- Go to the Sessions
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- a. Environmental Sustainability
- b. Corporate Sustainability Strategy and Economic Sustainability
- c. Social Values for a Sustainable Economy
- d. Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Sources
- e. Sustainable Urban Development
- f. Sustainable Development Policy, Practice and Education
- g. Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Innovation
- h. Sustainable Agriculture and Sustainable Management of Land and Biodiversity
- i. Related Topics
- Event Details
Call for Papers
Conference Chairs
[email protected]
[email protected]
MDPI AG
[email protected]
MDPI
[email protected]
MDPI
[email protected]
Sessions
A. Environmental SustainabilityB. Corporate Sustainability Strategy and Economic Sustainability
C. Social Values for a Sustainable Economy
D. Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Sources
E. Sustainable Urban Development
F. Sustainable Development Policy, Practice and Education
G. Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Innovation
H. Sustainable Agriculture and Sustainable Management of Land and Biodiversity
I. Related Topics
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 200-300 words covering the areas of manuscripts for the proceedings issue) online on this website until 16 September 2013.2. The Conference Committee will pre-evaluate, based on the submitted abstract, whether a contribution from the authors of the abstract will be welcome for 3rd World Sustainability Forum.
All authors will be notified by 27 September 2013 about the acceptance of their abstract.
3. If the abstract is accepted for this conference, the author is asked to submit his manuscript, optionally along with a PowerPoint and/or video presentation of his/her paper, until the submission deadline of 13 October 2013.
4. The manuscripts and presentations will be available on sciforum.net/conference/wsf3/page/call for discussion and rating during the time of the conference 1 – 30 November 2013.
5. The Open Access Journal Sustainability will publish the proceedings of the conference as a Special Issue. After the conference, the Conference Committee will select manuscripts that may be included for publication in this Special Issue.
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
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!
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 World Sustainability Forum Microsoft Word template file 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.
LaTeX: ensure to send a copy of your manuscript as a PDF file also, if you decided to use LaTeX. When preparing manuscripts in LaTeX, please use the MDPI LaTeX template files.
Manuscript Preparation
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).
Formatting / Style: The paper style of the Journal Sustainability should be followed. You may download a template file to prepare your paper. 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.
Potential Conflicts of Interest
It 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. It 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.
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 (50)
Id | Title | Authors | Presentation | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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sciforum-000038 | Historical Trends in Abiotic and Biotic Resource Flows in the EU (1990-2010) | , , | N/A |
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In its Communication "Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe" the European Commission defined a vision for EU resource consumption by 2050: the economy will have grown compatibly with resource constraints and planetary boundaries, preserving a high standard of living and lowering the environmental impacts. Such vision entails the sustainable management of natural resources, i.e. raw materials, energy, water, air, land and soil as well as biodiversity and ecosystems. In order to support the scientific discussion on the sustainability of resource use and the evaluation thereof, we have analysed the trends of abiotic and biotic resource consumption within the EU27 over the past 20 years. Beyond traditional mass-based approaches to resource accounting (e.g. Domestic Material Consumption DMC and Domestic Extraction Used, DEU), our assessment is twofold: accounting for the biophysical flows of resources and assessing the impact associated to the flows, , using different life-cycle impact assessment methods (LCIA) for resource depletion and scarcity. The resources considered in the analysis include only those extracted in EU territory, including: raw materials (metals and minerals), energy carriers and biotic resources and the timeframe is 20 years (1990-2010). The final aim is the assessment of the evolution of resource flows in the economy and the related resource depletion due to European production and consumption. Trends of resource production and associated depletion as well as other existing indicators for monitoring resource efficiency are reported and analysed with the aim of: highlighting the occurrence of decoupling over time, both in absolute and relative terms; and giving a comprehensive overview of trends related to different resources, usually handled separately in the existing literature. To complete the sustainability assessment of resource consumption research needs are listed, particularly concerning the need ofOPEN ACCESS complementing the study with the analysis of socio-economic drivers underpinning the resource consumption trends. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
sciforum-001247 | Energy and Exergy Analyses of a New Combined Cycle for Producing Electricity and Desalinated Water Using Geothermal Energy |
Mehri Akbari ,
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A combined cycle for generating electrical power and desalinated water is proposed and analyzed thermodynamically. The cycle, which utilizes geothermal energy, is a combination of the power-producing ammonia-water Kalina cycle, an absorption heat transformer with lithium bromide as working fluid and desalination facilities for removing salt from sea water. A parametric study is carried out to determine the effect of such parameters as the pressure at the turbine inlet, the ammonia water concentration in the transformer and the temperature of the hot water at the evaporator exit, on the first and second law efficiencies as well as on the distilled water flow rate. The results indicate that within specified ranges of these parameters, the energy and exergy efficiencies vary between 16 - 18.3% and 62.64 -69.48%, respectively. Comparing the Kalina and the proposed cycle, it is observed that the first and second law efficiencies are enhanced by around 12% and 24%, respectively, as the absorption heat transformer cycle is added to the Kalina cycle. The proposed cycle could produce 2.94 MW of electrical power and 0.34 kg/s desalinated water by means of extracting 89.3 kg/s of geothermal water at 124 oC from the earth. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
sciforum-002663 | Systems Analysis to Promote Frames and Mental Models for Sustainable Water Management | , | N/A |
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The water sector has experienced numerous failures in projects aiming at sustainable development and has seen some, but less numerous, examples of successes. However, the most striking observation is the near universal failure to learn from these examples. Somehow, scientists and managers have allowed the indications of new approaches and opportunities go undetected because they did not fit with their mindsets or perceptual apparatus.We discuss some of the mental frames that have hampered the progress towards sustainable development by creating confusion and inconsistency in the interpretation of sustainable development concepts. We analyze where these frames come from, who is promoting or defending them, and what can be done to change these frames in ways that are more in line with the basic tenets of sustainable development. We conclude that most sustainability initiatives have failed because the environment and development were not properly brought together. The “environment” is where we live and “development” is what we all do in attempting to improve our lot within that abode. The two are unseparable (Our Common Future). Thus, there is a need to draw on diverse disciplinary perspectives and to cut across sectoral boundaries to counter the monovalent approaches that have dominated mainstream enquiry and practice. To that end, we discuss how systems analysis can help produce adequate mental models and enabling frameworks for process changes. These frameworks should define general objectives and means of verification of progress without specifying uniform approaches and activities. Systems analysis is also a methodology that can help make sure that problems posed are adequately defined and dismiss biased goal formulations stemming from twisted frames imposed by dominant actors or “solution-oriented approaches. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
sciforum-003231 | Truly Long-Term Sustainability: An Archaeological Analysis of Oyster Shells | N/A |
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The simultaneous effects of today’s population growth and climate change are endangering the world’s vulnerable resources. Oyster reefs, which provide vital ecological services, have an estimated 85% loss from historical levels worldwide. This loss threatens the sustainability of current high-intensity industrial oyster harvesting practices. Fortunately, a deeper time perspective on oyster harvesting provides insight to policy options for sustaining the industry into the distant future. During the 19th century, Cedar Key, Florida was among the largest oyster exporters in the U.S. Two-thousand years earlier, the area was teeming with aboriginal communities that harvested oysters and collected the inedible remains in huge mounds and middens. One such site, Shell Mound, just north of Cedar Key, is a 7-m-tall, 200-m-wide shell ring that was erected in only a couple of centuries. This construction followed a period of another 2,000 years during which oysters were routinely collected and consumed in large quantities. With such large-scale harvesting over four millennia, native people employed a strategy of resiliency to sustain their maritime economies. With case material from parallel native experiences in the Chesapeake region, I illustrate how oyster harvesting was diversified to include wider catchments and less selectivity through time. While these data suggest that native shellfishers experienced downturns in local production, niche expansion and diversification enabled recovery of local oyster beds and supported, in the long-term, sustained settlement without disruption in occupation or economy. The methods employed in the Chesapeake study can be used to examine long-term oyster harvesting in the Cedar Key region, an area that is currently suffering decreasing yields due to climate change, diminished water quality, and underregulated harvesting. Although contemporary ecological studies provide short-term assessments of changes in oyster populations, an understanding of multicentury exploitation, such as what can be offered by archaeological data, is crucial for successfully creating a long-term future in sustainable oyster exploitation. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
sciforum-002625 | The Role of Community Values and Social Capital in Combating Soil Degradation in Central Chile Dryland Region. | N/A |
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The unirrigated Mediterranean region of Central Chile is characterized by high levels of soil degradation and rural poverty. However, in most cases, these issues have been approached and analyzed separately. In one hand, soil degradation has been mainly attributed to “poor agricultural practices” conducted through the years by the small farmers and peasant communities that inhabit the region. In the other hand, rural poverty is commonly attributed to the low access to economic opportunities and quality education. The public proposals to address these problems have taken a linear and common path; promoting the entrance of the forest industry and the migration to urban areas. Besides these actions, from a macro point of view, it has been established the introduction of agricultural machinery and intensive agricultural methods as an answer for development, which are far from being suited for the ecological and cultural context. This paper analyze the main historical and socio-cultural factors behind this socio-environmental issue, emphasizing in how qualitative factors related to the loss of social capital and the disintegration of communities have had fundamental implications in the environmental problem of soil degradation. Also it attempts to propose causes and solutions that go beyond the technical and neo-Malthusian explanations for this case, presenting social cohesion and territorial empowerment as the bases for a sustainable agriculture in environmentally vulnerable regions. |
List of Authors (92)
Proceedings & Editors
Chair of the 3rd World Sustainability Forum
Scientific Advisory Committee
Organizing Committee
Ms Samanta La Russa, MDPI AG, Basel, Switzerland
List of Keynotes & Videos
Energy Research for Sustainability
Sustainable Food Systems in the 21st Century
A. Environmental Sustainability
Prof. Dr. Miklas Scholz, University of Salford, Salford, United Kingdom
Session Chair
Professor Miklas Scholz, The University of Salford
B. Corporate Sustainability Strategy and Economic Sustainability
Prof. Dr. Henning Madsen, University of Aarhus, Denmark
Session Chair
Dr. Henning Madsen
C. Social Values for a Sustainable Economy
Dr. Michael J. Heckenberger, University of Florida, USA
Session Chair
Professor Michael Heckenberger
D. Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Sources
Prof. Dr. Jesus Martinez-Frias, CSIC-UCM, Spain
Dr. Vladimir Strezov, Macquarie University, Australia
Session Chairs
Professor Vladimir Strezov
Professor Jesus Martinez-Frias, Instituto de Geociencias, IGEO (CSIC-UCM)
E. Sustainable Urban Development
Dr. Michael J. Heckenberger, University of Florida, USA
Session Chair
Professor Michael Heckenberger
F. Sustainable Development Policy, Practice and Education
Prof. Dr. Christopher Koroneos, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Session Chair
Professor Christopher Koroneos
G. Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Innovation
H. Sustainable Agriculture and Sustainable Management of Land and Biodiversity
Prof. Dr. Daniele Riccio, University of Napoli Federico II, Italy
Session Chair
Professor Daniele Riccio
I. Related Topics
Prof. Dr. Marc Rosen, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Canada