuclear programme, with neither coercive measures nor inducements effectively applied. The book further argues that factional politics inside Iran played a crucial role in Iranian nuclear decision-making and that American policy tended to reinforce the position of Iranian hardliners and undermine that of those who were prepared to compromise on the nuclear issue. In the final chapter it demonstrates how President Obama's alterations to American strategy, accompanied by shifts in Iranian domestic politics, finally brought about the signing of the JCPOA in 2015.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document