Tesis durant el mes de juny a la URL

Núria Tricàs Rosell (Institut Químic de Sarriá) Plasma modification of carbon black surface: From reactor design to final applications ha obtingut la calificació Excel.lent Cum Laude i ha estat dirigida pel Salvador Borrós i Gómez i Robert H. Schuster:

The present works deals with plasma modification of carbon black (CB). Although this type of treatment is widely used on flat surfaces handling problems should be overcome in order to treat powders as CB. In this study CB has been modified both by means of low-pressure and atmospheric pressure non-equilibrium plasmas. In order to accomplish this objective three different plasma reactors have been set-up; two at low pressure and one at atmospheric pressure working conditions.

Low pressure plasma reactors utilised in this work consist in a down-stream and a fluidised bed system working at Radio Frequency generation power (RF 13,56 MHz). Both reactors have been optimized to treat powder materials. For the down-stream reactor, position of the reactive gas inlet, and treatment conditions such as generator power and time have been studied for oxygen, nitrogen and ammonia treatments. For the fluidized bed reactor the distance of the powder sample to the plasma generation zone, particle size and support porosity have been taken into account.

Concerning atmospheric plasma, a device has been set up in order to adapt a commercial plasma torch (Openair® from Plasmatreat GmbH), for powder modification. An adaptable reactor, a method to introduce the powder in the plasma zone as well as a collecting system had been developed in order to obtain a quasi-continuous modification treatment.

Three types of CBs, N134, XPB 171 and Vulcan XC-72 have been modified in both the down-stream and the atmospheric plasma system. Graphitization and extraction of N134 were also carried out before plasma modification in order to study the effect of both impurities and surface structure of the CB during plasma modification. Surface oxidation and nitrogen enrichment were the two main studied treatments in both systems which allowed comparing their performances.

Unmodified and Modified CBs have been characterised from several points of view. Specific surface area, XRD, WAXS and STM have been used in order to study morphological and surface structure changes. On the other hand, pH measurements, acid/base titration and XPS were employed in order to study the surface chemistry composition changes that had taken place during plasma modification.

Some of the modified CB grades were selected in order to be tested in final applications such as rubber reinforcement and oxygen reduction non-noble metal catalyst for PEMFC. In the first case, the effect of atmospheric plasma treatment on the vulcanization kinetics and mechanism has been evaluated both by rheometre curves and the model compounding approach. Studies about the polymer-filler interaction have been also carried out by calculating bound rubber and adsorption from polymer solution. Last but not least, plasma modification capacity to enhance the oxygen reduction activity to obtain non-noble metal catalysts for PEMFC has been evaluated after the correspondent preparation. Oxygen reduction activity has been studied by means of cyclic voltammetry. The main CB properties which could play an important role in such applications have been analyzed.

Manuel Peiró Posadas (ESADE) Lleialtats contraposades? El compromís dels metges amb l’hospital i amb la professió, amb calificació Excel.lent Cum Laude, ha estat dirigida per Alfons Sauquet Rovira I Joan Manel Batista i Foguet:

This work has been motivated by an interest in exploring the relationships between doctors and the hospital in which they work, as a central aspect of hospital management. In the last few years, different actors from the Spanish and Catalan health care system have reiterated that hospital doctors feel disappointed and dissatisfied as professionals and little committed to the hospital where they work.

Doctors are coming under increasing demands as professionals and as members of hospitals, which are also under pressure to improve efficiency. The double demand of loyalty that doctors are experiencing (demands of commitment to the profession and to the organisation) and the way in which they are able to make both commitments compatible are the aspects on which I have focused my work.

In order to carry out this study, I have analysed the degree of doctors’ commitment to their hospital and its most relevant focal point: the service and the service manager. I have also analysed the degree of commitment to the profession and the different forms of making both commitments compatible. To do so, I have used the Meyer, Allen and Smith (1993) organisational and professional commitment questionnaire, adapted and validated for the Catalan context; I sent it to 1,650 doctors at nine hospitals in the public health network throughout Catalonia, and have obtained 40.3% responses. On the other hand, I have conducted semi-structured interviews and held informal conversations on the matter with several doctors, which, along with my knowledge and professional experience in the sector, has allowed me to further examine the quantitative analysis results obtained.

As the most important conclusions of my work from a global perspective, I emphasise that doctors are committed to their hospitals and that this commitment which is fundamentally affective in nature (and the perception of the sacrifices that doctors make throughout their career) increases throughout their professional career. The importance of the service and the service manager as a focus of doctors’ commitment is confirmed, which emphasises that the bond with the service is intense, whereas, on the contrary, the bond with the service manager is weaker and decreases throughout a doctor’s professional careers. In the same way, the intensity of doctors’ commitment to their profession is also confirmed. Finally, four clusters are obtained corresponding to four patterns of different answer from doctors in relation to this double commitment, and only one of the clusters expresses a clear incompatibility between both commitments.

 

Luis Carlos Obande Arroyavé (Facultat de Psicologia i Ciències de l'Educació i de l'Esport  Blanquerna) Las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC): Un nuevo escenario para el desarrollo local de las comunidades. Estudio de caso: Comunidad Ómnia-Barrio el Raval, Barcelona ha estat dirigida per Jordi Riera i Romaní:

This research paper studies the pedagogical and communicational strategies used today to reduce the “digital gap” (in technology and knowledge) between those who use the new information and communication technologies (ICT) and those with no access to them or who do not know how to use them. The study describes, explores, analyzes and interprets the way in which ICT are being implemented and used among the local communities that are at high risk of social and technological exclusion.

In order to achieve its objectives, the study was carried out under real-life conditions among the Ómnia Community of the Raval neighbourhood, in Barcelona, Spain, and specifically in its Telecentre or socio-media lounge. We undertook the study by first designing a series of categories and indicator that would allow us to measure, interpret and analyze the use and impact of these technologies on the community’s cultural development. Our intention was that the methodology we designed might be applied in other communities having similar characteristics to the one under study.

The study crosscuts two areas, social and community development, on the one hand, and the use and impact of new ICT in social pedagogy, on the other hand. In this sense, the main purpose of our study was to carry out a descriptive and in-depth diagnosis of the changes and new virtual and real scenarios emerging in the so-called “Information Society”, and the way in which local communities are implementing these technologies in order to maximise their cultural and community development.

Lourdes Elvira Urriolagoitia Doria Medina (ESADE) El ciclo de vida de las relaciones de patrocinio: Desarrollo de un modelo desde la perspectiva de las alianzas estratégicas, amb la calificació Excel.lent Cum Laude ha estat dirigida per Marcel Planellas Arán:

In recent years, several authors have recognized that sponsorship relationships act as strategic alliances. However, they also emphasize the lack of analytical approaches which allow an understanding of the development process of this type of strategic alliances. In an attempt to fill this gap, a model has been developed for the lifecycle of sponsorship relationships, that combine the relational view of the firm, the alliance development process theories and the literature in sponsorship from the resource based view of the firm. To develop this lifecycle model, qualitative research has been conducted through longitudinal case studies.

Three sponsorship relationships have been identified which have successfully created and sustained sponsorships over a long period of time, in which, additionally, the relations have been involved to a great extent. These sponsorship relationships are: UBS/Team Alinghi, in the sporting field; BBVA/Ruta Quetzal, in the cultural field; and DKV/Intermón Oxfam, in the social field. The research has been based on the following question: How are sponsorship relationships created and developed?

Various sources of information have been consulted for each case. This way, it is possible to triangulate information and take from it the most relevant and representative data, which in turn reduces the possibility of this information being interpreted incorrectly or distorted. As a result, the data is taken from primary and secondary sources of information. To systematise and analyse the gathered data, the synthesis of the information and inductions based on the conclusions have been interpolated before, during and after gathering the information.

Study of the three cases has shown a sequential behaviour model in the development of these sponsorship relationships, with three stages of evolution interrupted by short periods of revolution. It has also enabled us to identify the key characteristics of success in sponsorship relationships, as well as to carry out in-depth analysis of the evolution of these characteristics throughout their lifecycle.

Enric Ma. Sebastiani Obrador (Facultat de Psicologia i Ciències de l'Educació i de l'Esport  Blanquerna) Les competències professionals del professor d’Educació Física de Secundària a Catalunya, amb calificació Excel.lent Cum Laude, ha estat dirgida per Domingo Blàsquez Sánchez:

Enmarcada en un momento muy dinámico y cambiante de reflexión alrededor del proceso de creación de un Espacio Europeo de la Educación Superior (EEES) y en la revisión constante del sentido y orientación de la Educación Física, el objeto de estudio de esta tesis se localiza en el análisis de las competencias profesionales del profesor de Educación Física de Secundaria en Cataluña y de las repercusiones que se derivan de cara a su formación.

Cuando se hace referencia a las repercusiones e implicaciones, se pretende decir, en términos ideológicos y funcionales, que se encuentra en la conceptualización e identificación de las competencias profesionales un referente válido para hacer esta reflexión y consecuente revisión de los estudios de grado en base a las competencias.

En este sentido, en este trabajo se realiza un análisis en profundidad del concepto de competencia profesional, así como de los diferentes enfoques, métodos para su identificación y experiencias en la normalización, en el diseño de la formación, la evaluación y la acreditación en base a las competencias profesionales.

Además, se presenta una propuesta de secuencia categorial para poder orientar el análisis de las competencias profesionales del profesorado de Educación Física de Secundaria en Cataluña. Esta propuesta categorial ha sido elaborada a partir de la Grounded Theory con un método fenomenológico, interpretativo e inductivo dentro de una metodología cualitativa y a partir de entrevistas semiestructuradas a un grupo de referencia.

Finalmente se contrastan los resultados con distintos autores, permitiendo una interpretación sobre el rol que se espera de la Educación Física y de su docente en la etapa de Secundaria en Cataluña.

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