Search

Women in Mexico are subject to unusually high and traumatic levels of violence. This paper reviews a workshop process done in Mexico City that addressed the problem of violence against women using the Anticipatory Experimentation methodology. Based on a workshop at Centro University in Mexico City on the eve of historic protests against violence against women, the paper provides an overview of contemporary challenges, historical changes, as well as deep mythological images and assumptions within Mexican society that are pathways to reconceptualization. Leveraging emerging issues and recovered narratives to address and reframe the problem, the paper concludes with the metaphor of the Chamana as the narrative seed from which new ideas and experiments might be developed to address violence against women in Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anticipating and planning for the urgent response to large-scale disasters is critical to increase the probability of survival at these events. These incidents present various challenges that complicate the response, such as unfavorable weather conditions, difficulties in accessing affected areas, and the geographical spread of the victims. Furthermore, local socioeconomic factors, such as inadequate prevention education, limited disaster resources, and insufficient coordination between public and private emergency services, can complicate these situations. In large-scale emergencies, multiple demand points (DPs) are generally observed, which requires efforts to coordinate the strategic allocation of human and material resources in different geographical areas. Therefore, the precise management of these resources based on the specific needs of each area becomes fundamental. To address these complexities, this paper proposes a methodology that models these scenarios as a multi-objective optimization problem, focusing on the location-allocation problem of resources in Mass Casualty Incidents (MCIs). The proposed case study is Mexico City in a earthquake post-disaster scenario, using voluntary geographic information, open government data, and historical data from the 19 September 2017 earthquake. It is assumed that the resources that require optimal location and allocation are ambulances, which focus on medical issues that affect the survival of victims. The designed solution involves the use of a metaheuristic optimization technique, along with a parameter tuning technique, to find configurations that perform at different instances of the problem, i.e., different hypothetical scenarios that can be used as a reference for future possible situations. Finally, the objective is to present the different solutions graphically, accompanied by relevant information to facilitate the decision-making process of the authorities responsible for the practical implementation of these solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tackles the challenge of time series forecasting in the presence of missing data. Traditional methods often struggle with such data, which leads to inaccurate predictions. We propose a novel framework that combines the strengths of Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) and Bayesian inference. The framework utilizes a Conditional GAN (C-GAN) to realistically impute missing values in the time series data. Subsequently, Bayesian inference is employed to quantify the uncertainty associated with the forecasts due to the missing data. This combined approach improves the robustness and reliability of forecasting compared to traditional methods. The effectiveness of our proposed method is evaluated on a real-world dataset of air pollution data from Mexico City. The results demonstrate the framework's capability to handle missing data and achieve improved forecasting accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first European settlements in the new world faced technical issues with the help of the XVI century scientific advances. Besides briefly exposing the scientific and technological situation, this paper explores, with the help of reverse engineering, two singular mechanical wits representative of the technological advances introduced in America to overcome different problems. Firstly, a pump, based on an alternative movement system through crankshafts and pistons used against the continuous flooding suffered in the Ciudad de México valley. Although flooding remained a problem (it was solved in the XX century), hydraulic pumps were essential for continuous soil drainage. Secondly, a port crane for handling cannons, military devices, and construction materials during the Lima fortification in the XVII century. For both cases, reverse engineering, through engineering methods, Computer-Aided Design CAD programs, and additive manufacturing, provides virtual and/or tangible mockups that help to analyze and improve our knowledge about the dimensions, materials, and functions of used (and currently lost) mechanical systems during the American colonization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we tackle the problem of forecasting future pandemics by training models with a COVID-19 time series. We tested this approach by producing one model and using it to forecast a non-trained time series; however, we limited this paper to the eight states with the highest population density in Mexico. We propose a generalized pandemic forecasting framework that transforms the time series into a dataset via three different transformations using random forest and backward transformations. Additionally, we tested the impact of the horizon and dataset window sizes for the training phase. A Wilcoxon test showed that the best transformation technique statistically outperformed the other two transformations with 100% certainty. The best transformation included the accumulated efforts of the other two plus a normalization that helped rescale the non-trained time series, improving the sMAPE from the value of 25.48 attained for the second-best transformation to 13.53. The figures in the experimentation section show promising results regarding the possibility of forecasting the early stages of future pandemics with trained data from the COVID-19 time series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 26 April 2017, Mexico formally adopted the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda to link the national government to local governments, the private sector, civil society and academia. The restoration of heritage residential buildings (recovery programme) and the construction of new residential buildings aim to create a diversified environment for populations at different economic levels. However, the restoration programme faces conservation challenges. Given this context, this paper presents the results of in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted with stakeholders in Mexico's heritage and energy sectors. The duration of each interview was approximately two hours, with 52,372 total interview words. The paper identifies prevailing opinions regarding prioritising historical values, energy efficiency, historic buildings and users concerning Mexico City's Historical Centre, a World Heritage Site needing a more appropriate sustainable development plan. Using grounded theory and thematic analysis, the interview data were analysed based on the interrelationship between thermal comfort, energy efficiency and heritage conservation changes over time. The results of this research will strengthen our understanding of the interventions and processes involved in managing and living in this World Heritage Site and its future impacts on buildings. The approach also underscores the importance of how stakeholders prioritise different values in making energy efficiency-promoting decisions and enhances awareness of the decision-making process and actions adopted by heritage building users. Thus, understanding the dynamic interrelationship between values, users and energy could improve the sustainable management of heritage sites and future development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analysis of the morphology and columnar microphysical properties of atmospheric aerosols in Mexico City (MC) for the period 2022–2023. The morphological study focused on the structure description of soot particles and tar balls (TB). By transmission electron microscope (TEM) and scanning electrode microscope (SEM), voluminous soot aggregates mixed with TBs were observed. The chemistry shows that both soot and TBs are mostly carbonaceous species with well-defined morphologies. On the other hand, the columnar aerosol microphysical properties recovered from AERONET show that the particles have a bimodal aerosol size distribution (ASD) with two modes: fine and coarse. The ASD remains constant without showing significant seasonal changes, only with some variability for coarse particles. The aerosol optical depth (AOD) value is significantly high, typical of urban areas. The real (n) and imaginary (k) parts of the complex refractive index (CRI) were obtained from the photometric measurements. The CRI values show seasonal variations, with spring being the season with the highest values for n, while the highest values for k were measured in winter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Future climate change is expected to increase the risk and severity of wildland fires in tropical regions. Synoptic-scale fire weather conditions in Mexico were carefully analyzed using 20 years of satellite hotspot and rainfall data, hourly weather data, and various climate data. Fire analysis results showed that eighty-four percent of all fires in Mexico occurred south of 22° N. Southwest Mexico (SWM, N < 22°, 94–106° W) and Southeast Mexico (SEM, N < 22°, 86–94° W), account for 50% and 34% of all fires in Mexico. Synoptic-scale analysis results using hourly data showed that westerly wind sea breezes from the Pacific Ocean blow toward the coastal land areas of the SWM while easterly wind sea breezes from the Caribbean blow into the SEM. The most sensitive weather parameters were "relative humidity" for the SWM and "temperature" for the SEM. The fire-related indices selected were "precipitable water vapor anomaly" for the SWM and "temperature anomaly" for the SEM. The SWM fire index suggests that future fires will depend on dryness, while the SEM fire index suggests that future fires will depend on temperature trends. I do hope that this paper will improve local fire forecasts and help analyze future fire trends under global warming in Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides empirical evidence that supports the configurational assumptions of social disorganization theory and routine activities theory. Through a comparative qualitative analysis (csQCA), the paper concludes that the differentiated distribution of robberies in the Mexico City mayoralties (N16) is a product of the combination of conditions associated with the deterioration of social control and the availability of criminal opportunities. However, in terms of necessity and sufficiency, not all explanatory conditions were relevant to reduce uncertainty and did not always act according to the hypotheses formulated. The study suggests that crime rates do not simply result from the direct influence of factors and that the interaction between factors may be mediated by contextual conditions. This paper adds to the literature that seeks to discuss the assumptions of social theories of crime in Latin American cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In most big cities, public transports are enclosed and crowded spaces. Therefore, they are considered as one of the most important triggers of COVID-19 spread. Most of the existing research related to the mobility of people and COVID-19 spread is focused on investigating highly frequented paths by analyzing data collected from mobile devices, which mainly refer to geo-positioning records. In contrast, this paper tackles the problem by studying mass mobility. The relations between daily mobility on public transport (subway or metro) in three big cities and mortality due to COVID-19 are investigated. Data collected for these purposes come from official sources, such as the web pages of the cities' local governments. To provide a systematic framework, we applied the IBM Foundational Methodology for Data Science to the epidemiological domain of this paper. Our analysis consists of moving averages with a moving window equal to seven days so as to avoid bias due to weekly tendencies. Among the main findings of this work are: a) New York City and Madrid show similar distribution on studied variables, which resemble a Gauss bell, in contrast to Mexico City, and b) Non-pharmaceutical interventions don't bring immediate results, and reductions to the number of deaths due to COVID are observed after a certain number of days. This paper yields partial evidence for assessing the effectiveness of public policies in mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The challenges faced by teachers during the confinement caused by Covid-19 were more severe for those who look after students with special needs or learning barriers, particularly in a context marked by the scarcity of specialized technological tools and an incipient development of digital skills among both teachers and students. The paper analyzes the conditions in which teachers who work in basic and upper secondary education in Mexico carried out their jobs from April 2020 - December 2021. The analysis is based upon a structural attributive research of explanatory scope that retrieved information through a survey. 140 teachers participated in the process; their responses were statistically analyzed and mapped out using the Geographic Information System and the ArcGIS program, in order to highlight regional differences and shortcomings. The results presented focus on two axes of the Common Framework for Digital Teaching Competence (Content Creation and Security) and show the persistence of socio-educational gaps. Those who express that to have developed these competences are teachers from urban areas, particularly those who have less years of service, higher academic degrees, and are in the seek of job stability. This leads to the conclusion that there is a need to strengthen differentiated training processes that respond to the specific needs of educational contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By analyzing Mexico's productive structure in the 1980s and 2013, this paper explores whether promoting the domestic market may complement the dynamism of the external sector and achieve a process of sustained growth and development for an economy highly integrated into the international market. The methodology applied is an extension of the input-output model and network analysis; in particular, the concept of vertically integrated sectors is a major feature to reach conclusions. The results show that stimulating the domestic market can be a complementary strategy for promoting the export sector to boost growth and economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to describe the prosodic features --nuclear pitch configurations and pitch range-- of neutral and oriented interrogative utterances in the Spanish of Mexico City. We carried out a study of polar and wh- questions recorded in the free conversation module of the Corpus Norma Lingüística Culta (Lope Blanch 1971) and Habla Popular de la Ciudad de México (Lope Blanch 1976). The findings of the qualitative analysis show: i) the nuclear pitch configuration L* (L)H% --with the variants L* (L)H%, L* ¡H%, !H* ¡H%-- in information-seeking yes-no questions and confirmation questions, ii) the nuclear configuration L* L% documented in neutral wh- questions, and the boundary tone H% produced in the non-neutral condition --hypothetical or confirmative-- of the utterance; iii) the use of the pitch range as a potential prosodic resource for the expression of lesser or greater knowledge about the expected answer. The spontaneous speech data partially confirm the descriptions based on discourse completion tasks for this variety of Spanish (de-la-Mota et al. 2010). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent technological advances have significantly impacted news media in the way they provide news to the public, evolving into a digital environment. Therefore, digital media today focuses on generating readers' loyalty to their news websites. In this sense, a multiple linear regression analysis was carried out on a sample of 344 surveys of adult residents in the cities of Mexico and Monterrey. The results show that factors such as familiarity, satisfaction and reputation are positively related to the loyalty of news website users. However, they also show that the importance of the impact of these factors is different when the analysis is carried out in a stratified manner, such as residence, gender or education, which allows us to conclude that digital media can guide their loyalty efforts depending on the profile of their readers and the market they seek to target. To illustrate focusing on stratification by place of residence, the most significant factors for the Mexico City group corresponded to familiarity and satisfaction, wile for the Monterrey group the most significant factors were reputation and familiarity in that order. Results with this type of differences between groups were also obtained when comparing by gender and schooling. It is recommended for future research on the subject, to include other cities within the country, with the purpose of contrasting these paper's findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to show, based on the results of a questionnaire applied in May 2020, the conditions in which the female students of a unit of the National Pedagogical University (UPN) in Mexico City have continued their studies during the Covid-19 pandemic. The concept of intersectionality allows us to show that the social and economic disadvantages (job insecurity, unpaid work, economic dependence) in which the students lived before the pandemic intensified, particularly for those who work in the education sector, since they had to add to the tasks they were already performing working from home and caring for people within the home (triple burden). Given this situation, it is suggested to develop strategies focused on women in the education sector (particularly those who are still in training), so that the pandemic and the eventual return to the classroom do not result in work overload and worsening of their working conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a review of the psychological, social and emotional effects of social isolation. Its objective is to reflect on this measure taken during the pandemic, focusing on the psychological consequences. On the one hand, it is based on official speeches, critical views and mental health research. On the other hand, a study is made on the subject in Mexico, in which opinions, practices and the cognitive, emotional, behavioral and relational impacts are addressed. This is done through a bibliographic and documentary review, as well as surveys, questionnaires and interviews, for the country and for Mexico City. As a result, the consideration between benefits and risks in general is presented. In particular, a favorable assessment from the population, a relative follow-up, an accumulation of unpleasant feelings, psychological disorders, as well as changes in habits, activities and relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes Mexico's export activity from 1995 to 2020. It applies an augmented gravity model to test how economic size, the distance between countries, endowment factors differences, cultural closeness, and commercial rapprochement have affected Mexico's exports to other countries. The results suggest that Mexico's trading partners' economic size and distance largely explain Mexico's exports to the United States, Canada, China, Germany, Spain, Japan, and Brazil. However, differences in endowment factors, cultural closeness, and commercial rapprochement reasonably influenced Mexico's exports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on an ethnographic and artistic approach to research in an "addiction" treatment center on the periphery of Mexico City, this paper reflects on the following question: How is young women's subjectivity constructed as they move through different life spaces, such as addiction treatment centers, the street, detention centers, and homes? Through various mapping exercises with a gender lens, young women explored the articulation between their body, the street, and their memory. These revealed spatiotemporal conceptualizations that shed light on the disciplining of addicted bodies and their own spatial productions. As a result of this work, we present the idea of transgression path to understand howsubjectivities are constructed based on the experience of inhabiting different spaces that have been important for them throughout their lives: the street, homes and public institutions. On these paths, young women shape their subjectivities through circulation and intermittency, bodily experimentations and mental gaps, experience of the street, and bodily performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of an investigation on the work experience of Higher Technical University graduates of the Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City (Ibero). These experiences focus on the effects social confinement generated by the Covid-19 pandemic had on their employment and working conditions. It is an extract of a broader cross-sectional qualitative research that explains, through the evidence collected by interviews and using the Photovoice technique -from the Sociology of Work-, how their working conditions changed and how they have responded to these changes. The results reveal an increase in unemployment and underemployment and the need to establish working conditions that safeguard health and economy, not exclusive to workers with technical degrees. However, it identifies that they belong to the most affected population because of their job position and activities. Likewise, it foresees a future for graduates with different occupations that will require new skills, which will force Technical Education Institutions to anticipate and design training according to upcoming job needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analyze a massive dataset with registers of the movement of vehicles in the bus rapid transit system Metrobús in Mexico City from February 2020 to April 2021. With these records and a division of the system into 214 geographical regions (segments), we characterize the vehicles' activity through the statistical analysis of speeds in each zone. We use the Kullback–Leibler distance to compare the movement of vehicles in each segment and its evolution. The results for the dynamics in different zones are represented as a network where nodes define segments of the system Metrobús and edges describe similarity in the activity of vehicles. Community detection algorithms in this network allow the identification of patterns considering different levels of similarity in the distribution of speeds providing a framework for unsupervised classification of the movement of vehicles. The methods developed in this research are general and can be implemented to describe the activity of different transportation systems with detailed records of the movement of users or vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New migration configurations, particularly regarding access to resources for arriving migrants in urban contexts, have emerged in Mexico. As a destination for newly arrived international immigrant populations, Mexico City has become especially important. Stranded migration situations have produced fragmented journeys for Latin American migrants who are on their way to the United States. With the strengthening of immigration containment policies and the insecurity in Mexico, the complexity of immigrant journeys has led to new ways of settling in the country, temporarily or permanently. This paper is based on empirical elements to analyze the experiences of migrants who have recently arrived in Mexico City using a perspective centred on their everyday practices in the urban space. It highlights the different tactics and strategies that migrants develop depending on the characteristics of their migration process and their need for access to resources, like housing, employment, health care, and education. We point out that, in a context of restricted access to resources or an immigration status, utilizing alternate and informal strategies in micro‐local spaces is common in the city and part of a negotiated urbanity in an unknown metropolitan environment. We argue that, despite the local intercultural policy implemented by the government of Mexico City, situations of legal precariousness and transitoriness that characterize the urban practices and patterns of incorporation into the city constrain international migrants' access to their rights. Key Messages: Under current immigration control, many migrants settle temporarily or permanently in Mexico City, challenging authorities' efforts to make local inclusive policy reforms truly effective.As settling in the city makes it necessary to activate specific strategies for accessing resources, migrants rely more on new local interactions than pre‐existing social networks or longstanding sociocultural resources.Transient situations lead to partial incorporation into the urban context and limited access to rights, so informality, marginality, and social insecurity remain salient features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. The popular use of marijuana and its components (THC and CBD) for medicinal purposes is often regarded as irresponsible and ignorant. However, in this paper, it is conceptualized and studied as medical knowledge of self-care, in which it is linked to different therapeutic knowledge from conventional and alternative medicine to treat anxiety. Objective. This article reports on a qualitative research project designed to analyze the practices and risks of self-medication with CBD, and its links with medical treatments and self-care measures for dealing with anxiety in adult women in Mexico City. Method. Eleven adult women, mostly professionals, diagnosed with anxiety, participated in the study. In-depth interviews were conducted to learn how women use therapeutic resources to cope with anxiety in their everyday lives. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using ATLAS ti 7 software. Results. Self-medication is part of a self-care process with several facets: the experience of symptoms, self-diagnosis, the use of various remedies (dosage and administration), and their evaluation. During this process, women use a range of medication, psychological therapies, herbalism, acupuncture, yoga, and sleep hygiene measures, including CBD, either as an alternative or an adjunct to biomedical pharmacology, with or without medical supervision. Certain risks were identified, such as the use of CBD that may be incorrectly labeled or interact dangerously with other self-prescribed substances. Discussion and conclusion. These results coincide with those of various authors who equate self-care with a first level of care, which has risks that could be reduced by controlling misleading marketing and developing professional medical services, which are trained and accessible to users, who could inform them about the medicinal use, scope and risks of CBD or THC for health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since his arrival to the presidency of Mexico in 2018, López Obrador has established a communication strategy focused on his daily press conferences, called mañaneras, through which he tries to establish the informative agenda of the country. It is common for the president to use a discursive rhetoric tending to polarization, for which he makes use of cues or labels that offer a context to understand the issues on which he is pronounced. The paper seeks to analyze the use of labels or cues by the president in his discourse, for which a quantitative content analysis was carried out on a sample of his interventions (N = 867) during a year in the mañaneras. The findings made it possible to detect two discursive schemes from the convergence of different cues: one that tends to present an Us visualized in a new government scheme, linked to positive aspects such as engagement or the fight against corruption, compared to an Others that presents the previous government, linked to negative aspects such as corruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a turn-design strategy, repeating another has been described for English as a fairly restricted way of constructing a response, which, through re-saying what another speaker just said, is exploitable for claiming epistemic primacy, and thus avoided when a second speaker has no direct experience. Conversations in Mesoamerican languages present a challenge to the generality of this claim. This paper examines the epistemics of dialogic repetition in video-recordings of conversations in three Indigenous languages of Mexico: Tzeltal and Yucatec Maya, both spoken in southeastern Mexico, and Lachixío Zapotec, spoken in Oaxaca. We develop a typology of repetition in different sequential environments. We show that while the functions of repeats in Mesoamerica overlap with the range of repeat functions described for English, there is an additional epistemic environment in the Mesoamerican routine of repeating for affirmation: a responding speaker can repeat to affirm something introduced by another speaker of which s/he has no prior knowledge. We argue that, while dialogic repetition is a universally available turn-design strategy that makes epistemics potentially relevant, cross-cultural comparison reveals that cultural preferences intervene such that, in Mesoamerican conversations, repetition co-constructs knowledge as collective process over which no individual participant has final authority or ownership. • As a turn-design strategy, repeating another makes relevant epistemic primacy. • English-language data shows repetition mediated when lacking direct experience. • Cross-cultural study of dialogic repetition in Mayan and Zapotec languages. • Responding speaker can repeat to affirm something she has no prior knowledge of. • Repetition co-constructs knowledge as collective process not owned territories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the effects of currency depreciations on output for the main Latin American countries that have been using Inflation Targeting for almost two decades. We construct VAR models for Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru for the last two decades and we find that depreciations have short-run contractionary effects in Brazil and Mexico. We illustrate some of the policy implications of that finding by building a simple model, and we show that contractionary effects of depreciations may have destabilizing effects when monetary policy is conducted using a standard Taylor Rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I study the graphic series entitled Negro Woman (1946) by the American-Mexican artist Elizabeth Catlett. I rely on the concept of "postmemory" in relation to the slavery suffered by the artist's grandparents, as the base to interpret her desire to create consciousness on the double oppression experienced by black women, both in the past and in the present moment. Working in the artistic context of the Taller de Gráfica Popular, Catlett introduced in mid-century México the intersectionality of gender and race in a very explicit and forceful way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A slit damper for precast beam-column connections is proposed. • Quasi-static incremental and constant-amplitude cyclic tests were conducted. • The damper showed stable hysteretic behavior and adequate seismic performance. • Non-uniform struts increased the damper's cyclic performance in general. • Numerical modeling techniques were validated with finite element analyses. Since the 2017 Puebla-Morelos Earthquake, interest in limiting damage to structural components has exponentially increased in Mexico. Consequently, the use of energy dissipation devices has received renewed attention. Following that line, this paper studies an attractive solution, which is a slit damper proposed as a passive energy dissipation device for, but not limited to, precast beam-column connections. Slit dampers have been studied for their cost-effectiveness and ease of application. They present stable hysteretic behavior and dissipate substantial amounts of energy under cyclic loading while maintaining less ductile elements essentially elastic. The structural behavior of the proposed device was evaluated theoretically, followed by experimental verification. Quasi-static incremental and constant-amplitude cyclic tests were conducted on eight specimens, with two of them having non-uniform struts. Test results are presented and discussed, emphasizing ductility and energy dissipation capacity. The proposed damper showed stable hysteretic behavior and adequate seismic performance. Using non-uniform struts significantly increased the damper's deformation capacity and fatigue performance, which is desirable for seismic zones where long-duration earthquakes are expected, such as in Mexico City. Numerical modeling techniques were also validated with finite element analyses. It was shown that the proposed damper's hysteretic response could be accurately predicted using the combined non-linear isotropic and kinematic hardening model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the effects of extending the school day during elementary school on students' educational outcomes later in life. The analysis takes place in the context of a large-scale program introduced in 2007 that extended the school day from 4.5 to 8 h in Mexico City's metropolitan area. The identification strategy leverages cohort-by-cohort variation in full-time enrollment in elementary schools. The results indicate that full-time elementary schools have positive and long-lasting effects on students' performance, increasing high-stakes high school admission test scores by 4.8 percent of a standard deviation. The effects are larger for females than for males. The difference in the effects between males and females of 2.1 percent of a standard deviation represents 16% of the gender gap in the high school admission exam. Moreover, full-time schooling decreases the probability of delays in schooling completion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the available knowledge in the literature on Mexican fishes and their parasites refers to information within political divisions and/or hydrological basins in the country. Indeed, only a few studies have analyzed the helminth fauna of these vertebrates as a biological group distributed nation‐wide. This lack of available knowledge prevents the study of several basic and applied aspects involving fish–parasite interactions at different spatial and temporal scales. In this dataset, we compiled all the available geographic information on fish–helminth parasite interactions involving native and exotic fish species recorded in continental waters throughout the Mexican territory. After an exhaustive filtering and the curation of information, our data set contains 5999 records of 361 freshwater fish species (roughly 70% of known freshwater fish species occurring in Mexico) and 483 endo‐ and ectoparasitic helminths collected over an 85‐year period (from 1936–2021) in 1070 localities distributed throughout Mexico. These records are mainly concentrated in only a few states located to the south and east of the country; although all states have been sampled and all major basins in Mexico are represented. The fish order with the highest number of records was Perciformes (n = 2325, 38.75%) while the fish family with the highest number of records was Cichlidae (n = 1741, 29.02%). Native species of fishes corresponded to 92.14% of the records (n = 5528) and fish‐associated parasites were found in 41 habitat types in/on their host bodies. Regarding fish parasites, we found that most of the records are from the phylum Platyhelminthes (n = 4495, 74.92%). At the class level, we observed that Trematoda reached the highest number of records (n = 2965, 49.42%). Moreover, we found that Diplostomidae (n = 917, 15.25%) were the family of trematodes with the highest number of records. Most parasites were registered in their adult stage (n = 3730, 62.17%), followed by larval stages (n = 2267, 37.78%). We hope that the fish–parasite interactions data set will encourage researchers worldwide to explore different ecological and coevolutionary aspects of fishes and their helminth parasites, as well as provide useful information for the better implementation of conservation initiatives. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite this data paper when using its data in publications or teaching events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows the thermal performance of a window system with a shading cover made out of a phase change material (window-PCM shutter). The analysis was the numerical study where conjugated heat transfer was considered on the whole system window-PCM shutter. The modeling was conducted under warm (Merida) and cold weather (Toluca) conditions in México for the warmest and coldest day. Two different phase change materials (PCMs) were selected for the study: Paraffin wax - MG29 and n -octadecane. The results show that the n -octadecane and the MG29 were capable of keeping the inside comfort temperature for 14:35 and 16:23 h, respectively. The n -octadecane and MG29 reduced the energy of the window-PCM shutter inside surface by 67.3 and 71.6%, respectively, compared to a conventional window. Under cold weather conditions also occurred reductions of heat fluxes by 87.2 (n -octadecane) and 83% (MG29) with the window-PCM shutter system compared to a conventional window, causing non-comfort temperatures. The use of a window-PCM shutter is highly recommended under warm weather conditions, given that it showed to be a viable option for energy savings in buildings; however, for its implementation under cold weather conditions of México, it becomes necessary further investigations with other PCMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The planetary boundary layer (PBL) height plays a major role in air quality and weather forecast studies. However, it cannot be directly measured as it can only be determined from the measured profiles of atmospheric parameters such as., temperature, moisture, and aerosol backscatter based on different retrieval mechanisms. This paper presents the PBL features such as., stable boundary layer (SBL), convective boundary layer (CBL), and residual layer (RL) detected from the microwave radiometer (MWR), mini Micro Pulse Lidar (MPL), and radiosondes (RS) and an intercomparison was done between the instruments during the period of 16 February – 31 May 2019 in Mexico City. RS were launched thrice a day during this period at 06 LST, 12 LST, and 18 LST respectively. The PBL heights comparison was classified into 3 categories: MWR-RS, mini MPL-RS, and mini MPL-MWR. The daytime CBL heights for the MWR-RS comparison correlate well (r = 0.96 at 12 LST, r = 0.88 at 18 LST) as well as RL height (r = 0.94 at 06 LST). The CBL and RL heights for the mini MPL-RS and mini MPL-MWR comparison also agree very well (0.89 < r < 0.99). Overall, the corresponding SBL height comparisons at 06 LST yielded lower agreements (r < 0.66) with the lowest correlation values for the mini MPL-MWR comparison (r = 0.39), which is likely due to the inability of the mini MPL to detect aerosol backscatter below ~120 m above ground level (agl) as well as the stability of the atmosphere, which prevents uniform mixing of the aerosol particles. [Display omitted] • Intercomparison of microwave radiometer, micro-pulse lidar and radiosondes during 3 months. • Overall good agreement in the detection of the convective and residual boundary layer heights. • Lower agreement for the stable boundary layer height. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mistletoe Phoradendron velutinum (P. velutinum) is a pest that spreads rapidly and uncontrollably in Mexican forests, becoming a serious problem since it is a cause of the decline of 23.3 million hectares of conifers and broadleaves in the country. The lack of adequate phytosanitary control has negative social, economic, and environmental impacts. However, pest management is a challenging task due to the difficulty of early detection for proper control of mistletoe infestations. Automating the detection of this pest is important due to its rapid spread and the high costs of field identification tasks. This paper presents a Genetic Programming (GP) approach for the automatic design of an algorithm to detect mistletoe using multispectral aerial images. Our study area is located in a conservation area of Mexico City, in the San Bartolo Ameyalco community. Images of 148 hectares were acquired by means of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) carrying a sensor sensitive to the R, G, B, red edge, and near-infrared bands, and with an average spatial resolution of less than 10 cm per pixel. As a result, it was possible to obtain an algorithm capable of classifying mistletoe P. velutinum at its flowering stage for the specific case of the study area in conservation area with an Overall Accuracy (OA) of 96% and a value of fitness function based on weighted Cohen's Kappa ( k w ) equal to 0.45 in the test data set. Additionally, our method's performance was compared with two traditional image classification methods; in the first, a classical spectral index, named Intensive Pigment Index of Structure 2 (SIPI2), was considered for the detection of P. velutinum. The second method considers the well-known Support Vector Machine classification algorithm (SVM). We also compare the accuracy of the best GP individual with two additional indices obtained during the solution analysis. According to our experimental results, our GP-based algorithm outperforms the results obtained by the aforementioned methods for the identification of P. velutinum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Model emulation has become an integral tool in scenario analysis, risk assessment, and calibration of environmental models. Of particular interest is dynamic emulation – the approximation of model outputs from inputs or processes that vary in time. This paper presents a method for data-driven dynamic emulation of high-dimensional model outputs that overcomes the logistical challenges from assumptions in traditional multivariate statistics concerning output covariance. In this method, outputs are subjected to principal component analysis, and Gaussian random fields are fit along new orthogonal axes to accommodate spatial heterogeneity and serial correlation. The technique is demonstrated on a regional groundwater model of metropolitan Mexico City, where it successfully emulates spatial and temporal dynamics of land subsidence and aquifer level fluctuation resulting from two management scenarios. In doing so, we introduce methodological advances to emulation techniques, which facilitate the use of models with high-dimensional outputs in computationally expensive planning and optimization applications. • Novel emulation of model outputs overcomes assumptions in traditional multivariate statistics concerning output covariance. • Maintains the same spatiotemporal detail of original model. • Case study of groundwater management and land subsidence in Mexico City. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable building design, such as the Passivhaus standard, seeks to minimise energy consumption, while improving indoor environmental comfort. Very few studies have studied the indoor air quality (IAQ) in Passivhaus homes outside of Europe. This paper presents the indoor particulate matter (PM2.5), carbon dioxide (CO2), and total volatile organic compounds (tVOC) measurements of the first residential Passivhaus in Latin America. It compares them to a standard home in Mexico City. Low-cost monitors were installed in the bedroom, living room, and kitchen spaces of both homes, to collect data at five-minute intervals for one year. The physical measurements from each home were also compared to the occupants' IAQ perceptions. The measurements demonstrated that the Passivhaus CO2 and tVOC annual average levels were 143.8 ppm and 81.47 μg/m3 lower than the standard home. The PM2.5 in the Passivhaus was 11.13 μg/m3 lower than the standard home and 5.75 μg/m3 lower than outdoors. While the results presented here cannot be generalised, the results suggest that Passivhaus dwellings can provide better and healthier indoor air quality in Latin America. Further, large-scale studies should look at the indoor environmental conditions, energy performance, and dwelling design of Passivhaus dwellings in Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When conducting an analysis of nature's time series, such as meteorological ones, an important matter is a long-range dependence to quantify the global behavior of the series and connect it with other physical characteristics of the region of study. In this paper, we applied the Higuchi fractal dimension and the Hurst exponent (rescaled range) to quantify the relative trend underlying the time series of historical data from 17 of the 34 weather stations located in the Río Bravo-San Juan Basin, Mexico; these data were provided by the National Water Commission CONAGUA) in Mexico. In this way, this work aims to perform a comparative study about the level of persistency obtained by using the Higuchi fractal dimension and Hurst exponent for each station of the basin. The comparison is supported by a climate clustering of the stations, according to the Köppen classification. Results showed a better fitting between the climate of each station and its Higuchi fractal dimension obtained than when using the Hurst exponent. In fact, we found that the more the aridity of the zone the more the persistency of rainfall, according to Higuchi's values. In turn, we found more relation between the Hurst exponent and the accumulated amount of rainfall. These are relations between the climate and the long-term persistency of rainfall in the basin that could help to better understand and complete the climatological models of the study region. Trends between the fractal exponents used and the accumulated annual rainfall were also analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automobile security became an essential theme over the last years, and some automakers invested much money for collision avoidance systems, but personalization of their driving systems based on the user's behavior was not explored in detail. Furthermore, efficiency gains could be had with tailored systems. In Mexico, 80% of automobile accidents are caused by human beings; the remaining 20% are related to other issues such as mechanical problems. Thus, 80% represents a significant opportunity to improve safety and explore driving efficiency gains. Moreover, when driving aggressively, it could be connected with mental health as a post-traumatic stress disorder. This paper proposes a Tailored Collision Mitigation Braking System, which evaluates the driver's personality driving treats through signal detection theory to create a cognitive map that understands the driving personality of the driver. In this way, aggressive driving can be detected; the system is then trained to recognize the personality trait of the driver and select the appropriate stimuli to achieve the optimal driving output. As a result, when aggressive driving is detected continuously, an automatic alert could be sent to the health specialists regarding particular risky behavior linked with mental problems or drug consumption. Thus, the driving profile test could also be used as a detector for health problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to design an approach to evaluate the expected efficiency and performance of future airport infrastructure. First, an airport sampling method to select similar airports is developed based on socioeconomic and operational airport variables that are summarized in a proxy variable; second, the ARIMA-GARCH-Bootstrap method is applied to forecast the selected outputs (PAX and ATMS) whilst the selected inputs (Cities, Gates, Runaways, Airport Size, Pax carriers, and Num. of employees) remain constant; and third, the VRS-OO and the CRS-OO DEA models are implemented to evaluate the efficiency and performance of the airports in the current and future years. The proposed approach is used to evaluate the future airport infrastructure of the new Mexico City Airport against 19 representative worldwide airport hubs. The proposed approach is applied to analyze the Mexico City Airport multi-airport system infrastructure as a case study. The results show that this multi-airport system requires more airside infrastructure that must be added by the new Mexico City Airport, airlines should operate aircrafts with more capacity to serve more PAX per ATM, and airlines must open new connections at the new Mexico City Airport to increase the expected efficiency and performance of this multi-airport system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents bioenergy value chain modelling to estimate the biomass and bioenergy cost of production and biomass netback in combined heat and power (CHP) systems. Modelling compares biomass cost and netback to analyse the feasibility of CHP systems, as well as the internal rate of return (IRR) and payback period (PBP). Models are implemented into the IMP Bio2Energy® software (Instituto Mexicano del Petróleo, Mexico City, Mexico) for practical application and demonstrated for bioenergy generation in the agroindustrial processes of tequila production, coffee and orange processing using as biomass the agave bagasse, coffee pulp and orange peels coproducts, respectively. Results show that the CHP systems are economically feasible, i.e., biomass cost of production is lower than netback, PBP between 3 and 4 years and IRR > 20%. The cost of bioenergy is lower than the cost of fuel oil and grid electricity being replaced. The sensitivity analysis for boiler steam pressure showed that there is an optimal pressure for coffee pulp (40 bar), a threshold pressure for orange (60 bar) and agave bagasse (70 bar). Sensitivity to biomass input indicated a maximum capacity where economy of scale does not produce any improvement in the indicators. Results demonstrate the usefulness of the modelling approach and IMP Bio2Energy® in analysing biomass CHP systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large cities have a significant area of buildings with roofs that are not used most of the time. Vertical-axis wind turbines are suitable for this kind of on-site renewable energy generation. Since wind speeds are not high in these cities, a suitable solution to improve energy generation is to add a Wind Booster. This paper presents a methodology useful for selecting and optimizing the main components of a Wind Booster. As a case of study, we present this methodology in a Wind Booster for a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) that considers the wind flow's specific behavior in a particular city. The final Wind Booster design is state of the art and makes use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Design of Experiments (DOE) techniques. We experimented with the conditions of Mexico City, obtaining a 35.23% increase in torque with the optimized Wind Booster configuration. The results obtained show the potential of this methodology to improve the performance of this kind of system. Moreover, since wind behavior is very different in each city, our proposal could be beneficial for researchers looking to implement the best possible wind turbine in their locality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]