• Between August 30^th and September 04^th, 2015, internationally renowned researchers, and professors and students in the field of microbiology, molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics, biocatalysis and biotechnology, will meet at Universidad de Santiago to discuss the importance, developments and potential applications of extremophile microorganisms, which are able to thrive in extreme conditions. The Thermophiles 2015 Meeting is a world conference held every two years. For the first time, it will take place in South America and Universidad de Santiago will host its 13^th version. 

Between August 30^th and September 04^th, 2015, world-class scientists and students of the field of microbiology, molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics, biocatalysis and biotechnology will meet at Universidad de Santiago for the 13^th International Thermophiles Meeting 2015, a multidisciplinary forum held every two years to discuss the latest scientific developments, applications and importance of these microorganisms that live in different extreme environments of the world.

The purpose of this conference is to increase the knowledge of scientists and students in this research field and, at the same time, to invite them to explore its importance for biological sciences and industrial biotechnology.

“This is an excellent opportunity not only to expose our scientists and students to world-class science and scientists in this field, but also to propose new approaches and views to contribute to science in our country and Latin America,” Dr Jenny Blamey said. Dr Blamey is a professor at the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology of Universidad de Santiago and is in charge of the forum organization.

“It is important to mention that Chile is considered one of the six geographic areas with the most diverse extreme environments in the planet; therefore, the scientific matters that will be discussed during this conference are very relevant to the future scientific and technological development in this field in our country,” she added.

Scientists invited

Dr Karl Stetter is one of the scientists who will give a presentation during the activity. He is from Germany, a pioneer in the field of biological sciences and the discoverer of the microorganism Pyroccocus furiosus. The DNA polymerase from Pyroccocus furiosus is currently used for gene amplification and genome elucidation.

Another participant in the forum will be Dr Juergen Wiegel. He is from Germany too and is one of the most renowned microbiologists in the world and recipient of the Bergey’s Award.  

Dr Michael W. Adams, a British professor with many publications on this research field who leads the most important laboratory of structural genomics of extremophile microorganisms, will open the conference.

For further information, go to the meeting official web page: http://www.thermophiles2015.cl

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• In a seminar that gathered renowned researchers from USA, Spain and Chile, the Department of Linguistics and Literature commemorated the centenary of this work by Ferdinand de Saussure, which is essential for the study of language.

The Department of Linguistics and Literature of Universidad de Santiago de Chile celebrated with a seminar the 100 years of the Course in General Linguistics, by Ferdinand de Saussure, a book that professors at Chilean, American and Spanish universities consider as the starting point for the construction of the science that studies human language and languages.

Dr Domingo Román Montes de Oca, Head of the program of Pedagogy in Spanish Language and co-organizer of the activity, said that the seminar provided a space for academic discussion and conclusions that could lead to changes in curricula.

Students, professors and researchers at Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad Arturo Prat, Universidad de Concepción, Universidad Austral de Chile, Universidad Católica, Universidad de Chile, University of Maryland, Universitat de Barcelona and Universidad de Santiago, participated in the seminar.

An opportunity for academic discussion

The seminar was held at the auditorium of the Department of Mathematics and the opening ceremony was headed by Dr Marcelo Mella, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Dr Roxana Orrego, Head of the Department of Linguistics and Literature. On the occasion, the Academia Chilena de la Lengua introduced the book “El legado de Saussure” (Saussure’s legacy) by the renowned linguist and novelist of Universidad de Concepción, Dr Andrés Gallardo, who recently passed away.

According to Dr Orrego, the seminar met their expectations, “because it gathered together professors and specialists form several Chilean and foreign universities to analyze the importance of this course for the development of Linguistics as a science. This academic activity was of benefit to our students and professors and it contributes to the positioning of our Department and our Faculty in the academic community,” she said.

During the activity, Dr Manuel Rubio Manríquez (Universidad de Santiago), Dr Silvana Guerrero González (Universidad de Chile), Dr Teresa Oteíza Silva (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile) and Dr Bernardo Riffo (Universidad de Concepción), participated in the round table talk “La enseñanza de la Lingüística” (Teaching Linguistics).

Ferdinand de Saussure’s legacy

One of the special guests to the seminar was Dr Germán F. Westphal, professor at the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics, University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA, who has worked with Noam Chomsky as a direct collaborator. During his speech “Convergencias y divergencias: Saussure y Chomsky” (Convergence and Divergence: Saussure and Chomsky), he highlighted the stance of each of these renowned linguistic theorists.

For Dr Westphal, the activity was “an excellent celebration, because it has gathered people with different points of view with regard to the different approaches and problems that language poses. This commemoration is important, because Saussure definitely changed the field of Linguistics in his time and many of the things that he said have had an impact on the development and study of human language in the past 100 years,” he said.

The closing lecture was given by Dr Estrella Montolío Durán, professor of Spanish Linguistics at Universitat de Barcelona, who presented his work “Lingüística, comunicación y transferencia del conocimiento a la sociedad. Un reto para el siglo XXI,” (Linguistics, communication and transfer of knowledge to society: a challenge for the 21^st century) in which she highlighted how important is that teachers are able to explain their knowledge to society.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Professor Osvaldo García was invited to give a presentation on an organizational self-observation tool, called CLEHES©, to postdoctoral students of Takashi Ikegami Laboratory, an institution specialized in the field of artificial life, at University of Tokyo.

More than ten years ago, Osvaldo García, professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering of Universidad de Santiago, started to develop CLEHES, a tool that intends the individual to generate learning, both at a personal level and at workl, through self-observation and the observation of interactions among human beings and their constituting networks, developing a diagnosis and an organizational design through Body, Language, Emotion, History, Eros and Silence (CLEHES©, its acronym in Spanish).

The contribution made by the course given by professor García, called Human Reengineering for Action (Rihpla, its acronym in Spanish), of the Department of Industrial Engineering, together with the academic prominence and prestige of CLEHES, made the publication of this innovative tool to be among the 100 most important international scientific publications in the field. In turn, it called the attention of different institutions that were interested in this emerging and effective technology.

For this reason, the professor Takashi Ikegami´s artificial life laboratory at the renowned University of Tokyo, in Japan, contacted professor García and invited him to give a presentation in September 2013 to graduate students at that Asian institution.

Professor García explained that, at Takashi Ikegami Laboratory, where the latest advances in robotics are being developed, they had a closed seminar for postdoctoral students and, besides, they explored the applications of CLEHES to the field of artificial life.”

“Students there made an effort to evaluate what changes could be made to apply some aspects of CLEHES´ structural dynamics to robot building,” García said. “We even talked about the possibility of generating a CLEHES-Robotics tool in collaboration with our University,” he added.

Professor García, an academic at Universidad de Santiago, stressed that, in Japan, robot building “is not approached through aggressive or merely recreational policies. It is considered a contribution to society, for example, to help senior citizens.” Therefore, the social self-observation tool CLEHES would be very useful.

Professor García showed himself satisfied with the new possibilities of internationalization and collaborative work with Japanese specialists opened by the research during the Rihpla course and CLEHES, and besides, he highlighted the concept of applied “ortho-discipline”, that is to say, to respect the autonomy of the different specialists involved in a collaborative project.

“In the Japanese culture, it takes time to establish collaborative relationships, but even so, we were able to forge significant links with them and also with the Japanese Embassy, where entrepreneurship and innovation are developing valuable bilateral ties,” professor García concluded.

CLEHES used by young researchers

Susana Gómez, who is doing her dissertation on diagnosis for her Master´s degree in Engineering Sciences using CLEHES technology, said that this innovative tool has been very useful to young students who pursue a specialization in management solutions.

“The networks created due to the international prominence of CLEHES have been amazing,” she said.

“This is a really new tool for management that is gaining strength and is being put into practice. Japanese specialists have the theoretical knowledge and the laboratories, but they have not put this technology into practice. Here in Chile, we have taken it to companies and schools and we have also applied it in our academic unit both in undergraduate and graduate students,” she said

For his part, Roberto Álvarez, a student who obtained his Master´s degree in Engineering Sciences by doing his dissertation using CLEHES to solve organizational problems said: “This management tool has been very helpful for my professional career and for working at big companies.”

“Besides, studying and applying this meta-discipline has helped us to open opportunities and to differentiate ourselves from other universities’ students,” he concluded.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• The “Second LASER-TO-BIM Conference 2015” organized by the School of Architecture of Universidad de Santiago was positively evaluated. It aimed to promote among academics and business people the use of digital representations of objects by means of laser and BIM technology. The software scans the object by means of a laser and creates a scale model, what allows seeing its details in 3D on a computer.

With the purpose of bringing together all the initiatives related to the use of laser scanning tools and their application in BIM (Building Information Modelling) software environments,  the “Second LASER-TO-BIM Conference 2015” was held at the MIDA’s Room at the School of Architecture of Universidad de Santiago.

The activity was organized by the School of Architecture and it intended to promote the massive use of this technology in the engineering, architecture and building industry and its inclusion in the curricula of university programs.

BIM GROUP

The founder of the BIM Group of Universidad de Santiago, the architect Gastón Herrera, explained that this activity was oriented to company representatives and people related to the academia.

He added that “the BIM Group of Universidad de Santiago is an initiative of the School of Architecture, which has been working with this software program for more than 10 years. For this reason, the idea is to contact other professionals from different fields, like topography and mechanics, to allow information transfer among different areas and transform this integrated work of the BIM Group in a model for the country.”

He explained that they have signed several information transfer agreements and have given several courses for a variety of programs, to generate products and a common language for different disciplines.

BIM-Chile and MOP

For his part, Danny Lobos, a member of BIM-Chile, said that the activity brought the industry, the academia and customers together to learn how this technology works. For this purpose, some companies were invited to present examples where laser had been used to generate 3D models with BIM technology.

Lobos said that some remarkable aspects of this conference were “the willingness of the industry to show its models, which are not many, as this an area that is recently developing in Chile, and the interest of the academics, mainly from Universidad de Santiago, who have included this technology in the curriculum so that students learn to use the system before they graduate.”

Alejandro Gómez Grandón, consultant to the Roads Unit of the Ministry of Public Works (MOP, in Spanish) invited software and hardware companies to work with universities, so that students become familiar with this technology and know how to use it when they enter the labour market.

The system

The Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology uses files of intelligent and parametric objects; it interprets them logically and then stores them.

This is the difference with CAD, the other software used to generate objects scale representations, which only uses 2D or 3D, without differentiating elements.

The filed data is obtained through a laser that scans the object and generates points. The BIM system stores them and transforms them in a 3D image on the computer.

The focus of the BIM Group of Universidad de Santiago- made up of professors Gastón Herrera, Marta Baeza, Erik Parraguez y Luis Vallejo- is the interdisciplinary BIM training that will allow to strengthen the digital curriculum of the university, and to connect the university with cutting-edge technology and productive sectors of the country.

BIM-Chile is made up of professionals from different universities who collaborate with different higher education institutions.

Representatives of the Ministry of Public Works, the School of Architecture of Universidad de Santiago, BIM-Chile, Microgeo, BDL Group, the School of Civil Construction of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, GEPUC UC, Construsoft, Pixis, POINT CLOUD+EBIM, RE-Studio, Bentley and Autodesk, also participated in the activity.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• With an open-air performance in front of the Casa Central building, the Universidad de Santiago Orchestra and Chorus closed the 2016 season. The show conquered the audience with a repertoire of classical and baroque pieces, Chilean songs and Christmas carols.

The Universidad de Santiago Classical Orchestra, accompanied by the Universidad de Santiago Chorus, closed its 2016 season with an impeccable performance that delighted an audience of more than 600 people. The Christmas concert was held on a stage specially assembled for the occasion in front of the Casa Central building.

During the concert, the Orchestra preformed a mix of a classical repertoire, including works by Johann Sebastian Bach and Christoph Willibald Gluck, and national works by Vicente Bianchi (awardee of the National Prize of Music 2016) and Los Jaivas. The show was closed by the renowned baritone Ramiro Maturana, singing Christmas carols together with the Chorus. 

According to Dr Juan Manuel Zolezzi, President of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, the activity had the goal of strengthening even more the links between the University and the community. “This is a dream come true. The concert was aimed at all the University community and at all the community around it, particularly the Villa Portales. We are ready to repeat it next year, and even more eagerly,” he said.

A concert for the family

After more than twenty free concerts given by the Classical Orchestra in the 2016 season, the Extension Department of the Vice Presidency of Outreach and Engagement, informed that in 2017, the Orchestra will offer open-air concerts in different communes of the Metropolitan Region.

Jorge Montealegre, director of this Department, said that “this was a very special occasion, as it was the first time that the Orchestra offered an open-air show at the University yards where our students walk every day. It was like a preview of what we will do in several communes next year. We are even going to celebrate the centenary of Violeta Parra’s birth. On this occasion, we gather together the Orchestra and the Chorus, which do not always perform together, and the result was magnificent.”

The University authorities considered the concert as an end-of-year celebration aimed at families and the community that recovers the yard in front of the Casa Central building as an artistic and cultural space. In this yard, Fidel Castro and Salvador Allende gave their speeches when they visited Universidad de Santiago in the past.

“We wanted to share with everybody the beautiful Orchestra that we have. We wanted our neighbors to enjoy this activity,” Dr Karina Arias, Vice President of Outreach and Engagement, said.

The Orchestra was conducted by Sebastián Camaño, as guest conductor. During the performance, he invited the audience to celebrate Christmas with a world without borders and open doors for immigrants. 

“I love that people come to this University and enjoy its wonderful campus and the music. The audience that comes to this University is not the audience that usually hears other orchestras, so the purpose of this concert is beautiful: It contributes to create community,” he said.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Dr. Maximiliano Salinas, researcher at the Department of History, was invited to Universidad de Concepción’s Summer School, where he talked about the meaning of festivities as part of the historical process of a country. “During festivities, people reencounter the essence of their human, spiritual and collective experience,” he stressed.

“Celebration: Dionysus’ times come back to us” was the name of the presentation given by Dr. Maximiliano Salinas, professor at the Department of History of Universidad de Santiago, to the Universidad de Concepción’s community in the inauguration of this university’s 2014 Summer School.

On this occasion, the activity that has been carried out uninterruptedly for more than a decade, has the topic “Festivities: the art of celebrating” as its central subject, a subject to which our University’s researcher can considerably contribute, as he is an expert in popular culture history.

Regarding the role that celebrations play in local identity, the academic says that in all cultures and civilizations, festivities are an integral dimension of people’s lives, because during celebrations people reencounter the essence of their human, spiritual and collective experience.

“In the case of Chilean history, festivities, like all life dimensions, are crossed by contradictions stemming from the colonial times. Indigenous peoples were prodigiously inclined to celebrating. The colonial times order, the European enlightened absolutism, tried to control and restrain that spirit,” Dr. Salinas explained.

However, according to Dr. Salinas, that was not possible, “because the celebration legacy was passed to mestizo peoples and it got mixed with the festive influences from Spain and Africa that left us the cueca, the dance of the Chilean celebrations. Although colonial aspirations- coercive and repressive ones- are replicated until today, festivities will always represent the extension of our humanity and our spirit. The student protests nowadays have undeniably included a festive component that is part of our more permanent culture.”

When asked how the military dictatorship affected this characteristic feature of Chilean culture, Dr. Salinas said that this process can be understood as a systematic effort to extinguish the spirit of popular celebrations, indigenous or mestizo festivities in the country. “Their ambition to impose manu militari, the neoliberal discipline was, basically, an aggressive aspiration to finish with community life and the merry communal living among Chilean people. The idea was to subdue us and turn us into consumerist, scared and indebted individuals,” he said.

According to the expert, a cultural reflection about our identity as a nation is a challenge today, especially in a context in which some sectors of our society express the need of having a new Constitution. “In this sense, it is essential to have a reflection and a discussion about celebrations, as they are part of our original biological and spiritual make-up as a country. This is much more deciding, lively and deep than legal texts or the discussion among constitutional ‘experts’,” he said.

Finally, Dr. Salinas thinks that we should recover the original religious spirit of celebrations, that is to say, the spirit reflected by Dionysus, the god of cosmic harmony, of beautiful lush vegetation; the god of the joy of a nude and equal community without disguises and without ambitious aspirations. “We have to recover the spirit that indigenous peoples had and cultivated for thousand of years and that mestizo peoples legitimately inherited. In that spirit, we should find the delighting value given by the historical vindications of our societies during the 19th and 20th centuries. This was especially expressed during the Government of the Popular Unity, in a much more decisive way than in any other particular political circumstance. There it lies the deepest mysticism of festivities,” he said.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• The first day of the conference was very successful. Its purpose was to contribute to the making of sport public policies and to the development, research and impact of physical activity on our society. The activity was opened on July 1^st, at Espacio Isidora Aguirre, Universidad de Santiago, and it was organized by the School of Health, Sports and Physical Activity Sciences, with the collaboration of Universidad Católica de Valparaíso and Universidad de Valparaíso. 

   

  With the purpose of contributing to the making of sport public policies and to the development, research and impact of physical activity on our society, the first International Conference on Social Studies of Sport was opened on July 1^st, at Espacio Isidora Aguirre of Universidad de Santiago, and it continued on July 2^nd, at Universidad Católica de Valparaíso.

  The opening address was given by Professor Omar Fernández, Director of the School of Health, Sports and Physical Activity Sciences, ECIADES. “The seminar has the purpose of starting a debate on the development of big events carried in Chile and how these events are related to political, social and cultural processes that give additional meanings to this matter, which differ from the technical point of view of a coach or an athlete,” he said.

  “Social Sciences consider this as a more complex and complete phenomenon that demands a multidisciplinary view, with the contribution of anthropologists, sociologists, journalists, psychologists, historians and physical education teachers,” he added.

  “Universidad de Santiago has brought these issues to the agenda for reflection, debate and research and to see how different disciplines can contribute to the making of public policies, considering this sport and cultural phenomenon,” he said.

  “We have been discussing these matters for two years. Last year we had a seminar on Sociology of Sport with Pablo Alabarces, an expert in this field in Latin America, and specifically on football, and we have had some colloquiums this semester,” Professor Fernández added.

  “Therefore, our University is opening a space for Social Sciences to contribute to this debate, with the idea of furthering the policy-making in the area of sports, considering different points of view to enrich this matter,” he said.

  With regards to how this initiative was started, professor Fernández said: “It started in the course of Sociology of Sport, that considers different aspects for evaluation, relating the course with colloquiums and seminars; but, at the same time, it is related to outreach, from the sociocultural field. ECIADES opens the University to debate, where different agents and researchers meet to take responsibility for this cultural phenomenon.”

  For his part, Jorge Montealegre, Director of the Outreach Department of our University, said: “The decision of promoting the reflection on public policies related to sports and physical activity in the organization and security of mega events is a big feat.”

  Sport and State

  Director Montealegre added: “We see sport as a focal point, as a cross-cutting issue, able to be approached from different disciplines and by different civil, social and State organizations.”

  With regards to this idea, Rodrigo Soto, psychologist and professor of the Sociology of Sport course at ECIADES, stressed that his year they have the goal of conducting studies and providing consultancies on the social aspects of sports, understanding it as a social good, what would allow to reflect on role of the State, among other things.

  “When we think of policies on security in sport events, particularly football, we believe that there are more social agents than the ones that participate today. The space given by the University makes debate possible and allows recognizing that there are more social agents involved in making public policies on security for this type of event,” Professor Soto said.

  “This activity considers other aspects of sport. Sport should not only be considered as a motor practice and bodily movement, because there are social, economic and political factors that are involved,” Professor Soto concluded.

  Organization of the conference

  The event was organized by the School of Health, Sports and Physical Activity Sciences of Universidad de Santiago, the School of Psychology of Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, and the Center for Sociological Research of Universidad de Valparaíso. These three bodies formed the Sociological Studies of Football Cluster. Also, the Social Studies of Sports Center was started this year.

  Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Professors Dr. Juan Sepúlveda, Dr. Astrid Oddershede and Dr. Felisa Córdova, who were invited by the International Academic Program, took part in a seminar where they acquired new tools for problem solving through creative thinking. This will considerably benefit the students and will allow improving and updating the Industrial Engineering curricula.

Between January 07th and January 09th, the academics of our University’s Department of Industrial Engineering, Dr. Juan Sepúlveda, Dr. Astrid Oddershede and Dr. Felisa Córdova were invited by the International Academic Program (IAP) to take part in the workshop “Design Thinking and Innovation” at the renowned Harvard University, USA, where they acquired tools to solve problems in an innovating and creative way. They said this will enrich the educational experience of their students.

Specifically, the seminar was given by Professor Srikant Datar to 22 academics from different Latin American universities selected by the IAP and it was held at the Innovation Laboratory of Harvard Business School

Dr. Juan Sepúlveda, the Head of our University’s Department of Industrial Engineering, claimed that this continuing education program for university teachers “is a great progress in updating our teaching methodologies and in adopting thinking and problem solving innovative techniques that we will implement in our classrooms starting this year.”

“The topic that gathered us together in this seminar- Dr. Sepúlveda explained- was ‘Design Thinking’, an approach to develop innovation that is based on the designers and architects’ point of view, which have a very different way of thinking from engineers.”

Dr. Sepúlveda added that Design Thinking is “a very useful methodology to leave behind the conventional paradigms of engineering management, and for us academics, it will be very helpful to show our students that creativity can contribute to solve a large number of problems of our professional lives.”

“After this academic experience, we look for transmitting what we learned to students, so that they dare to break the known models and seek for creative answers to the challenges that they will face in the field of management,” he pointed out.

While, Dr. Felisa Córdova agreed with Dr. Sepúlveda and said that in this visit to Harvard, “we were able to see the learning and teaching methodologies used at this renowned American university and also had access to the researches that professors are now conducting there.”

“After this seminar, the idea is to promote and develop a disruptive way of thinking among our students at Universidad de Santiago de Chile and encourage them to develop a creative thinking, so that they behave out of the ordinary, break the paradigms to implement their innovations then,” Dr Córdova said.

“In the end, this will have an impact on our students, because when they know that their professors are constantly updating their knowledge and that they are taking part in academic activities at Harvard University, for example, they feel supported by teachers of excellence, what in turn makes them more committed with their classes,” she stressed.

For his part, the Head of the Department, Dr. Sepúlveda, concluded that updating knowledge and acquiring new learning and teaching experiences that are world-wide recognized “give our institution a great boost to keep our strong commitment to continue forming world-class professionals.”

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• The benefit of using geophysical techniques to recover historical remains was one of the main conclusions of the “Taller de Geofísica aplicada al Patrimonio Críptico Heredado.” “By using mining technologies, we want to bring our country’s historical riches out of the depths of the Earth, without impacting the environment,” Dr Lucio Cañete, one of the organizers, said.

On July 02^nd, the closing ceremony of the third “Taller de Geofísica aplicada al Patrimonio Críptico Heredado” was held at the Conference Room of the Technological Faculty. The workshop was led by the Dean of that Faculty, Gumercindo Vilca Cáceres and was attended by several university authorities.

The workshop gathered together almost one hundred men and women of different ages and from different professional areas.

The workshop was given in the context of the outreach activities developed by the Technological Faculty. This is the reason why “We emphasized that the participants should not be part of the university community: to have an impact at a society level,” Dr Lucio Cañete explained.

The workshop

According to Dr Cañete, the purpose of the workshop was to give basic knowledge of geophysics and its potential applications to a general audience interested in the inherited cryptical material, “that is to say, a paleontological or archaeological resource that it is not visible, that remains under ground, covered by vegetation or ice.”

“We referred to gravimetry, seismology, magnetometry and electrical resistivity, which are used to prospect for mining resources. Chile is very rich in these resources,” the researcher said, regarding the techniques addressed during the workshop.

However, the team of experts led by Dr Lucio Cañete learned that these techniques could mean a significant contribution to a different type of excavation: the digs for the past.

“Chile has hidden riches that we want to reveal through these techniques: the riches of our past,” Dr Cañete said.

According to him, our territory is rich in archaeological elements; for this reason, we need the tools to unearth the past without altering the ecosystem.

“Historical research has shown that the first settlements in our territory started 13 thousand years ago. The first remains of human settlements in the American continent were confirmed in Chile,” he said.

“We have a whole rich past that must be revealed, but this must be done with techniques that will not impact the heritage while we are trying to bring it out,” Dr Cañete stressed.

Digging is a very intrusive method; therefore, if it is used, “The destruction of the evidence of the past is highly probable. However, geophysical techniques use disturbances that allow “seeing without touching,” he added.

Geophysical techniques

Gravimetry measures the variation of the strength of a gravitational field; magnetometry measures how a magnetic field changes; seismology, by means of man-caused little microseisms, allows to see what is under the surface, and, finally, the electrical resistivity measures the changes in ground resistance when introducing an electric current into the subsurface.

Regardless of the surface, the use of these techniques “Produce a sort of disturbance that does not affect the part of the patrimony that we want to know,” Dr Cañete said.

In this regard, the main goal of the workshop was to understand these techniques and see how their use in the mining industry can be a real contribution to surveying archaeological, historical and paleontological remains.

“We saw this and, and in our role as a public and state university, we called for the development of all these techniques that, although they are traditional in mining industry, could be used in a new scientific field: the field of the sciences that study the past,” he added

“By using these mining technologies, we want to bring our country’s historical riches out of the depths of the Earth, without impacting the environment,” Dr Cañete concluded.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Among the different speakers that took part in the Colloquium “Water: a renewable resource?”, one of them, Alfredo Zolezzi, founder of the Advanced Innovation Center, considers that the contrast between technology progress and the poverty and shortage of sanitary resources affecting millions of people is “dramatic”. He says that the solution to this problem is to make sure that innovation reaches people who need it.

The recent celebration of the World Water Day brought again to the national and international agenda the importance of promoting sustainable practices for the good use of water resources in the planet. The Colloquium “Water: a renewable resource?” was held in this context and it was led by the Association of Researchers for Development and Interdisciplinarity (INDI, its Spanish acronym), that groups researchers from the different faculties of Universidad de Santiago de Chile.

The activity brought together three speakers that approached the implications and significance of this strategic resource from very different points of view.

Leyla Noriega, journalist of Red Mi Voz*, who has experience in working with indigenous communities in the north of Chile, gave the presentation “Between the Andean world view and the community’s political core”. She explains that “our philosophy understands water like a living being. The resource is distributed according to its ancestral use by common law; that is to say, based on customs or natural rights.”

However, this expert in communications says that this approach is little respected, as a consequence of a series of processes that have affected the native peoples of the north of the country, like “Chileanization and the disassembly of ancestral authorities.”

Then, Alfredo Zolezzi, founder of the Advanced Innovation Center spoke about “Meaningful innovation”, considering it like a concept that has always been present in the history of humankind. “We have never had as much technology available as we do now, but it is dramatic to see this progress without recognizing that there are millions of people living in poverty, without basic sanitary services,” he says.

Effective solutions

In light of this situation that accounts for a complex reality, specific answers are required. According to Zolezzi, the solution lies in changing the way of doing things and he suggests “doing activism with proposals that make sure that innovation will reach people who need it.”
 
In his case, innovation became socially meaningful through the creation of the Plasma Water Sanitation System (PWSS), a water purification system that allows transforming polluted water particles into plasma, making it potable.

This system was implemented in 2011, in Fundo San José, a shanty town in Cerrillos, Santiago, thanks to a partnership with Un Techo Para Mi País**. It is worth to mention that this shanty town’s residents were resettled in June, 2013.

The last presentation was given by Dr. Silvio Montalvo, professor at the Department of Chemistry Engineering of our University, who spoke about his research regarding water resources.

At present, he is working on the treatment of sludge generated at sewage water treatment plants, in order to develop technologies to optimize the anaerobic digestion process that allows breaking down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen.

“If we are able to preserve the water that we already have and keep it less polluted, we will be contributing to this matter,” the researcher says.

Translator’s notes: *Red Mi Voz is a digital network that promotes the practice of citizen journalism. **Un Techo Para Mi País is a nonprofit organization that mobilizes youth volunteers to fight extreme poverty in Latin America, by constructing transitional housing and implementing social inclusion programs.

Translated by Marcela Contreras