Proper treatment of structural behavior under severe loading - such as the performance of a high-rise building during an earthquake - relies heavily on the use of probability-based analysis and decision-making tools. Proper application of these tools is significantly enhanced by a thorough understanding of the underlying theoretical and computation

Probability Theory and Statistical Methods for Engineers brings together probability theory with the more practical applications of statistics, bridging theory and practice. It gives a series of methods or recipes which can be applied to specific problems. This book is essential reading for practicing engineers who need a sound background knowledge of probabilistic and statistical concepts and methods of analysis for their everyday work. It is also a useful guide for graduate engineering students.

The need for a comprehensive book on probabilistic structural mechanics that brings together the many analytical and computational methods developed over the years and their applications in a wide spectrum of industries-from residential buildings to nuclear power plants, from bridges to pressure vessels, from steel structures to ceramic structures-became evident from the many discussions the editor had with practising engineers, researchers and professors. Because no single individual has the expertise to write a book with such a di.verse scope, a group of 39 authors from universities, research laboratories, and industries from six countries in three continents was invited to write 30 chapters covering the various aspects of probabilistic structural mechanics. The editor and the authors believe that this handbook will serve as a reference text to practicing engineers, teachers, students and researchers. It may also be used as a textbook for graduate-level courses in probabilistic structural mechanics. The editor wishes to thank the chapter authors for their contributions. This handbook would not have been a reality without their collaboration.

The last decades have witnessed the development of methods for solving struc tural reliability problems, which emerged from the efforts of numerous re searchers all over the world. For the specific and most common problem of determining the probability of failure of a structural system in which the limit state function g( x) = 0 is only implicitly known, the proposed methods can be grouped into two main categories: • Methods based on the Taylor expansion of the performance function g(x) about the most likely failure point (the design point), which is determined in the solution process. These methods are known as FORM and SORM (First- and Second Order Reliability Methods, respectively). • Monte Carlo methods, which require repeated calls of the numerical (nor mally finite element) solver of the structural model using a random real ization of the basic variable set x each time. In the first category of methods only SORM can be considered of a wide applicability. However, it requires the knowledge of the first and second deriva tives of the performance function, whose calculation in several dimensions either implies a high computational effort when faced with finite difference techniques or special programs when using perturbation techniques, which nevertheless require the use of large matrices in their computations. In or der to simplify this task, use has been proposed of techniques that can be regarded as variants of the Response Surface Method.

While numerous advanced statistical approaches have recently been developed for quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping, the methods are scattered throughout the literature. Statistical Methods for QTL Mapping brings together many recent statistical techniques that address the data complexity of QTL mapping. After introducing basic genetics topics and statistical principles, the author discusses the principles of quantitative genetics, general statistical issues of QTL mapping, commonly used one-dimensional QTL mapping approaches, and multiple interval mapping methods. He then explains how to use a feature selection approach to tackle a QTL mapping problem with dense markers. The book also provides comprehensive coverage of Bayesian models and MCMC algorithms and describes methods for multi-trait QTL mapping and eQTL mapping, including meta-trait methods and multivariate sequential procedures. This book emphasizes the modern statistical methodology for QTL mapping as well as the statistical issues that arise during this process. It gives the necessary biological background for statisticians without training in genetics and, likewise, covers statistical thinking and principles for geneticists. Written primarily for geneticists and statisticians specializing in QTL mapping, the book can also be used as a supplement in graduate courses or for self-study by PhD students working on QTL mapping projects.

This book presents the most important applications of probablistic and statistical approaches and procedures to structural engineering.

The finite element method (FEM) can be successfully applied to various field problems in solid mechanics, fluid mechanics and electrical engineering. This text discusses finite element methods for structures with large stochastic variations.

The main purpose of this book is to address the statistical issues for integrating independent studies. There exist a number of papers and books that discuss the mechanics of collecting, coding, and preparing data for a meta-analysis , and we do not deal with these. Because this book concerns methodology, the content necessarily is statistical, and at times mathematical. In order to make the material accessible to a wider audience, we have not provided proofs in the text. Where proofs are given, they are placed as commentary at the end of a chapter. These can be omitted at the discretion of the reader.Throughout the book we describe computational procedures whenever required. Many computations can be completed on a hand calculator, whereas some require the use of a standard statistical package such as SAS, SPSS, or BMD. Readers with experience using a statistical package or who conduct analyses such as multiple regression or analysis of variance should be able to carry out the analyses described with the aid of a statistical package.

This book contains state-of-the-art review articles on specific research areas in the civil engineering discipline-the areas include geotechnical engineering, hydraulics and water resources engineering, and structural engineering. The articles are written by invited authors who are currently active at the international level in their respective research fields.