Probability Distributions.- Linear Models for Regression.- Linear Models for Classification.- Neural Networks.- Kernel Methods.- Sparse Kernel Machines.- Graphical Models.- Mixture Models and EM.- Approximate Inference.- Sampling Methods.- Continuous Latent Variables.- Sequential Data.- Combining Models.

Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning

Social Vulnerability to Environmental Hazards

This paper presents recommended methodologies for the quantitative analysis of landslide hazard, vulnerability and risk at different spatial scales (site-specific, local, regional and national), as well as for the verification and validation of the results. The methodologies described focus on the evaluation of the probabilities of occurrence of different landslide types with certain characteristics. Methods used to determine the spatial distribution of landslide intensity, the characterisation of the elements at risk, the assessment of the potential degree of damage and the quantification of the vulnerability of the elements at risk, and those used to perform the quantitative risk analysis are also described. The paper is intended for use by scientists and practising engineers, geologists and other landslide experts.

/pdf/recommendations-for-the-quantitative-analysis-of-landslide-1culjw5db2.pdf

Recommendations for the quantitative analysis of landslide risk

http://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/ocrd/261786.pdf

Contourites and associated sediments controlled by deep-water circulation processes: State-of-the-art and future considerations

Computer Aided Civil and Infrastructure Engineering

High-speed railway lines on soft ground: dynamic behaviour at critical train speed

This paper outlines a test program in southern Sweden for measurement of the vibration induced in the ground and railway embankment by high-speed trains, together with a rigorous numerical model developed for the prediction of embankment/ground response. In this formulation the ground is modeled as a layered viscoelastic half-space, and the railway embankment is modeled as a viscoelastic beam excited by the moving loads of the train. The model uses the Kausel-Roeesset Green's functions to calculate the soil stiffness matrix at the ground-embankment interface and assembles it with the dynamic stiffness matrix of the embankment. The solution is carried out in the frequency domain, and the time histories of the motions are derived through a Fourier synthesis of the frequency components. Numerous simulations of train-induced vibration are presented for the ground conditions and embankment parameters at the test site and compared with measured records. The simulations agree well with the measurements, both in qualitative and quantitative terms. In particular, the large ground deformations registered for train speeds exceeding 140 km/h are reproduced by the simulations. With the help of the prediction model, the effectiveness of a remediation measure for the mitigation of ground vibration is explored.

Ground vibration from high-speed trains: Prediction and countermeasure

A formulation for the analysis of pile groups in layered semi-infinite media is presented. The formulation is based on the introduction of a soil flexibility matrix as well as on dynamic stiffness and flexibility matrices of the piles to relate the discretized uniform forces to the corresponding displacements at the pile-soil interface. Pile group analyses revealed that behavior is highly frequency dependent as the result of wave interferences occurring between the various piles in the group. Large values for stiffnesses as well as large magnification factors for the groups essentially follow the low frequency components of the ground motion. The rotational component is negligible for typical dimensions of the foundation.

Amir M. Kaynia

Papers

High-speed railway lines on soft ground: dynamic behaviour at critical train speed

Ground vibration from high-speed trains: Prediction and countermeasure

Dynamic stiffness and seismic response of pile groups

A conceptual framework for quantitative estimation of physical vulnerability to landslides

Discussion of "Kinematic Seismic Response of Single Piles and Pile Groups"