Water Resources Management 2011

6th International Conference on Sustainable Water Resources Management
23 - 25 May 2011, Riverside, California, USA

Organiser

Wessex Institute of Technology, UK

Description

The sixth International Conference on Water Resources Management will present the more recent technological and scientific developments associated with the management of surface and sub-surface water resources. Numerous water-related conferences organised by the Wessex Institute of Technology have been successfully held in many locations throughout the world. Water Resources Management is one of the most important conferences in the series.

The importance of this meeting cannot be over-emphasised as water increasingly becomes a precious resource on which the well-being of future generations depends. Issues of water quality, quantity, management and planning, as well as other related topics, are essential to the future of the world population.
Water resources are under extreme pressure today all over the world. The resulting problems have given rise to many activities which reflect growing concern about them and the importance accorded to their sustainable management.

The meeting aims to bring together engineers, scientists and other professionals from many different countries, involved in research and development activities in a wide range of water resources and management topics.

The first conference on Water Resources Management was held in Halkidiki, Greece in 2001, the second in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria (2003), the third in the Algarve, Portugal (2005), the fourth in Kos, Greece (2007) and the fifth in Malta (2009).

Topics

• Water management and planning
• Waste water treatment and management
• Water markets, policies and contracts
• The right to water
• Urban water management
• Water quality
• Pollution control
• Irrigation problems
• River basin management
• Hydrological modelling
• Flood risk
• Decision support systems
• Remediation and renaturalisation
• Climate change and water resources
• Governance and monitoring
• Waste water treatment and re-use
• Regional and geo-politics of water
• Water resources and economics
• Water ecology
• Sanitation
• Wetlands
• Extreme events
• Hydraulic engineering

 
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/waterresourcesmanagement-2011.html

Light 2011

1st International Conference on Light in Engineering, Architecture and the Environment
17 - 19 May 2011, Poznan, Poland

Organisers

Wessex Institute of Technology, UK
Poznan University of Technology, Poland

Description

The first Conference on Lighting in Engineering, Architecture, Arts and the Environment is aimed at discussing the latest developments in a variety of topics related to light and illumination, from its engineering aspects to its use in art and architecture and the effect of light on living systems and human health.

The study of lighting should not be restricted to its technical aspects, but also seen as a factor in creating better and healthier environments. An important topic is the human perception of light and colour and their use in art installations, stage performances and architecture.

Better understanding by urban planners of illumination has helped to enhance heritage architecture and can lead to the recovery of degraded city areas.
Emphasis on environmental and ecological issues has led to new understanding among planners and architects of the need to work in harmony with nature, including taking maximum advantage of daylight, as the source of life and wellbeing.

The conference will attract participants from research, academia, industry and practitioners as well as colleagues in environmental and ecological fields.

Topics

Light Engineering

• Lighting equipment
• Lighting design and applications
• Light and lighting measurements
• Outdoor lighting
• Indoor lighting design and application

Light in Architecture

• Architectural lighting design and applications
• Illumination of architectural objects
• Daylighting

Light and Arts

• Illumination and installations
• Stage performance

Light in Life and Environment

• Human perception of light
• Photobiology and photochemistry
• Light and human health

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/light-2011.html

Disaster Management 2011

2nd International Conference on Disaster Management and Human Health
11 - 13 May 2011, Orlando, USA

Organisers

Wessex Institute of Technology, UK
University of Central Florida, USA

Description

The second International Conference on Disaster Management has been reconvened following the success of the first meeting held at the Wessex Institute of Technology in the New Forest, UK.

The world is facing an increasing number of natural disasters affecting millions of people, destroying property and resulting in loss of human life. These include major floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis and many others.

Today the world faces unparalleled threats from human-made disasters that can be attributed to the failure of industrial and energy installations as well as terrorism. Added to this is the unparalleled threat of emerging and re-emerging diseases, with scientists predicting events such as an influenza pandemics.

Human made and natural disasters in 2004 were estimated to have claimed more than 21,000 lives worldwide with economic losses in the order of US$100 billion.

Kirsty Duncan pointed out that in 2005, an unparalleled frequency and scale of natural disasters tested the international relief community; Hurricane Katrina, alone, destroyed 300,000 homes, displaced 770,000 people and cost $US 200 billion. The Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters found that natural disasters killed 235,000: affected 214 million people and cost $US190 million in 2008. The death toll was three times higher than the annual average for the years, 2000-2007 because Cyclone Nargis killed nearly 140,000 people in Myanmar and the Sichuan earthquake in China killed nearly 90,000 people. (Source: Duncan, K and Brebbia, C A (eds), Disaster Management and Human Health Risk, WIT Press, 2009).

All these events pose unprecedented risks to human health on a world scale which requires a massive effort by the international community. This conference therefore focuses on current global health risks, and how best to prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters in order to reduce human health impacts.

It will help participants to understand the nature of global risks, learn risk management strategies to prepare for disruptive events, and identify the best prevention methods in disaster management and public health. It will provide a forum for the exchange of information between leading academics and partners in disaster management. 

Topics

• Emergency preparedness
• Risk mitigation
• Natural disasters
• Man-made disasters
• Learning from disasters
• Disaster analysis, monitoring and mitigation
• Global risks and health
• Pandemic and biological threats
• Surveillance and early warning systems
• Public health preparedness
• Socio-economic issues
• Service sustainability

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/disastermanagement-2011.html

Fluid Structure Interaction 2011

6th International Conference on Fluid Structure Interaction
9 - 11 May 2011, Orlando, USA

Organisers

University of Central Florida, USA
Wessex Institute of Technology

Description

Fluid Structure Interaction 2011 is the sixth conference in this successful series, dedicated now to the memory of its originator, the late Professor Subrata Chakrabarti. The series provides a forum for the presentation of new ideas and the latest work in the specialised field of fluid structure interaction.

The principal aim of this conference is to promote international exchange of information and knowledge of fluid structure interaction problems, giving experts from different application fields the opportunity to interact with
one another and to provide valuable cross breeding of ideas and techniques.

The conference will encompass a wide range of topics within this area ranging from different types of fluids, such as; wind, current, biofluids and ocean waves to different types of structures; tall buildings, ocean structures, cables, towers, bridges, risers and others. New research for the advancement of interaction problems will be the main focus of the conference. Papers with new applications to real world problems will be particularly welcome. The basic mathematical formulations of fluid structure interaction and their numerical simulation will also be discussed, as well as their physical modelling. Papers are sought in areas such as advanced analytical techniques, computer and experimental modelling, new applications and verification of interaction.

The conference first started in Halkidiki, Greece, in 2001; followed by one in Cadiz, Spain, in 2003; another in La Coruña, Spain, in 2005; the New Forest, UK, in 2007 and the last in Crete in 2009.

Topics

• Fluid pipeline interactions
• Structure response to severe shock and blast
• Hydrodynamic forces
• Acoustics and noise
• Computational methods
• Response of structures, including fluid dynamics
• Flow induced vibrations
• Experimental studies and validation
• Bioengineering applications
• Offshore structures and pipelines
• Subsea systems
• Soil structure interaction

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/fluidstructureinteraction-2011.html

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