The Fire and Fuels Extension (FFE) to the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) simulates fuel dynamics and potential fire behavior over time, in the context of stand development and management. Existing models of fire behavior and fire effects were added to FVS to form this extension. New submodels representing snag and fuel dynamics were created to complete the linkages. This report contains four chapters. Chapter 1 states the purpose and chronicles some applications of the model. Chapter 2 details the model's content, documents links to the supporting science, and provides annotated examples of the outputs. Chapter 3 is a user's guide that presents options and examples of command usage. Chapter 4 describes how the model was customized for use in different regions. Fuel managers and silviculturists charged with managing fire-prone forests can use the FFEFVS and this document to better understand and display the consequences of alternative management actions.

Masters Theses in the Pure and Applied Sciences was first conceived, published, and dis seminated by the Center for Information and Numerical Data Analysis and Synthesis (CINDAS) * at Purdue University in 1957, starting its coverage of theses with the academic year 1955. Beginning with Volume 13, the printing and dissemination phases of the ac tivity were transferred to University Microfilms/Xerox of Ann Arbor, Michigan, with the thought that such an arrangement would be more beneficial to the academic and general scientific and technical community. After five years of this joint undertaking we had concluded that it was in the interest of all concerned if the printing and distribution of the volume were handled by an international publishing. house to assure improved service and broader dissemination. Hence, starting with Volume 18, Masters Theses in the Pure and Applied Sciences has been disseminated on a worldwide basis by Plenum Publishing Corporation of New York, and in the same year the coverage was broadened to include Canadian universities. All back issues can also be ordered from Plenum. We have reported in Volume 25 (thesis year 1980) a total of 10,308 theses titles from 27 Canadian and 214 United States universities. We are sure that this broader base for theses titles reported will greatly enhance the value of this important annual reference work. While Volume 25 reports theses submitted in 1980, on occasion, certain universities do report theses submitted in previous years but not reported at the time.

At present there is insufficient knowledge of the behavior of fires and how they propagate. This lack of information makes it very hard to control these phenomena and is one of the biggest obstacles to the development of a reliable decision support system. Public concern regarding this topic is increasing as uncontrolled fires may lead to major ecological disasters, and usually result in negative economic and health implications for the region. Containing papers presented at the First International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Forest Fires, this book addresses the latest research and applications of available computational tools to analyse and predict the spread of forest fires in order to prevent or reduce major loss of life and property as well as damage to the environment. Such tools must be able to take into consideration a large number of different parameters. The book thus deals with all aspects of forest fires, from fire propagation in different scenarios to the optimum strategies for fire-fighting. It also covers issues related to economic, ecological, social and health effects. Featured topics include: Computer Models for Fire Propagation; Risk and Vulnerability Assessment; Fire Combustion Models; Computational Methods and Experiments; Case Studies; Emergency Response Systems; Optimization Models for Fire Mitigation; Environmental Impact Models; Air Pollution and Health Risk; Interaction between Meteorological and Forest Fires Models; Economic Impact Models; Forest Material Characterisation; Eco Remediation Models; Decision Support Systems; Monitoring Systems and Data Acquisition and Analysis.

Forest fires analysis and mitigation requires the development of computer codes that can take into consideration a large number of different parameters. The papers in this book, presented at the third in a successful series on the topic, cover the latest research and applications of available computational tools to analyse and predict the spread of forest fires in an attempt to prevent or reduce major loss of life and property as well as damage to the environment. Featured topics include: Risk and Vulnerability Assessment; Computational Methods and Experiments; Environmental Impact Models; Air Pollution and Health Risk Models; Eco-Remediation Models; Decision Support Systems;Monitoring Systems; Emergency Response Systems; Economic Impact; Human Behaviour and Education, Rural-Urban Interface; Case Studies.

As in the past, future forest fire scenarios are impacted by climatic trends and changes in climatic extremes, as well as by anthropic pressure. It is to be expected that future trends, especially in the Mediterranean regions, will certainly lead to an increasing impact of human pressure on the natural environment, due to increases in tourism and to the enlargement of urban residential areas invading the countryside. Forecasting the effects of both factors (climatic and anthropic) and separating their effects on forest fires frequencies may be particularly difficult, but is essential to improve our knowledge of forest fire occurrence probability and to better organize prevention and fighting activities. At the same time, estimation of the possible increase of fire risk over coming years is important, taking into account also the diverse fire prone environments present in the Mediterranean as well as many other areas (mountain slopes, coastal zones, large islands, etc). This book contains peer-reviewed papers presented at the Second International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Forest Fires held in Kos, Greece, in 2010. The papers covered important topics in the field of prevention and fighting of forest fires, including: Computational Methods and Experiments; Air Quality and Health Risk Models; Detection, Monitoring and Response Systems; Decision Support Systems; Resource Optimization; Risk Assessment and Vulnerability Assessment.