Sustainability assessment within the residential building sector: a practical life cycle method applied in a developed and a developing country

More than ever, the residential building sector is concerned with improving the social, economicand environmental indicators of sustainability. In order to overcome the increasing concern of today'sresource depletion, environmental considerations and to address sustainability indicators, a practicallife cycle method has been proposed to decision making integrating environmental and socioeconomicalaspects to analyse the impact of sustainability within the residential building sector usingtwo practical life cycle methods. One method is the Material and Energy Analysis (MEA) which issuggested as an appropriate tool to provide a systematic picture of the direct and physical flows of theuse of natural resources and the other is the environmental management tool of Life CycleAssessment (LCA) as a complement to evaluate environmental impacts throughout the life cycle of thesystem.Furthermore, the method provides sustainability information that facility an adequate decisionmaking towards sustainable development at macro and micro levels. Sustainability assessment atmacro level is determined by exogenous variables that can influence the development of a country.Meanwhile sustainable at the micro level is made within the limits of the whole building life cycle,starting from the construction, use (operation and maintenance) and finishing with the end-of-lifephase. To illustrate it, a case study has been carried out based on the application to two buildings, onelocated in Barcelona, Spain and one situated in Pamplona, Colombia. Then, the main objective of thisthesis is to propose a practical life cycle method including environmental and socio-economicalaspects to evaluate indicators that explicitly measure the residential building sector's impacts. Thisthesis has also provided initiatives for residential dwellings to reduce environmental impacts and assiststakeholders in improving customer patterns during the dwelling life cycle.The findings of this thesis state that the appropriate combination of building materials,improvement in behaviours and patterns of cultural consumption, and the application of governmentcodes would enhance decision-making in the residential building sector towards sustainability. Thedifference in consumption in Colombia and Spanish dwellings is not only due to the variation in resultsfor bio-climatic differences but also because of the consumption habits in each country. Theimportance of consumption habits of citizens and the need to decouple socio-economic developmentfrom energy consumption are sought for achieving sustainability from a life cycle perspective. There isa crucial necessity to provide satisfaction to basic needs and comfort requirements of population withreasonable and sustainable energy consumption.Therefore, there is no doubt that applying environmental managements tools as Life CycleAssessment (LCA) and Material and Energy Analysis (MEA) to the full building life cycle can be veryimportant for reducing environmental loads and thereby improving sustainability indicators. Then, anyimprovement in building sustainability is oriented generally to building materials, energy use and wastemanagement in all phases of the building life cycle, having always in mind that building has to bexxviiiaccessible from an economical and social part of view. The type of standard dwelling variessubstantially depending on the geographic location where it is built. Climate, technological, cultural,socio-economical differences clearly define the standard of a building in any context and in any region.This leads to important differences in the LCA results and it means that any extrapolation of existingEuropean LCA data to the case of a developing country would imply important errors. However, thefunction is always the same, to provide protection and housing for its habitants.Hoy en día, el sector residencial busca mejorar los indicadores de sostenibilidad en los aspectossociales, económicos y ambientales. Con el fin de considerar la creciente preocupación delagotamiento de los recursos naturales y buscar reducir las emisiones adversa al medio ambiente, unmétodo practico basado en el ciclo de vida se ha propuesto para la evaluación socio-económica yevaluación del impacto ambiental en sector residencial utilizando dos métodos. El primero es elAnálisis de Materiales y de Energía (AME) que proporciona una visión sistemática de los flujosdirectos e indirectos de la utilización de los recursos naturales y el segundo método es el Análisis delCiclo de Vida (ACV) como complemento para evaluar los impactos ambientales en todo el ciclo devida del sistema.Adicionalmente, el método proporciona información de sostenibilidad permitiendo la adecuadatoma de decisiones hacia el desarrollo sostenible en los niveles macro y micro. Evaluación de laSostenibilidad en el nivel macro está determinado por variables exógenas que influyen en eldesarrollo de un país. Mientras tanto, sostenibilidad en el nivel micro hace referencia dentro de loslímites de todo el ciclo de vida de una vivienda, comenzando por la fase de construcción, uso(operación y mantenimiento) y terminando con la fase final. Para ilustrarlo, un caso de estudio ha sidollevado a cabo en la aplicación de dos edificios, uno situado en Barcelona, España y otro situado enPamplona, Colombia. Por consiguiente, el objetivo principal de esta tesis es proponer un método quetenga en cuenta los aspectos medio-ambientales y socio-económicos que tiendan a mejorar lasostenibilidad y que explícitamente midan los impactos del sector de residencial. Esta tesis también propone iniciativas de mejora en las viviendas residenciales que conlleven a reducir los impactos ambientales y asistir a los agentes involucrados del sector.Las conclusiones de esta tesis soportan que la combinación adecuada de materiales deconstrucción, el buen comportamiento en los patrones de consumo, y la aplicación de códigos y leyes mejoraran los aspectos sostenibles en el sector de la construcción. La diferencia en el consumo en las viviendas de Colombia y en las Españolas no sólo se debe a la variación de las diferencias bioclimáticas,sino también por los hábitos de consumo en cada país. Se puede observar la importancia de los hábitos de consumo de los ciudadanos y la necesidad de disociar el desarrollo socioeconómico del consumo de energía. Existe una necesidad fundamental de dar satisfacción a las necesidades básicas y requerimientos de confort de la población con un consumo energético razonable y sostenible.Por lo tanto, no hay duda de que la aplicación de herramientas medioambientales como el análisis del ciclo de vida (ACV) y análisis de materiales y energía (AME) es muy importante para minimizar el impacto ambiental y buscar mejorar los indicadores de sostenibilidad. Queda implícito entonces que cualquier mejora en la sostenibilidad está orientado generalmente a la selección apropiada de materiales de construcción, el uso eficiente de energía y la correcta gestión de residuos en todas las fases del ciclo de vida del edificio, teniendo siempre en cuenta que el edificio tiene que ser accesible desde una parte económica y social. El tipo de vivienda estándar varía sustancialmente dependiendo de la ubicación geográfica donde se construya. Aspectos como el clima, la tecnología, la cultura y las diferencias socio-económicas definen claramente el nivel de un edificio en cualquier contexto y en cualquier región. Esto da lugar a importantes diferencias en los resultados del ACV y significa que cualquier extrapolación de datos europeos existentes del ACV para el caso de un paísen desarrollo implicaría errores importantes. Sin embargo, la función es siempre la misma,proporcionar protección y vivienda para sus habitante

Wettability Alteration Using Surfactants to Improve Oil Recovery from Unconventional Liquid Reservoirs

Improving oil recovery from unconventional liquid reservoirs (ULR) is a major challenge, and knowledge of recovery mechanisms and interaction of completion fluid additives with the rock is fundamental in tackling the problem. Fracture treatment performance and consequently oil recovery could be improved by adding surfactants to stimulation fluids to promote imbibition by wettability alteration and interfacial tension (IFT) reduction. The Young-Laplace equation relates the capillary pressure to IFT and contact angle. Thus, it follows that capillarity is significant in nanopores associated with ULR and complex as the contact angle (CA) and IFT varies simultaneously. This study analyzes the potential of improving oil recovery by imbibition using different groups of surfactants as additives to completion fluids by characterizing their interaction with oil and heterogeneous siliceous and carbonate ULR samples from the Wolfcamp, Eagle Ford, Bakken and Barnet formations as well as the effect of wettability modification and IFT reduction in maximizing well performance after stimulation. A correlated set of experiments were proposed beginning by characterizing ULR rocks and fluids and evaluating original wettability by measuring CA and zeta-potential. Then, different types of surfactants were evaluated to gauge their effectiveness in altering wettability and IFT. In addition, adsorption measurements were performed to calculate the amount of surfactant adsorbed into the rock. Moreover, spontaneous imbibition experiments were carried out in conjunction with CT scan technology to measure oil recovery, fluid penetration (imbibition) and change of fluid saturation in the rock samples with time. Then, a core-flooding system was designed to be combined with the CT scanner to experimentally simulate the fracture-treatment and to represent surfactant imbibition in an ULR core fracture during a soaking and flowback production scheme. The results showed that surfactant solutions are capable of altering ULR wettability to water-wet with moderate reduction of IFT. However, the extent of wettability alteration strongly depends on rock lithology, surfactant and oil type. Surfactant adsorption measurements also showed the dependence of rock lithology on surfactant performance. Moreover, spontaneous imbibition and core-flooding experiments suggested that wettability alteration and IFT reduction are beneficial to oil recovery as evidenced by the improved oil recovery when surfactants were used. These findings were consistent with CA, zeta potential, surfactant adsorption and IFT measurements. Next, to scale our laboratory results, imbibition rates and dimensionless time scaling curves were generated corroborating that fracture density and rock-fluid interactions are key parameters for oil recovery. From the results obtained, it can be concluded that moderate IFT reduction in addition to significant wettability alteration has optimum effect on improving oil recovery from these ULR. These findings provide insight in designing completion fluids and flowback schedules for these unconventional liquid resources

Lectura y escritura en la era digital. Desafíos que la introducción de las TIC impone a la tarea de estimular el desarrollo del lenguaje en niños jóvenes

El siguiente artículo es una reflexión sobre los cambios que están originando las nuevas tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) en los hábitos de leer, escribir y pensar; algunos temores justificados e injustificados de los adultos ante la introducción de los computadores en el contexto escolar y los desafíos que todo esto plantea a la tarea de los educadores.

El clado Gustavia (Lecythidaceae) en América Central: un nuevo registro de Gustavia sessilis y una clave para sus especies

Background and Aims: Gustavia sessilis is a neotropical tree, belonging to the Lecythidaceae family, until now known from the Colombian Chocó region only. In this paper, we report G. sessilis for the first time for Central America. Methods: Central American specimens of G. sessilis were collected in 2019 from the Darién Province (eastern Panama). Plant identifications were confirmed by comparing collected specimens with those identified earlier and housed in the MO, PMA, SCZ and UCH herbaria. Type specimens were examined by consulting the JSTOR Global Plants database. The estimations of the conservation status were made based on the criteria of the IUCN.Key results: The record of G. sessilis for Central America is presented, based on a collection made from eastern Panama (Darién Province). Photographs, taxonomic comments, and conservation notes are provided. Additionally, a key for the Central American Gustavia species is included.Conclusions: The distribution of G. sessilis now ranges from Bahía Piñas, Darién Province, Panama to the Condoto river, Chocó region, Colombia, highlighting the importance of the Chocó Panama-Colombia region for the conservation of biodiversity, since it could act as a natural corridor for species. Taking into account the small number of records and the restricted natural range of this species, we recommend considering G. sessilis as an endangered species.Antecedentes y Objetivos: Gustavia sessilis es un árbol neotropical perteneciente a la familia Lecythidaceae, hasta la fecha conocido únicamente de la región colombiana del Chocó. En este artículo, se registra por primera vez G. sessilis para Centroamérica.Métodos: Los especímenes centroamericanos de G. sessilis se recolectaron en la Provincia de Darién (oriente de Panamá), durante el año 2019. La identificación de las plantas se confirmó comparando los especímenes recolectados con las colecciones alojadas en los herbarios MO, PMA, SCZ y UCH. Los especímenes tipo se examinaron consultando la base de datos de JSTOR Global Plants. La estimación del estado de conservación se realizó con base en los criterios de la UICN.Resultados clave: El registro de G. sessilis en Centroamérica se presenta con base en una colección realizada en el Este de Panamá (Provincia de Darién). Se proporcionan fotografías, comentarios taxonómicos y notas sobre la conservación de esta especie. Además, se incluye una clave de las especies centroamericanas de Gustavia.Conclusiones: La distribución de G. sessilis se extiende desde Bahía Piñas, Provincia de Darién, Panamá hasta el río Condoto, región de Chocó, Colombia, lo que resalta la gran importancia de la región de Chocó Panamá-Colombia para la conservación de la biodiversidad, ya que podría actuar como corredor natural de especies. Teniendo en cuenta el escaso número de localidades y el restringido rango natural de esta especie, recomendamos considerar a G. sessilis como una especie en peligro de extinción

Dimensional characterization with Phased Array Ultrasonic testing of induced discontinuities in ASTM A36 steel by EDM and SMAW welding processes

This research evaluates the effect of the variables of Phased Array Ultrasonic Testing (PAUT) on the sectoral angular beam scans “S-Scan” and the geometric morphology of planar discontinuities such as the inclination for the ultrasonic beam and the shape of the extremity on accuracy in measurements. The study was carried out in two stages. During the first stage, eight ASTM A36 steel samples with machined notches by penetration from EDM and a welded sample with lack of penetration in a butt weld were designed and produced. In the second stage, it was measured the size of the discontinuities using ultrasound inspection and different configurations of the phase arrangement. The effect of each variable and inspection setting with errors between 0.2 % and 120 % were determined by statistical analysis.En esta investigación se evaluó el efecto que tienen las variables de la técnica de ultrasonido con arreglo de fases en los escaneos con haz angular sectorial “S-Scan” y la morfología geométrica de las discontinuadas planares como la inclinación respecto al haz ultrasónico y la forma del extremo sobre la exactitud en las mediciones. El estudio se desarrolló en dos etapas: en la primera se diseñaron y elaboraron ocho muestras de acero ASTM A36 con entallas mecanizadas mediante electroerosión por penetración y una muestra soldada con falta de penetración en una soldadura a tope; y en la segunda la medición del tamaño de las discontinuidades a partir de mediciones con ultrasonido empleando diferentes configuraciones del arreglo de fases. Mediante análisis estadístico se determinó el efecto de cada variable y configuraciones de inspección con errores entre 0,2 % y 120 %

La gestión del conocimiento desde la perspectiva del pensamiento del mestizaje

In the context of an administrative experience at the School of Languages at the University of Antioquia, they are thought different aspects concerning knowledge management. We start from the principle, marked by Mèlich (2002), according to which ethics is not an end but accompanying processes. Then, we think this mana¬gement from the ethics of mestization given by Nouss and Laplantine (2001, 2008) and Nouss (2005), in which complementarity rather than melting and differen¬tialism is proposed. We anticipate our analysis from these two perspectives, and through a qualitative approach of hermeneutical character understand knowledge management, as an act of complementarity where each of the participants of this process brings namely that as a manage¬ment tools, are forming a higher power that favors spaces for quality teaching and learning

Entrepreneurial Orientation and Firm Performance

This chapter assesses the important contribution of entrepreneurial orientation’s strategic determinant that influences export performance. Based on survey data from 247 Portuguese small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), findings suggest that entrepreneurial orientation has a positive and significant influence on export performance. This study deepens our understanding and provides novel insights into entrepreneurship and strategic management literature, since it combines multiple factors and has obtained the importance of each construct in SMEs business growth. Moreover, this chapter presents further evidences of the strategies that small firm managers should pursue and policy makers should promote

Two new records of the fern genus Lindsaea Dryand. ex Sm. (Lindsaeaceae) from Panama

We present the first records of Lindsaea leprieurii Hook. and Lindsaea angustipinna A.Rojas & Tejero from Panama. Images, taxonomic comments, conservation assessments, and geographic notes are provided