In season sensing of crop architectonics is important for identifying and preventing potential stresses as well as optimizing crop management logistics. Measurements of chlorophyll content, size, density, and/or temperature of the canopy have been used as primary in situ diagnostic tools. The goal of this study was to develop a prototype sensor system that would integrate laser proximity measurements as the basis for a low-cost instrumented system for green vegetable production. The system involves circular scanning of crop canopies to identify fresh biomass under different soil and management conditions. The first experiment was conducted in a greenhouse with lettuce and kale. Biomass was estimated from the sensor system's measurements resulting in R2 values between 0.74 and 0.93, percentage error between 25% and 55%, and root mean squared error (RMSE) between 0.295 ln(g) and 0.441 ln(g). These values include both dry and fresh biomass for lettuce and kale. The second experiment in a spinach field on a commercial farm produced similar results. Two approaches for processing the laser-based height profiles are discussed: regression of profile-representative features and inference of a canopy density function. Depending on the processing method, the R2 was either 0.78 or 0.94, and the RMSE was 4.18 t/ha and 2.16 t/ha for each case. The mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) was around 30% for both methods. The second experiment featured improved hardware in terms of ease of operation. Proper use of this technology will allow farm managers to improve harvest plans and shipment schedules under variable plant growth dynamics. Resumen: La detección de la arquitectura de cultivos en temporada es importante para identificar y prevenir posibles estreses, así como para optimizar la logística de administración de cultivos. Mediciones del contenido de clorofila, del tamaño, de la densidad y/o de la temperatura del dosel de las plantas han sido usadas in situ como herramientas diagnósticas primarias. El objetivo de este estudio fue desarrollar el prototipo de un sistema de sensores que integrara mediciones de proximidad a partir de láser como base para un sistema de instrumentación de bajo costo para la producción de vegetales verdes. El sistema involucra un escaneo circular del dosel de los cultivos para identificar la biomasa fresca bajo diferentes condiciones de manejo y de suelo. Un primer experimento se llevó a cabo en un invernadero con lechuga y col rizada. La biomasa fue estimada a partir de las mediciones del sistema de sensores resultando en valores de R2 entre 0.74 y 0.93, porcentajes de error entre 25% y 55%, y un error cuadrático medio (RMSE) entre 0.295 ln(g) y 0.441 ln(g). Estos valores incluyen biomasa tanto fresca como seca para lechuga y col rizada. El segundo experimento en un campo de espinaca de una granja comercial produjo resultados semejantes. Se discuten dos métodos para procesar los perfiles de altura basados en láser: regresión de características representativas del perfil e inferencia de la función de densidad del dosel. Dependiendo del método de procesamiento, R2 fue 0.78 o 0.94 y RMSE fue 4.18 t/ha o 2.16 t/ha respectivamente. El error porcentual absoluto medio (MAPE) fue alrededor de 30% para ambos casos. El segundo experimento destacó mejoras en el equipo en términos de facilidad de operación. Un uso apropiado de esta tecnología permitirá a los gerentes de granja mejorar sus planes de cosecha y programación de transporte de sus mercancías bajo dinámicas variables de crecimiento de plantas.

Placemaking and community engagement are ongoing concerns for the development of healthier and more inclusive cities. People move to cities looking for financial, social and political stability and by the year 2050, it is expected that two-thirds of the human population will be living in a city, spaces which represent beyond their physical infrastructures a multilayered complexity of human relations and interactions. This work aims to test the disruption possibilities of design, written language, and storytelling as tools to make evident the active role of individuals in the construction and development of their physical space. The objective of this project is to test design as a medium of positive activism to spark community creation. Through different experiments, I connect design thinking methods with the fields of storytelling and activism, in order to develop community-making processes. The concept of -The City- is approached from a scale perspective, from house, to neighbour, to district, to city, and points out the lack of interaction and communication among neighbours as one of the elements responsible of the insular lifestyle mode of today’s western societies. An issue which is playing a harmful effect in human health and politics. For the practical phase of the research, I chose a student accommodation building in the district of Deutz in the city of Cologne. A building initially characterized by the lack of care among its inhabitants but at the same time with the potential to become a hub for multicultural exchange. Concepts from psychology, architecture, storytelling, and language are intertwined through the research with the aim of making unknown individuals feel part of a group and envision a physical environment together. The same way as a narration the work is divided into three main phases: Reading cities, Writing cities and Re-reading cities. Through them, concepts of belonging and co-creation, are linked with the possibilities of design as a way of activism to become a tool to gradually change the perceptions of physical space and to build upon the idea of what is needed to design and who designs.

Drawing on a wide range of academic literature and one company case study (Kozhya), the purpose of this research is to bring the attention of the German cosmetic luxury companies into the Colombian market. This study builds on an extensive review of academic literature, primary empirical research, and secondary research through the consultation of official and updated sources. The outcomes present the market entry strategies to penetrate the Colombian cosmetic luxury market in the current context, answering to the contemporary problematics of the economic and cultural market entry barriers. Based on potential customers and experts’ interviews, these strategies are formulated from the customer’s point of view. This study extends luxury cosmetic studies to define an under-investigated potential market in Colombia, in the frame of the luxury cosmetic/anti-aging company, and the components that makeup Kozhya’s business model. By adopting a critical perspective of the existing secondary data and the empirical collected information, this investigation offers an original contribution to the field of international business, market entry barriers and market entry strategies, and introduces avenues for generalization and future research.

During the work of this research project we were interested in mathematical techniques that give us an insight to the following questions: How do we understand the trading decisions made by a manager of a hedge fund and what influences these decisions? In what way does an illiquid market affect these decisions and the performance of the fund? And how does the payment scheme affect the investor’s decisions? Based on existing work on hedge fund management, we start with a fund that can be modelled with one risky investment and one riskless investment. Next, subject to the hedge fund special reward scheme we maximise the expected utility of wealth of the manager, by controlling the percentage invested in the risky investment, namely the portfolio. We use stochastic control techniques to derive a partial differential equation (PDE) and numerically obtain its corresponding viscosity solution, which provides a weak notion of solutions to these PDEs. This is then taken to a liquidity constrained scenario, to compare the behaviour of the two scenarios. Using the same approach as before we notice that due to the liquidity restriction we cannot use a simple model to combine the risky and riskless investments as a total amount, and hence the PDE is one order higher than before. We then model an investor who is investing in the hedge fund subject to the manager’s optimal portfolio decisions, with similar mathematical tools as before. Comparisons between the investor’s expected utility of wealth and the utility of having the money invested in the risk-free investment suggests that, in some cases, the investor is paying more to the manager than the return he is receiving for having invested in the hedge fund, compared to a risk-free investment. For that reason we propose a strategic game where the manager’s action is to allocate the money between the two assets and the investor’s action is to add money to the fund when he expects profit. The result is that the investor profits from the option to reinvest in the fund, although in some extreme cases the actions of the manager make the investor receive a negative value for having the option. En el desarrollo de este proyecto de investigación estamos interesados en las técnicas matemáticas que puedan brindar información sobre las siguientes preguntas: Cómo entendemos las decisiones de compra-venta de acciones de administrador de fondos de cobertura y qué influencia esas decisiones? Y cómo afecta el esquema de pagos estas decisiones? Basados en trabajos existentes en administración de fondos de cobertura, empezamos con un fondo que puede ser modelado con un activo riesgoso y un activo libre de riesgo. A continuación y sujeto al esquema de pagos particular de los fondos de cobertura, maximizamos la esperanza de la utilidad de la riqueza para el administrador, controlando el porcentaje invertido en el activo riesgoso, llamado el portafolio. Usamos las técnicas de control estocástico para derivar una ecuación diferencial parcial (EDP) y de forma numérica obtuvimos su correspondiente solución de viscosidad, la cual es una noción débil para las soluciones de estas EDPs. Luego, llevamos este modelo a un escenario con una restricción de liquidez, para comparar el comportamiento de ambos escenarios. Bajo la misma aproximación de antes, notamos que debido a la restricción en liquidez no podemos usar un modelo que simplemente combine los activos riesgosos y libre de riesgo en un monto total, en consecuencia la EDP es de un orden mayor que la anterior. A continuación modelamos un inversionista el cual invierte en el fondo de cobertura y está sujeto a las decisiones del administrador del fondo, para esto usamos herramientas matemáticas similares a las usadas anteriormente. Las comparaciones hechas entre la utilidad de riqueza esperada por el inversionista y la utilidad de invertir en un activo libre de riesgo nos sugieren que, en algunos casos, el inversionista está pagando más al administrador que el exceso de retorno que recibe por invertir en un fondo de cobertura, esto cuando se compara con una inversión sin riesgo. Por esta razón proponemos un juego estratégico donde las acciones del administrador son distribuir el dinero entre los dos activos y las acciones del inversionista son adicionar más dinero al fondo cuando espera ganancia. El resultado es que el inversionista obtiene ganancias por la opción de reinvertir en el fondo, aunque en algunos casos extremos las acciones del administrador hacen que el inversionista reciba un valor negativo por tener la opción.

The first satellite dish arrived in the South American country of Colombia in 1970. Two decades later, hundreds of them covered the roofs of apartment buildings, community centers, and town halls all around the country. This dissertation follows the trajectory of big satellite dishes by looking at a network that connects amateurs in the United States and traders in Miami and Medellín to populations living in urban and rural Colombia. In a timescale of forty years, big satellite dishes changed not only technologically, but also in how government agents, businesses, and users conceived of them. Grounded in infrastructure studies of media and Latin American communication and science and technology studies, this dissertation looks at three particular aspects: the role of informal infrastructures in the development of technological modernity, the labor and knowledge of local technicians needed in transitions in media technologies, and the participation of media infrastructures in the production of culture. Despite considered stable and finished, infrastructure design and maintenance reveal an important set of values connecting culture and technology. In the case of television, the dissertation explores a network of actors, objects and practices that affected urban and rural spaces and shaped understanding of intellectual property in a Latin American Country. Resumen: La primera antena parabólica llegó a Colombia en 1970. Dos décadas después, cientos de estas cubrieron los techos de edificios de apartamentos, centros comunitarios y alcaldías de todo el país. Esta disertación sigue la trayectoria de las grandes antenas parabólicas al observar una red que conecta a los aficionados en los Estados Unidos y los comerciantes en Miami y Medellín con las poblaciones que viven en las zonas urbanas y rurales de Colombia. En una escala de tiempo de cuarenta años, las grandes antenas parabólicas cambiaron no solo tecnológicamente, sino también en cómo los concebían los agentes gubernamentales, las empresas y los usuarios. Basada en estudios de infraestructura de medios y estudios latinoamericanos de comunicación y ciencia y tecnología, esta disertación analiza tres aspectos particulares: el papel de las infraestructuras informales en el desarrollo de la modernidad tecnológica, el trabajo y el conocimiento de los técnicos locales necesarios en las transiciones en las tecnologías de los medios, y la participación de las infraestructuras de medios en la producción de cultura. A pesar de considerarse estable y terminado, el diseño y el mantenimiento de la infraestructura revelan un conjunto importante de valores que conectan cultura y tecnología. En el caso de la televisión, la disertación explora una red de actores, objetos y prácticas que afectaron los espacios urbanos y rurales y moldearon la comprensión de la propiedad intelectual en un país latinoamericano.

In this study, I present emplacement ages, petrography and the geochemical composition of doleritic dykes and one sill from the eastern and south-eastern area of the Kaapvaal Craton. These results refine the previous 2253 ± 45 and 2202 ± 74 Ma ages of the Mashining event to ca. 2168 Ma, and shows that this swarm is intermixed with the younger 1875-1835 Ma Black Hills dyke swarm. Geochemical data of the Mashining swarm suggest these dykes may acted as feeders of ca. 2.2 Ma Hekpoort magmatism within the Pretoria Group. A Southern extension of Mashining magmatism in the Kaapvaal Craton is represented by the ENED-03 dyke, herein dated to 2168 ± 7 Ma. However, despite this age match, there are considerable geochemical differences. The trend of the Black Hills dyke parallels the older ca. 2168 Ma Mashining dykes within the Transvaal sub-basin. Further north, in the area of the Archean basement, it extents close to the ca. 1.85 Ga Soutpansberg Group basin, suggesting a possible connection and a common magmatic event. The northerly trend of Black Hills dykes just northeast of the Transvaal sub-basin seems to be locally deflected by older NE-trending fracture zones and dykes that belong to a major ca. 2.70-2.66 Ga NE-trending swarm. Echelon and dyke patterns, thus suggest that the trend of Black Hills dykes in that area was controlled by former regional paleo-stresses and fracture zones. The definition of the ca. 2168 Ma age for the Mashining magmatic event on the Kaapvaal Craton indicates possible connection to coeval magmatic events in the Wyoming, Dharwar and Superior Cratons. Resumen En este estudio se presentan edades, petrografía y datos geoquímicos de diques doleríticos y un silo ubicados al este y sudeste del Cratón de Kaapvaal. Estos resultados refinan edades previas de 2253 ± 45 y 2202 ± 74 Ma para el evento de Mashining a ca. 2168 Ma, adicionalmente indica que estos diques se encuentran intercalados con un enjambre más joven, el enjambre Black Hills de 1875-1835 Ma. Datos geoquímicos del enjambre de diques Mashining sugieren que estos pudieron actuar como fuente alimentando el volcanismo del evento Hekpoort datado a ca. 2.2 Ma y que está presente dentro del Grupo Pretoria. Una extensión más al sur del magmatismo del evento Mashining en el Cratón Kaapvaal está representada por el dique ENED-03, aquí datado a 2168 ± 7 Ma. Sin embargo, a pesar de esta edad se encuentran presentes marcadas diferencias geoquímicas entre dicho dique y el evento Mashining. El rumbo de los diques de Black Hills es paralelo a los diques de Mashining dentro de la sub-cuenca Transvaal. Hacía el norte, en el área del basamento Arqueano, los diques de Black Hills se extienden cerca de la Cuenca Soutpansberg datada a ca. 1.85 Ga, indicando una posible conexión entre estos eventos. El rumbo norte de los diques de Black Hills al noreste de la sub-cuenca Transvaal parece estar deflectado por diques de edad ca. 2.70-2.66 Ba y zonas con rumbo NE más antiguas. El rumbo de los diques y patrones en echelon indican que el rumbo de los diques de Black Hills en el área está controlado por paleo-esfuerzos y zonas de fractura anteriores a los diques. La nueva edad de ca. 2168 Ma para el evento magmático de Mashining en el Cratón de Kaapvaal indica una posible conexión con eventos magmáticos coetáneos en los Cratones de Wyoming, Dharwar y el Superior.

Background: Rapid population ageing in Latin America will increase the demand for health services in older adults. Nevertheless, a healthy ageing can only be achieved if there is equitable access to healthcare, determined by need and not by other socioeconomic or demographic factors. In Colombia, there is the risk that the large increase in health coverage in the last 25 years, by establishing a social health insurance with two insurance regimes (contributive and subsidized), has not been followed by effective access, which will affect elders as well. Objective: To identify the determinants of healthcare utilization and unmet needs among Colombian elders. Methodology: The 2015 SABE (Health, well-being and ageing) population survey was analyzed applying the Andersen behavioral model of healthcare utilization. The study sample was 23,694 adults above 60 years old. Binary logistic regression analyses were executed to test the factors predicting the use of outpatient, inpatient and preventive services and the presence of unmet needs in the participants. Results: 97.8% of elders had health insurance. Access to healthcare for Colombian elders was inequitable as it was explained not only by health needs but also by enabling factors. Multimorbidity was positively associated with every model of healthcare utilization, while living in urban areas and having contributive health insurance increased the odds of accessing a health related consultation in the last 4 months and being screened for cancer. Hospitalizations were not predicted by the type of health insurance. Conclusion: Colombian elders cannot benefit from universal health coverage if they are not able to get effective access to healthcare when in need. The government should address the access barriers for rural elders and for those with subsidized insurance by improving the availability of health resources in distant areas, especially primary healthcare, and effectively regulating the service delivery across the insurance providers. Improving health literacy and awareness of the health rights for elders could also help them to navigate the health system and seek care when needed. Resumen. Antecedentes: el rápido envejecimiento de la población en América Latina aumentará la demanda de servicios de salud en los adultos mayores. Sin embargo, un envejecimiento saludable solo se puede lograr si hay un acceso equitativo a la atención médica, determinado por la necesidad y no por otros factores socioeconómicos o demográficos. En Colombia, existe el riesgo de que el gran aumento de la cobertura de salud en los últimos 25 años, al establecer un seguro social de salud con dos regímenes de seguro (contributivo y subsidiado), no haya sido seguido por un acceso efectivo, el cual también afectará a los ancianos. Objetivo: identificar los determinantes de la utilización de la atención médica y las necesidades insatisfechas entre los ancianos colombianos. Metodología: se analizó la encuesta SABE (Salud, bienestar y envejecimiento) 2015 aplicando el modelo conductual de Andersen de utilización de la atención médica. La muestra del estudio fue de 23,694 adultos mayores de 60 años. Se realizaron análisis de regresión logística binaria para evaluar los factores que predicen el uso de servicios ambulatorios, hospitalarios y preventivos y la presencia de necesidades insatisfechas en los participantes. Resultados: 97.8% de los ancianos tenían seguro de salud. El acceso a la atención médica para los ancianos colombianos era desigual, ya que se explicaba no solo por las necesidades de salud sino también por factores habilitadores. La multimorbilidad se asoció positivamente con todos los modelos de utilización de la atención médica, mientras que vivir en áreas urbanas y tener un seguro de salud contributivo aumentó las probabilidades de acceder a una consulta relacionada con la salud en los últimos 4 meses y ser examinado para detectar cáncer. Las hospitalizaciones no fueron predichas por el tipo de seguro de salud. Conclusión: los ancianos colombianos no pueden beneficiarse de la cobertura universal de salud si no pueden obtener un acceso efectivo a la atención médica cuando lo necesitan. El gobierno debe abordar las barreras de acceso para los ancianos rurales y para aquellos con seguro subsidiado mejorando la disponibilidad de recursos de salud en áreas distantes, especialmente atención primaria de salud, regulando efectivamente la prestación de servicios a través de los proveedores de seguros. Mejorar la alfabetización en salud y la conciencia de los derechos de salud en los ancianos también podría ayudarlos a navegar por el sistema de salud y buscar atención cuando sea necesario.

Deforestation is a relevant topic in socioeconomic and environmental studies. It is estimated that three-quarters of terrestrial biodiversity is covered by forest and 15% of all greenhouse emissions are produced by deforestation globally. Colombia contains 4.1% of the rainforest at the global scale and has a long-armed conflict. The vacuum of power left by FARC’s retreat has promoted that pre-existing illegal armed groups and the emergence of new actors began to occupy the municipalities where FARC used to have a presence. This dynamic has increased the rapacious behavior of illegal armed groups, exerting pressure over natural resources and thereby increasing alarmingly deforestation. The present paper demonstrates through an impact evaluation that uses fixed effect as an empirical strategy, that FARC discouraged deforestation before the unilateral ceasefire in the municipalities where they used to have presence at the end of 2014, even though the heterogeneity of its force armed structure also generate negative impacts on forest land. Likewise, the paper also shows that the socioeconomic dynamics both legal and illegal that are promoting deforestation in Colombia should be examined jointly since these dynamics are interlinked. Resumen: La deforestación es un tema relevante en los estudios socioeconómicos y ambientales. Se estima que tres cuartas partes de la biodiversidad terrestre están cubiertas por bosques y el 15% de todas los Gases de Efecto Invernadero (GEI) son producidas por la deforestación a nivel mundial. Colombia contiene el 4,1% de la selva tropical a escala mundial y tiene un conflicto de larga duración. El vacío de poder dejado por la retirada de las FARC ha promovido que los grupos armados ilegales preexistentes y la aparición de nuevos grupos de interés comenzaran a ocupar los municipios donde las FARC solían tener presencia. Esta dinámica ha aumentado el comportamiento rapaz de los grupos armados ilegales, ejerciendo presión sobre los recursos naturales y, por lo tanto, aumentando la deforestación de manera alarmante. El presente documento demuestra, mediante una estrategia empírica de efectos fijos, que las FARC desincentivaron la deforestación antes del cese unilateral en los municipios donde solían tener presencia a finales de 2014, sin embargo, se precisa que la heterogeneidad de su estructura armada también generó impactos negativos en la cobertura forestal. Del mismo modo, el documento también muestra que las dinámicas socioeconómicas, tanto legales como ilegales, que promueven la deforestación en Colombia deben examinarse conjuntamente, ya que estas dinámicas están interrelacionadas.

Abstract: At the present time, climate change and antimicrobial resistance are considered as the most critical threats, affecting human, animal, plant, and environmental health. Although these terms may initially appear different, they are interconnected and share similarities in their causes (human interventions and natural cycles), health, and societal consequences. Climate change is associated through direct and indirect pathways with an increase in infectious diseases. Nonetheless, the association between global warming and antimicrobial resistance requires a comprehensive summary of evidence exploring it. Methods: A literature review was conducted to identify and describe the association between climate change and the rapid emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance. The search was conducted in the following databases: PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Embase, Epistemonikos, and Google Scholar. The search period was restricted to articles published from January 2010 to June 2021. Additionally, a snowballing approach was conducted to identify any additional papers. Data extraction included study location, weather factors, environmental elements, antibiotics, and bacteria analysed, as well as the results. Results: 29 articles were included (ten literature or systematic reviews, eight experimental, six ecological, four observational, and one quasi-experimental). In terms of location, all the studies were conducted in countries between 35° and 75° north latitude. The results suggested some evidence of the effects of climate change (alterations in temperature, precipitation, and humidity) on the emergence and rapid spread of antimicrobial resistance in different environments (water, soil, cryosphere, and air). Temperature was described as a main effect of climate change that had effects on antibiotic resistance (increasing bacteria growth, altering metabolism, inducing crossprotection, and facilitating horizontal gene transfer between bacteria). Additionally, results also described the association between altered rain patterns and humidity and antimicrobial resistance, through the runoff of antibiotic molecules or the transport of antibiotic resistance mechanisms to other areas. Conclusions: This literature review has underscored the association between climate change and antimicrobial resistance. According to the results shown in the selected studies, the alterations in weather factors resulting from climate change have varying effects on the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance. However, further research is imperative to decipher the complex interactions between other environmental processes, pollutants, patterns of antibiotic consumption, wastewater, animal migration, and regions below the latitudes covered in this literature review.

Abstract: In a country where direct, structural, and cultural violence dates back to the Spanish conquest, Feminist pedagogies in historical memory as a tool for transformative peacebuilding in Colombia is a small-scale qualitative study aiming to increase the understanding of how gender is reflected in Colombia's collective and historical memory and how feminist pedagogies can be used for transformative peacebuilding. Thus, the following question is answered: What role does gender play in Colombia's historical and collective memory of the conflict? This study uses transformative peacebuilding and empowerment as the main theoretical frameworks to address the research question. On the other hand, since it adopts an interpretive approach, it applies three methodologies for the data collection to triangulate the information: document analysis, a scoping review of the literature, and five semi-structured interviews. After a detailed and thorough analysis, my dissertation highlights the value of looking at history from a gender perspective to better understand what happened after centuries of violence and discrimination. This finding correlates to developing new tools that allow direct dialogue with victims without going through institutional filters. It also demonstrates the importance of the pedagogy of memory and the appropriation of feminist pedagogies as tools for social and cultural transformation. Finally, it states that the current status quo on empowerment in the country affects the process of transformative peacebuilding, as it limits the actions employed by citizens to construct historical and collective memory.