Coastal Processes 2011

Second International Conference on Physical Coastal Processes, Management and Engineering
27 - 29 April 2011, Naples, Italy

Organisers

University of Parthenope, Italy
University of Las Palmas (Canary Islands), Spain
Wessex Institute of Technology, UK

Description

Following the success of the first conference on coastal processes held in Malta in 2009, it has been decided to reconvene the meeting at the University of Naples Parthenope in 2011.

Coastal regions present a complex dynamic web of natural and human related processes. Although coastal zones are narrow areas occupying a small part of oceans and lands, these regions play a very important role as they account for nearly a quarter of all oceanic biological production. About 60% of the human population live in coastal zones, and around 70% of big cities are placed in this narrow area. Concomitantly, more than 90% of the pollutants generated by human economic activities end up in the coastal zone.

The unstoppable demand of the coast for recreational and tourism activities has increased the need for shore and beach protection and, increasingly, the construction of artificial beaches, ports and harbours. Wind waves and wave driven currents are the dominant mechanisms controlling littoral sand transport and determining the nearshore morphology. In addition, many other physical phenomena, such as tides and associated currents, long waves and storm surges, among others, can play a significant role in the dynamic behaviour of the coastal zone.

Coastal zones represent potential sources of renewable energy coming from winds, waves, tides, currents and thermohaline gradients but they are also exposed to risks related to energy generation. Thus, for instance, extraction and transportation of hydrocarbons can give rise to tremendous ecological disasters. Furthermore, thermal and nuclear power plants are often located in the coastal zone and use large volumes of cooling water and discharge these into marine environments.

It is well known that distinctive features of the coastal zone dynamics are not only due to the nearshore hydrodynamics, but also to the complex local behaviour of the atmospheric dynamics. As a result, complex interactions occur between the atmosphere, ocean and land, inducing large temporal and spatial variations in air-sea exchange processes. Due to its great socio-economic importance, the physical aspects of coastal processes have been of concern for decades, but recent advances in a number of areas, including satellite remote sensing, are giving rise to significant progress in this field.

The ocean side of the coastal zone represents a very sensitive and particularly vulnerable sector of the ocean to any kind of man-made action or natural extreme events. Consequently, the problem of environmental protection and conservation takes special relevance in this zone, and any decision concerning its viability must be preceded by a forecast of its consequences. Their adequate prediction is only possible on the basis of a clear understanding and careful analysis of the fundamental dynamic processes occurring in such areas.

The problems are essentially interdisciplinary and scientists need to be able to exchange ideas with colleagues from other disciplines with a variety of different experiences.

The application of the principles of sustainable development on coastal zones, together with the need to protect the environment and control the mechanisms acting on them is the reason why this conference provides an interdisciplinary approach.

Topics

• Wave modelling
• Wave transformation hydrodynamics
• Extreme events and sea level rise
• Sea defences
• Interaction between coastal defences and processes
• Energy recovery
• Hydrodynamic forces
• Sediment transport and erosion
• Pollution and dispersion
• Planning and beach design
• Coastal geomorphology
• Coastal processes and navigation
• Coastal processes and GIS
• Bio-physical coastal processes
• Great Lakes problems

Web Page

View the conference website, which has full details about the conference objectives, topics and submission requirements at:

http://www.wessex.ac.uk/11-conferences/coastalprocesses-2011.html

Ecosystems and Sustainable Development 2011

8th International Conference on Ecosystems and Sustainable Development
13 - 15 April 2011, Alicante, Spain

Organisers

University of Alicante, Spain
Wessex Institute of Technology, UK
University of Siena, Italy

Description

ECOSUD 2011 is the 8th International Conference in the well-established series on Ecosystems and Sustainable Development. The meetings provide a unique forum for the presentation and discussion of recent work on different aspects of ecosystems and sustainable development, including physical sciences and modelling.

This successful series first started in Peniscola, Spain (1997) and continued in Lemnos, Greece (1999); Alicante, Spain (2001); Siena, Italy (2003); Cadiz, Spain (2005); Coimbra, Portugal (2007); and Chianciano Terme, Italy (2009). It was decided to reconvene the conference again in Alicante to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of Ilya Prigogine’s opening of the 2001 meeting which took place at the same university.

The aim of the conference is to encourage and facilitate interdisciplinary communication between scientists, engineers, economists and professionals working in ecological systems and sustainable development. Emphasis will be given to those areas that will most benefit from the application of scientific methods for sustainable development, including the conservation of natural systems around the world. The conference objectives have evolved over the years, seeking to integrate thermodynamics, ecology and economics into “ecodynamics”.

ECOSUD is a challenge for the creation of a new science in line with Prigogine’s statement that “at all levels we observe events associated with the emergence of novelties and narrative elements, which we may associate with the creative power of nature”.

Topics

• Greenhouse issues
• Ecosystems modelling
• Mathematical and system modelling
• Natural resources management
• Environmental indicators
• Sustainable development studies
• Recovery of damaged areas
• Energy and the environment
• Socio-economic factors
• Soil contamination
• Waste management
• Water recovery
• Environmental management
• Modelling of alternative futures

Web Page

View the conference website, which has full details about the conference objectives, topics and submission requirements at:

http://www.wessex.ac.uk/11-conferences/ecosud-2011.html

Energy and Sustainability 2011

3rd International Conference on Energy and Sustainability
11 - 13 April 2011, Alicante, Spain

Organisers 

University of Alicante, Spain
Wessex Institute of Technology, UK
University of New Mexico, USA

Description

The world’s economic system is driven by energy. Few of the advances made in the past two centuries would have been possible without the large-scale exploitation of fossil fuels. Resources depletion and predictions of severe environmental effects deriving from continued use of fossil fuels are spurring renewed interest in sustainable energy. The effort that will be required to shift from a fossil fuel-based economy to one hinged on sustainability is massive, requiring advances in the basic sciences (materials, electrochemistry and heat transfer to name a few) through to systems engineering (buildings, electric grids, transportation) and all the way to international policymaking.

The evolution of new energy technologies and systems cannot follow the compartmentalised model that has worked so well in the past, because of the time constraints imposed by oil depletion and climate change. All parts of the new energy economy are strongly interlinked, and researchers in the field must be aware of the entire enterprise to maximize their own contribution. This conference offers an opportunity for scientists, professionals, policymakers and other parties to review recent developments in this rapidly changing environment.

The conference will cover topics related to sustainability in energy production, energy storage and distribution and energy management. The meeting is expected to be as successful as the two previous conferences, the first held in the Wessex Institute of Technology, New Forest, UK (2007) and the second in Bologna, Italy (2009).

Topics

• Renewable Energy Technologies
• Energy Management
• Energy Policies
• Energy and the Environment
• Energy Analysis
• Energy Efficiency
• Energy Storage and Management
• Conversion Process for Biomass and Biofuels
• CO₂ Sequestration and Storage

Web Page

View the conference website, which has full details about the conference objectives, topics and submission requirements at:

http://www.wessex.ac.uk/11-conferences/energy-2011.html

This year, the Wessex Institute Institute of Technology celebrates 25 years organising international conferences with prestigious organisations around the world.  Even before 1986, the founder of the Institute, Prof Carlos Brebbia, was organising conferences while at the University of Southampton; the first on Boundary Elements was held in 1978.  Carlos has been associated with the boundary element method for over 40 years and as a result has a vast number of publications in this field including text books, journals and conference papers.  Since then due to our success, over the years the conference programme has evolved into interdisciplinary events covering a wide range of subject areas. 

The conferences organised by the Wessex Institute of Technology cover a variety of topics in the engineering and computational fields and many delegates return year on year because of the quality of the conference programme and corresponding conference book, which is always published to a very high standard.

Papers presented at Wessex Institute conferences are referenced by CrossRef and regularly appear in notable reviews, publications and databases including referencing and abstract services such as SCOPUS, Compendix, ISI Web Knowledge, Index to Scientific and Technical Proceedings, ProQuest and Scitech Book News.  All conference books are archived in the British Library and American Library of Congress.

The Wessex Institute’s publishing arm, WIT Press, ensure maximum dissemination throughout the world of the research at our conferences through its offices in Europe, the USA and its extensive international distribution network.  All conference papers are archived online in our eLibrary where they are immediately and permanently available to the international scientific community.  The books are published in digital format as well as paper format.

The Wessex Institute of Technology has organised international conferences with many prestigious organisations including (amongst others):

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Beijing Jiotong University, China

Cardiff University, Wales

Complutense University of Madrid, Spain

Czech Technical University, Czech Republic

Dalhousie University, Canada

University of Maribor, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Free University of Brussels, Belgium

Georgia Tech, USA

Lund University of Technology, Sweden

Marche Polytechnic University, Italy

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Nagoya University, Japan

National Technical University of Athens, Greece

Politecnico di Milano, Italy

Politecnico di Torino, Italy

Punan National University, South Korea

Poznan University of Technology, Poland

Riga Stradins University, Latvia

Riga Technical University, Latvia

Ryerson University, Canada

Tartu University, Estonia

Technical University of Szczecin, Poland

Universitat Jaume I, Spain

Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Spain

University of A Coruña, Spain

University of Alicante, Spain

University of Ancona, Italy

University of Antwerp, Belgium

University of Bergen, Norway

University of Bologna, Italy

University of Bournemouth, UK

University of Cadiz, Spain

University of Cantabria, Spain

University of Catania, Italy

University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain

University of Central Florida, USA

University of Coimbra, Portugal

University of Delaware, USA

University of Cyprus

University of Ghent, Belgium

University of Granada, Spain

University of Groningen, The Netherlands

University of Las Palmas (Canary Islands), Spain

University of Latvia, Latvia

University of Liverpool, UK

University of Malta

University of Milano, Italy

University of Naples “Federico II”, Italy

University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA

University of New Mexico, USA

University of Parthenope, Italy

University of Pisa, Italy

University of Porto, Portugal

University of Reggio Calabria, Italy

University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’, Italy

University of Siena, Italy

University of Split, Croatia

University of Thessaly, Greece

University of Toronto, Canada

University of the West of England, UK

University of Wolverhampton, UK

University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Slovenia

University Politehnica of Bucharest, Romania

Universiti Teknologi Mara, Malaysia

In addition, the Wessex Institute publishes four international journals:

• International Journal of Design and Nature with Ecodynamics
• International Journal of Sustainable Planning and Development
• International Journal of Safety and Security
• International Journal of Computational Methods and Experimental Measurements

The Wessex Institute has also started a number of journals which are marketed by Elsevier with editing links still retained by the Wessex Institute of Technology.