The Regional Development Policy of Thailand and Its Economic Cooperation with Neighboring Countries

Thailand has recently strengthened its economic policy toward its neighboring countries in coordination with domestic regional development. It is widely recognized that economic cooperation with neighboring countries is essential in preventing the inflow of illegal labor and effectively utilizing labor and resources through the relocation of production bases. This direction is strengthened by elaborating the GMS-EC and the ECS (Economic Cooperation Strategy). In addition, economic dependency of the neighboring countries on Thailand is generally high. In this report, firstly, Thai regional development policy will be made clear in relation to its economic policy toward neighboring countries as well as the status quo of the industrial estates. Secondly, Thai policy toward the neighboring countries is examined referring to the concept of wide-ranging economic zones, regional economic cooperation and special border economic zones. Thirdly, the paper will discuss how closely the economies between Thailand and the neighboring countries are related through trade and investment. Lastly, some implications on Japan's economic cooperation will also be explored.

Linked Data at the Spanish National Library and the application of IFLA RDFS models

The Spanish National Library (Biblioteca Nacional de España1. BNE) and the Ontology Engineering Group2 of Universidad Politécnica de Madrid are working on the joint project ?Preliminary Study of Linked Data?, whose aim is to enrich the Web of Data with the BNE authority and bibliographic records. To this end, they are transforming the BNE information to RDF following the Linked Data principles3 proposed by Tim Berners Lee.

Parallel and Distributed Data Management. Introduction

The manipulation and handling of an ever increasing volume of data by current data-intensive applications require novel techniques for e?cient data management. Despite recent advances in every aspect of data management (storage, access, querying, analysis, mining), future applications are expected to scale to even higher degrees, not only in terms of volumes of data handled but also in terms of users and resources, often making use of multiple, pre-existing autonomous, distributed or heterogeneous resources.

Failure and impact behavior of facade panels made of glass fiber reinforced cement(GRC)

GRC is a cementitious composite material made up of a cement mortar matrix and chopped glass fibers. Due to its outstanding mechanical properties, GRC has been widely used to produce cladding panels and some civil engineering elements. Impact failure of cladding panels made of GRC may occur during production if some tool falls onto the panel, due to stone or other objects impacting at low velocities or caused by debris projected after a blast. Impact failure of a front panel of a building may have not only an important economic value but also human lives may be at risk if broken pieces of the panel fall from the building to the pavement. Therefore, knowing GRC impact strength is necessary to prevent economic costs and putting human lives at risk. One-stage light gas gun is an impact test machine capable of testing different materials subjected to impact loads. An experimental program was carried out, testing GRC samples of five different formulations, commonly used in building industry. Steel spheres were shot at different velocities on square GRC samples. The residual velocity of the projectiles was obtained both using a high speed camera with multiframe exposure and measuring the projectile’s penetration depth in molding clay blocks. Tests were performed on young and artificially aged GRC samples to compare GRC’s behavior when subjected to high strain rates. Numerical simulations using a hydrocode were made to analyze which parameters are most important during an impact event. GRC impact strength was obtained from test results. Also, GRC’s embrittlement, caused by GRC aging, has no influence on GRC impact behavior due to the small size of the projectile. Also, glass fibers used in GRC production only maintain GRC panels’ integrity but have no influence on GRC’s impact strength. Numerical models have reproduced accurately impact tests.

Análisis de la influencia de distintos diseños de paraguas de micropilotes, pantalla de micropilotes, paraguas de jet grouting y pantallas de jet grouting en los asientos en superficie durante la ejecución de túneles perforados superficialmente

Ya en el informe acerca del estado de la tecnología en la excavación profunda y en la construcción de túneles en terreno duro presentado en la 7ª Conferencia en Mecánica de Suelos e Ingeniería de la Cimentación, Peck (1969) introdujo los tres temas a ser tenidos en cuenta para el diseño de túneles en terrenos blandos: o Estabilidad de la cavidad durante la construcción, con particular atención a la estabilidad del frente del túnel; o Evaluación de los movimientos del terreno inducidos por la construcción del túnel y de la incidencia de los trabajos subterráneos a poca profundidad sobre los asentamientos en superficie; o Diseño del sistema de sostenimiento del túnel a instalar para asegurar la estabilidad de la estructura a corto y largo plazo. Esta Tesis se centra en los problemas señalados en el segundo de los puntos, analizando distintas soluciones habitualmente proyectadas para reducir los movimientos inducidos por la excavación de los túneles. El objeto de la Tesis es el análisis de la influencia de distintos diseños de paraguas de micropilotes, pantalla de micropilotes, paraguas de jet grouting y pantallas de jet grouting en los asientos en superficie durante la ejecución de túneles ejecutados a poca profundidad, con objeto de buscar el diseño que optimice los medios empleados para una determinada reducción de asientos. Para ello se establecen unas premisas para los proyectistas con objeto de conocer a priori cuales son los tratamientos más eficientes (de los propuestos en la Tesis) para la reducción de asientos en superficie cuando se ha de proyectar un túnel, de tal manera que pueda tener datos cualitativos y algunos cuantitativos sobre los diseños más óptimos, utilizando para ello un programa de elementos finitos de última generación que permite realizara la simulación tensodeformación del terreno mediante el modelo de suelo con endurecimiento (Hardening Soil Small model), que es una variante elastoplástica del modelo hiperbólico, similar al Hardening Soil Model. Además, este modelo incorpora una relación entre deformación y el modulo de rigidez, simulando el diferente comportamiento del suelo para pequeñas deformaciones (por ejemplo vibraciones con deformaciones por debajo de 10-5 y grandes deformaciones (deformaciones > 10-3). Para la realización de la Tesis se han elegido cinco secciones de túnel, dos correspondiente a secciones tipo de túnel ejecutado con tuneladora y tres secciones ejecutados mediante convencionales (dos correspondientes a secciones que han utilizado el método Belga y una que ha utilizado el NATM). Para conseguir los objetivos marcados, primeramente se ha analizado mediante una correlación entre modelos tridimensionales y bidimensionales el valor de relajación usado en estos últimos, y ver su variación al cambio de parámetros como la sección del túnel, la cobertera, el procedimiento constructivo, longitud de pase (métodos convencionales) o presión del frente (tuneladora) y las características geotécnicas de los materiales donde se ejecuta el túnel. Posteriormente se ha analizado que diseño de pantalla de protección tiene mejor eficacia respecto a la reducción de asientos, variando distintos parámetros de las características de la misma, como son el empotramiento, el tipo de micropilotes o pilote, la influencia del arriostramiento de las pantallas de protección en cabeza, la inclinación de la pantalla, la separación de la pantalla al eje del túnel y la disposición en doble fila de la pantalla de pantalla proyectada. Para finalizar el estudio de la efectividad de pantalla de protección para la reducción de asiento, se estudiará la influencia de la sobrecarga cercanas (simulación de edificios) tiene en la efectividad de la pantalla proyectada (desde el punto de vista de reducción de movimientos en superficie). Con objeto de poder comparar la efectividad de la pantalla de micropilotes respecto a la ejecución de un paraguas de micropilotes se ha analizado distintos diseños de paraguas, comparando el movimiento obtenido con el obtenido para el caso de pantalla de micropilotes, comparando ambos resultados con los medidos en obras ya ejecutadas. En otro apartado se ha realizado una comparación entre tratamientos similar, comparándolos en este caso con un paraguas de jet grouting y pantallas de jet grouting. Los resultados obtenidos se han con valores de asientos medidos en distintas obras ya ejecutadas y cuyas secciones se corresponden a los empleados en los modelos numéricos. Since the report on the state of technology in deep excavation and tunnelling in hard ground presented at the 7th Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Peck (1969) introduced the three issues to be taken into account for the design of tunnels in soft ground: o Cavity Stability during construction, with particular attention to the stability of the tunnel face; o Evaluation of ground movements induced by tunnelling and the effect of shallow underground workings on surface settlement; o Design of the tunnel support system to be installed to ensure short and long term stability of the structure. This thesis focuses on the issues identified in the second point, usually analysing different solutions designed to reduce the movements induced by tunnelling. The aim of the thesis is to analyse the influence of different micropile forepole umbrellas, micropile walls, jet grouting umbrellas and jet grouting wall designs on surface settlements during near surface tunnelling in order to use the most optimal technique to achieve a determined reduction in settlement. This will establish some criteria for designers to know a priori which methods are most effective (of those proposed in the thesis) to reduce surface settlements in tunnel design, so that it is possible to have qualitative and some quantitative data on the optimal designs, using the latest finite element modelling software that allows simulation of the ground’s infinitesimal strain behaviour using the Hardening Soil Small Model, which is a variation on the elasto-plastic hyperbolic model, similar to Hardening Soil model. In addition, this model incorporates a relationship between strain and the rigidity modulus, simulating different soil behaviour for small deformations (eg deformation vibrations below 10-5 and large deformations (deformations > 10-3). For the purpose of this thesis five tunnel sections have been chosen, two sections corresponding to TBM tunnels and three sections undertaken by conventional means (two sections corresponding to the Belgian method and one corresponding to the NATM). To achieve the objectives outlined, a correlation analysis of the relaxation values used in the 2D and 3D models was undertaken to verify them against parameters such as the tunnel cross-section, the depth of the tunnel, the construction method, the length of step (conventional method) or face pressure (TBM) and the geotechnical characteristics of the ground where the tunnel is constructed. Following this, the diaphragm wall design with the greatest efficiency regarding settlement reduction was analysed, varying parameters such as the toe depth, type of micropiles or piles, the influence of bracing of the head protection diaphragm walls, the inclination of the diaphragm wall, the separation between the diaphragm wall and the tunnel axis and the double diaphragm wall design arrangement. In order to complete the study into the effectiveness of protective diaphragm walls ofn the reduction of settlements, the influence of nearby imposed loads (simulating buildings) on the effectiveness of the designed diaphragm walls (from the point of view of reducing surface movements) will be studied. In order to compare the effectiveness of micropile diaphragm walls regarding the installation of micropile forepole umbrellas, different designs of these forepole umbrellas have been analysed comparing the movement obtained with that obtained for micropiled diaphragm walls, comparing both results with those measured from similar completed projects. In another section, a comparison between similar treatments has been completed, comparing the treatments with a forepole umbrella by jet grouting and jet grouting walls. The results obtained compared with settlement values measured in various projects already completed and whose sections correspond to those used in the numerical models.

Developing front-end Web 2.0 technologies to access services, content and things in the future Internet

The future Internet is expected to be composed of a mesh of interoperable web services accessible from all over the web. This approach has not yet caught on since global user?service interaction is still an open issue. This paper states one vision with regard to next-generation front-end Web 2.0 technology that will enable integrated access to services, contents and things in the future Internet. In this paper, we illustrate how front-ends that wrap traditional services and resources can be tailored to the needs of end users, converting end users into prosumers (creators and consumers of service-based applications). To do this, we propose an architecture that end users without programming skills can use to create front-ends, consult catalogues of resources tailored to their needs, easily integrate and coordinate front-ends and create composite applications to orchestrate services in their back-end. The paper includes a case study illustrating that current user-centred web development tools are at a very early stage of evolution. We provide statistical data on how the proposed architecture improves these tools. This paper is based on research conducted by the Service Front End (SFE) Open Alliance initiative.

Provision of ecological infrastructures to increase pollinators and other beneficial organisms in rainfed crops in Central Spain

In sustainable intensive agriculture, the biodiversity of monoculture fields can be increased by managing the field margins to provide ecological infrastructures that serve as refuges and resources for beneficial organisms (pollinators and natural enemies). In the present work we summarize two years of field trials following the goal to increase biodiversity of beneficial fauna in a barley field in Central Spain by sowing different herbaceous mixtures in the field margins. The presence of arthropods visiting flowers on plots sown with different types of seed mixtures and unsown natural flora (control plot) was compared by visual sampling every week between April and June. The results showed that a combination of herbaceous big-size seeds was the most successful mixture emerging under our experimental conditions and achieved a higher number of visits of beneficial arthropods than the unsown natural vegetation.

Effects of skin characteristics on impact response and bruising of apples and pears

Skin properties have an important influence on impact parameters and bruising. Skin deformation at puncture (a measure of the turgidity of the fruit skin) is negatively correlated with bruise volume in Golden apples after cold storage.

BioMet®Tools: from modeling and simulation to product design and development

BioMet®Tools is a set of software applications developed for the biometrical characterization of voice in different fields as voice quality evaluation in laryngology, speech therapy and rehabilitation, education of the singing voice, forensic voice analysis in court, emotional detection in voice, secure access to facilities and services, etc. Initially it was conceived as plain research code to estimate the glottal source from voice and obtain the biomechanical parameters of the vocal folds from the spectral density of the estimate. This code grew to what is now the Glottex®Engine package (G®E). Further demands from users in medical and forensic fields instantiated the development of different Graphic User Interfaces (GUI’s) to encapsulate user interaction with the G®E. This required the personalized design of different GUI’s handling the same G®E. In this way development costs and time could be saved. The development model is described in detail leading to commercial production and distribution. Study cases from its application to the field of laryngology and speech therapy are given and discussed.

Cyclic behaviour of saturated sands subject to previous horizontal shear stresses

The dynamic behaviour of saturated sands has been studied from different perspectives. However, most experimental research on this field does not take into account the shear stress conditions existing prior to the application of dynamic loads; i.e., a null initial static shear stress (τo = 0) is assumed. The main objective of this work is to report on the influence that static shear stresses (τo) have on the behaviour of saturated sands under cyclic shear loads. This article presents the results and analysis of part of a wider experimental programme involving 30 monotonic and 26 cyclic simple shear tests for different combinations of static shear stress (τo) and cyclic shear stress (τc) (all undrained), besides identification and classification tests. The tested samples have been taken from the area of the North Entrance Mouth at the Port of Barcelona (Spain).

Consolidation problems

The analysis of deformation in soils is of paramount importance in geotechnical engineering. For a long time the complex behaviour of natural deposits defied the ingenuity of engineers. The time has come that, with the aid of computers, numerical methods will allow the solution of every problem if the material law can be specified with a certain accuracy. Boundary Techniques (B.E.) have recently exploded in a splendid flowering of methods and applications that compare advantegeously with other well-established procedures like the finite element method (F.E.). Its application to soil mechanics problems (Brebbia 1981) has started and will grow in the future. This paper tries to present a simple formulation to a classical problem. In fact, there is already a large amount of application of B.E. to diffusion problems (Rizzo et al, Shaw, Chang et al, Combescure et al, Wrobel et al, Roures et al, Onishi et al) and very recently the first specific application to consolidation problems has been published by Bnishi et al. Here we develop an alternative formulation to that presented in the last reference. Fundamentally the idea is to introduce a finite difference discretization in the time domain in order to use the fundamental solution of a Helmholtz type equation governing the neutral pressure distribution. Although this procedure seems to have been unappreciated in the previous technical literature it is nevertheless effective and straightforward to implement. Indeed for the special problem in study it is perfectly suited, because a step by step interaction between the elastic and flow problems is needed. It allows also the introduction of non-linear elastic properties and time dependent conditions very easily as will be shown and compares well with performances of other approaches.

VISIONS Vehicular communication Improvement : solution based on IMS Operational Nodes and Services

Digital services and communications in vehicular scenarios provide the essential assets to improve road transport in several ways like reducing accidents, improving traffic efficiency and optimizing the transport of goods and people. Vehicular communications typically rely on VANET (Vehicular Ad hoc Networks). In these networks vehicles communicate with each other without the need of infrastructure. VANET are mainly oriented to disseminate information to the vehicles in certain geographic area for time critical services like safety warnings but present very challenging requirements that have not been successfully fulfilled nowadays. Some of these challenges are; channel saturation due to simultaneous radio access of many vehicles, routing protocols in topologies that vary rapidly, minimum quality of service assurance and security mechanisms to efficiently detect and neutralize malicious attacks. Vehicular services can be classified in four important groups: Safety, Efficiency, Sustainability and Infotainment. The benefits of these services for the transport sector are clear but many technological and business challenges need to be faced before a real mass market deployment. Service delivery platforms are not prepared for fulfilling the needs of this complex environment with restrictive requirements due to the criticism of some services To overcome this situation, we propose a solution called VISIONS “Vehicular communication Improvement: Solution based on IMS Operational Nodes and Services”. VISIONS leverages on IMS subsystem and NGN enablers, and follows the CALM reference Architecture standardized by ISO. It also avoids the use of Road Side Units (RSUs), reducing complexity and high costs in terms of deployment and maintenance. We demonstrate the benefits in the following areas: 1. VANET networks efficiency. VISIONS provide a mechanism for the vehicles to access valuable information from IMS and its capabilities through a cellular channel. This efficiency improvement will occur in two relevant areas: a. Routing mechanisms. These protocols are responsible of carrying information from a vehicle to another (or a group of vehicles) using multihop mechanisms. We do not propose a new algorithm but the use of VANET topology information provided through our solution to enrich the performance of these protocols. b. Security. Many aspects of security (privacy, key, authentication, access control, revocation mechanisms, etc) are not resolved in vehicular communications. Our solution efficiently disseminates revocation information to neutralize malicious nodes in the VANET. 2. Service delivery platform. It is based on extended enablers, reference architectures, standard protocols and open APIs. By following this approach, we reduce costs and resources for service development, deployment and maintenance. To quantify these benefits in VANET networks, we provide an analytical model of the system and simulate our solution in realistic scenarios. The simulations results demonstrate how VISIONS improves the performance of relevant routing protocols and is more efficient neutralizing security attacks than the widely proposed solutions based on RSUs. Finally, we design an innovative Social Network service based in our platform, explaining how VISIONS facilitate the deployment and usage of complex capabilities. RESUMEN Los servicios digitales y comunicaciones en entornos vehiculares proporcionan herramientas esenciales para mejorar el transporte por carretera; reduciendo el número de accidentes, mejorando la eficiencia del tráfico y optimizando el transporte de mercancías y personas. Las comunicaciones vehiculares generalmente están basadas en redes VANET (Vehicular Ad hoc Networks). En dichas redes, los vehículos se comunican entre sí sin necesidad de infraestructura. Las redes VANET están principalmente orientadas a difundir información (por ejemplo advertencias de seguridad) a los vehículos en determinadas zonas geográficas, pero presentan unos requisitos muy exigentes que no se han resuelto con éxito hasta la fecha. Algunos de estos retos son; saturación del canal de acceso de radio debido al acceso simultáneo de múltiples vehículos, la eficiencia de protocolos de encaminamiento en topologías que varían rápidamente, la calidad de servicio (QoS) y los mecanismos de seguridad para detectar y neutralizar los ataques maliciosos de manera eficiente. Los servicios vehiculares pueden clasificarse en cuatro grupos: Seguridad, Eficiencia del tráfico, Sostenibilidad, e Infotainment (información y entretenimiento). Los beneficios de estos servicios para el sector son claros, pero es necesario resolver muchos desafíos tecnológicos y de negocio antes de una implementación real. Las actuales plataformas de despliegue de servicios no están preparadas para satisfacer las necesidades de este complejo entorno con requisitos muy restrictivos debido a la criticidad de algunas aplicaciones. Con el objetivo de mejorar esta situación, proponemos una solución llamada VISIONS “Vehicular communication Improvement: Solution based on IMS Operational Nodes and Services”. VISIONS se basa en el subsistema IMS, las capacidades NGN y es compatible con la arquitectura de referencia CALM estandarizado por ISO para sistemas de transporte. También evita el uso de elementos en las carreteras, conocidos como Road Side Units (RSU), reduciendo la complejidad y los altos costes de despliegue y mantenimiento. A lo largo de la tesis, demostramos los beneficios en las siguientes áreas: 1. Eficiencia en redes VANET. VISIONS proporciona un mecanismo para que los vehículos accedan a información valiosa proporcionada por IMS y sus capacidades a través de un canal de celular. Dicho mecanismo contribuye a la mejora de dos áreas importantes: a. Mecanismos de encaminamiento. Estos protocolos son responsables de llevar información de un vehículo a otro (o a un grupo de vehículos) utilizando múltiples saltos. No proponemos un nuevo algoritmo de encaminamiento, sino el uso de información topológica de la red VANET a través de nuestra solución para enriquecer el funcionamiento de los protocolos más relevantes. b. Seguridad. Muchos aspectos de la seguridad (privacidad, gestión de claves, autenticación, control de acceso, mecanismos de revocación, etc) no están resueltos en las comunicaciones vehiculares. Nuestra solución difunde de manera eficiente la información de revocación para neutralizar los nodos maliciosos en la red. 2. Plataforma de despliegue de servicios. Está basada en capacidades NGN, arquitecturas de referencia, protocolos estándar y APIs abiertos. Siguiendo este enfoque, reducimos costes y optimizamos procesos para el desarrollo, despliegue y mantenimiento de servicios vehiculares. Para cuantificar estos beneficios en las redes VANET, ofrecemos un modelo de analítico del sistema y simulamos nuestra solución en escenarios realistas. Los resultados de las simulaciones muestran cómo VISIONS mejora el rendimiento de los protocolos de encaminamiento relevantes y neutraliza los ataques a la seguridad de forma más eficientes que las soluciones basadas en RSU. Por último, diseñamos un innovador servicio de red social basado en nuestra plataforma, explicando cómo VISIONS facilita el despliegue y el uso de las capacidades NGN.

Effects of precooling and degreening treatments on the susceptibility of peach and citrus to handling damage.

Mechanical damage to fruits results from a combination of fruit properties and of damage inflicting effects by the handling equipment. Treatments were applied to fruits which affect mechanical damage susceptibility: precooling for stone fruits and degreening to citrus fruits. Laboratory tests (compression, impact, tumbling, abrasion) and field tests (damage in the handling lines) were applied to (3) peach, (2) apricot, (2) orange and (1) lemon varieties. Hydroor-air-cooling influence positively peach and apricot firmness and cause a significant reduction in: number of bruised fruits, and size of visible bruise, when combined with a low level of loading during handling. Degreening also affects the resistance of citrus fruits to handling, when compared to green fruits.

Models for the prediction of handling damage in citrus and peaches grading lines, related to their physical properties.

Fruit damage during harvesting and handling is a standing problem, particularly for susceptible fruits like peaches and apricots. The resulting mechanical damage is a combination of fruit properties and damage inflicting effects due to procedures and to the equipment. Nine packing lines in the region of Murcia (SE Spain) have been tested with the aid of two different-size electronic fruits IS-100. Probabilities of impacts above three preset thresholds (50 g's, 100 g's and 150 g's) were calculated for each transfer point. Interaction fruit-packing line tests have been also performed in order to study the real incidence of packing lines on natural produce: apricots (1 variety), peaches (3 v.), lemons (1 v.) and oranges (3 v.). Bruises of handled and not handled samples of fruits were compared.

Diseño basado en técnicas de fiabilidad del tratamiento de mejora del terreno mediante columnas de grava

El proyecto geotécnico de columnas de grava tiene todas las incertidumbres asociadas a un proyecto geotécnico y además hay que considerar las incertidumbres inherentes a la compleja interacción entre el terreno y la columna, la puesta en obra de los materiales y el producto final conseguido. Este hecho es común a otros tratamientos del terreno cuyo objetivo sea, en general, la mejora “profunda”. Como los métodos de fiabilidad (v.gr., FORM, SORM, Monte Carlo, Simulación Direccional) dan respuesta a la incertidumbre de forma mucho más consistente y racional que el coeficiente de seguridad tradicional, ha surgido un interés reciente en la aplicación de técnicas de fiabilidad a la ingeniería geotécnica. Si bien la aplicación concreta al proyecto de técnicas de mejora del terreno no es tan extensa. En esta Tesis se han aplicado las técnicas de fiabilidad a algunos aspectos del proyecto de columnas de grava (estimación de asientos, tiempos de consolidación y aumento de la capacidad portante) con el objetivo de efectuar un análisis racional del proceso de diseño, considerando los efectos que tienen la incertidumbre y la variabilidad en la seguridad del proyecto, es decir, en la probabilidad de fallo. Para alcanzar este objetivo se ha utilizado un método analítico avanzado debido a Castro y Sagaseta (2009), que mejora notablemente la predicción de las variables involucradas en el diseño del tratamiento y su evolución temporal (consolidación). Se ha estudiado el problema del asiento (valor y tiempo de consolidación) en el contexto de la incertidumbre, analizando dos modos de fallo: i) el primer modo representa la situación en la que es posible finalizar la consolidación primaria, parcial o totalmente, del terreno mejorado antes de la ejecución de la estructura final, bien sea por un precarga o porque la carga se pueda aplicar gradualmente sin afectar a la estructura o instalación; y ii) por otra parte, el segundo modo de fallo implica que el terreno mejorado se carga desde el instante inicial con la estructura definitiva o instalación y se comprueba que el asiento final (transcurrida la consolidación primaria) sea lo suficientemente pequeño para que pueda considerarse admisible. Para trabajar con valores realistas de los parámetros geotécnicos, los datos se han obtenido de un terreno real mejorado con columnas de grava, consiguiendo, de esta forma, un análisis de fiabilidad más riguroso. La conclusión más importante, obtenida del análisis de este caso particular, es la necesidad de precargar el terreno mejorado con columnas de grava para conseguir que el asiento ocurra de forma anticipada antes de la aplicación de la carga correspondiente a la estructura definitiva. De otra forma la probabilidad de fallo es muy alta, incluso cuando el margen de seguridad determinista pudiera ser suficiente. En lo que respecta a la capacidad portante de las columnas, existen un buen número de métodos de cálculo y de ensayos de carga (tanto de campo como de laboratorio) que dan predicciones dispares del valor de la capacidad última de las columnas de grava. En las mallas indefinidas de columnas, los resultados del análisis de fiabilidad han confirmado las consideraciones teóricas y experimentales existentes relativas a que no se produce fallo por estabilidad, obteniéndose una probabilidad de fallo prácticamente nula para este modo de fallo. Sin embargo, cuando se analiza, en el contexto de la incertidumbre, la capacidad portante de pequeños grupos de columnas bajo zapatas se ha obtenido, para un caso con unos parámetros geotécnicos típicos, que la probabilidad de fallo es bastante alta, por encima de los umbrales normalmente admitidos para Estados Límite Últimos. Por último, el trabajo de recopilación sobre los métodos de cálculo y de ensayos de carga sobre la columna aislada ha permitido generar una base de datos suficientemente amplia como para abordar una actualización bayesiana de los métodos de cálculo de la columna de grava aislada. El marco bayesiano de actualización ha resultado de utilidad en la mejora de las predicciones de la capacidad última de carga de la columna, permitiendo “actualizar” los parámetros del modelo de cálculo a medida que se dispongan de ensayos de carga adicionales para un proyecto específico. Constituye una herramienta valiosa para la toma de decisiones en condiciones de incertidumbre ya que permite comparar el coste de los ensayos adicionales con el coste de una posible rotura y , en consecuencia, decidir si es procedente efectuar dichos ensayos. The geotechnical design of stone columns has all the uncertainties associated with a geotechnical project and those inherent to the complex interaction between the soil and the column, the installation of the materials and the characteristics of the final (as built) column must be considered. This is common to other soil treatments aimed, in general, to “deep” soil improvement. Since reliability methods (eg, FORM, SORM, Monte Carlo, Directional Simulation) deals with uncertainty in a much more consistent and rational way than the traditional safety factor, recent interest has arisen in the application of reliability techniques to geotechnical engineering. But the specific application of these techniques to soil improvement projects is not as extensive. In this thesis reliability techniques have been applied to some aspects of stone columns design (estimated settlements, consolidation times and increased bearing capacity) to make a rational analysis of the design process, considering the effects of uncertainty and variability on the safety of the project, i.e., on the probability of failure. To achieve this goal an advanced analytical method due to Castro and Sagaseta (2009), that significantly improves the prediction of the variables involved in the design of treatment and its temporal evolution (consolidation), has been employed. This thesis studies the problem of stone column settlement (amount and speed) in the context of uncertainty, analyzing two failure modes: i) the first mode represents the situation in which it is possible to cause primary consolidation, partial or total, of the improved ground prior to implementation of the final structure, either by a pre-load or because the load can be applied gradually or programmed without affecting the structure or installation; and ii) on the other hand, the second mode implies that the improved ground is loaded from the initial instant with the final structure or installation, expecting that the final settlement (elapsed primary consolidation) is small enough to be allowable. To work with realistic values of geotechnical parameters, data were obtained from a real soil improved with stone columns, hence producing a more rigorous reliability analysis. The most important conclusion obtained from the analysis of this particular case is the need to preload the stone columns-improved soil to make the settlement to occur before the application of the load corresponding to the final structure. Otherwise the probability of failure is very high, even when the deterministic safety margin would be sufficient. With respect to the bearing capacity of the columns, there are numerous methods of calculation and load tests (both for the field and the laboratory) giving different predictions of the ultimate capacity of stone columns. For indefinite columns grids, the results of reliability analysis confirmed the existing theoretical and experimental considerations that no failure occurs due to the stability failure mode, therefore resulting in a negligible probability of failure. However, when analyzed in the context of uncertainty (for a case with typical geotechnical parameters), results show that the probability of failure due to the bearing capacity failure mode of a group of columns is quite high, above thresholds usually admitted for Ultimate Limit States. Finally, the review of calculation methods and load tests results for isolated columns, has generated a large enough database, that allowed a subsequent Bayesian updating of the methods for calculating the bearing capacity of isolated stone columns. The Bayesian updating framework has been useful to improve the predictions of the ultimate load capacity of the column, allowing to "update" the parameters of the calculation model as additional load tests become available for a specific project. Moreover, it is a valuable tool for decision making under uncertainty since it is possible to compare the cost of further testing to the cost of a possible failure and therefore to decide whether it is appropriate to perform such tests.