Reply to Critics

Cameron, Eklund, Hofweber, Linnebo, Russell and Sider have written critical essays on my book, The Construction of Logical Space (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013). Here I offer some replies

APPLYING CHAID TO IDENTIFY THE ACCOUNTING-FINANCIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MOST PROFITABLE REAL ESTATE COMPANIES IN SPAIN

The aim of this study is the determination, from an empirical perspective, of the accounting and financial features which could condition financial profitability of real estate companies, to identify the performances that guarantee its permanency in the current marketplace, characterized by the world economic crisis, specially in Spain, whose housing sector represents an important contributor to the economic growth. Although at a theoretical level the DuPont Model establishes the relationships between a group of accounting ratios and financial profitability. This paper uses a sample of 5,484 Spanish real estate companies to quantify these relationships and to extract the most relevant ones and to obtain the patterns of the most profitable companies. We use ROE to measure profitability and we analyze various independent variables about solvency, liquidity, activity, turnover, financial equilibrium and investment structure. The main contribution is of methodological nature, as we have applied statistics tools that do not require initial hypotheses on the distribution of the variables, by using a data mining technique of classification and regression tree based on rule induction algorithms known as CHAID. The study provides quantitatively success profiles by means of a set of rules describing the patterns of the most profitable companies.CHAID; financial profitability; classification trees; accounting ratios; Spain.

Essence without fundamentality

In Modality and Explanatory Reasoning, Boris Kment argues that a single notion of essence can be used to play two distinct theoretical roles. He thinks there is an important connec- tion between essence and metaphysical necessity, on the one hand, and between essence and metaphysical explanation, on the other. In this paper I will argue that it is not clear that a single notion of essence should be used to perform both these jobs. For whereas the project of giving metaphysical explanations requires a notion of essence that distinguishes between truths that are more or less “funda- mental” in a metaphysical sense, the project of shedding light on metaphysical necessity does not.

Automated Exercise Generation in Mobile Language Learning

The Language Lion is an Android application that teaches basic Dutch to English speakers. While mobile language learning has increased exponentially in popularity, course creation is still labor-intensive. By contrast, the Language Lion uses a map of Dutch to English lexemes, a context-free grammar, and a modified version of the SimpleNLG sentence realizer to automatically generate semi-random translation exercises for the student. Each component is evaluated individually to find and analyze the particular roadblocks in automated exercise generation for mobile language learning

Democratic Policy Making with Real-Time Agenda Setting: Part 1

We examine democratic policy-making in a simple institution with real-time agenda setting. Individuals are recognized sequentially. Once recognized, an individual makes a proposal, which is immediately put to a vote. If a proposal passes, it supercedes all previously passed proposals. The policy that emerges from this process is implemented. For some familiar classes of policy spaces with rich distributional politics, we show that the last proposer is effectively a dictator under a variety of natural conditions. Most notably, this occurs whenever a sufficient number of individuals have opportunities to make proposals. Thus, under reasonably general assumptions, control of the final proposal with real-time agenda setting confers as much power as control of the entire agenda.

El Espacio Schengen y la reinstauración de los controles en las fronteras interiores de los Estados miembros de la Unión Europea

Tradicionalment, en virtut de la seva sobirania, el control dels fluxos migratoris en el territori dels estats membres de la UE era de la seva competència exclusiva. Això no obstant, el Conveni d’aplicació de l’Acord de Schengen, que entrà en vigor el 1995, suposa la supressió efectiva dels controls al moviment de persones en les fronteres intracomunitàries, i, alhora, un reforç del control en les extracomunitàries. Al 2006, el Codi de Fronteres Schengen modifica aquest text, i permet, amb certs requisits, el restabliment de controls fronterers per part dels estats membres per motius d’ordre públic o seguretat nacional. L’escassa recurrència a ells i la seva ineficàcia, juntament amb els problemes migratoris recents, han motivat propostes de modificació per part de la Comissió, que emfasitzen el control de l’acció dels estats membres en l’àmbit fronterer per part de les institucions comunitàries, en detriment de l’àmplia discrecionalitat actual, cosa que ha provocat reticències considerables.Tradicionalmente, en virtud de su soberanía, el control de los flujos migratorios en el territorio de los Estados miembros de la UE era de su exclusiva competencia. No obstante, el Convenio de aplicación del Acuerdo de Schengen, que entra en vigor en 1995, supone la supresión efectiva de los controles al movimiento de personas en las fronteras intracomunitarias, y, a su vez, un refuerzo del control en las extracomunitarias. En 2006, el “Código de Fronteras Schengen” modifica dicho texto, permitiendo, sujetándolo a ciertos requisitos, el restablecimiento de controles fronterizos por parte de los Estados miembros por motivos de orden público o seguridad nacional. La escasa recurrencia a ellos y su ineficacia, junto con los recientes problemas migratorios, han motivado propuestas de modificación por parte de la Comisión, que enfatizan el control de la acción de los Estados miembros en el ámbito fronterizo por parte de las instituciones comunitarias, en detrimento de su amplia discrecionalidad actual, lo que ha dado lugar a considerables reticencias.Traditionally, by virtue of their sovereignty, the control of migratory flows was an exclusive competence of the EU members. Nevertheless, the Convention that is implementing the Schengen Agreement, which came into force in 1995, meant both the effective suppression of controls on people’s movement across the Community frontiers and the reinforcement of the non Community borders. In 2006, the “Schengen Borders Code” modified the mentioned text, allowing under certain requirements the reestablishment of frontiers controls for the EU members, based on public order and national security reasons. The scarce recurrence to this measure and its inefficiency, together with the recent migratory problems, have motivated proposals of modification of the Commission, that emphasize the Community institutions’ control of EU members’ action on borders power, at the expense of their current wide discretionary power, which has led to considerable reticence

Teatro del Oprimido: dispositivo crítico para la Psicología Social Comunitaria

This article presents a literature review with the aim of analyzing the compatibility between the principles of the Theater of the Oppressed and the paradigm of social intervention in Community Social Psychology. The research consists of a comparative analysis of the political and technical proposals of both and identifies some psychosocial processes that the TO promotes among the groups that it works with. The study revealed that the TO, as an community theater, offers practical strategies to activate psychosocial processes that have been investigated by CSP, such as the exercise of power, problematization, dishabituation, awareness raising and disnaturalization, among others. These are exercised using body language and experimenting reality in the scene, thus reaching the aim of CSP.El artículo presenta una revisión teórica que tiene por objeto analizar la compatibilidad de los fundamentos del Teatro del Oprimido con el paradigma de la intervención social en Psicología Social Comunitaria. La investigación consiste en un análisis comparativo entre las propuestas políticas y técnicas de los mismos e identifica algunos procesos psicosociales que la práctica del Teatro del Oprimido promueve en los grupos con los que trabaja. El estudio reveló que el Teatro del Oprimido, como teatro comunitario, ofrece estrategias prácticas para activar procesos psicosociales que han sido investigados por la Psicología Social Comunitaria, tales como el ejercicio del poder, la problematización, la deshabituación, la concientización y la desnaturalización, entre otros. Estos se ejercitan desde el lenguaje corporal  y la experimentación de la realidad en escena, cumpliendo con los objetivos principales de la Psicología Social Comunitaria

Ediciones propagandísticas españolas en Argentina durante la Guerra Civil y el primer Franquismo: la labor de José Ignacio Ramos

Resumen Desde su nombramiento como agregado de Prensa de la representación oficiosa del Gobierno de Burgos en Argentina a principios de 1937, José Ignacio Ramos desarrolló una intensa actividad propagandística en aquel país que lo vinculó al mundo el libro, convirtiéndolo en editor ocasional, tanto durante la Guerra Civil como en los primeros años del franquismo. De acuerdo con las directrices de actuación establecidas por el régimen, Ramos ignoró la actividad editorial de las empresas promovidas por exiliados republicanos y silenció la publicación de sus obras. En defensa de los intereses gubernamentales participó asimismo en el debate sobre el problema de la venta de libros entre España y Argentina que se suscitó en aquellos años. Palabras clave: José Ignacio Ramos, propaganda, Guerra Civil, franquismo, editoriales