Abstract: Electric vehicles (EVs) have gained great popularity in recent years in the United States. The reduction in the cost of EVs and the environmental regulations that seek to reduce the polluting gases generated by conventional petrol/diesel cars drive up the demand for electric vehicles. The traditional idea is to consider EVs as energy consumers, however Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) is a technology that allows the batteries of parked EVs to operate as energy sources. V2G technology allows to store energy in EVs and then release it when this energy is needed. The implementation of V2G technologies can provide benefits to utility companies but also presents a series of challenges that must be analyzed and evaluated. V2G technology has a great potential to help Austin Energy use the energy stored in the EVs. This research focuses on the status of charging systems for EVs in Austin, the basic aspects of V2G technology, the standards related to V2G, and aims to provide specific and valuable applications of V2G technology for Austin Energy.

Resumen: Este documento da a conocer los resultados del proyecto de investigación Arte Memoria y Conflicto (AMC), en el que se trabajan métodos extraídos del pensamiento del diseño (especialmente el co-diseño) con miras a aplicarlos en comunidades vulnerables en Bogotá de manera colaborativa. A lo largo de este proyecto, se ha buscado la formulación de memorias colectivas de forma crítica y consciente a través de la imagen. Así mismo, se ha trabajado con técnicas que permitan resolver conflictos locales para la recuperación y apropiación de territorios conflictivos por medio de métodos como la cartografía social, que brindan herramientas para que las comunidades identifiquen las relaciones emocionales, históricas y de uso con el espacio, tanto a nivel subjetivo como comunal. De esta formal, se busca facilitar y promover la innovación social y la participación ciudadana. Es importante recalcar que la metodología usada, permite y facilita la transferencia para que las comunidades tomen parte activa en la formulación y análisis de las soluciones a los problemas que se buscan resolver. Abstract: This document explains some results given in the Investigation project called Arte Memoria Conflicto (AMC), in which we work around methods extracted from design thinking -specially co-design- to apply them in vulnerable communities within and around Bogotá in a collaborative way. Throughout this project, we have sought the formulation of collective memories in an active and critical way through the image. Likewise, we had worked in techniques that allows us to resolve local conflicts aiming to recover and appropriate conflictive territories using methods like social cartography so that communities have tools to organize and identify their historical, use and affective relation to space in both individual and collective levels in order to promote social innovation. One of the main objectives this research project has had in mind is to use methodologies which facilitate easy transfer and therefore continuity so that community can empower and take an active role in solving local conflicts.

The cities are composed by a series of complex networks of relationships that shape an urban fabric based on the social condition developing around the territory. The urbanism that rules most human establishments today, can be clearly differentiated by the conditions in which the inhabitants have appropriated the spaces that constitute the urban centers. In the case of the city of Bogotá, the contrasting territory is notorious. The capital district stands as the largest urban center in the country, which has a great historical, economic, and social burden and yet stands out strongly for its anti-value of urban deterioration. Within the rest of the city, some sectors coexist despite of being on undergoing process of deterioration because of urbanistic and social reasons that determined the spatialization of the crime and marginal dynamics. This issue has spread and become more complex over time. The areas called “ollas”, remind the city the consequences of oblivion and indifference toward broken zones, and at the same time, set an opportunity to transform the urban environment through architectural actions. “Ollas” urban phenomenon in the city of Bogotá, intends to analyze the cases known as “ollas” in the Colombian capital scenario, understanding these urban decay cases from an abstract concept applied to an area of high complexity where spatial, institutional and social factors converge and result in a built territory inhabited by vulnerable populations isolated from legality and conventional city dynamics; the above, with the aim of generating an urban and architectural proposal in the character of a model of acting based on the analysis of causes and effects of the entire system.

Abstract: In this work, we proposed a new approach for learning legged locomotion for any legged robot, in the sagittal plane, by using a combination of classical control techniques and reinforcement learning. Specifically, we use optimal control of the low-order model Spring-Loaded Inverted Pendulum (SLIP), for the planning and generation of expert reference trajectories that resemble the ideal dynamics of animals in nature, and a control policy that learns to imitate these ideal dynamics. The objective of this approach is to provide a generic methodology for learning legged locomotion, that is flexible enough to be applied to robots with different morphological properties, and reduces the impact of simulation inaccuracies in the emergence of unnatural controlled gaits.

Abstract: Colombia’s Constitutional Assembly enacted a constitution in 1991 whose text and application are regarded around the world as among the best examples of socioeconomic constitutionalism in the last three decades. Despite rising interest in the structural causes of economic inequality at both global and domestic levels, Colombian constitutional scholarship has not yet offered an account of the role of the current constitutional design in addressing economic inequality. In this paper, I show that the drafters of the Constitution of 1991 were deeply concerned with economic inequality and considered the problem from several angles. However, they did not agree on a structural plan with coherent tools to address it and avoid forces in the executive and the legislative branches, usually influenced by international agendas, undermine that purpose. As a result, after thirty years, the Assembly’s economic egalitarian aspirations are far from being achieved and Colombia is still among the most unequal countries on earth. Thus, the Colombian constitution-making experience provides a warning about how unclear and weak agreements in constitutional drafting when addressing economic inequality can be an obstacle to overcome it, especially in contexts that demand radical solutions.

Abstract: Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) and their governing structures are responsible not only to their shareholders but to a wide variety of stakeholders due to the scale of their business activities and their impact on societal and environmental levels. This study builds on such premise and investigates the relationship between the educational background of MNEs chief executive officers – CEOs and the firm’s corporate social performance (CSP). It also examines whether this relationship is moderated by the organizational visibility of the firm and/or by the institutional quality of the country where it is headquartered. First, while prior literature has predominantly focused on demographic characteristics of the firm’s dominant coalition that are likely to influence the company’s engagement with CSR activities, the current study examines their impact on the social performance of the company. Particularly, it focuses on the CEOs education background as a construct of both level and field of education. Second, building on the ‘upper-echelons’ and the stakeholder’s theories, the study theorizes and empirically investigates the mentioned relationships through a quantitative approach using a sample comprised by the Fortune Global 500. The study reveals that there is no significant correlation between CEOs educational background and firm’s CSP. Moreover, that neither the institutional quality nor the organizational visibility have a moderating effect on said relationship. Results are discussed and suggestions are made for further research. Resumen: Las empresas multinacionales (EMN) y sus estructuras de gobierno son responsables no sólo ante sus accionistas sino ante una gran variedad de partes interesadas debido a la escala de sus actividades comerciales y su impacto en la sociedad y el medio ambiente. El estudio se basa en tal premisa e investiga la relación entre la formación académica de los directores ejecutivos de las empresas multinacionales y el desempeño social empresarial de la compañía. Así mismo, examina si esta relación está moderada por la visibilidad organizacional de la firma y / o por la calidad institucional del país donde tiene su sede principal. En primer lugar, aunque la literatura previa se ha centrado predominantemente en las características demográficas de la coalición dominante de la empresa, las cuales tienden a influenciar los niveles de compromiso de la compañía con las actividades de responsabilidad social empresarial – RSE, el estudio actual examina su impacto en el desempeño social de la empresa. En particular, se centra en la formación académica de los directores ejecutivos, entendiéndola como una construcción de dos elementos a saber, el campo de estudio y el nivel educativo. En segundo lugar, basándose en las teorías de las ‘coaliciones dominantes’ y de los grupos de interés, el estudio teoriza e investiga empíricamente las relaciones mencionadas a través de un enfoque cuantitativo utilizando una muestra compuesta por las empresas del ‘Fortune Global 500’. El estudio revela que no existe una correlación significativa entre la formación académica de los directores ejecutivos y el desempeño social empresarial de las compañías. Adicionalmente, que ni la calidad institucional ni la visibilidad organizacional tienen un efecto moderador sobre dicha relación. Se discuten los resultados y se hacen sugerencias para futuras investigaciones.

Resumen: El Feminismo es una teoría política de la ciudadanía de las mujeres y lo que eso comporta como resultado social, económico y político. Es así también una manera especial de acomodo de la teoría de la democracia. Por mucho tiempo ha sido tendencia señalar el origen del Feminismo en el occidente europeo o norteamericano. Se ubica exactamente en la Ilustración Europea, donde apareció la “primera ola” llamada “Feminismo Ilustrado”. Hecho histórico que pone a la Modernidad como “cuna” de la libertad e igualdad de las mujeres que se fue expandiendo por el mundo a partir de dos olas posteriores: “Feminismo Sufragista” y “Feminismo Contemporáneo”. La experiencia de las mujeres «Uchunya» revela algo distinto. La existencia de “otros feminismos” surgidos a partir de experiencias diferenciales. Este articulo afirma que la ilustración es un pensamiento racional más antiguo que la Modernidad y que ubica a la igualdad de varones y mujeres como lo más importante. Esto es, que ha existido Ilustración fuera de Europa y con ello, Feminismos en América Latina. Se plantea que ha existido “Ilustración Igualitaria” en América Latina antes de la llegada de Europa. Que el pensamiento ilustrado que se desarrolló en los pueblos latinoamericanos y en específico, las conciencias indígenas, vindicó la igualdad de varones y mujeres antes que el Feminismo moderno llegara como discurso de la Modernidad. Esta es la narrativa-crítica que lo justifica. Y que se convierte según Harvard en una innovación para el pensamiento latinoamericano en la construcción de su propia autoconciencia.

Abstract: The scientific administration of education has led educational institutions to show, in recent years, a strong interest in rankings, accountability, and quality education based on individual excellence. Faced with this dynamic, the present work shows that, in a society, the demands which have come from conflicting experiences or that want to form sympathetic citizens require a change of perspective from individual autonomy towards the construction of cooperation and respect scenarios for the other. Through a theoretical analysis, this article shows the inadequacy of the Taylorist model of education and proposes an education for uncertainty as an opening towards cooperation and solidarity. Resumen: La administración científica de la educación ha llevado a que las instituciones educativas muestren en los últimos años un marcado interés por los rankings, la rendición de cuentas y por una educación de calidad basada en la excelencia individual. Frente a esta dinámica, el presente trabajo muestra que las exigencias de una sociedad que ha venido de experiencias conflictivas que quiere formar ciudadanos solidarios, requieren un cambio de perspectiva desde la autonomía individual hacia la construcción de escenarios de cooperación y respeto por el otro. Mediante un análisis teórico, este artículo muestra la insuficiencia del modelo taylorista de educación y propone una educación para la incertidumbre como apertura hacia la cooperación y la solidaridad.

Abstract : Grappling with the marginalization of the marginal in Western thinking, this paper sets up a dialogue between Emmanuel Levinas’s philosophy and Johann Baptist Metz’s political theology in order to learn from their thoughts on the suffering of victims. For both Levinas and Metz, the idea of theodicy as an explanation of suffering is linked to the ontological conception of time and history, and therefore useless and unjustifiable by nature. The essential question of this research is how to give meaning to the concrete suffering of humanity in order to redeem history from the concept of an evolutionary progress which limits the possibility of hearing the cries of the victims of history. This article will show how Levinas’s and Metz´s rejection of traditional theodicy is closely related to the concepts of memory and history and, therefore, the paper will demonstrate how traditional theodicy becomes for both thinkers an ethical theodicy. Consequently, the ethical account of theodicy replaces the attempt to negotiate the goodness and power of God with the pain of human beings. From this perspective, ethics is shaped by a response to the cry of victims which summons the subject to understand freedom as limited and subordinated to ethical responsibility. In responding to suffering, philosophy and theology can meet beyond idealism and dogmatism. Resumen : Enfrentando la marginación de lo marginal en el pensamiento occidental, este artículo establece un diálogo entre la filosofía de Emmanuel Levinas y la teología política de Johann Baptist Metz para aprender de sus pensamientos sobre el sufrimiento de las víctimas. Tanto para Levinas como para Metz, la idea de la teodicea como explicación del sufrimiento está ligada a la concepción ontológica del tiempo y la historia y, por tanto, es inútil e injustificable por naturaleza. La cuestión fundamental de esta investigación es cómo dar sentido al sufrimiento concreto de la humanidad para rescatar la historia del concepto de un progreso evolutivo que limita la posibilidad de escuchar los gritos de las víctimas de la historia. Este artículo mostrará cómo el rechazo de Levinas y Metz a la teodicea tradicional está íntimamente relacionado con los conceptos de memoria e historia y, por lo tanto, demostrará cómo la teodicea tradicional se convierte para ambos pensadores en una teodicea ética. En consecuencia, la explicación ética de la teodicea reemplaza el intento de negociar la bondad y el poder de Dios con el dolor de los seres humanos. Desde esta perspectiva, la ética se configura a partir de una respuesta al grito de las víctimas que convoca al sujeto a entender la libertad como limitada y subordinada a la responsabilidad ética. Al responder a El sufrimiento, la filosofía y la teología pueden encontrarse más allá del idealismo y el dogmatismo.

Abstract: This paper seeks to determine whether stocks markets from Chile, Colombia and Peru present herding behavior, and what might be reasons behind it. The study is divided in two parts: a quantitative and a qualitative one. The quantitative uses an OLS model, whose objective is to determine the relationship between the average market return and the returns dispersion, as measured by the Cross-Sectional Absolute Deviation. The qualitative one seeks to dig into the available information to find the reasons behind the results of the OLS model. The results of the quantitative model are clear for Peru, market that shows significant herding signs for most of the different scenarios. Chile shows herding during days of low traded volume, while Colombia does not evidence any kind of herding. There are two main reasons that could explain those results: information availability and type of investors. The first refers to the scarcity of company specific information and the low credibility of investors on it. The second, refers to tremendous influence institutional investors exert when they are the predominant player in a stock market. In the three markets, AFP’s – pension funds – control most of the trading activity, reason why they behavior shapes the existence or non-existence of herd behavior. Some general reasons such as the size of the markets, the low diversification and the corruption level, help explain why AFP’s might herd. Each country has additional specific explanations: Chile shares characteristics of developed and developing markets; Colombia has important players that are part of both the supply and demand of stocks; Peru is the textbook representation of stock markets in developing economies.