Dr. Cheng-Di Dong Professor, Department of Marine Environmental Engineering at National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology Dr. Cheng-Di Dong is a Distinguished Professor at the Department of Marine Environmental Engineering at National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST). He is also the Dean of Marine Research and Development and the Director of Sustainable Environment Research Center and Center for the study of Sediments of NKUST. More...
Speech Title: Synthesis, characterization and evaluation of alkaline modified-biochar from spent coffee ground for removal of antibiotic from aqueous solution Abstract: Antibiotic is one of the most widely used medicines in preventing microbial infections. The occurrence of high concentration of antibiotic further poses an important public health issue that is the induction of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Therefore, an effective and economical treatment solution for antibiotic removal is highly desired for environmental scientists and engineers. More...

		Dr. Shanyong Wang Professor, School of Engineering, The University of Newcastle Dr. Shanyong Wang is a full Professor at the School of Engineering at The University of Newcastle, Australia. He obtained his PhD at the City University of Hong Kong in 2007. In September 2007, he moved to the USA and worked as a full time postdoctoral research fellow at the Catholic University of America (CUA). More...
Speech Title: Experimental study of a new compaction-grouted soil nail in sand Abstract: This study proposed a new soil nail known as the compaction-grouted soil nail and a physical model was established to investigate its pull-out behaviour with different grouting pressures. The study on scale effect of the physical model was performed subsequently via numerical modelling. Additionally, interface shear tests were performed using the same boundary conditions as the physical model test. More...

		Dr. Masahiko SEKINE Professor, Department head of Construction & Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Science and Technology for Innovation, Yamaguchi University Masahiko SEKINE started his research carrier on river water quality modelling, and he earned a Doctoral degree in Engineering from Kyoto University in 1991. After that, he has been mainly focusing on assessing the influence of human activities on living organisms, and conducted researches on coastal fish production modelling, aquatic toxicity assessment, fish preference modelling, river habitat simulation, river restoration and nature conservation projects, etc. More...
Speech Title: Seeking a simple and easy-to-use fish habitat evaluation procedure for river restoration Abstract: Our group had been working around fish preference models to predict fish production, to estimate fish evacuation success from lethal environmental deterioration, to evaluate river habitat improvement works, to detect migration path through river drops and fishways, etc. In the initial stage of our research, we proposed a fish preference formula which allowed us adding / removing environmental factors without affecting other parameters. More...

		Dr. Bor-Jier (Ben) Shiau Professor, Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma Dr. Bor-Jier (Ben) Shiau is a professor and Mewbourne Chair in Petroleum Engineering at the University of Oklahoma, USA. He has published over 40 refereed journal articles, and holds over 10 patents. He has over 28 years of research experience in designing formulations for groundwater remediation and EOR systems. More...
Speech Title: Microemulsion Formulations for Environmental Remediation and Enhanced Oil Recovery: from Laboratory to Field Implementation Abstract: A Winsor Type III microemulsion is a separate, surfactant-rich phase that forms in equilibrium with excess oil and water. Varying the amount of an added simple electrolyte can induce the formation of a Type III microemulsion from an oil/water/surfactant system. The concentration of sodium chloride at which equal volumes of oil and water partition into the middle phase is called the optimal salinity, which exhibits ultra-low interfacial tension (IFT) with capacity of mobilization of the entrapped contaminants and hydrocarbons in porous media. More...

		Dr. Zaitao Pan Professor, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Saint Louis University Dr. Pan’s research includes climate change, land surface processes, plant disease forecast, extreme precipitation, and aerosol-clouds-climate interaction. He has published over 100 scientific papers in J. Climate, J. Atmospheric Sci., Monthly Weather Review, and Plant Disease among others. Dr. Pan’s research on global warming effects on the central U.S. climate was reported by national and international news media outlets including the Washington Post, the New York Times, and ABC News.
Speech Title: Regional "warming holes" under global warming environment Abstract: One of the global warming features is that continents are expected to warm faster than oceans and continental centers should warm fastest. However, the 20th-century warming pattern seems to defy this belief with major continental centers (e.g., south-central China, Central U.S., and southern-central South America) being warm less or even cooling. More...

		Dr. Esher Hsu Associate Professor, Department of Statistics, National Taipei University Speech Title: Sustainable Recycling for Waste Packaging Containers in Taiwan – An Application of Statistical Methods
Abstract: Waste packaging containers generated by households are recycled under 4-in-1 recycling system in Taiwan. In order to keep the recycling system running, the producers and importers who using packaging containers for their products are required to pay the recycling fee for subsidizing the collectors/recycling plants who collecting/sorting/recovering waste packaging containers. How much to charge responsible enterprises (producers and importers) and how much to subsidize recycling plants are the key point to keep the recycling system sustainable development. This study aims to use statistical methods including regression analysis, ratio estimation, and cost adjusting model to estimate a reasonable recycling cost and further to carry out a reasonable recycling fee charge and recycling subsidy. Study results show that the reasonable recycling fee charge and recycling subsidy have to be adjusted in response to the social economic changes to make the recycling sustainable.

		Dr. Kazuichi Hayakawa Professor Emeritus, Institute of Nature and Environmental Technology, Kanazawa University, Japan Speech Title: Recent Atmospheric Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Pollution in the Far-Eastern Asian Context
Abstract: The combustion of fossil fuels and biomass produces many kinds of air pollutants such as CO2 SOx, NOx, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and nitropolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (NPAHs). In urban air, fine particulate matter (PM2.5) contains large amounts of PAHs and NPAHs. Benzo[a]pyrene, as a representative PAH, is classified as a Group 1 compound (carcinogenic to humans) and 1-nitropyrene (1-NP) is classified as Group 2A (probably carcinogenic to humans). Recently, the WHO classified outdoor air pollution, as well as PM2.5 into Group 1 [1]. More...

		Dr. Youichi YASUDA Professor, Laboratory of Environmental Hydraulics, Department sub-head of Civil Engineering, College of Science and Technology, Nihon University Youichi YASUDA started his research carrier on hydraulics of drop structures with Prof. Ohtsu, and he earned a Doctoral degree in Engineering from Nihon University in 1993. After that, he has been mainly focusing on assessing eco-hydraulic researches on fish passage for the upstream migration of multi-aquatic animals, hydraulics below hydraulic drop structures (Dam, Check dam, Sabo dam, Irrigation weir, and Ground sill), More...
Speech Title: Eco-hydraulics on Stacked Boulders below Low Drops Abstract: Many fish passages were installed at several types of drop structures. Unfortunately, most of fish passages did not worked as migration route of fishes, because the problems might be caused by poor design for the installation plan, river degradation below drop structure, sediments of driftwoods and gravels, destroy of fish passage due to transported rocks, and etc. As the reconstruction of permanent fish passage needs high cost and long time for the project process, it might be difficult for local prefecture to decide the improvement of the fish passage. More...

		Dr. Mustafa Aytekin Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Bahrain Dr. Mustafa Aytekin is a full professor at the Civil Engineering Department of University of Bahrain, UOB, Kingdom of Bahrain. He earned his PhD in geotechnical engineering at Texas Tech University (TTU), Texas, USA in 1992. Then, he moved his home country, Turkey and worked as an assistant professor at Karadeniz Technical University. KTU. He became an associate professor in 1995. Then, he moved the New York City, USA and worked at Manhattan College in NYC. He returned to Turkey and became a full professor in 2001. He served as chairman of civil engineering department till 2004. Then, he was assigned as the dean of the College of Engineering and Architecture. He also worked as a consultant of the President of KTU. More...
Speech Title: The latest developments on the estimation of bearing capacity and settlement of shallow foundations Abstract: Bearing capacity and settlement requirements are two basic criteria that must be satisfied in the design of any type of foundations. The criterion on bearing capacity ensures that the foundations do not undergo shear failure (bearing failure) under the applied load, while settlement criterion ensures that settlement of superstructure is within the tolerable settlement requirements. Any type of foundation must carry and transfer the load safely from superstructure to the soil or rock around it. More...

		Dr. Dongyuan Wang Professor, Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University Dr. Wang obtained his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Southwest Jiaotong University, Beijing Jiaotong University, and the University of Texas at Austin, respectively. All are in Civil Engineering. He has been working in civil engineering industry over 15 years in industrial practice and academia both in China and the US. He is a professional engineer in Texas, USA, and member of ASCE, Geo-I of ASCE, and China Society of Rock Mechanics and Engineering (SCRMRE). More...
Speech Title: Subsidence induced by groundwater withdrawal in confined aquifers associated with a metro line in Tianjin Abstract: Prediction of land subsidence has been frequently required for infrastructure construction and many methods have been proposed. This paper presents a study for subsidence prediction caused by groundwater withdrawal in confined aquifers in Tianjin area of China using a seepage-stress method coupled with a 3-D Finite Element Analysis (FEA) program. The study reveals that the observed subsidence is predominantly contributed by the compression of the aquifers, in contrast to subsidence induced by consolidation of upper and lower aquitards is insignificant. More...

		Dr. Binu Sharma Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Assam Engineering College Dr. Binu Sharma is currently Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, Assam Engineering College, Assam, India. She obtained her PhD from Gauhati University in the year 2000 and M Tech in the year 1994 from Roorkee University now IIT Roorkee in Geotechnical Engineering. She joined as Lecturer in the year 1987, Assistant professor in the year 1995 and as Professor in the year 2005. More...
Speech Title: Assessment of Liquefaction Potential of Guwahati City by Deterministic and Probabilistic approaches Abstract: Major earthquakes in India had occurred in the Himalayan Frontal Arc (HFA), extending from Kashmir in the west to Assam in the east. It is one of the most seismically active regions in the world. This has highlighted the need to better understand the vulnerability of land to seismic hazards due to future earthquakes in this region. One important seismic hazard is the likelihood of liquefaction and ground failure during seismic shaking. More...

		Dr. Carlito Baltazar Tabelin School of Minerals and Energy Resources Engineering, The University of New South Wales-Sydney Dr. Carlito Baltazar Tabelin is an environmental geochemist competent in the fields of inorganic contaminant geochemistry, rock-soil-water interactions, geochemical and reactive transport modelling, electrochemistry, mine waste management, prevention/control of acid mine/rock drainage (AMD/ARD), and remediation of contaminated sites. He earned his Ph.D. in Field Engineering for Environment from Hokkaido University in 2011. More...
Speech Title: Development of advanced pyrite passivation strategies towards sustainable management of acid mine drainage Abstract: Acid mine drainage (AMD) is one of the most serious environmental problems encountered in mining areas worldwide. When released into the environment without treatment, AMD pollutes the surrounding water bodies and soils with hazardous and toxic elements like arsenic (As), selenium (Se) and heavy metals such as lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) that rapidly destroy affected ecosystems. More...

		Dr. Jian Deng Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Lakehead University Dr. Jian Deng is currently an associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Lakehead University and an invited researcher in the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Mining and Exploration of Canada. Dr. Deng is a licensed professional engineer (P.Eng.) in Canada and has over 20 years’ research, education, and industry experience. Dr. Deng is the author/co-author of more than 80 referred journal publications on the topics of structural reliability, extreme value analysis, and stability of structures in the areas of Civil and Geotechnical Engineering.
Speech Title: Extreme Quantile Estimation Using Entropy and Self-Determined Probability Weighted Moments Abstract: The estimation of extreme quantiles corresponding to small probabilities of exceedance (POE) is commonly required in the flood frequency and risk analysis of engineering systems. Traditionally, the principle of maximum entropy or minimum cross-entropy is used for estimating the probability density function under specified moment constraints. More...

		Dr. Saranya Kuppusamy DST-SERB Ramanujan Fellow, Centre for Environmental Studies, Anna University Dr. Saranya Kuppusamy received B.Sc. degree (Agriculture) from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore, India in 2009, and the M.Sc. degree (Agricultural Microbiology) from TNAU in 2011. She received her PhD degree (Environmental Remediation and Public Health) from the University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia in 2015. Dr. Saranya Kuppusamy was the recipient of the prestigious International Postgraduate Research Scholarship and the Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (CRC CARE) top-up fellowship offered by the Australian government, More...
Speech Title: Quercus robur acorn peel as a low-cost adsorbent for hexavalent chromium removal from aquatic ecosystems and industrial effluents Abstract: The efficiency of low-cost, abundantly available local forestry waste, oak (Quercus robur) acorn peel (OP), to remove toxic Cr(VI) from aqueous solutions was studied in a batch system as a function of contact time, adsorbate concentration, adsorbent dosage and pH. In an equilibrium time of 420 min, the maximum Cr removal by OP at pH 2 and 10 was 100 and 97%, respectively. More...

		Dr. Yao-Tung Lin Professor, Department of Soil & Environmental Sciences, National Chung Hsing University Dr. Yao-Tung Lin is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences at National Chung Hsing University (Taiwan) and the Director of Environmental Nano-Material Measurement Laboratory, President of National land and Resources Conservation Society, Academic Secretary of College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, National Chung Hsing University. More...
Speech Title: Immobilization of Cu, Ni, Zn and Cr in Contaminant Soil Amended with Biochar Derived from Agricultural Waste Abstract: Soil pollution with heavy metals in agricultural soils from, mining and industrial waste has become a worldwide problem. Food crops from heavy metal contaminated agricultural soils can pose risk to human health via consumption. Recently, the quantity of agricultural waste has been rising rapidly all over the world resulting to environmental problems. Therefore, there is a need to remediate the heavy metals contaminated soils and reuse the agricultural waste as soil amendment in the immobilization of heavy metals. More...

		Dr. Chitsan Lin Professor, Department of Marine Environmental Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology Dr. Chitsan Lin, currently serves as a professor of the Department of Marine Environmental Engineering, and was the Dean of the College of Ocean Engineering of NKMU 2009-2012. Dr. Lin obtained his Master of Environmental Engineeing Degree from the New Jersey Institute of Technology in 1988. After master degree, he jointed USEPA Region II to serve as a member of Technical Assistance Team (TAT) for two years. More...
Speech Title: Bioremediation of soil contaminated with highly PCDD/Fs by food waste composting: Identification and phylogenetic relationship Abstract: Bioremediation is an environmentally friendly and efficient technique to cope with dioxin-contaminated soil. To study the feasibility of this measure, dioxin-contaminated soil were fermented in aerobic condition with compost materials (mainly food waste). With incubation of 28 days, the overall removal efficiency of PCDD/Fs was 51%. In this process, the microbial community plays an important role in bioremediation for PCCD/Fs. More...

		Dr. Zeng-Yei Hseu Professor, Department of Agricultural Chemistry, National Taiwan University Dr. Zeng-Yei Hseu is a professor of pedology and environmental science in the Department of Agricultural Chemistry, National Taiwan University (NTU), Taipei, Taiwan. He received his PhD in pedology from National Taiwan University, Taiwan in 1997. Professor Hseu has been working in the field of soil science since 1990s. Being an assistant professor, he became an independent researcher in the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology (NPUST), Pingtung, Taiwan in 2000. At NPUST, He was promoted as associate professor in 2003 and as full professor in 2006. More...
Speech Title: A Critical Review of Phytoremediation for Heavy Metals-contaminated Soils Abstract: The strategies for treating heavy metals-contaminated soils involve extraction or stabilization of the metals. Traditional remediation practices for soil contamination, such as excavation, washing, and landfilling, are less feasible on a large scale because they are environmentally disruptive and cost-prohibitive. These concerns have prompted the emergence of cost-effective and less disruptive alternatives for soil remediation by phytotechnology that has received increasing attention and is a promising solution for soil contamination. More...

		Dr. Daniela Dominica Porcino Associate Professor, Department of Civil, Energy, Environmental and Material Engineering, University Mediterranea of Reggio Calabria Dr. Daniela D. Porcino is Associate Professor in Geotechnical Engineering at University "Mediterranea" of Reggio Calabria, Italy (Department of Civil, Energy, Environmental and Material Engineering. In December, 2017 she obtained the National Scientific Qualification to function as Full Professor in Geotechnical Engineering. More...
Speech Title: Pore water pressure and liquefaction characteristics of low plasticity silty sands subjected to cyclic loading Abstract: Sand-silt mixtures of low plasticity are very common in Italy either in natural depositional environment or in man-made earth-fill, hence the knowledge of their behavior is a crucial aspect in many practical applications. Due to higher compressibility features, significant strains and strength loss may be triggered by earthquakes. More...

Dr. Yu-Pin Lin Distinguished Professor, Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University Dr. Yu-Pin Lin received his Ph.D. degree and Master degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, USA. Currently, he is Distinguished Professor of National Taiwan University, Taiwan and Visiting Professor in School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, USA. More...

		Dr. Chi-Chin Hwang Professor, Department of Ecology and Environmental Resources, National University of Tainan Dr. Chi-Chin Hwang is currently a professor at the Department of Ecology and Environmental Resources, National University of Tainan, Taiwan. Professor Hwang holds a Ph.D. degree in environmental engineering. His research has focused on ecological engineering of the water environment, particularly the control of eutrophication in rivers, estuaries, lakes, and reservoirs. His research interest in the past few years has been the biological nitrogen removal from wastewater, and the control of phytoplankton growth in surface water through light limitation.
Speech Title: Nitrogen Removal from Municipal Wastewater through Simultaneous Nitrification and Denitrification Abstract: Nitrogen removal from wastewater is an essential practice for contending the eutrophication of surface water from nitrogen enrichment. A number of processes have been proposed in the past for biological removal of nitrogen from industrial and municipal wastewaters. Simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (SND) has the advantage of system simplicity, which provides a low cost, easy to operate alternative for biological nitrogen removal. In this paper, we present an attached growth SND system using oyster shell medium. The proposed system is compared with systems using various types of frequently adopted media. Factors limiting system efficiency, such as dissolved oxygen level, carbon-nitrogen ratio, as well as alkalinity and pH buffering are also discussed.

		Dr. Monzur Imteaz Associate Professor, Department of Civil & Construction Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology Dr. Monzur Imteaz is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil & Construction Engineering at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne. He obtained his Ph.D. in 1997 from Saitama University, Japan. Later he has completed his post-doctoral research at The University of Queensland, Brisbane. Before joining at Swinburne he has been involved with several Australian state and local government authorities. He has been actively involved with various researches on sustainability, water recycling, developing decision support tools and seasonal rainfall forecasting. Dr Imteaz is the author of 1 book, 1 edited book, 18 book chapters, 119 journal and 102 conference papers. He is serving as editorial board member for the international journals, “Resources, Conservation & Recycling” and “Journal of Hydroinformatics”.
Speech Title: A hybrid wavelet neural network (HWNN) for forecasting rainfall using temperature and climate indices Abstract: Rainfall forecasting plays an important role in water resources management and also for controlling the unusual events related to the rainfall. This study aims to forecast monthly rainfall from antecedent monthly rainfall, temperature and climate indices using a hybrid wavelet neural network (HWNN) model. The discrete wavelet transform is used incorporation with a conventional ANN model. The skilfulness of the proposed model is compared with the observed rainfall and the ANN model. The results show that the HWNN model provides a good fit with the observed rainfall data particularly in facing the extreme rainfall. The decomposed sub-series obtained by wavelet transform can extract invaluable information which is enormously useful for future rainfall prediction. The results confirm that the hybrid model considerably improves the neural network ability to predict future rainfall.