Case Study of Highway Maintenance Management: Ohio’s County Work Plans

2003 ◽  
Vol 1824 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-76
Author(s):  
William C. Lozier ◽  
Mary Ellen Kimberlin ◽  
Robin Grant
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effective ◽  
The State ◽  
Maintenance Management ◽  
Highway Maintenance ◽  
Accounting Data ◽  
Implementation Quality ◽  
State Highway ◽  
Effective Manner ◽  
Highway Network ◽  
The 1960S

Maintaining the safety and mobility of the state highway network in a cost-effective manner is a top priority for any state department of transportation (DOT). As funding for major new infrastructure becomes scarce and traffic levels steadily rise, maximizing and maintaining the existing highway system becomes increasingly critical. For the Ohio DOT, the task of maintaining Ohio’s highways is massive. While only 35th in geographic size, the state of Ohio has the nation’s 5th-highest traffic volume traveling on the 4th-largest Interstate network and has the 2nd-largest bridge inventory. Traffic in Ohio has grown by 90% during the last 20 years, and this growth pattern is expected to continue. Ohio’s Interstate highways were built in the 1960s and have far exceeded their 20-year design life, creating an even greater need for effective highway maintenance. During the last 3 years, Ohio DOT adopted strategic initiatives to revamp the department’s maintenance management methods, improve practices, and optimize resource use. Focused on redefining, prioritizing, and tracking all maintenance resources, the department set out to combine planning, implementation, quality-review, and cost-accounting data into one manageable, easily accessed system. The product of this intensive effort, the Ohio DOT county annual work plans, is revolutionizing the way the department approaches maintenance management. Before the implementation of the work plans in July 2001, roadside conditions and maintenance efforts varied widely across the state. Following the inaugural year of the work plans, conditions were meeting statewide standards, reflecting the state’s new focus on more effectively managing Ohio’s transportation investment.

Incorporating Pavement Smoothness Benefits to Enhance the Iowa Department of Transportation’s Pavement Type Determination Process

2020 ◽  
Vol 2674 (5) ◽  
pp. 563-571
Author(s):  
Max Grogg ◽  
Kelly Smith ◽  
Chris Williges ◽  
Scott Schram
Keyword(s):  
Best Practice ◽  
Net Present Value ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Pavement Management ◽  
State Highway ◽  
Type Selection ◽  
Effective Manner ◽  
Federal Highway ◽  
Accepted Practice

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)’s Pavement Policy as codified in 23 CFR 626 states, “Pavement shall be designed to accommodate current and predicted traffic needs in a safe, durable, and cost effective manner” to be eligible for federal highway funding. To meet this requirement, state highway agencies have developed pavement type determination (PTD) policies, also known as pavement type selection, and implemented pavement management. Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT)’s PTD has been in place for many years; but in 2018, Iowa DOT looked at enhancing their PTD process to address gaps between past practice and best practice. Among the enhancements, user benefit as defined by pavement smoothness was utilized when net present value (NPV) alone could not definitively distinguish a preferred alternative. The smoothness benefit would become the divisor in a cost–benefit (C/B) ratio that would be used to determine the preferred alternate for the PTD. The cost portion of the ratio would remain the NPV of agency costs for the construction and projected rehabilitations during the analysis period. After a literature review and interviews of comparable state DOTs, several modifications to Iowa DOT’s PTD and the C/B ratio were analyzed and adopted. The modifications range from accepted practice changes, such as the use of a longer analysis period (50 years), to unconventional techniques, such as the consideration of smoothness. Iowa DOT believes these changes provide a more robust PTD. They are also considering additional improvements based upon additional research and policy making.

Strategic planning in grassland farming: Principles andapplications

1997 ◽  
pp. 191-197
Author(s):  
W.J. Parker ◽  
N.M. Shadbolt ◽  
D.I. Gray
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Planning ◽  
Performance Indicators ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Key Performance Indicators ◽  
Strategic Plans ◽  
Effective Manner ◽  
Farm Business ◽  
Pastoral Farming ◽  
Financial Environment

Three levels of planning can be distinguished in grassland farming: strategic, tactical and operational. The purpose of strategic planning is to achieve a sustainable long-term fit of the farm business with its physical, social and financial environment. In pastoral farming, this essentially means developing plans that maximise and best match pasture growth with animal demand, while generating sufficient income to maintain or enhance farm resources and improvements, and attain personal and financial goals. Strategic plans relate to the whole farm business and are focused on the means to achieve future needs. They should be routinely (at least annually) reviewed and monitored for effectiveness through key performance indicators (e.g., Economic Farm Surplus) that enable progress toward goals to be measured in a timely and cost-effective manner. Failure to link strategy with control is likely to result in unfulfilled plans. Keywords: management, performance

Rewriting the Narrative

2019 ◽  
Vol 96 (4) ◽  
pp. 54-77
Author(s):  
Nicolas G. Rosenthal
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Native American ◽  
American Indian ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Mixed Media ◽  
The State ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Art Scene ◽  
The 1960S

A vibrant American Indian art scene developed in California from the 1960s to the 1980s, with links to a broader indigenous arts movement. Native American artists working in the state produced and exhibited paintings, prints, sculptures, mixed media, and other art forms that validated and documented their cultures, interpreted their history, asserted their survival, and explored their experiences in modern society. Building on recent scholarship that examines American Indian migration, urbanization, and activism in the twentieth century, this article charts these developments and argues that American Indian artists in California challenged and rewrote dominant historical narratives by foregrounding Native American perspectives in their work.

A Legitimacy Crisis of Representative Democracy?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacques Thomassen ◽  
Carolien van Ham
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Short Description ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Support ◽  
Systematic Fashion ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Established Democracies ◽  
Legitimacy Crisis

This chapter presents the research questions and outline of the book, providing a brief review of the state of the art of legitimacy research in established democracies, and discusses the recurring theme of crisis throughout this literature since the 1960s. It includes a discussion of the conceptualization and measurement of legitimacy, seeking to relate legitimacy to political support, and reflecting on how to evaluate empirical indicators: what symptoms indicate crisis? This chapter further explains the structure of the three main parts of the book. Part I evaluates in a systematic fashion the empirical evidence for legitimacy decline in established democracies; Part II reappraises the validity of theories of legitimacy decline; and Part II investigates what (new) explanations can account for differences in legitimacy between established democracies. The chapter concludes with a short description of the chapters included in the volume.

Conclusion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aled Davies
Keyword(s):  
International Monetary System ◽  
The State ◽  
Real Economy ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Monetary System ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
Post War ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
City Of London ◽  
The City

The aim of this book has been to evaluate the relationship between Britain’s financial sector, based in the City of London, and the social democratic economic strategy of post-war Britain. The central argument presented in the book was that changes to the City during the 1960s and 1970s undermined a number of the key post-war social democratic techniques designed to sustain and develop a modern industrial economy. Financial institutionalization weakened the state’s ability to influence investment, and the labour movement was unable successfully to integrate the institutionalized funds within a renewed social democratic economic agenda. The post-war settlement in banking came under strain in the 1960s as new banking and credit institutions developed that the state struggled to manage. This was exacerbated by the decision to introduce competition among the clearing banks in 1971, which further weakened the state’s capacity to control the provision and allocation of credit to the real economy. The resurrection of an unregulated global capital market, centred on London, overwhelmed the capacity of the state to pursue domestic-focused macroeconomic policies—a problem worsened by the concurrent collapse of the Bretton Woods international monetary system. Against this background, the fundamental social democratic assumption that national prosperity could be achieved only through industry-led growth and modernization was undermined by an effective campaign to reconceptualize Britain as a fundamentally financial and commercial nation with the City of London at its heart....

scholarly journals Novel Regeneration Approach for Creating Reusable FO-SPR Probes with NTA Surface Chemistry

Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 186
Author(s):  
Jia-Huan Qu ◽  
Karen Leirs ◽  
Remei Escudero ◽  
Žiga Strmšek ◽  
Roman Jerala ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Chemistry ◽  
Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Nitrilotriacetic Acid ◽  
Antibody Fragments ◽  
Rapid Screening ◽  
Red Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Effective Manner ◽  
Surface Regeneration ◽  
Sensitivity Specificity

To date, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensors have been exploited in numerous different contexts while continuously pushing boundaries in terms of improved sensitivity, specificity, portability and reusability. The latter has attracted attention as a viable alternative to disposable biosensors, also offering prospects for rapid screening of biomolecules or biomolecular interactions. In this context here, we developed an approach to successfully regenerate a fiber-optic (FO)-SPR surface when utilizing cobalt (II)-nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) surface chemistry. To achieve this, we tested multiple regeneration conditions that can disrupt the NTA chelate on a surface fully saturated with His6-tagged antibody fragments (scFv-33H1F7) over ten regeneration cycles. The best surface regeneration was obtained when combining 100 mM EDTA, 500 mM imidazole and 0.5% SDS at pH 8.0 for 1 min with shaking at 150 rpm followed by washing with 0.5 M NaOH for 3 min. The true versatility of the established approach was proven by regenerating the NTA surface for ten cycles with three other model system bioreceptors, different in their size and structure: His6-tagged SARS-CoV-2 spike fragment (receptor binding domain, RBD), a red fluorescent protein (RFP) and protein origami carrying 4 RFPs (Tet12SN-RRRR). Enabling the removal of His6-tagged bioreceptors from NTA surfaces in a fast and cost-effective manner can have broad applications, spanning from the development of biosensors and various biopharmaceutical analyses to the synthesis of novel biomaterials.

scholarly journals Postnatal management of children with antenatal hydronephrosis

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed S. ElSheemy
Keyword(s):  
Renal Function ◽  
Urinary Tract Obstruction ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Voiding Cystourethrography ◽  
Main Body ◽  
Antenatal Hydronephrosis ◽  
Postnatal Management ◽  
Effective Manner ◽  
Lower Urinary Tract Obstruction

Abstract Background Postnatal management of infants with antenatal hydronephrosis (ANH) is still one of the most controversial issues. The majority of infants with ANH are asymptomatic with only few children who develop renal insufficiency. Thus, the biggest challenge for pediatric urologists is to distinguish children who will require further investigations and possible intervention prior to the development of symptoms, complications or renal damage in a cost effective manner without exposing them to the hazards of unnecessary investigations. Main body In this review article, literature on ANH were reviewed to present the current suggestions, recommendations, guidelines and their rational for postnatal management of ANH. It is agreed that a large portion of infants with ANH will improve; thus, the protocol of management is based mainly on observation and follow-up by ultrasound to detect either resolution, stabilization or worsening of hydronephrosis. The first 2 years of life are critical for this follow-up as the final picture is mostly reached during that period. Advanced imaging using voiding cystourethrography or renal scintigraphy are required for children at risk. Then, surgical intervention is selected only for a subgroup of these infants who showed worsening of hydronephrosis or renal function. Conclusions The protocol of management is based mainly on observation and follow-up by US to detect either resolution, stabilization or worsening of hydronephrosis. Postnatal evaluation should be performed for any neonate with a history ANH at any stage during pregnancy even if it was resolved during third trimester. Exclusion of UTI should be performed by urinalysis for all cases followed by urine culture if indicated. Serum creatinine should be performed especially in patients with bilateral ANH. US is the initial standard diagnostic imaging technique. Other imaging modalities like VCUG and nuclear renal scans may be required according to the results of the US evaluation. The most important items in decision making are the presence of bilateral or unilateral hydronephrosis, presence or absence of hydroureter, presence of lower urinary tract obstruction and degree of hydronephrosis on the initial postnatal US. Then an intervention is selected only for a subgroup of these patients who showed deterioration in renal function or degree of hydronephrosis or were complicated by UTIs. All these recommendations are based on the available literature. However, management of ANH is still a controversial issue due to lack of high evidence-based recommendations. Randomised controlled studies are still needed to provide a high level evidence for different aspects of management.

scholarly journals An Artificial-Intelligence-Discovered Functional Ingredient, NRT_N0G5IJ, Derived from Pisum sativum, Decreases HbA1c in a Prediabetic Population

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 1635
Author(s):  
Sweeny Chauhan ◽  
Alish Kerr ◽  
Brian Keogh ◽  
Stephanie Nolan ◽  
Rory Casey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Pisum Sativum ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Glycated Haemoglobin ◽  
Glucose Regulation ◽  
Functional Ingredient ◽  
Effective Manner ◽  
Human Skeletal Muscle Cells ◽  
Increased Risk

The prevalence of prediabetes is rapidly increasing, and this can lead to an increased risk for individuals to develop type 2 diabetes and associated diseases. Therefore, it is necessary to develop nutritional strategies to maintain healthy glucose levels and prevent glucose metabolism dysregulation in the general population. Functional ingredients offer great potential for the prevention of various health conditions, including blood glucose regulation, in a cost-effective manner. Using an artificial intelligence (AI) approach, a functional ingredient, NRT_N0G5IJ, was predicted and produced from Pisum sativum (pea) protein by hydrolysis and then validated. Treatment of human skeletal muscle cells with NRT_N0G5IJ significantly increased glucose uptake, indicating efficacy of this ingredient in vitro. When db/db diabetic mice were treated with NRT_N0G5IJ, we observed a significant reduction in glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) levels and a concomitant benefit on fasting glucose. A pilot double-blinded, placebo controlled human trial in a population of healthy individuals with elevated HbA1c (5.6% to 6.4%) showed that HbA1c percentage was significantly reduced when NRT_N0G5IJ was supplemented in the diet over a 12-week period. Here, we provide evidence of an AI approach to discovery and demonstrate that a functional ingredient identified using this technology could be used as a supplement to maintain healthy glucose regulation.

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