Physical activity promotion (PAP) has reached policy agendas worldwide due to the social and economic burden that non-communicable diseases have generated. Colombia is one of the countries that have taken the challenge of promoting healthy lifestyles in order to reduce this burden and in addition, take advantage of other benefits that promoting this healthy lifestyle brings. Although some research has been done on the field, no studies related to the local government contribution were found. The local government plays a crucial role in PAP, considering that it has a great influence on the physical and social environment of a city and consequently in the individual behavior of its citizens. Additionally, it has a great responsibility concerning public health, social and economic development and environmental sustainability, aspects that are related to PAP. The present research, aims to provide a general overview on the current state of PAP in the Municipal Sport Authorities (MSAs) of one department of Colombia. In this sense, it is important to highlight that the sport sector has had a major role in PAP in the country and the department. Hence, structured interviews were conducted among heads of the MSAs of the 14 municipalities of the department and development plans were analyzed. Using this data, two main aspects were studied in order to achieve the research aim: the current PAP interventions and the conditions to promote physical activity (PA) in the department. Results indicate that the current PAP interventions have both strengths and weaknesses. Among the most important aspects, it was noticed that PAP in Risaralda has neglected important environmental determinants for PA behavior. PAP has been oriented from an “anthropic” perspective (targeting the individual). However, this seems to have had a positive effect on PA levels in the department. Concerning the conditions to promote PA, there are important findings related to the knowledge and skills of policy-makers and the management process used to develop the interventions. Some of the weaknesses found in the interventions might be related to the conditions to develop them. Recommendations to MSAs and for further research are given.

This thesis comprises three essays on asset pricing on the stock and options markets. The …first essay …finds a positive relation between the slope of the volatility term structure and subsequent option returns. The second essay …finds a negative relation between realized skewness, extracted from high-frequency data, and stock returns. The third essay finds a negative relation between price jumps of intraday data and future stock returns.

The question addressed in this paper was whether a government, in a regime considered democratic, can legitimately curtail civil rights as a means of protecting public order and the sovereignty of the state. The second part of the question is what should be given priority when there is a tension between fundamental rights and the state’s duty to maintain public order. The case analyzed was the antiterrorism law passed in the Colombian Congress in December 2003. This law was one of the main strategies developed by Alvaro Uribe’s government on its first presidency period to fight terrorism. The purpose was to create a legal strategy to combat terrorism and to guarantee public order and the sovereignty of the state, which were constantly undermined by illegal armed groups. This case study reveals a tension between the government’s duty to maintain public order and individual rights – particularly the right to freedom, the right to privacy, and the right to habeas corpus. The tension in the antiterrorism law appears when the government limits first-rank rights as a means to combat acts of terrorism. In a country that faces an internal armed conflict that weakens democracy, the approval of the antiterrorism law gives too much authority to the government and jeopardizes fundamental rights and freedoms. Throughout the paper, the autor try to prove that the constraints on fundamental rights in such a scenario could result in an undermining of the constitutional regime and in the loss of democratic legitimacy.

The purpose of this report is to investigate the performance, measured in terms of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of a UMTS radio network (UTRAN) under different traffic and mobility scenarios and develop general guidelines for dimensioning the UMTS network optimally. In this work, simulations are performed using Wines tool, which is a dynamic simulator that models all the radio-resource management functionality of the UTRAN. Two main series of experiments have been performed. In the first series, the distribution of the traffic is homogeneous and the main purpose is to find capacity figures when increasing the traffic density of one of the four possible defined services (WWW, FTP, voice and video-call) and also with a given traffic mix involving all services together. Two mobility profiles are used (pedestrian and vehicular). In the second series of experiments, a more realistic scenario, based on detailed geographical characteristics relevant for signal propagation, and traffic densities based on traffic maps (non homogeneous scenario), has been simulated. The purpose was to analyze the possible differences in capacity between the “ideal” model and the more “realistic” model. For the single-service scenario analysis, circuit-switched services (speech and video-call), it can be observed that the capacity is mainly uplink-limited. The corresponding results for the packet-switched services (FTP, WEB) have shown that capacity is mostly downlink-limited, as it was expected due to the more asymmetrical data rates in the downlink compared to the uplink for both services. For the service mix analysis in both scenarios (homogeneous and non homogeneous) it was found that the capacity is mostly downlink-limited (i.e. the downlink power target level is exceeded before the uplink load target level).

Las filas, en general son algo que no le gusta a la gente, sin embargo, para muchos temas sociales son necesarias, en particular si hablamos de eventos de entretenimiento como funciones de cine, obras de teatro e incluso conciertos musicales, los espectadores en general se ven obligados a hacer filas para adquirir o reclamar sus boletas fisicas, y luego generalmente para ingresar a los eventos debes hacer nuevamente una fila. El objetivo es mejorar la experiencia de los clientes implementando procesos innovadores que cambien la forma en la que actualmente acceden a este tipo de eventos, en principio se buscara eliminar la necesidad de hacer filas para adquirir la boletería, este proceso entregará una boleta electrónica que evitara que el cliente deba hacer una nueva fila para reclamar su boleta fisica, esto ya aporta mejoras en el tiempo que debe invertir el cliente para adquirir y obtener su boleta. Seguido a esto se implementará un método novedoso y ágil que permita la validación y entrada rápida de los usuarios a los eventos en los que se utilice ésta tecnología, motivando un incremento en el uso y asistencia a estos servicios.

Abstract: Geographical Indication (GI) contains a number of economic tools and, due to the close relationship with their territory of origin, GIs are used as a mechanism to reach and benefit local communities through the increased remunerative value associated with their agricultural, handicraft and artisan production. Empirical evidence indicates GIs provide economic, social, and environmental effects over their territory of origin although; the grade of impact differs from case to case. Inadequate structures and weak governance also generate unexpected outcomes such as; abandonment of traditional practices, or the destruction of biodiversity —especially in developing countries where scarcity of economic resources and the inability of sustaining long–term commitments has been evident. GIs require a careful analysis of the circumstances in which the product is embedded under GI recognition, as well as the study of resources available for its implementation. GIs are a legitimate form of intellectual property —a status which guarantees the owner’s right to economically exploit it. Due to connection to the land, GIs could also generate social and environmental impacts over local communities that are not trivial. This paper aims to outline a GI implementation process that has a wider scope of variables, in order to obtain not only economic, but social and environmental benefits for the region to which the GI is linked. This paper is organized in two parts of three sections each. The first section describes the objectives, structure, and methodology used by the author. In the second, a “state of the art” for GI is explained; outlining some expected benefits and challenges. The third section establishes a legal basis for GIs, providing a background of the international legal schemes and current discussions. In Part 2, Section 4 analyses five existing GI cases; describing the circumstances and focus undertaken by GI policy makers. In the analysis that follows, specific patterns and relationships between variables and outcomes are discussed. Section 5 outlines an implementation process—including precise objectives, variables, and suggestions that can be adapted to specific circumstances. Section 6 summarises the main findings and final conclusions. Resumen: Las indicaciones geográficas (GIs por sus siglas in ingles) contienen un gran numero de herramientas, que debido a su estrecha relación con el territorio de origen, son utilizadas como un mecanismo que beneficia a las comunidades del lugar donde son producidas, este beneficio es generalmente concebido a través del mayor valor que el productor percibe dado el trabajo agrícola y artesanal relacionado con el GI. Aunque sus impactos difieren de caso a caso, evidencia empírica indica que GIs producen efectos económicos, sociales y ambientales sobre sus territorios de origen. Sin embargo, estructuras inadecuadas y pobre gobernanza pueden generar resultados inesperados tales como: abandono de practicas tradicionales o incluso, destrucción de la biodiversidad de la región – especialmente en países en desarrollo donde han sido evidentes la escases de recursos económicos y la inhabilidad de sostener compromisos al largo plazo. Por lo anterior, es claro que GIs requieren de un análisis cuidadoso sobre las circunstancias en las cuales el producto objeto de reconocimiento de GI es enmarcado, así como también, requiere de un estudio minucioso sobre los recursos disponibles para su implementación. GIs son una forma legitima de propiedad intelectual – un estatus que le garantiza al dueño del derecho a explotarlo económicamente. Debido a su estrecha conexión con la tierra, las GI también pueden generar impactos sociales y ambientales sobre las comunidades locales, adyacentes a su lugar de producción. Este documento tiene como objetivo establecer un proceso de implementación de GIs que logre obtener beneficios no solo económicos sino también sociales y ambientales a las regiones ligadas a las GIs. Este documento esta organizado en dos partes, cada uno con tres secciones. En la primera parte, la primera sección describe los objetivos, estructura y metodología utilizada por el autor. En la segunda sección, el “estado de arte” de GIs es explicado, resaltando algunos de los beneficios y retos que estas contienen. La tercera sección establece un base legal para las GIs, proporcionando un análisis general de los esquemas legales internacionales y las discusiones que se están llevando a cabo en el momento.

In Colombia the petrol supply sector lags well behind other sectors such as electricity supply, ports, and motorways, in undertaking an open policy. However, freeing the petrol supply market is considered necessary in order to release the state from the economic burden that it would otherwise have. This situation is particularly true in the oil industry, which is one of the most capital-intensive businesses. This thesis assesses the petrol supply chain in Colombia identifying the key driving factors, the companies involved and the challenges they are facing in the light of world and regional trends. In this way, a comparative assessment of the Colombian Oil Company (Ecopetrol) is undertaken looking at how other state-owned companies such as the Venezuelan, Brazilian, Mexican and the Argentinian are tackling similar problems. In addition, the thesis will assess what is the best trade off between importing and/or refining for supplying petrol to Colombia regarding three different schemes under three different scenarios of demand. The analysis considers environmental, institutional, technical and economic issues; the latter is assessed using a Linear Programming (LP) model. The paper concludes that the Colombian government should elaborate a white paper to restructure Ecopetrol. Administratively, the chairman should be appointed for a fixed period of time with the provide it with autonomy for selecting its most convenient business strategy. Ecopetrol should be opened up to both international competition and foreign partnership in order to compete in the global market. This would involve improving its competitiveness, pursuing international standards of efficiency and using benchmarking targets for its planning and development. In addition, the government and Ecopetrol should separate their accountancy; thus, subsidies for middle distillates consumed by low income groups should be funded through the national budget and not charged to Ecopetrol. Similarly, the government must commit to a policy of not withdrawing economic resources from Ecopetrol to finance independent projects. After undertaking this first series of measures, the next step should be setting a legal and stable framework for the capitalization and opening of Ecopetrol. In this way Ecopetrol should be listed in the stock exchange market both in the country and abroad initially offering a minority stake of its shares in the search for fresh capital, should reduce its political dependency and form strategic alliances to scale up its businesses and improve its efficiency.

A literature review disclosed that even under very strict caries preventive control, in young Swedish people many initial approximal lesions slowly progress. A study was performed to investigate if the same trend could be seen in young Danish adults. In 1996 a group of Danish military conscripts were investigated clinically and radiographically. Based on the radiographs, one lesion with radiolucency up to one third in the dentine was randomly selected from each conscript. Contact was established with these former conscripts in 2002 and radiographs taken around 2002 were used to investigate the state of the selected lesions in terms of regression, stabilization or progression. It was observed that about 60% of the selected lesions had progressed during the 5 to 6 year period. Therefore there was a need to look for other preventive measures than those traditionally used in a Danish context, such as instructions in flossing and local application of fluoride. Looking through the literature, it was realized that sealing of occlusal lesions was highly effective but this procedure was not used on approximal surfaces. The next step was to investigate if it was technically possible to seal approximal lesions and if so what material should be used. A laboratory study was conducted in which 6 dental materials were compared in relation to: their handling, presence at the surface of the lesion, and ability to penetrate into a lesion. Based on that study Gluma One Bond® (Heraeus Kulzer) was selected to be used in further studies. The final step was an 18-month clinical investigation to evaluate the effect of sealing approximal lesions. About 80 young adults from Denmark and Colombia participated in this investigation; each had at least 2 initial approximal lesions. One lesion was selected for sealing; the other one acted as control. Baseline radiographs were taken by means of special equipment so new radiographs could be taken in the same position after 18 months. The sealing procedure was performed in accordance with the guideline designed in the laboratory study. The patient was instructed to floss all sealed and non-sealed approximal lesions. Radiographs were used to assess caries progression in the test and control lesions in three ways: by comparing baseline with final scoring of the lesions on the individual conventional radiographs, by reading the conventional radiographs as pairs and finally using subtraction radiography of digitized images. The examiner was blind to lesion type (test or control) for all comparisons and also blind to whether radiographs were baseline or follow up in the case of examinations of the single radiographs and paired comparison. Repeat assessment of the radiographs was conducted on 20% of the radiographs and the subtraction images. For the paired comparison of radiographs and subtraction radiography assessment significantly more control lesions progressed (47.2%; 85%) than test lesions (22.2%; 43%) (P-values<0.05). For the independent examination of the radiographs a similar pattern was seen but the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant (P=0.06). In conclusion, many approximal lesions seemed to progress on young adults irrespective of the preventive regime they were advised to take. This study has developed and investigated a technique for sealing early approximal lesions which seems to be more effective at preventing lesion progression than conventional interventions such as brushing and flossing. There is a need however, for defining more precisely criteria at selecting lesions to be sealed; for developing better materials in terms of better penetration skill and that they stay there, and for clinical investigations which evaluate the long term effect of sealing the approximal lesions.

Se estudiaron las nociones de “significado musical” y “comunicación musical” en el contexto de la música popular usando una metodología cualitativa. Dos canciones de una banda de Funk-rock y 2 canciones de una banda de Jazz fueron usadas como estímulo. Seis integrantes de las bandas y un grupo de 14 participantes escucharon las canciones individualmente y se les pidió que indicaran qué momentos de la música llamaron su atención y luego que explicaran cuál era el significado de cada canción. Los principales resultados fueron: a) mientras escuchaban las canciones ni los músicos ni los oyentes no percibieron que la música expresara ideas o emociones la mayor parte del tiempo; b) el significado atribuido a las piezas dependió de las características objetivas de los objetos musicales que a su vez eran vinculadas con referentes semánticos por los participantes; c) esos referentes semánticos fueron proveídos frecuentemente por la letra de las canciones. Estos resultados fueron interpretados como evidencia de que el significado musical no es fijo sino contingente y que la comunicación de intenciones, ideas o emociones de músicos a oyentes no está garantizada, pero puede tener éxito si se cumplen algunas condiciones.

El objetivo del presente estudio fue evaluar la prevalencia de la parasitación por Demodex en el perro mediante una técnica de PCR en tiempo real (RT-PCR). Fueron utilizados 100 perros procedentes del Centro de Acogida y Protección Animal del Maresme (Mataró-Barcelona) que no presentaban signos clínicos compatibles con demodicosis y en cuyas historias tampoco constaba que hubieran padecido esta enfermedad. Se recogieron muestras de pelo de cada animal (250-300 pelos) de cinco localizaciones distintas (cabeza, dorso, miembros anteriores y posteriores y abdomen) y se llevó a cabo una técnica de RT-PCR para detectar el DNA de Demodex. Los resultados obtenidos mostraron un 17% de positividad, de los cuales 58,82% eran machos y 41,18% eran hembras. 64,71% animales de pelo largo y 35.29% de pelo corto. La ubicación del ácaro correspondió en su mayoría a abdomen (50%) y cabeza (33,33%), seguida de miembros posteriores (25%) y en igual proporción dorso y miembros anteriores (16,66%). Estos hallazgos confirman en un amplio muestreo de campo, la teoría de que los perros clínicamente sanos pueden albergar Demodex en sus folículos pilosos, y que por ende, las lesiones aparecen cuando la carga parasitaria aumenta significativamente. Se hace necesario continuar con este tipo de estudios para determinar si Demodex está presente sólo en una parte de la población canina (reservorios) que no supera el 20% o si por el contrario permanece en un pequeño número en la mayoría de perros, tal vez en migración constante, por lo que su detección se hace muy difícil.