Abstract: This thesis analyzes how mindfulness is translated into a business concept for the organizational realm in Bogotá, Colombia. How does an originally “mystic”, eastern esoteric concept like mindfulness manage to travel into and adapt to a material Western setting, specifically Bogotá? Previous research on mindfulness in businesses often analyzes it as an accepted tool for executives and organizations, but little research has focused on how mindfulness has actually ended up there, having been tailored by mindfulness companies to meet organizational interests. This thesis explores the identity-making process of seven mindfulness companies and their owners using cultural analysis and ethnographical methods. In focus are the tacit and explicit rules engaged in creating these mindfulness companies, their marketing strategies, their gender notions and the meanings they ascribe to the mindfulness experience. Similarly, the voice of Bogotá’s organizational realm is examined in order to comprehend their take and appreciations on mindfulness. The analysis is guided by Mary Douglas definition on cleanliness and pollution, Erving Goffman’s theatrical perspective on social interactions, Victor Turner’s delineation of liminality and Judith Butler definition of gender. The investigation indicates that shaping mindfulness for business purposes is a personal and intimate process for the mindfulness practitioners operating as business owners. Further, the work reveals that, due to the gender stereotypes embedded in Bogotá’s organizational realm, the mindfulness companies translate and market mindfulness as a prestigious enactment of womanness. The thesis findings can be used as a guide as they show how the successful travelling process and translation of mindfulness into a business concept for the organizational realm requires being aware of the specific local and geographic constructions of mindfulness including their national, gendered and sociocultural characteristics. Further, it reveals the significance of the individual perspectives on business and mindfulness that the women running the mindfulness companies adhere to. Resumen: Esta tesis analiza cómo el concepto de Mindfulness se traduce en una idea de negocios y se moldea para el ámbito organizacional en Bogotá, Colombia. La pregunta surge ¿Cómo un concepto que inicialmente se considera “esotérico” y del Oriente viaja y se adapta a un entorno Occidental en Bogotá? A menudo, las investigaciones que discuten la existencia y el uso de Mindfulness dentro del ámbito organizacional se orientan en presentar este concepto como una herramienta que ya ha sido aceptada dentro de la organización y que está al alcance de ejecutivos y colaboradores. Sin embargo, la academia no ha examinado la manera en que Mindfulness llega a las organizaciones y es adaptada por las compañías de Mindfulness para cumplir con las necesidades e intereses de los ejecutivos. Esta tesis se soporta en un análisis cultural y métodos etnográficos para explorar el proceso de generación de identidad de siete empresas de Mindfulness y sus propietarias. La tesis se enfoca en las reglas tácitas y explícitas que involucran la creación de una empresa de Mindfulness, sus estrategias de marketing, nociones de género y los significados que se le atribuyen a lo que aquí se denomina como la experiencia de Mindfulness. Del mismo modo, la tesis analiza las voces del ámbito organizacional de Bogotá, con el fin de comprender sus apreciaciones respecto a Mindfulness. El análisis toma como guía la definición de limpieza y contaminación de la antropóloga Mary Douglas, la perspectiva teatral del sociólogo Erving Goffman, el concepto de liminalidad del antropólogo Víctor Turner y la definición de género de la filósofa y feminista Judith Butler. La investigación indica que la generación de Mindfulness con fines comerciales es un proceso personal e íntimo para las profesionales que se dedican a esto y que operan como dueñas del negocio. Además, el trabajo revela que, debido a los estereotipos de género presentes en el ámbito organizacional de Bogotá, Mindfulness se traduce y publicita localmente como un prestigioso acto de femineidad.

Actualmente, los nuevos paradigmas del desarrollo “sostenible y sustentable” se han convertido en nuevas políticas para “rescatar” la importancia y la práctica de la Shagra en las comunidades; sin embargo, las categorias del sistema no son tenidas del todo en cuenta. Por lo anterior los objetivos de esta investigación fueron: i) identificar las categorias del sistema Shagra ii) ajustar las categorias en el marco de la resiliencia que explique las diferentes fases que ocurren en este sistema socio- ecológico iii) proveer recomendaciones sobre las intervenciones de seguridad alimentaria en la región para promover la seguridad alimentaria de una manera holística. Se desarrollaron relaciones del sistema con categorías de resiliencia a través de un estudio cualitativo con entrevistas semi-estructuradas, grupos focales, plenarias y un método novedoso llamado Mindala. Los resultados se analizaron con el software NVIVO. Como categorias claves se identificaron: mujeres, semillas nativas, conexiones sociales, prácticas tradicionales e integración familiar. Aquí se identifico, por ejemplo, que el aislamiento de los centros urbanos y mercados, activan mecanismos de mitigación de incertidumbres. Por otro lado se observa la evidente dependencia del mercado y proyectos de desarrollo que incrementan la vulnerabilidad de las comunidades. Se discute acerca del actual sistema educativo público rural, los desafíos en la conservación de semillas nativas, cambios en un ambiente globalizado y el rol de prácticas indígenas que proveen enlaces confiables de cara a la inseguridad alimentaria. Se hacen recomendaciones finales a los actores involucrados como el gobierno, comunidades y sociedad civil. Este estudio muestra las conexiones intrínsecas entre los miembros de la comunidad y el conocimiento de plantas nativas de la zona y otras particularidades del sistema que permiten sobrepasar las incertidumbres y conservar la resiliencia del sistema. Sin embargo, esta resiliencia es amenazada día a día cuando las particularidades del sistema no son consideradas. La riqueza y peculiaridades de la Shagra están bajo amenaza y extinción. Su continuidad es un desafío para Colombia y la humanidad.

After crude oil extraction, separation and treatment are probably the most important stages within different oil and gas business processes. Efficiency to separate crude oil from water and gas is directly related with production outputs and profits of oil companies. Ecopetrol S.A. being Colombia’s national oil production company has many different production facilities, being the Superintendence of Castilla – Chichimene one of the largest ones, producing a third of the total oil amount produced by Ecopetrol which borders up to 560.000 barrels of oil per day. The present study develops a reliability and availability analysis of Castilla 2 crude oil treatment station, which is the leading separation plant of the Superintendence, having paramount relevance on final oil production rates. The aim of this work is set on the identification of critical bottle necks and underperforming equipment within the process that can affect the overall availability of the treatment station, developing a model able to provide valuable information for decision making processes related with the sustainability or improvement of current production goals through the assessment of achievable availability and reliability values. In order to develop a realistic analysis, recognition of critical equipment is made and its results used to propose a plant grouping model based on functional blocks, systems and main processes. Moreover, real maintenance information has been retrieved from different existing databases and used to construct and define parameters of individual failure distributions on each one of the equipment selected for the study. A reliability block diagram capable to describe functional relationships of the elements, systems and processes of the treatment plant was developed. Through this model, quantitative analysis and measurements were made allowing identification of elements and combinations prone to generate major downtime. Several availability simulation were used to find sensitive points within the plant that can affect overall production goals, while proposed actions and plant modifications were introduced into the model to assess their benefits and effectiveness towards production and availability improvement.

La producción nacional en países en desarrollo, está siendo complementada por productos importados cuando estos implican investigación, innovación y el uso de la tecnología. En esos países es escasa la inversión en l&D y por esa razón es obligatorio para ellos recurrir al mercado internacional para encontrar aquellos productos para los cuales no tienen la suficiente capacidad para producirlos. Consecuentemente esta práctica trae consigo una serie de riesgos que deben ser controlados para garantizar la recepción de un producto a satisfacción. Este es el caso de los riesgos en la Cadena de Abastecimiento de Vacunas para atender la demanda en Colombia, adquiridas a través del Ministerio de Salud y Protección Social (MSPS). En este Manual de Aseguramiento, se hará al principio, una descripción del proceso, desde la compra hasta la nacionalización del producto. Posteriormente, se presentará la metodología para administrar los riesgos más comunes en el transporte internacional y la nacionalización. La metodología abarca la identificación, el análisis, la evaluación, el control y la verificación de los riesgos. Finalmente, se concluirá con una matriz de riesgos que resume la metodología aplicada e indicadores que permiten evaluar si los riesgos están siendo controlados adecuadamente. Al final del documento se presentará recomendaciones.

Monografia sobre la Protección de Datos Personales, la cual a través de una guía fácil busca proporcionar elementos que ayuden a implementar dentro de las empresas, que blinde el uso, custodia, almacenamiento, publicación, modificación de las personas naturales. Igualmente muestra a través de los diferentes capítulos antecedentes jurídicos, normas internacional, pasos para el registro de las Bases de Datos Personales, leyes y decretos e la información personal, sea de carácter público o privado, responsabilidades, deberes). Titular, Responsable del Tratamiento, Encargado, Custodio y Almacenador de dichos datos. Para mayor orientación y con el ánimo de enfatizar la importancia de que se cumpla a reglamentación para la protección de datos personales, se mencionan algunas empresas que lo han establecido los permisos expresos que deben tener los propietarios de la información; En el mismo documento, se expresa el uso de datos personales, alcance, propósito, contenido y archivo físico.

This paper explores if there is an independent South American employment relations’ model or it can be classified as an extension of the Mediterranean one, framed in last decades. It analyses the main features of the South American Model of employment relations and its resemblance with the Mediterranean one. It focuses on the analysis of the role of the state as a promoter of legislation, the unions’ identity and their bargaining structure, and the employers’ organisations’ role and corporate governance structure in South America. Additionally, it compares these patterns with the main features of the Mediterranean Model of employment, to conclude that both models have a close correlation regarding the employment relations systems, despite the cross national differences of size, economic performance and social-politic context. Through the classification of the South American model of employment as an extension of the Mediterranean one, this paper provides a theoretical and practical insight in the research of the employment relations.

This thesis explores the effect of disclosure on risk management policies. Following recent theory on risk management, with market imperfections, risk management creates value by reducing the volatility of the cash flows. Those risk policies are conditioned by actual disclosure rules that reduce information asymmetry between managers and shareholders, providing a comprehensive view of the firm. However, disclosure gives different accounting choices, hence affecting the decision-making process of managers. The purpose of this thesis is to establish if managers adapt their actual risk policy to disclosure rules. Specifically, we discuss how managers make decisions regarding exchange rate risk in forecasted transactions. In addition, we discuss how hedging affects valuation by using an investor perspective. This is done through the analysis of the automotive industry in Sweden, Germany and France and the considerations of analysts and auditors. We found that risk management policies are affected by accounting rules and that analysts are aware of those effects but have problems to measure them. However, not enough evidence was found to prove that managers try to avoid the volatility the fair value option brings when hedging a forecasted flow.

This thesis begins with a description of the social, political and natural phenomena related with the human settlements at the slopes of the Galeras Volcano. Subsequently, a stateof-the-art is provided in order to understand the relevance of addressing the underlying confl ict at this point in time, from a regional planning perspective. Based on this preliminary analysis, a hypothesis regarding regional development as a risk management strategy for the community at the Galeras region is provided. With reference to this hypothesis, the general approach of this Master’s thesis is outlined by, integrating concepts of participation, risk management, regional planning and urban design. The regional strategy compresses several urban and regional projects at lower scales. These provide both safety in case of volcanic eruptions, and growth opportunities for the urban communities settled on this territory. Specifically, a set of four premises will be the core of the decisions: Land has a social value higher than its economic value; Life preservation is a shared goal for all parts involved; there is a local culture that has evolved in this specific territory and needs to be preserved; and there is a constitutional and democratic framework that can provide useful tools for this specific case. From these premises, two regional conclusions are key outcomes of this thesis: A preliminary risk analysis as a proposed further step from the current Volcanic Threat Map (INGEOMINAS 1997) and a regional development strategy for the Galeras Region (Pasto, Nariño and Florida).

This study analyzed immune reactivity of sera from chronic Chagasic patients living in Europe, using two available commercial ELISA kits (ORTHO® T. cruzi ELISA Test System and REM® Gold ELISA T. cruzi IgG), and in-house ELISA anti T. cruzi IgG which was optimized in this study. After carrying out ELISA for the detection of anti-T. cruzi antibodies, the most reactive sera (n=15), the least reactive sera (n=13), and negative controls (n=7) were tested to find the most reactive T. cruzi proteins using an immunoblotting assay. Four groups of proteins based on their molecular weight were identified as the predominant immunogenic antigens for chronic Chagas disease. From these groups the most reactive antigens were proteins with molecular weights of between 40 kDa and 50 kDa and also proteins with 80 kDa. These proteins can be purified by immunoproteomic analysis and also it is important to test them for cross-reaction with Leishmania spp in order to develop a more sensitive and specific diagnostic test, particularly for the chronic stage of the disease. Additionally, they can be developed for use in future vaccines. 

The persistency of rural poverty along with a widened gap between urban and rural areas, darken the picture of progress in Colombia. This dissertation analyses the state of social protection in rural areas, paying attention to the different instruments available to the government in order to find out whether rural dwellers have effective protection tools against shocks. Using different diagnoses on the determinants of rural poverty, this work identifies the limited scope of the actual social protection system in addressing the many different sources of vulnerability that rural inhabitants have to face in Colombia. In addition, there is a lack of comprehensive rural development strategy to complement the operation of the social protection system in rural settings.