The FreshWaterMill project is a transfer of Environmentally Sound Technology (EST) from The Netherlands to Colombia that involves several Dutch companies, the Delft University of Technology and Coralina (corporation for sustainable development of the Archipelago San Andrés, Providence and Saint Kathleen). The installation place is Johnny Cay, a small islet 1.5 km northeast from San Andrés, Colombia, uninhabited and exclusive for touristic use (Van Tonningen, 2014). The technology is a wind powered reverse osmosis (RO) system that can fulfil the drinkable water and electricity demands of the Cay. This way can be alleviated the sanitary conditions resulting from unsustainable touristic practices. Moreover, this project is seen as a promoter of sustainable development in the Archipelago (Coralina, 2006), and as a potential solution to provide electricity and water to rural and remote areas of low utility coverage but abundant wind power. There are no environmental or social impact analyses that validate the sustainable character of the technology transfer. Moreover, although it is intended to improve the livelihood of target users their opinions are not reflected in the project plans. This situation resembles those factors that describe the trend to failure of technology transfers. Therefore this research made an integral assessment of the project as a Socio-Technical System (STS) to provide useful findings and recommendations that could lead it away from such trend. The Functions of Innovation Systems (FIS) framework (Van Alphen, 2008) was chosen for a systems approach analysis. Through this was found that poor planning, insufficient financial resources and ineffective communication channels are the most relevant barriers for a successful implementation of the FreshWaterMill. The most relevant drivers are the suitability of the place for a wind/RO system, the planning of a local educational center, a remarkable advocacy for Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs) in the Archipelago and the existence of local human capital and R&D on RE. Five conditions for self-organization were derived from the PAR (Participatory Action Research) methodology to explore the likeliness of self-organization for bottom-up management. Through this methodology was shown that the difficult relationship between the corporation and the touristic service providers, their lack of group cohesion, managerial and operational capacities, ignorance and/or misuse of instruments for self-organization, make unfeasible for this group to address the barriers and support the drivers of the project. Relevant conditions from the context not covered by the previous methodologies were also included. These reflected that the advocacy for RETs is counteracted by the fragmentation between institutional actors and their lack of managerial skills on technology topics, which makes them rely on national and international assistance to achieve a technological transition. The regular interaction that Johnny Cay workers will have with the windmill, the affinity of the life plan of young adults to the project objectives and the likeliness of this group to make economic contributions urges the need for a participatory approach. The socio-cultural crisis of the Archipelago supports this recommendation. However, the difficulty of institutional entities to understand and assume the roles that require a participatory approach and the path dependency on top-down regulation makes it a complex challenge. A participatory approach for the FreshWaterMill is indirectly supported by the management plan of the Natural Regional Park Johnny Cay and the Community and institutional participation board. Additional to the commitment of the corporation to assume an enabling role, the process needs a mediator so the touristic service.

El presente estudio describe una propuesta alternativa para entender y detectar evidencias del fenómeno denominado “greenwashing” a nivel de la firma, tomando como referencia un incidente crítico ambiental de una empresa multinacional perteneciente al sector de la minería del carbón a gran escala en Colombia. Se soporta en la tipología de las transgresiones del “greenwashing”, identificando comportamientos explicativos contradictorios por parte de una compañía, incluyendo sus reportes de sostenibilidad. El estudio ilustra un planteamiento teo?rico soportado en un caso de estudio en donde se identifican elementos para reconocer señales de reportes difusos y en últimas, permita detectar el “greenwashing” corporativo.

In this work, an hybrid, self-configurable, multilayered and evolutionary subsumption architecture for cognitive agents is developed. Each layer of the multilayered architecture is modeled by one different Machine Learning System (MLS) based on bio-inspired techniques such as Extended Classifier Systems (XCS), Artificial Immune Systems (AIS), Neuro Connectionist Q-Learning (NQL) and Learning Classifier Systems (LCS) among others. In this research an evolutionary mechanism based on Gene Expression Programming (GEP) to self-configure the behaviour arbitration between layers is suggested. In addition, a co-evolutionary mechanism to evolve behaviours in an independent and parallel fashion is used. The proposed approach was tested in an animat environment using a multi-agent platform and it exhibited several learning capabilities and emergent properties for self-configuring internal agent’s architecture.

Miel I is a 188 m high RCC dam in Colombia, at elevation 454 m a.s.l. The RCC mix has a cement content of 85 to 160 kg/m3. To meet contractual schedule, the original design of an upstream face made of slip formed reinforced concrete was changed to a Carpi drained exposed composite Polyvinylchloride geomembrane (= PVC geocomposite) system, placed on a 0.4 m thick zone of RCC material enriched with cement grout and vibrated. Placement of the geocomposite system in horizontal stages allowed starting of dam impoundment while RCC placement was still ongoing at higher elevation. The geocomposite system was completed in 2002, before finishing of complementary concrete works. ISAGEN, the owner of the dam, constantly monitors the dam’s and geocomposite system’s performance. The average leakage of the dam registered since the first impoundment of the reservoir has been of 2 l/s for the geocomposite’s drainage system, and of 25 l/s from the abutments. Such levels are below the design parameters that defined the maximum acceptable leakage through the geocomposite in 9.7 l/s and the maximum acceptable leakage through the abutments in 30 l/s. The measured leakage has never surpassed the historical values (with stable lecture through 11 years), or overcome the maximum allowed drainage design values defined during the design stage. After 11 years of good performance and operation, in summer 2013 ISAGEN decided to have a comprehensive monitoring of the general conditions and the weathering behaviour of the waterproofing geocomposite at Miel I. The objectives of the investigation were: assessing the reason of small cuts that had been detected and repaired (in total 15 in 11 years on a 31,000 square meters surface), assessing the conditions of the PVC geocomposite, ascertaining at which extent its characteristics had changed over service, and evaluating if the weathering behaviour was in accordance with the expected durability. Investigation started with inspection at the upstream face and in the drainage galleries, followed by sampling of the exposed PVC geocomposites. Testing in an independent laboratory allowed comparing the physical and chemical properties of the aged geocomposite sample collected at the dam with the physical and chemical properties of the same geocomposite as manufactured. Evaluation of test results, based also on most recent research on geomembrane weathering mechanisms, completed the investigation. Results confirmed that the behaviour of the PVC geocomposite is extremely good and fully in line with expectations. The paper, after a brief outline of the geocomposite system installed at the dam, will describe all steps of the investigation, and detail the test results and the conclusions drawn.

Tesis presentada por Cristóbal Bernal para obtener el título de Ingeniero Civil en 1911. En ella presenta los resultados de investigación acerca del abasto de aguas para Bogotá. A lo largo del documento se discute acerca de la cantidad de agua necesaria para la ciudad, la calidad de ella, la forma en que se distribuye y la importancia del río San Francisco para cumplir este fin.

Impreso en el que se recopila diversa documentación relacionada con el porvenir de la industria agrícola en Colombia, con el objetivo de que los legisladores conozcan sobre el tema y tengan aptitudes para tomar determinaciones con miras a mejoras nacionales en el agro. Dentro de la documentación disponible en el documento, se puede encontrar un proyecto de ley sobre la industria pecuaria y la recomendación de la raza bovina Hereford para promover la ganadería en Colombia.

Se recogen las conferencias del curso de verano homónimo que se celebró en Zaragoza. El objetivo del curso y de la obra consiste en dar a conocer los últimos avances en Biomecánica y Mecanobiología, ciencias de reciente desarrollo que tratan del análisis y predicción de la mecánica de los seres vivos, y contribuyen así a caracterizar el comportamiento de tejidos y órganos vivos desde el punto de vista estructural, a predecir los cambios microestructurales que sufren por distintas alteraciones y a proponer y evaluar métodos de intervención artificial. Ambas ciencias requieren de un importante...

El trabajo presenta el diseño e implementación de un pie de tres dedos para robots bípedos. El sistema es capaz de medir el centro de presión sobre superficies planas e irregulares. El modelo ha sido creado para ser usado en robots bípedos, suministrando información sobre el centro de presión y el punto de momento cero. Dicha información es usada como entrada para un sistema de control, que asegurará la estabilidad del robot durante su caminata por diferentes superficies.

Waste management is one of the growing problems in many highly populated cities around the world, and the amount of strategies designed to solve it has changed during the last decade. It passed from land filing to incineration and mechanical biotechnology; this quick change was partially induced by the threat that garbage is for the environment, and later on by the acceleration of climate change, since the public services industry was bound to comply with the emissions reduction targets. The newest technologies are being applied in Europe and North America, giving them a new way to face their waste issues. However, the industrialized States are not the only ones with these concerns, in the developing countries, it is a matter that is becoming an structural problem, because of the population growth and the dynamics of the capitalist practice; moreover, it is difficult to solve due to low budget or lack of knowledge on the topic. In Bogotá D.C, waste management became one of the most controversial topics due to the many problems presented during the implementation of the Zero-Waste program and the past administrative issues with the Landfill Doña Juana that led to many health and land predicaments for the population. As a consequence, this dissertation seeks to create a new strategy to fix the gaps of the original policy, by designing five time-limited specific objectives, a reform to the segregation strategy and proposing the construction Anaerobic Digestion plant as the best solution for the sustainable control of bio-waste. Therefore, this work will show throughout all the chapters the background of the waste management system, the new strategies to be taken into account by the local administration, the advantages of the AD technology and the possible financing channels for the renovation of the Basuras- Cero Policy. All the information above will be use to conclude, that for the case of Bogotá D.C, the use of bio-waste as a new energy source will strengthen the recycling industry (with the establishment of a better segregation system and the construction of and AD plant) reduce the amount of waste sent to Landfill and decrease GHG emissions; and even though it is a small step, it can become the foundation for fixing some weaknesses of the economic system and some social mores.

Organic semiconductors are used in many fields of photonics. Displays fabricated using organic light emitting diodes (OLED) can be found in modern smartphones and tablets, whereas organic solar cells (OPV - organic photovoltaics) are emerging with demonstrated efficiencies above 10%. Organic photodetectors (OPD) are another very interesting domain, with ultrathin active layers (order of tens of nanometers) providing performance comparable to bulk inorganic devices. Thanks to a multitude of possible compounds, parameters such as response spectrum, cut-off wavelength etc. can be easily tuned. Because of very high absorption coefficient and low refractive index, issues such as crosstalk or reflection can be minimized. Another exciting feature is the low processing temperature and thus feasibility of using a flexible foil as substrate, leading to rollable or curved photodetector arrays.The performance of organic based photodetectors has grown considerably in the recent years in terms of high speed, high frequency response and detectivity so as to match the required custom specifications for practical applications such as imaging. However, further attention needs to go towards the understanding of the effects of scaling during miniaturization of these devices, while looking for the preservation and/or optimization of their opto-electrical properties. Therefore, in this thesis, emphasis is given on the photodetectors based on organic conjugated polymer materials for imaging applications. These organic photodetector devices normally suffer from a perimeter-to-area dark current density scaling, hence, special attention is on the understanding of this scaling effect as well as optimization of the fabrication process in order to get low leakage (dark) current, and therefore, large dynamic range of the OPDs. Photodetectors with different geometries and sizes from 0.08 cm2 down to 1.95E ?5 cm2 were fabricated, using two types of edge cover layer. Isolated islands of two different organic films were patterned with photolithography in order to study the dark current mechanisms. Electrical, optical and morphological properties were characterized for both patterned and non-patterned devices. The patterning process used to fabricate the isolated devices does not affect the optoelectrical and morphological characteristics of the photodetectors, and therefore their performance. Moreover, it does not induce or accelerate degradation of the organic films. The dark current density further decreases after full patterning is performed, while preserving all device characteristics. It is proposed to replace the semitransparent edge cover layer by the opaque, if thicker films can be achieved, as it might be possible to decrease the contribution of the perimeter leakage. Once the patterning process is performed, it is possible to implement these isolated devices as photodetectors arrays for imaging applications with an Ion/Ioff ratio of 6 orders of magnitude. It is proposed to perform a theoretical study of the dark current mechanism at the interface between the polymer and the metallic contact edges to model and simulate the perimeter recombination at reverse bias conditions. Moreover, further measurements such as electroluminescent and spectroscopy might aid to characterize the carrier transport in the OPDs. The project was aimed within the R&D department of large area electronics. Moreover, all the fabrication and characterization were performed in the facilities of IMEC.