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Rapid and accurate prediction of peak storm surges across an extensive coastal region is necessary to inform assessments used to design the systems that protect coastal communities' life and property. Significant advances in high-fidelity, physics-based numerical models have been made in recent years, but use of these models for probabilistic forecasting and probabilistic hazard assessment is computationally intensive. Several surrogate modeling approaches based on existing databases of high-fidelity synthetic storm surge simulations have been recently suggested to reduce computational burden without substantial loss of accuracy. In these previous studies, however, the surrogate modeling approaches relied on a tropical cyclone condition at one moment (usually at or near landfall), which is not always most correlated with the peak storm surge. In this study, a new one-dimensional convolutional neural network model combined with principal component analysis and a k-means clustering (C1PKNet) is presented that can rapidly predict peak storm surge across an extensive coastal region from time-series of tropical cyclone conditions, namely the storm track. The C1PKNet model was trained and cross-validated for the Chesapeake Bay area of the United States using existing database of 1031 high-fidelity storm surge simulations, including both landfalling and bypassing storms. Moreover, the performance of the C1PKNet model was evaluated based on observations from three historical hurricanes (Hurricane Isabel in 2003, Hurricane Irene in 2011, and Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The results indicate that the C1PKNet model is computationally e cient and can predict peak storm surges from realistic tropical cyclone track time-series. We believe that this new surrogate model can enhance coastal resilience by providing rapid storm surge predictions.

Rapid and accurate prediction of peak storm surges across an extensive coastal region is necessary to inform assessments used to design the systems that protect coastal communities’ life and property. Significant advances in high-fidelity, physics-based numerical models have been made in recent years, but use of these models for probabilistic forecasting and probabilistic hazard assessment is computationally intensive. Several surrogate modeling approaches based on existing databases of high-fidelity synthetic storm surge simulations have been recently suggested to reduce computational burden without substantial loss of accuracy. In these previous studies, however, the surrogate modeling approaches relied on a tropical cyclone condition at one moment (usually at or near landfall), which is not always most correlated with the peak storm surge. In this study, a new one-dimensional convolutional neural network model combined with principal component analysis and a k-means clustering (C1PKNet) is presented that can rapidly predict peak storm surge across an extensive coastal region from time-series of tropical cyclone conditions, namely the storm track. The C1PKNet model was trained and cross-validated for the Chesapeake Bay area of the United States using existing database of 1031 high-fidelity storm surge simulations, including both landfalling and bypassing storms. Moreover, the performance of the C1PKNet model was evaluated based on observations from three historical hurricanes (Hurricane Isabel in 2003, Hurricane Irene in 2011, and Hurricane Sandy in 2012). The results indicate that the C1PKNet model is computationally e cient and can predict peak storm surges from realistic tropical cyclone track time-series. We believe that this new surrogate model can enhance coastal resilience by providing rapid storm surge predictions.

This article employs 1963–97 panel data for the 48 contiguous U.S. states (and District of Columbia) to examine the relationship between real personal income and real education expenditures as well as that between real personal income and six measures of real research and development expenditures. Bivariate regressions are employed to determine whether the information content between real education expenditures and real income runs from real income to real education spending or vice versa. The authors find that when data are relative to the U.S. average, the direction of information content runs from real state‐level education expenditures to real state‐level income. (JEL I2, H72)

We are currently working toward the development of a probabilistic decisionsupport system (DSS) for near-real time emergency response and recovery following a seismic event. We utilize a Bayesian Network (BN) framework for assessing the performance of spatially distributed infrastructure systems subjected to seismic hazards. BNs have many valuable characteristics (e.g. they are graphical, adaptable, efficient, and enable Bayesian updating) that make them well-suited for such an application. We model seismic demands on an infrastructure system by constructing a BN model of ground motion intensity as a spatially distributed random field. In this paper we present this seismic demand model with recent enhancements including the addition of a finite source model. The performance of infrastructure system components and the overall system is modeled using fragility functions and BN system connectivity formulations. An example application to a hypothetical transportation system is presented to illustrate the power and value of the proposed BN framework.