Robust control of structures subject to uncertain disturbances and actuator dynamics

The objective the present research is try to find some control design strategies, which must be effective and closed to the real operation conditions. As a novel contribution to structural control strategies, the theories of Interval Modal Arithmetic, Backstepping Control and QFT (Qualitative Feedback Theory) will be studied. The steps to follow are to develop first new controllers based on the above theories and then to implement the proposed control strategies to different kind of structures. The report is organized as follows. The Chapter 2 presents the state-of-the-art on structural control systems. The chapter 3 presents the most important open problems found in field of structural control. The exploratory work made by the author, research proposal and working plan are given in the Chapter 4

From a pattern-language to a pattern ontology approach for CSCL script design

Collaborative activities, in which students actively interact with each other, have proved to provide significant learning benefits. In Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL), these collaborative activities are assisted by technologies. However, the use of computers does not guarantee collaboration, as free collaboration does not necessary lead to fruitful learning. Therefore, practitioners need to design CSCL scripts that structure the collaborative settings so that they promote learning. However, not all teachers have the technical and pedagogical background needed to design such scripts. With the aim of assisting teachers in designing effective CSCL scripts, we propose a model to support the selection of reusable good practices (formulated as patterns) so that they can be used as a starting point for their own designs. This model is based on a pattern ontology that computationally represents the knowledge captured on a pattern language for the design of CSCL scripts. A preliminary evaluation of the proposed approach is provided with two examples based on a set of meaningful interrelated patters computationally represented with the pattern ontology, and a paper prototyping experience carried out with two teaches. The results offer interesting insights towards the implementation of the pattern ontology in software tools.

La bella molinera

Aquest treball vol ser una aproximació a l’obra Die schöne Müllerin, D795, un cicle de vint cançons per a veu i piano, que Franz Schubert va compondre l’any 1823. L’obra es basa en un conjunt de poemes que havia escrit poc abans Wilhelm Müller, i que expliquen la història del desengany amorós d’un jove aprenent de moliner. La bella molinera presenta un ventall infinit de colors, emocions, paisatges... Va des de l’alegria més eufòrica fins a la desesperança més fonda, passant per moments d’ironia, de somnis i de sorpreses. Tot això és analitzat en el treball, número per número, tan en l’aspecte literari com en el musical, i en la seva interrelació.

The diagnosis of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy: a Delphi-method approach.

The diagnosis of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) is based on a set of clinical and neurophysiological parameters. However, in clinical practice, CIDP remains difficult to diagnose in atypical cases. In the present study, 32 experts from 22 centers (the French CIDP study group) were asked individually to score four typical, and seven atypical, CIDP observations (TOs and AOs, respectively) reported by other physicians, according to the Delphi method. The diagnoses of CIDP were confirmed by the group in 96.9 % of the TO and 60.1 % of the AO (p < 0.0001). There was a positive correlation between the consensus of CIDP diagnosis and the demyelinating features (r = 0.82, p < 0.004). The European CIDP classification was used in 28.3 % of the TOs and 18.2 % of the AOs (p < 0.002). The French CIDP study group diagnostic strategy was used in 90 % of the TOs and 61 % of the AOs (p < 0.0001). In 3 % of the TOs and 21.6 % of the AOs, the experts had difficulty determining a final diagnosis due to a lack of information. This study shows that a set of criteria and a diagnostic strategy are not sufficient to reach a consensus for the diagnosis of atypical CIDP in clinical practice.

Vessel centerline tracking and boundary sgementation in coronary MRA with minimal manual interaction.

Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) provides a noninvasive means to detect the presence, location and severity of atherosclerosis throughout the vascular system. In such studies, and especially those in the coronary arteries, the vessel luminal area is typically measured at multiple cross-sectional locations along the course of the artery. The advent of fast volumetric imaging techniques covering proximal to mid segments of coronary arteries necessitates automatic analysis tools requiring minimal manual interactions to robustly measure cross-sectional area along the three-dimensional track of the arteries in under-sampled and non-isotropic datasets. In this work, we present a modular approach based on level set methods to track the vessel centerline, segment the vessel boundaries, and measure transversal area using two user-selected endpoints in each coronary of interest. Arterial area and vessel length are measured using our method and compared to the standard Soap-Bubble reformatting and analysis tool in in-vivo non-contrast enhanced coronary MRA images.

Treball de recerca aplicada a la intervenció social entorn els joves d'Andorra i el seu temps lliure

Aquest document, es fonamenta d'acord amb diferents teories i pensaments sobre la importància del temps lliure en els adolescents i joves, com també a partir de les experiències de Catalunya, entorn aquest tema. Concretament és una observació del temps lliure dels adolescents i joves, des d’una aproximació a la seva realitat i també analitzant els diferents agents que intervenen en aquest àmbit concret, com del context global d’Andorra. La intenció és identificar i reflexionar entorn les principals característiques de l’oci i el lleure del col·lectiu com també de la participació juvenil per poder prioritzar actuacions socioeducatives encaminades a l’educació en el lleure. És per aquest motiu, que paral·lelament amb aquesta investigació aplicada a la intervenció socioeducativa, també s’ha realitzat un diagnòstic d’Andorra i unes propostes de millora relacionats amb els resultats obtinguts.

Customer driven business model – connecting customer value to firm resources in ICT value networks

The objective of this thesis is to provide a business model framework that connects customer value to firm resources and explains the change logic of the business model. Strategic supply management and especially dynamic value network management as its scope, the dissertation is based on basic economic theories, transaction cost economics and the resource-based view. The main research question is how the changing customer values should be taken into account when planning business in a networked environment. The main question is divided into questions that form the basic research problems for the separate case studies presented in the five Publications. This research adopts the case study strategy, and the constructive research approach within it. The material consists of data from several Delphi panels and expert workshops, software pilot documents, company financial statements and information on investor relations on the companies’ web sites. The cases used in this study are a mobile multi-player game value network, smart phone and “Skype mobile” services, the business models of AOL, eBay, Google, Amazon and a telecom operator, a virtual city portal business system and a multi-play offering. The main contribution of this dissertation is bridging the gap between firm resources and customer value. This has been done by theorizing the business model concept and connecting it to both the resource-based view and customer value. This thesis contributes to the resource-based view, which deals with customer value and firm resources needed to deliver the value but has a gap in explaining how the customer value changes should be connected to the changes in key resources. This dissertation also provides tools and processes for analyzing the customer value preferences of ICT services, constructing and analyzing business models and business concept innovation and conducting resource analysis.

Com conceben els infants els fenòmens meteorològics

En aquest projecte es reflexiona sobre la capacitat dels infants per aprendre ciències des del parvulari, i la possibilitat de l’escola d’iniciar-los en temes complexos com són els fenòmens meteorològics. És positiu que els docents s’interessin per conèixer les teories intuïtives dels seus alumnes abans d’introduir nous temes de ciències, d’aquesta manera aquests es podran abordar més efectivament i per tant serà més senzill fer-ne evolucionar les seves idees inicials, acostant-los a un model més aproximat amb la ciència. L’estudi, que es basa en les idees d’infants de 4 a 7 anys, es fonamenta amb un recull de dades reals a través d’entrevistes relacionades amb els fenòmens de la pluja, la neu i la boira. D’aquesta manera, s’analitzen les teories dels infants que expressen a través dels conceptes intuïtius que han anat creant i dels conceptes introduïts durant la seva estada a l’escola. La recerca finalitza amb unes conclusions en què es reflexiona sobre la possibilitat d’aprenentatge dels infants en relació als fenòmens meteorològics que els envolten.

Text i context. El concurs de cinema amateur «JULIUS» (1987-1996)

El «Julius» és un concurs de cinema amateur que fonamenta la seva singularitat en el fet de partir d’un text literari prefixat del qual els participants han de fer una adaptació audiovisual. En aquest article s’estudia la primera època del concurs: el seu origen, les diverses edicions en què es dugué a terme, les incidències que s’hi produïren..., i el context social i cultural que va contribuir a fer-ne un concurs amb unes característiques úniques que es concretaren en l’anomenat «esperit Julius», sorneguer, llibertari i surrealista.

Aprenentatge sobre les emocions: la seva influència en l'aprenentage sobre habilitats socials. Desenvolupament i anàlisi d'una intervenció en una aula de P3

Amb aquest treball es pretén comprovar, si l’aplicació d’un conjunt d’activitats dirigides a treballar les emocions, millora les habilitats socials dels alumnes d’Educació Infantil. En primer lloc, es presenta un marc teòric basat en les aportacions i els descobriments de diferents autors sobre diversos aspectes relacionats amb les emocions i, sobre la importància de crear un bon clima dins d’una aula. Posteriorment es presenta el desenvolupament de les activitats que s’han posat en pràctica a l’aula. Per últim, es fa un anàlisi de les dades recollides en aquest estudi i se’n mostren els resultats i les conclusions que s’han extret.

El Aprendizaje dialógico y sus contribuciones a la teoría de la educación

This article highlights the contributions of the dialogic learning approach to educational theory, with the aim of providing some orientations in order to promote egalitarian and scientific educational practice. The seven principles of dialogic learning are discussed, along with other reproductionist theories and practices from the educational field, demonstrating how the former both surpass the latter. The article also reflects open dialogue with the critical theories of education which the dialogic learning theory is based on. These basic theories are, on the one hand, by authors who are distant in time but very close in their educational approach, such as Ferrer i Guàrdia, Vygotsky, or Paulo Freire, and, on the other hand, by other contemporary authors in critical pedagogy. Each of the seven principles presented are provided along with a critical examination of a specific educational practice. The consequences of the implementation of dialogic learning are underlined here through an analysis of innovative and critical educational projects which are academically successful

El aprendizaje reflexivo en la formación inicial del profesorado: un modelo para aprender a enseñar matemáticas = Reflective learning in the early formation of teachers: a model to learn to teach maths

In this study we analize the application of the reflective learning during initial formation mathematics teachers. This model is based on the sociocultural theories of the human learning and assumes that the interaction and the contrast make possible the coconstruction and the active reconstruction of knowledge.In order to make the study, it was left from a sample of 29 teaching students. The qualitative analysis allowed to identify factors that facilitate the incorporation of the reflective learning in university teaching, as well as the degree of effectiveness of this model to learn to teach mathematics

Capital Structure of Finnish SMEs and Financial Constraints

This thesis studies capital structure of Finnish small and medium sized enterprises. The specific object of the study is to test whether financial constraints have an effect on capital structure. In addition influences of several other factors were studied. Capital structure determinants are formulated based on three capital structure theories. The tradeoff theory and the agency theory concentrate on the search of optimal capital structure. The pecking order theory concerns favouring on financing source over another. The data of this study consists of financial statement data and results of corporate questionnaire. Regression analysis was used to find out the effects of several determinants. Regression models were formed based on the presented theories. Short and long term debt ratios were considered separately. The metrics of financially constrained firms was included in all models. It was found that financial constrains have a negative and significant effect to short term debt ratios. The effect was negative also to long term debt ratio but not statistically significant. Other considerable factors that influenced debt ratios were fixed assets, age, profitability, single owner and sufficiency of internal financing.

Balancing effluent quality, economic cost and greenhouse gas emissions during the evaluation of (plant-wide) control/operational strategies in WWTPs

The objective of this paper was to show the potential additional insight that result from adding greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to plant performance evaluation criteria, such as effluent quality (EQI) and operational cost (OCI) indices, when evaluating (plant-wide) control/operational strategies in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The proposed GHG evaluation is based on a set of comprehensive dynamic models that estimate the most significant potential on-site and off-site sources of CO2, CH4 and N2O. The study calculates and discusses the changes in EQI, OCI and the emission of GHGs as a consequence of varying the following four process variables: (i) the set point of aeration control in the activated sludge section; (ii) the removal efficiency of total suspended solids (TSS) in the primary clarifier; (iii) the temperature in the anaerobic digester; and (iv) the control of the flow of anaerobic digester supernatants coming from sludge treatment. Based upon the assumptions built into the model structures, simulation results highlight the potential undesirable effects of increased GHG production when carrying out local energy optimization of the aeration system in the activated sludge section and energy recovery from the AD. Although off-site CO2 emissions may decrease, the effect is counterbalanced by increased N2O emissions, especially since N2O has a 300-fold stronger greenhouse effect than CO2. The reported results emphasize the importance and usefulness of using multiple evaluation criteria to compare and evaluate (plant-wide) control strategies in a WWTP for more informed operational decision making

Transferência de calibração em métodos multivariados

Calibration transfer has received considerable attention in the recent literature. Several standardization methods have been proposed for transferring calibration models between equipments. The goal of this paper is to present a general revision of calibration transfer techniques. Basic concepts will be reviewed, as well as the main advantages and drawbacks of each technique. A case study based on a set of 80 NIR spectra of maize samples recorded on two different instruments is used to illustrate the main calibration transfer techniques (direct standardization, piecewise direct standardization, orthogonal signal correction and robust variable selection).