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The gravel road network is an essential function for rural residents and entrepreneurs. Traditional maintenance of gravel roads is well-functioning but provides a relatively high maintenance cost per unit length of the road. In addition, every maintenance action and extraction and transport of new gravel contribute to increased climate impact and resource depletion. Today, maintenance planning is carried out periodically based on the maintenance history, which also is reflected in the economic models and procurement methods. Current maintenance plans may be enhanced and will not be a reliable basis in the future, for instance due to climate change. Instead, real needs and conditions must be given greater consideration. Today, appropriate maintenance management systems are lacking, e.g., to be able to evaluate maintenance deficiencies, prioritize objects and choose the appropriate maintenance action. Moreover, the knowledge available at specific stakeholders is not shared with other actors. In this paper, an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) system for gravel road maintenance is proposed in the form of a cloud-based system covering the information needs of stakeholders in the gravel road maintenance ecosystem. Requirement specifications are given for the subsystems intended for the maintenance executioner and the maintenance planner. The specifications are based on workshops and interviews conducted with stakeholders, where requirements were acquired using techniques such as User stories, Use case scenarios, and mock-up prototypes. System examples corresponding to the requirements specifications are also given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High quality information is essential for the efficient decision making. Road condition is, together with traffic frequency, commonly used as input for classifying road status. Road condition is also a major input for the maintenance executor (vehicle operator) when deciding on maintenance actions, such as amount of gravel to replenish. With better condition related information, the maintenance execution as well as maintenance planning could be greatly improved. The current deficiencies in gravel road condition monitoring methods and technologies are described in this paper, and an approach for objective measurement of gravel road condition is proposed, including new measurement techniques and systems as well as information processing for decision making. This is realized by utilizing research findings from the area of signal processing, maintenance engineering, and information systems engineering in the specific context of gravel road monitoring, thus utilizing available technologies and methods as well as physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: We determined if the deliberate establishment of asymptomatic bacteriuria with Escherichia coli 83972 in patients with incomplete bladder emptying and recurrent urinary tract infection protects against recurrence. Materials and Methods: In phase 1 of the study the patients were randomized to blinded inoculations with E. coli 83972 or saline. Crossover occurred after monitoring for 12 months or after a urinary tract infection. The outcome was the time to the first urinary tract infection in patients with and without E. coli 83972 bacteriuria. In phase 2 patients were subjected to additional blinded inoculations to extend periods with and without E. coli 83972 bacteriuria. The outcome was the number of urinary tract infections during 12 months with and 12 months without E. coli 83972 bacteriuria. Results: A total of 20 patients completed the study. In phase 1 the time to the first urinary tract infection was longer with than without E. coli 83972 bacteriuria (median 11.3 vs 5.7 months, sign test p = 0.0129). Phase 2 was analyzed after patients had spent a total of 202 months with and 168 months without E. coli 83972 bacteriuria. There were fewer reported urinary tract infection episodes with vs without E. coli 83972 bacteriuria (13 vs 35 episodes, paired t test p = 0.009, CI 0.31–1.89). There was no febrile urinary tract infection episode in either of the study arms and no significant side effects of intravesical bacterial inoculation were reported. Conclusions: Deliberately induced E. coli 83972 bacteriuria protected patients with incomplete bladder emptying who are prone to urinary tract infection from recurrent urinary tract infection as demonstrated by the delay in time to urinary tract infection and the decrease in number of urinary tract infection episodes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]