Uxafores

Three doctoral theses were successfully defended in the first four months of this year at the USC and one was defended at the UJED with the participation of UXAFORES members.

A thesis entitled “Characterization of tree canopy fuel by means of remote sensors and evaluation of the effect of clearings on the potential behaviour and severity of fire in pine forests in NW Spain”, which we have reported on in a previous news item, was defended in January by its author, Stéfano Arellano.

In February, a thesis entitled “Simulator of forest growth for management of forests stands in Durango State” written by Jaime Briseño Reyes and supervised by Dr Jose Javier Corral, UJED researcher and UXAFORES collaborator, and co-supervised by Dr Ulises Diéguez, was defended at the University Juárez of Durango (Mexico)

A thesis, entitled “Pyrite mine tailings: evaluation of different restoration techniques and comparative study of adsorption potential of polluters”, was defended in March by its author Ivana María Rivas. This thesis was supervised by three USC researchers, two of whom belong to UXAFORES, Dr Mª José Fernández and Professor Esperanza Álvarez. The thesis reported an approach to the restoration of the As Pontes de García Rodríguez (La Coruña) open mine involving the selection and use of tailings with a low pyrite content that provide the best physico-chemical conditions for plant growth in both the short and long term.

Finally, a thesis entitled “Determination of mechanical and fracture properties in Eucalyptus globulus timber for numerical simulation analysis” was defended in April by its author Jorge Crespo. The thesis was supervised by Professor Manuel Guaita in collaboration with Dr Almudena Majano from the Polytechnic University of Madrid.

More information about the theses can be found on the USC website (in Galician):

“A EPS de Enxeñaría achega novas ferramentas para avanzar na loita contra os lumes forestais“

“A selección de estériles, unha alternativa eficiente para restaurar superficies mineiras”

A final year research project entitled “Development and optimization of innovative celular building systems for sustainable building (Life EcoTimberCell)” carried out by Daniela Filipa Lourenço has obtained the 5th undergraduate project award for research involving “Engineering and Rural Women”. This study, conducted within PEMADE and the European Union LIFE+ project “EcoTimberCell”, involved the development, optimization and validation of building systems by using generated calculation tools that enabled analysis of the behaviour of the systems in different situations. Once the tools are validated, the innovative new systems for building with timber will be compared with traditional systems, and a conclusion about where the use of LIFE EcoTimberCell systems will be most useful and competitive will be reached.

Finally, an interview was held with PEMADE director Dr Manuel Guaita to talk about timber as a bio business area. The interview was conducted as part of the Galician Forest Association initiative “Talking about forestry bioeconomy”, within the “Biotecfor” Interreg project. To watch the interview (in Spanish) and see the laboratory installations in operation, click on the following link.