This study showed how worksheets based on vocabulary learning strategies contributed to the development of fourth grade students’ writing. This study was conducted in a public, rural school with fifteen students in Cajicá, Colombia. The data gathering instruments were field notes, students’ artifacts and tests. The study followed the qualitative approach and was developed under the action research methodology. The findings indicated that the design of worksheets based on vocabulary strategies made students feel motivated not only to learn new words, but also to understand the strategies that allowed them to start the process of writing. Moreover, the writing strategies were a successful approach for students because they learned how to write simple sentences. Also, using the models provided they could write simple paragraphs. Finally, all of these activities allowed students to improve their performance. This study helped learners feel motivated to learn faster and encouraged them to understand the importance of the use of vocabulary, to learn new strategies and to value meaningful writing feedback.

Este proyecto de investigación describe el desarrollo e implementación de seis guías, basadas en problemas culturales profundos para mejorar el proceso de comprensión lectora en estudiantes de grado once. Debido a su naturaleza, la investigación acción fue el enfoque que cubrió este estudio, la cual se llevó a cabo en la institución educativa distrital colegio Técnico Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, en Rionegro, Bogotá, Colombia. Este estudio involucró doce estudiantes de grado once, jornada tarde. Progresivamente, se utilizó el enfoque basado en la teoría fundamentada en datos para analizar la información recolectada a través de tres instrumentos: trabajo de los estudiantes (guías), notas de campo y una encuesta al final del proceso. Como resultado, obtuve que materiales innovativos con actividades estimulantes, presentación atractiva, contenido interesante y una apropiada metodología, que para este estudio fue CLIL; son recursos efectivos para mejorar no sólo la habilidad de lectura, sino también las habilidades de escritura y oralidad. En relación con los problemas culturales, es importante mencionar cuan relevantes estos fueron para los estudiantes, quienes inconscientemente desarrollaron procesos de pensamiento crítico, conciencia cultural y resolución de problemas. Finalmente, el uso del conocimiento previo y varias estrategias de lectura fueron precisas para lograr la comprensión de textos.

Due to the continue trend of technology for circuit scaling; optimal sizes for transistors and cables are needed, this scaling comes along with power increase and undesired cross talk effects between the wires which might affect the signal itself. A trade-off curve between power, area and delay is required so that a tuned solution for a specific problem might be found.  Here, an approach based on the dominant time constant optimization technique for modelling of the delay is investigated for an initial square topology with uniform wire and repeater sizing based on convex optimization and Linear Matrix Inequalities. Results with optimal buffer insertion across the bus are also investigated. 

This thesis proposes a novel window aggregate sharing approach for out-of-order stream processing. We combined together the best of two worlds: the Google dataflow model for out-of-order stream processing and the Cutty aggregate sharing strategy. To our knowledge, our solution is the only aggregate sharing strategy for out-of-order stream processing that supports sliding, tumbling and session windows. Based on the experiments with the real world dataset DEBS12 [28] and a 3% out-of-order level, our solution has 1.24 higher throughput than the current implementation in Flink. Moreover, we show that the throughput of our solution becomes higher, as the out-of-order level increases.

Sustainable intensification is considered one of the major strategies to reduce the negative environmental impacts of the Colombian cattle sector, but current adoption of the associated technologies remains incipient. To promote adoption, stakeholders have acknowledged the need of understanding consumer demand for environmental attributes, and to identify potential markets for differentiated products. In this study, we employ a contingent valuation (CV) to determine the characteristics of a potential consumer segment for “eco-friendly” beef, and a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to estimate the consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for environmental and animal welfare attributes related to cattle production under silvopastoral systems with improved forages. Additionally, we have included an information treatment to measure the effect of information on consumers’ WTP. Our results show that income and education have a significant effect on defining the potential consumer segment. We found that potential consumers are willing to pay significant price premiums for both “eco-friendly” and “animal welfare” certified beef, with consumer education further increasing the premium for “eco-friendly” certified beef. The results suggest that there is a potential market in Colombia for environmentally differentiated beef products that responds to the animal welfare and environmental issues of the current cattle production system. Resumen: La intensificación sostenible se considera como una de las principales estrategias para reducir los impactos ambientales negativos del sector ganadero en Colombia, sin embargo, la adopción de las tecnologías relevantes aun es incipiente. Para promover la adopción, los actores del sector han reconocido la necesidad de entender la demanda del consumidor por atributos ambientales y de identificar mercados potenciales para productos diferenciados. En este estudio, empleamos un ejercicio de valoración contingente para determinar las características de un consumidor potencial de carne “eco-amigable”, y un experimento de selección discreta para estimar la disposición a pagar del consumidor por los atributos ambientales y de bienestar animal relacionados con la producción ganadera bajo sistemas silvopastoriles con forrajes mejorados. Adicionalmente, incluimos un tratamiento para estimar el efecto de la información en la disposición a pagar. Nuestros resultados muestran que el nivel de ingreso y educación son factores determinantes para definir el segmento del consumidor. Encontramos que en el segmento de mercado potencial, los consumidores están dispuestos a pagar una prima de precio para atributos de “eco-amigable” y bienestar animal bajo esquemas de certificación. A su vez, encontramos que la información aumenta de manera significativa la disposición a pagar por carne “eco-amigable”. Los resultados sugieren que existe un mercado potencial en Colombia para productos con diferenciaciones ambientales y de bienestar animal, que respondan a las problemáticas actuales del sector pecuario.

The great paradox of the current post-agreement transition might be its implications for the country's environment. The success or failure of addressing environmental considerations during the Agreement implementation could lead either to peacebuilding opportunities based on sustainable development, or to the country’s natural heritage destruction. The research argues that the Amazon natural heritage would be destroyed unless significant environmental considerations are merged with the established socio-economic priorities during the post-agreement. Attaining sustainable territorial development based on robust communities’ engagement, stable state presence and a better land management model is pressing. Although the peacebuilding path, as well as the sustainable territorial development, requires incremental structural changes at a national level, it is suggested that the Development Programmes with a Territorial-Based Approach (PDETs), as mechanisms of the Final Agreement’s implementation, could lead to a potential environmental peace in some of the Amazon’s prioritized municipalities. The overall aim of the research is to enhance the understanding of the relationship between the Colombian territories, post-agreement and deforestation, in order to determine to what extent the Colombian Amazon forest coverage could change during the post-agreement period. In doing so, the research establishes exploratory trends of the deforestation and armed conflict relationship, describes the main characteristics of the post-agreement environmental paradox and explores the case of the PDETs.

Abstract: Over twenty years passed since American and Canadian forces arrived in Afghanistan to start the War on Terrorism as a response to 9/11, and during this period, there has been an enormous controversy about the nature and the scope of the Afghanistan intervention. Amidst this controversy, this dissertation aims to unravel a strategic puzzle: why and how the United States and Canada adopted similar engagement levels, especially similar counterinsurgency (COIN) strategies between 2005/2006 and 2011. During this time, the United States and Canada fought against insurgent groups, sought to maintain stabilized areas by mentoring Afghan forces, and invested in infrastructure and governance. These goals, which corresponded to the ‘clear,’ ‘hold,’ and ‘build’ COIN components, entailed sending troops and civilian officials to a war zone and committing financial resources. According to structural realism as a dominant IR theory, the similarity of American and Canadian engagements constitutes a puzzle because this theory would expect that countries with different relative standings in the international system are meant to adopt different foreign and security policies. To unravel this puzzle, this dissertation uses neoclassical realism. Like a realist theory, it examines the effects of relative material capabilities on foreign policy, which is an essential factor in comparing American and Canadian foreign and security policies. Yet, unlike structural realism, it considers dimensions other than states’ relative standing, such as perceptions and domestic politics, which, along with the relative standing, help to unpack the puzzle above. Based on this theory, the central argument of this dissertation is that the similarity of American and Canadian engagements resulted from similar systemic stimuli from the post-9/11 strategic environment, foreign policy executives’ (FPE) similar strategic beliefs, and comparable abilities to mobilize domestic resources. By showing the occurrence of factors on both American and Canadian sides bringing about the outcome above, this dissertation seeks to undermine the ideas of the “Americanization” of Canadian foreign and security policy and the syndrome of “parochialism” of the United States regarding its Northern neighbour.

Contrary to the conventional orthodoxy of the World Bank, lack of formalized or secured property rights is not the main reason why titles do not become loans in Colombia. My research shows that the institutional barriers that prevent poor people from leveraging their assets are rooted in the Colombian constitution, and in the lack of private financial institutions willing to lend to the poor. Low and middle income populations cannot use their houses as collateral to obtain loans aimed to finance business because the Colombian constitution mandates families to secure a share of their assets as Family Wealth. As a result, families have to protect their estate from being impounded by lenders. When the law allows the use of the house as collateral— for financing the purchase, improvement or enlargement of housing — there are few formal financial institutions lending to the poor. Despite of the importance of this for land-titling programs, it passed unnoticed by the World Bank, who approved a US$100 million loan for the Bogotá Urban Service Project in 2003. This thesis reveals the assumptions made by the Bank regarding the importance of property formalization as a mechanism to create massive equity out of the improved real estate in the informal sector. It contrasts the Bank’s assumptions with the actual process of upgrading in Bogotá. Leveraging poor people’s assets would be critical to the well-functioning of upgrading program, but these policies should rely on a mechanism other than the willingness of formal institutions to lend to the poor.

In Latin America, Duty of Memory, or Deber de memoria, forms part of Transitional Justice measures that strive to symbolically address mass historical violations through the public recognition of victims and the incorporation of their stories of pain, exclusion, and repression into their national narratives. Within this context, Argentina and Colombia are two examples of the complexities inherent in attempting to restore the social networks. Scarred by a past military dictatorship (1976-1983) and a continuing internal armed conflict (1946-), both nations have applied Transitional Justice Systems and Duty of Memory as state policy. However, even when the two countries share the same framework, the political dynamics of each country and the ways their civil societies conceive of justice, vary considerably. Argentina is closer to a Retributive Justice model in which individual criminal accountability for the past is prioritized of over other forms of symbolic reparation. Colombia frames its past and present through Restorative Justice, defining violations as collective wrongdoings and basing reparation on dialogue, negotiation, and restoration of the bonds of trust. These two distinct viewpoints can be contrasted through the analysis of the material aspect of Duty of Memory, that is, the Memorial Museums and Trauma Sites that have emerged as spaces of reflection and commemoration in both countries. This study takes one memorial museum and one trauma site as embodiments of two outlooks on Duty of Memory. The memorial museum is the Museum House of Memory in Medellín, Colombia. The Trauma Site chosen is the Space of Memory and Human Rights of Argentina located in the Navy-Petty Officers School of Mechanics (ESMA), one of Buenos Aires former Secret Detention Centers. The goal of this thesis is to explore how the architectural, spatial, aesthetic, and educational practices of these two sites are influenced by the state obligations required by Duty of Memory but also establish a two-way relationship with this framework, defining its content. Resumen: En América Latina, Deber de Memoria es un concepto incluido dentro del esquema de Justicia Transicional que aborda violaciones históricas a los derechos humanos a partir del reconocimiento de las víctimas y la incorporación de sus historias de dolor, exclusión y represión en la narrativa nacional. En este contexto particular, Argentina y Colombia resaltan como dos naciones que han ratificado el sistema de Justicia Transicional y Deber de Memoria como política estatal en las últimas décadas. Esto se ha hecho con miras a restaurar el tejido social afectado por una dictadura militar (1976-1983) y un conflicto armado interno (1946-). Sin embargo, aun cuando existe un marco compartido, las dinámicas políticas y la manera en que la sociedad civil concibe la justicia y la reparación, varían considerablemente. Argentina se acerca más a un modelo de Justicia Retributiva en donde la justicia penal individual por las violaciones prevalece sobre otras formas de reparación simbólica. En contraste, Colombia enmarca su pasado, y presente, a través de la Justicia Restaurativa. Esto significa que el Estado define las violaciones como una infracción colectiva, buscando reparar mediante el restablecimiento de los vínculos de confianza, la negociación y el diálogo. La diferencia de estos dos acercamientos se hace tangible en el análisis del aspecto material del Deber de Memoria. Es decir, en los museos memoriales y los sitios de trauma que han surgido como espacios de conmemoración y reflexión en ambas naciones. La siguiente investigación toma un museo memorial, el Museo Casa de la Memoria de Medellín, y un sitio de trauma, el Espacio Memoria y Derechos Humanos de Buenos Aires, como puntos de partida para observar las diferencias entre los dos modelos. Esto se hace a partir de un análisis textual y visual de las prácticas arquitectónicas, espaciales, estéticas y educativas de dichos lugares. Los dos ejemplos demuestran que los museos memoriales y sitios de trauma no sólo responden a las obligaciones estatales del Deber de Memoria sino, estableciendo una relación recíproca con este modelo, definen también su contenido.

La presente investigación enfoca la mirada en las prácticas materiales de amor, dominación y poder en tres parejas urbanas, heterosexuales, de clase media, sin hijos, no convivientes y de edades comprendidas entre 27-32 años a partir de un análisis crítico feminista, con punto de partida anclado en la teoría sobre la fuerza de amor desarrollada por la politóloga islandesa Anna G. Jonasdottir (2003). Con la metodología de carácter cualitativo, utilizando la técnica de entrevistas semi-estructuradas individuales, se analiza hasta qué punto los intercambios de amor son equitativos según las reflexiones y relatos de estas parejas, y las implicaciones de estos intercambios para la producción, reproducción y transformación de la dominación masculina. Los resultados de la investigación demuestran la existencia de una explotación de la fuerza de amor de las mujeres por parte de los hombres en relación con el cuidado, la disponibilidad temporal y la comprensión, igual que unos mecanismos que parecen facilitar esta explotación. A su vez, emergieron algunas implicaciones de los intercambios de amor para la producción y reproducción de la dominación masculina.