To you
Acknowledgement
Whenever I think about the causes and circumstances that allowed this thesis work to be completed, I always feel that it is just another element of a marvelous, limitless network of interrelated phenomena. I feel grateful!. Since such a network is unbounded, If I could not mention your name explicitly, still please feel included.
About the time I spent working on the thesis, some times I feel as if it was a great opportunity of growing in a garden, whose soil has been intensively enriched by many generations under the care of a generous wise man, which takes pleasure in helping oneself to develop and enable them to be ready to offer their best. Eυχαριστώ πολύ ! Professor Nicolis.
When I came I met many friendly people, among them Marcelo Ramirez, Enrique Abad and Kostas Karamanos. They were very kind and helped me to find the way in Brussels. Later on, I met a great tree called Vasileios Basios. Since then I see him as a good and trusted friend. With Vasileios I always enjoy getting into discussions on various subjects that I hope will never end and which on their course I have learnt a lot.
I wish to thank Mmes. Sonia Wellens, Isabel Saverino and Nicole Aelst for efficient support with administrative tasks.
Enrique Abad has been a very positive influence for me. Specially, along the period of the thesis where he taught me to better appreciate Markov’s theory. With Enrique I can talk and laugh freely. Muchas gracias Enrique!.
I want to thank Professor Catherine Rouvas for fruitful collaboration and for generously teaching me the basics of numerics, which I applied through out my thesis.
Specially, I want to thank Prof. Pierre Gaspard, who has been always supporting me. At any time I knocked his door, very kindly he took the time to help me. Also I want to
thank Thomas Gilbert, for interesting and fruitful discussions. Along with Pierre’s work, it nourished in me the interest for learning about the fundamentals of statistical physics.
Along these years I have benefited a lot from the peaceful and rich interaction with Wassim AbouJaoude. I have learnt from his sound attitude and from his rigor in handling mathematics.
Also, I want to thank the friendship offered by the solidary “ants colony”:
Marcelo Ramirez, Stephanie Depickere, Etienne Toffin, Pablo Servigne, Stephan Canonge, Aurelie Buffin, Luc Deckelver and Gregory Sempo.
To Jessica Hernancourt, Didier Gonze, Laurence Rongy, Yannick de Decker, Sebastian Viscardy, David Andrieux, Pierre de Buyl and Nathan Goldman, for creating an encouraging atmosphere.
My life in Brussels was very warmed, thanks to the spirit of solidarity and friendship expressed by: Mme. Anne Giesen, Mme. Rosa Rodriguez, Rossana and Yann, Claire Vuylsteke, Jean Luc Smets, Cécile, Cyrille, Steph. Godard, little To, Yuri and Bart, Voebe and Wojtek, Agustin and Natalia, Aline Dehasse, Ruben Muñoz, Anne and David, Sandrine and Yusef and more recently Diane Mertens.
Specially, I wholeheartedly thank Peroline Ghestem, for her tender strength, for sharing with me shine and storm and for make me grow.
I take profit of this opportunity to thank my dear sister Oliva for being what she is and to my best friends, my parents, Lourdes Ros and Juan García Cantú. They always support me and in particular, I thank them for kindly encouraging me to go through the boring secondary school cycle.
Thanks a lot to Professors Michel Mareschal, Malek Mansour, Marcel Ausloos and again to Pierre Gaspard and Enrique Abad for the all the attention put in reading the thesis, for their pertinent remarks and their interesting suggestions.
Finally I acknowledge CONACYT for financial support and the funding agencies that support our Center.