Abstract: The World Wide Web, created in 1989 by Tim Berners-Lee at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, was initially a motivation for researchers about a system that would allow the particle of physics world to share information across the Internet. Nowadays, the information era couldn’t exist if the World Wide Web had not been available for everyone and if the industry couldn’t be able to understand how to use it for developing products and services based on it. Although the World Wide Web was left open source, in general when technologies created through basic and applied research are transferred to the private sector, it occurs mainly through licensing to existing firms or new venture creation. The Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) states in its website (http://www.autm.net/autm-info/about-tech-transfer/about-technology-transfer/) that technology transfer is the process of transferring scientific findings from one organization to another with the purpose of further development and commercialization. It is also the process by which technology developed for a specific use or sector becomes applicable in a different productive environment (UNCTAD, 2014). In this sense, technology transfer appears to be a key element for economic development of all sorts and in different environments for both private and public sectors, involving two actors, the one transferring the technology and the one receiving the technology. Moreover, technology transfer has an invaluable impact crossing boundaries of nations, allowing developing countries to have access to technologies they lack, encouraging growth and setting a path towards development. This paper describes how technology transfer is currently applied around the world, and will focus on describing its barriers and enablers, which are those elements that affect the process of technology transfer, either making it a difficult task to carry causing investments to be lost and market needs unmet, or supporting it in such a way that it is carried out successfully. A project in which a research center, the private sector and academia meet to solve specific market needs is presented as an example of a technology transfer process, and both barriers and enablers are analyzed to assess these kind of projects for future improvement. Resumen: La World Wide Web (WWW), creada en 1989 por Tim Berners-Lee en la Organización Europea para la Investigación Nuclear, CERN, fue inicialmente una motivación para los investigadores acerca de un sistema que permitiría al mundo de la física de partículas compartir información a través de Internet. Hoy en día, la era de la información no podría existir si la World Wide Web no hubiera estado disponible para todos y si la industria no hubiera sido capaz de entender como usarla para el desarrollo de productos y servicios basados en ella. Aunque la World Wide Web fue dejada como fuente abierta, en general cuando nuevas tecnologías creadas desde la investigación básica y aplicada son transferidas al sector privado, esto ocurre mayormente a través de licenciamientos a empresas existentes o con la creación de nuevas empresas. La Asociación de Gerentes de Tecnología Universitarios de Estados Unidos (AUTM) declara en su sitio web (http://www.autm.net/autm-info/about-tech-transfer/about-technology-transfer/) que la transferencia de tecnología es el proceso de transformar descubrimientos científicos de una organización a otra con el propósito de un posterior desarrollo y comercialización. Es también el proceso por el cual tecnologías desarrolladas para un sector específico se vuelve aplicable en un entorno productivo diferente (UNCTAD, 2014). En este sentido, la transferencia de tecnología aparece como un elemento clave para el desarrollo económico de todo tipo y en diferentes entornos, tanto para el sector privado como para el público, involucrando dos actores, el que transfiere la tecnología y el que recibe la tecnología. Además, la transferencia de tecnología tiene un impacto invaluable cruzando fronteras entre países permitiendo a países en vía de desarrollo acceder a tecnologías que carecen, fomentando el crecimiento y marcando el camino hacia el desarrollo. Este documento describe cómo la transferencia de tecnología es usada hoy en día en el mundo, y se enfoca en describir sus barreras y facilitadores, que son aquellos elementos que afectan el proceso de transferencia de tecnología bien sea para hacerlo una tarea difícil de llevar a cabo causando pérdidas en inversiones y necesidades de mercado no satisfechas, o para apoyarlo en tal forma que el proceso sea llevado a cabo satisfactoriamente. Un proyecto en el cual un centro de investigación, el sector privado y la academia se unen para dar solución a necesidades específicas del mercado, es presentado como un ejemplo del proceso de transferencia de tecnología, y tanto barreras como facilitadores son analizados para evaluar este tipo de proyectos y sus mejoras en el futuro.

Abstract: As Western schooling continues to expand and reach remote communities, it is imperative to understand rural parents’ beliefs about formal education and the ways in which they can support their children’s schooling. Sociodemographic changes in rural communities have been connected to shifts in parents’ cultural values and practices (Greenfield, 2009), and parental participation in the institution of Western schooling has been identified as an important influence in these changes (Chavajay, 2006; LeVine et al, 2003; 2012, Rogoff & Chavajay, 2002; Rogoff et al., 1993). This dissertation contributes to this knowledge base by exploring both schooled and unschooled parents’ beliefs and commitments towards formal education and their participation in a book-sharing interaction in four rural Mayan communities. In the first study, I used grounded-theory methods to characterize and compare schooled and unschooled parents’ beliefs on the benefits of formal education for their children’s futures and the commitments that they make to support their children’s schooling, paying particular attention to interactions around written language. In the second study, I used cluster analysis to characterize Mayan parents’ book-sharing styles on the basis of the degree to which parents engaged their children as interlocutors in the interaction and of the type of content they emphasized, and to examine differences between schooled and unschooled parents’ book-sharing styles. Both studies were conducted with 30 parents from four Mayan communities in which Western schooling was introduced over the last decades but where there is still wide variation in parents’ schooling levels –making them ideal sites to study the influence of schooling on parental beliefs and practices. Taken together, the two studies provide evidence on cultural change and continuity, and identify parents’ participation in Western school as an important influence on parent-child interactions while also calling attention to the role of other parental experiences in shaping their beliefs and practices. Resumen: A medida que la escuela occidental continúa expandiéndose y llegando a comunidades remotas, es imperativo entender las creencias de los padres rurales acerca de la educación formal y las formas en que pueden apoyar la escolarización de sus hijos. Los cambios sociodemográficos en las comunidades rurales se han relacionado con cambios en los valores y prácticas culturales de los padres (Greenfield, 2009), y la participación de los padres en la institución de la escuela occidental ha sido identificada como una influencia importante en estos cambios (Chavajay, 2006; 2003, Rogoff y Chavajay, 2002, Rogoff et al., 1993). Esta tesis contribuye a esta base de conocimiento explorando las creencias y compromisos de los padres escolarizados y no escolarizados con respecto a la educación formal y su participación en una interacción con un libro con sus hijos en cuatro comunidades mayas rurales. En el primer estudio, utilicé métodos de teoría enraizada para caracterizar y comparar las creencias de los padres escolarizados y no escolarizados sobre los beneficios de la educación formal para el futuro de sus hijos y los compromisos que ellos hacen para apoyar la escolaridad de sus hijos, poniendo especial atención en las interacciones con el lenguaje escrito. En el segundo estudio, usé el análisis de conglomerados para caracterizar los estilos de interactuar con un libro de los padres Mayas, en base al grado en que los padres involucraron a sus hijos como interlocutores en la interacción y al tipo de contenido que enfatizaron, y para examinar las diferencias en los estilos de compartir libros entre padres escolarizados y no escolarizados. Ambos estudios se llevaron a cabo con 30 padres de cuatro comunidades Mayas en las que se introdujo la escolarización occidental en las últimas décadas, pero donde todavía hay una gran variación en los niveles de escolaridad de los padres, convirtiéndolos en sitios ideales para estudiar la influencia de la escolaridad en las creencias y prácticas de los padres. En conjunto, los dos estudios proporcionan evidencia sobre la continuidad y el cambio cultural, e identifican la participación de los padres en la escuela occidental como una influencia importante en las interacciones entre padres e hijos, a la vez que llaman la atención sobre el papel de otras experiencias parentales en la configuración de sus creencias y prácticas.

Ucronía (Uchronia en inglés) es un neologismo derivado de la palabra utopía. Aquí la noción de lugar (topos) es remplazada por la noción del tiempo (chronos). Este término también esta relacionado con las nociones de narración paralela o alternativa de las historias; es la estrategia que uso para revisar el tiempo, en un intento de re-presentar el pasado y promulgar el futuro, Esta aproximación me permite simultáneamente revisar las etapas de la niñez, la adolescencia, la adultez, y la vejez dentro de la “realidad” de la condición humana y de la misma manera, proyectar las fases de la vida dentro de la condición de las naciones tras la alborada de la globalización. Estas diferentes etapas están basadas paralelamente en cuatro países distintos: Colombia, Alemania Occidental, Yugoslavia y Emiratos Árabes Unidos (lo que fue el Grupo D del Mundial de fútbol Italia ’90. Cada etapa trata a una nación en un momento de transición al mismo tiempo que es explorada la experiencia personal e individual de la crisis. Con esto doy una mirada a la identidad individual y a la cultura como un espacio de juego y auto-diseño. Es un ejercicio en el cual me convierto en “el otro” al tiempo que exploro un estado de crisis resultante de las políticas neoliberales y sus inherentes inequidades. Ucronía es entonces, una desviación ficcional de los eventos históricos y su conexión con la utopía debe mantenerse presente. En su marco teórico Uchronia es la oportunidad de volver a un punto en el tiempo en donde una sociedad transformada o ideal parece estar al alcance. Por medio de un movimiento hipotético en el tiempo y para realizar las posibilidades de un “nuevo hombre” que existió en un momento crucial: El año 1990.

This master thesis is an attempt to contribute to the understanding of urban water systems through the use of the urban metabolism (UM) framework. By developing steady-state models with STAN, a software used for material flow analysis (MFA), the urban water flows are quantified and analyzed as they enter the system boundary and are transformed by anthropogenic processes. Such a model has been applied to a specific urban water system in the town of Palomino, Colombia, to research the main barriers and opportunities for a sustainable urban water system. The area under study corresponds to a system boundary of 4.83 km2, and the analysis was performed for the year 2015. A detailed examination of Palomino’s water system was established based on primary data collection through survey processes, mapping, and semi-structured interviews. Based on the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the water system, a conceptual urban water metabolism (UWM) model was created to identify the critical flows of the water system through a monthly (31-day) analysis based on fourteen scenarios, each including four variables: Touristic season, Hours without electricity per month, Percentage of water losses due to pipelines leaks, and Percentage of water losses due to user’s behavior. Subsequently, a definition of sustainable urban water management system (SUWMS) was generated based on a literature review and an industrial ecology perspective, wherein the system is analyzed using a holistic, system thinking approach. Guided by the SUWMS definition and the local conditions of Palomino’s urban water system, various sustainable water technologies and initiatives are introduced as a set of potential solutions to shift the current water system towards a SUWMS. Finally, the potential of the sustainable water supply technique of rainwater harvesting to influence the current UWM of Palomino was assessed by identifying changes in the UWM for three key years: 1969, a year of extreme rainfall; 1997, a year of El Niño phenomenon characterized by extreme drought, and 1987, a year of ‘standard’ precipitation. The analysis was based on a critical scenario with the highest water losses and water demand. The rainwater harvesting collection capacity was determined by a storage capacity of 2000 L per household, while taking into account water consumption (water demand) per household between rain events on a monthly basis analysis. This condition implied that, even though the analysis was based on steady-state modeling, a semi-dynamic analysis was performed based on the variations of the stored rainwater volume (?V) between the time intervals determined by the rain events per month (?t).

Abstract: A recent petrophysical formulation states that all the storage mechanisms present in shale reservoirs are best represented by a quintuple porosity system that is further fed by dissolved gas in the solid kerogen. The quintuple porosity system is made up of: 1) adsorbed gas in the pore walls of the organic matter. 2) free gas stored in the inorganic matrix porosity. 3) free gas stored in natural fractures (microfractures and slot porosity) 4) free gas stored in the hydraulic fractures created around the wellbore by the stimulation job. 5) free gas stored in the organic nanopores. This thesis presents a new material balance methodology for shale gas and shale condensate reservoirs that considers all the aforementioned storage mechanisms. Results lead to the conclusion that ignoring the effects of gas diffusion from kerogen in shale material balance calculations can lead to pessimistic estimates of both OGIP and production forecasts. Resumen: Una formulación petrofísica reciente indica que todos los mecanismos de almacenamiento presentes en yacimientos de lutita son representados por un sistema de quíntuple porosidad que, además, se alimenta de gas disuelto en el kerógeno sólido. El sistema de quíntuple porosidad está compuesto de: 1) gas adsorbido en las paredes de los poros en la materia orgánica. 2) gas libre almacenado en la porosidad de la matriz inorgánica. 3) gas libre almacenado en las fracturas naturales (microfracturas y porosidad ranurada). 4) gas libre almacenado en las fracturas hidráulicas creadas alrededor de la cara del pozo por el trabajo de estimulación. 5) gas libre almacenado en los nanoporos de la materia orgánica. Esta tesis presenta una nueva metodología para balance de materia de yacimientos de lutita de gas y gas condensado que considera todos los mecanismos de almacenamiento previamente mencionados. Los resultados permiten concluir que si los efectos de la difusión de gas del kerógeno son ignorados en los cálculos de balance de materia en yacimientos de lutita, pueden obtenerse estimados pesimistas tanto de gas original en sitio como de los pronósticos de producción.

This dissertation aims at gaining an understanding about the current conceptualization that the music industry has regarding music artists as brands, in order to bridge the gap between the consumer goods’ branding theory, the arts branding literature and the music business’ reality. Although the body of literature pertaining to arts marketing is vast (O’Reilly, 2011), the one related to arts branding is small. Moreover, when it comes to music artists branding, the academic works are even scarcer. A definition of music artists brands, and related constructs such as music artists brand identity, music artists image, music artists brand loyalty and brand equity have not yet been presented by the literature. Pervaded by Cultural branding principles and by adopting Grounded theory, this research conceptualizes music artists as brands through the perspectives of nine music industry’s professionals. Based on unstructured interviews conducted with these practitioners, the concept of music artists as brands is contextualized within the decline of record sales during the 2000s. Music artists brands are characterized as multidimensional constructs understood as systems of values and experiences that foreground their identity upon the artists’ songs and human essence. Moreover, music artists are brands that are constructed following a Brand-orientation approach (Urde, 1999) and for which, in response to the culture of contemporary society, the image is constituted solely on visual elements. Aligned with Cultural branding, music artists are conceptualized as entities, which are socially constructed and found their value upon their fans. This co-creation of the brand frames the music industry within a service-dominant logic (Vargo and Lusch, 2004) in which the delivery of experiences is fundamental (Iglesias et al, 2011). This research positions brand alliances between artists and commercial brands as an implicit element of the definition of music artists brands, their brand identity and brand equity. Furthermore, as an implied aspect of these constructs, co-branding alliances are placed as enhancers of the music industry’s short and long-term sustainability. Lastly, contrary to common statements found in the literature, a harmonious coexistence between art, brands, artists and commercialization is acknowledged by this dissertation.

The OpenModelica Compiler-Compiler parser generator (OMCCp) is an LALR(1) parser generator implemented in the MetaModelica language with parsing tables generated by the tools Flex and GNU Bison. The code generated for the parser is in MetaModelica 2.0 language which is the OpenModelica compiler implementation language and is an extension of the Modelica 3.2 language. OMCCp uses as input an LALR(1) grammar that specifies the Modelica language. The generated Parser can be used inside the OpenModelica Compiler (OMC) as a replacement for the current parser generated by the tool ANTLR from an LL(k) Modelica grammar. This report explains the design and implementation of this novel Lexer and Parser Generator called OMCCp. Modelica and its extension MetaModelica are both languages used in the OpenModelica environment. Modelica is an Object-Oriented EquationBased language for Modeling and Simulation.

Airways and lung parenchyma are distensible anatomical structures and in healthy subjects dilate with each inspiration. This process is even more evident during deep inhalations (DI). The bronchodilatory and bronchoprotective effect of a DI depends on the tethering forces on the airway wall by the expanding parenchyma, and the loss of this function appears to be associated with airway hyperresponsivenes - a characteristic feature of asthma. Models have assumed that the peribronchial parenchyma expansion (EPB) equals that of the subtended parenchyma (ESL). However, the changes in EPB during bronchoconstriction and its relationship with ESL have not yet been characterized. In this thesis, EPB and ESL were measured at baseline and then studied as they changed during bronchoconstriction and DI, and a novel distensibility measurement was proposed. HRCT scans from subjects with mild-to-moderate asthma (AS) and healthy controls (NA) were acquired in 3 conditions in supine position: at baseline, following a methacholine challenge, and with a DI to TLC. ESL and EPB were quantified as the average of the regional voxel-gas-to-tissue-ratio for each segmental region, and for a spherical region around each of the corresponding segmental airways. The difference in parenchymal expansion (E), the vertical-distance between airway’s center point and the respective segment’s center-of-gravity, and the relative distensibility were also measured. E varied among segments with a systematic vertical-distance dependency for all conditions and subjects, significantly higher in NA than AS (P < 0.05). At baseline average segmental E adjusted by vertical-distance was near zero and increased monotonically with bronchoconstriction and after a DI, following closely a linear relationship with average expansion of the lung (ELung) for all AS and NA subjects and conditions. No significant differences were found in this relationship between AS and NA but E adjusted tended to be higher for AS at TLC. We found that EPB, adjusted for the relative-vertical-distance, was lower than ESL (E > 0) with a difference that increased with average-lung-expansion. The spontaneous increase in lung volume following bronchoconstriction or DI increased peribronchial expansion up to a half of the increase in segmental expansion at the same height. This difference represents a type of airway-parenchyma-uncoupling that has not been described, can have important mechanistic implications on the effects of a DI on airway distensibility, and suggests that in clinical asthma a lack of homogeneous parenchymal stiffening may also contribute to airway hyperresponsiveness.

Abstract: Overture is a project developed under the concept of Sensible Geometry which explores how information can be represented beyond a two-dimensional form. By transforming it into sensitive objects it becomes more perceivable. Overture is a reactive surface that responds to the presence of people through motion. The panels on the wall represent values through movement - they wave in and out in correlation to the amount of movement sensed. This breathing and pulsing geometric skin shows how much activity goes on in a space, performing a continuous weaving pattern that goes on in a loop unless there is nothing being sensed. Resumen: Overture es un proyecto desarrollado bajo el concepto de geometría sensible que explora cómo la información puede ser representada más allá de una forma bidimensional. Mediante su transformación en objetos sensibles se hace más perceptible. Overture es una superficie reactiva que responde a la presencia de las personas a través del movimiento. Los paneles de la pared representan los valores a través del movimiento que ondea adelante y atrás en correlación con la cantidad de movimiento detectado. Esta respiración y el pulso de la piel geométrica muestra la cantidad de actividad que ocurre en un espacio, mostrando un movimiento continuo hasta que deje de percibir la presencia de personas en el espacio.

The thesis is a collection of six stand-alone chapters aimed at setting the foundations for the philosophy of computational social science. Agent-based modelling has been used for social research since the nineties. While at the beginning it was simply conceived as a methodological alternative, recently, the notion of ‘computational social science’ has started to be used to denote a separate disciplinary field. There are important differences with mainstream social science and traditional social research. Yet, the literature in the field has not accounted for these differences. Computational social science is a strongly practice-oriented field, where theoretical and philosophical concerns have been pushed into the background. This thesis presents an initial analysis of the methodology, epistemology and ontology of computational social science, by examining the following topics: 1) verification and validation 2) modelling and theorising 3) mechanisms 4) explanation 5) agency, action and interaction 6) entities and process philosophy. Five general conclusions are drawn from the thesis. It is first argued that the wider ontological base in agent-based modelling allows for a new approach to traditional social dualisms, moving away from the methodological individualism that dominates computational social science. Second, the need to place a distinction between explanation and understanding and to make explanatory goals explicit is highlighted. Third, it is claimed that computational social science needs to pay attention to the social epistemology of the field, for this could provide important insights regarding values, ideologies and interests that underlie the practice of agent-based modelling. Fourth, it is suggested that a more robust theorisation regarding the experimental and model-based character of agent-based modelling should be developed. Finally, it is argued that the method can greatly contribute to the development of a processual account of social life.