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acquisition tools, servers, computers and mobile devices

via wired and wireless is one of its unique properties. It

also has an alarm system that is triggered when changes are

detected in the geotechnical parameters of the slope that

exceed the safety limit.

Although developed for the USM Kampus Sejahtera

(Healthy Campus) Programme (2000), WILMS is a handy

tool to alert slope stability managers when remedial meas-

ures are deemed necessary.

Evaluating the stability of slopes is a big challenge for

geotechnical engineers. It involves locating the slip surface

with the minimum factor of safety (FS). An in-depth study

revealed that most of the current commercial slope stabil-

ity software suffers from poor search algorithms, resulting

in over-estimation of stability. Considering this limitation,

USlopeM

was developed which employs state-of-the-

art metaheuristic search algorithms to locate critical slip

surfaces to determine the minimum FS that indicates

probable slope failures. USlopeM

addresses the possi-

ble existence of multiple, rather than single failure modes.

Currently, engineers have to run commercial software

several times using different initial parameters to locate

all important slip surfaces. USlopeM

finds all global and

local minima of FS in a single run without significant reli-

ance on engineering experience. The software is released

with a CAD-like graphical user interface for creating slope

models and viewing results. It also uses parallel comput-

ing to exploit the full performance of multi-core central

processing units. The major end product of the analysis

is a Factor of Safety Map which will indicate the region of

critical area in just less than a minute.

The software has obtained copyright and trademark

and has also won gold medals at the 25th International

Invention, Innovation & Technology Exhibition in Kuala

Lumpur; at the Belgian International Trade Fair for

Technological Innovation in Brussels; and at the Korea

International Women’s Invention Exposition in Seoul.

USM is at the forefront of research and capacity-building

within its renewed vision for an all-institution mainstream-

ing of sustainability. This finds expression in campus

sustainability promotion on the one hand and integrating

global sustainability principles and practices, as articulated

through the Rio process, on the other. Within this priority

we have focused this discussion on land use issues relat-

ing to slope land erosion and slope failures. Considering

the impact of rainfall, new development and other emerg-

ing issues that increase the vulnerability of slope lands, we

have highlighted risk assessment as a way to monitor slope

strength. A new slope stability software, USlopeM

, has

been developed at USM to generate slope stability scenar-

ios for risk-reduced land use. Through research, training

and community based initiatives, USM will continue its

UNCCD focus. After all, desertification represents the

acute convergence of a wide range of challenges that must

be faced globally — poverty reduction, economic growth,

food security, climate change, land use, water manage-

ment, good governance and the achievement of Sustainable

Development Goals.

Result from WILMS on rainfall amount and pore water pressure over a certain monitoring period

Rainfall (mm)

Pore water pressure (mH

1,140

1,160

1,180

1,200

1,220

1,240

1,260

1,280

1,300

1,180

1,220

1,260

col2

J 03

F 03

M 03

A 03

col2

J J

M M M M M M M M M M

M M

Source: USM

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