Unnamed Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are known for their application in surveillance and tracking with on-board cameras. Videos from UAV usually suffer from jitter and high frequency unintended movements which makes necessary stabilize the footage. This is a Computer Vision problem, particularly difficult due to level of noise in acquisition and different types of scenarios which make hard to implement online stabilizer (on the fly). The present thesis explains in depth algorithms, methods and implementations of the OpenCV module videostab. We presented a version in C++ of videostab in context of video from UAV. Two main blocks constitute the current implementation: motion estimation and motion stabilization. In the former, the system robustly estimates global displacement in between every consecutive pair of frames. The latter can be used in two possible ways: Assuming that estimated motion contains intended UAV motion and high frequency vibrations or assuming that all estimated motion is undesirable. The first case is solved with a Gaussian filter to smooth motions and, in the second case, a filter called Zero Motion was implemented to give sensation of stillness. Results show that the implementation is robust and can work in different scenarios of UAV. Moreover, it is possible to run it in a general purpose computer with high speed performance. Online performance can be achieved using some function with graphic processing unit (GPU).

How can public employees be motivated to pursue important public purposes with intelligence and energy? When employees are motivated to work, a greater State capacity and a better public provision can be achieved. Motivation concerns how behavior starts, energizes, sustains and directs people to attain goals with drive and persistence and the kind of subjective reaction present in the organism while all this is going on. Current literature in public administration, human resource management and psychology argue that motivation fosters employee work performance and, even more, that it affects the degree to which an employee can contribute to an organization’s success. This paper explains the importance of employee motivation, specifically in the public sector, and explores how this concept affects different factors of human resource management such as goal setting, training and development, organizational climate and culture, team-building, appreciation, feedback, rewards and fairness. This analysis is then contrasted with the reality of a specific organization belonging to a specific context: the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. For this, the Colombian public sector background – and the Ministry’s in particular – in regards to public employee motivation is illustrated. Through a qualitative research approach, the Human Resources Direction, 4 other top-level management and 34 employees are asked to indicate the main motivators of the staff and the factors that most affect their motivation to work. The results show that, due to the particularities of the Colombian context, there are certain factors that deeply affect the staff´s motivation. Such factors, nonetheless, validate what has been concluded by motivation, psychology and HRM literature and research. Employees in the Ministry, just as any other human being, seek to carry out interesting and purposeful tasks; want to grow and achieve goals; and long for an environment whose climate and culture provides appreciation, feedback and fairness. In this regard, 8 recommendations are provided to help the MFA improve its employees’ motivation and thus productivity, performance and – equally important – happinness (for high motivation is a sign of happier people). Although the recommendations are specific for the MFA, considering that the findings confirm motivation literature and are in accordance with the problems portrayed of the Colombian public sector context, it is also plausible to take them into account for other public sector agencies in Colombia and abroad.

This project starts with a lari. A street cart, very common in many urban contexts of India. This project begins by proposing alternatives to appropriate public spaces and offer resources to confront scarcity (while harnessing frugality). Is a proposal for moving markets; changing spaces we could dare to call moving homes. This is a project of essential, minimum design, frugal prototyping and collaborative explorations. A project of learning and sharing that, almost coincidentally, results in enquiries of architectural theory. A proposition of methodologies based on the essential action of play; of participating, negotiating and, ultimately, changing the world with small, collective gestures. A ponder into issues of knowledge production in the global south, in parallel to a political initiative of decolonizing: decolonizing the mind by structuring our own methods of thought, capitalising on our capabilities and rearranging our priorities as spatial agents. This is an inquest into the technology of jugaad -an attitude of frugal improvisation and innovation widely used in India- which accounts for great possibilities of use in the field of design, of spatial practice. A reconsideration of reutilizing those existing thought+material processes, within our field of practice. A gap in that field, in which we can play.

The current study analyzed attitudes towards size and physical appearance among four hundred and seventy Colombian and two hundred and ten American college students. The effects of gender and culture (and their interaction) on thin ideal internalization, sociocultural pressure to be thin, and body image dissatisfaction were examined in the sample.  Results from the study showed that there are differences between gender and country: Colombian students perceived themselves as having a better body image overall compared to American students; females from both countries had a lower body image satisfaction compared to males. Surprisingly, males from both countries worry about their physical size and appearance. Implications for future research include validating instruments especially for a Colombian population, as well as continuing to include males in studies related to body image and eating disorders because it was found that they were also unsatisfied with their overall body image. 

Scholars generally agree that irregular migration is the direct consequence of the restrictionist and containment policies that have been used by states to keep immigrants outside their borders. This creates a dynamic that has three significant parts. First, restrictive border policies and practices drive refugees, asylum-seekers, and other migrants to resort to the use of irregular migration in order to reach their destinations. Second, the use of this type of migration, in particular the use of human smugglers, criminalizes and de-legitimizes refugees and asylum-seekers, and consequently third, this continues to legitimize states’ restrictionist practices. This dissertation argues that the dynamic described above is either 1) facilitated by media discourses and constructed to portray irregular migrants as a social and economic threat or 2) challenged by media discourses portraying irregular migrants as helpless victims. This dissertation explains the above-mentioned dynamics by examining the cases of Colombia and Ecuador and by providing a critical discourse analysis of written media in both countries.

Aquaculture operations over the years have suffered a dramatic change because of the increasing levels of industrial and agricultural contaminants in the aquatic environment. Several methods have been studied to reduce the negative contribution of contaminated effluents in the ecosystem. The method studied in this research was the use of activated carbon sorption as a feasible method to reduce the influent and effluent load of heavy metals and other harmful pollutants present mainly in fresh water aquaculture installations. The sorption of Cd, Cu, Ni, Hg, Pb, and phenol-based compounds was evaluated using batch adsorption isotherms and breakthrough experiments in packed GAC vertical columns. Both experimental facets are commonly used as scaling up techniques in the waste water treatment technology. Adsorption of Cd, Cu, Pb, and phenol occurred at different rates for each toxic contaminant, with Cd being the most readily adsorbed pollutant. The analytical determination of nickel and mercury presented some difficulties, possibly due to the analytical procedures followed. Analysis of the breakthrough curves for Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb and phenol, after the samples were passed through the columns showed that the concentration of all contaminants was reduced to a minimum value. These results support similar conclusions mentioned by several authors in the literature. The results of this research proved that activated carbon technology can be applied in aquaculture; its use however will be limited because of the high costs involved in design and development, particularly in large scale aquaculture practices.

Despite ample evidence about the short-term impacts of conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs on education and health outcomes, little is known about their long-term effects. This paper evaluates the longer-run impacts (after nearly 10 years) of Mexico’s renowned CCT program Oportunidades, on the rural youth. In particular, it examines the effects of differential exposure to the program (of 1.5 additional years) on education and employment outcomes as well as adult life-style decisions (marriage and migration). The results do not show strong evidence of significant long-term impacts on education (except for the elder youth). There is some of evidence that early exposure to Oportunidades is associated with a higher probability of engaging in certain types of jobs. However, there is no indication of a shift away from agricultural activities. Finally, there is some evidence suggesting that longer exposure to the program may cause women to delay marriage. This effect could enhance women’s possibilities of participating in the labor market (through a reduction or postponement of the domestic workload.) However, finding no significant impact on earnings or probability of employment may imply that in these poor rural communities additional human capital accumulation may not suffice to improve the productive lives of these young adults in the long-run.

Worldwide electricity power systems are evolving from conventional/dispatchable sources to environmental friendly but Not-dispatchable renewable energy (RE) sources. This has effects on the dynamic of the system and on conventional and RE generators, electricity quality and energy cost. This research identifies the main effects of higher portions of Non-dispatchable RE based on a reference case. An MATLAB/EXCEL “ad-hoc” model has been developed. It simulates the Unit Commitment (UC) and Economic Dispatch (ED) with 10 conventional generators and one zero fuel cost RE generator (Non-dispatchable RE as “study-case” and Dispatchable RE “reference-case”). Results indicated that higher portions of Non-dispatchable RE had a swapping effect where base load units were displaced. Consequently, the system ran at lower cost-efficient point, the number of Start-ups and RE curtailment increased compared to the reference case. Furthermore, conventional generators running cost and system running cost followed the variable pattern of the Non-dispatchable RE source. Meanwhile, these costs were linked to the demand in the reference case. Ultimately, higher portions of Non-dispatchable RE made the system underperform compared to the reference case. Therefore, this incentive technology that lessen unwanted effects. Future studies shall focus on increasing the number of units and complexity of the system by using more powerful software.

On the basis of Colombia´s National Development Plan – NDP (2010-2014), this paper assesses whether the idea of an environmentally responsible mining is leading to Environmental Policy Integration (EPI) in Colombia’s Large-scale mining sector. From a political ecology perspective, the literature review discusses the concept of responsibility in the context of environmental governance. Beyond the EU and OECD jurisdictions, this represents a useful theoretical approach to consider EPI as a principle, its institutional features and the main challenges to enable policy learning between different stakeholders. Complemented with primary and secondary data, the proposed assessment is performed. Conclusions and policy implications suggest that Colombia´s NDP represents a valuable platform setting the main institutional factors for EPI, despite the existence of major barriers impeding to advance in a long and challenging policy-learning process.