Abstract: The manufacturing brick generates a direct effect in the air quality affecting the health of the surrounding communities of this type of industry. In the Colombian municipality of Nemocón, in the Patio Bonito rural locality, the majority of small and micro-sized brick fields uses craft techniques for manufacturing different types of bricks. The manufacturing plant is basically represented by a kiln and a plot of land as a farmyard; the area where these elements are concentrated is commonly named “Chircal”. Craft brickers usually use kilns of direct fire and upward firing for cooking. The main fuel used in the manufacture of bricks is coal, followed by natural gas and diesel. The present work aims to characterize air quality, taking into account the massive growth of the brick manufacturing activity in the rural locality of Patio Bonito, Nemocón, Colombia, specifically assessing the particulate matter PM10, which is one of the most critical air pollutant due to its impact on health of its inhabitants and on the local environment. The year 2013 was selected for the analysis, because the highest PM10 concentrations of the last five years that happened in that year, according to historical data from the environmental authority of Cundinamarca region. For assessing the air quality in Patio Bonito, a Gaussian air quality model named URBAIR, developed by the University of Aveiro, was applied. For an adequate operation of this model, it was necessary to collect input data as emission sources and meteorological data. The modeling periods were August 8th, November 20th and 24th 2013, when daily averaged with concentrations above 100 µg/m3, limit regulated by Colombian legislation were registered. Moreover, two improvement scenarios were proposed. The first considered the operation of “Colmena” kilns with an emission control system. The second implied Hoffman and Tunnel kilns, because those showed the lowest PM10 emissions. Results allowed to conclude that those improvement measures can reduce the PM10 contribution to air pollution levels. Resumen: La fabricación del ladrillo genera un efecto directo en la calidad del aire afectando la salud de las comunidades circundantes de este tipo de industria. En el municipio colombiano de Nemocón, en la localidad rural de Patio Bonito, la mayoría de las pequeñas ladrilleras utilizan técnicas artesanales para la fabricación de diferentes tipos de ladrillos. La planta de fabricación está básicamente representada por un horno y una parcela de tierra como un patio; el área donde se concentran estos elementos se denomina comúnmente ""Chircal"". Los trabajadores artesanales generalmente usan hornos de fuego directo y fuego ascendente para cocinar. El principal combustible utilizado en la fabricación de ladrillos es el carbón, seguido del gas natural y el diesel. El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo caracterizar la calidad del aire, teniendo en cuenta el crecimiento masivo de la actividad de fabricación de ladrillos en la localidad rural de Patio Bonito, Nemocón, Colombia, evaluando específicamente el material particulado PM10, que es uno de los contaminantes atmosféricos más críticos debido a su impacto en la salud de sus habitantes y en el entorno local. El año 2013 fue seleccionado para el análisis, debido a las mayores concentraciones de PM10 de los últimos cinco años que ocurrieron en ese año, según datos históricos de la autoridad ambiental de la región de Cundinamarca. Para evaluar la calidad del aire en Patio Bonito, se aplicó un modelo Gaussiano de calidad del aire denominado URBAIR, desarrollado por la Universidad de Aveiro. Para un funcionamiento adecuado de este modelo, fue necesario recopilar datos de entrada como fuentes de emisión y datos meteorológicos. Los periodos de modelación fueron el 8 de agosto, el 20 y el 24 de noviembre de 2013, cuando se registró un promedio diario con concentraciones superiores a 100 ?g / m3, límite regulado por la legislación colombiana. Además, se propusieron dos escenarios de mejora. El primero consideró la operación de hornos ""Colmena"" con un sistema de control de emisiones. El segundo implicaba los hornos Hoffman y Tunnel, porque aquellos mostraban las emisiones más bajas de PM10. Los resultados permitieron concluir que estas medidas de mejora pueden reducir la contribución de PM10 a los niveles de contaminación del aire.

Abstract: Buenaventura is a port-city located in the Colombian pacific coast: having a geostrategic position, equidistant to the main worldwide markets; moving 60% of the cargo country; it is the most important Colombian cargo port. Also considered as an eco-region with many biodiversity, it attracts many tourists; besides is one of the rainiest places of the world. Nevertheless, having all these geographical and physical advantages; Buenaventura has always been developed around the cargo terminal; leaving behind citizens’ social and spatial factors. Therefore, it is a site that has the specificity of motion but not permanence: cargo, ships-boats, money, tourists, whales, rainwater, and some others ambient factors are moving, but nothing remains for its citizens. How architecture can react in order to generate city-revival, in order to provoke “Spaces of Permanence and Stability” for Buenaventura city-port? Through exploring fluctuations, behaviors and parameters of previous exposed facts a “Maritime Terminal for Passengers” is designed, as a building that mainly implies movement, but can also denote permanence. While defining building “spatial position” through ships, boats and vessels constraints; building “spatial organization” is determined according with main citizens’ social needs: employment, public space and water service. On the other hand, Sea Water Surface and Rain Water Fall behaviors define building “spatial quality”: woven parameters that generate “interweaving the waves”. Thus, passengers, visitors and vehicles paths engender interwoven curved surfaces; that besides loading-unloading passengers, they provide public activities, public space, and a system able to collect rainwater. Therefore, new building spaces will provoke permanence and stability: offering new employment opportunities [cruise-ship terminal, sailing school, repairing boats, cinemas, restaurant and commercial areas]; rising visitors and passenger quantity [from 100.000 to 220.000 per year]; attracting investors; generating a landmark as a new city image [increasing city identity and appropriation feeling]; and providing public space as walk ways, open air theaters, paths for city aerial views [improving citizen’s spatial conditions and life quality]. Furthermore, the emerging attractive and monumental shape is not only effective according to the created new image, but also effective because of the new rainwater collection system: a high-tech element able to collect rainwater in a high efficient way [3 times more than a normal surface], solving one of the population’s main problems: the lack of water service for 10% of the inhabitants. All previous exposed facts integrated in an infrastructure project, generate Buenaventura city-port revival: a real dialogue between the city and its port; movement and permanence are constantly flowing. Resumen: Buenaventura es una ciudad-puerto localizada en la costa pacífica colombiana: teniendo una posición geoestratégica equidistante a los principales comercios del mundo, y moviendo el 60% de la carga del país; es el puerto más importante de Colombia. Adicionalmente, es considerada una eco-región con un alto grado biodiversidad, la cual atrae múltiples turistas; y por otro lado es una de las ciudades más lluviosas del mundo. Aun teniendo todas estas ventajas geográficas y físicas, Buenaventura se ha desarrollado alrededor del puerto, dejando atrás las condiciones sociales y espaciales de sus ciudadanos. Por lo tanto, es un lugar que tiene la característica de movimiento sin permanencia: carga, barcos, dinero, turistas, animales y agua se mueve, pero muy poco queda a su gente. ¿Cómo la arquitectura puede responder, para generar una renovación urbana, la cual provoque “Espacios de Permanencia y Estabilidad” para Buenaventura? A partir de explorar flujos, comportamientos y parámetros de los factores previamente expuestos se planteó el diseño de un “Terminal Marítimo de Pasajeros”, como un edificio que implica simultáneamente movimiento y permanencia. La “posición espacial” fue definida con los condicionantes de barcos, botes y lanchas; la “organización espacial” se determinó con las necesidades principales de los ciudadanos: empleo, espacio público y servicio de agua; y las “características espaciales” se definieron al estudiar el comportamiento de la superficie del mar y la precipitación fluvial. De esta manera, los recorridos de pasajeros, visitantes y vehículos, son “caminos que se entretejen en superficies curveadas”; las cuales además de cargar y descargar pasajeros, proveen actividades y espacios públicos, y un sistema de recolección de agua lluvia. Por lo tanto, el nuevo edificio provoca permanencia y estabilidad: ofreciendo nuevas oportunidades de empleo [terminal de cruceros-botes, escuela de vela, reparación de botes, cinemas, restaurantes y áreas comerciales]; aumenta el número de visitantes y pasajeros de 100 mil a 200 mil por año; atrae inversionistas; genera un hito como nueva imagen de la ciudad; y promueve espacios públicos como pasarelas, teatros al aire libre, vistas aéreas de la ciudad. Adicionalmente, la emergente atractiva y monumental forma, no es sólo efectiva al crear una nueva imagen; pero también eficiente al crear un nuevo sistema de recolección de agua que soluciona la falta de agua al 10% de sus habitantes. Todos los factores expuestos, generan la revitalización de Buenaventura: un dialogo real entre la ciudad y el puerto, movimiento y permanencia fluyen constantemente.

Abstract: Inequality in Latin America remains scandalously high but has improved remarkably in the last decade. Multiple reasons for this inequality reduction have been posited, but until now few have inquired as to the role of tax policy in this decline. Therefore, in this dissertation I attempt to fill this gap by investigating whether tax policy in Latin America has been more pro-equity during the recent period of declining inequality in comparison with the period of high and increasing inequality in the 1990s, such that it might have contributed to the decline in inequality observed in recent years. To answer this question, this dissertation begins by explaining, using both empirical and theoretical arguments, the importance of looking at taxation to explain changes in inequality. It then defines pro-equity taxation as dependent on three factors – collection, progressivity and cyclicality – and proposes measuring these factors using a novel methodology consisting of adjusting tax variables to business and commodity cycles. Using case studies of the five largest commodity-dependent economies in the region – Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru – this study derives the conclusion that, although some improvements were made, particularly in cyclicality, the authorities’ use of the tax instrument when inequality was declining was no more pro-equity than in the 1990s, when inequality was high and increasing. This suggests that the inequality reduction was not achieved as a result of the tax policy pursued, but mainly in spite of it. It suggests as well that tax policy as an instrument for reducing inequality remains underused in the region and therefore much remains to be done -and certainly can be done- in the tax arena. Resumen: La desigualdad en América Latina sigue siendo escandalosamente alta pero se ha reducido. Este documento se pregunta si esta reducción ha tenido algo que ver con los impuestos. Luego de un análisis de 5 casos de estudios (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, México y Peru) este estudio concluye que la forma en que se usaron los impuestos no han cambiado en los últimos años. Esto sugiere que la reducción de desigualdad no está relacionada con una nueva forma de hacer impuestos.

Abstract: During the last decades prostitution in Bogotá, Colombia has dramatically increased. This work is the result of two months of ethnographic research in two brothels that are outside of the zone where prostitution can be legally exercised. At the site of the brothel, two illegal activities converge: illegal prostitution and drug trafficking. Using a gendered lens, this research interrogates the relation of these brothels to their surroundings. It argues that the brothels function as a medium through which male members of criminal groups express their control over local areas in the city. On the other hand, it states that the only possible way in which women who exercise prostitution can live a liveable life under the current political, economic and cultural national and global conditions, is to embody contradiction, for it is only by engaging in the illegal that they can become legitimate within society. Resumen: Durante las últimas décadas, la prostitución en Bogotá, Colombia ha aumentado dramáticamente. Este trabajo es el resultado de dos meses de investigación etnográfica en dos burdeles que se encuentran fuera de la Zona de Tolerancia. En el sitio del burdel, convergen dos actividades ilegales: prostitución ilegal y tráfico de drogas. Usando como lente la perspectiva de género, esta investigación interroga la relación de estos burdeles con su entorno. Argumenta que los burdeles funcionan como un medio a través del cual los miembros masculinos de los grupos criminales expresan su control sobre las áreas locales en la ciudad. Por otro lado, plantea que la única forma posible en que las mujeres que ejercen la prostitución pueden vivir una vida vivible conforme a las condiciones políticas, económicas y culturales actuales --nacionales y mundiales-- es encarnando la contradicción, puesto que solo mediante la incursión en la ilegalidad pueden ser consideradas como legítimas dentro de la sociedad.

Abstract: Cities have become the main centres of consumption and transformation of resources. As cities are still growing in terms of physical size, number of inhabitants and total energy consumption, unique challenges present themselves in order to safeguard a healthy urban living environment, while preventing resource shortages and pollution. The concept of urban metabolism may contribute to sustainable growth of cities as it can be used to understand emergent patterns in flows of energy and materials in the urban environment. The concept of urban metabolism draws upon an analogy with the biological meaning of metabolism, as it occurs in organisms and ecosystems. Here we present a review of the interpretation of urban metabolism in the context of urban energy dynamics and assess the validity of the proposed analogy with biology. Based on this analogy, we propose a conceptual framework for the role of urban metabolism in urban energy systems. Our review highlights that urban energy systems show a hierarchical organization comparable to ecological systems. However, the emergent patterns that result from the dynamics within urban systems differ from those occurring within ecological systems. We suggest that, in contrast to biological systems, urban energy systems lack energetic constraints at the lowest level of organisation that could enable the resource-efficient regulation of energy requirements at larger scales. The proposed framework highlights that low-level resource supply regulations may contribute to introduce scale-dependent relationships that increase energy use efficiency as cities grow. Resumen: Las ciudades han llegado a ser grandes centros de consumo y transformación de recursos. Debido a que las ciudades se mantienen en constante crecimiento en términos de tamaño físico, número de habitantes y consumo de energía, surge la necesidad de afrontar retos evidentes con el fin de salvaguardar el ambiente urbano, así como prevenir la escasez de recursos y el aumento de polución. El metabolismo urbano puede contribuir a explicar el crecimiento sostenible de las ciudades, ya que éste permite entender la emergencia de patrones en los flujos de energía y materiales en el ambiente urbano. Éste se basa en la analogía con el metabolismo en sistemas biológicos, el cual está presente tanto a nivel de organismos como de ecosistemas. En este artículo se plantea una revisión de la interpretación del metabolismo urbano en el contexto de sistemas energéticos urbanos. A partir de dicha revisión se plantea que los sitemas energéticos urbanos muestran una organización jerárquica comparable a la de los sistemas biológicos. No obstante, los patrones emergentes que resultan de la dinámica en los sistemas urbanos difieren de aquellos que ocurren en los sistemas biológicos. Nosotros sugerimos que, a diferencia de los sistemas biológicos, los sistemas urbanos no presentan limitaciones energéticas en los niveles inferiores de la organización, que trasciendan en una eficiente regulacion de los consumos energéticos en los niveles superiores del sistema. El marco conceptual propuesto en este artículo resalta que una regulación en el abastecimiento de recursos en los niveles inferiores, puede llegar a inducir relaciones de carácter alométrico que representen un aumento en la eficiencia energética en la medida que las ciudades continuan con su crecimiento.

Las empresas intensivas en activos pueden mejorar sus resultados, aumentando sus ingresos mediante la optimización en la administración de equipos. Para lograrlo, estas compañías deben evolucionar de un proceso de decisión basado únicamente en experiencia a la toma de decisiones basadas en la tecnología digital, adoptando nuevas y mejores metodologías. Uptime Analytics proporciona una solución que se vende directamente a empresas que hacen un uso intensivo de activos. Su solución incorpora tecnologías tales como modelos predictivos y metodologías de gestión de mantenimiento dinámico para mejorar la eficiencia de mantenimiento y los tiempos productivos de los activos. Uptime Analytics es una compañía colombiana que nace en el 2017 con el propósito de cambiar la forma en la que las compañías toman sus decisiones de mantenimiento. Compuesta por un equipo conformado por ingenieros de mantenimiento, analistas de negocio y científicos de datos enfocados brindando una solución innovadora en el mercado de consultorías para compañías intensivas en activos.

Based on the problem of the number of accident victims in contrast, concepts that were identified in cases of successful mobility solutions in the world are presented and have enabled pedestrians to have greater safety in the cities where they are located. They have implemented smart pedestrian crossings. In this document are developed concepts such as: Smart Cities, Digital Mobility, Digital Ecosystem, Digital Citizenship, Digital Life, Digital Governance, Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) to associate the proposed solution with people and their current digital environment. Identifying what is an intelligent pedestrian crossing, detailing its components and the technology available to each of them. Finally, it is proposed to focus on Bogota with a digital city approach to develop citizens-oriented traffic, improving mobility through public transport systems with connectivity, reducing the use of alternative means of transport, considering pedestrians, cyclists and drivers. The former starting with an alternative of sustainable solution to the problem of mobility: Intelligent Transportation Systems, which bring together technological, digital and communications advances, counting on the digital transformation of the components of pedestrian crossings.

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.

In this project, the aim is the experimentation and further development of a new composite material made out of plywood, fiber glass and resin. It proposes a fabrication logic to design large continuous double skin, self structural and performative surfaces. The project introduces a step forward in the manipulation of plywood panels, pre-stressing them in a form finding process to achieve curvatures; thus, developing large structures. Through a reinforcing construction process necessity of big mandrels is avoided. Digital simulations and physical experiments were implemented in the research in order to achieve real possible geometries, to reduce weight and to simplify the structure. THE OBSESSION WITH A SURFACE The project gets the interest of producing one continuous surface based on the material behavior just as Dieste explored deeply in his research where he recognized that the surface offered a realm formal exploration that in turn, could solve structural problems. The surface is the result of environmental, structural and architectural necessities. Its efficiency responds to the optimization process. Therefore form and expression, fabrication and structural efficiency led the development of a new language of building. The optimization process determines the final shape. The shells are the material with certain thickness, but the shape is still more fundamental as it contains the space and the quality of itself.

When complying with anti-money laundering (AML) regulation, financial institutions faced some problems reflected in the form of risks and costs. In some cases, those problems have legal solutions but, in other cases, place banks in the position to decide between two risks – one being less harmful than the other. The aim of this dissertation is to provide an analysis of such risks and costs handled by financial entities, presenting some solutions provided by courts, but also identifying the gap between regulation and reality. Chapter I includes a general overview of money laundering; it makes reference to Financial Action Task recommendations in this matter and at the end the regulatory context of the crime in United Kingdom (UK). In Chapter II, each subsection refers to the risks banks may have when complying with money laundering regulations; the duality between the risk of being involved in a money laundering offence against the risk of being sued as a constructive trustee, the problem between reporting suspicious transactions against the tipping off offence, the dilemma of whether compliance with AML requirements and breaching contractual duties with customers, and an analysis of how legislation has partially solved the dilemma regarding confidentiality duty. Then, I shall discuss the costs that banks have to assume in implementing the AML system and the perception of the bankers regarding AML regulation.