Predicting Academic Performance

This paper discussed advantages and disadvantages associated with the use of "admission tests" as predictors of performance in undergraduate studies programs. The paper analyzes performance of economics and business administration students. This performance is linked to admission tests results. The paper also analyzes aspects of performance related to (i) differential progress through time, and (ii) differences in the extent to which students have "areas of interest/ability". The paper concludes that admission tests are a usefull tool even when predictions derived from them are far from perfect.

The impact of human capital on firm-level input use: Argentine agriculture

This paper attempts to understand the linkages between human capital and input choice in agricultural firms. The hypothesis to be tested is that better educated managers choose different input combinations than managers with a lower educational level. In particular, the hypothesis is that the ratio between non-land and land input increases as education increases. Non-land inputs include fertilizers, machinery services, herbicides, animal stocks and others. An increase in the non-land/land input ratio results in increased output (and costs) per unit of land. Given the fixity of land at the aggregate level, the non-land/land input ratio is an important determinant of total sector output. Este trabajo tiene como objetivo entender los vínculos que existen entre capital humano y uso de insumos en empresas agropecuarias. La hipótesis a ser sometida a prueba es que los productores con mayor nivel de educación eligen combinaciones de insumos distintas que las elegidas por aquellos que cuentan con un nivel de educación mas bajo. En particular, que el ratio entre insumos de capital y el insumo tierra aumenta a medida que la educación de los productores aumenta. Los insumos de capital incluyen fertilizantes, servicios de maquinaria, herbicidas, capital biológico (animales) y otros. Un aumento en el ratio entre insumos de capital por unidad de recurso tierra resulta en mayor producto (y costos) por unidad de tierra. Dado que a nivel agregado la tierra es un insumo fijo, el ratio entre capital y tierra es un importante determinante de la producción total lograda. El nivel educativo de los productores, al impactar sobre la intensidad de uso de la tierra, resulta entonces un importante determinante del nivel total de producción logrado.human capital, agriculture, input use

Clarifying Pokhran-II in a multilinguistic setting

In May of 1998, India conducted its second nuclear test after a period of 24 years. This second test, known as Pokhran-II, caught the world by surprise and 17 days later it was followed by Pakistan’s first test of a nuclear device. The international community sought clarification for these developments and Indian and Pakistani leaders issued messages to explain their respective country’s rationale for testing. This report, focusing on the statements of then Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, argues that India’s motivations for testing can only be fully understood through consultation with both English and Hindi language statements. Four established models that explain why nations develop and test nuclear weapons are used to parse these sources to determine the contrast of rationale between each language. These models – gaining “security” from external threat, the interests of “domestic politics”, nuclear weapons as one of the “norms” indicating modernity, and the centering of victimhood and entitlement in “post-imperial ideology” – are variously represented across the statements. This displays that the complete picture of why the tests were conducted only can be seen by studying statements made in both languages. The implications of these findings suggest that attempts to clarify events that originate in multilinguistic settings should be made via consultation with sources in all of the languages that constitute the setting of the original event.Asian Studie

The changing structure of production: Argentine agriculture 1988–2002

The agricultural sector of many countries shows increasing farm size with corresponding decrease in farm numbers. Despite abundant research, the determinants of changes in firm numbers and size have not been clearly identified. This paper attempts to explain small firm survival in Argentine agriculture in the 1988 – 2002 period. The evidence suggests that labor market considerations, as well changing optimal size in response to production specialization are important factors affecting small-firm disappearance. In contrast, factor proportions (the K/L ratio) does not appear to have an impact on changes in firm size.economies of scale, Argentine agriculture, agricultural labor markets.

The development of magmatism along the Cameroon Volcanic Line: Evidence from teleseismic receiver functions

[1] The Cameroon Volcanic Line (CVL) in West Africa is a chain of Cenozoic volcanism with no clear age progression. The reasons for its existence are unclear, and the nature of its magmatic plumbing system is poorly understood. Specifically, whether or not the CVL crust presently contains melt and/or mafic intrusions, as is often observed at hot spots and rifts elsewhere, is presently unknown. To address this issue, we present a receiver function study of crustal structure using earthquakes recorded by the Cameroon Broadband Seismic Experiment. In regions of the CVL unaffected by Cretaceous extension associated with the breakup of Gondwana (e.g., the Garoua rift), Vp/Vs ratios are markedly low (network average ?1.74) compared to hot spots elsewhere, providing no evidence for either melt or cooled mafic crustal intrusions due to CVL magmatism. The character of P-to-S conversions from beneath the CVL also indicates that lower-crustal intrusions (often termed underplate) are not present beneath the region. Our observations thus corroborate earlier petrological studies that show CVL alkaline magmas fractionate in the mantle, not the crust, prior to eruption. Hypotheses for the formation of the CVL should not include markedly elevated upper-mantle potential temperatures, or large volumes of partial melt, both of which can explain observations at hot spots and rifts worldwide. The protracted, yet sporadic, development of small-volume alkali melts beneath the CVL may instead be explained better by lower melt volume mechanisms such as shear zone reactivation or lithospheric delamination

Argentine Agricultural Policy: Producer and Consumer Support. Estimates 2007-2012

This paper analyzes agricultural policy in Argentina and calculates the degree of support received by producers and consumers. We present a summary of developments in the agricultural policy environment that have occurred in the last decades in Argentina, as well as the resulting performance of the agricultural sector. The concepts of Producer Support Estimates, Consumer Support Estimates, General Services Support Estimates, Producer Nominal Assistance Coefficient and Nominal Protection Coefficient are used to analyse different dimensions of transfers occurring between agricultural producers, consumers and taxpayers in the period 2007-2012. Total transfers from producers have averaged US$ 11.000 million annually or 26% of total gross farm receipts. Support flowing from the public sector to producers in the form of R&D, infrastructure and other “public good” type of inputs totalize some 500 million annually.Fil: Gallacher, Guillermo Marcos. Universidad del Cema; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Lema, Daniel. Universidad del Cema; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; Argentin