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The transition to the use of paper in public elementary schools in Mexico was not easy. At the end of the nineteenth century, the use of slates had been questioned due to the health risk they represented since students often erased their writing with saliva and the material with which the slates were made did not always meet the necessary specifications. On the other hand, paper, from a hygienic, pedagogical and aesthetic point of view, was considered a superior material compared to the hardness of the slate, the shine of the surface and the lack of precision obtained in the tracing of the letters. Derived from this approach, the possibility of changing materials in official schools was seriously envisioned. However, the paper represented a very high cost. Only two paper mills could supply the schools and it was necessary to lower the price, and guarantee the supply by enhancing the distribution system. This article analyses the beginning of the conversion process of a technology for learning to write such as the slate for paper. I analyse the expense that it meant for the authorities and families, how the change was the result of a multiplicity of social, cultural, economic and political relations that intersected to give a new configuration of time, noise and established values in the classroom.

During the first decades of the 20th century, the supply of paper for the printing industries in Mexico became a problematic issue. Production difficulties, price increases and poor distribution during the monopoly of the San Rafael factory started a deep debate on the modernization and interference of the State in the paper industry. This article analyzes the transition between the private monopoly and the creation of the public company, Productora e Importadora de Papel Sociedad Anónima (PIPSA) in 1935, during the government of Lázaro Cárdenas (1934-1940). Through parliamentary debates, press articles and ministerial reports, the questioning of the monopoly as a public policy, the birth of PIPSA and the results in its first years of operation will be explained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of enzyme-based biosensors for the detection and quantification of analytes of interest such as contaminants of emerging concern, including over-the-counter medication, provides an attractive alternative compared to more established techniques. However, their direct application to real environmental matrices is still under investigation due to the various drawbacks in their implementation. Here, we report the development of bioelectrodes using laccase enzymes immobilized onto carbon paper electrodes modified with nanostructured molybdenum disulfide (MoS2). The laccase enzymes were two isoforms (LacI and LacII) produced and purified from the fungus Pycnoporus sanguineus CS43 that is native to Mexico. A commercial purified enzyme from the fungus Trametes versicolor (TvL) was also evaluated to compare their performance. The developed bioelectrodes were used in the biosensing of acetaminophen, a drug widely used to relieve fever and pain, and of which there is recent concern about its effect on the environment after its final disposal. The use of MoS2 as a transducer modifier was evaluated, and it was found that the best detection was achieved using a concentration of 1 mg/mL. Moreover, it was found that the laccase with the best biosensing efficiency was LacII, which achieved an LOD of 0.2 µM and a sensitivity of 0.108 µA/µM cm2 in the buffer matrix. Moreover, the performance of the bioelectrodes in a composite groundwater sample from Northeast Mexico was analyzed, achieving an LOD of 0.5 µM and a sensitivity of 0.015 µA/µM cm2. The LOD values found are among the lowest reported for biosensors based on the use of oxidoreductase enzymes, while the sensitivity is the highest currently reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the performance of four widely used data-collection designs in detecting test-mode effects (i.e., computer-based versus paper-based testing). The experimental conditions included four data-collection designs, two test-administration modes, and the availability of an anchor assessment. The test-level and item-level results were analyzed with inferential statistics and multidimensional scaling, respectively. The test-level results supported the superiority of the single-group counterbalanced design and the random-groups design over the single-group design without counterbalancing and the anchor test design in the recovery of the actual test-mode effects. Analysis at the item level revealed the presence of a two-dimensional solution, with the data-collection design contributing significant variability over and beyond the test mode.

Schools across the United States serve children from families that have crossed the U.S. border without documents. Some of these children have crossed the border themselves. For teachers and other educators, the Supreme Court decision of "Plyler v. Doe" (1982) has set the precedent that all children in the United States are entitled to a public education, regardless of their immigration status. Nevertheless, undocumented immigration remains a highly polarizing issue, and the struggles of immigrant children and their families often takes a back seat to political posturing. The authors of this article believe that it is an act of both courage and solidarity for teachers to provide support for undocumented children and their families. They also assert that it is a moral duty supported by international human rights agreements signed by the United States. The following research study raises questions about how the United States serves and supports the children and families who arrive in our schools and communities with or without "papeles" ("papers")--documentation of their legal entry into the country; about how much Americans will tolerate the abuse, neglect, and death of men, women, and children who attempt to cross our border with Mexico; and about men, women, and children who attempt to cross our border with Mexico. This study describes the involvement with a humanitarian organization on the Arizona border with Mexico, and what was learned from conversations with ranchers, border patrol agents, Mexican officials, and the migrants themselves.

We evaluated and compared the physiological and morphological response to pollution of two epiphytic lichen species, the foliose lichen Flavopunctelia praesignis and the fruticose lichen Usnea ceratina. Lichen samples were collected at remote areas and transplanted at different distances and directions from a paper industry in Morelia (Michoacán, Mexico). Lichen transplants were exposed for 4 months (1) around the industrial area and (2) in their native habitats (control sites). Changes of total chlorophyll content between samples before and after exposure, and morphological damage in the lichen thalli were investigated. Lichens showed species-specific responses. Flavopunctelia praesignis increased in total chlorophyll content after exposure around the industrial area and in control site. This suggests that total chlorophyll changes by a seasonal effect than pollution effect. On the other hand, chlorophyll content of U. ceratina did not change significantly after exposure. Bleaching, changes in color, deformations, and necrosis of lichen thalli were better visible in U. ceratina near the paper industry. We conclude that U. ceratina is a more pollution-sensitive species than F. praesignis. Morphological damage in the lichen thalli would be a suitable indicator for monitoring early biological effects of air pollution caused by the paper industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of university students’ skills to successfully produce scientific documents has been a recurring topic of study in academia. This paper analyzes the implementation of a training experience using a digital environment mediated by video content materials starring humanoid robots. The research aimed to scale complex thinking and its sub-competencies as a hinge to strengthen basic academic research skills. Students from Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico committed to preparing a scientific document as part of their professional training participated. A pretest to know their initial level of perception, a posttest to evaluate if there was a change, and a scientific document the students delivered at the end of the training experience comprised the methodology to demonstrate the improvement of their skills. The results indicated students’ perceived improvement in the sub-competencies of systemic, creative, scientific, and innovative thinking; however, their perceptions did not align with that of the tutor who reviewed the delivered scientific product. The conclusion was that although the training experience helped strengthen the students’ skills, variables that are determinants for a student to develop the knowledge necessary to prepare scientific documents and their derived products remain to be analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineers make things, make things work, and make things work better and easier. This kind of knowledge is crucial for innovation, and much of the explicit knowledge developed by engineers is embodied in scientific publications. In this paper, we analyze the evolution of publications and citations in engineering in a middle-income country such as Mexico. Using a database of all Mexican publications in Web of Science from 2004 to 2017, we explore the characteristics of publications that tend to have the greatest impact; this is the highest number of citations. Among the variables studied are the type of collaboration (no collaboration, domestic, bilateral, or multilateral), the number of coauthors and countries, controlling for a coauthor from the USA, and the affiliation institution of the Mexican author(s). Our results emphasize the overall importance of joint international efforts and suggest that publications with the highest number of citations are those with multinational collaboration (coauthors from three or more countries) and when one of the coauthors is from the USA. Another interesting result is that single-authored papers have had a higher impact than those written through domestic collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The present paper shows the importance of a joint use of pencil and paper activities and of technology so that students may develop a complete understanding of ratio and proportion. A previous experience with strategy use when solving ratio and proportion problems provided background. Prompted by a recognition of the cognitive components in students, we decided to offer support through the observation and manipulation of representations made using dynamic geometry software. Method: Application of three activities to be solved by a group of 29 sixth-grade pupils public, primary education in Mexico City. The activities were solved with paper and pencil and using dynamic geometry. Results: Students built figures proportional to others they were given, using comparison by superimposing one figure over another, by dragging them, and by enlarging or reducing a figure by click-and-drag on one of its vertices. They also established numerically equivalent ratios by obtaining measurements for the figures given and making the comparison as a quotient. They also were able to recover data from the problems given and represent them using drawings, then they made use of these drawings to help them solve the assigned activity. Discussion and Conclusion: Most of the students could establish figures that were proportional to the ones given by using registers of representation, such as using drawings with the data that they were able to extract from the story problems, using a table which they filled in with both external and internal ratios, as well as equivalence relationships between the ratios and the operations used to get the numeric values. They also showed development in their qualitative proportional thinking as a support to quantitative proportional thinking. (Contains 11 figures, 1 table and 1 footnote.)

Amate (amatl) is a handmade paper of Mexico made by Otomi Indians. This craft is made from bark of tree bark amate or jonote. It is originally developed in the states of Puebla, Hidalgo and Veracruz especially in San Pablito, Puebla. However, amate paper is sold as background Nahua paintings by artists from the state of Guerrero. Amate paper paintings are a combination of Nahua and Otomi traditions. While there have been some minor innovations, the amate paper is still done with the same basic process used in the pre-Hispanic period by obtaining a classical amate tree bark fiber. This is negatively affecting the ecosystem of the North of Puebla and forcing vendors bark in search of other species, so it is necessary to make paper amate more sustainably, including new types of bark from other species and by-products of agro-industries such as rice, coffee sugar cane, and other types of fiber that have highavailability The objective of this work was to analyze and compare the Chemical pulp of coffee characteristics, as raw material for amate paper of higher quality than that produced from the bark of other species. The results showed that the structural and chemical characteristics of coffee pulp cellulose pulp showed ease of paper making, due to its properties of adherence, formation and agglutination of fibers similar to the high quality of the final product as the amate tree bark-derived paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the interval 1962-2022 y, during the continuos publication last 60 years, in Metalurgija Journal Authors from 40 countries from Mexico to China (all 5 continent ) have publish. The goal of the Article is give List of Papers published in this interval, 199 issues or 238 numbers, 2721 scientifi c and technical, and 287 contributions (total 3008 papers ) of Authors whose investigation results and ideas have been examined and found on the pages of this Journal. Thanks for all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the effect of mode of administration of the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices test on distribution, accuracy, and meaning of raw scores. A random sample of high school students take counterbalanced paper-and-pencil and computer-based administrations of the test and answer a questionnaire surveying preferences for computer-delivered test administrations. Administration mode effect is studied with repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance, internal consistency reliability estimates, and confirmatory factor analysis approaches. Results show a lack of test mode effect on distribution, accuracy, and meaning of raw scores. Participants indicate their preferences for the computer-delivered administration of the test. The article discusses findings in light of previous studies of the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices test. (Contains 1 figure, 5 tables and 1 note.)

Over the past decade, Mexican climate policy has captured worldwide attention for its ambition and level of commitment to international goals. Mexico was one of the first countries to adopt a climate change act, the 2012 General Law on Climate Change (referred to as the Mexican Climate Act, MCA). However, Mexico has been unable to fulfil its self-imposed climate goals and the innovative national climate legislation has only produced limited results. By assessing the functioning of the Inter-Ministerial Commission on Climate Change (CICC) and the National System on Climate Change (SINACC), this article analyses how and why climate policy fragmentation occurs during MCA implementation. This paper argues that the lack of integration observed in the Mexican case is the result of a dynamic process characterized by multi-level paralysis, which is caused by three interconnected factors: (1) weakness of the Mexican federal system affecting vertical integration of climate policy (CPI); (2) ambiguities in MCA mandates impeding horizontal CPI; and (3) uneven leadership in Mexican climate policy that generates a breach between promises made abroad and actual domestic implementation capacities. The empirical findings of this paper are based upon quantitative and qualitative content analyses applied to the minutes of meetings of both the CICC and the SINACC, together with 22 elite-interviews with officers close to the policy process. This paper concludes that if there is a blueprint for organizing the Mexican administrative system, it has to start with rethinking the role of climate federalism. Key policy insights Mexican climate policy suffers from policy fragmentation and administrative instruments conceived for integration are not functioning properly. A reform of both is needed. Three interconnected factors generate policy fragmentation in Mexico: weakness of the Mexican federal system affecting collaboration across levels of government (vertical CPI); ambiguities in MCA mandates impeding coordination (horizontal CPI); and uneven leadership that generates a breach between the promises made abroad and actual domestic implementation capacities. Mexico has to rethink the role of climate federalism. The country adopted a model not suitable to its political and administrative culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Edaphic collembola are abundant in agricultural soils and can be used as bioindicators of the condition of the soils they inhabit. We study the composition, diversity, and phenology of the collembola community in a peach orchard (Prunus persica (L.) Bach) located in Zitácuaro, Michoacán, Mexico. We evaluated the effect of physical and chemical characteristics of the orchard's soil on the edaphic collembola community. Collembola were extracted by Berlese funnels from samples of leaf litter and soil obtained monthly, from September 1993 to August 1994. Fallen leaves were not removed from the ground for the duration of the study. Sixty-nine species were registered: 58 in leaf litter and 53 in soil. Collembola density varied from 248 to 15,889 ind m-2 in leaf litter and 419 to 7,286 ind m-2 in soil. The layer of fallen leaves exhibited the highest density, species richness and diversity of collembola. The edaphic variables that altered collembola density were organic matter content, cationic exchange capacity (CEC) and carbon-tonitrogen ratio. Richness was affected by organic matter and total nitrogen. Diversity was affected by pH, total nitrogen, calcium, and carbon-to-nitrogen ratio. The density of dominant species was negatively affected by phosphorus and calcium content, as well as CEC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how the Mexican state gathered, archived and destroyed information. It focuses on the US–Mexico campaign against foot-and-mouth disease between 1947 and 1952, whose paper archive Mexican officials burned near the successful conclusion of the campaign. This article argues that several factors shaped the context for this documentary bonfire and made the 1940s a key point of inflection in Mexico's history of official information-gathering: the dominant party's system of elite power-sharing, the growth of a reading public and the regime's drift rightward. At the same time, the nature of the foot-and-mouth disease campaign itself ensured that, despite its possible uses, the archive was particularly sensitive, providing evidence of the embarrassing gaps that began to yawn between the state's language of revolutionary nationalism and its political practise. Indeed, the bonfire represented the culmination of practises Mexican officials had already developed throughout the campaign to reconcile the demands of legibility and deniability, hemispheric integration and nationalism, political stability and state capacity. More broadly, the case illustrates the uneven effects of US assistance on the development of state capacity, the authoritarian but institutionally weak character of the early PRIísta state, and the role of archives in maintaining a coherent image of state sovereignty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper recycling has increased in recent years. A principal consequence of this process is the problem of addressing some polymeric components known as stickies. A deep characterization of stickies sampled over one year in a recycled paper industry in México was performed. Based on their chemical structure, an enzymatic assay was performed using lipases. Compounds found in stickies by Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry were poly (butyl-acrylate), dioctyl phthalate, poly (vinyl-acetate), and poly (vinyl-acrylate). Pulp with 4% (w/w) consistency and pH = 6.2 was sampled directly from the mill once macrostickies were removed. Stickies were quantified by counting the tacky macrostructures in the liquid fraction of the pulp using a Neubauer chamber before the paper was made, and they were analyzed with rhodamine dye and a UV lamp. Of the two commercial enzymes evaluated, the best treatment condition used Lipase 30 G (Specialty Enzymes & Biotechnologies Co®, Chino, CA, USA) at a concentration of 0.44 g/L, which decreased 35.59% of stickies. SebOil DG (Specialty Enzymes & Biotechnologies®) showed a stickies reduction of 21.5% when used at a concentration of 0.33 g/L. Stickies in kraft paper processes were actively controlled by the action of lipases, and future research should focus on how this enzyme recognizes its substrate and should apply synthetic biology to improve lipase specificity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although developing countries have established scores of new protected areas over the past three decades, they often amount to little more than “paper parks” that are chronically short of the financial, human, and technical resources needed for effective management. It is not clear whether and how severely under-resourced parks affect deforestation. In principle, they could either stem it by, for example, creating an expectation of future enforcement, or they could spur it by, for example, creating open access regimes. We examine the effect of Mexico's natural protected areas (NPAs) on deforestation from 1993 to 2000, a period when forest clearing was rampant and the vast majority of protected areas had negligible resources or management. We use high-resolution satellite data to measure deforestation and (covariate and propensity score) matching to control for NPAs’ nonrandom siting and for spillovers. Our broad finding is that Mexico's paper parks had heterogeneous effects both inside and outside their borders. More specifically, at the national-level, we cannot reject the null hypothesis that NPAs had zero average effect on clearing inside their borders, nor can we reject a similar hypothesis for spillover clearing outside their borders. However, we can detect statistically and economically significant inside- and outside-NPA effects for certain geographic regions. Moreover, these effects have different signs depending on the region. Finally, we find that NPAs with certain characteristics were more effective at stemming deforestation inside their borders, namely, those that were large, new, mixed use, and relatively well-funded. Taken together, these results suggest that paper parks have the potential to either reduce or exacerbate tropical deforestation and highlight the need for further research on the conditions that lead to each outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses some of the consequences of the use of paper in Mexico. Emphasis on the materiality of the paper; Paper as the point of orientation for examining different worldviews; Confrontation with the otherness of Nahua people of Ixhualtlan de Madero in Mexico; Significance of paper in the Nahua culture.

Copyright of Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology is the property of Editorial of the University of Almeria (Spain) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Acta Sociologica (0186-6028) is the property of Instituto de Investigaciones Filosoficas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper describes the monitoring and evaluation of three improved cookstove dissemination projects implemented between 2004 and 2006 by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in India and Mexico. The projects assessed stove performance using lab-based water boiling tests (WBTs), which yield a number of performance indicators including time to boil water, specific fuel consumption, and energy efficiency when the stove is operated at both high and low power output. They also conducted field-based kitchen performance tests (KPTs), which yield daily per capita fuel consumption in real cooking conditions. In addition, one NGO utilized a controlled cooking test, which combined elements of lab- and field-based tests. In all cases, improved cookstoves (ICSs) were compared to local traditional cookstoves (TCSs). The results of the WBTs were mixed. Although the improved stoves generally showed some improvement in efficiency for the low-power simmering phases, the stoves were less efficient than traditional stoves in high-power water-boiling phases. The results from the KPTs were much less ambiguous. Three ICS models were tested for fuel consumption during real household use. All ICSs showed statistically significant reductions (p < 0.05) in average daily per capita fuel use ranging from 19 to 67%. We also explore the correlations between the outcomes in lab-based tests and field-based tests in order to understand the relationships between the two assessment methods. Only fuel consumption in the low-power phase of the WBT showed a strong correlation with fuel consumption in the field (r2 = 0.83, p = 0.01). We discuss the implications of this association as well as the other outcomes and present some policy recommendations for monitoring and evaluation of large-scale stove interventions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Purpose: The paper aims to present what is known from the school principals who participated in the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP) in Mexico. The paper reviews 14 publications (5 articles, 5 conference papers and 4 books) on successful school principals in Mexico that were published between 2009 and 2021 as part of the ISSPP. The papers were analysed using a conceptual framework consisting of perceived qualities of the principal, school organisation, suitability of teachers and principals, educational materials and methods and educational infrastructure. Design/methodology/approach: A scoping study review methodology was used to explore publications and conference proceedings on ISSPP research on Mexican principals and schools in order to answer the question: What do we know about successful school principals in the Mexican context? Conference papers, journal articles, book chapters and books formed the knowledge base for the review. Findings: As a result of the analysis across the five analysis categories it was found that the principals emphasised improving the educational quality of their schools and understood this as the basic criterion to judge their leadership success. Principals were central to school success and a nested model was produced to show how the successful school is built from the core of the principal, as a socio-emotional skills role model, to a culture of continuous improvement. The model included principal socio-emotional skills, school organisation, continuous improvement of teaching and principal practices and having appropriate educational materials, methods and infrastructure. Originality/value: The ISSPP has produced a large amount of research. The paper is the first review of the substantial contribution from ISSPP research in Mexico. The model produced from the review adds to the several models produced in the ISSPP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background We aimed to elucidate household and community-level shedding and transmission of trivalent oral polio vaccine (tOPV) in communities with inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) routine immunization after tOPV is administered during a national health week (NHW). Methods We conducted a 3-arm, randomized trial with data collected at baseline through 10 weeks post-NHW in households with at least 1 child <5 years old in 3 semi-rural communities in Orizaba, Mexico. Selected communities were geographically isolated but socio-demographically similar. Each community was assigned an oral polio vaccine (OPV) immunization rate: 10, 30, or 70% of participating households. From 2653 households in the 3 communities, ~150 households per community were selected, for 466 in total. Households were randomized as vaccinated or unvaccinated, with only 1 child under 5 in the vaccinated household receiving OPV during the February 2015 NHW. No other community members received OPV during this NHW. Stool samples were collected up to 10 weeks post-vaccination for all members of the 466 study households and were analyzed for the presence of OPV serotypes using a multiplex polymerase chain reaction assay. Results We will report on the factors associated with, and incidence and duration of, household and community shedding and transmission of OPV. The secondary outcomes will characterize temporal and geospatial OPV serotype shedding patterns. Conclusions The current global polio eradication plan relies on transitioning away from OPV to IPV. This study contributes to understanding patterns of OPV shedding and transmission dynamics in communities with primary IPV immunity, in order to optimize the reduction of OPV transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radiofrequency (RF) power amplifiers (PAs) are important elements of modern communication systems. The most important components in PAs are the transistors, which are operated under large-signal regimes in such applications. Designing and optimizing PAs are challenging tasks that demand the highest accuracy on large-signal measurements at both device and circuit levels. Large-signal power transistor characterization demands the development and utilization of high-frequency and low-frequency load-pull systems. Furthermore, the static and dynamic characterization of two-input PAs requires the development of new measurement systems that consist of an nonlinear vector network analyzer (NVNA) and an arbitrary waveform generators (AWG). This paper reviews the research activities, achievements, and current research goals at CICESE Research Center in Mexico in the large-signal microwave metrology field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cysticercosis is an infestation of Cysticercus cellulosae. When it occurs in the brain, chronic neurological complications can ensue, most commonly seizures. Neurocysticercosis is usually diagnosed by neuroimaging, a technique not available in most endemic countries. Hence immunological tests are valuable for diagnosis and epidemiological surveys. We evaluated the suitability of paper for storing blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) until subsequent testing by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), by testing whole blood samples on filter paper from 305 patients and CSF samples from 117 patients stored on ordinary white typing paper and on filter paper. Optimal preservation of biological samples is achieved when whole blood is stored on filter paper, CSF on white paper, and when samples are frozen within 1 week after collection. Our results could improve diagnostic capabilities and facilitate epidemiological surveys in endemic countries where immunodiagnostic tests cannot be rapidly performed because of inadequate laboratory infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Cuadernos Judaicos (0718-8749) is the property of Universidad de Chile, Facultad de Filosofia y Humanidades and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This Research Topic on "Enabling Technologies and Business Models for Energy Communities" presents a comprehensive exploration of critical facets in the realm of sustainable energy transitions. The Research Topic encompasses diverse topics, ranging from smart energy frameworks for urban communities and off-grid renewable energy deployment in Mexico to the impact of institutional support on the coalbed methane industry. It further investigates complex grid investment decisions, solar-based irrigation adoption in water-scarce regions, and risk management in power supply projects. Additionally, the Research Topic delves into financial aspects, exploring the pricing of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project Asset-backed Securities (ABS) products, the impact of managerial competence on corporate carbon performance, and equity-based predictions for the energy industry. The influence of innovation on fossil fuel abandonment in low and middle-income countries and the significance of climate risk for green innovation in heavy-polluting industries are also examined. A regional perspective is provided on the technological convergence of hydrogen energy, and the interplay between renewable energy, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and CO2 emissions in highly-globalized countries is scrutinized. Lastly, the effects of green credit policy on the risk of stocks prices crash are investigated. Together, these contributions offer a holistic understanding of the challenges and opportunities in enabling technologies and business models for energy communities, contributing valuable insights for researchers, policymakers, and industry stakeholders striving for a sustainable energy future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Introduction: Transboundary pollution is a major global challenge and monitoring beach litter along international borders can reveal some of the pathways by which litter enters water bodies, and hence advance the implementation of measures to prevent pollution emissions into international waters. Methods: In this paper, participatory mapping was used to detect beach litter in Imperial Beach, California, along the U.S.-Mexico international border. This study implemented a 3-step protocol including an introductory awareness workshop, a macro-debris survey to categorize and remove beach litter, and a qualitative assessment of pollution drivers. Results: Results show that plastic litter is the most dominant across all transects (304 debris, 52.6% of all litter observations), with an average density of 76 pieces/transect, with plastic being the most common material. Participants identified some of the major causes of pollution with paucity of waste management facilities, tourism activities near/on the beach, and inflow of pollution across the border. Discussion: The paper highlights the role of citizen science in monitoring pollution along large and border regions. Implications of this study include methodological and practical contributions to the study of marine pollution to supplement the current paucity of information on pollution movement and distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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School site leadership has commanded the attention of researchers and policymakers in Anglo-American jurisdictions for at least two decades, but little is known about how many other parts of the globe have addressed this topic. This paper reviews published research and policy documents related to school leadership in Latin America between 2000-2016. Applying rapid mapping techniques used for scoping studies, we review 359 research and policy documents and give "coherent, meaningful shape" to what we know and what we don't know about school leadership in the region. Attention in research and policy to school leadership in Latin America was relatively slow to arrive: whilst it grew steadily in the first decade of this century it remains low compared to other regions of the world. We provide an overview of the school leadership policy environment in several countries, describing recruitment, selection, evaluation, and job responsibilities of principals; relevant leadership frameworks; and requirements for training or professional development. We speculate on what might explain the diverse ways that school leadership has been taken up in the region: degree of school system centralization; policy borrowing; stage of development; technocratic problem solving; and neoliberal accountability.

Canavalia ensiformis is a Fabaceae used for soil conservation and control of weeds. The objective of this study was to identify gall wasps of C. ensiformis at Guerrero, Mexico. A survey was done in June 2022 in a crop of C. ensiformis planted to provide cover for Zea mays L. plots at Anahuac, San Marcos, Guerrero, México. Abnormal galls were found on several organs of the plants, especially the branches. Three branches from 10 plants were gathered, put into paper bags, labelled, and transported in polystyrene containers to Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP) for rearing wasps. Adults were identified based on morphological characteristics. C. ensiformis was reported for the first time as an alternate host of wasps of the genus Eurytoma. Further studies of the genus and species identification using molecular techniques are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Looks at the European-style municipal coats of arms in colonial central Mexico history. Paper shields; Resistance of the Spanish system.

Izenman and Sommer (1988) used a non-parametric kernel density estimation technique to fit a seven-component model to the paper thickness of the 1872 Hidalgo stamp issue of Mexico. They observed an apparent conflict when fitting a normal mixture model with three components with unequal variances. This conflict is examined further by investigating the most appropriate number of components when fitting a normal mixture of components with equal variances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background: This study employed bibliometric analysis to ascertain the research focus areas among a group of Mexican physicians affiliated with the Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado (ISSSTE). ISSSTE, a healthcare institution catering to a diverse range of diseases, offers a distinctive perspective on the investigated specialties within the realm of health. The primary objective was to identify knowledge gaps in medical care disciplines through a comprehensive examination of scholarly publications. Methods: We retrieved Scopus papers affiliated with "ISSSTE" and saved them as.CSV files. Subsequently, we employed VOSviewer, biblioshiny, and bibliometrix for bibliometric analysis. This enabled us to identify prominent institutions, prolific authors, highly cited researchers, and their respective affiliations. Results: Our analysis identified 2063 publications; the specialty internal medicine accounted for the greatest proportion with 831 publications. Original papers accounted for 82% of the total, with 52% of them being written in Spanish. The majority of scientific output, 92%, originated from Mexico City. The annual production has steadily increased since 2010, peaking in 2021 with over 200 publications. However, papers on prevalent conditions, such as metabolic syndrome, received limited citations, and the L0 index (percentage of uncited items) for all papers is close to 60%. Scopus mislabeled one affiliation, and some cases show a low paper-to-author ratio of 0.5 Discussion: Additional concerns, such as honorary authorship due to excessive authors per paper, and the underlying causes of low citation rates in Mexican publications, warrant further examination. Moreover, our research emphasizes the urgency of bolstering research and development funding, which was consistently below 0.5% of GDP for the past four decades, falling short of legal mandates and international benchmarks. We endorse the establishment of robust research collectives in Latin America to address these challenges, foster regional scientific output, and transition from knowledge consumers to knowledge producers, thereby reducing dependence on foreign technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supply chain instabilities and inflated material prices have had a disruptive impact on cost estimating of construction projects. While several research efforts used national macroeconomic indicators to forecast the prices of domestically produced construction materials, none of the existing studies investigated whether the lagged macroeconomic indicators of the main trading partners could enhance the predictability of the prices of cement, steel, and lumber in the US construction sector. This paper fills this knowledge gap. The authors adopted a multi-step methodology that included: (1) collecting data on the target variables and the candidate leading indicators; (2) identifying the structural breaks in the collected data sets; (3) conducting causality tests to identify short-term associations and cointegration tests to examine long-term relationships; (4) developing vector error correction (VEC) models to forecast the prices in the short and long terms; and (5) evaluating the performance of the proposed models against existing forecasting models in the literature. Results of the Granger test and Johansen test indicate that Canada's overall producer price index (PPI) is a consistent leading indicator of the prices of cement, and Mexico's overall PPI is a consistent leading indicator of the prices of steel. Findings indicate no statistical evidence to suggest that neither Canada's PPI nor Mexico's PPI can be leading indicators of lumber prices. Over an 18-month ahead of sample horizon, the presented VEC models of cement and steel prices outperformed existing models, particularly beyond the 1-year-ahead forecasts. Utilization of the proposed forecasting models can significantly enhance the accuracy of cost estimates and feasibility studies of construction projects. This provides proactive financial planning for construction contractors and project owners through improved short- and long-term forecasting of the prices of main construction materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper explores the relationship between access to early childhood education and care (ECEC) services and family arrangements in the distribution of work in four Latin American countries. We find that households in which all children aged 0 to 5 receive ECEC services exhibit smaller gender gaps in unpaid work, mainly due to a decrease in the amount of time women devote to care work. Women in these households devote more time to paid work, such that the gender gap in total work does not differ between households based on use of ECEC services. However, use of ECEC services for children aged 0 to 5 is associated with reduced hours of unpaid work among women and an increase in women's hours of paid work. These findings confirm the importance of increasing access to early childhood care and education services to reduce gender gaps in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]