Transitive state alignment for the quantum jensen-shannon kernel

Kernel methods provide a convenient way to apply a wide range of learning techniques to complex and structured data by shifting the representational problem from one of finding an embedding of the data to that of defining a positive semidefinite kernel. One problem with the most widely used kernels is that they neglect the locational information within the structures, resulting in less discrimination. Correspondence-based kernels, on the other hand, are in general more discriminating, at the cost of sacrificing positive-definiteness due to their inability to guarantee transitivity of the correspondences between multiple graphs. In this paper we generalize a recent structural kernel based on the Jensen-Shannon divergence between quantum walks over the structures by introducing a novel alignment step which rather than permuting the nodes of the structures, aligns the quantum states of their walks. This results in a novel kernel that maintains localization within the structures, but still guarantees positive definiteness. Experimental evaluation validates the effectiveness of the kernel for several structural classification tasks. © 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Reliability-based calibration for a mechanics-based fatigue cracking design procedure

Most pavement design procedures incorporate reliability to account for design inputs-associated uncertainty and variability effect on predicted performance. The load and resistance factor design (LRFD) procedure, which delivers economical section while considering design inputs variability separately, has been recognised as an effective tool to incorporate reliability into design procedures. This paper presents a new reliability-based calibration in LRFD format for a mechanics-based fatigue cracking analysis framework. This paper employs a two-component reliability analysis methodology that utilises a central composite design-based response surface approach and a first-order reliability method. The reliability calibration was achieved based on a number of field pavement sections that have well-documented performance history and high-quality field and laboratory data. The effectiveness of the developed LRFD procedure was evaluated by performing pavement designs of various target reliabilities and design conditions. The result shows an excellent agreement between the target and actual reliabilities. Furthermore, it is clear from the results that more design features need to be included in the reliability calibration to minimise the deviation of the actual reliability from the target reliability.