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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]

This article analyzes a series of extralegal procedures implemented by Guatemalans to acquire Mexican personal identification documents. The research focuses on the experiences of descendants of families who took refuge in Mexico during the 1980s and 1990s and returned to Guatemala between 1994 and 1996. These young people, born in Guatemala after their parents returned to their country of origin, employed the practice of buying Mexican birth certificates which were later used to enter Mexico legally. The fieldwork was carried out in two Guatemalan villages, as well as two Mexican ones, located in Cancun and Playa del Carmen. The main argument is that for them Mexican identification documents become a singular force that confers recognition and offers them the possibility to be incorporated into governmental logic which grants material benefits. Such forms of political imagination are related to the experiences of multiple documentation accumulated by older generations during their refuge period and are now encouraged by the Mexican State's new border security strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a critical reflection on the ways extractive industries manifest within and across place. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in Mexico over 8 months in 2019–2020, this paper focuses on the experiences of residents living in a town adjacent to an underground silver mine in Valles Centrales, Oaxaca, Mexico. I argue that a focus on lived, sensory and long-term engagement between people and mining opens new avenues for geographers to consider 'what mining does'. Looking beyond the language of 'impacts', I build upon work on cultural geographies of presence and absence to put forward the notion of 'mining presence': mining's present and absent affects and materialities that interweave with residents' everyday lives, homes, bodies, and landscapes. In other words, I explore the qualities of mining that bring the San José mine into a neighbouring town and mediate spaces of daily life. In doing so, this paper contributes to the geographies of the extractive industries by showing that attention to life with mining requires a re-thinking of the spatiotemporal relations of extraction itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Global polio eradication efforts rely in part on molecular methods of detecting polioviruses, both wild and vaccine strains, from human and environmental samples. Previous assays used for detection of Sabin oral polio vaccine (OPV) in fecal samples have been labor and time intensive and vary in their sensitivity and specificity. Methods We developed a high-throughput, multiplex reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay able to detect all 3 OPV strains in fecal samples. The assay used a KingFisher Duo Prime system for viral RNA isolation and extraction. Positive samples were retested and Sanger sequenced for verification of Sabin serotype identity. Results The 95% lower limit of detection was determined to be 3 copies per reaction for Sabin 1 and 3 and 4 copies per reaction for Sabin 2, with no cross-reactivity between the 3 serotypes and their primers. A total of 554 samples (3.6%) were positive, with 304 positive samples (54.9%) containing >1 serotype. Of the positive samples, 476 (85.9%) contained enough RNA to be sequenced, and of these all sequences were Sabin serotypes. The previous assay we used could process 48 samples in a 10-hour period, whereas the new assay processed >100 samples in 6 hours. Conclusions The new high-throughput, multiplex reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay allowed for sensitive and specific detection of OPV serotypes while greatly decreasing sample handling and processing time. We were able to sequence 72.4% of the 210 positive samples in the cycle threshold range of 35–37. [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]

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]

Background. Perinatal depression (PND) is a clinical disease developed in any stage during the pregnancy and postpartum period with serious health and economic implications. Objective. The aim of this work was to analyze via bibliometrics indicators Mexico's production on PND to provide a view of the academic landscape and a comprehensive reference for subsequent research in the country. Method. The Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) databases were used to perform a search for peer reviewed papers related to PND in México. The search was made following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). The extracted data were processed with VOS Viewer to examine link strength and clusters associations of diverse bibliometrics variables. Results. A total of 132 records were retrieved and we included 70 studies in the bibliometric analysis after application of the exclusion criteria. The authors with more papers were Navarrete L., and Asunción Lara M. The institutions with more papers were the National Institute of Perinatology, Ramón de la Fuente National Institute of Psychiatry, and National Institute of Public Health of Mexico. A diminution of the research considered in PND is observed in the last two years. Four keyword clusters were identified related to PND: symptoms, prevalence, pregnancy. Discussion and conclusion. The scarce literature concerning PND in Mexico compared with other countries could be due the limited collaboration between the health institutes. An urgent need to increase research on PND in Mexico is evident to be applicable in the management of resources in the healthcare system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article has the objective to compare poverty rates of elderly people between 2018 and 2020, after the universalization of the non-contributory pension during the 2018-2024 presidential period in Mexico, in order to know if there is a change on elderly people's poverty rates. Also, the article aims to know if this policy change has a regressive impact in the whole pension system distribution. The paper uses as a reference for the analysis the International Labour Organization (ILO) guidelines. It compares poverty of different social groups of elderly people in 2018 and 2020 using the National Survey of Households Income and Expenditure. The paper concludes that elderly people's poverty situation is better in 2020. However, there is an increase on inequality in pensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the social production of space in Atenquique, an industrial town in the southern region of Jalisco in western Mexico. The theoretical framework draws on insights from critical geography. Through the case of Atenquique we reflect on the transformation of the area from the beginning of the neoliberal period in Mexico. Neoliberalism ushered in the growth of precarious and insecure working conditions, something which has deepened over the past several decades. The methodology employed is based on ethnographic research undertaken over a period of four months in Atenquique. During this time period we used three different audiovisual methods to collect information: photography, oral history and the production of an ethnographic documentary film. The results of the study show how the ex-inhabitants of Atenquique have knit together complex constructions -both material and symbolic- that provide insight on how the changes of the past several decades have affected the area. In the conclusions, we return to the broader debates on the local and territorial consequences of the implementation of the neoliberal policies in Mexico [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the social production of space in Atenquique, an industrial town in the southern region of Jalisco in western Mexico. The theoretical framework draws on insights from critical geography. Through the case of Atenquique we reflect on the transformation of the area from the beginning of the neoliberal period in Mexico. Neoliberalism ushered in the growth of precarious and insecure working conditions, something which has deepened over the past several decades. The methodology employed is based on ethnographic research undertaken over a period of four months in Atenquique. During this time period we used three different audiovisual methods to collect information: photography, oral history and the production of an ethnographic documentary film. The results of the study show how the ex-inhabitants of Atenquique have knit together complex constructions -both material and symbolic-that provide insight on how the changes of the past several decades have affected the area. In the conclusions, we return to the broader debates on the local and territorial consequences of the implementation of the neoliberal policies in Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on Critical Political Economy (CPE) to explore energy transitions in Mexico. It analyzes struggles over competing energy visions from a decolonial, spatial and post-development perspective. The article frames energy transformations as more than a move away from fossil fuels: They encompass a radical overhaul of universalized Eurocentric capitalist modernity that call the state's role as both facilitator and driver of the energy transition into question. I examine two low-carbon infrastructure projects in the state of Yucatan, Mexico to build on Bridge and Gailing's notion of new energy spaces as the sites, scales and spatialities through which broader questions of political economy and contemporary struggles are being worked out. CPE of the energy transition must ensure that low-carbon infrastructures are not deployed as new forms of extraction, but rather as the material basis of pluriversal transitions informed by affected communities and their territorial struggles. Both studies on the political economy of energy transitions and territorial struggles can benefit from an open dialogue about how socioecological transformations are imagined, designed and implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on ethnographical and collaborative research conducted in the South Mexican region of The Lacandon Jungle, my paper explores how Indigenous peasant communities deal with the effects that various forms of mobility have on their social worlds. Combining decolonial work on Indigenous communality and transnational perspectives with a situational analysis approach, my research specifically focuses on collective processes of meaning-making in light of the increasing mobility among these communities’ members. By analyzing how the people who stay collectively organize the community’s social world, I position myself against approaches that reduce Indigenous movements to cultural policies, since such approaches overlook the relevance of anti-colonial resistance. My research shows that within the ‘Indigenous communal governance systems’, the departure of individual members plays a formative role for the entire community, shaping the resulting social relations and political practices. To ensure collective access to territory as a means of communal self-determination, a ‘transnational continuum of communality’ emerges between the communities of origin and their absent members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Market-oriented urban development has reconfigured social life in Mexican metropolises in recent decades. The Atlixcáyotl-Lomas de Angelópolis corridor in Puebla illustrates how neoliberal policies stimulate the commodification of urban space, as the current physical, economic, and social arrangements in this corridor result from a state-led planning strategy that has mainly benefited private actors. The extended urban corridor—approximately eight miles long—in the southwest area of the metropolis was enabled by an ambitious regional plan in the 1990s that created a new crucial centrality known as Angelópolis developed over a land reserve of approximately 1,000 ha of expropriated agrarian social land (ejidos). The paper explores the role and impact of urban policies supposedly created for “public interest” to encourage the provision of affordable housing, green areas, public infrastructure, and social facilities, which, in contrast, have fostered elite residential horizontal and private developments, financial capital investments, and private facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What does it mean to come together as a group of migrant women, to paint the face of a murdered woman, on the wall of a building in a town that was only temporarily her home? And, who does it have meaning for? In this paper, I interrogate this act as a participant in Las RestaurAmoras, the feminist collective responsible for painting murals of victims of feminicide in Quintana Roo, Mexico, in 2021. I argue that the physical and emotional conditions involved in painting the murals caused members of Las RestaurAmoras to forge a deeper connection with each other and the deceased women they painted. This emphasised sameness and belonging between migrant women, both living and deceased. As finished artefacts, I suggest that, as memorialisation, the murals challenge harmful discourse and practice that invisibilises migrant women’s lives and the violence they experience. The murals are a reminder and a demand that femicidal violence must be dealt with urgently. I argue that connection among (migrant) women and emphasising the importance of the lives of (migrant) victims of feminicide are key elements in protection for women in places with high rates of gender-based violence and impunity, in this case, Quintana Roo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demand for different energy goods and services is a fundamental component in a country's economic structure for development. Understanding it is vital in designing economic policies, such as taxes, that can improve the welfare of the population. A comprehension of the distributional effects of elasticities and the application of them to simulate household responses to price changes, as well as a calculation of the welfare impacts on poor and rich households in Mexico, should inform policy design. This paper uses the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (ENIGH) from 1996 to 2018 to estimate the demand of Mexican households for fuels, specifically electricity, liquefied petroleum gas, and gasoline. A Quasi Ideal Quadratic Demand System (QUAIDS) is employed to analyse the effects of removing energy subsidies and introducing a carbon tax. The results indicate that welfare losses would be regressive concerning electricity price increases, while changes in gasoline prices would be progressive. Redistributing the tax revenues accrued by removing energy subsidies and imposing the carbon tax would have more progressive effects on the economy of Mexican households, with welfare gains of up to 350% for the poorest households in the case of electricity consumption taxes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to simulate total factor productivity, following the original proposal made by Cobb and Douglas (1928). Estimates with annual frequency are computed for the United States during two periods, i.e. 1899-1992 and 1933-2019. In the case of Mexico, estimates are computed for the 1993-2015 period. An income distribution in favor of capital in recent decades is found both for the United States and México. Capital share has grown in the United States from 25% in 1899-1922 to 89% in 1993-2019, while for Mexico it has been 82% for 1993-2015. Functional income distribution requires close monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of the conservatives in Mexico, and their main characters, is long-standing. In Mexican history, some of the conservative movements have been present in religious thinking, especially in Catholicism, e.g., the quick departure from socio-cultural and political Mexican spaces as a consequence of the evangelical Spanish process, whose roots come from the XVI century Of the population in contemporary Mexico (7.7% belong to Catholicism, 2.5% to Evangelical Christians and Protestants, and 2.5% to non-Christian groups, while 8.1% do not follow a religion. Catholicism has a significant presence and influence on different forms of belief and practice in daily life in Mexico. This paper aims to highlight the role of the conservative movement called Frente Nacional por la Familia. It presents its history as the heritage of other conservative movements in Mexico, the stages of its formation, and the agenda and intervention in public life. The methodological approach is qualitative, using multi-situated ethnography. The results allow us to visualize the construction of the public agenda with legislative strategies that have operated with relative success and national presence, obstructing the progress of the proposals of feminist groups and sexual diversity and the defense of a national and cultural project that has as one of the symbols the traditional family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had social and clinical effects over the healthcare system. Globally, over 314.019.135 confirmed cases and 5.507.370 deaths have been recorded at 12 January 2022, based on the Dashboard updated by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University. The continuous rise in the number of asymptomatic, pre-symptomatic, and symptomatic patients has developed efficient and accessible models for prediction using Open Source Libraries and Cloud Services. This paper proposes different machine-learning algorithms to analyse the COVID-19 OpenData Resources from Mexico and Brazil, which represent the two major populations, economics and affected by disease countries in Latin America. This model uses only the COVID-19 patient's geographical, social conditions, economics conditions, clinical risk factors, symptom reports, and demographic data to predict recovery and death. The model of Mexico has an accuracy of 93% and the perceived mean of recall and the precision (F1 Score) of 0.79 on the dataset used. On the other hand, the model of Brazil has an accuracy of 69% and F1 score of 0.75 on the dataset studied. The result considers data from patients under the age of 0 and 120 years. The contribution of the work is the application of Big Data technologies and Machine Learning algorithms using Open Resource Libraries and Amazon Web Services (AWS) with the vision to improve the clinical diagnosis, even infectious disease with mathematical approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assisted self-help housing is a process whereby people are actively involved in the decision-making of their homes' consolidation, receiving tools to better manage resources in building them. While such support is embedded within urban and regional systems, evolving forms of state intervention have received little attention in the literature. In this article, we focus on federal assisted self-help housing programmes in Mexico, where this approach became formalised by the early 2000s. Recent governments positioned assisted self-help housing – at least on paper – as key for Mexico's housing agenda. What we term Mexico's housing governability system has continuously evolved, yet its capacity to address housing needs is challenged. We show that policy and institutional change in Mexico reflect a continuing pathway over several decades to include assisted self-help policies in the housing governability system. We highlight the nonlinear nature of policy development and the paradoxes of formalising flexible selfhelp approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought monitoring and early detection have improved greatly in recent decades through the development and refinement of numerous indices and indicators. However, a lack of guidance, based on user experience, exists as to which drought-monitoring tools are most appropriate in a given location. This review paper summarizes the results of targeted user engagement and the published literature to improve the understanding of drought across North America and to enhance the utility of drought-monitoring tools. Workshops and surveys were used to assess and make general conclusions about the perceived performance of drought indicators, indices and impact information used for monitoring drought in the five main Köppen climate types (Tropical, Temperate, Continental, Polar Tundra, Dry) found across Canada, Mexico, and the United States. In Tropical, humid Temperate, and southerly Continental climates, droughts are perceived to be more short-term (less than 6 months) in duration rather than long-term (more than 6 months). In Polar Tundra climates, Dry climates, Temperate climates with dry warm seasons, and northerly Continental climates, droughts are perceived to be more long-term than short-term. In general, agricultural and hydrological droughts were considered to be the most important drought types. Drought impacts related to agriculture, water supply, ecosystem, and human health were rated to be of greatest importance. Users identified the most effective indices and indicators for monitoring drought across North America to be the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) and Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) (or another measure of precipitation anomaly), followed by the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) (or another satellite-observed vegetation index), temperature anomalies, crop status, soil moisture, streamflow, reservoir storage, water use (demand), and reported drought impacts. Users also noted the importance of indices that measure evapotranspiration, evaporative demand, and snow water content. Drought indices and indicators were generally thought to perform equally well across seasons in Tropical and colder Continental climates, but their performance was perceived to vary seasonally in Dry, Temperate, Polar Tundra, and warmer Continental climates, with improved performance during warm and wet times of the year. The drought indices and indicators, in general, were not perceived to perform equally well across geographies. This review paper provides guidance on when (time of year) and where (climate zone) the more popular drought indices and indicators should be used. The paper concludes by noting the importance of understanding how drought, its impacts, and its indicators are changing over time as the climate warms and by recommending ways to strengthen the use of indices and indicators in drought decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Societal Impact Statement Summary Political interests and power structures shape state‐led crop conservation and food policy. As a crop that relates to culture and belonging, the chile crop is ideal for exploring how food security policy and crop conservation schemes integrate aspects beyond staple crops, calories and/or electoral incentives. What do these schemes mean for the food and ingredients we love? Reflecting from this perspective can be useful to grasp, re‐frame and create more effective and inclusive food policies—ones that embody and valorise flavour, identities and territories beyond statements on paper. In line with the Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) international action plan for crop genetic resources, the Mexican state inaugurated the National System of Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (SINAREFI) in 2002. In this paper, I explore SINAREFI's interest in landraces and in situ conservation through the case of chile pepper, set under the Ministry of Agriculture's interests of promoting industrial agriculture and paternalistic food security welfare programmes. Through the analyses of existing literature on food security in Mexico state programmes, archival work and interviews, this article analyses how discourses on food security shape research trajectories, some of which are inevitably constrained by current market‐based agricultural systems. By exploring the state's chile research and conservation programme, this work demonstrates the complexity of international food security discourse and its application domestically. Particularly, this analysis highlights the limitations of state crop research and conservation efforts imposed by contradictory agricultural policies. In the case of chile, its link to Mexican culture and diet uncovers an important, but often overlooked, aspect of food security: flavour. In the case of chile, a non‐staple but culturally symbolic crop, welfare programmes remained paternalistic and focused on caloric intake despite the transformation of national discourse on food security towards the integration of landraces and local cultures through the inauguration of SINAREFI. This case study reflects on the limits of current framings and strategies regarding food security and the need to direct policies towards local food sovereignty to achieve the necessary stability for food security to endure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of empirical research in Latin America reveals a correlation between skin colour and disadvantages in income, health, education, and employment. The impact of skin colour in the political sphere, however, remains severely understudied. Is there any evidence to suggest racialised political underrepresentation in Latin America? To analyse the status of ethno-racial representation in Mexico, this paper uses the Classification Algorithm for Skin Colour (CASCo) to collect skin colour data of the (3,000) members of the last six legislatures of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies. The findings suggest that, while legislatures tend to be relatively diverse, positions of legislative leadership are unproportionally restricted to legislators with light skin colour. This article not only provides much-needed empirical data on the political impact of skin colour in Latin America, but it reveals the sociocultural complexities of the political underrepresentation of racialised groups in Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the conceptions of specialized physicians regarding intersex child surgery, and contrasts them with the experiences of intersex adults. The gap between the views of health personnel—who affirm that they are "doing their best"—and those of intersex persons—who report the adverse consequences of surgery—highlights the need to stop unnecessary normalization surgeries in children. The findings of this study suggest that bridging the gap between the medical perspective and the experience of intersex people requires opening direct channels of communication among all those involved in the clinical process, incorporating intersex individuals into bioethics committees, encouraging contact with the parents of intersex children, implementing regulations that unambiguously delay or prohibit unnecessary interventions, promoting a debate on relevant ethical principles and human rights to protect the interests of all intersex people, and disseminating the contents of such a debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate whether fertility and newborn health changed during the Covid-19 pandemic in Mexico. We use national administrative data and an event-study design to examine the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on fertility and newborn health characteristics. Our findings suggest that Mexico's fertility declined temporarily as measured by conceptions that likely occurred during the stay-at-home order. Initially, the general fertility rate fell by 11–12 per cent but quickly rebounded and returned close to its original levels by the end of 2021. Newborn health also deteriorated during the pandemic. Instances of low birthweight and prematurity substantially increased, with both remaining elevated over the entire pandemic period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although literature on energy cooperation highlights that cooperation is more successful at the regional level, it largely fails to understand and conceptualize energy cooperation as part of the wider phenomenon of regionalism. Energy cooperation tends to be analyzed through prisms of security and geopolitics, thus, downplaying other important regional integration processes. The present paper addresses this lacuna, defining energy regionalism and conceptualizing its various dimensions, logics, motivations, and interests. We apply a comparative perspective, examining two regions which exhibit extensive energy cooperation yet differ in several ways: North America and the European Energy Community. Our findings suggest various trajectories and models, and indicate that formal institutionalization is neither a necessary condition for nor a guarantee of strong energy regionalism. We discern that regional anchor is key in North American and European energy regionalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Top-down approaches often fail to involve, collaborate with, and consider social actors in the process of planning, design, and maintenance of public spaces (PDMPS). This research addresses how social participation is included in PDMPS in the Mexican case, by identifying the actors, the level of communication achieved, and their authority and power in the PDMPS process. The paper employs a case study approach, informed by semi-structured interviews. We use a democracy diagram to uncover the diversity of involved actors and how they are involved in the process. We show how government could provide support for social participation to implement participatory processes in PDMPS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most important centre of diversity and endemism of columnar cacti in Mexico is the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley (Puebla-Oaxaca states). The aims of this paper are (1) to provide a detailed description of the recent pollen morphology of 19 registered species that are found in this valley and (2) to develop a synoptic table to differentiate groups of species. This synoptic table is based on morphological features of pollen grains and the density of structural and sculptural elements observed using light and scanning electron microscopy. All analysed pollen grains were stenopalynous: isopolar monads, large, tricolpate with perforate tectate exine (sexine-nexine ratio 1:1), columellate structure with pattern of columellae distribution and spinulose sculpture. The spinules were always wider than they were tall. Although the 19 species of columnar cacti analysed in this study show highly similar types of pollen grains, we were able to characterise each of them with combined microscopy techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is one of the main threats to biodiversity in the 21st century. However, the effects that it may have on different mammal species are unknown, making it difficult to implement conservation strategies. In this paper, we used species distribution models (SDM) to assess the effect of global climate change on the potential distribution of the 8 of the 9 marsupial species in Mexico, and analyzed their distribution in the current system of natural protected areas (NPAs). We used presence records for each species and bioclimatic variables from the present and the future (2050 and 2080) with 2 contrasting possible scenarios (representative concentration pathways RCP 4.5 and 8.5). We found that Tlacuatzin canescens would have the most stable potential range under any climate change scenario, while the remaining species (Caluromys derbianus, Chironectes minimus, Didelphis marsupialis, D. virginiana, Philander opossum, Marmosa mexicana , and Metachirus nudicaudatus) would undergo notable range losses in the future, though there would not only be losses—according to our SDMs, for all species there would be some range gain under the different climate scenarios, assuming the vegetation cover remained. The current system of NPAs in Mexico currently protects and under the 2 future scenarios would protect less than 20% of the potential range of marsupials, so a reevaluation of their areas beyond the NPAs is highly recommended for the long-term conservation of this group. Our results provide relevant information on the estimated effects of global climate change on marsupials, allowing us to design more effective methodologies for the protection of this portion of the mammalian fauna in Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent contributions to the academic literature describe Mexican racism as structural: an unintended blameless outcome of the combined actions of many individuals and institutions. This conceptualization appears to hamstring individual motivation for collective action: who is responsible for redressing the injustice and why? In this paper, I appeal to interest convergence – a key tenet of Critical Race Theory – to argue that Mexican anti-racism could gain from strategically identifying and communicating “shared predicaments” with the beneficiaries of racial injustice. Employing Grounded Normative Theory as a methodological approach and examining empirical research through [Jackson, Taharee. 2011. “Which Interests Are Served by the Principle of Interest Convergence? Whiteness, Collective Trauma, and the Case for Anti-racism.” Race Ethnicity and Education 14 (4): 435–459] “disaggregation” of interest, I find hints of moral, psychological – even emotional and material – interest convergence between beneficiaries and victims of racial injustice in Mexico. I conclude that the contextual and erratic nature of Mexican racism could be strategically harnessed to produce social reform and advance racial equality. [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]

Several studies have examined the relationship between monetary policy and the stock market. However, few have assessed the impact of fiscal management on this market. This paper examines the extent to which fiscal policy affects a firm's stock market capitalization using the Panel Vector Autoregressive (PVAR) methodology. The study finds that the stock market capitalization in the CPI fully reflects the available information on the movements of variables related to monetary policy. However, total public indebtedness exerts a significant lagged effect on the stock market capitalization of Mexican firms. This finding indicates that the CPI does not fully reflect the available information on the movements of fiscal policy variables. A comprehensive analysis of fiscal policy measures can enhance stock market performance for investors and financial analysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The notion of objectivity is the cornerstone of the liberal model of journalism. Following that scheme, one of the aims of news stories is to foster citizens’ understanding of the world they live in, but this can only be achieved through journalists’ vision. In that sense, the aim of this article is to analyze the level of interpretation and contextualization that Mexican journalists deliver when they report on organized crime. Methodology: In doing so, this paper draws on 24 in-depth interviews with news workers who cover this beat across the country. Results and discussion: The findings suggest that journalists do interpret and contextualize the information. This is because they are interested in helping their audiences to better understand this highly complex phenomenon. Although most of the informants said that they separate facts from opinion, they constantly interpret the information by relying upon their amplified subjectivity; which represents the main contribution of this inquiry. Conclusions: The main conclusions suggest that criminals’ pressure constrains reporters’ freedom to interpret the information they publish. Therefore, despite journalists’ efforts, the average Mexican news consumer cannot fully understand the organized crime phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comprehensive state-of-the-art analysis and mathematical modeling of the National Program for Smart Cities (PRONACES) initiatives in Mexico's journey towards smart city development. The focus is on examining how PRONACES integrates technological innovation with urban planning and sustainability, leveraging mathematical models to optimize and predict the outcomes of various smart city initiatives. The methodology includes a review of current literature to establish the state of the art, followed by the development and application of mathematical models to assess and forecast the effectiveness of PRONACES strategies. These models are based on a variety of parameters including urban growth, technology adoption, resource allocation, and environmental impact. Key findings demonstrate the significant role of PRONACES in transforming urban landscapes in Mexico. The mathematical models provide valuable predictions and insights into the potential outcomes of various smart city strategies, indicating pathways for efficient resource management, infrastructure development, and sustainable urban growth. The paper concludes with an emphasis on the importance of mathematical modeling in planning and implementing smart city initiatives. The challenges and opportunities presented by Mexico’s unique urban landscape are discussed, along with recommendations for future research and policy-making in the field of smart urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most research on equestrian sports, including horseracing, has been developed in contexts in the Global North. This has led to a narrow perspective of what horseracing is and means in different historical and sociocultural contexts. This paper extends this reach through considering informal horseracing events in Mexico. Based on understanding gender as a 'doing' rather than a 'being', and as an integral part of all social practices and identities, the races are examined as leisure events that function as sites through which masculinities are performed and (re)produced. Drawing on an ethnographic study, the horseracing events are identified as spaces in which male-male interactions provide opportunity for men to perform culturally hegemonic norms of masculinity, against a backdrop of shifting economic and social practices that are affecting wider gender relations in Mexico. Although women also have a presence in horseracing, they play a marginal role within the events which celebrate and foreground male homosociality. Masculinities are performed and validated predominantly through male-male interactions and expressions of male dominance over the horses. This paper thus illustrates the importance of gender to understanding different leisure practices and the significance of social and cultural context to examining leisure generally and equestrian sports specifically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humanitarian and development agencies intervening in Latin American cities increasingly face the challenge posed by criminal armed groups (CAGs). Yet, there is a need for evidence‐based comparative studies on how international agencies deal with them. Drawing on data collected in Colombia, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, and Mexico, this paper presents a novel typology of humanitarian organisations' access strategies that distinguishes between different levels of interaction with CAGs. The paper shows how humanitarian agencies assess a variety of risks and balance the potential consequences of their engagement with CAGs with the need to maintain constructive and trustful relationships with the state and the community with which they work. It finds that indirect dialogue or negotiation with CAGs via community leaders who act as intermediaries might provide a low‐risk alternative to direct negotiation with CAG leaders, provided that 'do no harm' and humanitarian protection considerations vis‐à‐vis communities and intermediaries play a central role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 2010-20, specialty cafés emerged in Mexico that led to a significant change to café work culture. Using protagonists' oral accounts, this article examines the rise of specialty café culture in two Mexican cities (Puebla City and Oaxaca City) and how and why specialty coffeeshop owners and baristas participated in this rise. The article argues that specialty café owners and baristas were crucial actors in the emergence of a specialty café culture in Mexico. Subsequently, specialty cafés offered new working conditions for baristas as well as owners. These conditions created jobs of passion, led to job-satisfaction for these urban workers, and facilitated positive service-work experiences. Overall, this paper exposes how specialty cafés grew, why people decided to participate in this growth and how they interpreted their participation in this experience. Moreover, this paper adds to the history and study of coffee by approaching café culture in a coffee-producing country and by prioritising the focus on café workers instead of agricultural labour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The paper offers an expanded framework for conducting empirical research on resilient aging. Methods: We review the conceptual frameworks for resilient aging and incorporate the role of economic factors as resources that contribute to resilience, in addition to social and psychological factors emphasized in the existing literature. Moreover, the idea of reinforcing cycles of resilience is incorporated in the framework. Existing empirical evidence that supports the conceptual arguments is presented. Results: Examples from Mexico and other low-middle-income countries are included, as well as from high-income countries. Data requirements for applying the conceptual framework in empirical analysis and the state of data availability are examined. We illustrate the measures that are available for this purpose using the Mexican Health and Aging Study. Discussion: We discuss and conclude that the state of the field is rich in data to conduct empirical work on resilience in old age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the development of interventions on mural paintings in Teotihuacan and the strategies applied to new findings, such as the one we carried out between 2013 and 2015 at the Complex of the Jaguars, belonging to the Quetzalpapalotl Architectural Complex and located in the northern area of this monumental pre-Hispanic city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to suggest a mathematical model of unpaid housework and empirically test its main predictions using data from Mexico (2014) and Colombia (2017) time-use surveys. The model, based upon the Marxist-feminist approach, suggests that the magnitude of unpaid housework is determined by the super-exploitation of labor, i.e. the gap between wages and the value of labor-power. The outcome is an equation that relates positively the magnitude of unpaid housework with the super-exploitation of labor. The parametric and nonparametric regression estimates applied in both countries show preliminary empirical support for the theoretical model. The theoretical and empirical findings have several implications for Marxist-feminist literature as well as for empirical research on unpaid housework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to research different strategies for developing the green economy in shrinking cities. Considering urban shrinkage and the green economy as two extended concepts, a French town in post-Fordist transition and a Mexican post-mining town are selected as the most diverse/similar systems to indicate different strategies for sustainable development in shrinking cities. Embedded into different national backgrounds, including urban dynamics and support schemes for the green economy, the selected cases share the objectives of greening and regrowing strategies relying on other sectors of the green economy. The methodology applied is qualitative, including fieldwork, semi-structured interview techniques, carried out in person or remotely, and questionnaires. Findings show some positive results regarding sustainability and ecological transition in the French case, while regrowth trends were reached in the Mexican case. However, the analysis leads to uncertain scenarios for positive long-term impacts, especially due to uncertainty around future supporting policies for territorial cohesion and sustainability at national and regional levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2016 witnessed the birth of the first baby conceived using mitochondrial replacement technology (MRT), a procedure conducted by an international team in a Mexican clinic. The story soon made it to the international press, where authorship was assigned to the USA team and Mexico was described as lacking regulation, thus a suitable location. The Mexican media offered a different version. The baby was stamped as "made in Mexico" and the Mexican physician involved was described as a remarkable citizen and bold scientist. The story served as a counter-narrative to the one circulating in the press and academic circles. It dismantled the notion of Mexico as a country with "no rules" and instead offered a story of a country producing cutting-edge technology and of a government ready to back up scientific progress. In this paper, we analyze the performative acts that transformed this breakthrough into a national success and we ask about the role the Mexican team had in this accomplishment. This analysis contributes to the conversation held within the field of postcolonial science and technology studies, regarding knowledge production, authorship, and the role of science stories in the process of nation building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes the notion of inclusion as an imperfect and contested project toward educational and social justice, which seeks to address social and historically constructed exclusion. It aims to problematise 'inclusion research' of school and community relationships in Mexico by examining the orientations and implications for inclusion of doing educational research aligned with a more 'Western' critical approach to social justice as opposed to research explicitly situated in a decolonial and intercultural perspective. It firstly characterises how inclusion is dealt with by critical and decolonial perspectives. Secondly, through a comparative exploration of two ethnographic research projects about school-community relationships, it analyses the implications of both approaches and explores the articulation between 'substantive power' and 'formal power' in the research, arguing for the need to include an epistemic and ontological dimension in inclusion as social-justice-oriented research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The aquaculture industry is constantly growing and contributes to the food demand of the world's population, which is already more than 8 billion people. In aquaculture, antibiotics are commonly used to mitigate the appearance of bacterial diseases that cause considerable damage to production. However, this activity induces antibiotic resistance, which risks the health of cultured organisms and consumers. Therefore, alternative supplements such as prebiotics have been emphasized, with their management and due to their multiple beneficial effects, as viable to improve the conditions of production and health of aquatic animals. In developed countries, these supplements are widespread in culture-producing commercial fish, representing a rich protein source worldwide. However, in developing countries such as Mexico, this technology is rare in commercial fish and practically non-existent in endemic fish species. The importance of such supplements for use in the small- and large-scale aquaculture of fish in developing countries should be underscored as relevant for their application in both commercial and endemic fish cultivated in developing countries. Continued human population growth has resulted in increased demand for products, including those derived from aquaculture. The main challenge in aquaculture is producing more every year. In recent years, environmentally friendly supplements that provide the necessary pathways for optimal production have been emphasized. One of them is prebiotics, selectively utilized substrates by host microorganisms conferring a health benefit. Interest in applying prebiotics in global fish farming has increased in recent years as it has been shown to improve growth, boost the immune system, resist stress conditions, and cause the modulation of digestive enzymes. These effects reflect reduced production and disease costs. However, in Latin American countries such as Mexico, large-scale use of these food supplements is needed as a sustainable alternative to improve fish production. This paper gives a review of the current advances obtained with the application of prebiotics in commercially farmed fish worldwide, mentions the prebiotics to use in the aquaculture industry, and updates the status of studies about the used prebiotics in global commercial fish cultivated in Mexico, as well as freshwater and marine endemic fish in this country. Also, the limitations of prebiotics application in terms of their use and legislation are analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to provide a comprehensive and comparative environmental analysis for Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Mexico, Indonesia and Turkiye for the period between 1992 and 2020. To achieve this goal, two decoupling factor analyses (the OECD’s decoupling factor and Tapio’s decoupling approach) and logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) decomposition analysis were conducted for the selected countries for the aforementioned period. The OECD’s decoupling factor analysis emphasized that Russia achieved absolute decoupling between CO2 emissions and economic growth, while the other nations achieved relative decoupling between the related variables. Tapio's decoupling factor analysis revealed that the decoupling between CO2 emissions and economic growth was mostly weak rather than strong for the research countries. The decomposition analysis consisted of six factors including carbon intensity, fuel structure, energy intensity, scale effect, migration effect, and population. The LMDI results indicated that the decrease in Russia’s CO2 emissions was mainly due to the decline in the energy intensity of economic output. Additionally, the energy intensity of China, India, South Africa, Mexico, Indonesia and Turkiye also successfully reduced the rate of CO2 emissions. The rapid population growth in India, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Indonesia and Turkiye was another major determining factor in the CO2 increases in those countries. The LMDI findings also highlighted that all research countries – except Russia—should focus on internal migration, since the migration effect was found to be a strong accelerator of CO2 emissions. Finally, sector-based and factor-based evaluations of CO2 emissions are suggested by the researcher for future studies to derive recommendations for policies aimed at achieving sustainability targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This study estimated total import demand elasticities concerning income, import prices and domestic prices. A high propensity to import constitutes a significant obstacle to economic growth in Mexico since the benefits of increased exports or any other aggregate demand expansion leak to the rest of the world. Design/methodology/approach – This paper estimated a Vector Error Correction Model of the total import demand elasticities concerning income, import prices and domestic prices. Total imports are a dependent variable, while Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and import and domestic prices are the independent variables. Findings –The principal finding is that an increase of 1 peso in the Mexican GDP leads to a rise of 0.50 pesos in Mexican imports; the elasticity of import demand for prices is low. Still, the elasticity of import demand for domestic prices is 2.14 times greater than that for import prices. These results have significant economic policy implications, such as promoting the expansion of the domestic market and the national content of exports. Research limitations/implications – It is tempting to estimate the import demand function for the entire 1993–2019 period since such data is available. But by doing so, the authors would overestimate the propensity to import, given that from 1993 to 2019, the proportion of imports as a percentage of GDP went from 11.37 in 1993 to 29.66 in 2019. Therefore, it makes more sense to estimate the import demand function from 2000 to 2019, a period with a stable proportion of imports to GDP. Originality/value – A high level of imports in developing countries means that much of their aggregate demand is filtered abroad. Therefore, the low impact of its exports on GDP is related to the Mexican economy’s high imports. The authors calculate this relationship with new data and methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the importance of the melting of the Arctic ice for Mexico. The research examines the impacts of this process, the Mexican government’s environmental policies, citizen’s perception and the media’s approach to climate change and the melting of the Arctic ice. To obtain the results, an exploratory analysis was carried out, from which it was concluded that, despite the importance of the Arctic melting in the current climate crisis affecting all countries, and specifically Mexico, within the political agendas of the nation, the citizenry and the mass media, both climate change and the Arctic melting are secondary issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The knowledge of dielectric properties of organic materials at microwave frequencies is important for different applications in agriculture, food, or other similar research areas. The method of the low-cost disturbed cylindrical cavity resonator is a common measurement technique that considers resonant frequency shift when inserting samples of materials inside the cavity. Frequency shifts together with the knowledge of the complex permittivity of a reference material allow the estimation of the permittivity of a material under test. In this paper, the complex permittivity, and the loss tangent of dried and powdered agricultural wastes from the state of Colima in Mexico are obtained at 1.2853. The materials under test are coir and skins of rice, banana, lemon, watermelon, pineapple, and papaya since they are one of the most abundant agricultural wastes in the state of Colima in Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some Latin American countries have introduced presidential recall in the last three decades. This exceptional and spontaneous mechanism by which somebody can remove a servant elected through a popular vote from office before the end of his term aims to broaden participation, empower citizens, and improve the responsibility and accountability of servants. However, the recall faces the challenge of being an instrument serving interests outside of its normative ideal. What are the consequences of holding a recall referendum? Under what conditions can the recall yield better results and be more effective? This paper answers these questions by comparing the presidential recall held in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Mexico. The evidence suggests that the mechanism can have substantial advantages and fulfill its objective when its holding is justified, there is no intervention from relevant political actors, and the institutional design does not hinder or discourage participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Epidemiology and burden of disease for psychiatric disorders in Latin America (LatAm) is often limited, particularly for conditions like treatment-resistant depression (TRD), which is a burdensome condition within a significant proportion of major depressive disorder (MDD) patients. The treatment resistant depression in America Latina (TRAL) study aimed to investigate the epidemiology and burden of TRD in MDD patients. This paper focuses on characterizing TRD in the Mexican subset using TRAL study data. Methods: The study included 697 adult patients clinically diagnosed with MDD from 14 sites in Mexico. Patients with relevant psychiatric comorbidities or those enrolled in a clinical trial were excluded. Outcomes primarily relied on patient-reported data and assessment scales. Results: TRD prevalence in Mexico was found to be 20.7%. Current suicidality was high in TRD patients (20.8%), as was the incidence of suicide behavior disorder (12.5%). Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) were the most commonly prescribed medications. EQ-5D, SDS and WPAI results indicated significant limitations for TRD patients in their everyday life. Discussion: These findings align with available literature on treatment approaches and the prevalence of suicidality and suicide behavior disorder. The high prevalence of TRD among MDD patients poses a management challenge. Conclusions: The burden of TRD in Mexico is significant, although less severe than in other LatAm countries. Public health policies should focus on improving diagnosis and availability to more effective therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does organized crime affect foreign direct investment (FDI) in developing countries? Some research examines the effects of crime, such as homicide rates, on FDI. However, we know little about how organized crime in particular might affect such investment. This paper examines organized crime and FDI in Mexican states between 2000 and 2018. This case is important because Mexico is one of the top global recipients of FDI. At the same time, criminal violence has killed hundreds of thousands of people in Mexico in recent years, and scholars seek to understand the violence's wider effects. We explain how organized crime competition, as opposed to crime generally, should shape investors' decisions. Analyses using original data on criminal organization territory find that higher numbers of criminal groups are associated with lower levels of new FDI. Other measures of crime, such as homicide rates or crime rates, are not associated with foreign investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]