DOCTORAL DEGREE IN AGRI-FOOD TECHNOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY

• SOLER CAMPRECIÓS, JORDI: AVALUACIÓ DELS REQUERIMENTS REPRODUCTIUS I DEL CONTROL QUÍMIC DE L’AILANT (AILANTHUS ALTISSIMA), COM A ESPÈCIE INVASORA D’ESPAIS NATURALS
  
  Author: SOLER CAMPRECIÓS, JORDI
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN AGRI-FOOD TECHNOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
  Department: Department of Agri-Food Engineering and Biotechnology (DEAB)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 13/07/2026
  Reading date: 25/09/2026
  Reading time: 10:00
  Reading place: Sala Syngenta de l'EEABB. Edifici D4, Campus del Baix Llobregat de la UPC. C. Esteve Terradas 8, Castelldefels
  Thesis director: IZQUIERDO FIGAROLA, JORDI
  Thesis abstract: Invasive plants, such as Ailanthus altissima, cause damage to biodiversity due to their high capacity for expansion and establishment. A thorough understanding of the reproductive traits of this species is essential to define eradication strategies based on effective control methods.During the literature review, insufficient information was found regarding chemical methods to break seed dormancy, resulting in low germination rates. Conversely, other studies have shown that alternating temperature regimes promote germination. However, this method involves temperature accumulation that is not compatible with base temperature experiments. The base temperature for seeds or roots has never been determined, and only a few studies have addressed the base water potential of seeds, all conducted outside our region. From the base temperature, predictive germination models can be developed—a task we included in this study to create tools that assist in planning future management actions for this invasive species.The results showed a low response in dormancy release across different treatments, with the best germination achieved through cold stratification at 10 °C for 21 days. The base temperature for seeds and roots was very similar, and under water stress conditions, both seed germination and root sprouting decreased.We focused on evaluating the effectiveness of commercially available herbicides at the time of this study. Different application periods, herbicides, and techniques were tested. Herbicide application provided better control compared to untreated trees. The most effective technique was cut-stump injection, and the most efficient herbicides were triclopyr combined with 2,4-D and/or aminopyralid. The effect of flazasulfuron on Ailanthus altissima was evaluated for the first time, showing satisfactory results.We also identified, for the first time in Catalonia, the eriophyid mite Aculus taihagensis, a species already reported in other countries as a potential biological control agent.In conclusion, Ailanthus altissima can be eradicated if the correct methods are used, while predictive models will assist managers in the management of eradication efforts.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN APPLIED MATHEMATICS

• FACCIOTTI, BENEDETTA: Groupoids of local systems and decorated representations on marked bordered surfaces
  
  Author: FACCIOTTI, BENEDETTA
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN APPLIED MATHEMATICS
  Department: School of Mathematics and Statistics (FME)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 13/07/2026
  Reading date: 20/10/2026
  Reading time: 18:00
  Reading place: Sala 327 SYMCREA, planta 3 de l'EPSEB, Campus Sud Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us06web.zoom.us/j/85064553889?pwd=hlFbcaUadWq4QQLS7FYGpUhbVNbUhH.1
  Thesis director: MAZZOCCO, MARTA | NIKOLAEV, NIKITA
  Thesis abstract: This thesis studies representations of fundamental groupoids of surfaces $\Sigma$ with boundaries, with values in $G:=\operatorname{GL}_n(\mathbb C)$, up to isomorphism. When no marked points are present on the boundary, the corresponding objects admit several equivalent descriptions: as linear local systems on $\Sigma$, as representations of the fundamental groupoid $\Pi_1 (\Sigma)$, as monodromy data, and as points of the associated character variety. The introduction of marked points on the boundary, motivated by the need to encode irregular singularities of meromorphic connections, has led to several generalizations of this Betti-type description in the literature. Although these approaches are generally understood to describe essentially the same mathematical objects, the precise relation between them has not yet been been formulated explicitly. Motivated by the broader programme of establishing a precise and conceptually coherent relationship between the existing approaches to the representation-theoretic description of irregular singularities of meromorphic connections, in this thesis we develop a categorical framework for the definition of decorated Betti objects associated with marked bordered surfaces encoding higher-order poles, in a form designed to specialize to the different points of view encountered in the literature.
  
• ORTEGA SÁNCHEZ COLOMER, MIQUEL: Arithmetic patterns in unstructured sets
  
  Author: ORTEGA SÁNCHEZ COLOMER, MIQUEL
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN APPLIED MATHEMATICS
  Department: School of Mathematics and Statistics (FME)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 17/07/2026
  Reading date: 22/09/2026
  Reading time: 17:00
  Reading place: Sala d'Actes de l'FME, Edifici U, Campus SudEnllaç de la videotrucada: https://meet.google.com/jbq-uiua-zbi
  Thesis director: SERRA ALBO, ORIOL | RUE PERNA, JUAN JOSÉ
  Thesis abstract: The main goal of this thesis is to present a number of extremal results in additive combinatorics. In lay terms, we study questions related to the appearance of a certain arithmetic pattern in a set based on its size. We focus on two patterns, products and arithmetic progressions. In the first case, we solve the density problem for product-free sets in the free group, and study several quantitative questions regarding a multiplicative analogue of Schur's theorem. In the second case, we prove a canonical van der Waerden theorem in random sets of integers, and improve existing counting results for the number of sets of integers free of arithmetic progressions of a given length. Two recurrent themes are the use of probabilistic arguments and the hypergraph container method.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN ARCHITECTURAL, BUILDING CONSTRUCTION AND URBANISM TECHNOLOGY

• CASAPINO ESPINOZA, CARLOS ALBERTO: Estudio de eficiencia térmica de bloques de tierra (adobe), y propuesta de desarrollo de prototipo para clima frío. Caso de estudio altoandino Perú.
  
  Author: CASAPINO ESPINOZA, CARLOS ALBERTO
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN ARCHITECTURAL, BUILDING CONSTRUCTION AND URBANISM TECHNOLOGY
  Department: Department of Architectural Technology (TA)
  Mode: Article-based thesis
  Deposit date: 28/07/2026
  Reading date: pending
  Reading time: pending
  Reading place: pending
  Thesis director: GOMEZ SOBERON, JOSE MANUEL VICENTE | GOMEZ SOBERON, MARIA CONSOLACION
  Thesis abstract: Buildings that use earth as a component of their construction systems represent between 30 and 50% worldwide, with most of these structures being residential and located in rural areas or developing countries. Earth is an economical and sustainable solution with excellent hygrothermal regulation. However, it presents limitations such as lower mechanical resistance and reduced durability in humid conditions. To mitigate these limitations, chemical stabilization (using lime or cement) or compression is commonly employed, which increases production costs, embodied energy, and CO2 emissions.At the same time, the generation of different types of waste, such as construction and demolition waste, mineral waste, and other materials like used tires, represents a serious environmental problem. Incorporating this waste as second-generation raw materials in unfired earth blocks emerges as a circular economy alternative to improve their properties without additives or stabilization methods. Therefore, the objective is to evaluate the technical feasibility and compatibility of incorporating different types of recycled aggregates, such as crushed ceramics (CCB), powdered soapstone (PSR), and end-of-life tires (CTW), by analyzing their effects on the various properties of earth blocks manufactured using traditional methods, without stabilizers or firing.The experimental methodology was structured in three stages: The first stage involved characterizing the soil and the different aggregates. The second stage focused on the mix design and manufacturing process, defining the replacement and curing percentages. The third stage consisted of the experimental campaign, evaluating, under standardized tests, density, porosity, hygroscopic expansion, compressive and flexural strength, elastic modulus, thermogravimetric analysis, thermal tests, and durability tests; these tests are addressed in the articles that comprise this thesis.The results obtained from the recycled aggregates studied demonstrate the possibility of their use through incorporation into soil matrices under regulatory standards, representing alternatives for reducing energy demand, reducing production costs, improving the insulating capacity for CCB and CTW cases, and in the case of PSR it was presented as an alternative mineral stabilizer with the potential to increase mechanical resistance and optimize thermal behavior for energy absorption, thus presenting themselves as construction alternatives for cold climates, also representing alternatives for the management of these wastes.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT

• GOYZUETA MEJÍA, ZARELA MÓNICA: L'orientació de client a partir de l'experiència educativa: la perspectiva d'estudiants de pregrau a les universitats privades del Perú
  
  Author: GOYZUETA MEJÍA, ZARELA MÓNICA
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT
  Department: Department of Management (OE)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 08/06/2026
  Reading date: 18/09/2026
  Reading time: 12:00
  Reading place: ETSETB- UPC, Aula B3 Teleensenyament Enllaç públic: meet.google.com/ipt-evpc-xzc
  Thesis director: CONSOLACION SEGURA, CAROLINA MARIA | BARREDO IBAÑEZ, DANIEL
  Thesis abstract: Neoliberalism, as a model of global governance, has promoted competition and market efficiency as pillars of economic and social progress. Its influence has permeated various sectors, and higher education has been no exception. In this sphere, this ideology has driven the emergence of marketization, a trend that conceives of the education system under a supply and demand model, where education is understood as a good or service that can be acquired, and whose value is measured primarily by the economic return it generates for the individual and its contribution to the economy as a whole.In this context, the metaphor of the student as customer arises, a concept of business origin that positions the student as the central consumer of an experiential educational service, aimed at providing them with a satisfactory academic foundation for their professional development.This phenomenon has generated extensive debate in literature, with arguments both for and against. However, existing research has not delved deeply into educational experience as a determining variable in shaping the profile of the student as client. Furthermore, most studies have focused on Europe and the United States, leaving Latin America—and particularly Peru—as a largely unexplored context.Within this framework, the purpose of this doctoral thesis is to analyze how client orientation is shaped in undergraduate students at private universities in Peru, considering the dimensions of their educational experience, the influence of demographic variables, and the perspective of academic experts. To this end, a mixed-methods approach was adopted.First, a systematic literature review on the student as customer metaphor (2000–2022) was conducted in the Scopus and Web of Science databases, identifying 83 studies that met the eligibility criteria. Second, the SCOQ (Student Customer Orientation Questionnaire) scale by Koris and Nokelainen (2015) was adapted to the Peruvian context, and 798 surveys were collected from three private universities. The data were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis, which identified the dimensions of the educational experience that define customer orientation in Peruvian students. Subsequently, a multiple regression model was applied to assess the influence of demographic variables. Finally, the results were triangulated with 12 in-depth interviews with academic experts to corroborate and enrich the findings.The research results reveal four main findings. First, the literature is structured around two predominant approaches: a critical perspective, focused on the risks of commodification and the weakening of academic rigor, and a relational perspective, which conceives of the student as a co-producer of the educational service. Second, adapting the SCOQ instrument to the Peruvian context allowed, through exploratory factor analysis, the identification of five factors of the educational experience. In four of these factors, students exhibit a client orientation. In contrast, positive self-demand is the only factor in which this orientation is not observed, highlighting the hybrid and multidimensional nature of the Peruvian student, who combines service demands with academic responsibility. Third, the multiple regression analysis, while having limited explanatory power, showed that some demographic variables have predictive value, with years of study standing out as the most influential factor. Finally, the triangulation with experts showed that teachers adopt a conditional acceptance stance, in which they recognize certain expectations inherent in a service logic on the part of students, but subordinate their validity to the preservation of academic rigor and teacher autonomy.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN CIVIL ENGINEERING

• KALLINGER, MAGNUS DANIEL: Layout Optimization in Floating Offshore Wind with Focus on Subsea Components
  
  Author: KALLINGER, MAGNUS DANIEL
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
  Department: Barcelona School of Civil Engineering (ETSECCPB)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 06/07/2026
  Reading date: 02/10/2026
  Reading time: 11:00
  Reading place: UPC Campus Nord, ETSECCPB, C/ Jordi Girona 1-3, edificio C1, Sala 002, Barcelona
  Thesis director: DOMÍNGUEZ GARCÍA, JOSÉ LUIS | TRUBAT CASAL, PAU
  Thesis abstract: Floating offshore wind is regarded as a key technology for exploiting deep-water wind resources where bottom-fixed foundations become economically uncompetitive. Yet, large-scale floating wind deployments remain constrained by high cost, limited maturity, and strong multidisciplinary coupling among subsystems that jointly determine farm feasibility and performance. Subsea components are central to this coupling: station-keeping systems and dynamic/static power cables govern not only structural response and electrical performance, but also impose first-order constraints on wind-farm design (turbine placement, anchoring footprints, cable topology and routing corridors). In addition, the limited practicality of subsea instrumentation motivates monitoring strategies that can reduce O&M burden and support condition-based operation. In this context, this thesis addresses layout optimisation for floating wind with a focus on subsea components. The thesis is organised around three research lines, aligned with the subsequent contribution chapters. First, it develops an early-stage optimisation framework for station-keeping design that combines computationally efficient frequency-domain simulations with customised particle swarm optimisation to screen large design spaces (layouts, materials, and ancillary components). The framework is applied both to conventional floating wind platforms and to a single-point moored weathervaning concept. Second, it investigates virtual sensing for floating wind turbines to estimate critical mooring and structural loads from accessible measurements, motivated by the high installation and maintenance effort of subsea sensors and by the need for scalable monitoring. Third, it advances floating wind inter-array design through (i) farm-level topology optimisation that incorporates floating-specific cable length effects and techno-economic performance, and (ii) physically informed routing that explicitly accounts for floater offsets, mooring-cable interaction constraints, touchdown feasibility, and three-dimensional bathymetry. The results show, first, that early-stage station-keeping optimisation can be carried out efficiently while producing technically meaningful and cost-effective designs, and it highlights the importance of line-specific functionality, substructure type, and site-dependent choices. Second, the virtual sensing studies demonstrate that critical loads can be estimated with useful accuracy and improved robustness when physical structure is embedded into the learning process, enabling reduced reliance on subsea instrumentation. Third, in the electrical domain, the proposed topology and routing methods improve the physical consistency and feasibility of floating wind cable layouts and yield measurable reductions in cable length and investment cost, which propagate to lower levelized cost of energy. Relative improvements are modest, but the absolute savings become significant at farm scale.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN COMPUTATIONAL AND APPLIED PHYSICS

• GARÍ GALÍNDEZ, JON: Developing Artificial Intelligence Strategies to Accelerate Scientific Research: Application to Thin-Film Photovoltaic Technologies
  
  Author: GARÍ GALÍNDEZ, JON
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN COMPUTATIONAL AND APPLIED PHYSICS
  Department: Department of Physics (FIS)
  Mode: Article-based thesis
  Deposit date: 13/07/2026
  Reading date: 14/09/2026
  Reading time: 10:00
  Reading place: Edifici A, 1a planta, aula A1.07Campus Diagonal-Besòs – UPCAv. d'Eduard Maristany, 1608930 Sant Adrià de Besòs (Barcelona) https://meet.google.com/qmy-zzfx-xnx
  Thesis director: IZQUIERDO ROCA, VICTOR | GUC, MAXIM
  Thesis abstract: The development cycle of new materials-based technologies typically spans 15-25 years due to the constantly increasing complexity of experimental research processes. Accelerating this process is essential to enable large-scale implementation of sustainable technologies that support the green energy transition and secure the electrification of society. Photovoltaics (PV) play a central role in this transition, particularly novel thin-film photovoltaic (TFPV) technologies, which promise to significantly broaden the application of solar modules in everyday life. Therefore, accelerating their development and transfer is key to achieving this goal. In this context, recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), explainable artificial intelligence (XAI), robotics, and automation have enabled a new paradigm: the data-driven materials science, capable of accelerating materials discovery and optimization. However, despite the increasing use of machine learning (ML) in materials science, the application of XAI approaches to real experimental characterization datasets remains limited, and the translation of ML model outputs into physically meaningful insights is still a major challenge.The present work addresses this challenge by exploring and developing AI-driven strategies for the analysis and interpretation of experimental characterization data, following a proposed interpretability framework aimed at both accelerating research and enhancing explainability of ML models. The work begins by implementing and optimizing different training strategies for restricted Boltzmann machines (RBMs) using benchmark datasets. This study is aligned with the first level of the interpretability framework (Level 1: Using AI) and establishes the basis for the implementation of ML algorithms in experimental characterization datasets. Subsequently, an initial approach to XAI-driven strategies for extracting valuable information from experimental characterization data of kesterite-based TFPV devices is developed (Level 2: Using XAI), demonstrating the potential of interpretable ML models for identifying correlations between the physicochemical properties of materials and the PV performance of devices.Finally, building on this progression, an integrated XAI-driven methodology is implemented to analyze multimodal datasets obtained from holistic characterization of kesterite-based solar cells. It integrates the entire research cycle, from synthesis and characterization to data analysis, interpretation, and extraction of valuable feedback for further technology optimization. Particular emphasis is placed on interpretability, where the combination of intrinsic XAI models with post-hoc XAI techniques enables the identification of the physicochemical properties that govern device performance and reproducibility, linking the relevant spectral zones with the corresponding physical properties. This strategy reaches the third level of the interpretability framework (Level 3: Using XAI+) and provides meaningful feedback to guide subsequent research cycles. This feedback is validated through modified fabrication processes, resulting in improved device performance. Furthermore, it substantially reduces research cycle times, accelerating material optimization from timescales exceeding one year to less than a week. These results contribute to the development of self-driving laboratory (SDL) approaches and the advancement of data-driven materials research, ultimately supporting the green energy transition.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING

• HUSSAIN, TAUSEEF: Metamaterial-inspired Flexible Microwave Resonant Structures for RFID Sensing and Shielding
  
  Author: HUSSAIN, TAUSEEF
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING
  Department: Department of Electronic Engineering (EEL)
  Mode: Article-based thesis
  Deposit date: 20/07/2026
  Reading date: 10/11/2026
  Reading time: 12:00
  Reading place: Sala de Conferències TR1 – ESEIAAT, UPC
  Thesis director: GIL GALI, IGNACIO | FERNANDEZ GARCIA, RAUL
  Thesis abstract: Metamaterials are artificially engineered electromagnetic structures that enable wave–matter interactions beyond those achievable with natural materials. When implemented in flexible and textile-compatible forms, metamaterial-inspired resonant structures offer unique advantages for wearable technologies, including conformability, lightweight construction, and tunable electromagnetic responses. These characteristics make them particularly attractive for wearable radio-frequency identification (RFID) sensing platforms, where sensitivity, robustness, and user safety must be addressed simultaneously. This thesis investigates the design and integration of metamaterial-inspired flexible resonant structures with RFID systems to enable sensors with enhanced performance and improved electromagnetic safety.Conventional RFID-based sensors typically rely on antenna deformation or substrate perturbation alone to transduce physical or biochemical stimuli. While effective in controlled environments, these approaches exhibit limited sensitivity and strong dependence on environmental loading in wearable scenarios. At ultra-high-frequency (UHF) bands, proximity to the human body causes impedance detuning and reduced read range reliability, whereas at microwave frequencies, increased absorption in biological tissue raises specific absorption rate (SAR) concerns. These limitations motivate the use of engineered resonant structures that offer enhanced field confinement and improved control over antenna–environment interactions.This thesis first investigates resonator-assisted passive UHF RFID sensing for biomechanical and biochemical monitoring. Electromagnetic coupling between printed UHF RFID tag antennas and compact resonant elements is exploited to enhance sensitivity beyond conventional antenna-based sensing. Meander-line resonators are integrated with RFID tags to enable displacement sensing, demonstrating reliable respiration and knee-flexion monitoring. The coupling approach is further extended to biochemical sensing through the integration of a capacitively coupled complementary split-ring resonator (CSRR) with an H-slot RFID antenna, enabling passive wireless monitoring of glucose concentration via read-range modulation.Subsequently, the thesis addresses electromagnetic stability and user safety at microwave RFID frequencies, where shorter wavelengths enable compact resonator arrays to be realized as metasurfaces. A breathable ground-grid artificial magnetic conductor (GG-AMC) is developed to mitigate body-induced detuning, suppress backward radiation, and significantly reduce SAR while preserving wearer comfort. In addition, near-field coupled metamaterial absorbers are introduced as dual-function structures that simultaneously provide electromagnetic shielding and strain-sensitive resonance modulation, enabling respiration monitoring at microwave frequencies. The core scientific contributions of this research are documented in five JCR-indexed journal articles and two peer-reviewed IEEE conference publications, and the thesis is presented as a compendium of articles.Keywords – RFID sensing, wearable sensors, microwave resonators, metasurfaces, biomechanical monitoring, biochemical sensing, artificial magnetic conductor, metamaterial absorber, electromagnetic shielding.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

• PASCUA SOLÉ, LAIA: Elucidating Structure-Activity Relationships in Bimetallic Pd-Based Catalysts for Methane Oxidation Reactions via Multi-Technique Characterisation
  
  Author: PASCUA SOLÉ, LAIA
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
  Department: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (DECA)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 28/07/2026
  Reading date: pending
  Reading time: pending
  Reading place: pending
  Thesis director: LLORCA PIQUE, JORDI | JIMÉNEZ DIVINS, NÚRIA
  Thesis abstract: This thesis studies two methane oxidation reactions using Pd-based catalysts: total methane oxidation (MTO) for natural gas vehicles as a transition fuel, and partial methane oxidation (POM) for efficient syngas production. MTO faces issues with water poisoning and stability, while POM suffers from coke formation and long-term instability. To address these problems, the catalysts were characterized under operando and in situ reaction conditions, evaluating the effect of a second metal (Co, Ni), the support (CeO₂ vs. Al₂O₃), and the preparation method (ball milling, BM, vs. incipient wetness impregnation, IWI). In MTO (Ch. 4), catalysts on Al₂O₃, prepared by BM, and with monometallic Pd gave the best results. Co and CeO₂ stabilize the PdO phase, but an optimal PdO:Pd⁰ ratio is required. Under water vapor exposure, the bimetallic BM samples showed a stabilizing effect. In POM (Ch. 5), the PdNi-BM and PdCo-BM systems showed synergy and outperformed their IWI counterparts. PdNi-BM exhibited better overall activity and stability. BM samples kept the metals in close proximity, while IWI samples underwent metal separation and sintering. Unique Janus particles were identified in PdCo-BM. Operando characterization (Ch. 6) revealed that bimetallic BM samples had a different arrangement, explaining the observed synergy. The PdCo system displayed unexpected self-sustained oscillations in both reaction products and oxidation states under constant reaction conditions once syngas production began, correlated with the reduction of both metals. Finally (Ch. 7), the interactions were modeled using AP-HAXPES. Methane exposure created carbonaceous intermediate species and led to metal reduction. Co-containing systems reduced faster and formed fewer intermediates than Ni-containing ones, and the CeO₂ support played an active role in preventing carbonaceous adsorption.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN MARINE SCIENCES

• ERBS, FLORENCE AMANDINE: AI-enhanced Passive Acoustic Monitoring of Tropical Freshwater Environments
  
  Author: ERBS, FLORENCE AMANDINE
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN MARINE SCIENCES
  Department: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (DECA)
  Mode: Article-based thesis
  Deposit date: 28/05/2026
  Reading date: 18/09/2026
  Reading time: 14:00
  Reading place: Place: ETSECCPBUPC, Campus NordBuilding C1. Classroom: 002C/Jordi Girona, 1-308034 Barcelona
  Thesis director: ANDRE SANCHEZ, MICHEL
  Thesis abstract: Tropical freshwater ecosystems, particularly in the Amazon basin, are among the world’s most vulnerable environments, facing escalating pressures from human activities such as overexploitation, pollution, and habitat degradation. Effective conservation efforts are constrained by the scarcity of long-term monitoring data, as traditional visual survey methods are often unsuitable for the high turbidity of Amazonian waters and the complex floodplain habitat mosaics where seasonally inundated lakes, channels, and forests make species detection challenging. This dissertation addresses these challenges by developing an innovative and scalable monitoring framework using Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enhanced Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) focused on three ecological indicator species: the pink river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis), the tucuxi (Sotalia fluviatilis), and the Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis).The research is presented as a compendium of two scientific publications that integrates longterm autonomous acoustic monitoring with Deep Learning techniques, specifically Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), to automate species detection in complex and noisy freshwater soundscapes. The first study focuses on Amazonian river dolphins, exploiting their near-continuous production of echolocation clicks for presence detection. The developed CNN classifier achieved a high average precision of 0.95 and successfully discriminated between dolphin clicks and impulsive interferences like rain and boat engine noise. This automation enabled the tracking of synchronized seasonal movements into floodplain bay and river channel habitats following the annual flood pulse. Furthermore, the study provided rare insights into the seasonal use of flooded forests revealing regular dolphin presence during high-water periods. Additionally, it quantified the spatio-temporal overlap between dolphins and boat traffic, establishing a baseline for assessing anthropogenic noise exposure in core habitats.The second study applied a similar AI-enhanced approach for detecting the Amazonian manatee, a cryptic species characterized by inconspicuous surfacing behavior and a previously poorly described vocal repertoire in the wild. By training a CNN model on wild vocalizations, the research provided the first detailed characterization of the wild Amazonian manatee’s vocal repertoire, identifying four distinct call types, and leading to new insights into the vocal behavior of the species in the floodplains. The analysis of vocal parameters, including repetition rates and frequency characteristics, revealed that Mamirau´a Lake, where the species was presumed absent, serves as a critical nursery habitat.This dissertation demonstrates that the integration of PAM and machine learning offers a noninvasive, cost-effective, and performant tool for monitoring biodiversity in remote tropical freshwater environments. The transition from manual acoustic analysis to automated processing allows for efficient conversion of high-volume acoustic datasets into ecological insights, facilitating the identification of critical habitats, supporting the understanding of floodplain ecological processes, and advancing the assessment of anthropogenic impacts and ecosystem health. These findings provide a robust foundation for a standardized Amazonian monitoring framework to support evidence-based conservation for these endangered species and their ecosystems.
  
• MURILLO GOMEZ, NELSON ENRIQUE: COASTAL HAZARDS, RISKS AND ADAPTATION IN THE BARRA DE SALAMANCA (COLOMBIA)
  
  Author: MURILLO GOMEZ, NELSON ENRIQUE
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN MARINE SCIENCES
  Department: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (DECA)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 16/07/2026
  Reading date: 23/10/2026
  Reading time: 11:00
  Reading place: Place: ETSECCPBUPC, Campus NordBuilding C2. Classroom: 212C/Jordi Girona, 1-308034 Barcelona
  Thesis director: JIMENEZ QUINTANA, JOSE ANTONIO
  Thesis abstract: Coastal sandbars are generally elongated landforms that provide protection to environmental, socioeconomic, and infrastructural ecosystems from extreme events, but are highly sensitive to morphodynamic changes driven by natural and anthropogenic processes. This is further complicated by the uncertainty Surrounding the expected sea-level rise in the coming years. These dynamics generate pressures and motivate land managers to understand the genesis of their morphological evolution, the physical agents that modulate it, the risks associated with the diversity of their exposed ecosystems within a tolerance limit, and to propose sustainable adaptation measures for the future.This research reconstructs the morphological evolution of the Salamanca coastal sandbar (Colombia), located within a national and international conservation park, over the last 40 years, the physical agents present at decadal and episodic scales, and the assessment of threats associated with erosion and flooding. Understanding the past and considering sea level rise projections to 2050, a projected area susceptible to damage was identified. Within this area, the exposure and vulnerability of the exposed elements were assessed, and this, when integrated with the threats, allowed for the estimation of environmental, physical, and socioeconomic risks. Recognizing that risk cannot be eliminated because it is intrinsic to coastal development, we have proposed a model of tolerable risk levels and a list of adaptation measures grouped into strategies according to their implications for the coastal zone. The results showed that the sandbar is decreasing its sediment transport rates, indicating a search for morphological equilibrium. However, erosion rates of around -20 m/a at the most critical points are deteriorating environmental services. This, combined with storm impacts and the increasing construction of hard infrastructure, has worsened and increased the exposure of the main land-based infrastructure connecting the region's most important towns with the interior of the country. This is putting commercial and tourism activities at risk. The communities located in these areas are in highly vulnerable socioeconomic conditions, generating pressure on the coastline that requires urgent intervention. The tolerable risk for environmental, physical infrastructure, and socioeconomic factors was established according to the degree of impact on the exposed element, its loss of natural value, and the resulting repercussions on the quality of life of the inhabitants. This criterion facilitates a balance of sustainable development between the inhabitants and their environment. The risk reduction strategies demonstrated that acting alone does not achieve tolerable risks, and only a comprehensive strategy allows us to approach the proposed objectives. Prompt action is needed to reduce uncertainty and increase objectivity about the expected future. We conclude that the methodology developed allowed us to understand what has happened, why, under what conditions the threats have evolved, the morphological evolution, the risk typologies, what could happen, and how to reduce the probability of the expected changes. We believe this methodological process can be replicated and adapted to any coastal area with the specific characteristics required. keywords: morphology, risks, adaptation measures.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN NETWORK ENGINEERING

• FARAHPOOR, MOHAMMADALI: Secure and Auditable Data Management for IoT-Driven Smart Transportation
  
  Author: FARAHPOOR, MOHAMMADALI
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN NETWORK ENGINEERING
  Department: Department of Network Engineering (ENTEL)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 28/07/2026
  Reading date: pending
  Reading time: pending
  Reading place: pending
  Thesis director: ESPARZA MARTIN, OSCAR
  Thesis abstract: The increasing adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) in industrial transportation has enabled continuous monitoring, predictive maintenance, and data-driven decision-making in environments such as mining, construction, and other heavy-duty operations. However, the same systems also generate large volumes of critical data whose value extends beyond real-time use. Once these data are shared among multiple stakeholders, challenges related to trust, integrity, confidentiality, recoverability, and auditability become central. This thesis addresses that problem through two connected research directions.First, it presents TrackTruck, an IoT-driven fleet-management infrastructure for industrial vehicles. TrackTruck demonstrates how embedded sensing, flexible communication, cloud-based analytics, and operational decision support can be integrated into a practical smart-transportation platform for heterogeneous fleets in demanding field conditions. The results show that such an architecture can improve operational visibility, maintenance support, dispatching efficiency, and overall productivity.Second, this thesis presents FileTrust, a blockchain-based auditable backup framework designed for low-trust multi-stakeholder IoT environments. FileTrust combines an Information Dispersal Algorithm (IDA), the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), blockchain smart contracts, verifiable secret sharing, distributed key generation, and threshold encryption to protect access-enabling metadata and support verifiable, policy-driven recovery of critical data. Its design preserves off-chain storage efficiency while adding on-chain auditability and threshold-governed access control.Taken together, these contributions show that trustworthy industrial IoT requires more than efficient telemetry and analytics. It also requires secure long-term data governance. This thesis therefore proposes a broader perspective in which IoT-driven smart transportation is studied as a complete data lifecycle, spanning generation, transmission, operational use, preservation, controlled access, and recovery. The results provide both an applied industrial IoT case study and a secure decentralized backup framework, establishing a foundation for future trustworthy smart-transportation architectures.
  
• KANJ BONGARD, SEBASTIEN: Contribution to the Systematic Study of Threat Actor Tools and Techniques in Real-World Cyber Incidents
  
  Author: KANJ BONGARD, SEBASTIEN
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN NETWORK ENGINEERING
  Department: Department of Network Engineering (ENTEL)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 22/06/2026
  Reading date: 18/09/2026
  Reading time: 10:30
  Reading place: Aula C3-304a (Seminari de Telemàtica), Campus Nord
  Thesis director: PEGUEROLES VALLES, JOSEP RAFEL
  Thesis abstract: Cyber incident response and digital forensics (DFIR) research increas- ingly faces a tension between academic rigor and the operational re- alities of real-world investigations. While academic studies often rely on controlled datasets and synthetic scenarios, practitioners must oper- ate under time pressure, incomplete evidence, and strict confidentiality constraints. This doctoral research addresses that gap through an In- dustrial PhD program conducted in collaboration with Incide Digital Data S.L., which enabled access to real-world incident data and practi- tioner workflows while maintaining a rigorous scientific methodology. The thesis investigates how threat-actor tools, techniques, and behaviours can be systematically analyzed and transformed into reusable, vali- dated, and operationally meaningful artifacts. Three complementary research directions are explored. First, an integrated forensic methodol- ogy is proposed for the analysis of abused legitimate tools and mobile activity, combining tool-centric investigations with structured iOS ac- tivity characterization to support accurate reconstruction, automation, and legally robust analysis in real incident-response contexts. Second, the research develops a Business Email Compromise (BEC)-specific map- ping of Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures using the MITRE ATT&CK framework, addressing limitations of narrative-driven BEC reporting. The proposed matrix is validated against real-world cases and demon- strates improved behavioural comparison, clustering, and defensive alignment. Third, the thesis designs and empirically evaluates a YARA- based detection library targeting malware anti-analysis techniques, with a focus on anti-virtual machine and anti-sandbox behaviour, highlight- ing both the strengths and limits of static detection in operational con- texts. Across these contributions, the thesis demonstrates that behavioural and tool-based indicators provide durable defensive value and that hy- brid analytical pipelines are necessary to address modern evasive threats. 6 By grounding methodological innovation in industrial practice, this work advances DFIR towards more systematic, reproducible, and operationally relevant research, supporting faster investigations and more consistent defensive decision-making.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN NUCLEAR AND IONISING RADIATION ENGINEERING

• TOBAJAS ASENSIO, LUIS MIGUEL: ANÁLISIS DE LA INFORMACIÓN INSTITUCIONAL Y EL TRATAMIENTO DE LA PRENSA DE LOS INCIDENTES NUCLEARES ESPAÑOLES (1989-2009)
  
  Author: TOBAJAS ASENSIO, LUIS MIGUEL
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN NUCLEAR AND IONISING RADIATION ENGINEERING
  Department: Department of Physics (FIS)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 17/06/2026
  Reading date: 18/09/2026
  Reading time: 11:30
  Reading place: Aula I 28.8 de l'Escola Tècnica Superior d'Enginyeria Industrial de Barcelona, ETSEIB
  Thesis director: REVENTOS PUIGJANER, FRANCESC-JOSEP | PONT SORRIBES, CARLES
  Thesis abstract: The general objective of this research is to analyze the safety of the nuclear power plants in Spain during the period between 1989 and 2009, through a comprehensive analysis of institutional information and press coverage of nuclear incidents.The methodology employed includes a mixed qualitative and quantitative model. Scientific production on nuclear incidents has been analysed through technical information databases, academic databases (Wos and Scopus), and newspaper archives.The newspapers ABC, La Vanguardia, and El País were selected based on the criterion of being among the most widely followed newspapers in Spain during the period studied, considering the press as the best means of monitoring incidents at the end of the 1980s.In 1990, following the Chernobyl accident, the INES Scale was introduced, created by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Nuclear Energy Agency, with the aim of facilitating international communication to the public and the media. This study analyses incidents classified as level two or higher according to IAEA criteria. The results of this work consider the use of the INES Scale in institutional information and in the media.The conclusions allow for a deeper understanding of the treatment of information provided to the public and the media coverage of nuclear incidents. The analysis of lessons learned from the four incidents studied and their follow-up makes it possible to conclude that there have been advances in nuclear safety and in institutional and public information, with the consolidation of the INES Scale in nuclear communication in Spain. However, it is determined that the completion of corrective actions does not reach public opinion despite its relevance.The research provides proposals for improvement with the aim of promoting better communication in the future, including the participation of experts. Communication is one of the most relevant issues in nuclear crises and must be clear, timely, accurate, transparent, and proactive.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN PHOTONICS

• RUÍZ GONZÁLEZ, JOSÉ JAVIER: Development of computational tools and pipelines for enhanced interpretation of Raman spectroscopy in biomedical applications
  
  Author: RUÍZ GONZÁLEZ, JOSÉ JAVIER
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN PHOTONICS
  Department: Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 07/07/2026
  Reading date: 14/10/2026
  Reading time: 10:00
  Reading place: ICFO Auditorium
  Thesis director: LOZA ALVAREZ, PABLO
  Thesis abstract: Raman spectroscopy has gained increasing attention over the last few decades due to its ability to non-destructively extract chemical information from samples. However, despite advances in instrumentation, it has not yet become standard practice in the biomedical field. One of the main reasons is the difficulty in interpreting and extracting the chemical information encoded in Raman signal, so as to validate the technique using complementary, well established techniques.Considering this, the aim of this Thesis is to develop tools and analytical pipelines that enhance the biochemical interpretation of Raman spectra, and to demonstrate its usefulness in two relevant biomedical research lines: breast cancer resistance to neoadjuvant treatments and the diagnosis of choroidal melanoma.Firstly, we developed and validated RamanBiolib, an open-source Raman spectral library accompanied by search algorithms, aimed at providing rapid and objective identification of biomolecules. Secondly, we used RamanBiolib after spectral unmixing to identify and quantify cytochrome c molecule in breast cancer cells resistant to neoadjuvant treatments. This revealed a shift towards its reduced state to avoid apoptosis and acquire drug resistance. Then we also characterized lipid droplets in triple-negative breast cancer cells, highlighting the relevance of variable importance analysis in classification models. This approach allows for the biochemical interpretation of their classification performance and assessing possible background contributions to their accuracy. By doing so, significant changes in lipid unsaturation were detected. Furthermore, we developed RamanTF, a transformer-based algorithm that automatically quantifies key biomolecules from raw spectra.Finally, to study melanin-rich samples, we defined a pre-processing and analysis workflow to correct instrumental interferences that were observed in previous studies, but not corrected yet. With this established workflow, key melanin properties were identified, such as melanin structural disorder or defects abundance, which can be used as biomarkers to diagnose choroidal melanomas. Overall, the tools, discussions, and results presented in this Thesis advance Raman spectroscopy towards clinical application and provide a basis for its widespread adoption as a routine technique in biomedical and diagnostic research.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN SIGNAL THEORY AND COMMUNICATIONS

• TSIAMAS, IOANNIS: Robust and Data-Efficient End-to-End Speech Translation: Segmentation, Cross-Modal Alignment, and Prosody-Aware Evaluation
  
  Author: TSIAMAS, IOANNIS
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN SIGNAL THEORY AND COMMUNICATIONS
  Department: Department of Signal Theory and Communications (TSC)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 15/05/2026
  Reading date: 18/09/2026
  Reading time: 15:00
  Reading place: Aula MERIT D5010, Campus Nord UPC, Barcelona
  Thesis director: RODRIGUEZ FONOLLOSA, JOSE ADRIAN | RUIZ COSTA-JUSSA, MARTA
  Thesis abstract: End-to-end (E2E) Speech Translation (ST) offers a streamlined alternative to traditional cascaded systems, promising lower latency and reduced error propagation. However, its adoption in real-world scenarios is currently hindered by three critical bottlenecks: input processing challenges (mismatch between static data and continuous audio), training data scarcity, and evaluation limitations regarding paralinguistic information.This dissertation addresses these limitations through a cohesive set of methodological and architectural innovations. First, we tackle the segmentation and input processing challenge. We introduce Supervised Hybrid Audio Segmentation (SHAS), a method that effectively bridges the gap between manual training segmentation and automatic inference segmentation, allowing E2E models to process continuous audio streams with minimal performance loss. Building on this, we propose SEGAUGMENT, a data augmentation strategy that utilizes training data re-segmentation to maximize the utility of existing datasets, significantly improving performance in low-resource settings.Second, we tackle data scarcity by developing methods for zero-shot speech translation through cross-modal alignment. We introduce ZEROSWOT, which leverages Optimal Transport to align speech encoders with massively multilingual machine translation models at the subword level, enabling translation without paired ST data. We further refine this approach with CHARSONAR, demonstrating that character-level modeling significantly improves cross-lingual and cross-modal transfer, achieving state-of-the-art results, despite being a zero-shot method.Finally, we investigate the semantic richness of E2E translations. We present a focused evaluation on prosody, revealing that while current E2E architectures possess the internal capacity to represent paralinguistic features like intonation and stress, they often fail to manifest these in the final translation.Collectively, these contributions advance the state of the art by creating E2E ST systems that are more robust to unsegmented inputs and more data-efficient, while also providing insights into the limitations of current E2E systems in preserving the nuances of spoken communication.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN SUSTAINABILITY

• ACEVEDO ROCHA, ALFONSO DARÍO: Modelo de gestión para la restauración del suelo dedicados a la actividad ganadera en el departamento de Córdoba, Colombia. Un aporte de la ganadería regenerativa al desarrollo sostenible del territorio- estudios de casos comparativos
  
  Author: ACEVEDO ROCHA, ALFONSO DARÍO
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN SUSTAINABILITY
  Department: University Research Institute for Sustainability Science and Technology (IS.UPC)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 04/06/2026
  Reading date: 24/09/2026
  Reading time: 16:00
  Reading place: Sala de Conferències, Campus ESEIAAT C/ Colom 1. Edifici TR1 Planta 0 Porta 085. 08222. Terrassa.
  Thesis director: MORATO FARRERAS, JORDI
  Thesis abstract: The impact of livestock farming on soil degradation has been widely discussed, with cattle production being attributed a significant impact both globally and locally. This research, entitled "Management model for the restoration of land used for livestock farming in the department of Córdoba, Colombia. A contribution of regenerative livestock farming to the sustainable development of the territory - Comparative case studies," analyzes the evolution of regenerative livestock farming, especially in Latin America, and adapts a methodology to evaluate the efficiency of this model on the soil using biological and spatial indicators, comparing it with a conventional model on farms in Córdoba. It also evaluates the contribution of these models to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and proposes a conceptual model for the sustainable management and restoration of livestock soils.An analysis was carried out on the progress of regenerative livestock farming worldwide and in Latin America, finding a significant increase in its adoption since 2018, especially in 2019, when the preservation of biodiversity, water, and soil health began to be valued.Macro indicators of soil condition were defined and 12 farms were selected to analyze conventional and regenerative production models. Edaphic macro and mesofauna were evaluated, satellite images were analyzed, and information on vegetation cover was collected, using biological and spatial indicators to measure the restorative capacity of the models. A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis was also conducted, concluding that the regenerative model is more efficient in grazing practices, profitability, and biodiversity, allowing for passive restoration of the ecosystem.A methodology was developed to analyze the efficiency of regenerative livestock farming, establishing methods for collecting biotic and spatial data, which facilitates continuous soil diagnosis and monitoring. The study area, the duration of the analysis, the phases of the process, the indicators, and the multitemporal analysis of the plant component were defined using remote sensing and GIS technologies, providing the necessary data for a detailed analysis. It was concluded that regenerative livestock farming is an economical and sustainable low-cost model that improves productivity without agrochemicals and prevents erosion, promoting soil restoration through sustainable practices.This model also contributes to the fulfillment of the SDGs, especially in food security, climate action, and ecosystem restoration, promoting greater biological biodiversity and vegetation cover in the study areas. The results show a positive impact on soil health, vegetation development, and macrofauna, with notable root growth and no degraded soils. Regenerative livestock farming works in harmony with nature, improving the living conditions and health of livestock.Regenerative livestock farming is presented as a key tool for addressing the environmental, social, and productive challenges of livestock farming, restoring soils and ecosystems, and reversing the damage caused by overgrazing and the use of agrochemicals in conventional models. It restores soil fertility, promotes a natural cycle of regeneration, and facilitates the recovery of native species of flora and fauna, increasing the ecosystem's resistance to external disturbances.In terms of species abundance, a total of 763 individuals were quantified between both systems, distributed across 19 taxonomic orders, with 630 individuals in the regenerative model and 133 in the conventional model. The Shannon-Wiener Index (H') under the regenerative model was 2.06, reflecting high biological diversity and efficiency in restoration and long-term sustainability.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN AGRI-FOOD TECHNOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY

• BISCAMPS DALMAU, JORDI: Generació de mapes de vigor mitjançant sensors remots i proximals per a l’aplicació a dosis variable de productes fitosanitaris en vinya utilitzant tecnologia de modulació d’ample de pols (PWM).
  
  Author: BISCAMPS DALMAU, JORDI
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN AGRI-FOOD TECHNOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
  Department: Department of Agri-Food Engineering and Biotechnology (DEAB)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 11/09/2026
  Deposit END date: 28/09/2026
  Thesis director: GIL MOYA, EMILIO | GARCIA RUIZ, FRANCISCO JOSE
  Thesis abstract: This doctoral thesis contributes to the development and validation of variable-rate technologies for the application of plant protection products in vineyards through flow-rate control systems based on pulse-width modulation (PWM) and vegetation characterization methods using remote and proximal sensors. First, a prototype based on PWM valves was developed and validated. The system used prescription maps generated from multispectral imagery acquired with an unmanned aerial vehicle to identify vigor zones and automatically adjust the flow rate. Trials were conducted in both trellised and goblet-trained vineyards at two phenological stages. The valves showed an almost linear response over a duty-cycle range of 20-80%. Under field conditions, the system reduced the spray volume applied by up to 23.8%, with an average reduction of 18.6%, without significant differences in normalized deposition compared with the conventional treatment. Second, three application strategies were compared: a conventional constant-volume system, a pressure-controlled variable-rate system, and the PWM-based system. The results showed that working pressure and the resulting droplet spectrum had a greater influence on spray drift than the total volume applied. The conventional system generated ground losses close to 40% under low-vigor conditions, whereas the PWM system reduced both ground losses and airborne drift under all the conditions studied. Finally, a device for high-throughput vegetation characterization was designed using ultrasonic sensors, GNSS, and an onboard control unit. The system was validated under laboratory and field conditions and compared with three-dimensional models generated using UAV photogrammetry. Both methods provided comparable estimates of the main structural parameters of the vineyard, with mean absolute percentage errors below 10%. Although photogrammetry offered higher spatial resolution, ultrasonic sensors proved to be a robust and operational alternative under field conditions.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN APPLIED MATHEMATICS

• KHAN, AHMAD KAMAL: Cell Geometrical Configurations and Extrusion at Mechanical Equilibrium in Vertex Models
  
  Author: KHAN, AHMAD KAMAL
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN APPLIED MATHEMATICS
  Department: School of Mathematics and Statistics (FME)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 03/09/2026
  Deposit END date: 17/09/2026
  Thesis director: MUÑOZ ROMERO, JOSE JAVIER
  Thesis abstract: Epithelial tissues maintain their structural integrity and undergo controlled shape changes through a precise balance of mechanical forces at the cellular scale. These forces, arising from cortical contractility, cell-cell adhesion, and cell-substrate adhesion determine both the equilibrium geometry of individual cells and the collective mechanical stability of the tissue. Vertex models, in which cells are represented as polygons or polyhedra whose shapes are governed by an energy functional, provide a natural mathematical framework for studying this force balance. Despite their widespread use in computational epithelial biology, analytical solutions for three-dimensional vertex models remain scarce, the quantitative consequences of the choice between linear and quadratic surface energy terms are poorly understood, and a rigorous energy-based description of basal cell extrusion incorporating substrate adhesion has not previously been developed.This thesis addresses these gaps through two interconnected contributions. The first concerns the analytical study of cell shape in three-dimensional vertex models. Closed-form expressions are derived for the equilibrium radius of a single isolated cell and for the shape factor of symmetric and unsymmetric two-cell systems, for both linear and quadratic surface energy functionals in two and three dimensions. A key result is that linear functionals give identical shape predictions in two and three dimensions, consistent with the Young-Laplace relation of classical capillarity theory, while quadratic functionals yield systematically different predictions in the two geometries. This establishes that two-dimensional vertex models with quadratic surface energy terms cannot serve as quantitative surrogates for three-dimensional configurations, a finding with direct implications for model selection and experimental parameter calibration. A variational derivation of the spherical cap solution confirms that the sphere is the energy-minimising shape for a volume-constrained cell, providing the geometric foundation for the parameterisation used throughout. All analytical results are validated against a three-dimensional discrete vertex model based on triangulated cell surfaces and Newton-Raphson energy minimisation. These results have been published in the International Journal for Numerical Methods in Biomedical Engineering.The second contribution concerns the mechanical basis of basal cell extrusion in epithelial monolayers. A two-dimensional vertex model is developed that incorporates substrate adhesion as a mechanically distinct boundary type with its own line tension coefficient, separate from the cell-cell junction tension and the external cortical tension. Simulations of a tissue of cells resting on a substrate reveal that basal extrusion of the central cell can emerge as a spontaneous, continuous mechanical instability from the competition between substrate adhesion, junction tension, and cortical contractility, without any prescribed topological transitions or biochemical signalling. A mechanical phase map is constructed in the space of dimensionless tension ratios, and its phase boundary is confirmed to correspond to configurations of lower total mechanical energy on the extruded side. Extended parametric studies show that the extrusion threshold is lowered by stronger substrate adhesion of the extruding cell, by reduced external cortical tension, by localised dipole forces mimicking basal actomyosin contraction, and by tissue-level boundary compression mimicking proliferative crowding. A non-monotonic dependence of the extrusion threshold on tissue size is identified, reflecting a competition between local mechanical confinement by immediate neighbours and long-range stress accumulation through the tissue. This work will be submitted in the following weeks after the thesis submission.Together, these results establish a minimal mechanical framework in which both the equilibrium ...
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN ARCHITECTURAL, CIVIL AND URBAN HERITAGE AND REFURBISHMENT OF EXISTING BUILDINGS

• GARCIA SALANOVA, ANTONIO: Arquitectura amb propòsit per a una gestió sostenible dels equipaments públics
  
  Author: GARCIA SALANOVA, ANTONIO
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN ARCHITECTURAL, CIVIL AND URBAN HERITAGE AND REFURBISHMENT OF EXISTING BUILDINGS
  Department: Departamento de Representación Arquitectónica (RA)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 09/09/2026
  Deposit END date: 23/09/2026
  Thesis director: REDONDO DOMINGUEZ, ERNEST
  Thesis abstract: PURPOSEFUL ARCHITECTURE FOR THE SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC FACILITIESThis research analyses, formulates and reasonably contrasts a comprehensivea model of sustainable management of public facilities throughout their life cycle, from planning and design to operation and dismantling, and incorporates data-driven governance aimed at facilitating collaborative decision-making between the different agents involved. It is based on the hypothesis that the adoption of a comprehensive sustainable management model, based on collaborative digital methodologies —especially Building Information Modeling (BIM)—, sustainability criteria and life cycle analysis (LCA), makes it possible to overcome the limitations of traditional models of management of public facilities, characterized by the fragmentation of processes, the lack of traceability of information and the low optimization of the use phase. The work adopts a mixed methodological approach that combines systematic review of the literature, comparative analysis between management models, interviews with experts from the public and private sectors, quantitative validation and the development of an original methodological instrument: a methodological framework of 100 sustainable technical criteria applicable to the entire life cycle, which operationalizes the proposed management model. Unlike predominantly theoretical approaches, the research is carried out in a real context of public management of educational facilities and incorporates recent data and professional experiences (2024–2025), especially in relation to the implementation of BIM in the operation phase.The research also develops a practical case, a hypothetical Audiovisual Vocational Training Institute of Catalonia in the Tres Xemeneies del Besòs site, which acts as a proof of concept of the proposed comprehensive management model. This case makes it possible to contrast the coherence and feasibility of the model, as well as its architectural translation in relation to the pedagogical requirements of vocational education.The results positively show the three hypotheses formulated. Firstly, the comprehensive management model based on BIM–LCA improves the efficiency, quality and sustainability of processes. Secondly, its application determines a new flexible, modular architectural typology aimed at efficient maintenance. Thirdly, the integral model is adapted in a coherent way to the functional and pedagogical requirements of Vocational Training, reinforcing the connection between architecture, management, educational innovation and participatory governance processes. Of particular relevance is the contribution in the field of digital operation management, still underdeveloped in current institutional practice,Finally, the research proposes future lines aimed at data-driven exploitation, the integration of intelligent systems and the development of new professional profiles linked to life cycle management.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING

• ARBOLEDA CARVAJAL, ALEJANDRO: Nuevos índices para la predicción del momento óptimo de la extubación de pacientes asistidos mediante ventilación mecánica a partir de señales electromiográficas y cardíacas
  
  Author: ARBOLEDA CARVAJAL, ALEJANDRO
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
  Department: Department of Automatic Control (ESAII)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 03/09/2026
  Deposit END date: 17/09/2026
  Thesis director: GIRALDO GIRALDO, BEATRIZ FABIOLA
  Thesis abstract: Invasive mechanical ventilation constitutes one of the most critical life-support interventions in Intensive Care Units for patients with acute respiratory failure. Premature discontinuation may lead to respiratory failure, the need for reintubation, and increased morbidity and mortality. Conversely, delayed extubation increases the risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia and diaphragmatic atrophy due to disuse. Since traditional indices often fail to capture the systemic complexity of the patient, this thesis addresses the problem under the hypothesis that neuromuscular dynamics and cardiorespiratory coupling, measured noninvasively during the spontaneous breathing trial (SBT), contain predictive patterns related to the patient’s functional reserve to sustain autonomous ventilation.An experimental design based on a prospective observational study was structured, recruiting a cohort of 39 adult patients. Inclusion criteria required a period of mechanical ventilatory support of at least 48 hours, ensuring that patients had overcome the acute phase of the disease and met the clinical requirements to initiate extubation. A novel protocol was implemented to record respiratory activity from these patients using electromyographic (EMG) and electrocardiographic (ECG) signals. The cohort was monitored longitudinally for 48 hours following extubation; this follow-up enabled patient classification into the success group—those who maintained spontaneous breathing—or the failure group—those who exhibited intolerance to the SBT or required reintubation within 48 hours.According to the proposed protocol, multichannel surface diaphragmatic EMG (sEMGdi) and ECG signals were recorded simultaneously, together with clinical and ventilatory variables reflecting the patient’s condition at the time of the extubation trial. The signals underwent filtering and artifact reduction procedures. Subsequently, new derived signals were obtained: the EMG envelope to quantify muscle recruitment amplitude, the interpolated sEMG signal to standardize the analysis, ECG R-R interval fluctuations to assess heart rate variability (HRV) as an indicator of sympathetic-parasympathetic autonomic tone, and ECG-derived respiration (EDR), which reconstructs respiratory activity from variations in the heart’s electrical axis induced by thoracic volume changes.The derived signals were characterized using a multidimensional approach. In the time domain, activation cycle amplitudes and durations were evaluated; in the frequency domain, shifts in mean and central frequencies were analyzed to detect muscle fatigue, together with power distribution within the low- and high-frequency HRV bands. In addition, nonlinear analysis metrics, such as entropy measures, were applied to quantify the loss of system complexity. Cardiorespiratory coupling was assessed through cross-correlation and spectral coherence analyses, evaluating how the mechanical and neurological effort of breathing modulates the hemodynamic and cardiac response.Finally, statistical analysis identified a set of parameters showing statistically significant differences between the extubation success and failure groups. These properties reflected alterations in diaphragmatic effort efficiency, reduced cardiac variability, and loss of synchronization between cardiac and respiratory rhythms in patients who failed extubation. Based on these selected biomarkers, supervised classification models were implemented, including Naïve Bayes, Support Vector Machines, and k-Nearest Neighbors. The optimized model achieved an accuracy of 92% and a specificity greater than 90%.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN CHEMICAL PROCESS ENGINEERING

• MARÍN RIVAS, ENRIQUE DAVID: Mechanochemical Preparation of Pd-Cu/CeO₂ Catalysts for Carbon Monoxide Oxidation
  
  Author: MARÍN RIVAS, ENRIQUE DAVID
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN CHEMICAL PROCESS ENGINEERING
  Department: Department of Chemical Engineering (EQ)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 31/07/2026
  Deposit END date: 14/09/2026
  Thesis director: LLORCA PIQUE, JORDI | VENDRELL VILLAFRUELA, XAVIER
  Thesis abstract: Cerium oxide (CeO2)-based catalysts are widely studied for oxidation reactions due to their redox properties, oxygen storage capacity, and ability to stabilise metal-support interfacial sites. Among these systems, Pd/CeO2 and Cu/CeO2 catalysts are of particular interest for low-temperature CO oxidation. However, their catalytic behaviour depends on the synthesis method, metal dispersion, and defect structure. In this thesis, mechanochemical synthesis by planetary ball milling was investigated as a sustainable route for preparing CeO2-based catalysts, together with different treatments aimed at modifying their structural and catalytic properties.The first part of this work focused on Pd/CeO2 catalysts prepared by planetary ball milling under controlled atmospheres. The results demonstrated that mechanochemical synthesis promotes the formation of active Pd-Ce interfacial structures. Catalysts prepared at 250 rpm under air for 10 min exhibited the highest CO oxidation activity, outperforming those prepared by conventional impregnation. This behaviour was attributed to the formation of PdOx-Ce interfacial species and strong metal-support interactions. Electron microscopy revealed highly dispersed Pd nanoparticles and clusters on the ceria surface.The second part investigated Cu/CeO2 catalysts prepared by mechanochemical methods using different precursors, calcination temperatures, milling conditions, and reduction treatments. The results showed that mechanochemical synthesis can produce catalysts with superior performance compared with conventional methods. Catalysts prepared from copper nitrate and calcined at 300 °C showed the best activity. H2/N2 reduction further enhanced catalytic performance. Electron microscopy confirmed the absence of large CuOx aggregates and the presence of highly dispersed copper species. In addition, operando synchrotron experiments revealed dynamic Cu+/Cu2+ redox cycling under reaction conditions, contributing to catalyst stability and progressive activation.The third part addressed bimetallic Pd-Cu/CeO2 catalysts prepared by planetary ball milling. Different Cu/Pd ratios, metal loadings, and deposition sequences were evaluated. Under non-reduced conditions, Pd incorporation did not significantly improve activity compared with monometallic Cu/CeO2 catalysts. However, after H2 reduction, the bimetallic catalysts exhibited enhanced activity, highlighting the importance of pre-reduction in the formation of favourable Pd-Cu-Ce interfacial structures.Electron beam irradiation was also investigated as a post-synthesis treatment for Pd/CeO2 catalysts. Irradiation improved catalytic activity and reduced the apparent activation energy for CO oxidation. Raman and XPS analyses revealed an increase in structural defects, peroxide species, and additional PdOx-Ce interfacial sites.Finally, flash sintering was applied to ceria-based materials. Although the treatment induced significant microstructural and electrical modifications, the resulting materials exhibited lower catalytic activity than untreated CeO2, mainly due to the thermal effects associated with Joule heating.Overall, this thesis demonstrates that mechanochemical synthesis is an effective strategy for preparing highly active CeO2-based catalysts. The catalytic behaviour of Pd/CeO2, Cu/CeO2, and Pd-Cu/CeO2 systems is governed by metal-ceria interfacial structures, metal dispersion, and the redox properties of the support.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN COMPUTATIONAL AND APPLIED PHYSICS

• DYHR, SØREN ISTVÁN ADORJÁN: Optimal Metrics in Odd-Dimensional Geometry: Reeb Dynamics and Applications in Fluid Mechanics
  
  Author: DYHR, SØREN ISTVÁN ADORJÁN
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN COMPUTATIONAL AND APPLIED PHYSICS
  Department: Department of Physics (FIS)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 11/09/2026
  Deposit END date: 28/09/2026
  Thesis director: MIRANDA GALCERÁN, EVA | GONZÁLEZ PRIETO, ÁNGEL
  Thesis abstract: Particles described by Hamiltonian mechanics tend to stay on odd-dimensional hypersurfaces of symplectic manifolds. In this thesis we study a generalization of the geometric structures appearing on such submanifolds. They all have a Reeb vector field and, in dimension three, coincide with stable Hamiltonian structures (SHS), a class which includes both cosymplectic and contact structures. We study two problems concerning metrics compatible with such structures.First we consider the Navier-Stokes equations, which describe viscous incompressible fluids. It turns out that Reeb vector fields of cosymplectic structures are stationary solutions for all compatible metrics. We create a cosymplectic plug from a construction by Cardona, Miranda, Peralta-Salas, and Presas, which realizes Turing machines as vector fields. Their construction was originally used in contact geometry to extend these vector fields to stationary solutions of the 3D Euler equations, which model ideal (inviscid) fluids. We extend their result by embedding the plug to obtain cosymplectic Reeb fields, and thus stationary solutions to the 3D Navier-Stokes equations, capable of simulating any Turing machine.Second we study an energy functional on the space of compatible metrics, originally considered for contact manifolds by Blair as well as by Chern and Hamilton. The metrics of minimal energy for contact manifolds in dimension three have been classified. We generalize the functional and the classification to three-dimensional SHSs and find that positive energy critical metrics correspond to the algebraic Anosov flows.Finally we obtain a similar result in higher dimension when there exist certain first integrals satisfying a non-degeneracy condition. We also classify a family of five-dimensional examples of critical metrics, including some not satisfying the non-degeneracy condition.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE

• CARO ROCA, MARTÍ: Efficient Tailoring of AI-based Solutions for Safety-Critical Systems
  
  Author: CARO ROCA, MARTÍ
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE
  Department: Department of Computer Architecture (DAC)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 10/09/2026
  Deposit END date: 25/09/2026
  Thesis director: ABELLA FERRER, JAIME
  Thesis abstract: The increasing performance of computing platforms enables the use of larger Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) that achieve the accuracy needed for real-time applications such as Camera-based Object Detection (CBOD) in Autonomous Driving (AD). While high inference accuracy is mandatory for DNNs in Critical Real-Time Embedded Systems (CRTES), memory bandwidth and energy consumption are also critical factors, often constraining the achievable performance and determining whether those DNNs meet application requirements (e.g., frames per second). Therefore, some highly accurate but large DNN models must be optimized to operate under these constraints.Moreover, automotive applications with safety requirements must adhere to standards such as ISO 26262, which impose the use of diverse redundancy for the highest integrity level (ASIL D) to mitigate common-cause faults — random hardware faults that can potentially affect redundant components similarly and remain undetected. Dual Modular Redundancy (DMR), also referred to as Dual-Core LockStep (DCLS) for CPUs, and Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR), often combined with some form of diversity, are commonly used in safety-critical systems to provide fault detection and tolerance. However, efficiently realizing diverse redundancy for DNN-based safety-related tasks, such as object detection, remains an open challenge, as these applications can leverage semantic redundancy rather than bit-level equivalence.In this thesis, we first perform an at-scale evaluation of several approximation domains to optimize DNN models. In particular, we focus on CBOD models, which are essential in AD to detect objects surrounding the vehicle. We study several techniques independently and jointly — including reduced-precision arithmetic, approximate computing, and low-voltage operation — to assess how they can be combined to significantly reduce the area, delay, and energy of AI systems. We further extend this analysis by studying the impact of weight clustering for different arithmetic representations, including floating-point and integer formats, providing insights to guide the development of low-power CBOD accelerators with negligible impact on accuracy.Next, we design an efficient diverse redundancy scheme tailored to AI applications by leveraging reduced precision. The proposed scheme operates on reduced-precision arithmetic obtained by dropping selected bits from the fetched data of the main accelerator. This enables mitigation of random hardware faults while reducing the delay, area, and energy of the redundant accelerator compared to traditional DCLS implementations, without noticeable accuracy loss.We also propose a diverse redundancy technique with a similar cost to DCLS-like implementations but with a significant accuracy increase, achieved by mitigating AI model inaccuracies and avoiding the need for specific hardware support. This scheme applies input transformations (e.g., horizontal flip or Gaussian noise) and uses merging algorithms to fuse detections from redundant components. We further evaluate its ability to mitigate adversarial attacks, allowing a single mechanism to simultaneously address random hardware faults, DNN model inaccuracies, and adversarial attacks. Finally, we show that the scheme can be generalized to other AI models and tasks, confirming that the observed conclusions and trends hold across different AI modalities.Overall, this thesis studies approximation techniques that can significantly optimize AI models for CRTES and proposes two enhanced diverse redundancy techniques: one targeting energy efficiency and another focusing on improving the accuracy of the diverse redundant system with negligible overhead.
  
• NIU, YUYAO: Hardware-Aware Algorithms for Efficient Graph Traversal on High-End Parallel Architectures
  
  Author: NIU, YUYAO
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE
  Department: Department of Computer Architecture (DAC)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 09/09/2026
  Deposit END date: 23/09/2026
  Thesis director: CASAS GUIX, MARC
  Thesis abstract: Graph traversal is a fundamental building block in scientific computing, data analytics, and artificial intelligence. Among traversal methods, Breadth First Search (BFS) and Depth First Search (DFS) are two core primitives for higher-level graph algorithms. As graph-structured data continues to grow, efficient traversal increasingly depends on the ability to exploit high-end parallel architectures. However, modern architectures rely on structured and throughput-oriented execution engines, such as long vector processors, dense matrix accelerators, and massively parallel GPUs, whereas graph traversal exhibits irregular memory accesses, data-dependent control flow, and dynamic workloads.This dissertation argues that the performance gap between graph traversal and modern hardware arises from three major mismatches: a structural mismatch between regular execution units and irregular graph structure, a computational mismatch between arithmetic-oriented acceleration and relation-driven traversal, and an architectural mismatch between throughput-oriented parallelism and dependency-driven traversal behavior. To address these challenges, the dissertation develops a hardware-aware design paradigm in which graph traversal algorithms are reformulated according to the characteristics and constraints of the target architecture.The first contribution is ALBBA, an algebraic BFS algorithm for long vector architectures. ALBBA reformulates direction-optimized BFS using a vector-friendly sparse representation, vectorized search, and a two-level bypass mechanism. These techniques allow the key algebraic BFS operations, sparse matrix-vector multiplication (SpMV) and sparse matrix-sparse vector multiplication (SpMSpV), to better exploit long vector execution while reducing unnecessary memory accesses and redundant computation. This shows that structural irregularity can be mitigated through hardware-aware data layout and execution design.The second contribution is BerryBees, a BFS framework for Tensor Core-based GPUs. BerryBees introduces the Binarized Row Slice format, which uses bit-level representations to support both SpMV and SpMSpV within a unified data layout while reducing memory overhead. It further employs a warp-level algorithm that leverages Tensor Core matrix-multiply-accumulate instructions to accelerate traversal. This shows that relation-driven graph computation can be reorganized to exploit hardware originally designed for dense matrix operations.The third contribution is DiggerBees, a parallel DFS algorithm for massively parallel GPUs. DiggerBees introduces a two-level stack structure aligned with the GPU memory hierarchy, warp-level DFS execution within thread blocks, and hierarchical work stealing across warps and blocks. These techniques expose scalable parallelism for dependency-driven traversal and improve load balance across the GPU. This shows that DFS, despite its inherent dependencies, can be effectively adapted to throughput-oriented parallel hardware.Together, these contributions demonstrate that BFS and DFS can be effectively accelerated when their data representations, computational formulations, and execution structures are designed with architectural constraints as first-class considerations. More broadly, this dissertation establishes hardware-aware reformulation as a general methodology for rethinking irregular graph algorithms on increasingly specialized parallel hardware.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING AND STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS

• CUESTA ARRILLAGA, JOKIN: Physics-integrated artificial intelligence prognostics for wind turbine components under uncertainty and data scarcity
  
  Author: CUESTA ARRILLAGA, JOKIN
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING AND STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS
  Department: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (DECA)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 11/09/2026
  Deposit END date: 28/09/2026
  Thesis director: VIDAL SEGUI, YOLANDA | LETURIONDO ZUBIZARRETA, URKO | POZO MONTERO, FRANCESC
  Thesis abstract: Wind energy plays a central role in the global transition towards sustainable energy systems. However, the operation and maintenance costs associated with wind turbines remain a major challenge, particularly due to unexpected component failures and the difficulty of accurately predicting their remaining useful life. Prognostics and health management has emerged as a key enabler of predictive maintenance strategies, yet current prognostic approaches often face limitations related to data scarcity and quality, limited observability of degradation, lack of physical consistency, and inadequate uncertainty quantification.This thesis addresses these challenges by developing adaptive physics-informed prognostic methodologies for wind turbine components operating under uncertainty and with scarce degradation data. A unified uncertainty-aware prognostic framework is proposed that integrates physical knowledge into data-driven models based on the observability level of the degradation process. For directly observable degradation scenarios, physics-informed neural network architectures based on time-series transformers are developed by embedding degradation laws into the learning process. For indirectly observable degradation scenarios, where degradation cannot be measured directly, a physics-guided framework is introduced to construct health indicators from operational data through residual-based representations of healthy system behavior.The proposed methodologies are validated through a two-level experimental strategy. First, a dedicated laboratory testbed is designed to generate controlled, run-to-failure wear data. Second, the framework is assessed using real wind turbine SCADA data from gearbox degradation cases to demonstrate its applicability in operational environments. In both scenarios, multiple uncertainty quantification techniques are investigated and benchmarked to characterize predictive confidence and support maintenance decision-making.The results demonstrate that integrating physical knowledge into advanced deep learning architectures improves degradation forecasting accuracy, robustness, and remaining useful life estimation performance compared with purely data-driven approaches. Furthermore, the proposed uncertainty-aware framework provides reliable confidence estimates, enhancing the interpretability and operational usefulness of prognostic predictions. The findings contribute to the development of trustworthy hybrid prognostic systems for wind energy applications and maintenance timing, supporting wind-farm availability management and the dependable operation of renewable energy assets.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

• GARATACHEA SOLÉ, ROGER: Domestic and Transboundary Air Pollution across European countries: health impacts and policy implications
  
  Author: GARATACHEA SOLÉ, ROGER
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
  Department: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (DECA)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 07/09/2026
  Deposit END date: 21/09/2026
  Thesis director: PEREZ GARCIA-PANDO, CARLOS | JORBA CASELLAS, ORIOL
  Thesis abstract: Air pollution remains a major environmental and public health problem in Europe, despite decades of regulation and substantial improvements in air quality. Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and tropospheric ozone (O3) remain two of the most harmful air pollutants. Their formation, transport, and impacts are shaped by complex interactions between local emissions, transboundary pollution, natural sources, atmospheric chemistry, and meteorology. This complexity makes it difficult to determine which sources are responsible for observed pollution levels.This thesis studies the geographical origins of O3 and both geographical and sectoral origins of PM2.5 across Europe, evaluating their implications for health impacts and air-quality governance. Using the CALIOPE regional air-quality modeling system, a tagging approach is applied to quantify domestic, transboundary, maritime, and hemispheric contributions to O3 concentrations and associated short-term mortality. For PM2.5, a perturbation-based approach combined with an observation-constrained methodology is used to quantify source contributions and their related short-term mortality impacts, which are further disaggregated by economic sector and natural sources. The thesis also assesses the feasibility of achieving the revised European Ambient Air Quality Directive PM2.5 standards by 2030 under both current legislation (CLE) and maximum feasible reduction (MFR) pathways.The findings indicate that European air pollution is strongly shaped by sources beyond the jurisdiction in which exposure occurs. For O3, hemispheric and transboundary contributions represent major components of surface concentrations across Europe, underscoring the importance of long-range transport. Consequently, the health impacts related to O3 are also largely driven by imported pollution, which accounts for 88% of all O3-attributable deaths in Europe. However, during high-ozone episodes, local and regional contributions become more relevant, suggesting that domestic and nearby emission reductions can be particularly important under peak O3 levels. For PM2.5, short-term mortality impacts are also strongly influenced by cross-border transport and by the sectoral composition of emissions. Anthropogenic emissions accounted for 55% of PM2.5-attributable deaths, with 35% of this anthropogenic burden resulting from cross-border transport within Europe. Residential combustion emerges as the main anthropogenic source, although agriculture, road transport, industry, and power generation can also make important contributions depending on the region and season.The PM2.5 compliance analysis shows that projected emission reductions are expected to substantially improve air quality by 2030, but important governance challenges will remain. CLE would enable many European air-quality zones to meet the revised PM2.5 limit values, with further improvements under MFR. However, a large share of zones reaching compliance under CLE reductions remain cooperation-dependent, requiring emission reductions in foreign countries rather than domestic action alone. Excluding natural-source contributions further increases attainment, highlighting the role of sources that are not fully controllable through national mitigation policies. These results show that remaining non-compliance reflects not only insufficient domestic action, but also transboundary dependencies, natural contributions, and the limitations of national policy instruments.Overall, this thesis demonstrates that source-resolved modelling is crucial to understand air quality results, estimate health impacts, and design effective compliance strategies. Achieving European air-quality standards will require not only ambitious emission reductions, but also coordinated international action and regulatory frameworks that explicitly account for the transboundary nature of atmospheric pollution.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING

• DURÁN CABALLERO, DIEGO ENRIQUE: Applications of the Geotechnical Particle Finite Element Method to CPTu and Statnamic Pile Load test interpretation
  
  Author: DURÁN CABALLERO, DIEGO ENRIQUE
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING
  Department: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (DECA)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 04/09/2026
  Deposit END date: 18/09/2026
  Thesis director: ARROYO ALVAREZ DE TOLEDO, MARCOS | MONFORTE VILA, LLUÍS
  Thesis abstract: This thesis exploits and extends the Geotechnical Particle Finite Element Method (G-PFEM) to model complex coupled problems in geotechnical engineering, particularly those involving the insertion of solid objects into soil, such as cone penetration testing (CPTu) or pile installation. The insertion of solid objects into soil is the operating principle of several in-situ tests, whose measurements are used later to infer geotechnical design parameters. These inference methods remain largely empirical and carry significant uncertainty, particularly when they are applied beyond the conditions for which they were originally developed. This uncertainty is transferred directly to geotechnical design and may, in some cases, lead to unsafe designs. Part of it arises from the complexity of the insertion process itself, which mobilises several soil mechanisms simultaneously and is therefore only partially represented by the simplified analyses underlying existing correlations.This problem is addressed by reproducing the full mechanics of two in-situ tests: CPTu and the Statnamic pile load test. The tests are analysed across different soil types, drainage conditions and loading rates. In each application, the constitutive model is selected according to the features governing the response: SCLAY-1 is used to represent fabric anisotropy in clay, CASM and SIMSAND to describe the critical-state behaviour of sands and silty sands, and CASM-Visco to capture the viscous response mobilised during rapid loading.For undrained cone penetration in clay, the study identifies the shearing mode governing the response beneath the cone tip and determines which undrained shear strength should be used as the reference for normalising cone resistance. It also evaluates how fabric anisotropy affects the resulting cone factors. For Statnamic testing, the experimental programme carried out at the University of Sheffield is back-analysed reproducing complex sequences of pile penetration, consolidation and rapid loading, providing further insight into the mechanisms governing the measured response. For CPTu in sands, the study examines how the use of a log-linear representation of the critical state line affects the inference of the state parameter. For silty sands, the influence of partial drainage and fines content on the cone response is investigated by mapping their effects onto the constitutive behaviour of a reference clean sand.Overall, the thesis extends the application of G-PFEM to the interpretation of CPTu and Statnamic pile load tests under different governing conditions. The results clarify the soil mechanisms controlling the measured response and contribute to the assessment and development of more accurate test interpretation procedures.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN MARINE SCIENCES

• AGUILERA VIDAL, MARIA: Compound Rainfall-Wave Extremes in the Spanish Mediterranean: dependence structure, spatio-temporal variability, and climate change attribution
  
  Author: AGUILERA VIDAL, MARIA
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN MARINE SCIENCES
  Department: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (DECA)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 04/09/2026
  Deposit END date: 18/09/2026
  Thesis director: JIMENEZ QUINTANA, JOSE ANTONIO
  Thesis abstract: Compound coastal flooding along the Spanish Mediterranean coast is primarily driven by the interaction between intense rainfall and energetic wave storms, which constitute the dominant terrestrial and marine flood drivers in this microtidal environment. This thesis develops an integrated framework to characterize rainfall-wave compound hazards by combining observational datasets, wave reanalysis, copula-based dependence analysis, synoptic weather classification, and climate-model attribution techniques. The framework examines how compound hazards vary across space, evolve over time, respond to climate change, and generate spatially connected impacts.The results reveal a pronounced spatial organization of compound hazard. Northern Catalonia and central Valencia emerge as the main hotspots, where compound events occur more frequently, exhibit stronger statistical dependence, and systematically more intense than single-driver extremes. Temporal analyses further show that rainfall-wave dependence has strengthened over recent decades along the northern Catalan coast, increasing the synchronization between both hazards and the probability of joint extremes. This evolution is accompanied by a greater likelihood of extreme precipitation. These changes are linked to an increased frequency of the dominant synoptic configurations, particularly Mediterranean cyclones and northern-blocking situations, that favour the concurrence of heavy rainfall and energetic wave conditions.Climate-change attribution demonstrate that the most severe compound events already exhibit a detectable anthropogenic signal through the intensification of extreme precipitation, substantially increasing the likelihood of rare compound extremes under present-day climate conditions. Beyond local hazard interactions, the thesis also demonstrates that compound flooding is inherently spatially connected. The same atmospheric configurations responsible for the strongest local compound events also generate widespread impacts extending from Catalonia to central Valencia, with Storm Gloria (January 2020) representing a characteristic example of this synoptic regime.Overall, this thesis demonstrates that compound coastal flood hazard in the western Mediterranean cannot be adequately understood using a single-driver, stationary, or purely local approaches. Instead, robust hazard assessment requires explicitly accounting for multivariate and evolving hazard conditions partly influenced by anthropogenic climate change, as well as for the spatial connectivity among driving processes across the region and the role of large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns. The integrated framework developed here provides a transferable methodology for improving compound flood assessments, supporting climate-resilient coastal planning, and advancing the understanding of compound coastal hazards in Mediterranean and other microtidal, wave-dominated environments.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

• VILELLA I CROSAS, TÀNIA: Biocompatible superelastic TiNb-based alloys produced by additive manufacturing
  
  Author: VILELLA I CROSAS, TÀNIA
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
  Department: Department of Materials Science and Engineering (CEM)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 02/09/2026
  Deposit END date: 16/09/2026
  Thesis director: FARGAS RIBAS, GEMMA | RODRÍGUEZ RIUS, DANIEL
  Thesis abstract: The clinical success of load-bearing orthopaedic implants is fundamentally constrained by two major mechanical and biological limitations: the stress-shielding phenomenon induced by the high elastic modulus mismatch between standard titanium alloys (e.g Ti-6Al-4V) and human cortical bone, and the long-term risk of systemic toxicity or hypersensitivity associated with superelastic shape memory alloys like NiTi. Ni-free, β-type TiNb systems offer an ideal biocompatible alternative due to their inherently low stiffness and capacity for superelastic behaviour. However, conventional processing methods (casting and forging) lead to severe phase segregation, while conventional additive manufacturing (AM) routes remain restricted by the high cost and processing rigidity of pre-alloyed spherical feedstocks. To address this gap, this Thesis establishes novel, cost-effective AM pathways to fabricate complex, bone-mimetic architectures directly from irregular elemental powder blends using two distinct approaches: Direct Ink Writing (DIW) combined with vacuum sintering, and high-energy Electron Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-EB).The first part of this work optimizes the extrusion-based DIW route for binary TiNb configurations. Rheological screening identified an optimal solid powder loading of 75 wt.%. This concentration maximizes green metallic density. It also maintains the shear-thinning behaviour and yield stress needed for shape retention post-printing. Pushing the loading to 80 wt.% triggers a micro-rheological jamming transition. This jamming is driven by internal friction between the irregular elemental particles. Vacuum sintering cycles were mapped to control the evolution of densification and porosity. Open, tubular pore networks successfully consolidated into isolated internal porosity. The macro-porous architecture was preserved. Nb acts as a β-stabilizer and suppresses α-phase formation. This results in a compliant body-centered cubic (bcc) β-matrix. Instrumented micro- and nanoindentation profiling evaluated the local mechanics. The macro-apparent stiffness of the porous scaffolds successfully matched human cortical boneIn the second part of this Thesis, ink formulation was expanded to ternary (TiNbZr, TiNbTa) and and quaternary (TiNbTaZr) systems. This approach achieved successful in-situ alloying. The third part of the thesis investigates single-step liquid-state consolidation via high-energy PBF-EB. A narrow process window was developed. The intense hydrodynamic mixing overcomes the large melting temperature gap between Ti and refractory Nb. The high vacuum and in-situ thermal annealing eliminate macro-segregation. This process results in homogeneous, single β-phase or metastable α’’-phases.The compliant β-phase was integrated with advanced Triply Periodic Minimal Surface (TPMS gyroid) designs to mitigate stress-shielding. Finally, in vitro biological validation using SaOs-2 osteoblast-like cells was performed across the three parts of this Thesis, demonstrating outstanding cytocompatibility in all cases.Conclusively, this Thesis demonstrates flexible, cost-effective, and versatile manufacturing strategies that bridge the gap between low-cost elemental feedstocks and high-performance functional materials. By integrating architectural complexity with precise microstructural control, this work establishes a robust pathway for the development of the next generation of bone-mimetic, superelastic implants, ultimately enhancing patient safety and long-term clinical reliability.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN MECHANICAL, FLUIDS AND AEROSPACE ENGINEERING

• HURTÁN DÍAZ, ENRIQUE: Experimental Characterization of Microconfined High-Pressure Transcritical Fluid Turbulence
  
  Author: HURTÁN DÍAZ, ENRIQUE
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN MECHANICAL, FLUIDS AND AEROSPACE ENGINEERING
  Department: Department of Mechanical Engineering (EM)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 04/09/2026
  Deposit END date: 18/09/2026
  Thesis director: JOFRE CRUANYES, LLUÍS | CASALS TERRE, JASMINA
  Thesis abstract: Microfluidic systems have emerged as a key enabling technology for compact and highly integrated devices across biomedical and chemical applications. However, their performance remains fundamentally constrained in energy-related applications due to the predominance of laminar flow regimes at small scales, where transport processes are governed primarily by molecular diffusion. This thesis investigates the emergence of turbulent-like flow regimes in microconfined high-pressure transcritical fluids as a novel pathway to overcome these limitations. In particular, the work focuses on the role of strong thermophysical property gradients generated near the critical point and while crossing the pseudo-boiling line in destabilizing microscale flows, enhancing mass and heat transport.The research begins by establishing the experimental and methodological framework required to investigate transcritical microflows under extreme thermodynamic conditions. A dedicated high-pressure microfluidic facility is developed, integrating advanced thermal control and high-speed optical diagnostics based on two-dimensional time-resolved micro-particle image velocimetry (2D TR-μPIV). Particular attention is devoted to identifying the characteristic spatio-temporal scales governing these flows and to assessing the limitations of conventional techniques in resolving the smallest turbulent scales. The analysis reveals that thermophysical scales associated with density gradients become comparable to the smallest hydrodynamic scales of the flow, leading to strong thermodynamic–hydrodynamic coupling and fundamentally altering the interpretation of microscale transport.Building upon this framework, the thesis experimentally demonstrates the existence of instability-driven turbulent-like regimes in microchannels operating under transcritical conditions. The results show that sharp density gradients generate baroclinic torque and variable-density effects that help to trigger and amplify flow perturbations, developing highly unsteady multiscale flow structures even at Reynolds numbers significantly below the transition thresholds of classical incompressible flows. Flow visualizations reveal the presence of fluctuations represented by optical distortions and turbophoretic particle migration, providing direct experimental evidence of turbulent-like dynamics previously predicted by direct numerical simulations.The impact of these regimes on transport processes is subsequently investigated through the development of a microchannel heat exchanger platform. To support these experiments, a novel hybrid custom-fabricated platform based on Ostemer–copper bonding is developed, enabling high-pressure operation while preserving optical accessibility and thermal control. Heat transfer measurements demonstrate substantial enhancement of convective transport under transcritical conditions, directly linked to the emergence of multiscale flow structures and instability-driven mixing. These results establish a direct connection between the underlying flow physics and the observed macroscopic thermofluid performance.Taken together, the findings in this thesis demonstrate that turbulent-like transport in microfluidic systems can be achieved not by increasing inertial forces, but by exploiting the thermodynamic behavior of fluids near the critical point. This work establishes a new paradigm for microscale transport enhancement based on thermodynamic–hydrodynamic coupling, and opens new opportunities for the development of high-performance microfluidic technologies for thermal management, energy conversion, and process intensification applications.
  
• MACERATESI, FILIPPO: Personalized musculoskeletal modeling for predictive gait simulation in individuals with spinal cord injury
  
  Author: MACERATESI, FILIPPO
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN MECHANICAL, FLUIDS AND AEROSPACE ENGINEERING
  Department: Department of Mechanical Engineering (EM)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 09/09/2026
  Deposit END date: 23/09/2026
  Thesis director: FONT LLAGUNES, JOSEP MARIA | FEBRER NAFRÍA, MÍRIAM
  Thesis abstract: Predictive simulations of human gait based on musculoskeletal models have great potential to support clinical decision-making processes. In fact, if we were able to model the effects of different treatments or assistive devices within this predictive tool, it would allow us to test various “what-if” scenarios in advance and identify the one with the greatest potential to maximize therapy outcomes for a specific patient. For patients with spinal cord injury (SCI), predictive gait simulations could help design subject-specific treatments and rehabilitation strategies. To employ predictive simulations in clinical applications, it is fundamental that the musculoskeletal models used in such simulations represent as closely as possible the studied patients. For this reason, high levels of personalization are needed when developing such musculoskeletal models. Therefore, the main aim of the thesis is to develop and evaluate personalized musculoskeletal models within predictive gait simulations to assess whether we are capable of reproducing subject-specific gait of individuals with SCI. The first study aims to investigate the effects of different muscle-tendon parameters calibration approaches in both tracking and predictive simulations in three healthy subjects. In the tracking simulations, the functionally-calibrated models led to more accurate joint torques estimations. Including gait in the calibration problems improved the knee torques accuracy, compared to the baseline calibration. Regarding the gait predictive simulations, the non-linearly scaled models consistently yielded more accurate subtalar inversion/eversion torques and knee flexion angles, compared to the functionally-calibrated models. The results suggest that, while the functionally-calibrated models led to more accurate joint torques estimations in the tracking simulations, they did not outperform the non-linearly scaled models in the fully-predictive gait simulations. The second study aims to assess whether our predictive simulation framework, combined with different levels of personalization, can capture and distinguish the subject-specific gait features of four SCI patients, rather than predicting a generic assisted gait. The results suggest that our predictive simulation framework is able to reproduce certain gait metrics of specific individuals with SCI, although the level of agreement varied across metrics and subjects. However, the predicted inter-subject variability of the kinematics was generally statistically lower than the experimental one. When comparing subjects pairwise, in some cases, the predictive simulations were able to capture the similarities or discrepancies in kinematics and gait metrics between two individuals.The third study aims to estimate and analyze joint stiffness profiles in three subjects with SCI during gait, and test muscle-tendon parameters calibrated based on reference stiffness values in predictive gait simulations. Overall, the estimated joint stiffness profiles appeared biomechanically consistent when analyzing them with respect to the gait events and EMG signals. The EMG-driven models matched more accurately the reference torques and stiffness in the ankle and hip joints compared to the knee. Furthermore, in the predictive simulations, the two musculoskeletal models yielded very similar results; however, the one calibrated with both stiffness and torque data predicted higher ankle stiffness profiles that more closely matched the reference values.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN PHOTONICS

• BERTINI, RICCARDO: Optoelectronic probes of quantum geometry and out-of-equilibrium phenomena in graphene moiré superlattices
  
  Author: BERTINI, RICCARDO
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN PHOTONICS
  Department: Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 04/09/2026
  Deposit END date: 18/09/2026
  Thesis director: KOPPENS, FRANK | KRISHNA KUMAR, ROSHAN
  Thesis abstract: Two-dimensional moiré superlattices have opened a new era in quantum materials, as they provide a versatile platform for engineering electronic bands and accessing correlated and topological phases. Their intrinsically narrow minibands, achieved by twisting or aligning atomically thin two-dimensional crystals, favor strong electronic interactions. Additionally, electrostatic gating further enables in situ control of carrier density, bandwidth, and bandgaps, stabilizing a wide range of quantum phases, including superconductivity, correlated insulating states, ferromagnetism, and Chern and fractional Chern insulators.Most experimental knowledge of these systems has come from quantum transport, scanning-probe, or optical experiments in the linear-response regime. This work extends the experimental toolbox by employing cryogenic nonlinear optoelectronic methods. By applying such techniques to graphene moiré materials, we probe two regimes that remain difficult to access with conventional experiments: the quantum geometry of interacting flat bands and the out-of-equilibrium states generated by large in-plane currents.Using terahertz radiation resonant with the flat bands of magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene (MATBG), we observe a polarization-resolved photocurrent whose principal axis rotates abruptly whenever the carrier density reaches an integer filling of the moiré Brillouin zone. We identify this response as a shift current, a second-order photocurrent governed by the interband quantum geometry. Microscopically, the effect arises from the interplay between extrinsic symmetry breaking of the moiré crystal, attributed to alignment with hexagonal boron nitride or strain, and Hartree-driven reconstruction of the MATBG flat bands. We further present preliminary mid-infrared photocurrent measurements aimed at resolving the spatial distribution of these broken-symmetry states.The second part of this work investigates the nonlinear current–voltage response of bilayer graphene aligned to hexagonal boron-nitride under large in-plane bias. Using dual-gated devices, we map the density and displacement-field dependence of the out-of-equilibrium critical transition that occurs when single-band transport breaks down, accompanied by negative differential conductance (NDC). The critical current scales with the miniband bandwidth, a relation verified across multiple devices and moiré systems. By combining temperature-dependent measurements with Boltzmann-transport simulations, we find evidence for strong electronic overheating at the transition, followed by the formation of an electron–hole plasma in which electron–hole collisions dominate the transport response. Scanning photocurrent microscopy at 4 K reveals that the transition is localized in a bulk hotspot; at the bistable threshold near the NDC regime, this hotspot also acts as the active region for single-photon detection.Together, these results demonstrate the value of optoelectronic probes for investigating moiré quantum materials, and open multiple directions for future study. Polarization-resolved terahertz photocurrent spectroscopy provides access to the quantum geometry of correlated moiré bands, whereas high-bias transport offers a direct handle on superlattice dispersion and nonequilibrium carrier dynamics. These techniques are readily applicable to a vast range of materials. Additionally, our findings pave the way for novel optoelectronic devices based on moiré materials operating at long wavelengths.
  
• HALDANKAR, RAJASHREE: Strain-Induced Buckling in Suspended Graphene–hBN and Ferroelectric Moiré Domains in Twisted hBN
  
  Author: HALDANKAR, RAJASHREE
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN PHOTONICS
  Department: Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 03/09/2026
  Deposit END date: 17/09/2026
  Thesis director: BACHTOLD, ADRIAN
  Thesis abstract: This thesis investigates the mechanical and electrostatic behaviour of van der Waals heterostructures based on graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). The work is centred on two related questions: how fabrication-induced strain affects suspended graphene–hBN devices, and how scanning-probe measurements can be used to study moiré domains in twisted hBN. The first part of the thesis focuses on suspended graphene–hBN heterostructures. These devices were fabricated by dry transfer onto pre-patterned trenches, followed by suspension release using supercritical CO2 drying. After release, the suspended stacks did not remain flat, but instead developed smooth out of-plane buckled profiles. Atomic force microscopy measurements show that this buckling is consistent with built-in compressive strain introduced during fabrication. Thermal-expansion mismatch, transfer-induced stress, and clamping at the contacts are all likely to contribute to the final mechanical state. Electrical measurements under gate bias further show that electrostatic loading softens the upward-buckled configuration and can drive a snap-through transition into a downward-buckled state. In the present devices, this transition is observed from the up state to the down state, while controlled switching back to the up state is not demonstrated. The second part of the thesis studies sliding ferroelectricity in marginally twisted hBN. In these devices, the small relative twist between the hBN layers produces a reconstructed moiré pattern formed by alternating stacking domains. Kelvin probe force microscopy was used to measure the local electrostatic response of these domains. Bias-dependent measurements show that the two domain types have distinct Kelvin- null positions, with an untwisted hBN reference region lying approximately between them. The comparison between first- and second-harmonic responses supports the interpretation that the observed domain contrast is mainly governed by local contact-potential differences rather than by purely capacitive variations. The KPFM domain image is also analysed as a real-space map of the reconstructed moiré network. Representative domain centres are extracted from the image and used to quantify the local moiré geometry. This analysis provides a moiré-scale description of local wavelength, effective twist variation, and network disorder. These quantities are interpreted as geometrical descriptors of the reconstructed domain pattern, not as direct measurements of atomic-scale strain. Overall, this thesis shows that strain, electrostatics, and interfacial polarisation are central to the behaviour of graphene–hBN and twisted-hBN heterostructures. The suspended graphene–hBN devices demonstrate how residual strain controls mechanical stability and electrostatic actuation, while the twisted-hBN measurements show how KPFM can be used to study moiré domains. Together, these results provide a basis for future studies of strain-controlled nanomechanics and electrostatic domain mapping in two-dimensional materials.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN SIGNAL THEORY AND COMMUNICATIONS

• MA, ZHONGMIN: Flood Extent, Water Level, and Surface Water Storage Retrieval Using Spaceborne GNSS Reflectometry
  
  Author: MA, ZHONGMIN
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN SIGNAL THEORY AND COMMUNICATIONS
  Department: Department of Signal Theory and Communications (TSC)
  Mode: Change of supervisor + Article-based thesis
  Deposit date: 08/09/2026
  Deposit END date: 22/09/2026
  Thesis director: CAMPS CARMONA, ADRIANO JOSE | PARK, HYUK | ZHANG, SHUANGCHENG
  Thesis abstract: Floods are among the most frequent and destructive natural hazards worldwide. Driven by climate change and increasing human activities, the frequency and severity of flood events have increased significantly, highlighting the need for high-resolution and all-weather flood monitoring methods to improve early warning and emergency response capabilities.Spaceborne GNSS reflectometry (GNSS-R) is an emerging microwave remote sensing technique that exploits reflected GNSS signals from the Earth’s surface to retrieve geophysical parameters at a global scale. With advantages including all-weather capability, continuous observation, and low cost, spaceborne GNSS-R shows great potential for flood monitoring. However, several challenges remain, including limited studies using multi-constellation GNSS-R observations, insufficient quantitative assessment of flood severity, and relatively coarse spatiotemporal resolution of existing flood products.This thesis focuses on the retrieval of flood extent, water level, and surface water storage using spaceborne GNSS-R. The main contributions are summarized as follows:(1) The sensitivity of multi-constellation GNSS-R observations to surface parameters was investigated. Results show that reflected signals from GPS, BeiDou, and Galileo exhibit comparable quality and consistent sensitivity to soil moisture, while surface reflectivity increases nonlinearly with increasing soil moisture. The results also demonstrate that passive microwave-derived roughness parameters cannot adequately characterize small-scale surface roughness effects in spaceborne GNSS-R observations.(2) To overcome the limitation of threshold-based GNSS-R flood detection methods that only provide binary inundation information, a physically based calibration approach incorporating L-band brightness temperature data was developed. A surface water fraction retrieval model was established to quantitatively estimate flood intensity and inundated fractions.(3) A new method was proposed for water level retrieval by integrating high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) with GNSS-R-derived flood extent information. The method estimates water levels from elevations along water boundaries and has been successfully applied to both flood level retrieval and long-term monitoring of lakes and reservoirs.(4) A method for estimating surface water storage was developed by integrating topographic data with GNSS-R-derived surface water observations. Compared with traditional satellite gravimetry missions such as GRACE and GRACE-FO, this approach directly utilizes surface observations and provides surface water storage estimates with improved spatiotemporal resolution.Overall, this thesis expands the application capability of spaceborne GNSS-R for quantitative flood monitoring and provides new approaches for estimating surface water dynamics, contributing to the development of advanced Earth observation methods for flood risk assessment and management.
  
• VILÀ INSA, MARC: Noncoherent detection and spatial cyclostationarity with massive arrays
  
  Author: VILÀ INSA, MARC
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN SIGNAL THEORY AND COMMUNICATIONS
  Department: Department of Signal Theory and Communications (TSC)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 07/09/2026
  Deposit END date: 21/09/2026
  Thesis director: RIBA SAGARRA, JAUME
  Thesis abstract: Since the advent of digital communication technologies, wireless systems have relied on precise and regularly updated knowledge about the physical medium, referred to as channel state information (CSI). This resource has played a central role in the deployment of modern wireless networks, enabling the monumental growth in transmission rates and data coverage demanded by the current information era. In recent times, however, emerging use cases are revealing practical scenarios in which the acquisition of reliable CSI becomes spectrally inefficient or even infeasible. Clear examples may be found in industrial internet of things (IIoT), where communication is performed through small data packets and latency requirements outweigh throughput needs. Such characteristics appear antagonistic to pilot-based coherent detection, a discrepancy which is also present in systems over high mobility environments, characterized by very short coherence blocks. This has led some authors to reassess whether coherent approaches are the most suitable solutions to implement these applications, envisioned for next generation wireless systems.This shift in state-of-the-art communication theory has rekindled an interest in alternative strategies for wireless data transmission, particularly noncoherent detection. Systems operating noncoherently are those that bypass the need for instantaneous CSI, and rely instead on a crude statistical description of fading and noise. It is precisely within this context that the present thesis is embedded. This work contributes to the noncoherent communication corpus by exploring fundamental limitations of wireless systems based on massive arrays. Most notably, we derive necessary and sufficient conditions to achieve asymptotically error-free communication by increasing transmitted power and the number of receiving antennas, and relate them to unavoidable error floors found throughout the literature. These results are obtained by leveraging first principles from detection theory, thus remaining interpretable and insightful in light of investigating codeword design.Afterwards, the theory developed is harnessed to devise energy-based noncoherent systems that employ massive antenna arrays to improve communication reliability. In particular, we study a one-shot detection problem and conceive a family of suboptimal receivers founded on quadratic statistics of data. These approaches are then used as the building blocks of an index modulation scheme over orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM). The solution obtained shows promising results, with near-optimal performance in a variety of scenarios at a fraction of the computational cost of maximum likelihood detection.In parallel, we study the spectral theory of periodically correlated stochastic processes, which naturally appear in some space-time noncoherent problems under spatially stationary fading. We develop a novel treatment based on the Karhunen-Loève representation of cyclostationary processes, and relate it to classical time-frequency approaches under the same framework. As a use case of interest, these techniques are applied to draw ultimate performance limits on a variety of Wiener filtering problems from a unified perspective. Finally, we utilize this toolkit to provide insights on noncoherent codeword detection and implement low-complexity receivers that exploit spectral approximations of data.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN STATISTICS AND OPERATIONS RESEARCH

• GARCÍA CARRASCO, VÍCTOR: El nexe aigua-energia de Catalunya davant la transició energètica: simulació horària, dessalinització oportunista i optimització multi-objectiu
  
  Author: GARCÍA CARRASCO, VÍCTOR
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN STATISTICS AND OPERATIONS RESEARCH
  Department: Department of Statistics and Operations Research (EIO)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 02/09/2026
  Deposit END date: 16/09/2026
  Thesis director: FONSECA CASAS, PAU
  Thesis abstract: Catalonia simultaneously faces two structural crises: the transition towards a decarbonised electricity system and the worsening of water stress under climate change. The 2021-2024 drought, which brought Ter-Llobregat system reservoirs to emergency levels, and the accelerated renewable deployment envisaged by the PROENCAT plan highlight the need for planning tools that integrate both subsystems. This thesis provides the tools to develop the first digital twin of Catalonia's coupled water-energy system at hourly resolution, formally specified using the SDL (Specification and Description Language) framework following the DT = DM + DS paradigm.The model integrates electricity generation (nuclear, wind, solar PV, hydropower, storage and combined cycles), water management (reservoirs, desalination, reclaimed water) and drought policies (progressive restriction phases) within a single simulation framework. It has been validated retrospectively against the 2024 electricity mix (errors < 2%), prospectively against PROENCAT projections for the 2030 and 2040 horizons, and under stress through 5 hydrological perturbation scenarios. The solution space, with until 14 decision variables, has been explored using Random Grid Search and NSGA-II, enabling a methodological comparison of both multi-objective optimisation approaches.Results demonstrate that the planned desalination capacity of 160 hm³/year is necessary but insufficient under severe climate change scenarios, and that 240 hm³/year effectively provides a robust safety margin. An opportunistic desalination strategy is proposed and evaluated, linking plant operation to renewable surplus availability and achieving 49-75% of water production during surplus hours, with a 20-34% reduction in gas consumption. The model confirms the viability of PROENCAT targets for 2040 and identifies 14.8 TWh of renewable surpluses as a fundamental synergy between the energy transition and water security.This thesis contributes in three areas: the formal integration of the water-energy nexus at regional basin scale, the formulation of an opportunistic desalination strategy without precedent in the literature, and a comparative multi-objective optimisation methodology transferable to other Mediterranean basins.
  

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN THEORY AND HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE

• TANOK, MERVE TUBA: Feminist political ecology of the right to the city: production of space in Istanbul (2000–2020)
  
  Author: TANOK, MERVE TUBA
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN THEORY AND HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE
  Department: Department of History and Theory of Architecture and Communication Techniques (THATC)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 09/09/2026
  Deposit END date: 23/09/2026
  Thesis director: MUXI MARTINEZ, ZAIDA | HERNÁNDEZ FALAGÁN, DAVID
  Thesis abstract: Abstract This thesis examines the production of urban space in Istanbul between 2000 and 2020 through the perspective of feminist political ecology and the right to the city. The study argues that urban transformation processes in Istanbul during the examined period have been shaped by neoliberal and neoconservative urban policies together with patriarchal and hegemonic masculine relations of power. Accordingly, urban space is approached not as a neutral physical environment, but as a gendered socio spatial structure that reproduces inequality, exclusion and ecological destruction. The theoretical framework of the study is grounded on feminism, feminist political ecology and the concept of the right to the city. In this regard, the thesis analyses the relation between gender, power, ecology and urbanisation by focusing on how spatial organisation reflects and materialises ideological structures. The study also discusses the production of phallic space and examines how urban transformation processes normalise gendered hierarchies through architecture, planning policies and everyday life practices. Methodologically, the research is designed as a qualitative study based mainly on critical literature review and interpretative urban analysis. Various qualitative materials including academic literature, institutional reports, statistics, newspapers, visual materials, photographs and interviews are analysed in order to investigate the socio spatial dynamics of Istanbul’s urban transformation. Within this framework, the thesis particularly focuses on large scale urban projects and neoconservative housing developments as representative cases of the production of gendered urban space. The findings of the study demonstrate that the production of urban space in Istanbul has increasingly operated through commodification, socio spatial segregation, ecological destruction and patriarchal spatial organisation. Mega projects, gated communities and neoliberal urban policies have contributed to the transformation of the city into a fragmented and unequal urban structure. Simultaneously, these processes have reshaped everyday life, mobility, public space and relations with nature according to dominant ideological and economic priorities. Finally, the thesis discusses future perspectives regarding the reclaiming of the city through ecological awareness, equality, collective participation and emancipatory urban praxis. In this sense, the study argues for the necessity of alternative forms of urban production that prioritise care, democratic participation, ecological sustainability and socio spatial justice. Keywords: feminist political ecology, right to the city, production of space, Istanbul, gender, urban transformation, neoliberal urbanism, spatial justice