Hybrid systems play an important role in the modeling of complex systems since they take into account the interaction between both continuous dynamics and discrete events. Complex systems are subject to changes in the dynamics due to several factors such as nonlinearities, changes in the parameters, disturbances, faults, discrete events and controller actions among others. These facts lead to the need to develop a diagnostic system for hybrid systems improving the diagnostic precision. Hybrid systems allow to combine the classic fault detection and isolation approaches and a diagnoser based on discrete event models. Hence, a design methodology and implementation architecture for diagnosers in the framework of hybrid systems is proposed. The design methodology is based on the hybrid automaton model that represents the system behavior by means of the interaction of continuous dynamics and discrete events. The architecture is composed of modules which carry out mode recognition and diagnostic tasks interacting each other, since the diagnosis module adapts accordingly to the current hybrid system mode. The mode recognition task involves detecting and identifying a mode change by determining the set of residuals that are consistent with the current hybrid system mode. On the other hand, the diagnostic task involves detecting and isolating two type of faults: structural and non-structural faults. In the first case, structural faults are represented by a dynamic model as in the case of nominal modes. Hence they are identified by consistency checking through the set of residuals. In the second case, non-structural faults do not change the structure of the model, therefore, they are identified by a proper residual pattern. %the set of of residuals that can explain this inconsistency. Discernibility is the main property used in hybrid systems diagnosis. Through the concept of discernibility it is possible to predict whether modes changes (faulty or nominal) in the hybrid model can be detected and isolated properly. This concept can be applied in practice, evaluating a set of mathematical properties derived from residual expressions, which can be obtained from input-output models or parity space equations. General properties are derived to evaluate the discernibility between modes in the hybrid automaton model. The diagnoser is built through propagation algorithms developed for discrete models represented by automata. The automaton employed to build the diagnoser for a hybrid system is named behaviour automaton. It gathers all information provided by discernibility properties between modes and observable events in the system, increasing the system diagnosability. % in the system. Diagnosis for hybrid systems can be divided in two stages: offline and online. Moreover, it can be carried out twofold: in a non-incremental and an incremental form. In the non-incremental form, algorithms are executed taking into account global models, unlike incremental form that leads to building the useful parts of the diagnoser, only developing the branches that are needed to explain the occurrence of incoming events. The resulting diagnoser adapts to the system operational life and it is much less demanding in terms of memory storage than building the full diagnoser offline. The methodology is validated by the application to a case study based on a representative part of the Barcelona sewer network by means of a tool implemented in Matlab.

The village paradigm presents some benefits compared with the library paradigm; people can adapt the answer content as a function of who is requesting the information, or furthermore, people can perform clarifications of the answer content; at the same time, the explanations in documents remain static and are the same for all of the readers, and no clarifications can be performed. The proliferation of online social networks along with the advances in artificial intelligence allow us to consider village paradigm automation. The contributions of this doctoral dissertation are the following: to analyze the village paradigm, seeking the aspects that might be automated; the Asknext social search protocol, which uses stop messages; to study the effect of social network topologies on the proposed protocol; the algorithm Question Waves, which contributes in improving the relevance of the received answers / El paradigma del poble presenta alguns beneficis enfront al de la biblioteca, com que les persones poden adaptar el contingut de la resposta en funció de qui tenen davant o fins i tot poden fer aclariments sobre el contingut, mentre el contingut dels textos es manté estàtic. La proliferació de les xarxes socials, conjuntament amb els avenços en intel·ligència artificial, permeten considerar l’automatització del paradigma del poble. Les contribucions d’aquesta tesi són: analitzar el paradigma del poble per veure quins aspectes són automatitzables; el protocol de cerca social Asknext, que utilitza missatges d’aturada; estudiar l’efecte de les característiques de les topologies de les xarxes socials en el protocol Asknext; l’algorisme Question Waves, que contribueix en millorar la rellevància de les respostes rebudes en el procés de cerca

Over the last decade, innovation through design has gained significant attention from the business world, policymakers, and academia. This “new state of mind” has emerged to respond to the changing needs of the society and consumers better. EU Commission recognizes that the Union needs innovation to enable competitiveness, prosperity and well-being. The Commission views design as an important discipline and activity to introduce novelty to the market, converting them into user-friendly, pleasurable and engaging products, services, and experiences. The Commission highlights that when used as a tool for human-centered and market-driven innovation in multiple sectors of the economy, design driven innovation could improve European competitiveness. Considering all these aspects, this thesis consists of four papers. First article introduces the concept of design thinking and asks for the kind of organizations we would need to flourish this new way of thinking to help them achieve sustainable competitive advantage. Second study, highlights the urge for designers to understand the unarticulated needs of individuals and the meanings of these needs to them. As economic, social, and environmental circumstances change, the consumer preferences change and designers may be under the market pressure to add new roles and skills or expand the existing ones to adapt to these new circumstances. The current trend indicates a move from designers as craftsmen to co-designers. This study challenges educational institutions to help design students and practitioners to take on new challenges to understand their new role and develop and extend the skills around this new role. Third study highlights that product design can be employed as a strong differentiator of products in their markets by creating unique and distinctive styles and features. This article presents a new approach where design distinctiveness plays the role as a mediator between a firm’s design orientation and differentiation to reach higher new product success. Fourth investigation establishes the link between design and brand. The empirical study defines brand design construct and its dimensions, develops the relational linkage between brand design and brand experience constructs. The article generates research hypotheses and develops the proposed framework that explains the relationship between brand design and brand experience. / En la última década, la innovación a través del diseño ha sido objeto de una destacada atención por parte del mundo de los negocios, de los diseñadores de las políticas y de la academia. Este “nuevo estado del pensamiento” ha surgido para dar mejor respuesta a las necesidades cambiantes de la sociedad y de los consumidores. La Comisión Europea reconoce que la UE necesita innovar para hacer posible la competitividad, la prosperidad y el bienestar. La Comisión ve el diseño como una disciplina y una actividad importante para introducir una novedad en el mercado, convirtiéndola en productos, servicios y experiencias amigables, placenteros y atractivos. La Comisión destaca que, cuando se utiliza como una herramienta centrada en las personas e impulsada por el mercado en numerosos sectores de la economía, la innovación promovida por el diseño puede mejorar la competitividad en Europa. Considerando todos estos aspectos, esta tesis está integrada por cuatro papers. El primer artículo introduce el concepto de design thinking y se pregunta por el tipo de organizaciones que necesitaríamos para aflorar esta nueva forma de pensamiento con el fin de ayudarlas a alcanzar una ventaja competitiva sostenible. El segundo estudio señala la urgencia de los diseñadores de entender las necesidades no expresadas de las personas y los significados de estas necesidades para ellas. A medida que van cambiando las circunstancias económicas, sociales y medioambientales, las preferencias de los consumidores también cambian y los diseñadores pueden sentir la presión de los mercados para incorporar nuevos roles y habilidades o ampliar los existentes con el fin de adaptarlos a las nuevas circunstancias. La tendencia actual indica que los diseñadores como artesanos pasan a convertirse en codiseñadores. Este estudio reta a las instituciones educativas a ayudar a los estudiantes y profesionales del diseño a asumir nuevos retos para entender su nuevo rol y desarrollar y ampliar las habilidades en torno a este nuevo rol. El tercer estudio señala que el diseño del producto puede utilizarse como un gran factor diferenciador de los productos en sus mercados creando unos estilos y unas características únicas y distintivas. Este artículo presenta un nuevo enfoque en que el carácter distintivo del diseño juega el papel de mediador entre la orientación al diseño de una empresa y la diferenciación, para lograr un mayor éxito del nuevo producto. La cuarta investigación establece relación entre el diseño y la marca. El estudio empírico define el constructo del diseño de la marca y sus dimensiones, desarrolla el vínculo relacional entre el diseño de la marca y los constructos de la experiencia de la marca. El artículo genera hipótesis investigadoras y desarrolla el marco propuesto que explica la relación existente entre el diseño de la marca y la experiencia de la marca. / L’última dècada, la innovació a través del disseny ha estat objecte d’una atenció notable al món dels negocis i per part dels dissenyadors de les polítiques i de l’acadèmia. Aquest “nou estat del pensament” ha sorgit per respondre millor a les necessitats canviants de la societat i dels consumidors. La Comissió Europea reconeix que la UE necessita innovar per fer possible la competitivitat, la prosperitat i el benestar. La Comissió veu el disseny com una disciplina i com una activitat important per introduir una novetat en el mercat, en forma de productes, serveis i experiències amigables, plaents i atractius. La Comissió destaca que, quan es fa servir com una eina centrada en les persones i impulsada pel mercat en molts sectors de l’economia, la innovació promoguda pel disseny pot millorar la competitivitat a Europa. Considerant tots aquests aspectes, aquesta tesi s’estructura en quatre parts. El primer article introdueix el concepte de design thinking i es pregunta per quin tipus d’organitzacions necessitaríem per fer aflorar aquesta nova forma de pensament a fi d’ajudar-les a obtenir un avantatge competitiu sostenible. El segon estudi parla de la urgència que els dissenyadors entenguin les necessitats no expressades de les persones i què signifiquen aquestes necessitats per a elles. A mesura que canvien les circumstàncies econòmiques, socials i mediambientals, les preferències dels consumidors també canvien i les dissenyadors poden sentir la pressió dels mercats per incorporar nous rols i habilitats o ampliar els que ja tenen per tal d’adaptar-los a les noves circumstàncies. La tendència actual indica que els dissenyadors com a artesans passen a convertir-se en codissenyadors. Aquest estudi repta les institucions educatives a ajudar els estudiants i els professionals del disseny a assumir nous reptes per entendre el seu nou rol i desenvolupar i ampliar les habilitats al voltant d’aquest rol nou. El tercer estudi assenyala que el disseny del producte es pot fer servir com un gran factor diferenciador dels productes als seus mercats, creant uns estils i unes característiques úniques i distintives. Aquest article presenta un nou enfocament en el qual el caràcter distintiu del disseny fa el paper de mediador entre l’orientació al disseny d’una empresa i la diferenciació, per tal que el nou producte tingui més èxit. La quarta recerca relaciona el disseny i la marca. L’estudi empíric defineix el constructe del disseny de la marca i les seves dimensions, i desenvolupa un vincle relacional entre el disseny de la marca i els constructes de l’experiència de la marca. L’article genera hipòtesis de recerca i desenvolupa el marc proposat, que explica la relació que hi ha entre el disseny de la marca i l’experiència de la marca.

Equipped with appropriate control strategies, permanent magnet (PM) machines are becoming one of the most flexible types of actuators for many industrial applications. Among different types of PM machines, five-phase BLDC machines are very interesting in fault tolerant applications of PM drives. Torque improvement in five-phase BLDC machines can be accomplished by optimizing their mechanical structure or by enhancing their controlling methods. New current controllers are proposed in this thesis to improve the quality of generated torque under normal operations of five-phase BLDC machines. Proposed current controllers are based on combination of predictive deadbeat controlling strategy and Extended Kalman Filter estimation. These controllers will be the basis for accurate faulty operation of the motor. Operation of five-phase BLDC machines under faulty conditions has also been considered in this study. To improve the generated torque under faulty conditions, both amplitude and phase angle of fundamental and third current harmonics are globally optimized for the remaining healthy phases. Under faulty conditions, appropriate reference currents of a five-phase BLDC machine have oscillating dynamics both in phase and rotating reference frames. As a result, the implemented current controllers under these conditions should be robust and fast. Predictive deadbeat controllers are also proposed for faulty conditions of five-phase BLDC machines. Fault tolerant five-phase BLDC machines are very interesting in automotive applications such as electrical vehicles and more electric aircraft. In addition, these devices are gaining more importance in other fields such as power generation in wind turbines. In all of these applications, the efficiency of PM machine is of most importance. The efficiency of a typical five-phase BLDC machine is evaluated in this thesis for normal and different faulty conditions. Experimental evaluations are always conducted to verify the theoretical developments. These developments include proposed controlling methods, optimized reference currents, and simulated efficiency of five-phase BLDC machine under different operational conditions.

The present work composes a contribution towards the Construction of World models for its implementation in 'Agile Manufacturing Architectures', aiming to take a step further the control programs for manufacturing systems, making it go from being mere tasks implementers to be entities with 'intelligence' that allow them to decide for themselves what is the best strategy to approach a certain given task. In other words, the input information to the production system should stop being a deterministic sequence of commands to become a specification of initial and final states. The work builds on previous results of Gomà and Vivancos to build logical models of simple systems and enunciates some corollaries relating to its operation. Then, it develops new algorithms based on the main stages of World Exploration and Tasks Implementation; initially only for Worlds populated by binary variables and later with the introduction of the treatment of continuous variables. These algorithms, innovative as they introduce the possibility of applying logical prejudices about the world, can apply different strategies to build world models. To evaluate the applicability of these algorithms it is programmed in C+ an experimentation platform for particularised systems and a specification according to the variables that should be utilised in the implementation of these algorithms in different types of manufacturing equipment (Machine tools for Subtractive methods and Additive Manufacturing systems) as well as in complex systems such as the 'Agile Manufacturing Architectures', that have been studied and materialized in works in the context of the present Thesis. In recent years, the paradigm of manufacturing has changed. China and Asia have become the factory of the world and all developed countries have had to began aggressive reindustrialization campaigns to relocate the industry lost. In some cases, particularly relevant sectors 'like the biomedical sector, the Toys case and the Consumer products-, have been presented as a golden opportunity to achieve promising results and have been the subject of an in-depth analysis in this work. Meanwhile, during these years, research and development of manufacturing systems have not been stopped; in fact, it has emerged a new community called 'Makers', built upon very well trained users, motivated by non-profit aspirations that are making to change the game rules. Soon, the personal digital fabrication and the virtual generation and sharing of content will end up to change the way of producing products (and therefore to conceive, to transport, to use and to trade with them), making possible a movement that is being considered as the 'Democratization of the production'. The algorithms presented are intended to maintain a high level of abstraction. 'Action' and 'detection' are internally treated as entirely independent processes, so the system must necessarily learn by an internal logical process. Moreover, beyond the scope of the contribution of this Thesis, the aim of this work is being able to provide a functional specification that can be made available to the community and may serve as a seed to allow the development of intelligent manufacturing paradigms (iCAM) in truly Agile Manufacturing Architectures. / La present Tesi Doctoral realitza una contribució a la Construcció de Models del Món per a la implementació en Arquitectures Àgils de Fabricació, amb la intenció de portar un pas més enllà els programes de control dels sistemes de fabricació, tot fent que passin de ser simples executors de tasques a ser elements amb 'intel·ligència' que els permeti decidir per ells mateixos quina és la millor estratègia per abordar una tasca encomanada. Dit d'altra manera, la informació d'entrada al sistema de fabricació ha de deixar de ser una seqüència determinista de comandes per convertir-se en una especificació d'Estats inicial i final. El treball parteix dels treballs previs de Gomà i Vivancos per construir models lògics de sistemes senzills i n'enuncia uns corol·laris relatius al seu funcionament. A continuació, desenvolupa nous algoritmes basats en les etapes principals d'Exploració del Món i d'Execució de Tasques; primer per móns només poblats per variables binàries i més tard amb la introducció del tractament de contínues. Aquests algoritmes, innovadors, ja que introdueixen la possibilitat d'aplicar prejudicis lògics sobre el món, permeten aplicar diferents estratègies de construcció de Models del Món. Per a avaluar la bona aplicabilitat d¿aquests algoritmes, es realitza la programació d'una plataforma d¿experimentació en llenguatge C+ i es particularitza una especificació de sistemes segons les seves variables per tal d'interpretar com hauria de ser la implementació d'aquests en diferents tipologies de Màquina (Fabricació per arrencament de ferritja i Fabricació Additiva), així com en sistemes complexos com les Arquitectures Àgils de Fabricació que han estat objecte d'estudi i de materialització en treballs a l'entorn de la present Tesi Doctoral. Durant els darrers anys, el paradigma de la fabricació ha canviat. Xina i l'Àsia s'han convertit en la fàbrica de tot el món i els països desenvolupats han hagut de començar campanyes de reindustrialització molt agressives per relocalitzar la industria perduda. En alguns casos, sectors especialment rellevants -com el cas biomèdic, el cas de la joguina i els productes de consum- s'han presentat com a oportunitats daurades per assolir resultats esperançadors i han estat objecte d'un anàlisi en profunditat en el present treball. Paral·lelament, durant aquests anys, la recerca i el desenvolupament de sistemes de fabricació no han estat aturats; de fet ha aflorat amb força una nova comunitat anomenada 'Makers', formada per usuaris molt ben capacitats moguts per interessos no lucratius que estan fent canviar les regles del joc. Aviat, amb la fabricació digital personal i la generació i compartició de continguts de manera virtual, canviaran la manera de produir productes (i per tant de concebre'ls, transportar-los, utilitzar-los i de comerciar amb ells), tot fent possible el moviment que ja es considera com la 'Democratització de la producció'. Els algoritmes presentats pretenen mantenir un nivell d'abstracció elevat. 'Acció' i 'detecció' es tracten com a processos desacoblats internament, de manera que el sistema hagi de fer necessàriament un procés d'aprenentatge lògic. Més enllà de l'abast de la contribució de la present Tesi Doctoral, la intenció d'aquest treball és haver pogut aportar unes especificacions funcionals que podran ser posades a l'abast de la comunitat i que podran servir de llavor per permetre el desenvolupament de nous paradigmes de fabricació intel·ligent (iCAM) en veritables Arquitectures Àgils de Fabricació

La presente tesis analiza el uso de la cartografía turística como instrumento del web marketing oficial de destinos, centrándose en los mapas interactivos como interfaces de acceso a la información y, también, imágenes gráficas únicas que introducen la idea de unidad territorial y colaboran en la proyección de la imagen e identidad/marca del destino. Se aplican tres enfoques: de los usuarios, de los gestores de las webs oficiales de promoción y de los académicos. Se elabora el modelo de calidad para los mapas turísticos en Internet junto con el inventario de características detalladas que garantizan su adecuación al sector. Se desarrolla un método sistemático para evaluar la calidad de la cartografía web turística (MEMTI) con el fin de proveer las Organizaciones de Marketing de Destinos (OMDs) con un instrumento práctico. Se analiza una muestra de 50 mapas oficiales de las ciudades “Top Destinos” detectando el gran potencial de mejora. / La present tesi analitza l'ús de la cartografia turística com a instrument del web màrqueting oficial de destinacions, centrant-se en els mapes interactius com a interfícies d'accés a la informació i, també, imatges gràfiques úniques que introdueixen la idea d'unitat territorial i col•laboren en la projecció de la imatge i identitat/marca de la destinació. S'apliquen tres enfocaments: dels usuaris, dels gestors de les webs oficials de promoció i dels acadèmics. S'elabora el model de qualitat per als mapes turístics en Internet juntament amb l'inventari de característiques detallades que garanteixen la seva adequació al sector. Es desenvolupa un mètode sistemàtic per avaluar la qualitat de la cartografia web turística (MEMTI) amb la finalitat de proveir les Organitzacions de Màrqueting de Destinacions (OMDs) amb un instrument pràctic. S'analitza una mostra de 50 mapes oficials de les ciutats “Top Destinacions” detectant el gran potencial de millora. / This thesis analyses the use of tourist mapping as a tool of destination official web marketing, focusing on interactive maps as interfaces with information access as well as unique graphic images that introduce the idea of territorial unity and collaborate in promoting the image and identity/brand of the destination. Three approaches are applied: that of the users, of the web marketing managers, and of the academics. Quality model for online tourist maps along with detailed features inventory are elaborated to ensure their suitability to the sector. A systematic method for evaluating the quality of tourist web mapping (MEMTI) is developed in order to provide the Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) with a practical tool. A sample of 50 official maps of "Top Destination" cities is analyzed and the great potential for improvement is detected.

O comércio varejista em todo o mundo se solidifica como um setor de extrema importância para a economia mundial. No Brasil, com a estabilidade econômica e o aumento do poder de compra dos consumidores, cada vez mais empresas deste segmento passam a fazer parte da lista das maiores empresas brasileiras. Neste momento de crescimento e consolidação da atividade varejista, as grandes redes, nacionais ou internacionais, vêm investindo mais, a fim de identificar cidades com potencial de consumo para expandir suas atividades e ampliar a sua lucratividade. Para tanto, adotam estratégias de marketing e conhecimentos da área de geografia, como, por exemplo, o sistema de informação geográfica e geomarketing, para que possam mapear o mercado e ter melhor posicionamento e vantagem competitiva em relação aos seus concorrentes. A atuação em novos mercados acaba por influenciar na realização de mudanças no comércio local e nas cidades onde se instalam. Diante dessa realidade, este trabalho foi realizado com o objetivo geral de evidenciar as principais influências da inserção no mercado de grandes redes varejistas no comércio e na cidade, a partir de estudo de caso da cidade de Vitória da Conquista, Bahia, Brasil. O procedimento metodológico foi dividido em duas etapas. Na primeira, foram feitos os levantamentos bibliográficos, para a construção da revisão de literatura sobre o objeto de análise, por meio de relatórios setoriais, teses, dissertações, revistas, sites e jornais especializados, artigos, livros e relatórios de pesquisas de mercado. A segunda etapa consistiu na pesquisa exploratória com abordagens qualitativa e quantitativa aplicadas aos gestores varejistas e consumidores locais. As metodologias utilizadas permitiram um melhor delineamento do estudo de caso, de forma a alcançar os objetivos propostos e confirmar a hipótese de que as grandes redes varejistas, ao identificarem cidades com potencial de consumo, que possam garantir o aumento da sua lucratividade, direcionam seus investimentos de forma a alcançar essas metas. Ao se instalarem nestas cidades, seu modelo de administração leva a mudanças na forma de gestão e de operação do comércio local, alterando a paisagem urbana. Além disso, o modelo de gestão das empresas desse setor potencializa e acelera o processo de descentralização varejista e o surgimento de novas áreas comerciais. A partir das análises feitas, que permitiram a aceitação desta hipótese, vislumbra-se, com este trabalho, uma contribuição para a elaboração de políticas públicas que possam melhor ordenar o desenvolvimento da cidade a partir da atividade comercial, uma vez que a potencialização do processo de descentralização da atividade varejista e o surgimento de novas áreas comerciais têm significativos impactos nas áreas sociais, econômicas, política e culturais. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Marketing. Varejo. Cidade. Comércio. Estratégia. / El comercio minorista en todo el mundo se consolida como un sector de gran importancia para la economía mundial. En Brasil, a causa de la estabilidad económica y el aumento del poder adquisitivo de los consumidores, cada vez más empresas de este segmento han pasado a formar parte de la lista de compañías brasileñas más grandes. En este momento de crecimiento y consolidación de la actividad de venta al por menor, las grandes redes, nacionales o internacionales, han estado invirtiendo más con el objetivo de identificar las ciudades con potencial de consumo para expandir sus actividades y aumentar su rentabilidad. Por lo tanto, han adoptado estrategias de marketing y el conocimiento de la geografía de la zona, por ejemplo, sistemas de información geográfica y de geomarketing para que puedan dibujar un mapa de zonificación del mercado y tener un mejor posicionamiento y una ventaja competitiva sobre sus competidores. El desempeño en los nuevos mercados tiene un impacto en la consecución de los cambios en el comercio local y en las ciudades donde se asientan. Enfrente a esa realidad, este estudio ha sido efectuado con el objetivo general de resaltar las principales influencias de la inclusión de las grandes cadenas minoristas en el comercio y en la ciudad, en el mercado, a partir de un estudio de caso en la ciudad de Vitória da Conquista, Bahia, Brasil. El procedimiento metodológico se dividió en dos etapas. En un primer momento, se hicieron las encuestas bibliográficas para la formación de una revisión de la literatura sobre el tema de análisis, por medio de informes sectoriales, tesis, disertaciones, revistas, sitios de la red, revistas especializadas, artículos, libros e informes de investigaciones acerca del Mercado. El segundo paso fue la exploración con enfoques cualitativos y cuantitativos aplicados a los gestores minoristas y a los consumidores locales. Los métodos utilizados han permitido un mejor planteamiento del estudio de caso, con el fin de alcanzarse a los objetivos propuestos y confirmarse la hipótesis que las principales cadenas minoristas, para identificar las ciudades con potencial de consumo, que puedan garantizar una mayor rentabilidad, dirigen sus inversiones con el fin de lograr esos objetivos. Cuando se establecen en estas ciudades, su modelo de gestión resulta cambios en la forma de gestión y en el funcionamiento del comercio local, modificando el paisaje urbano. Además, el modelo de gestión de las empresas de ese sector aumenta y acelera el proceso de descentralización minorista y la aparición de nuevas zonas comerciales. A partir de los análisis realizados, que permitieron la aceptación de esta hipótesis, se vislumbra con este trabajo, una contribución a la elaboración de políticas públicas para un mejor ordenamiento del desarrollo de la ciudad desde la actividad comercial, ya que la potenciación del proceso de descentralización de la actividad comercial minorista y el surgimiento de nuevas zonas comerciales resultan impactos significativos en los ámbitos sociales, económicos, políticos y culturales. / The retail commerce has consolidated as a sector of great importance to the world economy. In Brazil, due to the economic stability and the increasing purchasing power of consumers, more and more companies have become part of the list of largest companies in this sector. Therefore, they have adopted marketing strategies and knowledge in the geography of the area, such as, geographic information system and geo-marketing so they can map the market and have a better positioning and competitive advantage over their competitors. The performance in new markets ends up influencing on the achievement of changes in the local and in the cities where they settle. In the face of this reality, this study was carried out with the general objective to highlight the main influences in the market insertion of large retail networks in the commerce as a whole and in the city, from a case study of the city of Vitória da Conquista, Bahia, Brazil. The methodological procedure was divided into two stages: in the first one, bibliographical surveys were made for the construction of a literature review on the subject of analysis through sector reports, theses, dissertations, magazines, websites and specialized journals, articles, books and research market reports. The second stage consisted of the exploratory research whose qualitative and quantitative approaches were applied to retail managers and local consumers. The methods which were used allowed a better outlining of the case study, in order to achieve the proposed objectives and confirm the hypothesis that when the major retail networks identify cities with potential for consumption and are able to ensure an increase in their profitability, they direct their investments aiming to achieve these goals. By settling in these cities, their administration model leads to changes in the management and operation of the local commerce, modifying the urban landscape. Moreover, the management model of companies in this sector strengthens and accelerates the process of the retailing decentralization and the emergence of new trading areas. From the analyzes which were carried out and allowed the acceptance of this hypothesis, it is intended through this work to contribute to the elaboration of public policies to better plan for the city's development from the commerce activity, since the strengthening the decentralization process of the retail activity and the emergence of new shopping areas have had significant impacts on the social, economic, political and cultural fields.

Al llarg dels darrers anys, els sistemes de detecció humana basats en visió per computador han començat a exercir un paper clau en diverses aplicacions lligades a l’assisténcia a la conducció, la videovigilància, la robòtica i la domòtica. Detectar persones és, sens cap dubte, una de les tasques més difícils en el camp de la Visió per Computador. Aixó es deu principalment al grau de variabilitat en l’aparenc¸a humana associada a la roba, postura, forma i grandària. A més, altres factors com escenaris amb molts elements, oclusions parcials o condicions ambientals poden fer que la tasca de detecció sigui encara més difícil. Els mètodes més prometedors a l’estat de la q¨uestió es basen en models d’aprenentatge discriminatius que són entrenats amb exemples positius (vianants) i negatius (no vianants). El conjunt d’entrenament és un dels elements més rellevants a l’hora de construir un detector que faci front a la citada gran variabilitat. Per tal de crear el conjunt d’entrenament es requereix supervisió humana. L’inconvenient en aquest punt és el gran esforc¸ que suposa haver d’anotar, així com la tasca de cercar l’esmentada variabilitat. En aquesta tesi abordem dos problemes recurrents a l’estat de la q¨uestió. En la primera etapa, es pretén reduir l’esforc¸ d’anotar mitjanc¸ant l’ús de gràfics per computador. Més concretament, desenvolupemun escenari urbà permés endavant generar un conjunt d’entrenament. Tot seguit, entrenem un detector usant aquest conjunt, i finalment, avaluem si aquest detector pot ser aplicat amb èxit en un escenari real. En la segona etapa, ens centrem en millorar la robustesa dels nostres detectors en el cas en que els vianants es trobin parcialment ocluids. Més concretament, presentem un nou mètode de tractament d’oclusions que consisteix en millorar la detecció de sistemes holístics en cas de trobar un vianant parcialment ocluid. Per dur a terme aquesta millora, fem ús de classificadors (experts) locals a través d’un mètode anomenat random subspace method (RSM). Si el sistema holístic infereix que hi ha un vianant parcialment ocluid, aleshores s’aplica el RSM, el qual ha estat entrenat prèviament amb un conjunt que contenia vianants parcialment ocluids. L’últim objectiu d’aquesta tesi és proposar un detector de vianants fiable basat en un conjunt d’experts locals. Per aconseguir aquest objectiu, utilitzem el mètode anomenat random forest, a on els arbres es combinen per classificar i cada node és un expert local. En particular, cada expert local es centra en realitzar una classificació robusta de zones del cos. Cal remarcar, a més, que el nostre mètode presenta molta menys complexitat a nivell de disseny que altres mètodes de l’estat de la q¨uestió, alhora que ofereix una eficiència computacional raonable i una major precisió. / During the last decade vision-based human detection systems have started to play a key role in multiple applications linked to driver assistance, surveillance, robot sensing and home automation. Detecting humans is by far one of the most challenging tasks in Computer Vision. This is mainly due to the high degree of variability in the human appearance associated to the clothing, pose, shape and size. Besides, other factors such as cluttered scenarios, partial occlusions, or environmental conditions can make the detection task even harder. Most promising methods of the state-of-the-art rely on discriminative learning paradigms which are fed with positive and negative examples. The training data is one of the most relevant elements in order to build a robust detector as it has to cope the large variability of the target. In order to create this dataset human supervision is required. The drawback at this point is the arduous effort of annotating as well as looking for such claimed variability. In this PhD thesis we address two recurrent problems in the literature. In the first stage, we aim to reduce the consuming task of annotating, namely, by using computer graphics. More concretely, we develop a virtual urban scenario for later generating a pedestrian dataset. Then, we train a detector using this dataset, and finally we assess if this detector can be successfully applied in a real scenario. In the second stage, we focus on increasing the robustness of our pedestrian detectors under partial occlusions. In particular, we present a novel occlusion handling approach to increase the performance of block-based holistic methods under partial occlusions. For this purpose, we make use of local experts via a RandomSubspaceMethod (RSM) to handle these cases. If the method infers a possible partial occlusion, then the RSM, based on performance statistics obtained from partially occluded data, is applied. The last objective of this thesis is to propose a robust pedestrian detector based on an ensemble of local experts. To achieve this goal, we use the random forest paradigm, where the trees act as ensembles an their nodes are the local experts. In particular, each expert focus on performing a robust classification of a pedestrian body patch. This approach offers computational efficiency and far less design complexity when compared to other state-of-the-artmethods, while reaching better accuracy.

The thesis includes an overview of the e'.Ciution and current context for two international socioeconomic phenomena: migration and remittances of migrants to their country, its importance and impact on host economies in general and the particular case of the Mexican economy as the second recipient of this income from the United States, major recipient of migrants worldwide. From the statement of the problem that gives rise to the inquiry : no statistically significant relationship between remittance income in the nine states that expel migrants mostly to the U.S. and the economic development of their local economies is a summary of the state of art researchers in the field, which is evident the non-existence of the relationship between the two factors described and even more, it shows evidence of the negative effects on social and economic development of host economies, since remittance income is used almost entirely for consumption rather than investment and efforts of various governments have undertaken so that recipients of these remittances invest these resources in productive projects have not had the desired effect: the case of Mexico is then, another in the long list of countries receiving remittances in these revenues have not had a positive impact on economic indicators. The contrast of the problems a trigger of the thesis work and the art of the subject, there is the justification of the work and its overall objective: to propose a model for capturing and managing remittances to generate savings in the short term, and investment in the long run, the same which in turn leads to two specific objectives: the first : to analyze the relationship between remittance in flows and economic growth of the Mexican states that receive remittances mostly measured through various economic indicators, with in order to demonstrate the necessity of the proposed model and the second : to analyze the costs of transfers from the United States to major destinations of remittances in Mexico, the participating entities, operating characteristics, with the aim of demonstrating the feasibility financial model. The analysis information resulting from these two objectives serves as a basis for presenting the general operating characteristics of the proposed model which demonstrates the feasibility of participants companies and organizations in the delivery of remittances to Mexico, pay these amounts relatives of migrants without charging any fee to a fixed exchange rate, to allow families receiving remittances can save at least the amount previously paid as commission and access to financial services : credit leas e agreements, mortgages, credit cards, etc.; savings through participating financial institutions, as a whole, can be channeled to investment banking and intended in the medium and long term production projects managed by experts holders knowledge and technical infrastructure that result in job creation in host communities and infrastructure development of social benefit. Finally we present the conclusions of the investigation, the recommendations flow from it and future research.

Although the term “domotics” is not absolutely unknown, there are a great number of cases where this term has been associated with a complicated and luxury technology, intended to ease life in houses and buildings but that finally does not work. The manufacturers have dedicated big efforts to improve their products, considering today that these new technologies are mature from a technological point of view, installers have been trained and they are more familiar with new technologies. They necessary know them and have passed from install simple electromechanical devices (switches, plugs, protections) to program more complex electronic systems, evolution that has been needed to be adapted to a more competitive market and, unfortunately, smaller and complicated due to the crisis effect that we are living. Other efforts, less known and probably more important than already shown, have been made and are made in this sense. There are many works directed to standardize and regulate this technology in order to create a profitable market. This type of actions allows us to define correctly what domotics means (and other expressions) and how it should be defined and installed in order that users could enjoy with guarantees this technology. Its performances have been defined and they are not only focused in luxury, that now is known as “comfort”, but security, communications and energy management. This documents shows the works that the author has made o where he has participated, that define, standardize even regulate those works that allows develop this market. / Aunque el término domótica no es absolutamente desconocido son muchos los casos en que, de forma despectiva, se ha asociado este término a una tecnología complicada y de lujo, que intenta hacer la vida más fácil en las viviendas y edificios pero que, al final, no funciona. Los fabricantes han dedicado grandes esfuerzos para mejorar sus productos considerando que, hoy en día desde el punto de vista tecnológico, estas tecnologías son maduras. Se ha formado a los instaladores quienes cada vez están más familiarizados con las nuevas tecnologías y quienes en un salto generacional ya las dominan, de forma necesaria, pasando de instalar simples elementos electromecánicos en las viviendas (interruptores, enchufes, protecciones, etc.) a programar sistemas electrónicos más complejos, evolución necesaria para adaptarse a un mercado cada vez más competitivo y por desgracia, menos amplio y castigado por efecto de la crisis en la que estamos actualmente inmersos. Otros esfuerzos menos conocidos y probablemente más importantes que los anteriores han sido los numerosos trabajos realizados para reglamentar y normalizar esta tecnología con el objetivo último de crear un mercado rentable. Este tipo de de acciones permiten definir correctamente qué se entiende por domótica (y otras acepciones similares) y cómo debe definirse e instalarse para que el usuario disfrute con garantías de esta tecnología. Se han definido sus utilidades ya no solamente dirigidas al lujo o lo que hoy llamamos con mayor precisión “confort” sino aquellas que hacen referencia a la seguridad, las comunicaciones y la gestión energética. Este documento pretende mostrar los trabajos que el autor ha realizado/participado y que han servido para definir, normalizar y regular, y que finalmente contribuyen a desarrollar este sector.