This thesis explores techniques, models and algorithms for an efficient management of Cloud systems and how to apply them to the healthcare sector in order to improve current treatments. It presents two Cloud-based eHealth applications to telemonitor and control smoke-quitting and hypertensive patients. Different Cloud-based models were obtained and used to develop a Cloudbased infrastructure where these applications are deployed. The results show that these applications improve current treatments and that can be scaled as computing requirements grow. Multiple Cloud architectures and models were analyzed and then implemented using different techniques and scenarios. The Smoking Patient Control (S-PC) tool was deployed and tested in a real environment, showing a 28.4% increase in long-term abstinence. The Hypertension Patient Control (H-PC) tool, was successfully designed and implemented, and the computing boundaries were measured / Aquesta tesi explora tèniques, models i algorismes per una gestió eficient en sistemes al Núvol i com aplicar-ho en el sector de la salut per tal de millorar els tractaments actuals. Presenta dues aplicacions de salut electrònica basades en el Núvol per telemonitoritzar i controlar pacients fumadors i hipertensos. S'ha obtingut diferents models basats en el Núvol i s'han utilitzat per a desenvolupar una infraestructura on desplegar aquestes aplicacions. Els resultats mostren que aquestes aplicacions milloren els tractaments actuals així com escalen a mesura que els requeriments computacionals augmenten. Múltiples arquitectures i models han estat analitzats i implementats utilitzant diferents tècniques i escenaris. L'aplicació Smoking Patient Control (S-PC) ha estat desplegada i provada en un entorn real, aconseguint un augment del 28,4% en l'absistinència a llarg termini de pacients fumadors. L'aplicació Hypertension Patient Control (H-PC) ha estat dissenyada i implementada amb èxit, i els seus límits computacionals han estat mesurats. / Esta tesis explora ténicas, modelos y algoritmos para una gestión eficiente de sistemas en la Nube y como aplicarlo en el sector de la salud con el fin de mejorar los tratamientos actuales. Presenta dos aplicaciones de salud electrónica basadas en la Nube para telemonitorizar y controlar pacientes fumadores e hipertensos. Se han obtenido diferentes modelos basados en la Nube y se han utilizado para desarrollar una infraestructura donde desplegar estas aplicaciones. Los resultados muestran que estas aplicaciones mejoran los tratamientos actuales así como escalan a medida que los requerimientos computacionales aumentan. Múltiples arquitecturas y modelos han sido analizados e implementados utilizando diferentes técnicas y escenarios. La aplicación Smoking Patient Control (S-PC) se ha desplegado y provado en un entorno real, consiguiendo un aumento del 28,4% en la abstinencia a largo plazo de pacientes fumadores. La aplicación Hypertension Patient Control (H-PC) ha sido diseñada e implementada con éxito, y sus límites computacionales han sido medidos.

No description available.

When we look at the amount of resources to convert formats to other formats, that is to say, to make information systems useful, it is the time when we realise that our communication model is inefficient. The transformation of information, as well as the transformation of energy, remains inefficient for the efficiency of the converters. In this work, we propose a new way to ``convert'' information, we propose a mapping algorithm of semantic information based on the context of the information in order to redefine the framework where this paradigm merges with multiple techniques. Our main goal is to offer a new view where we can make further progress and, ultimately, streamline and minimize the communication chain in integration process

This thesis focuses on the definition of a task for the determination, tracking and execution of a grasp on an unknown object. In particular, it is considered the case in which the object is ideally planar and the grasp has to be executed with a two-fingered, parallel-jaw gripper using vision as the source of sensor data. For the specification of this task, an architecture is defined that is based on three basic components -virtual sensors, filters, and actuators-, which can be connected to define a control loop. Each step in this task is analyzed separately, considering several options in some cases.Some of the main contributions of this thesis include: (1) the use of a modular approach to the specification of a control task that provides a basic framework for supporting the concept of behavior; (2) the analysis of several strategies for obtaining a compact representation of the contour of an object; (3) the development of a method for the evaluation and search of a grasp on a planar object for a two-fingered gripper; (4) the specification of different representations of a grasp and the analysis of their use for tracking the grasp between different views of an object; (5) the specification of algorithms for the tracking of a grasp along the views of an object obtained from a sequence of single images and a sequence of stereo images; (6) the definition of parametrized models of the target position of the grasp points and of the feasibility of this target grasp, and of an off-line procedure for the computation of some of the reference values required by this model; and (7) the definition and analysis of a visual servoing control scheme to guide the gripper of a robot arm towards an unknown object using the grasp points computed for that object as control features.

The thesis has been developed at the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory of the University Jaume I (Spain). The objectives are focused on the laboratory's interest fields, which are Telerobotics, Human-Robot Interaction, Manipulation, Visual Servoing, and Service Robotics in general.Basically, the work has consisted of designing and implementing a whole vision based robotic system to control an educational robot via web, by using voice commands like "Grasp the object one" or "Grasp the cube". Our original objectives were upgraded to include the possibility of programming the robot using high level voice commands as well as very quick and significant mouse interactions ("adjustable interaction levels"). Besides this, the User interface has been designed to allow the operator to "predict" the robot movements before sending the programmed commands to the real robot ("Predictive system"). This kind of interface has the particularity of saving network bandwidth and even being used as a whole task specification off-line programming interface. By using a predictive virtual environment and giving more intelligence to the robot supposes a higher level of interaction, which avoids the "cognitive fatigue" associated with many teleoperated systems.The most important novel contributions included in this work are the following:1. Automatic Object Recognition: The system is able to recognize the objects in the robot scenario by using a camera as input (automatic object recognition). This feature allows the user to interact with the robot using high level commands like "Grasp allen".2. Incremental Learning: Due to the fact that the object recognition procedure requires some kind of training before operating efficiently, the UJI Online Robot introduces the In-cremental Learning capability, that means the robot is always learning from the user in-teraction. It means the object recognition module performs better as time goes by.3. Autonomous Grasping: Once an object has been recognized in a scene, the following question is, how can we grasp it? The autonomous grasping module calculates the set of possible grasping points that can be used in order to manipulate an object according to the stability requirements.4. Non-Immersive Virtual Reality: In order to avoid the Internet latency and time-delay effects, the system offers a user interface based on non-immersive virtual reality. Hence, taken the camera data as input, a 3D virtual reality scenario is constructed, which allows specifying tasks that can be confirmed to the real robot in one step.5. Augmented Reality: The 3D virtual scenario is complemented with computer generated information that helps enormously to improve the human performance (e.g. projections of the gripper over the scene is shown, superposition of data in order to avoid robot occlusions, etc.). In some situations the user has more information by controlling the robot from the user interface (web based) than seeing the robot scenario directly.6. Task specification: The system permits specifying complete "Pick & Place" actions, which can be saved into a text file. This robot programming can be accomplished using both, the off-line and the on-line mode.7. Speech recognition/synthesis: To our knowledge this is the first online robot that allows the user to give high-level commands by using simply a microphone. Moreover, the speech synthesizer is integrated into the predictive display, in such a way that the robot re-sponds to the user and asks him/her for confirmation before sending the command to the real scenario.As explained at Chapter I, the novel contributions have been partially published in several sci-entific forums (journals, books, etc.). The most remarkable are for example the acceptance of two papers at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation 2002, and the publication of an extended article at the Special Issue on web telerobotics of the International Journal on Robotics and Automation (November 2002).We have proved the worth of the system by means of an application in the Education and Training domain. Almost one hundred undergraduate students have been using the web-based interface in order to program "Pick and Place" operations. The results are really encouraging (refer to Chapter VII) for more details. Although we are referring to the project as "The UJI Online Robot", in the Educa-tion and Training domain "The UJI Telerobotic Training System" term has been used instead.Further work is planned to focus on applying Remote Visual Servoing techniques in order to improve the actual system performance. This would avoid having to spend long nights calibrating the robot and the cameras, as well extending the system capabilities to work on less structured environments.

L'Alineament Múltiple de Seqüències (MSA) és una eina molt potent per a aplicacions biològiques importants. Els MSA són computacionalment complexos de calcular, i la majoria de les formulacions porten a problemes d'optimització NP-Hard. Per a dur a terme alineaments de milers de seqüències, nous desafiaments necessiten ser resolts per adaptar els algoritmes a l'era de la computació d'altes prestacions. En aquesta tesi es proposen tres aportacions diferents per resoldre algunes limitacions dels mètodes MSA. La primera proposta consisteix en un algoritme de construcció d'arbres guia per millorar el grau de paral•lelisme, amb la finalitat de resoldre el coll d'ampolla de l'etapa de l'alineament progressiu. La segona proposta consisteix en optimitzar la biblioteca de consistència per millorar el temps d'execució, l'escalabilitat, i poder tractar un major nombre de seqüències. Finalment, proposem Multiples Trees Alignment (MTA), un mètode MSA per alinear en paral•lel múltiples arbres guia, avaluar els alineaments obtinguts i seleccionar el millor com a resultat. Els resultats experimentals han demostrat que MTA millora considerablement la qualitat dels alineaments. El Alineamiento Múltiple de Secuencias (MSA) es una herramienta poderosa para aplicaciones biológicas importantes. Los MSA son computacionalmente complejos de calcular, y la mayoría de las formulaciones llevan a problemas de optimización NP-Hard. Para llevar a cabo alineamientos de miles de secuencias, nuevos desafíos necesitan ser resueltos para adaptar los algoritmos a la era de la computación de altas prestaciones. En esta tesis se proponen tres aportaciones diferentes para resolver algunas limitaciones de los métodos MSA. La primera propuesta consiste en un algoritmo de construcción de árboles guía para mejorar el grado de paralelismo, con el fin de resolver el cuello de botella de la etapa del alineamiento progresivo. La segunda propuesta consiste en optimizar la biblioteca de consistencia para mejorar el tiempo de ejecución, la escalabilidad, y poder tratar un mayor número de secuencias. Finalmente, proponemos Múltiples Trees Alignment (MTA), un método MSA para alinear en paralelo múltiples árboles guía, evaluar los alineamientos obtenidos y seleccionar el mejor como resultado. Los resultados experimentales han demostrado que MTA mejora considerablemente la calidad de los alineamientos. Multiple Sequence Alignment (MSA) is a powerful tool for important biological applications. MSAs are computationally difficult to calculate, and most formulations of the problem lead to NP-Hard optimization problems. To perform large-scale alignments, with thousands of sequences, new challenges need to be resolved to adapt the MSA algorithms to the High-Performance Computing era. In this thesis we propose three different approaches to solve some limitations of main MSA methods. The first proposal consists of a new guide tree construction algorithm to improve the degree of parallelism in order to resolve the bottleneck of the progressive alignment stage. The second proposal consists of optimizing the consistency library, improving the execution time and the scalability of MSA to enable the method to treat more sequences. Finally, we propose Multiple Trees Alignments (MTA), a MSA method to align in parallel multiple guide-trees, evaluate the alignments obtained and select the best one as a result. The experimental results demonstrated that MTA improves considerably the quality of the alignments.

The main objective of this thesis focuses on the design of an adaptive algorithm for admission control and content-aware load balancing for Web traffic. In order to set the context of this work, several reviews are included to introduce the reader in the background concepts of Web load balancing, admission control and the Internet traffic characteristics that may affect the good performance of a Web site. The admission control and load balancing algorithm described in this thesis manages the distribution of traffic to a Web cluster based on QoS requirements. The goal of the proposed scheduling algorithm is to avoid situations in which the system provides a lower performance than desired due to servers' congestion. This is achieved through the implementation of forecasting calculations. Obviously, the increase of the computational cost of the algorithm results in some overhead. This is the reason for designing an adaptive time slot scheduling that sets the execution times of the algorithm depending on the burstiness that is arriving to the system. Therefore, the predictive scheduling algorithm proposed includes an adaptive overhead control.Once defined the scheduling of the algorithm, we design the admission control module based on throughput predictions. The results obtained by several throughput predictors are compared and one of them is selected to be included in our algorithm. The utilisation level that the Web servers will have in the near future is also forecasted and reserved for each service depending on the Service Level Agreement (SLA). Our load balancing strategy is based on a classical policy. Hence, a comparison of several classical load balancing policies is also included in order to know which of them better fits our algorithm. A simulation model has been designed to obtain the results presented in this thesis.