This thesis is focused on reducing the gap between the acquisition of low level information by robot sensors and the need of obtaining high level information for enhancing human-machine communication and for applying logical reasoning processes. To this end, approaches for qualitative and semantic image description and qualitative distance sensor interpretation were developed. Experimentation w...

This paper presents a method for reasoning about spatial objects and their qualitative spatial relationships (e.g. touches, overlaps etc.) on the basis of a description logic framework. We apply this method to the domain of deductive geographic information systems. In contrast to existing work, which mainly focuses on reasoning about qualitative spatial relations alone, we integrate quantitativ...

OBJECTIVES The nature of public health evidence presents challenges for conventional systematic review processes, with increasing recognition of the need to include a broader range of work including observational studies and qualitative research, yet with methods to combine diverse sources remaining underdeveloped. The objective of this paper is to report the application of a new approach for r...

This work uses different sources of data from the Global Entrepreneur Monitor to show a descriptive and comparative analysis of the different dimensions of the entrepreneurial activity, in the Spanish regions, and at international level. I also study the individual determinants of the entrepreneurial activity in Spain, and Europe, using bootstrapping techniques to avoid overfitted results. My r...

BACKGROUND The knowledge and use of qualitative description as a qualitative research approach in health services research is limited.The aim of this article is to discuss the potential benefits of a qualitative descriptive approach, to identify its strengths and weaknesses and to provide examples of use. DISCUSSION Qualitative description is a useful qualitative method in much medical resear...

This paper has two main objectives. The first objective is to give a characterization of a qualitative description of a possibility function. A qualitative description of a possibility function is called a consistent possibilistic state. The qualitative description and its characterization serve as qualitative semantics for possibility functions. These semantics are useful in representing knowl...

Health services and policy (HSP) researchers have long used qualitative research methodologies to explore health system issues. However, the appropriateness of one approach, qualitative description, for HSP research is still often overlooked. In this article, I discuss the role that qualitative description can play in HSP research, and argue for its greater acceptance as a valid form of academi...

OBJECTIVE To discover how college students conduct dinner groups and perceptions of the benefits and difficulties of participation. DESIGN Qualitative study conducted with 7 focus groups. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS A university campus, with 36 students participating in dinner groups, defined as a group of 3 people or more cooking for one another (or together) and eating together at least 4 ti...