Este trabajo estudia la función que tiene el arte en la novela La luz difícil, del escritor colombiano Tomás González, empleando para ello conceptos estéticos tradicionales del taoísmo y el budismo zen. Con ese fin, se constatan correspondencias entre el pensamiento taoísta y budista zen y la postura ideológica del autor. Asimismo, se rastrea la interacción de La luz difícil con otros textos que integran el universo narrativo de González y se presentan y examinan las bases conceptuales del taoísmo y el zen pertinentes para llevar a cabo el análisis. Finalmente, se caracteriza la visión de la belleza que determina el quehacer artístico de David (el narrador y personaje principal de La luz difícil) y se traza un paralelo entre la consecución del ideal artístico y la experiencia de la iluminación en el budismo zen.

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Abstract: Using Scrum as the central process framework for capstone project courses has shown to be beneficial for the learning of the students. However, these capstone project courses rarely focus on teaching students how to become a Scrum Master and do not empower them to assume the role of the Scrum Master. As a consequence, not much is known on the responsibilities that are actually assumed by those few students assuming the role of the Scrum Master in capstone project courses. Moreover, there is not much known about how these students should be taught in order to become a proficient Scrum Master. In this thesis, a case study was carried out in the Software Project 3 course held at Aalto University. The Software Project 3 course is one of the few capstone project courses that allows the students to assume the role of the Scrum Master and supports student learning through complementary teaching methods. This thesis aimed to identify the responsibilities assumed by the Scrum Master in capstone projects, and how successfully the Scrum Master contributed to the teamwork and team effectiveness of the Development Team. In addition, this study attempted to assess the contribution of complementary teaching methods, employed in the Software Project 3 course, to the learning of the students on how to become a proficient Scrum Master. This study also aimed to identify the lessons learnt by the students who assumed the role of the Scrum Master in the Software Project 3 course. In this study, the data was collected through interviews with the Scrum Masters, surveys targeted at both Scrum Masters and Developers, as well as data collected from the course content and artifacts submitted by the teams for the project reviews. They were able to successfully promote teamwork and team effectiveness within the Development Team. In addition, The results of this study show that the students, who acted as a Scrum Master, assumed all the responsibilities of the Scrum Master defined in the Scrum Guide However, in this capstone project course, these students also undertook additional responsibilities that are not explicitly mentioned in the Scrum Guide or should have been assumed by the Development Team or Product Owner. Assessment of the complementary teaching methods shows that the two-day Certified Scrum Master course and the Scrum Game, were highly valued by most of the students who felt that these two teaching methods contributed to their learning on how to become a Scrum Master. Coaching was perceived to contribute positively to the quality of the project. However, the opinion about coaching was not shared by all the students. Experience Exchange Sessions were deemed to contribute little to the learning of students. Although students faced several difficulties throughout the project that hindered the implementation of Scrum, all of them undertook the role of the Scrum Master successfully and learnt how to promote and support Scrum in their teams.

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Abstract: The environmental burdens of cement production and the construction field play a major role in the current climate crisis. Nearly 50 % of the carbon emissions are associated with the burning of limestone and cannot be avoided unless a different raw material is used. Additionally, the construction and demolition waste is an important source of debris that typically ends up in landfills, even though it has a significant potential for upgrading into recycled cement. In this research, the thermal treatment at clinkering temperatures of hydrated Ordinary Portland cement and mortars was evaluated as a source for cement production. Hydrated blends with ground granulated blast furnace slags were evaluated as well. The thermal treatment was comparatively performed in an electric furnace at 1250 °C, 1350 °C, and 1450 °C and 2.45 GHz microwave furnace at input powers of 0.5 kW, 1 kW, 1.5 kW, and 2 kW. Microwaves are a promising technology to assure greener industrial thermal processes due to lower energy consumption, high heating rates, and low processing times. The obtained materials were characterized by X-ray Fluorescence, X-ray Diffraction, Thermogravimetric Analysis, and Differential Scanning Calorimetry. Furthermore, performance characterization was done with calorimetry and compressive strength. Finally, microstructure analysis was accomplished using Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis. Cement type CEMI 52.5R was used as a reference. In Addition, the microwave heating was simulated in COMSOL multiphysics for a better understanding of the interaction between the cement-based materials and the microwave irradiation. The geometry of the furnace’s cavity, the input power, the heating rate, and the influence of the fraction of quartz were evaluated. The experimentation proved that microwaving is a suitable technology to recover clinker phases from hydrated samples. The materials obtained were significantly similar in mineralogic composition to the reference cement. However, the presence of quartz drastically hindered the formation of the primary clinker phases while slags additions enhanced the formation of belite rather than to alite. The mechanical characterization showed that mortars produced with 20 % of replacement of the reference Ordinary Portland Cement by recycled cement obtained by microwave treatment develop a similar compressive strength as the reference cement reaching up to 50 MPa at 28 days similar to the 52.2 MPa expected for the reference. Moreover, the simulation demonstrated the capability for short-time processing of less than 5 min for nearly 15 g of sample. In contrast, the conventional treatment for 60 g of samples took beet 7 and 10 h. The model showed that the heating is highly localized. Processing at 0.5 kW and 1 kW are recommended for a more controlled process. Finally, from the thermal point of view, additions of nearly 20 % of quartz increase the heating rate and enable more homogeneous heating. The research proved the potential of microwave treatment for a more sustainable way to produce cement from hydrated samples and could be suitable for the cement fractions from construction and demolition waste.

Abstract: According to the World Bank, with the dramatic increase of the world´s population in the last decade, the generation of solid waste has reached 2.01 billion tonnes/annually (almost a kilogram per person daily). Bearing into mind that urban centres concentrate almost 70% of the world´s inhabitants and are the most technologically developed areas, the necessity to run them as Sustainable and Smart cities is vital for the planet´s health. One of the main and most threatening sources of waste are lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), due to the lack of logistics and technology to handle them properly, despite the increasing popularity of their usage. Besides mobile devices (phones and laptops), LIBs feed several public transportation networks, self-owned vehicles (cars, bicycles, and scooters) and mobility shared services. In fact, 140-million new electric vehicles are expected to replace internal combustion engines in the following decade worldwide, which will reduce the carbon footprint of cities, but can become a potential source of environmental, social and economic challenges if the 11-million metric tons of E-waste are not addressed from a Whole-Lifecycle perspective. This trend has been accelerated by the changing commuting dynamics and increasing social fragility triggered by COVID-19. Therefore, researchers, policy- and decision-makers are struggling to find environmentally safe disposal strategies to reach the balance between development and sustainability within the built environment. Taking this into account, the thesis presents an approach related to the most efficient solution of integrating a closed-loop reverse-logistics Circular Economy into the batterie´s supply chain. Throughout the document, the authors developed a feasible business model dedicated to collect and process LIBs to generate high-purity components to produce new batteries. The business conceptualization implied an extensive understanding of the stateof-the-art of the sector (SWOT and PESTLE analysis), an analytic benchmarking process, and the implementation of Industry-4.0 and Lifecycle Market Seeking. The result was a detailed business plan that maximised the organizational and financial aspects in order to optimize processes and resources, the strategic location of the pilot factory based on a Multicriteria Analysis, and a 3-levelled hierarchical organizational planning. The final part of the document deepened into the pilot phase by developing the architectural masterplan of the spokes (collection points) and hubs (factory). Furthermore, some expansion plans were discussed at a strategic level to propose future research topics.