bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Application of Topic Models to Judgments from Public Procurement Domain
Authors: Łopuszyński Michał
Published: February 2025

In this work, automatic analysis of themes contained in a large corpora of judgments from public procurement domain is performed. The employed technique is unsupervised latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA). In addition, it is proposed, to use LDA in conjunction with recently developed method of unsupervised keyword extraction. Such an approach improves the interpretability of the automatically obtained topics and allows for better computational performance. The described analysis illustrates a potential of the method in detecting recurring themes and discovering temporal trends in lodged contract appeals. These results may be in future applied to improve information retrieval from repositories of legal texts or as auxiliary material for legal analyses carried out by human experts.
Responsibility, Robots, and Humans: A Preliminary Reflection on the Phenomenology of Self-Driving Cars
Authors: Coeckelbergh Mark
Published: February 2025

In this paper I discuss this question regarding responsibility for self-driving by reflecting on the phenomenology of car driving in general and the phenomenology of self-driving cars in particular. After setting up a relational view of responsibility and an approach which emphasizes the experience of responsibility, I point to what I take to be de-socializing effects of modern car driving, explore what it would mean to add self-driving cars to this picture, and draw implications for responsibility.
Robots are not Embodied! Conceptions of Embodiment and their Implications for Social Human-Robot Interaction
Authors: Ziemke Tom  , Thill Serge
Published: February 2025

There is increasingly much agreement in the cognitive sciences that human cognition is embodied – to some significant extent. However, there is much less agreement regarding in what sense(s) cognition is embodied. In particular, there is much agreement that sensorimotor interaction with the environment is fundamental to cognition. From a historical perspective, this emphasis on the sensorimotor body is at least partly due to the crucial role that the conceptual shift in artificial intelligence (AI) research – from computational to robotic models – has played in the overall development of embodied cognitive science. Most embodied AI research, however, in particular work on symbol grounding and related approaches, reduces the body to a mere sensorimotor interface for internal processes that are still just as computational as they were 30–40 years ago. In Harnad's terms, this type of AI has only gone from a computational to a robotic functionalism. In theory, this could be limited to AI research as such, but in practice the view of the physical body as the computational mind's sensorimotor interface to the world still pervades much of cognitive science and philosophy of mind. The argument presented here is that there are good reasons to say that at least today's robots are in fact not embodied – in any sense that would allow for anything even close to human embodied cognition and intentionality – and that this has implications for social interactions between humans and robots.
Perceptible Agency, Shared Affordances and Robot Interactions
Authors: Brincker Maria
Published: February 2025

What does it mean to be agent and how do we perceive others as such? Do the same rules apply when interacting with others who are radically different from ourselves? We typically perceive the agency of others through their behavior, as they engage various aspects of their affordance field. The affordance concept refers to an organism's environmentally anchored action possibilities, but questions abound as to how more precisely to understand the relational, modal, future-directed and dynamic aspects of this notion. These complexities might be seen as intensified in social interaction where we also might perceive others' agency through reciprocal negotiations and sharing of affordances. Via Merleau-Ponty's analysis of social perception I try to bring together a re-interpretation of affordances and of perceptible agency, which might begin to give us some tools to understand interactions with agents truly other than ourselves.
A Handoff Probability Prediction Based Resource Management Scheme for LTE Femtocells
Authors: Huang Chenn-Jung  , Guan Chih-Tai  , Chen Heng-Ming  , Hu Kai-Wen  , Chien Sheng-Yuan
Published: February 2025

With the popularization of mobile wireless networks in recent year, we can expect that the future mobile communication environments will be constructed from networks of different coverages and characteristics. The integration of Long Term Evolution (LTE) and femtocell technologies seems to be a feasible option for better and cheaper wireless coverage extension. It is well-known that LTE femtocells are currently under development and they are expected to play an important role in the development of indoor broadband wireless access. This hybrid network can exploit the advantages of both technologies to provide ubiquitous services with high quality of service (QoS). Nevertheless, how to efficiently allocate the bandwidth and reduce the interference in heterogeneous LTE femtocell networks is still a challenging issue which should be tackled. This paper thus proposes a bandwidth management algorithm for integrating LTE and femtocell in heterogeneous wireless networks. A bandwidth reservation module based on fuzzy logic technique is used to estimate the reserved bandwidth for the mobile station in the neighboring femtocell or the surrounding LTE. The simulation results show that our scheme is effective in terms of performance metrics, including dropping probability of handoff calls and new call blocking probability.
Using Wi-Fi Direct to Assist Real-Time Traffic Conditions Delivery
Authors: Maa Yeong-Chang  , Yen Mao-Hsu  , Li Yi-Chin  , Lai Ying-Shin
Published: February 2025

The real-time traffic system proposed in this paper is built as a mobile phone APP for Android 4.0 or above. This system uses the GPS real-time positioning information provided by mobile terminal, which is collected and screened by the VID (Vehicle Information Database) of a Cloud Server and fed back to the mobile terminal SQLite for access. It is calculated according to the present direction of mobile terminal. The real-time traffic diagrams are displayed. When the network is unavailable and the VID information cannot be acquired, Wi-Fi Direct search the users within the connection range, and acquire VID information from owner terminals with normal internet connection. Hence, complementary broadcast of real-time traffic can be achieved.
Prototype development approach based on application of Program Design in cloud platform
Authors: Chang Dong-Meau  , Hsu Tse-Chuan  , Lee Hsin-Jan
Published: February 2025

In cloud software system development, writing out a complete system specification is more difficult. Due to the product development time (Time To Market) will affect the demand and market trends systems, and in product prices, reduce system development time will enhance product value. Therefore, how to shorten development time through, we have adopted a prototyping method (Prototyping Development), the use of such methods can be developed quickly generate complete system, but the system is still missing some important features or related files. In this study, discuss and propose Program Design applied Prototyping development, how to deploy cloud system in Heroku cloud platform and in addition to shortening the development time for developers and customers in the communication, the prototype will be developed through a staged show to provide a more accurate system development.
Transcriptome analysis of Orange-Spotted Grouper between Ranavirus and Megalocytivirus Infections
Authors: Yang Cing-Han  , Hsiao Yu-Cheng  , Chen Chien-Ming  , Pai Tun-Wen  , Wu Ming-Hung  , Chou Hsin-Yiu
Published: February 2025

Grouper is an important aquaculture fish with high economic value for several Asian countries. However, during growing stages, groupers are severely threatened by grouper iridovirus. In this study, we applied next-generation sequencing technology for analyzing groupers infected by two different iridoviruses of TGIV and GIV at a transciptomic level. To explore significance of differentially expressed genes, standard statistical analysis was performed. In addition, both gene ontology (GO) and cluster of orthologous groups (COG) were applied for functional annotation on genes. From the results, tilapia possessed the most number of similar sequences to grouper than all other fish model species. Besides, among the top 50 differentially expressed contigs, 19 up-regulated and 12 down-regulated genes were detected as co-expressed genes within two different iridovirus infected groupers. In contrast, there are 15 and 20 exclusively up-regulated genes and 25 and 24 exclusively down-regulated genes could be found within two different iridovirus infected groupers. These exclusively, significantly, and differentially expressed genes were considered as evidences for leading to different damages by two distinct types of iridovirus.
A Cross Language Plagiarism Detection Based on Cloud Computing
Authors: Fan Chih-Tien  , Minh Nguyen Dang  , Muhammad Husaini
Published: February 2025

Nowadays, language barrier is getting lower, especially for the students. Most of them know at least one foreign language. Even that, translation through the cloud is getting popular. There are many machine translation services can be access easily via Internet. These services work accurately and support many languages. They are even embedded by default in web browser of users and in mobile devices. This is easiest way for a student to translate a sentence from any language, and of course easy for cross-language plagiarism too. It makes plagiarism is getting difficult to detect. In this paper, we exploited cloud services and cloud computing model for detecting cross-language plagiarism. We downloaded a translation of the article from a website of Vietnam and Vietnamese local news provider then used as a test dataset. These articles were first translated into the English using translation services on the Web. Again, each translated sentences were sent to the web search engine to find related articles. Then, we compared this sentence with each sentence in the related articles to find out its score of plagiarism. Finally, we computed the score of plagiarism of this article. Experiment results show that the accuracy of detection is slightly higher than 0.5.
File Transfer and Synchronization over Multiple Clients/Server Environment
Authors: Andriychenko Volodymyr  , Fan Chih-Tien  , Li Yi-Hung
Published: February 2025

With the expanding quantity of personal electronic devices, grows the importance of reliable data storage and distribution. These days, network and wireless solutions are preferred, e.g. cloud storage-based architectures. But does average user really need uploading to a reliable server for all the data? And how the server would deal with hundreds of gigabytes of files from millions of users? To address these issues, a new system called syx is introduced. It has the possibility of local file distribution within the same network, offloading most of the computational, storage and networking load to clients and flexibility in terms of file distribution, when it is decided for each client or device whether to get the specific file or folder onto it.
A Novel Hash-Based RFID Grouping Authentication Protocol on Tag Groups and Multiple Readers
Authors: Shen Jian  , Tan Haowen  , Ren Yongjun  , Zheng Yuhui  , Wang Jin
Published: February 2025

Recently, several grouping protocols have been proposed to manage RFID authentication process in the occasion of identifying large numbers of passive tags simultaneously, which is a relatively hot topic in market promotion. In these protocols, however, the identifiers of tags are unsafely transmitted, which is vulnerable to privacy information leakage through eavesdropping. On the other hand, these protocols suffer from tracking problem. In this paper, we propose a novel hash-based grouping authentication protocol on tag groups and multiple readers. In our design, the RFID system is capable of identifying specific tag groups according to real requirements. The messages transmitted between RFID entities are under protection to avoid tracking and eavesdropping. We present two types of verifying methods for the backend processing system (BPS). In addition, mutual authentication is available between the BPS and reader or the reader and tags. The security analysis shows that our protocol is resistant to various attacks and achieves wide compliance to low-cost passive tags.
A Low-Memory-Access Flexible Architecture for FFT
Authors: Chen Kuan-Hung
Published: February 2025

Because memory access is a major cause of power dissipated by the long-length Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) architecture, this paper explores the design space expanded by FFT size and radix number in detail and presents a novel low-memory-access flexible architecture for computing any long-length 2n-point FFT. The proposed hardware solution possesses the following attractive features to reflect its novelty as compared to the existing designs. First, the authors identified that memory consumes major energy dissipation of a FFT processor and proposed to reduce memory access through decreasing the number of FFT butterfly stages. The second one is that we adopt the design concept of programmable processors to provide the flexibility in dynamically configuring the hardware for computing variable-length FFT without sacrificing the hardware utilization as contrary to the feed-forward architecture. Such low-memory-access flexible architecture can reduce almost 70% memory access or 30% power consumption for FFT computation.
Enhanced Local Support Vector Machine With Fast Cross-Validation Capability
Authors: Chen Yu-Ann  , Chung Pau-Choo
Published: February 2025

Local SVM is a lazy learner combining k-nearest neighbor search and support vector machine classifier. We propose an improved implementation of local SVM which utilizes tree structure for efficient nearest neighbor search and a method to avoid unnecessary SVM training in areas far from decision boundary. The proposed lazy learner has great advantage on cross-validation efficiency while maintaining comparable accuracy to traditional SVM. The proposed method also enables us to conduct leave-one-out cross-validation which is previously considered too time-consuming to be practical on large dataset.
An Automated Wrapper Generator for Semi-Structured Web Contents
Authors: Chen Lung-Pin  , Hsu Wen-Nan
Published: February 2025

The semi-structured HTML/XML formats are widely used in digital document representation. The content applications use the wrapper scripts to manipulate the document contents. In this paper, we develop a web wrapper service. By simulating the user actions on browsers, the dynamic web operations such as AJAX requests can be automated. Moreover, the proposed system decomposes a wrapper service into smaller components for increasing data sharing among multiple users. VIPS is a technique that can enhance HTML/XML transformation scripts based on the visual display of the web pages rendered in a web browser. By using the VIPS as well as the wrapper decomposition techniques, the reusability and the performance of the wrapper generation system is dramatically enhanced.
The Design and Implementation of the Intelligent Crafts for Digital Arts
Authors: Lin Tzu-Chi  , Lin Cheng-Min  , Lin Chong-Wey
Published: February 2025

The emerging development of information and communications technology (ICT) influences the crafts design for digital arts. In Taiwan, the organization of CRE@TAIWAN, Creative and Revolutionary Education Taiwan, encourages researchers in universities or colleges to use Smart Living Technology for building teaching materials and planning teaching courses on cultural creativity and design. To develop the handicrafts industry in Nantou County is important because of abundant raw materials used in producing crafts. The purpose of this work is to design three categories of crafts with ICT as intelligent crafts, including bamboo QR Code design for shops and stores, smart phone APPs design in pressed flower AR cards with augmented reality (AR) technology, and situational LED color control by smart phones to transform space ambience. These intelligent crafts bring “wellbeing conveyed by passionate crafts,” and express full-hearted wishes from gift givers in the form of exquisite skills.
Effectiveness of Constructing Information Literacy via Credited Information Literacy Program
Authors: Lo Szu-chia S.
Published: February 2025

The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of credited information literacy program of constructing information literacy knowledge. The author took qualitative research approach with case study strategy. Document analysis, observing and interviewing students were applied for data collection. Content analysis strategy was taken to reveal the meaning of information literacy knowledge acquiring process. The results showed that credited information literacy program did bring positive influence on constructing knowledge in information retrieval and use. Both learning outcome and anonymous post-class survey provide evidence that supports the effectiveness of credited program, including the instructor had better understanding about students' performance and the students also found it would be easier to interact with the instructor.
Hidden Markov Model Based Character Segmentation Factor Applied To Urdu Script
Authors: Abid Shahid  , Asghar Sohail  , Zhuang Yan  , Fong Simon
Published: February 2025

We have extracted and stored character features SCF from all character images. Extracted a feature from test image of Urdu text line, afterwards, taking a smaller sample calculated maximum likelihood to match it against each SCF in inference algorithm and continue until whole sample is consumed, revealing all the characters in it. The algorithm may reduce complexity using smaller dictionary of Urdu characters instead of using a very larger set of ligatures. This work can be used in problems like OCR system, number plate segmentation and postal address processing, form processing etc.
Self restoring thermal interface materials based on intrinsic healing polymer matrices
Authors: Zhong Nan  , Lafont Ugo  , Garcia Santiago J.  , van der Zwaag Sybrand
Published: February 2025

Thermal interface materials (TIM) are used in all kind of electrical devices, such as LEDs and ICs, to forward the heat produced during operation into a so called heat-sink. One of the most common reasons for failure of such devices is overheating due to due to loss of adhesion of the TIM to either the device or the heat-sink. In order to extend the service life of such devices self-healing TIMs have been designed using different thermal-triggered self-healing polymeric matrices and different fillers. This chapter shows some of the results obtained for the restoration of the adhesion, cohesion, tensile strength and thermal conductivity in particulate composite TIMs. It is found that the healing efficiency decreases with the particle content although high degrees of healing can be obtained. The macroscopic mobility of the polymeric matrix is found to be the key parameter affecting the overall healing behavior.
Compartmented fibres: a local and multiple healing events approach for self healing fibre reinforced composites
Authors: Mookhoek Steven  , Prajer Marek  , Post Wouter  , Fischer Hartmut  , García Santiago J.  , van der Zwaag Sybrand
Published: February 2025

This chapter summarizes the research on the development of compartmented fibres for self-healing fibre reinforced polymer composite applications. The compartmented fibre concept combines the advantages of both capsule based and hollow fibre based extrinsic healing strategies: the mesoscopic fibre geometry facilitates the spatial distribution of the healing agent in a fibre reinforced composite while the microscopic vacuoles within the fibre filled with a healing agent allow for very local and distributed healing events. Fibres containing the healing agent discretely distributed along the fibre can be obtained from an alginate emulsion containing the healing agent as the dispersed phase spun into a coagulation bath. The vacuole characteristics can be tuned by adjusting the emulsion and the spinning conditions. Fibres containing the self-healing agents have been embedded in both thermoplastics and thermosets and demonstrated the high potential of this alternative concept for self-healing composites.
The RST and Flow Graph Based Prediction Rules Derivations for the Technology Acceptance of Phablets
Authors: Huang Chi-Yo  , Kao Yu-Shen  , Lu Hsueh-Hsin
Published: February 2025

Phablets, integrated smart devices combining the functionality and characteristics of both tablet PCs and smartphone, have gradually become possible alternatives for smart phones. Therefore, predicting factors which can influence the acceptance of Phablets have become an indispensable task for designing, manufacturing and marketing of novel mobile devices. However, such predictions are not easy. Meanwhile, very few researches tried to study related issues. Therefore, the authors aim to explore and predict the intentions to use and use behaviors of Phablets. The second generation of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) is introduced as a theoretic basis. The Rough Sets Theory (RST) will be employed to generate the associated rules based on users' preference for better predicting users' behavior of Phablets adoptions. The analytic results can serve as a basis for concept developments, marketing strategy definitions, and new product designs of the future Phablets.
Controlling Factors in River Water Quality in Asia
Authors: Subramanian V.
Published: February 2025

Water is a key issue in Asia. Both quantity and quality across south Asia have been influenced by a variety of non-natural factors. Though natural process of weathering contributes many constituents to water, the increasing population pressure and supply-demand gap has made the water scenario very critical in quantitative as well as qualitative terms due to unprocessed effluents flowing into natural water bodies.
The Roadmap to Finnish Open Science and Research
Authors: Olsbo Pekka
Published: February 2025

Finland published its open science roadmap at the end of November 2014. This roadmap is based on the work of the Open Science and Research Initiative (ATT), a cross-administrative initiative established by the Ministry of Education and Culture. The goal of this initiative is to promote open science and availability of information. Exploration of recent developments of open access in the EU shows that Finland is not among the leading countries in the EU. This paper focuses on the practical action plan of this roadmap and describes how the weakest part of Finnish open science, green open access is to be lifted at international top level.
Infrastructures for Policies: How OpenAIRE Supports the EC's Open Access Requirements
Authors: Rettberg Najla  , Schmidt Birgit  , Ross Anthony
Published: February 2025

Recently launched, OpenAIRE2020 is an Open Access (OA) Infrastructure for Research which supports open scholarly communication and access to the research output of European funded projects. This brief paper outlines how such an infrastructure can support an OA policy, the efforts required to successfully implement the mandate and the overall benefit that an infrastructure can bring.
On Key Bespoke Tools to Support Electronic Academic Document Discovery
Authors: Loizides Fernando  , Buchanan George  , Mavri Keti
Published: February 2025

Publishing in academic journals and conferences has become faster, and easier with the ability to edit and submit documents electronically. With the increase of publications also come negative effects such as that of information overload and elevated discovery time of relevant resources. An information seeker often wades through several documents in order to find relevant publications having to either select known repositories for their search or utilizing generic search sources which network to several online repositories. Even with the advances in interactive systems, information seekers still carry out a mostly textual search from input to returned results. Several tools have been created by researchers in order to assist the seekers in their visual academic document triage activities but very few have been successfully implemented in actual discovery of electronic publications. With electronic publishing increasing dramatically, we recognize the paramount importance for these tools to be improved and integrated within environments to assist the seekers. In this work, we present an overview of key bespoke tools purpose built for achieving this document selection tasks. Using this work as a reference we hope to encourage structured and novel approaches to creating triage tools and improve the discovery process of electronic academic document publications.
Computing Distances between Decision Makers Using Hesitant Fuzzy Linguistic Term Sets
Authors: Agell Núria  , Sánchez Mónica  , Prats Francesc  , Ruiz Francisco Javier
Published: February 2025

Given a finite totally ordered set of linguistic terms, the operations intersection and connected union provide a lattice structure to the set of hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets. In this framework, hesitant fuzzy linguistic descriptions of a given set of alternatives are considered. A distance between hesitant fuzzy linguistic descriptions is introduced based on the properties of the lattice. This metric structure allows distances between decision makers to be computed. A centroid or group representative is defined in group decision-making processes where decision makers are assessing different alternatives by means of hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets.
Risk Management Based Ground Deformation Monitoring during Queens Bored Tunnels Project
Authors: Mooney Michael  , Grasmick Jacob  , Prantil Eric  , Thompson Andrew
Published: February 2025

Ground, building and utility deformation monitoring is a well-accepted and required practice for underground construction works in urban environments. The availability of real-time monitoring data during construction allows stakeholders to stay ahead of potential problems, to make decisions prior to damage occurrence, and ultimately to reduce damage and cost risk. This paper presents the analysis of a comprehensive monitoring program carried out during the East Side Access Queens bored tunnels project in New York City. The project involved the construction of four near surface, closely spaced metro transit tunnels beneath the rail yards and mainline railroad tracks. The close proximity of the tunnels provides a unique opportunity to examine the influence of multiple closely spaced tunnel openings on ground deformation, particularly the accumulation of vertical surface deflection due to consecutive tunnels. The project also allows for a direct comparison between deformation monitoring techniques as both manual survey based monitoring and automated total station monitoring were used on the project. This paper will provide an overview of the monitoring program as a component of the risk management process on the project. The monitoring program will be described in detail and results will be presented. The paper also addresses potential improvements to risk-reduction through monitoring.
Geotechnical Engineering in Contracts for Civil Projects
Authors: Tiggelman Léon  , Litjens Paul  , Heerema Jan Jaap  , Kooistra Annemarij
Published: February 2025

Geo-Impuls is a Dutch nationwide programme with the aim to reduce geotechnical related failures in projects. During the last 5 years, a large number of teams have been working within three themes (techniques, communications and contracts) on a procedure for coping with the natural uncertainties of the Dutch subsoil.
The Position of Geotechnical Engineering and Risk Management in Dutch Higher Education
Authors: Broere Wout  , van Dalen Jan  , van der Schrier Joost
Published: February 2025

As part of the Dutch national research program GeoImpuls an inventory has been made of the state of the education at Dutch institutes of higher education and post-graduate education in so far as this education concerns geotechncial engineering and geotechnical risk management. Significant differences have been found in the amount of time allotted and detailed technical knowledge taught at different levels and different institutes. Given the limited technical background and limited knowledge of GeoRM for most civil engineering graduates, a split is perceived between the actual and necessary skill set of starting engineers. The impact of this split is discussed in light of international standards for professional engineers.
The History of Safety Factors for Dutch Regional Dykes
Authors: de Gast T.  , Vardon P.J.  , Jommi C.  , Hicks M.A.
Published: February 2025

Regular dyke assessment is part of reducing the risk of flooding in the Netherlands. 18 000 km of dykes are assessed at regular intervals, of which 14 000 km are classified as regional dykes and their main aim is to defend polders from inundating. The methods of assessing regional dykes are strongly inter-twined with the methods of assessing primary dykes; however, regional dykes differ due to lower consequence levels and significantly shorter individual dyke lengths. Initially, local experience was relied upon for maintaining dykes, prior to the utilisation of soil mechanics calculations to determine the safety/stability of the dykes. Over the years, the approaches have been developed leading to different assessment criteria. This paper aims to give insight into the development of the assessment criteria for regional dykes in Dutch norms/guidelines since the devastating storm surge of 1953, starting with the probabilistic assessment of water heights and global factors for slope stability, through to the adaption of statistical models which enabled the use of partial factors in dyke assessment. Partial factors in assessments allow for improved and more detailed knowledge to limit the uncertainties and lead to more detailed assumptions in the calculations. The introduction of risk-based design enables assessment criteria based on the expected damage due to inundation. The paper discusses assumptions, levels of safety and information required to complete the assessment. Including consequence based assessment and risk based design, leads to a larger possible range in the required factors of safety.
Developments in Levee Reliability and Flood Risk Analysis in the Netherlands
Authors: Jonkman S.N. (Bas)  , Schweckendiek T. (Timo)
Published: February 2025

This paper presents and overview of advances in flood risk and levee reliability analysis in the Netherlands. It is described how new safety standards – in the form of a target failure probability – have been derived on the basis of nationwide flood risk assessments which taken into account both economic risk and risk to life. The process for derivation of semi-probabilistic design codes (i.e. factors of safety) for various geotechnical failure mechanisms of flood defences is described and it is shown how these semi-probabilistic requirements are consistent with the target probabilities of failure and ultimately with the underlying flood risk acceptance criteria. The newly introduced approach also raises challenges like the introduction of fully reliability based design and assessment techniques, but it also provides opportunities such as the use of reliability updating and data assimilation, which will be highlighted after discussing the framework and its overall coherence.
The Statistical Analysis of Hydrological Disasters
Authors: Nagy László  , Kádár István
Published: February 2025

Shocking media images are broadcast daily about various acts of violence, natural and technological (man-made) “disasters”. Television may present a single fallen tree as the outcome of large-scale storm damage. The capacity to compare the losses incurred by threats and disasters would help us clarify the comparison of common events. However, the variety of parameters used to describe various disasters and the lack of a uniform solution for comparing even the same type of natural hazard are problems. This comparison is difficult because the parameters used to describe the natural processes that trigger losses vary. The Beaufort or Nakajima scales of wind velocity are hardly if at all comparable with the Richter scale of the severity of earthquakes or flood levels. Frequently, the scales designed to capture the severity of a natural disaster are such that they themselves render comparison difficult, e.g. different earthquake scales. To resolve this problem, it is necessary to determine a clear cut set of parameters that render various natural threats of the same and different type comparable. The flood related phenomena of recent years have unquestionably rendered hydrological disasters as the most important source of natural threat in Europe. The purpose of this paper is to offer the reader orientation in terms of order of magnitude in the jungle of harmful natural processes and disasters.
Geotechnical Reliability Analysis Involving Spatially Autocorrelated Soil Properties
Authors: Low Bak Kong
Published: February 2025

Spatial autocorrelation arises in geological material by virtue of its formation by natural processes acting over long geologic time (millions of years). This endows geomaterial with some unique statistical features (e.g. spatial variability) not commonly found in structural material manufactured under strict quality control. For example, by the nature of the slow precipitation over many years of fine-grained soil particles in water in nearly horizontal layers, two points in close horizontal or vertical proximity to one another are likely to be more positively correlated (likely to have similar undrained shear strength values, for example) than two points further apart in the vertical direction. This paper presents reliability analyses involving spatially autocorrelated undrained shear strength for a laterally loaded pile, an embankment on soft ground, and a clay slope in southern Norway. Information on parametric sensitivity from reliability analysis and insights from reliability analysis will be discussed.
Bearing Capacity of Spatially Random Rock Masses Obeying Hoek-Brown Failure Criterion
Authors: Al-Bittar Tamara  , Michael Michael  , Soubra Abdul-Hamid
Published: February 2025

In this paper, a probabilistic analysis is presented to compute the ultimate bearing capacity of a strip footing resting on a spatially varying rock mass. The rock is assumed to follow the generalized Hoek-Brown failure criterion. The uniaxial compressive strength of the intact rock (σc) was considered as a random field and the Geological Strength Index (GSI) was modeled as a random variable. The deterministic model was based on numerical simulations. The uncertainty propagation methodology employed in the analysis makes use of a non-intrusive approach to build up a sparse polynomial chaos expansion for the system response. The probabilistic numerical results were presented in the case of a weightless rock mass. The variability of the ultimate bearing capacity was found to decrease with the decrease in the autocorrelation distance. Sobol indices have shown that for the very large values of the autocorrelation distance, the variability of the ultimate bearing capacity is mainly due to σc; however, in the case of very small values of the autocorrelation distance, GSI is the most weighed variable.
Probabilistic Slope Stability Analyses Using Limit Equilibrium and Finite Element Methods
Authors: Akbas Burak  , Huvaj Nejan
Published: February 2025

This paper compares the results of different probabilistic approaches and emphasizes the necessity of probabilistic analyses in slope stability studies. To do that, Limit Equilibrium Method (LEM) and Finite Element Method (FEM) are utilized and their outputs are compared in terms of probability of failure (PF), reliability index (RI), factor of safety (FS) and the failure surface. Lastly, concept of Random Finite Element Method (RFEM) is studied and effects of correlation distance are tried to be understood.
A New Tool for Large-Area Analysis of Transient Pore Water Pressures in Layered Shallow Covers Prone to Failure
Authors: Salciarini Diana  , Castorino Giuseppe C.  , Cuomo Sabatino  , Tamagnini Claudio
Published: February 2025

In this paper we present a modified version of an existing, physically-based model for shallow landslide susceptibility analysis over large area. In general, the potentially unstable soil cover is considered uniform and homogeneous, over impervious underlying bedrock. In several case studies, this was proven to be unrealistic. The possibility of taking into account the detailed configuration of the soil cover allows having a more accurate estimate of the potentially unstable volumes, which determine the intensity of the considered phenomena. The newly–implemented tool was tested by comparing its results with those obtained from a Finite Element (FE) commercial code, solving the same 1D problem. Then, a parametric analysis was carried out by varying the permeability ratio between the two layers, with the aim of examining the influence of such parameter on the pore-pressure distribution along the vertical profile. As expected, as the permeability ratio increases, the underlying layer tends to behave as an impervious boundary. This increases the chance that only the most superficial soil layer fails. An analysis of the routine performance and efficiency was also done to investigate the response of the model with various tolerances and different spatial discretizations along the vertical profile. As main result, it is shown that the variability in ground conditions may highly affect the pore water pressures and the proposed seepage model can be successfully whether detailed stratigraphy site investigations are available.
Laboratory Tests for Backward Erosion Piping
Authors: Robbins Bryant A.  , Sharp Michael K.  , Corcoran Maureen K.
Published: February 2025

The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) is conducting research to investigate internal erosion, specifically backward erosion piping, by use of laboratory-scale model testing to understand and properly capture the physics of the problem. Preliminary results show that lower void ratio models, using poorly-graded soils with a coefficient uniformity of 1.5, required a higher critical gradient to initiate backward erosion.
Recent Initatives for Enhancing Landslide Risk Management in Hong Kong
Authors: Ko Florence W.Y.
Published: February 2025

Hong Kong faces a unique long-term slope safety problem due to its dense urban development in a hilly terrain combined with high seasonal rainfall. Its slope engineering practice and landslide risk management have evolved in response to experience and through continuous improvement initiatives and technology advances. The application of state-of-the-art slope engineering practice and quantified landslide risk management has reduced landslide risk to an as low as reasonably practicable level that meets the needs of the public and facilitates safe and sustainable developments. This paper will give an overview of the slope safety system that serves to manage landslide risk in a holistic manner through an explicit risk-based approach and strategy and provide an update on the recent initiatives undertaken as part of the continuous efforts to enhance landslide risk management. These initiatives include identifying new candidates of vulnerable hillside catchments, developing a territory-wide rainfall-based landslide susceptibility model and assessing potential implications to the risk profile of natural terrain due to extreme rainfall events.
The Observational Method in a Real-Time, Multi-Stakeholder Environment
Authors: Pot R.  , Roelse F.P.  , van Der Meer M.T.  , Nushi B.R.I.  , Nelemans J.P.
Published: February 2025

The application of the Observational Method can contribute to an economic construction process and effective geotechnical risk management. Current project management practices and control of construction works lead to unfavourable conditions of its application. Throughout the realization of infrastructure, understanding of project risks and effective risk communication are relevant stakeholder responsibilities. In complex or high-risk projects, quick and informed decision-making is critical to prevent failure costs and disruption. A real-time overview of information is a key condition for decision-makers; supports risk communication and helps geotechnical engineers to identify geotechnical risks. To improve conditions in which a construction team needs to operate, GeoRiskPortal is developed. This web-based interface simultaneously presents geotechnical data and time dependent risk in a single viewer. A priori risk assessments, real-time sensor observations, and updated model results provide input for tailor made data visualisations. Colour projections are applied to communicate project risks and opportunities. Stakeholders and geotechnical experts were given access to a prototype of GeoRiskPortal. The application of decision support and interactive data visualisations on maps has proven to be very powerful to engage stakeholders and supported the interaction between geotechnical experts and non-technical stakeholders.
Modelación Flujo Mecánica de Inestabilidad de un Talud
Authors: Zarazaga G.  , Schiava R.
Published: February 2025

Algunos taludes que permanecen estables durante muchos años pueden presentar deslizamientos cuando se produce una alteración de su contenido de humedad. En este fenómeno intervienen no solo las propiedades geotécnicas, geométricas y mecánicas del talud sino también la infiltración de agua superficial en el suelo. Los modelos continuos basados en la teoría de medios porosos y del flujo de la plasticidad empleando herramientas computacionales son útiles para la comprensión del fenómeno. El análisis de la estabilidad requiere calcular simultáneamente el flujo de agua, la deformación y el estado tensional con condiciones de borde dependientes del tiempo con el fin de determinar el “grado de seguridad”. En este trabajo se simula el comportamiento y se analiza la falla de un talud en loess potencialmente colapsable de la margen derecha del río Dulce, en la ciudad capital de Santiago del Estero. El modelo constitutivo empleado es el modelo extendido de MRS Lade, donde la succión y el tensor de tensiones efectivo se introducen como variables independiente y dependiente del estado tensional [1]. El modelo material se calibra en base al ensayo doble edométrico y a ensayos triaxiales, con contenido de humedad variable sobre muestras inalteradas. En la implementación numérica del modelo flujomecánico acoplado, la resolución del flujo en el medio poroso parcialmente saturado se realiza mediante la ecuación propuesta por Richards, [2]. La porosidad del suelo se describe en base a la curva de retención del agua θ(s) y al tensor de conductividad hidráulica o permeabilidad K(s), que se pueden expresar como funciones de la succión “s” según Sheng et al. [3].
Comparison of Single-Phase and Two-Phase Modeling of Leachate Distribution in Bioreactor Landfills
Authors: Reddy Krishna R.  , Giri Rajiv K.
Published: February 2025

During initial stages of post-closure in bioreactor landfills, the buried municipal solid waste (MSW) experiences unsaturated flow conditions and relatively high suction mainly due to low degree of saturation. However, previous studies have only focused on leachate phase and neglected the landfill gas phase in MSW. In this study, a comparison is made between single-phase flow and two-phase flow modeling studies to signify the importance of considering immiscible gas phase in MSW alongside with liquid phase. Leachate was recirculated through a horizontal trench both continuously and intermittently under typically operated injection pressure. In two-phase flow model, unsaturated hydraulic properties of MSW were accounted by the van Genuchten functions. The results from both models were compared in terms of moisture distribution, pore fluid pressures, and their respective influence(s) on the stability of bioreactor landfill slope. It was found that lack of consideration of unsaturated state of MSW in the case of single-phase flow model led to overestimation of leachate distribution in MSW, underestimation of pore fluid pressure (no pore gas pressure), and therefore, overestimation of resulting stability of landfill slope than a two-phase flow mathematical model. The two-phase flow model accurately represents the development of unsaturated MSW condition during the period of gravity drainage after leachate injection (intermittent injection mode of injection) and during initial stages after the waste placement. Based on this study, it was recommended that numerical two-phase flow model be used for simulations of leachate flow and distribution and resulting slope stability evaluation in bioreactor landfills for safe and effective design of landfills.
Simulação do Ensaio de Fluência por Compressão Uniaxial Estática pelo Método dos Elementos Discretos
Authors: Meza Juliana  , Romanel Celso
Published: February 2025

O desempenho mecânico de misturas asfálticas depende principalmente do comportamento do material quanto a deformações por fluência. Neste trabalho foi realizada uma modelagem micromecânica, por meio do método dos elementos discretos, do ensaio de fluência por compressão uniaxial estática considerando o modelo reológico de Burger. Os modelos micromecânicos têm potencial de grande aplicação no campo da tecnologia de asfaltos, por reduzirem custos de ensaios físicos para caracterização mecânica de misturas asfálticas. As amostras foram configuradas com comprimento de 150 mm e largura de 100 mm, utilizando um procedimento numérico para simular a forma irregular dos agregados por meio do agrupamento de partículas (clumps). Círculos de medição foram usados para avaliação da porosidade, tensão e deformação nas amostras, validando os resultados numéricos com os valores experimentais de ensaios de laboratório executados em mistura asfáltica. Este trabalho apresenta um procedimento para a modelagem do comportamento de fluência de misturas asfálticas com base no método dos elementos discretos implementado no programa comercial PFC2D. Os resultados obtidos com o modelo visco-elástico de Burger mostraram que o modelo de micromecânica bidimensional empregado é capaz de prever satisfatoriamente os resultados de ensaios de fluência por compressão uniaxial estática.