Academic literature on the topic 'Internal economic links'

The article describes the features of personnel costs. Also different types of costs on workers are revealed. The features of the cost of the development of communication links within the organization are allocated. The types of economic indicators and evaluation methods of personnel costs are identified.

In today’s social, economic, and political reality, security environment needs to have appropriate conditions for its functioning. Stabilising these conditions is becoming indispensable due to the ongoing changes in people’s economic activity manifested by new forms of management and based on new technologies. Internal security is determined by various factors and is of interest to different parties. Currently, as local communities are gaining vital importance, a large part of development initiatives is transferred to the local level. The links between internal and social security as well as local development policy, social policy, and welfare policy are becoming increasingly visible

This paper considers the heterogeneity and diversity of cities as sources of economic growth. It links modern notions of economic growth to the distinguishing characteristics of cities and to the external effects on consumption and production produced by the internal diversity of urban areas. The paper reviews the role of traditional scale economies as well as the importance of diversity in economizing on shared inputs and transactions costs, and efficiencies arising from the operation of the law of large numbers in metropolitan areas. The authors also review recent empirical evidence on the importance of these elements of heterogeneity in conditioning economic growth.

AbstractThis articles examines the links between Mexican anthropologists who – as part of a 1960s-era revolt, rejected prior anthropological approaches, which they labelled imperialist – and social science currents in the United States, Latin America, and Europe. They also took inspiration from anti-colonial movements. They spurned modernization theories that focused on the multiple economic, cultural, and psychological factors that might spur US-style capitalist economic growth and that sought to overcome the internal, national brakes on progress. Instead, they embraced dependency theories that linked the ‘internal’ (national) to the ‘external’ (global) and privileged revolutionary changes that implied a radically changed relation to the global capitalist world system. Yet dependency and modernization theories emerged within a shared intellectual space. Even as many intellectuals rejected US models of economic development, they accepted the primacy accorded to economics and technology and the notion that science was a global enterprise aimed at generating universal knowledge.

This paper aims to both develop and apply advances from the field of complex networks to large economic systems and explore the (dis)similarities between economic systems and other real-world complex networks. For the first time, the nature and evolution of the Dutch economy are captured by means of a data set analysis that describes the monetary transactions among 105 economical activity clusters over the period 1987–2007. We propose to represent this data set as a multi-weighted network, called the monetary transaction network. Each node represents a unique activity cluster. Nodes are interconnected via monetary transactions. The millions of euros that traverse the links and that circulate inside each activity cluster are denoted by a link weight and a node weight respectively. By applying innovative methodologies from network theory, we observe important features of the monetary transaction network as well as its evolution: (a) Activity clusters with a large internal flow tend to cooperate with many other clusters via high volume monetary transactions. (b) Activity clusters with a lower internal transaction volume prefer to transact with fewer neighboring nodes that have a higher internal flow. (c) The node weights seem to follow a power law distribution. Surprisingly, (b) and (c) have been observed in community structures of many real-world networks as well. (d) Activity clusters tend to balance the monetary volume of their transactions with their neighbors, reflected by a positive link weight correlation around each node. This correlation becomes stronger over time while the number of links increases over time as well.

This article focuses on the analysis of the military links with local communities in the context of sustainable development, in particular the social and economic aspects of development. The aim of the article is to identify and characterize the links between military units and entities in the local environment on the example of selected municipalities in Poland and to assess these links in the opinion of residents, local authorities, and soldiers. Between military units and local communities, there are relations of different nature and intensity, conditioned by internal and external factors. The military stationed on the territory of individual municipalities makes a direct and indirect contribution to building the social and economic potential of these places, as well as providing public goods in the form of the national defence. The links between the military and local communities are discussed in the source literature with reference to examples from different countries. While the scale and scope of these links vary, these impacts follow similar patterns.

Eccentrically braced frame (EBF) system is one of the most effective lateral loads resisting systems for steel structures. In these systems, links are designed in such a way that they yield in shear not only to provide high ductility and rigidity but also to provide a high energy dissipation capacity. In particular, as the internal forces to be considered for the design of the members outside of the links must be calculated with the amplification factor based on the yielding of the links, the magnitude of the internal forces may become so large that they may not be met by the adjacent members. Therefore, it is challenging to develop an economic design for adjacent members and connections because of the high level of design loads obtained by the amplification factor. This paper studies the effect of the perforation arrangement in the web of shear link beams in eccentrically braced frames. Both experimental and numerical investigation were conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the link beam with slotted perforations in the web portion. Seven equivalent isolated link beam specimens with various slot-hole patterns were tested under quasi-static cyclic loading. The results of the study indicate that using slot-holes in the web portion reduces the link shear capacity significantly. The results also show that the failure mechanism of reduced link sections was controlled by fracture at end of the slot-holes and inelastic rotation capacities were varying between 0.025 rad and 0.065 rad depending on the slot-hole patterns.

The article considers the process of strategic transformation of the company’s internal audit as an effective form of the financial control system, which is a structurally branched set of interrelated links. The paper analyses various aspects of organization management in the context of global crisis phenomena in socio-economic and other spheres. The author proposes a set of measures to adapt the company to work during the Covid-19 pandemic impact on the economy. The study clarifies fundamentally new requirements to the content of the internal audit service specialists` functionality and the nature of their interaction with top management representatives. The paper outlines the prospects of professional development of the auditor in modern conditions.

Complex adaptive systems, which are energy and economic systems, evolve with changes in both the external and internal environment. To form an effective state energy and economic policy, it is necessary, on the one hand, to identify the incentives that make these systems change, and on the other, to determine the trends of the changes taking place. The importance of this task is determined by the fact that without its solution, an effective state policy, consis­ting in stimulating positive adaptive changes and correcting undesirable changes, cannot be implemented. The purpose of the research is to identify key features of economic and energy systems and also reveal the facts that influence their further development. The use of the systematic approach allowed us to give a definition of economic and energy systems and examine the features of their functioning and development. As a result of the content analysis of publicistic and scientific literature dedicated to sustainable development, a pyramid of priorities for social and economic development was elaborated. Relevant structural changes of economic and energy systems were also revealed and main trends in the evolution of their structural ties in the transition to a new paradigm of socio-economic development were identified. The obtained results can be used for increasing effectiveness and rationality of management decisions which influence state energy and economic policy.

This research paper investigates issue of infl uence clan relationships for piracy development on the Horn of Africa. Author contemplates that presence of stable internal links in Somali impedes possible external solution of the piracy problem. Therefore, the identifi cation structural interrelationships within the Somali society could be important both for understanding of the political and socio-economic situation in the region and also it will promote full understanding of internal reasons of piracy problem on the Horn of Africa.

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Nesta dissertação busca-se entender como a ciberpublicidade, operada nos mecanismos de busca, transforma a informação em linguagem. O objetivo, portanto, é compreender como os mecanismos de busca traduzem os dados de navegação em signos na retórica do consumo. Por conseguinte, busca-se verificar se a construção de texto de um mecanismo de busca pode ser vista como a construção de um texto publicitário. Parte-se de uma revisão histórica parcial da publicidade, sobretudo, com foco nas mudanças da organização e das técnicas dos anúncios. Por meio da elucidação do funcionamento dos mecanismos de busca e como estes se transformaram em ferramentas propulsoras de negócios, também é feita uma revisão de literatura no campo da linguística, da antropologia e da comunicação de forma a compreender o caráter multidisciplinar do problema. São utilizados conceitos da linguística estrutural de Saussure, da Teoria Matemática da Comunicação e do gerenciamento de significados de McCracken para apresentar a Semiótica da Cultura como convergência dos diversos conceitos de tais ciências. Após definido o percurso teórico, utiliza-se a Semiótica da Cultura ou Semiótica Russa (da Escola de Tártu-Moscou - ETM), presente nas obras de Irene Machado e Iúri Lótman, e do pensamento semiótico de Roman Jakobson, para realizar uma análise semiótica dos fundamentos dos mecanismos de busca e das ações de otimização orgânica de sites, ou SEO, do inglês “search engine optimization”, que se configuram como as ações da ciberpublicidade na criação de signos publicitários nos mecanismos de busca. Considera-se os links como os signos do texto cultural, conforme entendido pela ETM e, neste trabalho, considerados como hipertextos culturais. Conclui-se que o caminho da alfabetização semiótica dos mecanismos de busca é que lhes permite desenvolver sistemas semióticos e modelizáveis, capazes de criar signos e textos publicitários no ciberespaço.
In this dissertation we seek to understand how (cyber)advertising transforms information into language, considering how search engines translate the navigation data into signs in the rhetoric of consumption. Particularly, we aim to verify if the construction of a text made by a search engine can be considered the construction of an advertising text. Our literature review starts from a brief historical review of advertising, focusing on changes in advertisement structuring and techniques. We review the fields of linguistics, anthropology and communication to clarify how search engines operate and how they became propulsive tools for business, vis a vis the multidisciplinary nature of the problem. We also draw on the concepts of Saussure’s Structural Linguistics, the Communication Mathematics Theory and McCracken’s theory of meaning transfer to present the Semiotics of Culture as a convergence of the various concepts of such sciences. In order to conduct a semiotic analysis about the fundamentals of search engines and Search Engine Optimization (SEO), we use the Semiotics of Culture or Russian Semiotics (Tartu-Moscow Semiotics School - TMS), found in Irene Machado and Lotman’s works, and Roman Jacobson’s thoughts on semiotics. By analyzing these two aspects, we investigate the activities of (cyber)advertising to create advertising signs in search engines, assuming links are cultural text signs (in accordance with the TMS), in this work, particularly, cultural hypertexts

Il concetto di rete dell'informazione può diventare uno schema logico con cui descrivere l'evoluzione delle politiche sulle energie rinnovabili e sulla sostenibilità? La ricerca è stata svolta analizzando l'architettura delle due reti (internet e reti energetiche) e l'evoluzione del bene prodotto e distribuito nella rete energetica, l'energia, esplicitando l'accessibilità da parte della distribuzione mondiale delle risorse petrolifere tradizionali e delle risorse rinnovabili. La struttura metodologica del progetto di ricerca si basa due tipi di analisi teorica: 1) l'analisi della nascita delle società in rete attraverso le teorie di Manuel Castells (concetto di spazio di flussi) e di Saskia Sassen e l'evoluzione delle città (cap.2 e cap.5) 2) le analisi dei flussi dei materiali e delle energie avendo come riferimento metodologico l'approccio ecologico ideato dai ricercatori dell'istituto per il Clima, l'Ambiente e l'Energia di Wuppertal, Germania (cap.3 e cap.4) La contraddizione tra città innovative e città che sono ai livelli di enormi discariche o di baraccopoli è esposta nel cap.6 attraverso casi studio e progetto dei Programmi Europei. Nell'ultimo capitolo (cap.7) si riassumono le ipotesi di partenza e i risultati della ricerca e si espongono le questioni aperte.
Can internet logic scheme be used as a basis to describe public policies evolution on renewable energies production and sharing in urban areas all over the world? The research project analyses the two networks (internet and energetic grids) architectures in actual and future urban areas. This analysis is connected with present and future forecasts energy productions from traditional fuels and from renewable sources. Theoretical analysis is conducted following a double conceptual pathway: - societal networks (Manuel Castells theory) and urban areas evolution (Saskia Sassen and Mike Davis) in order to picture the evolution of cities and towns in modern economies and in developing countries (Chapters 2 and 5); - Material and Energy Flow Analysis (approach by Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy) applied to renewable energy (Chapters 3 and 4) In Chapter 6 case studies are exposed on the deep cleavage between two different worlds: innovative, rich towns on a side and the landfills cities, slums on the other side. In the last part hypothesis and thesis are put together and open questions are explained (Chapter 7).

Este trabalho retrata vários pontos importantes na área de Marketing Digital, bem como, uma análise detalhada das respetivas estratégias que foram abordadas, no decorrer do estágio curricular. Visto que é uma empresa centrada no Marketing Digital, foram desenvolvidas funções ligadas com a pesquisa orgânica, as quais permitiram ter uma melhor perspetiva do mundo online. É importante estudar os mecanismos de busca que, por um lado, permitem que o utilizador aceda mais facilmente ao conteúdo de uma página ou site que pretende analisar e, por outro lado, permitem que sites ou blogs de pessoas e empresas consigam uma boa posição no Google, através de conteúdos de qualidade e seleção adequada das palavras-chave. Numa perspetiva teórica, este estudo permite identificar e analisar estratégias de Marketing Digital, mais concretamente de SEO, que sejam do interesse dos utilizadores, que correspondam às suas expectativas e que, através dos motores de pesquisa, consigam aumentar gratuitamente o ranking de um site.
This work portrays several important points related to the Digital Marketing subject, as well as a detailed analyse of the respective strategies that were addressed in the curricular stage period. Since it’s a company focused on Digital Marketing, were developed functions related to organic research, in which, they allowed to have a better perspective of the online world. It is important to study the searching tools that, on the one hand, allow the user to access more easily to the page or site content that he pretends to analyse and, on the other hand, allow the companies’ and people’s sites or blogs to achieve a good position in Google, through quality content and proper selection of keywords. In a theoretical perspective, this study allows to identify and analyse Digital Marketing strategies, more specifically SEO, that are of interest to the users, that meet your expectations and that, through searching tools, can increase the ranking of a site free for charge.

The textbook provides a holistic view of the construction and installation organization as a subject of production and management and as a production and socio-economic system. Its role and place as a primary link in the general system of the national economy, the internal and external environment of its functioning are considered. Production resources, production capital and production capacity of construction and installation organizations, methods and indicators of their condition and use are characterized. The content and indicators of the costs of construction production, the cost of construction products and construction and installation works, income, profit and profitability of production and economic activities are disclosed. The basics of contractual relations of construction contractors and risk assessment of their production and economic activities, assessment of the economic condition, competitiveness and position in the construction contract markets are described. Meets the requirements of the federal state educational standards of higher education of the latest generation. For students studying in the areas of training 38.03.01 "Economics" (profile "Economics of enterprises and organizations"), 38.03.02 "Management" (profile "Production Management"), teachers, as well as for a wide range of specialists of construction and installation organizations.

This book has argued that the real cyber war is a competition among different political economies of the information society. It has shown how discourses of “internet freedom” serve to legitimize a particular political economy of globalism and how the increasingly vocal call for information sovereignty serves a legitimating function for state efforts to govern highly complex societies in a world wired for globally instantaneous communications. By emphasizing four lines of conceptual inquiry—history, social totality, moral philosophy, and praxis—a political-economy framework places the internet-freedom movement in the broader geopolitical and economic context within which strategic actors are competing for resources and power. The book has also examined the various economic and political interests at stake in debates over internet governance by focusing on Google's efforts to dominate each of the four distinct aspects of the information economy, the economics of internet connectivity, and the myth of multistakeholderism. In closing, the book revisits the idea that data is the new oil.

China’s extraordinary economic growth over recent decades underpins the top global rank of its financial centres of Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing. Hong Kong is China’s window to global capital, an Asia-Pacific leader, and one of the top three global financial centres, along with London and New York. Shanghai is the commercial-financial centre, and Beijing is the political-regulatory centre of China. Government policy supports stock- and bond-connect programmes among its exchanges, Fintech, internationalization of the renminbi, and its ‘Belt and Road’ initiative and associated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). These directly and indirectly strengthen China’s internal financial centre networks and the centres’ global links. The government’s political and economic policies maintain Hong Kong as a premier global centre. China controls its banks, and its strength as a large economy will help mitigate the impacts of a global financial crisis.

This chapter examines the link between information commodification and structuration by focusing on the economics of internet connectivity and the fight over which international institutions are responsible for the regulation of digital information flows. It also discusses the uneven relationship between connectivity and economic growth as well as the economic motivations behind criticism of the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) potential role in internet governance. The chapter first considers how the U.S. government, with the aid of the private sector, wired the world and profited handsomely as a result. It then explains how economies of scale strongly favor established actors in the Internet economy, challenging the idea that increased connectivity is equally profitable for all. It also looks at the controversy surrounding the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), with particular emphasis on how the negotiations were shaped by economic concerns. Finally, it describes economic externalities, the basis for a “network effect” theory, and suggests an alternative framing to the neoliberal, modernization, and “information sovereignty” discourses that often dominate debates surrounding internet governance.

In Chapter 7, the author steps back from the empirical accounts of domestic colonies in the previous four chapters to engage in a comparative theoretical analysis of arguments advanced within contemporary scholarship to explain the rise of the colony model to manage various populations. Specifically, the author considers how domestic colonialism stacks up in comparison to the two leading explanations in the scholarly literature for labour and farm colonies, namely, Michel Foucault’s theory of disciplinary power with respect to colonies for the mentally ill and juvenile delinquents and eugenics with respect to farm colonies for the mentally disabled. The author examines and critiques Foucault’s various formulations of ‘colonization’ in his key published works, particularly his College of France lectures where he draws important links between ‘internal’ and ‘external’ colonization. Eugenics, the author argues, does not work chronologically nor substantively as the key causal explanation, since most eugenicists eventually reject the colony in favour of sterilization. The chapter concludes that domestic colonialism explains not only the explicit use of the term ‘colony’ by its proponents, but also the centrality of agrarian labour, targeting of idle and irrational populations, and the emphasis on both the economic and ethical benefits of this model over the asylums, prisons, or sterilization.

This chapter summarises the cultural, legal, technical, and economic approaches to enforcing copyright. It suggests that rights holders need to rethink their business models in the digital age, such as by concentrating on live performances, rather than simply trying to shore up old business models by criminalising copyright infringement. The link between pervasiveness and persuasiveness is complex and sometimes contradictory. It is noted that online sharing is not identity theft.The Pirate Baychose to embrace the term pirate despite disputing almost everything else being claimed by the recording and film industry lobbies about online sharing. The asymmetrical architecture of the Internet makes circulation easier than regulation. The Internet makes every computer an infinite copying machine and one hard to disconnect from every other. The music industry has been hit first and hardest by online sharing, and reveals the clearest signs of successful adaptation.

The rapid changes determined by the rise of Internet and the recent development of social media in daily life have led to profound consequences on the quantity and quality of data made available and on the mechanisms of their dissemination. The rapid spread of on-line disinformation is one of the most discussed topic, and has been identified as one of the top-trends in modern societies by the World Economic Forum, also because of the link between these processes and political communication. Thanks to the availability of micro-data from the Flash Eurobarometer survey on “Fake news and disinformation online”, the present work aims at analyzing the attitude of European citizens toward fake news and disinformation. In a first step, cluster of citizens are identified according to their level of trust in media news, in relation to different types of media. Given the categorical nature of the variables considered, k-mode clustering is implemented. Secondly, the main determinants of news trust levels are analyzed, through regression models for categorical response variables. Preliminary results show that socio-demographic characteristics as well as technological use have an influence on trust in the media, which in turn determines different approaches on the role of institutions in tackling disinformation. The relevance of fake news in contemporary period and its potential consequences on the political side require a reflection on the role of statistical literacy and of official statistical institutes in dealing with disinformation in the post-truth era.

An analysis of networks formed by the links originating from the local authorities’ Websites and then from the successor nodes was performed for 30 municipalities in Poland. This analysis accounted for all links contained on the given local authorities’ Websites, with the links being classified into global and national (like those towards the global www services or the national ministries), regional (pointing, generally, towards the entities from the same province), local (within the municipality in question or the neighbouring municipalities), and internal (i.e. referring to various elements of the same municipality’s Website). Of primary interest in the study were the regional and local links, which potentially form networks of relevance for local development. For these local and regional links originating from the municipality Websites, the respective Websites were, in turn, investigated. For these Websites, again, the local and regional links were analysed. Such networks of depth two were established for each municipality considered. The chapter shows the results of this empirical work and draws conclusions of a broader nature, related to the significance and role of Web-based networks in the economic and social sustainability of the respective communities, especially during a crisis. The hypothesis is that networks in general facilitate survival, sustainability, and development of local communities.

This chapter examines the role and importance of the non-agricultural activities that were practised in first-century Tebtunis, including crafts and trades of various kind and state concessions. In particular, it investigates the internal functioning and administrative practices of the best-documented of these economic activities, which include textile production and the sale of salt, and the social status of the people involved. This chapter explores the importance of the village state concessions, their relationship with the local associations, and their contribution to the local economy. A discussion follows on the socio-economic implications of the presence of non-agricultural activities in the village, which includes the nature and size of regional and inter-regional links, and monetization.

In this chapter, the authors show how, using graph theory, one can make a content analysis of political discourse. The premises of this analysis are: we have a corpus of speech of each party or candidate, as empirical data; speeches convey economic, political, and socio-cultural values, these taking the form of words or word families; there are interdependences between the values of a political discourse; they are given by the co-occurrence of two values, as words in the text, within a well-defined fragment or they are determined by the internal logic of political discourse; established links between values in a political speech have associated positive numbers indicating the “power” of those links; these “powers” are defined according to both the number of co-occurrences of values and the internal logic of the discourse where they occur. In this context, the authors highlight the following: a) the dominant values in a political speech; b) groups of values that have ties between them and have no connection with the rest; c) the order in which political values should be set in order to obtain an equivalent but more concise speech compared to the already given one; d) the links between the values that form the “core” political speech; and e) one can get from one value to another by using as few words as possible from the discourse to be analyzed.

A key dimension of transformative constitutionalism has been the inclusion of justiciable socio-economic rights in Constitutions of the Global South. Yet, to ensure these rights are enforceable, it is necessary to consider whether individuals in these societies can gain access to justice. This chapter first offers a theoretical conception of access to justice as a capability which has two dimensions: an internal dimension relating to the empowerment of individuals to make such claims, and an external dimension relating to the design and availability of institutional mechanisms that are set up to hear these claims and adjudicate upon them. This theoretical perspective is then applied to one particular context to attain the required depth—namely, that of South Africa. The main institutional architecture of the South African democratic constitutional order relating to access to justice is outlined and the shortcomings thereof highlighted. The chapter attempts to provide concrete solutions to these problems as well as possible policy recommendations to enhance access to justice—some of these are drawn from the comparative experience of other Global South countries such as Colombia and India. Ultimately, the chapter links theory and practice: it utilizes a theoretical perspective to generate practical recommendations for enhancing access to justice for all in South Africa.

This chapter discusses various factors germane to the development of civility. It deals first with differences between Taiwan and China relevant to Taiwan's having become a civil society and China's greater difficulties in doing so: differences in area, population, population composition, and integration; Taiwan's economic development beginning thirty years earlier and also being uninterrupted by internal factors; Taiwan's greater income and wealth equality; differences in social unity and in governance, especially elections in Taiwan and the KMT government's non-interference with the existing social organization; and the differential levels of trust in the two societies. It next assesses, in light of the information in previous chapters, the set of conditions listed in Chapter Two as likely either to facilitate or hinder civil development. It finishes by examining the links between civility and post-industrial values, becoming a 'society for itself,' and democracy.

Networking is the organizational form of the information age. Network organizations signify a form of collaboration designed to facilitate economic exchange and to provide an environment for interaction between people (social exchange). Economic actors are likely to sacrifice some of their own preferences in the pursuit of collective goals (Fleisch & Österle, 2000; Franke, 2001). Network organizations are characterized by (1) a purpose and shared goals unifying members, (2) independent members benefiting from being part of a whole, (3) voluntary links between members, (4) multiple leaders providing greater resilience, and (5) many levels integrating organizations, units, and people. From an intra-organizational perspective, networks are the collections of individuals and sub-units within one and the same organizational boundaries. From an interorganizational perspective, networks are the collections of more or less independent individual economic actors such as, companies, institutions, and research organizations (Franke, 2001). Three network types involve (1) internal networks as the loose associations of autonomous groups and teams, (2) stable networks where focal firms engage in long-term relationships with external suppliers or partners, and (3) dynamic networks as the temporary alliances of independent firms with key skills usually organized around a leading or brokering firm based on the exploitation of market opportunities.

This contribution analyses the online video offer of local and regional daily newspapers. A sample of local and regional landscape press of 15 German newspaper1 websites offering online videos was investigated. The investigation was carried out with the method of a quantitative content analysis on the basis of an artificial week. The findings show that daily newspapers mainly place purchased videos of external providers (92 percent) in the local and regional area and hardly produced any material by themselves. The videos are themed accordingly: Only 16.2 percent of the videos deal with regional or local topics, and the lion’s share is taken by international topics (44.7 percent), while topics related to Germany in any way achieve about one third (31.5 percent). Almost half of the videos can be assorted to the “miscellaneous“ desk and, the reporting on political, economic, and social topics, as well as about sports and culture, is less comprehensive. It is also shown that videos are hardly used as a supplement of the remaining editorial offer of the Internet sites and that internal links to other pieces are hardly ever made. In conclusion, online videos are a fixed component of many local and regional news offers of daily newspapers on the Internet, today, but are however hardly used as an addition to the own local reporting competence.

In the '60s and '70s, a global economic and technological development plan for "undeveloped" countries defined the base of the professionalization process of industrial design in Latin America. Since then, many scholars have revised the industrial design practice and proposed new ways to reinterpret Latin American design according to current perspectives about the context and territory. This research strives on a reflexive educational model based on a socio-technical system's understanding for a mixed craft-industrial design practice with rural communities in Mexico. By combining post and decolonial perspectives and critical theories of neoliberalism in the design field; and analyses of the design education process inside the rural communities of bamboo product makers in Cuetzalan (Puebla, México), it is possible to unravel the translation agency of designers (also as individuals with personal and professional interests) between the global economic system pressures and internal beliefs and positions of communities. Following Arturo Escobar's (2007, 2013, 2017) and Walter Mignolo's (2013) ideas, the design practice in Latin America is highly questionable when it tries to involve rural or social perspectives due to the influence of the development's regimes of representation. These regimes vigorously promote the generation of economic wealth from economic and technological development, primarily based on a globalized neoliberal logic. As Professor Juan Camilo Buitrago shows in the Colombian case, many universities were linked to government economic policies "due to the need to align themselves with the projects that the State was mobilizing based on industrialization to encourage exports." (2012, p. 26). This idea is still valid since public and private universities constantly compete for economic resources that they exchange with applied knowledge that points to the development of various economic sectors. Numerous studies attempt to reconcile academic epistemological and ontological forms with rural ways of understanding the world. Regardless of these efforts, it is necessary to highlight that professional design education has barely incorporated these reflections within its institutional academic structures. This work has been part of a series of university-level courses that mix experiences and perspectives between Anahuac University final year design students and the Tosepan Ojtatsentekitinij (bamboo workshop) members. The current research considers the participation of all the actors involved in the educational process (directors, lecturers, and students) and the people close to the bamboo transformation processes in Cuetzalan. The course is divided into three phases. First, students and professors discuss critical topics about complex systems and wicked problems, participatory methodologies, capitalism and globalization, non-western knowledge, social power dynamics, and Socio-technical systems. The second phase involves independent and guided fieldwork to share thoughts and intentions with the bamboo material and its possible applications. Lastly, there are different creation, experimentation, and exposition moments where each actor could share comments about all the experiences. The results intended to provide analytical tools that allow design students and educational staff members to deconstruct their economical-industrial roots to tend bridges that harmonize imaginative and creative attitudes between designers and rural craftspersons.

Railway transport market necessities demand a speed increase of medium and long distance circulations. The commitment with environment and the saturation of the European airspace explain the present success of the European high speed railway lines and specially the Spanish High Speed Lines thanks to the courageous plan of investments that foretells a promising future for this sector. In order to reach greater speed in a more rational, economic and systematic way, the use of mathematical model based simulation tools that allow simulating the behaviour of the system in a trustworthy and economic form are a must. Railway lines’ requirements until now were based in proven veteran designs. Nevertheless the current demands are enormous and the use of computer tools to study the electrical behavior to reach the objective is unavoidable. Thus, simulation tools permits the calculation of the technical characteristics of the electrification system by obtaining the necessary physical magnitudes to evaluate correct operation and correctly sizing of the elements that are part of the electrification system.

In the context of digital transformations, the development of telecommunications enterprises is one of the basic conditions for the digitalization of the country’s economy. The paper developed a mechanism for assessing the effectiveness of sustainable development of a telecommunications enterprise, based on the principles of constructing neural networks by assessing the economic, environmental and social subsystems of the enterprise. The mechanism is a set of analytical, evaluative and resulting blocks, the key link of which is to determine the multiplier of the effectiveness of balanced development based on the calculation of indicators of economic, social, environmental and institutional subsystems of external and internal development in order to form a triune strategy for concretizing potential opportunities in the context of digital transformations and its application as a correction factor in assessing the business value of a telecommunications company.

Artistic institutions are traditionally places of cultural and social memory reverberation. Such spaces have a character of institutionalisation of the cultural market. Contemporary works of art and the exhibition format are factors that shape the possibilities of consumption and experience from visitors within these spaces. By taking advantage of the artifices of their time, art and artists appropriate new digital Technologies, digital culture contextualizes this movement, interweaving new paradigms in the exhibition spaces of museums, galleries and cultural centres. It is clear that the artistic production that involves digital media at some level creates increasingly subjective and hybrid paths between machine and human in the processes. This occurs not only in the scope of raw material and in the production of their poetics and narratives, but also in every present social context, of consumption, access, and dissemination of artistic works. In the last 10 years there has been a growing number of public in cultural institutions in Brazil (data from IPEA - Institute for Applied Economic Research), this curve does not resemble any increase in investment in public policies, improvement in education or culture. This rate of increase in visitors to cultural spaces is like the increase in access to mobile devices and use of the internet and social networks, perhaps, at some level, it shows that internet access and digital culture may be enabling an environment of spontaneous dissemination for the artistic market in Brazil. With the advent of smartphones and the constant use of this technology in various moments of leisure and work, the habit of taking a picture from any work of art has become something normalised in institutions. This process can create different media flows that reformulate the visitor's experience in front of the exhibition space. In this way, the traditional and passive spectator subject is mixed with the user subject present in digital culture, with its agency potential and sharing capacity. Although these photographs present themselves in society as a cultural product, their visualisation and distribution extend to a computational level. This master's research project proposes to establish dialogues between the field of communication and the arts, especially digital culture, and aesthetic experience. The object of study is the production of photographic images made by visitors to cultural exhibitions through smartphones and shared on the Instagram social network. Through the use of artificial intelligence, it will be possible to analyse hundreds of images from the Instagram social network that were taken at the Banco do Brasil Cultural Centre, located in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Brazilian institution with the highest number of visitors in the last 5 years). This qualitative and quantitative analysis enables a reflection on the contemporary media character present in art exhibition spaces and the observation of new experiences between public, work, and digital culture.

O desenho industrial profissionalizou-se na América Latina durante os anos 60 e 70 sob um plano internacional de desenvolvimento econômico e tecnológico para nações “subdesenvolvidas”, apoiado, principalmente, pelos Estados Unidos e vários países europeus. Desde então, muitos estudiosos revisaram a prática do desenho industrial e propuseram novas formas de reinterpretar o design latino-americano, de acordo com as perspectivas atuais sobre o contexto e o território. Esta pesquisa busca um modelo educacional reflexivo, baseado na compreensão de um sistema sociotécnico para uma prática mista de design artesanal-industrial com comunidades rurais no México. Combinando perspectivas pós e descoloniais e teorias críticas do neoliberalismo no campo do design, e análises localizadas de práticas de design dentro das comunidades rurais de fabricantes de produtos de bambu em Cuetzalan (Puebla, México), é possível desvendar a agência de tradução de designers (também como indivíduos com interesses pessoais e profissionais) entre as pressões do sistema econômico global e interno de crenças e posições das comunidades. Apesar dos extensos esforços para estudar a transformação da prática do design no continente, é necessário destacar que a educação profissional em design quase não incorporou nenhuma dessas reflexões em suas estruturas acadêmicas institucionais. Como mostra o professor Juan Camilo Buitrago no caso colombiano, muitas universidades estavam vinculadas às políticas econômicas do governo “pela necessidade de se alinharem aos projetos que o Estado estava mobilizando a partir da industrialização para incentivar as exportações” (2012, p. 26). Esta ideia ainda é válida, pois as universidades públicas e privadas competem constantemente por recursos econômicos, que trocam com conhecimentos aplicados que apontam para o desenvolvimento de diversos setores da economia. A influência dos regimes de representação do desenvolvimento na prática do design na América Latina é perceptível quando se analisa a partir de uma perspectiva rural. É possível encontrar nesses contextos inúmeros estudos que buscam conciliar as formas epistemológicas e ontológicas acadêmicas com as formas rurais de compreensão do mundo. Apesar disso, as ideias de alcançar o bem-estar a partir do desenvolvimento se manifestam em todas as camadas sociais, segundo a obra de Arturo Escobar. Este trabalho fez parte de uma série de cursos de nível universitário, que trazem novas perspectivas sobre a organização econômica e política a partir de estruturas cooperativas dentro das práticas de design. A pesquisa atual inclui todos os atores envolvidos no processo educacional e as pessoas próximas aos processos de transformação do bambu em Cuetzalan. Os resultados fornecem ferramentas analíticas que permitem aos designers desconstruir suas raízes econômico-industriais para cuidar de pontes que harmonizem atitudes imaginativas e criativas entre designers e artesãos rurais. Estas atitudes não estão relacionadas apenas à configuração das habilidades ou sensibilidade dos produtos, mas, também, à capacidade de compreender outras formas de perceber e se conectar com o mundo e a sociedade.

This work seeks to understand how and if the entertainment experience obtained by watching videos on the Tik Tok social platform that uses editing and design tools, such as distortion filters for physical appearance and voice, is also an immersive experience that causes a shock to the user as understood by Walter Benjamin (2010) when this communicational subject is crossed by a sensation of the modern and that has, as a consequence, the disintegration of the aura in the experience of shock. According to Rouanet (1990) "the psychic instance in charge of capturing and absorbing the shock starts to dominate over the instances in charge of storing memory impressions”. In this case awareness has the function of "serving as protection against stimuli, sublimating impacts, maturing the fright into anguish or fun, so as not to succumb to amazement" (PEIXOTO, 1983) and can be linked to the production of content of fast circulation and absorption, made exclusively for social networks and platforms such as Tik Tok. Platforms that work with such design are also guided by the hands of users with content creation to shock an audience immersed in what is called Snack Culture (SCOLARI, 2020). As for a culture that develops a sensorial audiovisual content format, these contents provoke a sensory effect, a brief and ephemeral experience within a project that can be understood as artistic and created in a dynamic between playful and entertainment. The sensorial effect of these contents offers a unique and unprecedented experience, typical of an avant-garde work of art. In the 'contemporary arcades' of the Internet, videos from both Tik Tok and other platforms – with similar features - have similar tools created daily increasing the number of accesses, seeking to retain the media user and seem to attempt to lead the user to an immersive experience in an Attention Economy system as described by Jonathan Crary (2015) as something that “dissolve the separation between the personal and the professional, between entertainment and information, displaced by a compulsory functionality of communication inherently and inescapably 24/7.” Altogether with these ideas is the view of Simon Reynolds (2010) that popular culture has become a remix or rereading of something done before, based on any type of information available. Therefore, from this point of view, the reappropriation becomes infinite – something you see in Tik Tok videos. This text is built applied to the communicational practice of the use of platforms and is an attempt to understand the contemporary media paths that are outlined with the platform of culture. The platforms, a communication event in itself, raise questions about a new circulation of goods and gestures by communicational subjects who act on this frequency. It is a work that positions itself in the face of the contemporary urgency of the online life, its fast transformations and society's pursuits in a time that requires critical thinking about the moment we live in. to account for the moment in which we live.

Abstract Sand control poses huge financial loses during production operations particularly in mature fields. It hinders economic oil production rates as well as damages downhole and surface equipment due to its abrasive action. Excessive sand production rates can plug the wellhead, flow lines, and separators which can result in detrimental well control situations. This paper will provide a comparative study on various sand control mechanisms by reviewing the latest advancements in sand management techniques. This study evaluates the performance of through-tubing sand screens, internal gravel pack, cased hole expandable sand screen, modular gravel pack system, openhole standalone screen, multi-zone single trip gravel pack, slim gravel pack, and chemical sand consolidation mechanisms. Various field examples from Niger-Delta, Mahakam oil and gas block, and offshore Malaysia are examined to gain an insight about the application of aforementioned sand control methods for different type of reservoirs. This study enables the operator to tackle the sand production problem according to the well construction changes during the life cycle of a well. The internal gravel pack completion system delivers a prolonged plateau production regime in shallow depths. In high drawdown conditions, chemical sand consolidation completion incurs early water breakthrough and elevated sand production. Chemical sand consolidation technique yields better results in deeper formations and its placement can be improvised by implementing coiled tubing and diversion techniques for multi-stage treatments. Depending on the well inclination, gas-water contact, producing zone type and thickness, well age, and economy, the completion types out of modular gravel pack, openhole standalone screen, slim gravel pack, and through tubing sand screen is recommended accordingly. Acquiring offset data, well log analysis, particle size distribution and performing pressure tests will improve the data quality of the obtained reservoir properties. This will further help in the selection of the most suitable sand control method for the target reservoir.

1000 MWe Advanced Boiling Water Reactor has only two main steam lines and six reactor internal pumps, whereas 1350 MWe ABWR has four main steam lines and ten reactor internal pumps. In order to confirm how the differences affect hydrodynamic conditions in the dome and lower plenum of the reactor pressure vessel, fluid analyses have been performed. The results indicate that there is not substantial difference between 1000 MWe ABWR and 1350 MWe ABWR. The primary containment vessel of the ABWR consists of the drywell and suppression chamber. The suppression chamber stores water to suppress pressure increase in the primary containment vessel and to be used as the source of water for the emergency core cooling system following a loss-of-coolant accident. Because the reactor pressure vessel of 1000 MWe ABWR is smaller than that of 1350 MWe ABWR, there is room to reduce the size of the primary containment vessel. It has been confirmed feasible to reduce inner diameter of the primary containment vessel from 29m of 1350 MWe ABWR to 26.5m. From an economic viewpoint, a shorter outage that results in higher availability of the plant is preferable. In order to achieve 20-day outage that results in 97% of availability, improvement of the systems for removal of decay heat is introduced that enables to stop all the safety-related decay heat removal systems except at the beginning of an outage.

Accurate combustion analysis at the test bed is an important tool for the development engineer. It can help engine design, efficiency improvements or emissions reduction by providing instantaneous feedback on the combustion process. It can also provide detailed combustion information to help speed-up the engine calibration process. By implementing shared memory communication, multiple core capability and streamlined calculation techniques, the calculation time of AVL gas exchange and combustion analysis software GCA (Gas Exchange and Combustion Analysis) has been dramatically reduced without significantly decreasing calculation results accuracy. This allows AVL IndiCOM (in combination with AVL GCA) to perform accurate gas exchange and combustion analysis calculations directly and promptly at the test bed. This opens the door to a number of promising new applications by erasing the bridge between measurement data acquisition and post-processing analysis. Increase of measurement data consistency and the reduction of development time are two of the most important benefits of being able to perform “on-line” plausibility checks of measurement data. The strong links connecting AVL GCA calculation results to the measurement data and the redundancy between calculation and measurement for the assessment of some highly relevant engine parameters (e.g. IMEP, air mass flow) can greatly extend the “on-line” plausibility checks functions already available in AVL IndiCom or AVL test bed automation software PUMA. Some passenger car application examples, where valve train flexibility is used to enhance fuel economy or reduce exhaust emissions of internal combustion engines, show that the immediate availability at the test bed of gas exchange related parameters (e.g. internal EGR rate, scavenged mass, mass flows through the valves) supports an intuitive optimization of the valve train parameters.

In the spring of 2008, WIFO, KMU Forschung Austria, Prognos AG in Germany and convelop were jointly commissioned by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Economy, Family and Youth to perform a systems evaluation of the country's research promotion and funding activities. Based on their findings, six recommendations were developed for a change in Austrian RTDI policy as outlined below: 1. to move from a narrow to a broader approach in RTDI policy (links to education policy, consideration of the framework for innovation such as competition, international perspectives and mobility); 2. to move from an imitation to a frontrunner strategy (striving for excellence and market leadership in niche and high-quality segments, increasing market shares in advanced sectors and technology fields, and operating in segments of relevance for society); 3. to move from a fragmented approach to public intervention to a more coordinated and consistent approach(explicit economic goals, internal and external challenges and reasoning for public intervention); 4. to move from a multiplicity of narrowly defined funding programmes to a flexible, dynamic policy that uses a broader definition of its tasks and priorities (key technology and research segments as priority-action fields, adequate financing of clusters and centres of excellence); 5. to move from an unclear to a precisely defined allocation of responsibilities between ministries and other players in the field (high-ranking steering group at government level, monitoring by a Science, Research and Innovation Council); 6. to move from red-tape-bound to a modern management of public intervention (institutional separation between ministries formulating policies and agencies executing them, e.g., by "progressive autonomy").

1.1 Macroeconomic summary Economic recovery has consistently outperformed the technical staff’s expectations following a steep decline in activity in the second quarter of 2020. At the same time, total and core inflation rates have fallen and remain at low levels, suggesting that a significant element of the reactivation of Colombia’s economy has been related to recovery in potential GDP. This would support the technical staff’s diagnosis of weak aggregate demand and ample excess capacity. The most recently available data on 2020 growth suggests a contraction in economic activity of 6.8%, lower than estimates from January’s Monetary Policy Report (-7.2%). High-frequency indicators suggest that economic performance was significantly more dynamic than expected in January, despite mobility restrictions and quarantine measures. This has also come amid declines in total and core inflation, the latter of which was below January projections if controlling for certain relative price changes. This suggests that the unexpected strength of recent growth contains elements of demand, and that excess capacity, while significant, could be lower than previously estimated. Nevertheless, uncertainty over the measurement of excess capacity continues to be unusually high and marked both by variations in the way different economic sectors and spending components have been affected by the pandemic, and by uneven price behavior. The size of excess capacity, and in particular the evolution of the pandemic in forthcoming quarters, constitute substantial risks to the macroeconomic forecast presented in this report. Despite the unexpected strength of the recovery, the technical staff continues to project ample excess capacity that is expected to remain on the forecast horizon, alongside core inflation that will likely remain below the target. Domestic demand remains below 2019 levels amid unusually significant uncertainty over the size of excess capacity in the economy. High national unemployment (14.6% for February 2021) reflects a loose labor market, while observed total and core inflation continue to be below 2%. Inflationary pressures from the exchange rate are expected to continue to be low, with relatively little pass-through on inflation. This would be compatible with a negative output gap. Excess productive capacity and the expectation of core inflation below the 3% target on the forecast horizon provide a basis for an expansive monetary policy posture. The technical staff’s assessment of certain shocks and their expected effects on the economy, as well as the presence of several sources of uncertainty and related assumptions about their potential macroeconomic impacts, remain a feature of this report. The coronavirus pandemic, in particular, continues to affect the public health environment, and the reopening of Colombia’s economy remains incomplete. The technical staff’s assessment is that the COVID-19 shock has affected both aggregate demand and supply, but that the impact on demand has been deeper and more persistent. Given this persistence, the central forecast accounts for a gradual tightening of the output gap in the absence of new waves of contagion, and as vaccination campaigns progress. The central forecast continues to include an expected increase of total and core inflation rates in the second quarter of 2021, alongside the lapse of the temporary price relief measures put in place in 2020. Additional COVID-19 outbreaks (of uncertain duration and intensity) represent a significant risk factor that could affect these projections. Additionally, the forecast continues to include an upward trend in sovereign risk premiums, reflected by higher levels of public debt that in the wake of the pandemic are likely to persist on the forecast horizon, even in the context of a fiscal adjustment. At the same time, the projection accounts for the shortterm effects on private domestic demand from a fiscal adjustment along the lines of the one currently being proposed by the national government. This would be compatible with a gradual recovery of private domestic demand in 2022. The size and characteristics of the fiscal adjustment that is ultimately implemented, as well as the corresponding market response, represent another source of forecast uncertainty. Newly available information offers evidence of the potential for significant changes to the macroeconomic scenario, though without altering the general diagnosis described above. The most recent data on inflation, growth, fiscal policy, and international financial conditions suggests a more dynamic economy than previously expected. However, a third wave of the pandemic has delayed the re-opening of Colombia’s economy and brought with it a deceleration in economic activity. Detailed descriptions of these considerations and subsequent changes to the macroeconomic forecast are presented below. The expected annual decline in GDP (-0.3%) in the first quarter of 2021 appears to have been less pronounced than projected in January (-4.8%). Partial closures in January to address a second wave of COVID-19 appear to have had a less significant negative impact on the economy than previously estimated. This is reflected in figures related to mobility, energy demand, industry and retail sales, foreign trade, commercial transactions from selected banks, and the national statistics agency’s (DANE) economic tracking indicator (ISE). Output is now expected to have declined annually in the first quarter by 0.3%. Private consumption likely continued to recover, registering levels somewhat above those from the previous year, while public consumption likely increased significantly. While a recovery in investment in both housing and in other buildings and structures is expected, overall investment levels in this case likely continued to be low, and gross fixed capital formation is expected to continue to show significant annual declines. Imports likely recovered to again outpace exports, though both are expected to register significant annual declines. Economic activity that outpaced projections, an increase in oil prices and other export products, and an expected increase in public spending this year account for the upward revision to the 2021 growth forecast (from 4.6% with a range between 2% and 6% in January, to 6.0% with a range between 3% and 7% in April). As a result, the output gap is expected to be smaller and to tighten more rapidly than projected in the previous report, though it is still expected to remain in negative territory on the forecast horizon. Wide forecast intervals reflect the fact that the future evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic remains a significant source of uncertainty on these projections. The delay in the recovery of economic activity as a result of the resurgence of COVID-19 in the first quarter appears to have been less significant than projected in the January report. The central forecast scenario expects this improved performance to continue in 2021 alongside increased consumer and business confidence. Low real interest rates and an active credit supply would also support this dynamic, and the overall conditions would be expected to spur a recovery in consumption and investment. Increased growth in public spending and public works based on the national government’s spending plan (Plan Financiero del Gobierno) are other factors to consider. Additionally, an expected recovery in global demand and higher projected prices for oil and coffee would further contribute to improved external revenues and would favor investment, in particular in the oil sector. Given the above, the technical staff’s 2021 growth forecast has been revised upward from 4.6% in January (range from 2% to 6%) to 6.0% in April (range from 3% to 7%). These projections account for the potential for the third wave of COVID-19 to have a larger and more persistent effect on the economy than the previous wave, while also supposing that there will not be any additional significant waves of the pandemic and that mobility restrictions will be relaxed as a result. Economic growth in 2022 is expected to be 3%, with a range between 1% and 5%. This figure would be lower than projected in the January report (3.6% with a range between 2% and 6%), due to a higher base of comparison given the upward revision to expected GDP in 2021. This forecast also takes into account the likely effects on private demand of a fiscal adjustment of the size currently being proposed by the national government, and which would come into effect in 2022. Excess in productive capacity is now expected to be lower than estimated in January but continues to be significant and affected by high levels of uncertainty, as reflected in the wide forecast intervals. The possibility of new waves of the virus (of uncertain intensity and duration) represents a significant downward risk to projected GDP growth, and is signaled by the lower limits of the ranges provided in this report. Inflation (1.51%) and inflation excluding food and regulated items (0.94%) declined in March compared to December, continuing below the 3% target. The decline in inflation in this period was below projections, explained in large part by unanticipated increases in the costs of certain foods (3.92%) and regulated items (1.52%). An increase in international food and shipping prices, increased foreign demand for beef, and specific upward pressures on perishable food supplies appear to explain a lower-than-expected deceleration in the consumer price index (CPI) for foods. An unexpected increase in regulated items prices came amid unanticipated increases in international fuel prices, on some utilities rates, and for regulated education prices. The decline in annual inflation excluding food and regulated items between December and March was in line with projections from January, though this included downward pressure from a significant reduction in telecommunications rates due to the imminent entry of a new operator. When controlling for the effects of this relative price change, inflation excluding food and regulated items exceeds levels forecast in the previous report. Within this indicator of core inflation, the CPI for goods (1.05%) accelerated due to a reversion of the effects of the VAT-free day in November, which was largely accounted for in February, and possibly by the transmission of a recent depreciation of the peso on domestic prices for certain items (electric and household appliances). For their part, services prices decelerated and showed the lowest rate of annual growth (0.89%) among the large consumer baskets in the CPI. Within the services basket, the annual change in rental prices continued to decline, while those services that continue to experience the most significant restrictions on returning to normal operations (tourism, cinemas, nightlife, etc.) continued to register significant price declines. As previously mentioned, telephone rates also fell significantly due to increased competition in the market. Total inflation is expected to continue to be affected by ample excesses in productive capacity for the remainder of 2021 and 2022, though less so than projected in January. As a result, convergence to the inflation target is now expected to be somewhat faster than estimated in the previous report, assuming the absence of significant additional outbreaks of COVID-19. The technical staff’s year-end inflation projections for 2021 and 2022 have increased, suggesting figures around 3% due largely to variation in food and regulated items prices. The projection for inflation excluding food and regulated items also increased, but remains below 3%. Price relief measures on indirect taxes implemented in 2020 are expected to lapse in the second quarter of 2021, generating a one-off effect on prices and temporarily affecting inflation excluding food and regulated items. However, indexation to low levels of past inflation, weak demand, and ample excess productive capacity are expected to keep core inflation below the target, near 2.3% at the end of 2021 (previously 2.1%). The reversion in 2021 of the effects of some price relief measures on utility rates from 2020 should lead to an increase in the CPI for regulated items in the second half of this year. Annual price changes are now expected to be higher than estimated in the January report due to an increased expected path for fuel prices and unanticipated increases in regulated education prices. The projection for the CPI for foods has increased compared to the previous report, taking into account certain factors that were not anticipated in January (a less favorable agricultural cycle, increased pressure from international prices, and transport costs). Given the above, year-end annual inflation for 2021 and 2022 is now expected to be 3% and 2.8%, respectively, which would be above projections from January (2.3% and 2,7%). For its part, expected inflation based on analyst surveys suggests year-end inflation in 2021 and 2022 of 2.8% and 3.1%, respectively. There remains significant uncertainty surrounding the inflation forecasts included in this report due to several factors: 1) the evolution of the pandemic; 2) the difficulty in evaluating the size and persistence of excess productive capacity; 3) the timing and manner in which price relief measures will lapse; and 4) the future behavior of food prices. Projected 2021 growth in foreign demand (4.4% to 5.2%) and the supposed average oil price (USD 53 to USD 61 per Brent benchmark barrel) were both revised upward. An increase in long-term international interest rates has been reflected in a depreciation of the peso and could result in relatively tighter external financial conditions for emerging market economies, including Colombia. Average growth among Colombia’s trade partners was greater than expected in the fourth quarter of 2020. This, together with a sizable fiscal stimulus approved in the United States and the onset of a massive global vaccination campaign, largely explains the projected increase in foreign demand growth in 2021. The resilience of the goods market in the face of global crisis and an expected normalization in international trade are additional factors. These considerations and the expected continuation of a gradual reduction of mobility restrictions abroad suggest that Colombia’s trade partners could grow on average by 5.2% in 2021 and around 3.4% in 2022. The improved prospects for global economic growth have led to an increase in current and expected oil prices. Production interruptions due to a heavy winter, reduced inventories, and increased supply restrictions instituted by producing countries have also contributed to the increase. Meanwhile, market forecasts and recent Federal Reserve pronouncements suggest that the benchmark interest rate in the U.S. will remain stable for the next two years. Nevertheless, a significant increase in public spending in the country has fostered expectations for greater growth and inflation, as well as increased uncertainty over the moment in which a normalization of monetary policy might begin. This has been reflected in an increase in long-term interest rates. In this context, emerging market economies in the region, including Colombia, have registered increases in sovereign risk premiums and long-term domestic interest rates, and a depreciation of local currencies against the dollar. Recent outbreaks of COVID-19 in several of these economies; limits on vaccine supply and the slow pace of immunization campaigns in some countries; a significant increase in public debt; and tensions between the United States and China, among other factors, all add to a high level of uncertainty surrounding interest rate spreads, external financing conditions, and the future performance of risk premiums. The impact that this environment could have on the exchange rate and on domestic financing conditions represent risks to the macroeconomic and monetary policy forecasts. Domestic financial conditions continue to favor recovery in economic activity. The transmission of reductions to the policy interest rate on credit rates has been significant. The banking portfolio continues to recover amid circumstances that have affected both the supply and demand for loans, and in which some credit risks have materialized. Preferential and ordinary commercial interest rates have fallen to a similar degree as the benchmark interest rate. As is generally the case, this transmission has come at a slower pace for consumer credit rates, and has been further delayed in the case of mortgage rates. Commercial credit levels stabilized above pre-pandemic levels in March, following an increase resulting from significant liquidity requirements for businesses in the second quarter of 2020. The consumer credit portfolio continued to recover and has now surpassed February 2020 levels, though overall growth in the portfolio remains low. At the same time, portfolio projections and default indicators have increased, and credit establishment earnings have come down. Despite this, credit disbursements continue to recover and solvency indicators remain well above regulatory minimums. 1.2 Monetary policy decision In its meetings in March and April the BDBR left the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1.75%.

Research problem: Bread wheat (Triticumaestivum) provides approximately 20% of the calories and proteins consumed by humankind. As the world population continues to increase, it is necessary to improve wheat yields, increase grain quality, and minimize the losses produced by biotic and abiotic stresses. Stripe rust, caused by Pucciniastriiformisf. sp. tritici(Pst), is one of the most destructive diseases of wheat. The new pathogen races are more virulent and aggressive than previous ones and have produced large economic losses. A rich source for stripe-rust resistance genes (Yr) was found in wild emmer wheat populations from Israel. Original Project goals: Our long term goal is to identify, map, clone, characterize and deploy in breeding, novel wild emmer Yr genes, and combine them with multiple beneficial traits. The current study was aiming to map and clone YrG303 and Yr15, located on chromosome 1BS and combine them with drought resistance and grain quality genes. Positional cloning of YrG303/Yr15: Fine mapping of these genes revealed that YrG303 is actually allelic to Yr15. Fine genetic mapping using large segregating populations resulted in reduction of the genetic interval spanning Yr15 to less than 0.1 cM. Physical mapping of the YrG303/Yr15 locus was based on the complete chromosome 1BS physical map of wheat constructed by our group. Screening of 1BS BAC library with Yr15 markers revealed a long BAC scaffold covering the target region. The screening of T. dicoccoidesaccession-specific BAC library with Yr15 markers resulted in direct landing on the target site. Sequencing of T. dicoccoidesBAC clones that cover the YrG303/Yr15 locus revealed a single candidate gene (CG) with conserved domains that may indicate a role in disease resistance response. Validation of the CG was carried out using EMS mutagenesis (loss-of- function approach). Sequencing of the CG in susceptible yr15/yrG303 plants revealed three independent mutants that harbour non-functional yr15/yrG303 alleles within the CG conserved domains, and therefore validated its function as a Pstresistance gene. Evaluation of marker-assisted-selection (MAS) for Yr15. Introgressions of Yr15 into cultivated wheat are widely used now. Recently, we have shown that DNA markers linked to Yr15 can be used as efficient tools for introgression of Yr15 into cultivated wheat via MAS. The developed markers were consistent and polymorphic in all 34 tested introgressions and are the most recommended markers for the introgression of Yr15. These markers will facilitate simultaneous selection for multiple Yr genes and help to avoid escapees during the selection process. Engineering of improved chromosome 1BS that harbors multiple beneficial traits. We have implemented the knowledge and genetic resources accumulated in this project for the engineering of 1B "super-chromosome" that harbors multiple beneficial traits. We completed the generation of a chromosome including the rye 1RS distal segment associated with improved drought tolerance with the Yr gene, Yr15, and the strong gluten allele 7Bx-over-expressor (7Bxᴼᴱ). We have completed the introgression of this improved chromosome into our recently released variety Patwin-515HP and our rain fed variety Kern, as well as to our top breeding lines UC1767 and UC1745. Elucidating the mechanism of resistance exhibited by Yr36 (WKS1). The WHEAT KINASE START1 (WKS1) resistance gene (Yr36) confers partial resistance to Pst. We have shown that wheat plants transformed with WKS1 transcript are resistant to Pst. WKS1 is targeted to the chloroplast where it phosphorylates the thylakoid-associatedascorbateperoxidase (tAPX) and reduces its ability to detoxify peroxides. Based on these results, we propose that the phosphorylation of tAPX by WKS1 reduces the ability of the cells to detoxify ROS and contributes to cell death. Distribution and diversity of WKS in wild emmer populations. We have shown that WKS1 is present only in the southern distribution range of wild emmer in the Fertile Crescent. Sequence analysis revealed a high level of WKS1 conservation among wild emmer populations, in contrast to the high level of diversity observed in NB-LRR genes. This phenomenon shed some light on the evolution of genes that confer partial resistance to Pst. Three new WKS1 haplotypes displayed a resistance response, suggesting that they can be useful to improve wheat resistance to Pst. In summary, we have improved our understanding of cereals’ resistance mechanisms to rusts and we have used that knowledge to develop improved wheat varieties.