Abstract: In the last decades, the development of visual prostheses that stimulate the retina electrically has gained momentum towards the restoration of useful vision, allowing significant but rudimentary improvements in the daily life of blind patients with retinal degenerative diseases. To improve the efficiency of retinal implants and to understand better the physiology of both healthy and degenerated retinas upon electrical stimulation, feedback about the retinal activity is desirable. Given the above, our research consortium has proposed the development of a bidirectional communication strategy in which retinal implants come in close contact with vital neurons in the inner retina to perform electrical stimulation while recording the electrical activity of the retina. To this end, a bidirectional microelectrode array (BiMEA), comprising penetrating multi-shank and multi-site neural probes, has been proposed and developed to be used in retinal applications for the first time [1], [2]. In this work, the development strategy and in vitro validation of intraretinal probes based on tissue-like materials is exposed, showing the feasibility of achieving not only a low insertion trauma during acute implantation in explanted mouse retinas, but the viability of a bidirectional interaction between the retina and a prosthetic device. Consequently, intraretinal devices showed the capability of tracking and acknowledging in situ the electrical activity of the retina and the success of the stimulation, setting in turn the groundwork of a new future generation of intraretinal implants. Resumen: En las últimas décadas, el desarrollo de prótesis visuales que estimulan la retina eléctricamente ha ganado impulso hacia la restauración de la visión útil, permitiendo mejoras significativas pero rudimentarias en la vida diaria de los pacientes ciegos con enfermedades degenerativas de la retina. Para mejorar la eficacia de los implantes retinales y comprender mejor la fisiología de la retina sana y enferma tras terapias de estimulación eléctrica, es deseable obtener información sobre su actividad neural. Teniendo en cuenta lo anterior, nuestro consorcio de investigación ha propuesto el desarrollo de una estrategia de comunicación bidireccional en la que los implantes retinales entran en estrecho contacto con las neuronas vitales de la retina interna, para así realizar la estimulación eléctrica mientras se registra la actividad eléctrica de la retina. Para ello, se ha propuesto y desarrollado una matriz de microelectrodos bidireccionales (BiMEA) para ser utilizada por primera vez en la retina. Este dispositivo BiMEA consiste en sondas neuronales penetrantes que comprenden varios vástagos y a su vez varios contactos eléctricos [1], [2]. En este trabajo se expone la estrategia de desarrollo y la validación in vitro de las sondas intra-retinales basadas en materiales similares a los tejidos, mostrando la viabilidad de conseguir no sólo un bajo traumatismo de inserción durante la implantación aguda en retinas de ratón ex-plantadas, sino la viabilidad de una interacción bidireccional entre la retina y un dispositivo prostético. De esta forma, los dispositivos intra-retinales mostraron la capacidad de rastrear y reconocer in situ la actividad eléctrica de la retina y su vez el éxito de la estimulación, sentando así las bases de una nueva generación futura de implantes intra-retinales. [1] V. Rincón Montes et al., “Toward a bidirectional communication between retinal cells and a prosthetic device - A proof of concept,” Front. Neurosci., vol. 13, no. APR, pp. 1–19, 2019 [2] V. Rincón Montes et al., “Development and in vitro validation of flexible intraretinal probes,” Sci. Rep., vol. 10, no. 19836, pp. 1–14, 2020

Abstract: The purpose of this research is to investigate if traditional genre structures created by the music industry are still relevant in today’s world. In the last few years, we have seen a high influx of artists blending influences and sounds - this phenomenon is what we call genre fluidity. This study will tackle pinnacle concepts, defining a genre, the evolution of popular music genres, and finally the relationship of genres with the Recording Industry and some of its stakeholders. In order to understand this phenomenon, data analysis of music charts and interviews with record label stakeholders took place. Resumen: Esta investigación indaga cuestiona si las estructuras de género tradicionales creadas por la industria de la música siguen siendo relevantes en el mundo actual. En los últimos años hemos visto un gran número de artistas que mezclan influencias y sonidos; este fenómeno es lo que llamamos fluidez de género. Este estudio abordará conceptos cumbre, la definición de un género, la evolución de los géneros musicales populares y, finalmente, la relación de los géneros con la industria discográfica y algunos de sus grupos de interés. Para entender este fenómeno, se llevó a cabo el análisis de datos de los Billboard Charts y entrevistas con las partes interesadas de los sellos discográficos.

Resumen: Esta tesis propone una nueva teoría de la fotografía que la define a partir de la sombra, en lugar de la definición tradicional y etimológica a partir de la luz ,y evalúa las consecuencias de esta nueva definición en la comprensión filosófica del medio. Finalmente, evalúa sus posibles consecuencias en la evaluación estética de la fotografía.

Abstract: Oral fluency is widely acknowledged by both foreign or second language (L2) learners and language professionals as an indicator of L2 performance and proficiency. However, its definition remains elusive as well as its operationalisation in language pedagogy. The aim of this study was, therefore, to explore the understanding of oral fluency and the selfreported practices to enhance it in the L2 classroom. The participants of this study were a group of nine Colombian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers who worked at a Foreign Language Institute in the adult English program of a large Colombian public university in Bogotá. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews which investigated more specifically (1) the teacher participants’ definitions of oral fluency and the characterisation of L2 fluent speakers, (2) their knowledge and confidence about enhancing oral fluency, (3) their familiarity with research on the topic, (4) their description of fluency-oriented activities and (5) the support EFL textbooks provided to do it so. In order to analyse the data obtained regarding the first three aspects mentioned above, rigorous thematic coding was carried out. The analysis of the teachers’ practices was done by employing Tavakoli’s and Hunter’s framework (2018) to identify fluency activities. The results of this qualitative study revealed that the EFL teachers defined oral fluency broadly as parallel to overall L2 proficiency but, at the same time, as an aspect of speech production narrowly related to the cognitive, utterance (speed and pauses) and perception aspects of fluency. Although the EFL textbooks did not support the development of oral fluency directly and the EFL teachers were barely confident and had poor knowledge of fluency research, they reported a wide range of fluency-activities proven beneficial by research. This suggests that teachers’ definitions are not dichotomous as literature proposes and calls for the need to entwine teachers’ cognitions and theoretical accounts of fluency in the field. Resumen: La fluidez oral es ampliamente reconocida tanto por los estudiantes de lenguas extranjeras (L2) como por los profesionales de la lengua como un indicador del rendimiento y la competencia en L2. Sin embargo, su definición sigue siendo imprecisa, así como su operacionalización en la pedagogía. Por tanto, el objetivo de este estudio fue explorar la comprensión de la fluidez oral y las prácticas reportadas para mejorarla en el aula de L2. Los participantes de este estudio fueron un grupo de nueve profesores colombianos de inglés como lengua extranjera (EFL) que trabajaban en un Instituto de Lenguas Extranjeras en el programa de inglés para adultos de una universidad pública colombiana en Bogotá. Los datos se recogieron a través de entrevistas semiestructuradas en las que se investigó más específicamente (1) las definiciones de los profesores sobre la fluidez oral y la caracterización de los hablantes fluidos de L2, (2) su conocimiento y confianza sobre la mejora de la fluidez oral, (3) su familiaridad con la investigación sobre el tema, (4) su descripción de las actividades orientadas a la fluidez y (5) el apoyo que los libros de texto de EFL proporcionan para hacerlo. Para analizar los datos obtenidos en relación con los tres primeros aspectos mencionados, se llevó a cabo una codificación temática rigurosa. El análisis de las prácticas de los profesores se realizó empleando el marco de Tavakoli y Hunter (2018) para identificar las actividades de fluidez. Los resultados de este estudio cualitativo revelaron que los profesores de EFL definen la fluidez oral en términos generales como algo paralelo al dominio general de la L2 pero, al mismo tiempo, como un aspecto de la producción del habla estrechamente relacionado con los aspectos cognitivos, de enunciado (velocidad y pausas) y de percepción de la fluidez. A pesar de que los libros de texto de EFL no apoyan directamente el desarrollo de la fluidez oral y de que los profesores de EFL apenas tienen confianza y conocen poco la investigación sobre fluidez, informaron sobre una amplia gama de actividades de fluidez que han resultado beneficiosas según la investigación. Esto sugiere que las definiciones de los profesores no son dicotómicas como propone la literatura y reivindica la necesidad de entrelazar los conocimientos de los profesores y los relatos teóricos sobre la fluidez oral.

Abstract: Complaining is a complex and ubiquitous social action in daily conversations in which speakers use language to navigate through everyday trouble and build interpersonal relationships. Previous research has identified and explored how two main categories of complaints, i.e. direct and indirect, are co-constructed to achieve different interpersonal effects (Heinemann & Traverso, 2009). Although the growing interest in complaints has engendered studies in multiple languages other than English (e.g. German, French, Danish), research in Spanish, for example, remains limited to institutional settings mostly. This study fills this gap and aims to (1) systematically explore how different types of complaints are co-constructed in casual interactions in Spanish, and (2) examine how degrees of intimacy between participants emerge from their affiliative practices in complaining. The data comes from two corpora (CallFriend and CallHome) and comprises nearly 9.5 hours of audio-recorded phone conversations in Spanish between friends and family members. The analysis draws on interactional pragmatics to examine in detail the emergent sequential practices associated with interpersonal relationships (Haugh, 2012; Haugh, forthcoming). The findings indicate that recipient-oriented and self-oriented complaints occur considerably less frequently than situation-oriented and third-partyoriented complaints in the corpus. A detailed turn-by-turn analysis shows that complaints in Spanish, as in other languages (Selting, 2010; Rääbis et al., 2019), are prosodically emphasized, lexically detailed through extreme case formulations, and syntactically presented as complaint implicatives through questions. It also demonstrates that some language-specific markers such as oye, mira, and ay often appear at the beginning of bounded complaint sequences, epistemic negotiations, and emotional stances. Sequentially, complaints are co-constructed through denials, non-serious frames, assessment escalations, advice sequences, affiliative complaints, and epistemic negotiations. The resulting interactional patterns unveil different degrees of intimacy and affiliation expectations between the participants. Remarkably, while (non) (dis)affiliation are frequent patterns in the corpus, selective affiliation, a term used here to describe affiliative expectation mismatches, constitutes a salient practice when interactants share the role of the complainant through affiliative complaints or co-complaining. In relation to intimacy, selective affiliation often signals distance between the interactants and also attempts to achieve in-group membership. By exploring casual talk in Spanish, this systematic analysis of complaints contributes to the under-explored area of how complaining is coconstructed and accomplished in interaction.

Abstract: This thesis brings a perspective of emotions and education and explores how affect can be incorporated as a form of pedagogy. Specifically this research focuses on the emotional epistemologies of the students as they inform social dynamics and relations of power/knowledge, are sites of resistance and represent another form of knowledge coming from affects and emotions that are being and becoming critical. I build upon pedagogical situations I experienced working in public and private schools in Bogotá, Colombia to interrogate biopolitical and disciplinary practices in pedagogy and to propose and reimagine a Decolonial/Feminist and Commoning pedagogy that involves collective and collaborative learnings that de-center the production of knowledge from the teacher and center curiosity and emotions as crucial points of departure for transformative learnings. I draw on two interviews I conducted with two scholar- artists and educators that are engaged in alternative pedagogies aiming to bring a perspective of the Commons and affective pedagogies that serve as counter points to a neoliberal and knowledge economy logic in education. While examining the different approaches I addressed in this research project, I have aimed to contribute to the interdisciplinary field of education bringing a perspective about affect and emotion and opening new possibilities for theory and research. Also to raise discussions and to invite further engagement on thinking about alternative pedagogies in school contexts.

Abstract: On hearing about the massacre that took place in 1928 in Ciénaga, Colombia; Úrsula – a character from One Hundred Years of Solitude – wonders if history keeps repeating itself. Her concern, voiced in in the 1978 novel by Nobel Prize laureate Gabriel García Márquez, is entirely valid today, 500 years after the arrival of the first Europeans in America and nearly a hundred years after the massacre at the banana plantations. Nowadays, it’s not the Spanish crown or the United Fruit Company that are changing the sociopolitical panorama of Latin America, but technological giants form Silicon Valley colonizing the countries of the global south by creating dependency on their digital platforms. Three cases of colonialism in Latin America are examined to understand the evolution of the colonial system that has always been surrounded by a halo of inevitability. The first chapter, In the Name of God, studies colonialism as a system established after the arrival of the Spanish in America. The second chapter, In the Name of Progress, examines the colonial logic behind the United Fruit Company’s actions in South America and the Caribbean. The third chapter, In the Name of Information, reflects on current forms of colonialism through connectivity initiatives led by surveillance capitalist companies like Facebook. As a conclusion, an alternative to the colonial narrative is proposed, which consists of an emancipatory discourse, based on the texts of the Brazilian Oswald Andrade and Oswaldo Costa and Italian philosopher Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi. Resumen: Al enterarse de la masacre ocurrida en 1928 en Ciénaga, Colombia; Úrsula, un personaje de "Cien Años de Soledad", se pregunta si la historia sigue repitiéndose. Su preocupación, expresada en la novela de 1978 del premio Nobel Gabriel García Márquez, es plenamente válida hoy, 500 años después de la llegada de los primeros europeos a América y casi cien años después de la masacre de las bananeras. Hoy en día, no es la corona española, ni la United Fruit Company, las que están cambiando el panorama sociopolítico de América Latina, sino los gigantes tecnológicos de Silicon Valley que colonizan los países del sur global creando dependencias a sus plataformas digitales. Para comprender la evolución del sistema colonial que siempre ha estado rodeado de un halo de inevitabilidad, se examinan tres casos de colonialismo en América Latina. El primer capítulo, "En nombre de Dios", estudia el colonialismo como un sistema establecido tras la llegada de los españoles a América. El segundo capítulo, "En nombre del progreso", examina la lógica colonial detrás de las acciones de la United Fruit Company en América del Sur y el Caribe. El tercer capítulo, "En nombre de la información", reflexiona sobre las formas actuales de colonialismo a través de iniciativas de conectividad lideradas por empresas que abogan por el capitalismo de vigilancia como Facebook. Como conclusión, se propone una alternativa a la narrativa colonial, que consiste en un discurso emancipatorio, basado en los textos del brasileño Oswald Andrade y Oswaldo Costa y del filósofo italiano Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi.

Resumen: La Piscina Romano es una piscina al aire libre tradicional de la ciudad de Milán, construida en el año 1920, que funciona solo en los meses de verano y luego se vacía y se cierra durante el resto del año. Mi objetivo ha sido crear una instalación de parque temporal dentro del área de la piscina, para volverla útil en meses en que está vacía. El complejo balnear está ubicado en un área central de la ciudad de Milán, en una zona residencial y predominantemente universitaria, con una importante presencia del de Milán. La Piscina Romano tiene un área de 17.400m2 aprox. y sólo un 29% de su área es funcional durante todo el año. El estado actual de este complejo balnear es un espacio totalmente fragmentado y desarticulado, de áreas abandonadas y sub-utilizadas, que quise integrar y refuncionalizar dentro del proyecto de parque temporal. La idea de crear un parque surgió con la intención de ampliar el parque de juegos de la piscina Romano hacia la piscina grande. Partiendo del concepto “La piscina que se convierte en parque”, luego también hice lo contrario, es decir, “el parque que se convierte en piscina”, esto quiere decir que el área de juego actual se ha convertido en una especie de piscina metafórica. De esta manera, los integré, pero también creé una ambigüedad entre uno y otro, disolviendo los límites entre ellos y produciendo un único espacio recreativo, dentro de una paradoja: no un parque y una piscina, sino un parque acuático y recreativo. Diseñé una obra de street painting en el suelo de todo el complejo para crear una metáfora. Los gráficos del suelo inundaron todo el balneario e integraron todas las piezas. En el edificio de vestieres decidí en cambio, crear un parque cubierto para permitir que la dinámica social alrededor del área de juegos al aire libre continúe desarrollándose a pesar del frío, y para que los niños, padres y ancianos tengan un lugar de encuentro cómodo en los meses más fríos del año. Por otro lado, quería retomar el complejo escultórico “Los Baños Misteriosos” de Giorgio De Chirico, actualmente ubicado en la Trienal de Milán, trasladándolo a la Piscina Romano como parte del proyecto de parque temporal, agregando valor al parque. Finalmente, lo que había imaginado como un parque de estación se convirtió en un dispositivo permanente. Las esculturas adquirieron un papel protagónico y el proyecto se convirtió en un escenario para exhibirlas. El resultado es una especie de parque acuático y recreativo, pero con esculturas valiosas.

Abstract: Every year, thousands are selectively killed and displaced in social cleansing campaigns in Colombia announced in publicly-posted pamphlets. Also known as the “black hand”, the selective killings have become a hallmark of the country’s poorest neighborhoods. Often perpetrated by neighbors, under the auspices of paramilitary groups and with the complicity or even participation of local police, these murders are touted as the necessary procedures of order in places where official justice cannot reach. Drug users, petty criminals, LGBTQ folk and especially trans women, are the preeminent targets of such campaigns. Already largely labeled as deviant or marginal, those whose lives are threatened and who dare make official complaints are dismissed by those institutions tasked with their safety. Purgare invites a consideration of social cleansing not from the perspective of the violence of its perpetrators, but through those who stand in resistance against it. This project accompanies a group of trans women who, faced with the extra-legal and legal dismissal of their lives, take recourse to magic to protect themselves and to reassert a modicum of agency. Bringing together photojournalism, anthropology, and artistic representation, the series and essay inhabits the magically real space created by these women, illuminating the powers they conjure in the worlds they create. Purgare stages the journeys of transformation crafted by these self-styled witches through their manipulations of plants and energies to forge lasting and powerful connections between new peoples and novel worlds. Purgare is imagined between disciplines and knowledges in an effort to expand the bounds of story-telling traditionally produced about violence. It builds a space in which those who struggle against structural violence can meet to create new representations of themselves and together weave novel images of power and possibility. Based on the stories of Stefania Grajales, Paola Caicedo and Catalina Lozano.

Abstract: The property of an organic molecule able to emit light efficiently from both their singlet and triplet excited states is called biluminescence. This dual state emission, particularly at room temperature, is difficult to achieve by purely organic molecules. It is possible only if the competitive thermal decay is suppressed effectively, enhancing the yield from the triplet state (i.e. phosphorescence) in addition to the conventional fluorescence. Biluminescence was identified in a simple host:guest system in which the biluminophore (i.e. an organic molecule showing biluminescence) NPB [N,N’-di(naphtha-1-yl)-N,N’- diphenyl-benzidine] is embedded in a rigid matrix, for example, the polymer PMMA [poly(methyl methacrylate)]. This system is unique not only due to the dual state emission, having fluorescence and phosphorescence emissions at 425nm and 530nm, respectively, but also because the large range of exciton lifetimes is extended up to nine orders of magnitude between nanosecond fluorescence and second phosphorescence. Up to date, efforts have been placed exclusively in the research of room temperature phosphorescence (RTP), although fluorescence can be observed from these systems as well. Therefore, the aim of this thesis was the investigation of the fundamental photophysical processes and characteristics of biluminescent organic molecules, in addition to their usage in promising applications as it will be described next. For instance, the most used approach for oxygen sensing is based on quenching of luminescent excited states, following a scheme of optical monitoring, i.e. correlating luminescence over-time data with oxygen concentrations. However, regardless whether one pursues fluorescence or phosphorescence quenching, they share a common drawback: They cannot monitor the effect of sample degradation due to extensive light exposure. In fact, one cannot distinguish between oxygen having penetrated the film and quenched the luminescence, or the sample being degraded over time due to e.g. photobleaching of the emitting molecules. The former represents an issue, especially for build-in applications. Now herein, it was proposed to use biluminescence to exclude degradation processes from oxygen sensing data evaluation, through a simple fluorescence-to-phosphorescence intensity ratio. This can be achieved, because it was proven here that the fluorescence is not directly quenched by oxygen, whereas the long-lived RTP is sensitive to it. Therefore, the fluorescence acts as self-referencing in a biluminescent sensor, which serves as an alternative solution to monitor oxygen concentrations. Additionally, the integration of the sensor into optoelectronic devices is considered as a potential future direction. Furthermore, it was revealed in this thesis that the difference in exciton lifetime yields to a significant limitation of luminescence efficiency, because of exciton accumulation under continuous illumination, causing bimolecular processes like singlet-triplet and triplet-triplet annihilation (STA and TTA, respectively), as well as optical saturation. All those processes occur already at moderate excitation intensities. It was demonstrated through sample engineering and oxygen quenching experiments, that the triplet exciton density can be controlled over several orders of magnitude, allowing to study exciton interactions between singlet and triplet manifolds. Consequently, the presented biluminescent system represents an illustrative role model to study excitonic effects in organic molecules. For example, in organic light-emitting diode materials, where the aforementioned effects i.e. STA, TTA and saturation, are application relevant but much more difficult to investigate. Mainly because light emission can be observed only from one state, instead of both states like in biluminescence.