Conformant thesis

Acknowledgements of the PhD dissertation

Looking back, I am surprised and at the same time very grateful for all I have received throughout these years. It has certainly shaped me as a person and has led me where I am now. All these years of PhD studies are full of such gifts.

I want first to thank my advisor Hector Geffner for all the hope he has put on me, before I thought I could do any research at all. He has always encouraged me to live intensively, even when I was thinking about doing something else. During more than a decade of knowing him, he has helped me to see life and science in their full depth, and taught me how to appreciate the good scientific work that helps other researchers to build on it. He has enlightened me through his wide knowledge of Artificial Intelligence and his deep intuitions about where it should go and what is necessary to get there.

I also thank Adnan Darwiche, Jerome Lang, and Pierre Marquis for their lectures in 2004, which gave me tools that turned out to be essential in my PhD research, and for answering quickly all the questions I had about topics of their expertise.  Thanks also to Blai Bonet, Adnan Darwiche, Joerg Hoffmann and Malte Helmert for insightful discussions, and for making their software available so I was able to use it in this work.  I also thank the authors of the SAT solvers zChaff, Siege and relsat, enabling their use in other settings.  I also appreciate insightful discussions with Dan Bryce, David E.  Smith, Enrico Giunchiglia, Jinbo Huang, Jorge Baier, Jussi Rintanen, Menkes van den Briel, Patrik Haslum, and Tran Cao Son.  Our work greatly improved thanks to the comments of the anonymous reviewers and editors of the articles published with contributions of this dissertation.

I thank Maria Esther Vidal for her invaluable help on tracking the writing of this dissertation this year, when I was immersed in the chaos of moving back to Venezuela. I thank Blai Bonet for the research collaboration, his friendship, his encouragement, and for facilitating my landing in our department in the Simón Bolívar University (USB), and the rest of the AI group at the USB, Carolina Martínez and Carolina Chang. Special thanks to Adriana Ampueda, Alex Albore, Anders Johnsonn, Blai Bonet, Carlos Linares, Dani Martí, Eduardo Izquierdo, Eduardo Madrid, Emil Keyder, Menkes van Den Briel, Miquel Ramírez, Vicenç Gómez, and Victor Dias for their help in proof reading this document.

I thank the Embedded Reasoning Group of the Palo Alto Research Center -- PARC for the wonderful experience of being a summer intern.  Thanks to Minh B. Do and Rong Zhou for their advice, to Johan de Kleer, Haitham Hindi, Lukas Kuhn. Also thanks to Menkes, Pew and Brynn for the wonderful chat and friendship. Thanks to Mali for her support. Thanks to David E. Smith and Jeremy Frank for arranging a visit and talk at NASA Ames while I was a PARC intern.

It was a pleasure to share doctoral studies and life with wonderful people like Vicenç, Andreas and Leticia, my first office mates, and with Dani, Enric, Gabriele, Laura, Oscar among others who are very close friends now.

I thank the rest of the Artificial Intelligence group at the UPF including both the faculty and the students. Thanks to Anders for his friendship, to Victor and Hubie for their example on being a computer-science researcher, and to Alex, Emil, Nir, and Miquel for their friendship and for sharing the glory and sadness of conferences deadlines and day-to-day research.

During the development of this dissertation I received support of my advisor's grants TIN2005-09312-C03-03 and TIN2006-15387-C03-03 from MEC/Spain. I was partially supported by a FPI fellowship from MEC/Spain and by a teaching assistant position at the Department of Information and Communication Technologies of the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF).

The years spent in Barcelona would not have been as wonderful without my Venezuelan friends, including Flavia, Haydee, Janzet & Alejandro and Lucas, Javier, Julio Cesar, Mónica, Marisol, Miguel & Andreina, Mimo & Nino, Nataly & Lao and their daughters, Rafael & Marialejandra, Ruben, Yensi & Jose Vicente.  I met some of them in the Altosf  theater group, who I also thank for helping me to Work better. Special thanks to its director Juan Carlos De Petre.

I thank my group and the people in the Teresian Institution  that allow me to stay centered and rediscover what is important and why I am doing what I am doing.  I thank Bea & Gonzalo, Carles, Carmen María, Cris, Eugenia, Gemma & Justo, Helen, Juan, Meritxel & Miguel, Miqui, Nani, Oscar, Ramon, Roger, Santi, Teo, and also Amparo, Ana Almuni and Anna de Guia from the Passatge Center.  I also thank the Christianism and Justice Center for the many insightful courses I took with them, providing me, for example, with new elements to see the importance of PhD studies and my role in society.

I also thank other people I met in Barcelona for the wonderful friendship they offered me, like Aina, Marina and Joan Lluis. Ricardo & Iris at Venezuela were a real support even while I was in Barcelona. So was Yosmar.  Thank to the Sampayo-Cortes family for their hospitality in hosting me during the last stage this work.

Thank also to my family, specially my mother Margarita and my brother Gabo, who also accomplished without complaints the endless errands that I asked him to do, even when he was on peaks of stress and lack of sleep because of his job and studies. Thanks to Sandro Faedi for such a lasting gift.  Thanks to my father, whose memory has only increased after so many years of his death, when I was a boy wishing to save the world. I am working on it, still.

Last but not least, a big thank you to my wife, Neritza. Without her I would be a very different person today, and it would have been certainly much harder to finish a PhD.  Still today, learning to love her and to receive her love makes me a better person.  Special thanks to her also for helping me with the figures and epigraph of this dissertation.

I finish with a final silence of gratitude for my life.

Graffiti in a whole building in Barcelona

We were coming from a concert when found out that a group of people where doing a huge graffiti. Amazing.

 

Printed

I'm waiting the the bidding of the document without having slept a single minute. It improved a lot in the last days, but there are tons of zones that really require to be improved.

The photo was taken through the window of the office, the sun reflecting on the Agbar tower, an small moon over it.

Tired.

Thesis & Festa Major in Barcelona

I flew to Barcelona on September 15th, and will be here until December 13th. By next Tuesday 29th I need to deliver the document and some forms to the department, starting formally the process of finally finish my PhD. Last time I posted here, I was working hard on the document. I have had finished a whole draft but many issues were pending, so we decided to delay an extra month the process. Some friends, who I'm very grateful to, have reviewed some text. Most of the new text just sucks, seriously, but it is slowly improving.

Some catalan friends went and visit us in Venezuela. I've confirm them many months ago that I could have time to spend with them. I didn't have the time, formally, but took the compulsory vacations anyway, and they were great. Venezuela is a wonderful country, except for a few important things, as being robbed at gun point in the Médanos de Coro. We manage to continue the journey, thanks to my possible reckless action of removing the money of my wallet. They get pissed off when the notes started flying and threatening me to be shoot. Nothing happened as I expected, and I saved the license, ID, and stuff that allow us to visit Mérida, Puerto Ordaz y la Gran Sabana.

I was back to work by beginning of September, and was doing something real by 7th or 9th. It was hard to get into it again. Some time was consumed on dealing with errands, as dealing with Cadivi for buying euros for surviving during three months here. (Cadivi is hard to understand, BTW). I manage to get some support of it.

I arrived in Barcelona just in time for going to the Planning conference - ICAPS - where we have a paper accepted. It was motivating to see other people's work and see what's going on. My advisor was right when he said I should attend if I want to continue on this business.

The sad part is that my beloved wife is in Venezuela. Three months is a lot of time. There are no other options. I need to finish and she has work to do.

And here I am. Barcelona is burning in Fiesta, concert everywhere in one of my favorites periods of the year. There is nothing as a free concert. This time I just coming office every day and working on the document. It is the way it goes. I'll finish, somehow.

Highness

Today is an awesome holiday in Venezuela, a perfect day for going to the beach, as thousand of people in Caracas did. It is also perfect for going to a hill and enjoy the weather and the view. Sunny and fresh. That's exactly what I have done, coming to the IVIC library, that is open on Holidays too. I'm enjoying the landscape of always.

I'm somewhat ritual for many stuff. Just driving here from San Antonio de los Altos change my inner state, with a few hundred meters of difference in altitude, with the woods and curvy road until getting here. Then I try to sit in the same place, maximizing my comfort and getting the most beautiful view.

My and my wife decided this morning that I'm going to change the ticket now, as I'll pay the difference from our own pocket. That means coming back on December 15th. Meanwhile, I need to rush this days for getting feedback from my advisor.

I won't make it, yet

It seems I'll need to extend my trip another month. I won't be able to have everything printed by September 3th. Me and my advisor spend like two hours seeing 20 page of the background part of the document. It was frustrating on one hand, but I got a best idea of how the text should be in general.

• I have to remember who are going to this document and what background they have.
• I should resist the temptation of making unnecessary forward references. Whenever I get to a point that will be very important in the future, I feel the urgency of making an statement. Sometimes the reader are just not able to follow what I'm saying as they are not aware of the whole text, as I am. Also, the idea maybe important but just interrupt  the flow.
• I need to be more precise, in general.
  
  • I tend to be loose when I talk even about technical topics. That's cultural but it is also my first approach to many topics. Get the general idea, see the connection between them.
  • I also know how to work out the details. That needs still improvement, but I've became pretty good at closing the gaps in my work. Almost 6 years of PhD haven't been entirely lost.
  • The problem is when I write. Sometimes I just don't recognize when I'm been too informal or not very clear. That's old stuff. Some people still remember me as a guy that speaks complicate. I don't want that, seriously; but it has been part of me for a long time and still need a lot of work. While writing the thesis, some times I realize when I'm hand-waving but sometimes I just lack the vocabulary or the writings abilities for getting a sharp sentence that says exactly what I'm trying to say. This won't be corrected now, obviously, and I'm going to learn.

And that's it. To having document that honors the work of this year, that explain clearly, I need to make many iterations myself and have the text revised for a few friends, and maybe by a professional that will be paid from my pocket. A month a one week is not enough.

May I have done it better? Probably some body else could have done it better, and finish before and write better than myself, and have more power of focus. What about me? Sometimes I'm surprised of having come such a long way. How hard it was for me to learn some English, for example. My teachers in my town were very good... people, but I barely learn any English. How did I end up doing something that requires from me something I don't have. The problem is that I'm half cursed, half blessed. I love this work. Seriously. I'm not good at it, but I love it. It is not that, oh poor me, I didn't have the appropiate education, etc. I didn't, but that's not the point. I have serious personal drawbacks to do any serious research on my life and however, I've been trying hard. Not every day, not always in a good way, but I've tried.

So, here I am, a few miles away from I was born. Exactly I as want to be, not for leaving home but for growing and be also a person that not only can do what I was born to, but also some things that I've learned to do.

I won't make it for September 3th, but I'll do for next month. That's a mess. I've asked for permission of two months. I got. I've been looking for finantial support for two months. I have bought the tickets for two months. And now I'll need to add an extra month. Paying for changing the ticket, stay 50% more that I planned in a place far far more expensive that my country, even with the help of a convenient exchange rate I may get when sending me some money before leaving. I'll leave my wife here for thee months instead of two, that were already like very long time.

I feel very frustrated today. Overwhelmed. Asking me myself why it is so hard for me, feeling that it is just too much. I will insist, as usual. But today, today, it has been very very hard. I finally got to the IVIC almost at 6pm and have spent one hour writing this, but I needed to balance the situation. Ask for help. I got it.

I'm so grateful to the people who have support me in my life, and during this hard period. I'm always been very lucky, mostly through friends and workmates. Now it's not being different, it is just more difficult. I'm going to make it, soon.

Almost there, like 15 pages left

It left two sections of the related work chapter, the conclusions, acknowledges, abstract, resumen, preface (what is it?), background/intro, and process a few spots with pending text. After that I'll be done at 'dumping the text' and start to review and review and review. It left one week of the deadline for asking the university for a design of the cover of the document. For that I need the number of pages, and for having so I need the confirmation of my advisor that everything is there and than he thinks that the number of pages won't variate. I'll add a few pages more, just in case. In the last minute I have some extra appendix I can add to make it fit to what I have said. The final document should be like 225 pages in 12pt font.

Scary. I should said.
There are tons of references like "in the previous section" that should now point to section X.Y. I'm afraid of loosing rhythm, overexplaining, underexplaning or saying things that are not exactly correct.

I think I'm not going to sleep tonight and try to rush the final pages. I have almost all ready to be written, so it maybe possible.

Today, while I was trying to finish my brothers visit my youngest brother in La Guaria to flight  Paragliding. They catched up on meeting my yougest-brother's daugther. It's a pity a missed it. More will come. They are used to me not going to those, as I've been doing a thesis for almost the last... 12 years. Oh my...

Let's go back to it.

get to know yourself

There was a blackout in the university campus so I ran away and came to the IVIC again. Today it's been rainy, specially in high parts of this complex reticulate of valleys called Caracas. Its great when I can work in office as the two monitors and the speed of the processors allow me to loop very fast seeing changes. But now it's being too dry. I'm half stuck moving around ideas and paragraph. I also need to write discussions, introductions and stuff like that. Just arriving here calm me down. I sit near the windows to see the valley and the fog going down. I'll write, probably more that if I have stayed at office. I knew that. I guess it's good to get to know yourself, at least a little bit.

About the work, critical week. I have 205 pages, having moved from B5 to A4 page size, so I don't have to reformat so many tables.
I still need to write:

• Acknowledge - easy
• Abstract - hum, almost easy
• Resumen (yes, the abstract in Spanish) - trivial
• Preface - almost easy
• Fix the list of figures and tables
• Background (also known as introduction) - almost easy
• Related Work - not easy
• Conclusions and Future Work - not easy
• Put source-code examples in the appendix. - trivial

I also need to work hard in:

• Wrapping up *the* chapter, extending the discussion
• The extensions and variations chapter, that was once almost clear, and now is a creation of Dr. Frankestein scaring me with his many parts borrowed from anywhere.

I really need to clear up the number of pages, let's say, on Monday or Tuesday as the university in Barcelona will design the cover of the thesis and they need such information.
My brother's birthday is on Sunday, so on Saturday we will see Harry Potter 6th in the cinema, with both wifes, all fans of the books. Rest of the time, just writing.
I just really want to clear things up and don't have any confusion in the following days. I don't have time to letting them mature. This should be more than done, but it isn't yet.

Meanwhile I got some of the travelling funs from the university today. I still need to get more funds from a goverment agency (fonacit) and ask permission to the goverment to send me the money to spain. (Well, I can do it with that permission but I'll get 1/3 of the money. Not really funny).

Just yesterday

I'm seeing through the window, this time to a building titled Centro de Microbiologia y Biología Celular (Spanish of Center of Microbiology and Cellular Biology). It is surrounded by trees and flowers in this beautiful mountains where the IVIC is located. Behind me, again, tons of journals with the new thoughts and findings of thousands of researchers around the world. Nowadays it surprise me that we are here, at this moment of history, when just yesterday we barely eat anything we can collect or kill. Am I different from my predecessors who managed to survive over centuries, being genetically as human as I am? What made us take the time to consider the connections of the things?, to trust each other?, to depend each other in such a way than I'm not able to feed myself without the rest of the world that provide me food, house, health. Surprising.

A girl outside the build runs down the hill. Pink t-shirt. Her boobs balance and she slow downs so her sweater does not fall. Just yesterday we all ran, afraid of animals, or chasing them for food. We were mostly naked and now perfectly cut pieces of a very sophisticate material cover our bodies. They are even easy to produce. How? Why? Amazing.

I know. This is far from perfect. While I sit here, writing a thesis, other people not far from here are still fighting for survive. The difficulties are different. In many case is not just that they are not part of the economy yet, it is also that there is not other form of life anymore, and some people are outside. How are we going to improve that in a consistent way? Not just the temporal pills against the headache. I will not accept the things as they are. Something happened just yesterday, something may change just tomorrow. We are faster now. At least we have the opportunity.

The End is Near

The apocalypse is around the corner in most of the acceptions I can think of. For example, the world, as I know it, is going to change when I'm finally done with my PhD. Of course, it does not have to better, as I tend to think, but it will change. If by apocalypse we mean a period of purification of the world, it still apply to my situation. For the 'symbolic/mythological story about our time' interpretation of apocalypse, this step is also an opportunity for transforming myself.

Anyway, there is a few days until I should have everything ready for full reading a proof-reading. I need to finish a chapter plus introduction, conclusion and future work. Hard times are these, trust me.

Fortunately, I receive help when I need it most. It's not being different this time. Thanks.