Academic literature on the topic 'Technical requirement 119'

Industrial chemicals are needed for chemical synthesis or technical purposes. These beneficial effects are counterbalanced by the potential health risks for all who come into contact with them. The new chemical legislation of the EU, Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) will force the responsibility of manufacturers and importers of chemical substances to gather the right information needed to decide on the right circumstances of use and control of chemical substances and products. In order to understand the roots of REACH, experiences gained with regard to existing chemicals legislation, particularly in Germany, will be reviewed. Since Council Directive 67/548/EEC all chemicals placed on the market need a set of standard information and provisions for safe transportation. This directive and its amendments (Council Directive(s) 79/831/EEC and 92/32/EEC) have established for new substances a sound information data basis for classification of dangerous properties. Under Council Regulation 793/93/EEC, regulations and administrative provisions have established the requirement to assess the risk to man and the environment of existing substances. So far, only 119 substances have been evaluated under the forces of this regulation. This separation has led to a substantial imbalance between existing substances and new substances with respect to available data needed to recognize hazards for health. The register of produced and imported chemical substances under REACH should eliminate some of this separation and will also be the key for selection of substances of very high concern by the authorization process to restrict the use and distribution accordingly.

The central problem of crop production remains the lag in the growth of the yield of cultivated crops from the growth of the costs of their production. (Research purpose) The research purpose is in developing a method for optimizing the technical and economic parameters of machine and tractor units for innovative technologies (in particular, sowing units). (Materials and methods) During the study authors used information methods, statistical methods of collecting information in the study of test reports of agricultural machinery and reporting the use of new equipment in various agrotechnologies. The article presents a review and analysis of foreign and domestic literature on the subject under consideration. (Results and discussion) The creation of agricultural machinery should be based on the developments of fundamental and applied agricultural sciences, the use of sowing machines is closely related to the development of technologies in which they are used. One of the most important indicators of technology development of crop production is the efficiency of operation of a sowing tractor unit and the level of potential productivity of cultivated plants. The correct choice of parameters and modes of sowing machines for the construction of the most productive plant placement schemes contributes to the efficiency of the operation of the sowing unit. One of the ways to optimize the processes of selecting parameters and modes can be implemented using the Harrington function. (Conclusions) The article shows that the task of optimizing the technical and economic parameters of the sowing units is designed to promote the creation of new machines that meet the technical, technological, agrotechnical, operational and technological, ergonomic requirements, reliability and safety requirements, and others. The solution to the problem of optimizing the technical and economic parameters of sowing aggregates is reduced to a compromise solution of two target functions for yield and cost.

the object of the research in the article is the process of formation of piano skills in primary school students in the piano class. The paper theoretically substantiates and reveals in pedagogical practice the methodological aspects of the formation of skills for performing musical works on small equipment in younger schoolchildren studying in the piano class. Conclusions of the study: the development of performing techniques in the piano class of primary school students is possible under the following pedagogical conditions: taking into account the psychomotor characteristics of the musician’s performing process; the correct selection of repertoire and instructional material that corresponds to the tasks of the lesson, the artistic requirements of the aesthetic development of the musician and the age interests of the child; expanding the forms and methods of working on the technique in the piano class with primary school students on the basis of existing modern approaches to this problem.

The article presents a subjective assessment of factors affecting the quality of dental care. The survey was conducted among the medical workers of stomatological profile from the different forms of ownership agencies with specially developed questionnaire containing 52 questions, combined in 6 units. Particular emphasis is placed on the medical opinion on the effectiveness, accessibility, compliance of provided dental services to modern conditions and standards. The results lead to the conclusion that with the available state of the material and technical base and technical equipment, by the means of qualified specialists corresponding to modern requirements, as well as meeting the requirements of the standards, it is possible to provide qualified and efficient dental care.

Improvement of technical documentation for products from aquatic biological resources is of particular relevance and importance within the framework of creating a quality management system for fish products. In this regard, the updating and harmonization of technological instructions for the production of frozen shrimp and frozen seaweed with the modern requirements of technical regulations for production processes, ensuring the safety and high quality of finished products. The article presents technological schemes for the production of frozen shrimp and frozen seaweed, points of control of technological processes, recommended measuring instruments for controlled parameters of technological processes. Developed on the basis of an analysis of modern requirements for the production processes of frozen shrimp and frozen seaweed, the technological equipment used for their processing, the characteristics of raw materials, standard technological instructions will ensure the production of safe high quality products and can serve to form a food quality management system at fish processing enterprises.

The wide distribution of information and communication technologies has led to the development of e-commerce. In the B2B segment, the use of electronic sales methods has until recently been more common due to legal requirements, that restrict cash payments. Existing informational, technological and technical capabilities make it possible to expand electronic forms of trade to almost all segments of market relations. The retrospective and growth prospects of e-commerce in the global economy has been considered in the article. Through use of statistical and forecast data, the main players of the e-commerce market in the country as of the current moment and in the near future perspective have been identified. The key factors of the avalanche-like growth of online commerce in the modern world economy have been considered.

Desain jasa bertujuan agar jasa yang ditawarkan dapat memenuhi harapan pelanggan. Salah satu alat yang dapat digunakan dalam desain jasa adalah Quality Function Deploy Service design is intended so that the services offered can meet customer expectations. One of the tools that can be used in service design is Quality Function Deployment with the House of Quality, which connects customer desires and the company's ability to respond to them, besides knowing the company's position in competition. The study population are all customers of PT. X and its competitors with 115 people as samples through purposive sampling. Results show PT. X has not been able to fulfill customer wants or needs properly, seen from the gap between level of interest and the level of company performance. There are 7 service indicators that become customer needs or customer requirements and 7 technical requirements, although the difference is not that far, position of PT. X is still below its competitors and needs improvement to increase customer satisfaction. Keywords: Design services, QFD, House of Quality ment dengan House of Quality, yang menghubungkan keinginan pelanggan dan kemampuan perusahaan dalam menanggapinya, selain itu dapat mengetahui posisi perusahaan dalam persaingan. Populasi penelitian adalah seluruh pelanggan PT. X dan pesaingnya dengan sampel sebanyak 115 responden menggunakan purposive sampling. Hasil menunjukkan PT. X belum mampu memenuhi keinginan atau kebutuhan pelanggan dengan baik dilihat dari adanya gap antara tingkat kepentingan dengan tingkat kinerja perusahaan. Terdapat 7 indikator pelayanan jasa yang menjadi kebutuhan pelanggan atau customer requirement dan 7 technical requirement, walaupun perbedaanya tidak jauh namun posisi PT. X masih dibawah pesaingnya dan membutuhkan perbaikan untuk meningkatkan kepuasan pelanggan.

Technical Risk Analysis of Railway Vehicle The first official document concerning technical risk assessment in railway transport was "Safety Directive" #49 released in 2004 by European Commission. It was particularized in commission regulation number 352 from 2009 on the adoption of a common safety method on risk evaluation and assessment. The actual requirement of technical risk assessment results from building and implementing IRIS, and from 2012 it will result from certification of maintenance facilities (Directive 110/2008/EC). In this article legal basics concerning technical risk assessment, and analysis of railway accidents were discussed.

Subject of the paper: professional training of future specialists in technical fields. Object of the paper: modern aspect of competencybased approach in professional training. Work objective: analysis of subject matter and contents of the modern aspect of competencybased approach in professional training of future technical specialists. Work methodology is to identify the practical application of competency-based, student-centered, metadisciplinary and reflexive approaches in personal enhancement of technical specialists in their preparatory process. Work results contain theoretic and methodological rationale of the need for the implementation of a set of modern approaches in the training process of highly qualified technical specialists. Essential approaches needed for forming the integrative set of students’ competences and for development of professional and personal qualities required in work activities have been identified and rationalized. The area of application of results is the process of training of specialists in technical fields for the successful performance of job functions. Conclusions: The issue of particular importance in training of competent, highly competitive specialists capable to fulfill professional tasks effectively and to lay out own self-development path is the use of modern approaches in the process of teaching the disciplines within technical studies curriculum. The implementation of specified approaches in the educational process promote enhancement of students’ educational and creative abilities, professionally significant personal qualities and value systems, critical thinking, readiness for rational planning, work activity management, fulfillment of certain types of activities corresponding to fields of study, development of competences referred to in the Federal State Educational and Professional Standards and the requirements of the employer.

The thesis is written up within the master degree in field Expert engineering in transport. It follows up Problem of Object Observation in Traffic Mirror. Thesis describes the device of traffic mirror, physical principal, legislation and types of traffic mirrors in detail. There are measurements associated with this issue in practical part, which are evaluated in detail. At the conclusion there are suggested changes and recommendations associated with this issue.

This e-book has been developed as result of the Video Conference Educational Service (ViCES) project under the TEMPUS action of the European Commission (144650-TEMPUS-2008-IT-JPGR. It is intended to serve as a set of guidelines for the setup and usage of videoconference tools in educational and vocational training institutions. It also offers suggestions to: companies, agencies and institutions that plan to introduce video conferencing based training experiences. The e-book covers both technical and organizational issues related to video conferencing educational services, such as: Learning Methodology Guideline, Non functional Requirements Recommendation, Organizational Structure & Business Processes Recommendation, Service Level Agreement Recommendation, Video Conferencing Service Sustainability Strategy, and Video Conferencing end Station Basic Tutorial.

This chapter introduces the general vision of the Social Semantic Desktop (SSD) and details it in the context of the NEPOMUK project. It outlines the typical SSD requirements and functionalities that were identified from real world scenarios. In addition, it provides the design of the standard SSD architecture together with the ontology pyramid developed to support it. Finally, the chapter gives an overview of some of the technical challenges that arise from the actual development process of the SSD.

Spam, undesired and usually unsolicited e-mail, has been a growing problem for some time. A 2003 Sunbelt Software poll found spam (or junk mail) has surpassed viruses as the number-one unwanted network intrusion (Townsend & Taphouse, 2003). Time magazine reports that for major e-mail providers, 40 to 70% of all incoming mail is deleted at the server (Taylor, 2003), and AOL reports that 80% of its inbound e-mail, 1.5 to 1.9 billion messages a day, is spam the company blocks. Spam is the e-mail consumer’s number-one complaint (Davidson, 2003). Despite Internet service provider (ISP) filtering, up to 30% of in-box messages are spam. While each of us may only take seconds (or minutes) to deal with such mail, over billions of cases the losses are significant. A Ferris Research report estimates spam 2003 costs for U.S. companies at $10 billion (Bekker, 2003). While improved filters send more spam to trash cans, ever more spam is sent, consuming an increasing proportion of network resources. Users shielded behind spam filters may notice little change, but the Internet transmitted-spam percentage has been steadily growing. It was 8% in 2001, grew from 20% to 40% in 6 months over 2002 to 2003, and continues to grow (Weiss, 2003). In May 2003, the amount of spam e-mail exceeded nonspam for the first time, that is, over 50% of transmitted e-mail is now spam (Vaughan-Nichols, 2003). Informal estimates for 2004 are over 60%, with some as high as 80%. In practical terms, an ISP needing one server for customers must buy another just for spam almost no one reads. This cost passes on to users in increased connection fees. Pretransmission filtering could reduce this waste, but creates another problem: spam false positives, that is, valid e-mail filtered as spam. If you accidentally use spam words, like enlarge, your e-mail may be filtered. Currently, receivers can recover false rejects from their spam filter’s quarantine area, but filtering before transmission means the message never arrives at all, so neither sender nor receiver knows there is an error. Imagine if the postal mail system shredded unwanted mail and lost mail in the process. People could lose confidence that the mail will get through. If a communication environment cannot be trusted, confidence in it can collapse. Electronic communication systems sit on the horns of a dilemma. Reducing spam increases delivery failure rate, while guaranteeing delivery increases spam rates. Either way, by social failure of confidence or technical failure of capability, spam threatens the transmission system itself (Weinstein, 2003). As the percentage of transmitted spam increases, both problems increase. If spam were 99% of sent mail, a small false-positive percentage becomes a much higher percentage of valid e-mail that failed. The growing spam problem is recognized ambivalently by IT writers who espouse new Bayesian spam filters but note, “The problem with spam is that it is almost impossible to define” (Vaughan-Nichols, 2003, p. 142), or who advocate legal solutions but say none have worked so far. The technical community seems to be in a state of denial regarding spam. Despite some successes, transmitted spam is increasing. Moral outrage, spam blockers, spamming the spammers, black and white lists, and legal responses have slowed but not stopped it. Spam blockers, by hiding the problem from users, may be making it worse, as a Band-Aid covers but does not cure a systemic sore. Asking for a technical tool to stop spam may be asking the wrong question. If spam is a social problem, it may require a social solution, which in cyberspace means technical support for social requirements (Whitworth & Whitworth, 2004).

Spam, undesired and usually unsolicited e-mail, has been a growing problem for some time. A 2003 Sunbelt Software poll found spam (or junk mail) has surpassed viruses as the number-one unwanted network intrusion (Townsend & Taphouse, 2003). Time magazine reports that for major e-mail providers, 40 to 70% of all incoming mail is deleted at the server (Taylor, 2003), and AOL reports that 80% of its inbound e-mail, 1.5 to 1.9 billion messages a day, is spam the company blocks. Spam is the e-mail consumer’s number-one complaint (Davidson, 2003). Despite Internet service provider (ISP) filtering, up to 30% of in-box messages are spam. While each of us may only take seconds (or minutes) to deal with such mail, over billions of cases the losses are significant. A Ferris Research report estimates spam 2003 costs for U.S. companies at $10 billion (Bekker, 2003). While improved filters send more spam to trash cans, ever more spam is sent, consuming an increasing proportion of network resources. Users shielded behind spam filters may notice little change, but the Internet transmitted-spam percentage has been steadily growing. It was 8% in 2001, grew from 20% to 40% in 6 months over 2002 to 2003, and continues to grow (Weiss, 2003). In May 2003, the amount of spam e-mail exceeded nonspam for the first time, that is, over 50% of transmitted e-mail is now spam (Vaughan-Nichols, 2003). Informal estimates for 2004 are over 60%, with some as high as 80%. In practical terms, an ISP needing one server for customers must buy another just for spam almost no one reads. This cost passes on to users in increased connection fees. Pretransmission filtering could reduce this waste, but creates another problem: spam false positives, that is, valid e-mail filtered as spam. If you accidentally use spam words, like enlarge, your e-mail may be filtered. Currently, receivers can recover false rejects from their spam filter’s quarantine area, but filtering before transmission means the message never arrives at all, so neither sender nor receiver knows there is an error. Imagine if the postal mail system shredded unwanted mail and lost mail in the process. People could lose confidence that the mail will get through. If a communication environment cannot be trusted, confidence in it can collapse. Electronic communication systems sit on the horns of a dilemma. Reducing spam increases delivery failure rate, while guaranteeing delivery increases spam rates. Either way, by social failure of confidence or technical failure of capability, spam threatens the transmission system itself (Weinstein, 2003). As the percentage of transmitted spam increases, both problems increase. If spam were 99% of sent mail, a small false-positive percentage becomes a much higher percentage of valid e-mail that failed. The growing spam problem is recognized ambivalently by IT writers who espouse new Bayesian spam filters but note, “The problem with spam is that it is almost impossible to define” (Vaughan-Nichols, 2003, p. 142), or who advocate legal solutions but say none have worked so far. The technical community seems to be in a state of denial regarding spam. Despite some successes, transmitted spam is increasing. Moral outrage, spam blockers, spamming the spammers, black and white lists, and legal responses have slowed but not stopped it. Spam blockers, by hiding the problem from users, may be making it worse, as a Band-Aid covers but does not cure a systemic sore. Asking for a technical tool to stop spam may be asking the wrong question. If spam is a social problem, it may require a social solution, which in cyberspace means technical support for social requirements (Whitworth & Whitworth, 2004).

During the first half of the twentieth century, American medical education underwent drastic changes. Greater costs of operation and the requirements of licensing agencies forced many medical schools to close and most of the others to affiliate with universities. The surviving medical schools were able to raise their admission and graduation requirements, which was also made possible by the rise in the general educational level of the population. The growth of the basic medical sciences led to the development of a new kind of faculty member whose career was confined to the medical school. During the first half of the twentieth century, the educational level of the population rose significantly. The proportion of the 17-year-old population with high school educations increased from 6.3 percent in 1900 to 16.3 percent in 1920, 28.8 percent in 1930, and 49.0 percent in 1940. The number of bachelors’ degrees conferred per 100 persons 23 years old increased from 1.9 in 1900 to 2.6 in 1920, 5.7 in 1930, and 8.1 in 1940. Between 1910 and 1940, the number of college undergraduates more than tripled. Because the number of medical students did not increase, medical schools were able to raise their admission standards. At the same time, many new professions competed with medicine for students. Between 1900 and 1940, dentistry, engineering, chemistry, accounting, and college teaching, among others, grew significantly faster than the traditional professions of medicine, law, and the clergy. Graduate education also became an alternative to professional training. Between 1900 and 1940, the number of masters’ and doctors’ degrees awarded, excluding medicine and other first professional degrees, increased from 1,965 to 30,021, or from 6.7 to 13.9 percent of all degrees awarded. Colleges and universities decentralized their organizational structure to deal with the increasingly technical and specialized content of academic disciplines. They established academic departments that consisted of faculty members who shared a common body of knowledge and taught the same or related courses. Departments were given the responsibility of supervising their faculty members, recruiting new faculty, and operating the department’s academic program. By 1950, departments existed in most of the sciences, social sciences, and humanities.

Passenger rail equipment is required to meet the fire test standards as outlined in NFPA 130 Standard for Fixed Guideway Transit and Passenger Rail Systems, 2010 Edition. Bombardier’s recently released INNOVIA APM 300 car was tested under the provisions of this standard. As part of the testing process, the car structure is subjected to direct flame (to the underside of the car structure) for a minimum 15 minutes in accordance with ASTM E 119. In anticipation of more stringent requirements from some potential customers, Bombardier decided to develop two options for vehicle fire protection. The first and base option is a vehicle that meets the 15 minute requirement. The next option is a vehicle that will survive an ASTM E 119 test for 30 minutes. This paper will summarize the results of the fire tests including pretest and post-test analysis and observations.

A project has been undertaken to design, build and test internal combustion engine poppet valves made from resin transfer molded (RTM) Fiber Reinforced Composites (FRCs). For poppet-valve engines, the valve train mass and stiffness is of particular importance because valve train natural frequency and the onset of valve float and bounce typically limit the engine operating speed. This in turn limits engine power and performance. FRC poppet valves offer the potential for substantial mass reduction as well as increased component stiffness. This enables reduced power consumption by the valve train, and increased overall engine efficiency. Resin transfer molding was chosen because of potential for high-volume production and near-net shape products. Valve design details include; identification of valve operating requirements, fiber orientations, material selection, and evaluation of potential solutions using computerized structural analysis. Mold design includes; mold configuration requirements, fiber placement strategies evaluated, intermediate validation testing done and initial prototype configuration. Results include the final valve design for an exhaust valve, fiber and matrix material selection, fiber placement strategy, and mold configuration. Plans for additional validation testing are presented.

Section XI imposed volumetric inservice inspection requirements on heat exchangers in nuclear plants after most of this equipment was designed and installed. Consequently the equipment was not designed for ultrasonic examination, and in some cases such volumetric examination is not justified. The man-rem dose received from the ultrasonic inspection of some of these components is very high, and there are no known mechanisms of degradation; thus, the volumetric inspection serves no useful purpose. With the use of the newly approved code case, N706, volumetric and surface inspection of the regenerative and residual heat exchangers in PWR plants may be replaced with a visual inspection. These two heat exchangers have high irradiation fields, and both have a number of complicated weld geometries that are difficult to inspect. The regenerative heat exchanger provides preheat for the normal charging water going into the reactor coolant system (RCS). The residual heat exchanger is designed to cool the RCS during plant shut down operations. The technical basis for changing these inspection requirements was derived from four fundamental arguments: 1. The heat exchangers were carefully constructed to nuclear quality requirements. 2. They were inspected during construction, and then during service, and there is no history of degradation. 3. The flaw tolerance of the components is very high, since their duty cycle is mild, and they are constructed of stainless steel. 4. The risk is not significantly changed by replacement of the examinations with visual examinations. This paper will describe in detail the technical arguments under each of these topics, which together form the basis for the code case.

Wireless microwave telemetry addresses the difficult issue of obtaining transducer outputs from reciprocating and rotating components through the use of advanced electronic components. This eliminates the requirements of a direct link between the transducer and the acquisition system. Accuracy of the transducer signal is maintained through the use of a double frequency modulation (FM) technique which provides temperature stability and a 20 point calibration of each, complete system. Multiple transmitters can be used for larger applications and multiple antennas can be used to improve the signal strength and reduce the possibility of dropouts. Examples of piston temperature and automotive torque converter measurements are provided, showing the effectiveness of the wireless measuring technique.

Within the U. S., the pollutant emissions at Navy and Air Force airbases are not regulated by civil law. However, there is a desire to be a good neighbor to the local population. On the other hand, military engine test facilities are designated as ground emission sources which are subject to civil air quality regulations. Both situations contribute to a Navy and Air Force requirement for the generation of air quality scenarios, which in turn requires ready access to engine emissions data. A considerable body of emissions data has been collected for U. S. military aircraft engines over the last twenty years. However, this data is not readily accessible, because it is distributed in a variety of technical publications, and is not presented in a consistent format. Therefore the Navy, with Air Force cooperation, has sponsored a program to develop an engine emissions database system tailored to their requirements, for use on a microcomputer. The program was conducted by Northern Research and Engineering Corporation. The resulting database contains all of the available emissions data, as well as background information on each engine model and the conditions for each test. All of the unclassified operational engine models of the Navy and Air Force are listed, whether or not emissions data are available. When emissions data is not available for a particular model, but there is a similar engine model whose data can reasonably be substituted, this is identified. The system provides an easy and versatile means of accessing the available emissions data. In general, the computerized database approach can increase the value of many types of experimental data.

Siemens heavy duty Gas Turbines have been well known for their high power output combined with high efficiency and reliability for more than 3 decades. Offering state of the art technology at all times, the requirements concerning the cooling and sealing air system have increased with technological development over the years. In particular the increase of the turbine inlet temperature and reduced NOx requirements demand a highly efficient cooling and sealing air system. The new Vx4.3A family of Siemens gas turbines with ISO turbine inlet temperatures of 1190°C in the power range of 70 to 240 MW uses an effective film cooling technique for the turbine stages 1 and 2 to ensure the minimum cooling air requirement possible. In addition, the application of film cooling enables the cooling system to be simplified. For example, in the new gas turbine family no intercooler and no cooling air booster for the first turbine vane are needed. This paper deals with the internal air system of Siemens gas turbines which supplies cooling and sealing air. A general overview is given and some problems and their technical solutions are discussed. Furthermore a state of the art calculation system for the prediction of the thermodynamic states of the cooling and sealing air is introduced. The calculation system is based on the flow calculation package Flowmaster (Flowmaster International Ltd.), which has been modified for the requirements of the internal air system. The comparison of computational results with measurements give a good impression of the high accuracy of the calculation method used.

Abstract The paper illustrates a first calibration of the Danieli-d’Elia method for pollutant production determination in urban areas, as described in previous articles, and its application to measured road conditions in a Southern Italian City. In order to perform the calibration, the method was applied to UDC + EUDC driving cycles, theoretically obtained for a given vehicle, both catalysed and non-catalysed. Model predictions were then compared to law requirements for the relative model-year, obtaining the calibration. Next, it was also necessary to devise a procedure to filter the data, which was often subject to heavy electronic noise, causing unrealistic values of the acceleration, and this was also performed and applied to the different sets of experimental data. Once this was obtained, the comparison to real city pollutant production in various traffic and elevation conditions was performed. Finally, on the assumption that in real traffic the individual car’s kinematic conditions are conditioned by the presence of other cars, the measured kinematic diagrams were extended to different car typologies by changing engine speed in the appropriate manner, and consequently the torque. This allows the experimental measurement to be extended to the entire fleet of cars, running on a certain street at a given time, also taking into account velocity distributions, as will be shown.

Most pipeline codes, do not stipulate any requirement for block valve spacing nor for remote pipeline valve operations along transmission pipelines carrying low vapor pressure petroleum products. This requirement is generally industry driven for their desire to proactively control hazards and mitigation of environmental impacts in the event of pipeline ruptures or failures causing hydrocarbon spills. This paper will highlight a summary of pipeline codes for valve spacing requirements and spill limitation in high consequence areas along with a criteria for an acceptable spill volume that could be caused by pipeline leak/full rupture. A technique for deciding economically and technically effective pipeline block valve automation for remote operation to reduce oil spill and thus control of hazards is also provided. The criteria for maximum permissible oil spill volume, is based on industry’s best practice. The application of the technique for deciding valve automation as applied to three initially selected pipelines (ORSUB, OSPAR and ORBEL) is discussed. These pipeline represent about 14% of the total (6,800 kilometers, varying between 6” to 42”) liquid petroleum transmission lines operated by Petobras Transporte S.A. (Transpetro) in Brazil. Results of the application of the technique is provided for two of the pipelines: OSPAR (117 Km, 30” line) and ORBEL II (358 Km 24” line), both carrying large volumes of crude oil.

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%.