Abstract: In this paper we present a review of the challenges and limitations of Music Emotion Recognition (MER), an interdisciplinary research area addressing the characterization of music in terms of emotion. It analyzes music in order to computationally predict the emotions perceived by or induced to a listener. Our aims are: (1) to provide insights on the typical approaches currently used in the MER workflow, and (2) hint at how previous research directs to specific future directions. We propose a new user-centric conceptualization framework for MER, highlighting where future researchers should focus efforts: (1) open data and experimental reproducibility, (2) inherent subjectivity of concepts and annotations, (3) model explainability and interpretability, (4) cultural and contextual relevance, and (5) ethical implications for MER applications. En este paper presentamos una revisión de los retos y limitaciones de Music Emotion Recognition (MER), una área de investigación interdisciplinar dirigida a caracterizar la música en términos de emociones. Se enfoca en analizar música para predecir computacionalmente las emociones percibidas o inducidas a un oyente. Nuestros objetivos son: (1) ofrecer conocimientos sobre los enfoques típicos del flujo de trabajo de MER, y (2) insinuar como la investigación pasada apunta hacia nuevas direcciones específicas. Proponemos una nueva estructura de conceptualización centrada en el usuario, enfatizando las direcciones donde futuros investigadores deberían enfocar sus esfuerzos: (1) datos libres y reproducibilidad experimental, (2) subjetividad inherente de conceptos y anotaciones, (3) interpretabilidad y explicabilidad de los modelos, (4) relevancia cultural y contextual y (5) implicaciones éticas de aplicaciones de MER. Debido a la naturaleza de la publicación y el impacto de la revista, sólo puedo compartir la versión aceptada.

Abstract: Because there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre. Everybody is supposed to be dead, to never say anything or want anything ever again. Everything is supposed to be very quiet after a massacre, and it always is, except for the birds.” All wars are atrocious, and the task of incorporating such inglorious events into a nation’s collective identity becomes understandably hard. But it needs to be done, otherwise, the memory of the war might be trivialized and forgotten and, hence, are more prone to be repeated. War is bound to replicate itself without confrontation and awareness. Mosul city was established on the western bank of the Tigris River in the 6th Century, just across the water from the ruins of the Assyrian city of Nineveh. The city flourished during the ancient era establishing itself as an epicentre of the Islamic world, therefore it is rich with ancient ruins and cultural heritage. The war which erupted in Iraq didn’t aim to destroy only its defence, but also its identity. Entire urban blocks of Mosul’s city were damaged so severely, that when it comes to reconstruction it cannot simply restore the former fabrics, either of space or architecture. The war has changed everything, and most critically the structure of society itself. The spatial reconstruction will mostly require more than just physical rehabilitation and restoration of the cities devastated infrastructure and housing. In order to provide sensations for the need of diversity and unity, more urgent concern should be given to restoring public facilities and daily utilities. Architectural and landscape design can be judiciously used in healing the social structure. How can common spaces be rearranged to create conditions for a peaceful and creative coexistence among citizens which survived such horrors? How can the location and the design of such utilities be done in a way as to meet the needs for intimacy and peace? This thesis study intends to recommend an urban and architectural regeneration project, to be taken upon during the redevelopment of the old city of Mosul. Furthermore, a set of strategies that may ensure the preservation of the urban identity of the area, while redeveloping and coping with the environmental, socioeconomic and political changes have been identified for reclaiming the urban identity and promoting the sense of belonging.

Abstract: The benefits of cooperative living for foraging, nesting, defence and buffering envi- ronmental challenges lead animals with the most highly social lifestyles to dominate many ecosystems. However, living in larger, more highly connected groups should also increase the risks of pathogen exposure and transmission. While over long timescales selective responses could buffer the impacts of potential higher pathogen prevalence, similar processes are unlikely over short timescales. The red fire ant Solenopsis in- victa is ideal for measuring the effects of group size on pathogen prevalence because two types of society coexist in this species: smaller single-nest single-queen colonies that are highly aggressive to their neighbours and larger multiple-queen colonies that exchange resources with neighbouring nests. We compare the presence of viruses between these two colony types using metagenomic sequence classification of RNA- sequencing reads. We find that queens from multiple-queen colonies have 8.3-times higher viral load and 1.5-times higher viral diversity than queens from single-queen colonies. This finding characterizes a rarely considered cost of transitions to more highly social living. Furthermore, our results show that highly social invertebrates can harbour many viruses.

Abstract: Thanks to its durable, reliable, versatile, ductile and recyclable characteristics, copper is an essential metal for several industries, being the preferred electrical and thermal conductor. While it is naturally exposed to industrial cycles, from a long-term standpoint, copper demand has seen consistent growth, associated to the annuity of global population growth, which has allowed a constant need for copper-containing consumer products. More recently, copper has become a strategic metal for the future of clean technology, as the continuous global warming concerns due to greenhouse gasses emissions have forced governments and companies to combat climate change and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future. As such, the adoption of renewable sources of energy and electric vehicles have seen significant global penetration in recent years, and it is expected to increase at a higher rate, raising concerns on the ability of current and future producers to supply the inevitable growing demand in the near future. The purpose of this study is to evaluate three copper focused mining companies, two operators and one developer, aiming to identify the stock that represents the most attractive opportunity for long-term focused investors with exposure to the copper sector. For this purpose, the author uses the last ten years of financial data from the companies (when available) to evaluate their financial performance and current financial health, as well as the management and operational information to analyse the companies’ portfolio of mines and projects.

Abstract: At the beginning of the 20th Century, during the boom of sugar production in Latin America, the Dominican Republic built the “bateyes”, small towns with some coarse barracks used for the temporary housing of foreign workforce, coming mainly from Haiti. These settings gradually became permanent dwelling places, and nowadays are found across the Dominican Republic. However, in spite of their complex history and contemporary particularities, mainly related with the transnational dynamics the population maintains with Haiti, the bateyes have been relatively little studied and remain underrepresented in academic research. This study seeks to contribute to fill the abovementioned void, focusing on the context of formal education. The goal of this study is analyzing the representations of Haiti and Haitians that circulate in some schools of the “bateyes”, with data gathered in public educational institutions that are mainly attended by students of Haitian origin. The focus of the study is particularly relevant since formal schooling is usually a tool of the State and its institutions to reproduce dominant and hegemonic ideologies (Gramsci, 1967; Gramsci, 1971), and such ideologies in the Dominican Republic are strongly based on anti-Haitians sentiments and a mainstream rejection of blackness (Eller, 2016; Gavigan, 1995; Hintzen, 2014; Simmons, 2010; Valdéz, 2015). The thesis presents a critical analysis of the standards and textbooks used in the Social Studies program, focusing on how topics related to Haiti are approached, and which representations and values they embrace. Then, based on ethnographical data, it examines the discourses of ten teachers regarding Haiti and their own students of Haitian descent. With the intention of presenting a general panorama at the representations of Haiti circulating in the school setting of the bateyes, this work first describes how the standards and textbooks of Social Studies largely cast Haiti as a historic enemy and as a burden to the Dominican Republic. Then, the second section explains how the teachers reproduce the dominant ideology of national identity of the Dominican Republic in their schooling practices, and how they express racist and anti-Haitian discourses, with active statements as well as with several silences and omissions in their discursive practices. The tensions, ruptures and incongruences of the teachers are central in this analysis, since according to them the students of Haitian origin do not conform categorically to the mainstream representations of Haitian identity. All the reflections are drawn from a multidisciplinary six-week fieldwork season conducted in 2017 in the municipality of Consuelo, in southern Dominican Republic, (1) to gather the educational standards and textbooks used in Social Studies in the schools, and (2) to conduct interviews with teachers of some educational institutions that have a high attendance of children of Haitian descent. The interviews initially inquired about the teachers’ handling of the schooling materials; their gendered notions on the immigration of people of Haitian origin in the country; and finally, about their views on their own students of Haitian descent. The data was analyzed having as theoretical and methodological framework the premises of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) that aims to bring together elements of discourse analysis and social theory to understand, uncover and ultimately transform situations of social injustice (c.f. Van Dijk, 1993).

Resumen: El presente trabajo valora que la vida humana que se prolonga en la calle bogotana produce lógicas socioespaciales relacionadas al hábitat y al habitar. Lógicas que se traducen en formas de uso, ocupación, organización, y percepción de los entornos espaciales en los que nos desarrollamos en nuestro diario vivir. En este sentido, la investigación demuestra que estas lógicas componen una racionalidad y organización específicas del suelo urbano de la ciudad y de sus habitantes. Para identificar las lógicas socioespaciales detrás del hábitat callejero conduje un estudio de caso de la práctica entre algunos barrios de la localidad Santa Fe, en los cuales, desarrollé una observación participante durante 3 años, recopilé 3 historias de vida de callejeros y apliqué entrevistas semiestructuradas en 13 fechas. La articulación de estos datos cualitativos con un análisis de fuentes sobre la estructura habitacional de Bogotá y sobre la atención a los habitantes de calle, me permitió argumentar que existen dos visiones del hábitat en el espacio bogotano que se encuentran enfrentadas. El documento evidencia tal confrontación, la hace explícita para problematizar los lugares de habitación callejeros, su sentido de lugar y su representación como no-lugares a partir de la percepción del hábitat derivada de la institucionalidad. Abstract: The following document assesses that a prolonged human life on Bogota’s street produce socio-spatial logics related to an habitat and a dwelling experience. These logics expresses different ways in which homeless people use, organize, occupy, and perceive the spatial environments where we conduct and develop our lives everyday. In this way, the research demonstrate that the socio-spatial logics of Bogota’s street habitat compose a specific rationality and organization of urban land and its habitants. For the purpose of identify the socio-spatial logics behind street’s habitat I conducted a case study of the practice among some neighbourhoods at Santa Fe locality. There, during 3 years I developed a participant observation, collect 3 life-histories of homeless citizens and conducted semi-structured interviews in 13 dates. The articulation between qualitative data and source analysis related to Bogota’s habitat structure and homeless services, allowed me to state that there are two confronted habitat positions at local urban space. This document gives evidence of that confrontation, makes it explicit, aiming to provide a critical analysis about homeless dwelling places and their sense of place, as well as their representation like non-places from the habitat perception derived of establishment.

Abstract: Biocompatible and biodegradable polymers represent the future in the manufacturing of medical implantable solutions. As of today, these are generally manufactured with metallic components which cannot be naturally absorbed within the human body. This requires performing an additional surgical procedure to remove the remnants after complete rehabilitation or to leave the devices in situ indefinitely. Nevertheless, the biomaterials used for this purpose must satisfy well-defined mechanical requirements. These are difficult to ascertain at the design phase since they depend not only on their physicochemical properties but also on the specific manufacturing methods used for the target application. Therefore, this research was focused on establishing the effects of the manufacturing methods on both the mechanical properties and the thermal behavior of a medical-grade copolymer blend. Specifically, Injection and Compression Molding were considered. A Poly(L-lactide-co-D,L-lactide)/Poly(L-lactide-co-#-caprolactone) blend was considered for this investigation, with a ratio of 50/50 (w/w), aimed at the manufacturing of implantable devices for tendon repair. Interesting results were obtained.

Abstract: Three-dimensional printing (3D) is an additive manufacturing technology based on material deposition layer by layer for 3D object construction. Every year, 3D Printing offers more alternatives and solutions in the healthcare field. Nowadays, applications such as 3D Printing labs in hospitals, low-cost patient-specific prosthetics, customized medical implants and manufacture of anatomical models with high dimensional accuracy are the most immediate emerging trends. Indeed, 3D Printing application is the convergence of multiple factors, including improvements in medical software, 3D printers evolution and new printing materials. In particular, anatomical models manufacturing is becoming increasingly popular and accessible due to its application in medical training and pre-operative planning. Anatomical models manufacturing is based on several data acquisition techniques such as computed tomography (CT), optical coherence tomography (OCT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or 3D solid modeling through computer-aided-design (CAD) and anatomical structures 3D scanning. The Shirley Ryan Abilitylab research hospital has a full-color multi-material 3D printer Stratasys J750™. It uses Photopolymer jetting (Polyjet™ technology) for manufacture of highly realistic and functional 3D models in a wide range of colors and materials with variable durometers. Materials and methods: Polygonal mesh files (*.hm) corresponding to a finite elements (FE) model of the right knee joint reported by Dhaher et al. 2014 were the basis of this study. The 3D model included femur, tibia, patella, fibula, ligaments, articular cartilage, menisci, retinacula, patella and quadriceps tendons (PT-QT). Three anatomical models were projected and printed achieving the following objectives. (1) 3D model improvement of the right knee joint emulating the hierarchical structure of the collagen fibers matrix of the tendons and ligaments. (2) Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACL-R) model manufacturing using a bone-patellar-tendon-bone (BPTB) auto-graft and pre-operative planning to improve surgery outcomes, incorporating key surgical elements, such as orientation-architecture of the femoral and tibial tunnels and auto-graft dimensions reported by Dhaher et al. 2014. The surgical planning considers single bundle (SB) reconstruction and includes a customized surgical guide (SG) based on PT anatomy (it used in the graft harvest). The SG requirements followed the indications reported by Wang et al. 2017 with the aim to avoid graft tunnel length mismatch. (3) Total knee replacement (TKR) model manufacturing considering a cruciate sacrificing (CS) implant with customized design of symmetric tibial bearing, adjustment and assembly of standard prosthetic components in the improved 3D model emulating a TKR procedure. The selection process and printing materials matching with anatomical structures was based on stiffness and elastic modulus analysis of different Agilus30 printing material combinations. Mechanical uni-axial tensile tests were conducted in Northwestern University Kaiser Lab using an Instron S3300, Canton, MA Uniaxial Testing Instrument following ASTM test designation D412-C. The combinations No 1-4 were the most similar to real materials with elastic modulus of 1.8-0.7 and Pearson coefficients of the linear region of 0.980-0.991 respectively.

Abstract: Different mechanical properties characterise the materials of 3D printed components, depending on the specific additive manufacturing (AM) process, its parameters, and the posttreatment adopted. Specifically, stereolithography (SLA) uses a photopolymerisation technique that creates solid components through selective solidification. In this study, 72 specimens were 3D printed using 12 commercial-grade methacrylate resins and tested under uniaxial tensile loads. The resin specimens were evaluated before and after curing. The recommended cure temperature and time were followed for all materials. The stress-strain curves measured during the testing campaign were evaluated in terms of maximum tensile strength, Young’s modulus, ductility, resilience, and toughness. The results reveal that the curing process increases the material stiffness and resistance to tensile loads. However, it was found that the curing process generally reduces the plasticity of the resins, causing a more or less marked brittle behaviour. This represents a potential limitation to the use of SLA 3D printing for structural elements which require some plasticity to avoid dangerous sudden failures.

Abstract: Introgression has been proposed as an essential source of adaptive genetic variation. However, a key barrier to adaptive introgression is that recombination can break down combinations of alleles that underpin many traits. This barrier might be overcome in supergene regions, where suppressed recombination leads to joint inheritance across many loci. Here, we study the evolution of a large supergene region that determines a major social and ecological trait in Solenopsis fire ants: whether colonies have one queen or multiple queens. Using coalescent-based phylogenies built from the genomes of 365 haploid fire ant males, we show that the supergene variant responsible for multiple-queen colonies evolved in one species and repeatedly spread to other species through introgressive hybridization. This finding highlights how supergene architecture can enable a complex adaptive phenotype to recurrently permeate species boundaries.