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.

Abstract: Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura), also known as the spotted wing Drosophila (SWD), is a fastspreading polyphagous pest. Native from South-east Asia, it is well known for causing serious damage in soft-skinned fruit due to the puncture made by the enlarged serrated ovipositor of adult females and the subsequent larvae feeding. Currently, the most commonly used approaches to control D. suzukii infestation are the frequent foliar application of synthetic insecticides and non-selective traps. However, these strategies are inefficient to control D. suzukii spread and crop infestation. Through this study, we aimed to evaluate Drosophila suzukii responses to two different types of chemical stimuli (attractive and repulsive) to be implemented as part of a push-pull system. Both, push and pull components were separately evaluated for a better understanding of Drosophila suzukii behavior. As attractive candidates, aggregation pheromones were studied and to evaluate repellent and oviposition deterrent responses, the following chemical candidates: 1-heptanol, 2-heptanol, 1-hexanol, 2-hexanol, delta-undecalactone (dUDL) and propionic acid were tested. Our results suggest that aggregation pheromones influence different D. suzuki females' and males' host choices. Repellence responses were observed in 1-hexanol and 2-hexanol treatments and oviposition deterrence behavior was observed in 1-hexanol as well, but also in 1-heptanol and 2-heptanol treatments. Our results offer new insights into the use of two-choice assays in D. suzukii behavior studies and new knowledge related to the mechanisms underlying these promising push-pull elements.

Background and aim: Mental health services in Colombia have had a complex history shaped by 50 of years armed conflict, disproportionate clinical approach and social factors such as stigma. Nevertheless, recent global tendencies and interventions have suggested basing mental health services on communities and the recovery approach and considering the social determinants of mental health during planning. Colombia has involved these approaches in its legal and practical framework in recent years, but multiple internal and external factors have retarded an accurate implementation. This systematic review aims to contribute to mental health services understanding in Colombia, offering an implementation research approach. Methods: A comprehensive strategy search was developed to include peer-reviewed studies where mental health services were mentioned or described. The review was conducted in five databases (Medline (OVID), PubMed, Scopus, Scielo and BVS), three languages (English, Spanish & Portuguese) and was limited to the last ten years. Moreover, it followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and used the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) to identify barriers and facilitators during the implementation of mental health services. Results: Twelve articles were selected. The principal reported barriers were lack of coordination, workloads, and funding. Implementation differences between public and private settings were significant and repeatedly reported. On the other hand, good planning strategies and the involvement of communities, stakeholders, users, and external champions facilitated implementation. Remarkable efforts to adopt community-based mental health services were described as well. Conclusions: Overall, this review offers significant insight into current mental health services, their implementation status, and principal barriers to effective implementation. It is suggested to continue applying community and recovery approaches in mental health services, but also to improve coordination between all actors (e.g., public and private organisations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and users and their families).

Abstract: The present work revolves around the protection and adaption of the Hacienda Perodias, an old farmhouse from the XVII century that is located in southwest Colombia. Besides being part of the nation’s rural built heritage, this building complex is connected also to the processes of evangelization and slave trade carried out at that time in South America. In order to illustrate how profound this embodied memory is translated into today’s social and cultural dynamics, this work is organized into three parts. The first, standing from a broader scale, covers the socio-geographical scenario in which this typology of building, the Casa de Hacienda, emerged and the social meanings that have been attached to it throughout time. Next, entering the scale of the constructed object, the second part focuses on the geographical, historical and architectural dimensions of the farmhouse in addition to the analysis of its current condition. All this is in order to properly understand the scope of the adaptation possibilities that this object that has been abandoned for more than two decades may have, opportunities that are contained in the final part of this work. In a quest to re-signify the collective memory linked to its spaces, the third and final part presents the proposed intervention of the Hacienda as a large eco-park, a refuge for wildlife and low-impact human activities, which lies at its heart the architectural complex of Perodias, now revitalised as a community centre. By giving a new life to this site, the project would seek to protect both a built heritage represented in its architecture and the cultural values shared by the surrounding communities, whose history can also be found linked to the hacienda. As a new centre for the transmission of ancestral knowledge and cultural expressions that in turn aims to enhance the capacities and opportunities of its inhabitants, the Perodias hacienda would finally be reborn.

Resumen: Esta investigación doctoral artística se centra en los sonidos culinarios que resuenan cuando la comida es implementada como mecanismo de resistencia política y social frente a circunstancias de adversidad, precariedad y de desplazamiento y dislocación territorial. La comida, utilizada como herramienta de resistencia, ha sido abordada por varios artistas, incluidos Sabor Clandestino en Bolivia, Fátima Kadumy en Palestina y María Buenaventura y Elena Villamil en Colombia. Estos sonidos, que comúnmente son pasados por alto e ignorados tanto en la literatura culinaria y la música, en esta investigación brindan pistas importantes sobre cómo opera la resistencia política en la contemporaneidad, considerando teorías sobre las políticas del sonido de Brandon LaBelle y Salomé Voegelin, y teorías sobre lo político y lo alimentario de Jane Bennett. Las piezas de arte sonoro y la investigación teórica sobre la comida como herramienta política y la resistencia en el arte, desarrolladas en esta investigación hacen un aporte original y significativo al conocimiento de la práctica del arte sónico y gastronómico en la contemporaneidad. Este proyecto presenta una metodología artística innovadora y original llamada Arte Sonoro Culinario Colaborativo (CCSA), que considera al sonido y la gastronomía como sensibilidades intersubjetiva y estratégica, explorando la conexión multisensorial entre el oído, el olfato y el gusto.

Abstract: In the present work, theoretical and experimental analysis of the thermal performance of flat plate pulsating heat pipes, made of copper, are presented. The pulsating heat pipes were manufactured using an innovative fabrication process for this application, the diffusion bonding. For this purpose, a special oven was used, available in Labtucal, that provides high temperature, high pressure and high vacuum conditions, which allows the fabrication of monolithic pieces with high reliability. Plates of equal external size were used, in which the internal channels were modified. Different geometries were applied, including the variation of the number of channels for the same overall dimensions (density increase), modifications of the surface finishing (roughness) and addition of lateral grooves at evaporator section. Flat plate pulsating heat pipes were tested under different operating conditions, such as tilt angles, heat input levels, and filling ratios, concluding that higher roughness or grooves at evaporator zone enhance the thermal performance of the devices, as start-up time, thermal resistance and thermal stability. However, the most relevant parameters, to decrease the dependence of the gravity in the operation of the pulsating heat pipe, are the number of channels and the working fluid filling ratios. A mathematical model, based on electrical circuit analogy, is constructed, taking into consideration the activation energy. Model validation was made with the experimental date obtained from the devices developed in this thesis. The model presented a maximum error of 25-30%, at vertical bottom heat mode and vertical top heat mode. The main contributions of this Ph.D. thesis are: the development of modified pulsating heat pipes using effective thermal improvements; the production of a reliable fabrication process compatible with the proposed thermal enhancements and, finally, a model that can be used as a design tool for pulsating heat pipes fabricated from machined plates. Resumen: En el presente trabajo, se realiza un análisis teórico y experimental del desempeño térmico de tubos de calor pulsantes de placa plana, fabricados en cobre. Los tubos de calor pulsantes fueron fabricados utilizando un proceso de fabricación innovador para esta aplicación, la difusión vinculación. Para ello se utilizó un horno especial, disponible en Labtucal, que proporciona alta temperatura, alta presión y alto vacío, lo que permite la fabricación de piezas monolíticas de alta confiabilidad. Se utilizaron placas de igual tamaño externo, en las que el Se modificaron los canales internos. Se aplicaron diferentes geometrías, incluyendo la variación de el número de canales para las mismas dimensiones generales (aumento de densidad), modificaciones del acabado superficial (rugosidad) y adición de ranuras laterales en la sección del evaporador. placa plana Los tubos de calor pulsantes se probaron en diferentes condiciones de funcionamiento, como ángulos de inclinación, calor suministrado, relaciones de llenado, concluyendo que una mayor rugosidad o ranuras en la zona del evaporador mejora el rendimiento térmico de los dispositivos, como el tiempo de inicio de operación, la resistencia térmica y la estabilidad de la temperatura. Sin embargo, los parámetros más relevantes, para disminuir la dependencia de la gravedad en el funcionamiento del tubo de calor pulsante, fueron el número de canales y las proporciones del llenado de fluido de trabajo. Se construye un modelo matemático, basado en la analogía del circuito eléctrico, tomando en Consideración la energía de activación. La validación del modelo se realizó con los datos experimentales obtenidos a partir de los dispositivos desarrollados en esta tesis. Las principales contribuciones de este doctorado tesis son: el desarrollo de tubos de calor pulsantes modificados utilizando mejoras térmicasla producción de un proceso de fabricación confiable y un modelo que se puede utilizar como herramienta de diseño.

Abstract: This qualitative research examines what sense of responsibility lower-ranking former perpetrators of paramilitary violence in Colombia elaborate in their confessional narratives for versiones libres, (freestatement hearings) a legal truth-seeking mechanism set in 2005 as part of a transitional justice process known as Justicia y Paz. Drawing from a critique against the confusion between ethical and judicial categories, this work assumes a relational-dialogical approach from where responsibility is understood as response-ability, or a person’s ability-to-respond. It looks into how an agent elaborates his responses in an attempt to connect not only with his criminal act (accountability) and with the transgressed norm, (imputability) but also with the individual(s) affected by their actions. The following questions guided this inquiry: 1) What responses were given by low-ranking ex-paramilitaries in judicial settings regarding their past actions? 2) What rationales for the violence perpetrated were included in those responses? And 3) What aspects may have influenced their confessions? A content analysis of a sample of versiones libres of four low-ranking former commanders was conducted, as well as qualitative interviews, and the observation of several sessions of the legal proceedings. Two themes were identified in their responses: 1) that all of them “just followed orders” from higher-ranking members of a chain of command; and 2) that they “believed too much” in local informants when planning and selecting the targets of their actions. Thus, they claim for themselves a higher-moral ground from where they question the terror perpetrated, yet their support to the paramilitary countersubversive cause is not confronted. This work contributes to the field of transitional justice in furthering an understanding of the psychosocial dimensions of post-conflict processes, and by shifting focus from high-level former perpetrators to the experiences of those with lower profiles who enacted the violence on the ground. Resumen: Esta investigación cualitativa examina cuál es el sentido de responsabilidad que elaboran antiguos miembros de bajo rango de los paramilitares en Colombia, como parte de sus narrativas confesionales durante las versiones libres, un mecanismo de justicia transitional implementado en 2005. A partir de una crítica a la confusión entre categorías éticas y judiciales, este trabajo asume un enfoque relacional-dialógico desde donde la responsabilidad se entiende como habilidad-para-responder. Así, se examina cómo un agente elabora su respuesta en un intento de conectarse no sólo con el acto criminal (en inglés, accountability) y con la ley transgredida (imputabilidad), sino también con los sujetos afectados por sus acciones. Las preguntas que guiaron este trabajo fueron: 1) ¿Cuáles fueron las respuestas que ex-paramilitares de bajo rango dieron por sus acciones criminales? 2) ¿Cuáles fueron las justificaciones por la violencia perpetrada que fueron incluidas en tales respuestas? Y 3) ¿Qué aspectos pueden haber influido sus confesiones? Es estudio incluyó un análisis de contenido de versiones libres de cuatro exparamilitares de bajo rango del Bloque Sur Putumayo, así como entrevistas cualitativas y la observación de varias versiones libres. Dos temas fueron identificados: 1) Que ellos sólo ""seguían órdenes"" de sus superiores, y 2) que ellos ""le creyeron mucho"" a informantes locales en la planeación de sus acciones. Así, los ex-paramilitares asumen un plano moral superior desde el que cuestionan el terror que perpetraron, pero desde el que no confrontan la ideología paramilitar que propició tales acciones. Esta investigación avanza en el entendimiento de las dimensiones psicosociales de la justicia transicional entre los ex-combatientes de bajo rango que ejecutaron acciones violentas masivas.

Abstract: Extinction learning and specifically the renewal effect has enabled for decades an insight into the complex dynamics of learning processes. Although context represents a critical stimulus in extinction learning, what constitutes a context and how it is represented is still not fully understood. Under the frame of the “Collaborative Research Center SFB 1280”, this master’s thesis established a functional experimental paradigm, on an open arena for context control experiments with birds. For this purpose, three pigeons were trained on a discrimination task following an ABA extinction-renewal protocol in two separate experiments. Three distinctive levels of contextual stimuli were tested in experiment 1: spatial awareness, local visual information and global visual information. Experiment 2 used modified versions of the spatial and local contexts. Results suggest a stronger renewal response for the local condition in both experiments and a medium renewal response for the spatial condition. The global condition barely produced any renewal. Manipulations on saliency and continuity of contextual stimuli provided evidence for context formation based on associative learning rules rather than relevant physical properties of contextual stimuli. Overall, the findings in this thesis support the assumption of no real distinction between cues and context.

Abstract: These orientation fluctuations trigger the so-called mismatch losses in PV strings, as every PV module along the same string is receiving different irradiance levels. In consequence, the string power output is determined by the PV module producing the least power. As of now, PV project developers do not count with PV modelling software capable of handling the wave dynamics created by wind blowing over water bodies, so they rely on strong gross assumptions in order to make these still inadequate tool work for this purpose, risking a miscalculation of the energy yield of these solar-based installations. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the effect of waves on the performance of floating systems along with the analysis of the cooling effects related to the exposure of PV modules to the free water surface. For this, it was selected three potential sites for the deployment of floating PV plants as well as two of the most popular racking structures used floating photovoltaics: individual floaters where each PV module is supported by a floater, and modular raft in which strings of PV modules are installed on top of rafts. For the wave field modelling, a python script has been developed relying on the PVlib package and meteorological inputs from the Meteonorm software and NASA’s MODIS satellite. The wave fields are modelled by means of the JONSWAP and the SPM wave energy spectrum for deep and shallow waters, respectively. Thus, a stochastic approach is taken for the modelling of the wave field, which is made of overlapping waves. With regards to the wave – PV module interaction, a geometrical approach was implemented supported on simple vector calculus, seeking low computational resource demands for a faster processing. Simulation results show how the direction of wave propagation is set to be the determining factor in the understanding, estimation, and the development of mitigation strategies of mismatch losses, while other wave characteristics do not play a crucial role in this issue. Similarly, it was demonstrated how modular rafts floating PV configurations present, under the right circumstances, energy gains compared to groundmounted setups. In contrast, individual floaters are set to always experience mismatch losses, ranging up to from 5% to 10%.

Abstract: The modelling of the topography, geological and geotechnical conditions is not yet common in the construction industry, and BIM projects usually do not include surface-subsurface models. Hence, information about the topography, geological and geotechnical conditions is often outdated and excluded from the BIM procedures. If the surface and subsurface information is available and included in the BIM models, the processes of design, planning, construction, rehabilitation or demolition could enable advanced uses and applications of BIM that can improve the construction life cycle management. With an increasing inclusion of the subsurface in BIM models, the need for standards for this type of models is emerging. Besides, the interoperability between geological/geotechnical software and BIM is continuously improving. Thus, this thesis first explores relevant project case studies, standards and software that enable modelling of the surface and subsurface in BIM. Based on the review, a digital workflow for modelling of surface-subsurface models for demanding technological facilities is proposed and tested on a case study of the hydro-power plant project HE Mokrice. Also, a proposal for standardisation in terms of the level of development for the surface-subsurface models is discussed, as well as some interoperability analysis between the software involved. Finally, given that the infrastructure projects expose an increasing demand for BIM, consequently, this requires expertise in BIM methodologies for modelling of topography, geological and geotechnical conditions; this theoretical study and practical research work propose valuable workflows that can be implemented in the industry for technological projects. The proposed approach is opening a wide range of possibilities of uses in digital workflows that can generate significant savings in terms of time, costs, management of unforeseen events and problems for the AECO industry in the lifetime of constructions.