bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Mental Health program integration into Primary Health Care: Results of a Project Implemented at Yarmouk Health Care Center & Capital Health Primary Care Center, Kuwait
Authors: Alduwaisan Huda , Al-Sabbrei Aseel Omran , AL-Khamees Maryam , Alkanderi Nusaiba , Hussein Doaa Khalifa , AlSaqabi Amani , Qidwai Waris
Published: October 2023

Objective: World Health Organization (WHO) identified a gap in meeting mental health care needs in the health services. To bridge this gap, at Yarmouk Primary Health Care Center and Capital Health District area in Kuwait, it was decided to implement a best practice model, for integrating mental health services into primary health care services in Kuwait. Methodology: Implementation of the best practice model, for integrating mental health services into primary care services in Kuwait’s health system was initiated in 2008. It involved the integration of cost–effective, feasible evidence-based interventions for mental health conditions in Primary Health Care (PHC) and other priority health programs. It envisioned a mental health component in PHC, to enhance access to mental health care and improve identification and treatment rates for priority mental disorders, to provide holistic care for particularly disabling comorbid physical and mental health problems, and to engage in mental health promotion. Results: The program was initiated in 12 primary mental health care clinics in the Capital Health District area in Kuwait. Two hundred (200) Family Physicians and General Practitioners, were trained in psychiatric integration within the primary health care system. Regular evaluation of the performance of physicians working in primary mental health clinics in the program was ensured. Periodic evaluation of psychiatric patient visits in the Primary mental health clinics was conducted for quality improvement. Mental health awareness days and educational sessions were organized. Discussion: A practice model for integrating mental health services into primary care was developed in Kuwait, involving stakeholders. Its favorable impact on mental health in the community is undergoing scrutiny. Limitations such as human resource shortage and, movement of trained physicians from primary care to other administrative departments in the Ministry of Health (MOH), coupled with a lack of relevant data and the need for better coordination between stakeholders, were identified. Issues regarding electronic health records, patient confidentiality, and quality of services were identified. Stigma related to mental health issues resulted in a delay in implementing the integration. Conclusion: With increasing psychiatric illnesses and a lack of adequate specialized mental health services, addressing this issue at the primary care level offers an attractive cost-effective option to deal with the crisis. Keywords: Mental Health, Primary Health Care, Integration, Health system, Family Physician
Autism Spectrum Disorders in Children
Authors: Rofayda Mansour Ahmad Rofayda Mansour Ahmad , Albalawi Rahaf Masoud D , Albalawi Nouf Salem , Alghamdi Nawaf Farhan , Alzahrani Naif Ibrahim , Aljeshi Zahraa Hussain , Atafi Hanan Ali , Alghaythee Hotoon Kamel , Haider Alyaa Mohammed Izaldin , Abujamal Zainab Esameldeen , Alruwili Alhanouf Radhyan , Qaysi Majed Mohammad
Published: October 2023

Background: Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) describe a category of neurodevelopmental disorders in which individuals experience difficulties of social interaction and age-appropriate play and struggle to establish healthy peer interactions at their stage of development. This study will address the various aspects of Autism in children including clinical symptoms, evaluation, diagnosis and widely used medication or care. Methodology: The search strategy involved utilizing two primary sources for obtaining relevant literature: Google Scholar and PubMed. The inclusion criteria comprised articles published in peer-reviewed journals, written in English, and focusing on ASD in children. Studies with diverse designs, including experimental, observational, and review studies, were considered. Results: While children with autism spectrum disorders share many characteristics with children that have other developmental disorders and can benefit from many of the same educational strategies, they pose specific challenges for families, teachers, and others who collaborate with them. A deficiency in non-verbal and verbal communication requires a great deal of effort and ability, including in teaching basic knowledge. Special challenges in social interaction (e.g.,joint attention) may require more individual instruction than most children to gain and retain their children’s attention. Furthermore, ordinary social interactions between peers do not typically take place without active preparation and ongoing adult structuring in the child’s environment. Conclusion: The lack of traditional friendships and peer relationships influences child motivation structures and the sense of experience. Adequate social experiences can be some of the most challenging and valuable lessons a child with autism spectrum disorders can learn. Keywords: ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorders), QOL (Quality Of Life), neurodevelopmental conditions, PA (Physical Activity), DSM, ICD
La visió de la informàtica en la literatura de ciència ficció
Authors:   , Barceló Garcia Miquel
Published: October 2023

(Cat) Aquesta memòria descriu com la literatura de ciència ficció reflecteix en les seves narracions els conceptes i resultats propis de la ciència i la tecnologia informàtica. Aquesta visió cal entendre-la en un sentit ampli, com correspon a una imatge sorgida d'un món eminentment literari.
(...) Els criteris de selecció i classificació temàtica pretenen mostrar tant les principals orientacions tecnològiques, com aquells temes que, relacionats amb la informàtica, han estat objecte de l'atenció dels autors de ciència ficció: robots, androides, cibernètica, ordinadors, cyborgs, sistemes d'informació i xarxes de comunicacions.
En el tractament d'aquests temes centrals es posa especial èmfasi en diferenciar el que es pot considerar ja assolit en els estudis anteriors sobre informàtica a la ciència ficció de les aportacions que fa a present recerca. Una diferenciació que postula la presència d'un canvi qualitatiu fonamental en la temàtica analitzada a partir de finals de la dècada dels setanta

(Esp) Esta memoria describe cómo la literatura de ciencia ficción refleja en sus narraciones los conceptos y resultados propios de la ciencia y la tecnología informática. Esta visión debe entenderse en un sentido amplio, como corresponde a una imagen surgida de un mundo eminentemente literario. (...) Los criterios de selección y clasificación temática pretenden mostrar tanto las principales orientaciones tecnológicas, como aquellos temas que, relacionados con la informática, han sido objeto de la atención de los autores de ciencia ficción: robots, androides, cibernética, ordenadores , cyborgs, sistemas de información y redes de comunicaciones. En el tratamiento de estos temas centrales se pone especial énfasis en diferenciar lo que se puede considerar ya alcanzado en los estudios anteriores sobre informática en la ciencia ficción de las aportaciones que hace a presente investigación. Una diferenciación que postula la presencia de un cambio cualitativo fundamental en la temática analizada a partir de finales de la década de los setenta
Assessment of size aspects in modelling molten fuel coolant interaction.
Authors:   , Pla Freixa Patricia
Published: October 2023

Severe accidents in light water nuclear reactors occur when reactor vessel water inventory decreases and there is no available additional water coolant to be delivered into the core. In general, during an extended severe accident sequence a period exists in which the reactor core, after a partial or total melt down, is poured into the lower plenum that can have some water present. The study of the interaction of the melt fuel with the water is the objective of MFCI (Melt Fuel Coolant Interaction) activities.

MFCI is one of the most important issues awaiting resolution in water cooled reactor safety analysis. The progression of a severe accident in a water cooled reactor can lead to energetic (steam explosion) or non-energetic (melt quenching) interactions as the molten fuel relocates and eventually interacts with the coolant either in the vessel lower head (in vessel) or in the cavity (ex-vessel).

The MFCI experiments at JRC Ispra site were conducted in the FARO (Furnace And Release Oven) test facility under realistic melt composition and prototypical accident conditions to provide basic information on underlying phenomena. The experimental programme was complemented by comprehensive pre-test and post-test analytical activities based on the development and application of the thermalhydraulic COMETA (COre MElt Thermalhydraulic Analysis) code. The code is developed and assessed on the basis of experimental information acquired in the FARO facility tests, and there are some limitations and uncertainties in their application to the full plant, which need to be identified and possibly quantified.

In general the main objective of the PhD research was achieved expanding the general knowledge in Melt Fuel Coolant Interaction. The knowledge was complemented collaborating and complementing the application of COMETA code under conditions not experimented before, developing and improving COMETA code sources and verifying the code consistency, analysing and unifying the COMETA simulations carried so far.

Also a further analytical study was carried out in order to illustrate the MFCI inside the general overview of a NPP (Nuclear Power Plant) severe accident sequence.
New developments on preparation of cooled and bunched radioactive ion beams at ISOL-Facilities: the ISCOOL project and the rotating wall cooling
Authors:   , Podadera Aliseda Ivan
Published: October 2023

Last years have become very productive for the research, construction and development of new facilities devoted to the production of beams with exotic radioisotopes (Radioactive Ion Beams, RIB). These beams are later used for experiments in fields like nuclear physics, atomic physics, astrophysics or medicine, among others. Within this kind of facilities, the ISOL facilities stand out. They are based on the on-line separation of radioactive isotopes produced in nuclear reactions between a target and a high-energy proton beam. The ISOL method was the pioneer for these facilities and it has kept up to now the leadership of RIB facilities. The main reason is ISOLDE, an ISOL facility located at CERN, the largest accelerator complex in the world, where this doctoral thesis has been carried out.
The first innovation which is described is the design of an ion trap for the cooling and bunching of RIB's for ISOLDE, the so-called ISCOOL (ISOLDE COOLer). It is an Radio Frequency Quadrupole ion Cooler and Buncher (RFQCB), device based on the Paul traps. In these traps, the ions are confined in the three dimensions by electric fields. The ions are confined on the transverse plane with the pseudopotential well created by the Radio Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) and focused on the longitudinal axis. At the same time, a gas (normally helium) fills the chamber with a pressure between 10-3 and 10-2 mbar. The collisions between the atoms or molecules of the gas and the ions. In addition, to drive the ions to the extraction of the RFQCB, an axial electric field is created by segmented electrodes. Different voltages are applied to these electrodes in order to choose the shape of the field. The shape can be chosen to create a potential well close to the extraction from the RFQCB in which the ions are accumulated and extracted as bunches, by the fast-switch of the voltages applied to the axial electrodes.
The new ISCOOL will be installed as a permanent device of the ISOLDE beam lines.
A Hybrid Environment for Syntax-Semantic Tagging
Authors:   , Padró Lluís
Published: October 2023

The thesis describes the application of the relaxation labelling algorithm to NLP disambiguation. Language is modelled through context constraint inspired on Constraint Grammars. The constraints enable the use of a real value statind "compatibility". The technique is applied to POS tagging, Shallow Parsing and Word Sense Disambigation. Experiments and results are reported. The proposed approach enables the use of multi-feature constraint models, the simultaneous resolution of several NL disambiguation tasks, and the collaboration of linguistic and statistical models.

La tesi descriu l'aplicació de l'algorisme d'etiquetat per relaxacio (relaxation labelling) a la desambiguació del llenguatge natural. La llengua es modela mitjançant restriccions de context inspirades en les Constraint Grammars. Les restriccions permeten l'ús d'un valor real que n'expressa la "compatibilitat". La tècnica s'aplica a la desambiguació morfosintàctica (POS tagging), a l'anàlisi sintàctica superficial (Shallow Parsing) i a la desambiguació semàntica (Word Sense Disambigation), i se'n presenten experiments i resultats. L'enfoc proposat permet la utilització de models de restriccions amb trets múltiples, la resolució simultània de diverses tasques de desambiguació del llenguatge natural, i la col·laboració de models linguístics i estadístics.
Symbolic and connectionist learning techniques for grammatical inference
Authors:   , Alquézar Mancho René
Published: October 2023

This thesis is structured in four parts for a total of ten chapters.

The first part, introduction and review (Chapters 1 to 4), presents an extensive state-of-the-art review of both symbolic and connectionist GI methods, that serves also to state most of the basic material needed to describe later the contributions of the thesis. These contributions constitute the contents of the rest of parts (Chapters 5 to 10).

The second part, contributions on symbolic and connectionist techniques for regular grammatical inference (Chapters 5 to 7), describes the contributions related to the theory and methods for regular GI, which include other lateral subjects such as the representation oí. finite-state machines (FSMs) in recurrent neural networks (RNNs).

The third part of the thesis, augmented regular expressions and their inductive inference, comprises Chapters 8 and 9. The augmented regular expressions (or AREs) are defined and proposed as a new representation for a subclass of CSLs that does not contain all the context-free languages but a large class of languages capable of describing patterns with symmetries and other (context-sensitive) structures of interest in pattern recognition problems.

The fourth part of the thesis just includes Chapter 10: conclusions and future research. Chapter 10 summarizes the main results obtained and points out the lines of further research that should be followed both to deepen in some of the theoretical aspects raised and to facilitate the application of the developed GI tools to real-world problems in the area of computer vision.
El Mètode dels esdeveniments per a l'Actualització de vistes en bases de dades deductives
Authors:   , Teniente López Ernest
Published: October 2023

En esta tesis se presenta un nuevo método, llamado método de los eventos, para la actualización de vistas en bases de datos deductivas. Este método aumenta la base de datos con un conjunto de reglas, llamadas reglas de transición y de evento, que definen explícitamente las inserciones y las supresiones inducidas por una modificación de la base de datos. Mediante estas reglas, se utiliza la resolución SIDNF para obtener todas las traducciones mínimas que satisfacen una petición de actualización de vista.

Una de las contribuciones principales de esta tesis es la demostración del hecho que el método de los eventos es completo en bases de datos estratificados. Es decir, en este tipo de bases de datos dicho método obtiene todas las traducciones validas. Otras ventajas importantes del método son la incorporación de la comprobación de integridad en el proceso de traducción, el tratamiento uniforme de inserciones y supresiones, la posibilidad de prevenir efectos laterales y la traducción de peticiones de modificación de vista.

Por todas estas razones, se puede decir que el método de los eventos tiene todo el poder de los métodos propuestos hasta el momento actual para la utilización de vistas en bases de datos deductivas, pero sin presentar algunas de sus limitaciones.
An object-oriented approach to the translation between MOF Metaschemas
Authors:   , Raventós Pagès Ruth
Published: October 2023

Since the 1960s, many formal languages have been developed in order to allow software engineers to specify conceptual models and to design software artifacts. A few of these languages, such as the Unified Modeling Language (UML), have become widely used standards. They employ notations and concepts that are not readily understood by "domain experts," who understand the actual problem domain and are responsible for finding solutions to problems.
The Object Management Group (OMG) developed the Semantics of Business Vocabulary and Rules (SBVR) specification as a first step towards providing a language to support the specification of "business vocabularies and rules." The function of SBVR is to capture business concepts and business rules in languages that are close enough to ordinary language, so that business experts can read and write them, and formal enough to capture the intended semantics and present them in a form that is suitable for engineering the automation of the rules.
The ultimate goal of business rules approaches is to build software systems directly from vocabularies and rules. One way of reaching this goal, within the context of model-driven architecture (MDA), is to transform SBVR models into UML models. OMG also notes the need for a reverse engineering transformation between UML schemas and SBVR vocabularies and rules in order to validate UML schemas.
This thesis proposes an automatic approach to translation between UML schemas and SBVR vocabularies and rules, and vice versa. It consists of the application of a new generic schema translation approach to the particular case of UML and SBVR.
The main contribution of the generic approach is the extensive use of object-oriented concepts in the definition of translation mappings, particularly the use of operations (and their refinements) and invariants, both formalized in the Object Constraint Language (OCL). Translation mappings can be used to check that two schemas are translations of each other, and to translate one into the other, in either direction. Translation mappings are declaratively defined by means of preconditions, postconditions and invariants, and they can be implemented in any suitable language. The approach leverages the object-oriented constructs embedded in Meta Object Facility (MOF) metaschemas to achieve the goals of object-oriented software development in the schema translation problem.
The generic schema translation approach and its application to UML schemas and SBVR vocabularies and rules is fully implemented in the UML-based Specification Environment (USE) tool and validated by a case study based on the conceptual schema of the Digital Bibliography & Library Project (DBLP) system.
On the design and implementation of flexible software platforms to facilitate the development of advanced graphics applications
Authors:   , Fairén González Marta
Published: October 2023

This thesis presents the design and implementation of a software development platform (ATLAS) which offers some tools and methods to greatly simplify the construction of fairly sophisticated applications. It allows thus programmers to include advanced features in their applications with no or very little extra information and effort. These features include: the splitting of the application in distinct processes that may be distributed over a network; a powerful configuration and scripting language; several tools including an input system to easily construct reasonable interfaces; a flexible journaling mechanism --offering fault-tolerance to crashes of processes or communications--; and other features designed for graphics applications, like a global data identification- --addressing the problem of volatile references and giving support to processes of constraint solving--, and a uniform but flexible view of inputs allowing many different dialogue modes.

These can be seen as related or overlapping with CORBA or other systems like Horus or Arjuna, but none of them addresses simultaneously all aspects included in ATLAS; more specifically none of them offers a standardized input model, a configuration and macro language, a journaling mechanism or gives support to processes of constraints solving and parametric design.

The contributions of ATLAS are in showing how all these requirements can be addressed together; also in showing means by which this can be attained with little or no performance cost and without imposing on developers the need of mastering all these techniques. Finally, the design of the ATLAS journaling system is to our knowledge original in the simultaneous solution of all of its requirements.
Acquiring information extraction patterns from unannotated corpora
Authors:   , Catala Roig Neus
Published: October 2023

Information Extraction (IE) can be defined as the task of automatically extracting preespecified kind of information from a text document. The extracted information is encoded in the required format and then can be used, for example, for text summarization or as accurate index to retrieve new documents.

The main issue when building IE systems is how to obtain the knowledge needed to identify relevant information in a document. Today, IE systems are commonly based on extraction rules or IE patterns to represent the kind of information to be extracted. Most approaches to IE pattern acquisition require expert human intervention in many steps of the acquisition process. This dissertation presents a novel method for acquiring IE patterns, Essence, that significantly reduces the need for human intervention. The method is based on ELA, a specifically designed learning algorithm for acquiring IE patterns from unannotated corpora.

The distinctive features of Essence and ELA are that 1) they permit the automatic acquisition of IE patterns from unrestricted and untagged text representative of the domain, due to 2) their ability to identify regularities around semantically relevant concept-words for the IE task by 3) using non-domain-specific lexical knowledge tools such as WordNet and 4) restricting the human intervention to defining the task, and validating and typifying the set of IE patterns obtained.

Since Essence does not require a corpus annotated with the type of information to be extracted and it does makes use of a general purpose ontology and widely applied syntactic tools, it reduces the expert effort required to build an IE system and therefore also reduces the effort of porting the method to any domain.

In order to Essence be validated we conducted a set of experiments to test the performance of the method. We used Essence to generate IE patterns for a MUC-like task. Nevertheless, the evaluation procedure for MUC competitions does not provide a sound evaluation of IE systems, especially of learning systems. For this reason, we conducted an exhaustive set of experiments to further test the abilities of Essence.
The results of these experiments indicate that the proposed method is able to learn effective IE patterns.
Estudio de la eficiencia de sistemas químicos del curado de resinas de poliéster insaturado
Authors:   , Ramis Juan Xavier
Published: October 2023

Se ha estudiado la eficiencia de diferentes sistemas de iniciación química y térmica del curado de resinas de poliéster insaturado. Mediante calorimetría diferencial de barrido (DSC), se ha curado isotérmicamente y dinámicamente una resina de poliéster insaturado con peroxido de benzoilo como iniciador. Se ha calculado parámetros cinéticos por ajuste de los resultados calorimétricos, según diferentes métodos de análisis. Se ha establecido que método aporta mejores resultados. En curados dinámicos de varias resinas se ha investigado el efecto que provoca el tipo y la cantidad de promotor y de iniciador y en la iniciación y en el curado. Se ha estudiado la influencia del contenido de estireno y de la composición de la resina en el proceso de curado y en las propiedades del material curado, determinando la tg (DSC) y el modulo elástico (ensayos mecánicos de flexión). Se ha realizado un estudio de la degradación térmica de varias resinas por termogravimetría. Se ha determinado también el grado de conversión último mediante DSC y GPC.
En curados isotérmicos de una resina con iniciador y diferentes tipos de promotor, se ha investigado la influencia del carácter nucleófilo de la amina y el tamaño de los sustituyentes en el mecanismo de iniciación Redox. Finalmente se ha investigado por DSC el mecanismo de inhibición de la hidroquinona y la influencia del contenido de hidroquinona en el curado y en los parámetros cinéticos del curado. A partir de los parámetros cinéticos obtenidos, se ha simulado el curado isotérmico, dentro y fuera del intervalo experimental de temperaturas utilizado para establecer la cinética.
Estudio geométrico de familias diferenciales de parejas de motrices: deformaciones versales, cambios de base globales, estratificación de Brunovsky
Authors:   , García Planas María Isabel
Published: October 2023

Las ecuaciones de sistemas lineales de la forma: X'(S)= AX(S) + BU(S) O X (K+1) = AX (K) + BU (K) se identifican de manera natural con las parejas de matrices (A, B) modulo uno, relación de equivalencia que se corresponde con cambios de base en las variables de estado y en las de entrada, mas una realimentación adicional. En este contexto, las familias de parejas (A(H, B(M) aparecen en el estudio de perturbaciones de sistemas, sistemas con retardo, incertidumbre en los valores de los parámetros del sistema, etc. se abordan en particular los siguientes problemas:

1) forma canónica local.

2) existencia de familias diferenciables.

3) estratificación del espacio de parejas de matrices:

Diagramas de bifurcación de familias genéricas.
Estimació dels paràmetres de models ARMA (P,Q) mitjançant algorismes de filtratge òptim
Authors:   , Muñoz Gracia María del Pilar
Published: October 2023

El objetivo del trabajo era sintetizar un filtro no lineal optimo para la estimación de parámetros de modelos arma. El interés de un filtro de este estilo reside en elhecho que permite evaluar exactamente el numero mínimo deobservaciones necesarias para realizar una estimación conuna determinada precisión.A lo largo del trabajo se analizan ypresentan diversas opciones de síntesis de filtros para estos problemas y se hacen pruebas con cada uno de ellos.Nos parecen especialmente remarcables las expresiones recurrentes entre formas cuadráticas establecidas en el trabajo, que permiten plantear unfiltro especialmente sencillo.Los ejemplos tratados ponen de manifiesto que el numero deobservaciones necesarias depende esencialmente de laposición relativa de los polos y ceros del modelo, y queusualmente la precisión que se puede obtener es muy inferior a la que suponen métodos suboptimos de estimación.
Validation of mappings between data schemas
Authors:   , Rull Fort Guillem
Published: October 2023

En esta tesis, presentamos un nuevo enfoque para validar mappings entre esquemas de datos que permite al diseñador comprobar si el mapping satisface o no ciertas propiedades deseables. La respuesta que obtiene el diseñador no se limita a un simple valor booleano, sino que dependiendo del resultado de la comprobación obtendrá un ejemplo/contraejemplo que ilustre ese resultado, o bien se le indicará el conjunto de restricciones de integridad de los esquemas y formulas del mapping responsables de ese resultado.
Una de las características principales de nuestro enfoque es que es capaz de tratar una clase muy expresiva de mappings y esquemas relacionales. En particular, nuestro enfoque es capaz de tratar con formulas de mapping consistentes en inclusiones y igualdades de consultas, además de permitir el uso de negaciones y comparaciones aritméticas tanto en las propias formulas del mapping como en las vistas definidas en los esquemas. Nuestro enfoque también permite tratar restricciones de integridad, las cuales pueden estar definidas no solo sobre las tablas sino también sobre las vistas de los esquemas.
Dado que razonar sobre este tipo de mappings y esquemas es, desafortunadamente, indecidible, proponemos realizar un test de terminación previo a la validación del mapping. Si el test de terminación da una respuesta positiva, entonces podremos estar seguros de que la posterior comprobación de la propiedad deseable correspondiente terminará.
Finalmente, también extendemos nuestro enfoque más allá del caso relacional y lo aplicamos al contexto de mappings entre esquemas XML.

In this thesis, we present a new approach to the validation of mappings between data schemas. It allows the designer to check whether the mapping satisfies certain desirable properties. The feedback that our approach provides to the designer is not only a Boolean answer, but either a (counter)example for the (un)satisfiability of the tested property, or the set of mapping assertions and schema constraints that are responsible for that (un)satisfiability.
One of the main characteristics of our approach is that it is able to deal with a very expressive class of relational mapping scenarios; in particular, it is able to deal with mapping assertions in the form of query inclusions and query equalities, and it allows the use of negation and arithmetic comparisons in both the mapping assertions and the views of the schemas; it also allows for integrity constraints, which can be defined not only over the base relations but also in terms of the views.
Since reasoning on the class of mapping scenarios that we consider is, unfortunately, undecidable, we propose to perform a termination test as a pre-validation step. If the answer of the test is positive, then checking the corresponding desirable property will terminate.
We also go beyond the relational setting and study the application of our approach to the context of mappings between XML schemas.
Monte Carlo and experimental small-field dosimetry applied to spatially fractionated synchrotron radiotherapy techniques
Authors:   , Martínez Rovira Immaculada
Published: October 2023

Two innovative radiotherapy (RT) approaches are under development at the ID17 Biomedical
Beamline of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF): microbeam radiation
therapy (MRT) and minibeam radiation therapy (MBRT). The two main distinct characteristics
with respect to conventional RT are the use of submillimetric field sizes and spatial
fractionation of the dose. This PhD work deals with different features related to small-field
dosimetry involved in these techniques. Monte Carlo (MC) calculations and several experimental
methods are used with this aim in mind. The core of this PhD Thesis consisted of the
development and benchmarking of an MC-based computation engine for a treatment planning
system devoted to MRT within the framework of the preparation of forthcoming MRT
clinical trials. Additional achievements were the definition of safe MRT irradiation protocols,
the assessment of scatter factors in MRT, the further improvement of the MRT therapeutic
index by injecting a contrast agent into the tumour and the definition of a dosimetry protocol
for preclinical trials in MBRT.
Numerical analysis and experimental studies of vapour compression refrigerating systems: special emphasis on different cycle configurations
Authors:   , Sadurní Caballol Alexandre
Published: October 2023

The aim of this work is to study the thermal behavior and fluid-dynamic systems, vapor compression refrigeration and its components (heat exchangers, expansion devices, compressors, connecting pipes, pumps and pressure vessels). Topics discussed throughout this thesis arise from the growing interest in refrigerants friendly environment as well as different types of cooling systems for vapor compression has motivated the research group of the CTTC (Centre for Heat Transfer Technology ) to carry out major research efforts as well as participate in several projects with national and European institutions. The information contained in this thesis represents a summary of work performed by the author in recent years but also includes many of the contributions made by other members of CTTC. This thesis has led to the publication of several articles in international conferences. The main achievement of this thesis was the development of a numerical tool based on several subroutines flexibility to study different cooling Systemas vapor compression. The entire digital infrastructure has been the result of attaching specific numerical resolutions of each element of the cycle with the overall resolution algorithm. The simulations have been oriented to the study of thermodynamic cycle as well as to study some relevant aspects of the elements. In addition to the numerical results has been carried out important experimental work in the CTTC facilities in order to validate numerical models. The author has been fully involved in the process of data acquisition and has collaborated in the development of the units. The thesis is structured into five chapters plus a final conclusions and future actions. The first chapter, the introduction puts the reader in regard to the problematic situation, the history of cooling and objectives. The second presents the mathematical formulation and numerical methodology used in the simulation of the different elements and all cooling systems. The third study presents the numerical code verification. The fourth focuses on the validation of models with experimental results. And finally the fifth presents a suite of parametric studies and analysis. The numerical simulation code implemented has proven to be a flexible tool as various aspects of the steam compression systems have been successfully simulated and studied. It has also proven a reliable and good level of accuracy as the numerical results have been simulated properly the various experimental data compared.
The notion of specialization in the i*framework
Authors:   , López Cuesta Lidia
Published: October 2023

This thesis provides a formal proposal for the specialization relationship in the i* framework that allows its use in a well-defined manner. I root my proposal over existing works in different areas that are interested in representing knowledge: knowledge representation from Artificial Intelligence and conceptual modeling and object-oriented programming languages from Software Development. Also, I use the results of a survey conducted in the i* community that provides some insights about what i* modelers expect from specialization. As a consequence of this twofold analysis, I identify three specialization operations: extension, refinement and redefinition. For each of them, I:
- motivate its need and provide some rationale;
- distinguish the several cases that can occur in each operation;
- define the elements involved in each of these cases and the correctness conditions that must be fulfilled;
- demonstrate by induction the fulfilment of the conditions identified for preserving satisfaction;
- provide some illustrative examples in the context of an exemplar about travel agencies and travelers.
The specialization relationship is offered by the i* framework through the is-a construct defined over actors (a subactor is-a superactor) since it was first released. Although the overall meaning of this construct is highly intuitive, its effects at the level of intentional elements and dependencies are not always clear, hampering seriously its appropriate use.
In order to be able to reason about correctness and satisfaction, I define previously the conditions that must be preserved when a specialization takes place. In addition, I provide a methodology with well-defined steps that contextualize the formal aspects of this thesis in a development process.
As a conclusion, this thesis is making possible the use of the specialization relationship in i* in a precise, non-ambiguous manner.
Lightweight and static verification of UML executable models
Authors:   , Planas Hortal Elena
Published: October 2023

Executable models play a key role in many development methods (such as MDD and MDA) by facilitating the immediate simulation/implementation of the software system under development. This is possible because executable models include a
fine-grained specification of the system behaviour using an action language. Executable models are not a new concept but are now experiencing a comeback. As a relevant example, the OMG has recently published the first version of the “Foundational Subset for Executable UML Models” (fUML) standard, an executable subset of the UML that can be used to define, in an operational style, the structural and behavioural semantics of systems. The OMG has also published a beta version of the “Action Language for fUML” (Alf) standard, a concrete syntax conforming to the fUML abstract syntax, that provides the constructs and textual notation to specify the fine-grained behaviour of systems. The OMG support to executable models is substantially raising the interest of software companies for this topic.

Given the increasing importance of executable models and the impact of their correctness on the final quality of software systems derived from them, the existence of methods to verify the correctness of executable models is becoming crucial. Otherwise, the quality of the executable models (and in turn the quality of the final system generated from them) will be compromised.

Despite the number of research works targetting the verification of software models, their computational cost and poor feedback makes them difficult to integrate in current software development processes. Therefore, there is the need for efficient and useful methods to check the correctness of executable models and tools integrated to the modelling tools used by designers.

In this thesis we propose a verification framework to help the designers to improve the quality of their executable models. Our framework is composed of a set of lightweight static methods, i.e. methods that do not require to execute the model in order to check the desired property. These methods are able to check several properties over the behavioural part of an executable model (for instance, over the set of operations that compose a behavioural executable model) such as syntactic correctness (i.e. all the operations in the behavioural model conform to the syntax of the language in which it is described), non-redundancy (i.e. there is no another operation with exactly the same behaviour), executability (i.e. after the execution of an operation, the reached system state is -in case of strong executability- or may be -in case of weak executability- consistent with the structural model and its integrity constraints) and completeness (i.e. all possible changes on the system state can be performed through the execution of the operations defined in the executable model). For incorrect models, the methods that compose our verification framework return a meaningful feedback that helps repairing the detected inconsistencies.
On the complexity of resolution-based proof systems
Authors:   , Oliva Valls Sergi
Published: October 2023

Propositional Proof Complexity is the area of Computational Complexity that studies the length of proofs in propositional logic. One of its main questions is to determine which particular propositional formulas have short proofs in a given propositional proof system. In this thesis we present several results related to this question, all on proof systems that are extensions of the well-known resolution proof system.

The first result of this thesis is that TQBF, the problem of determining if a fully-quantified propositional CNF-formula is true, is PSPACE-complete even when restricted to instances of bounded tree-width, i.e. a parameter of structures that measures their similarity to a tree. Instances of bounded tree-width of many NP-complete problems are tractable, e.g. SAT, the boolean satisfiability problem. We show that this does not scale up to TQBF. We also consider Q-resolution, a quantifier-aware version of resolution. On the negative side, our first result implies that, unless NP = PSPACE, the class of fully-quantified CNF-formulas of bounded tree-width does not have short proofs in any proof system (and in particular in Q-resolution). On the positive side, we show that instances with bounded respectful tree-width, a more restrictive condition, do have short proofs in Q-resolution. We also give a natural family of formulas with this property that have real-world applications.

The second result concerns interpretability. Informally, we say that a first-order formula can be interpreted in another if the first one can be expressed using the vocabulary of the second, plus some extra features. We show that first-order formulas whose propositional translations have short R(const)-proofs, i.e. a generalized version of resolution with DNF-formulas of constant-size terms, are closed under a weaker form of interpretability (that with no extra features), called definability. Our main result is a similar result on interpretability. Also, we show some examples of interpretations and show a systematic technique to transform some Sigma_1-definitions into quantifier-free interpretations.

The third and final result is about a relativized weak pigeonhole principle. This says that if at least 2n out of n^2 pigeons decide to fly into n holes, then some hole must be doubly occupied. We prove that the CNF encoding of this principle does not have polynomial-size DNF-refutations, i.e. refutations in the generalized version of resolution with unbounded DNF-formulas. For this proof we discuss the existence of unbalanced low-degree bipartite expanders satisfying a certain robustness condition.
Solving hard industrial combinatorial problems with SAT
Authors:   , Abío Roig Ignasi
Published: October 2023

The topic of this thesis is the development of SAT-based techniques and tools for solving industrial combinatorial problems. First, it describes the architecture of state-of-the-art SAT and SMT Solvers based on the classical DPLL procedure. These systems can be used as black boxes for solving combinatorial problems. However, sometimes we can increase their efficiency with slight modifications of the basic algorithm. Therefore, the study and development of techniques for adjusting SAT Solvers to specific combinatorial problems is the first goal of this thesis.
Namely, SAT Solvers can only deal with propositional logic. For solving general combinatorial problems, two different approaches are possible:
- Reducing the complex constraints into propositional clauses.
- Enriching the SAT Solver language.
The first approach corresponds to encoding the constraint into SAT. The second one corresponds to using propagators, the basis for SMT Solvers. Regarding the first approach, in this document we improve the encoding of two of the most important combinatorial constraints: cardinality constraints and pseudo-Boolean constraints. After that, we present a new mixed approach, called lazy decomposition, which combines the advantages of encodings and propagators.
The other part of the thesis uses these theoretical improvements in industrial combinatorial problems. We give a method for efficiently scheduling some professional sport leagues with SAT. The results are promising and show that a SAT approach is valid for these problems.
However, the chaotical behavior of CDCL-based SAT Solvers due to VSIDS heuristics makes it difficult to obtain a similar solution for two similar problems. This may be inconvenient in real-world problems, since a user expects similar solutions when it makes slight modifications to the problem specification. In order to overcome this limitation, we have studied and solved the close solution problem, i.e., the problem of quickly finding a close solution when a similar problem is considered.
Learning finite-state machines: statistical and algorithmic aspects
Authors:   , Balle Pigem Borja de
Published: October 2023

The present thesis addresses several machine learning problems on generative and predictive models on sequential data. All the models considered have in common that they can be de ned in terms of nite-state machines. On one line of work we study algorithms for learning the probabilistic analog of
Deterministic Finite Automata (DFA). This provides a fairly expressive generative model for sequences with very interesting algorithmic properties. State-merging algorithms for learning these models can be interpreted as a divisive clustering scheme where the "dependency graph" between clusters is not
necessarily a tree. We characterize these algorithms in terms of statistical queries and a use this characterization for proving a lower bound with an explicit dependency on the distinguishability of the target machine. In a more realistic setting, we give an adaptive state-merging algorithm satisfying the stringent algorithmic constraints of the data streams computing paradigm. Our algorithms come with strict PAC learning guarantees. At the heart of state-merging algorithms lies a statistical test for distribution similarity. In the streaming version this is replaced with a bootstrap-based test which yields faster
convergence in many situations. We also studied a wider class of models for which the state-merging paradigm also yield PAC learning algorithms. Applications of this method are given to continuous-time Markovian models and stochastic transducers on pairs of aligned sequences. The main tools used for obtaining these results include a variety of concentration inequalities and sketching algorithms.
In another line of work we contribute to the rapidly growing body of spectral learning algorithms.
The main virtues of this type of algorithms include the possibility of proving nite-sample error bounds in the realizable case and enormous savings on computing time over iterative methods like Expectation-Maximization. In this thesis we give the rst application of this method for learning conditional distributions over pairs of aligned sequences de ned by probabilistic nite-state transducers. We also prove that the method can learn the whole class of probabilistic automata, thus extending the class of models previously known to be learnable with this approach. In the last two chapters we present works combining spectral learning with methods from convex optimization and matrix completion. Respectively, these yield an alternative interpretation of spectral learning and an extension to cases with missing data.
In the latter case we used a novel joint stability analysis of matrix completion and spectral learning to prove the rst generalization bound for this type of algorithms that holds in the non-realizable case. Work in this area has been motivated by connections between spectral learning, classic automata theory,
and statistical learning; tools from these three areas have been used.