HPSM/OPTI 2018 - Post Conference Report

The 2018 International Conference on High Performance and Optimum Design of Structures and Materials

11 - 13 July, 2018
Ljubljana, Slovenia

Overview

The 2018 International Conference on High Performance and Optimum Design of Structures and Materials took place in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The meeting was organised by the Wessex Institute, UK and the University of A Coruña, both represented by Prof Santiago Hernandez; the University of Maribor, Slovenia, represented by Prof Stojan Kravanja; and the Free University of Brussels, Belgium represented by Prof W. Patrick De Wilde, who is also a member of WIT’s Board of Directors.

The meeting followed the success of a series of conferences on Structures and Materials and their Optimum Design that started in Southampton as long ago as 1989. As the meetings evolved they gave rise to the current series, which started in Seville in 2002, followed by Ancona (2004), Ostend (2006), the Algarve (2008), Tallinn (2010), the New Forest, home of the Wessex Institute (2012), Ostend (2014) and Siena (2016).

The conference addressed issues involving advanced types of structures, particularly those based on new concepts or new materials and their system design. Contributions highlighted the latest development in design, optimisation, manufacturing and experimentation in those areas. The meeting also aimed to find higher performance sustainable materials.

Opening of the Conference

The meeting was opened by Professor Stojan Kravanja from the University of Maribor who welcomed the attendees to Slovenia and specifically to Ljubljana, and by Prof W. Patrick De Wilde, who described the work of the Wessex Institute which is committed through its series of conferences and courses to provide an interchange of information and the development of joint projects and networks.

Following this Prof Patrick De Wilde gave a tribute to the founder of the Wessex Institute, the late Prof Carlos A Brebbia, who died earlier this year.

Keynote Address

The technical part of the conference started with a Keynote Address from Prof. Stojan Kravanja entitled “The MINLP optimization of structures”.

Invited Speakers

This was followed by a series of invited addresses given by well-known researchers, which enhanced the conference:

• “Synthesis and optimization of engineering systems” by Milos Bogataj, University of Maribor, Slovenia.
• “A 2.1GPa triple-phase spring steel” by Derek Northwood, University of Windsor, Canada.
• “Optimization of high-performance concrete post-tensioned box-girder pedestrian bridges” by Victor Yepes, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain.
• “Evaluation of tensile strength of glass from combined experimental and numerical analysis of laminated glass” by Michal Sejnoha, Czech Technical University, Czech Republic.
• “Characterisation of epoxy nanocomposites reinforced by potassium titanate whisker” by Hitoshi Takagi, Tokushima University, Japan.
• “Experiences on structural optimization under uncertainty in aerospace components” by Aitor Baldomir, University of A Coruña, Spain.

Conference Sessions

The papers presented at the meeting covered a wide variety of topics, grouped under the following themes:

• Design optimisation in engineering
• Materials characterisation
• Composite materials
• Bridge optimisation
• Sustainable approaches
• Structural optimisation
• Size and topology optimisation

Conference Publication

Papers presented at this conference will appear in Vol 175 of the WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment (ISSN1743-3541). All papers presented at the meeting are now available Open Access in the eLibrary of the Wessex Institute (https://www.witpress.com/elibrary) from where they can be freely downloaded.

A few papers have been selected for publication in the International Journal of Computational Methods and Experimental Measurements. The objective of this Journal is to provide the scientific community with a forum to present papers on the interaction and complementary aspects of computational methods and experimental measurements, and stress the importance of their harmonious development and integration.

ISAC Dinner

The International Scientific Advisory Committee (ISAC) of the Conference met over dinner to discuss new topics for the Conference and ways in which the meeting could be improved when it is reconvened. Several new topics were proposed as well as the manner in which the conference should evolve. Nominations were made for the ISAC and a discussion took place regarding the most suitable location for the next conference. The meeting was closed by the Chairmen expressing their gratitude to the committee members for their help in reviewing the conference papers and promoting the meeting.

Conference Dinner

The Conference Dinner took place in the Atelje restaurant which is famous for its sophisticated and creative cuisine. During the dinner, Professor Kravanja gave a speech about the many artistic places of Ljubljana and mentioned some of the architects and engineers responsible for their design.

Closing of the Conference

The Conference was closed by Patrick de Wilde and Stojan Kravanja who thanked the delegates for coming and hoped that they would attend other WIT Conferences.

Related Conferences

BEM/MRM 41, 11 - 13 September 2018

Materials Characterisation 2019, 22 – 24 May 2019

CMEM 2019, 3 – 5 June 2019

ERES 2019, 5 - 7 June 2019

STREMAH 2019, 7 – 9 October 2019

AFM 2018 - Post Conference Report

12th International Conference on Advances in Fluid Mechanics

10 - 12 July, 2018
Ljubljana, Slovenia

Overview

The 12th International Conference on Advances in Fluid Mechanics took place in Ljubljana, Slovenia, organised by Wessex Institute, represented by Prof Santiago Hernandez, and the University of Maribor, co-chaired by Dr Jure Ravnik, and alongside him Professor Leopold Skerget from the Slovenian Academy of Engineering.

The AFM series of meetings has had a long history since starting in New Orleans in 1996. This was followed by Udine (1998); Montreal (2000); Ghent (2002); Lisboa (2004); Skiathos (2006); the New Forest, home of the Wessex Institute (2008); The Algarve (2010); Split (2012); A Coruña (2014) and Ancona (2016).

Opening of the Conference

The meeting was opened by Dr Jure Ravnik from the University of Maribor who welcomed the attendees to Slovenia and specifically to Ljubljana, and by Professor Santiago Hernandez, Chief Academic Officer of Wessex Institute, who explained some of the activities taking place at the Wessex Institute, which is dedicated to the international dissemination of knowledge, particularly in the field of Physical Sciences and Engineering.

Prof Patrick de Wilde of the Free University of Brussels, Belgium, and member of the Board of Directors of WIT, then paid tribute to the late Prof Carlos A Brebbia, who died earlier this year.

Keynote Address

The conference was enhanced by two keynote addresses:

• “CFD aided design in civil engineering structures: current examples and foreseeable future”, by Felix Nieto, University of A Coruña, Spain.
• “Fundamental solutions in computational fluid dynamics”, by Leopold Skerget, Slovenian Academy of Engineering, Slovenia.

Invited Speakers

There were also a series of invited presentations:

• “A review of modelling approaches for flow and heat transfer in nanofluids”, by Jure Ravnik, University of Maribor, Slovenia.
• “Micro/Nano flows: vorticity generation”, by Trevor Moulden, University of Tennessee Space Institute, USA.
• “An analytical study of the early stages of unsteady free convective flow from a differentially heated rotation sphere at large Grashof numbers”, by Serge D’Alessio, University of Waterloo, Canada.
• “Numerical study of convective heat transfer in inclined porous enclosure saturated with nanofluid”, by Janja Kramer Stajnko, University of Maribor, Slovenia.
• “Pressure loss of CO2 – water two phase flow under different operating conditions”, by Aziz Rahman, Texas A&M University at Qatar, Qatar.

Conference Sessions

The Conference sessions covered a series of interesting papers which were grouped under the following headings:

• Multiphase flow
• Modelling of transport phenomena by BEM and other advanced numerical techniques
• Nanofluids and nanotechnology
• Fluid dynamics and interactions
• Fluid-structure interactions and flows
• Computational methods
• Experimental measurements
• Energy systems

Conference Publication

Papers presented at this conference will appear in Vol 120 of the WIT Transactions on Engineering Sciences (ISSN 1743-3533). All papers presented at the meeting are now available Open Access in the eLibrary of the Wessex Institute (https://www.witpress.com/elibrary) from where they can be freely downloaded.

A few papers have been selected for publication in the International Journal of Computational Methods and Experimental Measurements. The objective of this Journal is to provide the scientific community with a forum to present papers on the interaction and complementary aspects of computational methods and experimental measurements, and stress the importance of their harmonious development and integration.

ISAC Dinner

The International Scientific Advisory Committee (ISAC) met over dinner to discuss the conference objectives and review the topics. Several suggestions were put forward to improve the conference, amongst them the addition of new topics, when it is reconvened in the future. It was also decided to invite some of the participants to join the ISAC.

Conference Dinner

The Conference Dinner took place in the Atelje restaurant which is famous for its sophisticated and creative cuisine. During the dinner Professor Kravanja gave a speech about the many artistic places of Ljubljana and mentioned some of the architects and engineers responsible of their design.

Closing of the Conference

The Conference was closed by Prof Santiago Hernandez who thanked the delegates for their participation and hoped that they would consider attending the next AFM conference when it is reconvened in 2020. He said that the success of the meeting was due to the quality of the presentations and the number of discussions that took place during the conference.

Related Conferences

Energy Quest 2018, 10 - 12 Sept 2018

Multiphase Flow 2019, 21 - 23 May 2019

CMEM 2019, 3 - 5 June 2019

Air Pollution 2019, 26 - 28 June 2019

Energy and Sustainability 2019, 2 - 5 July 2019

COMPRAIL 2018 - Post Conference Report

16th International Conference on Railway Engineering Design & Operation

2 - 4 July 2018
Lisbon, Portugal

Overview

The 16th International Conference on Railway Engineering Design & Optimisation (COMPRAIL 2018) took place in Lisbon, Portugal. The Conference was organised by the Wessex Institute, UK and represented by Prof. Giorgio Passerini, member of the WIT Board of Directors.

Prof. Norio Tomii of Chiba Institute of Technology, Japan and Eng. Jose Manuel Mera, Politechnic University of Madrid, Spain, Co-chaired the Conference together with Prof. Passerini.

The conference, which started in Frankfurt in 1987, is held every two years in different locations around the world attracts a variety of specialists interested in the development of railways, including managers, consultants, railway engineers, designers of advanced train control systems and computer specialists. It provides a forum for researchers, academics and practitioners involved in railway engineering to present and discuss the latest developments.

Opening of the Conference

The Conference was opened by Giorgio Passerini who welcomed the delegates to the conference, before paying tribute to the founder of the Wessex Institute, the late Prof. Carlos A Brebbia.

Giorgio then mentioned that the main objective of WIT is the dissemination of knowledge, with particular emphasis on science and engineering. Another way in which this is achieved is by the publication of papers from conferences and Journals, through its publishing arm, WIT Press.

Prof. Jose Manuel Mera, also welcomed the delegates to Lisbon and made a brief speech also to remind the last conference held in Madrid and the co-operation with the Wessex Institute and the late Prof. Brebbia.

Invited Speakers

There were a series of invited lectures on advanced topics of research and applications, as follows:

• “Transient stability of a rotatory frequency converter fed railway, interconnected with a parallel low frequency high voltage transmission system”, by John Laury, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden.
• “Impact of the method of rail track routing on the thermal regime of subgrade structure – numerical modelling of non-traffic load”, by Stanislav Hodas, University of Zilina, Slovakia.
• “Enhanced efficiency in railway driving: development of ECOS (energy consumption optimization software) tool”, by Jose Manuel Mera, Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain.
• “Train rescheduling generation considering rolling stock types and closed-off area”, by Teruomi Katori, Nihon University, Japan.
• “Random delays forming in the dense train flow”, by Boris Davydov, Far Eastern State Transport University, Russia.
• “Contribution to the modification of input data of subgrade structure dimensioning for non-traffic load according to the ZSR methodology”, by Libor Izvolt & Stanislav Hodas University of Zilina, Slovakia.
• “A framework for certification of train location determination systems based on GNSS for ERTMS/ETCS” by Ales Filip, University of Pardubice, Czech Republic.
• “Recent restoration of skip-stop operation in the Korean urban railway”, by Suk Mun Oh, Korea Railroad Research Institute, South Korea.
• “Noise reduction for ballasted track: a multi-dimensional analysis”, by John Armstrong, University of Southampton, UK.

Conference Sessions

The papers presented during the Conference were classified under the following session headings:

• Advanced train control
• Energy supply and consumption
• Scheduling
• Operational planning & quality
• Computer simulations
• Train control systems
• Safety and security
• Risk management
• Railway vehicle dynamics
• Intelligent railway systems
• Track and design maintenance

There were numerous occasions for holding informal discussions during the coffee breaks and the excellent complimentary lunches that the hotel prepared.

Conference Publication

Papers presented at this conference will appear in Vol. 181 of the WIT Transactions on the Built Environment (ISSN 1743-3509). All papers presented at the meeting since the 1994 conference are available Open Access in the eLibrary of the Wessex Institute (https://www.witpress.com/elibrary), from where they can be freely downloaded by any interested parties.

A few papers have been selected for publication in the International Journal of Transport Development and Integration. This Journal covers all transportation modes and the general topic of transport systems, with particular emphasis on their integration and harmonisation. The customers’ requirements for better transportation systems and the need for a healthier environment are topics covered by the Journal. The Journal also reports on advanced railway transport modes. The variety of topics covered by the Journal reflects the complex interaction of transportation systems and the environment, and the need to establish integrated strategies.

ISAC Dinner

The meeting of the International Scientific Advisory Committee (ISAC) of the Conference took place over dinner. The meeting focused on the discussion of which new topics should be included in the Call for Papers, aiming for the continuous evolution of the conference. Other topics of discussion were the organisation of the Committee and the location for the 2020 conference.

Conference Dinner

The Conference banquet took place within the Castle of St George, where the delegates were given a unique opportunity to visit the Castle after closing time, without any other tourists present. The venue was the wonderful restaurant situated within the castle, with windows that allowed the guests to continue admiring the wonderful panorama. Giorgio made a brief speech to thank delegates and to say that COMPRAIL always attracts a big number of delegates and a high level of papers.

Closing of the Conference

The conference was closed by Giorgio, who thanked the delegates for attending and hoped that they would consider attending COMPRAIL 2020 as well as other WIT conferences. Giorgio said that the meeting had been highly successful in terms of quality of the presentations and the number of discussions that took place during the conference.

Related Conferences

Urban Transport 2018, 19 - 21 September 2018

ERES 2019, 5 - 7 June 2019

Urban Transport 2019, 25 - 27 June 2019

SAFE 2019, 23 - 25 September 2019

Disaster Management 2019, 25 - 27 September 2019

Environmental Impact 2018 - Post Conference Report

4th International Conference on Environmental and Economic Impact on Sustainable Development

20 - 22 June 2018
Naples, Italy

Overview

The fourth International Conference on Environmental and Economic Impact on Sustainable Development took place in Naples, Italy, organised by Wessex Institute, represented by Professors Giorgio Passerini and Juan Casares Long, and Parthenope University of Naples, represented by Prof Giovanni Perillo.

The conference was sponsored by WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment and the International Journal of Environmental Impacts.

Situated in the southern Italian region of Campania, Naples is one of Italy’s oldest and most important cities. The birthplace of some of Italy’s most iconic food and drink, good restaurants and cafés are plentiful in Naples, serving fresh local seafood and regional specialities. The historic centre is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site and offers a wealth of interesting architecture, monumental castles and museums, as well as galleries exhibiting works by some of Italy’s most distinguished artists. The surrounding area and coastline provide picturesque views of Capri and numerous small islands, while nearby Mount Vesuvius and the Roman remains of Pompeii and Herculaneum remain some of the most notable sites in southern Italy.

The conference took place in Villa Doria D’Angri, the most important neoclassical villa in the famous district of Posillipo. It was commissioned by Prince Marcantonio Doria d'Angri (1809-1837), a leading exponent of the family of Genoese origins. The work, through the design and supervision of the architect Bartolomeo Grasso, was completed in 1833. The view of the Gulf from the windows of Villa Doria d'Angri is so beautiful that Wagner, admiring it as a guest in 1880, eventually was inspired to compose the Parsifal, one of the most important musical masterpieces of all time. Wagner came to Naples with the royal train of Ludwig of Bavaria, was a guest at the villa for eight months, completed the Parsifal, and wrote the autobiographical book "My life". On the patio facing the “Salone” of the Villa, on 22 May 1880, the great Joseph Rubinstein premiered at the piano the music that accompanies the stage metamorphosis of the 1st act of Parsifal while everyone enjoyed the magnificent panorama at sunset from the Villa. Since then, the room where Wagner stayed has been called the "Wagner Room". It is today one of the buildings of the University “La Parthenope” and hosts a part of the Museum of the old Naval School of Naples.

Opening of the Conference

The Conference was opened by Prof Giorgio Passerini and Prof Juan Casares Long, Directors of WIT who welcomed the delegates in the name of the Wessex Institute and firstly paid tribute to its founder, the late Prof Carlos Brebbia. Carlos was a gifted academic, renowned throughout the world as the originator of the Boundary Element Method, a tool now widely used for practical engineering analysis. Recent developments at the Institute continue to expand its range of applications in a myriad of problems of interest to engineering practitioners. The dissemination of scientific and technical information is one of the primary functions of WIT, together with the continuous research and development of advanced computational tools.

Giorgio explained the function of WIT and that for over a quarter of a century it has organised an International Conference programme on a variety of topics, bringing to the attention of the community the latest developments across interdisciplinary research subjects. This wealth of information is available Open Access in the digital library of the Institute (www.witpress.com/elibrary) where all environmental impact papers can be freely downloaded.

Prof Giovanni Perillo also welcomed the delegates in the name of Prof Alberto Carotenuto, Rector of University “La Parthenope”.

Special Session

A special session was organised by Shahla Wunderlich from Montclair State University, USA, on the topic of “Food and Environment”, which included the following papers:

• Food supply chain in the United States: Potential environmental impact.
• Effective utilization of the stockpiled food in the local government storage through food banks in Japan: reduction of food waste.

Invited Speakers

The conference was further enhanced by a number of invited presentations:

• “Landfill mining intervention on MSW sites”, by Giovanni Perillo, Parthenope University of Naples, Italy.
• “In situ remediation of hexavalent chromium in groundwater: five case studies”, by Roger Olsen, CDM Smith, USA.
• “Challenges in cumulative impact assessment: case studies from Canterbury, New Zealand”, by Bryan Jenkins, University of Canterbury, New Zealand.
• “Environmental impact assessment using a weighted global index: A methodological proposal”, by Admilson Irio Ribeiro, Sao Paulo State University, Brazil.
• “Environmental sustainability and quality of life: implications for psychological interventions”, by Yuri Pykh, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia.
• “Temporal change of indoor-VOC composition – consequences for human health risk assessment”, by Olf Herbarth, University of Leipzig, Germany.
• “Environmental indicators in forest fragments from urban watershed”, by Regina Longo, Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas, Brazil.
• “The impact of a CO2 reduction target on the private car fleet in the Netherlands”, by Jaap Vleugel, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands.

Session Topics

Invited papers were classified in a series of sessions under the following headings:

• Environmental Assessments
• Environmental Policies and Planning
• Remediation
• Development Issues
• Health Risk
• Natural Resources Management
• Energy and the Environment
• Monitoring, Modelling and Forecasting
• Water Resources Management

Conference Dinner

The conference offered numerous opportunities for discussions and networking, bringing together people from different countries to exchange experiences. There were a series of extended coffee breaks and lunches. It was incredible that the delegates had coffee breaks and lunches in the same “Salone” and on the same patio where Wagner and Rubinstein shaped the History of Melodrama.

The Conference Banquet took place at “La Scialuppa” (the Jolly-Boat) within the wonderful “Borgo Marinaro”, the oldest maritime village of Naples located near Castel dell’Ovo. The guests enjoyed freshly caught fish, mussels and the famous “Greco di Tufo” white wine while listening to the most beautiful songs of the Naples’ tradition. A special song was dedicated to the Memory of the late Prof Carlos Brebbia.

The International Scientific Committee of the conference met over dinner to discuss the proceedings and find ways to improve the meeting when it is reconvened in 2020. Several nominations for new Committee members were received and possible locations were suggested, with Santiago de Compostela being the preferred choice of most members.

Closing of the Conference

The conference was closed by Giorgio Passerini and Juan Casares Long who thanked the delegates for coming and hoped that they will consider presenting in Environmental Impact 2020.

Related Conferences

Sustainable Development and Planning 2018, 4 - 6 September 2018

Waste Management 2018, 17 - 19 September 2018

Energy and Sustainability 2019, 3 - 5 July 2019

Sustainable City 2019, 1 - 3 October 2019

Air Pollution 2018 - Post Conference Report

26th International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Air Pollution

19 - 21 June 2018
Naples, Italy

Overview

The 26th International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Air Pollution took place in Naples, Italy, organised by Wessex Institute, represented by Professors Giorgio Passerini and Juan Casares Long, Parthenope University of Naples, represented by Prof Giovanni Perillo, and University of the West of England, represented by Prof James Longhurst and Dr Joanna Barnes.

The meeting was sponsored by WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, and the International Journal of Environmental Impacts.

Situated in the southern Italian region of Campania, Naples is one of Italy’s oldest and most important cities. The birthplace of some of Italy’s most iconic food and drink, good restaurants and cafés are plentiful in Naples, serving fresh local seafood and regional specialities. The historic centre is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site and offers a wealth of interesting architecture, monumental castles and museums, as well as galleries exhibiting works by some of Italy’s most distinguished artists. The surrounding area and coastline provide picturesque views of Capri and numerous small islands, while nearby Mount Vesuvius and the Roman remains of Pompeii and Herculaneum remain some of the most notable sites in southern Italy.

The conference took place in Villa Doria D’Angri, the most important neoclassical villa in the famous district of Posillipo. It was commissioned by Prince Marcantonio Doria d'Angri (1809-1837), a leading exponent of the family of Genoese origins. The work, through the design and supervision of the architect Bartolomeo Grasso, was completed in 1833. The view of the Gulf from the windows of Villa Doria d'Angri is so beautiful that Wagner, admiring it as a guest in 1880, eventually was inspired to compose the Parsifal, one of the most important musical masterpieces of all time. Wagner came to Naples with the royal train of Ludwig of Bavaria, was a guest at the villa for eight months, completed the Parsifal, and wrote the autobiographical book "My life". On the patio facing the “Salone” of the Villa, on 22 May 1880, the great Joseph Rubinstein premiered at the piano the music that accompanies the stage metamorphosis of the 1st act of Parsifal while everyone enjoyed the magnificent panorama at sunset from the Villa. Since then, the room where Wagner stayed has been called the "Wagner Room". It is today one of the buildings of the University “La Parthenope” and hosts a part of the Museum of the old Naval School of Naples.

Opening of the Conference

The conference was opened by Prof Giorgio Passerini and Prof Juan Casares Long, Directors of WIT, who firstly paid tribute to the founder of the Wessex Institute, the late Prof Carlos Brebbia. Carlos was a gifted academic, renowned throughout the world as the originator of the Boundary Element Method, a tool now widely used for practical engineering analysis. Recent developments at the Institute continue to expand its range of applications to a myriad of problems of interest to engineering practitioners. The dissemination of scientific and technical information is one of the primary functions of WIT, together with the continuous research and development of advanced computational tools.

Giorgio explained the function of WIT that has organised, amongst other activities, this International Conference for a quarter of a century, bringing to the attention of the community the latest developments in air pollution research. This wealth of information is available in the digital library of the Institute (www.witpress.com/elibrary) where all air pollution papers can be freely downloaded.

Prof Giovanni Perillo also welcomed the delegates in the name of Prof Alberto Carotenuto, Rector of University “La Parthenope”.

Keynote Address

The keynote address was given by Prof James Longhurst entitled “Analysing Air Pollution and its Management through the Lens of the Unsustainable Development Goals. A Review and Assessment”.

This address provided a high-level assessment of the causes and impacts of air pollution and its management through the lens of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through a literature review and expert assessment process, the impact of air pollution as a barrier to achieving the SDGs was considered. The enabling contribution of air quality management was also assessed. The assessment considered the individual goal level as well as providing a synoptic overview of the 17 interconnected goals. The issues of air quality, air pollution and its management were not clearly identified in any of the 17 headline goals but to varying degrees were directly or indirectly present in some of the underpinning targets or indicators within the SDG framework. Air pollution was identified in this assessment as a direct enabler for each of the individual goals whilst air quality management was assessed as an enabler for 9 goals and provided co-benefits for the other 8. The importance of addressing air pollution as a negative constraint on sustainable progress was of fundamental importance, but the positive enabling contributions of the clean air to the meeting of SDGs must also be recognised.

Special Session

A special session was organised by Prof Enda Hayes from the University of the West of England, UK on the subject of improving air quality and reducing carbon footprint in cities: a focus on citizens. This included the following papers:

• Claircity project: Citizen-led scenarios to improve air quality in European cities.
• “Unfortunately I use a car”: Commuter transport choices in Bristol, UK.
• Air pollution in Aveiro Region: a citizen’s engagement approach.
• Air pollutants emission inventory and carbon footprint at city level in the project ClairCity

Invited Speakers

The conference was further enhanced by a series of invited presentations:

• “Qualitative assessment of links between exposure to noise and air pollution, and socioeconomic status”, by Jo Barnes, University of the West of England, UK.
• “Ozone episodes over the southeast Iberian coast: origin and recycling between two seas”, by Juan Casares, University of Santiago of Compostela, Spain.
• “Study of air contamination by heavy metals on firing ranges”, by Karel Lach, Institute of Public Health, Czech Republic.
• “Climate change mitigation: analysis and hypothesis of interventions”, by Elena Magaril, Ural Federal University, Russia.
• “Temporal change of indoor-VOC composition – consequences for human health risk assessment”, by Olf Herbarth, University of Leipzig, Germany.
• “Towards a sustainable management of air quality and human exposure: Examplary case studies”, by Marco Schiavon, University of Trento, Italy.
• “Influence of boundary layer schemes in modelling the dispersion and sedimentation of volcanic ash in Ecuador”, by Rene Parra, University San Francisco of Quito, Ecuador.
• “Analysis of air pollutants emission in a wastewater treatment plant by means of dispersion models”, by Giorgio Passerini, Marche Polytechnic University, Italy.
• “Indoor air pollution: BTEX in occupational environment”, by Israel Felzenszwalb, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Session Topics

The papers were divided into a series of sessions under the following headings:

• Aerosols and Particles
• Emission Studies
• Monitoring and Measuring
• Air Pollution Modelling
• Air Data Quality
• Health Effects
• Air Pollution Control Technologies

Conference Breaks and Dinner

The delegates had many occasions for interacting and discussing problems of common interest during the coffee breaks, lunches and social occasions, as well as during the formal sessions. It was incredible that the delegates had coffee breaks and lunches in the same “Salone” and on the same patio where Wagner and Rubinstein shaped the History of Melodrama.

The International Scientific Advisory Committee (ISAC) met over dinner to discuss how to improve the meeting. Different topics of current interest were put forward as well as nominations for new members of the Committee. The success of the conference is due to its continuous evolution. Several locations for the 2020 meeting were discussed (the 2019 conference will be held in Aveiro, Portugal).

The Conference Banquet took place at “La Scialuppa” (the Jolly-Boat) within the wonderful “Borgo Marinaro”, the oldest maritime village of Naples located near Castel dell’Ovo. The guests enjoyed freshly caught fish, mussels and the famous “Greco di Tufo” white wine while listening to the most beautiful songs of the Naples’ tradition. A special song was dedicated to the Memory of the late Prof Carlos Brebbia.

Closing of the Conference

The Conference was closed by Giorgio Passerini and Juan Casares Long who thanked the delegates for their contribution to the success of the meeting. The next conference will take place in Aveiro, Portugal from 26-28 June 2019.

Related Conferences

Sustainable Development and Planning 2018, 4 - 6 September 2018

Energy Quest 2018, 10 - 12 September 2018

Urban Transport 2018, 19 - 21 September 2018

Urban Transport 2019, 25 – 27 June 2019

Air Pollution 2019, 26 – 28 June 2019

Energy and Sustainability 2019, 3 - 5 July 2019

Disaster Management 2019, 25 – 27 September 2019

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