Academic literature on the topic 'Colombian Small art works'

The subject of this research is the theme of violence in Colombia in the works of the Colombian artist Fernando Botero, mainly of the XX century. Attention is given to determination of the prerequisites for the emergence of the theme of violence in his painting. For this purpose, analysis is conducted on the indirect presence of this theme in Botero’s works since the very beginning of his career to paintings of mature and later periods. It is demonstrated that the artist approached the reflection of the theme of violence from different perspectives, depicting massacres, tortures, death, and involuntary relocation. The article employs the method based on iconographic analysis of the artist’s works, as well as artistic and stylistic analysis. The scientific novelty lies in examination of the topic relevant to the culture and history of the Latin American country, revealed in the works of Fernando Botero, who distanced himself from comprehension of art as resistance throughout his entire career. The author concludes that the Botero’s paintings may be called a form of depicting the slaughterous history of the country, without adherence of the painter to any political or party ideology. The manner used by Botero in the series “Violence in Colombia” is identical the artist resorts to throughout his career, which leads to distortion and caricaturing of the artistic form, in combination with the tragedy of storylines, which aggravates the dramatic character of the chosen themes. The works of Botero of the late XX century are of invaluable cultural value for Colombia.

Orlando Fals Borda, a renowned Colombian sociologist, who worked for both the academia and the government from the 1950s to 90s, wrote two works on Colombian peasantry and its relation with big landowners that were published with a selection of photographs of peasants, landowners, and grassroots movements. These works and their images have had an impact on the construction of peasant- and landowner visual icons in recent Colombian history, as they have been used in books, primers, and exhibitions since their creation, and they had a crucial influence on the visual propaganda of the Agrarian Reform project in Colombia. As a result of Fals’s fieldwork, there are two photograph collections kept at two institutions in Colombia that have organized and catalogued the images: The Central Bank in Montería and the National University in Bogotá. These institutions are prime creators of the visual memory of rural Colombia and I analyze Fals’s fieldwork as part of a jigsaw puzzle in which peasants, landowners, and intellectuals, like Fals, both consumed and created visual icons of land, rurality, and peasantry in Colombia’s recent history. Keywords: Agrarian Reform, Colombia, landowners, Orlando Fals Borda, peasants, photography.

The subject of the study is the reaction of Colombian artists to the events that took place in the country on April 9, 1948 and were one of the most important milestones in the modern history of Colombia and the history of art of this country. On that day, peaceful Bogota was involved in an unprecedented civil uprising in Colombian history, the consequences of which affected all spheres of life of Colombian society. For art, this uprising also became a turning point in its development. Changes have taken place in all areas of fine art: there has been a pronounced social problem, there has been a break with academism and, of course, since the events of Bogotaso, the critical position of artists in relation to the phenomena of socio-political life in Colombia has received its vivid expression. This paper analyzes the paintings of key artists of the history of Colombian art: Enrique Grau and Alejandro Obregona. The works in question reflect the events of the fateful day for the country on April 9, 1948, interpreting the facts of this tragedy in their own way, and affirm the importance of the artist's socially critical position in society. Methodologically, this is a work with a comprehensive approach, including cultural-historical, iconographic, artistic-stylistic analysis of works. The novelty of the research lies in the study of the reaction of artists to political and social repression in Colombia, as well as in the study of the dizzying political and social changes that occurred after the events of Bogotaso in 1948 and influenced the development of the "critical art" of Colombia up to the present day.

The subject of this research is the theme of violence in Colombian art as a reflection of political and social conflicts in the country. Political, economic and social problems in the history of Colombia of the XX century are closely intertwined, resulting in a complicated situation of coups d’état and terror, which affects different types of art in the country and representatives of the cultural elite. The conflict that stretches since the early XX century is reflected in the Colombian architecture and painting. It is depicted as rather conservatism and alienation from the constituency in architecture, and from the critical perspective in painting. The projects of the Palace of Justice are taken as an example of the changes in architecture. Trends in the visual arts are revealed in the works of Beatriz Gonzalez and Doris Salcedo. One of the central events in the political and social history of Colombia of the XX century – 1985 Palace of Justice siege – has found a special place in their art. The novelty of this research lies in using the comparative method of analysis. This is the first Russian-language research to draw the parallel between the architectural changes in the projects of the Palace of Justice in Bogota and the impact of the events of November 6 and 7, 1985 upon Colombian painting based on the works of the two remarkable Colombian artists. It is established that different types of art show different response to the political and social disturbances that take place in the country. This is substantiated by differentiation of the political-social order in various types of art.

Sound art activity in Colombia has proliferated in the last decade, as evidenced by the considerable number of shows focusing on sound works by Colombian artists in recent years. The author presents three artists—Rodrigo Restrepo, Leonel Vásquez and Ícaro Zorbar—each of whom represents a distinct point in the continuum between music and sound art. The artists' individual and distinct approaches to the use of technology and their very personal conceptions of space and time are discussed.

Neste artigo, analisamos as obras da artista colombiana Beatriz González criadas na década de 1970, a partir de artefatos considerados do espaço doméstico. Essa artista, mediante estratégias e intenções diversas, ressignificou mobiliários domésticos e fez com que eles perdessem suas funções de uso, ganhando outros valores simbólicos. Com uma dose de ironia e humor, ao longo de sua produção a artista recuperou as pinturas de cores vivas, as estampas populares consideradas cafonas e as modificou em formas enérgicas que exacerbam o banal do cotidiano e a dessacralização da arte. Palavras-chave: Mobiliário doméstico. Beatriz González. Arte colombiana. Humor e ironia na arte. AbstractIn this article, we analyze the works of the Colombian artist Beatriz González created in the 1970s, from artifacts considered to be from the domestic space. This artist, through different strategies and intentions, re-signified domestic furniture and made them lose their functions of use, gaining other symbolic values. With a dose of irony and humor, throughout her production the artist recovered the brightly colored paintings, popular prints considered tacky, and modified them in energetic ways that exacerbate the banal of everyday life and the desacralization of art. Keywords: Domestic furniture. Beatriz González. Colombian art. Humor and irony in art.

Abstract: Debra Greschner reviews four recent publications. The Cambridge Companion to Amy Beach , which is comprised of contributions by editor E. Douglas Bomberger and ten other authors, provides an overview of the life and music of this American composer. Patricia Caicedo offers biographical information about two South American composers in collections of their art songs. The complete works of Argentinian Irma Urteaga and a song cycle by Colombian Jaime León include phonetic transcriptions and interpretative guidance. Advice for Young Musicians by Ian Howell is a collection of counsel for music students.

Colombian theatre-makers have been searching for aesthetic languages to speak about the national conflict for decades. By analysing two of the most prominent theatrical productions from the 2010s, I explore the mechanisms they employ for the inscription of testimonies on audiences. I argue that the use of ghosts onstage to make the disappeared present transforms these plays into both ritual spaces and testimonial encounters at the same time. I do this by engaging with Derrida's works on spectres, along with the work of Latin American scholars who have explored the ethical and aesthetic challenges of making art in times of war.

The following article discusses the existence of an Colombian documentary film which works from the aesthetics of dissent and proposes to art as a political space, understood the concept of politician as the intersection between power and resistance where the debate it generates, as proposed by Jacques Rancière. They are films that seek to create a disarticulation in the consensual order of historical narration that prevails in Colombia and are characterized by developed in marginality and pose creation from the compression of the consensus agreements to have arguments for discussion.Colombia since the mid of the last century is mired in violence coming from different fronts, media have been commissioned to disseminate and publicly support power agreements. In this environment, this research seeks to respond: how is accomplished dislocate the public consensus and build a dissenting memory that survives to the saturation of the discourses circulating around violence in Colombia?This paper will discuss the work of the Colombian director Óscar Campo as representative of this proposal. His work comprises a range of narratives which, although they are different each other, they maintain some cohesion and progression in a story that manages to create unconventional political – aesthetic criteria of Colombian violence.

The article deals with the work of the Colombian philosopher and writer Nicholás Gómez Dávila, and primarily his five-volume work Scholia to an Implicit Text (Escolios a un texto implícito). This work is a collection of over 10,000 brilliant aphorisms. Gómez Dávila called himself a reactionary thinker. His aphorisms express a critical attitude towards the modern world. He criticized the shortcomings of democracies, and was strongly opposed to revolutions and the idea of progress. He saw progress as a gradual slide down an inclined plane. His ideal is a traditional society that is organized hierarchically. He also sharply criticized contemporary art, in which he believed little skill was left with very large pretensions for originality. He is a religious thinker who did not accept the ecclesiastical relief of the Second Vatican Council. An unattractive portrait of a man of our day looms in his aphorisms. He writes about fools and vulgar people who pursue fashion that attracts them by its superficial brilliance, while the “genuine reactionary” is always opposed to fashion. The reactionary is a loner by nature, does not tolerate crowds, lives an inner life, and communicates with philosophy and art. In the modern world, Gómez Dávila finds expressions of Gnostic tendencies from which comes the idea of the deification of man and the oblivion of God. He contrasts the intellect as something dry and abstract to intelligence which must live through existential conflicts. Some have compared Gómez Dávila with Nietzsche, but this comparison does not seem relevant.

Technology translation can be achieved through the blending of the sciences and arts in the form of digital imagery. Digital animation and video can be utilized to portray molecular events where the mechanism of action is known but the process occurs at a sub-microscopic level. There needs to be a strong collaboration between scientific advisors and digital artists when creating the animation such that the artistic interpretation of the molecular event conforms to the known and accepted confines of science. The finished animation may be used for information, education or persuasion as entrepreneurial biotechnical companies attempt to find markets, customers and investors interested in their inventions. Educational institutions with programs in the sciences, arts, digital media and medicine need to promote the interaction of students from these disciplines through cross-functional teams and courses. Solutions to problems developed by these teams tend to be broader and more comprehensive than more homogeneous teams.

Chapter 11, ‘The World in Sendai’ investigates the types of ‘Western music’ that were actually performed in concerts in Sendai. This is the main theme of. Based on the programmes of local concerts between 1907 and 1921 published in the magazine Ongakukai (World of music), this chapter shows how local concerts, in which different groups came together to perform an eclectic repertoire to a mixed audience, helped transform the people of Sendai into members of a nation within a wider world of nations. The modern institution of the public concert represented a space where Japanese and foreigners met and played and listened to music that was being performed and heard worldwide. The repertoire included a wide range of genres and countries of origin. Together, this variety, and the locations, scenes, and stories evoked by the pieces reveal much that is obscured by the blanket term, ‘Western music’. Works from the narrow canon of the ‘great masters’ of European art music, in fact, represented only a small fraction of what was performed. For example, the programme of a concert in Sendai in February 1916 included the ‘Tipperary Song’, sung by a Japanese high school student. Published in 1912 and first recorded in 1914, the song evokes to this day the image of British Soldiers marching in the First World War. In fact, three months after the Sendai concert, in the naval battle of Jutland, 26 survivors of the wreck of the Tipperary were reportedly recognized and rescued, when they sang, ‘It’s a long, way...’ It is hard to beat this conjunction as an illustration of music’s power as a force of global integration.

This case study documents the creation of La Estación Gallery, a space in the Department of Latina/Latino Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The project involves educators, students, curators, and artists, who collectively transform a small waiting/copy/computer room into an intimate aesthetic repository. In charting the repurposing of this space, this piece also highlights the participation and art of queer Colombian performance artist Erica Gressman. Additionally, this case study discusses the collaborative synergies and dissonances between Latinx Studies and the Krannert Art Museum, culminating in a joint show between the Gallery and the Krannert Art Museum via the artist’s work.

Although Colombia has more than 50 years of experience developing hydropower projects, the recent Hidroituango project crisis has opened the debate regarding risk management (RM) in generation power projects, especially for non-conventional renewable energy sources (NCRES) where there are no academic studies for Colombian case. This chapter develops a methodological proposal based on PMBOK, ISO standard, and Colombian technical standards, that will allow identification, assessment, and management of the risks inherent in small hydroelectric power plant (SHPP) projects. All this in the context of the opportunities generated by Law 1715 of 2014 and the mega global trend of transition from fossil sources of energy to NCRES. The methodology was built based on: a state of the art review, an expert's knowledge consultation, and a Delphi expert's assessment analysis. The result is a project risk management methodology that includes: holistic identification of risk variables in SHPP projects, assessment of experts and response to inherent and residual risks.

In the introduction, Philbrick sets up the conceptual and historical terrain of the book by offering three short essays on the group tuned to three different registers—group theory, group politics, and group art—before turning to archival traces of one visionary small group from the 1970s, the Combahee River Collective, and the resonance of their work in Cauleen Smith’s 2018 film Sojourner.

Abstract In June of every year, the state-sponsored commemoration of the “Day of the Peasant” is celebrated throughout the Colombian countryside, accompanied by the flowery discourse of local officeholders, the cacophony of small-town bands, the aroma of grilled beef furnished by politicians in search of votes, and the distribution of seedlings to forest-eroded mountain slopes. In highland Nariño, the celebration has been renamed the “Day of the Indian”. While the municipal mayor delivers his speech in the town plaza, the band erupts into raucous song, the senator flies in from Bogota, and trees are exchanged for votes, the communities for whom the celebration is intended stage their own festivities in their community house or in the public space of repossessed lands. Shielded from the gaze of local mestizos, community leaders deliver their own speeches, and the public is treated to dramatic presentations and the music of rural bands. The art of these ethnic militants recalls the exploits of their colonial chiefs, the horrors of conquest, and the achievements of the modern land­ claims movement. Visual image and verbal cliche prompt the audience to reflect on the rhetoric of the contemporary native rights movement on the one hand and the narratives of community historians on the other.

This chapter takes up the problem of immoral artists, as well as related questions, like immoral production. When an artist commits great crimes, some are tempted to treat the art itself as though it were also tainted. The question is whether this is the right thing to do. This chapter argues that the question can be approached in two ways. First, the chapter considers the possibility that works by bad artists are in themselves morally bad. It argues that this view is plausible in only a small number of cases. Second, the chapter considers the possibility that communities around bad artists are tainted by the artist’s bad actions. It defends this view against objections. The primary conclusion is that we should not, for the most part, think of works themselves as being moral or immoral because their creators are.

This chapter reflects on Batya Brutin's Holocaust Icons in Art: The Warsaw Ghetto Boy and Anne Frank (2020). This volume documents the engagement of artistic creativity with the photographs of the boy with raised hands in the Warsaw ghetto (1943) and those of Anne Frank. In the six chapters detailing the various ways in which artists from different cultures and countries integrated these iconic figures into their oeuvre, Brutin acquaints the reader with dozens of artists who, at some point in their artistic development, opted to “express their thoughts, emotions and perceptions of the Holocaust.” These artists' works touch on various themes elaborated upon by Brutin: the fate of Jewish children in the Holocaust; personal identification with the iconic figures; their use to represent Jewish identity and universal human situations; their uniqueness; their imaginative connection with the state of Israel; and their “facelessness,” “disappearance,” and “disintegration.” Thus, the photographs have been used for decades by artists to perform a function in their art.

This chapter is based on a work of approximately twelve years implementing the MMOM (Model of Modernization for Organizational Management) in about 310 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). In this way we wanted to analyze which of sixteen components better explain the behavior of innovation management and knowledge. This is in order to present to the entrepreneurs of this type of companies and to the academics, that a series of activities in which to concentrate to develop this component. A multivariate analysis was carried out, specifying a dependent variable in the innovation and knowledge component. The remaining fifteen elements act as independent variables, in such a way that this statistical model yielded the predictive mathematical equation. This equation showed that showed those factors that work preferentially in order to develop innovative SMEs.

ABSTRACT Postage stamps are small works of art seen by people worldwide that can be used effectively in education. The first paleontological stamp was released by India in 1951. Since then, over 4000 stamps with fossils, paleontologists, museums, and collecting sites have been issued by almost 200 countries. Stamps that illustrate fossils or reconstructions are intrinsically interesting and popular with many of the millions of stamp collectors. All disciplines of paleontology are represented, but dinosaurs are by far the most common subject, although even bacteria appear on a few stamps. Most of the stamps were scientifically accurate at the time they were issued though some artists took artistic liberties to fashion unique stamps. Overall, the stamps are artistic and educational because their small sizes and low cost make them easily accessible for classroom activities, exhibits, and presentations. They cover topics such as biodiversity, geology, ecology, oceanography, and evolution, among others. Paleophilately has provided art, education, joy, and happiness to people worldwide.

Abstract The relatively infrequent depiction of astrolabes in works of art seems disproportionately small in relation to the large amount of instruments that have survived and to the high number of contemporary treatises that discuss the astrolabe. In comparison, its three-dimensional counterparts – the armillary sphere, and the celestial and the terrestrial globe – have experienced wider acclaim from artists throughout the ages. The immediate ornamental and didactic appeal of these other instruments may be responsible for this trend. But also, in a broader sense, the image of the globe and the armillary sphere became a popular visual metaphor for disciplines such as geometry and astronomy, where they are still used until the present day.

Abstract Conformance challenges occur in secondary or tertiary processes when the injected drive-fluid (water or gas) prematurely breaks through in one or more producers. In reservoirs considering significant variation in permeability within the oil-bearing rock, injection drive fluids will follow the path of minimum resistance, flowing through only that small fraction of the reservoir that contains the highest permeability. This article aims to share experiences in specific fields in Colombia and some global data applying different chemical conformance technologies, including candidate selection methodology, laboratory evaluation, treatment execution, and monitoring. In the last 15 years, different Colombian fields have implemented channeling control (BG, bulk gels) and deep chemical conformance (TAP, thermally activated polymers) treatments to test technical and economic feasibility. BG treatments began in 2008 and have been applied to approximately 50 injection wells in nine fields and five different reservoirs, with 50% of these projects in the last three years in just one field. On the other hand, TAP treatments began in 2020 and have been applied to seven injection wells in one field. Unfortunately, the number of conformance treatments is low compared to the number of injection wells in the country (approximately 1,200). Treatment results have a positive impact, such as increasing oil production, decreasing the water-oil ratio-WOR, and improving the recovery factor. Advances in the last decade have augmented the interest in applying conformance technologies in different fields in Colombia. On average, 3 barrels of incremental oil have been produced for every bulk gel barrel injected, with an average cost per incremental oil barrel below US$ 5. These treatments improved the areal and vertical efficiency of the waterflooding process, reducing preferential water channeling. TAP and BG can also enhance the efficiency of chemical-enhanced recovery processes. This article reviews publications and includes our experience with conformance treatments in Colombian fields to improve water and chemical flooding efficiency. In this review, a short state of the art and description of the characteristics of the technology were structured, as well as the objective and reported results of each treatment implemented. In addition, factors such as design, operating conditions during its execution, and process efficiency were included. Finally, there is a discussion about the technical efforts in the implemented technology, new challenges, and critical parameters for the massification stage in the country, considering analysis, candidate selection, design, field application, and post-treatment evaluation. Additionally, it summarizes the results and lessons learned from ±700 injection wells treated with BG worldwide over the last 25 years to encourage the massive application of the conformance technologies necessary to improve the oil recovery factor.

After one decade of experimental investigation, the Vortex-Induced Motion – VIM phenomenon deserves a comprehensive survey concerning the advances related to its understanding, mainly under the consideration of the fundamental aspects that keep it in a close relationship to the dynamic behavior of the same phenomenon acting on slender bodies, the well known Vortex-Induced Vibration – VIV. A considerable amount of results can be found in the literature, although there are few works dealing with a general view of the problem. Probably, the main reason for such a large amount of works with no interaction between themselves and, consequently, without a common understanding about VIM might be due to its technological origin, featured by huge platforms with a variety of geometrical details, which ends up placing the researches more on the field of the faithful reproduction of the features in small-scale and less on the global understanding of the phenomenology regardless the floating system, e.g. a spar platform, a monocolumn or even a semi-submersible or a tension-leg platform. Obviously, no one should disagree that there is part of the research that must keep a faithful relationship with the full scale, however, in most of them it is possible to identify the common fundamentals concerning the fluid-structural interaction. The aim of the present work is to address a comprehensive evaluation of the experimental investigations during the past decade on the VIM, trying to gather a general understanding about its phenomenology including some comparisons to VIV. As a result, some relevant aspects are pointed out for a more prospective way of research.

В статье представлены материалы о творчестве художника-керамиста В. А. Швецова — о создании авторских произведений в разряде минискульптуры, характеризующихся особой темой «Воспоминания» и реализуемых в качестве оригинальных сувениров. Целью статьи является попытка расширить содержательный аспект функции сувениров за счет уникальных художественных произведений небольшого формата, создаваемых и ориентированных на личные воспоминания и сопереживания многих людей. Темы авторских скульптурных мини-композиций В. Швецова: сельская природа (лес, река, радуга); деревенская тематика детства художника; темы материнства, любви («Двое»), Петербурга («Петербургские настроения», «Белые ночи»). Исполненные искренно, душевно, они вызывают у зрителей соучастие, приятные ассоциации и личные воспоминания. Исследование обладает новизной, т. к. материалы его оригинальны и предлагаются к публикации впервые, продолжая ряд представленных на предыдущих конференциях примеров авторских сувениров (2020 — «Авторская серия деревянных скульптурных композиций “арт-сувенир”»; 2021 — «Авторские новогодние картинки К. О. Почтенной как уникальные сувениры»; 2022 — «Ялтинский пейзаж как авторский видовой сувенир»). Результаты и методы исследования этой статьи могут быть полезны в искусствоведении для применения анализа конкретных явлений в культуре и искусстве, новых жанровых образований. The article presents materials about the work of the ceramist artist V. A. Shvetsov – about the creation of author’s works in the category of minisculpture, characterized by a special theme “Memories” and implemented as original souvenirs. The goal of the article is an attempt to expand the content aspect of the function of souvenirs due to the unique artistic works of small format, created and oriented to personal memories and empathy of many people. The themes of the author’s sculptural mini-compositions by V. Shvetsov: rural nature (forest, river, rainbow); village themes from the artist’s childhood; themes of motherhood, love (“Two”), Petersburg (“Petersburg moods”, “White Nights”). Performed sincerely, soulfully, the works evoke in the audience emotional response from the audience, as well as pleasant associations and personal memories. The study has a novelty as its materials are original and are offered for publication for the first time, continuing a number of examples of author’s souvenirs presented at previous conferences (2020 – “Author’s series of the Art Souvenir wooden sculpture compositions”; 2021 – “Author’s New Year pictures by K. O. Pochtennaya as unique souvenirs”; 2022 – “Yalta landscape as author’s souvenir with a view”). The results and methods of the study can be useful in art criticism for the analysis of specific phenomena in culture and art, as well as new genre formations.

Abstract In induction heating process, coils and inductors are the core of the heating process. They are the end tool where the magnetic process affecting the part or material to be heated occurs. For more than a century, the dominant manufacturing process has been based, mainly, upon joining technologies where the coppersmith skill has been the safeguard of the quality. Use of fixtures, mandrels, and machined parts have improved the repeatability and quality of the produced elements but high volume, dimensional repeatability has always been source of problems. GH Induction continuously works on the improvement of such relatively artisanal methods to allow better lifetime, minimized production time and overall better quality. Following a first development work bringing a patented innovation in 2011 using a precision casting solution (Microfusion – Wax casting), with a solution provided a single piece coil, GH Induction has, after 2 years of development, patented a new additive manufacturing solution (3D printing concept) based on the use of Electron Beam Melting (EBM). The EBM solution benefits from the latest technology in additive manufacturing, both technologies present tremendous advantages for the designer and user. Complex shape, very small inductors can be manufactured, which are impossible to do with standard method. This presentation and article summarized the concept, manufacturing principle and technical benefits that the final users can have using such innovative solutions.

The LINK conference emerged from reflections and concerns that we always had about our own actions as educators, researchers, and practitioners in the field of Art and Design. Over the years, we have noticed that such concerns have not disappeared. On the contrary: they have multiplied, diversified, and become more complex. The more we dialogued with people worldwide, especially from the socalled “Global South”, the more we realised that these same issues were also dear to our colleagues, albeit with their own colours and contours. This is the LINK that unites us. The first step was taken as a small in-person event for guests, held in 2019 at the AUT’s South Campus in Manukau. At that time, there was no intention of organising an annual conference. The magnitude of the issues raised seemed to have a particular inhibiting effect on the incompleteness of the conference itself, considering the potential for the rich and fruitful exchange of ideas. Despite, or perhaps precisely because of the difficulties and adversities, this new scenario compelled us to move forward. The second edition of LINK, carried out in a hybrid way in 2020, expanded the quantity, diversity and quality of the works presented. Emerging themes, new epistemologies, and the multiple relationships between theory and practice (if such a distinction can be made) have consolidated as a sort of amalgam of LINK’s main issues. It covers, in a transversal and interdisciplinary way, arguably the entire field of Arts and Design. These discussions expanded beyond the event, and a special issue with 13 articles was published in the DAT Journal in 2021. At this moment, our doubts and uncertainties gave way to the commitment to promote a better event in each new edition. Furthermore, this commitment is only possible thanks to a team that is both dedicated and passionate about this purpose that unites us. Later that year, the Covid-19 pandemic began to spread across the world. In a short time, uncertainty gave way to millions of people’s anguish, suffering, and pain. At the same time, many ideas, beliefs, and values are starting to be reconsidered, bringing new challenges for a new era. Science, the construction of knowledge, and the University itself have a paradigmatic role in this moment of transformation and the search for the construction of a better world. Research changes the world. LINK’s community is constated by researchers to leverage parameters to activate different ways in which practice can create knowledge. They are based on cultural, geographic, and ideological positions shaped by the communitarian and the glocal. Thus, in offering these practice-oriented research considerations, we propose that we can learn “from” rather than “about”. This feeling emanates from recognising that the peculiar stories that generate social and artistic practices form dialogic encounters with voices on the periphery of authority and loop an iterative process to generate their own theoretical foundations.

Pedestrian attributes recognition is to predict attribute labels of pedestrian from surveillance images, which is a very challenging task for computer vision due to poor imaging quality and small training dataset. It is observed that semantic pedestrian attributes to be recognised tend to show semantic or visual spatial correlation. Attributes can be grouped by the correlation while previous works mostly ignore this phenomenon. Inspired by Recurrent Neural Network (RNN)'s super capability of learning context correlations, this paper proposes an end-to-end Grouping Recurrent Learning (GRL) model that takes advantage of the intra-group mutual exclusion and inter-group correlation to improve the performance of pedestrian attribute recognition. Our GRL method starts with the detection of precise body region via Body Region Proposal followed by feature extraction from detected regions. These features, along with the semantic groups, are fed into RNN for recurrent grouping attribute recognition, where intra group correlations can be learned. Extensive empirical evidence shows that our GRL model achieves state-of-the-art results, based on pedestrian attribute datasets, i.e. standard PETA and RAP datasets.

3D grasp synthesis generates grasping poses given an input object. Existing works tackle the problem by learning a direct mapping from objects to the distributions of grasping poses. However, because the physical contact is sensitive to small changes in pose, the high-nonlinear mapping between 3D object representation to valid poses is considerably non-smooth, leading to poor generation efficiency and restricted generality. To tackle the challenge, we introduce an intermediate variable for grasp contact areas to constrain the grasp generation; in other words, we factorize the mapping into two sequential stages by assuming that grasping poses are fully constrained given contact maps: 1) we first learn contact map distributions to generate the potential contact maps for grasps; 2) then learn a mapping from the contact maps to the grasping poses. Further, we propose a penetration-aware optimization with the generated contacts as a consistency constraint for grasp refinement. Extensive validations on two public datasets show that our method outperforms state-of-the-art methods regarding grasp generation on various metrics.

I developed an augmented reality system based on Hough transform to transcend limitations of popular Augmented Reality libraries such as ArUco. The purpose of the system is to project a digital image on to a real canvas, merging digital and traditional artistic media for ease of art production and practice. The technological challenges were identified in fiducial marker based prototype and overcome in the Hough transform based system are as follows: need for a printed marker, imprecision and weakness to occlusion. The developed software based on Hough transform works with any standard sheet of paper (A4, A3 formats). The system projects a photograph directly on to canvas or paper and automatically rotates and fits the image within the canvas. It is also resistant to occlusion, such as a hand on top of the canvas or canvas that is not fully within the frame. Resistance to small scale noise is achieved thought Hough transform and large occlusions are overcome by a line averaging algorithm. The software has shown 14% better performance than analogical ArUco library based software.

HP turbine usually works in complex operation conditions and subjects to strong temperature variability and thermal gradients. For these reasons, some small variations caused by manufacturing process and operation conditions will yield great effect on the heat transfer performance and the life of hot components. UQ is a state of the art that seeks to provide a framework for calculating the effects of input parameter uncertainty on model output variables. This study presents an investigation of the uncertainty quantification (UQ) of conjugate heat transfer of a typical high load HP cooled turbine vane, considering the influence of total inlet temperature, turbulence intensity and different surface roughness level. The non-intrusive Probabilistic Collocation Method, integrated with sparse grid quadrature has been used in the UQ analysis. The scaled sensitivity analysis is also carried out to assess the influence of each input uncertainty on the output response. The UQ analysis implies that the increasing of surface roughness will enlarge uncertainty of metal wall temperature. As a result, it needs to amplify the safety margin coefficient in order to assess the turbine guide vane surface temperature distribution and service life.

Zero-shot learning (ZSL) is a recently emerging research topic which aims to build classification models for unseen classes with knowledge from auxiliary seen classes. Though many ZSL works have shown promising results on small-scale datasets by utilizing a bilinear compatibility function, the ZSL performance on large-scale datasets with many classes (say, ImageNet) is still unsatisfactory. We argue that the bilinear compatibility function is a low-rank approximation of the true compatibility function such that it is not expressive enough especially when there are a large number of classes because of the rank limitation. To address this issue, we propose a novel approach, termed as High-rank Deep Embedding Networks (GREEN), for ZSL with many classes. In particular, we propose a feature-dependent mixture of softmaxes as the image-class compatibility function, which is a simple extension of the bilinear compatibility function, but yields much better results. It utilizes a mixture of non-linear transformations with feature-dependent latent variables to approximate the true function in a high-rank way, which makes GREEN more expressive. Experiments on several datasets including ImageNet demonstrate GREEN significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art approaches.

This document analyzes the perceptions of small innovative enterprises (SIE) in Latin America of the effectiveness of the legal protection afforded by intellectual property rights (IPR). To analyze the costs of using IPR, the study surveyed 352 SIEs from Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru. It found evidence that SIEs do not know how the IP system works, and that most SIEs consider that knowing how it works is not important for business performance. The study finds large differences among countries with respect to the need to hire legal services to apply for IPR. There are also differences in perceptions of the efficiency of the IP system, unrelated to the countries' IPR enforcement (Park, 2008). The study also finds differences in the perception of the disadvantage in protect their IPR when innovations are imitated by a large firm. This difference is related to the countries' IPR enforcement.

Evidence matters for the effectiveness of public policies,but important informational frictions—that is, resistanceto obtaining or using information on the subject at hand—sometimes prevent it from shaping policy decisions.Hjort et al. (2021) showed that reducing those frictionscan change not only political leaders’ beliefs but alsothe policies they implement. One-way information, fromresearch to policy, may sometimes be insufficient, though.Policymakers may be agnostic about the effectiveness ofan intervention, or they may not know which of its featuresrequire adjustment. A process of policy experimentationmay be needed (Duflo 2017), in which policies arerigorously evaluated at a small scale, the findings of those evaluations inform the policy design, and a new evaluation determines the effectiveness of a fine-tuned version of the intervention, with the assessment continuing until the program is ready to be scaled up. This process requires very close collaboration among government, implementers, and researchers. The means by which evidence is produced is also important. A frequent criticism of researcher-designed interventions is that results may not be relevant. One reason is that pilot programme’s participants or circumstances may be atypical, with the result that the experimental treatment, even if implemented with fidelity, may not achieve similar outcomes in other settings (Al Ubaydli et al. 2017; Vivalt 2017). A second reason is that governments may lack the capability to implement with fidelity interventions tested in randomized control trials. A partnership between policymakers and researchers can help attenuate these concerns. A recent experience in Colombia provides a good example of such a partnership at work. “Let’s All Learn to Read” is an ambitious programme to improve literacy skills among elementary schoolchildren (Grades K–5). Spearheaded by the Luker Foundation, a local nongovernmental organisation, in collaboration with the Secretary of Education of Manizales (Colombia), the programme began with a systematic data collection effort in the municipality’s public primary schools to understand why students were failing to acquire the most basic academic skills. This led to several interventions over many years during which multidisciplinary teams of researchers working in close collaboration with local stakeholders and policymakers designed and evaluated different features of the programme.

Banco de la República is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2023. This is a very significant anniversary and one that provides an opportunity to highlight the contribution the Bank has made to the country’s development. Its track record as guarantor of monetary stability has established it as the one independent state institution that generates the greatest confidence among Colombians due to its transparency, management capabilities, and effective compliance with the central banking and cultural responsibilities entrusted to it by the Constitution and the Law. On a date as important as this, the Board of Directors of Banco de la República (BDBR) pays tribute to the generations of governors and officers whose commitment and dedication have contributed to the growth of this institution.1 Banco de la República’s mandate was confirmed in the National Constitutional Assembly of 1991 where the citizens had the opportunity to elect the seventy people who would have the task of drafting a new constitution. The leaders of the three political movements with the most votes were elected as chairs to the Assembly, and this tripartite presidency reflected the plurality and the need for consensus among the different political groups to move the reform forward. Among the issues considered, the National Constitutional Assembly gave special importance to monetary stability. That is why they decided to include central banking and to provide Banco de la República with the necessary autonomy to use the instruments for which they are responsible without interference from other authorities. The constituent members understood that ensuring price stability is a state duty and that the entity responsible for this task must be enshrined in the Constitution and have the technical capability and institutional autonomy necessary to adopt the decisions they deem appropriate to achieve this fundamental objective in coordination with the general economic policy. In particular, Article 373 established that “the State, through Banco de la República, shall ensure the maintenance of the purchasing power of the currency,” a provision that coincided with the central banking system adopted by countries that have been successful in controlling inflation. In 1999, in Ruling 481, the Constitutional Court stated that “the duty to maintain the purchasing power of the currency applies to not only the monetary, credit, and exchange authority, i.e., the Board of Banco de la República, but also those who have responsibilities in the formulation and implementation of the general economic policy of the country” and that “the basic constitutional purpose of Banco de la República is the protection of a sound currency. However, this authority must take the other economic objectives of state intervention such as full employment into consideration in their decisions since these functions must be coordinated with the general economic policy.” The reforms to Banco de la República agreed upon in the Constitutional Assembly of 1991 and in Act 31/1992 can be summarized in the following aspects: i) the Bank was assigned a specific mandate: to maintain the purchasing power of the currency in coordination with the general economic policy; ii) the BDBR was designatedas the monetary, foreign exchange, and credit authority; iii) the Bank and its Board of Directors were granted a significant degree of independence from the government; iv) the Bank was prohibited from granting credit to the private sector except in the case of the financial sector; v) established that in order to grant credit to the government, the unanimous vote of its Board of Directors was required except in the case of open market transactions; vi) determined that the legislature may, in no case, order credit quotas in favor of the State or individuals; vii) Congress was appointed, on behalf of society, as the main addressee of the Bank’s reporting exercise; and viii) the responsibility for inspection, surveillance, and control over Banco de la República was delegated to the President of the Republic. The members of the National Constitutional Assembly clearly understood that the benefits of low and stable inflation extend to the whole of society and contribute mto the smooth functioning of the economic system. Among the most important of these is that low inflation promotes the efficient use of productive resources by allowing relative prices to better guide the allocation of resources since this promotes economic growth and increases the welfare of the population. Likewise, low inflation reduces uncertainty about the expected return on investment and future asset prices. This increases the confidence of economic agents, facilitates long-term financing, and stimulates investment. Since the low-income population is unable to protect itself from inflation by diversifying its assets, and a high proportion of its income is concentrated in the purchase of food and other basic goods that are generally the most affected by inflationary shocks, low inflation avoids arbitrary redistribution of income and wealth.2 Moreover, low inflation facilitates wage negotiations, creates a good labor climate, and reduces the volatility of employment levels. Finally, low inflation helps to make the tax system more transparent and equitable by avoiding the distortions that inflation introduces into the value of assets and income that make up the tax base. From the monetary authority’s point of view, one of the most relevant benefits of low inflation is the credibility that economic agents acquire in inflation targeting, which turns it into an effective nominal anchor on price levels. Upon receiving its mandate, and using its autonomy, Banco de la República began to announce specific annual inflation targets as of 1992. Although the proposed inflation targets were not met precisely during this first stage, a downward trend in inflation was achieved that took it from 32.4% in 1990 to 16.7% in 1998. At that time, the exchange rate was kept within a band. This limited the effectiveness of monetary policy, which simultaneously sought to meet an inflation target and an exchange rate target. The Asian crisis spread to emerging economies and significantly affected the Colombian economy. The exchange rate came under strong pressure to depreciate as access to foreign financing was cut off under conditions of a high foreign imbalance. This, together with the lack of exchange rate flexibility, prevented a countercyclical monetary policy and led to a 4.2% contraction in GDP that year. In this context of economic slowdown, annual inflation fell to 9.2% at the end of 1999, thus falling below the 15% target set for that year. This episode fully revealed how costly it could be, in terms of economic activity, to have inflation and exchange rate targets simultaneously. Towards the end of 1999, Banco de la República announced the adoption of a new monetary policy regime called the Inflation Targeting Plan. This regime, known internationally as ‘Inflation Targeting,’ has been gaining increasing acceptance in developed countries, having been adopted in 1991 by New Zealand, Canada, and England, among others, and has achieved significant advances in the management of inflation without incurring costs in terms of economic activity. In Latin America, Brazil and Chile also adopted it in 1999. In the case of Colombia, the last remaining requirement to be fulfilled in order to adopt said policy was exchange rate flexibility. This was realized around September 1999, when the BDBR decided to abandon the exchange-rate bands to allow the exchange rate to be freely determined in the market.Consistent with the constitutional mandate, the fundamental objective of this new policy approach was “the achievement of an inflation target that contributes to maintaining output growth around its potential.”3 This potential capacity was understood as the GDP growth that the economy can obtain if it fully utilizes its productive resources. To meet this objective, monetary policy must of necessity play a countercyclical role in the economy. This is because when economic activity is below its potential and there are idle resources, the monetary authority can reduce the interest rate in the absence of inflationary pressure to stimulate the economy and, when output exceeds its potential capacity, raise it. This policy principle, which is immersed in the models for guiding the monetary policy stance, makes the following two objectives fully compatible in the medium term: meeting the inflation target and achieving a level of economic activity that is consistent with its productive capacity. To achieve this purpose, the inflation targeting system uses the money market interest rate (at which the central bank supplies primary liquidity to commercial banks) as the primary policy instrument. This replaced the quantity of money as an intermediate monetary policy target that Banco de la República, like several other central banks, had used for a long time. In the case of Colombia, the objective of the new monetary policy approach implied, in practical terms, that the recovery of the economy after the 1999 contraction should be achieved while complying with the decreasing inflation targets established by the BDBR. The accomplishment of this purpose was remarkable. In the first half of the first decade of the 2000s, economic activity recovered significantly and reached a growth rate of 6.8% in 2006. Meanwhile, inflation gradually declined in line with inflation targets. That was how the inflation rate went from 9.2% in 1999 to 4.5% in 2006, thus meeting the inflation target established for that year while GDP reached its potential level. After this balance was achieved in 2006, inflation rebounded to 5.7% in 2007, above the 4.0% target for that year due to the fact that the 7.5% GDP growth exceeded the potential capacity of the economy.4 After proving the effectiveness of the inflation targeting system in its first years of operation, this policy regime continued to consolidate as the BDBR and the technical staff gained experience in its management and state-of-the-art economic models were incorporated to diagnose the present and future state of the economy and to assess the persistence of inflation deviations and expectations with respect to the inflation target. Beginning in 2010, the BDBR established the long-term 3.0% annual inflation target, which remains in effect today. Lower inflation has contributed to making the macroeconomic environment more stable, and this has favored sustained economic growth, financial stability, capital market development, and the functioning of payment systems. As a result, reductions in the inflationary risk premia and lower TES and credit interest rates were achieved. At the same time, the duration of public domestic debt increased significantly going from 2.27 years in December 2002 to 5.86 years in December 2022, and financial deepening, measured as the level of the portfolio as a percentage of GDP, went from around 20% in the mid-1990s to values above 45% in recent years in a healthy context for credit institutions.Having been granted autonomy by the Constitution to fulfill the mandate of preserving the purchasing power of the currency, the tangible achievements made by Banco de la República in managing inflation together with the significant benefits derived from the process of bringing inflation to its long-term target, make the BDBR’s current challenge to return inflation to the 3.0% target even more demanding and pressing. As is well known, starting in 2021, and especially in 2022, inflation in Colombia once again became a serious economic problem with high welfare costs. The inflationary phenomenon has not been exclusive to Colombia and many other developed and emerging countries have seen their inflation rates move away from the targets proposed by their central banks.5 The reasons for this phenomenon have been analyzed in recent Reports to Congress, and this new edition delves deeper into the subject with updated information. The solid institutional and technical base that supports the inflation targeting approach under which the monetary policy strategy operates gives the BDBR the necessary elements to face this difficult challenge with confidence. In this regard, the BDBR reiterated its commitment to the 3.0% inflation target in its November 25 communiqué and expects it to be reached by the end of 2024.6 Monetary policy will continue to focus on meeting this objective while ensuring the sustainability of economic activity, as mandated by the Constitution. Analyst surveys done in March showed a significant increase (from 32.3% in January to 48.5% in March) in the percentage of responses placing inflation expectations two years or more ahead in a range between 3.0% and 4.0%. This is a clear indication of the recovery of credibility in the medium-term inflation target and is consistent with the BDBR’s announcement made in November 2022. The moderation of the upward trend in inflation seen in January, and especially in February, will help to reinforce this revision of inflation expectations and will help to meet the proposed targets. After reaching 5.6% at the end of 2021, inflation maintained an upward trend throughout 2022 due to inflationary pressures from both external sources, associated with the aftermath of the pandemic and the consequences of the war in Ukraine, and domestic sources, resulting from: strengthening of local demand; price indexation processes stimulated by the increase in inflation expectations; the impact on food production caused by the mid-2021 strike; and the pass-through of depreciation to prices. The 10% increase in the minimum wage in 2021 and the 16% increase in 2022, both of which exceeded the actual inflation and the increase in productivity, accentuated the indexation processes by establishing a high nominal adjustment benchmark. Thus, total inflation went to 13.1% by the end of 2022. The annual change in food prices, which went from 17.2% to 27.8% between those two years, was the most influential factor in the surge in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Another segment that contributed significantly to price increases was regulated products, which saw the annual change go from 7.1% in December 2021 to 11.8% by the end of 2022. The measure of core inflation excluding food and regulated items, in turn, went from 2.5% to 9.5% between the end of 2021 and the end of 2022. The substantial increase in core inflation shows that inflationary pressure has spread to most of the items in the household basket, which is characteristic of inflationary processes with generalized price indexation as is the case in Colombia. Monetary policy began to react early to this inflationary pressure. Thus, starting with its September 2021 session, the BDBR began a progressive change in the monetary policy stance moving away from the historical low of a 1.75% policy rate that had intended to stimulate the recovery of the economy. This adjustment process continued without interruption throughout 2022 and into the beginning of 2023 when the monetary policy rate reached 12.75% last January, thus accumulating an increase of 11 percentage points (pp). The public and the markets have been surprised that inflation continued to rise despite significant interest rate increases. However, as the BDBR has explained in its various communiqués, monetary policy works with a lag. Just as in 2022 economic activity recovered to a level above the pre-pandemic level, driven, along with other factors, by the monetary stimulus granted during the pandemic period and subsequent months, so too the effects of the current restrictive monetary policy will gradually take effect. This will allow us to expect the inflation rate to converge to 3.0% by the end of 2024 as is the BDBR’s purpose.Inflation results for January and February of this year showed declining marginal increases (13 bp and 3 bp respectively) compared to the change seen in December (59 bp). This suggests that a turning point in the inflation trend is approaching. In other Latin American countries such as Chile, Brazil, Perú, and Mexico, inflation has peaked and has begun to decline slowly, albeit with some ups and downs. It is to be expected that a similar process will take place in Colombia in the coming months. The expected decline in inflation in 2023 will be due, along with other factors, to lower cost pressure from abroad as a result of the gradual normalization of supply chains, the overcoming of supply shocks caused by the weather, and road blockades in previous years. This will be reflected in lower adjustments in food prices, as has already been seen in the first two months of the year and, of course, the lagged effect of monetary policy. The process of inflation convergence to the target will be gradual and will extend beyond 2023. This process will be facilitated if devaluation pressure is reversed. To this end, it is essential to continue consolidating fiscal sustainability and avoid messages on different public policy fronts that generate uncertainty and distrust. 1 This Report to Congress includes Box 1, which summarizes the trajectory of Banco de la República over the past 100 years. In addition, under the Bank’s auspices, several books that delve into various aspects of the history of this institution have been published in recent years. See, for example: Historia del Banco de la República 1923-2015; Tres banqueros centrales; Junta Directiva del Banco de la República: grandes episodios en 30 años de historia; Banco de la República: 90 años de la banca central en Colombia. 2 This is why lower inflation has been reflected in a reduction of income inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient that went from 58.7 in 1998 to 51.3 in the year prior to the pandemic. 3 See Gómez Javier, Uribe José Darío, Vargas Hernando (2002). “The Implementation of Inflation Targeting in Colombia”. Borradores de Economía, No. 202, March, available at: https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/handle/20.500.12134/5220 4 See López-Enciso Enrique A.; Vargas-Herrera Hernando and Rodríguez-Niño Norberto (2016). “The inflation targeting strategy in Colombia. An historical view.” Borradores de Economía, No. 952. https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/handle/20.500.12134/6263 5 According to the IMF, the percentage change in consumer prices between 2021 and 2022 went from 3.1% to 7.3% for advanced economies, and from 5.9% to 9.9% for emerging market and developing economies. 6 https://www.banrep.gov.co/es/noticias/junta-directiva-banco-republica-reitera-meta-inflacion-3

Twenty-seven paintings, sculptures and graphics by Colombian masters Alejandro Obregón (1920-1992), Enrique Grau (1920), Edgar Negret (1920), and Eduardo Ramírez Villamizar (1923), complemented with eight works by artists from a previous generation, made this one of the most important presentations of 20th century Colombian artists offered in Washington in the last three decades, and the opening paid a special tribute to Maestro Enrique Grau. The exhibit was in honor of the city of Cartagena de Indias, site of the 39th Annual Meeting of the IDB Board of Governors. Lenders to the exhibition included the National Museum of Colombia in Santafé de Bogotá, the Museum of Antioquia and the Pedro Nel Gómez Foundation, both in Medellín, as well as private collections and the permanent collection of the IDB.

The show represents a number of artistic trends developed by Latin American artists during the last two decades of the 20th Century. An assortment of works in different media¿oil on canvas, acrylics, rusted steel, photography, video, photography collage, ceramic, cedar wood and ropes, and paper sculpture¿provides a general view of the latest art trends in Latin America. The exhibit complements the book ¿Art of Latin America, 1981-2000¿ by Colombian Professor Germán Rubiano Caballero, which was launched in English and Spanish. Galleries and artists from Latin America and the United States collaborated with the exhibit.

Banco de la República provides a comprehensive overview of Colombia’s finan¬cial infrastructure in its Payment Systems Report, which is an important product of the work it does to oversee that infrastructure. The figures published in this edition of the report are for the year 2020, a pandemic period in which the con¬tainment measures designed and adopted to alleviate the strain on the health system led to a sharp reduction in economic activity and consumption in Colom¬bia, as was the case in most countries. At the start of the pandemic, the Board of Directors of Banco de la República adopted decisions that were necessary to supply the market with ample liquid¬ity in pesos and US dollars to guarantee market stability, protect the payment system and preserve the supply of credit. The pronounced growth in mone¬tary aggregates reflected an increased preference for liquidity, which Banco de la República addressed at the right time. These decisions were implemented through operations that were cleared and settled via the financial infrastructure. The second section of this report, following the introduction, offers an analysis of how the various financial infrastructures in Colombia have evolved and per¬formed. One of the highlights is the large-value payment system (CUD), which registered more momentum in 2020 than during the previous year, mainly be¬cause of an increase in average daily remunerated deposits made with Banco de la República by the General Directorate of Public Credit and the National Treasury (DGCPTN), as well as more activity in the sell/buy-back market with sovereign debt. Consequently, with more activity in the CUD, the Central Securi¬ties Depository (DCV) experienced an added impetus sparked by an increase in the money market for bonds and securities placed on the primary market by the national government. The value of operations cleared and settled through the Colombian Central Counterparty (CRCC) continues to grow, propelled largely by peso/dollar non-deliverable forward (NDF) contracts. With respect to the CRCC, it is important to note this clearing house has been in charge of managing risks and clearing and settling operations in the peso/dollar spot market since the end of last year, following its merger with the Foreign Exchange Clearing House of Colombia (CCDC). Since the final quarter of 2020, the CRCC has also been re¬sponsible for clearing and settlement in the equities market, which was former¬ly done by the Colombian Stock Exchange (BVC). The third section of this report provides an all-inclusive view of payments in the market for goods and services; namely, transactions carried out by members of the public and non-financial institutions. During the pandemic, inter- and intra-bank electronic funds transfers, which originate mostly with companies, increased in both the number and value of transactions with respect to 2019. However, debit and credit card payments, which are made largely by private citizens, declined compared to 2019. The incidence of payment by check contin¬ue to drop, exhibiting quite a pronounced downward trend during the past last year. To supplement to the information on electronic funds transfers, section three includes a segment (Box 4) characterizing the population with savings and checking accounts, based on data from a survey by Banco de la República con-cerning the perception of the use of payment instruments in 2019. There also is segment (Box 2) on the growth in transactions with a mobile wallet provided by a company specialized in electronic deposits and payments (Sedpe). It shows the number of users and the value of their transactions have increased since the wallet was introduced in late 2017, particularly during the pandemic. In addition, there is a diagnosis of the effects of the pandemic on the payment patterns of the population, based on data related to the use of cash in circu¬lation, payments with electronic instruments, and consumption and consumer confidence. The conclusion is that the collapse in the consumer confidence in¬dex and the drop in private consumption led to changes in the public’s pay¬ment patterns. Credit and debit card purchases were down, while payments for goods and services through electronic funds transfers increased. These findings, coupled with the considerable increase in cash in circulation, might indicate a possible precautionary cash hoarding by individuals and more use of cash as a payment instrument. There is also a segment (in Focus 3) on the major changes introduced in regulations on the retail-value payment system in Colombia, as provided for in Decree 1692 of December 2020. The fourth section of this report refers to the important innovations and tech¬nological changes that have occurred in the retail-value payment system. Four themes are highlighted in this respect. The first is a key point in building the financial infrastructure for instant payments. It involves of the design and im¬plementation of overlay schemes, a technological development that allows the various participants in the payment chain to communicate openly. The result is a high degree of interoperability among the different payment service providers. The second topic explores developments in the international debate on central bank digital currency (CBDC). The purpose is to understand how it could impact the retail-value payment system and the use of cash if it were to be issued. The third topic is related to new forms of payment initiation, such as QR codes, bio¬metrics or near field communication (NFC) technology. These seemingly small changes can have a major impact on the user’s experience with the retail-value payment system. The fourth theme is the growth in payments via mobile tele¬phone and the internet. The report ends in section five with a review of two papers on applied research done at Banco de la República in 2020. The first analyzes the extent of the CRCC’s capital, acknowledging the relevant role this infrastructure has acquired in pro¬viding clearing and settlement services for various financial markets in Colom¬bia. The capital requirements defined for central counterparties in some jurisdic¬tions are explored, and the risks to be hedged are identified from the standpoint of the service these type of institutions offer to the market and those associated with their corporate activity. The CRCC’s capital levels are analyzed in light of what has been observed in the European Union’s regulations, and the conclusion is that the CRCC has a scheme of security rings very similar to those applied internationally and the extent of its capital exceeds what is stipulated in Colombian regulations, being sufficient to hedge other risks. The second study presents an algorithm used to identify and quantify the liquidity sources that CUD’s participants use under normal conditions to meet their daily obligations in the local financial market. This algorithm can be used as a tool to monitor intraday liquidity. Leonardo Villar Gómez Governor