Drivers of Agricultural Physical Capital Development: Theoretical Framework and Hypotheses. Factor Markets Working Paper No. 18, February 2012

This paper aims to identify drivers of physical capital adjustments in agriculture. It begins with a review of some of the most important theories and modelling approaches regarding firms’ adjustments of physical capital, ranging from output-based models to more recent approaches that consider irreversibility and uncertainty. Thereafter, it is suggested that determinants of physical capital adjustments in agriculture can be divided into three main groups, namely drivers related to: i) expected (risk-adjusted) profit, ii) expected societal benefits and costs and iii) expected private nonpecuniary benefits and costs. The discussion that follows focuses on the determinants belonging to the first group and covers aspects related to product market conditions, technological conditions, financial conditions and the role of firm structure and organization. Furthermore, the role of subjective beliefs is emphasized. The main part of this paper is concerned with the demand side of the physical capital market and one section also briefly discusses some aspects related to supply of farm assets.

Feasibility in Using Technological Resources for Implementing the Environmental Culture Cross-Cutting Factor for Sustainable Development in the Costa Rican Basic General Education

The purpose of this research was to analyze whether the use of technological resources may be feasible in the implementation of the environmental culture cross-cutting factor for sustainable development, which focuses on environmental issues related to the contents of the Science study program for the seventh year of the basic general education. The research design is qualitative with a dominant approach and uses some quantitative elements specifically in the design of instruments and some data analysis techniques. The type of study was developed with a multi-method approach; a trend that has been shaping a research style which integrates various methods in a single design. For this, we identified the didactic strategies and their relationship to both, technology and the environmental axis for sustainable development, used by six Science teachers of the 7th grade, in public institutions of the province of Heredia, Central Valley, Costa Rica, as well as the opinion of 20 students from that same grade. The main results include the opinions of the students, who showed a considerable interest in classes where technological resources are used. However, teachers do not show great interest or positive opinions on this matter; in addition, they are not well trained on the use of technological resources. It was also identified that the teaching personal who participated in the study do not develop this curricular axis.

Manual cross-pollination, fruit set and development in pear.

The lack of pear-compatible rootstocks in Brazil calls for the application of classical genetic techniques. Therefore, in order to obtain select suitable material, the search for genetic segregation must be continuous, being used as alternative scion cultivars. This study aims to assess fruit set, number of seeds, fruit weight and fruit diameter according to crosses between pear cultivars. The trial was carried out from September 2008 to February 2009 in a commercial orchard in the city of Vacaria/RS, Brazil. For the pollination process, pollen was extracted from flowers at full-white stage in the same orchard. The cultivars used were 'Packham's Triumph' and 'Clapps Favorite'. The crossings were defined as: open pollination; selfpollination of 'Packham's Triumph' and 'Packham's Triumph' × 'Clapps Favorite'. The pollinations were done manually in flowers at full-white stage, which were opened, emasculated and then pollinated. Each pollinated flower was then isolated with a fine nylon bag. Open pollination and cross pollination between 'Packham's Triumph' × 'Clapps Favorite' provided higher fruit set (17 and 18%, respectively). Fruit weight and diameter did not differ between treatments. Open pollination provided fruits with a higher number of seeds.

Development of paper-based color test-strip for drug detection in aquatic environment: Application to oxytetracycline

The wide use of antibiotics in aquaculture has led to the emergence of resistant microbial species. It should be avoided/minimized by controlling the amount of drug employed in fish farming. For this purpose, the present work proposes test-strip papers aiming at the detection/semi-quantitative determination of organic drugs by visual comparison of color changes, in a similar analytical procedure to that of pH monitoring by universal pH paper. This is done by establishing suitable chemical changes upon cellulose, attributing the paper the ability to react with the organic drug and to produce a color change. Quantitative data is also enabled by taking a picture and applying a suitable mathematical treatment to the color coordinates given by the HSL system used by windows. As proof of concept, this approach was applied to oxytetracycline (OXY), one of the antibiotics frequently used in aquaculture. A bottom-up modification of paper was established, starting by the reaction of the glucose moieties on the paper with 3-triethoxysilylpropylamine (APTES). The so-formed amine layer allowed binding to a metal ion by coordination chemistry, while the metal ion reacted after with the drug to produce a colored compound. The most suitable metals to carry out such modification were selected by bulk studies, and the several stages of the paper modification were optimized to produce an intense color change against the concentration of the drug. The paper strips were applied to the analysis of spiked environmental water, allowing a quantitative determination for OXY concentrations as low as 30 ng/mL. In general, this work provided a simple, method to screen and discriminate tetracycline drugs, in aquaculture, being a promising tool for local, quick and cheap monitoring of drugs.

The real economic effects of cross-delistingfrom the united states: evidence on post-operating performance, financial constraints and stock crash risk

Tese de Doutoramento em Ciências Empresariais.

Construcción de un Test de Conocimiento General. Development of a General Knowledge Test

Entre los factores que contribuyen a predecir el rendimiento académico se pueden destacar aquellos que reflejan capacidades cognitivas (inteligencia, por ejemplo), y aquellas diferencias individuales consideradas como no-cognitivas (rasgos de personalidad, por ejemplo). En los últimos años, también se considera al Conocimiento General (CG) como un criterio para el éxito académico (ver Ackerman, 1997), ya que se ha evidenciado que el conocimiento previo ayuda en la adquisición de nuevo conocimiento (Hambrick & Engle, 2001). Uno de los objetivos de la psicología educacional consiste en identificar las principales variables que explican el rendimiento académico, como también proponer modelos teóricos que expliquen las relaciones existentes entre estas variables. El modelo teórico PPIK (Inteligencia-como-Proceso, Personalidad, Intereses e Inteligencia-como-Conocimiento) propuesto por Ackerman (1996) propone que el conocimiento y las destrezas adquiridas en un dominio en particular son el resultado de la dedicación de recursos cognitivos que una persona realiza durante un prolongado período de tiempo. Este modelo propone que los rasgos de personalidad, intereses individuales/vocacionales y aspectos motivacionales están integrados como rasgos complejos que determinan la dirección y la intensidad de la dedicación de recursos cognitivos sobre el aprendizaje que realiza una persona (Ackerman, 2003). En nuestro medio (Córdoba, Argentina), un grupo de investigadores ha desarrollado una serie de recursos técnicos necesarios para la evaluación de algunos de los constructos propuesto por este modelo. Sin embargo, por el momento no contamos con una medida de Conocimiento General. Por lo tanto, en el presente proyecto se propone la construcción de un instrumento para medir Conocimiento General (CG), indispensable para poder contar con una herramienta que permita establecer parámetros sobre el nivel de conocimiento de la población universitaria y para en próximos trabajos poner a prueba los postulados de la teoría PPIK (Ackerman, 1996). Between the factors that contribute to predict the academic achievement, may be featured those who reflect cognitive capacities (i.g. intelligence) and those who reflect individual differences that are considered like non-cognitive (i.g. personality traits). In the last years, also the General Knowledge has been considered like a criterion for the academic successfully (see Ackerman, 1997), since it has been shown that the previous knowledge helps in the acquisition of the new knowledge (Hambrick & Engle, 2001). An interesting theoretical model that has proposed an explanation for the academic achievement, is the PPIK (intelligence like a process, interests and inteligence like knowledge) proposed by Ackerman (1996), who argues that knowledge and the acquired skills in a particular domain are the result of the dedication of cognitive resources that a person perform during a long period of time. This model proposes that personality traits, individuals interests and motivational aspects are integrated as complex traits that determine the direction and the intensity of the dedication of cognitive resources on the learning that a person make (Ackerman, 2003). In our context, (Córdoba, Argentina), a group of researcher has developed a series of necessary technical resoures for the assesment of some of the theoretical constructs proposed by this model. However, by the moment, we do not have an instrument for evaluate the General Knowledge. Therefore, this project aims the construction of an instrument to asess General Knowledge, essential to set parameters on the knowledge level of the university population and for in next works test the PPIK theory postulates.

evaluation framework for software test processes

Magdeburg, Univ., Fak. für Informatik, Diss., 2009

Development of a design performance measurement matrix for improving collaborative design during a design process

This is a research paper. Research presented in this paper aimed to investigate how to measure collaborative design performance and, in turn, improve the final design output during a design process, with a clear objective to develop a Design Performance Measurement (DPM) matrix to measure design project team member's design collaboration performance.

Development of Mandarin speech discrimination test for children

This paper contains a speech discrimation test for hearing impaired children using Mandarin language.