Abstract: Literature on the training of music researchers is ample and copious, abundant in reference material and examples from different times and places. The present work tackles the analysis of an original and idiosyncratic project, in which a Ministry of Culture proposes a training program for researchers in music. Inviting agents and institutions from different backgrounds and territories, the Colombian Ministry of Culture through the ‘Pilot Project of Researchers’ Training in Music’ (PPFIM) led to a broad debate on research to strengthen traditional music practices. Through the critical-descriptive analysis of the documentation derived from the process, this study allows one to appreciate the genesis of this policy, as well as the different positions of the actors, the epistemological and political struggle behind the recognition of multiculturality, the forms of rationality involved in the research-training relationship, and the need for greater coherence in methodological, pedagogical and operational matters, which guarantee the formulation of a research policy that is in keeping with the wealth of local social knowledge, as a field of alternatives for open and plural societies more integrated, respectful of difference, and proud of their diversity. Resumen: La literatura sobre formación de investigadores en música es amplia y copiosa, abundante en material de referencia y ejemplos de diferentes épocas y lugares. El presente trabajo aborda el análisis de un proyecto original e idiosincrásico, en el que un Ministerio de Cultura propone un programa de formación para investigadores en música. Invitando a agentes e instituciones de diferentes procedencias y territorios, el Ministerio de Cultura de Colombia a través del Proyecto Piloto de Formación de Investigadores en Música (PPFIM) ha abierto un amplio debate sobre la formación en investigación como dispositivo para el fortalecimiento de las prácticas musicales tradicionales en el país. A través del análisis crítico-descriptivo de la documentación derivada del proceso del PPFIM, este estudio permite apreciar la génesis de esta política, así como diferentes posiciones de los actores involucrados, la lucha epistemológica y política detrás del reconocimiento de la multiculturalidad, las formas de racionalidad existentes en la relación investigación-formación y la necesidad de una mayor coherencia metodológica, pedagógica y operativa, que garantice la formulación de una política de investigación acorde con la riqueza del saber social local, como campo de alternativas para sociedades plurales más abiertas e integradas, respetuosas de la diferencia y orgullosas de su diversidad.

Abstract: Bovine Digital Dermatitis (DD) is a multi-etiological disease that affects several ungulate production species. One of the most studied ones are the Dairy Cattle, due to its population numbers in both developed and developing countries all around the world and the size of the dairy production globally.DD has no definite cure and there are currently several strategies to address this disease, including control of the risk factors at individual, animal and herd level, topic and systemic treatments with or without antibiotics. In these kind of diseases genetics can play a special role improving the overall health of the farm. It can help to select animals against the disease if it is included in the breeding goal. Using Generalized Linear Models, this thesis uses the SIS (Susceptible-Infected-Susceptible) model, taken from the Quantitative Epidemiology, to see whether there is a heritable component of susceptibility and infectivity related to the sire for DD in a group of 12 Dutch Dairy Farms. Resumen: La Dermatitis digital bovina (DD) es una enfermedad multietiológica que afecta a varias especies unguladas de producción Uno de los más estudiados es el ganado lechero, debido a su población en países desarrollados y en desarrollo en todo el mundo y al tamaño de la producción lechera a nivel mundial. El DD no tiene una cura definitiva y actualmente existen varias estrategias para tratar esta enfermedad, incluido el control de los factores de riesgo a nivel individual, animal y de rebaño, tratamientos tópicos y sistémicos con o sin antibióticos. En este tipo de enfermedades, la genética puede desempeñar un papel especial para mejorar la salud general de la granja. Puede ayudar a seleccionar animales contra la enfermedad si está incluida en el objetivo de reproducción. Usando Modelos Lineales Generalizados, esta tesis usa el modelo SIS (Susceptible-Infectado-Susceptible), tomado de la Epidemiología Cuantitativa, para ver si hay un componente hereditario de susceptibilidad e infectividad relacionado con el padre para DD en un grupo de 12 granjas lecheras holandesas.

Turning Point is a look into the state of Colombian cinema through the experience of a filmmaker who is working on his first feature film. Edison Vanegas, the father of a child with Down syndrome, is directing and producing Talento Millonario, a film that shows the skills and capabilities of people with learning difficulties. Turning Point tracks the efforts Vanegas makes to accomplish his goals as a filmmaker during the preproduction and production of the film. In order to obtain a wider picture, this documentary also includes the point of view of some of the most important players in the industry´s value chain like: director Victor Gaviria, producers Dago García and Juan Pablo Tamayo, the director of the Mixed Fund for Film Promotion Claudia Triana, among others. These experts will approach relevant issues concerning the state of affairs in national cinema. The film is an opportunity to learn about the effects of the “Film Act” created in 2003, which increased the number of productions being made in the country and gave filmmakers more tools and resources to make their project come to life. This does not necessarily mean consolidating the industry, because as we will see, there are still some major issues to solve and a long way to go. Master with distinction

Despite the numerous and insightful studies on military change, the scope of the countries and militaries, which have been a subject of analysis is limited. The attention has been brought mainly to the study of lessons from the United States, Great Britain and France. Some other studies explore Russia (and former USSR), Ireland, Israel and Japan among others, while not many have sought to explain how the armed forces of states committed to fight against a long-lasting insurgency in a non-international armed conflict, amidst constrained economies and particular social and cultural settings, have undertaken the endeavour to innovate, emulate and adapt. The present dissertation explores three case studies featuring evidence of innovation, emulation and adaptation in Colombia, in which ‘defence ownership’ is introduced as the overarching concept identified as an enabler of military change in a developing country dealing with a non-international armed conflict. Furthermore, it is argued that the effects of ‘norm compliance’ had provided the framework of action for innovation, limited the extent of emulation and represented the converging mechanism for using military capabilities for social purposes.

The Surface energy Balance System (SEBS) was utilised for evaluating the spatial and temporal variation of the actual evapotranspiration (ETa) over the Gumara basin, using satellite images from Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) in combination with meteorological data of the study area, for 12 days of 2006, 6 corresponding to the dry season, and 6 corresponding to the rainy season. The daily ETa was estimated for these days, and then a simple extrapolation of ETa proportionally to the ETp was used to compute the monthly and annual ETa. SEBS estimated an average ETa of 0.84 mm/day for the 6 dates of January, and an average of 4.24 mm/day for the 6 dates of the rainy season. The lowest value was obtained in Jan 2nd, with 0.73 mm/day, and the highest was observed in Sep 21st. Monthly ETa showed the lowest value of 34.20 mm in February; whereas the highest was observed in June with 115.67 mm. The annual ETa was about 847.12 mm, for the 2006. The average ETp estimated for the 12 analysed dates by Pan Evaporation method was about 4.15 mm/day, whereas for the Penman Monteith method was approximately 4.22 mm/day. Particularly for the rainy dates, the daily ETa was very similar to the ETp, with an average difference of 0.16 mm/day. In the water balance method, the difference between the estimated runoff with the ETa by SEBS, and the measured runoff at the station was of approximately 175.60 mm/year. According to these results and, although there are uncertainties associated with the model and the inputs utilised, the SEBS seemed to estimate reasonable values of ETa for the study area.

The classical job-shop problem is among the most studied scheduling models because it can model a variety of real-life applications. This problem can be reinforced by integrating the operation flexibility to obtain a more realistic model, called Flexible-Job shop Scheduling Problem (FJSP), that capture the salient features of modern systems. To consider both productivity and customer service in the FJSP, objective function such as regular criteria that consider an increasing function of the completion times of the jobs are needed. Makespan consists of minimizing the maximal completion time of all jobs, and it is the most studied criterion in the FJSP. However, minimizing other regular criteria are better suited to capture critical factors that affect the profit of manufacturing and service systems and thus their competitiveness; in particular the importance of jobs(customers) with weighted criteria. This thesis presents innovative general local search approaches to minimize regular criteria in the FJSP in two ways: Single criterion and multi-criteria called Multi-Objective Flexible Job-shop Scheduling Problem (MOFJSP). The local search approaches make use of a generalization of the disjunctive graph model, iteratively progress from one solution to another using two neighborhood structures (N1 and N2). N1 consists of moving all critical operations that belong to critical paths of jobs which affect the criterion being optimized and N2 is a subset of N1 where only operations which belong to blocks. New, efficient and fast sufficient feasibility conditions to obtain moves of the neighborhoods and evaluation functions that assess the quality of the feasible moves are proposed.

A review of the main issues that affect the livelihoods of non timber forest products (NTFP) focusing on the commercialisation issues of gatherers/producers and traders, was made for Colombia. It aimed to investigate broadly which are some of the cultural, economic, social, environmental, marketing and legislative issues that affect the outcomes for NTFP livelihoods. The sustainable rural livelihood framework was used to understand the main issues affecting NTFP livelihoods and to propose alternatives to improve the constraints found in NTFP development and commercialisation. The study identify the great importance of NTFP local and regional markets for rural development, and some data was given for international markets in order to understand the magnitude of the commerce and the possibilities that might arise for some promissory products. The review of some institutional and organisation incentives influencing NTFP production and commercialisation was undertaken by reviewing the forestry policies and some of its instruments. The study used secondary data of reports made mainly in Latin-America. The report concludes that the policies and norms that influence NTFP, such as the forestry policy and plans do not consider the importance of NTFP for social and environmental objectives. For NTFP research, the analysis of the commercialisation process is strongly co-related to social networks, ecology, cultural taboos, norms for management of NTFP and effectiveness of support organisations. NTFP livelihoods can be seriously affected by government organisations and NGO’s if they are treated as traditional commodities because of the fragility and uniqueness of their ecology, economy and social structures. The report gives some recommendations to government agencies and researchers that wish to mend the constraints found for NTFP successful development.

After more than 50 years of internal armed conflict, the peace agreement between the Colombian Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia- People’s Army (FARC-EP) raises both hope and concern. There are several opportunities for people, derived from wealth and land redistribution. However, the environmental sustainability of the mechanisms to implement the agreements represent the biggest challenges facing the future. Constructing future scenarios with indigenous peoples living in Forest Reserves and external agents working in La Pedrera, Amazonas Department, is a good case example to define what kind of futures they can envision. For this research project, I designed and served as facilitator during six scenario construction exercises, with 40 Forest Reserve dwellers. Additionally, I conducted six semi-structured formal interviews with relevant actors. The process of synthesising participants’ views, the current state of the territory, and perceived future opportunities and threats, lead me to a baseline and three future scenarios: Utopian, Business as Usual, and Dystopian. Furthermore, I used the capabilities approach, and Political Ecology, to understand the kinds of conflicts present in the area, to explore real possibilities of peace for the territory, and to expand the roles participants described as more conducive to achieve desirable futures.

Based on ethnographic fieldwork, this dissertation investigates borderscaping processes faced by irregular migrants and their living conditions in Madrid. It aims to study how borders/social boundaries are constructed in the city as irregular migrants move around living their lives -and how they deal to work, to live, to access to healthcare, etc. in a context of borderscapes that are present in the everyday life. This paper also attempts to determine how irregular migrants navigate the city and find ways to contest those borders. Through the case study of irregular migrants, this research examines their social interactions, their experiences with borderscapes surrounding them in different scenarios, and the tactics they implement to make use of the public space. In doing so, it sheds light on the dynamics which link their motivations and ways of getting around in a context of invisible borders. This paper highlights the practices that irregular migrants use to overcome borderscapes in an urban context of precariousness while performing different tactics trying to find a room for maneuver for negotiating their place in the city. This study aims to contribute to broadening the literature on the relation between irregular migration and its impact on multi-ethnic cities. Therefore, the research provides insights to the scholarships of borderscapes, a theoretical approach to the concept of borders as analytical entities that follow the migrant, particularly the one in an administrative irregular situation.

Face recognition is a specific case of object recognition. It has received special attention in the recent years due to a great variety of applications such as robot-human interaction, control by gesture, surveillance, security, and people tracking. The idea of face recognition is to give a computer system the ability of finding and recognizing human faces fast and precisely in images or videos. Face recognition aspires to work similar to human perception. Humans identify a big number of known faces, even after years of separation, or under extreme occlusion conditions, e.g. just by looking at a small part of a face. It is a complex task since faces can have different colors, poses, expressions, and sizes or they can be affected by illumination variations or occlusion conditions. Today, there are different methods of face recognition: feature-based approaches (low-level analysis, feature analysis, active shape models) that make explicit use of facial-features such as skin color, facial landmarks or face geometry, and image-based approaches (linear subspace models, neural networks, statistical approaches). The recent increase in the volume of data and computational resources has led to the need for fast and scalable recognition techniques. These techniques should be robust to non-rigid deformations, clutter, occlusion and illumination variations, but, at the same time, they must be sensitive to variations among faces from different persons. For these reasons, neural networks have become a surge of interest Initially, shallow regular neural networks could be used for small image sizes, but they would not scale to deeper networks since a huge amount of parameters would be necessary to be learnt, which can easily cause overfitting. As a result, Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) were proposed. In a CNN, neurons in a layer are connected to small regions of previous layers, which is different to regular neural networks, where all neurons are connected in a full manner. Besides, CNNs make correct assumptions about the nature of the images, for example locality of pixel dependencies \cite{ImageNet}. In general, CNNs have fewer connections and parameters, they are easier to train, and they present similar or better performance than the regular neural networks \cite{ImageNet}. As an extension of the CNNs, deep CNNs were introduced by Imagenet authors because a big number of high-resolution images and powerful GPUs are now available. The authors increased the number of convolutional layers, and they use large receptive fields in the first convolutional layer. As a result, overfitting, which is inherent to the large size of the model, is avoided and effective results are achieved. In addition, the authors of the VGGnet continued adding convolutional layers, but they keep the size of the receptive fields very small (3x3 convolutions) with a stride of 1, throughout the whole network, which decreases the amount of parameters.