“La Reforma” fue una publicación que circuló en Bogotá durante el periodo 1878-1884. Incluyó como parte de su nombre el complemento “revista política, industrial, literatura i de noticias” hasta 1881. Durante las elecciones presidenciales del periodo 1880-1882, el periódico respaldó la candidatura de Rafael Núñez, quien resultaría ganador de dicha contienda. Además de lo mencionado, en sus páginas se incluyeron noticias relacionadas con la defensa del proteccionismo. Entre las secciones que componen “La Reforma” se encuentran: “De Todo”, “Inserciones”, “Exterior”, “Variedades”, “Anuncios”, entre otras. En 1882, el periódico reprodujo por entregas la novela histórica “El Serano de Bogotá” de José Ignacio Neira y el “Discurso de Emilio Castelar en el Congreso Pedagógico de Madrid”. Historiográficamente se ha dicho que “La Reforma” fue una de las primeras publicaciones en vocearse en las calles de Bogotá.

Natural disturbances are important drivers of ecosystem change in the boreal forest and new approaches to sustainable forest management draw on natural disturbance patterns as a template for harvesting. The main premise for such approach is that species have evolved and adapted to stand-replacing natural disturbances and thus are more likely to be maintained on landscapes managed to preserve spatial patterns of natural disturbance. I used spiders – one of the most important, diverse and ubiquitous groups of terrestrial predatory invertebrates – as a model for assessing the impacts of variable retention harvesting practices on biodiversity in the mixedwood boreal forest. Spiders were collected from the Ecosystem Management Emulating Natural Disturbance (EMEND) project landbase over a period of five years from different harvest treatments and forest-types. Results for 249 species in 18 families are included in this study. Changes in composition of spider assemblages clearly followed the disturbance gradient from clear-cut to uncut treatments and these changes were linked to habitat and forest structure. Ground-dwelling assemblages were mostly affected by harvesting, whereas canopy assemblages were less influenced when stand connectivity remained. Low tree retention (i.e., 10-20%, which is the range currently applied by the forestry industry) showed some ability to mitigate adverse effects of clear-cutting; yet, higher retention levels are needed to maintain forest specialist species, especially in late successional seres (e.g., conifer dominated). A “life-boating” effect of aggregated retention was evident, and was more effective when applied in combination with dispersed retention. The application of different harvesting practices alone is unlikely to entirely emulate the effects and processes caused by major disturbances on the landscape. Thus, keeping in mind that fire is an important component in the boreal forest, this type of disturbance cannot be excluded from management if the goal is to preserve a natural range of biodiversity. In conclusion, to sustain rich and diverse spider assemblages, management of the boreal mixedwood should aim towards maintaining landscape heterogeneity. Consequently, no single practice is effective to emulate natural post-disturbance patterns and to adapt harvesting to effectively imitate the processes of a disturbance driven system, a combination of prescriptions is recommended.

Abstract: O N. oleander é uma planta com ampla distribuição mundial, principalmente em regiões tropicais e subtropicais. Esses arbustos são frequentemente usados como plantas ornamentais e possuem mais de 30 glicosídeos cardíacos, causadores do quadro clínico de intoxicação em caninos. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar as alterações clínicas, eletrocardiográficas, bioquímicas, hematológicas e histológicas do rim e avaliar o efeito do uso da frutose 1,6 difosfato e da glicose como alternativas de tratamento em cães intoxicados com 0,25g/Kg de folhas frescas trituradas e adicionadas à ração em única dose. Foram utilizados 10 cães adultos, hígidos, sem raça definida, com 10 a 25Kg de peso, de 4 a 8 anos de idade. Foram distribuídos em dois grupos (Gl e Gll) com 5 animais cada. Para o Gl o tratamento consistiu na administração de uma solução a 10 % de glicose a 50mg/Kg via intravenosa (IV) e em seguida uma infusão continua a 10% de glicose IV por uma hora a 10ml/kg e Gll recebeu frutose 1,6 difosfato, IV a 50mg/Kg, e em seguida uma infusão a 10% da mesma solução, durante uma hora a 10ml/kg. Nenhum dos animais do experimento veio a óbito e todos apresentaram sinais após a intoxicação como: vômito, sialorréia, náuseas, apatia, conjuntiva ocular congesta, desidratação, dor abdominal, tremores, diarréia, inapetência e tenesmo. Observou-se elevação principalmente da GGTU, CK e CKMB. Pela análise do eletrocardiograma encontrou-se arritmias como: bradicardia sinusal, bloqueios atrioventriculares de segundo grau, taquicardia ventricular paroxística e complexos ventriculares prematuros. Na histopatologia não se encontrou alterações no rim. Não observou-se diferença significativa entre tratamentos e na parte clínica houve melhora para Gll observada no consumo de alimento. Conclui-se com o presente estudo que animais intoxicados com 0,25g/Kg de folhas verdes de N. oleander em única dose, causa sinais clínicos, alterações laboratoriais e mudanças no traçado do eletrocardiograma. E o uso da frutose 1,6 difosfato e da glicose tiveram um comportamento similar para as variáveis estudadas durante o tempo experimental. Resumen: N oleander es una planta con amplia distribución mundial, principalmente en regiones tropicales y subtropicales. Estos arbustos son frecuentemente usados como plantas ornamentales y poseen mas de 30 glucósidos cardíacos causantes de cuadros clínicos de intoxicación en caninos. El objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar la alteraciones clínicas, electrocardiográficas, bioquímicas, hematológicas e histológicas con el fin de evaluar el efecto del uso de fructosa 1,6 difosfato y glucosa como alternativas de tratamiento para caninos intoxicados con 0,25g/kg de hojas frescas trituradas y adicionadas a la ración como única dosis. Fueron utilizados 10 caninos adultos, sin raza definida, con 10 a 25 kg de peso, de 4 a 8 años de edad. Fueron distribuidos en dos grupos (GI y GII) con 5 animales cada uno. Para el GI el tratamiento consistió en la administración de una solución al 10% de glucosa a 50 mg/kg vía intravenosa (IV) y enseguida una infusión continua al 10% de glucosa IV por una hora a 10 ml/kg y el GII recibió fructosa 1,6 difosfato, IV a 50 mg/kg y en seguida una infusión a 10% de la misma solución durante una hora a 10ml/kg. Ninguno de los animales del experimento murió y todos presentaron síntomas después de la intoxicación como: vomito, sialorrea, nauseas, apatía, congestión de la conjuntiva, deshidratación, dolor abdominal, tremor, diarrea, inapetencia y tenesmo. Observándose elevación principalmente de GGTU, CK y CKMB. El análisis electrocardiográfico encontró arritmias como: bradicardia sinusal, bloqueos atrioventriculares de segundo grado, taquicardia ventricular paroxística y complejos ventriculares prematuros. En histopatología no se encontró alteraciones en riñón, no observándose diferencia significativa entre tratamientos en la parte clínica hubo mejora para GII observándose no consumo de alimento. Concluyéndose con el presente estudio que animales intoxicados con 0,25g/kg de hojas verdes de N oleander en única dosis, causa signos clínicos, alteraciones de laboratorio y cambios en el trazado del electrocardiograma. El uso de fructosa 1,6 difosfato y de glucosa tuvieron un comportamiento similar para las variables estudiadas durante el tiempo experimental.

Abstract: The success of machine learning algorithms depends on the representation of the data used. Specific domain knowledge can be used to design good representations. However, these representations are limited to a specific problem or task, and to the amount of available labeled data. Another approach is to automatically learn generic priors that can be used in different tasks and context. In the field of natural language processing, recent work has been done in obtaining such priors by learning useful vector representation of words from unlabeled data. The representations can then be used to improve existing natural language processing systems. These word vectors are obtained using special neural network architectures trained on billions of tokens. However, most of these models are learned and evaluated on English language corpora. In this work, Word2vec, a recent neural network based toolkit for learning word representations is used on German language data. The goal is to evaluate the learned representations of words in different language processing and information retrieval tasks. In particular, a semantic-syntactic evaluation set is constructed for the German language. In addition to that, the learned word vector representations are used as features for a classifier of German language business documents. The learned features outperformed existing handcrafted features and performed similar to other state-of-the-art approaches. Resumen: El éxito de los algoritmos de aprendizaje automático depende de la representación de los datos utilizados. conocimiento de dominio específico se puede utilizar para diseñar buenas representaciones. SIN EMBARGO, representaciones de síntesis se limitan a un problema o tarea específica, y que la cantidad de datos disponibles etiquetados. Otro enfoque es aprender automáticamente priores genéricos hizo kann utilizado en diferentes tareas y el contexto. En el campo del procesamiento del lenguaje natural, los trabajos recientes se ha hecho en la obtención de distribuciones previas examinados por el aprendizaje de la representación vector útil de las palabras de datos no etiquetados. Las representaciones a continuación, se pueden utilizar para mejorar el sistema de procesamiento de lenguaje natural existente. Estos vectores de palabras se obtienen utilizando arquitecturas de redes neuronales especiales entrenados en miles de millones de fichas. Sin embargo la mayoría de los modelos de síntesis se aprenden y se evalúa el corpus idioma Inglés. En este trabajo, Word2vec, un conjunto de herramientas basadas red neuronal reciente para el aprendizaje de representación de palabra se utiliza en los datos de idioma alemán. El objetivo es evaluar las representaciones aprendido de palabras en diferentes tareas de procesamiento del lenguaje y la recuperación de información. En particular, una evaluación semántico-sintáctica conjunto se construye para el idioma alemán. Además de eso, las representaciones vectoriales de palabras aprendidas se utilizan como características para un clasificador de documentos comerciales idioma alemán. Las características aprendidas superaron características artesanales existentes y funcionando de modo similar a otros enfoques del estado de la técnica.

El método “El Avión de Papel” consiste en un resumen de un prefacio, una manual de usuario, una sinopsis, unidades didácticas, las transcripciones y finalmente créditos.

Abstract: This study describes the application of Waterworld (a policy support system), in assessing the possible Ecosystem Services (ES) of Protected Areas (PAs) in the Magdalena River basin (Colombia), related to the provision of WQ gains to downstream populations and its relationships with diarrheal disease incidence. This was achieved by applying Land Use Change (LUC) scenarios to grazing and cropping inside the PAs of the Magdalena basin and analysing the potential impacts on the Human footprint Water Quality (Diarrheal Relevant) (HFWQ-DR) index in downstream rivers and population centres. Results indicate that LUC to grazing inside the PAs increases the HFWQ-DR index, suggesting that PAs do provide WQ gains downstream and that such LUC affects in more proportion this ES than an agricultural LUC, which obtained a reduction in the HFWQ-DR index. This study also emphasises the importance of PAs for the conservation of natural resources, especially hydrology, and the importance of identifying the ES that they provide in order to support public policies that enhance their protection and extension. Resumen: El estudio describe la aplicación de Waterworld (un sistema de soporte de decisiones basado en la web) para determinar los posibles servicios ecosistemicos (SE) de las áreas protegidas (AP) en la cuenca del Río Magdalena (Colombia), relacionados con la provisión de mayor calidad de agua para las poblaciones aguas abajo y sus relaciones con la incidencia en enfermedades diarreicas. Esto se logró mediante la aplicación de escenarios con cambios en el uso del suelo dentro de las áreas protegidas a usos de tipo pastoreo y agrícola para posteriormente analizar los potenciales impactos en el índice de Huella humana para la calidad de agua relevante a diarrea (Human footprint on water quality – diarrheal relevant, HFWQ-DR) en los ríos y centros poblados ubicados aguas abajo de las AP. Los resultados indicaron que cambios en el uso del suelo a pastoreo dentro de las AP incrementan el índice HFWQ-DR, lo cual sugiere que las AP si proveen mayor calidad de agua en ríos y poblaciones aguas abajo y que tales cambios en el uso del suelo afectan en mayor proporción estos SE en comparación con cambios de uso del suelo agrícolas, los cuales obtuvieron una reducción en el índice de HFWQ-DR, aunque en un menor grado. Este estudio también enfatiza la importancia de las AP en la conservación de los recursos naturales, especialmente hidrológicos y la importancia de identificar los SE que ellas proveen para soportar políticas públicas que puedan incrementar y mejorar su protección y extensión.

The excavation for the 53-story reinforced concrete One Museum Park West building (OMPW) in Chicago was constructed using combined support systems. The building was supported by caissons and a perimeter wall formed by secant piles which transitioned to tangent piles below the bottom of the cut. After installing the perimeter wall and deep foundations for the building, the excavation for the reinforced concrete central core was supported by a circular cofferdam made of sheet piles and steel ring beams. This excavation was made using conventional bottom-up excavation techniques. The excavation for the rest of the building was made using a top-down method and was laterally braced with reinforced concrete floor slabs structurally connected to the secant pile walls and the reinforced concrete core. Field performance data during construction of the OMPW basements were collected with settlement points, inclinometers and strain gages installed in the concrete basement slabs. Significant settlements were observed adjacent to the excavation during wall and deep foundation installation, central core construction and top-down excavation. The influence of concrete material time-dependence of the floor slabs on the performance during top-down excavation is evaluated and a method for the separation of temperature-related strains from the excavation-induced strains in the concrete is described. The construction of the basements is simulated with a 3D numerical structural model to study the influence of the concrete material time-dependence of the floor slabs in the excavation-induced movements resulting from top-down construction. Computed strains in the floor slabs are compared with the observed performance data collected from the strain gages. For use in numerical simulation of the entire excavation process, hypoplasticity constitutive parameters for clays (HC model) at the element test level were calibrated with tests conducted on high quality block samples obtained from the excavation of Block 37 project in Chicago. They included oedometer tests, bender element measurements, and triaxial tests following different stress probes, and were further refined with seismic cone penetration results.  The entire OMPW excavation is simulated with the calibrated parameters with a fully coupled-flow deformation, three-dimensional finite element model. Influence of the construction of secant pile walls, concrete material time-dependence, and nonlinear concrete behavior of the perimeter pile walls on the performance of the OMPW excavation is determined. Conclusions about top-down construction are drawn in light of the measured and simulated performance of the OMPW excavation.

Concessional agreements have been to many developing countries the keystone to reach development. Since the middle twentieth century up to now roads, water - wastewater systems, electricity’s generation and distribution have been operated under arrangements that foster the private sector participation. Concessional agreements seem to be an advantageous feature of project finance for a country as a whole and perhaps that is why governments have mostly opted for this option. The foregoing sum up to developing world problems, as lack of own recourses to build, operate or maintain infrastructure and inexperience of public sector in these affairs, have arisen the utilization of concessional agreements. Developing countries use to follow the models pre-established by developed countries embracing either slightly or substantial changes in the schemes. Concessions have not been the exception. The questions then, rise from two sides. From the developed countries view it is appropriate to inquire: Did concessional agreements contributed to third world countries development? Are they still been utilized? If so, what made them work? What failed? On the other hand we should ask ourselves: Have developing countries followed carefully the third world concessional schemes? Have they settled new schemes? What were developing countries’ purposes when establishing concessional agreement schemes as public policies? Have those schemes worked or not? What is the landscape in a developed country such as Germmany and in a developing country such as Colombia? A concessional agreement as a project finance´s feature depends heavily on its preparation. Structuring phase plays a major role to reach success. Project finance is a matter of risk. Implementation of concessional agreements is as well a matter of risk. Parties assume their own project responsibility and therefore they relay in the project risks allocation. Risks allocation is the first mitigation measure. A proper structuration supposes an accurate allocation of risks and a better performance of each party. This research as of an appraisal between the role of infrastructure concessions in developed and developing countries, and has as a purpose to make a comparison between both schemes regarding the management of infrastructure concessions in their structuring phase paying special attention in the risks allocation and mitigation. The foregoing study would focus in Germany and Colombia´s scenarios principally, but using as reference other cases in specific issues, if necessary.

The Interaction of electromagnetic waves with dielectric bodies and metals has been extensively studied because of its importance to problems including propagation through rain or snow, scattering by and detection of air borne particles, coupling to missiles with plasma plumes or dielectric-filled apertures, performance of communication antennas in the presence of dielectric and magnetic inhomogeneities, and medical diagnostics and power absorption in biological bodies. Computational electromagnetics methods (CEM) offer and indispensable tool for calculating the electromagnetic scattering from an internal field distribution of arbitrarily shaped, inhomogeneous, dielectric bodies. The aim of this thesis is the study and simulation of a RF coils system design by developing a novel parallel fast Method of Moments (MoM) modeling approach suitable for the simulation of dielectric bodies and metals. The parallel fast MoM implementation uses volume and surface basis functions with special properties appropriate for the representation of flux current densities for perfect electric conductors (PEC) and dielectrics. The results obtained with our modeling method were confirmed by comparisons with analytical solutions and other commercial software results, yielding very good agreement. The RF coil is employed in high field Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to obtain high quality brain images. Among all the clinical imaging techniques, MRI stands as a noninvasive technique that provides accurate, detailed anatomic images, which has had a major impact in the diagnosis of human diseases. MRI is a widely use soft-tissue imaging modality that has involved over the past several years into a powerful and versatile medical diagnostic tool capable of providing in-vivo diagnostic images of human anatomy. Current research areas in MRI system design are driven by the need to obtain detailed high resolution images with improved image signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at a given magnetic field strength. One of the most critical factor that influences the quality and resolution of the MRI is the homogeneity of the RF field. To this end, this requirement demands the development of high performance MRI radio frequency (RF) coils and a standard procedure for enhancing the uniformity of the field directly at the modeling stage of the RF Coil.

Abstract: Human settlements have facilitated population growth and the accumulation of possessions, enabling their survival as a species. However, these positive effects have also brought along the generation of waste throughout history (Zapata&Hall, 2013). Local production of waste in urban centres has become a global issue, as an increasing population of 7 billion inhabitants (Worldometers, 2015) are daily discarding tonnes of objects and goods. By 2013, it was estimated that the generation of solid waste in the world had increased 10 times over the past century reaching 3.5 million tonnes per day (Jacquot, 2013). Two years later, this number is even higher. According with WasteAtlas (2015) we generate around 4.38 daily million tonnes of waste that usually end in dumpsites or landfills contrary to what happened in the nineteenth century, when practices of recycling and reusing were culturally and socially accepted. The culture of consumerism has come with a change on the perceptions of waste on the last decades by which we have adopted habits of throwing away, tied to constructed ideas about hygiene and the disposal of objects as a sign of prosperity and ease (Strasser, 2000). However, this new relation with waste has signified high social and environmental costs such as air and water pollution and emission of greenhouse gases (Hyman et al. 2013). Resumen: El concepto de basura responde a una clasificación definida por ideas construidas social y culturalmente. Así, prácticas como el reciclaje, anteriormente aceptadas, fueron, a través del tiempo, rechazadas por imaginarios sobre la higiene y por una sociedad de consumo. La cantidad de basura que se genera a diario en todas las ciudades del mundo, es sin duda uno de los mayores retos de nuestros tiempos. El manejo de residuos lleva consigo dinámicas ambientales y sociales que no pueden ser ignorados por la ciudadanía ni por el Estado. Esta investigación hace un análisis de algunas de las normas sobre el servicio público de aseo en Colombia y, en especial del caso de Bogotá desde el concepto de justicia ambiental, fundado en tres elementos: justa distribución de cargas y beneficios, reconocimiento y participación. Al encontrar que el modelo de aseo en Colombia ha estado basado principalmente en la generación de basuras y en la recolección y no en prácticas que contribuyan a la reducción, se presenta el caso de la Asociación de Recicladores de Bogotá y del manejo de residuos orgánicos para compostaje con el fin de conocer cómo la participación en estas dos alternativas puede contribuir a una ciudad ambientalmente más sostenible y sobretodo, más justa.