- Go to the Sessions
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- a. Sustainable Use of the Environment and Resources
- b. Social Aspects of Sustainability
- c. Economic, Business and Management Aspects of Sustainability
- d. Sustainable Engineering and Science
- e. Energy Sustainability
- f. Sustainable Urban and Rural Development
- g. Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Wildlife
- h. Sustainability Education and Approaches
- i. Sustainability of Culture and Heritage
- p. Posters
- Event Details
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- Welcome from the Chairs
- Event Calls
- Conference Chairs
- Sessions
- Instructions for Authors
- List of Accepted Submissions
- List of Authors
- Sponsors and Partners
- Chairs of the 4th World Sustainability Forum
- Scientific Advisory Committee
- Organizing Committee
- Conference Organizers
- List of Keynotes & Videos
- Editions in this series
Welcome from the Chairs
It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the 4th World Sustainability Forum. The Forum covers research in many areas relating to sustainability and sustainable development, and includes sessions in many important areas:
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Participants in this multidisciplinary conference will have the opportunity to examine, explore and critically engage with issues and advances in these and related areas. We hope to facilitate debates on theoretical and practical investigations, and to allow participants to "make a difference".
A special feature of the Forum is that it is an electronic conference. This type of conference is particularly appropriate and useful for the 4th World Sustainability Forum because research concerned with sustainability and sustainable development is progressing rapidly, while activities in industry, government and academia are simultaneously becoming increasingly globalized. Successful research therefore requires interaction with individuals and groups around the world, demonstrating the need for new types of communication within our community. An electronic conference provides a platform for rapid and direct exchanges about the latest research findings, as well as a possibility for global meetings with no limitations related to traveling. To further remove barriers to "attendance", participation in the Forum as an author or other participant is free of charge. The 4th World Sustainability Forum will be held at www.sciforum.net/conference/wsf-4, on a platform developed by MDPI to organize electronic conferences and sponsored by MDPI and the scientific open access journal Sustainability. Accepted papers will be published in the proceedings of the Forum, and selected papers will be published in Sustainability. I offer my sincere thanks to all attendees, and especially to authors, keynote presenters, members of the Scientific Advisory Committee, session chairs and organizers.
I hope that your participation in the 4th World Sustainability Forum will prove to be interesting, productive and enjoyable. Prof. Dr. Marc A. Rosen
Chair of the 4th World Sustainability Forum Editor-in-Chief of the Journal Sustainability Past President, Engineering Institute of Canada and Professor Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science
University of Ontario Institute of Technology
Oshawa, Ontario, Canada Marc A. Rosen is a Professor in the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Oshawa, Canada. He served as founding dean from of the Faculty from 2002-08. Dr. Rosen was President of the Engineering Institute of Canada for 2008-10. He served as President of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering from 2002 to 2004, and is a registered Professional Engineer in Ontario. With over 50 research grants and contracts and 400 technical publications, Dr. Rosen is an active teacher and researcher in thermodynamics, sustainable energy, and the environmental impact of energy systems. Much of his research has been carried out for industry. He has also worked for such organizations as Imatra Power Company in Finland, Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago, and the Institute for Hydrogen Systems near Toronto. Dr. Rosen has received numerous awards and honours, including an Award of Excellence in Research and Technology Development from the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Energy, the Engineering Institute of Canada’s Smith Medal for achievement in the development of Canada, and the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering’s Angus Medal for outstanding contributions to the management and practice of mechanical engineering. He is a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada, the Canadian Academy of Engineering, the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the International Energy Foundation.
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Mr. Matthias Burkhalter, MDPI AG, Basel, Switzerland
Ms. Samanta La Russa, MDPI AG, Basel, Switzerland
Dr. Shu-Kun Lin, MDPI AG, Basel, Switzerland
E-mail: [email protected]
Tel. +41 61 683 77 35
Call for Papers
Research concerned with sustainability and sustainable development is progressing fast. Simultaneously, activities within industry, government and academia are becoming more globalized. Successful research requires interaction with multiple partners around the world. We are facing an obvious need for new types of communication within our scientific community. Sciforum.net electronic conferences provide a platform for fast exchange of the latest research findings, as well as a possibility for global meetings with no limitations related to traveling.
The World Sustainability Forum 2014 (WSF-4) will cover timely research topics concerned with sustainability and sustainable development. The conference will include nine topical sessions focusing on:
Sustainable Use of the Environment and Resources
Social Aspects of Sustainability
Economic, Business and Management Aspects of Sustainability
Sustainable Engineering and Science
Energy Sustainability
Sustainable Urban and Rural Development
Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Wildlife
Sustainability Education and Approaches
Sustainability of Culture and Heritage
This inter- and multi-disciplinary conference aims to examine, explore and critically engage with issues related to recent insights and advances in these topics. In particular, the conference will encourage both theoretical and practical debates surrounding environmental, economical and social contexts for those who want to go beyond the buzzword.
The conference will be completely free of charge, both to attend and for authors to publish and is sponsored by MDPI and the scientific journal Sustainability. Selected papers will be published in the journal Sustainability. The 4th World Sustainability Forum Conference will be held at www.sciforum.net, a platform developed by MDPI to organize electronic conferences for scholars.
Please submit your abstract with max 2500 character (in English) by 3 September, 2014. Abstracts should be submitted online at http://https://sciforum.net/conference/wsf-4/page/call. All submissions will be reviewed by our scientific committee. For accepted abstracts, a proceedings paper should be submitted by 1 October, 2014.
Paper Submission Guidelines
For information about the procedure for submission, peer-review, revision and acceptance of conference proceedings papers, please refer to the section "Instructions for Authors": https://sciforum.net/conference/wsf-4/page/instructions
Conference Chairs
[email protected]
MDPI AG
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Sessions
A. Sustainable Use of the Environment and ResourcesB. Social Aspects of Sustainability
C. Economic, Business and Management Aspects of Sustainability
D. Sustainable Engineering and Science
E. Energy Sustainability
F. Sustainable Urban and Rural Development
G. Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Wildlife
H. Sustainability Education and Approaches
I. Sustainability of Culture and Heritage
P. Posters
Instructions for Authors
Submissions should be done by the authors online by registering with www.sciforum.net, and using the "New Submission" function once logged into system.
1. Scholars interested in participating with the conference can submit their abstract (about 200-250 words covering the areas of manuscripts for the proceedings issue) online on this website until 3 September 2014.
2. The Conference Committee will pre-evaluate, based on the submitted abstract, whether a contribution from the authors of the abstract will be welcome for the 4th edition of the World Sustainability Forum. All authors will be notified by 17 September 2014 about the acceptance of their abstract.
3. If the abstract is accepted for this conference, the author is asked to submit the manuscript, optionally along with a PowerPoint and/or video presentation of his/her paper (only PDF), until the submission deadline of 1 October 2014.
4.. The conference proceedings papers and presentations will be available on https://sciforum.net/conference/wsf-4/ for discussion during the time of the conference 1-30 November 2014.
5. The Open Access Journal Sustainability will publish Special Issue of the conference and accepted papers will be published in the proceedings of the conference itself. After the conference, the Conference Committee will select manuscripts that may be included for publication in the Special Issue of the journal Sustainability (the submission to the journal is independent from the conference proceedings and will follow the usual process of the journal, including peer-review, APC...).
Manuscripts for the proceedings issue must have the following organization:
First page:
Title
Full author names
Affiliations (including full postal address) and authors' e-mail addresses
Abstract (200-250 words)
Keywords
Introduction
Methods
Results and Discussion
Conclusions
(Acknowledgements)
References
Manuscripts should be prepared in MS Word or any other word processor and should be converted to the PDF format before submission. The publication format will be PDF. The manuscript should count at least 3 pages (incl. figures, tables and references). There is no page limit on the length, although authors are asked to keep their papers as concise as possible..
Authors are encouraged to prepare a presentation in PowerPoint or similar software, to be displayed online along with the Manuscript. Slides, if available, will be displayed directly in the website using Sciforum.net's proprietary slides viewer. Slides can be prepared in exactly the same way as for any traditional conference where research results can be presented. Slides should be converted to the PDF format before submission so that our process can easily and automatically convert them for online displaying.
Besides their active participation within the forum, authors are also encouraged to submit video presentations. If you are interested in submitting, please contact the conference organizer – [email protected] to get to know more about the procedure. This is an unique way of presenting your paper and discuss it with peers from all over the world. Make a difference and join us for this project!
Authors that wish to present a poster only, i.e. without proceedings paper, can do so in section P. - Posters of this conference. Posters will be available on this conference website during and after the event. Like papers presented on the conference, participants will be able to ask questions and make comments about the posters. Posters that are submitted without paper will not be included in the proceedings of the conference.
Submission: Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.sciforum.net/login by registering and logging in to this website.
Accepted File Formats
MS Word: Manuscript prepared in MS Word must be converted into a single file before submission. When preparing manuscripts in MS Word, the Electronic Conference on Sensors and Applications Microsoft Word template file (see download below) must be used. Please do not insert any graphics (schemes, figures, etc.) into a movable frame which can superimpose the text and make the layout very difficult.
World Sustainability Forum Microsoft Word template file
Paper Format: A4 paper format, the printing area is 17.5 cm x 26.2 cm. The margins should be 1.75 cm on each side of the paper (top, bottom, left, and right sides).
Paper Length: The manuscript should count at least 3 pages (incl. figures, tables and references). There is no page limit on the length, although authors are asked to keep their papers as concise as possible.
Formatting / Style: The paper style of the Journal Sustainability should be followed. You may download the template file to prepare your paper (see above). The full titles and the cited papers must be given. Reference numbers should be placed in square brackets [ ], and placed before the punctuation; for example [4] or [1-3], and all the references should be listed separately and as the last section at the end of the manuscript.
Authors List and Affiliation Format: Authors' full first and last names must be given. Abbreviated middle name can be added. For papers written by various contributors a corresponding author must be designated. The PubMed/MEDLINE format is used for affiliations: complete street address information including city, zip code, state/province, country, and email address should be added. All authors who contributed significantly to the manuscript (including writing a section) should be listed on the first page of the manuscript, below the title of the article. Other parties, who provided only minor contributions, should be listed under Acknowledgments only. A minor contribution might be a discussion with the author, reading through the draft of the manuscript, or performing English corrections.
Figures, Schemes and Tables: Authors are encouraged to prepare figures and schemes in color. Full color graphics will be published free of charge. Figure and schemes must be numbered (Figure 1, Scheme I, Figure 2, Scheme II, etc.) and a explanatory title must be added. Tables should be inserted into the main text, and numbers and titles for all tables supplied. All table columns should have an explanatory heading. Please supply legends for all figures, schemes and tables. The legends should be prepared as a separate paragraph of the main text and placed in the main text before a table, a figure or a scheme.
t is the authors' responsibility to identify and declare any personal circumstances or interests that may be perceived as inappropriately influencing the representation or interpretation of clinical research. If there is no conflict, please state here "The authors declare no conflict of interest." This should be conveyed in a separate "Conflict of Interest" statement preceding the "Acknowledgments" and "References" sections at the end of the manuscript. Financial support for the study must be fully disclosed under "Acknowledgments" section.
Copyright
MDPI AG, the publisher of the Sciforum.net platform, is an open access publisher. We believe that authors should retain the copyright to their scholarly works. Hence, by submitting a Communication paper to this conference, you retain the copyright of your paper, but you grant MDPI AG the non-exclusive right to publish this paper online on the Sciforum.net platform. This means you can easily submit your paper to any scientific journal at a later stage and transfer the copyright to its publisher (if required by that publisher).
List of accepted submissions (74)
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sciforum-001681 | Techno-Economic Feasibility Study of Solar and Wind Based Irrigation Systems in Northern Colombia |
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Ramchandra Bhandari
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Water pumping systems powered by solar and wind energy are a clean, decentralized and economic alternative for the irrigation of crops. The intense droughts experienced in the last years in Northern Colombia due to particularly strong Niño Phenomena have reactivated the need of reliable water pumping irrigation systems in that region. This study aims to assess the techno economic feasibility of solar and wind based pumping irrigation system, taking as case study the Municipality of Piojó in the Atlántico department. In the first stage of the study the irrigation water requirements were determined by using the software CROPWAT based on two different crop patterns that represent existing feasible alternatives for small farmers of the region: i) a common crop pattern, which represent the current average distribution of crops for subsistence farming and ii) a fruit cash crop pattern that comprises crops for which well established markets in the region exist. Solar wind and diesel based pumping systems were sized based on the crop water demands for 1 ha. The unit irrigation costs of the three technologies, the two crop patterns and the three irrigation methods (surface, sprinkler and drip) were calculated and compared. The economical analysis was complemented with a cost-benefit analysis over 20 years. Our results show that both renewable energy based pumping systems (wind and solar) can cover the irrigation water demands of small farmers in the region. The economical analysis shows that windmills are the most cost effective solution followed by the solar pumping system. Diesel pumping system was the less cost effective, even though it does not comprise investment in water storage tank. The cost benefit analysis demonstrates that any irrigation system is financially unfeasible when providing water to a common crop pattern. In case of the fruit cash crop scenario the highest dividends were obtained by the wind pumping system and the lowest dividends by the diesel pumping system. The lowest payback period was obtained by the windmill after 7 years and could be even feasible after the fifth year if the surplus water would be used to irrigate larger areas. Dividends obtained in a fruit cash crop scenario with irrigation after 20 years were in the range of €5200 and €11200 higher than dividends obtained by the same crop pattern but without irrigation. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
sciforum-003379 | A Note on Quality of Life of Artisanal Small-Scale Fishermen Along the Pacific Coast of Jalisco, México | , , , | N/A |
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Sustainable fishing includes how fishermen live. We describe the quality of life (QOL) and lived experiences (LE) of fishermen along the coast of Jalisco, whose average daily income is slightly above the poverty level. The relationships among income, size of catch and QOL are explored using data collected in 2012 from a sample of 83 fishermen. QOL included indicators like health, income, cost of living, family, friends, holidays, education and future perspective. The QOL index combines importance and achievement ratings scores, the results are indicative of an acceptable QOL for fishermen. The concept of LE is elaborated and interviews conducted with a sample of 13 fishermen. A graphical representation of four dimensions of LE comprising aspects of life relating to Mind, Body, Work and People for each fisherman is derived, where each person was asked on the importance and gaps between aspiration and actual situation about each dimension. We found that the most important dimension in a fisherman's life is People. The gaps identified suggest that the significant gaps that should be closed, were associated to the Mind dimension, then Work and Body, and finally People. Concerning the responsibility for closing gaps, respondents identified four options ordered by frequency: self, government, self with the help of family members, and God/ faith. An inverse moderately strong relationship between catch, marginalization and QOL score was found, while income and QOL score were directly related. In general, future and past are not better than the present. All these and LE are discussed in the sustainability context | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
sciforum-003282 | Using GMDH Neural Networks to Model the Power and Torque of Stirling Engine | , , , | N/A |
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The Stirling engine is a simple type of external-combustion engine that uses a compressible fluid as a working fluid. The Stirling engine can theoretically be very efficient to convert heat into mechanical work at Carnot efficiency. It is an environmental friendly heat engine which could reduce CO2 emission through combustion process. Various parameters could affect the performance of the addressed Stirling engine which is considered in its optimization for designing purpose. Through addressed factors, torque and power have the highest effect on the robustness of the Stirling engines. Due to this fact, determination of the two referred parameters with low uncertainty and high precision are needed. In this communication, the distribution of torque and power are represented based on experimental evidence. A new polynomial model is suggested to calculate torque and power, based on experimental data. This study addresses the question of whether GMDH-type neural networks could be used to estimate the torque and power based on specified variables. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
sciforum-002508 | Embedding Sustainability Into the Higher Education Curriculum: Lessons From the UK's Green Academy Institutional Change Programme | , , | N/A |
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Universities are facing increasing pressures to change the educational programmes they offer in order to make graduates fit for future citizenship and employment in the 21st Century . These demands come from a complex array of contemporary issues including societal, economic and environmental challenges as well as national and international policy. Recent UK policy pronouncements on the green economy are an important example of such policy change. Curriculum reform and innovation are beginning to take place in many universities in the UK and elsewhere in the world in response to such pressures and policy developments. Examples include the universities of Aberdeen, Southampton and Keele in the UK, Melbourne in Australia and British Columbia in Canada This paper summarizes the outcomes and impact of an institutional-Green Academy- change programme initiated in 2011 by the UK's Higher Education Academy. It reports on progress in the first year from seven of the participating universities, and focuses on the impact of the change programme on whole institutional reform in the way universities approach education for sustainable development (ESD). It offers an overview of how the universities set about changing policy and practice in ESD in order to scale up existing activities, and how they have extended the reach of learning for sustainability into areas of the curriculum in which little or no development had hitherto taken place. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
sciforum-003058 | Calculation of CH4 and CO2 Emission Rate in Kahrizak Landfill Site with Land GEM Mathematical Model | , , | N/A |
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Emitted gasses from the landfills are one of thesignificant sources of air pollution in Iran. Meanwhile, the reduction, controland recycling of such gasses is of great importance from hygienic and globalperspectives. Kahrizak landfill site has been a dumping place for the past 40years. The average amount of wastes disposed at the site is approximately 7000 Tons per day. The purpose of this study iscalculation CH4 (Methane) and CO2 (Dioxide carbon) emissionsand estimate the carbon reduction potential using the Land GEM 3.02 model. Validationof this model was tested by comparing the model estimates with the methane andCO2 recovery rate compiled from the experimental results of Kahrizak landfill between 1994 and 2004. Based on the model results, theCH4 and CO2 emissions between 1992 and 2012 were determinedand sensitivity analysis was performed for various quantities of the decay rate. Through gas-recovery and extracting energy fromlandfills with 75 percent efficiency, the generation rate of greenhouse gaseswill reduce to around 557,633 tons of CO2 equivalent in Iran. |
List of Authors (167)
Chairs of the 4th World Sustainability Forum
University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Oshawa, Canada
Editor-in-Chief of the Journal Sustainability
Scientific Advisory Committee
Organizing Committee
Conference Organizers
Chairs of the 4th World Sustainability Forum
Prof. Dr. Marc A. Rosen
University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Oshawa, Canada
Editor-in-Chief of the Journal Sustainability
Scientific Advisory Committee
Dr. Joo Hwa (Philip) Bay, Curtin University of Technology, Australia
Prof. Dr. Rachel J.C. Chen, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA
Prof. Dr. Matthias Finkbeiner, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Prof. Dr. Michael J. Heckenberger, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA
Dr. Kathryn Hegarty, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Dr. Monzur A. Imteaz, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
Dr. Giuseppe Ioppolo, University of Study of Messina, Italy
Prof. Dr. Christopher Koroneos, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Prof. Dr. Jesús Martínez Frías, CSIC-UCM, Madrid, Spain
Prof. Dr. Marc A. Rosen, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Oshawa ON, Canada
Prof. Dr. Miklas Scholz, University of Salford, Salford, United Kingdom
List of Keynotes & Videos
Presentation of the Poster "Gross National Happiness, Limits to Growth, and Challenges to Bhutan's Development Approach"
Comments
Prof. Dr. Marc A. Rosen - Energy Sustainability: Needs and Challenges
Comments



A well organized, set-on-earth explanation of a key issue.
Kind regards,
Andres Caballero
Barranquilla, Colombia



A. Sustainable Use of the Environment and Resources
This section is chaired by: Prof. Dr. Miklas Scholz, University of Salford, Salford, United Kingdom
Session Chair
Professor Miklas Scholz, The University of Salford
B. Social Aspects of Sustainability
This section is chaired by: Dr. Joo Hwa (Philip) Bay, School of Built Environment, Architecture and Interior, Curtin University of Technology, Australia
Session Chair
Professor Joo Hwa Bay
C. Economic, Business and Management Aspects of Sustainability
This section is chaired by: Prof. Dr. Rachel J.C. Chen, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA
Session Chair
Dr. Rachel Jc Chen, University of Tennessee
D. Sustainable Engineering and Science
This section is chaired by: Dr. Giuseppe Ioppolo, Department of Economics, Business, Environment and Quantitative Methods (SEAM), University of Study of Messina, Italy
Session Chair
Professor Giuseppe Ioppolo, University of Study of Messina
E. Energy Sustainability
This section is chaired by: Prof. Dr. Christopher Koroneos, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece Prof. Dr. Jesús Martínez Frías, CSIC-UCM, Madrid, Spain
Session Chairs
Professor Jesus Martinez-Frias, Instituto de Geociencias, IGEO (CSIC-UCM)
Professor Christopher Koroneos
F. Sustainable Urban and Rural Development
This section is chaired by: Prof. Dr. Michael J. Heckenberger, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA
Session Chair
Professor Michael Heckenberger
G. Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Wildlife
This section is chaired by: To be announced.
Session Chair
Professor Marc Rosen
Show all published submissions (8) Hide published submissions (8)
Submissions
List of Papers (8) Toggle list
H. Sustainability Education and Approaches
This section is chaired by: Dr. Kathryn Hegarty, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Session Chair
Dr. Kathryn Hegarty
I. Sustainability of Culture and Heritage
This section is chaired by: Prof. Dr. Michael J. Heckenberger, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA
Session Chair
Professor Michael Heckenberger
P. Posters
In this section posters can be presented stand-alone, i.e. without a proceedings papers that goes with it. Posters will be available online on this website during and after the e-conference. However, posters will not be added to the proceedings of the conference.
Session Chair
Professor Marc Rosen
This video help to make aware of particular vision of development in Bhutan, its potential strengths
and drawbacks.
Kind regards,
Andres Caballero
Barranquilla, Colombia