Risk Analysis 2018 - Post Conference Report

11th International Conference on Risk Analysis and Hazard Mitigation

6 - 8 June 2018
Seville, Spain

Overview

The 11th International Conference on Risk Analysis and Hazard Mitigation was held in Seville, Spain organised by Wessex Institute, represented by Prof Stefano Mambretti, and the University of Milano-Bicocca, represented by Dr Andrea Fabbri. The meeting was sponsored by WIT Transactions on Engineering Sciences and the International Journal of Safety and Security Engineering.

Seville is the capital of the Andalusia region and is situated on the river Guadalquivir. The city is more than 2,200 years old and has a distinct personality and a large and well-preserved historical centre. The old town contains three world heritage sites: the Minaret of La Giralda, the General Archive of the Indies and the Alcázar Palace. The city is also home to many convents, churches, palaces, museums and gardens including the Museum of Fine Arts, Parque de María Luisa and the Gothic Cathedral which is the site of Christopher Columbus’s tomb. It is believed that flamenco originated in Seville, and there are many flamenco shows on offer all over the city, as well as the museum dedicated to the art.

The conference covered a series of important topics of current research interests and many practical applications. This concerned all aspects of risk management and hazard mitigation, associated with both natural and anthropogenic hazards.

Current events helped to emphasise the importance of the analysis and management of risk to planners and researchers around the world. Natural hazards such as floods, earthquakes, landslides, fires and others have always affected human societies. The more recent emergence of the importance of man-made hazards is a consequence of the rapid technological advances made in the last few centuries. The interaction of natural and anthropogenic risks adds to the complexity of the problems.

All the papers presented at the Risk Conference are archived in the WIT eLibrary (www.witpress.com/elibrary), where they are immediately and permanently available to the international scientific community.

Opening of the Conference

The meeting was opened by Prof Stefano Mambretti, a member of the Board of Directors of the Wessex Institute. Stefano paid tribute to the founder of Wessex Institute, the late Prof Carlos Brebbia who was a gifted academic, renowned throughout the world as the originator of the Boundary Element Method. He was very proud of WIT’s successful conference programme which disseminates advanced knowledge worldwide.

In addition to conferences and courses, the Institute has a very active publication programme which covers papers presented at conferences, those published in Journals and specialised books. The conferences are held in different locations around the world.

WIT is actively involved in industrial research and collaborating with industry. This has led to the continuing development of a unique software system based on the Boundary Element Method, a technique which can be applied to solve a wide variety of problems. This led to the Institute becoming involved in a large series of interdisciplinary projects, some of which were described by Stefano, who stressed the commitment of WIT to collaborate with other organisations.

Keynote Address

Dr Andrea Fabbri then welcomed the delegates to the conference and gave a keynote address entitled “How credible is my hazard map? Dissecting a prediction pattern of landslide susceptibility”.

A hazard map was used to represent the likelihood of future occurrences of hazardous events. Predicting the future, however, is far from easy and prone to uncertainty, misunderstanding and suspicion. This contribution presented a landslide-susceptibility prediction patternthat resembled a map but is a complex construction resulting from modelling and assumptions imposed on historical data. A mathematical model of spatial relationships, based on fuzzy sets was applied to a spatial database that was constructed for landslide susceptibility studies in northern Italy. The model considered a pixel in a study area using the following proposition, “Tp: p would be affected by a future landslide of a distinct dynamic type.” At pixel p there was information of spatial evidence and a function was defined at every p that represented the degree of support of the proposition that p was likely to be affected by future landslides given the evidence. Such a function, termed favourability function, was interpreted as a fuzzy set membership function.

The resulting prediction pattern was dissected into its basic components to bring up the implied elements of spatial characterization, relevance of thematic input, assumptions in models and data, and visualization/interpretation of predicted scores. By the term prediction pattern the result of the classification of the study area into levels of relative susceptibility was indicated. The integrated predicted scores for each pixel range between 0 and 1 were computed with 4-byte numerical precision. As such, they could not be easily interpreted. They were then sorted in descending order between the maximum and the minimum and 200 was a fixed number of equal area ranks used to replace the scores. Each rank corresponded to the 0.5% of the study area. The prediction pattern consisted of an image with pixel values that ranged between 1 and 200.

Of particular relevance within the study area was the uncertainty associated with the scores, i.e., the ranks that classified the zones that were relatively more susceptible. Such a dissection of prediction pattern led to a confirmation of the credibility of the prediction pattern(hazard map?) based on the confidence gained by the comprehension of all elements integrated and assumptions made in its construction. For instance, in the database partitions of the supporting patterns, i.e., the spatial evidence, enabled to verify its consistency by cross-validations. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the ranks in the prediction pattern was expressed by prediction rank histograms and cumulative curves. Even the prediction scores of individual landslide occurrences became informative of the distinctiveness of their presence within the study area. Many of the aspects discussed in this contribution are frequently ignored or hidden in hazard and risk studies. 

Invited Speakers

The conference was enhanced by a series of invited papers, as follows:

• “Modelling of hydrocarbon gas and liquid leaks from pressurized process systems”, by Amaranath Sena Kumara, Lloyd’s Register Consulting – Energy AS, Norway.
• “The risk atlas of Mexico City, Mexico”, by David Novelo-Casanova, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico.
• “Infrastructure based approach to increase cycling safety in case of turning cyclists interacting with crossing motorists at an urban intersection”, by Marek Junghans, German Aerospace Centre, Germany.
• “Large-scale fire risk planning for initial attack and fuels: the US state of Idaho”, by Douglas Rideout, Colorado State University, USA.
• “Modelling of future flood risk across Canada under climate change”, by Slobodan Simonovic, Western University, Canada.
• “Oil Spill Risk Analysis in the Gulf of Mexico”, by Jeff Ji, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, United States of America. 

Conference Dinner

The Conference Dinner took place at El Patio Sevillano, a place that combines a restaurant and a flamenco music show. Thus the delegates, in addition to tasting typical Andalucian gastronomy, enjoyed a performance with singers, guitar players and flamenco dancers, comprised of a group of 20 people on stage. The quality of the show and the friendly atmosphere helped to strengthen links among the conference delegates.

The International Scientific Advisory Committee met over dinner to discuss how the meeting could be improved in 2020. Several new topics were discussed as well as the nominations of colleagues to join the Committee. There was general agreement of the importance to find ways in which delegates could interact more outside the conference sessions. The Conference Division of WIT will investigate suitable venues.

Closing of the Conference

The Conference was closed by Stefano and Andrea who expressed WIT’s gratitude to all participants for their contributions.

Related Conferences:

ERES 2019, 5 - 7 June 2019

SAFE 2019, 23 – 25 September, 2019

Disaster Management 2019, 25 – 27 September 2019

SUSI 2018 - Post Conference Report

15th International Conference on Structures under Shock and Impact

4 - 6 June 2018
Seville, Spain

Overview

The 15th International Conference on Structures under Shock and Impact that took place in Seville, Spain, was organised by the Wessex Institute and the University of Liverpool. The meeting was sponsored by WIT Transactions on the Built Environment, the International Journal of Computational Methods and Experimental Measurements and the International Journal of Safety and Security Engineering.

The conference was part of a well-established series, starting in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1989 and continuing in a number of locations throughout Europe, the previous meeting in 2016 having taken place in Crete, Greece.

The series originated with Prof Norman Jones from Liverpool University, the foremost authority on Impact Mechanics. After his retirement, Norman became Honorary Chair of the meeting.

Opening of the Conference

The conference was opened by Dr Stavros Syngellakis, a member of Wessex Institute’s Board of Directors. Stavros referred to the importance of the conference series towards fulfilling the objective of the Institute, that is, the transfer of knowledge.

Stavros mentioned that WIT has a series of other activities towards this end, including research and development in its field of expertise, that is, the simulation of engineering and scientific problems using advanced computational methods. WIT is known around the world as the originator of the Boundary Element Method, a technique that it has applied to solve a wide variety of problems. During his talk, Stavros highlighted some case studies relating to the optimal design of corrosion protection systems and assessment of structural integrity against fracture.

In spite of its very specialised knowledge, WIT is aware of the need to collaborate with other centres around the world pursuing different skills, in order to achieve optimum solutions. Because of that, the Institute has participated in many interdisciplinary projects, including some supported by the EU. Further development of WIT’s unique computational tools is continuously required due to the demands of industry, which supports many of these activities.

WIT Press, the publishing arm of the Institute, produces a substantial number of Journals and books every year. The papers in Journals (which include classical scientific papers), as well as the WIT Transactions, are archived in Open Access format in the eLibrary of the Wessex Institute of Technology (www.witpress.com/elibrary). This has resulted in a wider distribution of the work presented at WIT conferences.

Stavros concluded his opening address by paying tribute to the founder of Wessex Institute, the late Prof Carlos Brebbia. Prof Brebbia was a gifted academic as well as a great organiser, motivator and communicator. He was an inspiration to everyone working with him. There is a strong commitment among the members of the Institute to preserve his legacy and, in particular, the continued success of this conference series of which he was so proud.

In his opening remarks, Dr Graham Schleyer, the co-chairman of the Conference representing the University of Liverpool emphasised the importance of three concepts, namely community, innovation and realism, to the success of the conference.

The conference provides a sense of community that leads to collaboration. This conference series and many others in association with Wessex was the brainchild of the late Prof Carlos Brebbia who passed away peacefully on Saturday 3rd March 2018. Carlos was both talented and practical and lived life to the full with a spirit of adventure. He will be missed but his legacy is the success of this SUSI conference. SUSI has always provided opportunities for friendly exchange of ideas and collaboration. It continues to attract a good number of younger researchers and PhD candidates who value the opportunity to present their work in a supportive, encouraging environment. We trust this continues into the future for the benefit of the community and the subject.

Most of our research has to do with protection of critical infrastructure against extreme loading (often unintentional or accidental). The cost of large-scale testing is often prohibitive. Therefore there is a strong emphasis on numerical modelling for loading and response predictions and this presents challenges and almost always requires a better understanding of, amongst other things, material selection and design, load definition, constitutive modelling and fracture criteria, computational methods, validation, and scaling issues. There was a good mix of papers this year that addressed most of these important topics.

It is fair to say that the tools and the materials we use nowadays are reasonably well developed although there is always more to discover and much knowledge to transfer to the next generation of engineers and scientists. Consequently, more emphasis should be put on innovative ways of using these materials and protective technologies to further our mission e.g. lightweight, energy-absorbing systems. What works for blast may not work for projectile penetration and vice versa hence there is also a need to develop layered systems. There is much scope to expand this subject into the next decade focusing on innovation and applications.

There is a growing awareness that the expectations of FEA/CFD are unreal. A recent study discussed the pitfalls of the unwary/uninitiated and some of the challenges and issues that arise in practice. This very much applies to our subject and the class of problems we encounter in our work/research. Unfortunately, the FEA method is normally the first tool of choice in most design offices and consultancies. Many aspects of dynamic material properties are poorly understood together with lack of suitable experimental data for validation could lead to inefficient designs or worse potentially unsafe designs.

The trend in engineering education, in general, is to move towards the transferable skills that make graduates more employable. This leaves less space for theory and more reliance on computational methods without fully appreciating the underlying physics of the problem. What can be done to rebalance this trend? It’s not necessary to return to the days when students spent considerable effort in solving problems containing complicated solutions. Rather, more emphasis needs to be given to any errors which might occur in experimental work and to potential errors and limitations in the input and output of numerical solutions and to a deeper interpretation of results.

Keynote Address

Graham then delivered his keynote address entitled “Explosive loading of ductile square plates – a review of analytical methods”, by Graham K Schleyer and Norman Jones.

Invited Presentations

The conference programme was also enhanced by a series of invited presentations:

• “Reworking a simple model for deformable projectile penetration into thick targets”, by Stavros Syngellakis, Wessex Institute, UK.
• “Using a discrete element approach to model impact of rigid projectile on concrete targets”, by Serguei Potapov, Electricite de France, France.
• “Experimental tests on personal safety devices for height fall”, by Juan Carlos Pomares Torres, University of Alicante, Spain.
• “Experimental techniques for high-rate structural component characterization”, by Lauren Stewart, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA

A special session on the theme “Experimental Studies on Force Protection” was organised by Professor Lauren Stewart, a member of the conference’s International Scientific Advisory Committee (ISAC).

Conference Dinner

The ISAC met over dinner to discuss how the meeting could be improved in 2020. The dinner took place in a private room at Restaurant Oriza, offering Andalusian cuisine and an ideal atmosphere for the committee’s deliberations. Among the issues discussed were titles for sessions, WIT’s marketing strategy, attracting contributions from industry, promote the series through contacts. Several new topics were suggested as well as nominations of colleagues to join the Committee. There were also some proposals for suitable venues for the next meeting in two years time. These as well as other possibilities will be carefully examined by the Conference Organising Committee.

The conference dinner was held at "El Patio Sevillano" which is a traditional staged flamenco venue tiled in traditional style, with a gallery for the audience, and with dinner tables on the ground floor periphery. Flamenco dancers and musicians performed almost continuously, during which the delegates enjoyed a dinner comprising dishes of typical Andalucian gastronomy.

The dancers were on a stage at the front, and were accompanied by Spanish classical and folk guitar music, played by two local musicians who performed all their music from memory, and who had the ability to play at amazing speed. The female dancers were wearing the traditional flamenco style of full length colourful and frilled dresses and played castanets loudly as they danced, while stamping their feet to a different beat. There was also traditional singing to accompany the dancers and at one point there was a traditional solo song performed by one of the female dancers. There was also a short excerpt from Bizet's Carmen performed by a trio of singers and dancers and the conclusion to the show was all the dancers performing together on the stage. The quality of the show and the friendly atmosphere helped to strengthen links among the conference delegates.

Closing of the Conference

In his final remarks, Graham thanked the conference coordinator Priscilla Cook for all her hard work in the smooth running of the conference and to the participants for their support. Both the papers and presentations were of a high quality and range that notably impressed the advisory committee and the participants similarly. In particular, one experienced consultant’s testimonial was well received, noting the need to incorporate modelling, experimentation and design into research and project work for a balanced approach.

The Conference was closed by Stavros who thanked the delegates for coming in the name of WIT and, in particular, for contributing to yet another successful conference. He hoped that the conference met all their expectations and that they found time to visit the sites of Seville, a city more than 2,200 years old with a distinct personality and a large and well-preserved historical centre. He looked forward to their participation at the next meeting, which will be reconvened in 2020 in a location and at a date to be announced shortly.

Related Conferences

HPSM/OPTI 2018, 11 - 13 July, 2018

Materials Characterisation 2019, 22 – 24 May 2019

CMEM 2019, 3 – 5 June 2019

ERES 2019, 5 - 7 June 2019

SAFE 2019, 23 – 25 September, 2019

FRIAR 2018 - Post Conference Report

6th International Conference on Flood and Urban Water Management

23 - 25 May 2018
A Coruña, Spain

Overview

The sixth International Conference on Flood and Urban Water Management took place in A Coruña, Spain, co-organised by Wessex Institute, University of A Coruña, Birmingham City University and Polytechnic of Milan. The conference represented by Professors Santiago Hernandez and Stefano Mammbretti, both Directors of WIT, Professor David Proverbs of Birmingham City University and Professor Jeronimo Puertas of the University of Coruña.

The meeting was sponsored by WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment and the International Journal of Safety and Security Engineering.

Located in the verdant agricultural region of Galicia, La Coruña is home to Roman remains, castles, museums and sumptuous produce markets, and is perhaps most famous for its excellent fish and seafood. A new promenade frames the waterfront, extending the length of the city and linking its many attractions, shopping areas and beaches. The nineteenth-century centre is noted for its unusual Galerias – glazed balconies on the front of the buildings - which allow the city’s residents to enjoy the Atlantic views year round. A landmark of the city, the 2,000-year-old tower of Hercules is the oldest lighthouse in existence, a World Heritage site and National Monument of Spain.

Flooding is a global phenomenon which each year claims numerous lives worldwide. When flooding occurs in urban areas, it can cause substantial damage to property as well as threaten human life. The increased frequency of flooding in the last few years, coupled with climate change predictions and urban development, suggests that these impacts are set to worsen in the future. How we respond and adapt to these challenges is key to developing our long-term resilience at the property, community and city scale.

Apart from the obvious physical impacts of floods, there are other indirect losses which are often overlooked. These are associated with disruption to normal life as well as longer-term health issues, such as community displacements and stress-related illnesses. Vulnerable communities are often exposed to sudden and life-threatening events.

FRIAR sought to develop an improved understanding of emerging flood risk management and urban water management challenges.

Opening of the Conference

Santiago welcomed the delegates to the city and explained the logistics of the conference. He then gave a presentation of WIT’s activities, including the numerous conferences and journals, followed by a description of the research carried out at the Institute. He illustrated the importance of these meetings to fulfil the objectives of the Institute, as the dissemination of knowledge. This is carried out in different ways, in addition to courses and conferences and carrying out R&D work for industry and the publication of scientific papers and books. He also mentioned the Medals and Awards, given every year to exceptional scientists, which include the Prigogine Medal after the late Nobel Prize Ilia Prigogine.

The Institute has launched a series of Journals and some are very relevant to the FRIAR conference such as the Journal on Safety and Security Engineering, a collaboration between the Institute and the University of Rome. Urban Water issues may also be addressed by the International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning or the International Journal of Environmental Impacts.

WIT is committed to the dissemination of scientific information. Because of that, it was decided to make all the papers published by the Institute Open Access through its associated company WIT Press. Papers can now be downloaded from the Institute’s eLibrary for free (www.witpress.com/elibrary), and the Institute encourages the dissemination throughout the world.

David Proverbs addressed the conference in the name of the co-organising Institution, Birmingham City University, where he is Associate Dean of International Affairs. David is also a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Building. In addition, he has over twenty years’ experience in Flood Risk Management and is Co-Editor of the Structural Survey Journal of Building Pathology and Refurbishment.

David referred to the history of the meeting which originated in London, where it was held in association with the Institution of Civil Engineers. Since then the Conference has been reconvened in different locations throughout Europe and has always been very successful in bringing together people from different countries and backgrounds.

In his opening address, David also referred to the importance of the urban water infrastructures that, as our cities continue to expand, need to be re-evaluated and adapted to new requirements related to the increase in population and the growing areas under urbanization. This series of Conferences also considers these problems and deals with two main topics: water supply systems and urban drainage.

He stated the importance of international collaboration in the field of Flood Risk Management and the need to cooperate across national boundaries. In this regard the success of the Risk meeting to attract people from so many different parts of the world is a major advantage.

The fundamentals of Flood Management has recently changed, with more emphasis being put into working in harmony with nature, taking advantage of the landscape and wetlands to regulate water flows and prevent floods.

Invited Speakers

The Conference programme included a series of invited presentations by well-known colleagues, starting with the keynote address by Jessica Lamond, University of the West of England, UK entitled “The evidence base for property flood resilience”.

Other invited presentations were as follows:

• “Towards a conceptual framework for property level flood resilience”, by David Proverbs, Birmingham City University, UK.
• “Field study of SS discharge from combined sewer system of highly urbanized area”, by Tadaharu Ishikawa, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan.
• “Proposition of fractal dimension application for the estimation of water delivery certainty”, by Dariusz Kowalski Lublin University of Technology, Poland.
• “A physically-based approach for evaluating the hydraulic invariance in urban transformations”, by Roberto Magini, University of Rome-La Sapienza, Italy.”
• “Evaluating the suitability of Airbus worldDEM for flood modelling in data-scarce regions: the case study of the Megaruma river in Mozambique”, by Maria Bermudez, University of A Coruña, Spain.
• “Simulation of chlorine concentration changes in a real water supply network using Epanet 2.0 and WaterGems software packages”, by Beata Kowalska, Lublin University of Technology, Poland.
• “Towards complete property-level flood protection of domestic buildings in the UK”, by Jessica Lamond, University of the West of England, UK.
• “Problems of rainwater management in the city on the example of Warsaw”, by Jaroslaw Chudzicki, Warsaw University of Technology, Poland.
• “Problems, perceptions and solutions to increased flooding threats in urban areas in the Pacific Northwest, USA”, by Robert Mahler, University of Idaho, United States.
• “Infiltration-exfiltration system for stormwater runoff volume and peak attenuation”, by Gianfranco Becciu, Politecnico di Milano, Italy.
• “Impact analysis of the precision of mapping the operational conditions of the water supply system on the accuracy of the hydraulic model calibration”, by Izabela Zimoch, Silesian University of Technology, Poland.
• “Flood damage assessment”, by Martina Zelenakova, Technical University of Kosice, Slovakia.

Excursion

On the afternoon on the first day of the conference, an excursion was arranged to the University of A Coruña. The Center for Technological Innovation in Construction and Civil Engineering (CITEEC) was created with the purpose of improving investigation and research in the field of construction, specifically civil engineering, from an experimental analysis approach.

CITEEC currently supports ten areas of activity, represented by these laboratories:

• Construction Laboratory
• Laboratory of Hydraulics
• Laboratory of Instrumentation and Intelligent Systems in Civil Engineering
• Laboratory of Numerical Methods in Engineering
• Laboratory of Ports and Coasts
• Laboratory of Railway Engineering and Transport
• Laboratory of Roads and Geotechnics
• Laboratory of Rock Mechanics
• Laboratory of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering
• Wind Tunnel Laboratory for Aeroelastic Testing

Every laboratory generates their own projects and uses their own equipment and facilities, which are all part of the center.

CITEEC is directly linked to the University of A Coruña and was created in 2000 (inaugurated on June the 6th, 2000). CITEEC develops three key areas of activity, coinciding with the three pillars of university research:

• Promotion of basic research: Conducting studies to expand knowledge in all fields related to civil engineering. The realization of doctoral theses and degree dissertations is the mechanism that promotes this kind of research, closely linked to the university departments.
• Applied research: Using any of the usual mechanisms for raising funds for research (Autonomous Region government, Ministry for Science and Education, EU), the CITEEC serves as a support for research projects in collaboration with companies and agencies.
• Consultancy to companies and institutions: The CITEEC is a very remarkable framework, unique in the Autonomous Region of Galicia, available to businesses and institutions through cooperation agreements to support the implementation of projects or activities that require physical model studies, or infrastructure studies in detail.

Conference Dinner

The Conference dinner took place at Restaurant Domus, situated inside the Domus Museum, and offers wonderful views of the bay and city of A Coruña. The delegates were treated to traditional Galician food and fine local wines. A quartet of Galician folklore musicians composed by two bagpipes and two drums interpreted sons of Celtic origin provide entertainment in the dinner.

The International Scientific Advisory Committee of the conference met over dinner in a local restaurant. The organisers thanked the committee members for their help in reviewing abstracts and papers, thus ensuring the high quality of presentations. New conference topics were discussed, as well as future locations.

Closing of the Conference

The meeting was closed by Professors Stefano Mambretti and Jeronimo Puerta who expressed their appreciation to the delegates for having participated in FRIAR 2018 and hoped that they would consider attending the next meeting in the series.

Related Conferences

SDP 2018, 4 - 6 September 2018

Disaster Management 2019, 25 - 27 September 2019

Water Resources Management 2019, 7 - 9 May 2019

SAFE 2019, 23 - 25 September 2019

Water Pollution 2018 - Post Conference Report

14th International Conference on Monitoring, Modelling and Management of Water Pollution

22 - 24 May 2018
A Coruña, Spain

Overview

The 14th International Conference on Monitoring, Modelling and Management of Water Pollution took place in A Coruña, Spain organised by the Wessex Institute and University of A Coruña and chaired by Professors Santiago Hernandez and Stefano Mambretti, both Directors of WIT. The meeting was sponsored by WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment and the International Journal of Environmental Impacts.

The meeting has been held in a variety of different locations every two years since it started in Southampton in 1991. The Conference provides a forum for discussion amongst scientists, managers and academics from different areas of water contamination. The wealth of information exchanged in this international meeting continues to be of great benefit to all involved with water pollution problems.

Located in the verdant agricultural region of Galicia, La Coruña is home to Roman remains, castles, museums and sumptuous produce markets, and is perhaps most famous for its excellent fish and seafood. A new promenade frames the waterfront, extending the length of the city and linking its many attractions, shopping areas and beaches. The nineteenth century centre is noted for its unusual Galerias – glazed balconies on the front of the buildings - which allow the city’s residents to enjoy the Atlantic views year round. A landmark of the city, the 2,000 years old tower of Hercules is the oldest lighthouse in existence, a World Heritage site and National Monument of Spain.

The environmental problems caused by the increase of pollutant loads discharged into natural water bodies require the formation of a framework for regulation and control. This framework needs to be based on scientific results that relate pollutant discharge with changes in water quality. The results of these studies allow industry to apply more efficient methods of controlling and treating waste loads, and water authorities to enforce appropriate regulations regarding this matter. Environmental problems are essentially interdisciplinary. Engineers and scientists working in this field must be familiar with a wide range of issues and, in view of the scarcity of available data, it is important that experiences are shared on an international basis.

Opening of the Conference

Stefano opened the meeting by explaining the importance of the conference series to fulfil WIT’s objectives, ie the transfer of knowledge at international level. The Institute has carried out several research projects in the past on environmental related issues and it is always interested in this scientific field.

Over the years WIT conferences have published a substantial number of papers which, since 1993, have been archived in the Institute’s eLibrary (www.witpress.com/elibrary), which are Open Access to ensure the maximum dissemination to the work done by the scientific community. In addition to Conferences, WIT organises a series of short courses, some of them directed towards industry.

Research activities continue to be carried out at the Institute campus in the New Forest in England. There, further advances continue to be made in the theory and applications of the Boundary Element Method (BEM), a technique originated in the research carried out by the WIT group when at Southampton University. Since 1986, when the Wessex Institute was created, the work has been centred in the New Forest.

The R&D on Boundary Elements continues to generate better computational tools for the solution of scientific and engineering problems. Some applications were shown to demonstrate the versatility of the method and how it can be applied to solve a wide variety of problems.

WIT Press, the publishing arm of the Institute, has launched a series of interdisciplinary journals in fields not properly covered by other publications. The International Journals published by WIT Press are:

• Sustainable Development and Planning
• Design and Nature, and Ecodynamics
• Safety and Security Engineering
• Computational Methods and Experimental Measurements
• Energy Production and Management
• Heritage Architecture
• Transport Development and Integration
• Environmental Impacts: Management, Mitigation and Recovery

These journals were launched in an effort to support the setting up of scientific publications independent of major commercial companies. The most appropriate for this meeting is Environmental Impacts.

Stefano finished his introduction by wishing the participants a successful conference and thanking them for their support of Wessex Institute activities.

Invited Speakers

The Conference sessions were enhanced by a series of invited lectures, ie:

• “SEDUNIT Project: study of the accumulation erosion and sediment transport of cohesive solids in combined sewer systems”, by Jose Anta Alvarez, University of A Coruña, Spain.
• “Dredging works monitoring in the Port of Civitavecchia (Rome, Italy): sedimentological and geo-chemical investigations”, by Giuseppe Zappala, National Research Council, Italy.
• “Monitoring micropollutants in surface and subsurface runoff in the Swist river basin” by Ekkehard Christoffels, Erftverband Water Association, Germany.
• “Public concerns about water pollution between 2002 and 2017 in the Pacific Northwest, USA”, by Robert Mahler, University of Idaho, United States.

Conference Sessions

The papers in the conference were classified in the following sessions:

• Water contamination
• Wastewater management
• Groundwater and aquifers
• Freshwater quality
• Water contamination
• Water management

Excursion

During the second day of the conference an excursion was arranged to the University of A Coruña. The Center for Technological Innovation in Construction and Civil Engineering (CITEEC) was created with the purpose of improving investigation and research in the field of construction, specifically civil engineering, from an experimental analysis approach.

CITEEC currently supports ten areas of activity, represented by these laboratories:

• Construction Laboratory
• Laboratory of Hydraulics
• Laboratory of Instrumentation and Intelligent Systems in Civil Engineering
• Laboratory of Numerical Methods in Engineering
• Laboratory of Ports and Coasts
• Laboratory of Railway Engineering and Transport
• Laboratory of Roads and Geotechnics
• Laboratory of Rock Mechanics
• Laboratory of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering
• Wind Tunnel Laboratory for Aeroelastic Testing

Every laboratory generates their own projects and uses their own equipment and facilities, which are all part of the center.

CITEEC is directly linked to the University of A Coruña and was created in 2000 (inaugurated on June the 6th, 2000). CITEEC develops three key areas of activity, coinciding with the three pillars of university research:

• Promotion of basic research: Conducting studies to expand knowledge in all fields related to civil engineering. The realization of doctoral theses and degree dissertations is the mechanism that promotes this kind of research, closely linked to the university departments.
• Applied research: Using any of the usual mechanisms for raising funds for research (Autonomous Region government, Ministry for Science and Education, EU), the CITEEC serves as a support for research projects in collaboration with companies and agencies.
• Consultancy to companies and institutions: The CITEEC is a very remarkable framework, unique in the Autonomous Region of Galicia, available to businesses and institutions through cooperation agreements to support the implementation of projects or activities that require physical model studies, or infrastructure studies in detail.

Conference Dinner

The International Scientific Advisory Committee of the conference met over dinner in a local restaurant. The organisers thanked the committee members for their help in reviewing abstracts and papers, thus ensuring the high quality of presentations. New conference topics were discussed, as well as future locations and the possibility of adding new members to the committee.

The Conference dinner took place at Restaurant Domus, situated inside the Domus Museum, and offers wonderful views of the bay and city of A Coruña. The delegates were treated to traditional Galician food and fine local wines together with a music quartet.

Closing of the Conference

The conference was closed by Santiago who expressed his appreciation to the delegates for having participated in Water Pollution 2018 and hoped that they would consider attending the next meeting in the series.

Related Conferences

SDP 2018, 4 - 6 September 2018

Water Resources Management 2019, 7 - 9 May 2019

River Basin Management 2019, 8 - 10 May 2019

Coastal Cities 2019, 11 - 13 September 2019

Water & Society 2019, 2 - 4 October 2019

Complex Systems 2018 - Post Conference Report

The New Forest Complex Systems Conference 2018

14 - 16 May 2018
New Forest, UK

Overview

The International Conference on Complex Systems took place in the New Forest National Park, home to the Wessex Institute. The Meeting was organised by that Institute and sponsored by WIT Transactions on Engineering Sciences and the International Journal of Design & Nature and Ecodynamics.

The conference brought together practitioners of many different disciplines interested in developing and discussing new applications for solving complex issues using multi-agent technology and similar distributed approaches.

Complex Systems occur in an infinite variety of problems, not only in the realm of physical sciences and engineering, but encompassing fields as diverse as economy, the environment, humanities, social and political sciences.

By now the conference is well established and is distinguished by its friendly and informal atmosphere in which it is easy for participants to help each other to further advance their appreciation of the subject of managing complexity.

Dr Stavros Syngellakis and Prof George Rzevski, both Directors of WIT, were the Co-chairmen of the meeting.

Opening of the Conference

In his opening address, George welcomed the delegates then paid tribute to Prof Carlos Brebbia and referred to the important role of their friendship in establishing this series of conferences. The aim has been to have a small group of delegates for a more effective exchange of ideas. Previous conferences have been particularly successful in applying complex systems thinking in various fields.

Stavros welcomed the delegates to the conference and referred to WIT’s important function of disseminating knowledge and acting as a forum for international collaboration. He explained how WIT is renowned throughout the world as a centre for innovative computer solutions, having developed its own technique (the Boundary Element Method) which is now widely used in engineering and sciences. The Institute is constantly applying its computer tools to a variety of new problems and it is this process of continuous evolution which is the main reason for the success of WIT’s work.

The conference programme as well as its cooperation with other institutions are sources of inspiration in this regard. Therefore, the Complex Systems meeting is essential to attain new ideas and for the Institute’s research to evolve.

Another important activity of WIT is the dissemination of knowledge through its WIT Press publishing arm. The aim is to disseminate the work as widely as possible. All conference and journal papers are now available Open Access in the WIT eLibrary at (www.witpress.com/elibrary), from where they can be downloaded. The papers presented at this conference, for instance, are published in the prestigious International Journal of Design & Nature and Ecodynamics, whose Honorary Editor is the late Ilya Prigogine, who is acknowledged as the originator of complexity theory.

The Institution, in conjunction with the University of Siena, launched an Award in Prigogine’s honour following his death in 2003. A medal is given annually to a renowned scientist whose work relates to the pioneering research of Prigogine.

Stavros ended his introductory remarks by thanking the delegates for participating in this important conference, and hoping that they will find the meeting useful and be able to make new contacts.

Keynote Address

George then delivered his keynote address entitled “Coevolution of technology, business and society”.

He reviewed social changes created during technological paradigm shifts in the past with a view to establishing patterns of changes that can help in forecasting the social change that are likely to follow the current technological revolution.

He explained that society invests into entrepreneurs and inventors who create new technology, which, in turn, induces structural changes into economy by creating demand for new jobs that require new skills, and in the process, destroying the old employment opportunities.

He emphasised the importance of digital technology in managing complex systems ending with an interesting paradox: complexity, caused by digital communication can be managed only by employing digital intelligence. In other words, digital technology is responsible for an issue, which can be resolved only by employing digital technology.

He concluded that, by understanding patterns of socio-economic changes that were caused by technological paradigm switches in the past, we can reasonably predict the impact of digital technology on business and society in the near future.

Invited Speakers

The meeting was enhanced by a series of invited presentations, as follows:

• “On people and complexity in healthcare service supply”, by Brian White, Complexity Are Us, United States. The paper was presented by its co-author, Per Engelseth.
• “Conceptual design of smart farming solution for precise agriculture”, by Per Engelseth, Molde University College, Norway.
• “Toward the digital platform and smart services for managing space traffic, by Petr Skobelev, Smart Solutions Ltd, Russia.
• “The beauty of architectural complexity”, by Robert Barelkowski, West-Pomeranian University of Technology, Poland.
• “A complexity framework for consensus and conflict”, by Peter Mitic, Santander UK, United Kingdom.

ISAC Dinner

A dinner for the International Scientific Advisory Committee was held at the Balmer Lawn Hotel, where the future of the conference was discussed, including possible topics and nominations for new members of the committee.

Excursion

On the middle day an excursion was arranged to Beaulieu where the delegates had the opportunity to view the National Motor Museum and wander around the grounds, before being given a guided tour of Palace House.

Beaulieu’s National Motor Museum has over 250 vehicles, with the oldest dating back to 1875, and has one of the finest collections of cars, motorcycles and motoring memorabilia in the world. There is also a network of footpaths around the grounds, with beautiful nature walks and Victorian kitchen and flower gardens.

The delegates then made their way to Palace House, which has been the Montagu family home since 1538. It was remodelled and extended during the 1800s and is a fine example of a Victorian country house. Guides, dressed as Victorian household staff, led them on a tour of the building.

Conference Dinner

The conference dinner was held at the Cambium restaurant in Careys Manor Hotel, in the New Forest. Hand painted English trees adorn the walls, the chairs are upholstered in moss like fabric and bespoke oak leaf golden screens separate the diners. The delegates were offered traditional dishes, using local produce, and fine wines in a friendly and congenial atmosphere.

Panel Discussion

On the last day there was a panel discussion on the topic of “The impact of digital technology on business, society and politics”.

All delegates attending the last session of the conference were invited to participate in a very lively discussion on the scope of the subject matter, its relevance to the needs of a modern society, and how to widen its appeal among members of industry and academia.

Closing of the Conference

In his concluding remarks, George emphasised the importance of publicising the Complex Systems thinking and methodology as widely as possible in order to attract more participants to future conferences covering an even wider range of problems in all scientific fields. He praised very warmly the organisation of the conference and thanked the delegates for their contributions and active participation.

The conference was closed by Stavros, who also thanked the delegates for attending and hoped they would participate in other future WIT conferences.

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