Abstract: Bill, around 30, is an African American lower middle class living in Los Angeles. Bill is deeply in love with his girlfriend Claudia,30, a Mexican immigrant who has illegal visa status in the United States. Bill really wants to know her family and her hometown Guanajuato but that is difficult because she sacrificed a lot of things to get into the United States and she can’t simply go back for a while. After she suddenly dies, Bill experiences a reflexive and introspective moment, he feels deep loneliness and is totally breaking down and empty. One night his friend Kevin comes to visit and Bill shares all the difficulties he went through after she died. Because he was the only responsible, he had to manage all the cremation process and his inability to speak Spanish complicated giving the tragic news to her family. After finally getting a random translator in the street that can explain all to her family. His melancholia is giving him a very bad time trying to sleep and he decides to take with small urns to Mexico for her family.

Abstract: This dissertation studies the historical dimension that underpins the literary works of renowned Colombian writer and Nobel Prize winner, Gabriel García Márquez (1927-2014). In particular, I analyse the Macondo Cycle, comprised by the following novels and short stories: La hojarasca (1955), El coronel no tiene quien le escriba (1961), La mala hora (1962), ‘Los funerales de la Mamá Grande’ (1962), ‘Un día después del sábado’ (1962), ‘La viuda de Montiel’ (1962), ‘La siesta del martes’ (1962), ‘En este pueblo no hay ladrones’ (1962), Cien años de soledad (1967), and ‘Monólogo de Isabel viendo llover en Macondo’ (1968). Drifting away from Magical Realism, this thesis looks into the recurring historical references in García-Márquez’s Macondo cycle, the purpose behind them, and the reflection on Colombian history they convey. Throughout its four sections, I demonstrate that García Márquez's Macondo-set fictions embody a crítical attitude and constitute a literary response to traditional national histories written during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries through a reassessment of historical events and characters. These range from critical allusions towards historians and traditional histories on nineteenth-century civil wars, the silences surrounding official accounts of the Massacre at the banana plantations in Ciénaga, as well as its reception by contemporary historians. Overall, I seek to unveil the problems and limitations that García-Márquez attributes to traditional historiography, as well as the arguments and literary strategies he uses to do so. Resumen: En esta tesis analizo la dimensión histórica que contiene la obra literaria del conocido escritor colombiano y premio Nobel, Gabriel García Márquez 1927-2014. En especial, estudio el ciclo Macondo compuesto por las siguientes novelas y cuentos: La hojarasca (1955), El coronel no tiene quien le escriba (1961), La mala hora (1962), ‘Los funerales de la Mamá Grande’ (1962), ‘Un día después del sábado’ (1962), ‘La viuda de Montiel’ (1962), ‘La siesta del martes’ (1962), ‘En este pueblo no hay ladrones’ (1962), Cien años de soledad (1967), and ‘Monólogo de Isabel viendo llover en Macondo’ (1968). Esta tesis, toma distancia del Realismo Mágico por el que es reconocida su obra y se centra en el estudio de las alusiones históricas que aparecen de manera recurrente en el ciclo Macondo del autor, su propósito y la reflexión histórica a la que invitan. A partir de la reinterpretación literaria que hace García Márquez de personajes y eventos históricos demuestro que su ciclo Macondiano se erige como una respuesta crítica a la interpretación histórica fijada por historias tradicionales escritas durante el siglo XIX y principios del XX. En cuatro secciones analizo alusiones históricas directas e indirectas dirigidas a historiadores e historias de las guerras civiles decimonónicas, a los silencios evidentes en la versiones oficiales de la matanza de las bananeras en Ciénaga, y la recepción crítica que ha tenido su obra en círculos historiadores contemporáneos. Así pues, me propongo exponer las limitaciones y problemas que García Márquez percibe en la historiografía, y los argumentos y estrategias literarias que usa para enfatizarlos.

Abstract: What some practitioners coyly called Industrial Revolution 4.0 some years ago is now a reality, and it is drastically changing the way businesses are done in many industries worldwide. The European Union is no exception. Despite being a powerful region, but with conservative, traditional industries, many of these have found it necessary to implement changes in their business models to survive the digital changes. Therefore, the European Commission has prioritized the digital development of the region and the growth of all industries leveraged on the information technologies that can have the most significant impact. As the literature indicates, business models and competitive advantage are complex systems that require essential elements to function synchronously and thus generate value. Hence, cutting-edge technologies play a unique role because they become elements that transform markets and complement the current capabilities of industries and take them to a new stage of development. Therefore, it is essential to know how the adoption of different technologies is related to the economic growth of industries, which technologies generate the most value, and what is needed to drive this growth. This study makes a theoretical review of the impact of ICTs on the European economy, the actions that the European Commission has taken to promote the digital transformation. Finally, it exposes which technologies indeed positively correlate with industries' added value.

Abstract: The effort of universities, companies, and the state in Colombia to face home-made AP landmines has generated useful solutions and studies for many projects developed in the last decade, including demining processes in Colombia. Antipersonnel mines have changed in the last 15 years, due to the intermittent nature of our internal conflict. For example, as Descontamina Colombia mentions on its website, non-state armed groups cut the detonator containing the primary explosive to decrease the metal in the mine. This paper shows the aspects of the conflict that have affected humanitarian demining in Colombia, which help in the design and construction of technological devices. This article does not attempt to describe each of the typical technologies in humanitarian demining processes, but rather to show the characteristics considered in the design of two detection devices aimed at detecting home-made AP landmines.

Resumen: La tesis busca indagar acerca de la implementación de medidas no pecuniarias en el ámbito del derecho de la responsabilidad civil extracontractual, como parte del derecho privado. En ese orden, se enfoca en proveer una justificación ante lo que puede ser su aplicación después de causado el daño y antes. Así, el trabajo analiza las medidas consistentes en la restitución, rehabilitación, satisfacción y las garantías de no repetición, y ofrece una interpretación de ellas que permita su implementación en el derecho privado. Así mismo, en la segunda parte se analizan las medidas preventivas que se pueden implementar antes del daño y se presenta una posible justificación de ellas en el ámbito de la responsabilidad civil. Abstract: The thesis seeks to inquire about the implementation of non-pecuniary measures in the field of tort law, as part of private law. In that order, it focuses on providing a justification for what its application may be after causing the harm and before. Thus, the work analyzes the measures consisting of restitution, rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees of nonrepetition, and offers an interpretation of them that allows their implementation in private law. Likewise, in the second part, the preventive measures that can be implemented before the harm occurs are analyzed and a possible justification for them in the field of civil liability is exposed.

Abstract: Purpose: The aim of this study is to understand the role performed and the challenges faced by emergent groups and spontaneous volunteers during the response of Covid-19 emergency. Moreover, this study seeks to examine if structural social capital wealth is related or no with spontaneous volunteerism during Covid-19 outbreak. To be able to assess and compare if the variation between bonding, bridging and linking social networks from place to place impact volunteers´ management the study will be conducted in United Kingdom and Colombia. Design/methodology/approach: This study comprises of qualitative and quantitative methodological approaches. A comprehensive literature review was undertaken alongside an online survey with volunteers in Colombia and United Kingdom and online interview. Analyze survey results: Descriptive statistics, t-test and data visualization and qualitative data analysis were implemented to. Findings: Spontaneous volunteerism during Covid-19 was not relate with structural social capital wealth. A centralized management and communication sharing can improve emergency response and volunteers' performance. The more common volunteering activity was food distribution and the biggest challenge was fear of contagion. Practical implications: The author provide insights to improve spontaneous emergency response in the future. In addition, present the excellent opportunity that official organizations are facing to formally work and train spontaneous volunteers. Originality/value: The author introduces a different of social capital and volunteering relationship. Additionally, offer suggestions to improve volunteers´ management from the strengthening of structural social capital.

Abstract: Land disputes between indigenous communities and peasants in Colombia are not something new. The scenario is almost the same: aboriginal communities conflicting with peasants and farmers for a territory in which to live. The issue has not been completely explored. In fact, analysis regarding territorial conflicts between indigenous peoples and farmers in Colombia remains insufficient because it is conservative when criticizing the institutional approaches to the conflict; it does not consider international examples; and what is worse, it lacks objectivity because the author usually takes a position in the conflict (commonly pro-indigenous). The specific case that I chose to study in this paper takes place in the northeast region of Colombia known as Catatumbo. The Barí peoples are an aboriginal group who have disputed farmer’s claims since the 1990s, in an effort to secure their property titles. The land dispute reached such magnitude that it was studied by the Colombian Constitutional Court in 2017. However, after many attempts to solve the territorial dispute, the problem persists. In this article, I explore alternative approaches to land disputes between farmers and native communities in Colombia. First, I give a general characterization of the conflict itself and the parties involved. Next, I present the existing theoretical and legal framework to approach the land dispute, emphasizing my research in the disparity between the rights of indigenous peoples and peasants regarding land access. Also, I argue that the existing institutional framework is naively biased to favor indigenous claims over farmers' demands. Finally, I compare examples from Common Law countries that could be useful to approach proportionality tests differently.

Abstract: Este artículo analiza el impacto de la política costarricense de apoyo al turismo sostenible, y en particular con el sistema de Certificación para la Sostenibilidad Turística (CST) del Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT) en la innovación en servicios, procesos, mercadeo y organización de las empresas hoteleras del país. Se indagaron las causas y motivaciones para hacer cambios e introducir nuevos atributos dentro de la empresa. En la primera fase, se condujo encuestas con el 27% de todos los hoteles con declaratoria turística en Costa Rica y el 48% de los certificados con CST, para investigar los determinantes de la innovación y de la búsqueda de la certificación de sostenibilidad. Se aplicaron herramientas estadísticas para analizar diferencias entre los hoteles con y sin CST, así como la correlación de los determinantes de la innovación con el grado de innovación. Posteriormente se entrevistaron a seis hoteleros de diversos tipos para profundizar sobre las innovaciones realizadas, los determinantes y motivaciones. Los resultados indican que la certificación es un instrumento para ayudar a los gerentes a mejorar sustancialmente sus empresas, en términos de servicios, procesos, estructura interna y ahorros en agua y energía. Los hoteles con CST demuestren una tasa de ocupación 8% más alto que los hoteles no certificados, con un valor de p=0,01. No se evidenció una diferencia en innovación en mercadeo entre los hoteles con y sin CST.

Abstract: The idea for this project comes from the experiences I have acquired in different areas of musical practice. Colombian folk music is so extraordinarily rich that it is inevitable for any Colombian musician to be influenced by the local musical traditions. A clarinetist would not be the exception, considering the crucial role of the clarinet in many regional musical genres. My early experiences in traditional music led me to develop an interest in clarinet performance practice and the academic and technical study of the instrument, together with the study of the Western traditions and repertoire, the exploration of contemporary musical resources, and orchestral practice. Another important aspect that inspired this project is the practice of instrumental teaching. The experience of creating methodologies to overcome different technical aspects in performance practice reveals the lack of pedagogical material for approaching particular styles of music, in this case, Colombian traditional music. Additionally, the use of the rhythmic and melodic elements of Latin American music into the technical instrumental practice can be particularly useful for any player who is interest in exploring new sounds and resources into his or her personal practice. The Characteristic Etudes included in this document are a collection of etudes for clarinet carefully designed to add a new dimension of technical challenge for the player while using elements from the traditional Colombian musical genres. The idea is to capture in each etude the specific characteristics and challenges of each genre, while expanding the player’s performance capabilities. It is important to clarify that for this project I have used only four Colombian musical genres, although there are dozens of different genres in the country. The construction of these etudes relies on the intention of portraying the diversity and richness of these musical models while emphasizing specific characteristic features and elements that can be used for pedagogical purposes. The wide range of Colombian musical traditions is reflected in the different problematics that appear in every region and their specific cultural practices. For each geographical region into which Colombia is divided, we can find dozens of folk musical styles with particular instrumental, rhythmical, harmonic, and melodic components. The origins and roles of traditional music in the communities are also different and representative of each region. While traditional music in the Andean region has elements originating in the Spanish and Amerindian traditions, the music in the Pacific region is marked by African culture and the musical manifestations based on oral traditions. The vast diversity in Colombian traditional music is a formidable compositional source. The use of these elements in the creation of the Characteristic Etudes is not just an effort to preserve the identity and richness of the music, but it also fulfills the need of finding musical problems that affect the performance practice. In my time as clarinetist and pedagogue in Colombia, I have found in many traditional music players the genuine need for pedagogical material that is focused on their particular needs and challenges, not just because of its educational benefits, but also because of the evolution and development of this music. In the same way, clarinetists with academic and technical training also find difficulties approaching the traditional genres and its particular rhythmic complexities and harmonic, melodic and improvisational traits. Looking for solutions to these issues is what inspired the creation of the characteristic etudes. Their purpose is to bring the clarinet students closer to some of the most representative genres of the Colombian traditional music and contribute to the pedagogical sources of instrumental study while using the attractive elements of Latin music.

Abstract: In the past, when power systems did not incorporate a considerable amount of distributed generation units, the almost passive behavior of the distribution networks could be reasonably represented by static load models (e.g., the exponential model), because they had relatively little impact on power system stability. Therefore, from a transmission perspective, the distribution systems could be seen as an aggregated load for bulk power system stability studies. However, in modern systems, the impact of distributed generation units can no longer be neglected. The static models cannot represent the dynamics of the active distributed networks, which are now increasingly spread across power systems. However, modeling active distribution networks in detail is not feasible due to information exchange restrictions between transmission and distribution system operators, in addition to the great computational effort that it would take. This thesis proposes an alternative black-box, simulation-based methodology to identify dynamic equivalents of active distribution networks focused on long-term voltage stability studies for bulk power systems. The methodology is based on model identification techniques and Hammerstein-Wiener models. The approach depends only on variables measured at the boundary buses, which prevents the need to have previous knowledge about the system, as is the case with greybox models. Furthermore, to avoid heavy-duty nonlinear model techniques, such as artificial neural networks, which are challenging to implement and use in a rather conservative sector such as power systems planning and operation, the proposed methodology keeps a transparent relationship to linear systems. The results and conclusions are derived from time-domain simulations on the IEEE test system for voltage stability assessment, the Nordic test system. It is concluded that the dynamic equivalents are able to reproduce accurately the nonlinear behavior of the active distribution networks. Resumen: En el pasado, cuando los sistemas de energía no incorporaban una cantidad considerable de unidades de generación distribuida, el comportamiento casi pasivo de las redes de distribución podía representarse razonablemente mediante modelos de carga estática (por ejemplo, el modelo exponencial), porque tenían un impacto relativamente pequeño en la energía. estabilidad del sistema. Por lo tanto, desde una perspectiva de transmisión, los sistemas de distribución podrían verse como una carga agregada para los estudios de estabilidad del sistema de energía a granel. Sin embargo, en los sistemas modernos, el impacto de las unidades de generación distribuida ya no puede pasarse por alto. Los modelos estáticos no pueden representar la dinámica de las redes distribuidas activas, que ahora se distribuyen cada vez más en los sistemas de energía. Sin embargo, modelar las redes de distribución activas en detalle no es factible debido a las restricciones de intercambio de información entre los operadores de los sistemas de transmisión y distribución, además del gran esfuerzo computacional que requeriría. Esta tesis propone una metodología alternativa basada en simulación de caja negra para identificar equivalentes dinámicos de redes de distribución activas enfocadas en estudios de estabilidad de voltaje a largo plazo para sistemas de energía a granel. La metodología se basa en técnicas de identificación de modelos y modelos de Hammerstein-Wiener. El enfoque depende únicamente de las variables medidas en los buses delimitadores, lo que evita la necesidad de tener conocimientos previos sobre el sistema, como es el caso de los modelos de caja gris. Los resultados y las conclusiones se derivan de simulaciones en el dominio del tiempo en el sistema de prueba IEEE para la evaluación de la estabilidad de voltaje, el sistema de prueba nórdico.