Tackling climate change effects worldwide brings the interest of many donor countries with expertise to (co)develop solutions into beneficiary countries through international cooperation. The solutions proposed can be either too solution-driven, understood as a donor country selling its knowledge / products, or on the other hand, too locally problem-driven, which is desirable in theory, but facing practical limitations such as time or scale constraints when closing to outside influences. A methodology that tries to join both (apparently opposing) sides, with their advantages and disadvantages of problem and solution driven hasn’t been explored yet.For exploring how this can be done, in this research 2 case studies are analyzed: the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 (BDP2100), a nation-wide long term holistic plan on the Bangladeshi Delta, and a group of Coastal Water Management initiatives, a set of continuous efforts to adopt livelihoods to the dynamic situation in the coastal regions of Bangladesh. These cases are analyzed through interviews and desk research to determine to what extent are they problem and solution driven compared to proposed frameworks and pointing how can they be improved. From these analyses, a combined framework is proposed where problem and solution driven approaches are joined taking the best from each perspective. The result is meant to be a first guiding tool for decision-makers in donor and beneficiary countries that face the dilemma between taking local and foreign elements for developing solutions. Resumen Hacer frente a los efectos del cambio climático en todo el mundo atrae el interés de muchos países donantes con experiencia para (co) desarrollar soluciones en los países beneficiarios, a través de la cooperación internacional. Las soluciones propuestas pueden ser demasiado orientadas a la solución, entendidas como un país donante que vende sus conocimientos / productos o, por otro lado, demasiado localmente orientadas a los problemas, lo que es deseable en teoría, pero enfrentan limitaciones prácticas como limitaciones de tiempo o escala cuando se cierran a influencias externas. Aún no se ha explorado una metodología que intente unir a ambas partes (aparentemente opuestas), con las ventajas y desventajas de soluciones basadas en desarrollo netamente de problemas y desarrollo netamente de soluciones. Para explorar cómo se puede combinar esto, en esta investigación se analizan 2 casos de estudio: el Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 (BDP2100), un plan holístico a largo plazo a nivel nacional en el delta de Bangladesh, y un grupo de iniciativas de gestión costera del agua, un conjunto de esfuerzos continuos para adoptar medios de vida a la situación dinámica en las regiones costeras de Bangladesh. Estos casos se analizan a través de entrevistas e investigaciones teóricas para determinar en qué medida están orientados a los problemas y soluciones en comparación con los marcos propuestos, y señalan cómo pueden mejorarse. A partir de estos análisis, se propone un marco combinado donde se unen los enfoques impulsados por problemas y soluciones, tomando lo mejor de cada perspectiva. El resultado pretende ser una primera herramienta de guía para los tomadores de decisiones en los países donantes y beneficiarios que enfrentan el dilema entre tomar elementos locales y extranjeros para desarrollar soluciones.

In Colombia, forest protection is a concern because in the past years, the rate of deforestation has increased. After the signature of the peace agreement between the government and the FARC-EP, the situation has worsened because areas that were not accessible now are open to economic development. This dissertation uses a choice experiment to elicit the WTP for conservation programmes, which could reduce the pressure in the forest. A Mixed logit model and a Latent class model were estimated with 339 respondents and the estimated WTP range between COP 26,411 (£7) and COP 64,246 (£17) for conservation attribute, COP 33,003 (£8.7) and COP 85,105 (£22.5) for increase in community education, COP 32,421 (£8.6) and COP 38,719 (£10) for increase in community income. Finally, the WTP for post-conflict area varies between COP 58,199 (£15.5) and COP 115,105 (£30.5). These results imply that respondents are not only concerned about the environmental benefits but also the social benefits related to the conservation programmes. Additionally, the attribute for the post-conflict area is the most important for individuals’ choices. These results can be used as inputs for conservation policy design in Colombia. En Colombia, la protección del bosque ha sido un tema critico en los últimos años debido al incremento en la tasa de deforestación. Después de la firma del acuerdo de paz entre el gobierno colombiano y las FARC-EP, la deforestación ha empeorado porque áreas que erran inaccesibles ahora están abiertas al desarrollo económico. Esta tesis usa un experimento de selección para determinar la disposición a pagar DAP por programas de conservación que reduzcan las presiones en los bosques colombianos. Se usa un modelo Mixed logit y otro latent class para estimar la DAP de 339 individuos. De acuerdo con los modelos la DPA se encuentra entre COP 26,411 y COP 64,246 (£17) para el atributo de conservación, COP 33,003 (£8.7) y COP 85,105 para el incremento en educación de la comunidad, COP 32,421 (£8.6) y COP 38,719 (£10) por el incremento en ingresos de la comunidad. Finalmente, la DAP en áreas de posconflicto varía entre COP 58,199 (£15.5) and COP 115,105 (£30.5). Estos resultados muestran que los encuestados no solo consideran los beneficios ambientales sino también los beneficios sociales relacionados con los programas de conservación. Adicionalmente, el atributo de áreas de posconflicto resulta ser el más importante. Estos resultados pueden ser usados como insumo para el diseño de la política de conservación en Colombia.

In the context of growing digital media and new classification/indexing demands, the task of Automatic Instrument Recognition in the field of Music Information Retrieval (MIR) has increasing importance. Through the use of deep learning techniques, namely convolutional neural networks, and different automatic source separation algorithms, developed at the Fraunhofer Institut für Digitale Medientechnologie (IDMT), this Master thesis investigates this recognition task and how different pre-processing stages can improve its classification performance. Several experiments have been conducted in order to reproduce and improve upon the results of the reference system reported by Han et al. Two systems are proposed in this research: an improved system using harmonic/percussive separation and post-processing using class-wise thresholding, and a combined system using solo/accompaniment separation and transfer learning methods for the special use case of jazz solo recognition. To validate the obtained results, diverse tests have been performed with multiple music data sets, with different complexities and instrument selections. Resumen En el contexto del crecimiento de los medios digitales y nuevas necesidades de clasificación/indexación de datos, la tarea de reconocimiento de instrumentos automática en el campo de recuperación de información musical (MIR, por sus siglas en inglés) tiene una creciente importancia. A través del uso de técnicas de inteligencia artificial, concretamente redes neuronales convolucionales profundas, y diferentes algoritmos de separación de fuentes sonoras, desarrollados en el Instituto Fraunhofer de Medios Digitales, esta tesis investiga esta técnica de reconocimiento y la manera en que diferentes pasos de preprocesamiento pueden mejorar su desempeño de clasificación. Se han conducido varios experimentos para reproducir y mejorar los resultados obtenidos por Han et al. Se proponen dos sistemas a partir de los resultados: un sistema mejorado utilizando separación de fuentes sonoras armónica/percusiva y técnicas de transferencia de aprendizaje para el caso concreto de reconocimiento de instrumentos solistas en el jazz. Para validar los resultados obtenidos, se han realizado diversas pruebas con múltiples bases de datos, con diferentes complejidades y selecciones de instrumentos.

Flowering plants use different traits to attract pollinators, which indicate flower location and reward quality. Visual and olfactory cues are among the most important floral traits exploited by pollinating insects. Pollination can alter physical and chemical cues of flowers, which can subsequently influence the behaviour of flower visitors. We investigated the main cues exploited by the syrphid fly Episyrphus balteatus and the butterfly Pieris brassicae when visiting flowers of Brassica nigra and Raphanus sativus plants. We studied post-pollination changes and their effects on the behaviour of flower visitors and flower volatile emission. Preference of pollinators was investigated by offering visual and olfactory cues simultaneously as well as separately in two-choice bioassays. We also assessed whether pollen is used as a cue by pollinating insects. In addition, we studied whether behavioural responses could be correlated with changes in plant volatile emission, by collecting volatiles from flower headspace. P. brassicae and E. balteatus did not use pollen as a cue in either of the two plant species studied. Interestingly, pollinators showed a strong bias for visual cues over olfactory cues when exposed to B. nigra plants. Flower visits by pollinators were influenced by postpollination changes in B. nigra. In contrast, plant responses to pollination did not influence pollinator preference for R. sativus flowers. These results correlate well with floral volatile emission of B. nigra and R. sativus; pollination influenced the volatile profile of B. nigra flowers but not that of R. sativus. Collectively, our data show that different pollinators exploit different visual and olfactory traits when searching for nectar or pollen of flowers of two close related plant species. Although, the syrphid fly consumes mostly pollen from brassicaceous flowers, it cannot detect pollen from a distance and likely associates other flower traits with quantity and quality of pollen. This studies are very important to understand the pollination mechanisms, thus to design strategies for the conservation of this essential ecosystem service. Las plantas con flores utilizan diferentes rasgos para atraer a los polinizadores, que indican la ubicación de las flores y la calidad de la recompensa. Las señales visuales y olfativas se encuentran entre los rasgos florales más importantes utilizados por los insectos polinizadores. La polinización puede alterar las señales físicas y químicas de las flores, lo que posteriormente puede influir en el comportamiento de los visitantes florales. En este estudio se investigaron las principales señales usadas por el sirfido Episyrphus balteatus y la mariposa Pieris brassicae cuando visitan las flores de las plantas Brassica nigra y Raphanus sativus. Estudiamos los cambios posteriores a la polinización y sus efectos sobre el comportamiento de los visitantes florales y las emisiones de volátiles de las flores. La preferencia de los polinizadores se investigó ofreciendo señales visuales y olfativas simultáneamente y por separado en bioensayos de dos opciones. También evaluamos si el polen es usado como una señal por los insectos polinizadores. Adicionalmente, estudiamos si las respuestas de comportamiento podrían correlacionarse con los cambios en la emisión volátil de la planta, mediante la recopilación de compuestos volátiles del espacio de cabeza de la flor. P. brassicae y E. balteatus no utilizaron el polen como una señal en ninguna de las dos especies de plantas estudiadas. Curiosamente, los polinizadores mostraron un fuerte sesgo para las señales visuales sobre las señales olfativas cuando se exponen a las plantas de B. nigra. Las visitas de flores de los polinizadores fueron influenciadas por los cambios postpolinización en B. nigra. En contraste, las respuestas de las plantas a la polinización no influyeron en la preferencia de los polinizadores por las flores de R. sativus. Estos resultados se correlacionan bien con la emisión floral volátil de B. nigra y R. sativus; la polinización influyó en el perfil volátil de las flores de B. nigra, pero no en el de R. sativus. Colectivamente, nuestros datos muestran que diferentes polinizadores explotan diferentes rasgos visuales y olfativos cuando buscan néctar o polen de flores de dos especies de plantas relacionadas. Aunque el sirfido consume principalmente polen de las flores, no puede detectar el polen a distancia y probablemente asocia otras características de las flores con la cantidad y calidad del polen. Este tipo de estudios es esencial para entender los mecanismos de la polinización y así diseñar estrategias para la conservación de este indispensable servicio ecosistémico.

The National Agency of Public Hiring Colombia Compra Eficiente is the Colombian entity in charge of studying how the public purchasing of the country works, and it has set at the disposal of the public entities the SECOP 11 (electronic system of public hiring) which allows to do online transactions and to get enough quality information in order to make decisions by promoting the competition, the transparency and guarantying the access to the information of the hiring process of the Colombian state. This case of business is consolidated in the necessity of designing productive strategies to the efficient and effective display of SECOP 11 to ali the participants of the public purchasing system of the country.

Resumen extendidoEn 2017, el porcentaje de personas viviendo en condición de pobreza monetaria en Santa Marta fue de 33%. Con este resultado, la ciudad se ubicó como la tercera con mayor pobreza en la región Caribe, superada solo por Riohacha y Valledupar. Esto contrasta con lo que se vivió tres décadas atrás. En 1985, el indicador de necesidades básicas insatisfechas (NBI) posicionó a Santa Marta como la ciudad con menor pobreza entre las ocho capitales de la costa Caribe. La pregunta es entonces: ¿cuándo inició el retroceso? En el periodo 1985-1993, mientras que Cartagena y Barranquilla redujeron su pobreza en 9 puntos porcentuales, la de Santa Marta aumentó en 1 punto porcentual. Siguiendo esta tendencia, Santa Marta sería superada por estas dos ciudades y esto se mantendría para el dato más reciente de pobreza por NBI de 2005.El estudio de la pobreza en Santa Marta es indispensable para plantear soluciones adecuadas que permitan avanzar en su superación. Este documento tiene tres objetivos principales: (i) realizar una caracterización espacial de la pobreza en Santa Marta, (ii) investigar las razones de su rezago relativo en reducción de pobreza y (iii) proponer una serie de inversiones para llevar la pobreza de la ciudad al promedio que tendrán las 23 ciudades principales e intermedias en 2030. La información espacial y los mapas son de gran utilidad para identificar los lugares donde se concentran los más pobres, así como para conocer sus principales necesidades. Por su parte, algunos antecedentes históricos de la segunda mitad del siglo XX, permiten tener una aproximación al retroceso vivido.El trabajo encuentra que uno de los hechos relacionados con el aumento relativo de la pobreza fue la llegada masiva de desplazados a la ciudad. Según el Registro Único de Víctimas, en el periodo 1985-2017, Santa Marta fue la tercera ciudad que más recibió desplazados en el país, solo después de Bogotá y Medellín. Este crecimiento poblacional resultó en la concentración de pobreza en las faldas de los cerros aledaños y en algunas zonas del casco urbano, en donde son recurrentes la falta de servicios públicos y el bajo logro educativo de la población. Precisamente, es en este último tema donde se encuentran los principales retos de la ciudad. Santa Marta ocupa los últimos lugares en indicadores de calidad educativa: en las pruebas Saber 11 de 2017 los estudiantes samarios solo superaron a los de Quibdó.Para superar el rezago en pobreza, se deben entonces priorizar inversiones en cuatro sectores: educación, vivienda, acueducto y alcantarillado, y empleo. El costo total aproximado de estas inversiones es de 433 millones de dólares en los próximos 12 años, los cuales se podrían financiar con un mayor esfuerzo fiscal local y una mayor calidad del gasto público. Implementar esta estrategia permitirá revertir la tendencia mencionada y llevar la pobreza de Santa Marta al promedio que tendrán las 23 ciudades principales e intermedias de Colombia en 2030. Abstract In 1985, Santa Marta was the city with the lowest level of structural poverty in the Caribbean region. Three decades later, in 2017, Santa Marta had the third highest monetary poverty rate in the region, only lower than Riohacha and Valledupar. The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, to characterize poverty and its spatial dimension in Santa Marta. Second, to understand the causes of the lag in poverty reduction. And third, to propose a set of investments to overcome this lag. The analysis shows that one of the main factors associated with poverty in the city was the massive arrival of displaced people starting in 1990. The maps, meanwhile, show the appearance of misery belts in the surrounding foothills and in some areas inside the urban perimeter, where poverty is correlated with informality and low educational attainment of the population. All in all, results reveal investment priorities in four sectors: education, housing, water and sewage, and employment.

This Masters thesis explores burnout syndrome in nonviolent activists, focusing mainly in its psychosocial dynamic. It does so by correlating the theories of strategic nonviolent action and diverse psychological paradigms. A gender sensitive perspective is maintained throughout the research, providing necessary criticism to a subject matter that is yet not entirely understood. Usually, burnout research studies the ?who” of the syndrome. That is, the intrinsic characteristic of the individual that is affected. In the context of nonviolent resistance, asking for the ?what” makes more sense. Congruently, this research covers the elements that are causing burnout at the individual, interpersonal, and institutional levels: common stressors, risky environments, idealism, strategic planning, sanctions, and trauma. Although it is not possible to reach absolute conclusions regarding the consequences that burnout might generate in nonviolent movements, it is possible to infer that the effectiveness of a movement is in part due to the psychological wellbeing of the men and women that work for it. Therefore, the value of psychosocial support groups is a relevant part of any movement’s organizational framework. After providing an analysis of the current theoretical understanding of nonviolence and other disciplines, a burnout measurement instrument was designed for both institutional predisposing factors and activist burnout. These instruments intend to measure the impact of burnout in nonviolent action settings, taking into account that traditional burnout scales are designed for people-work professions. Subsequently, a group of nonviolent activists was evaluated on their subjective burnout experience, that was later contrasted with the characteristics of the organization they work for. This research arrives to the conclusion that there are sufficient reasons to believe that burnout might be causing or aggravating factors that nonviolent action literature considers negative for the adequate functioning of any nonviolent struggle. Further research is considered necessary to analyze this phenomenon in a wider sample, as well as in a case to case basis.

The shift from government to governance has committed its goal to realize a more inclusive and plural way to govern contemporary societies. It has allowed the different actors to interrelate themselves in decision-making processes around strategic metropolitan projects. Citizen participation is also increasingly playing a role in the planning domain, as the traditional role of government as the main decision-maker, becomes challenged or accompanied by new and emerging participatory structures. The recent literature on governance in the Latin American metropolitan context is just developing, as the term first appeared in the region in the 1990s. Although the region is advancing into the consolidation of governance structures, the metropolitan institutional framework is still deficient in the region for its short-lived background in democracy. By delving the context of the Aburrá Valley in Colombia, the present thesis is based on a single case study investigation which uses two frameworks: governance and citizen participation. The thesis aims to answer the question: How have the different actors been interrelated in the decision-making process of Parque del Río Medellín and what were the policy outcomes? Parque del Río Medellín is a project that not only aims to enhance the deficit of public space in the city and improve mobility and quality of life conditions for its inhabit-ants, but also to challenge the current land use model which has saturated to an almost un-sustainable point the slopes of the valley. The results of the investigation achieved through elite semi-structured interviews, show that public sector actors deploy enormous amounts of resources and decision-making capacity, while civil society actors mildly influence the decision-making process. On the other hand, the role of citizen participation around the project resembles classic ‘tokenism’ or symbolic participation achieved through ‘imaginary workshops’, ‘socializations’ or round tables. Finally, the investigation reveals the role of the municipal mayor and his ‘political’ will is crucial to understand the present and future a project, that while is strategic, paradoxically receives scarce attention on behalf of the citi-zens or other civil society actors.

The e-Invoicing has become a subject of great importance and source of several benefits for the European industry, however there isn`t an realistic and clear view about the status of the e-Invoicing adoption in each country, by the contrary exists different figures and reports with unrealistic statistics and rates that creates uncertainty by the stakeholders inside the country. On this basis, this thesis pretends to go deeply in this subject, researching and analyzing the e-Invoicing European landscape, characterized with different regulations and conditions by each country, but without indicators and realistic figures to identify crucial factors and best practices that facilitate the interoperability and increase the adoption. The main objective of this research is to obtain a reliable and updated view of the e-Invoicing adoption in Europe, confronting the data with local stakeholders and establishing a methodology and criteria that permits compare and classify the different European countries and its behaviors and patterns. Is also a concern of this thesis, to identify the conditions, best practices, barriers and enablers that characterize the e-Invoicing in Europe with the aim of increase the interoperability and enable the interchange cross border of e-Invoices, especially in Italy. Contributing with the studies and research of The Observatory in Electronic Invoicing, in which the idea of this research was born and its support allowed the completion of this work. The methodology followed for perform this research is divided basically in two phases, the data collection and the empirical analysis that allows at the end identify summary notes, facts, measures that create awareness about the actual situation in Europe of the e-invoicing and suggestion to increase the adoption and diffusion of the e-Invoicing. Finally as part of the purpose of this thesis is to show and highlight the best practices, conditions and problems that have presented the electronic invoicing in Europe during the last years, in the summary notes are shown, analyzed and explained the most relevant results of this research that will be useful for further project of the observatory and also for the different experts and stakeholders of electronic invoicing in other countries that helped with this works and are interested in the results to take measures and propose new projects in their own countries. In this section also are described the different clusters and shown the countries that belongs to each one, highlighting the common facts, problems and conditions of the electronic invoicing in Europe. Also are identified and summarized the enablers and barriers of the electronic invoicing in Europe suggesting measures to incentive them and to overcome them respectively.

The current global context is characterized by a growing importance on relations and the creation of links between different actors. Contemporary artists have to deal with different connection’s skills to succeed in their carriers and to make their work visible to a wider audience and potential collectors. However these opportunities are not constant because the system is very competitive. There is high offer and low demand, which is also affected by the economical crisis. Additionally, art continues to be considered a luxury item for few ones. In developing countries, low demand is not only due to crisis, but also to the fact that art is a secondary issue for common people. Moreover the culture of appreciating and acquiring art is under development. From this scenario, the thesis aims to answer the following question; how to make visual arts more accessible to common people and at the same time to bring to the artist new markets and visibility for his work? A product-service system is proposed to give answer to the main question. “Unframed” provides an innovative space to show murals, where artists become the protagonists and art becomes accessible to everyone in different ways. The service is based in an online platform which is feed by artists’ portfolios and temporal murals made in the city. It is also complemented by limited series of mural reproduction; touch points in common places and a closer relation artist-user. The system uses different strategies to make it valuable for the artist, the user, the city and stakeholders. Reducing the gap between artists and the public, it establishes lasting relationships and encourages fresh market scenarios.