Theses authorised for defence

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN AEROSPACE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

ANGELATS COMPANY, EDUARD: On hybrid positioning using non-semantic image information
Author: ANGELATS COMPANY, EDUARD
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 AEROSPACE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Department: Department of Physics (FIS)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 18/07/2023
Reading date: 04/10/2023
Reading time: 11:00
Reading place: CTTC, parc Mediterrani de la Tecnologia ¿ Edifici B6 Av. Carl Friedrich Gauss 7 08860 ¿ Castelldefels Barcelona, Sala de la defensa: Auditori Edifici B6
Thesis director: COLOMINA FOSCH, ISMAEL
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: CASAS PIEDRAFITA, JAIME OSCAR
     SECRETARI: DELGADO GARCIA, JORGE
     VOCAL NO PRESENCIAL: MARTÍNEZ SÁNCHEZ, JOAQUIN
Thesis abstract: Hybrid or multi-sensor-based positioning has been a research topic actively investigated in the last decade. In this context, the possibility of using information extracted from imaging sensors, for positioning, is very appealing to mitigate the problems that GNSS or INS/GNSS-based trajectories have in terms of robustness and accuracy. On the other hand, different processing workflows, sensor positioning quality or system calibration errors, may also produce even in GNSS-friendly conditions, that multiple geospatial datasets are not properly co-registered. This thesis proposes the use of non-semantic information, this is, the use of a set of geometric entities or features, to improve the trajectory estimation in a multi-sensor-based approach. This thesis covers the mathematical modelling of non-semantic information, implements several hybrid-based trajectory estimation approaches that use this kind of information with the appropriate modelling, and also explores the use of non-semantic features to model the trajectory error modelling.The implementation of combined models allowing to use of observations from camera or LiDAR sensors is the first contribution of this thesis. The proposed models have enabled improved trajectory determination in both urban post-processing and airborne environments with good accuracy (cm level). The implemented INS/GNSS trajectory error models are relatively simple but proved to be efficient. The combined models have been tested, in post-processing, using a bundle adjustment approach, with real data from metric cameras and aerial laser mapping systems as well as in Terrestrial Mobile Mapping systems (TMM). The second contribution of this thesis is the characterization of trajectory errors that TMM may have in GNSS urban scenarios. The non-semantic information extracted from the images has allowed, using an integrated sensor orientation approach, to model these errors in an urban environment. This modelling opens the door to the development of new, more advanced trajectory error models that go beyond the deterministic models currently used. The determination of trajectories in real time, in GNSS unfriendly environments, is also explored in this thesis using non-semantic features. An approach has been implemented based on a tightly coupling sequential nonlinear least squares using GNSS positions, image coordinates and raw inertial measurements. The proposed approach exploits a sliding window bundle adjustment technique to use the image coordinates of tie points and the positions and attitudes derived from the last epochs to determine the position and attitude parameters of the most recent epoch. The approach has been evaluated using both real and simulated data from a mobile mapping campaign over an urban area with long GNSS outage periods, with promising results.This thesis also presents an approach to improve the determination of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) trajectories using open aerial data obtained in the framework of a national mapping project (PNOA). The development of this methodology is another contribution aiming to ensure the geospatial coherence between the orthophotos, and digital elevation models obtained with an RPAS and the orthophotos and digital models of the PNOA. The results, applied in the context of a multi-temporal and multi-sensor high-resolution archaeological documentation, show that photogrammetric products can be generated with a similar accuracy (cm level accuracy) to the ones generated with more complex approaches. Last but not least, this thesis presents a seamless indoor-outdoor positioning approach with encouraging results (meter-level accuracy) in several scenarios. This contribution opens the door for enhanced tracking of members of civil protection and emergency teams. This is an open field of research with not widely accepted /adopted solution yet.
IBÁÑEZ SEGURA, DEIMOS: Contributions to multi-purpose GNSS positioning to support multi-frequency and multi-constellation with high accuracy and integrity
Author: IBÁÑEZ SEGURA, DEIMOS
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 AEROSPACE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Department: Department of Physics (FIS)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 14/07/2023
Reading date: 23/10/2023
Reading time: 14:00
Reading place: Edifici B3, Planta -2, Sala de Juntes, Barcelona, Campus Nord UPC, ETSETB
Thesis director: ROVIRA GARCIA, ADRIÀ | SANZ SUBIRANA, JAIME
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: GARCIA FERNANDEZ, MIQUEL
     SECRETARI: ARAGON ANGEL, MARIA ANGELES
     VOCAL: LOPEZ MARTINEZ, MANUEL
Thesis abstract: Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) have revolutionized location and timing technologies due to their low cost and wide availability. Initially, GNSS was limited to the american Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Russian GLObal NAvigation Satellite System (GLONASS). However, in recent years, new GNSS systems such as European Global Navigation Satellite System (Galileo), the Chinese BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), the Japanese Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), and Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) have been deployed. These systems offer multiple frequencies and signals, which have rendered the current processing of dual-frequency single-constellation GNSS data obsolete.To address this issue, the Research group of Astronomy and Geomatics (gAGE) in Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) developed the GNSS-Lab Tool suite (gLAB) reference tool. Initially, gLAB was designed to support GPS only under a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) and was later upgraded to become a reference tool for scientific studies. gLAB has demonstrated its research capabilities under ESA and European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) contracts.The gLAB tool has had a great impact on the GNSS community across the globe, with 222,526 downloads from 147 different countries, which demonstrates the demand for a tool with these capabilities. The positioning algorithms originally coded in gLAB, Standard Point Positioning (SPP) and Precise Point Positioning (PPP), are upgraded to work with all new signals. In addition, advanced algorithms have been implemented, including uncombined PPP, Fast Precise Point Positioning (Fast-PPP), and Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) Dual Frequency Multi Constellation (DFMC). These additional capabilities required optimizing the code and implementing multi-threading to reduce processing times.The research carried out in this PhD has made several significant contributions. Firstly, an evaluation of European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System (EGNOS), initially developed for civil aviation, was carried out for its application for maritime purposes, proving that EGNOS is valid for this use, with even improved continuity figures. In addition, a methodology for the daily evaluation of the EGNOS Signal In Space (SIS) has been developed and implemented in a Global Monitoring System (GMS) based on gLAB.Secondly, the impact of ionospheric activity and its correct modelling on navigation, especially in SBAS systems, has been analysed. In this area, the importance of having a global index, the Along Arc TEC Rate (AATR), to measure ionospheric activity has been shown and its correlation with the degradation of the quality of service of EGNOS has been analysed.Thirdly, the effect of positioning anomalies (both in the SIS and in the receiver) has been studied, proposing methodologies for their detection based on pseudorange residuals or by combining several signals. In any of these methods, a high degree of data pre-processing is required, for which gLAB is a very suitable tool.Fourthly, a method for measurement management in gLAB has been developed. It comprises complex algorithmics that allows any combination of observables (single, dual, triple, or quadruple combinations) on a per-satellite basis, as well as to provide either manual or automatic measurement selection (and extend it for cycle-slip detectors).In conclusion, the present PhD has paved the way to modern GNSS data processing beyond the state of the art.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING

MARTINEZ HERNANDEZ, MARINA: Promoting cardiac regeneration by biomimetic microenvironments
Author: MARTINEZ HERNANDEZ, MARINA
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: (CEM)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 08/09/2023
Reading date: pending
Reading time: pending
Reading place: pending
Thesis director: ENGEL LOPEZ, ELISABET | MARTINEZ FRAIZ, ELENA
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: SEMINO MARGRETT, CARLOS EDUARDO
     SECRETARI: AGUIRRE, AITOR
     VOCAL: RUIZ MEANA, MARISOL
Thesis abstract: Cardiovascular diseases are the most common cause of death in the world. The heart has a very limited regeneration capacity. Thus, following tissue damage ¿ e.g., myocardial infarction ¿, heart transplantation remains the only effective and curative treatment. Efforts are now focused on developing alternative therapies aimed at regenerating the injured myocardium. In situ tissue engineering holds great promise for the activation and promotion of endogenous regenerative programs. Particularly, metabolic reprogramming offers the opportunity to stimulate cardiac tissue in situ by controlling energy substrate availability.Employing metabolic reprogramming for guiding cell plasticity represents a promising approach for cardiac repair given that opposing and marked changes in cardiac metabolism and phenotype occur simultaneously. Notably, during fetal development, cardiac cells exist within a unique metabolic milieu characterized by low oxygen levels and high concentrations of lactate. In this environment, cardiomyocytes exhibit proliferative abilities and undergo hyperplasia. In contrast, adult cardiomyocytes are non-proliferative and primarily grow through hypertrophy. This is accompanied by the metabolic shift during fetal to adult transition, switching from glycolysis to lipid metabolism. Previous studies have demonstrated that exposure to exogenous lactate ¿ i.e., by mimicking the metabolic microenvironment of early development ¿ promotes cardiomyocyte proliferation and cell cycle progression. Still, these reports used immature cells, which do not have the same metabolism as adult tissue and thus may not mirror the in vivo response in a clinical setting.Therefore, in this thesis, we evaluated the effect of exogenous lactate on mature cardiac tissue by using different established in vitro and ex vivo models of adult myocardium. First, we evaluated the response of adult cardiac fibroblasts to lactate. Exogenous lactate alleviated inflammation and did not promote fibrosis. On the contrary, some anti-fibrosis signatures were reported in activated cardiac fibroblasts, including reduced migration and decreased myofibroblast activation.Then, we evaluated the effect of lactate in multicellular models, which comprised all cardiac cell types. These included in vitro living myocardial slices (LMS) and ex vivo isolated Langendorff hearts. Lactate maintained LMS alive for extended culture periods. Moreover, exogenous lactate significantly improved cardiac function of cryoinjured rat LMS and human (healthy and pathological) LMS. Particularly, analyses of gene expression revealed that lactate increases transcription of stemness-related, cell cycle, and cardiomyocyte structural genes. Furthermore, in a Langendorff mouse model of ischemia¿reperfusion injury, reperfusion with lactate improved functional recovery. Cellular death and infarct size were also reduced upon administration of exogenous lactate at the onset of reperfusion.Finally, we assessed the suitability of novel electroconductive bacterial cellulose materials (BC-Ppy) as cardiac patches. BC-Ppy displayed appropriate properties for cardiac applications, including electrical conductivities in the range of native cardiac tissue, and were biocompatible with cardiac cells. Importantly, BC-Ppy scaffolds promoted cell viability, attachment, and maturation of myoblasts towards a cardiomyocyte-like phenotype. Thus, BC-Ppy nanocomposites hold great promise as an appealing in vivo platform to locally deliver lactate through their combination with other lactate-releasing materials.Altogether, this thesis highlights the pro regenerative capabilities of lactate in various models of mature cardiac tissue. Consequently, here we support the prospective employment of exogenous lactate as a metabolic modulator for in situ cardiac regenerative therapies

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN CHEMICAL PROCESS ENGINEERING

FAZLIKESHTELI, SHIVA: Partial oxidation of methane into syngas at low temperature
Author: FAZLIKESHTELI, SHIVA
Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN CHEMICAL PROCESS ENGINEERING
Department: Department of Chemical Engineering (EQ)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 26/07/2023
Reading date: 27/10/2023
Reading time: 11:00
Reading place: Sala Polivalent de l'Edifici I, planta baixa, Campus Diagonal-Besòs
Thesis director: LLORCA PIQUE, JORDI | VENDRELL VILLAFRUELA, XAVIER
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: MESTRES VILA, LOURDES
     SECRETARI: SOLER TURU, LLUIS
     VOCAL: GANDÍA PASCUAL, LUIS MARÍA
Thesis abstract: Syngas (a mixture of H2 and CO) is a versatile feedstock that can be used to produce a wide range of chemicals and fuels. For that reason, there is a great interest to optimize and explore new routes for its production. The most common methods for syngas production are the steam reforming of methane (SRM), the partial oxidation of methane (POM), and the dry reforming of methane (DRM). In this thesis, a series of monometallic Pd, Ru, Ni, and bimetallic Pd¿Ni, Ru¿Ni, and Ru¿Pd catalysts loaded on CeO2 support have been prepared via dry ball milling (BM) and conventional incipient wetness impregnation (IWI) methods. The results showed that the dry ball mill technique can be used to prepare highly dispersed metal species strongly interacting with the ceria support. The use of this technique led to an improvement in the POM catalytic activity, particularly at low temperature, compared to the conventional IWI method. This project contributes to an increased knowledge concerning the influence of the order of addition of the metals, metal ratio, milling energy, and time for samples prepared by the mechanochemical method on methane conversion and syngas yield. In order to determine the durability and performance of the catalysts, long-term stability tests were carried out for more than 100 h. Raman spectroscopy, temperature programmed reduction (H2-TPR), X¿ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X¿ray diffraction (XRD), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) have been used to characterize the catalysts before and after reaction.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN CIVIL ENGINEERING

LARRIVA VILLARREAL, HERNÁN: SEDIMENTACIÓN FINA Y CORRIENTES DE TURBIEDAD EN EMBALSES. CASO DE ESTUDIO: EMBALSE AMALUZA (ECUADOR)
Author: LARRIVA VILLARREAL, HERNÁN
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: (DECA)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 13/09/2023
Reading date: pending
Reading time: pending
Reading place: pending
Thesis director: SANCHEZ JUNY, MARTI
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: PUERTAS AGUDO, JERÓNIMO
     SECRETARI: BLADE CASTELLET, ERNEST
     VOCAL NO PRESENCIAL: BERMÚDEZ PITA, MARÍA
Thesis abstract: Turbidity currents in reservoirs are of strong scientific interest because they can be responsible for the contribution of large amounts of fine sediments that can cause early sediment filling. The case study corresponds to the Amaluza reservoir in Ecuador of 120 Hm3 and which generates 1100 MW, this reservoir is considered one of the most important about the country.This study is presented in three main blocks. Initially, the fundamental conceptual aspects of turbidity currents and their numerical modeling are characterized. The following aspects about this are described: the hydrodynamics of turbidity currents, the main types of numerical models used to simulate delta displacements and turbidity currents, as well as specific aspects of the modeling and theoretical considerations about shear stress on the bed ¿b.The case study of the Amaluza reservoir in Ecuador is described in the following section of this doctoral thesis. Its fluvial forms are characterized and the available field information that allows the analysis of its morphodynamic behavior is described (fluvial forms, delta formation and delta displacement, etc.).The study continues by fine-tuning the hydrodynamic model of the Amaluza reservoir, proceeding to its calibration, initially without considering sediment transport, so the computational model is built with its respective structured mesh considering its aspect ratio, mesh orthogonality, mesh smoothness and the appropriate ¿t time step is determined. It is modeled under three scenarios: a uniform steady state, a non-uniform steady state, and a non-uniform and non-steady state. In these three scenarios, the velocities and shear stresses on the bed ¿b are calculated in the most relevant areas of the Amaluza reservoir. Once the model has been calibrated, it is ready for the next stage of sedimentological modeling. Thus, the main sedimentological parameters are established; this information will serve as the starting point for the computational model. Thus, are determined the grain size scale, the fall velocity in still water (ws,0), the suspended sediment size, the final fall velocity of particles (ws) and flocculation, its bulk density, and the calculation of the critical shear stress (¿cr) for weakly consolidated thinbeds in agreement with soil mechanical perspective.Finally, the turbidity current is simulated and calibrated for a measured event in 1984 for different scenarios and bathymetries, obtaining the concentration profiles and the main hydraulic parameters of the turbidity current. Once this simulation has been adjusted, the turbidity current removal efficiencies were analyzed under different scenarios (opening of bottom drains, load intakes, etc.).
MORELL VILLALONGA, MARIANO NICOLÁS: NOVEL TOOLS FOR PORT ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Author: MORELL VILLALONGA, MARIANO NICOLÁS
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: (DECA)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 12/09/2023
Reading date: pending
Reading time: pending
Reading place: pending
Thesis director: GRIFOLL COLLS, MANUEL | ESPINO INFANTES, MANUEL
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: PIERA FERNANDEZ, JAIME
     SECRETARI: MÖSSO ARANDA, OCTAVIO CESAR
     VOCAL: FERRER RODRÍGUEZ, LUIS
Thesis abstract: This thesis addresses the development and evaluation of novel tools and strategies for Environmental Management Systems (EMS) implementation in ports for water quality. Integrating computer vision-based systems with meteorological and hydrodynamic operational models, the research aims to provide efficient and tailored tools for pollution monitoring and management. Three case studies are presented, exploring the feasibility of using meteo-oceanographic operational services as SAMOA, in conjunction with Monte Carlo experiments, for environmental risk analysis; developing robust computer vision systems for spill and waste monitoring; and assessing computer vision systems reliability under different operating conditions. The findings demonstrate the potential of meteo-oceanographic operational services and computer vision for marine pollution monitoring tasks and highlight the significance of progressive implementation in port EMS, leveraging early data collection and adopting an adaptive approach. The research supports sustainable and environmentally conscious practices in port management to protect coastal waters and marine ecosystems.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN COMPUTATIONAL AND APPLIED PHYSICS

YUAN, MINGYUE: Historical copper and iron coloured glazes and glasses
Author: YUAN, MINGYUE
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 Applied Physics (FA)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 18/09/2023
Reading date: pending
Reading time: pending
Reading place: pending
Thesis director: PRADELL CARA, TRINITAT
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: GARCIA ARANDA, MIGUEL ANGEL
     SECRETARI: MOLERA I MARIMÓN, JUDIT
     VOCAL: VILARIGUES, MARCIA
Thesis abstract: Coloured glazes and glasses have attracted human interest since antiquity for their aesthetic appeal and multiple functionalities. Asindicators of technological progress, artistic expression, and social stratification in different historical periods, copper and iron haveemerged as the predominant colourants in historic glazes and glasses, offering a remarkable spectrum of hues influenced byvarying contents, ratios, and atmospheric conditions in their production. In order to explore the intricacies of copper red formation, toaddress the limited research on iron yellow in high-lead glazes, and to understand the interaction of both cations in glaze colour, weinvestigated four representative cases, high-lead imperial iron yellow glazes from the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1616-1912)dynasties, North Song (960-1127) dynasty copper and iron blue and red Jun ware glazes, late Tang (9th-10th century) dynastycopper green and red Changsha ware glazes, and 13th to the 20th century European copper red window glasses. Using acomplementary set of analytical techniques, including ultraviolet-visible-near infrared (UV-VIS-NIR) spectroscopy, optical microscopy(OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron microprobe analysis (EMPA), laser ablation inductively coupled plasma massspectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), micro X-ray diffraction (µ-XRD) and X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS), we investigated the opticalproperties, micro/nanostructures, glaze and glass compositions, valence state, and coordination structures. Our results revealeddistinct variations in glaze and body composition for the high-lead yellow glazes of the Ming and Qing dynasties, while demonstratingthe influence of factors such as glaze thickness, firing temperature, substrate composition, and firing atmosphere on glaze colour.The study of Jun ware glazes elucidated the glass nanostructure and the oxidation-reduction dynamics of iron and copper,explaining the sky-like appearance of the glazes. Similarly, our study of Changsha ware glazes revealed the role of phase separationand copper oxidation state in glaze opacity and colour, and the influence of sulphur in the formation of copper nanoparticles. Finally,our study of European red window glass identified three distinct technologies, highlighting the role of copper nanoparticles in the redcolouring and the role of iron, sulphur and tin in copper reduction. In summary, this comprehensive investigation has improved ourunderstanding of the colouring mechanisms and compositional differences in historic glazes and glasses, and provides valuableinsights into ancient glassmaking technologies.Key words: Historical glaze; Red window glass; Iron; Copper; Sulphur; Tin; XAFS; Micro-XRD

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE

OSORIO RÍOS, JOHN HAIBER: Adapting floating-point precision to accelerate deep neural network training
Author: OSORIO RÍOS, JOHN HAIBER
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: (DAC)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 24/07/2023
Reading date: 18/10/2023
Reading time: 10:00
Reading place: Sala E101 - Edifici C6 - FIB
Thesis director: CASAS GUIX, MARC | ARMEJACH SANOSA, ADRIÀ
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: DEFOUR, DAVID
     SECRETARI: MARTORELL BOFILL, XAVIER
     VOCAL: DE OLIVEIRA CASTRO HERRERO, PABLO
Thesis abstract: Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) have become ubiquitous in a wide range of application domains. Despite their success, training DNNs is an expensive task which has motivated the use of reduced numerical precision formats to improve performance and reduce power consumption. Emulation techniques are a good fit for understanding the properties of new numerical formats on a particular workload. However, current state-of-the-art techniques cannot perform these tasks quickly and accurately on a wide variety of workloads.The usage of Mixed Precision (MP) arithmetic with floating-point 32-bit (FP32) and 16-bit half-precision aims at improving memory and floating-point operations throughput, allowing faster training of bigger models. This is one of the most used techniques, and has been successfully applied to train DNNs. Despite its advantages in terms of reducing the need for key resources like memory bandwidth or register file size, it has a limited capacity for diminishing further computing costs, as it requires 32-bits to represent its output. On the other hand, full half-precision arithmetic fails to deliver state-of-the-art training accuracy.Several hardware companies are proposing native Brain Float 16-bit (BF16) support for neural network training. Fused Multiply- Add (FMA) functional units constitute a fundamental hardware component to train DNNs. Its silicon area grows quadratically with the mantissa bit count of the computer number format, which has motivated the adoption of the BF16. BF16 features 1 sign, 8 exponent and 7 explicit mantissa bits. Some approaches to train DNNs achieve significant performance benefits by using the BF16 format. However, these approaches must combine BF16 with the standard IEEE 754 FP32 format to achieve state-of-the-art training accuracy, which limits the impact of adopting BF16.To address all of the previous concerns with respect to different numerical formats, specific training techniques, and how to increase the use of reduced precision approaches, this Thesis proposes FASE, a Fast, Accurate, and Seamless Emulator that leverages dynamic binary translation to enable emulation of custom numerical formats. FASE is fast; allowing emulation of large unmodified workloads, accurate; emulating at instruction operand level, and seamless; as it does not require any code modifications and works on any application or DNN framework without any language, compiler or source code access restrictions. We evaluate FASE using a wide variety of DNN frameworks and large-scale workloads. Our evaluation demonstrates that FASE achieves better accuracy than coarser-grain state-of-the-art approaches, and shows that it is able to evaluate the fidelity of multiple numerical formats and extract conclusions on their applicability.To show the advantages of FASE we test it in object classification, natural language processing and generative networks workloads. We use FASE to analyze BF16 usage in the training phase of a 3D Generative Adversarial Network (3DGAN) simulating High Energy Physics detectors.We use FASE to characterize and analyze computer arithmetic to propose a seamless approach to dynamically adapt floating point arithmetic. Our dynamically adaptive methodology enables the use of full half-precision arithmetic for up to 96.4% of the computations when training state-of-the-art neural networks; while delivering comparable accuracy to 32-bit floating point arithmetic.Finally, we propose an approach able to train complex DNNs entirely using the BF16 format. Using FASE we introduce a new class of FMA operators, FMABF16_nm, that entirely rely on BF16 FMA hardware instructions and deliver the same accuracy as FP32. FMABF16_nm operators achieve performance improvements within the 1.28x-1.35x range on ResNet101 with respect to FP32. FMABF16_nm enables training complex DNNs on simple low-end hardware devices without requiring expensive FP32 FMA functional units.
VIEIRA ZACARIAS, FELIPPE: Job scheduling for disaggregated memory in high performance computing systems
Author: VIEIRA ZACARIAS, FELIPPE
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: (DAC)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 20/07/2023
Reading date: 09/10/2023
Reading time: 14:00
Reading place: Sala E101 - Edifici C6 de la Facultat d'Informàtica de Barcelona
Thesis director: CARPENTER, PAUL MATTHEW | PETRUCCI, VINICIUS
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: PINTO, CHRISTIAN
     SECRETARI: CORBALAN GONZALEZ, JULITA
     VOCAL: DOUDALI, THALEIA DIMITRA
Thesis abstract: In a typical HPC cluster system, a node is the elemental component unit of this architecture. Memory and compute resources are tightly coupled in each node and the rigid boundaries between nodes limits compute and memory resource utilization. The problem is increased by the fact that HPC applications have a widely varying per-node memory footprint due to diverse application characteristics, differing problem sizes, and strong scaling. In fact, 25% to 76% of the system's total memory capacity typically remains idle. Disaggregated memory offers a way to improve memory utilization, as memory becomes a pool that can be dynamically composed to match the needs of the workloads. It enables fine-grained allocation of memory capacity to jobs while maintaining the cost-effectiveness and scalability of a cluster architecture. A key component for the distribution of computing power within the cluster infrastructure is the RJMS or simply resource manager. Its goal is to satisfy users' demands and achieve acceptable performance in the overall system utilization by efficiently matching requests to resources. Even though several researches on RJMS have been carried out to solve problems related to the current state-of-the-art on HPC systems, memory disaggregation is still under development. Therefore, adopting a disaggregated architecture means redesigning the resource manager services. In this thesis we propose an efficient memory disaggregated infrastructure for a cluster resource manager and its evaluation at scale through a structured simulated experimental methodology employing a contention model that models the impact of shared resources in disaggregated scenarios. Sharing common memory devices or interfaces in a disaggregated infrastructure may incur an unsatisfactory loss of performance because concurrent memory access can saturate the resource; we start our study by introducing a systematic methodology to build a contention model. Extensive real-machine experimentation and the results of workloads have shown that our contention model predicts performance degradation with at most an average error of 1.19% and max error of 14.6%. Compared with the state-of-the-art, the relative improvements are almost 24 % on average and 33% for the worst case. In sequence, we argue that it is possible to increase throughput and utilization using memory disaggregated in a resource manager. We show that depending on the level of imbalance between the system and memory demands of scheduled jobs, memory disaggregation enables resource savings of up to 33% compared to the state-of-the-art resource manager. In addition, on average, it can increase the memory utilization by a factor of 1.6, while having almost 90% of CPU utilization. In our study, we also investigate how critical memory demand bounds are for maximising system throughput and minimising job response time. We analyse to what degree the users would have a natural incentive to provide accurate memory bounds. We demonstrate that even when there is a large effect on system throughput (-25%) and response time (5 times higher), there is a very little direct incentive for the users to be accurate in their estimates, with only an 8% increase in response time. We further demonstrate that taking advantage of memory temporal and spatial imbalance among jobs delivers improvements up to 18% in throughput, 38% in throughput per dollar, and up to 69% reduction in job response time (median) when there are imbalanced memory usage and overestimated demands on underprovisioned systems. Overall, we believe our study provides valuable insights on the importance of design space exploration for disaggregated memory HPC systems. We demonstrate that by understanding disruptive architectural changes on future systems and the demands of the workloads, system provisioning can be carefully designed to achieve the best cost-benefit.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING AND STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS

LEON MEDINA, JERSSON XAVIER: Intelligent condition monitoring of structures through data-driven process and machine learning methods
Author: LEON MEDINA, JERSSON XAVIER
Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING AND STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS
Department: (DECA)
Mode: Article-based thesis
Deposit date: 27/06/2023
Reading date: 06/10/2023
Reading time: 14:30
Reading place: EEBE San Ramón de Peñafort, Campus Diagonal Besòs, Av. d'Eduard Maristany, 16, Edificio A, 08019 Barcelona
Thesis director: POZO MONTERO, FRANCESC | TIBADUIZA, DIEGO ALEXANDER
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: GARCIA MARQUEZ, FAUSTO PEDRO
     SECRETARI: VIDAL SEGUI, YOLANDA
     VOCAL NO PRESENCIAL: TUTIVÉN GÁLVEZ, CHRISTIAN
Thesis abstract: In the last years, the condition monitoring of structures has evolved and improved using technologies such as artificial intelligence, sensor networks, and industry 4.0 because of the multiple advantages these techniques add to the essential condition monitoring process. This doctoral thesis shows the development of different methodologies for the intelligent condition monitoring of structures. In general, two main approaches are analyzed, and some methodologies will be described in this thesis. Firstly, the structural damage classification (SDC) in metallic structures at the laboratory scale is explored, and second, the multivariate temperature prediction (MTP) of an electric arc furnace lining in an industrial environment is studied. The acquired data for SDC presented differences between sensors and high dimensionality; thus, several stages composed the developed SDC methodologies, including data organization, data scaling, data reduction, data classification, cross-validation, and classification performance metric calculation. Data from two different structures were used to develop three different SDC methodologies. In the case of the approaches for MTP, two multivariate temperature prediction methodologies were developed, and data from two different electric arc furnaces in normal operation were acquired, organized, and used to predict the lining furnace temperature behavior. Several process variables were considered to obtain the multivariate temperature prediction models. The multivariate sense of temperature refers to obtaining a single model capable of predicting the temperature behavior of several thermocouples radially distributed in the lining furnace. Results in applying all strategies showed the advantages of using all methodologies in all the studied cases with excellent results.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING

ARELLANO ESPITIA, FRANCISCO: Deep Learning Based Methodologies applied to Industrial Electromechanical Systems Monitoring
Author: ARELLANO ESPITIA, FRANCISCO
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 ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING
Department: Department of Electronic Engineering (EEL)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 26/07/2023
Reading date: 10/10/2023
Reading time: 09:30
Reading place: Aula TR14, ESEIAAT, Campus Terrassa.
Thesis director: DELGADO PRIETO, MIGUEL | OSORNIO RIOS, ROQUE ALFREDO
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: MORIÑIGO SOTELO, DANIEL
     SECRETARI: ROMERAL MARTINEZ, JOSE LUIS
     VOCAL: BUSTILLO IGLESIAS, ANDRÉS
Thesis abstract: In recent years, there has been significant attention from both the academic and industry sectors towards condition-based maintenance of rotating systems. This attention stems from the high relevance of these systems in the industrial sector, particularly in production plants and manufacturing processes. To ensure their high efficiency, safety, and proper performance, it is crucial to have monitoring systems, schemes, and methodologies capable of diagnosing and detecting malfunctions in the various components that comprise the electromechanical rotating system, including electrical motors, bearings, gearboxes, and shafts among others.However, monitoring schemes face considerable challenges in dealing with the complexity inherent in these systems. This complexity arises from the diverse operational conditions, configurations with multiple components, and the presence of faults of different natures (i.e. mechanical, electrical and/or electromagnetic), occurring in isolated or combined scenarios. In recent times, techniques based on artificial intelligence, particularly artificial neural networks, have gained significant popularity in monitoring schemes. These techniques offer great potential in terms of system characterization and feature extraction, leading to the exploration of methodologies based on them. Furthermore, the advent of deep neural networks, which are multi-layered architectures, represents a significant advancement in the field of pattern recognition.Nevertheless, the implementation of these schemes in industrial environments continues to present ongoing challenges due to the demanding requirements, such as high reliability, robustness, and scalability, particularly within the context of the new Industry 4.0 paradigm.In this context, this thesis focuses on the investigation and proposal of a series of complementary methodologies based on deep learning, aiming to enable the implementation of predictive maintenance schemes for the industrial sector. Initially, a data-driven monitoring methodology based on deep learning is proposed for fault diagnosis in complex electromechanical system environments. Subsequently, a methodological process for anomaly identification, comprising deep learning strategies and machine learning tools, is presented. Finally, an intelligent diagnostic model utilizing domain adaptation techniques is proposed, resulting in the creation of a scalable model with the ability to generalize to fault scenarios under different operating conditions and address the issue of performance degradation.The proposed methodologies are studied and validated using experimental databases of electromechanical systems laboratory based. Quantifiable performance metrics and qualitative validation procedures are employed for rigorous evaluation and validation purposes.
EL GHARBI, MARIAM: Design and Characterization of Wearable Antenna Sensors for Healthcare Applications
Author: EL GHARBI, MARIAM
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 ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING
Department: Department of Electronic Engineering (EEL)
Mode: Article-based thesis
Deposit date: 24/07/2023
Reading date: 06/10/2023
Reading time: 11:00
Reading place: Sala de Conferències TR1-ESEIAAT (Terrassa)
Thesis director: GIL GALI, IGNACIO | FERNANDEZ GARCIA, RAUL
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: BONACHE ALBACETE, JORDI
     SECRETARI: AMANTE GARCIA, BEATRIZ
     VOCAL: GIL BARBA, MARTA
Thesis abstract: Wearable antenna sensors are a promising technology for developing new applications in the healthcare field since textiles are widely used by everyone due to the maturity of textile manufacturing. According to the last decade's market behavior, it is expected that consumers will claim smaller and more intelligent communications systems which will improve their quality of life. In this respect, wearable antenna sensor technology is one of the key implementations of the future smart clothes field and they may find their place in our daily life. Currently, the researches on wearable antenna sensors are receiving increasing interest while wearable antenna sensors on textile have less research, thus it is a novelty and motivation of this thesis. This thesis deals with challenges regarding wearable antenna sensor design, characterization, and measurements on textile. Based on the analysis of the current state of the art, there are several new research that merits to be explored, thus generating the specific objectives of this thesis. The first objective is to develop new textile antenna sensors with high performance including low profile, high sensitivity, low cost, and high durability; the second objective is to explore wearable antenna-based sensors that can be used for body signal/healthcare monitoring and communication purposes; the third objective is to test the performance of the antenna sensor in real-world scenarios, such as breathing monitoring, and the fourth objective is to develop antenna sensors that can be integrated into clothing for breathing monitoring combined with other commercial electronic components, such as Bluetooth/WIFI transmitter.For achieving the first objective, an embroidered fully textile antenna-based sensor is proposed to detect various concentrations of salt and sugar using microwave signals. Different concentrations of salt and sugar are identified through variations in frequency shifts and magnitude levels observed in reflection coefficient measurements. In addition, the rinsing reliability validation measurements are performed. The proposed sensor offers high sensitivity and compact size. To achieve the second objective, a textile antenna sensor for in vitro diagnostics of diabetes for monitoring blood glucose levels is proposed. The experiments are performed to detect different diabetic conditions including hypoglycemia, normoglycemia, and hyperglycemia. To attain the third objective, a new embroidered meander dipole antenna-based sensor for real-time breath detection using the technique based on chest well movement analysis is proposed. For the fourth objective, an embroidered antenna-based sensor is integrated into the T-shirt to demonstrate the sensing mechanism based on the detection of different breathing patterns through the resonance shift frequency and the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) using a Bluetooth transmitter. The results show a good sensing performance and its ability to detect and monitor different breathing patterns.This thesis has been developed at RFLEX (Radio Frequency Identification and Flexible Electronics) group, which is part of the Electronic Engineering Department at UPC partially supported by projects: TEC2016-79465-R, TED2021-131209B-I0, and PID2021-124288OB-I0. This Ph.D. thesis has been written as a Compendium of articles, five articles indexed in the Journal Citation Report are already published and one additional is under submission, which are included as an annex in this thesis.Keywords ¿ Antenna-based sensors, embroidered textile, frequency shift, microwave sensing, breathing patterns, wearable system, e-textile, breathing monitoring.
GONZALEZ MARIÑO, ANGELA: Contributions to the Design, Development and Evaluation of Network Processors for Automotive Zonal Gateway Controllers
Author: GONZALEZ MARIÑO, ANGELA
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 ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING
Department: Department of Electronic Engineering (EEL)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 26/07/2023
Reading date: 27/10/2023
Reading time: 11:30
Reading place: Aula de graus (edifici C4-porta 002), ETSETB, campus nord
Thesis director: MORENO AROSTEGUI, JUAN MANUEL | FONS LLUÍS, FRANCISCO
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: MATA BURGAROLAS, M. NURIA
     SECRETARI: MADRENAS BOADAS, JORDI
     VOCAL NO PRESENCIAL: HÜBNER, MICHAEL
Thesis abstract: This PhD dissertation analyzes the evolution of vehicular networks and focuses on the main network processing platform integrated in them: the Gateway (GW). First, a thorough analysis of state of the art technologies involved in vehicular networks is performed, leading to the definition of the requirements of future network processing platforms. Then, the available options in thestate of the art for network processing, both in industry and academia, are analyzed. This analysis shows a gap in this area: there is currently no architecture fulfilling all the requirements of future automotive GW controllers. Moreover, Hardware (HW) accelerators and custom processor design are identified as a key differentiation factor which boosts the performance of the devices. Linking the result of this analysis with the current trend towards application specific processors, this thesis proposes the novel Elastic Gateway (eGW) System on Chip (SoC) architecture as a high performance network processor for future zonal GW controllers. The proposed architecture aims at fulfilling the identified gap, advancing towards future GW SoC solutions. Elastic Gateway SoC concept aims at synthesizing a scalable and future-proof architecture embracing all new and already established functions and features demanded in a zonal gateway controller for the new era of mobility. The challenge now is not only to design the right processor that can meet the requirements available today, but also to make this design suitable for the future. For this reason, the modularity, flexibility, scalability and configurability of these future processors take, more than ever, a starring role in the early design stages. This thesis is also providing a complete lifecycle methodology for the design and validation of different network processing products based on the proposed eGW SoC architecture.Throughout this work the architecture is evaluated from a functional perspective, proving how the differefnt technologies required in future vehicular networks are integrated in eGW and how the previously defined requirements are met. Then, a proof of concept is implemented showing the viability of the proposed concept and methodology, providing details of the experimental results. The architecture is also evaluated from a scalability point of view, looking at HW cost and power consumption, proving that eGW is able to provide a high level of performance at a reasonable cost.Together, the eGW SoC concept and methodology become an alternative that can contribute to overcome the existing challenges, advancing over state of the art solutions.
PALMA CARMONA, KENNETH: Exploration of FDSOI Back-Biasing Techniques to Hinder Cryptographic Attacks Based on Leakage Current
Author: PALMA CARMONA, KENNETH
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 ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING
Department: Department of Electronic Engineering (EEL)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 24/07/2023
Reading date: 18/10/2023
Reading time: 11:00
Reading place: Aula de ¿Teleensenyament¿, edificio B3 (ETSETB) del Campus Nord de la UPC.
Thesis director: MOLL ECHETO, FRANCESC DE BORJA
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: ACOSTA JIMÉNEZ, ANTONIO JOSÉ
     SECRETARI: RUBIO SOLA, JOSE ANTONIO
     VOCAL: SERRA GRAELLS, FRANCESC
Thesis abstract: Cryptography is the science that studies how to achieve secure communication between multiple parties. Under the assumption that any message transmitted is to be ultimately intercepted, the endeavors of cryptography attempt to render transmitted messages uninterpretable by a nefarious eavesdropper. To do so, cryptography has traditionally relied on mathematical functions that define non-linear mappings. As such, during its formal conceptualization during the 20th century, the security of cryptographic algorithms has heavily relied on their provable mathematical soundness that would ensure that, without the secret key used during the encryption process, the original message could not be retrieved. However, physical implementations of cryptographic devices, be them mechanical, analog, or digital, are constrained by the laws of physical nature, beyond their mathematical representation. As such, these implementations can produce mechanical vibrations, dissipate heat, produce electromagnetic emanations, or consume power in a manner that speaks of their internal state. These physical magnitudes, referred to as side-channels, can leak information about the workings of the cryptosystem. As such, Side-Channels are an important exploitable weakness of cryptographic circuits. In particular, the measurement of power consumption of a digital cryptosystem can be enough to disclose the secret key at the heart of the circuit. These so-called Power Analysis Attacks (PAA) have traditionally relied on the measurement of dynamic power consumed during execution. However, with ever shrinking technological nodes, static or leakage power consumption has become prominent enough to pose a vulnerability (Leakage Power Analysis Attacks - LPAA). As such, countermeasures, circuits that attempt to impede the effectiveness of PAA continue to be developed and studied. At the same time, new transistor technologies continue to be explored and developed. Among those produced, Fully Depleted Silicon-on-Insulator (FDSOI) transistors have proven to be highly effective at reducing the impact of short-channel effects, such as leakage current. Given their structure, FDSOI transistor can also see their body bias dynamically modified. As such, this thesis explores the feasibility of developing countermeasures against LPAA taking advantage of the properties of FDSOI transistors. FDSOI transistors, given their structure, accept a wider range of body bias values through their 4th terminal. Given that body bias modifies the threshold voltage of transistors, it is possible to indirectly affect the leakage current profile of digital circuit elements implementing a cryptosystem. With these considerations in mind, this thesis, exploring how body bias affects the leakage consumption of FDSOI sequential logic, analyzes and designs body biasing schemes that serve as countermeasures. The effectiveness of the developed countermeasures is thoroughly analyzed through modelling with technological parameters and mathematical simulations of power analysis attacks. The thesis presents a proof-of-concept countermeasure circuit that highly hinders the performance of LPAA by reducing the disparities between power consumption dependent on data stored. The circuit, implementing a Current Balancing body bias seeking algorithm, is functional for a wide range of temperatures, even in the presence of process and mismatch variability.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

GONZÁLEZ FLÓREZ, CRISTINA: Understanding size-resolved dust emission from field measurements in Morocco
Author: GONZÁLEZ FLÓREZ, CRISTINA
Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
Department: (DECA)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 18/07/2023
Reading date: 06/10/2023
Reading time: 10:00
Reading place: Place: ETSECCPB UPC, Campus Nord Building C1. Classroom: 002 C/Jordi Girona, 1-3 08034 Barcelona
Thesis director: PEREZ GARCIA-PANDO, CARLOS | KLOSE, MARTINA
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: MAHOWALD, NATALIE
     SECRETARI: COMERON TEJERO, ADOLFO
     VOCAL: MARTICORENA, BÉATRICE
Thesis abstract: Atmospheric mineral dust is composed of a variety of mineral particles exhibiting distinct composition, shape, and size. Thewide range of diameters exhibited by dust particles, spanning more than three orders of magnitude, partly determines theireffects within the Earth System. This PhD thesis focuses on dust emission, and especially on the emitted dust particle sizedistribution (PSD) and its variability. It has been conducted within the context of the ERC project ¿FRontiers in dus tminerAloGical coMpos ition and its Effects upoN climaTe¿ (FRAGMENT), which aims to understand global dus t compos itionand its climate effects. Dust is generated through saltation bombardment and aggregate disintegration, and less efectively byaerodynamic entrainment. Constraining its PSD at emission is crucial as it strongly affects the impacts, lifetime, and globaldistribution of dust. However, our understanding of the emitted dust PSD, including its potential variability, its underlyingcauses, and the fraction of particles with diameter >10¿m, remains limited.This thesis provides new insights into the emitted dust PSD and its variability based on meteorological, saltation and size -resolved dust concentration measurements conducted during the FRAGMENT campaign in the Moroccan Sahara inSeptember 2019. Saltation and dust emission occurred regularly at this location, although sandblasting efficiency was lowercompared to previous studies, probably due to the paved sediment surface. During the campaign two types of dust eventswere identified: regular events associated with diurnal wind cycles caused by solar heating, and haboobs, intense duststorms formed by convective downdrafts. The obtained dust concentration and diffusive flux PSDs show statisticallysignificant dependencies upon friction velocity (u*), wind direction, and type of event. Notably, diffusive flux PSDs shift towardsfiner particles with increasing u*. In this thesis, this feature has been attributed to a large extent to the effect of dry d eposition,which is modulated by the wind-direction-dependent fetch length, and u*. However, an enhanced fragmentation of aggregateswith u* may also play a smaller role.The dry deposition flux was estimated using a resistance model constrained with field observations, which was then used toestimate the emitted dust flux. It has been shown that the deposition flux could represent up to ¿ 90% of the emitted dust fluxfor particles >10¿m in diameter and up to ¿ 65% for particles as small as ¿ 5¿m. These results imply that the emitted dustPSD is coarser and less variable than the diffusive flux PSD. As far as I know, this is the first time that the effect of drydeposition upon the diffusive fluxes is identified and quantified experimentally, supporting recent results based on numerica lmodelling. This finding has implications for the evaluation of dust emission schemes and their implementation in transportmodels as the typical assumption that the diffusive and the emitted dust PSDs are equivalent could be invalidated.Another remarkable feature is the difference in PSDs between haboob and regular events. Haboob PSDs show lowerproportions of sub-micrometre particles for equivalent or higher u* intervals, along with more dry deposition and variability indust mass fractions with diameters >3¿m. The mechanisms proposed to explain this variability include a smaller andvariable effective fetch during the haboob events, and/or an increased resistance of soil aggregates to fragmentationassociated with the observed increase in relative humidity along the haboob outflow.Finally, compared to the invariant emitted dust flux PSD predicted by Brittle Fragmentation Theory, our dust flux shows asubstantially higher proportion of super-micrometre particles. Overall, these results highlight the need to adequately considerdry deposition when estimating the emitted PSD from concentration measurements, even in studies limited to size

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING

JANERAS CASANOVA, MARC: Formació de despreniments rocosos a la Muntanya de Montserrat
Author: JANERAS CASANOVA, 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 GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING
Department: (DECA)
Mode: Article-based thesis
Deposit date: 05/07/2023
Reading date: 23/10/2023
Reading time: 16:00
Reading place: UPC, Campus Nord Building D2. Classroom: 216 C/Jordi Girona, 1-3 08034 Barcelona
Thesis director: GILI RIPOLL, JOSE ANTONIO
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: COROMINAS DULCET, JORDI
     SECRETARI: ABELLAN FERNÁNDEZ, ANTONIO
     VOCAL: ABANCÓ MARTÍNEZ DE ARENZANA, CLÀUDIA
Thesis abstract: In the Montserrat Mountain, high hazard of rockfall and high human exposure by visitors to both Monastery and Natural Park converge. It is a relevant geological risk difficult to mitigate since it is necessary to combine the safety requirements for assets and people together with those for the preservation of the natural environment. It is a case that poses a risk management challenge; to overcome it, an improvement in the knowledge on rockfall formation is needed, which is the objective of this thesis.The detachment hazard analysis of rockfalls at the starting zone has been raised from two parallel perspectives. On the one hand, the diffuse hazard corresponding to the activity distributed over space and time; on the other hand, the focused hazard of specific potentially unstable blocks corresponding to the assessment of their stability based on indications of their failure progression. The developments included in the thesis have made it possible to articulate a monitoring strategy integrated into risk management with this double perspective. To reach this point, different rock mass monitoring techniques have been explored with different degrees of continuity in space and time, from which it has been possible to conclude their high suitability and complementarity in the information provided, as well as the progressivity with which they can be applied to achieve a robust monitoring system.Methodologies have been developed for the quantitative analysis of the hazard through relationships between magnitude and frequency of occurrence of rockfall. Remote sensing using a terrestrial laser scanner, complemented by observational and historical inventories, have allowed maximizing sampling extent and optimizing the results obtained. The variability of the hazard in space has been analyzed at the scale of the massif and of the slope or wall. The variability over time has been analyzed as the statistical dispersion of the hazard itself, a fact that makes it possible to identify behavior cycles of the slopes at different time intervals. The reading is taken in terms of hazard scenarios what allows to face its zoning for the land use planning, as well as for the design and evaluation of the effectiveness of protection measures.The data obtained from the geotechnical instrumentation of different blocks of the massif, with in-contact sensors and with different network topologies, have allowed characterizing different aspects of the mechanics of rockfall formation under different configurations. The thermo-mechanical effect of environmental conditions on the blocks and plates has been revealed for the different detachment mechanisms defined for the case. Precursory signs of some rockfall have been identified, which lay the foundations for prediction and future local alert systems as a risk management resource.The geomatic techniques used in monitoring (mainly LiDAR and digital photogrammetry) provide high-resolution 3D models of the rock mass surface, generally in point cloud format. The existing barriers in the diffusion of the results of this nature towards other non-specialist agents in the matter are verified, although they are determinant in individual and collective decision-making for risk management. New technologies have been tested for the visualization of 3D geoinformation in the most intuitive, immersive and interactive way possible. In this sense, it has been shown how mixed reality, using holographic vision devices, makes it possible to break many barriers to understanding three-dimensionality derived from its geometric complexity. The high resolution and quality of the models are an advantage when it comes to making it easier for the different user profiles to perceive the idea of risk for themselves, sharing with other profiles the eventual mitigation measures, their role and their impact.
PRADES VALLS, ALBERT: Aportaciones de técnicas geomáticas al análisis de los desprendimientos rocosos
Author: PRADES VALLS, ALBERT
Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING
Department: (DECA)
Mode: Article-based thesis
Deposit date: 15/09/2023
Reading date: pending
Reading time: pending
Reading place: pending
Thesis director: LANTADA ZARZOSA, MARIA DE LAS NIEVES | COROMINAS DULCET, JORDI
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: PRAT CATALAN, PERE
     SECRETARI: BLANCH GÓRRIZ, XABIER
     VOCAL: COPONS LLORENS, RAMON
Thesis abstract: The term rockfall applies to blocks or masses of rock that, after separating from a steep wall, experience free fall and thenimpact against the ground, with the consequent rebound and possible rolling and sliding of rock fragments. Thisphenomenon has great destructive potential due to the high velocities, and thus high kinetic energy, that blocks may reachduring their propagation and may threaten buildings, civil infrastructure and transportation networks. The phenomenonbecomes more complex if fragmentation during rockfall propagation is considered. The present thesis aims to contribute toknowledge of the rockfall process by using geomatic techniques and developing specific models that may contribute to themonitoring of rock cliffs.Monitoring plays an important role in managing risk due to rockfalls in a wide spectrum of applications. Terrestrial or aeriallaser scanning (TLS or ALS) and photogrammetry are geomatic techniques that are frequently used to estimate thedetachment volume over time. These observations allow the expected magnitude frequency of the cliff to be estimated, whichis required to quantitatively evaluate risk. In this thesis, an automated and low-cost continuous time-lapse fixed positioncamera system was developed and implemented to monitor a basaltic cliff. The aim was to test its ability to detect precursoryrockfall movements and quantify volume changes if the rock mass detachment occurs. A methodology was developed tohandle a set of images at different times to detect possible precursory movements. The procedure consists in matching theimages with a reference master image after filtering the vegetation and correcting illumination differences and small cameramovements. The fitted images are used for a forward-backward correlation process that is carried out to detect deformation. Ifdisplacement is detected, a 3D model is built to quantify it. The image process system can detect small precursormovements of around a centimeter.Several real-scale tests were performed in a quarry to analyze the trajectories of falling rock blocks and their fragmentation,which were recorded by three high-speed video cameras. In this thesis, a code was specifically developed to track the 3Dtrajectory of blocks and fragments and to measure velocities before and after the impact. Two different programs wereimplemented, one for the blocks that break and one for those that do not. The captured parameters allow the velocitydistribution of fragments, the restitution coefficients, and the energy balance of the impact to be obtained. The results of thesetests were incorporated into the rockfall propagation model RockGIS.A final issue that is addressed is the characterization of roughness, which is a fundamental parameter of the propagation ofblocks on slopes made up of accumulations of fragments (e.g. talus deposits). One of the limitations of considering a lumpedmass approach when simulating block propagation is that its relative position at impact with the slope is unknown, as thegeometry is not explicitly taken into account. In this thesis, different algorithms are developed to quantify volumes of rockfragments and to define the spatially distributed roughness of the terrain using high resolution 3D point clouds collected withTLS or photogrammetry.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN MARINE SCIENCES

LOMELI QUINTERO, VICTOR MANUEL: El costo del impacto sobre el Litoral Debido al cambio climático en Cataluña.
Author: LOMELI QUINTERO, VICTOR MANUEL
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: (DECA)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 24/04/2023
Reading date: 13/10/2023
Reading time: 09:00
Reading place: ETSECCPB. Escola de Camins, Edifici C1 planta baixa Aula 002 - UPC C/Jordi Girona, 1-3 08034 Barcelona
Thesis director: MÖSSO ARANDA, OCTAVIO CESAR | SANCHEZ-ARCILLA CONEJO, AGUSTIN
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: CAJUEIRO CARNEIRO PEREIRA, LUCI
     SECRETARI: GRACIA GARCIA, VICENTE
     VOCAL: GONZÁLEZ DÍAZ, MARTA
Thesis abstract: Climate change is a major issue that is having a significant impact on coastal areas globally. This phenomenon is generating processes of erosion, flooding and sea level rise, which is of great concern. These impacts not only have environmental and social consequences, but also have a significant impact on the local economy. This study focuses on analyzing the costs of climate change on the coastline of Catalonia. To address this, GCIFS (Georefernced Impact Forecast System) has been developed, an innovative tool in Python that uses LIDAR measurements, mapping and online databases to determine the new coastline and assess the economic impacts. In addition, a new methodology has been proposed that considers unique scenarios for each beach, producing multiple vectors with direction and altitude, identifying areas of difficult erosion and existing protections. The tool was applied to 262 beaches in the study area, using seven different analyses depending on the sea level rise forecast and considering or not the coastal geomorphology. Costs were calculated taking into account local factors of impact and future protection, providing detailed data on the impact on infrastructure and buildings by typology. The results showed an estimated cost of ¿8,846.00 million for the year 2100 in the worst-case forecast, a cost of ¿3,587.36 million for a conservative forecast and considering geomorphology, and a cost of ¿822.67 million for a forecast based on local erosion data and geomorphology. The protection results indicated that 170,676 meters of protective structures would be required to safeguard the entire infrastructure behind the beaches analyzed.This study not only showed the high cost that these events will have on the coastal economy of the area, but also demonstrated the large differences in results using different analyses and technologies.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

LIANG, JING: Micromechanics of quaternary AICrSiN coatings on hard substrates
Author: LIANG, JING
Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
Department: (CEM)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 20/07/2023
Reading date: 27/10/2023
Reading time: 12:00
Reading place: EEBE, Sala Polivalent de l'Edifici A, planta baixa, Campus Diagonal-Besòs
Thesis director: JIMENEZ PIQUÉ, EMILIO
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: GARCÍA LORENTE, JOSÉ ANTONIO
     SECRETARI: FARGAS RIBAS, GEMMA
     VOCAL: GUTIÉRREZ MORA, FELIPE
Thesis abstract: AlCrSiN quaternary coatings are extensively utilized in the tool industry due to their outstanding mechanical performance as protective coatings. These coatings are formed by introducing elements of Al and Si to enhance the mechanical properties of the CrN binary coating. Among various methods, physical vapor deposition (PVD) is widely employed in the cutting tool industry to improve the performance of hard materials. In this doctoral thesis, AlCrSiN quaternary coatings were prepared using PVD and deposited on substrates with different hardness levels.The thesis investigates the mechanical performance of AlCrSiN quaternary coatings deposited on two soft substrates after undergoing thermal treatment to simulate service conditions. The hardness and elastic modulus of the AlCrSiN coating increased when deposited on all substrates at a lower temperature of 500°C. However, these properties decreased at a higher temperature of 800°C, indicating material degradation. Compared to AlTiSiN coating, ACrSiN coating samples exhibited lower adhesion and larger spalled areas after all thermal treatments. Among the substrates, the coatings deposited on Inconel 718 demonstrated significantly better mechanical performance, particularly at high temperatures.In the second part, a comparative study of the mechanical performance was conducted on AlCrSiN quaternary coatings deposited on two hard substrates: WC-Co and cBN. The crystalline structure of the AlCrSiN coating was not influenced by the substrates in terms of intrinsic hardness and elastic modulus. AlCrSiN coating deposited on the WC- Co substrate exhibited better adhesion compared to the coating on the cBN substrate, irrespective of the load conditions. The results of the mechanical response under Hertzian loads revealed that AlCrSiN coating deposited on WC-Co substrate demonstrated superior resistance to both monotonic and cyclic loads compared to the coating on cBN substrates. The difference in the mechanical performance of the AlCrSiN coating on substrates with varying hardness depended on both the adhesion strength and the distinct mechanical performance of the substrate.The final part of the thesis focused on the effect of Zr/Ta ion implantation on the mechanical properties of AlCrSiN quaternary coatings deposited on the hard WC-Co substrate. Both Zr and Ta ion implantations led to a decrease in hardness and elastic modulus. The analysis of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed a transformation of the metal bonding from Al-Al and Cr-Cr to Al-N and Cr-N metal nitride chemical bonding, respectively. The crystalline structure of the AlCrSiN coating remained relatively unchanged, maintaining a (Cr,Al)N solid solution, regardless of ion implantation. Additionally, a small amount of zb-AlN was detected in the case of Zr ion implantation. The adhesion strength between the coating and substrate improved after ion implantation, with Ta ion implantation exhibiting the best performance.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN NETWORK ENGINEERING

ALI, ZORAZE: AI/ML for multi-technology RAN automation with full and limited infrastructure support
Author: ALI, ZORAZE
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 NETWORK ENGINEERING
Department: Department of Network Engineering (ENTEL)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 19/07/2023
Reading date: 15/11/2023
Reading time: 11:00
Reading place: Sala 128B en la EETAC (Escuela de Ingeniería de Telecomunicación y Aeroespacial de Castelldefels).
Thesis director: GIUPPONI, LORENZA | MANGUES BAFALLUY, JOSEP
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: TORIL GENOVÉS, MATÍAS
     SECRETARI: ZOLA, ENRICA VALERIA
     VOCAL: MOYSEN, JESSICA
Thesis abstract: This thesis studies and proposes solutions to some of the most relevant challenges in the Radio Access Network (RAN) management arising from its evolution beyond 5G and towards 6G. The tackled problems are selected due to the increasing inherent complexity with which these technologies come along, which justifies the need for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) techniques. In particular, we identify two axes of complexity: the infrastructure support complexity axis (x-axis), where the complexity varies based on the level of infrastructure support, and the technology complexity axis (y-axis), which captures the complexity variation based on the number of technologies to be operated in a coordinated way. Based on these axes, we define three RAN scenarios: infrastructure-based single-technology, infrastructure-based multi-technology, and limited infrastructure-based single-technology. The main objective is to study these scenarios in depth and identify a set of representative use cases along these axes that can be addressed with AI/ML solutions to automate RAN. In this line, our methodology consists of a three-step approach, using existing and implementing new high-fidelity and standard-compliant simulation models of the open-source ns-3 and 5G-LENA system-level simulators coupled with the proposed AI/ML frameworks.In the first step, we focus on the two use cases, 1) handover (HO) management and 2) initial Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) selection in the infrastructure-based single-technology RAN scenarios. The traditional HO schemes have the drawback of considering only the quality of signals from the serving and the target BS to make a HO decision, which can impact users´ QOE. Also, the initial MCS at the start of the session is usually handled conservatively, i.e., the lowest MCS is assigned to a mobile device that connects to a new BS, impacting its initial throughput. To address these drawbacks, we propose AI/ML solutions prioritizing QoE for HO decisions and optimizing initial MCS allocation using network data. First, we design single-task AI/ML models for each use case, then propose a multi-task framework for addressing multiple use cases concurrently, reducing training costs.In the second step, we deal with the infrastructure-based multi-access technology scenarios by focusing on the coexistence of License Assisted Access (LAA) and LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) with WiFi. These technologies must ensure fair coexistence to operate in the unlicensed spectrum. However, this thesis discovers that the inherent delay in receiving HARQ feedback in the LAA enables it to monopolize the channel, which then degrades neighboring WiFi networks' performance. To solve this, we propose an AI/ML-based scheme that infers feedback without delay. Our scheme achieves a favorable trade-off between WiFi fairness and LAA performance in terms of throughput and latency compared to benchmark approaches. Additionally, we propose a statistical framework to evaluate fairness in LAA and LTE-U coexistence with WiFi, confirming LAA's better fairness over LTE-U's.Finally, in the third step, we focus on the limited infrastructure-based single-technology RAN scenarios. Without base stations, in these scenarios, operations like resource selection and scheduling are uncoordinated, introducing another level of complexity. Specifically, this thesis focuses on vehicle-to-vehicle communication with limited infrastructure, where a roadside unit broadcasts basic information using 3GPP NR-V2X technology. Nevertheless, vehicle resource selection in NR-V2X involves continuous channel sensing, but it consumes more energy. Alternatively, not employing sensing saves energy but increases interference. Hence, an energy-performance trade-off arises. To address this, we propose an AI/ML-based partial sensing mechanism to dynamically balance V2X user performance and energy consumption, surpassing the manual configuration of standard sensing parameters.
ROBLES GONZÁLEZ, ANTONIO: Private user-centric management of electronic services in smart communities
Author: ROBLES GONZÁLEZ, ANTONIO
Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN NETWORK ENGINEERING
Department: Department of Network Engineering (ENTEL)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 13/07/2023
Reading date: 05/10/2023
Reading time: 12:00
Reading place: Aula Màster C3-005, Campus Nord (ENTEL-MAT)
Thesis director: PARRA ARNAU, JAVIER | ARIAS CABARCOS, PATRICIA
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: ALMENARES MENDOZA, FLORINA
     SECRETARI: PALLARES SEGARRA, ESTEVE
     VOCAL: MENG, WEIZHI
Thesis abstract: Smart community services are reaching nearly every area of our daily life, often requiring private information from their users. The scope of all contributors to these services is to collaboratively share information for the benefit of all stakeholders, including citizens (user), organizations, schools, and governing institutions. User contribution can be participatory --flence intentionally given --0r smart community services can gather information opportunistically from user sensors and/or APls nearly automatically or with less user influence. The present dissertation focuses on participatory user contribution. SCS increasingly demand consciously undertaken participatory user contributions, that predominantly require a login-based user verification process based on an identification (I) and authentication (A) process. Throughout this process, the user logs in with a user identity, regardless of whether it is a real one or not. The verification process is associated with immanent privacy threats to users. The users can contribute with tagging, posting, or uploading information demanded by the SCS, which may need reliability guarantees linked to the trustworthiness of the users. Nowadays becoming more aware about their privacy and right to self-determine, users are not so willing to contribute unconditionally to the SCS, leading to a conflict between user privacy and the SCS requirements. The verification process for a user login as well as his contributions implies user privacy threats. Chapter 3 and 4 of the dissertation focus on the privacy threat analysis (PTA) of the user verification process and chapter 5 on user self-determined privacy aware contributions to the SCS. Chapter 3 focuses on the PTA of the verification process in the modelling phase. We extend the scientifically grounded LINDDUN PT A framework to be used systematically for modelling of the verification process to perform a user login. Our contribution includes the modelling of the I and A processes, considering IA methods, the extension of the trust boundary concept, and extensively extends the privacy threat mapping table. Our contributions are assembled in a systematic and reproducible step-by-step guide intended for privacy auditors including knowledge and decision support, whereby the results do not depend on the knowledge of the auditor or his intuition. The results provide the requirements for the authentication schemes (AS) to be implemented or selected. Chapter 4 focuses on the PTA of the verification process of realized AS. Bonneau et al. proposed a comparison framework to extensively evaluate AS for usability (U), deployability (D) and security (S), namely, the UDS framework. We extend it with a new defined privacy (P) category to become the UDSP framework. Our evaluation of the 38 AS -including biometrics -with the UDSP framework reveal inter alia fundamental privacy threats, for which we propose guidelines for more secure implementations. Chapter 5 focuses on self-determined and user accepted revocable privacy. The contributing user in particular is exposed to privacy threats when he contributes to a critical incident of a SCS, that requires evidence and trustworthiness for the contribution. That is the reason why we propose a taxonomy concept for classifying the criticality of incidents, including a mapping to enhanced privacy requirements and the cryptographic primitives that would support their realization in a privacy preserving fashion. The taxonomy for user self-determination comprising enforceable graded revocable privacy, which is nonetheless partially applicable to the right to be forgotten, is exemplified for two proofs-of-concepts applying cryptographic primitives alike blacklistable anonymous credentials and group signatures with distributed management.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN PHOTONICS

HELLER, LUKAS: Exploring quantum memory schemes in cold
Author: HELLER, LUKAS
Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN PHOTONICS
Department: Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 08/09/2023
Reading date: pending
Reading time: pending
Reading place: pending
Thesis director: DE RIEDMATTEN, HUGUES
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: TARRUELL PELLEGRIN, LETICIA
     SECRETARI: LAURAT, JULIEN
     VOCAL: SANGOUARD, NICOLAS
Thesis abstract: Quantum memories are devices that are able to store photonic quantum states and entanglement. Future quantum networks, which could enhance cybersecurity through quantum key distribution, improve the precision in atomic clock networks, and connect quantum devices over long distances, rely on them. This thesis reports on experiments towards improved quantum memories for quantum repeaters used in long-distance quantum communication.The quantum memory is based on a cloud of laser-cooled Rubidium-87. Thanks to collective interference effects, this system enhances the light-matter interaction compared to that of a single atom. This is exploited to either create long-lived quantum correlations between light and atomic excitations through probabilistic light scattering (DLCZ protocol) or to efficiently absorb an incoming single photon (Raman protocol). In both cases, the excitation is retrieved after a programmable delay as a single photon. An optical cavity around the atoms further enhances the light-matter coupling. In a first experiment, the DLCZ protocol is combined with a photon echo protocol, allowing for the sequential creation of excitations in N distinguishable temporal modes. This is known as temporal multiplexing. Multiplexing improves the rate at which entanglement is created in a network link by a factor N. Here, the cavity is essential to suppress noise originating from the probabilistic scattering of light in the DLCZ protocol. Ten temporal modes are stored while maintaining strong quantum correlations between the scattered photon and the atomic excitation. In a second experiment, a quasi-deterministic single photon is stored in the cloud following the Raman protocol. The photon originates from an ensemble of laser-cooled Rydberg atoms. Strong dipole-dipole interactions prevent the excitation of more than one atom to the Rydberg level, leading to the creation of a single collective Rydberg excitation which is later retrieved as a single photon. A deterministic source, opposed to a probabilistic source, improves the entanglement creation rate as it generates single photons at higher rates. The single photon is stored and faithfully retrieved from the memory while maintaining its single-photon nature. The cavity is not being used in this experiment. In a third experiment, the retrieval efficiency of a stored excitation is increased by cavity-enhancing the read-out process. Highly-efficient memories are important because the entanglement distribution scales strongly with memory efficiency. The intra-cavity efficiency could be improved by a factor 2-3, depending on the protocol, even for a non-optimal cavity setup. Finally, ongoing work towards efficient entanglement between an atomic excitation and a telecom photon is presented, involving a cavity-enhanced DLCZ memory, an atomic dipole trap and quantum frequency conversion (QFC) to the telecom C-band. As the memory operates in the optical domain, where photonic transmission losses are large, QFC will be needed to communicate over large distances. This setup will be used in the future for a hybrid experiment connecting the cold atomic memory to a solid state memory. These investigations target intrinsic limitations of early, proof-of-principle quantum links. They can therefore help to build practical links in the future.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN POLYMERS AND BIOPOLYMERS

SÁEZ COMET, CARLOS: Obtaining micro- and nanotextured functional surfaces on thermoplastics via injection moulding techniques using laser textured metallic inserts and NIL (nano-imprint lithography) -textured polymeric films
Author: SÁEZ COMET, CARLOS
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: 03/07/2023
Reading date: 06/10/2023
Reading time: 11:00
Reading place: Sala Polivalent de l'Edifici I, planta baixa, Campus Diagonal-Besòs
Thesis director: PUIGGALI BELLALTA, JORGE | DEL VALLE MENDOZA, LUIS JAVIER | FONTDECABA BAIG, ENRIC
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: PÉREZ MURANO, FRANCESC
     SECRETARI: CASELLAS PADRO, DANIEL
     VOCAL: TYLKOWSKI, BARTOSZ
Thesis abstract: Surfaces with special functionalities owed to their surface topographies or textures are present all around us in nature. Millions of living organisms around us profit from those special functionalities thanks to the features existing on the interfaces that separate them from the surrounding environment. These functionalities, such as special wettability or antibacterial properties, for example, arise from the micro- and nanometre periodically organized features present on those interfaces.These properties that arise from the specific interactions of the micro- and nanotextures present on the surfaces with the surrounding environment (light, liquids, infectious agents, etc.), constitute a powerful inspiration towards the functionalization of the surfaces of plastic parts. The possibility of functionalizing the surface of plastic parts using a replication based technique applied to a high-volume and low-cost-per-part well-known production technology such as injection moulding has acquired a lot of scientific interest during the last years. This technology allows for the production of such parts without the need of using special coatings or treatments. This in turn reduces their complexity and also the resources and times needed for the manufacturing, while also lowering their environmental footprint.The production of such surfaces through injection moulding requires the use of micro- and nanotextured mould inserts that serve as negative template tooling for the obtention of the textured features on the surface of the final plastic produced part. In this regard, the usage of two different types of tooling have been researched in this study: first, metallic micro- and nanotextured inserts and second, flexible polymeric inserts.In the first part of this research, the use of micro- and nanotextured metallic materials as injection mould inserts, a thoroughly studied technology for the production of micro- and nanotextured surfaces on polymeric parts, is studied.In this case, the influence of the process parameters on the obtained results been carried out using mainly transparent thermoplastic polymers (PC, PMMA, PET, TPU). Along with it, various process technology improvements and functional characterization techniques to determine the functionality of the obtained plastic parts has been researched.Also, practical applications of the obtained results within the frame of a publicly financed project are shown within this section. The main results show that mould temperature and holding pressure played a major role in the degree of replication (DR%) of the micro/nanostructures obtained in the surface of the polymeric parts manufactured via isothermal injection moulding (IIM).Also, the improvements in the DR% achieved when using advanced injection moulding techniques such as variothermal injection moulding (VIM) and injection compression moulding (ICM) were researched, and the relevant functional characteristics promoted by the micro- and nanotextures replicated (special wetting, optical and mechanical properties) were thoroughly characterized.In the second part of the research, the use of flexible polymeric materials as mould inserts, a more innovative and potentially more cost-effective technology, has been studied. In this section, the influence of the process parameters on the obtained results and the improvement of the flexible insert materials, along with a characterization of all the results obtained has been studied.Also, several complementary topics have been researched: the enhancement of the functional properties of the obtained plastic parts via secondary treatments (coatings, ionic implantation), the study of the thermoforming of such textured films to be used as 3D mould inserts and the extension of the used injectable materials to current polymers of crescent industrial interest (biopolymers).

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN SIGNAL THEORY AND COMMUNICATIONS

FERNÁNDEZ CAÑELLAS, DÈLIA: Knowledge graph population from news streams
Author: FERNÁNDEZ CAÑELLAS, DÈLIA
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: 14/07/2023
Reading date: 09/10/2023
Reading time: 16:30
Reading place: Aula Merit Edifici D5 porta 010, Dpt. TSC
Thesis director: GIRÓ NIETO, XAVIER | BOU BALUST, ELISENDA
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: RIGAU CLARAMUNT, GERMAN
     SECRETARI: RODRÍGUEZ HONTORIA, HORACIO
     VOCAL: LANGMEAD, GREGORY
Thesis abstract: Media producers publish large amounts of multimedia content online - both text, audio, image and video. As the online media market grows, the management and delivery of contents becomes a challenge.Semantic and linking technologies can be used to organize and exploit these contents through the use of knowledge graphs.This industrial doctorate dissertation addresses the problem of constructing knowledge resources and integrating them into a system used by media producers to manage and explore their contents. For that purpose, knowledge graphs and their maintenance through Information Extraction (IE) from news streams is studied. This thesis presents solutions for multimedia understanding and knowledge extraction from online news, and their exploitation in real product applications, and it is structured in three parts.The first part consists on the construction of IE tools that will be used for knowledge graph population. For that, we built an holistic Entity Linking (EL) system capable of combining multimodal data inputs to extract a set of semantic entities that describe news content. The EL system is followed by a Relation Extraction (RE) model that predicts relations between pairs of entities with a novel method based on entity-type knowledge. The final system is capable of extracting triples describing the contents of a news article.The second part focuses on the automatic construction of a news event knowledge graph. We present an online multilingual system for event detection and comprehension from media feeds, called VLX-Stories.The system retrieves information from news sites, aggregates them into events (event detection), and summarizes them by extracting semantic labels of its most relevant entities (event representation) in order to answer four Ws from journalism: who, what, when and where. This part of the thesis deals with the problems of Topic Detection and Tracking (TDT), topic modeling and event representation.The third part of the thesis builds on top of the models developed in the two previous parts to populate a knowledge graph from aggregated news. The system is completed with an emerging entity detection module, which detects mentions of novel people appearing on the news and creates new knowledge graph entities from them.Finally, data validation and triple classification tools are added to increase the quality of the knowledge graph population.This dissertation addresses many general knowledge graph and information extraction problems, like knowledge dynamicity, self-learning, and quality assessment. Moreover, as an industrial work, we provide solutions that were deployed in production and verify our methods with real customers.
LUGO HERNÁNDEZ, EDUARDO: Analysis of thin-film solidly mounted resonators for applications in harsh environments
Author: LUGO HERNÁNDEZ, EDUARDO
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: 24/07/2023
Reading date: 10/10/2023
Reading time: 16:00
Reading place: difici C4 Aula 131G, Escola T.S.E. de Telecomunicació de Barcelona
Thesis director: MATEU MATEU, JORDI | MIREA, TEONA
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: RODRÍGUEZ MÉNDEZ, LUIS MANUEL
     SECRETARI: VALENZUELA GONZALEZ, JOSE LUIS
     VOCAL NO PRESENCIAL: MIGUEL RAMOS, MARIO DE
Thesis abstract: The sensing industry is constantly growing due to its demand in fields that require critical and essential information (data environment) for human safeness and quality of life. In recent years, designers, researchers and engineers have paid especial attention in at least three important characteristics in order to obtain reliable devices. These characteristics are: costs reduction, miniaturization for electronic integration compatibility (IC) and sensitivity. A promising technology that has the capacity to meet these requirements is the electroacoustic one. This technology is primary based on the propagation of surface acoustic waves (SAWs) and bulk acoustic waves (BAWs) in a piezoelectric material. For the last years, these devices have been studied and tested in different sensing applications such as gas detectors (gravimetric sensors), temperature monitoring and thin film growth. They have been tested in different fields such as automotive industry, food preservation and thin film deposition, and they have proved excellent performance. Moreover, these applications are special because the collected data occurs in harsh environments. Therefore, the required technology must possess special characteristics to meet these requirements under such environmental conditions. One more time, electroacoustic devices have showed good performance on this type of environments and conditions. BAW devices are an excellent solution to overcome the requirements needed due to their high resolution, straightforward fabrication process, high sensitivity, low costs, low size and compatibility with the IC technology. Specifically, the Solidly Mounted Resonator (SMR) configuration based on AlN is one of the best option since it has been widely studied. This configuration is well-known for its applications in Radio Frequency communication systems. Furthermore, it has demonstrated excellent performance and high quality factors in various sensing applications, even at high temperatures up to 1000°C. Additionally, it has exhibited spurious-free resonances. This characteristic is especially important in sensing applications as the presence of spurious modes can distort the sensor behavior and modify the results i.e., in mass detectors these spurious modes might affect the series frequency resonance, which is directly related with the change of the detected mass. Although this technology has been tested and showed excellent performance at high temperatures, there is a lack of studies in applications at very low or cryogenic temperatures. In this research work, we present results based on specific designs and simulations, considering the aforementioned requirements, such as temperature and pressure variations, as well as spurious-free resonances. This thesis introduces two significant novelties: the investigation conducted at low temperatures, which remains an essential area of research, on the other side, we include the examination of geometry and topology as potential contributors to the presence of spurious resonances. Additionally, we experimentally validate our models by means of data extracted from fabricated SMRs, which are based on the c-axis oriented AlN piezoelectric material. In order to carry out our simulations, we have paid careful attention to the well-known one-dimensional Mason¿s model and Butterworth-Van Dyke (BVD), which are based on the physical properties of materials and equivalent electrical circuit, respectively. We have modified and updated these models to analyze the presence of a new resonator coupled with the main resonance frequency (2.5 GHz). In addition, we have put an enormous attention in the quality factor (Q), frequency resonances and effective piezoelectric coupling factor (keff2) behavior as a function of temperature. We carried out simulations and compared them with measurements from -160 °C up to 422°C.
REZAZADEH, FARHAD: Lifelong AI-Driven Zero-Touch Network Slicing
Author: REZAZADEH, FARHAD
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: 08/09/2023
Reading date: 13/10/2023
Reading time: 10:00
Reading place: Aula Multimèdia, B3, ETSETB
Thesis director: VERIKOUKIS, CHRISTOS
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: NIYATO, DUSIT
     SECRETARI: ADELANTADO FREIXER, FERRAN
     VOCAL NO PRESENCIAL: SPYROPOULOS, THRASYVOULOS
Thesis abstract: The sixth-generation (6G) network's evolution necessitates advancements in algorithms and architecture to transition from an AI-native to an intrinsic trustworthy automation-native system. Network slicing creates multiple virtual networks for diverse service requirements and is a crucial technology for future communication systems and 6G networks. This technology will facilitate numerous aspects of life, society, and industry, meeting the communication needs of both humans and intelligent machines. This is made possible by employing softwarization and virtualization technologies, including software-defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV), to enable the necessary flexibility and programmability required for network slicing. However, the implementation of network slicing in radio access networks (RAN) is challenging due to the complexity of managing RAN operations. This gap is addressed with zero-touch network slicing, a fully automated management and orchestration scheme, which eliminates the need for fixed contracts and manual intervention. The decision engine, a main component of this technology, employs algorithmic innovation to optimize network resource allocation and handle the challenges of RAN slicing, including energy efficiency, latency, scalability, and trustworthiness. In resource allocation, a joint optimization approach is used to balance energy and latency with service quality. A stochastic Actor-Critic approach is proposed to streamline the learning procedure and reduce the need for hyperparameter tuning in an energy-aware network slicing setup. Additionally, a massive deep reinforcement learning-based actor-learner framework is introduced to tackle complexity issues and control challenges in network slicing. The temporal variations of traffic demand pose a significant challenge for resource planning and allocation in the RAN domain. To mitigate this, a distributed architecture for RAN slice resource orchestration is proposed, featuring multiple AI-enabled decision agents that perform local radio allocation decisions without a centralized control entity. A federated learning scheme, aligned with the recent development of the Open RAN architecture, is designed to enhance local decision-making capabilities. Despite AI's effectiveness, concerns persist regarding the lack of transparency in deep neural networks, posing risks to reliability and security in network scenarios. This lack of trust prevents telecommunications operators from widely deploying AI models in their networks. To address this, we proposed SliceOps architecture that consolidates explainable ML operations in a standalone slice, offering AI services to other slices. This setup enhances the reliability and interpretability of AI models, facilitating swift deployment in the network with greater consistency. By transitioning from AI-native to automation-native, this framework manages both service and underlying AI functions, allowing full potential harnessing of slicing in RAN while reducing complexities.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN SUSTAINABILITY

MARCILLO DELGADO, JUAN CARLOS: Marco de referencia para la planificación y desarrollo continuo de la comunicación de riesgos y crisis frente a amenazas en Sudamérica
Author: MARCILLO DELGADO, JUAN CARLOS
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: 15/09/2023
Reading date: pending
Reading time: pending
Reading place: pending
Thesis director: ÁLVAREZ GARCÍA, ALICIA | GARCIA CARRILLO, AGUEDA
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: GUERRA DE CASTILLO, ZOILA YADIRA
     SECRETARI: PORCAR BECKER, INGEBORG
     VOCAL NO PRESENCIAL: RODAS HERNÁNDEZ, OSCAR ROLANDO
Thesis abstract: Research on risk communication and crisis communication (RC&C) is a crucial aspect to foster population resilience in the face of major hazards, especially in developing economies where there are greater social vulnerabilities. The objective of this doctoral thesis is to propose a framework to guide the planning and ongoing development of CR&C strategies in South America. The methodological framework, based on data mining, involves the use of different textual mining techniques, according to the structure of each of the data, which make it possible to visualize the relationships between textual objects; classify the objects of interest; carry out comparative analyses at the country level; and study CR&C trends. The units of analysis focus on different types of textual data such as documents associated with risk and crisis management planning, scientific publications, communiqués issued via tweets, and information from the Regional Logistics Center for Humanitarian Assistance that is located in Panama in the period 2017-2021. It identifies the main CR&C and Risk and Crisis Management (RC&C) strategies that South American RC&C Services should consider in order to make their communications more effective throughout the crisis cycle. Strengths and weaknesses of the analyzed countries' planning on these strategies are identified. The influence of economic, political, social, demographic, technical and disaster risk factors on the development of CR&C and GR&C strategies is identified. The analysis of different GR&C documents allows differentiating five minimum components of CR&C in South America: i) early communication planning; ii) information and communication system planning; iii) quality management of communication and communicators; iv) risk and crisis awareness; and v) stakeholder consolidation. The bibliometric mapping of 330 scientific publications differentiates five clusters for CR&C in South America: i) factors for risk communication in vulnerable areas; ii) factors for health and crisis communication; iii) elements for communication of human and environmental exposure to contaminants; iv) management of the continuity and quality of communication, v) factors that enhance communication. It is identified that most of the factors revealed through the bibliometric analysis are aimed at strengthening communication systems and increasing risk awareness of vulnerable people. The analysis of 40,082 official tweets from the Ministries of Health of eight South American countries during COVID-19 identified 18 communication topics associated with: i) communication of the impact and monitoring of the threat; ii) communication of measures to reduce the risk of the threat; iii) visibility of the multidimensional nature of the problem; iv) communication of the capacity of the health system to deal with threats; and v) communication of mechanisms to strengthen vulnerable groups in the face of threats. The above results allow proposing a framework of strategies for disaster risk and humanitarian crisis communication in South America. This doctoral thesis contributes to: i) understand the factors affecting the development of CR&C; ii) recognize the efforts envisaged by regional policy; iii) analyze the advantages and disadvantages of CR&C planning at the country level; iv) verify the conformity of planning with contemporary international frameworks such as the Sendai Framework for Risk and Disaster Reduction 2015-2030; v) generate knowledge for decision making; and vi) serve as input to accelerate the implementation of strategies in the context of risk and crisis management (R&CM).
NARANJO SILVA, HÉCTOR SEBASTIÁN: Análisis de la producción hidroeléctrica en base a las implicaciones en la sostenibilidad energética
Author: NARANJO SILVA, HÉCTOR SEBASTIÁN
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: 13/09/2023
Reading date: pending
Reading time: pending
Reading place: pending
Thesis director: ALVAREZ DEL CASTILLO, JAVIER
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: TOLLIN, NICOLA
     SECRETARI: MORATO FARRERAS, JORDI
     VOCAL NO PRESENCIAL: RÍOS OSORIO, LEONARDO ALBERTO
Thesis abstract: Technical, ecological, territorial, and cultural transformations at various levels and spaces of society where hydroelectric projects exist often involve conflicts, new knowledge regimes, different local practices, global mitigation frameworks, and water resource management. Therefore, the fact that hydroelectricity does not rely on fossil fuels should not imply the absence of adverse environmental effects. In fact, its development and construction require dams, concrete infrastructure, road openings, water channels, transmission power towers, and other facilities that are not new, but they do possess specific characteristics, benefits, and disadvantages.Globally, hydroenergy production presents a macro view of advantages, but little is discussed about the disadvantages and issues that arise from the construction of these structures and their surrounding systems. This research aimed to analyze hydroelectric production based on implications for energy sustainability. Through an analytical-experimental methodology with a quantitative approach, several axes were investigated.In the analysis, the thesis first involved visits to various hydroelectric projects in Ecuador, mainly, and adjacent communities to verify the environment, infrastructure, operation, collect water samples, and gather information through surveys of people living in these areas. These activities provided research elements and data on the changes contrasted since the construction of hydropower plants.Additionally, the research conducted 183 surveys to gather information and perspectives from communities near Ecuador's largest project, collected 10 water samples for physicochemical water analysis in five hydropower projects, established a relationship between hydroelectric production and technical, social, and environmental variables, and developed a connection between hydroelectricity and sustainability.The research concludes that hydroelectric energy presents itself as a renewable technology that provides benefits such as water supply to communities, flood control, greenhouse gas reduction, and clean energy as a low-carbon option. However, emerging problems exist due to unregulated exploitation and large-scale infrastructure with dams that alter the environment, making this source not entirely sustainable.Furthermore, there are parameters that impact hydroelectricity; socially, changes in customs and movements of people from their places of origin were observed; environmentally, parameters include changes in water quality, wildlife death, reduction in river fish populations, erosion, and seasonal changes; technically, parameters such as water usage for generation, construction type, and water variations that reduce plant efficiency were verified.It is conclusive that there are hidden impacts for every megawatt produced through hydroelectricity, and its generation structure is not highly clean due to the significant water resource requirement per kWh. However, hydroelectricity significantly contributes to climate change mitigation compared to fossil fuel energy production, but the availability of water resources varies, altering ecosystems and requiring careful attention due to the hidden, often intangible costs such as environmental, social, and technical parameters that occur.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN TEXTILE AND PAPER ENGINEERING

GONZALEZ BERTRAN, JUDIT: DEVELOPMENT OF DYNAMIC TEXTILES BASED ON SHAPE MEMORY POLYURETHANE (SMPU) FOR APPLICATIONS IN CAR SEAT UPHOLSTERY
Author: GONZALEZ BERTRAN, JUDIT
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 TEXTILE AND PAPER ENGINEERING
Department: Department of Textile and Paper Engineering (ETP)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 12/09/2023
Reading date: 25/10/2023
Reading time: 11:00
Reading place: Sala de Conferències de l'INTEXTER (C/Colom 15, Terrassa)
Thesis director: ARDANUY RASO, MONICA | GONZÁLEZ COLOMINAS, MARTA
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: PEÑA ANDRES, FRANCISCO JAVIER
     SECRETARI: VENTURA CASELLAS, HEURA
     VOCAL: MOLINA MANSILLA, RICARDO
Thesis abstract: In recent years, numerous studies have been carried out on functional textiles due to their ability to adapt and interact with the environment. In particular, special focus has been placed on dynamic textiles incorporating shape memory materials (SMMs). The most advanced studies in this field deal with the use of shape memory alloys (SMAs) or with the use of shape memory polymer finishes (SMPs), thoroughly analyzing the dynamism of shape memory and its benefits, mainly in terms of comfort and protection. However, despite the rapid development experienced by SMPs due to their versatility, low cost and easy transformation into different formats such as foams, gels or films, their integration in the form of monofilament/multifilament yarns in textiles has yet to be studied in depth. This integration presents significant manufacturing challenges on an industrial level, both in obtaining fibers of adequate fineness retaining their physical properties and shape memory effect (SME), as well as in their subsequent integration into textiles. Studies are currently underway to improve their processability and the properties of SMP yarns, based on shape memory polyurethanes (SMPUs), with the aim of achieving optimum performance and industrial production. However, research on the implementation of SMPU yarns in textiles and their potential applications is still rather limited and further investigation in this area is required. This study focuses on the development of dynamic textiles by integrating SMPU yarns in order to increase comfort in vehicle seats. The research was organized into three phases: the fabrication of the SMPU yarn, the incorporation of the yarns into openwork fabrics and the proposed application. The first research phase was based on the development and characterization of optimal SMPU yarns for use in textile applications. For this purpose, an industrializable SMPU yarn production system was studied, which included the permanent shape programming and the temporary shape setting in a single process. Different yarn winding speeds were analyzed, as well as pure and composite yarn, which was manufactured using additives, such as multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and carbon black (CB), from commercial SMPU pellets. These variations in speed and composition provided a wide range of optimal SMPU yarns for use in textiles, allowing the most suitable yarn to be selected according to the requirements of each application. The second research phase focused on the fabrication of dynamic fabrics by integrating different proportions of SMPU yarns and polyester (PES) yarns in openwork fabrics. The objective was to evaluate the impact of SMPU yarn content and its integration in the fabric in terms of thermal comfort, shape memory effect (SME) and mechanical strength.The third study phase focused on the implementation of dynamic textiles in an innovative application such as vehicle seat upholstery. The dynamism of these textiles, produced by elastic deformation, offers a potential solution to a problem that affects users, causes concern in the automotive sector and thus, has a significant impact on safety. To achieve the objective, three woven fabric structures were developed using a combination of SMPU/PES (25:75) with different ligaments.The results evidenced the possibility of obtaining SMPU yarns with optimal properties and size for textile use, as well as integrating them properly by weft and warp in the weaving process. In addition, a dynamism was observed in the textile that could considerably increase comfort in upholstery applications for vehicle seats.

DOCTORAL DEGREE IN URBANISM

CHO, MEEHWA: Dos crecimientos en una ciudad. Dos ciudades en crecimiento
Author: CHO, MEEHWA
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: (DUTP)
Mode: Normal
Deposit date: 26/06/2023
Reading date: 04/10/2023
Reading time: 11:00
Reading place: Sala de Graus ETSAB. Planta Baixa (E.T.S. Arquitectura de Barcelona)Presencialment
Thesis director: SABATE BEL, JOAQUIN
Committee:
     PRESIDENT: LLOP TORNE, CARLOS JUAN
     SECRETARI: BROSSA I BALCELLS, MARCOS
     VOCAL: SOARES RIBEIRO GOMES CAVACO, CRISTINA
Thesis abstract: After more than a century of existence, a district considered marginal in my city is tragically disappearing without a trace. This inspired me to examine its development and destruction. Busan, the first industrial and the second largest city in South Korea, has experieneced a population explosion three times since the beginning of the modern city. Evidently, urban planning comes after spatial expansion and occupation. Therefore, planned and unplanned districts now coexist within the city of Busan. Both districts have developed through a process of repeated exclusion, expulsion and eventually acculturation of the most underprivileged population at different periods. A spatial discrimination not only erases the ¿other¿ at the real space structure but also at the official history, both in its descriptions and drawings. Therefore, before tackling the morphological analysis, making its existence visible and incorporating it into the historical narrative is essential.This story is not limited to be a testimony of the suffering of the affected citizens, but also intended to reveal the turbulent modern history of the South Korean society that are condensed in the growth of the city: which entered modernity from the most peripheral corner of the world by 19th century imperialism; began the 20th century being occupied by a foreign force; later on in the middle of the last century, suffered an extreme poverty during the actual as well as the ideological war; however, within in a few decades later the country recovered to being a developed one; recently, it achieved a miraculous socioeconomic growth, which, however, hides part of its history.The discrimination that is born from imposing new urban patterns, has reproduced each time a new hegemony. Inevitably entailing a class conflict. In order to reveal the successive attempts at acculturation, or direct expulsion, we tried to discover the process followed by two different urban growths throughout five periods. In which, urban policies were repeatedly subordinated to the objectives of the dominant group and the government, either from an external force or from the Korean society itself. Observations of the dynamics of various agents involved in housing policies revealed the reciprocal relationship between two growths and as a result, the successive urban transformation.Few morphological studies have been addressed in South Korea. Therefore, this research represents a novel contribution to the knowledge of urban formation, which in turns reveals its contribution in building a dramatic inequality. The case study, Busan, has even fewer studies related to its urban history and to the morphological analysis despite its critical importance in the advancement of modern Korean history. We intended to address and to provide for future research projects, an intense morphological analysis that contains varied documentation of formation and transformation along with the historical description with fifteen representative axes.Apropos of the apparent irregularity of that "other city", the analysis revealed patterns, specific rules that resulted from a collective organization, based on a traditional spatial composition. Therefore, the analysis uncovered that this "other city" is not marginal, but rather historical. It is the only place where the traces of traditional space still remain today that is quite different from some heritage elements that are artificially preserved out of their urban context. If one day the South Korean society tries to recover the tradition that has been despised, covered , or considered inferior when it comes to pursuing belated modernization, and also tries to reconnect with the contemporary society, the "other city" would offer, if we arrive on time, the only physical testimony to achieve it.

Last update: 04/10/2023 04:45:29.

≡ Theses authorised for defence

Theses authorised for defence