This Master thesis is based on the Importance Performance Analysis technique introduced by Martilla and James (1977). The research main goal is to formulate managerial advice on which university choice determinants should be stressed and privileged in the VUB marketing strategy and targeted marketing, by collecting, processing and analyzing the scores related to the importance and performance perception from the 2nd year Master’s on Business Engineering students at the VUB, specially about their own university (VUB) and master’s program, as well as for the others Flemish Universities. The research comprised several steps including the collection, analysis and the evaluation of the different attributes that might have affected the university choice of the VUB 2nd year Master’s on Business Engineering students in the academic year 2015-2016. The final section of this master’s thesis is dedicated to present managerial advice to the VUB ES Faculty, using the information derived from the analysis of each quadrant of the absolute and relative importance – performance grids. Accordingly to the results obtained from the Master’s on Business Engineering students in the academic year 2015-2016 at the VUB, we can suggest that this Uniiversity is currently performing very well relative to its Flemish direct competitors (UGent, KULeuvan and UAntwerp). While the VUB “career opportunities”, “facilities”, “program and course description”, “university and campus environment”, “concern for students” and “facilities” have been scored with a higher performance compared with the other three Flemish Universities participating in this research, the “reputation” obtained a lower score relative to KULeuvan. “Career opportunities” has a higher relative performance score than these three Flemish Universities, however, is still found on the “concentrate here” quadrant, indicating that students perceive that they would have probably better careers opportunities if they would have followed their Master’s program in any of the other three Flemish Universities.

In this research, we study the issues concerning the Law 1819 of 2016 in its articles 140 to 164, which modified substantially the procedural rules regarding the treatment of the non-profit organizations. Specifically, we discuss subjects related to the destination and computing of the surplus determined by these entities. We study as well the regulation of this law in the Decrees 1625 of Octubre 11, 2016 and 2150 of December 20, 2017. Additionally, we question aspects of the changes made in the legal management given to the permanent allocations (asignaciones permanentes), which is the main subject of the dissertation. And we analyze how the new law alters the former regulation contained in the decree 4400 of 2004 changing the determination of the permanent allocations, and defining the possibilities for its destination according to the law.

El presente documento es un plan de negocio para la venta de Smoothies (Batidos a base de fruta) y Brunch (Desayunos tardíos) saludables en la localidad Santa Fé de Bogotá, específicamente en el centro internacional de la ciudad de Bogotá, a través de food truck (Carros de comida móvil). Esta tesis, describe los efectos negativos de no tener llevar una dieta saludable y analiza las tendencias del consumo de alimentos saludables que se están adoptando en Colombia y en el mundo. Como parte del desarrollo del trabajo, se estableció un estudio de mercado cuyo objetivo fue conocer los hábitos y preferencias de los consumidores del sector laboralmente activos u ocupados, y establecer estrategias. Un estudio técnico en el que sé que se describen las características de los productos, la cadena de valor, los recursos necesarios para su producción, localización, tamaño, procesos de producción, los costos y la capacidad. Un estudio organizacional, en el que se establecen los componentes necesarios para la creación de empresa, un estudio financiero para evaluar la viabilidad financiera, analizar indicadores y estudiar escenarios optimista y pesimista, y por último un plan de implementación el cual enmarca las actividades principales para su puesta en marcha.

The aim of this report is to demonstrate and explore how the vernacular architecture and crafts of the Andean region of Colombia could inspire the creation of an interior installation that is designed to convey a personal interpretation of the tensions associated with the current internal conflict in Colombia and a sincere aspiration for sustainable peace. To approach this hypothesis, the perspectives of experts in those matters were imperative and guided the further research of alternative secondary methods that included books, journals, and official publications. The main structure of the report attempts to address three principal chapters. The first chapter intends to recognise and highlight the importance of Guadua to the vernacular architecture and crafts associated with the Andean region of Colombia. The second chapter focuses on the investigation of the current trends and science behind narrative design and the infinite possibilities of storytelling in exhibitions and set design. Finally, the third chapter explores the current internal conflict between the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and Colombia’s National Government, which in theory is being tried to be resolved from the study of peace agreements and new possibilities for both parts achieving justice and repair.Findings obtained throughout the research and analytical process show that Guadua’s characteristics as a construction material represent a new insight in the scenario of a sustainable world. Furthermore, Colombia’s ongoing conflict, although it depends on many factors, should be acknowledged globally and has the potential to be tackled from a new artistic perspective, where an interior installation encodes a sincere aspiration for sustainable peace.

The FreshWaterMill project is a transfer of Environmentally Sound Technology (EST) from The Netherlands to Colombia that involves several Dutch companies, the Delft University of Technology and Coralina (corporation for sustainable development of the Archipelago San Andrés, Providence and Saint Kathleen). The installation place is Johnny Cay, a small islet 1.5 km northeast from San Andrés, Colombia, uninhabited and exclusive for touristic use (Van Tonningen, 2014). The technology is a wind powered reverse osmosis (RO) system that can fulfil the drinkable water and electricity demands of the Cay. This way can be alleviated the sanitary conditions resulting from unsustainable touristic practices. Moreover, this project is seen as a promoter of sustainable development in the Archipelago (Coralina, 2006), and as a potential solution to provide electricity and water to rural and remote areas of low utility coverage but abundant wind power. There are no environmental or social impact analyses that validate the sustainable character of the technology transfer. Moreover, although it is intended to improve the livelihood of target users their opinions are not reflected in the project plans. This situation resembles those factors that describe the trend to failure of technology transfers. Therefore this research made an integral assessment of the project as a Socio-Technical System (STS) to provide useful findings and recommendations that could lead it away from such trend. The Functions of Innovation Systems (FIS) framework (Van Alphen, 2008) was chosen for a systems approach analysis. Through this was found that poor planning, insufficient financial resources and ineffective communication channels are the most relevant barriers for a successful implementation of the FreshWaterMill. The most relevant drivers are the suitability of the place for a wind/RO system, the planning of a local educational center, a remarkable advocacy for Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs) in the Archipelago and the existence of local human capital and R&D on RE. Five conditions for self-organization were derived from the PAR (Participatory Action Research) methodology to explore the likeliness of self-organization for bottom-up management. Through this methodology was shown that the difficult relationship between the corporation and the touristic service providers, their lack of group cohesion, managerial and operational capacities, ignorance and/or misuse of instruments for self-organization, make unfeasible for this group to address the barriers and support the drivers of the project. Relevant conditions from the context not covered by the previous methodologies were also included. These reflected that the advocacy for RETs is counteracted by the fragmentation between institutional actors and their lack of managerial skills on technology topics, which makes them rely on national and international assistance to achieve a technological transition. The regular interaction that Johnny Cay workers will have with the windmill, the affinity of the life plan of young adults to the project objectives and the likeliness of this group to make economic contributions urges the need for a participatory approach. The socio-cultural crisis of the Archipelago supports this recommendation. However, the difficulty of institutional entities to understand and assume the roles that require a participatory approach and the path dependency on top-down regulation makes it a complex challenge. A participatory approach for the FreshWaterMill is indirectly supported by the management plan of the Natural Regional Park Johnny Cay and the Community and institutional participation board. Additional to the commitment of the corporation to assume an enabling role, the process needs a mediator so the touristic service.

The main purpose of this research is to demonstrate the connection between the vernacular architecture of La Cabaña and El Chuzo, two coffee regions of Caldas, Colombia, and how their ordinary domestic spaces of everyday life are defined and intimately related to the process of coffee production. The study of both veredas will lead us to understand an architecture that has been shaped by the two systems of coffee production in Caldas, known as Latifundios1 (La Cabaña) and minifundios2 (El Chuzo). Both systems determine the social and economic structure of the Caldas coffee region and therefore also its vernacular architecture and its peoples’ everyday life. This study will demonstrate the tangible and intangible qualities of these places, enabling us to understand in a deep way their values, meaning, and change over time. In Colombia, a country just starting to document its history and to create a written patrimony, being able to narrate what people do not know about La Cabaña and El Chuzo is a way to work toward a better understanding of the coffee region´s vernacular architecture and cultural landscape, and its sense of place and identity. To achieve this understanding of the coffee region, the project is undertaken in the emerging field of Cultural Landscape studies. This methodology aims to identify and analyze the essential and fundamental qualities of specific places, to then reveal their sense of place and identity. The study is done through historic photographs, oral histories, interviews, direct observation and documentation of peoples’ everyday lives around the process of coffee production. Only by studying how people live and the activities that take place in their domestic spaces and by being part of their everyday life, will we be able to understand how the vernacular architecture of La Cabaña and El Chuzo has been shaped by the process and culture of coffee production.

Résumé: La figure de Syméon Seth est celle d’un intellectuel encyclopédiste, comparable à celle de son contemporain Michel Psellos en ce qui concerne son attachement aux grandes familles constantinopolitaines. Pourtant, Seth se consacre à développer la science médicale plus que les autres branches du savoir, et il ne se limite pas à pratiquer la médecine dans le milieu privée des empereurs puisqu’une bonne partie de sa vie il l’a dédiée à l’écriture, des manuels à usage quotidien et d’autres manuscrits d’ordre théorique ou littéraire. Nous pensons qu’un portrait bio-intellectuel de Syméon Seth peut nous montrer s’il y a une pensée byzantine originale au tournant des XIe et XIIe siècles, et, de plus, s’il existait une dialectique entre la culture populaire et la plume des lettrés de la plus haute culture. Resumen: La figura de Syméon Seth es la de un intelectual enciclopedista, comparable a la de su contemporáneo Michel Psellos en lo concerniente a los lazos con las grandes familias de Constantinopla. Sin embargo, Seth se dedica a desarrollar la ciencia médica mucho más que las otras ramas del Saber, y no se limita a practica la medicina en el medio privado de los emperadores porque una buena parte de su vida la dedicó a la escritura, de manuales de uso cotidiano y otros manuscritos de tipo teórico o literario. Pensamos que un retrato bio-intelectual de Syméon Seth puedo mostrarnos si huno un pensamiento bizantino original alrededor de los siglos XI y XII, y, además, si existió una dialéctica entre la cultura popular y la pluma de los letrados de la más alta cultura.

Resumen: Se hace un estudio de los aspectos legales de las asociaciones público privadas (APP) en Colombia bajo el régimen de la ley 1508 del 2012 que busca determinar la necesidad y la coherencia de esta ley en el ordenamiento jurídico colombiano. Se propone identificar la naturaleza legal de las transacciones de tipo APP en la legislación colombiana y determinar si esta regulación es coherente con las reglas del régimen de contratación estatal o si le son derogatorias. En aras de establecer los elementos esenciales del concepto se hace referencia a las llamadas “experiencias internacionales” más representativas que inspiraron al legislador colombiano y las características de la definición adoptada por la ley colombiana. El estudio luego se enfoca en las particularidades del régimen de la Ley 1508 de 2012 frente a la compra pública tradicional, dando especial atención al principio de valor por dinero y a las reglas particulares que rigen la estructuración, el proceso de selección y la ejecución de proyectos APP. Abstract: A study of the legal aspects of public private partnerships (PPP) in Colombia under the Law 1508 of 2012 that assesses the question of the necessity and the coherence of the law into the Colombian legal system. It purports to identify the legal nature of PPP transactions under the Colombian law and to determine whether such a regulation is in accordance with the public procurement regime or if it abolishes it. Aiming to establish the key elements of the concept, reference is made to the most representative international experiences that inspired the Colombian legislator and the special characteristics of the definition adopted by the Colombian law. The study then focuses on the peculiarities of the regime set forth under the Law 1508 of 2012 compared to the rules of the traditional public procurement, special attention is given to the principle of value for money and the particular rules governing the structuring process, the awarding of the contracts and the execution of PPP projects.

Prescriptive ideas on war have been traditionally focused on the reasons and the means of war. However, contemporary scholars have emphasised the importance of normative judgements about the aftermath of armed conflicts. Although peacetime after war has been mainly guided by notions of corrective justice like retribution and restoration, a distributive approach to justice is currently proposed to redress socio-economic inequalities within highly unequal post-conflict scenarios. From this perspective, a peaceful state of affairs that preserves severe inequalities could not be deemed a just peace. In this regard, Colombian conflict is frequently utilised as an example of the expected role of distribution after war. Then, it seems a relevant question whether reducing socio-economic inequalities through mechanisms of distributive justice must be considered indispensable for a just peace after war. I will argue that distributive justice must be regarded as essential for a just peace within highly unequal post-conflict societies like Colombia. To that end, consequentialist and deontological arguments for post-conflict distribution will be discussed to analyse Colombian case as a scenario in which a just peace must necessarily include notions of distribution.

Abstract: Cetacean distribution was assessed by examining the relationships between oceanographic variables and cetacean species occurrence along the Pacific Exclusive Economic Zone (PEEZ) and the Caribbean Exclusive Economic Zone (CEEZ) in Colombia. The study areas were gridded at a resolution of 1o lat/long with 60 grid cells for the CEEZ and 37 grid cells for the PEEZ. Raster surfaces of four oceanographic variables (Temperature (°C), Salinity (PSU), Density (kg/m3), and Chlorophyll-a (Chla: ?g/l)) were generated through Interpolation Distance Weighting (IDW) to obtain mean values of response variables per grid cell. Data from cetacean species were related to the oceanographic variables using Redundancy Analyses ordination (RDA). Eighteen cetacean species were observed in the CEEZ and 22 cetacean species in the PEEZ, with a total of 617 and 828 sightings, and mean richness values of 2.8 (SD=7.54) and 3.69 (SD=3.27) cetaceans per grid cell, respectively. Distribution patterns showed counts concentrated in the continental shelf and adjacent to the coast for both regions. The CEEZ had concentrations in the northern Guajira Peninsula, in the central Santa Marta and Tayrona NP, in the southern Gulf of Morrosquillo, Cispatá Bay and the Gulf of Urabá, with a particular concentration in open waters around the Jamaica-Colombia Joint Regime. The PEEZ had cetacean concentrations in the northern Solano and Málaga Bay, in the central Buenventura city, in the southern Gorgona Island and Tumaco, with an important concentration in open waters in Malpelo Island. Distributions of cetaceans in the CEEZ showed an unclear correlation with oceanographic parameters (p=0.188), and no relationship between grid cells and species (p= 0.4426, p= 0.2547, and p= 0.1988, respectively). On the contrary, in the PEEZ, cetacean communities were mostly correlated to Chla, Density, and Salinity (Chla p= 0.016983, Density p= 0.018981, and Salinity p= 0.008991, respectively). Resumen: La distribución de cetáceos se evaluó examinando las relaciones entre las variables oceanográficas y la ocurrencia de especies de cetáceos a lo largo de la Zona Económica Exclusiva del Pacífico (PEEZ) y la Zona Económica Exclusiva del Caribe (CEEZ) en Colombia. Las áreas de estudio fueron divididas en cuadrículas con una resolución de 1º lat / long con 60 celdas para el CEEZ y 37 celdas para el PEEZ. Se generaron superficies ráster de cuatro variables oceanográficas (Temperatura (° C), Salinidad (PSU), Densidad (kg / m3), y Clorofila-a (Chla: μg / l)) mediante la Determinación de Distancia de Interpolación (IDW) para obtener valores promedio de las variables de respuesta por cada celda de las cuadrículas. Los datos de las especies de cetáceos se relacionaron con las variables oceanográficas usando la ordenación de análisis de redundancia (RDA). Se observaron 18 especies de cetáceos en la CEEZ y 22 especies de cetáceos en el PEEZ, con un total de 617 y 828 avistamientos, y valores promedio de riqueza de 2,8 (SD = 7,54) y 3,69 (SD = 3,27) por celda, respectivamente. Los patrones de distribución mostraron concentraciones en la plataforma continental y adyacentes a la costa para ambas regiones. La CEEZ obtuvo concentraciones en el norte por la Península de La Guajira, en la parte central en Santa Marta y el PNN Tayrona, en el sur en el Golfo de Morrosquillo, Bahía de Cispatá y el Golfo de Urabá, y con especial concentración en aguas abiertas alrededor del Área de Régimen Común Jamaica-Colombia. El PEEZ tenía concentraciones de cetáceos en el norte en Bahía Solano y Bahía Málaga, en la parte central en la ciudad de Buenventura, en el sur en la Isla Gorgona y enTumaco, con una importante concentración en aguas abiertas en la Isla Malpelo. Las distribuciones de cetáceos en la CEEZ mostraron una correlación poco clara con los parámetros oceanográficos (p = 0,188), y ninguna relación entre las celdas de la cuadrícula y las especies (p = 0,4426, p = 0,2547 y p = 0,1988, respectivamente). Por el contrario, en el PEEZ, las comunidades de cetáceos se correlacionaron principalmente con Chla, Densidad y Salinidad (Chla p = 0,016983, Densidad p = 0,018981 y Salinidad p = 0,008991, respectivamente).