Two-Lift Portland Cement Concrete Pavements to Meet Public Needs, September 2004

The report reviews the past work in the United States and internationally in the development of two-lift pavements. It points out the strengths and limitations in the construction of such portland cement concrete pavements. Certain cost, mix design, and construction problems are inhibiting the growth of this product. Changes in the availability of aggregates, knowledge of materials and new construction equipment, and the desire for specific surfaces to meet noise, durability, and safety are prompting the need to reconsider this type of construction.

Two Lift Portland Cement Concrete Pavements to Meet Public Needs, September 2004

The report reviews the past work in the United States and internationally in the development of two-lift pavements. It points out the strengths and limitations in the construction of such portland cement concrete pavements. Certain cost, mix design, and construction problems are inhibiting the growth of this product. Changes in the availability of aggregates, knowledge of materials and new construction equipment, and the desire for specific surfaces to meet noise, durability, and safety are prompting the need to reconsider this type of construction.

Strategic Plan for Improved Concrete Pavement Surface Characteristics, July 2006

Surface characteristics represent a critical issue facing pavement owners and the concrete paving industry. The traveling public has come to expect smoother, quieter, and better drained pavements, all without compromising safety. The overall surface characteristics issues is extremely complex since all pavement surface characteristics properties, including texture, noise, friction, splash/spray, rolling resistance, reflectivity/illuminance, and smoothness, are complexly related. The following needs and gaps related to achieving desired pavement surface characteristics need to be addressed: determined how changes in one surface characteristic affect, either beneficially or detrimentally, other characteristics of the pavement, determine the long-term surface and acoustic durability of different textures, and develop, evaluate, and standardize new data collection and analysis tools. It is clear that an overall strategic and coordinated research approach to the problem must be developed and pursued to address these needs and gaps.

Patient safety management from the perspective of nurses

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the actions of patient safety management developed in hospitals, from the perspective of nurses. METHOD This is a cross-sectional, descriptive study of the survey type. Participants were seven hospitals, in which seven nurse managers and 49 sector coordinator nurses (n = 56) answered the instrument prepared by the author. RESULTS The results showed that 100% of hospitals have an adverse event reporting system, 71.4% have a Risk Management Committee and 80% have discussions about the events. There is agreement that these discussions lead to favorable changes for patient safety in the surveyed institutions. The employees' fear of punishment for their faults, and the underreporting of events were the aspects of greatest weakness found. CONCLUSION The institutions should develop organizational policies focused on stimulating event notification and on the implementation of measures directed to a non-punitive organizational culture.

Radial measures of public services deficit for regional allocation of public funds

The goal of this paper is to present an optimal resource allocation model for the regional allocation of public service inputs. Theproposed solution leads to maximise the relative public service availability in regions located below the best availability frontier, subject to exogenous budget restrictions and equality ofaccess for equal need criteria (equity-based notion of regional needs). The construction of non-parametric deficit indicators is proposed for public service availability by a novel application of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models, whose results offer advantages for the evaluation and improvement of decentralised public resource allocation systems. The method introduced in this paper has relevance as a resource allocation guide for the majority of services centrally funded by the public sector in a given country, such as health care, basic and higher education, citizen safety, justice, transportation, environmental protection, leisure, culture, housing and city planning, etc.

Iowa Comprehensive Highway Safety Plan, September 2006

In Iowa, hundreds of people die and thousands more are injured on our public roadways each year despite decades of efforts to end this su�ffering. Past safety e�efforts have resulted in Iowans bene�fiting from one of the best state roadway systems in the nation. Due to multi-agency e�efforts, Iowa has achieved 90 percent compliance with the state’s mandatory front seat belt use law, earned the nation’s second-lowest percent of alcohol involvement in fatal crashes and made safety gains in system-wide roadway design and operational improvements. Despite these ongoing e�efforts, the state’s annual average of 445 deaths and thousands of life-changing injuries is a tragic toll and an unacceptable public health epidemic in our state. To save more lives on our roadways, Iowans must be challenged to think �differently about lifesaving measures addressing young drivers, safety belts, and motorcycle helmet use and accept innovative designs such as roundabouts. Iowa must apply evidence-based strategies and create a safety culture that motivates all citizens to travel more responsibly. They must demand a lower level of tolerance for Iowa’s roadway deaths and injuries. The Iowa Comprehensive Highway Safety Plan (CHSP) engages diverse safety stakeholders and charts the course for this state, bringing to bear sound science and the power of shared community values to change the culture and achieve a standard of safer travel for our citizens. How many roadway deaths and injuries are too many? Iowa’s highway safety stakeholders believe that, “One death is one too many” and e�effective culture-changing policy and program strategies must be implemented to help reduce this death toll from an annual average of 445 to 400 by the year 2015.

Safety and Mobility Impacts of Winter Weather – Phase I, August 2011

Highway agencies spend millions of dollars to ensure safe and efficient winter travel. However, the effectiveness of winter weather maintenance practices on safety and mobility are somewhat difficult to quantify. Phase I of this project investigated opportunities for improving traffic safety on state-maintained roads in Iowa during winter weather conditions. The primary objective was to develop several preliminary means for the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) to identify locations of possible interest systematically with respect to winter weather-related safety performance based on crash history. Specifically, metrics were developed to assist in identifying possible habitual, winter weather-related crash sites on state-maintained rural highways in Iowa. In addition, the current state of practice, for both domestic and international highway agency practices, regarding integration of traffic safety- and mobility-related data in winter maintenance activities and performance measures were investigated. This investigation also included previous research efforts. Finally, a preliminary work plan, focusing on systematic use of safety-related data in support of winter maintenance activities and site evaluation, was prepared.

Indicateurs sécurité en obstétrique : une étude Delphi [Patient safety indicators for obstetrics: a Delphi based study]

OBJECTIVE: Clinical indicators are increasingly used to assess safety of patient care. In obstetrics, only a few indicators have been validated to date and none is used across specialties. The purpose of this study was to identify and assess for face and content validity a group of safety indicators that could be used by anaesthetists, obstetricians and neonatologists involved in labour and delivery units. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We first conducted a systematic review of the literature to identify potential measures. Indicators were then validated by a panel of 30 experts representing all specialties working in labour and delivery units. We used the Delphi method, an iterative questionnaire-based consensus seeking technique. Experts determined on a 7-point Likert scale (1=most representative/7=less representative) the soundness of each indicator as a measure of safety and their possible association with errors and complications caused by medical management. RESULTS: We identified 44 potential clinical indicators from the literature. Following the Delphi process, 13 indicators were considered as highly representative of safety during obstetrical care (mean score</=2.3). Experts ranked 6 of these indicators as being strongly associated to potential errors and complications. CONCLUSIONS: We identified and validated for face and content, a group of six clinical indicators to measure potentially preventable iatrogenic complications in labour and delivery units.

Effect of computerisation on the quality and safety of chemotherapy prescription.

BACKGROUND: Chemotherapy is prescribed according to protocols of several cycles. These protocols include not only therapeutic agents but also adjuvant solvents and inherent supportive care measures. Multiple errors can occur during the prescription, the transmission of documents and the drug delivery processes, and lead to potentially serious consequences. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of a computerised physician order entry (CPOE) system on the number of errors in prescription recorded by the centralised chemotherapy unit of a pharmacy service in a university hospital. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Existing chemotherapy protocols were standardised by a multidisciplinary team (composed of a doctor, a pharmacist and a nurse) and a CPOE system was developed from a File Maker Pro database. Chemotherapy protocols were progressively introduced into the CPOE system. The effect of the system on prescribing errors was measured over 15 months before and 21 months after starting computerised protocol prescription. Errors were classified as major (dosage and drug name) and minor (volume or type of infusion solution). RESULTS: Before computerisation, 141 errors were recorded for 940 prescribed chemotherapy regimens (15%). After introduction of the CPOE system, 75 errors were recorded for 1505 prescribed chemotherapy regimens (5%). Of these errors, 69 (92%) were recorded in prescriptions that did not use a computerised protocol. A dramatic decrease in the number of errors was noticeable when 50% of the chemotherapy protocols were prescribed through the CPOE system. CONCLUSION: Errors in chemotherapy prescription nearly disappeared after implementation of CPOE. The safety of chemotherapy prescription was markedly improved.

Restoration of Fricitonal Characteristics on Older Portland Cement Concrete Pavement:Final Report for Iowa Highway Research Board Project HR-224, June 1986

Safety i s a very important aspect o f the highway program. The Iowa DOT initiated an inventory o f the friction values of all paved primary roadways i n 1969. This inventory, with an ASTM E-274 test unit, has continued to the present time. The t e s t i n g frequency varies based upon traffic volume and the previous friction value. Historically , the state o f Iowa constructed a substantial amount o f pcc pavement during the 1928-30 period t o "get Iowa out o f the mud". Some of that pavement has never been resurfaced and has been subjected to more than 50 years o f wear. The textured surface has been worn away and has subsequently polished. Even though some pavements from 15 t o 50 years old continue t o function structurally , because of the loss of friction , they do not provide the desired level o f safety to the driver. As a temporary measure, "Sl ippery -When -Wet " signs have been posted on many older pcc roads due to friction numbers below t h e desirable level. These signs warn the motorist of the current conditions. An economical method of restoring the high quality frictional properties i s needed.

Evaluation of Bond Retainage in Portland Cement Concrete Overlays Using Infrared Thermography and Ground Penetrating Radar, HR-537, Final Report, 1989

When concrete deterioration begins to occur in highway pavement, repairs become necessary to assure the rider safety, extend its useful life and restore its riding qualities. One rehabilitation technique used to restore the pavement to acceptable highway standards is to apply a thin portland cement concrete (PCC) overlay to the existing pavement. First, any necessary repairs are made to the existing pavement, the surface is then prepared, and the PCC overlay is applied. Brice Petrides-Donohue, Inc. (Donohue) was retained by the Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT) to evaluate the present condition with respect to debonding of the PCC overlay at fifteen sites on Interstate 80 and State Highway 141 throughout the State of Iowa. This was accomplished by conducting an infrared thermographic and ground penetrating radar survey of these sites which were selected by the Iowa Department of Transportation. The fifteen selected sites were all two lanes wide and one-tenth of a mile long, for a total of three lane miles or 190,080 square feet. The selected sites are as follows: On Interstate 80 Eastbound, from milepost 35.25 to 35.35, milepost 36.00 to 36.10, milepost 37.00 to 37.10, milepost 38.00 to 38.10 and milepost 39.00 to 39.10, on State Highway 141 from milepost 134.00 to 134.10, milepost 134.90 to milepost 135.00, milepost 135.90 to 136.00, milepost 137.00 to 137.10 and milepost 138.00 to 138.10, and on Interstate 80 Westbound from milepost 184.00 to 184.10, milepost 185.00 to 185.10, milepost 186.00 to 186.10, milepost 187.00 to 187.10, and from milepost 188.00 to 188.10.

2009 Iowa Railroad System Plan, 2009

The 2009 Iowa Railroad System Plan is intended to guide the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) in its activities of promoting access to rail transportation, helping to improve the freight railroad transportation system, expanding passenger rail service, and promoting improved safety both on the rail system and where the rail system interacts with people and other transportation modes. The Iowa DOT has been developing railroad transportation plans since the late 1970s. The original plan was prepared in 1978 during a time of crisis in the Iowa railroad system. Several large Iowa railroad carriers had filed for bankruptcy and were reorganizing both their businesses and physical systems. The 1978 plan was a guide for determining which railroad lines the state would partner with to preserve and improve the lines. In the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, the railroad system mileage in Iowa was reduced from about

Part II. Iowa railroad resource guide, 2009

This section of the 2009 Iowa Railroad System Plan provides background information for the plan, grouped by topic. The resource guide also provides users with important information about the railroad industry and Iowa’s railroad system. The major topics covered below include: • Iowa’s railroad system and carriers. • Railroad freight and Iowa’s economy. • Rail passenger service and Iowa’s economy. • The safety of Iowa’s railroad system, including network safety and security, and railroad and communication interaction.

Part III. Iowa railroad resource guide, 2009

This section of the 2009 Iowa Railroad System Plan provides background information for the plan, grouped by topic. The resource guide also provides users with important information about the railroad industry and Iowa’s railroad system. The major topics covered below include: • Iowa’s railroad system and carriers. • Railroad freight and Iowa’s economy. • Rail passenger service and Iowa’s economy. • The safety of Iowa’s railroad system, including network safety and security, and railroad and communication interaction.

Frost Action in Rocks and Concrete, HR-258, 1986

The objectives of the project were to develop methodologies for (i) prediction and measurement of the magnitude of pressure which develops within pores of saturated porous materials upon freezing, (ii) determination of pore structure (pore size distribution) of porous materials; (iii) prediction and measurement of the rate with which pore ice grows; and (iv) prediction of frost susceptibility of porous materials with varying pore structures. As with all research endeavors solution of one problem leads to another one and this project was no exception. Emergence of new problems and the measures taken as the work progressed were discussed in progress reports submitted to the board. This final report will discuss only the conclusive finds and suggest measures to be taken for future investigations. The theory discussed in the proposal is not repeated in this report for the sake of brevity. However, the paper published as part of this project containing the theory is attached as Appendix I for the reader interested in the theory. In conformity with the objectives, this report consists of four parts. In accordance with the project contract two ice porosimeters were built and one will be delivered to the Iowa DOT after training of a DOT technician under the supervision of Mr. Wendell Dubberke with assistance from ISU researchers. During the training period debugging and further improvements in software will continue.