Suchergebnisse

Water- and land-related resource conflicts are the starting point of the Zambian nexus study. Zambia is endowed with abundant land and water resources, the utilisation of which offers huge potential for the country's economic development. For this reason, the Zambian Government has planned the gradual expansion of irrigated areas throughout the country to boost agricultural production and productivity to meet domestic food demands, to supply regional and international markets, and to create income and employment for smallholders and the rural population. However, changing land use from rain-fed to irrigation on a large scale fuels competition among water users. But conflicts are not only about water: The expansion takes place in areas under customary land tenure, generating conflicts between commercial investors and pre-existing smallholders, and between local people and the chiefs administering the land. In order to realise the government's vision of sustainable development in all its dimensions (economic, social and environmental), good governance and effective coordination is required. Coordination, which carries the positive connotation of "good governance", seems to be the way out of silo planning and uncoordinated implementation. But coordination is not automatically forthcoming, nor is it easy to initiate and sustain. The study analyses the modes at hand to coordinate activities of more or less independent public-sector units related to agricultural development activities, the kind of coordination problems and the barriers and hindrances to effective coordination. The focus of the study is the planning and licensing process of large-scale public-private agricultural investment projects with water/irrigation infrastructure as major components. The Zambia study argues that cross-sectoral coordination is not the only governance issue to be solved to minimise resource-related conflicts and their environmental and social impacts. The study shows that governing the water-land-food nexus is not only a cross-sectoral coordination issue (horizontal coordination) but also an issue of effective vertical coordination. This is most evident regarding land issues. This governance issue originates from the plurality and concurrency of traditional and modern land-tenure systems. Effective implementation of the Zambian government's policy and strategy is also as much an issue of assigning distinct functions to public sectors units and equipping them with sufficient resources for implementation; of upgrading public units to fully fledged administrative units and of considering viable financial models for the water authority WARMA. We applied the Network of Adjacent Action Situations (NAAP) concept that allows one to analyse complex policy settings and to specifically take account of the many decision-making public units that steer the Zambian water-land based agricultural development strategy.

Master's thesis in Risk Management and Societal Safety ; On June 17, 2017, a forest fire erupted in central Portugal that would bring severe consequences and greatly challenge the country's crisis management system. In order to understand why the crisis happened and how it unfolded, this thesis set out to study the transboundary nature of the crisis and the resilience of its crisis management. Based on this, the following research problem was established: "To what extent was the June 2017 forest fire in Portugal a transboundary crisis and to what extent was resilient crisis management achieved?" To find possible answers and formulate conclusions, research has been carried out using an explorative case-study approach. Seeing that collecting primary data was not an option, a choice was made to utilize qualitative document studies. Because of the inherent bias towards applying a single-method for collecting data, it was of great importance to ensure the data's reliability and validity through careful selection. Empirical data has been retrieved from various documents and reports, including the official independent investigation report requested by the Portuguese government, as well as reports from the EU. The theoretical parameters which gave focus to the research has been described and outlined in chapter 2. The theoretical framework presented in this chapter aimed to enhance the understanding of how different aspects pertaining to the crisis itself could influence the degree to which resilient crisis management is achieved. These aspects include crisis typologies, crisis phases, crisis management and crisis 'transboundedness'. Thereafter the challenges of transboundary crisis management were presented, with an emphasis on communication and coordination. Lastly, the theme of resilience is visited, with the theoretical framework accounting for both proactive and reactive resilience, as well as offering a set of factors which may influence the degree to which resilient crisis management can be achieved. Key findings from the study suggests that the June 2017 forest fire in central Portugal was very much so a transboundary crisis. This conclusion was reached by assessing the transboundary dimensions which were crossed during the crisis. Although the fire started in one municipality in central Portugal, by the time it was put out four days later it had affected seven municipalities, damaged dozens of buildings, and taken 65 lives in the process. The crisis called for coordination and cooperation across various response entities, both on local, regional, national and international levels, thereby also adding transboundary elements to the crisis management. In assessing the proactive and reactive resilience measures, key findings show a crisis management system which had the right intentions but lacked the political power to ensure that the crisis management system was prepared, thereby hampering response efforts once the crisis had manifested.

Panamá en los últimos años en promedio ha crecido económicamente por arriba del 8%; esto como resultado de perfeccionar su plataforma de servicios ligados al Canal de Panamá. En consecuencia de este alto crecimiento, el país se avoca a reducir la brecha digital que implica invertir a nivel nacional y con la firme convicción de que los resultados impulsarán y coadyuvarán a un crecimiento económico. Se analizaron los datos o estadísticas de servicio de internet para todos con un enfoque de investigación de carácter descriptivo-cuantitativo, los cuales se obtuvieron como fuente primaria a través de una encuesta aplicada a los usuarios en cada provincia del país y también de fuente secundaria obtenida de organismos especializados nacionales e internacionales. La Región Occidental tiene una tasa de retorno de 172.24%, lo que representa un beneficio económico de B/. 25.3 millones; mientras que la Región Central del país tiene una tasa de retorno de 172.99%, traduciéndose en B/. 74.9 millones y termina la Región Oriental que tiene una tasa de retorno del 141.88% dando como resultado un monto nominal de B/. 129.6 millones. La provincia de Herrera fue la de mayor retorno económico con una relación beneficio costo de B/. 10.22 por cada dólar invertido por el Gobierno Nacional, mientras que la provincia de Colón fue la de menor retorno económico, al reflejar una relación costo-beneficio de B/ 6.44. ; Panama in recent years has grown economically above 8%; As a result of perfecting its service platform linked to the Panama Canal. As a result of this high growth, the country is working to reduce the digital divide involved in investing at the national level and with the firm conviction that the results will boost and contribute to economic growth. The data or statistics of Internet service for all with a research focus of descriptive-quantitative character were analyzed, which were obtained as a primary source through a survey applied to the users in each province of the country and also of secondary source obtained National and international specialized agencies. The Western Region has a rate of return of 172.24%, which represents an economic benefit of B /. 25.3 million; While the Central Region of the country has a rate of return of 172.99%, translating into B /. 74.9 million and ends the Eastern Region with a rate of return of 141.88% resulting in a nominal amount of B /. 129.6 million. The province of Herrera was the one with the highest economic return with a cost benefit ratio of B /. 10.22 for each dollar invested by the National Government, while the province of Colón was the one with the lowest economic return, reflecting a cost / benefit ratio of B / 6.44.

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is an integral part of business activities, and various models of e-commerce have emerged with liberalisation and technological developments. Global e-commerce trade has seen fast growth, which is predicted to continue in the future. The sector is now discussed in various international forums, and a group of countries are exploring the possibility of open, transparent and non-discriminatory e-commerce trade rules in the WTO. India has not joined this group as commitments in the WTO may reduce the ability of the government to promote and support domestic industry. India is also actively engaged in bilateral and regional trade agreements such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and e-commerce is a key component of such agreements. Given this background, the objective of this paper is to understand the growth of the e-commerce sector globally and in India, the developments in the WTO, and India's position. Based on secondary data and information, and one-on-one meetings with 30 stakeholders, the paper makes policy recommendations on what India's strategy in the WTO should be. The study found that India does not have data on trade in e-commerce, which can help identify the country's strengths and areas of concerns, based on which policymakers can take informed decisions. The regulatory regime for e-commerce is evolving across the world and India is no exception. While the study has identified certain gaps and inconsistencies in the regulations, the autonomous regime in India is more liberal than that implemented by countries which are willing to negotiate trade rules. The paper recommends that India should join the negotiations. Simultaneously, it needs to collect data and information on (a) different business models, (b) issues faced by e-commerce companies in scaling up, (c) how e-commerce can be used as a platform to promote exports of handicraft, apparel and other products, and (d) what needs to be done to make India a global manufacturing and sourcing hub. India should support its domestic industry and domestic e-commerce players. However, such support should be given in a way that is consistent with the country's commitments to the WTO and helps e-commerce companies scale up at a fast pace. India may also review regulations implemented by other countries on issues such as data protection and consumer privacy, and design its own regulations based on global best practices and the country's requirements. It can also collaborate with like-minded countries to develop strategies to protect domestic policy space. A defensive position in the WTO may force India to accept trade rules in e-commerce in the future that may not benefit the country.

Sea anemones produce proteinaceous toxins for predation and defense, including peptide toxins that act on a large variety of ion channels of pharmacological and biomedical interest. Phymanthus crucifer is commonly found in the Caribbean Sea; however, the chemical structure and biological activity of its toxins remain unknown, with the exception of PhcrTx1, an acid-sensing ion channel (ASIC) inhibitor. Therefore, in the present work, we focused on the isolation and characterization of new P. crucifer toxins by chromatographic fractionation, followed by a toxicity screening on crabs, an evaluation of ion channels, and sequence analysis. Five groups of toxic chromatographic fractions were found, and a new paralyzing toxin was purified and named PhcrTx2. The toxin inhibited glutamate-gated currents in snail neurons (maximum inhibition of 35%, IC 50 4.7 µM), and displayed little or no influence on voltage-sensitive sodium/potassium channels in snail and rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons, nor on a variety of cloned voltage-gated ion channels. The toxin sequence was fully elucidated by Edman degradation. PhcrTx2 is a new β-defensin-fold peptide that shares a sequence similarity to type 3 potassium channels toxins. However, its low activity on the evaluated ion channels suggests that its molecular target remains unknown. PhcrTx2 is the first known paralyzing toxin in the family Phymanthidae. ; We are grateful to Adys Palmero Colmenares, Estrella Cuquerella, and Maylín Díaz Martínez for their technical assistance; the divers Luis Alejandre, José Ramón García and José Ramón Guerra for collecting the sea anemone specimens, Peter Højrup for his very kind gift of a GPMAW software license, Gastón Simón and for his advice on toxicity assays, Lászlo Béress and Michael Richardson for their technical support. AA Rodríguez especially thanks the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (postdoctoral fellowship 3.2-KUB/1153731 STP), the Collaborative Research Centre 1279 funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), the International Foundation for Science (research grants F/4082-1, F/4082-2 and travel grant), the European Molecular Biology Organization (fellowships 167-2007 and 126-2009), the Third World Academy of Sciences (research grant 06344-2007) and the Government of Veracruz (Mexico) for their financial support. This work was partially supported by CONACyT grant 169835. VIEP-BUAP to ES, PROFOCIE 2015 grant and Network CYTED BIOTOX 212RT0467 (headed by Prof. Carlos Álvarez Valcárcel). AJZ is indebted to CAPES Brazilian Agency for a post-doctoral fellowship under the Edital Toxinologia 2010. JT was supported by the following grants: G.0433.12 and GOE3414N (F.W.O. Vlaanderen), IUAP 7/10 (Inter-University Attraction Poles Program, Belgian State, Belgian Science Policy) and OT/12/081 (KULeuven).

Water- and land-related resource conflicts are the starting point of the Zambian nexus study. Zambia is endowed with abundant land and water resources, the utilisation of which offers huge potential for the country's economic development. For this reason, the Zambian Government has planned the gradual expansion of irrigated areas throughout the country to boost agricultural production and productivity to meet domestic food demands, to supply regional and international markets, and to create income and employment for smallholders and the rural population. However, changing land use from rain-fed to irrigation on a large scale fuels competition among water users. But conflicts are not only about water: The expansion takes place in areas under customary land tenure, generating conflicts between commercial investors and pre-existing smallholders, and between local people and the chiefs administering the land.In order to realise the government's vision of sustainable development in all its dimensions (economic, social and environmental), good governance and effective coordination is required. Coordination, which carries the positive connotation of "good governance", seems to be the way out of silo planning and uncoordinated implementation. But coordination is not automatically forthcoming, nor is it easy to initiate and sustain.The study analyses the modes at hand to coordinate activities of more or less independent public-sector units related to agricultural development activities, the kind of coordination problems and the barriers and hindrances to effective coordination. The focus of the study is the planning and licensing process of large-scale public-private agricultural investment projects with water/irrigation infrastructure as major components. The Zambia study argues that cross-sectoral coordination is not the only governance issue to be solved to minimise resource-related conflicts and their environmental and social impacts.The study shows that governing the water-land-food nexus is not only a cross-sectoral coordination issue (horizontal coordination) but also an issue of effective vertical coordination. This is most evident regarding land issues. This governance issue originates from the plurality and concurrency of traditional and modern land-tenure systems. Effective implementation of the Zambian government's policy and strategy is also as much an issue of assigning distinct functions to public sectors units and equipping them with sufficient resources for implementation; of upgrading public units to fully fledged administrative units and of considering viable financial models for the water authority WARMA.We applied the Network of Adjacent Action Situations (NAAP) concept that allows one to analyse complex policy settings and to specifically take account of the many decision-making public units that steer the Zambian water-land based agricultural development strategy.

Background: Evaluative thinking is rigorous analysis of evidence and reasoning to inform judgments of merit, worth, value, significance, and utility. Although formal concepts and definitions for evaluative thinking have only emerged recently, its practice has been around for many years. In-depth historical case studies of international evaluations using evaluative thinking principles are rare, especially the ones reported by those who were involved a half-century ago. Purpose: This article describes little-known but historically significant educational reform initiative in Guinea Bissau (West-Africa) in the 1970s supported by a group led by Paulo Freire, examining what occurred through the lens of evaluative thinking. Setting: In 1975, Freire and the Idac team were invited to develop a national adult literacy campaign in Guinea Bissau. Freire was already well known for his revolutionary ideas in "Pedagogy of the Oppressed." Intervention: Idac team supported the government to adopt Freire's education and action approach comprising three core strategies: (i) critically understand reality, (ii) conduct scientific studies and (iii) application of the new knowledge. While Freire and four senior members of Idac's team visited the country every three months, two other members lived there for four years. The decision was to invest in experimental pilot projects while reforming what was possible within the existing traditional school curricula. Research Design: The authors conducted a retrospective developmental evaluation exemplifying what can be learned by examining past events through contemporary concepts. Data Collection and Analysis: In-depth interviews were conducted with key informants, especially Claudius Ceccon (one of the authors) who was a senior member of the Idac team working with Paulo Freire in Guinea Bissau. Also, several project original documents and relevant publications were reviewed. Thick description and content analysis were used to revisit that educational reform and examine its implications for evaluative thinking. Findings: Even though Freire's most prominent ideas were developed before evaluation was considered as an established field, his approach of dialectic inquiry, critical reflection and taking action has influenced and still influences many leading scholars and practitioners within our (trans)discipline. While Freire did not use the phrase "evaluative thinking," his process of critical engagement with local people to analyze and understand their situation and take action based on their reflections manifests core elements of what today would be considered embedded evaluative thinking. In political reforms around the world, the retrospective evaluation of what happened in Guinea Bissau reminds us of the importance of evaluative thinking and reflective dialogue – and the fragility of both in the face of political polarization and changes in leadership. Keywords: Paulo Freire; evaluative thinking; developmental evaluation; retrospective studies; Guinea Bissau.

School enrollment and early school leaving are crucial issues in many EU countries, particularly Italy. According to Eurostat data (European Labour Force Survey - EULFS), in 2011 Italy was ranked 28th out of 33 countries for early leaving from education and training (ELET). High school dropout rates, low academic achievement, and loss of school years (which are all directly reflected in the labour market) are the main issues that the children of immigrants face in Italian schools. This paper contributes to the growing literature on these issues and highlights their main characteristics and determinants. The main source of this work is the first (and only) survey on the Condition and Social Integration of Foreign Citizens in 2011-2012 of ISTAT (National Institute of Statistics in Italy), which was released in 2017. The survey collects data on families with at least one foreign citizen and provides unprecedented information on foreigners living in Italy. We analyzed ELET and the intention to enroll in university of young people of foreign citizenship. This paper evaluates the importance of some individual demographic characteristics, the family socio-economic context, school inclusion, and (or) the average level of family integration. The results showed that the risk of ELET was significantly lower for girls; increased with age and on arrival in Italy; was higher in Southern Italy; and was higher for those encountering problems with the language. Family characteristics played a decisive role: young foreigners living either without parents or with poorly-educated parents exhibited a greater risk of early leaving from studies. The analysis also showed that the risk of early leaving from studies affected young people who arrived in Italy between the ages of 13 and 17, especially Albanian or Chinese citizens. When analyzing the intention to enroll in university, it was also possible to use variables related to the study path of young foreigners. The intention of not going to university is clearly associated with school failure and with low levels of parental interest in following their children's school career. Although the Italian Government and other institutions have shown high levels of interest in the challenges foreigners face in education, the indicators studied in this paper show the persistence of high rates of school dropout and low education levels of young people of foreign citizenship. As international literature also states, the school represents an extraordinary context for achieving social inclusion and professional success for the young people of foreign citizenship. Introducing school policies to overcome these obstacles is strategic to achieving a multiethnic and inclusive society. This paper identifies the individual and family characteristics associated with the difficulties around the inclusion of immigrant children in school and allows the knowledge of measures to address the problem.

Artisanal and Small-Scale gold mining is largely linked to poverty-driven activity and a source of foreign exchange and government revenue. In Ethiopia, the sector employed a large number of people supporting approximately 1.2 million while the average share of the sector to GDP and total export during the last 15 years was limited to 0.4% and 8% respectively. Ethiopia has had no its fair share of benefits the artisanal and Small-Scale gold mining brings by way of direct revenue generation and foreign exchange creation. The country has been losing, potentially, millions of dollars through smuggling of gold every year. Supply of gold to the formal market was significantly declined. Therefore, the objective of the study was to analyze the effects of factors affecting artisanal and small scale gold supply and forward possible solutions that can improve the contribution of the sector. Notable factors (problems) are linked with global gold price fluctuation, expansion of local and cross boarder smuggling, administrative problems reflected in the gold supply chain as well as impediments related to policies and taxes including environmental dilapidation in gold mining sits in Ethiopia. In general, the performance of the sector was significantly deteriorated due to the combined effects of these deterring factors. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was used to analyze the study variables. The target population consisted of 934 artisanal gold miners, dealer, and cooperatives registered and operating in four regions in Ethiopia specifically, Oromiya, Tigray, Benishangul, SNNPR and Gmbella. Random sampling technique was applied to select 100 gold suppliers, senior managers and experts in the field. Out of 100 questionnaires 88 were completed and returned by respondents. Homogenous sampling technique was applied as the target groups are equally well aware of the ASG mining sector. Secondary data was collected from study report, publications, research outputs, proclamations and policy documents related to artisanal and small scale mining. The effects of the factors were examined by using 15 years panel data collected on foreign exchange earned from artisanal and small-scale gold mining sector. Secondary data were analyzed by using multiple linear regression model for one dependent variable (gold supply) and five independent variables. The empirical result shows international gold price fluctuation, local gold price, incentive to gold suppliers have positive and significant relationship with the performance of the sector while contraband trade and lower gold purchase threshold policy have negative relationship. Based on the result of the study, it is recommended that contraband trade should be controlled, appropriate gold product recording, tracking and monitoring be in placed, formalization of artisanal gold miners, technical and financial support for artisanal gold miners and attention should be given for environmental protection.

With the signing of the 2030 Agenda, the international community has committed to ending poverty in all its forms. This first Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) recognises poverty as a multidimensional phenomenon that goes beyond the simple lack of a sufficient amount of income. However, the way the SDG 1 and, in particular, Target 1.2 – "reduce … poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions" – are formulated poses challenges for its operationalisation.Which specific dimensions of poverty should a country focus on? How can we identify them? Is it possible to agree on a universal set of dimensions with which to compare poverty across several countries?Recently, significant advancements have been made in the measurement of multidimensional poverty; however, how dimensions of poverty are selected is often overlooked. Empirical studies have employed different approaches, ranging from a data-driven approach to the use of participatory methods or surveys to detect context-based dimensions. This Briefing Paper discusses the pros and cons of the existing approaches and argues in favour of a new one, called the Constitutional Approach. The central idea is that the constitution of a democratic country, together with its official interpretations, can be a valid source of ethically sound poverty dimensions.What is the value added of the Constitutional Approach? And what are the policy implications of adopting it?The approach is grounded on a clear understanding of what poverty is, rather than an ad hoc approximation of it based on data availability. Only with a clear definition can poverty be measured, and anti-poverty strategies adequately designed and implemented.By drawing on norm-governed national institutions that have shaped societal attitudes, the resulting list of dimensions is more legitimate and likely to be accepted and used by national policy-makers and endorsed by the public. The selecting of valuable societal dimensions is not just a technocratic issue but must be grounded in shared ethical values.The approach does not require the collection of additional information to understand which poverty dimension should be prioritised. However, one must consider that this approach is only suitable for democratic countries, whose constitutions: are the result of a broad-based participatory process, still enjoy wide consensus and recognise at least the principle of equality among all citizens.To compare multidimensional poverty at the global level, the approach could be extended by examining a core list of overlapping dimensions across several countries.Given the above strengths, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), which has a vital role in the Multidimensional Poverty Peer Network, could recommend this approach to governments to track country progress in SDG 1.

This paper looks at the possible role of computational design ecologically in the fight against the loss of the aquatic Ecotone. As climate change keeps altering all the natural aspects of our planet, and as our kind continues to sabotage its ecologies, coral reefs come in focus. Aquatically, coral reefs count as a fertile zone for biodiversity. Usually being the Ecotone between land and sea, these barriers host many species and riches. However, due to the excessive abuse caused by human activity be it world-wide pollution or direct human contact, these reefs are constantly bleaching and breaking. In 2016, the Architecture Association gathered a group of international architecture students and professionals in a visiting school in Jordan titled "Hyperbolic Reefs" looking at the possibility of recruiting new computational methods to preserve and possibly regenerate the Ecotone. It was considered that new simulation techniques along with parametric design could contribute into the assessment and prevention of the catastrophic results. The two-week event was divided into chapters and was initiated by a series of lectures and discussions conducted by worldwide leading architects and experts who presented an important material to build upon. Then, the participants underwent a site visit to the coral reef of Al-Aqaba, collecting data, samples and media and recording insights and local testimonies. The third step of the experience was to assimilate the material and data and discuss openly the ways that computation could lead to a better coral life. Several software and tools were assigned to produce a design that would help attenuate the compromise of the coral reef through computation. An archive of data was produced and exhibited to the public. The results of this brief exercise was a number of suggestions and future aspirations triggered solely towards revitalizing the Ecotone. Issues such as the abundance of irresponsible snorkeling and diving, many governments' indifferent policies towards the coral reefs, global warming, climate change, coral bleaching and aquatic architecture were confronted through parametric projects ranging from purely architectural to abstract human capsules. Computational tools allowed the reproduction of the whole system digitally, the precise tracing of the corals' patterns, dimensions and colors, simulation software predicted the role of light and heat in certain zones, and parametric programs provided an incomparable flexibility in the designing process, going completely in sync with the fragile and intricate aspect of a coral unit. 3D printing was also an integral factor in the presentation and study of the presented models. This study's scope was to expand the use of computation in a theoretical way to reach new and creative prospects, and to raise awareness to the situation of the coral reef and the risks facing its degradation.

With the signing of the 2030 Agenda, the international community has committed to ending poverty in all its forms. This first Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) recognises poverty as a multidimensional phenomenon that goes beyond the simple lack of a sufficient amount of income. However, the way the SDG 1 and, in particular, Target 1.2 – "reduce ?…? poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions" – are formulated poses challenges for its operationalisation. Which specific dimensions of poverty should a country focus on? How can we identify them? Is it possible to agree on a universal set of dimensions with which to compare poverty across several countries? Recently, significant advancements have been made in the measurement of multidimensional poverty; however, how dimensions of poverty are selected is often overlooked. Empirical studies have employed different approaches, ranging from a data-driven approach to the use of participatory methods or surveys to detect context-based dimensions. This Briefing Paper discusses the pros and cons of the existing approaches and argues in favour of a new one, called the Constitutional Approach. The central idea is that the constitution of a democratic country, together with its official interpretations, can be a valid source of ethically sound poverty dimensions. What is the value added of the Constitutional Approach? And what are the policy implications of adopting it? The approach is grounded on a clear understanding of what poverty is, rather than an ad hoc approximation of it based on data availability. Only with a clear definition can poverty be measured, and anti-poverty strategies adequately designed and implemented. By drawing on norm-governed national institutions that have shaped societal attitudes, the resulting list of dimensions is more legitimate and likely to be accepted and used by national policy-makers and endorsed by the public. The selecting of valuable societal dimensions is not just a technocratic issue but must be grounded in shared ethical values. The approach does not require the collection of additional information to understand which poverty dimension should be prioritised. However, one must consider that this approach is only suitable for democratic countries, whose constitutions: are the result of a broad-based participatory process, still enjoy wide consensus and recognise at least the principle of equality among all citizens. To compare multidimensional poverty at the global level, the approach could be extended by examining a core list of overlapping dimensions across several countries. Given the above strengths, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), which has a vital role in the Multidimensional Poverty Peer Network, could recommend this approach to governments to track country progress in SDG 1.

El microcrédito es visto en la actualidad como una de las principales herramientas para la lucha contra la pobreza. Organizaciones internacionales como las Naciones Unidas, el Banco Mundial y la mayoría de los gobiernos apoyan esta teoría y han fomentado diferentes normas y programas con los cuales buscan incentivar el microcrédito como instrumento en la lucha contra la pobreza. Actualmente varios teóricos han levantado su voz de alerta o de inconformidad con estas políticas porque no generan ningún efecto sobre la situación de pobreza de los individuos e inclusive pueden generar efectos negativos. El presente documento realiza un análisis del microcrédito como política para la lucha contra la pobreza y a través de un ejercicio empírico de un cuasiexperimento de dobles diferencias emparejadas, focalizado en un grupo de individuos del área urbana en Colombia que cumplen con las condiciones de elegibilidad para ser beneficiarios de recibir un microcrédito en los años 2013-2016, observar los efectos del microcrédito sobre la estructura socioeconómica de los hogares analizados. Se puede evidenciar que no hay un cambio significativo en la estructura socioeconómica de los hogares de la muestra que cumplen las condiciones para recibir y recibieron un microcrédito y aquellos que cumplen las condiciones de recibir y no tienen un microcrédito, lo que en principio convierte al microcrédito en una herramienta estéril para lucha contra la pobreza. ; Abstract: Microcredit is currently seen as one of the main tools for the fight against poverty. International organizations such as the United Nations, the World Bank and most governments support this theory and have promoted different norms and programs with which they seek to encourage microcredit as an instrument in the fight against poverty. At present, several theorists have raised their voices of warning or disagreement with these policies, because they do not have any effect on the poverty situation of individuals and may even generate negative effects. This document presents an analysis of microcredit as a policy for the fight against poverty, and through an empirical exercise of a quasi-experiment of paired double differences, focused on a group of individuals from the urban area in Colombia who meet the conditions of eligibility to be beneficiaries of receiving a microcredit in the years 2013-2016, observe the effects of microcredit on the socioeconomic structure of the households analyzed. It can be evidenced that there is no significant change in the socioeconomic structure of the households in the sample that meet the conditions to receive and received a microcredit and those that meet the conditions of receiving and do not have a microcredit, which makes the microcredit a principle in a sterile tool for fighting poverty ; Maestría

La accidentalidad vial es una de las mayores causas de muerte en el mundo, y actualmente es foco de esfuerzos de académicos y funcionarios gubernamentales. Al observar las cifras se tiene que Colombia no se queda atrás en esta problemática, presentando valores elevados con respecto a los estándares internacionales. Sin embargo, la toma de datos de accidentalidad en el país es muy deficiente y presenta falencias en la rigurosidad de los protocolos. Debido a esto se decide, en este trabajo, comprobar si la ocurrencia de accidentes se puede inferir a partir del análisis de la red vial presente en una ciudad. Para esto se realiza un análisis de la accidentalidad de la ciudad de Manizales, apoyándose en los registros de accidentes viales de 10 años, usando el NAE, que es una medida ponderada que depende de la gravedad de los mismos, y se generan valores de densidad sobre el territorio con la estimación de densidad de núcleo (KDE). Estos valores se relacionan con los valores de tiempo medio obtenidos del procesamiento de la red vial e interpolados con la ayuda del modelo Kriging ordinario con semivariograma lineal. A partir de los resultados obtenidos, se evidencia que las variables usadas presentan una correlación moderada pero debido a la escala en que se genera cada una, hacen imposible la inferencia de sitios particulares de accidentalidad ; Abstract Road accidents are one of the main death causes in the world, and currently, are the focus of efforts from academics and government officials. Looking at the statistics, Colombia has death rates greater than international goals. While overseeing the issue, the accident data collection in the country is very deficient and lacks protocol thoroughness. To tackle the issue of death rates, the objective of the thesis is to evaluate if the road accident occurrence can be inferred from the global mean accessibility of a city"s road network. In order to achieve this, an analysis of the Manizales" 10-year road accident data is performed using the EAN, a weighted measure based on the severity of the accident, and Kernel Density Estimation is used to interpolate values over the city. These resulting data is crossed with the mean time values obtained from the processing of the road network and interpolated using the Ordinary Kriging model with linear semivariogram. From the results can be concluded that both variables present a moderate correlation but due to the scale in which each set of values is generated, an accurate inference of high road accident locations is impossible ; Maestría

Starting from the success of giant web service companies as well as Google and Facebook in managing and utilizing unstructured data in the form of consumer generated media and click stream in a very large volume, a concept known as Big Data then became the center attention in the world of information technology. The fact also shows that more and more organizations in the world, whether private companies or government agencies, have difficulty managing data whose volumes are growing and their types are increasingly complex. They have to organize and analyze these data, and they must find the meaning or value of the ever-expanding and increasingly complex data pile, which is said to have exceeded the capability of conventional data processing applications to process it. The condition of this kind of data is also categorized as Big Data, which is interpreted as a set of data in a very large number of challenges lies in how the data should be stored, how to search in the pile of data, how to distribute it, how to visualize it, and how the data should be analyzed. The long-term goal of IbKIK's proposed program is the establishment of a startup company in the field of analytic data from the world of campus directly. Within the planned three-year period, it is desirable that the company be financially self-sufficient by being a data analytics consultant and also creating a sophisticated and advanced Big Data Analytic application platform product. The advantages possessed when the company started from the academic world is the quantity and quality of human resources as intellectual actors can be selected quickly and accurately. Especially with the synchronization between the curriculum content that is taught with its implementation directly through the program IbKIK become useful products and economic value. From the academic point of view, the desired outcomes are from this program published several journals and proceedings of national and international scale, the publication of textbooks, getting HKI, and publications in the mass media. Also, with the success of this company can produce a derivative company engaged in other areas that are still related as a supporter of the business. The product output of the community service activity that has been done for the first year of the planned three years period is the establishment of a Product Information System Sold on E-Commerce Transactions at Market Place. Also, has been established research unit as the forerunner of the business unit under the auspices of the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology University of Sumatera Utara under the name Data Science Research Group.