Landslides are one of the most frequent natural disasters that cause significant damage to property in Vietnam, which is characterized by mountainous terrain covering three-quarters of the territory. In 17 northern mountainous provinces of the country, over 500 communes are at a high to very high landslide hazard. The main goal of this study was to establish landslide hazard maps and conduct a comparative evaluation of the efficiency of the methods employed in Tinh Tuc town, Cao Bang province. The landslide hazard assessment was carried out in this study using the combined Fractal-frequency ratio (FFR) and the Frequency ratio (FR) methods. The FR method is based on the actualist principle, which assumes that future landslides may be caused by the same factors that contributed to slope failure in the past and present. The FFR method is based on the determination of the fractal dimension, which serves as a measure of the landslide filling density in the study area. Eight landslide-related factors were considered and presented in cartographic format: elevation, distance to roads, slope, geology, distance to faults, land use, slope aspect, and distance to drainage. Determining the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC-AUC) and verification index (LRclass) was performed to assess the performance of prediction models and the accuracy of the obtained maps. As a result, five zones were identified for the study area, characterized by very low, low, moderate, high, and very high landslide hazards. The analysis of the reliability of the obtained landslide hazard maps using the AUC and LRclass indices revealed that the FFR model has a higher degree of reliability (AUC = 86 %, LRclass = 86 %) compared to the FR model (AUC = 72 %, LRclass = 73 %); therefore, its use is more effective.
The paper considers the cutting of brittle coals and rocks by a single cutter of a mining machine, in contrast to the generally accepted integral approach, different from the standpoint of the formation of successive elementary bursts that make up the cut. The process of the formation of an elementary bust in time is viewed as successive phases. Due to the complexity and multi-factor nature of the process, preference is given to experimental bench studies using reference cutters, isotropic materials, and real rock blocks. The bursting parameters values greatly influence the time of static forces action, the peculiarities of the formation of stress fields in the undercutter zone of the rock mass and the conditions for the emergence and development of main cracks in the near-cut zones during the cutting process. The accepted phase-energy method of analyzing the process, which most closely matches the structure of the studied process, revealed a more significant, than previously expected, effect on the cutting process, variability of cutting speed and potential energy reserve in the cutter drive. The paper discusses the possibility of purposeful formation of the parameters of elementary bursts. It describes new ways to improve the efficiency of cutting coal and rocks, in particular, reducing the maximum loads and specific energy consumption. It also considers the possibility of reducing the grinding of the rock mass and dust formation.
