Public display of deposited theses

Submission of objections to a doctoral thesis within the period of public exhibition

In accordance with the Academic Regulations for Doctoral Studies, doctors may request access to a doctoral thesis in deposit for consultation and, if there are, to send to the Permanent Commission of the Doctoral School the observations and allegations that they consider opportune on the content.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN AGRI-FOOD TECHNOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY

CANO LÓPEZ, ALICIA: Novel strategies to reduce persistent, mobile, and toxic substances in groundwater and wastewater: Impact on agriculture and human health
Author: CANO LÓPEZ, ALICIA
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: 30/09/2025
Deposit END date: 13/10/2025
Thesis director: MATAMOROS MERCADAL, VÍCTOR | ESCOLÀ CASAS, MÒNICA
Thesis abstract: Water scarcity is one of the most pressing global challenges, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions such as the Mediterranean basin. In countries like Spain, where agriculture is a major consumer of water resources, the reuse of reclaimed water has become essential for ensuring both water and food security. However, treated wastewater effluents and even groundwater can contain organic micropollutants that are partially removed in conventional water treatments. Among these, persistent, mobile, and toxic (PMT) substances are especially concerning due to their resistance to degradation, mobility through water systems, and their toxicity potential in the environment, posing risks to ecosystems, crops, and human health.This PhD thesis explores both the reduction and impact of PMT substances across four experiments. Two focus on treatment technologies, a chemical approach (advanced oxidation process, AOP) and a biological system (nature-based solution, NBS), to eliminate PMT substances from groundwater and wastewater. The other two assess the effects of PMT-contaminated irrigation water on crops, using both hydroponic and soil-based systems. Chapter 3 compares eight oxidation treatments for removing chlorinated solvents from contaminated groundwater, coupled with a human health risk assessment. Chapter 4 investigates four NBS configurations for removing short-chain PFAS and other PMT substances from groundwater and wastewater, focusing on the influence of factors like filter media, grain size, vegetation, and microbial communities. Chapter 5 evaluates PMT uptake and bioaccumulation in lettuce grown in a hydroponic setup, alongside assessments of plant health, metabolomic responses, and implications for food safety. Chapter 7 explores an on-going soil-based irrigation study comparing secondary and pilot-scale quaternary effluents, analysing suspect PMT uptake, and crop quality, complementing the hydroponic findings.Overall, this thesis provides novel insights into PMT substances in water resources and agricultural systems, offering both treatment evaluations and risk-based perspectives that may inform future water reuse strategies and regulatory frameworks.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN ARCHITECTURAL, BUILDING CONSTRUCTION AND URBANISM TECHNOLOGY

BILBAO VILLA, AINARA: Palabras de luz: Herramientas lÃ©xicas y grÃ¡ficas para la definiciÃ³n de los principales tÃ©rminos empleados en la descripciÃ³n de la distribuciÃ³n lumÃnica en el espacio arquitectÃ³nico.
Author: BILBAO VILLA, AINARA
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, BUILDING CONSTRUCTION AND URBANISM TECHNOLOGY
Department: Department of Architectural Technology (TA)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 01/10/2025
Deposit END date: 14/10/2025
Thesis director: MUROS ALCOJOR, ADRIAN
Thesis abstract: The introduction of electric lighting in Architecture marked a profound transformation in its design conception, establishing artificial light as a fundamental element in the configuration of space. Unlike other artistic and architectural disciplines, artificial architectural lighting lacks a formalised Art History. Existing specialist literature remains largely focused on technical and quantitative aspects, frequently relegating the qualitative dimensions of light in space to a secondary status. Consequently, there is a notable absence of a specific vocabulary capable of accurately describing the qualitative effects of lighting in architecture. This lexical gap hampers the effective communication of lighting-related spatial concepts, ultimately to the detriment of architectural practice. In light of these challenges, and with the aim of improving both design and pedagogical methodologies, this research advocates for the establishment of a dedicated vocabulary for qualitative architectural lighting. It is predicated on the hypothesis that it is feasible to construct a consensual glossary that enables the precise articulation of the formal and spatial attributes of lighting effects within architectural environments. To substantiate this hypothesis, the research sets out two principal objectives: first, to identify the parameters that define the qualitative aspects of lighting and to compile the associated terminological corpus; second, to develop a lexical and visual dictionary in which each term is clearly defined and illustrated, thereby facilitating its comprehension and application in both academic and professional contexts, and contributing to the standardisation of a specific and practical language.The study adopts a qualitative methodological framework, centred on the linguistic analysis of texts describing architectural lighting projects, which have been published in specialised Spanish-language media. A rigorous, systematic, and replicable terminology methodology has been employed, drawing upon established principles from the field of Terminology studies and related research on lighting perception. The process integrates automated term extraction methods, enabling efficient handling of large data sets, and applies linguistic techniques adapted to the visual domain. The research identifies the principal parameters defining the formal qualities of architectural lighting as direction, colour, and distribution, followed by quantity, luminance, sources, informational content, perceptual effects, and others. Among these, the distribution parameter emerges as the most frequently cited and, thus, the most critical for both configuring and describing architectural lighting. Accordingly, the dictionary focuses on the most recurrent terms related to distribution, listed alphabetically as follows: accent lighting, ambient lighting, composed lighting, diffuse lighting, direct lighting, directed lighting, dispersed lighting, focalized lighting, general lighting, grazing lighting, homogeneous lighting, horizontal lighting, indirect lighting, integrated lighting, precise lighting, projected lighting, reflected lighting, uniform lighting, and vertical lighting. It has been demonstrated that each of these terms can be defined in a manner that supports clear, precise, and intelligible communication within architectural lighting discourse. Furthermore, it is feasible to identify corresponding visual representations that exemplify each definition, reinforcing their pedagogical and practical applicability. In conclusion, this research affirms the viability of developing a consensual glossary of terms to imporve the communication of the formal and spatial characteristics of lighting effects within architectural practice, which constitutes a foundational step toward the recognition and standardisation of qualitative lighting vocabulary in the discipline.
GONZÁLEZ ZABALA, STEVEN: Inhabind, desarrollo de un instrumento de evaluación multicriterio para valorar la calidad constructiva del soporte físico de los polígonos de actividad económica: aplicación a un caso de la Región Metropolitana de Barcelona.
Author: GONZÁLEZ ZABALA, STEVEN
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, BUILDING CONSTRUCTION AND URBANISM TECHNOLOGY
Department: Department of Architectural Technology (TA)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 30/09/2025
Deposit END date: 13/10/2025
Thesis director: ZAMORA MESTRE, JOAN LLUIS | SERRA FABREGÀ, RAÜL
Thesis abstract: According to the most recent data published, 40% of industrial land in Catalonia remains unoccupied. Moreover, over half of this land comprises industrial areas smaller than 5 hectares, with 50% of the total classified as fully obsolete. This challenging initial scenario is further exacerbated by rapid transformations in production and manufacturing models driven by:globalization and geographical relocation of industries,fragmentation of production,increasing outsourcing of business activities,growing digitalization of industrial processes.These changes have created an urgent need for short- and medium-term interventions aimed at updating and adapting the built infrastructure of specialized urban production areas, recently designated as Polígonos de Actividad Económica (PAE). In response, various public-private partnerships have initiated efforts to revitalize the industrial sector as a key economic driver of the country, which inherently requires substantial investments in the rehabilitation of the built environment. To maximize the effectiveness of these investments, it is essential to establish a shared and validated assessment of the current state of the built infrastructure, enabling the prioritization of interventions that offer the highest benefit-to-cost ratio.The objective of this research is to initiate the development of an evaluation tool to assess the built quality of such infrastructure, based on a multicriteria methodology. This approach, leveraging available, up-to-date, and validated data, aims to generate a value index—referred to as InHABind—that quantifies the built quality of the physical infrastructure of each PAE.The availability of this tool in the future would not only facilitate the assessment of each PAE’s condition at a given point in time but also support the strategic planning of the most effective improvement programs.To achieve this, the multi-criteria decision -making tool MIVES, previously developed at UPC, was selected for its demonstrated flexibility, usability, and technical rigor in providing straightforward evaluations of quality indicators specific to PAEs. Consequently, this thesis centers on the formulation of the pertinent Requirements, Criteria, Parameters, and Indicators (RCPI) needed for the evaluation process. This undertaking is complex due to several factors:PAEs have been established over different time periods,not all PAEs have managers who possess the necessary information for evaluation,and some of the required information is undocumented, outdated, or not readily accessible.Once the tool—designated Inhabind 0.0—was developed, a case study was undertaken on a selected PAE located in the municipality of Polinyà. This particular site was chosen due to the heterogeneity of PAEs within the Barcelona Metropolitan Region (RMB) and the demonstrated willingness of the involved stakeholders to actively participate in the research.The engagement of these stakeholders is expected to facilitate the weighting and prioritization of the Requirements, Criteria, Parameters, and Indicators (RCPI), allowing for their refinement and simplification based on the information that is actually available. Additionally, this process aims to incorporate quality aspects related to management, such as maintenance plans and investment programs.For the scope of this research, only the urbanity dimension module has been developed, encompassing requirements for the networks of roadways, lighting, sewerage, water supply, telecommunications services, and energy distribution. Future research efforts will focus on the development of the remaining modules.Keywords: multicriteria evaluation, industrial habitability index, industrial areas, built quality, physical infrastructure.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN AUTOMATIC CONTROL, ROBOTICS AND VISION

DALMASSO BLANCH, MARC: Cooperative Planning and Negotiation in Human-Robot Teams
Author: DALMASSO BLANCH, 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 AUTOMATIC CONTROL, ROBOTICS AND VISION
Department: Institute of Robotics and Industrial Informatics (IRI)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 01/10/2025
Deposit END date: 14/10/2025
Thesis director: SANFELIU CORTES, ALBERTO
Thesis abstract: As robots become increasingly integrated into everyday environments, rigid role paradigms and unilateral control models fall short of enabling meaningful collaboration. Preserving human autonomy while allowing robots to contribute proactively in shared decision-making tasks introduces the need for alignment and negotiation between agents. Negotiation arises not merely as a design preference but as a requirement when autonomous entities with partial knowledge, differing capabilities, or misaligned goals must act jointly in real-world settings.This thesis investigates the challenge of integrating robots into human teams in unstructured environments, with a particular focus on Human-Robot Collaborative Navigation (HRCN). It seeks to empower them as active decision-making agents who flexibly and critically adapt to human preferences and needs. This technological development is framed as a social necessity: without it, robots would remain confined to controlled environments, or people would lose agency by having to adapt to rigid robot behaviour.The core contributions of the thesis are threefold. First, it introduces the Social Reward Sources (SRS) model, a shared spatial and task representation for Human-Robot Teams (HRT). Second, it presents a multi-agent planning system leveraging the SRS model to generate collaborative plans for heterogeneous teams. Third, it proposes a negotiation framework for Human-Robot Plan Negotiation (HRPN), incorporating a novel plan characterisation model, the cooperativeness space. These and additional secondary contributions are validated through real-world experiments within the collaborative object search benchmark.Altogether, the thesis offers a pathway for deploying robots as collaborative agents capable of negotiation, thereby supporting agency-preserving human-robot interaction in open-world contexts.
IZQUIERDO BADIOLA, SILVIA: Hybrid Systems for Human-Centered Robotics: Combining Symbolic and Generative AI for Flexible and Adaptive Plan Generation and Execution
Author: IZQUIERDO BADIOLA, SILVIA
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 AUTOMATIC CONTROL, ROBOTICS AND VISION
Department: Institute of Robotics and Industrial Informatics (IRI)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 29/09/2025
Deposit END date: 10/10/2025
Thesis director: ALENYÀ RIBAS, GUILLEM | RIZZO, CARLOS ERNESTO
Thesis abstract: Robots are rapidly leaving structured factory floors and entering human-rich environments such as homes, hospitals, and shared workplaces. A human-centric approach to developing robot behavior is essential for effective collaboration and acceptance of robots in such dynamic settings. This entails enabling robots to generate plans that continuously adapt to the evolving environment and human states, proactively preventing failures, while allowing those plans and models to be specified in a flexible, human-intuitive manner. This thesis contributes toward this goal through an approach driven by two complementary strategies: (i) foundational, structured planning and agent-modeling techniques, and (ii) their extension with Large Language Model (LLM) capabilities, resulting in hybrid systems capable of more general and adaptive behavior.We develop four main contributions, each targeting a specific challenge. First, to address the lack of effective integration of human states in Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) planning, often resulting in failures, we propose a framework that incorporates an agent model into task planning via action cost modulation, targeting proactive failure prevention. Second, to tackle the challenge of estimating agent-specific action costs in data-scarce HRC scenarios, we introduce a simulation-based learning framework. Third, to overcome the rigidity and modeling effort of current systems, we develop a planning framework that translates natural language human goals and agent conditions into structured planning problems, enabling more flexible and intuitive plan generation. Fourth, recognizing that plan execution may encounter issues not foreseeable at planning time, we present an agent for context-aware issue detection, explanation, and recovery, leveraging a regulated interaction between an LLM and grounded perception and interaction tools. Collectively, these contributions, supported by published results, address three core objectives: (O1) integrating task planning with agent modeling to produce human-adaptive plans; (O2) devising flexible techniques for defining planning, action, and agent models; and (O3) implementing failure-prevention mechanisms for dynamic, human-centric environments.This thesis embraces the shift from rigid, task-specific systems toward adaptive, generalizable robotics by combining structured symbolic methods with generative AI. Key challenges for this transition are identified, and targeted solutions are proposed to inform and guide future advancements in human-centered robotics. Through hybrid approaches, this research advances flexible, natural plan generation that adapts to human preferences and states while proactively preventing failures during execution, laying the groundwork for a future unified system capable of real-world, human-aware adaptability.
VERMA, PARIKSHIT: Control strategies for the traffic management of AGV-based transportation systems
Author: VERMA, PARIKSHIT
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 AUTOMATIC CONTROL, ROBOTICS AND VISION
Department: Institute of Industrial and Control Engineering (IOC)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 01/10/2025
Deposit END date: 14/10/2025
Thesis director: OLM MIRAS, JOSEP MARIA | SUAREZ FEIJOO, RAUL
Thesis abstract: Current research in fleet control of Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGVs) focuses on enhancing their efficiency and integration within industrial environments like manufacturing plants and warehouses. The AGVs are primarily used for material transportation and, when effectively integrated into factory workflows, offer significant advantages in terms of flexibility and scalability. This integration enables factories to dynamically distribute the work to processing stations and expand the system by adding new AGVs or workstations with minimal disruption. A major challenge lies in managing diverse AGV under a unified control system to maintain smooth operations as transportation demands vary. One core aspect of managing AGV fleets is traffic control in shared environments. Typically, these indoor spaces are pre-mapped, and all the AGVs share access to this map, which includes road networks and Points of Interest (POIs) like pick-up/drop-off zones, charging stations, and parking areas. Since these POIs can only be occupied by one AGV at a time, traffic management systems must address which AGV occupies which point, identify potential conflicts, schedule AGV movement out of parking zones, and decide which AGVs get priority at shared points. Another vital component is task allocation, i.e. determining which AGV should perform a specific task and when. This decision depends on multiple factors, including the AGV’s current location, battery status, load capacity, traffic conditions, and the urgency of the task. Efficient task allocation and traffic control are deeply interconnected; managing one often involves considerations of the other. For instance, by deciding the optimal timing of task execution, the system can reduce conflicts and enhance overall performance. While existing fleet management approaches address many of these issues, there remains considerable room for improving coordination, adaptability, and optimization in AGV-based transportation systems.This thesis explores various features of a multi-AGV-based transportation system, providing a comprehensive overview of its operational aspects. However, the primary contributions of this work are centered on three key areas. Firstly, it presents an efficient traffic management strategy designed to enhance the flow of AGVs within a Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS). This approach is evaluated through a comparative analysis with current state-of-the-art methods, demonstrating its effectiveness in optimizing traffic flow and minimizing delays.Secondly, the thesis delves into the practical application of the proposed traffic management strategy in real-world industrial settings. It assesses the spatial discretization of the AGV workspace and control periods in the implementation of the traffic management strategy in industrial environments, providing valuable insights crucial for bridging the gap between theoretical models and their practical deployment, hence ensuring effective integration into existing industrial processes.Lastly, the research investigates the impact of different task assignment criteria on the overall efficiency of the AGV system. By examining various strategies for allocating tasks to AGVs, the thesis identifies key factors that influence the performance of both traffic management and the entire transportation system. This analysis aims to refine task assignment methods to further improve the operational efficiency of AGV fleets, ultimately contributing to more streamlined and productive industrial workflows.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING

JAMES, CHRISTOPHER WILLIAM VINCENT: Biomaterials for Cardiac Regeneration
Author: JAMES, CHRISTOPHER WILLIAM VINCENT
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 Materials Science and Engineering (CEM)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 01/10/2025
Deposit END date: 14/10/2025
Thesis director: ENGEL LOPEZ, ELISABET
Thesis abstract: Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death globally, with heart transplantation being the most effective treatment following injury due to the heart’s limited regenerative capacity. In situ tissue engineering has emerged as a promising approach to activate endogenous cardiac repair. This thesis focuses on the design, development, and characterization of injectable biomaterials for in situ cardiac regeneration.Hydrogel scaffolds that physically support damaged tissue, provide inherent bioactivity, or deliver bioactive agents are particularly promising. We first isolated and characterized porcine cardiac extracellular matrix (cECM) hydrogels, demonstrating their compatibility for supporting the growth of cardiac-associated cells. To enhance the viscoelastic properties of cECM without compromising biocompatibility, alginate—a hydrogel currently in clinical trials—was incorporated, resulting in improved mechanical properties.Lactate, traditionally seen as a metabolic by-product, has gained attention for its role in promoting angiogenesis, cardiomyocyte proliferation, and reducing fibrosis. Based on this evidence, we developed a lactate-release scaffold by embedding FDA-approved PLGA nanoparticles into the cECM-alginate matrix, optimizing nanoparticle size and degradation to achieve sustained lactate release.The regenerative potential of stem cell-derived secretomes, comprising bioactive molecules such as growth factors and extracellular vesicles, was also explored. Bone marrow-derived stromal cell (BMSC) secretomes were evaluated for their cardioprotective effects on human cardiac fibroblasts. A novel culture method showed superior outcomes, and the resulting secretome was incorporated into the scaffold either directly or via PLGA nanoparticles for sustained delivery.In conclusion, this work presents several novel injectable biomaterials that show potential for in situ cardiac regeneration through enhanced mechanical support, bioactivity, and sustained delivery of regenerative agents such as lactate and BMSC-derived secretomes. These findings warrant further investigation to optimize the therapeutic efficacy of these platforms.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN CHEMICAL PROCESS ENGINEERING

RODRÍGUEZ ALEGRE, RUBÉN: Wastewater treatments in real case studies: separation & purification in the framework of the circular economy
Author: RODRÍGUEZ ALEGRE, RUBÉN
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: Article-based thesis
Deposit date: 02/10/2025
Deposit END date: 15/10/2025
Thesis director: PEREZ MOYA, MONTSERRAT | GARCIA MONTAÑO, JULIA | YOU CHEN, XIALEI
Thesis abstract: This thesis explores innovative strategies for resource recovery and water reuse from wastewater streams in three key sectors (agrifood, industrial, and urban) by integrating membrane technologies and chemical precipitation. While membrane and chemical treatments have been widely studied independently, this work is among the first to demonstrate their combined and sector-specific application in real or pilot-scale scenarios, framed within circular economy principles.In the agrifood sector, pig slurry liquid fraction was used as a representative effluent. This thesis is the first to evaluate both acidification and basification strategies for nutrient recovery from SLF using a membrane-based treatment train. Acidification, combined with microfiltration and forward osmosis, enabled >80% recovery of NPK nutrients. In contrast, basification allowed for selective nitrogen recovery using precipitation and membrane-assisted stripping. From these strategies, the basic treatment was validated under real on-farm conditions over two years, demonstrating its seasonal robustness and nitrogen recoveries between 46–56%. Water recovery for reuse in irrigation ranged from 39–75%, confirming the viability of decentralised systems in rural settings and marking a significant advance beyond laboratory-scale approaches.For the industrial sector, this thesis presents a novel circular treatment train for acid mine drainage, integrating reverse osmosis with bipolar membrane electrodialysis and chemical precipitation, a combination not previously applied to this matrix. This enabled the selective recovery of high-value metals (Al, Zn, Cu, Mn, Mg, Ca) with >60% efficiency, along with 97% water recovery and in-situ regeneration of NaOH. This approach shifts the paradigm from pollutant removal to resource valorisation, offering a replicable model for sustainable mining wastewater treatment with chemical reuse loops.In the urban context, microplastic pollution was addressed through the first systematic study on how microfiltration membrane configuration affects recovery efficiency. Using synthetic wastewater and varying spacer geometries and sizes, it was found that smaller diamond or corrugated geometries significantly improved performance, with recovery rates >99% and water reuse at 80%. This work provides practical design guidance for future applications in microplastic retention under real wastewater conditions.Additionally, circularity indicators (resource and water recovery) were applied to each case study, allowing for a quantitative assessment of circular performance. All recovered products and waters were analysed following the current Spanish legislation, confirming their potential reuse in irrigation, industrial, and cleaning applications. Overall, this thesis not only demonstrates the technical feasibility of integrated membrane–chemical systems, but also establishes their role as scalable, circular solutions for wastewater treatment across multiple sectors.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN CIVIL ENGINEERING

ARES DE PARGA REGALADO, SEBASTIAN: Reduced order models and machine learning techniques for digital twin applications
Author: ARES DE PARGA REGALADO, SEBASTIAN
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 CIVIL ENGINEERING
Department: Barcelona School of Civil Engineering (ETSECCPB)
Mode: Article-based thesis
Deposit date: 30/09/2025
Deposit END date: 13/10/2025
Thesis director: ROSSI BERNECOLI, RICCARDO | HERNANDEZ ORTEGA, JOAQUIN ALBERTO
Thesis abstract: This thesis advances intrusive projection-based reduced order modeling (PROM) as a scalable, physics-consistent foundation for real-time digital twins in industrial applications. By integrating high-fidelity numerical methods with robust model reduction techniques, it addresses the computational bottlenecks limiting the deployment of large-scale simulations for design, optimization, and operational monitoring.Structured as a compendium of peer-reviewed articles, the work presents three key methodological contributions. First, it introduces a novel hyper-reduction framework for Petrov–Galerkin PROMs that eliminates the need for complementary meshes, enabling element-wise sampling fully compatible with standard finite element workflows, such as Kratos Multiphysics. Second, it proposes a scalable, HPC-enabled workflow for PROM training and deployment, leveraging parallel snapshot generation, distributed singular value decomposition, and a parallel version of the empirical cubature method, demonstrated on an industrial thermal digital twin of an electric motor. Third, it extends PROM methodologies into nonlinear regimes using latent-space closure strategies, including PROM-ANN and interpretable kernel-based surrogates (PROM-GPR, PROM-RBF), to overcome the Kolmogorov n-width barrier in convection-dominated flows. This extension includes a discrete physics-informed training strategy aligning neural network-based manifolds with the residual behavior of the underlying numerical scheme, ensuring physical consistency.The developed methods are systematically validated on canonical model problems such as the inviscid one-dimensional Burgers' equation, and extended to industrial configurations like the Ahmed body wake flow using the AERO-F framework. Classical techniques, including piecewise-linear and quadratic manifolds, are also discussed to contextualize the limitations of global linear subspaces and motivate the nonlinear strategies presented.All contributions have been implemented in the Kratos Multiphysics and AERO-F open-source frameworks, highlighting their practical applicability for large-scale engineering workflows. While this thesis does not implement a closed-loop digital twin, it provides a robust foundation for future Component Twins and Asset Twins, bridging high-fidelity modeling and real-time predictive capabilities.Lastly, this thesis supports technology transfer through the SimTwins spin-off initiative, delivering scalable and open-source digital shadows and digital twins tailored to meet emerging Industry 4.0 and 5.0 demands. Collectively, these contributions position intrusive projection-based ROMs as robust, interpretable, and high-performance tools essential for next-generation digital twin ecosystems.
MAJORAL OLLER, GENÍS: Designing Robust Transport Policy Mechanisms for Multiple Economic and Institutional Settings under Uncertainty
Author: MAJORAL OLLER, GENÍS
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 CIVIL ENGINEERING
Department: Barcelona School of Civil Engineering (ETSECCPB)
Mode: Article-based thesis
Deposit date: 01/10/2025
Deposit END date: 14/10/2025
Thesis director: SAURI MARCHAN, SERGI
Thesis abstract: Transport planning and policymaking increasingly face wicked problems. The era of planning under greenfield conditions is gone, and new policies must be implemented within a complex, dynamic society, navigating challenges that range from climate change to rapid technological shifts, often with contradictory stakeholder demands. Despite extensive research on individual policy topics, the field lacks an integrated framework for the policy design process itself, leading to interventions that are vulnerable to failure or overlooked risks.This doctoral thesis addresses the challenge of designing more robust transport policies from multiple perspectives. The researched carried out aims at providing the foundation for a more systemic approach to policymaking. Such a framework approaches policymaking from a higher level, aiming to generate guidance to more robust policies by systematically addressing common failure mechanisms, and transferring policy knowledge between different interventions and settings, yet sensitive to specific contexts.To do so, a bottom-up policy analysis is proposed, by building a taxonomy of transport policy clusters from the combination of transport policymaking domains (transport system characteristics) and policy instruments. Then, a Transport Policy Failure Mechanism Framework is derived from multiple sources of information and serves as a diagnostic tool to identify the root causes of policy vulnerability.After that, following an inductive approach, the framework application to four case studies synthesizes findings against failure mechanisms and leads to the primary contribution of this work: a two-tiered set of design principles. These are a set of foundational principles from the case studies, and stemming from that the thesis conducts a subsequent synthesis to derive higher order overarching principles. These reveal more general and hidden recurring patterns across multiple and varied settings, that may help test policy design to enhance its robustness.The case studies carried out to do so revolve around an e-commerce tax to consumer, technological innovation for container terminal automation, superblocks, and road freight decarbonization. Ultimately, the thesis proposes a new approach to move the discussion from ad-hoc problem-solving to a systemic discipline of policy design science, where both a systematic approach to design and the generalization of principles to ensure robustness can be embedded in new way of policymaking.
PERELLÓ RIBAS, RAFEL: Data assimilation for real-time dynamic prediction of wind-induced forces in vehicle platooning
Author: PERELLÓ RIBAS, RAFEL
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 CIVIL ENGINEERING
Department: Barcelona School of Civil Engineering (ETSECCPB)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 01/10/2025
Deposit END date: 14/10/2025
Thesis director: HUERTA CEREZUELA, ANTONIO | ZLOTNIK MARTINEZ, SERGIO
Thesis abstract: We consider the vehicle platoon problem from an aerodynamic point of view. That is, the multiparametric problem of predicting the aerodynamic forces acting on a vehicle following another one under realistic road conditions. We develop a RANS methodology to simulate accurately the physics governing the problem and devise a multifidelity methodology to approximate the problem using as few computational resources as possible. In the first part of the thesis we develop and analyse the surrogate methodology in the framework of the Smolyak approximation method. We extend the Multi-Index Stochastic Collocation (MISC) method to handle the problem in a more efficient way. This includes the possibility of constructing a single surrogate for vector-valued functions as well as the use of a parametric domain with categorical variables representing a finite number of possible leading vehicle geometries.For this, we formulate the Smolyak approximation in a more abstract way and implement it in a modular C++ code using efficient and stable numerical algorithms. We also provide some novel convergence bounds of the method and validate them with numerical examples. We also address the problem of unstability that manifests in some problems where MISC has been applied in the form of spurious oscillations. We identify the reasons of the oscillations as irregularities present in the low fidelity data and prove a theorem in the general framework of multifidelity that shows that such irregularities must be avoided to ensure convergence of the surrogate.In the second part of the thesis we study different efficient CFD methodologies to simulate accurately the flow past a vehicle in realistic road conditions. This includes the presence of cross-wind and the disturbances of the flow due to other vehicles in typical platoon and overtake manoeuvres. Finally we apply the extended MISC method to a multiparametric platoon problem to construct a surrogate of the three components of the aerodynamic force acting on a vehicle under realistic platoon conditions.
RENDON DÁVILA, VÍCTOR OSCAR: COMPORTAMIENTO HIDRÁULICO DE ALIVIADEROS DE PERFIL ESTRICTO EN ZONAS DE GRAN ALTITUD
Author: RENDON DÁVILA, VÍCTOR OSCAR
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 CIVIL ENGINEERING
Department: Barcelona School of Civil Engineering (ETSECCPB)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 01/10/2025
Deposit END date: 14/10/2025
Thesis director: SANCHEZ JUNY, MARTI
Thesis abstract: This research explores the influence of altitude on the shape of strict profile spillways and their discharge coefficients, pressure field, and cavitation risk. An experimental campaign has been carried out next to the Condoroma dam, in Peru, at an altitude of 4075 m a.s.l. and the data obtained were compared with existing classical references. First, the influence of altitude on the spillway profile was analyzed. For this purpose, the discharge over a sharp crested rectangular spillway was analyzed, considering 5 discharge heights of 0.05, 0.10, 0.20, 0.20, 0.30, and 0.35 m and flow rates up to a maximum of 285 l/s. Classical fits by Creager (1917), Scimemi (1930), Creager et al. (1945), Hager (1987), and WES (1977) show some differences with respect to the profile resulting from the Condoroma experiments for all P⁄Hd ratios.The equation proposed for the Condoroma data allows the standard profile of a spillway to be defined at altitudes around 4000 m a.s.l. Near the ridge 0<x⁄H_d <0.5, for dimensionless profiles, there is a tendency for the Condoroma values to overlap with the classical profiles. For x⁄Hd >1, the Condoroma profile, it tends to separate from all the classical profiles, giving a slightly wider profile. In order to evaluate the discharge coefficients, up to five different spillway heights (P), characterized by the dimensionless value (P⁄Hd ) were analyzed. The results show that the discharge coefficients vary considerably, with values systematically lower than those obtained to date in previous studies at lower altitudes. With regard to the pressure field and the risk of cavitation in standard profile spillways designed according to the USBR criteria for the 5 different heights, the results are presented in standardized graphs and compared with previous studies, showing that the pressure ranges obtained are similar. In addition, the structural recommendations for the design of these spillways are compared, and it is found that in most cases they are more restrictive than in areas of lower elevation.With regard to the risk of cavitation, new plots are presented with for P⁄H_d showing that there is a critical value of H⁄Hd and that this is more limiting than the pressure load for all the P⁄Hd studied.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN COMPUTATIONAL AND APPLIED PHYSICS

EIXIMENO FRANCH, BENET: High performance computing and artificial intelligence algorithms for dimensionality reduction of turbulent flows
Author: EIXIMENO FRANCH, BENET
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: Article-based thesis
Deposit date: 29/09/2025
Deposit END date: 10/10/2025
Thesis director: RODRIGUEZ PEREZ, IVETTE MARIA | LEHMKUHL BARBA, ORIOL
Thesis abstract: This thesis presents a suite of methodologies for the dimensionality reduction of turbulent flow data, with a focus on high-fidelity simulations of external aerodynamics in industrial contexts, such as flow around simplified road vehicles. These simulations, typically performed on unstructured meshes with hundreds of millions of degrees of freedom, require scalable tools for analysis and modeling. All developments are implemented in pyLOM, an open-source Python library designed for terabyte-scale reduced-order modeling.The work progresses in four main steps, all of them published and detailed in their corresponding peer-reviewed article. First, classical reduction techniques based on the singular value decomposition (SVD), such as proper orthogonal decomposition (POD), dynamic mode decomposition (DMD), and spectral POD (SPOD), are adapted for high-performance computing by exploiting parallel QR factorization. Strong and weak scalability tests demonstrate high efficiency, with communication during QR factorization identified as the main bottleneck. Such performance gains together with the parallel input/output capabilities of pyLOM helped to apply these algorithms to datasets which occupy several terabytes of data as the direct numerical simulation of the flow in the Stanford diffuser in 80 seconds.Second, a convolutional neural network (CNN) variational autoencoder ($VAE) is developed for nonlinear dimensionality reduction, successfully capturing the temporal dynamics of the Windsor body back pressure with only two latent variables. The model effectively compresses snapshots of back pressure taken at yaw angles of 2.5º, 5º, and 10º. The projection of the mean pressure coefficient to the latent space yields an increasing linear evolution of the two latent variables with the yaw angle. The mean pressure coefficient distribution at yaw angle 7.5º is predicted with a mean error of 3.13% when compared to the results obtained by means of wall-modeled large eddy simulations (WMLES) after computing the values of the latent space with linear interpolation.Both methodologies have been merged to create a novel method named Geometry-Agnostic Variational-autoencoder Integration (GAVI), replacing the SVD step with a VAE operating on QR-factorized data. GAVI provides compact latent spaces without requiring structured grids, achieving high energy recovery across diverse test cases: circular cylinder, Windsor body, and urban flows, with latent spaces of 3–6 variables recovering over 90% of flow energy. The only step involving high performance computing (HPC) in GAVI is the computation of the QR factorization. This operation is done in parallel using pyLOM and its economic cost for all cases tested is lower than 10€. The fit of the VAE to the R matrix can be done with a GPU that fits in a workstation or laptop.Finally, a transformer-based closure strategy is proposed to compensate for energy loss in reduced models. By learning the spatial distribution of unresolved fluctuations, it improves reconstruction accuracy for complex unstructured domains, outperforming approaches based on super resolution generative adversarial networks (SRGAN) in both vehicle wakes and urban wind scenarios. The transformer model learns the probability density function of the missing fluctuations conditioned to the fluctuations already recovered by the model. Adding these fluctuations closes the energy gap between the original and the reconstructed data and improves the accuracy on both the instantaneous fields and the root mean square value of the fluctuations.
RIU I VICENTE, JORDI: Scaling Quantum Optimization Algorithms: Advancing Techniques for Handling Industrial-Level Workloads with Artificial Intelligence
Author: RIU I VICENTE, 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 COMPUTATIONAL AND APPLIED PHYSICS
Department: Department of Physics (FIS)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 01/10/2025
Deposit END date: 14/10/2025
Thesis director: GARCIA SAEZ, ARTURO | MONRAS BLASI, ALEXANDRE
Thesis abstract: This thesis integrates traditional optimization methods and artificial intelligence techniques with near‑term quantum algorithms to accelerate the adoption of hybrid protocols for large‑scale, time‑sensitive decision problems. These techniques can manage millions of variables, but they are very expensive computationally. Conversely, quantum approaches such as quantum annealing and QAOA promise more efficient exploration of complex solution landscapes, yet they are hampered by severe hardware limitations and steep training challenges like barren plateaus. By combining these paradigms, the work offloads subproblems suited to classical resources and reserves quantum circuits for the most demanding kernels.We first present the formulation of a relevant use case of a medical‑drone logistics network modeled across Catalonia’s mountainous terrain. An initial discrete‑time MILP with millions of binary variables captures the relevant properties but exceeds the reach of current quantum hardware. A continuous‑time reformulation later reduces variable count. Resource estimates confirm that hardware scaling alone cannot close the gap, underscoring the need for new algorithmic strategies.To address NISQ‑era circuit depth, the thesis introduces RL‑ZX, a reinforcement‑learning–driven quantum compiler built on the ZX‑Calculus framework. Quantum circuits translate into feature‑annotated ZX diagrams, which a Graph Attention Network encodes. An agent trained with proximal policy optimization then applies ZX rewrite rules to minimize two‑qubit gates under device‑specific cost metrics. When evaluated on large, unseen circuits, RL‑ZX outperforms leading heuristics almost universally, yielding shallower, higher‑fidelity circuits.Next, we automate the process of including hard constraints in QUBO formulations. We design a Graph Neural Network and train it to predict penalty magnitudes in a single inference pass, treating variables and constraints as nodes and edges annotated with energy‑difference features. Integrated end‑to‑end with a differentiable QAOA simulator, this approach uses ground‑state sampling probability as its training signal. Experiments on random instances of the knapsack problem, TSP, and assignment tasks demonstrate large improvements in solution probability compared to analytic bounds.The third topic under study is the choice of starting state for VQAs. By measuring coherence via relative entropy, we show that higher‑coherence initial states produce better approximation ratios in fixed‑depth QAOA on small Max‑Cut instances. A tensor‑network imaginary‑time evolution protocol generates Matrix‑Product States approximating pure Gibbs states, that are later mapped to shallow quantum circuits. This initialization strategy suggests a clear path toward improved performance as quantum hardware matures.Finally, two “constraint-satisfying” ansätze are developed to prepare valid solutions directly, eliminating penalty terms. The first builds assignments incrementally using multi‑controlled rotations, while the second creates superpositions of partial assignments before deterministically completing them with ancilla qubits.By uniting these advances—hybrid classical/quantum decomposition, RL‑driven compilation, GNN‑based penalty tuning, coherence‑aware initialization, and feasible‑only state preparation—the thesis lays a scalable, modular foundation for achieving quantum advantage in real‑world optimization.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE

RODRIGUEZ FERRANDEZ, IVAN: Mixed software/hardware-based fault-tolerance techniques for complex COTS system-on-chip in radiation environments
Author: RODRIGUEZ FERRANDEZ, IVAN
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: 01/10/2025
Deposit END date: 14/10/2025
Thesis director: KOSMIDIS, LEONIDAS | TALI, MARIS
Thesis abstract: This thesis titled “Mixed Software/Hardware-based Fault-tolerance Techniques for Complex COTS System-on-Chip in Radiation Environments" explores the challenges and solutions for integrating high-performance Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) System-on-Chip (SoC) technologies, specifically GPUs, into space applications. These automotive-grade systems offer significant computational capabilities but face unique challenges in radiation-intense environments typical of space. The research investigates these challenges and proposes solutions to enhance the reliability of such systems. A key component of the thesis involves the comprehensive evaluation of modern embedded GPUs under space-like conditions, including exposure to proton and heavy-ion radiation. This analysis identifies vulnerabilities such as Single Event Effects (SEE) , which can cause faults like Single Event Upset (SEU), Single Event Functional Interrupt (SEFI), and Single Event Latch-up (SEL). To support these evaluations, the author develops the OBPMark suite, an open-source benchmark tailored for assessing the performance and efficiency of GPUs in space-specific computational tasks. To address the faults identified, the thesis proposes innovative software-based fault mitigation strategies. These include the design of fault-tolerant GPU kernels and middleware solutions that improve error detection and recovery. The effectiveness of these methods is demonstrated through both simulation and radiation testing. Additionally, the research presents hardware-level innovations, such as the development of application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and specialized printed circuit boards (PCBs), to enhance system resilience without compromising performance. This work significantly contributes to the field of space computing by creating a robust framework for evaluating and mitigating radiation effects in complex COTS SoCs. It bridges the gap between the cost-effectiveness and performance of commercial technologies and the reliability demands of space-grade applications. The findings of this thesis pave the way for the adoption of high-performance embedded GPUs in future space missions.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING

VALVERDE BURNEO, DAVID ENRIQUE: Desarrollo de nuevos materiales cementicios multifuncionales
Author: VALVERDE BURNEO, DAVID 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 CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING
Department: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (DECA)
Mode: Article-based thesis
Deposit date: 10/10/2025
Deposit END date: 23/10/2025
Thesis director: SEGURA PEREZ, IGNACIO | GARCIA TRONCOSO, NATIVIDAD LEONOR
Thesis abstract: This doctoral thesis focuses on the development of multifunctional cementitious materials, combining structural strength with self-sensing capabilities through piezoresistivity, as well as integrating deformation energy dissipation through auxetic structures. The research explores the integration of conductive and structural fibers in cementitious matrices, coupled with the use of advanced manufacturing techniques such as 3D printing and the use of flexible silicones to obtain molds with complex architectures. The objective is to obtain cementitious materials that in addition to possessing structural capacity, have added function capabilities. It is expected that these materials can be used in buildings with self-monitoring, damage prevention, stress sensing pavements, structural elements with higher impact resistance and energy dissipation capabilities. The research begins with an exhaustive bibliographic review, from which the most promising materials have been selected to achieve the proposed objectives. The experimental campaign and data treatment/analysis have been defined. The work continues with the realization of the planned experiments, the analysis of the results, the optimization of the composition and properties of the new cementitious materials, the development of prototypes testing the potential applications.From the achievements obtained in this doctoral thesis we have the following: the research and publication of a cementitious composite reinforced with recycled carbon fibers to obtain a piezoresistive conductive concrete, which presents a variation of the electrical conductivity with respect to the unitary deformation quite evident when the fiber addition contents are around 1% in volume. This makes it an ideal sustainable cementitious material for strain and/or stress detection. This publication can be found in the journal Construction and Building Materials.Another research focuses on the mechanical characterization of cellular auxetic cementitious cementitious composites (which achieve their auxeticity through the presence of ellipsoidal holes in their structure) reinforced with recycled steel fibers. This research successfully characterizes the influence of fiber content on the mechanical response to compression and deformation energy dissipation, while demonstrating the feasibility of using recycled resources. Within this same publication, a family of functions was presented that successfully fit the mechanical response curves (stress-strain, energy dissipated by deformation) that were obtained experimentally. This publication can be found in the Journal of Building Engineering.A third article achieved in this thesis deals with the development of a new type of piezoresistive concrete with auxetic capacity. This material, obtained by combining cellular auxetic cementitious cementitious composites and recycled carbon fibers, is capable of detecting deformations from very low to high levels. Its potential applications in structural monitoring are promising, and the results of this research have been published in Case Studies in Construction Materials.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN MARINE SCIENCES

ANGELINI, RICCARDO: Coastal environment monitoring through satellite, terrestrial and airborne remote sensing
Author: ANGELINI, 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 MARINE SCIENCES
Department: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (DECA)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 01/10/2025
Deposit END date: 14/10/2025
Thesis director: MASIERO, ANDREA | LUZI, GUIDO | RIBAS PRATS, FRANCESCA
Thesis abstract: Coastal areas are increasingly threatened by sea-level rise due to climate change and anthropogenic pressures, calling for robust and scalable monitoring tools. The first phase of this thesis implements a comprehensive methodology for semi-automatic shoreline extraction through the use of multispectral satellite imagery (Sentinel-2 and PlanetScope). The extracted shorelines are validated using in situ GNSS surveys and high-resolution orthomosaics along three Mediterranean sandy beaches. The shoreline extraction tool works with several spectral indices tested with thresholding and unsupervised clustering segmentation methods. A high coastline extraction performance is achieved using Sentinel-2, with an average sub-pixel accuracy of 4 m (Mean Absolute Deviation, MAD) obtained from a 10 m pixel. A MAD of 2 m is achieved from imagery at 3 m pixel resolution of PlanetScope. In the second phase, the obtained multispectral satellite shorelines are used to characterize megacusps shoreline undulations with alongshore wavelengths of hundreds of meters and cross-shore amplitudes up to a few tens of meters that can significantly affect beach usability. Subsequent validation with reference data proves satellite-derived shorelines can robustly and accurately describe megacusp parameters such as amplitude and wavelength. Moreover, megacusp evolution can be effectively characterized by combining different types of satellite imagery (Sentinel-2 and PlanetScope), enabling the identification of periods of growth, decay, and migration, even at weekly timescales. This can be a useful tool to manage the impact of these features on Mediterranean beaches.Another phase involves evaluating and correcting the extracted shorelines to tide excursions and wave setup. Corrections based on tide gauge and buoy data show that although absolute displacements are limited, assessing them helps eliminate a potential source of error, justifying their integration into high-accuracy workflows. This would also allow applying the developed methodology to meso- or macro-tidal beaches.Finally, the research incorporates Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery (Sentinel-1 and TerraSAR-X) to expand the shoreline extraction tool to periods without light or with clouds, including two other Mediterranean beaches characterized by gravel sediment. The SAR-based shoreline extraction module includes advanced extra-denoising filtering and an outlier detection module, but it maintains the core methodology used in the first phase, demonstrating the flexibility of the developed approach. The results demonstrate unprecedented accuracy and stability for gravel beaches (approximately 6 m of MAD), and for sandy beaches (approximately 7 m of MAD), starting from a 10 m pixel size. In a comparative assessment between the two TerraSAR-X images available and the closest Sentinel-1 in terms of time, the first achieves higher accuracy in terms of MAD (2.5 m) compared to the second one (6.5 m), but only in the image with good meteorological conditions (no differences are obtained in the other date). The study also investigates the influence of radar parameters, such as polarization, wavelength, acquisition geometry, and environmental conditions, on SAR shoreline accuracy. The results show that higher land–sea backscatter contrast, typical of gravel beaches, and moderate wind conditions enhance detection reliability. Conversely, high wind and wave activity reduce contrast and increase errors.Overall, this work offers robust, scalable tools for high-resolution coastal morphology monitoring in Mediterranean beaches using satellite data. These methodologies could be extended to beaches with significant tides and other related fields such as flood mapping. The developed algorithms could be incorporated into operational platforms like early warning systems or interactive WebGIS applications, potentially significantly contributing to local authorities' adaptive coastal zone management.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN MECHANICAL, FLUIDS AND AEROSPACE ENGINEERING

MASSAROTTI, GIORGIO PAOLO: New Dual Steering System in a Compact Tractor
Author: MASSAROTTI, GIORGIO PAOLO
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: 01/10/2025
Deposit END date: 14/10/2025
Thesis director: GAMEZ MONTERO, PEDRO JAVIER | CODINA MACIA, ESTEBAN
Thesis abstract: In order to achieve optimal controllability in a dual-steering tractor (a four-wheel, iso-diametric tractor equipped with a dual-hydraulic steering system), this thesis proposes a coordinated approach that combines experimental testing (using a special agricultural tractor) with numerical analysis of the entire vehicle, developed in Bond Graph-3D. After an exhaustive review of the scientific literature, it is observed that the compact tractor with dual steering, has not yet been thoroughly analysed. In this thesis, in chapter 1 it is possible to identify the reasons that led to the realization of this long work and the objectives that were set at the beginning. These objectives were born from the understanding of the state of the art relating to double steering in the off-road sector, focusing particularly on the case of a vineyard tractor. All starting from the basics, from the steering which occurs smoothly and through the variants that can be found on the market today. In light of the machine construction information, the model of the studied tractor was introduced, searching the literature for the methods and models that could describe its dynamic behavior. In order to detail the description, the hydraulic circuit chosen based on the requirements listed in chapter 4 was introduced and an analysis to its modeling combined with the dynamic model of the tractor using Bond-Graph was provided. At the same time, experimental tests were carried out with a prototype tractor which incorporated the hydraulic circuitpreviously described, together with the dynamic model of the tractor, also obtained through modeling from the physical machine. The numerical analysis provided results that match very well with the experimental data, providing the key to the "salient" factors that characterize the tractor's steering capacity. A threshold can be set, relative to the vehicle speed, to disable dual-steer mode when a certain speed is exceeded. Based on experimental data, this threshold is set around 8.5 km/h. In conclusion, there are possibilities for future development that would lead the system described to a new circuit capable of appreciating not only the factors that determine the drivability of the tractor, but also of managing possible dangerous conditions for the user.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN NUCLEAR AND IONISING RADIATION ENGINEERING

MONT I GELI, NIL: Characterization of underground neutron fluxes by experimental measurements, Monte Carlo simulations and improvement of (α,n) nuclear data
Author: MONT I GELI, NIL
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 NUCLEAR AND IONISING RADIATION ENGINEERING
Department: Department of Physics (FIS)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 30/09/2025
Deposit END date: 13/10/2025
Thesis director: CALVIÑO TAVARES, FRANCISCO | TARIFEÑO SALDIVIA, ARIEL
Thesis abstract: particularwith the radiation detectors used in scientific research, resulting in a radiationbackground that could become one of the main limiting factors that determines thefeasibility of the measurement. To overcome such a limitation, rare event experimentsin fields such as neutrino physics, direct searches of dark matter, and nuclear astrophysicshave to be carried out in underground laboratories. The rock overburdenshields most of the cosmic radiation, but experiments still require carefully designedradiation shielding to avoid the impact from the underground radiation. This radiationcomes mainly from (α,n) reactions and spontaneous fission processes caused bythe intrinsic radioactivity of the walls of the laboratory. As a consequence, a precisecharacterization of the underground radiation fluxes is crucial for many experiments.Neutrons are one of the main radiation types that affect underground experiments.The High Efficiency Neutron Spectrometry Array (HENSA) is a high-efficiency neutrondetection system that was designed to characterize the neutron flux in undergroundlaboratories. Today, the spectrometer has been used in facilities suchas the Canfranc Underground Laboratory (LSC) in Spain, the underground facilityFelsenkeller in Germany, and the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS) in Italy.This thesis is focused on the characterization of the neutron flux at LSC, in particularin hall B of the facility named LAB2400. To do that, experimental measurementswith HENSA are combined with Monte Carlo calculations. For more than four years,neutron data were acquired in the same location within hall B. It was found thatthe neutron flux remained stable during the whole measurement, with any possiblefluctuation being smaller than the monthly resolution of the spectrometer. The resultsof HENSA, in particular the magnitude and energy distribution of the neutronflux were also used to asses the impact of such neutrons on the background of theANAIS-112 dark matter experiment, which is located close to the setup of HENSA.In collaboration with the ANAIS team, the impact of underground neutrons on thebackground of ANAIS-112 was found to be negligible. Furthermore, the impact of(α,n) data on Monte Carlo calculations of the underground neutron flux was studied.Recent technical meetings organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) have concluded that there is a need to improve nuclear data on (α,n) reactions.Such reactions are of primary interest not only in underground physics but also infields such as nuclear astrophysics, medical physics, technologies, and non-destructiveassays for spent fuel management applications. To improve the status of the nucleardata, the Measurement of Alpha Neutron Yields and spectra (MANY) collaborationwas formed. The project is based on the use of the currently existing infrastructurein Spain, in particular the α beams produced by the accelerators at CMAM (Centrode Micro-An´alisis de Materiales) and CNA (Centro Nacional de Aceleradores).In the context of the MANY collaboration, the final part of the present thesis dealswith the design and development of a new moderated neutron counter, miniBELEN,to perform measurements of (α,n) production yields and reaction cross sections. Theanalysis of the commissioning measurement using aluminum targets is also discussed.The results obtained are consistent with the existing data in the literature, showingthat miniBELEN is able to perform measurements of (α,n) yields and cross sections.The measurement also produced new data for the cross section of 27Al(α,n)30P foralpha energies greater than 5.5 MeV.
PALLÀS I SOLÍS, MAX: Study of neutron-rich β-delayed emitters relevant for understanding the formation of the r-process rare earth-peak around mass A~160
Author: PALLÀS I SOLÍS, MAX
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 NUCLEAR AND IONISING RADIATION ENGINEERING
Department: Department of Physics (FIS)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 30/09/2025
Deposit END date: 13/10/2025
Thesis director: TARIFEÑO SALDIVIA, ARIEL | TOLOSA DELGADO, ALVARO
Thesis abstract: The r-process is responsible for the formation of nearly half of all nuclei heavier than iron. New elements are synthesized via the r-process, involving neutron-rich nuclei characterized by the emission of neutrons following beta decay. Precise network computations are crucial for understanding the astrophysical conditions of the r-process and replicating observed abundance distributions. These calculations rely heavily on data regarding nuclear structure, often based on theoretical estimates for isotopes that are not experimentally accessible. High-precision experimental data for isotopes far from stability play a crucial role in refining nuclear structure models, which, in turn, enhance the reliability of r-process network calculations.In this context, the beta-delayed neutrons at RIKE (BRIKEN) collaboration performed high-precision measurements of the half-lives and neutron emission probabilities of neutron-rich nuclides. The setup consisted of the Advanced Implantation Detector Array (AIDA) placed inside the BRIKEN neutron counter, an array of 3He neutron counters embedded in a polyethylene matrix. The experiment was performed in the Rare Isotope Beam Factory (RIBF) of the RIKEN Nishina Center (Japan).The present thesis is centered on the analysis of the BRIKEN RIBF-148 experiment, specifically for nuclei spanning the range from 146Ba to 162Nd; these are pivotal in the r-process nucleosynthesis of rare-earth elements. The findings of this research include 36 T1/2 values that are consistent with earlier experimental data. Of these, 13 measurements also provide a reduced uncertainty compared to previously reported values. For the P1n study, it was the first experiment in this region, with 22 of the 24 values being new measurements.Additionally, we developed a revised RHB+RQRPA nuclear structure model, incorporating several improvements. The model’s predictive capabilities were enhanced by refining its parameterization with the experimental data presented in this thesis.In the final part of this work, we discussed the preliminary astrophysical impact of these new experimental data and the refined nuclear model on r-process abundances in the REP region through nuclear reaction network calculations.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN POLYMERS AND BIOPOLYMERS

JIN, ANYI: Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs): Processing, Property Modulation, and Biomedical Applications
Author: JIN, ANYI
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 POLYMERS AND BIOPOLYMERS
Department: Department of Chemical Engineering (EQ)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 02/10/2025
Deposit END date: 15/10/2025
Thesis director:
Thesis abstract: This doctoral thesis presents a comprehensive study on the structure-property relationships, processing behavior, and functional performance of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), with the aim of enhancing their applicability as sustainable alternatives to conventional plastics. The work focuses on various PHA-based materials and explores their modification through blending strategies and the incorporation of functional additives. A wide range of processing techniques were employed, including melt compounding, injection molding, ultrasonic molding, solvent casting, and electrospinning. These methods enabled the fabrication of various PHA-based formulations tailored for specific applications. Physicochemical characterization was carried out using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), polarized optical microscopy (POM), tensile testing, and synchrotron-based FTIR microspectroscopy (SR-FTIR). These techniques enabled the investigation of molecular structure, crystallization kinetics, morphology, thermal stability, and mechanical properties.The results demonstrate that copolymer composition plays a critical role in defining the crystallinity, thermal behavior, and mechanical performance of PHAs. The incorporation of comonomers such as 3-hydroxyvalerate (3HV), 3-hydroxyhexanoate (3HHx), and 4-hydroxybutyrate (4HB) effectively tuned the material properties. The addition of nucleating agents, such as boron nitride (BN) and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB), were found to significantly accelerate the crystallization rate of P3HBHHx without adversely affecting its molecular or thermal stability. Blending P3HBHHx with other biopolymers, such as poly(latic acid) (PLA), poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT), poly(butylene succinate) (PBS), and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate) (P34HB), further modulated its performance, although compatibility remained a challenge in certain formulations. Biomedical applications were also explored using electrospinning and ultrasonic molding. Drug-loaded poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) nanofibers exhibited tunable release kinetics and antibacterial activity, while P34HB demonstrated excellent processability and thermal resistance under ultrasonic molding conditions. Finally, SR-FTIR microspectroscopy revealed spatial orientation patterns within PHBV spherulites, offering new insights into the molecular organization of PHAs. Overall, this thesis establishes a comprehensive framework for tailoring PHA materials through formulation and processing innovations. It contributes to the scientific understanding and technological advancement of PHAs as viable sustainable material across various sectors.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN SIGNAL THEORY AND COMMUNICATIONS

MARTÍNEZ GOST, MARC: The DCT as the Basis for Nonlinear Signal Processing and Task-Oriented Communications
Author: MARTÍNEZ GOST, 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: 01/10/2025
Deposit END date: 14/10/2025
Thesis director: PEREZ NEIRA, ANA ISABEL
Thesis abstract: This dissertation addresses two fundamental and increasingly connected challenges in modern information processing: nonlinear learning and task-oriented communications. Both fields require compact, interpretable and efficient representations of nonlinear functions. These representations are essential for building learning models as well as for transmitting information relevant to a downstream task. Traditional approaches, often dominated by black-box architectures and data-driven approaches, face limitations in interpretability, scalability and robustness. This motivates the search for structured and principled alternatives.At the core of this work lies the discrete cosine transform (DCT), a classical signal processing tool reinterpreted here as a unifying framework for nonlinear modeling and communication. By leveraging its mathematical properties, such as orthogonality, energy compaction and oscillatory structure, the DCT is shown to offer advantages far beyond its traditional role in image compression. The dissertation explores how the DCT can support both efficient learning algorithms and the design of novel modulation strategies that jointly encode data and computation.The study begins with the integration of the DCT in adaptive learning algorithms for univariate nonlinear functions, where the structural properties of the DCT enable fast convergence and low complexity solutions. This method is successfully applied to the compensation of nonlinearities in wireless communication channels. The approach merges the structure and interpretability of classical signal processing blocks with the flexibility and performance of data-driven methods.The work then extends to multivariate settings through the introduction of the Expressive Neural Network (ENN), a multilayer perceptron that integrates the DCT within its activation functions. This architecture preserves the interpretability of the DCT while enabling expressive and scalable modeling. Thanks to the structure provided by the DCT, even small networks can learn complex nonlinear mappings.On the communications front, the dissertation investigates the emerging paradigm of task-oriented communications, where the focus shifts to transmitting data relevant to a computation task. To this end, the oscillatory nature of the DCT is employed to design modulation schemes that embed computation within the physical waveform. A novel DCT-based modulation is proposed, and classical schemes are revisited through the lens of the DCT, enabling function computation through frequency modulations. These concepts are further extended to multi-user wireless systems, where the DCT guides the design of a new multiple access scheme tailored for federated edge learning (FEEL). This approach offers robust, low-power and efficient aggregation of distributed data for collaborative edge learning.Altogether, this work demonstrates that the DCT, a classical tool introduced nearly 50 years ago, can be revitalized as a foundational building block for modern signal processing. Its structure offers a powerful, interpretable and efficient foundation for addressing contemporary challenges in intelligent information processing. By bridging classical signal processing with contemporary machine learning and communication challenges, the dissertation presents a unified framework for nonlinear representation, learning and communications.
MHATRE, SUVIDHA SUDHAKAR: AI-Enabled Network Slicing and Resource Management for Open and Programmable Next-Generation (6G) Networks
Author: MHATRE, SUVIDHA SUDHAKAR
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: 01/10/2025
Deposit END date: 14/10/2025
Thesis director: VERIKOUKIS, CHRISTOS | RAMANTAS, KONSTANTINOS
Thesis abstract: This thesis addresses the emerging challenges in resource management for 6G networks by proposing intelligent, scalable, and explainable solutions using Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) and related AI techniques. With the evolution from 5G to 6G, the increasing heterogeneity of applications and services introduces complex requirements in terms of latency, bandwidth, computational efficiency, and end-to-end quality of service (QoS). The research presents a suite of AI-driven solutions for dynamic and adaptive resource allocation tailored to network slicing scenarios in Open and Programmable architectures.The work begins by developing a DRL-based, QoS-aware slice resource allocation framework, integrating user association parameterization for beyond-5G O-RAN environments. A hierarchical DRL model is introduced to manage global-local resource trade-offs efficiently. This is extended by proposing a multi-time scale resource management framework under an AI-as-a-Service (AIaaS) paradigm to serve heterogeneous 6G services.To improve interpretability and trust in automated network operations, the thesis incorporates Explainable Reinforcement Learning (XRL) techniques into RAN slicing and management strategies. Finally, the use of transfer learning in DRL is explored to enhance policy adaptation in intra- and inter-slice domains, accelerating learning and improving performance in diverse and dynamic network conditions.The thesis includes extensive simulations and experimental validation to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed methods in terms of scalability, efficiency, and generalization over state-of-the-art (SOTA) baselines. The overall contributions provide a technically innovative and practically applicable roadmap for intelligent, trustworthy, and adaptive resource management in future 6G wireless systems.
RAFIEIAN, BARDIA: Enhancing Word and Document Embeddings for Natural Language Processing Tasks
Author: RAFIEIAN, BARDIA
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: 02/10/2025
Deposit END date: 15/10/2025
Thesis director: VÁZQUEZ ALCOCER, PERE PAU
Thesis abstract: This thesis delves into various aspects of natural language processing, focusing on domain-specific neural machine translation, specialized word embeddings, data augmentation, recommender systems, document embedding techniques, and hierarchical classification with large language models. The work is structured around a couple of key contributions.Chapter 4 introduces a novel data preparation and tokenization method (Hybrid-BTS) for biomedical neural machine translation, alongside a post-specialization technique leveraging Wasserstein GANs to enhance word embeddings with multilingual constraints. Chapter 5 proposes a domain adaptation strategy for biomedical translation involving forward translation, BPE optimization, and term frequency manipulation. It also details the development of two fashion e-commerce recommender systems: one content-based and one collaborative, both integrating practical style rules. Finally, Chapter 6 presents an evaluation of document embedding models (Doc2vec, SciBERT, Longformer, LLaMA-3, GEMMA-2B) for long document classification, and a modular pipeline designed for multi-label hierarchical patent classification using transformer-based models, optimized for efficiency with LoRA and quantization. Collectively, these contributions push the state-of-the-art in both applied and theoretical NLP by providing new methods to boost performance, adaptability, and efficiency in domain-specific and large-scale applications.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN STATISTICS AND OPERATIONS RESEARCH

GROTTO, ANDREA: Optimal transition towards zero tailpipe emission mobility in urban and suburban areas
Author: GROTTO, ANDREA
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: 01/10/2025
Deposit END date: 14/10/2025
Thesis director: FONSECA CASAS, PAU | ZUBARYEVA, ALYONA
Thesis abstract: This doctoral research presents an innovative methodological framework for developing Urban Mobility Digital Twins through formalization using the Specification and Description Language (SDL). The study addresses the challenges of urban mobility management in the context of digital transformation and Society 5.0 principles, where technology serves human needs rather than the opposite.The research combines SUMO with its integrated SAGA module, formalized through SDL to enable conceptual model validation by stakeholders. This methodology enables continuous validation of digital twin models through real-time data integration from Internet of Things sensors and traffic monitoring systems distributed throughout urban networks.The conceptual model is demonstrated through a proof-of-concept implementation in Bolzano City. In this implementation, the BSc block integrates activity-based modelling with microscopic traffic simulation, with multi-objective optimization across energy consumption, CO2 emissions, and urban traffic congestion criteria. As an example, the implementation focuses on electric vehicle adoption optimization scenarios.The research is conducted in collaboration with Urban Resilience, a company developing SUMOSU sustainable mobility hubs that integrate electric charging infrastructure, shared vehicles, and photovoltaic renewable energy systems. This collaboration demonstrates the framework's practical applicability in evaluating integrated and sustainable mobility solutions.Additionally, comprehensive validation protocols are developed and formalized through SDL, including specific procedures for data validation, operational validation, experimental validation based on Design of Experiments methodology, and solution validation. These protocols ensure systematic and reproducible validation processes across different environmental and seasonal conditions.Main contributions include: development of a conceptual model for Urban Mobility Digital Twins facilitating stakeholder communication regardless of technical background; establishment of continuous validation protocols distinguishing true Digital Twins from static simulation models; integration of mobility and energy systems within a unified framework supporting sustainability evaluations; alignment with Society 5.0 principles by transforming complex technical systems into accessible decision-making tools.The research establishes methodological foundations for connecting Urban Mobility Digital Twins with other urban digital twins or models through common formalization approaches. This enables analysis of complex urban interactions while maintaining human-centered technological development through the conceptual model that expresses what is contained within the Digital Master of the Digital Twin.Results demonstrate that the formalization successfully creates a common language for urban mobility stakeholders, enabling effective collaboration between diverse professional domains and facilitating the adoption of sustainable technologies in urban contexts.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN SUSTAINABILITY

MEHABA, WAFA: The effect of promotions on consumer purchasing behavior
Author: MEHABA, WAFA
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 SUSTAINABILITY
Department: University Research Institute for Sustainability Science and Technology (IS.UPC)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 02/10/2025
Deposit END date: 15/10/2025
Thesis director: GIL ROIG, JOSE MARIA
Thesis abstract: The retail industry has long had to contend with a more competitive and complicated environment. Changes in consumer behaviour, market structures, and public health concerns have drastically altered this environment over the last 20 years. Furthermore, the importance of promotional differentiation increased as a result of economic crises, inflation, dwindling consumer purchasing power. Retail sales promotions present significant opportunities to reshape and influence the consumer behaviour. Considering their direct impact on expenditures patterns, it is crucial to understand the multifaceted promotional effects.In this context, the overall objective of this dissertation is studying the effect of sales promotions on consumer purchasing behaviour across different contexts. Three consumer studies were conducted, examining promotional effects on budget allocation, crisis driven behavioural changes and health related policy implications using Homescan data from Kantar Worldpanel. First, the effect of retail sales promotions on the allocation of the household food budget among the items of the shopping basket was investigated in Catalonia, Northeast region in Spain. Using Homescan data from purchases of a supermarket, own and cross-promotion elasticities were calculated using the Exact Affine Stone Index (EASI). Results reveal positive effects of sales promotions on households’ expenditure and mostly a negative asymmetric cross-effect, implying a small but significant budget reallocation.Second, purchasing behaviour changes during crisis periods were analysed using COVID-19 pandemic as a case study. Price sensitivity and promotional responsiveness were examined across different crisis phases and expenditure levels using both fixed effects regression and quantile regression models. Homescan data covering the period the first year of COVID-19 and the year before are used. The results indicate that households exhibit a decreased price sensitivity and reduced promotion responsiveness during the first lockdown followed by increased sensitivity during the new normality period. Additionally, during first lockdown, low expenditure households are more sensitive to prices and promotions than high expenditure households. Third, a cross-country comparative analysis is conducted. The relationship between retail sales promotions and Body Mass Index (BMI) is examined using the EASI demand system, comparing northern (Scotland) and southern (Spain) regions. The analysis focuses on foods High in fat, Sugar and Sodium (HFSS) across different BMI profiles. Findings indicate that consumers with unhealthy BMI exhibit higher sensitivity to price and expenditure changes compared to those with healthy BMIs. Moreover, Scottish households show greater sensitivity to expenditure changes and promotions compared to their Spanish counterparts.The research conducted in this dissertation provides valuable insights to retailers, policymakers, and other stakeholders involved in the food retail sector. The outcomes of this dissertation can guide promotional strategy design, pricing decisions, and policy interventions to meet consumer needs while addressing broader societal concerns including crisis management and public health objectives.
URIOSTE DAZA, SERGIO ALEJANDRO: Advancing Reform of European Union Plant Variety Registration: Institutional, Empirical, and Policy Insights for Sustainable Agri-Food Governance
Author: URIOSTE DAZA, SERGIO 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 SUSTAINABILITY
Department: University Research Institute for Sustainability Science and Technology (IS.UPC)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 29/09/2025
Deposit END date: 10/10/2025
Thesis director: TAGHOUTI, IBTISSEM | GIL ROIG, JOSE MARIA
Thesis abstract: Plant variety registration is a critical regulatory gatekeeper between the breeding of improved varieties and their farm-level adoption. In the European Union, however, this system is being outpaced by technological advances and sustainability challenges. Legislative reform is now underway to address these shortcomings, aiming to improve the system’s efficiency by integrating new technologies and sustainability criteria into variety testing and fostering greater harmonisation across Member States. Although these reforms are broadly welcomed, diverging positions among stakeholder groups and EU institutions remain unresolved.Bridging these differences will require robust evidence to inform the ongoing negotiations. This thesis responds to this demand by providing an evidence-based assessment of the current system’s inefficiencies and by proposing realistic reform pathways to help reconcile core tensions between regulatory drag and productivity, divergent stakeholder interests, and the gap between policy goals and farm-level realities. To achieve these objectives, this research presents an integrated framework that engages all key actors in variety testing and combines econometric analysis, decision-analytic modelling, and qualitative analysis.Using a large panel dataset on crop registration and productivity, a fixed-effects analysis provides evidence of regulatory drag on productivity gains, particularly for crops subject to Value for Cultivation and Use testing. Evidence gathered from stakeholders explores into the factors behind these regulatory delays and identifies pathways to overcome systemic inefficiencies, including the uptake of enabling technologies and the harmonisation of testing processes.Subsequently, an analysis of contested policy alternatives is conducted using a replicable framework that integrates expert judgment with public input through multi-criteria decision methods and complementary weighting techniques. The results reveal a clear consensus on prioritising the adoption of technological advancements to improve the system's efficiency and accuracy. However, the analysis also exposes disagreements over efforts to harmonise the system and include sustainability criteria in testing procedures, revealing significant heterogeneity among stakeholder groups.To further investigate the contested issue of adding sustainability criteria in variety testing, a farm-level study is presented to elicit the preferences of apple growers in Spain. Using a Discrete Choice Experiment, farmers' preferences for sustainability traits in new apple varieties were elicited and examined in relation to risk behaviours. The results show a positive but heterogeneous demand for sustainability-related traits, with willingness-to-pay shaped by farm characteristics rather than by measured risk attitudes.Together, these findings demonstrate how data-driven and stakeholder-informed reforms can reduce institutional friction by establishing common ground for negotiation on key aspects of the regulation. Both stakeholder priorities and farmers’ demands point toward the need to prioritise technological uptake and design mechanisms that facilitate the delivery of climate-resilient and resource-efficient varieties. Effective stakeholder involvement and continuous evidence generation are essential for the regulatory path forward. By integrating evidence across institutional, technological, and behavioural layers, this research advances the goals of the European Green Deal and the Farm to Fork Strategy and provides a transferable framework for future assessments of agricultural policy and innovation.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN TRANSPORT ENGINEERING AND INFRASTRUCTURE

TEJEDOR FUENTETAJA, JOSÉ: Análisis en la afección de infraestructuras ferroviarias convencionales, con la incorporación de líneas de alta velocidad, durante la construcción y explotación.
Author: TEJEDOR FUENTETAJA, JOSÉ
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 TRANSPORT ENGINEERING AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Department: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (DECA)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 01/10/2025
Deposit END date: 14/10/2025
Thesis director: CAMPOS CACHEDA, JOSÉ MAGÍN | GRANDE ANDRADE, ZACARIAS
Thesis abstract: This paper analyzes the impact on the conventional network caused by the construction of the new high-speed line in Catalonia, once it has entered into operation and its construction work has been completed, except for the Barcelona La Sagrera station, which will be under construction in July 2025.The implementation of high-speed rail has led to the remodeling and construction of new track sections and stations, a situation that is particularly pronounced around the city of Barcelona.To conduct this analysis, we must examine the conditions of the railway infrastructure, superstructure, and technical operating systems of the conventional network in 2000. Subsequently, a determination will be made as to how the construction of the new infrastructure may have affected rail operations on each of the conventional lines, in terms of the number of trains on each of their different sections, and the type of transport services provided on them (long-distance, medium-distance, commuter, and freight). This will determine whether the construction of the new line could have impacted rail operations.The results obtained will be used to determine the current status of the conventional network, in order to identify shortcomings and propose improvements that could lead to improved rail operations, as well as better management, and thus greater efficiency and safety. They will also be used to assist in decision-making regarding future rail infrastructure projects. Once the railway sector was liberalized, initially with freight transport services in 2007 and with the new entry of private companies starting in 2019, and in 2021, in addition to Renfe with its commercial AVE and AVLO products, OUIGO and Iryo also began providing high-speed passenger transport services on some corridors in Spain.However, the European Union's regulations require member states to incorporate competition not only in freight and passenger transport services, but also to extend this competition to medium-distance and suburban passenger transport services, and to be implemented by 2033 at the latest.Therefore, the analysis of the behavior of the railway infrastructure, as well as of the transport services, during the construction of the infrastructure works of the high-speed network in Catalonia, and with the actions that should be carried out previously on the conventional network, in order to offer a better quality of service to medium-distance and suburban passengers, once its liberalization is effective, this analysis can help to see the behavior before future actions on the infrastructure, not only in Catalonia, but at the national level, since liberalization will affect the entire State.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN URBANISM

CRIOLLO ALIENDRES, CRUZ ARMANDO: Caracas Cinética: La transformación del paisaje urbano a partir de la inserción de obras de arte en los edificios públicos y privados, en los espacios públicos, la infraestructura vial y los sistemas masivos de transporte 1950-2012.
Author: CRIOLLO ALIENDRES, CRUZ ARMANDO
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 URBANISM
Department: Department of Urbanism, Territory and Landscape (DUTP)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 29/09/2025
Deposit END date: 10/10/2025
Thesis director: RUBERT DE VENTOS, MARIA
Thesis abstract: This thesis analyzes the role of public art in the symbolic and social transformation of urban space in Caracas, with special emphasis on its transformative potential in environments marked by spatial fragmentation and a lack of public space. It is based on the premise that public art—particularly murals, sculptures, visual interventions, and ephemeral installations—intervenes in the relationships between citizens, territory, and collective memory.The research is based on a dual quantitative and qualitative approach, which articulates urban history, the cataloging and study of unique cases located in different urban environments (buildings, road infrastructure, the Metro, and the street), as well as an urban analysis from the 1950s to 2010. Emblematic cases are analyzed, such as works of art integrated into architecture, interventions linked to the network of avenues and highways, and monumental works such as those by Gego, Carlos Cruz Diez, Jesús Soto, and Alejandro Otero.The findings reveal that public art in Caracas serves multiple functions: it redefines urban spaces, reinforces local and metropolitan identities, and democratizes access to culture. The research identifies how the recurring practice of integrating art, architecture, and the city has evolved into an urban tradition that continues to this day, in an environment that poses tensions between visual art, urban policies, and the processes of appropriation of public space. Thus, art located in urban spaces plays a connecting role between institutional programs and social actors.Finally, the thesis compiles and organizes a section of the city's urban evolution, in which public art served as a catalyst for a more just, plural, and participatory city.

Last update: 10/10/2025 04:30:23.