Link to Lucile Rossi’s HDR
Link to Albert Simeoni’s HDR
Lucile Rossi’s HDR: "From Dolphins to Forest Fires: the processing of information for the study and modelling of physical environmental phenomena" (in French: "Des dauphins aux feux de forêt : traitement de l'information pour l'étude et la modélisation de phénomènes physiques environnementaux") defended on 20 October 2011
What is the connection between research conducted on dolphins and fire-related research? I’m often asked this question. This is my usual reply: this research addresses environmental issues of great importance to Corsica, and they require the adoption of cross-disciplinary approaches in which the processing of information can make a significant contribution to the study and modelling of certain phenomena. The answer is simple, but the research is far from simple. In fact, the phenomena studied are such that very little experimental data describing them exists. Studying them therefore requires the development of protocols and systems for data acquisition, and thereafter the development of algorithms for processing the information. My research work on the development of an acoustic system to limit damage to fishing equipment by dolphins and the use of signal, image and vision processing for studying and modelling wildland fires encompasses both of these aspects. They are described in this thesis.
Her thesis can be downloaded here
Albert Simeoni’s thesis: "Tools for understanding the phenomenology of forest fires and their fundamental mechanisms" (in French: "Outils de compréhension de la phénoménologie des feux de forêt et de leurs mécanismes fondamentaux") defended on 4 June 2008
Studies on the modelling of forest fires were initiated in the United States and Australia, around fifty years ago. Europe has embarked on them within the last fifteen or so years, through, in France, the USTI of Marseille, the INRA of Avignon, the LEMTA of Nancy and the "Fire" team of the SPE of Corte to which I belong. Despite a number of works embarked on worldwide, an understanding of the modelling of the mechanisms governing forest fires still poses a scientific challenge today. This challenge is all the more interesting because research has a direct impact on improving the safety of people and property. Questions and expectations abound. Amongst these, two major issues are: improvement of passive fighting (prevention) and improvement of active fighting (firefighting). The first mainly concerns the managing foresters and communities responsible for town and country planning. They are responsible for carrying out initiatives such as clearing combustible matter or the appreciation of safety distances in handling forest/dwelling interfaces, when the distances provided for by law are deemed to be insufficient (by experts). The second issue concerns firefighting services and communities responsible for the safety of people and property; The main issues encountered are the coordination of firefighting means and selection of the best strategy, particularly when confronted with several fires which cannot be handled simultaneously. one needs to quickly estimate how rapidly they are progressing.
My research work encompasses basic and applied studies with the aim of making available decision-making support tools to handle these two issues.
His thesis can be downloaded here